Disclaimer: The idea is mine. But I DO NOT under ANY circumstances OWN Harry Potter. Nor can I lay claim to the original idea of Harry. This is just a story I wrote in between Bankruptcy and International law. And if, somehow and someway, my professors stumble upon this... I was totally paying attention to your classes. I just did this when I was taking a break from the homework. PROMISE!
Nothing Left
Snowdonia Wales - 2004
Harry James Potter, age 24, sat down on the rubble of what had at one time been his and Ginny's house. He cried. He had won the war, but at a cost: Ginny and their newborn son James (or rather Jamie as they called him) were dead. He had come home only to discover that the wards surrounding their home were collapsed. It had all but killed him to put his son and wife into the cemetery in Godric's Hollow next to his parents.
He found their photo album. They had added pages to his original album of the one Hagrid gave him of his parents. It didn't matter anymore. Everyone who was shown in the album except for him was dead or in hiding.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gone down in the battle of the Burrow, taking down ten Death Eaters before they were finally killed.
Bill and Fleur had sought sanctuary in France with their children: Victoria, Molly and Gideon. They had, at the insistence of Harry, taken Teddy with them. They were safe, unlike Teddy's parents and grandparents who had perished in the Battle of Godric's Hollow - three years before.
Fred and George were in hiding, although they were still considered the weapons makers for the war. They invented some awesome stuff.
Ron and Hermione had left this earth. Hermione had been pregnant with their first child who they had just found out was to be a girl.
Charlie had been in charge with International Affairs, and he was still in Romania.
Percy was the one who had really pulled through. He had gotten the American Ministry involved and they had trained Harry beyond what he could have previously trained himself. No one regretted the late nights of training or debriefing.
Harry still had nightmares; Hayes (the American Captain) had told him that he might have PTSD. It was a theory that was confirmed over the next three years of the war.
Hayes had gone down, taking fifty Death Eaters with him as he had activated something akin to a bomb just before he was hit with Avada Kedavra.
He held the Teddy Bear in his hand, his son's Teddy Bear. He cried, his tear streaked, soot covered, sweat soaked, grime covered face revealed two lines as tears ran down his cheeks.
Luna Longbottom watched as Harry cried over his son's Teddy Bear, he cried as though his heart was broken. Not that she could blame him, if anything had happened to her daughter Alice she would cry too. But she knew that the news she had to tell him might just break him. Little Teddy Lupin had been attacked, hit with a silver bullet and was in critical but stable condition. He'd inherited the werewolf's severe silver allergy to the extent that the poor boy might never walk again. Harry would blame himself - she knew that as a fact. He would blame himself for not being able to protect his godson in faraway Saint-Etienne France, over a thousand miles from their location to the northwest of Aberdeen Scotland.
"Harry?"
"Luna." he said as he looked up. "You must think me mad."
"You're a grieving father, you're not mad."
"He should be alive! They all should! They didn't ask for this!" he yelled before Su Li came through the street.
"Harry." she said. "I am so sorry."
"What happened?"
"Teddy, the group was attacked," she said before Harry stood, walked two steps and collapsed.
They ran over to him.
"He's not breathing!" Su Li yelled as she checked for a nonexistent pulse. "Somebody get a Medic! MEDIC!" she yelled.
For the next two weeks, everything was a blur for the world. Harry James Potter, the destroyer of Voldemort, was dead.
Nothing Left
Surrey England - 1987
Harry awoke. 'Huh? Where am I?' he thought as he opened his eyes. He was looking up at a bright blue sky. 'That doesn't make any sense, if I collapsed then why didn't they move me into a medic tent?' he asked himself before he sat up. What he saw almost gave him a heart attack. He was looking at Dudley. Death Eaters had killed Dudley in a desperate attempt to shock him into stopping his attack on Voldemort.
The next thing he noticed was how young Dudley looked, no more than seven or eight.
'Wait, that means...' he thought before he sank back to the ground, unconscious.
Dudley didn't waste any time getting his mum. "Mum, the freak's passed out!" he said urgently as he ran into the kitchen.
Petunia looked at him, "What?"
"He's passed out cold, won't even move. Mum, I think something's wrong." he said. "What if THEY come?"
Petunia paused; they had been ready for this day. They all knew that Harry was magical and for him to just pass out might give the Wizards enough incentive to come and peek in for a visit – leaving herself and her entire family unaware that the visit even occured. They knew that something like this had happened before. Harry had been a sickly toddler so he often slept on the couch in front of the fireplace during the winter. Once, he'd told his aunt of "angel with the black wings" that had come and threw silver light on him and gave him something warm to drink that tasted of milk and honey that made his fever go down. Little did any of them realize - even years later - that the "angel with the black wings" had been none other than Severus Snape.
Another visit was the last thing they needed right now. Harry didn't even have his own bedroom…
Petunia nodded her head, decided on the fact. They would have to move the boy into a bedroom - Vernon might holler and be upset but they all knew that the wizards had ways of looking in on them without them even knowing it. "He'll go into your second bedroom. We don't need them to think that he's been mistreated."
They took Harry into the second bedroom, although they had taken him into the living room and onto the couch so they could clean out the room a lot better and had taken the boxes of broken toys to the attic (until they could be disposed of properly, most of them were made of recyclable plastic after all and the collection for that wouldn't be for another week and this way Petunia could brag a little on how wonderful her son was for recycling) before Petunia made the bed and put the still-unconscious Harry onto the bed and covered him up.
He awoke around noon the next day, Petunia had happened to be going to put away the dry cleaning in her and Vernon's closet or else she probably wouldn't have even heard him.
She walked into the room.
"Aunt Petunia?" he asked weakly and she ran over to him and found that he was very hot and clammy. "I don't feel so good." he said as he gazed at her.
She knew that she needed to take him to the doctor, but Vernon was the driver in the family and he had the car. "I'm going to get some aspirin for you." she said.
He nodded weakly and closed his eyes and for a moment she thought he went to sleep until she saw him move.
When she returned with a cup of cold water and a child's aspirin, he was awake and his breathing was labored. She gave him the aspirin and helped him to drink the entire glass of water.
He looked at her, smiling weakly, and in that instant she was reminded of her sister - of Lily. "Thank you." he all but whispered before he closed his eyes and immediately fell back asleep.
When he didn't wake up in time for his next pill, and when she noticed that he seemed even hotter, she couldn't have been more thankful when Vernon finally came home.
"Vernon!" she said as she ran out to meet him.
"Pet, what is it?" he asked.
"It's the boy. He's ill, he's not waking up. He needs to go to the hospital." she said.
Vernon nodded, thinking that he was thankful that the boy was under his insurance. Not that it cost him anything extra as it was through his work.
They got him from the upstairs bedroom, wrapped the unconscious child in a thin fleece blanket and took him to the hospital.
Two hours later they still didn't have any news.
Three hours later, Doctor Simon Brown - a lean man about 5' 8" tall with a square face, hazel eyes and dark blonde hair that was just long enough for him to tuck back behind his ears wearing medium blue scrubs signifying that he was still doing his Residency - came into the waiting room. "Mr and Mrs Dursley?" he asked.
They stood, "Yes?"
"You have a very sick nephew."
"Will he be alright?" Petunia asked.
"We're not for certain yet, but we've given him an IV and some antibiotics so we're hoping he wakes up soon." he said before he walked back towards the door. "Oh, and if I may, can I ask if either of you know what "Padfoot" or "Moony" is? He keeps saying them in his sleep."
Petunia shook her head, "He does have a picture at home of a black dog in his room. He calls that Padfoot."
The doctor nodded and went straight to the gift shop and got the only black dog stuffed animal. He couldn't help it; when a child was as ill as Harry was, they needed a little comfort.
He took it to the room, where despite having only one thin sheet covering him, Harry was still sweating. He was awake, though, and that was an improvement.
"Where am I?" he asked hoarsely.
"You're at St. John's, you're quite ill young man." Simon said. "I thought you might want something to comfort you. So here." he said as he laid the stuffed dog within Harry's reach.
"Padfoot!" he said weakly as he reached out for the dog and snuggled with it. "Padfoot!" he said before his breathing relaxed and he fell back asleep. His own memories of his godfather coming up to the surface, the happy times during his fifth year before the man died. He could practically feel his godfather's love for him.
The nurse in the hall smiled at him, "Did you give him the dog?" Melina asked as she looked up from her clipboard.
"Yes and its name is apparently Padfoot." Simon said, not commenting on the unusual name for the stuffed animal. He wasn't one to judge. He had a dog named Fido after all.
"Padfoot, perfect for a dog." she said approvingly.
Harry was in the hospital for the next week, amazing enough, he didn't have any traumatic dreams. Apparently with Padfoot at his side, he could actually sleep without the fear that his memories would betray him. It also might have been the long nights he remembered simply talking to Sirius after one of his many nightmares.
The nurses and the three doctors who watched over him all fell for the green eyed angel. Melina had even comforted him after the one nightmare he had during his stay. Oddly enough, the nightmare was of his parents dying.
Nothing Left
He was released a week before his seventh birthday, and was on heavy antibiotics, nutrient supplementing drinks, and ordered to take two one hour naps per day until further notice.
Over the summer, the Dursleys became accustomed to the fact that their nephew was a fragile child and no longer was Dudley permitted to abuse his cousin. In fact, Dudley was forced to take over the majority of Harry's chores (which he got a rather large allowance for). Petunia, although, found that she liked having her nephew in the kitchen as he liked to ask questions about cooking. They did notice that Harry seemed to grow a few inches that summer, although his health remained as fragile as ever.
No more than two more visits to the doctor and one overnight stay in the hospital (with Padfoot in his arms) led them to the end of the summer and the two of them went back to school - although, every few hours Harry would go to the nurse to take his medication.
Harry, meantime, didn't really understand what was going on. He never remembered being this ill or weak - ever. He was still his same old self, he still liked to run during recess but he couldn't run for very long before he would be forced to stop by one of the teachers as they worried for his "condition". School was relatively easy but he didn't really pay attention so his grades were mostly in the 90% to 95% range while Dudley managed the occasional 87% but mostly ranging in the 70% range - although that soon changed when Vernon got wind of his son's grades and forced er… suggested… that Harry tutor his cousin. After all, why not take advantage of something good? It wasn't as though the lad could help the household any other way since he got sick, might as well get Dudley into a good Uni.
He eventually was given a notebook just for his own thoughts and to draw in. It was basically a sketchbook made of very lightweight paper as that was the cheapest pad of paper that Vernon could find in the aisle while Dudley got Ninja Turtles notebooks because "they're cool dad!" and the first thing he wrote was a letter to Remus Lupin. He had to do one thing if he was back in the past. He had to free Sirius.
Dear Moony,
It's Harry. I remember you from when I was a baby. I don't know how this letter will go to you, but it might be okay. I got back into the hospital yesterday. It wasn't bad. I just got over ...ex- tired.
Who's Padfoot? Why do my dreams with Daddy tell me that Peter was the …secret-keeper? Do you know what that is?
Harry
Underneath it he drew a picture of Padfoot. It was a childish lark that he couldn't help but do, but it would also give Moony a clue as to what was going on with him.
This is Padfoot. He's my stuffed dog. He keeps me company in the hospital.
Nothing Left
An idea
Remus Lupin sat at his desk at home, the day of the full moon; he had arranged it last week so that he would have the full moon off. Thank goodness Muggles didn't know about werewolves or he'd never get a job! He was actually living better now than he had a few months before he had found this job.
He was sitting there when a bird tapped at the window.
He read words carefully done by a seven year old. It broke his heart when he read that Harry was going to the hospital. Although, that bit about the secret-keeper did kind-of make more sense. He resolved to make a trip to Azkaban as soon as possible. Incidentally, the next weekend he had off.
Sirius Black hated Azkaban. HATED IT! So he was surprised when he found out that he had a visitor. "Remus?"
Remus looked at Sirius, "Oh, God, Sirius, what did they do to you?"
"Remus, what are you doing here?" Sirius croaked.
Remus made sure that there was enough light in the room before he got out Harry's letter and passed it to him. "I believe you Padfoot."
Sirius read the letter and felt crushed when he found out that Harry was more familiar with a hospital than either of them were accustomed to. "What can we do?"
"We get you out of here. Your first trial is next week." Remus said. "I haven't written him back, so would you like to say anything to him?"
"Tell him that Padfoot loves him and doesn't want him to be sick anymore." Sirius said. "Although, I don't remember Jamie ever being sick."
"Lily was. She said that before she found out that she was a witch and consciously did "accidental" magic that she would get sick. Her theory was that her magic couldn't go out the regular passageways and that it'd make her sick."
"You want Harry to consciously do magic around Petunia? What are you mad?"
"He'll just keep getting sick."
"Anyway you could see him without him knowing what's going on?" Sirius asked.
"You're the Marauder."
"Mr. Padfoot would like to remind Mr. Moony that that saying is old and that he is a hypocrite for even saying that." Sirius said as he looked at his friend.
"Mr. Moony concurs with Mr. Padfoot and would like to remind him that Mr. Moony has a furry little problem to take care of." Remus said.
"Fine, then just send him a letter." Sirius relented.
Dear Harry,
It's Moony, and I have a message from Padfoot. We're taking a chance and will say this to help you get better - use your magic kid, make a few things float and stuff. Padfoot also wanted me to say that loves you. And while you definitely won't understand this but you're right, he's getting a new trial next week.
Hope to see you soon,
Moony
Nothing Left
Harry read the letter and almost smacked himself. 'Of Course! My magic!' he thought and tried to use a little so he wouldn't be so exhausted tomorrow.
That night he made a little ball of light using wandless magic. He bounced it around for a minute or so before he fell asleep.
The next day he did, indeed, feel better. He made the point of showing everyone just how well he was as he enjoyed it. He still took his medicine and for the next week he even seemed to be improving. Fat chance. He didn't realize just how little magic he was really doing, and holding back would eventually catch up with him.
True, he was now just about Dudley's height but that didn't help matters when he was too sick to even stand.
The next day he faked being sick when the Dursleys had very important plans, so they asked Mrs. Figg to watch him.
He showed up at her doorstep, pale and sleepy and she barely led him to the couch before he curled up and fell asleep (not allowing himself to get any sleep the previous night helped).
Arabella couldn't help but notice how poor Harry's health had become in the previous few months. She was almost thankful that she had gone behind Albus's back to let him see the real Padfoot and Moony.
Sirius, newly acquitted a week earlier, took back his job as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries although he was to have a desk job until he got back on his feet. He was even granted 500,000 Galleons in restitution, although there had been talk of using the Crouch family vault to finance the entire restitution issue.
Sirius never felt more grateful to be wearing new clothes, and having a clean shaven face as well as a clean body, in his life. He looked over at Remus, who he had forced…. er, helped… into getting some new clothes, before they Flooded to Arabella Figg's house.
"Sirius, Remus, come on in." she said as she looked up from her knitting.
"Mrs. Figg." they both said respectfully before Scourgify-ing their clothes to remove the soot.
"He's just through there. Poor dear wasn't feeling very well. He's slept all afternoon." she said as she led the way to the living room and they found Harry sleeping on the couch, his arm wrapped around a black fuzzy stuffed dog.
"Hey, Padfoot, you've got competition in the black dog department." Remus joked as they crouched on the floor to gaze at the boy who could have been James Potter's twin.
"Harry?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Ugh…" he groaned as he looked up at the two wizards, faking confusion was necessary so he did it in spades. "`S it time for me'cine?" he asked.
Remus shook his head, "No, but I'm Moony and this is Padfoot."
Immediately a spark went through the boy's eyes and he sleepily sat up, not releasing his hold on Padfoot. He remembered Teddy acting the same way until he was forced to send him to France a few months … er twenty years? Ago/ in the future? "Padfoot!" he cried out and all but threw himself at Sirius.
Sirius held him, relishing in his godson's closeness. At least, he was before Harry started coughing in a way that shook his entire body. Sirius frowned and simply held him, trying to comfort him.
Harry could practically feel the fever flaring up, 'I guess I haven't been using as much magic as I thought I've been.' he thought as he continued coughing.
Sirius looked at Remus helplessly as Harry continued to cough before he pulled back from his godfather and looked at him.
"You alright Harry?"
"Gonna be sick." Harry said and Remus summoned a bucket and held it under Harry's mouth before he promptly emptied his stomach into it. Afterwards, he went to the bathroom and rinsed out his mouth before he returned to the living room.
Sirius was almost in tears as he noticed how Harry really seemed to be ill and how pale he looked. Mrs. Figg came with a thermometer after Harry was done he obediently opened his mouth, a fact that both Marauders noticed.
Mrs. Figg frowned as she saw the temperature. "He's a little too warm for me to feel safe."
"Do I get to go see Doctor Simon?" Harry asked.
Mrs. Figg nodded, "I think that might be best." she said and Remus went to call a cab to take them to the hospital.
They got there less than a half an hour later, Harry sleeping comfortably in his godfather's arms.
Simon was more than worried when he saw Harry, according to the school nurse Harry had been having a few good days and seemed happy for the first time in a while that he was able to join in with the other kids playing "red rover". Harry had won both games. Apparently that had been the calm before the storm. He was shocked to see Harry in the arms of someone who genuinely loved and cared for him - no one less than the newly exonerated Sirius Black who had been released after new evidence had been found.
"Doctor Simon, right?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, and you are?"
"Harry's godfather. I was visiting him today a-and he… he just started…" Sirius stammered as Harry began to shiver violently in his arms. "Prongslet, it's okay. It's going to be okay. Don't meet your parents yet, please." he begged his godson as he closed his eyes and the nurses - who had heard about the trial - looked on approvingly.
"Follow me, we practically have Harry his own room here." Simon said as he led the way to Harry's room.
Remus immediately sat down while Sirius lay him down on the bed and lovingly covered him up and gave him the stuffed dog that Remus had been holding.
"So, Moony, hell of a way to meet my godson for the first time in six years right?" Sirius said as Simon came in.
"Six years? You knew Harry when he was a baby?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, we both knew Lily and James. School friends." Remus explained while Sirius dragged a chair to Harry's side and gently held his hand.
"He's got Lily's eyes." Sirius said as he gazed at his godson fondly with a grin. "And Jamie's out of control hair."
Simon smiled, "So he looks like his dad?"
"Yeah, like a little mini-James." Sirius said. "Right Moony?"
"Yeah, Padfoot." Remus said smiling.
"Moony? Padfoot?" Simon asked as he remembered the names Harry had called out for. "You're Moony and Padfoot?"
"Yeah." Remus said. "Got our nicknames back in school."
"Oh, the pranks we pulled." Sirius said wistfully.
Remus laughed, "Yeah, the detentions we served because James wanted to impress Lily Evans."
" 'The Red Haired Angel'!" Sirius said sighing as James had done all those years ago.
Simon couldn't help but smile, "It's nice to know that you're back in Harry's life."
Sirius smiled, "Yeah." he said as he gazed at Harry who hugged Padfoot even closer to him. "We're going to have to show him the great black lump sometime."
"A dog?"
"Yeah, big and black. He's insanely loyal." Remus explained with a grin that betrayed an inside joke.
"Hey!" Sirius warned his friend. "Maybe I'll let him after your sorry arse some night. See how loyal he is then."
Simon smiled and checked Harry over, "I'm going to give him some antibiotics. We already have Vernon's insurance on file so it'll be alright."
"I'd, uh, like to use my own insurance to take care of Harry." Sirius said as he pulled out his insurance card that he got as soon as he re-registered as an Unspeakable.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I need to start being a godfather for my godson." Sirius said as he gave Simon the card. "And I could probably answer any questions you have about family history. I knew Lily and James better than her so-called sister." Sirius explained.
Simon nodded and for the next few hours the two Marauders sat there, until a woman with black hair wearing rose scrubs came into the room (Melina) froze as she came to check on Harry's vitals.
"Sirius?"
Sirius looked up, "Mel?" he asked amazed as he saw the woman he had loved. "Mel, what are you… how are you…"
She ran over to him, "I left after you were put in prison. I didn't want to have anything to do with them."
"What about your other job at the hospital?" Sirius asked, not wanting to come out and say "St. Mungo's" in a Muggle Hospital.
"I quit. I got a job here soon afterwards. I knew that this was the closest hospital to Petunia's house."
"You wanted to watch over our godson." Sirius said.
"Yes." she said.
Sirius froze as she leaned into him and kissed him, "Welcome back." she said before she walked out of the room.
"Has she gotten sexier in the six years we've been apart?" Sirius asked Remus.
"Sirius-"
"What? She is… beautiful." he said. "Think she'll want to marry me? I know I already asked her, but do I have so spend another chunk of change on her?" he asked Remus as Harry woke up.
Actually, Harry had seen the entire thing and it made sense as to why she was always the one who talked to him, read him goodnight stories and tucked him in. "Sirius?" he asked.
"Hey Pronglet." Sirius said.
"Not your fault, Sirius, mine." he said as he looked at Remus.
Sirius felt tears prickle in his eyes, "No, Harry, it is not your fault. You didn't have anything to do with Riddle killing your mum and dad."
"He only wanted me!" Harry said as he began to cry and Sirius sat down on the bed and gathered his godson into his arms. HE didn't realize that Harry had over twenty years of guilt behind those tears.
"Harry, remember. It is not your fault!" Sirius said as he gazed heavenwards and seemed to beg Lily and James for answers as to why their son seemed so upset.
When the Dursleys got back a few days later, they found Sirius and Remus in their house with Harry.
"Excuse me! What are you doing in my house!" Vernon demanded.
"Bella had to leave, and as Harry's godfather, I thought that I should get the opportunity to watch him." Sirius said. "Sirius Black."
Petunia paled, "You're a…"
"Wizard." Sirius said as he gained an almost feral grin on his face. "Yeah."
"Mr. Black-"
Sirius had had enough and took out his wand, "You're going to move after you sign over custody to me."
They repeated what he said and Sirius was grinning broadly by the time every "i" was dotted and every "t" crossed.
The next day, much to their surprise, Petunia and Vernon Dursley got into a "car accident" which had actually been an attack on their lives by Death Eaters. Dudley was in a foster home before anyone could say Quidditch and the blood protection was gone.
Harry went with Sirius a week later. Mrs. Figg had taken him in while Sirius claimed Grimmaud Place (his mother had only just died), sent Kreacher to Hogwarts (he figured that being around real house-elves would loosen him up) and removed most of the dark artifacts from the main rooms and locked them into his mother's room. He hated the arrangement but he supposed that it would suffice until he could get his own place.
Remus became his secret-keeper, no one would take Harry from him. No one.
Nothing Left
Harry laughed as Sirius gave him a piggy back ride out of the hospital, his fever had gotten up to 103 degrees Fahrenheit before Simon had managed to get it back down (at eleven o' clock PM) and since they were there so late, they simply stayed the night.
The next morning, they informed Simon that they were going to take Harry to see a specialist and that they would, hopefully, see each other again on better terms.
They took him straight to St. Mungo's where a young assistant Healer by the name of Stanhope performed the tests under the watchful eye of a senior Healer.
They began talking for a few minutes before they turned to the two Marauders.
"Mr. Black?"
"Yes?" Sirius asked.
"We've found the reason your godson is so ill."
"And?"
"How do you feel about getting him tutoring in magic?"
"What?"
"Training in magic."
Tutors? Why?
Harry sat down on one side of the kitchen table and his two guardians sat on the other (after much consideration, Melina returned to the magical world and to her godson), Remus was working at his job so it was up to the two adults.
"Harry, we're getting you a tutor." Sirius said.
"A what? Why?" he asked honestly not knowing anything about getting a tutor as he had fallen asleep before the Healers could talk to Sirius and Remus but this was getting ridiculous.
"The reason you keep getting sick is that you have so much magic in you and it can't get out because you're not doing enough magic."
"What?" Harry asked, sure he remembered the long days and nights of him doing magic 24/7 for one reason or another but his magic couldn't have… could it?
"You need to be able to release some of it, so Remus is going to come over on his days off and teach you about Defensive magic."
"And I'm going to cover Potions and Charms on mine." Melina added in.
"Which leaves me with Transfiguration." Sirius said.
"You can teach me to turn into Padfoot!" Harry said happily, even though he knew his animagus form was a weird large cat-like creature. He rarely transformed except when it proved useful. He also knew that he had a second form, something Hermione had figured out when she had tried to help him figure out just what type of cat his animagus form was. He had yet to figure that one out as she had died before they could completely figure it out. He'd refused to transform since then out of respect for his fallen friend.
"Not exactly, but maybe someday." Sirius said.
Harry nodded, "When?"
"Soon, Pup. Soon." he said.
Harry smiled, "Do I get to get a wand too?" he asked.
"We thought we'd try you out with a bit of wandless. At your age it might be best."
Harry nodded, it did make sense. Over his limited study of the ancient magics, Harry knew that wands were originally meant to help people channel their power but at a young age it was quite possible to do wandless magic. The ministry oftentimes wrote it off as accidental magic.
"Now, tomorrow we'll begin but we're going to have to make a stop in Diagon Alley to get you some beginner books." Sirius explained. "Today's my day off and probably will remain the day of the week that I get off for a while."
Harry nodded, he knew a lot about the Department of Mysteries as they had gotten involved in his training in the beginning of the war. It was through that limited training that he found out that Sirius hadn't gone into the Auror training program with his dad but that he'd gone into the Unspeakables. It had almost been the straw that broke the camel's back. Then six years later, the discovery that his godson - the one he'd sworn to protect - had been attacked… That had been the straw to break his back.
Sirius looked at his godson, Harry might have looked like James but he clearly acted like his mother - like Lily.
They went to Diagon Alley, Sirius was careful and had gotten James's invisibility cloak back from Dumbledore after explaining that they needed to get some things from Diagon Alley.
Harry immediately found some books that he knew would be helpful and then went back into the shelves after giving them to Sirius. Not that Sirius understood why Harry wanted books on Occlumency and battle magics.
Nothing Left
Something's wrong with Harry.
It was something that Sirius instinctively knew - even if he hadn't wanted to admit it. His godson didn't sleep unless he had Padfoot in his arms and when he didn't he would wake up in the middle of the night. Sirius only knew this because there were nights he tucked Harry in only to find Harry downstairs in the sitting room asleep on the couch the next morning.
He didn't really want to force the issue, knowing that Harry could possibly have either one of his parents' famous tempers.
After a week, he knew he had to say something.
He went downstairs that morning, resolved to talk to his godson since Mel and Moony were out of the house for the day (a full moon for Moony and a work day for Mel) and found Harry sitting at the kitchen table eating Frosted Shredded Wheat - his favorite breakfast cereal.
"Hey Prongslet."
"`lo Sirius." he said around a swallow.
"Harry, you know if there's anything wrong. You could tell me, right?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah, course."
"Good." Sirius said.
Nothing Left
London England 1993
Harry paused outside of his godfather's office, he didn't know why he wanted to tell his dogfather this now, after all of this time that they'd lived together and he was only just now wanting to tell his godfather everything and spill his guts.
"Sirius?" he asked as he gently knocked on the open door.
Sirius looked up, "Harry! Come on in!"
Harry slowly walked into the room, "Can we talk?" he asked. This was it, the chance he'd been wanting to take for the last six years since he'd come to live with Sirius.
Sirius, almost instinctively knowing that this was going to be something serious, nodded and pushed out a chair with a low powered banishing charm. "Sure."
"H-have you noticed that I'm not exactly... well what I mean to say is that..."
"Harry, what is it?"
"Sirius, I need to tell you a story that you might not believe. Hell, I wouldn't have believed it had I not lived through it."
And so, Harry told his story. From going to Hogwarts to seeing his Godfather die - and YES, it was still his fault - and then going after Voldemort. Becoming "The Saviour"...
"He was only two months old... My son was murdered... Then Luna started talking about Teddy and how he was attacked... I know he was dead... I... I couldn't handle it anymore... I collapsed..." he ended sobbing, his godfather holding him.
"It's OK, it'll be OK." Sirius said with his eyes closed. He honestly hadn't wanted to know half of what his godson had just told him but things would get better. They would.
"I passed out... and woke up with Dudley leaning over me... I thought I was going mad until I started realizing that it was all real." Harry admitted. "Then… then I realized I could save you… and Moony…"
"Harry?" Sirius asked as he gently pulled his godson's chin up so they could see each other face to face.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks, Prongslet. I definitely owe you one."
Harry hadn't wanted to admit to Sirius that he'd been a father and a godfather before he was 25. It wouldn't be another seven before Harry would admit that he and Ginny GOT IT ON before she was fifteen in his original timeline.
Voldemort hadn't stood a chance when Harry Potter went after him with everything he'd ever known about magic. Honestly, you learn more in war than you do in peace.
Nothing Left
Epilouge
Nothing Left
Remus married Tonks, again, and they had five daughters (Laura, Ophelia, Marie, Hortense - named for Remus's mother, a staunch Pureblood who nicknamed her granddaughter "Tensie" - and Anna Marie) before finally having a son that they named, for Remus in a roundabout way, Faolan which meant "little wolf". The couple had wanted to name their son for their fathers but didn't know if Harry's heart could take another Teddy Lupin being around. Fortunately, Theodore Tonks suggested "Faolan" to the couple.
Sirius and Mel married before Harry was fifteen and seemed to go into competition with Remus and Tonks over who could have the most children. They had seven - their own Quidditch team - Xypher (boy) , Achelous (boy) , Adri (boy), Zaria (girl) Callisto (girl) {twin}, Harmonia (girl) {twin}, and Ixion (boy)
Harry never married Ginny in this world. Without the Chamber incident, Ginny never became his rock who understood, Ginny actually became Ginerva Zabini – the only wife of Blaise Zabini and had seven children of her own… much to the delight of Blaise's mother who'd taken to being a grandmother like a duck to water (to the relief of her last husband who'd become the step-step-step-step-step-step grandfather to their little ones). Harry'd intended to live out his life as a bachelor before he met his own "blonde haired angel".
Katra Parthenopaeus had understood him in a way that he'd never expected to find in a wife. She had a light background in psychology and could help him when his memories of both wars became overwhelming.
Together, they had five children. Remus and Romulus, twins. Appollon - a son with Harry's mother's eyes and Katra's mother's Greek complexion. And finally, Apollymi and Xirena - their twin daughters.
He hadn't had the heart to name his children for his parents and the thought of naming another child James made him think that he'd been trying to replace his son in his mind.
His children grew up with the knowledge that they had an older brother who'd passed on. Every Hollows Eve, the Potter Family went to the cemetery and laid white Roses and white Lilies at his parent's grave and then they laid Forget-me-nots on the stone that Katra had had put into the cemetery for James.
"James Potter - you were my star that went out too soon."
THE END