Chapter 3: Full Recovery

"…of all the irresponsible things you've ever done, this is the most foolhardy! Disregarding a healer's advice? On important personal medical matters no less? Do you have a death wish? I am extremely disappointed in you!" Lily yelled, pacing back and forth.

Before her, Harry stood silent before her castigation, head bowed and eyes downcast.

James took special note of this, and being ever the keen peacemaker, decided it was time to intercede for his son. "Harry, is there a reason that you felt the need to practice magic when the healers told you not to?" James asked calmly, in contrast to the fuming redhead beside him.

"I…I just…I just didn't want to be left behind in my education, you know? I mean everyone my age is going to Hogwarts, learning, and by the time I reenter, I'm going to be behind by at least two years, maybe even three. I just thought I should spend this time to at least catch up on everything I'm missing out on." Harry answered softly.

Lily stopped pacing abruptly, her harsh glare taking on a softer undertone. "I'm glad that you're taking your education more seriously, Harry, but core destabilization is a serious matter." She paused, observing him, before announcing her judgment. "For this reason, I am forbidding you from magic for two weeks."

Harry looked up in shock, frowning. Seeing he was about to speak up, Lily continued. "And no practicing spells for a month." Harry turned ashen at that. Beside her, James smiled at him sympathetically. "If catching up is so important for you, I'll promise to tutor you after your one month probation if you behave." She finished.

Harry nodded, accepting the consequences without remark, turning to leave. Once he was out of earshot, James let out a loud sigh. Lily spun on her heels, facing her husband. "You don't approve of my decision, do you?" She asked accusingly, jabbing his chest rather forcefully.

James winced, more from fear of having to sleep on the couch the jabbing implied than the physical pain. "It's just you seemed a little harsh on him, Lily. I think he's a bit depressed that all his friends seem to be moving on, leaving him behind."

"He should have known better."

"You would have done the same, if you were in his shoes." James pointed out.

Lily chose not to answer.

"And you always did complain how much he took after his – and I quote – 'slacker of a father'." He continued, partly jesting. "Face it Lily, you're actually filled with pride inside of how Harry's becoming more studious. You wouldn't have offered to tutor him otherwise."

At this, she smiled a little. "Maybe I am a little happy of the new change in him, but, the ban on magic stands." James frowned, fearing he had not gotten his point across. "If…if he casts magic again unsupervised, his core could implode on him. We almost lost him once! I can't let that happen again!" She cried out, tears starting to appear.

James embraced her crying spouse comfortingly. "He's a smart kid, Lily. He won't pull something like that again now that he knows what could happen to him." He said, comfortingly patting her wife's back.

"And if it makes you feel better, I could ask Remus to look after him for a while."

"I'm bored." Harry whined to his babysitter.

Remus lowered the book he was reading momentarily to retort. "You've been bored for the entire week Harry. You know I still won't let you do magic. And frankly, I think a young boy like you should spend more time having time having fun and less studying." He grabbed a drink that was on the table beside him, and took a generous sip. "By the way, great lemonade you make." He said, raising the glass in a faux toast.

"This coming from the 'studious Marauder'?" Harry asked rhetorically, emphasizing his point with exaggerated hand movements in the air.

"Just because I was a little bit more concerned with my grades than the others, doesn't me I didn't have my share of fun." He answered. "Why don't you go out and play Quidditch with your brother?"

"I'm a cripple. How exactly would I be able to play Quidditch?" Harry snapped at him.

The werewolf raised both hands in surrender. "No need to get mad, Harry. It was merely a suggestion. And if I recall correctly, you don't exactly need you feet to ride a broom."

Harry smiled sheepishly at him. "Sorry for snapping at you Remus. I've just been frustrated lately."

"No worries." His uncle said, graciously accepting his apology, before taking another sip of lemonade. "Seriously, this stuff is great." He looked at the boy in front of him, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "You didn't put anything in my drink did you?"

"No, but thank you for that excellent pranking idea. I'll be sure to try it next time." Harry answered, grinning. Then, he frowned again. "I'm still bored."

Lupin looked thoughtful for a while. "What about I tell you about my time at Hogwarts?" At this, the young wizard nodded fervently, eager to hear of what fantastic tales his uncle had in store for him. "Well, anything you want to hear about in particular?"

"How did my parents meet?"

At this, Remus chuckled. "Oh, that's a very long tale."

"We have nothing but time."

"Well, your parents actually hated each other for the longest time. Well, alright, more like Lily hated James for the longest time. Your father took an unhealthy interest in her during our fourth year, and managed to earn her ire. She only really forgave him during sixth year, but even then she wouldn't give him the time of day. It took an entire year of courting for her to finally accept." Lupin smiled at the mere thought. "Those were the days. Sirius, Peter, and I had many a bets as to when they'd finally get together. We had even more laughs watching James' –somewhat pathetic, I must say – attempts at wooing Lily. Quite amusing, really," He paused, and then added as an afterthought, "remind me to let you see me pensieve collection on that."

"I'd like that. But what did dad do that got mum so angry at him for two years?"

"Lily was," He hesitated, thinking of the right word to continue with, "on very good terms with Severus during her time in Hogwarts. Your dad was extremely jealous of their relationship at first. He and Severus had a fight, and in a stroke of misfortune, he managed to disarm Severus just as Lily approached the scene. In her eyes, it was an act of bullying against her best friend."

"So why did she finally forgive him?" Harry asked curiously.

"Severus told her of what really happened that day, claiming he was just as responsible for the incident as James was. Told her to – and I quote – 'stop being so bloody bullheaded about this and give him a shot Lily'." Harry raised a brow at this. "He was just as frustrated with the tension between them as we were." Remus explained matter-of-factly.

"Are you actually telling me that Snape was the reason my parents got together?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I don't understand. I thought dad and Snape hated each others guts!"

"Oh, they did at first. But Snape's blood status was found out by some of the less tolerating purebloods. Not all of them were Slytherins mind you, but a lot of them were. And they made life very hard for Severus. James found out and stood up for him in public one day. He told those bigots to bugger off. That day changed everything."

"Why would dad do that?" Harry asked, frowning at the remarkably uncharacteristic behavior of his father.

"Arrogant as he may be sometimes, if there's one thing your father could never take, it was bullying others because of their blood status. He was an ardent opponent to the idea. It didn't matter who was taking the ridicule about their heritage, he'd stand by them. That day, James and Severus reconciled. Eventually, they became friends of sorts. Your dad and Severus aren't on the best of terms, true, but they aren't enemies nevertheless. It just doesn't show all the time, of course, but they've agreed to disagree on some issues at least. That's better than hexing each other to oblivion."

Harry's face scrunched up in confusion. "But didn't Snape fancy mum or something?"

Remus had a hearty laugh at that. "Oh, he did at first. But, later on, it was really an act just to rile James up and hide the crush he had on one of the Ravenclaws. It was actually James who hooked him up with the girl during our last year. Tricked him into it in a rather Slytherin way, not that he'd ever admit to it."

"So, Snape isn't a Death Eater?"

Remus raised a brow at the young ward. "What makes you think that?"

"He just always seemed like that kind of a guy to me. Or at least, he seemed that way when I was in Hogwarts. He always favored the Slytherins."

Remus nodded, accepting the explanation. "That's a common misconception. Not all Slytherins become Death Eaters, and not all Gryffindors are against blood purity. After how the Dark Lord's followers ridiculed Severus, he wouldn't have joined up with them under torture. Severus was a very proud man, and insulting him like that was an inexcusable atrocity. After we graduated, he hightailed it out of the country with his girlfriend and travelled to Africa for his masteries. And once he came back, he turned out to be one of the most valued assets of the Order and became potions professor at Hogwarts. Do you have any more questions for me, Harry?"

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "So let me get this straight. Snape had a girlfriend, is not a death eater and used to fancy my mum. He and my dad are sort of friends, and is indirectly responsible for how my parents got together?"

"That's a pretty good summary." Remus confirmed.

Harry shook his head again, processing the story he had just heard. There's so much in this world I still don't know. He thought to himself, twirling his wand in one of his hand habitually.

November began with Lily waking later than usual. As she headed downstairs to make breakfast, she was surprised to hear noises in the kitchen. She opened the door cautiously, doing her best to slip in without being noticed. The sight that greeted her was...strange. Her son, Harry Potter, was cooking breakfast. Sniffing the air experimentally, Lily caught a whiff of what seemed to be sizzling bacon. After observing the scene before her for a good five minutes, she decided it was time to make her presence known. "This is certainly interesting."

Harry spun around with impressive speed for a boy that was supposed to have difficulty walking. He must be on Treatment. She concluded. He had a face that spoke of caution and wariness, before it quickly transformed into one of shock. Lily merely raised a brow at him, shifting her sight to what he was wearing. "Nice apron. I never knew you had a thing for cats."

Harry grinned sheepishly at her. "Um...it's yours actually. I sort of borrowed it."

"So why are you up so early and cooking, of all things?" She asked curiously, moving to the dining table where several plates filled with food were waiting.

Harry stuttered nervously. "I...er...got hungry."

"You got hungry, so you decided to cook enough food for the entire family?" She motioned to the food already on the table to emphasize her point.

"I thought it would be inconsiderate if I cooked only enough food for myself." Shrugging, he continued. "So I might as well cook for everybody and save some time."

Lily smiled at that, and kissed him in the cheek. "That's awfully sweet of you, Harry. By the way, you're bacon's burning."

Harry's eyes widened, frantically focusing his entire being to try and save the bacon. Lily didn't bother trying to hiding her amusement. His sudden -panic induced-burst of motion, had another effect. It revealed a piece of parchment on the counter with strange symbols on it, shining brightly. Now it was Lily's turn to be shocked. "Is that a rune chain? Where did you learn about runes?"

Harry stopped in his futile attempts to save the strips of delicious meat, caught unprepared for the serious line of questioning. "I...I've been studying runes from the library tomes during my spare time. It seemed really interesting, so I decided to try it out." He refused to meet her gaze.

"What on earth would compel you to use a rune chain for cooking?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, you said I couldn't use spells for a month, and since we don't use gasoline like muggles, I needed to improvise a bit." He explained. "So I decided that a rune chain would be my best bet to get enough heat for cooking."

She didn't bother replying, but alternated staring between her son and the rune chain. To say that Lily was impressed was an understatement. Her son, who had barely gotten through a semester of his first year at Hogwarts, was using rune chains! A fourth year would have found that making one difficult, especially one that had so many control variables like Harry's had. "This is really something Harry." He was dumbfounded when she hugged him, expecting that she would be furious he did magic. Breaking the embrace, she continued. "That settles it. I can't let your talent go to waste. I'm going to be tutoring you in Runes and Charms until you go back to Hogwarts. "

Harry grinned excitedly at that. He hadn't gotten very far with his runes training with relying on just books to explain everything. A teacher as knowledgeable as his mum would definitely make things easier.

Before Harry knew it, it was already Christmas time with the Potters. It became routine for Harry and Edward to be conscripted in helping set up decorations. Of course, with four magically endowed individuals -albeit one was still untrained- working together, the work went a lot faster. Anna had returned home a few days before Christmas Day, much to the Potter family's delight at being reunited once again.

Ding! Ding!

"Someone please get the door!" Lily yelled from the kitchen.

Harry glanced at Edward, who glanced at Anna, who glanced at Edward. "Just because I'm the youngest, doesn't mean you two can pick on me to do things all the time." He grumbled.

Harry smirked. "I'm crippled and Anna's a girl. The codes of chivalry dictate, that you, as the only fully functioning male must answer the door on our behalf." He pointed out.

Edward shot a glare at him. "Besides, Democracy also dictates that you're outvoted in this instance." Anna provided helpfully, and smirked when she got her own glare in response.

Muttering under his breath, Edward begrudgingly walked to get the door. Once he was out of earshot, both of his siblings broke out in laughter. "I can't believe he fell for that." Anna commented. "That code of chivalry bit was ingenious. How'd you think up of that one?"

"You know all those muggle stories about knights mum used to read to us? Well, I did some research on them and learned about the code. It's pretty similar to what most pureblood families are supposed to practice."

Anna nodded then put on a look of hesitation. "So…um, what have you been up to since I was gone?"

Harry shrugged concomitantly. "Not much. I've been spending most of my time trying to catch up with my year. Mum's tutoring me in Charms and Ancient Runes. How about you?" He inquired politely.

"It's really interesting being there. I've been learning a lot with the Gryffindors. Although Transfiguration is hard."

"Don't let dad catch you saying that. He loves that subject almost as much as he loves mum." Harry joked.

Before she could answer, Edward returned with the Blacks in tow. "Uncle Sirius! Auntie Sarah!" She squealed, running up to hug her favorite godparents. Sarah, from what Harry could remember, was Sirius's wife. Upon observation, she was a fair woman, slim, medium height, with auburn hair, blue eyes. With them were two children, a girl and a boy, whom Harry could only assume were Sirius' children. The boy had brown hair, and blue eyes, but looked to be a younger version of his father aside from that. The girl seemed to be a replica of her mother except for her eyes, which were grey, like Sirius'.

"It's good to see you, Anna." Sarah replied, returning her hug.

"Harry, how are you feeling?" Sirius asked, almost at the same time.

"I'm getting better." Harry answered from his wheelchair. "In a few months, this thing I'm sitting on should be obsolete."

Sirius grinned at him. "That's good to hear. Where's your father by the way?"

"He's in the kitchen with mum, Remus and Peter." Anna provided helpfully. Harry twitched involuntarily at the name, and had to remind himself that the Pettigrew of this world was not a death eater. Or so they claimed.

Sirius nodded his head to her in thanks, and walked off to join them with Sarah. With that, Anna turned to the young boy and girl who came in with them. "Gemma, Altair, what have you two been up to?"

The girl, Gemma, replied first. "Mum's been teaching me some spells over the summer. I can't wait for next year when I finally get to go to Hogwarts." She said excitedly.

Harry nodded as he heard that. It was typical for most Wizarding families to teach their children a bit of magic before they reached Hogwarts. And of course, wands weren't monitored in Wizarding residences with adults due to the fact that there was "competent" supervision, or so the Ministry called it.

"So Harry, are you well enough to join the game later?" Altair inquired.

"Game?" Harry put on a genuine look of surprise. "What game?"

"Quidditch, of course. What else?" He asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Your dad, my dad, Uncle Peter, Uncle Remus, me, Edward and Gemma are playing. What about you or Anna? We need one more for even teams."

Harry thought about it for a while. "I suppose I could give it a shot."

Later…

Harry fidgeted on his broom, adjusting how he sat to make sure he wouldn't unexpectedly fall of his broom while playing. Once he was satisfied, he flew up to join the other Quidditch participants. He looked around, and noticed the absence of Remus and Anna's mysterious appearance.

"Alright, since there are eight of us playing, I think we should have three chasers and a keeper per team. Everyone agree?" Sirius asked. Seeing nods from everybody, he continued. "Let's draw players then. James, do the honors."

"I'm picking Edward."

"I'll have Peter than."

"Anna."

"Altair."

"Harry."

"Gemma." With the teams set, they split up to discuss team strategies.

"I think I should be Keeper for this one." James started. "I'm a lot bigger than the three of you, so it should be easier for me. Edward, since you have the most experience playing, it's going to be up to you to teach harry and Anna how to play Chaser." Edward nodded, and with that the three of them flew to the center field to being playing. Peter, Harry noted, was the opposing team's Keeper.

He was so busy studying his opponents that he didn't realize Remus had thrown the Quaffle from the ground, starting the game.

Without hesitation, Sirius dashed forward to grab said ball, and sped towards the Potter Goal posts. At the same time, his children had moved to his extreme right and left to better position themselves for a pass.

Cursing himself for his lack of attention, Harry moved to position himself between Sirius and Gemma. That proved to be unnecessary as Sirius managed to score by himself. Without pause, James passed the Quaffle to Edward. Unable to position himself properly, Harry came to the conclusion that his disability to walk was affecting his ability to fly.

Closing his eyes for a few moments, he injected some of his magic into his muscles, enhancing them. Smiling, he gazed at the pitch to evaluate the situation before him. In the short amount of time he had taken himself out of the game, there had already been a turnover. Speeding up quickly, he managed to intercept a pass, much to the surprise of Gemma, the recipient of said pass. Without another thought, he threw it in an overhead pass to Edward, who was loitering near the goal posts.

"Ten all!" He heard Remus shout from below, indicating that his brother had indeed managed to score. Glancing around to take stock of the situation, Harry realized that Anna had absolutely no idea how to play Chaser. She was simply flying around after the Quaffle, and didn't see to consider positioning or team play in her actions. Shaking his head, Harry decided to help defend the goal posts this time, instead of attempting another intercept.

They continued in this manner for an hour, with both teams evenly matched in skill and points. But Anna, who had clearly never played as a Chaser before, proved to drag the Potter team down, making the fight effectively three chasers to two. It was only when Harry and Edward managed to perfect executing the Porskoff Ploy that they even stood a chance at beating the Blacks. By then though, they were simply too far behind to catch up, and grudgingly, they had to accept defeat.

After the match though, Edward had manged to corner Harry and interrogate him. "Where did you learn to play Chaser?" He asked in a demanding tone. "You've never played Chaser quite that well before. In fact, you were always more inclined to be a seeker. Have you been holding out on me?" He accused.

"So I recently learned some moves watching old Quidditch championship matches, big deal." Harry replied, lying through his teeth.

Edward scrutinized him. "You bothered to learn Chaser moves? Seriously? Weren't you the one who said that Chaser were - and I quote you on this - 'useless unless they could get a one-sixty point advantage before the snitch was caught'."

"And it surprised me how often that actually occurred on the international level."

Edward stared at him for some time, seemingly trying to decide whether his brother was lying to him or not. "So you're going to try out for the Hufflepuff Team as a Chaser?"

At this information, Harry was genuinely surprised. "I'm in Hufflepuff?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're in Hufflepuff. The healers weren't kidding about that forgetfulness thing were they?" Edward asked rhetorically.

Harry wisely decided to stay silent on that last issue and instead chose to answer the Quidditch related question."I'm still thinking about what position I want."

Weeks quickly turned into months, and before long, Harry was once again intensifying his training. In the morning, he would take strolls in the woods, and each day, he pushed himself to get nearer to Griffin's Spire. He awaited the day when he was capable of conquering the mountain by reaching its peak. In the afternoons, he spent time learning from his mum, who began teaching him all sorts of nifty things about runes and charms. More significantly, she introduced him to Arithmancy and explained why it was studied so closely with runes.

"Arithmancy is the discipline of breaking down a spell or rune into numbers. Making new spells or rune chains is a very difficult Endeavour, and the number of ways runes can be combined makes the trail-and-error method a food's errand. Thus, Arithmancy was developed with the intent to make creating rune chains easier and safer." Or so she claimed.

Under Lily's tutelage, Harry was able to advance in those two aspects much further than he had anticipated. At the rate he was going, he had not doubts he could get accelerated. As for the rest of the subjects, he was confident he could get promoted to his current year based on his stock knowledge alone, and thus saw no point to studying those further.

"Hey mum," Harry began, interrupting his mother's lecture about Arithmancy.

She paused, frowning at the unusual interruption. "What is it Harry?"

"I was just wondering...would it be possible to ask Professor Dumbledore to let me join my year when I reach Hogwarts? It's just that I've been working really hard to catch up with my year and I really wanted to graduate on time."

She smiled as she heard his reasons, and thought - not for the first time - how alike her eldest son was to herself. "I'll ask Professor Dumbledore to test you, if you'd like."

Harry nodded fervently. "I really would like that mum." Lily smiled and enveloped him in a fierce, warm embrace.

"Well, Mr. Potter, your test results are promising." Dumbledore stated.

Harry shrugged, resting his chin on his hand. "I suppose I did alright." He had deliberately held back on the test so that nobody would be able to gauge his true intellect. As of right now, the Professors at Hogwarts considered him to be an average third year student. Typical for his age.

"You did more than 'alright'. Your marks here indicate that you are quite possibly on par with most students of your age. And considering you have been secluded from sufficient study material until a few months ago, that is quite a tremendous leap of learning." Dumbledore said. "There is, however, a matter we must answer before I can accept you back at Hogwarts."

"What is it, Headmaster?"

"This school isn't as safe as people would like to believe. It has many twists and traps designed to keep one's mind sharp and on their toes." He explained, his eyes twinkling. "I am not sure if a cripple such as you would be able to withstand the stress of Hogwarts. The other students certainly wouldn't make it easier on you. Children, remarkably, have the ability to show both great sympathy and great cruelty at the same time."

"I wouldn't worry about that Headmaster." Harry replied, smirking.

"Why is that, Mr. Potter?"

You know how they say actions speak louder than words? Well, what they fail to mention is that actions also shock more than words.

Or at least it seemed that way when Harry Potter just suddenly stood up from his wheelchair, so suddenly that there was no conceivable way he could have enhanced himself in such a short amount of time. Aside from surprising Dumbledore, he had also proven beyond doubt his ability to walk without aid.

Harry Potter, according to the Healers, had completely regained his ability to walk. Harry Potter was back.

Time for some fun. Harry thought, as the Headmaster informed him of his acceptance.

AN: Alright, this wasn't as training intensive as some of you might have hoped. I don't want to turn him into an uber wizard right away.

I wanted to show you that Harry was actually trying to get to know his new Family, and how the actions of his parents and their generation diverged sharply from Canon. Also, with the weight of the Prophecy off of Harry's shoulder, I suppose one could say he's more relaxed, and doesn't see his personal training as something critical to the war effort. After all, he is a normal boy in this world.

Also, I need help on something. I'm not sure if I should bother pairing Harry up with someone for this story. If you guys could leave a review or PM me, it would really help. Thanks.