CHAPTER ONE: THE ARRIVAL

It felt nice to have a home that you could call your own. It felt nice to have a place where you could spend time with your loved ones. It felt nice to finally be rid of troubles and get on with a normal life as any other normal person but not entirely normal, for there was only one problem with the people living in Godric's Hollow. These people were a bit strange as some would say, yet they looked completely normal. The house that especially got everyone's attention was the Potters. Here was a bunch that was really strange. They wore oddly colored cloaks and carried small sticks with which they did seemingly supernatural tasks. But the Potters didn't care if all of Britain called them insane; for all they knew it were the best days of their lives. Sunday morning was usually slow at the Potter's place because it was the only day that meant no work for the man in the house and he liked to get up late and lay about all day with his red haired wife. But this did not stop them from being strange. The Potters had three children and two of them were off to some school that nobody knew about. This did strike people as strange because who could leave their children to be away for such a long time. There was definitely something wrong with these people because as far as others say they think they can do …………………..magic!

The bright sunlight crept in through the windows of the bedroom where a man lay in his bed, a pair of glasses on his bedside table along with a wand. The man was 36 years old and still had a young look upon his face. But the thing that struck the most about this person was not his messed up hair that stuck up from the back or his eyes that were emerald green in color, but it was the scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. It was hidden beneath a fringe of his hair as he lay in bed still fast asleep. Downstairs a woman was busy in the kitchen apparently cooking breakfast but visibly sitting on the table listening to a wireless and reading a magazine. The kitchen felt as though it was alive, the sausages were being cooked in a pan of their own accord and the bread was being buttered by a knife hanging in midair and the eggs and bacon were also being fried in separate pans on the stove where a spatula flipped them occasionally. The woman was not even bothered with what was happening in her kitchen. She was only interested in reading her magazine which contained pictures of a group of people dressed in magenta colored robes with the name 'holy head harpies' emblazoned across their chest. The red haired woman sighed at the picture and thought of her days playing along with the team in a weird game known as quidditch. She kept looking at the clock from time to time to check whether her husband was going to wake up any time soon. But then she saw a little girl walking towards her from the living room and she beamed at her. The little girl had red flaming hair just like the woman and it would have been childish to say that they weren't identical. The woman held out her arms to the girl who climbed onto her mother's lap while still rubbing her eyes. Her mother pecked her on the cheek and asked, "So my little princess is up already?"

The girl tired to reply but all she could do was yawn so she nodded her head to her mother.

"Do you want breakfast now or will you wait for daddy to come down?" asked the mother, but before she heard the answer she knew that the girl had never eaten breakfast without her father on a Sunday and would not be quick to change her habit any time soon. The girl leapt out of her mothers lap and sprinted upstairs to the bedroom with such agility that it would seem she was awake for the past few hours. Her read hair flying behind her she stopped dead at the door of her parent's bedroom and silently opened the door and crept inside to see her father lying in bed. She walked on her toes so as to not make any noise and approached the bedside. She was about to jump at her father when suddenly the man grabbed the young girl with quick reflexes and strength and hoisted her up into the air above him while lying in bed. The girl was laughing and the man was laughing along with her.

"H-H-How do y-y-you always know?" said the girl. She could barely speak because of the laughter in her mouth. The man brought her close to himself and pecked her sweetly on the forehead and said, "I'll always know it's you because you are my little princess who cannot hide from her father." The man placed her down on the bed beside her and the girl still couldn't stop laughing. "Daddy I'm hungry, let's go downstairs come on." said the girl while tugging on her fathers arm. "Ok, ok I'm up I'm up just give me a minute." Said the man and the girl yelled gleefully and ran out of the bedroom. The man rubbed his eyes and face and picked up the glasses from the bedside table. Everything seemed to come into focus now and he could see the surroundings of his room clearly. He knew his daughter was waiting for him in the kitchen and so he got up and after a quick visit of the bathroom he was all set to go downstairs. Upon the landing of the stairs he glanced at the calendar that had a red circle marked around the 2nd of September. He smacked a hand to his forehead, "Uh oh that's today but what is today?" he wondered audibly but all the time mumbling more to the calendar then to himself. "Oh no you don't sonny, miss Ginny has informed me not to tell you what today is and thinks that you should start remembering important things in life apart from work." The calendar chimed back.

He sighed and wondered why Ginny expected him to keep track of things with his work load. But the time for wondering was over and he had to meet Ginny face to face with the fact that he had again forgotten what was special about today. He walked into the kitchen and beamed at her daughter who was sitting in a chair at the table with her breakfast in front of her but refusing to eat a single bite until her father sat right beside her. The mother was standing by the cupboard from which plates seem to soar out and find their places neatly on the table. The man approached his wife and was about to greet her with a good morning kiss when she placed her finger on his lips and asked, "Do you remember anything important about today Harry?"

"Errrrr…..errr…it's the ummmm…." Was all that came out of Harry's mouth. Ginny withdrew her finger and kissed him slightly on the lips and said, "Mum and Dad are coming over today if you must know."

She went over to her daughter to give her some more bacon while Harry imitated smacking his forehead again. Of course, Ginny's parents were coming over today. How could he have forgotten that? He was about to say sorry and his mouth was about to form the word when Ginny held up her hand to interject him and said, "I know you were never too bright in remembering things but if you forget our anniversary the next time then there will be consequences Mr. Potter ."

It might have seemed that she said it angrily but in fact it was in a cool sort of way. Harry felt relieved that her reaction was not at its peak today and he walked over to enjoy a breakfast with her daughter and thought best not to argue with Ginny at that time. They all enjoyed breakfast and chatted about their other two children who were at school.

"James had better behave himself this time around now that his younger brother is there too you know." Said Harry, "He had best set a better example for Albus."

"He just likes to play jokes that's all, and anyway Albus is much brighter than him I believe he will be fine." Replied Ginny, "I just hope James doesn't play pranks on him by hexing him or something."

"Look whose talking." Said Harry, "You were the one who was famous for the bat bogey hex and you were quick to teach it to James also so what do you expect."

Ginny smiled sheepishly and Harry grinned at her.

After breakfast Ginny was in the kitchen doing the dishes, or more like the dishes were doing themselves. Harry walked into the kitchen after reading the daily prophet and approached Ginny from behind and grabbed her by the waist and gave her a kiss on the neck. "I'm sorry I didn't remember about today." He said apologetically.

Ginny moaned softly and said, "Its Ok I know your work is important too and you just tend to forget stuff easily."

Harry kept the movement of his lips upon Ginny's neck while planting soft kisses and all the while Ginny moaned her approval………..

"Hem Hem!"

Harry jumped at the sound and whipped out his wand pointing at the two couples standing in the doorway of the kitchen. The first couple was both red haired and rather old and the woman was a plump motherly looking type while the man was tall and looked rather pale. The other two were a bit different. The man had red hair that fell beneath his shoulders and was tied in a ponytail and he had scars across his face that made him look like a rugged man while the woman had bright silvery blonde hair and looked as young as ever with the beauty of a goddess.

"Sorry to disturb you two like this but I think we were invited today." The plump woman said with a sweet smile.

Harry was about to speak but felt the color rising in his face so he closed his mouth while Ginny said, "Mum! You are supposed to knock I'm not a kid anymore"

"You will always be our youngest daughter and nobody can change that fact." Said the tall man and Ginny stuck her tongue out at him and everybody laughed. The air of awkwardness was lifted as everybody started greeting each other.

"Hello 'Arry eet is so nice to see you!" said the woman with the silvery blonde hair while planting two sweet pecks on each of Harry's cheeks. Ginny scowled at her.

"Yes it's nice to see you again too Fleur. It's been a long time and how are you doing Bill?" enquired Harry.

"Hey life isn't dull when you have a beautiful wife and three kids. You seem to know very well about that." Replied Bill with a wink and Harry grinned at him.

"Hello Harry dear! How are you doing?" asked the plump woman.

"I'm great Mrs. Weasley never been better." Replied Harry.

"Oh please dear enough with the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley thing we might be old but still u can call us by our names." Said Mrs. Weasley.

"Ginny will always be your daughter and I will always be like a son to you and nobody can change that so why should I change what I call you?" said Harry while giving her a smile. Everybody laughed and walked into the living room where the tall man greeted a painting near the door and said, "Hello Albus and you too Severus." The men in the paintings nodded their greeting as well. Harry wondered why he had kept the portraits of the two people that he most admired when he himself could never even look into their eyes. They all sat down in the living room and chatted for a while in which Mr. Weasley enquired Harry about the condition of Sirius' bike.

"It's doing great Mr. Weasley but now that you mention it there was a slight problem with the invisibility booster that I wanted you to take a look at later." Said Harry, "We can check it out a-f-t-e-r…….lunch."

But Mr. Weasley had already gotten up to go into the garage. "Now Arthur you do remember the Ford Angelina. You should not mess with these things." Called out Mrs. Weasley but apparently Mr. Weasley was already in the garage along with Harry.

"It's just that the invisibility tends to fluctuate when I fly the bike for long journeys." Harry told .

"Well I think the charm might be lifting Harry I had better perform the incantation again but that would mean ripping the bike's front apart." Replied Mr. Weasley with obvious glee.

"Err…you can do it later Mr. Weasley." Said Harry in a hurry, "Maybe after lunch…..oh well if you must." Mr. Weasley had not heard a word Harry had just said. He already had a screw driver in his hand and was opening the bike apart. Just then Harry heard his door bell ring and knew that there was only one person in the world that was polite enough to ring the Potter's door bell. He stepped out of the garage where Mr. Weasley was in his own moment and saw that a blonde haired woman was standing in front of the door talking to Ginny who was inviting her inside.

"Hey Mary how are you? And how's Dudley doing?" Harry asked the new visitor.

"Oh he is doing fine Harry, your uncle is a bit sick though, said he didn't like my cooking and still preferred your Aunt's cuisine." replied Mary, "and by the way Dudley wanted to see you if you have a moment to spare and I made some treacle tart for you. You seem to like it a lot don't you?"

"You really shouldn't have Mary." Said Harry, "Ginny why don't you take the treacle tart inside and I'll go and see what Dudley wants ok."

Mary and Ginny went inside and Harry walked across the road to the house of his cousin Dudley. It seemed strange yet ironic that at one time in Harry's life he wanted to be as far away as possible from these people, yet now they lived right across the street. Non-magic folk living in Godric's Hollow. It was upon special request of Harry to the Ministry of Magic that the Dursleys be allowed to say in Godric's Hollow. Harry walked into their home; he never rang the door bell it still felt like he lived with his aunt and uncle. A woman entered the living room to see who was at the door.

"Hello Aunt Petunia. How are you?" asked Harry, "Mary told me Uncle Vernon is sick."

"Yes well apparently he is not fond of another person's cooking." Replied Petunia. There was a time when Harry couldn't have even asked his aunt such a question but things had changed. The Dursleys of all people had changed the most and it was this more than anything that made Harry laugh when he remembered his childhood with them in Privet Drive.

"Where's Dudley?" asked Harry, "Mary said he wanted to see me."

"In the kitchen I think." Replied Petunia, "I think he's fiddling with the microwave."

Harry grinned to himself. He knew why Dudley needed him. Despite the fact that what Dudley hated the most in his childhood, had now become the thing he couldn't live without. Harry entered the kitchen to find Dudley by the kitchen counter with tools and a microwave apparently at a loss at what to do. Harry glanced at him and greeted him by shaking hands. Dudley hadn't changed much after his marriage; he was still porky and grumpy like the old days and looked a lot like Uncle Vernon due to his moustache.

"So what's the problem Dud?" asked Harry eyeing the microwave.

"It's broke and I don't know what to do." Replied Dudley with plea in his voice, "Mary says I should fix it because we can't call anyone from the company to a place filled with you know people that can do magic."

Harry smiled; Dudley had apparently lost the fear of the word because he was in need of it constantly. "So you think you can fix it Harry?" asked Dudley pleadingly, "You can just use your wand and be done with it and then I can watch the football game too."

"You know the magic word Dud" said Harry. Even though time had changed a lot Harry still couldn't help teasing his cousin all the same.

"Alright! PLEASE fix it." Said Dudley in mock fashion.

Harry waved his wand at the microwave and muttered Reparo. The microwave instantly came together and hummed softly and then with a little jingle that sounded like a bell its front door opened and the light inside it was on.

"Thanks Harry!" said Dudley. Apparently relieved that he didn't have to work it out anymore.

"No problem Dud." Replied Harry, "I'll see you later ok, the Weasleys are visiting today."

With that Harry stepped out of the house with a wave to Aunt Petunia and walked back across to his own house. He could see through the windows that Ginny was not in the living room. Maybe Mary wanted another recipe and both of them were discussing it in the kitchen. He clasped his hand to his forehead in one swift movement. He did not know what it was but he was sure that he had felt pain sear across his scar for a split second and now it was gone. But it was different somehow, the pain was not the usual searing pain that Harry remembered all to well from his younger days but it was different, yet he did not know why. He rubbed his hand over his scar and felt something wet there. He looked at his finger and saw a red trail of blood on it. He leapt back in shock. For nineteen years all was well. For nineteen years the pain had never come to haunt him again but then what did this mean. For nineteen years everything had been peaceful…………………