A/N: Hey everyone. Welcome to chapter 3! HOORAY! I got some good response on this, so here's the next chapter. Just to let you know, this story is going to incredibly long. It will go through all five books, changed of course, and the sixth book if it's out by then, which it probably will be. Thank you much!

Story: Life, Or Something Like It

Genre: Drama/Angst

Rating: T (for Teen). Rating will go up probably around the next chapter to M (Mature), then later up to MA (Mature Adult), just to let you know.

Chapter: 3

Summary: Change a few things, and everything is different. A different look at the Harry Potter series. Slash in later chapters!

Reviewers:

Koalainglasses( I know she was. And she was important to the story! She distracted Sirius from saving Harry. Bad Sirius:P ), rosiegirl( I like it too!), monica85(yeah, well, I'm creative. I just wanted something major to change, and I found it! He'll also be very important to the story. So yeah...), and volleypickle16(thank you much!)

Thanks to all my reviewers, from last chapter and the first! I love you all! THANK YOU!

Without further ado…

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Chapter 3- Into the Light

The Next Day…

The last thing Harry had known, he had been lying on the ground while his uncle beat the crap out of him, and now… now all he knew was that he was laying on something soft, like a bed, looking up at a white ceiling… how strange…

Just then he heard a door open. He shut his eyes in fear, afraid that yesterday had been a dream, and that some mystery man had not come and saved him from certain death. He felt someone lean over him and he shut his eyes tighter, waiting for the strike that he knew was coming.

But it never did…

"Get away from him!" he heard someone yell. "Can't you see that you're scaring him!" It was Dudley, his cousin! So it hadn't been a dream… He felt the right side of the bed he was on dip down and opened his eyes to see his cousin sitting there. "Hey Harry," he said. "How're feeling?"

Harry started to shrug, but stopped when he found it painful. "Fine." he muttered, looking away. He heard his cousin sigh and felt him pick up his hand. "You don't look it, and you always say that. It's okay to let people know when you're feeling hurt, Harry. At least then someone can take care of you." He said, rubbing Harry's hand in his, trying to make his cousin feel a little better.

It didn't work. Nothing ever did.

"That's right," said a male voice behind Dudley. Harry tensed. He hated being around men, especially after… No! Harry told himself. Don't think about that! Dudley noticed him tense and slid off the bed, looking him in the eye. "It's okay Harry," he said softly. "You don't have to be scared. Sirius won't you, will you Sirius?" he asked.

A man with long black hair came into Harry's line of sight. "That's right. I promise you I will never hurt you Harry. I love you too much for that." the man said. Harry blinked. "You…what?" Sirius looked at him with sad eyes. He came over and kneeled by the bed, but still keeping his distance. "I love you, Harry. I know you have a lot of questions, and they will be answered, but let me explain a few things first, okay?" Harry stared at him a minute, then nodded.

"First off, my name is Sirius Black. I was best friends with your father, James Potter, when we were in school." Harry's eyes went wide. Sirius chuckled and gently ruffled Harry's hair. "You look just like him, you know. Except for your eyes, you have your mother's eyes." Harry noticed that the man's own eyes were slightly tearing up. "Now, after we left school, your mum, Lily Evans at the time, and dad got married, and I was their best man. Shortly after that, your mum announced that she was pregnant. And, on July 31st, 11 years ago today, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy with messy black hair and bright green eyes. She named him Harry James Potter."

Harry's eyes were now watery too. He had never heard anyone talk about his parents like that. The only people that talked about them were his aunt and uncle, and they made it obvious how much they hated Lily and James Potter. They never had a good thing to say about them. But now, Sirius could tell them what they were really like. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Sirius reached out and took his hand. He jumped slightly.

Sirius looked at him very seriously and Harry got worried. What if he said that he hated him? What if he said that he was disappointed because Harry wasn't enough like his parents? What if he sent him back to the Dursley's? Harry shivered at the thought. He never wanted to go back there again.

Sirius squeezed his hand and he looked back into Sirius' eyes. "Harry I have something to tell you. Before I tell you, I just want to say that I'm very sorry that I wasn't there for you, but I had my reasons. Stupid reasons, but still. If I had had the chance, you would've come and lived with me. I wanted you to. Never think that I didn't want you. Harry… when you were born, your parents named me your godfather."

Harry was aware that his godfather and Dudley were both watching him, waiting for a reaction. He was aware that breathing suddenly became hard to do. But most of all, he was aware that everything, everything that had happened to him, every crap thing that had ever happened to him with his family could have been avoided. It could have never happened.

But… his godfather had said that he had had his reasons… and, if he had lived with Sirius, then Dudley would have had to put up with the Dursley's all alone…

And, as he felt his godfather still holding his hand, a new thought popped into his head. He had someone who cared. Not only that, but a legal guardian as well. He would never have to go back to the Dursleys. Ever again.

And with that, he made up his mind. As fast as his tired and still slightly hurt body could move, he threw himself into his godfather's arms, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck and crying into his shoulder. Sirius looked surprised at first, but then let out a relieved laugh and, after a few moments, hugged Harry back. Harry didn't even flinch.

"Happy birthday, kiddo." Sirius said intoHarry's hair. "Happy birthday."

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It took some time for Harry to get his emotions under control, but he finally did. Sirius pulled away from him and brushed his hair out of his face. "Now then, we have some things of a darker nature to discuss, but we'll save that for later. Now, let us celebrate the festivities!" He yelled, jumping up. "Festivities?" Harry asked. "What festivities?" Sirius stopped and pretended to be shocked. He grabbed his chest and collapsed at the end of the bed. "Oh. He wounds my heart. All the trouble I have gone through, but, alas, he remembers not."

Harry and Dudley both stared at him, and then started giggling. "Harry, he's talking about your birthday," Dudley said between giggles. "What about it?" Harry asked, slightly confused. Sirius shared a look with Dudley. Never before had Harry celebrated his birthday. But they were going to make his first time count.

"Oh, just come on downstairs." Dudley said and grabbed his hand. He helped Harry out of the bed and the three of them proceeded to the stairs. "Where are we?" asked Harry in an awed voice. This place was huge! "This, Harry, is my house." stated Sirius. "All the rest of my family is dead, so it belongs to me. Not that I care," he mumbled. At Harry's questioning look he continued. "I, like yourself, never got on with my family. I didn't believe in the things they did and, to put it lightly, they hated me. But it's all well and good now. I'm the only one still alive, so I guess I was right."

Harry just stared at him. He couldn't believe he could make so light of something like that. But then again, Sirius had had years to get used to the fact, while Harry and Dudley were only ten and eleven. "Now, Dudley, if you will," said Sirius and Dudley went behind him and put his hands over his eyes. At once Harry's heart raced and his breath started coming in short, quick gasps. Sirius went over to him and gently took his hand. "There's no need to be afraid Harry," he said softly. "Nothing will hurt you here."

Harry nodded and willed himself to calm down. Sirius was right. It was only the three of them and Sirius and Dudley would never hurt him. When Sirius saw that Harry was calm, he and Dudley carefully led Harry into the living room. "Okay, on the count of three." Harry heard Sirius say. "One… two… THREE!" With that, Dudley took his hands off of Harry's eyes and Harry gasped, his eyes wide in surprise.

There, hanging on the wall, was banner that read in bright colors: Happy Birthday Harry! On a small table in the center of the room was a large cake with the same words on it and the number 11 on it. And on the floor next to the cake was a small pile of brightly wrapped birthday presents. Sirius came over and put a birthday hat on his head and Harry gave him another big hug. "Thank you," he mumbled into Sirius' shirt. "No problem Har, you deserve it," said Sirius, smiling down at his godson. "Now let's get this party started!"

And they did. After the two of them sang "Happy Birthday" very loudly and very out of key to a blushing Harry, he opened his presents, which weren't much, but enough for the boy who had never received anything (except for small presents from Dudley) on his birthday. He got everything from new, actually fitting clothing, to magical candy like every flavor beans, which Sirius had to explain contained every flavor.

Then they sat down and had cake with tall glasses of milk. Harry had been blushing the whole time and kept thanking Dudley and Sirius repeatedly with tears in his eyes. After the cake had been eaten and everything cleaned up, they were sitting on the couch, Harry resting against his godfather. "Okay Harry, I know it's your birthday and all but… now I have to tell you some things of a… less than savory nature." Harry looked up at him and saw that his eyes looked very sad. "Okay," he said slowly.

"Okay, here's how it goes. I apologize if I leave anything out, but I don't really know the whole story myself. A while back, before either of you were even born, there was a very dark and powerful wizard. He called himself Lord Voldemort. Most people don't like to say his name, even now, but I don't care. Anyway, he rose to power very quickly, took most people by surprise, but one day, he had a horde of followers and was taking over everywhere.

"Your parents and I, Harry, as soon as we were out of school, joined a group of people trying to stop him. It was called the Order of the Phoenix. There were many members, and everyone soon learned that your parents, Lily and James Potter, weretwo of the best members we had. They never failed a mission and were never caught. They were the perfect team… So perfect in fact, that Voldemort wanted them dead, with a passion. They even faced him, three times, and got away just as many times. That enraged Voldemort to no end. No one survived when he wanted them dead. So he set out to look for them.

"We all knew, through ties in his inner circle, what his plans were. So we put Lily and James into hiding. Right before they went into hiding, however, Lily gave birth to you Harry. So they weren't sad at all about having to hide. They preferred it actually. That way, they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were safe and with them. They loved you to pieces Harry. But then, when you were a year old, something terrible happened. I had been their secret keeper, I'll explain that later. I had to tell someone where they lived, or they would never get there. They could never find them as long as I was safe and never told anyone.

"But then, I had a brilliant plan. We knew that someone close to Lily and James was leaking information to Voldemort, we just didn't know who. So, as a diversion, we switched the secret keeper, but told no one. The new secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew, another friend of ours from school. He was pretty… dense, for lack of a better word, so we, I, thought that no one would ever suspect him. They would think it was still me, and come after me, but you and your parents would still be safe. That was the biggest mistake of my life."

Harry looked up at Sirius and saw that he was crying, but knew not to interrupt. He wanted to hear what had happened to his parents.

"A few days later, on Halloween,I got a bad feeling about something. I decided to go check on Peter. I got to his hiding place but… he was gone. There was no sign of a struggle so I knew he went willingly. I ran out of there as fast as I could and went to your house Harry… only… there was no house.

"Voldemort had found the Potters' at last. The house was destroyed, absolutely nothing left. Peter had told him where you were. I walked around in the rubble a bit in a daze, I couldn't believe it. I cried for what seemed like hours when I found your dad's body. He still had his wand out. He had fought to the very end…

"Then I found your mother. She too had her wand, trying to, at least Ithought,defend herself. But she wasn't. She had been trying to defend you, Harry. It was then that I heard the faint crying. I ran to where I could see the remains of your crib and started desperately pulling away the rumble. After a few minutes, though it seemed like hours, I found you Harry. Still alive. I picked you up and hugged you, crying even more. I couldn't believe that you were alive. I stood there, thanking any gods that were listening, when Hagrid got there. He's a half giant and enormous.

"He told me to give you to him, that Dumbledore said to, that he had it all figured out. I said no, and I fought for you as hard as I could. But he got you in the end. I don't think I was in my right mind then, but I can't really remember. After losing my two best friends and then you, my godson, I think I went temporarily insane. I gave Hagrid my motorbike to take you, and then I went after Peter, hell bent on revenge. I found him, but he got away.

"He put his wand behind his back, screamed for the whole street to hear about how I betrayed Lily and James, and then blew up the street behind him. He killed thirteen people. He cut off his own finger and then transformed into a rat, running into the sewer. When the authorities got there, they thought I had done it. I got arrested and sent to Azkaban without a trial, where I've been for the last nine years. I escaped, something no one has ever done before, to find you Harry. Because I love you."

He hugged Harry to him and was now crying harder than ever. Harry and Dudley were crying as well. "I don't blame you," Harry whispered. Sirius hugged him tight. "Thank you, kiddo." he said. He went on.

"You escaped Voldemort with nothing but that scar on your head Harry. Do you know what it means?" Harry shook his head. "It's a curse scar Harry. A very powerful curse scar. Voldemort turned his wand on you and tried to kill you with the most power killing curse ever known. No one has ever survived it Harry. Except for you. Something about you stopped him. The curse hit you but then bounced off and hit him, tearing him from his body. No one has seen him since. You defeated him Harry. You survived when no one else could. You are 'the boy who lived.'"

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A/N: I teared up on that one. I know I changed the story a bit, but I like it better like this. More dramatic. Review and make my day!

P.S. SEVEN PAGES PEOPLE :0 :P

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