Summary:

Sirius Black, you're in it now. Wazzock. But what's this?

Author's Note:

This is the story that focuses on the spiritual point of this series: the headmaster of Hogwarts is going to go through what he put Harry through, and what he put Sirius through.

As the story goes on, the challenge will be to let the headmaster be hoisted on his own petard without permanently harming Harry and Sirius' bodies, which they'll need to rejoin eventually.

This is a sequel to Harmonic Convergence, even though half of it happens chronologically before the start of The Other Side of the Hourglass. As such, when this story starts, the timelines have collided, the Headmaster has already been trapped by bodyswaps to where he can do no harm, and Tom Riddle has been destroyed, and is a wraith.

The biggest difference from canon is that the Headmaster throughout this series is actually a body-swapped Sirius Black. Sirius' main challenges are basically in the institutions and those who ruin them such as Fudge or Malfoy. Of course, he also plans to stop Voldemort, and later, render Hogwarts immune to whatever nonsense the Headmaster will try when his soul returns to its body in 2001.

November 2, 1981

Lie On Your Back And Think of England

To say Auror Sirius Black, 20 (alright, virtually 21), was in the s_t was far too modest an estimate. To say he was f_ed, likewise. He would probably die there in Azkaban, after all. It was just a day or two after an eventful Halloween. Trick or Treat! And let's specify, not the "treat" option.

And Harry would be at Petunia Dursley's dungeon until he grew up and couldn't take it and snuffed himself, or the Dursley family, or both.

At least one good thing came from this: if by some miracle he were ever cleared, he'd get payback on Albus Dumbledore. Clearly, he would get no help. For whatever reason, the c_t was going along with Peter's frame.

Sirius didn't give a bloody f_k what the reason was. A favour to Snivvy? To Barty Crouch? Control of Harry as some sort of pawn? The details didn't matter.

Of course, he mused, curling into a ball to stay warm, hopeful thoughts like payback against the rat or the bat or the fraudmaster, memories of how innocent he had been, those would be the first to go.

In Azkaban.

November 3, 1981

Happy Birthday!

New, and yet newly liberated, Azkaban captive Sirius Black was confused but had nothing left to lose. Probably no other state of affairs would have left him blindly trusting Xenophilius Lovegood. Especially with tasks that were odd even for the famously eccentric wizard. But, he reflected, the fact that he was here, in a ritual space in a cave near Ottery St. Catchpole, was evidence that trusting Xeno was the wisest choice at hand.

It would never have occurred to Sirius that Azkaban's anti-portkey wards would not stop an animagus in his animal form from being portkeyed out. Of course, he had only spent a day there, but still ... Xeno often behaved as if the laws of magic were arbitrary, but it was still impressive. As a Black, Sirius knew he was participating in a costly and rare blood ritual, but if Xeno was willing to sacrifice to have him go through it, he was eager to pay him back for his freedom.

It seemed to combine things he'd learned couldn't be combined, when he'd been at Hogwarts. Interestingly, the message smuggled to Sirius in his cell had included instructions to memorise the entire ritual, potions to chants. It was quite the ritual, it seemed to combine blood sacrifice, time travel, soul magic and exorcism in a way that defied Arithmantic analysis. If Xeno weren't insane, he reflected, he might be the cleverest wizard of their generation.

He felt magic rising up, then incredible pain, then everything went dark.

He wasn't in the cave anymore when he woke up, but in a dark, cramped space. He felt completely weak and helpless. He remembered being instructed that he wouldn't be able to speak, but instead should beat his hands and feet in a pattern that completed the ritual. He remembered it, but it was painful and almost impossible to do. Nonetheless, as he went through the motions, he felt magic rising again.

For whatever reason, his body was now not only utterly feeble but also highly sensitive to the ritual's pain. Sirius screamed. Before he blacked out again, he heard a loud voice shouting "I'll give the little freak something to scream about, you see if I don't, Petunia!" and a woman's voice mumbling something like "just a baby."

And now, here he was.

He hadn't even held out one night, Sirius; he'd utterly lost the plot, worse than Bellatrix. Unless he was dreaming, but who had elaborate dreams in Azkaban that weren't drawn-out nightmares? Not one thing made sense. He was on a literal feather bed, for one thing. For another, he was a bit cold (though not like his cell in Hell), even though snuggled away in a feather bed with a quilt and coverlet. He made to move, and - his joints; they creaked. Like a rusted gate they creaked. Made an actual "crick!" noise, or at least a quiet pop, as he moved. And hurt quite a bit. Nevertheless, he brought his hands to his face and encountered a long, long beard. In the dim light, it seemed to be pure white.

Chapter Notes:

I should re-summarize the schema:

1981:

Harry's body at Privet Drive has the Headmaster's soul from 1981 yanked from Hogwarts.

Sirius' body at Azkaban has the Headmaster's soul from 1991, yanked from Privet Drive.

Headmaster's body at Hogwarts has Sirius' soul from 1981 yanked from Azkaban.

1991:

Harry's body at Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place has Harry's soul from 1991 yanked from Sirius' body at Grimmauld.

Sirius' body at Grimmauld Place has Harry's soul from 1981, yanked from Privet Drive.

Headmaster's body at Hogwarts has Sirius' soul from 1991 remaining at Hogwarts

2001:

Everyone ends up in their proper bodies and ages:

Harry stays in his body and his soul is the proper age.

Sirius jumps from the Headmaster's body to his own, and his soul is the proper age

The Headmaster jumps from Sirius' body in Azkaban in 1991 to his own body in 2001, and his soul is the proper age

Additionally:

To give Sirius a break from being old, he often swaps bodies with toddler Harry (inhabiting Sirius' body) starting in 1991. Toddler-Harry doesn't mind having his wits befuddled by pain potions and charms, but he doesn't like having painful joints. He very much enjoys the attention of being Headmaster. Harry still hears the Headmaster say things like "Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!" but doesn't realise it's his 15-month-old self doing it. The Headmaster from 1991 has a reputation for occasionally losing his wits, but also being delightfully childlike. To preserve history somewhat, Sirius (as the Headmaster) has Harry stay at the Dursleys for a set three weeks every summer, but has arranged for Harry to be spared any persecution by them.

Starting at ten (mental and spiritual) years of age, Harry (in Sirius' body) is given the memories of his sad original (canon) childhood, which are preserved at the Rookery. This preserves the timeline enough for older Harry Potter to jump back into younger Harry Potter in 1991 to start the events of "The Other Side of the Hourglass." Phew.