A World Without

Sorry this took so long. I have been pretty sick for awhile, but I am happy to say that I am getting better. As evident that I am writing again! I have changed a bit in the chapters before this, so if you are a repeat reader you might want to check it out. It’s all pretty short up to here to not much to read.

I hope you enjoy, so on with the show.




"How do you know that name?" James asked once again, but Harry's mind was running on overload and he wasn't listening. If Snape died, then what happened to Remus? What had he done, his father was alive, but the cost was too great. How many people had survived simply because Snape had lived? Harry snapped back to the outside world as Lestrange walked back through the doors and pulled a small vial from his pocket.

"Potter, here, nicked this from Slughorn." James took the vial slowly and turned back to Harry, the youngest Potter had a good idea what was contained within.

"Verita Serum?" Harry questioned his father's hazel eyes bore into his own.

"To make sure this isn't some kind of trick."

"No, I won't take that." There were too many things he couldn't say, he couldn't afford to be questioned by a deatheater.

"We can't trust you unless you take it Harry." He shook his head and backed away from James as far as he could on the small bed.

"No, there are things I can't tell you." James sighed then looked to Lestange, before looking back at his son.

"Alright, we will lay out the questions that I am going to ask you before you take this, is that acceptable?" Harry eyed his father and the man beside him before answering.

"Depends on the questions." Another sigh, before James cast a quick look around the hospital ward, making sure no one else was present.

"Alright then, I guess the first question would be 'Are you working for the Dark Lord?' That question is non negotiable." Harry snorted before giving his answer.

"And also very vague, Voldemort isn't the only Dark Lord there ever was. You should really be more specific." James' mouth almost hit the bed sheets as it fell open in surprise while Lestrange winced before hissing out a reprimand.

"You dare to say his name!?" Harry shrugged before employing Hermione’s' common answer to the question.

"Fear of a name increases fear of a thing itself."

"And he has earned that right to be feared! Don't ever say his name out loud again; it’s a one-way ticket to a pretty green light." Harry scoffed, as if saying that name was the only reason Voldemort wanted to kill him.

Harry refused to answer where he had heard Snape’s name but they agreed on a few more basic questions. Were you sent to kill me? Are you a spy? Are you a pod person sent to slowly help the aliens take over the world? Well perhaps not that last one, but Harry still potion clogged mind thought it would be amusing to say. They had quite a long list going after all was said and done.

Finally the Verita Serum was swallowed, albeit reluctantly and the list of questions were asked and answered to the satisfaction of both parties. All was going well, until Lestrange broke the rules.

"Why are you at Hogwarts?"

"That wasn't one of the questions Lestrange!" James sounded angry, but his attention was on his son, wanting to know the answer as well. But there was no single answer to that question, so all of Harry’s reasons came spilling out.

"To learn to be a wizard, to feel accepted, to get away from the Dursley’s, to train my friends to survive, to learn how to kill the person who wants to kill me, because of the Vow." That last reason surprised Harry and unfortunate for him, Lestrange as well.

"What Vow, who did you make a Vow with Harry?"

"Lestrange, stop!" James brandished his wand at his friend and quickly spouted off a silencing spell.

"Myself, to correct my father's mistake." It was not Lestrange this time that broke the rules.

"What mis....." The doors opened with a loud creak as the headmistress entered the room.

"Professor Lestrange, Professor Potter, Madame Pompfrey has informed me of the test results and I know this has been an interesting day for you, but you do both have students to get back too." McGonagall was looking intently at Harry, but not at his eyes like most would. She was looking at his scar.

"Of course Headmistress. Perhaps Harry here could wait in my rooms until classes are done for the day?" Lestrange was pouting, Harry felt like laughing, the Verita Serum was making him feel a bit drunk and seeing a grown man pout because he had a silence spell on was just too amusing.

"Does anyone else know he is here? That he is yours?" There was an oddly shaped wrinkle in Harry’s blankets. It looked like a dragon that was roaring every time he moved his big toe. Harry’s snickers and fascination with the dragon wrinkle was making him lose track of the conversation.

"Only Lestrange and Pompfrey, but the youngest Weasley boy was here earlier."

"That has been taken care of already, I’m not sure how long it will take to get him safely away, but no one else must know that he is here or we risk someone telling You-Know-Who about him." Ok, the wrinkle wasn’t really that amusing anymore. Hmm, the potion must be wearing off.

"He can't go to the McKinnen's, they are full up already, and with all these new portkey shields who knows how long it will take to get everyone away." McKinnen, Harry knew that name, she was an Order member killed with her family by deatheaters.

"Send him to the Prewett’s; they only have a few there." Molly Weasley’s family, her brothers were killed by deatheaters too.

"They were raided last week, we got a warning off right before the attack so everyone is safe that we know of, but wherever they are, they haven't been able to get any messages out." Raided? Harry’s mind was finally catching back up to the conversation. They were talking about members of the Order of the Phoenix, people still fighting against Voldemort's rule. His father was still fighting for good, with Lestrange at his side?

"You could send him to Black." Harry’s heart leapt, Sirius was alive too!!

"Looks like my only option; I’ll come back here after my classes are finished to take him."

"No, I'll take your classes for the day, get him out of here before anyone else sees him, you can use the floo in my office."

"Come on Harry, can you walk?" Harry nodded his head as he rose from the mattress, James handed him a clean set of plain black robes and turned to face the door to give Harry some privacy as he changed. Harry felt very strange without pants and a shirt on under his robes, but he knew that was how many of the pureblooded families wore them. With his glasses back in place he finished adjusting his collar and walked to where his father was waiting by the door. A shimmery cloak and a familiar wand were waiting in his hands.

"Here is your wand. Now I want you to stay under this cloak, don't talk and try to walk softly, class is in session so there shouldn't be very many students in the halls. When we get to the headmistress' office we are going to floo to my home first, I'll send a message when we get there so Black can open the floo for us."" Harry slipped on the invisibility cloak and followed his father out the door.

It was a quite walk through the halls of Hogwarts, many of the students greeted James with wide smiles and a few of the older girls with blatant flirtation. They arrived at the Gargoyle with Harry almost gagging at the things the girls whispered when they thought they were out of ear shot of Professor Potter. The image of his father being in the astronomy tower with Pansy Parkinson was not kind to his psyche. Harry hoped that they were all just fantasy’s that the girls thought up, he didn’t think his father would ever have sex with a student.

“Devon Rex” The gargoyle slowly moved out of the way, looking as if he could see Harry underneath the cloak.

“The headmistress really likes cats; all of her passwords seem to be different breeds.” James mused as he entered the vast office. It wasn’t that different from what Harry remembered, but the kind face of Albus Dumbledore snoozing in a painting on the wall was defiantly new. James noticed his fascination with the portrait.

“That is Professor Dumbledore; he was the headmaster here while I was still in school. Come now, the head mistress put all the portraits in the school to sleep so that we could get you out of here, some of them are not trustworthy I’m afraid.” Harry hurried over to the fireplace and took a handful of the powder.

“Wait for a full minute before you follow, I’ll need to go ahead of you to unlock the floo.” Harry nodded and watched as his father disappeared into the flames. He looked around the office; it seemed as if he was only here a few hours ago. He walked toward the desk and looked at the portrait of the man he had seen murdered. So he was dead here as well, Harry wondered how it happened. A small dish of sherbet lemons sat on a pedestal under his portrait and he could almost hear that kind voice asking if he wanted one. Harry stepped back to the fireplace, the sweet taste of lemon in his mouth.

“Potter Manor!”