A/N I swear, I am ready for this Australian summer to be over. It is ridiculously humid right now, and has been for the last month. All I want is to able to comfortably wear jeans again, without feeling just... bleh. I hope you have all been doing well, and enjoy a bit of Lily and James banter at the beginning here. These two were super fun to write once I knew how I wanted them to be. Next chapter will be the much anticipated (at least for me!) train trip, and oh boy won't that be a fun one.

Stay safe everyone, and remember. Your actions speak louder than words.

Chapter 10- Knowledge is power

"Lily darling?" James called out while using his fingers as a guide like he had seen muggle photographers do.

"Yes, James?" Lily called back from her seat mere meters away.

"How do you think my face would look in the advisory painting? Dark and dull with the current lighting?" James asked, gesturing towards the spot where he would one day advise his own heir in the Master study.

Lily sighed. "I don't know James, do you think your grandfather looks dark and dull in his painting?"

"Well yes, but Henry was always dark and dull to me," James muttered under his breath

"Just because I'm dead and in a painting doesn't mean I can't hear you talking right next to me James Fleamont Potter!" Henry Potter yelled.

-O-O-

"Lily darling?" James called out, fingering through an interesting magazine he had found in Sirius's room.

"Yes, James?" Lily called back from the other side of the Library.

"Do you think paintings feel temperature like we do?" James asked, admiring the stiffened nipples of the naked model atop of a motorbike in the magazine.

"Well, I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" Lily responded, confused by the randomness of the question.

"No reason," James quickly responded. "Say, you wouldn't happen to… I don't know… Want to take some pictures with my new motorbike would you?"

-O-O-

"Lily darling?" James whispered in the dark.

"Yes, James?" Lily mumbled from her side of the bed.

"Do you think magical paintings can have sex with other people in paintings?" James asked.

Lily rolled over, chuckling sleepily. "I don't know James, why don't you go and ask your father's painting?"

James's eyes nearly bugged out of his bed at the thought of catching his beloved parents painting's in the act. "Never mind darling. Never mind."

-O-O-

"Lily darling?" James asked as they sat in the comfy chairs of the family room

"Yes, James?" Lily responded, cooing over the baby in her arms.

"Does Harry get a painting if he dies before he gets his wand?" James asked, realising he had never seen a painting of a child under eleven in the Manor.

"I don't know James. Seems like a bit of a morbid question though doesn't it?" Lily asked, growing concerned for her husband. Voldemort was getting stronger, his attacks more frequent. James had nearly been seriously injured in a recent Auror raid.

"Yeah I guess so," James said as he wrapped his wife and child into an awkward embrace on the couch.

-O-O-

"Lily darling?" James yelled out from the first story of the safe house. He could see the wards being destroyed by Voldemort. Pettigrew must've betrayed them!

"Yes, James?" Lily called back, trying to ward the nursery that they were keeping Harry in. The protection charm was nearly complete, the only ingredient left was… the life of the mother.

"I'll see you back at the Manor. I'm going to try and kick the bastard in the balls before he kills me." James answered, trying to sound a lot braver than he was actually feeling.

"You do that darling. Say hello to your mother for me, I'm probably going to be taking over her frame very soon," Lily called for the final time in her mortal life.

Voldemort was at the door.

-O-O-

"James darling?" Lily called out.

"Yes, Lily?" James called back.

" Can you stop singing that stupid song? I swear you have been singing it for years," Lily asked, trying to remain calm. Queen's Another One Bites the Dust used to be one of her favourite sings before James started singing it after their deaths.

"Well Lily darling, it's not like we are getting any new music anytime soon. We have been stuck here for eight years. " James responded for what seemed like the hundredth time... Actually... It might just be.

Lily pinched the bridge of her nose, looking out at the same study that she had looked at every day for the past eight year

"Lily darling?" James called out after a moment.

"Yes, James?" Lily asked, using the most monotonous voice she could muster.

James giggled like a child. "Want to play I Spy again?"

"Oh fuck off James", Lily almost cried. She hoped Harry would come soon. What she wouldn't give to have the ability to move from her own painting so she could throttle James…

-O-O-

"Mum? Dad?" Harry managed to stutter out. He had to have been dreaming, or maybe he slipped down the stairs and he had a concussion. But it felt too real. Without thinking, Harry blurted out the first thing that popped into his head. "How are you?"

James looked chuffed. "Well son, I'm glad you asked. For being dead, I think I'm doing pretty well. But with some of the yelling that I've endured over the years, I fear that your mother is slowly transforming into a Harpy. "

"James!" Lily yelled out, chuckling at the same time. While there had been times over the years when she would have gladly hexed her husband into silence, she knew that he was just trying to keep their lonely existence as bearable as possible. "Ignore your father sweetie, I didn't talk to him for a whole year a few years back and I fear that it might have made him a bit loopy."

Hermione could see that Harry was in a state of shock, so she decided to step in. Magical paintings had always fascinated her, but there was very little information available outside of pureblood families about how they were created and such. She took a breathe, hoping to make a good first impression. "Hello Lord and Lady Potter. It's lovely to meet you. I'm Hermione Dagworth-Granger," Hermione said, using her new full name for the first time. While she wouldn't use it at Hogwarts just yet, it felt nice to hear herself say the name.

James looked delighted. "Hoohoo. It's been years since I've heard anyone say that family name. Well, Hermione darling it is an absolute pleasure to meet my son's Soul Mate."

It seemed that 'Soul Mate' had become a trigger phrase to snap Harry out of his funks. "How did you find out about that already?" Harry asked. Did the Manor have ears?

"While we have been confined to our paintings the past few years, Vaermina has been keeping us up to date with your life, or what she could See of it. We were furious to hear all of what Dumbledore had done. I'm so sorry that you had to go through the torture that was my sister and her pig of a husband." Lily said sadly, so disappointed that they didn't prepare enough to stop Dumbledore from double-crossing them. " Vaermina was with us for most of last night, getting us caught up on the whole Instrument of the Fates things you guys have going on. We knew you were going to be special Harry, but we had no idea… Regardless, I'm just glad that you have finally made it home to us. And now that you are home and the War Wards are down, your father and I can finally move around from our own frames."

"You mean you have been stuck in your frames for nearly ten years? Who thought that was a good design feature?" Harry asked, questioning the sanity of his ancestors.

James chuckled, glad that someone agreed with him. "Well, in theory, it was a good feature. It forced every Potter painting back into its home frame, even those whom generally resided in other secondary paintings in locations like Hogwarts or the Ministry. While it's not common knowledge, a magical painting can be tortured, even abolished. For that reason, the whole family is called home when the War Wards are activated. But there was never a contingency put in place in case the last remaining Potter was only a baby and couldn't lower the wards after the threat had passed. As for being locked into our individual paintings, who knows. Some sick bastard probably thought it would be a funny joke, but none of your ancestors' paintings are owning up to it. And after the last decade, they probably never will. They would never hear the end of it. But enough about our situation, tell us how you have been. Both the now and then."

Harry didn't even really know where to begin, there was so much that had happened. So, he figured he might as well start from the beginning. He had done something similar for Hermione a few months back on a freezing cold night when they ran out of ideas for hiding places and ended back in the Forest of Dean. They had been exchanging small stories, such as Hermione's memories of camping in the summer in the forest as a child. As the conversation went on, the topics deepened. For the first time in his life, Harry told someone about the horrors of his childhood and the atrocities that occurred during the summers away from Hogwarts. Hermione simply held him, sobbing as he told the story of how he had found a stray kitten while gardening. When Vernon discovered that Harry had been caring for the lost creature, he drowned it and made Harry bury the tiny body deep under the ground. Harry was only seven years old. And that was only the tip of a tragic iceberg.

This time, Harry was much calmer as he told his parents the same harrowing tales. Hermione simply held him from behind, trying her hardest to project her thoughts of support and comfort to her soulmate. While she wasn't sure if it worked, Harry did grip her hand and give it a gentle squeeze.

Lily and James cried as Harry told them how he wasn't allowed to have friends as a child. Anytime any other kid was seen as being nice to Harry, Dudley would scare them off in any way possible. Even the teachers eventually came to ignore Harry, else they have to deal with a temper tantrum from Dudley. No one knew that Harry and Dudley were related: Dudley was picked up every afternoon by Petunia, and Harry was made to walk home. No matter what the weather was like.

In later years, when the Dursley's realised that Harry wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school, the torture resumed. More often than not, he was forced back into his old cupboard under the stairs. And when Dudley realised that Harry's broken bones healed after a week, broken bones became a frequent occurrence. And nothing seemed to stop it. It seemed that whenever he would send a letter to Ron or Hermione, they simply ignored the terrible facts that were contained within the letters. He later learned that the letters all seemed to be edited before they reached their destination- omitting all abuse.

After third year, the abuse stopped. But only because Harry had mentioned the name, Sirius Black. The look on Petunia's face was one of sheer terror. And for a time, Harry was left alone. Until fifth year was over. Upon learning that Sirius had died, the Dursleys rapidly returned to their old ways.

And so, Harry was more often than not very battered whenever he would inevitably fall into the care of the Weasley's. They, however, simply brushed it off as rough play between growing lads. Either they truly were oblivious or were doing so under orders from Dumbledore.

Harry told his parents about everything else that had happened over the years as well of course. How his heart swelled the first time he saw Hogwarts, finally making friends. How Sirius had been imprisoned and escaped in his third year. The hope that Harry felt when Sirius talked about Harry living with him. The nearly yearly Voldemort attacks and the number of incompetent teachers. Harry didn't yet mention anything about Snape; a topic for another day.

And then came last year. When Harry told his parents that Dumbledore had sent him on a veritable scavenger hunt, his parents were furious with the old man. When Harry told them that the objects he was hunting were Horcruxes, both of his parents went a sickly grey with tinges of green. After the way that they had died, they knew that Voldemort was creating the foul artifacts. Contrary to the stories, James and Lily Potter were not instantly killed. No, they were tortured as Voldemort collected pieces of their bones, taken straight from the living body, James's still pulsing liver, and Lily's breathing lung. Voldemort wasn't using their souls to split his own, oh no. He was going to use Harry's, as a last fuck you to the Prophecy. But he needed bodily ingredients to perform the ritual, as fresh as he could get. In the past, it was believed that you needed to use ingredients from one's own body to perform the soul rip. Reason enough to stop anyone from performing the terrible feat. Voldemort however, experimented with the same ingredients taken from others. And he was successful. He hadn't however, predicted the protections that Lily had placed on Harry with rare and ancient blood magic.

Harry told his parents about how they had greeted him when he used the resurrection stone. How Sirius had embraced him, telling him that death was easy, to not be scared. How he cried out when he saw that Tonks and Remus were there as well. His own godson had been orphaned nearly the same way that he had. And now Harry was having to do the same thing that Sirius had had to do- confront the killers that orphaned a child he was bound by magic to protect. He had seen Snape standing by the treeline, but decided to leave that part out.

Finally, Harry told his parents everything that Gabriel had told him. How Dumbledore had been blocking his magic and kept he and Hermione drugged with loyalty and love potions. How he had learned about his Soul Bond to Hermione, and how much sense it made. How had had already died so many times, and this was his last chance. And how even if he did die this time, he wasn't afraid. By now, Death was an old friend, even if Harry couldn't remember meeting the Horseman. His only regret would be leaving Hermione behind in a ravaged world.

Throughout this story, the elves had been working behind the scenes, adjusting things as they saw necessary. A comfy couch had been placed in front of the paintings, as they imagined that Harry and Hermione would spend a lot of time here getting to know Lily and James. The pair had been gently pulled down onto the couch, so enthralled with Harry's own words that they didn't even realise the transition from standing to sitting. A small coffee table was placed in front of them, with tea, scones and little sandwiches laid out for lunch. Cookie had tried to make a nutrient-rich broth for Harry, but Orthello had stopped him at the last moment. If they began to repair the damage to Harry now, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't see as much of the lasting damage that the Dursleys had inflicted upon Harry. It was unfortunate, but was necessary to begin building a case against Dumbledore.

Once Hermione realised the tea, she began fixing Harry and herself a plate. Harry's parents were quiet for awhile, absorbing everything that they had learned. Harry seemed at peace. There was a smile on his face as he looked at the moving faces of his parents and just watched them. This, in turn, made Hermione smile. While the Bond was still young, she could feel it getting stronger. She could feel more and more of Harry's emotions in her mind. Now it was like a gentle caress in the back of her mind.

Lily cleared her throat, and in a very Hermione like way, began to list off things. "Right. First and foremost, welcome home dears. I am terribly sorry for all the pain and suffering that you have had to deal with over the years. Hopefully this time we can help to make things better. Hermione dear, please call us Lily and James, or any sort of nickname you can come up with. With your Bond to Harry, you're practically already our daughter in law. Second, I assume Dumbledore has no idea that you are both here?" At the nods from the two children, Lily nodded to herself, a calculating look in her eyes. Harry thought that the resemblance between Hermione and his mother's behaviors was almost uncanny. Lily sighed to herself, before cursing under her breath. "I can assume that you have both already started making plans? Since I don't know every detail, it's hard for me to find a starting point."

At this, James started chuckling. "Lily dear, you can't plan everything for everyone. Besides, Harry and Hermione are perfectly capable of making things right. The Fates chose them for a reason after all."

Harry swelled with pride at his father's confidence in them. Hermione smiled at him, thinking the same. Despite the fact that she had never met Harry's parents before, she already felt at home with them. It was curious, they were so similar to Harry and herself… Hermione shook her head, determined not to overthink it. She had a feeling it had something to do with the Fates, something that she felt she would never truly understand.

"We have started planning," Hermione began. "We have already contacted the Neville and Augusta Longbottom, who were sent back just like us. Augusta will be able to help us with anything regarding the Wizengamot and keeping Dumbledore at bay using the law. We've planned on getting all of our study for the first year perfected by the end of the summer so that we don't have to worry about it later on. Professor Quirrell and the shade of Voldemort attached to him will be easy to deal with since all we need is for Harry to touch him. And, thinking about it, I don't think we will have to worry about the Philosophers Stone at all."

Everyone else seemed to be surprised by this statement. Hermione smiled, enjoying knowing things that others didn't. "While we were on the Horcrux hunt, I read something interesting in the Daily Prophet. It was about how the Ministry was seeking the assistance of Nicolas Flamel, and how anyone with information about his or his wife's whereabouts should contact the Ministry. It was obvious that Voldemort wanted the Flamels for their expertise in Alchemy. But, without the Elixir of Life to sustain them, they should have been well and truly dead by that time, if Dumbledore had destroyed the stone like he said. And I have no doubt that he did. But I don't think it was the real stone. We would have felt an incredible wave of magic if it was. Besides, why would the Flamels, the oldest witch, and wizard of all time, entrust their most precious possession to Dumbledore? Especially knowing that he was using Hagrid, who has no real magic to defend himself with if he was mugged, to deliver errands. Ergo, the stone at the castle was never the real stone."

Everyone was gobsmacked, but could find no fault in Hermione's logic. It was perfectly sound. A lolly wrapper floated out of nowhere. Hermione snatched it out of the air and saw that it had the word 'Bingo', written on it. She showed Harry, who sighed with relief. At the curious looks from Lily and James, Hermione told them that Gabriel would send little notes letting them know if they were on the right track. It was one of the few things he could do now to help them out.

With the major events of the school year sorted, that only left the more minor things. Getting Harry properly checked out and vaccinated, keeping Ron away and staying out of trouble. Harry wanted to try and get the Marauders map back from Fred and George as soon as possible. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to join the Quidditch team again this time around. While he genuinely loved the sport, it made him an easy target. Harry was just telling his parents about the behaviour of Draco Malfoy in first year, when James let out a gasp.

"Harry, you mean Lucius Malfoy's boy? The son of Narcissa?" James asked quickly. At Harry's nod, James let out a whoop of joy. "I think we can save Sirius this year!"

James explained how because Harry was Sirius's godson, Sirius could never bring harm to the Potter's. It was how the magical bond between Harry and Sirius worked. It was a fact that the Wizagmont would have to listen to, which would make them realise that Sirius was incarcerated without a trial. Harry and Hermione already knew this, and were confused why Draco was relevant. James explained how they could use Draco's Pureblood arrogance for their benefit. He explained how the should genuinely try and make friends with the boy, as it would save them a lot of issues in the future, even possibly bring the boy to the Light. But how they should also question why Draco didn't have an Heir ring for the House of Black. If Sirius had been convicted and his title stripped from him, Harry would no longer be Heir Apparent to House Black. Draco would be Heir Black, and would have been given an Heir ring. This would make Draco question his father about it. And in turn, Lucius himself would question the Wizengamot about why his son was being denied a potential Lordship.

James was breathless at that point. "See? Sirius could be freed, and it would mean that Dumbledore couldn't even attempt to take guardianship of Harry. All by the end of the year!"

Harry was impressed. While his mother was brilliant, it was obvious that James had been raised to one day be Lord Potter and take his seat at the Wizengamot. He knew how to play politics to his advantage.

Hermione added it to her growing list of things to do. She was already starting to sort things into chronological order, giving the pair a clear timeframe in which to complete their tasks. While it could always be adapted to suit the butterfly effect that they would cause, it gave them a good base to start with.

It was starting to get late at this point. Harry couldn't believe how fast the day had gone! James had just started to tell Harry and Hermione stories about some of the things he liked to do around the Manor when the doors to the office swung open, revealing Jean and Dan.

"Sorry we took so long kids, getting the practice on the market took a bit longer than we expected. On the plus side, packing up the house took no time at all with the help of the House elves. We just bought some essentials with us and put the rest in storage. And did we hear you talking to someone? Are the Longbottoms here?" Jean said, turning around to see if the Longbottoms were sitting near the wall behind her. Not seeing anyone, she looked up, seeing the portrait that Lily and James were sitting in. "Oh Hary, is this a painting of your parents? They look wonderful,so life like…"

James laughed, causing Jean and Dan to scream. "Well I should hope so. Oh dear, you must be Hermione's folks. Muggles right? Sorry for the fright."

Lily smacked James over the back of the head, chastising him for scaring their guests. "James, don't terrify the poor things. Don't you remember how my muggle parents were the first time you bought them here to meet the family? They nearly fainted when all the paintings started moving and talking!"

To their credit, the Granger's recovered from the shock relatively quickly. The elves bought in a second couch and set it up so that both couches had a view of each other and the paintings. Dan and Emma introduced themselves, and fell into an easy conversation with the Potter's. Dinner was served and eaten while getting to know each other, and soon they were all exchanging stories and laughing like one big family.

As midnight approached, everyone was starting to feel exhausted. Harry found it difficult to tear himself away from his parents, but reassured himself that he would come back in the morning to talk more. With heavy eyes and a light heart, Harry drifted to sleep in his bed, dreaming of his parents laughs and smiling faces. It was more than he could have ever hoped for.

-O-O-

The rest of the summer flew by. Neville had gone to the bank, where he claimed the wand of Hufflepuff, which was a wand with multiple woods and a unique core just like the other Founder wands. The woods were; chestnut, ebony, elm, fir, larch and rowan, with a core of the most curious feather Hermione had ever heard of. A golden Valkyrie feather, gifted to Helga by one of the last of the now extinct warrior race. Helga's weapon of choice was a battlestaff, dipped in the essence of the sun by the same ancient Valkyrie. Neville was eager to learn how to use it, and insisted that they should all begin weapons training when their bodies were old enough and strong enough to support the weapons. Neville also got an Ollivanders wand, instead of using his father's old wand this time around. He didn't want to be made fun of for his magic because he was using a wand that wasn't suited to him at all. The Goblins had also transferred a magical block that had been placed on Neville, allowing the boy to reach his full potential at last.

Neville visited the Manor nearly every day, studying and practicing magic with Harry and Hermione. As Hermione predicted, they were fully revised and perfected all first year work after only a week. And a week after that they had already preemptively completed many of the first year assignments and homework that they knew they would receive. All they had to do was catalog it all by week and subject, and double check that something hadn't changed before handing them in. This ensured that the trio would have all the time that they needed to make a meaningful impact on the future, or even just simply enjoy being first year students without a care in the world again.

Hermione and Neville taught Harry the basics of meditation, so that he could begin calming his core. It took a while for Harry to find his perfect method. In fact, when he did finally find it, it was entirely by accident. Harry had been in turn teaching Neville and Hermione how to properly fly on a broom when he realised how relaxed and at peace he felt in the air. Hermione was not surprised at all when Harry told her what his meditation technique was - it was probably the reason why Harry's magic had never really bubbled over in the original timeline, since he spent so much time flying while practicing Quidditch.

Harry and Hermione spent a lot of time with Lily and James, who introduced them to the rest of the Potter Paintings. Located on a small fifth floor to the Manor that Harry had initially overlooked on his Manor map, was an observatory filled with paintings of his ancestors. They all told him stories of when he was little, and tales from their own times. One things that became clear to Harry was that every partner of a Potter was their equal, and was always considered to be one of the brightest witches or wizards of their age. This included a very great aunt, Phyllida Spore. Aunt Spore just happened to be a past Headmaster at Hogwarts, and while she couldn't fully return to her painting without alerting Dumbledore to the fact that the war wards were down, she could still listen in on the room. All the other paintings, despite feeling a bit of cabin fever, agreed that they would only listen in on their secondary paintings for now.

All too soon, there was one week of the holidays left. The trio spent the week packing their new trunks and crossing everything off on checklists. Hermione had made sure to brew plenty of antidotes for various loyalty potions and such; not for the trio, but for anyone else that they suspected was under the influence. Their Crowns and Lordship rings would keep them safe.

On the night before they were to leave for Hogwarts, everyone, including Neville and Augusta, gathered in what they had called the family observatory to do something very special- watch precious memories of when the children were babies. A pensieve had been placed in the room, marked with a projection rune. This would play the memory like a muggle movie, floating above the enchanted bowl. All of Harry's ancestors had passed on small memories of Harry before the attack. Harry was a happy baby, always laughing at some face that Sirius was pulling. There were various memories of Harry and Neville in a play pen crawling around while trying to chase Padfoot. There were others of Harry and Neville sitting on the back of Prongs, kept in place with a sticking charm. Prongs would trot around the garden with the infants, occasionally breaking into a light canter whenever Lily wasn't watching.

One full moon, shortly before the Potters had to go into hiding, Harry was throwing a rare tantrum. He hadn't learned many words by that point, but it was clear from his cries of "Mon's, Mon's", that Harry wanted his uncle Mooney. Lily, while trying to hand Harry off to Alice, was trying to tell Harry that he was only a baby, and that he couldn't help his uncle with his furry problem until he was older and had his own animagus form. It seemed that Harry was determined to prove his mother wrong, as he began making barking noises like a dog. Then he started making howling noises like he had heard Sirius make as Padfoot. To everyone's astonishment, Harry's face began to morph, becoming more and more canine. His mop of hair became more and more ruly, and his face starting growing pitch black hairs. His small baby canine teeth started to elongate slightly, and his ears started to sharpen at the tips. Mere moments later, Alice was holding a small, pitch black wolf pup with Harry's startling green eyes. Neville, in Alice's other arm was clapping and squealing with joy, babbling "Smar' Harry! Smar' Harry!". Lily and Alice were shocked; neither had ever heard of a case where a child had fully transfigured themselves. And Lily wasn't even sure if it was a case of ordinary transfiguration- the transformation seemed to be nearly identical to that of becoming an animagus form.

Lily was torn on what to do, but in the end decided it would be best to take Harry with her. She couldn't burden her best friend with this random turn of events. And so, Lily changed into her form of a larger than normal red fox, and picked up Harry by the scruff of his neck. Harry was quiet and didn't squirm at all, but Lily could sense that he wasn't afraid, but rather excited. She met her older boys in a clearing away from the Manor, where Remus was leaning against a rock, smiling as he watched Padfoot play dead rather pitifully.

Fully dosed on Wolfsbane, Remus felt no pain and felt fully in control of himself as his body began preparing for the change. While his friends didn't need to be in their animagus forms now because of the wolfsbane, it had become something that they all enjoyed because of the freedom that they felt as they ran around the forest. When Remus saw Lily prowl towards him with a small pup in her muzzle, he was confused. Lily put the pup on his lap, before turning back to her regular form. She told him how Harry had wanted to come, and had done everything using his magic that he could to make it happen. Padfoot and Prongs heard the whole things, and came over to investigate the small pup. After giving Harry a good sniff and licking, Padfoot settled down and put his head in his mate's lap, looking Harry right in the eye's. Harry gave a small yip, before wriggling off of Remus's lap to go for a little run around the clearing. An amazing feat considering that Harry hadn't learned how to walk yet.

And so, even after Remus had transformed, the night was spent fawning over the little black pup. Lily could see that the little pup was making Sirius a bit clucky. Everyone else witnessed it a moment later, as Sirius starting humping Mooney's elongated leg. Remus made a sound that sounded like a barking laugh, before pushing his mate off of his leg and beginning the first game of chase for the night. Harry tried to join in, but his little legs didn't get far before Lily had again picked him up by the scruff of his neck. The majestic fox settled down at the base of a tree with Harry firmly planted between her front paws, held down by her chin. Harry topped struggling, and started to doze off to the sounds of the forest around them.

Since so many of the memories of Neville were with Harry before the attacks, Augusta only had a few to add of just Neville. His first night at Longbottom Hall, Alice and Frank holding him and charming him to sleep. There was a beautiful memory of Neville cuddling a white puffskein with his chubby little hands as he slept. Neville's favourite one was where he was strapped to his father's chest while his father was flying a broom around the Hall's fields. Augusta had been watching from a balcony, so while Neville couldn't hear if his dad said anything, he could still see how loved he was.

Hermione's childhood had Augusta asking so many questions about the different toys that Muggles have. While there was very little magic in her younger years, Jean and Dan provided memories of some of her earliest outbursts of accidental magic, even if they didn't know what it was at the time. Apparently, Hermione was prone to refilling her little sippy cup when it was empty, making her parents think that the other had refilled it. While they were dentists, the Granger's also had a mean sweet tooth. That was until they realised that Hermione was somehow stealing sweets from the jar, but they could never catch her. One moment the sweet was in the jar, and next Hermione was licking a lollipop, or chewing on a gummy. The last memory the Granger's supplied was one that they warned wasn't happy, but curious. It was of a very small Hermione, who was only just starting to speak in sentences, waking up screaming on the night of Halloween, 1981. She was screaming a name. Harry. Dan and Jean had only just recently put together the significance of this event. They hadn't even met yet, but Harry and Hermione were already connected to a degree.

Before wandering off to their beds for the last time until the Yule holidays, Aunt Phyllida warned them that the Sorting Hat might be a bit of a pain to them during the Sorting ceremony, as the Hat would be aware of the Crowns and everything they entailed from the moment he touched their heads. She told them though that they had power over the Hat, and would be able to ensure that it didn't tell Dumbledore anything. While the old codger might try to charm the Hat to make it do his bidding, the Hat was loyal to the Founders, and could not betray them or their Heirs.

The trio had decided that they would all be sorted into Gryffindor again this time. Sure, it meant having to deal with Ron and Ginny more than they would like, but it was their home, regardless of what House they were the Heir to. And with some time and luck, they would have students in every House that could help keep an eye on the state of things.

Harry and Hermione bade farewell to Neville and Augusta, before turning in early for the night. They planned on getting to the train a bit early, to avoid the Weasley's and to start their plan of getting to know people again right away. Harry would miss his home, as that was what the Manor had quickly become to him. But most of all, he would miss his parents. While a communications mirror had been set up in the family observatory so that Harry could use his smaller handheld mirror to check up on them, it wasn't going to be quite the same.

It was going to be an interesting year, no doubt about it. Harry just hoped that it would make a difference to the future.