Chapter 74

They all enjoyed the feast as all of a sudden Severus and Zara appeared in the middle of the kitchen.

Immediately, everybody surrounded the two and Zara was hugged fiercely by Molly, Lilly and all of her friends in turn.

"Come and enjoy the party" Kelsey said as he finally let go of her.

"I will, but first I want to take a long shower. I feel filthy" she said and managed a smile.

"You are filthy!" Ron said outright. "Look at that pretty dirt mustache on your face"

"Honestly Ron, give the girl a break" Hermione scolded him as Zara blushed slightly.

Then the prefect grabbed Zara's arm and led out of the kitchen to prevent any question from the others.

Severus was led to a chair and Remus asked him where he finally found her.

"I know it's unbelievable, but they took her home" Snape answered.

"They did what?" Sirius called out. "They took her to her own home?"

Severus nodded "They were sure that nobody would look for her there"

Then he fixed his gaze on Sirius and hissed "This was the first, last and only time I will let my daughter go anywhere alone with the Gryffindor pack again"

Sirius just raised an eyebrow and retorted "Not the Gryffindor pack put her in danger, but her father's dodgy past"

The two men exchanged some nasty looks before James led Sirius away and Albus requested the phoenix feather back.

Lily approached Mad-Eye Moody and beckoned him to follow her to the back of the room.

"What do you think are Sirius' chances to get his job as an auror back?" she whispered.

"I had no idea that he wanted it back" Moody growled and his magical eye spun in its socket.

"Then you don't know Sirius as well as I thought" Lily retorted.

"Right now we need al the aurors we can get. Voldemort is gathering more and more followers. But do you think he's strong enough to cope with the stress?"

Lily snorted "He survived 12 years in Azkaban and you talk about stress"

"If he wants to return to his job in the ministry, I would be delighted to give him a refresher course myself although I'm out of the business"

Lily smiled at him appreciatively and returned to join her husband and son.

Sirius was totally changed. The haunted look that had always been present had almost vanished and his shrunken shoulders were now taut and upright.

He had regained his old confidence and was entertaining the crowd with witty remarks and stories about their old days at Hogwarts, assisted by James and Remus.

The scampered expression had vanished and been replaced by his old nonchalance.

Lily looked happily at her old friend who seemed like a new man.

Severus was sulking in a corner. He just couldn't stand listening to Black, recalling all antics from Hogwarts. "Pompous braggart" he growled and then he remembered something that he had totally forgotten because of the recent incident

A malicious smile crept on his face and he muttered something under his breath.

That should be a nice way to start the New Year; he thought and was ready to enjoy the show.

After a very long shower and several bars of soap, Zara was finally ready to join the others. it was early afternoon and although she was a little tired, she wanted to show the others that she was, at least physically ok.

After some more talking and laughing and listening to stories from the past, Mrs Weasley and Lily insisted that the younger ones would go upstairs to rest so that they were not too tired for the New Year's party later on tonight.

They were all groaning that they were not even tired, but the older witches wouldn't hear of it.

Fred and George were grinning at them cheekily when they climbed up the stairs and stomped to their rooms.

When the younger ones were out of earshot, Severus told the ones who didn't know yet, what he had overheard in Voldemort's castle.

James listened to the whole story again and then added some of his own experiences, especially about what Vernon told him.

"What I can't understand is why these Sons of Sekhmet asked Vernon where Harry was at? They explicitly attacked Vernon, I tell you; this was no random aggression. This leads to the question how did they know Vernon knows Harry?"

The others looked at James, but nobody seemed to have an explanation for it.

Then Albus spoke. "I'm sure that Voldemort sent them. This is a fact. Tom however doesn't know the Dursleys; we made sure that nobody except of the people I can fully trust ever got in contact with them. So the only explanation I can think of is that Tom heard from a spy that you all were going to Diagon Alley together. All the deatheaters know the Weasleys; you're a purebloods after all" He looked at Molly and Arthur before he continued.

"Everybody knows Harry's close friendship with Ron, so I trust the Sons of Sekhmet have been instructed to be on the look-out for Harry or anyone close to him. Then they followed the group and spotted that Vernon was running off. –"

Before Albus could finish his explanation, Sirius cut in. "And here is the part that does not match, Albus. If they have followed us, they must have seen Harry because he was with us at all times"

Everyone nodded in agreement but Dumbledore just chuckled.

"There is something that you need to know about Harry and the Sons of Sekhmet."

Lily grabbed James' hand and squeezed it tightly as Dumbledore continued.

"Not only Tom marked Harry with the scar; you, Lily marked him also with the sacrifice she was ready to make. His mother's love, which is pure and unselfish, seems to make him non-existent to their evil eyes."

Excited muttering filled the room at this statement, but Albus raised his hand and everyone fell silent.

Sirius then looked at Albus with a confused expression and asked "Can you please explain this? What do you mean with non-existent?"

"You have seen their eyes, haven't you Sirius?" Albus stated and the other wizard nodded.

"Then you should have recognized their eyes look like cats eyes."

Sirius nodded again.

"Well, when these men dedicated their lives to Sekhmet in a very unholy ritual, all their senses changed. They have the skills and abilities of lions, but it's allocated by an evil force and the pure and good is concealed to them"

"So you tell me that Voldemort's newest allies can't even see Harry?" James called and shook his head in disbelief.

"This is exactly what I'm telling you. As long as Harry doesn't do anything to jeopardize the purity of his soul, the Sons of Sekhmet can't see him"

Then they all whispered with each other; finally Lily turned to Severus and said "I can see in your eyes that there's something that you haven't told us yet"

Snape took a deep breath but didn't answer.

"What happened to her parents, Severus" she urged.

The potion master looked at Dumbledore and Lily in turns and then finally said grimly "I found her mother in the basement vault, not too far away from Zara's cell. She seemed physically unharmed but she had a terrible shock. They killed her husband and as far as I could see, he died days ago"

"Oh my god and she had to stay in the cell with the corpse of her husband?" Kimberly gasped and buried her face in her hands.

"Did Miss Rawle witness all that?" Minerva asked anxiously.

Severus shook his head. "No, she just heard her crying and when I arrived there she wanted me to look for her. I ordered her to wait for me and when I found Elena I sent her to St Mungo's together with the corpse. Zara has no idea that the woman she heard was her mother, nor does she know where she was"

Hagrid then banged his fist on the table and made all the cups and glasses jump.

"These bloody bastards! When I get me hands on 'em I snap 'em in two"

Before anyone could calm Hagrid down, their attention was diverted by a terrible noise in the hallway.

Sirius and James dashed out of the kitchen, followed by Albus, Minerva, Lily, Remus and Kimberly.

When they entered the entrance hall, they saw Fred and George cowering next to a book that lay open on the floor.

They stared at the scene in front of them.

The book sang very loud and in a very wrong tune

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping Brother Ron, Brother Ron?

Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing Ding ding dong, ding ding dong

"Turn this terrible noise off" Lily screamed, as then Mrs Black started to shout her usual tirade.

Harry and the others were standing now at the landing on the first floor and looked over the railing at the havoc downstairs.

Fred and George grinned broadly until their parents came into view.

"It is ever possible to leave you two alone for a second without you causing any trouble?" Molly shouted and grabbed her sons by the ears.

"Sorry mom, we just wanted to sing the others a lullaby to make them sleep better. George dropped the book before we were upstairs and it started singing on its own" Fred said apologetically but winked at his brother at the same time.

"Can someone close this book please or I will start screaming myself" Mrs Weasley said as she pulled her sons up the stairs.

Moody passed the others and pointed his wand at the book, while Severus stood in the doorway and looked disgusted.

After the book was closed and the curtains in front of the picture were shut, they returned to the kitchen.

Snape sat down and turned towards Albus and McGonagall "This was outrageous behaviour. I think this justifies the deduction of 20 points from Gryffindor"

Professor McGonagall glared at him over her glasses and said sternly "We are not at Hogwarts and for this reason you cannot take away points here. I trust you know that"

Severus crossed his arms in front of her chest and scowled.

"We have another problem at hand we need to deal with. We have to break the bad news to Zara and we need to find a safe place for her and her mother." James said matter-of-factly.

"Yes we can't let them return to their home; not after what happened there. It's too dangerous and all the bad memories..." Lily stated and got up to make some tea.

"They could stay at my home, but it's not safe there anymore" Albus said and put his finger tips together.

Arthur scratched his head and then said thoughtfully "I know that Diggory has a little cottage not far away from the Burrow. Maybe she could rent it. We could secure it with a Fidelius charm"

Everybody seemed to be delighted about the idea and Arthur volunteered to contact Mr Diggory immediately. After a short floo call, everything was settled and Albus agreed to talk to Elena about it. He also wanted to make sure that she got there safely.

Severus agreed to wait until tomorrow before he would tell Zara about her father's death.

Nobody wanted to put all this stress on her just now after what she had to endure from the deatheaters.

First of all they wanted to see how she coped with everything that had happened.

They all then withdrew to their rooms or the library to rest before the great feast.

Later that evening, Lily, Molly and Kimberly decorated the kitchen.

"Do you really feel well enough to help, my dear" Molly asked the potion teacher who was busy hanging up lanterns.

"Don't be silly, Molly. I feel fine, so please don't treat me like I'm disabled"

Mrs Weasley chuckled and then gasped when she recognized that Lily was not steady on her feet.

"Watch out, my dear!" she called while she led Lily down the ladder, where she had been standing, hanging up garlands.

"Thank you Molly, I just felt a little bit dizzy." Lily said apologetically while she gratefully accepted the cup of tea Kimberly was handing her.

The red-haired witch looked at her curiously and asked "Do you have that often lately?"

Lily blushed slightly and nodded, but Molly wasn't really paying attention to it.

"Oh when I was expecting Charlie, I felt dizzy all the time"

Then her head spun around and her eyes bore into Lily's.

"Lily, are you what I think you are?"

The auburn-haired witch smiled broadly and nodded.

"When Lily? When are you expecting..." Kimberly gasped and hugged her friend fiercely.

"When my calculations are right, it should be here in September"

"Well these are definitely the best news we've had in a long time" Molly cheered.

"I'm just a little bit anxious if everything is going to be alright" Lily said with a low voice and clasped her tea cup tightly.

Molly padded her back encouragingly and asked "You are a young and healthy woman...why shouldn't it be ok?"

"I have just spent 14 years in a coma and I'm already 36" Lily spoke up and took another sip of tea.

"I don't know about the coma, my dear but with 36 you're certainly not too old to have children." Molly stated firmly. "My late mother-in-law had her last child in the age of 42 and you're still far away from that"

Lily smiled faintly. "I guess you're right. James and I wanted to tell everybody about the baby tonight. Hopefully Harry doesn't take it too hard"

"Trust me my dear; he will be very happy about it. I have seen the way he was around our children and it seemed to me that he always wanted a real family. Not only parents but also brothers or sisters. He is a great boy; just have faith in him"

Around 9 in the evening everybody assembled in the kitchen for the big New Year's party, which would also be a party for Sirius and Zara.

The Ravenclaw wanted to push the bad memories back into the very depths and just enjoy celebrating with her friends. Since Snape had saved her from the deatheaters clutches, her feelings towards him had warmed up strongly.

She sat down at the table along with her friends while Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"I'm glad we can be all together to celebrate the wonderful news. Our friend Sirius has been cleared of all charges and Zara here..." He smiled at the girl. "...has returned to us after terrible days as a hostage of the deatheaters. The next year will have plenty of unpleasant surprises so let us celebrate while we have the occasion. Enjoy the feast"

Everybody applauded and then started to fill their plates with the delicious food in front of them.

After the meal, little groups were built and there was a lot of joking and talking.

Fred and George had found a bottle of firewhiskey in the attic and decided to spike up the punch a bit. They had already done that at the Yule Ball, but unfortunately the feast then had ended earlier than expected.

They were very confident that they wouldn't get discovered anyway, with all the marauders around.

Soon everybody was so occupied with playing games, singing or talking that nobody would recognize what they were doing.

While George kept a look-out, Fred poured the content of the bottle into the bowl.

After they had retreated to the back of the room, they high-fived each other and snickered.

Lily and James, however, led Harry to the side. "There is something we would like to tell you" James said and beckoned Lily to break the news to their son.

"Harry, my dear; we wanted to tell you that by next September we will have a new addition to our family"

"Great! Is Sirius moving in with us?" Harry asked expectantly and his eyes searched the room for his godfather.

James chuckled and shook his head.

"No Harry, it's not Sirius"

Harry frowned and looked at his mother, asking for clarification.

Lily fidgeted with a strand of her auburn hair as she continued.

"What we wanted to tell you was... when everything is ok.... next summer you will have a brother or sister"

Harry choked on his pumpkin juice and coughed hard before he could utter "What?"

Lily's heart skipped a beat and tears sprung in her eyes.

"You have to believe us Harry, we won't love you less and don't be upset because the baby will have parents like you never had" James said warmly and ruffled his son's hair.

"Are you serious about that? I'm really going to be a big brother?" Harry gasped and his parents nodded.

"No matter what, Harry; we will always be here for you and we will try to make up for lost time... baby or not" Lily said seriously

"I wonder what your problem is? I'm happy... as happy as you can be. I know that you had no other choice when I was little and it's most definitely not the baby's fault. So do you know what it is yet?" Harry said eagerly.

James and Lily laughed in relief.

"No son, it's far too early for that" James said amusedly and Lily hugged and kissed Harry.

"Can I tell my friend about it? It's all so exciting"

"Go on" Lily said and shooed him off to look for his friends. "But they can't tell anybody else about it."

Harry looked back at his parents. "You are afraid Voldemort would be after the baby as well"

When his parents nodded, he said "I promise they won't tell" and left.

Soon the relaxed atmosphere and the punch led them all into silly games.

James and Sirius had the idea to play truth or dare. James persuaded Lily, Kimberly, Remus and Albus to join.

The boys were on fire about the idea and the girls joined in as well, although Hermione felt slightly uneasy about it.