A Second Chance

By S.L

Chapter Six: A Brief Break From Reality

Dinner had been quite an uncomfortable affair.

The kids had been arguing again and something seemed to have passed between the Marauders, but Lily didn't get the full story until after dinner. Then Bran and Mare had both retreated upstairs to argue a bit more and sulk in their respective rooms so the remaining four adults had the opportunity to sit and talk about the Harry situation without being interrupted. They had stayed up late into the night, but Lily was just pleased that James seemed to be warming up to the idea of having his son in his life again. He had put his own thoughts into the conversation for the first time, and had not been the most hesitant one at the table. She hoped that the conversation that he and Harry had held earlier that night had done them both some good.

In the end it became a late night and no one saw any sign of Harry, he appeared to have done exactly as he had said he would and gone to sleep. Lily had been unable to resist checking to see if the light in his room was out on her way up to bed and had fought off the urge to wake him up, just to make sure he was still there. He was still ill after all, she had to remember that, and Poppy had been very firm about telling her how much sleep he still needed.

The next morning she woke at her usual early hour around eight o'clock and left James sleeping next to her with the idea that she might cook breakfast. Since her husband didn't have to wake up for classes she knew that she was unlikely to see him out of bed for a few more hours at least. So, Lily dressed quickly and made her way down the stairs, and found herself quite surprised at the sight that met her in the kitchen.

Usually she was the first awake in the Potter household as both her husband and children preferred late starts, but this morning she found Harry and Remus sitting at the kitchen deep in conversation, and even more surprising was that breakfast was already made and spread out across the table.

"Good morning boys," Lily greeted as she took in the sight. "I was just about to make breakfast, but I see you beat me to it."

Remus turned around in his chair to face her and gave her a bland look. "You? Cook breakfast? Come on and be serious Lily."

She blushed and gave her old friend a furious look. "I can make scrambled eggs you know, and I know how to toast bread." Actually she had been hoping that she could impress Harry. Her mother had always woken her up in the morning by the smell of a delicious breakfast on the stove. She knew she wasn't the best chef, but she could still manage that at least.

Remus turned back to Harry and smiled while Lily took a seat. "Lily is probably the most horrid cook I know, if she ever offers to bake you anything- refuse. I think I'd rather have one of Hagrid's rock cakes than anything she has to offer."

Lily pulled a plate towards her and started grabbing for the bacon, managing to elbow Remus in the side, not so subtly, as she reached across. "Shut up Remus, who made all this anyways?"

"I'm afraid that would be me," Harry said, a little bashfully. "I hope you don't mind me rummaging through the kitchen, but it took me a while to find everything."

Lily looked up at him as she broke off a piece of the crisp bacon. She loved bacon, but she could never get it quite this crisp. Hers, unfortunately, always turned out chew or fatty, and even Sirius' being the human trashcan that he was, usually refused to eat it. "Of course not Harry, please feel at home. Though I have to admit I didn't expect anyone to be awake so early."

Remus snorted, and grabbed a piece of bacon off Lily's plate before she could take it all. "Yes well, we know Sirius and James won't roll out of bed until noon at least. Harry's cooking woke me up actually, it was the bacon," he said and raised his piece before taking a big bite. "Fantastic," he said as he chewed.

"Where did you learn to cook Harry?" Lily said, adding a few spoonfuls of eggs to her plate as well, followed by a slice of toast. "God knows no one else in this family can."

Harry gave her a little smile and took a sip of his orange juice. "Childhood habit, I'm afraid," he said. "Aunt Petunia woke me up every morning at seven A.M. sharp to make breakfast so she could get Dudley ready for school."

At the mention of the Dursley's Lily's felt her face turn quite pale and she lowered the fork she had been bringing up to her mouth. The mere thought of one of her children growing up in the same house as those people made her stomach churn. "I am so sorry Harry, I can't believe-"

Chuckling Harry held up his hand to keep her from going on any further. "Stop that, there's no reason to apologize, you can't have helped what happened. Besides the Dursley's did at least teach me how to cook a proper meal," he gestured at the food spread out on the table as an example then motioned for her to continue eating. "I wasn't trying to make you feel bad."

"I never did meet your sister Lily," Remus said, stealing another piece of bacon off her plate, she shot him a look, but continued eating.

"Then you're lucky," Harry told him, giving a small shutter. "Though as horrible as she is, she's nothing compared to Uncle Vernon and his sister." This time he winced and put his glass of orange juice back on the table. "And absolutely nothing is worse than Dudley."

Lily opened her mouth to apologize to Harry again, but he shook his head firmly at her and grabbed the empty plate she had stolen the bacon from and stood up.

"Don't say anything about it," Harry said. "Really, they were horrible people, but they served their purpose, and I don't have to have anything more to do with them do I?" He made his way back to the stove and started rummaging around. "I'll just cook up some more bacon then shall I? So you two don't fight anymore?"

Remus and Lily looked at Harry's back guiltily, Remus had been sneaking another piece off Lily's plate and she had knocked his hand away. "Thanks Harry," she said, sticking her tongue out at Remus playfully. "That would be lovely."

She returned to her food and started thinking about her sister; really she hadn't given a thought to her in years. She hadn't even seen Petunia or Vernon since their wedding, and she had never in fact met Dudley. Though she knew they weren't the type of people who would be comfortable raising a magical son. Her children didn't even know they had an Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, and hearing Harry call them so, was rather revolting to her.

"Harry and I were just discussing the validity of the Daily Prophet before you came in, he is quite well informed," Remus told Lily as he poured himself another cup of orange juice from the pitcher off the table. Lily looked at it slightly dumbfounded, the pitcher had been a wedding gift and she was sure that they had never used it, and they had never had a pitcher of fresh juice on the breakfast table before.

"Really?" She said once she had finished chewing.

Harry turned back to them, he was holding a spatula in one hand, and the bacon was already sizzling nicely, making Lily's mouth water all the more. "Yes," he said with a slight wince. "I unfortunately was forced to make the acquaintance of a few of the staff writers for the Prophet."

"Really?" Lily asked again. "I've always found their translations of Wiggleswade's information rather skewed. Though I don't suppose much of what the Prophet has to say is credible these days."

"The Ministry has far too much influence on what they publish," Harry said firmly, turning back to the stove. "Unfortunately the Prophet really doesn't have any competition. It's a pity really that the information that the majority of wizards and witches in Britain are getting on a daily basis is generally dead wrong. Its all rubbish propaganda really." He shook the pan and Lily heard the bacon sizzle.

Remus shrugged and leaned back in his chair so he could see how far along Harry was with the new stack of bacon, he was already pulling the pieces out of the pan and laying them flat on a towel to soak up the remaining grease. "It's a pity, but there isn't much else out there that is even creditable, I mean you don't get much accurate information out of the Quibbler!"

Surprisingly enough Harry actually snorted at that, and had to catch himself against the counter before putting the pan back on the stove. "Yes well," he said and turned around, offering the plate to Remus to put on the table. "There's that. Carefully," he added. "It's still hot."

Remus snatched up the first few pieces, despite the hot grease, and Lily followed suit, sticking her fingers in her mouth when she was done to stop the sharp burn. Harry regarded them both with an arched eyebrow and Lily then realized how silly the two of them must look. Fancy the two adults sitting at the table while Harry, the one who was completely unfamiliar to the house, was cooking for them both!

Harry returned to his seat and glanced out the window at the snow-covered garden. Lily noted that it was James' usual seat, and then followed his gaze and stared at the sight for a moment. It was quite beautiful, but what was on the table was much more interesting at the moment, so she settled on returning to her meal. Already she was starting to feel full.

"I hope you can cook more than breakfast Harry," Remus said, dusting his hands off on a napkin, finally having his full share of bacon. Lily decided to snatch another piece anyways, before he changed his mind. "Otherwise we're in for a sorry holiday," he gave Lily a teasing look.

"I'm not bad," Harry admitted, returning his attention to the table. "Like I said, the Dursley's thought I had to make myself useful if I was going to live in their house." This time Lily resisted the urge to say anything and took a sip of Remus' orange juice instead as she hadn't poured herself a glass yet.

Remus chuckled. "Well that's good to hear, because Lily here is a poor cook herself, though she will try to feed you some of her more horrid concoctions if she gets left alone in the kitchen for very long."

Lily grumbled and slammed his glass down with a little more force than necessary. "I don't understand why I'm so horrible, I mean I do try."

Seeming to take some sympathy on her Remus gave her a sorry look. "Yes you do Lily, and no one can blame you for that."

She shook her head. "I don't understand, I mean I'm fantastic at brewing potions, but in the kitchen," she shook her head woefully. "I think I'm better left in a laboratory."

Harry laughed at that and shook his head. "Well then for what it's worth, what little skill I have in the kitchen absolutely disappears when I'm in front of a cauldron. I'm rubbish in potions."

The three of them explored the topic of potions in relation to cooking for a while until the kids woke up when Harry stood up again to whip something up for them. Though as Lily and Remus had expected it wasn't until nearly lunchtime that the remaining Marauders found their way down to the kitchen to find Harry starting on some chicken salad for some of the sandwiches for lunch.

"Ham and cheese, or chicken salad?" Harry had asked each in turn as they made their way down the stairs.

Sirius, being the last, had given Harry a strange look when he had been faced with the question. "Can I have both?" He said finally, obviously still partially asleep, and then he settled down at the table between James and Remus.

Lily was trying to help Harry out the best she could, by cutting the tomatoes; that at least she could manage. "We've just found out that Harry has skills in the kitchen that the rest of the Potter family can only dream about," Lily told Sirius as rubbed tiredly at his eyes.

"I find it very amusing you think so," Harry added, he was separating slices of ham and placing them on the open faced bread before him. "So far I've made eggs, bacon and sandwiches and that's all it's taken to impress you. You know," he said giving her a lopsided grin that reminded her strongly of James. "I really don't think being able to put that together makes me a chef."

James was shaking his head at the table. "Mate if you have ever tasted one of mine or Lily's meals then you'd know you're dead wrong."

From there the conversation at the table had spread to an upcoming Quidditch game and Harry and Lily worked next to one another to finish up lunch. It wasn't until Lily had called the kids in from the den and they were all settled at the table that they began discussing what they were going to do that day.

Lily was convinced that Harry shouldn't strain himself, so she immediately shot down Sirius' suggestion that they make their way to Hogwart's Quidditch pitch and try to get a game going. Bran's suggestion of a trip to play another prank on Snape she found equally dissatisfying.

"I want you boys to get out and clear the path to the gate at least," Lily told them and was met with a chorus of groans. Whenever Sirius and Remus were over she often felt as if she had four sons not one, mentally she corrected herself and changed that phrase to five sons, not two. "It snowed again last night, and I'd rather not go trudging through ice whenever we go anywhere if necessary. A path to the village at least should do it."

Thirty minutes after that found the whole group out front, Harry included, to Lily's dismay. She had argued that she hadn't meant for Harry to do the work, he was still recovering after all. He had protested however, and he was out with his wand, melting the ice with the rest. Bran and Mare of course were not of age and could not use magic outside of Hogwarts, so they each had shovels that James had conjured for them and were picking away at the stairs, snipping at one another every time they came too close to the other.

Despite the use of magic, the work was still slow going. The four adults and Harry all had their wands out melting the walk, but the ice was thick and it took longer than usual.

James and Lily were working on the section closest to the house and she had been glad to see Sirius and Harry working on the farthest section, conversing in low tones. Sirius had told her about what had occurred last night, and though she knew Sirius would dismiss it with ease, she wasn't sure how Harry would handle the slip. She was surprised as much as Sirius with the reaction. So far, other than his greeting to Sirius, Harry had been able to handle himself with a certain amount of composure. He had seemed hesitant in his introduction to James and herself, and to Dumbledore he had been respectful and in slight awe.

It was just when Lily was taking a break and leaning against her husband for warmth when she saw the large snow white owl they had thought was wild swoop down from the sky and perch on Harry's outstretched arm. Seeing this Lily abandoned James and let him continue his discussion with Remus about what Christmas gift they had picked out for Sirius, and headed towards her son.

When she reached Sirius and Harry it was to find Harry stroking the owl's feathers with a look of pure fascination on his face. He spotted her as she approached and gave her a sort of unbelievable stare. "Look, its Hedwig," he said, returning his attention to the bird.

"How did you get her to come to you?" Lily asked incredulously, when Harry didn't answer she looked at Sirius who was stroking his chin thoughtfully.

He caught her looking at him and shrugged. "He didn't, she just came out of the sky and surprised us both."

"She was my owl," Harry said in a small, fascinated sort of voice. "I got her when I was eleven, on my first visit to Diagon Alley. She was my birthday present from Hagrid." He continued to stroke her feathers, and the owl hooted with pleasure.

Lily stared at the bird with disbelief. "We thought she was a wild, she's lived in the backyard for years. I remember Bran and Mare used to spend ages trying to catch and tame her when they were little, but she never fell for anything."

Sirius gave her a meaningful glance. "She came right to Harry, Lily," he said. "Didn't even hesitate," he shook his head. "I remember trying to help the kids out one year, she nearly took my eye out with those claws!" As if to prove his point he reached out and stroked the owl's feathers and wasn't given the slightest reaction for doing so, the owl merely gave Sirius a wide-eyed stare. "Now look!"

"She's the most intelligent owl ever," Harry said very firmly. "Aren't you girl?" The owl cooed gratefully and shuffled its feet on Harry's arm.

"I don't' believe it," James said, striding up with the rest of the group in tow. "Is that that crazy wild thing from the back?"

Mare pushed around her father and laughed. "How'd you do that Harry?"

Harry was still smiling in shock; he didn't even pull his gaze away from the owl when he answered. "I don't know, I guess she was just waiting for me."

"Incredible," Remus said, making his way into the circle. "See Sirius," he said accusingly. "I told you owls were smarter than they looked."

Sirius shrugged. "Hey mate your right, I just thought they were a bunch of dumb birds."

To Lily's delight, the owl Harry kept calling Hedwig, made to peck at Sirius before Harry pulled her away.

"Alright then Harry," James said. "I guess I should get you one of the extra cages from the attic so you can keep her."

Lily watched as her husband and son retreated back inside, then she looked over the remainder of the group. "Alright guys back to work, maybe we can go to the Three Broomsticks for dinner if we finish up quick."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Even several days later and Harry still couldn't believe that Hedwig had somehow found her way back into his life. Not even he would have thought that somehow she would have remained a free bird, living just in the Potter's back yard. Then again, he had always known that she was particularly intelligent, even for an owl.

Like many of the things that Harry had valued in his life, Hedwig had not made it through the war. She had been shot down by a stunning curse, trying to deliver a letter to Hogwarts when Harry had been abroad. A Death Eater had been attempting to intercede his correspondence with Ron in order to determine his whereabouts. Fortunately they had not been able to determine anything from the letter, other than Harry missed his friend, but Hedwig had not survived the fall from the sky. Harry had to find out about her death through a message delivered by Ron's owl Pig.

Harry hadn't taken to losing his most steady companion. She had been the only one who had shared the long and lonely hours at the Dursley's with him, and later the laborious time on the road. Now, it was as if nothing had changed. She seemed to be just the constant companion she had always been.

After that time at the Potter cottage passed very quickly for Harry. Since Bran and Mare were around the majority of the time Harry found that he didn't have to explain much of anything about his world. James, Lily, Sirius and Remus, though they knew the truth, were unable to ask any more probing questions about why he was there, and what he had done in the past, or what his world was like. Instead everyone seemed quite content just to get to know one another. However, Harry had a sneaking suspicion that each were trying to catch him alone whenever possible, and he found himself almost constantly engaged in a conversation with someone.

Since Harry didn't sleep much he found himself settling into the routine of waking up early in the morning and cooking breakfast until Remus made his way down. They would talk about whatever was on Remus' mind until the smell of bacon would call Lily down to join them. After that it usually wasn't long until the rest of the house was up. Once Sirius and James discovered that they could have breakfast if they woke up a few hours earlier they started doing so.

After that the household would usually split up. A few times Bran had gone over to a friends house through floo, or he and Mare would retreat to the den or their rooms to do whatever it was they enjoyed doing. The Marauders would then sit about and occupy themselves with mundane things. Usually this ended up with them talking about Quidditch or work, or playing a quick game of wizarding chess nothing of any particular interest. Harry thought that they might be keeping things unusually subdued for his benefit, but he didn't comment. He knew they were all keeping things simple, at least for the beginning, and he was grateful for it. It was difficult to get to know a whole new world and he knew it would be a long time before he got to know it as well as the one he had come from. He could hardly expect for everything to be the same and in fact, he had been counting on it being very different.

Though actually, Harry was surprised at how well he was adjusting to life in the house, if not this world, and how quickly he seemed to be forgetting about the troubles that he had feared would follow him from his own world.

Instead of worrying, he spent his days in conversation with one of the adults. On some nights the three Marauders made their way to the Hogs Head for a few drinks, but Harry never joined them. He really had never been much of a drinker, and as much as he enjoyed the company of the men, he took the opportunity to stay at home and have some one-on-one time with his Mum instead.

In fact before no time Christmas had uneventfully come and gone, and Harry's only regret on New Years was that he really hadn't been able to spend much time getting to know his brother or sister over the break. Either Bran was off with Sirius, and Mare was in a deep discussion with Remus, or both were hiding away in their rooms. He got along with them well enough, and they did talk lightly here and there, but Harry wanted to be able to sit down and really get to know them.

Overall the holiday had been one of the best Harry could remember. His relationships with his parents and the Marauders were progressing, however awkwardly still, but there was an improvement. They hadn't been able to play a game of Quidditch, as James had hoped, since the weather had been so terrible. So far there hadn't been anything but one storm after another, almost since the day Harry had found Hedwig, but they would save Quidditch for another day. Then only days before everyone was scheduled to leave the house, Harry found himself faced with one of the worst possibilities he hadn't ever dreamed to think up.

They had all just finished with dinner, and Harry and Remus were in the middle of a game of chess, which he was loosing dramatically when he heard the news. Mare was trying to help out with the game, but between her advice and his chess pieces' criticism, Harry only found himself all the more confused. Bran and Sirius were in one corner, conspiring over a piece of parchment that Bran was furiously scratching notes on with a long quill. James and Lily were on the couch, curled up together James reading the Daily Prophet and Lily reading a book that Sirius had given her for Christmas.

Harry heard the tap at the front window first, and got up to let the poor owl that had braved the latest snowstorm into the warmth. The poor thing was a bundle of wet feathers, but it wearily made its way to Sirius and struck out its leg.

All of a sudden the room became serious, even Bran and Mare seemed to notice the sudden tension, and all eyes were on Sirius, who cursed.

"What is it Sirius?" Bran asked, anxiously trying to look over Sirius shoulder.

"South Ireland," Sirius said, he was already on his feet.

"What's going on?" Mare asked, pulling herself up as well.

"Enough kids," James interrupted. "Upstairs the both of you, now."

"But, Dad-" Bran whined first.

"Upstairs," Lily repeated, her tone more firm than Harry had yet heard her use.

Mare and Bran exchanged furious glances and then obeyed.

"We never get to stay-" Mare said.

"Yeah why does he get to?" Bran quipped and Harry had no doubt in his mind they were talking about him.

They heard their furious stomps as they made their way up the stairs, thought there was little else they could do.

When they were safely gone from the room James and Lily turned back to Sirius. "What's it say?" James asked.

Sirius was tying up his boots; there was a dark look on his face that Harry was surprised to see. Strangely enough it was the most like his Sirius that Harry had ever seem him look. His eyes had that same haunted look that Sirius' had acquired after his long stay in Azkaban.

"Death Eaters in Southern Ireland, there are varied attacks. The Ministry is calling in all available personal." He pulled his cloak from the rack and fastened it around his neck. "Guess the holiday is cut short, I'll be back when I can," then he disapperated with a sharp crack.

Remus stood up and glanced wearily back at the abandoned chess game. "Well we almost made it through the holiday," he said sadly. "Guess that's something to be grateful for."

"I'm sorry if I sound completely clueless," Harry said finally when it was obvious no one was going to explain anything to him. "But did I just hear that there are Death Eaters in Southern Ireland?"

James sighed and sat back down on the couch, pulling Lily down into his arms. "I suppose so, we'll have to wait and hear the details from Sirius when he gets back."

The fact that Sirius was an Auror had been told to Harry during his first real conversation with Sirius when they had been clearing the walk. At the time Harry hadn't been too surprised, he knew that Sirius had always wanted an active life and more involvement with what was going on in the world. Being cooped up at Grimmauld Place had never been to his fancy.

Harry snorted again; they weren't quite getting it. "No I mean why would Death Eaters be in South Ireland?"

Remus looked up and met his eyes. "Who knows why they do anything?" He looked back down at the chessboard where his queen was viciously attacking one of Harry's pawns.

"I'm sorry, but I still don't quite get what we're talking about here." Harry said, panic was already seizing his chest; he was finding it increasingly harder to breath.

"You-Know-Who, Harry," James said, his voice full of surprise. "Lord Voldemort," he added in a whispered hush.

Suddenly, Harry found himself with a desperate urge to sit down, and he did so, landing heavily on an overstuffed chair. For a moment he found himself quite unable to say a single word, then he blinked took a look around the room at James, then Lily and lastly Remus, all of which were staring into space thinking their own thoughts. Then without making any sound Harry stood up and walked out of the room.