Hindsight

Summary: "Ten years," James whispered to his wife. "We've been dead for Ten years… how is this possible?" Ten years after the tragedy at Godric's Hollow, James and Lily come back to life and find their world turned upside down.

AN: so important note here, I got a lot of reviews asking about Quirrell being able to shake Harry's hand and I just thought it important to address. In the book Quirrell shakes Harry's hand in that scene and it's explained later on in the dungeon why that was possible. My story is following that, not deviations or anything.

Chapter 11

Harry's visit to Diagon Alley was quickly turning sour.

After going to Gringotts, where his parents took him to his vault this time around, he felt like he was on a high. He'd never seen so much money in his entire life and, though there were subtle hints in their conversations that told him his family had money, he had no idea they were this rich. They picked up his books next and just by their covers, he was already eager to read up on all his subjects. Gathering the rest of his equipment was fun as well for he had never gotten a chance to look at the cauldrons or phials. Once it was time to get fitted for his uniform, however, he was almost immediately put into a bad mood.

Harry was excited to meet Madam Malkin again, and this time as himself, but had the unfortunate pleasure of being next in line to a boy with platinum blond hair and his nose upturned as though he'd smelled something horrid. It didn't seem like the boy had even noticed him, but his assumption changed only minutes later when he saw him glancing his way every few seconds like he had something to say.

Madam Malkin beckoned him over to a footstool next to him, where he climbed up and smiled politely at her.

"Hello," the boy greeted. "Hogwarts, too?"

Harry, at first, was excited at the chance to be meeting a future classmate. "Yes."

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands." There was a bored expression on his face, and Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley when the boy muttered, "Them I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow. Have you got your own broom?"

There was a condescending tone in his voice that Harry didn't quite agree with. "I do."

"Oh. Play Quidditch at all?"

"No."

"I do," said the boy pompously, happy to have gained the upper hand again. "Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

Harry looked at Madam Malkin and saw her trying to ignore the arrogant git who was talking to him. "Hufflepuff, maybe?"

"Hufflepuff?! I know I'll be in Slytherin, all my family has been." The boy scoffed. "Hufflepuff. Imagine? I'd leave if I were you."

"Nothing wrong with Hufflepuff," Harry retorted crossly. "They're a faithful bunch, you know? You'd make good friends with Hufflepuffs." Madam Malkin looked up at him with a surprised yet pleased smile, but the boy just scoffed once more.

"I say, look at that man!" the blond said suddenly.

Harry looked up and saw Hagrid standing at the window waving in at him. Hagrid had gone off by himself for a bit for some "official Hogwarts business" but promised he'd return to them swiftly. "That's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts," he said fondly.

"Oh. I've heard of him. He's sort of a servant, isn't he?"

If Harry wasn't livid before, he certainly was now. "He's the gamekeeper."

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage- lives in a hunt on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he's brilliant," he responded coldly.

"Do you?" he said with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"

"Dead," he said shortly, remembering his cover story before he could blurt out the truth that his mother and father were just on the other side of the store, looking at dress robes.

"Oh sorry." Harry noted that he didn't sound sorry in the slightest. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

He felt the vein in his forehead begin to throb. "They were a witch and a wizard, if that's what you mean."

He didn't seem to take notice of Harry's anger, or maybe he just didn't care. "I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways."

"And what does that matter?" Harry challenged. "There's nothing wrong with that."

The blond boy glared at him. "Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter. I think we should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"

Harry wanted to tell him that his surname didn't matter, nor did his lineage, but when Madam Malkin announced that he was done, he hopped off the footstool, sneered at the boy and said "Potter" before storming away to his parents.

"Harry?" Lily questioned when she saw his surly expression. "Are you alright?"

"Let's pay and get out of here already," he muttered.

His dad's brow furrowed in concern. "What's wrong, kid?"

He was quiet the whole way out, ignoring Remus when he and Padfoot returned from the bookstore and forgetting to thank Hagrid who had bought him a large scoop of ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

"What did you do to my nephew?" Remus accused Harry's parents.

James pushed his glasses up and squinted at his son. "Nothing! He refuses to tell us what got him upset."

Harry crossed his arms irritably. "It was that stupid boy at Madam Malkin's. He was spouting all this mean stuff about-" He paused, thinking it better not to mention anything about Hagrid. "About how they shouldn't let 'the other sort' into Hogwarts as if it made a difference. As if they don't deserve to learn about their magic." Unconsciously, he linked his arm with his mother's. "And he was rude about Hufflepuffs when Madam Malkin was standing right there! I never thought I'd meet someone worse then Dudley."

"Sounds like a right bastard," James told him.

"James!" Lily snapped.

"What? It's true. Isn't it, Moony?"

"You might've said it a bit more delicately," the werewolf stated.

James rolled his eyes. "I tell it as it is."

"He was though, mum," Harry agreed. "I'd never met someone so rude in my life."

"Didn't happen to catch his name, did you, Har?"

"No, nor did I want to."

Lily slid her arm around Harry and smiled as though to show him he wasn't bothered by the boy's rude words. "Chin up, sweetheart. Let's not let this ruin our day. Don't you know what's left to do?"

He shook his head, too annoyed to remember what they hadn't gotten yet.

"Why, your wand, of course."

That certainly did turn his mood in the right direction. Harry was practically dragging his parents to Ollivanders.

And if that visit didn't put him almost immediately back into his bad mood.

A wand that shared the same core as Voldemort's. Was his life some kind of cosmic joke that he ended up with a wand that bore the same core as the wand of the wizard who tried to murder him and his family?

"I don't want it," he said stubbornly, tossing the box at his father when they got home. Hagrid stood to the side awkwardly, wanting to comfort the boy but unsure how he could.

James was torn between wanting to burn the wand and forcing it back into his son's hands. "Harry, that isn't how wands work."

"The wand chooses the wizard, Harry, not the other way around," Lily supplied. "Just because this wand happens to have similar qualities to Voldemort's-"

"It's not just a similarity, mum! It's from the same phoenix!"

"Having this wand doesn't mean anything, Harry. We don't look at you any differently," James swore.

"This is your wand, Harry," Lily said resolutely. "This will become a part of your person. Cherish it. Don't push it away."

"But…"

"No," she told him. "Your father said it perfectly. This doesn't make us mad, sweetheart. We're happy for you. Truly."

Harry sighed and took the box back from his father. He opened it carefully and pulled the wand out, unhappy about how natural it felt to be holding it in his hands. "I guess it's alright… and besides it's not the wand that harmed our family. It's just… a brother wand."

"Yeah," James said supportively. "You'll make the best of it. I know you will, son."

Sirius and Remus walked in just in time to see Harry grip the wand tightly. "Ah, so you've decided to keep the psycho wand?"

Lily nearly tore Sirius' head off as Harry threw the wand on the couch and ran out of the room. "Damnit, Sirius!" James bellowed before chasing after his son and desperately trying to convince him back into the living room.

"Come 'ere, Harry!" Hagrid picked the boy up before he could get any further and threw him over his shoulder. "I've got something that'll cheer ye' right up, it will!"

The giant man sat him down on the couch next to his wand. Lily was still laying into Sirius, who was trying to use Remus as a shield against the angry witch. "I don't know if anything will help right now," Harry grumbled miserably.

"Nonsense!" Hagrid boomed positively as he turned the corner into the hallway. "Here you are! I got you an early birthday present, I did! Ye' might have forgotten about this last thing on yer school list because of yer wand but..."

Harry's jaw dropped when he came back with a cage in his hand, a beautiful snowy owl sitting regally within it. His entire body softened when Hagrid set it on his lap. Words couldn't describe how quickly he fell in love with the bird.

"She's a beaut, ain't she?"

"She's absolutely perfect, Hagrid," Harry answered, unlatching the door and reaching in to pet her. The owl preened at his attention. "Thank you, thank you so much! I'll take good care of her, I promise!"

She hopped onto Harry's arm and he carried her out of the cage carefully. "Do you have a name for her, Harry?" James asked, visibly relieved that Harry was feeling better.

He stared at the bird with adoration, much to Hagrid's pride. "Not just yet."

"Lily," Dumbledore greeted when he saw the couple standing in his office. "James. To what do I owe this visit?"

"We need to talk to you about Harry," the man said solemnly.

"Hagrid took care of you all when you went to Diagon Alley, I hope?"

"Oh, of course he did," Lily answered immediately. "He took great care of us."

Dumbledore waited for them to continue. "Does this have to do with the Dursleys then?"

"Again, you don't have to worry about that. We're not going to kill them."

James sat down heavily. "Harry's wand. It share's the same core as Voldemort's." Albus looked concerned but not surprised. "Don't tell me you know why."

The old man sighed. "I have a suspicion."

Lily clenched her fists at her sides. "And have you had this suspicion since before he got his wand?"

"Yes, but I didn't want to worry you with it. You already had so much to deal with."

"If it concerns our son, you tell us," James insisted angrily. "We have a right to know. What is it?"

Albus hesitated before deciding it would be best to tell them the truth. "I believe that Voldemort unintentionally transferred some of his powers to Harry when he tried to kill him and gave him that scar." James fell against the back of his seat, rubbing at his face with great stress. Lily began pacing behind him. "They are connected, in ways I'm not sure of yet, but knowing that they have the same wand core-"

"From the same Phoenix, Albus," James muttered miserably. "Ollivander told us he only ever got two feathers from this one ruddy bird and they just so happened to end up with Voldemort and our son."

"I know, James, for I was the one to donate those feathers."

"What?" Lily gaped.

"That is, Fawkes donated it," he corrected, nodding at the bird that flew to him at the sound of his name. James glared at it accusingly. "You know my Phoenix. He isn't an evil soul. It is the wand wielder that used Fawkes' gift for the wrong reasons. I have no doubt that Harry will walk a different path."

"Obviously. There isn't a bad bone in boy's body," James conceded.

"Do not fear this revelation. Work through it. Let him see a connection to Voldemort does not define him."

Harry grinned when he saw them. "You're back! How was Professor Dumbledore? Did he have any news on how you two are alive?"

"Not yet," James answered as he hugged the boy. "But we'll figure it out. You weren't any trouble for your uncles, were you?" He saw the men glare at the back of Harry's head from behind him.

"Not at all. Hedwig on the other hand… she wouldn't stop pecking at Sirius and Remus whenever they tried to come near me while I was reading."

"Hedwig?"

"His bloody bird," said Sirius with a grimaced. "The beast is a menace."

"Ah, so you've finally chosen a name!" The poor thing was on a three-day streak of being nameless. They were all wondering if Harry was ever going to choose a name for her. Nothing was "perfect enough" for his darling pet. "Where'd you get Hedwig from?"

"A History of Magic. I was breezing through it when I saw it and knew she just had to be called Hedwig. Isn't it perfect for her?"

"I reckon so," said James. "Why don't you go on and help your mother set the table while I speak to your uncles?"

"Sure."

"So?" Remus asked when Harry was gone. "What did you find out?"

James leaned against wall with a somberness very uncharacteristic of their old friend. "Exactly what we feared. Harry's somehow connected to Voldemort." Sirius cursed and Remus looked down at the floor like he was thinking very hard about what he just heard. "We aren't going to tell him. The last thing he needs is to know something like this."

"And what happens when he finds out about it later on in his life?" Sirius questioned, but not unkindly. "What do we do then?"

"We explain it to him in a way where we insure he understands that it doesn't make him a bad person," Remus answered matter-of-factly. "That he's so very different from Voldemort no matter what connection it is they share."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "How's Lils coping with all of this?"

"Much better than I am, as usual," James answered wryly. "Making sure I stay calm about this and what not. I mean, I don't think Harry's going to turn evil or anything. I'm just worried for him. All I want for him is a happy childhood and a happy life but…"

"But the prophecy?"

He looked up at them, indescribably sad. "Yeah. The prophecy."

"We'll stop it from happening, mate," Sirius said confidently. "We'll keep him safe."