Disclaimer:-- yeah yeah yeah you know the score

Chapter six - A VERY long tale

Harry sat at the kitchen table looking at the five in front of him. He wished they'd just get on and tell him what they had to say but they insisted that he ate breakfast first. He had decided it would be quickest to oblige and ate quickly. Within five minutes his plate was empty and he looked expectantly towards Sirius and Remus.

'Ok Harry. I get the picture; you want to know what is going on. Well I guess the story really starts 17 years ago....'

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'It was 1986. The year after we all graduated from Hogwarts. All of us were 19 years old and it seemed we had our whole lives before us. Remus, James, Abbi (he indicated the woman next to Remus), Jen (indicating the woman nearest him), Lilly and I had all gone into the ministry. James, Lilly and I were working as aurors. It was a busy time, what with you-know- who at the height of his power and all. Remus was in the department for protection of magical creatures and Jen and Abbi were both in the department of magical law enforcement. Anyhow I digress. The date for your parents wedding was all set and we were all looking forward to it immensely I was the best man and Jen was the chief bridesmaid with Abbi as the second. Well the day of the wedding came around. The ceremony was wonderful Harry, it was all so beautiful. Lily's parents insisted that it be done the muggle way but it was still perfect. The only hiccup was when Petunia and Vernon showed up pissed and started mouthing off about wizarding freaks but they took on the wrong people. Imagine the consequences of them doing that in a room full of fully grown witches and wizards (Harry grinned) anyway it got to the speeches at the reception and Lily decided she wanted to say something and that was when James found out he was going to be a daddy. You could argue it was mean of her to tell him in front of all those people but he took it well. You could see in his eyes how proud he was. Over the next 6 months a lot of time was spent preparing and waiting for young Harry Potter to be born but when the day came around it wasn't just one baby that was born.'

Harry looked puzzled. He didn't have a twin, what was Sirius on about,

'Harry, I was your mum's best friend, I'm Sirius' twin sister Jennifer, although that doesn't have much to do with anything yet. When Lily was pregnant with you, I suffered just as much as she did, morning sickness, weight gain the lot, we all just put it down to a sympathy pregnancy, my best friend was going through it so I did too. It never occurred to anyone that perhaps I was pregnant as well, why would it. I entertained the thought briefly but dismissed it, more because I didn't want it to be true than anything. None the less on July 30th 1987 30 minutes after your mum went into labour I did too, that was a shock to everyone. We were both in labour all night and in the early hours of the next morning from a private room on the maternity ward of St. Mungos hospital, could the screams of two very healthy little babies be heard. Catherine Gabrielle Black and Harry James Potter. The first of the children of the marauders.

'But I thought that the marauders were just Sirius, Remus, Dad and Pettigrew.' Interjected Harry, 'Does that mean...'

'No Harry, the founders of the marauders were just the four of us but in our 6th year at Hogwarts we realised girls could prank with the best of them. Lily, Jen and Abbi became honorary marauders, the seven of us were closer than anything, for quite a while we were inseparable, it infuriated the professors. They decided something needed doing though when Sirius and your dad were given detention for setting fire to Snape's pants during potions and all seven of us turned up. They ended up pulling a dirty trick on us; said if we all wanted detention then we could all have one. We ended up spread out across the whole castle, kind of stopped being so clingy after that.'

'So how come Catherine doesn't come to Hogwarts then?'

'Harry please call me Caz, everyone else does. I don't come to Hogwarts because no one would accept me there. Mum teaches me at home with uncle Sirius and uncle Remus' help, I probably learn more that way than I would at school'

'What do you mean no one would accept you there, course they would'

'No Harry, they more than likely wouldn't, not if they found out about my whole parentage. You know who my mother is and that's fine, but what you don't know is who my father is and anyone finding out that at Hogwarts would probably never speak to me or trust me again.'

Harry realised that was the furthest he was going to get on that subject for now so decided to let then continue.

'Well Harry. The first few months of your life were just like any normal kids. Then when you were 7 months old it happened. I wont go into detail you know what happened but after you-know-who had been destroyed I turned up. I'd had an urgent message from James telling me there was a problem. NOTHING could have prepared me for what I saw though, and you just sat there in the rubble gurgling. Dumbledore showed up then and told me he'd take you. I was in shock, didn't have a clue what was going on so I just handed you over, simple as that, then I left, three weeks later I was in azkaban.'

Harry sat there quietly. He was listening intently but he couldn't see where this was going too, what were they getting at?

'Anyway Harry, that's the background information to this story done. Before we tell you anymore I need to introduce you to someone; Abbi;'

Harry looked at the young woman next to Remus. She smiled at him kindly before pointing her wand at herself;

'Ageus increasus' she muttered. Slowly she aged and in a few seconds she looked like,

'MRS FIGG!!' Harry nearly fell off his stool in surprise in front of him was the old woman who had been his child minder since he was knee high to a grass hopper. Now he thought about she had always been nicer to him than anyone else when he was younger

'Hello Harry.' She looked at him, 'don't be surprised. The ministry wanted someone to watch you while you grew up, keep an eye on you and make sure nothing happened and so I naturally volunteered. I was the only one of us in a position to do so. I'll tell you it took some self restraint not to kill your aunt on the spot, some of the things she used to say to me about you. I'm just glad we finally got you out of there.'

'Well Harry, now back to the story. When all of us were in our 7th year at Hogwarts we found something very interesting. We just happened to be looking at some books in the restricted section of the library - just one of the advantages of being friends with both the head boy and the head girl - the librarian let us get away with anything. Anyway we came across a spell to bring people back from the dead.'

Harry looked puzzled. Where they saying what he thought they were saying? Then another thought struck him.

'Is that the spell Pettigrew used to bring back Voldemort?'

'It's a variation of it Harry.' Replied Jen. 'The spell that was used on Voldemort was more complex than this one for one reason. It gave him a much higher level of defence. It'll take more to destroy him now that he has been bought back in that particular way. However I think you can see what we are getting at. If it works then and only then we will work on protecting the people involved.'

'You really think we can bring my parents back to life?!'

Harry was reeling from this new information. It was better than he could ever have hoped. Him and his parents reunited. And if his mum and dad were back then they could testify that Sirius was innocent, that Pettigrew had been the secret keeper. Everything would be as it should be.

The look on Harry's face told them all they needed to know;

'So you'll help us with it then Harry?'

Harry was puzzled. Here was a group of full grown wizards asking for his help with a spell why would they need him? As if reading his mind Abbi continued;

'Harry. If you remember in the spell they used to revive Voldemort needed three things. Bone of the father, flesh of the servant and blood of the enemy,' Harry flinched remembering the night when the potion had been made. He hadn't dreamt about it for a while now but he still remembered the awful nightmares that had plagued him for weeks. 'Well this potion is slightly different and much MUCH pleasanter. It too requires three things; a nail clipping from the best friend - we've got that covered, a possession of the person you wish to bring back and finally a hair from the firstborn - that is where you come in.'

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2 hours later the entire plan had been explained to Harry. He felt much better for knowing what was going to happen, the only part he didn't like was the fact that all of this couldn't take place until he'd gone back to school as the base of the potion wouldn't be ready until the beginning of October. Still, he thought, for the first time he would be able to go home to his family for Christmas.

The mood of the conversation lightened and before too long Sirius was giving everyone a wonderful account of the time that he and James had bewitched Snape's wand to shoot out the words 'The Marauders are my role models and I'm not ashamed to say it, so I stand up proud and shout out loud, MARAUDERS, I LOVE YOU BUCKETS!!!!!!'

"Ah yes. I remember that one well. If I remember rightly no one was ever caught for that." They were all laughing so loud that none of them heard their visitor enter the room.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, "what are you doing here?!"

"Hello Harry. I just stopped by to find out where you got to actually. You've caused quite a stir at the ministry. They noticed magical activity at the Dursleys yesterday and when they checked up on it you were gone."

"Ah yes professor," Remus interrupted, "I'm afraid Sirius and I will have to take the rap for that. We, well, umm perhaps I could talk to you in private for a moment." Remus looked meaningfully at Dumbledore who nodded his head. He and Remus left the room. As soon as they ad gone Harry looked at Sirius accusingly,

"Why do I get the feeling there is something you are not telling me?!"

At that moment an owl flew through the window of the kitchen. It swooped around before landing on the table in front of Harry. In its beak was a newspaper. Harry had forgotten his daily prophet subscription but he took the paper from the bird's beak as he remembered why it was there. Callously he flipped the paper open but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw on the front page....

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a/n so now we start with the suspense. This plot is changing more often than the channel on my TV (which happens roughly every five minutes - WHAT? I have a short attention span!!)This is the fourth draft of this chapter!! I know I promised I'd say who Tim was but that was one thing that got changed. You'll meet him again later though, that I am certain of.