A/N: Hello! I am so sorry for the delay in updating! My personal life has been ridiculously hectic, but I don't want to abandon my readers! I am starting my last semester of college before graduation (Yay!) and will be laid off from my job at the end of the week, so while I will still have schoolwork and am not happy about being laid off, I will have more time to spend on Harry Potter and Destiny's Last Chance and my Five Nights at Freddy's story It's Been So Long. A quick note; third year won't take up that much time in this story because there are only minor changes at this point. I plan to be moving on to 4th year by Chapters 5 or 6. Alrighty then; on with Chapter 3!

Chapter 3-Some Things Old, Some Things New

Classes ran basically as they had before, except Harry found Divination even more pointless than he had in his previous third year. This time, when Professor Trelawney informed him that his tea leaves held "the Grim", Harry laughed. I wonder what the old bat would say if she knew that the Grim was a man in a suit with a hedge trimmer?

"My boy, this is no laughing matter!" the woman exclaimed dramatically.

"It is to me. Voldemort has been trying to kill me for 12 years now. What a mind-blowing prediction! In other obvious news, the sky is blue and we're in a castle."

Lavender and Parvati, who'd previously been glaring at Hermione, turned their gazes to Harry. Hermione, once she'd gotten over the fact that Harry had spoken up to a teacher, began giggling. Ron, Neville, and Seamus soon joined her. It was a much more light-hearted Harry Potter that entered Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration classroom. Like last time, Professor McGonagall inquired about the previous class and was told about the tea leaves. She covered her mouth to hide the mirthful smile at Harry's response. Once composed, she said, "Well Mr. Potter, I'm glad you were not rattled. Sybil loves predicting the death of a student every year. If you do happen to die-"

"I'll have Hermione turn in my homework. She'd never let anything happen to her to prevent doing her work, so it'll be safe with her," Harry quipped.

"Prat!" said Hermione, slapping his shoulder and smiling.

The good mood went to hell after Care of Magical Creatures and the incident with Malfoy and Buckbeak. Harry had thought about intervening now to help Buckbeak, but realized that doing so could jeopardize helping Sirius later on if things went as they had before. Indeed, there was a good chance that Sirius would have to escape again, as Pettigrew was an unpredictable little rat. With this matter settled for the time being, Harry began ruminating over his next quandary: the Time Turner. I need to find a way to help Hermione. We'll need the Time Turner for Buckbeak and Sirius if it ends up like last time, but I don't want her stressed out like she was last time, either…Come to think of it, the Time Turner could come in handy for events further in the future, as well. When I do talk to Hermione, I need to convince her to stop using it for all these classes but to save it for emergencies.

The year continued to progress as it had before, and Harry grew frustrated.

I still can't think of a good reason to give Hermione for knowing about the Time Turner, and I haven't had any success in trying to catch sight of Sirius! How can I fix anything like this?!

"Calm yourself, Harry."

Startled, Harry turned to see William.

"What're you doing here?! Someone'll see or hear you!" Harry hissed, looking around the Common Room frantically.

"No they won't. I've frozen time around us so that we can talk," the Reaper corrected.

"Oh…"

"So, you're frustrated."

"Yes! How can I handle the major stuff coming up if I can't handle finding a dog and explaining knowledge of the Time Turner?" Harry asked.

"Easy; you can't help these 2 situations. Sirius doesn't want to be seen, so he won't be. As for the Time Turner, we can make a small allowance. You may tell your soulmate, and ONLY your soulmate, about your circumstances. You'll know when the right time to tell her is. Don't worry too much; you will indeed be able to change much of your future."

"Oh, ok. I guess I can try and sneak down to the Chamber of Secrets early to get basilisk venom for destroying the Horcruxes."

"You can, but not yet. Basilisk venom is very dangerous; you'll need some protective gear and strong potion vials to contain the venom. Also, hold off on destroying them. There are some books in your godfather's library at Grimmauld Place that can help you."

"Thank you, William."

"You're welcome, Harry. Be seeing you." With that, the Reaper was gone.

The year continued on still. Like last time, Professor Lupin offered to teach Harry the Patronus charm and Harry, happy to spend time with him again, agreed. It was on his way to one of these lessons that he remembered another puzzle for this year. He was early to a lesson when he heard voices coming from Lupin's office. One belonged to Lupin himself, but the other belonged to a woman.

"I can't believe you! You've really abandoned him!" the woman yelled.

"Emily, he's a murderer and a Death Eater," Remus answered with a sigh.

Emily? Is that Professor Tarleton? She knows Remus, I'm assuming they're talking about Sirius, and she must have known my father and Pettigrew. Why didn't I know her before? Why didn't Sirius or Remus ever talk about her?

Just then, Emily's voice sounded a lot closer. Harry realized with a start that she was leaving Professor Lupin's office and quickly backed away from the door so it wasn't obvious that he was listening. A moment later, Harry was very glad he'd moved as Professor Tarleton flung the door open and stormed down the hall. Remus came to the doorway and sighed. He started when he saw Harry.

"Oh, Harry! Is it that late already?" He paused before asking, "You didn't hear-?"

"No, Professor. I just got here. I heard Professor Tarleton yelling, and then she came out. Is she ok?" Harry was curious, wondering if asking Remus questions about the situation might make him start questioning Sirius's guilt sooner, therefore avoiding a lot of drama later. Unfortunately, Remus wasn't feeling particularly chatty.

"She'll be fine. We've been friends for years, but it's been a while since we've last seen each other. We were just discussing an old friend who…went dark."

"Like Star Wars?" Harry asked, playing naive.

"How so?"

"It's a Muggle movie, and Darth Vader, one of the characters, is a good guy who goes dark. He has a happier end as he redeems himself, but dies in the process."

Remus smiled. "Oh yes, I know Star Wars. Yes, our friend is somewhat like Darth Vader, but there's no redeeming him, I'm afraid. Now, why don't we come in for your lesson?"

It was difficult for Harry to pretend that he didn't know the Patronus charm, and on his 3rd "attempt", he did it splendidly; the stag erupted from his wand.

"Prongs…!" Remus gasped.

"Sorry?" Harry asked.

Remus didn't answer right away, but finally settled on, "Memories of another old friend. He'd be more like Luke Skywalker, I think. Well, that was certainly impressive, Harry. Very impressive, indeed!"

Harry smiled proudly. "I'm just glad I have protection from the Dementors." He paused, and then said, "Professor, I told you that I can hear my mother screaming when the Dementors are close. Thank you for teaching me this spell; I was afraid that I would eventually let a Dementor attack me just so I could hear her."

Remus hesitated for a moment before approaching Harry and hugging him. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"Don't be, Professor. You haven't done anything to hurt me."

Harry ended up staying a while longer to hear Remus tell him stories about his parents. He went to bed happy to have bonded with his pseudo-uncle and longing to have time like that with his godfather. Soon after that, Fred and George (once again) presented him with the Marauder's Map, which Harry was happy to have back with him. Then came the incident of listening to the conversation about Sirius being his godfather, which Harry had decided to do over again in order to have a cover just in case he let anything slip. He was aching to tell Hermione everything, but he hadn't found any signs that it was the right time yet. Late one night, Harry could not sleep and was awake pondering when he might be able to tell Hermione and gazing idly at the Map when he saw the dot labeled "Peter Pettigrew" moving through a hallway.

I could catch Pettigrew now and end the manhunt for Sirius Harry thought. With this thought in mind, Harry grabbed a potion vial large enough to fit Wormtail and the Map before running out after the rat. Unfortunately, just as he was closing in on Wormtail, he heard a most unwelcome voice from behind him.

"Well, well, well, whatever have we here?" It was Professor Snape.

Muttering "mischief managed" to the Map, Harry turned to face Snape. In his haste to catch Wormtail, Harry had forgotten to bring his father's Invisibility Cloak. "Uh, good evening, Professor," he greeted nervously.

"Spare me the pleasantries, Potter, and tell me what you are doing wandering the hallways at this hour? Curfew was a long time ago."

Harry stammered around, at a loss for words, which Snape noticed right away.

"Empty your pockets, Potter."

Sighing, Harry handed over his wand, the potion vial, and the Map. "Uh, I-I woke up and noticed that Scabbers was missing. I, I wanted to find him and catch him. He's been acting odd since Hermione got Crookshanks, so I was gonna try and get him into the vial," Harry invented, praying that it would sound reasonable enough for Snape to not question him any further.

"Pet sitting for Weasley, how touching. However, this old parchment, surely you don't need it? Or, perhaps it has secret information on it?" Snape withdrew his own wand and tapped the blank Map. "Reveal your secrets!"

As previously, the Map remained blank.

"Show yourself!"

Again, nothing.

"I, Professor Severus Snape, demand that you yield to me!"

Then, to Harry's horror, the Map began its insults.

Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.

Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.

Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.

Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slime-ball.

After Wormtail's message, Harry looked up at his Potions teacher. Snape's face was dangerously pale, but as Harry continued to look, he could also see the teenager that was mercilessly bullied in his eyes.

"Professor Snape, I'm sorry!"

Perhaps he was still lost in bad memories, or perhaps he was surprised to get an apology, but in any event, Snape handed Harry his belongings back and said, "Go".

Not questioning his good fortune, Harry took his things and quickly returned to Gryffindor Tower, and he stayed awake for some time afterward thinking about it. Meanwhile, in the English Branch of Grim Reaper Dispatch, William was reading Harry's book (A/N: Yeah, remember in one of the last episodes of the first season of Black Butler when Undertaker picks up Sebastian's book and edits it?).

"Hmm… an interesting development. Well, let me help you a little further." William picked another book from the shelf, along with a bookmark and a quill…