I'm back! Oh, and I've decided to add some different points of view. Maybe I should have started that earlier, but... well... it just seemed right to write all of that from Procyon's POV.

II(:

Chapter four

On July 31st Harry Potter got up very early. He had just turned seventeen that night and was getting ready for the most special birthday of his life. This was not because he had just (by British wizards' standards) come of age, or at least that was not the direct cause. No, this day was special because Harry was just about to leave his Aunt and Uncle's house and, if he was lucky, wouldn't ever have to return. It was the best birthday present he could imagine. He wasn't quite sure where he was going to go (he had recently inherited a house, but was no more willing to go there than to stay here with his horrible relatives forever). For now he was going to his best friend's house, where he could stay for some time.

He walked downstairs and left a letter for his family on the kitchen table. In the letter he said goodbye to them and thanked 'for everything', not because he had much to thank for, but because it just seemed right to be polite to them for once on an occasion like this. Having done that, Harry returned to his bedroom, opened the window, mounted his broom and carefully flew out. It was quite difficult, with all the luggage attached to his broomstick, but he made it. He landed on the roof and threw his Invisibility Cloak over himself and his broom.

He took off again. As he left the town of Little Whinging behind, ready to begin a new, Dursley-free life, he thought this was a very special day indeed.

And he wasn't even aware of the surprise that awaited him at the Burrow.

XXX

The house seemed to have been built against the laws of physics. You could almost expect it to be bigger on the inside than outside. It was one of the most magical places Harry had ever been to. Seeing it again after a month of living with people who thought being boring was something to be proud of felt really amazing. He landed in the backyard and took off his Invisibility Cloak. A few meters away from him several people with red hair were flying around on broomsticks and throwing a red Quaffle to each other. One of them noticed Harry as soon as he became visible again.

'Hey, Harry!' ha called 'Wanna play with us?'

'I'm too tired, Ron,' Harry shouted back 'I've already spent half a day flying.'

Ron landed and a moment later so did his brothers and sister, and, Harry suddenly noticed, a dark-haired boy he had never seen before.

'You won't believe what happened a few days ago!' Ron said.

'Well then, what happened?' Harry asked. He had seen many unbelievable things before and his best friend knew about it. What could possibly be so incredible that Ron thought Harry wouldn't believe it.

'Why don't you come in and see for yourself?' Ron suggested 'There's someone waiting for you inside.'

Harry and Ron headed for the door, followed by the boy Harry didn't know. Who was he anyway? What was he doing at the Burrow? Did he have anything to do with whatever had happened a few days ago and whoever was waiting for him inside? Why was there something familiar about him?

When they entered the house, Harry saw someone he had certainly not been expecting to meet.

'I don't believe it!' he whispered.

XXX

The Order organized a meeting that evening and, although they weren't officially members, Harry and Procyon were both invited to attend the first part of the meeting. This was yet another thing they younger boy had been dreaming of for a while now. But he was not as excited as he thought he would be. He was, in fact, quite worried. A few things he had been dreaming of had already happened to him over the last few days and they had not really been what he'd imagined.

'You know why you are here, don't you?' asked Professor McGonagall, who had apparently taken over after Professor Dumbledore's death (Procyon still couldn't believe that. It was almost as if he had believed the old headmaster to be immortal).

'I think so, Professor,' he replied.

XXX

As soon as everybody got over the initial shock of finding out that Sirius had survived falling through the Veil and returned home along with a guest from another world (which, obviously, took a while), they proceeded to trying to decide what to do about it. Some people suggested that keeping it secret could give the Order some advantages, but finally they decided against it, especially since Sirius refused to pretend to be dead any longer than it was absolutely necessary.

'I've had enough of hiding,' he said 'And now that the Ministry's finally admitted I'm innocent, I thought I could have a life at last…'

'All right then,' someone said 'I guess you can just go to the Ministry and - '

That left only one question.

'What department does one go to anyway, when one's supposed to be dead, but isn't and wants to explain that someone's made a mistake?'

Another problem was how to Procyon back to his world and what to do with him in the meantime.

'I suppose we can just leave it to the Department of Mysteries,' said Arthur Weasley 'With some help from Sirius they should be able to do it.'

'How much do you know about the Veil?'

This wasn't an easy question. Sirius probably knew more about it than anybody else in this world. He knew what it really was, what it felt like to go through it and what you could find on the other side. However, he had no idea whatsoever, how to use it or how it worked. He explained it to the others.

'So I'm afraid it's still going to take a lot of time,' he said.

'What shall we do with you while you are here?' McGonagall asked, looking at Procyon.

'Er…' the boy muttered 'When Padfoot was in my world, he just… tried to live a normal life… erm… under a false name, of course…'

'That's it,' Hogwarts' new headmistress said 'If you are still here by the time the new term begins, you will go to school here. You have one month to come up with a good explanation why you are beginning with… fourth year, I believe?'

'Yes, Professor,' the boy agreed, looking rather embarrassed. He seemed to be aware by now, that what he had done was incredibly foolish.

After Procyon left it was Harry's turn to speak up. Sirius had already heard the theory about Voldemort creating several Horcruxes. Harry confirmed it now.

'Dumbledore believed there were six,' he said 'Two have been destroyed. Most of the others are probably things that used to belong to the Founders.'

'Do you think you know what exactly they might be?'

'Two of them, yes,' Harry said 'One is most likely Hufflepuff's cup, and the other's Slytherin's locket. Dumbledore found the place where Voldemort hid it,' he added after a pause 'But it wasn't there when we got there. Someone must have got there before us.'

'But who?'

'That's the problem. I have no idea,' Harry replied 'They left a message, though.' He cleared his throat and began to recite a text he seemed to have memorized. '"To the Dark Lord. I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. R.A.B.". Any ideas who it could have been?'

Sirius did have an idea. But could this really be true? Over the last year ha had found out things about his brother he had never been quite aware of before, even if the Regulus from the other world was not the same person as the one here. Words from the letter Regulus had written to him before his death echoed in Sirius's head: "Nothing can make me more scared than I already am, so I can do anything now." Could anything possibly be that?