Erised

Chapter 3: Reality and Delusion

Albus Dumbledore leaned heavily on the railing as he trudged up the steep stairs to the Order meeting room. He really was getting on in years, and he felt tired easily. He knew he couldn't last much longer. He sighed heavily and continued climbing up the stairs. He soon arrived at a wall with a gilded panel along the side. He found the small phoenix engraved on the panel and pressed it revealing a marble room with a long table in the middle. He headed to the large chair at the end of the table, waiting for the other Order members to arrive.

Voldemort was going to win. He knew it.

Albus felt extremely old.

As he sat there staring blankly at the wall, the wall began to slide open. Someone was coming in. A mop of messy black hair appeared at the door.

He was amazed; no one who had been captured by the Death Eaters had ever made it back to tell the story. Then, the man looked up revealing bright green eyes and Albus was even more shocked. He suddenly remembered that Lily Potter had said that she had seen Potter at Hogwarts. Albus looked back up at the man while slowly reaching for his wand.

The young man looked up and looked stunned, he paled. He looked disbelieving and looked as though he thought his eyes were deluding him.

He uncertainly took a step forward, "Albus?"

Albus Dumbledore froze. He was thoroughly confused. He was brought back to reality as another footstep thudded on the stone floor.

"Potter," he growled, finally coming to his senses.

Potter looked taken aback. Suddenly he seemed to realize what was happening and hate became apparent on his face. His face contorted into an angry grimace.

"This is sick," he said, disgust in his voice. "I've had enough with you. This is the most degrading thing you've ever done."

Albus was totally bewildered now.

"Who are you really?" demanded the Death Eater. "How did you get in here?"

Albus was brought back to his conversation with Lily. Memories flashed back, most prominent, the words Lily had said those four condemning words, "I think he's crazy..." Those words reverberated in his mind.

Before the old man had a chance to react, the wall slid open once again, this time revealing a bewildered Sirius Black.

Sirius' PoV----<<<<< ~~~~~>>

His eyes fell on a messy mop of black hair. At once, his thoughts rushed to James. A smile broke out on his face, as he ran towards the raven-haired man. The man turned around and Sirius stopped dead in his tracks.

It was the Death Eater.

With no control of his actions, he charged at the man, wrapping his fingers around his neck.

Harry's PoV ----------------~-----) << A/N - This is the last time I'm writing that it is somebody's PoV before I write their part, so be prepared. I might do it again, but it's just so annoying.

Once the initial shock of seeing Sirius, he realized that his godfather was choking him. He then realized that it wasn't his godfather. Still it looked like Sirius, he knew it really wasn't him but he couldn't bring himself to defend himself.

Finally, the primitive feeling of survival came in, and he kicked his godfather off him. As soon as that had happened, a voice came behind him, yelling "Stupefy!"

For the second time, in two days, he fell unconscious.

*

He woke up to a find himself lying on the cold stone floor of the Order meeting room. Severus Snape was bending over him with a vial of clear liquid. He pried Harry's jaws open and squeezed three drops from the vial. At once everything in the room became distorted, colours swimming in a pool of light. He immediately recognized the potion as Veritaserum. Albus Dumbledore gradually stood out in sharp focus - his interrogator.

"What is your name?" The words came out harshly.

"Harry James Potter," someone said. It took a moment for him to realize it was himself speaking. It was like listening to someone else speaking.

The Death Eater/Albus Dumbledore continued, "When were you born?"

"July 31^st, 1980," he replied in the same distant voice.

The Dumbledore-Death Eater seemed satisfied so far, the information seemed right.

"Where is Voldemort?"

"He's gone." Harry's mind flashed back painfully to the day of the last duel he had had with Voldemort. Sounds and voices pounded at the back of his head.

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know." Harry really didn't know what they did to Voldemort's body after he had killed him.

"Why don't you know?" asked the person rather forcefully.

"No one told me and I didn't ask."

"Why didn't you ask?"

Harry wasn't really sure, but he was dead after all. "I didn't think of asking."

The Death Eater seemed to decide that he probably wouldn't get any useful information out of the subject. He paused for a second and then commenced with his questioning once again. "Where did you last see him?"

"Hogwarts."

His interrogator whitened. He looked scared. "Are you sure?" he continued in a shaky voice.

"Yes."

"When did you see him at Hogwarts?"

"October 31, 2000."

"You haven't seen him for a year?"

"Yes," said Harry.

Dumbledore looked skeptical; he took Harry's left arm and lifted up the sleeve. Harry heard a chorus of gasps in the background. He distractedly wondered why they wanted to look at his arm. (A/N - It's hard to think properly while under the influence of Veritaserum.)

"Why did Voldemort remove the mark?"

"He didn't."

Harry was seriously confused.

"How can that be?"

"I never had the mark."

"You are a Death Eater, aren't you?"

"No." Harry Potter was seriously getting annoyed at this point. How could they think that he was the Death Eater? I mean really, Harry Potter, a Death Eater?

The Albus/Death Eater frowned.

"You are the son of Lily and James Potter, right?"

"Yes."

"How can that be?" asked Dumbledore, more to himself than to Harry.

"I don't belong here." Harry was surprised. 'That could be true. Maybe he was supposed to die. Maybe it should have been different. 'Maybe everyone else was supposed to live,' he thought sadly.

Dumbledore looked surprised too.

Voices swarmed around him, indistinct, throbbing in his head. He winced as the clear voice of the Dumbledore-Death Eater interrupted the throng. All the voices immediately stopped.

"That's enough," said Dumbledore with deadly ferocity in his voice. "I don't think the Veritaserum will work. I don't think we'll get anything useful out of him. Severus, would you please hand me the second potion?"

A black bob moved over to Dumbledore and gave him another vial. He forced it down his throat. The potion burned in his mouth, giving a raw sensation. Everything rushed back in clear focus, nearly blinding him. Voices and images exploded in his head.

Dumbledore was still bending over him and a golden medallion on a long chain was hanging out of his robes.

Before anyone could react, Harry cast a freezing charm on the entire room. Faces, movements, voices were all frozen in place, all the sounds in the room, abruptly diminished. He tentatively reached out to the medallion and clasped his hand around the ornate gold. The medallion burst into phoenix song, surrounding them all with ethereal song.

"This can't be," said Harry, his eyes fixated on the golden ornament. 'There was no mistaking it; no other thing could produce that sound, besides an actual phoenix of course.' He reached to the ring of the Order on Dumbledore's right hand and felt warmth radiating from it. 'There was no other way, it had to be.' Joy erupted in his heart and a warm smile lighted up his face. Harry lowered his hand.

Everything unfroze.

Harry looked at Dumbledore, "Is this real?" he asked, with hope lacing his voice.

Albus opened his mouth to respond, but a voice in the back of the room interrupted. "I need to go to the library!" A brown-haired woman, looking very familiar jumped to her feet and ran towards the door.

Harry's eyes widened. It seemed as though everything terrible that happened was undoing itself. "Hermione?" he ran after her and caught her arm, "Is it really you?" She turned around showing that it was indeed his friend. He caught her in an embrace. She looked confused, but awkwardly patted Harry's back.

Hermione looked scared; she took a deep breath and faced the Order. "I have an idea. I was reading in the library the other day and I read something about a situation like this. It was a documentation of a person from another reality entering ours."

A thoughtful silence followed this pronouncement. Everything fit. Harry thought. It was a reality where everyone who died is alive; his beautiful delusions had become reality.

A harsh voice interrupted his reverie. "How can we assume that?" began Harry's former headmaster. "We'd all like it if it's true, but there's no way to alter reality. We can't let hope confuse us. What if he's a Death Eater is disguise!? If he can get through the Hogwarts apparition wards why can't he find a way to evade the effects of Veritaserum?! You cannot fall prey to Voldemort's lies so easily!"

Harry Potter was fuming at Albus Dumbledore's words.

He burst out shouting to the room, "How can you lose hope so easily????!!!!!???? Hope has been the only thing that kept me hanging on in the dark." His voice became soft as he continued, "The Albus Dumbledore I knew would never lose hope."

"I am not the Albus Dumbledore you know, Death Eater," spat Dumbledore. "Hope belongs only to fools who refuse to see the truth, to those who refuse to live in reality, to those who live in their delusions. Reality is harsh and we must accept it the way it is." His dead eyes stared straight into Harry's.

Anger ran through his head. How could this man try to take away his one chance at getting to know his parents; and in the form of his mentor too?!!???? He was just about ready to kill him (literally).

Then realization hit him; I'm a Death Eater in this world, no one ever stopped Voldemort. He's still in power here. The anger he was harbouring turned into sadness. His face softened. It seemed as though Voldemort would follow Harry, wherever he went, even in his paradise.

The voice of Albus Dumbledore once again interrupted his thoughts.

"Patrick, go put this, whoever this is into one of the cells, we'll deal with him after the meeting." A person with dark blonde hair got up and pulled a bracelet out of his jacket. Before Harry realized what was happening, the man snapped the bracelet around his left hand and they appeared at the dungeons of the Order. He was roughly pushed into a dank cell and the door slammed shut behind him.

Harry Potter sat up and stared at dark interior of his cell. "I never thought I'd ever wind up here," he said to no one in particular and gave a small chuckle.