Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Warnings: Violence , and Mature Themes.

Chapter 20

Three sets of eyes snapped open almost simultaneously, as each felt a great wave of magic wash through them. Daphne had been sleeping somewhat contentedly after dinner, and was jolted awake at the feeling of powerful magic permeating the air. Correctly deducing the source of the magic, she got out of bed and after making sure that she was presentable and armed, crept downstairs towards Harry's bedroom. He might not be as good a friend as Hermione, but he was getting closer every day.

As she got closer, she saw that the door to Harry's room was flung open, with a soft blackish glow permeating the room. Increasing her pace, she went closer, and peeked into the room, making sure that there was no immediate threat. She didn't trust her family to not do anything after all. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, as she recognized the form of Hermione and Hedwig, crouched around the sitting form of Harry. Magic was practically pouring out of him at a steady rate. Daphne couldn't help but be amazed that the usually silent but quite smart boy, was so powerful, and despite being that was quite humble about it. But she could see that that was something relatively new for him, she had deciphered that from the subtle changes in Hermione's reaction when she talked about him. Daphne was well aware of the crush that Hermione had on him, but lately whenever they were lounging together, the way she talked about Harry had . . .changed. she couldn't put her finger on what, but knew that something was different about their relationship now. She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard Hedwig's calming tones.

She still remembered the first time that she had seen Hedwig. Needless to say, she had been shocked silent, and only recovered at the smirking faces of Harry and Hermione. She would never admit it, but she had been regularly seeking Hedwig out after Harry and Hermione left for their morning 'run'. Hedwig's presence had helped her out immensely, and although she didn't feel that she needed some comfort, she still spent some time with the beautiful Phoenix. It might be selfish of her to think that Hedwig was not proficient enough as a Phoenix, in order to use their method of travel, but she was well aware that she couldn't write to Astoria by a normal owl. She knew it in her mind, but she still wished to contact her little sister.

"What's wrong with him?" Daphne asked. Not getting an immediate response, she slowly put her hands on Hermione's shoulder, making sure not to startle her. "Hermione . . .?"

Despite her best efforts, Hermione whipped her head around as if startled. Seeing the almost desperate and scared look in her eyes, increased Daphne's concern about her potential new friend.

"Focus, Hermione. Do you know what's wrong with him?" Daphne repeated.

"No. I just felt Harry's magic, and came here as fast as I could. I have no idea what's wrong with him." Hermione replied, her tone laced with worry for Harry. Hedwig trilled a happy song, surprising the two worried teens.

"Hedwig, do you know anything about this?" Hermione questioned. Hedwig just bobbed her head in response, and then alighted on Harry's shoulders, singing a song, which immediately allayed their fears.

With nothing else better to do than wait, trusting Hedwig, the two teens lapsed into silence.

(Break)

Harry was surprised, his words dying in his mouth as he saw another Harry walk towards his father. The expression on his face mirroring his own. Startled by this development, it didn't take Harry long to theorize that this was his memory, a memory that he didn't remember having or experiencing, whatsoever.

He followed himself so that he was close enough to catch whatever they were speaking about. Harry made contact with the memory Harry, and suddenly he was in his place experiencing the memory first hand.

"Dad? What's happening here? Where am I?" Harry asked rapidly. He tried wracking his brains, not able to remember where he was before he got . . . wherever here was. He turned confused eyes towards James.

"Hey . . . don't look at me like that. I got here the same as you . . . I was just sitting and chatting to Lily . . ." James replied to Harry's unspoken question, trailing off at the overwhelmed expression on his son's face.

"Mum's here?" Harry asked quietly.

Meanwhile, as Harry was experiencing his own memory, he started wracking his brain, desperately trying to glean something, stretching his mind to the limit, in order to find what was going on here, and if he could, maybe , talk to his parents, personally. He kept his musings at bay, for if he was correct he could analyze his memory later, for now he would just try and experience talking to his parents.

"Well, I don't really have any idea where here is apparently . . . but there are a lot of things that I need to tell you, Harry. And seeing as, you could wake up anytime; I say we better start soon." James said, his voice sounding uncharacteristically serious.

"Wake up . . .?" Harry asked confused.

"What is the last thing that you remember doing, Harry?" James asked gently.

Harry scrunched up his face in concentration, and James was immediately able to tell by Harry's rapid change in expression, the exact time that he remembered.

"I was attacked! Hermione!" Harry said frantically. He swiveled his head from side to side, desperately searching for a place to exit from.

"Yes, you were attacked. By a vampire, if I am not thoroughly mistaken. But I believe that help is on its way." James said gently.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked as his brain processed what James had said.

As Harry experienced this however, he felt thoroughly confused. He was a Vampire, and not a normal young boy. He shouldn't need help. But, he had always looked up to Dumbledore as a savior, of sorts. But now, that thought just didn't sit right with him. Deciding to ponder over this later Harry continued his observations.

"Among others." James replied vaguely. "Now then, there are a few things that you need to know."

Harry sat in a chair that seemed to materialize behind him, and James finding one behind him as well plopped down on it as well.

Harry noticed this little detail, but apparently he hadn't noticed it in his memory.

"Now, first of all being a vampire will not be all bad, for you. This is due to something that started with an accursed prophecy . . ." James started.

Harry listened to his father in amazement, The Prophecy, Voldemort's Horcruxes, James profession and role as an Auror, Lily's position in the Department as its top researcher, Voldemort's failed attacks against them. It was all a bit too much to take in. Especially James's last revelation.

"I died . . .?" Harry asked his voice sounding disbelieving.

"Well, technically, it wasn't you. It was the piece of soul that Voldemort had left in you that died. . ." James said placatingly.

"So . . . the reason that being a Vampire is good for me is because I have my own soul? And that's why I can retain my Magical capabilities?" Harry asked. He just couldn't believe that he was a Vampire now.

"Essentially, yes. Now Harry, we have observed you for your whole life, and I can honestly say that I am absolutely proud of the person that you have become. I just wish that your mother would have gotten the chance to spend time with you as well."

'I wish so too Dad' Harry thought despondently.

Unnoticed by the two of them, there was a flash of light and Lily Potter phased into the empty world that the father-son duo were residing in. Her eyes brimming with tears, she moved purposefully towards her son.

Harry had noticed her as soon as she had appeared, and his eyes felt slightly damp as he saw his mother, in the flesh, so to speak. He was sure that he would be visiting this memory more often that the others.

(Break)

Nymphadora Tonks groaned slightly as she woke up feeling a magical alarm going off in her room. She had moved into a separate flat when she had joined the Auror Corps, her mother had adamantly denied her desires, but her reasoning eventually won out. Being a Trainee was no walk in the park, especially considering that she wasn't trained enough to handle serious cases. All that she had done up until now, was visit the crime scene after other Aurors had taken care of the threat, and run inventory. It wasn't at all how she imagined what being an Auror was going to be like. She had studied her buttocks off at Hogwarts, and for what!

Silently grumbling, she got up from her bed and made her way to the chair over which her cloak was draped and fished out the beeper that had been issued to her. The reason for the alarm was fairly simple; she was being called in for a case.

(Break)

Abigail Dustnovice hated her job. She was stuck in her small cubicle, at the end of the 2nd floor of the Ministry, monitoring for any unusual magical activity in Britain. It was a testament to her rightful hatred of her job that she was the only one responsible for monitoring the whole of Britain. The job was simple really, she would just have to report any unusual activity to the Aurors, and she was done. No one acknowledged her work, and she was never mentioned in any of the papers when she had made the report that had led the Aurors to crack a case that had been important enough to make the Daily Prophet.

So she didn't feel any remorse in making a little extra money, on the job. It wasn't anything serious, as she still feared getting caught, just simple stuff. Turning a blind eye to unusual magical activity in an area on a given night, was pretty harmless. Though she had been surprised, by the quite generous offer that she had received from a cloaked stranger. That particular individual had requested not for her to turn a blind eye, but inform him of such surges. She had been skeptical, but his offer had afforded her a nice place in the city, that she had always had her eye on, and that was a powerful enough motivator for her to accept. So after she had dutifully informed the Aurors about the surge, she placed a floo call to the address that he had left her.

(Break)

After experiencing the emotional upheaval, of re-uniting with his parents, Harry listened to his parents silently. They had a lot of things that they felt that he should know about the House Of Potter and the Wizarding World in general. They explained to him, the less-known topic of finding a Blood-Mate as the vampires called it. Harry blushed at the frankness with which his father explained it to him, but after having heard it, realized that it was the only way that it could be explained.

"There is another thing that I think that would help you against Voldemort, Harry." Lily said softly, as she was sitting near Harry and was holding his hand comfortingly.

"When you go to Gringotts, go down to the Potter Family Vault. There are two trunks that contain our belongings. Inside my trunk is my research, which I was conducting while I was at the Department of Mysteries." Lily said, stopping as she heard James groaning loudly.

"Do you have something to say James?" Lily asked, her voice sounding dangerously pleasant.

"Lily, no offence to Harry, but you spent nearly three years working on that, and still you have nothing to show for it. I'm not saying that you work is useless, if it were indeed possible, it would be a tremendous help to Harry, but right now he needs to focus on training himself in dueling." James replied, wincing slightly at the calm expression on his wife's face. He was sure that he was going to regret this later.

"Dad, I really don't mind. It's not like I have to train every waking hour, is it? I can just do it in my spare time." Harry said, trying to diffuse the tension between his parents.

"Harry, it's not a side project that Lily was working on . . . she was the most brilliant witch that I have ever seen, or heard of and she still wasn't able to do it. Granted, that she wasn't all that much focusing on it for half that time, but one and a half years is a considerably long time." James argued. He was laying on a bit much of the compliments towards Lily, hoping to placate her, but judging by experience, it wouldn't work.

"As I was saying, the project is primarily based on Charms and Runes, so it is a good thing that you decided to study Runes. You can even get Hermione to help you, I'm sure that she would like the challenge. I won't waste this time we have in trying to explain the project to you; all the necessary details and tools that you would need are present in that trunk." Lily said, smiling warmly.

Harry watched as he spent the rest of the time that they had talking about inconsequential things, telling tales of their time at Hogwarts. He was particularly shocked to learn that his mother and Snape had been friends once, although she had added; quite vehemently, that she didn't consider him her friend anymore and that James had been right about him all along.

"I think that you are waking up Harry." Lily said, as she noticed that her hand that was holding Harry's was slowly turning transparent.

Harry unconsciously tightened his hold on his mother's hand, silently willing her to stay longer. He didn't want to say goodbye so soon. His mother seemed to understand what was going through his mind, and smiled tearfully.

"Always remember that we love you Harry." She said as she got up and hugged him tightly, rubbing his head comfortingly. James also walked over and joined in on the family hug, reveling in the sensation of having his family complete, even if it was for a short time.

"Kick Voldemort's ass son." James said as he disappeared completely. Harry didn't know if he was simply imagining things, but he could have sworn that he heard his mother shriek, "JAMES!"

Silent tears rolled down Harry's cheek, as the memory vanished and he was suddenly in an empty space within his mind, and had several of his memories swirling around his head randomly. He silently vowed to himself that he would do just that. Determination flooded his being, Voldemort would pay. He would pay for all the crimes that he had committed, especially against the Potter family. Harry would make sure that he did. With that last thought, he concentrated on coming out of his mind and opened his eyes.

(Chapter End)

A/N:- Look! No cliffly! Anyways, regarding Snape I haven't made up my mind, so I will leave it up to you readers. My story can go either way, so . . . .

Should Snape be forgiven?

1)Yes

2)No

Review!