It's all J.K.'s I own nothing, just this twisted plot line that came from my slightly demented mind. =) reviews are much appreciated.
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Harry Potter and the Lion's Roar
Chapter 3: Reunions
Harry stood dumbly on the porch, his mind numb of any coherent thought, his lungs aching for the oxygen they were being deprived of since he'd stopped breathing. Never in his wildest dreams or fantasies had this ever happened, sure he'd wished he had his parents or Sirius back countless times, but he'd never gone so far as to actually imagine what he'd do if they were back. Now, as he stood there looking them in the face, he was having a difficult time compressing the hopeful feeling rising in his chest, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that this could all be a trap from Voldemort. He protectively stepped in front of Hermione pulling out his wand and guarding her, ignoring her silent protests.
"Who are you?" Harry growled, eyeing the three of them menacingly. Sirius chuckled and his parents, if that was who they were, looked a bit hurt.
"What, I've been gone two years and you forget me already? Here I thought I actually made an impression on you, I guess I was wrong." Sirius remarked.
"Don't mock me dammit, I could never forget my own godfather but I also know he died two years ago, so it makes it a bit impossible that he, and my parents who have been dead since I was a year old are standing on my porch. It is far more likely that the evil bastard who has been trying to kill me since I was a baby is trying to pull yet another stunt and catch me at my weakness." he hissed. Lily stepped in here,
"Harry, we can explain, I promise you, just give us a chance." she asked.
Harry closed his eyes and breathed deep, needing a moment to fight off the urge to give the person whatever the hell they wanted just because they looked like his mother. Hermione rested a comforting hand on his arm, before stepping in front of him and looking evenly at all three visitors, repeating his earlier move and ignoring his objections.
"If you are who you say you are, you won't mind a bit of questioning then, to authenticate everything?" she quirked. Sirius smirked,
"Sure love, fire away." he replied cheekily, "And by the way, it' s good to see your all right after that nasty fall you took last time I saw you, it scarred didn't it?" he asked.
Hermione shifted uncomfortably, but nodded stiffly, "Yeah, burnt like hell too." she answered. She could just feel Harry's eyes on her back, and feel him itching to coddle and apologize to her for it, but she refused to look back, that was in the past, and she was fine, he had no reason to do either of those things. Sirius looked thoughtful a moment and nodded,
II can make up some salve for you, after all this, to get rid of the scarring, my cousin-" he spat out the word, "Tried the spell out once when we were young, and it ended up hitting me, my arm would be a hell of a lot uglier if I my father hadn't still cared enough at the time to fix it for me." he said softly. Hermione locked eyes with him, and saw the truth there, but also mixed in with the pain he held from his childhood days. She nodded, and turned back to look at Harry before she spoke, he simply held her gaze, his eyes boring into her with so many emotions she couldn't decipher them all, but she gave his hand which she still held a squeeze and turned back to the others.
"If you are James and Sirius, you will be able to transform into your animagi then." she said calmly.
"Hermione-" Harry tried to interrupt,
"Harry even if they were Death Eaters under a Polyjuice they couldn't duplicate the animagus ability, only certain witches and wizards can do it after they've practiced and trained. Even if they were animagi before, it would be their form, not James and Sirius'" she replied
That seemed to satisfy Harry, as he nodded and motioned for them to continue as she said. James and Sirius exchanged glances and smirked, Sirius motioned with his hand, as a man would in a formal duel signaling a point, before he and James began to change shape, in one step each of them had transformed, and staring at him, were a grim, his tail wagging happily, and a stag merely staring at him with its warm, hazel eyes. Hermione's face broke into a grin as she looked back at the other three. Harry took all of two seconds before he launched into Sirius' arms for a crushing hug, Hermione giggled in a very un-Hermione way, and her smile widened at seeing something good finally happen for her best friend.
"You prat! You better have a damn good explanation." Harry exclaimed after finally relinquishing his hold, tears glistening behind his wire-rimmed frames. Sirius chuckled and ruffled his hair, noticing that the boy was glancing over his shoulder, his eyes meeting those of his father for the first time in 16 years.
"Explanations later my little godson, for now I think you should go and say hello to your dad over there." he replied with a twinkle in his eyes, much like the one Dumbledore's always held. Harry's eyes moved from his father, back to Sirius' smirking face, he smiled a bit and nodded silently, turning and walking over until he was about a foot away from his father, the awkwardness of the situation hitting both men, they merely stared for a moment, soaking in every detail of the other, which considering the resemblance, was pretty much looking in a mirror. Harry stopped as the realization hit him, this was really his dad. He was back, and no further encouragement was needed, he leapt into his fathers arms, much as he'd done with Sirius a moment before, the tears now threatening to fall. James chuckled, but held on just as tight as Harry.
"It's really you!" Harry whispered as the pulled apart, James smirked, and nodded,
"It's really me, sprong." he replied, Harry grinned and launched himself into another hug, happily accepted by his father.
"Alright alright, Merlin, sappy ones you lot are." Sirius muttered, Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, and he yelped, glaring at the younger witch playfully,
"What! I just thought we might get Lily's questioning over with so she can get to say hello to her son too! Is that alright with you miss, I'm the smartest witch of my age, and quite possibly the bossiest?" He joked. Hermione glared and Harry chuckled,
"Oh you're in for it now Sirius, she'll get you back." he replied. Sirius smirked,
"And I know I'm done for it and probably should run away quickly, but like I said right now I think your mother should be allotted her time. " he shot back. Harry grinned and nodded, turning to the red head before him, looking her over for a moment, before turning to Remus.
"Moony you think you can handle some questioning? I could ask her but none of my questions would be very pleasant, considering the only memories I have of her are well...." he trailed off, Remus snapped out of his trance, and nodded to Harry, glancing at the other two Marauders briefly, before turning to Lily, she smiled at him.
"When we were in school you had a notebook you wrote in from time to time and in seventh year James stole it, what did you do to get it back?" he asked quietly. James groaned, and Sirius chuckled, Lily merely smirked.
"I hexed him to stay have his feet stuck to the ceiling while he was wearing nothing but some a girls uniform complete with pink boxers which held an interesting little message for all to see until he told me where he hid it." she replied easily.
"It was quite cruel really, dear." James replied, "Sirius still has the pictures, or at least he did last I checked."
"They're upstairs." Sirius replied easily, smirking, "Though you'll never find them."
"Serves you right, stealing my bloody notebook" Lily challenged
Harry cleared his throat, bringing the two back to the real world, before he turned to Remus, his hopeful eyes betraying his calm exterior. Remus smiled and nodded, and that was cue enough for Lily, instead of waiting for Harry to come to her, as James had, she practically ran across the porch, swooping him into her arms in one of the tightest hugs he'd ever received. Harry felt her tears wetting his shirt as she pressed gentle kisses to his forehead, bent to reach her, and his hair.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry, so, so sorry." she wept, Harry merely squeezed her tighter, blinking back his own tears, as he replied,
"You have nothing to be sorry for...mum, I'm alive because of you." he replied gently, and this only made Lily cry harder, everyone stood quietly watching as Harry held her until her tears turned to sniffles, and she slowly released him, smiling slightly as she wiped her eyes, and looked up at him,
"Merlin you look so much like you're father." She remarked quietly, and Harry chuckled,
"If I had a galleon for every time I heard that." he joked, breaking the ice once again, as everyone chuckled a bit, before Sirius turned over to Remus,
"Prongs I think we've forgotten to say hello to one very vital member of our Marauder group here." he spoke with a devilish smirk that at one point had made women swoon over him. James matched his grin with an equally mischievous looking one, and the two each wrapped and arm around the old mate's shoulders,
"Hello Moony, miss us?" they asked playfully, and the rest shared a grin, Lily still clutching onto Harry's arm as if she'd lose him again if she let go, not that Harry minded.
Remus locked eyes with each of his best friends, looking past their joking faces and seeing they missed him as much as he had missed them, and with slightly tearing eyes, and grabbed them both into a hug,
"You have no idea." he replied, and all three men grinned,
"Oh and I suppose I'm just chum for company eh Moony?" Tonks chimed in with a smirk, Remus blushed slightly, causing Sirius to nearly choke.
"Remus, my little cousin! Of all the women in the world, you pick my little cousin? " he asked dramatically, Remus chuckled, and shrugged,
"I tried to explain to her it was unfair to her, but she's very...persistent." he replied. James raised an eyebrow to Sirius,
"Wait, she" pointing to Tonks, "Is the little Nymphadora we used to baby sit when we were 15?" he asked, Lily snorted,
"Someone let you idiots babysit?" she quipped. James stuck his tongue out at his wife in a childish way, and Tonks glared.
"Please not the name, I already have this one who refuses to call me Tonks, no you too." she groaned as she slipped into Remus' side comfortably, his arm wrapping around her waist automatically, and Sirius groaned.
"Not only did you pick my little cousin, you're also shagging her!" he cried.
"Oh shut it Sirius I'm a big girl now, who I do or do not shag is none of your bloody business." Tonks retorted. Remus flushed yet again, and everyone besides the three of them laughed a bit. Lily finally released Harry, and went to rest her head on James' shoulder, though she didn't let him out of her range of view. Hermione quietly slipped over next to him and squeezed his hand, locking eyes with a grin, conveying her happiness to him in a simple exchange before turning to the group,
"Why don't we continue this inside, now that everyone's been cleared, maybe we could trouble Moody, Kingsley and McGonagall to get over here so we can alert them?" she suggested.
"Let them know in the morning, nothing will happen between now and then, I think we all deserve an explanation and some time alone before Moody comes charging in here tomorrow." Remus replied. Hermione grinned and nodded,
"An who is this?" James asked curiously, not missing the exchange she and his son had gone through when they thought everyone was watching Sirius and his cousin's bickering. Harry flushed the tiniest bit before speaking,
"Sorry, this is one of my two best friends in the world, I don't know what I would have done without her over the past few years. Probably would've gotten myself killed." he replied with a flattering grin, absently thinking about how much more he could have said about Hermione. She blushed horribly, and elbowed him,
"That is not something you say to people to make them feel better Harry! You'd have gotten along fine without me." she remarked modestly,
"Mhmm sure Mione." Harry replied absently. Over to the side The three Marauders and two women exchanged smirks,
"Are they..?" James asked vaguely. Remus laughed softly and shook his head,
"Probably should be, but Harry's got enough on his plate at the moment, I think he's too blind to see it." he replied.
"They look like us James." Lily replied absently.
"Complete with hexing and whining at times too." Sirius remarked smartly, then pretended like the swat to the back of the head Lily gave him didn't hurt.
"You mentioned something about enough on his plate?" James asked after a few moments of silence, watching Harry and Hermione bicker. Remus nodded solemnly,
"I'm sure you'll find out one way or another, but I think it's more his story to tell you, let's just say Tom hasn't exactly let him be." he answered quietly. James and Lily both paled a few shades and both sets of eyes flicked unconsciously to the boy in question, still grinning playfully, as the brown haired witch in front of him grew even more exasperated with his teasing.
"Alright you two, let's get inside, it's hot out here." Sirius called, interrupting the banter and making the two involved flush red, before scurrying off into the house. The five remaining chuckled,
"I still say Christmas." Sirius remarked,
"I've got Valentine's Day." Tonks added,
"October 12th." Remus put in, James chuckled,
"You have a bet on them?" he asked, the others laughed too,
"Not just a bet a pot of money, the entirety of the Hogwarts staff, most of the Order and pretty much anyone else who wants in." Remus explained.
"The Weasley twins set it up." Tonks said, before realizing they probably had no idea who the Weasley twins were. "Right, we better get in for the explanations then huh?" she asked, as the Marauders and their two girls entered the house, closing and warding the door behind them.
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Well it's another wait for you guys as it's 3 am and I am much too tired to finish up the explanations, it should take up a good portion of the next chapter, plus Harry gets some bonding time in with his parents. I hope so far you all like it, this should be enough to tie you over until I get some sleep and write more. please read/review.