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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 Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 307 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: 36442; Chapter Total: 1946 Author's Notes: Thanks to my beta, Netjunkie! Please tell me exactly what you think by leaving a review! |
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At ten-o’-clock sharp, the doorbell rang and Sirius stepped inside. “Got your Transfiguration book ready?” he said jovially. Harry felt stupid; he had left it upstairs. “Uh…I’ll be right back.” Harry dashed around his room, looking for his schoolbooks. He finally found them stowed away in his closet, the obvious reason being so he could forget about any kind of schoolwork for the summer. Finally he found Advanced Transfiguration and dashed back down the stairway. Sirius was in the kitchen. He had begged some croissants and jam off of Lily, and was now trying to tell James a story with a full mouth. “…and I said to her, ‘Why don’t we go and have a Firewhisky at the Hog’s Head, sweet?’ But she just gave me a nasty glare and said, ‘Howard always took me to the HH Gourmet in London. The Hog’s Head is for wizarding scum…’” Sirius gave a girly outraged snort that sent Lily and James into peals of laughter. “Sirius,” Lily panted. “We really need to get you a proper girlfriend. You have no taste!” Sirius scowled. “Not like I can help it…I didn’t get a chance to date anyone at Hogwarts, with the Marauders breathing down my back all the time.” “That’s a lie, and you know it,” Lily countered. “I seem to remember catching you snogging more than one girl in broom closets when I was a prefect. Was that Rita Skeeter you were snogging in your 6th year? You hexed me before I could get a good look…” Harry bit back a laugh. Sirius and…Rita Skeeter? Sirius snorted. “Not like you and James were innocent either. I know what the two of you did in your free time under James’s invisibility cloak!” Lily grinned wolfishly up at James, stroking one finger over his chin. “I must say, I picked the best Marauder, didn’t I?” “Watch it, Evans,” James laughed. “If I remember correctly you weren’t too keen on me at first. Took you long enough to come around…” “You were too busy hexing everyone in sight to even think about girls,” she said coolly. “Ha! You just ignored me because you knew it would make me even more riled.” “I think deep down inside you always liked James…must have been his good looks, ‘cause it definitely wasn’t his charm,” Sirius teased slyly, and Lily didn’t even blush as she pulled her husband down for a deep kiss. Harry cleared his throat. Sirius looked up, but his parents were still glued to each other. “Let’s get going, Harry,” Sirius said in a stage whisper, “before these two start going at it like bunnies…” Harry’s face was bright red as Sirius hustled him out of the house. Sirius insisted on side-along apparition, even though Harry assured him that he was perfectly capable of disapparating by himself. “But you’re not 17 yet,” Sirius had said firmly, and that had been that. Harry was beginning to miss the old Sirius, who would have not only let him apparate by himself, but would have been the first to suggest it. He wondered why Sirius had agreed to teach him to be an Animagus. Harry landed in the square gasping for breath. He felt sure he’d never get used to the horrible sensation of Apparation. “Come on,” Sirius said, striding over towards the rows of shabby houses. He stopped right between number eleven and number thirteen. “What are you waiting for?” Harry was staring at the houses. He couldn’t see number twelve. “Is your house under the Fidelius Charm, Sirius? I can’t see it.” “Oh, right.” Sirius dug around in his pocket and pulled out a worn piece of parchment. Harry took it, and read: Sirius’s house is found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. The spidery handwriting was faded, but Harry recognized it. He had seen it once before…on the Marauder’s Map. “Is my dad your Secret-Keeper?” Harry asked. “Of course he is. Wouldn’t have asked anyone else.” Harry followed Sirius into the hallway. It was very different now. The Grimmauld Place Harry remembered had been much more gloomy, dirty, and depressing. Now light streamed in from magical windows lining the once dark hallway. Harry noticed that the dingy wooden floors had been replaced with carpet, and the house elves’ heads and the ugly portraits were missing. Two long brightly coloured tapestries hung over where the portrait of Mrs. Black had been in the Grimmauld Place Harry knew. “Sirius,” Harry said, “what happened to your mum?” Sirius laughed. “You have to see this,” he said, and pulled back the tapestries. There stood the life-size portrait of a livid old woman–with a gag in her mouth. “Your mum is a genius,” Sirius explained. “After I inherited this house she and James helped me move in and fix this place up. She tried to undo the Permanent Sticking Charm, but failed, so she just conjured up a gag. She did the decorating around here too.” “This is brilliant!” Harry said, looking out one of the magical windows that displayed a peaceful lake with a mountain background. On the far side of the lake was a tall castle that Harry recognized. “Hey, this is Hogwarts!” “Another one of your mum’s brilliant ideas. Come on, we’ve only got a few hours. I’ve set up some stuff in the living room.” Harry followed his godfather into the sitting room. He hardly recognized the place. Two couches and an armchair were arranged tastefully around a fireplace. An upright mirror stood in the centre of the room. “Make yourself comfortable,” Sirius invited, and Harry took a seat in the armchair as Sirius flopped down on the couch. Harry waited, nervously. He wondered if becoming an Animagus hurt at all, and how long it would take. Sirius seemed to read his thoughts. “Don’t worry, Harry, you’ll learn quickly. You’ve got a proper teacher. You should have seen some of the fixes James and I got ourselves into when we were trying to learn. Once he sprouted antlers and I grew a tail, and we couldn’t figure out how to reverse the process. We had to go to Madame Pomfrey with stories about Zonko’s joke sweets that malfunctioned. I think she knew the truth, but to her credit, I don’t think she ever told a soul. Now,” Sirius said, standing up and shoving a stack of books into Harry’s arms, “you’ll want to read these.” Harry glanced at a few of the covers. The books had titles like, Discovering the Animal Inside of You, Becoming an Animagus in Ten Easy Steps, and Animagi and Their Secrets. “Won’t my parents suspect something if they see me reading these books?” he asked. “I’ve charmed them so they look like Transfiguration books if anyone besides you or I look at them. Oh, another thing. Have you decided what animal you’d like to become?” Harry honestly hadn’t given it a thought. “Um…” “That’s OK,” Sirius said quickly. “I just wondered. You should start thinking about it now, though. Read that first book” and he pointed to Discovering the Animal Inside of You, “and you’ll find at the back an evaluation survey that helps you find out which animals you relate to best. Oh, and don’t worry if you decide on an animal and then later change your mind. Did you know James was going to be a falcon at first? I was even considering becoming a bear. But I think we’ll both agree, a stag fit your father much better than a falcon, and I was much better as a dog. Really, Harry, you don’t choose your animal, the animal chooses you.” “Right,” said Harry, who was already making mental lists of animals he wanted to read up about. “First things first,” Sirius continued. “Have you ever changed any part of your body before without using a wand or potion? Either accidentally or when you were meaning too?” Harry considered this. “I don’t think so… Wait, there was one time when I was living with the Dur…uh, my mum gave me a haircut and I hated it,” he improvised quickly. “I brooded about my hair all night long and when I woke up it was long again.” Sirius looked delighted. “Wonderful! Then this should be easy for you. Most wizards can’t change their hair when they’re thinking about it, but you did it accidentally. Alright, Harry, I want you to stand in front of the mirror, and look at your hair.” “My hair?” “Yes. Stare at it, contemplate it, memorise it. Every lock, every wave, every strand. Just watch your hair for ten minutes.” Harry stood and looked into the mirror, feeling stupid and embarrassingly vain to be looking at his own hair for such a long period of time. Minutes passed. Finally when Harry felt he was going to die of boredom if he had to contemplate his hair one more moment, Sirius said, “Now close your eyes and imagine that your hair is red. Think really hard about it and feel your hair changing colours.” Harry did. Finally he opened his eyes. To his horror, his hair was an odd shade of orange-pink with huge black sections here and there. Sirius laughed. “Good, Harry, good. It’s definitely a different colour. Now change it back.” Harry practiced changing his hair color all morning long. By the middle of the morning, he had achieved a shade of red any Weasley would have been proud of. By one-o’-clock, he could change his hair to almost any color he desired, including blonde, brown, auburn, silver, white, and even more vivid colors like purple, pink, and blue. As Harry turned his hair pink one last time, he thought of Tonks, and grinned as he imagined what she’d have to say about his hair. Then he sobered, remembering that if this wasn’t all just a dream, he would never see her again. “I’d say that’s enough for today,” Sirius said. “Start reading those books I gave you and practice what you learned this morning until you can do it almost instantaneously. Speed is what we’re looking for. Oh, and think about what animal you want to become.” He apparated Harry back to Godric’s Hollow. “So, see you tomorrow, same time?” Harry asked, one hand on the door knob. “You bet,” Sirius said. “See you tomorrow.” And he disapparated with a pop. Harry turned, and swung open the door to his house. It was surprisingly quiet. He dumped his stack of books on the bottom stair and ventured into the kitchen feeling ravenously hungry. Leila was there, making herself a sandwich. “Where are Mum and Dad?” “Dad’s at work, and Mum went grocery shopping,” Leila said without glancing up from the bread on which she was spreading mayonnaise. “So did you have a good time with Sirius?” “Um… I guess so,” said Harry. “I mean, how much fun can revising be?” She whirled around, her eyes narrowed. “How come you’re suddenly all concerned about your grades anyway? You seemed happy enough with the A you got on your Transfiguration O.W.L. last summer.” Harry decided to tell the truth, or at least part of it. “McGonagall says I have to get at least an E on the Transfiguration N.E.W.T. if I want to become an Auror.” “An Auror? Since when did you want to become an Auror?” Leila exclaimed. “Last year you said you were going to try out for professional Quidditch just like Dad!” Harry stared at her. He wanted to play Quidditch for a living? “Uh, I’ve been considering it for awhile,” he said, thinking quickly. “We had career meetings last year and when McGonagall asked me what I wanted to do, I told her I wanted to be an Auror. I’m not very good at Keeping, anyway.” Leila glared at him suspiciously. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but the she closed it again. Grabbing her sandwich and a bottle of juice, she stomped out of the kitchen. Harry could hear her progress up the stairs and he winced as her door slammed. I’ve got to be more careful, he decided as he opened the refrigerator door. |
| Reviews 307 |
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