Well, creative streak is following me like a rainbow is to Nyan Cat...

Chapter 25 - Memories Gone and Found

Snow gracefully touched the window sill outside Henry's window. He sat on the edge of the bed, smiling in a far off thought.

Lily giggled with a large smile, "Henry, I don't ever remember the last time it snowed like this."

"Neither do I" he replied.

Large flakes touched at Lily's cheeks as she lay in the snow making a snow angel. Henry leaned down to look at her face. He kissed her with everything he had.

A knock at the bedroom door interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes" He questioned it.

"Good morning Henry..." Lily spoke softly.

"Good Morning" Henry smiled.

She seemed awkward and he could firgure out why, "Lily, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" she lied.

"Look its snowing" Henry smiled.

"Yeah, hey, Henry, I'm going to go to lunch with my dad later. Just him and I" Lily looked at Henry.

"Okay" Henry mumbled.

"I'll see you later" She kissed his cheek and left.

The door closed with a click and he heard Lily's footsteps leave the apartment. Something was wrong with her and he had to find out what it was, she seemed lost, disconnected with the world. Henry had to follow her.

O.o.o.O

"Dad, are you sure you want to do this?" Lily questioned.

"Lily, we really don't have a choice" Harry said.

"But dad... you can't. It could hurt him" Lily pleaded.

"I'm well aware of that... but he has too"

"Well, I'm the one who killed him."

"I understand that... but, you have to ask Henry that how in the world would two of my top Aurors get killed on a mission while he was there" Harry spoke sternly.

"Maybe they were blindsided" Lily mumbled.

"Its entirely possible" Harry considered, "How ever the council isn't going to believe it."

"Daddy... he's only human... Depetrlatav was always after you, but then he met me. He's been after me since I was tweleve. Its completely revelant that Henry was knocked out before the other two were dead. Why is it all being blamed on Henry?" Lily questioned.

"I don't know... just like that incident I had when I was 15. I was with Dudley and dementors came out of nowhere. I really didn't have a choice, so, I used the patronus charm." Harry put his hands in his lap.

"Then Henry obviously didn't have much of a choice." Lily sighed.

O.o.o.O

"Lily, what's going on?" Henry asked as Lily put her keys in the dish on the table.

"I don't know Henry. The council wasn't very happy with your conduct the day you were attacked, they say it wasn't clear enough. Like, you disappeared..." Lily sighed.

"Lily, if I have to produce a pensive, then I will. If it'll make them believe..."

"But, Henry, you're weak and you know that. There are some types of magic that can really drain you and to make a pensieve like that will hurt you... I can't let you do that."

"But, then, how else am I going to show them that it wasn't my fault?" Henry pleaded.

"I don't know love..." Lily kissed his forehead. She felt the small scar underneath his hair line, Henry had most definitely been injured, but how could they prove it to the council?

Henry stared into the small, glowing fire in the fireplace. He thought long and hard about what to do, Lily had already gone to bed. Slowly, he put down the cup of hot cocoa and walked towards Lily's room.

Cuddling close to Lily under the duvet, "Lily, I figured it out."

"Hmmm?" Lily sighed in her sleep.

"We show them my medical records, once those things have been written you can not change them" Henry smiled.

Lily nodded in her sleep, Henry doubted that she fully comprehended what he had just said because she was asleep. He knew that once medial records were writen, magic couldn't change them, it happened once when he was a kid.

Lily rolled over to look at Henry with her brown eyes, "Thats brilliant!"

Henry smiled as she kissed him lightly on the nose, "I love you" he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

O.o.o.O

Henry sat in a small, musty smelling room of prachment sheets. He was sure he could find his records, but first he had to search through the cluttered mess. He picked up his wand and did a simple organizing charm in alphabetical order. He had sit down for a moment, even the simple charms caused him to be slightly lightheaded these days. Lily told him it would take time for him to regain his strength, but he was determined to.

It was always Lily who had faith in him, everyone looked at him and wondered why he'd even bothered to comeback. Those two aurors that had died, one was James. Henry couldn't have felt more grief than Lily. Her brother was dead and it was his duty to have kept him alive. But, at the same time Henry felt some sort of thankfulness. He felt James had saved him when nobody else would have. Henry looked in the "K" files and found the papers he was looking for. He had plans to meet Lily for Lunch, then he'd tell her everything she wanted to know.

The memories had slapped him the moment he began to read the file of medical records over the course of his month long stay.

"Lily," Henry said sipping his water, "I remember it all..."

Lily choked slightly, "But..."

"I started to read the files on the way here and realized something..." Henry said looking down at his sandwich.

"And what is that?" Lily asked anxiously, her voice quivered slightly. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know or not.

"Errr, well, if I was passed out, then how could I have apparated..." Henry looked at her eyes.

"No..." Lily put her hand to her mouth. Henry noticed the small tears forming, he leaned over the table and gently wiped them off her face with his thumb, "So, you're saying that James was still alive?"

"Yes..." Henry looked at her sweet face, "I compared my records to his, I arrived at St. Mungo's thrity minutes before he died. It was mentioned in my record that he was the one who brought me."

"He was alive?" Lily's jaw dropped.

"Just barely, he was injured pretty badly, there wasn't much they could do, if he hadn't apparated, he could've been saved, but he was just too weak" Henry felt warm salty tears on his cheeks.

"He saved you" Lily smiled at her brother's sacrifice.

"I found one of the nurses that attended to him" Henry looked at Lily, "she told me that he said 'I did it so my sister could be happy, because she won't find another Henry'."

Lily felt the tears just flow, they were happy tears and sad tears mixed in, "I have to go" she said suddenly and got up and left the restauraunt.

O.o.o.O

Harry walked up to his daughter laying in the soft green grass. She had been crying for what seemed like hours, he eyes were blood shot, and even though she was still crying, she couldn't make any tears.

"I miss him too" Harry told her. He looked up at the gravestone of his first born son.

"He gave his life for Henry" Lily sobbed as she sat in her dad's lap much like she would when she was a child.

"I know, I saw him that night, just before he passed away. He told me. I couldn't bear to hear it, but, he reassured me not to worry. If he hated Henry, then he would've left him. I didn't tell you that night because you were already so worried and scared" Harry held back his own tears.

"Henry told me he had said 'I did it so my sister could be happy, because she won't find another Henry', needless to say, I kind of abandoned Henry at the restauraunt" Lily wiped her nose.

"He'll forgive you, he figured that it was all too much of a shock" Harry kissed her forehead.

Henry sat down in the grass in front of Lily.

"Henry! I'm so sorry!" Lily lunged at him, knocking him on his back.

"Don't say sorry for something you didn't do" Henry kissed her tears away.

"But, I ditched you at lunch..." Lily frowned.

"I was expecting that to happen" Henry looked at her face, wiping a couple extra stray tears away.

Lily looked at James' gravestone and whispered "Thank you."

O.o.o.O

Harry sat at his desk in his office, he glanced at the Family photograph of his family and grandchildren.

"Dad..." James mumbled quietly.

"Sshh, save your breath" Harry whispered, he could feel the tears starting to rise. The healer had told him that James probably wouldn't make it.

"Dad, I know..." James said.

"James, you saved him..." Harry put his hand on James cheeks.

"I did it so my Lils could be happy, because she won't find another Henry" James sighed.

Harry leaned down and kissed James' forehead. He felt the tears rise and he decided to let them flow. His head laid down on James' lifeless chest. Never again would he feel that heartbeat, that amazing heartbeat that he had been so proud of, that heartbeat that him and Ginny had created twenty-seven years ago.

Ginny ran in behind Harry, "No! oh mygod! No! My baby..." she broke down.

Harry grabbed her and held her as they both slowly fell to the floor in tears.

"Why?!" Ginny questioned.

"For Henry..." Harry said in between his sobs, "because Lils wo- wou- would never be able to find another Henry."

Harry found himself with his head on his desk, tears running down his cheeks. He knew nothing could ever replace James, but at the same time he knew that James had acted very much like he had at the Battle of Hogwarts. But, while Harry suffered an untimely loss, Henry would never forgive himself for the attack. Harry knew that the attack was intended to blindside the Aurors and he knew that when his son entered the Auror program there was always the possibility that something could happen. Harry never expected that it would actually have happened.

Sighing, Harry looked down at the delicately designed wedding invitation. Lily and Henry were finally getting married, they had postponed it for at least a year due to Henry's injuries and James' passing.

We cordially invite you the Knot Tying of:

Henry Edward Kingsley, son of Alice and Phillip Kingsley

and

Lily Luna Potter, daughter of Ginny and Harry Potter

On December 14th, 2029.