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The World As We Knew It | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny, James Potter, Lily Potter, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Sirius Black Genres: Action/Adventure Warnings: Death Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 309 Summary: Destroy the Horcruxes—that’s Harry’s goal, until an Aperio throws him and two other unknown people into a world where the prophecy never existed, his parents and Sirius are alive, and Ginny went to Azkaban for opening the Chamber. Canon pairings, pre DH. Hitcount: Story Total: 150288; Chapter Total: 5291 Author's Notes: |
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Two hours later, there was another knock on his door. “Harry?” Harry did not answer. “Harry, it’s me. Sirius.” Harry rolled over and pulled himself off the bed. “Come in.” The door swung open and there stood Sirius Black, looking more handsome and happy than Harry ever remembered. His hair was shoulder length and his dark eyes twinkled. There was no trace of the gaunt, roughened Sirius Harry had spent that last Christmas with at Grimmauld Place. “Harry! It’s so good to see you!” “How are you?” Harry asked, motioning for Sirius to sit down. “Oh, same as usual. Bored to death. Stupid job…” His godfather yawned comically. Harry looked up, interestedly. “Where do you work again?” “At the Ministry, remember? Department of Magical Games and Sports. But enough about me. How are you, Harry? How was your year?” “Alright,” Harry said, wishing he knew what his year had been like. “Same old, same old. The teachers are piling the homework on cause next year’s NEWT year.” “Is that all you do? Study? Come on, pal, you’ve got to have a little bit of fun!” “I suppose you mean the same kind of ‘fun’ you and my dad had while you were at school,” Harry said wryly. Sirius laughed. “What’s the point of going through life without having any fun? You’ve got to bend the rules here and there.” “For a start, I’m not an Animagus and I’m not friends with a werewolf,” Harry pointed out. “Oh, but there’s other stuff you can do without getting in too much trouble…Harry, do you like any of the girls?” Harry was caught off guard by this. “I…uh…um, no.” “That was the most unconvincing ‘no’ I’ve ever heard. OK, out with it. Which girl is it?” Harry didn’t know what to say. Sirius was waiting, looking delightedly pleased as he watched Harry’s face get redder and redder. Finally Harry decided to tell the truth…or some of it, anyway. “I liked this girl, but Mum just told me today that she’s in Azkaban. I thought she was dead. I’ve never liked anyone since.” Sirius’s face became softer, more compassionate. “Ginny Weasley.” Harry nodded, looking away. “Harry, I’m sure it isn’t all that bad,” Sirius said. “They wouldn’t be horrible to a little girl.” “Being in Azkaban is worse than being dead!” Harry exclaimed. “Have you ever met a Dementor? I met…er, read about them in Defence class. They slowly suck all the happy thoughts from your mind. They drain the life and magic out of you, Sirius! And Ginny’s been there for four years.” He glared at his godfather, almost daring Sirius to contradict him. Then an idea came to his mind so suddenly that he jerked up, surprised. The answer had been right here, in his room, and he hadn’t even thought of it till now. “Sirius,” Harry said, trying to sound lighter and more convincing. “Will you do something for me?” “Of course, mate, anything.” “Anything?” Sirius looked puzzled. “What do you want?” “I want you to teach me to become an Animagus.” When Harry’s mother called up the stairs that lunch was ready, Harry and Sirius hurried down. Lily Potter, Harry discovered, was a wonderful cook. Her homemade pumpkin juice was better than any the elves ever conjured up, Harry decided. James, Lily, and Sirius chatted amicably about the current events, the Quidditch World Cup coming up that autumn, the new teacher at Hogwarts (Mad-Eye was retiring, Harry discovered), and the recent Muggle attacks in London. Harry kept a keen ear on the conversation and picked up quite a bit of useful information, such as, his father played Chaser for the Oxford Otters Quidditch Team, and his mother worked as a potions scientist at the Wizarding Academic Institute three days a week. Sirius reminisced about how he had tried out for Beater after school but hadn’t been good enough (“You were always the best of us at Quidditch, James”) and had been finally forced to take a less exciting job at the Ministry. After the delicious lunch, James invited Harry, Leila, and Sirius to come out and play Quidditch in the carefully cleared lot in the woods behind the house. Leila was reluctant, but she agreed in the end, and Harry scurried back upstairs to retrieve his broom. He finally found it in his closet where he had supposedly thrown it the night before after getting back from King’s Cross. He was disappointed to find that it was only a Cleansweep Eleven. Changing to a pair of jogging bottoms (more comfortable for flying than jeans), Harry grabbed his broom and followed the others out of the door. He found himself in a quiet neighbourhood, with the houses spread farther apart than those in Little Whinging, but still in sight of each other. Harry strained his eyes to read the signpost at the corner. It read, Godric’s Hollow, One Mile. “Come on, Harry,” Sirius called, motioning for Harry to follow him around to the back of the house. Sirius had been more than willing to teach Harry how to be an Animagus, even without the prior consent of his parents. “I want it to be a surprise, and besides, it will be fun,” Harry had argued. Actually, he hadn’t had to do much to convince his godfather. Sirius had pounced on the idea, and by the end of the conversation, he was more excited than Harry. Harry followed Sirius across the back yard and into the woods. A small path twisted and finally ended in a large field surrounded by tall trees to keep the Muggles from seeing anything unusual. Large hoops stood at each end, and Sirius dropped the case of Quidditch balls in the middle of the field. James was walking around the perimeter, waving his wand and mumbling spells under his breath. “OK, Muggle-repellent charms in full swing,” he finally said, jogging back to where the others were waiting to mount their brooms. “Now. Let’s see…you can play Chaser with me, Leila, and Sirius can be the Beater, and Harry…” “Can I play Seeker?” Harry said quickly. He knew it would be a dead give-away if he tried to keep. He was horrible at it. James glanced over at him, surprised. “Seeker?” he said uncertainly. “Are you sure?” “I...uh…I’ve been practicing seeking in my free time at school,” Harry lied. James and Sirius looked pleased, but Leila was looking suspiciously at her brother again. Harry felt uncomfortable under her gaze, and quickly mounted his broom. “So we’ll just forget beating and Sirius can play Keeper,” James decided. “Damn,” Sirius mumbled. James laughed. “Awww, come off it, Sirius! You’re great at keeping.” “Not against you and Leila,” Sirius said. “Anyways, here goes nothing.” He released the balls. Harry caught a glimpse of the Golden Snitch before it disappeared from sight. He soared upward to begin his search, while Leila and James waited for Sirius to fly up to the goal posts before beginning their onslaught. Harry watched, spellbound. His dad was the best chaser he’d ever seen. All the rumours of his father’s Quidditch skills were true. And Leila wasn’t far behind her father; obviously she had learned from the best. Harry circled high above the three below, watching his dad and sister move in and out of range, passing the ball back and forth with the fluidity of dancers. They seemed to be able to read each other’s thoughts. Slowly they moved closer and closer, and headed in for the shot. Sirius was hovering near the right goal as James shot forward, Quaffle raised, ready to score. But at the last moment Harry’s dad flung the ball to Leila who shot it through the left goal instead. “And ten points for Prongs and Daughter!” James shouted wildly as Sirius scowled. “I’ll tell you what,” James continued. “If Harry can catch the Snitch before we score fifteen goals on you, you and Harry win.” Sirius merely replied by throwing the Quaffle clear to the other end of the field, and Leila raced to retrieve it. James and Leila scored once again, and Sirius blocked one of James’s goals, before Sirius looked up at Harry and saw him watching. “Get busy and look for the Snitch,” Sirius yelled, just barely blocking the Quaffle Leila had thrown at the centre goal. “Sorry,” Harry shouted, and he began circling the field, keeping his eyes craned for the tiny flash of gold. The game continued below him in even more intensity. Sirius blocked another goal, but then Leila and James scored three more, bringing up the score to 50/0. Harry circled higher, then lower. Once he thought he saw a flash near his father, but then realized it was only James’s glasses reflecting in the bright summer sun. James and Leila now had 70 points, 90 points, 100 points…Harry was now searching for the snitch with fervour. Sirius was flying more recklessly now; he did make some truly spectacular saves, but he was no match for Leila and James. 110 points…130 points…and then he saw it. The Snitch was hovering at the very bottom of the middle goal post. Harry closed in fast, then realized that the only way to avoid the intense game below was to dive from directly above the Snitch. He wheeled his broom around, and pointed it downward. His stomach flip-flopped as the broom plummeted. The ground was racing closer…he was stretching out his hand…and with an powerful feeling of joy he felt his hand close around the cool surface of the snitch. Harry pulled his broom up sharply. If he had been riding his Firebolt he would have been fine, but the Cleansweep didn’t respond as well, and Harry crashed into the ground. The world was spinning. He was seeing stars…his elbow was aching painfully… “Harry! Are you alright?” Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position and opened his eyes. Sirius, James, and Leila were crowded around him–James, looking worried, Sirius, exuberant, and Leila, astonished. “I’m fine!” he assured them, and held up his hand, clutching the Snitch. Sirius pulled him to his feet. “That was incredible!” he cried, a wide grin spreading across his handsome face. “Did you see that, James? Perfect Wronski Feint! Victor Krum couldn’t have done it better. Merlin’s beard, you have been practicing, boy!” His godfather slapped him on the back. “And Harry Potter and Padfoot win!” “Where did you learn that?” James said incredulously. Harry shrugged, embarrassed. “I guess I’m just a natural. I think I’ll try out for Seeker next year. It’s loads more fun than playing Keeper.” Leila said nothing all afternoon as they played several more games. Twice, she and James reached 150 points before Harry found the Snitch, but he and Sirius won the other four games. Sirius was jubilant. He couldn’t stop talking about the Wronski Feint all the way back to the house. Leila was still silent. Harry couldn’t decide if she was just sullen, or if she had guessed there was something strange going on with her older brother. He did notice, though, that she kept shooting strange glances in his direction. After supper that evening, Sirius pulled Harry aside. “I’ll come by in the morning,” he said, an edge of enthusiasm in his voice. “I’ve told your parents you wanted help revising for Transfiguration N.E.W.T.’s, and they agreed to let me take you over to my house in Camden Town for a few hours every day. I think with my help you could be an Animagus by the end of the summer! I’ve even got a few books on it.” Harry nodded, thrilled that his plan was beginning to work so quickly. “So, see you at nine?” Sirius finished. “Yeah. Yeah, see you in the morning,” said Harry, and he watched Sirius say his farewells to Lily and James, then step outside and disapparate. Harry was awakened the next morning by the crash of an owl flying into his bedroom window. “Whaaaaa…” he slurred, squinting miserably against the bright morning sunlight. He reached for his glasses, which he had carefully placed on the right side of the bed the night before, and shoved them up onto the bridge of his nose. A tawny owl was pecking impatiently at the glass. Harry jumped up and stumbled over to the window, throwing it open. Who could possibly be sending him a letter? The tawny owl hopped in, and held out its leg, to which was attached a rolled up parchment. Harry took the letter, and the bird blinked at him with large brown eyes and cocked its head as if to ask, “Well, can I go or not?” “Hang on,” Harry told the owl, “and wait till I know whether I’ll need to send a message back or not.” He sat back down on his bed and undid the string on the parchment. Dear Harry, it read. I need to talk to you, soon. I’ve already owled Lily and James about coming over tomorrow afternoon. Something has happened. — Remus Lupin |
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