Sacrifices Chapter Ten

Professor Quirrell held his wand to Harry's head and asked him again, "What did you see in the Mirror, Potter?"

"I saw me standing in the arms of my mother and my father had his arms wrapped around her waist. I was holding the stone in my hand and was raising it up to sort of taunt me I guess. Or maybe he was taunting you by going through me."

Quirrell was about to answer when a voice called out, "Potter is lying. He has to know how to get the stone. Kill one of the others to force him to talk." and Quirrell trained his wand on Severus, but the spell he used was deflected. He tried another spell on him, but that also was deflected. "Idiot, do I have to do everything myself. Potter has to know how to get the stone so go back to him and force him to tell you."

When Quirrell started to lower his wand, Harry kicked him on the knee and pulled free of his grip. He then went to Sirius and stood at his side and next to Remus as well. It was sort of like protection for him. Severus stepped forward to challenge Quirrell, "There is no way for you to leave here, so why not give up now and save us some time. It is hopeless for you to continue. You are letting yourself be controlled by a spirit. Isn't that rather uncomfortable. Wouldn't you like to be rid of it so that you could be yourself again."

Rather than Quirrell answering, Voldemort did, "He knows that is impossible, because if I leave his body, he will die. As along as I am with him, he is so much stronger that he feels he could accomplish anything. That was why he agreed to letting me enter his mind. Of course I didn't tell him the consequences until after I took over his body. He didn't like it, but by that time, It didn't really matter whether he liked it or not. Now Potter, tell me how to get the stone from the mirror."

"I can't do that."

"TELL ME!"

"I can't. It's not in the mirror any more."

"What? Where is it? Potter tell me where it is now, or I will kill you."

"It was your idea to it anyway, so why should I give in to you. We came in here not expecting to leave without losses. If it is me, then so be it, but you will not be leaving this room either."

"Do you really think you can stop me from leaving here if I so wish? Foolish child. I am no meer mortal, I am Lord Voldemort. I can do things that can't be explained. Even if Quirrell is killed, I will still leave the room. I am beyond death."

Remus took over the talking, "If that were the case, then you wouldn't have needed the Unicorn Blood to keep living. It would seem to me that Quirrell is weaker than you thought and you needed the blood to keep him alive until you got the stone. What will happen when he dies? Will you be left behind as a spirit or a ghost?"

"You are all insignificant and I have spent more time then I wish to on you. Now Potter, Tell me where the stone is or someone will die. No, wait. I know where the stone is. Quirrell, the stone is in Potter's pocket. Kill him and take the stone and be quick about it."

Quirrell was too weak, even with Voldemort behind him. He was never a strong wizard and his self confidence had always been an issue with him. He could never have been the DADA Professor without Voldemort there for him. But it still didn't make him a strong enough wizard to defeat four opponents. However, he did as he was told and fired the Killing Curse into the group, hoping to hit one of them and cause a confusion.

Harry saw the curse head towards Severus and using Remus as weight, slammed into Severus, Taking Remus and himself with him. He was hit by the curse in the arm during the process. Sirius was busy taking out Quirrell with a incendiate spell that set the DADA Professor on fire. His death was rapid, but not fast enough to keep Voldemort's soul within him. Sirius watched as it fled the area. Sirius turned to see his three mates on the ground, dead. He ran to them and tried to revive them, but nothing he used worked. Then he was joined by Professor McGonagall and Healer Pomfrey.

Poppy went to the three down and tried something on Harry, since he was the youngest. She used a Crutiatus to shock his body. She tried a second one when the first one failed. The second one got his heart beating, so she went to Remus next and once again it took two tries to get him going. On Severus, the first try was all it took to get his heart beating once more. They were all still unconscious when they were taken to the Hospital wing.

When Harry blacked out due to the spell, he was surprised to wake up in a strange room and one person there to greet him. "Hello Harry. You don't know how much I have waited to say this to you. Hello my son."

Harry's eyes got real big, "Dad?"

James took Harry in his arms and hugged him like he never wanted it to end. Tears were streaming down Harry's cheeks. He couldn't believe he was with his dad, then it hit him, "Dad, am I dead?"

"Yes and no son. You could be if you didn't wish to go back, or you aren't dead if you do wish to go back. The decision is yours to make. However, I must tell you that Voldemort is not dead and only you have the power to end his life."

"So I can stay here with you and mum, or go back and be with Sirius and Remus. Not to much of a choice if you ask me. Someone will find a way to kill Voldemort."

"No son, it's not like that. I think we need to sit down as I have to tell you a story. Would you like something to drink before I start. Once again, I'm afraid all we have is water." and he got one for Harry and himself.

"Dad, you said that it's not that way. What did you mean?"

"I mean that Dumbledore didn't get the story straight when he announced our deaths to the world. He said that your mother died protecting you. It was me that died preotecting you. Your mother was not meant to die that night. Her death was meaningless and because of that she has been in limbo all that time."

"Limbo, what is that?"

"It is a place between here and there, where people await their fate. It is normally just a short stay, but for your mother, it is the only place she knows. When I went forward, I went there alone. She stayed behind, waiting to return to you. Her destiny is to be with you, but it could only be you to bring her back and then you had to die in order to come get her. Remus and Severus also died, but have been brought back to life, as have you. However I could not let you go back until you heard what I had to say. You are alive, but in a coma in your world. Before you awake, you will be joined by your mother and bring her back with you. She is in a coma as we speak so that she could return with you. She does not know you died yet. It will take time for her to get readjusted to life, so be patient with her. Also, you have to know that she will need someone to help her through it, beside you. I think you know who I mean."

Harry thought on it a minute when he raised his eyes to his father, "You mean Severus, don't you dad."

"Yes son. You are more observant than I knew. You take after your mother in that. I was too single minded when I was younger. Winning over her heart was all I had in my mind. I never took into affect that she cared for Severus so much. His obsession with the dark arts was the one thing that worked against him. Now he is clear of that, as he will soon learn. Remus is also cleared of his affliction which will take a bit longer for him to learn. Now, I have held you up long enough. It is time for you and your mother to return to the living, but know this, I loved you and your mother very much Harry, and wish I was there with you, but giving my life so that you may live is my greatest gift to you. I loved you that much."

"Before I go dad, how was mother suppose to live?"

"Severus and Dumbledore had a pact, where he would protect Lily, If Severus would become a spy for him in the Death Eaters ranks. It was necessary for Severus to take a vow. Now that pact is broken because he can longer act as an agent for Dumbledore."

"Are you saying that Uncle Severus is no longer a Death Eater?"

James laughed at his title given to Severus, "Your Uncle Severus? When did that come about?"

"The night Sirius took me from Mother's sister's door step. Severus was the one to get him to see reason. He was ready to go after Pettigrew that night and kill him."

"Sirius was always the hot head, but I loved him as much as any brother I could have had. Remus too. Now I owe Severus that title also. Make sure he looks after your mother, Harry. Now go, before I lose it and grab you to take you back with me." and James hugged his son one last time before he left.

Harry started to lose consciousness and felt something heavy in his arms as he passed out. He was in a cot surrounded by curtains when he woke up. He felt the heavy weight in his arms again and looked into a head of red hair asleep in his arms. As soon as he saw it, he cried out, "MOTHER!"

The head came up quickly from his arms, while the curtains around him flew open to show Remus and Severus entering his space. Severus was the first one to say anything of the two. "How is this possible? Lily, you're alive. Oh my lord, I can't believe that you are alive. Harry, what happened?"

Remus didn't have anything to say, but he had a lot to show as he went right to Lily and pulled her into a hug. Lily was not ready for any of this, and when Remus hugged her, she tried pushing him away. He was too strong, and she was still weak. However, she found her voice, "Please leave me alone. I don't know you or your friend. And who is this in bed with me?"

Harry heard his mother and gently turned her head to look at him. "Mother, I'm Harry, your son. Please try to remember. The two men are Remus Lupin and Severus Snape, two of your closest friends."

The fog began to lift from her mind, and the names finally began to register. "Remus, Severus, Harry? Then it's true, I was meant to return to you. Where is James?"

Both Severus and Remus looked around, thinking maybe they missed him, but Harry answered his mother, "Mum, dad died that night, protecting me from Voldemort. You were not meant to die. You know why. Dad went on ahead, while you stayed in Limbo until I came for you. Dad's sacrifice allowed us both to live. Remus, Severus, please listen to what I have to tell you. Dad said we all died there in front of the mirror. I died to bring mother back. You two died to lose what you both carried. Severus, please check your arm. Remus, you will have to wait until the next full moon." Severus checked his arm and saw where the mark was gone. He collapsed on to the side of the bed Lily was on, while Remus did know of a way to see if it was true. He sniffed Harry's clothes for his scent, but couldn't detect any. If he was still the werewolf, even in his regular form, he could smell it. His tears could not tell you how happy he was.

Harry was still lying in the bed with his mother when Hermione came running into the room. She pulled up short when she saw the girl in bed with Harry. Tears formed in her eyes and she turned to leave when Harry called out to her, "Hermione, where are you going? I want you to meet someone. Please come here and say hello to my mother."

"Your mother Harry? She doesn't look old enough to be your mother, and besides, your mother is dead, remember?" and Hermione continued to move towards the door, when Remus caught her arm.

"Hermione, what Harry told you is the truth. This is Lily Potter, Harry's mother. Harry has a long story to tell us all. If you don't believe him now, then you will probably not believe him. However, Severus and I were friends with Lily while in school, and we can tell you, she is who she says she is."

"Then how is it she is alive?"

"Like I said, Harry owes us a long story. Oh, Severus, did you have a nice nap?" Remus laughed.

Severus picked himself off the bed, but never took his eyes off Lily.

"Hello Severus. It's been a long time since we last saw each other. You too Remus. What about Sirius, where is he?"

"He's right here wild flower, you gorgeous woman you." and Sirius walked up to her bed and pulled her into a hug, which she hadn't gotten from Severus yet.

Up close, Lily saw the age in the faces of her friends and pulled her hands away to check her own features. She felt hurt when the lines that showed in Remus, Sirius and Severus were not there. She was older than Harry by ten years and younger than Remus, Sirius and Severus by eleven years.

Harry decided to talk to everyone one time so he didn't have to repeat himself over and over. He wanted all his friends there as well as Albus and Minerva. He wanted all the reporters there, but Severus talked him out of it, because they had to come up with an excuse of why Severus didn't respond to any call from the Death Eaters. They also had to come up with a reasonable answer to Lily's being back.

Albus and Minerva joined the students Harry called for and they all sat on the floor, except for Albus and Minerva who conjured their own seats. Hermione was on the bed with Harry and Lily. She felt George standing behind her and took his hand.

Harry began, "Before I start, I would like every one to meet my mother Lilly Potter." This drew gasps from all the students, but smiles from Minerva and Albus. "Now before I answer any questions, I need to tell you all the story of how she is here with us. It should only take a few minutes if I am uninterrupted. When mum and dad died, Professor Dumbledore announced that it was my mum who died protecting me. He was mistaken. It was my dad who sacrificed himself to save me. Mum was not suppose to die that night. When she gave herself to Voldemort that night, she went to a place between the two plains, called Limbo. That is where she stayed this entire time after her death, waiting for me to claim her to come back. I had to die to do this, because that was where I had to be to bring her back."

Harry took a drink of water to clear his throat then continued. "The reason she could come back was because of a vow that someone took for the reason of asking her to live. The vow was accepted but not fulfilled. When she died, she could not be accepted on either plain because her death was meaningless, and a contract was left open. She was given the chance to return, but only if I died and came to claim her. You can see the result of the claim." when Harry didn't say anything else, Hermione jumped on it first.

"Are you saying you died down there Harry?"

"We all did Hermione. Remus, Severus and myslef all died, while Sirius killed Professor Quirrell for him killing us. However, Voldemort didn't die down there. He is still running loose as a spirit looking for another body to control."

Then Seamus said, "I knew there was a reason I had to stop you four. Except, I'm glad I wan't able to do it. Thanks to Hermione, that is."

Ron added, "I have to agree with Seamus. I told Hermione she was brilliant. Scary, but brilliant."

Hermione heard George laugh, "That's our Hermione, brilliantly scary, or is that scary in her brilliance."

The crowd loosened up after that and Lily was caught up in so many hugs and hand shakes, she didn't know what to think, except Harry had a lot of friends. Then Poppy chased everyone out except for Minerva and Albus. Severus and Remus had to remain as they were still patients.

Albus had to tell her he was sorry for the false claim. He only did it because she was right there by Harry where she died. He then talked to Severus about his teaching, and Sevrus didn't think he could return to teach because of the threat he faced from the death eaters. Their children could report on him and report any times he left the school. He knew there were ways for the students to contact their parents in a hurry if they needed to. Owls was just too slow for an emergency. He did have a thought on his replacement though and told Albus about it. He would look into it during the summer and Horace Slughorn would fill in for the rest of the year.

Finally they all left and the four were left to themselves to talk and catch Lily up on what she missed.

When Hermione left, she went right to her bed and wrote a letter to Ginny and Luna to tell them what took place, and how a person presumed dead could come back to life.

The next morning Ginny got to the kitchen in time to see Hedwig leaving Luna's home to come here. She opened the door for her to enter and Ginny took the letter from her and she gave Hedwig a plate of eggs and bangers and a drink of water.

She read the letter and dropped it when she was done. Molly saw this and called out, "Ginny, what's wrong. Did someone get hurt?"

"Mum, three people died last night at Hogwarts. Harry, Remus and Professor Snape. However, they all came back to life, bringing someone else back with them. Or Harry did. It seems that Harry's mum is back amoung the living."

"WHAT? Lily Potter is alive? What about James?"

"Hermione didn't say anything about him, so I assume he did not come back with them. But how did Harry's mum come back?"

"That's what I would like to know. How she came back? How they all died and came back? What happened? What does it all mean?"

"Here, you read the letter and see if you can get anymore out of it then I can. I see Luna running down the hill, so she must have got the same letter I did." and she went outside to greet her friend.

Luna ran through the gate and went right to Ginny yelling, "Can you believe it? Lily Potter is alive. I hope we can go see for ourselves to see if it's true."

Ginny hadn't even thought of that, but she would love to go see for herself and for Luna. They went back inside to find Molly on the floo with someone. When she pulled out, she looked to the two girls. "OK, you two need to find something better to wear as we are going to Hogwarts to see Harry and the rest. Albus just told me that Harry requested our presence. Ginny take Luna with you to see what you can find for her to wear. I will find something for me. Now let's hurry." and fifteen minutes later, they used the floo to travel to the Headmaster's office. Albus and Minerva were there waiting to take them to the Hospital wing.

They entered to about twenty people standing around five beds talking to the patients. Harry did see them enter though and called out for them to join everyone. Ginny and Luna ran to Harry's bed and took a seat next to him on it, while Hermione occupied the other side of the bed. Lily saw the three girls sitting on the bed and wanted to laugh as well as cry for her son. Severus, who was sitting on her bed told her who the last two girls were. Lily looked up and saw Molly standing in the back and called for to join her. Molly moved to her bedside and for the first time she could remember, Molly was pulled into a hug, rather than initiating one. She loved the feeling of someone she once cared for able to give her a hug she never thought she would feel again. Tears were flowing down both sets of cheeks. They weren't able to talk much, but knew it would come later. In the mean time they just enjoyed what they had for the moment.

Luna and Ginny sat in the middle of all Harry's friends, which included Ron, Fred, George and Percy, for some reason. Ginny saw George standing behind Hermione, with his hands on her shoulder. She liked what she saw in his eyes. A caring she thought could only be seen between him and Fred. She turned to Luna and saw her smiling at what Ginny just saw. "They look good together, don't they Ginny?"

"I thought so too, Luna. But there is still something between her and Harry though. I can't quite figure out what it is."

Luna looked to Harry and saw him smiling at George and Hermione and Hermione was talking to Ron and Fred, while reaching up to take George's hand. What she saw was Harry acknowledging Hermione as a sister he loved and wanted the best for her. She whispered this to Ginny, and then Ginny saw it as well. This got her to feeling better. She didn't want any hard feeling between Hermione and Harry.

From the other side of the room came Professor Dumbleodre's voice. "All students need to attend their next class. You may all return at lunch. Now off with you. All the rest please wait until the students are gone to continue with your conversations." and Albus left the wind with the students. Minerva had a free class so she stayed behind to talk to Lily and Molly.

Harry, Ginny and Luna were finally able to talk and Harry had to tell his story once more to them and Molly. Severus had to show his arm to them all for them to believe what Harry said. Remus couldn't show his recovery, but he told them he was free of the curse and was loving the feeling of not having it with him.

Then they were asked to leave so that her patients could take their medications and get some rest. They promised to see them once school was done for the year before they left. The four took their medicine and then talked between themselves. Lily wanted to know everything about the home Harry was raised in. She loved that Harry had taken to Kreacher so well, that he called him Da. That was when Harry asked if she wished to meet him and when she said yes, Harry called for him, "Da, please come here."

Kreacher was right there, "Hello Harry, are you feeling better? I was told of your little encounter. Is this your Mother?"

"Yes Da, this is Lily Potter. Mum, this is Da. He use to be called Kreacher, but he is hardly ever called that anymore, are you Da?"

"Thanks to you Harry. Now, how can I help you?"

"That was all I wanted when I called for you, but since you asked, Mum, Severus, Remus, would you all like a milkshake?"

Da left and came back with five large chocolate milkshakes. He sat and listened to their talk while he drank his. He was surprised when he handed Lily her milkshake and she kissed him on the cheek in thanks. He thought, (She is going to fit in quite well with the family.)