A/N) Hello! my apologies for the delay. I got sick again. And I've been back at work so making it difficult to write. I didn't want to post this chapter just yet as I am still trying to write chapter 44 but I suspect I probably won't be posting again for at least another two weeks so I figured I'd post it. Thank you for all the feedback so far!

Twisting Time

Chapter 42

Sunday 18th April 1993

"Hey." Harry grinned as he entered the compartment on the train that both Neville and Hermione were sitting in.

Neville was sitting by the window, holding his frog, Trevor, in his lap, whilst Hermione sat on the other side, leaning against the window, with a large volume perched precariously on her lap.

Both looked up as he entered. "Nev. Hermione." Harry lifted his trunk up onto the racks above their heads and sat down next to Neville. "Feels like I haven't see you guys in a while."

Normally over each holiday the three of them would at least meet up but for the last two holidays between terms they had been unable to, mainly due to Harry's hectic training schedule that his parents put him under. Neville was also training however he didn't have such an intensive schedule Harry did during the holidays. Unlike Harry, Neville was only training to protect himself whereas Harry required the training to support Sirius in battle. A lot of effort was being put into his lessons and Harry knew he was advancing well.

Neville nodded. "It's only been a few weeks. Seems strange not to have spent Easter together. We have done in the past."

Harry shrugged. "We both know why we didn't."

"How is the training going?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I think. I certainly can defend myself from attack if I know it is coming. It's what I don't know is coming is difficult to defend against. Mum, dad, Sirius and I are working on it." Harry glanced out the window. The train was slowly pulling out of the station. His parents had already left the platform by the time he had found Neville and Hermione so he didn't need to wave. "I honestly do not believe I will ever be ready. It's just I'm learning stuff I shouldn't be learning until next year or the year after. There is only so much I can do at my age but the more I can master the better it will be for me and Sirius." Neville and Hermione were, perhaps, the only two students who knew the full story. He could tell them anything, providing of course no one was spying on them. They always had to be very careful when discussing anything to do with Sirius or Voldemort.

"How long has it been since he returned?" asked Hermione quietly.

"Nearly a year," answered Harry. "It's strange he hasn't made a move yet but mum and dad think he is waiting." He hesitated slightly. "I don't think it will be long until the rest of our world knows he is back."

"Agreed. Breaking Azkaban open was just the first step. Whatever he's been up to the past year, he is now ready to walk out into the open," added Neville.

"Harry… I don't want you to fight." Hermione beseeched him.

Harry sighed. "Do you think I really want to? I have to… Sirius needs me. Believe me, if we had any other choice, mum and dad would be using that one instead of me. The fact that I can protect Sirius is the most positive thing to come out of this. If I didn't have the ability to do that…"

"You wouldn't be preparing…" Hermione let her head drop, her frizzy curls drooping around her shoulders. The fact that she was concerned showed she cared.

"No…" Harry leaned back and closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about what was coming. He just wanted to be normal, to live his life. So much had changed in the last few years. His life was different from what it should have been. Sirius had seen to that. Thanks to his godfather, he'd had the chance to grow up with his parents and have a younger brother that he wouldn't have had otherwise. What little Harry knew of his other self, made him glad Sirius had been sent back to make things right. "I know Sirius will win. He has to."

They fell silent, the subject exhausting itself naturally. An uncomfortable silent followed. They all knew what was coming and if they could stop it from happening they would. But they couldn't.

They waited on the train tracks, robes billowing behind them in the breeze. They could hear the Hogwarts Express in the distance, steadily coming closer. Bellatrix gripped her wand and smiled nastily. She had a mission to succeed in. She wouldn't fail. Beside her was her husband and her brother-in-law, both of whom she had handpicked to be on this mission with her. She had wanted Lucius to come as well however he was busy with his family, keeping a low profile and a watch on the Ministry whilst their Lord readied himself for his big reveal.

Now the time was finally here.

With this assignment her Lord would finally step forth and continue the noble path he had set upon years ago before he had been stopped by a blood traitor.

Bellatrix felt anger at how her Lord had been defeated by her own flesh and blood. She couldn't believe her aunt had birthed such scum. To be related to the man that defied her Lord was disgusting and she wanted to burn all bridges to him. Black was no longer a part of her family. He hadn't been for a very long time.

A slight smile tugged at her lips. Oh she was looking forward to witnessing the blood traitor's death. It would be messy. She hoped her Lord would allow her to contribute. She wanted to tear her cousin to pieces. She would enjoy it so.

In the distance the Hogwarts Express turned a corner and headed straight for them.

Bellatrix grinned and raised her wand.

"Why is the train slowing down?" Hermione peered out the window. "We're not even halfway there yet." She glanced back at her friends. "Harry?" He looked worried. "What's up?"

Harry chewed his bottom lip. "I think…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"You think it's him, don't you?" queried Neville.

Harry nodded his head. "Yeah. I do."

"You mean -?" Hermione gasped. She understood who they were referring to.

"But…" Neville began, frowning slightly, as the train continued to slow. "If he is here, why is he?"

"I think that's very obvious," said Harry dully. "He's after me." He scrambled onto his seat and reached for his trunk. "We're gonna need our wands. I know you can't fight as well as me… But if I'm right we are going to need them."

Hermione nodded. She already had her wand out of her trunk, having retrieved it earlier to show Harry and Neville a new spell she had learned over the Easter holidays. She gripped it tightly, feeling a little nervous as the train finally came to a stop.

Harry got to his feet and opened the compartment door, peering out. He wasn't the only one confused by the train's sudden stop. He could see a few doors down a bunch of red haired students which could only belong to the Weasley family, poking out into the carriageway.

"Hey, Harry, know what's going on?" shouted Ron Weasley, as Fred and George asked the same question but in another direction.

Harry shook his head. "Nope! You?"

"I wouldn't be asking if you knew!" was the response.

"Just… get your wands! Just be careful!" Harry advised. It was the only thing he could right at the moment, especially when they had no idea what they were expecting.

Then, as Harry turned back to his friends he saw a face looking at him through the window of the carriage. He jumped back. Both Hermione and Neville jumped too as they had not noticed the figure as they had been watching Harry throughout his exchange with the Weasley's.

"It's Bellatrix Lestrange!" shouted Neville, his back now against the doors of the compartment.

Harry nearly swore but he stopped himself. His eyes were glued to the face still peering at him through the window, the dark lidded eyes shining at him in glee. He knew without a doubt they were here for him. Sirius. Help me. It was just one little thought. He wasn't going to let them take him without a fight. He was scared, he wasn't going to pretend he wasn't. "Both of you… get out."

Hermione grabbed his arm. "Harry! What are you going to do?"

Neville stared at him. "Please tell me you aren't going to try to fight her! You're only twelve!"

Harry shrugged. "This is why I've been training. I know more spells then both of you. I can do this."

"Harry! Come with us! The more numbers there are the less chance they have of reaching you!" Hermione beseeched him.

Harry swallowed. "The more people around me, the more they will get hurt!"

Bellatrix's face was gone from the window. Then they heard a loud bang and several figures in black robes strode into the corridor, having forced the carriage doors open.

Hermione didn't give Harry a chance to protest. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down the corridor, merging into the crowd of students as they began to pour forth from the compartments. They wouldn't be able to lose the Death Eaters, but they could certainly try.

Sirius. Help me.

Sirius zoned out.

He had heard Harry's voice. It sounded like he was in trouble. He swallowed. And cautiously reached out with his mind to his bond with Harry. He could sense the strength within it but there was also fear. Harry? He reached out but he wasn't expecting an answer.

"-smack on the head."

Sirius jerked as the words reverberated through his skull and he came back to himself, realising he was in the Hogwarts staff room with the rest of the Professors. Snape was sneering at him.

"As I was saying before Black decided to leave us spiritually, I believe –" continued Snape.

But Sirius stood up. "I don't have time for this. We need to check on the Hogwarts Express." He glanced at the Headmaster.

Snape sneered. "What? Can't wait to see your precious godson again. Black? You only saw him yesterday or is that too long for you?"

"Shut up Snape!" retorted Sirius angrily. "I think the train is being attacked."

Snape rolled his eyes.

"What makes you believe that, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked.

"Harry. I just…felt…something. He's asking for help. I think what we feared is happening now… only it's not James that Voldemort was going to kill next… it's…" Sirius swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

"Harry…" finished Dumbledore. He turned and strode to the door. "If you are correct, Sirius, we must leave immediately if we stand any chance of saving the students." The Headmaster swept his gaze over his staff members. "Anyone who wishes to join us may do so, but bear in mind, we may end up facing a larger battle."

Only Sirius really understood that reference. Somehow he doubted Voldemort would be there personally. But if the train was being attacked they needed to get there quickly.

However he wasn't the only Professor to follow the Headmaster out of the staff room either.

Harry fought against Hermione and Neville's grip. "Hey! Let me go!"

"If we do, do you promise not to turn around and go and face them?" asked Neville.

"I promise!" Harry blurted out. It had seemed to be the most sensible idea at the time. However facing Death Eaters would have given them what they wanted and he knew Sirius wouldn't have wanted him to give up his life so easily. Thankfully, it seemed the Death Eaters were not harming the students who were getting in the way, merely stunning them or disabling them by breaking an arm or a leg, which meant they must be on strict orders not to kill any student, regardless of their blood.

They released him.

"They will reach us," said Harry, panting. The Death Eaters were slowly making their way down the train.

Students were screaming around them, rushing past them to the other end of the train.

Hermione pulled at her hair. "Why is everyone so stupid? We're stuck in a train with Death Eaters and all they are doing is running to the other end of it?"

"What are they supposed to do?" asked Harry, though the answer came to him the moment he had asked.

"Get off the train," huffed Hermione. "That's what we need to do. Or rather you. They're here for you so it makes sense."

"Erm… Hermione… wouldn't they see him running off if everyone else stays on the train?"

Hermione sighed. "It wouldn't just be Harry. If the doors are open and there is a better escape route, other people will take it. Harry would escape with them. We would be helping the rest of the students too if we got one of those doors open."

Harry gripped his wand and ran further down the corridor, pushing past third and fourth year students who were continuing to back further up the carriage. He reached the end of the carriage and stopped in front of two double doors, situated on both sides.

He raised his wand. "Bombarda!" The doors to the carriage smashed open, one side of them flinging outwards. He registered behind him that Hermione had done the same thing but to the doors on the other side.

"Come on!" Neville shouted. "Get out the doors! Blast them open! Scram!"

Those students who had seen and heard the crash, leapt forward, piling out of the train and onto the grassy earth, beginning to run away from the train.

Harry leapt down, followed swiftly by Neville and Hermione.

"This way!" Harry sped into a run as he began to head towards a cluster of trees which the majority of students were doing. It would be better for them to converge together.

But as he got nearly halfway there, he heard a loud CRACK and felt a familiar presence roar to life in his mind. He skidded to a stop and Neville nearly collided with him. Harry turned, a bright smile on his face. "Sirius!"

His godfather stood before him. "Harry! You're okay!"

Strong arms wrapped around him. Harry coughed. "Sirius. I'm fine." He pointed back to the train. "But not everyone else is. Sirius, its Bellatrix!"

"What?" Sirius growled low in his throat. "Of all the people it had to be…" He grasped Harry by the shoulder. "Thanks kid. Just do me a favour, stay out of this, okay? Go to the patch of trees. We'll sort the train."

It was only then that Harry noticed Sirius wasn't alone. His godfather had brought reinforcements in the form of the Headmaster and several Hogwarts Professors. He was surprised to see Snape there.

Harry swallowed. "You heard me, didn't you?"

"Yes." Sirius confirmed. "Our bond… Quite useful, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Harry closed his eyes briefly. He could feel Sirius' presence tingling at the back of his mind. He liked having that connection. He hated the thought of losing it.

"Just get yourself safe, Harry," urged Sirius.

He watched as his godfather sped off towards the train. Harry motioned for his friends. "Come on. We've got to get to safety!"

Bellatrix had known when Potter had fled the train. It was predictable. Coward. But it didn't matter. Harry Potter wasn't who she was really after. He was just a distraction. She knew the cavalry had arrived. She could see her cousin running towards the train, along with Dumbledore and the Professors.

She signalled to her husband. "It's time to go. The first part of our mission is complete."

Within the blink of an eye, all the Death Eaters who were participating in this attack were gone, Disapparating just as Sirius Black set foot onto the train. Bellatrix saw him quickly before she disappeared, giving him an insane smile and a wave as she left.

She arrived in Godric's Hollow seconds later.

Sirius stepped onto the train just as Bellatrix Disapparated. "Damn it!" he swore. He stepped through into the carriage, followed by Dumbledore. The other Professors that had accompanied them were scouting out the rest of the carriages.

Unconscious students lay on the floor, sprawled out in all manner of positions, none of them really seriously harmed though he could tell a few had experienced broken bones.

"They're gone. Disapparated as soon as I stepped on board."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "The train wasn't their intended target. It was a means to distract us."

"But what for?" asked Sirius. He failed to see who their real target could be if it had not been Harry. If they had been after Sirius, they would have duelled him. But they hadn't… He knelt down to check the pulse on a student, even as his heart told him that their target must be someone close to him but who?

"Voldemort is making his move. Everything is now falling into place," said Dumbledore sadly. "We were too blind to see it."

"What do you mean?" Sirius reached forward to check the pulse of Terry Boot.

"Tell me, Sirius, what do James and Lily do on a Sunday?"

He didn't understand the significance of the question but he answered it. "They like to go to Diagon Alley, leaving Jack with…" Sirius' face paled. "Oh god. We have to get to Godric's Hollow!"

Bellatrix Apparated boldly into Godric's Hollow, appearing not far from where the Potters dwelled. She took purposeful steps, heading straight towards another house on the same street. Her husband and brother-in-law were going to make a noise on the other-side of town whilst Bellatrix completed the second half of her mission. She had been tasked to bring her Lord the Potter boy and she would. Targeting the Potter teen had just been a distraction and a demonstration that her Lord was ready to take back what was his by right.

She strode towards a house, located close to the graveyard, moving up the garden path. She didn't bother to knock. That wasn't her style. Instead she blasted it open.

There was a shout and a screech of approaching footsteps and an elderly woman came out into the hallway, wand raised.

"Hello Bathilda," smiled Bellatrix, raising her own wand. "You have something I want and you will give it to me."

Lily leaned down and picked up the book on potions. It was a new edition and one she really wanted to have. It was going for a good deal too.

"Found anything?" James asked, approaching her, his arms stuffed with Quidditch books.

"Quidditch, James? Really?" Lily raised an eyebrow, with an amused expression on her face.

"It's for Harry and Jack," said James shiftily.

"Really?" Lily stepped back.

"Erm… Let's not make this about me, shall we?" grinned James, trying to deflect his wife from questioning him further. "Besides they'll like them!"

Lily laughed quietly to herself. Whenever they came to Diagon Alley, James usually came away with something to do with Quidditch. It seemed to be something he couldn't stay away from, especially when it came to buying things to do with it.

"Come on, if you're buying all that lot, you can buy this Potion book for me." She placed it on top of the pile in James' hands.

"Err… you know what… I don't really need these three books." He struggled to put the books down to extract them from his pile.

"You should have got a basket," laughed Lily.

"I can carry them just fine!" returned James, not sounding the least bit angry.

As Lily turned to lead the way to the counter, a sparkly white dog appeared before them, right in the middle of the store floor. Other customers watched in fascination as the dog opened its mouth and began to speak using Sirius' voice.

"Get back home."

"James…" Lily wanted to grasp her husband's arm.

"We have to leave." James' voice was hard and he sought the permission of the store owner if he could just abandon the books on the side. When he got confirmation that he could, he thanked them and then led Lily out of the bookshop after depositing the books on a nearby table.

Lily could feel her stomach twisting and turning. What had happened that Sirius had felt the need to send a Patronus requesting their return rather than wait for them to get home?

They ran through Diagon Alley, back through the Leaky Cauldron and out onto the quiet Muggle street where it resided before they turned on the spot and Apparated immediately to Godric's Hollow.

James rushed into the house with Lily right behind him. "Sirius?"

Sirius stepped out into the hallway, his expression solemn. "I'm sorry… We tried… But we couldn't…"

James felt something tug in his chest. "Pads… what happened? Is Harry…?"

Sirius shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Harry is fine, Prongs. He got safely to Hogwarts. The train was attacked by Bellatrix and a few other Death Eaters." He raised a hand to prevent Lily from shouting forth. "I felt Harry call for help through our bond. Myself, Dumbledore, Snape and a few other Professors immediately rushed to the location of the train. It had been forcefully stopped and students were milling out from the carriages onto the grass. I saw Harry with Neville and Hermione. They managed to escape."

"Voldemort was after Harry wasn't?" grated James, clenching his fists.

"We thought so… but he wasn't…" Sirius let out a sigh.

"Sirius… what is it?" asked Lily.

"Bellatrix Disapparated as soon as we got there. They hadn't harmed any of the students apart from stunning them and potentially breaking a few bones of the ones that resisted. We realised the attack was just a distraction from the real target."

"Who was the real target?" Lily's voice was tight.

"It wasn't Remus, was it?" queried James. He wanted it to be Remus rather than any of his sons. If it had to be someone he knew…

"Remus is fine, Prongs. In fact he is very safe at the moment," answered Sirius, shattering James' illusions. "But… Jack is not."

Lily's legs gave way and James caught her, sitting her gently on the floor.

"Please tell me Jack is safe!" shouted James. He didn't care that spit had gone flying.

"I can't…" said Sirius sadly. "I'm sorry, Prongs… Bellatrix attacked Bathilda… Bathilda is dead. And… Jack is gone. They took him."

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think!

The next chapter is written but until I've written chapters 44 and 45 I will not be posting it. This cliff-hanger was the reason I didn't want to post this chapter despite it being a while since I have updated but I felt I had to post something... Hopefully I can make some progress with writing over the next few days...

Until next time,

the-writer1988