CHAPTER 11 Meet the Parents

Lily's and James's faces filled with horror as they watched their only child pass out. They never expected to see their son again, let alone see him pass out by the sight of his own parents talking to him. Lily's eyes filled with tears and James gave her a small hug.

She was not used to this type of stress. Lily had missed her baby dearly over the past sixteen years and now that he was here, she wanted to make the best of it. But, by the looks of it, her baby did not want anything to do with his parents.

James was also very upset how his son reacted. Unlike his irrational wife, he knew that Harry was just startled to see them. But even though James knew this, he couldn't help that something was bothering him.

His own flesh and blood, fainted at the sight of him. Obviously he wasn't expecting that his parents were portraits, but what if he didn't care. What if he didn't want anything to do with the portraits of his parents? After all, if they had chosen Sirius as Secret Keeper instead of the rat, then the three of them would have been a happy family. James wouldn't blame Harry, if he chooses to not be involved with his deceased parents.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were in complete shock. They were standing in front of Mr. and Mrs. Potter's unknown portrait. Their eyes were wide, as well as their mouths. It was impossible; it was like a dream that you never wanted to wake up from.

Harry James Potter could now have something he always wanted, parents. It wouldn't be the same as having them physically there, but it would be great all the same. He could know get to know his parents better. Harry could learn all about their past, how they became girlfriend and boyfriend, how marriage was for two people so young, and so much more.

The room was silent, except the small crying noises made by Lily. James had tried to comfort his wife, but she was stubborn and wouldn't calm down if someone paid her a million Gallons. But even though she was crying about her son, everybody was in such a state of shock that they totally forgot that Harry was unconscious.

Finally after a few minutes of shock and tears, Ginny came to her senses and knelt beside Harry. "Harry, baby, wake up." He didn't stir. Ron and Hermione dropped down next to their mate, trying to help wake him up.

"Come on Harry, if you get up you can talk to your parents," said Ron frantically. He couldn't stand to see his friend like this. "You know you want to. You've been dreaming about being able to talk to them for as long as you can remember."

"Harry, please wake up!" sobbed Hermione after shaking him gently. But Harry still lay there, not moving. His chest was barely rising and falling. This was too much for the adolescent to handle.

Lily and James couldn't take their eyes off their baby. Now their worry started to increase more and more. He would not wake to anything. Not his friends' cries of plea, not ice cold water on his head, nothing was waking him up one bit.

James and Lily didn't mean to frighten him that much. If they knew their son would react to seeing his dead parents talking to him like this, they defiantly would have kept quiet a little longer. They would have waited for him to find them.

But they just had to scare him to death. They couldn't just wait for him to turn around and see for himself. How could they have been so stupid? Even thought they didn't even know Harry, they should have known how he would react. After all, they were his parents.

Shaking Harry was useless. He would not wake from his slumber. It was even harder to wake him up now than it was when he had the vision of the snake attacking Mr. Weasley. Hermione and Ron were giving up hope. How could they possibly wake him up? Only a stubborn Ginny could even think straight.

"I've got an idea," Ginny exclaimed. All attention was turned to the redhead with the puffy eyes. She pointed at Ron and Hermione. "You two move away from him."

They immediately obeyed and stood behind Ginny. They didn't want to leave their best mate's side. But what were they going to do? Any plan that might work was worth moving.

"You're not going to put a spell on him, are you?" asked Ron nervously. They had tried to open his eyes magically, but they only closed tighter. Magic was not going to be a solution to this problem.

"No, of course not. I have a better plan. One that does not involve magic."

Lily and James watched closely as the fiery red-head plunged on top of Harry. She planted her soft lips on his. Once Ginny's lips touched, Harry had come back to consciousness and passionately kissed her back.

While the two teens standing above the couple making out were disgusted at the sight of their two best friends, the parents watched in awe. They were happy that Harry had found a little romantic involvement. The girl seemed to care for a Harry a great deal and by the way Harry was playing Tonsil Hockey, so did he.

Harry's eyes flew open and Ginny got off. "I knew it would work," said Ginny as Harry sat up and rubbed the back of his head. Hermione and Ron moved closer to him, blocking his view of his parents. All they needed was for him to pass out again and needed a second make out session.

"What happened?" asked Harry. "All I remember looking toward the fireplace. Then all of a sudden Ginny and I were snogging on the floor."

"Yeah, mate, we're going to have to talk about you and my little sister making out in front of me," Ron said disgusted.

"Grow up, Ron! You even said you'd rather me date Harry than any one else."

"I still stand by that."

"Then deal with the repercussions. Would you rather see me make out with Dean?"

"I already did."

"Guys…"

"You know what Ron; you have to accept the fact that I'm sixteen. I can make out with whoever I want without you butting in."

"You really think that?"

"Guys….."

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I'm your older brother. It's my job to stop you from making out with your boyfriend, even if he's my best mate."

"I don't give a crap about who you think I should be making out with. It's none of your business so stay out."

"If it's your business, it's my business."

"What makes you think that? I'm my own person Ronald. I can do as I please."

"No you can't"

"Guys….."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"No."

"Yes."

"No"

"Yes."

"GUYS!" yelled a frustrated Hermione. The Weasley children turned their attention toward their friend. Their faces were red with anger.

"WHAT!" the two yelled back.

"I thought you're smart enough to notice that my brother and I were arguing," snapped Ginny.

"Well, excuse me. But don't you think that Harry and I may not want to hear your sibling rivalry," retorted Hermione. "We've got more important things to do than stand here and discuss your problems about relationships."

"Sorry," mumbled the two anger redheads. While they knew she was right, they always hated to admit it. When you're a stubborn Weasley, it's hard to admit anything.

"No problem. But now I think we have bigger things to discuss." Hermione turned toward Harry. "Harry, do you even know why you passed out?"

"Well, I thought I saw my parents. But it's not possible. Is it?"

"Harry, it's possible," replied Ginny.

"What? It can't be possible! Nobody can come back from the dead! Dumbledore even said so."

"Your parents didn't come back from the dead," Hermione said quietly. "They are a portrait."

"But no one told me they would become portraits when they died."

"We didn't know either," replied a deep, soothing voice.

Harry jumped up. Ron and Hermione moved from his view, so he could get a better look.

In front of him he saw the two people he dreamed of seeing ever since he was a young child locked in a small, dark cupboard. He tried to hold back the tears that were desperately trying to get out. The beautiful, twenty year old mother began to cry fresh tears as the slightly older version of Harry started to smile proudly at the young man that he and his wife had created so many years ago. It was a miracle to see how much his son had grown.

"Mum. Dad," whispered Harry in utter shock as he walked closer to the portrait.

"Yes, honey it's us," cried Lily as she looked at her son with pride and a little guilt. He had grown a considerable amount since she had last seen him and she had missed it all. Why? Because she and her husband trusted that bastard, Peter Pettigrew, so much that they made him their Secret Keeper. This large mistake ended up being the last one the young couple made.

"He looks just like me, Lils, except he has your eyes, your beautiful, green eyes."

Harry gave a small smile. "So I've been told."

"Why don't you four take a seat and stay a while," said James as he and Lily sat on the small couch in their life-sized portrait. The four sat on the large, leather sofa and stared at the portrait, hoping that this wasn't a dream.

"So the gold frames around the house…" started Harry.

"Yeah those are ours," answered James. "Furniture appears in the frame if we chose to enter that particular frame. However, unlike the portraits at Hogwarts, we cannot go visit other portrait's frames."

"How could you guys not know that you'd become portraits?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. We didn't do any spells or anything that could have possibly done this," replied Lily. "Even though right now, I don't regret that we became one."

"Do you guys know what death is like?" asked Ron with immense curiosity. Hermione and Ginny gave him an 'How rude are you?" look. But Ron didn't care. He was immune to those looks by now. Living sixteen years with Ginny and being friends with Hermione for almost seven, did that to you.

"No," answered Lily. "When you become a portrait your feelings, opinions, and memories before you die are put into the portrait but your soul is still wherever it goes and you know nothing about it. Your soul still posses the same qualities that your portrait has. Also, I believe that your soul knows what's going on in the world, but portraits don't know unless they are told."

"But enough about us. We can talk about us later," said Lily. "How was growing up with Sirius? How is school going? What house are you in? How many O.W.L.S. did you get? "

The first question stunned Harry. How was he supposed to tell his parents that Sirius didn't raise him? It would kill them to tell them that the Dursleys, the one family that they didn't want Harry to be near, raised him. This was not going to be a comfortable conversation.

"Lily, one question at a time," interrupted James. "Harry, are you okay? You look pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry shook his head, trying to clear away his thoughts. "I don't know how to tell you," Harry took a deep breathe, "But Sirius didn't raise me."

Now it was his parents turn to be shocked. They also became a bit pale. Why would Sirius not raise Harry? He loved Harry more than life itself. But more importantly, who did raise Harry?

"Did Remus raise you?" asked James.

"No."

"Did Dumbledore raise you?"

"No."

"Please, tell me that a nice wizarding family took you in," pleaded Lily. She seemed to have figured out where this conversation was going and knew it wasn't for the best.

"No."

"Did Petunia take you?" asked Lily shakily. "Please don't say yes. Please don't say yes," thought Lily.

Unfortunately, her son nodded, slowly. Lily and her husband became deadly pale. How could Dumbledore put him there? He knew how much Petunia despised Lily. Why put her child in her care? That's like giving a cat a mouse. Crazy and irrational.

"Did she do anything to you Harry?" asked James nervously.

He didn't say anything. "Harry, did she do anything to you?" he repeated. He still didn't say anything.

"Harry, please answer the question," begged his mother as sweetly as possible. She could tell by the absence of answering the question, that he had a tough life with them. "We want to know what they did, no matter how bad." Lily looked into her son's eyes and saw he wanted to tell her but just didn't know how.

He had Lily's eyes. Harry couldn't hide his emotions from any one. Those emerald green eyes showed everything he felt. Happiness, angry, distress, sadness, pain, discomfort. It showed it all. Harry was the type of person that if you played poker with, you would always know if he was bluffing or not.

Harry took a deep breathe, he had to tell them. They were his parents. Not only did they need to know, they had the right to know. NO matter what, they would always question him about this. It was better to tell them now, and then break their hearts later.

"I slept in the cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven. I was treated like dirt before the Hogwarts letters started to come. If something strange happened or if I did accidentally magic, I would be locked in the cupboard and go without food for a long period of time."

"I had to wear Dudley's old clothing, which was way too big for me. Dudley used to beat me up with his friends. Because everybody was afraid of Dudley beating them up, I didn't have any friends until I went to Hogwarts."

"I was treated like vermin. I had to do all the housework and yard work by the time I was three and when I turned five I was forced to cook. If I didn't finish the impossible amount of chores by the time Uncle Vernon came home from work, I would be locked in the cupboard without dinner."

"I also was told that you guys died in a car crash and that was how I got my scar. I didn't know anything about the Wizarding World or what I was famous for until Hagrid found me. If I said anything or ask even a small question about anything strange, they would yell at me and lock me in the cupboard..."

Lily and James became even paler. Not only were they feeling guilty about not being able to raise their son, but now they were furious. They were furious at the Dursleys for not treating Harry better. If they had died, they would have raised Dudley like he was their own son. But not only were they mad at the useless Muggles, they were pissed off at Sirius. Where the hell was he when their son was rotting away in a Hell hole? Sirius should have been taking care of Harry instead of them.

"What I want to know is where was Sirius?" asked James with anger in his voice.

"Sirius was in Azkaban."

"WHAT?" yelled James. "Why was he in Azkaban?"

"After Sirius saw the house, he went after Pettigrew. Unfortunately, Peter framed Sirius. He yelled that Sirius betrayed you guys. Then, Peter killed twelve Muggles, cut off his finger, and transformed into a rat. When the Aurors arrived they arrested Sirius and sent him to Azkaban without a trial. Everybody thought Peter that had died, even Remus."

Now James and Lily were really ticked off. Their best friend was in Azkaban because of them. If they had trusted Remus more then he would become Secret Keeper and none of this would have happened. Maybe, they should have told Dumbledore about the switch. Then Peter would have gone to jail instead of Sirius. Why did life have to be so complicated for the Potters? But more importantly, how could Peter do this to them?

He was their friend. They always treated Peter kindly and helped him when he needed it. But when the going gets tough, the rat runs to the enemy for protection. Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus would have done anything and everything to help Peter if he was in desperate need without hesitation. Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same.

"How do you know all this?" asked Lily.

"Sirius escaped in our third year and told us."

"Of course, everybody thought he was going to kill Harry," added Ron. "Even Professor Lupin thought so."

"Moony became a teacher," laughed James. The four teens nodded. "How was he?"

"He was great. The best one we ever had," replied Harry.

"Of course there wasn't much comparison," said Ron. "One had You-Know-Who on the back of his head, one had his memory wiped, one was locked in a trunk for the year, one was a Ministry worker, and the last on was a Death Eater."

The parents looked concerned. "Whoa. You guys must have been in a ton of trouble with them," replied James.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. They started laughing hysterically. "You have no idea how much trouble we have gotten into," choked Harry.

"Oh God. Please, tell me you don't get into as much trouble as your father. You don't look for trouble, do you?"

"Well it's not that I look for trouble. Trouble just finds me."

"That's an understatement Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Every year we seem to find more trouble than the last."

James looked like a five year old in a candy store. "Aren't you going to tell us what happened?" asked James anxiously.

"It's not a good trouble. Most of it was Voldemort's fault."

Lily and James were shocked. "You've faced Voldemort!" yelled Lily angrily.

"Yeah. I've faced him three times and a Tom Riddle version once."

"Okay, you've got some explaining to do kid," said James.

Thank you all. I hope you enjoy this newly edited chapter. I only have to fix two more chapters and do one minor adjustment on another. I hope to put out a brand new chapter by Saturday or Sunday. But thank you for your patience.