When the wards fall around Privet Drive in the summer before his fifth year at Hogwarts, questions start arising about a secret that Harry, and his mother before him, went to great lengths to keep buried. (In 1993, Harry Potter finds his mother's birth certificate. Nothing is ever the same).

"Why would Harry ask me to kill the snake?" Ron's stomach dropped. He heard Hermione release a soft gasp and he didn't have to turn to know there was a look of horror dawning on her face. Harry wouldn't. He promised he wouldn't. Merlin, when had he even left? Or: The moment that we miss in the Deathly Hallows, when everyone realises that Harry's turned himself into Voldemort.

What if Sirius was retrieved from the veil? What if Harry was treated far worse than he let on? Can Sirius get to Harry in time, or will he be just as blind as everyone else? Maybe, just maybe, this time, Harry won't be able to pick himself back up again... Warnings: Abuse, slightly OOC characters