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23. Godric's Hell Oh!



Godric's Hollow -Wales



Walking into the cottage which he immediately recognized as his childhood home, Harry immediately felt a sense of deja vu. It had been an incredibly long time since he had set foot here. He had barely set foot here at all as only being a fifteen month old, his foot fall was, if anything, unsteady.



It was unsteady now. Each and every step promised pain upon entering the doorway and walking through the halls and into the rooms where his parents had perished. Harry felt a trepidation within himself that was growing, but at the same point a curiosity that would not be denied.



This was something that he knew that he would eventually have to face. He had to conquer this moment; of being in this house, because without doing so he wouldn't be able to go forward and he would not be able to face Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Dick-Load-that-would-not-creep-slowly-down-mummy's-leg, or he-who-must-be-hyphenated.



Unfortunately, as Harry crossed the threshold and entered into the living room a couple of things happened rather quickly. First, he heard a rather feminine gasp. It wouldn't have been so bad considering the company that he had with him. Harry was with all three of his wives, and so hearing a woman gasp would not have been something that would have been out of place. However, it didn't come from any of them, nor Remus. Harry had to laugh internally to himself in remembrance of how he had reacted early at the Tonks residence. It, of course clearly made Remus a suspect, having pinned him with a tail over and over again during the birthday party. Bambi, indeed, his yelps had gotten rather feminine.



The second thing was what had driven Harry into a near psychotic episode. He had caught sight of the one person that he clearly had not expected to see at Godric's Hollow. Peter Pettigrew had come from inside the kitchen, rounding the corner.



"Moony, is that you?" He said, almost sing-song like.



Harry whipped around, locking eyes with a man that he absolutely hated with every fiber of his being. The hatred radiated off of him in such a sickening way that his companions immediately took a step back to evaluate the potential harm that could come in the milliseconds which would drag on like hours.



It was Remus, whom seeing the wind pick up and swirl around Harry, at such an alarming rate that the crackle of electricity that followed wasn't as delayed as what Nymmy had seen inside his vault. Remus whipped his wand out on instinct.



In a half-moment later, Harry Potter sat frozen in aPetrificus Totalus and to say that he was angry wasn't putting enough effort into being descriptive. The utter rage that he felt was whipping and wrapping around him, which was why the others had elected to bind him only moments ago.



Harry Potter was in his childhood home in Godric's Hollow for the first time since he had been fifteen months old. It was a very nice house, Harry had thought as they approached after Remus had handed him the Portkey and the birthday party that they were having for Harry whirled away from him in the blink of an eye.



This had to be the last thing that he had expected to be bound and unable to break free of it. The more he struggled mentally against the spell the firmer it held him still. His way of behaving reactionary to extreme stress was the key area that Harry had to work on. It was his Achilles heel. Unfortunately there were reasons for the binding, as the form of Peter Pettigrew came into view in the home of those that he had betrayed.



This was really beginning to get to the point of quickly infuriating Harry beyond levels that he had ever seen before. He was just simply not used to being this mad. He had to face it, though. Wormtail was here, mere feet away from him. He could have his revenge for all the pain that his life had become. The anger exploded from him in the familiar form of electricity erupting from his hands, and while he couldn't move whatsoever, it was still quite impressive for Peter to watch. This was something that he had never seen before and his little Marauder nephew wasn't so little any longer, Peter thought to himself.



"Harry, stop, please." Harry heard a vaguely familiar voice now, which he had only heard when either dementors were close and in the cemetery that horrible night that Cedric... 'Oh GODS, CEDRIC!' Harry thought at once towards his friend whom had been dead now for nearly three years, before mentally trying to free his self to get a go at Wormtail. Looking at the painting now in the living room, he saw clearly that the four Marauders and Lily were all animated images, and looking at him quite crossly. "Harry, we have some things to explain to you and while Remus has brought us up to speed on how dismally our plan had failed, you need to know that we didn't intend quite a few things to happen. The most important was that you should have never even should have been left alone in the same room with my worthless sister." Lily's image said, looking directly at him worriedly. "Now, I'm going to have Remus let you go, but you have to promise to only just hear us out. By the way, you have some explaining to do, young man. Three wives? What do you think you are some kind of Sultan?" She finished with a lopsided grin that Harry recognized as his own trademark smile.



It was at that moment that Remus had to come to a decision. He had to release Harry and he knew that it could go really badly, really quick, but at the same time he had faith in the man that Harry had become. Remus nervously and reluctantly released Harry from his binding with a quick Finite Incantatem and immediately prepared for the worst. Remus was well aware that Harry James Potter had a temper that rivaled his mothers and had witnessed said behavior first hand with the fireworks that shouldn't have been possible due to the binding, however what happened immediately was something that he didn't expect at all.



He stood there unable to move or speak or do anything except lock his eyes with the same emerald green eyes that lie just beyond the paint of the portrait. He knew her, but didn't remember and it was something for Harry that was just so unfamiliar. The unfamiliarity of being in the same room with even an image of his mum was overwhelming him beyond anything. Sure he had heard all the stories and listened to the comparisons as to how much he had fared his father, but the unknown, and the desire to know Lily Potter was something for Harry that was all consuming.



He had regrets in not knowing and in not remembering his mum, and even as a small child, to his shame had attempted to call his Aunt Petunia mum, having heard his cousin Dudley use it affectionately many times, to ultimately get what he wanted.



Harry looked at the image of his mother and then fell to his knees and wept. Not like that of a spoiled child but like that of a completely shattered and broken soul. He was finally hearing the voice that he had longed to hear all of his life. He wept for the years lost and finally for only being able to hear just a shadow of her.



Nymphadora Tonks was immediately not very happy about what was happening, and that was putting it mildly. This wasn't something that she was familiar with and Remus having kept the whole situation from her had been something that had immediately put her on guard. Her prince was in trouble yet again. He was feeling betrayed and he was in retreat mode. She had to react quickly if there was hope of making his recovery and assimilation of knowledge. She immediately jumped to her feet.



Nymmy rushed across the room in a flash and immediately enveloping Harry in a comforting hung. It was not suffocating or overly strengthened to the point that it hurt him whatsoever. However she was determined to push all of her love for him into the comfort. It wasn't something that could have been detected magically, but to say that it wasn't magical would detract from her efforts.



She was quickly followed by, both, Hermione and Luna. Luna seemed almost frantic, but at the same time methodical. Luna leaned in and kissed the back of his neck at once, while Hermione gently wrapped her arms around all of them. Harry's breath which had already hitched in his throat was slowly coming back into a regular breathing pattern.



Hermione, unfortunately, had been a lot more affected by Peter's presence and her anger was even more evident than even Harry. She remembered her third year with an almost crystal clarity. She remembered every moment of being inside the Shrieking Shack, and the initial confrontation of Peter between Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron and herself. She remembered the pleading and now, in this very situation having found out that it had all be aplay; of sorts, was getting to her on a new level entirely.



Harry, at that moment felt her breath hitching against him. She could feel her shaking against him, and at that very moment understood that she was; not only sympathetic to him, but empathetic to the situation as well. Her hatred for the man equaled his own. Unfortunately for the two of them their hatred would be completely derailed only to drive them into utter confusion.



"Son, it gets better but you have to know how we royally messed up." His father's image finally spoke, watching his son with a ache that was clearly conveyed within the paints of the canvass.



"But Albus told me not to dwell on dreams of bringing you back and here you are. Even in an echo of your former..." Harry said, but was immediately cut off by all five images.



"WHAT?! It was his bloody idea in the first place to use blood magic." Lily said letting the heat of her own anger get to her. "Well... he pointed us in the right direction. Harry, the point of it is, it worked. We're not an echo. We're trapped here waiting on..." Lily looked forlorn for amoment.



"Waiting on me." Peter said, sadly. "I'm so very sorry Harry. I've not had much time to get back down there."



"Down where, Wormtail."



"The Veil Chamber." He said, solemnly. "Oh course Bellatrix went spare for the last year after Sirius went through." Peter said as he turned and looked questioningly at Remus for a moment. "Do you think Ishould have told her? I didn't, of course."



"Well, you do know how vengeful she can be and I do believe that Harry had just taken care of her problem only recently." Remus said, looking at his nephew in all but blood.



"Rudolphus?" Hermione asked so quietly that it almost went unheard.



"Exactly." Remus said with a smile, remembering his comment he made to her about being the brightest witch of her age and then was truly happy that Harry had made the best of the situation. Not that Remus had been upset that he had chosen to be with Luna as well, but Tonks had been a foregone conclusion from way back that she would be in his life one way or another, and the one way was due to her utter determination that he was then and will always be her little prince. 'However,' Remus thought, as he looked towards Harry now, he's not quite so little now. In fact, had he closed his eyes briefly, he and James could be interchangeable in size only. Remus had never made the same mistake of identifying Harry as being a counterpart for James. He had too much Lily in him for that.



"Alright, I'm going to need a moment to take all this in. What are you on about?" Harry asked. His mind was literally whirling with all of the stimuli that he had been absorbing. He wanted more than anything for everything that was being said directly to him to be the truth, but had been the subject of so many pranks and half-truths by his so-called family that he had a tendency to be wary of anything; and frankly everything, that had been told to him.



"The blood magic we used was love based, however it wasn't just the protection that we put on you, but this painting." Lily said, knowing now that it was time to reveal everything to him and let the chips fall where they may.



"We incorporated our blood into the paint..." Real Peter picked up, shame still evident in his voice.



"And with a special incantation..." Remus followed up, hoping that the others would fill in the blanks.



"Along with the blood wards that we placed on this house and the protection that was placed on you..." James said, almost sadly, looking at his son.



"Well, Harry, it trapped us in the house and since Peter did as he was instructed to do and removed our bodies the only place our souls could possibly rest were in the painting."



"Like a Horcrux?" Harry asked worriedly. He didn't want to think that his parents could do such a thing. His parents could not be dark. His parents would not be dark. He hoped and prayed upon it because the alternative would throw his entire reality and what he had built them up in his own mind to be, shattered.



"Sort of, without having to commit murder, yes." Lily said finally feeling proud that her son was smarter than she had given him credit for.



"What'd you do with their bodies?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes at the man he had held responsible for betraying his parents.



"I threw them in the veil, of course." Peter said with an almost maniacal laugh. Unfortunately this was the wrong thing to do at that particular time.



"STUPEFY!" Harry roared and watched as the beam of red light struck Peter square in the chest, flinging him across the room. He had another curse that he had very much wanted to do but his fear of going dark himself had finally held him back from that. He began to pace back and forth in the room almost ritualistically. He wanted so very much to hurt Peter that it was plaguing his Super-ego to lie dormant, and let the Id roam free.



"Harry, please calm down." His mother pleaded, seeing the anger building in his eyes.



"Pup?" Sirius' image asked quickly, garnering his attention.



"WHAT?" Harry asked almost feeling the tears beg to be let loose. "PADFOOT?" Harry almost screamed.



"Peter is an unspeakable. I know you didn't know that, but the veil isn't a "Veil of Death," but more of a holding area. It was used to hold prisoners during the last Goblin Rebellion. There were just so many of them that the ministry holding cells were just too full, and finally they created a solution to hold people in a sort of suspended animation, never changing, never aging until the time to face the Wizengamot was near. Unfortunately, back then, the timeframe was much to be desired, however, with the lack of time in the veil, it left little time for repentance."



"But that wasn't in history of magic at all!" Hermione protested vehemently. Hermione was a very studious girl, and had been during her entire tenure at Hogwarts. She was entirely known for spending all of her spare time reading and this was driving her completely spare. She knew History of Magic because, frankly, she was the one person who had decided during each and ever year not to kip off. She took complete notes and knew not only the subject material but the material that she had chosen to supplement it with, just in case there was a need for a rather lengthy bit of homework. Now, she was truly angered. She had trusted in her faithful books whom; outside of Harry, had never lied to her, ever.



"Honestly, Hermione," Sirius added almost condescendingly knowing that she had used this in her admonishments of his godson. "Did you think that Binns would teach you anything worthwhile? He's not even a real ghost, but a poltergeist, like Peeves. He only teaches to see how many people will fall asleep in his classes. Most of the information in the books that he uses is Ministry rubbish."



"But..." Hermione started, but was immediately was cut off by giggles coming from Harry. They were mild at first. She knew that it couldn't possibly be helped, and in retrospect if she had been in his same position would probably have reacted the exact same way. She couldn't fault Harry for that. Unfortunately, for Harry at least, he didn't have the ability to stop the gales of laughter and they quickly increased in intensity. It was almost scary the sounds coming from her husband as if he had finally snapped, but when she turned towards him, he was looking at her and laughing. It quickly became infuriating. Hermione crossed the room, grabbed and pointed her wand in his face. "Stupefy!" She said quickly and watched with satisfaction as his slumped to the floor. "Hmf!" She huffed and turned with a smug look of satisfaction. "What?" She said with mock innocence.



"You stunned him." Luna said, incredulously. She couldn't believe it. The man that they, all three of them; actually, loved had been stunned. Now, she was faced with her own reaction, had the shoes been reversed, and that being said; not finding fault with her logic, let it pass.



"He was laughing at me... and he wouldn't stop, and... Well, honestly, " She started and then immediately stopped. "He's stopped now, hasn't he?" She asked as if it was rather obvious, knowing that there wouldn't be an answer, and if there was an answer it wouldn't be one that she liked.



"Of course, dear." Lily said, honestly remembering James hadn't let things drop on many occasions and while he never let one of his pranks fall on her, knew that she had some form of latitude with what she could and couldn't do, could and couldn't say.



"Well, yeah, I s'pose." Luna said, looking towards the fallen form of her husband with a feeling of dread. She knew that there were arguments for what she had done, and things against it as well. What she did know above a shadow of doubt was that she absolutely would not have placed faith in anything that Binns had said because no one in Ravenclaw ever had. Unfortunately for Hermione, she did not know that he had been Ravenclaw, as well. However, his parents and their parents and those before him had been the epitome of Slytherin. He had been a smart prankster, and she knew that as well. It had been covered first year, for Cor sake. She didn't know what to say further at the moment as everything was well taken care of and for some reason she couldn't get the mental image of Pumpkin Pie Ice cream out of her thoughts.



"Shouldn't we wake him back up?" Nymmy asked quickly and when no response came, "Ennervate."



"Oy! Where is she?" Harry huffed, jumping quickly to his feet, murder in his eyes. Hermione caught sight of him, and quickly made a run for the stairs. "YOU!" Harry screamed and made a mad dash for her, but Hermione being much smaller than Harry was just a little bit quicker on her feet and evaded his capture, sprinting up the stairs a half step ahead of him, and quickly dashed into the first room she came upon.



Unfortunately for Hermione, the first room that she had dashed into had been one that would lead to her doom. The game was over as she was standing, stock, still in Harry's nursery. Looking around the room almost brought her to tears. It hadn't changed, she thought as she looked at the little crib against the right wall. Harry burst through the door and immediately came behind her. He heard the sob come from her, and immediately wrapped his arms around her while resting his head against her shoulder.



"You okay, 'Mione?" He asked tenderly. He had initially noticed the room that they were in, but upon noticing her reaction to being in that room, he reacted in his usual manner. He wanted to protect her, keep her from harm and above all else be there for her when she needed him. Finally, the game was done and this was something completely foreign to him that he needed to quickly adapt to or be consumed.



She turned and looked at him. She had fresh tears in her eyes and her bottom lip quivered. He could see the emotion in her face and the look of uncertainty in her eyes. This was something that he had never had to handle before. Hermione was always strong and certain, but as he looked around the room that they had just happened to come upon the realization hit him. This is where he did it. This is the very room where he had gotten that blasted scar.



Harry felt her hand land gently on his cheek, which immediately returned his attention to her. She looked worried but it wasn't the same uncertainty as earlier. She looked him directly in the eye, and stepped back. Unfortunately what she didn't expect was that he had stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her waste leaned in and kissed her passionately.



She, of course, reciprocated the kiss eagerly, opening her mouth slightly at the presence of his exploring tongue. She wrapped her arms around his head as he poured his emotions that he felt for her into it.



When they broke apart, she looked up at him as he took in the surroundings. He smiled at the crib as the memories of mum tucking him into bed flooded his memory. He remembered, much like when he did the first time with Nymmy, and the memories that he was experiencing as he stood in his room weren't that of torture, and while he did remember that horrible night he remembered so much more.



He remembered being awaking to see his mum frantically straightening up his room and doing so as she had always been taught, without magic. He remembered standing up in his crib, and rattling it quite forcefully until his gained.



"Harry?" Harry heard Hermione and was brought out of his musings by the sound of his best friend; and now, wife's concerned voice.



"Hm?" He asked looking at her for a moment.



"You Okay?" She asked eagerly.



"Just remembering, is all." Harry finally said with a smile on his face. "Do you think we could maybe expand this a little and have all three of the babies in this room. I know a few charms and it would be nice."



"Well, to be honest Harry, I think it would be fine, but at the same point, I don't know. How many bedrooms are in this house?"



"Ten" They heard Remus from the doorway and quickly turned around. "But this isn't your only option, just the refuge that your parent chose. You could live in Potter Manor as well."



"What did you need Moony?" Harry asked.



"We're about to retrieve your folks and Sirius. You about ready?" He asked.



"Remus, are they going to be old or how..."



"Harry it's going to be difficult, but I believe they will look just as you see them in the painting."



"And how old were they?"



"Nineteen and Twenty." Remus finally resigned himself to admit. "Harry, I know that this is going to be difficult for you..."



"Difficult. Difficult? Remus, they're going to be young enough to be my siblings, not my parents. Bloody fucking hell! Does my life have to always be anything but normal." Harry said.



"Where would be the fun in normal?" Remus asked.



"Says the WEREWOLF!" Harry retorts.



"Low blow. Bad form Harry." Remus answers loaded with extra guilt.



"Sorry about that. Was a bit low for me." Harry said, grabbing Hermione's hand and briskly walking back down the stairs.



Ministry of Magic - Department of Mysteries



Harry Potter stood in front of the Veil again after a year. He still heard the whispers beckoning her to come closer, to cross over, and unconsciously stepped closer. He felt the wind whip close to him, and for amere moment, one of the whispers got a whole hell of a lot louder.



"What do we have here?" The voice called from beyond the veil. "Is that a Potter I see or is it a Gryffindor. It's been such a long time since I've seen one of you and that is for sure. Are you the last, Iwonder?" The voice was ethereal, however it wasn't threatening.



"I have two in there that are of my line and a godfather as well. Send them back, please." Harry pleaded, then looked briefly at Peter, whom had changed from his standard death eater robes to those standard gray non-descript robes worn by the employees of this very department. Peter reached into his robe, and pulled out a crystal sphere and handed it to Harry.



Harry released his hands from the sphere, which launched itself into the veil with such force that it kicked him back a couple of steps. There was a great murmuring that came from behind the veil which was immediately followed by a deafening silence and for a few minutes Harry began to think that every single one of them were on Tom Riddle's side, having one over on him, including his wives, but at the moment when he thought that everything was lost, a light began to pulse from deep within the veil.



The light from the other side began to grow brighter and bright and was pulsing to a rhythm that he hadn't heard at first. He recognized this almost at once as the murmuring began to increase more and more so until it was almost screaming. That's when it came true. First his godfather, followed by his father and finally his mum's bodies emerged from beyond the veil. All three people for whom Harry Potter had longed to see for such a long time were now present in front of him. Sirius was by far the easiest.



"Enervate!" Harry practically yelled and watched, much to his delight as his godfather, believed dead for over a year now, began to stir.



"H-Harry?" Sirius asked questioningly, before looking past him to see Remus, Tonks, Hermione, Luna and finally Peter.



"Yeah, Sirius?" Harry asked grinning all the while.



"Where the bloody hell is Bellatrix!?" He asked almost raging before locking eyes with a smirking Peter. Sirius stood up quickly and also quickly wobbled side to side before stumbling towards the other Marauders. Grabbing Peter by the collar quickly now, "And why the fuck didn't you warn me about that veil? One year of reliving that stupid night over and over again."



"Sorry Mate?" Peter said sheepishly and at that very moment quickly whipped out a coil of rope. He quickly wrapped portions of that coiled rope around the still limp wrists of Lily and James and begged everyone to grab hold.