Disclaimer: the characters and other jk stuff in this fic are as much not mine as "Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storge" is not the title for the sixth book! (I refuse to believe that rumor, have you guys heard about it!)
A/N: just when I finally get back and think, wow, I'll have time to actually do this, no, housecleaning strikes again, and babysitting, and volunteer camps, and driver's ed ( but that's ok, cuz I want to be doing that!) so, here it is, hope you enjoy! I will get chapter eight up as soon as I possibly can, promise!
A Visit
Inside the closet, Harry curled into a ball on the dusty floor and placed his thumb in his mouth. A single tear rolled down his small thin cheek.
But that couldn't compare with the amount of tears streaming from his mother's eyes.
James whispered "Nox" and the window shut as he slowly crawled over to his sobbing wife and pulled her into a hug, trying to blind back tears himself.
"I've got to be strong for Lily," he thought, "I've got to think of a way to make this better."
"James, oh James, what can we do?" cried Lily.
"We'll go visit him, right now," said James, the idea only just occurring to him.
"But…" she faltered, "but do we need to go right now? What if we need to save this for some kind of life and death situation…"
"This is more important than life or death!" exclaimed James, leaping up, "Harry needs to know that he is loved, to know that someone out there cares about him! We can visit him, and to something—anything—to let him know! Hold him, hug him, talk to him…Talk to him! We'll talk to him in loving tones such have never been directed towards him before! Show him that talking can do more than injure people's feelings, that it can be used to spread love. Kids who are always mistreated and unloved like him grow up bitter, angry, and end up leading messed up lives! I want my son to have more than that—better than that! I…"
But Lily had pressed a finger over his lips, stopping his speech and looking up at him with eyes filled with both tears and admiration.
"You would have been the greatest father, and given the greatest father-son talks," she whispered, "I know now why we have to go…and you are absolutely right. Let's go visit our son Harry."
James smiled at her and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Pop!
A scroll appeared in midair and writing began to cover it.
"Y'know, these things are kinda annoying," said Lily.
"No! You really think so?" asked James sarcastically.
The scroll now read:
Mr. James and Lily Potter, you have elected to return to the world of the living to be of assistance to Harry Potter. Please note that you will each have only thirteen visits after this. Please sign here.
A beautiful quill materialized; Lily and James sighed and signed their names.
"Oh, look! Yet another message," said James.
Please be aware that your visit may not exceed two hours.
After this, the window reopened on the ground, and an image of a sleeping Harry came into view.
"Ready?" said James, taking Lily by the hand.
"In your own words, you betcha!"
Hand in hand, they jumped into the window and dematerialized. What neither of them expected was that they would quite literally be flying to Harry.
"I do not like this at all!" wailed Lily as they sped past stars and comets, "This is much—too—fast!"
"Wahoooo!" whooped James, "This is excellent! Almost as good as quidditch!"
"Speak for yourself," Lily muttered bitterly.
Earth was coming closer, they were over London, then Surrey, then swooping over Privet Drive, and then suddenly rematerialized inside Harry's "bedroom."
"Well!" said James, "That was—exhilarating."
But Lily had eyes and ears only for her son.
"Oh, look at him" she said as she gazed on his sleeping form tenderly, "He's so much bigger! And oh, look at that scar he has…"
"We'll have to wake him," said James. He knelt down before the small cot that served as Harry's cradle and gently shook his shoulder.
"Harry, Harry, wake up son…" said James.
Harry moaned softly and slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. He spotted James and gave a little gasp and scooted away, cowering in the corner of his bed.
"Hey, little man," said James, his eyes full of pain at the though that Harry thought he might hurt him, "c'mere, I won't hurt you. You remember my fun name for you…ickle Harrykins…"
A spark of recognition flashed through Harry's green eyes; he edged a little closer to James.
"Yes, come see your good ol' dad," said James as Harry crawled towards his outstretched arms. James picked Harry up in his strong hands, and rolled onto his back on the cot, holding Harry above him.
"Remember 'Harry Quidditch,' Harry?" James said as he made Harry zoom around. Jamesnow made his voice sound like a sports announcer "And out comes the incredible seeker…Harry Potter! Aboard his trusty Comet 240, he is ready to steal the show for this game! So much like his father, he is. The balls are released and the game begins! Look Harry, look all around for the snitch. Oh no! a nasty bludger, dodge it Harry! Oh! Harry's seen the snitch! He's off!...just a bit closer…yes! he's got it! And the crowd goes wild!"
Harry giggled and Lily laughed out loud. James slowly brought Harry down onto his lap.
"Did you like that Harry?" asked James eagerly.
Harry made no reply except to place his arms around James's neck and put his head on his shoulder. James's eyes widened in surprise, and he whispered gruffly into Harry's ear, "Glad you still love Quidditch like your daddy. I love you Harry. And hey, look who else is here…"
James turned Harry around and placed him on the floor so he could see Lily for the first time. He gazed at her for a moment, then his whole face lit up in a smile and he ran the short distance into his mother's arms.
Lily could only exclaim incoherently. "Oh, Harry! I've missed you!...Oh, you remembered me…you're so big!..."
Harry was clinging tightly to his mother's neck and stroking and playing with her long silky red hair like he always used to, but when he encountered a knot in her hair and gave it a tug…
"Ow! You're certainly stronger too!" laughed Lily. "Now, Harry, today is your birthday! Do you know what that means?" she asked and then began to sing in a soft, clear voice.
"Happy birthday to you,"
James joined in, "Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Harry,
Happy birthday to you!"
Harry smiled an clapped his small hands.
"Harry, look at me, dear, do you know how old you are?" Lily asked, "You're two," she held up two fingers, "Can you hold up two fingers like me and say two for your mummy?" she asked.
And so the teaching began.
A/N: so, after the extreme sadness of last chapter, you get the happy/sadness of this chapter! did you like James's speech? I worked real hard on it, but I don't know if you can feel the feeling behind it, it sounds a lot more meaningful when it is spoken by the James in my head…
Notes to the coolest people in the world!(and must I say, you guys made me sooo happy! TEN reviews in one chapter! wahoo! let's break the record for this chapter!
jylphoenix- thank you! I am definitely going to continue this through, and you'll see how much of an influence they have on harry's life with their visits…I'm not sure what I'll do if book six isn't out by the time I get through all of book five, but I have plenty of time, I'm not even to book one yet! but I do have eleven years of his life to go through before I get there! thanks again!
Laughing Dragoness- wow, it's "superb"? awesome! yes, I did feel bad about putting harry through that, but I figured, for him to be as lonely, small and quiet as he is when we first see him, he had to have been a little more mistreated than we think he is…
lutefa- yep, everybody says poor harry, and they have good reason to! yes, I will be continuing shortly, chapter eight is all planned out, it is now just a matter of typing it up when I can steal the computer away from my many siblings.
Prongsie-gurl8- wow, thank you, I'm flattered! yes, I always liked the idea that they could see him too, that's one of the reasons I decided to write this, plus I wanted to write something totally original! hope you enjoyed this chapter
emmchis- thanks! yes, chapter eight is planned, but getting the computer away from my siblings long enough to type it is another issue, then getting the phone line free for long enough to actually go on the internet…but it will be up as soon as I can possibly get it up!
Padfootluver- why thank you! ooooh, I love it when people use those wonderful adjectives…awesome, great, wonderful! aaaah, of course I don't mind justified criticism, but those words still are cool…
Miss Lady Padfoot- a person who put me on their favorites list! does crazy happy dance around the room whew, I'm back! thank you! yes, I promise an update is coming soon!
c- thanks, yes, I did feel depressed about putting harry through that, this chapter was hopefully a little bit happier, I know it was kind of one of those happy sad things, but at least there was some happy!
gabwr- thanks, yep I just keep going and going and going with this fic, y'know, now that I think about it, this fic will probably be really looooong, I mean I've got five books to go through…
REVIEW!