Chapter 29
Harry nodded and stuck his finger in the swirling plasma filled bowl. The others followed suit and found themselves in a comfortable living room at dusk. Harry was staring at a large armchair watching his mother singing to a small child.
Over in Killarney,
Many years ago,
Me mither sang a song to me
In tones so sweet and low.
Just a simple little ditty,
In her good ould Irish way,
And I'd give the world if she could sing
That song to me this day.
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Hush, now don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
That's an Irish lullaby.
Oft, in dreams I wander
To that cot again,
I feel her arms a huggin' me
As when she held me then.
And I hear her voice a humin'
To me as in days of yore,
When she used to rock me fast asleep
Outside the cabin door.
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Hush, now don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
That's an Irish lullaby.
Harry had tears in his eyes as he listened to his mothers soft voice as she sang him a lullaby for the first time he could ever remember. The others just watched as he crouched by the chair and sat on the ground staring at his mum while she sang. When she was done, baby Harry was fast asleep and curled up with his arms around her waist. She pulled a blanket around him and smiled.
"Lily?" asked a younger James as he entered the room. She held up a finger to her lips and smiled. "Ah, little tyke conked out already?" he asked quieter.
"That song does it every time," she said. He smiled at her as he sat on the armrest next to her. The current Harry smiled too. She sang that to him often by the sound of it.
"I'm sorry we can't bring him treat and tricking like you wanted too tomorrow night," he said and she chuckled.
"Trick or treating, and its fine dear. Harry's safety is the most important thing to me. He's got plenty of Halloween's in the future to dress up and get sweets. Besides, he won't even remember this Halloween anyways." Harry, sitting on the floor still, snorted and rolled his eyes.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door making everyone jump.
"Lily, were we expecting Sirius or Peter tonight?" asked James quietly as he pulled out his wand. She shook her head as she stood up slowly to not disturb the babe in her arms. Harry stood up off the ground and stepped closer to the wall to better see what was going on.
They all watched as Lily took her child and headed towards the stairs and, as quickly as she could, climbed them. James waited for a minute before she came back down. They headed towards the door slowly, both holding out their wands.
The person on the other side knocked again, sounding more impatient.
James shared a look with Lily and he called out, "Who's there?"
"It is I, Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts," called the man behind the door. James and Lily both sighed in relief. James went to the door and opened it a crack, "Password?" he asked a faint smile on his face.
"James you know it's me, must I really?" asked Dumbledore with a resigned sigh.
"You know the rules, Professor. You made them," said James with a sneaky smirk.
"Very well," he sighed. "Tom Riddle is a great, bloody wanker with foot odor and garlic breath," mumbled Albus quickly. Harry, Ron, Ginny, James, and Sirius all laughed loudly. Hermione and Lily just shook their heads trying to conceal their smiles. The younger James opened the door fully and embraced the elderly man in front of him.
"James, what have I told you about calling me by my name?" said Albus.
"I know, sir, but seven years of calling you Professor is a hard habit to break. I'm sorry Albus I'll try harder," said James with a grin. Lily smiled.
"Hello, Albus. I must say you gave us a bit of a fright. We weren't expecting anyone tonight," said Lily as she led the men into the living room. "Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked.
"Yes, please, and perhaps a splash of brandy as well. I've had the worse night, and it's about to get harder. I've much to tell you," he said gravely. James and Lily shared a look.
"Did you find out who the traitor is?" asked James as Lily left the room quickly to get the tea.
"In a way, I guess you could say, though I was very shocked to learn who." He left it at that and they waited for Lily to return with tea. A moment later she returned with a tray of tea and Halloween biscuits.
"Ah, I've always found the Muggle's versions of witches to be quite amusing," said Albus as he picked up a frosted cookie of a woman with green skin, an exaggerated wart on her nose, and a black pointed hat on her head. He took a small bite of the tip of her hat, chewed, and then bit off her nose. The people standing off to the side snickered.
"Albus, what is it you needed to say? Who's the traitor?" asked James. Lily looked up from her pouring tea and looked at James and then Albus.
"You know who the traitor is? Is it…Remus?" she asked quickly, fear spreading across her face.
"It is not Remus Lupin," said Albus. The other two sighed in relief. "I'm afraid your relief is premature. The traitor is Peter Pettigrew." The looks on James and Lily's faces were shocked and horrified.
"Peter? No, no! He's…he's a wimp, Voldemort wouldn't want that little lump of…of…" James struggled to think of a word to call his friend.
"James, it does fit kind of. Peter has always been the type to hang around those who could protect him, the popular people, the smarter people, and the people with power. I just can't believe little Peter…he adores you and Sirius. You are his best friends, how could he do this?" asked Lily. The two sat and held each other for a moment before James sat up quickly.
"We need to get out of here! Peter knows, he's…" he looked at Dumbledore and pulled out his wand.
"Tell me something only Albus Dumbledore would know."
"The time you let the 1,000 chocolate frogs loose in the Great Hall, I knew it was you, and I winked at you from across the bedlam in the Hall." James lowered his wand.
"You know, I thought I was done for, for days after that wink. I thought you were telling me that I was going to get it, expelled," said James.
"That was you? Just you?" asked Lily.
"Well, me and Sirius. But I never told the others he winked at me. How did you know it was us?" he asked. Harry was watching this closely. He knew what was coming, but it seemed to drag on forever.
"The Muggles have a saying, a magician never reveals his secrets, James. I know much of what goes on in that school. But I should continue with what I came here tonight to do. I want you two to know, I am from the future. Only about forty-eight hours in the future, but never-the-less, I am. To me, about twelve hours ago you two were dead, and Harry an orphan."
James and Lily both gasped as tears sprung up in their eyes. They clung to each other for comfort, Lily crying on his shoulder.
"Please, let me continue," said Albus. "I came back in time because I think I know of a way I can save you both. I want you to listen carefully, because you have a very difficult decision to make soon, I want you to understand the gravity of the consequences.
"First, let me explain what happened last night, in my time at least. Halloween night, you two were having a normal night indoors, like you had promised me three days ago. Peter told Voldemort where you are and he came. First, he killed James in this room, then he went up the stairs and killed Lily in Harry's room. She did something, so that when Voldemort turned his wand on Harry, in his crib," Lily started to sob at this part. "Lily, if my idea goes as planned all three of you will survive. Please, would you like a cheering charm?" She nodded and he waved his wand. She visually cheered up, but was still grave looking, but no longer crying hysterically.
"As I was saying, When he turned his wand on Harry and performed the Killing curse, it rebounded onto himself." James and Lily gasped and looked at the stairs right where Harry was standing. He blanched when he saw them looking at him, but realized they were looking through him and up the stairs.
"Heh, heh, I almost wet myself right there," he said to lighten the mood. The others chuckled before going back to the memory. It was very enlightening to them all, none more than Harry.
"Voldemort was no longer in the land of the living as we know it. He will return one day I am sure of it, but for now, he's gone. Lily you did something that night to save him, you sacrificed your self. Do you know of a spell you might have done?" She shook her head slowly.
"I've been reading a lot, but not sacrificial spells. I'm not some nutter who'd sacrifice a cow to save someone," she said. James and Albus smiled. The rest of them chuckled.
"No, Lily, I meant blood protection spells. It seems that when you took the killing curse to save Harry, your love for him protected him. I used a light form of Legilemency on Harry, and saw his memory of the night. You begged for mercy, and when he didn't give it, you offered yourself if it would spare Harry. You gave yourself to save Harry." James looked at Lily and hugged her.
"If it couldn't be me who saved our son, I'm glad it was you," he murmured softly. Harry smiled. They really did love each other and seeing it like this made him very happy.
"I have a plan, you two, and I want you to hear it before you agree. Harry needs to survive because of the Prophecy. Now remember, listen to the whole thing, because right now, it's either this, or you both die." They looked at each other and nodded.
"We'll do it. We don't care what it is, we'll do it so that we can be with our son," said James. Lily nodded emphatically.
"Please, listen first. Lily you will need to sacrifice something, and the only thing I think will work will be part of your life. Instead of dying, you'll sacrifice a portion of your life, and will be in a coma until Voldemort is finally vanquished. It could be five years, it could be fifty. You won't know until you wake up, and learn the date. James for the sake of your wife, you would join her. Harry can be raised by Sirius and Remus, there is also your sister and her family, Lily."
Everyone watched the two as they looked at each other and thought about this. Harry watched their faces especially. The emotion they showed was deep and painful to watch. Give up their lives, or give up their son.
"Albus, how can you ask us to do something like this? My sister is a Muggle who hates magic of any kind, even the slight of hand, fake magician's Muggles have at parties. And Sirius and Remus, raise a child? I know they love Harry, but…Sirius hasn't fully grown up, and Remus…I love him to death, and I'm so glad he's not the traitor, but he's a werewolf, the Ministry would never allow him to help raise a child. These choices aren't exactly making this insane decision any easier. Maybe if he was going to you or Minerva, I know you two could raise him well enough, but…I just don't know!" Lily said, tears streaming down her face. She leaned forward so her forehead touched her knees, he hands clasped behind her head. James rubbed her back softly.
"Dear heart, Sirius knows the basics about caring for a child. He can change nappies, feed him, put him to bed, play with him carefully enough to not break him. We trained Padfoot ourselves around Harry. I think he'd be a great Godfather, why else did we pick him? And Remus would be the responsible one, getting Harry to bed on time and feeding him healthy food. I think the two of them could do just as good a job as you and I. What other choice do we have? It's either this, or we…die," said James softly.
"I know that James! But there has to be a different option! Maybe we could…go back and stick to Sirius as Secret Keeper," she said as she turned to Albus who was shaking his head.
"I feel that this has to happen this way, Lily. Harry made Voldemort disappear that night. I don't know how long he's gone for but, if anything makes that monster go away even if for a week, we can get our feet back on the ground, and do something. We're loosing this war right now, Lily, it's either this, or I erase your memories of me being here tonight, and tomorrow night goes off like it's supposed to. I don't want that and I am very sorry it has to be this way, but I think you should take this chance. In twenty years, you could be living a normal life, in a safe world, with your child, maybe even more children around. But any other plan changes the timeline too much, and I can't risk that. I'm sorry," he said sadly. Lily shook her head and ran straight at Harry, bursting though him and running up the stairs.
James sat and shook his head on the couch before standing up.
"How much time do I have to convince her?" he asked.
"Roughly twenty-four hours. James, I am very sorry it has to be this way," said the old man. James nodded.
"Make yourself at home, we aren't expecting anyone…until tomorrow night at least. I'll go and talk to her, give me some time." Albus nodded and sat back in the chair and sighed as James trudged up the stairs slowly.
A/n: alrighty then people. I can't believe how long it feels since i updated but not even been a week! It just feels like forever ago! I have decided that now that i'm really busy (finally) i will be posting at least on Wednesdays. those are my days off from school and work, though that is subject to change. If i get free time on the weekends (Friday-Sunday) I might post another chapter, depending on how many reviews i get (I prefer good quality reviews telling what the reviewer liked.) I'd like to remind people that multi-reviewing a chapter isn't a good way to get me to review. Only review a chapter once, please. But try and make it a good review, i love knowing when people liked a chapter, but i love it even more if you tell me what about the chapter made you like it so much!
I mentioned the book The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel in my last update, but i've finished the book and I'm getting the sequel soon. Only 3 books are out, the next one is coming in April 2010. there will be 6 books total, (2010, 2011, and 2012 are the release dates on the authors website) I forgot to mention the Author's name was Michael Scott last time so a nice little review reminded me.
thanks to Ainsaboo for being my 200th reviewer! My other story doesn't even have that many reviews and it's 200K+ words!
Apparently I've been appearing in my reviewers dreams! ejgoodrich PM'd me saying that they had a dream where i wrote a really good book that was turned into a movie and they were waiting for me at the premire...i laughed so hard when i read this, and i was at work too! lol. I hope it comes true!
Lastly, i think everyone should go over and read Harry Potter and the Antiquity Link by semprini on Schnoogle. She just started updating a sequel to her story, and AL is the first one. It's my favorite Fanfic ever, and i try and write like the style Semprini uses. So if you like my stories, you might like this one as well. It's also very long! Okay this a/n is obscenely long... Please REVIEW!!!! Thanks!
