A/N: sorry this took so long, but I had German exchange and its taken me a
while to get going again. Back to a more normal update schedule now, so
enjoy this, and R+R when you're done.
There was a cautious tap on the wall by the portrait. Harry looked up, startled out of his jumbled thoughts and wondering who on earth it could be.
"Come in." Hearing his assent, the portrait swung open and Remus Lupin slipped quietly in.
"Harry. Are you okay?" Harry said up again abruptly.
"Just about, thanks. I don't think it's really sunk in properly yet, though that could be a good thing."
"I'd say that it's started though. Your eyes are just like I remember Alba's being."
"I know. Tonks - Buzz - showed me. Dumb - Gramps forgot that I'd want to know what she looked like, I'd don't have any photographs of her at all," Harry said, sighing slightly as he realized how long it might take him to get used to these new names for people he already knew quite well.
Remus looked as if he was about to choke.
"What did you just call him?"
"What? Gramps? It's what Buzz said I should say. Seems like it drives him mad, but I think he's just putting it on. You really don't want to know what she's planning on calling Professor Snape. Oh damn, what do you do suppose I should call him now? I can hardly go around calling him Professor, can I?"
"I haven't got a clue. Albus asked me to give you this, since he forgot."
Harry took a cloudy glass ball about the same size as a tennis ball from his old teacher and looked at it, totally stumped for what he was meant to do with it. There wasn't any obvious way of opening it, it wasn't a Remembrall. . .
"Uh, what is it?" he asked at last, finally deciding to admit defeat.
"It's a memory ball, a Memoranbrall. Every wizard child has one, all purebloods at any rate. You parents key it to you when you're born and it records your life until you turn five. Its normally so that if there's any trauma or important events that a small child can't be relied on to remember, the Aurors or Healers can use it as evidence or to help them come to terms with it. Do you see the pattern on it, on the side facing you?"
"Yes, it's like a circle with a cross through it. One of the signs of the Old Magic, isn't it?"
"Quite the scholar now, aren't we Harry? Yes, that's the key to unlocking it. I'd wondered why before, but its quite obvious. I'd press it to your forehead where your scar is. You'll find that its no longer a lightning bolt. Do you want me to wait here while you absorb it all? It can be a bit disturbing. I remember when I took mine, I needed to relive when I was first bitten, it totally threw all of my previous memories of my childhood."
"That'll be okay for me," Harry said bitterly. "I can't remember anything about my parents. Any of them. Thanks anyway, I'll probably want to talk about it."
"That's fine Harry, I'll be here when you need me."
Harry pressed the cool glass surface to his head. There was a tug centering from his forehead and the world went blurry. A muddle of images rushed into his mind, he didn't know where from. They were all bright, amazingly bright and everything was huge to him.
He was born. He looked at his mother's beaming face for the first time in a small wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere. He was shown proudly to Lily Potter and looked up into her twinkling green eyes as she played with him. He was handed just as proudly on to James Potter, promptly reached up to tug his hair and was told that he was going to be a Seeker for sure. He squirmed desperately as his two mothers set the illusion charms, breaking down themselves many times in the process. His mother, Alba, cried, heartbroken, as she handed him to Lily for the last time. James, Sirius and Remus were playing with him, he'd just been given his first toy snitch for his first birthday present and they were all acting like kids themselves - Harry was watching them jumping onto all the living room furniture trying to grab it. Then the very last sequence of events - Voldemort's attack. He screamed one last time as the delicate link binding him to the ball was broken as the curse hit him.
He came back to himself with a jolt, rubbing his forehead like there was something he could do to stop it. Intellectually, however, he knew that the pain was purely mental, a teenager's old memory of a baby's terrible pain.
"Hi Daddy Moony," he said cheerfully, looking up at the werewolf who he'd thought of as a father. A dreamy, distant look came over Remus's face.
"I wondered if you'd remember that now. It brings back so many memories for me."
"What? You didn't think I'd remember Daddy Prongs, Daddy Padfoot and Daddy Moony?"
"Lily always did say that you had far too many parents for your own good and would end up a spoilt brat. She was wrong, you the sweetest baby I've ever seen, completely unspoilable, even for Sirius. I also recall that you were very intelligent - you refused to let Wormtail be anything more than Uncle Peter."
"Yeah, I noticed that."
"Did you see your first birthday party? You loved that birthday, watching your dignified parents leaping all over the room trying to catch your present. It was Sirius that let it get away, it always was him."
"As if any of you were ever dignified, but of course I picked up on that."
"Padfoot's motorbike?"
"Yup."
"Lily got so mad at him for taking you flying on it that morning. She was very concerned about your safety when you were that small and it didn't really help when James made it up to you that afternoon by taking you up on his broom, a Nimbus 1500. You loved every minute of it, so James thought it was well worthwhile, even if he was yelled at for a good ten minutes afterwards."
"Say, you'd better be going down to dinner."
"Aren't you coming?"
"I'm not really hungry."
"But you're always hungry when you come back from the Dursleys! I know, you just want time alone, don't you? Without any of us busybodies butting in on you."
"I don't mind you, honest, its just. . . Well, yeah, you're right Daddy Moony."
"I'll ask the house elves to send something up for you, and make your apologies to the others."
"Thanks," Harry replied, rather surprised at how easily he was getting away with this.
"Now, just promise me that you will eat and not do anything stupid this evening."
"Like what?"
"I'm not even going to try to guess what you might come up with. Just don't."
"Okay, okay, I promise. Um, was it you that sorted the room for me?"
"A bit of it. Severus did practically everything, I was in the way a lot of the time. I just advised on which books you might want. I asked him how he knew what to do, but he just ignored me. I'm still not sure if he was just busy or refusing to answer. He was very worried that you wouldn't like it. You do, don't you?"
"Like it? Its brilliant!"
"Great. I'll be going for now, just remember that I'll always be here if you need me."
"You don't mind about . . . it?"
"Of course not! Alba was one of my best friends at school, and now we've grown up a bit - well, a lot really - I'm kind of starting to like Severus as well."
"Do you think Daddy Padfoot would have?" Harry asked, slipping back into the baby form of address that seemed so natural to him in his nervousness. Remus looked him straight in the eye as he answered earnestly,
"Harry, Sirius loved you like a son because you were you. At first, yes it was all for James but it didn't take long for him to start acting as though all of your achievements were entirely due to him. I've never seen him so proud, and that's the complete truth. Okay, so he might have sulked for a bit, but it wouldn't have taken long before he was back just as before. He used to treat Alba like a princess, like a doting brother would a sister. I wouldn't worry about him at all and James obviously knew your parentage, and you've just seen the truth of his feelings for you."
Harry nodded wordlessly, a lump in his throat. When Remus had gone, he flung himself down on the bed and cried out all of his shock, worry and guilt about everything that had happened in the past few months. When he woke the next morning, it would be to a completely new start.
There was a crack and a large owl appeared in the room carrying a package. Harry thanked the bird, which waited patiently while he took the package and the letter that went with it. He opened the letter first.
Harry, Since I doubt Dumbledore left you time to pack, these are robes and nightwear for you. Don't worry, none of it is mine, in case you couldn't tell. I will see you tomorrow.
Severus
Harry smiled and turned to the parcel. This revealed a set of Chudley Cannons pajamas and deep blue robes. Since the owl seemed to expect a reply of some sort, Harry grabbed some parchment from his desk and scribbled,
Thanks Father, you were right. See you tomorrow then.
He attached this to the owl's leg and let it out of the window. Then he changed into his new pajamas, the first new ones he'd ever owned. Then, though it was still very early, Harry turned out the lights and was soon asleep.
There was a cautious tap on the wall by the portrait. Harry looked up, startled out of his jumbled thoughts and wondering who on earth it could be.
"Come in." Hearing his assent, the portrait swung open and Remus Lupin slipped quietly in.
"Harry. Are you okay?" Harry said up again abruptly.
"Just about, thanks. I don't think it's really sunk in properly yet, though that could be a good thing."
"I'd say that it's started though. Your eyes are just like I remember Alba's being."
"I know. Tonks - Buzz - showed me. Dumb - Gramps forgot that I'd want to know what she looked like, I'd don't have any photographs of her at all," Harry said, sighing slightly as he realized how long it might take him to get used to these new names for people he already knew quite well.
Remus looked as if he was about to choke.
"What did you just call him?"
"What? Gramps? It's what Buzz said I should say. Seems like it drives him mad, but I think he's just putting it on. You really don't want to know what she's planning on calling Professor Snape. Oh damn, what do you do suppose I should call him now? I can hardly go around calling him Professor, can I?"
"I haven't got a clue. Albus asked me to give you this, since he forgot."
Harry took a cloudy glass ball about the same size as a tennis ball from his old teacher and looked at it, totally stumped for what he was meant to do with it. There wasn't any obvious way of opening it, it wasn't a Remembrall. . .
"Uh, what is it?" he asked at last, finally deciding to admit defeat.
"It's a memory ball, a Memoranbrall. Every wizard child has one, all purebloods at any rate. You parents key it to you when you're born and it records your life until you turn five. Its normally so that if there's any trauma or important events that a small child can't be relied on to remember, the Aurors or Healers can use it as evidence or to help them come to terms with it. Do you see the pattern on it, on the side facing you?"
"Yes, it's like a circle with a cross through it. One of the signs of the Old Magic, isn't it?"
"Quite the scholar now, aren't we Harry? Yes, that's the key to unlocking it. I'd wondered why before, but its quite obvious. I'd press it to your forehead where your scar is. You'll find that its no longer a lightning bolt. Do you want me to wait here while you absorb it all? It can be a bit disturbing. I remember when I took mine, I needed to relive when I was first bitten, it totally threw all of my previous memories of my childhood."
"That'll be okay for me," Harry said bitterly. "I can't remember anything about my parents. Any of them. Thanks anyway, I'll probably want to talk about it."
"That's fine Harry, I'll be here when you need me."
Harry pressed the cool glass surface to his head. There was a tug centering from his forehead and the world went blurry. A muddle of images rushed into his mind, he didn't know where from. They were all bright, amazingly bright and everything was huge to him.
He was born. He looked at his mother's beaming face for the first time in a small wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere. He was shown proudly to Lily Potter and looked up into her twinkling green eyes as she played with him. He was handed just as proudly on to James Potter, promptly reached up to tug his hair and was told that he was going to be a Seeker for sure. He squirmed desperately as his two mothers set the illusion charms, breaking down themselves many times in the process. His mother, Alba, cried, heartbroken, as she handed him to Lily for the last time. James, Sirius and Remus were playing with him, he'd just been given his first toy snitch for his first birthday present and they were all acting like kids themselves - Harry was watching them jumping onto all the living room furniture trying to grab it. Then the very last sequence of events - Voldemort's attack. He screamed one last time as the delicate link binding him to the ball was broken as the curse hit him.
He came back to himself with a jolt, rubbing his forehead like there was something he could do to stop it. Intellectually, however, he knew that the pain was purely mental, a teenager's old memory of a baby's terrible pain.
"Hi Daddy Moony," he said cheerfully, looking up at the werewolf who he'd thought of as a father. A dreamy, distant look came over Remus's face.
"I wondered if you'd remember that now. It brings back so many memories for me."
"What? You didn't think I'd remember Daddy Prongs, Daddy Padfoot and Daddy Moony?"
"Lily always did say that you had far too many parents for your own good and would end up a spoilt brat. She was wrong, you the sweetest baby I've ever seen, completely unspoilable, even for Sirius. I also recall that you were very intelligent - you refused to let Wormtail be anything more than Uncle Peter."
"Yeah, I noticed that."
"Did you see your first birthday party? You loved that birthday, watching your dignified parents leaping all over the room trying to catch your present. It was Sirius that let it get away, it always was him."
"As if any of you were ever dignified, but of course I picked up on that."
"Padfoot's motorbike?"
"Yup."
"Lily got so mad at him for taking you flying on it that morning. She was very concerned about your safety when you were that small and it didn't really help when James made it up to you that afternoon by taking you up on his broom, a Nimbus 1500. You loved every minute of it, so James thought it was well worthwhile, even if he was yelled at for a good ten minutes afterwards."
"Say, you'd better be going down to dinner."
"Aren't you coming?"
"I'm not really hungry."
"But you're always hungry when you come back from the Dursleys! I know, you just want time alone, don't you? Without any of us busybodies butting in on you."
"I don't mind you, honest, its just. . . Well, yeah, you're right Daddy Moony."
"I'll ask the house elves to send something up for you, and make your apologies to the others."
"Thanks," Harry replied, rather surprised at how easily he was getting away with this.
"Now, just promise me that you will eat and not do anything stupid this evening."
"Like what?"
"I'm not even going to try to guess what you might come up with. Just don't."
"Okay, okay, I promise. Um, was it you that sorted the room for me?"
"A bit of it. Severus did practically everything, I was in the way a lot of the time. I just advised on which books you might want. I asked him how he knew what to do, but he just ignored me. I'm still not sure if he was just busy or refusing to answer. He was very worried that you wouldn't like it. You do, don't you?"
"Like it? Its brilliant!"
"Great. I'll be going for now, just remember that I'll always be here if you need me."
"You don't mind about . . . it?"
"Of course not! Alba was one of my best friends at school, and now we've grown up a bit - well, a lot really - I'm kind of starting to like Severus as well."
"Do you think Daddy Padfoot would have?" Harry asked, slipping back into the baby form of address that seemed so natural to him in his nervousness. Remus looked him straight in the eye as he answered earnestly,
"Harry, Sirius loved you like a son because you were you. At first, yes it was all for James but it didn't take long for him to start acting as though all of your achievements were entirely due to him. I've never seen him so proud, and that's the complete truth. Okay, so he might have sulked for a bit, but it wouldn't have taken long before he was back just as before. He used to treat Alba like a princess, like a doting brother would a sister. I wouldn't worry about him at all and James obviously knew your parentage, and you've just seen the truth of his feelings for you."
Harry nodded wordlessly, a lump in his throat. When Remus had gone, he flung himself down on the bed and cried out all of his shock, worry and guilt about everything that had happened in the past few months. When he woke the next morning, it would be to a completely new start.
There was a crack and a large owl appeared in the room carrying a package. Harry thanked the bird, which waited patiently while he took the package and the letter that went with it. He opened the letter first.
Harry, Since I doubt Dumbledore left you time to pack, these are robes and nightwear for you. Don't worry, none of it is mine, in case you couldn't tell. I will see you tomorrow.
Severus
Harry smiled and turned to the parcel. This revealed a set of Chudley Cannons pajamas and deep blue robes. Since the owl seemed to expect a reply of some sort, Harry grabbed some parchment from his desk and scribbled,
Thanks Father, you were right. See you tomorrow then.
He attached this to the owl's leg and let it out of the window. Then he changed into his new pajamas, the first new ones he'd ever owned. Then, though it was still very early, Harry turned out the lights and was soon asleep.