Hey! Man, that was a very long stretch between the chappies. I'm so sorry but you know how things go. I got my report card back and I blew in math and chem. So I'm taking extra classes now. Maybe I'll finally get my desired mark of…over 70 or 80! Yeah. Well, to be perfectly fair, I got a 70 in chem. So. Oh well, I'll get over it…slowly. So, anyway, here it is.

Chapter 12: Azkaban

As soon as James had said the words, the door burst open and Lupin entered. He was wearing a shabby green housecoat over top on a wrinkled pair of pajamas and looked as though he had been getting ready for bed only a short time ago. He looked around wildly for a moment, his wand raised and spotted Harry and his twin.

"What happened?" He asked. Harry opened his mouth to speak but James beat him to it. "It was Sirius." He said. "Sirius is in big trouble." Lupin looked confused and lowered his wand slowly; his eyes on the young man sitting bolt upright on the bed. Then, slowly, he moved forward and sat down on the dusty mattress next to him.

"Harry, what did you see?" He asked. Harry stepped back a little. It was a bit strange having Lupin speaking to him like this…but not speaking to him at all. The other Harry, nicknamed James, bit his lip and looked over at the other Harry for a second before Lupin called him back. "Harry, what did you see?"

"It was dark." Harry sat down on his bed and listened as his other self explain the dream. "I was in…a hallway. It was damp and cold and…wet. There was water dripping off the walls." Harry sucked in a breath across the room as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came to the door too, both pulling on housecoats as they came. Mrs. Weasley spotted Harry sitting alone across the room and hurried over to him, sitting down and laying an arm across his shoulder.

"What else?" Lupin encouraged James. The boy sat there for a second, thinking and watched as Mr. Weasley crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. The sudden appearance of all these people seemed to have deterred him somewhat. "Harry, what happened?"

"I was walking through the hall. There were tornadoes outside the windows…rocky and there was an ocean…and rain." Lupin looked up sharply at Mr. Weasley, both wearing an identical frown. "A door opened and Sirius was sitting on the floor. He was cold and wet and a man was there. He was horrible." James was shaking now as he continued to speak. "He looked like a…a…"

"A snake." Harry finished. James looked up slowly and nodded. "His name is Voldemort." James shuddered at the name as though he had grown up hearing it.

"He said he'd thought I'd escaped. It felt like a trap and…and…and he hated me. He hated me with…he just…" James shook his head and shrugged. Lupin laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled slightly.

"Thank you Harry." He said quietly. Slowly, he got up and moved to the doorway were he whispered into Mr. Weasley's ear and then left, moving away silently. James sat there, alone, staring at his hands.

"Harry…Harry." Mr. Weasley nodded at them both. "Stay here for now, Molly, come with me." Mr. Weasley was grim. Mrs. Weasley left Harry then, hugging him briefly before getting up and crossing the room. Together, her and her husband left, shutting the door behind them. When they were gone, James took a deep breath and dropped his hands.

"Who was he?" He asked quietly. Harry sighed. "I know you know, you gave me his name…I don't want to say it out loud."

"Not many people do." Harry answered. He got up and moved to the door, pressing his ear against the wood. There was no sound on the landing; everyone was gone, probably to the kitchen. "Come on."

Harry opened the door and looked back at his twin who stood up slowly and raised his eyebrows. "I thought we were supposed to stay here." He said in a whiney voice. Harry sighed and glared at him.
"They'll find us. We're going to the library." James watched him suspiciously. "Are you coming or are you going to stay here?"

"Fine." James snapped, grabbing Ron's housecoat and throwing it over his shoulders. "But I'm telling on you if we get into trouble."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What ever, come on." They crept out onto the landing and made their way to the staircase at the end of the hall. They had just reached the first few steps when Ginny's voice called out from her and Hermionie's room.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Harry spun around and looked past James to peer through the darkness. Ginny was standing half in the bedroom doorway, half in the hall, watching them with her night gown pulled tightly around her. Harry sighed and made a shushing motion before going back down and hurrying to her room.

Hermionie was inside, near her bed, pulling a blue blanket over her shoulders. She was watching them curiously. "We're going up to the library." Harry whispered. James was standing on the stairs still and when Harry looked back at him the other boy blushed slightly. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure." Ginny answered. She looked back at Hermionie and smiled. "We were told to stay in our room when we heard you scream but you're leaving right?" Harry nodded. "I'll get dressed and we'll be right there." And she promptly closed the door in his face.

Harry and James made their way up the stairs, Harry looking back at James every so often. "What are you smiling about?" He asked as they reached the next landing and entered the hall. James shrugged. "No, seriously."

"Ginny." James answered, his face growing a deeper shade of red. "I never noticed how…pretty she is."

"You have a girlfriend." Harry answered shortly. He was annoyed that James would even think of another girl…Ron's sister…while he was dating Piper. "And she's mad at you now, by the way." James stopped dead.

"What did you do?" He growled. Harry sighed and turned around. They were so close to the library!

"Nothing. It was you. If you hadn't taken my place in this world…" Harry closed his mouth and shook his head. "Never mind. I didn't do anything. Now, can we please keep going?"

"No." James spat. "Not until you tell me what happened with Piper!" Harry threw his arms in the air and turned, leaving James and entering the library on his own. Frustrated, the other boy followed. "Come back here!" He yelled. Harry gritted his teeth, his hands were shaking. One punch that's all he wanted was one… "Stop and answer me!"

Harry wheeled around and came nose to nose with his twin. "Listen." He said in a deadly whisper that carried across the dank, cold room. "You may have everything you want, a mother, a father and yes…even Lynn. Get used to disappointment princess because the world is not always going to bend to your will." James's eyes narrowed dangerously and he opened his mouth to speak but was halted by three other presences in the room.

Hermionie, Ginny and Ron had turned up, Ron looking tousle haired and puffy eyed, his right hand frozen in the action of rubbing his pale face. The two girls had thrown their hair in ponytails and were both watching Harry and his twin across the room. Slowly, Harry stepped back, his gaze moving from them and then to James who was doing exactly the same thing, his face red.

"I'm sorry." Hermionie said slowly, "We didn't know there was shouting match going on in here." Harry sighed and looked away from them all, his eyes moving over the countless dusty volumes on the library shelves. "We'll leave until you sort it out."

"No." Came James's voice. Harry ignored them and began weaving between the tables and chairs, intent on the stairs that led to the second level balcony of the library. "We were just having a very loud conversation."

"Conversation?" Came Hermionie's snort. "Some conversation, I'm sure the people on the other side of London heard it." Someone was climbing the stairs with him. Harry looked back and found Ron right on his heels.

"What are you looking for, mate?" Ron asked as the reached the next level. Harry didn't answer at first as he looked down at the first floor and saw James, Hermionie and Ginny standing below still talking.

"I'm looking for a book." Ron raised his eyebrows. "On castles, dark castles. Um, any kind of fortress…" Harry's heart suddenly seized up. "Hermionie!" He called over the railing. "What do you know about Azkaban?" Hermionie frowned.

"What's Azkaban?" James asked, watching her with an odd expression on his face. Harry rolled his eyes and let out a vehement huff but Ron was the first on to find his voice.

"Azkaban?" He asked incredulously, stifling a laugh. "You don't know what it is?" James shook his head. "Azkaban is the wizard...prison." He laughed and looked over at Harry. "Next he'll ask what Dementors are." Ron laughed harder and looked down at James who wore a very puzzled expression. Slowly, Ron's laughter died.

"You do know what the Dementors are, right?" Ginny asked. James started shaking his head until he noticed they were all watching him in disbelief and he turned his shake into a nod and began to laugh lightly…nervously.

"Of c-course I do." He smiled and Harry couldn't help but notice the way his hands were twisting in his pockets. "What, am I from another world…" Slowly he stopped and shrugged. "I am I guess." Harry slammed his hands on the banister to get their attention.

"Come on, we're here for a reason." He snapped. They all sprang into action, looking for books on castles and dark fortresses as Hermionie explained more about the wizard prison. When they had brought a pile of books to the center table, Harry was surprised to see how many they had collected.

"Not surprising, really." Ron muttered as they all stared at the books making the table groan in protest. "I mean, they all belonged to the Blacks…right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" James asked, picking up one of the volumes and blowing dust off the front. "I mean, they're a decent family." No body tried to deny this as they began to search.

Half way through the pile, Ginny let out a small squeak that brought everybody to her side. Slowly, her eyes shinning, she showed them the page she held. It sat in the middle of the book and swimming ink read the words AZKABAN: THE WIZARD PRISON in large black letters that had leeched over time and were spider webbing down the page, intermingling with the words below. She handed the book to Harry who began to read.

"'Azkaban was built long ago, in the 1600's by a wizard named Roblerven Azkay and his partner Aban Fortude. They were the leading members of a Dark Force Defense League, later named Aurors and led the race to stop the Dark Arts in that time. The castle was kept by wizards until He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rose and after that, Azkaban has been heavily guarded by Dementors. The location of this fortress has remained a guarded secret and only a select few know of it's location.'"

Harry sighed and flipped the page. There was an illustration on the other side, a moving, colored picture of a dark hallway. A window at the right edge showed a rocky cliff, water and…tornadoes. Harry slowly lifted the book and showed James, who gasped.

"Oh my…" James whispered. "That's it." He stared at the page for a long moment. "That's it. That's the place I saw. Azkaban." Harry took a deep, steadying breath and nodded. "Sirius is there."

"Sirius?" Ron asked sharply. The girls were also now watching Harry with expressions of confusion on their faces. "But…Harry, Sirius is…"

"Alive." Harry whispered. The fire in the grate now became very interesting and Harry found himself transfixed to its dancing flames. "He's alive and Voldemort has him." Behind him, Harry could almost feel Ron and Ginny shudder.

"Voldemort?" James asked. Harry turned back to him and nodded. "He's the bloke with red eyes and…that face right?" Harry nodded again. "I saw him once, a long time ago...I think. Now that I…He was outside the house we were..." James trailed off making Harry frown.

"What?" He asked. James nodded, his eyes staring at the table as though deep in thought. "When? Harry, when?" James shrugged. "Tell me."

"Last year…around the end of last year. We'd gone to see my aunt in another town and I swear he'd been watching me. Lynn told mum but by the time she'd gone to the window, he was gone."

"Where does your aunt live?" Hermionie asked, but Harry could almost guess the answer.

"Privet drive." He said quietly. "Oh my God! He knows were I live."

To My Reviewers:

Alteng: Yeah, I like Lupin. I think now with Sirius gone, he may become Harry's sub-father. You know? Harry's last connection to his parents and Sirius. I think just the calmness about Lupin is a good trait and you're absolutely right, he is the calm in the storm. He's a great character. Yeah, I think that from the way the movie goes, POA made it look like he did have a thing for her but it wasn't like that in the books. Maybe the Mauraders all had a thing for her…maybe…Keep reading. I'm sorry for the Delay.

Nikki101: Yeah, I didn't go over the last chappie before I posted and I forgot to explain that. I did in this chappie. I'm sorry if I confused you, I can get so wrapped up in writing sometimes. Lol. Oh well, you got it which is the important thing!

Laughing Dragoness: Yeah, like I told Nikki101, I forgot to mention they were gonna do that. Sorry, I can get so stupid sometimes. The reason they started calling him that is because he has no scar so he looks more like James then the other Harry does. I hope that was okay…sorry again. You're mom will wear down eventually, with the horse thing. Just be ready for the long haul. Vet bills, food bills, stable bills, riding lesson bills, equipment bills, you have to see it everyday and love it. If your into it, though, it's easy. My mom's stupid horse ripped her leg open twice this summer in the same place. We had to treat it every day for an hour a day so I couldn't stay anywhere all summer. I got to spend more time with my horse though who, thankfully, is not accident prone.