Scattered (HP)

chapter one

The party in the Slytherin room is raging on with Draco Malfoy at the center. His father had just made a large trade deal with another family of the Sacred Twenty-Eight and, as most Slytherin families found it safest to be allied with the Malfoy's, it was a victory for all. They were not as wild as a Gryffindor party might be, but there was a fair amount of underage drinking and classical music.

"I would like to give a toast," Harry says loudly, raising a glass of champagne, pulling his boyfriend (and soon to be fiànce) closer by the waist, and the Slytherin common room quiets to hear his words. "To love, to blood purtiy, and magic without restraint!"

He catches the surrounding cheers as he downs his drink. He tilts his head toward Draco, who's at his waist, and leans in for a kiss--

But he's left kissing air as he's swept away into what seems to be a Gringotts vault.

It's certianly not how he had intended to spend his courtship anniversary and now he's kind of pissed about it. Brushing off his designer robes with a sneer, Harry notices that, for whatever reason, there's a fancy cup in his hand.

... Helga Hufflepuff's fancy ass cup. One of Tom Riddle's horcruxes, which Albus Dumbledore (he sneers to think the name) destoryed two years ago. It shouldn't exist. Hm, thinks Harry. Well then.

He also notes that he's in a vault with a bunch of other fancy ass shit. The cup in his hand is multiple tenfold and spilling onto the ground, joining the other riches on the floor. It suggests a multiplying charm.

Harry sets the cup on the ground and backs away from it.

So. He's in a Gringotts vault. Which... should be impossible, considering you can't apperate into Gringotts vaults. And even then, he didn't apperate at all, he was busy being making goo-goo eyes at the best boyfriend in the world, what in the world is going on?

Harry decides that figuring out how he here would help him figure out how to get out. He knows that Gringotts magical protections react to one's magical core. Hypothetically, if one's magical core was otherworldly, would the protections still effect it?

It would raise more questions than answer but it would still answer something; it's a start. It would, for example, explain why a horcrux which was pastly destroyed found itself in his hand, unscathed. If the conclusion he's to come to is that he's somehow traveled into another world, an alternative reality, the question would be raised as to how. Temporal magic is not impossible, and he'd even buy an extreme accident sending him back more than what was previously established possible. That, however, seemed unlikely: this was a different universe altogether. He'd like to go the fuck back, thank you very much, but had no idea how.

One thing at a time, he supposed.

If his theory proved correct, he should be able to apperate out of the vault. He's a bit rusty-- Lucius had only begun teaching him the summer before-- but he needn't go far; the Gringotts lobby would do. Closing his eyes and imagining his destination, he steps forward.

And with a loud crack, appears in a crowded Gringotts lobby.

People stop bustling around him and immediately their whispers flood his ears, which overrides his joy at having not splinched himself.

"Oh my god, why's he wearing Malfoy designer robes?"

"Disgusting Muggle sayings aside-- it's 'Oh, Merlin,'-- I share your confusion--"

"Albus said he had this situation under control--"

"Obviously he fucking lied."

"As usual."

"You can't apperate in Gringotts--"

"The goblins will be so pissed--"

"Who wants to bet they'll dismember him?"

"Burn him alive, most likely--"

"Puh-lease, they'll just bankrupt his family."

"Okay but is that--"

"No way--"

"Isn't that Harry Potter?"

Putting on a strained smile, Harry waves and opens his mouth to correct them because he goes by Harry Malfoy, now, it's a bit premature but they're pratically already married so what's the harm? The Potter's birthed him, sure, but it was the Malfoy's who raised him; taking him under their wing once he arrived at Hogwarts and welcomed him into their home once the summer came. Before he can not-so politely correct the passerby, a goblin steps out from behind the front desk.

They're much shorter here, Harry thinks, but no less menacing. Harry thinks that the goblin certianly seems like it wants to dismember him. He makes to disapperate but stops last second; if they wanted him dead, he'd be so already.

The goblin stops in front of him and Harry gives a deep bow-- Narcissia always told him respect toward goblins was important; she's always been a fountain of wisdom-- and says, confidently, "Greetings."

The goblin does not seem impressed. Oh, well. You win some you lose some, as Blaise always said. "Dumbledore told me to take you folk to him if any more showed up," he grumbled, which freezes the smile on Harry's face.

Ah. So there's more of him. Given this is an alternate reality, that's to be expected, but the wording suggests that there's more than one other. It could be a key component in figuring out what the hell is going on.

... There being another him implies there's another Draco. Trying not to think about the possibilities surrounding that, he shakes it from his mind.

Albus Dumbledore appears to be a public figure im this world, too. Did the insufferabilty change? Only one way to find out.

Harry Malfoy adjusts his robes, straights his back, and holds out his hand to the goblin. He will handle this situation with all the finesse of a Pureblood prince. He will hold his head high and let no incapability show through--

He's a Malfoy, after all, and that's what Malfoy's do best. He smiles and says, with a tone that screams polite impatience: "Then we best be going, shall we?"