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Sirius dreamed.

He dreamed almost every night now. But they weren't nice dreams. Not the kind he'd lie around after waking up, trying to remember. Instead, he dreamed of James, and Lily…and Peter. He dreamed of seeing Harry again, or Remus and being condemned by them. He dreamed of Azkaban. He dreamed of that night in the ministry holding cells, of the life draining out of Alaric Gibson, no matter how frantically Sirius tried to keep it in…

And of the boy.

To his own shock, it was the dreams about the boy that he feared the most, and that he could never forget.

Those other dreams, the nightmares…by day the dreadful images blurred together and formed the ugly, muddy picture that was his current existence. Drenched in dirt, cold, lonely… A horrible life that could've been so much better if only he had made fewer mistakes, trusted the people that were actually trustworthy… But a life, he was used to; a life he had lived for the last dozen or so years.

The dreams about the boy were different. This was nothing he was used to. It was a puzzle that kept solving itself in his mind. Whether he wanted to or not, his thoughts brought him back to the boy again and again, to the mystery and the many questions he never got answered.

Kakashi.

He had barely spoken about himself, and yet, what little information Kakashi had given him, Sirius had perceived as mostly arbitrary. In his dreams and every waking moment – even in his dog form now – he went through these things that Kakashi had told him about himself, and he put them together like the pieces of a terrible puzzle.

Because maybe – and it increasingly seemed like that – the mystery, and the many questions…maybe Kakashi had already answered all of them, and Sirius had just refused to listen.

I know war. You can't kill me. Did you kill before? The mission.

But how did you get there? Sirius had asked.

Now I'm home, then in forest.

He took care of me. Sarutobi Hiruzen. The Hokage. The village leader

Can you travel to other worlds?

CLAP!

Sirius was suddenly wide awake. Thunder made the earth vibrate under his Animagus form. Lightning rolled over the sky, lit the fields up in a flash of bright light before it all vanished in darkness again. Then the rain started. It poured down on his body, freezing cold.

He tried to find shelter, running across the soft ground. His fur hung limply from his haggard frame. Mud sprayed from his rushed steps. The few trees weren't enough to shelter him, and he didn't want to be caught under them when the storm set them on fire.

His bones and muscles felt tired from sleep, Kakashi's words were still ringing in the ears, but for the moment, he could concentrate on the here and now. On the thunder and lightning and heavy rain pouring down over him.

Eventually, he found a big rock formation that would be a crappy shelter, but at least it would protect him from the wind and unlike the trees, they wouldn't catch fire. It wasn't enough to keep him dry.

Whining and whimpering, he curled into himself, tugging the snout under his front legs. He couldn't wait to reach Hogwarts.

Once he'd arrive there, he'd kill the rat. And then…and then…

Unbidden, his thoughts came back to Kakashi. To a boy with silent steps. A boy who was a hunter with the precision of a real predator, who caught fish with his bare hands, who climbed trees like it was nothing. A boy who was magical…yet not in a way Sirius had ever seen it.

In his childhood, Sirius read muggle comics, partly because he enjoyed it, partly to annoy his parents. In most wizarding stories the protagonists were witches or wizards or magical creatures that he learned about in school. But muggle stories had all kinds of characters. Magical ones, non-magical ones, some with special abilities that weren't magic…superheroes, and supervillains. Failed scientific experiments, robots, and artificial intelligence. He'd read about all of them. Kakashi – the way he used his skills – didn't remind him of the magic he knew. The wand-swinging, sparks-shooting, Latin-chanting magic, he had learned in Hogwarts. It didn't remind him of anything he'd seen before. Not Potions or Herbology or the Dark Arts, or Old Runes or even the special brand of magic house elves used. It was something else entirely.

He had simply accepted, that Kakashi came from a foreign country, and in that country, they used magic differently. But now that he couldn't stop thinking about it, he realized, that that explanation made no sense. They used wands, and brooms, and potions in Japan same as they did in Great Britain. Yes, their spells might be different and in a different language. Yes, their wands were often different. Yes, there might be certain intricacies to their magic… But ultimately, it was the same magic. Kakashi's wandless magic should work the same way everybody else's did… But it didn't.

It was like a separate power altogether. Like he wasn't magical at all, but something else. Like the characters in the comics, he had read. Something that didn't or shouldn't exist in this world, and only did, because somebody made it up.

The mere thought was absurd. Kakashi was real. Sirius had seen him, talked to him, touched him. He was as real as Sirius himself. And yet…he seemed not from this world.

Can you travel to other worlds?

What if it was possible? Sirius remembered that they had talked about dimensions and planets…but worlds… What other reason would Kakashi have to ask, if not to find a way home?

Home…

To a village ruled by a Hokage, where fourteen-year-old boys knew war and knew how to kill.

It seemed absurd, and yet, over the last few days the pieces slowly fit together and formed a terrible image. And this was the last part to complete the puzzle… If Sirius were to put that last piece where it belonged…

Kakashi was not a wizard. Nor was he a muggle. He was something else entirely.

A fourteen-year-old boy with no parents.

A fourteen-year-old boy who was raised by his village's leader.

A fourteen-year-old boy who knew war.

A fourteen-year-old boy who knew how to kill, how to hunt, how to sneak around silently. A boy who spoke of missions and killing, who used 'comrades' interchangeably with 'friends'.

A soldier…no…

A child soldier!

The next morning, he was cold and wet to the bone. It was still raining. He needed to get warmer and a place to dry off. He also needed a warmer coat, Sirius realized. Autumn would start soon, and Sirius was only halfway up north. It would get cold soon. There was no way to protect himself from the rain without a wand, but he should at least get something against the wind.

Bare necessities were an odd thing in his Animagus form. The dog had its fur and needed much less food than the human body, but he still had his human form to take care of. Sirius didn't understand it himself, but he knew, getting a coat would help him both in human and dog form.

His limbs were stiff from the cold and his fur was still wet when he arrived in Lusthaus, a small village near Darlington. Just ten…or maybe twenty houses surrounded by golden wheat that was weighed down by the rain of the night before. Sirius had avoided Darlington itself, but in Lusthaus he snuck into a shed.

There were five chickens in a cage and a single old and spotted jade loosely tied to a post. The horse whinnied in protest when Sirius entered and turned human to push the barn door shut behind himself. Sirius ignored the animal and instead settled in a stack of dry hay.

Having barely slept the whole night in the cold, he quickly dozed off. He didn't want to sleep. Sirius knew it would be risky and even in his dog form, if he was caught, there was no telling what the farmer who lived here would do. It wouldn't be the first time that something was thrown after him to shoo him away. Even worse, if the farmer thought he came in to steal one of the chickens… It wasn't smart to sleep, and he just came in to dry himself off, but ultimately, the exhaustion got the better of him.

Thankfully, at least he didn't sleep long. It was still raining by the time he woke up again. The storm had stopped, but the constant drizzle didn't look inviting. Maybe the farmer liked the bad weather as little as Sirius did, and Sirius could spend the day inside. He considered it all of two minutes before he pushed the thought away. He couldn't make himself comfortable. He'd already wasted too much time in here, and every minute he spent among people was a risk not worth taking.

If he was caught…

And still, just spending a day inside and sleeping, instead of walking through the whole country, was so enticing, that Sirius almost considered it worth risking capture for. He shook his head and stood from the haystack. There remained a wet dent in the hay where his body had lain. Sirius quickly transformed and threw some more hay on the spot to hide the traces. He didn't want it to be so obvious that somebody had slept here. After all, the horse – tied to the post as it was – couldn't reach the haystack. Maybe he was being overly cautious, Sirius thought. Who'd look at a spot of wet hay and think it must have been the escaped convict sleeping there? But he didn't want to risk it. After all, from the few newspapers he found, he could deduce that his image was still prominently displayed over the news every day. The people knew there was a convict on the run.

He unlocked the barn, that he had locked from the inside earlier, and pushed the door open when he saw it.

There in the cabin of a tacky red tractor was a flannel shirt, a long coat, and a good pair of shoes. The clothes wouldn't fit, but it was much better than his own Azkaban robes and slippers. And he needed the coat.

Excitedly, he left the door half-open, forgetting to pull it shut. He climbed into the cabin and put the shoes on first. They were even about his size. Then he pulled off his shirt when he stopped. He couldn't leave the shirt here. That would be much more condemning than the wet hay.

"I hate the rain," a deep male voice came from the outside. Sirius whirled round to stare at the open door. Hurriedly, he climbed out of the tractor. But he was too late, there was no escape.

"Tell me about it, but somebody needs to feed the chickens," another man replied.

"Why would you need me for it?" the first whined.

"Wait. Did you leave the barn open yesterday?" The second asked in an annoyed tone. "I told you to close up."

"No, I did." The first again. It was the younger voice of the two despite being so deep. The other had a more gravely sound to it. "I mean, maybe I forgot to lock it when the storm hit, but I swear I closed it."

"Tony, there's a chicken thief going around."

"That's down in the south," Tony replied as he pushed the door open.

"Foxes can travel," the other man grumbled.

There was no escape for Sirius. He could turn, but then the farmers would still see the dog and he'd have to leave both his prison shirt and the new coat behind. He needed the coat but leaving the shirt would be more damning. They'd know it was Sirius Black in the shed, even if they never saw him. So, Sirius had the option to take the coat and be seen or leave the coat and be found out anyway.

Panicking, he grabbed his shirt and coat. He barged through the door and past the two adults hoping to catch them by surprise. He knocked the older one over when he pushed through the door, but the younger one – Tony – was much stronger and burlier than Sirius. Sirius crashed into his side and was knocked off balance. Then a strong grip caught him around the upper arm.

"That's Dad's coat." Tony grabbed for the coat with his other hand. He had wild black hair that fell into his eyes and he was surely a head taller than Sirius.

"Let go!" Sirius cried out, trying to pull out of the bruising grip. He managed to free himself, but he overbalanced and stumbled, falling on the wet gravel. The coat ripped where the young man still held onto it.

"A THIEF!" The old man yelled out to whoever was still in the house. He scrambled to his feet, but he held his ribs as if they were hurting.

Sirius twisted and rolled out of the way before Tony could rush him. He kicked out with his new boots against the boy's hand. He couldn't be older than twenty.

"Tony!" The older man cried out when he got the first free glimpse of Sirius' face. "Tony, that's him! Sirius Black!"

The son froze in shock and fright, which was just enough time for Sirius to scramble to his knees and then to his feet to race away before they could find their courage again.

"Go inside, Tony!" the father commanded. "Tell your mother to stay in the house. I'll get the rifle if he comes back!" Sirius heard, but then he jumped across the fence and bounded over the street where pale faces were peaking from the shutters from the few other houses.

Sirius ran head over heels into the closest field until the golden crop mostly hid him. Nobody dared to run after him. There he quickly put his prison shirt on again, and the new coat before he dared to transform only when he was sure nobody was watching. He was found, alright… But his transformation was still his greatest defense. He couldn't let anybody see that.

His breath and heart were racing when he snuck on padded paws across the field and as far away as he could, not caring for the direction.

"I swear we left him in the Library, and then he was suddenly halfway up to Gryffindor Tower!" Ron insisted. "Harry saw it too," he waved at Harry, "right?"

"Yes," Harry agreed. "We both saw it. It's true."

Hermione looked at them wearily. "That's ridiculous. Don't be ridiculous." She shook her head. Bushy brown hair flew across her face. "Nobody can be at two places at once."

"Of course, he can't be at two places at once," Ron agreed. "That's impossible. But he was there, I swear."

Hermione seemed doubtful. She glanced at Harry as if she hoped Harry could explain everything, but Harry only nodded agreeing with Ron. He'd seen it after all. There was no way how Charlie could have left the Library and got to Neville in such a short time without even passing them.

"You must have mistaken him. Why would Charlie even go to the Gryffindor Tower?" she asked, suspicious.

"How would I know?" Ron huffed. "Ask Neville. He was talking to Neville."

That was a good suggestion, Harry thought. Turning around, he searched for Neville in the common room. He found the boy close to the fireplace leaning with his nose over a scroll of parchment slaving over his Potions homework with a desperate scowl on his face.

"Neville!" Harry called out. He grabbed Hermione's sleeve and pulled her along. Ron followed them, as they closed in on their classmate. Neville looked up with a face flushed pink with worry.

"What is it?" he asked. There was an ink blotch on the tip of his nose.

"You have ink on your nose," Hermione told him. She immediately brandished her wand. "Let me help you." And without a second warning, she vanished the ink.

"Ugh…" He rubbed over his nose. "Thanks. What—What do you want? I have t-to get Potions done. If P-Professor Snape catches me slipping." His eyes flitted between the three friends nervously. "He already knows about my Boggart." The spot between his brows creased in worry.

"We just wanted to know if you saw Charlie yesterday," Harry started gesturing between them. "After classes."

Confused, Neville looked from Harry to Ron and Hermione. "Charlie? Why? I mean sure, multiple times."

"Harry and Ron said they saw you going up to Gryffindor Tower together," Hermione said doubtfully.

"Eh…" Neville nodded. "Yeah, after dinner. He wanted to know where it is."

"So, it was him," Ron whispered triumphantly.

"Is something wrong with that?" Neville seemed nervous now. "I didn't think it was a problem." He blushed. "I mean, he's not a Gryffindor, but there's not actually a rule stating other houses can't know where the common room is, right? They just can't go inside…" But he seemed uncertain. "Right?"

"No," Hermione said immediately in a placating tone. "No, that's okay. I think he can know."

"Thanks, Neville. See?" Harry said as they turned away from Neville to leave him to his homework. "It was him."

"But it's a little odd, don't you think?" Hermione mused.

"Sure, it's odd." Ron nodded. "We left him in the Library. He can't be at two places at once, but he was." He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Do you think, it's somebody using Polyjuice?"

Harry considered that. It was a possibility, he guessed. In fact, it was the only explanation he could think of, why there would be two people looking like Charlie in the castle. But why would anybody imitate Charlie of all people? And if it was an imposter, which one was the real one? The one who wanted to do the research for Snape in the Library, or the one that wanted to know where Gryffindor Tower was? Charlie had behaved rather odd when they talked to him, Harry remembered, but in all honesty, it made perfect sense for Snape to give him extra assignments that he had to go to the Library for. As for looking for Gryffindor Tower, however…Charlie was a Hufflepuff, he didn't really need to know that.

"No, that's not what I meant." Hermione shook her head, interrupting Harry's thought process. "I mean why would he want to find Gryffindor Tower?"

That was odd, Harry had to agree. This was his third year in Hogwarts now, and he still didn't know where the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff common rooms were. The only reason he knew where the Slytherin common room was, was because he and Ron had infiltrated it once last year.

"Though," Hermione shrugged, "maybe he was just looking for you," she guessed. "Think about it," she added at Harry's quizzical look. "He really only knows you in our entire year and he's in a new school with new people, and he's expected to catch up to so much material…"

Harry nodded. That made sense, he had to relent. However, even as Hermione spoke, she still looked troubled, but she didn't share what else worried her. And Harry also didn't fail to realize that with all their musings over why Charlie would go to Gryffindor Tower…they had somehow turned away from the question of how there would be two Charlies in the first place.

"You have one too?"

Kakashi was surprised when Harry's bushy-haired friend sat next to him on the Hufflepuff table during Sunday breakfast. Looking around, Kakashi was certain, that she could only be speaking to him, but he had no context of what she was talking about.

"I guess it makes sense," Hermione nodded to herself. "You have to learn all the stuff we learned in the last two years. That's pretty rough."

Where were Ron and Harry? They weren't with her. As he turned on the bench, he didn't find them anywhere. That wasn't very surprising. It was still very early. Most of their classmates were still in bed and he was lucky they served such an early breakfast at all.

"I should've guessed it."

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi finally asked giving up on Hermione just spilling the beans and telling him without prompting.

"I got it for my electives."

That didn't explain anything. "What did you get?"

Frowning, Hermione looked at him, as if he wasn't making sense. "Professor Sprout gave you one, right? I thought I was the only one, but it makes sense. How many others do you think, have one?"

She clearly avoided mentioning the thing she was talking about by name. It was frustrating to Kakashi who grew increasingly intrigued. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he admitted. "Do you mean the first- and second-year booklists." He had asked Professor Sprout for a copy the day before.

Hermione shook her head. She brushed a brown strand of hair out of her face. "No, Silly" She chuckled. "I mean how you can be at two places at once… You know?" She winked secretively. "Come on, I know Professor Sprout probably made you promise not to tell anybody. Professor McGonagall said the same to me," she looked a bit embarrassed as she admitted that – likely because she was currently breaking that promise. "But I already know. So, it's not really a secret." She sighed. "And honestly, I'd appreciate it if I could talk to somebody about it."

She still seemed convinced that Kakashi was just faking it. Kakashi turned to her fully. "Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. Professor Sprout didn't give me anything."

Hermione's eyebrows rose disbelievingly. "Yeah…I know she did. Or maybe Professor Dumbledore personally? I know you missed Muggle Studies because you were talking to him. I'm with you in Muggle Studies."

Kakashi shook his head. "I happen to know, that you, Harry, and Ron had Divination when I would've been in Muggle Studies. You all spoke about it in Transfiguration." If she thought she could lie to him, she'd have to be smarter about it.

To Kakashi's surprise, Hermione put her hand against her face as if he had just said something unbelievably stupid. "Yes!" she said insistently. "Because of it. You know. You're in two places at once too. Harry and Ron saw you."

"When?" Kakashi asked curiously. "What did they see?"

"Friday," Hermione answered smugly. "They helped you find the Library and then saw you with Neville when he showed you the way to the common room."

Kakashi suppressed a curse. He had feared but hadn't known for a fact that they saw him with Neville. The next time, he'd disguise his clone as a random student, so he wouldn't have to face that trouble.

"They must be mistaken," Kakashi answered.

Hermione shook her head. "No. We even asked Neville."

"Yes, I was with Neville," he agreed. "And they did lead me to the Library."

"But according to Ron, that should've been impossible."

"Well, I'm just me," Kakashi insisted. "I realized I forgot something when I entered the Library, so I ran back to the Great Hall, where I met Neville." Of course, it was a bunch of bull crab. His clone had spent the rest of the evening reading the chapters for Snape.

"How did you not pass them, then?" Hermione didn't believe it.

"I did. I even greeted them, but they didn't react, and I was in a hurry."

She frowned doubtfully, but after exploring his face for signs of insincerity, she blushed. "Oh." She shook her head. "I guess that's…but Ron would've seen that. Why wouldn't he…? I'm sorry, this is embarrassing." She quickly jumped from the bench. Then she glanced from Kakashi to the mostly empty Gryffindor table. "Eh…I need to talk with Ron, just…Don't tell anybody about this, okay?"

She sounded incredibly nervous, and when Kakashi nodded, honest relief flooded her face. Then she ran off out of the hall.