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: Some pretty messed up stuff in this chapter. Voldemort IS a crazy, megalomaniacal, evil bastard, remember... =/

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Chapter Fourteen - Madness

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Blackness.

That was easily the first thing he noticed. And not the kind of darkness you see when outside or laying down at night. Not the kind that will eventually let you start to make out shapes and things. No this was an absence of light. This was the kind of darkness that people spoke of when talking about darkness, true darkness.

"Hello? Salazar? Rowena? Hello?" His voice echoes around him.

Nothing.

"Fine then." he mutters. He clenches his wand tighter. "Lumos."

Instead of the beam of light he expects from his wand after saying the incantation, nothing happens. Nothing but the blackness; hell, he couldn't even see his hands in front of his face. He could hear himself at least, if only just. It sounded...not exactly muffled, but something to that effect.

He wanders for a few minutes. Or at least he assumes it's a few minutes. It was hard to get his bearings in a place like this. As he walks further into wherever this was, his voice seems to get a bit louder and echoes as he continues to call out for someone, anyone. He wondered what Rowena and Salazar were doing. If either of them had arrived here, he would have at least heard them, wouldn't he? In the very least, wouldn't he feel their magical signature? While it wasn't easy to do so, if you practiced at it, you could get a read on people's magical signatures. And if you were a bit more talented at it, like he was, you could get a better read on it. And with Salazar and Rowena's magical signatures being as completely huge as they were, it shouldn't be hard at all to pick up if they were near. And he didn't, so he had to assume that they weren't here.

Hell, what if they had done the same thing he had and ended up in different places? He wouldn't put it past the slimy bastard to put a spell or enchantment like that on it. He could only hope that they hadn't fallen into an even worse situation than he had. They had greater skill and magic at their disposal so he had faith that they could handle pretty much anything that came their way. He resolutely doesn't think of anything else as he continues to wander. If he dwelled too much on the people important to him, he could make a mistake. And in a situation such as this, a mistake could be deadly in the truest sense.

After awhile he wanders, he suddenly bumps into something, nearly falling over as he hits it.

"Hello? Didn't mean to hit you if I did." He says, moving his hand around a bit to feel what he just bumped into. "The damn place is so-" He stops as he realizes just what he's touching. Bone. Like a person kind of bone. He jumps back, hissing. "The hell?"

"Hello?"

He stops. That didn't sound like one of his echoes.

"Anyone there? I-I don't know where I'm at! Someone please come help!" a voice cries out desperately.

There was someone else here other than him! He starts to hurry towards where the voice was coming from. It seems to take forever but he finally gets near the source of the voice.

"Oh god, oh god! Someone else is here! I see you! I-oh god. Oh god. Don't come any closer! It's-"

"Hey, hey!" he says, waving a hand. "It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you! I know it's dark and all; really, not sure how you can see anything in this but maybe you-"

"W-What are you talking about? The place is completely lit up!"

He stops. "What? Of course it's not. It's completely dark! I tried everything to light up the place, but..."

"No. Sir, it's not...it's. It's completely lit up here. I can see the walls. Oh god, the paintings on them, as if they were painted in blood. It's horrifying. And you...you, sir. You're..."

He shakes his head. There had to be some mistake. Maybe they were dealt different things? Or? Or? Or...?

"Your eyes, sir...they're gone."

He lets out a sound. This person was mad. He could see just fine! They had to be in cahoots with Voldemort or just plain cruel, or...

He finds himself unable to stop his hands. They move slowly, so slowly. And then they touch his face.

There was nothing there. Nothing where the eyes should be.

He screams.

And knows true terror.

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"This can't be. This can't be, this can't be, this can't be, this can't be, THIS CAN'T BE!"

"Calm down! You'll hurt yourself! Oh gods, it looks so horrible-"

It wasn't there. It just wasn't. It wasn't there and what could he do now? He was useless. More than useless. So useless to everything now...

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He laughs.

He cries.

He laughs again.

He clutches his face.

He sobs and curls in on himself.

He laughs louder and louder.

"Stop! Stop it! Stop laughing! Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT!" the voice screams and he laughs and laughs.

"But IT'S SO FUNNY! AHAHAHAHAHAH! JUST! ISN'T IT FUNNY!" he screams, laughing maniacally as he moves around and around the room he couldn't see.

He bumps against the person, clutching their shoulders, feeling them shake in the terror of it all. He clutches harder, laughter streaming out of his mouth all the while.

"BUT ISN'T IT FUN-"

A hit.

Laughter. Giggles, high giggles, in the background. Laughter not his own. Laughter that smelled of horror and blood.

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He awakens with a groan, clutching his head. The light burning his face, making him clench his eyes tighter.

Wait.

Eyes.

He opens his eyes, blinking rapidly against the light. The light. He could see it. He could see it. He touches his face and sobs in relief. They were there. Eventually the room comes into greater focus. And he wishes he hadn't looked. He clutches his stomach against the sudden bile rising in it.

The room was covered in gore. Littered with body parts and blood. Oh Merlin, so much blood. The room stank of death and the blood swimming in it. He could see fingers clutching a wall, nails dug in as they desperately tried to move, escape, anything to get away. Could see the entrails of one unfortunate person burst out of their stomach, a look of such terror on their face like he had never seen.

He does retch then, unable to help himself, retching as he looks upon the horror of everything around him. He had wanted to see again so very badly. Well, now he could.

He starts to move away and stops as he feels something clutching at his pant leg. He looks down and cries out. This person was still warm, no rotting. This must have been the person who had been in the room with him. Their skull was so crushed in, their body so mangled, that he could not tell if they were man or woman. He shakes, as he realizes the position the body had been in before he had moved. It had slid down and was still clutching him. It was in a position like it had been protecting him. Something had been here. Had done these things and this person had protected him. Had they been bad off already and thought he deserved a chance to get away?

He lets out a sob, teeth gritting. He touches the hand still clutching him and moves it away, setting in on the body. He kneels down. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Thank you for every-" he cuts off, shaking his head. He takes in and lets out a deep breath and gets up, moving as quick as he could through the carnage, wincing as he hears a squelch or burst as he steps on something he wished he hadn't. He finally spots a doorway and nearly sobs aloud with relief. He had to get out of here. There had to be an exit somewhere.

He nearly reaches the door, when he feels a tugging at his feet. He looks down and his eyes widen as he sees a twisted, rotting hand clutching at his foot. Then another does. And another. Then he hears the dead speak.

"Wait for me."

"Me!"

"Wait for usssssssss."

"WAIT!"

"I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE, I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T-"

"Take us away from here!"

"Hate it. HATE YOU! Hate it. Killkillkillkillkill-"

"I want my mom!"

"Dad!"

"OH GOD IT HURTS IT HURTS."

"HELP US!"

He lets out a scream as more of the hands and arms move his way, crawling. Watch the nearly skeletal body of a person come crawling to him, arm outstretched. He gets pulled down and into the middle of the bodies.

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He gasps, looking around.

The blood, the bodies...all gone. All gone. Like there had been nothing there. Nothing. Well it had to have been a dream right? There was nothing there! SO IT WAS A DREAM, RIGHT?!

He puts his arms around his knees, rocking, sobbing. His eyes were here. It was okay. It was okay. It had to be okay. It had to. It had to. It had to-!

"Sirius!"

"There you are!"

He looks up and lets out a noise at seeing the faces of Salazar and Rowena. They looked fine. They were fine. Like he. He was fine. It was okay. It was okay. It was okay-!

Rowena kneels down near him, clutching his shoulder. "Are you alright?! We're so sorry we couldn't get here sooner. We ran into these monstrosities-"

Salazar shakes his head, frowning. "They were horrible. Parts falling out, mouth letting out this unnatural scream. So horrible."

"But you're okay, right?" Rowena asks, looking at Sirius in concern.

He shakes his head. "I'm. I'm? I'm okay. I will be. You two are okay, so it's okay. I'll...I'll be fine." He lets out a breath. "I'm just glad you got out of there in one piece."

"Who said we did?"

"Huh?"

He looks up and gasps. Their faces. They were melting away! He tries to scurry back but is held firm by Rowena's claw like grip.

"We didn't get away. They snatched us up and picked us clean like we were legs of a chicken. Want me to tell you how it sounded when Salazar's face was getting devoured or when my legs were broken clean off of me?" She leans in closer, face dripping onto him. "Shall I, Sirius Black?"

He screams. Her face, her skull, grins and moves in to bite him.

Crunch.

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He awakens with a start, looking around. It was quiet. It was calm. It was clean. There was no one around.

He sobs, curling up on himself. It hurt. Everything hurt! It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt-

"Sirius."

He moans, clutching his head. The pain. The pain wouldn't stop. If he hit himself enough, would it go away? If he called fire, would it go away? If he just laid down and died would it go away?!

"Sirius!"

He feels a hand touch him and he starts to shake.

"birdratdragondogsnakecat." he mutters, rocking where he lay. "the bird and the cat and it eats and it devours and it-"

"Sirius, stop! It's okay. It's okay. Please just stop. You're okay now. I promise."

He stops. That voice. Did he recognize that voice? Surely he did. That voice. That voice he heard. Not his, not theirs, not theirs. Different. Good. Different was good. It was different! It was-

"It's me, Sirius. Look at me. Come on, I'll help you up."

He slowly moves, getting help to sit up and looks.

"I'm here, Sirius. It's okay." Harry says, smiling gently at him.

Harry! Harry! Not the little Harry but the big one! The one who smiled so sadly at him before? It had to be that Harry, certainly. Certainly it was him.

"Harry," he chokes out. He feels tears at the corner of his eyes.

"I know. I know, Siri." Harry moves to hug him and he pulls Harry close, holding him tightly. No, this. This was okay. If he had to die, at least he got to properly hold Harry in his arms this time around.

Finally Harry moves away. He smiles sadly. "I'd love to stay here and hold you longer, but we have to go. I can't hold the things at bay much longer." He stands and holds out a hand. Sirius looks up at him for a moment, then clutches it like the lifeline it was.

He stands. He looks around. "I don't see any exit. I tried to find one, but..."

"I know." Harry says, looking at him. He holds onto Sirius' hand tightly. "It's okay. I've got the way out. Trust me?"

Sirius holds Harry's hand tightly in return. "Yes. About before..."

Harry shakes his head. "No time now. There can be time for that later." He moves closer to Sirius. "It may take time, but it's worth it. I promise it's worth it. Don't ever give up on me. Please."

Sirius shakes his head. "Never. I could never."

Harry looks up at him, tears in his eyes that threatened to spill over. "Kiss me?"

Sirius lets out a breathless laugh, leaning down, eyes closing. "Yes." he breathes.

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His eyes open.

He recognized his surroundings. He was back.

"Sirius!" "Fucking hell, Sirius, don't ever do something that fucking stupid again!"

He looks up and sees Salazar and Rowena looking at him. No melting. No wrongness. It was them.

"I'm," he coughs. His throat felt dry as if he hadn't spoken in years. "I'm sorry."

"Don't talk now, you'll just hurt yourself further!"

"If Helga hadn't found you in the back of the ruins when she did to stop the poison-"

"Wait." he croakes. "Helga? But no. It was. He." He coughs again. "He helped me."

Their brows furrow. "He who?" Salazar says. "There was no one else there, Sirius."

He starts to sit up. "Stay where you are, please. It took all my skill to take that poison out of you. Nasty concoction. I've never seen anything like it." A voice says in the distance. A woman walks into the room. She was fairly tall, and curvy. Her hair was long and blonde, spilling past her shoulders. Her eyes were a brown that reminded him of oak. "It causes the person to go mad. I was able to take it out. But I should have been too late to save you. It's as if something interveined..."

He sits up and it is then that he realizes that he has Helga Hufflepuff's Cup in his grasp.

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A/N: Damn, that was difficult to write lol. I hope I conveyed the madness, the insanity that Sirius was going through. As it was from his perspective, I wanted to send home that he was losing it. However, as Helga explains, it wasn't a literal thing to drive someone to madness, but a mental one. I always figured Voldemort would have nasty things on his Horcruxes. We saw some evidence of that in the books, with Dumbledore having to drink the deadly potion to get to the Horcrux but always thought that more of the nasty ideas that Voldemort would have employed would have been impossible to write about in a series that a good majority of children read. But I figured Voldemort would think of something that nasty, so I wrote it.

I hope you enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

-PhoenixJustice