Altering Reality

Chapter One: The Game Begins

King's Cross Station -- 1997

The day had started out normal enough, or at least by Harry's standards. Today was September first, a day that meant more to him than anything, today he would be returning to Hogwarts. To the Dursleys, today was a wonderful day as well, today was their first day of freedom. The faster they got rid of their freakish nephew (namely Harry) the faster they could return to their "normal" lives. Harry hated his relatives as much as they hated him, and that wasn't saying enough. It wasn't because they were Muggles, it wasn't that they were his last remaining relatives and they treated him lower than dirt, even that wasn't why he hated them.

Harry hated the Dursleys simply because they were the Dursleys, and they had the audacity to hate him because he was a wizard, as if he had some sort of control over whether he was one or not. Not that he would have wanted to ever stop being one, he enjoyed being a wizard, even though being a wizard had cost him so much, he still wouldn't give up being one. None of that mattered though as Harry and his Uncle Vernon got into the car and pulled away from Privet Drive. He was going back to Hogwarts, which was all that mattered to him now. Even though he had another year of facing Snape, he was still dying to get back to school and see his friends. Not to mention he couldn't get away from Number Four Privet Drive fast enough.

The trip to Kings Cross Station was uneventful, then again it usually was. His uncle's silence was the only thing that kept Harry from saying things he probably shouldn't say to his uncle. His uncle didn't even speak to him after they pulled up to the station; Harry knew what was expected though, so he found a trolley and unloaded his things under the watchful, beady eyes of his red-faced uncle.

He knew his uncle wouldn't bother to walk him inside; he had stopped doing that years ago in case he'd be spotted with his freakish nephew by one of his "normal" associates. Harry was virtually alone when he got to the place where he needed to go past the magical barrier, only a few Muggles were in the station, and not one of them was paying attention to him. His being at the station early was yet another typical aspect of his uncle's haste to get rid of him, so much so that Harry wanted to scream at the injustice that he had been left to be raised by such people. This year was the worst yet, he wasn't the usual half an hour early, no this year he was an hour and half early. As he made his way through the magical barrier he was pretty much the only person there, so instead of putting his things right on the train he decided to sit down on a nearby bench and wait for his friends.

He pulled out one of his new books he had got this summer as a birthday gift from Hermione called Dream Interpretations -- Finding Your Inner Self. It was a Muggle book, and Harry had to wonder why on earth Hermione had sent it to him when his dreams were the last things he really wanted interpreted. Not to mention he truly did not want to think on what was going on in his "inner self", considering he was having enough issues with what was on the outside. Harry became so engrossed in the book, however, that he didn't even realise that time was passing. The station was beginning to fill up with students, but he didn't notice a thing until a shadow fell over him, and he looked up happily, until he saw who it was.

'Malfoy,' he said coolly, and oddly enough found himself nodding to the other boy.

'Potter,' Draco Malfoy said, at to Harry's surprise, Draco nodded back at him.

'Are you lost, or did you seek me out to start something already?' Harry asked.

Draco waved a hand at him in dismissal. 'No to both as it happens, merely just passing by. I leave such things as getting lost to the Mud-blood and Weasel, they're much better at that than I am,' he smirked.

'If you're here to insult my friends move along, Malfoy, I've got better things to do than listen to you and your annoying prattle right now,' Harry muttered.

'Well then, I'll suppose I'll see you at school, Potter,' Draco said in a strange voice, then as Harry didn't acknowledge him he tacked on, 'Oh, and by the way, your so-called friends boarded the train ten minutes ago. Seems they have forgotten you exist, shame isn't that?'

Harry looked up at Draco, startled by what he had said, then narrowed his eyes. 'I doubt that, Malfoy. If you bothered to notice me sitting here, than I know they would have. Besides, I would have seen them,' he said coldly.

Draco shrugged and brushed a lock of his silvery-blonde hair out of his face. 'Believe what you want, but I saw them both boarding ten minutes ago, and they looked rather cosy if you ask me. Perhaps they were too busy wanting to get a snog in before the train took off, who knows,' he drawled.

Harry didn't believe him in the slightest until something on the train caught his attention. A wisp of red belonging to a girl was standing at one of the windows, a girl that could only have been Ginny Weasley. If Ginny was already on board that meant Ron really had boarded, most likely with Hermione since she had been staying at the Burrow for the last week. Draco hadn't been lying then, they really had boarded the train without seeing him. Though how that was possible he didn't know since the bench he was on was in plain sight.

Harry was a bit upset needless to say. He wasn't going to let Draco know how upset he was though, and putting his book away quickly began to get up from the bench gathering his things. He briefly wondered why Draco had not only bothered to let him know that his friends had boarded the train, but wasn't on the train himself. Now wasn't the time to wonder, however, he was going to miss the Express if he didn't hurry. He wasn't even aware of the fact that Draco was still watching him, a strange expression in his steely grey eyes.

'What now, Malfoy?' Harry said when he finally noticed Draco watching him. 'We're going to miss the train if you don't move. Or is this your elaborate plan for the day -- make us both miss the train so we don't get to school and I'll get blamed for it?'

Draco, however, wasn't paying attention to Harry anymore. He was noticing something else entirely, something that was very strange and not too pleasant looking. A dark spot had appeared on the wall of the station behind the bench Harry had been sitting on, and to Draco's surprise it was growing larger with each passing second. Just as Draco was about to say something about it to Harry, the oddest thing happened.

Someone with a very determined look on his face walked right out of the black spot on the wall and was heading directly for the two boys. In the few moments Draco had to look at the man with the long white hair and pure white robes approaching them, he swore he recognised the person, though he didn't know from exactly where. The man suddenly pointed a wand towards the two boys and Draco watched in horror as Harry crumpled to the ground. In the next second darkness overcame him as well, and he knew no more. The last thing Draco did manage to think before blacking out was that this was not going to be the start of a very good day.

King's Cross Station -- 1977

'Hey, Potter, better watch your back ... trouble is heading this way!' a voice called out as James was stepping onto the Hogwart's Express.

With a groan James quickly ducked inside the train, fearful of the look he was seeing on his girlfriend's face. He knew the reason Lily was angry, and really he didn't blame her. Right now the poor girl was covered head to toe in sticky pink goo, and though James wasn't at fault, he had no desire to cross Lily when she was this angry. Even though he wasn't at fault this time, he had a sneaky suspicion he knew who it was that did this to her, and was determined for his own safety to get this fixed. With a growl he ran through the train until he found the person he was seeking, and before the other boy could say a word James picked him up by the collar.

'Snape, what in the name of Godric did you do to Lily? You better get that crap off her or I'll --' James began to say, until he saw the red-head advancing on the car he was now in.

'Or what, Potter? You'll hex me? Cast an Unforgivable at me? I would enjoy seeing you do something that could warrant a detention or better yet ... an expulsion. So come on, Potter, I'd like to see you try,' Severus sneered. 'Oh, here comes Evans now. Pink really isn't her colour is it,' he smirked.

'Damn!' James muttered, and with a glare at Severus threw him down onto the seat and ran out of the cabin as fast as he possibly could.

Severus stood up and brushed himself off, then snuck outside the cabin and off the train to see the fruits of his labour. Lily had cornered James by the middle of the train, yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs. With another smirk Severus heard his name mentioned as he ducked into a shadowy section of the station. However, his peace and quiet to just watch the scene unfold wasn't to last long.

'Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like a bat that needs to be trapped,' a voice said mockingly as Sirius walked over to where Severus was standing.

Severus silently cursed and threw Sirius a dark glare of hatred. 'Sod off, Black, I don't have patience for the likes of you today,' he said coldly.

'Well isn't that a shame, because we always have time for you, Severus,' another person purred silkily, a voice that made Severus look up quickly and draw in a sharp breath of air.

The voice belonged to Remus, a Master of Dark Arts despite the fact that he was a Gryffindor, and only a few select people knew why he was so good at Dark Arts. Severus had the fortunate advantage of being one of the few people who knew Remus' little secret that he was a werewolf. It was something that intrigued Severus, although not in the way Remus, or anyone else, might think. Severus had known Remus' secret years ago, but until recently he had kept that information to himself, until Sirius did something that changed things and brought Remus' affliction into a brighter light.

Truth was Severus knew Sirius had good reason to do what he did, and in actuality the real blame lay with Severus himself, not that he would let Sirius know that. Severus had been careless in his observance of the werewolf, and he had paid for that carelessness by being Sirius' patsy one full moon night. However, that incident gave Severus an advantage that one day he planned on cashing in on. In fact, he wasn't just planning on it, but was taking steps to ensure that the advantage he had would be used in the future. He was going to make the wolf bound to his whims one day, instead of the other way around as it was now. For the past three summers he had locked himself away from everyone, pouring over volumes of texts and ancient documents, determined to find the information he needed. It had taken years to gather all the research, but this past summer he had found the answers he wanted. The thrill of knowing that in the future Remus would be begging him for help had driven him, and he couldn't wait to return to school and try out what he had learnt.

'Are you listening to me, Snape?' Sirius said.

Severus hadn't even realised he was being spoken to as caught up in his thoughts as he was. He glared again at Sirius, though he noticed that Peter, Remus and Sirius' friend, had joined their little group. 'I told you to sod off, how much clearer must I be, Black?' he scowled.

A burst of tears from Lily distracted them all for a moment, and suddenly Severus found himself smacked against the wall, Sirius' hand grasping his throat. 'I'm warning you, Snape; whatever you did you better reverse it. And if I catch you anywhere near Lily, I'll personally see to it that you'll wish you had died underneath the Whomping Willow,' Sirius growled, his grey eyes glaring daggers into Severus' murky black eyes.

'That's enough, Sirius, let him go,' Remus said in a hard voice, and though Sirius hesitated for a moment, in the end he let Severus drop to the ground like a brick.

Sirius turned to look at Remus, his anger replaced with guilt. Hesitantly, he took a step towards Remus. 'Remus, I --' he began to say, but the look on Remus' face made him go silent.

'Peter, take Sirius on board, I'll handle this,' Remus said icily, which made Severus look at Remus anxiously.

Severus knew the full moon had only been two days ago, which by his research meant Remus was still in control of many of his wolf-like abilities. Severus knew that he had no chance against either of the Gryffindors physically, he may have the height over them, but bodily he was thin, wiry, and lacking in strength and muscles. Remus wasn't muscular, but not even Sirius was a match for a werewolf two days after a full moon.

The odd thing about the whole scene was that Peter wasn't even paying attention, nor was he making any effort to lead Sirius away. Instead, Peter was staring at a section of the station, one partly shrouded in shadows, and one that was now different than the rest. Apparently, he was the only one who noticed that the section of the wall of the station was no longer a dark grey brick; in fact, it was rapidly turning a shade of black, as if someone was pouring ink onto it.

Everything slowed down for Peter as he watched a man with long black hair wearing a black robe walk out of the spot on the wall. The man was heading right for the four boys, as if he knew they were going to be there. There was a determined look on the man's face, and for half a second Peter thought that the man seemed familiar, but he couldn't place from where. Peter watched in a dazed stupor as the man held out his hand and muttered something under his breath then Sirius, Severus, Remus, and Peter dropped to the ground, knocked out cold. The last thing Peter thought before he hit the ground was how much trouble they were all going to be in for missing the train to Hogwarts.