A/N : Hello, just a reminder that I own nothing and no money has been made from this, just writing for you lot and the joy of it.

I've used a section from the first book, pretty much word for word, I hope it works the way I intended.

I'm struggling with how to reconcile the timelines, I've pinched a few ideas from a very old TV show, the name eludes me, and drew a little inspiration from Back to the Future.

Thanks for all your reviews and making the effort to get in touch, please keep that up, I really enjoy it. Enjoy the new chapter

Chapter 8 – Strangely Familiar

Platform 9 and ¾ was teeming with students and parents alike, Harry stood with the Blacks in a line, no one paid them any attention. He studied the faces in the crowd looking for signs of anyone familiar, meanwhile, Andromeda and Narcissa had said farewell to their mother and disappeared into the throng. Bella gave Druella a mock salute, punched Harry on the arm, telling him she'd see him on the train and in a whirl of school robes, she was gone.

Standing alone in the noise and bustle of people was an unsettling feeling, it took him a few moments to realise that Druella had cast a spell, to allow them to talk in private.

"If you need anything or something happens, send Quoth, he will find Cygnus or myself. We talked about changing your appearance, but if the charms were detected it would raise awkward questions and we want to avoid that at all costs. As for your name, it's not exactly in line with the Black family traditions, but if you introduce yourself as Harry Black, I think most will let it slide, let's hope luck is on our side"

"Thanks, I'm more nervous than I was when I first stood here, but I'm not feeling the excitement this time"

He managed a weak smile and then he was pulled into a hug, he felt a huge swell of emotion. It would have been all too easy to let it out, the tears didn't come and for that he was grateful. They broke apart, he felt better about the situation, the important thing was to keep it together and focus on his task.

Before he boarded the train there was one last surprise, a gift, it was wrapped in cloth and felt heavy. Upon removing the twine and opening the cloth, he saw an ornate silver mirror.

"If you need Cygnus or myself just hold it up and speak the name of the person you want to talk to, sometimes it's hard to express yourself with ink and parchment, and seeing a friendly face can be a welcome comfort"

She took out her wand, bowed her head towards him and then apparated away.

The baggage they had arrived with had been taken, the crowd had thinned considerably and a shrill whistle blew to inform the stragglers that it was time to board the train. He pulled open one of the heavy carriage doors and stepped inside.

First years were creating an unholy amount of noise, he passed through the carriages and as he did the age of the students increased, he arrived in the carriage that he assumed held the majority of fifth years and was pleased to find an empty cabin.

The train blew its whistle a final time and with a clatter and a jerk it pulled out of the station, he shrunk the mirror down and stashed it in his robes, he sank down into his seat and gazed at the blur of scenery outside the window.

When the door to his cabin opened, he instinctively reached for his money pouch and turned to greet the witch running the food trolley.

"Bella!"

"Hey, mind if I join you?"

She didn't wait for a response, she threw herself into the seat opposite and stretched her legs across to Harry's side. He realised he was staring as she rearranged her robes and quickly found an interesting spot on the wall behind her to look at. When the food trolley arrived, Bella was elegantly slouched, she was playing with the stray curl that hung stubbornly in front of her face. He bought a selection of goods, his nerves had long since settled, leaving him with quite the appetite.

As he was tucking into a pumpkin pasty, his cabin partner sat up and stretched, with amazing speed she leaned over and snatched a pasty and a chocolate frog. There was only so much protesting he could do with a mouthful of food, the dark haired witch stuck out her tongue at him and wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively. She tore into the chocolate frog packaging, complained loudly at getting another Morgana card, which she threw back to Harry, and splatted the frog as it tried to make good its escape. Having devoured the frog she started on the pasty as the door opened to an eerily familiar sight. With slicked back, platinum blonde hair and flanked by two cronies, it was just like being back in his own time, right down to the awful drawling voice.

"Ah, Bellatrix, a pleasure as always" Harry wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug look off his pointed face, Bella wiped crumbs from her mouth and extended her middle finger at the newcomers "Charming! Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend"

"Lucius, I thought I could smell sleekeazy hair potion" she wrinkled her nose in mock disgust "this is Harry, a very distant relative, and my father's ward"

"Harry? That's not a very Black name, no doubt short for some celestial body, such a quaint tradition"

"Fuck off Malfoy and take your stupid friends with you"

"So uncouth, is that any way to talk to your future brother-in-law? Tsk tsk, very well, I know when I'm not welcome"

His farewell couldn't have been any more condescending, his companions parted to allow him access to the corridor and then lumbered off after him. Bella shared a few creative and eye watering spells that she would very much like to use on the jumped up, over privileged, smarmy little shit. Harry didn't think it was wise to mention that all pure-bloods pretty much filled her description, he found her outburst amusing and surprising. Drawing from his own experience with Slytherins, he had always thought that the pure-blooded elite just got along, or perhaps they were just united when it came to their dislike of him. Future Bellatrix and Lucius tolerated each other enough to pair up when they confronted Dumbledore's Army in the room of prophecy

During the course of the journey Andromeda and Narcissa came to visit and stuck around for the remainder of the journey, he could have sworn looks were exchanged between the younger Blacks as Bella gave up her seat to sit next to him.

The sky darkened by degrees and the lights in the train carriage ignited, before long they felt the engine slow and they pulled sedately into Hogsmeade station. Slowly the passengers filtered out onto the platform, he followed the sisters out towards the Thestral drawn carriages.

As he passed one of the harnesses, a Thestral turned it's head and sniffed at him, he stopped and slowly reached out a hand to pet it. It stretched out its wings and nuzzled into the touch.

"What are you doing?" Narcissa was looking at him like he'd lost the plot, Andromeda and Bella were walking back towards them.

"Can't you see it?"

"There's nothing there, there never has been, the carriages just move on their own"

Once he had explained what they were and why they were invisible, and with a little guidance, the girls were able to touch the creature. Narcissa asked the question he'd been dreading, who had he seen die, he kept it vague, an unnamed friend and thankfully, that was the end of it.

They found an empty carriage and made the steady journey up to the castle, he vigorously rubbed the window free of condensation as the blurry lights of the school came into view, he may be out of his own time, but the castle was still a sight for sore eyes.

Everything was exactly the same, as he walked across the entrance hall, Bella gently grabbed his arm and pointed. To his surprise, a young and slightly thinner Professor Slughorn was heading towards him. His companions promised to meet him in the common room when he was done. The professor greeted him cordially, introduced himself and requested that he follow.

The hallways were comfortably familiar as was the path they took, soon enough they were both stood in the potion masters room, as head of Slytherin house, it was his job to sort him into the correct house, purely a formality, the portly professor told him, as no Black had ever been sorted anywhere else.

The sorting hat was produced with a flourish and placed in his hands, with a sense of trepidation he raised it up and placed it on his head, everything went dark and he waited for the hat to speak.

"Hmm" said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting … so where shall I put you?"

Harry remained stock still, and tried to keep all negative thoughts of Slytherin from his mind, the silence before the hat spoke again was agonizing.

"What's interesting?" he heard himself ask

"You don't belong here, but I'm not concerned with such things. You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and there is only one place that will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that"

The call of Slytherin seemed obscenely loud in the small room containing just two people. Slughorn looked positively delighted and clapped him on the shoulder with a meaty hand. Harry was well on his way to Gryffindor tower when he realised and made tracks for the Slytherin common room. He was surprised to see Andromeda waiting for him, fortunately, she had the good sense to realise he wouldn't have the password, 'Dark Arts' which he thought was apt.

As if she could read his thoughts, she told him that there would be food inside, most of the school hadn't returned home for the short break, choosing to stay in Hogwarts and had already eaten.

The common room looked exactly as it had when he and Ron had disguised themselves as Crabbe and Goyle. Bella waved them over and Harry found himself sat next to her again. Largely he was ignored by the rest of the common room crowd, a few pupils looked over to check out the new arrival. Between snacking and chatting, he took every opportunity to look at his new classmates, apart from Malfoy, he didn't recognise any future Death Eaters, that would all change once lessons began and he learned their names.

Narcissa yawned loudly and stretched then headed for her bed. Harry hadn't felt tired until that point, he was more than ready to get up and head to his room, if he knew where it was. Bella knew, a student had handed her a piece of parchment detailing all of the arrangements for the new boy, she showed him to his room, wished him good night and continued on to her own room.

Harry surveyed his cell, perhaps that wasn't a fair appraisal, it wasn't big, the bed sure felt comfortable when he sat on it, the bare stone didn't chill the room, his stuff had arrived safely and the furniture was functional. Even the Slytherin colours didn't bother him, he changed quickly into the first pair of pyjamas he found and crawled beneath the covers.

The room was still pitch black when he woke up and fumbled for his glasses, then forgetting where he was, he smacked his toes against the wall as he tried to get out of bed and fell back down clutching his injured foot and swearing. Harry dressed quickly and with a slight limp, headed out into the common room.

There were quite a few early birds up and about, a spotty first year came over and handed him his timetable, he thanked the boy and gave it a cursory look. Narcissa walked past looking immaculate and waved shyly, Lucius Malfoy followed after her like a puppy. Andromeda appeared not long after, she sat down and picked up his timetable, commenting on the classes they would share together. He asked after Bellatrix, she just sighed and explained that most mornings she had to drag her sister back into the land of the living, but not today, apparently.

Even with her crazy bed hair she looked stunning, she dragged her feet as she walked and didn't even bother to hide the huge yawn, as she sprawled across the nearest arm chair. They'd barely started a conversation when the dungeon entrance opened and a huge crowd spilled in, they all turned towards the commotion. A tall, dark haired, and he supposed, handsome young man seemed to be spearheading the group, just behind him was a similar looking youth and a mass of students obviously along for the ride.

The leader's face was a mask of barely disguised rage and in his hand was a crumpled piece of parchment, he stopped in front of Bella and smiled, if you could call it that, he thrust the parchment into her hand as he started to rant.

"What is the meaning of this Bellatrix?"

Her expression hardly changed as she skimmed her eyes across the page, everybody was watching and only a widening of her eyes spoiled the perfect resting bitch face. Her red lips curled up into a radiant smile and she threw the letter down, lifted her head to meet the boy's gaze and shrugged.

"I've no idea Rod, this is news to me"

"We're getting married, you were promised to me, your father has insulted me and my whole family"

"We aren't getting married any more, can't say I'm upset about it, and as I said, this is the first I've heard of it"

The calmness she portrayed just further stoked the fire of his anger, the assembled crowd were enjoying the drama playing out in front of them. Harry found himself staring at the two lads who could only be the LeStrange brothers, Rabastan, as it turned out, was promised Andromeda's hand, now his family had been slighted, he proclaimed that he wouldn't be honouring any union. Andromeda made a few choice remarks at those words.

In moments, both sisters were stood toe to toe with the LeStranges, insults flew back and forth with increased venom, Rod made an ill informed decision to refer to Narcissa as Malfoy's cock-sucking whore and the whole room erupted. Several first years screamed and fled, most didn't want to miss the possibility of a proper duel. Bella had her wand levelled at Rodolphus with such speed it was as if it had appeared in her hand.

Then the boys pulled out their wands, a few of their group did so too, but with some amount of hesitation. Andromeda was shoulder to shoulder with her sister and they had never looked more alike.

Harry drew his wand and for reasons unknown, gripped the vial containing the single grain of time sand, it was warm. His first move was to put himself between the Blacks and the LeStranges, as a hex glowed on the tip of Rodolphus' and Rabastan's wands everything stopped.

He stared dumbly at the glowing vial in his hand, then he let himself take in the scene around him. Every single person was frozen, he waved his hand in front of Bella's face, she didn't even blink. The next thing he tried was gently pushing someone, they just swayed gently in line with the force of his push. After poking and prodding a few more students, he looked at the vial in his hand, it was still glowing faintly.

With no clue how to reverse the effect and unfreeze time an idea popped into his head that was too good an opportunity to pass up. He turned Rabastan a few degrees to the left, and with a huge amount of effort, dragged his brother several feet away and turned him to face the other, with the wands aimed and everyone else out of the danger zone, he just hoped that time would resume flowing normally.

Harry tried shaking it, nothing, there was not much else he could do with it, he had no intention of taking it out of the glass container in case it got lost, in the end he put it back in his pocket. Time started moving again almost instantaneously, the hexes hit their marks and blasted them across the room, a few who were hit by the flying bodies started small skirmishes and then a booming voice called for order and in walked a purple faced Slughorn, flanked by a few smug looking first years, so much for keeping a low profile.

Back in the present

Voldemort was pacing one of the upper most rooms in the Riddle house, he felt uneasy. Ever since the bizarre events in the Ministry were reported to him by his Death Eaters, he'd felt as though something were amiss. It was this uncertainty and the subsequent death of Lucius Malfoy that made him choose to leave the Manor for his family home.

Bellatrix was conspicuous by her absence, usually she was chomping at the bit in anticipation for the next opportunity to cause chaos. His most faithful servant was unpredictable at best, so it was rare that he barely thought about her at all.

He occupied his time poring over documents and ancient books, anything that mentioned prophecy. His Death Eaters were mostly all out on assignment, whether it was maintaining a respectable front or committing more nefarious acts. When he could put it off no longer, he apparated back to his rooms within Malfoy manor and pressed his wand to the serpent tattoo on his arm.

As the black smoke revealed the figures within, he could have sworn that there used to be more. There was a dull throbbing at the back of his skull. The door opened and Bellatrix sauntered in, he was sure there was a flicker of confusion on all the faces before him.

With a huge effort he listened to them give their reports, part way through he held up his hand to silence the speaker, in quiet silky tones he asked who was staking out the room of prophecy. The silence in the room was deafening and the pain inside his head intensified. It was coupled with a feeling that something wasn't quite right and the explanation was dangling tantalisingly on the fringe of his memory, but every time he reached for it, the further away it got.

At the back of the room Bellatrix was absent mindedly rubbing her ring finger, there was nothing there and it wasn't itching, she didn't even notice she was doing it Her mind felt a little bit fuzzy and her actions sluggish, she had to concentrate on concentrating. She really hadn't had that heavy a night, of that she was certain and one bottle of fire whiskey had never caused this much damage before, she wanted her bed. The Dark Lord was clearly agitated, nothing seemed to be going right after the incident in the Ministry, and their ranks seemed to have dwindled. The more she tried to recall her comrades, the less substantial those memories became, there were other changes and those thoughts were kept deep inside her mind's strongest magical defences.

Frustration had finally won over and a pained scream rent the air, Voldemort was bearing down on Rowle, who was writhing on the ground in agony, she couldn't hear the questions being asked but the answers were not satisfactory. When the green light had faded they were dismissed.

Back in the Riddle house, he wanted nothing more than to vent his anger, he turned furniture to splinters and removed chunks of wall. So many of his plans had fallen apart and he knew in his bones that one or more of his followers had failed him beyond forgiveness. No one could give him names, and there was no way they would have lied after his destruction of Rowle.

Hogwarts : 1971

Harry thought he was probably quite lucky, the students who were brave enough to tell the head of Slytherin house about the fight, thankfully weren't in possession of all the facts. The LeStranges bore the brunt of the punishments, followed by those in the midst of fighting when Slughorn arrived. He had no idea what had happened to Bella and Andi, and as he rubbed his aching elbow before he resumed buffing the house cup, he was grateful that there were a lot less trophies in the trophy room than there were in his time.

When he was finally sent back to the Slytherin dorm, he was tired and sore, the common room was almost empty, he took a chair near the fire. Bellatrix arrived next, Harry heard her long before he saw her, she had a lot of imagination when it came to swearing. An inept first year potions class had left one heck of a mess, she had spent her detention scraping all kinds of awful off the walls and ceilings, then she had to salvage as many cauldrons as she could. Halfway through her rant she was cut off by a squelching sound, they looked up in unison as Andromeda shuffled into view, she looked like the victim of a botched drowning.

At first she thought her detention would be a breeze, all she had to do was clean the girls bathroom, on reflection she thought Filch had looked a little too happy, the girls bathroom was the one on the second floor and Moaning Myrtle was having a really really bad day. Now she could use magic again, Andromeda dried herself off.

They all kept their heads down for the remainder of the week, there was a distinct divide amongst the Slytherins now. Harry wondered if this had any profound affect on events in the future, without Bella marrying Rodolphus, would the young wizard join Voldemort's ranks, he hoped that no one had been unborn, but hoped more than anything that some of the warring parties would no longer choose the path that led them to be Death Eaters.

Emboldened by that thought he thought constantly about his next move, Andromeda had inadvertently placed the Chamber of Secrets into his thoughts. Even if he didn't attempt to kill the Basilisk within, perhaps he could just collapse the cavern, after all, a back firing Obliviate had brought most of it down when he was last there.

It was soon friday, Harry was day dreaming in Charms class when he was disturbed by a gentle prodding, he turned and Andromeda passed him a note, he quickly checked that the coast was clear and opened it.

Harry,

We really must start our practising, and I'm dying to show you the place I've found. Also there's a Hogsmeade visit this weekend, we should go and try and score a few points against those smug Gryffindors.

Meet me in the common room after dinner.

Bx

He hadn't been told there was a Hogsmeade visit, but as the lesson drew to a close, Flitwick called off the names of all those permitted to go. He almost wished his name hadn't been on the list, so far he had only seen his Dad's gang from afar, and he wanted to keep it that way. Bella's desire to cause the Lions grief was born from their most recent thrashing of Slytherin at Quidditch. There was a poster on the notice board in Slughorn's office that informed him that his team were looking for back up players, so far he had resisted, mainly because it would draw a lot of unnecessary attention.

On his way to the main hall he had to walk right past Rabastan, who shouldered roughly past him, as he turned to shout after him for being a jerk, he bumped into someone. With the initial anger gone he turned to apologise to the student, what he didn't expect to see was Peter Pettigrew picking himself off the floor, he looked at Harry with wide eyes. Harry grunted an apology and headed off to his table with his head down and his heart pounding.

He ate quickly and rushed back to the dorm, Bella was standing by the fire and her face lit up when she saw him. Even though it was still before curfew, they stuck to the shadows and secret passages, in no time they reached the seventh floor corridor. The door to the room of requirement slowly appeared and they ducked inside.

The room looked remarkably similar to what Dumbledore's Army used, except for the huge bed, as he looked at her, she just shrugged and told him that she liked to sleep. Ignoring the fact that the room had sleeping facilities, they began to train. They started with the basics and then focussed on stamina, he was surprised by how much spell casting took out of him. Dummies sprang up all around and Bella called out the spells she wanted him to cast, in no time he was sweating buckets.

Taking a break for some refreshments, they talked and he learned that wordless casting was just as draining, if not more so.

Next, she insisted that they actually duel, a prospect that didn't exactly fill him with joy. He felt a little bit better when she promised to only use defensive spells, the slight gleam in her eye and smirk on her lips made him suspicious. She assumed her fighting stance and circled her prey, he half-heartedly shot a few spells which she shielded and deflected.

Harry quickly got into his stride, he even began to enjoy it, and with her playful taunting, he wanted to best her as a matter of pride. It was over exuberance and determination that finished him off, he left himself open and a quick spell from the witch froze him solid.

She walked over, looking far too smug, she leant in to whisper in his ear, her curls tickled his face, he would have shivered if he'd been able, she smelt nice, training was over, she chuckled softly and released him.

The trip back to the dormitory was pretty uneventful, Mrs Norris was on the prowl, so they had to take a few detours. Nobody paid any attention to them as they entered, but Andromeda dropped her book a little and quirked an eyebrow at them before shaking her head and disappearing back behind her book. They sat and chatted for a while, Harry felt himself drifting off, a combination of the fire's warmth and tiredness from the training, he wished them a good night and made a beeline for his bed.

Saturday dawned bright, the sun was warm providing you could escape the wind. The main hall was packed with hungry students, and he felt that he ate better than he had previously, he also fell into chatting with several Slytherins, and when they were full, they left, eager for their day out. Once ticked off the list they headed towards Hogsmeade village, about halfway Harry removed his jumper, the walk had done much to get his temperature up.

Harry found himself alone, the excited chatter of pupils could still be heard but there was no one in sight. The weather was so nice that he took a longer and more circuitous route to town. As he approached the shrieking shack he heard voices, he slowed his pace and edged his way forward.

The figures came into view, they were huddled together and he knew exactly who they were. First the most obvious, small and fat Peter Pettigrew, a raggedy looking Lupin, Sirius and his father, they had their backs to him. It was Lupin who spotted him and nodded in his direction, slowly they all turned to face him. Harry clutched his wand in his pocket and stood his ground as they walked towards him, his father and Sirius had a certain swagger about them, it made him want to roll his eyes.

"Well look at what we've got here boys, a sneaking snake"

"J-j-james, that's the Slytherin who knocked me down"

"It was an accident, I was distracted" he responded a little more forcefully than necessary and cringed inwardly, Sirius looked delighted to have a reason to pick a fight.

"You're that new lad, another bastard Black, no offence padfoot"

"None taken, although I have no idea where this one comes from"

Harry tried hard to keep his face neutral but his heart was thumping, how could he have been so stupid, Sirius had access to the Black family tree and even if he didn't know it by heart, he'd know there was no Harry Black, shortened name or otherwise. As they talked amongst themselves, occasionally throwing out back handed insults, a crazy idea popped into his head, just in time for the crunch question.

"Who are you then? I'm always happy to meet my distant relatives"

"I'm Harry, and I'm actually adopted, not that it's any of your business"

He made to continue on his way to town only for them to close ranks, it would seem that they were looking for trouble and he would be the lucky recipient. Lupin looked genuinely uncomfortable with his friends' behaviour, Pettigrew had an almost feverish look, a complete coward with a mean streak, too afraid to do anything himself, but quite happy to revel in it with the protection of his friends. Harry wouldn't have been at all surprised if Wormtail had a tendency to harm small creatures, he knew what he was capable of from first hand experience and his wand arm twitched.

Before he could even contemplate escalating things, they were interrupted by another, as if things couldn't get any worse, Severus Snape sloped into view and stopped wide eyed at the scene in front of him, he fumbled awkwardly for his wand and actually drew it. James and Sirius couldn't contain their mirth at this new development, they even turned their backs on Harry.

The Marauders goading of Snape and the threat of taking things into the physical snapped him out of his slack jawed stupor. As the 4 bullies advanced on their target, the fact that the perpetrators were people he knew, loved and respected, made him feel sick and angry, he took out his wand and shot a powerful Bombarda Maxima at the floor, the concussive force knocked all four of them on their arses, it knocked himself and Severus back several paces.

Recovering quickly, he Obliviated the would be attackers, dragged Snape up by the front of his robes and made a hasty retreat. His unwilling companion was too shell shocked to do anything nut follow. In his whirling mind, Harry figured it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to make some friends within his house, he was pretty sure that he now had a fair few enemies.