.x. Having Heart Is Full Of Pain .x.
An Introduction Of SortsDisclaimer: Obviously, I own nothing. NO-THING. Except the story…and Lily…and that nifty Daily Prophet headline XD.
The dark-haired young man's dirty fingers trembled as he read the headline on the tattered, week-old issue of the Daily Prophet in his hands. "TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF VOLDEMORT'S DEFEAT AND 'CHOSEN ONE' HARRY POTTER'S DEATH MARKED BY CELEBRATIONS AND MEMORIALS." He felt his stomach drop as he read. Had it really been that long? With trembling fingers, he traced the lightening bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. He looked at the date in the corner of the magazine he held in his hands—July 16. On that day, exactly a week ago, it had been ten years to the day after he had killed Tom Marvolo Riddle, known to the wizarding world as Lord Voldemort, ten years to the day after he had severed ties from everyone and everything he knew. As far as every wizard in the world was concerned, Harry James Potter was a dead man, but in truth, he was just lying in wait…
In wait for what, exactly, Harry James Potter could not have told you. In fact, he did not know himself. The truth was, Harry James Potter had no idea why he could not bear to face the wizarding world. Perhaps he felt ashamed about the fact that, despite the victim was evil, he had murdered someone. Perhaps he felt afraid to be considered a true hero. Despite the possibilities, however, he simply did not know.
Sighing, Harry looked around his home. He had resided in Number 12 Grimmauld Place since his presumed death. The house was dark and gloomy, and after being cooped up in it for ten years, he could easily understand why Sirius had hated his home. While he and Kreacher, the house elf he had inherited from Sirius along with the house he now called home' lived fairly comfortably, Harry hadn't seen daylight in years—he felt as though he was in Azkaban.
Harry quietly finished reading his Daily Prophet. There was nothing of much importance in it, simply discussions of apothecary ingredient prices rising and Minister of Magic Arthur Weasley's comments on the matter. Harry had been thrilled to hear that Mr. Weasley had been appointed to the position a couple years after his disappearance, and since then had been re-elected numerous times. It had never truly dawned on him, however, that everyone he had known and deserted had changed and he didn't know anything about them now. He didn't know what had come of Ron and Hermione's budding relationship, he wasn't sure how Fluer had fit into the Weasley family after she had married Bill, he didn't know if Professor Lupin and Tonks were still together, and, most bothersome to him, he didn't know a thing about Ginny.
As he mulled over the thoughts in his mind, Harry felt a burning desire to return to the life he had left years ago. As sleep came over him at long last, Harry's last thought was one of wondering what had happened to Ginny in all these years? Was she married? Did she have children? Or maybe, Harry almost hated himself for hoping this, she was still in mourning for the man she had lost ten years ago…
A few days later, Harry found himself nervously walking down Diagon Alley. A bag of change jingled in his coat pocket, and he wore an army green cadet hat on his head to hopefully hide his scar. He passed by the apothecary and the old wand shop, which was now as desolate as he remembered the Shrieking Shack being in his third year at Hogwarts. The windows were boarded up, and there was a plaque on the door in memory of Mr. Ollivander, the greatest wand maker the wizarding world had ever known. The same plaque, this one dedicated to Florian Fortesque, gleamed on the storefront of Fortesque's Ice Cream Shop and Harry felt a twang of sadness when he thought of how he had sat at those tables in his third year while Mr. Fortesque himself helped him with his History of Magic homework.
He walked up to each of the memorial plaques, which had been placed on every residence and building in which wizards and witches had been murdered by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and said a small word of thanks to each of the wizards who had helped him in his school work before continuing on his way. Harry passed Flourish and Blott's, Eyelop's Owl Emporium, and Madame Malkin's Robe Shop silently, stopped to look longingly at a display in the Quidditch store, and then ducked into the shop he had been most anxious about being recognized in—the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Harry walked into the store, which was crowded with wizards and witches no doubt preparing for a prank-filled school year. He looked around for a moment and then, pulling his hat down further, walked over to a section of the store that was only occupied by one or two nervous-looking boys who were most likely first years. There was not much in the section he was standing in, however, and he turned around to look somewhere else, nearly running into a young girl. She had sleek red hair with chocolate-hued eyes, and freckles dotted her nose and cheekbones attractively. She reminded Harry of a girl he had gone to school with by the name of Lavender Brown.
"Excuse me, sir," the girl said to him. "Do you know if they allow Pygmy Puffs at Hogwarts?" Harry looked down and saw a small purple baby puffskein in her cupped hands. She was looking him in the eyes, and Harry saw an intensity and strength in them.
"Er, I think so… A girl in the year below me had one when I went to school." He responded, startled. He was worried about what would happen if someone saw him; Harry Potter suddenly coming back from the dead was bound to create some commotion.
The girl frowned slightly and looked down at the ball of fur in her hand. "My dad says my auntie had one when she was at Hogwarts, but that was before they closed the school down. In the letter I got last week, it said we could have a cat, rat, owl or toad, so I'm not sure…"
"You're a first year?" he asked her.
"Yes."
He looked at her. She had the Weasley hair, Weasley freckles, from the sound of it her aunt was Ginny….but she looked like Lavender. Had Ron and Lavender gotten married? No, the girl in front of him was too old… Harry shook his suspicions off—perhaps she wasn't related to the Weasleys at all.
"Well, thank you for all of your help sir," the girl told him.
"What are you going to name it?" he asked her. She stopped to think.
"I don't know."
"What about Arnold?"
"I like it, but that's what my aunt named her…" The girl trailed off and then looked up at him suspiciously. "What's your name?" She asked him.
"Harry Potter," he told her, his voice barely above a whisper. "But don't tell anyone."
The little girl looked up at him with wide eyes and bit her lip. She opened her mouth to say something when she was stopped by a voice behind her.
"Lily, honey, I was wondering where you'd gotten off to…" Ron's voice trailed off. He was ten years older than Harry remembered him, but he was still tall and gangly with his long nose, freckles, and blazing Weasley hair. His eyes doubled in size, and he looked skeptical for a moment. Harry understood why—after all, he most likely thought he was seeing the ghost of his best friend from all those years ago—but he didn't know what to say. Perhaps this was why he had never tried to return to everyone—the explanation, as he was beginning to realize, would be difficult. "Blimey, Harry…"
The three of them stood there silently for a moment before Ron came up and gave Harry a tight hug, grinning enormously.
A few minutes later, the trio had checked out of Fred and George's store and was walking down the sunlit walks of Diagon Alley. "Harry, what? Where? Why?" Ron asked incredulously, torn between excitement at regaining his friend and anger at being left in the dark about his survival. Harry couldn't help but laugh at his friend's inarticulacy.
"I…just needed some alone time, that's all."
"Ten years is a lot of alone time," Ron muttered, and Harry winced.
"Honestly? I was worried you would all hate me for being gone so long, so I kept myself locked up in Grimmauld Place. If I've been gone too long, I understand…" Harry started, but Ron was quick to throw him into a headlock.
"Don't you dare act like you're going to lock yourself away in that dusty old house with Kreacher again, you..you…you!" Ron and Harry laughed, and Lily just looked at them like they were some of the biggest idiots on the face of the earth.
"Daddy," she said, looking at her wristwatch, "if we don't leave now, we'll be late!"
"Oh, I kinda forgot about that. Harry, have plans today?" Ron asked.
"Yes, I plan on haunting the Shrieking Shack until about sunset, and then walking into the Three Broomsticks and…no I don't have plans, you dolt!" Harry half-yelled when he noticed his friend was taking him seriously.
"Excellent, then you're coming with us. The entire family's getting together tonight for dinner, and everyone is going to be there! Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Ginny, Hermione, Tonks, Lupin, Fluer, all of the kids…" Harry drowned out the rest of the people Ron listed off; his ears had perked when he heard Ron say Ginny's name. She was still alive! But, did she have a husband? He opened his mouth to ask about her, but no… He would wait to see her himself. "Harry?"
"Wha?"
"I said, want to come?"
"Yeah, sounds great." Harry grinned. How long had it been since he had had a full, warm, home-cooked meal? and a Weasley meal at that! He had never noticed before, but in the decade that had passed, he had become skin and bones. He couldn't help but smile to himself when he imagined Mrs. Weasley fussing over him.
"We're going by Floo Powder, and I've got my eye on you—you're not escaping from us again!" Harry and Ron laughed at old times, and, as Ron reached back and grabbed his little girl's hand, they walked into the Leaky Cauldron to go back to the Burrow…
---
When Harry, Ron, and Lily arrived in the fireplace of the Burrow, the house was empty. "All the best," Ron said to Harry. "You see, if Mum had been here, she would have died of a heart attack." Harry smiled, and Ron led him upstairs to his old room. The walls were now white, and the violent orange bedspread was gone—instead, a plain off-white comforter had taken its place. Absent also was the tank of frog spawn and the numerous Chudley Cannon posters that had been there the last time Harry had visted the Burrow.
"It's changed," he said, and Ron nodded, looking around his old room.
"Well, it's been a while. Hey, would you mind waiting up here? I think I'll surprise everyone." Harry nodded, and as Ron and Lily exited he could hear her explaining that she was to say nothing to anyone of Harry's appearance.
Flopping down on the bed, Harry closed his eyes. A lot had happened that day, and he knew even more was going to. It was so strange, Ron having a daughter. It was strange being here, the Burrow, of all places, after ten years of suffocating in Grimmauld Place. What would the Weasleys say to him? Would they welcome him back with open arms, or would they cast him out, furious at him as Ron had nearly been at first? Would they be angry with him for not telling them that he was still alive, for letting them mourn and worry and think he was gone forever?
"Harry, Harry wake up," Ron's voice drifted into his head. Harry opened his eyes quickly, sitting bolt upright. "You fell asleep. Come on, I told everyone I have a surprise, and they're waiting."
---
"I wonder what's taking him so long?" Ginny asked aloud.
"I don't know, sweetie, but he'll be down soon." Mrs. Weasley said to her daughter. "So, Bill, how are you and Fluer?" she asked.
"We're great," he smiled broadly, looking down at his five-year-old son Bailey. "She's really sorry that she couldn't make it, but the morning sickness were really bad tonight. I wouldn't have left, but she made me come."
Mrs. Weasley smiled at the sound of another grandchild on the way. Through the years, Fluer had become much more bearable to all the Weasleys, especially with the birth of her first child. Across the room, Remus and Tonks Lupin smiled at Bill's response; they were expecting as well.
"Close your eyes, everyone!" Ron shouted from the staircase, and everyone sitting obliged curiously. Slowly, Ron walked down with Harry. When he had positioned his friend where everyone could see, him, he gave the signal for everyone to look.
"Oh my God…"
A/N: Yes, cliffhanger, because I am evil and I enjoy them and I don't get to do cliffhangers very much! Hope you enjoyed it (This one was much longer than The World At Large or the first chapter of The Painful Realization That All Has Gone Wrong, and I'm so proud of myself!). I'll probably post chapter two of my other story, a Kingdom Hearts one, before I do chapter two of this, so check that one out too! Thanks, and don't forget to Read and Review.