A Space Between Worlds

Chapter Two:

Apollo Hero:

"S'il vous plait...dessine-moi un mouton..."

--Le Petit Prince

Leo Potter was one of those very lucky children who had good friends and a loving family. He was a fairly small boy, though he had the potential to be tall like his father as well as a talented wizard. With his dark red hair and round hazel eyes, he was a magnet for motherly women who exclaimed time and again that they'd just love to take him home with them.

Leo, like most boys his age, didn't think much about the future; he tended to dwell only on the present, with little care for what came before and what would come after. He loved mischief and therefore took a great liking to his "Uncle Sirius" who was renowned as being a champion prankster.

No one seemed to understand Leo better than Sirius. Of course, Leo's parents, Lily and James, loved him greatly, but they were always a bit overprotective of him. Before Leo was born, the Dark Lord Voldemort murdered the Potter's first born, Harry. Harry Potter was no more than an infant, but Voldemort had seen fit to kill him. A prophecy had foretold that a child, supposedly Harry, would defeat the Dark Lord, so Voldemort had set about to ensure such a thing never happened.

It had taken years for Lily and James to overcome the terrible grief that had followed Harry's death. After Leo was born, they seemed finally determined to get on with their lives, though the pang at losing Harry so tragically had never truly left.

Leo knew this of course. His parents had told him of Harry, the brother he never knew, and how he had been murdered. He, too, was saddened at the death, for he would have liked very much to have had an older brother. He vowed that when he was old enough, he would join the Order of the Phoenix, just like his parents and Sirius, and get his revenge on the Dark Lord, who still continued to plague the Wizarding World with his reign of terror.

But for now, there was very little that the eleven-year-old wizard boy could do. He was preparing to start his first year at Hogwarts in September, and that took up most of his thoughts. He was too busy planning school pranks with Sirius than to plan revenge just yet.

And it was Sirius whom he was with now. Leo was spending the weekend at Sirius's house, a cheerful cottage far from the Muggle cities and villages. It was located on a wide pasture landscape, with a lush green forest nearby complete with a bubbling brook and crystal blue pond. Leo, who lived in a Muggle village, loved to visit Sirius. Here he didn't have to worry about flying his broom in front of the non-magic folk, and as Sirius was one of the few people the Potters' would trust their precious son with, they too were worry free when Leo was with him, though for different reasons.

He and Sirius had spent the day flying about the fields and swimming in the pond, but now Leo was alone, walking aimlessly about the eaves of the forest. He thought he saw the sparkle of a few faeries and the high-pitched laughter of a couple of pixies, but other than that everything was quite normal. Until...

There was a strange, sudden burst of light coming from within the woods. It made no sound; in fact, the forest seemed to unexpectedly grow deathly quiet. The light had only shown for half a second, but the image seemed to have burned itself in Leo's mind. It had been beautiful; a golden ray of light like the dawning of the sun, illuminating all the trees, making them shine with an eerie glow.

Leo's natural curious instincts kicked in and he headed toward the light's origin. He had heard rumors that when a unicorn was born, there was a flash of golden light to herald the birth, and though Sirius had never mentioned unicorns in his forest, Leo was anxious to learn more about it.

He had only gone a hundred feet or so when he came upon the place where the light had been. The trees in this part of the forest looked very windswept and slightly bent, as if a small bomb had gone off in their midst. There were no animals around to be seen or heard. The forest seemed deserted, except for something black lying on the leafy ground.

Leo stepped forward carefully. It was no unicorn that lay before him. It was a man. He was clad in dark robes, and a black cape and hood covered his face from view. The only things that weren't black were the white soles of his trainers that stuck out from under his robes.

Leo froze. His parents and Sirius and all the other adults that he knew had warned him about people who dressed in all black with hoods to hide their faces. Death Eaters, they were called, servants of Voldemort.

Perhaps a more cautious child would have turned tail and run to get an adult to help, but Leo was hardly what one would call cautious, and the thought of running away did not appeal to him. It never had.

He approached the man, his bare feet making no noise upon the forest floor. When he stopped, he was standing above him, looking down at the prone figure. The first thing that he thought to do was check and see if the man was indeed a Death Eater. Leo had heard his father mention once about followers of Voldemort having the Dark Mark insignia burned onto their left forearms. So, Leo took hold of the man's arm and shoved the sleeves of his robes up. He saw nothing but white skin; not a trace of the Dark Mark to be seen.

Leo let out a sigh of relief. This man was no Death Eater. The boy then pulled the man over onto his back and uncovered his face so that he could get a good look at him. Leo saw that the cloaked stranger was more a boy still than an adult. His youthful features were pale and exhausted-looking and his blond hair hung down in his face, half-concealing a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. At first, Leo wondered if the young man were dead, but he could see his chest rising and falling slowly, so he guessed that he was only sleeping.

The stranger did not appear to be hurt as if he'd been caught in a fight; in fact there wasn't a scratch on him (unless you counted the scar, but that was obviously an old wound with no connection to his present condition). It seemed that he had merely passed out. Leo didn't know whether the stranger had caused the golden light, or if he had only fell victim to it, but he had a feeling that the young man was connected to it in some way.

"Er...sir?" Leo said, giving the stranger's shoulders a shake. "Wake up, sir...sir? Wake up..."

The stranger continued to lie quite still, and Leo was just wondering what to do next, when he heard a voice calling his name.

"Leo! Leo! Time to come in now! It's getting late!"

"Sirius!" Leo called back towards the edge of the woods. "Come in here for a moment! I've found something--er--someone, actually."

"What?" A second later, Leo heard Sirius crashing through the undergrowth, branches snapping noisily as he made his way hastily to where Leo and the strange young man were.

The minute Sirius saw the black-cloaked figure on the ground, he paled, pulled out his wand, and grabbed hold of Leo's wrist, thrusting the boy backwards.

"Sirius--Sirius, it's okay--Sirius!"

"Who is that?" Sirius snapped, keeping his hand clasped tightly over Leo's wrist so that it was beginning to act as a tourniquet and Leo's hand was tingling.

"I dunno--but it's okay, Sirius, he's not a Death Eater, I checked..."

"What do you mean you 'checked'?" Sirius asked quickly.

"I checked his left forearm," Leo said, hoping Sirius would praise him for having the presence of mind to do so. "He didn't have the Dark Mark--"

"Leo," Sirius said, sounding exasperated, "that's not a sure fire way to tell if someone's a Death Eater or not."

"Then what is?"

"There isn't one," Sirius said shortly. Wand still pointing at the young man, he turned his head to look over at Leo. "Honestly, you should no better than to go near strangers."

"Aw, Sirius, you sound like Mum," whined Leo.

"Do I really?" Sirius asked suddenly, sounding mildly concerned. He shook his head. "Anyway, from now on, I don't want you going near strangers. Your parents would kill me if--"

"But Sirius--"

"No buts," Sirius said firmly. "Now stay back here while I go check things out."

He walked forward, wand still held tightly in his fist, grey eyes narrowed. He bent down slowly and peered into the young man's face. He noticed that he, too, was holding his wand in his right hand, but the stranger's grasp was lax. Sirius poked him in the shoulder, but the stranger made no movement. Perhaps he really was unconscious.

Sirius looked at the stranger's left forearm and saw that Leo was correct: there was no Dark Mark to be seen. He also looked too young to be a Death Eater, and as Sirius began to rummage through the boy's pockets, he noticed that he wore Hogwarts robes. Yet he could not find anything that could identify the stranger or link him in anyway to the Dark Arts. It seemed as if he were just an innocent passerby who had inexplicably fallen victim to some sort of...well, Sirius wasn't quite sure of what he had fallen victim to, or if this stranger was a victim at all.

"What are you going to do with him?" Leo asked, curiously. "You aren't going to leave him here, are you?"

"No...I suppose we could take him inside."

"Are you going to take him to St. Mungo's?"

"Nah, there doesn't seem to be anything life threateningly wrong with him. He's just passed out or something. Perhaps too much firewhiskey..."

"Must've been the light."

"What light?" Sirius asked, rounding on Leo.

"Well, that's how I found him," explained Leo. "I was walking along when I saw a flash of golden light. It was...odd. So, I went to investigate, and I found him."

"Hmm...interesting," Sirius said. "Golden light, you say? I wonder what that could mean..." He trailed off, looking pensive before returning to the task at hand. "Well, let's get him inside."

Sirius conjured up a stretcher and, with the strange, young man upon it, he directed him towards the house with his wand, Leo following behind.

As the sky around the rural countryside grew dark, neither Leo nor Sirius nor anyone else in their world could have guessed the significance of what had just occurred.

"We've set him up at my house," Sirius said, some time later, as he communicated with Dumbledore through the Floo Network. Sirius's dark head was situated in the midst of green flames that licked his face and hair. "He's still unconscious, but I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with him. I just thought that you ought to be informed...just in case..."

"I understand, Sirius," Dumbledore said, nodding. "You did the right thing. I shall be over shortly."

"Thank you, sir," Sirius said, and he pulled his head from out of the fire and back into his living room.

"What'd he say?" Leo asked curiously, as Sirius brushed ash from his hair.

"He's coming over soon," Sirius said. He stood up and smiled down at the boy. "Why don't you go upstairs and check on our guest while I wait for Dumbledore."

Leo nodded, but instead of heading upstairs, he raced for the kitchen. A moment later he emerged with a piece of chocolate cake upon a plate.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

"Bringing him something to eat," Leo said cheerily, heading up the stairs, "just in case he's hungry when he wakes."

Sirius laughed. "Cake?"

Leo shrugged, grinning. "Why not? Whenever I'm hungry, a nice big piece of cake always does the trick."

Leo entered the spare bedroom where they had put the young man. He was lying upon the bed, still looking rather ill, but now Leo saw that he seemed to be waking up. He moved closer to the bed, placing the cake on the side table, and looked down at the stranger.

"Hey there...hey, wake up now...wake up...I've brought you something to eat..."

The stranger groaned and moved his head upon the pillow. Leo could see that he was flexing his fingers. Suddenly, a pair of brilliant green eyes shot open, and for the first time, though it was unbeknownst to either of them then, brother saw brother.

The last thing that Harry could remember was Disapparating from the park in Little Whinging, so that he could perform the spell in a more secluded area. He remembered reaching a forest, far removed from prying eyes, and how he had said the incantation and done the various things that would make the Intermundia Charm possible. And that was it. The next thing he knew, a small voice was calling for him to wake up and he found himself upon a soft bed with a young boy standing over him.

"Er...hello?" Harry said, looking around.

"Hiya!" the boy said excitedly, and Harry was forcibly reminded of Colin Creevy.

"Where am I?" Harry asked. He wondered vaguely if the Charm had worked.

"You're in Sirius Black's house."

Apparently it had.

"Sirius Black?" Harry asked quickly.

"Yeah..." the boy cocked his head curiously. "You don't know him do you?"

"Er...no...I just, um, have heard of him, is all."

"Oh," the boy said. "Well, I'm Leo, what's your name?"

"Ha--er--Apollo," Harry said, remembering the name Dumbledore had told him to use in his letter.

Leo beamed at him. "Here, have some cake." He picked up a plate that was lying on the bedside table.

"No thanks," Harry said. He wasn't feeling very hungry; truth be told, he was actually quite queasy, his stomach churning with excitement at not only finding that he'd succeeded in the Charm, but that he was currently in Sirius's house. He'd be able to see his godfather again!

Suddenly, they could hear voices coming from downstairs...two very familiar voices...voices that Harry had thought he'd heard the last of...

"Dumbledore must be here," Leo said, sticking his finger in the cake's frosting and licking it. "Mmm...still good. It's left over from my birthday you know. I'm eleven now." He stuck his chest out proudly. "I'm going to Hogwarts in September." He pointed to Harry's robes. "Do you go to Hogwarts?"

"Ah...yeah..." Harry said distractedly. So many things seemed to be happening all at once.

"What year?" Leo questioned, seemingly unobservant of Harry's distraction.

"What? Oh, seventh year."

Harry could hear the voices coming up the stairs now, their footfalls tapping against the hardwood steps.

"How come you're wearing your Hogwarts robes now?"

"Er..."

The door opened, light from the hallway spilling in. And standing there, in the doorway, were Albus Dumbledore and Sirius Black. It was all Harry could do to keep from yelping with joy and keep a straight, unaffected face.

"Ah, I see he is awake," Dumbledore said, nodding to Harry.

Leo immediately stood up in the presence of the Headmaster. "Hello, sir."

Dumbledore smiled over at him. "Hello, Leo. Looking forward to starting school?"

"Yes, sir," Leo answered politely.

"Leo," Sirius said, moving into the room, "it's late. Time for bed."

"Aw, it's only nine. Mum usually lets me stay up 'til nine-thirty..."

"Now, Leo," Sirius said, ushering the boy from the room. He glanced up at Dumbledore. "You'll be alright with him alone?"

Dumbledore laughed. "I think I can handle it, yes."

Sirius looked over at Harry suspiciously, his grey eyes sweeping over him. Harry squirmed, but managed a slight smile in his godfather's direction.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me," Sirius said, shuffling from the room and closing the door behind him. Harry laughed inwardly. As if Dumbledore would need anyone's help!

Once they were alone, Dumbledore regarded Harry curiously. He walked over to stand beside the bed, looking down at him, his blue eyes sparkling behind the half-moon glasses.

"May I inquire as to who you are?" the Headmaster asked.

Harry swallowed. He remembered what Dumbledore's letter had told him to do when meeting the Other Dumbledore. He took a deep breath and said: "My name's Harry Potter, but I believe that you wish me to be called Apollo Hero while I am in this world."

Dumbledore looked momentarily surprised, but then he smiled widely, perching on the edge of the bed. "So you have come at last."

"Yes, sir."

"And my counterpart is...?"

"He was killed by Lord Voldemort," Harry said sadly, but glad that he could at last speak aloud about the Intermundia Charm with someone.

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Yes, of course that would be why you are here." He looked Harry up and down, a slight frown curving his mustache. "You look different from what I had imagined. Your Dumbledore told me that you resembled your father, though I see that you do have your mother's eyes."

"I changed my appearance before I came," Harry explained. "I got contacts and..." he pulled the talisman out from beneath his robes. "I have this, which I used to transform my hair."

Dumbledore smiled again. "A wise choice. It is better that you do not look so much like your father, that would only cause confusion and suspicion, though you will still have to be careful if in your parents' presence." He sighed, relief evident in his features. "You have no idea how good it is that you are come at last."

"Sir," Harry began, questions flooding his mind, "can you tell me more about this mission I'm on or the Object that I'm supposed to find...?"

"Ah yes, I suppose you'd be curious to learn more about that. Well," he adjusted himself more comfortably upon the bed, "what exactly do you know about this so far?"

"I know that somewhere in your world there is an Object, as you call, that has the power to destroy Voldemort. I know that this thing was not created in my world, but no one in your world seems to know what it is exactly or where it is. Dumbledore--my Dumbledore--wrote to me in a letter and said that I was--er--destined, I suppose, to travel the space between worlds and find this thing."

"Well," said the New Dumbledore, "you seem to know much already. This will make my job of explaining things to you easier."

"Sir," Harry rushed in, before the old Headmaster could continue. "How did I die? When will I be able to meet my parents? Is there anyone else dead in this world who's alive in mine and vise versa? Where--"

Dumbledore held up a long-fingered hand to hold the tide of words back. "I shall answer all your questions, but first we must get a few things out of the way. You are currently in the house of a man by the name of Sirius Black--"

"I know," Harry said quickly. "In my world, he is--was--my godfather--"

"Please, Harry, allow me to continue." Dumbledore shifted upon the bed and looked closely into Harry's eyes. "I know what it is that has occurred in your world. Dumbledore and I had a way to communicate to one another without actually coming into the other's world. He told me all about your dimension, and I about mine." He paused for a moment before saying: "Harry, you must understand how important it is to keep this secret. No one must know. If Voldemort found out about your coming...well, things would become worse off than they already are."

He sighed heavily and stood, pacing the room. He paused only to stick his finger in the cake's frosting and give it a taste. Harry smiled; it was such a Dumbledore thing to do.

"You already have an alias and alter identity," Dumbledore continued, sticking his ear close to the door in order to make sure that no one was listening from out in the hallway. "You must now have a cover-up reason for being here that we can tell the others."

"The others?"

"The Order of the Phoenix."

Harry was about to exclaim excitedly that there was an Order in his world, too, but he guessed silently that this Dumbledore must already know that.

"Sirius knows about your coming, as does young Leo Potter, so they're bound to tell someone about you, probably Order members, so it's only a matter of time before every--"

"Potter?" Harry said suddenly. "As in James and Lily Potter?"

Dumbledore looked confused. "Leo Potter, yes, your brother," and then a slight dawning of understanding was there to be seen in his sparkling blue eyes. "Leo never existed in your world, did he? Your parents did not survive to bear him. I'd almost forgotten."

"I have a brother?" Harry asked, amazed. "A real, live brother? An actual living, breathing brother?"

A mixture of pity and amusement spread itself across the old wizard's face. "Yes, Leo is your younger brother."

"Wow," Harry said, and he longed suddenly to see him face to face again, to see if he looked like him, or his father, or mother.

"You must not let him know who you are," Dumbledore said, reading his thoughts.

"I know...it's just...a brother...wow..."

He had always wanted a brother, younger, older, it didn't matter. He had always envied Ron because of this, among other things.

"What else is here that isn't in my world?" Harry asked excitedly, his stomach doing flips.

Dumbledore held up a hand. "No doubt you shall find out soon enough. But for now, we must discuss the more pressing issues." He sat once more upon the bed. "As I was saying before, Harry, you have done well to disguise yourself thus far, but now we need a reason for your being here. You can't have just popped up out of nowhere. We need a valid explanation to tell others of your presence."

"What shall we say then?"

"Well, I was thinking that perhaps you could cover for an exchange student from Beauxbatons--"

"But, sir, I don't speak much French, and I'm horrid at accents! It will never work!" Harry interrupted. "Transfiguring myself, taking on a new name, even wearing contacts...all this I can handle! But to pretend to be of another country, well, I don't think I can! It's pretty obvious that I'm British."

"Relax, dear boy," Dumbledore said in that familiar, yet odd voice. "I won't ask you to speak French or even use an accent. You can tell everyone that you are indeed British, but that your parents wanted you to attend school at Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts. Say that that was your parents' old Alma Mata."

"But sir, that won't work," Harry said.

Dumbledore cocked his head to the side. "Why not, Harry?"

"Because...Madame Maxime...she'll know that I'm not one of her students..."

Dumbledore shook his head, cutting Harry off. "I'm afraid, Harry, that that won't be a problem. You see, Olympe Maxime and Rubeus Hagrid were both killed while on duty for the Order."

"Oh..." Harry said softly. A familiar pang rose into his chest. The Hagrid from his world was also dead. While up scouting out for giants again, during the summer before Harry's sixth year, an avalanche occurred up in the Alps where he and Maxime were traveling. Beauxbaton's Headmistress survived, but she could not find Hagrid. No one ever did. It hurt Harry just as much to lose Hagrid as it did Sirius. That was a bad summer.

Dumbledore looked at Harry closely. Finally the boy sighed and met the Headmaster's eyes. "Alright, so I'll say I'm from Beauxbatons. What next?"

"Well," Dumbledore said, "you can say that your parents were both killed by Death Eaters or something else equivalent to that. You can tell everyone that after their deaths, you decided to come back to the United Kingdom and attend Hogwarts for your final year."

Harry nodded. It all seemed plausible enough, and was most likely to be believed without question.

"You can say that you've already bought your robes," Dumbledore continued, gesturing to the Hogwarts uniform that Harry was wearing.

Harry nodded. And then, as if suddenly receiving an electric shock, and exclaimed: "My bag!"

Dumbledore started. "What bag?"

"I brought a bag of stuffs with me. My dad's Invisibility Cloak...the Marauder's Map--er--you know about the Marauder's Map, right?" Harry wasn't completely sure that this Dumbledore knew everything that his Dumbledore had.

But the Headmaster nodded. "Yes, I know about it. Your Dumbledore told me once. I have yet to confront Sirius and James about it, though." A slight smile played on his lips.

That brought another torrent of questions pouring into Harry's mind.

"Sir? Could you tell me why Sirius isn't in prison? Is Wormtail there instead?"

Dumbledore sighed and stood. He strode toward the one of the windows in the room. It faced the front of the house and overlooked the moonlit forest.

"Sirius never went to prison in our world and Peter Pettigrew is dead."

"Good," Harry said vehemently. He was beginning to wish more and more that this was his world.

Dumbledore said nothing for awhile. Then he turned to face Harry. "The events of Hallowe'en Night, 1981 were very different from the ones that took place in your world."

"What happened that night?" Harry asked. "Why wasn't my mum able to save me?"

A shadow passed over Dumbledore's face. Once more, he took a seat on the edge of the bed. A long silence passed between them, in which could only be heard the muffled sounds of Sirius trying to coax Leo into going to sleep.

"Instead of choosing Sirius as their original secret keeper," Dumbledore said, taking off his spectacles and polishing them on the hem of his robes, "your parents chose Remus Lupin. He was a safer choice than Sirius because the Dark Lord was bound to suspect Sirius of it, rather than sickly Remus. So, for a few weeks Remus kept the secret hidden deep within himself. But Sirius was not happy with this. He suspected, and not without reason, that Remus was a double agent, working for Voldemort. So, your godfather convinced you parents to switch secret keepers. They made Peter secret keeper instead, telling Remus that he was too weak physically to bear the burden. So, Remus gave it up, though reluctantly. Then, Peter betrayed your parents.

"What the others didn't know was that Remus was indeed working as a double agent. He was a spy for the Order, keeping track of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It was such a secret mission, that not even his closest friends knew of it. So when he would be skulking around on my orders, spying on the enemy, Sirius began to think that he was a Death Eater himself.

"Anyway, that night, that terrible Hallowe'en night, Remus was standing among the Death Eaters as Voldemort told him of his plans to kill Harry Potter that very night. Remus saw Peter there, and knew that Wormtail had betrayed us all. So, he left quickly to contact your parents, to warn them of what was to come.

"But Peter got there first. I don't know what it was that was going on in his mind as he betrayed your parents, but I suspected that he felt a bit guilty about it. I don't believe that he wanted Voldemort to kill Lily and James. So, he came upon your house at Godric's Hollow before Voldemort or Remus could get there, and he stunned both your parents before they could even react. He dragged them out of the house and into the backyard where he hid them behind the hedgerows of the garden path. The moment he had finished this, Voldemort arrived, and went unhindered into the house where he killed your counterpart. Voldemort himself left unharmed.

"When your parents awoke, Peter had already fled and the Dark Mark was hanging above their cottage. They raced inside, only to find your lifeless body. As for Remus, he and Sirius both arrived there at the same time and, filled with grief and rage, tracked Peter down themselves.

"It was Remus who found him and cornered him. And no matter how much he hated Peter at that moment, he could not bring himself to kill him. So, Peter did it for them. He cast a spell, but because of his poor aim and lack of talent, the spell went wrong and both Remus and Peter were blown to bits."

Harry gasped. "Remus is dead?"

Dumbledore nodded sadly. "Yes. Remus, Peter, and yourself were killed all in the same night."

It took awhile for this story to sink in. Remus was dead in this world; it seemed that there were downsides to both dimensions.

"Well now," Dumbledore said suddenly, "let us not dwell in the past, for that cannot be changed. We must concentrate on the present and future. All that matters now is that you are here."

Harry nodded, still feeling a bit stunned. Remus had been a double agent? But wasn't that Snape's job?

"Now, you were mentioning something about a bag...?"

"Oh yes!" Harry said, having totally forgotten. "My bag, it came with me, I know it did...but the amount of magic that I was using at the time was overwhelming and I--er--passed out when I arrived," he finished, looking sheepish. Why did he always have to pass out?

"Then it must still be in the woods where you appeared," Dumbledore said, nodding to the window. The forest was black against the starry sky, the moon shining silvery above. The moon...there was no Moony in this world to be affected by it.

"You can retrieve it tomorrow, after you've had a good night's rest." Dumbledore went to the door and rested his hand upon the knob. "Remember what we've discussed, and keep your guard up at all times. I will be keeping in touch."

"Yes, sir," Harry said, a feeling of incompleteness settling over him. He had so many questions left unanswered, and the thought of his bag--the very bag that contained every possession of value and meaning that he owned--being out there in the forest, left him feeling slightly paranoid.

"Good night, Apollo," Dumbledore said, opening the door slowly with a twinkle in his eye.

"Good night, professor."

"It should be around here somewhere...Ah! Here it is! Thank God I've found it!"

Apollo picked up the old satchel and riffled through it, making sure all his belongings were intact. Leo had offered to help him find it, since the boy knew where he had found Apollo the night before.

Leo liked Apollo. He liked his mysterious ways, how he would smile whenever Leo spoke to him, how his eyes would grow wide with...well, Leo didn't know what, but something happened to Apollo's eyes every time Sirius would look at him. Leo knew that he wanted to be like Apollo when he was he grew up, and he was overjoyed at the fact that they would be attending Hogwarts, Leo in his first year, Apollo in his last.

Leo tried to peek at what was inside the older boy's bag, but all he caught was glint silver sheen before Apollo closed it.

"Everything there?" Leo asked.

"Yes," Apollo said, beaming down at the eleven-year-old. "Shall we go back to the house?"

"Alright," Leo shrugged, and they made their way out of the woods towards home.

Leo was pleased that Apollo was staying with them for the rest of the summer; well, staying with Sirius for the rest of the summer. At the end of the week, Leo would be going back home to his mum and dad, but still he was glad that he could use this time to get to know Apollo better.

Apollo had told them all about how his parents had been killed last year by Death Eaters, how he had escaped and come up here, and how had attended Beauxbatons for six years, though he had been born and raised in Surrey, England. He needed a place to stay, and since Sirius was a confirmed bachelor, living alone in his house, there seemed to be no better place. Apollo and Sirius got along quite well, anyway; it was almost as if they had known each other before.

Coming into the house, Apollo quickly raced up the stairs to put his bag away. While he was there, Leo decided to get out some parchment and quills and draw. He was very good at drawing, a talent that he had inherited from his mother. When Apollo came back down the stairs, Leo smiled up at him.

"Want to draw with me?"

Apollo looked down at the parchment, amusement written across his features. "I really can't, Leo..."

"Why not?" Leo frowned. "Do you have somewhere to go?"

"No, I mean I can't. I'm not much of an artist."

"Well that's why you got to practice...come on..." He patted the seat next to him, and Apollo sat down, albeit reluctantly.

Leo handed him a quill, ink bottle, and piece of parchment.

"What should I draw?" Apollo asked, looking rather lost.

"Oh, I dunno..." Leo glanced out the window for inspiration. He caught sight of a far off flock of sheep, grazing contently in the wet grass. "Draw a sheep."

"A sheep?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." Apollo set his quill to the parchment and began to draw what he thought was a fairly good likeness to a sheep. It looked a bit more like a horse to Leo, but he didn't say anything.

"There," Apollo said, giving the drawing one last detailed stroke with his quill before picking up the parchment with a flourish. "I finished."

Leo smiled, more to hold back a giggle than anything else. "That's good. You're not so bad as you say you are."

Apollo looked at him skeptically. "Are you trying to make me feel better?"

Leo grinned. "Perhaps a bit..."

Apollo let out a soft laugh. "Well, for your valiant efforts to compliment me on my lack of artistic talent. I shall give you my sheep-drawing as a reward."

"Thanks," Leo said, taking the drawing. He folded it neatly and put it in his pockets.

"Now you'll have to draw me one," Apollo said.

"Of what?"

Apollo thought for a moment. "How about a picture of your family? I would like to see your parents."

"Oh, I could show you photographs of them. Do you want to see?"

"Yes," Apollo said. "I would very much like to see them."

Leo led him up the stairs towards his bedroom saying, "You've got to promise you won't laugh at the pictures though, when you see me in the hat my mum used to make me wear as a baby..."