The Time Traveller.

Mistakes of the Magical world.

After Mars, Sirius and Sarah barely spoke together. Sirius knew his goddaughter was busy trying to recover from the meeting with her predecessor and her successors, and being split off into echoes by the time tunnel. Sarah hadn't told him precisely what kind of mental trauma entering the tunnel would cause, but whenever he saw her later on in the TARDIS Sarah seemed fine.

But Sirius had other things he wanted to talk to her about.

He finally managed to corner her in the console room.

"Sarah,"he said to get her attention.

At the sound of his voice, two things happened; Sarah's muscles tensed, and she smiled automatically. "Sirius, hi-" she began in the vain hope he wouldn't want to speak to her about Vernon Dursley; she'd seen the way he'd reacted, and knew he had a history with the pig. Sure, Sarah knew such a hope would be a vain hope, but she could hope.

"We need to talk,"he interrupted without giving her the chance to escape, "I need to talk to you about Vernon Dursley, but what I'd really like to know is why you dislike the magical world so much?" Sirius folded his arms to show her he wasn't going to argue with her.

Still Sarah had to try. "You're not going to let me walk out of this, are you?"

Sirius shook his head, "Nope."

Sarah sighed. "Okay," she said and took Sirius to a section of the time machine she'd never shown him; her personal section.

Sirius looked around the massive lounge where Sarah spent so much of her time. The room was divided into three floors, and shaped like the inside of a sphere. The top floor was a library, with rows of hundreds of books, leather book and plain paperback books, scrolls, tablets and Nordic runestones. The second floor was devoted to art; sculptures in rock, metal, glass, paintings in oil and watercolor, and small trinkets dotted around that section whilst large potted plants provided color and nature. There were medieval tapestries, old fashioned and working clocks and watches mounted on the walls, Roman and Greek statues held to the floor by clamps. Centuries old, but still in good working order. As though they'd only recently found themselves here in the collection.

The third floor was a museum. Sarah had travelled to dozens of places before her regeneration, and taking Sirius with her on her travels, and she'd collected a medieval suit of armor, a Viking helmet, a Roman legionnaire's eagle. Standing against a wall was a magnificent pianoforte; Sirius had often heard played in the TARDIS the soothing tunes of music, but he'd never imagined her to be a piano player.

Sarah noticed his attention, "Surprised I'm musical?" she grinned at him wryly.

Sirius chuckled at her wry comment. "I guess I should never be surprised with you."

Sarah grinned back, and she lead him to a comfortable pair of armchairs. Sirius watched her open a wall panel and she took out a pair of wine glasses and a bottle of red wine. Silently she handed it to him for inspection. Sirius whistled when he saw the date. "I invested a small fortune by buying French Wine, American Whiskeys, and Brandies and putting them in a Time Vault; a device that can accelerate time but keep things from spoiling. With a time vault, I could buy a piece of pork, and keep it in there - vault time for a thousand centuries."

Sirius could well believe it, and his pureblood lessons in etiquette let him marvel at the vintage wine. "Mmm," he murmured appreciatively, "its excellent. Do you keep it for special occasions?"

"Nah, I just it for when I need it. I don't believe in special occasions, but I do tend to save a few drinks for when I need 'em," Sarah replied, and she took a sip, nodding in satisfied appreciation. Her last incarnation had gotten drunk easily, but this new body of hers could hold its liquor a lot better. "Okay, where should I start?" she asked to get to business.

Sirius put his glass on the polished table beside them. "How did you meet Vernon Dursley?"

Sarah sighed and she looked away. Sirius had known this incarnation long enough to know this was her thinking pose. "You also wanted to know why I hated the magical world so much," she pointed out softly before taking a gentle sip from her glass. I'd better be careful, she thought to herself, I don't want to get drunk. "Believe me those two are connected."

Sirius wondered how two totally different things could make Sarah be this way. Vernon Dursley was an arrogant bigot who hated anything not like the way he imagined the world. "How?"

Sarah sighed again, took another long sip. The alcohol burned delightfully down her throat, all the way to her stomach. She felt like a steam engine needing all the fuel and steam she could get for this conversation. Sarah had told Sirius of her contempt for the wizarding world, but she'd never had to lay out all her reasons in one go. But she'd always known he would need to know.

"Okay," she whispered. "It started the night my parents were murdered. Dumbledore had arranged for Hagrid, of all the people, to get me out of the remains of the cottage my parents and I had been hiding in for a year whilst Voldemort hunted me. Hagrid has never been my favorite person, and you'll see why in a bit, but anyway Dumbledore had him bring me to Privet Drive in Surrey, where the Dursleys lived."

"I remember, and I remember you telling me that," Sirius interrupted as he recalled how he'd tried to persuade the gentle but easily controlled half giant to hand Sarah over to him before going after Pettigrew, "I tried to take you off him, but he was resolute when he said, 'Dumbledore's orders."

"Yeah, that's Hagrid all over," Sarah replied, "Dumbledore was planning to leave me with the Dursleys. On a doorstep. In cold weather." Sarah shook her head with contempt. "This is why his plans are so ill thought out. Dumbledore knew the Dursleys knew about magic, and he thought it would be okay for me to almost freeze to death outside when he could've knocked on the door? Anyway the next morning, the Dursleys find me, and without preamble they drove me to a faraway orphanage, and they leave a nasty note behind. They clearly never believed the letter Dumbledore left, or they ignored it, or it was lost. I never found out and frankly I don't care. In that note, they called me a freak. It's in the past Sirius, literally," she added when her godfather looked really pissed off.

Sarah took another sip to fortify herself, but her body language noticeably perked up when she described living in the orphanage. "Oh, I loved living in the orphanage. Sure, money could sometimes be tight, but it teaches you a lifelong lesson to be careful. When I first went to school, I learnt to be careful 'cause I was smarter than most of the kids in my class. I also saw how such kids can be treated by those not as smart. Do you remember the girl who helped me save you, Hermione Granger? She never learnt that lesson though she'd been bullied heavily for her love of books and her looks. Results; she's seen as the know-it-all of Gryffindor, she's a social outcast because she nags people to study, and if one of those people did as well as she did on a test, then she'd become snarky," Sarah shook her head as she remembered her own personal encounters with Granger in that mode. Sarah hadn't found it in herself to really give a toss about Granger or her ridiculous habits. "Talk about mixed messages. When I was 11, I received the Hogwarts letter. Hagrid showed up with it personally, and he proved to me in the privacy of my room magic existed. It was real. I was surprised."

Sarah shook her head. "But I didn't want to go, and I told him that. I explained to him that I had plans of my own; I wanted to go to Secondary school. I wanted my own life. I wanted to be someone, and besides, I'd need the more advanced libraries of school and college in my time travel research because at that point I'd already found the journals of the original time traveller. But I needed more than those."

Sirius nodded in understanding. "But you wanted to know more."

Sarah nodded quietly, her lips pursed. "Hagrid was surprised. He left like an automaton 'cause he had no idea what to do 'bout the problem I'd handed him, but a few days later he came back, and he dragged me out of the orphanage without a word to me. Before he left, he insulted my friends, and treated them no better than dogs. No offense," she added at Sirius's expression, "but you get the idea. When he'd first arrived, he'd made little cracks about muggles, and how backwards they were without realising he was being condescending. That was one point why I disliked the magical world, and I was proven right when I first entered Diagon alley."

Sarah fell quiet for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. Sirius waited patiently for her to speak, and when she did her voice was choked with disbelief. "Hagrid ignored me when I told him I wanted nothing to do with the wizarding world, he told me I was being silly, and my parents would be ashamed of me if I told them I didn't want to be a witch."

"Holy Merlin and Morgana," Sirius whispered. His goddaughter had wanted nothing to do with the magical world, and she hadn't wanted to embrace her heritage as a witch. But he was more horrified by what Hagrid had told her about Lily and James. How dare he tell her what her parents would want like that. James and Lily had thought the world of their daughter; they would've loved her even if she were a muggle rather than a witch.

Unaware of the direction of her godfather's thoughts, Sarah carried on with her story. "Hagrid dragged me throughout Diagon alley to pick up my supplies, but when we went to Gringotts one of the Goblins was determined to speak to me, but Hagrid managed to get us away from him. Hagrid had my key Sirius, he also had a letter from Dumbledore himself to take something out of a high security vault. I saw him put the thing into a pocket in that stupid coat of his, telling me to tell no-one." Sarah shook her head silently, then she turned to Sirius her face set and serious. "If you were tasked with taking something potentially dangerous, something labelled on-top of an envelope as 'Top Secret' would you let someone see it being taken out, even a kid?"

Sirius didn't even need to think about the answer. "No, I wouldn't, but then Hagrid is a bit simple-"

"He's more than that Sirius," Sarah interrupted over Sirius's half hearted attempt to make her see Hagrid wasn't the ogre she thought he was, "Hagrid would only do that if Dumbledore had told him to, and lets face it. If Dumbledore told Hagrid to do something in plain view of everyone else, then he'd do it without a thought. Hagrid wouldn't even guess he'd just done something stupid unless it was pointed out, but I didn't tell him. I didn't see the point. In my eyes, Hagrid's an oath with the brain of a pea. But that's an insult to peas. It gets worse."

Sirius looked up sharply when Sarah had said that, but she took another long, deep sip from her wine glass. He watched her worriedly, hoping she wouldn't go down the long, slippery slope to becoming an alcoholic.

"When we were finished, Hagrid took me to Surrey," she said looking pointedly at him.

"The Dursleys," Sirius just said.

Sarah nodded. "He told me my family was waiting for me. He ignored me when I told him the Dursleys didn't want me, but he said Dumbledore had straightened it out with them. I didn't believe him, and I made a big show. I realised at that point, neither Dumbledore nor Hagrid would listen, so I made a pantomime of myself, giving up from my argument and the simple fool left me believing it."

"But you didn't stay," Sirius grinned at her. Sarah grinned and shook her head, sending her long brunette hair flying around her. "No, of course I didn't, one of the many things being an orphan living in a home teaches you is keep some cash on you at all times. Apart from the trunk I owned I travelled lightly, and I managed to get a train back to the orphanage. I didn't have an owl though Hagrid had tried getting me one, but I'd told him I didn't want the aggravation of keeping an animal though I would one day."

Sirius shook his head. He'd always wondered about Sarah's first glimpse of the magical world, and he hadn't expected it to be so entertaining. "What happened then?"

Sarah's smile disappeared. "A few days later, I went back to Gringotts. I had to meet that goblin. When I met him I found out he was the Potter family manager, and with his help I managed to set a few things into motion. With his help, I was I able to be emancipated so I didn't need Dumbledore as my magical guardian. I also laid eyes on my parent's wills and their journals. Did you know," Sarah suddenly leaned back in her chair, her voice rising into a wry, humorless laugh, but Sirius saw her anger in her eyes, "I learnt more about my parents from reading just a few sentences in my mother's journal that I ever did from anyone else besides you. Mum was meticulous; in her diaries she had a message on the front page saying she wanted her future descendants to know about her life from her eyes, I was delighted when she did. I also had a better means of keeping in touch with the goblins so, then I wouldn't get pesky owls where anyone could see them."

Sarah poured herself from fresh wine, but she didn't take a drink from her glass. "I asked McGonagall about my mother and father, fourteen times during my first year at Hogwarts, but she wouldn't tell me anything. I thought it was because of sad memories, or she was too busy to reply at first, but at the end of the year there was something in her voice, something like a program. Dumbledore must have told her not to tell me anything about my parents. Do you blame me for not trusting any of the staff?" She finished with a dark look.

Sirius looked down into the dark red liquid in his glass. No, he didn't blame her for not trusting the staff at Hogwarts. In his time at Hogwarts, Sirius had been preoccupied with the pressures of family who hated him for going into a different house, becoming an animagus and helping Remus, pranks with Sarah's father, so he hadn't had much experience with the puppet master like nature Dumbledore was renowned for. Every Slytherin household was inundated with stories about Dumbledore's less than stellar ways, and so Sirius had been unique in Gryffindor house for not being completely trusting of the old man.

Other Gryffindors were overawed with Dumbledore, and from a different perspective Sirius understood that. The man had fought Grindelwald, was a powerful wizard, and the leader of the light...such a man wouldn't be a mere headmaster. To them, it was an honor. For the teachers it was probably the same, and there was no telling if Dumbledore used unsavory spells like compulsions.

But Sarah saw things like that differently, not that it mattered now.

Sarah was talking again, "I started keeping the staff at arm's length after that. Hagrid wasn't far behind; he invited me down to his home, but he asked me about my 'friends.'" Sarah sneered, and she took a sip. "Ron Weasley was an obvious plant from the way he spoke about how Gryffindors were wonderful, how Slytherins were evil, how lazy he was and how he tried to rope me into being as lazy and bone idle as he was, and Granger was obviously there to stop me from learning too much. Such a joke. If he'd thought I'd be roped in by those two, he must be a few lemon drops short of a bag. I would never let anyone do that, and before I'd left them the Goblins warned me Dumbledore would play dirty techniques, so I learnt spells designed to locate spells or potions. And get this," Sarah perked up as if she'd forgotten an important detail and only now remembered it, "Granger and the other muggleborns get hold of handbooks about the magical world, and I wouldn't have gotten them either if the goblins hadn't pointed them out."

Sirius sighed, unable to wrap his head around how collectively stupid Dumbledore and the rest of the magical world were, never mind the Order of the bloody phoenix. It was one thing to know Hagrid had dragged Sarah away from the one place she called home, it was another to know he hadn't shown Sarah the muggle born handbooks. It would've been the logical thing for him to not forget; Sarah had no idea about magical customs, had no clue what some things were.

He would've guessed the blunder to be one of Hagrid's typical blunders which were rather thoughtless, but unintentional if they were someone else. But Sirius had listened quietly to Sarah's story, and he had to admit it sounded plausible that Dumbledore had started setting his goddaughter up from the start, but for what? Some stupid prophecy that made little sense?

"What happened with Vernon Dursley Sarah?" Sirius asked to get them on track.

"I'm coming to him," Sarah replied, taking a minute sip from her glass. "But do you mind letting finish with first year?" Sirius nodded.

"Where was I?" Sarah whispered quietly before she remembered where she'd wanted to aim the conversation. "Okay, Christmas," she took another sip. "I wanted to go back to the orphanage for Christmas, but Dumbledore tried to stop me. For some reason he wanted me to stay at Hogwarts. I didn't want to use my emancipated status until much later, but to cut a long story short, when I got back to the castle Dumbledore and McGonagall were furious because I'd managed to get away from Filch and Flitwick who'd registered the students for leaving for Christmas."

Sirius couldn't believe his goddaughter had had it in her. "You little..." he couldn't fight the grin, which threatened to appear on his face, "You left Hogwarts without anyone knowing it?"

"I got into trouble for it," Sarah pointed out though she had a slightly smug smirk on her face, "I was in trouble with McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick and Filch for leaving, and I got a massive point loss so the Gryffindors hated me. But it was Dumbledore, who was the problem; at the end of the year he tried, once again, to make me go to the Dursleys. That's when he found out I was emancipated, but it didn't matter to the old fool. When the train pulled up in King's Cross, guess who was waiting for me."

Sirius's voice was grim. "The Dursleys."

Sarah nodded, pursing her lips again. "Got it in one," she replied, her Manchester accent deepening in anger. "I had the goblins investigate them, and they took photographs of them in case I met them on the street. And they recognised me, too," she took another sip. "Vernon, he was...purple in the face, his piggy, beady little eyes were furious, and his fists were curled threateningly. The moment I was outside the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, I was looking around for the orphanage staff I knew were there to pick me up."

"But if Dumbledore had sent the Dursleys to pick you up, threaten or whatever, why would you be looking for people from the orphanage?" Sirius asked. That didn't make sense to him.

"Because I managed to intercept the letter. I had the goblins put a ward on the orphanage that prevented cursed mail being sent through, or letters from anybody magical aside the Hogwarts supply letters, or from the goblins themselves. The goblins were paid to sort through them, and send the ones they thought were clean to me. Dumbledore DID send them a letter with a heavy lacing of compulsion charms, but the goblins are immune to them."

Sarah sipped her wine. "Vernon came over, and told me to grab my stuff and get to the car. I tried to bluff by saying I wasn't the person he thought I was, but he wouldn't have that. No, he wouldn't listen," she corrected herself, sipping her wine again. "Petunia and Dudley were standing nearby, and you could see the contempt and hatred wafting off them like toxic fumes. I knew my mother thought the woman who was supposed to be her sister was pathetic, but Christ alone knew what the two bigoted neanderthals told their pig of a son. Yer know what?" Sarah's accent grew worse as she breathed hard angrily, it might've been a long time for Sarah since that horrible day, but she could still feel angry. And she had a right to be.

"What?" Sirius asked carefully, afraid Sarah was going to lash out at him.

"I could tell Dudley, their son, was a pervert," Sarah shuddered, "the way he eyed me as I appeared...," she shuddered again. "And it was clear Vernon was the same. Petunia just looked down her thin, bony nose at me like I'd just been dropped in shit. Anyway, Vernon grabbed me, but I struggled as his grip tightened like a vise around my arm."

Sirius growled furiously.

"He'd started to pull me away, but he smacked me in the face, and it wasn't a mere slap," Sarah said, "it was a very hard punch. I had a massive bruise on my face, and I would've collapsed to the ground if it hadn't been for his grip on my wrist and he twisted it. Some of the muggleborn parents and students were watching this with horror, and a few of them tried to break his grip, but he only let go when Sam, one of the orphanage staff, and two policemen who were on duty at the station. I was in tears, my arm was twisted, and I had a bruise on my face. Vernon only made things worse when he told me there was more comin', and he called me a freak. That's when fat man's troubles really began. That note tucked roughly in my blanket, well Sam had seen it. So had Julie, who'd gone with him to pick me up, and they told the policemen. Anyway, with my injuries, the testimonies of the witnesses, and the note, Vernon Dursley was arrested. When their house was searched, the police found enough samples of his handwriting that matched."

Sarah stopped speaking as she was lost in her memories, and she and Sirius sipped from their wine glasses. "Like I said, I had the goblins investigate the Dursleys, Sirius. Did you know there were old spells on their property, woven into their life forces to give those spells strength, that would, if they'd taken me into their home then the spells would've kicked in. They were designed to make the Dursley's hatred for magic become worse, so if I stepped in then lord knows what would've happened after the first day. But there were blood wards on the place, keyed to myself and my aunt. Those wards were what Dumbledore preached about, why he constantly tried to make me go there, but now they don't exist. There were also spells on their place, and on them personally, to ensure that nothing bad would happen. For instance, say that Vernon was arrested for assault, like what he'd done to me on the station, well if the spells kicked in then the witnesses and the police officers would lose their memories of the incident, and there wouldn't be any prosecution. But Dumbledore made a fatal mistake, one he can never undo now, even with time travel; he didn't put a compulsion charm on the property to make sure they did take me into their house!"

"What?" Sirius could believe that; Dumbledore had acted so complacent during the war, why stop afterwards? But that wasn't all that bothered him; layering spells, especially the kind Sarah had just described to him on a muggle home, that was illegal. "He went to all that trouble layering spells on a muggle house, only to make such a mistake like that? How do you know he can't go back in time?"

Sarah smirked. "I used the TARDIS and another time machine for that. Certain moments, like in history, happen because they are, were, meant to happen. They are like the stations on a railway line, from the beginning of the universe to the very end, the stitchwork of history...Once you understand them, you can understand how to create one of those fixed points. I created a small crack in time in the street, and once Dumbledore put me on the doorstep, I let a blast of time energy out. There's a nice little fixed point there, and no-one can break it and my history is safe."

Sirius sipped his wine, his mind becoming more greased by the alcohol. "Hold on. Why would you go to those lengths? I mean, Dumbledore doesn't know you've got a time machine-"

"I'm not so sure of that," Sarah interrupted grimly, and she put down her wine glass to give Sirius her undivided attention. "Do you remember when I told you about the prophecy, how I went to the Hog's Head to listen to it after being given at tip off by Aberforth's future self? Well, I'm sure Dumbledore saw me, and it wouldn't take long for him to figure it all out."

"But why are you worried?" Sirius asked, "I mean you've regenerated, you're totally different from the woman you were-"

"Doesn't mean I can't take precautions," Sarah interrupted briskly; she wasn't going to tell Sirius about half of them because he would think she was too extreme. "You're forgetting, Sirius; I've lost everything because of the magical world, another reason why I hate them," Sirius swallowed at the sudden rage building behind Sarah's brown eyes, "They've taken everything from me; my home, my parents, my childhood, and they've even taken one of my regenerations from me. I've lost everything except for my secret, the secret of my time and space machine, and they were willing for me to lose my life all 'cause some old senile fart who should've died long ago believed I should sacrifice my life for a cause that wasn't even mine."

Too agitated with fury, Sarah stood up, sloshing the wine in her glass. "He had no right to play games with me, Sirius. If only he'd changed his mind, made a different plan, then maybe things would be different."

Then she stopped, seemingly embarrassed by her show of emotion. Sitting back in her chair, Sarah took a massive gulp of her wine before looking at Sirius. "Now you have a good idea why I hate the wizarding world, Sirius. I don't suppose...you could leave me alone for a bit, don't worry, I'll be fine."

Sirius doubted that, but he hugged her anyway before he left. After he left Sarah's rooms, he had to wonder about the TARDIS to find something worthwhile to do, but all that time he was worried about Sarah.

Sirius didn't see Sirius for another few days as she spent more time locked up in her part of the TARDIS. But when she did appear again she was much more perkier than before. She was quiet at first, then she began to speak. "The Dursleys were imprisoned. I had to give evidence against them. I made sure to keep my answers 'bout why they called me a freak as vague as possible. I said they had both hated my parents and childishly transferred that hatred to me. With the spells on them removed by the goblins, the Dursleys were sent to prison though I made arrangements to speak to my aunt."

"You spoke to Petunia? What about?"

Sarah sagged and she just sat down next to the console. "I wanted to know what gave her the right to treat me the way she did. I also took one of my mother's journals with her. A goblin escorted me; he was responsible for any magic cast that day. He quickly shut her up whenever she said 'freak.'"

Sirius watched as Sarah seemed to wilt in front of his eyes, but he wasn't sure what he could do for her. Would she even let him hug her?

Finally she started talking again. "Petunia told me I was a freak like my mother, but I had the goblin shut her up so I could read a few excerpts from the diaries mum had left. Until diary no.6 Mum had tried hard to become friends with her, but Petunia wouldn't have it and finally Petunia made a fatal mistake."

Sirius's eyes widened. "Why, what did she do?"

Sarah grimaced. "She told everyone Lily was a criminal, and that she was insane and needed psychiatric help. No-one believed her, but the damage had been done. I told her exactly what I thought of her; I told her she was a loser. An ugly, repulsive loser who was so obsessed with being somebody she wasn't when she could simply have changed the way she had been. My attacks on her looks broke through, and I carried on. I told her what I thought of her, her family, and I told her my mum was unlucky, unlucky enough to have been murdered 'cause of something far more bigger that bruised pride."

She shook her head. "Such a waste. Everyone has potential to do something bigger than them, but sometimes they never fulfill their potential."

Sarah left the room, not wanting to say anymore.