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Even the Scars Forget the Wounds

"Sirius!" shouted Harry, chasing after his godfather, who was marching away from the tent. He took off running, Sirius' slight swaying allowing him to catch up without too much difficulty. Remus was right behind him.

Harry grabbed the arm not holding the bottle of liquor. "Sirius, stop."

The older man turned and looked down at Harry with shining eyes and didn't even notice Remus come up to his other side and gently pry the firewhiskey from his grip.

"Harry," choked out Sirius. "This is ridiculous. Why am I here? You don't need me."

"We do need you, Sirius. I need you."

"You need me to sign your permission forms!" he spat.

Harry stood back and frowned at him. "What are you talking about?" he asked softly.

Remus decided this was a good time to intervene. "Padfoot, what's wrong?"

"Everything! I just spent ten years in Azkaban! I couldn't protect my godson! James asked me to do one thing, and I failed." He hung his head and raised his hand toward his face only to realize he was no longer holding the bottle. "Where's my firewhiskey?"

"You're drunk, Padfoot. You don't need it," said Remus.

"Moony, come on! I woke up from a nightmare to find I've failed at the one thing that mattered in my life. And I've failed twice!"

Harry rubbed his face in frustration. Sirius stumbled back a few steps and then fell back. He sat up on the ground, a hard mixture of sand and stone, and began rubbing his hand across it. "You say you trust me, but you don't even know me. I've spent ten years of my life in Azkaban. I can't do anything to help you."

"You're my godfather, Sirius. That's all I need you to be."

Sirius laughed sadly. "You're the same age as us, Harry. You and Moony have been taking care of me for the past month. I need you more than you need me."

Remus sighed. He'd known something like this was coming. Everything the healers at St. Mungo's had said would happen was materializing at a curse-breaking camp in the middle of the Sahara Desert. He glanced at Harry and saw he was looking worriedly at his godfather, unable to come up with the right words to ease the emotionally scarred man's fears.

"Harry, why don't you let me talk to him. Go see if Rock has anymore questions? Albus should be sending Fawkes with news soon, anyway."

Harry nodded at Remus and with a final glance at Sirius, turned and walked back to Rock's tent.


Michelle Alton had been working for Amelia Bones for only a few weeks. She had graduated from Hogwarts with ten N.E.W.T.'s, all O's or E's. As a Muggle-born, many of the things she had seen since entering the magical world had surprised or disturbed her, though working in the Ministry was no different in that respect than attending Hogwarts had been. In the short time she'd been Personal Assistant to the Minister of Magic, she had witnessed several things she had never expected to see.

During her first day, Albus Dumbledore, her former headmaster, had waltzed up to Michelle's desk and started to speak to her as if they were old friends. After seven years of hardly speaking to a man that her fellow Hufflepuffs had assured her was the most powerful wizard in Britain, her responses had been stuttered and incomplete.

Several days later, Dumbledore had returned to the Minister's office with two guests. A shabbily dressed man had nodded politely and been followed by Bill Weasley, who had been head boy when she was a fifth year. She had gaped for a moment, causing him to smile crookedly, before announcing their arrival to her boss.

Other than the regular visits of some of the richest and most powerful wizards in Britain, as well as various representatives of the many magical governments who had come to pay their respects to the new Minister, nothing else of interest had occurred until the beginning of the past week.

Dumbledore, along with the same two guests from earlier, had arrived with an extremely thin man she didn't recognize. Michelle had greeted them warmly by name before turning to the dark haired stranger. He had eyed her for a short moment in a way that made her slightly self-conscious before introducing himself as Sirius Black and offering his hand.

Her mouth had opened and closed a few times before she was able to find her voice again, and she meekly introduced herself before alerting the Minister to the presence of her guests. As the four had walked through the wide oak paneled double doors that led to Amelia's office, Michelle heard Remus Lupin admonishing Black while her former schoolmate and headmaster chuckled merrily at them.

The rest of the week had been even more bizarre. Three days ago, a contingent of goblins had portkeyed to the Ministry and landed on top of her desk. Her shriek of surprise had caused one of the goblins to magically fling her into the wall, but after the Minister had emerged from her office, everyone had calmed down and the goblin had actually apologized to her and Amelia for the disruption. Michelle had focused as much as the average Hogwarts student during History of Magic with Professor Binns, which was to say not at all, but even she knew that being apologized to by a goblin was a rare occurrence.

The next day a burst of fire had announced the arrival of a phoenix, which had perched itself at the front of her desk. It had stared at her, seemingly confused for a moment, before trilling softly and bursting into flame once more. A shout of surprise from the Minister's office clued her in to the phoenix's intended destination. Several minutes later, Minister Bones had emerged from her office and given her explicit instructions to block Lucius Malfoy, one of the ranking members of the Wizengamot, from entering the Minister's office. A pair of house elves had appeared an hour later and explained, in their convoluted way, that they were assigned to assist her with security.

Malfoy had indeed approached her desk later that afternoon. She had politely explained to him that the Minister was not available for a meeting. He'd insisted several times that he urgently needed to speak with her, and when his temper finally broke he'd shouted at her, calling her "Mudblood" and several other impolite names. The house elves, Shrin and Creaky, had popped into the office at that point, further enraging Malfoy. Shrin had snapped her fingers and the Pureblood had frozen where he stood. Creaky moved his hands in a complex motion which had been followed by a second snap of Shrin's fingers, and Michelle had watched Lucius Malfoy stumble a bit, and then spin around and wander back out into the corridor from which he had entered.

That had been two days ago. Today was September first. Hogwarts was back in session, and everything had been blissfully quiet and uneventful since Malfoy's unpleasant visit. The only warning signs Michelle could discern were some vague comments from the Minister and the fact that it was really much too quiet. Every day as the Minister's assistant had been hectic with crises occurring rather regularly, and she wasn't very confident that today would be any different. The tension in the air whenever she spoke with the Minister also could not be ignored. As the afternoon slowly slipped away into evening, Michelle began to feel uneasy. When Minister Bones stepped out of her office and softly called her name, Michelle jerked so violently that a jar of ink was knocked to the floor. The Minister smiled grimly at her and reparo'd the jar before speaking.

"Ms. Alton, I apologize for startling you."

Michelle shook her head. "It was my fault, Ma'am. I've been a bit edgy all afternoon."

Amelia nodded and appeared about to speak. She closed her mouth and pursed her lips, considering her assistant for a moment. "I'm expecting the phoenix that appeared on your desk earlier this week to return sometime this evening. I would like you to stay until I receive a message scheduled to be delivered."

The question in Michelle's eyes was extremely obvious and Amelia again realized that the girl was only a few months removed from her NEWT's.

"Fawkes is the companion of Albus Dumbledore," Amelia answered the unasked question. "There is a special project he's been working on for the past few weeks, and it should be completed tonight. I'd like to know the result immediately, and Fawkes apparently has taken a liking to you."

Michelle's expression turned from confused to incredulous and then her face turned a light shade of pink. Amelia chuckled quietly as she waited for a response.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll be happy to. Do you know what time..."

"It may be quite late," answered Amelia. Her assistant showed no sign of irritation, a result of still being new to the job she guessed. She thanked Michelle and returned to her office, growing more apprehensive with each passing minute.

Several hours later, after Creaky had brought the two of them a late dinner, Amelia sat in a chair placed against the wall across from her assistant's desk. They were passing the time as best they could, though Amelia couldn't help but check her watch every few minutes, when a sudden burst of flame and an almost inaudible pop heralded the arrival of Fawkes.

Amelia stood up, her mask of detachment sliding from joy to concern as she took in the agitated manner in which the phoenix was flapping around the office. Fawkes squawked several times, the harsh noise nothing like the soothing phoenix song the bird was famous for, and then landed on Michelle's desk, directly in front of the assistant.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It seems that Albus' plan did not work out as well as we had hoped." Amelia slowly approached Fawkes and held out her hand. The phoenix glanced between the two women and sang a short note that caused a sense of urgency to rise up in both of them.

Michelle stood, joining Amelia and stroking Fawkes gently on the head. The phoenix then took to the air and circled around them, repeating the same urgent note as Amelia rounded the desk and stood next to her assistant. With a sudden lurch, Fawkes flew between them and grasped each of their shoulders with his claws.

Michelle had never felt anything like it. It felt as if her body had blinked out of existence and then back into reality without the passage of time. A slight tingle was the only indication that she had traveled magically. It was wildly different from disapparation. Once she had grasped that she had changed locations, Michelle glanced around and realized she was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. The Minister had begun to move before Michelle had even realized they were no longer at the Ministry and was standing next to Madam Pomfrey.

"What happened?" asked Amelia.

"I have no idea. Fawkes brought him here less than ten minutes ago. He was probably doing something foolish with those traps, again."

"Have you seen Professor Quirrell tonight?"

Madam Pomfrey gave her a sharp glance. "No, I haven't. Is there something I should know?"

"Get Severus. And Filius. Tell them to check on Professor Quirrell in his quarters. If he isn't there, I'm afraid I'll need to ask them to assist some Aurors in searching his belongings."

The medi-witch stared at her for a moment before shooting a look toward Albus. "I need to see to my patient first. You can use the floo if it's absolutely necessary."

"Thank you, Poppy." Amelia paused and then also glanced at Albus. "How is he?"

"He's magically exhausted! I've never seen Albus Dumbledore in this state before, even after he performed some feats that would have killed a normal wizard."

Amelia swallowed nervously. "Will he survive?"

Madam Pomfrey chuckled darkly. "Oh, he'll survive the magical exhaustion. I haven't decided yet if he'll survive me! Of all the idiotic-"

Fawkes trilled happily and flew to his companion's bed. As the phoenix perched himself next to Albus' head, he began to sing a soft, warbling tune that brought a smile to the face of the three witches present. They stood still for over a minute, listening to the phoenix song, before Michelle gasped and pointed at her former headmaster.

"He's smiling!" she exclaimed.

Madam Pomfrey looked down at her patient. "So he is."

"I need to speak with him immediately," demanded Amelia.

"Minister," the matron bristled. "Albus is over one hundred years old. I will not forcibly wake him up after he has suffered the biggest drain on his magic since I have known him." When Amelia looked as if she were about to speak, Madam Pomfrey raised her hands. "Absolutely not!"

Amelia reached into her robes and pulled out a piece of parchment. Wordlessly, she handed it to Madam Pomfrey, who read it with a rising sense of indignation.

"Fine. If that's what he requested, I'll wake him. But not for longer than five minutes. Surely you can get the information you require in that time."

"Yes," agreed Amelia. "That will be fine."

Michelle, who had stayed silent during the entire exchange, started when Amelia returned to her side and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"He'll be fine, Michelle." It was the first time the Minister had used her first name and it pulled the young witch's attention away from the man who looked far older than he had at her graduation ceremony at the beginning of the summer. She looked at Amelia and tried to smile, but it came off as a grimace. The older woman patted her arm a few times and then wandered back to the headmaster's side as Madam Pomfrey administered a reviving potion under the watchful eye of Fawkes.

Albus blinked several times and attempted to focus his eyes. His first reaction was to locate his wand, but a chirp from Fawkes calmed his nerves. He knew his companion would have secured it immediately after bringing him to the hospital wing in which he now found himself. After catching the look of vexation on the face of Poppy, he turned his head and looked into the inquiring eyes of the Minister of Magic. No words were spoken, but the unasked question lay heavily between them. A small shake of his head caused Amelia's face to drop in disappointment.

"Shit!" Amelia's exclamation escaped her tightly clenched jaw and caused both Madam Pomfrey and Michelle to step back in shock and fear.

"Indeed," agreed Albus, his voice weak. He glanced around the room and his eyes alighted on Michelle. "I believe your assistant will be making quite the journey this evening." He turned to Fawkes. "The letter, please?"

With a chirp that Michelle supposed indicated agreement, the phoenix flamed away and then reappeared in less than five-seconds. In his claws was a tightly rolled piece of parchment with a strand of black twine tied around it.

Albus handed it to Amelia and then spoke softly. "I wrote this in the event I was unsuccessful this evening. It contains several suggestions that I did not feel he would be comfortable discussing. You know that he does not like to tempt fate, though I can hardly fault him for that, given his experience."

A single, bitter snort escaped Amelia as she took the letter. She motioned to Michelle to join her at the bed. Her assistant cautiously approached, not comfortable being alone with two of the most powerful people in Magical Britain.

"Ms. Alton," greeted Albus.

"Headmaster," she responded nervously.

The older man's eyes twinkled at trepidation. "May I ask a favor of you, my dear?"

"Y-yes sir," she stuttered.

Albus chuckled softly, and his face seemed to lose some of the waxiness that had been present since they'd arrived at Hogwarts.

"I need you to allow Fawkes to transport you somewhere and deliver this letter and a message from Minister Bones. It lies outside of Britain and the wards surrounding the location allow no instantaneous magical travel other than by phoenix-fire."

Michelle gulped and nodded hesitantly. Albus saw the anxiousness and tried to reassure her.

"It is extremely safe. Most likely safer than the Ministry. There will be several people there to greet you whom you have already become acquainted. This is of the utmost importance. You may be required to submit to several secrecy charms upon your arrival. Do you wish to accept from this task?"

Michelle pondered the situation she found herself in, and idly considered that six weeks earlier she had been sitting on a beach in Spain with her roommates following graduation. Almost without her consent, Michelle's head began to nod in agreement and she saw the Minister smile out of the corner of her eye.

"Excellent," breathed Albus. "It appears Poppy is about to forcibly subdue me, so I will allow Minister Bones to fill you in on what has occurred this evening. Amelia, inform Filius of what has transpired tonight. Do not alert Severus. I wish to be the one to tell him." Amelia nodded. "Poppy?"

Madam Popfrey stepped up to the bed and pushed a vial of potion to Albus' lips rather forcibly. After he swallowed it and shut his eyes, Amelia and Michelle hastily made their way to the other side of the infirmary.

Amelia shoved the roll of parchment into Michelle's hands and began to explain an abbreviated version of the night's events. "Ms. Alton, tonight Voldemort," Amelia was pleased that the Muggle-born witch had no visible response other than an almost imperceptible wince, "attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone. Are you aware of its properties?"

Michelle confirmed that she was.

"With the assistance of Professor Quirrell, whom he had possessed, Voldemort attempted to abscond with the stone earlier this evening. Albus and several others had planned for this, and while it appears Quirrell is dead, Voldemort's spirit has apparently escaped despite Albus' best efforts."

"Professor Quirrell is dead?" Michelle was shocked that the meek professor she had never thought twice about had been possessed by Voldemort.

"Yes, and Voldemort is still free. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good," Amelia paused to collect her thoughts. "Now, I need you to pass along a message to Bill Weasley."

Memories of the former head boy visiting the Minister's office started to make much more sense to Michelle. She shook her head, clearing it so that she could focus completely on what the Minister was saying.

"Tell him that the stone is safe, Albus is injured but will be fine. Quirrell is dead but Voldemort escaped. Give him this parchment. I don't know what Albus has written, but I imagine Bill and his companions will be expecting it."

Michelle nodded her understanding and placed the parchment in her robes. Amelia gave her a brief smile and gently grasped her arm. "It will be fine, Michelle. At the moment Voldemort is not a major threat. We aim to keep it that way. Now, if Fawkes is ready..."

The phoenix fluttered over and landed on Michelle's shoulder. Just the presence of the magical bird seemed to cause most of Michelle's anxiety to drift away. Before they vanished, she had time for one last question.

"When will you need me back, Ma'am?"

Amelia's lips flattened. "Take as long as you need. There's nothing more important than this going on at the ministry. Be safe."

Michelle vanished in a burst of flame without getting a chance to respond.


Harry and Bill sat across from Rock in the goblin's tent. Harry had persuaded them to allow him a small glass of firewhiskey, and with Remus outside with an already drunk Sirius, there was no one to prevent him from partaking.

"Explain to me how three teenagers who should have been finishing their seventh year at Hogwarts managed to break into one of the lower level vaults and escape alive," requested Rock.

Bill, extremely pleased that Harry's tale had managed to fluster his mentor, grinned enormously. Harry set his glass down and prepared to describe, in detail, a story which he had told hundreds of times. He had become sick of it in his old universe as it was a story most of the wizarding world was well aware of, and most people only wanted to hear it again from the famous Harry Potter. This was different, and Harry was enjoying sharing some of his more wild adventures with people hearing them for the first time. It also helped distract him from thoughts of his drunken and maladjusted godfather.

"Well, as hard as it was to get in, the tricky part was getting out."

"I see," said Rock. "William informed me that you had assistance from a goblin to gain access to the vault itself."

"Right," agreed Harry. "That was Griphook. He's a sly one. He never really got over how we...parted ways."

"And you escaped on a dragon?" prompted Rock.

Harry frowned at Bill. "Did you tell him the whole story?

"Well," started Bill. "Mostly just the -"

A soft whoosh of air and a quiet "Eep," interrupted what he was going to say and the three of them turned to see Michelle standing by the flap of the tent with Fawkes on her shoulder. The phoenix looked quite pleased with himself while the woman under him seemed a bit disoriented.

"Michelle?" asked Harry, then realized he had not met her in this universe yet.

"Ms. Alton?" Bill attempted to cover for Harry, and it seemed to work as Michelle was still looking around at each of them without having acknowledged either of their greetings. She was holding a roll of parchment with a length of black twine tightened around its center. Harry jumped up when he saw it, knowing its meaning, and rushed forward in an attempt to get a hold of it. Michelle figured out what he was trying to do and lifted it into the air above her head so that the small boy could not reach it.

"I'm sorry, this is meant for William Weasley only," she said with a note of disdain as she looked down her nose at Harry.

As he looked back up at her with an exasperated expression on his face, she gasped with recognition. The lightning bolt scar on his forehead told her all she needed to know and she continued to gape as Harry sighed in resignation while Bill strode over to them and smoothly retrieved the parchment. Rock maintained his seat, grinning toothily.

"Thank you, Ms. Alton," said Bill. He motioned for her to take a seat, which she did hesitantly. Harry and Bill quickly joined her and Harry finished off the last of his drink. Michelle glanced at the glass, then the bottle of firewhiskey sitting on the table, before she turned a confused gaze onto Bill.

"What's going on here? Is that Harry Potter?"

Harry answered indignantly. "Yes, I'm Harry Potter. The-Boy-Who-Lived, The-Chosen-One, The Savior, The-Boy-Who-Traveled-Back-In-Time-And-Has-To-Sneak-Glasses-Of-Firewhiskey-Behind-His-Guardian's-Backs-Becuase-He-Looks-Like-A-Ten-Year-Old."

Rock snorted and Michelle's head swiveled from Harry toward the goblin before finally resettling on Bill, whose mouth had twisted into a half-smile half-grimace.

"Harry," he started. "Why? Do you think it's a good idea to obvliviate her? We don't know what's going on."

"Fawkes brought her here, obviously he trusts her," responded Harry with a nod toward the Phoenix. Fawkes chirped his agreement. Harry continued. "Michelle, is Albus all right? What happened with Riddle?"

She did not answer. Her only response was a gaping mouth and a pair of confused eyes that continued to dart between the other three occupants of the room.

"Ms. Alton," said Bill, gently. "Did the Minister or the Headmaster have a message for us?"

Michelle shook herself and nodded. She smoothed her robes and took a breath before answering. "Yes, they both spoke to me. Professor Dumbledore was injured fighting Voldemort, but he's in the infirmary now, and should be fine. They said to tell you that the stone is safe and Professor Quirrell is d-dead." She gulped as her face paled.

"What about Voldemort?" asked Harry.

Her head snapped to the boy who had a look of burning intensity that made her shrink back a bit in her seat. "Professor Dumbledore said he escaped," she finally responded.

"Shit!" screamed Harry in the high pitched voice of a child, unknowingly echoing the Minister's reaction of a few minutes earlier. Bill cursed quietly to himself but couldn't help but be amused at the sight of Harry stalking back and forth in the tent, swearing in such a way that would have made Sirius blush. As if on cue, Remus and Sirius returned from their chat outside, bursting through the tent flap with the werewolf in the lead.

Remus glanced at Bill, then spotted Michelle with Fawkes still perched on her shoulder, and then back at the redhead. Bill shook his head slightly and Remus' shoulders slumped a bit. At that moment, they were both distracted by Sirius. The inebriated man had run to Harry without a glance at the others, and the goblin, three humans and phoenix watched as Sirius darted forward, tripped over his own foot and crashed into the ground and slid to a stop at his godson's feet.

Harry had stopped pacing when they had appeared in the tent, and hadn't moved during Sirius' diving fall. As his godfather slowly gathered himself and rose to his knees, Harry grinned at the others over Sirius' shoulder.

"Harry, is everything okay?" the older man slurred.

"It's fine, Sirius. The plan didn't exactly work out. Riddle escaped. Albus is okay, though. Everyone is fine."

Through the haze, Sirius' emotions crashed together and he began sobbing in relief for his friends and godson, as well as concern for what the future would bring. He hugged Harry close, crying on his shoulder.

Bill's friend Geoff, who they had met briefly earlier that day, had heard the commotion from his tent three flaps down. Concerned, he quickly walked over and stuck his head through the entrance. The man he recognized as Sirius Black, ex-convict of Azkaban, was on his knees, sobbing on the shoulder of the most famous child in the wizarding world. Bill was sitting next to a lovely young witch who had what appeared to be a phoenix on her shoulder. The magnificent bird seemed to be smirking at the display before them. Geoff hadn't known that birds could express themselves like that, but reasoned that phoenixes were one of the most magical creatures in existence. Remus Lupin was holding a small glass in front of Rock as the goblin poured from a bottle of firewhiskey. Remus was smiling while the goblin was chuckling heartily. The sound of the goblin laughing sent a brief shiver up Geoff's spine and he slowly backed out of the tent, hoping no one had noticed him.

They hadn't. He went back to his tent and decided to go to bed, hoping that things would make a bit more sense in the morning.


A/N: Sorry it took so long! I'm a bad person. This is the last part of...well, part one, I suppose. The next couple of chapters will kind of zoom along until the beginning of Harry's first year at Hogwarts! Yay! That's when the true craziness will begin. Thanks for reading, and let me know if there's anything special you want to see as far as the foursome's vacation travels. (That's a hint to review, if you didn't figure it out.)

A/N Part Deux: Don't forget, if you want to know where I get the titles, the artists are on my profile page. I also have a really, really important poll that you should vote in. It's really important. Really.