Fate

Chapter 40 - Or Did It?

Harry couldn't remember the moment when he let go of Sirius' hand.

He didn't even really care anymore.

Staring in shock at the scene before him, his heart beat loudly against his chest and he cared not blink, afraid he would wash it all away.

----

Ginny could have sworn that she didn't blink, and yet she must have, for they were most definitely not in the forbidden forest anymore.

In fact...

Her wand still raised in one hand, Ginny flexed her other hand, arm still outstretched, but did not feel Hermione behind her anymore.

Not three seconds later, she was forced to snap out of her shock by a harsh voice shouting something in her direction and a green flash of light missing her only by inches.

Breathing heavily, she scrambled away, taking cover behind a nearby shelf, only to freeze in shock again as she stared, horrified, at the contents on the shelves.

Globes...

Small crystal globes...

A persistent Death Eater fired another spell towards her and she dropped to the ground, almost tearing over in fright and confusion as she plugged up her ears to block out the sounds of the glass balls shattering and the mystical, floating voices all starting to speak at once.

She was in the Department of Mysteries.

----

Harry had to make himself keep breathing and blink when his eyes started to hurt from the air around them.

Air full of spells and dust.

"Harry!"

He jumped in shock when the hand grabbed him, but the person must have not noticed, or not taken it to heart when they saw how scared he was.

His head hit hard on the shelf that the person pulled him behind. Blinking the stars away, he managed to get his wits about him enough to whip out his wand and jerk his arm out of the person's reach.

"What are you doing?" the voice hissed, Harry finally recognizing it's owner.

Hermione's annoyed face appeared out of the darkness, Neville beside her looking positively terrified.

But Harry didn't have time to answer. A loud blast sounded from behind him and the door on the far side of the room they were in blew open.

Hermione pulled both Neville and Harry underneath a table and they saw two death Eaters step into the room.

Terrified not out of fear but of confusion, Harry backed farther into the shadows with Hermione and Neville, but stopped short as he noticed that there was something in his hand.

He glanced down in surprise, moving the object ever so slightly so that it caught the light coming through the door.

S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D

Dark Lord

And (?) Harry Potter

Harry smiled, and not having any idea about why this was happening, or even how, he pointed his wand out towards one of the unsuspecting Death Eaters legs.

He might not know why or how, but he knew exactly what was happening...

...and what would happen next.

----

Ginny 's tears had stopped, but her mind was still reeling as she pulled Ron away from the attacking Death Eaters, favoring her right ankle already , her wand in one hand and Luna on Ron's other side as they struggled to get out of the room.

If she had had enough foresight, Ginny realized she could have prevented both her broken ankle and Ron's little trip to la-la land, but it was too late for that now, and things were moving too fast.

Heaving Ron one last time through the door, the three of them practically fell into the circular room, doors surrounding them on all sides.

"Ginny!"

She glanced up through half opened eyes that seemed so heavy, and knew for certain she was dreaming.

"Harry...?"

----

Even repeating the same scenario, Harry, for the life of him could not remember which door to take.

Still chiding himself for not preventing Hermione's injury, Harry took a moment to lean down, checking for her pulse once more just for his own relief.

A door flew open behind him and Neville and just like déjà vu, Harry remembered instantly who was coming through it.

He reached forward quickly, catching Ron as he stumbled forward, giggling to himself and speaking nonsense words to Harry who ignored him promptly, at least one thing he learned from experiencing this before.

Ginny's frail body wearily collapsed right behind Ron and Harry saw her struggle to keep her eyes open as she held her ankle which had apparently still been broken as it had been last time.

Did that mean she didn't remember?

"Ginny!"

"Harry...?"

----

Ginny's eyes widened as she saw the look in Harry's eyes when he spotted her.

Could it be...?

"You remember?" She asked softly, not even sure he could hear her through the commotion behind the doors around them.

Harry swallowed once and nodded.

----

The past moved faster than Harry remembered. There was no time for the type of reunion with Ginny than he had wanted. In fact, neither of them spoke to one another again, and when Ginny went down just as she had before, Harry only took comfort in the fact that he knew she would be alright in the end.

But at least he knew that Ginny knew. It helped him brush away the insanity question from his mind.

He still hadn't prevented anything, and before he knew it, found himself falling down the long set of stairs, his body remembering each ache and pain as it happened all over again.

He finally stopped, groaning as he rolled over, cracking his eyes open to see the familiar death eaters standing around him, so sure of their victory that Harry knew they would never get. That is, if they really hadn't changed anything in the past, though he couldn't see how that was a factor now. What could they have changed that would still lead to this exact moment?

But suddenly, before they could even open their mouths to taunt him like he knew they would do...

Something finally changed.

Or

Harry finally saw the results of the change.

Remus and Sirius ran down the long stairs, Neville close behind.

----

You get yourself killed again, Sirius, and I swear, you had better not come back...

Remus' words ran through his head over and over and Sirius fought furiously to get over to where Harry was.

I have no intention of dying, Moony, he had countered.

You didn't last time, either....

He was glad, at least that the disorientation was gone from their abrupt stop on their journey....at least it was over....

Or was it?

Pushing the questions out of his mind till they were out of here, Sirius finally reached Harry, quickly pulling him down to avoid a pair of stunners that were shot towards them.

"You remember," Harry stated at once, not bothering with a greeting. "I saw it in your eyes."

"Remus and I were just glad we were able to get here faster," Sirius said in way of a reply, both of them ducking again to avoid more spells.

"Ginny remembers, but no one else-"

Harry was cut off by a crash and they looked to see Tonks fall to the ground, Bellatrix grinning in triumph.

Sirius' face hardened and he automatically started to stand, but Harry's grip tightened on his arm.

"Sirius, no."

He turned to see the color drained out of his Godson's face, his arm shaking as he gripped Sirius' upper arm.

"Harry..."

"NO, Sirius!" Harry cried, though it didn't sound very loud over the battle around them.

"I have to do this."

Sirius probably would have winced at how tightly Harry was gripping his arm, but that didn't matter at the moment.

A few tears were caught in the corner of Harry's eyes. "How can you say that?!."

"I'm not planning to die, Harry," Sirius repeated.

"Well you weren't the first time either!"

"I know what's happening now, I can prevent-"

"Nothing has really changed yet Sirius! Even though you and Remus came early, we're still at the same point! Don't you remember?"

"Harry, I can't just let her-"

"You can't leave me alone again!"

Sirius started at those words, realizing at last what exactly Harry was implying. A tear had finally fallen from Harry's eyes and he was looking more terrified that Sirius could ever remember him being.

Reaching forward quickly, Sirius pulled Harry into a tight hug before going over to Neville's other side and both of them helped the young Gryffindor stand.

And for a fleeting moment, Sirius got the feeling that this was not the only change they would see.

----

"Mr. Potter? Harry? Harry, I need you to wake up now. That's it, Mr. Potter..."

Harry felt reminiscent of first year as he blinked a few times, seeing Albus Dumbledore's smiling and relieved face hanging over him.

One final blank told him he was in the hospital wing, the familiar smell giving it away as well.

His body felt strangely well for what he remembered going through in the Department of Mysteries. Though no where hear what had happened when Sirius died, Harry had his share of aches and pains from his ordeal.

"Sir?"

Dumbledore smiled again, sitting down on the chair next to Harry's bed. "You seem to have merely continued your tradition of ending up in the hospital wing at the end of each year."

Harry smirked. "Be fair, sir. After that business with the Chamber-"

"Ah, Harry, perhaps we should save this discussion for a more appropriate time ," Dumbledore cut him off quickly, his eyes flickering to Madam Pomfrey, who was over tending to Hermione and Ron in their beds, confusion him quite a bit. "Besides, there are two gentlemen wishing to see you and a whole group of people who they are trying to prevent from seeing you."

Harry frowned in confusion, but his own question was answered as the door of the hospital wing was thrown open and he heard a menagerie of voices from outside.

"Five minutes, Mr. Black!"

"Is Mr. Potter awake yet?"

"We merely want a quote!

"This is for the Daily Prophet my good fellow!"

This comment was followed by a familiar voice that sounded very much like his secret animagus form.

"Well you can take that Daily Prophet and shove it up your-"

"Sirius!"

Harry wanted to smile and frown at the same time as he heard and saw Remus appear in the doorway and quickly shut the door behind him.

"Ah! Harry, you're awake!" Remus smiled and hurried over. "I probably shouldn't leave him out there alone for too long, Albus," Remus added to Dumbledore quickly. "I mean, you know how he is about reporters and Merlin help him if Fudge shows up-"

"YOU HAD BETTER GET YOUR BLOODY ARSE AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL OR SO HELP ME-"

Remus groaned, Dumbledore smiled and Harry's eyebrows rose as they heard Sirius' voice rise up from the crowded hallway.

"I'd best go calm him down," Dumbledore said immediately, standing up and hurrying out the door.

Remus took Dumbledore's seat.

"You'd better not sit there unless you're giving me answers Remus," Harry warned. "I've picked up a few good ones being around Sirius for the last few years."

Once again, Harry's brow furrowed as he saw Remus shoot a worried glance towards Pomfrey, Ron and Hermione. Hermione looked over at them with a bit of confusion, but, as she always does, threw it off quickly when both Harry and Remus looked at her.

"Feeling alright, Hermione?" Remus said gently.

"Much better, Remus, thanks," she said with a smile, though she held her side a bit as she spoke.

Harry turned back to Remus.

"What's the matter with you?" he whispered. "It's just Hermione. Besides, how is Sirius standing out there with all those reporters? Why can't we talk in here? What was Dumbledore so worried abou-"

The door slammed open again, but shut just as fast, an aggravated and clenched fisted Sirius standing in front of it.

"Remus, so help me, if Dumbledore lets that man into this hospital wing-"

"Calm down, Sirius. I'm sure Dumbledore knows what he's doing." Remus stood and motioned to Harry. "Besides..."

Sirius' face lit up and he walked quickly over to Harry, leaning down to ruffle his hair. "How're you feeling kid? Couple bonks on the head bring you down?"

Harry frowned, swatting Sirius' hand away and glaring up at him. "What. Is. Going. On."

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione put in, frowning over at them.

He turned to her quickly. "I'm Harry, right?" he said quickly, pointing to himself. "I'm a 15 year old wizard who is sometimes called the Boy-Who-Lived and saved the world when I was one? You're Hermione Granger, bookworm and all around smartest kid in the school. He's Ron Weasley, sixth of seven kids who all have red hair, tempers and hand-me-down clothes?" Hermione didn't say anything and neither did anyone else. Harry turned to the other side of the room. "She's Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister who had a crush on me for years. He's Neville Longbottom who grew up with his grandmother and is kinda clumsy when it comes to magic." He rounded on Sirius and Remus. "He's Remus Lupin, werewolf and ex-DADA teacher and he's...he's..." Harry's head started to hurt. "He's Sirius Black...he's my Godfather...he's my Godfather..."

Harry's head was spinning and he had to lean back and stop talking. He noticed suddenly that with him not talking it was completely silent, not even the reporters outside made a sound. A small click was heard and Dumbledore stepped into the room, the hallway empty behind him.

Disbelieving, Harry's gaze strayed from a pale, but hopeful looking Sirius towards Dumbledore who smiled softly at Harry.

"Yes, Harry. Sirius is your Godfather. Godparents are appointed in the extreme case of when a parent becomes unable to take care of their child, a close family friend or relative is given the rights of caring for the child.

"Yes, Harry. Sirius is your Godfather."