Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter… no really- I'm supposed to let you know that.

Chapter 5- Starting Something

Surrey-June-1986
Age 6

Nothing that is can pause or stay;

The moon will wax, the moon will wane,

The mist and cloud will turn to rain,

The rain to mist and cloud again.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lyra's POV

Privet Drive was so much more and so much less than I thought it would be. The homes were as monotonous as I had expected them to be, but the people kept surprising me. My father had never struggled with being social before, and he didn't now. He easily got along with everyone here- even to my incredulous surprise- Vernon Dursley. I suppose being a well respected doctor had its perks.

I had thought my mother's eccentricities would be looked down upon and sneered at. I could not have been more wrong. The people here loved her chaotic nature. A breath of fresh air they called her. Several even enlisted her help for redecorating their homes once they saw what she had done to our place.

The one person who did not seem to be perfectly happy with our presence was Petunia Dursley. As ridiculous as it sounds-I was excited to see her. She was the first of the (previously fictional) people that I had read about that I got to meet. And she was the final proof I needed to prove to myself that I wasn't delusional. If she was real-odds had just gone up on the bet that the rest of the story was real too.

Petunia was all smiles and eager eyes looking for gossip when she showed up at our doorstep, minutes after we had walked into our new home. The second she saw my mother however, the smile dropped from her face, along with every little bit of color that she had. She looked like she had seen a ghost. I thought back to everything I knew about this story, had Petunia ever met Sirius? It seemed likely if her reaction was anything to go by. I knew my mother held a very strong resemblance to her brothers. Could Petunia see Sirius in my mother's features? Eventually I had to conclude that it might simply have been jealousy. Because Petunia was jealous of my mother, of that I had no doubt. It was as obvious as the fact that her 'Precious Dudders' was the most obese 5-soon-to-be-6 year old in existence.

I had already sworn to myself that I would not change anything in the story. Yes there was a lot of suffering that I could prevent if I wanted to. But the consequences? What if by saving one life I was dooming another? There was so much I desperately wanted to change. I really didn't want to let Sirius die , specially not after finding out that he's my UNCLE (Can I just take a moment to fangirl about the fact that one of the MARAUDERS is related to ME… okay-moment over), but what if saving him meant somewhere down the line Harry dies or fails to beat Voldemort in the final battle?

So as I sat there in the bushes observing (stalking some part of me whispered) the green-eyed protagonist of the story, I was sure it was just because I was curious. And no it had absolutely nothing to do with how adorable he looked in those baggy clothes and those big round glasses that kept sliding down his little button nose... For some reason this scene felt awfully familiar… Oh-My-God! This was Snape and Lily- in reverse!

The more I watched him though, the more my heart broke. He wasn't even six yet. Watching him slave away in the sun…trying so hard.

It reminded me of myself. In a previous life, one where I had suffered as he did now, trying so hard to please, but it was never enough. In a family- if I can call them that- where grades and reputation meant more than warmth and affection. And the only reward was that maybe, just maybe, if you did good enough, you would be spared your father's wrath today…

A buzzing sound broke me out of my reverie … was that a? Yes, yes it was… A bee. Before you laugh, have you ever been stung by one of these suckers? No? Let me tell you something about bee stings- they HURT. I did my best to silently swat it away before it could come close enough to hurt me. And before I knew it I was falling backwards on my arse, and I couldn't stop the startled "Eeep!" that escaped me.

Silence.

Maybe there was still hope… maybe he hadn't heard me.

"Hello?"

Drat it all! What now? I could get up and let him know I was there (in more ways than one). After all it's not like getting to know me will change the world, right?... On second thoughts, I could always just lie here and pretend I didn't exist and pray to God he didn't come over to investigate…

Surrey-June-1986
Age 6

Harry's POV

Aunt Petunia was angry. She was always angry, but today she was really, really angry. I could hear her shouting to Uncle Vernon about something all the way from the backyard I was weeding. I wondered for a moment if I should keep going or stop. Aunt Petunia never gave me dinner when she was in a bad mood anyway. Then again… it would just make things worse if I didn't do my chores.

I took a deep breath and looked up to glare at the sun. Even the weather was being mean to me today. It was the hottest day of all summer. I knew that because I'd heard the weather-man on TV say so, before Dudley found the remote and started smashing it until it changed to the cartoons channel… That he was still watching…inside…away from the heat… probably with another tub of ice-cream in his lap.

The shouting got worse… I could make out some of the words now- '…the nerve of that…how dare she…those FREAKS' . That last word caught my attention. So she was ranting about the new neighbors again.

The Addisons.

They had moved into the house three doors away from the Dursley's. Aunt Petunia had left with a pie the second she saw the moving company's truck… but she had come back looking really mad, and she wouldn't say why. A few days later I saw their house had been repainted… into a hundred different shades of blue. That was the first time Aunt Petunia called them that- Freaks. I remember that because for a moment I thought that must mean they were like me. But I wasn't too sure about that now.

Mrs. Addison was a really pretty lady. She had come by once with some cookies she baked, to thank Aunt Petunia for the pie. And Aunt Petunia had that smile on her face. The one that she got whenever anyone tells her I'm such a polite little boy. And they talked for a little while. Before she left she smiled at me and gave me one of the cookies from her basket. I had only seen Mr. Addison once a few days after they moved in. He had come to call on Uncle Vernon, to invite him for some golf thingy he was planning with some of the neighbors. He had smiled at me too.

Uncle Vernon didn't seem to mind them; neither did any of the other neighbors, which is why I didn't think they were like me. If they were I'm sure Uncle Vernon would have hated them too.

"Eeep!"

What was that? THUD. It sounded like someone falling over. I looked around but I couldn't see anyone. "Hello?" I called out, hoping I had just imagined it… and then I saw something move behind the hedges. I started to back away… scared it may be a stray animal of some kind.

And that was the first time I saw her. She came out of the bushes with a sheepish smile on her face- the kind you get when you're caught with your hand in the cookie jar before dinner (at least that's how they look on TV, I wasn't sure because Dudley never had to sneak to eat whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, and I'd be too terrified of being caught to smile). She looked so much like her mother that I already knew who she was before she told me her name. "Hi there… I'm Lyra Addison… what's your name?"

Chapter 6- Inevitable

Surrey-June-1986
Age 6

Lyra's POV

I don't know why I did it, okay! I just did. Something inside me rebelled at the thought of just leaving him there as I had found him. It was one of those moments where your heart and your mind want two different things and because you can't seem to be able to choose, your body makes the decision for you. And so before I could tell myself (again) that I was dooming the world, I introduced myself to the boy whom I knew I knew better than himself. And before I had time to feel any regret over my actions – he smiled at me, with the shyest, sweetest smile (I hadn't know children with childhoods like his could smile like that) and said in a voice so soft I had to strain myself to hear it "…I'm Harry".

And just like that, the house of cards that the future was supposed to be collapsed. Right then and there I made the most irrational decision of my life.

"Do you want to be friends?"I asked with what little awkward social grace I had.

"You want to be friends… with me?!"

There was so much shock in his voice that it physically pained me. If I had it my way (and I WOULD) he will never suffer the fate he was meant for. Not this child that reminded me so much of myself and yet was so much better than I had ever been capable of being. He didn't deserve his future, Hell! He didn't deserve his present.

"Yes Harry… I want to be friends with you"

If I'm going to do this- I'm going to need a plan.

Surrey-June-1986
Age 6

Allena's POV

"A Seer?" I couldn't hold back the shock in my voice at her question.

"No, Lye, there weren't any Seers in the Black family… at least none that I knew of. Why are you asking me this?" I said, although if I'm being honest I thing I already knew the answer.

"Because I think I am one" She said. Her voice was careful, like she had planned out exactly what to say. I felt a pang in my heart. Was she afraid I wouldn't accept her if she told me this? I went over and gave her a hug. "Okay, that's okay sweety. Now can you tell me why you think you're a Seer?". Guilt flashed in her face for a second before it was gone.

"I had a vision today" she said, her voice as flat as her expression.

"Can you tell me what it was?" I couldn't hide my concern if I tried. Seers were rare… very rare. Hallucinations were a lot more common, especially in the Black family. I didn't want to doubt her, but the odds of it being a real vision were…

"I saw that you and Daddy got really angry with the Dursley's, because they were keeping Harry in a cupboard and not feeding him properly. So you called the police and they took Harry away…", So far it didn't seem likely that it was a true vision. The Dursley's wouldn't do that to Harry would they? Sure they seemed a little uptight, specially Petunia… but what Lyra was describing was outright child abuse. Even as I tried to deny it, I remembered Harry's face. Thin… too thin some would say. It was even more obvious next to his cousin. I didn't want to judge, but Petunia really did let her child get away with too much.

"But then he came back… and this time there was someone with him… a really old man with a long white beard and he called himself Dumbledore…"

At those words I could feel the blood leave my face. I had never told her about Albus Dumbledore. I hadn't told David about him either. There hadn't been any need to. He was just another name in a sea of names and faces that I had left behind.

There was no way for her to know about the Hogwarts Headmaster… unless this vision was real.

"And then … he waved his wand and said 'Obliviate' … and then you and Daddy didn't remember anything about Harry anymore", And with that she broke down crying.

If I hadn't been scared before, I was now.

Chapter 7- Pictures on the wall

Surrey-March-1990
Age 10

Lyra's POV

It had worked. I still can't believe it actually worked. The very next day mum had gone over to the Dursley's to ask if it was okay for Harry to come over for dinner. I'm sure there was a lot more she wanted to say to them… and a lot less politely. But she knew she had to be careful. It was either help him subtly or don't help him at all.

Dad had taken the news of me being a Seer surprisingly well. After a brief pause he turned to me and said, "I don't suppose you would know which companies I should invest in would you?" He had meant it as a joke, but that got me thinking… I really did know which recently formed companies would go on to be the next big thing. Who knew trivia like that could actually be useful? … So after that point, all of Dads investments started sky-rocketing. In fact he made so much of a profit that he could stop working if he wanted to, but of course- he actually liked his job. It was the kind of work that made a difference in the world.

In the beginning Dad had been reluctant to get involved with Harry's home life. But after the first time he came over, that changed.

"Is this all for me?" Harry said, staring at his dinner plate.

I could see my parents exchange knowing looks from the corner of my eyes.

"Yup… It's all for you, and if you don't eat it all, I'm going to get taller and stronger and you'll be stuck as a scrawny, specky git forever!" … I had always wanted to steal one of the twins' lines.

"No, I won't" He said in that adorably adamant voice, nose scrunched up in mild annoyance. And then he started stuffing himself as fast as he could, determined to finish before me. Ah! So the Gryffindor in him was alive and well. Good to know.

Not that I would let the challenge go unanswered. I speeded through my meal, playing along with the game. I could see the amusement on my parents faces. This was probably the first time they'd seen me act my age.

After that everything between me and Harry was a competition.

I bet I can swing higher than you can.

I bet I can hold my breath longer.

I bet I can run faster.

Before long Harry was issuing as many challenges as I was (for the record it's currently 76-72 in my favor). And with every passing day we grew closer and closer, until we were best friends. The way only six year olds can be. He could keep up with me surprisingly well considering he was 6 and I was 6+15 of another lifetime. He was an intelligent child and he could easily pick up things he had only seen or heard once. He wasn't quite a prodigy. But he was still quite ahead of his age group. I wonder if it was a consequence of having to grow up too fast. With the way he was raised, he must have very strong survival instincts (That explained so much). It was always learn fast or suffer.

I had always been a confused mix of childish instincts and mature understanding. Like- I knew logically that another cone of ice-cream would make me sick, but I still couldn't help but cry when it couldn't have it. Harry brought out the child in me more easily than anyone ever had. And as I started to know him, he finally left the pages of the books and became a real person. Some days I forgot he was Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. Somewhere between eating contests and pillow fights he had become Just Harry.

And it wasn't just me he was building a relationship with. Over time he had become something of a pseudo son to my parents. From helping my mum in the kitchen to playing catch with dad on the weekends. He had become a part of the family.

Number 4 Privet Drive was his residence in name only. It's the place he went to, to sleep. It was where he spent his time cooking meals and doing odd chores.

His home work was currently sprawling over our coffee table. The books and toys my parents had gifted him over the years were lined up neatly in the spare cupboard of our guest room. There were pictures of Harry and me decorating the living rooms walls- Laughing, playing, sleeping on top of each other after a long, long day of exhausting ourselves. When Mum had put up the first of those Harry had stared at it for a whole minute before he'd started crying. Because he'd understood what she was trying to say. This was his home.