Chapter Text
Rose Potter had seen a lot of incredible things in her 20 years on the planet. From the moment she was told she was a witch by a half-giant, her life was filled with the unexpected, for better or for worse.
But none of it hurt in the same way this did.
She saw her godfather die in the Battle of Hogwarts, but here he was, behind charmed glass in a ministry holding cell, shouting about someone called Harry.
His eyes were as dark gray as she remembered.
“I’ll take charge of him,” Rose said to Auror Robards, once the spells had already been performed to confirm he was indeed a man and not a monster or a mirage.
“Sorry, Potter. Mysteries has already claimed him as one of theirs, he’s popped through the veil looking strangely alive. The Head Unspeakable is coming back early from her holiday to interrogate him,” Robards replied, looking apologetic.
“No,” Rose said. “He’s my godfather.”
“We don’t know quite what he is yet,” Robards argued.
“I don’t care,” Rose shouted. “He’s mine. After what the Ministry did to him—and me—I’m owed this much.”
Robards sighed.
“When have I ever asked for anything?” she pleaded with her boss.
“Never,” he said, and she knew she had him.
“I’m asking now,” Rose said. “As the girl who lived, let me talk to him, and set him free if he’s not a danger to anyone.”
“It’s on your head if it is,” Robards said, and gestured for her to go in.
“Thank you,” Rose replied.
Robards put his hands on his temples like she was giving him a headache, so she just pushed past him and hurried into the holding cell.
“Hello, Sirius,” she said quietly, soaking in the sight of him, his dark hair and patrician features and the strong set of his jaw, trying to memorise it again after so long.
He looked at her strangely, like a puzzle he was trying to solve. “Who are you then? If you’re chucking me back to Azkaban, can you at least tell me if Harry is alright first?”
Rose sat down across from him, her chest tight. “No one is sending you back to Azkaban, I promise.”
Sirius snorted, but it wasn’t unattractive. “Sorry if I’m not keen to trust the Ministry at the moment.”
“Right,” Rose said intelligently. “I’m not the ministry—I mean, yes, I’m an Auror now! But do you really not know me Padfoot?”
Sirius stood up straighter at the nickname. “Your face is familiar, but no. Where did you get that name? From my godson?”
Rose took a sharp inhale of breath, and remembered something Hermione had mentioned to her in passing many years ago, how she was reading some treatise on mirror universes.
“Is your godson called Harry then?” she asked him.
“Everyone knows who Harry Potter is,” Sirius said arrogantly. “Let me ask you again, where did you hear the name Padfoot?”
“My father and his best mate Sirius Black along with the traitor Peter Pettigrew became animagi to support Remus Lupin during the fullmoon. My godfather could turn into a big black dog, and he was called Padfoot,” Rose said, as if she was talking to a stranger.
“Godfather,” Sirius muttered, looking at her intently. She met his gaze. “Well, you do look quite a bit like Mrs. Potter.”
“Lily?” she asked.
“Euphemia,” he replied. “James’ mum,” he clarified.
“Ah, right,” Rose said quietly, tucking an unruly lock of dark hair behind her ears. She wondered if Harry knew her.
"You've got your mum's eyes though," Sirius said.
"I've heard," Rose said. He told her that at 13 too.
“Sorry--I expect you get that a lot. But I think I’m quite far from home,” Sirius said eventually, still staring at her. “What’s your name then? You’re clearly a Potter.”
“Rose,” she replied.
“Nice to know that Lily stuck with the flower theme,” Sirius said, a wry smile on his face.
Rose shrugged. “I like my name. It was the only thing that was mine for a long time.”
“It suits you, I bet you have thorns too,” Sirius joked.
“When I need them, sure, ” Rose said, smiling at his sense of humour, so like her own dear godfathers’s.
“And Rose, Harry’s not here, but is Voldemort?” Sirius asked.
She shook her head, and watched his face light up.
“And your parents?” he asked, looking away from her.
“They’ve been dead since I was an infant,” Rose said quietly, the loss still hurting.
“I’m sorry,” Sirius said.
She put her hand up to stop whatever other apologies were set to spill out of his mouth. “Sirius—I’m sure in any universe, whatever happened, it was never truly your fault.”
He barked out a laugh. “That’s kinder than I deserve. When did the war end?” he asked, changing the topic.
“We were able to stop Voldemort two and a half years ago,” she told him, restraining herself from reaching out to touch him to see if he was still real.
“Good,” Sirius said roughly, and he must have caught something in her gaze. “But I didn’t make it that far, did I?”
“No,” she confirmed. He was always so clever. “You died saving the lives of Remus and Tonks in the final battle, Bellatrix hit you with a killing curse just hours before the whole thing was won.”
“Ah. Right. Well, I can’t say I’m happy that that fucking bitch got the better of me out in two universes, but I never thought I would die an old man in my bed,” Sirius said, taking the news of his death in stride.
“No,” Rose said. “But we rarely get what we deserve, do we Sirius?”
He reached out and squeezed her hand. “Very wise, Rose Potter.”
She laughed. “Not sure anyone has ever called me that before, but I’ll take it. Let’s get you out of this cell then, hmm?”
Sirius stood up, and flashed her a grateful smile. “Mind walking me back to the Department of Mysteries? Maybe I’ll be luckier on my next trip through the veil.”
“What? No,” Rose said loudly.
“Sorry?”
“No,” Rose repeated. “That’s the veil of death, Sirius. Death.”
“Yes, and as you can see, I’ve just come through it and don’t I look fine?” he asked, gesturing to himself.
He did, she thought, if not a bit pale and restless. “What’s to say you’ll be as lucky next time?”
“James once told me fortune favours the stupid, so who knows?” Sirius said. “But Voldemort’s not dead back where I’m from, and I’ve never run from a fight in my life.”
“I know,” Rose replied. “But let me help.”
“Seems like you’ve done enough, haven’t you?” Sirius asked, as he followed her out of the cell and to an empty hallway in the ministry. “You said we defeated Voldemort, but I bet you had a pretty big role in that.”
Rose nodded, not wanting to get into the particulars. They won, but at such a cost. Sirius, Fred, Lavender, Molly. War was hell.
“Excuse me for sounding trite, but I bet wherever he ended up, heaven or hell or someplace else, your godfather was really proud of you,” Sirius said eventually, reaching out to cup her face with his hands.
She let them stay there for a beat too long. “Well, I’ve never been one for sitting on my arse,” Rose joked.
“Of course,” Sirius said.
“And I won’t now,” she promised him.
“Thank you,” Sirius replied.
“I’m not exactly an expert on these things,” Rose warned him.
“What, mirror universes? Is anyone?”
“Maybe,” Rose said with a shrug. “But I bet my best mate Hermione might know what to do—why just jump through the veil when we could somehow figure out a spell or another way to get you there?”
Sirius nodded, but looked unconvinced, like he was still a minute away from transforming into Padfoot and running back into the veil.
Rose grabbed his shoulder, feeling the solid, real weight of him. “Sirius! There must be hundreds, thousands, millions of mirror universes through that veil. There’s one where I’m a boy, your universe, Harry’s universe, but there must be one where we lose, or the Potters never had any children. Or where you went into Slytherin—you weren’t in Slytherin, were you?”
“No, of course not,” Sirius said. “But I’m willing to brave those other worlds if you don’t find the way back. Harry’s only 15, and I may be the world’s most shite godfather, but I need to be there for him.”
“Okay,” Rose said. “Fifteen wasn’t a great year.”
“I’m sorry,” Sirius said, as if it was in any way his fault.
She shrugged. “So I’ll deal with the ministry later, but how about you come stay with me for a bit? I found out that my parents left me another house and well, there’s plenty of room, and a library, and we can OWL Hermione and get started?”
Sirius nodded, and took her outstretched arm, and she took the man who wasn’t her godfather back home, not knowing how she was going to ever give him back to Harry.