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The Years After	By : Araea Swiftwind Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 2598 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money off the writing of this piece of fiction. The views expressed herein do not in any way reflect the views of J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros. and their affiliates.

Chapter List
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Part 15 – Chapter 13 - Sept. 17, 1992

It had been hard to say goodbye to Draco that next morning when he'd left the house to head to King's Cross station and school. But Harry'd managed it without any tears, just a little frown on his face. Draco had promised again to write him every day and take plenty of pictures. It helped to know that Draco would miss him too.

A little over two weeks after that sorrow-filled goodbye, the date that Severus told them would be perfect to go and see James and Lily had come. Voldemort had bundled up Harry and had cast a spell on him that made him look like someone else. Harry wondered why it was necessary when they were just going to apparate straight there, but “Uncle 'Volo” said that it was "just in case".

The trip to the continent was quick. Just a thought and then they were there. They had to walk a little ways, though, from where they appeared because there were a lot of people walking around. The hospital was large and beige, made of some kind of rough stone. Harry ducked a little closer to his “uncle” so that he wouldn't get lost in the throng of people moving in and out of the building.

Inside was very bright and white. The floor was some kind of shiny tile, and the walls were all smooth. Uncle Marvolo walked up to the lady behind the desk and asked for the Potters. She gave him a skeptical frown. When he said that he'd arranged it with Albus Dumbledore, she turned the frown into a smile and told them the way immediately. Voldemort muttered as they walked away about “easily trusting bints.”

They had to ride in a strange metal box to get there. It didn't take long for the doors to open again on the floor they had been directed to go to. They stepped out of the box and looked both ways down the corridor. After a few moments to get their bearings, they moved off down the corridor towards room 419.

There wasn't anyone moving around when they entered the room. The only occupants were the lady and gentleman lying on the twin beds in the back center of the room. Harry eyed them eagerly from his place squashed against Voldemort.

The dark-haired man gave the child a faint smile and urged, "Go ahead. Take a look."

Harry disengaged himself quickly from the man and walked closer to the woman's bed first. She had dark red hair and a pale, smooth face. She looked too young to be his mother, but he knew from the pictures his Uncle Severus had given him that she was. He let his hand hover over her face for a moment before allowing himself to touch her. He tensed for a second, not sure what would happen. But nothing did. She kept on breathing as slowly as she had been before. He stood there touching her face for a while before moving on.

Next, he walked over to the man. He knew from looking in the mirror that he looked like a younger version of this man. They had the same messy black hair, the same nose. And he knew from the pictures that the only big difference in them appearance-wise were the eyes. His father had hazel eyes, bordering on brown, while his own eyes were brilliant green...like his mother's. He smiled as he touched the man's face as he did his mother's. Once more he tensed to see what would happen. And again, nothing did.

He stepped back after a several long heartbeats and pulled the small camera out of his pocket. It was a wizard camera, Aunt Narcissa had told him. It took pictures that would move in their frames. He liked the idea of that. Even though his parents didn't move right now, they would eventually. He quickly snapped a few pictures of their sleeping faces and the soft rise and fall of their chests. He wanted to be able to look back on these and remind himself that they were still alive. Finally, he was done. It made him a bit sad to stay here, and he was ready to go home.

He walked back over to Uncle Marvolo and took his hand. "I'm done, now. I'd like to go home."

Voldemort gave the child another small smile and pulled him close. He was a bit uncomfortable being in the same room as the people he had cursed to be here. It made guilt well up in him and war with his pleasure at having Harry to himself—for the most part. He was more than happy to return to the Manor so soon after arriving.

"Okay."

As they left the room, the Dark Lord stopped a witch in a pink uniform. He had Harry wait just a little ways away, telling him he wanted to ask about his parents' condition. What he was really doing was making up a story about how he was a healer and had brewed a potion that he thought would work to wake them up. With the potion was the ingredients list and the instructions on how to brew the potion, written in his own hand instead of Severus' –who had actually developed the potion. The witch looked surprised, but took it anyways, assuring him that she'd give it to them right away. Smiling softly, Voldemort walked back to his young charge and escorted him out of the building and back to the Manor.

O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O

Running quickly to her superior, the witch presented the potion and the notes. She relayed her story as concisely as possible and waited for instructions. A few of the senior healers discussed their options briefly, but ultimately decided to administer the potion to the sleeping couple. There wasn't anything on the list of ingredients that could harm them, and they'd had an expert test the potion to make sure it was what it was said to be. Everything checked out.

Just as they were giving James the last of the potion, Sirius and Remus returned from their errands.

"What's going on in here?" Sirius asked angrily.

Usually, the staff left the Potters alone, having already determined there was nothing they could do. Remus was also tense, but he said nothing. He could tell that they had just administered a potion to the couple, but was sure they weren't trying to kill them. It wouldn't make sense for them to kill a couple who single handedly were making sure the place stayed open.

The lead healer moved away from the bed and stood in front of the pair who had just entered. "Not more than twenty minutes ago an anonymous healer came here with a young child to see the Potters. It had been cleared with Albus Dumbledore, according to the welcome witch. They stayed for a short time, then as they were leaving, the anonymous healer gave Healer Redstone here a potion to administer to the Potters. He said it was something he had developed after hearing about their case. We checked it out, verified its ingredients and properties, and deemed it safe. We've just administered it and--"

"Healer, look!" One of the mediwizards by the beds cried, a shaking hand pointing at Lily Potter.

The lead healer turned and moved swiftly back to the bed indicated. Lily Potter's eyes were fluttering open slowly. In the bed next to hers, James Potter was moaning softly. With baited breath everyone waited to see if they were going to wake fully. It took less than a minute for both Potters to have their eyes open and looking around the room.

"Where are we?" Lily asked.

"I feel like I've been trampled by a hippogriff," complained James.

Sirius and Remus clapped hands over their mouths before rushing forward, knocking healers and mediwizards aside.

"James, Lily, you're awake!" Remus smiled happily.

"Prongs! I can't believe it..." Sirius whispered.

"We were asleep?" James asked.

"For how long?" Lily added.

"Yes, you were," Remus answered.

"Eleven years," Sirius replied.

"Eleven years?!" Cried James.

"Harry?!" Gasped Lily.

Sirius and Remus looked down at the floor, not sure how to tell their best friends that their only son was dead.

"Lils...I'm so sorry," Sirius said, pain lancing through his chest once more at the thought of the lost child.

Remus was teasing the hem of his shabby coat. "We just...didn't get there in time."

"Dumbledore...he said that it was too gruesome to see," Sirius continued.

Remus finished, "He had already taken little Harry's body away before we got there."

"My baby..." Lily's heart was broken. He son, her precious baby boy.

"Prongslet..." James felt as if he were in physical pain. His pride and joy, his only child.

"We're so sorry..."

James' face was set in a grimace. "No, Sirius, Remus, it's not your fault. You couldn't have stopped that madman from entering our home."

"I just don't get it...why did he spare us?" Lily whispered, confusion plain on her face.

Sirius answered even though he wasn't sure Lily was even asking for an answer, "'m not sure..."

"Why couldn't he have spared Harry?" Remus asked, feeling as though that was the real question. Everyone was quiet for a long moment as the question hung in the air. It was their moment of silence for the child lost. "We should let Dumbledore know you're awake."

James had a sudden feeling in the depths of his being, a feeling like that wouldn't be the best idea. These hunches sometimes came to him when he was still working as an Auror. Usually, they were right. "No, not just yet. Has he been checking in?"

"No, not really. We get owls every now and then asking if there's been any change, but it's not very often," Remus answered, a puzzled look on his face. He didn't understand why James wouldn't want to alert Dumbledore right away.

"Yeah, maybe once every six months or so," Sirius added.

"Really? Then let's wait for the next one before we say anything. I just...have a feeling..."

Sirius and Remus knew what that meant. They'd learned to trust James' feelings during the first war with Voldemort. "Sure, we won't say a word."

Lily looked around the room and didn't recognize anything. They certainly weren't in St. Mungo's. "Where are we, anyways?"

Sirius wrinkled his brow as he tried to remember. "Oh, somewhere on the continent. I don't really know, exactly. Dumbledore set all this up."

"So far away from home... St. Mungo's has special wards for this sort of thing...I wonder why he didn't just send us there..." The red-head queried, perplexed. Things just weren't adding up.

"He said something about having us take you to a special hospital...something to do with getting better care, less fans..."

James frown and exclaimed, "What a load of bollocks and tosh! He just wanted us out of the way."

It was Remus' turn to furrow his brow in confusion. "Out of the way of what?"

"That...I can't say. I just know this wasn't for our own good.” James thought again for a moment, trying to piece things together. “You said that you...didn't see Harry's body?"

Sirius tried to get his brain to make the same mental leaps as his best friend's had. "No...Dumbledore said it was too gruesome...didn't want to make us look at that."

Lily's brow crinkled this time. "But why would it be gruesome? Wouldn't Voldemort simply have cast the killing curse?"

Sirius and Remus shared a look. They were starting to doubt too. "He didn't say. Actually, he didn't say that it was Voldemort who had done it. Said it might be the work of Death Eaters unknown."

"We...also didn't bury the body," Remus said slowly, suddenly feeling very sick and very foolish. "We didn't have time to, or so we thought then. He had us bring you here straight away...and we never got back for that. We've been following the news as best we can, though...and there was no mention we could find of his funeral."

"Then maybe he's still alive," James said with conviction. Somehow, he knew he was right.

Lily's face settled into a determined frown. "Get us out of here so that we can find our baby."

Sirius smiled. "Of course, Lils. Straight away."

O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O

Harry went up to his room as soon as they returned from the hospital. It was nice that he got to see his parents again, but he was still sad that they couldn't talk to him. He lay quietly on his bed—having had a house elf find him a step stool so that he could get in on his own—and stared up at the ceiling. He wondered how long they'd be out for. It would be nice if they could wake up for Christmas, or even his next birthday.

He didn't really remember his mother much, or his father at all, but he still missed them. It was great, really, living at the Manor with all of his Uncles and Aunt Narcissa...but it just wasn't the same as being with his parents. A painful thought struck him, then. What if his parents did wake up? He'd probably go live with them...and he wouldn't be with Draco anymore. He wouldn't be able to cry into Uncle Marvolo's shoulder anymore, or talk about etiquette and deportment with Uncle Lucius. And Uncle Severus wouldn't be able to give him those potions lessons.

But...maybe he'd get to go to Hogwarts if his parents woke up. He'd be able to be with Draco then...

He decided that he didn't know how to feel about things. On the one hand, he wanted everything to stay the same. On the other, he wished his parents could be with him. 'If only they could come live with us too, then that would solve everything...'
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The Years After