Chapter twenty

'James, Lily,' Sirius whispered.

'Mum, dad,' Harry whispered.

'Oh my,' Susan whispered.

'Lily, James,' Amelia said but her voice was croaky, she had to clear it before she could continue.

'It worked,' James said as he stared down at his son.

'Yes, but it was supposed to work straight away, our son is a teenager,' Lily moved until she was standing in front of Harry, 'We use our blood and encased our souls in the dagger that was connected to your soul. Your blood and your soul released us. It was the only way to make sure you survived if Voldemort tried to kill you. It worked, you lived.

'Mum,' Harry whispered then he was in his mother's arms, both were crying, James wrapped his arms around his wife and son but he looked up at Sirius.

'Lily worked nonstop for months to get this to work. We knew we would not survive that night, not when we secured our souls within the dagger. But we knew Harry could bring our souls back. Our souls gave Harry enough power to survive the killing curse. My father had these notes about hiding a soul, it could only be done if the soul were pure light and as long as we were protecting an innocent. The other way was dark, which we would never do. This meant we never really died, it put our souls into the dagger for safe keeping. But only the innocent we were protecting could bring our souls back. It was to make sure Harry survived if Voldemort went after him. Dad said it would only work if we had a pure connection and we needed a crystal that belonged to blood family. He was working on this for years, it was luck we found his notes after he died.'

'Voldemort did the dark ritual, he created horcruxes, Harry had a piece of his soul behind his scar,' Sirius said still in a whisper.

'Had, are you saying it's gone now?' Lily asked as she looked up but her arms were still around her son.

'Yes, Harry was poisoned by a basilisk, a phoenix saved him but the venom destroyed the piece of soul. We went to see an unspeakable, she examined Harry, it's gone,' Amelia said.

'Why did it take so long before Harry held the knife, our letters explained everything?' James asked.

'We knew nothing about any letters. But I was stuck in Azkaban for twelve years and Harry got taken to Petunia. We've only just found out that Amelia was supposed to have custody of Harry.'

'Albus knew Amelia was supposed to take Harry. We left the letters here which explained that Harry had to be brought here so he could hold the knife. But how did you end up in Azkaban, did you kill Petunia?' James asked.

'No, I want to, but they were arrested. We'll get to all that later,' Sirius said.

'Where did you leave the letters?' Amelia asked.

James went to his desk, 'They were here, addressed to Amelia Bones and Sirius Black, urgent was written on them as well,' James went around his desk, he searched every drawer even on the floor, 'They're gone, someone must have taken them.'

'Only Hagrid and Albus came inside this house after that night, Hagrid to take Harry to Albus. Albus returned the next day to remove your bodies,' Amelia said, 'Look, it's going to take a lot of explanation, I think we should go to Bones manor, eat, have something to drink and I will contact the unspeakables so they can examine you. No one will believe you're back or that you're not dark unless they say so.'

'But we were supposed to go back to Hogwarts. You told Professor Longbottom we wouldn't be long,' Harry said, his voice was croaky.

'I will send her a message and explain. I'm sure she will realise that you and your parent's need some time together. Susan, would you like to return to Hogwarts?'

'Stay,' Harry whispered as he reached out and took her hand.

'I'll stay with Harry,' Susan said as she stared at her boyfriend.

'Sirius, you're warded in,' Amelia took a quill out of her pocket then charmed it, 'All of you take that, I'll go to the ministry, then I will speak with Augusta at Hogwarts. I should not be long. Oh, take the dagger with you, I'm sure the unspeakables want to examine that as well.'

Sirius held the quill, he waited until James, Lily, Harry and Susan touched him before he tapped it with his wand. Amelia knew this was going to be big news, the biggest, more even that what Voldemort had been trying to do.

Susan had the house elves prepare a light lunch, then she sat opposite Harry who was sitting between his parents.

'Now, why did Albus take Harry to my bitch of a sister?'

'He expected Harry to die, he made sure Harry didn't have a good life so he would be willing to die to stop Voldemort. There's a lot to go into Lil's, just know that Albus had some plans, none of them good and all of them were leading to Harry's death. It would have probably worked if it wasn't for Voldemort. Crouch and Peter who were working on kidnapping Harry to help give Voldemort a body.'

'You mean his soul is still around?' James asked.

'Yes, I faced him in my first year at Hogwarts, he was possessing a teacher. He touched me which hurt him, so I made sure to keep touching him until he died. Voldemort's spirit left him, and Peter Pettigrew found him when he escaped from us last year. Sirius is right, there's so much to go into. But Amelia and the aurors are working on Barty Crouch now to find out where Voldemort and Peter are hiding. Dumbledore is in Azkaban, thank merlin. Oh, mum, dad, this is Susan, my girlfriend and Amelia's niece.'

'Yes, we met Susan when she was a baby, a month old,' Lily smiled, 'My son could not have picked a better girl. If you are anything like your mother than you will keep the junior Marauder in line, like I had to with these two.'

Susan chuckled, 'So far I haven't had to, but I knew Sirius would end up influencing Harry, sooner or later.'

'Well, he is a Marauder,' Harry said grinning at his girlfriend, 'Because of everything that has been going on, Sirius and I haven't really spent a lot of time together.'

'We'll explain everything, but it's going to take a while. James, Lily, just know that it was only over the last few months that Harry finally could be a normal boy and not be in danger all the time. Albus caused most of it, even Snivellius did, then Voldemort. Harry worked it to transfer out of Gryffindor and into Hufflepuff, with good reason. He spoke with Susan who wrote to her aunt and I'm free. Harry is finally out from under Albus's manipulated control. So much to go into, not much is good news, until recently.'

'So you end up in Gryffindor, but are now in Hufflepuff. We don't mind, so can you explain that?' James asked.

'Hogwarts is hosting the triwizard tournament, my name came out as a champion even though I never entered. Almost everyone in Gryffindor believed I entered, even my so called best mate. I read through the Hogwarts rule book then the triwizard book. I spoke with Professor Sprout, who is head of Hufflepuff house. I offered her to question me using veritaserum, I would even do an oath on my magic. She didn't need it, but she had me transferred then I was disqualified since I was underage. McGonagall never helped, she's never helped with anything.'

'She believed everything the old man said, so she sat back and allowed Harry to be bullied and harassed. It was all part of Albus' plans. Snape was teaching until Augusta became Headmistress, she sacked him straight away. He would terrorise all the students not in Slytherin but he really was cruel to Harry, all because of us,' Sirius explained.

'He was really mean, I never had potions with the Gryffindor's but we heard how Snape treated Harry and Neville, worse than he treated everyone else.'

'We'll deal with old Snivellius,' James growled.

'It was Severus that asked Voldemort to spare me. He wanted me for himself, he didn't care if James and Harry died,' Lily said.

'Alright, there is a lot to hear, but what brought you back to the cottage after all this time?' James asked.

'The horcruxes, Harry realised that if he planned to make one that night then the item would still be in the house. We needed to figure out what items he used so going there would tell us if he planned to make one or not and if he did what item he planned to use. We weren't sure if he was going to use Lily to create one or Harry, or even at all. Susan spotted the goblet that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. When Harry was twelve he destroyed a diary that belonged to Voldemort. He just killed a sixty foot long basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor but one of the basilisk fangs pierced his arm. He used that fang to stab Voldemort's diary which was a horcrux but also it was to possess someone so they would open the chamber of secrets. Harry could hear the snake moving around inside the walls, he realised he was a parselmouth.'

'Four students were petrified, one taken. Hermione, one of my friends and really smart worked out that it was a basilisk and was moving around the castle using the pipes. After a lot of investigating we went to speak with moaning Myrtle who was killed by the basilisk fifty years before. Ron and I found the tap with a serpent on it, I asked it to open in parseltongue, it did. We went down to the chamber to save Ron's little sister. Fawkes saved me that night, I was dying when he returned.'

'Fawkes,' James called and instantly the room lit up as Fawkes flashed into the room. He landed on James' shoulder, 'Hello my old friend, we're home.'

Harry, Sirius and Susan watched as Fawkes began to sing. It was right then they realised that Fawkes was James Potter's familiar, not Albus Dumbledore's. It's the reason Fawkes went to Harry's aid in the chamber, to save his master. Somehow Albus Dumbledore was able to keep the phoenix away from Harry, now he was back with his real family.