Oh God Not Again!

Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: Wow, I got nearly twice the reviews for that chapter as I did for any other chapter. I think maybe this whole cliffhanger thing is a good idea, after all… And now, for the chapter that can't possibly live up to everyone's expectations.

Sirius froze.

"Come now, Padfoot, don't be like that. It'll be a pretty piss-poor reunion if one of us is pretending to be a stray dog the whole time," Harry told him, crossing his arms.

Sirius quickly resumed his human form. He looked better than Harry remembered, probably because he had escaped earlier and had three years of freedom under his belt before he came back in time. "Reunion?" he asked carefully. "What do you mean reunion? Harry Potter can't possibly remember me; I haven't seen him since he was an infant. Who are you?"

Harry smiled. "Harry Potter. But I think you've got your facts wrong. You haven't seen me since you tripped through the Veil of Death."

"I didn't trip through it!" Sirius protested indignantly. "Bellatrix hit me with a curse and while I admit that I probably should have been paying more attention, it could have happened to anyone and…Wait. How do you know-?"

"How do you?" Harry countered.

"I was there."

"So was I," Harry told him.

"You fell through the Veil, too? What, were you chasing me or something? I'd have thought that Moony would have had the sense to restrain you. He was standing right there. That's highly irresponsible, especially for him…" Sirius trailed off.

Harry snorted. "I hardly think you're one to lecture anyone else about responsibility, but, for the record, he did. No, I came through the Veil later."

"How much later?" Sirius asked.

Harry shrugged. "Eight years or so."

Sirius's eyes bulged out. "Eight years? That makes you, what? Twenty-three?"

Harry nodded. "Mentally, yes, although physically, of course, I'm closer to twelve."

"What happened? Did you defeat Voldemort? What did you come back? Did everyone die? Tell me everything," Sirius demanded.

"Well, um, Dumbledore got Snape to assist in his suicide at the end of sixth year but didn't bother telling anyone else about it so we all thought he was evil until right after he died at the end of what would have been my seventh year had Voldemort not taken over the Ministry half a month or so before school started. I spent most of the year on the camping trip from hell, a myriad of people died, including Remus, Tonks, and Fred, and I killed Voldemort after he killed me. Oh, and Remus and Tonks got married."

"…What was that last part?" Sirius asked.

"Remus and Tonks got married?" Harry repeated innocently.

"No, the other last part. The one about Voldemort killing you," Sirius clarified.

"Oh, well he killed me and I had a nice chat with Dumbledore's soul who informed me that just because I was imagining things it didn't make it not real and then I got better."

Sirius just stared at him.

"It gets better," Harry grinned. "Apparently I only survived because of the power of love."

Sirius groaned. "For the record, when you're telling this to other people, try to come up with an explanation that sounds more badass."

"Who says I'm telling other people?"