Icarus
Chapter 1
Flight of Chance
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"Oh. Now this is very strange."
Staring down at the younger version of himself, the version of himself that couldn't be any older than fifteen, perhaps having just finished his fourth year, Sirius Orion Black knew it was time to go stop pretending everything was okay. He needed Dumbledore.
But first, he needed to find the firewhisky and the 'big gulp' cup that Orion took his alcohol in after a fight with his Walburga.
.
"Well gentlemen, it appeared we will be free of our schooling for one much anticipated summer."
Throwing his arms across the shoulders of the closest two Marauders -Peter and Remus- James Potter grinned wildly, hair ruffled by the beloved summer breeze. The sun was shining, the birds singing, and most importantly of all, exams were over. All was well with the world.
"Yeah, summer, great."
Or, it was for James Potter.
Hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his trousers, Sirius Orion Black was unable to stop his frown from deepening, eyebrows weighing heavily down above his grey eyes, the dark haired male was very much aware of the approaching summer holidays.
For each day that passed, his 'reunion' with his family grew ever closer, and he was dreading it. Dreading going back to facing his mother's screeching, his father's stern disapproval and Regulus' blatant dismissals. He didn't want that.
Why couldn't Hogwarts just last forever? No summer holidays, just him, the rest of the Marauders, and endless opportunities.
"Shit, Padfoot! Sorry, I-"
"Doesn't matter. I'm gonna go take a walk."
Ducking into the entrance to Hogwarts, Sirius paid no minds to his friends, Remus' soft voice insisting they let him 'go off and think' the last thing to register as he made with way through the halls.
His shoes tapped quietly against the stone floor as he made his way through the streams of students. Something must have given way to the fact he most certainly didn't want to be talking to anyone, because the girls that would have offered him a wink or a smile any other day ducked out of his way.
In all honesty, Sirius had no idea where he was going, and he knew that in a few days he'd regret storming off and not spending as much time as humanly possible with the Marauders. Especially with the threat of his family fast approaching.
But right now, in this moment, he didn't care. He just wanted to get away. It wasn't like there as someone who'd understand his current situation, so there wasn't really anyone to talk to.
James, Remus, Peter, their parents loved them. Thought the world of them.
Sirius' would probably celebrate if he was struck down with lightning. In fact, they'd probably thank the gods for wiping him from the face of the planet.
No, his family wouldn't care if Sirius disappeared forever, and in all honesty, Sirius would be glad to see the back of them too.
.
The dark haired boy paused when a door bloomed into existence before him, simple looking with dark wood and carefully carved features.
A new secret passage?
Mood instantly brightening, Sirius took a look around, eager to figure out where he was. The tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet would be a dead giveaway to its location, and once he told the rest of the Marauders about it, they could figure out how the hell he'd managed to summon up the room to begin with.
Which left only one thing to do; time to explore!
Pulling open the door, Sirius eagerly stepped inside, then stopped upon the sight that greeted him. It was fully to the brim with stuff! Mountains of it, piled up and stretching back as far as the eye could see!
Eagerly stepping into the room, Sirius was sure to shut the door behind him, wanting to interruptions as he explored this place.
Godric, it looked incredible. There were at least six brooms in sight, and he was pretty damn sure one of them was a vintage starskimmer.
Merlin, they stopped make those in the 1750s! So beautifully vintage. There were gems, necklaces, bracelets; hell, whatever lucky bird he took out on Valentine's day next year was in for a treat.
Hell, if this was what he suspected it to be, then they were in for an exciting next few days. Hogwarts' fabled lost and found. If all this crap had been building up for the past thousand years, then there was sure to be all sorts of stuff here.
Remus would probably wet himself if he found any ancient texts in here. Maybe there was some aged cheese for Peter.
Snickering at the thought, Sirius made his way over to the most promising pile, rifling his way through. So much wonderful stuff passed through his hands, he honestly couldn't decide what he wanted to inspect first. No wait, the glowing blue orb thingy looked promising.
Blue was a safe colour, right? Red meant danger, so blue had to mean go!
Fingers coiling around the orb, Sirius only had a second to realize something was wrong before he found himself on the worst portkey journey of a lifetime.
"And you say he just appeared?"
Albus Dumbledore sat up to the kitchen table at Grimmauld Place, a frown sitting heavy upon his crinkled brow.
Across from him, Sirius Orion Black the third gave a shallow nod, both of them turning to stare at the teenager that was currently unconscious on the couch. Sirius had conjured it into existence once he'd finished his first glass of firewhisky, not quite trusting the furniture in the living room to not eat the boy. Whoever he was.
Sirius has a bad feeling.
A bad gut feeling, because this boy was Harry's age and his little goddaughter was as close to being a parent as he wanted right now, thank you very much.
He'd feel a little better if this boy literally wasn't his spitting image. He was really close to hyperventilating.
It didn't explain why he was in Hogwarts robes though. Sirius needed answers, and he needed answers right now.
"I believe it's best if we get a blood sample and see where our friend falls upon your family tree, Sirius?"
The Azkaban escapee nodded.
Yeah, that sounded like a plan.
When Sirius woke up, it was to a sight he'd been hoping to put off for a few days.
Dear Merlin, had that funny looking orb knocked him out long enough for the rest of the school term to pass by?
Because there was no other reason for him to be staring up at what was most certainly his bedroom ceiling.
New rule, blue was no longer a safe colour. Blue was now officially worse than red. The worst colour. He should know, he lived in a house made up of red, and a little gold. Red was a good colour, blue was Merlin-damn awful.
With that now settled in his mind, Sirius Black began shuffling close to the edge of his bed, absentmindedly noting he was still in his Hogwarts robes.
Funny, normally Walburga would have gotten Kreacher to magic his pyjamas onto him. Not that he'd really bothered with them since going into his fourth year at Hogwarts.
Hell, the only reason he didn't sleep naked was because he shared a room with three other guys, and that'd have been just weird.
Maybe he should try that at home? No, that was a terrible idea.
.
Glancing around the room, Sirius paused at the sight of three pictures on the wall he most certainly didn't remember being there.
They weren't even moving! He remembered Evans saying something about muggle pictures not moving at all, but forgive him if he hadn't believed her.
Cautiously nearing the selection of pictures, Sirius barked out a surprised, delighted laugh when he finally took in the occupants of the photos.
Three muggles girls, each one laid out on one of those two wheel contraptions that the muggles rode around on. Not quite cars, but they made the same funny noise.
In fact, small as they were, these things made and even louder noise when they passed by. He could remember watching the muggle world go past from this very room, looking down on the street even as Orion would grumble under his breath, with Walburga even occasionally venturing to the door in order to hex them from their funny looking machines.
A lot of them crashed, and then another, bigger machine would come with muggle healers, only this one came with bright flashing blue lights and an even louder noise.
It was like a summoning charm. One muggle vehicle crashes, the second, more obnoxious one would appear not long after.
Unfortunately, Walburga seemed to have learnt about that cause and effect, because she stopped hexing them sometime before Sirius' second year. He still hadn't found out what the large one was called, always slipped his mind whenever he was near someone with the answers.
Probably because whenever he was near a muggleborn he was at Hogwarts, and at Hogwarts, there was the Marauders to distract him.
Oh Merlin, let them not have found out what'd happened. He'd rather not have to face them knowing that they'd witnessed his defeat by a glowing blue orb.
Merlin, how embarrassing.
Staring at the muggle girls again, Sirius felt a roguish grin spread across his face. He had no idea how they'd got there -maybe James had come to visit and left them? Ha, fat chance of that- but he appreciated them none the less. They were certainly the perfect addition to his room.
.
Scanning the place, Sirius frowned when he couldn't find his trunk, the trunk that'd stuck with him through four whole years of Hogwarts. Opening the wardrobes didn't offer him any clothing options either, considering it was full of stuff way too big for him. Like, grown adult clothing.
Grimacing at the very idea, Sirius turned on heel, shedding the robes he'd woken up in to reveal the rumpled white shirt and black trousers beneath.
James had given him this particular outfit, after a graduating seventh year had invented a spell that'd blow a person's robes up above their heads, leaving everything on show. Of course, such a spell had spread like wildfire through the school, though Sirius didn't doubt for a second that by the time they got back next year, wards against it would be in place.
Running a hand nervously through his thick black hair, the Gryffindor turned on heel, heading for the door and sucking up as much courage as he could.
His wand was still in his pocket, and even if he couldn't use it over summer, he also has some splatballs on him. The little pellets were filled to the brim with paint and promised a four foot coverage. Worst came to worst, he could lob them at Walburga and flee back to the safety of his room.
Making his way down the stairs, Sirius stared at the portrait that rested in the hallway, covered by curtains.
That was new, and potentially dangerous. Why would either of his parents decide to cover something with curtains? Had some relative passed on while he wasn't looking? A relative Walburga clearly didn't like if this was the case.
So by that logic, he had to like them!
Grinning, Sirius pulled back the curtains with a quick snap of his wrists.
Then froze in horror. Because it was certainly no one he would like.
Walburga Black stared back at him in complete surprise for a second, before her face transformed into the harshest, most terrifying bout of fury that Sirius had ever been privy to in his whole life.
"As if it wasn't bad enough my filthy son has returned! Stain of dishonour! Filthy blood-traitor! Taint of shame on the house of my fathers! Kreacher! Kreacher!"
Backing up with his eyes rounded in fear, Sirius barely registered the two people racing forwards and forcibly pulling the curtains shut.
His mother was the portrait?! Good Godric, what the hell had happened when he touched that orby thing?! Was this a good thing, or a bad thing?
Or, was it just a thing?
Sirius pressed his back further into the wall, watching the two males before him finally wretch the curtains shut with a significant amount of effort. Far more effort than it should have taken, but he wouldn't have put anything past Walburga, portrait form or not.
Blinking, Sirius eyed the two males, memory nagging him that he should be able to recognise them, but brain failing to submit an answer. Orion's old associates?
"Is she dead?" The words tumbled out of his mouth without any real thought about it and Sirius watched the two males share a look, before the one with dark hair grinned savagely.
"Yep."
"Oh."
Well, it certainly solved all of his Walburga related problems. But she had been the woman that birthed him, even if she hadn't really been his mother.
Frowning, Sirius looked between the two men, eyeing the male with familiar grey eyes the most.
"Are you a Black?"
He barked a laugh, a laugh that was stomach-sinking in its familiarity.
"Come on kind. Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you."
Dumbledore was here? At Grimmauld Place? But Orion had sworn to never let the man in over his dead body.
Frown deepening, Sirius trailed after the two, into the kitchen.
.
As it turned out, Dumbledore was in Grimmauld Place over Orion's dead body.
And Walburga's dead body.
Oh, and Regulus' too.
Because apparently he was in the future.
An alternate future.
.
After explaining finding the strange room, the glowing orb of doom, and then waking up here, Sirius had sat back and listened as the older Black -the old him! Bloody hell that was strange- sheepishly admitted he'd found the same strange room, but he'd smashed the orb by dropping something or other on top of it before he'd been able to touch it.
Which meant this was an alternate future where he'd never touched the orb by that also meant there was no way home, even though Dumbledore had promised to look for him. Sirius was pretty damn certain the man didn't have a clue, he could see that look in his eyes.
As if things weren't bad enough, Black -the older him- had explained that things weren't good. The reason James wasn't there to welcome him to this strange new world was because he wasn't around anymore. His best friend had got the girl, and died not four years after.
James was dead.
Because of Peter.
Or so the older Black had said. He'd sworn under oath. Sworn that it was Peter and Remus, sat beside him with green eyes instead of blue like home, had nodded along.
"No! I don't believe it! You're lying! Peter would never!"
"You little shit, he would, he did! I-"
Black cut off when Remus slapped a hand over his mouth, his big, green -wrongwrongwrong- pitying eyes turning on him.
"Maybe in your world Sirius, but here, he did."
That he'd accept. His Peter, his friend Peter, would never rat him out.
Never.
.
Shaking his head, Sirius stemmed the tears rolling down his cheeks, wiping them messily on the cuffs of his shirtsleeves and refusing to look either of the two men in the eye.
"So what happens now."
He wouldn't believe what they said about Peter, and he wouldn't let just Dumbledore look for a way home. The Black library was full of lots of stupid stuff. Maybe he'd be able to find the orb of doom in one of those books? Sure he'd never looked in them before, but he'd never had a cause before.
"Professor Dumbledore went to talk to one of Sirius' old schoolmates."
"Adeline Pyrites."
"Yeah her," Remus frowned, running a hand down the side of his face much like the Remus from his world had done. Sirius blinked, casting his mind back and tried to remember every face at Hogwarts. Pyrites sounded familiar, but he just couldn't place her.
"Professor Dumbledore explained everything to her, and she'd agreed to pretend to be your mother… Seeing as, well, she's got dragon pox. They don't expect her to make it to July."
Oh.
Swallowing, Sirius looked away from the older version of himself, of his friend, and across the room. They were building him an identity here.
But he didn't want an identity here, he wanted to go home. He didn't belong here. And until he found irrefutable proof that it was impossible, Sirius was going to keep looking for a way home.
Because this world, without James and with Peter betraying them, it was awful.
"And Sirius here is going to be your unknowing father."
"WHAT?!"
"WHAT?!"
I tired. I really tried not to write a new story, but then I went looking for a FemHarryxSirius I haven't read yet that was any good and there wasn't one and it was eating me up inside. Please don't hurt me.
Tsume
xxx