Chapter 4 - It can't be
Petunia was preparing for a day of shopping without her husband and son. She was looking nervous. But only Harry seemed to pick up on that. Before she left, she gave Harry a laundry list of things to do, then was out the door.
She arrived at a small café and sat down across from two unknown men, one young, one old.
"What do you want?" she asked, sounding slightly nervous.
The older man spoke first. "We need permission to exhume the bodies of James and Lily Potter."
"What? Why are you asking me this? I won't let you. She needs to rest in peace."
"No, let us explain. We believe that one of them may still be alive."
"How can that be? I saw their bodies at the funeral."
"Our people have ways of disguising bodies. Have you noticed anything happening to Harry lately? Any odd actions?"
"He has been complaining about weird feelings. And he's also began to have panic attacks."
"James used to get panic attacks," the younger man cut in.
"Those strange feelings he's having are caused by magical parents. It is James' or Lily's magic running through him. One of them is alive," the old man was trying in vain to convince the woman. The younger one cut in.
"If you let us find his Mother or Father, he will leave your home and live with them. You won't have to take care of him anymore. He will be out of your hair." This made Petunia think.
"Okay, do it. But don't let anyone see."
"Oh of course not. To the outside world it will look like an ordinary funeral procession."
And with that Petunia stood and left. She stopped at a few stores to make it look like she had been shopping. When she got home she found that Harry had completed everything that she had asked. He had even begun to make dinner. He looked up at her and smiled.
"I thought I would start dinner. Hope you don't mind. You looked like a nervous wreck before you left." The boy had grown over the summer. A few inches taller, hair longer, skin creamier; he was now a man.
"No Harry, I don't mind. Thank you."
There was a group of people at St. Mary's catholic cemetery in Surrey, England. It looked like your normal funeral, but if you looked closely something was way off. The bodies had been in the ground for 15 years. A bit late for a funeral, don't you think? Remus stood in front of the stone that read 'Lily Evans Potter' and cast the spell. The dirt covering the coffin was now in a neat pile next to the stone. The coffin was brought up and placed on an invisible gurney. It was opened to reveal what looked like a giant crystal. The crystal was meant to preserve the body. Lily Potter looked the same as she did 15 years ago. No decomposition what so ever. Severus Snape stepped forward and took out a syringe. Blood was drawn and placed into a small vial. The liquid in the vial turned from red to yellow to blue. He tapped it with his wand and waited for the results.
"Unfortunately, this is Lily Potter."
Remus' head fell- one down, one more to go. He prayed for the sake of Harry that James is still alive. Lily's coffin was closed and placed back in the ground and reburied. Next was James' grave. The same was done to him and tension built in the air. Snape tapped the vial and waited for the results. He read the parchment and sighed.
"Why couldn't it have been Lily?"
"What do you mean, Severus?" Remus asked, hoping.
"This isn't James Potter, unfortunately."
Back at Malfoy Manor, James and Draco were playing chess, while Narcissa wrote a letter to Dumbledore. It was about time that he knew of James, so he could be reunited with Harry.
"So, Draco, tell me more about Harry. Knight to D 5."
"Okay, what haven't I told you? Pawn to H 3."
"You haven't told me about his friends. Rook to F 7, check."
"Well, let's see. There's Weasley and Granger. Castle to G 7."
"Weasley? As in Arthur Weasley? How many do they have? They had five the last I remember." James had stopped playing, and Draco had beaten him.
"Well since then they had two more. Ron, who is Harry's best friend; And Ginny, who is madly in love with Harry."
"Oh yeah? That's funny."
"No, it's gross. She follows him around everywhere. It's really quite disturbing."
"If I didn't know any better Draco, I'd say you were jealous."
Draco stuck his nose in the air. "I am not jealous. I only made an observation."
"Okay, okay," James chuckled. "What about this Granger?"
"Oh, yeah. Hermione Granger. Muggle born. She's always with Harry as well."
'Is she Harry's girlfriend?"
"Fortunately not. I think she has it for Weasley. As far as I know Harry has never had a girlfriend. He snogged a girl named Cho Chang in the room of requirement last year but that's all I know," Draco said looking a bit down.
"And why didn't they date?" James asked, more to see what Draco would say and how he would react then actually wanting to know.
"I don't know really, at the end of term she was dating somebody else. Harry didn't really seem to care." Draco seemed overly happy at the fact that Harry didn't have a girlfriend and never had.
James and Draco set up for another game while Narcissa watched from her desk. The James that she had known was back. Tall, dark, and handsome. He was no longer sickly thin, but lean and muscular. She didn't like the fact that she was so comfortable around him, and the way she slightly blushed when he would touch her. But she did love the way he could make her smile. She hadn't done that in years. She loved the way Draco smiled too. She couldn't help but feel that this was how it should have been. Her, with a family that could laugh together and not have to worry about being scolded. She felt jealous of Lily, because she knew that's where James' heart was. She was knocked out of her thoughts with the sound of someone at the door. She got up to see who it was.
After a few moments, Snape came bursting through the doors to the lounge. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw James sat at the table with Draco.
"So this is where you have been. We have been looking for you! Harry can feel you! But enough of that, we have to go. The death eaters have found a way to get in and I think they are coming for you. Hurry and go pack a few things, we have to go now!"
Draco and James were about to get up when the front doors flew open.
"There's no time. Let's go now!" Snape grabbed Narcissa by the arm and began to pull her through the house with James and Draco following closely behind. Snape stopped at a dead end and tapped it with his wand, a door formed and Narcissa pushed James and Draco through.
"You go ahead, I'll try to stop them."
"Cissa, no. If you do then I'm coming with you," James said, pushing his way back through the door.
"James, get back in there and get my son out. Please!"
James had no choice. He turned and led Draco through the hall. Snape began to follow but turned around.
"I'll come back for you when I know they are safe," Snape said, then turned back around.
Narcissa put up her cold exterior and went back into the entrance hall where seven death eaters met her. She cocked an eyebrow and began her tirade on how it is impolite to come into people's homes uninvited, and that purebloods such as they should know better. One death eater raised his wand to silence her, but a familiar drawl was heard from behind him.
"That's enough, McNair. Mrs. Malfoy, would you please come with me," Snape said motioning towards the door. She did as she was told but only after she scoffed at them all. McNair piped in just as Narcissa was about to walk through the door.
"Shall I come with, just to make sure she doesn't cause any trouble?"
"No, I'll be just fine. Continue on with your business."
Snape led Narcissa down the path and off the grounds, where they should have turned left, they turned right; after walking for about ten minutes, they reached where James and Draco were hiding and apparated to Hogsmead.
Dumbledore couldn't believe his old eyes when Snape walked into his office, followed by James Potter- a healthy James Potter. Dumbledore thanked Narcissa and Draco profusely, and offered them sanctuary at Hogwarts which they accepted right away. He called Remus Lupin to his office, not telling him why though. As Remus walked into the office he saw the Malfoys and then Snape.
"Yes, Headmaster, you wanted to see-- James?" Remus was going into shock. When James smiled, Remus seemed to snap out of it and charged his friend, capturing him in a fierce hug.
"Moony, are you crying?" James said, separating from his friend.
"Yes!" Remus said, wiping tears from his cheeks. "Gods, James, you haven't aged at all. You don't look a day over thirty."
"Good genes I suppose."
Dumbledore walked up to James and placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "James can I get you anything, anything at all."
"Yes. My son."