A/N: Hello everyone :) This is my first fanfiction ever, and I wrote it for a fanfiction contest for my favorite HP page ;) I'm currently working on an extended version since I was worried about this being too long. It should be up in not too long, hopefully, barring any issues. I hope you guys like this and look forward to hearing from you!
Disclaimer: I don't think I need to say it, but sadly I'm not JK and thus don't own Harry Potter. Which is sad because half, at least, of these characters wouldn't have died if I was. As it is, she's kind enough to share her toys.
The portrait looked on sadly as the woman in front of him sat slumped over her desk with her head cradled forlornly in her hands. She looked up with an obvious sheen to her eyes that would have surprised any who knew her, for Minerva McGonagall was not a woman who cried easily. Though the war had ended over a year ago its damage was still plainly visible in the eyes of its survivors, but few more so than the Headmistress of Hogwarts. It seems that every day the toll on her grew as she was forced to see the lasting pain and agony the war had left behind on her students faces with no idea how to help them. One can only bear the pain for so long and it seemed that today was when the Headmistress could take it no longer.
Looking around the room at her assembled predecessors she lost yet more of her carefully crafted control and implored them, "There must be some magic, some way to help them move on from this pain! They are only children and shouldn't have to live like this! If you, with all your assembled knowledge and accomplishments, cannot help me then find me someone who can!" Several of the portraits protested the disrespectful tone of the new Headmistress but most only looked on with pity in their eyes.
One portrait from the corner of the room called out to her gruffly, "There may yet be a way but the question, Headmistress", he spat the word with a mocking tone she was far from unaccustomed to hearing from him, "Is just what magics you're willing to use to achieve it."
Minerva turned sharply and in a cutting tone that had made many a troublemaker cower in her years of teaching snarled, "I have no time for your games, Phineas! If you have something of use to say, for once, I demand you to spit it out lest I move your portrait to the Muggle Studies classroom as I know how much you miss teaching!"
The portrait of Phineas Black looked affronted at such disrespect but seemed to think better of pushing the Headmistress any farther at the moment. Merlin only knew what horrors he would have to suffer through should she follow through with her threat.
With a disgruntled sigh he asked, "What do you know of the Feast of the Dead rite?"
Dennis had no idea how he'd let the Headmistress talk him into this. All he wanted was to leave this place that had once been a place of wonder and delight and now held only pain and memories of the loss of his brother. How was magic supposed to help him when all magic had done was cost him his brother?! If he and Colin had never gotten their letters then they'd be safe back home doing normal things that children of 14 and 16 did, not trying to cope with war and death.
He stormed up to the seventh floor and the room where Headmistress McGonagall was waiting for him, determined to get whatever this was over with so that he could leave this place once and for all. Magic had never done anything but cause him pain and cost him his brother and his childhood and he'd be glad to be rid of it entirely.
He stopped in front of the door, making a point to not look up from the floor in case he said something he might regret. He knew it wasn't the Headmistress' fault but that wouldn't stop him from causing a scene if he had to see that disappointed look again. He stopped only for a moment to nod at the Headmistress before moving to the door.
Eager to have it done, Dennis shoved the door open and walked inside, stopping short when he saw a table set up with a small meal and two place settings. Suddenly unsure, he slowly took a seat and held his breath as he waited for something to happen. When nothing immediately occurred, he dropped his head onto the table and huffed, "I can't wait to get out of this place!"
From across the table a familiar voice softly said, "Now why would you want to leave a place like Hogwarts?" Dennis' head shot off the table and he saw Colin, looking exactly as he did that last horrible day before he left to answer Neville's call to fight. The tears that immediately filled his eyes also impeded Dennis' ability to see his brother and he began to blink furiously so as though afraid that if he lost sight of Colin for even a second he'd be gone again.
"You….You're really here? How….How is that possible? You're...you...how?" Dennis stuttered and found himself too choked up to say any of the multitude of things he'd dreamed of saying to his brother.
Colin smiled gently at his brother and whispered with the merest hint of censure to his voice, "Magic, Dennis. Magic didn't take me away from you but it did give us this time together. Don't throw it all away or they win Dennis and it was all for nothing. We won and you need to stay so you can see all the wondrous things magic can do when it's not tainted by hate. Hogwarts is your home just like it was mine and it's where you belong."
Dennis couldn't stop the tears then as his brother came around the table and embraced him and Dennis knew then he could never give up the magic that allowed him to hug his brother one last time.
George's stomach churned even as he walked slowly up to the seventh floor. He debated turning and walking out of the school entirely rather than see what was waiting for him. The whole affair was rather hush hush and while normally he'd be the first to try and uncover the big secret, there was just no point anymore. Why go through the effort when you have no one to share the glory with. The horrible unending emptiness inside of him only grew as he thought of how disappointed Fred would be in his lack of meddling.
Shaking his head to clear it, he walked unseeingly past McGonagall and into the room, not even stopping to take a moment to look around before heading straight to one of the five seats around a table with some assortment of foods.
Since he was so lost in thought it was almost impossible for him to have seen it coming. Suddenly, George saw something moving toward him far too quickly to dodge; in fact he barely had time to realize something was happening before it hit him in the face and he found himself falling backward onto something surprisingly soft. There was a chorus of roaring laughter before a voice yelled out, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself Gred! That was almost as easy as getting Percy!"
Desperately, George tried to wipe away whatever substance was keeping him from seeing the one person he desperately wanted to see. Suddenly, a strong stream of liquid was spraying him in the face as he coughed and spluttered. When it ended, he looked up into the face he saw every day in the mirror yet never thought he'd see again.
"Honestly Gred and you call yourself my brother. How could you let yourself get pranked so easily? I guess I got the looks and the brains, didn't I," Fred chuckled before pulling his stunned twin to his feet and embracing him. Following Fred to his seat at the table, George finally took note of the three other men already seated as they smiled widely at him.
George gaped at the men before looking at his twin whose smile could not be wider as he announced, "That's right George! You are in the presence of pranking royalty! You already know Professor Lupin and Sirius, of course, and this is Prongs. James Potter himself. Who better to help me remind you who we are and what we do than the Marauders?"
The Marauders chuckled to themselves before Sirius shook his head in mock disappointment and said, "I don't know Fred. Maybe you were the only real prankster because that was far too easy for the second greatest pranksters Hogwarts has ever known."
George scoffed and almost without thinking replied, "Second?! I'll show you second!"
Fred chuckled loudly as he watched his twin animatedly start comparing pranks with Sirius and James and he knew that his twin would be just fine.
Harry wondered why Professor McGonagall had told him to bring Teddy with him to this mysterious meeting today, but he hoped it wouldn't take too long. It was nearly naptime. Carrying the boy up the stairs as best he could as the one and a half year old did HIS best to squirm out of Harry's arms. Glad to finally reach the top, Harry walked up to the Professor and was greatly confused when she simply hurried him into the room.
A bit more wary now then he was, Harry adjusted Teddy in his arms to draw his wand and began scouting for any hint of danger to his young godson. Seeing nothing but a cozy room with a large table holding six chairs and a high chair, Harry relaxed though he did not put away his wand as the voice in his head (that sounded suspiciously like Mad Eye) shouted, "Constant Vigilance!".
A voice behind him proudly declared, "I knew you'd be a great godfather!" Whipping around with his wand at the ready Harry turned to stone when he saw his own godfather, Sirius, leaning casually against the wall with a large grin on his face.
"To be fair, Padfoot, I knew that when I made him Teddy's godfather," came another voice from next to Harry. Unsure which way to turn and what to think, Harry backed up slowly towards the table with a tight grip on both his godson and his wand.
"Would you two quit horsing around and scaring my son? Or do I have to come over there," threatened a voice Harry had only heard in his nightmares. Nearly collapsing into the nearest chair Harry looked around the room only to find even more people, all of them recognizable and all very dead.
Slowly Lily Potter approached her son and gently lowered his wand to the table. Taking advantage of Harry's surprise, she picked up the small child and cooed at him softly before passing him off to a very purple-haired Tonks. Once free, she gathered Harry up into her arms and gave him the kind of hug he'd only experienced from Mrs. Weasley until now, the kind of hug only a mother can give.
Feeling a firm hand grasping his shoulder, Harry turned to see a face so very like his own. All except the eyes of course, just like everyone had always told him. James Potter smiled a huge grin of the purest pride and love before looking over at where Tonks, Remus, and Sirius were playing with Teddy and calling them to eat.
Harry had only ever dreamed of experiencing the miracle he was now. Together he and Teddy were having a real family dinner! Tonks was playing with Teddy by changing her hair to every vibrant shade under the sun and watching her son copy her as his laughs of delight brought joy to everyone in the room.
Together they ate and played and talked as if they'd merely been on vacation and wanted to catch up and no one brought up what would happen when the meal ended. They simply cherished this moment of love and peace for all that it was worth.