HP : THE TRAUMA AND CHOICE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to know what happens next? 100+ advanced chapters await you on Patreon! Be the first to read what others will have to wait for. Join the community and read ahead today!

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

patreon.com/Kun_Blig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of the other first years seemed to be at breakfast by the time Harry arrived. Harry plopped himself between Hermione and Neville.

"Where were you?" Ron demanded through a mouthful of eggs.

"Getting detention for the rest of the year from Snape" Harry said nonchalantly.

"What?"

Word spread quickly up and down the Gryffindor table.

"He can't do that!" Oliver Wood shouted, outrage written in every line of his body. "If you have detention every weeknight, you'll miss all of our quidditch practices!"

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? What did you do anyway?"

"Erm… I apologized to him."

Everyone gaped at Harry. After a moment, Oliver firmed his jaw.

"I'm going to protest this! I'm going straight to Professor Dumbledore with this outrage! Snape isn't going to get away with sabotaging our quidditch season!" He grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "Don't worry Harry! If worse comes to worse, we'll move practices to our free periods and the weekends!"

Harry could literally feel the chasers' glares burning into him.

"Erm… thanks Oliver. But it's probably not necessary for everyone to practice with me on the weekends. Maybe – maybe just you and me and – erm – maybe the twins sometimes."

"Nonsense Harry! We're a team! We're in this together!"

And with that Oliver stormed off.

"Apologized, eh?" Fred said as the twins moved to sit on either side of Harry. "I solemnly swear –"

" – that we'll never apologize to the greasy git if –"

" – that's the sort of moral reinforcement we'll get."

Under the table, George pressed the Marauders' Map into Harry's hand. Harry quietly pocketed the map with no one any the wiser. Harry waited until Ron and Hermione were busy arguing about something stupid and Neville was busy with Dean and Seamus before he slipped out of the Great Hall and made his way down to the kitchens. Once there he had the house elves prepare a picnic.

"How many people are going on Master Harry's picnic?" asked one of the more elderly house elves, Wibbly. Wibbly always seemed to be one of the first to greet Harry in both timelines.

"Eh, I'm not sure. But we'll be super hungry so you should give me as much food as you'd like. Just make sure that it's stuff I can lightening and shrinking charms on."

"Oh yes, Master Harry!"

And so it began. "Master Harry will need ham and cheese sandwiches."

"And quiche!"

"And tarts!"

"And chicken!"

"And pumpkin juice!"

And on and on it went until Harry remembered the original timeline when even a saner Sirius had looked like more of an animal than a man as he tore into the chicken.

Harry said, "I think we'll be lucky to eat all of that. We'll need lots of napkins, silverware, plates, cups, and a couple of good thick blankets to sit on."

Then Harry shrank the hampers of food and the heaps of blankets, pocketed everything, thanked the elves until they blushed, and left. He used the Marauder's Map and several secret passageways to avoid everyone who might stop him as he made his way to the hag statue. Once he was in Hogsmeade he wandered toward the Shrieking Shack until he was out of sight of the village then cut sharply through the trees and into the forest surrounding the wizarding village. From there he headed in the general direction of the cave that Harry vaguely remembered Sirius holing up in during fourth year. It took a few hours but Harry eventually found what he believed was the right path.

Hot under all of his layers, Harry trudged up into the hills. His eyes were cast downward, focused completely on his feet and the rough path. Ahead of him there was suddenly a low, menacing snarl.

Harry stopped still and looked up. His stomach suddenly seemed to have fallen down to his knees and his heart was pounding. Ahead of him on the path was a snarling grim.

The grim was too skinny, his coat was matted, and his pale blue eyes were only vaguely sane but he was definitely and without a doubt Padfoot. Sirius. Harry's knees were suddenly too rubbery to hold him up. He sat down where he was standing and just stared at the dog. For some reason he had trouble catching a breath.

"Padfoot" he whispered.

One hand reached for the mostly mad dog. Padfoot crouched and backed away, his lips curling back even farther over his truly impressive set of teeth.

Harry's heart hurt. This was much worse than Ginny looking at him like he belonged in a zoo or Ron and Hermione not knowing that they were best friends. This was –

"Sirius."

The grim bolted.

For several wasted moments Harry watched the bushes the grim had retreated into, waiting for a man to reappear.

'He's not coming back' Harry slowly realized. 'He's gone!'

Harry staggered to his feet. "Padfoot!" he shouted as he threw himself onto the bushes the dog had disappeared into. "Padfoot! Come back!"

Twigs tore at his face and hands, he twisted his ankles on roots, and his heart was pounding so hard that there was no way he could possibly hear a dog running through te underbrush. Harry staggered onward but eventually even he had to admit that the dog was gone.

Harry kept running.

Eventually he was deep within the forbidden forest and quite lost.

'Shit! How many times have I passed that hagish stump? Three times? Fou –'

"Aaagh!" Harry screamed and flailed as something huge slammed into his back. Whatever it was, it was heavy, furry, and smelled like wet dog. Teeth snapped next to Harry's right ear.

Harry went very very still.

'God, I'm an idiot' Harry thought bitterly, his cheek pressed into a pile of moldering leaves. 'I knew that he broke out over a picture of Scabbers the first time. Never bothered to think about why did I? I just sent him more pictures of Scabbers the second time around. I was so busy worrying about Fudge getting Sirius Kissed to get rid of the evidence, it never occurred to me to worry about Sirius being a danger to anyone else. Especially me.'

For the first time it occurred to him that in both versions of the timeline, Sirius had broken out of Azkaban to have his vengeance on Peter not to save Harry.

Raising him was, at best, an afterthought to Sirius.

There was a pop then the weight on his back redistributed. A rough hand groped its way through his right pocket before closing around his wand.

Pain, starting at the base of his skull, stabbed through his head.

Darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to know what happens next? 100+ advanced chapters await you on Patreon! Be the first to read what others will have to wait for. Join the community and read ahead today!

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

patreon.com/Kun_Blig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~