Time Paradox Revolution

by: PhoenixJustice

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros and people who aren't me. I only own this story and make no profit from this.

Warning: Rated M for future sexual content, language, violence, etc.

Pairings: eventual Sirius/Harry, James/Lily, etc.

Setting: Post-Deathly Hallows, then pre-Sorcerers/Philosopher's Stone.

Summary: He had lived. The boy into the man. The future appeared pretty as a rose and hid its true self, its thorns, well. He had one chance; and so he gave up everything he had to change everything he knew.

A/N: Sad no one seemed to get the Joe reference I gave the camel last chapter lol.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chapter Ten - Found(er)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He gets up shakily and quickly gets his wand back in hand as he spots it on the ground. He is also careful when picking up the golden band, but nothing happens when he picks it up. He puts it back in his bag and looks over at the person who had most certainly saved his life. He hadn't ever seen the person before, that he could recall, but he still felt a strange sense of kinship to him.

The man had long, slightly wavy black hair that brushed his shoulders and startling green eyes, slightly darker than Lily and Harry's eyes (which were a shade of green he hadn't ever seen until seeing Lily, and then Harry. He had met Lily's parents briefly before and neither of them had the kind of green eyes she did.) The man wore a white shirt with no sleeves and blue jeans that looked in pretty good shape considering the dirt and everything else in the place and black shoes. If he hadn't seen the magic the man had did and felt hints of the man's magic, then he almost would have thought him a Muggle. Almost. There was too much that exuded from the man that you would never mistake him for anything but a Wizard. And really Sirius couldn't blame him for dressing so; it was hot in the ruins; stuffy and oppressive and the less clothing in here in the better. And he himself wore Muggle clothing as well; when going through ruins and places where lots of Muggles gathered, it would be stupid to not try and blend in, especially when one was trying to be inconspicuous.

The man raises an eyebrow at him. "Got your fill of staring?"

Sirius startles, flushing slightly. "Uh, yes. I didn't mean-"

The man waves a hand carelessly. "It's of no matter to me; don't worry about it. But I'd suggest coming this way before more of the Guardians appear; they can get nasty." He waves a hand at the door near him, which was at the end of the hallway. He starts to turn but pauses for a moment, looking at Sirius who was standing there, brows furrowed. "I mean you no harm, boy. If I did, I would have burnt you to a crisp along with those statues."

He takes in a quick breath, letting it out as he follows the man inside the door. The man had a good point. He follows the man quickly inside and lets out a breath of appreciation as he enters. It was beautiful. The walls were not carved as with the outside, but painted. Various colors spread over the walls in different portraits and paintings. A marble table took up residence in the middle of the room, beautifully carved, with the ends carved into what would have easily been mistaken for real eagle claws, if not for the color of the marble. Chairs also carved as wonderfully stood on either side of the table, though these looked of softer material than the marble thankfully.

He pauses in step as he enters deeper into the room, spotting statues on either side of him. The man seems to notice and gives a wry smile. "Don't worry, I've rendered them inert." He walks over to one of the statues nearest him and knocks on it a few time. Sirius winces, expecting something, anything. Nothing does. After a few tense moments, and a deep breath of courage, he continues inward. The man gestures for him to take a seat. As he does he notices a small chest in the corner of the room.

"Treasure hunting?" he asks.

The man turns and raises a brow, looking to where Sirius points. He smiles that wry smile again. "Something like that, yes." He heads over to a small table where a pot of tea sat, pouring some into a couple of glasses that also sat there. "Been a long time since I've done any long traveling like this. Feel a bit rusty." Rusty? After the skills Sirius seen? He had never in his, admittedly not super long life, seen an Incendio spell used like that. That was a thing of beauty. He murmurs a quick thanks as the man hands him the tea. It was warm and smelled wonderfully. He sniffs it for a moment, half wondering if he should mutter a quick spell to see if it was alright but dismisses the thought as quickly as it comes. As the man said, if he had wanted Sirius dead, he certainly would be. That spell would have certainly done the trick (though he wondered why the surrounding area it hit didn't seem so affected.)

"So you've done a lot of traveling then?" he asks, trying to think of something to polite to say to the man who had saved him. The guy didn't look that old, but that didn't necessarily mean anything, as wizards were longer lived that Muggles were.

"Some." the man says, taking the seat opposite Sirius, blowing at his tea a bit. He knew the man was a British man from the accent, though he couldn't place where in Britain the man was from. "Did a lot of it in my youth and then some years later. It's been...interesting. You can be surprised what you find, which is part of the fun and adventure."

Sirius makes a small noise of assentment and takes a sip of his tea, nearly sighing in pleasure at the taste. It had a wonderful taste of mint, with a nice aftertaste of lemon. It reminded him of some of the teas that he had had as a child when his mother had been in one of her better moods and had made a cuppa for both of them, talking generally about her day.

A thought occurs to him and he nearly slaps himself in the forehead for it. "I've never even asked your name. Merlin, but I can be an idiot sometimes. It's at least proper to give your name to the man who you owe a Debt t-"

The man snorts. "Debt? Don't worry about that." Sirius' eyes widen. Did he just say forget the Debt? He was annuling the Wizards Debt? A Wizards Debt was a huge deal and all who were on the side where they would gain something in return never turned down the opportunity to get something out of it. Never. And the man was just dismissing it like it meant little to him. Did the man not know what it meant...?

"Are you sure? A Wizards Debt is..."

The man snorts again, rolling his eyes, as he sits back in his chair, almost lazily. "I know quite well what a Debt means, boy. And I have no need for it."

Sirius bites his lip, still looking hesitant. "If you're sure."

"I am."

"Then at least let me tell you my name, so you can know the name of the man who holds great gratitude for the person who saved his bloody behind. I'm Sirius, Sirius Black."

He starts to take another sip of his tea when the man speaks again. "Then I suppose it only fair to tell you mine. I am Salazar Slytherin; but you may call me Salazar."

He spits his tea everywhere.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He stares at the man. Stares. He knew he shouldn't be so shocked or surprise. Obviously the man was Confunded or having fun in teasing Sirius. To say something like that. Certainly enough people named their children after the Founders of Hogwarts, but to say he was Salazar Slytherin. That was...

"I'm not Confunded, boy. I may be old but I certainly have all my wits about me." The man says. He couldn't call him Salazar, that would just feed into the man's fantasies that he was one of the Founders. "I knew it wouldn't be easy believing that. And I have much more respect for you now than if you had believed me immediately; that would have been foolish. Caution is a good trait to have, even for a Gryffindor."

His brows raise. "How do you...?"

"I know the look of one of Godric's House when I see it; even if your family was a family of Slytherin's through and through." At Sirius' continued staring, he sighs and rolls his eyes. "Here." He starts to hiss loudly and Sirius starts. That was Parseltongue, the language of snakes. Only Slytherin's direct line had ever had the ability to speak to snakes. And the only direct descendant that Salazar Slytherin had, other than Morfin Gaunt (as Dumbledore had told him) who was in Azkaban, was Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort.) The man hisses, a real hiss, not the snakelike hissing of before. "Do I look like Riddle, boy?"

The man had just read his mind. Effortlessly. Not for nothing, but Sirius wasn't that bad of an Occlumens. All of the Order had taken Occulumency training to strengthen their mind in case any of them was ever intercepted by the enemy. But this man had went through all of his defences as if they were made of butter. The man grabs Sirius' hand, looking at him intently.

"Here, boy. Black. Look into my mind. Tell me what you see."

Sirius wasn't the best Legilimens by any stretch (Dumbledore was. He pointedly did not think of Snivellus' potent skill) but he wasn't terrible either. He had learned a lot more Legilimency skill over the five years he had been searching, as often leads didn't want to give up any information and he had had to invade their mind for the information instead, if Dumbledore wasn't there to do it instead. It made him nauseous afterwards to do so, but it was a necessary evil.

He looks into the man's eyes, murmuring "Legilimens." under his breath.

And he Saw.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Minutes, hours, days, who knows, how long later, he comes up out of the spell, gasping for air for a few moments. He looks at the man who looked unruffled and calm.

Salazar Slytherin.

Holy mother of Merlin, but the man was.

He really was.

"But what are you? I mean..." Stunned was the understatement of the year, in Sirius' opinion. Of the past ten years. Of a hundred years. It felt like everything he knew was suddenly turned on its head. It didn't make any sense. Spellcasters or not, Wizards and Witches or not, no one was immortal. Well save Nicolas Flamel and his was only situational as he had the Philosopher's Stone and would only last as long as he had the Stone. But there was nothing else. Well there were Horcruxes, but they were some of the darkest evil out there, as they ripped the soul apart, the grossest violation possble. And, as it said in the book (and from the bits he and Dumbledore had gleamed), people who made a Horcrux were noticible in how they felt, their auras, their magic, their look (which explained the decline of Tom Riddle's personality and look as he made a Horcrux. Then another. And another. And another...)

Slytherin had none of those signs or symptoms. He looked like a perfectly healthy young man; albeit a perfectly healthy young man who was in fact, if he was as old as he seemed to hint at, over a thousand years old.

"I am me." Slytherin says simply. "As to the rest of it...that is for another time, Sirius Orion Black. You came to these ruins for a reason. No one comes to this area for the fun of it."

He lets pass the man's speaking of his whole name; he hadn't told it to him but now knowing who the man was, he was not at all surprised that the man knew it. He takes the golden band carefully out of his bag, setting it on the table, letting the man take a look at it while he takes a few more sips of tea. His hand was shaking a bit, but that was to be expected. For news like that you would have to be insane not to feel anything about it.

"Hmph." Slytherin says, holding the band, turning it this way and that way. "Not bad at all for a fake. I'm rather impressed with Riddle..."

Sirius looks up from his tea, heart sinking in his chest. A fake? After everything he had went through? All the traveling, the invading, the sacrifice, the nearly losing his life...over a fake item? "Are you sure?"

"Quite sure. I've seen the real Diadem, remember. Rowena, on the other hand, will not be happy hearing about the fake..." He shrugs his shoulders. "I told her, but she is stubborn."

Rowena.

Ravenclaw.

Well...he supposed he should have expected as much.

"Well if you know the real deal, then maybe you can help me find the real one." Sirius says. He wasn't sure what motivation Slytherin had here, but he was obviously here for a reason. He doubted Slytherin would come to a ruin like this that was so out of the way for no reason.

Slytherin makes a small noncomittal noise, looking towards the chest in the corner of the room that Sirius had forgotten about and the lid flies open as something flies from its depths into the Founder's hand. Sirius looks on, more than impressed. The man had did that wandlessly. Wandless magic wasn't unheard of, but it was usually found in children who hadn't gotten to the age to get a Wand yet, who did things instinctively. And even when it was seen in adults, it was minute things that didn't last long. Slytherin, however, had summoned something that was inside something else, from a fair distance away. And he didn't even break a sweat.

The older man held a golden band that seemed to shine within and Sirius knew immediately the difference in the items. That was the real Diadem. He hands it over to Sirius and the younger man pockets it carefully in his Mokeskin bag, making sure it was secure where it was; he didn't want another incident like earlier where an item came tumbling out.

"Where'd you get this? Or did you bring it?"

"Found it. It's why I came to the ruins. Took awhile to find the place, especially since I had to come here from Albania." Slytherin says, idly turning the fake Diadem in his hands. "It had been there for awhile, but it looks like Riddle moved it fairly recently and it ended up here. Did you like them by the way?"

Sirius raises a brow at him. What did the man mean now? He was certainly mysterious enough all right...

"The notes I sent you. The Potter's like having another Secret-Keeper?"

Sirius lets out an exclamation. "You-!" He starts sputtering and Slytherin lets out a hearty laugh.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A/N: So! Now you know who both sent the notes and who saved Sirius. XD Salazar will be playing a role in the story beyond this, though I won't say how much or how little or when he'll be around. :P Next chapter we should be seeing more of the Potters and maybe some other things as well. We'll see! :P

I hope you enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

-PhoenixJustice