He was so close. He could see him, unaware in his bed; he wouldn't even know what was coming. The victim was sprawled on his side, one arm dangling from the end of the bed, jet black hair spraying over the pillow as light snores emitted from his mouth. The sun had barely risen, causing the intruder to skulk amongst the shadows without as much as a flicker. Once on the landing there had been some obstacles to avoid - of course the charmed patch of carpet and various baby toys had not been a challenge for Him - even after a decade in darkness he could dodge these traps as easily as he could back then. From the doorway he noticed the auburn hair of the man's wife peeking out from behind him, her face pressed into his back as she curled her arm around his waist, pulling him in closer and letting out a small sigh of happiness. That brief smile would soon be wiped off of her face.

He planned his course of action, if he timed it right he could land both his targets at the same time, the other would not be able to scream and alert them of his presence - that could foil his plans. He tensed, rocking back on himself as he prepared to move forward. And in almost a flash of black fur the shaggy dog leapt onto the bed, perfectly landing on the intertwined couple, tongue slobbering saliva all over the face of the couple who had instinctively tried to leap out of his way as soon as they felt his weight on the bed. Lily let out a delighted scream as Padfoot licked her chin, whilst his tail wagged so violently against James' face he was certain it was going to leave bruises.

"Come here you stupid mutt" Lily laughed as she grabbed the man and wrestled him under the duvet. James on the other hand appeared to be concentrating very hard, until suddenly a stag appeared, tucked delicately under the blankets, before sprawling into action and tackling the dog to the floor. The two frolicked around the room, causing havoc whilst Lily looked on fondly, before leaving the two to head downstairs and make breakfast. She was surprised to see her son up already buttering some slices of toast.

"You're up early Harry." She spoke softly, noticing his shoulders tense at the sudden noise. "This smells delicious. You certainly didn't take after Petunia with the cooking."

"Oh no, Aunt Petunia didn't do any of the cooking; she always seemed rather unwillingly impressed at my meals." Harry responded, throwing a packet of bacon into the frying pan, the meat sizzling respectively. "Not that she got to eat much of it with Vernon and Dudley about"

Lily smiled and made herself busy by beginning to set the table for five, lingering slightly at the high chair that was still propped against the table, which once housed her baby boy. She raised her wand and quietly transfigured the seat into a suitable chair for her handsomely grown son.

"You used to love sitting at this table Harry. You had the wonderful talent of knowing exactly when James or I batted an eyelid away from you." She laughed. "You'd summon the paint over to you so quickly that I barely had time to lift my wand and it would spill all over you and the table. I'm surprised your skin isn't permanently dyed the amount of times you'd do it!"

She looked under the table, spotting the discarded cat toy, and frowned when she thought about what may have happened to Snitchy, hoping that the poor cat had found her way out of the wreckage that night and not also fell victim to the destruction.

"Of course Snitch wasn't quite so pleased."

Harry cocked an eyelid from the stove, cracking eggs into another pan.

"Who's snitch?"

"Oh, James tried to deter me from having a baby by buying me a kitten for my 19th birthday; of course he was the one who chose the name. It didn't put me off having you for too long though. Proud as punch that cat - she used to swat Sirius right across the nose when he'd turn into Padfoot, wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the beast. James used to joke that she must have inherited that from me."

Harry laughed, he had forgotten about the slight mention of the cat in his mother's letter to Sirius in the note they found tucked amongst his things at Grimmauld Place all those years ago. In fact Harry had forgotten a lot of things lately; he placed the blame on the growing headache that had been building since the trial the previous week. Giving his notice to Dumbledore, the small family group had spent the last seven days catching up, and generally building Sirius' appetite back to the large volume Lily determined appropriate for a 'growing man'. He jumped when he felt the small hand of his mother rest itself on the small of his back, and looked down at his Mother, whose eyes had welled with tears.

"Go on sit down, I'm your mum, it's my job to be cooking you breakfast, not the other way around!" She took control of the pan, and pushed Harry slightly towards the table to sit, who seemed reluctant at first to make his mum take over from him, enjoying making his family food that they enjoyed. But he recognised the look in his mother's eyes as he sat down, knowing that she was having a slightly hard time adjusting to the grown man who had taken the place of her infant. She had missed out on his entire childhood. As she finished up the meal and began to place the food on dishes on the table, charming the contents to remain warm and began to boil the kettle to make a teapot.

All of a sudden the whirring of the shower ceased, and a small thud was heard from the ceiling above, followed by the pitter-patter of four not so small feet.

"He wouldn't dare." Lily muttered, soapy frying pan held high in preparation.

"Oh he would." Harry murmured, chuckling as a sodden mess of a dog bounded through the doorway, heading straight for Lily, paws slipping on the wooden surface and canine mouth melded into a grin. Despite having lost a lot of weight in prison, he easily took Lily to the ground, tactfully avoiding the pan that had been swung in his general direction. Remus entered the room smiling at the precise moment Padfoot decided to shake his body rather unceremoniously over the screeching witch beneath him, who now looked like she had taken a shower of her own. He barely glanced as he instinctively moved aside to allow the retreating dog and shouting woman to rush past him in pursuit, as if this wasn't a completely new scene to him. This of course was the third time this week Padfoot had caused havoc in the mornings - and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yes I'm sure of it, I was there with you, and the locket there is a fake." Harry said, perched upon the desk, wand trailed over a large map penned by Dumbledore, listing the locations of the horcruxes.

"But don't worry I know where it is, and more importantly we have just the man for the job. Fancy defiling the name of Black a little more Sirius?"

"Oh it would be my pleasure" The man in question approved. "Want to see my old romping ground Jamesy?" His best friend never having been allowed permission into the Black manor - invisibility cloak or not, the blood wards that protected the dwelling would have cursed unwanted visitors quite extensively. James stood up and saluted.

"Yes sir!" He barked, eager to go on a little adventure with his best pal again.

"You too Moons, Marauders mission!"

Remus stood, shaking his head at the antics of the two - apparently making up for lost marauding time, holding the two back who had already made their way towards the door.

"Hang on you two, you don't even know where to look yet." He turned to towards Harry questioningly. "Where shall we start?"

"Check the dining room, the wardrobe that never opens, it should be in there still. Watch out though, there are a few protections that Kreacher threw in, but nothing to worry about. Oh that reminds me, Sirius, don't be so hard on Kreacher, he was just trying to help Regulus."

"What was that old bat doing to help Reg? Some task for the Death Eaters?" Sirius frowned, the betrayal of his younger brother still stung. Growing up they had stuck together through thick and thin, hanging with the muggle kids in the local park playing football, behind their parents' back. Although that changed when Sirius left for Hogwarts two years before Reg followed - that was all it took for his parents to brainwash Reggie into a mindless follower of their Pureblood doctrine.

"No Sirius, Regulus changed his mind - he found out the purpose of the horcruxes and stole it, hoping that one day somebody would be able to finally kill Voldemort, if he didn't get the chance. He betrayed them, not you." Harry replied, watching as confusion hit Sirius' face before James pulled him through the door, the three men making their way down the stairs.

Lily rose from the sofa and joined the two men at the table, pointing at the Diadem marked in Hogwarts.

"A horcrux within these walls and nobody ever knew?" She pondered. "I guess it would certainly have been the last place anybody would have thought to have looked, right under everybody's nose."

"Tom found his first real home here at Hogwarts. Although he would perhaps have refrained from telling his followers that fact; he never really felt like he belonged until he discovered the reality of magic within these walls." Dumbledore surmised. "His childhood apparently instilled a rather deep hatred of muggles that he thrived on as he developed his doctrine against them- and all those who carried their bloods in their veins."

Harry turned away slightly, focusing hard at the image of the shack and the underlined word 'ring' on the parchment. He felt impacted by the words of his old headmaster - he had shared a strikingly similar upbringing to Tom Riddle, and yet the two could not have taken more different paths in life. It hit home to Harry what could have become of him if he had harnessed the hatred and anger inside himself as Voldemort did, rather than learning to dispel it with the love of his friendships.

"But the question is not how to find them, but how do we destroy them?" Lily questioned. "I imagine that something that important to him wouldn't be left easily destructible."

"We used a few methods, I destroyed the first -" Harry said, pointing to the diagram of the diary. "- in my second year, using a Basilisk fang I had just pulled from my arm."

Lily gasped, hearing of her twelve year old son being pierced by a fifty foot long snake.

"Oh don't worry Mum, Fawkes here saved the day." The bird in question letting out a small tune of joy at the news. "As for the rest, fiend-fire would work- although of course extremely difficult to harness, and I wouldn't want to summon it personally. We considered the use of it when we found the diadem last time, the goblin had taken-"

His eyes glanced upwards to the glittering hilt of the ruby encrusted sword perched above the desk.

"Have either of you heard about the Chamber of Secrets?"

The mammoth sheath of skin that had been shed by the giant reptile remained in exactly the same place in the gloomy entrance hall to the chamber as it did the last time that Harry had been here- hoping he would never have to grace this nightmare again. It had taken him a few moments to remember which sink lead here, absentmindedly surprised when he found the serpent carving on the metal of the appropriate tap, wondering why he didn't recall that marking. But as he landed rather ungracefully on the carcasses that softened his exit from the stone tube, the unwanted memories returned pretty rapidly. He almost chuckled when his mum and Albus descended with much more style, clasping onto the tail feathers of his familiar who had graciously agreed to accompany the group to the chamber. This was a great help to Harry, who wanted a fail-proof back up healer if anything wasn't to go to plan.

The circular stone door that blocked access to the chamber was covered in years of grime, even the magic of the castle refused to touch these soiled areas.

"Open" Harry hissed.

The stone snakes shook to life, slithering away from the wall, allowing the door to slide to the side, granting them access to the Chamber itself. The marbled black pathway that lead to the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin remained polished, evidently millennium old charms of the sly founder still held - that only proved his former powers.

"Oh how vein" Lily muttered. "So unoriginal that he carved his own face into the walls- typical man behaviour right there."

Harry amusedly noted where he had heard comments like this before, his fiery haired girlfriend almost took as a miniature of his mother. Although the last time Ginny had been here she had almost died - and Harry was certain that there would be no deaths this time - human at least.

"Behind his mouth is where the Basilisk lives, it comes when it's called, and only answers to a Parslemouth- I suppose Slytherin entrusted his lineage would be kept pure enough in order to pass on that particular talent to his descendents."

"I smell muggle blood. So thirsty, so hungry after all these years, I've waited so long. Master Voldemort is that you?"

To the others in the room, the hisses perhaps only sounded like a burst water pipe, only Harry catching the hidden language.

"It's awake, and it's hungry. Apparently it can smell muggle blood."

Lily frowned at this, fist curling around her wand.

"Let me show it just what muggle blood is capable of doing."

"Hang fire mum - for such a great wizard, Slytherin seemed to worryingly overlook the fact that the snake can be killed by the simple crow of a rooster. Shame I didn't think of that last time before I got vein deep in snake fang."

"Fear does unimaginable things to our thoughts Harry, I'm sure even I, faced with a beast this large, would have stumbled." Dumbledore quipped. "If you wouldn't mind, I'll do the honours?"

"Of course Professor, suppose you both better turn around now, make sure you keep your eyes tight shut."

"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of Hogwarts four." Harry called, refraining from rolling his eyes at the arrogance in the summoning. The boulder that enclosed the beast within its walls rolled away, and movement was heard, but not seen, as Harry clenched his own eyes shut.

"You are not Him. You are not my master. How dare you enter the noble chamber of Sa-"

The rambling hisses of the snake were cut short by the induced crow of the rooster, the conjured bird quickly taking care of the beast that convulsed and writhed in pain, shaking the walls of the dungeon and causing dust to fall from the domed ceiling. In only a few moments the struggling stopped, and the head of the monster fell with a large crash to the floor, causing the floor to shake.

"Okay it should be fine now" Harry noted, making his way towards the fallen animal. "Remarkably easier than last time, I must admit, should have thought of that one."

He reached beneath his cloak and pulled out the glimmering sword, making his way towards the head, the eyes having no detrimental effects as the life drained from the endless body. The mouth lay gapingly open, forked tongue fell from the mouth, fangs glinting menacingly in the firelight of the lit chamber. He raised the sword towards the mouth and pressed the metal against the tooth, pressing slightly, causing the reflexive poison to spill from the cap. The light that surrounded the sword told Harry that it had worked, and he looked at both sides to ensure no venom remained, and tucked it back inside his cloak.

"The last of its kind." Dumbledore mused, hand resting on the scaled body that was beginning to stiffen. "It is always a shame to see a species leave this world, even though it was thought that the last of these beasts died many centuries ago."

Lily approached slightly more carefully than the others, Fawkes resting contentedly upon her shoulder, his head perched against her cheek as he trilled.

"Sev would have had a field day- to think, all the rare potions he could make!" Lily whispered. "Harry you don't suppose, I mean the potions we could make, the good it could do. The possibilities are endless, I mean research has only theorised the benefits of Basilisk blood in lycanthropy treatment. Merlin knows how much research we could do with the stores here alone, let alone the scales outside!"

"Mum, I'm sure you'd love to meet my friend Hermione, I'm sure you'll get on famously." Harry chortled. "If you think Snape would use it for the benefit of others, I guess that would be fine. Albus, perhaps Fawkes would consent to fetching him?"

"I'm sure Fawkes would be happy to help, he has taken a rather fond liking to the Potters."

The phoenix trilled happily, eager to assist Lily, apparently enjoying the extra attention and raised to hover above Lily and offered his tail to the woman.

"We'll meet you back up in your Office Albus, I'm sure we will be here for a while. Imagine-"

She vanished in an engulfed flame, leaving the two men chuckling in their haste.

"Come Harry - we have a long walk back up to the school without our trusty friend. I do hope the exit would be so kind as to provide us with a staircase to ascend back to my office. Perhaps your father and his trusty friends have returned with something to put the sword to good use."

"Tell me again how you blasted her off the wall Sirius? Merlin I wish I could have been there to have seen that, I can still hear her screeching if I concentrate hard enough."

The three men were clustered on the sofa; Lily perched on the lap of her husband whose hands snaked around her waist as he cuddled her close, the Locket placed delicately on the desk in front of the Headmaster who was studying it closely. Harry sat on the floor looking up at his Godfather, who was covered in oil paint smears, evident of his earlier family struggles.

"I've wanted to shut that cow up for a very Long time Prongslet - with a little persuasion she fell right off the wall and took great joy in taking it apart- the muggle way of course, the ultimate dishonour." Sirius recalled, a child-like smirk plastered on his face. "You were right about the elf, saw Reg's locket in my hand and pounced right on my leg, sobbing and snotting all over me he was."

"Although you was slightly off about the location Harry; the locket was in the sitting room, but we found it in the end." Remus piped up.

Harry frowned, he could have sworn that the day they were clearing the dusty house they had been in the dining room when they haphazardly discarded the locket to the side to throw, before Kreacher had stolen it, not the sitting room.

"Oh and the house elf heads!" James exclaimed, Lily bouncing dangerously from his lap. "Your parents were bonkers Pads, who chops off the heads of their house elves and puts them on the wall?!"

"The same parents who were convinced that muggles bled black blood and that our lightness could be beaten from a child; absolute nutters, the both of them!" Sirius responded. "Mum really took the ticket though - a ten foot self portrait spouting all that prejudiced nonsense she chattered in life, even death couldn't shut the wretched hag up."

The laughter died out, as the mood in the room seemed to turn its attention to the Headmaster who was now handling the locket, studying the runes etched around the clasps.

"Truly fascinating, I can feel the magic positively streaming from the locket, yet despite my warmth it is icy cold to the touch." The old wizard considered. "Can it be opened?"

Harry stood to stand by the table, taking the locket from Albus and turning it in his hands, paying attention to the artefact that had befuddled them for months whilst on the run, the mystery of the entry only stumbled upon by accident in a moment of clarity for Harry.

"It responds only to a Parsletongue- at least that's the only way I know how to open it." Harry explained. "Once commanded to open it shoots out projections; it's only way to protect itself. It took us several months to open it, in that time the darkness tried to take over our souls as we stayed close to it, my friend Ron particularly fell hard."

"What kind of projections did it produce? Beasts?" Remus questioned.

"No, no, nothing like that. It has a vague senescence to its existence. It detects the witch or wizard standing before it and plays on their fears in order to deter it from destroying it; a feeble half arsed attempt to survive at the final hurdle I suppose."

He eyed the locket dubiously and placed it back on the table, and placed the sword of Gryffindor next to the locket, causing it to twitch and spring from the table, Harry's seeker skills allowing him to grab it before it clattered to the floor.

"It senses the end is near, it will try to flee when it knows that it can be killed. Now, anybody want to destroy it?"

The adults looked to one another, apparently caught unaware that they would be allowed the chance to have anything to do with the actual destruction of the objects, perhaps assuming that Harry or Dumbledore would take the honours.

"Just what exactly do these projections do Harry?" His mum asked, not jumping at the chance to take the sword.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to grasp the hazy memory of that night in the forest that Ron returned, but found that he could not quite remember what had happened. He supposed that everything really whirl winded from that point onwards as they were tracked by the Death Eaters, and that more important things were made to be remembered. Although he hesitated to share this memory lapse to the others, who were relying on him to relay the future back to them - at least the future he had experienced.

"Nothing that can cause any physical harm, but it knows where to dig to get you riled up, Ron really went for the thing after it came out." That, at least, he recalled.

"I'll do it."

Lily turned to look at her husband who had spoken up, a determined glint in his eye as he slid his wife from his lap and made to stand, the bravery of his old House shining through.

"That Bastard took so much from me, from all of us, I'd love to take a little bit of Him away myself" James croaked. "Throw me the blade kiddo."

"If you're sure Dad?" At James' quick nod he turned to the others. "Better stand back a bit, make a little room, you best step away from the desk too Albus."

The headmaster complied, joining Lily, Sirius and Remus who had backed away slightly from James, but eagerly peered towards the locket, curious as to what was about to happen. Harry passed the sword to James, gently squeezing his shoulder and positioned himself behind the desk, reaching over to hold the locket.

"I'll hold it in place, and command it to open. Remember that anything that comes out, it's not real dad, you can do it."

"Ready when you are Son, I'll try and mind those fingers." James quipped, his laughter trying to hide the slight quiver to his voice.

"Open"

Two figures snaked from the glass, which sprung open on the table, resisting desperately under Harry's grasp against the wooden restraint. The slightly opaque figures of Lily and a child version of Harry sprung from the locket, forming to stand directly in front of James and the others, eyes burning red.

"You couldn't protect me James, you promised you would, but you're a weak wizard just like my sister always told me." Ghost-Lily sneered. "I should have chosen Severus over you, he would have loved me much better than you ever did or could."

"Severus would have been a much better Father than you could ever be; you shouldn't even have the right to call yourself my dad." Ghost-Harry declared. "He wouldn't have let me get hurt; he wouldn't have left me to live with those muggles because of your incompetence as a parent."

A third figure threw itself out from the glass, and the trademark smirk of Sirius Black lit the otherwise marred features of the projection.

"What about me James? You seemed pretty happy to let Peter take my place; even though you knew they'd come after me and kill me. You didn't seem too upset about me dying just so you could live." Ghost Sirius slurred, mouth curled in disgust. "You dare call yourself my best friend when you didn't even leave a note to prove my innocence. I rotted in Azkaban for you, can hardly say it was worth it."

"Don't listen Dad, it is just saying what it knows will hurt you, it's not real." Harry shouted from behind the table, struggling to be heard over the cruel laughter of the figures.

"He isn't worth it Sirius, never even had a Father and I wished it stayed that way. I was better off before he came back into my life, you were a better role model than him." Ghost Harry interjected, cutting off the voice of his counterpart.

"Come on Sirius, you're not a coward like James is, I can't believe he ever thought I'd chose him over you." Ghost-Lily chuckled as she reached toward the figure of James' best friend, leaning into his embrace and placing her lips on his, as the projection of Harry stared his father down.

"James, please jus-" James cut off his wife who reached for him from beside him, placing his hand out to silence her, his eyes transfixed on the image of his wife and honorary brother tightly wound against each other in front of him. He watched as they parted, and the shadow of his wife turned to face him, her eyes bleeding pulsating red light from their sockets.

"Much better. He knows he -"

Whatever the image was about to say was abruptly cut short, as Harry had to dodge the blade that suddenly appeared through the hazy figures, piercing straight through the heart of ghost-Sirius and slamming onto the locket, shattering the glass fiercely in the frame. The force of the attack threw Harry back against the wall of the office, as an ungodly scream erupted from the locket, as the figurines swirled in a raging hurricane of black, and vanished from view. The sword clattered to the floor, along with the two halves of the ornate desk that had been carved by the swing of the sword, as James fell to his knees and held his head in his hands. His sobs breaking through the stunned silence that held the others in their place, as Lily cautiously moved towards her husband.

"Remarkable, really ingenious. The perfect trap, I only begin to wonder at what it would have shown had you or I stepped against it Harry" He spoke to the young man who gingerly raised himself from the floor, rubbing his head that was still humming from the impact against the surface. Dumbledore stumbled forward, gingerly reaching for the blackened metal that was hissing slightly in defeat, flinching back when his hand hit scalding metal.

Lily however was more interested in the shaking form of James who had stopped sobbing, but was gripping his hair unnaturally harshly, and remained knelt to the ground.

"James? Sweetie?" She whispered, reaching her hand for his shoulder when she got no response. "Are you okay?"

"You-she-it, was right, I am a failure of a husband and a Father. I should never have allowed us to get into this situation, I've let you down."

"You look at me now James," Lily said sternly, forcing James to look her in the eye as she knelt before him, hands firmly gripping his arms. "You are not, and never will be a failure. Not to me, nor to anyone in this room, and we are the ones that matter. Nobody knew what was going to happen that night, least of all you, it was a horrific accident but there was absolutely nobody to blame."

"Apart from Voldemort." Harry inputted, making his towards his parents, joining them on the floor. "And don't you ever think that I don't want you as my father, having you back is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"Oh and about me Jamesy, don't worry about me and Lily-flower." Sirius jested, apparently over the shock of seeing himself entangled with his best friend's wife. "I mean Lils you're not too ugly, I suppose, but gingers-eh- not really my thing. Think the Potter men make enough work of you red heads, you wouldn't be able to handle my unnaturally fantastic personality and exceptional good looks anywho."

This forced a smile onto James' face, apparently seeing the humour of the situation now out of the heat of the moment, understanding that the images he saw, and the words he had just heard, were totally unfounded.

"You just keep those dirty paws away from my wife and I'll be happy." He reached over to snake his arms around his wife and son, bringing them both in for a short hug, before standing and joining Dumbledore to inspect the charred remains of the historical artefact, which had now cooled to the touch. Dumbledore reached down to carefully collect the remains, but they crumbled instantly to the touch and formed a pile of ash on the floor, the echoes of the penetrating scream still resounded in his ears.

"Well, it's safe to say that Salazar Slytherin has not had a great day."