Chapter 2: Healing

Lily's PoV

Lily sat back on her heels and sighed. After James had gotten her the healer's items, she had worked tirelessly, trying to heal her son. After roughly two hours of work, she had managed to have Harry in some stable condition.

Lily gazed at her son. Harry's forehead was covered in a bandage. The cuts were still visible on his arms, but at least the bruises were gone. No matter how Harry looked, Lily didn't think that she had ever seen someone so beautiful.

She stroked his freshly washed hair as James knelt beside her.

"How is he?" He asked tentatively, grabbing Harry's hand.

"He will be fine." She answered honestly.

Lily clutched James' shoulder. "He looks so much like you."

James glanced at her and smiled. "He has your eyes. Bright beautiful green eyes." He smiled again when Lily blushed.

They sat in silence for a few moments, gazing at their unresponsive son.

James suddenly stood up. "I need to tell Padfoot and Moony...and Dumbledore."

Lily stood up next to him. She clutched his arm. "Do you think that's wise?" "I mean…" She added hastily when she saw the look he gave her. "What if they don't believe us?" James suddenly looked uncertain. "They will. They have to."

James' PoV

Half an hour later, they had finished their three letters and sent them off. James could only hope that Dumbledore, Sirius, and Remus would believe them.

Now, James and Lily sat on their burgundy couch, anxiously waiting until someone arrived.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Albus Dumbledore stepped through the fireplace, shaking soot from his hat. His normal twinkling eyes, looked more grave than usual.

"James. Lily." He said, nodding to each of them. "What is this I hear of young Harry?"

James stood up. "He's here, Albus. We know it's him."

Albus merely raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"We're his parents, Albus." Lily pleaded. "Of course we know it's him."

Albus sighed and crossed over to Harry's unresponsive form. "Perhaps a test would be in order."

Suddenly, Sirius and Remus strolled out of the floo.

"James, what do you mean..? Harry..?" Sirius stopped short. He stood in the doorway with Remus behind him, staring at the unresponsive Harry.

Remus was pale. "I..Is that?" Lily nodded.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should get on with the test."

James turned back to Albus. "Yes...of course."

Lily hurriedly filled them in, while James helped Albus with the test. They all gathered around the couch where Harry was situated. Dumbledore handed James a small knife. "We're going to need some of the boy's blood, James. Just a few drops." James turned pale. How could he hurt his son, when he had just gotten him back?

Lily put her hand on his shoulder. "J..Just a few drops, dear." She said, her voice unnaturally high. "I'll heal it up in no time."

James nodded and slowly shifted to Harry. He took his son's hand a gently ran the knife over his palm. He held his breath when a few drops of blood dripped onto the magical parchment that Albus was holding. Lily quickly cast a healing spell and wrapped her son's hand in a bandage for good measure.

Albus' eyes were twinkling as he cast the final spell over the parchment. Everyone crowded around as he set the parchment down on their side table.

The parchment read:

Harry James Potter

Son of Lily and James Potter

Lily and James immediately clung to each other, sobbing in joy. Lily buried her head in James' shoulder. Her eyes were filled with tears but James thought she had the most radiant smile on her face.

"He's here James." She wept. "He's really here."

James clung to her, rubbing her back. "I know, Lily flower. I know."

James let go of Lily, who instantly clasped to Remus, shaking in tears of joy. He turned just as Sirius practically tackled him in a bear hug. "Hear that Prongs? We'll have to get him a broom. I call him being on my team for our first game." James chuckled. "Alright Padfoot."

James turned to Remus, who held out his hand to shake. James shook his head amusingly. "None of that, Moony." James said as he pulled him into a hug. Remus merely smiled. "Congratulations, Prongs."

The twinkling eyes of Albus Dumbledore watched all of this with a cheerful smile on his face.

It had been a few days since Albus had visited. Sirius and Remus had visited often to check on Harry, yet he still hadn't woken up. James was starting to get anxious.

Lily was washing the dishes as James paced back and forth across their dining room.

"What are we supposed to do, Lily?" James said dejectedly. "We weren't there for him, for almost his whole childhood. What am I even supposed to say to him?"

Lily sighed and quickly waved her wand. The remaining dishes swiftly floated into cupboards, stacking themselves neatly. She crossed over to James and put her hand on his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles on his back.

"We can't know for sure." She smiled slightly. "The only thing we can do now is make sure he has the parents that he deserves. We can't make the same mistake again."

James sighed and relaxed. The tension left his body. He turned to face his wife, grinning broadly. "Well, first we need a room where Harry can stay. Let's go to Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade. I'm sure we can find everything we need there."

Lily laughed and took his hands in hers. "And you know what Harry is interested in?"

James merely grinned. "Of course." He said taking a piece of folded parchment out of his pocket. "I found this in his cloak."

Lily glanced at it and sighed. It was a quidditch poster. "You better call Sirius and Remus." She said dryly.

"They're going to want to help you pick out the broom."

Lily's PoV

Lily and the remaining Marauders spent the rest of the day bustling into, and out of, wizarding shops. They bought everything that they thought Harry would need.

James and Sirius spent at least an hour in Quality Quidditch Supplies, trying to decide which broom to buy. They eventually decided on a Firebolt, which, according to Sirius, was the fastest broom on the market.

Lily spent a good amount of time in Madam Malkin's and a few muggle clothes stores, which irritated Sirius and James.

Remus also wanted to get Harry some books. (Which made Lily delighted and added to James and Sirius' annoyance.)

Eventually, they apparated back to their cottage. They all collapsed onto the sofas in exhaustion, too worn out to move. All in all, it was a very successful trip, or at least Lily thought so, as she finally closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep.

Lily gradually woke up, eventually realizing that she must have fallen asleep on the sofa. She looked around and saw that Remus was on the couch opposite to her. James and Sirius were asleep on the floor. Harry was no longer dead to the world on the couch. Lily remembered that James had moved him to his new room. She smiled and dragged herself from the sofa. Hopefully, Harry would like his new home.

Lily wasn't worried about when Harry woke up. In fact, she couldn't wait to meet her son. A small part of her realized that he might be angry with them. After all, they weren't there for most of his childhood. Lily could only hope that Harry would forgive her and James. If he did, maybe it could help her, and James, to forgive themselves.

Lily had realized, eventually, that Harry's kidnapping (and supposed death) was not entirely her and James' fault. She knew that Peter, (the name still left a bad taste in her mouth) was the one responsible. And, of course, Voldemort himself. But she still couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty, whenever Harry was mentioned.

Now though.

Now she could make things right. Lily could raise her son, like she always wanted to. Sure, it won't be the same. It can never be the same, but at least she can have a second chance. Lily will do everything in her power to make things right, to make things how they were supposed to be.

Lily made her way to the kitchen. She did have three grown men in her house. They were obviously going to be very hungry when they woke up. Lily briefly remembered how skinny that Harry was. She was going to have to get him to eat more once he woke up.

Lily started on making the eggs. She waved her wand and all dozen of them cracked and dropped their contents into a bowl that hovered underneath them. She charmed a whisk to stir the eggs and then leaned back against the counter.

She hoped that Harry would wake up soon. As she was healing Harry, she had noticed some rather interesting scars that ran up and down his arms. Lily, being a Healer at St. Mungo's, had seen some pretty nasty scars. She wondered who, or what, did that to her son.

That was a question that had been on hers and James' minds lately.

What had happened to their son?

How did he just show up, right next to their house?

Did he even know who they were?

These questions bounced back and forth in her brain for hours. Lily had tried to make sense of it.

They had known that Harry had to have been with Voldemort, or his followers. It was the only logical reason. He couldn't have been a Death Eater. He didn't have the mark. Maybe Harry had run away from his captors. That seemed like a reasonable option.

The more Lily thought about it, the more it made her head hurt. How had Harry escaped? More importantly, what did Harry's captors do to him?

That was the question that Lily strived to learn the answer to, but she also dreaded it. She needed to know what had happened to her son, but what if the answer was too horrifying to know. Did she really want to know the terrors that her son had been through?

Lily had questioned this hundreds of times over the past few days. However, she eventually realized that, she could only guess what had happened until Harry woke up.

Lily was pulled out of her thoughts by James, Sirius, and Remus coming into the dining room. She said 'good morning' to them as she set down their plates of food in front of them.

"I'm going to check on Harry."

James merely nodded at her as he began to scarf down his food like he had been starved.

Lily rolled her eyes and strayed from the room. She made her way to Harry's bedroom and briefly smiled.

They all hoped that Harry would like his new room. The walls were now painted red and were covered in quidditch posters. A golden snitch was charmed to fly around the ceiling courtesy of Sirius. "He is obviously going to play seeker. Look how skinny he is!" The closet now held many clothes ranging from dress robes to muggle t-shirts and jeans, which was, of course, Lily's work. There also was a small wooden bookshelf in the corner that was filled with books. Remus insisted that it was for 14 years worth of birthday presents.

Lily crossed over to where her son was sleeping under the golden bedspread. She sat on the edge of the bed and brushed some of Harry's bangs out of his eyes. To Lily's delight, he leaned into the touch unconsciously.

Lily continued to stroke her son's hair when something glittered and caught her eye. She reached down, and realized that it was a necklace that Harry was wearing. She hadn't noticed it before. Lily unclasped the necklace and pulled it closer for inspection.

The necklace had a pendant that was held on by a golden chain. The pendant was almost octagon in shape. In the center it showed a serpentine S, inlaid with green stones. It looked to be a locket, from the hinges and clasp on the side. Lily tried to open it, but the locket didn't budge. The locket seemed to have a sinister feeling to it. Lily could almost swear that she could hear whispers coming from it.

Without realizing it, Lily had clasped the locket around her neck. Immediately, she could feel hopelessness so strong that she might have thought a dementor was near.

Her son could never wake up. Something could go wrong. He was going to be hurt, perhaps killed.

Harry would never love her. She did this to him. It was her fault that Harry was kidnapped. Who would ever love someone like her? Someone who got her son almost killed.

He will never love you… You did this to him… The words taunted her, over and over again.

Lily gasped. No..! No! Harry would love her. She would make things right again. They would be a family again.

Lily's shaky hands found the clasp, and the locket dropped from around her neck.

She stared at it, feeling sick. Was Harry feeling that way, before I took the locket off?

Lily sighed and rubbed her forehead. She could sense the darkest of magic used in this necklace. Perhaps James would know what to think of it.

And with that, she tucked Harry in again, kissed him on the forehead, and set out to find her husband.

Lily watched as her husband paced back and forth, the locket clasped in his hand.

"So, do you have any ideas on what it could be?"

James stopped pacing and sighed. "It could be anything. I'm sure Albus has some ideas though." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm more worried about how Harry got to it." He suddenly turned to Lily. "Do you think that it could have been affecting his health?"

Lily wrung her hands. "Possibly. I felt sick after wearing it. Also, it seemed to project only negative emotions into your brain. It almost felt like there was a dementor in the room with me." Lily saw her husband's panicked look. "Don't worry. I'm sure Harry will be fine. He should be waking up tomorrow." She sighed at James' unconvinced look. "Why don't we floo Albus? I'm sure he will have some answers."

A/N: That's chapter two, done and dusted. I just want to give a big 'Thank You' to everyone that has supported this story. I really appreciate it. I wasn't expecting such a response on this story again. Once again, fill free to ask questions. Hopefully, most of them will be answered in the story, but I am willing to give clarification and possibly some special previews to people that ask.

Thanks again,

Aroissa