It's all AU.

It was still cold out, and John was irritated. Not enough to try to change anything about it, but still..

From goodness knows where he'd dragged up a long black military-looking woollen coat with bright red insignia on the lapels and the shoulder straps, and he pulled this around him against the chill in the air.

He was at the lake, standing on the jetty, when he heard the crunch of feet in the frost-covered gravel behind him. He didn't turn, just sniffed loudly, and took a long swig from the flask of alcohol in his hand. He placed it back slowly in his pocket, then blew hard on his cupped hands, despite the fact that they were already clad in thin leather gloves.

"Some prick froze the damn lake. Fuckin' idiots, " he muttered loudly.

Harry was enjoying the snow more than he'd expected to when he first set eyes on it when opening his curtains that morning. He was bundled up in a big (black) coat and scarf and leather gloves and positively bouncing as he found a path in the park no-one had walked along yet and made deep, dark footprints in the virgin white of the snow.

He wasn't quite so happy when a load of snow slid off a tree and right onto his head, though. In fact, he looked pretty outraged, glaring about to try and see if someone had done that on purpose.

He squawked when someone fell into his lap in the hotel's lounge. "Watch where you're going, would you- Oh, it's you. Nevermind, then." He smirked.

Harry had missed the party. He'd missed a lot of things, actually. He'd been doing a lot of wandering about, a lot of sleeping, and a lot of dozing. As soon as he'd decided to just accept the strangeness of the place he'd found himself, he'd calmed right down.

He was currently in the hotel lounge, relaxed in a chair and reading a newspaper. Well, ostensibly reading. In reality, dozing.

Harry had. Calmed down a bit. He'd been here a few days and he was starting to get used to the fact that absolutely nothing made any sense.

He had – eventually – found Lucy's note in the hotel lobby and gone up to her room several times, but she hadn't been there. Well, sometimes, he could swear there was someone in there but the door was locked and no-one answered.

Eventually he remembered the final part of her instructions and left her a note telling her where his room was and could she please come and find him instead.

Then he went for a walk. With an ice-cream. Might as well enjoy himself while he was stuck in the place that made no sense.

Harry woke in the same hotel room he'd gone to sleep in.

He was surprisingly un-worried by this. He was annoyed at missing the celebrations last night, and itching to get going on the business of ruling Great Britain, but this was the most exciting thing ever to have happened to him and he was eager to explore.

He got up, washed with products amazingly similar to his own at home, dressed in a suit he was positive had come straight from his own wardrobe, and wandered out into the hall, impatient to see what was outside. He walked straight past the note Lucy had left in the lobby without even noticing it and wandered out into the sunlight.

( Harry and Lucy's arrival – cut for length )

For a long moment, Harry stood where he was and gazed around at the corridor, puzzled and irritated because he didn't understand what had happened – where they were, how they'd got here, or why Lucy had run off like that. He could also feel one of his familiar headaches starting up, the annoying duh-duh-duh-dum rhythm thudding in his head.

He sighed, pursed his lips and set off towards the stairs, to see what there was to be seen. He ended up in a hotel lobby. Most peculiar.

At least there were people here. He let a couple go by, and put a hand out to the sleeve of one of them, to stop them. "Excuse me," he said politely – but with authority. "Could you tell me where I am?"