Harry's eyes widened and traveled back between Hermione and the woman with red hair. He could not believe what Hermione had just told him. There had to be an explanation for what was going on. Harry's mum was dead and dead people cannot come back from the grave and make pancakes.
"No!" Harry spat sharply.
Harry dashed back into the room he woke up in. He paced the room quickly, tears building up in his green eyes. He heard the door open and knew Ron and Hermione were watching him. He wiped away his teary eyes with his hand, and turned to face them.
"Harry," Ron said. "You okay mate?"
"I don't know!" he answered quickly. "This has to be Voldemort!"
Ron shuddered.
"Harry, I don't think it is," Hermione said calmly.
"But you j-"
"I know what I just said, Harry. But think… how could he get all three of us here in one place?" Hermione asked them.
"Portkey," Harry answered. "He did it before."
"No. Voldemort cannot get into Grimauld Place, its under the Fidelius Charm, remember?" Hermione informed them. "Dumbledore is the Secret-Keeper. He would die before giving away the location of the Order, and your whereabouts!' she said turning to Harry. "You know that?"
"Maybe another member of the Order did it?" Harry stated. "Somebody could be under the imperious curse!"
"No! Shacklebolt cast detection spells all over the house at the beginning of the summer they would have been detected," she said.
"Who knows? This probably isn't even real!" Harry shouted. "This probably Voldemort fucking with my mind again. He's just waiting to - OUCH! FUCK HERMIONE, WHY DID YOU PINCH ME?"
"To show you you're not dreaming!" she retaliated. "And stop using that foul language."
"How can this be real?" Ron asked. "How can we go to bed one place and wake up some place completely different with no memory of getting there?"
"Not sure…" Hermione said, pacing the length of the room. She was in deep thought, as the boys watched her. "Dumbledore?"
"What?" asked Harry.
"Dumbledore, he said something to us last night," she said. "What was it? I don't remember much because of the Fire Whiskey."
"Yeah," Ron agreed, screwing up his face as he struggled to remember. "Gosh…it was something about memories. Right?"
"Yeah…er…shoot what was it?" Harry struggled to remember.
"TREASURE THE MEMORIES!" Ron shouted. "That was it!"
"Yes!' Hermione replied. She looked at them excitedly immediately followed by a frown. "But how could that send us here? It's not a spell!"
Harry paced over to the window and collapsed on the bed watching intently outside. He noticed the houses lining the street practically identical to each other in their neat little rows. It reminded him a lot of Privet Drive, except this street had an air of pleasantness to it, making much more enjoyable. He decided he liked this place much better than Privet Drive, even if Voldemort had some how brought him here.
He could hear Ron and Hermione murmuring as they discussed the situation. Harry found the whole situation surreal, it almost made him feel. Had he really just seen his mother making breakfast in the kitchen? His dead mother he may add. The whole thing was just unbelievably strange. Then something inside his mind clicked…his birthday wish! He had wished to be normal! Then Dumbledore had given him that peculiar smile.
"I know how we got here," Harry stated, interrupting Ron and Hermione's argument.
"How, Harry?" Hermione asked him.
"It was my birthday wish," he replied, staring out the window.
"You wished for this?" Ron asked looking baffled.
Harry lifted his eyes from the window and turned to look at his two best friends. "I wished to be normal," he said wistfully. "I wished for things to be the way they were supposed to be." He turned to the window again and scanned the genial neighborhood. "And this is it," he finished. "This is a world without Voldemort."
"Bloody hell!"
"After I blew out the candles I looked up at Dumbledore and he gave me a really weird smile," Harry told them. "A smile I have never seen before."
"Well there's our answer right there," Hermione replied. "Professor Dumbledore cast the Befathalus Charm. It's a very complicated charm; we don't learn it until 7th year."
Ron met Harry's gaze and rolled his eyes. "Care to tell us a little more about that Charm?" Ron goaded.
Hermione groaned. "Don't you two ever read?" A aggravated Hermione asked. "There was a brief paragraph about it in `Guide to Charms and Bewitchments'. Chapter thirty-nine, subsection fifteen!"
"Um…let me think," Ron riposted. "…NO!"
"ANYWAY…" Harry interrupted. "What is it, Hermione?"
"The Befathalus Charm is a charm to make a wish come true. It's very old type of magic, that's why I didn't think of it at first. It's a combination of mixing a potion using ingredients of a rare foliage which is nearly extinct and chanting in the tongue of ancient goblin while you stick the bark of dying oak tree between your toes." Hermione explained. "The user drinks the potion and then later is then able to grant a wish by chanting it in ancient goblin. Dumbledore obviously chose to use to do this non-verbally. This makes sense consider that ancient Goblin is a dying language, which only few know. So if the Order caught Dumbledore chanting it out loud, they would think he'd lost it and toss him in St. Mungo's.
Ron wrinkled his nose up. "Weird!" he said.
"Very!" Hermione agreed with a swift nod of her head. "It was invented by a rogue clan of Goblin's who lived in Northern Poland in the year 869. They would steal, kill, and eat the cattle of local farmers. They were fierce people; they lived rough lives, and would dress themselves in the skin of those who double-crossed them. They spent thirteen days before a full moon fasting on mildew, gross! Oh they also believed a boulder they dubbed Mervvy would take them to the afterlife on the wings of light!"
"Mervvy?" Ron snorted.
"Yep," Hermione confirmed.
"As enlightening as it is to learn about a stupid clan of Goblins," Harry spat. "We have a bigger problem. My mother…my dead mother…is in the kitchen right now making birthday pancakes!" he shouted. "Do you think we can concentrate on that for more then five minutes?"
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said. "You know how I am with facts."
She sat down on the edge of the bed next to him, and rubbed his shoulder supportively and smiled. Harry could feel a calmness spreading through him.
"We'll get through this," she whispered in his ear. "I promise."
He smiled weakly back at her.
"Is this permanent?" Harry asked.
"No," Hermione said. "This is just a glimpse of what your life would be like without Voldemort. It will probably only be for this one day."
"Oh."
"HARWEE!" came a small squeal from the hallway.
The trio's eyes landed on the closed door, then eyed each other suspiciously.
"Who was that?" Ron asked nervously.
"HARWEE!" the voice squealed again.
"I don't know," Harry replied staring at the door. He got up from the bed and approached the door despite Hermione's protests of waiting. He turned the doorknob and pulled the door open to reveal a small girl about the age of three with long ginger hair, cute freckles, and a large toothy grin.
"HARWEE!" the little girl squealed beaming up.
"Er…hi," Harry replied slowly.
The little girl looked around Harry's tall form and peered at Ron, who was looking thunderstruck at her.
"WONNY!" she giggled.
Ron didn't respond but took a few steps back turned to Hermione for some kind of answer to this situation.
"Oh honestly, Ron!" Hermione barked, reading the nervous features on Ron's face. "She's a child, not a blast-ended skrewt!"
"MEENIE!" the little girl squealed excitedly. She ran past Harry and Ron and leaped onto Hermione's lap. "HIYA!" she giggled.
"Hi!" Hermione beamed excitedly at the red haired girl sitting in her lap. "Well aren't you just a little bundle of cuteness!"
The little girl giggled and began playing with Hermione's brown curls. Hermione looked up at the boys and grinned at how adorable the little girl was.
"Harwee!" the girl said, turning on Hermione's lap. "Mummy's in da kitchen…and…and I like…yeah - pancakes weee!" she shrieked excitedly.
"SARA POTTER!" a voice shouted up from down the stairs. "I ASKED YOU TO LEAVE HARRY ALONE. WHY DO I HEAR YOU BUGGING HIM?"
"Uh oh, mummy!" the girl called Sara said. She slid off Hermione's lap and ran out the door.
"Was that…?" Harry asked looking back at Hermione.
Hermione beamed up at him. "You're sister! And she is so cute!"
"HARRY, HERMIONE, RON!" yelled Lily Potter from the kitchen. "BREAKFAST IS READY!"
Hermione glanced up at Harry apprehensively. "Are you ready for this?" she asked him.
Harry gulped nervously, and nodded. "Yeah I think so," he replied.
***
Harry, Ron, and Hermione slowly exited the bedroom and collected themselves at the top of the stairs. They stood huddled together watching Lily Potter bustle around the kitchen setting the table with her wand as she placed a giggling Sara in her high chair. She spun around and for the first time Harry laid his eyes on his mother.
He gasped.
Lily beamed at him. "Happy birthday, Harry," she said sweetly. "Now come on down you three before your breakfast gets cold."
"Are you sure this is safe?" Ron muttered to Hermione.
"Yes, I assure you its fine!" she replied.
Ron slowly led his way down the stairs followed by Hermione and behind her Harry. The kitchen was remarkably white with beautiful Italian tiles, white picturesque walls with beautiful scenic paintings. A wrap around counter top was littered with all sorts of breakfast foods that made Ron's mouth water.
Harry stopped in his tracks when his feet touched the cool kitchen floor. His mother, only standing a few feet turned to him after attending to Sara again.
"Harry…" Lily said slowly approaching him.
"M-mum?"
She closed her arms around him tightly. "Oh I can't believe my baby boy is already sixteen," she whispered into his ear. "Where has the time gone?"
"Oh Lils, the last thing a sixteen year boy wants on his birthday is his mum gushing all over him!" said a dark haired man who had just entered the room. "Release him."
Harry wheeled around in his mothers arms and saw a tall man with dark unmanageable hair, glasses, and warm hazel eyes beaming down at him. "Happy birthday son!" James roared excitedly, pulling Harry into a gigantic bear hug. "How does it feel to be sixteen?"
"Er…" Harry said unable to form words, as his mind was in a daze
"The boy hasn't had time to let it sink yet!" James bellowed with laughter.
"Mummy bwekfast!" Sara said, waiting patiently.
"Yes, honey, it's coming," she said to her daughter.
"I agree with the little one," James said, jokingly poking Ron in the ribs. "Let's eat!"
"Here here!" Ron replied excitedly following James to the table.
"Just sit anywhere," Lily instructed as she piled all the food onto the table.
James took a seat at the far end of the table. Lily took a seat opposite him closest to Sara so she could feed her. Harry stood glued to the floor in a stupor as he took in the sight of his parents. He didn't realize he was gawking until he felt Hermione hands tugging on his arm.
At the kitchen table, Harry and Hermione sat next to each other, and Ron on the opposite side of the table scanning the food that lay on the table with a glazed look.
"Where is that girl?" Lily said, eyeing the empty chair next to Ron.
James groaned and rolled his eyes. "KATE GET DOWN HERE YOUR BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD!" he shouted loudly.
"I'll be down in a sec…" replied a female voice.
"NO, YOUNG LADY," James shouted again. "YOUR MOTHER WORKED HARD ON THIS MEAL AND YOU ARE GOING TO COME DOWN AND ENJOY IT…NOW!"
The female voice groaned loudly. "Fine!" A few thumps were heard from up stairs followed by slamming of a door and heavy footstep down the stairs. A girl with long black hair like Harry's and hazel eyes entered the kitchen and plopped down in the empty chair next to Harry.
Ron stared at her with an open mouth. For a second he completely forgot about all the food.
"Kate, are you wearing make-up?" Lily asked.
"Yes."
"We told you you're too young for make-up," James said.
"But I'm fourteen!" Kate cried.
"Exactly!" James said, biting the egg off the end of his fork and waving it at Kate. "Far too young to wear make-up. You'll wash it off after breakfast."
"Fine!" Kate groaned again. She jabbed her fork into a stack of pancakes and placed them on her plate. She looked up and caught sight of Harry who was watching her confoundly. "Happy birthday, dung-face," she smirked.
"Er…thanks?"
Kate looked up at him and scrunched up her face in confusion. "You're not going to dignify me with a comeback?" she asked. "Come on man, I am your sister!"
Harry blinked rapidly a few times before he understood what she was talking about. He had seen the way the Weasley siblings teased and called each other names, he figure he and Kate would do the same thing.
"You didn't give me a chance to finish," he said, tying to sound confident. "Thanks…beetle brain!"
"Enough you two," Lily said. She glanced up at Harry and moved her gaze quickly over Ron and Hermione. "You three will want to hurry up and get ready after breakfasts we're going out."
"Where are we going?" Harry asked calmly.
"We're going to see Sirius!" he replied.
Harry choked on his pancakes, and dropped his fork on the ground which landed with a loud clang. He reached for his pumpkin juice and took a large gulp.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Lily asked looking concerned.
"Oh, yes," he replied. "More than alright!"
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