CHAPTER 10 Exploring the New Home
Harry's eyes lit up as he gazed upon the cottage his parents lived in. It was perfect for a small family just starting out. The lawn was a dark shade of green. Flowers of all sorts, embedded the freshly cut lawn. A small apple tree was in the center of the lawn, showing off the beautifully shaped apples that had just magically grown.
The house itself looked small. It was a light shade of tan with white shutters. The large windows that were in front of the house were clean but not overly clean like the Dursleys'.
The teens followed up the freshly cemented path that stopped at the large, oak, front door. There was a brass knocker shaped like a stag above the small peephole.
Harry took a deep breathe in nervousness. He reached for the brass doorknob when Ginny grabbed his wrist.
"Harry, I know you really want to go inside and see how your parents lived. I understand that, but, being in there could bring back horrible, painful memories. Are you sure you're ready?"
Harry looked into Ginny's chocolate-colored eyes. He understood where she was coming from and he was asking the same question to himself. Was he ready? He didn't know. But it was now or never. Besides, he wasn't in Gryffindor for nothing.
"I know this will be tough but this is something that I have to do. I can't keep putting this off."
Ginny nodded and let go of his wrist. Harry grabbed for the doorknob once again, but this time he actually got to turn it. Ginny reached for Harry's spare hand as he pushed open the heavy door. From one quick peek at the inside of the cottage, you could tell that it was at least five times bigger on the inside than the out.
The first thing they saw as they entered the cottage was a large living room. There were two tan, leather couches in the center of the room that faced a forty inch television.
The walls were a light pink that matched the elegant curtains that were letting the bright sun, shine through the windows. The walls held various pictures of the small family and their close friends.
There was a moving picture of James and Lily kissing at the alter. Lily was wearing a beautiful, strapless wedding dress that showed every one of her beautiful curves. It sparkled as she leaned to passionately kiss her lover. James was wearing emerald green dress robes that. His face formed a grin right before he grabbed his bride and kissed her back. Sirius, who was wearing navy blue dress robes, gave a thumbs up and wiped the few tears coming down his eyes, as he saw his best mate kissing the girl of his dreams.
This picture reminded him on his and Ginny's relationship. Both couples were very young and hesitated to be together. Their feelings for each other were always were there, but they didn't notice it. Both James and Ginny had wanted to be with their crush but Lily and Harry had not wanted or though about it. Maybe he and Ginny were more like his parents than he thought.
Lily and Ginny looked as if they could pass for sisters. They were identical, except for the eyes. It was rather amazing, if you thought about it. People always told Harry he acted and looked just like James. But he never expected to have the same taste in girls. It was kind of cool. Harry shook out his thoughts and moved to the next picture.
There was a picture of the four Marauders pushing each other and laughing. They looked about seventeen. James and Sirius seemed like the only ones who were doing the pushing. Moony just fell to the ground, laughing and pretend to scold his two mates. Even pathetic, little Peter seemed to be smiling and having fun. Who knew fours later that one of them would be dead, one would be the traitor who was partially responsible for their death, one would be sent to Azkaban for being framed as the traitor, and the last one would be miserable as he had just lost all of his best friends on the same night.
There was a picture of the Marauders and Lily in black graduation dress robes and throwing their caps high in the air. Lily's emerald eyes were twinkling and James had a wide smile as he attempted to steal a kiss from her. He failed horribly and ended up on the ground as Lily jumped out of the way just in the nick of time. Sirius, Moony, and Peter were laughing hysterically at James and they tried to mimicking him. James scowled playfully and brought Sirius in a headlock, who fought will all force to get out.
The next picture, Lily was in a strapless, slender, black dress that revealed a lot of cleavage. She was sitting in what seemed like a very fancy restaurant. James was on one knee and opened a small, black box. A 5 carrot diamond ring was reveled. There was one large diamond in the middle with three smaller ones on each side of it. The ring was a Potter family heirloom. Lily's eyes started to water and she jumped out of her chair and into James's arms. James slipped on the beautiful ring and Lily jumped up and down in excitement.
There was a particular picture that caught Harry's eye. His mother was lying in a hospital bed and the Healer was handing her a small buddle wrapped in light blue blankets. It was a baby. Both his mother and father were crying hysterically as the small child moved around in Lily's arms. The young baby opened his small eyes revealing the emerald color his mother had passed on to him. Lily brought the baby closer to her chest as James brought Lily into a closer embrace.
Harry's eyes were beginning to form tears and his heart began to crack. By the picture, he could tell he had once been loved. How could he had ever doubted that his parents loved him? Ginny looked at the picture and smiled at her boyfriend. She kissed his cheek and leaned on his shoulder. It was a beautiful sight to see a young couple so thrilled about the new life they had brought into life.
After a few more minutes of gazing at the picture they decided it was time to look at some more.
There was a picture with James and Sirius putting Harry on a broomstick. They were supporting him as he laughed loudly. Lily was in the corner scolding them loudly, by the looks of it. "Guess I had no choice about becoming a Quidditch player," thought Harry.
There was a picture of James and Sirius when they looked like first years. They were laughing hysterically as they waved. There was one of Lily, James, and Sirius graduating Auror Academy. There was one of Harry's first birthday party. Harry had just stuffed his face into the cake and all the adults around him were laughing.
There was one with the true Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs on a full moon. There was a picture of Sirius taking Harry out on his motorbike and one of Remus and Harry sleeping on the couch, peacefully.
But what caught his attention the most was a large, empty, golden frame. It was beautiful. It looked as if a portrait belonged in their, but where was it. Harry decided not to spend too much time wondering about this and turned his attention elsewhere.
In the right corner there was a small playpen. Curiosity got the better of Harry and he wondered off to the corner. Inside there was toys of all sorts, including a toy snitch and a stuffed Quaffle. But two stuffed animals in the center playpen caught his attention. There was a large, black, stuffed dog and a beautiful, white stag with golden hooves. "Only my dad and Sirius," thought Harry as a small laugh came out.
After spending about thirty minutes exploring the, the gang walked down the hallway. The peach hallway was also had pictures on the walls. They were all different pictures of Harry doing various things with his family. There was one of James attempting to change one of Harry's nappies. Harry found it funny to tease his father and pulled off his glasses.
There was on of Lily giving Harry his bath, who seemed to enjoy splashing her with the warm water. Lily just smiled as her only son got her flaming, red hair wet. There was one of the small family at the beach, sitting near the water. James was gently splashing the few month old baby with the cold water. He was giggling as the cool water hit his face and attempted to reach the salt water and hit his father back. There were pictures of him being fed, sleeping, playing with his family, and much more. His sonogram was even hanging on the wall. In Harry's eyes, all these pictures made up for the lack of pictures at the Dursleys'.
Harry decided they could examine the pictures another time as they entered the first door on the right. They pushed opened the door, revealing a rather large kitchen. It was designed in a Muglgle fashion. There were Muggle appliances, like a microwave and toaster, scattered throughout the room. On the mint green counter, there was a light blue cookie jar on the, just begging to be opened.
As if on cue, Ron's stomach began to growl louder than it had earlier. He was really hungry, since the four of them had to miss breakfast in order to wake up and get out of the house before Mrs. Weasley could. Just then, three more hunger growls could be heard, signing that it was time they had something to eat.
"Do think the food in the fridge would be rotten by now?" asked Ron stupidly.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Boys," she thought. "Could they get any dumber? But you got to love them."
"Yes," replied Hermione. "We need to find a cookbook. It should have some food conjuring spells in there."
Hermione was about to start searching the kitchen, when she noticed the other three were just standing there, giving her an odd look. "Come on guys. We need to find a cookbook if you want to eat."
"Hermione, have you forgotten that you're a witch?" asked Ron. "You could just call the cookbook over."
"I knew that," she replied, not willing to admit she did forget. After five summers of not being allowed to magic outside of school seems to stick with you. "Accio Cookbook."
After a few short minutes, large, red cookbook flew into the room and landed in Hermione's hands. "See I found it," she replied to Ron in a snot-nosed way.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't have if I didn't say anything," mumbled Ron.
"Yes I would of."
"No you wouldn't have."
"Yes I would of."
"No I wouldn't of."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"SHUT UP!" yelled Ginny. Both Ron and Hermione turned to her, shocked at her sudden outburst. They rarely ever heard her yell. "I'm sick and tired of two constant bickering. We have the cookbook and I'm hungry, so can you two stop fighting for two seconds and can we please just make lunch."
"Fine," replied Ron angrily. Hunger and an argument with both Hermione and Ginny, was not a good combination.
Hermione propped open the book and began searching the Table of Contents. "How about some Shepard's Pie?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, fine," replied Ron bitterly.
Hermione took out a large pan and flipped to page 219. She pointed Vine wood with a dragon heartstring core wand at the iron pan.
"Shepherd's Frustum!"
Then an extremely large portion of mouth-watering Shepherd's Pie, appeared in the pan. The cheddar cheese that laid on top, melted through all the five, thick layers underneath it. The aroma from the freshly cooked beef, filled the air.
Ron's mouth dropped. This Shepherd's Pie smelt even better than the one his mum made. Never in his lifetime, did he ever think he would meet a better chief than his mother. Yet, the one person his is better, has been his friend for almost seven years.
Harry and Ginny were also thinking around the same lines as Ron. They never would have guessed Hermione would have any culinary skills. She always seemed like the type of person who could read and study cooking, but never make it. But, you learn new things everyday.
Hermione flipped through the pages in the book trying to find beverages. She didn't even realize that everyone was staring at her in astonishment. Hermione had never knew she had any special talents in cooking. She found herself average and nothing else. Humble was a word that was used to describe Hermione occasionally, usually she brought her own achievements out herself.
Hermione took out four large glasses from the white cabinets. She rinsed them off and pointed to the first glass. "Artolaganus Excio!"
Then, a chocolaty substance came out of her wand and filled the glass. She repeated the process three more times to fill the other glasses with the drink. The chocolate shake was creamy and freezing cold. It was a nice contrast to the steaming hot pie.
The others were still staring at her, still wondering the same question. Where did she learn to cook?
By now, Hermione had turned toward them. Their looks of stupidity made her crack up laughing. Hermione put her head in the book trying to hind her face from the others.
"What's so funny?" asked Ginny, not sensing any humor but knew what she was laughing at. Hermione's face was cherry red and she just stared up at her.
"Your…. faces. You're ….staring at….me like…. I'm from …..another….. planet," replied Hermione while fits of laughter. She took a deep breathe and calmed herself down. Her face turned back to its normal shade of a light tan.
"Okay. I'm fine now. Now why you guys did looked so stupid?"
"Do you know how good your food smells?" asked Ron.
"Yeah, it smells alright."
"Alright! You've got to be kidding me Hermione?" exclaimed Harry.
"It smells great!" replied Ginny.
"I guess it smells alright. Nothing super."
"Nothing super! You've got to be joking?" responded Ron with a sound of amazement. This was not the I-Can- Do- Everything Hermione he knew.
"I've never cooked before. It can't be that good. The smell is probably better than the taste."
"Hermione….." started Ron.
"Well, let's eat it and find out," interrupted Harry before the two could get another pointless argument started. He was hungry and the delectable food was making him hungrier by the second. Having another argument would mean waiting longer and Harry wasn't in the mood.
Hermione nodded and levitated the food and beverages onto the large table in the right side of the room. The red mahogany table was a magical table which would expand or contract, depending the amount of people wanting to eat at the table.
Above the table was another gold frame. "Merlin, how many of these stupid frames are there in this house?" thought Harry.
But as he took a large bite of the Shepherd's Pie that was just put on his plate, he totally forgot about it and concentrated on the food in front of him.
For once, Hermione was wrong. The food not only smelt great, it tasted great. In fact, the taste was even better than the smell. Everyone had a least three helpings of the pie. Even though they had so much, they weren't stuffed. If only, Hermione had made more.
Not only did the creamy cheese melt through the other layers, it melted in your mouth. The mashed potatoes were smooth. They slid down was ease. The beef was not overcooked or undercooked. It was just perfect; there is no other word to describe it. The three layers of vegetables were steamed to perfect. They were soft but not soft enough to get the taste of hot water in your mouth.
Even the chocolate shakes were spectacular. There was a perfect amount of chocolate ice cream to leave you not wanting to want more and to you leave you desperately for more. The smooth and creamy liquid slide down your throat with ease and left the taste of sugar in your mouth. Lunch was a huge success for Hermione.
Hermione was very surprised. She not only learned that she could cook, but she learned that people could actually like something she cooked. When she was younger, she was always afraid that she would poison everybody with the cookies she made in her Easy Bake Oven. Even as a young child, Hermione never wanted anyone to know that she could make mistakes.
"See Hermione, that was great," boasted Ron.
"Yeah it was really good," replied Harry.
"It was one of the best lunches I've ever had," exclaimed Ginny.
"Yeah, I guess it was really good," admitted Hermione.
"Why are so down on your cooking?" asked Ron.
Hermione shrugged. In honesty, she had no idea. Maybe it was just she never expected to be a good cook. Maybe it was she just didn't care for cooking much. Whatever the reason was, she didn't care about it much.
"Well, shall we continue our tour of Potter Mansion?" suggested Ginny.
The others nodded and put the dirty dishes in the sink. They decided they would find a housework spell book later on. Exploring the house was more of priority than cleaning dishes. Besides, with magic it would be a lot quicker to do the dishes.
They walked across the hall and enter the first room. It was a gigantic library, filled with hundreds of thousands of books. Books about Potions, Herbology, Defenses, and much more filled the shelves. There were Muggle fiction novels and fairytales. Charms and Transfiguration were on the far left while Dark Arts, Occlumency, and History books were on the right. Divination, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy books were scattered throughout the room. Quidditch, Housework, and Cooking books were near the large sitting area just waiting to be opened.
Hermione's eyes went wide. She was given the privilege to read books from a library this magnificent. Almost every book, Muggle and Magical, from the past few centuries had to be in this very room. Hermione Jane Granger was now more excited about the Potter Library than a young child going to Disney World for the first time.
"Oh my God!" yelled Hermione. "This has to be bigger than the Hogwarts library." She started running down the aisles and glancing at the titles. This was too much for her to handle.
Harry shrugged at Ron and Ginny. But he decided that he should run after Hermione and he did. Ron and Ginny followed him and tried to keep up with him. But Harry had a little too much experience with Harry Hunting, and was a lot faster than the Weasley children.
After a few minutes of running up and down the large aisles, Harry had finally found his over-excited friend. She was sitting on the ground with a few random books surrounding her. Hermione seemed not to notice Harry was even there.
"Are you okay Hermione?" asked Harry. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this." At last, an exhausted Ron and Ginny had arrived, huffing and puffing. They could barely breathe. Its not they weren't in good shape, but when you're trying to keep up with a guy who can run ten miles an hour, you tend to be more tired than you would if you were going on a small jog.
"I'm just fine, thank you," responded Hermione with a bit of laughter in her voice. "I'm just so excited! Do you know how much help this will be? This library must have every spell known to wizard kind in here. Not only that, it must have all the information about horcruxes imaginable."
"Wait, what are horcruxes?" asked Ginny confused. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other in unison. Should they tell Ginny? Harry promised Dumbledore he wouldn't tell anyone but Ron and Hermione. Should he break Dumbledore's trust?
But in the same respect, Dumbledore would want him too. He and Ginny loved each other and hid nothing from each other. Dumbledore had told Harry that he could love which would cause Voldemort's downfall. Harry could trust Ginny; he knew she would never betray him.
Harry looked at his two best friends and nodded. They were going to tell Ginny exactly what kind of bastard Voldemort was.
"Ginny, let's take a seat and then we'll explain everything," said Harry as he pointed at the two blue couches and the two matching armchairs in the corner of the room near the large fireplace. Ginny with a nervous look on her face followed Harry and sat down next to him. She knew what he was going to tell her wasn't going to be pretty.
"Gin, this is a very long and confusing story, so I need you to stay quiet and we'll answer your questions when I'm done." Ginny nodded, now knowing this was defiantly not good.
Harry first started by telling her about the prophecy that they had found at the Department of Mysteries. He told her what how Snape overheard it and told his 'Master' right away, without hearing the rest. He told her Dumbledore was always present because he was having a job interview with this Seer, who just happened to be Sibyll Trelawney. Ginny actually snorted at this fact, hardly believing her ex-teacher could actually predict something.
Then he told her what the prophecy had said. Surprisingly, Ginny didn't seem shocked at the fact that Harry had to kill Voldemort or be killed by him. It just fit. Harry ridding the world of Voldemort. Even though she didn't show it, Ginny was very nervous it would be the other way around.
Telling her the prophecy was the easy part. Now, Harry had to tell Ginny all about their mission to destroy the horcruxes. He told her about Dumbledore's lessons and Voldemort's past. He told her about why he could come back the night they were in the grave yard. How he split his soul into seven different pieces and how they were hidden in various objects. One of them being the diary she had befriended in her first year. Her face went a ghostly white at this news.
"That bastard! I actually considered a friend. A FRIEND! How could I be so stupid? I'm just so disgusted with myself!"
Ginny burst into tears and put her head into Harry's chest. She knew after a while the diary was bad, but she never knew how bad. She could have brought Voldemort back as well as killed herself in the process.
Harry held her tightly. He knew she would react this way. Harry didn't blame her either. He after all had felt a lot of guilt in his short life. But he still hated to see his girlfriend like this. It broke his heart.
"It's okay Ginny," comforted Harry. "If it wasn't for you, Dumbledore might have never figured out about the horcruxes and Voldemort would have kept coming back over and over again, if he even died. Because of you, we can finally send Voldemort to Hell, where he belongs."
Ginny lifted up her head. She hadn't thought about it like that. It still hurt her that she befriended Voldemort and trusted him with her life, even though he was a diary that could respond. Maybe not listening to your parents could pay off sometimes.
Ginny dried her tears. She felt ashamed that she was crying in front of everyone, but they didn't care. They seemed understanding and compassionate. The three of them obviously did not blame her, the slightest.
"So what are the other horcruxes?" asked Ginny trying to get her mind off the diary.
"Well there is his snake, Nagini. There is also Slytherin's locket, something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's, Marvolo's ring, Hufflepuff's cup, and lastly him. But the dairy and the ring have already been destroyed."
"So we've got a lot of work ahead of us." It wasn't a question; it was a statement.
"Yeah." Ginny sighed and put her head on Harry's shoulders. This little adventure was going to take a long time; longer than she had expected. Ginny didn't know if she could be away from her parents that long without them either finding them or them going back to them, feeling extremely guilty. The four of them took guilt very easily.
"I think we should continue with the tour," interrupted Ron as he saw his little sister and his best mate getting a little too comfy. "Hermione might start reading again and we may never see her." Hermione elbowed him in the stomach.
"Oww! What the bloody hell was that for?"
"For being rude. My research has gotten us out of a lot of scraps. You have no reason to insult me for doing that."
"I didn't."
"Yes you did."
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did."
"No I didn't."
Ginny and Harry tried to sneak out of the room as quietly as possible. They succeeded.
"Do they always have to argue like that?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah. They like each other and they just won't admit it."
"I know. I mean, Hermione tried to tell Ron she liked but he ran out of the room before she had a chance."
"He's just scared of what might happen."
"What do you mean?"
"Ron only dated Lavender because Hermione told him that she kissed Viktor."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but he's too stubborn to admitted it."
"You're telling me."
They opened the next door on the left side. It was a guest bedroom. The room was painted a dark blue which matched the comforters on the queen-sized bed that was in the middle of the room. The dresser held small seashells and toy sea animals. Above the dresser there was a large clock with fish swimming about and another empty, gold frame. The carpet was a yellow and looked just like sand. In fact, the whole looked just like a beach.
So far, there seemed no sign that Ron and Hermione had stopped fighting or even notice that Ginny and Harry had left the room. Harry liked it better this way. Exploring the house with his two best mates and his best girl was great and all, but just wondering about the house with his hot girlfriend was even better.
They had found two more guest bedrooms identical to the first, across the hall. There were also two large bathrooms on both sides of the hall.
They were standing outside the fourth door on the left. Harry and Ginny were very curios what could be in there. On the opposite side of the wall was a set of stairs, so they figured it couldn't be another bedroom. To the left of them, there was a door leading to the backyard where a swing set and a Quidditch pitch was. So what could possibly be in this room?
As they entered, they found it was a large playroom. There was a baby swing, blocks, stuffed animals, and many other things that babies play with. There was a small playpen for younger babies. There were plastic Quidditch rings with a small, soft Quaffle next to it. Two small, stuffed Bludgers were enchanted to fly around the rings and attacked the person trying to make a goal.
There were large plastic cars on top a little mat that looked like a road, in the corner of the room. The cars were moving and making quiet honking noises as they moved across the mat. Quidditch posters of different teams were hanging on the red walls. But one other thing was hanging on the wall; another gold frame.
"Ahh," said Ginny. "This is so cute!"
"Yeah it is," replied Harry in some sort of daze.
"It's perfect for children."
"Yeah, it is."
"Harry is something wrong?" asked Ginny. Harry seemed so distracted. He should be happy that he is seeing the old house, but by the looks he wasn't.
Harry came out of his daze. "Gin, look at the gold frame." She turned to look at what was bothering her boyfriend. Ginny figured something horrible must have been in there, but there was nothing.
"Harry, it's just a plain frame."
"No it's not. It was in almost every room we've been in. There's something odd about it."
"Maybe your parents just wanted to get a portrait done or something, but they were killed before they could put it up," suggested Ginny.
Harry knew she was trying to calm his nerves, but he really didn't buy this story. Bui, for Ginny's sake he would ignore the frames and just concentrate on the house. He knew what he was worrying about was stupid and that he was being paranoid. But he couldn't help but wonder.
They had just exited the room when Ron and Hermione had finally caught up to them.
"Why didn't you guys wait for us?" asked an angry Ron.
"Yeah, what posed you to leave us alone?" added Hermione.
"You two were arguing and we wanted to explore the house," explained Ginny. "We wanted to go but you two just kept bickering so we left."
"You could have told us you were leaving and we would have followed you," responded Ron.
"Well, when you fight with Hermione there's practically no way to break you two apart," retorted Ginny.
"Can we please just continue exploring?" asked Harry, trying to avoid another fight. "Let's take a look upstairs."
Reluctantly, Ron and Ginny stopped arguing and followed Harry and Hermione up the stairs. The first thing they saw as the reached the top step was a sign on the first right hand door.
WARNING! PADFOOT'S BEDROOM ENTER AT OWN RISK
Enter at own risk was right. The room was filthy. Clothes were on the floor, the bed wasn't made and the sheets were twisted together. The room smelled like rotten fish and alcohol. There were cobwebs in the corners. Mold was growing on the old sandwich on top of the dresser. The dusty clock, which was next to another gold frame, wasn't working properly and just stood at the time 10:31.
But Harry didn't notice the frame. Instead he was looking at the thing next to the disgusting sandwich on the dresser. There was a picture in a gold frame. Harry walked toward the dresser and picked it up.
Sirius was at the hospital. Lily and James were sitting on top of covers of the small hospital bed. Lily was handing a very small bundle of blankets to Sirius, who took it very happily. His eyes filled with tears as he looked at the tiny child.
If the picture could talk, Harry would know what scene this was. It was when his mum and dad were asking Sirius to be Harry's godfather. It was the day that James and Lily Potter were asking them to take care of Harry to the best of his abilities if something to them. In Harry's opinion, Sirius did the best god damned job. Harry couldn't think of anyone who could do a better job, even if he did miss most of Harry's life.
Harry's heart started to break. He missed his godfather dearly. Even though everyone had told him it wasn't his fault that Sirius had died, Harry didn't believe it. Whose fault was it that Harry wouldn't study Occlumency? Harry's. Who believed the dream was real, even though his friends didn't think it was? Harry. Whose fault was it that Harry had loved Sirius, even though everyone who Harry loves dies? Harry. Basically, all signs pointed to Harry.
Ginny gripped his hand in comfort. She knew this room was causing him more pain than any other, so far.
Harry's eyes filled with tears. This was too much for him to handle. Why the hell was it always him? What the hell did he do to deserve to lose everything because of one damn prophecy? Life wasn't fair. Life was never fair for Harry.
Sure he had great friends, who would never leave him for anything, and a hot girlfriend who would fight to stay at his side. He had a ton of adult friends who cared about him. But, a piece of Harry was always missing. It was a piece only a parent could fill.
On the night when Sirius had asked Harry if he wanted to live with him, that piece had been filled. Even though he couldn't go on the run with Sirius, that piece of him was still full.
Even though the next two years were filled with hardship and pain, Harry couldn't have been any happier. He had Sirius and Sirius had him. They were a small family, waiting to be reunited once again.
But that piece was taken from Harry. When Bellatrix had shot that jet of light, it destroyed Harry's life and that piece had been gone once again.
Sure he had Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but it wasn't the same. No matter how much he had loved them, they were still his best mate's parents. They meant a lot to Harry, no doubt, but Sirius was and will be the only thing close to a parent, he will ever have.
But he was gone. Gone for good. He couldn't come back, no matter what Harry did. No matter how many tears he shed, no matter how many times he called his name, and no matter how many times he dreamed it. Sirius Orion Black would never come out of the veil.
Harry just broke down. He collapsed on the bed and pulled one of Sirius's pillows to him. Harry sobbed into the pillow, not caring what his friends or his girlfriend thought.
Ginny sat next to him and pulled him into a hug. Harry dropped the pillow and buried his face full of fresh tears into her shoulder.
"Shhhh, Harry. Everything will be okay," soothed Ginny as she rocked him back and forth. "I'm here." She kissed the top of his head and continued to rock him.
Hermione and Ron sat next to their friend and rubbed his back in small circles. They felt so guilty. They knew their mate was still guilty about Sirius's death and knew he would always be, no matter what they said. But seeing his room brought back too many painful memories. If only Sirius could come back and help Harry through what he had to do for the next couple of months, at least. But, alas he couldn't.
After a few minutes of bawling his eyes out, Harry lifter his head. It was so painful to see what a slop a twenty-one year old Sirius was. Sirius and him had a huge future ahead of them. Peter was bound to be caught soon and even if he never was, Sirius and Harry wouldn't care and would of had fun anyway.
"Feeling better?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah, a lot thanks," replied Harry. "I'm sorry about that." Harry sat up.
"Harry James Potter you have nothing to be sorry for," shouted Ginny.
"Yeah mate," replied Ron. "You've got to stop bottling everything up. Eventually you'll explode."
"We know how you feel Harry," said Hermione. "But you really need to talk to us sometimes. It'll make you feel a lot better."
Harry nodded. He knew they were right. They always were when it came to his feelings. Sometimes they knew him even better than he knew himself. Of course, he didn't even know his history until he was eleven, but that's beside the point.
"Come on, we still have some rooms to explore," said Harry as he got up off the bed and placed the picture back on top of the dresser.
"Are you sure you want to explore the rest of the house today?" asked Ginny. She knew he wanted to but she didn't want to pressure into seeing the rest of the house if he wasn't ready.
Harry nodded. He not only wanted to do this, he needed to. Some things, no matter how hard, just need to be done here and now. Procrastinating would only make things worse.
The enter the room right across the hall. Unlike the room they had just been in, this room was clean. It was spotless, but it was clean none the less. The bed was made and the cloths where they actually belonged, the closet.
On the left side of the room, next to a gold frame, was a large desk. Parchments with various types of potions about pain relievers and healing potions instructions were in a pile on one side of the desk.
On the other side was a picture of Remus and James playing with baby Harry in the playroom. Harry, who could barely stand, was trying to put a goal through the ring his father was guarding. Remus was trying to distract James as the young child stumbled toward them. Remus stepped on James's foot and young Harry put the soft ball through the ring and started jumping up and down, doing his own form of a happy dance. James scowled and Remus picked up the small child and threw him up in the air, causing a fit of giggles.
"This must be Moony's room," observed Hermione.
"You think?" replied Ron sarcastically as they left the room and entered the room next to Sirius's.
It was a nursery, Harry's nursery. The walls were a light blue and the only thing hanging from them was a gold frame. The oak dresser, had a picture of the small family sitting in the living room, laughing.
In the right corner of the room there was a rocking chair with a light blue cushion on top. It wasn't too close to the window, but was close enough to be able to look out at the front yard. The room itself had a very pleasant attitude.
Harry was shocked at how beautifully decorated his bedroom was. His parents must have put a lot of effort into this. But then as he turned toward the cot on the left hand side of the room, something strange happened. Harry's world went black and all he could hear was two familiar voices.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry," cried a girl.
"Stand aside you silly girl…….stand aside, now…." yelled a cold voice.
"Not Harry, please no, take, kill me instead"
"Stand aside now girl, you needn't to die."
"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please I'll do anything"
"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"
"Please, take me instead."
"I'll give you one more chance. Stand aside and you can live. Just give me the boy."
"Never!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Harry! Come on Harry, wake up!" cried a frantic Ginny.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny kneeled around him waiting for him to open his eyes. Harry was tossing and turning, but he would not wake.
"Harry! Wake up please!" yelled a scared Hermione.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" asked Ron.
"How am I supposed to know?" snapped Hermione. Ron immediately shut his mouth and continued to shake his mate.
Harry's eyes opened with terror. He couldn't speak. He hadn't heard that voice in a long time. Not since the Dementors had come to attack him and his cousin. He couldn't take hearing his mother die. It was heart breaking.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Ginny as she slapped him in the shoulder. "You had us scared half to death."
"I heard voices. But not just voices, I heard Voldemort killing my mum." Harry saw how shocked his friend's faces got and he stood up.
"But I thought only Dementors could bring back that memory," said Ron shakily.
"Yeah, well I guess this room does too," replied Harry. Whatever had just happened to him, he didn't like it. Something was odd about this room and he didn't know what. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to find out what exactly was ood.
"I think we should explore the other parts of the house," suggested Ginny, as if she was reading Harry's mind.
They had found three more guest bedrooms and two more bathrooms, identical to the ones downstairs.
There were only two more doors left unchecked. The first one was a master bedroom. It was a light pink and held everything a newly married couple would every need. Pictures of their only son surrounded the beautifully decorated room as well as pictures of the young couple on dates doing various things. Another gold frame was also hanging on the far side of the room.
This Master bedroom like many others, also had a connecting bathroom, for only the couple. This bathroom was a lot bigger than the ones downstairs or the ones in the hall.
The four teens entered the last room, not knowing what they might find in there. It was a large den. There was a medium sized bookcase filled with photo albums and old school books. A large leather sofa was in the center of the room. Harry started to explore the room when he heard voices.
"James, look at our son. He's here."
Harry was startled. "I must be imagining this," thought Harry. "My parents are dead."
But the others seemed to notice this voice too. Even though they didn't say anything, they gave each other weird glance and decided to ignore it.
"Hey, he looks just like me Lils."
At this remark Harry knew he wasn't hearing voices. He knew his parents were dead, but curiosity got to the better of him and he turned around to see what he was hearing.
Above the large fireplace, inside a gold frame was James and Lily Potter. His mother had tears in her eyes and his father was smiling proudly at him. Harry was just shocked.
"This can't be real," he thought. "It can't be real."
"Oh but it is," said a voice inside his head.
"Holy shit!" said Harry in a soft voice as he passed out once again.
Thank you for being patient with me. Here is another edited chapter. It's a bit longer than expected but maybe its a bit better. I don't know but thank you anyways.