Unexpected events

By Zakairen

Disclaimer: You people know the works: I don't own them, I don't make money with it, only the plot's mine.

Warning: English is not my mother language. There may be some spelling and grammar errors. Please point it out if something is seriously wrong.

AN: Thischapter is a bit early 'cause I couldn't sleep last night. Imaging my surprise when I found 20 reviews for the last chapter. I never thought I'd get that much. Thanks people. Enjoy!

"blah" - talking, 'blah' - thinking, italics - spells, quotations and writing, "blah" - parseltongue

Chapter 3

A little after sunset, just as Harry decided to call it a day and go back inside, at about 9:30 pm, he suddenly heard a low "Hoot" from some of the trees. Looking around he could make out Hedwig in a tree, her white feathers glowing a bit in the dark. He held his arm out and she floated down from the branch she had been perched on.

"Hoot. Hoooot."

Harry laughed when she hopped all the way up to his shoulder and nipped his ear slightly. "Yes Hedwig, I'm happy to see you, too. You have done well, coming here and finding me after nightfall. Did anyone pay attention to you?" He looked directly into her eyes. Shaking her head she hooted softly.

"Very well. That proves that my charm is working. Let's go inside, eh. I got some owl treats for you, my girl."

Walking slowly to the backdoor as not to jostle Hedwig, Harry opened the door. Before he closed it after himself, he took one last look around the garden and felt a hand touching his shoulder and a light breeze wafting by him. His other self had arrived safely back home, but obviously wasn't going to be in contact with him.

'Just as well,' he thought. 'He is here and if something didn't go according to plan I probably can not avoid it. But thinking about this house as home is weird. But I could feel the wards gain strength all the day. The Dursleys absence and the almost friendly parting are doing a small miracle concerning them.'

Locking the door, he wandered to his room, allowing Hedwig to hop down his arm and into her cage. Softly Harry began talking to her.

"You might have wondered, Hedwig, why I didn't just tell you to fly up and through my window? Something amazing happened. The Dursleys moved out. Seems the house belonged to me all along and now, we are the only ones living here Hedwig. And they emancipated me, I can do magic freely now. Nobody screaming, waking us up in the morning. No more talk about shutting the bloody bird up. No more shared leftovers. What do you think, my girl? Sounds good?"

Hedwig looked at him with bright yellow eyes, happiness shining in them. "Hoot!"

"That's what I thought too, girl."

Harry then went down to the kitchen to make himself something for dinner. All that yard-work had him pretty hungry. Seeing that the lights had been turned on by his other self, he made a double portion of sandwiches. Half of which he left on the table when he went back to his room. While eating, he shared the whole story and the days events with his first present and friend. For an owl she was frighteningly intelligent.

After having finished his meal he decided that he wasn't tired enough and needed something to do. Hearing his alter ego in Dudleys room, he settled on reclining in his bed with switched of lights, thinking about the odd experience of being bodily in ones own mind. It had hurt, not from being there, but because of the memories. He had wondered why it had happened all day and had reached the conclusion that had something to do with those Occlumency lesson from Snape. His mind had been violated on regular basis and weakened a great deal. He would have to read a book about Occlumency and Legilimency to be entirely sure. It had done him a world of good though, he had never in his whole life felt so very free and unburdened as this morning.

Harry missed Sirius, terribly so. He knew, Sirius would have found it hilarious that Dumbledores plans had been brought up short by a pair of magic hating muggles, and without them even knowing.

'Right under Dumbles nose and he is none the wiser. What irony!'

Sirius, he knew, wouldn't have wanted him broken up over his death, he had wanted Harry to live and enjoy his life. Because of the memory episode he could let go of the guilt he felt. Viewing all those memories had shown him that he had acted the only way he could. Had he been allowed to deal with his emotions the summer before, he might have been calmer. But that didn't change anything about all the other things.

Not Umbridge trying to discredit him, torturing him and making his life hell. It didn't change the fact that Dumbledore wasn't available for him when he needed him the most. Didn't change the lies Dumbledore told or his silence concerning the possibility of Voldemort manipulating his dreams, his visions and the possibility of a possession through his scar. Dumbledore must have known that Snape wouldn't teach him jack shit about Occlumency, it might have been a try to open Harry's mind to the Dark Lord instead of closing it. He was almost sure of it because of the way his scar hurt worse after each lesson, because of the increasing intensity of the dreams and visions. Snape had just attacked him, hadn't even tried to explain. Had Harry know of his own vulnerability, he would have tried harder and he would have been aware of the likeness of his final vision being a trap.

Against all odds he had tried to get proof, but Kreacher had lied to his face. Going to the ministry had been his only possible course of action as no adult would listen to him. In the end, it didn't matter. He would have died for Sirius because he loved him so much. Just as Sirius would and did for him. It had been Sirius' decision – not Harry's. And come hell and high water he would have to accept that. Piling guilt needlessly onto himself would only do one single thing: it would dishonor his godfathers memory.

That would, however, not keep Harry from extracting revenge on Bellatrix Lestrange and on Dumbledore. Harry knew that he wasn't free of guilt, but compared to the other two it was neigh on forgettable. Snape was another matter altogether. He didn't know what exactly Dumbledore had told his favorite spy. He got the idea though that it differed greatly from the true events. To decide if Snape had a considerable part in Sirius death, Harry would need to have a heart to heart talk with the man. That would not be an easy feat to arrange.

His thought wandered back to the afternoon. Working in the yard had had his thoughts bouncing around his head freely. He had thought of the concept of changing time and rescuing Sirius from the veil. All kinds of people had told him that time should be left alone, going on about how dangerous changing time was. He was reminded about something he had heard on TV while making dinner for the Dursleys one evening last year. The talk was about the grandfather principle. If you go back in time you could kill your grandfather accidentally, they said, and prevent your father or mother from being born – and in effect yourself. He had been horrified. Hermione had told him back in third year that he could erase himself if he met his past self. She had been proven wrong.

Harry had begun thinking about it this afternoon. And he realized one thing: the past could not be changed. It simply wasn't possible. If you killed your grandparents or parents in the past and weren't born, then exactly who went to the past to kill them? Nobody, as you were not alive to do it, resulting in them living on and you being born. It had been his own future self that had rescued them from the Dementors in third year, but only because he had already seen himself saving him. It was beyond confusing. In the end it meant, that if you did something in the past - from your point of view – like his Patronus, you had already seen it done when that particular point in time had been your present. It had already happened before you went back even if you had to actually go back to do it. Therefore it was impossible to change the past, as everything one could do had already been incorporated into the timeline.

The possibility of Sirius having already been rescued by him with, say, an invisibility and a summoning charm was there. But it was more than slim. The only other chance Sirius had, was that the veil didn't actually kill people. There wasn't known much about it by anyone, there only were assumptions. Harry had decided in the afternoon to learn everything he could about the veil, if only to destroy it and spare other people the experience of a loved one falling through it accidentally.

He had also thought about the time-turner. He knew that the sand inside the hourglass was what enabled a person to go back in time. The sand had some interesting qualities. It needed magic as power to shift a person back in time. Only so much shifts were possible before the power ran out. The sand recharged itself through gathering ambient magic. The inscription could in consequence only mean that three days were the maximum to go back in time and it would need at least one day to gather the necessary power to go back another day. You were stuck at three days in the past without fault.

It would, however, help Harry in prolonging his holidays a good deal. Keeping Dumbledork and his Order of the burning chicken ignorant would also be a lot easier with its help.

Up until now he had always allowed other people to run his live. First it had been Dumbledore, proclaiming he, a wizard, wasn't allowed to grow up with his heritage for his protection. There was still so much about the magical world he did not understand. Children like Neville or Ron had been brought up with the lore, even Seamus was and he was a halfblood! Second it had been his relatives using him as their personal servant. He wasn't allowed to be a child, wasn't allowed to be happy or even learn properly in muggle school. God forbid if showed more intelligence than Dudley. He had taught himself how to read about two years before elementary school started, there was nothing else to do at the Dursleys and as Dudley didn't like books, they were Harry's salvation.

The forced underachieving in school had continued in Hogwarts. He did not like attention. If he had been first in all classes he would have gained attention. So he simply stopped learning and fooled around, shunning the library. Wouldn't Hermione be surprised if she knew just how good he could do in school? In the third place resided the whole wizarding world and their idiotic expectations. He had allowed himself to be shaped by them into someone he wasn't. And he paid dearly for it. A close fourth place was covered by the Order, caging him like he was a wild animal and not a teenager. Restricting him from growing up and doing what was necessary. Intriguing how both the Order and the wizarding public were some how connected to and led by Dumbledore.

But now he was free and out of the control of others. His childhood with the Dursleys had taught him one thing over everything else. It had taught him how to survive. When he entered the magical world he had conveniently forgotten everything he learned. His godfathers death had been a painful wake-up call. Harry had decided that he was done playing around. He would do his absolute best in school. He would learn how to fight Voldemort – on his own terms. He would not allow Dumbledore and the Order to sacrifice his life for the so-called greater good. He would change the magical world instead of allowing it to change him. If magical people wanted to be so much better than muggles, then he would see it happen, even if he had to drag the magical world along kicking and screaming. He would get what he wanted and absolutely nobody would stand in his way. Not Voldemort, not Dumbledore and most assuredly not an idiot like Fudge. Maybe he couldn't do it alone. So what? There had to be heaps of people who didn't like the approach all three showed. It was a risk, sure. But live was full of those. You couldn't live without taking a risk now and then. You just had to make sure that the odds were in your favor every single bloody time you took one.

Rolling onto his side yawning, Harry curled up. He had had a busy day and was tired. Tomorrow – or was it today – would be busy as well. Drifting of into sleep, he wondered how Remus had reacted to the past events. He had been the one to hold Harry back from following Sirius. Was he sad? Devastated by Sirius' death? He had lost the last of his close friends a second time. It couldn't be easy on him, especially with the full moon coming up and the wolf looming closer to the surface. Harry didn't want to loose Remus – not to the wolf, not to despair nor to Dumbledore. But he didn't know if it wasn't already too late for that.

Miles away, in an old house in London a man with light brown hair and amber eyes was tossing and turning in his bed. Nightmares had had a vice like grip on him for some time now and he couldn't seem to get rid of them. He was almost afraid to go to sleep these days. His thoughts always found their way back to a black haired man with steely grey eyes that carried a haunted look deep within them, more often then not hidden by mischief and a scrawny, black haired kid with spectacles in front of his green eyes. Sirius Black and Harry Potter. Sirius death had hit Remus very hard. He had cried every day for hours, separating himself from the other Order members. He just couldn't stand their looks. There was so much pity in them. He hated it. They did not understand what Sirius had meant to him. And Harry. Harry was alone now. Deposited at the muggles for his own good.

What rubbish. Harry could never heal with the Dursleys anywhere in the vicinity. But Remus had been a bit surprised. When Moody had come back at lunch, he had told them that Harry had not seemed very downtrodden. He was up and about, if a bit snappish. Probably a defense mechanism. Harry didn't like anybody seeing him show weakness and put up a façade to cover it. But Remus had expected Harry to mope about and spend the day in his bed crying. Like he did. On the other hand: the Dursleys would use it against him every way they could.

The uproar at hearing that Harry was shopping for the no-good muggles was enormous. Molly had a screaming fit and was ready to apparate there and give them a piece of her mind. Remus himself hadn't been far behind. Dumbledore had been more concerned that Harry had left the house and his relatives had allowed it. When Molly had torn into him, it had come to light that the headmaster had written the Dursleys a letter concerning recent events and told them to confine Harry to the house without telling him a reason. Which had brought his own temper to rise. And surprisingly the wolf had agreed with him. Trying to cage his cub in that house, not even letting him into the garden much less on the streets? Harry would go stir crazy! Not to mention that his anger at his relatives would reach new heights. If he ever found out about Dumbledores letter… Remus didn't even want to think about it. But it hadn't happened. The Dursleys had never cared what happened to Harry, they loathed his presence a good deal more than Snape did! To keep their nephew near them all the time was simply unthinkable for them.

When the headmaster had been disappointed that Harry had broken his word to remain there, it had surprisingly enough been Mad-eye who had looked at Albus like he had grown a second head.

flashback

"Really, Albus? He gave you his promise to stay inside the house for the whole summer until we can get him? Somehow I do not think so. Did you tell him to stay inside the house? Or did you tell him to stay inside the wards?"

"To stay inside the wards of course. But they only enclose the property. I told Harry that he would only be safe with his relatives."

Albus Dumbledore sighed. He looked a bit discomposed because of the chewing out he had received only minutes before.

"To think that he would break his word like that. I didn't expect that. I will have to go and talk to him."

'How lucky Severus isn't here. He would go of on a diatribe how Harry is exactly like James. Arrogant and rule breaking. He couldn't be farther from the truth if you ask me,' Remus thought. 'He has his own personality, he is neither James nor Lily incarnated, just as it should be. But he has every bit of Lilys temper! And an additional bit all of his own.' Moodys angry voice brought him back to reality.

"Now stop right there, Albus. What is this about the wards? They stretch a few blocks in all directions from Privet Drive and he knows that. He didn't leave the wards. The supermarket is well inside of them. I should now, I was there with him. If he left the wards you would have known because of the stone Arabella has. I wouldn't have let him do that anyway. How can you say the lad broke his word, if he did not promise you to stay inside the house? He even asked me to come with him and didn't try to sneak out or anything. If he isn't safe inside the wards, he shouldn't be staying there at all."

The mad spinning of his magical eye showed how agitated he was.

"And if you are talking about those ominous blood wards of yours: I could sense them, yes. But they are so weak that a child could break them if need be. He is not protected any more inside of them than out! And they are only a last resort against You-know-who, shielding Harry from him. The outer wards were constructed with the goal in mind not to let any death eater through or anything else that means to harm the lad, because the blood wards do not take care of that. No need for him to be a prisoner in his own home any more than he already is. His relatives are unpleasant enough."

Remus knew that Sirius and James would have paid a pretty sum to see the old wizards stunned face. To have someone disagree with him was rare in it self. To be chastised and yelled at was even more rare. To have it happen by three people consecutively in the space of minutes was unheard of. Even more so, because two of these people normally were voices of reason and very hard to anger enough for an outbreak.

"Now, Alastor. He must stay there to strengthen the wards. The more time he spends within them the stronger they are. He must…"

"Bullshit, Albus. I know enough about blood wards to realize that they are powered by emotions. If he is angry at his relatives their strength will deteriorate instead of increase. And three quarters of a day is more than enough time. Especially if he remains in the vicinity of the house. I don't know what you are trying to do. But you will stop it right here. You should know that taking that little bit of freedom away from him, could very well cause him to leave the wards or run away. You want him safe? Then back off. There are always at least two Order members watching over him. As long as you don't put Fletcher on duty again he is safe. I found the drunkard sleeping in the yard this morning. Again."

flashback end

The argument had gone on for some time, but the topic of confining Harry to the house hadn't risen up again. In the end, Dumbledore had gone back to Hogwarts after having taken Dung off the list of people guarding Harry. After seeing the way Mad-eye had treated his cub last year, Remus had known he liked Harry. But now… there was a newfound respect in his voice and actions. And to get the respect of Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody wasn't an easy feat. He didn't know what happened between them, but he intended to ask.

After watching Molly mumble to herself about nasty muggles and poor Harry while she prepared dinner - the Weasleys were staying at Grimwauld Place for their safety - Moody had finally had enough. He had told her in no uncertain terms that it had been Harry himself who had told him that it had been his decision to go shopping and do the cooking for the Dursleys. Simply because Petunia Dursley couldn't cook worth a damn and would allow Harry to cook what he wanted and eat a healthy amount of the food because of the talk they had given the Dursleys. Blessed silence had graced the kitchen after that, well apart from the clanking of the pots and pans she used.

Remus wasn't surprised that Harry wanted something to do. Otherwise he would have thought of Sirius non-stop. Maybe it would do both of them some good if he went and talked to Harry. They missed him both. Until now Remus had been selfish. He hadn't thought about how Harry managed to deal with his loss. But it was too early for both of them. He would wait a few days, maybe a week before taking a watch and trying to get Harry to talk to him. The boy could close up tighter than an oyster if he did not want to talk.

Finally having come to that conclusion, the werewolf drifted of to sleep. His inner wolf, though, remained awake for a little while longer. Its happiness about soon being with the last of his pack, his cub, flooded through the mind of the wolf and over to the man. Curling up, it closed its eyes and began to dream about chasing rabbits and the occasional wizard. This night, they were not disturbed by dreams about the death of their pack-mate.

Early in the morning Harry woke up. It couldn't have been much later than 7 am. He hadn't been plagued by nightmares or visions throughout the night, for which he was very thankful. After grabbing a short shower he put on those of Dudleys hand-me-downs that were in the best condition and shrunk them down to fit. Going through his trunk he took out one of Dudleys old satchels that was still usable, if a bit threadbare. Inside he put his lists, his invisibility cloak, his wand, some cash and his money bag, as well as one of his Hogwarts robes that had the insignia and crest taken of. Thinking a bit, he put a piece of dark cloth inside, to be used as a bandana to hide his scar and lastly the time-turner. Slipping into his trainers he went down into the kitchen and fixed himself some fruits and cereal with milk for breakfast.

Having eaten, Harry put the dishes in the sink and thought about the task he would be undertaking. Taking his wand out, he changed the color of his hair to reddish blond and put the dark bandana on. Doing a temporary sight correction spell took care of his glasses and with another charm his eye-color had been changed to hazel. Looking into the glass of the window he saw a totally different person.

'Well, nobody will be able to tell that this is me. I'm almost ready to go.'

"Tempus."

The smoky number showed him that it was already a little past 9 am and he hurried to put his invisibility cloak on. Slipping the time-turner around his neck, Harry heard his Double coming down the stairs and open the back door. He took his satchel, wrapped himself closely in his cloak and walked into the yard. Watching his Double for a moment, he took the time-turner in his hand and spun the hourglass one full turn. The sensation was just as weird as back in third year, but much better than the feeling of a portkey.

Upload date: 4-20-05