On The Other Side

A/N Thank you so much to all the reviewers of this fiction. I was very happy to see the interest for me to continue. So this is for you:


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and make no money from the writing of this fiction.

I’m A What?


Harry had so many questions bubbling inside as he left his father’s side with Tally. He kept looking over his shoulder at the retreating figure of James while the elf pulled him upstairs. That was his father! Well, perhaps not really ‘his’ father, but he was what his father would have looked like, felt like, sounded like. It was as close to being with his actual father as he would ever get.

“Come, Master,” Tally urged, pulling Harry’s hand along the upstairs hall and into a very nice bedroom. A mahogany four poster bed, decked in luxuriant green and black silks, highlighted a room filled with magical artwork and opulent furnishings. Tally shut the bedroom door behind them and addressed Harry. “Master, you must not act surprised at everything. They will suspect.”

Harry glanced around his room. “But it’s all so overwhelming, Tally. You can’t imagine how it felt to see my father. And this house looks much more grand than the one in my world.”

“Master must remember to act like the other Harry.”

Harry looked at her, frowning. “But, I’m not the other Harry, Tally.” He walked around the room, touching things in curiosity. “You’ll have to fill me in on more things about this world. Is it just me and my father living here? What about Sirius?”

“He lives here too, sir, and his brother, Master Regulus.”

“Regulus? He’s alive too, then.” Harry wondered what Regulus would be like. He remember from the family tree that Sirius had shown him once that Regulus was younger than Sirius.

Tally nodded. “Let Tally fill your bath, sir, and we will speak more.” She scurried into a room attached to the bedroom only to let out a squeak of fright. Harry could hear her say, “Excuse me, sir.”

Then Harry heard a man’s voice from within.

“Tally, where’s Harry? I’ve been waiting so long, I’ve just about pruned.”

“I will fetch him, sir,” Harry heard her say. Harry watched as she backed out of the bathing room.

“Who’s that in there?” Harry hissed. “I thought this was my room.”

Tally nodded. “It is, sir. Master Regulus is already in the bath waiting for you, sir.”

“Waiting for me? What? To bathe with me? Is that what they do in this house?”

Tally looked uncomfortable and began shifting her feet and wringing her hands. “Ah… well… you see, sir… sometimes you bathe with Master Regulus.”

Regulus shouted from the other room, “Harry, hurry up, pup. You want to be late for your own party?”

“You’ve got to be joking?” Harry frowned, hoping for a way out of this.

Tally shook her head. “No, sir. Master must go and bathe. Harry Potter must act normal.”

“Normal? Is that what you call normal?”

Harry could see that Tally didn’t not know what normal meant to him. Normal seemed to be whatever the old Harry did.

Harry sighed, looking at the bathing room door. Then he looked at Tally and he shook his finger at her. “Stay close. I’m going to have lots more questions for you after this… bath.”

Tally nodded.

Harry stepped into the bathing room, fragrant steam wafting through the air. A sunken pool of warm water took up the middle of the room. Sitting on one side was a handsome black-haired man, relaxing in the bubbles. He looked about mid twenties in age. He grinned at Harry.

“There you are, pup, I was beginning to worry.”

“I’m not a pup,” Harry stated, feeling uncomfortable at the man’s perusal.

Regulus laughed. “Oh, so now that you’re seventeen, you feel you’ve outgrown my little term of endearment?” He stretched his arms to both sides, resting them on the ledge of the pool. “No, matter. But you have ruined my little birthday surprise by arriving so late.”

Harry glanced through the door and saw Tally still standing in his room, looking nervous that he’d blow his cover. Her eyes were wide with fright. He decided that the less words he used, the better.

“Sorry,” Harry mumbled. “What was my surprise?”

Regulus stared at Harry hungrily, his dark eyes traveling down Harry’s body. “What do you think?”

Harry’s jaw dropped. He turned to leave but saw Tally waving her arms for him to stay in the bathing room. She was frantic with fear. Harry shook his head at her. She certainly didn’t expect him to have sex with Regulus did she? No fucking way. That was NOT part of the agreement. Holy fucking crap! What kind of life did he walk into?

Regulus noticed Harry getting ready to leave the room. “So, you are still going to be that way, are you?”

Harry turned his face toward the man. “What way is that?” he spat.

“True to that idiot, Zabini, even though he hasn’t visited you once this summer. Not even an owl, nothing, and you still insist he’s your boyfriend.” Regulus swished some bubbles away in disgust. “You’ve pushed me away all summer for nothing. You can bet he’ll still ignore you when you return to school.”

Harry stood in shock. He was gay? This Harry was gay? And not only that, he was dating Slytherins. Fuck all! How was he suppose to pretend he was gay? He wasn’t gay.

Harry guiltily pushed down a suppressed memory that tried to surface, a very erotic dream he once had staring him and one of Ron’s brothers. Wait… could he be gay?

Harry swallowed, running a hand through his hair, a look of confusion on his face.

Regulus watched him with interest and pity. “It’s ok, pup, I’m sorry I said that. Don’t get so distressed. It’s your birthday, yeah? Come on in the water, I’ll be good. Maybe he’ll be there at your party tonight and everything will work out. I can slip him a lust potion if you like.”

“No!” Harry barked, louder than he meant to.

Regulus grinned. “Fine, no lust potions. But I will hex his balls off if he’s rude to you.”

Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin, was going to be at his party? And had he been intimate with him? And possibly Regulus too? Gods, what other fucked up thing could possibly happen?

Regulus sighed heavily and stood up, the water rushing over his toned body. “I can see you are in a sore mood. I’ll leave you be.”

Harry averted his eyes and waited as Regulus stepped out of the pool and dried off, wrapping the towel around his waist. He stopped by the door, gazing speculatively at Harry. “I don’t know what’s got into you, but I wish you’d talk to me like you use to. I’ve always been here for you.”

Harry spared him a glance and nodded.

Regulus sighed again and left, scolding Tally on his way through Harry’s room. “You better have him ready in time.”

“Yes, Master.”

OOOOOO

Harry sat in the pool, angry that the party that he’d been looking forward to would probably turn out as terrible as this world was. He had no idea what was in store but he sure as hell intended to find out.

“TALLY” Harry hollered. “Get in here, now!”

The nervous elf scurried in. “Yes, Master? Did you need something?”

“Answers. I need answers. First off, you didn’t tell me I was gay.”

Confusion filled the little elf’s face. “Tally did not know that was important, sir.”

“Not important? Not important? If I’m in a relationship with someone, I need to know. How am I suppose to act like your Harry if I don’t even know who I’m dating or who I’m friends with? And how I’m I suppose to act gay when I’ve never been with a guy before? Merlin, I’ve never even slept with a girl either. Only experience I have is some heavy snogging with Ginny.”

Tally’s eyes grew wide. “Ginny, sir? That is a girl?”

“Yes, Ginny Weasley. She’s my girlfriend, or she was before I kind of broke it off at the end of last term. I didn’t want the other side to think they could use her as a pawn to get to me during this blasted war we are in. But if I’m alive after it’s all through, I’ll try to win her back if she’ll still have me. Speaking of which, the Weasleys - will they be at my party?”

Tally shook her head. “No, sir, no Weasley’s will be at your party.”

“Why not? They are alive in this world, aren’t they?”

Tally nodded. “Yes, sir, some are alive, but they are beneath you, sir.”

“What? Beneath me?” Harry let out a long breath. Then he remembered who was in charge of this world. “But, they are pure bloods. Wouldn’t that make them ‘above’ a half-blood like me?”

“The Weasley father and mother fought against our Lord during the war, sir. Then they refused to pledge loyalty after the war and so were executed. The younger children were then raised by the older brothers who did pledge loyalty to our Lord, sir.”

“Then why would they be beneath me if they pledged loyalty? Didn’t my father and Sirius have to do the same to protect me? Help me understand this all, Tally.”

“Your father and Master Sirius did not fight against our Lord, sir, so it is different. Your father’s only crime was that he married a muggle-born. But that was amended and forgiven, sir.”

Harry wanted to drown himself in that moment. His father and Sirius did not fight against Voldemort? Did that mean they fought for the other side? Merlin!

“Are you saying that my father was a… a… Death Eater?”

“Tally does not know what a Death Eater is, sir.”

“They were Voldemort’s servants. They have tattoos that he uses to call them to his side and they do whatever he wants them to do: kill, torture, and so on.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Do not say his name, sir. You must say ’our Lord’.”

“Well, fuck our Lord!”

Tally squeaked in fright. “Please, Master, do not speak so.”

Harry tried to calm himself. What had he gotten into? Thank goodness he was only here a few days.

“Sorry, Tally, it’s just a shock and all. Things are so different. People are different. In my world, my father and Sirius fought alongside the Weasleys against ’our Lord’.”

“There are no tattoos, sir. Your father and Master Sirius did not take a side in the war. They tried to stay out of it - because of your mother and you. They pledged their loyalty after our Lord won the war, sir.”

“Then they were cowards? They did not stand against him?”

“No, sir, they could not turn against their family and friends.”

Harry laughed scornfully. “Well, Sirius never gave a fig about his family in my world. The Blacks had treated him like an outcast anyway. And my father was an only child.”

“And many of their schoolmates fought with our Lord, sir. They did not want to kill their own friends.”

“Hang on. What are you saying?” Harry grew more uneasy. “Who were their friends?”

“Their mates from school, sir. I do not know all the names.”

Harry frowned. “Most of the other side’s supporters were from Slytherin house. My dad and Sirius were Gryffindors.”

“No, sir, in this world they were Slytherins.”

Harry smacked the water. “No way! Oh, this is beyond fucked up. Next you’ll be telling me that I’m a Slytherin.”

“Yes, sir, you are.”

Harry stared in shock at the little house elf. Suck Merlin’s wrinkled balls! What the fuck? “Please tell me you are kidding?”

Tally shook her head. “No, sir, Tally does not kid.”

Harry sighed heavily. Well this really sucked badly. He could guess that his birthday party would be filled with obnoxious Slytherin prats. Ok, then, he’d just try to focus on being around his father and Sirius. Tomorrow he’d see his mother.

Speaking of which….

“Tally, the muggle-borns, are they not allowed to go to school anymore?”

Tally shook her head, eyes wide. “Oh, no, sir. After the laws passed, free muggle-borns had to leave the magical world and never practice magic again. If they stayed, they were… exterminated.”

Harry thought about Hermione. In this world, she had never received her letter to attend Hogwarts. She never became part of the magical world. Gods, what a waste of talent!

“What about my mother? She’s in Hogsmeade and that’s part of the magical world.”

“Yes, sir, muggle-borns can only stay as sla… servants if they have an approved master.”

“My mother is a slave?!” Harry shouted, outraged.

Tally swallowed, taking a step back. “I… sir… your mother is not bad treated, sir. I heard your father speak of it. She is treated well by her Master. Her Master has… feelings for her.” Tally lowered her voice to a whisper. “But we are not suppose to speak of that outside of our family, sir. Our Lord does not like his servants to care about muggle-borns. He will get angry and destroy the muggle-born. All must believe that your mother lives a hard life.”

“Who is this benefactor that ‘cares’ for her? And why didn‘t my father claim her as a ‘slave‘ and keep her in this house?”

“That was not allowed, sir. A pureblood divorcing a muggle-born could not keep her on as a slave because the pureblood was forbidden from having contact with the muggle-born they divorced. And I do not know the name of her master, sir. They don’t speak of him very much. But I heard he was a pardoned half-blood like yourself, sir.”

“So, I presume I haven’t been allowed contact with her either?”

Tally shook her head.

“But I AM going to see her tomorrow, Tally. I don’t care about the laws. I’m leaving afterwards anyway.”

Tally looked frightened. “But you will be arrested! And your mother will be too. Her Master and your father will be in trouble as well! No, Harry Potter, you cannot take that chance.”

Harry smacked the side of the pool in frustration. He certainly didn’t want to cause anything bad to happen to his mother and father, but seeing his mother again was a big part of why he came here in the first place.

“Master? You have a big heart, bigger than my Harry Potter had.”

Harry looked up at her from his sulking. “It’s all so disappointing, Tally. I just wanted to spend time with my parents. But I don’t want to make things worse for them in this world. Didn‘t my other self miss her? Didn‘t he want to see her too?”

Tally shook her head. “He never spoke of her, Master. I think… he was ashamed of her. Ashamed of having a muggle-born mother.”

“Then he was fucking blighter and I’m glad he smacked his idiot head so hard,” Harry spat.

Tally sniffled and began to weep, making Harry feel regretful for his outburst.

“Hey, listen, I’m sorry, Tally. Things are just so… upside down here.” He sighed, running a wet hand through his hair. “All right then, I’ll go to this party, spend some time with my dad and Sirius, and leave tomorrow after me and you discuss how to handle the whole death issue so you won’t get blamed.”

Harry slipped under the water to wet his hair, missing the look of fear and nervousness on Tally’s face regarding Harry’s plans.

OOOOO

A/N So, lots of background info in this chapter about this world Harry has ended up in. Next time we’ll go to his birthday party and Harry will face even more revelations and also a hitch to his plans.

Hope you are still enjoying this. Let me know.

Petalsoft