"I don't understand what you're asking me to do…" Snape said slowly, watching the old man before him pace the room.
"This is my fault Severus, I should have moved faster when I had the chance, I should have…" Dumbledore thought aloud, he couldn't believe he let things get this far without stepping in. "I just thought The Order would handle it but it seems now they have split off into two opposing sides."
"Lily Potter was never going to give up on her boy, not even with the arrival of the new baby…"
"How far along is she, do you know?"
"Through the grapevine, of course, James would not trust me to know full details, but from what I know she was about two months during the battle in the Department of Mysteries back in February, she should be about four now...Sometime around August or September" Snape estimated.
"Very well… Let's hope she has a safe and fulfilling pregnancy." Dumbledore said happily.
"You're getting off-topic. You actually want me to somehow convince the boy to come back to school? What makes you think he'd want to? I told you how he left The Dark Lord to die upon the ground, he's found his power and knows how to use it now, he can't be trusted around the other students." Snape fought, bringing the point of the conversation back.
When Dumbledore had summoned Snape back to Hogwarts it was because he had a heavy task to ask of him. Not only did he insist that Snape play the side of Lily, James, Sirius, Ron, and Hermione; he also wanted to see if Snape could convince Harry to come back to school for his sixth year. Not wanting to make a scene or concern the students, Dumbledore shut down Hogwarts for the rest of the year, claiming it was because of loose trolls in the school and forbidden forest, parents were happy to bring their students back home and away from danger. Dumbledore simply did not want news of the Department of Mysteries to spread around the school and make people aware of Harry and his friends standing.
"I should have known… Where there is dark there is light, an opposite to each counterpart" Dumbledore said slowly.
"I don't think I understand…" Snape interjected.
"Where Voldemort draws his power from hate… It would make sense that his counterpart draws power from love. That is where Harry draws his power from. I had this inkling, I guess I hoped if he remained out of the way of true love he would never find it. I even set him up with false love, Hermione Granger, hoping he would never know true love. Alas... I believe it was because he met Lily, he connected with her and connected with her love, her passion, he has become unstoppable…"
"Then why have him back at school?" Snape asked yet again, thoroughly confused.
"Because, Severus, if he is here I can watch him, right now nobody knows where he is or what he is doing, that is the most dangerous notion of all. If he is under our watch, we at least know he is not out fulfilling his destiny." Dumbledore finally explained.
"And what is that? What is his true destiny?" Snape egged him on.
Dumbledore stopped pacing and chuckled a bit, "Did you not interpret the full prophecy, Severus? Harry's destiny is… to be the true Dark Lord. He is the one destined to take over the wizarding world. And if we don't stop it, we could all be dead"
"What makes you think he'd kill us all?" Snape asked, slightly afraid.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at him, "What makes you think he wouldn't?"
Snape shifted uncomfortably, a migraine growing in his temples.
"So what am I supposed to do? How do I tell the Dark Lord I plan to be on the side of the boy's real parents?"
"You don't. Simply pretend you are still with The Order while sneaking back and forth to Lily and James, you've proven very good at playing all sides…"
Snape swallowed hard, "You act like you don't know which side I'm on."
Dumbledore smiled happily, "Severus, you don't even know what side you're truly on, how can you expect me to?"
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Ron had been staying at Grimmauld Place since the big fight with The Order. Sirius, James, and Hermione put about a new set of charms on the house so anyone who used to have access to it, The Order, would no longer be able to find it nor get in. James had tried to talk Ron out of moving out of his mother's house, but his mind was set. He wanted to be on the right side of the story, and The Order were not on the right side. So, instead, he and Hermione were camped out in Sirius' childhood home, searching through ancient things to see if they could find anything that would help them learn more about Harry. Since school had been canceled they'd stopped studying for the O.W.L.s and instead started studying the dark arts, which Sirus' house was full of seeing as he came from a long line of dark magic.
It was July 30th, they were in the attic picking apart Sirius' bloodline when the doorbell rang. The looked at each other, confused, before bounding down the stairs to see who it was, nobody knew about this house but them, James, and Lily. By the time they got to the stairs descending into the living room, Sirius was already talking to their guest.
"How did you find this place?" Sirius was saying, voice shaking.
"My mum… This is her family home too you know, although it was harder to find than she described." A deep gruffly voice answered. Ron and Hermione pulled their wands, whoever this stranger was sounded dark, like an enemy.
"Are you going to be rude or invite us in?"
This voice they did recognize, was that Draco Malfoy? Ron jumped first, he threw himself off the stairs and pointed his wand at the door. Sirius was stepping aside to let the two people in. There was Draco like he had thought, but also Harry? He did not sound like Harry at all.
"Oh we have got to stop meeting like this," Harry smirked, pulling out his own wand when he saw Ron. Ron studied him, he did not sound the same but despite a new lightning-shaped scar going through his left eye, and darling undereye circles, he did not look different.
"Save yourself and put your wand down Weasley, you don't want to mess with him right now, he's a bit tired," Draco said tauntingly.
"You should both put your wands down, there is no fighting in my house" Sirius warned them. Harry thought about it for a second, then lowered his wand, "You're right, I'm terribly sorry, my father raised me better than that." When he said that he made sure to shoot a look at Ron, knowing this would make him nervous, which it did. Ron lowered his wand hesitantly.
"In the past, Sirius Black, you've told me so much without saying much at all. I've come back with questions." Harry explained plainly.
"Where have you been, no one's heard anything about you for months!" Hermione blurted out before she could stop herself. Harry raised his eyebrows at her, she looked so beautiful, so much more… womanly.
"How dare you even speak to him!" Draco snarled, Harry raised a hand to silence him.
"Look, if you lot are going to be in my house, this bickering will end" Sirius warned them, he then turned to Harry. "I'll tell you anything you want to know, but you'll have to answer some of my questions too."
"Fair" Harry shrugged.
"No! Sirius, no, you're willing to tell him all our secrets with basically nothing in return? What if he lies!" Ron pointed out, glaring at the other two boys.
"Then he lies, but understand this Ron, our secrets are his life and he deserves to know." Sirius pointed out.
"Then we demand to be there as well, because whatever he's learning we deserve to learn too considering how it impacted our lives as well." Hermione snapped, Harry was looking her deeply in her eyes, she couldn't tell if her face was flushed or bright red.
"I don't care," Harry told her, "Because at the end of the day, whatever I plan to do with this information, you won't be able to stop me."
This sent a chill down the Gryffindors' backs. Sirius lead them all to the kitchen and they sat around the table. Ron and Hermione were tense though Draco and Harry looked completely calm.
"Alright, so let's say how we do this, a question for a question?" Sirius offered, Harry and Draco exchanged looks and rolled their eyes.
"How juvenile, but whatever," Draco said for them; before Harry could start, Hermione immediately jumped in.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
Harry chuckled, "Feisty girl! If I do remember you always were quick with your mouth" Harry licked his lips, Ron's fingernails dug into the table as Draco laughed obnoxiously.
"What am I doing here? Well, I came here for answers. I had a rather nasty fight with my father, went to stay with my mother for a bit, and now I'm here. My turn... " Harry trailed off for the drama of it all. He knew exactly what he wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for the answer. So much had happened in the last few months and he started to feel like everybody was lying to him. Even if Sirius was about to lie to him, at least he'd have lies from both sides, and who he chose to believe was up to him.
"Who am I?"
Sirius was taken aback by the bluntness of Harry's question, his eagerness made Sirius sure he already knew something. Sirius took a deep breath, "You are Harry James Potter."
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Lily was bleeding, she was having such a stressful pregnancy that she was put on bedrest otherwise she may lose her daughter… Yes, her daughter. She and James found out the sex of their baby ahead of time this time, they were going to have a baby girl, and even decided on a name already, Evan Euphemia Potter. Even in homage to Lily's maiden name and Euphemia to honor James' mother. They already had her nursery set up and were very excited for their baby girl… however they still lived every day in fear that she would also be taken away, or killed. Not only that, they still had their son to worry about…
Nobody had heard from Harry in months, as far as they knew. Without the help of The Order, they were really out of the loop. They tried to stay updated on the news, but they also had to lay low and protect their unborn daughter. The only good thing about the last few months was that they now had Kingsley on their side, he'd missed the meeting where the group split up but as soon as he'd heard what happened he immediately resigned from The Order and sought after Lily and James to pledge himself to help them. He believed there was some good in Harry, and was willing to help bring it out. Not only that, but he was also told by Snape, who agreed to be their eyes into The Order, that Harry had fought and won against Voldemort, and Kingsley believed this meant Harry could rebel and be on their side. They needed the kind of power he had, with him they would destroy the legacy Voldemort put up in the wizarding world and return everything to peace.
Speaking of Snape, they were waiting on him to come with more information from the last Order meeting. They still had their doubts about trusting Snape, especially after past frustrations with him. But he came to them with his whole heart and begged them to allow him to help them so he could overwrite his own guilt for his past actions. It took about two months for them to trust him, but eventually, they did and allowed him to be a part of their plans. While they waited, they set up their usual scene on the night of July 30th, getting ready to wish Harry a happy birthday at midnight. As the clock struck 11:55 Lily waddled down to the kitchen, she was much bigger this pregnancy than the last. James smiled and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh don't pretend I'm something to gawk at, I'm as big as a cow!" Lily rolled her eyes.
"You're always going to be something to gawk at," James bit his lip.
"Control yourself before we have another one of these before this one is even out, " Lily joked, pointing to her stomach.
James shrugged, "Wouldn't be a bad thing to me, I love making them." They laughed together, despite the stress, their relationship had been loads better in the past few months. With the soon arriving baby and cutting themselves off from that toxic group, they found themselves smiling and laughing more often. Not only that but for some reason they were now 100% more sure that Harry would come home to them. Lily didn't quite know why she felt this way, but for a while, she'd had a strong feeling that Harry was going to be with them soon.
At 11:59 James began to light the candles, 16 for their son's 16th birthday. Just as he lit the last one, their doorbell rang. They looked at each other.
"Is it Severus?" Lily asked, standing up.
"I dunno, he can't be this early…" James pulled his wand and started towards the door, Lily followed after him.
"Name!" James shouted through the door, this was their code, anyone on their side was supposed to use a codename, everyone else would use their real names and they would not be allowed entrance.
"Name!" James repeated, this time more aggressively.
"Draco Malfoy."
James glanced at Lily… Who?
"Draco Malfoy?" Lily called, thoroughly confused. But next, another voice answered, one that was low and kind of scratchy.
"Harry… James… Potter."
This was not the voice they thought Harry had when they last heard him. It was obviously someone trying to trick them. But Lily's heart began to race, could it be him? It couldn't be! Before she had time to think about, James threw the door open and there they stood. Two teenage boys. One who looked like Narcissa Malfoy and the other… who looked exactly like James. The four stared at each other for a long time.
Harry looked at Lily's protruding belly, then into her eyes.
"Lily Potter…" he said, "I think you may be my mother…"