Fate

Chapter 1 - Mere Minutes

"I believe it's time we head back to the school, they will most likely be wondering where we are."

Harry showed no emotion as Dumbledore spoke, or as the five of them stood up, pulling on their muggle jackets and preparing to leave.

He had shown no emotion the whole trip actually, ever since Dumbledore had taken him back to this house, Harry had a hard time feeling anything at all. He was numb, beyond feeling, much like how he felt right after the Triwizard Tournament, too many emotions all trying to dwell in the same body.

"Harry?"

He glanced up to see Remus Lupin's lined face looking at him with worry. Remus had been hit by Sirius' death just as much as Harry, if not more. He was the last of the marauders now, well, the last official one. Harry considered Pettigrew as good as dead, and do did Remus.

He managed a small smile and stood, following the group down the dark hallway of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore had brought Harry here right before the Halloween feast at Hogwarts, explaining to him that Moody had wanted to ask him a few things about his latest dreams. Harry had been studying occlumency over the summer, but he needed a lot more practice before he could block the dreams. Most of them were still about Sirius falling through the veil, but every so often, he still got a glimpse into Voldemort.

McGonagall had come too, at Dumbledore's insistence. She was currently helping Harry get a jump on his Auror training that he would start when he graduated. Dumbledore had assured Harry that he could get through the training in one year if he was properly prepared at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had agreed to give him extra lessons in jinxes and hexes along with transfiguration.

The five of them stepped out into the cool night air to head over to the arranged portkey back to Hogwarts. Moody, McGonagall and Dumbledore walked a little ways ahead of Harry and Remus, conversing in undertones. Remus and Harry both kept the silence as they walked side by side.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, Harry heard a soft rustling in the bushes near the next house. He whipped around quickly, catching a glimpse of two shining eyes and black fir. His third year sprung up on him and he thought for a moment that he was seeing the Grim again. Then, it hit him.

He drew his wand out, stopping abruptly and pointed it at the bush. Remus stopped with him and followed Harry's gaze to the bush.

Harry saw Remus opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by more rustling in the bushes. Remus's face went pale and Harry's arm started shaking so bad that he dropped his wand, his eyes transfixed on the bush in front of him.

Harry's mind reeled as he stared at the bush and for a moment, he could have sworn his heart actually stopped beating. Then, a fraction of a second he saw it. The two beady eyes appeared again and before he knew it he had whispered, "Sirius?"

Remus visibly flinched as Harry said the name. Dumbledore, Moody and McGonagall all stopped suddenly, turning to Harry.

"What did you say, Harry?" Remus whispered in confusion. Everyone followed his gaze to the set of bushes. Harry saw them rustle again and without thinking, rushed over to them.

"Harry!" Remus cried out.

But a moment later, a large black dog came bounding out of the shadows, a very familiar black dog.

Harry's legs gave out and he fell to his knees, the dog rushing up to him as he threw his arms around it. He vaguely heard Remus silently whisper "Padfoot?" behind him, but the others remained silent.

Tears trailed down Harry's face as he held onto his Godfather and, before he knew it, Sirius had transformed and was also kneeling on the ground, holding onto his godson for dear life.

"Are you real?"

They pulled apart and Harry finally got a look into his Godfather's face. He looked normal, for someone who was supposed to have been dead for 4 months. He was smiling very mischievously and seemed to be guessing what Harry was thinking.

"Real as ever," Sirius confirmed, smirking at his Godson. Harry's heart was pounding as the situation came crashing down on him. He felt for a moment as if her couldn't breath, and with shaking breaths, he finally managed to let Sirius go.

Sirius stood quickly and his smile moved over to Remus who was staring at Sirius, looking as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Sirius?"

Sirius immediately stepped forward, tackling Remus in a bear hug, both of them starting to laugh with tears streaming down their faces.

Harry smiled larger than he had in months as he saw the friends reunite. He glanced over at the other three members of the party and smiled wider at their expressions. Dumbledore seemed to be positively glowing, as happy as Harry was feeling at the moment. McGonagall was holding a hand to her heart as if compelling it not to stop while she got over the shock. Moody was smiling larger than Harry had ever seen before, his magical eye fixated on the now two remaining marauders.

"What...How...Four months, Sirius! That's a bloody long time to make us so depressed!" Remus said as Sirius went back over to Harry, slinging an arm around his shoulder. Harry's heart was beating faster than ever, his eyes glistening with tears as he felt the comforting weight of Sirius' arm around his shoulders.

"Long story, actually," Sirius admitted. "I wasn't going to show myself just yet, thought you'd die of a heart attack, but I obviously wasn't missed that much." He reached over and ruffled Harry's hair, but, much to his surprise, Harry didn't mind at all.

"Perhaps we'd better get back inside," Dumbledore's ever present voice of reason cut in. "I'm sure the Halloween feast can wait for a few minute longer."

Sirius looked up at Dumbledore and reached forward to shake the man's hand as he beamed at his old student. Professor McGonagall nearly choked Sirius as she pulled him into a hug and then proceeded to give him a great scolding about how many detentions he would receive if he were still in school. Moody shook his hand with a gravely smile and chided him for leaving them hanging for so long.

"You've got a lot of guts, Potter, running up to a strange dog like that," Moody said in a gravely voice as the walked back up to the house.

Harry felt shame and guilt creep up into him for making them worry, but Sirius' grip on Harry's shoulder's tightened slightly it made him feel slightly better. Luckily, Remus stepped in.

"Harry knew what he was seeing, Alastor. Animagus forms can't be reproduced by anyone else." Remus gave Harry a slight wink. "And Harry definitely knows Padfoot well."

"Padfoot?" Moody asked suspiciously.

"Long story," Sirius admitted cheekily. "Much like the one I'm about to tell all of you..."

--*--

"Minutes? You say you were gone mere minutes?" Dumbledore looked more perplexed than Harry had ever seen, his blue eyes narrowed and questioning as he talked to Sirius.

"That's all it seemed to me. But time seemed to pass so differently. About a minute after I fell through, I heard Harry and Remus shout, which I assumed happened right after I fell..." Sirius looked deep in thought as he spoke. "It was pitch black all around me, I couldn't see a thing, but I'd swear on my life that it was merely a few minutes..."

Harry could tell that all the adults around the table were very confused by Sirius' story, but knew that he was not lying. This made the questioning a lot more complicated, as it seemed that even Sirius couldn't explain what had happened to him.

"That still doesn't explain how you got out," Dumbledore spoke as he seemed to ponder Siriu's words. "From what little information we know about the world behind the veil, nothing has ever come back out of it."

"Nothing?" Harry questioned quietly.

No one seemed to want to answer his question.

Remus finally sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair. "Leave it to Sirius to screw up the space time continuum."

This earned him a whack over the head from Sirius as those around the table chuckled.

Unfortunately, the good mood didn't last for long.

"We need to get Potter back to school, people are going to talk," Moody said in his same scratchy voice.

Harry frowned. "I want to stay with Sirius."

"I would love nothing more than to let you stay here with your Godfather, Harry, but Voldemort is watching the school too closely with his spy network. He might already know that you and I aren't there, and that could be dangerous for us and the rest of the children," Dumbledore explained.

As much as Harry didn't want to admit it, Dumbledore was right. He grudgingly stood up and started towards the fireplace, following Dumbledore. A hand fell on his shoulder before he reached it and he turned to be engulfed once more in Sirius' arms. He tried to keep the tears from falling but failed miserably. He tried to wipe them away as Sirius pulled back and looked Harry in the eye.

"I'm not leaving you again, Harry. I'll be here whenever you need me," he promised in a soft voice. Harry felt for a moment as if he were talking to his father and surmised that Sirius was the closest thing he was ever going to get to one.

"Thanks," he replied meekly, managing to stop the tears and keeping his voice from wavering. He felt it extremely unfair that he would have to be separated from Sirius again, but took comfort in the fact that Sirius was very much alive again, and more protective of Harry than ever.

He waved goodbye to Moody and Remus before stepping into the fire and shouting out "Hogwarts!"

--*--

Sirius let out a large sigh as he saw Harry become engulfed in the flames and disappear, back off to school. He turned as he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw that it was Remus.

"You do that again, Sirius, and that boy's going to kill himself."

Sirius started at his friends very harsh words and felt the nagging jaws of guilt creep up on him.

"You're serious?" he asked softly, obviously not realizing the pain he had caused his Godson.

Remus nodded in the affirmative. "He barely ate all summer. We made him come here before his birthday even, just so he wouldn't starve himself. Those muggle relatives of his didn't help either. He blamed himself, you know?"

Sirius' eyes went wide.

"Just like James would have done..."

They both sobered at the mention of their old friend and Remus removed his hand from Sirius' shoulder and sighed before continuing.

"I'm not blaming you, Sirius. But if you plan on taking his place, you've got to prove to Harry that you're as responsible and that you care as much as James would have."

Sirius huffed indignantly. "Responsible? Since when were James or I responsible? We got along fine being reckless!"

"He's just a child, Sirius! He's got the fate of the world on his shoulders and he needs someone! If you want it to be you, then you've got to stop making these stupid choices!"

"Incase you haven't noticed, Moony, I didn't shove myself into the veil," Sirius said bitterly.

"You were going off to play the hero again," Remus shot back. "You knew the risks of leaving this house! Dumbledore reminded you of them over and over!"

"He's my bloody Godson!" Sirius bit back. "I'm responsible for him! If I hadn't gone after him that night I would never have forgiven myself..." His voice got a little softer. "And neither would James..."

They both fell silent again and the bitterness between the two friends seemed to melt away with each passing second.

Remus finally sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It's just, you didn't see what happened to him after you were...well, killed. Really, Harry can't take anymore. Especially not with this prophesy hanging over his head now."

Sirius looked up in alarm. "The Prophesy? Dumbledore told him?"

Remus nodded. "He told the inner circle of the Order too, and not just the fragment that we got, the whole thing."

Sirius' eyes widened. "There was more?"

Remus' lip twitched a bit in alarm as he looked back up at his old friend. "Sirius, you haven't heard anything yet."