Author's note:

I am well and truly shocked that I didn't see any reviews for the last chapter. I mean, there was one review, but that was just for chapter 3's time skip. I expected someone to say something about him becoming friends with Malfoy and the Ice Princess of Slytherin, but you guys all saw this and just shrugged. I have the feeling I am getting too complacent with my writing and you all can feel that. I need to do something particularly crazy to get you all intrigued again. Challenge accepted!

--

Chapter 5: Starting the Semester

"You two look ridiculous!" Tracey laughs as she looks at me and Draco. "Why are you guys dressed like that?"

"We lost a bet against Daphne and she forced us to wear these outfits as the punishment," I say with a groan.

"She said something about cosplay really doing it for her, whatever that means," Draco agrees as he rolls his eyes and pushes spiky blond hair out of his view. "I heard her muttering something about a ninja spitroast which I guess is some kind of Japanese cooking thing."

Tracey looks like she is about to run out of air from how hard she is laughing. Daphne, on the other hand, looks like she is about to burst a blood vessel from how angry she is. Her face is bright red which was a contrast from her light pink hair, not that she had realized the color was different. Tracey decided to ruin the surprise by pointing to her and cackling harder.

"I didn't, know you had a thing, for anime," she gasps. "You even look like Sakura!"

Daphne sees the pink hue of her hair and we could tell that all bets were off. There was a certain point where we could push her and she could still maintain her high class pureblood heiress image even if she was beating the shit out of us. However, we had bulldozed past that point to the area I liked to refer to as 'The Danger Zone.' I had made too many period jokes to Carla and Hailey to not recognize the moment when they stop taking prisoners.

Draco starts running the same moment I do. We sprint down the hall at maximum speed and try not the pay attention to the thundering footsteps striking the stone behind us. We knew that if we looked back, it would be the last thing we ever saw.

We made it to the main staircase, but I could feel her closing in on us. Thankfully, I had a distraction right next to me. I kick Draco's leg out from under him and he goes tumbling to the floor. He looks up at me in shock and betrayal as he lies vulnerable on the floor.

"Sorry, Draco," I say. "But Sasuke always betrays Naruto in the end."

I rush up the stairs and ignore the screams of terror as he is dragged away. His sacrifice will be remembered.

I was almost to the classroom when I felt her presence return with a vengeance. If I made it in time, I would be safe. However, it was not to be. My foot was yanked out from under me as I was about to enter and I barely grab onto the doorframe before I am being pulled back into the jaws of Death. My Force-enhanced grip strength was the only thing keeping me alive, but it was going to fail any moment now.

"Sirius-sensei!" I call out. "Help me!"

The man in question was dressed in a standard flak jacket with a mask covering his lower face, a forehead protector on his left eye and silver hair spiked up. His one visible eye locks onto me before he says something that sends chills down my spine.

"All shinobi must be prepared for death," he says. "You will be remembered as a proud warrior of Konoha."

"Sensei!" I cry out as my hands slip and I am claimed by the Reaper herself. There was no saving me. I was a dead man and I just didn't know it yet.

--

"You okay?" Sirius asks as he sits next to my bed in the infirmary. I would have believed he was concerned if it wasn't for the shit eating grin on his face. At the very least, he had bothered to change out of his Kakashi outfit.

"Oh, I am just dandy," I snark back. "Apparently, Pomfrey hasn't seen such extensive injuries since a Quidditch player fell from fifty feet up without anything to soften his fall. She said I had so many concussions that she was suprised my brains weren't leaking out my nose and that my bones had more splinters than the old brooms they use for flying class."

"I didn't think that the little Greengrass had it in her," he chuckles. "Her mom and dad were pretty reserved from what I heard during our school days. I wouldn't be able to picture their daughter beating up two boys if I didn't watch it myself. You two actually won me a lot of money. I bet some of the students that Draco would get hit in the nuts first."

"Glad you could profit off of our suffering, uncle," Draco says from the next bed. "I can't wait to tell Mother and watch as she pays you back."

"Too late," Sirius laughs. "I already sent her a letter with some of my winnings. She won't get angry after I told her you made friends and paid her off."

"Goddamnit, Mother," Draco mutters.

"You still let her catch me," I say to the man. "I will not forget this betrayal."

"Like you didn't betray me first," Draco chimes up. "If anything, I should be the one ranting about betrayal."

"Any real Slytherin would have been ready for it," I say with a shrug. "It is like the oldest trick in the book. You don't have to be the fastest. You just need someone else to be slower."

"Wise words," Sirius agrees solemnly. "You would do well to heed your friend's sage-like knowledge, dear nephew."

"Okay, I am going to get to Herbology instead of stick around for amateur comedy hour," Draco says as he gets up from the bed with a groan. "Tell Pomfrey that I will be back for a checkup later."

He hobbles out of sight while we stay where we were. When he was finally gone, I turn to my Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher.

"You didn't come by to check on your students, did you?" I ask. "You want to talk about something."

"You are a sharp one, you know that?" Sirius remarks. "I can't say that you are wrong. I want to tell you something and I ask that you don't run away before I am done."

"Fine," I say despite the glaring warning signs in a statement like that. "Say what you have to say."

"When I first saw you, you were a little thing," he says. I tense up at the statement, but I tamp down on the impulse to just leave. I made a promise and Yoda taught me to always follow through when I make them. I just hope I spend enough time in Slytherin so I learn not to make them so willy nilly. "You were just a few hours old, but you were so calm and quiet. Nothing like your brother. Merlin, the lungs on that kid. He was like a bloody air raid siren."

"Are you going to keep fawning over that idiot like everyone else at this school?" I ask with more than a little annoyance.

"It is called worldbuilding," he retorts. "I expected someone who wrote and acted in a sci fi epic to understand basic storytelling."

"Huh," I say. "You know about that?"

"Of course I know about that," he says. "Did you really think some movie magic could hide that you played Han Solo?"

"So, could we keep that between us?" I ask. "I know some of the normal students would lose their shit if they found out."

"As long as you promise to talk to your mother," he says. I give him the emptiest look in existence until he relents. "Fine, you win. I will leave it alone. Now, can I continue with the story?"

"Sure," I say. "You were in the middle of swooning over my brother's infantile screeching. Apparently, he was a baby this time."

"Thank you for reminding me," he drawls. "Now, as I was saying, I am your godfather."

Okay, that's the end of that. This has somehow reached the end of my near limitless patience, so I am just going to call it a day. I try to roll out of the bed, but Sirius drags me back down with a glare.

"What happened to sitting through the whole thing?" he asks.

"What happened to being a godfather?" I reply.

"Can I finish before you try again?" he insists.

"You better talk fast," I state simply.

"Okay, the reason that you were sent to your aunt and uncle's place when you were a kid is because we thought you lost your magic when the Dark Lord attacked your family," he says. "Since squibs are commonly treated like dogshit in the wizarding world, they thought you would have a better life in the mundane world instead."

"That is a great excuse for parental neglect and abandoning your child," I scoff. "I guess I must just be confused with my years of abuse and lack of any positive relationship while I was living with them. Wow, you really changed my whole perspective. You are a miracle worker."

"I could do without the snark," Sirius replies. "It is not like we didn't check on you as you grew up. Every now and then, I would see if you were doing okay."

"Then why did you leave me there?!" I shout. "Why didn't you get me the fuck out?!"

"Every time I saw you, you looked happy," he answers honestly. "I am not trying to say you were grinning like a loon with sunshine shooting out of your ass. It just means that every time I saw you going about your day, when no one else was around, you always seemed to be smiling. It wasn't like you were being forced to wear a smile every day. It was like you were really happy."

"That isn't the childhood I remember," I mutter before I roll onto my side and face away from him. "Is that all you came to say? If it is,could you please leave? I think I still need to rest for a bit."

"Your mom wants to talk to you," Sirius says. "You can't avoid her forever."

"It is going well so far," I say. "Goodbye, Professor Black."

He sighs before he gets up. "Bye, kid," he says before his footsteps retreat out of the infirmary.

--

"Hey, Professor McGonagall asked me to clean out a spare classroom so she can use it as a training space for her NEWT level class," Katie Bell, a second year Gryffindor girl tells me. "Could you give me a hand? It is a lot of stuff and I don't think I can have it all moved before my next class. I tried asking some of my housemates, but they blew me off."

"Sure," I say. "Potions is in a couple of hours, so I have some time."

"You are a lifesaver," she says as she leads me to the room in question. "It's Harry, right? I hope I didn't mix up your name with someone else. It has been a bit since the Sorting Ceremony."

"No, you are okay," I confirm. "I am in fact Harry. Except on Tuesdays. I am Geoffrey on Tuesdays. It is spelled with a 'G' so you know I come from money."

The girl snickers at the casual joke. "It is right in here," she says. "I really am sorry about putting you through this."

"It's cool," I assure her. "It is just moving some boxes and desks."

"No, I am sorry about this," she says before she slips out of the room before closing the door and locking it.

I bang on the door and try to remember the Unlocking Charm from the textbook, but I only skimmed it earlier since I was just getting a feel for the information. I should have listened to Draco when he said that Gryffindors feud with Slytherins a lot. This must be an unfortunate consequence.

"I hoped it wouldn't get to this point, but you kept running away whenever you saw me," a voice behind me says. It was feminine, around my age, and annoyed. Which girls have I pissed off again? Daphne, but she beat the shit out of me and still thinks I am in the infirmary. Who am I currently running from? Oh yeah, her.

"Are you sure you are a lion?" I ask as I turn around. "This seems an awful lot like a Slytherin's plan to me, Rose. What can I do for my dear older sister?"

"You could talk to me without being trapped in a classroom first," she says.

"I hear you but I counter with years of abandonment," I reply. "I think I win."

"Are you going to be this difficult?" she asks in exasperation.

"Yes," I answer simply. "It is something of a bad habit, but I can never seem to break it. Maybe it has something to do with having no parental role models growing up. Who knows?"

Rose takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down after my deliberate attempts to rile her up. "I just wanted to talk with my little brother," she finally says.

"Don't you talk to him all the time in Gryffindor Tower?" I ask. "If you can't manage to find him, I suggest getting him a leash. It always helps with unruly pests."

"You are my brother too," she insists. "Why are you acting like we aren't family?"

"Just because we share the same genes doesn't mean we are family," I answer. "My family is in the US. They are the ones who took care of me and bothered to give a shit when they didn't need to. You Potters couldn't even be bothered to talk to me once in eighteen years. I don't really give a shit what you all do, but I don't want to be part of it."

"I thought you would want to know your family," she pushes. "Don't you want to meet Mom and Dad? I want to get to know you. Violet would love to meet her big brother."

"What do you not understand?" I say through gritted teeth as I face away from her. I was trying to restrain myself, but she was making it so hard. She kept pushing and pushing even when I tell her to stop. I was just about ready to break. "I told you we aren't family!"

"And I said we were!" she shouts back.

Rose grabs my arm in an attempt to turn me around, but I feel a surge of anger well up inside me as I level my glare at her. She goes flying with a burst of Force energy that throws her across the room. Her body crashes into some stacked desks that tumble to the ground with a thunderous clatter. When everything settles to a rest, she is lying on the ground with a cut on her forehead leaking blood down her face and she is not moving.

My anger suddenly vanishes at the crushing realization that I might have just killed her. I rush forward immediately and check her for life signs. Thankfully, her pulse is still strong and her Force signature still feels strong. It required physical contact for me to sense that much, but it succeeded in assuring me of her safety.

"Goddamnit, the one time I manage to Force push something and I almost kill my sister," I groan in annoyance. "I need to get myself under fucking control. I can't just keep slipping up and tapping into the Dark Side like this."

I prop up Rose against a cabinet so that she is sitting up relatively safely. Then, I go to open the door and realize that it is still locked and probably sealed with magic. The good news is that I think I remember the key to opening magically locked doors.

I rear back my right foot before I slam it into the door next to the doorknob with as much Force energy as I can manage to infuse into my leg. The door side of the door frame is blasted out in a spray of stone as the lock tore through it in its refusal to move. Katie Bell was on the other side and yelped in surprise as I stepped out of the cloud of dust floating in the air around the ruined doorway.

"Rose fell and hit her head, so you should probably take her to the infirmary," I tell the girl. "No hard feelings about the whole tricking me thing. I know Rose probably forced you into it. You should really learn to stand up to people when they want you to do sketchy stuff."

I just pat her on the shoulder as I pass by her and keep walking. I swear to God and the Force, I better not have to deal with any more of this Potter bullshit or I will lose my shit.

--

I took a deep breath as I centered myself. I let all of my stress and tension from the day fade into the Force as I opened myself up. I felt my anger at the Potters as I touched it and let it flow through me. While Jedi of the past might have pushed it into the Force to cleanse themselves, Yoda had taught me a new path. I had to confront my darkness instead of trying to hide the fact it existed. I can't overcome something I never acknowledged in the first place.

In time, the anger died away until I was left with peace. It wasn't gone. I don't think it will ever really be gone as long as I live. But for now, it has lost its grip on me. By letting myself work through the emotion instead of ignoring it, I stole its power over me. Now, I am balanced.

I lift up a hand as I try to reach out through the Force. My connection with the Force was strong, but it was also flawed. It felt like an incomplete bridge. I could feel it and call on it, yet I was limited when it came to aspects beyond myself. Force telekinesis and temporal manipulation like Force Slows were out of my ability to perform. The worst part about it is that I can remember being able to do it when I was younger, but the memories are foggy at best these days.

I was currently meditating in the middle of a training area that Professor Flitwick had made near the Black Lake. It was a series of increasingly large stones in a spiral before it ends in a massive stone in the center which towers over the others surrounding it. The Charms teacher had set it up as a way to gauge how far we progress with our magical output and spell strength through our time at Hogwarts. We would use just the Levitation spell to lift each of the stones for a minute before moving up to the next one. From what he said, it was his goal for us all to be able to lift the large stone in the center for a full minute before we graduate.

As it stood, the one who made the most progress was James, my brother. He managed to lift the stone that Flitwick said corresponds to the strength of an average student halfway through their second year. Apparently, this was incredible for a beginning first year who had only just come to Hogwarts.

However, that was a gauge for normal people. If the rumor mill was to be believed, he had been using a wand for years and had been given training from respected tutors in various fields. Hell, some people said that Dumbledore himself gave him lessons every now and then. I didn't know how useful that really was since a wizard's magic is unstable before they reach eighteen, but what do I know?

I shake the thought off as I return my focus to the stone in front of me. It was the smallest in the series and one that almost the entire class had managed to lift successfully. I had easily managed it with a wand, but it was an entirely different beast with just the Force. It felt like I was reaching out, but my efforts kept being pushed back at me. For some reason, there was something holding me back.

So, I decided to meditate on it for a moment. Hopefully, the Force might show me a vision and put me on the right track. My abilities as a seer weren't great, but Yoda claimed that they were impressive for a Jedi who didn't focus on the mental aspects of the Force. From what he said, it was rare to find a Jedi who could match my current skill unless it was their actual specialty.

At least, it was my plan to meditate until I felt a presense resonate in the Force as they approached me. I could feel that someone was coming, but it was too murky for me to tell who. Blame my shitty force senses. With a sigh, I open my eyes to see who was bothering me and I wished I had kept them closed.

"What do you want, Professor Potter?" I ask as I try and maintain the fleeting feeling of peace from a moment ago. I desperately needed the stability to get through this calmly. I didn't want a repeat of the conversation with her younger clone.

Wait, clone. Wasn't there the Clone Wars during the period that Yoda lived in? Didn't it have Anakin and Obi Wan in it? I should really wait until we finish making the current trilogy before I start writing any scripts for earlier movies.

Who said it had to be movies? I could do a TV show instead. Episodes are conducive to shorter stories which don't rely on a long overarching plot as heavily as a movie. However, making that many episodes would be a hassle on our special effects teams and the computer guys who have to flesh out the footage with CGI.

Who said it has to be live action though? Animation would give a new medium to work with and it could be more easily marketed to kids. I could have Carla get a team together and pump out a couple of test episodes. Some focus groups could help us see if we are on the right track. We would need a new studio for it, but she has connections which could get us a building and the tech before the end of the week. I should probably start drawing some concept art to get the ball rolling. They could use it as a reference so that the character models are consistent when I can't be there in person.

Shit, I am totally getting side tracked, but this is a great idea. I will just need to sneak closer to Hogsmeade so I can get a signal and call Carla about it. It should give her and Yoda something to do since she is probably empty nesting pretty hard by now.

I finally focus back on the mother in front of me after only a moment passed in normal time. Thank God for my overactive brain being able to process fast enough to hide it whenever I zone out. It happens more often than I'd like to admit.

"I wanted the chance to talk," she says. "I haven't had the opportunity since school started."

"I had plenty of free time the past eighteen years," I say with a shrug. "I guess it wasn't that urgent."

I try and ignore the vindictive rush I get from seeing her almost flinch at the statement. "How have you been?" she asks as she starts to fidget with her hands. "Any hobbies?"

"I like to tinker with technology," I say. She starts to get hopeful that this is moving in a good direction, but I make sure to crush that immediately. "I think it started back when Uncle Vernon had me fix his old tv so he could sell it. I wasn't too interested at first, but I really go into it after he beat me with a belt the first time. I studied a lot about machines and computers to avoid that and the habit stuck."

She couldn't suppress the wince that shoots across her features. "I didn't know," she tries to say.

"Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense," I reply. "Why would you think it was a bad idea to send your infant son to the home of the most hateful people you know? They would probably welcome the kid with no questions asked. Even if the baby was perfectly normal, that totally wouldn't ruin the cookie cutter family image they were going for."

"It was the only choice," she insists. "We didn't think you had magic anymore. I have seen what happens to squibs in this society. They are treated worse than muggles. Even if they stay in the wizarding world, they just become bitter at everyone having magic when they don't. It wasn't like we could live in the muggle world. Our lives were too rooted in magic. What kind of life could we have even given you?"

"You could have given me a family!" I roar as a wave of Force blasts out from around me. The power strikes the rocks around me, covering them in jagged cracks with my unrestrained rage. An old wound of pain and anger had been torn open and I couldn't help but realize that my outburst in Diagon Alley was just the crack in the dam. This is it finally failing.

"What gives you the right to want a place in my life after you threw me out of yours?" I snarl. "The only reason you give a fuck about me now is because it benefits you. Unlike before, I am not a useless waste of space without magic. It all makes sense now."

"It's not like that!" she shouts. "I care about you! I wanted you to be happy!"

"No, you wanted a happy little life without your ugly mistake," I say. "I have met a lot of people like you. You are just like the rest of the gold digging bottom feeders. You only come around when the person you ignored finally becomes successful. Then, you act like you were always family and expect to slip right into their good graces. I'm not the same weak lonely kid who would let you."

"That's not what I think," she says. "I missed my baby boy."

"I'm not your kid," I say. "In my mind, that kid died alone and hungry in the cupboard under the stairs of his uncle's house. I would say I hate you Potters, but that would mean I gave a shit about you one way or the other and I don't. To me, you are less than strangers. I don't know you and I never want to. I have a family of my own now. I don't need yours."

I could see how much my words hurt her. It was like she was struggling to cope with the reality she was facing. If anything, she was living her nightmare and watching it come true before her eyes. Part of me relished in her suffering and I couldn't help but twist the knife deeper.

I was walking past her to leave and I leaned over to whisper something in her ear. "To be honest, I am glad you didn't raise me," I say. "That might be the only way you could be more of a failure in my eyes."

I stroll away as she drops to her knees and openly sobs. With a deep breath, I let go of the knot of coiled hate seething in my gut. A better man could have let go of his grudge. I just wish I was one.

--

Another way, you could have chosen.

"I don't need this right now, Yoda," I reply. "I just want to find however the fuck I get back to the dungeons in this maze of a fucking castle."

The Dark Side, you touched. Resist it, you did.

"It's nice to be appreciated," I snark. "I thought it was a safe compromise to reduce her to tears instead of start snapping her bones. I had half a mind to show her how many injuries I got living at the Dursleys. Even I barely remember how many broken ribs and concussions I got from that fat tub of lard when I was living there. Wait, the concussions probably didn't help."

Amazed, I am. Easily confused, you are. Too many head injuries, you have had.

"I don't need this from you right now, you elderly green midget," I say. "What I need right now is to find the dungeons. What floor am I even on?"

I glance out the window to see that I am looking down from at the lake from fairly high up.

"How did I get higher?" I ask in shock. "I haven't gone up a single flight of stairs. Is the floor really sloped or something? It doesn't matter. I just need to find the way to my room."

I walk down the hallway and approach a staircase only to pause and reconsider. For all I know, this could somehow lead to me going even higher somehow. The better choice would be to go back the way I came. That means I would go down since I went up before.

I retrace my steps back across the hallway before I stop at the top of the earlier staircase. Wait, how do I know this is even going to take me back the way I came? This could somehow spit me out on the other side of the castle. It would be better to keep on going and trying to find a new path that way.

With my original plan restored, I walk down the hallway once more until I trail to a stop. Was that door there before?

"Hey, Yoda?" I ask to the open air. "Is it just me or did this door just appear?"

Instead of the response I was hoping to get from the diminutive old Jedi, I am met with silence. He is sulking apparently. Since he is just a ghost, his only real weapon is the silent treatment and he is not afraid to use it. The old fuck was petty like that.

"Okay, you green baby," I mutter. "I will just see for myself. I hope I don't die and doom the Jedi Order to die again."

I wait a second for him to respond before I realize he is dug in.

"Fine, be that way," I say. "Let's see what is behind door number one."

I twist the cold brass doorknob before I push the oaken door inward. It glides on silent hinges as it reveals the room inside. I was expecting a lot of things if I am being perfectly honest. An ancient burial chamber. An eerie room full of statues that move when you look away. A derelict prison filled with ghosts of its deceased inmates. A torture chamber stained with the blood of its victims. To be honest, I don't know why I expected most of those. They sound implausible at best and batshit at worst.

In reality, it was a bedroom almost exactly like my own down in the Slytherin dorm. Green curtains hang around the four poster bed while a green and silver striped blanket covers the bed itself. A candle on the nightstand next to the bed was burning with a steady green flame which illuminated the cozy room. A bookshelf dominated a wall, its shelves filled with the spines of leather bound books and modern paperbacks. I step inside when I don't feel anything inherently wrong. My Force precognition would have kicked in if I was in any major danger, so it must be relatively safe.

I wanted my room and this place which looks sorta like my room appeared quite conveniently. I take this as a sign from God and the Force that I should just nap here instead of trying and failing to make sense of this place's insane architecture.

Since I was still pretty awake at the moment, I decide I might as well read to spend my time. I ran my fingers over the spines of the books and tried to figure out which one would be the best choice. I feel a tug through the Force when my hand lands on one book in particular. It shined in the Force in a way that I had never seen before. I pulled out the book bound in black leather and see that the only distinguishing mark was a silver 'B' inlaid in the cover.

I hop onto the bed and crack open the book. After all, it didn't feel like a threat so I wouldn't treat it like one for the moment. Instead, I just start reading the first page of the handwritten book.

Today is my first time riding the train to school. It is also my first time being away from home. I am glad to be out of that dreadful house, even if it means leaving Cissy behind for a while.

I think she understood I needed to get away from Mother and Father. Andy says I am overreacting since she will be right next to us when she comes to Hogwarts next year. Even so, I worry about her.

Siri wanted me to go in the same compartment as him, but I didn't want to spend time with him and his friend. The black haired asshole would always find some way to be a prat.

Andy's compartment was full with her friends, but I was able to get my own compartment to myself before they all filled up.

I try to read more, but I find myself yawning and my eyes start drooping. Before I can even set the book down, I conk out and it falls on my chest.

--

"Where am I?" I mutter as I rub my bleary eyes. "I fell asleep by accident."

"You are intruding on my privacy," a voice says. I glance up to see it is a girl with curly black hair parted around a scowling face, pretty dark eyes currently narrowed in a glare, and a wand pointed at me. We were currently the only occupants in a compartment on the Hogwarts train as it chugs through the countryside.

"Could you not point that at me?" I ask. "I have already been beaten up by a chick today. I would prefer to avoid a repeat."

"You got beaten up by a girl?" she asks with a glimmer of a smile playing on her lips. "How did that happen?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was a huge misunderstanding?" I ask. "She was after some rapscallion or other purveyor of tomfoolery when she happened across my innocent form and performed all manner of acts upon me."

"You sound like my cousion, Siri," she says with a straight face, but I could see the smile teasing the edges of her mouth. "All affronted when you get caught doing something dumb."

"I will have you know that is an insult to my very way of life," I reply. "I will act affronted if I am caught doing something smart too."

She couldn't help the snort that escapes her after the joke. After tossing her wand back in her pocket, she relaxes against her cushioned seat. "So, who might you be?" she asks. "You seem familiar, but I can't quite place you."

"My name is Harry," I say. "Just Harry."

"Mysterious," she says with a smile. "Okay then, Just Harry. My name is Bella, Bella Black."

"Nice to meet you, Bella Bella Black," I reply with a smile of my own and an extended hand. She gives me a searching look for a moment before she finally takes my hand in hers. As we shake, my vision goes dark.

--

I wake up on the bed of the room with a start. I grab the book as it was falling off of me and I notice something written on the inside of the cover. The writing had been camouflaged amongst the dark green paper of the inner lining so I missed it originally. However, the light had caught it just right and revealed its presence.

As I look it over in the illumination of the candle, I see four words written down.

Property of Bellatrix Black

Wait, Siri. Siri Black. Sirius Black. The girl must have been his cousin from what she said. Maybe I might get some answers about this book if I ask him. I could probably get him to help me by leveraging the whole abandoned godchild bit. It is quite the Slytherin plan in my humble opinion.

--

"Hey, Sirius," I say after the rest of the students leave the DADA classroom after the lesson ends. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"What is it?" Sirius asks warily as he sips his coffee. "I am kind of worried about this turnaround. You were pretty pissed off last time we talked and I heard it didn't go well with you sister or mother."

"Yeah well, my brother didn't show up so luckily no one died," I say. "That's in the past. Now, have you have ever heard of a girl called Bellatrix Black?"

Sirius does a spit take at the name and sprays a stack of essays with coffee. Then, he promptly spends the next thirty seconds coughing from some of his drink also going down the wrong pipe. "Where did you hear that name?" he asks.

"How about we skip the how and get to the who?" I offer. "You clearly know who she is."

"Of course I know who she is," he says. "She was my cousin. These days, she spends her time in Azkaban, a prison commonly seen as Hell on Earth."

"What did she do?" I ask.

"She fell in with Voldemort and the Death Eaters like most of my family," he says. "It was back in our senior year of Hogwarts. She married one of his supporters, Rodolphus Lestrange, and changed her last name. Soon after that, she was one of the Dark Lord's most trusted lieutenants."

"You make it sound like she changed," I comment.

"Can we talk about this some other time?" Sirius asks tiredly. It was almost like he had been aged a decade in the past minute. "I don't like thinking about Bella these days. It makes it hard to live in a world with only Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Sure," I say as I walk towards the exit. I catch Sirius pulling a bottle out of his desk from the corner of my eye as I reach the door. I was almost gone when I heard him call out one last time.

"Harry!" he shouts and causes me to turn back. "I don't know what you are getting into. To be honest, I don't have any right to ask either. Just, as someone who cares about you whether you accept it or not, stay away from stuff tied to Bellatrix. Nothing good will come of it."

"I promise," I say. "I will stay away from anything to do with Bellatrix Lestrange."

As I leave the classroom and turn the corner, I pull the small diary from my robes. I made a promise to Sirius and I plan on keeping it. I will stay away from anything to do with Bellatrix Lestrange.

Then again, I am not exactly breaking that promise, now am I? This has nothing to do with Bellatrix Lestrange. I toss the diary up before catching it with a smile and slipping it back into my robes. It might be all of the concussions from my uncle and Daphne talking, but I think I am going to have a great time learning all about one Bella Black.

--

Author's note:

Oh yeah, another chapter completed! More intriguing teases of backstory!

Why was Harry happy whenever Sirius used to check on him? Why are Harry's memories clouded and his connection to the Force flawed? What could have led to Bella Black transforming to Bellatrix Lestrange?

These questions and more will be answered soon in Dawn of the Jedi!

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A pleasure as always,

Titan900

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