Chapter 8: Chapter - 8 : The Birth of Orion Aubrey part - 2
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Harry's first weeks in the new world he found himself in were spent leafing through Daily Prophets, scrubbing pots and pans in the Leaky Cauldron, and listening in on conversations as he wandered around Diagon Alley. Tom the innkeeper had kept his promise and had introduced Harry to a few other shopkeepers; Florean Fortesque paid him in ice-cream sundaes to run errands and help out behind the counter, and Harry was happy to stack shelves in Flourish and Blotts in return for being allowed to read through all the books in the history section.
The odd-jobs didn't pay enough for Harry to eat more than one proper meal a day, however, leaving him permanently hungry as well as exhausted from struggling to adapt to the strange world he'd been thrown into. He knew he couldn't continue living as he was for much longer and so did his best to gather the information he needed to put some of his plans into action. He quickly found that while at first glance everything was very similar (Dumbledore was Headmaster of Hogwarts, Lucius Malfoy had pleaded the Imperius Curse after Voldemort's defeat, and Fudge was incompetent), there were some rather unsettling differences.
For one thing, Crouch's wife had died of dragon pox three years ago instead of in Azkaban while polyjuiced to look like her son, which left Harry wondering whether Barty Crouch junior had been smuggled out of prison or not. Another worry was that Dolores Umbridge had been promoted to Undersecretary several years earlier than she had in Harry's world and had no doubt been spreading her bigoted beliefs ever since.
There was also some good news, however; Harry heard many of the regulars in Leaky Cauldron talking about Gideon Prewett having recently joined the Wimbourn Wasps as Keeper. It was a change Harry was especially pleased about, since he knew Mrs Weasley had always mourned the loss of her brothers during the first war. Harry didn't hear anything about Fabian Prewett, but hoped he was alive as well. Harry wondered how the Prewetts' survival could have changed things, but didn't know enough about them to guess.
The culture and magic of the wizarding world in general seemed quite similar to what he was used to - people used the same spells, listened to the same music, and watched the same sports - and by all accounts the war had progressed much as it had in Harry's world. Voldemort had slowly gained power and support from the old Pureblood families, while the Ministry ineffectually tried to arrest Death Eaters and the Order did their best to save as many lives as they could.
Harry was sure small details would continue to trip him up for a long time to come, but he felt that he had a good enough grasp on the more obvious deviations between this world and his own. Any blunders Harry made when talking to people could be blamed on his growing up abroad. In any case, ten year old boys weren't really expected to know much about current affairs, although he had gained some odd looks in the Leaky Cauldron when he hadn't known who was playing in the Quidditch world cup that summer.
His plan to hide his identity was also going rather well. Harry had introduced himself as Orion Aubrey without anyone looking twice and it hadn't taken long to confirm that Sirius Black was in Azkaban for the murder of Peter Pettigrew (and for killing twelve muggles with one spell, although the various newspaper articles treated that as the lesser crime). Harry just hoped a certain rat was where he thought it was, as otherwise proving Sirius' innocence would be close to impossible.
Three days after he had arrived in the new world, Harry dressed in his least scruffy robes and spent over half an hour in front of the mirror carefully casting glamours on his face. He really couldn't afford for the charms to fail or for someone to see through them. What he was about to do was very much a long shot and could blow up in his face, but he hoped he would at the very least manage to keep his real identity a secret.
Once he was finally satisfied with his disguise, he apparated into Muggle London and headed off to the public entrance of the Ministry of Magic. The bright red telephone box that served as the entrance was only a few streets down from Charring Cross road and it didn't take long before Harry stepped inside and dialled 6-2-4-4-2.
"Please state your name and the nature of your visit to the Ministry of Magic," came the smooth voice of the welcome witch.
"Orion Aubrey. Meeting with Arthur Weasley," Harry said into the handset as he stood in the cramped phone booth.
"Thank you. Welcome to the Ministry of Magic."
Harry hung up the telephone just as a silver badge displaying his name and reason for visiting clattered out of the coin return slot. Once the telephone box had slowly sunk into the ground, Harry stepped out into the Atrium and pushed his way through the crowd of ministry employees milling around the statue of Magical Brethren. He frowned at the golden statue as he passed, hoping that the ugly thing would end up destroyed in this world as well. No one thought to stop him as he passed the wand-weighing station and headed towards the lifts, since no one expected a ten-year-old to carry a wand.
He shared a lift with a stressed looking witch and a foreign looking wizard in bright red robes. They gave him rather curious looks, but when he punched in the number for level two and looked as if he knew where he was going, they turned away in disinterest. The lift moved rapidly downwards and sideways, before the doors slid open and Harry stepped out into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry remembered the way to where the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office was tucked in next to a broom cupboard, but he still walked slowly, taking the time to remind himself of his cover story. He couldn't let himself forget that he didn't know this Arthur Weasley and certainly couldn't afford to get too comfortable and slip-up when talking to the man.
The door was open and Harry could see Mr Weasley sitting behind his desk, partly hidden by mounds of paperwork. From the looks of it, muggle-baiting was a popular hobby in this world. Harry rapped on the door to gain the redheaded man's attention, smiling awkwardly when he caught his eye.
"Oh hello," Mr Weasley said, blinking in surprise as he stood up to greet his unexpected visitor. He looked tired and overworked, but nevertheless gave Harry a welcoming smile.
"Hello, sir," Harry said. "Are you Mr Arthur Weasley?"
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