Many, many years later...

James Sirius Potter squinted into the sunlight. He looked back at his brother and sister who seemed to be taking their time walking down the stairs from the Great Hall.

"Hurry up!" he called, impatiently.

It had been years since he last walked these grounds. In fact, his own grandchildren now attended Hogwarts. He looked back at his siblings and felt like it was just yesterday that he was yelling at them to hurry up to head to their common rooms or to catch the carriages. He recalled a detention that he had served when he was fifteen years old, so many years ago. It was the best and most fun that he had ever had at a detention. And he's had a little more than his fair share of detentions over the years.

School was out for the summer holiday, so the grounds were not teeming with students as it usually was. He hurried past the gamekeeper's hut and reminisced about the old gamekeeper that was there when he was still at school. Rubeus Hagrid. He remained one of James' closest friends until his death a few years ago.

He was out of breath, winded. James was no longer the young lad that he had once been. Full of energy and couldn't stay still. Now that he was older, he's learned to rein it in a bit. Well, a lot, mostly. He looked back at his brother and sister, who were still taking their time.

But James still kept one trait that he had as a child: impatience.

"If you don't hurry up, I'll leave you!"

"Just wait up, James!" protested his younger sister, Lily. She pouted at him and moved her fiery red hair, streaked with gray, out of her face.

"I don't know how we are ever going to find it," said his younger brother, Al, helping Lily down the stairs. "The whole point is that we are not even supposed to seeking it, right? That's what Dad told us."

James thought back to a memorable lunch with his father, brother, and sister. He was already out of school, Al was in his seventh year, and Lily had just served her own detention. She was in her fifth year.

Al had called him through the Floo Network the evening before. He was still at work, in his office, in the Department of Mysteries. At the time, he was in training to be an Unspeakable. But when Al called him and informed him that their sister just had a similar detention that he had had during his fifth year and that Al had during his fifth year, James immediately left his office and headed to Hogwarts.

He and Al sent their father an emergency note, saying that it was extremely important he come to meet them for a drink at The Three Broomsticks. Their father had been a bit worried, but James and Al smoothed it over and convinced their parents that nothing was wrong. They just needed to see their father. They also had to convince their mother that everything was all right and that nobody was in trouble. Other than Lily, but she had already served her detention. They ended up meeting with Harry the next morning, after James and Al spent the entire night "educating" Lily on their family history.

"Dad!" Al said, bounding into the pub. James and Lily grinned and smiled as they headed toward their father.

Harry looked up from his newspaper and grinned when he saw his three children. He stood up and gave each of them a hug and gestured for all of them to sit down. He grinned and nodded at Madame Rosmerta and she immediately brought three butterbeers to the table, which James, Al, and Lily took.

"So," said Harry, casually taking a sip of his Firewhiskey. "What brings me here, today? I had a right old time trying to convince your mother that she couldn't come."

"No offence, Dad," said James. "But mum might have not understood it."

"Understood what?"

James and Al exchanged a knowing glance. Lily rolled her eyes and took another sip of her butterbeer. Al reached into his cloak and produced a bit of old parchment.

"That damn thing," Lily said, rolling her eyes again. "James and Al are practically obsessed with it."

"Lily!" scolded Harry.

"Sorry. But they are."

Harry nodded to his daughter. He reached over the table and took the parchment into his own hands. "You know what this is?"

James and Al nodded.

"You know how to work it?"

The two of them nodded again.

"Where did you get it?

James and Al glanced at each other and didn't answer.

"Well? Where did you get it?" Harry's eyes bored into James.

"I...uh...I nicked it from your desk...when I was in fifth year."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Why? How did you find out about it?"

"Um...well, when I was in fifth year...I got detention." Even though James was older and had already left Hogwarts, he was still afraid of Harry's firm look. He knew his father was actually quite easy going, but he knew that his father frowned upon a lot of his wrongdoing and troublemaking at school.

Harry nodded. "Very well. Continue."

"And...it was in the Forbidden Forest. With Hagrid. When I was there, I...uh...I tripped and fell. And I saw a weird-looking stone. It had a triangle and a circle and a line down the middle."

Harry's ears perked up, hearing the familiar description. "Did it look like this?" He pulled out a quill and drew out the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on a scrap piece of paper.

"Yes!" exclaimed his three children.

"Very well. What happened next?"

"Um...I turned it over like..."

"Thrice," supplied Al. James gave him a look and Al shrugged his shoulders. "Hurry up and tell Dad the story."

"Well, then...um...for lack of a better word, people started to appear."

"They weren't actually people," replied Al. "It was more like...an echo or something of them."

James gave Al another look. "Al, stop interrupting me!"

"Who did you see?" Harry asked, curious. He was beginning to put the pieces together. Of course, if Hermione was already here, she would have figured out exactly what his children were talking about.

"Um...Grandfather James, Grandmother Lily..."

Harry nodded, a knot forming in his throat. "Oh," he said. "Is that all?"

Al shook his head. "Sirius. Teddy's father, Remus."

"You were there, also, Al?"

Al shook his head again. "No. I served my own detention during my fifth year. The same thing happened."

Harry nodded. "And you, Lily? The same detention?"

Lily nodded. "Yes. Last night, actually. And then Al called James and he showed up, insisting that we tell you."

"All right. You saw your grandparents, Sirius, and Remus?"

"And Uncle Fred," continued James. "And Professors Dumbledore and Snape."

At the last two names, Harry jerked his head quickly. "Dumbledore and Snape? They were there, too? For all of you?"

The three of them nodded. "Yes. All of them," answered Al.

"What...why...what did they say?"

"That they love us," replied James.

"Even Snape?" asked Harry, wryly. He smiled.

"Well, he...he..."

"He accepted us," said Al. "Said that I was worthy to be carrying his and Dumbledore's names." He grinned at his father, who grinned in return. The two of them were remembering Al, at the beginning of his first year, afraid of what house he was going to be placed in. "And...I couldn't really tell, but I think he was proud of me that I won the Potions award that year. And every year after," he added.

"It was just one year after," replied Lily.

"Well, I'm in line to get it this year!"

"Aww...ickle Head Boy glad to get his award," teased James.

Harry glared at James. "Stop it, you two. What happened, then?"

"They...they taught us something," said Al.

"Oh yeah?" He looked at Lily, who hasn't said too much about this detention, yet. "Lily? What were you taught?"

Lily furrowed her brow, thinking back to the previous night. "I...I guess...I think I learned that..."

"That you weren't crazy," teased James. "Remember, you said-"

"Thank you, James, I know what I said," she replied, crossly. She glanced at her father, taking a sip of her butterbeer. "I guess I learned that they are always with me. Even though I've never actually met them, they are always there. And they always know."

"That is something that I had to learn, also," Harry replied. He turned to Al. "Al? What about you?"

Al bit his lip, thinking a bit. "They showed me that I didn't have to rely on books and logic all the time. I could trust my heart, trust my instincts."

Harry smiled. "A bit like your Aunt Hermione, aren't you?" Although his son was about as tall as he was, maybe even a little taller, he ruffled his son's hair. "And you, James?"

James grinned. "Um...sort of the same thing as Lily. But Grandfather James was the one who told me about the Map and the Invisibility Cloak."

"And when did you nick it from my desk?"

James smirked. "In fifth year, during Christmas holidays. When you and Uncle Ron had gone out with the girls to Diagon Alley and it was just me, Teddy, and Al left all alone at home. Al, of course, was reading in his room. Teddy, I think was talking to Victoire on the Floo Network. I went into your office and saw the Map. Then I searched around for the Invisibility Cloak."

"How did you know it was in my office?"

"I just had a feeling."

"And let me guess, you passed the Map and the Cloak down to Al, here, when he received detention."

James shook his head. "Just the Map. But once he found out about it, we had a right good time, nicking food from the kitchens and sneaking into Hogsmeade."

"James!" scolded Al. "Dad, I don't sneak into Hogsmeade. I'm the good kid."

Harry smiled and laughed a bit. "You know, Remus told me when I was in my third year that my father would have been very disappointed if I hadn't found any of the secret passageways from the school. I wouldn't have been disappointed in you, kids, but...I am...a little pleased that you have found it. Have you told your cousins about the Map?"

"No, it's a Potter tradition!" exclaimed James.

Harry laughed. "I think it'll be safe to let your cousins in on it. But maybe not Molly and Lucy, too much," he added, referring to his brother-in-law, Percy's children. "They may tell their father. But you've definitely got to tell your cousin, Fred. Your Uncle George and Uncle Fred were actually the ones who handed down the Map to me"

"You're not angry?" James looked incredulous.

Harry pursed his lips. He shook his head. "I'm not mad. I'm actually quite astonished that you, James, had enough brilliance to steal the Map from me. And my Cloak. Do you still have it?"

James nodded, relieved that his father wasn't upset or angry. "Yes. I could return it to you now. I have no use for it anymore."

"I have no use for it, either. I can just Disillusion myself when I go out on Auror duties." He gestured to Al. "Why don't you let Al have a bit of fun with it? He's got a few more months at Hogwarts."

"No, give it to me!" protested Lily. "Al's HEAD BOY! He would never break the rules like that!"

Harry laughed. "The two of you can share it. I often used it with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, myself."

"Ooh, Father," James said with a laugh. "Breaking the rules, did you?"

"I daresay that Hagrid and Professor Longbottom has already filled your minds with some of my going-ons at school," Harry said with a smirk.

"Professor Longbottom did spend a whole class period reliving the whole Department of Mysteries thing, once," Al said. "He made me pretend that I was you."

"Neville is one of the bravest people that I know."

"Doesn't mean we have to give him love every time we see him," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

James laughed at the memory as he continued down the way.

"What are you laughing at?" his younger brother asked, reaching James' side. The two walked side-by-side with each other with their younger sister following closely behind.

"I was just remembering when we finally told Dad about seeing them. In the forest."

"That was funny, I suppose," Al said, scrunching his face up at the memory. His hair still stood up on all ends, but it was now lined with gray. He shielded his striking green eyes as he glanced up at the sun. "Can we just get this over with?" he asked.

Though he was much older, Al was still pretty hesitant about breaking the rules. Granted, they weren't exactly breaking the rules, persay, but Al knew what they were doing would most likely be frowned upon.

"Do you think we'll even find it again?" he asked as he, his brother, and sister stopped in front of the Forbidden Forest.

"I wish Hagrid was still here," Lily complained, glancing at his old hut.

"Oh, he's resting now," replied James, putting an arm around his younger sister. "Leave him be."

"I know," Lily pouted. "I just miss him."

"I do, too." He smiled at his sister. The three of them faced the Forbidden Forest. "Well," James said. "I think we should be carrying on." Al and Lily nodded. Lily stood between her two older brothers and grasped their hands. They slowly and carefully began to walk forward, into the Forest, not knowing exactly where they were going.

They felt like they walked for hours, but in reality, it was only mere minutes since they had first stepped into the Forest.

"This looks familiar," said Lily.

"It feels familiar," replied Al.

"Keep a lookout, you two," James said, carefully sweeping the floor with his eyes.

After a few moments, Al dropped to his knees. He thought he saw something catch his eye. An odd-looking stone, with a curious symbol carved into it.

"I think I found it," he whispered.

I'm breaking this chapter up into two parts since it was longer than expected. Thanks for reading!