Past Mistakes

Chapter six

Awkward Answers

The train ride felt surprisingly long. Damien had never ridden it without Ron and Hermione by his side before, but didn't complain, as he had Harry, Sebastian and occasionally Dorea. Dorea, however, ran all over, only poking her head in briefly whenever she was moving down the train in search of friends.

"She's more trouble than the both of us combined." Sebastian told him exasperatedly after the fifth time Dorea had run off again. "Can't stay still for more than five minutes if she doesn't have mum or a professor hovering over her." He rolled his eyes.

Damien grinned. "At least it's the harmless kind. Sorry to break it to you, but I've always been a trouble-magnet. How about you?" He turned to Harry.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I wouldn't go that far..." He began feebly.

Sebastian laughed. "Right. That's why mum and dad have been called to Hogwarts so many times; to talk about how calm and inconspicuous you are."

"Hey! It's not like it's my fault!" Harry objected with a slightly forced frown, his lips twitching.

"What?" Damien asked curiously. He had a tendency to always land himself in something dangerous, and wondered what Harry could have done.

Harry mumbled something incomprehensive under his breath.

"Pardon?" Damien smiled.

"I said; there was that time I -accidentally- turned Mrs Norris yellow in first year. And McGonagall didn't figure out how to turn her back until after two weeks." He said, cheeks colouring red.

"He was the Gryffindor hero that year." Sebastian told him sagely.

"I bet." Damien sniggered. "And I reckon Filch must have been ecstatic."

"He was livid." Harry grimaced. "I even tried to apologize, but he screamed at me about chains, thumbs and dungeons and what-not."

"Oh, I've been there too." Damien waved it off. "Although... I've never been the House hero for something like that." He admitted with a sardonic smile. "I've been the House pariah countless times, though." He shrugged.

"What did you do to deserve that?" Sebastian tilted his head curiously.

"Oh, me and a couple of friends helped Hagrid smuggle an illegal dragon out of Hogwarts, got caught out of bed and lost Gryffindor over a hundred points just over night." He recounted quickly. "That was my first year, too."

Harry and Sebastian stared at him, both slack-jawed. "A dragon?" and "Over a hundred points?" were spoken simultaneously.

"Who caught you?" Harry asked with a sympathetic wince. "Snape, right?"

"No. McGonagall, actually." He chuckled at their expressions.

Harry looked horrified. "How could she do that to her own house?"

"She's fair like that, you know." Damien shrugged. It was a long time ago, and he had experienced worse by now. Far, far worse. His expression darkened momentarily, thinking of Umbridge's brief reign of terror.

Sebastian looked contemplative. "Why do I have a feeling you have many more such stories to tell?"

"Well. As I told your parents; my life has been far from boring." Damien shrugged. He gave the two of them a knowing look and both blushed furiously. It was the first time he had acknowledged the fact that they had been eavesdropping when he had told James, Lily, Sirius and Remus the truth about his upbringing. Not that he particularly cared; that just meant he wouldn't be forced to repeat it. But still.

"So will you go through with the Sorting together with the first years? Or will you simply come to Gryffindor?" Harry asked, effectively changing the subject.

"I haven't got a clue." Damien admitted. He hadn't thought about that, to be honest.

"Maybe Dumbledore will let you be Sorted before the first years, in his office or something?" Sebastian suggested offhandedly.

"Maybe. Or he'll want to do it in front of the rest of the school, just to introduce me." Damien said. He wondered which house he'd end up in this time. He glanced at Harry and Sebastian and couldn't help but wish for Gryffindor; he wanted to spend as much time as possible with them, while he was stuck here.

As it happened, Damien was to be sorted together with the first years. McGonagall took him aside when he walked through the doors to the castle and escorted him to the chamber he had waited in his first year. Damien just walked over to the side and leaned against the wall to wait. Soon enough, the room filled up with children. Many of them stared confusedly at him, but Damien simply smiled back. He listened to McGonagall's customary introduction speech and then followed the first years into the Great Hall. It was filled with people. Damien suspected there were more students here than in his own world; most likely courtesy of Voldemort. The madman had killed so many people, during both wars, that it shouldn't really come as a surprise. He recieved more and more stares as the crowd of first years thinned. When it was only him left, Dumbledore rose.

"As you all have no doubt noticed by now, we have a new addition to the school that isn't a first year, this year. Please welcome Damien Potter, who will join the fourth years, due to some unfortunate, albeit unique, circumstances. Mr Potter, if you please." Dumbledore mentioned towards the sorting hat. Damien gave him a small nod and sat down on the stool. He felt like snorting when the hat wasn't even close to as big on his head as it had been the last time he'd tried it on.

"Ah, another Harry Potter? How fascinating." A thin voice whispered in his ear. "But I see you go by Damien here. Very well, then. Now, where to place you?" The hat mused. "My counterpart seems to have had quite a task sorting you, young man. I can see that you would fit into either of the four houses fairly well. My counterpart seems to have been partial to Slytherin? Yes, I can see that." Damien let out a mental sigh. "But that's not what stands out most in your mind, anymore. No, you have lost far too much. I'd say Hufflepuff would suit you well." The hat mused.

Damien couldn't help but grin. "Really?" He thought back. He wondered what the wizarding world he came from would think of that; the Boy-Who-Lived in Hufflepuff? An outrage!

"Yes, you're fierce and loyal. Both characters that Helga valued highly. But I can see and understand that you want to spend whatever time you have here with your siblings," It made a brief pause. "That only leaves...-

"-GRYFFINDOR!" He called out the last word for the entire hall to hear, and the Gryffindor table clapped politely. Damien gently handed the hat over to a surprised McGonagall, and then strolled over to join Harry and his friends.

"What took it so long?" Harry asked curiously.

Damien grinned. "He wanted to place me in Hufflepuff." He chuckled. "Apparently I'm both loyal and fierce." He rolled his eyes with amusement.

"But it decided on Gryffindor instead?" Sebastian sounded surprised.

"Apparently." Damien smiled. The food chose that moment to appear, and all conversation was put on hold while everyone filled their plates. Once they started up again, Damien was more than happy to just sit back and listen to the conversations all around him. He couldn't help but notice the fact that all the Weasley siblings were giving him strange, slightly wary glances. Harry didn't seem to notice, despite the fact that he was chatting happily with Ron. Sebastian, however, noticed and scooted a bit closer.

"Why are Ron and the Weasleys looking at you like that?" He asked quietly.

Damien smiled. "Remember how I suddenly found myself in this world?" Sebastian nodded. "Well, I found myself sitting on the kitchen floor in the Burrow; the Weasley's house." He explained. "I was exhausted, in pain and thoroughly confused." He suppressed a wince when he remembered his reaction. "Let's just say I didn't give the best first impression."

"Oh." Sebastian looked over at the redheads again, understanding dawning on his face. He was eventually pulled back into a conversation by one of his friends, leaving Damien to enjoy the meal.

.o.O.o.

"So is it true?" Ron looked intently at Damien while he crawled into his bed.

"Is what true?" Damien asked while he took out his pyjamas from his trunk.

"Dumbledore came to our house to tell us that you're Harry from another dimension." Ron's words caused all the other boys in their dorm to pause whatever they were doing to listen.

"Yeah." Damien nodded distractedly.

"Really? You're Harry?" Dean asked, eyebrows raised as he looked from Harry to Damien and back again.

"It's true." Harry said with a shrug and finished changing. He then jumped onto his bed and watched from there.

"You don't really look that much alike." Neville pointed out. "I mean, you definitely have the Potter look, but..."

"I grew up very different from Harry." Damien said. "And so did my version of Neville." He added, looking the other boy over curiously. This Neville seemed much more certain of himself, and he seemed almost spoiled. Huh. Imagine what a difference parents can make, Damien thought wryly.

"How could it possibly be that different?" Neville asked sceptically.

"For starters, my parents died when I was one." Damien began dryly. "And Neville's parents," He hesitated. "well, he was raised by his grandmother." He was reluctant to scar these children too much -they were only fourteen-, and he could admit that Neville's parents' fate was worse than death.

"But why?" Ron frowned, obviously confused.

"We had a very dark wizard where I come from. He killed a lot of people." Damien ended the sentence by shrugging out of his shirt and throwing it into the laundry basket.

"What the hell happened to you, mate?" This time it was Seamus who spoke up.

"What?" Damien glanced at him over his shoulder, confused by the sudden turn of the conversation. Seamus waved a hand towards him and Damien looked down on himself. "Oh... Magical creature, magical creature." He pointed at the scar on his shoulder from the Horntail and then the puncture mark the Basilisk had given him. "Dark, cursed, magical object." He pointed at the scar the Horcrux had left on his chest. "Knife." The scar Wormtail had given him when taking his blood. "Curses." The scars left from the Avada Kedavra on his chest and forehead. "Bloodquill." His hand. "Did I miss something?"

"Don't think so." Harry answered faintly, unable to tear his eyes away from his counterpart's numerous scars. It was the first time the other's story seemed real; it was easy to dismiss it as nothing more than a story, but the other had had to actually live it.

Damien shrugged and pulled his pyjama jumper on. When he was done, he climbed into his bed and settled down. The other boys still seemed to be lost in thought.

"Good night, then." He said and lay down, pulling his drapes closed. He paused a second and then cast a silencing charm on them; he didn't want to wake the boys up if he ended up having a nightmare, something that was sadly all too plausible. Finding himself stranded in another world without any contact with -or knowledge of- his friends, hadn't exactly helped his nightly terrors either. When he had settled down and found a comfortable position, Ashes joined him on the bed and curled up beside his head on his pillow.

Damien smiled weakly and closed his eyes. Sure, he wasn't where he belonged, but things could be much worse. He would bide his time for now, and find an opportunity to talk to Dumbledore as soon as he could.

. o . O . o .