Wow, well, I certainly didn't expect such a good reaction to the first chapter of this story, but thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed. I have a few answers to the questions asked in the reviews but I'll try to keep it brief so you don't have a wall of text to get through before my mediocre story haha.

Stormbow: I'm glad you think I'm treating the challenge well so far, they're some of my favourites as well, that's why I decided to write this. You're right about the way I treated Molly, one of the things I'm trying to improve is how I word things to get my meaning across properly so, I'll probably have more of these moments in the rest of the story. I do have the 3rd member of the new "golden trio" picked out, but thanks for the offer of help.

JuliSt: Your question about Ron wanting Hermione if he's a pureblood bigot is another moment that I mentioned in my response to Strongbow, I'll be trying to fix both of those parts so the story flows and works a little bit better. And Molly is still going to get what's due for her part in the potions.

Elvander72: Definitely not going with any of the girls from your list of normal, I don't have any problems with those characters, some of them will have a bigger role in this story than in cannon though.

Just as a side note, this chapter was already finished when I posted the first chapter so don't expect quick posting times like this all the time. It should be about a week or two at most between chapters. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have everyone, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Death is only the beginning

Chapter 2

Pulling himself away from his parents, Harry smiled up at them, his hands shaking as he turned back to Athalia and nodded, eager to get the formalities out of the way so he could spend more time with his parents.

"Alright, we've decided on when I'll go back, what else do I need to know?"

Reaching for her file once again, Athalia pulled out another sheet of paper. Looking over the list of items on the list, she made note of the more important things that Harry needed to do.

"Well, first off, you'll need to get to the Goblins as soon as you can, the sooner you get that Horcrux out of you the better. You'll also need to talk to them about assisting you in disposing of the other Horcruxes, that should be easy though, the Goblins don't think much of people who make them, the last time the Goblins found out about a wizard trying to make a Horcrux they made sure he didn't succeed. Sneaky buggers tricked him into casting a spell against a Goblin in Gringotts so they could legally kill him."

Harry winced as he listened to Athalia tell him about the unfortunate wizard and made a mental note not to take the Goblins lightly. He vowed to treat them with as much respect as he was able.

"Now, you have two options regarding the binding of your core, we can release it now or you can have Dumbledore or the Goblins remove it. One of the things we were able to do is get approval to put you through a strengthening ritual, it can be done with the binding on and your core will continue to be strengthened by the wards until you have it removed but you won't benefit from the ritual as much. It's up to you, your core will be roughly the same strength either way."

Frowning, Harry crossed his arms over his chest as he thought, noticing that his parents had moved to stand behind him, one of their hands on either of his shoulder, James on his right and Lily on his left, letting him know without words that they would support him regardless of what he chose. Harry's eyes widened as he had a thought about the situation regarding the wards and his Horcrux.

"Wait Athalia, if I have the binding removed won't that sever the connection between the Horcrux and the wards? Will that help my relatives' recovery?"

As Harry looked over at Athalia, he noticed the look that his parents and Athalia were giving him and smiled, knowing that they were surprised about his concern for his relatives after everything that happened to him at their hands. A few of his deaths were even at Vernon's hands – or at least a result of his heavy-handedness and starvation tactics - once the Horcrux had a strong enough connection to the wards.

"We didn't consider that Harry, it just might, let me check some things and I'll tell you."

Nodding to Athalia, Harry smiled as he felt his mother kiss his forehead. Closing his eyes he did his best to embed this feeling into his memory, feeling the love his mother had for him wash over him, like a wave of warmth. Her voice so low, yet crystal clear, nearly brought a tear to his eye as he rarely heard it aside from the issues with the Dementors, and Harry found himself enjoying the almost melodic quality of her voice.

"I'm proud of you Harry, you've grown up to be such a good man. I only wish we could've been there to help you grow into the man you are now."

"It's not their fault Mom, the Horcrux twisted the wards, they shouldn't be blamed, Riddle is the one who should be blamed."

Smiling at the interaction between Harry and Lily, Athalia couldn't help but feel happy. Harry had quickly become her favourite. She had overseen so many peoples' deaths, almost none of the people got a second chance let alone a 24th. Reluctantly Athalia cleared her throat to bring Harry's attention back to the matter at hand when she was sure of her answer.

"As much as I hate to interrupt, the answer to your question Harry, is yes, it will sever the connection between the Horcrux and the wards, which should make things easier for you. So you'll opt for the binding removal before the ritual then?"

At Harry's quick nod, Athalia made a few quick notes on the form in front of her, before pressing her thumb in one of the boxes at the bottom of the form. Handing it over to Harry, Athalia quickly explained what to do.

"Just press your thumb to the second box on the bottom of the form, it will leave an imprint of your magic to act as your signature, signifying that you agree to everything we've discussed."

Nodding softly, Harry pressed his thumb into the square and pulled it back, looking at the paper, curious to see what the imprint would look like and smiled as he saw the form of his stag Patronus staring back at him, noting that the stag had a lightning bolt mark on its forehead to match where his scar was. Passing the paper back to Athalia, Harry looked up to his right to see his father smiling proudly at him.

"You three have a lot of catching up to do, you won't be able to get it all out of the way while you wait but you'll get to spend quite a while together while the form is processed and the ritual is prepared. Harry, you'll probably feel a little dizzy when the binding is removed, but nothing more."

Standing, Athalia nodded to Harry, James and Lily before turning around and walking toward the mist, disappearing into its depths. Harry watched as the desk vanished and two chairs appeared in its place. Giving his shoulders a soft squeeze each, James and Lily moved to sit in the two new chairs. It was a few seconds before Harry spoke.

"There's so much I want to talk to you both about, I don't know where to start."

James smiled softly as he shared a look with Lily, he had a feeling Harry wouldn't enjoy the conversation coming up but James didn't want Ron turning into another Pettigrew for Harry and with his attitude it would end up that way if Harry didn't deal with Ron.

"We know Harry, but there's something we need to talk about first, and you're probably not going to enjoy it. We know that you enjoy having him around Harry, but you need to cut Ron out of your life, he's dragging you down, look at how long it's taken you to take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. That's Ron's influence and you know it."

While James' voice never raised in volume it had a tone to it that demanded respect and attention, while simultaneously evoking respect with his words. Harry sighed heavily as he raised his right hand, resting the elbow against the arm of the chair, his hand pushed his glasses up so Harry could rub his eyes softly. Harry had wanted to put this off till he had returned but he knew that removing Ron from his life was almost a necessity for him to succeed in his endeavour, especially with the effect his mother's influence was having on Ron and by extension Harry and Hermione. Pulling his hand away and letting it drop to his lap softly, Harry looked over at his father with a smile. It was immensely gratifying to know how much his parents loved him, and that even in death they would keep watch over him and help him like this.

"I know dad, I just didn't want to think about it so soon, he was my first friend and the person who was there the first time I went through this, I don't even want to know how he convinced Molly to brew those potions for him but hopefully with me knowing about my bond with Hermione I'll be able to avoid that."

Lily smiled at Harry as he spoke, she had already told him she was proud of him but she could never express just how proud of him she was. He had never given up trying to save the wizarding world regardless of their treatment of him. Reaching out, Lily took James' hand, knowing that he was thinking the same thing about their son.

"We know it's not going to be easy for you Harry, but we know you're going to change the wizarding world, and neither of us can wait to see you pulling them into the 21 century, kicking and screaming."

Laughing at the image of him dragging Lucius Malfoy while he was kicking his feet and screaming like a child throwing a fit, Harry smiled at his parents.

"I can already tell, when I have to leave I'm going to miss talking to both of you."

Deciding Harry needed some cheering up, James decided to tell him about his Hogwarts years and all the pranks he and his friends played on the teachers and other students. Harry quickly lost track of time as he, James and Lily shared stories, James and Lily making sure to include some serious talks so they could impart some of the lessons they had learned through their own lives. Suddenly Harry stopped and pressed the heel of his right hand to his forehead, leaning forward as the room started spinning, knowing that the binding on his core had been removed and their time together was almost up. James and Lily looked to each other before turning back to Harry.

"It looks like our time is almost up Harry, there's a few more things we want to tell you. We know you want to save Sirius from dying and it is possible to do, but you need to be careful. You will find it easier to do now with the binding removed, but you need to think things through more often. Also, you know that we were close with Neville's parents so, we'd like you to get to know him as well, and try to convince Augusta to get him his own wand earlier please. That poor boy is suffering enough as it is without having to fight with his dad's wand to do the simplest spells."

Closing his eyes, Harry sighed, he'd forgotten about Neville's parents, opening his eyes, Harry looked to Lily before looking back at James, he needed to know.

"Mom, Dad, is there anything I can do for Neville's parents? I lost you two at pretty much the same time as he lost his parents but they're still alive. There has to be something we can do to help them. Even if you can just point me in the right direction."

Harry watched his parents eagerly; in more than a few of his lives Harry had been close to Neville, and Harry wanted to help him get his parents back. The seconds passed almost agonizingly slowly as he watched James and Lily staring at each other, silently communicating, before finally turning back to him.

"We'll have to talk with Athalia about this Harry, chances are you'll be unconscious for a while during the ritual so we'll see if we can't wrangle a starting point for you to work with. But you should prepare for the chance that she'll be unable to help. That doesn't mean, however, that an answer doesn't exist and that you shouldn't try looking for one if she can't help you.

"There's a couple more things we need to tell you Harry, you need to talk with the Goblins about our will. It has proof of Sirius' innocence, that Pettigrew was our secret keeper, as well as letting you know what else we left for you when you come of age. But you'll still need to catch Pettigrew once you get back to Hogwarts."

James turned to Lily and nodded for her to take over and she smiled before turning to Harry.

"You need to make sure you study harder Harry, the binding and ritual have increased your magical power but not your magical skills."

Lily shook her head softly at Harry's confused look and laughed softly.

"They're not the same Harry, magical power refers to your reserves, how many spells you can cast before tiring out as well as how much power you can put behind your spells. Magical skill however, refers to the number of spells you know, your ability to use modifying incanters and how you respond to each situation in regards to the spells you cast."

Harry crossed his arms again as he stared down at his knees, thinking about what his mother had just said for a few moments before looking back up at Lily.

"So after the ritual I may have more magical power than Riddle but he has more magical skill, which could tip the scales in his favour. I'll have to look for a way to even things out a bit then, maybe Dumbledore can help me."

"That's a good idea Harry but remember that although Dumbledore is powerful he is still only human and can make mistakes. Don't rely on him for everything, but don't ignore him either, and don't forget about your other teachers."

Harry's head shot up at Lily's mention of his other teachers, and instantly an internal conflict was sparked. Should he ask about Snape? Would his mother be angry for bringing him up now? In the end he decided to ask and risk upsetting both his parents.

"What about Snape? I know he was the one to tell Riddle about the prophecy but he couldn't have known that it would lead to you."

Watching his parents, Harry saw their serious expressions turn grim and sad in an instant. James sighed and shook his head softly.

"I want you to know that a good deal of how things turned out between us and Snape is my fault Harry, my first time meeting him I was an arrogant brat, which is why I couldn't get your mother to give me the time of day until I grew up a lot."

James stopped to give Lily a smirk as he glanced over at her, only for Lily to roll her eyes and cross her arms over her chest as she smiled at James.

"If I had been more like you things could have been different, but I wasn't and because of that I ended up driving your mother and Snape apart once she noticed I'd deflated my head a little. When you go back your mum and I want you to do us a favour. Tell him that you found a letter to him from the both of us, telling him your mother forgives him and that I wish things could have been different, and I'm sorry for Sirius almost getting him killed."

Nodding softly to his parents, Harry's stomach dropped as he saw Athalia walk back through the mist, smiling apologetically at all three of them.

"I wish I could give you three more time to catch up but we're ready for the ritual now Harry. Don't worry, your parents will be joining us."

Standing up Harry walked toward Athalia, James taking his place on Harry's right and Lily taking the spot to his left, both just slightly behind him, letting Harry know they would always be there supporting him while he walked his path, even though he wouldn't be able to see them. Athalia waved her hand and a small corridor, no more than six feet long, appeared through the mist, a solid steel door at the other end. Leading the way, Athalia stepped forward and upon reaching the door, opened it and walked into one of the ritual rooms that was kept on standby for cases like this. There was already a group of three white-robed people in the room, who were just finishing drawing a ritual circle on the ground. I the circle was a raised stone block, similar to an altar but bare of any adornments on its grey surface. As Harry walked in the room he looked around and found that the room was bare aside from the stone and circle. Frowning for a second Harry just shrugged before looking to his parents talking with Athalia, and moved to walk over to them to see what was required of him when one of the people gently placed a hand on his right shoulder.

"We will walk you through what you need to do young one. It will be quite simple for you as you simply need to lay on the stone, you will be put into a trance soon after. When you wake the ritual will be over and you will feel mostly as you did when you walked in. Are you ready young one?"

With a quick look back at his parents, Harry nodded grimly to the robed figure before walking over to the stone and sat down, making sure to lay exactly as he was told, not wanting to be the reason something messed up. Closing his eyes and drawing in a slow deep breath Harry released the breath and let the three, who were standing one at his head and one either side, that he was ready. Taking in slow steady breathes as he was instructed, Harry felt himself getting tired as he listened to the soft chanting and let his eyes close. As his eyes closed Harry felt his consciousness drift away.

James looked over to the stone and saw Harry unconscious on top of it and let out a soft sigh as he returned to the conversation with Lily and Athalia.

"Athalia, Harry just wants a point in the right direction, he doesn't want the answer handed to him, he knows that there's a lot to be gained in the search for the answer."

James and Lily watched as Athalia rubbed her eyes softly and sighed, knowing that she wanted to help as much as they did while also knowing that Athalia was bound by strict rules that left very little room for this kind of request. Placing his hand on Lily's arm when he saw her about to speak again, James gave her a look that said all too clearly to be patient and wait for an answer. James and Lily didn't have to wait too long as Athalia lowered her hand a minute later and looked at them both.

"I know that you can see how much I want to help but you know there's not a lot I can do beyond what I already have. Let me do a bit of digging and see what I can do, there may be a way for me to give him the information he needs to know and have it fall in the constraints of the contract we both signed. We'll have plenty of time to wait while Harry goes through the strengthening ritual."

Giving a sigh, James and Lily nodded to Athalia and watched her leave before turning around to watch the ritual work on Harry, hopeful for their friends and their son's happiness for the first time in more years than they could remember. Several hours later, Athalia returned to the room but held a single finger to her lips and pointed to the ritual taking place, making James and Lily nod as they had already been warned that speaking would disrupt the ritual in a very nasty manner. Athalia stood on Lily's right side, leaning against the wall and settling in to wait for the final stage of the ritual, her mind working furiously to decide the path she would take. The information Harry would need was very hard to get and she was sure that Harry would gladly go through the trouble to get the tomes required but she wasn't allowed to divulge the details to him. Athalia watched the glowing light around Harry start to turn from a deep blood red to a dull gold before starting to slowly fade as she chewed on her bottom lip. The ritual would be over in moments and she still didn't have her answer.

His eyes opening slowly, Harry groaned softly as he saw his parents smiling down at him, James on his left and Lily standing at the head of the stone, stroking his hair lovingly. Slowly sitting up, Harry let out a second small groan before smiling at his parents and leaning forward to hug them both.

"Everything went okay then?"

Before James or Lily had the chance to say anything Athalia walked up and Harry was startled to see how frustrated and annoyed she looked as she approached. His stomach sank and he braced himself, expecting bad news about the strengthening ritual - but before even he had a chance to ask, Athalia spoke.

"The ritual went perfectly Harry, actually it went better than perfect, your core growth was much higher than we expected. Your parents told me about your desire to help Alice and Frank Longbottom. There is a way to help them but the tome that contains the magic has been lost, not even we have a copy of the tome. The only ones that do, won't part with it willingly except under a few circumstances. There is information I can't reveal right now that you'll need, it involves your second bond mate so when I tell you who it is I can tell you what you need to know to get the tome."

Harry frowned, not liking being kept in the dark about his other bond mate as much as he disliked having to wait to help one of his friends. Nodding sadly Harry looked back up to Athalia to see she was smiling once more.

"You have too good a heart sometimes Harry, I know it's hard to not be able to help them yet but you'll understand when it's time. Come on now, it's time for you to get back to your Hermione."

Blushing and groaning as his parents and Athalia laughed, Harry stood and was surprised when Athalia took 3 small hand mirrors and handed one to each of the three Potters.

"These are a variation on your communication mirrors, the ones you made James. They're a gift from the creator, his way of apologizing for how much your lives had been meddled with; they will let you communicate with your parents Harry, both of them or only one if you want, just hold your wand to the centre and say either Mom, Dad or both. To end the connection just close the mirror, don't worry they won't work for anyone else and while they're in use, they emit a notice-me-not charm to keep anyone from asking any questions about you talking to a mirror. The only exceptions are your bond mates."

Athalia didn't get any further as all three Potters hugged her tightly. Laughing, Athalia hugged them back and smiled as she shook her head.

"Come on Harry, time to go."

Nodding, Harry followed Athalia out of the room into the corridor and stopped when she did in front of the door at the opposite end of the corridor. Turning around after opening the door Athalia gestured for Harry to walk through.

"You'll wake up at midnight on your birthday Harry, good luck."

Nodding and giving his parents one last hug each, Harry took a deep breath before walking through the door.

It was time to make things right.