Chapter Text
Yes, I am republishing these all again because the horrible mess that they currently can not be read in is driving me bonkers. The offer for PDF's of this series with summarized book context is still available, but in the meantime, I'll re-upload chapters that hopefully will be allowed up with such reduced context. Fingers crossed.
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"Come on Lils, you think that fly on the wall is going to be the death of him. Let me give him one more go," Sirius tried again for the fifth time that hour.
"I said no Sirius," Lily snapped back. "He's barely three months old, he can't even hang on by himself yet. You need both hands to steer that monstrosity."
"But I can-" Sirius began again but was interrupted by the man on the couch.
Remus glanced up from where he was sprawled comfortably out on the brown sofa. "Oh, just let it go Padfoot. There's no point in arguing with Lily when she's in a logical mood." Remus paused for breath and glanced back down at the newspaper as he finished to hide his grin. "Try it again later when Harry won't go to bed."
Sirius grinned, Lily shot him an evil look for giving Sirius false hopes, when suddenly there was a crash in the kitchen.
Faster than many could follow, Remus and Sirius had pushed Lily and the baby in her arms towards the stairs, drawn their wands, and advanced on the noise. Entering the kitchen they saw something that would turn their world upside down.
A young man was strewn across the Potters' kitchen table, which had snapped in half underneath him. The only reason this stranger was not a slug on the floor for appearing into this house was that he looked oddly familiar... but this was impossible.
James Potter was upstairs, probably trying to calm down his disturbed wife. Considering he'd been upstairs in the middle of one of his drawings, they imagined that bit of parchment wasn't going to hold his attention long after this. Sirius was half surprised he wasn't down here himself by now. This had to be true, for no matter how much he looked it, this man was not James. They had a lot of the same face, and the guy even had his black hair, but there was something slightly off.
The man on the table stirred, groaning slightly and grabbing his head as if in monumental pain. The thought that someone had tried to use a Polyjuice potion to look like James was driven out of both men's minds as the eyelids slowly parted, and they saw a pair of bright green eyes behind those glasses. Remus had been too stunned to do much of anything but stare at the strange sight before him, but now that he was seeing life in the stranger he managed to gather his wits about him. "Alright you, whoever you are, you are to get to your feet slowly. No sudden moves or I will make sure that arm of yours never moves again." He demanded in a stern voice.
The familiar eyes slid over to the side to land on the two, and he frowned as he caught sight of them. Then his face grimaced. He clutched his head, his nose scrunching up like Lily's did when she got a migraine. Sirius and Remus exchanged wary looks, wondering if this was some kind of trick, but as soon as it had started, the boy relaxed again. Once his face calmed a bit his eyes reopened. With words slurring slightly he stated, "Alright." He raised both arms above his head, then brought them back down to his side to help lift him up.
Both men felt another spasm of shock as they realized just how close in height this person was to their best friend. Turning a funny green color the man managed to right himself, giving both guys one more confused stare, then passed out again on the kitchen floor as soon as James Potter came skidding into the room.
"What the hell?!" James yelped in shock, seeing his doppelganger on the floor.
Sirius turned to him sharply and said, "James, do you have any idea what's going on?" His friend merely shook his head in shock, still staring down at the body on the floor.
"Well," Remus started cautiously while shifting his weight around. "What do we do now?"
"Obvious ain't it?" Sirius grunted. "Call some Aurors and have him carted out of our hair."
"Is that all you think about?" Remus asked with a small grin. "Your hair?"
"Well, it is marvelous," he grinned, pushing it out of his face so they could see his full grin.
James, on the other hand, surprised his two friends by saying, "No, not yet."
They both turned to him sharply as Remus snapped, "James, you can't be serious?" he quickly cut himself off by stating, "Don't even start," to Sirius before hurrying on. "A strange person just apparated into your kitchen and you want to leave him there?"
"Well," James started slowly but gained confidence as he continued. "It's just, he seems rather harmless right now, doesn't he? We should at least give him the chance to explain." Remus and Sirius both exchanged concerned and even alarmed looks.
"That's it, who are you and what have you done with James Potter?" Sirius finally spat, only half joking in light of the current situation.
James grinned and looked about ready to make a sarcastic comment until Remus seconded, "The James I know would ever leave a stranger in the house with his wife and son."
James slumped his shoulders as he reconsidered, but then his eyes landed again on the one on the floor. He straightened back up and looked his friends square in the eyes. "Look you two, don't tell me you're the ones that need glasses now? Can't you see the resemblance between us?" The other two had to agree with this.
"Well, I suppose-" Remus began slowly but was cut off by yet another harsh light appearing. All three men yelped in shock as eight objects slammed down, exactly where the other person had been. The wands had never been put away but had remained pointed at the stranger. Now they were raised instead at seven books, and a note. Cautiously Remus and Sirius walked forward, and while Sirius bent down to examine the books Remus read aloud;
'Harry,
Remus nearly stuttered and stopped in surprise right there. The idea had been lingering in the air, but saying it out loud- he cleared his throat and kept going patiently.
We're all so worried about you. That potion has never been tested before, and we're still trying to put together the pieces of what happened to you. We've full confidence that you're safe, but keep your head down, as we both know that Death Eater's a known killer.
I've sent these books in hopes it will help jog your memories. It is still too dangerous to send another person after you. We might suffer the same effects. The rest of us will follow, as soon as I can find out how. '
"That's it," Remus finished.
"These books are a bit odd too," Sirius said, prodding all seven carefully with his wand and muttering several spells to make sure there wasn't anything Dark about them. When that revealed nothing, he started flipping through each of them. "They're just numbered first, second, etcetera." He held up the skinniest book, which was solid red except a gold one on the spine, and showed it to James, who could only agree.
"This is so weird," Remus muttered, his eyes flickering back and forth between the man on the floor, his best friend across from him, the ceiling where his little cub was with his mother, and back towards the books. Sirius was merely looking down at the still asleep body, kind of bemused now. "So, what do you guys make of it?"
James sucked in a deep lungful of air before deciding. "Alright, nothing's concrete yet. I say we tie up this chap, and make him comfy on the sofa until further notice. Bring Lily and Harry down here; I don't want them out of my sight until I'm more comfortable about this. We'll read the first chapter to try and decide how legitimate this is. After that, we'll wake him up and get some confirmation."
"And what about this Death Eater?" Remus asked, perusing the letter again. "Apparently this one here's not our only visitor."
James and Sirius hesitated, both sharing dark looks before Sirius said, "That just backs up what James said all the more."
"Waking him up might not help much," Remus pointed out, still staring at the letter. "These books are here because he has no memory. This note seemed to have been written very hastily, look at how some of the words mash together. If it was any smaller I wouldn't be able to read it at all."
Sirius huffed, realizing both Remus and James were on opposite sides here, and he was the deciding factor. Then a new shiver crawled up his spine as he glanced around the oddly silent home he knew so well. "Where's Peter gone to?"
"He left," Remus frowned at him for never paying attention, at a time like this. "Said goodbye fifteen minutes ago while you were arguing with Lily, and I'm not hauling him back here, considering I don't even know where he went. Nobody should be coming or going right now until we sort this out!"
Sirius huffed and muttered his unease for that for a few more moments before finally being honest. "I'm with James. If these books and this person here really are about our little Harry upstairs, the books should confirm it one way or another. Let's work through the first chapter until we come up with a better idea anyway."
Outvoted, Remus nodded and flicked his wand. Ropes spun around the stranger's hands and feet for good measure, then Remus stepped forward and filched his robes for his wand, finding it and stuffing it in his own pocket before hovering him over to the couch. James went upstairs to fetch his wife and child. Sirius gathered the books and set them on the coffee table.
Once Lily had come down with her baby in her arms, her eyes went straight to James' duplicate. He had already explained the situation to her, and she agreed this was nothing to be hasty about, she wasn't even upset about being left out of the vote, considering Harry's safety more important. She definitely agreed with the outcome regardless, this was nothing to be hasty about. Remus almost wished she had disagreed, he still didn't feel too sure about this, but knew if she'd had another opinion she well would have spoken it to the lot of them.
Leaving the older unconfirmed Harry to the couch, Lily and James took up the love seat with their baby in Lily's arms. Remus took the recliner, and Sirius sat down on the hearth rug in front of the fire.
Remus had managed to take the book away from Sirius during all this, so it was he who opened it to the first page and read out the iconic first line of the series.
Lily's face brightened with joy at those words, and as she clutched her son to her chest she cooed, "Oh, these books are about my little Hare Bear!"
"How on Earth could you know that from the first sentence?" Remus demanded.
"My sister, Petunia, married a man named Vernon," she replied, a bit of a catch in her voice, the sting of not even being invited to that wedding still smarting a bit.
"Good to know about your horrid sister's life," Sirius said sarcastically, "but what does this have to do about Harry?"
Lily mulled that over for a moment, eyes flickering uncomfortably between the two that could be one for a moment, before announcing, "Maybe I finally make up with her. Maybe we finally get to push all that water under the bridge."
"I doubt that," James muttered so low his wife couldn't hear him, rethinking the first sentence. He did not, however, repeat himself louder because he did not want to hurt his wife's chances of this being true.
Stating the job of Uncle Vernon.
"What are drills?" James asked curiously.
"They make holes in the ground," Lily said quickly before waving Remus on.
That his wife Mrs. Dursley has a very large neck she uses to spy on neighbors.
"She hasn't changed much," Lily said with a small smile, "always been a bit nosy."
The Dursleys have a son called Dudley.
Lily pursed her lips, wondering when exactly this took place, as she had no idea whatsoever that her sister was even pregnant; they hadn't even spoken in several years.
... knew their attachment to the Potters.
For the first time, Lily started having doubts as well, but she quickly shook it off. "Perhaps they just don't want the other Muggles finding out about the wizarding world. They're trying to protect us."
Nobody had the heart to argue with her right now, they were just too on edge.
... the Potters were the opposites of the Dursleys, Undursleyish.
Lily flinched and looked down instead. There went that dream. In hopes of cheering her up Sirius piped up, "so if they get to make those kinds of words up, can I make everything cool as Siriusly as possible?"
James groaned and Remus pointed out, "Sirius, seriously is already a word. Just because you substitute your name doesn't change that."
"Rats," he muttered, snapping his fingers. Then he glanced about the room once more at the odd silence that greeted this old joke.
"Can't believe that idiots timing," James sighed as he looked longingly at the door. "He wasn't here a whole hour but to make sure we were all still alive, what was he doing he had to leave so quickly?"
Lily felt like they were just dragging this out now, and her voice came a bit snappy, "said he had to run some errands. He'll be back later."
"Why didn't he ask any of us to go with him?" James asked.
Lily rolled her eyes and stated, "He wouldn't," while pointing at Sirius. The man had just gotten in from an Order mission, even Prongs couldn't have gotten him to leave the comfort of a home after he'd just eaten. "You couldn't," she told her husband. James had never missed a bedtime yet for Harry, and nobody was going to ask him to. "I was busy with Harry. Though I don't know why he didn't ask you," she finished, turning her wide green eyes on Remus.
He shrugged and as he had no idea, would have actually liked the escape if offered because these guys were going to have him up all night even before all this, but just went back to reading, though hardly looking forward to explaining all of this to him when he showed back up. He was still trying to wrap his head around it himself.
... the Potter's had a child Dudley's age.
Lily again pursed her lips, this time in a bit of annoyance. Yes, she had written to her sister to tell her she was an Aunt now. When she hadn't gotten a reply she had tried to brush it off. Now she had learned that her sister had a boy at about the same time, and this hurt more than anything.
...they didn't want Dudley anywhere near this strange boy.
Lily's feelings had sunk even lower with every word because clearly Petunia's attitude for her had only gotten worse. The other three boys in the room however looked outraged that anyone could think such a thing about a kid like Harry.
...nothing about the weather suggests it will be different from any other day of their life.
"Well that's ominous," Sirius chuckled.
... the child is throwing a tantrum and the father's only reaction is to laugh.
All of the adults exchanged startled looks, what kind of discipline was that? They all looked down at baby Harry in his mother's lap, who was now playing with Hickory's tail. If he had acted like that there would be a minimum of a verbal warning, not encouragement!
... a cat reading a map on the corner of his street.
"What?" Sirius asked, startled.
"That's what it says," Remus confirmed.
... trick of the light, though there is a tabby cat still sitting there.
"Think it really was?" James asked curiously.
Lily shrugged and admitted, "Unless it's an animagus, what else could it have been?"
"Well, since the possibility of an animagus being in a muggle dwelling is slim to none, we'll just have to read to find out," Remus pointed out.
...went past people dressed strangely in cloaks.
"Why is that strange?" James asked.
"Muggles don't wear cloaks dear," Lily told him patiently.
"Don't they get cold?" He asked in surprise. Lily just shook her head, not wanting to get into it now.
... a man older than him in an emerald green cloak. Mr. Dursley seems outraged.
"What on Earth has gotten into us?" Remus asked, slightly amused but mostly irritated at such carelessness.
"Something really big must have happened," Sirius deduced.
Everyone else gave him 'duh' looks before Remus went on.
He convinces himself they are of some collecting group and forgets about it.
"Hopefully the rest of the Muggles got that same line of thinking, don't want someone to get suspicious," Lily decided, personally happy he didn't seem to remember the one time he'd met James, who had indeed been wearing a cloak to that dinner.
...walk across the street for a bun.
"Well, it's good to see he has a healthy diet," Sirius said sarcastically.
... with a doughnut and caught a whisper of what they were saying.
"Never mind what I said about the health thing," Sirius joked.
"We weren't paying much attention to you anyway," Remus told him without looking up.
The whispers are about the Potters, and their son Harry.
Everyone looked around at each other as that was finally addressed. It shouldn't have come as a real shock, they'd practically been waiting for this very explanation, but it wasn't at all coming in much of an understandable way. "What in the name of Merlin did we do?" James asked.
"Maybe you went on a killing spree." Sirius suggested innocently.
James threw a pillow at his best man, but as there really were no better suggestions, they looked back to Remus to continue.
... Deciding Potter must be a common surname.
"Not it's not," James snapped, "my family's a very prominent one, yet we hardly have very many lines left."
"It's actually pretty common among Muggles," Lily told him. "Come to think of it, so is my maiden name. I've met two separate people who have no relation to me at all with my old last name."
"Oh," James deflated.
... If he'd had a sister like that.
"Excuse me?" James snarled. "Like what exactly?"
"A witch," Lily told him with a straight face.
James was aware exactly how Petunia felt about them, but it didn't mean he was going to take kindly to hearing it as he still huffed.
... walked into a stranger, muttering 'sorry' on impulse.
"Well at least he has manners," Lily said, "I certainly hope he takes those home to his son." She was still thinking of that breakfast scene from before.
...because You-Know-Who is gone he could not be angered at all!
There was a huge intake of breath all around before this news truly sunk in, and then they all burst out in an explosion of happiness. It took a good while for them to all settle back down, and then James puffed up and stated, "I told you I'd be the one to do it."
"What in your fat-head makes you think that?" Remus demanded.
"Well, they said Potter. Like I said, don't think any other member of my family could have done it."
"Could have been your Grandpa," Sirius pointed out. "They did mention Harry," it was said mostly to get a further rise out of him. Voldemort hadn't even been alive when Henry 'Harry' Potter was a baby.
Lily gasped and clutched her son tighter to her, but James quickly tried to soothe her while giving Sirius a harsh look. "Don't freak her out like that."
He turned back to his wife and said, "I'm sure it has nothing to do with our son. Maybe they are talking about my granddad." Though none of them really believed that, as even now both his grandparents were rather ill, and getting on in years. She nodded quietly as she looked down at her baby. As much as it pained her to admit, she did hope that it was her grandfather in law, Harry, rather than her son. She didn't want her little Hare-Bare on the same continent as that, that horrid blight on existence.
... didn't approve of imagination.
"You know, this man's starting to remind me of my dad," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.
"That's a bit of a harsh insult," Remus noted. "We don't really know that much about this man yet. He could just be having a bad day." Sirius shrugged, he wasn't taking it back.
... the cat from that morning sitting on his garden wall, which only manages to annoy him more.
"What's wrong with cats?" Lily demanded as she tickled Hickory's ear. The cat purred in content as it wrapped its tail tighter around the baby.
... it only glares at him, leaving the man unsure as he wasn't used to cat behavior.
"Still leaning away from the oddity of the cat?" James asked Remus. Remus didn't give in easily, so he hurried on.
... a new word, shan't!
"That's a real accomplishment that is," Sirius said sarcastically.
... they brush past it and go to the news with Ted.
"Ted?" Remus asked, eyeing Sirius. "Don't suppose it's Ted Tonks? He's a muggle-born who works for a news company if I remember correctly."
Sirius rolled his eyes at Moony's not-so-subtle hint. If he wanted to get back in touch with Andromeda he would, but between the Order and this family, he'd rather been purposefully avoiding her. He still didn't know just how in touch with those sisters of hers she still was, despite her marriage claiming her the most decent member of his family.
"Could be," Lily shrugged, missing the point of the exchange as she still couldn't let her eyes on anything but the newcomer or her son. "They didn't describe him. How should we know?"
... insists there would be rain that night.
James looked more amused than anything with all this going on, it wasn't like the whole of wizard kind to go about this type of thing. He could imagine he wouldn't be much better, just the idea of Voldemort being gone from their life made him want to shoot off sparklers as well even if he'd restrain himself from really feeling hope of such a thing until it came to pass.
...they normally pretended she didn't even have a sister.
Everyone in the room looked rather upset at the reminder, but it was Sirius who looked rather guilty. Did he have any room to judge when he himself often pretended he did not have a brother for the opposite reason, for flouting his pure-blood status?
... didn't dare mention that he heard a whisper about her sister's new last name.
"Coward," James said, rolling his eyes. Though secretly he was pleased his name had this kind of effect on people.
... it is Harry and continues by insulting that name.
"Hey!" James snapped. "Don't mock my son and grandfather's name."
Lily reached for his hand and him an apologetic look for her sister. James squeezed her fingers at once, there had never been an apology needed from her.
Sirius on the other hand had something a bit more vocal to say, "Well it's a hell of a lot better than Dudley!"
... involved with that crowd, how he couldn't bear it.
"Wow, thanks," James grumbled under his breath.
This couldn't affect them.
"His wife's related to a witch," Sirius said in disbelief.
"He's not the sharpest tool in the shed is he?" Lily asked, not feeling bad one bit anymore for insulting him, considering all Petunia had said to James to his face.
Cryptic narration stating how wrong Mr. Dursley was.
Lily frowned as a new thought occurred to her. "If my sister still hates me, what do they have to do with our world? If we don't even make up, my son will have little, if anything, to do with them."
James just shrugged and slung his arm around his wife as Remus read on.
... a man seems to pop out of the ground.
Everyone except Remus was grinning, though he was frowning in thought as he asked, "now how did he manage to apparate without the cracking noise being described?"
"He probably apparated too far away to hear the noise and disillusioned himself to walk there, don't change the subject Remus. Admit it's an animagus now?" Lily asked.
Remus sighed in irritation before admitting, "Yes, alright, but why's McGonagall there?"
"What makes you say it's McGonagall?" Sirius asked in surprise.
"What other cat animagus do we know? And with those markings," Lily pointed out.
"Yes, because there's no such thing as an unregistered animagus," James sniped.
"When are you three going to register then?" Lily snapped, throwing him a dark look.
James and Sirius exchanged uneasy looks before Remus quickly jumped in, "Give it a few more years Lily, it really is quite advanced magic, and we've only been out of a school for a bit."
Quickly trying to change the subject Sirius said, "There could have been other animagi that we don't know of, or haven't transformed yet. We don't know when all this is taking place."
James bypassed that and instead snapped his fingers saying, "I got it, what if Dudley's a wizard? It's a diluted line, but it could be. Might even explain why they're in this book. Petunia will have to make up with you." Lily looked all too pleased with this statement while Remus and Sirius looked disgusted that a spoiled child would be around their little Marauder Junior.
The passage describes an elder man with flowing white hair and half glasses.
"That sounds like Dumbledore," Lily said in surprise. "Now why are both of them there? Surely you would just need one wizard there to test a young one."
"Come to think of it," Remus said slowly. "Why would anyone need to be there at all? Isn't there some kind of magic quill that says whether you can go to Hogwarts or not?" Stumped again, Remus went on.
... which he uses to make a street light go out with a pop.
"Cool!" all three pranksters breathed together.
After all of the lights are out he joins the cat on the Dursleys garden hedge.
Lily raised a sharp brow in surprise. She, like the boys, was quite impressed with this bout of magic, though for a completely different reason than the trouble they could cause. She'd never heard of magic that worked with electricity,* most magic actually caused electricity to not work properly at all. She couldn't help but wonder if this was an invention of Dumbledore's own making, and hoped it came up again.
He greets the cat who is no longer a cat but Professor McGonagall.
"Told you it was McGonagall." Remus said with a grin.
"No one disputed that." Sirius huffed.
"You did." He reminded him.
"Not after you said- oh just shut up Moony."
"How can I shut up if you want me to read?" He asked with a wicked grin. Sirius satisfied himself with a scowl at the werewolf.
McGonagall asks how Dumbledore knew it was her,
James let out a slight snicker as he demanded, "why wouldn't he know? I've heard that Dumbledore himself was the one who trained her. Plus wouldn't the headmaster know what his employee looked like when she transformed?"
"It was dark," Lily said with a shrug, still more distracted by the story and wanting to move this along, "I'd be mildly surprised as well."
... sitting on a brick wall all day.
"But why was she?" Lily begged the book.
... dozens of parties to get where they were.
Despite his own curiosity, James couldn't help but ask, "why on earth did he apparate through so many?"
"Guess Dumbledore enjoys parties more than we thought," Sirius shrugged.
Remus however, couldn't help but wonder if perhaps their old headmaster may have been fishing for information to something?
... Dedalus Diggle because he never seems to have sense.
"Maybe not," James agreed, "but he's the nicest bloke you'll ever meet."
... not attempting to dress in muggle garb while swapping stories.
"You know, it's probably better that the wizards weren't trying to dress like Muggles," Lily pointed out. "Seeing as they don't do that good of a job anyway."
"Hey!" James pouted. "I do an alright job."
"Yeah, after your wife dresses you," Sirius mumbled, glad he was far enough away that James could only glare at him, seeing as the parents were trying to refrain from cursing anyone with their son in the room.
McGonagall then asks Dumbledore if You-Know-Who really has gone, and Dumbledore confirms this as true.
Everyone exhaled a breath at the same time, none of them willing to admit that they'd still had doubts of this truth. Now that Dumbledore had said it, it must be true.
... a tone that implies she didn't see this as the time for candy.
"Why not?" Sirius asked. "Any time is a good time for sweets."
"Sirius, you would stop in the middle of a motorway to pick up a Bertie Bott's Bean." Lily pointed out.
"Your point?" He demanded and Lily just rolled her eyes.
... it makes much more sense to call him by the proper name of Voldemort.
"I'm with Dumbledore on that," James agreed. "Never really did get why people don't say his name. Just gives him more power."
"You have to look at it from another perspective," Lily told them all. "Others who have been personally affected by the war have more reason to fear something. Saying Voldemort's name is like talking about a great war, don't talk about it don't think about it."
"That doesn't make any sense," Sirius argued back. "It's still going on, people are still dying. Not talking about it doesn't stop that."
"We could spend all day having this argument," Remus pointed out. "Why don't we finish this first hmm?"
"Fine," the others grumbled.
... states that is only because Voldemort had powers he never will.
"That's only because he's too good of a person to use them," Remus said stoutly.
... too noble to use them.
"So Professor Lupin, tell us the exact wrist movement of a switching spell." Sirius joked at once upon hearing his friend mimic a teacher.
"Shut up Padfoot." Remus snapped, trying to pretend he didn't like the ring of that title. "You know it was true."
"Yeah, but I didn't mimic a teacher now did I?" Sirius demanded right back.
"Just you wait," he grumbled.
... if Dumbledore knew the real reason why Voldemort has disappeared.
"I'd like to hear this myself," Sirius admitted, then quickly pressed on as James opened his mouth. "You know the real reason."
While James pouted Remus pointed out, "Well, if you guys would stop interrupting me maybe we could."
"You've been talking just as much as we have," Lily told him sternly and Remus pretended he hadn't even heard her.
... Voldemort made an appearance in Godric's Hollow to find the Potters.
Everyone in the room now flinched hard at that, while a white looking James whispered, "I was joking, really I was. What did I do to have Voldemort coming after my family?" Sure he was in the Order, every member was a target, but what had changed to make the threat suddenly much more real than just being told that?
He looked desperately at his friends, as if begging one of them to tell him that he'd heard wrong.
Giving himself a slight shake, Sirius told him stubbornly, "I doubt you did anything to put anyone in danger James. Just read on Remus, I'm sure there was some sort of misunderstanding."
McGonagall states the rumor that Lily and James Potter are dead.
What was once a flinch could have counted as a convulsion, Remus actually looked like he was going to be sick.
"Li-like I said," Sirius managed shakily. "Mis-misunderstanding. Not true, McGonagall just heard wrong is all." He seemed to be shrinking into himself at the very idea, like he was going to fall back into the fire.
"There's still no proof this is real," James said quickly, as if determined to find a flaw in this. "Couldn't be too hard to find Petunia's name somewhere. This could be fake."
Remus wasn't really sure whether he believed that or not, but he kept going wearily. They'd agreed upon the first chapter, and they were going to finish that.
Dumbledore bows his head in silent acknowledgment, making McGonagall gasp.
Nobody appreciated this kind of confirmation, but with James' words in mind, Remus was able to go on in a still audible voice.
McGonagall states her horror and disbelief, wishing this weren't true.
James somehow managed to get out a weak chuckle, an echo of his old laugh, as he said, "Well, it's nice to know she really did care."
"Course she did," Lily mumbled, looking down at her son in fear. "At least, about me anyway, she loved me because I was her favorite student. She's actually pleased to hear you won't be causing any more trouble."
Sirius watched Lily fondly for a moment for a joke at a time like this, it was better than seeing James trying to compose himself enough to do the same.
...Voldemort tried to kill Harry Potter too, but he couldn't and now Voldemort has vanished.
There was an odd, pointed silence after this little speech. Every eye in the room was either on the little baby in Lily's lap, or the possible Harry their own age still passed out on the couch. No one could quite believe it, no one wanted to believe it. A world without Voldemort, free of fear and prejudices, yet at what cost? Remus was now trying to read as fast as he could, wanting to get a confirmation one way or another, fake or real?
... why couldn't he kill that baby?
"Yes little Harry, do tell," Sirius said quickly, looking for any excuse to get the solemn feeling out of the room. "The world's just dying to know your secret."
"Now's not the time Sirius," Remus spoke softly, but it was a clear reprimand that Sirius took, well, seriously.
... odd looking watch ... The narration notes that it didn't seem to make much sense.
"Why wouldn't that make sense?" James asked, glancing down at his own watch.
"Not to Muggles it wouldn't." Lily reminded him, happy for any chance to get her mind off of this depressing subject.
"Yes, but no one here's a muggle," James stated to which Lily just shrugged, unable to really answer that.
... Hagrid is running late. He then comments that he must have told McGonagall where to come.
"That was dangerous," Lily snapped, fear for her child rearing its head. "Hagrid shouldn't have told a single living, or nonliving, soul about where my baby was. He might not have really known it was McGonagall he told. Could have been a Death Eater out for revenge couldn't it?"
"Calm down Lils," James said gently. "You know Hagrid's a bit gullible with a loose tongue. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. In fact, Dumbledore might have said it was okay for Hagrid to tell McGonagall." Lily huffed and did not look keen on taking this answer until it was confirmed.
... why they were meeting here at all?
"If she didn't know why he was coming there, then why was she there?" Remus asked.
Lily wasn't very happy about thinking on this, but offered, "well if, if we had died-" she hardly got the words out and flinched terribly but kept going, "then possibly McGonagall may be there for my sister's protection. The whole Order does know I've a muggle sister, it couldn't have been that hard for her to find out and check on them for me."
"That was, nice," Sirius struggled to say, not really agreeing this should have been a top priority, but it made as much sense as anything.
... the only family Harry has left now.
The three boys slumped their shoulders at this reminder, but Lily looked even more panicked now. "Is he insane? My sister hates me and everything to do with Magic! This book has proven that so far, why would he send my son there?"
"Well like he said," James said quietly. "Voldemort's probably done my parents and yours in by now."
"That's right comforting that is!" Lily snarled, while James raised his hands in surrender and edged away slightly.
... kicked his mother up the street for sweets. Harry shouldn't live here!
"I take back every bad thing I ever said about McGonagall," James muttered.
"That's a long list," Remus reminded him. "She did manage to catch us in the act quite a bit."
"Including that time she banned us from the Quidditch game in second year," Sirius nodded.
James shrugged and admitted, "She's trying to keep my son away from them, I take it all back."
...McGonagall asks if he really thinks he can explain all of this in a letter.
"I'm with her on that one," Sirius said, making a face. "Would it go something like Dear Muggles, this kid's a wizard who defeated an evil and powerful wizard, look after him until I can bother coming back, lots of love, Dumbledore?"
Lily rolled her eyes at his antics and said, "Sirius, she already knows a bit about the magical world. It wouldn't be like that."
"Not the point." Sirius reminded her.
... stating that every magical person in the world will know his name.
"That sounds right nice that does," James said with a cocky grin, rather pleased his name would be so well known.
"I think you missed the point of that statement Prongs," Remus told him calmly, "but as Dumbledore's about to say it himself-" he turned his attention back to the printed words.
...it would be much better growing up away from all of that until he knows how to handle it.
"Oh." James deflated. "Yeah, I guess that would be a bad thing."
"'Guess?'" Lily hissed. "'A bad thing'? James Potter would you really want to be famous for this?"
"No," he admitted, mentally thinking he should put a bit more thought into what he said before he said it.
...Dumbledore then firmly says that he would trust Hagrid with his life.
"That's going a bit far," Lily said slowly. "I know his heart is in the right place but, well, he can be a bit careless."
"Oh Lil's, you worry too much," Sirius said brightly. "Hagrid's the best kind of protection Harry could ever ask for. You've seen the size of that bloke."
"Who hasn't?" James agreed.
... also acknowledging he could be careless.
"Argh!" Sirius groaned. "Now we've got two bloody Professors in the room! You have no idea how horrid Professor Potter sounds."
"Be nice." Lily snapped, blushing slightly at that.
"If it makes you feel any better," Remus said slowly. "You could just call her Professor Evans, use her maiden name."
"No way!" James barked. "Do you know how long it took me to get Lily to admit that Potter was her last name now?"
"So you'd rather one of your family be a teacher then?" Sirius egged on.
James seemed to be in physical pain at this dilemma, so to help him out a bit, Remus kept reading.
The conversation cuts off by Hagrid arriving on a flying motorcycle, and then goes on to describe Hagrid.
"Gotta love these descriptions anyway." Sirius laughed. "That's Hagrid to a fault." The errant thought ran through his mind that this must be some parallel universe as well, for Hagrid to have a bike like he does. He thought his was rather unique.
"Can't wait till they do yours," Remus muttered, thinking of all the lovely adjectives that would boost his friend's ego another few degrees.
... came from Sirius Black.
"What?" Sirius yelped in shock. "Why the hell would I give Hagrid my bike? I won't even let Moony drive it."
"Yet you encourage an infant to hold on to the handlebars." James reminded him.
"Now that I think about it," Remus cut in, "why would Harry have to go there at all? Sirius is his Godfather, which entitles him to be caregiver should anything happen to you two."
That had the others stumped until Lily snapped her fingers and said, "Maybe they have to deal with the legal side of this first, make the paperwork go through for Sirius to adopt Harry, and Harry has to be with relatives until then."
"I guess." Sirius grudgingly accepted. "Though that still doesn't explain why I gave up my bike."
"You know it puts him to sleep," James suggested. "Hoped it would calm him down in the meantime."
Accepting this for now, Remus went on.
... noting the baby's lightning shaped scar.
"What?" Lily yelped, scanning the hairline of her beautiful boy frantically. "He doesn't have a scar."
"That's proof right there that these books are fake," James exclaimed, a smile cracking over his face.
Hating every movement he was making, Remus made to stand up and go towards the one on the couch, but Sirius stood up and stopped him with a hard look in his eyes. "Wait until the chapters over," he glanced at the book in Remus' hands, which only solidified it for him. "There's only a bit left. Let's have some peace until then." Remus did not agree, but thought it best to finish this chapter before their world really did go to hell.
McGonagall begins to ask if that was where, but Dumbledore cut her off and said yes, that he would have that scar forever.
Lily pursed her lips, thinking 'well if Voldemort hasn't come to attack us yet, and Harry's still a baby in this, then maybe...'
... pointing out his own which was a map of the London Underground.
"Interesting," Lily muttered sarcastically, wanting this to be done with already so she could have a proper look at what could be her future son.
... gives him a kiss goodbye before releasing a howl of misery.
"Aw, that's so sweet," Lily said sadly. "He cares about my little baby."
"Who doesn't?" The others agreed, Sirius even so depressed he didn't even think to make a dog joke.
... Hagrid explains brokenly that it's too sad to think about, Lily and James being dead, and Harry going off to live with Muggles.
"Well that's nice too." Remus agreed. "Glad to know you two will be missed."
"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Lily questioned.
"It made James feel better," Sirius pointed out. "His life's goal is to end up on a Chocolate Frog card."
"Haha, very funny guys," James said gazing down at his son without looking up.
McGonagall agrees it's all very sad, but there's no need to make so much noise.
"Remind me never to go to her for comfort," Sirius muttered with a frown, not even wanting to think how he would be feeling right now.
"Why would you?" Remus asked, slightly disturbed at the oddity of that sentence anyway.
... the letter tucked into the folds of his blankets and then comes back to stand with the other two.
Lily's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she held her tongue to see if what she was thinking was true.
... Hagrid agrees, while also pointing out he should get this bike out of here.
"Well I should hope so." Sirius grumbled, trying to find something else to think about rather than the situation at hand.
Hagrid leaves on the bike and Dumbledore turns to McGonagall and says he would see her soon. Her only reply is to blow her nose.
"You think that means 'Yes sir', or 'I still can't believe what you're doing'?" James asked with a straight face.
"The second, go with the second. It makes me feel better," Remus advised.
... then says one more goodbye to Harry before disappearing as well.
"Oh for Merlin's sake," Lily hissed, while the other three looked on at her in shock.
"Something wrong Lily Flower?" James asked with some concern, she looked quite deranged.
"I've just found out my son's going to live with my sister who hates me, we're both dead, and now they've left my son who has an injury on his forehead ON THE DOORSTEP!" Hickory streaked away from the couch and curled up on top of the mantel to glare down at the lot of them. Little Harry woke up with a startled wail and looked around for the source disturbing his playmate.
James and Remus tried to make soothing motions with their hands but she was on a rampage, she even thrust Harry into James' arms so she could stand up and continue. "They even said it was going to rain that night. What were they thinking! They could have done something, anything, other than what they just condemned my only boy to."
"Lils-" James started, but Lily did not seem in the mood to calm down, she stalked over to the body on the couch, determined to get this proven once and for all. Before she got too close Remus begged.
"Come on Lily, one more paragraph, see?" He even flipped over the book so she could see it. "Let me read this aloud, and then you can have it out, alright?" Seething, she hovered over the body with narrowed eyes, and fearing for his health Remus quickly read out.
... including being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley.
"Sounds like a lovely first few days," Sirius muttered without thinking, and then nearly fell back into the fireplace in shock at the look Lily gave him.
...'To Harry Potter- the Boy Who Lived!'
When Remus looked up to indicate he was done, Lily rushed forward and pushed back the long black bangs that would reveal their destiny.
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*Question came up because of Queen of Creating's equally as intriguing Reading fic Thin Pages, thanks!