Disclaimer: I own no part of Harry Potter or its associated canon nor, any other already copyrighted material.
(A/N):
Chapter 2
The Boy-Who-huh?
A quiet tapping at the window made Harry's eye twitch slightly. After a moment it happened again. Slowly coming around to consciousness he waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the casement and heard the satisfying click of the catch releasing. A moment later one side of the window swung open and he heard a rustling of feathers sailing around the room. A light thump landed on the bedcovers and the rustling swooped around to disappear back out the window. He managed to find his glasses and slip them on just in time to see the pane close and a little brown blur sail off into the distance.
Blinking several times he cleared his vision somewhat. Rolling a little to lay flat on his back his arm fell to the side searching for what he already knew wasn't there. Ginny of course had been up for hours while his lazy bones slept in. Pushing himself a little ways up the head board he glanced at the clock. It was already half past ten in the morning. Letting that sink in for several moments his eyes finally found the letter the owl had dropped off. He was immediately surprised. He had already been home three days and Ron had only now written him. Hermione had probably been holding him back. Tearing it open he glanced over the hurried scrawl.
Hey Mate,
Glad to hear you're home. Work's been dull as
anything without you and the paperwork's driving
me batty. Come back soon!
Ron
P.S. Hermione sends her love and wants to make sure
we're still on for dinner.
Harry smiled to himself at the short note. Ron never had been much of a writer but he would talk nonstop once the two of them got together. Setting it on the desk he tossed back the covers and rose. Collecting the appropriate clothes he headed for a shower.
Harry stretched once more as he slid his wand into the special pocket sewn into his khaki slacks. Pulling on an old Cannons shirt he headed out into the house. It was still quiet despite the late morning hour as he made his way past the several sealed rooms that shared the third floor with his and Ginny's bedroom. The workshop was just to the right as always while the room to the left had been converted into a nursery with the arrival of James into the family. The repurposed War Room was one of the most closely guarded rooms in the house as it contained mementoes of Tom's reign. Ron and Hermione's guest rooms waited as always for their owners to come visit. They hadn't come by with their kids in a while but Harry could sense another trip was imminent. He had paced the hallway that connected the rooms thousands of times in the night with each of his children lulling them back to sleep.
Heading down the stairs he passed the similarly quiet second floor. Lily, coincidentally, had decided on what had once been her mother's room as her own. Of course it might have had something to do with the fact James was right across the hall. Despite being offered their own rooms the twins had decided to share and taken the slightly larger room at the end of the hall. There was a roughly scrawled 'Keep Out' sign hanging from their door even now. On the other end of the hall were the guest rooms. One assigned to each of their cousins and relations when they dropped by for a day or a week.
Heading down once again he turned from the final stair and came face to face with a familiar old man. "Good morning Professor."
"Good morning Harry." The portrait of Albus Dumbledore had gained back some of the knowledge its real life counterpart had initially denied it and that look of wisdom had returned to his eyes. "All right then?" Harry nodded slowly.
"Great. You?"
"Well...Minerva is going a little crazy trying to find someone to replace you but I'm confident it will all work out in the end."
"I'm sure it will sir." The man drew out a small pocket watch and glanced at it.
"Oh, I'm sorry I must be going."
"Quite all right." With a mutual wave the man stepped to the side of the chair and disappeared. Harry finished the turn and headed into the kitchen where at last he found some activity.
"Good morning Master Harry!" The voice was less of a squeak than it had once been though the large round eyes had lost none of their shine.
"Morning Dobby." The elf was putting together this and that into what Harry could only assume would be lunch. At seeing his employer though the creature rapidly switched gears and soon had a breakfast plate on the table. Harry pulled it over in one hand and a copy of the Prophet in the other. He knew the paper was courtesy of Winky. He hadn't quite wanted to give the paper his home address so he had her go and fetch it each morning. With her elf magic it actually arrived sooner than by owl. Taking a bite he glanced up at the industrious little being. "Dobby…where is everyone?" Dobby stopped and turned.
"Mistress Ginny left this morning with all four of your children for Diagon Alley." Of course. She had mentioned that last night. Ginny felt, and rightly so, that the kids shouldn't become insulated in this house and it was important to have regular contact with the magical world at large. To that end she took them somewhere, usually the Alley, at least once a week. The only thing that worried him was how much of that time the twins were spending with Gred and Forge. Pushing it out of his mind he turned back to the paper and ate as he paged through.
After living through the War it was hard to find an issue really amazing anymore. But now that he was a full fledged adult and parent, other things caught his attention. There was little to excite this morning however as he glanced through the headlines. The announcement of his returning to work at the Ministry was pushed all the way up to page three from lack of anything to write about. The events of his life had been well chronicles before the War and continued to be followed even now. The Daily Prophet had learned the limits of what he would allow when it came to prying into his personal life though some of the less reputable publications still tempted fate with supposedly shocking exposes. There was a small office in the Ministry that kept an eye out for possible libel against its employees. He sent them a gift basket once a month out of guilt for tripling their workload. Finishing the paper and breakfast at the same time he set both aside and rose. "Thanks Dobby."
"Of course sir." The sound of a front door closing caught his attention and he quickly strode to the kitchen door and up the stairs. A chorus of greetings hit him as his children blew past him and scattered to the four corners of the house, leaving their mother to carry the remaining bags herself. Taking hold of the ones she held out to him, he leaned in and kissed her lightly.
"Morning."
"Morning. I got those ingredients you wanted. Do you have any idea how much dragon liver is right now?" Harry could only look at her confused.
"Ingredients?" She nodded distractedly as she flipped off her traveling cloak and hung it next to his.
"Yeah. Lily gave me that list of things you wanted." Harry didn't immediately respond, instead his eyes had trailed off down the hallway where his daughter had disappeared toward the library.
"Did she now?" Ginny caught the tone and looked up.
"What? Did you not give her that list? I just figured with all you father-daughter potion making time…" Harry turned back. Ginny's description had been apt. Potion making was the thing he shared with his daughter, the time just the two of them spent together talking. He had no real skill with it but he worked hard since Lily was so enamored with it. With James it was chess and the twins beating a practice bludger around the yard. Lily always had been more studious and he knew first hand the value of potion making skills.
"No I gave her the list. I just expected her to research them instead of buying them. I'll go talk to her." He turned with the bags in hand when her touch on his arm stopped him. "I'll go easy on her."
"It's not that. When we were in Flourish and Blotts today someone recognized us, someone who apparently didn't get the memo, and started asking her what you're like. I ran them off a minute later," she held up a hand to forestall a comment, "no I didn't hex them…this time. But now she's wondering why you're so interesting. She was asking me about it and I…deflected the question with ice cream. She'll figure it out soon though." After a moment Harry nodded.
"Okay. I'll take care of it. Need a hand with the rest of those?" She shook her head and headed up the stairs.
"I've got it. You go talk to our daughter."
"Right…" Taking a deep breath Harry headed down the hallway to seek out his child. He found her a minute later, as expected, curled up in one of the comfortable chairs that inhabited the family library. Harry had enlisted Hermione's help after James had been born to cull from the collection anything dark or dangerous. Given the house's history they had ultimately removed a good chunk of them to a closet in the War Room upstairs. After a moment Harry fell into the chair facing hers and set the bags down heavily on the table between them. He could hear a few bottles clink together as he did so.
After a moment Lily's eyes rose from her new book and glanced to the bags before settling on him. "Hi dad." Her gaze was fixed in a way Harry was very familiar with from his youth. It was a look that knew she had misbehaved but wasn't going to say anything on the hopes she hadn't been found out yet. In response Harry let his lip curl in the fake smile that told her instantly she had been caught.
"Hello." He gestured to the bags. "Your mother just informed me she was kind enough to pick up the list of supplies I wanted. Imagine her surprise when she found out I wasn't expecting them, or mine when she told me you gave her the list." He could see the deep swallow and guilt crossing Lily's eyes. "So?"
"W-well…I…" He could see her eyes rolling back and forth trying to find a way out of this. "We would have needed them eventually…" Harry let just a little bit of heat into his voice.
"You lied to her. You lied to you own mother." Lily shrunk back just a little. When she spoke her voice was small and a little frightened.
"Yes…" Harry let out a long breath.
"Lily… I appreciate your enthusiasm for potion making, really I do. But how can I trust you to help me in the workshop when I find out you've been lying?" The girl's eyes fell and he could sense tears not too far away.
"I…I'm sorry dad." He waited for a moment to let her stew before sighing and softening his voice.
"Good. You should be. Honesty is one of the most important things you can have. Lying like this…I'm disappointed Lily. I though you would be the last one to ever do this." He could tell that stung her worse than the first. He didn't expect any of his children to lie, but coming from Lily it had really been a sharp blow. She was acting like…like… A Slytherin he finished ruefully. Still, she was repentant so that was something. He would just have to put off using any of this stuff for a while. That would be her penalty. She was still on the verge of tears so he softened his voice even further. "Is it ever going to happen again?" Her head shook fitfully side to side. "I expect not. If it does I'll lock you out the library for a month." Her head popped up, stark terror in her eyes. "That's what your mother likely would have done already if I hadn't told her I gave you the list to study. Don't make me regret that." Her head whipped rapidly side to side.
"I won't!" He waited a moment longer as her head came to a rest. Slowly her eyes crept back up, not quite sure it was okay to make eye contact.
"So…what book did you get?" Her face lit up immediately at the question. Here was safe territory, a place she felt comfortable. With enthusiasm she lifted the book and spun it around to show him the cover. A very familiar building looked back at him from her hands.
"Founders Four: The Origins of Hogwarts." Harry smiled as she read the title aloud.
"How is it so far?" In the few minutes she had owned it she had already gotten several pages in.
"Um…dry. I'm sure it'll get better though." Harry smiled to himself at her unwillingness to speak badly of any book no matter how dull. After a moment he refocused on something else. She immediately caught the seriousness in his voice and set the book aside as he spoke.
"Your mother mentioned something else. She said while you were in Flourish and Blotts some one approached and started asking about me." She nodded slowly. Harry could see the questions behind her eyes but she waited, not wanting to push him too hard for answers, unsure of what was allowed. "Do you want to know why?" She hesitated for a moment before nodding firmly. "Then follow me." Collecting the bags he rose and started for the door. He heard her much lighter footsteps follow as he headed down the hall and began climbing the stairs.
Reaching the third floor Harry thought back to the previous year when James had started asking questions about his father right after his tenth birthday. He had been shocked at the story his father had laid before him and it took most of a month for the surprise to wear off. Now, with Lily nearing her tenth birthday it was her turn to learn the past Harry and Ginny had shielded their children from for so long. He turned back to see Lily's wide eyes as he opened the door to the War Room and gestured for her to enter. Her hesitation was palpable as she looked into the room. And with good reason. This was the one room of the house the children were absolutely forbidden to enter under any circumstances. As such it generated huge amounts of interest among them.
"Come on." Again he gestured and this time she took several hesitant steps into the room. "Have a seat." She slowly climbed up onto one of the stools surrounding the large central table and looked around the room. It stood much as it had fifteen years ago after the end of the Second War. Bits and pieces had been collected for most of Harry's last year at school and well into the following year as well. The last real changes had come when he had returned from his honeymoon with his new bride and together they had organized the space. Lily slowly turned a circle as her eyes flitted from one thing to the next. Harry's followed them as he reminisced.
Just to the side of the door was the history wall. The events leading up to the war were told in headlines and photographs. The original Order picture hung there as well as the headline of his parents' death. Right at the edge to the next wall was the headline proclaiming the return of You-Know-Who.
The main wall was divided into three core sections. On the left were large photos of the Order of the Phoenix just before the battle of Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Army at a similar time and various other individual photos of those that had fought Voldemort. In the center was a large map of the British Isles with lines coming off in all directions connecting places on the map to specific headlines and notes stuck to the board all around it. The third part contained individual photos of many Death Eaters, including at the top one of a young Tom Riddle. Most of them had a red X scratched across them signifying their death.
The third wall contained a visual record of the triumphs that had come from the years of war. Harry was featured most prominently, his large 'Heroes of Hogwarts' photo immediately catching the eye. Other pictures of him, Ginny, Ron and Hermione as well as headlines proclaiming victories and the end of the war filled up most of the remaining space. The desk under all these clippings held two small frames which contained the most amazing collection of objects. One was the multiple Order of Merlin medals Harry had won. The other contained Ginny's.
The final wall, directly behind Lily's seat, held a history of everything that had happened since then. Headlines such as 'Potter Joins Aurors' and 'Potters' First Born Son' were splayed across the wall intermixed with thank you letters and well wishes at every event of his life. Lily looked over all of this with a strange shock in her eyes.
"As you can see…I'm famous. I have been for a long tome. That's why that man wanted to know about me." He fell silent and waited. It was clearly a surprise and she needed time to come to grips with it. After several minute her gaze returned to him.
"W-why are you famous?" Harry took a deep breath to begin.
"Sixty-five years ago there was a man named Tom Riddle. Now, you know about the dark arts a little. He fell about as deeply into them as possible and became a dark wizard of the fiercest order. Now, some years later…" he told her a little about Tom's rise to power, how her grandparents had risen as well to fight him and the sacrifice they had made. He touched on the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived and Voldemort's resurrection. He then tracked through the rise again of forces to face him including the Order and the DA using the pictures on the wall to illustrate. Then he went through the Second War and the battles he had fought his final year and the ultimate combat on the grounds of the castle itself. He told the story of his life to daughter that looked as if she barely recognized him now.
"And the reason I haven't told you before is that I knew how hard it was to live with such a legend over my head and both your mother and I wanted to spare you that as much as possible." He fell silent again and waited a moment before reaching out to the desk near the door. A book flew out from a small collection there and slapped into his hand. Setting it on the table he slid it over to her. She looked down to see his much younger face looking up at her.
"The Man Who Lives. A biography of Harry Potter by…Hermione Weasley?!" She was startled at the last and looked up to him for confirmation. "Aunt Hermione?" He nodded slowly.
"Yep. She wrote that right after the war." Lily reached out and grasped the book firmly. Here again was familiar territory, something she could understand. "Now, I'm going to ask you to make the same promise James did when I told him. I want you to promise not to tell your younger brothers about this. They'll find out in their own time. Okay?" After a moment's hesitation she nodded.
"Promise."
"Thank you. If you have questions or want to talk about it, ask me, or your mother, or your aunt and uncle. Okay?" She nodded again. "So…any questions right now." She thought long and hard about that and a thousand potential queries passed her eyes. Finally she just shook her head.
"Maybe after I read…" She lifted the book a little. He nodded in response.
"Whenever you're ready. I'll be here." His eyes glanced up to the clock hanging on the wall. "But right now I bet lunch is ready. Shall we?" He gestured to the door which brought a smile to her face. Racing ahead of him down the stairs she dropped off the book in her room before walking side by side into the kitchen where the rest of the family had already gathered. Harry met Ginny's eyes for a moment and gave an infinitesimal nod which she immediately returned. James seemed to have noticed the look and his gaze swiveled around to his sister, a knowing light in his eyes.
(A/N): If you feel it is warranted go ahead and review. I welcome any and all opinions.
