Authors Note: Thanks again for all the support. after this chapter there are only 15 more to come.

Lost in time

Chapter 10

A little latter they are finally leaving Azkaban again and Harry is glad that Madam Bones at least ordered Rabastan a different numbing potion for the next two days. Madam Bones also tried to see if she can get him moved to St. Mungo's for the cure just in case there is a reaction to the Basilisk tears.

During the boat ride Harry eyes Lucius Malfoy and wonders why he became a death eater and if he does enjoy the mayhem naturally considering that he did get the diary into the school again and decides to at least give the man a warning and asks, "By the way, I'm afraid the diary that you accidentally dropped in Ginny Weasley's diary got destroyed so you can't get it back."

Lucius eyes Harry surprised that he would talk about it now and sees the warning look in the other mans eyes and asks, "I doubt I'll need it anyway."

"I hoped as much." Harry replies, "But don't worry, I will always be very close in case you do need something like that since I was the one that got it damaged."

Lucius doesn't reply but he also doesn't look too happy and Harry just glares at him to make his point and he intends to make good on his word and keep an eye on the man to make sure that he doesn't cause any trouble. Once Harry is back at Hogwarts Dumbledore as usually asks how it went but today that doesn't seem to be the case since the second Harry enters the great hall for dinner he hears a loud round of "Surprise!" The room is decorated for a party with lots of red, gold as well as green and silver probably since he was a Gryffindor and is now Slytherin, at least in name.

Harry just stands in the doorway and stares while they start to sing a birthday song. It suddenly dawns on Harry that it's his birthday and he tries to smile even though he feels like running from the room. He looks around and sees that everyone is smiling happily but that he doesn't even know everyone around the room. All the teachers are there as well as Sirius and Remus and some that Harry hadn't met before. Once the song is finished Dumbledore grabs Harry's arm and leads him around the well wishers, introducing him to everyone that Harry doesn't know yet like Nymphodora Tonks, a witch that according to Dumbledore was only invited because she is around Harry's age. He's also introduced to a man named Xenophilius Lovegood who if his appearance and peculiar behavior as well as name is anything to go by is a descendant of Rowena which is also what Dumbledore now assumes which is why he invited him and his daughter Luna that is there too and the same girl that found the badger along the wall when they found Merlin's portrait. There are a few others that are simply invited because they are Harry's age or friends of Harry's parents. Neville and his grandmother are also there and Hermione is too which Harry is glad about. Ron can't be there since he's still with his whole family in Egypt to visit Bill and Harry is glad for him since it is probably the first big trip he did.

Harry tries to smile and bear the happy mood but constantly thinks that it's his first birthday in years that he's spending without Salazar and he himself wasn't there for any of his sons birthdays. Soon after Dinner Harry manages to escape for a while and hide in a dark hallway in the dungeons. He's not there for long when Severus Snape finds him and says, "I tried to talk the old coot out of this parse but as you see, my efforts fell on deaf ears."

"It's fine." Harry replies sitting along he wall with his knees drawn up and his face resting on the knees that are encircled by his arms. "I just needed a break."

"I doubt that it's fine." Severus replies, "We all saw your face when you came in."

"I don't know what you mean." Harry grumbles. "I was surprised but I did smile."

"You forced yourself to with a look in your eyes like a deer caught in headlights." Severus states. "I guess I was right telling that man that it's too much too soon. Anyway, I just wanted to see if you're okay and let you know that I understand if you don't come back and I think most will"

Harry sighs and then says, "I'm fine really. I'll be back in a moment, there is no reason to worry anyone."

"How about you quit worrying about everyone else and take better care of yourself then?" Severus suggests and with a sigh actually sits down next to the younger man, "Because we worry either way. Unlike you, I'm not a dunderhead and no matter how annoying the old coot of a headmaster is, he's not a dunderhead either. We all see that you suffer and believe it or not, we all understand why. You lost more then most and all at once coming back to this time and all you do is think about others now so let us worry for you and quit whining about it."

Harry actually grins a little and mumbles "Never thought I see you of all people worry about me."

"I did try to save your sorry ass before." the older man grumbles.

"I know." Harry sighs, "But I never thought you show that you actually care. Still, thanks for that."

It's quiet for a moment and Severus gets out a potions book and reads quietly sitting next to Harry. "You don't have to stay you know."

"Dunderhead." Snape grumbles, "I have the choice between hiding with you and read in peace, rejoining the party freely or having Dumbledore find my in my lab or room and be forced to rejoin it. How on earth do you think that I'll leave here freely."

"How did you find me anyway?" Harry asks, "Dumbledore could find you here as well."

"I doubt it." Severus replies, "I had the help of Salazar Slytherin's portrait finding you and he specifically told me to keep that annoying headmaster that is way to much like his annoying father as far from you as possible. At least until he could get those twins you told him about to hit him with some of his favorite pranks."

Harry chuckles a little. He knows that Sal loves his dad but has always been annoyed with the meddling the older man always tended to do. He wanted to live his life his way and not be influenced by the old man. Merlin didn't make that easy since he and Dumbledore truly have a lot in common. "He would say something like that." Harry sighs. "He's probably right pissed at Dumbledore for inviting so many I don't know just to get me to find friends my age rather then let me go out and find them on my own terms."

"He and Merlin actually had a huge fight about it during the planning of this parse." Severus agrees. "You seemed to have been right saying that Merlin and Dumbledore get along splendidly but it seems Salazar doesn't like their meddling."

"He never liked his father trying to influence him." Harry sighs, "Godric was always more open to their fathers advise but Sal liked to do things his way."

"And what about you?" Severus questions.

"A bit of both." Harry states, "I like to be in charge but don't mind advice either and would be open to it."

"But probably not in the form of a party where people you might get along with are thrown into your face?" Severus states.

"That is not advice." Harry replies, "That is meddling."

"How about you run then?" Severus suggests. "I bet you could afford a last minute trip to Egypt to join the Weasleys."

"I'll be busy for a few more days. There is another Slughorn victim in Azkaban. Just this one is in constant pain rather then insane." Harry explains. "But I think we could both run for an hour or so. Unless you're to scared to meet Basily."

"I'd love to actually." Severus replies. "As long as you promise me that I'll get out alive."

"I swear." Harry replies an gets up an goes with him towards Myrtles bathroom.

Severus pauses before the door and says, "You're trying to play me! The chamber can't be in here."

"Trust me." Harry grins it is. "There are a few other entrances to be frank, but this should be the only one known to anyone but me and I rather keep it that way."

"And why is this the only one that could have been found?" Severus grumbles.

"Because some are only for Basily to be used to get food or for me for emergencies to reach it fast from different parts in the castle but those don't have any marker and a very complicated parsel password that no one will find out while this one actually has a snake as a marker and the password is in parsel but it's 'open'." Harry explains. "And I also need to see if Myrtle is here since I wanted to tell her a little secret I found out recently."

"What is it?" The ghost in question asks poking her head through a stall door and looking towards Harry who is still standing in the door to the room.

"Do you remember a Tom Riddle form your school time?" Harry questions and the girl only nods, "He had a crush on you back then told me so himself and he's at Malfoy Manor in case you want to visit him."

The ghost stares at Harry before flying off skeptically and Harry just goes to a sink and says something in parsel that Snape assumes means open and that he tries to remember so he could get in himself at some point. Unless Basily does seem much more scary then the name implies.

They slide down and Severus grumbles about undignified travel options and dirty slides. Harry just grins and walks on seeing Snape's reaction to he huge sheded skin and watches the reaction after seeing the entrance and later once they are in the main chamber. The man clearly tries to hide the awe he clearly feels and Harry walks towards the side of the bearded man, that some probably would have thought to be Sal but was only inspired by Harry's own memory rather then any actual person.

Standing at the side at a lock in the beard Harry says in parsel Salazar needs to tell his meddling father that he cares about him more often.Having said that password a door opens and they walk into the room that Harry had been arriving in and is glad to see that Basily has messed up the drawing and the candles and now uses his magic to clean it a little more. Harry then says, Basily, I would like to introduce a guest to you.The snake shows it's head through a rather big opening in a corner of the room but stays in that corner since there is some space for her even if not enough to move around as much as in the main chamber which basically is her room since it's the only one big enough for her to still move freely, Basily, this is a friend of mine, his name is Severus Snape and I'd like you to be nice to him."

"Does the Basilisk understand me?" Snape asks worried after seeing the huge snake.

"Yes." Harry replies, "Basily has leaned to understand English at a very young age."

"Hello Basily." Severus says with a slight bow of his head. "I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance."

Severus Snape.The Basilisk smells the scents in the room. Considering that the man is probably that Potions master that made you hate the subject you later loved, he better not be the cause for the sadness I smell around you Master. I might just turn him into my dinner if he did.

He's innocent of that.Harry sighs, I'm just missing Sal and my little baby boy. Did you ever see James after I left?

I sometimes followed him when he walked through the forest to make sure that he's safe.The snake tells him But I never talked to him but noticed that he got Sal's love for dangerous animals. I also know that just one of his two children could speak with snakes.

Harry sighs and nods for a moment and then says, "Basily doesn't particularly like you which is my fault because I used to talk bad about you when I was younger I did however tell it that you're not the cause for my sadness which he can smell."

"Why are you sometimes calling Basily an it and sometimes a he?" Severus questions.

"Basily is the only Basilisk I ever meet and to be frank." Harry replies, "I have no idea if Basily is a she or a he or if Basilisks even have a gender considering that Basily wasn't exactly breed the normal way either."

"I see." Severus replies, "Doesn't Basily know?"

"No it doesn't." Harry replies, "I asked after a few weeks with him or her or whatever and we came to the agreement that Basily will let me know should she ever know. And until then I say whatever I feel like calling it. He doesn't care about it the way we would anyway."

"So Basily won't eat me when I say it wrong?" Severus asks slightly worried since Harry mentioned that the Basilisk doesn't like him.

"No, not for that." Harry replies, "If you hurt me that might be a different matter but I doubt it will ever happen. I misunderstood you when I was younger and you didn't see me for myself and rather my father who you apparently don't like so don't worry about that. Basily is smart and will quickly realize it."

"If you think so." Severus replies and looks around some more in the room they are in. It's like a huge living room with some space for the snake but not too much and a whole in the wall that lets the snake enter. "Just out of curiosity, why did you have a password if I could use Basily's entrance?"

"Basily doesn't like anyone using her entrance and I rather doubt you want to tick her off, on top of that we'd have to climb too use it since it goes through that mouth in the face outside." Harry replies, "I made these rooms back then as a hideout for me and one for Basily where he could run free without scaring anyone during the times I wouldn't be around. Basily could always get out into the forest but always made sure not to be seen by anyone that could talk about it, including Hagrid's spiders, which reminds me Basily, we have to visit them at some point maybe with Ron."

Can I eat some of them now? The snake questions, The bigger ones look tasty.

"I fear Hagrid would be terribly upset but if you ever run across a lonely one I'll be inclined to ignore it." Harry replies.

"I take it Basily want's some spider for dinner?" Severs grins. "Can't say that I would mind, those things are getting to many anyway. Even Hagrid agrees that he'll have to find new places for some of them since they have no natural enemy around here and are starting to eat too much."

"I guess that means Hagrid isn't likely to be overly upset with me if Basily eats the occasionally wandering spider?" Harry questions, "I did ask her not to go all out on them."

"Oh he'll be upset." Snape grumbles, "But he'd forgive Basily and probably would understand given a bit of time. Basily isn't that different from his favorite kind of pets."

"I assume your right." Harry replies and sits down on the couch and starts a fire before taking a deep breath and then says, Basily, I need some more Basilisk tears. Think you can think of something saddening enough without getting too upset?"

Of course Master. Anything for you.The snake replies and Harry spells a vial to move towards the huge snake and the Basilisk does start to cry soon after and Harry catches the tears with the vial.

"What are you doing?" Severus questions sitting down close to the younger man.

"Getting some tears from Basily." Harry replies grinning, "What does it look like? I can use it for some potions I created with Gody and Merlin."

"I never knew it could be used." Severus grumbles.

"No surprise." Harry replies. "Basilisks are rare and even though some probably managed to hatch one for ingredients I doubt it ever got all that old before someone slew it. I also very much doubt that anyone made them cry that easily."

They start to talk about Potions especially ones that use anything from a Basilisk old and knew and after a while Harry sighs and says, "I think I should go back to that party."

"Why would you want to go back freely when you have such a great hiding place?" Severus questions.

"Because the party probably is nearly at an end and some might be hesitant to leave before they see that I'm still fine." Harry replies, "Also, I think that it was a nice gesture from Dumbledore to organize it. It might have been a little much but he meant well and I appreciate the effort he went through."

"You are way to kind." Severus sighs but rises to leave with him to make sure that Basily won't kill him the second Harry isn't around. They silently return to the great hall where Harry hesitates before the entrance. "It's late." Severus states, "Just go and rest and I'll tell them that you went to bed."

With a sigh Harry shakes his head and forces a smile on his face before going back into the great hall. As he feared they are all staring at him. "Harry my boy," Dumbledore says cheerfully. "Where have you two been?"

"Just a little walk." Harry lies trying to sound happy. "I needed some fresh air that's all."

"I see." Dumbledore replies with a small frown. After that he keeps a better eye on Harry but as Harry had assumed some had already left by then and even more leave very soon after clearly having waited for Harry to return and see him fine or just being polite and saying goodbye to the birthday boy before leaving. Within less then an hour the great hall is empty of everyone but a few teachers and then Harry says goodnight to everyone claiming that it had been a tiring day.

The next day Neville sends him the Belladonna he mentioned the previous day and apart from starting the potion he starts an outdoor garden while the greenhouse is still in construction. Harry enjoys the peace and is surprised to see Sirius approach him there during the afternoon. "Hi Harry."

"Hi Siri." Harry replies wondering why the man is there. They didn't have a training scheduled for the next week since Harry is currently so busy with taking care of the Longbottoms and the Lestranges. "Can I do something for you?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to ask." Sirus replies, "You seem so depressed ever since I first saw you again and I want to help you but don't know how and when Dumbledore insisted that the party would, only to have you disappear for most of it, I thought I rather ask you if I can do anything for you."

"Just give me time." Harry replies with a sigh. "It was hard to be thrown into the past and missing my friends here but I got over it quickly because I knew I'd see them again. This time, I didn't just loose friends but my whole family and I know that I'll never see them alive again. I missed my son growing up and even though I saw his painting and can talk to him it doesn't feel like my son. Probably because for me my son should still be an infant and not the portrait of a long dead man." with another sigh Harry returns to his work instead of looking at the man but adds, "But you don't have to worry. I'll be fine in time I guess. And I know that at least Sal would kick my butt if I just give up and take the easy way out. It be stupid to do that."

"I'm glad to hear you say that but I know that it's not always easy to stay strong." Sirius replies. "I just want to be there for you."

"I know." Harry replies. "And you are. You're helping me get ready for my job and I'm looking forward to it. I've been teaching in the past too and really loved doing it. And one thing I've learned from all this. If I had given up with the Dursleys and killed myself as a kid as I sometimes wanted with their treatment of me, I'd never gotten to know Sal or have James. So basically, this is the same. I might be depressed now, but I still have hope that it will get better and I won't risk whatever good thing could come for an easy way out of this."

Sirius looks at the young man that is still working in his little garden and growing potions ingredients and then smiles, "Did anyone ever tell you that you might look a lot like James, but you're more like Lily?"

"I've been told that I look like my father but never that I'm like mum." Harry replies. "I wouldn't really know either way since I never meet either one."

"James, and we others too, loved to prank and play quidditch and things like that. We loved parties and action." Sirius replies, "But your mom, and Remus partly too, loved it quiet and calm and she was always positive. No matter how bad things looked she always tried to see a good side no matter how small it was. Even when they had to go hiding with you, she always said it was good since it gave them so much time together and neither had to leave to work or such and could really focus on raising you."

Harry smiles a little and then says, "Do you have any pictures of them? Hagrid got me some at the end of my first year and I don't know maybe you got some more."

"Maybe. I'll have a look for some." Sirius replies, "How about we meet up one day and I show you the house your grandparents used to live in. James inherited it and I guess it's yours now but he never moved into it since he and Lily had just gotten their own home and gotten everything the way they wanted to."

"I'd love to see it." Harry says with a smile.

"Then we should go." Sirius replies, "When ever you've got the time since I'm not doing much at the moment anyway. After years in prison I don't really feel like working and rather want to enjoy being able to do whatever whenever."

"As long as you don't do whoever whenever." Harry grins a little.

Sirius blushes and then smiles too and says, "Guess you do have a bit more form James then his looks. That's so something he would have said."

"How about we go next week." Harry suggest. "I hardly dare to leave Hogwarts to help the Lestranges in Azkaban since the medi wizards there asked me to be reachable should something happen to either of them."

"I think it's incredible what you do by the way." Sirius replies. "You're a healer, a potions master and know so much about defense that I hardly know what to teach you when we start that tutoring again."

Harry smiles a little even though he still looks sad. "Merlin was the same. Godric mostly knew the healing and potions parts and a bit of defense but back then you couldn't be considered a defense master unless you were at least an adequate healer and could make all necessary potions yourself. Just like you couldn't be a potions master unless you knew everything about magical plants and how to grew them yourself. Merlin never learnt the later unlike Godric but I mostly just wanted to have that background too. And I'm a far cry from a healer. I mostly know about battle wounds and the other parts I'm helping the healers of St. Mungo's now are only because I knew something had rendered Tom crazy and knew about of the effects. Like that it must be physical but effect the should. Being turned insane by infecting the brain was the most likely cause since it would slowly leave an imprint and psychological damage like it did with Bellatrix. So obviously I had to focus some of my studying on that."

"It's still impressive." Sirius replies, "You learned a lot in just ten years from what I hear and you got really good at it."

"Yeah but you don't know my history abilities." Harry grins, "If I had to do owls about history, even from before the time I was in, I'd probably fail. I also suck at divination or Arithmancy and don't even get me started on astronomy. I still can't calculate when the next full moon is to gather some ingredients and have too look up every night and that's about all I can do. I also can't read runes or know anything about Alchemy."

"No one knows everything but to know as much as you do at the age you have is still impressive." Sirius insists. "I had huge troubles with potions and actually never got why I had to bother with it to become an Auror but with what you said and healing of battle wounds and making such potions does sort of make sense. Also I do remember Merlin mentioning that you were the best healer of the bunch."

"Only because non of them was a certified healer." Harry grumbles feeling like the praise is getting a little over the top.

"You need to lean to be more proud of your accomplishments." Sirius insists. "They are impressive no matter how much you try to downplay it."

Harry just shrugs and works in silence for a while not sure what to say and Sirius stays quiet at first and later starts to tell Harry more about his school days and what pranks he and James did and is glad to eventually get Harry talking about some of the pranks he and Salazar did and the reactions of the others.

Authors Note: The next updates migt be a day or two apart. I try my best but Im on a trip for work and the internrt isnt as goog as I hoped and I dont know if I can find the time to go to a place where its bettr every day. If I'm very late I will update two chapters at once to make up for it.