Hey everyone, how are you doing? Great? Fantastic, talk about a one-sided conversation. Anyway, I want to thank you for the support on this story, know that it will always remain helpful. I never want to be one to beg for reviews, but they really do give me an idea to how you guys are liking the story. So consider it? Now without further ado, on with the story!

Flashbacks


How It Should've Been

Chapter 6: Can't We Get a Break?

It had been a week since Harry had arrived at Hogwarts and was sorted into Ravenclaw. He sat up in his bed on the Saturday morning and thought about his past week.

"Now it is time to feast!" Dumbledore called after all the first years had been sorted. Food appeared on the tables in front of them and everyone began eating and just having a good first feast back.

"Your staring." Luna remarked from Harry's right.

"What? No, I'm not." Harry argued.

"You are. Your staring at Hermione. Why?" Luna asked. Harry shook his head before turning to look at her.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I ran into her at the book shop in the alley and then sat with her on train." He told Luna.

"She intrigues you?" Luna asked as Harry turned his head back to look at where Hermione was further down the table.

"Yeah, you could say that." He muttered just loud enough for Luna to hear him.

Standing, Harry moved to his trunk and grabbed out clothes before going to take a shower and get dressed. He shared a room with one other Ravenclaw boy, Terry Boot. The Ravenclaw dorms were split into sets of two for the dorms.

Once in the shower and knowing Terry was still asleep Harry slipped his necklace off.

After finishing his shower, Harry put his necklace back on and activated it before he got dressed in his Hogwarts uniform before leaving the dorm and going down to the common room. It was six thirty in the morning, so the common room was mostly empty. All except for a girl sitting on the couch reading a book, Hermione. Harry moved over to the couch and sat next to her.

The shift in the couch caused her to look up from her book. Harry offered her a small smile. She just went back to reading. After a few minutes, she became annoyed and looked back up.

"Why do you seem to be everywhere?" Hermione snapped.

"What do you mean?" Harry confused.

"Are you like a stalker or something? You're always around." She blurted out, causing Harry to chuckle.

"No, I assure I am not a stalker. But can't I want to be friends?" Harry questioned.

"Why would you want to be friends with me?" She asked cautious.

"Here's a better question, who wouldn't?"

"Most people." She answered looking down.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm not like most people. Because I want to be friends with you." Harry said. Her head shot up and whipped to face him, eyes wide. "So, let's start over. Ryder Cage." He held his hand out waiting for her to do the same.

"Hermione Granger." She had a small smile ghosted on her face as she extended her hand and shook his. After she went back to her book.

Frowning slightly Harry continued. "What's your favorite color?" She looked at him like 'what in the world?'. He raised an eyebrow as if saying 'just answer it.'

Looking between the book and Harry, she sighed before closing the book and setting it on the end table to her left.

"Green." She answers shifting her body to face him slightly. "Your's?"

"Navy." He answered with a grin, but he didn't ask another question Hermione looked at him confused. "We go back and forth."

"Okay, what school did you go to before you transferred?"

"Prodigals Institute. When's your birthday?"

"September 19th. When's yours?"

"November 15th. What's your middle name?" Harry lied and countered.

"Jane. What's one thing you hate about the wizarding world?"

"It's prejudices. What did your parents think when they learned you were a witch?" Harry asked. Hermione looked shocked.

"H-how did you know?" She stammered.

"That you're a muggleborn? It's not hard to figure out." At her look Harry continued, "I don't mean it rudely, I told you, I hate the prejudices. Now I believe I asked a question?"

"As you can imagine they were shocked and unbelieving but they had to believe, they saw some of the impossible things I've done. What about you?" She asked and even though she did specify what she was asking, Harry understood.

"Half-blood. My mother was a muggleborn, my father a pureblood. What do your parents do for a living?"

"They're dentists. What do yours do?" She asked not realizing.

"They're not around anymore." From his tone, Hermione put the pieces together and understood.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know." She tried.

"It's okay. They died a long time ago. I live with my dad and aunt." He told her.

"But I though-?" She trailed off.

"They are, my dad is my dad in everything but blood. Though my aunt is actually my blood. My mom's sister." He informed her. The questions ended and they just began talking about random things until more and more people filled the common room and they realized the time. Knowing it was getting late, they made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

They were about to sit down when Harry noticed something. The candle that was on the table in front of him flickered. Now to anyone else it would've just been a flicker but Harry saw the pattern to it. It would flicker then pause then flicker twice before pausing again. He recognized that pattern. It was one he and his family used when they needed to talk.

Hermione hadn't seen his hesitation when she sat. He turned slightly to her still with one leg on either side of the bench still standing. "I'll be right back." He assured her and went to turn to leave but she caught his arm.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked frowning slightly.

"I have to go do something." He answered but gave no indication of what it was he was going to do. With that he moved and made his way back out of the Hall.

He hurriedly made his way to the Room of Requirement. Once the door appeared he stepped into the room for all of a second before he vanished in a column of fire. Upon his disappearance, the room reverted back to its normal state, waiting for the next person to use it.

Harry appeared in front of the fireplace in the house. As he walked towards the study, he tapped the necklace and when he entered the room, his appearance was back to normal. Upon entering the study, he saw Alex sitting on the edge of his dads desk waiting.

"I'm here, what's up?" He said drawing her attention from a paper.

"Not exactly sure." Alex admitted as she stood and reached forward handing him the paper. It was a letter.

Harry,

My boy, I've had to leave. I'm sorry, know that more than anything else, but being back in Britain has allowed me to see the truth. I can't help you be the man you need to be. The man your parents would want you to be. That's why, next summer you will be spending the summer with your aunt. I know this is abrupt but I believe this is for the best. I wish you the best.

umDeobdler

"What the hell? Dad wouldn't do this no matter what country we're in. And why call me 'my boy'? He's never called be that before. And he would never use the word aunt in the context to reference to you." Harry was incredibly confused, he looked up to Alex hoping she had more answers then he did.

"I don't know much more than you. Other than the fact that I know your looking in the wrong place for answers." She said standing and she moved around the desk to the other side. "But I do know this isn't from Sirius and I have a guess as to who it's from." She revealed.

"Who?" Harry demanded, she beckoned for him to stand next to her. She picked up a pencil and wrote on a piece of paper.

"Look at the signature." She told him as she wrote down the letters on the new paper. "umDeobdler. That's not a name if I've ever heard one. And certainly not your dad's. Watch." She told him as she started rearranging the letters starting with the capital D.

"Oh my gods." Harry breathed.

"You want answers to those questions. That's where you're going to get them." She told him as they both looked at the respelled word.

umDeodbler

Dumbledore

"Why would he sign it his own name?" Harry asked.

"I don't think he did." Alex admitted.

"What'd you mean?" Harry asked looking up from the paper.

"The letter is in Sirius's handwriting. And from what I know, there isn't a spell that can replicate handwriting this exact. The only spells I've seen that can, have some unique identifiers in the writing, there aren't any here." Alex explained.

"So that would mean he had to have wrote it." Harry concluded. "Well what can we do to find him? How do we confront Dumbledore?" Harry questioned.

"We?" She looked at him, before shaking her head and walking over to a bookshelf to the left of the desk. "No, kid your going back to school. I'm figuring this out." She told him.

"What? No! He's my dad and I am perfectly capable of helping find him!" Harry exclaimed not caring about the reasons.

"You think I don't know that?" Alex asked when she whipped around to face him at his words. "I know you are capable and I know you want to help. But you can't. You have to go back to school and act like nothing happened because as far as they're concerned you are Ryder Cage, you have no relation to Sirius Black and we can't risk Dumbledore finding out and doing more than he already has. Your dad is obviously fighting back. He wrote that letter with clues, and now it's my turn to follow up on them. And it's your turn to trust me enough to find." She told him firmly not giving an inch.

"Alex…" He began only to be cut off.

"Do you trust me?" Alex demanded.

"That's not the point-" He was cut off again.

"Do you?"

"Yes, but-"

"So, help your dad by raising hell at school. You do that, it keeps Dumbledore distracted, and it gives us more time to find him before anything bad can happen. So, go back to school, give Dumbledore hell and you will be helping your dad." She finished leaving no room for argument. She pulled a book before opening it and removing something from it before closing it, and taking the letter on her way towards the door. When she reached it, Harry called out.

"Alex." He called causing her to turn around and lift an eyebrow in question. "What're you going to do?"

"Find the one person that knows your dad better than you do." She turned and left the study before disappearing in arcs of electricity.

After she left, Harry sighed. He knew to listen to Alex. He may not have wanted to but he knew she was better at finding people than almost anyone. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a picture on the desk. He reached out and picked it up.

It was a photo of him and Sirius, both holding a surf board in one arm from one of their many vacations. "Time for the Marauders legacy to live on, huh dad?" He set the frame down before leaving the room. He may not have been able to directly help find his dad, but he could certainly make Dumbledore's life hell until Alex could.


Hey everyone, so I realized I never mentioned this and some people might be wondering. Now you can imagine that if Harry went into Hogwarts with a glamour the wards would remove it. Well the dog tags necklace that he wears is not a normal magic item. It is a necklace created by Hecate which Alex got as a favor. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and Happy Reading! -DS

So, Sirius has gone missing under some seriously odd circumstances. Who do you think Alex has gone to find?