HP : THE TRAUMA AND CHOICE

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Harry had, perhaps, been mostly honest when he evaluated himself in the Headmaster's office that first night. He was cunning and bold. But he was certainly not the petulant idiot that he had allowed himself to be perceived as that night.

Filius' gaze wandered to the Headmaster while he memorized the names of the non-Gryffindor children that Harry had shown a particular interest in.

'Albus must see the similarities. Harry Potter is another brilliant, secretive boy who is making an effort to draw a loyal following to himself. And I will never believe that anything that occurred after November first was a product of good timing or chance. Harry Potter planned to wait until the last moment and then set several plans into motion at the same time – escape from his classes, Peter Pettigrew's capture, Sirius Black's pardon, his own emancipation, slapping Albus publically with the suits regarding his guardianship, potentially side swiping the Ministry. Any one of those objectives would have taken a great deal of time to set up so he distracted us: first with Albus' wand, then with his thirst for knowledge, his improbable alliances, and his fascination with Slytherin House.'

"Filius?"

Flitwick startled then cleared his throat.

"I beg your pardon."

As he rattled off specifics regarding Harry's contacts within his own classroom and his private tuition of wordless, wanded magics, Filius felt his heart sink.

Albus' eyes were no longer twinkling. Instead, his old friend looked quite grave.

'He sees the similarities as plainly as I do. But he can't see the differences' Filius realized. 'Young Tom would have never attacked a mountain troll to protect another student. And he was uninterested in much beyond himself. In retrospect, Tom was biding him time throughout his seven years at Hogwarts. Young Harry, however, is in motion. Whatever it is, his actions over the last twenty-one days have brought him closer to it. And whatever it is, he is angrier than an insulted hippogriff over it.'

Filius watched his old friend unhappily. 'Albus, what have you done?'

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"Mmmmngh."

Even breathing hurt.

'What…quidditch? No… not right. We won that game. Maybe… Voldemort? No. No snake-faces or Death Eaters.'

A grim… who was Sirius… but he ran away…so Harry chased him into the forest…

"Merlin's sagging scrotum" Harry shouted as he tried to sit up then flinched. His hands, his entire body in fact, remained still. Except for his head, he was petrified.

"Language" rasped a familiar, beloved voice.

Harry jerked sharply, cracking his head against the dirt floor.

"Ooww" he whined. Harry had a very firm policy against showing weakness to his kidnappers, but this was Sirius, not some random Death Eater. Where was Sirius? Nowhere in Harry's line of sight at any rate. "Sirius let me up."

"Can't."

"You have my wand. Cast the finite."

"Can't." Sirius' voice dropped to a hoarse growl. Harry could literally hear him shuddering as he added, "You'll tell the Dementors."

"I won't" Harry promised. "I don't like them."

Sirius' hoarse bark of laughter rang out. Harry's heart squeezed so tightly that his eyes got fuzzy. He arched his head to dry his damp cheeks on his shoulders.

"No one likes the Dementors" Sirius scoffed as he edged out of the shadows and into Harry's line of sight.

Harry sighed. "You're going to have to let me up eventually."

Sirius swished Harry's wand with thoughtful aimlessness. "I could obliviate you first."

Suddenly desperate to cast a wandless, wordless finite now, Harry glared at his godfather fiercely. He made sure to catch Sirius' pale blue eyes with his own.

"My dad'd kill you!" he hissed as he struggled futilely. He could cast the counter with a wandless, worded spell but then what? He would lose an advantage. Plus, he would have to chase Sirius down again. "How will you face him if you have to tell him that you lobotomized me?"

"Same way I face everyone else, I expect" Sirius said easily. "Who's your dad then?"

Harry thunked his head back against the hardpacked dirt.

'And Sirius is considered the sanest man in Azkaban?'

Apparently being free for nearly a year before meeting Harry had made all the difference in the original timeline. In this one, after only being free for a few months, Sirius was still mostly nuts.

"James Potter" Harry gritted out. "You're my godfather."

Well, a version of him anyway. Not too long ago it had been Harry's greatest wish to have another chance with Sirius. But this Sirius from this version of the timeline not only failed to know him, he was obviously off his rocker. Suddenly, chasing after him and running headlong into the Forbidden Forest seemed like a remarkably stupid idea. It would have been perfectly safe with Harry's godfather Sirius. Unfortunately, this Sirius was most certainly not Harry's anything. Not in his own mind, at any rate.

Tears burned at the back of Harry's eyes. It was not just that Sirius no longer remembered him in this timeline. Just like everyone else this was a Sirius but not his Sirius.

"You're not Harry" Sirius said sharply. "He's little yet."

Harry sighed. "It's been ten years, Sirius" he said, suddenly too tired to struggle. "I'm eleven."

Sirius shook his head, his expression twisting in an achingly familiar way. It was his stubborn look – the one he wore when he stole fireplaces to listen to Harry rant about Ron or wasted precious get-away time telling Harry about his dad or something equally touching that nonetheless left Harry utterly bewildered as to how to respond.

"Just got sent to Azkaban. Haven't been there that long."

"You got some pictures in the mail. There was a note with them. Do you still have them?"

Sirius nodded once.

"The letter is from me. Harry. I took the pictures and sent them to you. Go ahead and look."

It took a bit to cajole Sirius into looking at the pictures. When Sirius finally did, his skin when from white to gray. He shook his head frantically, his dirty, matted hair flying about wildly.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Sirius dropped Harry's wand, the letter, and the pictures as he darted away.

"Finite incantatum!"

Even as Harry collapsed bonelessly, he waved a hand at Sirius', now Padfoot's, retreating back.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

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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)

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