Summary – Harry opens a book in the Restricted Section and it transports him 21 years into the future, where he meets up with the future Ron and Hermione and their son, Eddie. Harry also meets Lily Potter, Harry's very spunky and caring future teenage daughter with a hot temper and a bit of an attitude. Harry wants to know about his future, but he feels that Ron, Hermione, Lily, and Eddie are keeping something from him; some very deep, dark secrets.
Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter, the characters, or the Harry Potter world. The all belong to the fabulous J.K. Rowling. However, while I do not own their names, the characters and the personality traits of Lily Potter, Eddie Weasley, Daris Malfoy, Christof Nott, as well as Asher Lazard and Robyn Andrews all belong to me.
Chapter 4 – Questions Answered:
Harry blinked and stared at Hermione, slowly letting the words sink in. His throat had become dry and coarse and he was not sure that he had the capacity to speak. Hermione just stared at him, biting her lip, waiting for his reaction.
"I died?" Harry gasped, when he finally found his dry, aching voice. "But…how?"
"It happened three years ago," explained Hermione. "When Lily was twelve years old, You-Know-Who kidnapped her and of course you went after him."
"Voldemort is still alive?" asked Harry incredulously. Hermione flinched at the name, but ignored him.
"They say he is dead, but we know better. He is still very much after the Potter blood," Hermione said regrettably.
"He's after Lily?" asked Harry, a sudden fire of anger coursing through his veins at the thought of his enemy coming within three feet of Lily. Hermione nodded.
"I think he feels that by killing Lily he will gain his revenge for what happened that Halloween night when he tried to kill you," said Hermione reasonably. "But...that night…when he kidnapped Lily… I had never seen you so angry in your life. Sirius, Ron, Remus, and I insisted that we go with you; we were so overprotective of you. We went, and you fought so bravely for Lily's life. I'd never seen such a fire in you before and it frightened me, Harry. Finally, somehow, you managed to get Lily away from You-Know-Who and gave her to Ron, Remus, and I, so we Disapparated with her..."
"Harry Potter," Voldemort sneered, as Harry approached him with his wand at the ready; Sirius, Remus, Ron, and Hermione were all standing behind him, looking around at the surrounding Death Eaters angrily. But none of their angry faces compared to that of Harry's. Harry's face was red with fury; a green fire blazing in his eyes. His fists were white from clutching on to his wand so tightly.
"Where is she?" Harry snarled. Voldemort merely smirked.
"Who?" Voldemort sneered. Sirius and Ron had to hold the back of Harry's robes to stop him from leaping on Voldemort.
"YOU KNOW WHO I'M TALKING ABOUT, TOM!" Harry roared. Sirius and Ron's strength was no longer enough to hold Harry back; Remus also had to grab a hold on to a chunk of Harry's robes to prevent him from forgetting about wands and just punching the Dark Lord in the face. Voldemort smirked again, silently pleased at Harry's rage.
"Oh, you mean her?" Voldemort, asked, gesturing with his free hand for a Death Eater to come forward. As he had commanded, a masked Death Eater came up to Voldemort holding a little girl of twelve years old.
"Daddy! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, daddy!" Lily shrieked. As frightened as she looked, Lily was not crying; she never cried. However, tears were welling up in Harry's eyes at the sight of his helpless daughter.
"It's okay, Lily, I love you," said Harry reassuringly, "I promise I won't let anything happen to you." The Death Eater holding Lily in his clutches threw his head back and laughed evilly.
"Oh, really?" asked the Death Eater coolly. "You don't think I can hurt her? Well, watch this, Potter!" The Death Eater placed Lily down, turned her around so that she faced him, and punched her square across the face. Lily fell to the floor with a painful grunt and did not move; she was unconscious. The Death Eater picked up her helpless body and held her out of Harry's reach. Even from a distance, one could see that her left eye was already beginning to swell, the left side of her face was bruised, and she whiter than a ghost. Harry looked murderous when he saw her.
"YOU - LEAVE - HER - ALONE! IT'S ME YOU WANT!" Harry roared slowly. He raised his wand and pointed it at Voldemort. "STUPEFY!"
The curse hit Voldemort square in the chest and he stumbled backwards and landed on the floor. The Death Eater holding Lily, cursed Harry and flung Lily to the ground, far out of Harry's reach and out of the reach of safety. Another Death Eater ran over to Voldemort's side and helped him to his feet. Voldemort stood up and just smirked as the first Death Eater levitated Lily in the air. Harry felt as though he were at the hands of this Death Eater, because if he pulled his wand away, Lily would surely fall to her death.
"Give me a reason, Potter, give me a reason and I swear I will," the Death Eater snarled, pointing his wand threateningly at Lily. Harry grew redder and his heart began beating faster. Hermione glanced at Ron and Sirius and they both nodded. They knew that no one would notice if they raised their wands; they were too busy concentrating on Harry and Lily. Sirius managed to raise his wand at the Death Eater levitating Lily;
"STUPEFY!" Sirius shouted. The curse hit the Death Eater and he lost his balance with his wand. This immediately took off the spell and Lily started to fall to the ground, to her death, for she was more than fifty feet off the ground.
"LILY! NO!"
Harry, with terror in his eyes, pointed his wand at his daughter and slowed her down before she hit the ground. By this time, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus had their wands armed, stunning and hexing Death Eaters that tried to grab Lily before Harry could get to her. Harry ran towards Lily's unconscious body. Thanks to his fast Quidditch reflexes, along with the help of Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus, he was able to dodge many of the curses and hexes that were being thrown at him by the Death Eaters. It was clear through the determination in his eyes that nothing…no obstacle…no hex…no curse…no Death Eater…and no Voldemort was going to stop him from getting to Lily.
Finally, Voldemort stood up in a frustrated rage and raised his wand and pointed it directly at Harry. Hermione screamed but to their immense surprise, he did not perform a Killing Curse against Harry. He simply closed his eyes and began muttering under his breath; mustering all the power he had in order for this spell to have even a small impact on Harry.
"IMPERIO!" muttered Voldemort with a snakelike hiss. Harry stopped dead in his tracks; a mere three feet away from Lily. He could feel that familiar blissful sensation taking over his body and mind. But, that blissful sensation immediately evaporated when he heard Voldemort's cold voice talking in his ear.
Kill Lily, kill her!
What? Are you crazy? Absolutely not! Never!
Kill your daughter.
Harry walked over to Lily slowly. He bent down to his knees, gently lifting her head, and pointed his wand directly at her hear; his hand was shaking madly as though he were having an internal struggle with himself. Hermione took a step forward to try and stop him, but Ron stepped in front of her. Sirius, on the other hand, rushed over to Harry, placing his hands on his shoulders and shaking him madly.
"Harry! Snap out of it! Wake up!" Sirius shouted desperately. But Harry only stared out into oblivion aimlessly.
Ignore him, kill the girl.
No. I love her.
KILL HER OR I WILL KILL YOU!
"THEN KILL ME!" Harry shouted; these words actually bursted out of Harry's mouth. Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus looked at him, completely lost for words. Voldemort looked quite surprised too, but utterly furious that his Imperius Curse still had no effect on Harry.
"Fine then, let me have the honors," sneered Voldemort. "I've wanted this for a long time, Potter!" Both he and Harry raised their wands and Harry was shocked that instead of pointing it at him; Voldemort pointed it at Lily. He panicked at the same time, nothed of them "Accio!"
Lily, who was still unconscious levitated into the air and jerked back in forth, towards Voldemort, then jerked towards Harry. A third part could see the power going through both of their veins. Harry's emerald green eyes had certain fire in them, but not a normal fire; he almost looked evil and it frightened his friends to even look at him. Looking at Harry, even Voldemort looked as though he were taking a step in fear. Finally, there was an explosion and a gold light exploded from each of the wands.
"LILY!" Harry shouted desperately, the fire still blazing in his eyes. Lily had not moved, nor was she injured from the explosion; she had simply fallen to the ground. Harry and Voldemort's wands were vibrating and neither of them were surprised to see this. The wands connected; Harry and Voldemort inside a golden cage, and a phoenix song singing in the distance. Harry pulled his wand away with an almighty pull and everything immediately died before any ghostlike bodies came bursting out of Voldemort's wand. Completely infuriated with the situation, Voldemort pointed his wand at Lily's unconscious. Harry's eyes widened in horror and he immediately ran towards his daughter.
"Crucio!"
Harry got there just in time and ran in front of Lily, taking the curse for himself. Hermione screamed out loud as she watched her best friend fall to his knees, screaming in agony. She was the only reason that Ron did not run forward to help his friend. But, it was Sirius who was now red with anger. Without thinking, he lunged at Voldemort and punched him square in the face. No one knew how to react to this; not even the Death Eaters. They all watched in horror as the Dark Lord and Sirius Black, wands out of their hands on the ground, wrestling each other. Harry sat up, silently thanking Sirius, all shaken and clammy, but he grabbed Lily. He held her in a tight hug for a minute and stood up, on shaking knees. Ron, Hermione, and Remus ran forward and helped him to his feet, as he held Lily close to him. Harry reluctantly handed his daughter to Hermione.
"Take her to Hogwarts," whispered Harry. Remus, Ron, and Hermione nodded as she took the unconscious little girl into her arms. Just as Lily was out of Harry's hold, someone jumped on top of Harry; it was Death Eater. It looked as though he tried to tackle Harry before he had a chance to hand off Lily. Hermione screamed as Ron stood protectively in front of her. Remus had his wand at arm, and tried to hex the Death Eater.
"GET LILY OUT OF HERE!" Harry roared as he and a Death Eater wrestled each other to the floor. Harry grabbed his wand and cursed the Death Eater off of him. "GO!" With those words, Hermione, Ron, and Remus immediately Disapparated, and then Apparated to Hogsmeade with Lily in Hermione's arms. The three of them ran into Hogwarts and straight the hospital wing. Madame Parks, the school nurse, took Lily from Hermione and started working on her treatments.
"I'm going back to Harry and Sirius," Hermione said firmly. Ron nodded in agreement.
"I'm going with you." Ron said just as firmly, grasping her hand and holding it tightly in his own. She smiled softly at him, fear welling up in her warm, chestnut eyes. Ron turned to Remus; "Remus, can you watch over Lily and Ed?"
"Of course," said Remus softly. "Jjust make sure you guys get Harry and Sirius back safely. Watch out for yourselves as well," said Remus as he sat down on Lily's bed and patting her hand gently.
"Will do," said Ron, nodding affirmatively. "C'mon, Herm," Ron took Hermione's hand and ran as fast as they could back Hogsmeade before Apparating back to the graveyard at the Riddle House. Ron took out his wand, and walked in front of Hermione.
"Stay behind me," whispered Ron. Hermione nodded when she heard Harry's scream pierce the darkness. Ron and Hermione looked at each other worriedly and ran towards the scream as fast as they could. When they arrived at the sound of his voice, they saw their best friend facing Voldemort, an angry expression on his face. Sirius was behind him hexing Death Eaters that even went within ten feet of his godson.
Without anyone noticing, a very sly Death Eater shoved Sirius out from behind Harry and he stumbled to the floor, landing on it with a painful grunt. It was right in the Dark Lord's path and out of Harry's protective reach. Voldemort beamed at the Death Eater and turned his wand on Sirius.
"Avada-" started Voldemort. Sirius simply stared. Terror had taken the place of anger in Harry's green eyes and he ran towards his godfather, dropping his wand and dodging curses and hexes made by Voldemort's supporters. "Kedevra!" The green light headed straight for Sirius as both Harry and Hermione screamed. Harry stepped between his godfather and the green light. Now, Ron screamed in terror.
"HARRY!" Ron bellowed. Sirius had a look of horror in his eyes Hermione and Ron had never seen before. The green light hit Harry right on the forehead; right on his scar. The green hit Harry's scar and turned into a deep blood red and rebounded on to Voldemort. Harry fell to the floor, as the blinding red light caused Voldemort to shriek in agony; the red light became so bright that Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and the Death Eaters all had to shield their eyes. They heard Voldemort's shriek abruptly stop and head his body fall to the floor. The light soon died down, and there they were; Harry and Voldemort, both on the ground, eyes closed, neither of them breathing. The Death Eaters looked at Voldemort for a minute and Disapparated on the spot. Sirius was sobbing and he pathetically crawled to Harry's side, taking his godson in his arms and holding him tightly.
"Harry, wake up," whispered Sirius. Hermione and Ron walked forward timidly, almost as they were frightened of the truth. Hermione saw that Harry's scar was cut open and bleeding heavily. Tears immediately began to fill her eyes because she knew that Harry James Potter, one of her best friends, was dead.
Ron kneeled beside Harry and felt his pulse and heartbeat. Tears started brimming his eyes as well, but he tried to wipe them away hurriedly, but that did not stop them from filling his blue eyes again. Sirius, on the other hand, was sobbing into Harry's messy black hair. Ron turned to Hermione. She knew since Ron and Harry were the best of friends, and they had a different bond than they had with her, it was going to be much harder on him, than her. Ron sobbed into his hands and Hermione hugged him tightly, letting silent tears roll down her cheeks.....
"....we went back to Hogwarts to tell Lily and Remus," explained Hermione, hurriedly wiping a year from her eye. "Remus was devastated. Lily…Lily was heartbroken but she would never admit it; she refused to get out of bed for weeks. And, when we went to fetch your body, it was gone. So was Voldemort's…but he somehow managed to survive that horrible attack. He must have taken your body…." Hermione whispered, tears streaming down her face. There was a long pause as Harry tried to let in what Hermione was telling him, sink in. He had died saving Sirius.
"I died saving Sirius?" asked Harry in awed whisper, still trying to absorb all of this information. Hermione nodded.
"I had never seen him so upset," Hermione said helplessly at the memory of Sirius sobbing into Harry's hair for hours. "He held you in his arms and wouldn't let you go. He just kept sobbing and screaming how he had let James down again; failing to protect his best friend's son."
"Oh God," whispered Harry, clutching on his to own messy jet-black hair. He took several deep breaths before Hermione placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. After several moment, without looking at her, Harry asked; "What happened to Dumbledore?"
"He died peacefully…due to old age, and natural causes…in his sleep. The ideal way to go," said Hermione, knowing that this might bring some sort of comfort to Harry. "He died sixteen years ago; about a year before Lily and Ed were born."
"Who is Lily's mother?" asked Harry again, finally looking at her square in the eye. "Who did I marry?" After a long hesitant pause, after a long debate within Hermione's heart and mind, she finally answered.
"Harry.....you never got married," said Hermione honestly. "Lily is your daughter but you were never married."
"I suppose that makes sense," said Harry, panic rising in his chest, still hoping that Ginny would be the girl that would help him produce that magnificent girl in the next room. "I mean, I shouldn't have gotten married with what Voldemort being after me and all. But, who is her mother? Who is Lily's mother?"
"Harry… I-I don't know!" Hermione whispered desperately, running a hand through her curly hair. Harry just stared at her, not blinking. "No one knew except you! You just came to Ron and I with a baby and asked us to be godparents! We asked you numerous times, but you just always changed the subject. We never persisted though...we knew you'd tell us when you were ready."
"So…Lily has no idea who her mother is and I'm dead?" Harry nearly shouted, not believing that his daughter also ended up practically orphaned. Hermione nodded.
"Yes…" Hermione whispered, now crying. ".....and Ed was born about two and a half weeks later after you asked us to be godparents." Harry stared at the floor.
"This...this is crazy!" Harry shouted, now pacing the room. He could feel his knees begin to buckle underneath him. He was thankful that he had not eaten anything in the last couple of hours because he surely would have gotten sick. Hermione must have noticed his state and hugged him tightly.
"I know," whispered Hermione. "I know, Harry. It's been hard on all of us, especially Sirius. You have no idea how guilty he feels." Harry did not say anything; he just pulled out of Hermione's hug and stared off into space for a moment. Finally, he ran passed Hermione and bursted open the potrait. Remus was comforting an astonished and frightened looking Lily. Eddie was sitting next to Ron, staring at the shocked Lily in concern.
"Lily?" Harry called out softly. Remus stood up quickly, making Lily topple to the floor. Eddie laughed and helped her to her feet. When she stood up, Harry walked over to her and stood a few feet in front of her. He had not noticed until now of how tiny she was; even shorter than him. He looked down at her with his eyes full of regret and concern for his daughter.
"I'm so sorry...I'm…sorry for making your life so difficult. I really didn't mean any of it…I never would want to hurt you," apologized Harry, finally speaking to her with the courage to look her square in the eye. Lily looked back up at him and it scared Harry to see how much her eyes were like his own.
A note from the Jitterbelle. Here's the revised Chapter 4! Enjoy!