Chapter 10: Hope In the Ruins of a Family

Harry stared up to the house with a sinking feeling in his gut. Then Dudley shifted on his feet.

"Uh oh," he said.

"What is it?" Harry asked. Dudley winced.

"I've got that weird feeling in my gut again."

"Yeah," Harry began with a swallow, "me too."

"Well then let's get right to-" the rest of Ron's sentence was cut off. He'd taken three steps down the patio and ran into an invisible wall which he immediately bounced off of onto his butt. "What the bloody hell-"

"The wards…" Sirius said in awe. "My god they're still working…"

"What do you mean still working?!" Dudley cried in shock. "Didn't You-Know-Who come busting through them?! The blood hole in the roof says he did!"

"He didn't 'bust through'," Sirius reminded them as he stepped up to them cautiously. "He was let in remember? Peter brought him through."

"So what does that mean?" Harry asked. Sirius squinted then took a few steps back.

"Let's see," he said before running at the invisible wall.

"Hey hey wait!" Harry cried in alarm. But then Sirius dove through the wall no problem. The man stared down at his hands and chuckled. Then he looked up at the sky and scoffed.

"Snivellous you son of a bitch." he muttered coldly. Then he turned to them. "Harry… come on." the teen bit his lip then took a step forward. He felt a weird tingle spread all of his body and sucked in a breath. It felt like ants were crawling all over him. He shuddered even as he shook out his limbs. Sirius turned back to Dudley and grinned.

"Now you, my darling nephew."

"What?!" Dudley squeaked. "No no! There's no way! I mean I never even knew them! I never even met them! Heck, the first time I saw a picture of them I was fifteen!"

"You can make it through," Sirius insisted, holding his arm through the barrier. "You're family." Dudley took a deep breath and grabbed Sirius's arm. Then he hesitated.

"Wait what is this gonna do to me if I'm no-" he didn't finish as Sirius hauled him through before he could hesitate. As soon as he was on the other side the teen vomited into the grass. "That was unpleasant."

"Is your nausea that bad?!" Sirius demanded worriedly. Dudley shook his head, but his brow was beginning to sweat.

"It's not I swear, but the nausea and that feeling together."

"Still not a good sign." Sirius insisted. Then he looked up at Ron. "Ronald! Keep watch! We're gonna find this sword as fast as we can. Don't talk to anyone alright! As far as the muggles are concerned nothing beyond that sidewalk exists. If anyone stops don't be afraid to pull your wand." Ron nodded rapidly. The trio charged up to the house.

"Do you know if it's structurally sound?" Dudley asked as they climbed the worryingly creaky stairs.

"After 16 years?" Sirius argued flatly, "I wouldn't count on it."

Harry tried not to think about the fact that he was upending his dead parents' lives. The search of the living and dining room had revealed nothing but dead plants and a lot of rusted or rotting picture frames filled with broken memories.

"Let's try the kitchen." Sirius insisted after he shone his wand up the floo. Harry tried to ignore the fact that the man was avoiding even glancing at the front stairs. He knew how that had played out. There was no doubt in his mind.

His father had died in that hallway.

Probably on the first two or three steps.

Threw himself between that monster and his wife and son.

He swallowed and followed Dudley and Sirius into the kitchen. After a few moments, Dudley scoffed.

"Nothing in here has been silver since the 80s," he said bluntly. Then suddenly there was a screech. A barn owl swooped in and clipped at Dudley with its talons. "OW! Bloody hell!" Sirius however gave a cry of awe.

"MITTENS!" Harry whipped around. Sirius had told him that his parents owned a cat! There was no way though! The thing would have to be more than 18 years old! Sirius said it was a stray that Lily took in. It was a black cat with an evil glare and a squished nose. He'd compared it to Snape on more than one occasion. But Sirius wasn't looking at a cat. He was looking at the owl.

"Mittens?!" Dudley demanded with a snicker. "Who names an owl Mittens?!" Sirius looked back at him.

"Your aunt," he said matter-of-factly. The owl ruffled up and gave another screech. "Whoa whoa, calm down girl!" then he flinched back as the owl flapped her wings and gave another shriek. "Maybe she's gone feral…"

"No," Harry said as he looked over his shoulder towards a noise. The other two turned as well and Sirius chuckled. Inside one of the busted cupboards were two fluffy owlets, peering at them with innocent curiosity. Sirius turned and smiled.

"Sorry, old girl. We'll get out of your way." then the trio shuffled out of the owl's line of sight. She flew straight to the nest and settled in with her brood.

"Lily said she was ornery. Now I know why." Sirius said in awe.

"What do you mean?" Dudley asked. Sirius grinned.

"Mittens is a mail owl. They're raised with magic you see. That's why they live so much longer than regular owls. Regular owls cant do the work. Though sometimes the mail ones live a little too long."

"Ron had an owl like that," Harry recalled with a grin. "His name was Errol. Mrs. Weasley bought him for Bill when he first went to Hogwarts. The bird was still delivering mail until you gave Ron Pig. The thing was a menace honestly. Always crash landing and getting lost. Then one day he finally crashed into a tree and didn't get back up. Apparently, Mrs. Weasley was honestly distraught."

"Poor bird," Sirius remarked with a wince. "Anyway, Lily wrote to me saying to watch myself, 'cause Mittens was a bit cranky. Now I know why. This isn't her first brood, I can tell. Something tells me she was getting ready to build her nest. That's why she stuck around too…"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. Sirius sighed.

"Well, most owls when they bond to a wizard who dies suddenly tend to die a few weeks after their wizards do. But Mittens held on." he looked over to see the barn owl nestled up wth her chicks. "She had to keep fighting for her babies. Just like Lily would have." he shook his head and smiled at Harry. "Just like Lily did." he corrected before ruffling his hair. Harry smiled. Then he grabbed Sirius's hand.

"Come on," he said slowly. "We've got to face those stairs." Sirius swallowed then nodded. And so they went, hand in hand. Sirius hesitated at the foot of them. His eyes looked a million years away.

Or maybe just 16.

Then Harry pulled him up higher. In the back of his head, he could hear it.

"Lily! Lily take Harry and run!"

"Avada Kedavra!

"James!"

As they walked towards the open door, where the midday light was pouring into the hallway he thought he could see it.

He walked closer, slowly. Listening to his cloak across the carpet. Like a hiss of a snake in the grass. The feel of his wand in his hand. He was so close. This was it. This was the moment.

"Harry!" Sirius shouted and gave him a shake. Harry looked up at them. He was on the ground.

"What …" he began with a frown as he tried to clamber back to his feet. "What happened?"

"You just collapsed," Dudley said worriedly. "You were mumbling. Something about being almost there?" Harry blinked.

"I… I think I was having a flashback," he admitted slowly.

"A flashback?" Dudley asked in confusion. "How could you have a flashback, you were 1. You shouldn't be able to remember anything."

"I… I don't think it was my flashback." Harry said in confusion.

"What?" Dudley asked, a little flabbergasted.

"Boys!" Sirius shouted from the open door. He looked grave. "The sword 's not here. And I think we should get moving… something doesn't feel right."

"GUYS!" Ron's voice suddenly carried. Harry clambered to his feet and rushed towards the door to the bathroom, which was mercifully clean and wiped the dusty window. Ron was just inside the invisible bubble around the house. There was an old woman in the middle of the street, starring at the house with glassy vacant eyes. Harry swallowed roughly.

"Is that… one of those zombie things you warned me about?" Dudley demanded.

"No inferi are a lot worse than that." Harry insisted.

"Is that-" Sirius began before dashing for the stairs again. Harry and Dudley exchanged a glance before dashing after the man. Sirius was crossing the lawn with a growing smile. "My god it is!" he crossed the threshold, passing a worried Ron with wide arms. "Bathilda Bagshot! My god woman, I can't believe you didn't leave! How are you even still alive?!"

"Sirius!" Harry shouted worried. Then sudden the old woman seized up, her head tilted back and her jaw stretched impossibly wide. And out of her mouth emerged the terrifying mass that was Nagini. Sirius rushed back in terror, accompanied by no small amount of cursing. Ron fired spells at the thing with a panicked face, but that just seemed to make the massive viper angrier.

"Nagini will crunch your bones! Nagini with feast on your flesh!"

"Feast on this!" Harry screamed before firing a blasting curse at the old cobbles. The snake went flying down the street. The four dashed out into the road and turned towards the same square they'd entered from and froze. Four death eaters were standing in the road. One had his mask and hood down. His face was covered in scars and one of his eyes was milky. But Harry knew that face. It was the same one who'd grabbed Susan's leg when they tried to escape the ministry.

"Potter!" Yaxley spat furiously.

"I think he's pretty mad about you blowing him up Sirius," Harry said flatly.

"I think she's mad about you doing the same," Sirius said, staring at the snake, not the death eaters as it approached, spitting furiously. Then the death eaters started firing. Sirius meanwhile began trying to throw the snake away, but each time he did she got angrier and angrier. Suddenly a spell struck Ron's shoulder. The teen howled and grabbed it with a groan.

"Fuck not again!" he whined. Harry was struggling to hold them off. Sirius gave a cry of alarm as he threw the snake back again.

BOOOOOOMMMM!

This one was even louder than the last one. The ground shook, knocking the death eaters down in surprise. Shrapnel was flying everywhere, wood and glass and bits of plaster. Harry turned to his parent's house and nearly dropped his wand in shock.

It was gone.

Just obliterated.

There were a few pieces of wood sticking out of the ground like dead trees but everything else was gone.

Everything except the kitchen.

The wall holding a severely shaken Mittens and her slightly panicking children was still perfectly intact. It didn't even appear as though it had been shaken. It was like the explosion hadn't reached them at all. But the sound apparently had. The owl ruffled her feathers and gave a warbled screech, sounding almost afraid to add to the cacophony. Then suddenly a hand grabbed his wand. Harry yelped in surprise and then the four of them were sucked into apparition. There was a moment of panic where Harry thought perhaps he was being pulled straight to his death. But then they landed in the middle of the forest. It wasn't a soft landing per se, but it was a safe one.

"Oh thank Merlin!" Susan cried in relief as she dove into Harry's arms. He winced and suck in a breath. "Oh god, why are you singed!?"

"I'm alright," Harry insisted. "Ron's the one who hurt, in that same shoulder again!"

"I'm bloody cursed I tell ya," Ron complained, even as Anthony waved his wand over it and muttered to himself.

"Death eaters." Dudley wheezed. "They were waiting for us I think… that big snake Harry warned us about was there. Masquerading as an old family friend."

"Can't believe I fell for that." Sirius groaned as he lay in the leaves. "Oldest trick in the book!" then he rolled over and puked.

"Are you okay?!" Harry cried in alarm.

"Sorry, side along using someone else's wand is never a good idea."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. Then Sirius lifted up his wand. It was split in two, much the same way Ron's had been back in second year. Everyone around him gasped and gave him a look of pity.

"I'm so sorry Sirius," Harry said genuinely. The man blinked. Then he smiled.

"Oh, Harry. You don't still believe in that 'The wand chooses the wizard' crap do you?" he asked before climbing to his feet. "Come on, follow me." he marched into the tent with everyone following curiously. He picked up his rucksack, reached into it and pulled out a small handful of wands. Everyone gaped at him. "This is every wand I've nicked in the last few years, including when I first escaped in your third year. Everyone that worked alright for me of course. I didn't bother with the one that didn't." he shuffled through the wand, testing out his grips, even performing a few spells before he settled on one of them with a grin. The teen all stared at him like he'd grown a second head and Sirius laughed. "Oh come on! Dudley has been using a black market wand for the last two years." he pointed out.

"No!" Dudley argued, "Remus just said it was a bit shady! He didn't say anything about the black market!"

"Well, where did you think he got it?" Sirius argued with a chuckle. "You think the ministry would give extra wands to known werewolves? Ollivander, sure, but the ministry?" Dudley opened his mouth a few times. "Listen, kids," Sirius began before taking a deep breath. "I had my wand snapped in front of me when I was twenty-one years old." Harry blinked. "I was pissed at first of course. But I learned from that point on that wands are just tools. And there is always a new one. What do you think happened to the folks I took these from?" Sirius questioned, lifting the pile even as he put it back into his bag. "They went out and they bought another one."

"Assuming they could afford to," Hermione said angrily. Sirius sighed.

"I tried not to steal from those who looked like that were at least able to support themselves. But anyone who has a stable financial position who doesn't have many saved away for emergencies, well losing your wand might be a good way to learn from that mistake," Sirius argued. "The point is! I'm not upset about the wand." he insisted. Hemione rolled her eyes. "Though it does raise an interesting question."

"Which is?" Ron asked from where Anthony was poking and prodding him.

"Who caused that explosion?" Sirius said. "I've had my doubts you know? I think maybe the first one was me. But the one at the ministry seemed less likely. But this one was definitely not me."

"What do you mean?" Harry said in confusion, "It has to be you!"

"It couldn't have been." Sirius argued, "because my wand was already broken when it happened."

"Maybe you don't need a wand?" Harry argued. Sirius laughed.

"Oh, you flatter me, Harry. I might be powerful, but even I can't do something like that. The house was completely gone! Nothing but a few logs and broken bricks."

"Maybe it wasn't magic," Dudley argued, "the house was falling apart, maybe it was a gas leak."

"Wouldn't we have smelt it?" Harry argued.

"And it doesn't explain the kitchen," Sirius remarked.

"Oh yeah…" Dudley said with awe, "that was weird…"

"Well whatever it was," Sirius began with a sigh, "it saved our lives. And I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth." Harry nodded slowly.

"What about the sword? Did you find it?" Hermione asked.

"No," Dudley said plainly.

"It wasn't there," Harry confirmed. The bookworm's shoulders slumped. Then she shook her head.

"Maybe I was thinking about this all wrong," she muttered before she went back to the library case, muttering under her breath. The rest of the group sighed and ran their fingers through their hair or held their face in their hands. This little endeavour had not gone well.

Harry pulled off a sock with a wide yawn. He was so tired today. He snorted at himself.

"Hey," Sirius said casually, "how're you holding up pup?"

"Well considering I'm pretty sure I blew up my parents' house, not bad."

"Oh?"

"It makes sense. I've always had pretty destructive accidental magic. I mean I told you what happened to Aunt Marge." the man choked on a snort, "not funny."

"On the contrary," the man sisted, "I've only met the woman once as a dog, but I can think of no better punishment than turning the woman into a helium balloon." Harry smiled. Then Sirius sat down. "What about what happened before? When we were climbing the stairs and you started having a fit."

"I had another seizure?" Harry asked worriedly. Sirius shook his head.

"No, but it was similar enough that I was quite worried you might be." Harry frowned. Then he shook his head.

"I'm sure it was nothing… I still hear my mum screaming when dementors attack me. I think going to see the house just made it seem more real."

"Dudley said you weren't making any sense," Sirius said worriedly. "You said something about it not being your flashback." Harry shook his head again.

"I don't know what I was saying either. I'm fine Sirius I promise." the man hesitated for a moment. Then chuckled and brushed a hand against his godson's cheek.

"It's late. You're tired. Try to get some sleep." Harry nodded slowly. He finally got his socks off and lay down. His jaw twinged in an impossibly wide yawn and he curled into a ball. He pushed all his worries and fears away for now.

It'd been a very long day.

A/N: Hello!

This is the first two-parter of the story! I hope you enjoyed it!

So many emotions!

It makes me a little misty-eyed. (; Ａ ;)

Aslan's Princess: Petunia is too stubborn to die for toothpaste. ;)

Richard is my favourite OC I've ever created. So you can be assured he'll pop up again some time.

Hedwig had a rough way of it, but she'll be okay.

Rori Potter: Hedwig and Dobby will both be fine! Dobby just needs to learn to slow down a bit, and Hedwig needs a little fresh air.

ILoveGeorgeEads: Match make implies hurried rush feelings with no context. I assure you, this will not be rushed. And if anything comes of it, well it will be because the story needs it.

Now I mustn't say any more!

I hope you all enjoyed this immensely!

And I will see you next week!

Don't forget to keep on reading!

-TTC