Harry Potter felt like his stomach was full of lead. His first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had come to an end and now he would have to return to his horrible relatives, the Dursleys, for the summer.

Maybe it won't be so bad, he thought as he prepared to board the train, they don't know I can't use magic - like Hagrid said - and maybe... well, maybe they've changed.

The moment he thought it, he snorted in contempt. The only way the Dursleys had changed was probably to become even more mean and nasty than they were before... and that would be saying a lot. They had treated him like dirt for ten years, and that was before he was a wizard! Now, they were going to be ten times worse... he was sure of it.

Then tell Dumbledore that, a small part of him said.

Yeah right, he argued with himself, I'm supposed to be the Boy-Who-Lived. I can take on the worst wizard in history... twice! but I can't handle my mean muggle relatives. C'mon.

Steeling himself for the inevitable, he reached up to boost himself onto the train when his scar suddenly flared with pain. This usually was a warning of danger, as he'd learned all too well this past year, but what danger could there be in broad daylight and at a crowded trains station?

"Harry!" his friend Hermione, who'd just stepped up on the train ahead of him, cried out in alarm. "Behind you!"

Harry turned and his emerald green eyes widened as a streak of red magic sliced through the air right towards him!

What could he do? If he moved, the curse or whatever it was would hit Hermione. He couldn't let that happen.

The curse hit him full force in the chest, knocking him backwards into Hermione and Ron. His two friends fell on top of each other inside the train. He, however, stumbled and rolled.

"Harry, mate," Ron's voice called to him.

Opening his eyes, he blinked as he gazed up to find several scared looking people staring at him. "W-What happened?" he asked, oddly hearing an echo to his question.

Why would there be an echo? They were outside.

Sitting up, his own eyes widened as he came face to face with... himself!