Chapter 6:

The Leaky Cauldron was more crowded than Harry had ever seen it, people laughing and joking around with their friends. With how many people there were Harry wondered how they would even find James's group of friends, but it seemed he didn't have to worry about it. Frank Longbottom (Neville's future father and fellow Auror recruit) was grinning as he stood on top of a table holding a sign proclaiming them the Potter party. How he knew when they arrived Harry would never know, but it was nice being able to actually get out for a night and not worry he was taking advantage of Hermione.

"Good evening my fair ladies and stinky gentleman, the true life of the party has arrived," Sirius joked as he pulled Harry along to meet their friends. "Oh and this is our newest victim, oh I mean friend of course. Mr. Harry Evans!"

Harry watched amused as everyone's eyes flit between him and Lily. Seeing the killing curse green eyes reflected in a completely different face. Lily herself looked thoughtful as she looked at Harry. He had seen her in the lift a few times as she headed down to the DOM, but they had never actually talked before today.

"Hi Lils, everyone. Oh I guess we should introduce you to everyone Harry," James sounded a lot more nervous then Harry had expected with how excited he had been to finally get Harry to come out for a pint with them. Although seeing the sheepish look he was sending Lily, Harry wondered if there truly was trouble in paradise.

"So Harry just follow where I point, unless if you're a genius with names, don't worry if you can't remember everyone tonight. So we have Lily Evans, Alice Fortescue Frank's fiancée, her brother Florean, Remus Lupin, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadows, Mary McDonald, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, and Martin McGonagall. Our other best friend Peter Pettigrew wasn't able to make it tonight."

Harry had never known that Florean Fortescue was a friend of his parents, that explained why the man had always given Harry free sundaes whenever he saw him. It had never made sense to Harry that it was because he was the Boy-Who-Lived because Florean had never given him the vibe that he was treating harry differently because of his fame. He also hadn't known that Florean was Neville's Uncle.

"Spitfire you never told us you had a secret brother," one of the Prewett twins joked looking Harry over. Luckily it seemed that none of James's friends had realized (or wanted to comment on) how much Harry looked like James.

"Sorry I don't have any biological siblings, just my magically adopted sister Hermione, my parents passed away when I was a year old." He obviously couldn't share everything about himself, but the best lies were always based in truth. It was a fine line he and Hermione had to walk to keep their secret.

"I can't think of any relatives on the family tree who had a son my age, must be quite a distant relation if we are related."

"How can you deny it Spitfire," the other Prewett twin said shaking his finger at her, "your eyes are just too unique to be a coincidence with the same last name."

"Not like we'd be able to figure it out today. Besides I thought we were here to forgot all of our worries for a night, not try to figure out random family trees," she said her eyebrow arched as she leaned into one of the Prewett twins. Hopefully Harry would be able to get to know them enough to be able to tell them apart in the future, he knew from Fred and George that they hated people not being able to tell them apart, they had only started switching who was who because no one ever got it right. No one other then Hermione and Lee at first anyway. Despite how much they antagonized Hermione it was clear that she was one of their favorite people. Fred would hate that Hermione was still blaming herself for not having enough knowledge to save his life.

"Good, well now that we're all here Tom has the big room upstairs set aside for us, he said he didn't want Sirius and James to cause a brawl again," Alice said a key in her hand.

Harry had known there were rooms to rent upstairs, but he didn't know that there were bigger rooms just for a group to hang out in. He was certain his face looked incredulous as he followed the rest of the group upstairs. It was another way that magic made spaces so much bigger than they appeared. It was kind of like a giant Common Room, but with a fully functional bar along the back wall. Plus a fireplace for their own private use, although since they all arrived downstairs Harry wondered if the fireplace was outgoing travellers only.

"Since it's your first time here Harry just to let you know the bar is completely magical, it will tally up our bill at the end of the night. It's usually me or Frank paying for everyone when we have our big get togethers so don't worry about having to pay your share. We can also order food from downstairs, but there are bags of crisp, peanuts, and chocolates in the cupboard beside the bar. Have you ever had magical alcohol before?" James whispered in Harry's ear probably so he could actually hear him over Sirius's rambunctious behavior, that or he didn't want to embarrass Harry by bringing up his lack of knowledge in front of everyone.

"Just the odd fire whiskey, never was really much of a drinker, I like to keep my wits about me." More because for him being drunk could make it more likely that he wouldn't make it out of the next fight he found himself in. Even after Voldemort had died some of his more ardent followers that hadn't been caught had tried multiple times to kill Harry, as if killing him would bring their Master back.

"You can just try what you want, but there is water if you decide you are done drinking for the night. Not even Sirius will mess with your drink if it's clearly labelled as water. Lily made sure he knew not to mess with water after he led to Marlene getting alcohol poisoning in our sixth year. He had spiked her water with merdka (a magical vodka), plus added a never empty charm on her glass and she drank more then she was expecting."

"Thanks."

"No problem, don't forget you were thanking me by the end of the night, oi everyone since it's Harry's first gathering what do you all say to truth or drink!" James practically shouted in Harry's ear; the one-eighty not what Harry had expected. Although now it made sense why James had told him to switch to water when he was done drinking for the night, he probably rightly assumed that Harry would drink more then he was used to if they were all playing a game.

"We should let Harry go first, but first a refresher of the rules, Sirius you should listen too since you always seem to forget them by the end of the night. First you can make sure anything you're uncomfortable with sharing is voiced, this way you aren't constantly drinking just to avoid one topic. Second no repeat questions to one person, you can of course ask someone else the same question as long as they haven't answered it tonight. Third this one is the big one Sirius; do not ask a question you were told the answer to in confidence! Fourth to make it fair there must be three people in between each individual, so the same person isn't constantly being bombarded with questions. Finally, do not drink more then your comfortable with, if you need to tap out say so, you can still listen to everyone else's answers and questions, you just won't be asked or get to ask any of your own."

Once everyone had agreed to the rules and had a drink in front of them Harry observed the people in front of him, wondering if he should go for the obvious and ask his mother something, or if he should work up to it. He was afraid that showing too much interest in his mother would draw unwanted attention on him. Yet he really wanted to be able to get to know her. Harry had already started to get to know his father through training, but this was his first meeting with his mother. He had so many questions, but many of them were things he would never get answers too.

Deciding it was best if he waited just in case he asked something he wasn't supposed to have knowledge of he decided to turn his attention towards Marlene. "Marlene technically not a question about you, but I doubt asking one of them will get me a straight answer, how do you guys tell the Prewett twins apart?"

"Well once you get to know them better, they drop their combined twin personality once in a while, but the main thing we use is a secret from them, James or Sirius will tell you later. We all vowed not to say it anywhere in their presence to keep them from trying to mess around with everyone, no matter how much they say they wouldn't use the knowledge to trick those in the know we all know it's a lie."

"Foul we say!" One of them shouted waving his glass in front of him like it was a flag, splashing James who was on the other side of the twin.

"We did answer his question and it's within the rules of not revealing something that's a sworn secret, even if the only ones the secret is from is you prats," Marlene said waving her wand and making the rest of his drink dump over the twin's head. "Also how many times must we ask Fabien that you not wave your drinks when you're sitting beside someone else, we've warned you that if one person is wearing your drink you'll be wearing some too."

Alright that was good to know, Fabien was beside James for now meaning Gideon was the one sitting across from his twin and on the other side of Sirius. Sirius had claimed the spot beside Harry with a grin stopping Harry with a sticking spell when Harry tried to move spots, only releasing the spell when the rough circle created by the couches and chairs was filled.

Fabien pouted as he cleaned both himself and James of the spilled alcohol refilling both of their glasses and placing his back in front of him. He didn't protest on getting his fire whiskey poured on his head, so it must happen quite frequently, no one else even batted on eye at the antics, if anything they all just looked a tad resigned as if they had been expecting it. Maybe that explained why Fabien had been shoved into the chair that was only close to one of the couches, James was the only one sitting close enough to be in the splash range.

Seeing that Fabien was going to behave Marlene got a contemplative look on her face, "you know it's a bit harder playing this game when we're doing it to try and get to know someone new well still not asking questions, we know the answers to. I guess Sirius why did you place a sticking spell on Harry when you sat beside him?" Despite her reasoning Harry doubted that she asked that just because she knew a ton about her friends. No he was fairly certain from the mischievous glint in her eyes that she had been planning to ask that very question from the start.

"It's quite simple Marls for some reason my charm doesn't work on dear Evans here, he's like Lils when James was trying to befriend her! Although not towards James overtures of friendship, he's only resistant to being friends with me, why it breaks my poor heart," Sirius said swooning so that his head hit Harry's shoulder and he was batting his eyes up at Harry.

"Get off you arse," he growled shoving Sirius off of him. Honestly the arse was going to give everyone the wrong idea about them!

"See he gets all snarly. My poor heart can't take it!"

Regarding the fact that Sirius was a drama queen most of the time, he actually did have a bit of a put off tone. It was hard to know whether it really did bug Sirius that Harry was able to open up to James and not Sirius. If for once Sirius was serious instead of doing his best to not ever be serious, then Harry wasn't exactly sure what he should do. He hadn't even had much to drink yet, and already his own thoughts weren't making a ton of sense even in his head.

"We all know Lily was resistant to James because he was both rude to Snape and constantly proposing to her back then. Comparing the two situations makes it sound like you might fancy Harry."

"Well too bad for you, you've already asked your question Marls, so now you'll have to sit and wonder unless if someone else decides to put you out of your misery. Now onto our dear Lily flower what is going on with you and Prongs, the both of you haven't once been sickenly sweet tonight. It's odd? Have you been replaced by clones or something?!"

Lily and James shared a small look that had everyone holding their breaths as they glanced between the two. With a small nod from James Lily took a fortifying breath before she spoke something that had Harry's heart stutter to a stop, "James and I broke up. At first it was just a break as we tried to find our footing with our new careers, but we decided two days ago that we didn't want to get back together. We just weren't really sure how to bring it up to everyone. Not after how long everyone here, barring Harry of course, was rooting for us to get together."

It was official his parents were done, he wondered if the ripples caused by him and Hermione coming back here had a hand in it, or if they had always broken up shortly after their graduation. It's not like Sirius and Remus had spoken about his parents much after they got together, and the war got bad. They could have just not told him about the blip in his parent's relationship before they got married.

Somehow though, just by observing the look that crossed between Lily and James, Harry doubted that they were going to get back together. Lily looked guilty, well James just looked resigned.

He had thought that he just wanted them to be happy even if it wasn't with each other. Yet it still stung a bit knowing that they were finished. It was like the universe was saying since he already existed in this time period his parents didn't need to be together. Even though it stung and made him question his own existence, he just hoped they could find happiness. They deserved having their happily ever after!

The silence between everyone else said they were just as unsure of what to say as Harry felt, although in everyone else's eyes this shouldn't affect him at all.

"Did we bring the mood down completely? Look I understand that this seems out of the blue to everyone, but it's something that's been coming for a long time. I just don't love James the way he deserves, even though no one asked and I don't have to explain I feel I should, James was never the only wizard in my heart. Despite the fact that Sev and I haven't been friends since the end of fifth year, I just couldn't move on from him, I still find myself looking for him after everything. It's terrible of me since he's clearly become a Death Eater, but I can't help how I feel.

"James deserves a witch who only see's him, who's top priority will be their relationship, not someone who keeps looking for someone who hates the very fabric of their being. Sev's made it clear that I'm a Mudblood in his eyes. Yet he was my first friend, the one who told me about magic, the one who held me when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. There's just too much history between us. I feel awful about it."

Knowing what he did about Severus Snape's love for Lily it hurt hearing that she had felt the same way. Harry wondered what kept Severus from begging for her forgiveness. Had he always meant to join the Death Eaters, even when they were friends? Had he maybe not shared the entire story with Harry when he was dying? Did Severus really on change sides when he knew for sure Lily would die? Severus had to have known that Lily would always be a target as the brightest witch of their generation, she was a symbol of everything the Death Eaters were against! A muggleborn who was more brilliant than the pureblood's who surrounded her.

"Lily you aren't a bad person for loving him, it just shows you have a large heart. I knew a man who regretted not turning things around with his best friend, the love of his life, she died before he could make things right. Look I didn't go to school with all of you, I don't know the history between you two, but what I do know is that sometimes things aren't what they seem. Maybe you did see him joining up with the Death Eaters, but there are very few people who aren't redeemable!

"Sometimes all that is needed is for someone to reach out a hand. To prove you still care. It's risky if he's not redeemable, it's risking your life, but you need to ask yourself is it worth it? Some people feel like they don't have a choice, they drown in the roles they've become expected to fulfill, just hoping for a life jacket."

Considering how in the end Snape kept risking his life as a spy just to repay Lily's memory Harry was certain that if Lily reached out Snape would join her. He'd be risking his life, but his love for Lily meant he'd risk it. He'd risk anything to have her back. Even if he thought she'd only reached out as just a friend.

Looking at Lily's friends, Harry expected them to be looking at him in anger for even suggesting it to Lily, but instead they all looked thoughtful. It seemed even they knew how much Snape loved her. Harry wondered if Lily knew as well or if she was just as oblivious as Hermione had been about Ron's feelings. Sometimes the most brilliant people missed things that were obvious to the people around them.

"Lily he's right, if you are the one to reach out Snape would be willing to leave it all behind. We always thought if you two remained friends he would have turned his back on those trying to recruit him. I'm sorry I was an arse to him, we should have never caused the rift between you. Leaving the Death Eaters will be almost impossible, it will be risky for him, but for you he'd do anything. He loves you Lily, he's loved you the entire time we knew both of you and if you love him too, we shouldn't keep you from him.

"We were rooting for you and James, yes, but we always wanted you to be happy. I'm sorry you felt that you couldn't talk to anyone about your feelings."

"Remus I don't blame any of you. It was my choice to not reach out to Sev after our fight, I was the one who decided he was unredeemable, that's on me. All you did was have a bit too big of a rivalry with someone you could see was a risk to your own best friends happiness."

It was funny how easily something could be changed. Harry knew it would still take a lot of work to fix things between them, but he also knew Snape would do anything in his power not to lose Lily again. Although to remain safe he and Lily would either have to go completely underground, or Snape would need to become a spy again. Use his skills to convince Voldemort that being friends with Lily again could lead to him becoming trusted by Dumbledore. It was all out of Harry's hands now, and he doubted that he'd find out how Snape had really gotten out of under Voldemort's thumb, if they did succeed.

Maybe this time love truly would conquer all.