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SIYE Time:19:08 on 28th March 2024
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The Opposing Movement
By BigFatMaybe

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Category: Pre-OotP, Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Other, Sirius Black
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama
Warnings: Death, Disturbing Imagery, Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Sexual Situations, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse
Rating: R
Reviews: 86
Summary: Christmas, 1993. Harry Potter is spotted in the company of wanted fugitive Sirius Black, and is forced on a dark, treacherous path. Pursued from all directions by a Ministry intent on capturing him, and the ever-persistent threat of a seemingly immortal Voldemort on the horizon, the road ahead will be dangerous, and the toll will be higher than ever before…
Hitcount: Story Total: 30764; Chapter Total: 2754







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If Harry were to describe the next day, he would say it was normal as ever, if a bit strange because the sun never even came up. Never mind the fact that they were somewhere among the mountains of Norway and under the roof with the two people that essentially kidnapped them just yesterday.

They had a normal breakfast of toast and eggs before spending the morning taking stock of what Harry, Ginny and Sirius had brought with them and assessing the situation in Magical Britain.

Sirius at least had a wand now, which he'd bought at Rue de Mentaire, Paris' magical shopping centre. They all had a decent amount of clothes too, but the articles that Ginny had enthusiastically picked out for herself and Harry weren't quite suited for the harsh and cold climate that reigned here. Melchior promised them he would set that right for them as soon as possible.

They expected so yesterday, but that day's paper, which appeared out of thin air in an inbox in the living room at precisely 8:00 in the morning, confirmed that Harry and Ginny were officially expelled from Hogwarts for leaving the grounds without permission and assaulting a teacher.

What the paper didn't know was that Remus Lupin had fully supported Harry's decision to visit Sirius in his nearby cave once most of the student had left the castle for the holidays, and was quite eager to escort him and Ginny there personally. They hadn't counted on being caught, however.

It had taken Harry a couple of months of careful probing and dropping Sirius' name here and there before Professor Lupin started believing that his old friend was actually innocent. He could have left the man in the dark about Sirius staying in a cave near Hogwarts, but he was another connection to Harry's parents, and there weren't a lot of those. Sirius all but insisted on getting his old friend back, too.

"Looks like Remus did it. They all believe he's innocent and that we tried to kidnap him," Sirius commented. "Quite how he convinced them, I don't know, but I did tell you he's still a marauder!"

"Yeah, I think you injuring him really helped. That really was a good idea, Harry," Selene said. Harry smiled at her, but, sitting comfortably next to Ginny on the couch in front of the fire, he still felt uneasy.

It had been a combination of luck and the planning of Sirius that allowed them to escape the cave near Hogsmeade that Sirius used as a hideout. Last summer, during Harry's and Sirius' stay at Diagon Alley, Sirius had gone to Gringotts one night, and came back with enough gold to last a few years and a Portkey to his old family home in London, Grimmauld Place 12.

That very same Portkey was their exit when Aurors discovered the cave. Harry didn't know how they found them, but what troubled him more was that just before they escaped, Harry came up with the idea to injure Professor Lupin in order to make it seem that he was taken by force, and not out of free will. He vividly remembered the revolting, strangely exhilarating feeling that coursed through him when he sent a cutting curse towards his professor. He didn't mention any of that to the others.

Strangely, while Harry was outcast for attacking a professor, being Sirius' 'accomplice' and opening the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny was seen as kidnapped by Harry and Sirius. Unlike Harry, she wasn't accused for injuring Professor Lupin, and she also had a family that could fight for her. That became especially clear on page three, where they read an emotional statement of her parents, Molly and Arthur Weasley, the former telling her interviewer that Ginny would never align herself with "those miserable excuses for human beings". Though she tried to hide it, Harry still saw Ginny's eyes glistening when she read the interview, and at that moment he felt very, very guilty for pulling Ginny along in this mess.

She didn’t have to come with him and Professor Lupin to Sirius’ cave. It was just supposed to be a quick visit. But then they got spotted by Aurors, and now they were here, hundreds and hundreds of miles away from Hogwarts.

Also interesting were the consequences of the fight they had with the Aurors on the train in Paris. Apparently, the fact that British Aurors had breached the Statute of Secrecy in France, along with carrying out a mission on foreign soil, had angered the French Ministry for Magic quite a lot, and Fudge had to hold an emergency meeting with Charles XI, the King of Wizarding France to try and mend bridges. Judging by the angry statement of him in the newspaper, including a threat to close the French border to all Britons, he hadn't succeeded.

"Can they do that?" Harry asked. "Close the border to all Britons?"

"Oh, yes they can," Melchior answered. "Borders are more than just arbitrary lines, and the Ministry has full control over them. If they wanted to, they could close their country off completely, effectively quarantining it. And that's quite a common procedure too throughout the past. Look at the war against Voldemort for example: it started with a couple of incidents involving rowdy Death Eaters seeking some 'fun' in France. They broke the Statue of Secrecy there and committed a whole list of crimes against the civilians there. I'll spare you the details on that.

This all happened in France, and the repercussions were huge. Relations were always a bit strained between Britain and France, and this was just adding heat to the fire. The same king you just read about, Charles IX was furious. The very same day of the incident with the Death Eaters he locked the country for all Britons, and he urged the rest of the world to do the same. Most important of all, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway complied, and that cast a sort of iron curtain along the coast of Europe, meaning everyone was completely trapped here. It was quite a mess. After Voldemort disappeared the restrictions eased up a bit, but it's still there for most part. Just look at Norway, for example: you need a written permission from the Norse Ministry for Magic to enter, and seeing as they're just as bureaucratic here as they are in Britain, that will take quite some time."

"It does reinforce the safety of this place," Selene piped up from her sofa. "After the last war against Voldemort, Norway is still a bit put-out with Britain for not handling the situation better before it got so out of control-"

"And they're damn right about that," Melchior interrupted heatedly.

"So they're not going to allow British Aurors to search their country."

"So how exactly did we get here, then?" Ginny asked.

"I'll explain that later. It's quite interesting, actually," Melchior said.

Dumbledore had also made a public statement, and he told the press that he was very disappointed in Harry, but seemed a bit more reluctant to condemn Ginny as well.

“He’s very careful with his words, isn’t he?” Selene noted. “Is it because Ginny is a pureblood?”

“Hah!” Sirius let out a barking laugh. “You’re reading the Daily Prophet, darling. It’s the evil Sirius Black and Harry Potter who kidnapped poor little Pureblood witch Ginny Weasley. All they need to do is a little nit-picking here and there, and the narrative is complete.”

A moment of silence.

"So, it looks like we have a very long list of problems," Melchior said then. He leaned back in his sofa and folded his hands. "First of all, the Ministry will be looking everywhere they can for you three. For now that doesn't include Norway, but that won't last forever. Remaining here for the rest of your lives is therefore not an option. I don't think you would want to anyway, am I right?" Harry, Ginny and Sirius all shook their head. "I thought as much. Well, that means that you need to be prepared. This isn't going to end overnight. I have seen the British Ministry in action for a very long time, and frankly, there's a good chance that they will never right this injustice at all." He nodded grimly at Harry, understanding that the full consequences of their actions were starting to dawn on him.

"So… We'll…"

"Be fugitives for the rest of your lives? Don't count it out. You can't just turn yourselves in, because they'll arrest you and throw you in Azkaban before you can even say "I'm innocent". Sirius here can attest to that." Harry glanced at Sirius, who smiled wryly.

"But I'm only expelled," Ginny said, "I'm not wanted. I could go home if I wanted to, right?"

"Of course you could," Melchior answered. "And as soon as you get there, you will be taken to the Ministry by Aurors, who will then pump you so full of Veritaserum you risk permanent brain damage until you confess that you did in fact help Sirius and Harry here, along with where they are exactly. And I think they'll be very curious about what happened last school year too. I don't see them taking that well."

"That wasn't her fault!" Harry said heatedly. "That was Voldemort, not Ginny!"

"Do you think they'll care?" Melchior countered. "Aside from the fact that they all think that Voldemort died in 1981, which makes your story very improbable to them, Ginny was still there in person. I know the people who work there, Harry, and I can guarantee you that they'll just use it to condemn her even further. A long time in Azkaban is the least you two can expect. Sirius won't even come that far, he'll just get his soul sucked out the moment they find him."

There was a silence after that. Harry listened to the occasional crack and pop from the fireplace with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"I think I'm going to use the loo," Ginny said after a while. The overly casual way she said that didn't go unnoticed by Harry. Nobody said a word as she stood up from beside Harry and darted up the stairs. Harry took a sip of tea just to have something to do with his hands.

"So, training," Sirius said, breaking the silence. "I don't know what you can teach, but Harry and Ginny are going to need all the education they can get. I'm a bit rusty as well."

"Everything you need. Aside from the normal duelling training, I think the first and foremost goal is to teach you how to avoid a duel entirely. The less you three are seen, the better."

"Sounds good," Sirius agreed.

"But what about the trace?” Harry asked. “Won't the Ministry notice Ginny and me doing spells?"

Melchior seemed to consider this for a moment. "They shouldn't. We're in another country, a very isolationist one, I might add. Then there's the mountains and canyons. It's already hard to pinpoint underage magic in a flat and level area like southern England, let alone a mountainous area like this. And lastly, I put a lot of protections around the house. It won't even show on the map. We'll be fine, as long as you stay here."

{}---{}---{}

Melchior surprised his three guests the next day when, during the dark, cold and windy morning, just after breakfast, he pulled out a large, stone bowl that was covered in decorative drawings and runes, and placed it on the table with a loud thud.

"Alright, anyone know what this is?" He asked.

"Is that a Pensieve?" Sirius asked, astonished.

"Yes. Bloody expensive, too, so I thought we'd best make good use of it."

"What's a Pensieve?" Ginny asked.

"A Pensieve is a container of sorts. For thoughts. Here, look: you concentrate on whatever thought you want to store, then you place your wand at your temple, like this, and then you pull it out," he slowly took his wand away from his head, and attached to the tip was a white, wispy substance, "like… this… And then you put it in the Pensieve." He tipped the thought into the strange bowl. Harry, Ginny and Sirius' faces were briefly visible before disappearing again.

"Why would you do that?" Harry asked.

"For a lot of reasons. Maybe you've got too much on your head and you just want to empty it. Maybe you want to look at your problems from a distance without your own bias clouding your judgement. It can be used in court as well. But for today, I want you to look at your fight in Paris again. I want you to see how you did in battle, and what you can improve. I used it a lot when training Selene, and it's a good way of learning from your mistakes."

It did sound like a good idea. He glanced at Ginny and Sirius. They didn't look too troubled by it.

"Alright," Sirius said. After a few tries he was able to successfully pull out his memory of the battle and place it in the Pensieve. "Now what?" He asked, staring at the swirling liquid in fascination.

"Now we dive in," Melchior answered. "Just put your face in it." Sirius leaned over. The moment his face touched the contents of the bowl, he froze completely.

"That's normal," Melchior said before Harry could speak. "His mind is now playing out the memory. Harry, you’re next." Harry gave him a dubious look, but still bent down and came in contact with the liquid.

It wasn't like anything he expected. The moment he made contact, the floor under his feet disappeared. The chair he was previously sitting on disappeared. The whole house disappeared into a void of colours, shades and ripples as he fell down. Then, without warning, it was over. His feet touched the ground and he saw Sirius next to him. Ginny, Melchior and Selene were there too moments later.

"That was very strange," Ginny said. She looked just as dazed as Harry felt. That was when Harry became aware of where they were. He looked around, and saw a lit street filled with people, the air full of snowflakes and sounds of a busy city: cars, people talking, footsteps, a siren in the distance, and trains. He looked ahead again and saw a large building. On the front were golden letters that spelled "GARE DU NORD". Then he saw Sirius, slightly less recognisable because of his glamour charms, hurriedly enter the train station. There was no doubt that the past versions Harry and Ginny were right behind him, hidden under the invisibility cloak. The feeling of déjà vu was strange, but what was even stranger was that no one batted an eye to the five people that just appeared out of nowhere.

"They're part of the memory; you're not," Melchior explained. "Come on, we don't want to be late."

Enthralled, he followed the hunched man across the street and into the massive, crowded hall. Harry was surprised at how little he remembered of it. Of course, he had a lot more important things on his mind at the time, like fleeing from Aurors for example, but he nonetheless wondered how he could not have noticed the sheer size of the station.
Harry tried not to run into anybody, yet still keep up with Melchior. Ginny was struggling too, but Sirius, Selene and Melchior seemed to walk straight through the crowd without a care in the world.

"Don't worry, you can't influence anything," Selene said, who had slowed down for them. As if to prove her point, she held out her arm. A broad man in a suit, who was clutching a few colourfully wrapped presents, hurriedly walked straight through it. Even Ginny, who grew up in a magical household, looked amazed. "Come on, you're just entering the train."

Harry looked ahead, and indeed, a disguised Sirius looked around worriedly and then entered the train that was supposed to take them to Germany.

It hadn't been a conscious decision at the time. Get as far away from Britain as possible, that was what they all agreed to do back in Grimmauld Place. They would have stayed there, had Professor Lupin not come with the warning that Dumbledore and the Ministry were both planning to breach the protections of the Black home as soon as possible.

Ginny pulled his sleeve and shook him out of his thoughts. She pulled him into the train just in time to see past Sirius opening the door and entering the car they were in on the far end, whispering something behind him and marching through the mass of people. Harry saw that Melchior wasn't looking at that, but seemed to be staring intently at something else. Harry followed his gaze and felt a stab of fear, even though it was just a memory.

There, walking through the door Sirius just came from, was a group of red-robed Aurors, soldiering through the considerably busy car with a determined air. The exit doors then closed, the train let out some excess pressure with a sigh, and then rolled into motion. Harry followed the others into the next railcar. The only difference between past and present Sirius were his clothes, and that, in combination with the many noises, made it a confusing experience. Harry ignored the nervous glances the bystanders were sending Sirius’ way. The door opened at the other end, and the group of Aurors entered, now walking in a faster tempo.

Harry was almost at the other end the car when a spell impacted the wall to his left, shattering it and exposing the electronics and pipes underneath. The feeling of déjà vu became even stronger when he looked behind him and saw that the Aurors had given up trying to keep themselves to the Statue of Secrecy and had pulled their wands. People around them now knew that something was terribly wrong here, and started screaming and ducking behind their seats, scrambling for cover.

Harry and the others went through the door into the next car, and the screaming became a bit more distant when it closed behind them. The people in the next car were restless as well, obviously having heard the disturbance. Past Sirius was now in a heated debate with the still invisible Harry and Ginny. Harry remembered that he was now explaining to them that they couldn't flee anymore: they would still keep their momentum while apparating, and the train was picking up speed mercilessly. They had nowhere to go either. The D for "destination" was the culprit of that, Sirius had explained. While they were in France, they wouldn't be able to pass the borders through magical means. And there was nowhere in France they would be able to Apparate to, because they'd never been anywhere outside of Paris, so any clear picture of an Auror-free destination was out of the question. They were trapped. They were now at the outskirts of Paris, and the surroundings were little more than a blur in the cold winter night.

"Halt!" He heard an Auror shout behind him. They had to run to keep up with past Sirius. Some bystanders rose to their feet. Another spell was shot at them, this time breaking a window to Harry's right. The wind howled, some stray snowflakes flew in, and people were screaming and clambering to the safest place they could find; the floor under the benches, mostly. Harry disregarded them.

They entered the next car just as the door behind them was blown to splinters with a loud bang, and the six Aurors that chased past Sirius entered. Harry and the others stood right between the Aurors and the people who were desperately fleeing to the other side of the car. They quickly managed to exit through the door, leaving the Aurors and past Sirius the only visible people left.

"Alright, now, I want you to concentrate on what the Aurors will be doing," Melchior said, and with that he reminded Harry that they weren't actually there.

"Give it up, Black, it's six to one," one of the Aurors said. Harry could hear the nervousness in his voice.

"And have me Kissed by a Dementor the moment you bring me in? I don't think so, Dawlish!" Harry was once again reminded that Sirius knew a lot of Aurors, having been one himself. That was before he was thrown in Azkaban, though.

"Where are the kids, Black? Hand them over, we don't want to hurt them," another Auror said. Her pink hair was quite noticeable. The answer to her question came moments later, when two disembodied voices shouted "stupefy!" and two red beams of light raced towards the Aurors.

They reacted instantly. Harry noticed their efficiency, as well as how they relied on each other. One of them raised a shield and two others fired a stunning spell towards where the first spells came from. Three others concentrated on Sirius, who immediately took cover behind one of the chairs. Harry and Ginny appeared from under the cloak then, ducked behind a bench.

Melchior calmly shuffled further away from the fight and sat down. Selene followed soon after, leaving present Harry, Ginny and Sirius standing in the walkway. After the first few spells, Harry managed to ignore the instinct to dive for cover, and settled for observing the Aurors as spells of many different colours passed through him harmlessly.

The last time he experienced this fight, he was ducking behind a chair half the time and solely focusing on cursing his enemies when he got up from cover. Therefore he hadn't seen when exactly Selene entered the fight. Now, though, standing in the thick of things without getting hurt, he had a clear view of the young woman stunning two Aurors from behind them before taking cover behind the shattered door opening. If anything, the Aurors were quick to react. The woman with pink hair shouted something to her three remaining companions and they adjusted formation: two engaging Sirius, Harry, and Ginny and the two others Selene.

But it was too late for them at this point. Sirius magically ripped a luggage rack from its hinges and banished it towards the Aurors, who had to duck as the plank impacted with the bench they were hiding behind. The bench broke in half and one Auror was trapped under the rubble while the other had no choice but to come out into the walkway. He was able to block the spell that Ginny sent him, but not Harry's, and the impact of the spell sent him flying through the door opening. Harry saw him land in the walkway of the next car.

Harry looked around, because he remembered what happened next quite vividly. Feeling emboldened by his success and thinking all the Aurors were dealt with, he'd simply stood up from behind his chair. But that proved to be a costly mistake as he was immediately hit by a curse that sent him flying. Harry winced as he saw his past self impact the plastic covers at the far end of the car, mere inches from the much more solid fire extinguisher that hung there.

At that same time, Sirius and Selene managed to overpower the last two remaining Aurors.

Sirius, who hadn't known who she was at that moment, immediately tried to curse Selene too. She ducked and rolled from under the spell and cast a full body-bind on her opponent, but Sirius blocked that. She dodged Ginny's spell and sent a pair of black, leathery ropes towards her, incapacitating her. She blocked Sirius' stunner, Sirius brought up his wand and was already making the motions of a spell when Selene cried "impedimenta!"

Sirius froze, with his wand still pointing straight at her.

Selene was busy binding him in ropes when Harry crawled into the walkway at the end of the destroyed railcar. He sent a spell at her, but, blinded by pain and without his glasses, he missed. Selene kicked Sirius in the crotch, hard, pushed him to the floor and stunned Harry.

"And there we go," Melchior said from his chair. Everything around them faded to black and they all re-appeared in Melchior's living room again. Harry sat down and released a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"That was intense," Ginny remarked.

"Yes, the Pensieve can be rather lifelike," Melchior agreed. "Anyway, to cut to the chase, what did you notice about the Aurors?"

"They worked as a team." Harry said hesitantly.

"Good point, Harry. They're a team. They know exactly what each of them is capable of, and they've been trained very extensively on how to best function as a cohesive group. Ginny, what are your suggestions?"

"Don't come up from behind cover when you think it's over?" She winked at Harry.

"Exactly. Firstly, you never know what your enemy might do, so don't expect them to just act like you would. Secondly, it's a well-known trick to simply play dead to catch your foe unaware. It's cowardly, but it does work. You need to be prepared for that. I don't think I need to remind you how reckless your action was, right Harry?" Harry shook his head. "Good lad. Next suggestion?"

"They were much stronger than Ginny and me," Harry said. "One shield blocked both of our spells."

"Correct! Power does come with age, I'm afraid, so you two are at a bit of a disadvantage with that. But there are many other ways to take down your enemy without straight up duelling him, so it won't always be a problem. We'll cover that later. More suggestions?"

They spent the rest of the afternoon analysing the fight, writing down every important bit, including the mistakes Harry, Ginny, Sirius, and also Selene made. Melchior promised to work on those with them all.

{}---{}---{}

"I think we'd better start with the most pressing thing: making yourself invisible," Melchior said the next day. He stood in front of a seated Harry and Ginny. To make room, the dining table was now the size of a thimble and in Melchior's pocket. Sirius and Selene were outside. Sirius wanted to explore the surroundings as Padfoot, and Selene went with him so that he wouldn't get lost. "I understand you have an Invisibility Cloak?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Yes sir," Melchior reminded him. If anything, the man conformed to strict rules and habits. That apparently included calling him 'sir' when he was teaching.

"Yes sir."

"May I see it?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said. He ran upstairs and fished the Cloak out of his bag. Once he was downstairs again, he handed the only thing he had with him that reminded him of his father, and sat down next to Ginny again.

"Astonishing," Melchior breathed. "And this was your father's?"

"Yes."

“Yes sir.”

“Sorry.”

"Incredible. Did you know that normal Invisibility Cloaks lose their charm after a year or two? This one should have stopped working ages ago, if what you tell me is the truth and it is indeed that old."

"It is; Dumbledore told me." Melchior nodded slowly and handed the garment back to Harry.
"Do you mind if I study it sometime later? This is a truly fascinating thing you have."

"Alright," Harry said. “Sir.”

"Thank you. Now, as good as that cloak of yours is, it will still hinder you when moving about."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said emphatically. "Me and Ginny once tripped over it while we were walking upstairs back at Hogwarts."

"That's because you suddenly decided to turn left, Harry," Ginny argued. "Nothing would have happened if you would have just behaved like a normal person."

"Yeah, but you…"

"Kids," Melchior interrupted. Harry and Ginny stopped their debate. "This is what I meant. It hinders you. Now, an Invisibility Cloak isn't the only way to be invisible. Do either of you know of another?"

"Disillusionment charms?" Ginny asked. "Sir?"

"Correct. They're not quite one hundred percent effective, as they still leave a slight ripple, but they're still right useful. For one, you don't have to stay under one cloak together, and also there's no cloth to trip over while walking, or running from your enemy for that matter. Stand up, please." Harry and Ginny complied. "We're going to practice now. The incantation is "Es Perlucidi"."

"Es Perlucidi," Harry and Ginny chanted.

"Yes, good, but the emphasis is on the 'u'. Again."

"Es Perlucidi."

"Very good! Now I want you to stand up, face each other and try the spell on the other person. You do so by saying the spell and tapping your wand firmly on the head. Go on, give it a whack!"

Their classes followed the same order every day: a short introduction, practicing a new spell, and then a whole list ways to use the spell. Melchior taught with a contagious passion, and while they certainly didn't complete their schoolwork without complaining, Harry still felt more optimistic, somehow invigorated after they were done. If anything, everything that had happened to him before helped him come to an important conclusion: he needed to learn to defend himself. Badly.

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