Chapter Nine: Memories

It didn't take long for Remus to decide where to take Harry. There was a park just outside London near the home of Lily's late mother and father. Lily had loved that park. She said she spent almost everyday of her childhood before Hogwarts in that park. She would go straight to the park after school, completing her school assignments under one of the large oak trees. Lily had always talked about the park while at Hogwarts and Remus knew that when summer can around, if he ever needed to find Lily, all he had to do was search the park.

When Harry had been born, Lily began taking Harry with her to the park on her visits. It wasn't really a surprise that Harry loved the park just as much as Lily did. Remus knew that Lily and Harry could spend hours in the park just enjoying the weather and the happy sounds of other children around them.

Usually Lily and Harry went to the park alone. She called it "their special time." It was the place she went when she'd had to get away from everyone. Usually it was where she went when Sirius and James go to be too much. When they started pranking each other in the house, Lily would scoop up Harry and take him with her to the park. She loved both Sirius and James and the pranks began to grow on her, but she knew how the boys could be. It was best sometimes to take Harry and escape the danger that was her husband and hi best friend.

When Lily and James had been forced into hiding, Remus knew she missed her trips to the park. He would sometimes catch her gazing at the muggle photo of her and Harry under the oak tree that a passing muggle had offered to take on one of their trips. Remus knew that little Harry would remember this special place that his mother always took him. It would be good for Harry to visit a place that he recognized.

"You ready to go Harry?" Remus asked, adjusting Harry's leather jacket one more time before grabbing his wand and apparating to a safe locating just outside the park.

"So little Harry, what do you want to do first?" Remus asked, smiling at the baby that began to coo and point at the swings. Laughing, Remus walked towards the swings, placing Harry on the baby swing and began to push his slowly. Watching Harry giggle and clap his hands as the swing went higher, Remus remember the first time he, Sirius, and James, had shown up at the park to surprise Lily and Harry.

"I'm so bored!" Sirius whined, throwing himself onto James's couch and placing his feet in Remus's lap.

"Honestly, Sirius! Can't you sit still for one minute? We just finished our prank war. Our best prank war, since Hogwarts if I might add." James replied, a smile forming on his face.

"Oh James! I thought you knew me!" Sirius cried, clutching at his heart.

Remus watched his friends antics, smiling and shaking his head as he dumped Sirius's feet off his lap and onto the floor.

" Oh! I have an idea. Let's go visit Lily! I wanna play with my little godson!" Sirius cried, jumping off the couch and heading towards the door.

"I don't know if that is such a good idea, Padfoot. Lily left to get away from us." James responded as Sirius opened the door to his flat.

"Of course it's a good idea, Prongs. Lily left to get away from our pranks. Not us." Sirius said with a smile as he turned back to face his friends. "Well maybe she left to get away form you to, but she loves me." With that, Sirius walked out the door, not waiting for his friends to follow him.

"We'd better go, James. We wouldn't want to leave Lily to deal with Sirius on her own." Remus said as he and James followed after Sirius.

Lily sat on a park bench near the sandbox that Harry was currently playing in with a little girl. She smiled as she watched Harry give the girl one of his shovels before he went back to digging his own hole Her thoughts, however were interrupted by a lady sitting down on the bench next to her.

"Is that your little boy over there? He's so cute. How old is he?" the lady asked.

"Thanks. He'll be a year old in a couple months." Lily answered with a smile as she turned to face the lady next to her. As she turned back around, Lily glanced back to the sandbox to find the only baby there was the little girl. Jumping up, Lily began to panic until she heard Harry's unmistakable giggle coming from the other side of the park. Following the sound, Lily found Harry nestled in his godfather's arms as they slid down the slide. Off to the side of the slide, she saw her husband and Remus shaking their heads and smiling at Sirius.

Picking up her bag, Lily said goodbye to the lady next to her and made her way over to the slide.

"Sirius Orion Black! Don't you ever scare me like that again! Do you hear me?" Lily yelled as she snatched Harry out of his arms.

"Lily! What did I do now? I just wanted to play with my godson." Sirius replied, giving Lily an innocent look. Seeing Harry's outstretched arms and his small cry of "Padfoo" Sirius attempted to take Harry back, but Lily turned away, giving Harry to James before she whirled around to face Sirius again.

"What did you do? What did you do? Sirius! I turn around to find my son is gone! Gone! Do you know how panicked I was when I didn't see my son? Then I hear him laugh and see him going down the slide with his big oaf of a godfather? You should have told me you were here!" Lily yelled, poking Sirius in the chest with her finger after each questions. "And you two!" Lily whirled around to face James and Remus. "Did neither of you think to tell me you were here? Or did you think to tell me that Sirius took my son from the sandbox and went to the other side of the park? I expect this from him, but not from you two."

"We're all very sorry, Lily. Sirius was just so excited. You know how he is when it comes to muggle toys. He can never get enough. Combine that excitement with his excitement to see Harry and we thought it best to supervise. We should have thought about you panicking when Sirius took Harry from the sandbox. We promise it won't happen again." James apologized, leaning forward to give Lily a hug, baby Harry nestled between the two of them.

"Yeah. We're sorry, Lils. Promise it won't happen again. Now can I play with my godson now?" Sirius asked, giving Lily his puppy dog eyes.

Looking at Harry who was still reach out to Sirius, Lily sighed. She took Harry out of his father's arms and placed him carefully back into his godfather's. "Here, Sirius. You can play with Harry, but be careful." Linking her fingers through James's, the three remaining grownups made their way back to the bench to watch amusedly as Sirius tried to teach Harry how to climb the steps leading up to the slide.

As he continued to push Harry on the swing, Remus smiled at the memories of that day. Harry and Sirius had had so much fun. Harry had spent the day riding the slide with Sirius, sitting on Sirius's lap as he swung way too high for Lily's liking, and riding the merry go round with Sirius after Padfoot had somehow convinced James to push them. All the while, Lily had taken picture of the two with her muggle camera. Voldemort was still in power, but Lily and James hadn't yet been forced into hiding. They were happy. All of them had been happy that day. Remus just wished that he could go back to that day. He just wanted one last day with all of his friends.

Harry suddenly shrieked and began to point to the slide where several small children were playing.

"You want to slide now, Harry?" Remus asked, scooping Harry up and heading to another smaller slide that Harry could ride on his own. For now, Remus decided, he would stop living in his memories. He had Harry with him now and as soon as he could figure out a way to get Sirius out of Azkaban, he would have Sirius too. The three of them would be a family. They would raise Harry the way Lily and James would have wanted. They could make their own memories.

They spent several more hours at the park, playing on whatever equipment Harry desired. When lunch time had rolled around, Remus had taken Harry to a local restaurant and ordered them a light lunch before they headed back to the park for a couple more hours of play. Around mid-afternoon, Remus scooped Harry back up, deciding to get ice-cream before taking him back to Sirius.

"Come on Harry. We'll get you some ice-cream, then you get to go back to Padfoot." Remus said as he walked into the ice-cream parlor.

"Padfoo!" Harry shouted loudly, laughing and waving his hands.

"Yes, Harry. Padfoot. First ice-cream, then Padfoot." Remus said laughing. He was glad that Harry had Sirius to raise him. They boy lived his godfather very much and Remus didn't think anyone other than Lily and James would have been able to raise Harry with so much love.

Remus began to slowly feed Harry his ice-cream, but it seemed that Harry would rather play with the ice-cream than eat it. By the time the ice-cream was all gone, Harry's face, hands, and the table were all covered in chocolate, as well as a small spot on the ceiling. For such a small boy, he sure did know how to make a mess. Remus knew he would make a wonderful marauder one day. He was so much like his father and godfather.

"Come on Harry, we'd better go. I've got to stop by my house before I take you back to Sirius, and I'm sure he's been waiting and worrying about you all day."

Making a quick stop back at his home, Remus entered Sirius's room for the second time that day and rummaged around in the desk until he found what he was looking for. Placing the items in his pocket Remus picked up Harry and found the portkey that would take him back to Azkaban.

"It's time for you to go home, little Harry. It's time for you to go back to Sirius." Remus said as he felt the familiar pull on his navel as they disappeared on their way back to last remaining friend.

A/n: That's the end of chapter nine. There isn't much happening in this chapter, but I thought this chapter was necessary and the next update should be really soon. I know I haven't written in a very long time, but I think I'm finally ready to write again. I love this story and I promise that I will finish it. I would love to finish it by the end of the summer. Chapter ten is already partly written and I hope it will be up either Friday or Saturday.

Thanks for reading, and please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.

PadfootObsessed329