Garrah! Mogseltof speaking- Triple-choc ice-creams for Louey06, shine lots, keeperoliver, Rachel D Jack, Baron, jessirose85, charlee13, Vicki219, vaneBEAR, Sol Swan Cullen and Imaginone you all are the greatest! That goes out to the alerters and favouriters too! Sorry if you think this one is late- it took a while to write, I had other fics to attend to and I had to reset my laptop (This is a good thing! I now have access to admin settings!)

Chapter 3- Friends

"His parents nodded, and Harry followed them up to the hospital wing."

Minerva and Dumbledore had, of course, neglected to warn Poppy of the nature of her patients. The look on her face, Harry thought, was a surprising mix of shock, disbelief, incredulity, happiness, anger, sadness, with a touch of melancholy and exasperation all at once. She had berated Dumbledore and McGonagall mercilessly, using her tongue as a fearsome weapon. She had exclaimed, shocked at the state of Lily and James, and had shoved Harry onto a bed, muttering about him being far too thin. Harry was strongly reminded of Mrs Weasley. Speaking of…

He leaned back as Madam Pomfrey bustled around, giving his parents (his parents) various potions and tutting loudly over the state of his father's ankle. Harry winced when she announced that it had shattered, so she'd have to vanish the bones and regrow them. James who gave a loud groan and started muttering under his breath, much to Lily's amusement, shared this sentiment. Peeling back the layers of parchment, Harry smiled, recognising the untidy scrawl of his best friend. The small owl hooted excitedly.

"Harry,

"DAD GOT THE TICKETS. Bulgaria vs. Ireland. Monday night. Mum's writing to the muggles to ask you to stay. They might already have the letter, I don't know how fast the muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Pig anyway.

"We're coming for you whether the muggles like it or not, you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway.

"Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work- the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you.

"See you soon- Ron."

Harry looked up at the tiny owl. It didn't look much like a pig. Maybe he just couldn't read Ron's handwriting. Then his eyes flicked back to the letter. Mr Weasley had gotten the tickets to the world cup! YES! He punched the air. After the recent events everything seemed a million times better, lighter, happier. He grinned wildly at the thought of uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia getting a letter about Quidditch. His mother gave him an odd look with a quirk of a smile at his enthusiasm. His father gave a small whimper of pain at the Skelegro from his bed.

Lily held her arms out to her son and he walked over. She wanted to hold him forever, hold him to make up for all the times she should have but couldn't, just hold him and tell the world to go bother someone else for a while. James rolled over and gave a pained grimace to his wife and son curled up on the bed opposite. Lily stuck out her tongue at him. "Wimp. It doesn't hurt that much."

"Yes it does." Said James and Harry. Lily and James stared at their son.

"You've had Skelegro." Said Lily tiredly.

"Yeah." Said Harry. "Rogue bludger." He said shortly, not really wanting to go into a spiel about Lockhart.

Lily groaned. "He got the Quidditch gene."

James gave a broad grin and winched himself up to lean on his elbow. "Of course he did. Don't you remember him zooming around on the mini?"

"I remember him breaking the ornaments and nearly killing the cat." She said. "Bloody Sirius."

"Sirius bought me a miniature broom?" asked Harry interestedly, "And we had a cat?"

"Yep" said James. "And no complaints about the ornaments you broke- they were disgusting." He said with a laugh. "So you play. What type of broom have you got?"

"A Firebolt. Came out around this time last year. It's international standard and Sirius ordered it for me when my Nimbus died."

"He took time out while on the run to buy an international standard broom?" Lily asked incredulously while James laughed. "Typical Sirius."

Harry laughed with his father. He'd never really thought of it that way.

"So who was the letter from?" asked Lily cautiously. Laughing with her son had felt natural, hugging him, chatting about meaningless things like Quidditch (a small smile graced her lips at the thought of what the two of them would say about Quidditch being meaningless), but this boy was still somewhat a stranger to her, and she didn't want to… well, she supposed, pry.

"Ron." Said Harry, also a little cautiously. He really wanted to go to the cup- but these were his parents. He wanted to spend every moment possible with them, and he couldn't exactly do that if he went and stayed at the Weasleys' for the rest of the summer. Could he? "The World Cup's on Monday and he's asking me to stay on the seventh." He finished hesitantly. Ordinarily he'd jump at a chance like this, but his parents were here…

James sat bolt upright, ignoring the stabbing pains in his ankle and stared at his son excitedly. "The World Cup? The Quidditch World Cup!" Lily rolled her eyes. James was going to get excited now.

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Remus Lupin stepped into Professor McGonagall's office at about 4.30, sweeping ash off his robes onto her carpet as he did so. He grimaced and vanished it with an apologetic look at the stern teacher as he did so. Minerva shook her head with a small smile, a little ash didn't really matter that much.

"You said there was something I needed to see Minerva?" asked Remus curiously. Why was he being asked to come up to the castle in the middle of summer? Sirius hadn't been caught- it would've been in the paper- so what had happened?

As if she was reading his mind, Minerva spoke up. "You see Remus," she hesitated, "something rather unusual happened this morning." She stopped, not quite sure how to break it to the werewolf that his two best friends had come back from the dead.

"Yes?" asked the soft-spoken lycanthrope.

"Well, you see- oh there is no other way for it!" Remus stared. McGonagall? Flustered? Had he accidentally been transported to another dimension where she could get flustered? An alternate universe? A badly written story? He shoved all of these ridiculous thoughts out of his head and turned his attention back to the deputy headmistress, who had regained most of her composure.

"Remus, it's- it's Lily and James. They've come back to life."

Remus went stock-still. No. No this couldn't be possible. This was some kind of dream world. It had to be. It just had to be. This, this didn't happen. It couldn't happen! It was impossible for something like this to happen!

"I assure you I am not making this up Remus." Minerva said quietly. She'd only seen him like this once- when he found out that Lily and James were dead.

Remus' shoulders slumped. If it was a dream, it was one of the most realistic and bizarre he'd ever had. And he could see Lily and James again. Even if it was a dream, he longed for that. "Where?" he asked, voice hoarse.

Minerva nodded calmly, sensing the disbelief in his voice, knowing that it would dissipate when he saw the Potter family together. "The hospital wing. We thought it might cause a few ripples if we took them to St Mungo's and they needed attention."

Remus nodded and followed the teacher from her office.

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Dumbledore had other matters on his mind as he paced his office. A large barn owl was already winging it's way out to Sirius with a letter telling him he needed to head north almost immediately, but there were other things to be considered as well.

Arthur Weasley had written to ask if Harry could stay for the rest of the summer as he had been given tickets to the cup from work- at the time Dumbledore had agreed, but now this had happened. Also, the matter of number four Privet Drive was to be considered. It would be fairly safe to assume that Harry would no longer recognise it as home with his parents here to look after him- and Dumbledore wouldn't force the issue. There was only so far a man should go, and to deprive a child of his parents and a loving home with them was too far. Plus with Lily back in the realms of the living the blood wards may not be in effect anymore.

Albus stopped at his desk and picked up a sherbet lemon, sucking thoughtfully. There was also the matter of where the Potters would live. And what would happen when the press found out. There was no chance of something like this slipping under the radar softly and smoothly.

Sighing he went over to the fireplace. He hoped Molly wouldn't mind an extra two people for the summer. As he took the green powder in hand, he wondered when Severus was going to get back from that conference in France…

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James and Lily were listening to Harry tell them about the scratch matches he had with the twins and Ron at the Weasley's over the past couple of summers when the hospital wing door swang open and Remus Lupin walked in. Harry stopped talking and waved at his former professor, eyes bright.

Ignoring Madam Pomfrey's protests, James stood, and looked at the man he knew as a brother. Lily patted her sons shoulder, and he quickly moved, letting her stand up.

The full moon was in three days. Across the room Remus could see every detail of the pair- details he thought he'd never see again. The way Lily's hair had that slight curl at the bottom. The way James' eyes reflected golden flecks against the warm hazel in the sunlight. How Lily stood with one foot slightly out, and James always managed to have his glasses slipping down his nose slightly. The smells were what hit him next and he knew in an instant that it couldn't be a dream. Not with that much clarity. He never smelt things in his dreams, and these were smells that he had never forgotten in 13 years. Lily was standing there- wafting sunflowers, a touch of lavender and the slightly acrid taint of her shampoo. James next to her- the faint tinge of lemon custard that he would always associate with him, a woodish, bracken scent that had come with Prongs and the musk, his intoxication with the woman standing beside him.

Remus was numb. "James." He said softly, hoarsely. "Lily?"

"Moony." James let the boyish nickname slip from his lips.

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Apologies if this took a little longer than you'd like, as I said, there were necessary things to attend to in my life. Annoying I know, but three more days and I'll have a fortnight of free writing time. Promise I'll make it up to you then

TTFN, Rawr

XD Mogseltof