"Hey mate, you got another present!" Ron said out before tossing the thing.

"I do? But who..." Harry grabbed the small thing out of the air carefully tearing open the wrapping. It was... "A ring? Huh, there's a note... Three turns ought to do it? Weird, no signature, but it was my Fathers..." Harry didn't know why his Dad wore something so strange, but... it filled him with a strange warmth having something that had belonged to his Dad.

"Well, give it a try!"

"Okay." He found turning it in his hands did nothing before realizing, his face a little red, that the stone itself could turn in it's setting.

Harry gasped at the ... they were more solid than ghosts meaning barely, and were touching him, but it wasn't hurting! It... it felt nice.

"My baby boy, I'm so proud of you..."

"Mom!?"

"Er, mate, there's no one here."

"He can't see us... We're only visible to those with the stone- though... You should tell him it showed you a memory of your parents- we're... more than that, but you should wait until tonight- enjoy Christmas and know we'll be here with you always- well except when you're in the bathroom- ow, Lily- ow! Hurry, turn the ring back before she exorcises me!"

Harry reluctantly laughing and crying turned the ring back, his last site of his ...His Mom chasing his Dad.

"You alright mate? Maybe you should see Madam Pomphrey-"

"I'm fine Ron- no really, better than fine, it's just..." He didn't like lying to his friend, but figured his parents had a good reason for it. "It's just ... it showed me a memory of my parents.."

"Oh, well that's good then isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

"Ready for breakfast?"

"Sure."

"Scabbers- where are you- oh, there you are, why'd you run off like that anyway? Well, at least you've come back, if I didn't know any better I'd think you didn't like Christmas-"

"Why aren't you wearing-" "Your Jumper Ron?"

"Mum knows I hate maroon- hey, let go of me!"

Harry laughed thankful he had put on his Weasley jumper but his heart wasn't in it, he couldn't wait to use the ring again.

The day simultaneously was the best and longest in Harry's life, but finally he was in bed, Ron snoring like a chainsaw even as he shut his bed curtains mercifully cutting off most of the noise.

"Mom, Dad!"

"Hey ya- good to see you too."

"We're glad you summoned us again Harry, but we can't stay long- ten, maybe fifteen minutes-"

"Just long enough to tell a story before he falls asleep, eh?"

"A story?" Harry didn't feel the least bit ashamed of being tucked into bed by his Mother and being told a story, he'd wished for it too much!

"Yes, I think it best to start at the beginning- we can cover our lives later but to start off with... Well, there were these three brothers crossing a dangerous land. A flooded river had destroyed the bridge- and this was before apparition and portkeys- er, Wizarding travel. Heck, it was even before brooms! Terrible dark times, Son. Ow, Lily, come on, what lesson is that teaching him? Ha, I win- OW!" James rubbed his arm with a scowl for a second making Harry giggle, his Mom was smiling and laughing as well and James had a twinkle in his eye as if he... liked getting hit? Harry felt he'd never understand people.

"Where was I? Right... It was before even Wizarding schools- people were lucky if they knew more than one branch of magic. These Wizards were little different but in their fields they were beyond compare- and they were Brothers so they made it a competition. One Brother, the charms master of his time froze the river and crossed, another transfigured a bridge, and still another still inscribed runes on his shoes and jumped across- and fell flat on his face, wish I'd seen it. Still, they all managed to make it across, and the person whose lands they were trespassing was reluctantly impressed, along with rather amused and decided to take them on as his apprentices."

"As proof of their mastery of all that the man taught them they each created and showed an object. A wand that couldn't be beaten- really just an overpowered wand with it's own power source, sadly... Well, human greed is a constant, and he was killed in his sleep for it. Another created an invisibility cloak- he was a bit batty- thought he could hide from death with it, and, well, he was rather long lived, but still, it's rather silly. The final brother, our ancestor in fact, created a ring that allowed him to talk with the departed- but.. well, he wasn't made of stern stuff- and ended up losing his wife, and summoning a loved one- well it hurts after a while- it drove him to despair to pain his loved one and he couldn't take anymore, joining them. No don't you dare worry about us- just don't keep us here longer than ten minutes alright?"

"Okay, I promise, how long has it been?"

"Oh, maybe a minute, I guess I should have gone with the long version of the story?"
"No- I mean, I want to hear about you and Mom, though it's nice knowing I have something that's been in our family so long Dad." Harry grinned, loving saying Mom and Dad.

"Alright, I guess I can tell you how we met- but it isn't a pleasant story- I was a bit of a berk to be honest-"

"A bit? Maybe I should handle this part?" James groaned but let Lily tell the story that had Harry looking at his Potions professor in a slightly different light.