Chapter 5

Dear Harry,

I know you will probably hate me forever after reading this, but since it is now your 18th birthday, it is time you knew the truth. Your parents are alive.

The night Voldemort attacked your family home in Godric's Hollow, I was staying with my brother in our family vacation home in Mallaig so I didn't hear the alarms going off in my office at Hogwarts. It was to late for me to stop Voldemort from killing your parents. I knew exactly what had happened by extracting the memory from your head and watching it. I knew what happened. So I went back in time to change it.

I proceeded to inform your parents thirty six hours before their untimely deaths what had happened and my thoughts on the reason why you weren't killed by the curse. I laid out a plan that allowed your mother to make a different sacrifice to protect you, but it wasn't without its costs. She had to agree whole-heartedly to go into a magical coma until you vanquished Voldemort like the Prophecy stated. I would not allow the plan to go forward unless James consented to the same coma that your mother agreed too. They argued with me that if your mother and father were in a coma, who would care for you? I replied that Sirius was a great Godfather, he could care for you like his own son while they were "away". Unfortunately, you know what happened soon after they were killed, the scene in the street with Sirius and Peter that sent Sirius to Azkaban.

They finally agreed to my plan, and I waited with them until it was almost time for Voldemort to arrive. I brought them to a room, leaving you in your crib and placed them in the comas. I transfigured a couple items into exact moving, talking replicas of them and sent them to "sacrifice" themselves. All the while, planting memories in them as to what to say and do while Voldemort was in the house. The plan went off without so much of a hiccup. The replicas were dead and The Potters were in their comas, and most of all you were still alive.

Then the 'Sirius and Peter' event went down, and I was forced to come up with an alternative option to where to place you. Since the "sacrifice" your mother made was one of not blood, but love, I decided to place you with her sister. Petunia Dursley surely would care for you as her own and love you like her own.

Alas, I was wrong there as well. As the years went by, it became too late to go back and revert back to the original timeline where your parents died for you and you would live with Sirius (or so I would imagine, the original timeline never made it past early morning November 1st, 1981, so I don't know if the original timeline would have had you with your Godfather).

Part of the plan was that you would not receive this letter unless you had finally vanquished the dark lord Voldemort and you wouldn't receive it until your next birthday after the completion of the war. Since you are reading this now, that means that you have accomplished your goal, and lived. I knew I would not live though this war, so I set this up so that this letter would send itself to you on your birthday. Happy Birthday, Harry.

Now you would probably ask me why I didn't tell you all of this myself? The answer is simple, if not a little hard to take in. Because it would negate the sacrifice your parents made to go into a coma until you received this letter. There were many times I could have told you but I knew that if I broke my part, your parents would die anyways. I figured you would be able to handle this news after winning the war, and growing up a bit.

Now what you need to do: in Saint Mungo's there is a healer named Madge Damson. She is the woman who has taken care of your parents for the last fifteen years. The healer before her was killed in a freak accident by Death Eaters in 1983. No, they did not know about your parents being in her care, only that she was one who refused to help them in their goals.

Healer Damson took her place and has stayed there ever since. She travels to the home they are in every morning and does the necessary spells to keep them alive and in the coma and then travels back to work. She does not know who they really are. She only knows them as Jack and Lavender. She does not know she travels by Floo to Godrics Hollow everyday and into the house that was supposedly ruined during the attack. I myself placed the charms around it to make it look like a ruin and the sign and spell to discourage scavengers.

What you need to do is go to her today (meaning the day you get this letter) and tell her your initials. She has been informed that someone with the initials HJP would come to her the day the letter vanishes from the table in the room with Jack and Lavender. She is to take HJP (and anyone he wishes to accompany him) to the house and then leave. Her job is done when she leaves the house and the memory of it all will be erased from her mind. Jack and Lavender haven't been a large part of her life, just a job for her in the morning and a few hundred Galleons a month pocket money.

Once she leaves you must sit between your parents on the chair provided, and hold each of their hands in yours and repeat this incantation (no wands are necessary at this point): ego restituo vos ut plenus valetudo. Then place their hands together and as you say vestri vitualamen est presto, place your wand tip on their enclosed hands and tap it once during the word presto. They should awaken a few minutes later.

Once again, Harry, I am sorry I did not tell you of this sooner. But I had good reason for it. I hope you can forgive me in light of the fact that you now have your parents back. If you need to say anything to me, I'm sure you are able to obtain admittance to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts where my portrait stays.

Your Headmaster and Mentor,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

A/N: Okay, i'm being nice. this is for my faithful reviewers! i reward good behavior and REVIEWS!!!

Latin translations: I restore you to full health- ego restituo vos ut plenus valetudo ; Your sacrifice is fulfilled- vestri vitualamen est presto.