Chapter 12 – An Unexpected Reunion
Disclaimer – They aren't mine, unfortunately. I wish I could take the credit for them but I can't so I won't.
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Remus reached out and caught Harry before he hit the floor. Gathering him up he dropped him into a chair and they all gathered round while they waited for him to come round.
"Well that wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting from him." Said one of the visitors with a voice full of amusement, "Although to be fair to him I would have probably had a similar reaction."
"You can hardly blame him though can you?" Asked the second visitor, "This must have been an awful shock to him. We could have just been a lot nicer and you lot could have warned him first." Her second comment was addressed to the four grinning professors in front of her.
Harry stirred at this point, slowly starting to come round. As the room started to come into focus the first person he saw was Sirius. He rubbed his eyes, allowing his vision to clear a little more before addressing those present in the room.
"What happened? I thought….. I was…….. Am I seeing things?" He asked sluggishly.
"That depends Harry." Said Jen with a gleam in her eyes. "What do you think you saw?"
"I… It was….. My parents." Said Harry finally, "But it can't be them right? I mean, there's still over a month before everything'll be ready."
"You aren't seeing things Harry." Said a female voice behind him. "It's really us."
Harry turned round again. This time he didn't faint but looked into the two smiling faces before him. A huge grin broke across his face,
"Mum, Dad." He said.
And then, as if suddenly realising they could move, the three of them all leapt up and into a group hug. For the first time really in his life, that he could remember anyway, Harry truly felt like he had a proper family. His own family.
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Breakfast in the great hall drew to a close and Harry and Caz were still not back from their trip to Dumbledore's office. Ron and Hermione were getting anxious. Something had to be up. They knew it. Reluctantly they both moved off towards the defence classroom. For their first lesson.
As they left the great hall Draco Malfoy strode up alongside them,
"Weasley, Granger, haven't you lost something?"
"What are you talking about Malfoy?" Asked Hermione, "I'm really not in the mood for one of your riddles this morning."
Draco snorted at that comment although Hermione seemed oblivious to what she'd said. He decided to run through all that with them next time he spoke to them,
"Come on, you know what I'm talking about, Potter, what have you done with him?"
"What's it to you?" Ron asked. He was already getting fed up of this conversation.
"Look Weasley, I'm trying to be nice to you. I was simply wondering where Potter is. As much as it pains me to say it, I need to talk to him. You're his friends; I thought you might know where he was. I'm not trying to pull anything, honest."
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. This was new to them; Malfoy was actually having some semblance of a civilised conversation with them. Finally Hermione spoke.
"He had to go and see Professor Black. We don't know how long it'll take." Ron stood next to her scowling as she spoke, "What do you want with Harry anyway? It's not like you're on speaking terms or anything."
"Well I don't see what it's got to do with you Weasley. Look, just tell him I'm looking for him ok?" With that Malfoy stalked off down the corridor leaving a very confused pair of Gryfindors in his wake.
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Remus, Sirius, Jen, Abbi and Caz stood watching the emotional reunion going on between Harry and his parents. Eventually when the hugging and crying had subsided Sirius spoke up.
"We have to go now. Lesson to teach. Harry, count yourself excused from your first lesson, we'll see you later." With that the five of them left Lily, James and Harry alone.
James was the one who eventually broke the silence that had descended upon them, "Did Padfoot just say he was teaching?!"
Harry laughed, "Hard to believe isn't it. Caz and I nearly choked when Dumbledore announced it last night. Somehow I get the feeling his lessons are going to be very interesting."
The three of them laughed at the thought of Sirius trying to keep a class full of teenagers in order. Somehow all any of them could see was Sirius being the worst of the lot. Eventually Harry sobered the mood a little,
"What happened? How come you're here? I mean….. One minute you're dead and the next you're here in the headmaster's office. How come?"
James smiled at him. "Do you recon everyone'll be in lessons by now? It safe to walk the corridors without being mobbed?"
Harry glanced at his watch, "Yeah should be. Why do you ask?"
"Lets go for a walk while we talk shall we Harry. It's a bit of a long story and it's getting awfully stuffy in here. I could do with some fresh air." Lily said to her son.
They all rose and left the office together, Harry between his parents and feeling the most happy and comfortable he had in years. As they walked down the corridors towards the entrance hall a warm feeling descended on Harry, one that he couldn't shake, and didn't want to. When they reached the entrance hall James pushed the giant front doors of the castle open and both he and Lily breathed a deep sigh.
"There's a sight I never thought I'd see again." Commented Lily happily.
They descended the steps together and headed towards the lake. Finally Harry decided to ask again,
"So what's this long story then?"
"He's nearly as impatient as you are." Said Lily to James. "I didn't think that was possible."
James stuck his tongue out at Lily in a childish manner and blew a raspberry at her. Lily responded to the by playfully whacking him round the shoulder blade which he began to rub.
"God's, did you have to hit me so hard lils?" He joked. Her only answer to this was to stick her tongue out at him. Harry couldn't help laughing at their behaviour; he guessed that wherever they had been the past fourteen years, it had not allowed them much of a chance to grow up.
Finally they reached a nice spot by the lake; under the shade of a nearby tree but still warm all the same in the September sun. Eventually James started the story.
"The first thing that you need to understand Harry is that the attack on Godric's hollow fourteen years ago was mostly staged. Neither of us died in the attack, you'd probably figured that one out by yourselves but anyway. I guess to explain everything to you we need to start back a long time ago…….."
*****~~~*****Flashback******~~~******
Little Lily Evans had always been a quite child. Her older sister Petunia, from the day Lily had arrived hated her because of this. All she ever heard was 'little Lily' this and 'little Lily' that. She hated it. What made it ten times worse was that 'little Lily' wasn't even her real sister. She was adopted. Abandoned on their doorstep when she was only a few months old. And of course with her parents being the kind and caring people they were, 'little Lily' got treated like royalty in the house. She could do no wrong! Petunia absolutely despised her.
This hatred naturally increased ten fold when she found out that not only was little orphan Lily her parents little princess, she was also a witch.
Lily went of to a school full of people like her. Petunia hated her for this. Secretly she thought maybe it was jealousy, but that all changed the summer after Lily's sixteenth birthday.
Lily bought some friends home with her for the summer. Six friends to be exact. They made Petunia's summer absolute hell, and that was putting it mildly. She didn't understand why her parents had agreed to this, it was a complete nightmare. However none of them were prepared for what was going to happen at the end of the summer.
On
the morning of August 31st 1982 the Evans household was particularly
quiet. None of the freaks, as Petunia
called them, were awake yet, and Petunia, who was in a particularly good mood
owing to the fact that soon she would be free of the freaks, was having a very
rare heart to heart with her parents and her cousins, who were spending the
weekend with them, over breakfast.
Shortly after chaos ensued.
It started with a knock on the door. Footsteps, sounding like seven baby elephants bounding down the stairs, resounded round the house. Petunia heard the door open from her space in the kitchen. Then she heard a scream. That did not sound good. She thought to herself.
Seven sixteen year olds came careering into the kitchen, all looking like they'd just seen a ghost. The smallest of them, Petunia was fairly certain that he was called Peter, was panting heavily. 'Death……..Eaters……' he finally managed to get out. At that point the kitchen door was blown off its hinges and the kitchen was flooded by men in black robes. Or at least Petunia presumed they were men. It was hard to tell, they were all completely covered by robes and masks.
One of them seemed to take the lead. He ordered Petunia and her family to stand in a corner. Petunia obliged. These men did not seem to be the sort you messed with. Her family on the other hand, did not. Her mother moved to shield Lily and her friends, asking the men what they wanted. The man in charge just laughed and shot some sort of spell at her. From that point in Petunia had blamed Lily for what had happened. There was a lot more orders flung about and quite a few spells sent at Petunia and Lily's family. Petunia was unsure what exactly happened next but suddenly all the men were gone. So were her cousins. Killed at the hands of these Death Eaters.
Petunia burst into tears at the sight of her cousins lying there. Lily just stood in a shocked silence staring at their bodies, lying in front of her. Petunia didn't expect her to be upset. After all, it wasn't like they were that close or anything. Their parents lay unconscious on the kitchen floor. It was at that point that a man had stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Lily's wrist. He'd called her Lillian. Said he was her father and asked her to go with him. She'd screamed at him to get lost, told him that he wasn't her father, and he'd gone. Just like that.
~~~~ three years later ~~~~
After leaving school Lily hadn't gone home. Instead she'd moved in with her fiancé James. Home life was unbearable for her anyway since the event three summers ago. Petunia blamed her for the death of their cousins and Lily supposed that really it was partly her fault. She didn't want to put her family in any more danger so she stayed away.
Her wedding day was the last time she saw her parents. In the end they were killed just for being associated with her. She hated herself for it. Her sister hated her for it as well.
~~~~Halloween 1986~~~~
Lily was upstairs putting Harry to bed when it had happened. She'd heard banging downstairs and so she'd hastily put the wards up around Harry's crib that she'd taken to using each night, just in case, and gone downstairs to see what was wrong. When she'd gotten down there she'd seen James in the hands of some death eaters. She'd started to panic but at that point she'd been grabbed from behind and she and James had been apparated away from there in the blink of an eye.
The Dark Lord Voldemort had remained to search the house, finding only a baby upstairs. He'd attempted to erase the baby from existence before returning to talk to his captives. Apparently the wards put up by Lily had done their job. Voldemort could return nowhere that night.
*****~~~*****End Flashback******~~~******
Harry sat gaping at the story he had just heard.
"So you were never dead then? Just kidnapped?"
"That's right Harry. Held captive in Malfoy manor for fourteen years. Believe me when I say that it was NOT fun." Said James.
Harry laughed. "I bet it wasn't! So how did you get out? Did they just let you go? And why did they want mum so badly?"
Lily smiled at Harry. "The answer to that question will probably shock you. In fact it will definitely shock you." She said, "You see, I'm a pureblood. One of the purest there are. I'm a Malfoy Harry."
She paused allowing this sentence to sink in. Harry sat there in a shocked silence. Was he really hearing this? If his mother was a Malfoy, that meant he was part Malfoy as well. He didn't even want to think of the implications in that right now.
Lily took his silence as consent for her to continue. She took another breath. "Harry, me and Lucius Malfoy are twins. When we were born, I wasn't good enough for them, I wasn't male. They needed Lucius as an heir to the Malfoy name but I, a girl, wasn't good enough for them so they abandoned me on a random doorstep. That in itself was particularly out of character for a Malfoy. Really I wouldn't expect any less than for them to have left me to die of starvation or something."
Harry sat gaping as he still tried to comprehend
this. If what his mother was saying was
right then that meant that him and Draco Malfoy were cousins. Cousins.
That couldn't be right. Could
it? He decided to listen to the rest of
the story before he started dwelling on this minor issue. Not that it was all that minor.
"So why did they suddenly decide they wanted you back then?" Harry asked. "If you were not good enough for them then why did they go to all that trouble?"
"Simple Harry." Replied James, "They found out how powerful a witch your mother was. Had they known before they wouldn't have given her up. They realised when Lucius started talking about the 'know-it-all mudblood' that they'd made a mistake. They thought that they could just turn her to the dark and use that power. They were wrong."
Lily took over the story, "That day at Godric's
hollow, they took me because of who I was.
They took James because they knew I wouldn't agree to
anything without him there, plus it gave them a handy bargaining tool. They didn't even know you were there. Voldemort tried to kill you after everyone
else had left, despite popular opinion, the attack on you was not planned."
Harry sat still trying to understand everything,
"So you've spent the past fourteen years locked up in Malfoy manor, with Lucius
trying to persuade you to join the dark side.
How did you escape?"
"Well isn't that an interesting story." Stated James. "I guess we owe our thanks to a certain nephew of ours for that."
"MALFOY!" Yelled Harry. "Are you saying that Draco Malfoy, scum of Hogwarts, mortal enemy of me and my friends and the boy who has done his absolute best to make the past five years of my life absolute hell, is the one who is responsible for your escape?!"
Lily had to laugh at her son's outburst. "He really isn't all that bad Harry, just give him a chance. I think you'll be surprised."
"Mum, are we talking about the same person here? This is the Draco Malfoy that calls one of my best friends 'filthy mudblood'. The same Draco Malfoy that calls my other best friend 'the weasel'. The same Draco Malfoy that calls me 'potty' and calls you the 'good for nothing' parents!" Harry was starting to get a little annoyed now and nothing anyone could say was going to convince him that Draco Malfoy was a good person.
They
sat in silence for a few minutes, Harry
and Lily both too stubborn to back down. Eventually Harry had been the first to let up. He explained gently to his mother that Malfoy
had never given him a reason to like him and until he did he would find it hard
to believe Malfoy had the capability to be nice.
Lily smiled before reaching over and pulling Harry into a hug, "I know." She whispered in his ear, "He's working on
it."
James looked at his wife and son, a huge grin on his face. "Let's go inside." He stated, "I believe some friends of ours are teaching a class full of fifth years and I haven't pulled any pranks for fourteen years!"
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Caz sat at the back of the new self defence classroom with Ron and Hermione. It wasn't so much a classroom as a sports hall. The Gryfindors sat on one side of the room, the Slytherin's on the other with the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's integrated between them. The class wasn't supposed to be this big. The whole of the fifth year was crammed into the room just for the first lesson of the morning so they could have all four professors together rather than having two identical classes taught in two different places.
The idea was that the courses would be explained, including the difference between self defence and defence against the dark arts. Following that the four professors had planned to give a small demonstration of how to apply a combination of both subjects and then they were going to have a free for all question and answer session. The idea was that through that they could gain the trust of the students, have a little fun and avoid having to actually teach anything that first lesson. Hopefully it would automatically get the students enjoying the lessons making it much easier for them to teach them. Things were not going completely to plan.
The first problem came on the form of their arrival into the classroom. They had made sure to leave a note on the door of the defence against the dark arts room telling everyone where they were going, so they were pleased if not surprised to find everyone had made it to the right place on time. However all was not peaceful. When they had walked into the room they had immediately been met by the sounds of yelling. Upon investigation they had discovered Malfoy, Ron and Hermione having a slanging match in the middle of the room surrounded by half of their year group.
Jen had not been amused. She'd dispersed the crowd fairly quickly whilst Sirius had guided Ron and Hermione away from Malfoy. None of them were sure what the cause of the argument was however Remus had a pretty good idea that it would involve Harry in some shape or form.
The next thing that had proved difficult was getting everyone to shut up. After five minutes of gentle pleas for them to shut up Abbi had resorted to setting of a few filibuster fireworks in the middle if the room. It soon caught everyone's attention, unfortunately when lighting the firework she had also managed to light Remus' robe. After putting out the fire everything went smoothly. Until the demonstration.
The four new professors had all decided before the class that no seriously dark magic or dangerous curses were to be used during the demonstration. They didn't want to hospitalise anyone on their first day. That would definitely have been a bad idea. This was the exact reason why they were so surprised to hear someone yell 'Imperio' half way through the demonstration. Luckily it hadn't hit anyone but it threw them all of guard therefore making a shambles of the rest of the demonstration. None the less when they all finally gave up the class cheered for them half heartedly.
After they were through with the demonstration it was time for the free for all questions and answers. There were a list of things they were expecting including questions about Remus' lycanthropy and Sirius' time in Azkaban. Therefore they were unsurprised when Justin Finch-Flechly raised his hand and asked the first question,
"How did you escape from Azkaban Professor Black?"
Sirius sighed. He'd been expecting this but still he was unsure about how to answer without giving away that he was an illegal animagus.
"Well the most important part was
staying sane. That bit was easy. You know the basic principals of a
domenter? They feed of your happy
thoughts. Only having unhappy memories
is enough to drive anyone insane. I
managed to get around that. The only
thought on my mind for twelve years was that I was innocent and that everyone I
loved was suffering because of me.
That's not a happy thought; the domenter's couldn't take it from
me. But in that thought there's hope and
that can keep a strong man going a long time.
As long as I knew they could cope and that my family were still alive
out there I could keep my sanity.
The escape was partly down to
Minister Crouch. When he visited Azkaban
two years ago he gave me his news paper and that was the biggest mistake he
ever made. It told me where the
treacherous rat was and gave me the kick up the backside I needed. The next time I had a meal delivered I gave
the guards the slip and ran for my life."
There were murmurs of approval from around the room. Three Gryfindors sat at the back of the room with raised eyebrows, the only students in the room to know the full story. Jen looked around,
"Next Question."
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James, Lily and Harry slid into the back of the room just in time to hear Jen asking for the next question. Harry guessed from the silence around the room that everyone was nervous of the new professors. After a couple of minutes James decided it was time to have some fun. Without raising his hand, so as to make sure he got to ask his question, he innocently said,
"Why do you and professor Snape hate each other so much?"
Abbi glared at hi, "I think you know the answer to that question. You should do anyway." She said
Unfortunately for them James' question had the desired effect and the rest of the class had caught on, wanting to know the answer. Sirius and Remus were shooting death glares at James, Harry and Lily who were sat at the back of the room in fits of silent laughter. Eventually Remus decided to close the matter,
"We didn't get on in school, we still don't get on now, and we're unlikely to get on any time in the foreseeable future."
The class guessed from that that the matter was closed and as the three at the back of the room began to calm down people started to gain some confidence and began raising their hands. Unfortunately the first person to raise his hand and ask a question was none other than Vincent Crabbe from Slytherin.
"Whatever is Professor Dumbledore thinking allowing such a dangerous creature to teach at Hogwarts after what happened last time?" He asked with a smirk.
That had done it. Before Crabbe knew what was happening he was on the receiving end of four hexes from members of Gryfindor house. Sirius looked murderous as did Jen and Abbi. Remus looked totally shocked that anyone would say it, even though he knew it was what some people were thinking. At the back of the room Lily was doing her best to keep James from killing Crabbe with his bare hands. Eventually Sirius found his voice.
"Let's get a few things straight shall we. Number one. Werewolves are only dangerous for one night a month. The rest of the time they are normal people with normal feelings and you would all do well to remember that. Number two. What happened at the end of your third year was an accident. It wasn't Professor Lupin's fault and no one was hurt. Mr Crabbe you will be serving detention for that little remark. Stay after the lesson to arrange a time."
A problem had arisen however. It seemed that that small question spurred the Slytherin's on in their 'let's attack the teachers' phase. The next question came from Goyle,
"Why on earth did you make friends with him in the first place?"
Now anyone with half a brain cell would have taken heed from Crabbe's mistake and realised that they would probably get hurt for that remark. However this was Goyle so it was hardly surprising he said it. No sooner had he uttered the words than Harry, Caz, Ron and Hermione were on their feet, wands pointed at Goyle. Lily had let go of James in shock and he too was on his feet, looking ready to kill all the Slytherin's if any more of them dared have a go. Jen and Abbi were holding Sirius back and Remus was turning in circles working out who to address first. Eventually he turned to Ron, Hermione and Caz.
"Mr Weasley, Miss Granger and Miss Black, please sit down." They did as they were told with no arguing but without taking their eyes off of Goyle. Next he turned to Harry and James.
"Mr Potter. Please sit. You too Prongs. Now is not the time." Harry lowered himself to the ground again but James never moved. Remus tried again.
"Prongs, Sit down. Now. Please."
James looked at him. "No moony. No one got away with saying things like that when we were kids, and I'm not about to back down now."
All the students were looking round now to see who was talking. Ron and Hermione had heard Remus calling him prongs and turned round too see. Both their jaws dropped as they say James stood there next to Harry and Lily. Harry winked at them. 'Tell you later' he mouthed.
Murmurs broke out among the students but Abbi silenced them.
"Class dismissed. Everyone return to your common rooms until lunch time and I don't want any reports of your misbehaving." She turned to the Slytherin's. "Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle. You will both stay behind. I can't begin to tell you how much trouble you are in"
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A/N – I know I promised two chapters by the end of the holidays. Here is one. It's twice as long as any chapter I've written yet – 10 pages in word. Until now the longest was 4 and a half! It just kept flowing and I didn't know where to stop so I kept going until I found what seemed to be a fairly good place. So tell me what you think and I'll see if I can get another chapter out for this time next week.
Reviewers
I don't normally do
this but, what the hey?! (I think this is called 'back responding')
takari4ever7 – romance? I was wondering about that. I did have two ideas but I think this chapter just about screws them up. Oh well, there's one more possibility…….
SilverMoon – Got it in one.
krazymelmo5385, Alison – I am, I am.
Kezza13 – did I answer your question? Thanx.
Shdurrani - Thanx
Ok, I'm not going any further back than that because it'll get ridiculous. Thanx to all my other reviewers named below though;
Englishgirl, A.Dee, kateydidnt (yeah I know my times are all out but I wasn't sure so I used creative licencing.), HPlover234, Annie, Truechinook, redberrywine, Lady SallyRose, Garnet433, manateegirl524, olivierwood, Sirens*echo, DeathValley79, TheShadowWithin and RaistlinofMetallica.
