KEYnote: I am using movie adaptions of the characters, primarily. Because Snape is more interested in the movies and Sirius is more lovable. Somehow, Umbridge is worse? Mwahaha!

Disagree with me if you like, but everything in Harry Potter fanfiction has been done and will break with 'canon' or 'fanon' to make my story more interesting. That includes McGonagall's age.

AN: Is Harry being an arse, yeah, he is and he knows it. But Harry isn't likely to be perfect with what he's been through.

Summer 1995 - The Locket

Sirius hated everything, and he couldn't even drink because Harry was out there.

Alone.

And fighting the Ministry of Magic.

Sirius itched to leave this hell hole, to go to his godson, but he knew that would put Harry in more danger.

Wherever Harry was hiding, he was doing a good job of flabbergasting everyone, including Dumbledore.

Sirius was equal parts proud as he was terrified for him.

Lily would have been losing her ever-loving- mind at this point, but of course, if Lily was here, Harry would never have competed in the Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort likely would have faced his second death while possessing Quirrel.

Witch had been a menace and not even Albus Dumbledore had understood what a power Lily Potter had been. Sometimes, he even thought the old man thought Harry, as a toddler, had been the one to stop Voldemort.

Sirius knew better.

Snape continued to drone on about how infuriated the Dark Lord was.

"Whoever destroyed the prophecies will have the Dark Lord as his personal enemy."

"What of Lucius?" Arthur asked.

"He's being 'punished' by the Dark Lord," Snape said gravely. "Only Narcissa has been allowed to see him. I think the Dark Lord might have taken his punishment too far." Dumbledore sighed, "He allows your imaginations to come up with the worst without confirming exactly how far he's willing to strike out against his own."

Snape nodded and said before could ask again, "No news on Potter."

"Where could he have gone?" Molly moaned.

"It's not the first time he has run away," Remus remarked.

Sirius bit his tongue.

Harry hadn't run away, he had run off to go fight.

Minerva shook her head, "I told you they were the worst sort, Albus, I told you."

Details were coming out about Harry's life with the Dursleys, details that filled Sirius with rage and regret.

He hadn't thought anyone could be as bad as his mother… but his mother hadn't wished away his existence until he had truly made a nuisance of himself at Hogwarts. Petunia, would have traded Harry's life for her own son's life not only willingly but eagerly.

The more details they had learned about Harry's life had gotten even Snape's sly remarks to come to end.

Most disturbing was the evidence that Harry's childhood bedroom had been the cupboard under the stairs.

If it wasn't for the magical protections on the house, Sirius wondered if muggle law enforcement would have removed him. As it was, Harry had no confidants in his hometown.

None.

The best description they got from anyone was that Harry was the troubled boy who got into fights and went to a correctional facility.

The most descriptive language had been that he was a 'stupid dirty boy.'

It was a description better suited to Snape, but not even Sirius would describe the man as unintelligent, at least, not academically.

Harry didn't even have that.

Really, the only thing they learned was how inadequate Harry's guardians had been and how those who 'kept an eye on him' had failed to understand the extent of the Dursleys' neglect and abuse.

"Well is that all?" Sirius asked.

"Are you certain, Harry has not attempted to contact you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Why would he?" Sirius growled. "You had me repeat your garbage orders. He doesn't trust me now, how could he?"

"His owl has returned to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said.

Hedwig, the snowy owl had arrived at Grimmauld Place, but no sooner than she had swooped in than she had swooped out; without delivering her letter. It was the first signal that something had gone wrong.

By the time the Order could respond, Dudley Dursley was being treated in a muggle hospital and Harry was nowhere to be found.

More than a week had passed, in which time Bode had been attacked, Lucius Malfoy had been punished by Voldemort, and the destruction of prophecies hidden at the heart of the Ministry of Magic, was the first time they've heard from Harry since.

Of course, Sirius was alone in that belief.

"Still, if he contacts you-" Dumbledore continued.

Sirius rose, he'd had enough of this.

"Where are you going?" Molly demanded.

"You're all talking in circles," he retorted. "Unless there's something new, unless there's something you'll allow me to do, I don't need to be here."

He left before any of them could protest further. He moved quickly and quietly, something that in this house he was well practised in.

Hermione nor the Weasleys stopped him as he made his way to the attic serving as a barn for Buckbeak.

He didn't expect the sight before him; a young girl bowing to the Hippogryph.

And then Sirius was hit with a silencing spell. Instinctively, he pointed his wand at his aggressor, only to have it expelled into a waiting hand.

"Harry!?" Sirius exclaimed loudly or would have it wasn't for the silencing charm.

Which; fair.

Harry smiled, tossing Sirius back his wand. Sirius allowed himself a moment to take his godson in, apparently all in one piece and dressed in comfortable wizarding robes. Then Sirius was pulling James's son into a hug.

The strange girl locked the door behind them and spelled it with some kind of defence or silencing charm, or both.

Sirius, who had been on the end of a number of silencing spells throughout his life, undid it with ease and pulled back from the embrace.

He shook Harry by the shoulders, "I was so worried about you!"

"I missed you too."

Sirius ruffled his hair, "Whose this?"

"My friend, Leta. Leta, this is my godfather, Sirius Black."

The girl's brows shot up, "A Black?"

Sirius raised a brow but didn't question, at least for the moment, "Did you help him at the Ministry?"

Her brown eyes widened and Harry laughed as he asked, "How did you know?"

"You're the only one who has the audacity to do so without Dumbledore's approval. Whatever you did got Lucius Malfoy punished personally by Voldemort."

The laughter died on Harry's expression and he exchanged a look with Leta, before saying, "We need to talk, Sirius. But first, we need an heirloom your brother acquired."

"My brother?" Sirius echoed.

Harry and Leta exchanged another look.

Leta met his gaze boldly, "It is a long story, Sirius."

Sirius learned, hours later, that neither his godson nor Ms. Leta Lestrange had been joking in the slightest.

When they left, early the next morning through the downstairs floo undercover of a combination of invisibility charms and James's cloak, Sirius was greeted by a panicked Molly coming out of the kitchen.

"He's apperated!"

"What?" Sirius asked, playing dumb. "Your sons?"

"Harry!" she exclaimed. "He's apperated, but they couldn't follow the trace! It's as if he disappeared!"

Or, Sirius thought, he's gone within a home with strong defences, such as a place within a Fidelius Charm.

But of the things the Order of the Phoenix or Dumbledore could have predicted, he doubted time travel was among them.

Sirius was content to know Harry could take care of himself, as well as the one to know more about what was going on than either Dumbledore, Voldemort, or Snape. It was enough for him to agree to Harry's demand to stay safe.

Chapter 5 - Old Friends

Severus Snape found himself in the uncomfortable position of…

Sigh.

Respecting… Harry Potter.

Which was an accomplishment especially given the boy's blatant arrogance. What had the boy done to change his mind?

Much.

He had done much.

Beginning with his treatment of Leta Lestrange, a girl who had lost everything and everyone, yet had a friend at her back.

A type of friendship that Severus had failed to provide for Lily.

Potter had even spurned his friends, and Leta, her possible peers in Slytherin, to be together. It was clear to all who had eyes that the two teens were in love.

Which should have disgusted him, but when Severus looked at Potter, Potter with Lily's eyes, looking at Leta with respect and deep seated trust.

Too often, all that existed between teenage romances were shallow friendships in a difficult time and lust.

In Severus's biased opinion, lust had been all that existed between Lily and James. Someone like Lily…

She had fallen for James's inflated confidence and his raw talent.

Despite being too good for him, too kind.

It wasn't until Potter began deliberately —and Severus knew for a fact that it was deliberate— acting like his father did he understand what Minerva had been telling him for years. The boy had terrible luck and was self-conscious to the detriment of his own education, but he was more Lily's son than James's.

Even now that Potter strutted about, Severus finally saw the differences.

Harry Potter wasn't the bully his father had been, he was a snake in lion clothing. Unlike Granger who memorized texts with no individual thought, Potter learned for the purpose of weaponizing his knowledge.

He was finally beginning to apply himself and was finally proving that he wasn't just a thorn in the Dark Lord's side, that it wasn't just luck and unseen efforts of many to keep the boy safe that made him a problem.

Class after class, from Charms to Transfiguration, to Potions, Potter was proving that he had a brain beneath that hard skull of his and the power to one day rival Dumbledore and the Dark Lord.

Albus was beginning to fear the boy, but Severus saw it for the gift that it was. It didn't matter what age he was, the boy's childhood was over, had been over a long time ago.

If they were going to survive the Dark Lord's return, if the boy was going to survive, he was going to have to learn in the span of a few months to a few years what it had taken Albus and the Dark Lord to learn over decades.

It was with this in mind that Severus assigned Potter a penalty research potions assignment.

You knew things were bad when Severus concluded that the best decision was teaching a Potter how to make bombs, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Merlin help them all.

Leta Lestrange did not feel as though she had lost everything, but rather, she had escaped it all.

Her family, the expectation to marry, pureblood fanatics.

Even with two wars having passed and one more on the horizon, there were more half-bloods and muggleborns than she had ever seen before.

Even the Malfoys had left her alone, left her with freedoms that she never would have had. Though that might have been because Lucius Malfoy was left with half a mind, a condition, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black was clearly trying to keep hidden from the world at large.

Which seeing as Leta had no intention of having anything to do with them, worked for her. Even Draco Malfoy avoided her.

Most of the Slytherins didn't know what to do with her, the 'homeschooled girl who wasn't really a Lestrange.'

It would have enraged her father, or perhaps, as a daughter, he wouldn't have cared at all.

Either way, she was free of his judgment, free too from her peers. Her peers were no more than scared children who believed Harry, who knew from their own families, that the Dark Lord was back.

Yet Leta was the only one among them who wasn't afraid, because she didn't have to, she could fight alongside Harry.

And she didn't fear anything she could fight.

What surprised her was the Slytherins' surprise in Harry.

In her time, the Potters had been a prominent pureblood family, that even as Gryffindor, that a Potter could represent anti-pureblood sentiments was an oddity to her.

So too was the idea of killing non-purebloods. Sure, there had always been radicals, as well as those who wished Hogwarts to retain its prestige and not teach outsiders from their communities. But they weren't like the States, marrying muggles was legal for a reason.

So it didn't surprise her that Harry could dislike radical sentiments and yet have no problem with Slytherins. What did surprise her was that she could find another person who reminded her so strongly of Newt.

True, Harry wasn't quite as… innocent as Newt, how could he be, with everything he had been through, but he had that same innate kindness.

And perhaps she liked Harry better for his hard edges.

He didn't make her feel— make her feel as if she were evil or dirty. For Harry had made mistakes that had gotten innocent people killed.

With him, she didn't feel like a monster.

So with a friend and more freedom than she had ever had before, she found herself having fun.

Sure, had school become a timed test on how long they had to train before going to war? Yes.

But there was something thrilling about her actions and decisions having an effect on the future of the wizarding world.

After a lifetime of feeling helpless, society's power over, she found that she liked the role reversal, no matter how dangerous it was.

It wasn't as if, aside from Harry, anyone would miss her.

Speaking of whom, she scrolled a note that would appear briefly in Harry's notebook, just as his notes would appear in hers.

It was a neat charm that let them pass notes even across the castle.

-Do you think she will ever notice?

Harry wrote back, -Nope. Which he followed up by drawing a smiley face

They had cursed some ivy around the Defense classrooms a week ago.

If the ivy was allowed to mature, the plants would trumpet every forty moments. And because it was cursed, any effort to destroy it would cause it to trumpet louder.

Professor Umbridge had made too many enemies among the rest of the staff, no one would help her.

As a Lestrange, Leta had a speciality with curses and wards. For instance, getting around the wards on the high table in the Great Hall with her wits and Harry's raw power, it hadn't been difficult.

Harry wrote her another note, this time a question about temporary wards.

She asked what page he was on in a tight script.

Then she had to ask again when she couldn't decipher his chicken scratch.

Flipping to the page he indicated, she had to reread the full chapter before answering back, -A ward like that could be cast as quickly as a shield charm, however, it would take more energy.

They had spelled their books to look like Umbridge's choice book, so anyone but Leta and Harry who wore spelled rings that allowed them clear sight on this specific item.

She had never enjoyed studying so much, knowing that there would be a use for her skills, not just another thing to add to her pedigree.

She liked Harry's godfather as well, not least because the man was teaching them how to become animagi. She and Harry spoke to Sirius nearly every other night through a mirror shard in the Room of Requirement.

The quiet rustling of pages and restless students that made up most of Defense Against the Dark Arts was interrupted by the hinges of the door as it was opened.

Everyone turns to see Professor McGonagall at the door. "Miss Lestrange, your presence has been requested."

Leta looked to Umbridge even as she gathered her things without the toad's leave. The Professor's lips thinned but she didn't verbalize a protest.

The class watched her, but Harry's eyes were the only ones she met.

He raised a brow and she shook her head.

She had no idea what this was about.

McGonagall didn't say anything to her, just led her to one of the courtyards where an old man sat on a bench.

Leta was suspicious that this was a potential guardian until he looked up at her and she saw those blue eyes and frackled face, creased with a hundred smile lines.

"Newt," she breathed.

He smiled at her, "Leta."

She hugged him.

She had missed his whole life, but she knew they were never meant to be.

Still, her heart was warmed when he hugged her and he said into her hair, "I missed you so much. I am so happy you are alive."

She hugged him tighter, fighting back tears.

Of her old life, Newt was the only she missed.

Newt pulled back, "Are you alright?"

She nodded, "It's as no time at all passed for me. It didn't hurt or anything."

"I'm sorry about your family," he said, waving behind her to McGonagall who was leaving them.

She shrugged stepping back from him, "I made a friend, he's better family than I've ever had."

"Harry Potter?" Newt asked, tone warm.

However Newt's life had ended up after being expelled, he seemed to have found happiness.

She nodded, "Yep, Harry, he makes for an excellent partner in crime."

Newt laughed, "Certainly keeping yourself relevant, what with all the drama around the Boy Who Lived disappearing over the summer."

She smirked, "Says the man who after getting expelled wrote the literal textbook on magical creatures."

His smile grew and he held his hand out to her, "Walk with me, it appears that we have much to catch up on."

She took it, his hand an odd mix of calluses and soft from age. They walked out to the like where they had spent many an afternoon together. They spook well past dusk and she learned more about the world she missed than from any textbook had been able to describe. In turn, she told him about Harry and Sirius Black, their summer together, though she omitted the attacks on Voldemort they had executed over that time.

It was a strange thing, so many years stood between them, and in the time they had been apart they had both changed, and yet, their friendship endured.

They may no longer be peers, Newt may be married with kids and grandkids, but he was still the kind hearted boy who had been Leta's only anchor in an ocean of sorrow and darkness.

AN: Thoughts, bunnies, or feedback, pretty, pretty please?