Hi everybody. This is my very first Harry Potter FanFiction and my first english one, too. So please don't be too critical, but of course I'm still happy about any reviews!!

Special thanks go to my beta Jadzania.Thank you for checking! And yeah, most of the mistakes were typing mistakes...and I supposse that was because of the time =)

Now, I better stop. Have fun reading and don't forget to review ;)

Shadows of the past

Chapter 1

"Harry, please come down!"

Harry Potter looked up, took off his glasses and rubbed over his eyes. Then he stretched his arms, took on the glasses again and stood up. Carefully the boy closed the book he had been reading for the last hours, went to the stairs and down it.

"Darling, I want you to meet an old friend of ours" the woman said, when Harry'd reached the other end of the staircase and came to a hold next to his mom. Opposite her stood a man, facing the boy. Harry was starring at the stranger, eyeing him curiously and wondered who he was. The man was quite tall and seemed the same age as his parents. He had shoulderlong dark hair and was wearing a long, darkblue robe, which looked very simple and often-worn. His face showed no expression at all, and when Harry looked directly into the man's eyes, they were very keen. Still there was something like a twinkle in them, as if he was amused about something. And then a smile apperead on his face.

"So you two have already met" said James Potter, coming out of the living room, and placed himself next to his wife.

"It's good to see you again after so many years" Harry's dad said to the other man, stepped forward and hugged him. Then, turning to Harry, he said: "This is your godfather, Sirius Black."

Sirius Black made a step forward and was holding out his hand in order to greet Harry.

"Why have I never seen you before nor heard anything about you? My parents didn't tell a single word." the boy questioned, adressing his godfather without even looking at his parents. He'd almost snapped this question, but actually Harry didn't felt angry at all. He liked Sirius, allthough they'd just met for the first time, a couple of minutes ago. There was something about that strange man, some kind of an aura, that told of greater power and of darker experiences than you could imagine by his outward appereance.

When Sirius began to speak, his voice was clear and deep, without any sign of grief or age, just like his eyes.

"I've been away on a business trip for several years. And afterwards I have been busy travelling around. I haven't even been in England for a whle. There has been a lot of work to do for the Ministry of Magic, though."

So he's working for the Ministry, Harry thought, being even more impressed. He always wanted to be an Auror later in his life, but still he admired the people from the Ministry for their knowledge and their great power. Maye he was going to work for the Ministry, if he failed to become an Auror – for example because of his bad marks in Potions.

"After all", his godfather continuted, smiling again, "it's not the very first time you see me at all. I often cam to visit your parents, Harry, when you still were a baby. Oh, and you used to make me play horse for you to have a ride – in a special way of course." Sirius blinked, then laughed heartly and Lily and James Potter joined in.

Harry blushed, but the others didn't seem to notice. His godfather's eyes were fixed on some distant point, trying to recall the pictures of this memories.

"Hell, why are we all standing here?" Lily Potter interrupted, suddenly. "There's an old friend coming over and we aren't even polite enough to ask him to put off his cloak. Let's have a seat and drink some tea, while you tell us something about the latest news and what you've been doing, Sirius."

With that said, Harry's Mom led them to the living room, disappeared and at once came back with a table of cups filled with hot, goodsmelling tea. She handed one to each of them. When she'd finished, Lily took the last one for herself, put away the tray and sat down in one of the armchairs, opposite to Sirius.

"I'm glad that we can sit together like this again, without worring and hurring, and just talk, after so long." James started. "And I'm sure, Harry and you missed a lot of experiences together. Even if you can't remember it anymore, Harry, it was obviousely you liked your godfather a lot. Now you two can catch up all these experiences.

"But at first, please tell me, what's happened the last several months, Sirius. And how's Remus doing?"

Harry hardly paied any attention to their conversation. He just sat on the sofa and nipped his tea. Then he eyed Sirius again, trying to remember any past events with this man he'd never seen before – and yet, he wasn't unfamiliar at all. At least not after what had come to Harry's memory when he's told about their earlier meetings.

The boy felt very happy, like someone who's just found and old, thought-lost friend.

"Harry, you'd better wake up!"

Suddenly somebody was calling in his mind.

"Why should I wake up? I'm already fully awake." Harry thought. For sure, his father had been kidding and wanted him to take part in the discussion they had, too. But when the boy turned his head and looked around, he found his parents and godfather still busy talking. They seemed very excited about something, and then Harry noticed why. They were talking about...werewolves? He wasn't quite sure wether that, what he thought he had heard, was correct or not. But then Harry was certain that his ears hadn't been mistaken, and it was at this point, when he decided that it maybe would've been worth paying attention after all. It sounded like an intresting topic.

"Harry Potter – Get Up!" the voice insisted.

Now Harry could clearly make out, that it wasn't his father's voice, still it was familiar. And again, neither his parents nor Sirius seemed to have noticed anything. But something was different and felt strange, at this moment, although Harry didn't know what it was.

That's when suddenly the world about him began fading...

"HARRY POTTER! If you don't get up at once, we're gonna miss breakfast. And I assure you. You DON'T want your best friend to miss one of the most important things in daily life!"

This was the voice again and this time it sounded angry.

Harry looked around. He was still sitting in the living room of his parent's and his house and yet – somehow he wasn't. The world about him became blurred and the voices of Lily and James Potter as well as Sirius' unclear and mixed up.

"No!" the boy begged. "Please, that can't be true! Please not!"

He desperately tried to stop the faces of the most important persons in his young life from disappearing.

And then, Harry was left alone in the void.