Chasing Padfoot

Summary: Sirius Black never answered Harry's call with the resurrection stone during the battle of Hogwarts. Obsessed with figuring out this mystery Harry studies Magic and becomes an unspeakable and does the unthinkable. Jumps into the Veil!

'Thoughts'

"English"

"Basic"

§ Parseltongue §

Chapter: Landing

By far the worst form of Magical travel that Hadrian James Potter has experienced. Even the Knight bus was a taxi ride compared to this. At the end of the day what would you expect it would feel like after jumping through the Archway in the Department of Mysteries or the "veil" as some called it. His colleges would think him crazy and suicidal for sure, however it was not unheard of for a unspeakable to "accidentally" be drawn into the veil. The Minister of Magic would sure have a field day trying to come up with a reason for his death / disappearance.

But Harry was very confident it was not actually a veil to death or whatever medieval taboo that got placed on the archway was. No in fact he was quite sure it was actually a Portal of sorts, however he had no idea where to. He had prepared himself for this day for the past 10 years. Studying All forms of Magic, Runes, Languages, Math and sciences, hell he even brushed up on his Potions and started making Snape "Acceptable" potions just to learn more about magical properties of Materials.

Becoming a Unspeakable also had the benefit of being able to explore other areas of the Department of Mysteries, even acquire a Time Turner or two without much fuss of Another person. It also helped he was Harry Potter. Being able to spend the last 10 years studying Magic and the last 5 as a unspeakable with a time turner Harry Potter was able to quickly Master many forms of Magic.

Obsessed with figuring out what happened with his God father and the fact that he was unable to call upon his godfather Sirius Black with the resurrection stone, Harry questioned several of the worlds former Masters of Magical Theory and they all concluded that if the veil that he was Stunned did not kill him he must either be alive or in another dimension or even possible some other timeline. So Harry knowing he would eventually follow his Godfather through the Veil decided he better study Magic in its fullest in order to be prepared.

-TIMEBREAK- The Morning of Departure

"Master it's time to wake up, breakfast is ready downstairs with the daily prophet on the table". The old Black House elf said.

Harry rolled out of bed. "Thank you Kreacher today is the day. Are you ready?". The Lord Black asked. "Yes Master, The Library of both Potter and Black has been packed away in the special Trunks as you have asked." The Old Elf said. Kreacher has really come a long way since Harry was able to destroy the Locket of his former master, earning the respect and Loyalty from the elf. The elf had no qualms about joining his master in the great adventure see as if he did leave without him he would almost certainly die from the lack of a bond.

A shirtless more buff Harry Potter stood up in the mirror, inspecting his Magical Tattoos making sure everything was in order. Double and triple checking runes and compartments. Magic really was an amazing thing, being able to figure out that Muggle Tattoos could actually be useful with the aid of Magic to hide items like shrunken trunks, Hide Runes that provide emergency Shields and Port keys. Even apply runes on the body that help prevent Toxins and poisons from taking effect.

Harry Triple checked his supplies. He had a good few years worth of food in stasis inside various trunks. Magical Potions also in stasis as well as ingredients for rituals and more potions. Log books of all supplies as well as his entire family Libraries see how there would be no one left to inherit anything. Various other odd ball items and some survival gear stowed away in more trunks, all shrunken down and turned into ink and placed into a ink-like book on his forearm for easy access.

Kreacher would be staying in the Main living chest that was heavily warded for when they Occupied it, The only compromise being that he brought his blasted Mistress with him and put her in the living room. Turned out Kreacher could remove from the wall this whole time, no one ever thought to ask the house elf to do so.

One final trip to Gringotts to width-draw nearly 1/10 of Gringotts holdings, the entire Potter / Black Fortune as well as family heirlooms so that people like the Malfoy's couldn't get their grubby hands on them. He did leave his friends with some parting gifts in separate accounts, he didn't want them to suffer any hardships.

Drawing the Elder wand and activating the logbook and opening the chests to start moving insane amounts of wealth and treasures into the chests he activated the Log book as well. Using Magic to determine what item needs to go into what trunk as well as giving a Name and description of said item for future review. He never really did pay attention to odds and ends that His families have collected and moved to storage. No doubt he needed to bring everything with him so that people couldn't look his families heritage.

This amazing tattoo magic that Harry Developed he was able to even stow away objects like the Deathly hallows and turn them into ink on his skin. Even his time turner was protected as ink on his skin. He even decided to bring along the goblin forged sword of Gryffindor and turn it into a smaller sword on his left palm. Always a thought away from becoming a real sword. Magic was an amazing thing.

Harry Potter has changed a lot and very few people have seen him after the Battle of Hogwarts. Chasing Death eaters for a few years and then becoming an unspeakable he really didn't have too much time for public life. Not that any unspeakable did. He now grew his hair down to shoulder length which gave it the illusion of being a bit less of a mess. He also used his Birth name after figuring out the responsibilities of being Lord and head of house. Hadrian had a nice ring to it. Harry was a real simple name he always thought. It bugged him to no end that he and Tom Riddle had yet another thing in common. A dislike for their simple name.

After and brief trip through various levels of the Ministry he arrived at his Department and another few minutes and maze like doors later he arrived at the Archway as he called it. The Veil never was an accurate name for the mysterious gateway before him.

"Well no time like the present." He said to himself as he begun psyching himself up for the unknown. "One small step for man…" He said as he speed up and jumped feet first into the gateway.

And that is where we start our journey. Yet another form of Magical travel that he definitely does not want to experience again. With his head spinning one of the first things he noticed was the horribly dusty dry air he was breathing. Sand covered everywhere he landed. The archway behind him shimmered slightly as the eerie green light from the portal vanished. Finished delivering its goods it seemed leaving him in complete darkness.

A quick Lumos spell later found himself in what appeared to be a caved in chamber of some sorts. The Archway was behind him without any portal of any sorts active. One of the first things he noticed was with all the sand around him almost like fine Egyptian desert sand there happen to be bodies, hundreds of them poking out of the sand here and there.

Shining the light brighter he stood up and dusted off and headed to one side of the chamber. He noticed some more bodies. All incredibly decayed and old, and a decent number of the top most bodies appear to be witches and wizards judging from their clothes. The wizarding world didn't really have a sense of fashion and you could spot their clothing from a mile away. These must be the Witches and Wizards they cast into the veil sentencing them to death. It appeared to however still be effective. They were quite trapped in a dead dry caved in dome.

All together the chamber appeared to be no bigger than the atrium that his own portal was located in. Not a large space by any means, and the bodies and stale air that surrounded him set him into a panic.

Searching the bodies for his godfather was not how he wanted to be searching for him. But it had to be done none the less. Deciding to be smart about it however he decided to use a quick summoning charm to summon the body of his godfather if it was here. Magic swirled around him and the Elder wand, very heavy. It was as if this world was filled with magic in the air, he could sense it all around him almost overwhelming.

"Accio Sirius Black" the wizard said. Feeling the spell fizzle as a result of not locating the body / person, he also tried a point me spell. The wand however just spun in his hand continuously not finding him. This gave Hadrian hope. However he wanted to double check all these bodies to make sure he was not here and he also wanted to double check what some of these bodies might have on them.

A few quick summoning charms later the bodies were freely lifted from the sands of time and stacked neatly for inspection. Harry had to use the bubblehead charm to create his own airspace because he could not breathe with all the dust he stirred up. The first thing he noticed was that not all the bodies were human. Some were skeletons of some other races that were very much foreign to him. Another thing he quickly noticed was that all the Witches and Wizards that were here did not have their wands on them. Either all of them were sent here without one or someone else managed to take them and escape here. Obviously the prisoners were probably stripped of anything worthwhile but he knows for a fact that more than a few unspeakable had ventured into here with their wands as well. He even found a few of said bodies, not understanding how even they could appear this old / decayed. Bones almost turning to dust.

Obviously his god father was not present and possibly even escaped here somehow with a wand or two. He did break out of a prison before so you never know.

With a new determination He tried to figure out how his godfather could have escaped this caved in Atrium. The walls seemed to be of a real hard metal. A few area's that he noticed that did have the walls breached where most of the sand / debris seemed to come inside from. A few areas looked like they were melted away, possibly from prior attempts at escaping. The walls were nearly half a meter thick of this hard metal, a feat in itself that someone was able to break through that.

Obviously this place was located underground, he was not sure how deep. Sure he could create a Arithmetic derived portkey that could send him vertically up two miles or so and then perhaps ride his trusty firebolt down to safety. That would have to be a last resort he determined. He couldn't apparate either because he had no known location that he knew of in mind from this place.

'How did Sirius get out of this place?' Harry thought. He would have been drastically less prepared than Harry was, armed with a wand and no supplies. He would have had to have gotten out of here within a few days max. There was no way he could sustain himself without water. The only thing his godfather had going for him was how he escaped Azkaban Prison, his animagus form the grim.

"That's it!" He said ecstatically. His godfather must have found a narrow place to have climbed through. He spent the next hour combing the walls and digging out the sides a bit. Exhausted he decided to take a break and drink some of his precious water out of his supply chest for water. When he gulped back some refreshing water and was charmed to be either slightly chilly or slightly warm that's when he saw it. Near the very top of the ceiling was some type of ventilation shaft he didn't notice because the lack of light. He sent an orb of light shining brighter and further up to get a better look.

'YES!' He cheered. He could see how Sirius made it out. He would have had to levitate himself up there and then change near the entrance to the pipe. It was small but at the same time large enough for a skinny dog to squeeze through.

Bringing out his firebolt from his tattoo of a broom on his right hand he zoomed up to the top and got a good look inside. The place had not been disturbed for quite some time. He could clearly make out the dog paw prints leading further into the old ventilation pipe.

"This is it, my first clue" Harry said joyfully. Now he got to follow in his godfathers footsteps quite literally as he stuffed what he could of his upper torso into the piping system and returned his broom to his tattoo on his hand. Harry then proceeded to change into a small black blob of fur as he worked his way into the rest of the pipe shaft.

Shaking the dust off his coat the emerald eyed grim proceeded to sniff and trot down the piping vent.