Chapter 2-Catching Up With The Times
"Do you think we should add this to the collection?" asked Ginny with a smile on her face as she waved the article in front of her husbands face
"What collection?" asked Snape from Harry's other side before he had an opportunity to respond to his wife
"Oh, well, after Harry disappeared the first time, during his sixth year, Sirius and Remus started a collection of the articles that came out about him" explained Ginny as Harry banged his head repeatedly into the hard surface of the staff table, earning him several amused looks from the other professors and several students.
"I believe that we have a grand total of sixteen albums right now" added Remus smugly
"Seventeen" corrected Sirius in an offhand manner as he took another bite of his breakfast
"Oh, sorry, seventeen, I must have lost count" admitted Remus with mock embarrassment as he saw Harry bang his head into the table again
"I must say, Potter, that I never thought you would allow them to collect those articles. Do they keep your fan mail as well?" Snape asked with a smirk on his sallow face
"No, Ginny is kind enough to have all of that in a box in the attic, well, all but those who ask me to leave her and marry them instead, she burns those and sends a howler to the person who sent it" he answered with a smile, causing the potions master to break out into a fit of laughter.
"When do you have to go to the ministry?" asked Sirius once the laughter had died down enough to be heard
"Not until this weekend, Draco and Ron are handling things for now" answered Harry "Hermione, Ron said to tell you that he'd be here by dinner and that he was sorry he missed you this morning" he added to his best friend who smiled in response
"Good, I was probably in my classroom when he called through the fire, but I'm sure Jasmine would love to see him" she said as her eyes landed on the auburn haired fourth year at the Gryffindor table. Harry's gaze followed hers and he looked at the girl, noticing just how much she looked like both Ron and Hermione.
Her hair was red, but not the Weasley red, instead, it was much more subdued with brown high lights. Her face was a similar shape to Hermione's, but she had more freckles than even Ron. Personality wise, she was very studious, but her life didn't revolve around books like Hermione, and her position on the quidditch team as chaser showed that better than anything else, as did her own collection of prank items from the twins. His eyes then traveled to the girl sitting across from Jasmine and he felt his heart swell with pride at the mere sight of her, his daughter, Lily.
It was strange but she looked nothing like his own mother at first glance despite her name, except for her eyes. Her hair was tied back into a long braid and the darkest of black and perfectly straight, exactly like his own shoulder length hair which he had continued to keep long as well, but always tied back at the base of his neck, finding out that the unruliness wasn't present if it was long. Her complexion was similar to her mothers, pale with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. She was quite short for her age, but both of her parents had been as well, Harry not reaching his full height until his seventh year right after he received his full power.
She was very intelligent, picking up all aspects of magic quickly and able to grasp new concepts with ease, but she also had a mischievous streak in her as well, no doubt thanks to the influence of Remus and Sirius as well as her uncles, Fred and George. Her and Jasmine had been best friends since they were very young, despite the years difference in their age.
Both of his children had inherited the same emerald green eyes that he himself possessed, the eyes that every heir of Salazar Slytherin possessed.
Quickly, he shook that thought from his head. Ten years ago, that fact bothered him greatly, but now, he had learned to accept the truth, that he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin as well as Godric Gryffindor, a truth that not even his children were aware of. In fact, only himself, Ginny, Remus, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Snape, and Dumbledore were the only ones in the wizarding world who knew this, and he intended to keep it that way. Subconsciously, he began to finger the metal bands that still encircled both of his wrists, a symbol of his heritage along with the tattoo of the golden phoenix that adorned his left forearm, the symbol of his other ancestor.
He had worked hard to prevent his children from discovering their true heritage, and as far as he knew, they had never seen the bands adorning his wrists, or the tattoo on his arm, probably due to the fact that he always wore long sleeved robes to cover not only these, but his various scars he still possessed as well, in fact, his children weren't even aware of his ability to speak parseltongue, since his old pet Sherlock was free to roam the castle and only stopped by his office when he wanted to speak to his friend. He dreaded the day when something slipped to his children about his past, for he knew it would happen eventually, there was no way to keep it hidden forever, and he was worried about how they would react to the events that had occurred when he was younger. He wanted them to be able to live their lives as carefree as possible for as long as possible, and since he knew they would be forced to grow up quickly when they found out the truth in order to accept it, he was putting it off.
They were both incredibly intelligent and bound to discover the truth eventually, or at the very least, they would begin to ask questions of he and Ginny, and if they refused to tell the answers, Lily and James would begin asking others and sooner or later, something was bound to slip out, he could only hope it would be several years down the road. His children were already aware of some of the events that had occurred, there was no way to hide it from them when articles were appearing in the Daily Prophet about their father at least once a week, but they knew no more than the rest of the world, only concrete facts and half truths.
They knew that Harry had been a prisoner of the death eaters for three months, and that he had ended up there through his own magic, but they thought that Voldemort was defeated then when in truth it had taken a year and a half longer than that to actually defeat him. They also knew that their father had been thought dead by the hands of the death eaters when he had really been alive, but they didn't know that he was actually dead, and by the hands of their own mother, Harry's godfather, their aunt and uncle, their long deceased grandparents as well as Remus, Draco, and the headmaster, and he intended to keep these truths form them for as long as possible.
Shifting his eyes from his daughter, they landed on the image of his son. James had inherited Ginny's brilliant red hair and reminded him strongly of Ron at a younger age. He was tall and thin with a tan face, but he too had his fair share of freckles across his nose. He was not as studious as his sister, but he too was very accomplished in his magic, both having inherited their magical skills from their father, though no where near as strong, and their intelligence from their mother who was always one of the smartest witches in her class.
Their son was sitting next to his best friend, Dylan Malfoy, the son of Draco and his wife, Kristen, an auror under Harry's jurisdiction that Draco had met during his time at the academy. Dylan had the tell tale Malfoy looks with his silver blonde hair, but he was not nearly as pale as his father, inheriting his more tanned complexion from his mother.
It had come as a shock to most of the wizarding world when James was sorted into Slytherin, and several of the articles that Sirius had collected spoke of this, but Ginny and Harry had been only slightly surprised, seeing as their children were also heirs to Slytherin and Gryffindor, and if times had been different, they would have probably been disappointed by the sorting hats decision, but the world was at peace now and the only conflict that occurred between houses were on the quidditch pitch. In fact, members of both houses could be seen socializing with each other in the halls and at meal times, a welcome change from his own time at school. On the other hand, no one had been surprised by Dylan being sorted into his fathers house, even though his mother had been a Ravenclaw, it was one of the unwritten rules of the wizarding world, Malfoy's were always Slytherins.
As Harry continued to observe his children talking and laughing with their friends, he felt more proud and at peace than he had ever in his entire life. Everything was right now, as it should be, and his children were proof of this. They had grown up wandering the halls of Hogwarts during the school years, and during breaks, they lived in Black Manor with Sirius and his wife Arabella, his school time sweetheart whom he began a relationship with after Harry was free of Voldemort and the death eaters were destroyed. Harry had tried to buy his own house for himself and Ginny, but Sirius would hear nothing of it and insisted that he remain at Black Manor with his family, and later, Harry found out that his godfather was planning on leaving him the enormous home, seeing as he had no children of his own, and Arabella agreed whole heartedly with him on the matter, so Harry was powerless to refuse, and so, his summers were spent at the beautiful manor.
He had proposed to Ginny at her graduation ceremony from Hogwarts, and she instantly agreed to marry him, and during the spring of the following year, they were married, and one year later she gave birth to Lily and James. The summer following Ginny's graduation, Harry had been invited to join the defense department of the ministry as an auror, along with Ron and Draco, and after three grueling months at the academy, they completed their training and were all given jobs immediately. Harry had moved quickly through the ranks because of his vast experience with the dark arts and his infinite magical ability, and by the time the twins turned four, he was the head of the defense department, overseeing three hundred aurors and taking on the responsibility for the security of the entire wizarding population of Great Britain. Ron and Draco were immediately under him and often managed the day to day operations at the ministry so that he could continue to teach at Hogwarts. He had been given the defense against the dark arts position as soon as he was free of Voldemort, teaching at first only part time because of his auror duties, Remus and Sirius teaching the majority of lessons without him, but the term following his promotion, Hagrid retired and Remus offered to take on the care of magical creatures lessons, allowing Harry and Sirius to teach all of the defense lessons, and it had remained the same for the past seven years.
Ginny was offered the astronomy position when the twins were six, and she had readily agreed to take it. During her school years, she had never taken much of an interest in astronomy, but since she had begun to teach it, she had become infatuated with the night skies and could now interpret the alignment of the stars almost as well as a centaur. Hermione continued to teach charms classes, taking only a year off when Jasmine was born, and she was well liked among the students, but Sirius and Harry's lessons had the highest reputation for being the most exciting and most unpredictable of all, with no one knowing quite what to expect from the savior of the wizarding world and his ex-convict of a godfather. Many often wondered why Harry remained as a professor at the school when his job at the ministry and his inheritance from his parents provided more than enough money for the family, but his reason for remaining had nothing to do with money, his reasons were all in the room with him, his family and friends. If he weren't at the castle on a regular basis, he wouldn't have nearly as much time with those he held close, nor would he have an excuse to act like a teenager anymore.
Harry and Sirius were well known to prank each other during the middle of the lessons, but they didn't stop there, in fact, they had been known to prank their students or other members of the staff just to get a laugh, which their friends found amusing, but also relieving that Harry was able to live such a carefree life even after all he had been through. One of their favorites victims was none other than Severus Snape, who was still potions master and head of Slytherin house, but the ex-death eater wouldn't just stand by and allow himself to be humiliated, seeking every opportunity to take revenge on Sirius since no one had ever been able to play a prank on Harry, his magical ability preventing any undesired spells from hitting him, but that didn't stop Snape from trying.
Appearance wise, Harry had changed very little since he was eighteen. His face had become more mature, but he looked far from old despite the lightning bolt scar on his forehead and the long jagged scar stretching from his cheekbone to his jaw, which his children had never asked him about, instead learning the origins of the scars from Sirius at a young age, who cautioned them never to bring the subject up with their father. He was never seen without being dressed entirely in black, except for the cloak Ginny had given him so many years ago, which he wore during the winter months. He always had his sword and dagger tucked securely in his belt when he was on missions for the ministry, and his golden staff was always by his side, even when he was at the school.
"Harry, we had better get going, classes are about to start and we have first year Gryffindor first thing" said Sirius standing up.
"Ok" replied Harry as he got to his feet and placed a quick kiss on his wife "I'll see you later" he said as he followed his godfather away from the head table, walking between the tables belonging to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, talking quietly to each other about their lesson plans for the day, but their conversation was cut off abruptly by a voice.
"Dad! Uncle Sirius" called Lily and Harry and Sirius turned to face her
"Morning Lil's, Jasmine, what's up?" asked Harry as he gave his daughter a hug
"Good morning, dad" said Lily, returning the hug before she winked at her best friend, a action which didn't go unnoticed by the two men, but neither commented on it "We were wondering if you could take us into Hogesmede this afternoon" she replied sweetly
"Why do you need to go into the village?" asked Harry
"Well, James and Dylan told us about some new things that Uncle Fred and Uncle George came up with, and that they wanted us to test them for them" she answered, and upon hearing her words, Sirius broke into a wide smile
"Ah ha! I knew your daughter would turn into a prankster eventually!" he exclaimed as he slapped Harry on the back, and his godson only rolled his eyes at him
"No we're not!" exclaimed Jasmine indignantly "Dylan and James wanted us to get it for them!" she exclaimed, earning a stern look from her friend
"You weren't supposed to tell them that!" she hissed
"Since when have you tried to defend your brother?" asked Harry
"Since he promised to get her a huge birthday gift" answered Jasmine promptly, earning herself a glare from her best friend
"Thanks a lot, Jasmine" she hissed, causing Harry and Sirius to burst out laughing
"Well, I guess I could take you down this evening, after classes, but you have to promise to let me see this new invention so that I can be prepared" said Sirius before Harry had a chance to protest
"Padfoot!" exclaimed Harry "You aren't supposed to encourage them!" said Harry in mock sternness, although deep down he knew he could never refuse his daughters requests, but it seemed as though his words had gone unheard
"Thanks Sirius" said Lily happily as she gave him a tight hug
"Anything for you, Lily" said Sirius with a smile "Besides, I need to get a birthday gift for you and your brother" he added and after a quick goodbye, the two men continued on their way to their office
"What are you getting them?" asked Harry once they had closed the door behind themselves
"I'm not sure yet" admitted Sirius sheepishly as he pulled a stack of parchment toward himself to finish grading "Any ideas?" he asked hopefully
"Not at all, I haven't even gotten anything yet, I was planning on going to Diagon Alley while I was at the ministry this weekend" answered Harry as he took half of the essays for himself
"Well, what would a twelve year old, almost thirteen, want?" asked Sirius
"I'm not sure, when I was that age, I was more worried about escaping from an escaped convict whom everyone told me was trying to kill me" answered Harry with a grin on his face
"Ha ha, very funny" growled Sirius "It's not my fault that the ministry was made up of a bunch of bloody idiots when you were a kid"
"I know, I'm just trying to annoy you" answered Harry with a smirk on his face
"Well, you're doing a good job of it" muttered Sirius, which caused Harry to burst out laughing
"When is the twins party going to be?" asked Sirius once his godson had gotten his laughter back under control
"Two weeks from Saturday, is Arabella going to be able to make it?"
"She wouldn't miss it" replied Sirius promptly. His wife was often traveling the country because of her position as a member of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department, but had yet to miss any aspect of James and Lily's lives.
"Good, it would be great to see her again" said Harry with a smile
"No kidding, I haven't even seen her myself for two weeks now" answered Sirius with a note of sadness in his voice. Deciding it would be best to let the matter drop, Harry turned back to the essays to finish grading them, and Sirius did the same.
The next weeks passed quite quickly for all of the occupants of the castle, and before they knew it, it was the day of the party to celebrate the twins thirteenth birthday. When Harry awoke the morning of the party, with Ginny still sound asleep beside him, he couldn't help but think fondly of his life now. He had a beautiful wife, two wonderful kids, and was a very well respected member of the magical community. Life couldn't get much better than this he thought as he pulled Ginny closer.
Several hours later, the party was in full swing in the Three Broomsticks. Even though James and Lily were among the youngest students of their year, they were both very popular and well liked by the rest of their classmates, and their respective friends combined with their surrogate and actual family members made for a very large group. Sirius and Remus were both present, as well as Arabella, Draco, Kristen, Ron, Hermione, and many of the other Weasley's. Dumbledore had also decided to come and could currently be found sitting at a table with Harry, and despite the festive atmosphere, they both had tense expressions on their faces.
"I hate to be the bearer of such unhappy news on what is supposed to be a happy day, but I must warn you about something" began the old headmaster wearily
"What's the matter, sir?" asked Harry distractedly as he looked across the room where James and Lily had begun to open their gifts
"I have just received word that your children are in danger" he said bluntly and immediately, Harry's attention was riveted on the blue eyes of his old mentor.
"Do you think we should add this to the collection?" asked Ginny with a smile on her face as she waved the article in front of her husbands face
"What collection?" asked Snape from Harry's other side before he had an opportunity to respond to his wife
"Oh, well, after Harry disappeared the first time, during his sixth year, Sirius and Remus started a collection of the articles that came out about him" explained Ginny as Harry banged his head repeatedly into the hard surface of the staff table, earning him several amused looks from the other professors and several students.
"I believe that we have a grand total of sixteen albums right now" added Remus smugly
"Seventeen" corrected Sirius in an offhand manner as he took another bite of his breakfast
"Oh, sorry, seventeen, I must have lost count" admitted Remus with mock embarrassment as he saw Harry bang his head into the table again
"I must say, Potter, that I never thought you would allow them to collect those articles. Do they keep your fan mail as well?" Snape asked with a smirk on his sallow face
"No, Ginny is kind enough to have all of that in a box in the attic, well, all but those who ask me to leave her and marry them instead, she burns those and sends a howler to the person who sent it" he answered with a smile, causing the potions master to break out into a fit of laughter.
"When do you have to go to the ministry?" asked Sirius once the laughter had died down enough to be heard
"Not until this weekend, Draco and Ron are handling things for now" answered Harry "Hermione, Ron said to tell you that he'd be here by dinner and that he was sorry he missed you this morning" he added to his best friend who smiled in response
"Good, I was probably in my classroom when he called through the fire, but I'm sure Jasmine would love to see him" she said as her eyes landed on the auburn haired fourth year at the Gryffindor table. Harry's gaze followed hers and he looked at the girl, noticing just how much she looked like both Ron and Hermione.
Her hair was red, but not the Weasley red, instead, it was much more subdued with brown high lights. Her face was a similar shape to Hermione's, but she had more freckles than even Ron. Personality wise, she was very studious, but her life didn't revolve around books like Hermione, and her position on the quidditch team as chaser showed that better than anything else, as did her own collection of prank items from the twins. His eyes then traveled to the girl sitting across from Jasmine and he felt his heart swell with pride at the mere sight of her, his daughter, Lily.
It was strange but she looked nothing like his own mother at first glance despite her name, except for her eyes. Her hair was tied back into a long braid and the darkest of black and perfectly straight, exactly like his own shoulder length hair which he had continued to keep long as well, but always tied back at the base of his neck, finding out that the unruliness wasn't present if it was long. Her complexion was similar to her mothers, pale with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. She was quite short for her age, but both of her parents had been as well, Harry not reaching his full height until his seventh year right after he received his full power.
She was very intelligent, picking up all aspects of magic quickly and able to grasp new concepts with ease, but she also had a mischievous streak in her as well, no doubt thanks to the influence of Remus and Sirius as well as her uncles, Fred and George. Her and Jasmine had been best friends since they were very young, despite the years difference in their age.
Both of his children had inherited the same emerald green eyes that he himself possessed, the eyes that every heir of Salazar Slytherin possessed.
Quickly, he shook that thought from his head. Ten years ago, that fact bothered him greatly, but now, he had learned to accept the truth, that he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin as well as Godric Gryffindor, a truth that not even his children were aware of. In fact, only himself, Ginny, Remus, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Snape, and Dumbledore were the only ones in the wizarding world who knew this, and he intended to keep it that way. Subconsciously, he began to finger the metal bands that still encircled both of his wrists, a symbol of his heritage along with the tattoo of the golden phoenix that adorned his left forearm, the symbol of his other ancestor.
He had worked hard to prevent his children from discovering their true heritage, and as far as he knew, they had never seen the bands adorning his wrists, or the tattoo on his arm, probably due to the fact that he always wore long sleeved robes to cover not only these, but his various scars he still possessed as well, in fact, his children weren't even aware of his ability to speak parseltongue, since his old pet Sherlock was free to roam the castle and only stopped by his office when he wanted to speak to his friend. He dreaded the day when something slipped to his children about his past, for he knew it would happen eventually, there was no way to keep it hidden forever, and he was worried about how they would react to the events that had occurred when he was younger. He wanted them to be able to live their lives as carefree as possible for as long as possible, and since he knew they would be forced to grow up quickly when they found out the truth in order to accept it, he was putting it off.
They were both incredibly intelligent and bound to discover the truth eventually, or at the very least, they would begin to ask questions of he and Ginny, and if they refused to tell the answers, Lily and James would begin asking others and sooner or later, something was bound to slip out, he could only hope it would be several years down the road. His children were already aware of some of the events that had occurred, there was no way to hide it from them when articles were appearing in the Daily Prophet about their father at least once a week, but they knew no more than the rest of the world, only concrete facts and half truths.
They knew that Harry had been a prisoner of the death eaters for three months, and that he had ended up there through his own magic, but they thought that Voldemort was defeated then when in truth it had taken a year and a half longer than that to actually defeat him. They also knew that their father had been thought dead by the hands of the death eaters when he had really been alive, but they didn't know that he was actually dead, and by the hands of their own mother, Harry's godfather, their aunt and uncle, their long deceased grandparents as well as Remus, Draco, and the headmaster, and he intended to keep these truths form them for as long as possible.
Shifting his eyes from his daughter, they landed on the image of his son. James had inherited Ginny's brilliant red hair and reminded him strongly of Ron at a younger age. He was tall and thin with a tan face, but he too had his fair share of freckles across his nose. He was not as studious as his sister, but he too was very accomplished in his magic, both having inherited their magical skills from their father, though no where near as strong, and their intelligence from their mother who was always one of the smartest witches in her class.
Their son was sitting next to his best friend, Dylan Malfoy, the son of Draco and his wife, Kristen, an auror under Harry's jurisdiction that Draco had met during his time at the academy. Dylan had the tell tale Malfoy looks with his silver blonde hair, but he was not nearly as pale as his father, inheriting his more tanned complexion from his mother.
It had come as a shock to most of the wizarding world when James was sorted into Slytherin, and several of the articles that Sirius had collected spoke of this, but Ginny and Harry had been only slightly surprised, seeing as their children were also heirs to Slytherin and Gryffindor, and if times had been different, they would have probably been disappointed by the sorting hats decision, but the world was at peace now and the only conflict that occurred between houses were on the quidditch pitch. In fact, members of both houses could be seen socializing with each other in the halls and at meal times, a welcome change from his own time at school. On the other hand, no one had been surprised by Dylan being sorted into his fathers house, even though his mother had been a Ravenclaw, it was one of the unwritten rules of the wizarding world, Malfoy's were always Slytherins.
As Harry continued to observe his children talking and laughing with their friends, he felt more proud and at peace than he had ever in his entire life. Everything was right now, as it should be, and his children were proof of this. They had grown up wandering the halls of Hogwarts during the school years, and during breaks, they lived in Black Manor with Sirius and his wife Arabella, his school time sweetheart whom he began a relationship with after Harry was free of Voldemort and the death eaters were destroyed. Harry had tried to buy his own house for himself and Ginny, but Sirius would hear nothing of it and insisted that he remain at Black Manor with his family, and later, Harry found out that his godfather was planning on leaving him the enormous home, seeing as he had no children of his own, and Arabella agreed whole heartedly with him on the matter, so Harry was powerless to refuse, and so, his summers were spent at the beautiful manor.
He had proposed to Ginny at her graduation ceremony from Hogwarts, and she instantly agreed to marry him, and during the spring of the following year, they were married, and one year later she gave birth to Lily and James. The summer following Ginny's graduation, Harry had been invited to join the defense department of the ministry as an auror, along with Ron and Draco, and after three grueling months at the academy, they completed their training and were all given jobs immediately. Harry had moved quickly through the ranks because of his vast experience with the dark arts and his infinite magical ability, and by the time the twins turned four, he was the head of the defense department, overseeing three hundred aurors and taking on the responsibility for the security of the entire wizarding population of Great Britain. Ron and Draco were immediately under him and often managed the day to day operations at the ministry so that he could continue to teach at Hogwarts. He had been given the defense against the dark arts position as soon as he was free of Voldemort, teaching at first only part time because of his auror duties, Remus and Sirius teaching the majority of lessons without him, but the term following his promotion, Hagrid retired and Remus offered to take on the care of magical creatures lessons, allowing Harry and Sirius to teach all of the defense lessons, and it had remained the same for the past seven years.
Ginny was offered the astronomy position when the twins were six, and she had readily agreed to take it. During her school years, she had never taken much of an interest in astronomy, but since she had begun to teach it, she had become infatuated with the night skies and could now interpret the alignment of the stars almost as well as a centaur. Hermione continued to teach charms classes, taking only a year off when Jasmine was born, and she was well liked among the students, but Sirius and Harry's lessons had the highest reputation for being the most exciting and most unpredictable of all, with no one knowing quite what to expect from the savior of the wizarding world and his ex-convict of a godfather. Many often wondered why Harry remained as a professor at the school when his job at the ministry and his inheritance from his parents provided more than enough money for the family, but his reason for remaining had nothing to do with money, his reasons were all in the room with him, his family and friends. If he weren't at the castle on a regular basis, he wouldn't have nearly as much time with those he held close, nor would he have an excuse to act like a teenager anymore.
Harry and Sirius were well known to prank each other during the middle of the lessons, but they didn't stop there, in fact, they had been known to prank their students or other members of the staff just to get a laugh, which their friends found amusing, but also relieving that Harry was able to live such a carefree life even after all he had been through. One of their favorites victims was none other than Severus Snape, who was still potions master and head of Slytherin house, but the ex-death eater wouldn't just stand by and allow himself to be humiliated, seeking every opportunity to take revenge on Sirius since no one had ever been able to play a prank on Harry, his magical ability preventing any undesired spells from hitting him, but that didn't stop Snape from trying.
Appearance wise, Harry had changed very little since he was eighteen. His face had become more mature, but he looked far from old despite the lightning bolt scar on his forehead and the long jagged scar stretching from his cheekbone to his jaw, which his children had never asked him about, instead learning the origins of the scars from Sirius at a young age, who cautioned them never to bring the subject up with their father. He was never seen without being dressed entirely in black, except for the cloak Ginny had given him so many years ago, which he wore during the winter months. He always had his sword and dagger tucked securely in his belt when he was on missions for the ministry, and his golden staff was always by his side, even when he was at the school.
"Harry, we had better get going, classes are about to start and we have first year Gryffindor first thing" said Sirius standing up.
"Ok" replied Harry as he got to his feet and placed a quick kiss on his wife "I'll see you later" he said as he followed his godfather away from the head table, walking between the tables belonging to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, talking quietly to each other about their lesson plans for the day, but their conversation was cut off abruptly by a voice.
"Dad! Uncle Sirius" called Lily and Harry and Sirius turned to face her
"Morning Lil's, Jasmine, what's up?" asked Harry as he gave his daughter a hug
"Good morning, dad" said Lily, returning the hug before she winked at her best friend, a action which didn't go unnoticed by the two men, but neither commented on it "We were wondering if you could take us into Hogesmede this afternoon" she replied sweetly
"Why do you need to go into the village?" asked Harry
"Well, James and Dylan told us about some new things that Uncle Fred and Uncle George came up with, and that they wanted us to test them for them" she answered, and upon hearing her words, Sirius broke into a wide smile
"Ah ha! I knew your daughter would turn into a prankster eventually!" he exclaimed as he slapped Harry on the back, and his godson only rolled his eyes at him
"No we're not!" exclaimed Jasmine indignantly "Dylan and James wanted us to get it for them!" she exclaimed, earning a stern look from her friend
"You weren't supposed to tell them that!" she hissed
"Since when have you tried to defend your brother?" asked Harry
"Since he promised to get her a huge birthday gift" answered Jasmine promptly, earning herself a glare from her best friend
"Thanks a lot, Jasmine" she hissed, causing Harry and Sirius to burst out laughing
"Well, I guess I could take you down this evening, after classes, but you have to promise to let me see this new invention so that I can be prepared" said Sirius before Harry had a chance to protest
"Padfoot!" exclaimed Harry "You aren't supposed to encourage them!" said Harry in mock sternness, although deep down he knew he could never refuse his daughters requests, but it seemed as though his words had gone unheard
"Thanks Sirius" said Lily happily as she gave him a tight hug
"Anything for you, Lily" said Sirius with a smile "Besides, I need to get a birthday gift for you and your brother" he added and after a quick goodbye, the two men continued on their way to their office
"What are you getting them?" asked Harry once they had closed the door behind themselves
"I'm not sure yet" admitted Sirius sheepishly as he pulled a stack of parchment toward himself to finish grading "Any ideas?" he asked hopefully
"Not at all, I haven't even gotten anything yet, I was planning on going to Diagon Alley while I was at the ministry this weekend" answered Harry as he took half of the essays for himself
"Well, what would a twelve year old, almost thirteen, want?" asked Sirius
"I'm not sure, when I was that age, I was more worried about escaping from an escaped convict whom everyone told me was trying to kill me" answered Harry with a grin on his face
"Ha ha, very funny" growled Sirius "It's not my fault that the ministry was made up of a bunch of bloody idiots when you were a kid"
"I know, I'm just trying to annoy you" answered Harry with a smirk on his face
"Well, you're doing a good job of it" muttered Sirius, which caused Harry to burst out laughing
"When is the twins party going to be?" asked Sirius once his godson had gotten his laughter back under control
"Two weeks from Saturday, is Arabella going to be able to make it?"
"She wouldn't miss it" replied Sirius promptly. His wife was often traveling the country because of her position as a member of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department, but had yet to miss any aspect of James and Lily's lives.
"Good, it would be great to see her again" said Harry with a smile
"No kidding, I haven't even seen her myself for two weeks now" answered Sirius with a note of sadness in his voice. Deciding it would be best to let the matter drop, Harry turned back to the essays to finish grading them, and Sirius did the same.
The next weeks passed quite quickly for all of the occupants of the castle, and before they knew it, it was the day of the party to celebrate the twins thirteenth birthday. When Harry awoke the morning of the party, with Ginny still sound asleep beside him, he couldn't help but think fondly of his life now. He had a beautiful wife, two wonderful kids, and was a very well respected member of the magical community. Life couldn't get much better than this he thought as he pulled Ginny closer.
Several hours later, the party was in full swing in the Three Broomsticks. Even though James and Lily were among the youngest students of their year, they were both very popular and well liked by the rest of their classmates, and their respective friends combined with their surrogate and actual family members made for a very large group. Sirius and Remus were both present, as well as Arabella, Draco, Kristen, Ron, Hermione, and many of the other Weasley's. Dumbledore had also decided to come and could currently be found sitting at a table with Harry, and despite the festive atmosphere, they both had tense expressions on their faces.
"I hate to be the bearer of such unhappy news on what is supposed to be a happy day, but I must warn you about something" began the old headmaster wearily
"What's the matter, sir?" asked Harry distractedly as he looked across the room where James and Lily had begun to open their gifts
"I have just received word that your children are in danger" he said bluntly and immediately, Harry's attention was riveted on the blue eyes of his old mentor.