27. Family Reunion
He was confused. Was he dead?
Death certainly wasn't painful then. In fact, it was quite blissful.
He could feel the grass under his naked skin. It was cool, comfortable. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt, he opened his eyes.
He looked around to see a grassy valley at the bottom of a hill. It was sunny and pleasant, but his lack of clothes felt a bit uncomfortable, though he couldn't see anyone around. As soon as he thought it, two things happened. A set of warm shirt and trousers appeared in front of him, and he heard a choking sound. Quickly putting on the clothes, he went to see the source of the sound. It was a baby. A very ugly baby, which reminded him of the bundled Voldemort in Wormtail's arm he saw... was it just an hour or was it a lifetime?
The baby looked like it was in pain, and Harry had an urge to help it. Despite its appearance, it was helpless and seemed to be suffering.
"He is more like you than I suspected."
He turned around in a flash to see two smiling figures behind him. His heart was about to burst as he realized who they were.
"But he looks so much like you!"
He looked at the smiling woman with auburn hair. He knew her face. Dora showed him in his first year. The man with the dark hair looked like an older version of himself.
"Mum? Dad?" he whispered.
Lily Potter strode up and pulled him to an embrace and Harry held her tighter than he ever held something. He was afraid that if he even loosened up, she would disappear.
"Slow there, Harry. You might suffocate your mum." James Potter said with a playful smile and Harry released the woman, looking sheepish.
"Hush you! I'm having a moment with my son." Lily admonished her husband half-heartedly.
James didn't reply. He went forward and redid what his wife was doing moments before.
"Is this... real?" Harry asked with doubt, already fearing the answer. "Or is it just in my head?"
"It is in your head, sweetie, but that doesn't make it unreal, does it?" Lily said kindly.
Harry didn't understand it properly, but he could care less. He had more pressing matters.
"Am I dead? What is this place?"
This time it was James who answered him.
"Just a place we would have liked to meet you, nowhere important. And we think you aren't dead, yet."
"Then how... I mean you are dead, right?" he asked with a bit of hope. Lily's heart broke at his. How she wished she was there for her baby.
"Yes, we are, darling. Why don't you sit down? It might take some time."
He sat down on a bench that wasn't there moments before. The three Potters sat, side by side, the love between them almost visibly radiating.
"You two aren't gonna vanish, are you?" he asked once they were seated. Both of them put an arm around him.
"We won't." Lily promised.
"Cross my heart." James confirmed.
Harry grinned brightly and leaned on their arms. He had been denied this for years. He was going to cherish it as long as he can.
"Let me start you by telling how incredibly proud we both are of you, darling." Lily said with so much love, it moistened up his eyes.
"Yes, son. I can't begin to say how proud I feel when I see my son shaping up to a far better man than I ever was." James said a bit sadly, but then he smiled at Harry. "You are a great man, Harry Potter."
"Thanks dad, thanks mum. You have no idea how much it means to me." He said quietly, not even attempting to hide the tears spilling out from his eyes. What was the point in hiding them?
There was a strange noise behind them and Harry turned. He had forgotten about the ugly baby, which looked pitiful.
"What's that?"
"Something that used to be inside you."
Harry's jaw dropped when James said that. How come something so ugly and pitiful was inside him?
"But dad, it wouldn't fit inside me."
Lily smiled and answered her son's unspoken questions.
"That doesn't matter, honey. It was magically inside you. But what matters is it isn't anymore. The night when we died, it went inside you and lived like a leech. It is called a horcrux."
"Wh... what is a horcrux?"
"It's a piece of someone's soul. In your case, it was a part of Voldemort." She said the last part with an angry look in her face. But Harry had other things in his mind.
"Wait, you mean a part of Voldemort was inside me? But how is it possible?" he was too appalled at the idea of having a piece of that vile wizard being inside him.
"Before we tell you that, you should know why Voldemort didn't die back then." James said gravely. "He found a way to stay alive if he was ever killed. It was a really crude way, but he was blind in his ambition towards immortality. The thing that we call a horcrux is a part of his soul. From what we have seen from here, he has five more horcruxes out of the seven he originally made. The horcrux inside you, of course, is gone. The other one was the diary little Ginny Weasley got into trouble for."
"Tom Riddle's diary? I thought it was creepy the way it died. So why do you say making horcrux is a crude thing? Not that I'm gonna try it, but hiding your soul hardly seems-"
"You don't simply take out your soul and hide it, Harry." Lily explained patiently. "To make a horcrux, you have to tear your soul. And that is done by a horrible way. Murder. Not simply killing, mind, but cold blooded murder. You can kill in self defence, or even rightful vengeance. It will not do any harm to your soul. But when you murder someone without any justified reason, and you enjoy their death, your soul is ripped. Voldemort discovered this dark magic which will help you to capture that ripped part of the soul and store it somewhere safe, so that if you try to kill him, his body will die, but he will stay alive. The only way to kill him is to destroy all his horcruxes, and stay assured, Voldemort has protected them pretty well."
There was a long pause after this wile Harry was waiting for everything to sink in. How could someone go to such lengths to remain mortal? Especially someone like Voldemort who had nothing but power to tempt him to stay alive?
"But if the horcrux is gone, doesn't it mean that I'm gone too? I mean shouldn't I be dead?"
"You should be." James agreed. "But your wonderful mother sacrificed her life to save you from Voldemort with the help of an ancient magic, which, long story short, means that if you wish, you can go back."
Harry looked at his mother with wonder and overwhelming love. Slowly, he hugged his mother again, trying to deliver all his emotions through the hug, and from her watery smile, she seemed to understand.
"Thanks mum." He whispered. "You could have just moved away. I think Voldemort would have spared you."
"But I didn't. And if I were given another chance, I'd do the same thing a thousand times over. I love you, baby, and I'd never let that monster harm you." She sobbed on his shoulders and James put an arm around his son and his wife. If Voldemort was allergic to love, this place would burn him to ashes within seconds.
"If I go back, can you come with me?" Harry asked childishly, already knowing the answer. James smiled sadly and shook his head.
"I want to go back, but I don't want to leave you."
"But that is life, sweetheart. You have no idea how much I wished I was there to raise you when I saw my own sister and her whale of a husband did what they did to you. I never knew Pet hated me this much." She looked betrayed for a moment, and then turned back to Harry. "We couldn't be happier if you decided to stay with us. But you have so many people waiting for you, Harry. If you decide to share this little reunion of ours to anyone, please tell Andromeda and Ted that we are so much grateful to them."
"And give the mutt a kick in the bum for going after Pettigrew first rather than looking for you," James added. "But tell him that we forgive him. That is, if you do share this with him."
Harry nodded, and then asked, "You think I should keep this a secret?"
"Depends on the person." Said Lily. "I suggest you don't tell it to everyone, not right away, at least. Tell only those you trust completely. And you might have to be a bit careful using your magic."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked nervously. Did he lose his magic? He thought with panic.
"Nothing bad, dear." Lily assured. "You remember how I said that thing over there lived as a leech?"
Harry nodded.
"Well, it acted like all leeches do, draining your magic. No need to be alarmed, now. Magic is like physical growth, only smarter. It recognized that something is taking up more magic than it is producing, and it produced more to reach your demands."
"I don't understand." A confused Harry told his mother.
"Think of your magic as Hagrid. Say he goes to live with the Giants, all of whom are stronger than him. By working like them, he will become stronger, because their works are harder, and his body will build up the necessary strength to carry out the usual chores of the giants. So far clear?"
Getting a nod from Harry, Lily carried on. "Now say he comes back to live with humans. He will seem unnaturally strong to us, wouldn't he? Because our stuff is now easier for him and he can do it without any real effort. You understand?"
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "So that means this... horcrux sort of blocked my magic and now it's gone, I am left with more magic than usual?"
"That's right." James confirmed. "Previously, you were using a mere fifth of your real magical power. Now, you will have access to full of it. So the amount of power you consciously put to say, roast a chicken can now burn down a small house. So be careful with it. Practise a few times in the forbidden forest if you want to be attuned to it."
Harry nodded dumbly. It was all too much to take at once. In the space of a couple of hours, he fought his way through a death maze, fought an Acromantula, won the Triwizard Tournament jointly with Viktor Krum, got tricked into saying a password to a portkey, which transferred him and Viktor to an old graveyard, had his blood taken to resurrect the most feared dark wizard of the century, got cruciated multiple times, died, met his dead parents, learnt the he had a piece of Voldemort since he was one and that he was five times more powerful than he was previously. Not a dull evening, he had to admit.
"I think he might be a bit surprised." James whispered to his wife's ear, who glared at him playfully.
"It's a lot to take in. You think we should tell him..." she trailed off, but her husband understood.
"No. Let him find out by himself. Andromeda can take him." James said and Lily nodded. Then she squeezed Harry's hands.
"You okay, sweetheart?"
"I guess." He answered faintly.
"When you go back, ask Andromeda or Sirius to take you to the Hall of Prophecies in the Department of Mysteries. You will find something with your name on it." James said gently.
"What is it?"
"Do you really want to be more shocked now?"
Harry chuckled and shook his head. The little family then talked. Or rather, Harry listened to his parents, relishing their words, and their voices. They told him how proud they were of him, they told him how sorry they were that he had to grow up with the Dursleys. They told him to follow his heart instead of what everyone else would think. They asked him to live his life and enjoy it with loved ones. His father coughed at this point, which, oddly enough, sounded a lot like 'Dora', but they didn't mention it anymore.
"So what do I do when I go back?" he finally asked, reluctant to leave his parents on more time, but knowing that he had a lot of reasons to go back, and it wouldn't be fair for those who cared for him. Most importantly, no one would know about Voldemort returning.
"You might want to see how things are there down there and make a plan." James said with a glint in his eyes. Together, they went to a clear lake, that wasn't there seconds before. The graveyard was clearly visible from here.
"This is what you do." Started Lily.
...
It was chilly.
He opened his eyes to confirm what he saw moments earlier... or was it yet another lifetime? Fortunately, his wand was just a couple centimetres from his hand. Voldemort was clumsily getting to his feet, surrounded by his pathetic followers. He could identify the Crouch guy who took his blood from the silver hand. Ignoring the dull pain in his stomach, he pointed his wand at the man's spine and muttered 'Reducto.'
He wasn't prepared to see the spell literally blow the man apart, covering the others in blood and gore, but he stopped the urge to throw up. Everyone screamed when they saw Harry Potter smiling at them. The boy was hit with a solid Avada Kedavra, for Merlin's sake!
"Hey Tom, you okay?"
"But... how?" Voldemort asked, looking shocked, and a little afraid.
"Guess I'm immune to the killing curse. How are you doing?" he said, and blasting apart another Death Eater and quickly putting up a shield that absorbed all the curses sent at his way. Damn, he was powerful!
"STOP!" screamed Voldemort, his eyes showing hints of fear. "Put your wands away at this instant. This is a command."
All the cloaked figures obeyed.
"Look here, Riddle." Harry started. " You can try to kill me all night and I doubt I'll even have a bruise. You tried to kill me twice, and twice you failed. What makes you think you will succeed the third time? Ironic, isn't it, that you are the one claim to have cheated death and all, and yet you couldn't kill me when I was a baby, or when I was on a full body bind, surrounded by your faithful arse lickers? Let's make a deal. You hand me a Death Eater of my choice, and I let you live."
Voldemort laughed cruelly. "You let me live? You have no idea how to kill me in the first place, you ignorant child!"
"Oh but I do. You see, Malfoy over there handed your precious diary to a friend of mine, and guess what? I destroyed it. So how about the deal?"
Harry watched in satisfaction as Voldemort's face changed from an arrogant sneer to shock, then horror and then to undiluted fury.
"You have no idea what you are-"
"Okay, deal's off." Harry interrupted him and set into action. He sent a stunner at Wormtail, dived to avoid Voldemort's Cruciatus, sent a cutter at a masked Death Eater's wand arm, which promptly fell off, grabbed Pettigrew, and casted the most powerful 'Incendio' he could. He was happy, and slightly sick as he heard the flame getting through Voldemort's hasty shield, and burned part of his wand arm. Along with the wand, of course.
About a quarter of Voldemort's power was gone without that wand. His parents explained that most of the magic that set Voldemort apart from a regular dark wizard was possible because of the modifications he did to the wand itself. It would take years for him to have a wand of that power and magic again, if at all. In his own arrogance, Voldemort never believed that someone would be able to land a spell on him or his wand, which left it as vulnerable as the next wand.
Of course, he was counting on Voldemort underestimating him in this move. He wouldn't be as naive to think that he could cast a flame that would break through Voldemort's full power shield. Not yet, at least. He hoped that Voldemort would be casting a weak shield for a teenage boy and Voldemort neatly stepped into his trap.
He could repair his hand within seconds, but his wand... not so quick.
Not waiting to see Voldemort's wrath, he quickly summoned the cup, which he knew was a two way portkey back to Hogwarts. As soon as the cup reached his hand, he muttered 'halfblood' and felt the familiar tug at the navel.
When his feet touched the ground he immediately looked around for Mr. Edgecombe. To his relief, he wasn't there. Mad-Eye Moody and Dumbledore ran to him, and Professor McGonagall gasped when she saw his bloody form clutching Wormtail in one hand and the Triwizard Cup in the other.
Suddenly, all the exhaustion of the day, all the injuries and the residual pain from the Cruciatus caught up with him, and he dropped to his knees. Remembering the most important task at hand, he looked at Dumbledore, who was already beside him. Whatever his faults, Dumbledore was one man who needed to know this.
"He's back. Voldemort's back." He told the Headmaster, before he fainted.