A/N: This is my first written work, I do not have a beta reader, I am poor with sentence structure/grammar, overuse the hell out of commas and I do not think that I necessarily have a talent for writing. Also, extremely inconsistent updates. The reason I am writing and posting this at all is that I have loved several fanfictions specifically in this vein and have run out of them to read so have resorted to relying on my own imagination and thought that posting it would mean I would devote more time and be able to progress the story to myself rather than starting from scratch each time. All of that being said, if you do still read this and want to comment on places to improve/ideas on where to go please do. If you want to comment to just shit on it that's fine too, I suppose, though I will not feel bad as I have warned you.
For those who have read any part of this story before 7/1/2022 you will find a few small things have changed in chapters 1-3 and a lot in chapter 4. If you haven't read any part of this yet, then ignore this paragraph. I found that my characterization of a few of the primary characters was too inconsistent for my liking, there was a lack of foundation for some of their actions and some of the scenes hadn't turned out to my liking. You will find more of a background to the 'previous world' and its' fate, Harry and Sirius' interactions improved and the Potters more suspicious of the sudden addition of a new person to their lives.
Anyways, don't actually know if its required or not, but obviously I own nothing more than the rambling storyline and certainly not any of the characters/world of Harry Potter. I am not and will not make any money here.
Chapter 1: Born from the ashes
As he prepared, Harry Potter thought back over the unfortunate life that had would soon come to a close. It had been five years since he lost those he considered the only family to have ever accepted him when the burrow had been burnt to the ground with most of the Weasleys inside. Four years since he lost the only man he ever saw as a brother, when Ron sacrificed himself to let Harry and Hermione escape the ministry after an ill-advised break-in attempt by the three. He still was unsure if Ron's death affected him or Hermione more at the time but he did know that while he made his peace with it, knowing Ron died how he would've wanted and was able to see his family again after a year without them, Hermione had not. From then on Hermione, who he had always relied on to temper his more "Gryffindorish" plans, had accepted higher and higher amounts of risk on missions. When she inevitably died two years later Harry almost felt a sense of relief, knowing that she had been more and more miserable each day she was alive and that she was now with her parents and their friends in what must be a better place. He missed them all more than was healthy but had long since realized that he was better off alone. That those around him would only ever get hurt or worse. While on his own he gave Voldemort less of a chance to hurt Harry where he knew it hurt the most.
It was with these thoughts racing through his mind that Harry put the last of the preparations in place. He had been working on the ritual almost since he had lost Hermione. He had known that even with her darker and darker view of the world she never would have allowed what he was planning to do. In fact, it was precisely for that reason that Harry realized that it was the best plan of action. It was so horrific that Voldemort would never think that his nemesis "the leader of the right", or perhaps "the last of the light" would be more appropriate, would consider it. But Harry had long since accepted that the ideas of "light and dark" were lies told by both sides in order to validate their actions or inactions to themselves. The "dark" reveled in the more destructive and more gruesome avenues of magic in order to make themselves feel more powerful no matter the cost to others. The "light" refused not only to use what they called "dark magic" but also to act as their opposition did. The light saw this refusal to kill, terrorize or maim their enemies as compassionate so that they could lie to themselves and say they even if they were to lose, they lose with honor. All of this considered, Harry could not help but feel that what he planned to do may be truly dark, as either side would be appalled that he would even consider it. Quite simply, Harry Potter was going to burn the world.
As Harry saw it the world was already on fire, he was just finishing what Voldemort had started. There was already nothing good left, or what little that still remained would be snuffed out anyways, sooner rather than later. The way he saw it there were three possible outcomes from his plan. Either his plan would succeed and he'd be in heaven, or whatever variant is correct, and he'd be reunited with those he loved. He'd be in hell for what he'd done, but he honestly couldn't imagine it being worse than what he dealt with now, and at least Voldemort and his followers would be suffering next to him. Or there is no afterlife and at the bare minimum his suffering would end. No matter what Harry saw things improving for him. So, it was with an air of excitement, that after finishing the ritual's preparations he took one final look around and began to chant.
"Ambustum vivus formido, ambustum vivus formido, ambustum vivus formido mundus…"
Harry felt all his hair begin to stand on end and a pressure build around him, building until he had to shut his eyes and grit his teeth while still chanting.
"Ambustum vivus formido, ambustum vivus formido, ambustum vivus formido mundus…"
It was almost unbearable the immense strain he could feel on his body and magical core. He had once given thought to just letting Voldemort have the world and move on to join his friends and family, but he knew that he would be damning countless future innocents to torment and had decided that while he may no longer hold any love for the world he would sure as hell not be letting Voldemort have it. It was with this last guttural defiance to the one who had taken so much from him and so many others that Harry Potter finished his chanting and released the magic that had since risen to the point where Harry could feel his own magical core groaning under the strain.
"Ambustum vivus formido, ambustum vivus formido, ambustum vivus formido MUNDUS"
The relief he felt as the magic raced from him back into the leylines he had been drawing from was so intense that Harry saw white for a moment and when his vision returned he found himself laying on the ground looking towards the sky. The same sky that had once been emulated by a magical ceiling above the very spot he now lay. He knew there was no escaping for him now, not that he had any desire to. Harry had never been the researcher that Hermione was, or the strategist that Ron was, but he had run the numbers and looked at it from every angle. This was the end. He had drawn magic directly from the natural running leylines, here under the ruins of what was once the only home he ever knew, directly into his own core and then used it to ignite those same lines of magic. Soon enough the entirety of the world's natural magic would rebound upon itself and one of two things would happen. Either the planet wouldn't be able to stand the strain of such an immense output of energy and would crack to its' very core, killing everything and everyone at once. Or it would just barely be able to contain the initial explosion but the following shockwaves and heat would kill everything and everyone. There would be no world left, even if Voldemort somehow found a way to survive, he would have no one to rule over.
The thought of Voldemort alone with only his thoughts of his own superiority but no validation through the fear of others almost made Harry begin to laugh. In fact, Harry would have begun to laugh if at that moment a sudden feeling of wrongness hadn't washed over him. It felt as though the magic was not only rebounding on the planet but was diverting some towards him. He had no idea what this meant but knew that with his luck it couldn't be good.
That same sense of building pressure returned only this time he had no way to release it. He still lay on the ground, too exhausted to move and yet now filling with more energy than any one person was meant to hold. It became more and more painful until he couldn't bear it any longer. To escape the pain, Harry tried to think back to the last time he was truly happy, to when he still had hope. The summer before his fourth year. Having just found out that he had a godfather, a godfather who loved him. Even if the man was a wanted criminal Harry was happy knowing that he finally had some sort of actual family. He had many dreams that summer, dreams of when Sirius would be free, of when Harry would leave the Dursley's for the last time.
However, in recalling the last of his truly happy memories Harry was inevitably led to what came just after. The Triwizard Tournament. The school turning on him. Cedric's death. Voldemort's return. The ministry's willful blindness to the truth. Somewhere through all of this Harry had begun to lose hope. Sure, he hadn't truly lost hope until Sirius' death, but it was here that the end began. As the magic inside him threatened to tear him apart from the inside Harry had one last painful thought that "if I could go back, I'd see them all again. I'd have my family back. I wouldn't make the same mistakes. Everything would be different."
With that last thought running through his mind, the building magic exploded out of him in an uncontrolled burst at the same time that his world went dark and he lost consciousness.
Sirius Black sat in the ancestral home of the Blacks, Grimmauld Place, nursing a drink and thinking back over his unfortunate life that, in his opinion, should have ended over a decade prior. It had been thirteen years since they lost Harry. He still remembered it like it had just happened and indeed did relive it any time he had to visit Azkaban and felt the dementors. He knew that he would've succumbed long ago to the despair and wasted away due to the knowledge of his total failure to save his godson, his inability to save James and Lily's son, if not for his friends and their steadfast refusal to let him give in. But some days, some days he just wanted to see Harry again. He knew that he had no right to let it affect him more than Lily or James did but he couldn't help but feel as though it was his fault and he was infinitely more to blame than either of them. So here he sat, on one of his rougher days, remembering that wonderful day that turned into the most horrid night and drinking himself into a stupor.
*October 31, 1981*
It had started as a normal day and then seemed like it would be a day of celebration. It was Halloween, and while he waited for James who had somehow lost his glasses searched the bedroom for the fifth time Lily had pulled him aside with a mischievous smirk on her face. Sirius never truly knew how to feel when he saw that smirk as it meant that someone was about to be pranked in an epic way but that someone could just as easily be him. But when Lily then said in a hushed voice "Sirius, I need you to do me a favor tonight!" he immediately saw that he was going to be an accomplice rather than victim and couldn't wait to see what she had cooked up.
"Of course, Lils, whatever you need." he responded while flashing a smirk of his own.
Her smile widening Lily then asked "Ok. I need you to babysit Harry tonight for us. Just for an hour or two if that's alright?"
"Sure, that's no problem at all. You know I love spending time with the little bugger." Sirius said, though feeling somewhat let down that it seemed Lily just wanted a date night with James and didn't have any plans to prank anyone.
"Sirius Black! You will not use that language in front of, much less in reference to, my son!" she scolded somewhat sternly.
"Sorry, sorry" he said holding up his hands in surrender "Though what's with the cloak and dagger? All this just for a date night? You do know you married him so while it may still surprise me that you want to go out with the toe-rag James has somewhat cottoned on to the fact you fancy him?" he asked with no small amount of mirth.
"Yes, well, I'm going to trust you not to tell anyone, especially James, but I am surprising him tonight."
"Oh? How so?"
"Well, it just so happens that come next summer Harry may not be the only little bugger running around here. He's going to have a little sister!" Lily said, smiling even wider than before.
Sirius' jaw dropped. "I don't even know what to say…"
"How about congratulations? Or that you're happy for us?" Lily said still happy as could be.
"No, no, no that's not what I'm talking about. I mean sure congrats and all that jazz, but are you being serious right now?" he asked with no small amount of incredulity.
Lily, now confused and somewhat annoyed at not getting the reaction she wanted from Sirius huffed and asked "What are you talking about? I wouldn't joke about this!"
"I mean you just yelled at me for calling Harry a little bugger and then you go and call your unborn daughter the same! That's just hypocritical!" Sirius replied, finally letting his grin break through and opening his arms to give her a hug.
After thinking back for a moment Lily blushed a little and moved in to accept the hug, laughing into his shoulder "Oh you, well I suppose I should set a better example if I expect you to follow it" she laughed.
"Well, I'm serious, as always, but I'm also very happy for you two. So, you're what taking him out and telling him at dinner?" he said while still chuckling a little.
"Yeah, that's the plan. You really don't mind watching Harry for a little?" she asked again just to make sure while pulling back to look him in the eye.
"Of course not! Though while I am touched that you told me even before James you do realize that work is going to be impossible now, don't you?"
"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure something out" she said with a wink before turning around and yelling "James! I found your glasses in here on the kitchen counter." Before pulling the aforementioned glasses out of her pocket and setting them down on the counter.
"You know, sometimes I really think you gave us more grief than you should have for our pranking back at Hogwarts, when you are just as bad really!" Sirius exclaimed looking at the glasses that had been the morning's ordeal get set where he knew for a fact James had already searched thoroughly through.
Lily smiled while turning back to look at him and said "Ah but you see I only prank for a reason. I needed a way to distract him, so I found one. Plus, if you all had made it so that I didn't know it was you then I wouldn't have been able to give you much grief now, would I?"
"Well, you may not think we were sneaky enough but I assure you that James checked in here already and will know that those weren't just sitting here the whole time so you have some work to do on your subtlety still too." He finished saying just as James came walking into the kitchen.
"I thought you had checked in here, honey?" Lily said while picking the glasses up and walking them over to James with an innocently puzzled look on her face.
"Yeah. I thought I had as well." James replied in a somewhat clipped tone while looking at her with suspicion growing in his eyes.
Suddenly turning back towards Sirius Lily exclaimed "Oh Sirius! When will you grow up? You had better not think of teasing Harry by stealing any of his things like this!" She said in a stern voice but clearly enjoying herself as James stood behind her and couldn't see the same smirk she wore earlier and Sirius again thought of how it really could go good or bad for him when she donned it.
"Really mate? Real mature." James said shaking his head. "Lets get going, I hope you've had your fun because we're going to be late as it is."
"You know, to make it up to us why doesn't he watch Harry tonight and just the two of us go get dinner?" Lily now posed as if it was a new idea she had just thought of.
"You know, I think that is absolutely fair!" James agreed "So, I suppose I can't be too mad now though" he said laughing just a bit.
The two of them were walked out by Lily, Sirius with a stunned expression the whole time as he couldn't fathom just how Lily had managed to best them both while also thinking about the little Potter girl that he would get to meet in just a few months. The two of them arrived at the ministry and walked down to the Auror department and James turned to address Sirius before getting started for the day.
"Sirius, is everything alight?" he asked.
"… what? Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Sirius replied, worried he had given something away.
"I don't know, you've just seemed quiet since leaving the house. If you can't, or don't want to, watch Harry tonight don't worry about it. We can always have a date night some other time. Its no biggie."
"What? No, no I'm absolutely fine" Sirius said while pulling himself out of his thoughts and getting ready for the day.
"Alright, if you're sure. Thanks again."
With that the day had started better than most, which made that evening that much harder to believe it had all been the same day. James and Sirius had returned to Godric's Hollow that evening and Harry was awake this time and was being quite the handful for Lily. So, Sirius swooped in to take him from her arms talking about how he had the best godson in the world and brushing the couple towards the door assuring them the "two bachelors", as he put it, would be fine and waving goodbye. It was nearly ten o'clock, but James had sent a patronus warning they may be a bit late and that they had some news to share when they got home, to which Sirius had just laughed. So, he had put Harry to bed and was just sitting and reading in the living room when the door had blasted in without warning.
He had leapt to his feet and rushed to the front hallway where he found Voldemort entering the house.
"Where is the boy?" the Dark Lord calmly asked.
"He's out with his parents! So why don't you just piss off!" Sirius had replied while pulling his wand to try and force Voldemort to leave.
The two wizards exchanged a few spells and the noises must have woke Harry for suddenly a baby could be heard crying upstairs and Voldemort spoke again.
"Well, well, well. It seems as though you are not as alone as you had made it seem. You are lucky that your cousin and brother have been so useful, for that I will let you live and hope that the next time we meet you have reconsidered your stance and will join me as all true purebloods should." Voldemort said even while deflecting everything a crazed Sirius could throw at him before finally snapping his wand forward and sending a number of spells towards Sirius. With no way to dodge or block Sirius suddenly found himself thrown back into the hallway wall where he collided and darkness descended over his mind.
When Sirius came to, he was confused. At first the only thing he knew was that he was supposed to be in Godric's Hollow but judging from the ceiling above him he certainly wasn't. Then he realized that while not the ceiling he should be seeing it wasn't necessarily unfamiliar and that he was in Saint Mungo's. That realization led to him asking himself why he was there which in turn brought the memory of the Dark Lord and their fight floating up from the depth of his potion addled mind. Still following his own thoughts as though they were a stranger's Sirius then remembered why Voldemort had attacked and who he had been looking for which caused him to attempt to sit up as quick as he could, only to fall back down breathing heavily when every part of him lit up in pain.
"Sirius!" he heard dual exclamations from somewhere off to his side leading him to turn his head towards the voices. He regretted it immediately. Sat there in two of the chairs were James and Lily, looking absolutely despondent. He couldn't remember a time they had looked as bad, even after either set of their parents were killed by Death Eaters they hadn't seemed so broken. He knew. He knew but he had to ask anyways.
"…H-Harry?" he managed to croak out in a question that he knew he didn't want answered.
Sure enough, his question caused a fresh wave of grief to roll off of them. Emotions so strong that they were nearly tangible swirled in the room. Lily made no effort to hide hers, though it was clear that she was close to her breaking point and was lost without a clue as to what to do. James though, James was another story. Yes, he looked nearly broken as well and Sirius sincerely doubted that he was truly handling it better than Lilly but unlike Lily he held Sirius' gaze. In his eyes Sirius could see the grief, rage, resentment, anger, betrayal and… shame? This confused Sirius as what could James have to feel ashamed about? He hadn't been the one who failed. He hadn't been the one in the house. He wasn't the one that should have given his life to protect the one that couldn't protect themselves. That was Sirius. While still holding his gaze James slowly shook his head, finally answering Sirius' earlier question. While he knew what the signs had meant it still tore him apart in the most painful way possible. Turning back towards the ceiling and squeezing his eyes shut as the hot tears began spilling from his eyes it was all he could do to curse the world.
"Damn" he said simply. Putting as much emotion into that one word as he could.
His magic began to bubble to the surface and soon mediwitches and mediwizards rushed in the room and forced several potions down his throat and blackness creeped back over his mind and he couldn't help but think that the blackness was so much better than life right now.
*Present Day*
He was upset with himself again. He knew better than this. Normally, Sirius would drink himself into that wonderful blackness where the knowledge of his failure couldn't reach him before he would get to the part of the memory in Saint Mungos. He tried to avoid having to see his friends faces when they had to tell him just what they had lost because of him. Figuring it was better late than never, Sirius took the bottle of muggle scotch he had been slowly drinking his way through and finished the last quarter of the bottle in short order, finally reaching the blackness he wanted.
What Sirius didn't know was that about fifteen minutes after he was lost to the world for the foreseeable future someone would visit the house. And there was no way he was ready to meet this person for so many reasons.
Harry Potter jolted awake in the middle of what looked to be a field and immediately knew something was wrong. There was no one, loved ones or otherwise, to meet him. No pearly gates. No river Styx. He recalled no bright light. So just where was he?
Besides the very clear misplacement he seemed to have undergone he also felt… off. After lying there for several minutes Harry decided he could no longer remain still without any information and rose to his feet, only to look down at himself to realize just what it was that felt off.
"Hmm, well that's odd. Even for me" he mused to himself, taking in his younger, less scarred, body that was in clothes and boots clearly a couple sizes too large.
With the dawning irony of his lack of ability to save those he loved from death to then fail to find it himself Harry tilted back his head to face the light blue sky and yelled out "DAMNIT!"
He sat back down, tears beginning to fall down his face with the realization that he still wouldn't be able to see his family. With tumultuous thoughts running through his mind, Harry began to try and take stock of just what had happened.
He had finished the ritual, there shouldn't be anything left alive, no matter where he was. But he could see clearly that he was surrounded by trees and could hear the soft sounds of animals in the forest so everything certainly wasn't all burned. But why, what had happened?
After sitting there for several minutes, he began to wonder about the magic that flowed back into him near the end of his consciousness and why he no longer felt that immense strain on his core. "I released it" he realized, only to then ask himself "how?" Then it hit him and he didn't know if he was excited, upset, resigned or losing his mind.
"Magic is all about intent" he recalled "my last thoughts before blacking out and apparently using all of that excess magic were of 'going back' and doing things different" he mused before adding the last of the puzzle pieces together "and I'm about the size I was fourth year!"
"I went back in time" Harry finally muttered to himself to see if it sounded any less crazy when vocalized. Unsurprisingly, it did not.
Deciding that the best way to find out if he was right, wrong, crazy or sane was to simply go and look at the state of things. He quickly thought that he would go straight to Grimmauld Place and see if Sirius was there. But then he realized that he knew next to nothing on how whatever this was worked. Did he 'replace' the old Harry? Were there now two of him? What would people say about a time traveler? Then he had to consider whether it would even be a good idea to see Sirius again, he'd certainly be safer without Harry. So no, rushing out and announcing himself to the world was not a good idea.
After determining it would be best to keep his identity a secret and find out as much as he could before doing anything rash, Harry apparated away to see if he was right.
The first place Harry apparated to was the old park near the Dursley's. He figured that he should first find out if there was another 'him' walking around that he would have to navigate or whether he would have full claim over his own name.
Walking down the street towards number four he quickly noticed that things were again… off. Harry saw number four coming into view, only it didn't look like the number four that he knew. The flowers and garden were all somewhat overgrown. The car parked out front was not the nicer model he recalled his uncle upgrading to while he was away during third year. The shutters he knew he had painted the summer before third year already looked as faded as if he had never done so. Just what was going on?
Still thinking that taking precautions was his best course of action Harry looked around to see if anyone was observing him and then jumped behind a neighbor's large shrub in order to disillusion himself to take a closer look.
After becoming invisible to those who might have seen him snooping Harry went to the front window to look into the living room and found that the changes weren't done. Judging from the pictures the Dursley's certainly still lived here, though that did little to explain where he was. So he slowly made his way around to the back door, peeked through the kitchen window and upon seeing no one close quickly let himself in. It was just after shutting the door that he heard the telltale sound of Vernon coming down the stairs and yelling up after himself "Petunia, I'm heading out for now. I should be home late tonight. Make sure Dud takes care of the list of chores I left him when he gets home."
Well, that settled it, something was seriously wrong if Vernon Dursley was having Dudley do any sort of chore. After Vernon shut the front door behind himself Harry made his way up the steps to his room only to find… it wasn't his room. Indeed, there was no sign high or low of Harry, and Harry didn't know just how to feel about this.
Deciding there was nothing to be gained by continuing his search he retreated out of the back door and made his way back to the park before disapparating again.
Harry thought of the alley he would always arrive at when he wanted to enter Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron when he apparated. Sure, the alley hadn't been more than a pile of rubble for years now but if his theory was correct then he would still find thriving shops and storefronts. Arriving in a familiar feeling alley Harry quickly cast a strong glamour to hopefully prevent himself being recognized and then exited and walked into a Leaky Cauldron that certainly looked better than the last time he had seen it. Walking swiftly but cautiously, as he still had no clue as to just what was going on, Harry went to the back wall and tapped the familiar pattern on the bricks to open the archway.
He was almost overcome at the sight before him. Diagon Alley was bustling with witches and wizards going here and there on whatever errands they still thought so important.
Deciding the best way to find out just what was going on, and now that he thought of it the date would be helpful as well, Harry made his way slowly down the alley towards the headquarters of the Daily Prophet.
After talking his way in, thanks in no small part to several compulsion charms being employed on the witch at the front desk, Harry made his way into the records room of the Daily Prophet. Figuring that it would be easiest to start with the most recent editions and work his way back if needed he pulled yesterday's issue.
-July 15, 1994-
Jail Break at Azkaban!
Death Eaters on the Loose!
Late last night, known Death Eaters Peter Pettigrew and Bellatrix Lestrange escaped Azkaban prison. A feat previously thought impossible with the Dementors that guard the inhospitable island that houses the prison. Not much is known yet as to how they escaped except that it seemed that while Lestrange's cell was unlocked Pettigrew's was blown open from the outside. Indicating that it is likely Lestrange broke Pettigrew out after escaping herself.
Bellatrix Lestrange of course was found guilty of numerous crimes worthy of Azkaban with her last being the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom with the Cruciotus curse until they were rendered insane. She was caught at the scene of the crime with both her husband and brother-in-law as well as the now deceased Barty Crouch Jr. Which begs the question as to why she would break Pettigrew out and not either of the other Lestranges.
Peter Pettigrew, unknown to be a Death Eater until the very end of You-Know-Who's reign, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit as well as accessory to murder. Pettigrew was a once friend of the aurors Black and Potter and when the Potters sought to hide in the latter stages of the war he was covertly chosen as their secret keeper in use of the Fidelious charm. It was assumed that with the close relationship with James Potter and extensive training himself Sirius Black would play that role, only for the once friend to immediately betray the location of the Potter's home to You-Know-Who.
You-Know-Who, as is well known, sought to attack the Potters. Though the reason is still unclear. Upon arriving to their Godric's Hollow home he faced the auror Sirius Black, James Potter's best friend, who had been babysitting the Potter's son Harry. You-Know-Who incapacitated Black and upon finding the Potter adults not home seemed to decide the worst. He targeted their one year old son, Harry. Little is known about what followed except that You-Know-Who entered young Harry's nursery where it is assumed he cast the killing curse on the child. Somehow both Harry and You-Know-Who were killed in a resulting explosion theorized to be from a backfiring curse. To this day Harry is heralded as a hero and credited with ending the war with You-Know-Who.
Could it be that Bellatrix Lestrange seeks to use Peter Pettigrew in some sort of plot of revenge for her former master against the Potters? Could Pettigrew seek to continue what he started and bring about the end of his once friends?
The Potters have been reclusive since the tragedy of Halloween 1981 only becoming slightly more active with the entrance of their daughter, Rose, to Hogwarts in '92.
We here at the Daily Prophet hope for the quick capture of these outlaws and will endeavor to keep our readers up to date with the on-going search for these dangerous criminals.
-Rita Skeeter, News Correspondent-
"…What?" Harry found himself muttering to himself under his breath. The realization that somehow, he was supposedly dead, his parents supposedly alive and he supposedly had, has, a sister hitting him slowly.
'This can't be right' he thought to himself. Quickly rifling through the system until finding the relevant copies of issues from those fateful following days to the Halloween of 1981 showed that somehow it was correct though.
Suddenly it dawned on him, his last thoughts before whatever had happened racing through his mind. 'If I could go back, I'd see them all again. I'd have my family back. Everything would be different.' He had initially thought that the magic had just felt his intent to go back, but it seemed as though it had taken things a bit more literally and somehow sent him back, saved his family and changed things.
"Weeeeell shite" Harry sighed to himself. He wasn't certain if this was a changed history, alternate universe, both, or something totally different. But the more he thought about it the less he cared. It was clear that things here were similar enough that Voldemort was likely still around, the bastard would still need taken care of and he would be damned if he was going to let him ruin this world, or time or whatever, like he had the last. With that sense of determination Harry decided that there was no way he would be able to read through all of the changes and catch up. He was going to have to find another, more reliable way, to learn of the history of this 'place.'
Harry had already made the decision that he was not going to involve any of the 'counterparts' of those he loved. They had died once because of him and he wouldn't let it happen again. No, in this place he was the one who had died and it was going to stay that way. Sure, he may not truly know anyone in this place, or rather they didn't know him, but that didn't mean he didn't care about them. But once he did all he could against Voldemort to hopefully let them live the lives they deserved he would try to reunite with his real family. In hindsight he really shouldn't have assumed that any scenario dealing with the amount of magic and himself would go according to plan but he thought that even he couldn't screw up stepping into the veil in the department of mysteries when the time truly came.
Yes, he had the beginnings of a plan. Step 1, kill Voldemort. Step 2, leave this world with as many Harry Potters as he had found it. Simple enough. He just needed to avoid discovery while working off of the, hopefully still semi-accurate, future knowledge he had.
With an idea of what he wanted to do Harry apparated away to the house that he had both loved and hated. Hated for what it was, loved it for the memories with Sirius and friends there even if war had raged around them later.
*Crack*
Harry appeared in the park across from Grimmauld place. He thought just appearing inside may be risky with Sirius still alive, though he doubted that the man would have stepped foot in the house he had loathed since he was not a wanted criminal in hiding here.
He disillusioned himself and then began making his way slowly towards the front door. Upon slowly opening the door and making his way in, wand drawn, Harry stopped to listen for any sign of attack or inhabitants. When no sign came, he slowly lowered his wand and realized just how lucky he was that the wards still allowed him through with no issue.
Setting the thought aside he began to make his way forward.
Harry knew that if things were similar enough to his world, as he'd decided to think of it rather than 'his time', then Regulus Black would have stolen one of Voldemort's horcruxes and hidden it here. Not wanting to tip anyone off to his being here by casting any magic or letting them hear him Harry quickly checked the kitchen for anyone before making his way upstairs and doing a quick sweep of the bedrooms for inhabitants. Upon finding no one, though it was clear that at least someone had been living here for quite awhile, Harry decided they must not be home and he would be ok to begin his search.
Searching Regulus' room first made the most sense but yielded nothing. After exhausting the search of that room Harry realized he didn't know where else in the house it could be hidden, he recalled that the first time around they had only gotten the locket because of Kreacher.
He really, really, didn't want to have to interact with the elf but realized that it would likely be the quickest way to both make sure that things had transpired the same here as they had in his world as well as finding the damn locket. So, with no small amount of reluctance, Harry called out "Kreacher!"
Sirius jolted awake to the sound of what must've been apparition upstairs.
"Bloody wonderful" he groaned under his breath, his headache already making itself known.
Assuming that with the limited amount of people that had access to the wards it must be James or Remus coming to check up on him he rose to go find them before they began to worry since they couldn't find him.
Making his way slowly, trying not to move his vision or head too quickly lest his stomach or headache revolt, meant that he quietly made his way up the steps. Upon reaching the top, just before he called out to whoever had arrived, he began to make out voices having a conversation.
"… you is not master but yet you is, who is you?" was the sound of that damn elf Kreacher.
"I – I'm what?" another voice Sirius didn't recognize responded sounding somewhat incredulous.
"You is not Lord Black but you is master. Kreacher does not understand. Is you a bastard of the Black's?" Kreacher asked sounding somewhat hopeful.
"… shit. I didn't consider that. Well, it doesn't matter. Is the locket here?"
"Yes. Good master made Kreacher hide it for him before his death" Kreacher answered reluctantly.
"Then I order you, Kreacher, retrieve the locket and bring it to me. I have need of it." the strange voice demanded before a muttering Kreacher could be heard before another crack of apparition signaled the elf had left to get the apparent locket.
At this point however Sirius was getting a bad feeling. There was someone who's voice he didn't recognize inside the house. Someone who apparently Kreacher viewed as a second master. It could be one of his deranged relatives or something, and they were looking for some sort of artifact that was supposedly hidden here. Well, the only artifacts the Black's had been fond of were of the darkest kind so someone who was searching them out had to be bad news. Deciding that he needed to have some of questions of his own answered.
Continuing to the door of the room that had been Regulus', another warning sign since he had followed in the family path of becoming a Death Eater, Sirius drew his wand and began to consider his options.
Shock and awe of just bursting in and stunning the person had its' merits but Sirius had no idea how trained this person was and didn't want to find out the hard way. Waiting to ambush them on their way out meant they would get their hands on this apparently dark locket and Sirius had no idea what that could do and again didn't want to find out. With all these limitations on his options Sirius quickly conjured a small hand mirror and crouched next to the doorway. Using the mirror he peered around the doorway and saw the back of what seemed to be a… boy? What was even stranger was that while Sirius was sure that he hadn't recognized the voice the back of this boy seemed somehow familiar. Figuring that it would just be yet another question for him to ask when the boy was tied up Sirius eased his way around, took aim at the person's back and whispered "stupefy."
Suddenly, as soon as the magic had concentrated and began traveling down his wand, the boy dove to the side and behind the bed, the stunner sailing uselessly over his shoulder and hitting the wall. Things had just become much more difficult Sirius realized and regretted not calling Prongs or someone for backup considering he was still hungover and the amount of unknowns with this person.
"Wingardium leviosa. Accio, Petrificus Totalus" Sirius heard the voice shout out from where they lay behind the bed before a number of things happened too fast for him to react to.
First, the bed rose about a foot off of the floor. Then the door swung shut, hitting Sirius in the back and forcing him to stumble forward into the body bind and then falling to the floor frozen stiff as a board.
'This is not good. Not good at all' Sirius thought to himself. Taking stock of the situation, Sirius realized that 'this person just whooped me with little to no effort when I had the jump on them. They have access to the Black wards. Kreacher views them as master and is fetching what can only be a dark artifact for them.' All are bad signs for Sirius. It was with these thoughts and conclusions racing through his mind that he heard the other person stand up, walk several steps and pause and then groan in frustration.
"Urgh, you have to be kidding me!" the voice said, clearly exasperated. Though with what Sirius had no idea. But then it followed up with a "stupefy" and all went black for Sirius.
Annoyed with himself for either not searching the house well enough or for not noticing someone arriving home Harry rose from behind the bed that he had made his temporary shelter from his unknown assailant. Of course, he had an idea who it was based off of the location, the feel of the magic of the initial stunner and the sound of the voice in the little of the whispered incantation he'd heard. Though he truly hoped he was wrong. Upon turning around the bed however he found that his assumption was correct and Sirius laid there face down frozen.
"Urgh, you have to be kidding me!" Harry said, before stunning Sirius so that he could think out what to do next.
Harry paced back and forth for the next half an hour thinking of what to do. His first thought being that he should just obliviate Sirius but quickly dismissed it as he was sure Sirius would be accomplished enough at occlumency that even while unlikely that he could recover the memories, at least on his own, it was likely he would notice that he had had some erased. Especially since he remembered that apparently this Sirius was an auror and they had minimum levels required in the mind arts to prevent sensitive information leaking to the public.
After the half an hour though, Kreacher popped back in holding the familiar looking locket that gave off the all too familiar feeling.
"What does fake master be planning on doing with this?" Kreacher asked, without making any move to give Harry the locket.
"I plan to carry out Regulus' last wish. He wanted you to destroy it did he not?" Harry asked, surprising the elf.
"H-how does the fake one know this? Did the fake one know master Regulus?" Kreacher demanded, seemingly getting somewhat teared up at the remembrance of what, by all accounts, had been his favorite master.
Pausing for a moment and trying to remember how the Kreacher of his world had changed with just a bit of care and help with Regulus' final order Harry tried to put as much sympathy and sorrow into his tone as he could.
"No. I never had the pleasure of meeting Regulus. Though I did find out that, in the end, we had similar goals. What he did to steal that locket from the Dark Lord was one of the bravest things I've known someone to do, and for that reason alone I would want to help carry out his wish. Even if it wasn't one of my goals as well."
This statement and show of care for the master that Kreacher loved but never truly saw anyone else care for seemed to be too almost too much for the elf, though it did keep itself together.
"If you's swears that you be meanings to destroy it, Kreacher will give you's the locket." The elf said, as though Harry couldn't just order it to hand it over to him.
Smiling at the tenacity of the elf and how it reminded him of Dobby Harry said "I swear Kreacher, that I plan to destroy that locket and all of the other things like it."
Thinking over his words Kreacher seemed to find them satisfactory and slowly reached out and handed it to Harry.
"Thank you, Kreacher. Now, is there anywhere that I could have a… discussion… with Sirius here? Somewhere that wouldn't allow him to attack me? Also, is there any way to prevent you from answering his call or orders during this discussion?" Harry asked hesitantly not knowing just how the elf's loyalties would be affected by such a request as blatantly asking how to interrogate one of his masters. Even if from another of its' apparent masters.
Seeming to notice Sirius on the ground for the first time Kreacher jumped a little and looked back at Harry with narrowed eyes.
"What is it you's want with the Lord Black?" it asked, clearly suspicious.
"I only want to explain what is going on, why I was in his house and that I mean him no harm. I just don't want him to react and for either of us to get hurt."
"… there be a place, in the basement, that was used by old masters for… hard… discussions. But ones of Black blood could not be harmed there and house elves cannot enter." Kreacher slowly explained, making Harry shudder thinking about just what sort of horrible things the Blacks of old would have meant by 'hard discussions' and making sure that the place wouldn't allow them to be harmed or their likely victims to be saved by their house elves.
"That should work just fine. I don't intend to harm him, maybe just tie him up so that he can't attack me before I explain everything." This was partially true, though Harry also planned to grill Sirius for information on this world to hopefully get as informed as he could so it would be somewhat of an interrogation as well.
"Alright, follows Kreacher. He will show you the way." The elf told Harry, though clearly still conflicted.
After levitating Sirius down the stair and following Kreacher to the entrance of what he had called the 'basement,' though Harry thought 'dungeon' was a more apt word, and then tying him to a chair Harry situated himself behind him, enervated him and watched as he slowly regained consciousness.
Once it was clear that Sirius was back in control of his faculties, at least to the point that he had realized that he was tied up and began testing the restraints, Harry made himself known.
"Don't bother. I became rather good at restraints and as you can tell I am here as well. So, you aren't going anywhere just now." Harry said, wincing at how threatening it came out sounding. Realizing that he had in fact gotten good at situations similar to this, though usually it was under much less friendly and much bloodier terms. He had gotten good at interrogating, and when necessary torturing, Death Eaters that he captured and now found himself accidently slipping into that mindset and thus coming across far more hostile than he had meant.
"Oh, as it happens I have gotten rather good at escaping, so please don't hold it against me for giving it a go." Sirius responded sarcastically but without any warmth.
"Nah of course not, I just wanted to give you forewarning so you can't get mad at me if you hurt yourself in some misguided attempt."
"Forgive me but I rather think that having you break into my house, tie me up and then berate me from behind gives me rather a lot to be mad at you about with or without injury."
"… well I suppose that's true. However, rather than trade this back and forth we could jump to the point of why we're both down here and then we'll get to the part where I willingly untie you and you can avoid the whole escape attempt part anyways."
"Oh? And tell me, what is the point that we're both down here?" Sirius asked.
"Well, it is two-parts really. One, I'm sure you recognize where we are and as Kreacher informed me 'those of Black blood cannot be harmed' while in here. So, you should at least be somewhat reassured I don't mean to break out the pliers and car batteries. Two, while I don't plan to torture you for it, I would like some information and you are uniquely qualified to help me." Harry replied.
"I don't see just why I should give you anything. Again, going back to the part where you broke into my house, tied me up and then are apparently trying to steal some artifact from the Black family."
Harry sighed, seeing that this was going to take longer than he hoped. He only had himself to blame he thought, of course Sirius wouldn't make this easy on someone like him in this situation and Harry couldn't even really blame him.
"Look, I know you don't really have any reason to trust me but first off I didn't break into your house, rather I already had access. Second, I tied you up because you tried to curse me in the back, and no I'm not saying that was unreasonable, but you have to admit that I would have no reason to think you wouldn't try it again without these measures. And third, well, I guess I am indeed trying to steal an artifact from the Black family. However, in my defense, the Black family stole it first so it isn't quite as bad."
"… those are a lot of claims. None of which I have the capability to verify. So, I'm just supposed to take your word for it?" Sirius asked.
"Ugh, ok. We're getting nowhere. How about I ask my questions and you decide then if you want to answer or not. They may not even be things you care about sharing. Hell, a decent number of them will probably just be general knowledge. I've just been out of town for quite awhile and need to catch up on recent events."
Sirius clearly thought this over for a minute. Obviously, he didn't want to cooperate at all with his captor, but at the same time Harry could see that he was thinking over whether finding out what Harry wanted to know was worth the seeming acquiescence.
"Ok, shoot. Don't be surprised when I clam up though."
"Alright. First, has anything odd happened at Hogwarts over the past 3 years?"
"What do you mean by odd?" Sirius asked hesitantly.
Harry, seeing that indeed something odd had happened but Sirius didn't want to tip his hand, immediately followed up "I don't know. Like a possessed defense against the dark arts teacher or school girl, a rash of petrification's or deaths, giant snake activity, unicorns going missing you know. Strange stuff."
"How do you know all of that?!" Sirius demanded "Yeah, a lot was in the news but there was no mention of the Basilisk or the possessions."
"Call them lucky guesses. Ok round two, what do you know of Voldemort's attempts to return to power?"
"… I think we're going to have to renegotiate our deal. I'm afraid you're going to have to get your information somewhere else."
"Let me rephrase it. Do you know of anything other than his use of unicorn blood to sustain him, his attempt to steal the philosopher's stone, his diary and its' possessive capabilities?"
"You know you don't sound like you're uninformed on recent events. And most of this is not, as you put it, general knowledge." Sirius said, clearly annoyed that this person was somehow so well informed and yet also seemed to be in a way toying with him. Asking for information to just then prove that they already had it.
"Hmm yeah I guess thats true. I suppose some things I would consider as such you might not. But alright, this next subject I admittedly do have very little knowledge of, and I'm sorry since I know it is likely a sensitive subject for you" Sirius tensed "but it is really important. I swear I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have to." Harry said.
"You think this will be a sensitive subject but bloody Voldemort and his gallivanting through Hogwarts wasn't?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I need to know about what happened that night." Harry said with true sorrow in his voice, knowing that dredging up the memories of that night would be painful for his godfather.
Sirius went completely still and when he spoke it was so quiet that Harry had to lean towards him to hear.
"What night would that be?" He almost whispered.
Sighing Harry said, almost as quietly, "the night Harry died."
Sirius was silent for several seconds and then just gave a curt "No."
Harry, having somewhat been expecting this sighed again.
"Sirius, really. I know that you can't see any way in which I am a good guy, but I swear to you. I hate Voldemort as much, if not more than, you. I plan to-"
But Sirius cut him off "NO YOU DO NOT! You can't possibly understand how much I hate him. You don't know what I lost that night, what my friends lost. You say you're a good guy but then feel the need to tie me up. Well, whatever this little game you have going on here is over. I'm not playing anymore. So, if you are going to resort to torture after all you may as well get on with it. If not, then you may as well untie me. But either way I'm done. And I don't give a shit what you do. I won't tell you anything else and I SWEAR that I will never betray the Potter's trust again. So, unless they specifically tell me I'm allowed to share something of theirs then the Dark Lord himself can piss off for all I care. He isn't getting anything from me." Sirius ranted at Harry. Making it clear that the discussion would go no further. Which, if Harry was honest with himself, he was surprised he'd even managed to get the miniscule amount he had from Sirius.
But something about what he just said gave Harry an idea. An idea that he thought was both wonderful and horrible at the same time. He thought it may help solve their trust issue and allow Sirius to open up to him more and help him learn about the things he needed to know about while also allowing him to keep his identity secret, well for the most part.
"Would you really?" Harry asked, still somewhat quietly.
"…would I really what?" Sirius asked, anger still evident in his voice but also laced with some confusion.
"Would you swear, on you magic, that unless a Potter allows you to share a secret of theirs you would never divulge it to anyone else? No matter what."
"Of course, I wouldn't even need the threat of losing my magic or life. I'll never fail them again. I'll gladly die before that. I would've gladly died before failing them the first time!" Sirius said somewhat hysterically, and Harry had to think if his plan was really worth it and whether it would only hurt Sirius more.
Ultimately deciding that to protect the other Potters Sirius would likely forgive the pain Harry made his offer.
"Alright Sirius, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to put your wand in your hand, you will not attempt to cast anything because I will have my wand trained on your back the whole time and guarantee I'm a hell of a lot faster with it than you can imagine. You will then swear, on your life and magic, that you will never share a Potter's secret without their express permission. If you do that I will untie you and we will continue this discussion together as equals and maybe even help one another plan towards Voldemort's demise. If you do not, you will find out just how good of a legilimens I am and I will find out just how good of an occlumens you are when I try to take the information I need." Harry explained.
"What the hell are you talking about? Why would you have me swear that? What are you playing at?" Sirius questioned, clearly sensing there was some sort of motive behind the magical oath but not being able to figure out what.
"I need information. I can tell how loyal you are to the Potters and I can respect that. So, I am willing to let you make an oath so that we both know you cannot and will not share those things you would rather not. Then we can continue the conversation, hopefully a bit more pleasantly, and work towards our common goal. If that isn't enough reassurance for you well, I really do need some information. So, as much as it would pain me, I would have to attempt to take it. So, what do you say?" Harry asked, hoping Sirius didn't see through the bluff that the oath was for Sirius' or the other Potter's benefit and not for his own.
"… alright. Gimme my wand." Sirius finally said. Clearly still not liking how events were playing out, but also not seeing how the oath could hurt.
Moving slowly, trying not to alarm Sirius any more than he already was, Harry slowly moved the man's wand in front of him before pressing the tip of his own to the man's back, reminding him not to do anything other than the oath, and sliding the handle into his bound hand.
Sirius took hold of the wand and then took a deep breath, in which Harry could see him contemplating whether it would be worth it to try something other than the oath and to escape. Eventually it was clear that he just couldn't think of a reason not to, especially if there was a chance his captor would become more reasonable with it, so he made the vow.
"I swear, on my life and on my magic, that I will never divulge or share a Potter's secrets with anyone else without their permission. So, I have sworn it, so mote it be." And with that there was a pulse of light from the end of his wand and the room fell quiet. A moment later Sirius felt his restraints all loosen and unwind from around his legs and wrists. Reaching out and rubbing his wrists where they had been rubbed a bit raw, he watched as his captor, who up close seemed to be even more of a boy than he had previously thought, came around his chair to conjure another in front of him and sit down.
The breath left his lungs all at once when he finally got a good look at the boy's face and saw the spitting image of his best friend. But with Lily's eyes. Harry's eyes.
In a flash he was on his feet with his wand aimed between the boy's eyes, though his wand hand was visibly shaking, and he demanded "who the fuck are you and why the fuck do you look like this?!"
Harry, knowing that this reaction had been likely, and holding his magic ready so that if Sirius were to try and cast at him, he would be able to shield fast enough, slowly raised his wand to the side away from Sirius and pointed it towards the ceiling.
"I swear, on my life and on my magic, that my name is Harry James Potter. And that as best as I can tell, I am from a different, albeit similar, world. In addition, I swear that my ultimate goal is to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort in any and all forms he may take. I do not bare any ill will towards those of the light nor especially the Potter family or Sirius Black. So, I have sworn it, so mote it be." And there was another pulse of light in the dungeon and the two fell silent again. Both clearly at a loss for what to say next.