October 3, 1991

Severus closed the door to his office behind him. He rather despised Thursday mornings. The youngest of the Hogwarts students had astronomy on Wednesday nights, and were usually a strange combination of tired and overly hyper the next morning. Plus Thursday mornings he taught both the second year classes. Second years were the worst. They came back after a single year of schooling thinking they now knew everything and that they were somehow qualified to not pay attention to the directions.

Having attended breakfast at the earliest time, Severus had plenty of time to spare before his first class of the day. Mentally listing off the things he would like to accomplish before having to deal with the twelve year old terrors, he was caught off guard by a sudden knocking on his door.

Wondering who dared to bother him during this sole moment of peace he walked to the door and threw it open.

Suddenly the second years seemed a welcome sight.

Before him was his godson, which was not a completely unusual or unwelcome sight, but said godson was accompanied by none other than Potter, and not one, but three Weasleys. Oh how he missed the days of there being a single Weasley at Hogwarts. It had all been downhill from there.

Realizing that simple wishes would do nothing to rid himself of the students' presence, Severus motioned for them to come inside. As they filed inside he was unceremoniously handed a sealed letter and a cage with a…rat? Raising an eyebrow at the students, but receiving no response, Severus sighed and opened up the letter that he saw was addressed to him. Why had it come to him via the students in that case?

He began scanning the letter.

…animagus revealing…

…unbreakable cage…

…measures to prevent escape…

…aurors…

Severus glanced down at the signature. It was signed Lord Henry J. Peverell. He sighed. This was really not how he had wanted to spend his morning, but realizing that he might as well proceed with the letter's request, he placed the cage on his desk and began casting a series of revealing spells at it.

Apparently the Weasley prefect had already charmed the cage unbreakable as stated in the letter, so the children must have had some sort of prior instruction. Why bring it to him though? The spell to reveal an animagus was certainly within the capacity of a fifth year with superior grades. When asked, however, the prefect simply said that they were told it would be best to bring the rat to him.

But why him? There were plenty of other teachers at Hogwarts and out of the five students standing there only one had ever sought him out before.

Sighing again, he prepared to cast the animagus revealing spell. To his utter shock, it was positive.

"Where did this rat come from, Mr. Weasley?" he said, directing his question to the eldest of the present Weasleys.

"It's my, well my brother's now. It's our pet rat, Scabbers, sir."

This immediately set the alarm bells in Severus's mind off. "And how long have you possessed this…Scabbers?"

"Nearly ten years, sir."

The implications of this were abhorrent. To have a disguised witch or wizard living with a family for that long without discovery…

"Why now? Why bring this to anyone's attention now?"

To his surprise it was Potter that answered. "Uncle Henry sent a letter addressed to me yesterday evening, sir. He told me to ask the Weasleys for help bringing the rat to you, and to give you the letter he sent with mine."

"And how did your guardian come to be aware of this?"

Potter shrugged. "I'm not sure. He just said it had to do with my parents and that he would explain later."

Severus froze. A thousand thoughts flew through his mind, none of them good or particularly pleasant. Several possibilities were lining up in a way he absolutely did not care for.

"Draco," he said, "go to the floo, call the aurors immediately, and request that a pair be sent over right away." His godson hurried over to the floor and began doing as directed. "Weasley," he said, again addressing the eldest student in the room, "wand out and be prepared to cast a stunner if necessary." Weasley nodded and got into position. "The rest of you, stand back." Surprisingly they all did just that.

He cast a stunner at the rat, then proceeded to enlarge the cage to a size sufficient for a human. Double checking that the unbreakable charm remained intact, he proceeded to cast the animagus reversal spell. To his absolute horror a familiar face emerged from the transformation. He saw a twitch, and immediately a red beam shot past him, directly hitting the now fully human appearing wizard. Turning, he gave a nod to Weasley, then focused his eye back on Pettigrew.

A moment later two aurors stepped through the floo. They hurried over to where Pettigrew was being held, and at their request Severus levitated the now large cage off of the desk and onto the floor.

"Merlin's beard," the first auror exclaimed. "What happened here?"

Severus recounted the previous events.

The second auror let out a low whistle. "And you say this is Peter Pettigrew?"

At Severus's nod the auror shook his head. "Merlin. First Black, and then this."

Severus's head shot up. "What about Black?" he asked harshly.

"Found out that Black's innocent. Released yesterday. Turns out the bloke never even had a trial. Wasn't the Potter's secret keeper at all. Said it was…" The auror trailed off as he caught sight of Potter, and instead just gestured to the still stunned man.

Severus felt his mouth go dry. "Then there is a good chance you will find a dark mark on his arm."

The first auror revealed that there was, in fact, a dark mark on Pettigrew's arm.

After they aurors asked how they came to be aware of Pettigrew's presence, Severus handed them the letter, explaining that he had been asked only to contain the rat, perform the spell, and alert the aurors, and had not, in fact, been given any warning of who it might be.

The auror reading the letter grunted. "Lord Peverell. Makes sense. He's the one that got Black off after all."

Now that was an interesting bit of information. Severus tucked that away for future consideration.

The aurors proceeded to take statements from each of the students present, then departed with Pettigrew in tow.

Severus cast a quick tempos and grimaced. So much for getting anything done before his classes. He ushered the students to the door, instructing them to go straight to their classes.

"And it would be best not to speak to anyone of this incident until the aurors have finished, is that clear?" He received five nods in response. Satisfied, he watched as the five children headed off to their classes, before closing the door behind him and heading off to his own classroom.

Later that day

Severus resisted the urge to let out a lengthy sigh or simply bang his head against the table. Was this it? Was this the moment the headmaster had finally lost it? Severus could think of no other explanation for the man's insistence that this ridiculous plan would work.

He had suffered through Albus's tale of reassuring the Weasley parents that their children were perfectly alright, as if Severus would have let anything happen to them, even if they were a bunch of Gryffindors. Then Albus had asked about what Severus knew about Lord Peverell (which was unfortunately little), and the conversation had gone downhill from there.

Albus's "brilliant plan" was to get Sirius Black to contest guardianship of Ivy Potter. What Severus tried to point out, and what Albus seemed decidedly determined to ignore, was the fact that Peverell was the one who was responsible for freeing Black in the first place. Severus doubted that Black would go against the man he no doubt felt incredibly indebted to. Albus had merely waved off Severus's concerns, stating that he was convinced he could get Sirius to their side, and perhaps even downplay the role Peverell had had in the man's release.

Thus, Severus was now resisting the urge to do something unbecoming of his well-cultivated reputation. Like bang his head against the table. If anyone caught him he would never live it down.

Taking a deep breath, he finally ventured a question, hoping that the answer would restore his faith in the headmaster's mental faculties. "Why contest Peverell's guardianship at all? Has something occurred to make him no longer a suitable guardian for Potter?"

What Albus revealed to him next had him using every bit of willpower he possessed to not reach over and strangle the old man with his own beard.

"You left Lily's child with Petunia Evans?"

"I believe it is Dursley now."

The urge to reach across the table increased. "Why…" Severus's voice lowered to barely a whisper. "Why would you leave a magical child with Petunia? She despised magic and she hated Lily."

Severus ignored the headmaster's attempt at an explanation. The man's attempts at constantly referring to Potter as James's daughter were more blatant than normal and did not go unnoticed. So that's how the old man wanted to play it, was it? Fine.

Severus was not a stupid man. He knew Albus fully expected the Dark Lord to return, and for Severus to return to spying when that occurred. And he was quickly realizing that the headmaster had an interest in Potter that went far beyond the normal concern of a headmaster for his student, even if it was the Girl-Who-Lived. Albus had something planned for Potter, that he was sure.

There was only one thing to do. And doing so would put him on the path of dealing directly with the one person he loathed perhaps more than James Potter. But for Lily's child, he could. He would have to approach Lord Peverell. He needed his own information about the man. What sort of person was he? Potter had arrived at Hogwarts looking decidedly well-cared for, and clearly had some magical training already. She was cheerful, made friends easily, and so far was doing very well in the majority of her classes. History of Magic didn't particularly count, in Severus's opinion.

But if what Albus had insinuated was true, and she had been kidnapped by Peverell, why was she so happy, not to mention apparently fond of her guardian? And how had Peverell gained guardianship of Potter in the first place, let alone without alerting Albus to the change?

Severus sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He would need to acquire more information on Peverell to be sure, but he would also need to gain insight on Ivy Potter. It looked like his month of avoiding the first year student, for what he was sure were completely reasonable reasons, was at an end.

October 4, 1991

Sirius was a free man. He could leave at any time. There was nothing holding him here. He repeated that to himself over and over as he watched the people around him. He had never been one to shy away from attention, but the gaping and the blatant stares were not the kind of attention he would have preferred.

He understood, he really did. For years people had believed he was the most despicable type of wizard there could be. He was still angry over the fact that everyone had so readily believed that he would betray his friends like that, but they had, and now their beliefs had been proven spectacularly wrong. And so, they stared. Gaped. Pointed. Whispered.

At least Sirius could amuse himself by making faces in the direction of witches and wizards who stared a little too long. Sometimes he gave them a just-released-from-Azkaban-and-clearly-insane look, and sometimes he gave them a posh, pureblooded type sneer. Both had produced equally amusing results.

And Merlin did he need some type of entertainment to keep his remaining sanity intact during this conversation.

Dumbledore had very quickly sent an owl requesting a meeting with Sirius. He had acquiesced to the headmaster's request, but had quickly started to regret it. He had never thought his opinion of a man could plummet so quickly, yet here he was.

Did the headmaster not realize that it was Sirius's sanity that was somewhat in question, not his intelligence?

Apparently not, for the headmaster had, over the course of the last hour, spouted so much nonsense that Sirius was tempted to look around to find the Hippogriff responsible for this pile of dung.

Frankly, Sirius was almost just as offended by the headmaster's apparent belief that Sirius was either stupid or could be so easily manipulated as he was by the actual content of man's entreaties. He was a Black. He knew every manipulation technique in the book. He even knew where the book was in the Black library.

But did the man seriously think he would go against the man responsible for his release from Azkaban? Or that, if Sirius did gain guardianship of Ivy for some reason, he would allow the headmaster to manipulate her continued upbringing?

No, the warning bells had sounded as soon as Dumbledore had mentioned getting Ivy away from Peverell and helping her back to the light. Dumbledore had mentioned Ivy's sorting into Slytherin (which Sirius didn't bother to inform him he already knew about), most likely assuming that Sirius's well-known loathing of that house would convict him that his goddaughter needed saving. Yes, the warning bells had sounded, and Sirius had learned long ago the consequences of ignoring them.

Dumbledore also was clearly seeking information on Peverell. Why he simultaneously assumed Sirius had never met the man and yet knew something about him was perplexing, but Sirius merely shrugged at the headmaster's questions and happily said he knew absolutely nothing.

The legilimency probe Sirius felt did nothing to endear the headmaster to him. He pushed some memories of asking the aurors who Peverell was to the front of his mind, and resisted the urge to show Dumbledore Amelia's frankly beautiful rant against the man. It was something he was going to preserve in a pensieve forever.

Finally, the headmaster seemed satisfied that Sirius knew nothing, and was either completely on board with his suggestions, or a total idiot (Sirius wasn't sure which), and left Sirius to his own devices.

Time to go interrogate his godson-from-another-universe. Sirius did not believe the headmaster was up to anything particularly good (at least concerning Ivy and himself), and he needed answers. Who best to get them from than someone who had already lived this?

"We need to talk."

Harry immediately tensed at the sound of the four most anxiety-inducing words in the English language.

"What about?" he asked, aiming for nonchalant and probably failing terribly.

"I need to know everything," Sirius said, coming and sitting across from Harry on the sofa.

"Okay…um, like everything everything?"

"Preferably, yes," Sirius said, raising an eyebrow. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, no, definitely not. It's just… Well, why do you need to know? Did something happen?"

Sirius sighed. "I met with Dumbledore, as you know." Harry nodded. "And there were a few things he said that I would like some insight on."

Harry gulped. Is this where Sirius got mad at him for kidnapping Ivy or for accidentally leaving him in Azkaban for a couple of extra years? His earlier explanation had gone so well…

"Well, I found myself in this world, and Ivy appeared at the same time, and…"

Sirius cut Harry off with a wave of his hand. "Not what I meant, although I would enjoy hearing more about Ivy over the past couple years later. No, I meant your life. Before you came here."

Harry's mouth formed a small "o." So Sirius wasn't mad at him. At least not yet.

He launched into his life story, beginning with his first year at Hogwarts, but to his surprise Sirius asked him to begin earlier. He began to tell about getting his letter, but Sirius wanted him to start even earlier than that. Finally he asked where he ought to start, and Sirius simply said, "The beginning."

So Harry began at the beginning. He started with what he knew of his early childhood, and the events of the night of his parents' murder. He tried to skim over the years at the Dursleys, but Sirius kept pressing, and Harry, realizing that Sirius must be looking for insight into Ivy's childhood, eventually gave in and told him the whole of it. The look on Sirius's face was positively murderous, and Harry once again considered the pros and cons of burning down Number 4 Privet Drive.

Then, to his utter surprise, Sirius came and wrapped him in a hug. Harry assured him that Ivy had done remarkably well since he had found her, and that he had done his best to mitigate the results of the Dursley's less than loving care. To his further surprise, Sirius just said he knew, and was so sorry that Harry had gone through all of that.

With the realization that Sirius actually cared about him, and not just about Ivy, some little piece of Harry broke and he opened up to Sirius in a way that he hadn't to anyone else except, well, Sirius. There was no other person living or dead that he had shared the entirety of the Dursley's abuse with, and Harry found that once he started he couldn't stop.

It was different this time. The one other time he had shared this, he had been fourteen and recently traumatized. Now, he was a few years from thirty, and felt that he had recovered from most everything that had happened to him.

But this was Sirius. Even if not the same Sirius he had once known, it was Sirius, and Harry found himself relishing in the opportunity to be completely honest for once. Not once did he question Sirius's trustworthiness or sincerity. For the entirety of the time he had been in this world, Harry had been focused solely on Ivy and her protection. He had not made any real friends, and had very few acquaintances even. Now he had someone who wanted to know about him. Someone who was interested in him, and not because he had a well-known name or was rich either. Right now he had someone who wanted to know about him, the person who had suffered an horrific childhood, who had killed someone at age eleven, who had seen far too many loved ones die at the hands of a madman, and who had ultimately found himself in an unknown world, completely alone save for a little girl with green eyes who he would never allow to go through what he had.

So he talked. And continued talking. They talked well into the night, and the first signs of dawn were evident by the time Harry had finished.

Sirius had not expected a happy tale by any means, but the story Harry had told had been downright horrendous.

He had ignorantly assumed that the story would get better once Harry began on his Hogwarts years. But if anything it got worse. The repeated confrontations with Voldemort, the near-death experiences at what should have been the safest place for him in the world. The horcruxes. And yes, Sirius knew what those were. He was fairly confident his own mother had researched it out at one point not for "scholarly interest," as she claimed (as if she did anything for so benign a reason), but with the intention of creating one herself. He honestly wouldn't put it past her to have attempted such a thing.

Throughout the night one reoccurring theme was Dumbledore's involvement in the events of Harry's life. And what puzzled Sirius was that Harry seemed to speak fondly of Dumbledore, even when Sirius asked questions that clearly (to him, anyways) revealed Dumbledore's manipulation of events to lead Harry to his final confrontation with Voldemort. Harry had died. As in, actually died. Not only that, but he had seen clear evidence of Dumbledore's knowledge of and belief in the necessity of his death. The more Harry spoke, the more convinced Sirius was of Dumbledore's manipulation of Harry. He seriously (pun unintentional but duly noted and appreciated) doubted whether the Dumbledore of this world varied so much in his intentions. Between his conversation with Dumbledore and Harry's story, Sirius was giving more and more credence to those warning bells that had sounded.

And if he found out that Dumbledore had done anything to put his goddaughter in danger, even Hades wouldn't be able to hide him.

And from what Harry had said, not to mention done, Sirius thought there was a good chance he would have plenty of help.

"So, what's this whole Master of Death thing about, then?"