A/N: OMFG. TWENTY-TWO REVIEWS?!?!?! You guys are the best!

…

Um…

So, yeah…

I don't really have much to say except, I hope you like this chapter! Plus, there's a very long flashback scene in here… well, not that long, just kinda long… OK, how about this: there's a flashback scene in here. OK, that's better. You can thank Acelinn (Readers: "Thank you, Acelinn!" LOL) for it—I wasn't originally planning to put it there, but then I decided to, because I went back and reread the reviews to see if anyone had any suggestions.

Oh yeah, and a disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Plus: This is my longest chapter so far! Be thankful; it's to make up for the (kind of) long wait!

Chapter Six of "Returning to Life" by Morsmordre

After the Order meeting adjourned, Arthur Weasley came up to James again and offered him his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, James Potter," he said with a warm smile. "Your son is a terrific young man, and he's like a seventh son to us. My youngest son, Ron, and Harry are best friends."

"Cool." James grinned at the man and took his hand and shook it firmly. Then he paused and frowned.

"Six sons?" he asked weakly.

"And a daughter," Arthur added.

James shook his head in disbelief. "Jeez…" he muttered.

"They're all here now," Arthur told him. "I think they'd like to meet you. One of Harry's other best friends, Hermione Granger, is here too. She's a Muggleborn witch."

A Muggleborn witch… just like Lily…

He felt his throat close up at the thought of his now deceased wife. He was never going to see her again, and never going to hear her laugh again, or hear her speak again, or…

"James?"

James shook himself out of his reverie to glance at Arthur, who was looking at him, concerned.

"Oh… I'm fine," James lied. "Let's go meet your sons! And… Hermione Granger, did you say?"

Arthur nodded. He didn't seem to believe James about being fine, but he didn't press the issue.

James followed Arthur out of the room into another smaller room lined with tapestries on the walls. There was a fireplace and a few couches and high-backed chairs in the room. Four redheads—three boys, one girl—and a brown-haired girl were in the room.

"Hello," Arthur greeted the room at large.

"Dad!" One of the redheaded boys shot up in his seat. "What's going on? Why's there an Order meeting when…" he trailed off and stared at James.

"This is what the meeting was about," Arthur explained, indicating James. "James Potter is alive." He quickly filled the children (although they weren't really children anymore) in on the details.

There was a shocked silence, which was almost inevitably broken by one of the Weasley boys saying, "Bloody hell. You really do look like Harry."

And just like that, the tension in the room was broken.

The three boys and two girls got up to introduce themselves. "I'm Ron Weasley, one of Harry's best friends," one of the boys said.

"I'm Gred—" added another one of the Weasley boys. The remaining two were identical twins.

"—and this is Forge," concluded the other twin.

"Fred and George," Arthur said by way of explanation when he caught James's questioning look. "They're pranksters, so watch out for them."

James grinned at the mention of one of his favorite pastimes, but before he could speak, he was cut off by the youngest of the lot—the only Weasley girl.

"I'm Ginny Weasley," she introduced herself, smiling.

"And I'm Hermione Granger. I'm another one of Harry's best friends," the only non-redhead in the room (with the exception of James, who didn't even really count because he had just entered the room) finished the introductions.

"It's great to meet all of Harry's friends," James answered, grinning at them all.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Potter," Hermione returned, smiling.

James frowned. "Mr. Potter? Don't call me Mr. Potter—that's my dad! Call me James."

"All right… James," Ron agreed, albeit a bit hesitantly.

James nodded, and then he turned back to the father of the Weasleys. "I thought you said you had seven… I mean six sons? Where are the other three?"

The Weasleys' faces immediately clouded, and James had the feeling that he had said something wrong.

"Bill and Charlie are in the Order too," Arthur finally spoke up. "Bill's a curse breaker at Gringotts, and Charlie works in Romania with dragons… they're both not here right now… but they are in London. Just out somewhere. And Percy…" His face darkened considerably.

It was Ron who finally told the tale of why everyone seemed so upset by the mention of Percy. "Don't talk about Percy in front of Mum… she'll cry."

"What happened? Did he die?" James wondered aloud in a strained tone of voice.

"I wish," Ginny said bitterly.

"Ginny!" Arthur reprimanded.

Ginny scowled at the carpet.

"You see, Mr. P—I mean, James, You-Know-Who's been resurrected just last month or so… did you know about that?"

James nodded his head, deciding to ask just why in the seven depths of hell did Harry witness Voldemort's resurrection later.

"Well… everyone thought he was dead, so when Dumbledore and Harry went around saying that You-Know-Who was back, the Ministry didn't believe him, and they started printing all this rubbish—a bunch of lies—in the Daily Prophet, basically saying that Dumbledore's off his rocker and Harry is an attention-seeking brat."

James clenched his fists. "When I'm officially declared alive again, I'd like to have a word with these reporters… and the Minister too, now that I think of it…" he paused a moment, and then turned back to the explanation. "Go on."

"Well… Percy believes the Ministry, and not us. He and Dad had a huge row, and he's packed up and moved out—he's here somewhere in London too. Mum tried to go and talk to him, and he slammed the door in her face."

"Bastard," George—or maybe it was Fred—added helpfully.

"Watch your language," Arthur scolded.

"It's true," Fred—or maybe it was George; in any case, it was the other twin—insisted.

"I agree," Ginny put in, twirling a long red lock around her finger.

Just like Lily…

"Er… Mr. Po—I mean James?"

James shook his head to clear his thoughts again and glanced up at Fred, George, Ginny, Hermione, and Arthur, who were all looking at him concernedly.

"I'm fine," James said quickly, pushing all thoughts of Lily and her being dead to the back of his mind. He would deal with it later… if he ever would deal with it at all.

"OK…" Hermione agreed, nodding, even though she didn't look entirely convinced; she dropped the touchy subject, though.

"So…" James thought a moment before speaking again. "Who wants to tell me about what Harry did at Hogwarts over the years?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged discreet glances. "Harry," everyone in the room said in unison.

James resisted the urge to bash his head on something hard. Repeatedly.

Two days passed. People finally began to take in the fact that James had somehow miraculously supposedly returned from the dead and stopped jumping or shrieking every time they saw him.

Anna (that was what everyone called Anastasia, except for Dumbledore, who called her "Miss Berkley" and Mad-Eye Moody who just called her "Berkley") and Alex (that was what everyone called Alexandra, except for Dumbledore and Moody, who each called her the same things they called her sister—and yes, Moody was still suspicious of her because she had been a Death Eater) both tolerated each other—but just to a minimum. They had always hated each other since they were little kids, and old habits were hard to break (think of James and Snape trying to become friends and you get the general idea).

The day finally came for the Advance Guard to go and "rescue" Harry from the Dursleys. James was excited and couldn't wait for them to get back—he wanted information about Voldemort and the Order, but he just mostly wanted to see his son again… as a teenager, that is.

He pestered everyone—from Dedalus Diggle to Emmeline Vance to Kingsley Shacklebolt to Mad-Eye Moody to Nymphadora Tonks to Remus—so much that Remus finally told him to shut up, and that they were leaving to retrieve Harry.

After they left, James was put in a restless mood. He paced up and down the halls, spoke to the Weasley twins about their plans for opening a joke shop (he gave them some suggestions), annoyed Sirius, tried to annoy Molly but failed because she was still aflutter about the fact that he was actually alive, and drank some butterbeer.

Sirius, on the other hand, was staying where he was… which was in the room where Order meetings were usually held. Anastasia was there as well, reading a very thick book. Sirius just sat there, staring into the fireplace and not saying or doing anything.

Finally, he grew tired of the silence and sighed loudly.

Anastasia looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Something wrong, Sirius?" she inquired.

"No. Just bored." Sirius stared at the fireplace, watching the dancing, flickering flames.

Anna had always wondered… Sirius had managed to stay sane after spending twelve years in Azkaban. But it had definitely changed him. If Sirius hadn't been framed, and he was waiting for Harry to come, he would have gone and pranked someone to pass the time. But Sirius, now, had a haunted look in his eyes, and pranking someone probably hadn't even crossed his mind.

"You've changed," she noted.

Sirius gave a start before turning back to look at her carefully.

"So have you," he finally replied.

It was all Anna could do not to snort. Had she ever…

Flashback (I think this is where the T rating begins to come in… the rating was just in case, anyway… It's basically just to show how she was like during her Hogwarts years… so if you don't like T-rating-ish stuff, then don't read the flashback—just skip over the italicized parts)

Lily, Alice, Maggie, and Anna had been exploring Hogwarts over the winter holidays, and they had found a private room. It was up in the seventh floor corridor, and the door hadn't been there… and then it just had been there. It really was quite strange.

Kiki was on a date with Benjy Fenwick, so one of the Gryffindor sixth-year girls was missing. But no matter… at least, not for now.

"Ooh, this place looks like the Gryffindor common room!" Anna squealed happily.

"How come I didn't know of this place?" Lily mused. "I mean, I've been here before on prefects' patrol duties and I've never seen it."

"Maybe it only shows up around Christmastime," Anna responded dismissively, sinking onto a couch and placing her feet on the glass table in front of her.

"Yeah, maybe," Maggie agreed skeptically, clearly unconvinced.

"Whatever. It's Christmas! Hey, do you think they have any butterbeer in this place?"

"Yes," Alice said, pointing to a pack of bottles in the corner of the room. "I really wonder just what this place is…"

"You know, I want some firewhiskey," Anna began.

"Don't even think about it," Lily warned. "You're underage, anyway, and you don't even know what firewhiskey tastes like."

But Anna wasn't listening. "Look! Firewhiskey!" she shrieked happily, indicating another pack of bottles, this one clearly not butterbeer.

"Jeez. I guess I could wish for an ice cream sundae, and it'd be there?" Alice asked rhetorically in a dry tone of voice.

Just as soon as the words left her mouth, her attention was drawn to something in the corner… (surprise, surprise) … an ice cream sundae.

"I guess whatever you want, you get it," Maggie observed.

Anna, meanwhile, had gotten to the bottles of firewhiskey and popped one open. "Let's see if this is as good as all the seventh-years say," she mused.

"No, Anna. You are not getting drunk," Lily declared firmly.

"Why not? It's Christmastime! Loosen up, will ya?" Anna took a sip and gagged. "Ugh! This burns your throat."

"So don't drink it. I'm not going to make a hangover potion for you anyway," Maggie, who was extremely talented at Potions (even more so than Lily), suggested.

"But couldn't you just wish one here?" Anna retorted, grinning. She took another sip of the firewhiskey and made a face.

"If you don't like it, don't drink it," Maggie repeated.

"I want to get drunk," Anna insisted. "It's way more fun at Christmastime then it is at any normal time. And who knows when we'll get the chance to do it again? You never found this room before, Lily, so what if it disappears again?"

"Then get some firewhiskey next year, when you're legally allowed to do so!" Alice cried in exasperation.

"What's the fun in that? It's much better to get your first drink when you're still underage—you'll know you broke a rule!" Anna smirked and chugged down the rest of the bottle before nearly choking. "I don't like firewhiskey."

"THEN DON'T DRINK IT, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Lily shrieked, annoyed.

"I want to get drunk," Anna repeated simply before opening her second bottle.

Everyone groaned.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Two hours and more than just a few bottles of firewhiskey plus a very drunk Anna later, the girls were having fun.

Having fun not as in singing, dancing, playing games, having a snowball fight, or having a party. Having fun as in using a charm to record everything Anna was saying under the influence of firewhiskey:

"So this is how you do the charm," Lily repeated for what seemed to be the ten thousandth time.

"Right…" Alice muttered.

All three girls turned to look at Anna, who was currently spouting facts about how good-looking she thought Sirius Black was. And this would not have been majorly shocking or anything if it weren't for the fact that Anna proclaimed—and seemed to, too—to like Sirius Black about as much as Lily liked James.

"I knew you liked him. I just knew it!" Maggie crowed gleefully. "Kiki owes me five Galleons!"

"Er?… You were betting?" Anna asked, standing up and wobbling slightly before sitting back down, a dreamy expression on her face. "Sirius is sooooo good looking…"

"Since when did he become 'Sirius' and not 'Black?' " Lily teased, taking a sip of the butterbeer Alice had found—or wished there. Whichever it was.

"Since now," Anna slurred.

"Note to self: Never get Anna drunk again." Maggie paused, a slow grin forming on her face. "Although it is fun to be able to get all this down on paper"—she pointed to the charmed quill, which was scribbling down everything Anna had been saying— "and be able to blackmail her, though…" she added, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"… He's so hot," Anna was saying.

Lily was amused, yet exasperated at the same time. "We're never getting you drunk again, Anna."

"You didn't get me drunk. I got myself drunk!" Anna cheered. "Drink, drank, drunk…"

"Fine then. You're never getting yourself drunk again."

"Drunk, drank, drink…Why not? It's fun."

"You're not, Anna."

"Alrighty then. Hey, that sounds funny! Alrighty…" Anna giggled.

"No it doesn't. I think we'd better place a Sobering Charm on her," Alice suggested.

"Hey Lily, did you notice how good-looking Birius Slack is?"

"You mean Sirius Black."

"Right… Sirius Black… Birius Slack… same difference. Did you notice how good-looking he is?"

"Yes, I did, but that doesn't mean I like him. I believe over half the girls in the school, with the exception of the Slytherins, have noticed."

"Yeah… I want to throw him on my bed and rip his clothes off…" Anna stared into space, a dreamy look on her face, and then began describing what she called some of Sirius's… ah… finer qualities.

Lily began to look revolted now.

"Please stop," Alice begged, looking like she wanted to throw up. "You're making very disgusting comments…"

"It's time for a Sobering Charm," Maggie intoned solemnly. "She's gone too far."

Lily agreed, but then she paused and frowned. A mischievous smile took over her face, and she quickly muttered something under her breath.

A duplicate of the parchment with the conversation on it appeared.

"We can blackmail her now!" Alice cried gleefully, seeing Lily's intent.

Lily nodded, and then finally cast the long-awaited Sobering Charm on her overly drunk friend.

Anna immediately stopped talking.

"Bloody sodding hell," she groaned. "What happened?"

"You got drunk and revealed some… ah… rather interesting information regarding Sirius Black is what happened," Maggie told her, picking up the parchment and handing it over to Anna.

Anna scanned the parchment and her eyes widened. She let out a string of obscenities that would probably have made an Auror blush.

"I did not say that. Tell me I did not say that," Anna moaned.

"You didn't say that," Alice offered helpfully.

"I didn't?" Anna asked.

"Actually, you did," Alice admitted. "I only told you that you didn't say that because you asked me to."

Anna swore under her breath, and then she pulled out her wand and muttered and "Incendio"… and the parchment lit on fire.

Maggie opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Lily. "Why'd you do that?" she demanded.

"No blackmail material for you," Anna returned cheerfully, before standing up. "C'mon, let's go."

Anna later wondered why her friends hadn't taken off the Sobering Charm as a punishment for lighting the parchment on fire. She soon found out later.

"Good job with the acting, Lily," she overheard Alice say. "That was terrific!"

"She bought it," Maggie added. "Never knew you were such a good actress, Lily."

"I didn't either," Lily admitted. "So we have an extra copy of what she said?"

"Yup. Got it," Maggie confirmed, reaching into the pockets of her robes and rummaging around.

There was a pause.

"Aw, it's gone!"

Anna chose this moment to step into the room and make her presence known.

There was a moment of silence as the three girls originally in the room—Alice, Lily, and Maggie—stared at Anna. Then Lily summed up the whole situation in one word:

"Dammit."

End flashback (I told you about the T rating… I hope it wasn't that stupid or anything. It just kinda popped up in my head. And I haven't ever had experience with drunk people—and I hope I never will have to—so I don't know how that came out. Sorry if she acted stupid. Or disgusting. Or whatever.)

"Anna… stasia?" Sirius tacked on the last two syllables of her name at the last moment.

"Hmm?" she inquired, blinking and shaking herself out of her reverie.

"Uh… Harry is here… you might want to meet him, considering he was one of your best friends' son and all…"

Anna nodded and got up, leaving the room. Sirius followed.

Harry was confused. He had received no information at all for … say, a very long time… he had been expelled and told that Ministry officials would come to his house and snap his wand, and then he had been mailed a letter saying that he wasn't expelled, but he had to go attend a trial on August 12th.

Then a bunch of people had come over to the Dursleys when they were out—including his former Defense professor, Remus Lupin, and had said that they were taking him someplace… but that someplace was not the Burrow.

And then they had flown to Grimmauld Place… wherever that was. Something to do with the Order of the Phoenix. And Harry still didn't know what that was either.

"Be quiet," Lupin (A/N: I'm going to call him "Lupin" when it's in Harry's point of view because that's what it says in the books, OK?) whispered as they tiptoed into the dark and gloomy house. "Keep your voice down."

"Why?" Harry questioned, following Lupin, Moody, and everyone else into the entrance hall of the house. It was a very Dark-looking house… Dark as in Dark-artifacts-and-wizards-based. It looked like something Harry would imagine to be Malfoy's home, or something like that, considering all the lethal-looking objects on the shelves and fraying tapestries and curtains adorning the walls.

CRASH!

The pink-haired Auror Harry had recently met—Tonks, her name was—had just tripped over the trolls'-leg (A/N: I don't remember what it was exactly—seeing as I don't have the books with me, I can't check, but I briefly remember it had something to do with a troll, so I'm going with trolls'-leg; sorry if it's wrong) umbrella stand.

The curtains near the center of the entrance hall blew open and Harry realized that it was actually a portrait of a… woman. She looked like a hag. And she looked furious as well. Which was probably the reason why she began screeching in ear-splitting tones, nearly making Harry go deaf.

"—FILTHY MUDBLOODS AND HALF-BREEDS—" were the only words Harry caught through the racket.

"Shut up!" Harry heard a man snap, and he turned around to see his godfather, Sirius Black, storming into the entrance hall, an annoyed look on his face.

The portrait turned to see Sirius, and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "YOU!" she shrieked angrily, jabbing an accusing finger at him.

Sirius gave a sort of angry snarl and tugged on the curtains, which somehow wouldn't budge.

"A little help here?" Sirius demanded.

Harry would have helped, but he was too busy gawking to do anything.

Remus nodded and rushed forward, ignoring the portrait's shrieks about not wanting "filthy half-breeds to touch the canvas she was painted on" or whatever.

Finally, the stubborn curtains swung shut.

There was a pause, before Sirius finally turned to Harry. "Hi Harry," he greeted him, rather grimly in Sirius's opinion. (But then, his Animagus form looked like a Grim… grimly… Grim… get it? Haha. Sorry, bad pun.) "That's my dear old mum." This part was said with a touch more sarcasm.

"Your mum?" Harry gasped.

"Yeah, my dear old mum." Sirius shrugged noncommittally. "Seems to love me, doesn't she?"

"Er… Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond to this.

"Right… well, there's someone you should meet. Two someones, actually."

Two women had appeared behind Sirius. Well, they hadn't appeared… they had just walked up behind him. One had dark brown hair, the other had white-blond hair. They looked very alike, though.

"This is Anastasia Isabella Berkley"—Sirius gestured to the dark-haired woman— "and this is Alexandra Katerina Berkley. Anastasia was a friend of your mum."

Harry wasn't quite sure what to say to this. Knowing that Lupin and Sirius were friends of his dad was one thing. Meeting a person who had been a friend of his mum was entirely another.

"Er… hi?" he offered tentatively.

He was confused when everyone stared at him, then at each other, and then looked as if they were fighting the urge to laugh.

"That's exactly what Sirius said when he first met them again a few days ago," Lupin explained, smiling slightly.

Harry only had one thing to say to that. Which was:

"Oh."

James heard the conversation coming from the entrance hall, and he fought the urge to rush down and greet his son. If he did, however, Harry would probably faint, or point his wand at him, attack him, and declare him a Death Eater… or something. And James didn't want that to happen.

He waited in his room patiently for what seemed like hours. He eventually heard the sound of someone shouting—it sounded like Harry. James couldn't make out the words exactly, but Harry definitely sounded furious about something or other.

James didn't know how long he sat there, until the door to his room finally opened—without anyone bothering to knock—and Sirius appeared.

"You can come to the Order meeting; Dumbledore's got something important to say," Sirius told him quietly. "After that, I'll tell Harry about you."

James nodded and left the room to attend the meeting.

Harry now understood things more. About the Order of the Phoenix, Grimmauld Place, the trial he was going to attend on August 12th for using underage magic, etc. Yet there was one thing he didn't understand. Something that Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George had all agreed on—that Harry was going to get a big surprise.

Before Harry could ponder this any further, Sirius stuck his head through the door. "Harry, could I speak to you?"

Harry blinked, puzzled. "Sure," he replied confusedly, getting up.

"We'll see you later, mate," Ron said quietly. (Jeez, everyone is speaking so quietly in this chapter!)

Harry nodded and followed Sirius out of the room.

Sirius led him to another room (Just how many rooms were there in Grimmauld Place, anyway?) and shut the door. "You may want to sit down, Harry," he began.

Harry sat.

Sirius began to pace up and down. "All right… if we kept it from you and you found out, you'd probably kill us…"

"Sirius, what is it? Ron and Hermione mentioned some huge surprise."

"Oh, it's a big surprise all right," Sirius muttered.

Harry was instantly put on alert. "What is it?"

"All right, there's no way to mention it casually and tell you, so I'll just be blunt and say it: your dad is alive."

There was a brief silence in the room, to be broken by Harry, who had gone a rather white shade of… er, white.

"Are you joking?" Harry choked out.

"I'm not joking; I'm dead serious," Sirius responded. He paused a moment. "OK, I'll admit it: that was a really bad pun." (Hence the title of the chapter…) "But I'm not kidding, or joking, or anything. Your dad really is alive."

"How is that possible?" Harry demanded. "He's supposed to be dead."

"Well, he was put under some sort of charm that made everyone think he was dead," Sirius explained. "The charm was lifted just last week or so."

Harry's expression was unreadable as he asked, "So he can change into Prongs?"

"Well… we haven't tested that theory yet," Sirius admitted. Seeing the look on Harry's face, he quickly added, "He's been here for the last week or so, and he hasn't tried anything. And he's acting just like James acted… when I knew him at Hogwarts and everything. It is James, Harry!"

Harry wanted desperately to believe his godfather—he had always wanted a family (and no, the Dursleys did not count). But what if Sirius just wanted his best friend to be alive so much that he had tricked himself into thinking that this Death Eater was James?

"How do you know he's not a Death Eater impersonating my dad?" Harry demanded. "Does he look thirty-five, like he's supposed to be?"

"Well… no. But the curse that he was placed under is supposed to make you look like how old you were all through the time you're under the curse… I mean, your appearance isn't supposed to change, no matter how many years pass!"

"But what if it's a Death Eater?" Harry wanted to know.

"It's not, OK? Trust me on this, Harry. I know your dad. He was my best friend at Hogwarts and after. And I know it's James."

It was a long time before Harry spoke again. He slowly inched towards the door. "I need some time to… think about things," he said slowly, his face carefully blank. And with that, Harry was gone.

Sirius sighed and ran his hands through his hair, a habit that usually belonged to James. Well, Harry knew the news now. At least he hadn't fainted or gone into complete denial or anything. Sirius just hoped that James wouldn't be too heartbroken—or at least upset—when he learned of Harry's reaction to those three words: "James is alive."

Sirius left the room, too, to go tell James of Harry's reaction.

A/N: End chapter six. You people better be grateful! I have two quizzes to study for, as well as two projects due tomorrow as well as two projects due the day after tomorrow that I haven't even started yet, and yet I'm updating! I have to go to bed at ten at the latest, and it's almost nine now, and I haven't eaten dinner yet. So you'd better express your internal gratitude by leaving me reviews! ;)

-Morsmordre