Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…
Quote: So here we go again. Another time, but it feels the same. Got sick of waiting here. Set sail on concrete waves. No survivors left to save, Too late for the walking dead…
Extract From: We Still Kill The Old Way - Lostprophets.
A/N: Remember, Remember the 5th of November… xD I love bonfire night! Standing in the freezing cold by a massive bonfire watching fireworks explode in the sky – my kind of night ;]
Heaven For the Weather, Hell For the company
Chapter Two: Introductions
Sirius Blacks head hit Gryffindor table with a loud thump. A goblet full of pumpkin juice sat precariously at the edge of it jumped a centimetre from the table and onto a fifth year girls lap two seats down. The shriek and the commotion that followed it were completely counteractive to what he'd dropped his head onto the table for in the first place.
The person to his right grabbed him by the hair and pulled him upright. "That hurt?"
"Yep." He rubbed his forehead. "And I don't feel any more awake."
James frowned. "I thought the purpose was to go to sleep?"
"Yeah but it hurt too much to actually knock me out."
"That makes no sense."
Sirius shrugged, nothing else to say on the matter, so he turned on his other friend. "Moony, why must you defile the great hall with your books? This is a place for eating, not for reading!"
Remus looked up from 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' briefly to roll his eyes. "I'm not like you. I like not being illiterate."
He pointed a piece of bacon at his friend. "If you don't put that book down and eat something I will put this between Glumbumble and Graphorn."
Remus Lupin closed his book reproachfully, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I'll go over here then where books are appreciated, then shall I?" He pointed toward Lily Evans.
"Oh don't do that you traitorous rat!" complained James.
"Just because you managed to piss her off within the first 4 days of being back doesn't mean I have to leave her alone too."
"Oi! That wasn't my fault! She threw a fit when she found out I was head boy. I even bloody apologised for it. It's not like I had a say."
"Yes… Yes, whatever." He wandered over to Lily and her friends.
Sirius was still looking at his bacon with apparent awe. "Remind me to replace all of Moony's bookmarks with bacon the next time he annoys me." He said idly, taking a bite out of it.
James snorted into his toast. Mary McDonald slipped into Remus' empty seat. "Mornin'." She yawned.
James gave her a thumbs up as his mouth was full and Sirius ignored her completely. Peter Pettigrew, however, greeted her enthusiastically. All she could do was smile in response, too tired to do much else.
"I hate this! I'm so freakin' tired all the time!" She huffed. "James go to all my classes for me."
"Sorry, love, I've got my own classes to skive off of."
She smirked. "Is it just me or does Dumbledore look a bit fidgety?"
All three boys looked up at once, then nodded in unison and went back to their food. "He's always been a bit weird. I wouldn't put it past him to be having an episode of some sort." Said Sirius.
"And you didn't put itching powder in any of his clothes?"
"Dumbledore's clothes? God no, Dumbles is awesome, why'd be ever bother him? Like I said: he's a bit weird."
Sirius yawned again, pointing to the head table while he waited for function to return to his mouth. "Where's Professor Knight? I haven't seen him since the end of last term."
James lowered his voice. "My dad told me, over the summer. He went on a mission for the Order in the Antarctic, something about dangerous creatures. He's supposed to be back by now, but there were some complications."
"Complications?" Sirius frowned. "What-"
He became distracted by the Divination professor as she ran into the hall, grabbing him on the way past the Gryffindor table and up to the front of the room. "Professor what are you-"
There was a loud clap of thunder and a flash of light in front of him, causing various glasses to smash, and the tables to slide back a few inches, knocking him off of his feet. Stunned and half blinded by the light, he shielded his eyes and watched as a hand slid into the view. Before he could react, she grabbed the hand and pulled until a young man of a similar age to him slid into view.
"On your feet, love." She said, nodding to him.
Jumping up, he backed up away from the light as it spread out across the room then snapped back and vanished completely.
He had short spikey black hair that stuck up in massive tufts in all directions. It was familiar somehow. Blinking, dazed, he looked from Sirius to the professor that pulled him through the gateway between timelines.
"Aurora Sidus." Said the professor brightly. "I saw you coming, had to run to get to you in time – you really shouldn't have appeared right in the hall like this, bit suspect, isn't it?"
When he didn't say anything she dropped his hand and folded her arms. "I'm a seer. I saw you appearing in the hall just now…figured I should get here before you caused too much of a disturbance. What's your name?" She asked kindly. She had weirdly violet eyes.
He frowned. "Harry… Harry Summers. You're… So…" He cleared his throat, unsure of what to say or do now that he was actually here.
She turned to the head table. "This is that new student I told you was going to arrive late." She said, nodding her head in Harry's direction.
Dumbledore sat back in his seat, curious. "And how exactly did you come to be here, Mr…?"
"Summers. Harry Summers. I was supposed to portkey in but it went a little bit wrong…"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Almost completely impossible but fair enough…" It was clear he'd question it later.
Harry quickly pulled out the letter from McGonagall. "My uhh, previous Headmistress asked me to give you this." He handed it to the Headmaster as he left his seat and came around the table to greet his possible new student.
He tore it open, intrigued as to who the man that happened to have somehow have managed to slip through his wards with a 'portkey'. Scanning the letter only briefly, he became aware of exactly how odd the situation was, exactly. He folded it over, pocketed it nodded to Aurora. "I believe you already know what happens next?" he smiled at her knowingly and she flushed with colour.
"Sirius, would you mind taking Harry to Mr Knights classroom?"
"He's away, isn't he?"
"Yes. It isn't him we need, it's his classroom. Mine's all the way on the top floor, you see." She watched as Albus Dumbledore walked back to his seat, shaking his head to himself in apparent mirth. "I'll uhh, be right up. I just need to talk to the Headmaster." She ran off after the old man, leaving Harry stood with a much younger, much more alive version of his godfather.
He took a deep breath in before turning around, plastering on a smile. "Alright then?"
He didn't look anything like himself. Not really. His hair was longer, his eyes were darker, and his face was entirely different. He looked a lot more aristocratic than his future-self. Harry couldn't help but wonder if he would have been like this if he hadn't been in Azkaban all those years.
He rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I really hate her. Loveliest woman I know… bar a certain someone my best mates obsessed with, but honestly! Knowing where I have to be before I do?" He shook his head. "Come on, newbie. It's a couple of floors up, mind the stairs… they have a mind of their own."
When Harry didn't reply, to in awe of exactly what was happening, too absorbed in the fact that Sirius Black was walking and talking in front of him like any other normal human being, only at the age of 17. Sirius himself just… kept on talking… and talking. Until they actually reached the classroom in question on the third floor.
"So you're Harry, right?"
He held out his hand to shake. "Don't believe I actually introduced myself. I'm Sirius Black."
Harry shook it apprehensively.
"Are you alright, you look kinda pale… not to mention you haven't said a word in about 15 minutes. Not that you've had a chance, I could talk for England given half the chance…" He seemed to force himself to shut up.
He took another deep breath. "I'm fine. Just a bit overwhelmed. It's a big castle." He half-lied.
He tilted his head. "You know you look familiar. I've seen you somewhere, I just don't… quite know where…"
Before Harry could panic, Aurora came running in. Gasping for breath, she took one look at a picture framed on the wall behind Harry before answering Sirius' question for him. "Oh…" she whispered. "You're… him." She covered her mouth with one hand. "You shouldn't be in here, you can't, not now, he needs to tell you."
"What…?" Harry tried to follow her line of sight, only to be grabbed by the shoulders and dragged out of the classroom. Sirius, however, did get to look at the picture that jogged her memory.
"Oh! You mean he's-"
"DON'T say it! He doesn't know."
"What do you mean he doesn't know? He's his-"
"Shut it." She growled. "You're going to be late for your first lesson. You should go now… I was going to ask you to show him around the castle while the Headmaster got himself organised but right now I think it's best if he goes straight to his office. I'll see you in lessons, Sirius."
Sirius looked annoyed. "But can't I just-?"
"No."
He stuck his bottom lip out slightly, sulking. "Fine. See you later, professor, Harry… supposing you actually get sorted."
She waited until Sirius was gone before putting on a fake smile. "The headmaster's office is this way." She pointed down the hall, leading him by the arm; as if afraid he'd run back into the classroom and discover what she was hiding.
"Do you know… that I…?"
"That you travelled back in time? Oh yeah. Don't tell anyone though; they'll think you're crazy."
He snorted. "Like that'd be a change." She pulled him around a sharp left. "So you're a seer… as in you see the future?"
"Yes… and the past. I'm a divination professor here, you see… part of my job." She smiled.
"And who is Professor Knight?"
She hesitated. "He's the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher here. Been here for a couple of years now. My fiancé… actually. The students all really love him, he's a good teacher." She flashed him a diamond ring.
He grinned. "I don't remember anybody mentioning him. Professor McGonagall and a few of the others that are still there in my time, but not him…or you, to be honest."
She shrugged. "There's not much to say about him really. Bit eccentric. Kind of a kid himself…. I guess that's why he connects with the students so well. You'll meet him soon, I guess."
Harry sighed, rolling his shoulders. He was still sore from camping and fighting for his life for the past year of his life. The sooner the settling in part was over the better. "So what happens next?"
"Well… we go to the headmasters office. You sign a student agreement, get sorted, and off you go. Have you been sorted before, or…?"
"Yeah – Gryffindor."
She clapped her hands together, finally letting him to go. "Well then! All you have to do is listen to his introduction to the school, and wait for a student from your house to come and show you to your common room and then you'll be free to go – 30 minutes tops."
They rounded another corner, the stone gargoyle waiting at the end of the corridor. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for something Harry didn't care to think about. "Alright then, Harry. Let's get you sorted…"
A/N: This is about…3 hours late, because I forgot to post it before I went out to celebrate bonfire night… =/ It's about 3am now, and I will be posting another chapter later on in the day regardless.
Next Chapter: Orion Knight makes an appearance.
