Hey it's Cat. Hope you like Seasons, Chapter 1.

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Here's what you should know before reading:

This is an AU. Harry is not the boy-who-lived, Neville is, for reasons you will find by reading. This is kick-ass!, serious!, tortured!(literally) Harry. The Longbottoms and Potters are alive.

Voldemort was 'killed' by Neville and the Order doesn't suspect him to still be alive. The Death Eaters did not lie low after their leader died but kept on attacking. They later joined a new dark lord in France who brought back Voldemort in Harry's 3rd year. (Not at Hogwarts, sorry.) They then joined forces. The Order still does not know he's back.

This takes place when Harry is in 7th year.

Sirius has a kid named Matthew Black with his girlfriend Eva Fey. He's a month older than Harry.

This is rated M because there will be torture and sex scenes between Harry and various people. Mostly Hermione in middle and later chapters. Won't be set on all romance!

I think that's it but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

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"Sirius Black, you are hereby accused of the murder of Peter H. Pettigrew, association with Death Eaters, the kidnapping and murder of Harry J. Potter, resisting ministry Aurors, aiding and abiding wanted criminals, and escaping custody."

"Really? That's a lot! Did I break a record or something?" The Sirius Black in question laughed. "And, for the record, I didn't actually know they were criminals until the aurors arrived, but let's not mention that to the public- got a big-ass reputation to live up to, no? It's your fault, really. You just keep adding charges…"

"Mr. Black-"

"Sirius, please, Amelia. We know each other well enough."

The council groaned and scowled at the convict. They were getting nowhere. Sirius Black was no help at all, and even under truth serum all of his answers are vague. They only perked up when, finally, Albus Dumbledore stepped into the room carrying a pair of magic suppressors.

"Hello Sirius! How's the food here? I heard it's dreadful." Albus said happily as he slipped the suppressors around his ex-students' wrists.

"It is, it is. But I get by. Where are you taking me?" Sirius asked joyfully, but inside he was analyzing the situation warily. He was really stupid to get caught. Assuming Albus took him to The Order of the Phoenix, he could be held under truth serum and let go. But that would mean telling them his secret… was it really worth it? Was it too soon?

Albus lead him past the group of glaring questioners by a rope twisted around the middle of his handcuffs. The magic suppressors dug into his upper biceps and he growled softly at the pain. As soon as they were outside his old professor rummaged inside of his robe pocket for a second and took out a feather quill. He put a firm hand on Sirius' shoulder and the porkey whisked them away.

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Sirius was surprised to see all of The Order of the Phoenix there.

The room Albus brought them too was big in length but slightly narrow at the sides. The corners of the room looked cut off, making a strange, twisted pentagon. What else was odd was every nook and cranny of the wall space was packed with endless bookshelves and dangerously precarious stacks of books held up by numerous chairs and, he guessed, spells. Looking a bit closer, Sirius found them all to be Light books. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Magical History, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions… Not a single lick of dark. Sirius smiled at the irony before arranging his features back into his trademark emotionless mask.

Squeezed between piles of books sat The Order. Scanning the group, Sirius inwardly grimaced. The Potters and the Lupins sat first row, the hate unmistakable on all of their faces. James and Remus where the hardest to take in, but he did so with a heavy heart. The Weaslys were directly behind them, follow by Snape, Kingsly, the Bones, the Pewetts, Moody, the Tonks, the Longbottoms (including the Boy-who-lived himself), some newbies, some of the current teachers at Hogwarts, and, to his eternal surprise, a man he knows to be Edward Zabini, the beautiful Mrs. Zabini's new husband… or victim.

Albus gestured towards a chair in the front of the room, where Sirius sat down gratefully.

"Hello again Sirius." Albus said. "It's been an long time, hasn't it? Mind if we ask you some questions?"

Sirius pretended to think this over.

"Sure," he shrugged, "but you should just skip to the serum. I don't 'reckon that lot will take me seriously otherwise." He would have added a Sirius-Serious joke but figured it was pushing his luck.

Snape walked up and handed Albus a small bottle of truth serum. "You'll have to at least double the dosage for me, Professor. Living on the run means being prepared. I'm practically immune to any potions now."

The room tensed as Albus smiled and poured ten drops into Sirius' open mouth.

"What is your name?" The Professor tested.

"Sirius Orion Black."

"What is your animagus form?" Sirius had a moment of surprise before answering.

"A Grim, or a black dog."

"Good, now, are you, or have you had any interactions with, a Death Eater?"

"Yes, I do business with them, but no, I am not a Death Eater."

"What kind of business?"

"Um... business. Mostly deals on dark artifacts I'm selling from Grimmand Place for money."

"You didn't contact them for any other reason?"

"No."

There were murmurings around the room at this. What did he mean 'no'?

"Did you torture and kill Peter Pettigrew for the location of Lily and James' safe house?" Albus asked, blunt.

"No."

"LIES!" Demanded James Potter. "You killed him after you found out our location. Then you killed my parents and … you murdered my eldest son for Voldemort!"

Sirius forced himself to look calm. "No. I did not."

There was a shocked silence. Dumbledore cleared his throat and found his voice.

"Tell us the events that happened from 17 years ago, from Halloween, to now."

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his ebony locks. "It's a longggg story."

Remus spoke up coldly, composed but shaken. "We have time."

"Fine, but remember, this is the truth. It all started I went to pick up Peter…"

-Flashback-

"Peter!" A younger and less haunted Sirius Black yelled, stalking through the cottage. "Peter where are you- we have an Order meeting!"

It wasn't long before he realized Peter wasn't in the small safe house. A shiver ran up his spine. Peter wouldn't have left. Did Death Eaters… but there were no signs of struggle… Then a dreadful thought filled and consumed his mind- was Peter the traitor?

No.

All those times he had to see his mom, a voice in his head reasoned, all those Order meetings he left straight away… How none of our plans worked out… The look on Peter's face when we changed secret keepers…

NO! What have I done?

He ran out of the house and apparated straight to Godric's Hollow to find the house in flames.

"No!" Not knowing exactly what he was doing, and with his reckless Gryffindor courage on his sleeve, he charged into the house with his wand, casting water charms to clear the flames in his path.

Sirius was only a few steps up the rapidly weakening stairs before he found the burning bodies of Harold and Sarah Potter. He bit his lip hard. This was all his fault…

"Whaaa! Whaaa!" He tensed. Harry? Harry was still alive! He started off towards the nursery as the roof began to collapse. The burning bits and chunks blocked his path and he started to get dizzy from the thick smoke. He transformed into Padfoot and jumped through the wreckage, wincing as the flames caught his coat. He made it to the crib and transformed, looking down on a crying, but otherwise unscathed, blacked haired baby he knew to be his godson. Relief burned into his heart.

Picking up the baby and soothing him, he cast a bubblehead and levitation charms on himself and Harry, and then jumped out the window. He hit the ground with a soft thump and he quickly checked on the baby. Harry had his head on his chest and his pretty green eyes looking up at him. Giggling, the green-eyed baby grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled, delighted to see his friend.

-End Flashback-

The Order sat, shocked into place. Dumbledore had a faint smile on his face.

"Is Harry alive today?"

"Yes."

Lily Potter fell out of her chair.

"Where is he?" She breathed.

"At my place, the Black house in France. Harry has attended the magical school there."

"Did you kidnap him?"

"No. I gave him to my girlfriend, Eva Fey, and took off with out any explanation. She didn't know whose baby Harry was, or how I had found him, but she grew to love him and decided to raise him herself. Meanwhile, I went after Peter."

James, Lily and Remus took in sharp breaths.

"I managed to corner him on a muggle street… I wasn't thinking straight… you could say I was blinded by rage."

-Flashback-

"Peter. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to rip out your heart and watch you bleed to death! I'm going to strangle you with my bare hands!" He growled. He came forward dangerously, almost predator-like.

Peter was visibly shaking now, his rat face sweating and contouring madly.

"Sirius how could you! You betrayed Lily and James! You killed the Potters and little Harry! How could you Sirius?" Peter screamed desperately.

"Your right. I did kill them. Now you're the one who's going to pay." Sirius had meant suggesting Peter as the secret keeper. He had as good as killed the Potters. But at least Harry was safe.

He pointed his wand at his old friend but not quick enough. Peter was already in motion. He cut off his finger and cast a speechless explosion spell. The surrounding Muggles screamed and some got caught in the blast. Sirius himself was thrown backwards into a building.

"You… you…" Sirius stuttered at Peter's 'suicide' but then caught the side of a bleeding rat headed towards the gutter. "You bastard!" He lunged towards the gutter, but didn't get any that far. He found himself handcuffed from behind by a sullen ministry auror.

"Sirius Black, you are under arrest for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and Harry, Harold and Sarah Potter."

-End Flashback-

Sirius smiled at the expressions on The Order's faces.

"I didn't even get a trial before I was shoved into a prison cell in Askaban, and the dementors started feeding on the only happy thoughts I had left."

"You didn't go insane." Remus mumbled, more a statement then a question.

"I lost most of my happy memories of school and James' house, but no, I did not go insane. The only thing that kept me to my right state of mind was the fact that I was innocent, which isn't exactly a happy thought, meaning the dementors couldn't take it away. I escaped after finding a picture in the paper Fudge left me. The picture of the Weaslys on their trip to Egypt. On the shoulder of on of the boys lay a rat. I could recognize that rat anywhere. I spend years with it at school and, because of the dementors, I had relived the moment Peter got away a million times in my head. Peter had been playing house pet while I was locked up in high security Askaban!" Sirius ranted. He realized it and took a breath. "I changed into Padfoot and just walked out between the bars of my cell. God knows I was skinny enough."

"What happened after that? You found Harry?" 16 year old Anthony Potter asked, leaning forward, interested.

Sirius nodded. "It wasn't that hard. I knew I had to find Harry first, because then someone would actually listen to me. I disguised myself and made my way to the Fey manor in France. The moment she opens the door she knew it was me and next thing I know I'm tied to a chair in the basement and forced the truth serum until she believed me." He chuckled. That was Eva for you. "Harry and Matthew, my son, were 5 at the time. Harry was a happy, carefree boy. France was away from the hardships Britain faced. Away from the Death Eater attacks, away from the growing parties and celebrations for the Boy-who-lived. Harry was a normal kid."

He took another deep breath. Here came the hard to explain part.

"When I stayed with Eva, Matthew and Harry, the more attached I got and, with that, the more I felt it was wrong to take Harry away from Eva and thrust him back into the world of the prophecy. Harry would no doubt become a pawn and a target. He was a 5-year-old baby boy for goodness sakes. So I stayed in France and lied low. Eva and I got back together again and I felt… happy. Almost like I had I family.

"But happiness doesn't last long. France was then hit with a new Dark Lord, Somas Maxis. He took everything apart. Eva, Matt, Harry and I were forced into hiding. Harry was 8. He grew to be a great fighter. I trained him myself with a few teachers from his school and some rebel freedom fighters from America. My only regret was that I couldn't stop Harry and Matt from getting involved with the war. But I suppose everyone is, now, huh?

"I came back to Britain to find a healer. Some of our men just got back from a mission hurt, and the only healer we could trust, and knew this type of illness, was here. I was stupid and careless to get caught. And of course the doctor had to be underground, but I didn't know this doctor was wanted for murder. Then Death Eaters attacked, and in the pressure of the moment I forgot to recreate my disguise. I'd be laughed at if I was back at home…"

Everyone in the room was still as he fell quiet. Suddenly he coughed and blood came out of his mouth and dripped down his chin. Albus was next to him in a second. Sirius waved him away.

"It's the potion wearing off. Nothing more. Truth serum grows stronger before it wears off and my body just had a bad reaction. Nothing to worry." He started coughing again, this time violently, his back hunching forward and a grimace of pain on his lips.

"Don't mind me. All I want to know is- do you believe me?"

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I'm looking for a beta-reader. Any takers?