AN: thank you so much 4 reviewing! thx 2 Fireangle 4 telling me about my update mistake.
AtreidesHawk: yes I was planning on having Harry say something along those lines in ch. 5 prob. Ill mention ur name when I do 4 the credit.
John: yes his parents or at least 1 of them will prob do something like that 4 a career.
Chapter 2
~~~August
James looked over at his wife who was sleeping in their bed at a local inn in Kerry, Ireland. For some odd reason this was where Pettigrew was, so they were there too. After they had finished taking care of the people on the list for Dumbledore, they had started tracking Pettigrew. It was a slow start, but they had come decidedly closer than ever in the last week. Which was good because the first day of school at Hogwarts began in nine days, and the Potters were planning on having this all finished with before then.
According to Snape, Peter was due to arrive in a forest a mile or two north of where the Potters were staying, in a few hours he would be theirs. All their hard work was going to pay off, and Lily would stop worrying.
Ever since that day when they had seen Harry in Dumbledore's office Lily hadn't been herself. She fretted constantly over his health and whether or not he would love her. It was weird. In all the years that they had been working for Dumbledore Lily had never reacted like this. She knew what she was giving up when they agreed to do it; it was just recently that she had become undone.
James sat remembering that awful night that they were "killed." Snape had informed him that Voldemort was after them, and they were prepared. It was simple, Voldemort was to come and kill them. An easy ritual killing, except, Harry wasn't supposed to be with them.
Dumbledore was going to take Harry for the week when they were expecting to be attacked, and say he rescued Harry in time but was too late to save Lily and James. But Voldemort had been early, one day early.
So when James heard the knock, he was genuinely shocked. He only had time to perform the "tevrenp" spell before the door was blasted open.
"Lily, take Harry and run! I'll hold him off." Lily followed his order, grabbing her baby as she muttered "tevrenp" under her breath as she ran up the stairs.
Hearing a maniacal cackle from downstairs, she summarized that James was "dead." She looked down at the now awake Harry and lifted her wand. She was planning on banishing him to the woods where Dumbledore would be able to find him.
BOOM! The door to the nursery was broken apart into tiny pieces of wood as Voldemort walked in. Oh no, Lily thought. She couldn't let this monster murder her son; her son who had no protection charms whatsoever on him. Unlike herself, he wouldn't be able to stop the killing curse.
"No not Harry! Take me instead!" She pleaded with Voldemort hoping to buy time until Dumbledore arrived with help. They had a security system surrounding the house, if any of the boundaries where breached the alarms went off in Dumbledore's office.
"Stand aside you silly girl," he said surprising Lily that he wanted to give up a chance at killing a mudblood. But why would he want Harry?
"No!" Lily knew then that he had given out his last warning. As she saw him raise his wand she began pointed her own at herself while still trying to shield Harry.
"Avad-"
"Stupe-"
"a Ke-"
"fy!" Lily whispered just as she saw sparks of green light to come out of Voldemort's wand. Then she knew no more.
When James had woken up in another one of Dumbledore's many safe houses he wasn't the least bit shocked that Lily had also lived. He ate the food left for them before waking up his wife to leave. They where supposed to start their work immediately.
As he approached Lily he saw he pained expression and panicked. She had gotten Harry to safety hadn't she? Hurriedly he shook his wife awake. "Lils, darling what happened?"
She looked around disoriented a bit before her gaze settled on James. "He….H…," She sobbed, unable to finish her sentence. But James got the message, Harry was dead.
Poor little innocent Harry. He enveloped his wife in his strong arms, rocking her gently. She finally managed to cry herself to sleep an hour later. James wished he could loose himself in the peace of sleeping, but he couldn't sleep. Not when his son would never be able to sleep again. He, the famous auror, James Potter, head boy of Hogwarts, had failed.
Blindly James stumbled towards the table where he had eaten and where Dumbledore left his list of instructions for them. Eager to focus on anything besides his dead child, James grabbed at the parchment.
Scanning the paper at first, James just looked at the parchment as though it was a book on Goblin rebellions, until a word caught his eye. Harry.
Now his attention on the words, James read the letter.
Congratulations James and Lily. Everyone believes you two to be dead, and they also happen to believe Voldemort to be deceased. I am not entirely certain what happened at your house, but Harry is alive and Voldemort is gone. Your son now has an oddly shaped scar on his forehead in the form of a lightning bolt, it hasn't affected his brain or anything else as far as we can tell.
You two had best leave the country for a while. I didn't have time to place the fake bodies at Godric's Hollow before the Ministry arrived. So while half the ministry is celebrating, the other half is searching for yours' and Voldemort's bodies.
Below is where I suggest you first search for some of Grindlewald's followers who have taken up destroying muggles in Germany. After you have taken care of them I'll send you an owl with further directions.
Once again I implore that you leave England immediately, if not for your own safety but for the safety of this mission.
Good luck,
Albus P. Dumbledore
James dropped the letter and rushed to wake up his wife. Lily woke up faster this time and saw James and surprisingly did not cry. James thrust the parchment into her hands as she came awake.
"He's alive Lily! Voldemort didn't get him!" Lily looked up at him sadly, as though believing him to have finally cracked.
James answered with a grin. "Read! It's all in there, but hurry Albus wants us to leave soon." As Lily began to read the letter James gathered their few things and cleaned off the table. Grabbing an apple he brought it over to his wife just as she finished reading.
"How did this happen? How did he live?" Pulling her out of bed while whistling to a Quidditch tune, he tossed her the apple and took the parchment.
"I'm not sure, but Dumbledore isn't worried." At her pointed look he started pulling her towards the door. "Oh come on Lil lighten up a little. We just out smarted the most evil wizard in England!" When she only humphed as he help her into her robe, he continued. "And think, you made the child that defeated him!" He said prying on her motherly pride.
Finally she smiled. "Yes he is terribly powerful isn't he," she said as they walked outside the apparation barriers.
"Yea he must get it from me." James joked.
That was fourteen years ago. Dumbledore hadn't told them about the situation with Sirius, believing they would blow their cover in attempt to clear his name. When they had returned to England and discovered what had happened, they had set to work trying to free him. Unfortunately they hadn't done so well. Now they were going to take care of Peter for all the pain he had caused.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" James reached to turn off the alarm. It was a signal from Snape that Peter had arrived in the forest. James woke up Lily and together they left to catch the rat.
~~~~~ The following day at the Burrow
"Race you to the house, last one there has to de-gnome the garden." Ron challenged Harry as they swung their brooms over their shoulders after playing a particularly rough game of Quidditch with the twins-which Harry and Ron had won of course.
"You're on, from the willow tree?" Harry grinned in acceptance as they trudged towards that particular tree.
"Oh Fred, would you like to see who can jump from tree to tree the fastest without stopping? The first one to the five hundredth tree top wins!" George said sarcastically.
"Oh no, too easy. We have to climb to the top of a tree and jump to the next one. Then climb down and run to the next tree and climb that one." Fred replied in mock seriousness as he pretended to examine the trees.
Harry and Ron ignored the twins even after they heard them laughing. They had been like this the whole summer; poking fun at Harry and Ron whenever they decided to run a bit. Ron at first had tried to tell them off and then tried to take a punch at them. Harry had fortunately held his friend back.
Now Ron was totally immune to their taunts. It was amazing what one summer had done to Ron's self control. Granted he wasn't a saint yet, but he hadn't lost his temper to anyone all of August. Even when Harry managed to beat him in a race or in a fight, or when Harry teased him about Hermione. In the last case Ron would only flush a light pink, a vast improvement from his previous embarrassment color of crimson.
Harry also had matured a bit. He had gotten over Cedric's death, and no longer blamed himself for the events of the Triwizard Tournament. Unfortunately he had yet to get over his parent's reappearance. The fact that he refused to even acknowledge that they lived wasn't foreboding well for the upcoming year.
Sirius and Remus had come and visited when the heard the news about Lily and James. While still appearing to be in a state of shock, neither seemed to possess the hatred that Harry felt towards them. When Ron had tentatively brought up the Potters to Harry he would just close his eyes and ignore Ron for the rest of the day until Ron eventually gave up trying.
Now at the end of summer holiday Ron was taller than he was before, now standing six two (feet, im not sure how much that is in meters!), being the tallest of the Weasleys that still lived at home. Bill was probably taller, and Charlie, Fred and George where all heavier, but he was getting close.
Ron's arms didn't have any huge muscles on them, but what he did have was clearly defined. Eventually when all the food he wolfed down stopped causing him to grow, he would fill out. But for now he was a pretty lean carrot top.
Harry was undoubtedly the smallest male at the Burrow. Though he had grown to be as tall as the twins, he was still dwarfed by Ron, Percy and Mr. Weasley. And even if the twins were the same height as Harry (five eight-it could happen, its my story) they weren't even close to being the same build.
Luckily for the Gryffindor Quidditch team Harry had still retained his slender frame, even after all the food Mrs. Weasley had fed him this summer. And unlike Ron, Harry had developed "rock hard arms for a rock hard head," as the twins said.
And now the two boys were about to try to run after playing Quidditch, not something overly difficult but taxing nonetheless.
"Ready?" Ron asked Harry while dropping his broom for one of the twins to carry up to the house. Harry left his Firebolt besides Ron's Cleansweep on the ground and stood next to his friend.
"Ready."
Ron lifted his hand and began to count off his fingers. "One, Two Three!" And the two shot off, at an even pace to start with, though they would most likely cut in front of each other several times before arriving at the house. The twins followed picking up the others' brooms and walking at a more leisurely pace while shaking their heads in bemusement.
Five minutes later Harry and Ron arrived at the Burrow slightly out of breath. "Have fun de-gnoming the garden, I'll be busy in a nice cool shower." Ron teased Harry who he had beaten by only a few yards.
Glaring at his friend, Harry bent down to pick up his first gnome, deciding to get the tedious chore over with sooner rather than later. But, Harry reminded himself, he could have a little fun before he began. And Ron was too cocky by a half, it would do him some good to be badgered a bit before being lazy the whole afternoon, showering and most likely napping until Hermione arrived.
When his face was hidden from Ron's view, Harry allowed a quiet chuckle to escape as he began to smirk in anticipation. Quickly, Harry grabbed a particularly fat gnome and held it by it's legs as it began to struggle. Ignoring it's protests, and the teeth that were being sunk into his hand, Harry raised his arm as Ron turned towards the house. Bam!
"Owwww! Bloody hell that hurt Harry!" Ron yelled turning back to the garden while rubbing his head with his right hand and making an aggressive gesture with his left.
Harry, who had bent back over the garden after throwing the gnome, looked up in mock surprise. "Me?" he asked pointing a finger at his chest.
"Yes you, the midget with the crow's nest on his head. Who else?" Ron continued sourly.
Harry grinned in response. "Oh yes well what can I say, he bit me." He said showing his bloody thumb to Ron. "I just threw him off on reflex. It's not my fault your head is so big that it made such a good target." Harry finished shrugging his shoulders as though stumped for another explanation.
Ron scowled at Harry before stomping into the house, presumably to take that shower he had mentioned earlier. Harry continue to chuckle as he fell onto all fours in order to catch the gnomes better. It was so rare to see Ron genuinely annoyed now that he must cherish the few times he managed it and not one of the twins.
He was about to toss his eighteenth gnome of the day over the fence when Ron interrupted him. "Harry! Come here quick!" Ron yelled out the kitchen window. Harry dropped the gnome and headed towards the kitchen wondering what had upset Ron this time. Twice in one day was almost a cause for celebration, particularly since he hadn't been openly annoyed since July. The last time had been when the twins had rigged the shower with skin changing colored water, what else could they do to it?
Eager to see what Ron looked like, Harry hurried inside. He was disappointed to see that Ron appeared to be his normal skin color, and didn't have any extra limbs.
"Look! Sirius is free! They caught Wormatil! He's going to get the Dementor's Kiss!" Ron shouted to Harry who was standing next to him now, and was likely to go death if he kept it up.
"Let me see." Harry said holding back his excitement in fear that it was a joke. But no, plain as day, the paper read "BLACK PARDONED" And below the headline was an article on what really happened, how Sirius was going to be compensated, and what was going to happen to Peter. There was also a picture them. They had supposedly captured Pettigrew and cleared Sirius' name. Well better late than never Harry thought as he handed the Daily Prophet back to Ron.
"Wow this is great, I can finally meet with him as a person without worrying about whether or not he'll be arrested." Harry said as Ron handed him a glass of water.
"Ya I know, I'd owl Hermione but she'll probably get here before I finish the letter." He said clinking glasses with Harry in celebration.
"Speak of the devil." Harry muttered as they heard the fireplace roar, a signal that Hermione had arrived. But Ron didn't seem to hear him, his eyes had glazed over and his mouth was hanging down.
Harry kicked him under the table before he embarrassed himself further. Hermione hadn't seemed to notice, as she was busy brushing the soot off her shirt and shorts, which by the way were particularly short this summer. Harry smirked wondering idly who she wanted to impress. When she looked up at Harry and Ron at the table she did the exact same thing Ron had done moments before, unfortunately she didn't have Harry to kick her.
Knowing that Hermione was staring at him, Ron grinned in satisfaction. Apparently Harry had been right about the running helping him. Ron stopped grinning when Harry stood and hugged Hermione in greeting. What the hell was he doing?
Hermione came out of shock and found her voice when Harry hugged her. "Hey Hermione, its good to see you."
Hermione smiled back at him cautiously, she had heard about his parents from Ginny, and she had also heard about his reaction to the news, and wasn't sure what to say. "Umm its great to see you too Harry," then as if noticing it for the first time, "you grew!" Harry laughed and stepped back, allowing her to see his full height.
"Yup, three and a half inches in one summer. Must have been Mrs. Weasley's cooking." He said then turned to Ron while still holding Hermione's hand.
Luckily for himself, Ron caught the devilish glint in Harry's eyes and knew right away what he was up to. He was trying to make him jealous! Deciding to play along, Ron stood and hugged Hermione a bit awkwardly and bumped Harry's hand away with his bum.
Harry released his hand immediately while trying to hold back his laughter. "I guess I'll go finish the garden before your mum gets home. I'll see you later," he said to Hermione before he walked out of the house.
Left alone, Hermione and Ron separated almost instantly. "Here, I'll help you with your stuff." Ron offered lifting her trunk to carry it upstairs.
"Hermione! You're here!" Ginny squealed before tackling Hermione with yet another hug. "I have simply loads to tell you, oh my gosh you're so tan! What did you use?" She demanded totally ignoring her brother and ushering Hermione up the stairs.
Not used to being ignored, Ron dropped the trunk and thundered up the steps after them. His longer legs caused him to reach them just as they were at Ginny's door. "Hold on, I have to Hermione something first, and NO it cannot wait." He said already sensing Ginny's protests.
Grabbing Hermione's arm he pulled her towards his room, ignoring her squeak of surprise and Ginny's giggles. He opened his door and pulled Hermione in after him, then shut the door and turned the lock. Hermione sat on his bed not looking at all pleased with the way she had been handled. "I need to tell you some-" He was cut off by sound off the door slamming downstairs. It was shut so hard that it caused a poster on his wall to fall down and loud thud to ring throughout the house.
AN: REVIEW! Ron was about to tell Hermione something and it wasn't I love you or anything like that. REVIEW to find out what it was. Sry if it was a bit fluffy with all the hugs. Do you think I should have a Halloween or Yule ball, or is that too unoriginal? Please REVIEW with your opinions. I will be explaining the tevrenp spell in a later chap.
If I messed up the scene where the Potters were "killed" I am sry but I didn't feel like looking it up. Also I have been getting some reviews pertaining to the pairs 4 this story as of right now Harry is NOT set with any1 specifically, if I receive an overwhelming amount of reviews 4 a certain pair then I will of course comply. Otherwise I am still undecided.