Disclaimer: All character and the world in this story belongs to JK Rowling. I own nothing.

A/N: It is my first fanfic so I hope that I did justice to the characters and the story as a whole. There might be some mistakes as English is not my first language and I do not have a beta as of yet. The story begins during the break before GoF. Although I have tried to keep the story close to the canon but there are a lot of minor and a few major changes. I hope you like it.

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Chapter One: Prized Possession

'How could he escape from the top of the Astronomy Tower?'. The thought baffled her. He was in a locked cell on top of a thirteen-storied tower, wandless and yet he escaped. It was a slap on the face of the department and she took it personally. She had already argued with the Minister and expressed her disappointment in his decision to not inform her while going to arrest Black. Minister had tried to defend himself with the feeble excuse that he did what came to his mind first.

"Why didn't you inform me?" She said while barging in his office, her hair loose, her face showed that she was furious.

"Calm down, Amelia. We will catch him very soon." Fudge answered but there was no confidence in his voice. "I went because it was the best option available."

"Cornelius, you as well as I do know that it was not a good idea to go without an auror team and you should have at least informed me." Amelia replied, her anger wasn't easily quenched.

"Amelia, I do not need to inform you or anyone. I am the Minister of Magic." Fudge answered her, his features steeling.

"And nobody is questioning that and pardon me but it wasn't an intelligent judgement on your part." Amelia told him bluntly before taking the chair across from him.

"You need to intensify the search operation." Fudge moved his eyes away from her to the shelf in his room.

"That is not possible, Minister, I have told you this, time and again and with the event approaching, I have none to spare." Amelia replied truthfully. "And you need to get the dementors back to Azkaban, I do not appreciate your action of sending half of them to Hogwarts."

"It was necessary, Amelia and I would not have you judge my decisions." Fudge barked, getting red in face.

"It is my duty to inform you, Minister when you step in dangerous territories, literally and politically." Amelia did not hesitate in answering him, she leaned forward in her chair. "You should have discussed this security issue with me at the least. How do you think the people will react to something like this? A hundred dementors on Hogwarts grounds sets a very wrong precedence."

"I will handle the situation when it arises and I will ask for your advice when I need one." Fudge said and Amelia understood that it was a dismissal. She rose from her chair and walked out of the room with brisk paced strides.

It was impossible to escape from Azkaban and it took them a year and some suspicious activity that Minister was hesitant to tell her, to get Sirius locked up in a cell and now he was again out of their reach. She did not like the situation one bit, her department was underfunded, understaffed and overstressed. She had tried her best to get additional funds for recruitment and training and yet here she was, organising the security for the biggest event of wizarding world, the Quidditch World Cup 1994. She was informed that it was peacetime and the cuts made in the budget of her department was one of the main reasons why Ministry was able to organise the Mega-event. The event was in group stages but there was enough crowd, it looked like that people from every country where wizarding population existed had decided to visit England.

The law and Order situation was even more delicate now as the guests/tourists were bound to travel the country and the magical sites. It was difficult to have her people patrolling everywhere, she had to redirect other divisions of her department in this. There have been enough drunken brawls and fights between supporters of rival teams for her liking. She was having a hard time in maintaining the law and order, a mass-murderer on loose did not help the situation. She was anticipating an attack on the World Cup, with foreign wizarding dignitaries and diplomats present, the attack was a possibility.

She had requested the Minister to communicate with the French and American wizarding ministries regarding their assistance in the Security of the event. The Minister had rejected her request, he did not want to look weak on international level. She had to explain that he would face even more embarrassment if the attack actually took place, he would face a severe backlash if any foreign diplomat died in such attack.

Fudge did not relent and the only option left to her was to raise the issue in the Wizengamot. She had raised the issue but many were oblivious or indifferent, a few of them had the same line of thought as the esteemed Minister himself. Dumbledore had agreed with her and he had assured her that he would discuss the matter with Fudge. It was an added bonus that he was the British representative to International Confederation of Warlocks. He had assured her that if they could not get any additional help from the ministry, he would try to get some help from the neighbouring friendly ministries. Dumbledore had spoken to Fudge but even he was unable to get the request passed, although he was able to get her some funding for short-term solution of hiring Hit-Wizards, Ex-Aurors and retired aurors.

The first person she was going to hire, if the person agreed to, was an ex-auror, her mentor during auror training. She would personally meet him the upcoming Sunday evening, she was positive that he would not refuse. He would be able to get a team together for her and manage the patrolling of a few important locations.

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

He was sitting in his office, the one he had achieved after a lot of hardwork and with the help of so many people that he can't even remember their faces. It wasn't out of normal anyway, in his line of work he was going to come across many people and not all of them were going to be remembered.

But...

But one face which he remembered even in his sleep, it wasn't as if he wanted to remember, quite opposite actually, he wanted to forget the face, the person it belonged to and the event it was associated with. If he told anyone about that person, he was certain that nobody was going to believe him one bit. Rather, he would be ousted from this very office, his sanity would be questioned and his image would be ruined beyond any repair.

He looked up from his desk, towards the fireplace on the opposite wall, above the fireplace was hanging a painting of a gentleman with the attire of a medieval scholar, except the hat. The headgear wasn't the traditional one, in place of it was a pointy hat, quite similar to a wizard's hat.

He could remember the night as clearly as yesterday, the weirdest night in his life or so he thought. He came to know about a world he knew nothing about, not even its existence. He was thrown into a state of shock and then fear and then worry, there were other emotions too in the whirlwind of thoughts.

A pudgy man with the name Fudge stepped out from the green flames in the fireplace, in a pinstriped suit and bowler hat, into his office. He had fainted when the man offered him his hand. The next hour, he was being explained about the wizarding world, it was astonishing and yet quite worrisome for him. He was promised that he won't see the Fudge guy again but he had become a recurring phenomena.

Last summer, he was told that a mass murderer was on run, he had escaped from the highest security prison section of the 'best wizarding prison'. Around eight months later, he was informed that they were conducting their magical world cup of a weirdly name sport and that a large number of wizarding population was going to visit britain.

That wasn't it, now they are bringing beasts into the country. They are bringing dragons in the country and it wasn't all, they were bringing other beasts which he was too shocked to remember their names.

He had started to hate being the Prime Minister of Britain.

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

How difficult would it be to land a Hippogriff in the middle of a London suburb? The answer will be not very difficult but doing that without breaking the statute of secrecy was next to impossible. Doing that without a wand would increase the difficulty level significantly. He had forgotten how many days it had been since he had escaped from the Astronomy Tower, thanks to Harry, Hermione and Buckbeak. He had dementors on his tail and he needed to get away from them as soon as possible. He had flown to Ireland then to England via Wales but to cut the trail, he flew to France then to Norway where he stayed for more than a week.

It took him two weeks to get back to England and he was thankful that that was somehow enough. Dementors weren't following him anymore. He had decided to come to the only place where nobody can track him, his ancestral home. He needed a safe hiding place and begrudgingly Sirius would agree that nowhere else would be safe enough. It was well past midnight and it was a good thing that there was no moon in the sky tonight. Everything was as dark as a dementor's hood. He entered the house he detested the most, bringing the winged-creature behind him.

"Who is there?" A shaky and raspy voice spoke from the darkness of the house. Sirius had received the news while he was in prison that he was the only living Black, his mother was the last to die. He wasn't expecting anyone to be there, it took a moment for him to remember the only being that could be here after all these year.

"Kreacher?" Sirius half asked and half realized. The realization was completed when the old elf stepped forward and the candles in the corridor came to life.

"It's him, Mistress!" The elf shouted, his tennis ball sized eyes widening in shock.

"What are you doing here? You are disowned." The source of his mother's voice was the portrait of her hanging in front of his eyes. He did not want to talk to her so he gave one command to his elf before walkingup the stairs. "Shut her up, Kreacher and stay out of my sight."

He understood that as he was the last Black, Kreacher was now linked to him. He did not want anything to do with him but he had more pressing matters on his mind. He entered his father's study, it looked well maintained. His father had told him when Sirius was only fourteen that Blacks always had an emergency kit, it was the bottom drawer of his father's desk. There was a leather suitcase inside with few wands, a pouch of galleons, some vials of essential potions and a couple of daggers. All Sirius needed was a wand, so he checked the available six and picked the one which worked the best for him, he picked up the pouch of galleons and left the suitcase where it belonged. He picked up a parchment and searched for inkpot and a quill, he needed to get a message to Remus, he hurriedly wrote a small note that would convey the message. He charmed the letter the way they had been doing since school days, 'I solemnly swear that I am upto no good'.

"Kreacher! Take this letter to Remus Lupin and hand it over only when he is alone." The letter that he had placed on the table disappeared a moment later. He knew that Kreacher knew how to do his duties without coming into view.

While writing the letter, he had forgotten that he had a guest here with him who was standing outside the room, it was a good thing that Hippogriffs were intelligent creatures. He thought for a minute before a devilish smile came to his face, the idea that crossed his mind would be a cruel joke on his family and especially on his mother. He walked the creature to his mother's bedroom and guided Buckbeak to the bed, he was enjoying it too much. Who would have thought that a feathery magical creature would sleep in the bed of proud Walburga Black.

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

He was walking down a street with brick houses lining both the sides, the street had seen better days. The houses were old and in different stages of decay, the neighbourhood wasn't very habitable. Dumbledore understood the reason why this would attract the ex-auror, he had become a recluse for god knows how long, but he had completely distanced himself from the society after his expulsion from the ministry after Barty stepped down from the Directorship of the department. It was a big issue in Wizengamot, Alastor's actions and in association with Crouch's actions, were questioned by a many traditionalists, his excess use of force wasn't very well accepted. He was expelled from the department and the Director of DMLE had to step down, it really was a mess. He had worked as the trainer in the Auror Academy, he wasn't fond of being in a trainer's position but his experience was a huge asset in mentoring and grooming the future aurors.

He had walked no less than a hundred yards when he turned left to enter a house. The main gate was charm-locked but Dumbledore knew the password for entrance, he had known the man for quite some time. The house wasn't very big, it was more like a big cabin. The house was in the centre of the plot, all four sides had a fifteen feet distance from the main building. Dumbledore was sure that the ground must have a dozen different charms, wards and curses present, he wouldn't expect anything less than that from this person. Albus remembered the motto of his life, 'Constant Vigilance'.

Dumbledore knocked on the door which opened on its own accord. Dumbledore walked into the small living room and by the look of it he could very well say that housekeeping wasn't one of Alastor's specialities. "Good evening, my friend."

"Evening, Albus. You don't need to knock, I could see you coming." Alastor replied from the chair in front of the fireplace. The fire in the fireplace was the only source of light in the square room. Dumbledore took the other chair and faced the fire, he need not look at his old friend, he was certain that the electric blue eye was fixed on him. "I have something for you."

"I hope it's not a Berty Bott's, you know I hate 'em." Alastor said with a snort, a light chuckle was the response from Dumbledore.

"This one would be more to your taste." Dumbledore replied before leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes for a moment. "I have a proposition."

"I'm all ears or whatever is remaining of those." He answered with another snort, he enjoyed his own jokes too much.

"I want you at Hogwarts." Dumbledore had opened his eyes and now he was leaning forward, his elbows on the armrest and his chin resting on the steeple of his long fingers.

"You should have asked this before Black entered Hogwarts but I guess Black could bring anyone to their senses." Alastor commented, he was now quite intrigued by the conversation and hence turned to look at Dumbledore with both his eyes. Dumbledore remained in the same position when he continued. "It's not just about security, Alastor, you will be the Defence professor."

"You are getting very old, Albus, you are losing your mind." Moody's natural eye was wide in amusement. "You will face too much opposition for this decision but you must have already taken that into consideration. So, please do tell why you are asking me."

"I need a trained eye in school, Alastor." Dumbledore chuckled at his own joke. "Moreover, students need someone experienced and I am running out of option."

Moody was laughing wholeheartedly at the helplessness of Dumbledore, although his laugh wasn't a very pleasant sight. "What about the academy?"

"Board is hiring someone more lenient, for long term. They might call you for a couple of sessions in a year." Dumbledore answered while turning to look at the ex-Auror. "Shall we drink to it then?"

"By all means."

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

July 30, 1994

It was mostly an uneventful summer by his standards, and he was thankful for that. After his actions last summer and him mentioning about his godfather being the mass murderer on news made sure that he wasn't much disturbed this summer. But he still had to do the chores, there was no respite from them.

Harry Potter was sitting on his bed in his room at #4 Privet Drive, holding the letter sent by his Ex-DADA professor, Remus Lupin. He was hoping against hope that the letter may be an invitation to spend the summer with him or some information regarding his godfather. He hadn't contacted Lupin since he resigned from his post a couple of months back and left Hogwarts. He finally gathered his courage to open the envelope addressed to him from Moony. He extracted the letter and opened it to read.

Dear Harry,

I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirit. I ask for your forgiveness for my silence since that Halloween night. I should have at least written to you after you started Hogwarts. My spirit was broken that night when Dumbledore told me the news about your parents. Two of my closest friends moved on to the next great adventure that night. The only emotion my heart had was grief. I believed like everyone else that Padfoot had betrayed your parents. Once I came to my senses, I went to find him, to confront him but I came to know about what happened between Padfoot and Wormtail. In less than a day, my whole life turned on its head. I had lost all my friends, three to death and one to betrayal. That day, I came to know what true despair meant. I lost my will to live a life, now it was just a sorry existence. After Padfoot's escape from Azkaban, professor Dumbledore came to me and offered the job at Hogwarts with the hope that if Padfoot succeeded in bypassing the barriers, I would be the right person to protect you. It was my chance of redemption and revenge. The whole year I wanted to talk to you about your parents, tell you stories from our school years, introduce you to the Marauders' way, to know you better but there was always this voice in my head screaming that I was inadequate for this. It was the despair, survivor's guilt that stopped me from introducing you to your 'Unca Moony'. Every time when you came to my office, every time I was teaching you the Patronus charm, I was reminded about my loss all those years back. You reminded me of James and Lily, you are the best of both of them, I wanted to know you better, talk about your life but every time I could not gather the courage to take the first step. I am sorry, I know its late but I still hope that you would be able to forgive me for my inaction.

I have rambled long enough and made you sad by reminding you all those memories. So, let's move on to some happier topics. Happy Birthday Harry, I have missed your last twelve birthdays and hence I am sending you my most prized possession as the birthday gift for all the birthdays I missed. The envelope has a photo, it was taken the day you and Lily were brought home from St. Mungo's for the first time. It is the only picture I have with your parents, Sirius and you. I hope you will like it.

Yours,

Moony

Harry was still holding the letter, misty eyed. He dropped the letter on the bed beside him and extracted the picture that Moony mentioned from the envelope. One glance at the photo and Harry could not hold his tears back any longer. His parents were sitting on a two-seater couch, he was in his mother's arms between both his parents, sleeping peacefully. James's arm was around Lily's shoulder, leaning her into him, their heads merely an inch apart. Sirius and Remus were sitting on the armrests on either side of couple, their arms thrown at the back of the couch. The expression on their faces was of pure joy, he could see love and contentment in the eyes of his parents, Sirius eyes showcasing his excitement, same as Moony's.

He sat there for minutes, just staring at the picture in his hands, admiring the love and happiness he never knew. His tears now dried, leaving its trail on his cheeks. He opened his photo album and pasted this photo just behind the photo of his parents with him. He hurriedly grabbed a parchment, quill and ink and started writing a letter in response to Lupin's birthday gift. He was happy to the core that he finally had something to remember Sirius and Lupin by.

He sent the reply with Hedwig, thanking and forgiving him. He wanted to ask about more stories of their youth, he wanted to know whether Padfoot has contacted him or not. He set in front of his desk, facing the window and watching Hedwig fly away to deliver the letter. He drifted to sleep in his chair while watching Hedwig disappear in the distance.

-X-X-

The midnight moon bathing the landscape in its silver glow. The manor on the hilltop looked quite eerie in the moonlight. The manor was an eighteenth-century country house overlooking a small village at the foot of the hill. The three-story affair with an attic was without an occupant for 52 years, since the death of the family that lived there. The death of the Riddle family was a mysterious affair, the whole family of three, an old couple and their son in mid-thirties, died on the same day. Their bodies were found in the living room of the manor by the house-keeper, the living room was locked from the inside and no signs of bodily harm on any of the bodies. The police department was befuddled by these mysterious deaths, the first suspect was the house-keeper but nothing could have been pinned on him in the absence of proofs.

The manor was taken cared by the house-keeper who lived in a small cottage-house at the side of the hill. The house-keeper was a single man in his late sixties, whose family were the house-keepers of the Riddle household for four generations. Old age and sleep does not get along very well and hence the house-keeper was in his kitchen, making tea to sooth his senses. His anger started to rise when he saw light flicker through the first-floor window of the manor. He was going to pay a visit to these unruly boys for trespassing in the manor and they are not going to like it. He turned off the stove, picked up his coat, walking stick and keys to the manor and started on the path to the manor.

The house looked quite gloomy and a bit frightening in the moonlight but he wasn't afraid of his surroundings. He walked up to the backdoor of the house, unlocked it, entered quietly and gently closed the door behind him. He could not pick up any sounds from his position, as he moved closer to the stairs leading to the first-floor he heard voices coming from overhead. He could not distinguish the words. He slowly started climbing the stairs, after a few steps he stopped dead in his track when he heard a very sharp voice which resembled a hiss. It was the first time that night when he was afraid to go ahead. He slowly started moving up the stairs, trying his best to make no sound. He reached the landing and then he heard it a slow voice, firm but barely more than a hiss but the words were clear.

"Bring me the boy, my faithful servant."

The next voice he heard was trembling with fear.

"But master...?"

"Shut up, Wormtail. The boy is the key, without him it's impossible."

A plan for kidnapping a boy was taking shape in the house. He wanted to confront them and stop this crime from taking place. He stepped ahead in the corridor to get a clear look. The fireplace was alight, a highbacked, stuffed leather chair stood in the middle of the room facing the fire. A short, fat man with balding head of greying hair stood on the left of the chair in a subservient manner. He wanted to shout and beat these criminals but his breath caught in his throat, a giant snake slithered past his legs, brushing his ankles as it went past the man. The snake was larger than any he had seen in his life with a girth which was obviously greater than his upper arm.

A third voice answered in a firm and even way. "I will bring him to you master".

The speaker of this voice was on his knee on the other side of the chair. He could clearly see the face, the man was young, in his early-thirties, with brown slid back hair. The expression of devotion clear on his face, but something in his eyes was unnerving.

He heard a hiss coming from the room now, the snake's head on the arm rest of the chair. When he heard the next words, he froze in his place unable to move any muscle in his body due to fear.

"Nagini brings good news, Wormtail. We have a muggle guest standing outside this room."

Both faces turned in his direction, the man Kneeling on the side of the chair rose from his position and stepped to the side of the door with a wicked smile on his face. The man in the chair spoke again, his voice like icy-daggers.

"Turn the chair, Wormtail, so that I can properly welcome our guest."

All the colour in the man's face went missing as the chair was turned to face him. The word doesn't not even begin to define the level of fear he was facing. In the chair sat a creature, looking like a very frail, old man but having quite a resemblance to a small kid cradled in a chair. His skin pale and hairless, his pupils red and looking like slits, nose absent and its place were to slits. His appearance eerily similar to a snake. He was pointing a stick in his direction and two words came out of his mouth, "Avada kedavra". The last thing he saw was a jet of green light coming his way and he dropped dead.

"Dinner time, Nagini". The snake moved towards the body lying on the floor, a few feet away from the door.

Harry woke up with searing pain in his head, his scar burning like a coal. He was trembling and sweating on the floor, his chair lying on the floor behind him. He must have slept in the chair and fallen from it during this fear inducing experience, he thought. He was shaken to the core, the nightmare looked so real. He was shaking his head to get these images out of it to no avail. He stood up and picked the chair and positioned in front of his desk. It should be early morning if the purple sky with a tinge of orange across the horizon was any hint.

He dropped all plans of going back to sleep, he was afraid and excited at the same time. Afraid due to the experience he just had and excited because it was his birthday. It was not that his birthday was a cause of big celebration in this household but because he was going to meet his friends and move to his home to spent rest of his summer there. He received a letter last week through the muggle way. The envelope hidden behind post-stamps, enough in number to cover the whole envelope except a small area where the address was written. The postman was laughing when he hand-delivered the letter. One of his best friend, Ron was coming to his home with his father to take Harry with them to the 'Burrow'.

His so-called family was happy enough from the fact that the freak of a nephew will be leaving for a year. Harry had packed almost all his belongings in his trunk last evening itself. A few things were lying here and there in his room and cupboard. He checked his watch, it was 6 AM, he still had seven hours to get ready. Ron and his father were going to arrive at 1:00 PM through Floo. But now was time to prepare breakfast for his beloved family. He moved out of the room the bathroom to get ready so he could star his last day of the year in this dreadful place he called home.

-X-X-