All characters in this story are at least 18 years old.

This story is set in a alternative universe, which splits from the canon after the Battle at the Ministry of Magic. Therefore some characters might have survived which canonical did not.

Dark grey clouds hung over London and rain drizzled down from them as Harry walked through 12 Grimmauld Place, looking for a few last items to pack before leaving. Summer was coming to an end and in a few days he would return to Hogwarts. It had been a crazy two years. Voldemort had returned and plunged the world into another Wizarding War. One year Harry, his friends and the Order of the Phoenix had fought him from the underground until they finally had managed to drag the Dark Lord into an open battle on the grounds of Hogwarts.

A bit over a year had past since that battle and the school, which had been heavy rebuild after the battle, was about to reopen this fall. He was happy to return to the school, hopefully for a year when nobody would try to kill him. He grabbed a picture from the table next to the lounge chair in the library and looked at it. Three young women were waving on it. Ginny, Hermione and Luna had spent the last month travelling America together. Harry himself had spent a few weeks in Ireland, staying with Seamus Finnigan, to avoid the press hype about Hogwarts great reopening.

Carefully he put the picture into his bag and then looked around the library. He needed to visit Diagon Alley briefly before he would be depart. But now he realized that he couldn't find his shopping list for Hogwarts. Maybe he had placed it in one fo the shelves, he thought and started to look around, finally finding the parchment on top of a small pile of documents of his late godfather, who had inherited him the place. Just as he wanted to pick the letter from the pile, his eyes felt on a small book, wedged between two big, heavy books. It was wrapped simple in parchment and he recognized his godfather's handwriting. When he pulled it out, a small letter felt out of it.

“Dear Harry, if I can't give you this in person, I hope you will find it before the end of your time in Hogwarts. When we were in our last year, your father and I stumbled over some books from the restricted section and we decided to write together some of the spells, potions and secrets we read in those books about a very special topic. Let's keep it quick, we had some fun. Sirius.”

Harry raised his eyebrow. He knew that his father and godfather hadn't been the perfect students during their time in Hogwarts, they even had created the Marauder's Map which had helped Harry out of dangerous situations countless times. But now he sat down and started to read. Quickly his eyes became bigger as he realized what the book was containing. Some of the content were simple spells, others way more complicated. He definitely would need some help with some of the potions described in it too.