Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Summary: AU. What if Regulus Black didn't die and Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban earlier? Harry escapes from the cruel Dursleys and lives a life on the run with the Blacks, only to be found eventually in a Qudditch match. Featuring Harry with metamorphagus abilities and talents in the mind arts. Multiple SHIPS.

Author's Note: Hey all, wrote this past midnight so there might be some errors. Anyway, Ron won't play much of a role in this story, as I've never really liked him and Harry will play Chaser like his dad. Enjoy

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 1 – Prologue

In the Headmaster's Office at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, had never felt so old before in his entire life, and that was saying something considering his ancient age. With a sigh, he laid the copy of Daily Prophet he was reading moments ago on his desk and closed his eyes, thinking about the greatest mistake he had just committed.

The headlines on the Daily Prophet read "The-Boy-Who-Lived Kidnapped!" in bold titles, and an account of how a tall and mysterious-looking man kidnapped Harry Potter, who was then only four-years-old, also known as the saviour of the Wizarding World. Even after a week had elapsed, the wizarding world still had not gotten over the kidnap, and there had been daily false alarms and fake information regarding Harry. In fact, there was a 10,000-galleon reward to anyone who could provide true information regarding the location of Harry.

It did not help matters that only a few days had passed before a breakout happened at the Azkaban Prison, something that has never ever happened in the history of magic ever since it had been built. Matters only exacerbated when the escaped convict was none other than Sirius Black, who was known for his involvement in the deaths of the Potters.

Albus Dumbledore looked sadly around the beloved office he had resided in for many years, wondering what could be done to rectify his grievous mistake. A mistake that might have resulted in the annihilation of the wizarding world.

He heaved another sigh as he proceeded to read the reports given by members of the Order of Phoenix, a secret organization he led when Voldemort, a Dark Wizard, began his reign of terror.

Reports had shown that on that fateful night of Harry's kidnap, the protection wards placed on 4 Privet Drive did not illustrate any signs of discrepancies. Alarms set to ring should a Dark Wizard, or any wizard bearing ill intentions towards the house or its inhabitants, set foot in the vicinity also failed to work. All the wards had been checked again after the kidnap had occurred, and to everyone's surprise, everything was working fine.

The latter was more puzzling to Dumbledore as he thought of the reasons why a powerful charm performed by none other than the top Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries did not activate when the man entered the area. After all, what other purpose does the man have to kidnap Harry? Moreover, Dumbledore knew something everyone else except the Inner Circle of the Order did not, which had increased his puzzlement over the malfunctioning of the alarms.

Oh well, this is only going to be another one of the many questions that have remained unsolved, Dumbledore thought as he resigned to be kept in the dark about the problem with the wards. Order members had only been notified of a problem at Harry's residence when the use of a portkey was registered by detection wards. Further attempts at finding out where the portkey brought the both of them to were useless when they realised their tracking charms had been detected and eliminated too.

Staring out of the windows that showed the beautiful grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dumbledore wondered where in the world Harry was and hoped that wherever he was, someone would be taking care of him, and not subjecting him to various tortures.

After all, reports on his desk had shown that the detection wards around 4 Privet Drive, the residence of Harry Potter, had detected a startling fact about the kidnapper – something that told everyone much about his identity.

The kidnapper bore a Dark Mark.

-o-o-o-o-

Elsewhere in Britain…

"I swear to God that I will never attempt such a risky operation ever, not even for a life debt!" a darkly-clothed man muttered as he held out his wand to perform the few healing charms he knew on a dishevelled man, who looked to be on the brink of exhaustion.

"Oh little brother of mine, you know you would do anything for me," the pale-looking man said in a raspy voice of his as he started coughing again.

"Hmmm, I wonder what will happen to you if I did not bother to find you at our usual meeting place after your little escapade from Azkaban, Sirius-boy," the other man huffed and replied. "You won't be so cocky when you're looking at Death in the face."

Sirius only sighed in content. He was finally liberated from that miserable prison they kept him in. God knows how much he had to endure from the ghastly creatures that guarded Azkaban, and he often wondered how he managed to survive for three whole years in there.

As always, he found the answer when he looked at the peaceful-looking boy across him, sleeping on the couch. Yes, it was worth it, he thought. Everything was worth saving Harry, James only son, from that poor excuse of a home he lived in. He was enraged when his younger brother, Regulus, told him about the poor conditions Harry had lived in. Deep down, he was extremely grateful that Regulus had been keeping tabs on Harry, for who knows what those abhorrent muggles will further do to Harry? As Sirius was musing about Harry, Regulus thought of the past once again, a past which had been unkind to him.

Regulus Black was the youngest son of Orion Black and he used to be a Death Eater. When he had first joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, he bore the mindset that they would simply do muggle-baiting among other acts that would prove the pureblood supremacy. What he did not know was that Voldemort had more ambitious plans, plans which require more than playing with muggles, plans… which involved killing, among other atrocities. After struggling with the company of Death Eaters, he realised he did not have the heart to commit the various heinous crimes required to be part of Voldemort's group, and he tried to leave. Of course, nobody could simply leave when he felt like it after joining, and moments after he had deserted Voldemort, he started getting hunted by Death Eaters. It was only the timely intervention by his elder brother, Sirius Black, along with his amazing Transfiguration skills and intelligence that had prevented his death.

Flashback

Hey bro, how was the experience of being a Death Eater?

Regulus' eyes widened in surprise as he recognized his brother's voice in his mind, and only responded after a while.

Sirius, where are you?

Trying to get you out of trouble as usual. Don't worry, I got everything under control. Pretend nothing happened and continue flying towards me. You can feel where I am, right?

Ya… but Sirius, what are you doing here? You could be killed!

As I've said, nothing to worry about. We might have our differences in our past, but I'm not going to watch my bro die to a bunch of death munchers.

Regulus could almost see the smirk on Sirius' face as he said that. He switched off the connection with his brother as he concentrated on flying on his broom, swerving around trees to avoid the Death Eaters behind him as much as possible.

A blue beam shot past him and blasted the tree ahead into oblivion. Regulus shuddered to think what would have happened had the beam hit him instead. He looked ahead to find his brother, and to his relief, he had finally found the place. It was heavily concealed by trees, and it would be almost impossible to fly through it. He swerved his broom to his left and he temporarily disappeared from the Death Eater's view. Regulus spotted the telltale figure of his brother and disembarked from his broom.

He quickly covered the distance between them and pulled Sirius into a hug. "I've missed you bro," he said, as tears threatened to spill.

"I've missed you too," his brother said quietly before pulling out of the embrace. "Quick, we don't have time to waste."

Sirius seemed to grab hold of thin air and pulled hard, revealing a man wearing black robes with a white mask covering his face. The usual garb of a Death Eater. Regulus then recognized the item Sirius held in his hands to be an Invisibility Cloak, and saw that the man looked exactly like him!

With a few transfiguration spells, that man looked the same as Regulus in his current state. They exchanged clothing before Sirius cast the Imperio curse on the Death Eater, willing him to do what was wanted.

After a few moments, Sirius went to where Regulus was and hid both of them with the Invisibility Cloak.

"Time to watch the show," he muttered under his breath as the Death Eaters chasing him moments ago came into view.

"There he is!" "Capture him!" "Hurry!"

The Death Eater controlled by Sirius appeared to be stuck in a bush and was struggling to get out of it. Before long, he was Stunned by his fellow Death Eaters and the torture began.

"How do you like this?" the Death Eater holding the Cruciatus curse on the supposed 'Regulus Black' cackled. "You should have never betrayed our Lord, and now you shall pay for it!"

After what seemed like eternity, the Death Eaters stopped their torture and finished 'Regulus' with a Reducto curse, blasting the body into smithereens. They congratulated themselves for a job well done and flew back.

While the Death Eaters were torturing 'Regulus', the real Regulus Black asked his brother where the transfigured Death Eater had come from. His brother then explained that he had captured him trying to rape a muggle in the outskirts of a town while on duty as an Auror. When he sensed Regulus, he had decided to bring the Death Eater along, not knowing how useful he would prove later on.

End of Flashback

"Alright, that's all I can do with the skills I have," Regulus said, as he brought himself back to the present. "I'll bring you to see some other less reputable Healers who do not question the identity of their patients when we reach Illionaz tomorrow." Illionaz was a magical capital located on an island not far away from Britain.

"Yeh, you'd better make sure those friends you know can bring us safely there." Sirius said before breaking into a grin. Tomorrow, my brother, my godson and I will be safely living on a magical island with nobody knowing where we are!

Thoughts of what he could be doing fleeted across his mind, all of which included Harry. He really wanted to be the perfect godfather, to have fun with Harry and treat him as a friend, but he also realised the responsibility he had to James Potter, his best friend, to raise his son to become a respectable wizard, not an arrogant and prejudiced one. The last thought on his mind as he finally succumbed to sleep was him teaching Harry the basics of pranking, both of them enjoying each other's company.

Regulus stayed with Sirius until sleep finally took over his brother. He checked to make sure that the detection and protection wards were not malfunctioning and double-checked all the locks in the house to make sure everything was safely-locked. After going through three years of research on entering warded premises without detection, he considered himself a professional in it. After all, didn't he break through the many complicated wards to rescue Harry without detection? He would even bet that some of the wards were cast by Albus Dumbledore himself.

He started scanning the house for any tracking charms. He had removed all the charms attached to Harry the moment they left the vicinity of Privet Drive before using another portkey to bring them here, but still, it was always good to be on your toes. He remembered Sirius telling him of a Muggle called Murphy saying that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Well, it better not be in this case, he thought after making the last scan on the house. Satisfied that nothing appeared to be breached, he finally sat down on the couch and drifted away to a peaceful sleep.

-o-o-o-o-

Close to 9 years later on Illionaz island, on a warm and sunny June morning…

"Hey kiddo, you better come down here in 1 minute or I will personally go up and kick your ass down," Sirius shouted from the living room, as he browse through the Daily Prophet in one hand while eating his breakfast with the other.

Regulus walked into the room and sat down on the chair before chuckling. "You know that little runt will never get down in a minute. He's most probably trying out a new hairstyle with that magic gel you bought him yesterday."

After nine years of relaxation and fun on the magical island, Regulus had become quite a charmer. With his well-toned muscles and nice tan, coupled with his 5'6 tall body, he had been a popular figure among girls along the beaches. Sirius, on the other hand, as he did not get the chance to go out of the house much due to security reasons, had a pale countenance, but as he had been constantly training at home, he was also muscular and tall. In fact, Sirius was a few inches taller than Regulus.

"Ha, I don't even know if that gel will work on that messy hair of his," Sirius snorted as he continued reading the papers. "Doubt he will need it when he has finally mastered how to morph his hair properly."

Regulus only smiled at that comment as he realised the subtle jealousy beneath Sirius' tone. Harry and Regulus were both Metamorphagus, which means they have the ability to morph their bodies and take on another look. Regulus only discovered that Harry had the metamorphagus talent in him two summers ago when he morphed his hair back to his old style after a disastrous haircut. Since then, his control over hair still had not reach a safe level for use, so they had been practicing on other parts of his body, especially his face. They had managed to use Harry's metamorphagus ability to mask his scar temporarily, but every now and then, when Harry started to lose focus, the scar would return to its surface.

"Yes! I've finally gotten my hair into a respectable state!" shouted an excited Harry as he rushed down the stairs. He stood proudly in front of both of the Black brothers as he awaited the astonishment and wonderment their tones would carry. Instead, Sirius' eyes became as large as saucers and he spluttered, "You call that respectable? It's disgusting!" Harry's hair was gelled into becoming as spiky as a Hogrikey, a magical creature bearing great resemblance to the muggle animal hedgehog.

"No, no, that won't do." As he said that, Sirius stood up and grabbed Harry by the shoulder before manoeuvring him into a kitchen to wash away the gel. "Ahhhhh, no, damn it, doesn't it look cool?" Harry shouted as he was dragged into the kitchen.

Regulus, why didn't you help me say a few nice words just now?

Regulus heard Harry's mental communication and smiled in amusement.

Well, I for one don't want to get into any trouble with Sirius. Anyway, you know how stubborn he can be when he made up his mind.

Oh well, that's true.

Harry then spent the next ten minutes arguing with Sirius while Sirius tried to get his hair back to the 'old state'.

Regulus and Sirius had spent quite a few years teaching Harry the mind arts, such as Legilimency and Occlumency. Harry started to learn them at the age of nine and had mastered Occlumency in three years. However, he was only proficient enough in Legilimency to send messages in short distances. Together, they had home-schooled Harry in Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration, and taught him duelling along with the many duelling spells. Potions was sort of included in their daily pranking lessons, so it was not taught specifically.

Through the sketchy characters Regulus knew, they had managed to purchase a wand with no tracking devices on it for Harry, thus they could practice magic at home without a care for the Ministry of Magic. It was 10 inches made from ashes with a dragon heartstring core and had cost a bomb, but it was well worth it, and the Blacks were certainly rich enough to afford it. To keep Sirius occupied in their home, Regulus let Sirius do the planning for their lessons with Harry whenever he brought Harry out. Both of them knew how to morph their bodies, so there was lesser risk that they would be recognized.

Harry seemed to have inherited his dad's skills in Transfiguration and his mum's in Charms, breezing through those two lessons with ease. However, Arithmancy proved to be a difficult subject for him. When asked why he had to learn Arithmancy, Sirius explained in a serious (A/N: lol!) tone that the subject was important in the arts of pranking. After all, you had to calculate the correct figures for various spells to come into contact with one another and not become volatile it seemed.

Duelling was an essential topic for they knew that Harry's life ahead would not be easy. Even till then, there were still bounty hunters on the search for Harry, hired to capture him alive, and Dumbledore still had not given up the hope that Harry was still alive somewhere. With so many dangers around, Sirius and Regulus had also charmed a watch to be a portkey for Harry. If Harry should come into danger in the absence of the two wizards, all he had to do was utter the words 'the Prongslet is in danger' and the portkey would activate, bringing him to a safehouse.

"Finally, we're done!" Sirius exclaimed happily as he brought a drenched Harry out of the kitchen.

"See what you've done to my Qudditch outfit? It's all wet!" Harry complained as he looked at his state of dressing.

Regulus was brought out of his musing and laughed. "Harry, Harry, sometimes you forget that we live in a world of magic." With that said, he performed a drying charm on Harry.

Harry was in a one of the Qudditch teams in Illionaz, the youngest Qudditch player around. He was scouted from the Junior Qudditch League he had joined and was offered the place of reserve Chaser in the Draconian Dragons. During one of the games when Harry was brought into play, he had outperformed a few of the chasers and had managed to get into the first team ever since. That day was the finals against the Pyro Phoenix and it would determine whether they would play in the Qudditch World Cup later on

After everything was ready, Harry and Regulus morphed into the look they had taken on for identifying purposes on Illionaz while Sirius changed into Snuffles. With a bit of tweaking, Snuffles no longer looked like before and everyone was safe to go. Regulus took out the portkey given to Harry by the coach of Draconian Dragons as he did not want anyone late for this important match.

Not long later, they entered the Illionaz Qudditch Stadium.

-o-o-o-o-

During the Qudditch game…

"… and Chaser Harry McBlack streaked across the pitch with the Quaffle in his arms. He dodged a Bludger sent by Beater Rex Le'ones and hurled the Quaffle straight into the hoops. Keeper Nat Charles stretched his 6'8 body and managed to block the shot!"

Damn, Harry thought, as another attempt came to a waste. The score was 340-220 and they were leading by a huge margin. However, Harry knew that the Phoenix's Seeker was much better than theirs, and it was likely for them to get the Snitch. As such, their strategy was to score enough goals to win even if the opposition got the Snitch.

Harry went back into formation and nodded to the other two chasers at his sides. They were going to try the Hawkshead Counterfeit. It was a different variation of the Hawkshead Attacking Formation, something which Harry had invented during one of the practice. A shot from the opposition was blocked by their keeper and he passed the Quaffle to Harry.

Together, the three chasers sped towards the opposite goalpost with Harry slightly ahead of the other two, forming the Hawkshead Attacking Formation. They then started revolving around their broom, with the other two chasers weaving in and out around Harry, something ahead of Harry, at other times, behind him. With this formation, the Beaters of the opposition had a hard time aiming, and most of their attempts missed the chasers.

As they neared the Phoenix's goalpost, they stopped revolving and settled for flying straight at the Keeper. Harry passed the Quaffle to the other Chaser on his right as discreetly as possible and pretended to hold a Quaffle under his arm. When he was close enough to the Keeper, he threw an imaginary Quaffle at the hoops. The Keeper noticed the exchange between the Chasers and did not fall for the trick. Unknown to him, while Harry was distracting him, the Chasers had exchanged possession of the Quaffle and the Chaser whom Harry had passed the Quaffle to once again threw an imaginary Quaffle at the hoops. The Keeper was ready this time, and he threw himself towards the hoop to try to block the shot… only to find that there was nothing. He turned around in panic, and sighed as the Quaffle sailed through the air and entered through the hoop, scored by the final Chaser.

"… and Chaser Nicolas Yore SCORED! The score's 350-220 to the Dragons!" the commenter shouted as the crowds cheered.

The Dragons scored another goal after a few minutes. However, it was then that the crowd went mad cheering as the Phoenix's Seeker streaked down the pitch. The Dragons' Seeker followed in mad pursuit, and Harry stared in horror as the realization that they might lose hit him. Concentrating hard, he flew towards the Phoenix's Chasers who were passing the ball between them and intercepted in mid-air before zooming towards the goal.

Come on, come on, come on, Harry chanted to himself as he evaded Bludgers sent in his way. With a final twist of his wrist as he reached the goalpost, he sent the Quaffle curling towards the hoops. The Keeper stretched his long body once again but, this time however, missed the Quaffle by inches.

"Chaser Harry McBlack raises the score to 370-220 to the Dragons as the Phoenix's Seeker catch the Snitch. Ladies and Gentlemen, for the first time in five decades, we're witnessing a tie for the chance to participate in the Qudditch World Cup. As such, we will have… a QUDDITCH PENALTIES!"

The Qudditch Penalties rarely come into play as scores are usually difficult to draw due to the Snitch contribution of 150 points. Each side would then have five attempts at the goal with a Keeper guarding it. After an intense penalty shootout, which led to sudden death as both sides scored the same number of goals the Draconian Dragons finally emerged victorious.

As Harry was cerebrating with his Qudditch mates, one of them commented on his forehead.

"Hey Harry, what's that on your head? That lightning bolt thingy?"

With a practiced grace, Harry took out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead, closing his eyes to concentrate on his metamorphagus ability to conceal the scar which marked him as The-Boy-Who-Lived.

"I guess it must have been some blemish," he lied without blinking.

With that, they continued their party and Regulus joined them too. Unknown to them, a stranger with a pair of omnioculars was zooming into Harry's forehead moments ago with his left hand, while his right was frantically writing on a piece of parchment. After completing what he has written, he rolled it up before taking out a phoenix's feather. Touching the parchment, he uttered the two words before the parchment disappeared along with the feather.

To those who could lip-read, they would have probably saw that the two words were 'Albus Dumbledore'.

-o-o-o-o-

Author's Note: Ooh, a cliffy. What will happen next? Harry will definitely meet with Dumbledore. But what about Regulus and Sirius? What will happen to them? Will Harry attend Hogwarts? Lol, stay tune for more…