A/N) Thank you for the reviews so far! This chapter was really fun to write and you will learn exactly how the confrontation between Sirius and Voldemort went… This is quite a long chapter too… Over 5500 words!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The spells used in this chapter were invented by Robin4 for her Unbroken Universe who has kindly given me permission to use them.

Twisting Time

Chapter Seven

Friday 11th December 1981

It was at this present time Sirius recognised he had two choices. The first was to keep Voldemort talking and hope he wouldn't torture him too much in his effort to find James, Lily and Harry, which wasn't something he could give anyway but as long as Voldemort believed him to be the key to their whereabouts he hopefully wouldn't kill him. The second choice was far more him: be reckless and fight back. Even without a wand to hand, Sirius could still be a formidable opponent when he wanted to be.

The Dark Lord just stood there watching him with those blazing red eyes. It was very unnerving.

"You have information I require," the Dark Lord finally said. "You sought to trap me and failed. Now we have all the time in the world. Your Secret Keeper never told anyone else where you were. There is no one to rescue you and no one to hear you scream."

Sirius swallowed, his eyes moving rapidly around the room, looking for anything that could help him. All the traps he had set had been deactivated. Voldemort had only checked for them because he had known what to expect.

"I should thank you for leaving your notes behind. If my loyal Death Eaters had not decided to investigate then perhaps your trap would have worked and you wouldn't be in the position you are now as my prisoner."

"I am not your prisoner!" spat Sirius viciously glaring angrily at the monster in front of him.

"You have no wand. No way to escape me," the snake answered. He flicked his wand and ropes shot out of the end, heading towards Sirius who ducked out the way, moving to the other side of the room.

"I am not coming with you! Nor will I submit to be questioned by you!" he answered. It wasn't his best idea to bait Voldemort but he had to do something. His traps were destroyed by Voldemort's magic and he needed his wand to be able to deactivate the Fidelius Charm. He could do wandless magic but to break the Fidelius Charm he needed a wand. He really should have considered obtaining a second wand yet it was the one thing he had not considered when planning his own confrontation with Voldemort.

Of course he could have just as easily deactivated the Fidelius Charm after Peter had left, unfortunately ancient research had suggested the Secret Keeper would know the charm had been lowered, therefore ensuring Voldemort wouldn't come after him if he could easily send his own Death Eaters to do his dirty work.

"You have one thing I want," stated Voldemort coldly. "Make it easy on yourself. Tell me where the Potters are and your suffering will be short."

Sirius raised one eyebrow, glaring hatefully at his enemy. He snorted as he spoke. "Threatening to kill me isn't going to make me want to tell you where my best friends are!"

"Perhaps not…" admitted Voldemort casually, "but I have plenty of time to get it from you. No one can hear you scream. Crucio!"

Sirius rolled out of the way of the curse, stumbling back into the living room, searching for anything to duel with. He watched with weary eyes as Voldemort strode into the living room. Sirius' wand was still held in his left hand and he brought it up to his red-flaming eyes.

"I don't think you need this anymore, do you?" said Voldemort cheerfully. He snapped Sirius' wand in half and threw the pieces of wood to the side.

Sirius stared at the pieces that were once his wand. Shit. He was so screwed. Unless… It was likely a false hope but perhaps –

"Crucio!"

The torture curse hit him and he crumpled, writhing in agony. He screamed as pain rocked his body. God, this hurts. This really hurts! He'd been hit by the Cruciatus Curse before but never by Voldemort. He had complete and utter control of it and his power levels ensured the level of pain caused was high.

Sirius buckled, his spine twisting left and right as he tried to break free from the curse. He needed a wand… He knew there was a counter-curse… Pain boggled his mind and just as his vision began to darken the curse was lifted.

"Now, will you co-operate with my demands or will I have to do that again?" It was scary how calm Voldemort sounded.

Sirius coughed, his body shaking as he tried to control his reactions. "You know… this… wasn't… what… I had… planned… for a… Friday… night. Maybe… a good book… or film… but not… this." He really shouldn't try to be sarcastic with Voldemort as the next thing he knew he was screaming again as the Cruciatus Curse hit him for the second time.

"Econtra Cruci!" wheezed Sirius, putting all his effort, all his power into throwing off the torture curse. It rebounded upon its caster. He had never been able to throw off the Cruciatus Curse without a wand before but he had heard it was possible. He lay on the floor, eyes closed.

"To be able to throw the torture curse back at me even in your weakened state is an impressive feat," said Voldemort as he stalked closer to his prisoner. He pointed his wand at Sirius' shaking form. "Tell me."

Sirius opened his eyes. It had taken a lot of energy to throw the Cruciatus Curse off without his wand. Biting his lower lip, Sirius focused upon his magic. He had to find a way out or at least something he could duel with. His wand was snapped so even if he was able to get hold of one of the ends it would be useless to work with.

"Give me… one… good…reason… why… I should…betray…my…friends," he wheezed. As soon as Voldemort realised he didn't know the Secret the quicker his death would be unless he used him to find out who the real Secret Keeper was. He had to keep up the charade he was playing.

"Because your death will be excruciatingly painful if you do not."

"Fantastic," murmured Sirius. Focusing his mind on his hand, thinking of what he needed to do, he channelled his magic. Wandless magic was difficult to perform but Sirius did have experience at it. During his two years as a fugitive he had learned to use magic without a wand and it had come in pretty handy. Right now, in this time, a young Sirius Black wouldn't know how to, yet he wasn't young anymore. He may be in a young body and assumed to be in his early twenties but he still maintained all the skills he had learned from the previous timeline.

"Venderum!" he hissed and the spell cast hit Voldemort and sent him flying back. Sirius quickly followed it up with another spell, casting the room and the house into darkness.

Ignoring the pain in his body and the jet of green light that shot his way, Sirius scrambled for the door frame, pulling himself out of the living area and towards the stairs. He felt exhausted. The effort of putting so much energy into casting off the Cruciatus Curse as well as sending a powerful curse against Voldemort and turning the lights out had effectively drained him. He couldn't afford to lose it. Everything depended on him.

He reached the stairs and pulled himself up, one at a time. He saw light erupt from Voldemort's wand. Gritting his teeth, he moved his arm again and delved down into himself and muttered 'Aboriscum'. It was an old spell he had found in the books he had been studying and one that made the caster invisible for a short amount of time.

He could have taken this opportunity to escape, leave the confines of the Fidelius Charm but he still had hope he could win if only he could find a bloody wand!

"You can't hide from me, Black!" screeched Voldemort.

Sirius scurried up the stairs as quietly as possible, ignoring the pain wracking his body and biting his lips to avoid screaming and giving up his location. He reached the top of the stairs and took a deep breath, crawling forward towards the closed door to the right. He reached for the handle but found it locked.

The other doors to the upper floor rooms were open. Why was this one locked?

Taking a risk, Sirius cast the unlocking charm and pushed the door open. It creaked loudly as he pushed it wide open. Feet thundered on the stairs and Sirius scrambled back into the room as quickly as possible, pressing himself into the corner, hoping against hope the charm he had used to make himself invisible was still in operation.

Voldemort appeared in the doorway, his face angry and his eyes blazing with hatred.

Sirius stilled his breathing and waited.

Voldemort turned and moved to the next room.

Heart beating hard in his chest Sirius moved towards a desk that sat against the wall. To his utter surprise he found a wand in the top-most drawer of the desk. It was old and splintered and had seen good use.

Clutching his fingers around the wood, Sirius slowly stood from his position only to find Voldemort standing right behind him, a dangerous smile crossing his snake-like face.

He was no longer protected by the charm he had used to make himself invisible.

"I thought I heard your breathing in here," laughed Voldemort, raising his wand.

Sirius countered, still feeling dazed and exhausted.

Then he felt something in his head, scrambling around his brain and he realised with horror Voldemort was attempting to read his mind. Sirius slammed his barriers down, surprised to find they had fallen. Perhaps using so much magic in a short amount of time had torn his barriers down, leaving his mind unprotected and Voldemort a chance to dig around?

"Get out of my head!" snarled Sirius. A spark of fear trickled into his stomach. He really hoped Voldemort hadn't seen anything in the few moments he had been able to explore Sirius' mind.

"You are not the Secret Keeper."

Oh shit.

"I've been chasing the wrong man." Voldemort's voice was getting quieter and quieter. Sirius didn't like that.

"They were smarter than I assumed they would be… Especially in choosing Albus Dumbledore to hide them," continued Voldemort dangerously.

Sirius took a step back, clutching the wand he had found tightly in his hand. He was quite literally cornered. He had nowhere to go and he knew instinctively what curse was to come.

"But there is something different about you," snarled Voldemort.

"Fuck," Sirius swore. Somehow, despite pushing Voldemort out of his head, the Dark Lord still had a hunch he was different.

"I didn't see much in your head before you raised your defences and shut me out but I do know you are not really twenty-two years old, time-traveller."

Sirius' eyes widened. He raised the wand he'd found and bellowed: "Cadovallum!"

The walls came crashing down around him as he made a dash around Voldemort and out of the room, even as the Dark Lord tried to reach out and grab him.

A new burst of energy rushed through his body as he ran back down the hall, leaping down the stairs until he was at the bottom again. Waving his wand he quickly muttered a few spells hoping Voldemort would run straight into him, thinking Sirius to be too weak to extend any more magical power.

The traps he had hastily laid worked as a screech of fury erupted from Voldemort's throat as he sprinted right into a web of spells. The shocking spell, the bone breaker, the slowing down spell and the hammer curse all at once cascaded down upon the Dark Lord.

The combination of spells threw Voldemort back, his wand falling from his fingers as he fell through another door and down into a cellar.

Sirius grabbed for the abandoned wand and pursued, heart beating fast in his chest. This was it, this was the moment. It hadn't panned out how he had planned but fate seemed to be on his side now. He could feel his energy draining from him but he forced himself to continue. He had to. He had this one chance: one chance to stop Voldemort.

He entered the cellar and cast his gaze around.

Voldemort was getting to his feet.

Their eyes met.

Sirius didn't hesitate. "Avada Kedavra!"

A burst of green light erupted from the wand in his hand.

But Voldemort flung himself out of the way.

Sirius barely had time to think as the Dark Lord flew at him, hands reaching for his throat and the wand. They tumbled together, each trying to maintain a grip on the wand, even as Voldemort's thin fingers found his throat, Sirius shouted: "Confringo!"

The blasting curse hit Voldemort directly in the chest. Voldemort screeched, releasing Sirius in the process as the younger man fell down, his legs giving way. The Dark Lord's robes were on fire, quickly encasing his body in flames. He was burning; his skin was beginning to melt due to the intense heat…

Red eyes caught his own and without warning a dark curse exited Voldemort's hand and headed straight for Sirius. He rolled, screaming in pain as his injuries made it difficult to move quickly but his movement was enough as the curse sailed above him, hitting the wall behind him.

And then everything exploded.

Dumbledore saw it happen.

His childhood home exploded as the Fidelius Charm broke of its own accord due to the fierce nature of the eruption. The walls crashed together and the floors broke apart falling down upon one another. Fire leapt from the building and another smaller explosion boomed, rocking the ground beneath his feet.

Dumbledore stumbled, nearly losing his footing.

He rushed towards the still-standing gate, robes flaying around him, holding his wand in hand. The majority of the house was completely destroyed. It seemed the explosion had come from the basement. Was Sirius still alive? Had Voldemort survived?

The house was mostly destroyed and he carefully moved towards the wreckage. He walked towards the right and started to put out the fire, using a very powerful Augumenti charm to reduce the burning building. With the fire out though still smoking, Dumbledore moved forward and started to levitate parts of the house up.

He hoped he was right in guessing Sirius had been in the basement when the explosion happened but it was also likely he had died in it. Unless he was incredibly lucky.

He hastily levitated the bottom floor out the way and behind him he could hear the sounds of movement. Muggles were coming to investigate as well as witches and wizards who resided in the area. He hoped fervently James and Lily wouldn't arrive – he hoped they would use their common sense to stay away from the area.

Dumbledore erected a privacy shield and a barrier to stop anyone from interfering with his work. He knew he could rely on resident witches and wizards to keep the Muggles away.

Dust rose from the earth as he found the basement. The majority of the house had fallen into it.

And that was when he saw him: curled up in a ball, a shield wrapped around his body, valiantly protecting its caster, was Sirius Black.

Stumbling forward the Headmaster knelt down and saw in Sirius' hand was his old wand. The wand he had planted back at the house when he had offered the building for Sirius' plan. He had guessed Voldemort would disarm Sirius and the man would attempt to flee and he had hoped he would find his old wand…

Dumbledore reached forward and used a small burst of magic to make Sirius' shield disappear and reached for the man's shoulder. He was unconscious so how he was able to maintain a shield he didn't know. Granted he had known from watching the boy grow up during his seven years of Hogwarts that he was powerful but to keep a shield up even after being thrown unconscious was a miracle. He could feel Sirius' magical signature was strained and he had overpowered himself. He was also severely injured.

"My boy," he muttered. Looking around Dumbledore saw a mess of black robes amongst a pool of melted skin. Blood mingled with the colour and the Headmaster realised this mess had once been Voldemort. His breath stilled as he considered the implications. Was Voldemort truly dead? Had Sirius done it? But according to Sirius' memories Voldemort had survived in the old timeline which meant it was likely he had survived this… It was just his body had been destroyed by the fire and explosion.

A hissing sound drew his attention back to Sirius' prone form on the ground. Blood was still leaking from various wounds the man had suffered but he wasn't what had made the sound. Instead above him was a cloud of grey smoke but Dumbledore could feel malevolent evil emanating from it. He raised his wand and pointed it at the grey smoke.

"Leave now, Voldemort." He knew on instinct the cloud was Voldemort's damaged spirit.

A snake-like face formed from the cloud. The cloud screeched as it turned towards Dumbledore. Words could just about be deciphered from it.

"I will have my revenge!"

"Not today, Tom," Dumbledore said, changing tactics. He rarely called Voldemort by the name he had chosen to his face but when he did, he usually did for a reason. But it was Voldemort's next words that made him worry.

"The time-traveller will be mine!" Voldemort's screech echoed loud and clear and Dumbledore just got a shield up in time to protect Sirius' prone form as the spirit of the Dark Lord flew forward. The shield caused Voldemort to bounce and he flew into the air screaming. Dumbledore watched as the spirit fled, knowing that he wouldn't return until he was powerful again.

Returning to Sirius' side, Dumbledore knelt down, dismissing his shield. His eyes studied the younger man. How had Voldemort known? As he stared into Sirius' mind he realised with concern that the Occlumency shields the young man could erect were not there. "Of course," he muttered. "Magical exhaustion."

That was the answer.

Clearly Sirius had magically exhausted himself using wandless magic, causing the barriers on his mind to drop and leave his mind free to read. It was the last thing they needed. Still, Voldemort knowing about Sirius's true identity might mean he would refrain from hunting the Potters or the Longbottoms.

Looking around at the wreckage Dumbledore conjured a Patronus. He needed to send an immediate message to the Ministry and get Sirius the medical help he needed. Taking Sirius' body into his arms, Dumbledore Apparated.

Harry had finally stopped crying and gone back to sleep. He seemed exhausted. His little hand still kept hold of his mother's clothing as he lay on her chest. James lay next to her, having finally closed their bedroom curtains.

He turned his head towards her. "What do you think Harry meant by Padfoot is hurt?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know," she frowned. "You don't think he was in that explosion do you?"

"I hope he wasn't. But why would Sirius be in Godric's Hollow? Hiding here would just be folly on his part, not when it is so close to us," said James.

"I don't know… The blast that we saw… I think it came from where the Dumbledore family lived. If Sirius is working with Dumbledore than it is possible…" Lily shook her head. "I hope he isn't because then we will wonder if he is…" She couldn't finish the sentence.

James sat up. "Yet Harry seemed to know something was wrong with Padfoot. Why?"

"I think we are going to have to talk to Dumbledore," said Lily, "when we can. It could be Harry had a nightmare about Sirius…"

"You said your charms revealed Harry hadn't had a nightmare," James pointed out.

Lily sighed. "I know." She stroked her son's hair. "I could be wrong."

A slight smile tugged at James' lips. "Lil, you're never wrong with your charms."

Lily grimaced. "There is always the first time."

Instead of taking Sirius to St Mungo's, Dumbledore chose to return to Hogwarts. There was only one person he could trust. If word got out Sirius had been there at the time of Voldemort's defeat, his supporters would put two and two together and come straight to attack Sirius in revenge. Keeping him away from

While the Matron worked on Sirius' injuries, Dumbledore travelled back to Godric's Hollow. First he had to make a stop at James and Lily's. He was gratified to know they had stayed safely in their house. It was one of the reasons why he had refused to tell James and Lily what he and Sirius were up to. If they knew Sirius had been in Godric's Hollow too they would have left their sanctuary – or James Potter would at least.

Arriving at the cottage, Dumbledore passed through the Fidelius Charm barrier and walked up the path. It was still the middle of the night, only an hour had passed since he had left with Sirius. The Ministry were at the ruined house trying to piece together the facts before submitting any news to the public.

Sending a Patronus to James and Lily to announce his arrival, Dumbledore unlocked their front door and walked inside their house, settling himself into their living room, just as James and Lily entered, with Harry still curled up sleeping against his mother's chest.

"James, Lily… Thank you for staying in safety earlier," he began. "I thought it best for you to hear this from me rather than the media. I know you still use the Wireless to keep up with events. No doubt tonight's ones will be the focus for the next few weeks."

James and Lily exchanged significant expressions.

"What happened at your house, Professor?" asked Lily, quite boldly.

Dumbledore chuckled. "You realised it was at my old home then?" He shook his head. He should have expected it. "Sirius and Voldemort were there tonight."

James instantly paled.

"Sirius is alive, James," Dumbledore stopped the younger man from asking. "And Voldemort has been defeated."

"WHAT?" shouted James as Lily's mouth fell open in shock. "How?

"From my own deductions it seems Sirius set Voldemort on fire and one of them ended up using a spell which hit a very explosive object in the cellar of my old home. Voldemort's body is destroyed but his soul lives on. I saw it myself however the war has ended… Voldemort is no longer a threat to you if he does not have a body. But for now I will leave the Fidelius Charm in place until I am sure the threat is well and truly over," explained Dumbledore. "There are always is supporters left who could continue to cause havoc."

"Why was Sirius hiding in Godric's Hollow?" asked James.

Dumbledore sighed. "Sirius had a plan to trap Voldemort and end the war. I agreed to assist him in this goal. Voldemort believed Sirius was your Secret Keeper and sought him. Due to the nature of our plans, we agreed for Sirius to hide under the Fidelius Charm as well and his Secret Keeper was Peter Pettigrew."

"Sirius had a Secret Keeper?" James' face blanched. "Peter's dead?"

"No," answered Dumbledore. "He is very much alive and is currently at home."

James gaped at him even as Lily let out a soft gasp.

"Peter is the traitor," stated Lily. "He gave Voldemort Sirius' location."

"I can't believe Peter is a traitor," swallowed James. "He wouldn't do that to us."

Dumbledore sighed and reached forward, patting him on the shoulder. "I am afraid James there is concrete evidence of Peter being the spy. He doesn't know Sirius told me about who he was picking as Secret Keeper. We have him under surveillance. As soon as he learns Sirius lives he will attempt to flee."

James looked stubborn. "But… he…"

Lily would have reached for her husband's hand if she hadn't been holding Harry. "James… If he was Sirius' Secret Keeper and he is still at home… He betrayed him willingly… You know that's how the charm works. You can't torture the Secret out of the Secret Keeper – it has to be given willingly. Though it is possible to want to give the Secret up to stop the pain, but the charm knows when one is being forced to as opposed to wanting to really give it up. But Peter's safe at home. He betrayed all of us willingly."

"We always knew there was someone close to you who was passing your movements to the Death Eaters," clarified Dumbledore.

"You thought it was Sirius," stated James coldly.

Dumbledore bowed his head. "I am glad I was wrong about that."

"So," swallowed Lily, shifting her arms so Harry lay more comfortable, "what happened tonight?"

"Voldemort arrived to capture Sirius and force him to reveal your location. I have not yet spoken to Sirius but as far as I can tell they did duel and judging by Sirius' injuries he was hit by the Cruciatus Curse several times. And he was disarmed. Sirius managed to get upstairs and find my old wand, which I had placed there a few days ago just in case. I know when it comes to questioning potential prisoners, Voldemort prefers to disarm them and snap their wand. Obviously Sirius found my wand as I found him with it. As far as I can tell what destroyed Voldemort's body was Sirius setting him on fire, followed by the explosion which he was in very close proximity with. That destroyed his body. It is rather a miracle Sirius survived intact too as I believe he was closer to the explosion than Voldemort was."

James looked worried. "How did he survive?"

"Somehow he managed to get a shield up in time to protect himself," answered Dumbledore. "He was unconscious as well and is now magically exhausted. It will probably be a few days before he is well enough to talk and I must ask, James, that you do not try to leave to visit him until after I have spoken with him. I know you would want to see him but the Fidelius Charm will be remaining active for a little while longer."

James sighed and rubbed a weary hand over his face. "Okay. Fine. What about Remus?"

"He is currently undercover with the werewolf packs. He is due home in the next month though I am sure once word has leaked out Voldemort has been defeated, Remus will leave of his own accord."

"And Peter?" asked James stonily.

"He will be brought in for questioning. The news about Voldemort's defeat has yet to be released and I have informed the Ministry to bring him in." Dumbledore looked at Harry sleeping in his mother's arms. "And how is Harry?"

Lily brushed a bit of black hair out of her son's face. "He's been fine, happy and bubbly but…" she hesitated, "Harry seemed to know something was going on last night. He wouldn't stop crying and my charms couldn't sense why he was upset… Then he stopped just before the explosion happened and said 'Pafoo hurt.'"

"'Pafoo' is Harry's name for Sirius," interjected James.

"Then he started crying again," finished Lily. "It's just… now we know Sirius really was hurt… How did Harry know?"

This was interesting. He had a theory. "Do you mind if I enter Harry's mind? See if I can find anything that could explain his reaction?"

James and Lily exchanged significant glances. Finally, Lily nodded.

"Do you need him awake? I know you need to have eye-contact," said James.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. I am not performing Legilimancy on him. I am using an ancient spell to look at his magical essence. I have a theory that can be confirmed in this way."

"Are you going to tell us your theory?" enquired Lily quietly.

"I will," confirmed Dumbledore. He raised a hand and muttered a word. His magic stretched out towards the little boy. As he searched the boy's magical power he saw how powerful he could be when trained properly. But within that magical power, within Harry himself, was a single glowing strand. There were other strands around Harry's magical essence but they did not glow. These two faded strands were that of his parents however the glowing one seemed to be a direct connection to Sirius Black. He could sense Sirius' presence on the boy's magical essence. Sirius, somehow, had a bond with Harry. How it had happened he didn't know. But it did feel new as if it had only been formed recently.

In Sirius' old timeline, when he had fallen through the Veil, Sirius had been met by a dead James and Lily. Their spirits had sent his older consciousness spiralling back through time to inhibit his younger body. Could they have been responsible for this?

He doubted they would ever learn the truth since that timeline didn't exist anymore.

"It appears Harry has a magical bond with Sirius. I sense three bonds on him. The first two link him with the both of you however it isn't magically active which is normal. The parent-child bond is rarely active. In fact bonds are hardly active at all – they are there to symbolise who we feel close to and who we love. Bonds are a branch of magic that is difficult to study. But Harry's bond with Sirius is magically active. They are linked, possibly mentally linked. I suspect due to this link, Harry felt Sirius in danger and become distressed over it. Unable to communicate in words what he was feeling or perhaps even seeing, he just cried."

James swallowed. "If Harry has this link with Sirius then does Sirius have one with Harry?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard. "I would assume so. Magically active bonds are so rare that the last known case was over a thousand years ago and even then it was considered impossible and highly unlikely. We are dealing with a unique opportunity that has not risen within our world for a very long time. I will clarify within Sirius' mind if he has a magically active link with Harry once I have spoken to him. I would not worry about the link, James, Lily… It could be a very positive thing to happen."

"Ok," nodded Lily quietly. "Sirius knew about Pettigrew didn't he? Before he was betrayed himself. That's why he didn't want Peter to be our Secret Keeper, wasn't it?"

"Very astute of you, Lily," praised the Headmaster. "That is correct. You might wonder why Sirius chose Peter to be his Secret Keeper despite knowing he was a traitor…"

James' face darkened. "It's not like Sirius to sit around and let himself be betrayed."

"It was part of the trap Sirius and I had worked together on to defeat Voldemort. It was a huge risk and could have ended in Sirius' death. But it hasn't. We didn't have any proof Peter was the spy that could be used in a court of law however now we do and he can be tried accordingly. I suspect, once he has been interrogated, Peter will confess to a lot of activities which resulted in the deaths of many of our members. It is horrible to consider a friend could do that but…"

"Sirius has the evidence," said James. "I just can't believe he would do that to us…"

"I am truly sorry, James. Perhaps when Peter is in custody you will be able to question him and find out why. I know the four of you were extremely close. It saddens me that the bond of brotherhood you shared has been broken," said Dumbledore solemnly. He stood to leave. "I have other business to attend to now. I will be in touch and I will inform you when Sirius wakes. If Harry has any other distressing episodes that you cannot explain, please contact me."

By the end of the night, the Ministry of Magic announced the end of the war and the news was covered in the Daily Prophet. The Aurors moved in on an unsuspecting Peter Pettigrew three hours before the news broke and brought him into custody.

Sirius remained in a magical coma, having exhausted himself in battle, and Voldemort had fled the country.

Across the country, in every part of the Wizarding community, witches and wizards celebrated the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Instead of Harry Potter becoming a hero and the saviour of the Wizarding World, it was Sirius Black, though he did not yet know it.

Across the world, in the deep forests of Albania, Voldemort rested and bided his time, waiting for the moment he could have his revenge on the man who had defeated him. It would be many years before that day would come.

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

Ok… so who was expecting Voldemort to realise Sirius was from the future?

I figured using Wandless magic would really exhaust a wizard and Sirius was using some advanced spells. Since Occlumency is a magical defence I figured if Sirius was using so much power to use magic wandlessly it is likely to make his barriers fall as he has no magical power to help protect himself. Naturally Voldemort would take every opportunity to get into his mind and once he does, Voldemort would easily learn Sirius is not the Secret Keeper and is from the future.

I also think Dumbledore would have ensured Sirius had a second wand available if he was disarmed and he also knows Sirius wouldn't run from a fight, even when it is going wrong. That's why he hid the wand upstairs. Dumbledore's mistake was not telling Sirius in advance why he had done so. This will be explained more in the next chapter. For clarification, Dumbledore has the Elder Wand: the wand Sirius obtained is Dumbledore's original wand from when he was eleven.

Voldemort survived because of his Horcruxes though his body was destroyed by the fire and the blast. Essentially he was melted and torn to pieces at the same time. His spirit lives on…

Harry and Sirius have a mental link. This will eventually be explained as to why it exists.

Sirius may be considered a hero to the Wizarding World but that doesn't mean Harry isn't important…

Until next time,

the-writer1988