AN: Queen Rowling
"Dad?" Harry called as he peered through the door of his study.
"Harry?" James replied, "Come on in. What are you doing up so late?"
As Harry looked around at the portraits, he realized that all of them were looking at him quizzically.
"Err… Sorry to disturb you. I was exploring Dad's room and- Dad look I am sorry, I shouldn't have read your letters, but the drawer was full of them and then I got curious- did you have a cousin named Percy? Where is he now? And am I related to Neville Longbottom? By Aunt Augusta did you mean Augusta Longbottom-"
"Harry! Slow down. I am not offended that you checked through my room, I would have done the same. It's okay." His father said "Regarding your questions. Do you mind if I explain a bit of the family tree to you?"
Harry shook his head. "Well fine. So Artemis Potter was married to Cassiopeia Malfoy-"
"What?" Harry exclaimed loudly, "You mean to tell me that one of my ancestors was a Malfoy? I am related to the Malfoys?"
"Harry, all the purebloods are related to each other. It's a fact of life. Accept it." His grandmother chastised him.
"Moving on" his father continued "Artemis and Cassiopeia had two children Aristide and Antoinette. Antoinette was married to Gerhardt Rosewood- the Rosewoods were an old pureblood line, which died out when Antoinette and Gerhardt's twin daughters married into the Rosier and Lestrange families. Aristide Potter married Gerhardt's younger sister Lilith Rosewood."
"Aristide and Lilith had three children- Charlus, Anthony and Augusta. My uncle Toni travelled the world after finishing Hogwarts as a magical historian. He was in Greece studying ancient Greek Witches and Wizards when he met aunt Althea. She belonged to one of the few ancient pureblood families in Greece and studied magic at Circe's island. She was on his team and they fell in love, got married and chose to settle down in Greece because of the country's rich and fascinating history. They had a son called Perseus he was born three years before I was born."
"Aunt Augusta married Graham Longbottom, it was an arranged marriage and gave birth to Frankie, two years before I was born. As you know Charlus Potter's wedding was arranged with Dorea Black and they had me, the youngest Potter."
"So, what happened to your uncle Anthony and his family?"
"It had become a Potter and Longbottom family tradition which really comprised of Uncle Graham, Aunty Augusta and Frankie to spend summers in Greece and Christmas in England. Well it was the summer between my fifth and sixth year, this was in many ways one of our last vacations in Greece as both Frank and Percy had graduated from school that year. Frank was joining the Auror academy almost immediately. Percy planned to travel the world. Uncle Graham, Aunt Althea and mom had contracted dragon pox by the end of that summer. The healers did everything they could, but all of it failed. Aunt Althea died within a week of being diagnosed with Dragon pox, Uncle Graham died in September, 1976 and mum died on 18th January 1977."
"Dad, Uncle Anthony, Percy and Alexandra; Percy's fiancé were murdered a year later on 4th January 1978. I had just returned to school from the Christmas break, Uncle Anthony had moved back to live at the Manor a few months ago and Percy and Alex had just returned from their trip. They had sent in their applications to the Auror academy. The four of them were having lunch at a café in Diagon Alley when Death Eaters attacked- Voldemort attacked himself. From what I know all of them fought really hard but were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I saved as many letters as I could find, some written by mom and dad, some by Uncle Toni and Aunt Thea, some by Percy, Xandra, and Frank, as a reminder of what Voldemort took from me. That is why I never formally accepted the title of Lord Potter. Percy and I were supposed to share that title, that is why I never returned to the Manor or fled to Greece or any other Potter family property, everything had painful memories. I wouldn't have been able to hide in places where their memories would have haunted me. I would have done something stupid."
"How come I haven't seen their portraits here?"
"Percy never became Lord Potter either formally or by default so his portrait was never put up on the walls of the Potter family's meeting room at Gringotts. His only portrait is here at the Manor, he is in the library. He loved mythologies, spent most of his time there, so his portrait was put there. Uncle Toni was younger than dad, so he never became Lord Potter; his portrait is in the ballroom. Aunt Althea loved dancing and absolutely adored the annual Yuletide Ball we hosted every year. So they were placed in the ballroom. You can go meet them in the morning, they had been eager to meet you, especially Percy. But we had asked them to wait till we explained the family tree to you. We didn't want to overwhelm you with too much information." Harry nodded pursing his lips.
"Why does it say in the letters that you were talking to mum as Prongs but she didn't know who Prongs was?"
Remus and Sirius started laughing, as James grinned and Lily smirked. "Ugh yeah! Look I am not too proud of myself as a teenager. You see, I started asking your mom out in the fourth year just to annoy her. We were experimenting with being Animagi, we knew our animal forms but we were having trouble turning into them. It was getting frustrating and I don't know how or why, I started writing letters to your mom. Telling her about my fears and worries and frustrations, it started out as a joke because a fourteen year old James would never talk to his enemy about his problems. But then, I don't know how or when, I started imagining how your mom would respond, I started paying attention to her behaviour and I realized she was an amazing person. By then asking her out was more of a habit. And in fifth year when we became Animagi-"
"We introduced ourselves as the Marauders. A name we had been using amongst us, since fourth year, when we had finally finished the map and signed it according to the identities of our animal forms. We had discovered them that year and we were thrilled." Sirius added smiling.
"Yup! The Marauders were like the coolest troublemakers in school and no one knew their identity, we kept it a secret." Lupin added smiling happily "Pads and I noticed that James had taken to writing letters in his free time. We knew he wasn't writing home or to Percy or to his other family members. So, one day we-"he paused mirroring Sirius' expression of deep disgust, "Anyway, we asked the rat to lure James to the kitchen and we raided his trunk.-"
"Hidden beneath Prongsie's dirty magazines" Sirius cut in, grinning deviously and wagging his eyebrows suggestively, as Lily smacked James' arm and Dorea smacked him upside on the head, "Hey!" his dad said in protest. Tonks was sporting Sirius' evil expression and Charlus left muttering he was too old and dead to care, Sirius continued, "We found a stack of letters written to Lily. We decided we would drop one off to Lily in secret. But then I went and blabbed to Snape and all of us got in a fight that lasted for two weeks. We finally made up the night before we were leaving for our Christmas break."
"Late that night, Sirius woke me up and suggested, we nick a letter in the morning, after James leaves for breakfast and drop it off to Lily. So, we nicked the letter, checked the map for Lily and dropped it off to her." Remus said smiling angelically.
"Well, after what these two idiots did. Lily talked about the letter with Alice and Frankie. Frankie figured out who the Marauders were but promised to say nothing, however, he did ask me to keep a close watch on the letters. As soon as he left, Sirius asked me to actually write to Lily and I almost took his advice. I wrote her a final letter telling her, the first letter was a mistake and she should forget about it. She replied."
"And he went crazy! Woke me up at dawn to show me the bleeding letter-"
"Anyway, your mom found out in our sixth year, it took her some time to really accept it, but she asked me out in the middle of our final year. After she realized that I genuinely liked her." His father finished the story, grinning like crazy as his mother rolled her eyes before smiling at him affectionately.
Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Ever since he had found out about Snape and Lily's friendship, he often wondered how different things might have been had he not called her that word. Now, looking at his parents, he knew they were meant to be. They would have found a way back to each other the way Ginny found a way back to him.
There was a soft knock on the study's door, "Harry?" Ginny called softly. Harry crossed the room to open the door for her, "Ginny? What's up? What are you doing out here so late?" He asked pulling Ginny in his arms and pecking her forehead. Before Ginny could reply, he took her hand and pulled her further in the room.
"I can't sleep." She said walking to the desk with him and sitting on a chair, covering her eyes tiredly, "I want to. But I can't. Every time I close my eyes, I see Fred. Had your elf not been there, I don't even want to think what would have happened to mum and none of us would have known for hours." She took a shuddering breath to calm herself, "Harry, I left her alone at home to go hang out with Ron, George and Luna at the shop. Oh my God! It's my fault. I wasn't even there to-"
The rest of Ginny's speech was muffled as he hugged her. "Ginny, listen here love. It wasn't your fault. We are trying to build our lives, go back to living like normal people do. Who would have expected Crabbe and Goyle to turn up?"
"But-"
"But what? Haven't you been telling me that none of the deaths were my fault? Ginny, if you look at it closely, all of us left home eagerly today because we had something to look forward to. Listen to me Ginny" he said, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear, "it wasn't your fault. Do you hear me? None of it was. Let's just be happy that she is fine, okay?" Harry looked at Ginny and held her gaze till she nodded reluctantly. He smiled at her before kissing her forehead softly, "Hey Gin." He murmured in her hair.
"Hmm"
"I haven't really introduced you to my family, and seeing that they are watching us right now. I think you should meet them."
Ginny looked up apprehensively as he smiled. "Mum, Dad, Grandma. Oh! You came back! Okay good, well then Grandpa too. This is Ginevra Weasley, the love of my life." He said as he winked at Ginny who smiled shyly at the portraits. "And Ginny, you know Sirius, Remus and Tonks. Well, that's my parents Lily and James Potter and my grandparents, Dorea and Charlus Potter." He added, as the said couples smiled warmly at Ginny.
Lily stretched her hand forward, palm facing her; Ginny looked uncertainly at Harry who smiled at her encouragingly. Ginny placed her palm on the portrait over Lily's palm. Lily smiled radiantly, "Its lovely to finally add a face to the name. We have heard so much about you. Although, I am really sorry for the way my son has treated you." Lily said "He gets that from his father." She added with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Hey!" James protested, "I treat you fairly well. He gets that from you" He added, pulling a strand of Lily's hair. Lily gave him a look as she swatted his hand away. James stuck his tongue out at Lily, before Lily could respond; Dorea Potter cleared her throat loudly. James and Lily looked at Ginny abashedly, as she grinned at them and Harry smiled barely able to hide his amusement.
Ginny looked at Dorea who stood tall and graceful in her portrait, "It's lovely to meet you dear. Harry speaks very highly of you." She smiled at Ginny who was struck dumb by the elder woman's beauty and grace.
"It is lovely to meet all of you too. Sirius, Tonks, Professor Lupin. It's lovely to see you again. Harry hasn't stopped talking about all of you since his first day here. I am glad he has all of you now." Ginny said smiling at all of them.
Sirius grinned at Ginny, "I can't believe you settled for that wanker."
"Don't listen to him Ginny, he said the same to me when I got here." Tonks said rolling her eyes at Sirius. Ginny grinned at Tonks before sticking her tongue out at Sirius making James and Remus roar with laughter.
Harry leant against the desk; arms folded across his chest, looking at the scene unfold. Somewhere in the back of his mind he saw a future with Ginny. To him it looked like Ginny belonged to this room, Ginny belonged with his family; she even belonged to the Manor. An image cropped up unbidden in his mind; Ginny holding a baby- his baby and talking to the rest of them. He shook his head, trying to get the image out. He knew he was thinking way ahead of him. Ginny and Harry were still working on their relationship. Yes, they were together but the past year was like a looming shadow in their relationship. Ginny hid it well, but she worried that Harry would leave her again. The days following the Battle of Hogwarts had been rough for all of them. They had just started working on their relationship. He didn't want to burden Ginny. Shaking his head, Harry cleared his throat to break the amiable chatter between his family and Ginny.
"Err… It is getting late. Maybe we should get to bed and let you sleep too." Harry said uncertainly.
Sirius laughed as the others grinned. "We don't really sleep or get tired Harry." Dorea said "We are just echoes of who we were. We feel emotions but not physical changes as such. But by all means, it is getting late. You should get to bed." Sirius, Dora and his father had stuffed their fists in their mouths to stem their guffaws, Remus and his mother were shaking their heads but were grinning wildly, and even his grandparents' eyes betrayed a mischievous glint as Dorea asked them to get to bed. Harry ducked his head blushing deeply and noticed Ginny do the same. Catching her eye he grinned shyly before motioning towards the door. "Goodnight. I will see you guys tomorrow." Harry said before turning to leave the room. "You better sleep in your assigned rooms, young man!" Sirius called as Harry got out the door, Harry shut the door to their loud guffaws.
"Are you sleepy?" Harry asked Ginny shyly, nudging her foot his foot.
"Not really." She said before blushing deeply and biting her lip.
Harry stared at the beauty before him; all he wanted to do was relieve Ginny from biting her lip and do her the service himself. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat again. "So, umm… Do you want to- umm… do you want me to stay with you tonight?"
She nodded blushing slightly. Harry followed to the end of the L-shaped corridor, housing the Weasley family and Hermione. The room was similar to all other rooms, but the colour of the walls and subsequently the theme of the entire room was peach. Harry lay down on the bed as Ginny snuggled next to him, resting her head on his chest.
AN: Circe's island is a part of Greek Mythology. What I have done here is convert it into a school of magic it is much older than Hogwarts and has an eight year long course. The children at Circe's live in an island, the entrance is guarded by a statue of Circe the original resident of the Island and the first headmistress who was an expert at potions and transfiguration. She broke tradition and opened a school for witches in a time when witches were not allowed to learn complex magic or were only allowed to study divination. Later on the school was opened for young wizards too. The final year at Circe's is dedicated to learning the secrets of ancient forgotten magic. But the students are forbidden to talk about their knowledge with outsiders.
Please do read and review. I really need to know how you find the fic. Happy reading.
