A/N: this was actually the first fan fic I ever wrote in the summer of 2002. that was pre-OotP and HBP but i recently returned to this plot idea. i still love it but it needs a lot of updating with current info in mind. so anyway here is the updated prologue and hopefully i'll be able to work around 2 little boys and one on the way and homeschooling my boys and taking two college classes and house cleaning and all my sewing projects to keep this story going. enjoy.
as always Harry Potter and co. are not mine even though i love them dearly. they will always be the property of JKR and God bless her for it.
How typical of the Dursleys to wait until he got back from school to do their spring-cleaning, Harry thought. He had just finished his 6th year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and had spent most of his holiday so far in the Dursley's attic.
He shouldn't even be here. He should be out finding Horcruxes or hunting down Snape but he had promised Dumbledore that he would stay here until his birthday.
Today was actually the first time he had seen the light of day. This of course was only because he was carrying a box of old books out to the curb to be taken away with the other refuse. He dropped the box and stood stretching his back and breathing in the fresh air. Then something in the box caught his eye. He hadn't really been paying attention when he packed it but now he noticed that all of the books were muggle fiction classics: a couple of Dickens novels, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice.
Harry wondered who they could have possibly belonged to. He was quite sure Dudley had never read a book in his life. Uncle Vernon wouldn't be caught dead reading fiction, and the only thing Harry had ever seen Aunt Petunia read was the Daily Mail. Yet these books looked as though they had been read many times.
Harry reached into the box and pulled out one of the books. It was a collection of Arthurian legends by Sir Thomas Malory.
Ha, Harry thought. He wondered if Uncle Vernon knew that he had something so blatantly magical under his roof.
Harry flipped through the book and stared at the name-plate. For, there in the scrawl of a very young child, was the name Lily Evans.
These books had belonged to his mother. He drew out another book from the box. This one was a well loved copy of Robin Hood and on the inside cover in his mothers delicate teenage handwriting was inscribed.
To Marian, I thought you might like this one as it has your name in it. Your friend, Lily
Marian? Who was Marian? Why had his mother given her this book? And why was it returned?
Harry sat in his dress robes in the living room of the Burrow, waiting. It was the day of Bill and Fleur's wedding and again he wished he could be anywhere else. He tapped his foot agitatedly on the floor. As soon as this was over he could be off to Godric's Hollow. He wasn't sure if he would find any of the horcruxes there but he knew he had to go. He was so lost in thought he hadn't heard Remus come in and sit beside him.
"What's that?" Remus asked.
Harry jumped and then looked down at the book in his hands. He had forgotten it was there. He had been carrying it around with him since he had found it in that old box of the Dursleys.
"Oh, this?" Harry handed the book to Remus, "Just a book."
Remus looked at it as if he had seen it somewhere before. He opened the cover and smiled when he saw Lily's handwriting.
"What are you doing down here?" Harry asked, "don't you have some kind of best man duties to be doing?" He didn't really intend to snap at his friend but he had been a little short with everyone these days.
Remus didn't seem to notice. "Bill's up reassuring Fleur that he's actually going through with it. She said she wouldn't finish getting ready until she saw him."
"But, I thought they weren't supposed to see each other on the wedding day," said Harry.
Remus answered with a laugh, "Well she hasn't got her dress on yet or Aunt Merell's tiara. So, Molly said it would be okay for just a minute. Hey," he changed the subject, "Where did you get this?"
"Found it," Harry shrugged, "Why?"
"I haven't heard the name Marian in years," Remus shook his head.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask somebody about that." Harry perked up, "Who is Marian? I guess she was a friend of my mom's."
"Oh, she was more than that. She was your aunt, Harry," Remus said, "your dad's little sister."
"I didn't know my dad had a sister. Why couldn't I have gone to live with her?"
"I said she was your aunt, Harry," Remus said carefully. "She disappeared your dad's 7th year at Hogwarts. We never saw her again."