Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1 – The Boy Who Lived

October 31, 1981

A great roar sounded throughout the little town of Godric's Hollow but didn't draw the attention it normally would have. The town was eerily quiet in fact, though by all accounts it should have been a hive of activity given the tragedy that had just occurred. Even though the occupants of the town were either too scared to leave their homes or completely oblivious to what had happened, the newcomer was not and a strangled cry left his lips as he caught sight of the nearly destroyed house. Sirius Black collapsed to his knees and sobbed as he looked at what used to be the home of his best friend. He had gotten worried when Peter had missed his check in with him and had rushed over to make sure James, Lily and their one year old son Harry were alright, but he was too late. James and Lily had gone into hiding when they learned that He Who Must Not Be Named, the evil bastard who called himself Lord Voldemort, was after them. Dumbledore had suggested using the Fidelius Charm, ensuring there was only one way Voldemort would be able to find them: if the one they named as Secret Keeper revealed their location. James had wanted Sirius to be the Secret Keeper, but his friendship with James was well known so Sirius thought he would be the obvious choice, which would put the secret at risk.

And so, he himself had suggested using Peter, something he now regretted knowing their friend had betrayed them. It was his fault though, that James and Lily and Harry were now dead. He had suggested Peter as the Secret Keeper, he should have known Peter was the traitor. He had thought it was Remus, the fourth friend in their group, but he was wrong, and his lack of judgement had handed Voldemort exactly what he wanted. His failure had seen to the deaths of his best friend, his brother, and his brother's family; had seen to the end of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter. Sirius continued to sob, finding himself unable to do anything else in his grief, until another sound could be heard: a crying baby. Jumping to his feet, Sirius was into the house. He stopped dead in his tracks almost immediately though when he came face to face with the body of his best friend, his wand still in hand and eyes open, though unseeing. However, although he was quite paralyzed, Sirius made himself snap out of it when the crying continued. Sirius thought he would be more prepared for Lily's body but he wasn't. If it were not for the crying baby in the crib beside her dead body, he would have collapsed again.

"Hey." He murmured as he reached for the child. "Hey, it's alright. It's alright Harry, Uncle Padfoot's here." He picked the baby up and wondered at how he was alive. Voldemort had clearly been here and he wasn't known for leaving people alive, especially when they were his target.

"Pad…pad…" he gurgled as he settled into his godfather's familiar arms. James almost exclusively called him Padfoot so it was no surprise that this is what Harry called him, at least so far as he could being only one year old. Looking over his godson for any sign of injury it was then that he noticed the lightning shaped scar on his forehead. It wasn't even bleeding, having the look of already being the remnants of some old injury instead of being new. He could fell the magic held within it though and knew that this was no ordinary scar. He didn't have time to ponder anymore though as a noise was heard from downstairs. Raising his wand, Sirius cautiously made his way out of the nursery. He made it to the landing when he came face to face with Hagrid, the Hogwarts Gamekeeper.

"Sirius!" Hagrid cried upon seeing him. Sirius lowered his wand but didn't put it away. Polyjuice didn't work properly on non-humans, and giants, even half giants like Hagrid, were very resistant to magic so it was highly unlikely he was under the Imperius. Still, he wasn't going to place his full trust in that and let his full guard down.

"Hagrid." He replied wearily, holding Harry close to his chest as he made his way downstairs passed James; Harry did not need to see the body of his dead father.

"It's a right shame what happened." Hagrid said looking to James. He sounded close to tears. "To lose James like this and…is Lily?" Sirius nodded. "And poor Harry loosing his parents like this." Tears did fall now. "The poor lad an orphan."

"Yes it's horrible." Sirius agreed sounding much more detached then he felt, but he knew now wasn't the time to grieve, he had to get Harry to safety. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, uh…Professor Dumbledore sent me." He said turning away from James. "he sent me to get Harry." Sirius' eyes widened and he gripped his wand more tightly.

"Why?" Hagrid was entirely loyal to Dumbledore, so much so that it was hard for him to understand that while most people trusted the old headmaster it wasn't blind trust like Hagrid had.

"Well, to take him to his aunt and uncle of course." It was said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which to him it was; Dumbledore had said it so to Hagrid that was all that mattered.

"And why would Dumbledore think he had any right to send Harry there when I am his godfather and specifically mentioned as his guardian in James and Lily's will, while Petunia is specifically mentioned as someone Harry should not be sent to?"

"Now Sirius-" Hagrid began placating but Sirius wasn't having any of it.

"No. Dumbledore has no right to decide where Harry goes, nor will I even hear of him being sent to that magic hating woman and her walrus of a husband." Sirius moved passed Hagrid who protested vehemently at not doing what Dumbledore said but he appeared unwilling to try and forcibly stop Sirius. Conjuring a sling, Sirius placed Harry into it and mounted his motorcycle. The engine roared to life and ignoring Hagrid's continued protests he took off into the sky.

-H/G-

September 1, 1991

Harry James Potter calmly walked through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, ignoring all the stares he was getting. Beside him stood his godfather, Sirius, and his Uncle Remus. After Sirius had taken him from the ruins of his parents' house all those years ago, he had barely spent a day away from his godfather, or his Uncle, and the two were the only fathers he'd ever known, though the number of stories they had told him throughout the years of his parents were staggering. Following his confrontation with Hagrid, Sirius had moved quickly to ensure his guardianship of Harry could not be contested. He had suspected that Dumbledore, for reasons unknown, would try something and he had been right. Thankfully Sirius' status as head of a Noble and Ancient House, along with the goblins testimony regarding the last will and testament of Lily and James, left Dumbledore with little room to stand on; it would set a dangerous precedent for all the other old pureblood houses if the will of one noble lord and the rights of another could be put aside so easily.

Once ensured that Harry could not be legally taken from him, Sirius had instilled them at Potter Manor and they'd rarely ventured into the wizarding world thereafter. This was largely due to what had happened the first time they went out to Diagon Alley. Harry had still been quite young, just barely able to walk, and the trip was made nearly impossible by the adoring crowds who wanted to shake hands with the toddler Harry. Dumbledore too had shown up and tried to convince Sirius that it was imperative that Harry be under his guardianship though he had still not provided any reason why. Since then sightings of The Boy Who Lived were few and far between as they had found that they could have just as much fun in the muggle world and so they rarely needed to venture into the wizarding one. This accounted for the looks Harry was getting today, everyone wanted a glimpse of him. Harry pulled at his well tailored clothes uncomfortably, he didn't like being looked at like this, or at all, though he knew that it was futile to hope people would stop staring. Lost in thought, Harry didn't notice that his path was no longer clear, nor that one of the few people on the platform not staring at him had stepped into his path.

"Sorry!" Both Harry and the little girl he'd run into said at once.

"It's alright." The girl added before looking up at him. "My lord." She finished, giving him a small curtsy as she'd been taught to do when meeting a noble lord, of which she had no doubt he was by the traditional way he was dressed.

"Oh…um, just Harry is fine." He said.

"Are you lost darling?" Sirius jumped in upon seeing the blush on his godson's face. Something he'd be teasing him about in short order.

"Yes my lord. I can't seem to find my parents."

"Well then, allow us to help you. What do they look like?" Remus was already looking around for anyone who seemed to be missing a child.

"If you find a large brood of gingers that'll be them." Sirius laughed.

"Ah, so you're the infamous daughter Arthur has told me about. Ginevra, right?"

"Ginny, please." She said with a scowl, clearly not liking her full name. Sirius chuckled again.

"Alright then Ginny, I'm Sirius Black, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. And this tongue tied lad is my godson, Harry." Ginny's eyes went wide, knowing who Lord Black's godson was even if she'd never met either of them.

"You're Harry Potter!?" She burst out before quickly apologizing for her outburst. Harry seemed very uncomfortable with her clear adoration of him, something the young Ginny caught onto, and so she vowed not to fawn over him again. Anything else she might have said to help pull her foot out of her mouth was cut off when her name was screamed followed quickly by her being pulled into a bone crushing hug. Her mother fussed over her for a moment before finally turning to those with her.

"Oh!" She gasped in surprise seeing who it was. "Lord Black. Thank you for finding my daughter." She too curtsied as Ginny had though unlike Harry, Sirius didn't seem at all uncomfortable.

"Not at all dear Molly, in fact we had just introduced ourselves when you found her, so we really didn't do a thing."

"Well, thank you all the same. Now, if you will excuse us we really must get back to her brothers."

"Of course, it was wonderful seeing you again Molly." With that the two women departed though not without a backwards glance from Ginny, which Harry returned.

"Ah…Potter men and their redheads." Sirius said when Harry stared at Ginny's retreating form a bit too long. "You're just like your dad, pup. Found your true love in first year."

"Oh shut up." Harry grumbled. Saying goodbye to Sirius and Remus, Harry made his way onto the train and luckily found a compartment to himself. The Hogwarts Express had just pulled out of London when the compartment door opened and admitted a pale blond boy who was Harry's age, and whom he knew well.

"Cousin." He greeted with a smirk. Draco scowled but took a seat after shutting the door tightly.

"So how big is your fan club going to be?" He retorted. Now it was Harry's turn to scowl. "That big huh?" Draco sniggered.

"They were all staring!" Harry complained.

"Well you are The Boy Who Lived after all." Harry shot him a death glare and Draco backed off. "Seriously though, people are going to stare. Just remember to tell me if it gets to be too much and I'll take care of it." As quickly as he'd come, Draco left, having seen for himself that his cousin was ok. Harry sighed as he left, wishing that Draco could have stayed so he'd have someone to talk to. However, both Sirius and his Aunt Cissy and Uncle Lucius had explained why it would be bad for their friendship to be known. They knew Voldemort wasn't really gone. They'd found that out when one of his followers tried to kill Harry, thinking that killing him would bring Voldemort back. They had originally thought the attempt to be that by a desperate follower, but it took only a bit of digging to learn the truth. Voldemort was still alive, though how they still didn't know. Given Lucius' past as a Death Eater it would be death for him and his family when Voldemort returned if he was to be found to be a friend of Harry Potter. Lucius and switched sides in the first war shortly before Draco was born and had spied on Voldemort with only Sirius, James and Lily knowing about it. As head of House Black, Sirius had ancient magic he could use to protect those of his house, both physically and from mental assault from a Legilimens. As Narcissa was a daughter of House Black that protection extended to her immediate family as well so long as Sirius wished it too. And so, knowing that Voldemort wasn't really gone, Harry and Draco would hide their friendship and show it only behind the closed doors.

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was uneventful and Harry was left alone. When they arrived at Hogsmeade Station Harry heard the shouts for first years to go to the end of the platform and he got his first look at Rubeus Hagrid, the one that Sirius had told him had been sent by Dumbledore – unlawfully Sirius added – to take him to his muggle relatives house. Harry kept to the back of the group as they made their way down to the boats. He ended up sharing a boat with two other students, Ron and Hermione, both of whom seemed to be at each other's throats. His first glimpse of Hogwarts was just as impressive as Sirius had said it would be and Harry could not help but be in awe of the ancient castle. Harry had both looked forward to and dreaded attending Hogwarts. On the one hand this was where his parents had met and given everything Sirius had told him about the castle it sounded like his years at Hogwarts would be quite the adventure. On the other hand there would be all the people staring at him, plus Dumbledore. Over the years the old headmaster had lost almost all of Sirius and Remus' trust, which meant that Harry didn't trust him at all. He had tried several times throughout the years to gain control of Harry and there was little doubt that there would be further attempts now that Harry was entering the old man's domain. The part that worried them most though was that they had no idea why Dumbledore wanted control of Harry. They doubted it was for his fame and fortune, which meant it couldn't be for anything good.

When the boats docked, the students filed out and made their way inside. They were greeted by the Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, and were led into the great hall to be though, the Headmaster wished to say a few words.

"I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce." Dumbledore said. "The first years please note, that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students. A few of our older students should remember this as well." His gaze shifted from the hall in general to two red heads sitting at the Gryffindor table. "Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone to does not wish to die a most painful death." That drew a large number of murmurs from the students and even Harry was wondering what Dumbledore was playing at. He didn't have long to ponder though as the sorting began. Unsurprisingly when Harry's name was called the hall broke out in chatter as people tried to get a good look at him. Luckily he was quickly sorted into Gryffindor, though the hat had contemplated putting him in Slytherin, and he joined his housemates with as little fuss as possible. He ate with Ron and Hermione whom he thought might be friends, the three of them, if the two ever stopped fighting.

Halfway through dinner Harry dropped his fork, his hand shooting to his forehead. He brushed off Hermione's inquiry if he was all right, but didn't dare bush off what he had felt: for only the second time in his life his scar was hurting. Harry knew it was no ordinary scar, Sirius had felt the dark magic within it as soon as he'd picked Harry up that fateful night, but several healers had looked at it over the years and all had pronounced it healed, saying that the dark magic they felt was due to the scar being caused by the most evil of spells. They had taken the healers' for their word at first, but after the attempt on Harry's life they began questioning it. That was the first time that Harry's scar had hurt, when he was in the presence of Voldemort's follower, and now it was hurting again. Feeling eyes on him Harry looked around and found three pairs looking his way, all from the staff table. Dumbledore's were not surprising and Harry wondered when he would be summoned to the Headmaster's office. Another set of eyes could only belong to one person based on Sirius and Remus' description. Professor Severus Snape had been at school with them and hated them both almost as much as he had hated Harry's father. Given his godfather and uncle's stellar description of the man's character it was no surprise that that his hatred of James Potter would transfer to Harry. The third pair of eyes though were unknown to Harry, though a quick word with Percy Weasley, Ron's brother and a fifth year Gryffindor prefect, would change that.

"Say Percy? Who's that talking with Professor Snape?"

"Oh that's Professor Quirrell." He replied upon looking up at the head table. "He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry filed that name away for the letter he would be sending to Sirius and Remus first thing tomorrow. Given it was when he looked at Quirrell that his scar hurt, he had no doubt that he'd need that name soon.

A/N - Here we go with a new story! This one will be much longer than my other Harry Potter story and is my version of a Harry/Ginny soulbond, powerful Harry, manipulative Dumbledore...basically a lot of things and I hope to merge it all together well.

I'll try to post a chapter each week though I make no promises.

Review please!