Sirius sat on his bed; legs crossed as he opened the letter. He had grabbed it earlier in the day, but he hadn't even made it to the top of the stairs when Regulus had all but crashed into him and dragged him back down to socialize.

It had been a horrific mess, and it was only now, as the clock steadily ticked its way past midnight, that Sirius found the time to sit down and read this letter. He wouldn't be able to do so in the next few days, since his family had decided on an extended reunion.

He held his breath as he pulled the letter out. The parchment was of a much better quality than the stuff he got in the stores, which was odd because his family believed in using the best of the supplies. The handwriting was also not one he had seen before, which was odd. Why would someone who he didn't know send him a letter?

Shaking his head, he unfolded the letter and started reading. That was the only way he would find the answers to all his questions.

(He didn't realize that the moment he opened the letter, he would be forever changed, and he would change the future. It wasn't something he even thought possible.)

Dear Sirius,

You won't know me at the point when you get this letter. Actually, you might never know me, not even years down the line. But I still think that you're the best person to get this first letter. After all, you should be in a position to change the world.

If we time this right, you've just turned 17, which is a little shocking to think. I suppose that's because we never think of our parental figures as children. Not that you were my parental figure, but you were my best friend's father in everything, but blood and he was devastated when you died.

Anyways, I just want to explain what is happening and what will happen in the future. If you haven't guessed by now, this letter is from the future. To be precise, we are sending this letter from the year 1998. I don't know what order the letters will arrive in, but this is supposed to be the first one. I have a few things to tell you.

Let's start with the easiest: you hated your family when we knew you, and you were so glad that they were all but extinct. But you told us once that you regretted what your brother had become. We found out that your brother had betrayed Voldemort in his last moments. We don't know why he defected, but I hope you can find some solace in the fact.

Next, the war starts in earnest in 1978, and ends with Voldemort's defeat at the hands of a baby – James Potter's son, in 1981. James died in that attack, and you were sent to Azkaban.

We have other things to tell you, of course we do. But we know better than anyone how much danger there is to place all our bets in one place. So, I can't tell you anymore. What I can say, is that one of your friends will get the next letter. Please ensure that this letter remains a secret to the best of your abilities, preferably burn it, because this kind of magic cannot fall into Voldemort's hands, that would just spell a disaster for the rest of the world.

I have a few more things to say to you, mainly in regard to this magic and the way it works. I think of all of the recipients of these letters, you will be the most understanding of the magic we used.

It's a five-part spell, that sends objects back in time. Nothing live can be transported, but as long as there are five pieces of the puzzle that are sent simultaneously, the objects can be sent to any time. It's a blood magic ritual that we found in the library at Grimmauld Place, so it would be great if you could find the book (titled – Life and Death: the uses of blood magic) and destroyed it.

There is one last thing for you to know about the ritual – the people who perform the ritual are subject to some sort of punishment as soon as the letter lands in the past. I hope you can help them to the best of your ability, but if not, that's alright. We're prepared to sacrifice our lives so long as you can make the world a better place for everyone else. It's a small price to pay.

As a personal request on behalf of my best friend, please live your best life this time.

A hopeful survivor.

Sirius stared at the letter, unable to understand what was going on. It was… he didn't know what to think.

He was smart enough to figure out what had happened. If Voldemort was destroyed in 1981, but the letter was sent in 1998, then he hadn't died. How that was possible, he didn't know, but it wasn't like he couldn't find out.

His family library no doubt had methods to revive themselves from the dead, without someone else's help and Voldemort had his entire army of death eaters.

But the fact that this war hadn't even started yet… or maybe it had. Maybe these kidnappings were the start of the war. The letters were meant to cause change, and maybe the war started earlier because of that? That meant that someone else had gotten a letter, and one of the children that had been kidnapped had sent the letter from the future.

He vaguely remembered a conversation he had had with one of the children, a week ago. But he had to know what kind of punishments could be expected. He wanted to save these people, who were willing to give up their lives to save others.

Sirius glanced at the letter once again, wondering who he had considered his child. He didn't know what to think about that either, so he just put away the thought, not ready to consider the fact that he had failed someone, a child, that badly. He knew what an Azkaban sentence meant, of course he did. And with James dead, none of his family would even try to bail him out.

He didn't want to go near the fact that James died in a few years either. James was larger than life, he was always full of energy and bright smiles and creative, interesting, fun ideas. James couldn't be dead before he saw his son grow up. James couldn't leave the world and leave his son in Sirius' care. Because Sirius knew who the best friend was, and he knew that he had failed James and the child worse than he had failed his own brother.

But he could change all of it now.

He would change all of it.

Sirius read through the letter again, committing the words to memory. Then, smiling slightly wistfully, knowing that he may never see the curly, looping handwriting ever again, Sirius pointed his wand at the letter and set it on fire.

As he watched the letter burn, he made a promise to the child that wasn't born yet. He wouldn't allow Voldemort to win this time, whatever he had to do to stop it.

(It was a promise he kept, despite all the other promises that he had broken.)

Scattering the ashes of the letter into the dark night, Sirius turned away from his window and headed out into the corridor. He had a book to read, and a promise to keep.

An excerpt from Life and Death: the uses of blood magic, that details the ritual used and all the limitations of the ritual.

When you are old and wrinkly, sitting in your room and reminiscing about your life, people always think 'I could have done so much better', or 'If only I had thought to do this slightly differently, I would be world famous, instead of sitting here alone'. Well, then, this ritual is just for you old, wrinkly people.

Aim: To send inanimate objects through time.

Procedure:

Pick five objects that you think are important enough to be sent back.

Use the symbol beside as a reference to draw the ritual circle on whatever surface is most convenient for you (eg. The floor, the roof, the table, etc.)

Cut whichever part of your body is available (palm, foot, cheek, etc.) and let your blood fall onto the circle. The amount of blood has to be proportional to the number of years (5 drops for 5 years, etc.). If extra blood is dropped, there's no problem, as long as the number of years is etched in runes around the symbol you have already drawn.

Recite whatever you think is necessary as the spell and once a blinding flash of light has occurred, your object has been sent.

Note: A lot of research has definitely gone into this ritual, and it is perfectly safe for even a child to use. However, there are some precautions that should be taken.

The five objects must be sent simultaneously but can be sent to different times.

The objects can only be sent to a time when the person (whose blood is used) was alive.

As soon as the letter lands, the person (whose blood was used) will be attacked with a punishment. This punishment is based on how much life changing information is in the object and can range from a chronic headache to death.

The ritual was only listed in one book because of its fickle side effects. This book was later banned in the Wizarding district of the United Kingdom and over the years, the rest of the world. Multiple public copies were destroyed by 1875. Two copies remained – with the Grindelwald family and the Black family. The Grindelwald book was destroyed by Gellert Grindelwald, after he memorized the whole thing. The Black family book was destroyed by Sirius Black, after he read one ritual.