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I got this from a review. I hope you like it.
Hphphp
Sirius Black had just given over his newly orphaned godson, Harry Potter, to Hagrid for safekeeping. He knew the boy would be safe in the gentle giant’s arms. Now he was about ready to run after Peter Pettigrew when somebody grabbed his arm.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked, looking at a man that looked remarkably like his dead friend. Only darker. Much darker. That and the man was wearing muggle clothes. There was something that screamed ‘don’t fuck with me’ about him too. That James never carried off well. James had a ‘don’t mess with me’ vibe, but that wasn’t the same.
“You can call me Shadow and you are just about to make the biggest mistake of your life,” said the man, using Sirius’s elbow to maneuver them from the wreck that was the Potter’s home to somewhere they could not be seen. “Well, the second biggest mistake,” he muttered. “The first was letting Harry go.”
“Why do you look like James? I know you're not him, I just saw him dead not ten minutes ago,” Sirius asked in a choked-up voice, letting himself be moved. He was confident that he could take the man in a fight. He’d been battling Death Eaters for months now. He had come out on top I many of those battles. Well, he’d had James and Remus by his side while doing it, but he had his own skills to fall back on.
“I just told you, you can call me Shadow,” the stranger stated, still leading them away from Godric’s Hallow and into the woods behind it. “Come with me or you're never going to see your godson again.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” Sirius asked, yanking his arm from Shadow’s grip and stopping just short of the woods. He may be in shock, but he was not stupid. He wasn’t going in there until he had some answers. He was a brave man, but people who went into woods with strangers never came out again. He could take the man in a fight, but what if he wasn’t alone and there was an ambush there.
“You just made a huge mistake by giving your godson to Hagrid,” Shadow said, standing there glaring at him. “You have no idea the horror you have just unleashed on his life. He will be abused and neglected for the rest of his life because of you.”
“What? No. That’s not right. He's going to take him to Dumbledore. He's going to be safe there,” Sirius stated, not liking the implications the other man was getting at.
“No, you moron, he's not going to be safe there. I should know. I am him,” the other man said, looking at Sirius like he was an idiot.
“But he said he was going to take him to relatives,” Sirius said, ignoring the fact that Shadow said he was Harry, because that didn’t make sense. How could he be Harry when he was obviously a full-grown man. Harry was just a baby. Not even magic could make him an adult in the span of seconds.
“Think. What other relatives are there of Harry’s besides Petunia? All the Potters are dead, or in America, and you know Dumbledore won’t send him there,” Shadow stated, reminding the dogman that Harry didn’t have any other relatives close by. The Dursleys were the only ones that were there.
“But Petunia hates magic,” Sirius said, realization dawning on him. He remembered her from the few times he had met her. She was a shrew. Her husband was much worse. He was an arsehole of major proportions. The man was a fat walrus of a man, who hated everything that wasn’t ‘normal’ or British.
“Right. Now, think of how Harry's life will be if he is raised by Petunia and her husband,” the other man said, peering at Sirius with a serious look. He took his arm and started leading him away again. He did not want to be there if others started showing up. They might arrest Sirius just on principle. He didn’t trust the hotheadedness of the Aurors in this time of war. Especially those led by Crouch.
“Oh, I see your point,” the dogman conceded. “What can I do about it though?” he asked, following the other man to the woods and wondering where they were going. He didn’t know of anything that was back here. He was still wary of an ambush, but he was being more cautious and alert now.
“Now we have to go and get him away from her before she and Dumbledore ruin Harry's life,” Shadow stated, looking for a place they could Disapparate. They needed to get gone soon.
“I have to get Pettigrew,” Sirius protested, he wanted to kill the rat. It was all his fault that James and Lily were dead, and Harry was now going to Petunia of all people. He knew he couldn’t kill him, but he could bring him to justice, right?
“No, you really don't. We can get him later. You must get to the Ministry and prove your innocence before you wind up in Azkaban for the rest of your life,” Shadow said, finally stopping at a place that was out of the way and they could go where they needed to without witnesses. The last thing they needed was to be brought up on charges of violating the Statute of Secrecy.
“But I'm not the Secret Keeper,” Sirius protested. He didn’t think he could be arrested for this. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He had helped in the end by getting Harry from the house. He was going to help more by capturing Peter and seeing him to justice. Even if he wanted to kill the bastard.
“But how many people know that?” asked the dimension hopper, who already knew the answer.
“Very few others. We kept it a secret from everyone not in the know,” Sirius said, scratching his head in thought. He never saw a problem with that. He thought it was a great prank against the bad guys. They’d come after him, while the traitor was safe. It had been foolproof. The fools were them in the end though and it had cost the Potters their lives.
“Right, and now everybody thinks you gave up the secret that killed James and Lily. You lot thought you were playing such a great prank, but you were setting yourself up for a great fall,” Shadow stated, pointing his finger at him, like he was an irritating child. He was angry that Sirius wasn’t taking this seriously. Even now that James and Lily were dead, Sirius couldn’t get it through his head that he needed to get his priorities straight. Which was clear his name and get Harry.
“But Dumbledore knows. He knows that Pettigrew is the Secret Keeper as well. He set up the Fidelius,” Sirius said, like that solved all his problem, which it should have. The other man was powerful. He had connections and could make sure that Sirius stayed free. It solved everything.
“He's also the one who's going to put Harry with Petunia,” pointed out Shadow with a bit of malice. “He’s not going to stand up for you, Sirius,” he added with some solemness. He wanted to get his point across.
“I don't understand,” the dogman said, tilting his head in genuine confusion. “I am part of his Order. He has to stand up for me.”
“Dumbledore is manipulating things to his liking, all due to a prophecy. And if that means putting you in Azkaban, then so be it,” the other man said with a shrug of his shoulder. He knew this to be true, he’d seen it done in many universes. There was very little variation.
“Dumbledore wouldn't do that,” Sirius said with determined protestation.
“How about I prove it to you?” Shadow asked, rubbing his chin in thought. “How about you just follow me for now and if I'm wrong we'll go look for Pettigrew now, but if we find you find out I'm correct, then we'll take Harry and run. Once we’re safe, we’ll find Peter and bring him to justice.”
“Fine, but you’re wrong. Dumbledore is a good man,” Black stated, like it was law. He held doubt in his vindication though. He knew the headmaster saw only the big picture and would sacrifice a soldier for the greater good.
“When I am proven right, you’ll want to take Harry and run so far away,” Shadow forewarned him.
“Where would I run to?” Sirius asked, like a kid wondering why the sky was blue.
“Anywhere not England,” was the response.
“Why would I want to get out of England?”
“Because that's where everything is happening. And if you stay here, it will probably ruin your life. I know it'll ruin Harry's,” Shadow said, looking at him with a grave face.
“How do you know all this?” Sirius asked. They were still standing in the woods and there were voices coming from the cottage area. They were calling out to Harry now, like the tike had wandered off into the woods.
“Take a very close look at me and answer your own question,” Shadow said, his eyes glancing towards the cottage as if judging how much time they had. He lifted his bangs and tilted his head so that Sirius could get a good look at his face.
“Like I said, you look like James, but you can't be James. You have green eyes and there's a scar on your forehead,” Sirius said, peering closely at the man in front of him. He did look so much like his dead friend.
“Didn't you notice the wound on Harry's forehead earlier?” Shadow said, raising an eyebrow.
“Now that you mentioned it, I did heal a cut on his forehead,” Sirius said, his face a visage of surprise.
“And didn't it look remarkably similar to mine?” was the next question, this time there was some sarcasm in there. Like he’d been hinting at it the entire time.
“So you're trying to tell me you're Harry?” the flabbergasted man asked, looking at him with new eyes. This couldn’t be Harry. That was impossible.
“Yes. I told you this earlier,” Shadow said, shrugging his shoulder. It was not his fault the man was dense.
“But time turners don't work that way,” Sirius stated, thinking the only way he could come up with that Shadow could have been there.
“Who said I came back via Time Turner? I used other methods,” the time traveler stated, getting a smirk on his face.
“I don't understand.”
“And I don't have time to explain it to you. Well, actually I do, because Dumbledore is going to keep Harry at Hogwarts for a day. However, let's get you to the ministry and prove your innocence first,” Shadow said, waving to the direction of the area he wanted to Disapparate. “I’ll Apparate to the Ministry first and you follow me there,” he suggested. The voices were getting closer now and it sounded like they were about to be spotted.
“All right, I'm right behind you,” Sirius said, nodding his head vacantly. He was still caught up on the thought that this was Harry that he was talking to. He wouldn’t come around until much later. He was going through the motions, but he would only connect the dots when they were at the DMLE and Crouch was trying to arrest him.
Bartimus Crouch Senior did not want to listen to them, but Sirius convinced him that he was not the secret keeper and was not the reason why James and Lily Potter were dead. He offered his memories and to be questioned under Veritaserum.
Sirius Black walked out of the department a free man. An angry man, but free. Crouch was a dick, and it had been quite a fight to get his story heard and if it hadn’t been for Shadow threatening to go to the press and obtaining a solicitor then Sirius might be in Azkaban right now.
“Now let's go get Harry,” said Shadow as they left the building. He was glad that that had worked out as well as it had. Dumbledore was too busy with young Harry to care about Sirius right now. Or it would have been a much different outcome. He could take on Crouch and Bagnold, they were easily swayed by public opinion, but Dumbledore never cared what the public thought.
“Yeah, okay. Are you sure he's going to be at Petunias?” asked Sirius. He was still reeling from what had happened this night. James dead, Shadow was Harry, and Crouch wanting to send him to prison. It was all too much. Now Harry was going to Petunia. That just wasn’t Quidditch.
“Yes, I'm very sure he's going to be there,” Shadow said, rolling his eyes at the thought of not knowing something he had experienced.
“Are you sure that Albus is the one who's going to put him there?” the dogman asked, his tone almost pleading for it not to be true.
“Yes,” the other man said, firmly. “Look, we're going to be under the invisibility cloak and we're going to watch the entire thing. That way you’ll know the truth.” It would be the only way Sirius would believe him.
“Why can't we just confront him?” Sirius asked, never one to hide from a fight. He was always one to run headfirst into things. Even if he was fairly outmatched.
“Do you really want to confront Albus Dumbledore?” Shadow asked, knowing he’d win, but he didn’t think Sirius could.
“No, I suppose not,” Sirius said, hanging his head. He didn’t even want to think of facing his old headmaster on opposite sides of the wand. He was still wrapping his head around the fact that the man didn’t have good intentions for Harry.
“Well, let's go then,” Shadow said, leading the way to the floos. They went to Privet Drive and sat there near where McGonagall was watching the Dursleys. She sat on the wall, while they were under the invisibility cloak.
It was a cold night, but they watched the Dursleys with McGonagall for the rest of the night until Dumbledore showed up. They watched the whole scene play out until Dumbledore left the baby on the front porch.
Sirius couldn't believe his eyes that they left that baby lying there without any protection. They didn’t even knock to let the Dursleys know that Harry was there.
“I can't believe they did that,” he finally said as Shadow took the cloak off them and they started walking towards the baby on the porch.
“I told you, I'm him. I knew they were going to do that. I don't understand why you didn't believe me,” the other man said, going to the child and picking it up and cuddling it. He looked at the sleeping baby and sighed. He’d have to get the horcrux taken care of sooner rather than later. It would be easier now that Harry was a baby.
“Well, now what are we going to do? I don't know anything about taking care of a baby,” Sirius said, with a whinge in his voice. He was scared that he was going to mess it up. He took Harry from Shadow and rocked the baby up and down on his shoulder.
They were walking down the street now. Harry on Sirius’s shoulder with the invisibility cloak being used as a blanket. Shadow was walking at his side, near the road. He’d act as a barrier for cars and foes.
“You and every new parent who ever lived,” Shadow said with a scoff.
“I suppose you're right,” Sirius said with a sigh. It was true after all, no one went into parenthood knowing what to do. If they did, life would be much simpler, and kids would come with instruction manuals. That and his mum wouldn’t have been abusive, and Petunia wouldn’t have abused Shadow.
“Just take Harry somewhere safe and don't come back to England. Because if you come back here, you'll fall into the manipulations of Dumbledore again,” the time traveler said, making wide gestures with his hands as if to encompass the whole world. “You can access your accounts from anywhere, so there's no reason for you to pull your money from Gringotts.” That had been something he learned after the third reality. There was no reason to empty the accounts. There was such a thing as magical transfer between banks, for a fee.
“Think it'll be just as simple as that?” Sirius asked, still rocking Harry who was fussing in his sleep.
“No, of course not. Is it ever that simple?” was the rhetorical question.
“Will you come with me?” Sirius asked, sounding lost. He’d been through too much tonight.
“For a short bit,” the other man said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks, I don't think I can do it on my own,” the dogman said, sagging in relief. He had lost so many friends tonight. James dead, Peter was a traitor and on the run, and who knew where Remus was. He’d have to contact him.
“No problem, but then I'd have to go and help other Harrys,” Shadow warned. He never stayed more than a few days in any reality.
“Will you tell me a bit about yourself?” Sirius asked, sounding like a kid wanting a bedtime story.
“Sure, if only to prevent this Harry from growing up anything like me. You can tell him when he gets older,” Shadow said, by now they were several blocks away from the Dursleys, but they didn’t feel the need to stop walking, so continued on.
“Well, tell me what your life was like if I hadn't picked you up from the doorstep.”
“Well for one, I grew up unloved and was shoved in the cupboard under the stairs. That was my bedroom for eleven years. Petunia and Vernon would call me a freak. I didn't even know my real name until I went to school. I learned how to cook when I was five years old. When I was eleven, I went to Hogwarts and thought everything would get better, and in fact it actually got worse even though I thought that the school was my home,” Shadow said, getting a faraway look in his eyes.
“I can relate to that,” Sirius said, nodding his head. His childhood was much worse, in some ways, better in others.
“I get that,” the other man said. “Anyway, I was in life threatening situations every year I was there. From trolls to basilisk to Dark Lords. And even you. Let's not forget the werewolves, the Dementors, and the government officials. There was an endless supply of life-threatening things that happened to me every year,” the time traveler said, ticking them off on his fingers and getting angrier with each mention of the things he went through.
“And all this happened under Dumbledore's crooked nose?” the shocked godfather asked. To him this couldn’t have been. It was a school; it was supposed to be safe.
“He perpetrated most of it. He's the one who brought the tournament into the school. And that was the most life-threatening thing that I faced,” Shadow stated, his face clouding over remembering that year unkindly. “Well, that’s not completely true, the basilisk and the Dark Lord were up there, but the tournament was a yearlong stress fest.”
“You'll have to give me the full story one day. So what happened that made you want to jump back into time to help other Harrys?” Sirius wanted to know. He wanted to be able to tell Harry about his double when he was older. Or even as he grew.
“After I killed the Dark Lord Voldemort, which I will tell you about, they vaulted me as a hero for a while and then started accusing me of being a Dark Lord myself,” Shadow started his story with a soft voice. “All because I could speak to snakes. So, I started giving them what they wanted. But I was very bad at it, let me tell you. I even had to kill a few people. After a while, I did rule magical Britain. And I got tired of being a Dark Lord because it wasn't me, I’m just not cut out to be evil. So, I decided to jump back in time, so the other Harry's didn't have to do this. You must understand that ever since I entered the magical world, I have been vilified by the press for every single thing I ever did,” he finished, his tone harsh and almost loud enough to wake the neighbors and the baby. When he saw that he disturbed Harry, he quieted.
“How so?” Sirius asked, looking around and rocking Harry. The tike settled down, so they continued walking. Sirius cast a warming charm on all of them. They were getting tired by now, and Shadow was starting to get into a neighborhood he didn’t recognize.
“I couldn't even sneeze without them saying that I was trying to gain attention,” Shadow said, quietly, though there was still anger in his tone. It had been a trying time in his life. Which spanned for most of the time he was in the wizarding world.
“Come on, it couldn't have been that bad,” Sirius said, trying to make light of it.
“No, it really was. If I sneezed, they said I was trying to fake pneumonia to get attention for some reason or another. It was insane,” Shadow said, throwing up his hands in frustration.
“That is sad,” Sirius said, feeling bad for the man walking next to him.
“It was, it was terrible,” the other man said, running his hand through his hair and walking in an almost stomping fashion. “And I think it had to do with the fact that I didn't answer any fan mail growing up because there was a post redirect ward. So, people thought I was some stuck-up kid that didn't want anything to do with the public. Now, I'm sure Dumbledore had his reasons for keeping my mail from me. I'm not sure what they were. Perhaps he didn't want me to get a big head. Perhaps he didn't want Petunia to have to deal with the mail. I don't know. All I know is that in the end, it screwed me over.”
“Why would people be sending you fan mail?” the confused godfather asked, looking at him queerly. “Do I have to worry about it with Harry?”
“That's right, you don't know about this,” Shadow said, shaking his head. “I was known as the Boy Who lived. That's what Harry's going to be known as too, because everybody is under the impression that he survived the Killing Curse.”
“How would everybody think he survived the Killing Curse?”
“When the DMLE goes to the cottage, they’re going to do research and they're going to conclude that there were three Killing Curses cast there, and one of them was directed at baby Harry and he lived. He will be known as the Boy Who Lived,” the older ‘Boy Who Lived’ stated bitterly. He hated that name and the life that had come with it. He hoped that by rescuing Harry now, he’ll never hear the term.
“Say that's true, but how will everybody else know that?” Sirius asked, doubt in his voice. What a strange name. The Boy Who Lived indeed. What kind of name was that.
“Hagrid.”
“How will Hagrid know it?”
“Dumbledore.”
“So what you’re saying is, that Dumbledore is going to get his hands on classified information. He’s going to let Hagrid know. Hagrid, and his inability to keep secrets, is going to let everybody else know. And Harry will be known as the Boy Who Lived,” Sirius asked, ticking them off one by one. They were still walking down the street but were ambling down now, like they had no direction they were going, just walking to walk.
“The news is already spreading. They're celebrating in the streets,” Shadow said, gesturing to the fireworks that were still being set off in the night sky. “Don’t you remember the news reports on the muggle news?” he asked, tilting his head. They had heard them through the windows at the Dursleys.
“This is bullshit,” Padfoot hissed harshly.
“It's one of the reasons why you have to leave England,” Shadow said, suddenly changing directions and heading towards Surrey proper. “He'll never know a moment's peace in his life. He's going to be hounded his entire life by the press, by the public, by Dumbledore, by the Dark Lord, by everybody.” He wanted to get a hotel for the night and knew there were some good one in a nearby neighborhood. He recognized where he was now.
“Won’t he be hounded for that in other countries too?” the worried godfather asked, now concerned about Harry’s life as a celebrity. He thought raising a normal boy would be strenuous, but a famous boy, that was a whole different story.
“Maybe, but you can still reduce that impact by having him anywhere besides England because they won't know him as well there as they do here,” Shadow said, waving the thought that Harry’s fame would follow him. If he remembered correctly most countries thought Britain was foolish for thinking Harry could rid the world of Voldy at such a young age.
“I see,” Sirius said, rocking Harry a bit, though his feet were starting to hurt, not used to walking this much. “Well, there is an island that the Blacks owned near the Caribbean. We can go there. It's fairly isolated.”
“That sounds like a good place to go,” the reality traveler said, knowing the island he was talking about. Sirius had gone there his third year.
“You'll still come with us for a while,” the other man asked, very tiredly.
“Yeah, I can do that,” Shadow said. He had always wanted to go there. He’d never had the chance to see the island.
“Great.”
“But after that I must leave. I need to go help other Harrys.” He was firm on that. There was no way he was going to hang around for fun and games. He had work to do.
“OK, I understand that.”
“Well, let's go. First we have to go to Gringotts,” Shadow said, still heading to the hotel area.
“Why?” Black asked, following along.
“We need to remove the dark magic from his forehead,” was the answer.
“What kind of magic?” Sirius asked, wanting to know. He knew all kinds of dark magic and wanted to know if he should be worried.
“Horcrux,” was all Shadow said to get a reaction from Sirius.
“Fuck,” the other man said, looking at the baby’s forehead.
“Yeah, we need to get it out of him,” the time traveler stated. “There are more, but let Dumbledore deal with that,” he added, waving his hand in the air. “The goblins will take care of them if we pay them, but that could be in the future,” he tacked on carelessly, like he could care less if they did so or not.
“You don’t like England, do you?” Sirius asked, tucking his cloak around Harry, now that the charm had worn off. He could cast it again, but they were almost at the hotels. Well, he hoped they were.
“I could care less about this country,” admitted Shadow.
“Well, I happen to love it, so I will be asking the goblins to hunt down the horcruxes,” Sirius stated. He had the money and was more than willing to part with it. He might not be the Lord of his house, but his uncle had left him well off. That and his grandfather had not booted him from the family, no matter what his mother thought. So when the old man kicked the bucket, he would inherit. At least he thought so, now that Regulus was dead.
“Do what you will,” the other man said, waving his hand at him. “Just don’t use Harry’s money to do it.”
“I would never,” Sirius said, shocked at the accusation.
“I’m just saying,” Shadow said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Whatever,” the dogman said, adjusting Harry on his shoulders and they walked on.
They got to the hotel and checked in. They’d only be staying one night then they’d go to London in the morning. They got funny looks for not having any luggage. Shadow said, they had had a fight with Sirius’s missus, and she had booted them out for the night. The woman took pity on them and gave them the room at a discount.
Hphphp
They got the horcrux out and Sirius left the UK. He and Harry went to his island and lived a fruitful life. Harry grew to be a powerful wizard and never set foot in England. He grew up listening to stories about Shadow and told them to his kids. A few of them decided to reality hop to help their Uncle Shadow.
Remus joined them a few years later, and he learned about Shadow too. He didn’t go reality hopping, but his grandkids joined Harry’s kids. Soon there was a contingent of Potters and Lupins reality hopping, looking for the original Shadow.
The goblins took care of the horcruxes, and the Dark Lord Voldemort never rose. His followers never rebelled or created havoc. They remained docile and maintained the statis quo. Try as they might they never got the muggleborn lowered to second class citizens. They remained equals in the eyes of the law, if not in the eyes of the public.
No trolls bashed their way in, no basilisk slithered the halls, no tournament was ever held, and no Umbridge ever set foot in Hogwarts. It was a nice quiet school of learning. Bullies still ran rapid, including one Severus Snape. But other than that, there were no complaints about the school.
Dumbledore tried for years to find Harry Potter but failed miserably. He died of a heart attack due to stress in what would have been Harry’s first year.