"The Unexpected" Chapter 2
It was almost 2:00 in the morning by the time Harry finished his story, but his children were nowhere near sleep. All of their eyes were wide open, and Lily's face was red and tear-streaked from crying. At various points in his story, he looked over to see Ginny quickly wiping tears out of her eyes. And he'd been a bit teary himself, especially as he recapped Sirius, Fred, and Lupin's death. He even shed a few tears as he talked about Dobby and Hedwig.
There had been no interruptions while he'd told the story, because he'd told them to save their questions for the end. He knew if he hadn't said that, they would never finish. And as he'd promised, he told them the whole truth, and tried not to leave anything out. He was impressed and surprised by how much he remembered; he thought he'd blocked it out years ago. Apparently, he hadn't, and as he told the story, he could see the images as clearly as if he were still living them. The pain was still fresh, the hurt was still there. He took a deep breath.
"Now you see why I never told you," he said softly. "It's still painful for me, and it's not a good story to tell children." He waited for the questions that he knew would come. James lifted his head. Harry was surprised to see that his oldest son also had a red face.
"So you were forced to watch as Pettigrew brought Voldemort back to life with your own blood?" he asked. Harry nodded.
"Yes," he said.
"And how old were you again?" Harry sighed.
"I was fourteen."
"Oh dear god," said James. He looked terrified. "I'm so sorry for all of the things I've ever complained about, I take everything back!" he said, waving his hands around and trying to contain his emotions. Harry shook his head and walked over to the couch. Lily had migrated to her mother's lap before he'd gotten to his fourth year, as had Albus, who sat next to her. Harry knelt down next to his son and spoke gently.
"You don't need to feel sorry for me, James," he said. "The past is past, and it's not coming back. What's important is that I'm ok, and I am."
"But all of the people that you've had to watch die," James said. The tears were threatening to spill. "Cedric, Sirius, and Dumbledore; Teddy's parents; Uncle Fred, all of the people you loved." He swallowed hard. "Your parents. All of the people we were named after, they're all dead." Harry shook his head.
"Lily Luna," he said, looking at his daughter. "Your middle name is the name of one of the bravest girls I've ever met, and she's still alive. In fact, we had dinner with her and Neville just a few weeks ago." James nodded.
"I'll never look at professor Longbottom in the same way again," he said. "Once I get back to Hogwarts, I'll apologize for all of the pranks I've played on him." Harry laughed.
"See, look what good came out of this!" he exclaimed. "My son, apologizing? What a day." James glared at him.
"Hey," he said. "That's not fair. I've apologized before." Harry smiled.
"I know you have, and I was only teasing." He heard Lily sniffling in her mother's lap, and he turned to face her.
"Lils," he said softly. "It's ok, sweetheart. I'm here and I'm safe." Lily let go of her mother, and wrapped her skinny arms around her father's neck. Harry picked her up, walked over and sat on the couch with her on his lap. Her face was buried in his shirt as she started to cry. Harry held her tightly, stroking her hair, whispering softly. When the sobs finally subsided, Harry lifted her up so that he could see her.
"I'm ok now, my Lily," he said. "I'm ok, your mum's ok, and so are you." He touched her nose lightly. "And that's all that matters." Lily wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"I-," she sniffed. "I always thought Uncle Dudley was nice." Harry laughed again.
"He is now," he said. "He got much nicer as he got older. That's normally what happens." He looked at her. "You ok now?" he asked. Lily nodded. He kissed her head, and sat her back down on the couch, next to her mother. Then, he turned to Albus.
"You ok, buddy?"he asked. Albus had had this blank stare throughout the whole story, and he hadn't said much. He looked at his father and nodded.
"Did you really kill a basilisk in your 2nd year?" he asked. "To save mum?" Harry chuckled and nodded.
"Yes," he said. He looked at Ginny. "But I had some help from Dumbledore." At this comment, Albus's eyes lit up excitedly.
"Oh man!" he exclaimed. "I'm named after the most awesome headmaster in the entire world!" Then he looked upset. "But why'd you have to name me after Snape? He was evil." Harry shook his head.
"Severus was never evil. He was just a very unlucky man. You remember what I told you? I said at first, I misjudged his intentions. He'd been looking out for me since the beginning, and the one thing I regret is that I never had a chance to thank him for it." Harry lost himself for a moment in the memory of the pensive. "Like I've always told you, you were named after two of the best men I've ever met. The only reason he was hard on me, is because of my father and Sirius. He used Snape for all of his pranks." Lily and James stared at him.
"But the only reason he cared about you is because he loved your mother," Lily said, and James nodded in agreement.
"Nah, I don't think so," said Harry. Then he smile mischievously. "I'm a very lovable person, don't you agree, Ginny?" Ginny grinned and leaned over to kiss Harry.
"Eww!" chorused the children, and they raised their hands to cover their eyes.
"That's gross!" exclaimed James, and Albus nodded. It continued this way for several more seconds, until Ginny broke away and looked at the clock.
"Alright, it is way past your bedtime," she said. "This took far too much time. Your father will answer your questions in the morning, but now it's time to get into bed." The children groaned.
"But we'll have nightmares," whined Lily. Harry looked at his youngest daughter sympathetically, but before he could comfort her, Ginny pulled his neck tie and kissed him again. The kids shrieked.
"Alright! We're going!" James shouted, and he hurried the other two out of the room. Harry chuckled softly under Ginny's kiss.
Ginny opened an eye to make sure the kids were gone, and softly pulled away from Harry, who looked extremely happy. He shifted so that he sat next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder and curled her legs underneath her. They sat that way for a couple of minutes until Ginny broke the silence.
"I'm so proud of you, Harry," she said. "That must have been incredibly hard, to relive your past like that." Harry nodded.
"I'm just worried about how the kids are going to do. I'm starting to wonder whether or not I should have told them yet." Ginny shook her head.
"No, I'm glad you told them. James needed to understand why the Slytherins hated him so much."
"I'm just glad he doesn't have to deal with what I did when I was his age." Ginny tilted her head up and kissed him softly.
"Me too," she said. Then, with an unspoken agreement, they got up and walked into their room to get ready for bed themselves.
Lily was right about the nightmares. That night, she had horrible dreams about her father's childhood. She woke up late that night screaming. Harry rushed in as fast as he could and together they sat, rocking on her bed, Lily's father holding her tight.
"I knew this would happen," he whispered.
"Does this ever happen to you?" Lily asked.
"Yes," her father replied. "Or, at least it used to."
"How come I've never heard you?"
"Because they stopped many years ago, before James was born." Lily shivered.
"Voldemort looked so scary," she said. "And I've never seen him." She gripped her father tighter. "What were your dreams about?"
"Shh, Lils," Harry said. "We don't need to go into this now."
"Please?" she said. "The least scary one."
"Alright," her father gave in. "The least scary one was probably before I went to Hogwarts. All I could remember about my parent's deaths was a flash of green light. I used to think it was a car crash, but then I was told that it was probably the killing curse. Having seen it firsthand, I think it probably was," Harry finished. Lily had finally stopped crying, and was starting to relax again.
"So I think you've had enough story time tonight, don't you?" Harry asked. Lily nodded sleepily. He kissed her head, and set her gently back down under her covers.
"I love you, sweetheart," was the last thing Lily heard before she fell back asleep.
James was sitting on the foot of the bed when his father came in to check on him.
"May I come in?" he asked. James nodded, but didn't say anything. His father came in and sat with him on his bed. They sat like that for several minutes, until Harry spoke.
"Nightmares?" James shook his head.
"Couldn't sleep," said James. Harry nodded. Suddenly, James stood up and ran his fingers through his hair in agitation.
"I feel like such a wimp!" James said loudly as he started pacing the room. "Here I am in my room, shaking like a twig, afraid of my own shadow, where as you," he pointed to his father, "you've lived it! That was your story. My whole life, I've been such a jerk!" he collapsed on the bed, and put his head in his hands. "Such an arrogant jerk," he said into his hands. He felt his father grab his shoulder.
"I'll be right back," he said, and left the room.
A minute later, his father came back in the room, carrying a round ball and a piece of folded up parchment in his hand. He sat down on the bed and handed James the round ball. James looked at it for a moment, and then realized it was the snitch that they always used during their Quidditch games. He looked closer and gasped.
"Is this, the snitch?" he asked his father. Harry nodded.
"My very first snitch," he said. "The one I nearly swallowed. It was also the one that held the ring. I've kept it because it reminds me what perseverance can accomplish. And also, when we feel most trapped, there is always hope, even if we can't see it." He pressed its cold surface to his lips, waited a moment, and then handed the little golden ball to his son. James took the snitch, and held it up so that the light from the hallway could illuminate it.
"It's the one that we play with when we have our games at the Burrow," he said. Harry nodded. Suddenly, James's eyes widened.
"I open at the close," he murmured. He looked at his father. "That's so cool," he said. "Dumbledore did this?" Harry nodded.
"This snitch gave me the courage to continue with what I knew I had to do. I just hope it can give you courage now." James looked confused. "It's yours." James started to shake his head no, but Harry stopped him.
"I'm counting on you to continue the Potter name in the Quidditch trophy room at Hogwarts as star seeker," Harry teased. Then, he rumpled his sons' hair, which was an untamable black mop like his and his fathers.
"You remind me so much of your grandfather," he said. "And Sirius. At least, what I knew of them." James looked down, embarrassed.
"Dad," he whined, and he shoved his father playfully. Harry laughed, and then remembered the piece of paper in his hand.
"Oh, that reminds me," he said. "This is for you." And he handed the folded parchment to his son who looked at it curiously.
"What's this?" he asked. Harry took out his wand and tapped it.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said. At once, dark ink marks appeared on the paper. James read the title.
"I still don't understand what this is," he said. Harry sighed and pointed to the names on the front.
"This map," he said, "is a map of Hogwarts, created by my father, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew. See the names on the front?" James looked again.
"Oh yeah," he said as he recognized his grandfathers nickname and those of his friends. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. I see now. 'The Marauders Map.' Hey, you talked about this in your story! Uncle George gave it to you, right?" Harry nodded.
"This map saved me a lot of trouble when I was your age," he said. "Now, I hope it can save you some as well." James stared at it, wide-eyed.
"Can this really," he started.
"Yes," Harry answered. "Now, the way to turn it off is to tap it once, and say 'Mischief Managed.' Got that?" James nodded eagerly. Harry rumpled his hair again.
"Good," he said. "Now don't get yourself into too much trouble with that thing, the goal of it is to keep you out of trouble. I don't want your mum mad at me over this."
"Don't worry 'bout a thing, dad," said James. Harry chuckled.
"Good." He kissed his head. "I love you son."
"I love you too, dad."
Albus also couldn't sleep that night, so he heard all of his sibling's conversations with their father. When his father came into his room to check on him, he sat up immediately and asked the question he'd been dying to ask that whole night.
"Do you wish you could go back and do anything differently then you did?" he nearly spewed at his father. Harry sighed, and walked in to sit on his son's bed.
"Yes," he replied calmly. "I wish I'd known the information that I learned in the pensive of Snape's memories much earlier, so that I could have gone into the forest and sacrificed myself before the second half of the battle. So many lives could have been saved, including your uncles, and Lupin's." Harry looked at his son. "That is my biggest regret of that whole time." Albus thought for a moment.
"But they still might have died in the war," he said. Harry shook his head.
"But not then," he said. "And not like that." Albus nodded.
"I know what you're going to ask now," he said. "And yes, I am ok. Yes, your story was scary, and shocking, and it made me question, 'why you?' But I know you lived, and mum lived, and most of our family lived, so it turned out ok in the end." Harry looked at his son in awe.
"You've grasped in one night what took me almost ten years to understand," he said softly. He stared at him thoughtfully. "I'm so proud of you." Albus beamed. Harry patted his sons head. "Goodnight Albus," he said, and got up to walk to the door. He was just about to leave, when he heard Albus ask,
"Does it still hurt? The scar I mean." Harry touched his forehead.
"No," he said. "It hasn't hurt since I came back from the forest, almost twenty years ago." Albus nodded sleepily.
"I love you dad," he said. Harry smiled.
"I love you too, Albus."
A/N: Wow, so many things I could tell you guys. Let me say how awesome it was to receive this many reviews in this short ammount of time. I've gotten more visitors and hits this month for Confrontation then I've gotten for my six chapter other story which has been up since the begining of january. And during this period of time that ive been writing this story, ive been keeping track of all of the harry potter fanfics, and holy kadoodles! those stories move fast! this will probably be off of the top 25 by 10:00 tonight.
Anyway, thanks for the reviews. i must admit, i wasnt planning on making this a two shot, but all of the reviews telling me to, i just had to. So you see the power of reviews? every single one i got, i freaked out like someone was telling me i was going to meet the president. so take the short ammount of time it takes to make someones day, and write me a review. it really does mean the world to me.
i almost considered showing the kids reactions to each of the books (aka, years) but i suppose that wasnt nessasary. like i told one of my reviewers, ive seen it done in terrific fics, but it always turns messy no matter how good the writer is. plus, (hopefully) youve read all of the series, so i think you can imagine individual reactions to each of the parts.
And anyone who likes my story should go and check out 'A House Full Of Gingers,' which tells about the next generation weasley family (including the potters). i requested that writergal24 write her own version of the confrontation scene and she did beautifully. so go check it out! (and the rest of her stories on that fic as well, they're all really good)
Anyway, thanks for reading!