A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the slightly late update! I know I'd started updating on a daily basis but as the story progresses and I want slightly longer chapters, it's gonna be a bit hard for daily updates. But I'll definitely try at least 2 -3 times a week! Plus, got busy with an MUN conference, so yeah... Any of you in MUN? :D
Anyways, here's a slightly longer than usual chapter for you guys! Enjoy! :
Previously:
He rushed downstairs, ready to scold Harry for leaving him and going to the cemetery on his own. "Harry, you dolt!" He shouted, playfully. "You know I always come with you t-"
His words trailed off in silence as the mop of untidy black hair in front of him turned around at his voice and instead of meeting Harry's startling green eyes that he was expecting, Sirius' stormy grey eyes met hazel.
"Prongsy?" he choked out.
"Uh…," James cleared his throat before putting on a false cheery voice. "Hey Paddy!"
"Who the hell are you?" Sirius growled, grabbing James by the collar and shoving him against the wall. His wand was digging into James' throat as his eyes flashed with anger at the imposter.
"Padfoot, calm down!"
"Don't you tell me to calm down, Harry! This piece of shit is pretending to be your dead father!"
"Padfoot," Harry murmured quietly. "It really is him. We checked it out; Veritaserum and all. And this" he moved aside to show the petite redhead behind him, "it's mum. Paddy, it's really them."
James valiantly looked back at Sirius as Sirius turned back to James, scanned his face for a bit before asking, "What were the first words Prongs said to me when I came to live with the Potters?"
James looked Sirius straight in the eyes before answering, "Welcome home, Paddy."
Sirius demeanour relaxed just a little but he still continued questioning James, hoping to find some sort of loophole to the imposter's story. He had to be sure.
"When did you first tell me you liked Lily? And what did I say to that?"
James, noticing the change in Sirius' posture and knowing that any life-threatening danger was over for the most part, burst out laughing as he said, "I told you that back in our third year; right after Lily had said I was an arrogant toe-rag because I had just scored better on a transfiguration essay than she did. And you said, "Mate, you're the biggest idiot I've ever met" and smacked me with that really big book we'd gotten from my dad's library…," James paused then, trying to remember what book it was just to consolidate the truth. He needed Sirius to believe him, "the one on Anigami!"
"…bloody hell," Sirius let go off James only to launch back at him, tackling him to the ground and laughing hysterically. "Prongs, mate! Where the hell have you been?"
"Long story, Padfoot. Long story."
"Hey Sirius…" Lily mumbled, offering him a small smile.
"LILY-FLOWER!" Sirius roared, running up and lifting her high before planting a wet kiss on her cheek. "Sirius!" she responded just as loudly, bursting out laughing, wiping away his slobbery kiss. Harry watched their exchange, bemused but beginning to feel the anger boil in the pit of his stomach.
Padfoot had asked James where they'd been and neither of his parents had answered. Harry frowned, realizing that they had left him; alone with the Dursleys, alone to face Voldemort, alone for his whole childhood – for twenty years of his life. He also knew that had he not stumbled across them in the cemetery, he would never have known they were alive. Was this really a gift from God or fate's idea of twisted joke?
"I'm going to bed. Padfoot, can you arrange a room for them? That is, if they're not going to disappear like they did for the past 20 years," Harry asked quietly. Three heads sharply turned to face him as his spiteful tone reached their years. His parents look stricken, they had, somewhere deep down inside of themselves, known they would have to face this. But when they'd seen Harry's smiling, relaxed demeanour in McGonagall's Office, they had forgotten of their worry, and enjoyed the little reunion. But now… they hadn't expected the sudden change. What had sparked it?
"Harry, darling, are you okay?" Lily asked, holding his face in between her hands and gently forcing it up to look at her.
"No," that was it for Harry. He shrugged her off and walked past all three adults to climb his way up through Grimmauld Place, on to the fourth floor, and into Regulus' old room. When Harry had moved in with Padfoot after Hogwarts, he had taken over this room as it was the only one near Padfoot's. He had removed (and gleefully burned with Sirius) all the Slytherin décor that had lined the walls. Unlike Sirius, Regulus had not used a Permanent Sticking Charm on his posters, pictures or other décor – a fact that both Sirius and Harry were grateful for.
Harry had completely refurnished the room; repainting the walls a dull-cream (courtesy of Ginny's insistence), buying a plush king-sized bed that he had placed next to the window. The large, glass-paned windows were almost always flung open, letting in fresh air. Sirius and Harry had taken it upon themselves to completely redecorate the whole house trying to get the 'grim' out of 'Grimmauld Place'. It had worked wonders for them, especially once they had gotten around to building a thick brick wall in front of Sirius' mother's portrait so she wouldn't hear a thing that went around the house or start shrieking like the old hag she was. They had changed lights, wallpapers, curtains, furniture; everything that even indirectly hinted of belonging to the Black family line. If someone was to walk into Grimmauld Place for the first time after it had been used as Headquarters for the Order, they would think they had entered the wrong house and walk out. The house was now light, cheery and well, home. Even Kreacher – once Sirius had finally learned to become nice to him – enjoyed the atmosphere that the change had brought and happily served both his masters; even taking a liking to Hermione who he previously thought to be vermin.
Harry quickly changed into his pyjama bottoms and a thin t-shirt, plopped down on his bed and grabbed his mirror. Sirius and he had made a series of the two-way mirrors. He had given one to Ron, one to Ginny, to Remus and the last two were kept with him and Sirius.
"Ron Weasley," he called out to the mirror. The mirror fogged over for a few seconds before revealing the grinning ginger who had stuck by Harry through thick and thin.
"Hiya, Harry!" Ron called out. "Late night call, eh? What's up, mate?"
"Ron," Harry began, not sure how to continue. How do you tell someone your dead parents are alive? "My parents…"
"Oh, yeah…" Ron's face fell as he glanced up to the calendar. Harry was always a bit more depressed and moody when he came back from visiting his parents' graves. "Do you want me to get Hermione?" She, being the girl of the trio, knew how to handle emotions. All girls did, at least that's what Ron believed.
"Well, yeah, I think you both should hear it."
"HERMIONE! IT'S HARRY! C'MON! HE HAS TO TELL US SOMETHING!"
"Shut up, Ronald" came a voice just off Harry's view of the room behind ROn. "Hey, Harry! How are you doing?" Hermione's face finally came into view, warmly smiling up at him.
"Alright, thanks. Listen, my parents…they're not dead."
Harry's statement was met with complete silence. Ron and Hermione exchanged confused, even pitiful, looks before Hermione began, "Harry, nothing can bring back the-"
"The dead, yeah I know," Harry finished impatiently. "That's the thing, guys. They never died! It was my dad's cousin and her husband…" and Harry told them in explicit details what he had seen in the cemetery, how he had taken his parents to Hogwarts, shown them to McGonagall and Dumbledore, forced the truth out of them. His story was once again met with complete silence from the other end.
"Harry, that's great!" Hermione gushed, her grin finally breaking through as the truth sank in.
"No, it's not," Harry mumbled. "They've been absent from my life for the past 21 years, and now all of a sudden they show up and I'm supposed to welcome them back? We're supposed to have normal Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and pretend everything's normal and that they weren't playing dead for the past 2 decades?!"
"Bloody hell, mate," Ron muttered, thinking it best to interfere now before Harry's infamous temper flared. "They're your parents. I'm sure they wouldn't have stayed away from you unless it was absolutely necessary. Maybe they had to, for your own safety? But I mean… they're your parents! You can't be mad at your own parents!" Harry knew Ron loved his family dearly; he had grown up with them; spoiled and sheltered from any harm (that was till he decided to sit in that compartment with Harry, 10 years ago.) Ron didn't understand how Harry felt. His parents were strangers to him. How was he to go cuddling with a strange woman who was suddenly his mother, or listen to a strange man – supposedly his father – give him 'the talk'. Harry shuddered at the thought. He really, really hoped his father wouldn't do that.
Closing off the connection, he snuck under his blankets and fell back thinking of how his life was going to change from this point forth. He thought of how his mother had tried to comfort him back in the kitchens. How could she have the nerve to try and comfort him now when she was playing dead somewhere far away as he faced the world's darkest wizard – that was when he had needed comfort from his own mother. Not in Grimmauld Place's kitchen, by the warm glowing fire, and the threat of Death Eaters at its all time low. Not now when he had a surrogate family in the Weasleys, in Padfoot and in Moony.
Padfoot and Moony. The Marauders, the loyal ones of them at least, were now going to be reunited. How would they feel? Would Sirius and Remus accept James back with open-arms? Or would they also show the hostility that was just beginning to creep up on Harry.
Burdened with his thoughts and anger, Harry fell into a restless sleep; revisiting some of his usual nightmares from the Second Wizarding War, the night Cedric died, when Ron left him halfway through their search for Horcruxes, the tower from which Dumbledore fell, Voldemort's attacks, all the way to the night his parents died. He woke up the next morning panting, with a flash of green light etched in his mind.
After his restless night, Harry had had difficulty getting out of bed in the morning. Now, almost running late for work, he rushed down the steps, skipping half the staircases at times and barged into the kitchen. He plopped down next to Sirius and grabbed the toast and jam, almost spilling his glass of pumpkin juice in his rush.
"Whoa, Harry!" His mum exclaimed, "What's the rush? Calm down, sweetie!"
Um, what? Harry's thoughts raced. Why was she acting as though everything was fine? "Work," he answered her shortly.
"Yeah, Harry here's an Auror now. Second of the Department, too!" Sirius declared proudly, clapping Harry on the shoulder.
"Second what, sorry?" James asked.
"I'm Deputy Head of the Aurors, working under Tonks." Harry made sure to keep his voice cold and his answers short. He did not want his parents falling into a false lull of security; everything was not okay as far he was concerned.
"Tonks? As in, Ted Tonks? Dromeda's husband?" James asked, looking towards Sirius for his answer.
"Naah, their daughter, Nymphadora, remember? She's married to Remus now."
"Little Dora's Mrs. Lupin now?" Lily asked, shocked at this new bit of gossip. "That's…whoa! Remus actually got married?"
"Well, yeah, Lils. You didn't expect him to die alone with 37 cats now, did you?" Sirius laughed off Lily's shock. "Come to think of it, I don't think Remus even likes cats!"
"Well, love to stay and chat. But I have work. See ya, Paddy!" Harry called behind him as he rushed to get the floo powder. With a green burst of flame, he was gone.
"Well, that wasn't too bad!" Sirius grinned awkwardly.
"Not too bad?! Padfoot, my son can't look at me anymore! He hates me! My baby hates me…" Lily broke down into sobs after the realisation hit her. She knew this would eventually happen. If she had seen anything in the little baby boy back then, it was his tantrums. They were just as bad and stubborn as hers and she remembered expressing her fear to James that Harry would have the worst temper seeing as he was James' son too. Back then, they had laughed it off but now Lily had to face the consequence of this temper.
She quickly excused herself and walked upstairs to the room Padfoot had set up for them. It was large and airy – like almost all the other room in the house – and was draped in red and gold. Both Sirius and Harry had wanted their Gryffindor house colours proclaimed proudly around the house, and they had done so with their taste in furniture, bed-sheets, curtains….pretty much everything they could find in or charm to be red and gold. It had a bright yet home-y effect on the place. Lily walked straight towards the bed and crashed on top of it, face down.
That was how James found her a little while later when he walked into their room, a glass of water and a piece of chocolate cake carried precariously on a tray. He placed the tray on the side table and sat down next to his wife, running his hand through her hair.
"Shush, love. It'll be okay, you know it will."
"No James, don't even bother. It won't be. My only son has grown up to be this incredible and successful man, he's suffered so much and throughout that we weren't even able to help it out or do anything for him. Of course he's mad. I'd be furious! I wouldn't be surprised if he never talks to us again," she broke down into quiet sobs. It killed James to see her like that. How was he to tell her it would really be okay when he himself doubted it? After all, they had been absent from their son's life, it made complete sense for him to never want to see them again. James sat there for a while, holding his wife in his arms as his brain racked for ways to show his son that they were sorry, that they were here now, and they would never leave him again. "Don't worry, Lils. We'll get him back," he murmured in her hair in a voice that seemed as though he was try to convince himself more than his wife.
A flash of bright, orange light greeted his words. When he looked again, all there was left was a slightly scorched note in an all-too familiar handwriting.
"Come to my office."
A/N: Thank you guys for all your reviews! Every time I get a new review/follow/favourite, it makes me want to immediately continue writing. I also really appreciate all the suggestions/productive criticism. So please keep the reviews coming, they're really helping me shape up the story. Thanks! :)