Was it wrong to wish death on your worst enemy? What if you were given permission, no an order, to do it, what about then? And you were told to do it slowly, just as you had imagined doing every time your enemy made your life hell. For most cold-hearted killers, this would be a dream come true. To be ordered to carry out an act you so desperately wanted to do and you would be doing it in the name of your Lord. Unluckily for Snape, he had yet to be asked by Lord Voldemort to carry out this task, but it was only a matter of time. It was only a matter of time before the Dark Lord grew bored of hearing that no one knew where he was or that no one had much information on him and he would turn his cold, red eyes to Snape and asks him what he knows. Then, after Snape finished telling the Dark Lord that James Potter was to be residing in the walls of Hogwarts, Snape would undoubtedly be told to kill him.
"Enough." Hissed Lord Voldemort to the death eater that was kneeling in front of him with his head down giving a report of what he found out at the Ministry, or lack of. At Voldemort's order the death eater started rambling apologies and kissing the Dark Lord's robes until Voldemort held up a hand to stop him. Standing with his head still bowed out of respect the death eater moved back to his place in the circle. There was silence as Voldemort looked around at the death eaters he had gathered together tonight in this field in the middle of nowhere.
And it really was in the middle of nowhere. The only thing that could be seen for miles on all sides was men in black cloaks and the black marble throne that was in the center of the circle the death eaters had formed. Voldemort liked to have meetings in places like this, in the middle of nowhere. One of his reasons for picking places like this Voldemort had said at Snape's very first death eater meeting. In a half joking (or as jokingly Voldemort could be), half serious tone, Voldemort had said he liked having meeting out in the open because when he returned to his "home" he liked to be pleasantly overwhelmed by the smell of the pain, fear, and blood of his enemy. He said that nothing made him more inspired.
His other reason came later, further into the war, when he first started believing he had a spy in his ranks. A team of Dumbledore's people had once ambushed a meeting that was being held at an old muggle farm after killing those who owned it.
It seemed that Voldemort liked seeing the blood of Dumbledore's followers on the grass in the moonlight. So to tempt Dumbledore, and make sure that if Dumbledore took the bait that he would be entertained, Voldemort held routine meetings out in the open. Important meetings were a different story.
"Severus," Voldemort hissed, letting his eyes fall on Snape. At once Snape moved into the center of the circle and knelt before Lord Voldemort. "Tell me Severus, what has the old fool been saying and planning regarding this situation."
"My Lord," Snape said, clearing his mind of all thoughts to block out any attempt of mind reading Voldemort might try. Not that what he was about to say was a lie. "Dumbledore has yet to speak with me since…his return. But I have heard that he will be staying within the walls of Hogwarts." Snape said, spitting out any word that was in association with James Potter.
"Of course he will be," Voldemort said in a whisper that non-the less was heard by all gathered. "Tell me Severus," Voldemort said, staring at Snape's bowed, hooded head. "How is young Mr. Potter handling this all?" To some, it might sound that Voldemort cared in a sick sort of way. But everyone present knew better; a sick sort of caring would be better for Harry Potter then what Voldemort really meant behind his question.
"He missed classes yesterday. His little friends said that he was feeling, overwhelmed by the events." Snape said, remembering how Miss Granger had come up to him before class had began and had given Potter's sob story.
"Overwhelmed indeed." Voldemort said with an evil smirk come over his face. "When you return to Hogwarts, you will find out exactly how the two Potters are getting along and just how young Harry feels about his, daddy, being back."
"Yes My Lord," Snape said with an incline of his head. Head still bow, Snape leaned forward and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes then stood, fight the urge to spit in disgust on the ground. That was one of the first things that had started turning Snape against Voldemort, having to kiss the hem of his robes…James Potter had made him to the same thing.
"James, stop doing that to your hair. You'll make it even messier then it already is for the picture." Lily Potter said as she watched her husband run a hand through his hair as she tied the shoelaces of their five-month-old baby's shoes.
"Sorry honey," James said walking over to Lily and place a kiss on her cheek.
James turned his face away from the darkened window to block out thoughts of Lily. He couldn't lose it right now. There would be more time to grieve later; right now he had to be strong. Turning fully around he took in the sight of his son asleep in the armchair. He looked so peaceful when he slept, just like he did all those years ago. Even if it seemed like weeks ago to James.
Walking quietly over to Harry, James retook his seat and sat watching Harry's deep breaths. He had failed in so many ways when it came to Harry. And, yet, he felt such pride, which in turn made him feel slightly guilty. He watched as Harry reached up to his face in his sleep and scratched his nose, James was half way through his thought of how Lily use to do the same thing when something on Harry's hand caught his attention. It, it looked like scars. Just as Harry was bring his hand away from his nose, James reached out and gently let it fall into his hand. After waiting a few seconds to make sure that Harry hadn't woke up from it, James shifted so he was even closer to Harry's hand and looked at it.
He was right. It was scars. They looked nearly healed but, never the less, the sight of them worried and angered James. Staring at the words on his son's hand, James tired to think why Harry would have, 'I must not tell lies,' marked on him. Then, a thought came to him. "…and then there's Umbridge and she'll have noticed that I haven't been 'spreading lies' all day and go looking for me," Harry rambled on, unconsciously rubbing the back of his right hand.
"Why would she think that you would be spreading lies?"
"Well, what I have to say, the Ministry doesn't agree with, so she has dubbed it a lie"
That's what Harry had said that night when he came to Grimmauld Place. Lightly rubbing Harry hand, James hoped that for Umbridge's sake that she was not responsible for this. A light knock on the door caused James to take his eyes off Harry and look toward the door. When another knock came, James returned his gaze to Harry and gently place his son's hand on his stomach and got up to answer the door. It turned out to be Sirius and Remus. At the sight of them James cast one last glance at Harry then stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
"Hey," Sirius said once the door was closed, closely followed by Remus saying the same thing.
"Hey." James said back, running a hand through his hair staring from one face to the other.
"So, you and Harry talk?" Remus asked cautiously.
"Yeah, he told me everything." James said, walking around Sirius and Remus and taking a seat in one of the chairs in Dumbledore's office.
"James," Sirius started to say but James just held up a hand to stop him.
"Why does he have the words ' I must not tell lies' as scars on the back of his hand?" James asked, looking up at them. He was met with two confused faces.
"What? He has what on the back of his hand?" Sirius asked.
" 'I must not tell lies'," James repeated. Sirius and Remus shared a look of utter confusion.
"We have no idea James." Remus said.
"And what is it that Harry says that Umbridge thinks is lies?" James asked remembering again what Harry had said about Umbridge. Again Remus and Sirius shared a look, though this one was not out of confusion.
"Harry has, er, spoken out in her class about Voldemort returning to power. We told you before, the Ministry doesn't believe he's back, and so that's what Umbridge believes." Said Sirius.
"I'll have to have a little, chat, with her soon then." James said in a would be causal voice that was a clear indictor to Remus and Sirius that chat would be one of the last words used to descried the meeting that would be held between Umbridge and James. There was silence between the three friends for a short time before James asked another question, which he was almost sure of the answer.
"Does he know about the Prophecy?" He asked in a quite voice.
"No, he doesn't." Sirius answered. "Dumbledore could have told him a few times, but he grew a liking to your son and felt that he was too young. And he came close to telling him at the end of last year, but thought that Harry had enough to deal with at that point in time." James nodded. When Harry was giving him his accounts of everything that had happened to him, James kept waiting for his next words to be 'and then I found out about the Prophecy'. But they never came.
"We're, that's to say me, Sirius, and now you, are the only members of the Order who know that Dumbledore's had the chance to tell Harry, but didn't because he let his feelings get override him." Remus said heavily as he moved into a seat next to James.
"And we only know because we asked when he was planning on telling Harry." Sirius said, while grabbing the remaining chair and moving it in front of James and Remus so he could face them.
"You think he should know then?" James asked looking from one friend to the other. He and Lily had discussed this topic more then once, yet they had a very hard time because they didn't want to spring it on him on his sixteenth birthday or anything of the sort, but they also felt that he wouldn't have a childhood if he grew up knowing that one day he would kill or be killed.
"He has to be told at some point James." Remus said, taking the easy answer Sirius felt. Sirius however gave his true feelings toward the matter.
"Yes, I think he should know as soon as possible. Well, maybe not tomorrow but, soon." Said Sirius. James sighed and dropped his head.
"But, you guys are telling me that he's happy. I don't want-" James began, but Sirius taking the role of the Devil's Advocate, interrupted him.
"He is happy. But, James if we don't tell him now…How will he react when he does find out? I hate this just as much as you do, but we have to face it. Harry is important in this war. The sooner he finds out, the sooner he comes to terms with it and will be able to do something." Said Sirius gravely; sounding so grown up that it shocked James slightly.
"When should, how, should we tell him though? I mean, me and Lily never worked out how we wanted him to find out and…God I wish she was here, she would know exactly what the hell to tell him." James said sounding helpless.
With his eyes downcast, James missed the look that Sirius and Remus gave each other. That was the first time James had mentioned Lily in front of them. Just as Remus was about to say something, about Lily or something else Sirius didn't know, James brought his head back up and asked,
" And he went to live with the Dursleys'?" Hoping that Remus and Sirius would explain more fully Dumbledore's choice of house for his only son.
"Yeah, no one really thought they would treat him the way the did. Dumbledore had Arabella move into the neighborhood to keep an eye on him but even then we didn't know everything until he got to Hogwarts." Remus said running a hand through his graying hair.
"Yeah, I knew from Lily that her sister wasn't very fond of her but didn't think they would treat Harry like that." Sirius added with a shake of his head. James looked between them. What did they mean the Dursleys' treated Harry badly? Did they…Oh Merlin did they beat him?
"What did they do to him?" James asked them, anger boiling up inside of him. Sirius groaned and let his head fall back in exasperation.
"Why can't that boy tell a full story?" Sirius asked the ceiling.
"He was going to tell me but I told him to save that one for later cause I thought Voldemort was a more pressing matter. But now I get the feeling I was wrong. What did they do to him?" James repeated his question, anger starting to appear in his voice.
"They never beat him if that's what you're asking." Remus said hurriedly. James visibly relaxed…slightly.
"What did they do then?" He asked.
"Well, until Hagrid came to get him, he believed that you and Lily had died during a car crash." Sirius said darkly. "They made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs until he started getting his Hogwarts letters, and I say letters because they were keeping them from him so Hogwarts kept sending the letters, and what else…" Sirius went on before trailing off. James was boiling.
"And no one did anything about this?" He asked, his voice now full of anger.
"The only thing we knew was from Arabella when the Dursleys' would leave Harry with her when they went on vacation or things like that. And all she knew was that Harry wasn't their favorite person." Remus said.
"But why did he go there in the first place?" James asked perplexed at Dumbledore's choice of living arrangements for his son.
"Because it is where he is safest, or was safest." Said a voice from the back of the office. Looking up, and in Sirius' case around, the three saw Dumbledore coming out of the shadows. "Even with Voldemort seemingly gone, Harry was still in danger. Only which I seemed to see. Death eaters almost as terrible as Voldemort were still at large and would be desperate. When Lily saved Harry's life James, she left him with the protection of a most accent kind, one that Voldemort despises and underestimates. The protection is still with him, is still in his mothers blood. So I placed him with his mothers blood, her sister." Dumbledore explained.
"When Petunia Dursley took Harry in, the charm was sealed, a shield was made from the bond of blood and his mother's sacrifice. Voldemort cannot touch a hair on Harry's head while he is there James." Dumbledore added softly to James who would not meet his eye.
"And Petunia knows that's she's done this?" James asked. Dumbledore inclined his head.
"She does, all was explained to her. It is of her knowledge that her taking Harry in she could be the reason Harry has lived to the age of fifteen." Dumbledore said. James could not answer this. His only thoughts were that he would be having a talk with Petunia Dursley as well.
"It is your decision what Harry will be told James, and only yours. My only request is that you also share with me what you tell Harry." Said Dumbledore after a few moments, understood by everyone that he was talking about the Prophecy. "Now, on a different matter, there is a room ready for you to take house in, James. And you as well Sirius. You will find it quite comfortable. I will show you know if you like."
"Harry's in the other room sleeping right now. We'll wait till he wakes up." James said. Again, Dumbledore inclined his head.
"I guess we should get back to Grimmauld place then?" Sirius asked glumly after a few moments had past.
"I am afraid so Sirius. I fully believe that Dolores Umbridge will be making an appearance in this office tomorrow-morn. Or this morning." Dumbledore answered. "Once James as settled into his quarters and has a password chosen, you will be able to move in. I am afraid to say that you will be confided to those quarters as well Sirius. And, on some days, you maybe asked to return to Grimmauld Place and keep watch or be there to help members of the Order." Dumbledore add, as though making sure that Sirius knew the fine print and would be easier to handle when the time came for him to go back.
"Yeah, alright, whatever." Sirius grumbled. "Let's get moving then."
Harry wasn't sure how long he was asleep for. He really wasn't even aware of falling asleep. One minute he was just waiting for James to collect himself from everything Harry had told him, and the next Harry opened his eyes to find James standing over him and shaking his shoulder gently to wake him. Blink back slight confusion, and pain coming from his neck, Harry looked up at his father who was smiling softly down at him.
"Hey," James said upon seeing Harry responding. "I thought you would like a little extra time this morning since you'll have to get back to Gryffindor Tower and probably take a shower and finish up some homework."
"What time is it?" Harry asked rubbing his eyes under his glasses, trying to shake off his sleepiness.
"6ish I think." James answered, offering Harry a hand to help him out of the chair. Harry took it and stood, feel the effects of sleeping in a chair all night. James must have seen Harry's discomfort because he said,
"Yeah, your gonna be feeling this chair all day." Harry merely groaned as he slowly started to make his way, still half sleep, to the door, with James walking beside him. As he walked Harry rolled his shoulders trying to make the aching in his back go away.
"Back hurt?" James asked watching Harry amused.
"Yeah, more of an ache then a hurt, but still." Harry said.
"Alright, I can fix that. Stop a second." James said. Harry obliged. James turned Harry around, and turned around himself. With his back to Harry's, James hooked their arms together then bent over abruptly, thus stretching Harry over James' back and bring Harry's feet off the ground.
"What the-" Harry said as James lifted him. But Harry stopped when he heard his back crack and at the same sound, James lowered him back to his feet.
"Used to really need to crack my back after Quidditch practice, and that was the only way me and Sirius knew how to do it. And beside, we just loved a chance to come close to causing harm to each other." James said turning to face Harry with a smile on his face. "Does it feel any better?"
"Yeah, but a little heads up would have been nice." Harry said, not even aware that he was smiling as well.
"Where's the fun in that?" James asked, smiling wider when the realization hit him that he and Harry were having a sort of father-son talk.
Harry walked back to Gryffindor Tower in very good sprits. Everything was out in the open with James now. All that was left now was for James to open up to him. Then, maybe, they could start to work on some sort of relationship. As the result of being so raped up in his thoughts, Harry didn't even notice that he was standing in front of the Fat Lady's portrait until she gave a loud, fake, cough to get his attention.
"Oh, sorry." Harry said, following it with the password. As he climbed into the common room, he was met with the sight of the Gryffindor early risers… and Ron. Harry looked from all the faces staring at him with looks of happiness and that sort, to Ron's grumpy one. Walking over to Ron with his eyebrows raised Harry asked,
"What are you doing up at six in the morning?" to Ron who, at Harry words, threw a dirty look at the stairs that led to the Girls Dormitories.
"Hermione woke me up. She wanted to know if you came back last night. When I told her you didn't she wanted us to go to breakfast right away so we could find you before classes started. Then she ran back to her dorm cause she forgot a book. And I bloody told her that you would come back. But no. And look, here you are." Ron said very grumpily. Harry had to laugh. He was just in such good sprits, and Ron's face and words were too much.
"Oh Harry, we were just going to look for you." Hermione said once she had sighted Harry and Ron standing together while she ran down the staircase. Seeing Harry smiling, and completely ignoring Ron's death glares, Hermione add, "You had a good night?"
"Yeah, he was in Dumbledore's office and we talked most of the night and got most of the crap out of the way." Harry said nodding understanding her meaning. He heard a gasp from behind him after he spoke. Turning to look, he saw Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil standing behind him with wide eyes.
"You saw your father last night Harry?" Lavender asked in an awed voice.
"Yeah." Harry said slowly, looking from one girl to the other. The looks on their faces was one that someone would be expected to have when looking at a puppy.
"And you two bonded? That is so sweet." Parvati said with a sigh. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione as if to ask for confirmation that he was really part of this conversation.
"Do you want to sit with us at Breakfast today Harry? We could talk if you wanted. Or we'd be happy tojust listen." Lavender said in a sweet voice, completely confusing Harry.
"Er, I really don't need to talk. But thanks." Harry said, unsure of how to handle this situation. But, what he said seemed to have worked because they smiled at him, said it was perfectly fine and they would talk to him later, and left the common room.
"What the hell was that?" Ron asked once the girls were out of earshot.
"You're going to be getting that a lot to day Harry." Said Hermione in an almost cautious voice.
"But…what was it?" Ron asked as again, as they started to walk out of the portrait hole. Harry would take a shower after breakfast; Merlin knows they would have time.
"They think its something out of the novels that they read. A father and son being reunited; its such a cliché idea, but so many people love cliché things." Hermione stated in a matter-a-fact way. Harry snort.
"How could something like this be cliché? It's gotta be a once in a lifetime thing. And when I say lifetime, I mean like Dumbledore's lifetime." Harry said.
"Does breakfast even start this early in the morning?" Ron asked seemingly not paying the slightest attention to what Harry and Hermione were discussing.
"Ron! Really! How can you be thinking about food at a time like this? Where you even listening to what we were talking about?" Hermione asked sharply.
"'Course I was." Ron said indignantly. "You were just call Harry and his dad cliché, and Harry just called Dumbledore old. I was too listening." Hermione said nothing to Ron being right that he was listening and instead changed the subject.
"So what did you and your dad talk about?" She asked, lower her voice even though they were alone in the corridor.
"I told him everything." Harry replied as they stopped to wait for a staircase. "Well, about Hogwarts and things like that. We didn't really cover the Dursleys'. He said we would "go back to that" cause he wanted to hear about everything to do with Voldemort."
"Oh, that must been hard. Hearing everything all at once like that, it must have been overwhelming." Hermione said worriedly.
"Are you gonna miss classes again today to talk to him about the Dursleys'?" Ron asked.
"No. He wants me to go to classes today. He said that he had some things to take care of today anyway. But I'm gonna talk to him after dinner. Maybe you guys can come and meet him." Harry said.
Before Harry had left Dumbledore's office James had told him a few things. The first being that Harry could tell people that he was with James during the night, the second that he wanted to talk to Harry again tonight (but not another all nighter) and that he couldn't see him until after dinner because James had some things to do. Harry had wanted to ask where James was going to be and what he was going to do, but James didn't offer the information and Harry didn't want to push him. Though, yes, things were going well between them, Harry still didn't feel that comfortable yet to pull an 'annoying teenager' act, along with call James dad.
"Yeah, I wanna meet him. It'll be cool to meet your cliché dad Harry." Ron said, pointedly stressing the word cliché and also, pointedly staring at Hermione who refused to look Ron's way and admit that he had won this argument.
While Harry was just sitting down at the Gryffindor table, laughing and joking with Ron and Hermione, his father couldn't be farther from doing either of the two. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, James raised his hand and pressed the little white button that was on the side paneled of the door. At the sound of the chimes ringing through the house, James took another breath as he saw a skinny, slightly distorted, outline through the rippling glass in the front door come closer and closer.
"Ye-" was the only thing spoken before a large gasp was emitted from the speaker at the sight of who was at her door.
"Hello Petunia. Yeah, it's me. Can I come in? There are some things that I would like to discuss with you." James said, voice soft and sad, as he gazed that the women who was his late wife's only remaining relative.
A.N- Had to leave this cliffhanger, it called to me ;) But, all the same I hope that you guys liked this chapter.
Sorry it took a while for me it get this out. I had a death in the family. My cat died, and she used to sit with me while I was at the computer so…
But I have to give you guys notice that it might be a while before I post again because, as I'm sure you all know, it's that time of the school year. Finals. And, as anyone from New York knows, (and anyone else in the other, like two, states that have to take them) it also time for the State Regents'. I gotta take 5 of them. And I have to pass and I want to pass with at least an 85, which means I gotta crack down on the studying cause right now it's not looking so good. I really shouldn't even be doing this now; I should be studying. I'm going to end up writing anyways to get some breaks from the studying but…I'll be feeling really guilty.
Anyway, send me tons, and tons of reviews and wish me lots and lots of luck. And if I don't post again (which I really don't know if I will or not) think of me on June 16, 17, 21, 22, and 23!
Till next time, which I will try not to make a long time.