Time Warp chapter! This is the first chapter that takes place in the timeframe of the books, and it won't be the last. There will be periodic flash-forwards to the book timeline, and will hopefully provide some more insights into Hadley and her story.
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Chapter Four, here we go!
August 26, 1993
Hadley took a breath and braced herself; she hadn't used magic in a long while, so attempting to Apparate was probably a rather large mistake. However, she didn't own any Floo Powder or a broomstick and didn't have any wizard currency, so the Knight Bus was out. There were no trains to Godric's Hollow, and cab fare would be astronomical. Apparating to her childhood home was her only option.
"Wish me luck, Milo," she said to her dog, who was sitting like the good boy he was, but his eyes were sad in only the way a dog's could be. The Australian Shepherd seemed depressed that he wasn't going along. It was the celebration of Xander's promotion to Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and she was going to give Marigold a belated birthday gift, as she'd been in Paris for her eldest niece's birthday two months prior. Hadley made sure Marigold's gift was securely tucked into her messenger bag and gripped her unused wand tightly, bid Milo goodbye, and exhaling as she turned on the spot.
The familiar sucking and crushing feeling was an unwelcome one, but she opened her eyes to discover that she'd arrived just outside the garden gate and hadn't been splinched. She took a moment to look up and down the street for nostalgia's sake, but almost immediately regretted it. The Potter's old house looked sad and empty, having been uninhabited since James and Lily moved to London after Fleamont and Euphemia died. The house that they lived in upon their return to the village was a few streets away; a relic, with the top floor still blown apart and a plaque on the front gate.
Hadley could see herself at age twelve, running down the street with James and Rafi on her heels. She and James and Sirius walking down to the pub for butterbeers, then staggering back after a few too many firewhiskeys, singing horrifically off-tune versions of the songs they'd heard on the Muggle radio. "T.N.T" by AC/DC and a drunken medley of Queen songs had been their favorites. In the park up the street she could see the tree she'd fallen out of and broken her arm when she was eight. Her mother hadn't noticed anything was wrong until Hadley wouldn't reach for the pepper at dinner that night.
She had avoided this place for a reason; a million reasons, actually.
"Auntie Hadley!" a child's voice shouted, pulling her back to the present. A black-haired, tawny-eyed girl no more than nine years old was bounding toward her, arms outstretched. Hadley bent over to receive the hug from her youngest niece, Annie.
"Annie!" She said as she swooped the skinny girl up into her arms. She knew she wasn't supposed to play favorites, but Annie was undoubtedly her favorite of her brother's children. Taking after her father, she was a young Gryffindor-in-the-making, but she was sharp as a tack and inadvertently funny. "How in the heck have you been?"
Hadley put the girl back on the ground and she excitedly started going on and on about the neighbor's cat having kittens and giving each of the Sinclair children one.
"Since Marigold has our owl for school, her kitten is going to stay home. Jasper is taking his to school though. I think my kitten will miss him."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, our kittens are brothers and Jasper's my brother and I miss him when he goes to school." Annie explained in one breath. Hadley smiled, finding her niece's logic to be sound. "Did you miss my daddy when he went off to Hogwarts without you?"
"Nah, your dad was a prat." She teased, watching Annie's eyes grow wide.
"You said a bad word!"
"That I did. Don't tell your mum, okay?" Annie nodded conspiratorially as Hadley opened the front door and entered her childhood home. "What's your kitten's name?"
Annie smiled proudly, "Sirius Black!"
Hadley froze, unsure she'd heard her niece correctly. "E-excuse me?"
"Don't you know who Sirius Black is? He's only in the Prophet every day!" Annie gasped at her aunt while Sophia bustled to the door to greet Hadley. "And my kitten has managed to get out of my room three times already! Isn't that clever, Auntie Hadley?"
"Sure is, kid. What's this about Sirius?" she questioned her sister-in-law with a sharp edge to her voice.
"Annie, dear, why don't you go see if Hannah and her family are coming to the party?" Sophia suggested in the Mum sort of way where it wasn't a suggestion at all. Annie's face brightened and she bounded out the door and up the street before Hadley could even get her coat off.
"Sophie, what's going on? Why is Sirius in the papers all of a sudden?"
Her sister-in-law sighed, but didn't answer.
"Sophia, tell me what's going on!" Hadley demanded. She could feel panic start to rise in her throat like bile. Could Sirius have escaped Azkaban? No, that was impossible. Azkaban was impenetrable, inside and out. But what if he had? If anyone could do it, that impossible bastard could. Was he coming after her?
Oh Merlin, she thought in one stomach-dropping moment, what if he's dead? He was surely dead. He had tried to escape, but the dementors had gotten to him and torn his soul, his beautiful, loyal soul, from his tortured body. Hadley felt light-headed and leaned against the wall behind her.
Xander appeared at his wife's side and looked at Hadley, an uneasy look in his brown eyes. "We were waiting to tell you…"
"Waiting for what? No one's told me anything!" Her voice was getting frantically high-pitched, so Xander grabbed her arm and led her into what used to be their father's study, but was now Sophia's office. Xander cast an Imperturbable Charm on the door, which only made Hadley more nervous.
"Hadley, Sirius has escaped from Azkaban." He stated simply, crossing his arms across his broad Quidditch-playing chest after running a hand through his sandy blonde hair. She let out a breath she wasn't sure she'd been holding before Xander continued. "No one knows where he is, but a source from the Auror office told me they think he's heading to either London or Hogwarts. And he's got revenge on his mind."
At the word revenge, Hadley could feel the blood drain from her face and her hands started shaking. Leave it to Sirius to do the impossible.
"You think he's coming after me?"
Her brother nodded. "I asked you to come early because someone wanted to speak with you about that."
"Who?"
Xander nodded his head back toward the large red wooden desk and, in a move that was taken directly out of a James Bond movie, the chair spun around to reveal Professor Albus Dumbledore, clutching a small night-black kitten. If she wasn't currently terrified for her own life, she would've found it comical.
"You are a difficult woman to find, Miss Sinclair." Her old headmaster said gently, letting the kitten bounce off of his lap and scamper across the desk. It sat at the door meowling, so Xander let it out.
"Purposefully, I assure you." She agreed, her face darkening despite its current pale shade. Her hands clenched into fists in the presence of Albus Dumbledore; her anger at him coming out of hibernation full-force.
"Yes, your time in Azkaban would surely explain your withdrawal from the magical community. But from what your brother tells me, you've done well for yourself."
Fuck, he was patronizing. He was referring to her career, surely. Her personal life was nothing to brag about. She had a few close friends and occasionally went out with some of the other professors at University College London, but there was no boyfriend or husband to speak of. Not counting her rare hook-ups with Remus, of course. It had been nearly a year and a half since she'd seen him last, though, so she didn't count it.
"I have, I guess. Not that it matters when an escaped mass murderer is trying to hunt you down."
"We have no indication of his intentions yet, Miss Sinclair. However, both your brother and I think it best if you seek protection at Hogwarts this year. We are bringing on…extra security measures because of Black's escape." Dumbledore explained, choosing his words carefully. He was always political in that way, Hadley remembered bitterly as her eyes flicked from Dumbledore to Xander and back again. How dare her brother bring this man here. How dare he think she would want his help.
"I can't, professor. I've got my job at the university, my dog, my work…I can't just up and leave." She replied calmly, as if that were the only reason she had for not wanting to go back to Hogwarts. In reality, the thought of going back made her stomach churn. What kinds of memories would resurface when she was there?
"We've already thought about that, Had." Xander said from behind her.
"Indeed we have. Miss Sinclair, I am pleased to offer you the recently established Hogwarts Distinguished Artist Fellowship. I've noticed some of the paintings are rather old and out of date, and would like to have you come spruce up the place a bit with a few new paintings. Your room, board, and materials would be completely covered, along with a stipend of fifteen thousand galleons."
Hadley could feel her eyes popping out of their sockets. Fifteen thousand galleons worked out to be about seventy five thousand pounds, which was more money than she'd ever seen all at once. It was a little more than what she would earn from her teaching job and private commissions in a year. She felt like they could probably see the gears turning in her head, considering her options. Let them look. Let them doubt her rationality; for Albus Dumbledore, that was nothing new.
"And what about my dog? Am I going to have to leave him behind because if so - " No way in hell was she going to leave Milo behind. He was one of her only constants, and helped her calm her more severe anxiety attacks. Milo was as much of a necessity as he was her family.
"Milo would be most welcome at Hogwarts for the duration of your time there." Dumbledore said with a small smile, using the dog's name even though Hadley hadn't told it to him. It wasn't surprising, Xander had probably mentioned it. Still, she couldn't help the flash of resentment at the headmaster being so familiar with her.
"Hadley, this is your best option. Your magic is rusty at best, you don't stand a chance against Black if he corners you." Xander reasoned.
"My magic is just fine, thank you. I apparated here no problem. I've also got a few protective spells around my flat and studio that haven't failed me yet." She argued like a child, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly. Pride wouldn't let her give in so easily. Dumbledore smiled from his spot behind the desk.
"If it will help sway you, Remus Lupin has just agreed to be our new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. For nearly the same reason as you."
"So you're just going to round up all of the people Sirius might go after and put us in one place? That won't make it easier for him at all!" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Her stomach lurched at Remus' name. There were a lot of feelings there, a lot of unresolved things that upon Sirius's escape, she now realized, became a hell of a lot more complicated.
"Well it's better than him picking you off one by one where no one can protect you! Hadley, listen to reason! Sirius is a dangerous man, only made more so by years in Azkaban - !" Xander raised his voice at her and for a second reminded Hadley very much of their father. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dumbledore reach into his overlarge sleeve, as if to extract something.
She interrupted her brother, pulling the collar of her shirt down to reveal the dark black tattoos that marked her as a prisoner, "Don't you think I know that? I was only there for a year and it nearly drove me insane, I can only imagine what twelve does to a person!"
"It does this." Dumbledore said calmly, laying the front page of The Daily Prophet on the desk in front of him. Hadley picked it up and felt as if someone had reached into her chest and was trying to crush her heart in his fist.
Sirius was laughing maniacally in the mug shot, his black hair matted and his once expressive grey eyes were wild with madness. There were lines on his face, deeper than the ones on hers, and he looked…broken. This was not her Sirius, the one she had loved so madly. Nor had she expected him to be, but she hadn't expected the psychotic intensity that emanated from the photo. If he was out for revenge, he would surely get it or die trying. Perhaps Hogwarts was her best option…
"No fucking thanks to you," she muttered, shoving the paper back at her former headmaster. She reached into her bag and extracted Marigold's present, shoving it into her brother's hands, "Give my apologies to Marigold, it seems I've got to go home and pack."
Xander's creased face relaxed and Dumbledore smirked, his eyes glinting mischievously. "I will send you the details when I get back to the school."
She nodded at the headmaster and shot her brother a distasteful glance, upset that he had gotten his way. She turned on the spot and apparated home, again avoiding being splinched. Her first action was to redo the protective spells over her flat as Milo welcomed her home. Once they were securely in place, she fed the dog his dinner and set to packing. Since she owned her flat, she figured she could leave her furniture and a good number of her belongings. Her mind was buzzing as she made a mental to-do list, not looking forward to having to explain to her muggle friends why she was suddenly moving away.
Her frenetic thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door. Hadley froze. Milo's attention turned to the door, his ears perking up adorably. Another knock sounded and she snatched her wand off the kitchen counter where she'd stashed it. Creeping to the door as quietly as possible she looked through the peephole, Milo at her heels.
The dark-skinned man outside her door was obviously a wizard, as he was wearing a dark red robe with the phases of the moon embroidered in gold thread. She opened the door, keeping her wand aloft so he could see that she had it.
"Hadley Sinclair?" he asked. His voice was deep and soothing and vaguely familiar.
"That's me. Who're you?" she demanded warily.
"I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt, I work for the Auror office at the Ministry of Magic. Am I to understand that you were once acquainted with Sirius Black?" He asked, flashing his credentials.
"Yes."
"I see you've also put up a few protection spells. Very wise, in your situation." He appraised her handiwork as she tried to keep Milo in the flat.
"And what is my situation?" she asked.
"We should discuss this inside."
Hadley internally cursed herself as she stepped aside, pulling Milo aside by his dark leather collar, "Of course, please come in Mister…Shacklebolt, was it?"
"Yes, thank you." He walked in and looked around as she closed the door. As he settled in her living room, she escorted a restless Milo to her bedroom, locking him in so he couldn't disrupt the impending conversation, conjuring a squeaky toy to entertain him. Shacklebolt was looking around her living room appraisingly, "I've just got a couple of questions for you, if you wouldn't mind."
"No, not at all." She said as he reached into his robe and took out a pad of paper and a quick-quotes quill.
"This is Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, speaking to subject on the twenty-sixth of August, 1993, at," he checked his pocket watch, "seven forty-three at night. Would you state your name, date of birth, and occupation for the record?"
"Erm…Hadley Olympia Sinclair, November sixth 1959, I am a professor of art at University College London and I am also under contract at the Gallagher Gallery in Soho." She said, watching as the floating quill scribbled down her answers.
"Thank you, now onto the matter at hand." He said, "Have you heard anything about Sirius Black recently?"
"I just heard that he escaped Azkaban this afternoon."
"And from whom did you hear it?"
"My brother, Xander Sinclair."
"You didn't hear anything about it beforehand?"
"What do you mean beforehand?"
"Before he escaped." What was he insinuating? That she had helped Sirius escape?
"No, of course not. I've always been under the impression that Azkaban was impenetrable. Especially when I was there."
"You had a relationship with Black before he went to Azkaban, did you not?" Shacklebolt asked, eyeing her suspiciously and ignoring her comment about her time.
"I did."
"What was the extent of that relationship?"
"We were in a committed relationship. We lived together. It was rather serious."
"How did it end?"
"Oh, I think that part of the story everyone knows." She said bitterly, not liking the way he was treating her; like she was a suspect. Because she'd been to Azkaban and had been Sirius' girlfriend, that made her his accomplice. That kind of stigma was exactly why she'd left the wizarding community.
"Not your side. Would you please tell it for the record?" It wasn't a request, so she sighed.
"James and Lily Potter died. Sirius and I went over and saw the...scene…when we weren't given any information, and Hagrid took Harry away, his heart broke. He lost his mind and ran away. I worried that he would do something stupid or hurt himself on his motorbike, so I apparated to my uncle Alastor Moody's house and begged him to find Sirius. He did, but it was…too late. My uncle took Sirius to Azkaban under orders from the Minister and I haven't seen or heard from him since."
"And, for the record, could you state the reason you served time in Azkaban?"
She gritted her teeth, "Don't you have that on record somewhere already? As I understood, the Auror office kept meticulous records."
"We need to have it in the official transcript of this conversation because it may have something to do with Black's motives. We believe that he is likely to target those who had done him wrong before he went to prison." He looked at her, the suspicion in his tone dissipating slightly.
She didn't want to dig up the past; it had taken her years of Muggle therapy and separating herself from the community she'd grown up in to get past it. She still had the occasional nightmare or panic attack, mostly about the dementors. Other times it was about her thoroughly unstable cellmate, or the screams. She would never forget the screams. How they echoed through the halls at all hours, carving themselves into her very bones. The tattoos along the left side of her neck prickled at the memory.
She took a deep breath to ward off the edge of a panic attack and said slowly, "I tried to prove Sirius was innocent by getting him a trial, and the Minister didn't like it. The Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot seemed to agree. I tried to get Sirius a trial, a hearing, anything, but they wouldn't listen."
"That doesn't exactly warrant a trip to Azkaban. What were you arrested for?"
"I broke into the Department of Mysteries and stole Sirius' arrest file. I was caught, arrested, and spent the next year in Azkaban. However, unlike Sirius I was given a trial."
"Thank you. Do you have any idea where Sirius Black is or where he's headed?"
"No. Not a clue."
"Do you think he will come after you?"
"I don't know."
"Well obviously you do, if you're packing. Might I ask where you're going?"
"Erm…I've just gotten offered a fellowship at Hogwarts."
"Sounds exciting, I wish you the best of luck." He said, "Interview terminated, seven fifty in the evening." That's when he put the quick-quotes quill and pad of paper away and smiled. Hadley was confused.
"What-?"
"Dumbledore sent me. I am supposed to give you this," he reached into his robe and extracted a letter, handing it to her. "And tell you that he's happy with your decision to join him at Hogwarts this year. He's looking forward to having you there."
She was dazed as she took the letter from him. "Okay…So…the interview?"
"A convenient cover, though I did need to get it. Sorry to make you relive Azkaban. I've only been there a few times, but it was enough to scare me off wrongdoing for a lifetime." He said congenially.
"Funny, I would have thought that was your choice of career." She snarked at him as he made a move for the door.
He laughed, "Dumbledore mentioned you were funny. Read that letter tonight before it self-destructs."
"Will do. Thanks for coming by." She said as he left her flat. Recasting the protective charm, she made sure to deadbolt and chain her door shut as well before opening the letter.
She and Milo were going to Floo to the school ahead of the students' arrival. Dumbledore would personally hook up the fireplace in his office to the one in her living room and meet her there, then magically transport her belongings to the school.
Excitement rose in her stomach, butterflies fluttering around like mad. She was going back to the one place that felt more like home than home did. It would be strange to see it as an adult, and even stranger to see the children of the people she went to school with. Harry would obviously be there, along with Frank and Alice's boy, Neville.
She wondered which one of his parents Harry looked more like. As a baby he'd had a thick crop of black hair, but his eyes were light like Lily's. It had been too early to tell whom he would look like, but she'd always seen more of James in his features. A pang hit her when she thought about James's son. He would be thirteen now, officially a teenager. Had it really been that long? Twelve years since her best friend and his wife had died. Twelve years since the love of her life was taken away to hell on earth without so much as a hearing. Twelve years since she realized that she couldn't trust Albus Dumbledore and her uncle Alastor Moody.
She sighed, moving into the kitchen and making some coffee. She had a lot to do in the next forty-eight hours.
Next chapter is back to 1977!
Let me know what you think about our time hop to 1993 in a review!