January 3rd Author's note: Chapter edits were done to this and then re-posted. A new chapter will be up in a few days! Sorry for the long delay, I blame the holidays!

Chapter 41

When lunch time rolled around Harry's brain was exhausted. He'd studied the history of Martial Arts in Asia from the earliest dynasties possible for three hours. After lunch they'd be learning several moves to help disarm an opponent of their wand without any wand fire being shot. He was tired from the lecture, but excited for the practical part of the day.

He hurried to Kingsley's office and spent roughly twenty minutes talking to a Dicta-Quill giving his testimony and then filled two large vials with his memories of Peter since his third year. For added precaution he added the few memories he had of Sirius and his relationship before Sirius 'died'.

As he was walking out of the office he saw Sirius walking into the reception area.

"Sirius!" he called out. The man in question looked up and smiled.

"Harry! It's good to see a familiar face. I never thought I'd be able to walk into this place without a complicated disguise or a guard, again. Seems some people are still pretty skeptical of me being free," replied Sirius as they stood next to the door.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"A woman down in the atrium tried to stun me. When the guard on duty saw me, he straightened her out…reluctantly. It's a good thing I'm carrying a copy of my pardon with me or she'd never have left me alone!" Sirius chuckled, but Harry could see the toll this woman's attitude took on Sirius's self-esteem.

"Don't worry too much about it, Sirius. It was only yesterday you were pardoned. But hey, I got to head back down and eat something before class starts back up. I'll see you later at home okay?" Harry gave Sirius a quick hug before heading back down to class.

Sirius walked into the office and sat down. He and Kingsley spent about an hour talking before Sirius was able to leave finally. Since he was a guest of the Minister's he was allowed to leave by the Minister's outgoing Fireplace.

When he returned back to his former house he walked up the stairs and wandered the house for several minutes looking at the changes Harry and his friends made since moving in a few months before.

All of the elf heads in the hallways were gone; several menacing paintings were also removed. All the walls were painted with light and airy colors and the heavy, dusty carpets were replaced by shiny hardwood floors and oriental or braided rugs. The serpent door knobs were exchanged for regular circular ones and sconces were re-done in gold and bronze and were no longer shaped like snakes.

He wandered up to the drawing room and found James and Lily talking.

"Hey guys," he said as he walked in and sat down across from them. "What are you guys doing?"

"Well, we were talking about any memories Harry might want to see of ours, but lots of them are just us and our closest friends in school and the few years we had outside of school. There aren't that many we can think of," replied Lily.

"To be honest Lily-Flower, those are probably the ones he'll want to see most. He knows hardly anything about you two. What did you do for work, when you weren't in school? What were your families like? What did you do for fun during your summer breaks? These are the kinds of things he would ask me the few times he asked questions. Your lovely sister taught him he shouldn't ask questions because it was rude. He told me that when I asked why he never asked about you two," replied Sirius in a serious tone of voice. James and Lily shared a look and she flipped the page in her Muggle notebook and started writing. Sirius frowned and looked at James who frowned right back.

When she stopped writing she had a list started and at the top said, Things to Kill Petunia For. Sirius chuckled.

"Don't laugh, I'm completely serious," she said.

"I know, that's why I laughed," said Sirius. "And your name's not Sirius, mine is."

James rolled his eyes, but chose to ignore the lame joke Sirius always made.

"I was telling Lily that I think we should finish hearing about Harry's past before we go see the Dursleys. I want to know everything about Harry's school years before I make a decision on whether or not to kill them," said James.

"What would hearing about Harry's school years do to affect your opinion of them any more? They were right bastards to him all the time. They ignored his birthdays, pretended they didn't have a nephew during Christmas and Easter hols, and forced him to do physical labor during the summer as if he were a house elf. They deserve to be—"

"I know they do, Sirius. I just…I'd rather get to know my son before I go off defending him. I have no right to defend him when I wasn't there to take care of him myself. At least that's how I feel. I'm furious with them for how they treated my child when they should have loved him and cared for him, but where was I? I just don't want my absence thrown in my face without knowing his whole story." James sighed and ran his fingers through his untamable hair.

Lily was sitting quietly and trying to not make noise as she wrote a few things in the notebook. Sirius glanced over and saw the few things he'd mentioned that the Dursleys did to Harry.

"I have an idea. Harry told me pretty much every little detail of his first and second years and most of his third year. Why don't I go over them with you while we wait? They were pretty uneventful years compared to his last few. While I talk, Lily can keep note of anything you want to hear from him in detail when he gets home. Okay?" he said excitedly. James smiled.

"You're on. Start with the summer after his first year," he replied. Lily smiled and turned to a fresh page.

Two hours later, Harry returned to the house to two very upset parents.

"You went into the Forbidden Forest in your second year to follow a line of spiders to a nest of Acromantula?!" Lily yelled when Harry entered the room. He gaped at her for a moment, and then started laughing.

"Sirius, you told them that without me?" he said. James stared at Harry.

"Yeah, I thought I'd tell them a bit about your earlier years; kinda take a load off you a little. But there are things you haven't told me about yet so I had to wait for you," replied Sirius with a grin.

"What were you thinking? You were only twelve!" said Lily vehemently.

"Mum, you remember what I said about not freaking out? I've been in the forest loads of times. Even once before that in my first year when I had to go in for detention with Hagrid. The forest might look scary but it's not that bad. I could fill a book with my adventures in there." Harry chuckled as the pleased look on James and Sirius's face disappeared when Lily turned to look at them.

"Tell him that's not okay. It's dangerous in there and he should never go in there," she said firmly. They tried to hide their grins but they ended up bursting out into raucous laughter.

"I'm sorry Lils, but I can't exactly say that. I've probably been in there more times than he has. It would be hypocritical of me, of us. Sirius has been in there as many times as me," said James.

"More even," piped in Sirius. "I lived right next to the forest a few years ago, so I'd go in there a lot."

Lily huffed and sat down and said to Harry, "Well, you could at least sit and answer a few questions for us."

"Actually, if I'm going to show you memories of my second year, could I find Ginny, Ron, and Hermione first? Hermione missed a lot of our second year and I know she'd like to see our daring escape from the giant spiders. And Ginny will want to see the Chamber memories. How far did you get in the story, Sirius?" asked Harry.

"Only as far as the Acromantula. I knew you'd want to be here for the Chamber parts."

"Okay, let me run over to the Weasley's house and I'll be back in a few minutes," he said as he turned and left the room.

He Floo'd to the Burrow and walked inside.

"Ginny? Ron? Hermione?" he shouted up the stairs. He heard feet running from several floors above and stomping on the stairs. It sounded like a herd of elephants were trampling down the rickety stair cases.

Ron and Ginny came stumbling around the corner of the landing and Ginny shoved Ron backwards as she barreled down the stairs at Harry and flung herself around his neck.

"Hi, Harry!" she squealed in his ear. He hugged her back and smiled at Ron who was rubbing his backside from landing hard on the stairs on his bum.

"Hello, Gin. Hey Ron. Is Hermione here too?" he asked.

"No, she said she had to run to Hogwarts for a little while probably on some Head Girl question run, to ask McGonagall a million questions about how to be the best Head Girl. I swear, we should dig out Percy's old book, Head Students Who Fought Their Way to the Top, or something like that, and give it to her. It could be a birthday and Christmas gift all in one it would get so much use," was the reply. Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him to the living room.

"So Harry, how are things with your parents going?" she asked as she sat down. He stood in front of her and smiled.

"It's going okay so far, I guess. My mum and I had bacon and eggs yesterday and just talked for an hour or so. Then my dad and Sirius came home and we all got ready for the press conference. Dad and Sirius have been going to Godrics Hollow to clean and get the place fixed up for him and mum. I think I might move in with them when it's ready. It will give us a good chance to get to know each other better. I'm sure Sirius wouldn't mind Hermione staying there with him, and Ron could stay there too, probably," said Harry as he looked over at Ron.

"Hey, I'm all for staying there. Not that I don't love it here, I just have more freedom there," he responded.

"Yeah, and Hermione also living there isn't any incentive," said Ginny coyly. Ron stayed silent, but shrugged his shoulder.

"Anyways, Sirius was telling mum and dad about my second year before I got home. I walked in to my mum freaking out about the giant spiders, and they want me to finish the stories, so I thought I'd come see if you guys want to join us. Hermione missed a lot while she was petrified and Ginny, I thought you might want to see the Chamber from my point of view, maybe. It's up to you," he said, realizing that the Chamber was a traumatic event for her and she might be too scared to see them memory. She thought for a moment and then looked Harry in the eye.

"I think that would be okay. It was so long ago, I think I can handle it. Knowing that he can't hurt me anymore is also a plus," she said. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Hey! What did I say? No kissing in front of me!" shouted Ron as he covered his eyes and waved his arm in front of him jokingly. Ginny threw a pillow at him and caught him upside the head unaware, and he toppled off the ottoman he was sitting on.

Hermione walked into the room just as Ron fell to the floor with a thud. She stepped right over him on her way to the sofa.

"Harry! I'm glad you're here I wanted to talk to you," she started.

"Hey, don't you care if I'm hurt here? I just got knocked off a chair and you step right over me? What kind of girlfriend move is that?" demanded Ron as he stood up. Hermione stoutly ignored him and continued as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"I drew up an outline of important events in each year of school that happened to you or us. I figured it would come in handy for when you're telling your parents about things." She handed him a stack of parchment and continued with her explanation. "While I was going over everything, a few things came up that confuse me. For instance, your reaction to Dementors. If your parents didn't really die, why do you hear their last moments alive when you're near Dementors? So I went to see Dumbledore's portrait and asked him some vital questions."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Hermione! You asked Dumbledore things about my life? Why would you do that? Don't you think that maybe you should have asked me first?" he asked angrily.

"Oh calm down Harry. It was just a few questions and they were things I couldn't figure out, and the only people I thought could were in the same office; McGonagall and Dumbledore. So I went. I wanted to be done talking to them when you were done with work. Let me explain what his theory was."

"I don't care what his theory was, Hermione. I don't care how great you think he is…was. He ruined too many people's lives by playing God and all he has to say is, 'It all worked out fine, you should thank me.' I'd rather not hear what he had to say," replied Harry stubbornly.

"He never said that Harry. Stop being so stubborn and listen to me!" Hermione said loudly. Harry opened his mouth to yell back but Ginny laid a hand on his arm and he looked at her. She didn't say anything, but he knew what she wanted to say. He sighed loudly and crossed his arms and sat back.

"You've got one minute to catch my attention, or I leave," he said to Hermione. She held back the smirk and sent a thankful glance to Ginny.

"Okay, first was the whole Dementor thing. He said that Halloween night, when Voldemort came to Godrics Hollow, he place your parents in the comas and then put you in your crib with a bunch of toys to play for a while. After that he went around the house and set certain spells in place, extra strong fire proofing spells, and several illusionary spells to make the house look weathered and abandoned with a time release spell on them to activate after a year. Several of the spells he had to activate with a simple word to make a fire illusion and he added several warding spells to ward off trespassers and then a few preservation spells."

"Get on with the explanation, Hermione," Harry muttered.

"Right. Anyways, he then made the duplicate copies of your parents out of several wild animals. A horribly complicated Transfiguration that most people can't do, involving a combined spell that also lets the wizard control the duplicates with a memory or a specific incantation.

"Before he traveled back in time, he retrieved your memory of the attack while you were crying and thinking of it, so when he was in this time, he placed your memories of what your parents said in the other time in the duplicates. What you heard was really your own memory of what happened in a different time or dimension," Hermione finished proudly.

"So, the sounds I've heard were actually my parents dying? Or trying to escape and failing? What about the green light I used to see in my dreams? Surely, I didn't actually see that so how does his Highness explain that?" Harry asked scathingly.

"Well…now don't get upset about this, Harry, but it had to work out like this apparently or everything was pointless.

"Since, Dumbledore knew you were very well protected…he let Voldemort…attack you," she squeaked out quickly. Harry's eyes bugged out of his head.

"He stood by and let that monster attack a baby?!" screamed Ginny. Even Ron was goggle-eyed.

"How can you defend him, when you know that about him?" asked Ron.

"I'm not defending him! I'm just saying he's the only one who would know the answers to these questions. I was just as furious as you guys when I heard that, McGonagall almost had to drag me from her office because I wanted to blast that damn picture off the wall! But she finally got me calmed down and I was able to finish my questions.

"I asked him if he knew what would happen if someone as protected as you were got hit by a Killing Curse and he said at the time he didn't know but now he did and that one of his biggest regrets in life was that he'd allowed that to happen to you. He was appalled that it happened that way and he wanted me to tell you he wants to talk to you. I told him under no circumstances was I going to tell you to go talk to him, in fact I believe I said, 'I don't blame Harry one bit if he never speaks to you again.'"

Hermione took a breath before continuing.

"The next thing I wondered about was the Priori Incantato in the graveyard. I asked him if Harry's parents weren't dead and all that died Halloween night were a couple of rabbits shaped like James and Lily Potter, why did you see them come out of Voldemort's wand?" Harry perked up slightly. He'd wondered this also.

"His answer was that Voldemort had killed the rabbits that were shaped like your parents, and the duplicates had absorbed your memories of them, so they essentially acted like James and Lily would have in that situation based off your memories of them."

"Hermione, that makes no sense. Harry was a baby, his perception of his parents were food givers and poop cleaners. They were basically just the people who kept him from dying. A baby wouldn't have been able to see his parents in so dramatic of a role like how they acted in the graveyard," said Ron.

"Nice Ron, very elegantly put," said Ginny sarcastically.

"Well Ron that might be true of an infant but not a fifteen month old child. Toddlers are amazingly perceptive, that's how they learn to act like an adult, and learn to talk, walk, and so on. Harry might have seen his parents having a serious conversation one night and remembered the tone of voice and the body language subconsciously and that memory manifested itself in the echoes of James and Lily in the graveyard. It actually makes a lot of sense," she replied calmly.

"Okay, Hermione, you said there were a few things you had to ask him. Is that it, or is there more? I left my parents waiting," Harry said in a bored tone.

"There's one more thing. I know you're probably going to be irritated with me for this but…" she stopped and reached into her pocket and pulled it out in a fist.

Harry, Ron and Ginny all leaned forward and watched as Hermione opened her hand. In it was a small, black stone with scratches and a crack down the middle.

A/N: Total Cilffe goodness! Dun Dun Dun... Okay, so please let me know how i did for explaining these things. I had figured on the Dementor thing since the beginning, the Priori Incantato thing sprung up on me while i was making the outline of memories i want to cover (Have i mentioned i could be a real life Hermione with how organized and scholarly i am?) and the Resurrection stone is the next chapter! I hope i did it justice!

Now there was a reviewer for the last chapter who asked me to email them, but the website doesn't allow emails and web addresses in reviews because of spam issues. You didn't leave a name either, but you read the whole story on your phone. If that was you, go to my profile and i have a link to my personal email address, you can contact me that way. Otherwise i can't really help without being able to contact you.

Thanks for all the great reviews people! Send me more Please!

New A/N: So I got several reviews saying that Dumbledore DID know what happened to Harry (turned him into a Horcrux). I don't believe that Dumbledore would stand aside and let that happen to a child so I'm going with, He figured all this out eventually but didn't know then. Next piece of business, I was also told that the Ring wasn't inside the Snitch, it was just the stone. My mistake has been fixed now, thanks Teufel for noting that! Final piece of Business: I've got a Beta now! Teufel1987 has agreed to beta for me, so the next chapter will be fixed up. We've been having a long, long discussion about a fairly large detail of my explanations, but I can't figure out a way to fix it, so I'm leaving it the way I intended. Now that I've rambled long enough, I'm going to get back to writing. Hope everyone had a great holiday!