Same Here, Same There

Pink, pink, and more pink.

Alisha drifted off to sleep and woke to look up at the pink canopy of her room—which wasn't her room. "Why do I have the feeling everything in this room was picked out for me—who I'm supposed to be, by Petunia Dursley? The worst part, though, is the fact I woke up here and not in my actual room back home, but it feels like everything that came before was such a waste!"

Her nine-to-five kind of life was a waste.

Alisha's mouth pushed together, suddenly remembering how she felt about her life back in the other world she came from. "Except, I'm the one who wasted that life before I even came here, right? After all, I was alone, doing the same thing day after day. The only good thing was my house which..."

A shudder ran down her spine. Remember how the closet under the stairs was open, as if waiting for her to take her into another world, a nightmare to be sure of given how she didn't know what to expect even though she knew the canon material for the Harry Potter books. There was no urge to go back to that world, where nothing was waiting for her, let alone a nightmare of a closet which could take her to any other world, perhaps even one she didn't know.

"Just my luck," she said, just as a knock came at her door. She sat up straight, her eyes widening. "Who is it?"

"It's your brother."

"Oh. Harry?" Alisha thought to herself. "Not my brother, but is. Weird. Really weird. Disturbing as is this whole thing."

"Can I come in?"

"I guess," Alisha called out.

The door opened and—

There was no mistaking the shaggy black hair, the red scar on his forehead, and glasses covering his green eyes. He smiled at her, being strangely happy, something she'd not thought she'd ever expect from a pre-Hogwarts Harry, nor was his scrawny or scruffy, at least in the clothing he wore. "No, scruffy's not the right word for it, is it? I mean, the clothing he's wearing isn't baggy, so he's not wearing Dudley's hand-me-downs."

"Aunt Petunia says dinner will be ready soon."

Alisha looked at the ground, her hands clenching her pants legs. "Um..."

"You wouldn't get stuck in your room if you didn't get on Aunt Petunia's bad side," Harry said, smirking at her. "Though I'd honestly like to know what you did to get her that mad."

"What do you mean?" Alisha asked, looking up.

"Oh, come on. She was madder than usual when Duds and I got back. And she would tell Uncle Vernon what you did to make her so mad."

"Vernon Dursley," Alisha swallowed, the fears of having ended up a member of the Dursley family suddenly arising again. "He's mean."

"Well..." Harry pushed his glasses up. "Uncle Vernon is certainly a stickler for the rules and doesn't believe Duds can do anything wrong even when Duds admits he has, but he wouldn't dare cross Aunt Petunia, you know."

"No, I don't know." Alisha closed her eyes. "I don't know this world. I might know the names of places, but I don't know this world! The people who are my family in this world are complete strangers to me, making me uncomfortable! Even more uncomfortable than maybe being alone!"

"Lily?"

"I don't know anything."

"You're acting really weird."

"I guess I would be, given the fact I haven't a clue how I would normally act. This really sucks! It's not a dream come true, yet is the world I came from much better, given the fact I had no friends, no family nearby."

"Hey? Do you have a fever or something?"

"Nope! Aunt Petunia already stuck a thermometer in my mouth!"

Which, of course, brought on a look of confusion from Harry—the Harry Potter.

"Can I ask something?" Alisha asked.

"Uh, sure," Harry frowned, pushing on his glasses, suddenly seeming more like a Percy Weasley rather than a Harry Potter, but it would be just her luck to end up with the nerdy version of Harry.

"How old am I?"

"How—you're ten, but you turned ten just right before summer break," Harry crossed his arms.

"And you're how old?"

"I'll turn eleven soon. What's with the weird questions?"

"Nothing!"

"Yeah. You're definitely acting weird, but Aunt Petunia freaking out, and you getting in trouble wouldn't happen to deal with you suddenly deciding to be weird today?"

"Not nice! Stop being mean!" Alisha said. "Not that I could just blurt out that I came from another world, can I? And I can't tell him bringing up magic stuff upset her. I mean, I don't know how he'd react. I don't know how anyone would react! I didn't ask for this!"

"Yeah, well, Aunt Petunia said you can come down now that dinner's almost ready, but you know she gets worried whenever we do anything weird."

"You mean like accidentally transporting onto the school roof?"

She watched Harry's eyes widen, his cheeks flaming red before he blurted out. "Could you not remind me!"

She stared, and the need to learn more about the world won out. "And your hair growing back!"

"Don't mention that in front of Aunt Petunia! Though I don't like the haircuts she likes!"

"Yup. Aunt Petunia picks stuff out for us, so it's not as if she's easier on us. She wants to be as normal as possible but wants us to as well. And if she found out that I'm from another world..." She sucked in a deep breath. "Sweatshirt shrinking?"

"Never happened," Harry now glared at her. "What's up..."

"Talking to snakes?"

"Don't you dare! Aunt Petunia got mad enough when I mentioned that on Dud's birthday, as well as the flying motorcycle!"

"A flying motorcycle, huh?"

"Yeah. You're one to talk about being mean, Lily." His mouth formed a pout. "And if we're late to dinner, she'll be mad. So will Uncle Vernon."

"Yeah. He doesn't like waiting for food, does he?"

"Lily. Watch it. Your mouth has a habit of getting you in trouble."

"Okay. So, me getting in trouble for saying weird things isn't new, but I should still try and hold my tongue. And, was I this way in the other world? Blurting out things? I don't know." She smiled, pushing herself off her bed and following Harry down the stairs, her hands tucked behind her back. "Pretend as if nothing's out of the norm. That some psycho didn't sneak into your rented house, unlocked a door that had been otherwise locked, and sent you to an alternative universe to one of the worlds, you loved as a child. This is so not happening!"

And yet, when she got down the stairs, she couldn't help but find herself taken aback, such as Dudley—Duds as Harry called him not looking like a pig, although he was still big, bigger than Harry, who was only a month younger than him.

On the other hand, Vernon was, as she suspected, frowning, glaring at them, the children who weren't his own, yet he said nothing. Petunia served the food, being a perfect housewife. "Are you looking forward to your birthday Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry said, which wasn't at all what Alisha suspected. "No books?"

"I can't promise there won't be any books, but it won't be the only present."

Alisha frowned. "Oh yeah. His letter to Hogwarts should be coming. And it should come, as Aunt Petunia freaked out when I mentioned that, so Hogwarts does I think exist in this universe. It's going to be weird, but behave! Don't draw attention to myself!"

Another thought crossed her mind.

"Wait. When the letter comes, I'll be stuck here at the Dursley household all by myself. I'll be alone."

"Lily?"

"I'm not feeling good, so I'm going to bed."

"Alright."

"You shouldn't..."

"Vernon." Petunia shook her head. "If she'd not feeling good, she's not feeling good."

Alisha headed upstairs. "I don't know what to do in this world."