Lost And Found

Author's Notes : -

I know it's been a while. Well, my muse vanished for a time and had problems with my pc. Another reason was as I compared my notes for the future chapters, many plot points fell through. Had to patch them up.

Emotions got too complicated sometimes. So had to start from scratch for many characters. One thing I noticed was romance was easy when there are only two people involved. So I just adjusted a few things in this fic and made another, a Harmony one. Pairing Harry/Hermione. The other's will be paired accordingly. It will be uploaded soon. Till the end of third year both stories will be more or less the same. It will deviate from there onwards.

As for this one, there will be a follow up of this within the fortnight and I guess there will be a short delay. The reason for this is I now realise I have to make a detailed list of major plot points and romance scenes till the end of fourth year, and compare and alter them when I write. I'm hoping it will not be too complex.

So, yeah. This does not mean I am abandoning this story, but it just requires more time. I will try to update within fortnights but we'll see.

Chapter 7 : Dreamscape

Unknown Place, Unknown time

Harry floated in a void. Nothing was around him except blackness. He didn't know how he got there. Nor when nor why. All he knew that it was inside his head. Then he suddenly felt the floor beneath him. The next moment, he was standing. But then again, he was staring at nothing. He looked left, right, up, down. All seemed the same. Then, like turning on a screen an image came on before him. It was like he was seeing through a person's eyes. The person looked around. There were white bars all around him. Then, vision looked like the person looked up. There were stuffed toys of four animals turning above him, spinning slowly. A golden stag, a black dog…, no a grim, a brown wolf and a partially destroyed brown rat. The person looks around again. It is only then he realises where the person in question was. He was in a crib. Then he realised who's perspective it was. It was his. From his infancy. It wasn't vision, it was a memory. His memory. There were footsteps, coming from beyond the door to the room he was in. He turned towards the door. It's handle turned and opened. In the doorway, stood a beautiful woman in her early twenties. She had dark red hair and wore a pleasant smile. Then he looked at her eyes. They were his eyes. Like emeralds, they shone. The woman was Lily Potter, his mother. She came into the room, and started to say something. But then, something downstairs startled her. She turned back to the doorway. A shuffling sound came from downstairs. Then came a new voice, a man's voice, shouting, panicking-

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go!", His father's voice.

"Run! I'll hold him off-", sounds of minor explosions. Spell fire.

His mother's face darkened. Tears formed, but didn't fall. She closed the door in panic and locked it. Then rushed to baby Harry and picked him up. She brought him face to face with her.

"Harry… You are so loved. So loved."

In the void, tears fell freely from Harry's eyes. He sniffed, wanted to turn away, but couldn't.

Lily Potter continued, "Mama loves you. Dada Loves you. Be safe Harry. Be strong."

Then the telltale incantation.

"Avada Kedavra !"

A green flash. The sound of a body falling to the floor.

In the void, Harry shuddered. He realised that his father just died.

Lily turned back to the door, and a sob wrecked her. She turned back to Harry's face, tears streaking her cheeks. She walked towards the crib and put Harry back in it. She kissed him on the forehead. The same spot now his scar is, realised Harry. Lily took a shuddering breath and tried to calm herself. Footsteps were coming up the stairs. Lily took another breath as the footsteps stopped at their door. The next second the door was blasted open. Lily screamed. She backed up towards the crib, trying to hide Harry from whoever came through the door.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!", Lily begged whoever came in.

"Stand aside you silly girl…. stand aside now…..", came the reply in a cold, high somewhat shrill voice.

"Not Harry, please no, take me… Kill me instead!", she begged again, hands clasped in front of her. The other person, who Harry still could not see scoffed. It came out like a hiss.

"Stand aside. This is your last warning. Stand aside or…. die", there was a pause before the last word was uttered. The last word, though soft spoken, had a finality to it. And a certain amount of glee. But Lily didn't move. She stood her ground and kept asking for mercy.

"Not Harry! Please…. have mercy… have mercy…."

She knew there would be no mercy, but kept asking. Another scoff, this one had an undertone of anger. There was a pause. Then another incantation.

"Avada Kedavra"

A green flash.

A scream.

A shrill laughter.

His mother collapsed. He then got the first look at the other person in the room. Voldemort. He had no hair on his head, a sharp yet crooked nose, thin lips that were in an evil smile and blood red eyes that had only malice, cruelty and hate. It didn't look like those eyes could express any other emotion.

Those eyes locked with his green ones. In the void, Harry let out an involuntary shudder. Such was the hate in those eyes. Voldemort walked towards Harry, without sparing another look at his fallen mother. He came close to the crib, raised his wand without another thought and muttered again.

"Avada Kedavra"

A green flash.

Another flash. This one pure white.

Then nothing.

Harry again looked at the endless void all around him. The image vanished just as it came. Harry fell to his knees sobs wrecking his body and tears freely falling from his eyes.

Then, to his horror, the images started again. Coming alive like a television screen in front of him.

He shut his eyes tight and clapped his hands on his ears, shouting

"NO NO NO NO….."

"Please stop this. Please….", he begged, to whoever was listening. To whoever was doing this to him.

"Please…."

"Please give me something to cherish. Something to remember them by."

He turned upwards without opening his eyes.

"Something other than their last moments….."

"Please…."

Somehow the memory stopped. Harry dropped his hands to his sides and weeped.

"A memory… something in which they are smiling… happy…..", he whispered and fell over, still sobbing. He was tired and somehow sleep took him.

"Harry…"

A melodious voice whispered. A voice filled with love.

"Harry… Open your eyes…."

The voice whispered again. Happiness and love evident. He knew that voice. But he couldn't place it.

"You know, he may be playing a prank on us. Awake yet pretending to be asleep."

Came another voice with mirth evident in the tone. A male voice. The tease in the tone was clear. It also held an undertone of confidence found in so few. The voice of a man who knew exactly what he was capable of, yet with a touch of arrogance.

"I said that one time James !"

Harry now recognised the voices. It was the voices of his parents.

"Oh ?"

Came his father's teasing reply. His mother replied in an annoyed huff.

"Well to quote you, 'He is the son of a Marauder, godson of another and nephew of yet another Marauder' ."

"Hush you !"

Harry was pretty sure if he opened his eyes now, he will be facing his mother, face as red as her hair. He tried to and after a couple of seconds he succeeded.

He came face to face with his mother with pink tinged cheeks, courtesy of his father's teasing. He stared into very expressive emerald green eyes. His eyes. The twinkled with happiness seeing him awake.

"Oh, he's awake."

"Really ?"

"Yes, James.", his mother sighed in exasperation. "See for yourself."

His father came into his field of vision. He could say he can now see what others saw. He was a splitting image of his father. Well except the eyes. He had his mother's eyes.

"Hello Harry. Good to see you're up. Err… awake."

The last comment brought a snort from his mom. Baby Harry brought up his arms, towards his father and said, "Dada"

James' amber eyes brightened. He reached his own arms and picked him up by the armpits. Baby Harry then turned towards his mother and said, " Mama"

Lily swallowed the question she was about to ask. She was about to protest to her son for only acknowledging his father alone. Her question was answered before it was even asked.

Lily smiled brightly and reached for him. James stepped back out of her reach and playfully growled.

"Mine."

"Mine too.", protested Lily with a glare.

"Ours.", concluded James with a soft voice full of love. Lily's face brightened and she stepped up to both of them and wrapped them up in a hug. James wrapped his free arm around her.

Lily let out a contented sigh. James imitated her. They then burst out laughing as baby Harry let out his version.

James and Lily looked at each other. They looked like they were debating something without words. Baby Harry looked between them, alternating between his mama and dada. The adults both gave a nod to each other. James then turned to baby Harry.

"Come on Harry. We want to show you something."

Baby Harry cooed. They both smiled and walked out of the room. Then only did Harry notice that he was in a nursery, but it was not one at Godric's Hollow. His room in Godric's Hollow was small and homey, but this one was warm and large. While the walls were warm colours at the Hollow, here it was adorned with animals and birds. Hundreds of warm yellow animals moved about in the wallpapers of a deep red. While not extremely bright like the Gryffindor colours, it was without a doubt a much subdued imitation. And as always, the colours contrasted neatly.

As they were about to walk out with him, Harry noticed three animals, stood there proudly, keeping their watch on him. They were much larger than their peers and were coloured. He met their eyes. All of them looked at him, without blinking. Their expressions happy, their eyes beamed with pride.

Baby Harry waved to the animals. He felt an unbreakable connection with each. A brown wolf, warm and protective. A black Grim, mischievous and playful. A golden stag, majestic and proud.

Their eye contact broke when James exited the room with Baby Harry in his arms.

The animals stood there, ever watchful.

Author's Notes : -

Decided to end it here. The next chapter will be the continuation of this dream and Harry waking up in the real world.

Read & Review

Thanks again to my dear sis and all those who read this.

Keep on reading, Keep on writing.

-Dr4cu14