DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter 6: Family and Friends

"Who are you?" Lily repeated, staring at the James replica.

The boy stared at her speechlessly. "Who are you?" he echoed.

"Lily. Lily Evans," she answered.

"I'm…er…" the boy's voice trailed off. He stared at her again.

"Are you related to James?" Lily inquired. "You look just like him."

The boy blinked. "Yes," he replied, after a brief silence. "I'm…I'm his son."

Lily's mouth dropped open. "James has a son?!" she exclaimed, rather indignantly.

The boy nodded.

"Who's your mother?" Lily added curiously.

The boy took a deep breath. "You," he said.

"James…" he whispered. Sirius had turned very pale. "Harry," he started in a quavering voice, "if you think this is a very funny joke, it isn't. Remus and I are going to send you back to the Dursleys, and we're sorry that we have to, but it's for your own good—"

"Who's Harry?" James interrupted.

Sirius and Remus stared at him. "What's your name?" Sirius asked.

"James Potter."

"How old are you? Who's your girlfriend?" Sirius tested.

"Stop joking," James answered, startled by his friend's reactions to seeing him. "I'm sixteen years old and my girlfriend is Lily Evans. It's been a year since our first date."

"How did you get here?" Remus asked.

"I don't know. It's got something to do with this ring or the green stone that's on it." James held out his hand and showed his friends the emerald-green Sensus Stone. "I was in the garden waiting for Lily to celebrate the anniversary of our first date. I gave her a rose and she showed me these two rings. The rings were for a couple. I have one and she has one. When the couple feels happy, the gems will shine brightly. When one of the wearers feels sad, the gem will dull a little."

Remus looked at the ring thoughtfully. "I've heard of those. They also show the location of the lovers to each other. Point your wand at the stone and say Praebeo amor and it'll show where Lily is."

James did so, and inside the stone appeared some mist, which began to swirl. After a few seconds it cleared, and James could see Lily standing in a long, dark, gray corridor, staring at a boy with messy black hair and glasses. He looked more closely and saw that the boy looked just like him, except that his eyes were the color of Lily's eyes. Lily had a stunned expression on her face. James watched as the boy pulled back his bangs to reveal a thin, lightning-bold shaped scar on his forehead. Tears were streaming down the boy's face, and James stared at him curiously. Harry, he thought suddenly. That's Harry. He tore his eyes away from the green stone and looked at Remus and Sirius, who were watching him expectantly.

"Harry's my son, isn't he?" James asked. "And Lily's his mother."

Ron Weasley stared out the window uneasily. Hermione hadn't replied to his letter for a week now, and he was getting worried. She usually replied every day, or every two days at most. Pig had come back without a letter, twittering excitedly as always, the little prat. Perhaps Hermione was on vacation again—with Viktor Krum, Ron thought disgustedly and rather jealously. The red-haired boy refused to admit that he liked Hermione, but his twin brothers and his sister suspected that he did have a crush on his brunette friend.

Ron was also worried about Harry. His famous best friend had not replied to him in about three days. Maybe his Muggle relatives had done something to him, but Ron didn't think that was the case. Something had happened to Harry…and Hermione. Perhaps his friends' lack of replies was connected somehow. He looked back at his desk, wondering if he should write another letter to one of them. Before he could, however, a snowy-white owl swooped into his room. It was Hedwig, Harry's owl, and she looked and sounded most distressed.

"Shh, shh, Hedwig," Ron scolded, trying to calm her down. "What's the matter? Where's Harry?"

Hedwig landed on Pig's cage and gave out a distressed squawk.

There's something wrong with this, Ron thought. If Hedwig comes here with no letter, and Hermione doesn't reply for a week…maybe Harry's in danger—maybe the Death Eaters caught him; maybe You-Know-Who caught him and Hermione! He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I have to do something," he told himself. "I have to find out what's up with this."

He sat down at the desk and began to write up some plans.

"Me?!" Lily cried, shocked.

"Yes, you," the boy replied calmly. "Now, I think we better find a way out of here, because Voldemort's after me and I don't want you or me or even my relatives here to get killed." He gestured behind him, where a pink-faced, fat boy was watching fearfully. "Come on, Dudley," he called. "Go get your parents." The fat boy disappeared for a moment. "I'm Harry," the James replica added, as soon as the blond boy was gone. "Harry Potter."

Lily nodded in reply, not quite believing that she was this boy's mother. Yet…yet it seemed so right. So true, that she could be his mother, and that James could be his father…besides the looks, it seemed like Harry also had the personality of James and her, combined. "Why is Voldemort after you?" she asked curiously.

"Hold on a moment," he answered. He stepped out of the doorway. "These are my relatives, they're Muggles, I hate them, they hate me, and yes, that is your sister."

Lily stared at the older version of her sister Petunia. "Petunia?" she asked.

Petunia nodded, scowling.

"Okay," said Harry, after a tense silence filled with unspoken sibling rivalry. "Voldemort is after me because, well, when I was a baby, he tried to kill me. But he couldn't because--" Harry stopped for a moment and his eyes filled with tears. "He couldn't because you're my mother and you died to protect me out of love and my father, James, was already dead, and since you died to protect me Voldemort couldn't kill me and that's how I got this scar." The tears were streaming down his face as he lifted up his bangs and showed her a thin, lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "And he's been after me for about four years ever since he regained his power."

Lily attempted to comfort him with a hug. "Come on, Harry," she said, and the mother and son finally embraced each other as living beings. "It's all right."

"Thanks, Lily," he whispered.

The two stood up and, with the Dursleys following behind, made their way down the corridor in search of Hermione.