A yelp rang out through the 5th year Gryffindor boys dorm as Harry jerked awake and struggled into a sitting position, face cold with sweat, heart racing. He remembered his dream, remembered the powerful smooth feel of the snake's body and a woman's cackled whisper before a splitting, clawing pain had zapped through his body and he had been wrenched into conciousness. "Harry? Harry you alright?" Neville was peering through a gap in his curtains; he mumbled a vague answer, waving his classmate off and swung his legs out of bed, shakily making his way to the bathroom.

"Welcome home!" Hermione vanished into a smothering hug from her parents, Harry averted his eyes awkwardly and let his gaze travel over the platform as the Weasley's reunited. There was a wave that caught his eye, Lupin was smiling at him. "Hello Harry." He said levelly, he'd made a funny movement when Harry reached him almost as if he'd meant to hug the other but refrained. "Molly, Arthur, I'm afraid I'm hijacking the start to your holidays. There have been some developments that means Harry will be staying with Sirius and I this Christmas, if he would like to? (He looked at Harry with a gentle smile and the boy nodded) I'm also to inform you all that we will be calling a special meeting on Wednesday, it is vital that you and your children attend. Harry, are you ready to go?"

Grimmauld Place seemed to have undergone enormous changes, the air was fresh and sweet, the light from the oil lamps filled the hallway, bright but gentle as it shined on polished floorboards and glittered over fresh wallpaper. "Into the drawing room Harry, don't worry Jabe will take your trunk. Just leave it in the hall" Lupin whispered, pushing him toward the stairs as a new, young house-elf appeared and greeted them in a cheerful quiet voice. "Sirius" A grin lit up Harry's face as his godfather stood and hugged him tightly "What's happened? Remus.."

"Nothing! Nothing! Everything's ok, better than ok actually!" Sirius denied with a small chuckle urging Harry to sit down as he eased himself down carefully, suppressing a small grunt of pain as he did. "Now I did as you asked Padfoot, tell me what you're hiding. And Harry, it's nice to hear you call me something other than professor at last" Remus teased lightly as Harry blushed, the werewolf sank into the armchair and scrutinised his friend.

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him before turning to face his godson "Harry, I hope I haven't disappointed you by stopping you from going to the Weasley's." Harry shook his head

"No. I wanted to spend Christmas with you." he received a delighted and firm one armed hug before Sirius spoke again

"I've got something to tell you. And before I do, I just want to remind you, both, that I would never lie to you, ok?" the teen glanced at Remus uneasily, the werewolf was frowning.

"Why would that be necessary?" he asked and Sirius grimaced

"Just trust me ok? You'll understand when you see the result." he answered, meeting both of their eyes determinedly. "Do you trust me?" his godson nodded slowly, Remus did the same.

"You remember in the summer when we were talking about how Voldemort could have survived? Well, I found out how. When the Weasley's left I started fixing the house up, could have before but cleaning kept Mrs Weasley busy, so.." Sirius shrugged and Remus snorted quietly "Have you ever heard of horcruxes?" the werewolf stiffened as Harry shook his head, murmuring

"No, what are they?"

"They are very dark magic, they are used as a way to prevent death. The spell caster splits their soul and encases a fragment in an object, as long as the object remains intact the caster can't die. Does that make sense?"

"Yeh, did Voldemort make these things then?"

"Yes. He made several." Harry nodded at Sirius' answer

"Can we destroy them? Where are they?" a small grin turned his godfather's mouth and he shushed him

"You don't need to worry about that. Before your parents died, there were rumours that he had created a horcrux and my family began researching ways to get rid of them."

"Your family? But they supported him?" the teen interrupted frowning and a sad look crept into Sirius' grey eyes

"My cousins, and. My fiancée."

"Your fiancée? You were engaged?"

"Yes." the hurt was evident now. Harry fell silent, not wanting to push the subject.

"So, the horcruxes?" he prompted quietly. Sirius gave a soft, pained smile

"We discovered that if someone has made multiple horcruxes, you can gather them, link them and destroy them as one, doing so meant you can use them within a ritual." he said, Remus had sank on the sofa beside his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, Harry bit his lip, Sirius had explained rituals and 'olde magick' to him during their tutoring sessions in the summer. Remus had joined them and the two marauders had regaled him with tales of their school days whenever he asked, showering their pup with rewards whenever he mastered a spell or concept. Yet Sirius had never mentioned a partner. The animagus took a deep breath then sighed "Anyway. My cousins and I gathered Voldemort's horcruxes and destroyed them. We found that the full frontal attack works on the original soul and the person dies." Both of his listeners' eyes widened and smiles began to grow, Sirius' eyes crinkled with warmth and he nodded "Yes. The bastard's dead at last." Harry cheered and the adults both chuckled, his godfather slung an arm around his shoulders, giving him a tight squeeze "I swore you wouldn't have to fight him pup." He had told his godson of the prophecy, the boy had been horrified to learn of it, terrified but resigned to the prospect of fighting, upset to think that he might have been the reason his parents had been targeted, a belief that Sirius and Remus fiercely protested. Sirius had promised him a normal life, a chance to be a family with a steely glint to his eyes and despite everything Harry believed him.

"Did you perform..a ritual at the same time?" Sirius nodded, rubbing a hand over his face, then teen only just realising how exhausted the animagus seemed "Padfoot? You ok?"

"Yeh, pup" he answered quietly, "Just tired. We did perform a ritual. It's rare and it hadn't been performed since it went wrong in Ancient Egypt, it's called Reditum, or the Resurrection. It uses the sacrifice of a soul, in our case Voldemort's. The sacrifice in theory, should force open a door between this world and the next. Hypothetically allowing people to come back to life, understand?"

"No one other than the royal families are supposed to have that knowledge Sirius." Remus muttered as Harry nodded hesitantly, the other brushed off his statement without a pause, almost as though he hadn't heard the werewolf speak "What happened?" Remus whispered as he guessed what Sirius was suggesting. His friend gave him a toothy and smug grin

"It worked. It worked brilliantly. We used the snake's soul to return so many of his victims, the resulting blast of magic wiped oppressive enchantments, like memory and core blocks from all over the country. It did everything we wanted and more."

"Padfoot, this can't be.."

"Would I ever lie to you about this Remus?" he interrupted fiercely, the smile hadn't slipped and Harry was staring at him, barely daring to breath. "I swore when your parents died, I would find a way to bring them back pup. I promised we would be a real family Harry. I want to start that by letting you meet your parents."

Harry stared at him, an oppressive silence filled the room, Sirius' eyes were sincere and warm whilst they searched his face and he looked past his godfather to Remus who was frowning. "Sirius, that can't..."

"Moony would I ever say this if it wasn't true?" the werewolf refused to meet his gaze, instead looking troubledly at the fresh cream carpet. "You're free to question them. (Lupin nodded, a determined disbelief set into his face) You can come in now!".

The door opened and a couple stepped inside, Remus stood swiftly, drawing his wand. James looked at his old friend, walked to the middle of the room, wary of Remus' waiting wand then transformed without a word, "Animagus forms can't be copied." Sirius explained quietly as the stag nudged Remus with his nose and bowed his magnificent antlered head to Harry then switched back. Moving his wand to the woman, he opened his mouth

"Ask me." she whispered, emerald eyes fixed on Harry hungrily, drinking in his appearance

"What did you say to me when you found out about the prophecy?" he snapped, shifting his weight to shield Harry from her gaze, Lily lowered her eyes and squeezed them shut

"That I almost wished I wasn't having a baby at all. I never told James, he... He wanted Harry so much, I didn't want to bring a cursed child into the world" the werewolf lowered his wand slightly.

"What's rule 50?" he suddenly shot at James and the other gave a bitter grimace

"That we should never let Peter have firewhiskey."

"Rule 3.5?"

"That a marauder can never refuse help from his fellow marauders! Within reason"

"63?"

"When citied I must stop talking about Lily." Lily snorted with laughter, she had slipped past her husband and was now closer to her son, James shot her an mock indignant glance as she knelt down a little ways before Harry.

"What transfiguration did I help you with for Slughorn?" Remus asked quietly, his wand now by his side. Lily smiled at Harry gently

"You helped me with a flower petal that turned into a small goldfish. It was a thank you for his help during my NEWTs. And something to remember me by."

"Convinced Remmy? ...Harry, do you believe us?" James' voice softened from the overly bright tone he was using toward his friends as he inched closer than Lily but joining her in kneeling. His son shrugged warily then asked bluntly

"Why did you use Wormtail?" his parents both flinched and James bit his lip

"That was my fault. It was a decision motivated by selfishness and callousness. I jumped at the chance to use Wormtail because.. I thought. He was too much of a coward to betray us. And. I couldn't bear to lose Remus or Sirius. It was my decision and it cost us, it cost you and I'm sorry." he said quietly, hazel eyes fixed on his son's, Harry glanced at Sirius then said

"Why does Aunt Petunia hate you?" Lily sighed and gave him a rueful little smile

"Asking all the hard questions uh? Tuney didn't hate me. At least not when we were young. But she went a little wild in her teenage years and our parents choice of punishment was to neglect her. I believe our mother said if she couldn't be a respectful daughter, then she wasn't a daughter. You never notice how cruel that is when you're young and it's not happening to you. I think she was angry and hurt. Our mother went through.. Moods. And she was much harder on Petunia than myself."

Harry's guarded expression hadn't dropped but he angled his body subconsciously towards them, hand clasped in Sirius' as James asked "What's your house then? Sirius wouldn't tell us anything." he glanced at his godfather who smiled encouragingly and nodded

"Gryffindor. The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin." The last bit had slipped out without thought and he felt face pale slightly, they were all staunch Gryffindors, what if...? James laughed, breaking his train of thought "Me too! And Sirius. Remus was offered Ravenclaw. The only true Gryffindor here is your mum" he looked back at Sirius to see both of the Marauders nodding "I told you Harry. My whole family was Slytherin, it took ages to convince the hat that Gryffindor was where I belonged." his godfather said with a shrug. Harry turned back to his father "Why does Snape hate you so much?"

"You've met Snape? How?" the tone was incredulous, face in grimace to be replaced with shock "He's a teacher? Has Dumbledore gone senile!?" an amused snort burst from Harry' and Lily smacked James' shoulder

"Don't be horrible. Severus could be an excellent teacher! What's he like Harry? ... Oh. Perhaps not then."

"Of course he's not a good teacher! He was a horrible student, and a deatheater! What is Dumbledore thinking? How on earth is Harry supposed to pass his OWLs with someone who refuses to teach? Who are your other teachers?"

"What rules were you talking about?" A fire was crackling merrily in the polished grate, jumping off the shiny oak and adding to the room's dim glow. James laughed, he was resting against the sofa now, Lily was sat next to Harry unable to stop herself stroking through his hair at regular intervals. "Padfoot and I made some up as a joke for Moony. But he took the idea and added to them every year. Backfired on us." Harry nodded, looking to his godfather and Remus, the former was sprawled in an armchair, book on the table beside him but he winked at him with a gentle smile.