Godric's Hollow
"Open ours, open ours!"
Harry let out a yelp of surprise as Ron and Hermione dumped a large, heavy beribboned box in his lap. To his slight alarm, it seemed to be moving. Cautiously, Harry began to remove the wrapping paper.
Inside was a large black box which, now the ribbons and paper had been removed, was definitely juddering. Harry turned to his two best friends, who were now grinning at him encouragingly, shrugged, and then lifted the lid.
"WOW!" exclaimed Harry, almost knocking the box off his lap.
Curious, several people gathered around Harry to see what the box contained. Inside were two Bludgers, straining against their tethers, a Quaffle and a Golden Snitch.
Hermione, who had until this moment been dancing on her toes, leaned forward tentatively.
"Do you like it? I mean is it okay? I mean, we thought…well you don't have your own and you didn't play all term and…and…"
Putting down the Quidditch set, Harry rose from his chair and hugged both Ron and Hermione simultaneously.
"It's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant," he said, once he had let them go.
"Yeah, well it's a miracle you didn't find out about it sooner," said Ron, looking pointedly at Hermione. "I just had to go down to Diagon Alley to…um…get some…um…quills…"
Hermione sniffed. "That was a poor imitation of me, Ron. Besides, you weren't exactly subtle either Mr. 'OH LET'S GO INTO THE BACK NOW.' I mean if Harry wasn't being so moody about us forgetting his birthday he would have guessed straight away."
Harry shook his head. "Don't you drag me into this you two. You're both useless, how about that?"
Everyone laughed as Harry quickly ducked to dodge blows coming from both directions.
"What do you think?" asked Harry, turning on the spot so that everyone could see the dragon skin coat that he had received from the twins.
Hermione sighed.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes"
"You look like a pimp."
Ron snorted into his pumpkin juice. Rolling his eyes, Harry shrugged off the coat as Fred and George left the room pretending to be highly offended.
"Where's Ginny?" asked Ron, frowning. "How long does it take to say goodbye to Dean?"
"I think it's sweet" said Hermione.
Ron stood up. "Don't you think its weird, someone in our year going out with a fifteen-year-old?"
"Not really," said Hermione thoughtfully. "I mean, loads of the guys in our year fancy Ginny."
"Such as?"
Hermione began to tick them off on her fingers. "Well…Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan…"
"Okay Hermione," muttered Ron through gritted teeth.
"Terry Boot…"
"Hermione…"
"Neville…"
"FINE HERMIONE, FINE I BELIEVE YOU!"
Ron sat down and began scowling at Ginny who had just re-entered the room. Ignoring her brother, she went over to sit between Harry and Hermione.
"So Harry," she said "what did you think of the party?"
"It was fantastic," replied Harry, grinning. "I used to envy Dudley so much when I was younger, he used to have huge birthday parties – most of which involved playing 'Pin the Tail on Harry'. The Dursleys barely acknowledged my birthday, so this is my very first party."
"Not true."
Everyone turned round to see Remus Lupin enter the room carrying a large stone bowl full of silvery mist.
"You did have one birthday party," he continued, setting down the bowl on the table. "Your first."
Harry peered into the Pensieve. As the gaseous liquid swirled, he caught glimpses of a large rustic dining room - which he assumed was the dining room in the farmhouse which his parents had been using as a hiding place.
"We've put lots of different people's memories in there," said Lupin. "So it should be pretty clear."
"Lots of different people?" asked Harry.
Lupin laughed. "The first birthday of James Potter's son? None of us would have missed it! Me, Professor Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Dung-we were all there."
"Lily would 'ave killed us if we 'adnt bin," added Hagrid.
"As I remember," said Dumbledore, chuckling, "Lily Potter had a temper to rival that of Molly Weasley!"
Everyone laughed at this, especially the Weasley children. Rising from his chair, Dumbledore moved towards Harry and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "You don't have to look at it if you don't want to," he said, looking at Harry over his half moon spectacles. "But if you do, its there."
Nodding, he left the room, followed by Ron, Hermione, the rest of the Weasleys, and finally, Hagrid and Lupin. Harry was left alone.
Slightly nonplussed, Harry stood in front of the Pensieve. He knew that it wouldn't necessarily show him what he wanted to see. After his experiences in Snape's office, he wasn't sure if he wanted anything else to ruin his image of his parents, and yet he had so little of them that he wanted desperately to have something to hold on to.
Taking a deep breath, Harry dipped his head into the Pensieve.
From the level of noise, Harry could tell that this was definitely a toddler's birthday party. The room was strewn with streamers and balloons, and in the middle stood a table piled high with Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizzbees and about twelve other types of confectionary that Harry didn't even recognise.
Seated around the table were several witches and wizards, including Albus Dumbledore, a much younger looking Remus Lupin and a pretty red-haired woman that could only be Lily Potter. They were all laughing at something that a wizard Harry recognised as Mundungus Fletcher had just said.
The laughter was suddenly interrupted by the entrance of several one and two year olds, all chasing after a large, slow-moving, Golden Snitch.
"That was his present from his father" said Lily, sighing. "I swear, James will have a heart attack if Harry decides to be a Chaser."
"What if he doesn't want to play Quidditch at all?" asked a plump, fair-haired witch.
Remus laughed. "I think that's genetically impossible – James Potter's son not being stuck to a broom."
Meanwhile, a small battle was ensuing on the floor between baby Harry and the Golden Snitch. Harry laughed at his own fruitless attempts to stop the flying ball, thinking of Hogwarts Quidditch matches.
Finally, the toddler managed to grab onto one wing, but not before another boy had taken the other. There was a short tug of war, which ended with little Harry sitting on the floor looking bewildered.
The other boy scuttled from the room, dragging the Snitch behind him. Seeing this, a short witch with dark hair leapt from her seat and ran after him, shouting "Neville, Neville come back!"
Neville? thought Harry, amazed. He couldn't remember Neville ever having put up a fight for anything, and the little boy who had just run from the room didn't have the constant apologetic air about him that everyone associated with Neville Longbottom.
A large man let out a deep, throaty laugh. "That's Alice for you," he said. "One of the best Aurors in the country and a boy who's barely a year old has her wrapped round his little finger."
Lily nodded. "We're exactly the same with Harry. It doesn't help that he has the same adorable grin as James – I let those two get away with murder!"
Alice Longbottom returned carrying a repentant looking Neville. "Take him, will you Frank?" she said, handing him to his father. "Honestly, I think your mother is right sometimes – I am too soft with him."
Frank raised his hand to his mouth in mock surprise. "Did you just say…your mother is right?"
Before Alice could answer, the door to the dining room burst open. In the doorway stood two dark haired men.
Baby Harry, who until this point had been sitting where Neville had left him, let out a squeal of delight and proceeded to crawl towards the taller of the two men, shouting "Foo',foo'!"
Sirius picked Harry up and tickled him, making him chortle. "I hope he learns how to say Pad soon, I don't want to be Foot for the rest of my life!"
James came round from behind him, holding a long package. "Well it's better than Serious Sirius" he said.
Sirius grimaced at the sound of his first-year nickname.
"Where have you been James?" asked Lily, getting up to kiss him. Without answering, James waved the package in the air. Lily shook her head.
"I told you not to, he's too young," she said.
"I had to Lils, I couldn't resist it," he replied, grinning.
Putting the package down on the floor, James took his son from Sirius. Sitting with baby Harry in his lap, he helped the child rip the Quidditch wrapping paper from his latest present. Inside the package was a shiny, new toy broom.
As Harry moved forward to look at the broom, the room began to spin…
Once the room came to a standstill, Harry looked around. He was in a nursery. From the Winnie the Pooh frieze on the walls, Harry could tell that Lily's Muggle upbringing had greatly contributed to the decorating of her son's bedroom.
Lily was standing in the middle of the nursery, next to a large wooden cot, softly singing to baby Harry who was lying asleep.
Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly,
You can be queen.
"Surely that should be the other way round?" Lily turned round to see Remus Lupin standing in the doorway, smiling.
"Well, Harry likes it," said Lily, turning back to the cot. "I wish he could stay like this forever," she continued, gently stroking her baby's forehead.
"With everything that's going on and the moment, the war and…I just hope nothing happens to him." said Remus, looking sombre.
Lily moved away from the cot. "Nothing will ever happen to him Remus," she said firmly. "I wouldn't let it." She turned and looked Remus full in the face.
"I would die for him."
A/N Sorry for the delay but as promised this chapter is longer! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and I have sorted out the problems with chapter breaks and dialogue so hopefully this chapter is easier to read!