Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Harry’s vision was crystal clear as he woke up. He felt the light clothes lay along his body, and shifted around to notice the movement around him. He sat up and looked around at the white surroundings. Pillars to the curved ceiling, and train tracks cutting through the middle. He watched as people walked around him, forming lines to get onto a train that had not yet arrived. They atmosphere was one of quiet determination.

He looked out to see where the people were coming from, they seemed to fade into existence as they joined lines. Walking slowly, but purposefully towards the tracks which were currently barren.

Suddenly Harry’s eyes caught on a single stationary individual. They were wearing white like he was. Standing in the middle of the crowd, smiling at Harry. Albus Dumbledore walked forward slowly, his eyes sparkling in the whiteness of the room.

“Harry Potter.” The old man said, walking forward. “You’ve done it again haven’t you.”

“Where am I?” Harry asked, his gaze wandering the crowd.

“I believe that we discussed this previously Harry.” Dumbledore said with a kind chuckle. “The station is simply being put to a different purpose today.”

Harry nodded, he had known this answer, but didn’t know what else to say. The number of people walking towards the train seemed to slow. Harry heard a train coming towards the tracks from the far distance.

“But where are they going?” He asked

“An excellent question that I think is yours to answer Harry. They appear to be all of those who you have died for.”

“They?!” Harry interrupted “Then why aren’t you boarding?” Harry asked urgently.

“You have died for those lost in the war. You died for the good people that were fighting for the light and lost.” Dumbledore sighed. “I did not lose to the darkness Harry. My death was planned. I do however expect that the man who I asked to kill me is boarding this train right now.”

Harry stood shocked. “Everyone I died for?” He asked, “My parents, Fred, Remus, Sirius?” His voice rose as he looked around the room, scanning quickly for his family.

“I do believe you will see them all again Harry.” The old man said, his voice quickly adding a calm to Harry’s demeanor. “They are boarding the train with you. I would be willing to guess that you died at the hands of one of Voldemort’s direct followers this time, yes?”

Harry nodded.

“Well then they have been unable to hurt you since the moment that Voldemort tried to kill you several years ago. He will not kill you today Harry, but instead will give the power to do the impossible.” Dumbledore paused, “You are going to bring back the dead Harry. All you must do now is tell them where to go. I of course have a suggestion if you would like it.”

Harry stared at Dumbledore. The exhaustion of the last few days did not weigh on him here, yet he still felt like time had slowed down as he took in the words of a dead man.

“You want me to send them to Hogwarts.” Harry didn't need to make this a question. Dumbledore didn't know that the ministry was more trustworthy now, or that Hogwarts had never been quite the same without him. Yet he also didn’t know the specifics of the Room of Requirement, and its abilities to make everything work out the exact way the user wanted it to. Harry considered sending hundreds of people into Hogwarts, undetected, unnoticed, and without a warning. As soon as he realized that he would need to make sure the doors remained locked, and the individuals inside well-fed, he knew that the room would do those things for him.

Harry nodded to Dumbledore, “I think you’re right,” He said “they will be safe there.”

Dumbledore smiled as the train pulled into the station and people began to board. Harry watched them get into their cars. He noticed a young red headed man joking around with two older red-headed men who Harry assumed to be Fred Weasley and Fabian and Gideon Prewett. He looked further into the distance and saw a tuft of pink hair as it boarded onto the train.

He smiled calmly, surprised at the level of acceptance he had for the dead coming back to life. There would be problems with this. But first there would be jubilation. There would be parties gatherings, and reunions. There would be endless tears shed by Mrs. Weasley and her children. Harry knew that he too would be overcome by emotion. Right now, however, he was simply waiting. A calmness had fallen over him since he had come from the battlefield.

Dumbledore coughed slightly to pull Harry’s attention back to where he was. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

Harry noticed that the crowd size had drastically dwindled. He nodded to Dumbledore as he turned back to look at the train. He saw his parents board the train. James with his messy hair, and Lily with her green eyes and bright red hair. Their doors closed and the train seemed to be waiting for him before it left.

“I’m ready,” Harry said. And with that, the train began to take off, and Harry felt himself drifting into a heavier consciousness.

Chapter Text

Harry regained consciousness briefly enough to feel an intense amount of pain as he was reminded of a curse that had been shot at him what seemed to be hours ago. He also felt a peace as the universe seemed to spill souls out of him and into the world, and Augustus Rockwood gave out a distinctive cry. He fell back into an exhausted sleep. 

Harry woke up again. This time his muscles were heavier, his vision the normal amount of blurry, and his body set upon a flat wooden table. He tried to sit up but was pushed back down by a woman to his left.

“What the hell happened?” he asked, rubbing his eyes and laying his now dizzy head back onto the table.

Muttering ensued as the room realized that Harry had woken up. Harry was handed his glasses as the voices moved closer around him. Harry looked around and recognized his auror team sitting around him. Miriam was the dark haired, dark skinned woman who had forced him not to sit up. Carol and Don both seemed to have seen a ghost and appeared to be trying not to whisper to each other as Harry looked at them, and Kyle was sitting at the end of the table looking at Harry as if he’d grown three heads.

“What do you remember?” Miriam asked calmly.

“We were ambushed, it was Rockwood, he shot spells, I blacked out. What happened after that?” He spoke as concise as possible, needing to know what the aurors knew about his death.

The room became quite again. Carol and Don shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“What happened?” Harry said louder.

This time he was met with Kyle’s low voice. “You died sir. We watched the killing curse hit you, heard the incantation and saw you fall dead. The whole field stopped. Don and Miriam started shooting stunning spells, but before much more could happen your body emitted this pulse. Everything felt calm for a second, but then it was like you could feel the soul of the forest moving through you. Augustus Rockwood started screaming in pain, and all his cronies left the second they heard… well we heard you moan sir. We realized that you had survived, and everyone left. Hell, I almost left you’d scared me so much.” Kyle stopped, seeming surprised at the words which had just left his mouth.

“We stunned Augustus Rockwood, sent a message to the ministry about his location, and brought you back.” Miriam said in a matter of fact tone. Harry looked over to her. She looked all business, but Harry could tell she was shaken. They all were.

“Alright,” Harry said with a sigh, “We need to contact the ministry.” He began to sit up and saw the looks of surprise on his team's face.

“Sir you’ve survived the killing curse.” Don said exasperated. “Are you even fit to be walking around?”

Harry swung his legs over the side of the table. “Please,” He said swinging his legs over the side of the table. “I’ve been doing that since I was a year old.” He slowly let his legs take his weight and felt the soreness in his legs from all the running. He took a few steps towards his desk and sat down in his chair to begin writing.

“Carol please get an owl ready to be sent to the ministry and to Hogwarts. Put the ministers name on the top of the label, and I’ll put his emergency address underneath it. Then put the headmistress on the other.” Harry’s crisp, urgent instructions seemed to give his team something to do with their nervous energy. They all began moving around him as he called out more instructions to move them closer to being done with the mission. He was hoping to move out before the end of the night so that he could help the ministry deal with the crisis that he had just witnessed.

Harry got up to move towards the addressed envelopes that Carol had just set on the table. He saw the addressed to Minerva McGonagall and was suddenly reminded of his discussion with Albus Dumbledore a few minutes before. He froze on the spot. This wasn’t just about a potential crisis with ministry organization and housing. His parents were alive. Teddy’s parents were alive. Sirius Black was alive. They were all in the Hogwarts right now. He could walk five feet away from his tent, apparate to Hogsmeade, and hug his parents within the next two minutes.

“Is he okay?” Harry heard Carol whisper as quietly as she could.

Harry realized that he hadn’t moved in the last several seconds. He quickly recovered, picked up the pen he’d dropped and walked to the table clearing his throat.

“I want to be out of here as soon as humanly possible,” he began, now signing the emergency address and placing both letters neatly into the envelopes. “We’ve been gone for three days now, it was supposed to be two, and my wife is seven months pregnant. We’re going home as soon as possible, I don’t care if we’ve appropriately surveyed the area. We’ve been attacked by old fashioned death eaters. We’re going home.”

His staff seemed to stop momentarily at the urgency, then moved faster than before. Miriam had a sister who was probably worried sick about her, and everyone else had a wife to get home to. No one wanted to spend another minute in this watch tent.

With a crack, Harry found himself and the minister at the apparition point near Hogsmeade. Harry took off in a run towards Hogwarts. Telling Kingsley Shacklebolt had taken longer than he thought, and they had ended up briefing his teammates on the events at King Cross station. They were strict secrecy laws, which for Carol had been a first. She was concerned about her inability to tell her wife about the information, but after Miriam had assured her that she would always be an open ear the room seemed to calm down dramatically.

McGonagall would have been expecting them fifteen minutes ago and Kingsley had kept Harry too busy to send an apology. The grown men turned heads as they ran past the candy shop full of students, and the post center which had a large amount of third years starting in awe at the variety of owls.

“Is it Hogsmeade weekend?!” Harry asked out of breath.

Kingsley took a wild look around at all the students, spotting a giggly couple leaving Madam Puddifoot's. He swore under his breath and moved into a quick walk.

“Slow down,” He muttered to Harry who followed was following his lead. “The last thing we need is them flooding back to the castle because the minister of magic was running towards the school.

“Hogsmeade was supposed to be more casual.” Harry groaned. “We were supposed to gain less attention, and meander slowly through the Hogwarts grounds as though we were just catching up. Of course, the entire bloody school had to watch us running towards the castle.”

Kingsley looked around as students seemed to have caught on to the minister’s presence and began following him back to the castle. They kept up a brisk pace and made their way to a grassy walkway upon which was a frazzled looking Minerva McGonagall.

“Is everything alright Potter?” She asked as she joined them moving towards the castle.

“Nothing is necessarily wrong professor,” Harry said, “We just need to address a sudden influx of people that occurred right under the school’s nose because the magic involved was so unheard of th-”

“How many people are we talking about Mr. Potter?!” McGonagall interrupted shocked.

“Several hundred. But as I was saying the ma-”

“Several hundred unaccounted for students!” McGonagall nearly shrieked, causing a nearby group of girls to look at her in surprise.

“Quite down!” Kingsley whispered harshly. He quickened his pace, and Harry couldn’t tell if he wanted privacy, or to see those in the room.

“And they’re not students.” Harry said calmly. “Most of them are adults.”

“Where did they come from?” McGonagall stared at Harry, urgency obvious in her voice. “What am I supposed to do with them? How are they getting out? Where are they?”

Harry gave Kingsley a look. “They’re in the room of requirement, they’re locked in right now. The ministry can handle their organization.”

“Where are they from Harry?” McGonagall stopped moving to look at her former student.

Harry stopped to meet her lowering his voice, “I’ll tell you when we have more privacy.”

McGonagall’s eyes darted to see all the kids in the area. She nodded crisply and began waking at a pace to beat Kingsley.

The quick, quiet speed of the minister of magic, head auror, and headmistress of Hogwarts walking towards the school, and down the hallways drew large amount of attention and whispers. Harry passed the great hall, and visions of dead bodies littered his mind. He threw the thoughts away and considered that all those dead bodies were alive now. They were in a room several minutes away. He began walking faster. Their briskness stunned Ponama Sprout and her teaching student Neville Longbottom as they passed the pair without so much as a smile.

They finally came upon the seventh-floor hallway that Harry had paced through so many times before. He began walking back and forth in front of the doorway, the last time he had done this the war was going on around him. Kingsley set up protection charms around Hogwarts for the first time since death eaters were trying to kill him. McGonagall watched as the doors to the Room of Requirement appeared and the two ministry officials walked up to it and stared.

“I’ve put up enough security spells that we can tell her in private before we go in.” Kingsley stated, staring at the door with a heavy anticipation.

Harry nodded in response, but his eyes did not leave the entrance.

“Well?” McGonagall asked. “What in Godric Gryffindor is going on?!”

Harry turned to face her, waved his wand to form three chairs in the hallway, took a seat, and began explaining the events of the last few hours. Her eyes widened as she realized what she was about to see. Soon she too could not stop glancing at the door. The ornate woodwork that had appeared in the middle of the corridor seemed to be calling the trio.

“No one else is to be told that we know how these people came to be.” Harry told her. “We’ll find a cover story as to what lead Kingsley and I to the castle, but no one else knows that I died again.”

McGonagall gave a nod before standing up to move towards the door. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all.” She whispered.

Harry smiled as he felt the implications of what he was about to do weigh on him. He reached out to the room, grabbed the handle which fit perfectly in his hand, and heard an ear-piercing yell from down the hallway.

“HARRY JAMES POTTER!” He heard his wife, Ginny Weasley, scream. “Percy told me that you’ve been home for an entire hour and you didn’t even ask that your wife was notified!”

Harry’s hand fell from the doorknob as Kingsley took down the protection enchantments and McGonagall helped the chairs disappear. The room of requirement took this as its cue to shift back into the wall just as a pregnant Ginny rounded the corner.

“You could have sent a memo. You could have sent an owl. You could have sent my own goddamned brother. But instead you took of Hogwarts without so much as a word.”

Ginny stopped yelling all the sudden, seeming to take in the people who were with her husband. “Hello Minister, Headmistress.”

“Hello Ginny,” Kingsley addressed her. “Your husband cannot come home right now. You can give him a quick hug. Tell him you’re glad that he’s alive. Then you have to leave immediately.”

Ginny looked slightly ashamed. “Yes sir.” She walked up to her husband, hand moving from her belly to her husband.

“I love you,” Harry whispered to his wife as he hugged her. “I wish I could explain what is happening, but I really can’t. Tell Teddy that I might not see him for a few days and I’m sorry.”

“I thought you were going to quit soon?”

“It’s not dangerous.”

“Neither was the last one!”

“This one isn’t even on the field. I’ll be safe, but you need to leave.” Harry whispered consolingly as he broke the hug. “I love you.”

“Then come home soon!” Ginny smirked.

As she walked out of the room McGonagall began pacing in front of the door again. Kingsley set up his charms, and it was Harry’s turn to wait impatiently for the entrance to appear.

Once he could, he took no chances and threw the large doors open.

The room was huge. Tall ceilings, white walls, and an expanse of space to rival the great halls magnitude. If you looked far enough into the room, you could see bunk beds resembling those which Dumbledore’s Army used at the end of the war. Large signs pointed to restrooms and privacy rooms on either side of the open space. The people nearest the entrance grew quiet as they noticed the three standing at the door.

“We need a better plan.” Harry said turning around. The other two followed him out and the doors shut and locked behind him. “We need to get security, healthcare, meetings with housing, economy, and the logistics team needs to begin figuring out how we’re going to get these guys out of here and where they’re going. We need to cooperate with the Hogwarts house elves to get them food and water as soon as possible.” The three began walking down the hall towards the headmaster’s office. “Kingsley meet with your speech writing team or send them to me. I’m going to speak to these people within the next hour and let them know who they are, where they are, and what we’re doing to make sure that they’re comfortable.”

“Why not let the minister speak?” McGonagall asked.

“More people will recognize me. I was the beacon of the second war, while Kingsley worked directly alongside the ministry during it. Not that that was any less important, but it wasn’t as noticed by them,” Harry added, “While you assemble this, I’m going to begin talking with some of the people in there, I’ll do this while in disguise so that I’m not noticed. I need to figure out what they need that the room of requirement can’t give them. I’m assuming that one of those things is information, so I’m considering finding a plan that separates the group out by the decade in which they’ve died.”

Harry stopped to think. They had nearly made it to the headmistress’s office. The gargoyle was just down the hallway, and the adults were all briskly reminded of Dumbledore, a man whom two of them assumed they would be seeing in a few hours.

“How can you think of anything except your parents.” Kingsley asked, in awe at Harry’s quick reflex to organize. “I haven’t stopped thinking about my brother since the moment I heard.”

“I want to bring them home.” Harry said sternly. “I had to get my team out of the forest with all of this on my shoulder, and at that point I had just woken up from a deadly sleep. After that, this seems natural.”

Kingsley nodded in understanding. “I’ll get the heads of all departments and notify them that we’re on emergency level 3. Nothing is wrong, but we’re going to need to utilize a lot of ministry resources and personal; We need to make sure everyone is on guard.” Kingsley sighed, lost in thought. “We will do as you suggested as well. If you have anything else, let me know. I’ll send over my speech staff right after I’ve briefed them.”

Kingsley turned to McGonagall. “I’m sorry that we’re using your school like this. You will forgive us I hope.”

McGonagall gave a curt nod, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “Anything to see them again,” Her voice gave a slight quiver as she spoke. “I’ll keep the students away as well.”

Harry smiled at her. “We’ll be there soon,” He turned to Kingsley now “I’m going to go disguise myself briefly and walk around to gauge what people are complaining about. I'll keep an eye on my watch and be back in the 7th floor hallway in 20 minutes.”

Kingsley gave a nod and went with McGonagall into her office. Harry couldn't help but notice the slightly jealous look that the pair was giving him. They wanted to be the ones to listen to those who were back, and Harry didn't blame them.

Harry took out his wand and performed a disillusionment charm. His cloak had been left in his bag at the ministry. He threw it on as to attract no attention while walking down the school’s corridors. He walked swiftly down the corridors, back to the 7th floor hallway where he paced while diligently asking for the room where the people were.

Chapter Text

An hour later, Harry and Kingsley were standing at the side of a stage that had formed itself upon Harry's wish. The more permanent inhabitants of the room moved there way towards the front of the stage, away from the refreshment tables and restrooms. Harry noticed that the crowd seemed anxious for his speech, even though very few of them could see him. Harry had been right in assuming that more than anything they wanted information.

After he came back, he had pulled several people aside. People who looked frazzled, but not paranoid. All of them people who would trust him if he said he was in the order. One of these people had been Edward Tonks, so was kind enough to help Harry understand exactly what the dead remembered about their deaths.

“I know I was hit by a green light,” Ed discussed, “and that I was dead. And I know that a fair amount of time has passed. But quite frankly, I have no idea where I am, or why I survived. By the sounds of it, Harry Potter's not so special anymore ‘cause a whole lot of us were killed by Avada Kedavra.” Ed seemed to catch himself “Not that I don't like Harry Potter!” he had rushed to say, “I was only making a joke!”

Harry had given the old man a smile. “I understood, it's alright.”

He now stood next to the stage, looking over the notes of the speech, wondering if he should've told Ed to look for his daughter. If he should have indulged the man with his identity. He shook his head and came back to the bullet points that he was about to read from.

• Introduce self
• Discuss situation
  • Clarify date
• Acknowledge lack of current information and schedule of historical context
  • Historians will give speeches
  • Pamphlets will be available
• Any broad questions about the situation can be placed into feeder boxes and will be answered in our next several addresses to the group
  • Staff is for immediate and safety related
• Thank you for your patience

He looked out to the large crowd. The noise had died down as many of them were only whispering, and the majority of them were still in the viewing area. He walked slowly up the steps, onto the stage, and towards the podium which had appeared a few moments ago. He was not disguised this time, so many people who saw him gave audible gasps. Whispers began again as the discussion of the boy who lived filled the room.

Harry waited for the surprise to die, then began his speech. He looked out into the crowd as he discussed their fate. He caught the eyes of Nymphadora Tonks, who was easy to spot, and noticed that she was standing next to her husband Remus Lupin. After checking his notes again, he looked back up at the couple. They were smiling at him, and their grins caused Harry to stumble over the next couple sentences and look back to his notes to retrieve himself.

He distinctly avoided looking for the pink hair this time, and instead went back to aimlessly scanning the room. He was able to make it through most of the speech, only noticing Molly’s brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewett. However, while discussing where the feeder boxes for questions would be placed, Harry met eyes the same color as his. His voice caught in his throat, as his mother’s face came into focus. She gave him a teary smile, causing Harry to smile back. She was there in the crowd. She was alive. She was looking right at him, no longer through any sort of picture or charmed mirror.

Kingsley gave a slight cough, jolting Harry back to his notes.

“Sorry!” he exclaimed, scanning for the information on his notecard. “Lastly the ministry would like to thank you very much for your extended patience that we will ask of you until we know how to send you home without causing an emergency.” Harry gave a brief nod and walked off the stage. His eyes were tearing up at the thought of his mother, and his gaze was wandering the crowd again, unable to find her as he walked down the stairs.

“I was hoping that wouldn’t happen,” Kingsley said with a bit of a laugh, “But I couldn’t help but smile. Who did you see?”

“First Remus and Tonks, then the Prewitt Brother.” Harry absentmindedly scanned the crowd as he talked, “And I also saw my parents if you didn’t notice. Well, I guess I just saw my mom, but it was enough to nearly knock me over.”

“I think just about everyone noticed that one Harry,” Kinsley chuckled.

Harry noticed a pink blob of hair moving towards him, but soon didn’t care as saw his mother's face moving faster. With a glance at Kingsley, and an approving nod, Harry moved towards the mob of people, and into her arms.

“You look just like your father!” She exclaimed as her arms wrapped around Harry. The hug felt perfect. His mother's arms were closed neatly around him, warm and enveloping. Not quite like Molly Weasley’s, but somehow better in their carefulness.

“What did you do to your head?!” Lily Potter asked suddenly, as she stepped back to look at her son.

“What?” Harry asked, reaching up to find something abnormal. Nothing felt out of the ordinary or bruised. Kingsley had removed all disguise charms before he had walked onto the stage in order to receive the most rallying effect from the public. He felt over the familiar scar on his forehead, and down to his neck.

Lily gave him an odd look. “The scar,” she whispered gently.

Harry squinted at her, still not understanding which scar she was talking about, he felt around his neck, and nearly began explaining why he had choke marks from a necklace when his mother spoke up again.

“This one,” She pointed right at Harry’s famous lightning bolt scar. She had died Voldemort had killed him. She would have no idea about the scar that made him so famous. No understanding of why he was the ministry member who spoke to them, not the minister of magic. Why he could talk to his family while the ministry was being expected to work as normal. Why he had security guards several yards away that were protecting him from those who he did not know, but who were very thankful for his work.

“Oh this,” he said, rubbing the lightning bolt, “I’ll explain later.”

He gave her another hug as Tonks came out from between two people, Remus right behind her. Harry gave both parties tight hugs as tears glistened all their cheeks.

“How’s Teddy?” Tonks asked quickly.

“He’s fine,” Harry said, “He, well not feeling to well right now, but he’s fine. He’s doing better.”

Before Remus and Tonks could ask more questions, James Potter was heard above the din of noise.

“MY SON!” He was attempting to sneak between guards who seemed to suddenly notice who he was and allowed him to break free. Remus turned to face James as well, his face reflecting a similar amount of shock as Harry’s.

“You’re alive.” he said.

James stopped running to Harry, noticing his best friend. “Hadn’t noticed,” He smirked before continuing towards Harry and engulfing him in a hug.

The two held each other close, and Harry began to cry into his father’s chest. Lily wrapped her arms around the two of them, and together they sunk to the floor, surrounded soon by Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Fred. Harry still hadn’t said more than a few words to any of them, but the pure joy seemed to resonate through the area.

Remus noticed Sirius, and the two hugged and came to tears. Remus began showing off his and his wife's wedding bands, and Sirius feigned fainting while Tonks boasted about finally getting the old fart to come around. Fred watched happily, knowing that soon his time would come, and glad to see that none of his family had joined him in his run to meet with Harry. If any of them had died, they'd be here by now.

On stage, a historian began to speak. The witch droned on, as those who had been dead the longest found their ways to the appearing seats. The rest of the crowd began to disperse away from Harry.

After several wordless minutes with his parents, 23 years of missed memories acknowledged between them, Harry broke away slowly and the three rows back to their feet. Harry looked around to find himself momentarily surrounded by his parents, Remus, and Sirius, just as he had been in the forest several years ago. He gave a smile as Fred and Tonks joined them again, happy to see Harry standing up.

“Harry,” an apologetic Kingsley said from behind “I'm going to need you to get back to work. I’m sorry you can’t stay here, heaven knows you deserve it more than most, but I really need your help. It's going to be a long night.”

Harry nodded, and said a fairly lengthy goodbye that included three and a half hugs from his mother alone.

“Once you get the chance,” Fred said, right as Harry was walking away, “Let my family know that I’m okay. Tell George that I’m sorry.”

Harry gave them a nod and walked back to Kinsley. The minister of magic gave him a smile and began discussing a variety of ways in which they were thinking about notifying the public and organizing locations for the crowded room of people to leave to. Behind the pair, the chief economic advisors were working on contacting businesses who would be willing to offer jobs to those who had come back, in exchange for the ministry using their services to provide food, and shelter for them.

The day moved slowly for all high order ministry officials. Harry had not been the only one to break down and cry. Percy had come in that evening, had quickly began crying at the sight of his brother.

The secrecy of this job, while important, was torture. Harry alone had considered asking for permission to tell his wife, and Ron, both of whom had been allowed to know ministry secrets in the past. Percy had asked Kingsley himself if he could tell George Weasley, whose closest relation to ever having a high order ministry official was his brother. This request had been met with a kind ‘no.’ Several heads of department had been more successful in their requests, as they wanted to add deputies and assistants into the knowledge. Harry understood that this was necessary to complete their jobs, but also knew that Cynthia Lance, assistant to the head of magical housing, had lost a brother 6 years ago to Voldemort. He saw them crying together while he was leaving that day.

Security officials were under disguise charms in order to ensure that their jobs were performed correctly, as were highly popular ministry officials such as the Minister of Magic, Harry Potter, and (when she was there) Minerva McGonagall. Kingsley, while understanding of the procedure, didn't like that he had to walk straight past his previously deceased brother.

Those who had been dead began to dawn the name “the resurrected.” The name, coined by the head of public relations, seemed to encompass all of three feelings about those who had come back, while admitting the least to their deaths. This made everyone involved more comfortable.

Chapter Text

Harry flooed home at 1:30am. He hadn't been home in several days and nearly forgot how comfortable his living room seemed after a long day’s work. He looked around before moving to the kitchen to grab a quick snack before going to bed. He had to be back to the ministry by 8:00 to go to a series of meetings before a possible press release that afternoon. A lot of the staff thought they should wait until they knew more, but the public relations department insisted to Kingsley that he needed to get ahead of the news and couldn't let the story leak. Harry knew that they were right, and all their reputations would be destroyed if they were caught hiding the resurrected for any amount of time.

“Harry?” The voice was a little more than a whisper as Harry climbed the stairs to his room. “Ginny let me stay up to see you. I fell asleep on the stairs.”

Harry spotted Teddy laying on the carpet above the top step and gave him a small smile.

“It’s too late to be awake.” Harry said, picking his godson up slowly and carrying him towards his bedroom.

“Then what are you doing?” Teddy cuddled closer into Harry.

“I had a big day at work,” Harry said, “How are you feeling?”

“I think I’m finally getting rid of my cold,” Teddy said, before starting into a coughing fit that caused phlegm to fly onto Harry’s neck and jacket. Harry rubbed Teddy’s back and waited for the coughing to subside as he sat them down on Teddy’s bed.

“I believe you, but that fit didn’t convince me of much.” Harry smiled, then let out a sigh. “Teddy, my heart is warmed by the fact that you waited up for me, but I’m going to be doing a lot of late nights this week, and your sleep is very important to me. When I’m at work I need to know that you’re kicking this cold in the butt okay?”

Teddy nodded as Harry set him to sleep and helped him through his nightly routine of setting up his treatment system and preparing for tomorrow morning's potions. Harry watched Teddy fall into sleep. He didn’t know how soon, but this boy was going to see his family. He was going to hold them. He was going to cry into them. He was going to know them, and Harry felt that it was part of his job as his godfather to make sure that Teddy wasn’t coughing up as much phlegm when he was hugging them for the first time.

Harry tapped his sleeping wife on the shoulder as he gathered his pajamas.

“Harry?” She asked from what appeared to be a very light sleep “Yeah, hurry into bed, I’ve missed you.” She curled back into her blankets.

“I know, and I’ve got bad news.”

“You were supposed to be moving towards leaving your job!” Ginny sat up. “You told me that you would be able to leave within a month, once you were certain your deputy was up to the job.”

Harry made to interrupt but was cut off.

“YOU were supposed to be on your way out of this job. For me. For Teddy. For our baby. We have been having a hell of a last four months between the cystic fibrosis and the pregnancy, you cannot be taking another long job. Another long trip. Another anything that will take more than a few days Harry. I could go into labor tomorrow and you need to be able to get there within two minutes. And you have to be coming from your office.” She sighed. “You’ve been exhausted Harry. We’ve been exhausted. Our family can only handle so much of this.”

Harry stared at the ferocity that rose from his exhausted wife.

“I’m not leaving ministry buildings,” He started cautiously, “But I’m going to be gone for a while.”

“How long?” Ginny asked skeptically.

“I have no idea but am helping answer that question in a meeting tomorrow.” Harry pulled on his pajama shirt and sat down in bed.

“Can you at least keep me updated?” The exhaustion was more apparent in her voice. “I need to know when your home. You had gone radio silent on that mission and I didn’t know if you were dead. I shouldn’t be getting an owl from my brother, and Kingsley’s not going to want me running in on you anymore.” She sighed and laid back down in bed. Harry lay next to her and moved so that she was in his arms.

“I promise you that if it wasn’t important, I would have said something, but we’re on a high alert emergency level due the amount of ministry staff that are involved in this. I can’t leave.”

“What time are you leaving tomorrow morning?” She asked curling into his chest as best as her pregnant belly would allow.

“Eight Am.” Harry heard Ginny sigh.

“You won’t be home until late again?”

“Correct,” Harry’s eyes grew heavy “I’m gonna go to sleep now Ginny, I’m sorry.”

“I love you” She yawned.

“Love you too.”

Three hours into his shift the next day Harry was sitting in a meeting about which ministry officials would be at work on which days over the next several weeks. The room was just dark enough that several of the sleep deprived ministries found themselves beginning to doze off occasionally. Officials this high hadn't been in a scheduling meeting in years, some of them decades. This situation, however, seemed complicated enough to warrant it.

Harry glanced down at his phone. This was also something that everyone in the room was guilty of. He saw six phone calls from Neville Longbottom, and a couple texts from his wife telling him to call the training Hogwarts professor.

He excused himself briefly, yet another feet that had not been uncommon during this long meeting with the busiest people in the ministry. He went to call Neville only to find his phone ringing once again with Neville’s number on the screen.

“Hello,” he answered walking towards his office.

“You picked up!” Neville cried happily, “Mom, its Lily's son, he picked up!”

Harry froze on the spot. In his ear he heard Neville begin to explain the phenomenon slowly as Harry put it together quickly in his head. Neville's parents had been cursed into insanity by Bellatrix LeStrange. Everyone else whose wounds hadn't scarred had been healed within 5 years or had died. But of course, Neville's parents had been worse than dead, and now their wounds were healed. They had their sanity back again.

Neville was halfway through explaining how the nurse had found Alice actually reading the newspaper, when Harry cut him off.

“How many people know about this?!”

“What?” Neville asked, shocked at the interruption.

“Ginny was texting me to call you. Who else did you tell. I need to know now Neville. It's a matter of national security.”  

This caused a short silence.

“I’ve told a lot of people Harry,” Neville sounded terrified, “What are you talking about?”

Harry swore into the phone and began running back to the meeting he had been attending. “I’m going to grab the deputy to the Public Relations Department and we’ll be right over, you’re still at the hospital, right?”

“Yeah, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s more than okay Neville, people just aren’t supposed to know about it yet.” Harry breathed deeply before walking into the meeting. “You’re not in trouble, we just need to talk to you. I’m glad to hear about your parents, and I’ll be there in a second.”

Harry hung up the phone and made his way around the table before getting Nancy Ellis’s attention and moving out of the room with her. This gained large amounts of attention from everyone in the room. Most of them, however, merely looked jealous that Nancy had been given an excuse to leave.

The two left the room and made their way to St. Mungo’s. Harry filled the witch in as they walked, and her face grew paler with every step. They got to the floo transport, and each declared their destination as the lime green flames engulfed them.

When they made it to Neville’s parents’ room, he was pacing outside the door, his robes flowing behind him. Harry’s face fell a little. This man had just been given his parents back. He should be in there telling them about his life, talking about the great things he’s done. Yet they had to deal with the information at hand first.

Nancy approached Neville and began gathering a list of all the individuals who knew about his parents. As he listed them off, his pale eyes flickered over to a sympathetic Harry every couple of seconds. The list wasn’t short. It included the entire Weasley, Lovegood, and Abbott family, as well as much of the Hogwarts staff. Harry had been the last to answer Neville’s call.

After gathering the list from Neville, Nancy raised her wand towards him.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked quickly, before she could cause any harm.

“Altering his memory.” She announced swiftly. “He can’t know until Friday morning, or were you not listening to the meeting before last?”

“His parents are in there?!” Harry exclaimed “What are you going to do to all 20 so of the people that know? What about the people they’ve told?”

“We’ll send officials out to them.” Nancy stated. “I can’t think of any other way to keep people from spreading a ministry level secret.”

“They don’t know a ministry level secret. They only know that Alice and Frank Longbottom have regained sanity. You’re here to help me make up a lie for Neville to give them as to why this happened. The ministry has bigger fish to fry than temporarily obliviating 30 to 40 people, most of whom have a fair amount of distrust to the ministry and will possibly be aggressive against the officials. Hermione Weasley is one of the few ministry heads who hasn’t been told yet, and she knows her rights when she’s being obliviated and would ask to know what she is going to have modified. You don’t want to have these problems and you don’t want them now. So, what can we tell those who know in order to keep it on the downlow until further information resurfaces?”

The hallway was very quiet for a few seconds. Neville went back to pacing back and forth, now eyeing the door to his parents’ ward. Harry stared patiently, waiting for Nancy to see sense and help him come up with something. Nancy was staring daggers at Harry. Harry had worked with her before, and she was renowned for not listening to anyone outside to anyone outside the P.R. Department about anything P.R. related.

“I know the people he’s listed. If you want to spend two days convincing them to let you obliviate them, then go ahead. If not, then help me.” Harry stated plainly. He watched the gears in her head turn, her mind trying to find a way to be right.

“Has there been ongoing treatment?” She abruptly asked Neville.

“Yeah” He muttered “but there was no sign of improvement at all until this morning. The nurses said that it could’ve happened anytime yesterday after 10 am, it was a busy day in the ward, and the volunteers wouldn’t have known what to expect when they delivered the food.”

“I’m going to put a temporary memory charm on the medi-witches. They’ll think that they changed the treatment slightly, and it had a monumental impact on your parents. This is what you’ll tell everyone. Send them an owl immediately.” Nancy made her way into the ward and performed the magic necessary while Neville and Harry waited in the hallway.

“Congratulations,” Harry said quietly, causing Neville to stop pacing. “I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”

“It’s amazing,” He whispered, “I keep forgetting, and then I would look over to her and I would just smile. I’m dumbfounded by it all.”

Harry smiled. Neville couldn’t know it, but he knew the feeling. He couldn’t help but remember holding his parents tightly in Hogwarts just yesterday. He can’t imagine the shock that would come with sitting down and telling them everything you’d been thinking for years.

“They proud of you?” Harry asked. “Or has your Gram not shown up to brag about her leader of Dumbledore’s army?” Augusta Longbottom was getting fairly old, but it had been five years since Neville’s grandma had been talked to without worming her grandson into the discussion.

“Gram was here,” Neville said with a big smile, “Dad told her to sock it though and got me to tell them everything. It was amazing.”

Harry let out a laugh as Nancy Ellis came back into the hallway.

“Do you have a second to come meet them?” Neville asked as the two turned to leave. “They say they knew you as a baby, and it would mean a lot to all of us.”

Nancy began walking away, still obviously upset about the previous conversation. “We have a meeting to get back to. In case you forgot we’ve got bigger fish to fry.” She left Harry in the hallway.

“She’s right,” He conceded to Neville’s dismay. “But the minute I get free time I’ll come visit. Tell them that I said hi, and that I told them to ask you about boggart lessons. I bet your dad will get a kick out of that one.”

Neville’s slight frown brightened as Harry left and he moved back towards his parents. Harry’s day grew much duller as he was shuffled from ministry meeting to ministry meeting. No high-end officials were getting more than a few seconds at Hogwarts over the next couple days, as they were trying to meet a Friday deadline for announcing the resurrecteds’ return and were hoping to begin sending people to accepting homes over the weekend. Anyone who didn’t have a home to go to would be given free stay in a hotel for three months before being expected to pay their own dues.

Chapter Text

“I’m home!” Harry shouted into the living room. It was six in the afternoon on Thursday, the earliest he had been home all week. Moving into the kitchen, he didn’t hear any noises from upstairs. He checked them empty living room, then moved towards his bedroom to see if anyone was home.

He found Ginny and Teddy curled up in their bed sleeping next to each other. The bed seemed huge compared to the little body of Teddy. Quietly, Harry began changing out of his work clothes into sweatpants and a t-shirt. He heard Teddy rustle a little bit in his sleep, and froze in his place until he knew the boy was still again. He finished changing, and looked back over at the couple. Ginny had fairly defined bags under her eyes, and Harry suspected Andromeda hadn’t been around today. Her hair framed her face nicely, but it also looked as though she hadn’t washed it recently. She was still in her pajamas. Teddy’s thin body barely allowed the mattress to divot, and his teal hair matched well with the grey pillow case he was sleeping on. Harry watched as his hair turned pink for a few moments, then brown then pink again.

He thought of Remus and Tonks. Their concern for their son and their longing to see him. Teddy had to be dreaming of them right now. He was probably wishing that they could be the ones he could cuddle in bed, and that they were the ones who would carry him on days when he was too tired to walk. His diagnosis had come as a bit of a surprise a few months ago, and since then it had taken quite a toll on the boy’s body.

After several bad colds, one of which caused the boy to be hospitalized, Teddy had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. This caused mucus to build up in his lungs and made him prone to respiratory infections. He was finally getting over his most recent cold which he had succumbed to for several weeks. There had been several days when he had been too weak to walk. The doctors said that this dizziness would pass with treatment, as his body grew more used to the way his lungs worked. In muggles the disease was fatal, most died before they turned 40. The healers at St. Mungo's could not get rid of the mucus, but they gave him treatment that muggles could not use, doubling his expected lifespan.

The details of his treatment were constantly looked over by Harry, Ginny, and Andromeda. In several days his parents would learn how to help their son. Remus and Tonks would take care of Teddy on his bad days and good. One more night before they could know. He thought to himself. Only one more night and in the morning the whole world will be glad. Teddy, and Ginny, and Andromeda, and George, and Molly. All of them would be over the moon.

With these thoughts running through his head, and a smile on his face, he moved to the basement to make dinner. Ginny hated cooking, so he expected that Teddy hadn’t had a decent meal in a couple of days. He grabbed the eggs out of the fridge and moved to make breakfast for dinner. This event always confused Teddy in a fun way, and would put a smile on everyone’s faces.

After making a bit of a mess, and enough food for the three of them, Harry went upstairs to wake them up. His room was filled with the soft sound of Teddy’s snores. The pictures on the wall were all smiling at him, filled with photos of Harry, Ginny, and both of their families. The large bed sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by a bit of a mess. They hadn’t been able to clean the house for a while, and Ginny was busy with Teddy most of the day.

Harry waved his wand and several piles of dirty clothes made their way to the hamper. With another flick the hampers worked their way down to the laundry where they began washing themselves. Ginny was better at household chores, but she had been exhausted. A few more spells and most of the room had tidied itself up fairly well. Both of their dressers had been cleared of paperwork that was filing itself in the appropriate nightstand drawers, and all of the picture frames were dusted. Harry walked around the house for the next couple minutes, performing whatever charms he felt necessary given the slight mess that was all over the house. The dishes were doing themselves, the living room was being silently vacuumed of all popcorn crumbs from a messy movie night, and all of the books were putting themselves away from the various rooms that they were in.

Just as Harry finished the downstairs bathroom, he heard Ginny from the top of the stairs.

“Mom I told you not to clean up after me,” She said with a groan.

Harry appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a smile on his face. “Dinner’s ready, it’s got a warming charm on it.”

Ginny hurried down the stairs, “Why are you back so early?” she gave him a kiss and settled her head into his chest, her round belly forcing her to lean forward to reach him.

“Tomorrow’s a big morning, so they let us home early,” Harry held her tighter, “Tomorrow you get to know why I’ve been so busy.”

“Really?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but for now let’s go eat dinner.” He said, motioning her to the kitchen and going up the stairs to wake Teddy.

Harry sat down on the edge of the bed, allowing it to sink under his weight before tapping Teddy on the shoulder. He shifted in his sleep before opening his eyes slightly.

“Time to wake up?” he asked, stretching all the way out before began sitting up.

“Yup, I made dinner,” Harry's said, smiling when Teddy jumped at his voice. He was suddenly engulfed in an energetic hug that he returned quickly, pulling Teddy into his lap.

“I missed you Harry!” Teddy whispered once he was secure in his godfathers arms.

“I know kid,” Harry squeezed him, then stood up, still holding Teddy in his arms. “Ginny's downstairs ready to eat, what do you say?”

Teddy nodded his blue hair against Harry’s chest. Harry had seen Remus and Tonks two days ago, and tomorrow morning Teddy would be able to hear that they were alive. After tomorrow his hair would be pink for weeks as he thought gleefully of his mother. The anticipation was agonizing.

“You know what we’re having for dinner?” Harry said, walking the two of them down the stairs.

“What?”

“Breakfast foods!” Harry said tickling the 5 year old in the belly.

“BUT IT’S DINNER!” Teddy roared with giggles loud enough for Ginny to hear them from the kitchen. The giggles lead to a small coughing fit as Harry set Teddy down to eat.

“Eggs belong to breakfast,” Teddy giggled again as he began eating.

Harry gave Ginny a loving smile as their hands met across the table. Everything felt normal as they made jokes about breakfast for several minutes. Andromeda came back that night for popcorn and a movie. She suggested taking Teddy for the night, but Harry insisted the boy sleep at his house. Harry was also able to convince Andromeda to come over a little before 8:00 am the next morning.

Harry timed his alarm clock carefully Friday morning. He sat awake for most of the night, nervous for the next day’s excitement, but woke up with his alarm at 7:40.

“Ginny, you need to get up too.” He nudged her shoulders. “It’s really important.”

“It better be the end of the world if you’re getting me up at…” She groggily looked at her alarm clock “7:40! The news doesn’t get here for twenty minutes!”

“You’re gonna want to be awake when it does.” Harry assured her, “I’m going to go get Teddy up.”

“You’re going to what?!” She said sitting up quickly, “He’s still getting a cold, he was out flying yesterday, and he stayed up a half hour past his bedtime. You’re not waking him up.”

“You cannot understand how important this day will be in the history of the magical world.” Harry knew he was being annoyingly cryptic but he went over to Teddy’s room anyways. He woke Teddy and quickly helped him with his morning treatment.

Andromeda was due to come over a few minutes. Harry quickly set up cereal around the table but knew that soon no one would have any appetite. He cast quick cleaning spells at the living room which would soon be crowded with Weasleys and Longbottom’s and Delacour’s.

“What the hell is going on Harry?” Ginny asked maneuvering her pregnant belly down the stairs with Teddy’s blue hair slowly walking next to her.

“I am bound by law not to tell you until the owl arrives with the Prophet.” Harry sighed. “If I could tell you I would’ve done it days ago.”

“Not even a few minutes early?” Ginny asked

“No, we were threatened with a lot of fines and there’s a good chance I would be fired.”

“I could do with you losing your job,” Ginny joked.

“I know you could, but I don’t want to lose it like that.” Harry moved around the kitchen, the dishes from last night began washing themselves and the cereal boxes straightening on the counter as Harry’s attention to detail grew. There wasn’t anything else to do, but he felt like he needed to keep moving.

“What are you getting ready for?” Ginny noticed Harry’s peculiar cleaning.

Harry set Teddy’s cereal bowl in front of him as he made his way onto a chair at the table.

“Something big,” Harry winked at Teddy who giggled a little bit.

“I hope the paper comes early.” Ginny sat down with her own bowl.

“They won’t.” Harry sat down, too nervous to eat. “Even the press is under an intense amount of security. The owl will get here at 8:00 am sharp. And then all hell will break loose.”

“I don’t like how big you’re smiling,” Ginny smiled back at him. “You look like you’re about to save the world, which worries me because last time that happened you stormed Hogwarts, and started a battle.”

The words ‘and my brother died’ hung in the air, but Harry didn’t care. He smiled brighter.

“The world is about to change for the better,” Harry dropped his voice, leaning in so that Teddy couldn’t hear, “and this time there won't be casualties.” He kissed his wife on the cheek.

The floo erupted and Andromeda made her way into the kitchen.

“What are you doing over so early?” Ginny was not looking at Andromeda, but at Harry.

“I was invited for breakfast,” Andromeda took a seat next to Teddy and ruffled his blue hair. “Did you sleep well?” She asked, causing the five year old to delve into a several minute long discussion of a dream as though he had been waiting for someone to ask.

The adults listened patiently until Ginny stood up suddenly at the sight of an incoming owl. Harry’s face lit up as she paid the owl and opened the paper. All eyes were on her.

“WIZARDS OF THE PAST, ALIVE!” Ginny’s voice was shaking now, “Those who died fighting against You-Know-Who are alive again in a magical mystery of epic proportions.”

She stopped reading and stared at Harry. “Does this mean?” the end of the question was stuck in her throat.

“I don’t get it?” Teddy interrupted.

“In a miracle of magic that no one can explain, The dead are alive again,” Harry scooped his godson onto his lap as a shocked Ginny sat down, now reading the paper again.

“My Parents?” He snapped his head to look at Harry. “Are they still dead?” The hope in Teddy’s eyes was everything that Harry had been waiting for.

“They are not, I’ve talked to them in the last couple of days.” Teddy began whooping and cheering so loudly that he started coughing, and then he continued to whoop though the fit.

“Harry this can’t be real…” Ginny whispered.

“It has to be Ginny. I shook Fred’s hand three days ago,” Harry would have continued if not for three successive people flooing into his living room.

“Harry Potter!” Hermione yelled from the living room.

“In the kitchen,” He handed Teddy over to Andromeda and stood up to see Hermione, still in her pajamas, flustered in the doorway. Ron and George were behind her.

“Is this a joke?” George asked hurriedly.

“It’s not, I’ve spoken to him within the last couple of days.” No one asked who Harry was referring to.

“Who else have you talked to?” Ron asked. George sat down in front of a half-eaten cereal bowl.

“Yesterday, and Tuesday I was chosen to speak to the crowd of those who’ve come back. On Tuesday we didn’t think about those who would come find me after, so when I was done…” Harry took a deep breath as Ginny wrapped her arms around him, “I met my parents, and Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Fred. Teddy you’re parents asked about you the first second they saw you, and George your brother says hi, and that he’s sorry.” George nodded solemnly.

“Have you seen Ed?” Andromeda asked, cuddling Teddy tightly.

“Oh yeah! I talked to him on day one, but he doesn’t know that it was me.”

The floo erupted to Molly and Arthur Weasley causing the level of energy to increase as Harry repeated himself, and answered more subsequent questions.

“You’ll get to see them by Friday, and if we start filling out paperwork that the newspaper supplied we can speed up that process.” This answer caused a flurry of movement in which Hermione took the Potter’s daily prophet and began duplicating copies of the paperwork for others to fill out.

The flurry ended quickly as quills began working fast. Teddy looked over at Harry, the only two who were not writing.

“What did they ask?” He whispered. Harry picked his godson up from his grandma and moved towards the living room as Percy and Audrey flooed over smiling.

They sat down on the big comfy chair in the middle of the room. Teddys hair was a bright bubblegum pink, and looking close you could see flakes of a sandy brown mixed inside.

“They asked about you,” Harry smiled as Teddy pretended he hadn’t started smiling.

“I can tell them everything Harry!” he whispered. “I can tell them about how the bunnies eat the carrots from gramdromedas garden. Grandma always said that Mommy loved the bunnies!! Maybe Dad will like them to! I can see if they both like bunnies Harry!,” he gasped “Maybe they'll get me a bunny!”

Teddy kept rambling for the next several minutes as the Weasley family finished their paperwork and made their way into the Potters’ living room. Neville and his family joined soon and the room was livid with introductions and cries of joy. Alice and Frank were overjoyed to meet Harry, and talked to him for a few minutes about his parents and how proud they were going to be. No more talk of how proud they would be. Now everyone talked about what was going to be. The change brought tears to Harry’s eyes.

The family began discussing possibilities and memories, no one leaving as no one wanted to be alone. After about an hour the first of the owls came back with news of the resurrecteds’ relocation. Harry and Percy had explained several times that relocation requests would work fastest with parents and children, and spouses. Hence, Arthur filled out Fred's request rather than George. If there was no parent or child to be sent to, then people could fill out requests for a resurrected that they would like to live with them, and if the resurrected also requested to live with them then they would be sent to their house. This is how they requested Sirius  

The owl that had arrived first nearly flew away due to the flurry of people who had met it at the window. The letter was addressed to Andromeda Tonks, who promptly paid the owl and opened the letter.

The room grew eerily silent, excepting Teddys polite shuffling through to have a look at the letter his gran would have to read to him.

“Ed's coming home tomorrow!” she cried “He'll be here by lunch tomorrow!”

Harry and Ron helped her over to a chair as she was reduced to tears. Molly met her there and held the older woman as she cried of joy. Once he'd made his way over, Teddy squealed with joy next to his grandma. His grandpa was not as exciting as his parents, but nevertheless he was overjoyed about it.

Chapter Text

Before Harry and Percy left for work at 10, four more owls had arrived announcing Fred, Lily, James, and Tonks return over the next two days. The work day lasted forever. All anyone wanted to talk about was the excitement of the announcement, and how well they were doing. Instead all upper level ministry officials were put into meetings to discuss safety, the economy, and how important a friendly and honest ministry appearance was. The 45-minute meetings felt like two hours, and the two-hour long meetings seemed to take weeks.

Every time Harry passed Percy in the hallway, they gave each other exasperated smiles. No one wanted to work today, but everyone was willing to because their family members weren’t home yet. While the heads bustled around press conference and logistical meetings, they all congratulated the real heroes of the day. The clerks which sorted the incoming requests, especially those from friends rather than family. This job gave a team of thirty clerks more praise and visibility than they had seen in much of their lives, and they weren’t aware that they would be doing it until they were being handed request forms.

One clerk had stumbled over his sentence several times upon seeing Harry Potter personally thank him for signing of on Sirius Black’s arrival at his house two days from now. It was a weird day for everyone.

Getting home late that night, Harry was met with the entire Weasley family, the Longbottoms, the Lovegoods, and Kingsley himself. They were in the backyard having a bonfire, as the living room would not fit half of them on seats. Teddy was sleeping on Ginny’s pregnant belly with a small blanket over himself. Molly and Andromeda were sipping wine glasses as they talked and cried near the fire. Four-year-old Victoire was running her one-year old sister Dominique around to catch fireflies, and Bill and George were watching them. Everyone was conversing loudly, and Harry caught Neville with his parents, wrapped up in a story that Hermione seemed to keep correcting him about.

“He did just as much as us, he just did it in the broad daylight of death eaters!” Harry heard Hermione exclaim. He pulled up a chair and joined the two in talking to Alice and Frank.

Harry and Ginny were some of the first to go to bed that night. A lot of the Weasley’s stayed later, using the backyard of the house which Harry had locked behind him. He had to work the next day, and she had a baby on the way. Laying in bed, however, neither could fall asleep.

“I just can't believe it,” Ginny whispered, “What on earth did we do to deserve this.”

Harry didn’t respond for a few minutes, leading Ginny to continue.

“Harry,” Her whisper grew softer, “You don’t know what did this did you? I know that officially it's a mystery, but do you know?”

The room was quiet again as Harry contemplated the third lightning bolt scar that his wife had yet to see. Like his first and second deaths, there had been no repercussions except a scar. His second scar was over his heart, a frightening place, but it had yet to be noticed by the public. The third scar was directly over his belly button. It could stay hidden from most, but when life grew normal again, Ginny would notice that Harry had been changing in the bathroom. Even if this didn’t happen, Ginny would notice if he never let her see him shirtless again.

“I know.” He whispered. Harry had asked Kingsley for a private meeting as soon as he could. “And by order of the minister of magic I am allowed to tell you, and my doctor.”

“What?!” Ginny sat up straighter, her voice louder. “Why does your doctor need to know?”

Harry took a deep breath and sat up with her. “Because he’s the only other person who will see an uncovered, uncharmed image of my torso.” Harry’s voice was soft, “Our kids aren’t allowed to know Ginny, Teddy neither.”

“What happened?” The shock in her face reminded Harry of when she read the paper that morning, except now there was fear in her eyes.

“Augustus Rockwood, one of Riddle’s original cronies, shot me with the killing curse,” Harry paused as Ginny let out a small gasp, “I talked to Dumbledore again,” A tear welled in his eye, “And then I got us home as fast as possible so that I could talk to Kingsley and McGonagall.”

“Harry you died?” Ginny let herself fall back onto her pillows, “Again?”

He nodded.

“Why?” the shock still coursed through her.

“Because we were under attack, and we weren’t prepared.” He answered calmly. “If it means anything, Augustus died.”

“But so, did you,” She whispered.

“Yeah,” Harry sighed.

The room was quiet again. It stayed quiet for a while.

“Harry your parents are going to be here tomorrow, and every day after that!” Ginny whispered. “I don’t know how to be upset, I don’t know how to be sad about this because you’re here and you’re going to be okay. I don’t want to be happy about this, but I don’t know what else to feel.”

“I’m happy too Gin’,” He let out a breath. “I’ve just been avoiding thinking about it. I can’t think about it.”

“What do you mean? Harry they're alive! You've seen them for God sake!”

“And when I saw them nothing else mattered. When I saw them, all logic went to hell, and I couldn't speak and I was functionally useless for about half an hour.” he sighed, “I know that they're alive, but the force of emotion is just as much as their death, and I can't deal with that while I'm working.”

Ginny relaxed into him. “That’s fair, it’s a lot to process. Andromeda nearly fell, Mom broke down at the thought of Fabian and Gideon babysitting again.”

Harry let out a laugh, “She wants her brothers to babysit for her?”

She probably thinks she wants them to babysit for us”. Ginny smirked.

“The minute your mother lets anyone except herself babysit her grandchildren will be a notable day in history.”

Ginny laughed, “She does pretty good with letting Fleurs parents babysit, I bet she’ll let your parents watch ‘em too.” The room was quiet again, but this time not for long, “You hadn’t thought of them as grandparents yet had you?” She asked quietly.

“No,” Ginny could barely hear him, “But Ginny, I need to be able to get to sleep tonight. I work again tomorrow and then its chaos for a couple days.” He sighed again, “I need to be ready to see them tomorrow night Ginny.” She watched as a tear dripped down his cheek.

“How’s your deputy doing?” She asked quietly, “Is he gonna be able to take over when you’re ready to leave?”

His body relaxed and he rolled closer to Ginny “Yeah, Sherwood's essentially been doing my job while I run around these high-end meetings every day. I can probably talk Kingsley into letting me quit the week after business resumes as normal.”

“Really?” Ginny was getting no closer to sleep.

“Yeah, I need to review what he's done, but there haven't been any complaints that have made their way up to me.”

“Would you be youngest head auror in history and shortest serving?”

“Not even close!” Harry laughed, “There was a guy who served three days and poorly embezzled five-thousand dollars in that time. He wasn't told that he should train his deputy before he left.”

“You're only embezzling a couple hundred a day, right?”

“$230 every Monday.” he smiled as his wife snickered, “Gotta take it slow so that we don't get caught.”

“We!”

“You're an accomplice now, you're just as guilty as I am”

“Then why would you tell me?”

“You're the one who manages the money, I'm surprised you hadn't noticed.”

“I assumed it was for good behavior,” she yawned, “Now I know better than to assume that from you.”

Both smiled as their eyes drifted closed. The party in their backyard finally closed at 3 am with George and Ron singing a bad rendition of God Save the Queen.

Chapter Text

A/N: I know the last chapter was short, but hopefully this one makes up for it! Also, to those following regularly I am going to start updating every two weeks so that I can maintain a writing pace that similarly matches the publishing pace. Thanks for reading! please review!

-Polkadot4946

If it was possible for time to move slower than it did on Friday, it had. Harry felt like every meeting took days. He and Percy both finished their last meeting at 7:00pm. Harry's parents were expected at his house in an hour, and Fred should be flooing into the burrow early the next morning.

Upon flooing home, he found his living room full. Harry’s eyes jumped to Andromeda who was sitting very close to her husband, her eyes still slightly red as her head lay on his shoulder. He smiled big. Looking to the left of them, his heart skipped a beat. Teddy was beaming in light brown hair, on the lap of his father, Remus Lupin.

Harry might have stood there in shock for a while, but Teddy grabbed his attention.

“MY DAD’S HOME!!!!” He shrieked, “Harry he’s right here, I’m sitting in his lap and his favorite animal is a dog! Harry, I know what his favorite animal is now!”

Teddy nearly jumped of his dad’s lap before looking back at him and then curling back into him. He settled on cuddling closely to his dad and looking directly at Harry.

“I can hug him and kiss him and cuddle him, and when I start coughing it’s my dad who helps me, not someone else, and he says that he loves me more than I can know just like you told me he would, and he says that I’m his favorite little boy in the world which is crazy, and I can’t believe it Harry!” Teddy stopped to breath heavily, and shy away into his dad.

Remus stood with Teddy in his arms and moved towards Harry.

“We’re going to have to hug with Teddy in my arms, because I don’t think he’s going to let go of me until the last second.” Remus enveloped Harry with one arm, and both could hear Teddy still breathing heavily as they held onto each other for several long moments. “Thank you,” Remus whispered to Harry so that Teddy couldn’t hear Harry nodded blankly, unable to comprehend Remus’s presence.

The two stepped away from each other, “I’m not complaining, but why are you home so soon?”

“It’s full moon tonight, they pushed a couple of us to the front of the list so that we could be home when it started in about an hour. I surprised this little goof right after dinner.”

“It was crazy Harry,” Teddy was still breathing shallowly, so he couldn’t scream in excitement in quite the same way. “He just flooed in without any notice, and I was napping with grandma Molly on the big chair, and I thought it was just Gramdromeda and Grandpa Ed coming back so I stayed sleeping.” He took a big breath in, “And then Grandma Molly gave a big gasp and shook me really hard, and I started to complain to her, but then I looked up at her, and she was looking scared at the floo, well now I know that she was just shocked, but I thought she was scared, so I thought it was a bad guy, and I looked at the floo but instead it was my DAD!” He yelled the last word before settling into Remus and breathing quickly.

“That’s amazing Teddy!” Harry ruffled his brown hair, “My dad is coming home in about an hour,” Harry spoke to Remus now, “I bet he’d go with you tonight.”

“He will do no such thing,” Remus moved back towards the couch.

“We already talked to him Harry,” Ginny said from the recliner, “You’re not allowed to disagree.”

“Your father will spend his first hours here with you.” Remus stated, “There will be plenty of full moons in the future where James and Sirius can accompany me. For now, he will be with you.”

The idea of putting up a fight left Harry as he imagined his dad coming home only to leave seconds later. Remus was right, Harry had been waiting several days, nevermind the last 23 years of his life, for this moment and no one was going to take it away from him.

“Thank you,” Harry nodded at Remus, he then heard Ginny sigh in relief from the chair.

“I’d placed all my betting money on you accepting that Harry, so it’s a good thing you did,” Ginny said with a smirk.

“I personally had my bets placed on your fight lasting until your parents came in and you realized we were talking sense.” Arthur joked, “You took that well.”

“He wants to see his dad!” Teddy seemed offended at Arthur’s surprise, “And if his dad leaves then he’s worried that he’ll never see him again. Of course, he’s gonna let him stay.”

The room grew quiet as Teddy curled impossibly tighter into his father’s arms.

“You just about nailed it Teddy,” Harry sat down on the couch next to Remus. “I’m assuming you’ve talked to Hermione?”

“Yes, I have,” Remus smiled, grateful for the change of subject, “She told me where to floo to and how to get registered tomorrow morning.”

Remus’s smile had grown, and Harry could tell that Hermione had spent some time discussing reformed werewolf law with him. The man’s death had been more influential in werewolf politics than anyone else. This included Fenrir Greyback who was killed by an auror a month later, with many claiming that his absence allowed fear of werewolves to decrease. Hermione however found data which nearly proved that Remus’s fight against Riddle, as well as Teddy’s orphanage, had a greater impact.

“Harry dear, do you want something to eat?” Molly asked, “I made dinner for everyone, it’s in the kitchen.

Harry nodded and moved into the kitchen where the Longbottoms, Ron, and George were loudly watching Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes Products in action. He grabbed a bowl of chili and began silently eating it.

“Did you see Remus?” Ron asked, “He’s back already!”

“Actually Ron, the family let me make my way to dinner before Teddy could announce his dad’s return. I had no idea that Remus was in the living room.”

“Fair enough, it’s still crazy though. I still can’t believe it even with them sitting there.”

“I was telling Ginny last night,” Harry set his spoon down, lost in thought “This feels just as hard to comprehend as their death, except it’s not utter shit.”

The group laughed a little, but then seemed to be encompassed by their own thoughts. Harry saw Alice, whose hand was on Neville’s, give a little squeeze causing his attention to go up to her. They both smiled at each other.

“Hey!” Ron looked at Harry, “Hermione and I were talking earlier about how crazy it was that Dumbledore wouldn’t come back. She was going off about how interesting it would be to see what would happen to people who changed their mind last minute. She was going off about Snape for a while, but then she realized that Regulus might be back. What do you think?”

Harry sat still for a while. “I don’t know,” He answered honestly. “We could put in a request for him, but there’s no way he puts one in for us, he doesn’t even know we exist.”

“Can you pull some things at work?”

“No,” Harry shook his head sadly, “They’re not really letting any string pulling get done for a few days for P.R. reasons. We’ll have to wait for Sirius to get home so he can fill out the form and get Regulus here.”

“But you think he’s back?” Ron leaned forward.

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t be,” Harry shrugged as he ate his chili.

The next hour was full of laughter and stories and joy at the return of Remus and Ed, for most in the room it went by fast. For Harry, time dragged on. For Teddy, time was lightening quick. The tantrum that occurred when Remus announced his need to leave resulted in Harry forcing the wheezing boy off his father as Remus hurried to the floo in order to make his arrival time. Teddy remained their crying for the next couple minutes as the rest of the room slowly began chattering again.

At 8:08pm the floo erupted to the sight of James, then Lily Potter. The room went quiet at the sight.

“Err… We’re supposed to be at Harry Potter’s house, he’s our…” Her sentence trailed off as she spotted Harry on the floor with a five-year-old, suddenly quiet, in his arms.

“Hiya,” Harry waved. Andromeda quickly motioned for Teddy to move onto her lap, an instruction which he obliged to.

“Why don’t we step outside quick,” Harry suggested, standing up and walking towards the kitchen which lead to the backyard. In the doorway of the kitchen stood Alice and Frank Longbottom.

“Lily,” Alice whispered, “You’re still so young!”

Lily gave a half-hearted smile and took James’s’ hand. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” The couple allowed themselves to be led to the backyard with Harry. They made their way over to the bench outside and sat down in silence.

“How are you?” James asked from Harry’s right.

Harry turned around to answer but found himself engulfed in a hug from either side.

“I’m in shock,” He said from between them, “I’ve almost a week now to understand what’s going on, and I still don’t know what to do.”

“If it helps, neither do we,” Lily smiled, a tear falling down her cheek. “We just showed up and our baby boy was twenty-four years old, and from the looks of it you have a son.”

“What?!”

“No?” James asked.

“I mean, Ginny’s pregnant, but I don’t… Oh! Teddy!”

“Teddy?” Lily asked.

“Pregnant?” James spoke at the same time.

“You know who Teddy is?” Harry asked slowly.

“No,” they answered in unison.

“He’s a kid who was orphaned in the war, his grandma and I take care of him.” Harry left out important details so that Remus could surprise James later. “He’s a real cutie.”

“Pregnant?” James asked, accepting the answer to Lily’s question.

“Oh yeah, Ginny and I are expecting a baby in about two months.” Harry stopped at the end of the sentence. His parents would meet his child. They would be there when the kid was born. They would be able to hold them.

“We’re going to be grandparents?” Lily whispered more to herself than anyone.

“Yeah,” Harry responded.

A comfortable silence stretched between them as they sat down on the porch steps, arms still around each other.

“Ginny is Molly Weasley’s daughter,” Harry said, “She was born a few months before you guys died.”

“I remember that!” Lily said, “Molly was so happy!”

Harry looked to see his parents smiling proudly at him. They looked just like the stone sculpture that he passed every Christmas in Godric’s Hollow. That made everything even more surreal.

“Sirius is coming home the day after tomorrow, and Remus is-”

“We want to hear about you, Harry.” His mom interrupted him. “What house are you in, what’s your favorite subject, why did you want to become an auror, what was your first word?”

Harry sat there for a few seconds. There were absolute strangers who knew the answers to most of the questions they wanted to know. The general public could pick up a book and read about his favorite subject, but his parents didn’t know.

He began answering their questions, purposefully skipping anything that would give away his life at the Dursleys. They would talk about that, but not tonight. He started asking them questions. How did they start dating? Why did they get married so young? How hard was it to become an animagus?

They seemed to find it slightly unnerving to be asked such specific question by a son they hadn’t told anything. The conversation was forced and awkward at times, but overall it was one of the best moments of Harry’s life.

After a few hours Ginny knocked on the door before opening it to her husband and his parents.

“Harry, I’ve gotta get some sleep, everyone else has gone home. You guys can take your time, just wanted to let you know.” Ginny said, leaning on the doorway.

“Thanks for staying up,” Harry stood up, his mom and dad behind him following his lead “I’d like you to meet my parents. Mom, Dad, this is my wife Ginny Potter.”

Ginny moved to shake hands and was pulled into a hug by both Potters. “You know your son’s a real jerk.” She said as Lily finished hugging her. “He waited a year and a half into our marriage before I could even meet his parents. He’s so immature.”

The space grew more comfortable with the joke. “You should’ve seen his behavior when I knew him,” Lily sassed, “He pooped on me several times.”

“And one time he ran around the living room naked and we couldn’t get him to stop laughing about it for days.” James joined in the fun “He giggled every time I changed his diaper and tried to get off the changing table. We considered trying to potty train him at one but didn’t think he’d have the self-control.”

“I wonder if the giggling lasted into the Dursleys house,” Ginny’s joke fell to a dead audience as James and Lily both looked stunned from Ginny to Harry.

“Vernon Dursley?” Lily asked quietly. All eyes fell on Harry.

“When did you live with that son of a bitch?” James sounded angry.

“You moved in with Petunia?” Lily was upset too.

“Who the hell put you with him and his spoiled brat of a son!” James was yelling now.

“Stop please,” Harry whispered. Ginny gave him a worried look, noticing how small he looked.

“There is no way that we would ever have allowed you to be taken care of by them! What the hell happened?”

Harry took a step back and Lily noticed how scared he was.

“James,” She put a hand on his arm. The room froze looking at Harry. He felt their eyes on him and his heart was beating in his ears. A distant part of him was screaming to run away.

“We can talk about it later,” James’s tone changed to one of fatherly worry. “I… it’s not important now.”

Harry nodded, his breath evening out slightly.

“Am I good to go to bed Harry?” Ginny tried to keep it casual, but they could all hear the worry in her voice.

He nodded again.

“Get him to tell you about the dragon he rode out of Gringotts,” She said standing up out of her chair. Harry gave her a hand as his parents smiled.

“He told us that one,” James said.

“He did not?!” Ginny gasped, “You must be pretty special he never brags.”

This calmed the room down and Harry felt himself stand up taller as his mother pulled him into a tight hug.

“We should maybe go to bed too,” Lily yawned.

“I can show you where you’re sleeping,” Harry walked inside and towards the stairs with the rest of the family following him. He stopped in front of the guest bedroom and Ginny smiled as she made her way into their room and closed the door behind herself.

The three pulled themselves into a tight hug. The last bits of panic left Harry as he felt their embrace, and everything felt okay again. The awkwardness of the last few hours didn’t matter, the Dursley’s could wait, and he didn’t have to work for the next couple days. Everything was good.

Eventually his parents moved into their room and Harry told them where everything in the house was. Awkwardness fell back to the three when told them about where food was and that they could have anything they’d like. He had to treat his parents like guests new to the house. All the awkwardness fell away when they smiled at him and told him goodnight.

“I love you guys,” He said as he was closing the door. It wasn’t the first time he said it, and it wasn’t the first time they told him that they loved him too, but it still felt like the world.

Chapter Text

The kitchen was bustling with movement when the floo erupted that morning. Teddy’s giggles could be heard as Harry looked into the living room to see Remus Lupin holding the blue haired boy, with Andromeda and Ed flooing in close behind.

“We’re in here,” Harry called as the group made their way across the carpet and into the kitchen. James and Lily were both sitting down, ready to eat when Remus walked through the door.

Remus shifted his weight so that Teddy was holding onto one side of him more than the other. He looked quite good considering the transformation of the previous night.

“James,” He began, “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” Teddy giggled again and then coughed aggressively into his dad’s shoulder. The worry that lit up on Remus’s face must’ve given him away, because Lily and James both gasped.

“He’s not yours is he Remus?” James stood up and moved towards the pair.

“I am!” Teddy squealed, “He’s my daddy and he’s here!! He’s not dead anymore! He’s Here!”

“Remus!” Lily ran forward to hug him, “That’s amazing! Why didn’t you tell us at the ministry?”

“It is Tonk’s right?” James asked. The anger in his dad’s face concerned Harry, but it quickly dissipated when Remus confirmed that Teddy was his and Tonks son.

“And you’re Harry’s Parents!” Teddy’s yells caused another coughing fit, this time producing phlegm to worry James and Lily.

“Are you okay?” Lily asked. She looked worriedly at Remus.

“I have cystic fibrosis.” the boy responded confidently. “It means that I have way too much gunk in my lungs.”

Harry and Ginny smiled at the definition that they had taught Teddy. His words seemed to please James and Lily for the moment, which was good, as Nymphadora Tonks chose that moment to floo into the house.

“Hello” She called.

“MOM!!!!!!!!!!” Teddy screamed, wiggling free from his father’s hands, stumbling onto the floor and running into his mother’s open arms.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You’re here and you’re alive, and I can touch you, and I can hug you, and I can talk to you, and I can see you and…” Teddy’s breath caught up to him and he fell into his mother’s embrace.

“Woah!” She exclaimed, sitting on the floor with Teddy in her arms. He opened his eyes and weakly curled into her. Tonks looked up at Remus who was standing next to her.

“It’s okay,” Andromeda assured, “He’s just overexcited, and who can blame him. Come sit on the couch with me so that your husband and I don’t have to make our way onto the floor.”

Remus gave Andromeda a thankful look as they all sat down on the couch.

“Let’s give them some space,” Ginny whispered, ushering everyone back into the kitchen.

“He has a kid,” Lily whispered, “I never thought I’d see him that happy again.”

“Me neither,” James agreed.

The room was quiet again, Harry staring at a moment that his parents were sharing. James gave Lily a kiss and they sat down to eat the breakfast that had been made before most had woken up.

“Thanks for breakfast Ginny!” Lily said before taking another bite.

“I can’t cook to save my life! Thank Harry.” Ginny responded

Lily looked to Harry, “You must not get everything from your father then,” She winked “Because this is delicious.”

James laughed with the rest of the room, and conversation began around the table.

“Where did you learn to cook?” Lily asked Harry. “My sister didn’t teach you, did she?”

A small silence ensued as Harry tried to figure out how to answer. “Why don’t we talk about that later, when we’re alone and I can explain it better.”

His parents shot each other worried looks but allowed the topic to move on.

“Do you cook mom?” Harry asked.

“Not quite this good, but my mom taught ‘Tuney and I when I was younger.”

Harry forced himself not to react to his aunt’s nickname. He had only ever heard it in Snape’s memories five years ago.

“We had a house-elf that cooked for us, so I didn’t even know how to make a grilled cheese until your mom taught me” James added.

“Don’t tell Hermione that.” Harry’s eyes went wide. “She’s huge for house elf rights.”

“House-elf rights? Pinsey loved what she did! We even let her wear clothes to because it made her feel pretty, but she didn’t want to leave.”

“Hermione won’t care.” Harry told him, “And times have changed, a lot of house elves are liking freedom now that they know what it is.”

“She’ll fight you over it too,” Ginny said, “It doesn’t matter what Pinsey did or said or how well you treated her, or how awkward of a time it is, Hermione Weasley will fight you over the rights of every being on this earth.”

“I like her already,” Lily smiled. Harry beamed back at her.

Breakfast continued normally, with the Lupins and Tonks joining in after several minutes alone in the living room. Teddy’s face was pale, and Remus looked exhausted, but both had excitement vivid in their smiles. Teddy was still in blue pajamas with penguins on them, and he was being held tightly by his mother who was whispering answers to questions that Teddy was breathing to her.

Remus was laughing with James and Lily as they talked with Harry and occasionally Ginny. Ron and Hermione came over to join, claiming that Ron couldn’t sit still at home and didn’t want to run to his mom's an hour before his brother was scheduled to be home. He wasn’t eating and was taking every chance he had to stand up and do something.

Ginny was just as anxious, but her belly prohibited her from moving around as frequently. She settled on a non-stop smile and occasionally squeezing her husband’s hand.

After breakfast, Ron and Ginny excused themselves to the burrow, saying that the family would send an owl when they were ready for guests. Hermione excused herself to her own house so that she could work on paperwork in peace for a few moments. Though Harry suspected that she just didn't want to interrupt.

The Lupin-Tonks family had gone back to the living room to talk in private leaving Harry with his parents. Harry had been telling them about George and Fred when the conversation fell into a quiet lull.

“Where did you learn to cook?” Lily asked tentatively.

Harry could tell that his parents were hoping he'd say that he picked it up in adulthood. He also knew that they didn't expect that.

“I figured it out at the Dursleys,” he looked at the table and took a deep breath. “I know that what you're about to hear is going to be angering, and that's fine, it pisses me off too. Just,” he paused. “Please don't yell or slam your fists or anything like that,” another pause, “Ginny and I have learned that I don’t handle anger well when the Dursleys come up. I'll shut down, and nothing good will come from that.”

“Could you sleep last night?” James asked. Harry didn't look up, but he could hear the worry in his father's voice.

“No, but that wasn't your fault. It was a long confusing day and I have a hard time getting to sleep on my good nights.”

“Are you okay Harry?” his mother asked.

Harry sighed. “I'm a lot better now.” he looked up at her with a smile. “We can get into it later, but my school years were hellish. I was the picture of the war until it was over, and I didn't really have the chance to be a kid. So, I've got enough PTSD for several people. But I'm doing a lot better.”

The lull returned as Harry realized it was time to tell them about Number 4 Privet Drive. He studied the grains of the wood and began with the cupboard under the stairs. He told them how he cooked for the house and did the chores Petunia didn't want to do. He talked about meeting Hagrid, and Dobby’s cake. He let them laugh as he recounted the ten-tongued-toffee that Fred and George had snuck Dudley, and the wine glasses that Dumbledore had allowed to float into their heads. He told his mom about Petunias words when he left, and how he had yet to contact them since he was ensured they were still alive after the war.  

When he was done, they all sat quietly. Harry heard his dad breathing heavily and his mom was sniffling beside him.

“Why weren't you sent to Sirius?” James asked. His voice was low, but not noticeably angry. Harry appreciated that.

“That's a really complicated question. The short answer is Dumbledore.”

“And Sirius didn't throw a fit?” James was whispering now, but the annoyance was apparent in his voice.

“He was framed for Peter's death and thrown into Azkaban without a trial.”

“WHAT!” James must not have noticed how hard Harry flinched. The man jumped to his feet so quickly that Harry felt as though he was suddenly towering him. Lily put her hand on her son's shoulder as James yelled at the world.

“Without a trial! I'm sure he was blamed for our deaths too! No one thought look into-” he stared shocked at the wall. “Peter's dead?”

“That's almost as complicated of a question as to why I lived with the Dursleys.”

“Shouldn't that be a yes or no?” Now James seemed to direct his anger at Harry.

“Please calm down.” Harry resisted the burning urge to answer his father's question. If he just explained it this would all be over. If he just complied, then maybe his dad wouldn't be mad at him. If he asked his dad why he hadn’t thought of that, then the situation would escalate but he’d be in control. He could have taken control for sure. He could’ve taken all attention towards him and cracked a wise one. But he needed the anger to stop now. He cared about his dad too much to escalate this. He needed to breath. His dad wasn’t doing this on purpose.

The room was very quiet as Harry's last threads of self-control tested themselves. James was still staring now shocked at his own behavior. Lily had her hand on Harry's shoulder and was only looking at him.

“Sorry,” James whispered.

Harry let out a deep breath. He placed his head into his hands and allowed his mother to lean him into her. James moved back into his seat as the door to the kitchen opened. It was Remus.

“We all thought Peter was dead James,” Remus walked over to the table. “We all thought that Sirius had killed him, the evidence was damning.”

Harry felt a slight ping of jealousy as James responded to Remus’s words better than his own. Lily pulled Harry closer as both adults shed a few tears.

The two men talked briefly about Sirius and the muggles that Peter had killed. They talked about the finger that he left behind, and Remus was kind enough to skip over the part where Pettigrew was Ron's pet.

“So, he’s dead now?” Lily asked when Remus had finished.

The room stared at Harry.

“He was dead.” Harry was suddenly more lost in thought than before.

“How in earth could he have come back Harry?” Remus asked. “Surely you're not counting the little good that he did before he helped Voldemort rise from the grave.”

“No, he saved my life. Right before he died, he saved my life.”

The others stared at each other. Harry kept staring at a smudge he had found on the table.

“So, Sirius and I might finally get to off him?” Remus asked.

“What?!” James all but yelled.

“That act of mercy is why Wormtail saved my life.” Harry muttered back. “He felt indebted to me, and Riddle’s silver hand didn’t appreciate that. So, it offed him.”

“Riddle?” Lily asked.

“Voldemort.” Harry answered, not caring to explain. He stood up to move towards an owl and parchment.

The floo erupted and Harry jumped, wand gripped tightly.

“You guys can come over!” Ginny yelled from the fireplace. “He’s home and George is pretending that he’s not crying, and they’re showing off new products and its fantastic, and everyone’s invited and we’re gonna have lunch. Oh, it’s amazing!”

“You sound like Teddy,” Harry heard Andromeda say from the living room.

Ginny worked her way into the kitchen where she saw the four adults saddened and worrisome. She looked at her husband and saw the look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, walking towards him. The worry was evident in her eyes.

“Peter might be alive again,” He accepted her hug and helped modify it around the baby bump.

“I assumed he was,” Ginny answered, “I figure after a good trial he’ll go to Azkaban for a bit.”

“Yeah,” Harry answered. Ginny squeezed him again.

“Are you okay?” She made sure only he could hear.

“Not really,” He whispered back. He then raised his voice to speak to the room. “Go on over, I need to change out of my pajamas and will be over in a bit.”

“I need to change into comfier clothes. I thought I could do jeans today, but there's too much movement, and not enough circulation in my feet. I’ll wait with Harry.”

They didn’t seem to believe that both Potters needed to change, but quickly left them alone just the same.

“I asked them not to yell.” Harry sat down as the last person flooed to the burrow. “I told them not to yell at me, at least not while we were talking about the Dursleys. I told them that I wouldn’t be able to handle it.” His hands were over his face as he leaned forward.

“Did they?” Ginny frowned.

“My dad didn’t like that Sirius was imprisoned.” Harry explained.

“Oh,” Ginny put her arms around him.

“I haven’t gone back there in years Ginny. Even yesterday it was fast enough that nothing really happened. Today was bad. It was awful. It still is.”

“You don’t want to go to the burrow, do you?” She asked.

“I honestly haven’t even gotten that far ahead yet.”

Ginny sat quietly for a bit, obviously worried about him.

“I’ll stay here with you for a bit, why don’t you call Sammy and make an appointment.” She was Harry’s therapist, a woman who he hadn’t seen in three weeks because he had been doing better. They had appointments every five weeks, a situation which worked well for him. She was very good with privacy and specialized in post-traumatic stress.

Harry stared at his wife. “You’re a genius.”

“I know.”

“How did I not think of that days ago.”

“You’ve been a bit busy Harry,” Ginny rubbed his back. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes.

“Do you think my parents blame themselves?”

“That’s not your fault.” Ginny answered firmly. “You gave them fair warning. If they feel bad about it then they’ll do better in the future.”

“They didn’t do anything wrong though Ginny, anyone would’ve been angry.”

“I wouldn't have yelled. Mom wouldn’t have yelled. Ron and Hermione wouldn’t have yelled. We know you better and know how much it can hurt you when we get angry at your aunt and uncle. They will learn just like we did. I felt awful the first time I yelled at you about them. Awful. It wasn’t your fault, and it made me a better person. They will learn.”

Harry nodded and they sat quietly again.

“Will you be okay if I go back to the burrow?” she asked quietly. “Somehow Fred still hasn't fully understood that the baby bump implies sex and I want to be there when he does.”

Harry let out a short laugh. “Take off your ring, that'll really freak him out.”

“George might kill me.”

“Shit, I forgot!” Harry laughed for real this time, “Which do you think will be worse, your being pregnant, or proof that George knocked up Fred’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Well I think I know what George's guess is. Angelina wasn't there this morning.”

“You're kidding!”

“When I asked George, he gave me a guilty look and didn't answer. He's worried about life not being perfect.”

“Percy and I talked about that over lunch on Thursday.”

“Life not being perfect?”

“Yeah, everyone is gonna want this to make them eternally happy. Now I'm sitting in the kitchen, all our family is at the burrow, and I'm trying to stop my brain from comparing my dad to uncle Vernon. This whole thing might make a few more problems than it solves.”

“Your dad is better than Vernon.” Ginny asserted, all other conversation being ignored.

“I know,” he sighed. “That's why I need to see Sammy.”

Ginny nodded and ran her hand along his back.

“You should go to the burrow. I'm gonna call her and will probably make my way over. If people will believe you, tell them that I had a nightmare last night. If not, then tell them I just needed a nap. Last night was long.”

“What do you want me to tell your parents?” Ginny stood up slowly.

“Tell them that I just need a second. I'm not mad at them.” Harry helped her stand up and they moved towards the fireplace.

“They wouldn't blame you if you were,” Ginny hugged him as tight as she could. “But it wouldn't be you if you weren’t.”

She smiled at him one last time before flooing to the Burrow.

An hour later, Harry flooed into the Weasleys living room. Tonks and Fleur were both in the living room holding a sleeping Teddy and Dominique respectively.

“Everyone's outside on brooms,” Tonks smiled, “Your dad’s really good.”

Harry's smile grew. “Thanks!” he whispered heading back into the floo.

He returned a minute later with his firebolt, running towards the backyard. A broom ride is exactly what he needed.

He came outside to yells and whoops and he saw Fred and George in the air batting a bludger back and forth, trying to knock James and Ron off their brooms. If the two had lost any rhythm since playing last, they’d picked it backup since this morning. They were a beauty to watch.

Without thinking, Harry mounted his broom and kicked off into the air. More cheers responded, and several people called out to say hello. He waved at them on his way up, and soon joined his father and friend.

“How are you doing Harry, Ginny said you were napping,” Ron asked.

“I wasn't.” he answered flipping around an incoming bludger. Harry could tell his dad was listening as best he could. “It was a rough morning, and I ended up calling Sammy.”

“Hermione was telling me last night that we'd all probably have to go back to therapy for this.”

James flew closer to join them now. “You're going to therapy?”

“Don't blame yourself,” Harry's thought was cut off as the three easy targets scattered from an incoming bludger. James was almost hit.

The game continued for almost half an hour, when James, Ron, and George were out of breath, and Fred and Harry were done watching them suffer.

“You need to work out more!” Harry jeered at Ron as they landed.

“You need to stop giving me shit for leaving the aurors.” Ron joked back. “We can’t all save the world until we’re ninety, and my time ran out a few years ago.”

“Would it kill you to do a sit up?” Harry smirked as James touched down next to him.

“I haven’t flown in months!” He said with a stretch. Then he looked at Harry, “You’re amazing!”

“Thanks,” Harry blushed, and Ron slapped him on the back before walking over to Hermione.

“Seriously, that was beautiful!” James complimented Harry.

“You should see my wife, she played professionally for a few years.”

“Which team?” There was a friendly edge to James’s voice.

“Which team would you prefer?”

“Chudley cannons.” James puffed up his chest.

“We’re gonna have some problems,” Harry laughed, “Ginny played for the Harpies.”

“She did not!” James stared at Harry. “Ignoring how stupid the team is, did she really make it on?”

“Yeah!” Harry smiled brightly.

“Damn!” James said. “Where is she?”

With a laugh, Harry and his dad walked over to where Ginny and Lily were talking.

“You played for the Hollyhead Harpies?” James asked, sitting down next to his wife.

“I did. Star chaser for the last year.” Ginny sat up proudly.

“That’s amazing!” Lily and James said in unison. Now it was Harry’s turn to be proud of his wife.

“How was it to play against the amazing Chudley Cannons?” James asked enthusiastically.

Ginny sat up straight and stiff. She looked from James, to Harry, and back to James.

“The who?” She asked.

“The AMAZING Chudley Cannons.”

“If you keep talking like that, we might not let you live in our house anymore,” Ginny joked.

The two went on for some time before the conversation moved into one of current quidditch facts. Ginny was telling James about the Quidditch world cup in the most recent season, and Lily was rolling her eyes as her husband ate it up.

“How are you doing?” Lily asked Harry as their spouses continued talking.

“I’m okay now,” He answered truthfully. “I called my therapist, she helped me figure a few things out.”

“You really didn’t like yelling, did you?”

“No, and I’m not normally like that. Any other time and I can take it, Ginny and I have yelled at each other plenty of times. The problems start when we’re talking about the Dursleys. Vernon used to get so mad at me, and when people talk about them, or get angry at them, I start to feel scared. I’m not really scared of anything, but suddenly I feel like a ten-year-old who’s hiding behind the porch because I slightly burnt the toast.”

“I’m so sorry Harry,” Lily looked sad and slightly mortified.

“It’s not your fault, you did everything you could.”

“I could have ended it on better terms with her.”

“I don’t think she would’ve cared. She didn’t like that I was a reminder of you, and so she didn’t care when Vernon wasn’t great.” Harry shrugged.

“You say this like it’s nothing, but they hurt you Harry! My sister hurt you!” Lily’s voice raised slightly.

“Mom, I know.” Harry spoke softly. “I’ve dealt with my anger at them as best I can. I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

“Sorry,” She whispered, tears forming.

“HE DID NOT!” James’s roar grabbed their attention again. “Harry did you hear about this?!” He turned to his wife and son and noticed the quiet, sad looks on their faces.

“What did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Harry answered quickly as his mom hugged his dad. “What do you want to know?”

“You sure Harry?” James asked

Lily dropped the hug and forced a smile, “We’re sure James, now go on, what did Harry need to hear about?”

“Bulgaria caught the snitch, but Ireland won?”

“I was there,” Harry laughed.

“YOU WERE THERE!?!” HE bellowed. “What was it like? How great was the uproar?”

“I’d ask Hermione,” Ginny giggled. “She went on to date the seeker who did it.”

James’s shocked face sent Ginny into a giggling fit.

“Oh shit, I’m wetting myself, I’ll be back in a second.” She excused herself.

After she’d left for the bathroom Harry looked back to his parents.

“You okay?” James asked them both.

Lily nodded, “She’s really nice.” She spoke to Harry.

“Thanks, I think so too.” Harry smiled in response as James calmed down.

“Did she really have to play for the Harpies though?”

“Her brothers ask her that all the time,” Harry laughed. “It was a bit of a running gag, see who could find a way to insult her for it first. Molly put an end to it after Arthur started to join in.

“I remember our little contests like that,” Lily smiled. “We had one where you were supposed to fit as many deer or dog related puns as you could into one sentence.”

“That sounds great!” Harry laughed. “I think I heard that one time between Remus and Sirius.”

“I’m sure you did,” James smiled, “That one started in fifth year and never really died.”

“I think Remus ended up winning because he would work on it for hours.” Lily said. “One time I asked if he wanted to work on charms with me and he said he was trying to win longest dog related insult. Apparently, Sirius had told him that if he could fit 5 dog puns into a single insult, he would give him two galleons.”

James stood still for an instant, his brain whirling behind his eyes. He then burst out laughing uncontrollably. Harry looked to his mother to explain, but she seemed just as clueless as he was.

“The bet!” He laughed, “Get Remus now!”

Remus having heard the eccentric laughter was making his way over to the trio.

“Hello?” He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“The bet!” James laughed. “The bet about the hair!”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Remus asked.

James swallowed his giggles for a few seconds. “In seventh year, you died Sirius’s hair blue.” Dawning spread across Remus’s face. “Sirius joked that if you weren’t careful you would end up marrying someone with pink hair. Your sorry ass bet Sirius twenty galleons that you wouldn't marry someone with pink hair. And Sirius was dumb enough to accept.”

James started laughing again, and Remus joined in this time.

“You were so adamant that you’d never marry anyone, that Sirius was out of his mind, and pissed that the spell was so easy to reverse. You were certain that if Sirius had put any thought into it, he would’ve realized that you were just as likely to marry a brunette as a pink haired girl.”

“I remember dying his hair too,” Remus chuckled. “I remember how pissed he was.” He turned to Harry now, a wide grin across his face. “I told him that the charm was irreversible but could wear off in three days. Five days later he came to me fuming. It hadn’t changed a bit.” Remus stopped briefly to compose himself again, laughter getting the best of him. “So, I flicked my wand and reversed the charm. Could’ve done it on day one, but this was better. He. Was. Furious.” Now Lily, Remus, and James were all laughing together. Harry had joined in, and the whole group was getting odd looks.

Tonks walked over, Teddy in her arms, and suddenly the whole group was relaying the story again. Teddy was a giggling mess, his hair a brighter pink than his mothers. Tonks’s joined in the fun and pitched in how her marriage must’ve been a ploy by Sirius to win some cheap money.

The afternoon continued to into stories of marauder shenanigans. Lily had joined in and told two stories in which James tried to exaggerate all the details. James told one story which Remus insisted was entirely fabricated, and Lily lovingly told Harry the story of how she finally started dating his father. This last story was finished as the group made their way to dinner.