Disclaimer: I'm afraid that my limited brain capacity would never allow me to produce such a wonderful concept as Harry Potter, nor would my finances allow me to buy him. Therefore, I regretfully state that I own neither Harry Potter, nor any other characters that you may recognize. I'm not even sure if I own the plot.

Note: I'm assuming that you already know the basic story of Harry Potter from books 1 through 5.

'Italics' stand for thoughts/letters or text

Chapter Ten: Found and Lost Again

Day Two, Late Night:

"Where is Harry?" Voldemort demanded, glaring at the cowering Death Eater. "Tell me!"

"My Lord, he…he has…left," the unfortunate man stammered.

"Left? He has betrayed us? Impossible!"

"His r-rooms are empty a-and he is gone, L-lord."

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know, Lord."

"Well, go find him!" the Dark Lord snapped. As his follower headed rapidly towards the door, he called, "Oh, one more thing. Crucio!"

…………

Day Two, Late Night:

Harry gasped and jerked awake, his scar burning painfully. 'So now Voldemort knows. It's a good thing he doesn't know about our connection, or he'd probably torture people just to punish me. At least I haven't got a Dark mark.'

Sighing, he leaned back and gazed around him at the chamber he was in. Decorated in Gryffindor colors, it was quite cozy. He had been touched when his parents told him that they had kept a place for him all these years in hopes that one day he would return to them.

'My parents. It feels kind of strange to even think that. I wonder where Wormtail is in this world, that traitor. Maybe I should have stayed with Voldemort a little longer so I could kill that rat.'

Pushing aside the velvet comforter, he climbed out of bed and wandered around the room — the room his parents had saved hoping that one day his counterpart would return — looking at the pictures on the walls. Photos of himself as a child, the Marauders, Lily and James, his sister, and much more. Altogether, he felt as if he had come home, which he technically had. It was a nice feeling.

A tingle in the air around him made Harry stiffen as he tried to identify the cause. 'I have no idea what that was, but it seems familiar.' Concentrating hard on his other 'memories,' he soon recognized it. 'The wards! Someone's attacking, probably whoever Voldemort sent.'

Even before he had fully processed this information, he was moving. As he headed for the door, he grabbed both of his wands and a dagger and slipped out into the hallway of Godric's Hollow. 'Should I wake Mum and Dad? I might need backup.' Making up his mind, he entered the master bedroom and ran to his father's side.

"Dad! Wake up!"

"Huh?" James opened his eyes, gasped, and grabbed for his wand. "You!"

"Dad, someone just broke through the wards!" Harry whispered urgently, ignoring the shocked expression he had received. For a moment, James froze. Then, he remembered that his son was no long evil. Once that fact had reestablished itself, he leapt up and put on his glasses.

"Are they Death Eaters?"

"I think so. They might be after me, or trying to hurt me through you."

"Okay." Leaning over the bed, James shook his wife gently. "Lily, honey, get up. We have some visitors."

She rose at once. "Who?"

"Possibly Death Eaters. Okay, I'll go downstairs, Harry, you follow me for backup, and Lily, go guard Mari."

"No way," Lily objected. "I'm not just going to stand here. Harry, protect your sister; I'm going with your father."

"Fine, then," James gave in reluctantly, "but be careful."

Harry's parents raced out before he could protest. He briefly considered following them, but decided against it. 'That's practically the first thing Dad's ever ordered me to do, as far as I recall. And someone needs to stay back, I guess.'

"Harry, what's going on?" Mari stepped into the room and glanced around. "Where are Mum and Dad?"

"Downstairs," he replied dully. "They said to stay up here."

Sulking, Mari sat on the bed and fingered the sheets sullenly. "I never get to do anything. Whenever something happens, I always get shuffled into the back."

"That's to keep you from getting hurt," Harry pointed out. "And it's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, you have to fight even if you don't want to. I, for one, would appreciate a vacation — well, from attacks, I mean. I don't like sitting on the sidelines any more than you do."

His sister considered this thoughtfully. "Then why are you here and not downstairs? Isn't this called sitting on the sidelines?"

"Mum and Dad told me to. Though, this waiting is beginning to get on my nerves." He started to pace. "I wish I knew how many Death Ea—"

Someone screamed. In the blink of an eye, Harry flew into the hallway and almost tripped on the steps in his haste. 'That's Mum! What's going on?'

"Stupefy!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego! Reducto!"

"Protego! Impedimenta!"

"Crucio!"

Another yell sent a wave of adrenalin coursing though Harry's veins. Bursting out the front door, he raised his wand. "Stupefy!"

The deatheater torturing James barely dodged the spell, but instead of retaliating, he called, "Potter's turned! Grab them and let's go!"

Not too far away, Lily was dueling with two other cloaked men. At the command, they both Stunned her and all three vanished, using what looked like a portkey.

"No! Stupefy, stupefy, stupefy!" Harry fired rapidly, hoping to save his father, but the remaining figures avoided his attempts. One of them grabbed James and a moment later, the yard was empty, save for the solitary teen.