Title: Twisting Time
Author: the-writer1988
Rating: T
Summary: When he fell through the Veil, Sirius Black didn't die. Instead he wakes up as his 21 year old self, a week before Halloween 1981. Given a second chance to make things right, and armed with knowledge of the future, Sirius fights to ensure the burden of prophecy doesn't fall on Harry's shoulders... But can he survive the war and keep his friends alive?
Characters: Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Lily Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Voldemort
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: This is a 'changing time' story... if Sirius Black had been given another chance to make things right... What would happen? It will be fascinating to explore!
Chapter One
In the moment the curse struck him Sirius Black felt three different things coursing through him: fear, worry and sadness. Fear because he knew he was dead, worry because he was leaving people he loved behind and sadness because he could have saved himself if he had stayed behind.
Shock registered across his features and his whole life flashed before his eyes. He'd lost control of his body and could not stop his descent as he began to fall back… He thought of Harry and how he had failed him and of how Remus would be alone…
He had been standing too close to the archway, knew it was the end…
His cousin's sadistic face was the last thing he saw as he tumbled back. He hit the curtain between the archway.
His heart stopped.
He couldn't breathe.
He lost all sense of awareness.
He fell.
Falling.
He was falling into everlasting darkness.
His hands flayed in mid-air as he sought to find something to stop his descent. But there was nothing.
Images whirled around him. His vision was blurry as he attempted to focus upon the images. He thought it was images of his life.
But Sirius Black did not care about his own life. He had always cared about another person's life: a certain messy black-haired teenager who had big green eyes and whose image was twisting around him as he fell.
Harry.
His godson.
He'd failed him.
Failed in his duty to protect him.
And grief overcame him.
When he opened his eyes again he was still falling.
He was dead, he knew, because he hadn't been breathing for a while. His heart simply did not pump. He remembered being in a battle, duelling his insane cousin who had succeeded in getting a curse through his shields and smack straight into his chest, sending him backwards.
He'd fallen seeing his godson's shocked face for the last time before the curtain of death had claimed him.
He hadn't just failed Harry, he'd failed Moony, Dumbledore…but most of all he had failed James and Lily. Their last wishes had been for Sirius to raise their son, something he had spectacularly failed at.
If he hadn't been such a hot-headed idiot and gone straight to Dumbledore in the first place he wouldn't have landed in Azkaban, committed for crimes he had never officially been convicted for, and had not been responsible for, Harry would have grown up with his godfather instead of his magic hating relatives.
Everything had gone wrong. He'd let his temper and anger at Pettigrew get the best of him. If only he could go back and change things…
He saw himself, just then in the swirling images around him, a younger version of himself telling James and Lily his grand plan to fool Voldemort. It would have been fool-proof if Pettigrew had not been a traitor.
Why did I ever suspect Moony?
That was his greatest regret: not trusting Remus Lupin. He had deliberately cut Moony out of his life in the months preceding James and Lily's death, convinced by whisperings of Peter Pettigrew that Moony was the traitor. Sirius had realised the moment he had discovered Pettigrew's duplicity: the little rat had been setting them up for years.
And Sirius had fallen straight into the trap.
Sirius Black looked at the darkness surrounding him.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't move.
He was dead.
Killed by a curtain.
Most of all, Sirius Black had failed to save his friends.
The spectral shapes of a young man and woman moved forward: one with messy black hair and hazel eyes covered by glasses and the other with long red hair and green eyes watching as the lone figure fell through the abyss of darkness.
Their faces were sad.
"He shouldn't have suffered," said the woman.
"He made a mistake," replied the black-haired shadow.
"We all did," lamented the red-haired lady.
"We have the power, don't we? Or is it the Veil?" the man looked at the woman.
"The Veil has the power. The Veil is a kind death but it gives those who loved the person who is falling a chance to change fate. Change what happened… The Veil can return us to the past…" Her green eyes met hazel. "We can send him back…"
The black-haired man nodded. "Change it. Make it for the better. Harry can have his family again."
"But should we make that choice?" the red-haired woman asked.
Slowly, James and Lily Potter looked at one another. They held out their hands and nodded as one.
He became aware of a chant.
"Make it right."
"Make it right."
"Make it right."
Sirius still couldn't move. But then two spectral shapes formed in front of his eyes.
James.
Lily.
They held hands as they looked at him sadly.
"Padfoot… make it right." James Potter said.
If he could have responded to their presence he would have done.
And then a flash of white light engulfed his vision…
He woke in his bed, tangled in sheets.
Swinging his feet over the side, Sirius rubbed a hand through his shoulder-length hair.
Wait.
Shoulder-length hair?
"Hold on…" He looked around recognising the room he was in. It was his bedroom. Not his room at Grimmauld Place but at the flat he had bought after Hogwarts and he had lived in until his incarceration in Azkaban. But he couldn't be here… it was impossible… "Harry?"
The last thing he remembered was fighting his cousin in the Department of Mysteries where she had then proceeded to kill…
"Wait. I'm dead. She killed me. There is no way I can be back here. Is this hell for me?" Sirius stood up, launching himself towards the door, wrenching it open. He stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and his mouth fell open in shock.
Gone was the long mess of hair he had grown in Azkaban, replaced with the shorter, neater style of his youth. His eyes looked old but his face was young, unmarked by his years in prison. His eyes looked old but the rest of him was young…
Sirius stumbled back, hitting his back against the wall.
"Think, think, think…"
He hadn't dreamt the last fifteen years had he?
Sirius dismissed that thought instantly. No, the memories were too vivid to have just been a dream.
Slowly, carefully, he plodded his way over to the table where the day's edition of the Daily Prophet sat. Ignoring the headlines, Sirius picked up the paper and sought out the date.
Saturday 24th October 1981
"What…"
He read the date again. Was he hallucinating?
Saturday 24th October 1981
He swallowed, dropped the paper and stumbled back until he sank into the settee, his whole body shaking.
And there he saw it: his wand.
The wand that had been snapped when he had been taken into Ministry custody after Pettigrew's betrayal: the wand that he knew he would never see again…
And it was here. Right in front of him. Just resting… waiting for him to use it…
Slowly, Sirius rubbed a hand down his face.
He blinked. Breathed heavily and cursed loudly. "What the fuck is going on?"
To be continued...
Please let me know what you think!
Ok... so obviously Sirius has fallen through the Veil and on his way to the land of the dead his spirit/body is intercepted by the spirits of James and Lily Potter who have the power to send Sirius back in time to change things because he fell through the Veil. I know Pottermore has revealed more about the Veil and what it does (instant death) but I'm choosing to ignore that so that I can write this story. Also Sirius going back in time, whilst keeping his memories of the future, can really only happen if he has died and been sent back.
I promise Sirius won't swear that often but considering he is supposed to be dead, waking up in 1981 is a very big shock for him... I thought his language at the end was adequate here.
Hopefully this story will be different and interesting...
I aim to try to update weekly!
Until next time,
the-writer1988