Return of the Parents

By: AutumnBreeze12

James leapt to his feet and ran out of the room, his robes swirling behind him. This intense feeling in his gut meant something bad was happening… He heard Sirius behind him, but couldn't care less.

He kept running, up corridor after corridor, just following his gut feeling. His breath came in harsh pants, and his side began to ache with a cramp. His feet were echoing off the stonewalls, but he couldn't bring himself to care about any of these small little details. Something bad was happening.

He skidded to a halt as he came to a staircase. He saw a flash of red, and his heart twisted as he saw Lily falling off of the staircase. His feet seemed glued to the floor, and he couldn't do anything. All he seemed to be able to do was watch as his wife fell.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" it was Sirius who said this, and Lily's body came to a halt right before the ground. James let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in and cast Sirius a thankful look before hurrying to see if Lily was all right.

"Lily? Lily, are you all right?! Are you hurt?" asked James as he knelt down next to his wife, only to discover her unconscious from the fall. James closed his eyes in relief as he realized that she was still breathing and still alive.

"Let's take her to the hospital wing," whispered Sirius, who had come up next to him. James nodded his head silently and gathered his wife in his arms bridal style. Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"I don't feel like using magic to get her there right now. I want to be sure that she's safe in my arms," said James. James ignored Sirius' silent laughter at such a corny thing to say, but no matter how much Sirius laughed, James couldn't bring himself to care. He had come so close to losing Lily… and they weren't even in battle! This is just an accident!

James sighed and clutched Lily tighter and closer to him.

A warm blackness was surrounding him. He felt himself drifting away… the blackness was so nice, so comforting… he didn't want to leave this paradise…

His blackness suddenly turned to white. This was an even more comforting white, an even better…thing, for lack of a better word, to drift in. He didn't need anything here; no food, no water, no oxygen… it was just so perfect…

Perfect? Why would anything be perfect? The whiteness seemed to echo this around the space. He frowned. Why was the white doing this? He just wanted to be comfortable!

But was comfort the right thing to have right now? The white was questioning him.

"But why wouldn't it?" he asked out loud to the whiteness. It didn't answer, but Harry suddenly thought that the white was mad at him.

Do you not have a duty to do?

"I… can't… remember…" and indeed he couldn't. It all seemed so blurry to him… like a faded dream…

Then it happened. His sword slipped—right into his leg. Harry stared at it for a moment before sliding the sword out of his leg. There was so much blood… it was everywhere… his leg was absolutely gushing it… and then Harry collapsed.

What had that been? He thought about this for a moment. It was weird, he mused, that a person's memories were coming to him… but wait… what if they were his own? He found himself getting more and more confused as the whiteness around him grew more and more angry.

That's right—he remembered now. His name was Harry James Potter. He had a girlfriend named Ginny Weasley that he was currently in a fight with. He had been in the Chamber of Secrets… the Chamber! He had had an accident in there!

But there was something missing—wait, why did a large sword slip and go straight through his leg? I mean, yes, it is the Sword of Merlin, but not even he would make such a mistake…

The whiteness around him seemed to be insanely happy at all of these conclusions. Harry just found himself becoming more and more confused. There were so many unanswered questions! And what of him now? Was he dead?

Not yet. Not yet, echoed the whiteness.

"But what's going on? Why am I here? What and where is 'here', anyways?" Harry questioned.

Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.

Harry found himself reminded heavily of a horror movie he had once seen when Dudley was watching television. There had been an insane man, chanting some line over and over again, killing people…

But, Harry reminded himself, I'm not going to die. I won't allow myself to. But I won't have much of a choice until I find out where I am… and what, exactly, this all is.

Lily groaned as she opened her eyes. "What happened?" she muttered as she sat up gingerly. James was by her side in a second, pushing her down gently.

"You fell down the stairs," said James as he tucked the covers around her tightly. Lily raised her eyebrows at the motion.

"Oh?" she said in a questioning voice.

"Well, it's not like we know why you fell," said James. Lily sighed and James fluffed up her pillow a little bit.

"I just slipped, I guess," said Lily, trying to remember back to the incident.

"She's up?" asked Madam Pomfrey as she came bustling over. James nodded and got out of the way of the healer as she began to check over Lily.

"Well, all seems to be well…" said Madam Pomfrey as she stood up and turned to James. "I would just suggest being careful around her for a while… other then that, she's free to go. I can't find anything wrong with her."

James nodded thankfully and helped Lily to her feet before they both walked out of the hospital wing.

"You're okay?" asked Sirius as soon as they came into the room. Lily and James both nodded.

"I'm going to get Lily to bed for some rest, okay?" asked James, already heading towards their bedroom, ignoring Lily's protests that she was fine and didn't need to lie down.

Sirius shook his head fondly and sat down next to Remus.

"So. Our next prank…"

Harry took in a shuddering gasp and opened his eyes. He blinked for a moment until his memory came back to him. He sat up and glanced down at his legs, only to find no blood. He stared at it for a moment before checking it. There was no wound.

He blinked and stared at the leg a couple more seconds. What had happened? Where had all the blood gone? Where was the injury? What, exactly, was that whiteness?

He glanced at the Sword of Merlin and did a double take. It was pulsing. He took in a deep breath and reached out his hand to take it, only to draw it back at the last moment. The metal was searing hot—he couldn't touch it without being burnt.

/What are you doing?/ Harry jumped at the hissing sound of Ice's voice. Harry turned and saw Ice slithering towards him, stopping a couple of feet away.

/Ice…something just happened…/ said Harry in explanation.

/I can tell that, you foolish child! What I want is an account of what happened. There seems to be magic just plain buzzing around here…/

/Well, the Sword of Merlin slipped while I was practicing with it, and it went right through my leg… after that everything went black, but it turned white, and the whiteness seemed to speak to me… it was really confusing, and I could barely remember who I was… and then I woke up, and it was like I had never been injured! And the Sword of Merlin is all hot now, so I can't touch it/

Harry studied Ice for a moment after all this was said. Was it just him, or did Ice look a bit excited…?

/Was the Sword of Merlin pulsing?/ asked Ice.

/Yeah, it was, but it isn't now/ said Harry, and indeed it wasn't. Harry reached out a hand and touched it, expecting to be burned, but with a jolt realized that not only did the pulsing stop but the heat did as well.

/Master, why were you practicing with the Sword of Merlin anyways? I thought that we agreed that you should use a practice sword instead, because the Sword of Merlin is dangerous and shouldn't be used all the time/ asked Ice.

/I don't know/ said Harry, a damning realization coming over him. /Ice… did the Sword of Merlin do that on purpose? And then heal me after it was all done?/

/It might have/ dismissed Ice. Harry could see that Ice didn't want to discuss this possibility, so he let it drop.

Harry snuck out of the Chamber and into the girl's bathroom. Moaning Myrtle was thankfully absent, so Harry didn't have to stop and talk to her. Instead Harry went on his way to the common room. It was nearly two in the morning, so he didn't really expect anyone up. Nevertheless, he had on his invisibility cloak in order to fool the cameras and get in the portrait hole undetected.

He made sure that his footsteps were quiet as he went through the corridors. He had to stop a few times in order to pass a teacher, but he got to the common room relatively quickly. As he climbed in, he froze. There was still someone up.

He gave a small sigh of relief when he realized it was just Ginny, and she was asleep on the couch. He frowned a little a walked closer to her. What would she still be doing down here? He didn't know, and he wasn't really curious.

He reached forward and tapped her shoulder gently. "Ginny, wake up. You need to go to bed," said Harry, and when she didn't respond immediately he shook her harder. That woke her up and she stared up at him groggily for a few moments before blinking the sleep out of her eyes and sitting up.

"Harry?" she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes absentmindedly.

"Yeah, it's me. You fell asleep down here, and I thought that you would want to go back to your dormitory…"

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry!" she burst out suddenly, startling Harry.

"What?" he said, astonished.

"I'm sorry for all I said that day—everything was just getting to me, and I just wanted to spend more time with you… I'm so sorry!" she said, and Harry was horrified to see that she had started crying. He patted her back awkwardly.

"It's okay, Ginny. I forgive you," he said.

"You do? How can you, after all I said?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, you meant well," said Harry, still feeling awkward and not sure what to say.

"Are… are we still up for Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny nervously.

"Of course," said Harry soothingly. Ginny gave him a blindingly bright smile, and Harry gave a small one back. "Were you waiting up for me?" asked Harry.

"Yeah—I figured you were in the Chamber, so I decided to wait until you came back. I didn't really plan on falling asleep, though," she admitted, looking slightly guilty that she had fallen asleep.

"It's okay," said Harry. "Why don't you go to bed now? You look really tired," Ginny simply nodded and allowed Harry to lead her to the staircase before bidding him good night.

"Oh Merlin," was the first thing out of Hermione's mouth that morning (she had, obviously, picked up some language from the wizarding world).

"What's wrong?" asked Ron, already sitting down at the table and stuffing his face full of food.

"Haven't you looked up at the Head Table?" she asked, holding her hand over her mouth. Ron shook his head no, then proceeded to eat again, not bothering to look up at said table. Hermione simply shook her head at him and stared at Snape.

Who happened to be dressed exactly how the boggart had been dressed in their third year.

"Talk about adding salt to an old wound," said Ginny, coming up next to her. They both knew how much Snape had hated Neville after that—and they would bet Snape wouldn't rest until he found out who was doing the pranks and pay them back in a very, very painful way.

It was then that they noticed that both Sirius and James were getting up. They whispered to each other for a few moments, before they both jumped onto the Head Table and began to shout.

"GOOD MORNING, STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS!" Sirius yelled.

"AS I'M SURE YOU ALL KNOW, THERE HAVE BEEN SOME VERY MYSTERIOUS PRANKS GOING ON—WHICH WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, OF COURSE," shouted James.

"BUT, WE'VE DECIDED TO UP THE COMPETITION A LITTLE—NOT THAT WE'RE IN THE COMPETITION, OF COURSE."

"AND WE'VE DECIDED TO UP THE COMPETITION BY MAKING THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COMPETITION EMBARRASSED—NOT THAT THEY'RE OUR COMPETITION, AND NOT THAT WE'RE IN THE COMPETITION, OF COURSE."

Everyone was exchanging exasperated looks. Harry, who had come into the Hall at this point, was looking like he wanted to walk right back out.

"SO, MAY WE PLEASE INTRODUCE, THE TERRIBLE THREE'S TERRIBLE TANGO!"

At that moment, loud tango music came on in the Hall. The lights dimmed and a small stage appeared, with a spotlight on it. There were three figures on it, Lily, Fred, and George. Both Fred and George were wearing frilly dresses, and it was obvious that they had really dressed up. They had the whole works on—make up, hair, and their nails were even done. Lily, on the other hand, was wearing a tuxedo. They all had on muggle attire.

They began to dance, and it was obvious from the very beginning that they really were terrible. Fred and George could not dance in high heels, and since their parts were switched, they were made to do the women's part, which was near impossible for them. Lily was trying to dance, also, but was failing.

People all around the Hall were laughing loudly, but Hermione found herself growing paler and paler. How could James and Sirius do something like that?! Not only did they just give out the identities of who were pulling pranks—which meant that Snape was probably going to try and get them back, but also they also just embarrassed three people who were only trying to embarrass Snape, not them.

Hermione glanced at Harry, and was satisfied to see that he had drawn the same conclusions. She glanced around at the rest of the group, but found that only Ginny really understood what could result from this.

Hermione made her way over to Harry and stopped in front of him, before whispering, "How could your father and Sirius do something like this?! This is so mean!"

"I know, Hermione. I bet mum is going to be so mad at them, too," said Harry. He was glaring at James now, but James didn't seem to notice.

"I wonder what Lily is going to do about this," said Hermione, turning towards Lily, who was still dancing.

"I dunno," said Harry, and they both fell into silence, waiting for everything to stop. When the music finally stopped, the stage disappeared, along with the spotlight. A silence filled the Hall as Lily turned to James slowly. James' grin disappeared as his wife walked towards him.

She said nothing to him. Instead, she simply slapped him. And then walked out of the Hall.

After the incident in the Great Hall, things had become incredibly strained between everyone. Harry supported his mother in the fight that James and Lily had now gone into. This made things strange among his family. Not to mention his friends took sides as well.

Things with Ron were still uncomfortable, but better then before. However, Ron took James' side in the entire mess.

Ginny and Remus chose to take neither side.

Hermione supported Lily, along with Harry.

Sirius supported James.

Fred and George were both simply furious. They were now refusing to talk to their idols—instead, they were planning pranks to play on them.

It was horrible going to Marauder's Quarters. Whenever Harry went there, it was to find his parents in a huge arguing match. Sirius would add in a comment here or there, while Remus would sit silently at the cameras. One such was happening right now.

"I HADN'T PRANKED YOU, JAMES, AND I WASN'T PLANNING ON IT! I WAS JUST GETTING BACK AT SNAPE! AND NOW EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IT WAS ME WHO—"

"LILY, IT WAS JUST A PRANK! YOU'RE OVERREACTING! AND YOU'RE OUR COMPETITION! IT DIDN'T MATTER THAT YOU WEREN'T PRANKING US, IT MATTERED THAT YOU WERE PRANKING AT ALL—"

"I DON'T KNOW WHY I BOTHER EVEN ARGUING WITH YOU IF YOU REFUSE TO SEE REASON—"

"ME SEE REASON?! I THINK YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S REFUSING TO SEE REASON!"

During these arguments, Harry never said a word. He would sit by Remus and say nothing. Sirius barely ever spoke either. It was really between James and Lily. Harry did, however, make it known in little ways that it was his mother that he supported.

Instead of going to James for advice, like he had started to quite often, instead he was asking his mother's advice right in front of him. He was simply refusing to speak to his father. Whenever James would ask him a question, or try to strike up a conversation with him, he wouldn't say a thing.

"WHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME?! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURTS TO—"

"HOW MUCH IT HURTS?! HOW ABOUT THAT SLAP YOU GAVE ME AFTER THE PRANK—"

It was a week after the prank. Harry was sitting at the monitors, listening to their arguments. And suddenly he had had enough.

"WILL YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP?!" he roared suddenly, startling even himself. After getting over the surprise, he continued speaking, this time in a softer voice. "Dad. Let's face it. You were a stupid idiot to do that to mum. You hurt her, and exposed her as the one doing the pranks. Now Snape is furious with her! Not only that, but she hadn't pranked you! She hadn't been PLANNING on pranking you!"

James was silent as Harry got up and left.

Ron sat and stared moodily out of the window. Why was everyone insisting that the prank was mean? It was just a prank! Everyone was just blowing it out of proportion.

He sighed and stared harder at the lake, contemplating all that was happening. Harry had hurt his sister deeply, and in the end it was Ginny who apologized. Ron agreed with a lot of what Ginny was saying—Harry had been neglecting him. He barely ever saw Harry anymore! It was only at quidditch practices, or mealtimes, or classes, or at odd hours in the common room. Harry never just hung out with him just to hang out. There was always a reason that Harry was with them.

Yes, it made Ron bitter. Harry had been his best friend for his first four years of Hogwarts, and then his parents came back to life. Suddenly everything was about the Potter drama that always seemed to be going on—he had found out that Lily and James both were exceedingly like Harry—trouble always seemed to find them.

Harry was getting a ton of special treatment too. Now his parents and his parent's friends were teaching at Hogwarts, and guarding Hogwarts, and his grades suddenly go up.

Ron would admit, he was feeling a bit lonely. It was like he had lost his best friend, the one that didn't care about grades, and the one that didn't care about getting stronger for everyone else. Ron felt that ever since Harry's parents had come back, he had lost Harry.

Then there was that voice in his head. Harry kept telling him not to listen to that voice, and that Occlumency would help, but the things the voice said were just so true, and the things the voice was saying were just so tempting…

"How is everything going, Donna? Is all going according to plan?" asked Voldemort to Donna. Voldemort carefully entered her mind for a second. Donna usually was a decent Occlumens, but she would never be good enough to stop him from entering. There were only two in the world who could shut him out—Dumbledore and Snape. Recently Harry Potter had been added to that list, but Voldemort suspected outside help on that, because his shields were just too good to be built in such a short time.

Voldemort carefully glanced into her mind, and was appalled to hear her thinking, 'What plan?'

"The plan, Donna, the plan," said Voldemort impatiently. She blinked and seemed to remember.

"Oh, yes, everything is. The Potter family is being split up at this very moment—fights seem to come daily to them. The Ginny brat was able to overcome it time and time again—it seems that no matter how many times Potter and her fight they always make up, and no matter how bratty or childish I make her she always gets forgiven."

"And the other Weasley?"

"All is going according to plan, my Lord."

A/N: Okay, let me give you a brief explanation of all that's been happening. First, I missed my update time. I was really tired that night, and went to bed with the chapter half written. I tried posting the small chapter up, hoping that it would satisfy you and I would give you an extra long chapter the next week, but messed with the chapter and it shaved off some parts of it that were crucial. I deleted the chapter, so if you got an alert for it and couldn't get to it, that's the reason why.

I still have writer's block. It was really bad last night, but I was able to write the rest of this chapter easily, so I'm hoping it will go away.

I'm also going on vacation soon. I don't know if I'll be able to update on my normal schedule; we'll have to see. In case I don't, you now know the reason.

I'm sorry for any mistakes in this chapter. I wanted to get this up for everyone, so I didn't really check it over.

Please review, and I'm so sorry that this is late!