Disclaimer: I own nothing. The end. (Be happy)
Chapter 1 - The two towers
Harry Potter was twenty-six, and, once more, he lived in America. Harry Potter was a wizard; he could do magic and not get expelled from his school, he was above school. He could do magic without being traced. Thankfully. Harry Potter was not a normal wizard at that, he was a convicted murderer, you lot all know the drill.
Anyway, back to the story.
Harry Potter got up, stretched, yawned, and lay back down. It was too hard getting up. Too hard doing anything. But he had to get up and he knew it. Sighing he rolled onto his stomach and then back onto his back and then, with a thump, onto the floor. He had to find a job. A job? Nine years. Nine long years and he didn't have a job. How pathetic.
Well, that wasn't entirely true; he'd had random jobs but they'd been. . . well . . . random. At least now he knew how to make bread, use a computer properly, fry chips, guess at the stock exchange, use a cash register, make burgers, file books, work at newsagencies, look after little kids, see if a cat was sick or not, be a receptionist, work in a restaurant, know what was 'in style', and make perfect ice cream scoops. Oh life really was perfect wasn't it?
But now, now he'd finished university, now he had qualifications, now he could get a real job, a job that he actually got money at, well, enough to enable him to not have to dig into his parents vault, they were sure to notice it disappearing eventually, even if it did take them four more years.
A job? Well, the perfect place to get a job would be with one of the companies in the twin towers. It would be fun going up, and up, and up, and up and up to work.
How ironic it was. He didn't know why and he cared even less. It just felt ironical, it just felt. . . he wasn't sure. Being on the run for Nine years can do that to people. It just felt paradoxical, that was it, paradoxical. He didn't know why and he cared even less. No, wait, he did know. It could have been different. This could have been avoided. Oh how ironic it is.
A job.
A change in tact was due.
Sirius Black sighed in resignation; at least half of the aurors that had been given to his division were wanted back. But that would mean cutting the number of people who were searching for Potter. He didn't want to do that.
Potter. He hated the black haired and green eyed teenager who had killed his own wife. Killed his own family. Killed his only chance to enjoy life. Hated him with a passion. To think that he had once loved the kid. To think that he had once reassured the kid. To think. . .
Slowly, Sirius Black's days existence being ripped apart. During his life Sirius had put up with a lot of things, things normal people shouldn't have to put up with. His best friend and best-friends-wife had been murdered, he had then been accused of that very murder, then he had been thrown, quite forcefully into Azkaban. But it had not ended there. Then, the very person he had trusted the most had betrayed the light. Oh how he hated that bastard Potter.
So many leads, he had followed each one of them, hoping that maybe, that lead would be the one. But the one had yet to come. He sighed and thumped his head against his desk. He couldn't let Potter get away with what he had done! He just couldn't!
A rap on the door pulled him out of his mindset and a few exchanged words had him out of his seat so fast he could almost be classified as a blur.
Another lead, but with this one, with this one he could almost taste the bittersweet victory.
A job! He had a job! Oh joy! JOYJOYJOYJOYJOYJOYJOYJOYJOYJOYJOY! HE HAD A JOB!! When he walked out of the building he had a smile covering his face that looked like it could never be removed. A JOB! Have you ever had that feeling? Where you're just SOOO happy absolutely NOTHING can dim your blissful world?
Almost nothing sorry, almost.
Harry grinned again, well actually, he hadn't stopped grinning since his interview had come to a rather joyful end. HE HAD A JOB! Oh yes, that was all that crossed him mind as he walked, or rather skipped, back to his flat. A JOB! We, of course, are able to identify that perhaps he was being a little obsessive, but to him, well, he had a job.
(A/N: my dears I have a little piece of information you might find useful, the date is 9.11.01 for those of you inhabiting the USA and a few other countries I think, and for those of you not, 11.9.01, whatever you prefer, the date is September the eleventh two-thousand and one, for any of you out there who have not been in contact with the world lately then that's the date the twin towers went 'bye-bye')
The next morning, Harry, or Jason as he was now called, was on his way to work. He was early. It had taken him around about twenty minutes to decide what to wear, he had settled on a black suite and a pale blue shirt with a navy tie. He wanted to make a good impression.
Humming to himself he walked down the narrow alleyways and along the busy streets he didn't notice the black dog trailing behind him, he didn't notice the occasional loud crack, because it was barely noticeable in the busy city, he didn't notice Azkaban drawing closer and closer.
A low growl however did have the effect of making him turn and look around, but all he saw was a scruffy mongrel growling at him. He smiled.
"Sorry buddy, I don't have any spare dog food, but I've got a job!" he laughed and the dog seemed to regard him as though he was too over-enthusiastic at 8:48 in the morning. He sighed. Who would have thought it? A moment ago he had felt so happy, it had almost seemed as if he was bursting at the seams with joy and yet, now, he felt sad and depressed.
"If I knew what E felt like I'd swear I'd just finished having some, oh well dog, I need to get to work" he shrugged at the dog, came forward as if to pat it, thought better of it and turned to walking. The dog began growling again. He turned and smiled with sudden inspiration.
"I'll tell you what dog, you must be pretty hungry, I'll give you my sandwich, I'll buy something at the cafeteria" he pulled of his backpack and rummaged through it, swore, and dug even deeper. He pulled out a raincoat, a purse that clinked in a fashion that suggested it had money in it, a thin piece of wood, and finally a plastic bag.
"Ok, got it! I'll just shove this back into my backpack" he grabbed the raincoat, the purse and reached for the wand, it wasn't there. He looked around in confusion, before seeing the dog holding it. He sighed.
"Come on dog, I don't want to play catch, I need that" he sighed as the dog backed away. He took a step forward towards the dog and the quickly stepped back again as the dog growled. He shook his head.
"Fine! It's not like I need it any more! I should have broken it years ago! It holds to many damn memories" he glared at the dog, tears pooling in his eyes. Too late. She's dead. He took a shuddering breath and shook his head again.
"Shit, look at me! SHIT! I have ten minutes to get to work! SHIT! Keep the damn wand doggy, here, have my sandwich, I'm a NICE person, you take my wand and my lunch and give me nothing! How KIND of you" he glanced at his watch and swore again, turning around and breaking into a run.
He didn't need the wand. He didn't. The dog could have it. He had to get to work.
"Where are you going Harry?" for a second he faltered, thought of turning around, the he continued running, defiantly not turning towards the voice that had sounded out behind him. Sirius.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING HARRY?" he didn't stop, he was scared, scared that Sirius would not let him explain, scared that the memories would overpower him, scared, so very scared. He didn't stop.
He felt the spell rush past him, but he didn't stop, he didn't turn, he couldn't, couldn't face the accusing faces, the look in their eyes. He continued running.
Sirius smiled in triumph; he had the wand! Potter was powerless without it! HE HAD THE WAND! He didn't notice the tears that threatened to spill over in our young hero's eyes, he was grinning (in his mind) manically. Finally. Finally. Oh god, finally. . .
Potter turned and began to run, for a moment Sirius is confused. Instantly he turned back into his human form. He smiled, knowing that the aurors would be waiting. Finally Potter will be repaid for what he'd done.
"Where are you going Harry?" he could see Harry pause, he could feel the surprise the boy was feeling, he could smell the fear that was radiating from him. But Potter didn't stop, he keept running and suddenly Sirius was furious, he was mad, the only time he was ever so damn mad, was when Pettigrew killed Lily and James.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING HARRY?" he roared, just looking at the sprinting boy seemed to bring back memories to him, unwanted emotions. He grabbed his own wand and aimed it at the boy. In his fury, he missed. But he didn't care. He signalled the aurors and they appeared, all smirking at the black haired boy.
Sirius smiled as he saw it, but it was a bitter smile, he hadn't ordered the aurors to attack, not yet, he wanted to talk to the boy that betrayed them.
As Sirius knew he would, the boy had stopped and turned to face him. What Sirius wasn't prepared for was the tumble of emotions that played over the boys face, showing fear yes, showing love yes, but even more surprising, the look in his eyes that clearly stated 'at last'. He could see that the boy, no, not the boy, for murder is a crime that robs boyhood from you, he could see that the boy both dreaded and welcomed this encounter. He wonders why, the boy is not going to enjoy it at all, that he will make certain of.
"Potter" he spat the word out, as though saying it dirtied his tongue. The bo- man, frowned and Sirius sees a look of shame pass across his now blank features.
"My name is not Potter" his voice was calm, even, and Sirius shook with a rage that seemed to bring fire to his body. He sneered at Potter, Potter should not be the one to disown his family, it should be his family to disown him.
"Oh" he plays along with the game "then what is your name?" he smirked at the look of sadness that flashed in the startling emerald eyes. He felt no pity for the murderer before him.
"Jason Harrow" Sirius shook his head, he had no idea why Potter had chosen this name for himself, but he had. He let out a bark of laughter. But then. . . Potter disappeared.
"WHAT!?" he howled and all of the twenty-two aurors present flinch.
Harry staggered as he landed on the seventy-eighth floor, a few people began to stutter at his sudden appearance but he cast an oblivious charm and they all turn back to whatever they were doing.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod. Oh god.
He stopped. No dammit! NO!
SiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSiriusSirius! NO!
Life my dear readers, is so very unfair.
Sirius Black glared at the Aurors assembled. The aurors, for their part, looked appropriately horrified. When Sirius spoke, his voice was low, almost, one might say, gentle. Oh, yes, so very gentle.
"Can anybody tell me where Potter is? He cannot have just disappeared!" He looked at the aurors and they all looked back. No one raised their hand.
"He didn't have his wand, so perhaps it was just some muggle trick, his magic signature has not been found on the site, or in fact in the flat we know he was inhabiting, can any one tell me what might have happened?" calm. He had to be calm.
An auror raised her hand slowly, obviously not certain what would happen if she did. "He might have had a spare wand and somehow found a way to disguise his signature?"
Sirius slumped in his chair and nodded his head, for once the man looked defeated.
"Very good Miss Darien, now, I want you to put an anti-apparation shield on the whole of New York, I don't care if people are going to go spare! I WANT IT DONE! We are going to capture this murderer once and for all. Or die trying" at the last pronouncement several of the aurors gulped noticeably. He sneered at them.
"WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO AND DO IT!" they fled.
Although they didn't know it, two people were doing the exact same thing. It is more than likely that another person on the globe was too, but that doesn't matter, all that we're interested in is these two people. They were both sitting on a chair with their head in their hands, thinking. And crying.
Harry Potter was innocent.
Neither of them believed that. Neither of them thought it too be the truth. A man who kills his own wife can hardily be called innocent. Both of them hated Harry Potter. I shan't tell you who they were; you're going to have to figure that out on your own. If you said to one that they were like the other, they would most likely kill you on the spot, another similarity.
Both of them had loved Ginny Weasly, both of them had mourned her death. Both of them had thought that Harry Potter would withstand. Both of them had been wrong.
Have you guessed by now? I'll go back on my word, I'll tell you who they are; one would be the famed Sirius Black and the other? Well the other can only be Jason Harrow.
Now, both of them had other similarities, but we can cover that later, right now I shall tell you about what is just about to happen, call it seeing the future, but their paths are about to cross. Again.
Jason Harrow stood up. That was enough. He had to stop. He was not Harry Potter any more; he was Jason Harrow, he didn't know anyone called Harry Potter. He didn't want to.
Suddenly he stumbled as the floor beneath him gave a shudder (A/N: Ok, I wasn't in the towers when they fell so I'm just going to reconstruct this as I would imagine a building to die), why was to building -
"TERRORIST ATTACK!" Ahh, that explained it. (A/N: Ok, sorry about having another authors note, but I DO NOT mean to be disrespectable to anyone who lost family or friends in the attack, my cousin almost died, but it is just such a wonderful, or not so wonderful, opportunity, so again, sorry)
He closed his eyes and apparated. Nothing happened.
What? Why was nothing happe - CRAP!
He ran.
And ran.
And fell.
And fell.
And fell.
Down and down and down. He fell. The scream that was waiting patiently at his lips suddenly burst out; and he screamed his lungs away. He was going to die. At last.
"He's tried to apparate in the towers!" Sirius stood up immediately, knocking the chair he had been sitting on down to the floor. He ignored it.
"LET GO! THIS TIME, CATCH HIM!" the assembled aurors nodded in agreement, Potter was dangerous and he needed to be caught and put in Azkaban, for the greater good of the community.
"Sir! The twin towers have been attacked!" Sirius spun around facing the panting messeger.
"Death Eaters?" the boy shook his head, still panting uncontrollably.
"Some muggle dispute, but the other Aurors asked me to tell you that Potter apperated onto the seventy-eighth floor of one of the buildings, he tried to get away but the apparition wards stopped him. He's stuck in the building" the boy finished and one of the Aurors handed him a glass of water, he took it thankfully and drained the whole thing in seconds.
"So?" the boy looked confused for a moment, then realising that Black had no way to know just how severe the problem was, continued.
"He can't get out. He's stuck in the building, it's not a siege or anything like that, they've flown some flying things into the building, they're collapsing. At least three thousand people will die, including Potter" Sirius quickly closed his jaw.
"Three thousand?" the boy nodded in conformation.
"Three thousand"
"Oh my god" the boy nodded again.
"We have to try and save them!" one of the more assertive aurors shouted, obviously astounded that people could be so cruel. "They have no way of protecting themselves, what if there are wizards or witches in there?" Sirius shook his head sadly.
"They can apparate out" he said slowly, but another auror interrupted him.
"No, they can't; the apparition wards are all up" all of the aurors present gasped and the messenger paled.
"We could take them down, but it would take at least an hour, we made sure that Potter wouldn't be able to take them down, he might steal a wand, and we don't know what He-who-must-be-named taught him" if possible, everybody in the room paled further, each one looking like imminent death had just been announced, of course that might be because it had.
"Oh my god!"
Wait, wait, and wait. He was an animagus, why didn't he just. . . POP. Now, instead of a rapidly falling human there was a rapidly falling cat. Oh, wonderful, a cat? Yes, Jason Harrow was a cat.
Now, let me just explain something, cats reach their terminal velocity at five floors, but it takes them two or three to realise this. As you know all cats land on their feet, no matter from how high they've fallen from. So, relatively, cats usually die if they fall of the seventh floor because the tenseness of their body makes the landing harder, however, cats have a nearly perfect chance of living if they fall of the thirty second floor. Odd isn't it? But it's true. Now, Jason Harrow had fallen of the seventy-eighth floor, which mean he was already relaxing by the time had gone past the fiftieth, which means when he landed on the pavement at the bottom of the building, he was relatively unhurt.
He didn't bother to transform. He was running again.
But after a few steps he paused and looked back to the place he had landed. They would need a body and a body he would give them. With a slight wave of his paw a very, for the younger readers out there, mutated body now lay there, an exact clone of himself as he would have been. He gave an involuntary shudder. And then he was running.
Ron Weasley was a kind person. Most of the time. If there was one thing that Mr Weasley did not like, it was being betrayed. And he had, indeed, been betrayed. By two people.
Harry Potter, was one of them. He, like almost everyone to ever know the boy, hated him now. Harry had possessed it all; fame, money and friends, he wondered what had gone wrong.
The other person to betray him? The wound of the betrayal was still wide open and he cringed whenever he thought of it. His own wife. His own beloved wife, even if he had been second choice for her. She had slipped through his fingers like water, and now he had nothing. In his heart that is.
There was a large gap in his family where there should have been a living, breathing person. Ginny was dead, he wanted to be dead. I said before that there might have been other people sitting in a chair, thinking and crying. Well, here is another.
Hermione Granger was dead. As far as he was concerned. She was gone. His own wife. Gone. But she wasn't gone just anywhere, she was gone bad. He had seen the mark on her arm, but she had escaped. Both of his best friends had betrayed him. Left him. In a way, he didn't know why, but he felt used. He wanted to die. But he didn't want to kill. He would never join Voldemort, even if he had to die at the bastards hands.
A part of him still could not believe that his best friends had betrayed him, well, that Hermione had betrayed him, he knew that Harry had. So when Hermione turned up at his small apartment in London, he didn't stun her straight away.
"Ron" she looked him straight in the eye and he could have sworn he saw pity in her gaze.
"H-Hermione? What are you doing here? Why - " he didn't to finish as she raised her wand and shot a silencing curse at him. He took a step backwards and grabbed his wand, ready to attack like he should have first off. But she raised hers faster, and he saw his own fly across the room. He gulped.
"Ron you have to listen to me, I have something very important to tell you" she came towards him, her pure white robes billowing around her, but he took a stumbling step backwards from her and put his hand up to try and protect himself. He didn't see the look of regret on her face.
"Harry Potter is innocent" she said it so quietly that he almost didn't hear her, but when he did he stopped dead. Trying to form the words for the feelings he had failed, maybe because he couldn't speak anyway, but he stopped trying to and sat down on the floor.
"I'll take of the charm, if, and only if, you promise not to yell bloody murder" he nodded affirmatively and she cast the counter curse on him. The first words to come out of his mouth made her flinch.
"Dirty traitor, you're lying" not as convincing as he would have liked. But he saw the effect it had on her and smiled to himself. She shook her head at him.
"No! I'm not! He was under the Imperius curse, that's the only reason he killed Ginny!"
"He could defeat the curse! You're lying!"
"I'm not! Ron you've got to listen to me! He's going to die! They're going to kill him! You have to believe me! Voldemort shot the crucius curse at him four times! He couldn't defeat it! He was hurt so he couldn't! Ron you have to believe me!" all of her previous calm had deserted her and there were tears openly spilling from her eyes as she looked at her ex-best friend "You have to believe me"
"Even if I did, how do you know he's going to die? Huh?" She looked down at him, obviously trying to pull herself back together.
"I can't tell you, ask Dumbledore; he'll know. . . he knows everything" and then she disapperated, her, her white robes and her white wand gone. For a moment Ron did nothing, his wand was lying on the kitchen table, and the front door was still ajar. Slowly he got up, walked over to his wand and disapperated to Hogsmead.
As soon as he arrived he broke out into a run towards Hogwarts, barely stopping to glance at the crisp white snow that covered the ground (A/N: I have no idea if it would be Christmas in Scotland in September and I don't care, so it would be really nice if you didn't tell me the temperature should be hot enough to melt plastic).
When he arrived, he rushed up to the headmaster's office immediately, not even bothering to answer Professor McGonagall's question of why he was running in the corridors, he was no longer a student.
It was so hard. So hard to believe that it might be true, and yet, he found it far too easy. If only he let himself believe he would have noticed that Hermione had not had her own wand and the tattoo on her arm was not a skull, but something different, very different.
"Professor Dumbledore!" He burst into the office, not caring if Dumbledore was conversing with Voldemort. That could wait; he had to tell the headmaster about what had happened.
Dumbledore, thankfully, was not having a brotherly chat with the dark lord; in fact, Dumbledore was slumped in his chair asleep. Not for any longer though. He jumped up at the urgent sounding voice of Ron Weasley.
"What has happened Ron?" he carefully observed the conflicting emotions on the young Weasley's face, and his own took on a grim expression and he lowered his gaze to his hands resting on his desk.
"I saw Hermione" Dumbledore's head shot up and he looked at Ron with a rather disturbing expression. He urged the youngest male Weasley on.
"She said that Harry was innocent and that he was under the imperius curse!" Dumbledore frowned.
"Harry was able to fight the curse" Ron nodded unenthusiastically
"She said that he was put under the crucius curse as well and couldn't throw it off" Dumbledore's frown turned from confusion to an almost understanding look. His twinkling eyes were thoughtful as he inspected Ron.
"And do you believe this?"
"I. . . I don't know what to believe. I saw my best friend for seven years kill my younger sister and his own wife. I saw the tattoo of V-voldemort printed on my own wife's arm, I've believed that they both went over to V-voldemort for more than two years and less than ten minutes ago I was just told that both of them are innocent. I really don't know" he hanged his head in defeat and let out a dejected sigh.
"I did not mean to tell you this yet Ron, but it seems that recent events have forced my hand, Hermione Granger was in fact a very powerful seer, but that is not all, she was not, strictly speaking, human. Nor was Harry. As I understand it neither are aware of this fact, but it might now appear that Hermione is and perhaps even Harry. I would not find it hard to believe that Harry Potter, was, indeed innocent" at Ron's startled gasp he stopped and looked up "I am sorry"
"But he. . . I saw. . . Is it really tru - " he was interrupted (A/N: have you noticed I keep on interrupting people, oh the joys of being a Author) when the door banged open, much like it has as Ron entered the room, and Sirius Black marched in.
"Dumbledore, my people have found Harry Potter, he's in America, we've put an apparition ward on the whole city, but there's been a muggle attack on one of the cities buildings, the one Potter's in. There might be other wizards there as well, but we can't get the wards down in time for them to apparate! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! Oh, hi Ron" he turned to Ron and gave a sour smile before looking back to Dumbledore, a pleading expression covering his face.
Dumbledore however looked grave.
"If the situation is indeed the one you described, there is nothing we can do Sirius" Sirius chocked and looked at the Headmaster shocked.
"But we need to save them! There might be wizards in there! It's all my fault!" Dumbledore said nothing and Sirius took this as a sign of his agreement on the matter. Ron, also, looked horrified.
"How many muggles are in the building Sirius?" grave eyes turned to his own.
"More than three thousand"
"NO!"
"Yes. Three thousand are going to die" Ron, in turn chocked at the news, imagining all the lives that would be crushed, the family's that would have lost one, maybe more, members.
"Oh my god"
"That was my reaction as well" just then another auror rushed into the room, looked around, saw Sirius and rushed over to him, whispering something in his ear. Sirius's eyes widened in shock and then triumph. He grinned and motioned the auror out of the room, turning to Dumbledore.
"I have just received some information from my aurors" he paused and looked over to Ron, who was still frowing slightly but looked interested "unfortunately it's classified information, but you'll find out soon enough" he grinned again and stood up, stretching.
"What?! No fair! Tell me!" Sirius grinned at Ron and turned to Dumbledore.
"No comment old man?"
"You yourself could be called old Sirius, it's a bit unfair coming from your mouth!"
"Well, aren't you just a little bit curious?" Dumbledore nodded, but before Sirius could speak he had started himself.
"But first I would like to discuss the matter of Harry Potter with you" Sirius frowned at him, but nodded for him to continue non the less "I have received information today that he might have indeed been innocent of the crime he was accused of" he stopped at the look on Sirius's face.
"And before you ask Sirius, yes, it was reliable information" Sirius stood up and glared at Dumbledore.
"I saw him, with my own eyes, kill his wife. Do you expect me to believe this Dumbledore!?!" He was all but shouting, his voice filled with a passion that made Ron flinch.
"If you would listen to me Sirius, I will explain" Dumbledore's voice, as always, was calm. Sirius sat.
"If I were to tell you that Harry Potter was put under the crucius curse two times before the imperius was cast on him, what would be your first reaction?" it was soon in coming.
"Oh god, please tell me he wasn't!"
"In fact, if I were to tell you that Harry Potter was put under the curse four times before the imperius was cast on him, what would be your second reaction?"
"SHIT!"
"And if I were to tell you that Harry Potter was innocent, again, what would be your third reaction?" Sirius looked up from the floor.
"I'm a complete and utter bastard?" Dumbledore observed him quietly for a moment then nodded.
"And?" Sirius looked confusedly at Dumbledore and shrugged.
"You would give him a fair trial" Ron finished for him and Dumbledore nodded. Sirius however looked grave.
"I can't Dumbledore" Ron glared at him angrily and was about to open his mouth when Dumbledore cut him off.
"And why not?"
"Because. . . because Harry Potter is dead"
A/N: OK! Yay! My first chapter that isn't a prologue! Yay! I've got over 5000 words in the chapter! I'm so proud of myself! However, for all of you out there that think the chapters are going to be regularly this long, you've got another thing coming. We just had a bludge French lesson is all.
Alright, complain all you want that this thing is going too quickly, but I'm not gonna change this, it's taken me FOREVER to write, so bad luck. If you think that it's a-going at a good pace, tell me and I won't change it. If you think it's going to slow, go and read another fic coze I'm not interested.
I don't mean to be rude, and I'm probably making enemies with this little authors note, so I'll go now, but please, do remember to REVIEW and I'll do thanks (if there's anyone to thank) next chapter.
Toodles!
Im.