A/N: Hello, everyone! Surprised to see me so soon? I did promise, you know. Anyway, onto business. I should do a chapter or two, if I'm lucky, per day. There's nothing really important for me to say here, just that this is the beginning of the big "Potter family" scene. Also, in two chapters will the "Black brothers", "Longbottom family", and "Who the hell is GFW and why are we alive again" scene.

Preetoaka Raven Potter Weasley: Thanks for bringing up the Alice/Frank point! I never noticed that, but now I can see what you mean. I sort of also see that all of the men characters all seem to be really weak and flawed, while the women (Hermione, Ginny, Molly, Narcissa) are all strong and have barely any flaws. As for Lily's sacrifice, I agree. Whenever she brings in Lily's character, she always appears semi-godlike, even in her teenage years, when all we ever hear about is James being an arrogant brat, though I think you would have to be one hell of an honorable man to give up your life for your wife and son. Uncle Reggie's coming to have some fun in chapter nine!

cardgirl91: Thanks!

harry potter is my muse: Thanks for telling me you don't understand. Can you tell me which parts so I can clear them up a bit?

Disney-Princess-In-Disguise: She's going to do a lot more than that, though that would hilarious!

MyraValhallah: Thank you so much! I'm trying to post as much as I can since I got my plans out of the way.

Chapter Seven

Of Nightmares and Dreams

As soon as they got outside the infirmary into the hallway, James broke down into tears; his heart-broken sobs echoing down the empty hallway as he leaned against the wall and pulled his knees to his chest and hid his face.

"I wasn't supposed to be this way…no, none of this was supposed to happen…it's all my fault…"

Sirius winced. This sounded like his Azkaban mutterings, for months on end he had let the guilt eat away at him as he huddled in the dark corner of his cell, tears dripping down his face. He felt a new tear drip down his face as he leant down to comfort James, distraught that his brother would look so much like an Azkaban prisoner. He shook James roughly as Remus put a hand on James' shoulders.

"Look at me, James. It's not your fault. Do you hear me? It's not your fault." Sirius growled, seeing the fact that James wasn't looking.

Fine then, Sirius smirked.

He then slapped James straight across the face.

That had some effect.

"OUCH! What do you want, you mangy mutt? It's all my—UMPH!"

Ouch. Two slaps.

"Listen to me, James. Listen to me. It is not, in any way, shape, or form your fault. You died trying to save your son and wife (man, that sounds weird—I mean, you're right here!). That was all you could've done! If anything, it's my fault. I should've known Pettigrew was the traitor…I mean, my god, it's my fau—" Sirius was rambling. He had wanted to say this for so long, to know and be sure that James didn't blame or would forgive him, but he knew he couldn't. There was no way that—"OOMPH! What was that for, you stupid herbivore? I'm the only one allowed to slap you!"

"Listen to me, Padfoot," James growled, tear-tracks still on his face. "I do not blame you. There was no way for you to know, it was Dumbledore's fault. His entire fault. I don't blame you for anything—I blame Dumbledore and Voldemort and Pettigrew. Not you. Do you hear me? Not you. You told me not to blame myself. I don't, not anymore. And I don't anymore."

Sirius Black then burst into full-fledged tears and hugged a sobbing James Potter. "Thank you, thank you, I'm so sorry…"

They stood like that for a whole five minutes, crying into each other's arms for a full five minutes with Remus patting their backs. Finally they let go and James brushed away his tears. "I guess moping around like a mop doesn't really help, will it?" he asked as he stood up and lead the way down to the elves' quarters.

Both Remus and Sirius stopped dead, but James kept walking. He finally realized they weren't following and turned around. "Er—guys? What is it?"

"That is the worst joke—" Sirius started.

"You've ever made," Remus finished.

James scowled and cuffed them both around the heads. "Being depressed and angsty doesn't help my jokes!" James whined. "Cut me some slack!"

"No way, Prongsie," Remus smirked, "That was even worst then that pick-up line you used with Lily in our third year. What was it? Oh yeah, 'If you—' "

James slapped a hand over Remus's mouth and growled, "We swore never to talk of that again."

"But, Prongsie ole pal—" Sirius whined.

"Never!"

The three walked into the elves' quarters still bickering about James' third-year pick-up line. When the house-elves caught sight of James, they immediately came flooding out, weaving around elf-sized stools and beds and tables.

"Master James!" They were all crying squeakily. "Master James! Yous is here! Yous is here—"

"Quiet!" Noddy came out from the back of the quarters, scowling and holding a large pan in his skinny arms. "Quiet!" he squeaked, "Go back to your work! Shoo! Shoo! You too, Misjiff!" Noddy scowled again whacked a smaller house-elf, a young one who was grinning toothily and bouncing on the balls of his feet with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, on the bottom with his pan. He then turned his attention to Marauders. "Master James, what Noddy do for you?" he asked, bowing low.

James grinned. "Hello, Noddy. We'll be moving to Potter Castle in the morning, so I was wondering if you could send the house-elfs back to their regular posts? Any new ones can be assigned where we need it most."

"Of course, Master!" Noddy cried with delight. Then he seemed to shrink a little bit. "But Master, we cannot clean all of Potter Castle in five hours…"

"Of course not, Noddy," James said kindly, "I just want you to clean as much as you can, but please start with the family dining room, family parlor, the infirmary, and the real study—not the decoy one."

"Yes, Master James! Who should Noddy be takings for yours personal house-elf?" Noddy asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to please.

James looked around at the house-elfs milling around. "Sirius and Remus can pick out theirs. Noddy, I'll use Ruddy, my old elf…Let's see…Lily can use Daisy…Lily and Daisy, that should work," James snickered with the Marauders. "And Harry…Harry can use Misjiff."

Noddy nodded, but bit his lip. "Master, Misjiff is a bad house-elf. Misjiff is alwys gettings into lots of troubles."

James smiled. "I'm sure Harry will be fine. From what my friends tell me, Harry certainly loves trouble."

Sirius rolled his eyes. " 'Loves trouble'…kid went looking for a mass-murderer…trouble, more like insanity."

James scowled at Sirius and swatted him on the back of the head before turning back to Noddy, "We'll be in the infirmary."

When they got back to the infirmary, they smiled at the sight of Lily and Harry curled up together. They made their way over to the bed, when Remus spotted a dicto-quill going—it was the conclusions from one of Lily's scans. Looking over, his mouth fell open as he pulled out the roll of parchment.

It was a listing scan, a kind of scan healers do on patients who sustained lots of injuries a short period of time so the healers can work through them all and not miss any. Usually, the recipients of the scan are torture or abuse victims. But this—this scan topped them all. It was like nothing ever seen before. There were twelve feet of parchment, cataloguing everything from Harry's scraped knees to fractured craniums. Remus winced as he scanned down list, looking at all of the injuries he had accumulated. It was amazing he was still alive, much less functioning.

Shattered right arm, removal of all bones in right arm, scraped right elbow, twisted left ankle, basilisk venom in right arm, scratch on left…

Remus blinked. It didn't say…? No! He scrolled feverishly back up the list. Basilisk venom? Remus wondered dazedly. What was his cub doing within fifty miles of a basilisk?

"Remmy?" asked Sirius, "Whatcha got there?"

Remus wordlessly handed the list to Sirius as he sunk into a chair. Sirius' mouth dropped open. "A basilisk? What—what the hell? What in hell was my godson doing near a basilisk?"

"Basilisk?" James sat up, alarmed. "What are you talking about, Harry near a basilisk?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks. If they were to show James, James would most likely drop dead in shock and anger that Dumbledore let his son near a basilisk. Then again, if they didn't show James, who was always overprotective of his son, they would most likely drop dead for not showing him it sooner. Being a coward for once in his life, Remus nodded and Sirius held it out to James.

It took a while for James to adjust to what he was seeing. He was frowning, confused, when ever so slowly his mouth dropped open and he turned pale, his eyes bulging. His hand went limp and the parchment fluttered to the ground as his breathing picked up.

"Er—James?" Remus asked hesitantly.

James looked up to him with a shocked and furious expression on his face, and then deadpanned in an oddly calm and blank voice. "My son got bit by a basilisk."

"Um, yes," Sirius squirmed uncomfortably. "If it makes you feel any better, we didn't know either."

"A basilisk."

"Yes," said Sirius slowly. "You're taking this awfully calm…"

James' face then turned a brilliant shade of magenta and looked like he was about to explode when someone snuffled.

Remus whirled around. It was Harry. Harry had awoken.

"Quick!" He hissed, shoving James out of his chair and toward the door as Sirius yanked Lily out of bed, pushing her to James. "Stay out in the hallway until we tell you to come in! Harry's waking and we have to explain everything to him!"

James and a groggy Lily took one last look at their son before fleeing into the hall. Remus sighed in relief, turning around only to greet a confused, dazed, and bleary-eyed teenager.

"Sirius? Professor Lupin? What's going on?"

Harry felt like he was floating. He was weightless and seemed to be hovering. Looking around he saw he was in a meadow of some sort, like a Quidditch pitch. He was laying on a picnic blanket, and the pain from Vernon's—he refused to call him 'uncle'—beating was slowly seeping away.

Suddenly words flowed into the meadow, a beautiful, musical voice that carried itself sweetly and ran through his very being, warming his soul and making him feel something he had never truly felt in his fourteen years of life: loved.

"When little Birdie bye-bye goes, quiet as mice in churches,

He puts his head where no one knows, on one leg he perches.

Abruptly, the words were much closer. Turning his head, Harry found his head on his lap of the woman he saw in his earlier dream. She was beautiful, with auburn hair and bright green eyes like his.

"Mum?" his voice caught in his throat. "It's you again."

She smiled and nodded, her hair catching the wind. She put a finger to his lips and kept singing.

When little Babie bye-bye goes, on Mamma's arm reposing,

Soon he lies beneath the clothes, safe in the cradle dozing.

Harry relaxed into his mother's embrace, soothed by her soft words, and let the wind run around them brushing the flowers and grass.

When pretty Pussy goes to sleep, tail and nose together,

Then little mice around her creep, lightly as a feather.

Suddenly a cat appeared in the meadow, leaping over them as she chased a rat. She was a very familiar cat, with square markings around her eyes. Harry frowned, thinking it meant something as she chased the rat out of sight, but Lily smiled at him and just kept singing. This time, though, Harry felt himself falling asleep.

When little Babie goes to sleep, and he is very near us,

Then on tip-toe softly creep, that Babie may not here us.

He heard quiety move away, letting him sleep in peace, but not before the last verse of the song was sung,

Lullaby, Lullaby, Lulla-Lulla- Lullaby."

As it finished, Harry shuffled a bit, trying to get comfortable and block out the sun, but it was no use as he was waking up.

Harry opened his eyes, which were blurry and distorted without his glasses. He made out the gray walls of the room, along with many other beds. That confused him greatly as he should've been at Privet Drive, in his room, with the door locked, feeling miserable, beaten, broken, and starved, not well-fed and rested, with no pains from the beatings, no scars or wounds. He saw a blur of red and black as what looked like two people ran out of the room.

He finally focused on the two figures in front of him, one he thought he was never going to see again and one who he thought was somewhere in South America.

"Sirius? Professor Lupin? What's going on?"