Impossibilities

Chapter 6 - Questions, Answers, and Explanations

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co (along with anything else familiar) belong to J.K. Rowling and all those other bigshots with lots of money.

A/N: Another chapter, another day. Please read and of course, REVIEW! *grin*

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The tugging refused to stop, instead the pace increased. Buildings dashed by on either side. Had they been solid, Lily and Cedric would have long since been banged black and blue from crashing into trees and shrubbery.

Cedric kept his eyes tightly shut and his jaw tightly clenched. He was terrified and he knew it showed, but thankfully Lily did not seem to notice. He could hear the wind roaring past although he could not feel it. Whatever gripped him and pulled him along showed no sign of stopping.

'Where do you think we're going?' asked Cedric without so much as peeking open an eye.

'No idea,' Lily said brightly, 'I hope its someplace sunny... I need to work on my tan. This whole 'dead' look does nothing for my complexion.'

Cedric's eyes flew open at this, and he stared, open-mouthed in shock, at Lily, 'How can you joke at a time like this?'

'What would you rather I do-' Lily retorted, 'Wail that all hope is loss, and burst into tears?'

Cedric rolled his eyes, 'You confuse me.'

'I try.'

In truth Lily was terrified. She longed for her wand- she knew it was a silly thought. A shade couldn't hold a wand much less use one, but it would have been comforting to have it all the same.

They were now being pulled across a street, Lily inwardly winced as she saw a car whiz through Cedric. He couldn't feel it, but the thought was still an uncomfortable one.

A fence ran along the opposite side of the road, it's length uninterrupted but for a small gate. The sign attached to the gate bang idly in the breeze. It read 'PRIVATE CEMETERY.'

'Well I guess we just found out where we're going,' observed Cedric, eyeing the cemetery with distrust.

'It's our lucky day,' Lily responded sarcastically.

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"I see you boys have gotten reacquainted," Remus announced. He stood leaning against the door frame leading into Sirius' temporary room. James grinned and rolled his eyes and Sirius continued to dance happily around the room.

"I can't believe you left me alone with this mad man," James said as his eyes followed Sirius' progress around the room, "He nearly attacked me."

"That would have been a real shame, seeing as we just got you back," Remus said. He entered the room, picking up a towel from the floor as he did so. "Hey you!" he called to Sirius, throwing the towel at him, "Didn't I tell you to get washed up."

Sirius caught the towel deftly and began to dance with it, "Yes mum," he answered cheekily.

Remus turned to James, "You want to take a shower mate?"

"Yes!" James said with feeling, "Please! Do you realize how gross it is to not take a shower for 14 years?"

Sirius smiled, "Well, yes actually. I've gone 12 years before." He winked.

"That's disgusting Padfoot," James grimaced and backed away.

"At least I got wicked dreadlocks," Sirius said thoughtfully.

James rolled his eyes, "Whatever Sirius," he turned to his other friend, "Can I take a shower now?"

Remus smiled, "Of course. We should leave our smelly young friend here to take his own."

"Hey!" Sirius yelled as James and Remus left laughing, "I do not smell." Sirius paused and lifted one arm. He took a quick whiff of the exposed pit and added, "Well at least not much anyway." But James and Remus were beyond hearing distance.

Later that day the three friends settled down together in the living room. Sirius and Remus waited expectantly for James to explain his side of the story. They knew he was alive, but how or why were still quite a mystery. Both were thinking that it was almost too good to be true, that any moment now they'd wake up and James would be gone...

"All right," James said resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward in his chair to address Sirius and Remus, "Where shall I start?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at James' serious expression, but Remus responded with equal solemnness, "I think you'd better begin at the very beginning. The night you and Lily died- what happened?"

James concentrated, trying to remember exactly what had taken place, "We heard him enter the house," no one asked who the "him" was, no one needed to, "I told Lily to take Harry and run, I hoped that maybe they'd be able to get away, but when I tried to defend- he was too fast,"

James looked down at his hands, "I didn't give them a chance."

Remus patted his shoulder sympathetically, "No one could have done better, James. It's best not to dwell on that."

Sirius sat glaring murderously at the floor: James shouldn't have had to go through all this. It hadn't been James fault- it was all Sirius'. Sirius was the one that had convinced James to change secret keepers. Sirius had been the one to give the Potters to Voldemort's servant. Sirius had been the one to kill his friends. He could not deny it. Any moment now James would realize this and blame him. The nightmare would come true.

James took a deep breath, but instead of condemning Sirius, he returned to his story, "When the curse hit it felt like something was being ripped away from me- like my whole body was being pulled away from my mind. I think that's when I blacked out"

James moved on, he spoke of waking up inside the wand, of he and Lily trying to figure out what was happening or how to escape. Remus and Sirius listened mutely, the words were shocking. Both sets of eyes grew wider and wider as the tale went on.

"...and then I found myself inside some giant golden cage and-," James paused and watched Remus and Sirius' faces carefully as he said the next words, "and Harry was there. He was fighting Voldemort..." James trailed off.

Neither Remus not Sirius had looked at all surprised when he had said Harry's name. "It's true then. Harry- is alive?" James said.

"Yes, it is true," Remus answered. Sirius simply nodded.

"But how?" James asked with bewilderment, "How is that possible?"

Sirius answered this time, "When Voldemort," Sirius subconsciously clenched his fists as he said the name, "tried to use the Killing Curse, it rebounded off of Harry and hit Voldemort instead. He lost all his powers... people thought he died. Harry became famous..."

"What do you mean 'people thought he died'?" James asked warily, Sirius looked away and James pressed on, "Voldemort's back now isn't he- Harry was fighting him."

Remus and Sirius nodded mutely.

James leaned back in his armchair letting everything he had just been told sink in. James recalled that Remus had been very evasive on the subject of Harry last night, there had to be more to this story. They weren't telling him something and James wanted to know why.

"So then- Harry lives with you Sirius?" James said slowly.

"Not exactly," Sirius said dangerously calmly.

James was confused, "What do you mean, why wouldn't he?"

Instead of answering Sirius turned to Remus, "Why didn't you tell him?"

Remus shook his head, "I thought it should come from you."

Sirius glared at him, "Hmph." Then he looked back at James, "They don't often let murderers raise children while they serve life sentences in Azkaban."

"Azkaban..." James said weakly, "Sirius what-"

Sirius interrupted him, "I was going to be your Secret Keeper right?" James nodded mutely, and Sirius continued, "And then I told you to change to Peter, didn't I?"

"So you did, and Lily and I switched- but Sirius what does this have to do with murder?"

"We didn't tell anyone that we had changed, not anyone." Sirius said with exaggerated patience.

James stood up abruptly, his face a mask of horror. "They didn't- they couldn't have thought that you-" he looked pleadingly at Sirius, "They would never accuse you of something like that... never."

"Well they did," Sirius said bluntly.

"But, but... what about a trial- you could have used Vertisium and-"

Sirius cut him off, "I didn't get a trial."

"You didn't get a-" James repeated faintly, "How long, Sirius? How long were you in there?"

"12 years," Sirius whispered his eyes became haunted and his face was pale and strained, "I was there for 12 years."

James sat back down his head in his hands, "This is all my fault, all my fault..." He looked up with frantic red rimmed eyes, "But they've let you out right? You're free now."

"No."

"But then- why are you here?"

"I escaped about 2 years ago," Sirius stated simply.

"That's impossible."

Remus finally joined in on the conversation, "You know, coming from a dead guy that is very narrow minded of you." He grinned slightly, "This is Sirius we're talking about, Prongs, I mean he's just- Sirius."

James laughed, it was a weak laugh to say the least, but it was a laugh, "Yeah, I suppose Sirius was always good at the impossible."

Sirius was being very quiet. He sat back in his chair with his head bowed. His thick dark hair fell forward hiding his face.

James leaned forward and nudged Sirius' leg with his foot, "How'd you do it?" James sat back rapidly when Sirius raised his head. His friend's eyes were red and tears glistened on his cheeks. James stared at him, shocked, "Sirius, what's the matter?"

"It was all my fault," Sirius said bleakly. He stared unseeing straight ahead.

James stood up and placed his hands firmly on Sirius' shoulders. He looked his friend right in the eye asking evenly, "What was all your fault."

"Everything," Sirius tore his gaze from James' face, "I as good as killed you. I-"

"Sirius-" James began, but Sirius kept going.

"I told you change to Peter. I practically gift-dropped you into Voldemort's waiting arms. I-"

"Sirius!" James tried again a little louder.

"I deserved Azkaban. You and Lily and Harry would never have gone through all that if it hadn't been for me. I am to blame. It's-"

James shook Sirius' shoulders roughly. "Sirius! Listen to me," he practically shouted, "None of this was your fault. How could you ever think that. There was no way you could have known what would happen. You believed you were protecting us. I would never ever blame you." He looked pleadingly into Sirius' bloodshot eyes, "You're my best friend Sirius."

Sirius stood up forcing James to step back a pace. He stared at James for a full minute as James looked uncertainly back at him, then before either could say another word Sirius had enveloped James in a giant hug.

"Thank you," Sirius whispered hoarsely, tears once again made hot tracks down his face. But this time they were tears of happiness.

"So will you tell me how you made this impossible escape now?" James asked when they had parted.

Sirius laughed, settling back down in his chair he said, "Of course."

Remus had been watching the proceedings quietly from his chair, but now he offered a comment, "Have you ever known Sirius to pass up a chance to brag about his mischief?"

Sirius glared at him, but refrained from retorting. Instead he began his story.

He told about changing to Padfoot and confusing the dementors. He explained how he swam to the mainland and made his way to Hogwarts. He told all about meeting Harry, not excluding any detail.

James was an excellent audience. He was properly shocked when he learned that Harry had nearly tried to kill Sirius. He beamed with fatherly pride when he heard how Harry had bravely stood up against Remus and Sirius when they in turn tried to kill Peter. He outright shouted with indignation and anger when Peter escaped and Snape tried to frame Sirius.

They talked for hours. James would listen raptly to every word that Remus or Sirius spoke concerning Harry. He learned all about his fourth year and the Triwizard Tournament. He put two and two together and guessed that Cedric had been the boy he met in the wand.

James voiced his thoughts on that matter which led to a discussion of how James had come back. They all speculated on whether or not they believed the other victims could come back to life. James inwardly grimaced as he thought about this. Until now he had successfully driven away all thoughts of Lily, but now they returned in full force.

James steered the conversation back to Harry. He wanted to deal with the living, not dwell on the dead. He learned bits and pieces about Harry's life at school. Through Sirius and Remus James was introduced to Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley.

Talk eventually came to that of the present situation: How should they go about notifying the public about James' presence?

"We could tell the Ministry," James volunteered.

"Definitely not," Sirius snapped, "Those fools wouldn't believe you were alive if you danced the funky chicken naked on their dinner table."

"Thank you Sirius, for that horrifying mental image," Remus said quietly. He closed his eyes briefly then shook his head in disgust. "We ought to tell Dumbledore. He'd know what to do."

Sirius nodded, "Yes, he'd believe we aren't crazy either."

"And even if he thinks we're crazy, he's far to tactful to say so. He'd just quietly arrange to have us all put away in a nice place with padded walls," Remus said, "What do you think James?"

James nodded, but his face was thoughtful and distant. "What about Harry," he said, "When do we tell him."

Sirius and Remus looked at each other and shrugged. "We'll ask Dumbledore about that one, he'll know what to do," Remus said confidently, "Harry won't believe us unless we go about this the right way. He'll think it's a trick or something."

Sirius nodded reluctantly, "We need some way to prove it to him."

James sighed, "Very well. Can we go tell Dumbledore now?"

"Sure James," Remus smiled understandably, "I'll go get in touch with him right away. We can go to Hogwarts today,"

"And see Harry tomorrow," James added with a grin.

"Don't get your hopes to high, Prongs," Sirius cautioned, "Dumbledore's always very careful with these kind of things. He'll want to arrange your meeting with Harry to precision. He's like that."

"Too late," James replied happily, "My hopes are already through the roof."

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"Harry!"

Molly Weasley let out a squeal of delight. She gathered Harry and her three sons into a big hug as soon as they were inside the house.

"Mum, we've only been gone 3 hours," George exclaimed.

Mrs. Weasley blushed and let the four of them go, "It's so good to see you Harry." She stepped back examining him from head to toe. Harry shifted uncomfortably and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Why Mum," Fred said with indignation, "Are you implying its not good to see me?"

George stepped up beside him, "Yeah, it's not polite to make such individual remarks when a large group is present."

Mrs. Weasley smiled and favored Fred and George with a big kiss on the cheek. "Of course I'm happy to see you boys," she said cheerfully, "There are loads of chores to do, and now I have loads of boys to do them."

Fred groaned and pulled away. "Mum!" George complained, "We just got back."

"I'm only joking dears. Now run along and get washed up, dinners almost ready," she nudged them out the door and up the stairs.

Together, Ron and Harry dragged Harry's belongings to Ron's room. Ron went out to the bathroom to wash his hands and Harry flopped down onto the bed. He listened to Ron and Ginny's bickering over the sound of running water. A faint explosion erupted in the Fred and George's room followed by a fit of laughter. Downstairs Molly Weasley rattled the pots and pans as she conversed with her husband.

Harry smiled as he watched the Chuddley Cannons make a spectacular goal on a poster plastered to the sloping ceiling. He just loved it here.

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Peter glared at the crooked house in front of him. When had things become so complicated? This should have been a simple job. Bring Lord Voldemort Harry Potter. Any other fifteen year old boy and the job would have been done in seconds.

But there was something about Harry Potter. Something very special. He was so very like James, it was almost scary.

Yet James had died, and Harry would follow. Wormtail had been thwarted twice, he would not be deprived of his prize again.

Third time's the charm- right?

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"Mrs. Potter! Are you all right?"

Lily sluggishly opened her eyes, grimaced and immediately shut them. Her whole body hurt, including her eyelids.

"Mrs. Potter, can you hear me?" The voice was frantic and walking along the edge of panicked.

Lily fluttered her eyes open once more. Before them hovered a concerned face; blue eyes framed by tangled blond hair. It swayed in and out of focus for a minute before settling into a logical position.

"Cedric?" she asked uncertainly. The boy sat back and Lily inched her way into a sitting position. Surveying the area Lily blinked with surprise. She sat amidst the strewn rubble of broken stone and concrete.

Cedric watched her worriedly, "Are you Ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine-" she replied with a small wince, "What's going on?"

Cedric eyed her as if he thought she did not look at all fine. "Well- all signs point towards 'you are now alive'" he sighed, "However I keep reminding myself that that's impossible," he threw up his hands in defeat, "I hate being confused."

"I certainly hurt enough to be alive," Lily observed as she tried to sit up farther.

Cedric nodded wearily in agreement.

Lily leaned back against a particularly large block of cement. She was too tired to do anything more than sit. Glancing once again at Cedric she saw he looked exhausted as well. Dust and grime stood out on his pale face and his hands were scratched and bloody.

"Are you all right?" Lily asked with concern, "What did you do to your hands?"

"I fine- more or less," Cedric said, massaging his temples. This only resulted in even more smudges on his face. "More less, and less more however," he added with a faint grin.

"Where are we?" Lily asked.

"The Silmont Private Cemetery," came the confident response. Lily eyed him questioningly, and Cedric elaborated, "It's on that sign over there."

Lily twisted around to see where he pointed, her muscles groaning in protest. For the first time since she opened her eyes Lily noticed the tombstones surrounding the wreckage pile she sat in. A little ways off there was a small gate, and just before that stood a small placard.

And it all came back to her. She and Cedric being brought (more like forcibly drug) to the cemetery... entering the tomb... and the darkness. Lily shivered at thought.

"How did I- did you- how did we get out of.. of..." she couldn't complete the sentence, but Cedric understood.

"I started banging on the walls actually," he raised his bloodied hands blushing faintly, "I guess I over did it. I was getting use to not being solid. Well I freaked out when I found I was trapped and I think I blew up the tomb..." Cedric sighed, "This has been a very odd day."

"Agreed," Lily gestured to the wreckage around them, "Is this all from you then?"

He grinned sheepishly, "Well, I guess so. I mean after I blew up my tomb and I worked up the energy to look around, I didn't see you anywhere. So, naturally, I panicked, raced around until I found your tomb. It was incredibly scary. I could actually hear you moving inside, but I couldn't get you out," Cedric waved the pile of rubble behind Lily, "I don't know how that happened. One minute I was kicking the wall, the next minute it had collapsed."

Lily looked at him with renewed awe, "You did all this without a wand?"

Cedric smiled, "Yep," then he groaned, "but I'm paying for it now... You scared me you know, when you didn't wake up right away. I thought maybe you'd been hit by some of the stones or something."

Lily grinned, "Thanks, I mean it."

Cedric looked down, embarrassed, "Yeah, well Harry'd kill me if I let anything happen to you now that your alive again..."

Harry, Lily thought, alive... She didn't even know her own son. Fourteen years of history to catch up on... it was hard to take in.

Lily struggled stiffly to her feet. Her legs swayed at first, then held. Satisfied that she could stand, Lily began to pick her way threw the broken bits of cement and stone. Something felt out of place. It nudged the back of her mind, refusing to leave her alone. Something wasn't right.

Cedric started to get up to follow her, than thought the better of it. He felt like one massive bruise. Moving was definitely not very appealing at the moment. In fact, he decided that he'd be perfectly happy to just stay right here for a long, long time.

After a few minutes of searching Lily found what she wanted. It was her headstone. The marble had cracked and the edges were missing large chunks, but the words were still legible.

James Andrew Potter and Lily Marie Potter

Loving parents of Harry James Potter

They died the deaths of heroes

May their names be remembered always

She had had a glimpse of the inscription as she was taken into the tomb, but she wanted to double check that she had it right. She did. 'James Andrew Potter and Lily Marie Potter'- James should have been in there too.

But he wasn't.

"Cedric-" Lily called uncertainly.

He looked up, "Yes, Mrs. Potter?"

"Two things. Number one: stop calling me Mrs. Potter, my names is Lily," she glared at Cedric who gulped and nodded. Lily smiled serenely, then her expression darkened. "And number two: You didn't see J-James' body, did you?" she asked with uncertain quietness.

Cedric shook his head puzzled, "Should I have?"

Lily shook her head, "I don't know," she looked helplessly back at the headstone, James Andrew Potter and Lily Marie Potter, "he was suppose to be buried with me."

"You don't suppose he's alive too, do you?" Cedric asked, his blue eyes wide.

Lily made her way back through the wreckage and sat down next to Cedric, "I don't know, I just don't know."

They sat in uncertain silence, both lost in thought for several minutes.

Cedric was taking another stab at standing up and Lily was glaring moodily at the ground when a voice interrupted both of their activities.

"Hey! Who did this?," a man was striding angrily into the cemetery, the gate clanking shut behind him. He clomped over to Lily and Cedric, "Who are you? What did you do to this place? Have you no respect for the dead-" He paused realizing they were both staring at him, the former in shock and the latter in confusion.

"Gus?" Lily asked.

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A/N: Well, sorry that took me a while to get posted, but there it is. You'll have to wait a bit for the next part as well. SORRY! but I'm going to be out of town for the next week, and possibly the week after that, so I won't be able to write or post chapters. On happier note, I have the next chapter totally planned out, so it won't take long to write when I get the chance.

Thanks for reading, not please REVIEW!

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