At the Beginning

By: Hyuuga Ayame

Summary[AU DH spoilers What would happen if someone was given the chance to change EVERYTHING? He could stop the traitor from ever becoming friends with them …He could save them all…He knew he could. A time travel fic.

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"Talking"

'Thinking'

"YELLING"

Writing

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Chapter 1: Of Sneaking and Planning

When Sirius opened his eyes there was once again darkness. But the difference between the…'where ever the hell that place was' and this new place was that Sirius recognized this new place that he was in. It was his old room at Grimmauld Place. He sat up in his bed and did a survey of the room. The room itself had very little in it. There was the huge bed that he himself laid on, a large dresser for his clothes, two doors, one that lead out to the hallway and the other to a bathroom, and a small bedside table that was on Sirius' left.

Sirius slowly pulled back the covers and got up out of bed. As he walked over to the mirror that hung on the wall by the dresser, he began to think of what he should do first. When he reached the mirror he was met with the face that he hadn't seen since his third year at Hogwarts when he hit puberty. His wavy black hair was just barely long enough to dust the top of his collar and his face looked healthy, even a bit tan in the darkness of his room. His body was that of a slightly scrawny 11 year old with very little muscle. The thing that shocked him the most however was his eyes. Although they still looked slightly haunted by the experiences of the future, they looked just slightly less so than they would. Maybe it was because Sirius himself now had hope or because his eyes weren't sunken into a gaunt face as they would be when he escaped Azkaban. 'Did I really ever look this young and innocent?...Bloody hell was I short back then…now…what ever it is.' Stopping his train of thought that was becoming increasingly confusing, Sirius thought of what to do next. 'First things first, start writing everything that I can remember into a book of some sort but make it so that I'm the only one that can read it.'

Sirius looked around the room again and spotted his 'old?…no new' Hogwarts trunk in the corner of the room. 'So I've already gone to Diagon Alley with my parents…that means that the date is somewhere past August 11th 1971. Which means I have less than a month to prepare for the train ride.' Sirius quickly searched through his trunk for the self-updating calendar that he knew was in there somewhere. After searching for about 10 minutes, he final let out a soft noise of triumph as he pulled the small calendar out of the trunk. The words FRIDAY AUGUST 13TH jumped out of the page at him. 'Ok that gives me about half a month of planning…' Sirius quietly sighed, 'I guess there's no time to start like the present…' He quickly turned back to his trunk to find something that could be used to store all of the information. His second search didn't reveal as promising results as his first one. Rolls of parchment were nice but he needed something more like one of those muggle notebooks that Lily had always used in school. 'I guess I'll have to sneak out and get one later on…' That problem solved, Sirius quickly put everything back into his trunk. 'Now, how the bloody hell am I going to get out of here unnoticed…' Sirius did a quick mental catalog of every passage that he knew out of the house and when his parents had found out about each of them. 'That one in the attic should still be ok 'cause they didn't know about it 'til third year…'

Grabbing his 'new' wand, Sirius cast a quick Tempus charm,6:42 AM (A/N Underage magic isn't monitored by the ministry until students get to Hogwarts. Because the wands are new, most children need a few days to get used to using their particular wand. How else would Hermione have been able to practice a couple spells before getting to Hogwarts ). Sirius quickly threw on something that could be considered Muggle and crept to the door of his room. His parents probably wouldn't be up until about 7:30, or maybe even 8:00 if he was lucky, and the muggle stores were only 10 minutes away. Now all he needed to worry about was Kretcher. He stuck his head out of his room and looked both ways cautiously. Slowly stepping out and closing his door, he again looked down the hall both ways. His years of sneaking around Hogwarts caused him to learn to be silent when he needed to be and to listen to the things around you. He heard Regulus' breathing from the room that was across the hall and the creaking of the house as the wind outside pushed against it. Sirius darted down the hall and up the flight of stairs to the attic with hardly any noise. Luck seemed to be on Sirius' side because it was quite windy outside which covered up the few noises that Sirius did make.

After making up the stairs, Sirius silently opened the door the attic and looked around. After peering into the darkness for a few minutes and not seeing any movement, Sirius slowly closed the door behind him and crept toward the passageway that was hidden behind one of the old mirrors that had apparently been there since before his parents moved in. After moving the mirror out enough that he could get behind it to the tunnel, Sirius got on his hands and knees to crawl through the small space towards his freedom. He reached the ladder that ran down the inside of the house in a few seconds then began to climb down to the small tunnel that would lead out under the next yard over, out of a trap door that was under a bush and had a muggle repellent charm on it.

'Now I remember why my parents didn't bother to close this one up…they thought that I would be too big to get through it after 3rdyear' Sirius thought wryly as he reached the bottom. The passage was pretty small but as an eleven year old, Sirius didn't have any problems getting through the cramped space. In fact, the tunnel wouldn't begin to get too small for him until at least 4th year and by then he had almost become an animagus. Padfoot could easily get through the tight passageway.

After navigating the tunnel at the bottom, Sirius swung the trap door down and stuck his head out into the rose bushes that guarded it's entrance. The cool morning air blew against his face and the light of the sun was just starting to peek out over the trees. He quickly climbed out of the bush and began to head towards where the muggle stores were. 'I am never telling my parents that they should just move the next time they start yelling about living in a muggle neighborhood. It's far too convenient for me to be here.'

As he reached the small muggle shopping area that he remembered was there in his youth, he looked around for the bookstore that should have been at the beginning of the strip. Instead of a bookstore however, there was a tailor shop and an ice cream store. 'That's right, that bookstore was brand new in my 3rd year. Now what?' After looking around for a few minutes, he spotted the sign Books and Things over a small shop that was tucked away in a small corner. He quickly walked over and into the store.

The store was crowded with books. The shelves were tightly packed together and there were books scattered about the store floor along the walls. The smell of dust and mold was strong throughout the store. Towards the back of the shop there was a small counter that was also littered with books. A man with graying hair sat behind the counter with his eyes shut and his head in his hands. On the wall behind the counter there was a large clock that read 7:08. As the door swung shut there was the sound of a bell ringing which caused the shop keep to sit up sharply in an effort to appear that he wasn't sleeping in the first place.

He blinked once before addressing Sirius. "Well well now aren't you a little young to be up this early and without your parents lad?" he said in a kind voice.

Sirius, resisting the urge to yell that his parents could go to hell for all he cared and that he was 35 thank-you-very-much, instead said, "I was wondering if you sell any diaries or journals here."

The older man blinked at the blunt question and blatant attempt to avoid the shop keep's initial question. "Yes of course lad," he said recovering quickly, "they're right over here." The man got up from his seat at the counter and began walking towards the back corner of the shop where Sirius could now see new looking books that were thinner than every other book the store. "Is there any particular style or color that you want son? I've got a these nice ones that have the locks on them so that no one can read them without getting the key from you first or – "

"Which ones are the cheapest?" Sirius asked, interrupting the man.

The older man chuckled a bit. "Straight to the point aren't you lad? I like that." He reached towards the bottom shelf and pulled out a few warn looking journals. "These are a bit older but they still look very nice. Gives it an old rustic feel 'cause of the leather. Course, everyone now a days want the new ones that have the locks and stuff on them…" He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Anyway, I've only got these three colors if you want this kind of journal." The man held out three journals, one black, one a dark forest green, and the last one a royal blue.

Sirius studied them for a second before reaching for the blue one. "This one", he said with a nod, "how much?" Sirius hoped that it wasn't more than a few pounds because he only had a £5 note.

The shop keep look at the small boy in front of him for a few seconds. "What's you're name lad?"

"Sirius Black, sir."

The old man smiled. "The dog star, huh?" He studied Sirius for a few moments then let out a little chuckle, "It suits you. Tell you what 'cause I like your attitude and these journals would have sat here for quite a while anyway, I'll give it to you for £2 (A/N I really have no clue how much that would be back in the '70s but right now that's about 4 US dollars now). Sound like a deal?"

Sirius smiled widely and nodded. Sirius quickly handed over the note to the man. "Thank you mister…?"

"Davies. Jonas Davies", the man said with a wide smile. He walked back over to the counter and pulled out the register. After handing Sirius his change, the man put a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Don't be a stranger lad, come visit me whenever you need a new book. Or you need to get out of that house of yours."

Sirius looked up in shock at the man. "How…?"

"Everybody in this area know who the Blacks are son," the man said, "Not too many of us like them either. Never come out of that house of theirs, it seems. That and I saw a rather ugly look come over your face when I mentioned your parents." Sirius opened his mouth to speak but the man put a hand up. "Don't worry about it. Just remember that you have somewhere close by that you can run to if you need it, ok?"

Sirius studied the man for a few seconds before his face broke out into a grin. "Thanks Mr. Davies!" The older man just smiled and waved him on his way.

After leaving the store, Sirius noticed how light it was getting outside. He quickly ran back towards his house in an effort to get there before his parents got out of bed. He quickly found the trap door and raced on all fours towards the ladder that would lead back to the attic. As he was climbing up the ladder, Sirius heard a noise from within the house. 'Shoot! They must have gotten up already…' Sirius' mind was headed into overdrive. 'I've got to get back to my room NOW!!' Sirius practically flew up the ladder and out of the tunnel that lead to the attic. Once the mirror was in place, he raced towards the door, flew down the stair case, and came to a halt at the bottom. Kretcher was there cleaning the area around one of the paintings.

After shouting quite a few choice words in his head, he furiously tried to think of something to get him past Kretcher unnoticed. 'Ok, calm down and think. What would make Kretcher move away from this area and not suspect me of doing…' He began to search the room with his eyes but was still drawing a blank. Then he happened to look down and saw his small body. 'Wait…anything that could be considered high level magic would work because I hadn't been to school to learn them at 11!' Looking down the hallway past where his and Regulus' room was, he saw a vase. 'There! REDUCTO!' As the red beam shot at the vase, Sirius quickly ducted behind a statue that was at the base of the stairs. The vase shattered and Kretcher raced up the stair case where the beam came from. Sirius leaped out from behind the statue and into his room before Kretcher came back down the stairs to go fix the vase.

Only once he got back into his bed with the journal safely tucked away underneath his pillow did Sirius breath again. 'That was close' Sirius thought to himself. 'Now to clean out my wand…' He quickly cast a few easy first year charms so that he could claim that he had been practicing before going to Hogwarts in order to hide the Reducto that he had just cast. While there shouldn't be any reason for them to suspect him, he didn't want to take any chances. He then laid his wand on the bedside table and pulled out the journal. 'And now the hard part….where to start.' Sirius sat for a moment deciding what to write down in the journal first. After a moment he opened the journal and began to write. 'I guess what the Horcruxes were and what they looked like would be as good a place as any to start.' Sirius quickly wrote down the names, dates of creation if he knew them, and locations of each of them.

After finishing the writing portion of the Horcrux entries, Sirius paused. 'I guess this would be as good of a time as any to try out that thing that Chronos said Athena would give me. …How exactly does it work?' Sirius blinked a couple times. 'Maybe I'm just supposed to start drawing what I remember…' He picked up the colored quills that his mother had gotten him years ago in an attempt to get him to learn to draw and began to concentrate on the memory of the Slytherin locket. Sirius was soon so absorbed in the memory of the locket that he didn't realize the passage of time or the movement of his hand. When he final snapped out of the trance that he created, the locket had been drawn onto the page in perfect likeness of the actual locket. 'O..k….I guess that's how that works…' Quickly visualizing the other 5 objects, he wasn't going to let Harry become a Horcrux no matter what, he just let the trance take over and let the objects be drawn onto the page.

Looking at his work, Sirius nodded happily. He quickly checked the time, got up, hid the journal deep within his trunk, got back in his bed and quickly began to plan. 'Kretcher should be coming in soon. Then I have to go eat breakfast with Regulus, Mother and Father. Now I have two choices, one don't clue them in that I'm a "seer" or draw something that I remember happening a few days before Hogwarts. I guess the second option would be best in case Dumbledore or one of the teachers find out and try to tell my parents…Especially Slughorn…that way they've already gotten over the shock and I won't get any more Howlers than necessary. But what's an event that's going to happen in a few days that I can draw?'

As Sirius sat there on his bed racking his memory for something that would happen in the next couple days, there was a loud pop near the door. Standing there was Kretcher, who even though he was twenty some odd years younger, still looked the same as Sirius last saw him. The deranged house elf seemed surprised at something though. 'What the hell is he surprised for? It's not like I'm doing anything that all that….' Sirius trailed off in his mind as he realized that as a child he had been one of the heaviest sleepers and almost never got up on his own unless it was after noon.

"Young Master is already up? Mistress will be pleased. You's is to get ready for breakfast because your esteemed grandfather is coming over." Kretcher said with a neutral tone then disappeared with a pop. Sirius' jaw had almost dropped open in complete shock but recovered his wits before doing so.

'That's right, he still tolerated me when I was ten. He didn't start to hate me until after my first year at Hogwarts.' Sirius felt a headache coming on. 'This is going to get tiring.' Then something came to Sirius that made him want to bash his head in a wall. 'Bloody…!! I still have to be nice to my parents…I still wanted them to accept me and be a perfect little pureblood when I was ten.' Sirius sighed. 'Luckily I only have to do that for a couple more weeks….Any longer and I would snap.'

That crisis adverted, Sirius got up from bed. Then he once again froze. 'Wait…did Kretcher say my grandfather was coming over…?' A smile quickly spread over his face. 'I can use him to establish the whole seer thing! He died a few days before I went to Hogwarts!' Sirius quickly raced to his dresser to throw on clothes that his mother would find acceptable and raced downstairs to the dinning area, ideas swimming in his head the entire way.

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Hey I know that characters seem a little OCC (especially Kretcher """) but I figured that Sirius' parents didn't start to hate him and belittle him until he was sorted into Gryffindor. I'm also guessing that the first time that Sirius went to Hogwarts he hadn't wanted to get into Gryffindor and only came to hate his whole family after being in Gryffindor for a while. After all, if you grew up a certain way, you would only know that way until you found something different. Oh and just to note, Sirius' grandfather didn't die in the books until 1991 but I needed someone to die and well, he's really not important in the books so I figured no one would care """""

Also, Kretcher is a really hard character to write because of the way that house elves speak TT . Oh! Can anyone tell me a few more British curse words/phrases? I really don't know that many and "bloody" is going to get old really really fast (and I don't want to resort to American slang """"" ).

I also want to thank everyone who reviewed the prologue and am really happy that you liked my story

Ayame