Disclaimer: The Harry Potter and Naruto series belong to their respective authors. I owe nothing and do not profit from this except in writing experience.
Summary: In an attempt to find the missing Potters, Severus Snape goes through an experimental magic ritual—one that opens up a multidimensional gate. When he survives the ritual, he finds himself in a strange world with the loudest and most confusing family he had ever seen.
A/N: I have legitimately rewrote the beginning of this story five different ways. I first wrote from the Potters' perspective starting on the 31st, but with all the changes I made to Lily and Petunia's backstories it was a bit jarring. I then wrote (what will be) the next chapter as the first chapter and again that felt a bit jarring. I even thought about keeping to a third party perspective by writing from Rita Skeeter's perspective about the Potter disappearance but quickly scrapped that. I hope the included changes to Lily and Petunia's backstories in this chapter will not be too out-of-left-field ~ much love, depressedchildren
Chapter 1: The Breakthrough
Ever since James disappeared with Harry, Sirius Black had felt lost. … No, that wasn't true—Sirius had been lost well before that.
Having gone into hiding within the Muggle world—a ploy to distract Death Eaters from the true secret keeper (and what an idiotic idea picking Peter was; Lily had been right all along)—Sirius spent most of his nights drinking and fooling around with muggle women. Without work as an Auror, he had fallen into a bit of a rut and with James secreted away, well he couldn't go out with his best mate. Remus was infiltrating werewolf packs and Sirius couldn't be around Peter lest that tip the Death Eaters off—the irony still boiled his blood. For Merlin's sake, Lily had always guessed Peter would flock to the biggest power, but Sirius' faith in the bond of the Marauders had blinded him.
In the end, if Sirius hadn't been such a screw up, then Peter would never have been selected as Secret Keeper. If Sirius had his life together, James wouldn't have come over on Hollow's Eve to look after him despite the risks. No, if Sirius had been a responsible adult who could handle having nothing to do, maybe things would have turned out differently.
Yes, James would have likely been killed along with Lily, but part of Sirius reasoned that was better than James blaming himself (and Sirius) for what happened. If James had died with Lily, it would have broken Sirius but he had to believe it would have been more bearable than seeing his best mate go mad with grief. More selfishly, Sirius thought that if James hadn't been with him that night then the guilt wouldn't weigh so heavily and he wouldn't live knowing his best mate blamed him. James never said as much, but Sirius knew how much James loved Lily. How could he not blame Sirius?! Hell, he was even the one that pushed having Peter as secret keeper despite Lily's protests.
After his initial rage at Peter and after his trial, Sirius wondered if it would have been better for James to have died with Lily. The few chance times he got to see James, his best mate was barely recognizable. He had bags under his eyes and a fevered sort of glint in his eyes. He wouldn't look Sirius in the eyes and he twitched. James had gone mad in his grief, Sirius knew it.
Then May 16th he got a report passed along from muggle police officers. They altered memories—had to paint James as a crazed satanic (whatever that meant) person who killed everyone in the house before killing himself—because the images in the house could not be fully wiped from the minds of those muggles.
Being a newly reinstated Auror, he shouldn't have been able to see the house, but he had begged his superiors. Part of him wished he hadn't because the sight within that house was just a testament to how mad James had gone—a testament to what a bad friend Sirius had been.
What had once been a living room no longer resembled such. Carpet had been torn up so only subfloor remained. Furniture had been pushed against walls or into doorways. In the center of the living room, had been a large array. Sirius had only seen such large arrays when it came to dark magicks, but their scans had said it wasn't dark. No, that array, it was some new kind of magic.
The animagus could still see the design in his mind's eye, and it gave him chills. It was like the work of a madman, or perhaps a desperate man. Large portions of the array were made with pink-tinted wax, which turned out to be that way because of blood. Then there were inky symbols painted throughout the array—tests also showed the ink had blood in it. It had all been human blood and the muggle woman's blood specifically. The implications still made Sirius' stomach drop because James would have needed a lot of blood. That wasn't even taking into consideration the borderline dark ritual components he had used, which had been rendered to piles of ash after whatever James had done.
Thus began the nine years and counting of research on James' array. During the first year, they had wondered if James had attempted to resurrect his wife and it backfired, but there was no sign of necromantic magicks. After a few more years, experts were able to discern that parts of the array were a mixture of ancient runes and teleportation magicks. The rest of the array was unrecognizable but seemed to be based off of some Indian and Japanese wizarding runes.
Sirius stuck with the case even as the magicks involved went far beyond his understanding. He had to for James, to make up for his failings as a friend. He had to pursue this to the end for Harry, for the memory of Lily, and for his own sanity.
It was only in the two last years that experts proposed James was perhaps trying to leave this world. They speculated he found a way to travel into the past or future because experts were beginning to see elements of time manipulation. But last year, those same experts changed their hypothesis to James leaving this world literally. They were beginning to realize that James had found a way to manipulate time and space so that he could theoretically move beyond the bounds of reality. Essentially, James might have traveled to another dimension entirely and took his son with him.
Now it was the annual meeting between Order members, ministry personnel, and the aforementioned experts. Sirius stood beside the current Ministry ambassador, some secretary who was overly fond of pink. She made Sirius feel uncomfortable but he pushed through it for his best mate—the friend he had failed in so many ways.
He opened the door for the woman who gave him what was probably supposed to be sweet smile but turned Sirius' stomach. There were one or two independent scholar type wizards, as well as one Unspeakable. Dumbledore was also in attendance, as could be expected, along with Mad-Eye Moody, and—
"What is he doing here?" Sirius snapped as he pointed to Severus Snape. Said wizard stood up with a scowl marring his already grotesque features. The greasy git hadn't changed a bit. Same judging beady eyes, same stringy, unwashed hair, and same ridiculous hooked nose.
"As I said, Headmaster, I don't think I'm welcomed or will help much," Snivellus practically spat.
"Now, now, my boy, you have a unique perspective to bring to this discussion, and Sirius…" Dumbldore trailed off with a disapproving frown directed at the Auror. Sirius sat down a moment later without giving that spineless snake across from him another look.
The Unspeakable began the meeting quickly after everyone had been seated. "Our interests in this mystery vary, but we must remain civil. Any party may bring forward an insight we have not yet ventured down. While some of us are here because of the ground breaking magicks used, others of us are here because such magicks are an unknown threat."
"And others are here to find their missing friend!" Sirius interjected, annoyed the man was talking about this so clinically again.
The Unspeakable sighed. "Yes, Mr. Black, we know. If you have any insight into Mr. Potter's thought process, please share." The man paused for a moment before continuing on. "For those who are new to this meeting, we have discerned to some degree that Mr. Potter has, quite possibly, left this dimension after seemingly creating a new form of space-time magic.
"Mr. Black has confirmed that Mr. Potter's behavior before the disappearance was scattered and frantic, perhaps a bit…unstable. We have approached this matter assuming Mr. Potter was either a mad genius or was unbelievably lucky. Ms. Renati, through her independent research, has a different hypothesis." The Unspeakable gestured for an older witch to stand up.
The witch nervously straightened out her robes as she looked through several sheets of parchment before her. "Ah, yes, well, I was drawn to this case because blood was used in the ritual. I have been studying blood magicks for some time, and also creating a way to discern the blood found at crime scenes." She became flustered as if realizing she forgot something. "I-I mean, after all, some wizards are known to mask their magical signatures through various forms of subterfuge, so blood left at crime scenes could…" she trialed off when her audience gave looks that said they already knew this.
The woman coughed in discomfort but hurried on. "Well, as you all know, blood can contain magic in it still, which is why blood magicks are so powerful." Most of the table gave the woman the same look and she shuffled her papers nervously. "Well, you had all been operating under the assumption that Mr. Potter had sacrificed the muggle sister-in-law to power his array—as many dark wizards have used muggle souls to—" she cut herself off when she realized her audience knew what she was talking about again. "W-well!" Ms. Renati began again. "I dated the blood and found that some of the blood had been collected years before the ritual. Upon further inspection, I also found traces of magic in ah, the 'muggle's' blood." She received several skeptical looks and blinked. "I mean, magic that did not match Mr. Potter or his late wife's magic."
Sirius' mouth dropped open. "What?! So she wasn't a muggle?" Sirius shook his head in confusion. Petunia Evans never went to Hogwarts; she couldn't have magic. "Does that mean she's a squib?!" Sirius' mind was racing as he tried to recall every time Lily mentioned her sister but was drawing up few instances.
"That is the question, isn't it?" Ms. Renati replied with a partial smile. "I have been consulting with, ah"—she gestured to the Unspeakable—"well, about the magic powering the array."
The Unspeakable took over at the prompting. "We had early on discerned Potter's magic was not the only magic in the array. There was a secondary magic, which we initially thought was from the ritual components, but it seems Mrs. Dursley helped to power the array."
"And the ritual components bolstered Mr. Potter's magic," Dumbledore added thoughtfully. The old man then frowned. "Petunia Evans and her parents were muggles according to all the tests."
"Excuse me Headmaster, but did you test their blood. Magic is known to be latent in some people and only visible through the blood," Ms. Renati asked quickly, and Dumbledore shook his head slowly.
Sirius tried to wrap his mind around the whole conversation. Petunia Evans was a squib? But if she helped power the array, then she couldn't be a squib because squibs couldn't harness magic in a physical way like that. Plus, if the blood in the array was taken over time, then she hadn't sacrificed herself so the power in her blood alone wouldn't be enough. It was the soul which really powered those kinds of magic. This made no sense.
"Severus," Dumbledore prompted softly. Sirius looked sharply over at the greasy git.
The man swallowed after a moment. "I do not believe the Evans family were…normal muggles, or even squibs," Snivellus began slowly.
Sirius wanted to interject, but Dumbledore held up his hand. "Go on," he encouraged.
"For one, her family did not react to her bouts of accidental magic the way most muggles would. Second, when I asked Lily what she thought her accidental magic was…" Snivellus trailed off. "She called her magic an excess of spiritual energy, a term she took from her parents. Apparently," the git began after wetting his lips, "her parents believed in something called 'chakra.'" He coughed as he said the word and his expression began to sour more. "The way Lily had described it, well, magic was an…imbalance. The rest of her family had a balance of 'physical' and 'spiritual' energies, which made them 'normal.'"
"Did Mrs. Potter ever say what this 'chakra' did?" the Unspeakable asked.
Snivellus looked down at the table. "Not specifically, but I know her parents were…soldiers and 'chakra' was used to—at the very least—protect themselves, perhaps even fight." The man coughed slightly. "Lily had been…overjoyed to hear that she could duel with her magic, as if that had not been a possibility before."
The Unspeakable hummed after a moment. "Given your testimony and Ms. Renati's research, we can postulate that Mrs. Dursley was not an ordinary muggle. Perhaps this 'charka' is based off of magic, or is a mutation?" he offered. Snivellus' lips pressed into a thin line, as if to say no.
Sirius frowned for a moment. "It's the other way around, isn't it?" Sirius asked his former enemy. Snivellus didn't acknowledge him but didn't deny the statement either.
Sirius exhaled in disbelief. "You know, that explains a lot of Lily's attitude toward magic and the war."
Dumbledore perked up at this and the Unspeakable raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How so exactly?" the old Headmaster asked.
Sirius shook his head slightly as he remembered that day he stupidly suggested Peter be the secret keeper. "Just that she trusted the defense she and her sister could make over what you could do, sir," he replied his voice tight. In his minds' eye he could see Lily standing before him with a sober expression "…anyone can betray their friends given enough pressure." She had been right about Peter.
Sirius coughed to dislodge the lump in his throat. "She also always said wizards were 'nonsensical' and fought stupidly—I thought it was a just a muggle perspective but—"
"It wasn't," Snivellus interjected. "Her parents, especially her mother, only approved of pragmatic, offensive or defensive magicks. Given what seemed to be their militant background, I suppose I can understand."
Dumbledore spoke up at this time. He was combing his beard thoughtfully. "Then this chakra is used offensively, but they have no need for a channel, like wands?" Snivellus nodded in response to the hidden question. Dumbledore frowned slightly. "That would imply their magic is more potent but would not manifest in the typical ways."
"That sounds more like an Obscurus," the pink-lady Sirius had come in with commented almost sweetly.
"Or," the Unspeakable spoke up, "it is a magic from a different dimension, perhaps the dimension Mr. Potter has gone off to."
"Mr. and Mrs. Evans were foreigners and believed in a Merlin like figured called, 'The Sage.'" The greasy git said as if he just remembered it. "Lily also implied her parents had been part of a militant group since they were presumably children," Snivellus added with a frown. "She said 'chakra' should be in everything—trees, grass, water, people—but I could only see it in her."
"Excuse me, what was that?" the secretary woman asked in a sweet way that came off threatening.
"What do you mean, see it?" Dumbledore prompted with a frown.
Snivellus rubbed his face. "Those who are more familiar with the internal magicks can sense and even…see their magic and other's. I once was meditating with Lily and noticed she had a secondary source of what seemed like magic," he explained carefully.
It was silent for a long moment. "Would you be able to recognize this secondary energy?" the Unspeakable asked slowly.
"Perhaps, it has been over a decade," the man replied. He seemed troubled by all of this, and Sirius couldn't fault him for it.
Ms. Renati spoke up next, "Theoretically then, you could act as a dowsing rod. If we can create a similar time-space—"
"Of course, then we could open the infinite number of dimensions before us and—" the other expert who had been silent for the majority of the meeting cut in.
"And I could theoretically direct us in the right direction," Snivellus interrupted, though Sirius heard the edge of uncertainty in his voice.
The two experts began nodding energetically before the thus-far-quiet expert spoke up again. "Exactly! My team is close to figuring out how to open a multidimensional gate—if you will—and with someone who can focus the energies, honing in on the exact energy even, well, it won't be blind guesses!"
Dumbledore interjected then, "In such a case, though, Severus would be transported too."
"And I imagine opening such a 'gate' would be taxing and the number of people who could go through would be…limited," Snivellus drawled with a scowl.
Sirius furrowed his brow. "I could go though. If you teach me how to sense that 'chakra' then you wouldn't have to go," he argued quickly. He had to make it up to his friend!
"I would prefer you were the test rat but I doubt there is another person with the same energy on this planet," Snivellus commented in a way that just pissed Sirius off.
"Either way, this is still only theoretical, we have to run tests and do more research," the previously quiet expert stated.
"Agreed," the Unspeakable added as he stood up. "I believe this meeting is adjourned unless anyone has any further information to provide." He paused and turned to the pink-lady. "Thank you Ms. Umbridge for coming here today on behalf of the ministry."
The pink-lady hummed and smiled. "Yes. I am sure the minister will be delighted to hear about how tax payer money is being spent."
A cold sensation fell into the bottom of Sirius' stomach, and a look at the others in the room said they had similar apprehensions.
"Well, I'll be off," Ms. Umbridge said in that disgustingly sweet tone. Mad-Eye Moony frowned suspiciously at the pink-lady and soon followed after her. When the door closed Sirius shook his head.
"We have to figure this out now! What if Fudge revokes funding or-or—!" Sirius exclaimed but couldn't finish the sentence.
The rest of the group remained quiet before the three "experts" began to converse quickly and leave the room. Now it was just Sirius, Dumbledore, and Snivellus.
Dumbledore's expression was remarkably sober for a moment while Sirius stayed rooted in his place in disbelief. "Mr. Snape, Mr. Black, I invite both of you to tea in my office, now."
The slow, deliberate pacing of the headmaster's words made Sirius tense more. A look over at Snivellus said he looked about the same. The three of them quickly exited the Ministry conference room and made for the Floo. A few minutes later, the three of them were in the Headmaster's office with all the previous headmasters staring down at them.
Not long after they were seated did some house-elves give them tea and Dumbledore dive in after erecting a privacy barrier from even the portraits. This was going to be serious.
"It may be time to fill Sirius in on their progress," the Head master began.
Snivellus straightened in his seat and shook his head slowly. "Professor…"
"Sirius, I know you and Severus have had your issues in the past, but Severus is on our side now." Sirius could only raise an eyebrow skeptically at the old Headmaster's statement.
Sighing, the greasy git began speaking. "I've been informing the Headmaster on Death Eater progress when it came to tracking down Potter. They've made several attempts already based off of Munsligur's work," Snivellus explained quickly. Munsligur was the other expert at the table who had been silent for most of the meeting, Sirius realized.
"Their first attempt ended up as a bloody smear across the room, their second left the man bisected, and the last only left an arm behind. Munsligur feels confident, but there is still a high risk. If…" Snivellus trailed off. "If working as a dowsing rod could improve chances of finding the right dimension, it might improve survival, but…"
"It's still dangerous," Sirius murmured.
"Furthermore," Dumbledore began, "if funding for this study is cut, then the only ones backing the research would be…" The old wizard trailed off and looked at Snivellus pointedly.
Sirius furrowed his brow as he stared down at his lap. "Would you…would you risk your life on the off chance their ritual could work?" he asked quietly.
The other man didn't respond and looked toward a portrait of a former Slytherin Headmaster. "Did it seem to you that Potter was done with this world? Did it seem like he might even return with the boy?" he asked eventually.
"I don't know," Sirius murmured. Snivellus hummed and stood up.
"Let me know what course of action I should take. If you need me, I will be grading papers in my office," the man stated stiffly before leaving. Sirius stared after the man with a new perspective. Maybe Snivel—Snape wasn't such a git?
TBC
A/N: Okay, so most of the exposition has been set up finally, and the next chapter will have several flashbacks to help establish some of the backstory changes mentioned in this chapter. When I originally wrote the meeting scene, it was from Severus' perspective and he was having flashbacks during the meeting to reference (for the reader) the information he mentions. That felt a bit...it made the scene drag. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and thanking for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing and so forth ~ with love, depressedchildren.
