Author's Note:
When I wrote Chapter 1, it felt like something was missing. I went ahead and posted it anyway. It came to my attention that I rushed through it and that it lacked some detail. I whole-heartedly agree. I rewrote the first chapter, adding in some backstory and poured some detail into it. Ibso Facto, if you have been following this and haven't re-read the first chapter, I suggest you do so. It is much better now.
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Harry slowly slipped back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, ever so slowly, and was disgusted at once again waking to the white walls and ceiling of the infirmary. Instinctively, he reached to where the nightstand would be, searching for his glasses. He could not find them.
"Your glasses aren't there, Potter," rumbled a familiar voice from across the private room.
"Malfoy?" Harry squinted at the blonde blur he assumed was Draco.
"Yeah."
"What did you do with my glasses Malfoy!" Harry accused. It was just like him to come give him grief over once again 'playing the hero'. "Come to yell at me for calling attention to myself once again?"
"No, Po-.. Harry."
Harry was shocked. Draco had never called him anything but his last name, and at that, he usually spat it out as if it were a curse word.
"I didn't take your glasses, you lost them when you killed V-Voldemort."
"I feel like I've been hit by a bus, Draco." If Draco was extending the hand of friendship once again, Harry was going to try to meet him at least halfway.
Draco chuckled. "You've been asleep for a week, we've had someone with you every minute incase you should wake. We didn't want you to be disoriented."
"Draco? What did Dumbledore mean when he said that I'm alive and had come back? And what about that girl who called me dad?"
"I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you that, Harry."
Harry could sense the tension in his voice. But once again, he felt he was being let out of the information loop. Trying his best to keep his temper, he calmly asked. "If you can't tell me, can you tell me someone who can?"
"Let me fetch Lily, she should be the one to tell you."
"Lily?"
"The girl who saved you."
"Oh."
Draco stood to leave, but Harry held him back with a question.
"Draco? What happened? Why are you being so... NICE to me?"
"People change, Harry. I realize now that I was always jealous of you, the attention you got, being the 'golden boy'. I never knew how much you had to sacrifice in your life. I am truly sorry for all the pain I have caused you. You had it hard enough as it was without me making it worse for you."
Harry could hear the honesty behind Draco's statement. "Thank you, Draco."
Harry saw the blur move, he assumed it was a nod, before it left the room, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.
'Why couldn't he tell me? How could Draco's attitudes change over a week?' He thought some more. 'More importantly, why was Dumbledore crying? And the girl who called me dad, she has to at least be a third or fourth year student, I'm sure I would have seen her at least once in the last three years.'
The more Harry thought, the more confused he became.
'And where is Hermione? And Ron? If they aren't here...' If they weren't here, there were only two explanations. Either they were in class, simply because it wasn't their turn to stay while he slept, or...
Or they died when the Death eaters finally showed up.
'No, no, they couldn't have died.' He told himself, trying to keep his hopes up. 'But they could have,' a second voice in the back of his mind told him.
'And why would that girl be the one who should tell me?' he asked himself, trying to get the thoughts of his friends being dead out of his mind. 'How does she fit into all of this?'
He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the door opening. Looking away from the ceiling, he tried with all his will to focus on the person. He didn't succeed.
"Hello?"
"Hi." a whisper came back to him. An unfamiliar whisper.
"Do I know you?" he asked, wanting so badly to know who this person was, yet unable to bring himself to say something so rude as 'who are you?'
"No, you don't know me, not yet anyway. Here, Professor Dumbledore wanted me to give these to you."
She handed him a pair of glasses, which he gratefully accepted and placed on his face. Now able to finally get a good look at the girl, whom he assumed was this Lily person, he stared at her trying to place where he had seen her before.
'Okay, how would Mione do this..' He thought to himself. 'She'd probably make a list of attributes and see if they add up to something. Lets see, Black- make that VERY black hair.. Green eyes.. Round Glasses, they look a lot like mi...
"You look just like me!" Harry exclaimed, wondering if she is a sister he had never heard of.
She blushed. Just like Harry does. "Yeah, everyone tells me that... Dad."
"Dad? What do you mean, Dad? You look like you must be at least a third or fourth year, how could I be your Dad?" Harry was sure this girl, even if she looked just like him, had lost her damn mind.
"Okay, let's start at the beginning," Lily began. "The night before you fought Who-Know-Who,"
"Voldemort." Harry stated. Lily gasped. "What, are you afraid that if you say his name, he's going to just..show up, tap you on the shoulder, and say 'BOO' ? Harry stated. Man was he sick of the whole Who-Know-Who schtick. "Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing."
Lily blushed again, but nodded. "Alright, the night before you fought V- Voldemort, you and mom got together for the first and only time." Harry nodded, but then said "I don't know how you know about that, but if I've been out for a week, that means that was only eight days ago."
"No, Dad, that was fifteen years and eight days ago. Mom saw you kill V-V- Voldemort and then there was an explosion of light. They found enough pieces of V-Voldemort to declare him dead, and all they ever found of you was your glasses and a shoe. Everyone assumed that the spell you used had consumed your body."
Harry let this revelation sink in. He was now more confused than ever. "But I just saw Draco! What is he doing here if fifteen years have passed?"
"Professor Malfoy teaches potions here at Hogwarts now."
"PROFESSOR Malfoy? By Merlin! The world is now officially upside down!"
Lily chuckled. "You think that's bad? Think about how you, at the ripe old age of eighteen, has a fifteen year old daughter sitting right next to you."
That realization hit Harry pretty hard. "So, Lily, Hermione named you after my mother?"
"Yes and no, Dad. Mom named me after you. My full name is Harriet Lillian Potter. Mom named me after you, then after your Mother."
"How is Hermione?" He thought for a bit, and then asked: "Who's your step- father?"
There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, Harry noted. "Mom's great. She works with Uncle Fred and Uncle George."
"At the joke shop?" Harry asked.
"No Dad, not a joke shop. A chain of novelty humor stores. They have thirty-six stores now."
"Wow.." Harry wasn't sure he could take many more revelations, but he had to know. "A-and your step-dad?"
"Mom never got married. I mean sure, she dated a bit, but the few guys who weren't intimidated by the fact that they had to try to fill the 'famous Harry Potter's' shoes couldn't handle the fact that she already had a daughter." She sniffed. It was obvious that she blamed herself for her mother's loneliness.
Harry was going to change the subject, he couldn't see Lily cry like that, when the door opened yet again.
In walked Headmaster Dumbledore, and..
"Lucious Malfoy?" Harry exclaimed.
"No, Harry, it's me, Draco. I trust Lily has told you?"
"Yeah, I've been gone fifteen years." Harry sighed out.
"Then please try to remember that everyone you know is now fifteen years older. I may look like my father, but other than that superficial aspect, I am nothing like him. I refused to be molded into his image any longer the night you died., er, dissapeared.
"So, potions professor, eh?" He said with a grin, trying to get Draco's mind off something that was obviously bothering him.
"Yeah, Severus owled me himself, saying something to the effect of 'Potter's daughter is going to have her father's ability to attract trouble, her mother's know-it-all attitude, and Weasley's propensity to cause havok." Draco said, grinning the whole while. "He was exactly right, of course, but I doubt that was the reason for his retirement. I think he retired just because it was time."
Harry had forgotten that Professor Dumbledore had come into the room, and until now, had been quietly watching the exchange. "Lily," he said. "I think you should owl your Mother and the Weasleys, I am sure that they wish to know that Harry is with us once again." He contemplated his next choice of words carefully, then said: "Be sure to tell them of Harry's... age. I wouldn't want any nasty shocks when they see him again."
Lily nodded, then bent down and kissed her father on his forehead. She was halfway out the door when Professor Dumbledore spoke again.
"Lily, use my private owls. They are the fastest in the school."
Lily nodded, then ran out the door, and presumably, to the owlrey.
"Professor," Harry began, but Professor Dumbledore cut him off.
"Please, Harry, call me Albus."
"Okay... Albus.. Uh, I.. Uh... why. why didn't you owl them when I was asleep?"
The twinkle in Albus's eyes left abruptly. "We honestly didn't know if you were ever going to wake. It was decided that we would tell them about you if you woke, to spare them losing you a second time."
"So," Harry thought aloud, "Everyone thought I was dead?"
"Yes, EVERYONE did. The nearest I can tell, you were catapulted through time, explaining the fact that for all appearances and your lack of memory, that you are still eighteen years old. Quite humorous, really, that you should reappear on the holiday named after you." The twinkle was back.
"I have a holiday named after me?" Harry asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Do you think that you deserved any less? You did, after all, free the world from Voldemort, and saved the lives of every student and teacher at this school from the Deatheaters."
Harry heard Draco sniff, and looked over to him. "Draco? What's wrong?"
Draco never answered Harry, just merely walked out of the room, his head down and making very wet sniffing sounds.
"Albus?" Harry looked at him, knowing that surely he had the answer to Draco's uncharacteristic behavior.
Dumbledore never took his eyes away from the open door where Draco had exited. "After you di. Left, The Deatheater raid came just as you foretold. Draco was forced to kill his own father.
Harry couldn't take anymore shocking news today, and Albus seemed to sense it. "Harry, you are still weak. You should get some rest."
Harry nodded, and began making himself comfortable.
Albus reached for a vial of clear looking potion, and handed it to Harry. "Professor Malfoy made this for you, he was sure you would need it for the first couple nights after your coma."
Harry accepted it, but looked at him questioningly with one eyebrow raised.
Albus laughed softly. "It is a potion for dreamless sleep. I promise I will wake you when Ms. Granger and the Weasely Family arrive."
"Thank you, Albus." Harry said before draining the vial.
"I'll see you when you wake, Harry. I'd say sweet dreams, but you won't be having any."
Harry nodded, removed his glasses, and fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
When I wrote Chapter 1, it felt like something was missing. I went ahead and posted it anyway. It came to my attention that I rushed through it and that it lacked some detail. I whole-heartedly agree. I rewrote the first chapter, adding in some backstory and poured some detail into it. Ibso Facto, if you have been following this and haven't re-read the first chapter, I suggest you do so. It is much better now.
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Harry slowly slipped back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, ever so slowly, and was disgusted at once again waking to the white walls and ceiling of the infirmary. Instinctively, he reached to where the nightstand would be, searching for his glasses. He could not find them.
"Your glasses aren't there, Potter," rumbled a familiar voice from across the private room.
"Malfoy?" Harry squinted at the blonde blur he assumed was Draco.
"Yeah."
"What did you do with my glasses Malfoy!" Harry accused. It was just like him to come give him grief over once again 'playing the hero'. "Come to yell at me for calling attention to myself once again?"
"No, Po-.. Harry."
Harry was shocked. Draco had never called him anything but his last name, and at that, he usually spat it out as if it were a curse word.
"I didn't take your glasses, you lost them when you killed V-Voldemort."
"I feel like I've been hit by a bus, Draco." If Draco was extending the hand of friendship once again, Harry was going to try to meet him at least halfway.
Draco chuckled. "You've been asleep for a week, we've had someone with you every minute incase you should wake. We didn't want you to be disoriented."
"Draco? What did Dumbledore mean when he said that I'm alive and had come back? And what about that girl who called me dad?"
"I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you that, Harry."
Harry could sense the tension in his voice. But once again, he felt he was being let out of the information loop. Trying his best to keep his temper, he calmly asked. "If you can't tell me, can you tell me someone who can?"
"Let me fetch Lily, she should be the one to tell you."
"Lily?"
"The girl who saved you."
"Oh."
Draco stood to leave, but Harry held him back with a question.
"Draco? What happened? Why are you being so... NICE to me?"
"People change, Harry. I realize now that I was always jealous of you, the attention you got, being the 'golden boy'. I never knew how much you had to sacrifice in your life. I am truly sorry for all the pain I have caused you. You had it hard enough as it was without me making it worse for you."
Harry could hear the honesty behind Draco's statement. "Thank you, Draco."
Harry saw the blur move, he assumed it was a nod, before it left the room, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.
'Why couldn't he tell me? How could Draco's attitudes change over a week?' He thought some more. 'More importantly, why was Dumbledore crying? And the girl who called me dad, she has to at least be a third or fourth year student, I'm sure I would have seen her at least once in the last three years.'
The more Harry thought, the more confused he became.
'And where is Hermione? And Ron? If they aren't here...' If they weren't here, there were only two explanations. Either they were in class, simply because it wasn't their turn to stay while he slept, or...
Or they died when the Death eaters finally showed up.
'No, no, they couldn't have died.' He told himself, trying to keep his hopes up. 'But they could have,' a second voice in the back of his mind told him.
'And why would that girl be the one who should tell me?' he asked himself, trying to get the thoughts of his friends being dead out of his mind. 'How does she fit into all of this?'
He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the door opening. Looking away from the ceiling, he tried with all his will to focus on the person. He didn't succeed.
"Hello?"
"Hi." a whisper came back to him. An unfamiliar whisper.
"Do I know you?" he asked, wanting so badly to know who this person was, yet unable to bring himself to say something so rude as 'who are you?'
"No, you don't know me, not yet anyway. Here, Professor Dumbledore wanted me to give these to you."
She handed him a pair of glasses, which he gratefully accepted and placed on his face. Now able to finally get a good look at the girl, whom he assumed was this Lily person, he stared at her trying to place where he had seen her before.
'Okay, how would Mione do this..' He thought to himself. 'She'd probably make a list of attributes and see if they add up to something. Lets see, Black- make that VERY black hair.. Green eyes.. Round Glasses, they look a lot like mi...
"You look just like me!" Harry exclaimed, wondering if she is a sister he had never heard of.
She blushed. Just like Harry does. "Yeah, everyone tells me that... Dad."
"Dad? What do you mean, Dad? You look like you must be at least a third or fourth year, how could I be your Dad?" Harry was sure this girl, even if she looked just like him, had lost her damn mind.
"Okay, let's start at the beginning," Lily began. "The night before you fought Who-Know-Who,"
"Voldemort." Harry stated. Lily gasped. "What, are you afraid that if you say his name, he's going to just..show up, tap you on the shoulder, and say 'BOO' ? Harry stated. Man was he sick of the whole Who-Know-Who schtick. "Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing."
Lily blushed again, but nodded. "Alright, the night before you fought V- Voldemort, you and mom got together for the first and only time." Harry nodded, but then said "I don't know how you know about that, but if I've been out for a week, that means that was only eight days ago."
"No, Dad, that was fifteen years and eight days ago. Mom saw you kill V-V- Voldemort and then there was an explosion of light. They found enough pieces of V-Voldemort to declare him dead, and all they ever found of you was your glasses and a shoe. Everyone assumed that the spell you used had consumed your body."
Harry let this revelation sink in. He was now more confused than ever. "But I just saw Draco! What is he doing here if fifteen years have passed?"
"Professor Malfoy teaches potions here at Hogwarts now."
"PROFESSOR Malfoy? By Merlin! The world is now officially upside down!"
Lily chuckled. "You think that's bad? Think about how you, at the ripe old age of eighteen, has a fifteen year old daughter sitting right next to you."
That realization hit Harry pretty hard. "So, Lily, Hermione named you after my mother?"
"Yes and no, Dad. Mom named me after you. My full name is Harriet Lillian Potter. Mom named me after you, then after your Mother."
"How is Hermione?" He thought for a bit, and then asked: "Who's your step- father?"
There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, Harry noted. "Mom's great. She works with Uncle Fred and Uncle George."
"At the joke shop?" Harry asked.
"No Dad, not a joke shop. A chain of novelty humor stores. They have thirty-six stores now."
"Wow.." Harry wasn't sure he could take many more revelations, but he had to know. "A-and your step-dad?"
"Mom never got married. I mean sure, she dated a bit, but the few guys who weren't intimidated by the fact that they had to try to fill the 'famous Harry Potter's' shoes couldn't handle the fact that she already had a daughter." She sniffed. It was obvious that she blamed herself for her mother's loneliness.
Harry was going to change the subject, he couldn't see Lily cry like that, when the door opened yet again.
In walked Headmaster Dumbledore, and..
"Lucious Malfoy?" Harry exclaimed.
"No, Harry, it's me, Draco. I trust Lily has told you?"
"Yeah, I've been gone fifteen years." Harry sighed out.
"Then please try to remember that everyone you know is now fifteen years older. I may look like my father, but other than that superficial aspect, I am nothing like him. I refused to be molded into his image any longer the night you died., er, dissapeared.
"So, potions professor, eh?" He said with a grin, trying to get Draco's mind off something that was obviously bothering him.
"Yeah, Severus owled me himself, saying something to the effect of 'Potter's daughter is going to have her father's ability to attract trouble, her mother's know-it-all attitude, and Weasley's propensity to cause havok." Draco said, grinning the whole while. "He was exactly right, of course, but I doubt that was the reason for his retirement. I think he retired just because it was time."
Harry had forgotten that Professor Dumbledore had come into the room, and until now, had been quietly watching the exchange. "Lily," he said. "I think you should owl your Mother and the Weasleys, I am sure that they wish to know that Harry is with us once again." He contemplated his next choice of words carefully, then said: "Be sure to tell them of Harry's... age. I wouldn't want any nasty shocks when they see him again."
Lily nodded, then bent down and kissed her father on his forehead. She was halfway out the door when Professor Dumbledore spoke again.
"Lily, use my private owls. They are the fastest in the school."
Lily nodded, then ran out the door, and presumably, to the owlrey.
"Professor," Harry began, but Professor Dumbledore cut him off.
"Please, Harry, call me Albus."
"Okay... Albus.. Uh, I.. Uh... why. why didn't you owl them when I was asleep?"
The twinkle in Albus's eyes left abruptly. "We honestly didn't know if you were ever going to wake. It was decided that we would tell them about you if you woke, to spare them losing you a second time."
"So," Harry thought aloud, "Everyone thought I was dead?"
"Yes, EVERYONE did. The nearest I can tell, you were catapulted through time, explaining the fact that for all appearances and your lack of memory, that you are still eighteen years old. Quite humorous, really, that you should reappear on the holiday named after you." The twinkle was back.
"I have a holiday named after me?" Harry asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Do you think that you deserved any less? You did, after all, free the world from Voldemort, and saved the lives of every student and teacher at this school from the Deatheaters."
Harry heard Draco sniff, and looked over to him. "Draco? What's wrong?"
Draco never answered Harry, just merely walked out of the room, his head down and making very wet sniffing sounds.
"Albus?" Harry looked at him, knowing that surely he had the answer to Draco's uncharacteristic behavior.
Dumbledore never took his eyes away from the open door where Draco had exited. "After you di. Left, The Deatheater raid came just as you foretold. Draco was forced to kill his own father.
Harry couldn't take anymore shocking news today, and Albus seemed to sense it. "Harry, you are still weak. You should get some rest."
Harry nodded, and began making himself comfortable.
Albus reached for a vial of clear looking potion, and handed it to Harry. "Professor Malfoy made this for you, he was sure you would need it for the first couple nights after your coma."
Harry accepted it, but looked at him questioningly with one eyebrow raised.
Albus laughed softly. "It is a potion for dreamless sleep. I promise I will wake you when Ms. Granger and the Weasely Family arrive."
"Thank you, Albus." Harry said before draining the vial.
"I'll see you when you wake, Harry. I'd say sweet dreams, but you won't be having any."
Harry nodded, removed his glasses, and fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.