The Locked Room - 10

"You got Snivellus? You didn't tell me that part," Sirius said, almost accusingly. "How could I have missed that?"

"You missed everything. Where have you been?" Tonks scolded him. "Lily's beside herself."

"He got him good, Padfoot," Remus said, beaming. "You should have seen it. Actually, young Ginny even gave him a whopper of a Bat-Bogey Hex when he tried to attack Harry after it was all over."

"You saw my mum?" Harry asked, stunned.

"He attacked him after?" Sirius yelped, tossing his head from side-to-side as if deranged.

"We were with her and your dad during the battle. They're both so proud of you," Remus replied, ignoring Sirius completely.

Harry nodded, feeling worried and somewhat apprehensive of this overload of information.

"Hey! Why don't you bring them here?" Sirius asked, still frowning. "It'll be like the party we always should have had."

Harry felt as if his heart had stopped beating, and he looked away. Something about the idea of seeing his parents terrified him, despite the fact that it was what he'd always wanted. Everyone kept saying how proud they were of him. What if the real thing didn't measure up to all the hype?

"Harry will call them when he's ready, Padfoot," Remus said, his eyes peering knowingly at Harry. Remus had always been able to read Harry very well.

"What's to be ready? He called us; he can just do the same for them," Sirius said, warming to the idea. "They'll be furious if they find out we've been here all this time without them."

Harry looked away, his heart beginning to pound erratically. He was about to meet his parents for the first time, and he'd already done something to anger them. Great. He wondered if his mum could shout like Mrs. Weasley, and how it would feel if she shouted at him. Andcould he just call them here? He'd done it subconsciously with Dumbledore, and he'd used memories to bring forth Sirius, Remus and Tonks. He didn't have any memories of his parents – not real memories, anyway, and he didn't want to use the one he had of his mother's death.

Remus laid a steady hand on Harry's shoulder, squeezing gently. "They won't be furious," he said quietly, halting Harry's frantic musings.

"Perhaps you don't need a specific memory, but merely the feelings they inspire within you will do," Dumbledore said, laying a restraining hand on Sirius's shoulder.

Harry nodded, feeling trapped. He shut his eyes and thought of Godric's Hollow – not how he'd seen it, but how he imagined it should have been, with lilies growing outside, and a large oak tree with a swing on a low-lying branch, and a tree house hidden behind the leaves. His father would be cutting the grass while his mother prepared a lunch for him and his younger siblings.

"James!" Sirius shouted, startling Harry from the vision.

His eyes flew open wide in time to see the little cottage just as he'd imagined it with his parents standing on the stoop. They were both very young, only a few years older than Harry at best, and he vaguely wondered if they remained stuck at the age of their death in the afterworld or were merely called forth the way Harry envisioned them.

"There you are, Padfoot, you old dog. Who is she this time? You haven't been 'round for weeks," James Potter said, clapping Sirius on the back. Even his voice sounded very much like Harry's.

"Where are we, Sirius?" Lily asked, tilting her head to the side. She was taller than Harry had expected, although perhaps that assumption was influenced by Ginny's diminutive height.