Alternate Universes

Right, people, I no longer have a CLUE as to where this is heading. This chapter was written TOTALLY off the top of my head, so nothing is developed to come after it. Know what this means?


YOU HAVE TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!


Comments, suggestions, etc. are greatly appreciated. There will be more, I just have to figure it out. This entire story has gone straight from head to computer while I’m sitting here, so I was nervous as to what people would think of it. I am SO glad that so many of you are liking this story. For something that started as an idea while taking a shower at 1 a.m., it’s turned out rather well. THANK YOU!!


Enjoy the tale, folks!


~Desertrain


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/Yes/ thought Sirius. /Go about your errands, looking behind you every couple of minutes. You won’t see me./ Peter Pettigrew had stopped at a shop window, and was gazing at the contents of the store. Sirius, being the tracker that he was, hadn’t taken long to catch up with Peter. His mind had been focused solely on his prey. His Auror trainers would have been proud. Now, all Sirius had to do was wait for the proper moment to spring and catch Peter. Just a few more seconds. . .he would be at that alleyway. . .a perfect place to herd him into to capture and apparate him to the ministry jailhouse. . .YES!


Peter had reached the alleyway. Before he could move entirely passed it, Sirius moved up and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. Peter jumped, and turned to look at Sirius. Sirius smiled, pasting a look of friendship in his face.


“Hey, mate. Fancy seeing you here!”


Peter let out a cross between a cough and a laugh. “Yeah. Funny. Hey, I’m really in a hurry, so; great to see you and all, but. . .” his words stopped as he realized that, as he had been stuttering his excuses to Sirius, Peter had been steered into an alleyway with no way out. The mask dropped from Sirius’ face as he grabbed Petearm,arm, yanked up the sleeve, and gazed upon the Dark Mark burned into Peter’s flesh.


“How could you?” Sirius whispered in a deadly tone. “They were your friends when the entire school would have pretended you didn’t exist. They were kind to you, and look how you repay them, you. . .you. . .you. . .rat-/bastard/!!”


Peter deflated. “So, the Dark Lord got them, did he? I really am sorry. I didn’t have a choice, you see—I had to tell him what he wanted to know! He’d have found out anyway, and I thought that their deaths would be easier this way. I just didn’t want them to suffer!”


A wolfish grin spread on Sirius’ face. “Backward thinking, mate. Anyway, that’s where the jokes on you, isn’t it? They lived, Peter. LIVED! Lived to put you to trial as a Death Eater. What is the penalty for that again? Oh, yes. . .I remember. . .”


By now, Sirius had Peter by his shirt front, plastered against the wall of the alley. The thought he had Peter right where he wanted him, but he had forgotten to do one thing.


Peter still had his wand.


After a moment of fumbling, Peter had his wand out, and shouted “Rictusempra!” There was a loud bang, Sirius went flying back, to hit the opposite wall. Shouting could be heard now on the street, and Sirius knew that he had to get Peter and get out of Muggle London before he was arrested for assault. Peter had started running for the alley entrance, when Sirius shouted


“Stupefy!” But he was too late. Peter grinned at Sirius as he disapparated, and the curse hit a muggle, who dropped like a sack of wet bricks. Sirius winced. The muggle would come out of unconsciousness soon, but he would be sore. There were people all around now, and Policemen were headed at Sirius. /Oh, dear./ Thinking fast, Sirius disapparated from the inescapable alleyway and landed a few streets over, where ha had left his motorbike. He took bikebike around behind a building, and murmured the spells that would cloak him just as efficiently as an invisibility cloak, and silence any sound that the bike made. With that, Sirius took off, and started towards Hogwarts. He sighed. The others would not be pleased.


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Against Madame Pomfrey’s wishes, Lily was out of bed and dressed within a matter of minutes. She didn’t know what it was Sirius had done, but it must be bad if Dumbledore was this worried. They were about to leave the infirmary, when Lily took note of the fact that Harry was still in James’ arms. /This won’t be the place to have Harry!/ Lily thought frantically. /What are we going to do with him?/ Dumbledore must have caught her hesitation, as he turned to Madame Pomfrey, who was still fretting about Lily leaving the infirmary so soon.


“Poppy, do you have any other pressing duties at the moment?” Madame Pomfrey shook her head no. “Then would you be so kind as to look after young Harry, here? That way, Lily will have to come back, and you can give her another check up.” Madame Pomfrey went from muttering to pleased in a heartbeat, and eagerly took Harry from James.


“I’m sure the little fellow and I will get along just fine, Albus. Come on, Harry, I’ll show you where you’re going to spend a considerable amount of time, once you begin playing Quidditch, if you turn out anything like your father. . .”


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When the group walked into Dumbledore’s office, the first thing they saw was Sirius, standing by Fawkes, apparently lost in thought while stroking the bird’s feathers. James grimaced. “You look horrible, mate. What’ve you been up to?” Sirius jumped at the sound of James’ voice, and turned around quickly. He really did look bad. Tired, like he hadn’t slept in a couple of days. James wondered when the last time he had eaten anything was. Probably not since he had heard about the attack. James shook his head. That was Sirius, Mr. One-Track Mind. Although, in this case, he really didn’t mind.


Sirius started speaking in a quiet voice, but it slowly got louder. “He got away. I made a stupid mistake, and he. Got. AWAY!”


Lily put a hand on Sirishoushoulder. James waited tensely. Usually, when Sirius got like this, it was a bad idea for anyone to try to touch him. But Lily’s presence seemed to be just what he needed at the moment. He looked at her, and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Lily. I should have caught him.” Lily smiled and shook her head.


“You did a great thing just by finding him. You know that for anyone else it would have been nearly impossible. And now he’s scared. He knows you’re after him. Peter doesn’t think when he’s scared. We can use that to our advantage.” Sirius relaxed and nodded. James spoke up.


“She’s right, Sirius. You can’t let yourself get depressed over this, because next time, he won’t get away. You’ll get him.”


Sirius looked straight into James’ eyes. He knew that Sirius took his work very seriously, and he also knew that Sirius was one of the most loyal people that one could ever hope to be friends with. Sirius did not take well to betrayal. And Peter had just betrayed his friends. What James saw when Sirius looked into his eyes was frightening. James saw Sirius’ urge to kill Peter with his bare hands for what he had done.


“That’s a promise.” The two held eye contact a second longer, then both turned towards Dumbledore, who had been standing back, watching the interaction between his former students.


“You’re not going to like this. . .” Dumbledore announced. “Sirius is a wanted man in the Muggle news media now. The thought is somewhere along the lines of ‘the perpetrator threw something bright at the victim, and he disappeared, probably vaporized.’ They think you murdered him, Sirius.”


Sirius snorted. “Given another second, I might’ve,” he said. “What does the wizarding world think?”


Dumbledore frowned. “Well, I’ve let the ministry know that you weren’t the secret keeper, and therefore not to blame. Slanted journalist, such as your old rival Rita Skeeter, are doing they’re utmost best to malign you, but I don’t think she’ll get far.”


James elbowed Sirius. “See, I told you not to terrorize her too much when we were in school, mate. Comes back to bite you on the behind, doesn’t it?” Sirius pulled a face at James as Lily snickered behind her hand. Rita Skeeter had had a huge crush on Sirius from the moment she entered school a year behind them. Unfortunately, she had sent him a Valentine poem a la singing midget that year. He had found out who had done it, and from that moment on, she had been the butt of many quite un-nice—but highly amusing—practical jokes. And now, it seemed, Sirius was paying for those moments of hilarity.


“Well, as long as the wizards know I’m not a threat, I should be alright. I definitely DON’T want a stay in any Ministry holding cell, that’s for sure and for certain.”


Remus chose this moment to speak up. “So, what /is/ the Ministry going to do about Pettigrew?” Lily winced.


“I still can’t believe this” she said. “Yesterday he was our Pete, all nice and lovable and slightly Hufflepuff-ish, and today he’s /Pettigrew./ It all happened so fast. . .”


Remus looked at Lily with a sympathetic look. “I know. I feel that way to. But there’s just no way I can think that our Pete would do this. However, Pettigrew I can deal with. It may be silly, but it’s as if the name creates a different entity, one that I can think clearly about.” The rest of the group nodded their understanding, and the conversation went on as Dumbledore explained the Ministry’s thoughts on the matter.


“The Ministry is putting Aurors on the case. They are monitoring apparitions, and asking that people apparate as little as possible. The floo network is also being monitored, so it will be difficult for Pettigrew to get anywhere without being seen. When he is found, they want him stupefied, or a full body bind administered. They really want to have Pettigrew alive, so he can give them the names of other Death Eaters. But no matter if he gives those names or not, he’ll spend the rest of his life in Azkaban for what he did.” All four of his former students blanched at the mention of the horrible prison. At this, there wasn’t much more about Peter Pettigrew to discuss, so the conversation turned to more pleasant matters. Remus turned to the Potters and asked,


“So, where are you three going to set uw? w? I mean, the Dark Lord is gone, but do you want to go back to Godric’s Hollow?” The couple shook their heads ferociously. They would never live in that house again, and they knew it.


“We haven’t discussed it. We need to, though.” Lily admitted. She looked at James, who shrugged.


“I guess we could stay at my parents house until we get a new place. They would love to have Harry there, I know, and there’s more than enough room at the Manor. Unless, of course, you want to see about staying with your family?” Lily shuddered. Her parents would love to have them, she knew, but Petunia would make her life miserable. That’s why she had made sure, by making Sirius Harry’s godfather, that if anything happened to them, Harry would never, /ever/ fall into Petunia’s hands. . .unthinkable. . .


“No, James, definitely your parents. Besides, even though my parents know about the whole magic bit, it still kind of freaks them out a bit. Your parents know what just happened when you call an object from across the room that you didn’t want to get up for. don don’t.” James nodded his understanding.


“I’ll floo home tomorrow morning. Until then, though. . .” As James trailed off, Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly.


“You two do know that you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need to, correct?” James and Lily started. They had never even thought about staying at Hogwarts. James nodded.


“Thank you, sir. That would really help us out tonight, and tomorrow I’ll go tell my parents to expect us. Then we’ll have to start clearing out what’s left of the house in Godric’s Hollow. . .”


And as Lily and James Potter began to make plans for their future, Madame Pomfrey found a small cut on Harry’s forehead that, due to his unruly hair, had been overlooked all this time. As a result of this, Harry would always have a lighting shaped scar…