The third in the series.
Thanks for all the reviews and suggestions.
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Little Harry Potter was sitting in the swing set near his house near #4 Privet Drive. He was watching as his cousin Dudley was coming near him and was about ready to bolt. It might have been fun to have his cousin pick on him, sometimes he was up for a good run, but he was sad because there was a letter that had come for him earlier that day. However, his Uncle Vernon had taken it from him. It was the first time he had ever gotten a letter and he had been looking forward to reading it.
“Don't worry about that guy,” said a strange voice from beside him. “I'll make sure he doesn't bother you.”
“Who the hell are you?” asked Harry as he looked at the man next to him. It was an older man who looked a lot like him, only much older, wearing dark clothes, and there was a scar on his forehead much like his, only much lighter.
“I am you, but from the future,” he said.
“Wicked,” said Harry. That only happened in books and movies.
“You're not scared or concerned or in denial?” asked the man with a completely gobsmacked look. Usually, they started yelling at him by this point.
“No, that's wicked,” said Harry. “Like straight off the telly,” he said all but bouncing off the swing. He’d seen some episodes of Doctor Who on the sly. Aunt Petunia watched it when she thought he was asleep for a nap when he was younger, or out of the house now that he was older. It was one of her guilty sins. Not even Uncle Vernon or Dudley knew she watched it. He’d sneaked a peek a time or two and seen her watch it. He’d never been caught. He had looked up the show in the library and found it fascinating.
“You're a strange one,” said the older man. “Normally I get denial,” he stated, shaking his head. He was rather glad of it. It meant that he didn’t have to go into the whole speech about how he had come to help.
“Does this mean you have come to take me away from the Dursleys?” the younger Harry asked, a great deal of hope in his tone. He really wanted to get away, especially after the letter fiasco. Vernon was never going to let him see that letter, he was sure of it. The man was crazy that way.
“That's what I'm here for,” said the man, nodding his head. He was glad he got here before Hogwarts. This meant that he didn’t have to persuade him that Dumbledore was a bad man and wasn’t the grandfather that he portrayed himself to be.
“Wicked,” said Harry. “But what about my letter?” asked the little boy. “If I leave, it’ll never find me,” he added, remorsefully.
“I'll tell you all about that letter and you're going to be open to a whole new world,” the older Harry said, making motions with his hands expanding in such a way that showed how wide the world was. “Besides, the letter will find you, no matter where you are,” he added, knowing that it would follow him everywhere until he opened it and answered it.
“Wicked,” said Harry for the fourth time, his eyes wide.
“Is that all you know how to say?” the laughing man asked. He was amused at the boy’s exuberance.
“It's a pretty cool word,” said Harry, with a shrug.
“You are indeed a strange one. I don't remember being quite as simple as you when I was your age,” the still unnamed man stated, ruffling Harry’s hair. Then again, that was a long time ago.
“Hey, it's been a rough day for me,” said Harry, batting the hand away. He hated it when people touched his hair. It was hard enough to control without people messing with it.
“Come on, let's go get your stuff and get the hell out of here,” the older man stated, getting out of the swing and heading towards the house.
“All right,” said Harry as he too got off the swing set and went to his Aunt Petunia’s house.
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“Who the hell are you?” said Uncle Vernon when they got to the house. They just went right in. Vernon had stayed home that day in case any more letters showed up. That and he needed to make sure Harry was moved to the second bedroom. He knew the magicals were watching his family now. He needed to make sure they knew he was treating the boy right.
“I've come to take the ‘freak’ away,” said the older Harry, making rabbit ears on the word. “You can call me Shadow.” He moved towards the second bedroom, but he stopped when Vernon got in his way.
“I don't give a ruddy hell what you’re called, you're not taking the brat anywhere,” the fat man stated, still standing in the stranger’s way. He wasn’t going to put his family in danger by letting the freak leave. The letter said they’d be protected as long as the boy stayed here.
“Listen, fatso, I've got all the right in the world to take this boy anywhere I want to,” Shadow stated, poking his finger in Vernon’s face. He wasn’t going to back down from his hated relative. He could take him, that and he had his wand.
“Oh, and why is that?” the angry man asked, starting to get worried. He didn’t know this man, and he might be a full-grown wizard. He might know they kept the boy in the cupboard and seek retribution.
“Because I'm him from the future, moron,” Shadow said, brandishing his wand and pointing it at the man’s nose.
“Don't be bloody stupid, that's impossible,” Vernon said, though he did back up and plaster himself against the wall. He wasn’t standing in the way anymore.
“Not if I’m magical,” Shadow sing songed, turning a table into a goat and back. He would have done more, but he really didn’t want the wizarding world to come down on the house for muggle-baiting. Even though he very much wanted to turn the man into the walrus he looked like.
“Don't say that word. There is no such thing as magic,” Vernon said loudly, even as he looked at the table with an evil eye. He was burning it when the man left. There was no way he was keeping it in his house.
“Of course there is. Just because you keep denying it doesn't make it any less true,” said the younger man, turning the table back into a goat. He left it as one this time. The goat started eating the carpet. “But I'm not here to argue with you about that. I'm here to take Harry away from you idiots.” He nudged Harry, who stood quietly at his side, towards the staircase.
Harry didn’t move. He was too frightened of his aunt and uncle.
“Take the boy, take him and leave,” said Petunia, she was too miffed over the fact that one more of her family not her would be going to Hogwarts.
“Oh, I plan on it. I'm just here to get his stuff,” Shadow said, once more heading to the stairs. He turned the goat back into a table again and nudged Harry again. Still the boy didn’t move.
“He doesn't own anything. Everything he has belongs to us. Just take him. Take him and leave,” she all but screeched. Her carpet was ruined, and the table was now a lost cause to her. It had been one of her favorite pieces of furniture. Now she’d have to burn it.
“Fine, Harry, come along,” said Shadow, making an abrupt about-face and headed to the door. With that, the two of them left the house and hurried down the walkway. Shadow flagged down the Knight Bus, and the two of them went to the Leaky Cauldron.
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“We need to get into Harry Potter's bank account,” said Shadow to the nearest goblin as they entered Gringotts. They had gone there first, since they only had Shadow’s money. Harry was insistent that since he had money, he’d pay his own way. The older Harry had told him all about himself on the bus ride there as he explained what they’d be doing for the next few days.
“Does Harry Potter have his key?” asked the goblin as he looked up from the book, he had been writing in.
“No, but I have mine,” said Shadow, producing the key from his pocket. He kept his key everywhere he went. It worked in any dimension. Well, it had so far.
“Are you Harry Potter?” asked the goblin, glaring at the older man. He did look like a Potter, but Harry Potter was an eleven-year-old boy.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” said Shadow with a shit-eating grin.
“How can you be Harry Potter and he be Harry Potter?” inquired the goblin, putting down the quill he had been using, knowing this line of questioning was going to give him a headache.
“Magic,” said Shadow.
“Very well, human, present your key,” said the teller, rubbing his forehead. He hated dealing with humans. Wizards especially.
So Shadow presented his key and it played out that it was Harry Potter’s key and they were taken down to Harry Potter's vault. The cart ride was like a park ride to Harry, and he had a blast. Harry looked upon the mounds and mounds of gold and asked, “Wow, is this all mine?” his eyes were blown wide as he took in his wealth.
“This is nothing. This is just your trust vault. Trust me, you have a lot more than this,” said Shadow. “This one melds into the other one on your sixteenth birthday,” he added, knowing that the other Harrys hadn’t known that. The first one’s had merged when he was emancipated during the tournament. The second one, he explained it to when they were visiting all the sights.
“What do you mean ‘trust vault’? I don't know what that is,” the confused boy asked, his brow scrunched up in a cute manner.
“I'll explain it to you later,” said Shadow, ruffling his hair.
“But I want to know what it is now,” said Harry, stamping his foot and glaring at his older self.
“You're a pushy little sod, aren't you?” the other Harry chuckled at the look.
“Only when I want something,” said Harry, pouting that his pushiness wasn’t getting him anywhere. Not that it ever did, but he had hoped it would with this man. He should have known better, he was a stubborn boy, he’d be a stubborn man.
“Look, I'll sit you down and explain the intricacies of finances later. For now, just understand that this is not all the money you have, and you have a bit more. You can't get to it until you're older. So, there's no point in your understanding now,” Shadow said, looking down on him in a condescending manner.
“Fine,” said Harry, throwing his hands in the air. He wasn’t stupid, he just didn’t like not knowing.
“All right, now we need to get you kitted out,” the older man said, picking at the overly sized shirt on the younger boy. “We don’t have anything else for you to wear.” He’d take him to Diagon Alley and get him some clothes, and then to the muggle world for other things.
“You mean I get to get new clothes that actually fit and everything? Will they be magical clothes?” Harry asked, jumping up and down at the prospect of it.
“For all magicals can do many great things, I don't think they have magical clothes,” Shadow said, smiling at the very thought of clothes that could make you fly or other such rot. That would be quite a feat.
“You mean no clothes with pockets that are bigger on the inside or that can clean themselves? Or clothes that can resize themselves or anything like that?” the innocent child asked, his eyes wide with disappointment.
“Well sure, they have that stuff. I thought you meant clothes that could walk around by themselves or make you fly,” Shadow answered with a shrug. He was far too imaginative.
“No, I just meant general maintenance clothes,” the boy said, not wanting to do laundry and such.
“Where did a kid like you learn words like general maintenance?” was the chuckled question.
“I heard Aunt Petunia say at once,” was the solemn answer.
“Smart arse,” Shadow said, thumping his nose.
Harry just grinned Impishly.
“We have one more thing to do while we’re here,” the older man said, turning to the goblin. “We need to see the healers,” he said, digging out a large sum of gold coins. He knew it was going to cost quite a bit to get the Horcrux out of the boy’s head.
“Why?” asked Harry, not liking that thought at all. He didn’t like it when he went to the doctors. They always gave him shots, and those hurt.
“We need to heal your scar,” Shadow said, not going into the reasons why. He didn’t want to scare the child.
“But l like my scar,” protested the boy, rubbing said scar. He thought it was cool and made him look different.
“You can keep it, but there’s some dark magic in it that needs to be taken out,” Shadow persisted. It didn’t hurt to tell him that much.
“Oh, alright,” Harry said, trusting his older self.
They spent a half an hour in the Healers Halls and Harry got to keep his scar, but the Horcrux was gone. Harry felt the low-grade headache leave him. He didn’t even know he had it until it was gone. His eyesight was a bit better too. Not perfect, but better.
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“We need to get you a guardian,” said Shadow after they went clothes shopping. They were in a muggle hotel and going through Harry’s purchases. He didn’t buy too many, the boy was due for a growth spurt.
“Why do I need a guardian?” asked Harry. He thought Shadow was going to be his new keeper. He was dreading that he might have to go back to the Dursleys.
“You're too young to stay on your own,” said Shadow, like it was obvious.
“Well, I get that, but why don't you just take me back to Aunt Petunia if you’re not going to keep me?” he asked, his tone was laced with disappointment and sadness. He liked Shadow, he was cool and if this was what he was going to be like when he grew up, that was wicked.
“We burned that bridge when we took you away. She doesn't want you back,” was the answer. Shadow came and sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. He knew what the boy was feeling. He too remembered how he always wanted his family to accept him. They never did, and never would, but he always wanted them too. That was until he was an adult himself.
“That's really very sad,” said Harry. “Not that I want to go back, and I always knew they didn't want me. I just didn't think they didn't want me.” He stared at the wall, with tears rolling down his face. It hurt that they didn’t want him back.
“That makes a lot of sense,” said Shadow, squeezing him gently to his side. He just let the boy silently cry for a while.
“Who are we going to get to look after me? I don't know anybody in the magical world,” Harry said, after a few minutes of silence. He pulled himself together with some effort. He put on a stiff upper lip and moved on. The Dursleys could go hang for all he cared.
“I know a few people, but I don't want Dumbledore to know where we are and everybody that I know knows him. Let me think about it for a little while and see what I can do and until then we’re going to stay in the muggle world, and you can't do magic here,” Shadow said, moving to sort the clothes again. “We can visit the magical world every day. I don’t want you to miss out. But we need to go in disguise.”
“Why?” Harry asked, not understanding. He was looking forward to going, and doing some magic, and seeing it done.
“You’re famous in that world,” was the answer.
“Why?”
So, Shadow explained it all to him. The war, how his parents died, how he lived and how the public saw him now.
Harry didn’t understand it completely, but didn’t want to be mobbed, or crowded. He also didn’t want to be known as the Boy-Who-Lived. That was just stupid.
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“Why can't you look after me?” asked Harry a few days later. He’d been thinking about this for days now. It just didn’t make sense to him why the man couldn’t stay.
“I'm not going to be sticking around for that long. I have other Harrys that I must rescue,” Shadow answered, as they walked down London’s streets. They had just come back from the zoo. Harry had a better time of it this time and spent more time with the snakes. Shadow encouraged him to talk to them.
“You’re a time traveler. You can go back to whatever time you want to,” the younger boy said, logically. That made complete sense to him. He came to him before the letter, which did find them the next day. They had sent back a rejection letter, and that was that. They had seen some people looking for Harry Potter in Diagon Alley, but they wore their disguises, and nobody recognized them.
“That doesn't mean I don't age, dufus,” the older man said, messing up the boy’s hair. “If I stick around with you until you get older, that means I'll get older, which means I won't be as proficient as I need to be to help them if they need to be rescued.” He didn’t want to be old and decrepit when he was bouncing around realities.
“Oh,” said Harry, slumping his shoulders. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of him.
“Right, so let's find you a guardian,” Shadow said, thinking on who he was going to get. Remus was right out. He’d go straight to Dumbledore. The Weasleys’ were not an option for much the same reason. The Tonkes might work, but Nymphadora might go to her boss when she was older. Or Andromeda might take it to the ministry when it was found the boy was emotionally abused or starved. Still, he might think about that. But he had one more option up his sleeve. If he could pull it off.
“What are we going to do until then?” asked Harry as they came up to their hotel. He had loved the last few days. They had done the tourist thing and saw many of the sights. He even got to see the Queen. From a distance, but he got to see her. It was like many of his dreams had come true.
“Well, we've got you kitted out. We’ve played tourist. How about we get you a wand?” suggested Shadow. He’d been putting it off for fear that Ollivander would tell Dumbledore that they had been there.
“What good is a wand gonna do if I can't do magic?” Harry asked, not seeing the point. He wasn’t going to Hogwarts.
“You'll feel better just for having one,” promised his older self.
“Am I going to get books that I can read so at least I know how to do magic?” the eager boy asked. He was more than willing to get a wand if he could read about magic.
“Of course we're going to get books.”
“Right then, let’s go.”
They went to Diagon Alley in disguise and bought many books and Harry’s wand. Ollivander promised not to tell the headmaster until they left the Alley that they had been. He recognized Shadow for who he was, and he made a vow to keep that secret. Well, Shadow threatened him into making the vow, but it was made.
Then they went back to the hotel room, where Harry read and read and read some more. He absorbed the books like a sponge. He was fascinated with the new world he found himself in. He was a bit upset that he wasn’t going to Hogwarts and hoped that his new guardian would find him a new school.
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Three days later, Shadow showed up with the scraggly dog that looked like it had seen better days and hadn't eaten in weeks. It was large; shoulder high to Harry. It looked like a Grim from Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them.
“What's this then?” asked Harry, going up to the dog, trying to pet it. But the smell was just awful. “Oh God, what's that smell?” he said, putting his arm over his nose and mouth. It was just that rank.
“This is Padfoot,” said Shadow, having a Bubblehead Charm over his head. “I'm just going to take him into the bathroom and get him washed off.” He headed in that direction patting his leg for the dog to follow.
Padfoot looked at Harry with sad eyes but followed along. His head held low and a whinge in his mouth.
“Oh, it's gonna take more than one bath to get rid of that stench,” said Harry as he backed as far away as he could. “I'm surprised they let you through the lobby with that smell.”
“I cast the Notice-Me-Not on him. They didn't even notice he was there,” Shadow said, not stopping his trek to the bathroom. The people in the hotel had noticed the smell, but not where it was coming from. They probably thought an animal had died under the floorboards.
“How come you get to do magic and I can't?” asked Harry, all but yelling the words from his side of the room.
“Because I'm an adult,” Shadow called back in a sing-song voice.
“That's so ruddy unfair.”
“That's just the way it is,” said Shadow as he took the dog into the bathroom. He closed the door with a smirk.
It was two hours later when a clean dog came out of the bathroom and went up to Harry and started licking his face.
Harry giggled and pushed the dog off. “So why did you bring this dog home?” he asked, wiping the drool off his face. He couldn’t stop grinning though.
“This is your new guardian,” said Shadow.
“He's a dog,” deadpanned Harry. While he liked the dog, he couldn’t be a guardian. That would be weird even for the magical world. That only worked in Peter Pan, and even then, they had a mum and dad.
“Show him, Sirius,” said Shadow to the dog.
The dog morphed into a skinny, scraggly man whose hair and beard hung down to his elbows. He was wearing a prison outfit that had seen better days, but at least he was clean.
“Holy shite,” said Harry, scrambling off the chair and lifting his wand in front of him.
“Harry Potter, meet Sirius Black. He's going to be your guardian. He's on the run and a prisoner here in Britain. But you guys aren't going to stay here. You're going to go to America. That's where my last Harry Potter went, but he got sanctuary there. I'm going to head over to the embassy right now to see if I can get him his freedom there again. If not, we'll see about getting him asylum in Australia or France,” said Shadow all in one breath as if to get it out in one go.
“I don't speak French,” said Harry. He was never one to go to France, they seemed too prissy for his liking. At least what he knew of them. He might be wrong. He only had his Uncle Vernon’s word for it, and his uncle was wrong about a lot of things.
“I do,” said Sirius brightly. “And I'll be more than happy to teach you,” he added, moving to get nearer to his godson. Harry seemed wary of him though, so he was taking it slow.
“That would be great,” said Harry, lowering his wand. “But I think we would be better off if we were further away from England.” He just didn’t want to be near England. It would be too easy to be caught.
“When did you get so smart?” said Sirius, in a joking manner. He didn’t know Harry and wanted to ease into knowing him. So, he fell onto what he knew, jokes.
“I've been hanging around with Shadow too long,” Harry said, in a flat tone.
“Smart arse,” Shadow said.
“So you keep saying,” said Harry, grinning at the man.
“I need to take a nap,” said Sirius, yawning a jaw cracking yawn. “That escape took a lot out of me.” Not that he had done much, mostly just followed along. But he had been in Azkaban for over ten years. That would take it out of anyone.
“How did you even escape?” asked Harry, tucking his wand in its holster. He wasn’t afraid anymore. “And where did you escape from?” He’d never heard of the wizarding prison.
“I was a prisoner in Azkaban,” said Sirius, shivering at the very memory. “And we didn't so much escape, as made it look like I died. So, I don't know why I need to search for asylum, but Shadow here says it probably be best if I did that.” His eyes drooped with weariness.
They had left a homunculus in his place and walked out to the docks with him in his dog form, and portkeyed him to this hotel. He wasn’t sure how Shadow had gotten through all the wards and protections of Azkaban, but he had.
“That's just in case they ever figure out that you're not dead. That and so you can get your money out of Gringotts. The goblins can’t proclaim you dead. And when the ministry tries to get your money out of the bank saying that you are dead, find out that you're not, you'll have refuge in another country. So, besides America and France, what other country do you think you want to go to?” Shadow asked, jotting down some notes. He wanted to have all his ducks in order for when he went to the embassies.
Well, I've never tried Austria,” Sirius said, then he yawned. He wasn’t kidding. He was dog tired. Pun intended.
“Do you speak the language?” the other man asked, narrowing his eyes.
Don't be foolish, Harry er… Shadow. We have magic,” the dogman said, laughing at him.
“Right,” said Shadow, furrowing his brow, trying to remember if there was such a thing as a translation spell.
“There's such things as translation spells,” the laughing man stated.
“Then why didn't they use them during my fourth year when all of us were bumbling around trying to understand what the other people were saying?” Shadow asked, remembering that year quite well, when so many languages were being used.
“I don't even know what you're talking about,” said Sirius, shaking his head. “But it's mainly used by adults because it's a N.E.W.T level spell.”
“Oh, I see,” said Shadow, he vaguely remembered Hermione saying that.
“Anyway, I'm going to go lay down on this nice comfortable bed I see over here. You think you two could keep it down for a little bit? I should only be out for about three days,” Sirius said, flopping on the bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
“Do you think he’s serious?” asked Harry once he saw the escaped convict out like a light.
“I think he could probably sleep through a thunderstorm,” said Shadow, shaking his head fondly.
“Well, I'm not going to be quiet just to let him sleep, but I won't disturb him purposely either,” the eleven-year-old stated, sitting on the other bed and flipping on the telly. Though he did keep the volume down.
“Right. You stay in the hotel room. I'll be back soon,” Shadow said, going to the door and slipping out.
“Right,” said Harry, just turning around and scrolling through the channels, which is what he was doing when Shadow went to get Sirius out of Azkaban, obviously. He had just woken up to being alone. Now here he was with an escaped convict, sleeping on the bed and Shadow playing political games. He’d just sit here and watch the telly and wait until one of them were here to tell him what the bloody hell was going on.
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“So, Shadow tells me you're not going to Hogwarts,” Sirius said, when he woke up ten hours later. He felt much better now that he had slept for more than three hours straight.
“That's the plan,” said Harry, nodding his head in agreement.
“That's kind of sad,” said Sirius. “We were all hoping when you went to Hogwarts you would have great fun there.” It had been great dreams of his and James’s. They had talked about it for hours on end. Over tea, ale and other drinks. It was one of the main topics of conversation between the two of them. How they’d turn him into a great prankster and how they’d teach him the ropes.
“Has Shadow told you about his years at Hogwarts?” asked Harry, tilting his head a bit.
“No, not in great detail, no. He just told me he didn't have a good time there,” the dogman said. They really hadn’t had much time together. They came directly here from the prison.
“Has he told you about Dumbledore?” asked Harry, wondering what they had talked about.
“No, he just told me that he didn't like him and that he was a manipulator,” Sirius said, a bit bitter about it. The man had left him to rot in prison after all.
“Maybe you should sit down and talk to Shadow and let him tell you a bit about his life,” suggested the boy. Though he was itching to tell the story.
“Why don't you tell me?” Sirius said, seeing the boy was ready to spill the secrets of his older self.
“Okay,” said Harry and proceeded to tell him all about the life of Harry Potter, soon to be Shadow, and how he was manipulated into doing the things that he did and eventually becoming a Dark Lord and taking over the wizarding world of England. How he didn't like it and he decided to jump back in time and help other Harry Potters and to not being that way.
“Why didn't you let me tell that story, Harry?” inquired Shadow from the doorway as he came in. He had spent quite some time at the embassies. He wanted to cover all the bases.
“I figured you were tired of telling it,” said Harry with an unrepenting shrug.
“Well, I am, but you kind of enhanced it,” the older man said, giving him an exasperated look.
“Sometimes it gets better when somebody else tells it,” said Harry, giving him an impish look.
“And sometimes it gets a little out of proportion,” he said, thumping the boy’s nose.
“You're telling me all that shite is not true,” said Sirius, hoping that was true. He didn’t want any of it to be true.
“Oh no, it's all true. It's just a little stretched,” Shadow said with a shrug.
“So, you did face a troll and a basilisk and all that in Hogwarts?” asked the dogman.
“Oh yeah, my first and second year.”
“And you faced Voldemort every year except for your third?”
“Yeah, every year.”
“And you didn't go your seventh year of Hogwarts because you were in the middle of a war?”
“Yep, that's true too.”
“And all of this was manipulated by Dumbledore?”
“Well, I can't say he was the manipulator of it all, but he was the puppet master. If it wasn't thought up by him, he took great pleasure in grandstanding it to his scheme of things.”
“Damn it.”
“About sums it up.”
“I can see why you don't want Harry going to Hogwarts, but isn't there a way you could manipulate things from the background and make sure that those things don’t happen to him?” Sirius asked, hope sprung eternal in his voice.
“Without me physically being there at Hogwarts, I don't see how that's going to happen and I'm not sticking around for seven years to make sure that it doesn't happen. I've got other Harry Potters to help. It's just simpler to take Harry Potter out of the equation,” Shadow said, exasperatingly. He was getting tired of explaining it.
“Aren't you afraid that Voldemort is going to take over England?” was the next question.
“It hasn't happened yet, and even if it does, it's not my responsibility or Harry's responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen,” was the answer with a nonchalant shrug.
“Whose responsibility is it then?” Sirius asked, almost demanding.
“That would be the governments and Dumbledore’s and the adults,” Shadow said just as forcefully.
“I mean, I understand where you're coming from this, but what about the prophecy?” the dogman asked, grasping for straws.
“Prophecies are pure unadulterated bullshit,” the other man stated, slamming his fist into his other hand.
“How can you say that? We come from a world of magic,” was the frustrated question.
“Padfoot, are you saying that you want me to be responsible for stopping a Dark Lord?” asked Harry with puppy dog eyes. He just wanted shot of the place. He didn’t want to fight a war. He was just a kid.
“No, that's not what I'm saying, Pup, I'm just saying… oh bloody Hell, I don't know what I'm saying.” The man slumped into the pillows he had been leaning against. He didn’t even know why he was arguing.
“Anyway, I talked to three embassies and both America and Austria are really willing to take you in, but France is not. They said they're too close to England and they're not willing to clash horns with the government at this point in time,” Shadow said, changing the subject.
“What do you think, Pup? Do you want to go to America or Austria?” Sirius asked, wanting to let the boy choose.
“Well, since the last Harry went to America, let's say we go to Austria,” Harry said, wanting to be different.
“If we don't like it, we can always go to America later. It's not like we don't have the money,” Sirius said, not caring one way or the other.
“Sounds like a plan,” Shadow said, picking up the paperwork for Austria. He passed it to Sirius and the dogman started filling it out.
“Alright. Do they have a good school in Austria?” Harry wanted to know. He wanted to get started learning magic.
“They have one of the better schools of magic,” Shadow said, having asked that very question to the Ambassador. “It's not the best, but it's better than Hogwarts. They don't have any muggle school studies in that school, so you have to learn that on your own. It's a lot like Hogwarts, but it has more classes than Hogwarts does. It's a day school, not a boarding school. So you'd have to go to classes every day and come home every night.”
“I like that idea better anyway. I was never cottoned to boarding schools,” Sirius said, still filling out the paperwork.
“This should work out perfect for you to then. I don't like the idea of Padfoot being alone during the months you would be at school. He could get into so much trouble,” Shadow said in a teasing manner. He smiled at the dogman to take the bite out of his words.
“See that, Padfoot, he's more worried about you than he is with me,” said Harry, grinning madly.
“Shut it, kiddo,” Sirius said, taking his eyes off his paperwork and pointing his biro at his godson.
“I see you two are gonna get along great. This is wonderful. So, off you go to the embassy to get your asylum. And off I go back onto my next adventure,” Shadow said, leaving the hotel room. And he was gone.
“Did he really just leave us? Just like that?” Harry asked, looking at the door.
“I guess he did,” Sirius said, also watching the door.
“Do you think we’re going to be okay?” the kid asked, wide-eyed.
“I think we’re going to be just fine,” his godfather stated, getting up and hugging the worried boy.
“Yeah, we’ve got each other,” Harry said, hugging the man back.
Sirius finished the paperwork, and they went to the embassy and filed it. They were put up there for three days while it went through. Then they were off to their new life.
Hphphp
Things weren't easy in Austria for Harry and Sirius. They were much stricter in magic than they were in England and Sirius had a hard time adapting. They were a bit easier for Harry since it was all new for him. But he had to learn the language, and it was a harder time for him at school because of that. Eventually they decided to chuck it all and moved to America. And it was much easier for them after that.
Things in England turned out much worse without Harry Potter there. But not as bad as it could have been. However, because he never went to Hogwarts, the Philosopher's Stone was stolen, and Voldemort came to power much sooner than before. The diary never showed up in Hogwarts because Voldemort was in power, and he had control over Lucius Malfoy. He took control over all his Horcruxes and gained his sanity, took over the British ministry and became a politically powerful man.
Therefore, was not throwing around Cruciatus curses left and right. He still had his inner circle of people that would take care of business if things got out of control. But it was more like a controlled mafia than it was a Dark Lord. He became Minister of Magic and ruled over the Magical world with an iron fist.
The muggleborn had to fight for their rights, and it was an upwards battle. They were second-class citizens but weren’t subjugated. They had a hard time finding good jobs, but with the right credentials and backing could.
Dumbledore never found Harry Potter, though he looked. He never fought the war that never happened, he did fight the political battles, and won a few, lost a few. He fought for muggleborn rights and lifted a few to new heights. He died a martyr, and many were under his banner.
Voldemort never tried to take over the muggle world. So, nobody ever tried to overthrow him. He was in political power for thirty years. Until he was outvoted by Hermione Granger, the second muggleborn Minister of Magic. He bowed out gracefully because he realized that being the one in power was not all that was cracked up to be. He did not gain immortality, when he realized that his sanity was the cost.
Therefore, Harry Potter did vanquish the Dark Lord by not being there at all.