Summary of "An Abnormal Godfather" - contains major spoilers for this fic.

Harry finds juggling studying for his Muggle IGCSEs and his Hogwarts subjects harder than he expected, especially with the distraction of Sirius Black escaping Azkaban. What he really needs is more time… why does Hermione look so guilty when he says that?

Before third year began Pansy Parkinson's grandfather (and thus Harry's relative too) visited the Dursleys and offered assistance in warding their property, because Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban. The offended Dursleys promptly panicked and refused his help, then kicked Harry out of their home. Dudley was the only one who showed real concern over this turn of events and lent Harry a knife, wishing him luck.

After telling his woes to a lurking mangy black dog, Harry left Surrey and hid out at the Potter Cottage with Dobby. There he found a runic circle hidden under a rug beneath his old cot. Eventually, he was pressured into staying with the Longbottoms at their Roman-style manor until school resumed.

Harry started his elective subjects – Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes – and continued his correspondence courses in Muggle subjects, as his ambitions now focused on becoming both a magical Healer and a university-qualified doctor. His attempts to juggle his competing studies got a lot easier after he discovered Hermione had a Time-Turner and manipulated her into sharing it with him. He spent a lot of his doubled-up time in the Chamber of Secrets doing school work and chatting with Ambrosius' mosaic. Later on at Yule, Harry discovered that Ambrosius was actually the legendary Merlin.

Snape's prickly friendship with Harry grew, despite Snape's blackmailing efforts to get Harry to raise his grades. As a result of Draco's injury in class, Hagrid was forced into setting a proper grade-appropriate curriculum for his CoMC classes.

During Sirius' incursion at Halloween, a "Potter Watch" group of volunteers guarded Harry and other students in the Great Hall. It subsequently transformed into a DADA club, and Junior, Middle and Senior groups were formed where students practised the Patronus Charm and other defensive spells. The H.E.L.P. Society led by Hermione was also a popular club and members focused on improving the lot of house-elves.

Harry realised Professor Lupin was a werewolf while completing the assignment set by Snape when he was a substitute teacher.

Harry privately discussed his worries about the cursed diary hidden in the forest with Neville – it was unable to be retrieved and permanently disposed of due to the presence of Dementors around Hogwarts. Neville wasn't the only one listening in, however. Scabbers went missing right after that conversation, and Storm's tracking attempts suggested he'd run off into the forest.

Over Yule Harry dissembled that he was "staying with family" – but it was his second cousin Narcissa Malfoy and her family and not the Dursleys that he visited. His stay went smoothly but his return did not. At King's Cross Sirius caught Harry entering with the Malfoys and attempted to abscond with him. Sirius and Lucius duelled, and to Sirius' shock Harry stabbed him with Dudley's steel knife, forcing Sirius to flee. The press was almost as pleased by how things went as Lucius was.

Quirrellmort started writing to Harry again, stating how he was now "settled in a new house" and had hopes for a future permanent solution to his "illness". He had questions about the rumours of Harry and Lockhart's dubious adventures in the Chamber of Secrets, but Harry didn't answer them in his reply since he'd become convinced that Quirrell was possessed by Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort was open in his subsequent reply, apologising for the Potters' deaths, and offering a truce. Harry guardedly accepted it after much consideration but undermined the spirit of it by secretively writing to the Minister about Quirrell's possession.

Harry noticed Luna being bullied in Potter Watch and stepped in to help, asking a Ravenclaw to watch out for her. She gravitated into Harry's increasingly integrated circle of friends from multiple Houses.

Sirius Black kidnapped Ron, and Sirius' "meet me alone at the Shrieking Shack if you want him back" letter was delayed by Harry's owl ward. The Weasley twins gave their enchanted map to the Aurors to help them locate their brother, but it didn't yield any results. Harry and Hermione used her Time-Turner to go back some hours on a rescue mission – as clues earlier that day suggested they would – and in the new past, they gave Neville and Millicent letters to open later that instructed them on when and how to fetch help.

Sirius' incoherent explanation about an evil rat failed to persuade. Harry attacked Professor Lupin while Hermione and Storm attacked Sirius. Alas Harry and his friends were defeated, and Sirius and Lupin relocated them all to a cave outside Hogsmeade. The second round of explanations went better – aided by a Pensieve and Veritaseum – and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all convinced of Sirius' innocence.

Dementors approached the cave and Sirius ran for it with Harry's cloak and Hermione's Time-Turner to help him escape. Lupin and the kids held them off with Patroni while Storm slithered off to fetch help. Snape and Aurors arrived swiftly from Hogsmeade and they were saved but Lupin was arrested for being an accessory to kidnapping, committing an assault, and stealing Snape's Pensieve.

In the aftermath, Dumbledore promised a distraught Harry that he'd work diligently to clear Sirius' name. Pansy, Daphne, Millicent, and Tracey meanwhile were very impressed that Hermione had respected pure-blood traditions and repaid her Life Debt to Harry. The Slytherin girls warmed to her, though Draco and Crabbe remained reluctant to move to a first name basis with her.

Harry asked the Aurors how their investigation of Quirrell was going but they were dismissive, saying they'd investigated his claims and found no evidence of possession. Dumbledore had reportedly been mysteriously vague with them, and Snape unhelpful.

With Lupin gone, Snape took over as the DADA teacher until the end of the year (when he retired altogether), and Professor Slughorn joined the staff to teach Potions. The Daily Prophet reported a mass breakout of Death Eaters and criminals from Azkaban, including Lupin. It was masterminded by Pettigrew, Quirrell, and a wizard of unknown appearance believed by the more informed to be Lord Voldemort. Most wizards, however, accepted the Prophet's propaganda about Sirius being the ringleader. Harry schmoozed friends and those with connections, and gave multiple media interviews to try and clear Sirius' name, but it was an uphill battle.

With the Dementors around Hogwarts apparently recalled to Azkaban, Harry went to retrieve the hidden diary from the Forbidden Forest via a secret tunnel from the Chamber of Secrets, but found it missing. A centaur returned him to the school grounds, where he was caught being out of bounds. Disguising his appearance with his mild Metamorphmagus abilities, Harry used the fake name Antares Black in an attempt to avoid questions and loss of points for Gryffindor. He was taken to his alleged Head of House Professor Snape for punishment, who didn't betray his identity nor broadcast news of his Metamorphmagus ability.

Lupin announced in a letter to the Daily Prophet that he was the evil mastermind of the Azkaban breakout and out for Harry's blood. His angry rant about how Sirius was unfortunately innocent, and no true follower of his revered Dark Lord, pushed the wizarding world into thinking Sirius deserved a trial after all. Hermione had a plan to help the trial go well – liquid luck. After quaffing the potion she had a great day, with Sirius being found innocent, new revelations about goblin culture, a book deal with a publisher to write an introduction to the wizarding world for Muggle-borns, and the establishment of better relationships with her female Housemates.

The year ended with mysterious visions no-one paid much attention to by Trelawney and Harry. Trelawney had a "fit" during Seamus Finnigan's Divination exam and babbled about blood, death, and "fathers fighting over the son", which was dismissed by witnesses present as being part of her usual histrionic act. Harry nervously returned to the Dursleys' for the summer, not helped by Sirius and Lucius posturing at each other and offending Uncle Vernon. Harry had a foreboding dream he remembered little of the next morning. In his dream, Lord Voldemort conducted some kind of ritual where Harry was something tiny held in the Dark Lord's hand. He also talked with Bellatrix about prophecies and the possible adoption of Harry as his Heir.

A/N: I hope some of my readers found these fic summaries useful. I know it can be tough for readers to remember what happened in a long series when there's been a long break since they last read it, and they might have read a dozen similar HP fics since then, further confusing their memories.

Elaltz and Mirabilos – thank you for motivating me to write my recaps.

Veysha and ladyofsilverdawn – thank you very much for being betas for this work. You were a great help!