Harry Potter 1. Anger and Confusement

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled as his godfather fell through the veil.

Remus held Harry back as he attempted to follow Sirius. Harry screamed for his godfather, wishing to follow him. No longer wishing to live the life he was living. In his own anguish, Remus dropped his grip and Harry fell to the floor clutching his chest, feeling as though a hole was boring its way into his heart. The weight of everything crushed him as he fell into his own living nightmare.

Across from him came the cackling laugh of Sirius' killer, Bellatrix Lestrange. He pushed out his pain and felt only anger, fuelling him towards revenge. Before anyone could stop him he started flinging curses at the disgusting excuse of a woman who had murdered the closest thing he had had to a father.

Bellatrix laughed and lead Harry on a chase, dodging his advances rather than retaliating. Rage consuming every fibre of his being, Harry followed, hurling spell after spell, in an attempt to force Bellatrix to feel the pain he was feeling. Right at this moment he did not care how much he hurt her, because he was not the only one her actions had hurt.

Harry started flinging crucios her way, fully intending to torture her into the insanity she had forced upon Neville's parents. None of his curses hit her, instead knocking open doors throughout the department of ministries. In front of him Bellatrix paused in front of an imposing door and he threw the strongest crucio he could her way.

Bellatrix easily dodged it and made her way out towards the atrium. Harry made to follow when he noticed the door he had hit with his curse throw itself open. There was no room inside the door, only a tunnel of light that pulled him towards it. Before he could think he was hurled through the door away from the department of mysteries and away from his pain.

~OMT~

Harry woke, unaware of his surroundings. He stared up at a ceiling, noticing it had an intricate design of a griffon fighting a giant snake all in gold. Attempting to move he felt as if he was held in a vice, his arms constricted to his sides. Moving his head to the side he saw bars and wondered briefly if he was in Azkaban for using an unforgivable. He cast that thought aside as he felt none of the despair he knew he would feel if he were truly there.

Wriggling against what constrained him he finally got one of his arms loose, noticing with that that he was held with a blanket. Thinking how weird that was he looked at his hand and was shocked at how different it looked. It was missing his "I must not tell lies," scar and had none of the lines he was used to seeing. At this point he stopped and tried to feel everything that was touching him, trying to find clues.

Then he felt the last thing he expected, rather than wearing his normal clothes, he was wearing the most uncomfortable pants and they were wet. He had wet himself, and he thought he was wearing a nappy. Realising this could only be a vivid nightmare he tried to pinch himself awake. When that didn't work he screamed, completely overwhelmed with the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him.

He heard a door open near him and when he noticed who walked in he fainted.


	2. Nonsense

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

When Harry came to he was surrounded by people. The person who had walked into the room held him and there was four other people standing around him, all watching him carefully. Realising that he was being held as a baby and that he was the size of a baby, did not help with his body's threat to faint yet again, but he had more pressing issues right at this time, like the fact that he was being held lovingly by a man he had loathed for the past 5 years or that he swore half the people standing around him were dead. He tried to talk to them and tell them that this was all wrong, but all that came out of his mouth were annoyed little gurgles.

"Look Lily, he's fine, he's even trying to talk," Snape cooed, holding Harry tighter and laughing.

Harry cried out, he could not believe his situation, somehow he had been transported back to when he was a baby and he was surrounded by his dead parents, his dead godfather, the traitorous rat, his favourite professor and being held by his most hated professor. Everything was so confusing and he unashamedly wept like a baby.

"Oh Severus, you made him cry, here give him to mummy," a red-headed woman who could only be Harry's mother said, holding out her arms for baby Harry.

"Strange he usually loves being held by me, maybe he is getting sick," Snape said, panicking slightly as he handed over Harry.

Harry ignored the adults as they talked nonsense above him. For the first time in his life that he could remember, he was being held by his mother. He did not care that none of this made any sense, or that he was a baby, being able to take in his mother's scent and memorise it made it all worth it. That was until he heard something that made no sense from what he had been told all his life.

"He looks so happy being held by you Lily, almost as happy as his dad looked when you married him," a man with glasses who had to be James said, "Though I will get him away from all the bookwork you two do."

Harry looked at his father in confusion. Why was James talking as if Harry was not his son? Harry looked at his father's hand and noticed that no ring was on his wedding finger; in fact the only two people with wedding rings were Lily and Snape. Realisation dawning on him, Harry tried to yell at these people for trying to trick him into thinking that Snape might be married to his mum. Everyone crowded around him and laughed at his gurgling. Nobody could understand him and next thing he knew he was in James' arms, watching Lily and Snape kiss.

"Come on guys, could you at least do that when we are not around," James said, pretending to shield Harry's eyes.

"You're just jealous," Snape said, hugging Lily and kissing the top of her head.

"Oh come on Sev, you know I haven't liked Lily since I realised Sirius was the only person for me," James said proudly, moving closer to Sirius and leaning against him.

All of this activity did not go unnoticed by Harry as he was held and unable to do anything. None of this made any sense to him. James was his father, Lily and James loved each other, he was a Potter. But everything that he had heard was different to what he had been told. He settled back to thinking it was all a vivid and terrible nightmare. There was no way any of this could be true.

Snape was a Death Eater and worked for Voldemort. He had hated James and he had called Lily a mudblood. In the back of his mind Harry wondered whether this really was his past or this was just a dream he had conjured up to deal with Sirius dying. Sirius was even here, waving his finger in front of Harry's face. Harry was pissed off and tried to grab on to his finger so he could bite it or something. Then he realised that he did not actually have any teeth to speak of. Getting more frustrated he tried to wriggle out of James' hands.

"He's a bit restless today isn't he? How about you just put him in his play pen James?" Lily said gesturing to what looked like a huge gated off area filled with toys.

Harry was put on the ground and he immediately tried to stand up and walk away. However he soon realised that he had probably never walked at this age, guessing himself to not quite be a year old yet. To curb his anger he decided to destroy all the stupid baby toys that were in his reach. Trying to rip off the arms of a teddy bear that moves around was not an easy task when you can barely grasp your fist properly. Harry angrily punched the autonomous bear as it moved slowly, trying to escape him. This was all very ridiculous and he did not understand it at all.

The adults were still talking near him and he decided he should really listen to what they had to say, so he crawled closer to them and pretended to play with a squeaky toy snitch. Remus watched him and laughed out loud.

"James, I can't believe you got Harry a whole set of baby quidditch toys. How could you ever think that any child of Lily or Severus would play?" Remus said, his whole body quaking in laughter.

"Oh come on Moony, you never know what is going to happen. Anyway, as much as Sev puts his head in the books I've seen him play mock quidditch with the Slytherin's before and he is actually quite good. If he wasn't so determined to be the best at potions, he could have taken Regulus' seeker spot on the team." James enthusiastically said, his arm lazily thrown over the back of Sirius' chair.

"You were spying on us were you, Gryffindork?" Snape asked, with laughter in his eyes.

Everyone easily laughed at his lame joke and they were getting along easily. Harry was even more confused than before.

"Oh will you look at the time, we need to get back to the ministry," James said, signalling himself, Sirius and Peter.

"Alright, are you going to stay for dinner Remus?" Lily asked, looking towards her werewolf friend.

"Oh no, not tonight Lily, it's close to the full moon, I best prepare myself," Remus said uncomfortably, getting up to leave with the rest of the marauders.

"Here Remus, take a stock of the Wolfsbane potion, it's only new, but I just made it. It should help you when you transform, taking away the pain and helping you to keep your own mind," Snape said, walking with them as they left the room, presumably to go to the floo.

Harry was left to his own devices in his play pen and was more confused than ever. This was a side of his professor he had never seen before. He just hoped that this dream didn't go on for too long as he really wanted to get back home.


	3. The Greater Good

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

_One Year Earlier_

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, looking over his paperwork and thinking very seriously about how he was going to get rid of Lord Voldemort once and for all. He was one of the few people who knew of Voldemort's true identity, Tom Riddle, the orphaned school boy.

Part of him always suspected there was more to Tom than meets the eye, but he was never able to truly pin anything on him, especially after the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco, when Professor Dippet refused to listen to him when he said that Hagrid was innocent. Although Albus agreed that harbouring a giant spider when students were in danger did not seem like the behaviour of an innocent person.

Albus pushed the thought away as he looked at his recent letters. Severus and Lily Snape had just announced the pregnancy of their first child. He wondered what would have happened if James had not been gay and him and Lily had gotten married. That had been Albus' plan, but not all things turned out the way he planned.

Looking at the letter and thinking about his own issue with Tom Riddle clicked something in Albus' brain. He knew that Tom must have a way to tie his soul to the earth, no self-respecting dark lord would trust they were safe. Albus personally believed Tom was using horcruxes, but again he had no proof and circumstance was not good enough.

But if he was able to temporarily rid Tom of his body, he could get on with his search for a way to truly destroy him without having to fight in another war. And the best way he knew of separating a soul from the body where dark magic was involved was love, specifically the love of a mother.

Now he didn't want to put his eggs all in one basket, but there was another child who was due to be born around the same time as the Snape baby. If he somehow leaked that these children would be a threat to Tom, maybe he would go after them and hopefully the mother would sacrifice herself for her child.

Now he did not exactly want to lose Lily or Alice, but it was for the greater good. He set aside his paperwork and started writing down his ideas on how to draw the Dark Lord into his plans. He was stumped on how to actually get him to target the children, when his eyes swept over a recent resume from one Sybil Trelawny.

A prophecy was the perfect way. He knew that Tom was a suspicious person and would most likely buy into the scheme. Now how was he going to deliver the message to Tom? Albus held up the announcement letter again and seriously thought about sending Severus to Voldemort. He was after all a Slytherin, it would not be too hard to believe that he wanted to eradicate the world of muggles and muggle-borns.

Albus knew that Severus would not go against Lily, but he also knew how versed he was with using _imperius_ and _obliviate_. No one would have to know that Severus was a double agent, he would simply think he was helping out his old professor.

But the major flaw was, no matter how bad he made Severus to be, he was still married to Lily, a muggle-born. Again Albus had an answer, he would tell Lily that she needed to hide as a Potter. That her child was in danger and the only way to ensure the baby's safety was to fall under the protection of the Ancient and Noble house of Potter.

Now Albus just had to _obliviate_ a few people and wait. He would wait until the baby was a little older until he let the child's location slip to Voldemort, so he would not split up Severus and Lily just yet. Let them have their little family for the time being, no harm in that. He decided he probably wouldn't wipe the child's memory, there was no way a child would remember at such a young age anyway.

With a plan fully formed, he decided to stay up the night and make sure he made all the arrangements. First off would be to call in Sybil for an interview somewhere in public.


	4. Planning

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

Harry sat in his playpen and stared at his parents. He never thought that he would ever see his mother and was in awe at how beautiful she was. At the same time he was also extremely pissed off that Snape was his father. Nothing made sense to him anymore. All he knew was that he was in the body of his baby self and he needed to learn to use the toilet soon.

Lily sat having a coffee with her husband, noticing that her baby was looking at her and Severus a lot. She was a little confused; he was acting a lot differently than she was used to. Her husband seemed occupied as she tried to talk to him about her day. She was sick of hiding from dark wizards and was telling her husband exactly what she thought about being stuck in this cottage all day.

Severus rubbed his arm absentmindedly, feeling the itch of the mark he was forced to take recently. He half-listened to Lily as she ranted about staying in this small cottage while they had a perfectly good house in London. Nodding in the right places his mind was able to wander. He was disgusted with himself for having to lie to Lily about where Dumbledore made him go on assignment and annoyed with Dumbledore for making him go. The worst part of it all was he only remembered half of what he did. Something was not right.

~OMT~

Tom Marvolo Riddle stormed through the doors to the dining hall in Malfoy Mansion. He was feeling anxious about this prophecy Snape had told him. Snape was not his most trusted minion, but he had a lot of information on Dumbledore and he was a very good Potions Master, the youngest in Europe. This prophecy was bothering him immensely and his annoyance was not from who had told him.

No, he was annoyed because he was positive he did not know it all. He was not stupid, he knew that acting out the prophecy would probably be bad for him, but he also knew that this child was going to be a threat to him. But which child was going to be a threat? Would it be the pure-blooded baby, with the ridiculous last name? Or would it be the child with a mudblood for a mother?

He sat at the end of the table in the hall, waiting for his Death Eaters to arrive. Tonight was to be a meeting focussing on orchestrating an attack on Hogwarts. Voldemort was sick and tired of Albus Dumbledore being on his high hippogriff, and wanted to attack him in his fortress. He had decided on the Christmas holidays, as all the pure-bloods worthy would go home for holidays and hopefully plenty of mudbloods would stay at Hogwarts for their fun.

Thinking on his planned attack on Hogwarts, he thought of the prophecy again. It was never far from his thoughts. He wanted to take care of the issue before he took down Dumbledore, so he planned on visiting their place by Halloween. Somehow he figured that old Dumbles would probably protect these families using the Fidelius charm. Now he just had to find the secret keeper.

He thought on his new minion Severus and knew he was close to Lily Potter, the mother of one of the children who could be the subject of the prophecy. If he could have Snape look out for who the secret keeper was, it would probably be a lot easier to go after the Potter child. He even thought he would spare the life of the mudblood for the amusement of his newest Death Eater.

With his mind made up he sat up and watched his minions flow into their seats. Tonight was going to be a busy night of planning and he wanted to get it over with. He had his own business to conduct with one Severus Snape to look forward to.


	5. Potions and Meetings

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

"Tell me again why you need me to complete this potion Dumbledore."

"I told you Severus, there is a very important family that wants to blood adopt a child whose real parents have passed," Albus Dumbledore said, peering at the Potions Master through his half-moon spectacles.

"You do realise that this potion is very dark. Once a child has been blood adopted they take on the magic and legacy of their new family. It is nearly impossible to be undone and cannot be undone once the child reaches maturity," Severus muttered menacingly while he stirred the dark red potion in the platinum cauldron needed to harness the potions full effects.

"I am aware Severus, I would not have asked you to make a potion such as this if I did not have the full information at hand. Regardless, there will be no need to reverse this potion once it comes into effect. The child's new parents want to be known as the child's only parents. The child did not come from a very decent background and as such the parents would rather they did not look like their predecessors."

Albus stood across from Severus as they argued. This was not the first time Severus had expressed his concern about such a potion. If it was not for his excellent occulemency shields, Albus may have let slip what the true use of the potion was to be. He did not know anyone else capable of brewing this potion, though he regretted the irony of having the father brew the potion to make his son no longer his. Alas, life was cruel and sadistic in such ways.

"Anyway Severus, what news do you have on Death Eater activity?"

"Really Dumbledore? I report to you do I not? You know everything I know about everything to do with that sadistic bastard and his disgusting cronies. I still do not see why it must be me that spies on these idiots," Severus snootily replied while carefully adding the powdered horn of a rhinoceros to the mixture bubbling in front of him.

"Ah, but you know the answer to that already. You kept your relationship with your wife a secret from your house. I even remember you staging a heated argument for all to see, when your house started questioning your loyalties. You were crafty enough in school to keep up a friendship with Gryffindor's whilst keeping the urges of your house sated. Only you would be able to toe between the lines and seem as though you were in their court from the very beginning. You know that nobody else would have the shields, the audacity or the bravery to do this other than yourself. You are a lion in sheep's clothing."

"Really Albus, you know I hate that analogy," Severus said, brushing off the praise he heard in his old headmaster's voice. "Fine I understand why you needed me, but it could not have been at a worse time. I have a wife and child to protect. Even if this dark lord doesn't know they are mine, I know they are mine and I am starting to get worried."

"What has got you worried?" Albus asked, with genuine interest.

"For one, Harry is starting to act strangely, at least according to Lily. For another the dark lord has started talking about a plot to follow the words of an unfinished prophecy. He says he wants to strike on Halloween and dispose of a child. Who would do such a thing?" Severus stopped stirring the now finished potion and stared into Albus' eyes earnestly. "What if that child was my own?"

Dumbledore sighed to himself, withdrew his wand and oblivtiated Severus for the fourth time that day. He thanked his lucky stars that the potion was finished. As much as he hated this situation, he would be more than glad when Tom Riddle was finally out of his hair for a little while.

Severus shook himself and fleetingly wondered why he kept zoning out. He noticed the potion was finally the perfect shade of red and looked to see Dumbledore waiting for him. He filled up two glass vials and handed them to him.

"Here you go. The second one is there so the antidote can be made if it is needed. I know you said it wouldn't be needed, but you never know. All you have to do is add the blood of the new parents and feed it to the child. If you want to reverse it, do the same thing but with the blood of their original parents. No child can be blood adopted twice and the adoption can only be reversed before the child's 17th birthday."

"Thank you Severus, you have helped me greatly," Dumbledore took the potions gently, storing the information in his head in case he would ever need it again.

~OMT~

Lord Voldemort sat at the head of the table in his favourite minion's home. Favourite was heavily sugar coating it, he did not have a favourite anything when it came to his servants. His Death Eaters were merely his tools to infiltrate the wizarding world from the inside out. Malfoy happened to have the greatest political control, making him a valuable asset for his schemes.

Around him, Death Eaters started to file in, taking their seats, the closest to himself being his most loyal, and the closest to the door being the ones he could stand to lose. Once everyone had made their way to their places, he grinned internally and started the meeting.

"Welcome everyone. I hope you bring me valuable information. Rookwood, tell me what you have."

Rookwood turned a pale green as he addressed his master. "I secured some information from Ludo Bagman about the loyalties of the Goblins. Due to his gambling, he has a lot of insider information about them. They are firmly ignoring our plight, choosing to be a neutral party instead."

"Thank you Rookwood. Although I could have figured that out myself, it is nice to know for sure. Once we have taken over Hogwarts, we shall spread through the Ministry and eventually tackle the Goblins. I dislike how we have to use them for our money," Voldemort stated simply, before turning to another Death Eater. "What have you got for me, Crouch?"

A young and inexperienced Death Eater shakily stood up, scrapping his chair noisily along the ground behind him. Voldemort impatiently waited for him to submit his report. "Um… My Lord, I have, er… Found a new recruit… He, um, may be valuable." Crouch quickly sat down again.

"Who is this new recruit?"

Thankfully one of the Lestrange brothers took over. "His name is Pettigrew. He was a Gryffindor. Don't let that fool you though. He asked the hat to place him in Gryffindor because he was afraid of being in Slytherin. Ironic, huh? Anyway, he says he heard whispers of a prophecy concerning the Potter child and yourself. He believes he can help in some way. We were unsure what to do with him, so I have him here."

The Lestrange brother produced a rat from his pocket and deposited it on the table in front of him. "He's an animagus."

Voldemort lazily flicked his wand and wordlessly cast the animagus revealing spell. In the place of the rat appeared a young fat man, who instantly started sweating profusely and fell off of the table.

"So, rat, how can you help me?" Voldemort asked menacingly, staring at the poor excuse for a wizard in front of him.

"I can get you Potter. I was made the Secret Keeper and I could easily kidnap the brat," the rat announced proudly.

"Secret Keeper, hmmm… Tell me where they are. I think I would like to visit them in person instead," Voldemort stroked his chin as he thought of the torture he would soon be bestowing on the Potter family, his thoughts lazily realising it was the day of Halloween.


	6. Halloween Night

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

Today was Halloween. Harry knew because his mother had decided to dress him in a pumpkin costume for the occasion. Tonight was the night his family would die. He knew it was going to happen. But he also knew there was nothing he could do about it. He was just a baby.

Lily watched her cute baby dressed up as a pumpkin and pondered over the serious looks he kept giving her. He kept gurgling angrily at her and although she found it absolutely adorable, she couldn't help but be worried. Her thoughts were interrupted when a head popped out of the fireplace in the kitchen.

"Lily, can myself and James come through," asked the head of her old headmaster.

Lily nodded and waited for her friends to make their way through the floo and arrive in her kitchen. Albus came through with grace and elegance, whilst James tumbled through less than gracefully. Lily's guard instantly went up, as James was pureblood and had been flooing gracefully since he could walk.

"What is going on?" Lily asked, holding her wand up threateningly, slowly edging her way in front of Harry.

Dumbledore sighed wearily and quickly disarmed her, putting her under the Imperius Curse as well. James was struggling to gain control of himself and Albus hated using such dark magic. But it was for the greater good.

"Lily, so good to see you on a night like tonight. Sadly, you won't remember what I am about to do, but let's talk you through it anyway," Albus paused for dramatic effect before ploughing his way through the story. "You see, I have no idea how to vanquish Voldemort for good, but I do know a way to hold him off for a while. I have reason to believe that he has performed dark rituals that prevent his soul from crossing over, so I have set up a situation to weaken him.

"Simply killing him would not weaken him enough to keep him out of my beard for more than a few months, he is just too strong at the moment. But, if he is as immersed in dark magic as I believe he is, then sacrificial magic should be able to rid us of him for at least the next decade. Now I suppose you are wondering what I mean by sacrificial magic. Well, you see young Lily, there is no love greater than the love of a mother for her child.

"My plan is to use that love you feel for your son, and have you sacrifice yourself for him. All you would have to do is beg Voldemort to take your life instead of Harry's and stand in his way. Although you would probably have done so anyway, I feel it is best we are both on the same page here. Now I need to do a little something to Harry to seal his fate a little further. You see, everyone believes Harry is not actually Harry Snape, but Harry Potter.

"With all the dark times surrounding us, your wedding and birth announcement never made it to the papers. Since everyone knew how close you and James were near the end of school, it would not be too much of a stretch for them to believe you to be together. I have taken the liberty of modifying the memory of everyone who knows the truth, so this could work.

"There was only one way I would be able to safely penetrate the dark lords lair, and that was with a servant of my own, who would become his most loyal servant. I tasked your husband with becoming a Death Eater. Luckily for us, you never let your relationship become public, even in school, making it easy enough for the other Death Eaters to believe his loyalties lay with the dark lord. I even tasked him with getting the dark mark as well, to truly show his loyalty.

"But most important of all, the prophecy I told you was fake. I created it myself, made Trelawney predict it through use of the Imperius Curse and planted Severus outside of the room to only hear half of the prophecy, so he could relay it to his new master. Now I only had to find a way for Voldemort to get in here, and then you decided to make young Peter your secret keeper instead of James as you were thinking.

"Peter was never truly loyal to anyone but himself, and with the luck of helping cast the Fidelius charm I was able to manipulate him into defecting and telling Voldemort your location. If all goes well, Voldemort will be departing soon for here. All I have left to do is make Harry a Potter. I'm sure you've heard of blood adoption before. I had Severus make up a batch, although he thought it was for another reason.

"I've already added James' blood to the potion, now all I need to do is give this to Harry and modify the memory of the two of you before leaving," Dumbledore finished, holding a glass vial filled with blood red potion.

Lily struggle against the restraints of the curse she was under, but all she could do was listen with a cool indifference. She followed her orders and picked up her squirming child from the ground. Using the vial that was passed to her, she forced it down Harry's throat, making sure he drank every last drop. She then promptly left the room to put Harry in his crib.

Dumbledore took the time to obliviate James and alter his memory in such a way that he believed Lily to be his wife. When Lily arrived back, he changed her memory as well, before leaving and not looking back. His conscience would not allow him to even say goodbye before lifting his spells and flooing away.

Harry internally screamed as he felt the potion changing his very make up. The pain was unbearable, as was the new knowledge he held. Although he had figured out James was not his father and he was not a Potter, he held a slim hope that he was James' son. Now he knew the depth of Dumbeldore's manipulations.

Everything started to fall into place for Harry. He was not who he had always believed himself to be. He was not Harry James Potter, he was Harry Tiberius Snape. As his vision started to blur as he gained the poor eyesight of the Potter's, his heart started to hurt. Even though he knew he was about to witness something even worse, he felt as if his identity problem was the worst thing in the world.

A blast from downstairs alerted him to Voldemort's presence. He heard his father, no, not his father, tell his mother to protect him. He stood in his crib, fully changed now and saw his mother run into his room and slam the door behind her. She pulled the dresser in front of the door in a futile attempt to keep Voldemort out.

Both of them heard the cry of _Avada Kedavra_ underneath them, followed by the sound of footsteps going up the stairs. Lily started crying and talking to Harry, trying to soothe him as he too wept. He wept for the life he had been denied, he wept for the identity that had been ripped away from him and he wept for his mother, knowing she was going to die. At least he now knew why, but that only helped to make him cry harder.

The door blasted inwards, sending the dresser flying and startling the two occupants from their mutual pain. Lily turned around, shielded Harry from the vicious monster and started begging for his life. She begged to be taken instead. Voldemort sent a killing curse at her, not feeling the need to reason with a silly mudblood over the life of a baby.

Harry stood up in his crib, tears on his cheeks, eyes suddenly dry as he stared up at the face of a creature he had faced multiple times. Tom Riddle did not have the snake eyes, slit for a nose and was not yet bald. He could almost have been considered handsome with his dark hair and dark eyes, if not for the madness lurking behind his eyes.

Although he knew what was to come, Harry stared defiantly at the man who had killed his mother. He tried to yell and swear at the abomination in front of him, but only angry gurgles came out. Voldemort obviously grew tired of this and lazily turned his wand on the toddler, whispering the words that were to be his downfall.

"_Avada Kedavra."_

**A/N: Okay guys, I would like to apologise for not updating sooner, but my muse went on holidays. I hope having these two chapters in a row helps with your forgiveness. I will not abandon this story. I hope to have the next chapter finished soon. Love you all, Ziggy :)**


	7. The Dursley's

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

"AHH!"

Harry awoke to the sounds of a startled scream. Looking up he saw his Aunt Petunia freaking out over his small form. This must be the morning she found him on her doorstep.

Sitting up Harry reached towards his Aunt, who by this point was crying hysterically. As much as he didn't like her, it wouldn't do for the neighbours to find out this way.

"Pet, what's wrong?" asked the deep baritone voice of a male who could only be Uncle Vernon.

Harry watched his uncle's face turn from red, to purple, to white in a sequence he knew all too well. Feeling as if things were progressing far too slowly and feeling cold in the November morning air, Harry grasped onto a letter folded in his blanket so he could bring it to their attention.

Vernon noticed it first. He extracted himself from his wife and took the letter from Harry's infant hand.

"Pet, we should take it inside, you wouldn't want the neighbours seeing you like this," Vernon said to his wife, holding the letter at arm length as though it could hurt him.

Petunia shook herself out of her stupor and picked up baby Harry before hurriedly closing the door behind her in an effort to escape the neighbours. It was unlikely anyone was awake to see her, but you couldn't take such chances.

"Let me call up work and tell them I won't be in. I think we need to read whatever is in that letter," Vernon said quietly leaving to go to the kitchen while Petunia sat in the lounge room.

Harry couldn't stand being in his aunt's arms any longer and began to squirm. She seemed to wake from a daze and put him in a play pen that held a fat toddler who could only be Dudley. Harry hid behind a toy workbench to keep from being prodded and poked like he knew he would be if he stayed where he had been.

Peering around the toy he watched his uncle walk into the lounge room to comfort his aunt.

"Where did it go?" Vernon asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

Petunia pointed at the play pen just in time for Vernon to see a mass of black hair duck behind Dudley's toy workbench. He sat down and pulled out the letter he had put in his pocket.

"I think we should read this. That must be your sister's kid. Let's see why the freaks have put him here," he said quietly, holding out the letter from them both to read.

While they read Harry peered at them curiously. He wondered if they had always hated him, or if it had only started when he showed signs of magic. Had he always been made to sleep under the stairs? His memory was blurry, he did not remember anything before the cupboard.

Vernon finished reading and looked furious. Petunia was not far behind him, a mixture of anger and sadness in her eyes. After all, she had just learned her sister was dead. Even if she hated her, she had still known her most of her life.

"Why don't we just take it to an orphanage?" Vernon asked angrily, glancing towards where Harry was hidden.

"You don't know them like I do, they will know and we would have him back before we knew it,' Petunia looked troubled.

"I don't want it corrupting my son. You read what it says, it's one of them. If anything I don't want it sleeping anywhere near where my son sleeps," Vernon all but thundered, trying to keep his anger in check, after all it was not his wife's fault they had a new ward.

"Well we have the mattress from Dudley's old crib in the cupboard under the stairs, we could put that in Dudley's second room and have him sleep on the floor," Petunia suggested.

"Why move it? We could squash that nonsense out of him. Have the boy learn a few hard truths," Vernon spat.

"He's just a baby Vernon," Petunia admonished quietly.

"This is my house, I pay the bills. I will not have that thing upstairs unless I have to. It does not deserve a real room!" Vernon finished in a very final tone.

Harry sat shocked. He knew his uncle never liked him, but he never knew that it had ever been quite so bad. At the very least Petunia had tried to defend him, even if she had failed. He resigned himself to having to go back to the hellhole he thought he had escaped. He was silently glad he did not have a fear of spiders like Ron did.

~OMT~

Harry sat in his cupboard. It was night and everyone was asleep. He was also very hungry. Even though he knew what it was to be hungry, having grown up in this house before, his body wasn't used to the hunger pains after being looked after by his parents.

He wanted to sneak out of his cupboard and get something from the fridge, but he was not yet strong enough to unlock the latch. Laying his head down on the mattress he began to cry silently. He missed his mother. This cursed life had given him the chance to meet his mother only to have her taken away again.

Crying a little harder, he realised he missed his father. Not the man he thought had been his father, but Snape. Although Harry had been a little freaked out around him, Snape had been a good father and had genuinely loved him. He slowly fell asleep, his real parents his last thought.

When Harry woke the next day he was confronted by a very scary thought. While he was in his own personal prison here at the Dursley's, his godfather was in wizard's prison for a crime he did not commit. Thinking through a plan to save him, Harry realised he needed to see one particular person to orchestrate it. Mrs Figg.

**A/N: Okay sorry it has taken a little bit for the next update. I have been trying to think of a plan to save Sirius and once I had it I needed to figure out how to make it work. You will here the plan in the next chapter. I hope you are liking this story - Ziggy **


	8. New Year

**_Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

It was at least another month until Harry caught a glimpse of Mrs Figg. He was once again hiding from Dudley behind the toy workbench, which had a perfect view out the window to the street. It looked as if Mrs. Figg was only just moving in.

Harry grumbled to himself, realising that Dumbledore felt the need to send him a link to the magical world a month after he left him with his relatives. For someone who was so good at meddling in people's lives, he sure took his sweet time.

It was after Christmas by the time Petunia was comfortable enough with Mrs. Figg to let her babysit him. Harry was beyond irritated by this point. He was out of nappies not long after he got there and was now left alone most of the time. Frankly he was bored, he almost wished he was doing chores to at least curb his boredom.

On New Year's Eve Harry was left at Mrs. Figg's, while the Durlsey's went to a party at the home of one of Vernon's clients. Harry didn't mind at all. It meant that he could finally start implementing the first part of his plans.

He had been practicing harnessing his magic for the past few months. At this point he was able to cast a weak _confundus_, but it was all he needed to get his plan on the way. First though, he needed to find out if Mrs. Figg had any Potion books on hand. Even Filch would be able to handle easy potions, at least Hermione had said as much to him at one point.

Mrs. Figg fed Harry proper baby food and made sure he had some toys of his own. He was happy enough to pretend to play while he listened to her as she talked to her cat. Only one now, but he knew she was going to have more soon to keep her company. Though if his plan worked she would probably go back to where she came from in less than a year's time.

"Well Mr Baubles, those nasty Dursely's are finally gone for the night. I'm glad. I have Harry Potter to look after now. I hope Dumbledore comes to see him soon. He promised he would check on him. He better be here at some point today," Mrs. Figg said to her cat as she fed him.

Harry looked on in interest. So the long nosed idiot would be checking in on him to see how he was. He wondered if he just stopped checking in on him after a while. It's not like he was being treated too badly right now, the muggles were hardly going to tell Mrs. Figg that his room was the cupboard under the stairs.

~OMT~

Dumbledore didn't turn up until well into the night. Mrs. Figg was about ready to head to bed when her fireplace lit up. Albus walked through and looked around until he spotted her.

"Ah, Mrs. Figg, you are looking well," he said, taking her hand and kissing it lightly.

"Have you been at the drink tonight Albus?" Mrs. Figg asked boldly.

"I admit the party called for an occasion of firewhiskey," Dumbeldore blushed.

Unbeknownst to them as they talked, a certain baby lay listening, breathing as though he were asleep. They talked nonsense for a few minutes before Dumbledore asked to see Harry.

"Ah, there he is. He looks healthy enough. I don't want him to see me while he's awake, that's why I came so late. Wouldn't want him recognising me when he's older. It will be easier for him to come to the wizarding world as if he were a muggle-born." Dumbledore said in a whisper, trying not to wake the child.

"Why must he grow as a muggle Albus? Wouldn't it make more sense to hide him in plain sight? I could look after him in secret and teach him wizarding customs so he will be better prepared for his future. Those muggles are certainly doing him no favours. They hate him," Mrs. Figg finished, looking sadly at the tiny form.

"Alas, he has protections on him that would only work if he were with a blood relative. He needs to stay with his muggle family and only leave to go to school once he turns 11. Though I don't doubt he will need to come back during the summer to strengthen the wards."

"Does that mean I must stay here until he is 17 Dumbledore? I had my own life I was living before this. I can't just put everything on hold and stay here."

"Arabella, I need you here to make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble and any accidental magic is explained away. Not being magical yourself puts you in the perfect position, because the Ministry will not be able to detect you. Also, as regent to the Potter estate, I am able to pay you as if you were his guardian," Dumbledore looked down at Mrs. Figg through his half-mooned spectacles, making her feel guilty for wanting to leave.

It was not long after that they finished their conversation and Albus left to go back to his party. He was after all a busy man. Mrs. Figg settled down for the night in her bed with Mr. Baubles.

As soon as he could hear her steady breathing, Harry was up like a shot. Luckily for him he was not in a cot, simply a mattress on the floor. He stood up and walked around the house silently. He was very glad he had learned to walk not long before his mother died, this would have been a lot more difficult otherwise.

Looking through the rooms, Harry eventually found a small room that looked like a study with a tiny library. Glad that he could still read, Harry pushed a chair up to the light switch and turned on the light. As the room illuminated, Harry's eyes fell upon a caldron set up with a potions book open next to it. It seemed Merlin was shining down on him as he even found a cabinet full of ingredients.

Pushing the chair up to the table that held the caldron, Harry was able to flip through the Potions book to find the potion he hoped was there. It was, and after a quick search he found all the ingredients he was looking for.

Harry got to work. Although he was small and clumsy in his body, he found he was just as good as he had always been at potions. He made sure to extensively read the instructions and not leave anything out. This potion was for him to drink and he did not want to make any mistakes. The last thing he needed was to have to explain himself.

It was 3am before he was done and he could put the potion in a few glass vials he found. He made sure to clean up and leave the room as he found it. He hid the potion in his bag, knowing he could not use it quite yet, he was far too tired.

He laid his head back on the mattress he had to sleep on and silently thankied the Weasley twins for the idea they had given him. Giggling to himself as he remembered the twins receiving white beards, he promptly fell asleep. Tomorrow he would hopefully have a chance to use the Aging Potion he had made.

**A/N: Okay, I had the muse and thought I would be nice and give you the next chapter as soon as I had it finished. I hope you like it.**


	9. Diagon Alley

_**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story.**_

Harry awoke to the sun pouring into the room, glaring menacingly into his infant eyes. Clenching his small fists, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Getting up gingerly, he walked into the hallway to see if he had slept in. Looking up at the grandfather clock standing next to Mrs. Figg's door, he saw that it was only just past 8am.

He padded softly across the hall and pressed his ear to Mrs. Figg's door. Sighing happily when he heard her steady breathing, he worked hard on performing the little wandless magic he could now do. Focusing hard, he made it so she would not notice that he would not be there for the day; and if the Dursley's called (which was highly unlikely) she would tell them he was napping. Luckily for him, the Dursley's had decided to spend the weekend in London and would not be back for another two days.

Feeling the magic slide through his fingers signalled his success, so he quickly went back to his room and removed his aging potion from his bag. Not wanting to try it out without knowing whether it worked properly or not, he went downstairs to find Mr Baubles.

As if the cat had sensed his intensions, it had tried unsuccessfully to hide in the fireplace. Harry carefully lured the cat out with some fish he had found and drugged with a small amount of his potion. He had the antidote ready, he didn't want to be stuck an adult; he just wanted to sort out things so he could go back to his time.

Mr Baubles greedily ate the fish and very soon after started growing. He didn't grow much as he was mostly an adult cat already, but he started to grey considerably. Harry quickly gave him the antidote; it wouldn't do to accidentally kill Mrs. Figg's cat with old age. The cat quickly turned back to his original age and scampered away before Harry could feed him anymore potions.

Harry stood up and uncorked the potion he had ready for today, he knew this was it and there was no point of delaying it longer. He went to take a sip, then stopped himself looking down at his clothes. He remembered the transformation into Goyle in his second year, he did not want to ruin the only comfortable baby clothes he had. He went in search of something to wear, as he was not yet able to enlarge clothes wandlessly.

He found some old trousers and an old sweater of Mrs. Figg's that would be a little awkward on him, but he planned on remedying that quite soon. Stripping down he downed the vial he had prepared earlier. It hurt growing as quickly as this. He felt his kneecaps forming, his bones fusing, his baby teeth coming in and being replaced by adult teeth, he felt puberty go by in a blink of an eye and he felt a sudden sense of vertigo as he shot up considerably.

Quickly pulling on the clothes he found, he turned to examine himself in the mirror that was hung over the fireplace. He looked to be in his late 20s. He had a nice amount of stubble and a good physique. His body must not yet be plagued with malnutrition. He was still lean, but he suddenly had height he could never have imagined in his teens. He was at least 6 foot now, which was a lot considering he was normally only 5' 7".

He did have trouble looking through his eyes, but he had gotten used to squinting over the past month. That would have to be one of the first things he fixed after going to Gringotts. Looking over the fireplace, Harry noticed an unobtrusive pot filled with familiar powder. Grinning to himself, he started a small fire and quickly flooed to Diagon Alley, remembering to pronounce his words clearly.

~OMT~

Harry fell heavily out of the fireplace and onto the hearth. The Leaky Cauldron was nearly empty and the current patrons paid him no mind. Part one of his plan was down, now he needed to get into the Alley itself. He didn't have a wand and by the looks of it, very few people would be coming through today. Schooling his expression, he brushed off the soot and walked through the back door of the pub. Feeling as though he had nothing to lose, he called on his magic and rapped his knuckles on the correct bricks.

He almost laughed aloud when it worked for him. Maybe his magical core was his teenage one and not a baby's core, come to think of it he had never heard of magical children being able to do much with magic until 5 or so. With the magic he had already done, it only made sense that he had a matured core. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he briskly walked down the mostly deserted alley.

It was New Year's Day and wizards celebrated just as much as muggles, so he expected most people were nursing wicked headaches, if they were even awake yet. He absentmindedly brushed his fringe against his forehead, in an effort to hide his scar. Even though the Harry Potter of this world was only a baby, the scar was distinctive enough to cause him trouble.

Before he knew it, he had made his way to the front of Gringotts, which looked to be as open as ever. He walked up the stairs and made his way through the doors. Walking to the nearest counter with a Goblin, he asked to see the one Goblin he remembered.

"I would like to see Griphook please?"

**A/N: I know it is a little short and ends on a cliff hanger, but I hope to have the other part up later today. Please let me know if you like how the story is going.**


	10. Griphook

_**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story.**_

_"I would like to see Griphook please?"_

The goblin teller peered over his nose down at Harry, making him feel like small and insignificant, like a bug that could be crushed, but wasn't because it was not worth the effort. Unwilling to back down now, when he had already endured two full months of the Dursley's, Harry used all his Gryffindor courage to meet the Goblin's eyes. He faltered only for a second, when he realised he might not even be a real Gryffindor at all, but he gathered himself together quickly enough to hold the gaze directed at him.

"Who are you to ask for a specific Goblin, Wizard?" the teller sneered.

"I would rather discuss that privately with Griphook, if you will arrange a meeting for me," Harry said, standing tall and speaking in his new deep voice.

The Goblin teller stared him down, but nevertheless, he gestured for a messenger goblin to help him. Whispering in his ear, he motioned for the goblin to complete the task set before him.

"Griphook is merely a vault runner with us, but I'm sure we have a room that would receive you both handsomely enough," the goblin said, again sneering at Harry, as though he was a disgusting thing.

"Thank you," Harry said politely, resigning himself to stand there to wait.

He did not wait long before the messenger goblin came for him and lead him to a most mysterious room. It was stone all over and looked as though it had been carved out of the earth itself. The walls were covered in graphic murals depicting wars of old. In front of him was a plain desk, a comfortable chair behind it and a stool in front of it. Sitting in the comfortable chair was a goblin that Harry remembered quite well.

"You are here to talk to me personally," the goblin said, no hint of a question in his tone.

"Yes," Harry said taking a seat, "Although you do not know me yet, you are the only one I feel I can trust. I have been through a few things of late and I would appreciate it if you could help me."

"You say I do not know you yet, how is this so?"

"I met you when I was eleven, which is less than ten years from now. I'm currently one, although I look almost 30. I am currently using an aging potion to be here right now."

"That's impossible, no infant's magical core would be strong enough to handle the use of such a potent potion; they can barely handle a Pepper-Up potion."

Harry tiredly looked at Griphook, he knew this would be a long conversation, but he failed to realise the effect the lack of sleep and food would have on his composure. Some things took far too long to explain; they were best seen to be believed.

"Do you know how to view a wizard's memories if they do not have a wand?" he asked, hoping for the easy way out of this mess.

Griphook smiled evilly, "Actually, with your permission, all I have to do is hold your head. We goblins are quite adept at mind magic."

Harry inwardly wished he had thought to ask the goblins for help with occulumency, so he would never have had that mess with Snape; who was his father. His life was so messed up right now.

"Do I just think about it and you see it," Harry asked, edging forward on the stool.

"Actually there is one slight catch with this method, you would essentially be sharing your life with me. It is a very intimate act and you would receive a portion of my life for your troubles. This is a once in a lifetime offer, we goblins are very protective of our secrets." Griphook stood and came around to the front of the desk.

Thinking that nothing could make things worse, Harry nodded and let Griphook hold onto his head. He felt a small amount of pain, more of a pressure as his memories were shifted through. He felt Griphook's life, he felt how it was to grow up a warrior and what it was like to tame a dragon. Techniques for battle burned into his memory as he went through goblin school and learnt the history of the species. The feeling was like no other, he was floating in the air, yet he was pushed down onto the ground by the forces of gravity. Before it really started it finished and Griphook let him go to go sit back on his side of the desk.

"Well, is it Mr Snape or Mr Potter? Harry even? It looks like we have a lot of work to do and I am now in line for a promotion," Griphook cheerfully sneered.

Harry understood Griphook a lot better now and chuckled. Perhaps things would be smooth sailing from here on.

**A/N: This is only short, I know, but the next part is a shopping trip and getting back to Mrs. Figgs, it made more sense to stop here.**


	11. Plotting and Shopping

**_Disclaimer:_********_The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story._**

_"Well, is it Mr Snape or Mr Potter? Harry even? It looks like we have a lot of work to do and I am now in line for a promotion," Griphook cheerfully sneered._

_Harry understood Griphook a lot better now and chuckled. Perhaps things would be smooth sailing from here on._

Harry sat contemplating Griphook across from him. He considered letting himself be called Potter, as magically he was heir apparent. Thinking deeper, he realised he had a sense of loyalty towards his real father. Perhaps it was time to get used to his actual identity.

"Mr Snape. Though perhaps after such an intimate exchange you should call me Harry," he said simply, realising slowly that living through Griphooks memories had added years of experiences and a sense of maturity he knew he did not have back in his own timeline.

"Well Harry, what shall we do first?" Griphook asked, while greedily stroking his hands together.

"First I think we need to prevent the old man from accessing the Potter accounts. Obviously he hasn't touched the Snape accounts as my father is still alive, but I would like you to look into it just in case. Also I would like your input on my plans for freeing my godfather. I find it fascinating that he is still my godfather, even if he was part of a set of godfathers," Harry mused, thinking of how he found out that James and Sirius were both his godfathers.

"I have the files here concerning the Potter account, as of yet no one has used the vaults since before Halloween. We shall put up blocks, specifically blocking any supposed magical guardians from having access. From the looks of it the Snape account is similarly untouched. Black however may be a problem, however if you can get Pettigrew I promise it will be brought to the correct authorities," Griphook shuffled through the paperwork that had magically appeared on the desk as he was talking.

"Putting it out to the public to look for a suspicious rat would probably be too obvious, wouldn't it? I think I will just have to visit the Weasley's under guise, or invisible. Do you have access to an invisibility cloak or know how to disillusion a wizard? Perhaps I should buy a wand, I hear they have an excellent shop in Knockturn that makes wands suited for the wizard. What are your thoughts?" Harry asked, sincerely interested in Griphook's input.

"Well I can always teach you some Goblin magic, if only to keep you ahead of the game. However, that will take time we do not have. I assume you want to get Black out quickly so you can go live with him? I can assure you that as soon as he is released, we will prompt the ministry to give him custody of you after a period of mind healing. For your immediate problem, I think you should go get a custom wand and a wand holster that goes invisible and is able to shrink with you. That or you could pay more to have the wand morph into an invisible ring that grows when you do, which accounts for shrinkage. As to the spell, why I do not know the incantation, intent could get you around that pesky detail," Griphook pondered.

"Hmm… Perhaps you are right. Only one way to find out of course. I think I need to go on a shopping trip, before I come here near the end of the day. Can I have an unlimited pouch of Galleons please?"

"Ah, I keep forgetting that now we have met minds, you know what to ask for to save yourself financially. Very well, I have one here, it will only take a moment to charm it to the Potter account, seeing as blood wise you are not quite a Snape anymore. Anyway, this will save you a trip down to the vaults which may give away your identity."

Harry waited patiently for Griphook to weave his brand of magic on the pouch he asked for. It looked like he had a nice shopping trip to look forward to.

~OMT~

Rain had started to fall as soon as Harry made his way out of Gringotts. This only set to remind him that he was only wearing the barest of clothes and a pair of house slippers that really did not fit him. Vetoing getting a wand first, he made his way to the first clothing store he found. He found a small unobtrusive store that sold both Muggle and Wizard clothing. Luckily for Harry, it also stocked bags with expansion charms.

The salesperson was happy to help him find some clothing and he soon left the store a lot more comfortable, wearing nice wizarding robes charmed to avoid the elements and a shirt, pants and shoes that actually fit him properly. Holding his new bag filled with clothing for his new persona, he walked across Diagon Alley and through to Knockturn Alley.

Remembering Griphook's instructions, he walked briskly, straight towards his destination, aware that wandering would only lead to trouble. Halfway down the alley he found the place he was looking for, Selwyn's Personal Wand Makers. Grimacing at the looks he received from a nearby witch selling rat tails, he slipped into the store.

A bell rang announcing his presence to Selwyn, the man who owned the shop. Selwyn looked old, but meaner than Ollivander. He had a permanent scowl on his face, made more evident by the bushy eyebrows he sported. Baldness seemed to balance out the amount of hair from his eyebrows and the small neat goatee on his face. Calculating eyes searched Harry, as though looking for trouble, seeing none he set down a wand holster he had been making to greet his new customer.

"Welcome, do you wish to have a personal wand made today? If not leave." His demeanour was not inviting, but Harry had expected this, it was a tactic Griphook had warned him about, obviously he looked like he wasn't meant to be in Knockturn Alley.

"Yes. A personal wand shall do nicely," Harry said abruptly, keeping to the point like he was told to.

"Fine, it is expensive, but if you have the money I won't ask questions. Come here and hold your hand over this box. Your magic will choose the wood for your wand."

Harry stepped forward and looked into the box now sitting on the counter. Holding out his hand he felt his magic searching for something. Time seemed to drag, until very suddenly a piece of wood flew into his hand.

"Hmm… Elder, how interesting..." Selwyn pondered under his breath, replacing the wood box with one full of wand cores. Harry chose not to ask about the wood, deciding instead to ask Griphook of the significance later.

Again Harry reached a hand over the box in front of him, willing his magic to start a new search. Time stretched longer this time, before two cores worked their way into his waiting hand.

"Hair of a Thestral and a Basilisk scale. Very interesting," Selwyn said, louder this time as though he was waiting for Harry to ask about the combination; instead Harry put forward a bored exterior.

"How much and how long?" he asked simply, choosing not to play into Selwyn's hand.

Selwyn looked put out by Harry's tone, but moved at once to make the wand.

"I want it to be able to transfigure into a ring that only I can see and grows to the size of my finger," Harry added, thinking of Griphook's suggestion from earlier.

Selwyn grunted as he worked, mentioning the cost would double, but Harry did not care as it was a necessity. In the end Harry waited almost 15 minutes for the wand to be made, happily exchanging the 40 galleons asked of him at the end of the transaction.

Before returning to Gringotts for a final meeting with Griphook, Harry decided to visit the eye healer situated in Diagon Alley. His time was spent allowing the healer to adjust his eyesight with some very difficult charms. It was not perfect but would last until he was in Sirius' care and could have a permanent fix.

Walking back to the bank Harry happily played with his new wand that was inconspicuously wrapped around his middle finger on his left hand. The power he felt from this wand made him want to go and break into Azkaban to rescue Sirius because he felt he could, but he decided to stick with his plan. Better to be an unobtrusive figure that a being that breaks the law in full sight of others.

As much as he was still worried, he couldn't wait to get back to work. Everything just felt like it would be so much fun, especially since this wand did not hold the trace.

**A/N: I hope you like the way the story is going, reviews with suggestions are welcome. However, I am just happy for people to be reading this. Just finished a major assignment for university so I haven't had a chance to write. I should have the next chapter up in a week at least. I hope to make this a regular schedule. Anyway, thank you for reading - Ziggy**


	12. Hallows and Horcruxes

_**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story.**_

Once Harry was back in the room with Griphook he slipped his wand off his finger and felt it return to full size. It was 11 and a half inches long and had a delicate pattern in darker elder flowing from the tip to the base. He happily waved it and turned the closest teacup into a mouse. It was simple enough Transfiguration, but it proved to him he could still preform magic.

"Griphook," Harry started, "Selwyn found the properties of my new wand peculiar. Can you tell me why?"

"That depends Harry. What are the properties of your new wand?" Griphook asked, leaning forward in an anticipatory fashion.

"It is Elder, with a Thestral hair and the scale of a Basilisk."

Griphook sat silent for at least a minute, staring at the wand in Harry's hand. Harry paused his absent-minded wand waving and watched Griphook curiously. Only a moment later, Griphook stood and made his way to a bookshelf that materialised behind him. Fingering through the titles, he took out a small unremarkable book. Once he sat down again, he handed it to Harry.

"Inside that book is the tale of the Three Brothers. They conquered death and death rewarded them with gifts. One of the brothers demanded a wand that would win him any duel. Death took wood from an elder tree and it is theorised that he used a Thestral hair as the core because the brothers never saw the core itself."

Harry looked at the book and then his wand. "That's just a story though, right?"

"You will find that most stories passed down through wizards have a basis in fact. There is a traceable history of a wand through the past millennia with similar duelling results as what is told in that story. As the story says, the brother with the wand boasted about having an unbeatable wand and was killed in his sleep for the prize. There are wizards who theorise the objects given by death are called the Deathly Hallows.

"There is of course no proof that death is even a being, but there could always have been a very powerful wizard, or perhaps Merlin himself. The timeframe is sketchy at best as well. The two other objects; the resurrection stone said to create a bridge between our world and the next, and the invisibility cloak able to make the user fully invisible. The last one I know exists, because of you."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked in barely a whisper.

"The cloak handed down to you from your father, well the Potter one anyway, however belatedly is the third Deathly Hallow. It is the only invisible cloak able to last longer than one generation. What you had was incredibly rare. You would do to use it well. I also wouldn't doubt your wand having the power to overcome the Death stick as some call it. Regardless, I have something I wish to discuss with you before you must leave," Griphook finished softly, settling back on his chair and resting his fingertips together.

"What is it?"

"I have been doing some research while you were gone and I want to examine your scar. We have an object here that has very similar properties. At least it did when it came in, we were soon to rid it of its evil." Griphook muttered, more to himself than Harry.

"What are you talking about Griphook?"

"Your scar, I think it is a horcrux," He continued on after seeing Harry's confused face, "It's an evil object that is made with the intent of trapping part of one's soul so they cannot leave the plain of the living, essentially making it a tool of immortality. I think it holds part of the soul of Tom Riddle, your Lord Voldemort."

Harry physically paled and turned to the side dry-heaving, clawing at his face trying desperately to remove his scar forcibly. Griphook hurried around the table and held his hands to stop any further damage. Harry stared into Griphook's pale eyes, feeling blood slowly pouring down his now aching forehead.

"Stop Harry, we have a way of getting rid of it. It will only take an hour. You don't need to be back for another two. Let me help you, you don't deserve to live the life you have, let me take away at least one of your pains," he said sincerely, searching the green eyes in front of him for understanding.

Harry stared blankly for a moment longer before nodding his consent.

"Good, we'll have to go into the ritual room, but it'll be over before you know it."

~OMT~

Harry lay face up and naked on a cold stone in the middle of a ritual circle. At the edge of the circle was a pig that was prepped to take the soul after it was removed from him. It was explained to him that if a living thing hosted a soul it needed to be killed before the soul would die, so moving it to another being was the best way. Harry slowly closed his eyes and tried to breathe easily.

"Harry, we need to take some blood for this to work. It will only hurt for a second," Rackjaw, the ritual leader said to him before extracting a decent amount of blood.

Harry gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He would be glad when it was over. The ritual began with Rackjaw chanting under his breath. Beside them stood a cauldron over a fire that had a bubbling potion within it held Harry's and the pig's blood. Before he had time to register, Rackjaw ran his hand over his scar and started pulling. It wasn't a pulling of skin, it was a pulling of magic. Griphook came forward to help by spooning the potion over Harry's exposed body.

The potion burned, but still he did not let out a noise, he knew worse was to come, he had already been briefed on what to expect. As he was told the pulling on his scar suddenly increased and his head ached, it felt like his scar was anchoring itself as far in his head as it could go. But Rackjaw was stronger and Harry was suddenly in a world of pain as the soul escaped his body through the scar on his forehead.

Harry didn't realise he was screaming until he stopped and silence surrounded him. A feeling of peace like he had never felt overcame him, it was as if he had never had a moment of rest in his life. Which he probably hadn't as the soul had been trying to syphon his life force and power for practically his whole life.

"How are you feeling?" Griphook asked gently, as Rackjaw waved away the potion, the blood and healed all of Harry's wounds.

"Elated," Harry said simply, allowing Griphook to help him redress.

"Don't expect this treatment all the time Harry, I'm not a house-elf," Griphook growled good-naturally as he shrugged Harry's jacket on.

Harry smiled. No, he beamed. Everything was amazing. He never realised how depressed he had always been. He was a new man, and nothing could get in his way. Opening his mouth wide he started laughing like he never had before. It soon turned into hysterical tears as Harry let go of the weight that had just left him. Griphook held him as he wept, before leading him back to his office.

Once back in the office Griphook gave up his comfortable chair for Harry, no longer needing the power the chair held, instead needing Harry to be comfortable. There were some things you couldn't go through without becoming friends, and extracting the soul of a mass-murderer was one of them.


	13. Sirius Black

_**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story.**_

The room was dark and derelict, the only source of light the glow of a single candle coming through the bars of the door. Most of the door was reinforced metal, with two holes, one at the top with the bars and another at the bottom which had a flap for food. Not that you would want to eat the food. If you were lucky, the food was only slightly off, but more often than not it was infested with maggots. Once you got past the gross factor, they were a good source of nutrients.

Looking into the room from the door, there was an unmistakable stench in one corner that housed a bucket. There was supposed to be a constant vanishing charm in the bucket to prevent the build-up currently there, but guards chose who they gave the privilege of clean smelling cells. One small window to the outside, more of a tiny hole that a window, did nought to protect the inhabitant from the elements.

The inhabitant slept fitfully on the straw bed provided on the floor. A torn sheet was the only source of warmth as the cold January night streamed through the small opening. Showers were not considered necessary in this place, especially for the scum that presided in this particular area. This was the maximum security block, where a cleaning spell was used only if the vile creatures were freed or heading to the kiss. They were not worth the effort.

But the inhabitant in this particular cell was soon to be released. He had been there for not quite 3 months and already he was showing the strain. Dementors surrounded the block around the clock, sending most prisoners insane within their first week. Some memories should never be remembered, like teaching a friend to turn into a rat, almost directly leading to the reason this prisoner was in here in the first place. The innocent prisoner of Azkaban.

~OMT~

A few weeks passed for Harry after his meeting with Griphook. He was very careful not to be caught doing magic, but he would often duplicate food when able. His new wand, while not able to be used in its ring form, helped him control his magic a little better so wandless magic could be used. His main problem was he was doing wandless and wordless magic more often than not. Even though he knew the words, it was training his mouth to say them that was the trouble.

Harry received a letter near the end of January. It turned up in his cupboard when he was in the garden staying out of his relative's way. Excitement building, he waited until the night once his relatives were asleep to read it. After the stroke of midnight he happily used his wand to cast lumos and read his letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I am writing to inform you of your godfather's release. He will be spending a month or two in the care of our healers before he is fit to retrieve you. We have been trying to find ways of unblocking the memory spell on him so you could be returned to your rightful home with your father. It is unlike anything we have ever seen and we are worried it may only be able to be done through wizarding means._

_We have kept his release tightly sealed through unbreakable vows and outright bribery. The hope is his innocence will be kept quiet until after he has taken you, this should prevent a certain meddling fool from interfering. Your rat enemy has been found and taken into custody, in return we have offered the Weasley family an apprenticeship for their oldest child once he comes of age. As we both know he would come work for us anyway, this just cements it._

_My advice to you is to stay out of trouble. I have included a few books on memory charms in this envelope. You need only tap the envelope with your wand and say the phrase "Information on the mind" and they will appear. Hopefully you can run tests on healing your godfather so it is much easier to heal your father. If you need money, don't forget you will always be a Potter through the adoption and have the right to the vault left for you._

_May your fortune be true and your enemies vanquished._

_Griphook_

Eagerly Harry took off his ring, transformed it into his wand and tapped the envelope. Four heavy books appeared at his feet. Thankful for getting his eyesight fixed, he dived into the books, only putting them down when he heard the clock chime 2 in the morning.

~OMT~

Harry woke from his dream. It had been a pleasant dream about his first birthday party. It had happened not long after his arrival in the past. Thinking back on it fondly he felt feelings of loss for his father, his real father. No matter how angry he had been at Snape in the future (he got confused when thinking of the tense) he had lived through how doting his father really had been. Something moved inside him and he realised how much he wanted to be there for his dad. But he would wait, first he needed to go with Sirius and fix his memory, before he could even think of approaching his father in any form.

~OMT~

Severus Snape sneered as he looked out at the students eating their fill in the Great Hall. He was working as an assistant teacher to Slughorn for the rest of the year. Albus had vouched for him when it came to the Death Eater trials on the proviso that he would work at the school. Severus wanted nothing more than to flee the country, but a small part of him felt like he needed to be here.

Inwardly sneering, Severus watched as Albus happily chatted to Minerva and Filius about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend in February to celebrate Valentine's day. He was glad that he had already been asked to give up his weekends for brewing by Slughorn, as the last thing he wanted to do was be in the village. After Lily's death he had been harbouring a smouldering sense of loss and seeing all the happy couple's would just piss him off. Not that he had ever been a couple with Lily.

Shaking his head to clear it, he stood from his seat to leave. He didn't have much of an appetite these days and abhorred the cheerful feelings radiating around the hall. Striding from the hall quickly, he began his descent down to the dark dungeons he so preferred.

"Wait, Severus!" A voice rang out behind him.

Looking back, he noticed it was the Charms professor Filius Flitwick. A half-goblin who often had been made to turn his back on his culture to integrate with the wizards. Feeling exhausted from the happy feelings from the hall, Severus didn't have enough energy left to sneer as he normally would, instead standing still and waiting for the tiny professor to catch him up.

"Is there anything I could help you with Filius," he asked politely once Flitwick was close enough not to yell towards.

"I haven't talked to Albus about this yet, but I got word from a cousin of mine at Gringotts that Sirius Black has been released. They said he was sent on a false charge. I know you were cleared, but are you sure that Black was ever a part of You-Know-Who?" he asked quickly and quietly.

Severus blinked down at him confused. This made no sense to him. He never saw Black but he was sure he was the reason his Lily was dead. Pain very similar to the cruciato curse ran through his head. He stumbled, holding his head tightly. He had only heard of pain like this in certain instances, where people who had been memory charmed were close to breaking the charms bind.

"Don't tell Dumbledore," Severus whispered to Filius as he collapsed.

**A/N: I know it has been a long time since I have published and I am sorry. Real life has been irritating. Please let me know what you think. My thinking is with a little prompting so soon since the memory charm Severus would have been able to break it because of his Occulemency skills.**


	14. Severus' Mindscape

_**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story.**_

Severus sat up and observed his surroundings. He was not awake, he was in his own mindscape, which he had created when mastering occulemency. All around him were shelves filled with potion ingredients, or at least that is what they looked like. This was how he stored his memories. He was sitting in a room very similar to the potions classroom he had grown fond of.

Standing up he decided to take a look around, it was not often he had a chance to be in his own mindscape. He walked over to a cauldron sitting at the end of the room that held his recent memories yet to be sorted. Peering inside he saw himself collapse in pain and pondered its meaning. Few people could memory charm a master in occulemency, and when it happened it was rare the person could break the charm.

Knowing his subconscious threw him here in an attempt to fix the breach on his mind, he glanced around to try and find the start of the charm. He sighed to himself, if someone was able to cast a memory charm powerful enough on him, it would not be an obvious find. Instead he chose to look through his recent memories concerning Sirius Black.

Seeing as Flitwick mentioning Black had triggered his minds notice of the memory charm, he thought it was a good place to start. Newer memories would be best, as shields his strong would have absorbed the memory charm in about a year's time without any interference. Walking to the section of his memories that included enemies, he looked for Black.

He became confused quickly when he did not find him there, it was where he stored all the people he hated. It was the easiest way for him to come up with memories concerning them. Peering around, he tried to think of where else he might put one of his biggest arch enemies from school. He strode towards the school section and found a shelf dedicated to the Marauders. Straight away he could tell it had been tampered with.

The potion bottles that held his memories were not in the neat order he normally gave to his ingredients. Something was not right with his memories of his school bullies. He pulled one out at random and put it into a nearby empty cauldron to view.

It was a memory of the day he broke ties with his Lily. He felt a pang of loss, stronger than he thought he would. Something was amiss in the memory. When he called her that hated word she looked upset, but her eyes held laughter. It did not make any sense; why would she be laughing? He glanced around at everyone there, seeing the laughter he expected, but it was not a malicious as he thought it had been. Even his own face was hiding a smirk.

He knew he was close to finding out the truth now. Walking back to the Marauders shelf, he took out his wand and made invisible strings appear that had been hidden. This was his failsafe method of linking memories. He picked one up label Sirius Black and followed it to a nearby shelf. This was not his enemies' shelf, but his friends' shelf. He stood confused for a moment, then he was bombarded with memories he had been forced to forget.

_The day was warm, but not hot and he could hear birds singing through the window. He was standing in a small room wearing formal robes, shaking slightly, he was very nervous. Hearing the door open he looked up and saw his best friend Remus Lupin._

_"Are you ready?" Remus asked him, a nervous smile playing on his lips._

_"As ready as I will ever be. Are you sure she still wants to do this?" he was afraid still of rejection, remembering clearly his bad upbringing._

_"Sev, she loves you and has for longer than I've known you. Just stand up there and wait until you see her. I bet she will take your breath away."_

_He smiled at Remus as he strode out the door and stood at the top of the aisle with the wizard celebrant. Remus stood next to him, followed closely by Sirius and James. The seats surrounding the aisle were filled with happy people ready to witness the most important event of his life. Music filled his ears as he turned to see the woman of his dreams walk down the aisle towards him._

_His eyes became watery as he watched the red-headed angel glide towards him. Her dress was simple, but stunning and her eyes held only love for him. It seemed like an eternity, yet no time at all until she was standing in front of him, ready to wed. He held out is hands for hers and peered deeply into her eyes._

_"Lily," he sighed contently_

He gasped out, he remembered everything now.

_Lily screamed out in pain as another contraction hit her. She grasped his hand tightly, tighter than he ever thought possible. The healer told her she was doing very well and all she had to do now was push. Her breathing became laboured as she pushed with all her strength. Suddenly the heavenly sound of cries filled his ears as his first child was born._

_"It's a boy!" the healer exclaimed, magically cleaning the child before handing him his new son._

_"Look Lily, he has your eyes," he said excitedly handing his son to his wife, "What should we call him?"_

_Lily smiled serenely while looking into the eyes of her new son. Glancing up at her husband she grinned._

_"How about Harry Tiberius Snape?"_

He had a son? Lily did not marry Potter and he had a son.

_James and Sirius held hands as the minister declared them Harry's godparents. Lily happily watched the young couple as they were handed her son._

_"Oh Sev, don't they make such a good couple? One day they will hopefully have their own baby," Lily sighed while snuggling closely into him._

_"Who knows Lily, though I might have something to say if they ask you to carry," he said, kissing the top of her head while peering at his giggling son._

_"Oh shush you, you'll just be jealous," Lily hit him softly on the arm before cuddling him harder._

_"Yeah, I would," he said, sighing contently._

Black and Potter were an item. No James and Sirius were a couple.

_The room was dark, which was unusual for the headmaster's usually brightly lit office. The headmaster himself was sat at his desk, peering over at him. The memory was unusually dull._

_"Severus you will become a death eater. Nobody will know you are really married to a muggle-born. When you complete your missions, you will forget everything you have done. Your wife will never know. You must let her sacrifice herself for the greater good," Dumbledore said forcefully._

_He nodded and left the room to fulfil his newfound instructions._

He fell out of his memories, still feeling them swirling around him. He had broken the memory charm completely and now he knew all about Dumbledore's plot. Everything made a lot more sense now and he ached with the realisation that he had lost a wife and he had no idea where his son was. Falling out of his mindscape, he awoke in unfamiliar quarters.

On a seat next to him sat Flitwick, reading a book. Severus looked at him and broke down in tears as their eyes met.

"I remember everything."


	15. Releasing the Prisoner

_**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe does not belong to me, I am only borrowing these characters to tell a story.**_

The sound of footsteps on marbles echoed around the hall as Severus Snape swept his way through a long corridor in the depths of Gringotts. After his realisation about how his life had be changed for him he could only do one thing, he needed to see his friend Sirius and make sure he was okay. For now, there was nothing he could do about his son, but maybe Sirius would know more than he. As his train of thought settled to a dull murmur he reached an impossibly tall wooden door. Pausing briefly, he collected his emotions and walked through.

He had not been granted an immediate audience with Sirius Black, instead he had been told to make his way to the office of a goblin called Griphook. Griphook was a new goblin to him, certainly not one that had an office; but he had been partially inebriated, in a sense, the past few months, so maybe it was not right to trust all of his memories. As he walked into the regal looking office, he noticed Griphook sitting behind a grand desk, simply oozing superiority.

"Sit," commanded the goblin. Before Severus even had a chance to think about the commanding tone he was sat on the uncomfortable and simple chair that stood in front of the imposing desk.

"Why do you wish to see a man who is behind bars? What makes you think he is here?" the menacing goblin sneered.

"For why, I cannot tell you. But Filius Flitwick informed me that a relative told him Sirius Black was falsely charged and resided here until it was safe for the ministry to learn of the change," Severus drawled in his best Gobblygook, in hopes of impressing the element of surprise onto the goblin.

"Speaking my language will not impress me enough to spill any secrets. State your reason for seeking out Black, or leave," Griphook sneered, switching to his mother tongue now he knew his visitor was fluent.

"Very well. I have reason to believe that Sirius Black has been under the effect of a potent memory charm, one that I can break. I wish to see him to break the charm, or at least see if my suspicion of the memory alteration is correct. He may have information on my son."

Severus almost swore when he accidentally mentioned he had a son, but noticed the sudden change in Griphook's demeanour following the slip. Griphook turned from him and spoke into a small device on his table. Soon a messenger goblin took him from the room through another set of long hallways until he encountered a room very similar to the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Behind him walked Griphook, cautiously testing his reaction to the change of scenery.

"At the far end of this room there is another room that holds the man you are looking for. We have been made aware of the memory charm and have been unable to break it. We have our own magics, but not the right type to fix this. You are allowed to help him, but I will need to talk with you afterwards," Griphook drawled, while gesturing to an inconspicuous door that Severus had not notice up until then.

Severus nodded severely and strode towards the room that held his friend. Even though he could still remember the effects of the memory charm in himself, he was more aware of his true thoughts and his true friends. Sirius Black was one of his best friends and he could barely believe the amount of contempt he had felt for him before he remembered the truth.

He opened the door and found his friend in a bed staring at the ceiling. His body was thinner and his hair fell lank, unlike the usual healthiness it often embodied. Severus rushed forward to sit on the only seat in the room.

"Sirius, oh Sirius, are you okay?" he asked gently, reaching towards James' love.

Sirius seemed to snap out of his catatonic state and flinched away from Severus. An ugly sneer made its way onto his face.

"What are you doing here Snivelus!?" Sirius growled.

Severus flinched away from the offending tone and mentally reminded himself that this was a product of Dumbeldore's manipulations and Sirius did not remember their friendship. He took a mental deep breath, realising it would not be easy helping Black, especially since he needed his permission to dive into his mind and fix him.

"I'm here to help you Sirius. You have had your memory tainted and I can help you find your true self."

"What are you talking about?" Sirius said in a menacing tone.

"If you let me into your mind I can help you recover," he said softly, anticipating the anger he was about to receive.

"Why would I let a Death Eater into my head? I bet you were happy when Lily and James died! You probably think I can tell you where their son is so you can finish them off!"

Sirius' shouting alerted a medical attendee goblin, who made their way into the room. Clucking their tongue at the distress to their patient they quickly administered a calming draught. Glaring at the offender for riling up their patient, they soon left.

Severus sighed and waited for the potion to take hold. It would not do for him to kill this man. Even if he was his friend, he was certainly treating him like an enemy.

"Please let me help you Sirius. I will swear a wizards' oath that I will not tell anyone of what I see in there without your express say so. I do not want to harm you; I just want to help you."

Unsure if it was the pleading tone or the words said Sirius relented and released his occulemency shields. Severus, unwilling to let the opportunity go to waste, quickly dove inside Sirius' head. He pulled back a little as he realised he might be hurting Sirius, but nevertheless strode forward to find Sirius' own mind scape.

It looked as if he was in the Shrieking Shack at Hogwarts. He remembered the Shrieking Shack, both his true memories and the fake memory that Dumbledore had planted. His fake memory had him being victimized in a cruel prank that almost took his life. In reality he had been inside the shack almost as often as the marauders, helping them achieve their animagus forms and his own in order to help Remus' transformations. He shook off the memories and peered around for Sirius' memory vessels.

Searching through the rooms, he found blank pieces of parchment littered around. Peering into his own memories he realised what they were and how to see them properly. Smiling to himself he tapped a page with his minds wand and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Before him materialised a screen on the page that broadcasted a memory.

This particular memory was of Black's childhood and had him being belted by his father for saying that muggles weren't as bad as they were made out to be. Severus looked away from the atrocities, briefly thinking of his own childhood, and searched through the rooms for any anomalies that could signal the memory charm.

He reached the main room and noticed a floorboard was missing some nails. He kneeled down and pulled the board up. Underneath was an assortment of papers, also blank. Casting the same charm from before he started viewing the true memories of his friend.

He saw the very first time they had met each other on the train and how they had not liked each other. He saw the day they realised they were alike and when he had started providing Sirius with potions for his pranks. He even saw the day Sirius realised he was in love with James and that was why he had never settled down with a woman.

As he sorted through the memories, he knew Sirius was seeing them. Very soon there was a rumble and the pieces of paper left the space under the floorboard and flew up into their original spaces, signalling the break of the memory charm.

Severus found his way out of Sirius' head and back into his own mind. He opened his eyes and looked at his old school friend. Sirius had tears in his eyes and look more lost then he had ever seen him, noticing he was being watched Sirius faced him before lunging at him for a much needed hug.

"Oh Sev, I am so very sorry, I can't believe the things that came out of my mouth," Sirius sobbed into his ear.

Severus did not say anything, but held him close. Remembering Lily was his and coming to terms with her death was hard. Sometimes words weren't enough and you just needed a friend to hold you close.

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who is still reading this. I know my updates are few and far between, but I will make an effort to give you more soon. I have exams and another short semester of uni left. I should be able to post at least another chapter before Christmas. I already have the next chapter outlined. Bear with me and thank you for reading.**


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