A/N: I was going to post this tomorrow morning, but I thought it would be cruel to keep those of you who are reading waiting. Thank you to everyone who reviewed: a few anonymous and guest reviewers, EriksAngeldeMusica, Shelby Hermione Malfoy, mystery reader, LunaNotLoony, ameliedavid, katiek121, and Triptic Writer. Thank you so much for the feedback! It is appreciated so so much! Please let me know if you like this. Reveal chapters are always very interesting to take on. Happy reading!
By the time lunch came around, Sirius, Remus, and Peter made a dash for the Common Room (the latter two were now becoming a bit curious under Sirius' constant stream of speculation over James' whereabouts). Opening James' trunk, the Invisibility Cloak was nowhere to be found.
"Ha!" Sirius said smugly. His look was mostly reserved for Remus, who had sworn up and down that he didn't think that James had gone anywhere off of the grounds. "The Cloak is gone. How do you explain that, Moony?"
Remus' brow did furrow at the newest information, but he still was not convinced that Sirius' claims were anything more than paranoia. Peter looked doubtful as well.
"Prongs takes his cloak out for a lot of reasons, not just to sneak off to Hogsmeade," the short, watery-eyed boy said carefully. He wasn't exactly aching for a row with Sirius, but this whole thing was like a bone for Padfoot. He'd growl and snap if anyone tried to take it from him. It was best not to provoke him.
"But then why are neither of them on the map?!" Sirius again shoved the parchment in their faces. And the two other boys had no way to explain that away. "See? I think that they went off with the little first-year and played themselves some hooky."
Remus flopped onto his bed, shaking his head. "But Padfoot, why? What would be the purpose of going off to Hogsmeade with some little exchange student?"
Sirius snorted. "Of course you believed that story."
"Well, why not?"
"Moony!" Sirius' tone was aghast, almost chastising. "And you call yourself a Marauder?! And you ate that ridiculous story up hook, line, and sinker?"
"Hook, line, sinker… Is that a muggle expression?" Peter asked, but they paid him no heed. Remus shrugged.
"Didn't you say that James told you that Dumbledore was the one that assigned Harry to them? Would they really start throwing around Dumbledore's name if he really had nothing to do with it? Seriously, Sirius?"
"You're hilarious, Moony," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Let's stay on track, shall we? I mean, first of all, who of us is going to be chatting with Dumbledore? They could have easily just mentioned him to give the whole thing a little authority. Or…Dumbledore is in on it!"
Peter frowned and Remus' expression remained blank. "Dumbledore is in on what, Sirius? You still haven't even told us what you're accusing Prongs and Lily of doing…while in the company of a first-year, I might add."
"That's because I don't know," Sirius said simply, shaking his head. "But I do know my best mate. And I know something really bizarre is going on around here."
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
The word…you… it left Harry's mouth and swirled between them, slithering around James and Lily, the syllable uncomprehending and damning all at once. They stared at his white face, barely emotive in its timidity, the incredible shyness and pain in his eyes. Lily didn't want to be the first to speak. She didn't want to ask him what he meant. As much as she knew with everything in her that the boy was telling the truth, she didn't think she was prepared to believe him.
"Me?" James' voice was rough, unused to speaking without a reply already set on his lips. Lily could tell that he was just as blindsided as she, though they hadn't really been expecting any kind of normal explanation. His head turned a fraction toward Lily, but didn't tear his eyes away from Harry. "Us?"
Harry nodded slowly, but didn't offer any explanation. And Lily didn't want to ask, but she felt as if she would burst if she went another moment not knowing what this boy knew.
"Why?" she asked, and immediately, she thought of the boy's sadness when he looked at her, of putting her arms around him and wanting to cry. This is mad, she thought, her eyes wandering up and sky was swimming before her eyes, the clouds and the blueness moving just like everything else in the world. And Harry was just sitting there, not fading or disappearing, not moving. What was he? Who was he?
"Why?" she asked again, more loudly this time.
"I shouldn't tell you," Harry resisted, spurred on by her determination. He stood up, suddenly restless and angry and he paced in front of them. Lily glanced uneasily at James, whose eyes followed Harry as he moved, but he couldn't seem to conjure any words. "Just like I shouldn't have touched the mirror. I keep screwing up! I keep making everything a mess and I just need to get back, alright?"
"Alright," Lily said, grabbing his sleeve as he stalked by her and keeping her grip firm so he couldn't pull away. She shook his arm lightly, trying to smile, to soothe him. "Alright, Harry. But you still have to tell us why you saw…James and I" she swallowed around referring to them in union like that, "in the mirror."
"Can't you figure it out?" he asked, frustration overriding everything else in his voice. Lily released him, her fingers suddenly seeming boneless.
In truth, she could have guessed the answer after they confronted him outside of Dumbledore's office this morning. But she wouldn't dare, too afraid of being wrong and right. Frightened of the implications and the impossibility. And James. And her 'son'. "I need you to say it," Lily finally answered, her voice trembling.
Harry turned to James. "What about you?"
"Just say it, little bloke." There was no inflection in his voice, but he hadn't looked away or even blinked since Harry told them what he saw in the mirror. "The truth."
"You're my parents," he said it quickly, like jumping into the pool for the first time in summer, immersing himself in the chill before the water begins to feel warm. And his voice got stronger for it. "That's why I saw you in the mirror, because you're my mum and dad."
They were speechless.
And it seemed that once Harry made the confession, he couldn't stop. "I know that sounds mad to you. But I'm not from this time…obviously. And I—I'm not sure how I landed here, where neither of you know me and…" he gestured helplessly at them. "You're not dating or even friends, I think. Or maybe you are…"
"You're saying that you're our son," James said incredulously.
"No…" Lily muttered. But it was soft enough that it didn't reach the ears of her future-son and…future-boyfriend, lover, husband, or whatever the bloody hell he was or would become.
"Yeah…you're Lily and James Potter," Harry said weakly. "Everybody in our world knows who you are…who I am…"
"No…"
"You're our son…mine and Lily's."
The redheaded girl shook her head. "No." Both boys turned to look at her as she got to her feet, and consequentially, James got to his. She was looking pleadingly at Harry. "Don't tell me this. You can't be our son."
Harry looked at her, his mouth dropping open just slightly on his exhale. Yes, he was hurt by her request, but the alternative…the alternative was much worse.
And Harry wasn't going to say that it wasn't true. And Lily needed to get away…away from both of them. James' hand clamped around her wrist, but he still didn't look at her, too charged to be patient with her. "Evans, look at him."
He didn't get it. "I see him!" Lily yelled, shocking them both. She tried to yank away, but still, James held fast to her. "I see his face, his sodding glasses—"
"His eyes." James voice was beginning to increase in volume and harshness too.
"Yes. His eyes, I see them. I see…" She gave an almighty tug, but James still wasn't releasing her. She wanted him to grasp what she was realizing, but he wouldn't let her go and he wouldn't let her speak. She sounded furious even to her own ears. "Now ask him why he was seeing us in the mirror, James. Ask him why."
And that was when James stilled, the root of Lily's distress finally dawning on him. Why would an eleven-year old boy look in a mirror that shows his heart's desire, and see nothing more than his parents standing behind him? How simple. How strange, unless…
"Why?" James said, his hand still gripping Lily's wrist as if it was the only thing that would save him from drowning in this sea of unbelievable disquiet. And she didn't struggle as they waited for Harry's next horrible reveal. "Why would all that you see in a mirror like that…be your mum and dad?"
Harry nodded to them and his eyes flickered to the ground, accepting the question and preparing himself to deliver the answer. It didn't matter what Dumbledore or he himself wanted now. Everything was going to come out. He whispered the words, and yet the wind stopped and place around them suddenly silenced, as if aware of what Harry was going to say, knowing that if it didn't stop, Lily and James wouldn't hear him say it.
"You're dead."
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
Snape poked at his lunch with his knife, the mere sight of it making him nauseous. He couldn't stop the obsessive stream of bitter, maddening thoughts that overtook everything else in his mind. Black is just a jumped-up, lying prick. Lily wouldn't have gone off with Potter, of all people. She wouldn't –she wouldn't do anything with him. She hated him. She did hate him, didn't she? She said that he made her sick last year…last year…
Last year made him sick. But last year had happened and Lily would never forgive him. And he had learned to live with that, as well as he possibly could. But she had said that, too. That Potter made her sick. And that was still true, wasn't it?
Fuck them all. Snape dropped his knife and looked away from his food. He didn't even know what was on his plate. His gaze shot over to the Gryffindor table, but there was no sign of Lily or any of the Marauders now.
"Hey, Snape." Mulciber called his attention, the way he smiled suggesting that he had been staring at Snape's misery for a while. "You're not still sulking over the Mudblood, are you?"
Snape managed an indifferent snort, though he didn't know how convincing it sounded. "Of course not. I wasn't 'sulking' to begin with." God, he really hated Mulciber sometimes.
"Good," Mulciber responded, reaching for a biscuit. "Because we all knew that Potter was going to take his roll in the dirt with the little Mudblood once she agreed to it. And we all knew that she would eventually. The only shame in it is that Potter has sealed his fate completely as a blood traitor, taking up with the slag."
Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm… Snape repeated it in his head like a mantra. Show them nothing. She means nothing to you. Don't show them that you feel it.
Avery laughed. "As if there was any chance he wouldn't." He pitched his voice higher, mocking James. "Oh please Evans! Just go out with me, please! I want nothing more than to lick the dirt off your boots, snog, and have you bear my filthy half-bloods. Please, Evans!" Everyone at the table snickered and Mulciber shook his head.
"That idiot doesn't have a bleeding ounce of self-respect. Following her around and trying to protect her from the evil, nasty, self-respecting purebloods, having the nerve to take up with the bitch and duel us. The loyal watchdog to a Mudblood. Pathetic."
As a well-oiled method of self-preservation, Snape tuned them out, glancing again to the red and gold table. Lily's friends were there…but no Lily, no Potter, Black, Lupin, or pitiful Pettigrew. Where the hell were they?
Snape really hadn't heard what Black was freaking out over in Potions, other than that it involved Evans and Potter. But he did remember Lily coming into the Great Hall this morning with a quiet boy that looked enough like Potter that Snape's stomach actually lurched at the sight of him. And after a few minutes, Lily had stormed out again, taking the kid by the arm and Black following after them, yelling something idiotic, as usual. The whole scene was bizarre.
He didn't care, though. He looked around at his friends, positively gleeful as they went on about Potter and his deluded love for someone who wasn't worthy of his blood, how the whole lot of Gryffindors were nothing but Mudbloods and blood traitors, just waiting to die for their sad, misguided beliefs once the Dark Lord was finished with them. And Snape didn't care.
He didn't.
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
Lily's eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she insistently tugged at her arm again, jolting the hand attached to it. She didn't want to stand here and listen to this, not now. James' grip was iron.
"Stay here," he said, his voice like ice, a tone she had never heard from him. He was staring and staring at Harry, trying to glean something from the boy's mournful eyes. "What do you mean 'we're dead'? How?! How do we die?"
"I'm not…" the boy's words faltered as he saw their alarmed, distraught faces. "I can't—"
"No!" James shot back, not bothering to compose himself. "Why would you say that? You can't just say something like that and expect—"
"Stop it!" Lily hissed, keeping her voice low so it would remain steady. "He can't help it, James. Relax…"
Now, James looked at her, his eyes hot and ready to boil over. "This kid just told you that you'd be dead before he turns eleven and you'd leave him an orphan. You and me. Dead. You want to believe that?"
"Of course I don't want to believe that! But I doubt it's really easy for him to talk about how his parents died!" He finally released her wrist and she pulled it viciously away, not getting as much satisfaction from the freedom as she thought she'd get. "You're the one that wanted to go off and hear what he had to say. And now you're gonna stand there and yell at him because you don't like what you hear?"
"And you do?!" James roared.
"No!" Lily yelled right back. "I'm just trying to make sense of it!"
"Well, here's your sense," James snapped. "Harry apparently fell from the sky into a past time because he looked the Mirror of Whatever-the-Hell and it showed him the image of his dead parents, His dead parents being you and me, two people who he wanted to see so badly that he literally fell through time and space to do it! Now I want to figure out why I died before my son grew up and I bloody well am going to get an answer!"
"Fine!" Lily bellowed, breathless and heart pounding.
Neither of them could quite figure out how this stand-off had escalated so quickly, but they continued to stare dangerously at each other, wolves ready to circle. And they remained that way until James turned his head to look at Harry, like the snap of a whip, and Lily felt the cold remoteness that gesture was supposed to convey to her. Suddenly, she missed the screaming.
"What happened to us?" he said on an exhale, sounding calmer for the moment. He rubbed his hand through his hair and took another deep breath. Harry watched the motion of James' hand, his mouth fading to a grim line.
"Someone named…Voldemort. Lord Voldemort? He killed you." Harry sounded half-uncertain. "Sorry, I was a baby when it happened, so I don't remember it. And I was only just told the truth this year. I hadn't known…before, I thought you died in a car crash."
"Car crash?" James' voice was hollow. "Before?"
"Before I found out about everything…you know, being a wizard."
Lily's thoughts were stagnant at 'Lord Voldemort'. A brutal chill ran up her spine at the name and the ground felt as if it was coming apart at her feet. So Voldemort would kill her. She imagined that Slytherins who assaulted her in the hallways would be pleased to hear that. This war that she knew was looming…in just one moment, it became more terrible and more real than she could have ever thought. The very idea that she would die…die because her parents were muggles. Nice, normal non-magic people who loved her just as much as anybody with wizards for parents. As much as she would love her own children, if and when she had them. She blinked away the burning in her eyes to look at Harry, who had turned his attention more to her, as if fearful of her reaction. She had been dealing with what he was saying more quietly than James, thus far.
She chased a lock of wayward hair behind her ear and tried to push away those thoughts. She needed to think. She needed to somehow break this down and know what happened.
It was the first clear thought about Harry that struck her. "Harry…" If she could focus on him, she could keep all of the other horrible things at bay. "How did you survive…if neither of us did?" She pointed with a shaking finger between herself and James, who looked almost offended at the gesture. She knew how he felt; talking about their potential or possible demise was almost so strange that it was all they could do to discuss it like someone might discuss the weather. She kept pushing it down, not knowing what else to do with it. Focus on Harry.
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
Looking at them now, the lump in Harry's throat was nearly insurmountable. He turned away, looking at the abandoned, creaky house behind them—suddenly less frightening than it had originally appeared. He didn't want to cry. And if he did cry, he didn't want them to see it.
Hagrid's words, over and over.
…something about you stumped him that night.
"I don't know…" he finally said. "Nobody knows. He tried to kill me, but he couldn't." The wind was so fierce around them that the Shrieking Shack looked as if it might fall over. But no matter how hard it was buffeted, it stayed standing. "It's how I got the scar on my forehead."
James took a step towards him, but then stopped and his hands hung awkwardly at his sides. "So you lived. And we didn't."
Harry spun around, blinking his eyes quickly. And Lily wished that she could tell him that he didn't have to be so brave. But Harry nodded and the moisture in his eyes made them gleam. And Lily was struck with the way Harry was looking at them. In that moment in time, they weren't Gryffindor sixth-years. They weren't Lily Evans and James Potter. They were Lily and James Potter, his mother and father.
And he spoke, his voice wet and fervent. "I really wish you had."
A/N: Here's to hoping you guys don't hate me too much anymore! Be sure to review if you can!
