Sirius Black and the Disasters that Wait
A/N: This was published as an offshoot to my fanfiction "Harry Potter and the World that Waits", it was published purely for the readers of that fanfiction and likely won't be terribly enjoyable to those who haven't read it--- although strictly speaking I think you can grasp the context without reading the previously mentioned fic.
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You never quite get over how mind numbingly normal traveling between worlds can be, that was Sirius Black's first thought when he emerged from the dimensional portal.
You'd expect some sort of flashing lights, or perhaps even a rushing of air, or maybe even some frighteningly terrible dimensional guardians who ask puzzling questions before you can enter. But it really was like walking through a door, granted there might not be any floor for you to stand at the other side …but still very normal.
Stepping through this particular door proved even more boring than Sirius had anticipated. But boring was good he reminded himself. If he was going to get back to his own world, and his godson in particular, it was very necessary that this door led to a very normal Department of Mysteries.
Well now, he was a jaded fellow wasn't he? Even the Department of Mysterious sounded tame.
But there it was, a normal amphitheatre, normal wispy magical curtain atop a stone dais, a very normal magical gateway to another world.
Yes, jaded indeed.
Sirius peered out hesitantly, it looked like his world. He took a few steps out onto the stone and examined the space. He cursed silently, knowing that his only way of discovering the truth meant leaving the veil room and exploring the magical world that was before him.
He was pondering the best method to do this, by trial or fire, when a stunning spell struck him from the side.
"Bloody hell," he managed to mutter before the spell took hold. What was it with this room and stunning spells? He never had any luck.
-
Sirius Black was in a jail cell. Again.
At least it looked like a jail cell, and he ought to be able to spot the general esthetic by now. It was a gray windowless room, one chair, which was rather uncomfortable now that he mentioned it.
But the boredom was another matter. He'd been twiddling his thumbs and trying his best to find a comfortable sitting position for the last hour. And he really wasn't inclined to waste all this time. He needed to know if this was his world
He'd already wasted several weeks on his first world, bizarre place that, ruled over by centaurs. Barmy bunch, moon this, stars that, he couldn't take a piss without some horse man telling him Uranus was bright. Maybe that was a pickup line, sure sounded like one.
It had taken him too long to discover a way to get the veil to appear again. Still hadn't known why the bloody veil needed magic fed into it, thankfully the world after the centaurs had been populated by a bunch of Moony wannabes. A world full of bookworms, cringe. Of course that lot had been quite happy to explain some things about the veil, and they had some 'fascinating' theories about the multiverse. He didn't remember much of it, far too technical. But he'd learned about charging the veil, and then he'd been on his way.
Because, while adventure was all well and good, he had somewhere else he really had to be.
The door to his jail cell finally opened and a woman in Auror robes emerged.
Sirius smiled, okay, so maybe prison wasn't so bad after all.
The Auror bird was just his type, curvy body with a spirited look in her eye. Her black hair was pulled back into loose ponytail that hung down her back. And toned, had he mentioned her body? She was quite fit, D cup if he was any judge, just his type indeed.
"Well," she said, conjuring her own chair and straddling it to peer at him with sharp eyes.
"Come here often?" Sirius said with a grin, chatting her up easily despite the situation.
The woman cocked an eyebrow, "Where else am I supposed to find my Friday night shag?"
Sirius grinned at the cheeky response, "You and me, that would make a nice weekend."
The woman rolled her eyes, "Seeing as you might be in Azkaban for a bit, you'll have to give me a rain check."
Azkaban? "Didn't I pay that ticket? Could have sworn I sent in the galleons." He patted his pockets.
"Trespassing in a classified ministry department is worth a little more than a ticket," the woman said.
"Yeah, about that," Sirius explained, "The door wasn't locked so I let myself in."
"You trying to be cute?" she wanted to know.
"Why, you think I'm cute? I prefer ruggedly handsome, but I can work with cute."
She blinked, and her lips narrowed in the obvious attempt to hide a smile.
"Well," she said, her voice trying to hide a humorous tone, "we should put something on the arrest record."
Strike one in favor of this being his home, he thought, who didn't know Sirius Black?
"If you wanted my name so badly, you could have just asked." He winked. "Sirius Black, but my friends call me--- well they call me Sirius I suppose."
"And I'm to believe you're from the Black family," the woman said, she seemed very amused by this for some reason.
"We're not all bad," Sirius said, "No matter what my mother says."
The door opened again and a smiling man entered, "Well you aren't going to believe this," the man said, "They were right, he doesn't exactly exist."
Sirius knew right that second that he wasn't home.
"James?" he asked weakly, his throat felt raw and suddenly he needed a drink of water.
It was a James Potter, but a James Potter that Sirius had never seen before. This James was still the same shaggy haired fellow he'd known, but the face had been given the time to slowly shift into a well-worn middle age. No gray hair yet, but there was a maturity that Sirius had never gotten the chance to see.
"Do I know you?" James asked jovially, he didn't seem to be projecting the same tough front as his female partner.
"Guess not," Sirius said. He felt like he'd aged, the affability fell away and he couldn't even get up the desire to flirt with the cracking brunette.
"Giving the poor bloke a bad time, eh Cassi?" James asked the woman.
She smirked, "We should at least keep up the pretense of being law enforcers," but the tone was a tad teasing.
"Well there, Sirius Black, mind telling us what you were doing wandering around in the Department of Mysteries."
"It's a funny story," Sirius said, he couldn't quite pull his eyes away from James. Seeing him alive again after all these years. "You see I'm just trying to get home to my godson."
"Oh yeah?" James said, "Well how'd you get down here."
"That's where it gets complicated." He scratched his head. "You see James, ol' buddy, I'm a dimensional traveler that accidentally fell through the veil down there. As you can imagine it's a real bugger getting home. Unscrambling eggs would be easier."
James shared a look with the woman named Cassi.
"See I told you he wouldn't turn out to be a Dark Lord. Didn't look the type, and look can't be all bad being so upfront."
Sirius couldn't help but feel a little agape; he'd meant to have one over on his old friend. He knew they would never believe the truth after all. But strangely enough he felt like James was pranking him.
Cassi seemed unhappy with the whole arrangement. "Couldn't you be just a little evil?" she asked, "I could do with a good duel. You know just to make things interesting."
Sirius scratched his ear, "Well, I suppose I could try. I've been called wicked at times," he grinned wolfishly.
James laughed, "What a dog," he joked.
"Are you lot playing me?" Sirius asked.
"Naw, sorry about all this. Just precaution you see. We thought you might not be ---'from around here'. You aren't the first person to pop out of that strange veil. Should close the thing up of course, but apparently you can't do it without destroying the fabric of space and time." James shrugged.
Sirius chuckled, "Who came through first if you don't mind me asking?"
"Some nasty bugger," James answered. "I wasn't working here then of course, but he caused a right stink. Something about taking over the world," James shrugged as if the idea seemed too farfetched to be believable.
"So after that they set up alarms of some sort, and we needed to make certain who is popping through. But if you're who you say you are," for some reason he shot his partner an amused smile, "And why wouldn't you be? Well we might as well let you get back to finding your godson."
Sirius stared at them dumbly, it couldn't be this easy. What sort of place was this world?
"You aren't going to dope me with Veritserum, interrogate me?"
James laughed, but stopped when he took in Sirius's expression, "You're serious?"
Sirius shared a look with Cassi, "That's what my friend's call me."
He and Cassi broke into laughter while James shook his head, seeming only slightly amused. It brought back good memories.
"This is just odd," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Don't you have to call Dumbledore and have me checked out?"
James looked generally puzzled, "Why would I call the former headmaster of Hogwarts school."
Sirius frowned, "Is he dead?"
Cassi looked surprised, "No, he just retired. Spends most of his days on the island of Bermuda, if you believe the stories. I'm not inclined to see the photographic proof, seeing a man that old in a speedo might turn me off men for life. And women are such teases."
Sirius shook his head. "That would be a tragedy---although maybe not if I could watch."
Cassi raised one coy eyebrow.
James reached in his pocket, "Here you go," he said handing back Sirius's wand.
Sirius took the piece of wood and held it uncertainly. The lack of paranoia and caution was making him feel--- well, paranoid. James and Cassi looked merely curious about him. The woman's severe questioning demeanor earlier was seeming more and more like a prank. Were aurors capable of playing pranks? To Sirius's knowledge, and vast experience, the buggers didn't have the sense of humor of a teakettle.
"Well, thanks, James," he nodded to his friend.
"So it is some sort of gateway to a parallel world?" James asked seeming interested and slight amazed, "The unspeakables, not chatty blokes mind you, said something like that. Does that mean that you know 'me' on your world."
"Err, yeah," Sirius said. "We were best mates at school. Me, Remus, Peter and You."
James shared a glance with his partner, "Well how about that, curious eh?"
Casssi frowned, "Sirius Black, right?"
"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "Guess I don't exist here then."
" 'Fraid not," James said. Once again he glanced at his partner.
Cassi seemed to be examining him a little more closely. "When's your birthday?" she asked.
"January, 12th," he answered not understanding why it was important.
James hooted and hollered loudly, his laughter echoing around the small room while his partner flushed somewhat. But her embarrassment faded as she began circling Sirius, her eyes seeming to be looking for something.
"Well, I'll be," James said, recovering from his fit of laughter, "You don't make a bad looking bloke," he teased, slinging an arm around Cassi's shoulder.
"Actually," Cassi said thoughtfully, "Just what I was thinking."
Sirius's jaw dropped open in surprise, "Bloody hell," he cursed.
"Cassiopeia Black, nice to meet you," she said with a playful glint.
Sirius couldn't hide his own amused grin. "Aside from that one crossdressing prank in seventh year, I never quite imagined what I might look like as a bird, but hell, I make one sexy girl."
Cassi buffed her nails on her robes, "And don't you forget it."
-
Sirius had been willing to get right back to his inter-dimensional trip but Cassi and James seemed determined to have him over for dinner. It seemed that, aside from the obvious, this world wasn't too different from Sirius's own. James had married Lily, and Remus and Peter were still close family friends. It had taken some string pulling, but the two aurors had managed to smuggle Sirius home for a short visit.
Walking into Godric's Hollow did Sirius's soul a world of good, he couldn't help but look around fondly. He'd spent quite few good evenings here when James and Lily were newlywed, he'd even spent one disastrous evening minding Harry while they were out. (He'd never have thought something so little could be so destructive.) Seeing this home in ruins that terrible night had just been another loss piled onto so many more.
"James that you," Sirius heard a voice call from the back of the house, where he knew the kitchen to be.
It was a voice he hadn't expected to ever hear again.
"I brought company," James returned.
The red head that emerged was busy drying off her hands, a faintly annoyed expression on her face.
"I don't know what I'm going to make for…" she trailed off when she saw the guests in question.
"Oh you had me worried," she smiled at Cassi. "Hello there," she greeted warmly, her green eyes drifting over Sirius, "One night he showed up with the head of the auror division and all I had on hand were muggle hot dogs."
"I remember that," Cassi said, flopping onto the floral couch comfortably, "That was a memorable evening I'm sure."
James shrugged, "Well I don't want a promotion anyway,"
"Don't you put that one me, Potter," Lily fumed, her temper sparking to life just like it had all those years ago in school. Still there was a friendly quality to it that brought a tinge of nostalgia to Sirius's mind.
"Are you fighting again?" another red head popped out of the kitchen. She looked to be in that slightly awkward pre-teen state, twelve maybe thirteen. Sirius stared for a moment, trying to place her strange muddled face that looked so familiar.
"You have a daughter!" Sirius exclaimed, feeling a right fool when everyone in the room turned to look at him like he'd gone mad.
"Err, yes," James said, he raised an eyebrow at Cassi, "This is Emily."
"Hello," Emily waved, her eyes darted between Cassi and Sirius and a devilish grin appeared on her face. "This one is really good looking Aunt Cassi," she said with a wink.
"Thanks" Cassi and Sirius said at the same time.
Lily raised an eyebrow, "Well, introduce him," she said.
"Why bother remembering names?" Emily piped up impishly.
Cassi swatted at her, "Not all of us want a husband," she stated.
"Yeah yeah," Emily said, "Just a good shag now and then."
"Emily!" Lily shrieked.
Cassi on the other hand bust into laughter, "Watch out for this one, Merlin, the boys are going to be all over her."
James grumbled and growled, he muttered something incoherently.
"Don't worry daddy," Emily said, she stood next to her father and rose on tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I remember what you told me."
Cassi chuckled, "Aim for the balls?"
"Is Aunt Cassi here?" A boy this time, he had dark hair that seemed to have missed the messy Potter trademark, terribly short, to Sirius's mind he must have been only seven or eight.
"Hey Kiddo," Cassi said, "what you working on?"
"I'm reading a book about magical newts, did you know there are some that can live in fire?" The boy had James's hazel eyes but judging by the book tucked under his arm perhaps he'd inherited more of Lily's temperament. He held up the big book and began showing pictures.
"Gross," the girl declared. "Why can't you at least read nice books."
"Don't worry about dinner," James said to Lily while the kids were occupied looking through the magical creature book. "I told Peter to bring by some muggle pizza. You know he's always ready for any excuse for pizza."
Lily seemed thoughtful, her eyes flickered to Sirius.
"Cassi never did introduce you, I'm Lily."
Sirius held out his hand to shake and he felt a tingle of amazement when he clasped her small hand.
"Sirius Black," he said warmly.
"Black?" Lily said questionably.
Cassi grinned, moving away from the book to enjoy the introduction. "Yep, Lils I'd like you to meet my male counterpart from another world."
Lily blinked, she seemed stunned for only a moment and then
---"Nice to meet you," she said with a grin.
Sirius had to hand it to her, James's wife was never slow on the uptake.
"Well this is just bizarre," Sirius said looking at all of them in amazement. "You just invite a fellow over, James has three kids, I'm a girl!"
"Why wouldn't we have you for dinner," Cassi said, slapping him on the back with enthusiasm.
"You don't know me," Sirius explained, "I could be a vile deatheater, just waiting for the right moment to slaughter the entire family."
Silence.
Sirius looked around, the entire Potter family seemed utterly shocked with his pronouncement regarding the fragility of their lives. The shared a few glances to each other, but then a faint chuckling emerged.
"Well that's just funny," Cassi decided.
"Pizza!" a door opened and Peter Pettigrew emerged from the front door. His round face was rather pink and a broad smile occupied his expression as he carried in the three pizza boxes. "Have to hand it to the muggles," he was saying as he walked past the crowd of silent Potters and Blacks, crossing into the kitchen noting nothing amiss.
The door was left open and another man followed closely behind, he wore expensive looking robes and seemed to be faintly irritated.
"You pulled me out McGonagall's budget meeting. Please tell the emergency wasn't pizza night?" Remus Lupin seemed terribly well groomed, his hair styled and his clothes, while still bookish, weren't the threadbare standard Sirius had grown used to. Remus stopped however and took a hard look at Sirius, his gaze shifted to Cassie and he heaved a sigh.
"Another one, you haven't married him yet have you?"
Sirius chuckled while Cassie arched an eyebrow.
"Quite the slag aren't you," Sirius added between laughs.
Cassi smiled gently, "Can you blame them? We do look good together."
"Takes the concept of masturbation to an entirely new level," Sirius said.
Remus looked between the pair, "I'm missing something."
-
Peter and Remus took Sirius's identity rather well, considering everything. Remus was fascinated by the idea of inter-dimensional travel and Peter seemed to have decided that the entire thing was too impossible to be real and that James and Cassi were pranking them.
It wasn't until they settled down to dinner that things became weird.
Jaded, very jaded.
"Where is Harry at?" Sirius asked looking around. He half expected his godson to run down the stairs and start gobbling up pizza. He couldn't help but wonder how he might be different being raised by James and Lily. How much of you was who raised you after all? How much was genetic? How much was dumb luck?
"Harry?" James asked, biting into his pizza and looking amused.
It seemed strange but Sirius felt a good connection with this James. He had already fallen into feeling like they were old friends.
"Yeah, your son Harry?"
"Oliver," the eight year-old said from along the table. "My name is Oliver."
Sirius chucked a breadstick at the boy, "I remember, I'm talking about your brother."
"I have a brother?"
The kids hadn't quite understood some of the mechanics of jumping worlds yet.
Realization dawned and James nodded, "You said something earlier, about us having three kids, but we only have the two."
Sirius stopped. "No Harry?" the concept seemed impossible.
Harry's safety, Harry's happiness, Harry's life, these had been the centerpieces of his life for some time now. Mind, he didn't have much else to occupy himself with, but somehow the possibility of Harry not existing had not even crossed his mind.
"So I have another son?" James said seeming amused.
"Yeah," Sirius said somewhat lamely, "His name is Harry."
"What is he like?" Lily asked, she had a faint smile on her lips.
"Well---
And so Sirius Black told Lily and James Potter about the wonderful son they had never known.
-
The air smelled fresh and the scent of freshly trimmed grass was hard to ignore, it was a perfectly lovely summer day. James had dragged everyone out for a game of Quidditch. Apparently a small portion of Hyde Park had been warded and hidden away from muggle eyes to produce a suitable place for the wizarding world to enjoy such rare but wonderful weather. Sirius knew that the place didn't exist in his world. James had explained that apparently it had been built only fifteen years ago. Sirius knew that at that time hi8s world had been preoccupied with fighting an evil dark lord. There had been no time to create such beautiful parks.
"Don't tell me you're dropping out?" Cassi asked landing next to him and looking slightly disappointed. Still, she shook her long dark hair and flopped onto the grass as well, leaning back to let the sun warm her body.
Sirius had joined Cassi and James in the game. But after being soundly beaten by James in two matches, he was ready to enjoy the day. James, of course, was bullying some other people into starting another game.
Sirius looked around the lazy park, filled with people enjoying the lovely day.
He had spent three days here, and as far as he could tell this world was perfect.
Perhaps three days wasn't enough time to see the entire picture. But it was difficult not to see that when comparing his own world and this new one…well his home fell short. A world without Voldemort, without Deatheaters, a world without the pureblood prejudice that governed everything the ministry did. He had never even imagined that a place like this could be possible.
And the people: James and Lily alive, happy; Remus fulfilled, not stifled by cruel laws; Peter, innocent and devoted.
These people they were innocent, they lived without fear. They welcomed strangers into their home, they let their children run free in this park, they even embraced a man from another world.
He had told them about his home, and the war that tore it apart. They were awed by the things Harry Potter had done, but also shocked that a child would need to do such things. Telling them about his world had been almost like reciting some terrible ghost story, freighting, and yet too far fetched to be believable.
Rather like the story they had told him about how James and Cassi had dated for a few months in sixth year. Horrifying.
It was all a story to them. For, of course, they couldn't really understand what his life and world had been like, and a part of Sirius didn't want them to. Why shouldn't some part of his friends exist in this perfect place?
"You still set on going back today?" Cassi asked, her gray eyes focused on him and her expression was oddly severe.
"I have to," Sirius repeated.
That had been one thing that they couldn't understand. James and said he could ask permission for Sirius to stay. A refugee of sorts, he could settle here and just get on with the business of living.
"Yeah," Cassi said with a nod.
Strangely enough, his female counterpart had been the only one not to argue about his coming departure.
She was staring at their friends, her lips quirking as Lily and James got into another fight, Peter was sharing his newest muggle sweets with Oliver and Emily, Remus was pretending to read a book and ignore them all.
"You have to go back to him," she said, turning to look at Sirius. She said it so straightforwardly that he knew she understood.
"Yeah," Sirius agreed.
"You might never find him, the unspeakables say there an infinite number of worlds."
Sirius shrugged, "Have to try."
"Yeah," she said, "It's what I'd do."
"Still," Sirius said, "You do have a pretty nice world."
"I'll try to remember that every time I start wanting a little excitement," she commented.
Sirius laughed, he couldn't help the bitter tone that it ended on. He took a moment to close his eyes and remember this moment, and keep these memories safe. His Occlumency skills helped him to bury his short visit deep in his mind, locked away.
Because, the truth was, he didn't want to leave.
-
Some computer issues have one again delayed the publishing of the next chapter for World that Waits, but boredom spawned this oneshot. I say oneshot because I haven't yet decided on any other worlds I'd like Sirius to travel to…however any recommendations would be appreciated.
Not beta-ed, and as always, for those who can point out any obvious errors, I'd be pleased to go a correct them.