Over the next few days Harry and his parents worked on getting to know each other. And also for James and Lily they worked on catching up with the wizarding world. Dumbledore came by for a visit and to see the two Potter's living and breathing. Harry was surprised at the reverence his parents held for the old headmaster. Albus was like his grandfather not a famous wizard as his parents saw him. Remus visited frequently too, bringing books and the 'Daily Prophet' for James and Lily to read.

Susan met Harry's parents when she came to give Harry a check up. After a bit of a shock, she and Lily became fast friends and Harry never heard the end of how perfect Susan would be for a girlfriend. Something even Hermione agreed with.

Remus, also brought Harry's broomstick which James quickly claimed and flew circles around them all. James was equally impressed with Harry's skills even with Lily and Hermione screaming at him to 'get down'.

Everyday Lily and James would hike to their favorite spot on a hill and Lily would read out of the history books. After a while Harry started to join them after he found them one afternoon while flying instead of his usual nap. He and James would lie on the blanket and listen to Lily's voice as she read past and recent events. Every so often Harry would interject his own story if the books were wrong or didn't have enough detail. James always laughed and said Harry should take up teaching History of Magic when Hogwarts reopened.

Many times Harry would fall asleep to his mother's voice and his father's laughter and teasing. The two Potters would watch Harry sleep until dinner then get him up and take him to their cottage to eat.

A big day came when Dumbledore came to visit. James found Harry in the sitting room with the headmaster talking as usual. James had come to check up on Harry since he had not joined them for their afternoon reading.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. We were wondering if Harry had fallen asleep instead of coming to the hill." James explained. Dumbledore laughed with a twinkle in his eyes; while Harry rolled his eyes at the over protectiveness but secretly loved it.

"Ah, yes I am sorry to keep you Mr. Potter" Dumbledore said teasingly, then looked to James. "I actually came to see you and your wife, is she around?"

"She's still on the hill, she thought just one of us should come so we don't look like were stalking Harry or anything." James said with a sheepish smile.

"But we all know better know don't we?" Dumbledore asked with a smile, the comment made Harry and James laugh.

"Could you get her please? I have something for the both of you." Dumbledore asked.

James glanced back out the door towards the hill, it was quite a hike to Harry's house and back, which was why Harry usually flew there. He was just about to ask to borrow the broom when Dumbledore reached into his pocket.

"Maybe this will help?" Dumbledore asked as he pulled out a scratched, old wand.

James gasped and took the two shaky steps needed to reach the older man. He reached for the wand and once it was in hand, he sighed and looked the wand over.

"How did you get this? I thought it would have been destroyed?" James asked slowly.

"After the attack, Sirius was at the house; he found them and gave them to me. They have been in the family vault. I intended to give them to Harry on his birthday but then Remus contacted me with the extraordinary news that you two were alive. I took them to Olivanders and they are still in working order, just a bit dinged up. He was most curios why I had the Potter's wands."

James just nodded still staring at his wand. He then scrunched his face and tapped the wand to his head. A silvery light was pulled out of his temple. He then cast off in the direction of the hill.

"Lily should be here in a few." He explained.

Lily was just as ecstatic as James was to get her wand back. She performed spell after spell usually ending in the cleaning of Harry's cottage and the making of dinner for the four of them. The two Potter's forced Harry to eat a full plate, as he desperately needed the weight and soon afterward they sent him to bed since he had not napped during the day even the short distance from the kitchen table to the couch was too much for his knee. Lily turned down the bed as James helped Harry into the bedroom, they made sure he drank his potions then they both planted a kiss on his forehead as he protested it was too early. His protests were in vain as he turned to his side and quickly fell asleep.

Once Lily left, James placed a spell on the room, shrunk down Harry's broom and pocketed it.

In the living room, Dumbledore smiled happily as he watched the small family interact. He couldn't think of a better solution to help Harry get through his rough patch. James and Lily had returned at the right time.

"When do you intend to return to Godric's Hollow?"

"Remus is fixing it up now for us, so it will be livable when we get there. Neither of us wants to leave Harry here alone, though he said he wants the peace and quiet. We just…." Lily trailed off uncertain of what she wanted and what Harry needed.

"You have helped Harry tremendously already. He has changed so much since the battle and for the good. I think you two have had a great influence on him. He needs family. Remus and Hermione will always be there for him but I think it also helps that he have real family and some who don't know every little detail. The press is still hungry for him. Hogwarts is attacked everyday by reporters thinking he's still there. I think we have them believing the rumor that he's in America for now. But they will want him soon and we can't protect him forever but I want him to be absolutely ready when he comes back and I can see that's he's not…yet. It will be twice as bad when you two are discovered. The entire Potter clan will be under a microscope. I want you to be prepared. The press is not kind. Even to their heroes."

James and Lily understood even though they hadn't thought of what it would mean to the wizarding world that they suddenly reappeared.

Dumbledore bid the two elder Potter's goodnight and to the amusement of said Potter's he also looked in on Harry and said a quiet goodbye to the sleeping boy.

James and Lily tidied up a bit more before they made the hike back to their own cottage.

"Why do you have Harry's broom?" Lily asked surprised as James un shrunk it from his pocket.

"Just in case." He replied mysteriously as he used his wand to pull down the bedcovers.

"James Potter what do you have up your sleeve?" Lily asked curiously and with a smile on her face. Ever since Harry had arrived the two had been happier then they had in years.

James just smiled back and held his arms open for his wife to crawl into.

Later that night, James woke with a jump, effectively startling Lily.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm okay, but Harry's not. I placed the sleeping spell on his room so we would know when he woke, he's awake." James explained as he tugged on his robe and picked up Harry's broom.

"I want to come." Lily pouted.

"I promise you can check up on him next time. This might happen a lot so one of should sleep." James hopped on the broom and took off out the window not even bothering to go to the front door. Lily rolled her eyes and lay back on the bed but it took her a long time before she drifted off again.

By the time James made it to Harry's cottage the lights in the bedroom were burning and Harry was sitting up looking through his photo albums.

"Hey kiddo, you okay?" James asked as he stepped into the light.

Harry's head flew up and his hand extended out towards the man as if he was going to curse him.

"Whoa, easy there, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just checking on you."

James explained.

Harry looked around confused and saw James had his broom. He then silently sent out a detector spell and wasn't surprised when it returned with a new spell.

"You put a sleeping spell on my room, and then stole my broom to check up on me?" He asked tiredly, not sure how to digest the information.

"I was worried." James confessed uncertain what to say. He slowly made his way to the bed and sat down slowly once he had seen Harry relax.

"I didn't want you to be alone when you had your dreams. I had to fight your mom for the broom." He joked hoping to bring out a smile. He was not successful.

"I'm fine; you can go back to your place now. I'll probably go to bed now or just get up." Harry said unsure as his father on what to do.

"Do you mind if I look at your pictures? You showed us some of your albums but I don't think I've seen that one before. I mean if you don't want to you don't have to." He stammered as Harry looked up at him with a sigh.

Harry knew James was not leaving anytime soon, so he scooted over and allowed his father to sit next to him.

"Who's that again?" James asked trying to draw Harry into conversation even though he knew the picture was of Neville and Seamus.

It worked and Harry went through the entire album and the next explaining pictures and telling stories.

The next morning, Lily woke alone and magic-ed some muffins. She quickly walked to Harry's cottage. She wiped a tear when she saw both of her men sleeping on the bed with an album in the middle. Harry's head had dropped onto his father's shoulder and James was resting his head on Harry's with his mouth open and snoring quietly. Harry like during the day was just as quiet at night with not a sound coming from him.

The next few days turned into the ones before. The Potter's enjoyed their afternoons on the hill followed by dinner. Usually one of the Potter's would end up staying the night with Harry after he went to bed. They were always there to wake him up after a nightmare. Either they woke him and left if he was okay to go back to sleep or would stay and keep him company till the morning.

One night was particularly bad, as Lily woke Harry from his third nightmare. He pushed her away again as she tried to comfort him.

"Just leave me alone! I'm fine. Go home!" Harry cried out frustrated.

"Harry, I just want to help. Please let me help you." Lily pleaded.

"No! Go away!" He yelled and pushed again. Lily flew back and watched as Harry turned away from her and curled into a ball.

Unsure of what to do she started towards the door, thinking of getting James and having a long talk with Hermione, Dumbledore and Susan about the nightmares. Harry was never going to get better if he couldn't get over what happened to him. She reached the door and turned back to look at her.

In the darkness, she could make out the shake of his shoulders as he cried.

"Oh, Harry." She whispered and crawled back on the bed. She spooned him from behind.

"It's okay, baby. Mommy's got you." She whispered to him as she stroked his dark hair. She and James had been waiting ever since they met Harry for him to call them Mum and Dad but it had yet to happen.

Harry whimpered but otherwise didn't react.

She continued to her ministrations and soothing while Harry calmed under her touch. It was a good half hour before he pulled away. He turned to face her, all red faced and swollen.

"I don't deserve this. Go away." He whispered looking down.

Lily breath caught.

"What do you mean, baby? What don't you deserve?" She asked now stroking his face.

"You, James, 'Mione, Moonie, Albus…all of them." He whispered mournfully.

"Why not? We love you."

"No! I'm not normal, I don't deserve you. Go away." He repeated.

"Shh baby, please tell me what's wrong. Why don't you deserve us?"

Harry was quiet for a long time before he answered.

"I've killed. He's still apart of me. I'll never be free. He's always there. I'm not safe." He rambled.

Now it was Lily's turn to be silent while she thought of a response.

"Yes, he is a part of you. Voldemort will always be there, but he makes you stronger. He made you stronger so you were able to defeat him. He's a bad man but you…you are good. If you deserve anything, you deserve everything. We love you, dad and me. Hermione, Moonie, Albus, everyone they all love you. Nothing you could do could change that. We love you for who you are now."

Harry looked up ay her uncertainly. He was processing her words slowly, not letting them sink in without due consideration.

"No." He asserted. "You don't know me at all. You don't know what it was like during the first battle and having your best friend sacrifice himself for you and watching everyone else change because of the war that only you could stop. And if you failed then you were condemning them all. I have killed many, I have watched friends and young ones become adults before they were of legal age, I have held dying kids in my arms unable to do anything except watch. He started the war but it was up to me to end it and I wasn't able."

"Harry, baby, it's okay. You did stop him. You were a baby when this started. This never should have happened. The prophecy was unfair and we should have done more to protect you. We should have been there to help you through everything."

"It's not your fault. You couldn't help that the prophecy targeted our family and you couldn't stop Voldemort from killing you."

"If it's not our fault then it's certainly not your fault. There was nothing none of us could have done to prevent everything that happened. But were all here, whether it took a while to find each other or not were all here and that's what matters. We need to live for all the people who sacrificed themselves for the greater good. That's all we can do." Lily finished her speech with a quick kiss to Harry's head.

Harry was slowly falling asleep and smiled at the peck on his forehead.

"Thanks mum" he mumbled as he fell asleep. Lily smiled and curled up with him as she drifted off alongside him.