Harry Potter in a Parallel World


Once upon a time there was a little boy. His name was Harry. He lived at ‘number four of Privet Drive’ with his parents, James and Lily. The boy was small and skinny for his age. He had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses and looked like a normal kid. But he was not. To be very frank, he was a bit peculiar. Always lost in his colorful world of dreams and imagination.

Harry did not like the other kids. Mainly because he could not mingle with them and the fact, that they bullied him. You see, he had hard time speaking properly. He would with great difficulty string together words. Mostly though, he let out low rasps, was a desperate attempt to talk. So the other kids made fun of him. They called his raspy voice ‘The Snake Language’. Harry did not like the other kids at all.

So instead of playing with other kids, he would spend his time looking for ‘hidden doors and secret passages’ in old walls or chimney. And when he was not busy being Sherlock Holmes, he would sit by the window of his room observing a ‘tabby cat on the brick wall’. As time flew by, he grew lonelier and lonelier. Often he used to escape his room and hide ‘under the stairs’. He liked the compact dark place.

“He is special in his own ways”.

That’s what his parents would tell everybody. But deep down they were worried about him. And a horrific episode made things worse.

One night it was raining and thundering. A thief infiltrated their home. The masked thief got down to his business straight away. Little did he anticipate that Harry would see his silhouette on the wall! Out of the fear of monster, Harry started crying out loud. The masked thief didn't know what to do. And in the chaos he hit him hard with his torch. But James and Lily had already heard the cry. They rushed into Harry’s room and witnessed the horror. James did not need a moment’s hesitation to get on with the masked man to save his family. It was a gory tussle. Guns got out, there was blood everywhere and then it was silence. Finally ‘you know who’ was dead.

They were all safe now but the little boy was not same after that incident. Harry had a severe head injury and it had left him with ‘a scar on his forehead’. The trauma of his worst nightmare coming true, leading to all the gun-shots and the blood, caused him to loose his mind and a memory lapse. Inside his head, he had killed the ‘nose-less monster’ (masked man) but lost his parents in all the firing and blood. The last memory of him about that incident was ‘a blinding flash of green light (torch) and a burning pain on his forehead.’
Although James and Lily did everything they could, to make him remember back his memory. But he didn’t remember anything at all.

“Who are these people?” he would often wonder.

They loved him with all their heart. They bought him all sorts of toys and games. But he thought these toys were probably for their other son.
He was their only child.

He grew lonelier and stranger day by day. To encounter all the loneliness, his mind started imagining things which were not there. He was even violent now. He started throwing things at others. And hurt the neighborhood kids who bullied him earlier. Harry didn't know this though. He would see these things happening on their own. Almost like magic.

James and Lily were sad. Their efforts were failing. First, gently they tried talking Harry into not doing all these things. But when he wouldn't stop, they had to ground him and punish him for his misdeeds. They never wanted any of this. James and Lily were very sad.

But how could Harry make them understand that he is not the one doing all these things. No one understood him. He missed his dead parents now more than ever. He hated living with these distant relatives now. He wanted to run away. He felt suffocating. And the more he felt suffocating, the more things started to get out of control.

James and Lily started getting a lot of complaints now. Almost in every mail letter, issues about Harry were addressed. James tried to hide all the complaint letters from the Harry. 

They didn't want him to get more upset. But when the letters wouldn't stop coming, they finally thought best to go out for a vacation. Somewhere far-far away in some ‘blah island’.

But they knew this wasn't a permanent solution. So they consulted Dr. Albus, a famous psychiatrist, about his behavior. Dr. Albus, in his wisdom, then advised them to admit him to the ‘Hogwarts Institute for the Mentally Challenged’, so that he can be treated.

It was a very hard decision for them. Lily was devastated. But it had to be done. They celebrated his 10th birthday. And the next day institute’s Mr. Hagrid came to pick him up. Hagrid empathized with the poor couple and he was very kind to Harry.

“Come on Harry, it’s time to go.” said Hagrid with warmth in his eyes.

Harry was finally going to escape this place. He was going to a Magic school. That’s what the huge man told him. He was a wizard. Harry couldn't have been happier.