Harry's Aunt smiled at both of he wizards that had just appeared out of thin air in her garden.

"Did you find what you were looking for Harry?" she asked. "More than I went looking for," Harry said. "I found a load of mum and dad's stuff and a few things that will help me finish the work Dumbledore left for me. I also got some really good advice from an amazingly wise Marauder," he said smiling at Lupin. "In fact if it weren't so late I'd ask Moony here to take me to my friend Ron's house so I could try to win my girlfriend back."

"Then you would have wasted a trip, seeing as she showed up about an hour ago demanding to speak with you," Aunt Petunia said with a grimace. "I hope for your sake that she isn't always that demanding and rude, I almost threw her out of my house. But I thought that she probably didn't realize that things between us have changed, so I showed her to your room and brought her a tray of tea and sandwiches." Harry and Lupin looked slightly alarmed at this. "Well, she made it clear that she wasn't leaving until she spoke to you. As I didn't know how long you'd be I thought she could use your room to relax in, I daresay she won't be comfortable around us until you can tell her about our new relationship. So, my first piece of motherly advice in Lily's stead. never keep a lady waiting, they hate it." Harry nodded at his smiling Aunt as he excused himself to go to Ginny. He was halfway up the stairs when he heard Lupin remind him to behave. Like Ginny is going to want to misbehave Moony, Harry thought. He stopped outside his door and took a deep breath; he knew that Ginny's temper was perfectly suited to her fiery red hair. He prepared himself for the onslaught and opened the door.

Ginny sat on his bed looking through the photo album that Hagrid had given him of his parents. "I wish I could have met them Harry." Ginny said sadly "I know I shouldn't be here but I can't get you out of my head. I just missed you too much, and it hurt too much to think of you stuck here suffering with these Muggles." Harry took another deep breath and started to explain everything that had happened the first night he got home. Ginny was so astonished by the Dursley's change in attitude that she completely forgot why she had come. "Oh no!" she moaned, "I was so mad at you for breaking up with me that I was pretty rude when I got here."

"Yeah, Aunt Petunia said you were a little put out when you got here," Harry said laughing. "But she understands that you didn't know that things have changed. And they have changed more than you know Ginny," said Harry. "I wasn't here when you arrived because I was at Godric's Hollow at my parents' house, or rather what's left of it." He pulled Lily and James' wands from his pocket and handed them to her.

"Are these what I think they are?" Ginny asked quietly

"Yeah, Mum and Dad's wands. I found them exactly where they dropped them when they died. Mum's was still pointing at the door of the nursery."

"That's horrible Harry you should have taken someone with you. Ron or Hermione at least, you shouldn't have had to face that alone," she said tearing up.

"I didn't face it alone Ginny, You were there. The whole time I was there I kept thinking about you, about how you'd love to see that place. You would have loved the nursery, and there's a room down the hall where mum used to sit with me while I nursed or slept because she could sit in an armchair and look out over the garden. I even thought about how you'd have laughed if you saw the lair they built for Lupin. No Ginny, the worst part wasn't seeing where my parents died the worst part was seeing where my family lived and not seeing you. I don't ever want to see my family again without you. Please forgive me for being, as Remus put it, a bit trollish."

Ginny went from ready to yell, to shocked, and by the time Harry finished quoting Lupin laughing hysterically. "Lupin actually said that you were being trollish?" Ginny asked laughing so hard she was crying.

"Yeah, he explained that mum's love saved me from Tom sixteen years ago, her bloodline protects me here, but that it was my love for my friends that gives me strength and that only a troll would be stupid enough to break up with the one person in the world that I loved more than any friend."

Ginny stopped laughing and stared at Harry. "Are you saying that you love me Harry?" she asked through her tears.

"Ginny, you know I love you. I broke up with you because I loved you and didn't want Tom to come after you again, but if Moony could tell that we broke up and I still loved and missed you without me telling him we'll never hide it from Tom will we?" Harry said exasperated, he really didn't see why this was so hard for everyone to understand.

"So you're saying you still want to go out with me," Ginny said hopefully.

"No, I'm saying that I don't ever want to stop going out with you again, and I hope you'll let me introduce you to my mum and dad someday. I know they've got a portrait somewhere I can introduce my girlfriend to." Ginny launched herself into Harry's arms with a squeal of delight. Harry kissed her passionately and then asked, "so does that mean you'll forgive me and go out with me again?"

Ginny laughed her own carefree laugh for the first time in weeks. "Harry Potter you maybe as stupid as a troll sometimes, but what girl could say no to an apology like that!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I better go down and apologize to your aunt too." Harry let her go smiling, it felt so good to see her happy and hear her laughing again he swore to himself he'd never let her go again.

The next two weeks went by in a flash for Harry, Ginny had apologized to Aunt Petunia for her rudeness before she left for home and he and Petunia had had another long conversation about Harry's parents that night. Harry had decided not to tell his aunt about the portrait for two reasons: First, he didn't think she was ready to hear that there was a way that she could talk to her sister; and secondly, he knew that Lupin was missing the people in that portrait more than anyone so Harry fully intended to give him the portrait as a gift in the future. For now though, the portrait sat hidden in his desk drawer except when he pulled it out to ask a question of his parents or Sirius. He had told his parents about his Ginny and how she had said that she wished she could have met them, and he had confessed that he had thought of pulling this portrait out straight away but that she had seen magical pictures of them before. They had agreed that this was such a simple wish that it was cruel that they had no way to grant it. His mother had been the one to pick up on the fact that Harry was not just talking about some teenage girlfriend, but the woman that he hoped to marry. Harry was stunned when she commented on this during one late night conversation the night before Bill and Fleur's wedding. "Mum, how can you know that?" he asked, "I've never even thought about it, but I have to admit that you are right. Marrying Ginny would make me deliriously happy."

Lily laughed at her son and said "Harry I did give birth to you, I know how to read your emotions better than anyone on earth. Well, that and you talk about her like I talked about your father" she said smiling.

James had not said a word but he and Sirius kept exchanging meaningful looks. "Harry, let me ask you a question." James said finally.

"Sure Dad." "How much would you give to make Ginny happy?" James asked. "I would do anything, as long as she was safe. It's hard to do much with Tom in the open now," Harry answered.

"Do you believe that Love is the most powerful emotion known to man Harry?" his father continued.

"Well... I'm not sure Dad; Dumbledore sure believed that and I trusted Dumbledore more than most. But Tom feels no love for anything but power and he dueled Dumbledore to a stalemate in the Ministry" Harry said. James and Sirius both looked at Harry for a long time as if they were debating with themselves whether or not to tell him something. After about five minutes of this Harry said impatiently, "Okay you two spit it out."

"Well Harry, I don't recommend you do this often but I'll prove Dumbledore's right to you, but you must do exactly as I say." James said slowly.

"Deal" Harry said immediately.

"Do you remember what happened when you and Tom dueled?" James asked.

"Of course, the wands activated the priori incantatem and echoes of all of his victims..." Harry's voice trailed off. He remembered that the echoes were not quite ghosts but close, they could move and think for themselves and they had lingered briefly to allow him to escape. He was wondering where his father was going with this when James spoke again.

"There is a way to create a more substantial echo than appeared that night. It takes a great deal of magical power, Merlin was the last wizard to do it properly. But the echo had a physical body that could be touched, and Sirius and I were thinking that you might try it so that we could throw you a seventeenth birthday party and be formally introduced to all of you friends."

"Dad, that's brilliant." Harry gasped, "How long would it last?"

"Merlin's echo of his wife had been able to linger with him for twenty four hours, but no one really knows. I guess it's a question of the power of the wizard performing the charm. Now, Harry you must realize that if you do this and it works we will be only echoes. We will not be alive and we will fade at some point. We will understand if this would be too painful for you."

"I want to try Dad," Harry said without hesitating. "I know that no spell can bring you and Mum back from the dead, so I know that I'll lose you again at some point but I've missed you so much and I really want you to meet Ginny and Ron and Hermione. And I know that Remus would be glad to be able to talk to you again, plus I would love to have a chance to see you fly, Sirius said I flew a lot like you did." All three painted faces smiled up at him.

"Okay then, here's what you do" James had said. Harry spent the next two hours taking notes and practicing the charm without his wand, while James and Sirius had instructed him from the portrait.

"I think I understand it now," Harry had said finally.

"Yes, I think so too" James agreed, "now Harry you will have to wait until your seventeenth birthday to try this, we don't want the ministry bothering your aunt and uncle."

At this his mother spoke up again. "Harry make sure that your Aunt Petunia at least is at the party, I need to talk with her. I'd appreciate it if you could drag Uncle Vernon and Dudley along too but I won't expect too much." She said with a small smile.

Harry thought about this for a minute, he really doubted that Aunt Petunia would feel comfortable around that many wizards. The idea popped into his head like a bolt of lightning. "Mum, I need you to write Aunt Petunia an invitation, she'll never come if I just ask her, she still feels like she doesn't belong around my friends." Lily looked sadly at him. "If you'll tell me what to write I'll copy it out and enchant the quill to copy your handwriting," Harry said before she could speak. Lily's face lit up at these words, and ten minutes later a very confused Hedwig took off to deliver the letter in Lily's handwriting to her sister through the kitchen window. The letter begged Petunia to bring her family to Potter Manor on July 31.

The next morning Harry woke early and pulled out the portrait of his parents. They both woke up as soon as the early morning light hit them, "What is it Harry?"

"Well, I know we were going to let this be a surprise and all. But I'd like Ginny to be in on it. I'll need her help with her mum and dad, so I can't have her passing out on me. I'd like to bring her with me when Remus and I go to Potter Manor to clean and set things up if that's okay with you." Harry explained.

"Harry, Potter Manor is rightfully your home. You may do with it what you like and take whomever you please to it. Our opinion is irrelevant, you must remember that we are dead and buried in the garden of that estate. However, were we alive, we would have been honored to receive you and Ginny privately before the party," James told his son.

"Thank's Dad, you and mum may be dead but you opinion still means a great deal to me. I think Remus and I will try to go to the manor in a couple of days, I'll see if Ginny can come with us." Harry said as he started to pack for the wedding later today.

"Very good Harry, you'll find two life size portraits of us in the family portrait room on the second floor" Lily said kindly.

"Thanks a lot Mum!" Harry said brightly, "now I know where to take her. Oh, and I plan on giving this portrait to Mooney. I knew that I'd find another portrait of you guys in the manor and he misses you both almost as much as I do" Harry said as he finished his packing.

"That's very gracious of you Harry, you make your father and I very proud. Don't ever forget that Harry," Lily said as Harry put the portrait into the top of his bag.

"I won't Mum," he said and then closed the bag and went downstairs to wait for Remus to take him to the Burrow.