Whose Universe Are We In?

4

“Stories? What the hell do they mean by stories?” The sandy-haired man that fired off this question passed his hand through the aforementioned locks and lifted his eyes from the surface of the scrying mirror laid flat before him. Albus Dumbledore shrugged, “It appears that some sort of cosmic exchange has occurred. We lose Harry and Severus and instead, we get these......”, he pointed at the swirling shapes as they moved dimly around, “.....people. Actors, who were playing Harry and Severus in films. Films! Can you believe it? Only it appears that whatever fate pushed them through into this world......killed Harry and Severus. Anyway, their perception of us is; we are all characters in a series of children’s books that are hugely popular in the muggle world and each book has been made into a film, in fact the last ‘book’ was split into two such films. With me so far?”

The four other people hanging on Albus’ every word nodded, “They had just completed the main part of the filming for the final film. It appears that both they and our lads were at the same place at exactly the same time. Both of them recall the storm quite clearly and they also remember that the caravan they were in rocked slightly from the force of it, though they felt quite safe within their little dwelling”.

The five looked down. Another mirror was being used. This one was flat and round and laid out on Dumbledore’s desk. He’d planted a watching charm quite easily during his last visit, and had edited out the....raunchier scenes, but by now he was beyond doubt, these two were just who they said they were and they looked and acted just enough not like Albus’ colleague and pupil for the old man to be convinced. The grey-haired woman at his other side muttered in her deep brogue, “Aye, for sure, they’ve had a knock on the head, we’ve just got to look after them until they heal”.

Albus turned to her, “Do you not think that Severus couldn’t have sniffed a charm like this out within thirty seconds, Minerva? I am sorry, my dear, but look at them. Severus has had a nose job and our Harry has sprouted a full beard overnight. No. I’m sorry, dear, these people are who we say they are. I suggest we go into Plan B mode, everyone”, he glanced around the others grouped around his desk.

They all tore their eyes away from the seething mirror and looked up at the Head. Remus Lupin was hesitant, “Erm, the plan for if they die?” Dumbledore nodded sadly, “They have agreed to be seen from afar and have rumours abound about deep training. It seems as if our Dan is quite proficient in a number of disciplines which may yet prove useful”

There was a gasp around the desk, “Surely we cannot use them....?” But was cut off by a wave of Albus’ hand. “We use him if we have to. We cannot...simply cannot lose our hero now. We were so close, so bloody close. We have to do this”. Minerva pursed her lips as she gazed back into the mirror in time to see it’s two subjects start to kiss, “Well, if they’re going to play make-believe then that has to stop”, she pointed at them.

Albus shook his head, “No, Minerva. We have to come up with a scheme to keep them together, they are too out of their depth if we separate them and we need them, my dear, even if it’s someone else that casts the final ‘Avada’. We need them to screen us as we go into plan ‘B’”. Minerva ‘tch’ed and turned away from the mirror as the action started to hot up. Albus waved his wand over the misty glass, “Yes, well, I think we’ll leave the boys alone for a while, shall we? Now, let us decide what is to be done. Shall we have tea, everyone?”

****

Dan smiled at the new arrivals in their quarters. He knew them all but he shook their hands and correctly named everyone before Albus had a chance to introduce them, “Good evening, Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. In my world you all have real names and you madam”, he inclined his head to Minerva, “Are a fully fledged Dame of the British Empire”.

He shook all their hands and they were all seated, some in conjured chairs. Minerva enquired, “Did Severus leave these?” Dan shook his head, “No, madam, Alan and I made them. Did Albus not tell you, we can do some magic but we’re not sure how much yet. We’ve been sort of testing it. There’s a complete reading list for all subjects here and we’ve been dipping in and out of it. There’s a lot I remember from the books as well, although Alan’s a bit shaky on the potions and their ingredients”.

Astonished, the invited four glanced at Albus for guidance only to see him paying close attention to his guests and smiling slightly.

He told his new guests about ‘plan B’ and the small but necessary part they would play. Alan slipped his arms around Dan and they looked at each other meaningfully, and, after a long silence, nodded minutely at each other then kissed, just lips, but it lingered and was reluctant in parting. They faced their interlocutors, “We’ll do what we can. We don’t want to die. We know that Harry has to be the one that kills him, erm, Voldemort, but we can’t. You’ll probably need to test us to find out how much magic we’ve inherited, too. Shit, I’ll shut up now”, Dan subsided in Alan’s arms. Alan held him and kissed his scalp through his hair.

Albus stood and smiled, “I cannot imagine what you are going through, divorced as you are from your daily lives and yet you offer to help us? I am awed and thankful. Yes, we will have to test any skills that you may possess and we may have to involve you in a minor role at the final redoubt but it will not all be bad. As ‘Harry’ and ‘Severus’ of course you will have full recourse to their funds. I believe that successful muggle actors earn quite well. I assure you that the vaults should be satisfactory in this regard as we are not letting it be known for now that the two heroes are no more. After the battle however, we may have to.......”

Alan understood and his heart sang, “You may have to send us into exile, somewhere quiet where we cannot be disturbed. So long as there is a decent library, a clarinet, a few decent cigars, Dan and some erotica and a large bed, then I. for one, will be a happy man. Dan rounded on the man with a laugh, “Me? In your eternal future?” The elder man kissed his young lover, another long lingering tongueless thing that made Dan groan, “Yes”, he whispered so only the two of them could hear. Dan smiled, all sultry, “All I want is somewhere quiet, by the sea, with a guitar, plenty of beer and sunshine, Alan would be a nice addition too, access to some dosh for our simple needs and no-one hassling us”.

The five magicals stared at them. Finally Kingsley spoke, “Do you not want to go back to your lives” Dan whirled on him. “Can we? Are we able to? Because no-one’s come up with anything so far. There hasn’t been a peep about going back, so Alan and I sort of presumed that we’re stuck here. Look we’re sorry about Harry and Severus and all that and we’ve even offered to help in whatever limited way we can. What more do you want of us?”, by this time, Dan was dashing tears from his eyes.

Remus sighed, “You are so like Harry right now, Daniel. You are highly principled too, with a strong sense of decency. And....Merlin....you look so alike....as to be almost twins....although your scent is completely different and you’re a little taller and so obviously older....”, the man finished on a sniff.

Arthur murmured to Albus, “I quite see why he cannot meet my son and Hermione. Merlin, Albus, when can we tell them?” Albus patted his hand, his eyes full of tears and said, “When Voldemort is gone, Arthur, when ‘Harry’ has done his deed, and not before”. Arthur swallowed heavily, nodded and looked down at the ground.

The meeting broke up shortly afterwards. Kingsley and Arthur Floo’ed away and Albus told the boys how to close the Floo. Alan had it on the second try. They wished the rest of their visitors a cordial goodnight and smiled a lot. As the door shut on Snape’s old chambers, Remus folded against the dungeon wall with a small howl of pain and burst into tears.

In seconds, Minerva and Albus were close to their friend and colleague surrounding him with their love and concern. Remus cried out, “He’s so like him. Oh gods, he looks like him, sounds like him but is a lovely man. Oh fuck I wish he’d been like that in real life, I’d be so in love with him. I could fall in love with this version”, he howled. Albus squeezed his eyes shut in realisation. Minerva merely looked confused.

Once Albus had dropped the distraught man back at his chambers and had settled him with hot chocolate he sauntered back with Minerva who quizzed him on Remus’ extraordinary behaviour, “They were lovers once”, he replied, “Severus and Remus”, he continued,”That’s what distressed Remus. Alan is a lovely man and very clearly in love with our Harr....er, Dan. Whatever the morality of this situation, my dear, I just can’t bear to part them”. Minerva was confused and a little disgusted but somehow couldn’t disagree. She wanted to protect these two proud innocents and went to bed full of resolve.

Albus sought his own bed full of fear. Remus collapsed over his own sparse bed and wept for what never was whereas Alan and Dan finally collapsed into Severus’ bed and made quiet love there, finding sleep after peaceful but forceful orgasm had already made them malleable and they twisted together under the bedclothes, clutching each other tight and breathing each other in.

****

They awoke in the dead of night and decided to test their new freedom. Albus had shown them Severus’ secret passage to the out of doors and they took it, well after midnight, when the castle no longer moved around them. They crept from the long mossy passage on quiet feet, half expecting someone to leap out at them or something but they were granted free passage. Alan mumbled, “I wonder how personal wards really are, because all those tuned to Severus Snape have let me in so far”. Dan nodded, “I’d noticed it”, was all he said for a while.

“It happens to me too”, he eventually said, softly. “Everything that seems to recognise Harry Potter let’s me in too.....It’s as if I have to play him for real now. No more CG guys. No more green screen. This is it, Alan, the War, and we’re right in the middle of it. Now we have to act our way out of it and pretend that we’re heroes in order to kill someone. Did you ever get the feeling that your life was all shot to hell?”

Alan pressed his forehead to Dan’s knowing the lad could feel the nod as he made it, “Yes, but I actually quite like some of what has happened”, he murmured. He was kissed again, close-mouthed and nervous, “I do too, Alan. I really like being with you here despite everything. May I ask you something?”

Dan’s tone was light, bantering. Alan huffed out a laugh, “Yes. Of course you can”. Then he was floored by Dan’s next request. “Would you mind awfully if I fell in love with you? Only if this goes on much longer then I think I might”.

Alan’s head reared back but his arms were still around his Dan. He was open-mouthed and shocked. Love? What did this mere boy know of love? Then he remembered Dan’s face as he’d gazed upon the treacherous Felton boy and saw the same gazing up at him, so full of promise, the promise of real love, just waiting for a reason to unleash all that feeling behind those great green eyes and Alan nodded, letting the shyest of smiles emerge, knowing he was already lost: had been since the first kiss.......”Yes, Dan, if you want to love me then I am.....I may be.....oh fuck it, come here”, and he sank his face into Dan’s neck, inhaling Dan’s unique scent.

At the outer door they both clung to each other before throwing it open and waiting to see if anything horrible happened before they ventured cautiously out. The cold damp air assailed their nostrils and they both breathed in deeply, they had missed the out-of-doors.

Hugging the walls of stone, they walked until they were well clear of dormitory windows before striking out across the grass towards the lake where they strolled at a more leisurely pace along the water’s edge. Dan seemed pre-occupied, his shoulders hunched and his hands were out of sight, presumably jammed into his pants pockets beneath his robe.. Alan kept giving him sidelong glances as they walked then stopped dead.

It took Dan a few steps forwards to realise that Alan was no longer beside him and he turned, “What’s up?” he called back. Alan just stood and regarded the boy with the three-quarter moon’s light upon his face, made all the younger by those ridiculous glasses and his heart warmed. He smiled in the near-dark, “Come here, Dan. Please”

Dan shrugged and sloped back a few paces hanging his head, his shoulders up around his ears. Alan flung his arms around his boy and drew him close. He held on for a moment until he felt Dan’s tension relax a little and the lad leaned into him. “Dan, I would like to fall in love with you too. I’m afraid, though. I’m afraid for our current position and what it might mean for us both, particularly you, though if my feelings are going that way, then, I, for one, have no intention of stopping them”.

Dan seemed to think a moment, then he blurted out, “Yeah, Alan, but you’re a straight man really. You have a woman, kids in your life, I can never be anything more than an affair to you and I want....I want....”, his voice tailed away.

Alan rested his head atop Dan’s and simply breathed him and the cold night in. “Dan, we are dead to them, just as you are to your no-doubt very loving family. We mourned, we cried, there may be much more of that to come for both of us but I do know this, I am falling for you, make no mistake about that, even though I don’t know how far yet but I do know that this feeling is significant, not just born of expediency, and very, very real. Even if we hadn’t ‘gone down the rabbit-hole’ so to speak, you know I wanted us to see each other again after filming was all over”.

Dan sighed, “I know and I recall that we were probably going to remain just that, fucks that pass in the night, but that’s not what I want, Alan. I want you and all that goes with you even though I know what ugliness you are now supposedly involved with in this world...”. “Except that I’m not”, Alan countered. “Think about it, Dan, our Marks don’t work. We have no real connection to Voldemort even in this world, we are still Dan and Alan, love, not Severus and Harry. We need to keep that in mind”. Dan relaxed fully then against Alan’s chest and was pulled into a hug that quickly turned into passionate kisses out there in the cold.

They walked a little longer but the cold was starting to seep into their clothes and neither of them actually knew how to perform warming charms. Alan suggested that they head back but Dan stopped him, pointing to a dark finger of building silhouetted against the starry sky, “There’s the tower we were at the foot of when we were found, I’d recognise it anywhere. Let’s just go and have a nosey round though I doubt we’ll feel anything even if a magical anomaly is there. Come on, it won’t take us a minute”.

Alan decided to indulge him, after all it was but a small detour, and soon they were at the base of the tower in question. As they approached it they did so with caution for a small flickering light burnt clear through a window just above ground floor height and this made Dan curious.

At the tower’s base, Dan looked up, the lit window was too high for either of them to see through and now they were close enough they could hear music, soft and muffled but music nonetheless. Dan whispered, “Give us a bunk up. I want to look in that window. I’m surprised at the music too, I didn’t think Hogwarts went in for music much, it certainly didn’t in the canon fictions except for that godawful band”.

Alan smirked in the dim light, “Dan, there may be an adolescent couple fucking beyond that window. Recall, if you will that this is the Astronomy tower and as such was a favourite trysting spot for all and sundry”. Dan rolled his eyes and put up a foot. Alan shook his head and made a stirrup from his two hands into which Dan placed his wet trainer-shod foot. Dan gripped the wall as best he might and allowed himself to scrabble upwards as Alan raised his hands.

He carefully peeked over the sill into the room and the sight that met his eyes made them go round with wonder. There was a girl, a younger pupil by the looks of her and she was concentrating hard as she cast yet another mirror spell at one wall as the previous spell deteriorated then posed this way and that before it before catching the rhythms of the music again and starting in on her routine, bending and stretching in time to it, lifting first one then the other leg high, now spinning on one foot, now pirouetting on the very tips of her toes. Dan smiled as he stepped down again into the wet grass.

“So? What is the great mystery, oh Gryffindor?” Dan swatted Alan’s arm. “I need to get into that room. There’s a little girl there practicing ballet or that’s what it looks like but the music looked to be coming from a muggle boom-box and there was a wire sticking out the back. A wire, Alan, a fucking wire”. Alan shook his head completely unaware of the significance but when he straightened again it was to see Dan haring off into the dark around a corner of the building. With a slight snort of impatience, he followed.

He almost cannoned into Dan standing in the deep shadows, “What the hell are you doing?”, he hissed. Dan shot him a smile over his shoulder, “Trying to get this ruddy door open, stand back”. Alan only then noticed the door at the base of the tower, of course, the prop room, during filming this place had stored the props for the films, trust Dan to figure this much out. Only now, Dan had his wand drawn and whispered “Alohomora”. The door clicked open softly and they pushed on it and ventured inside.

The music was slightly louder now but not at a volume to disturb anyone. They slipped in and Dan pushed the door to but not closed, they may need an escape route. Clinging to one wall they groped their way along a musty smelling corridor. From the remnants of scents reaching Alan’s nose, he surmised they weren’t too distant from the castle kitchens and the air was redolent of school dinners, a memory he wasn’t too fond of but he didn’t think too deeply upon this as Dan had found the door to the room where the girl was. “She’s in here”, he whispered.

They held a hurried conference, “What the hell do we do now?”, Alan’s whisper was urgent. Dan grinned, “You march in there and roust her out, take points from her house and send her to bed, she is up well beyond lights-out after all. Come on, time for you to do your feared potions master bit, love”. Alan huffed out a breath, “Dan, I can’t do this”, he exclaimed in a hoarse whisper but Dan was having none of it, “We need to see into that room. Go on, she’ll be scared of you, you’ll be fine”.

Not liking this at all, particularly pulling rank where he didn’t have any at all, Alan took a deep breath and burst into the room. Dan hung back. “And what do we have here?”, he boomed, letting his voice carry over the music. The girl turned and squawked then scrambled for her cloak and other clothes laid in a neat pile to one side, “Sir. I’m sorry. I can explain, sir”.

Alan tried to look suitably terrifying letting his cloak settle around himself with a swirl, “Who are you and what are you doing out of bed at this hour of the night, young lady?” She wrapped herself in her cloak and was painfully trying to gather up all her bits and pieces. She dropped her wand several times, trying to keep it about her as she picked up her boom-box and her school shoes.

She stopped and let everything in her hands slip to the floor, her contrite little face stared hard at the flag-stones forming the floor of the room, “I was practicing my ballet, sir. The others in my house all laugh at me for doing something so muggle, sir and this is the only place in the whole of Hogwarts I can plug in my boogie box, sir, so I can practice to music. I didn’t want to stop my ballet sir, just because I’m at a magical school, sir”, her small voice subsided to silence.

He let out a long breath, who was he to stop a small child practising her art? A Hogwarts teacher, that’s what. “Name, and house, child?”, he let himself bark. Christ, she was such a little thing, barely older than his eldest great niece. She stammered, “Lydia, sir. Lydia Morrison, second year Ravenclaw. Please don’t hex me sir”.

He glared down at her contemplating her fate, “Very well, Lydia. I’m glad at least that you were honest with me. That’s twenty points from your House for being out after bedtime and you will serve a detention with Filch next Tuesday at 8pm. Now take your rubbish and leave this place and in future you will make arrangements with your Head of House for regular practice times, is that clear? There is no harm in pursuing other interests but they must not be indulged in after hours. We have rules here, Lydia, and there are good reasons why a child such as yourself has the bedtime that you do. I will of course have to report this to Professor Flitwick as your head of House. Now, run along and get to bed before I devise a worse punishment for you”. Thinking that she had got away easy considering that it was Snape who had caught her, she scuttled off without another word, keeping her red face down.

Once she’d gone, Dan appeared in the room, laughing his socks off, “Bloody hell, Alan, you were brilliant, scared the living shite out of her”. Alan rounded on him, “Dan, Snape is a role to me. I don’t actually make a habit of frightening small children. I like them. There are four in my life. I think I was a good uncle to them and I know they loved me. I actually think it’s very sad that a lovely little girl like that has to sneak around in order to practice her non-magical arts if you must know. Now, what is it that you had to see in here?”, he snapped.

The laugh dying in his throat, Dan advanced into the room and saw the distraught look on his lover’s face, and instantly felt contrite. If he had to act as if he was the wizarding world’s saviour then poor Alan had to be the world’s biggest bastard even though he wasn’t, and Dan felt the full weight of that all of a sudden. “Sorry, love, I didn’t think”. Alan snorted, “A Potter-ish trait Dan, try not to fall prey to it too often”, his voice was still a little waspish but he was relaxing again. Dan threw his arms around him and hugged him.

They were quiet a moment until Dan released Alan and pointed at the skirting area of the wall, “That, Alan, that’s what I came here to see”. Alan followed the pointing finger but still wasn’t ‘getting it’. “I fail to see, Dan, what we took all this trouble and hurt one little girl to find”. Dan left off and hurried to the wall. “This, Alan. Now I know we’re not in the canon story any more. Maybe this bit of the castle was affected by us ‘passing through’ at the time of our accident and ‘passed through’ with us. Electricity, Alan. Fucking electricity. Here. In Hogwarts. The light in here is a bloody wall sconce as everywhere else, but this is pure muggle”. It was only then that Alan noticed the plug socket in the wall and the light dawned.

“Oh my God”, he paled visibly and leaned against the opposite wall. “Hogwarts doesn’t have electricity at all, does it?” Dan shook his head triumphantly, “Nope, but this bit does now and I think we sort of brought it with us. How young Lydia found it who knows, but here it is. Now we need to see how far up the tower this anomaly goes”. Alan looked confused, “How far up?”, he asked, frowning.

Dan grinned again, “Yeah, how far up. There’s a single plug-point here but if memory serves me correctly and the anomaly reaches that far up.........follow me”, he muttered and left the room. Exiting, Alan waved his wand at the lights and was quite happy to see them extinguish. He looked in bemused amazement at his wand, shook his head and followed his lover who had disappeared once again into the darkness.

He almost fell up the stone steps. “You could have warned me”, he hissed but he heard Dan’s snigger from somewhere above him, “Use your wand, we can do ‘Lumos’”, he said, cheekily. Alan grumbled as he incanted the spell and his wand-tip lit, showing him to be at the base of a spiral stair. He started to climb.

One floor above, Dan dashed off down a corridor, “If I remember rightly then it’s just down here”, Alan could hear Dan mumbling just up ahead of him, then he heard another door creak open. “This was the props stores office”, Dan called back over his shoulder then Dan’s lit wand disappeared from before him and Alan had to catch up.

The circular tower room was identical to the one below but with two larger windows cut into the outside wall through which they could both see the frozen stars outside. This room contained a small fireplace too but no furniture or even stored junk, the room was completely empty. Alan had no idea what Dan was searching for until he heard a whoop from the opposite side of the room from the door and advanced on the sound, his wand raised, “What is it, Dan? What have you found?”

Dan rounded on him and Alan could see the glitter in his lover’s eyes behind their glass lenses in the dim light. “Look at this, Alan, my love” and his hand slid away from a small white plastic box set into one of the window slots. “We brought technology with us, lover, and as soon as we can, we need money and a trip to Tottenham Court Road”. Alan was scowling by now. The hour was late and he was tired of this little adventure but still he peered at what Dan’s removed hand revealed.

Then he laughed, long and loud. “We don’t even know if it’ll work, Dan”. Dan huffed out an annoyed breath, “I know that, silly, but we have to find out, see if we can get a signal. Who knows, the line may already have been cut and we’ve no way of knowing until we plug something into it but it’s a start. Alan, it’s a bloody start”. They gazed on the plastic box and fully took in it’s significance – they had found a phone connection.

****

Albus was twinkling more than usual as he visited the next day. “Well, Alan, how did it feel to take house points and issue detention, dear boy?” Alan scowled and mumbled, “Bloody terrible, since you ask. In my own life I am not at all used to terrorising children”. This seemed to surprise the old man. “I’m sorry gentlemen, I keep forgetting that you have had other lives, other pasts, so closely do you resemble those that are gone from us”, he replied mildly. Neither Alan nor Dan were fooled by the man’s avuncularity.

Neither of them mentioned their finds of the previous night either.

Then the twinkle was gone as he faced the two strangers, all business, “I’m afraid Miss Granger has suspected that all is not as it seems. It appears that she has been conducting her own researches via muggle means and has rather made two and two make four as is her wont. In short, she is aware of something going on vis-a-vis you two. If you are willing she would like to meet you.

Apparently pictures published on these computer things in your world have come to light, taken by various ghouls at the site of your....er.....crossing and those of your counterpart, Alan, our Professor Snape, showed a physical characteristic of his that was rather hard to ignore. She saw a close-up of his nose and the upper parts of their faces and knew that the dead......people were her best friend and her potions instructor. I-I think it would make everything more.....real to her....if she could meet you. Please recall she has just lost her best friend and they are at such a – difficult age”.

Dan glanced up at the man over the tops of his glasses, he really didn’t want to do this but as they were trapped in this world, they couldn’t stay in these rooms forever, but what then?

He looked at Alan who regarded him sombrely. They exchanged a small nod. Dan blew his cheeks out as he exhaled, “I suppose so. I think it expedient that Ron come along as well, I may as well meet the two of them together”. Albus slowly nodded, “I think that wise, they do rather come as a package. Hmmmm, shall we say after lunch, gentlemen?” They agreed and Albus left.

****

They expected a tap on the door but instead their three guests tumbled out through the Floo, much to their astonishment. Dan thought he’d never get used to this mode of transport, it looked too damned weird and bloody unsettling to boot. He felt quite nervous at the thought of meeting them and tried not to fidget as they dusted off their clothes.

Then first Ron, then Hermione looked up.................and gasped....just as Dan did. Dan watched Hermione’s eyes fill and she shook her head slowly, “Wow, you’re so like him....and yet not”, she sniffled. But Dan was astounded. The boy and girl that stood before him were certainly not Rupert and Emma, not even slightly.

This Ron was slightly shorter than Rupe and sort of gangled more. His wrists and ankles were just visible beneath slightly-too-short clothes and he really had freckles, billions of them. His eyes were really blue and his eyelashes were almost white. His smile was more boyishly eager and didn’t have that lazy quality that Rupe’s did.

Hermione was slightly taller than Emma, on the other hand. Of course, she was much plainer and she really did have bushy hair, masses of it. It stood away from her body like wire wool and was quite long. Where Emma was actually really pretty, this girl was thicker bodied with large ankles though still slim but side-by-side she’d have dwarfed Emma. It struck Dan then, these two were strictly ‘by the book’.

He found himself stammering a little under their combined scrutiny, they had barely passed their ‘professor’ a glance as yet, “I’m sorry for y-your l-l-loss. I really am”. Ron came cautiously forward and Hermione pressed her lips together as if she were biting back a retort. Ron stopped too far away to shake hands and they continued to stare until Hermione stepped forward briskly and held out her hand, “Sorry to be so rude, but I’m Hermione and you’re not Harry Potter, are you?”

Bloody hell, the people were direct around here!

Dan shook her hand, “No, I’m Dan and I’m an actor”, then he turned, “And this is Alan. We were in the same, er, production together”. She was closer now and bored gimlet-like into his eyes, “Oh, wow, I’ve seen teeny bits of the bloody movies. You’re really him aren’t you? Bloody hell. Ron? Remember I told you that this bloody witch from ages ago was trying to write our story and I said it was probably Rita Skeeter and she was making a mint out of fleecing the muggles with her trashy stories?”

Ron cleared his throat and nodded, “Um, yeah. The books that are spelled to disintegrate in the hands of magicals?” She tossed her hair, “The very same. I’ve only seen snippets of the movies without either the telly mucking up or being thrown out of the cinema on my arse. I don’t reckon she really knows what’s going on, so she puts all these curses on so the muggles couldn’t tell us even if they wanted to”.

Dan frowned, “You know about the books? Oh, daft question, you’re Hermione Granger, but are these books really not accessible to magicals, ‘cos I’ve read them, several times, and of course, made the films. We’d just finished the last one as a matter of fact when....we...er, came here. But surely now the stories cannot end in the way of the books. From what I read there was no swap between Harry and Severus Snape and two other non-magical people, certainly not in her books, you know, the witch’s”

This seemed to rattle the young witch and Alan suggested quietly that they all be seated, called Dobby and ordered tea and biscuits. This made the two start and Ron blurted, “Can you do magic?”, his eyes flicking from one to the other; they seemed to be rather close on that sofa.

Dan nodded, “We can do odd bits, the spells we remember from the movies, but they were computer folks adding in all the special effects and all the flying scenes were clever wire-work with then edited out afterwards, so some of them don’t work, I suspect the wand-work although the, erm, author of the books was quite specific about things like that on set, so maybe it wasn’t too wrong. We should try it”, he glanced at Alan whose shoulder almost touched his.

“Indeed. Perhaps if the two of you could assist us, we may yet be useful to you. I know we will never be the persons who you lost and I deeply sympathise with your loss but we do seem to have....developed a certain....I hesitate to call it ‘power’ exactly, but it’s something damn close, as if something......rubbed off.....transferred with us....we were asleep...I had a last scene later that night, Dan had already finished filming. We were asleep and didn’t feel a thing until we awoke in your school infirmary. No, we are not your people, and I’m sorry for that”.

Ron nodded at the raw emotion he saw on the prof...no, man’s face. This wasn’t Snape. (Well if it was, he’d washed his hair, had a nose job, looked a damn sight healthier and he seemed like a nice bloke, bloody shame really). And what was all this we were asleep? It was between lunch and dinner if he recalled correctly – the time of Harry’s death and the arrival of this bloke – these blokes and nodded, “Yeah, we’ll help you learn a bit of stuff if you want, see how much came through with you. It’s the Easter holidays in a few weeks and I’m not going home”.

Dan smiled then and Hermione’s heart nearly broke, still so like Harry but yet not. She had managed to espy the lead actor but had only seen him on screen in the first three films and in tiny glimpses at that but this was the what? Twenty year old? “Will you tell us how it ends, Har-er, Dan? Like you say, it’s probably useless now because of this anomalous situation so we’re in the dark now if we’ve veered from the books somehow. We need to compare notes, talk to you about Harry’s life and such...”, here she sniffled and Ron came over to her, dropped to his knees and held her.

Alan could see how bereft Dan was feeling and they had a hug of their own, their eyes closed until they heard Ron’s strangled, “Well, that’s, er, different”, and realised they were once again being stared at. Dan didn’t care, he needed this contact. He could hear Alan’s voice as if from far away, muffled as he was with one ear in Alan’s shirt, the other covered by the man’s large hand, “Dan and I are lovers”, he stated baldly, stroking Dan’s head.

There was a nervous giggle from the girl, “Actually I was starting to suspect there was something going on between Harry and Snape. Harry never told us anything outright but....well, you know...and....and...sort of seeing it in the flesh, so to speak, I can kind of get it now. Yeah, cute. I hope they were in love with each other because at least, that way, they....they....he died happy”, then the giggles turned to outright sobs and she snuffled into Ron’s shoulder, all the time trying to apologise. Alan just kept Dan where he was.

The two didn’t stay much longer and took their leave as soon as Hermione had composed herself, Ron leading her out with his arm around her. Albus stayed behind and ordered more refreshments, this time a little stronger than tea and no-one spoke until they had a glass each of the fiery whisky and were sipping slowly.

Dan sat forward on the sofa, his glass in his two hands, his elbows on his knees and his face downcast. Alan wanted to comfort him but listened to the tension radiating off the lad and stilled his own movements. Dan took another large sip and, to his credit, neither coughed nor reddened, in fact took his drink like the man he was. The fact wasn’t lost on Dumbledore.

When Dan felt the old man’s eyes boring through the top of his head he finally raised it, “What is it you want of us, Albus? And how were we brought here? This is nothing that could have happened in our world. What were Snape and Harry working on? Was it something to do with the horcruxes?”

Dan felt Alan shift in the seat beside him and thought, ‘Bugger this. If these folks can be so bloody blunt then so can I. It’s about time we had some answers here’. His gaze was calm on the old man’s face and he watched with interest the barely-disguised flashes of emotion at each part of his questioning but he wasn’t fooled. In all the fictions he’d ever read on the matter, Albus Dumbledore was always a manipulative old bugger with his own agenda. Suddenly, Dan didn’t trust the man an inch.

Alan sought to defuse the situation from the silence they were currently wrapped in, “Look at least can you tell us what year ‘Harry’ was in here at school? I know you probably have sensitive issues around certain things but at least tell us that much”.

Dumbledore stroked his beard and nodded, “Ah, yes, I see no harm....why the boy was due to take his NEWTS in a mere three months. Does that answer your question?” Dan did choke on that sip of whisky and had to put his glass down, “Gosh, so that meant that Harry was really very clever to be taking his NEWTS in lower sixth”. Alan sat back and watched the interplay, truth to tell he was enjoying it, but the next statement brought him to the edge of his seat.

“No, dear boy, Harry would have taken his NEWTS with all the others of his year”. A quick frown and Dan blurted, “But that’d put him in upper sixth, er, seventh year, er, sir”. Albus smirked at the unconscious honorific and nodded, “Quite so, dear boy, quite so. Harry was on the point of leaving school and going into the wide world. In a mere few months he would have turned eighteen”.

Shit!! This so wasn’t the ‘official version’!! Dumbledore was still alive and Sirius had died in Harry’s sixth year. Crap! The wrongnesses were giving him a headache.

The old man continued, “As to what my Potions Master and Harry were engaged in, well, we believe that it did, ah, have something to do with, ah, one of the artefacts you mentioned, young Dan, but if it were to be the case, then said artefact disappeared with them and I know not if it was found on ‘your side’”.

Dan chewed the corner of his lip as he thought. They were so buggered. Albus’ voice cut softly across his turmoil, “I take it that these facts do not resonate with the version of them that you think you know?” Without thinking, Dan nodded, “Well, Hermione did mention something and I inferred from that if a real magical person actually read the original books or saw the films then the author could perhaps be discredited for writing… the wrong story…., at least how it really happens.....erm, something like that”.

Albus’ laugh was loud and rather bit at the stillness around them, “But of course, dear boy. You had just completed the story, had you not? I mean in your films?” Dan nodded, “Well, yeah”. Alan cut in, “Am I to suppose from this that the author of the tales we acted in had been, shall we say, a bit premature? That the story hasn’t ended at all yet?” Albus’ eyes had started to do the twinkly thing, much to his guests annoyance. Dan furrowed his brow, “So, in that case, the real story hasn’t actually happened, yet? At least not the killing of Voldemort bit at any rate?”

“Quite so, I fear, we still have that rogue to deal with along with his various henchpersons. As Miss Granger rightly pointed out, you need to at least know the reality of Harry and Severus’ lives but maybe that is not for now, you have had a traumatic enough time of it, I’ll be bound. Also, I would like you to hear young Hermione’s version first. As to what comes next? Dear boys, I really have no idea but I think you will have your parts to play ere this is all over but not on the battlefield, no, not there, that is, if you wish to play a part”.

‘Wily old bugger’, thought the two more or less simultaneously. Alan spoke, “We are not certain of a part we could play, being so ill-versed in your various arts. I brew my own beer and have made a little wine. I am a passable chef and make an excellent cup of tea but there my knowledge of brewing potions ends”. Albus stood to leave, “The perfect attributes of a Potions Master in the making, dear boy. By the way, do feel free to go into the castle, preferably when the students are in bed, but our fine library stays open for staff use until midnight each night. I’m sorry I cannot expose you to the rest of the student body just yet until we can explain your lack of magic and your, ah, physical changes. Yes, take a torch, look around. If you wish to go abroad in the early morning if that is more to your liking, then the students are not generally up until six thirty....”, he made to go until Dan called him back.

“Headmaster, would it be possible for me to obtain clothes that actually fit me? Well, the robes are a bit tight but the, um, muggle clothes are miles too big”. Albus smiled, “If you can hang fire, young man, until the Easter holidays, then we’ll see what we can do. ‘Til then, I suggest you take Mr Weasley up on his offer to school you in a few charms, you, young Dan, could do with a shave at the very least and clothes can be re-sized magically to the person, it’s just that Harry never bothered, not being the sartorial sort. Good day, gentlemen. If you wish to come to supper tomorrow, you will be most welcome. The password is chocolate frogs”, and with that he whooshed up the Floo and vanished.

Alan rubbed a lazy circle on Dan’s back when the green smoke cleared, “So, what do you think of all that, Dan?” Dan shrugged and exhaled loudly, “Dunno, but I’ve got a feeling we’ll be right in the bloody firing line come the day. He doesn’t give a shit about us, we’re not even his ‘people’. We can die without it hurting anyone close to Severus and Harry, ‘cos those in the know have already grieved or are grieving for them knowing them to be gone. We’re the ‘red shirts’, love, the expendable ones”.

The rubbing stopped. “Do you still think that we’re in a story even if it isn’t the original author’s?” Dan pondered a moment, “Yeah.....I think it’s because the, um, porno elements are in place. C’mon, what school would realistically pair up a child with a teacher except in the world of fantasy, and let it go on without a murmur from anyone in authority?”

“Point”, Alan said drily. “Yeeees”, he drew out the syllable, “Of course. And letting us stay like this, together in Snape’s rooms, indeed, Hermione’s comments on the state of play between hero and teacher”, and smirked. Dan swatted him, grinning, “Yeah and these stories usually end well, actually. I’d still like to know which bloody tale we’re in, though, if we could find that out maybe we can pre-empt some of the bad stuff. Oh, fuck it, let’s just run away instead, get out of here and fuck off to Australia or something”, Dan sighed.

Alan chuckled gently and pulled the tense man down beside him, wrapping his arms around him, “Well, we have no money and no identities at the moment until at least the Easter holidays then I say we try and get into the bank vaults for some cash, buy us some new clothes and slip off to an Internet cafe, better yet, buy some gear and smuggle it back here. We’ve found no signs of Gringott’s keys have we?”. By now they had searched the rooms pretty carefully as well as the trunk belonging to the dead hero.

Alan felt the shake of the head against his shoulder. They were fucked weren’t they? Somehow, right at that moment, holding this delightful man before this roaring fire he didn’t give a damn. He planted a couple of kisses in Dan’s hair and held him as he trembled, at some point grabbing his legs and swinging them over his own lap the better to hold him.

It didn’t take long before the weight increased against him and he realised Dan was asleep. He dozed off himself then just the way he’d imagined it what seemed like months ago in his cottage flat, only this time, who knew what danger he was now in. He really found it hard to care and followed his lover into sleep.