Saving Their Lives

Lilly stared at the sleeping young man lying in the bed before her. She felt the tears running down her face when she thought of how brave he had been. She and James had talked several times about what would happen to him when he returned to the present. She knew that by keeping them alive there would be changes and his memories would be distorted. When Harry had come to them that night so long ago, he had given them very little real information, just a list of where the horcruxes were and who to trust and not to trust. They had somehow muddled through and managed to stay alive and keep their son safe until that awful night in the cave where she lost James and Sirius.

Her heart still ached at her loss, and the loss her son would have felt, having lost both a father and a godfather, but her life was wonderful now, with a loving husband, her brave son, and a beautiful daughter. She hadn’t thought that she would be able to conceive again, as her and James had tried for years. Her first time with Severus created Violet, and Lilly couldn’t have been more pleased.

Severus had been a dear friend to her when James died, being a strong support for her to lean on and taking Harry under his wing and being the male figure he so desperately needed. He had severed all of his ties with Voldemort and devoted his life to Lilly and her son and doing what he could to help the light side. It was he who had helped her work everything out with Dumbledore and with his aid, they were able to complete the task that James and Sirius had started. She felt a pain of regret at his passing and wished that things could have been different.

She had kept Dumbledore at a distance and refused to trust him based off of the things that Harry had said. She wondered, years later, if she should have done things differently, but she was determined to keep her family safe, and Harry had warned her that people were not always as they seemed. He had been right about the Weasley’s and the Grangers. Molly and Jane had ended up being her two dearest friends. She suspected that Harry must have paid a visit to the Weasley’s as well, but she could never get Molly to admit it or talk about it.

“How is he, love?” Severus asked walking up behind her and slipping his arms around her.

She leaned back into his familiar warmth and smiled. “Still sleeping,” she said.

“He will no doubt be out for several hours. The potion will keep him asleep until his memories stabilize and he is able to withstand the pain. It was a foolish thing to race into the past with the intent of changing it without fully researching the consequences. Thank god you finally told me what he was going to do,” he said softly.

“It was a very brave thing that he did. If he hadn’t, I would be here now,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.

“And I thank every day of my life for his impulsive nature. I wish that he were more methodical like you are, love,” he said kissing her soft lips.

She smiled. “He is like James that way. He didn’t take the time to look at the whole picture either,” she said fondly. “It was actually one of the things about him that I liked. He was so impulsive and took life a day at a time without planning for anything.”

“That is why your son ended up alone and abused,” he said in disgust. He had never came to terms with James Potter and probably never would. The man had been an immature child until the day of his death.

“Severus,” she sighed. “He’s gone, lets just leave him there. He was my husband and I loved him deeply, and he was Harry’s father. I know he wasn’t perfect, but I did love him and he was a good father. I know that you will never like or respect him, but for Harry’s sake, and mine lets not fight about this,” she begged.

“Its sad that after all these years he can still come between us, even from the grave. He is the only thing that we ever fight over. You are right, my love. He is gone and I must forget about him. I love you and Harry and that has nothing to do with James. You are my heart, and you gave me a beautiful daughter and a son to help fill the void that was in my life. I thank the gods every day for you, Harry and Violet.”

“And I thank them for you as well. I don’t know how I would have made it through everything without your love and support,” she said with a soft smile.

“Lilly, I have loved you my entire life. Nothing but death, will ever make me stop loving you,” he said pulling her tightly into his arms and passionately kissing her lips.

“Gross! I’m still here you know,” Harry hoarsely whispered with a smirk.

“Harry!” Lilly shrieked and threw her arms around her oldest child.

“Harry,” Severus said with a smile.

“Mum! I can’t breathe,” Harry groaned.

“How are you, son?” Severus asked with worry in his eyes.

He smiled. “I feel strange. I have two sets of memories, yet some are fading as I lay here. Right now it is hard to determine what is real and what is not, yet other memories are so clear that they must be true and yet that are not.”

“I believe that it will just take time for you memories to settle. I think that in the end, you will only remember the memories from now, and not from before. I thought perhaps you could start a journal to write down all that you remember from the past and all that you remember now. It might help you to sift through them and figure out what you should know and what doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I remember you from before, Sev.”

“What do you remember?” he asked. He knew that Lilly had told him that Harry said he was pretty much a git, but that in the end, Harry had thought that he was one of the bravest men he had ever known.

“I remember you went out of your way to make my life miserable because you hated my father, but that you went out of your way to protect me because of how much you loved my mother. I guess some things never change,” he said smiling at the love that was apparent in his stepfathers eyes when he looked at his mother.

“Yes, well just try to put those memories behind you now,” he said feeling bad for how he must have been.

“I can’t believe that I have a sister! I have wanted a brother or sister my entire life! When can I meet her?”

Lilly laughed. “You’ve already met her, dear!”

“I know, but that is one of the memories that doesn’t feel real to me. I know that I have met her in this life, played with her, held her, fed her, but I don’t feel like I know her,” he said.

“You haven’t really spent a lot of time with her. You have been here at school, and then with the war and hiding her, you really have spent very little time with her. She is here now, would you like to see her?”

Harry smiled. “Yes, very much. Where is Hermione?” he asked wondering why she wasn’t there.

Lilly laughed. “She is with Violet. She spent almost the entire night here with you, but I asked her to sit with Violet so that I could be here when you woke,” Lilly said. “I wondered when you would ask about her.”

“Its strange, Mum. I remember her and Ron together, and Ginny and I together. Now, Hermione and me are in love and going to be married, and Ron is with Pansy. The weirdest part though, is Ginny and Draco. Draco and I hated each other! His family was a bunch of death eaters and Lucius was Voldemort’s right hand man. I have memories of them fighting on the light side in the final battle!”

“When your mother and I got together, I talked Lucius into changing sides. He knew without me there to spy for the Dark Lord and give him the potions that he needed that there would be a very slim chance of him winning the war. Add that to him loosing the financial backing of the Malfoy vaults, he didn’t have much of a chance. You and Draco hated each other from first year on, but you made your peace when you were forced together because of my friendship with Lucius and your mothers with Narcissa. I doubt he will ever be your best friend, but you do get along for the most part.”

Harry was quiet as the memories of Draco and his parent flew through his mind. He remembered his first day of school when Draco had approached him and offered friendship after insulting Ron. Harry, who had grown up with Ron and loved him like a brother insulted Draco and turned his back on the offer of friendship. He would never have chosen to befriend anyone who put down the Weasley’s.

For several years they competed and fought, and generally went out of their way to insult each other and then his father and Sirius died. Draco had been at Sirius’ funeral and they had glared at each other across the room. After that, the insults had slowed and then stopped but the competition was still there. Once his mother started seeing Severus and then they declared their intentions to marry and Severus severed his ties with the dark side, it wasn’t long before the Malfoy’s followed.

After that, the Malfoy’s were constant visitors to their home as Harry and his family was to theirs. They had even made an effort to get along with the Weasley’s and the Grangers, although Lucius still looked down upon the Muggles to some extent. Lucius had been a huge help in the final battle by letting the Order know of the weak spots of all the death eaters and telling them who the unknown ones were. The spies were ousted thanks to his knowledge and things went better for the light after that.

“I remember,” he said softly. “Does Molly know about Ginny and Draco?” he asked wondering what she said when she found out.

“What?” Lilly exclaimed. “Ginny and Draco? God’s, Harry, Molly will explode at that one!” she said with a laugh.

“I thought everyone knew,” he said trying to remember. He thought of the two of them kissing and walking hand in hand. He realized that he was looking down at them from a window in the castle and that nobody else was around. He could remember their heated glances across the Great Hall during meals and how they had ignored each other when anyone else was around. “Uh oh!” he said with a blush.

“Lucius will not be happy either,” Severus drawled.

“She is a pureblood,” Harry said.

Lilly and Severus looked at him blankly. “We know that, Harry,” Lilly said.

“I thought Lucius only wanted a pureblood for his family line,” Harry said, confused.

“Yes, but they are poor, and Draco’s bride is expected to come to the family with a large dowry. The Malfoy’s always marry well. He won’t accept an impoverished bride into the family.”

“You’d think that they had enough money without needing to marry it,” Harry said in disgust.

“That is how they keep their money. Each generation makes sure to marry well and replenish the coffers.”

“I’m glad that I won’t have to marry for money,” he said.

“Hermione’s family is quite comfortable, and she is their only child. She is a good catch,” Lilly said with a smile.

“I am marrying Hermione because I love her, not for what she can bring me.”

“That’s nice to know, love,” she said, standing in the doorway holding a toddler with a huge smile on her face.

“Hermione,” he said happily. He looked at the beautiful auburn haired baby who had beautiful brown eyes and long thick eyelashes.

“Harry!” she squealed, pushing her way out of Hermione’s arms and racing for her older brother.

“Violet!” he grinned when she launched herself into his arms and snuggled up next to him. It felt nice to hold the precious little girl. “How are you, Pretty Red?” he asked. Then he startled and wondered where the name came from. He remembered being home and teasing her about her red hair that was so like her mothers. She kept telling him her hair was pretty and he kept telling her it was red. She kept stomping her foot and demanded that he call her pretty but he kept calling her red. Finally he gave in and called her Pretty Red. It was a name that stuck for both of them.

“Harry sick?” she asked with concern patting him on the arm.

“No, I’m just sleepy,” he said kissing her on her soft rosy cheek.

“Mum, what happened to Rosie?” he asked remembering the sweet house elf that had been his nanny when he was growing up.

“She is at Spinners End now. She takes care of Violet when we are at home,” she said.

Harry remembered being in his bedroom at the Snape family home with Hermione and the two of them were lying on his bed snogging when the elf popped into the room and exclaimed, “No babies for babies, master Harry!” He remembered how he and Hermione had jumped apart and the two of them had both turned a fiery red. He looked up at Hermione and could tell by the look on her face that she had the same memory floating through her mind.

“Harry pway?” his little sister asked interrupting his thoughts.

“Come to Mummy, baby,” Lilly said holding out her arms. “Your brother is tired and needs his rest, darling,” she said.

“No! Pway! Pweese, Harry?” she asked in her adorable little voice.

“I promise, soon Pretty Red, I’ll play with you. I need to take a nap first,” he told her.

“I sweep with you, Harry?” she asked.

“Come along now, Violet. Let your brother rest,” Severus said picking his daughter up from Harry’s lap. “We’ll go have a tea party and come back when your brother wakes up,” he told her.

“No! Wanna pway with Harry, daddy!” she screamed as they walked down the hall.

“She loves you, Harry. She always looks forward to seeing you,” his mother told him.

“It’s weird, because I could barely remember her before she came into the room, but then now, I remember playing with her, giving her a nickname, tickling her and making her wet her pants on your couch,” he said.

“Harry James Potter! You said the cat did that!” his mother said in disgust.

“Well I didn’t want to get in trouble and it wasn’t really Pretty Red’s fault,” he said sheepishly.

Lilly leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Get some sleep sweetheart. You’ll feel better after you sleep. Severus said that the potion that we gave you would help with the pain and to settle your memories.”

“Thanks, Mum,” he said. He was happy that at least one of his parents was alive and that his father had lived long enough for him to have memories of him. He could still remember what it was like to have none of him at all. He thought of the night that he went back in time and watched from the front yard as his father played with him as a baby. He remembered that as being his only memory of his father and now he had eleven years worth. Things didn’t turn out exactly as he wanted them to, but they were still better than they would have been if he hadn’t of gone back.

“Molly wants to come see you, Harry. She said that she would wait until morning. Hermione, don’t keep him up to late, dear.” Lilly kissed her son once more, and then hugged Hermione and left to search for her husband and daughter.

“Hello, love,” Hermione softly whispered, bending down and kissing his full lips.

Harry reached up and pulled her down on top of him. He pulled her head down next to his and kissed her full sweet lips gently. “Hello, Hermione,” he whispered.

“How are you?”

“Good, how are you?”

“I’m a bit confused, but I’ll be fine,” he said kissing her again.

“Harry, tell me how you did it. Tell me what happened. Your Mum said that it was your story to tell.”

Harry sighed. “You aren’t going to like it,” he said.

Hermione looked at him and scowled. “Harry James Potter, what did you do?” she demanded. “Whenever you tell me that I’m not going to like something it’s always really bad.”

He looked deep into her beautiful brown eyes and wondered how he never noticed how beautiful she was before in his first life. He remembered what great friends she and Ron and Harry had been and how they had been called the “Golden Trio”. He could remember how Hermione had been the one he would talk to whenever he needed help solving a problem or just to have a friend listen. He had never looked at her romantically though. She had always had eyes for Ron, and he for her, even though he had spent so much time denying it.

He wondered if he hadn’t of gone back and changed everything, making his parents move in next to the Grangers if they would have fallen in love. If he had left everything up to fate she would have fallen in love with Ron and it would be them who was engaged now. He felt a pang of guilt and wondered if he ruined something special between them. He also remembered how the three of them had been inseparable since before their third birthdays and she had just as much opportunity to be with Ron as she did to being with him. Perhaps, this was what was really meant to be.

“I stole a time turner from you and went back into time to save my parents,” he said.

“What? I don’t have a time turner. I had to give it back to Professor McGonagall after third year,” she said with a frown.

“This is hard to explain, but we had another life where things were much different. In my first life, my parents were killed by Voldemort on Halloween the year that I turned one. I was sent to live with my Mum’s sister and her husband. They hated me because I was magical and they were abusive and neglected me. I learned that I was magical the day I received my Hogwarts letter. I met you and Ron on the train on the way to school that first day,” he told her with a smile. “You were such a nosy little know-it-all. You, Ron and I became friends and we set out to save the Wizarding world from Voldemort. When the war was finally over, I tried to steal the time turner from you without getting caught, but you found out and came after me. I had to place a body binding spell on you to get away,” he said.

Hermione gasped. “You put a spell on me?” she demanded. “Harry! How could you?”

Harry smiled. “I had to do it. If I hadn’t gone back in time, I wouldn’t have been able to save my family. You didn’t approve. You told me that going back in time would change to many things and it wasn’t safe to change history.”

“Oh gods, Harry! I was right to! It’s dangerous to change the past. Everything happens for a reason!”

“But don’t you see, Hermione, maybe I was meant to go back to the past. Maybe I was meant to save my parents. If I hadn’t things were so different. Severus died in the war. Dumbledore died a year before the final battle. Fred, Remus, and Tonks all died and Teddy was an orphan. Sirius died at the end of our fifth year. Even Dobby died for this damn war, Hermione! Everyone I loved died! I had to do it! I had to at least try!” he cried.

“Oh, Harry! I am so sorry!” she cried and pulled him tighter against her.

“You and I weren’t even together in the past. You were about to marry Ron, and I was going to marry Ginny,” he told her.

Hermione gasped again. “What? Yuck, Harry! I would never marry Ron! He’s like a brother to me!”

Harry smiled. “But in our past life, you and I were like brother and sister.”

Hermione frowned. “Maybe its good that you changed things. I can’t imagine being married to Ron!”

“You would have said that about me before,” he said. “Hermione, I almost feel like I cheated you out of your real life,” he said softly.

Hermione shuddered. “Don’t. I do not want to marry Ronald Weasley.”

“In my first life I couldn’t even remember my parents. The only thing I knew of them was from photographs and what people told me. I heard my whole life how much I looked like my father but had my mother’s eyes. Do you know how awful it is to not even have a single memory of your parents? The only memory I had was of the night that my mother died, how she screamed as Voldemort killed her. The only reason I remembered it was because I relived it when dementors tried to attack me.”

Hermione felt the tears well up in her eyes. “Oh, Harry,” she whispered.

“No! Don’t feel sorry for me. I hated that. I hated my entire existence. I was called “The Boy Who Lived”. I was famous because Voldemort tried to Avada me and it bounced off my forehead and destroyed him instead. He was ripped from his body and disappeared for twelve years. I had a horrid scar on my forehead and everywhere that I went people whispered and stared. I could have a normal life, I was to busy hiding from death eaters and training for the day that I would kill Voldemort.” He pushed Hermione away and sat up on the edge of the bed. His head started spinning as he remembered his first day at school.

He recalled standing in line with all the other first years waiting to be sorted. When his name was called the Great Hall went silent in shock as he slowly made his way up the steps to the stool where he would be sorted. Everyone had stared at him like he was some kind of a freak and he was so nervous. He could remember arguing with the hat as to where he would be placed. When the hat yelled out Gryffindor the room exploded and he happily went to his table not knowing anything of his history and why the school was staring at him.

He soon learned about his life and he couldn’t stand the attention that he got. He was constantly in the papers and public opinion changed daily. Some days he was the savior of the Wizarding world, and other days he was a liar and a menace. The public was fickle and he wanted more than anything to stay out of the public eye.

He could remember when he had been forced to participate in the Tri-Wizard tournament and how Rita Skeeter hounded him constantly, trying to make up stories about him. She dodged his every step and when she couldn’t find any real information to print, she made it up. He never wanted to go back to that kind of life again.

“Harry, are you alright?” she asked softly.

“I’m fine,” he said curtly.

“I don’t know how you feel right now, and I’m not going to pretend that I do. I just want you to know that I love you, Harry and I’ll be here if you need me,” she said leaning into him.

“I love you as well, Hermione.”

“Are you going to tell anyone what you have done?” she asked.

“My Mum and Sev know, and Molly and Arthur know. You are the only other person who knows. I had to tell the Weasley’s so that they could save Fred. In my past life, they were the only family that I had. They treated me as if I were one of their own and helped keep me safe. They supported me through everything, when many other people turned their backs on me.”

“I wonder how much was changed by your going back in time,” she mused.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure that I’ll find out,” he said. He had also wondered the same thing.

A/N:
I am sorry that some of you are disappointed about James dying and Lilly and Severus together, but I wanted it that way, and I like it that way. If this ruined the story for you, well sorry...there are tons of other fanfiction stories out there, I would suggest looking for another...I don't think that I really bashed Dumbledore. He was a very manipulative man, and he did what he thought that he had to do for the greater good. I beleive that if Harry had had parents to protect him, Dumbledore would not have gotten away with as much as he did. He put Harry into danger several times and I don't think that as someone who professing to care about another that should have happened. He knew that in the end Harry would most likely die and he still sent Harry out to do what he thought needed to be done for "the greater good". so in this story, Lilly put a stop to it and Dumbledore actually lived longer. Someone asked what happened to Luna, and she is still alive. She won't be a very big player in this story. So, there you have it...if you like it let me know, and if you don't you can tell me as well...