A/N) I can't believe I have 600 reviews for this story. When I started writing this I never expected the feedback I have gotten so I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to read and/or comment. Its been a real joy writing this story so far and I estimate we are now at least half-way through, though I cannot be sure yet as my plans, as always, keep changing! This chapter advances the story forward further...

Twisting Time

Chapter 26

Thursday 26th December 1991

Christmas was a fun affair for the Potter family. A traditional Potter Christmas usually included Sirius and Remus, both of whom didn't really have any other family to spend the day with. This year was different. It was just Remus joining them this year whilst Sirius spent the day with his girlfriend's family. Sirius had asked his N.E.W.T students to study the different traditions of Christmas between Wizarding and Muggle families and then to compare them in an essay which he had set to be delivered in the middle of January. He had insisted upon collaboration between each student by giving them a chance to have a group discussion after the holidays to learn more about the different traditions from each other.

Sirius had figured it had seemed only fair for him to do his own research. Though he had lived within the Muggle world for years, he had still observed Wizarding traditions so his own knowledge of the subject was incomplete. James and Lily had understood. Harry had been upset but Sirius had promised him he would see him on Christmas morning and that he would spend the whole of Boxing Day with the Potter family.

The last few months of the year since Halloween had been difficult for Sirius. First he had to inform Professor McGonagall about his status as a time-traveller, then it had leaked out – somehow – what had really happened to Quirrell. The Professor had yet to be found so they couldn't rule out the possibility the former Defence the Dark Arts teacher was still acting with Voldemort willingly. In the meantime, Professor Dumbledore had found a substitute for his position in the form of Gilderoy Lockhart who was, in Sirius' opinion, quite useless.

Lockhart, it seemed, thought he was more famous than Sirius Black.

Sirius had merely laughed in his face and walked off.

Even the students didn't seem that impressed with Lockhart, apart from those that had read his books and thought he wasn't exaggerating.

One thing Sirius had ensured he obtained was the Marauder's Map which had been confiscated from them at the beginning of their seventh year. None of them had attempted to retrieve it. Thankfully Sirius didn't need to go anywhere near Filch to ask for it back. He knew from his old life that the Weasley twins had stolen it during their first year. They had owned it for years before they had passed it onto Harry. But at this point in time, Sirius had known Fred and George Weasley were still the owners of the map.

And he wasn't going to steal from fellow pranksters either. Of course he didn't just want to call them to his office for no reason. They didn't take Muggle Studies and it would seem odd for a Professor to call two students to his office without being one of the Professors that taught the twins. So Sirius had waited until the time was right.

He had caught the twins in the middle of executing a prank and, as much as it pained him to do so, assigned them detention to be carried out the following night. He had ordered them to report to his office.

Sirius still smiled at the memory…

The twins entered his office, walking side-by-side with identical expressions on their faces. Sirius was at his desk, watching them approach. He gestured for them to sit. They did so, watching him wearily.

"Now, I caught you breaking school rules and I should punish you appropriately…" Sirius grinned, watching their expressions, wondering what they were thinking right now as he spoke. "However… I may be willing to disregard the detention in favour of something else."

Identical, intrigued faces stared back at him.

"What do you mean, Professor Black?" asked Fred, the eldest twin.

Sirius' lips turned lopsided. "I want something back that is mine. Which you have." He eyed them carefully. "The Marauder's Map."

"We don't have it," said George, too quickly.

"You know what it is though." Sirius pointed out the obvious. "And only those that know how to work it could be aware of the true contents of a specific piece of parchment."

Fred frowned. "No point in denying it, George. He obviously knows we have it."

"But how?" asked George.

Sirius smirked. "I'm not telling. But I've been after that map for ages. And since I am one of the four owners…"

The twin's faces dropped in shock.

"Wait…"

"What?"

"You are…"

"…one of the"

"Marauders?"

Sirius twiddled his thumbs, clearly enjoying himself. "Yes."

Fred leaned forward on his seat. "So which one are you?"

Folding his arms across his chest, Sirius leaned back against his chair. "I will tell you if you give me the map. This isn't an order from me as your Professor though. It is more of a request."

George elbowed his twin. "It's back in our dormitory…"

"You have my permission to retrieve it," said Sirius, excusing the twins.

They returned twenty minutes later with the map in hand. George gingerly handed it over to Sirius and the twins sat down again.

Sirius took out his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He placed the wand down in the centre of the parchment. Lines and writing began to appear on the parchment. Sirius grinned smugly at the twins.

"You still haven't said who you are?" Fred pointed out.

Sirius handed them the map back. "Look for me on there."

The twins studied the map for a few minutes before looking up at Sirius with awe reflected on their faces.

"You're PADFOOT?" shouted Fred.

Sirius nodded. He knew the map showed him as Sirius 'Padfoot' Black. "Do I have the right to request the map from you two now?" he grinned again.

"You don't need to request it!" replied Fred enthusiastically, pushing the map back towards Sirius. "We're not going to keep something from one of our idols!"

"I never expected you would be a Marauder though!" stated George.

"Why not?" asked Sirius curiously. "I was always getting put in detention when I was here."

"It's just that you are a hero…" swallowed Fred. "You don't seem to be the type to be a prankster…"

Sirius chuckled. "I was never too serious."

The twins burst out laughing at Sirius' chosen words.

Sirius smiled as he pulled himself out of the memory. The twins had left the detention with advice partaken to them about avoiding the Professors and to never underestimate a Marauder or the son of a Marauder; the last term being one the twins had been intrigued about but Sirius had refused to clarify. They would find out eventually what he meant by that.

Boxing Day was a fun affair at the Potters as they held a Christmas party, inviting Remus and Sirius as well as the Longbottom family and Hermione's parents, both of whom had been very eager to join in as it gave the Muggle parents to talk to Lily and understand more what it was like for Muggle parents to have magical children.

It was at this party that Mr and Mrs Granger learned that Sirius was a hero to the Wizarding World and that he was a Professor at their daughter's school, though not one that taught her. Though Sirius didn't go into detail about what he had done to achieve hero status ('oh, I just stopped a really bad wizard'), it didn't prevent the Grangers from realising that their daughter had entered a world where a war had just recently ended and that there was a chance it could occur again in her lifetime.

Sirius understood this would worry them but for Lily's parents it had been worse, especially since the war was kicking off when she had joined the Wizarding World.

It had been good to get to know Hermione's parents as Sirius knew from before they had been mostly excluded from the Wizarding world once Hermione had started to be invited to the Weasley's for the majority of the holidays. Sirius was pleased to see that James and Lily wanted to include them. Hopefully this time Harry and his friends could just be children instead of becoming involved in a war that shouldn't have involved them at all. Unfortunately for Harry, his fate had been written in as prophecy, however, thankfully for now he did not have that weight upon his shoulders, which Sirius was greatly relieved about.

Leaning against the kitchen table, Sirius watched as James approached him.

"Can we talk?" his long-time friend queried quietly.

Sirius nodded his head and followed James into his office which adjoined the kitchen.

"What is it, Prongs?" Sirius chose to lean against the wall as James sat down on the room's only chair.

"How are things?" James brushed a hand through his hair.

"In what way?" Sirius sought clarification.

"Voldemort hunting."

"Ah." He hadn't spoken to James for a while so hadn't kept him up-to-date on where they were with his location. "To be honest, Prongs, I don't know. He's disappeared. I'm now in territory where I cannot just simply predict what he might do. It is certain I am his target so Harry is safe."

"Unless he chooses to use Harry against you," said James, pointing out the obvious.

That was a risk Sirius was aware of. "I know. That's why I'm spending more and more time at Hogwarts instead of coming home when I can. I can't keep Harry safe if I'm not on the grounds. I wish I knew what was going to happen…"

James reached up and laid a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "You've managed to change a lot. There was always going to be a point where we would have to wait and see. The only thing we can do now is hope for that diary to make an appearance and then we will be another Horcrux down."

"Yeah, we will be," swallowed Sirius. After the diary they would only need to find two more. One they knew would be the snake though the danger was Voldemort wouldn't use a snake this time round and secondly, they had no idea where else to start looking for another object that could have been turned into a Horcrux either. They were effectively stuck until they found concrete evidence as to what else Voldemort could use to protect himself against death.

"Sirius, it will be fine," said James carefully. "Don't worry. We'll get there."

Sirius didn't feel so sure but he couldn't bring himself to argue his feelings in front of James, especially not on Boxing Day of all days. Sirius knew he would just have to vigilant in the days and months ahead.

Something was coming. He could feel it.

Wednesday 19th February 1992

The weeks seemed to fly by and Sirius started to get edgy, wondering where Voldemort was and what he had planned. Unfortunately, the intelligence that Dumbledore had relied upon, seemed to be unable to pinpoint Voldemort's exact location, thereby he had not returned to Albania, which was troubling. If he had dumped Quirrell's body, there was a chance he was masquerading as someone else and Sirius wouldn't be able to see him coming.

This now meant Sirius would have to stop relying upon his knowledge of the future. Too much had now changed for him to be able to predict what Voldemort would do next. Sirius was worried what the future would hold. He had considered preventing Voldemort from resurrecting his body from the ritual he had used originally but that wouldn't serve Sirius' goals and Dumbledore had argued against it, explaining continually stopping Voldemort wouldn't prevent him from being a threat. He needed to be stopped for good and the only way to end the threat once and for all was to ensure Voldemort's death, which Sirius could only do if Voldemort had a body and they had succeeded in finding all of his Horcruxes. The time was approaching when Sirius would soon be able to destroy the diary. He was just hoping this would be one event that would still occur the way it had originally, instead of the dairy falling into someone else's hands, which was what he feared would happen.

Unfortunately he had no way of knowing when the diary would make its entrance.

He was looking at the map when something caught his eye.

Harry Potter.

His eyes widened when he saw where his godson was.

"What is he doing in the girl's bathroom? More to the point, why is he in the bathroom where the Chamber is?"

A horrible feeling erupted in his stomach. It couldn't be…

Grabbing the map and stuffing it into his pocket, Sirius made his way quickly through the school, towards the second floor where he headed towards the bathroom. Heart beating fast in his chest, Sirius swallowed, and pushed open the door. He had been lucky there hadn't been any other students around to see him enter, though he knew this particular bathroom was generally off-limits because of Moaning Myrtle.

"Harry?" Sirius called out.

He looked at the map when Harry didn't answer, only to find his godson had left the bathroom in the time it had taken Sirius to reach it. Biting his lip, Sirius had a quick look around, finding nothing that stood out for him, and he left the girls bathroom, now heading towards the fourth floor where his godson currently was.

Ignoring the stares that came his way from curious students, Sirius ran up to the fourth floor, finding Harry talking to Hermione just around the corner from the Grand Staircase.

Harry looked at him quizzically. "You look kind of out of breath."

Sirius was breathing heavily. "I am, a bit."

Harry giggled.

"Is there anything we can do for you, Professor Black?" Hermione asked.

"No…" Sirius shook his head. "Well, you can't, Hermione, but I think Harry can. I just want a quick word with you."

"I haven't done anything," said Harry automatically. It was a standard response from someone who had clearly been doing something wrong.

Sirius frowned. He found that hard to believe. Harry had served a few detentions already though not as many as James and Sirius had accumulated during their first year at Hogwarts. "It's nothing to be worried about."

"But we have Herbology in a minute…" Hermione seemed worried Harry would miss the class.

"Don't worry. I will escort him to class myself," reassured Sirius. "Just inform Professor Sprout that Harry will be along shortly."

Hermione nodded, still looking concerned, and proceeded down the stairs.

Sirius took Harry aside, finding an empty classroom a few doors down.

Harry's bright green eyes beseeched Sirius. "What's going on?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Why were you in the off-limits girl's bathroom just now?" Sirius wanted to get this out the way.

Harry paled. "I… was talking to Moaning Myrtle!" He recovered quickly but Sirius couldn't help but feel that his godson was lying to him.

Folding his arms across his chest, Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Really?"

Harry nodded. "Really!"

"And how do you know Moaning Myrtle? She doesn't usually leave the girl's bathroom or the pipes, apart from when she wants to watch the Prefect's in their bathroom."

Harry shuddered. "Eww."

Sirius grinned. Embarrassing his godson was always fun. "Look, I'm not mad at you. I just want to know why you were really in there. You are a boy after all. You shouldn't be going in that bathroom."

Harry sighed, looking down and refusing to meet Sirius' eyes. "I know."

"So… why?"

"It was a dare. Malfoy dared me to go in there and said that if I didn't it would show I wasn't brave enough to be in Gryffindor."

Sirius frowned. He wasn't sure if Harry was telling the truth or not. He couldn't see why Malfoy would bother daring him to do something as silly as that but it was possible. They were only first years after all. "You shouldn't listen to what he says. You were placed in Gryffindor for other reasons Harry, other than bravery. You'll learn what makes you a Gryffindor as you grow up. When I was sorted into Gryffindor I was surprised because I didn't think I had the attributes to be one. I still have Slytherin tendencies but my ability to love and care and to be brave but most of all, to be loyal to those I care about is what defines me as a Gryffindor. It took me a long while to realise that. But you'll see it too."

"Really?" Harry bit his lip. "I sometimes feel like I shouldn't be here."

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius.

"I feel like…" Harry struggled with what he wanted to say. "I feel like I should be alone…"

"Why?" This was troubling.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. A friend told me."

"Who is this friend?"

"No one you know," answered Harry, still refusing to look up at Sirius. "I can trust them. They've been helping me since Christmas."

"I want to meet this friend," stated Sirius. He was getting more and more suspicious. Who was planting doubt in Harry's mind about where he truly belonged?

"You can't."

"Harry…." Sirius frowned. He did not like where this was going at all.

"Look, Sirius, its nothing!" shouted Harry. "I'm fine! I'm just mad at Malfoy for making me feel like this, okay?"

Even though he was a Professor, Sirius knew he couldn't force a student to talk to him and tell him the truth, even if said student was his own godson. "Fine, Harry. Go." He looked at his watch. They'd only been talking for under ten minutes. Harry wouldn't be late for lessons if he left now. "Just remember if you need to talk to anyone I am always here for you."

Harry didn't answer, just left the room and walked out.

Sirius sighed, his shoulders slagging. They had a problem.

Later that day he sought out Hermione and Neville after classes. Both students were in the library, working on an essay for Potions. Harry, it seemed, was back in Gryffindor Tower, in his dormitory. The Marauder's Map was quite useful for Sirius in finding who he wanted to speak to.

The two first years looked up at him as he approached with nervous expressions across their faces.

"Professor Black?" asked Hermione, her fingers fiddled with her quill.

"Have either of you noticed a change in Harry?" asked Sirius quietly, careful to not allow other student using the library to overhear. His canine hearing from being a dog Animagus would enable him to know if someone was close enough to listen in.

Neville nodded. "I have."

"Me too," confirmed Hermione.

"How long has this been going on for?" asked Sirius. "I spoke to him earlier and he was quite… snappy with me. I'm sure he lied…"

"Erm… it started a few weeks after Christmas," answered Neville. "He just started to pull away from me. He always told me everything and then he started to withdraw himself from us. I don't understand why he is."

"We asked him about it," added Hermione, "but he said he was struggling with school work and needed to be alone for a while. We just decided to leave him."

"I know Harry will come back to us once he has sorted everything out," replied Neville. He pulled a face. "But I don't think he is having trouble with classes…"

"No, he shouldn't be," sighed Sirius. "I wish you'd come to me about this…"

"We didn't think it was anything to really worry about," said Neville. "He still talks to us but he's not his usual self."

Sirius bowed his head. "If you notice anything strange about Harry that isn't normal, please come and tell me. I'm going to try to help him but I have this feeling…" He trailed off, not wanting to scare the other two about what he was thinking.

Unfortunately Hermione finished his sentence. "…that something is really bad?"

Sirius nodded, not wanting to give much away. "Yeah." He stood from the table and started to walk away. "Thanks."

As he left the Library, Sirius had a horrible feeling he knew exactly what was influencing Harry. And he wanted to know how it had slipped past James and Lily and into Harry's hands. If he was going to save Harry, he would have to act fast, without losing too much of his godson's trust.

Gryffindor First Year Dormitory – Evening of Wednesday 19th February 1992

Dear Tom,

I don't know why but I feel like Sirius doesn't trust me anymore. I've always been good but now he looks at me with suspicion in his eyes. What have I done to earn his distrust? I feel like everyone is pulling away from me.

First Hermione…

Then Neville….

And now Sirius…

There can't be anyone else, can there?

No, Harry. Just remember I am always here to guide you if you need it. Just follow my advice and everything will be fine.

To be continued….

Please let me know what you think!

So, Harry has the diary. How did that happen? I have hinted about it previously... Harry may seem slightly off-character here, however he is being influenced by the diary currently. There is more to Harry having the diary though, another plot which will be revealed in the next few chapters... Sirius is now walking a different road and he can no longer predict what will happen as things have altered too much now for it to follow the original timeline. Harry having the diary is the start of the next plot point in this story... It will be developed further.

Also, Fred and George still having the Marauder's Map... Sirius could have retrieved it at any point but decided to leave it where it was and let the twins have it though now it is in Sirius' possession...

The next chapter will be posted next week...

Until then,

the-writer1988