Hey everyone,
So there will be a chapter where Harry's center will be explained and where Harry will, at first, try and refuse to be a guardian as he doesn't want to fight for those he cannot trust, but still I do not think this story will last very long and that, by the end of the year, it will probably have been finished and completed.
Anyway, enjoy,

Venquine1990


Chapter 02
Santa's Gift Of Wonder

25th of December 1995
Somewhere in England
North's POV

All night I've spent delivering presents to children all across the globe, yet while I did this, was my mind on only one thing; Tooth's deduction of what Harry wants as a gift more than anything in life, the parents he lost when he became a guardian. And what worries me the most is that Harry's right; I can't give him that.
The idea that I can't give a child the gift he wants is something I have never had before as there was always a way for me to actually grant their wish no matter what it was and the longer I work on all the other kids, even the few that have such difficult Christmas wishes, the more determined I feel to manage the same for Harry.
"He's spend the last five years needing us without us there, I must make it up to him." Goes through my mind as I travel across a small part of England, yet as I do, do my eyes widen as I suddenly sense some powerful presence and looking up, I see that Manny has once more made itself known, shining down on the town below.

This makes me halt my sleigh in the midst of air and I lean across the side with a frown as I wonder why Manny would want me down there as there are no children there, yet then I see the beam of light Manny is shining down move across a large courtyard with a statue at the center and over to what looks like a destroyed set of ruins.
This makes me tilt my head and I decide to take a closer look, moving back to guide my sleigh down to the center of the courtyard and when I do, my eyes widen as the statue that, from up top, had looked like your regular war memorial changes into a statue of a man that looks like an older Harry along with a woman and baby.
And looking at the statue, the way that the man stands next to the woman with wand in hand as if trying to protect her and how the woman is holding her child in need to keep it safe, makes my eyes widen and my gaze swiftly switch to the ruins as I whisper: "Can it be?" And I carefully approach the ruined house.

The whole thing looks like it hasn't seen a human touch in over a decade and has weeds growing everywhere, even into a part of the house where part of the wall and roof is gone, the bricked pieces making it look as if something blew up from the inside and caused for the wall and roof to explode out into the garden.
I look at the house in curious shock and gently touch the entry gate, deciding to take a closer look and maybe find something through which I can still make Harry's wish come true, when I get shocked as another statue rises out of the ground behind the gate and on it I can see both an official message as well as several personal comments.

"Heh, come here too, have you?" I suddenly hear a voice ask and while I again feel shocked that some adult man can see me, do I turn to him as he says: "What a brat. His parents died for him and here he is; disgracing everything they stood for. Would you mind?" And I hesitantly take a step back, allowing the man near the statue.
The man nods at me and then steps forward, using a simple looking knife to carve something into the bottom of the statue before he gets back up and says: "At least they're dead. It'd be even worse if they were alive to see their son now. Hmph." And with that does the man leave, worrying me and I instantly go read his message

Your parents are rolling in their graves over your lies.

This message shocks me and I feel anger rising within me as I take another look at the ruined cottage and think: "What is wrong with these people? Are they the reason Harry's aura is that weak? Is that poor boy experiencing what Pitch caused to Sandy, Bunny and Tooth all those years ago? Is he losing people believing in him?"
And this thought pulls at my aching heart before I take another firm look at the ruined cottage, only to again feel Manny's light shine down on me, going from the cottage to the statue to me and then further down the courtyard and down one of the streets and I look from where it is going to the cottage and back before following.

The light leads me to a church where I hear a mix of Christmas Carrols strengthening me and psalms honoring the deity that the adults believe in and while I remember that good old man, do I sigh and shake my head as he is one who has left his duties to my friends and me a long time ago and has taken a back seat centuries ago.
Yet I shake my head at this, not wanting to think of Father and Son as I feel I have to focus on the mission at hand and so I move further past the church, through a sweet small kissing gate and into a gorgeous looking graveyard with some kind of sign of remembrance and care having been placed on every gravestone around me.
"Now this is Christmas spirit." I whisper as I happily smile at the signs that people still remember their lost loved ones and have come to give their graves a small gift, mostly flowers, yet then I notice that, where Manny's light shines, there are actually no gifts, flowers or anything at all; just a single pair of empty gravestones.
This confuses and worries me and while passing one grave that is actually bare as well makes me suppress a shiver as it makes me feel as if I just passed Pitch or something, do I move over to where the light of my oldest friend is shining and crouch down near the two, my eyes widening once more when I read:

"James Potter, born 27 March 1960, died 31 October 1981
Lily Potter, born 30 January 1960, died 31 October 1981

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

"Their graves. Manny, why did you bring me here?" I ask, getting up from where I am crouching and looking up at my old, ever silent friend and the light shifts again, this time moving over to another grave where, to my shocked delight, I see a whole set of wooden Nesting Dolls standing on the grave before the light hits me.
This makes me send a smirk with a raised eyebrow at the moon and ask: "You think I can do it?" Only for the light to move from the two graves in front of me to outside the graveyard and while I can't see where it's going, do I already know its destination and I say: "Okay, if that is plan." And I roll up my sleeves as I say: "Let's get to work."

An hour later
Grimmauld Place 12
Jack's POV

North left shortly after he and I realized what Harry's center is and since then we have been helping him and Sirius to get Hermione to see us once again. Yet while the girl tried to constantly come up with some reasonable theory as to what her friend and his godfather were trying, did I share a look with Bunny, the Rabbit nodding.
And with that did I turn on a sink, let it fill with water and turn some of it into a snowball before hitting the girl right between the eyes, the usual sparkles starting to shine there and the girl starting to giggle before she gasps and not without reason as the first guardian she actually got to see was Bunny leaning against the wall.
"That sure took you long enough, lass." The Rabbit had commented, yet the girl had been feisty and said: "Sue me, I was raised by dentists and being who I was, believing in things that were so often used either against me or to bully me wasn't really an option in my youth." At which all of us had cringed in guilt.
"How did you do that?" Harry asked and I had answered: "The one thing that connects us all, Harry, we make children happy. And besides, who doesn't love a good snowball fight. That would make even the most studious person laugh, thus increasing their need to be happy and believe." And both teens had smiled at me at this.

"HARRY!" We suddenly hear a loud, booming voice shout and we all jump in shock as, out of the fireplace, North jumps out and rushes for the boy, crushing him in a hug and saying: "You have to come with me! I did it, Harry! I did it!" And before anyone can respond does he dash back into the fireplace, Harry under his arm.
"HEY WAIT!" Sirius shouts, yet North is already gone and Sirius turns to me as he asks: "What was that about?" Only for my staff, which I have kept on the table since I threw it there, to suddenly get hit with a ray of light and we all look through the window, my eyes widening when I see that Manny has made another appearance.
"Manny, do you know where they went?" I ask, being the one person next to North who has taken to speaking to Manny whenever possible and his beam of light intensifies, causing for my staff to get a large shadow on the table, which then starts to change until – to my confusion – it is shaped like a cottage in ruins.

Yet Sirius gasps at this and we look at him as he says: "Godric's Hollow. North took Harry – to his old home. The – the home where his – his parents –." Yet while the man doesn't say it, do we all gasp as we realize what he means and I turn to Bunny with an inquiring look, the Rabbit nods before he turns to the group and says:
"Buckle up." And thanks to him tapping the floor with his foot twice, does a huge hole appear in the ground, swallowing us all and causing for us to fall into a tunnel, all of us on our backs except for Bunny, who seems to be skiing on the rough ground and patches of grass and who guides us from one main tunnel to several side tunnels.
Tooth and Hermione are both screaming in different levels of fear and have their eyes closed, yet while he is unable to make any sound is Sandy throwing his hands up in the air like he did the first time we rode North's sleigh and Sirius himself has actually managed to sit up and is screaming as if he's in a rollercoaster.

Then suddenly Bunny hops up into a tunnel in the ceiling and somehow we all get sprung up ourselves, landing next to the open hole which closed up behind us and ends up being a spring flower in bloom in the middle of a pile of snow, which I use to make sure that Hermione and Sirius have a nice soft landing.
We all look around and I see Sirius' eyes darkening with grief as he looks around the town where he must have lost friends of his and I send him a comforting glance before suddenly, from one of the chimneys on the other side of the courtyard, Harry and Santa come shooting out, the boy still tucked under the man's arm.
North himself is laughing as he lands on the roof next to the Chimney, yet instantly he has an angry Tooth in his face as she shouts: "North, you have exactly five seconds to explain to us why you would –." But then North laughs and says: "Tooth, I always fulfill a child's Christmas wish. You know my power, no?" But Tooth glares and says:

"That is no excuse, North. Especially not for the kidnapping or the fact that you are taking poor Harry to the one place that would cause him more pain than ever! What were you thinking?" And I hear Sirius mutter: "I'd like to know the same thing." A pained tone underlying his angry voice, but then North laughs and asks:
"Come on, Tooth. Don't you know me? Would I really take Harry here if I didn't know I had found a way to change his pain into joy? Or did you perhaps forget – this?" And I see him throwing her something, the fairy flustering as she catches it, yet I can't see what it is from this distance and so I decide to get closer.
And with that do I feel glad that I got to grab my staff before Bunny took us through the Tunnels and with it in hand, do I jump onto Wind and float over to where Tooth and North are standing with Harry just dangling under North's left arm with a dazed, confused look on his face and I fly over to float just behind Tooth, looking over her shoulder.

And the Nesting Doll of a red baby with large eyes shocks me into looking up and asking: "What did you do?" And North smiles as he says: "I proved my skill. What is it that I told you about my center?" And I answer hesitantly: "That you are able to see the wonder of the world?" And North smiles even wider and says:
"Yes, and the wonder of the world is so strong here, Jack. Even with no children living here, there is just so much wonder in this town and especially – in this courtyard, that house and the graveyard further down the road. And I – with help of Manny – mixed all that wonder together – and created a wonder of a miracle."
And while part of me feels excited with whatever he could have done, does another part of me feel hesitant as, after what I heard Harry say, I just don't think the boy can take it to be disappointed by those he once relied on and I ask: "What did you do?" And North laughs as he jumps down onto a pile of snow next to the house.

Tooth and I share a worried look and we float after him as he sets Harry down on his own two legs and says: "Harry, we, the Guardians, have been failing you when you needed us most for the last five years and – and there are a lot of things with which you will need your help, but tonight, you won't just get us back; you get them back.
Just, not the way you might expect, but hey – I am a guardian of kids, am I not?" And by now I just know that there is only one statement ringing through the minds of everyone here: "No! He didn't!" And with that, with tears of hope and disbelief in his eyes, does Harry turn to the house in question on the other side of the courtyard.
And from it, looking as if they are only a year younger than what is supposed to be their son and with tears of disbelief and love in their own eyes and streaming down their faces, two teens run at our group both of them screaming Harry and Sirius' names as North smiles and leans down to whisper in Harry's ear: "Merry Christmas."

HOLY MAN IN THE MOON!
Okay, so the original plan was to just rebuild Godric's Hollow and to have the spirits of Lily, James and other Potters reside within it with North's magic making an entire city out of the small cottage, but that was a little too Mirror of Erised like and so, somehow, this idea came up instead and I got to say – I LOVE IT!
Of course, it will cause a bit of trouble here and there, but personally, I am glad for that as that will mean that this story won't end by the fifth chapter or something. Also, James being back alive and knowing tons of his own ancient family will actually play a large role in Harry finding out what the power of his center is.
Next chapter? The Potters and co return to Grimmauld, yet when the Order tries separating them because they want to have a meeting that will include Lily and James, but not Harry, that is when the adults discover what happens when you keep pushing Harry with trust issues and that rule will come into play.
However, that won't be the only thing happening next chapter as, as you can read in Venquine's Mind, there is the part where Harry can, at first, refuse to be a Guardian but accept it in due time and the Order trying to separate him from his parents, all for the sake of a meeting, will be what will be the catalyst of his refusal
That'll be fun,

Venquine1990