Chapter 6

"35 or 36 years ago, James and Lily Potter got married and a couple years later, they were blessed with a baby boy."

"That was my dad, right?" asked James.

"Yeah, that is your dad. But before he was born, his parents had joined a secret society called the Order of the Phoenix. It was a society that was trying to throw over a Dark Wizard, the most feared wizard of their time. This wizard's name was Lord Voldemort.

"Let me tell you about this Dark Wizard. He had had a muggle father, whom he never met, until he was about 15, and a witch mother, who died shortly after he was born. He was raised in an orphanage, in London, until one day, when he was 11, a man named Albus Dumbledore came to tell him that he had been accepted at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore was a teacher at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and they wanted Voldemort (whose name at the time was Tom Riddle, after his father) to come to Hogwarts. Tom hadn't known of magic before then, but he had known that he was different from the rest of the children at the orphanage. He had already learned how to control some of his magic and was using it against some of the other kids in the orphanage. Tom immediately accepted the offer of learning how to better control his magic and was soon of to Hogwarts.

"He soon found Hogwarts to be like the first real home he had ever had and he loathed the summers, when he would have to return to the muggle orphanage, where he spent the first 11 years of his life. By age 16, he had decided to go to the town where his father lived and to kill him for never being there and for being a muggle. That summer, he did go and kill his father, and his grandparents, too.

"In his 6th year at Hogwarts, he asked one of his teachers how to make a Horcrux."

"What is a Horcrux?" asked James.

"A Horcrux is an object which uses dark magic to contain a part of someone's soul, after it has been ripped apart. The way that a soul is ripped apart is by the horcrux maker killing someone. Sometimes when you kill someone, your soul is ripped apart, but not every time. Your soul can only be ripped apart if, in the act of killing someone, you don't feel anything by doing it. If you are deeply troubled by the killing, then your soul will not be ripped apart. The only way to kill someone after they have made a horcrux, is by destroying the horcrux with something that it can't repair itself with. Such as, basilisk venom, fiendfyre, or the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"You might have never heard of any of these things, but your dad is familiar with all of them.

"Soon after Tom left Hogwarts, he changed his name to Lord Voldemort and started killing. He didn't want to kill people with all magical blood. He wanted to wipe the earth of anyone having any muggle blood in them, including muggles. He also wanted to kill enough people to make 7 horcruxes. He wanted to make 7 because 7 is a powerful magical number. Time went on. Your grandparents went to school and, after they graduated, joined Order of the Phoenix. Albus Dumbledore became headmaster of Hogwarts and the greatest wizard of the age. James and Lily Potter were good friends with Dumbledore and soon had your dad.

"About 6 months after your dad was born, a Seer made a prophecy about him. I won't go into detail about it now, but it will come into play shortly.

"Well, your grandparents soon started defying Voldemort, but not as underground as the rest of the Order of the Phoenix. This made Voldemort angry and he was soon after them. So they went into hiding, their location secret-keeper was Peter Pettigrew, who had been a part of James' gang at Hogwarts, along with your dad's godfather, Sirius Black and my dad, Remus Lupin. They were the trouble makers of the school.

"But Peter, no matter how close he was to your dad in the past, soon betrayed the Potter's location to Lord Voldemort. Voldemort went to their house and killed both of your grandparents. But not your dad. He tried to kill your father, but his mother had placed a special protection on him, right before she died. She sacrificed herself willing to Voldemort in exchange for your father, which protected him from Voldemort. Dumbledore told Harry his theory on why he lived some years later. Dumbledore thought that it was his mother's love that was his protection and that that protection would break when he became an adult, which would make him vulnerable at the age of 17.

When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, though, it destroyed him. He was supposedly gone forever. And Harry was left with nothing, but a lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Harry was rescued from his old house (which was now destroyed by Voldemort's curse backfiring) and sent to live with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Duddly from the time he was 1 to when he turned 11.

At age 11, he was sent to Hogwarts for the school year, against his Aunt and Uncle's wishes, because they didn't want anything to do with magic (they were all muggles). Harry didn't learn that he was a wizard until he turned 11 and didn't know that he was famous until then, too. At Hogwarts, he became popular. He had friends, where he had never had any before. His 2 closest friends, who are still his two best friends today are your aunt and uncle, Hermione and Ron. They stuck with him through it all. At the end of his 1st year, Harry rescued the Sorcerer's Stone from the hands of Professor Quirrell, who was planning on using the Stone to bring back Voldemort.

In his second year, your mom (who was in her first year) acquired one of the horcruxes, by mistake. It was a journal, and your mom poured her heart into every page of the journal. Soon, she became possessed by the journal and opened the Chamber of Secrets. The Chamber was a rumor that had been at the school since it was first opened. Supposedly, before Salazar Slytherin left the school, he build a hidden room which contained a ferocious monster, the basilisk, which is a giant snake that can kill you if you look into its eyes. After Ginny opened the chamber, the snake started going through the school, by means of the pipes. It was petrifying people and ghosts, including Hermione. Harry soon found the Chamber and defeated the basilisk, destroyed the journal and saved Ginny from death. To this day, the dead basilisk lies in the Chamber, without its fangs, that is explained later, though.

"There is a background story to this year. 12 years previous, Sirius Black had been sent Azkaban for the murder of Peter Pettigrew, the man who betrayed your parents. Peter had never really been murdered, but had become a rat and lived with the Weasley family for the past 12 years, until Harry's third year to be exact. Sirius had attempted to kill Pettigrew for betraying the Potters. So, Sirius was sent to live in Azkaban for 12 years while Pettigrew was all cozy with the Weasleys. Not that they knew that they were housing a Death Eater. He was disguised as a rat for those 12 years.

"In Harry's 3rd year, my father became the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher for Hogwarts. Sirius had also escaped from Azkaban, and left people thinking that he wanted to kill Harry for Voldemort. But it was just the opposite. In the meantime, Dementors were sent to guard Hogwarts. They were unnaturally attracted to Harry, so my dad taught him how to conjure a patronus."

"Wait, what is a dementor? What's a patronus?" Asked James, unfamiliar with these things.

"A dementor is a thing that sucks the happiness out of people and other things around it. They thrive on fear and sadness. They look like hooded men, who float and don't have faces. A dementor can also take your soul. The way they take it is by giving you a kiss. You never want a dementor's kiss. You are still human, but you no longer have a soul.

"A patronus is the exact opposite. It is conjured by a witch or wizard to defend themselves against dementors. They are made from happy thoughts and are also a way of communication, but that is harder to do. All patronuses take the form of animals; your father's was a stag, like his father's. I forget what your mother's is. They can show you what theirs look like though, when you get back home.

"So, Harry finds out that Sirius is his godfather, and a good guy and that Pettigrew is the bad guy. He also learns a secret about my father, that even I didn't know until after my first year and that no one else who was in this earlier knows," Teddy took a deep breath and continued. "My father was a werewolf. His father was attacked by a werewolf and the gene was passed to him. The gene was not passed to me." Said Teddy, when he saw James' troubled look. James breathed a sigh of relief and Teddy continued.

"Well Pettigrew escaped and helped join the search for whatever was left of Voldemort. The summer before Harry's 4th year, he went to the Quidditch World Cup, where Harry saw a Death Eater conjure the Dark Mark, which was Voldemort's sign and is branded onto each of the Death Eater's in his inner circle and is their means of communication. Harry went back to school and was soon entered, underage, into the tri-wizard tournament, by someone other than himself.

"Normally, the tri-wizard tournament has 3 champions, who compete in 3 events. But Harry made 4 champions. Well he had to compete in the events and he did. But during the 3rd event, he was transported, by the tri-wizard cup, which had been turned into a portkey, with his fellow champion, Cedric Diggory, to a graveyard in Little Hangleton. In the graveyard, Voldemort was resurrected and he dueled with Harry. Harry narrowly escaped, but Cedric died at the hands of Voldemort. When Harry returned to Hogwarts, with Cedric's body, he discovered who had made the cup into a portkey. It was the new defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Mad-eye Moody even though it really wasn't Mad-eye; it was Barty Crouch, Jr., who had used polyjuice potion all year to disguise himself as Mad-eye. Now, the wizarding world was in trouble again from Voldemort, the Ministry of Magic was hushing it all up, so as not to worry everyone and labeled Harry a liar for telling the truth that Voldemort was back.

"Well, I think that we should be getting to bed for tonight, eh James? James?" Asked Teddy. He looked up and smiled when he saw that James was fast asleep. Teddy shook him gently awake and helped him get to bed. Then Teddy went to bed himself and the last thing he saw before he fell asleep was a snowy owl flying past the window, bearing an unknown secret.