Risen from the Ashes (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 8

As soon as Sirius' hand touched Harry's shoulder, he let out a yell and jumped back by at least a foot. For the first time sense they had arrived he actually looked at them. "You... you touched me... you're real..."

"We're right here champ..." Sirius said carefully. He wasn't sure what to do with himself. This bruised and battered boy was not the confident Gryffindor that he had seen just a few short months ago.

"No that's impossible..." Harry held his head and shook. "I've gone bloody mad... they're not real. They're not real. They're not real..."

"Harry, you're not crazy." Remus walked over to him and pulled the glasses off of his nose. He noticed that they were broken and repaired them before placing them back where they belonged. "See? Not a hallucination."

"Bloody hell..." he said in surprise.

Sirius laughed. "You've been hanging out with that Weasley boy too much."

At this point, Harry's eyes finally landed on his parents. His eyes widened before he dove for the floor. He threw off a floorboard and pulled out his wand which he immediately pointed at the four of them. "Alright, so you lot aren't a figment of my imagination. But that doesn't mean you're the real deal. What kind of sick prank is this? Is that you Malfoy?!"

"No baby... it's us..." Lily was on the verge of tears. From all the stories that Remus and Sirius had told them, this is not what she was expecting her little boy to look like. He was way too thin, and extremely short for his age. And worst of all, he was absolutely covered in injuries.

"No, it's not!" Harry yelled at her. "My parents are dead, and it's all my fault because they died protecting me! So, all of you get out of here!"

"Harry... it wasn't your fault..." James couldn't think of anything else to say. This was not going how they had expected.

"Harry, I promise, those are your real parents." Remus assured. "Something happened last night, and they were brought back."

"How do I know that the two of you are real?" he pointed his wand at the two elder Marauders.

At that moment, Hedwig flew off of her place on the bed and went to sit on Sirius' shoulder. She started nuzzling her head against his beard. Harry slowly lowered his wand, "Hedwig doesn't take well to strangers..." he set his wand down and looked at the two closely. "Where did we first meet?" he turned to Remus.

"On the Hogwarts express." He replied immediately. "I was asleep in a cabin and when I woke up, you, Ron, and Hermione were being attacked by dementors."

He turned to Sirius, "What were your names for each other back when you were in school?"

"Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail." Sirius bit out the last one.

He sighed and sat on the bed, "All of those are things you could have heard from somewhere else..."

Remus thought for a moment then looked back at him, "At the end of last year I confiscated a map of Hogwarts from you called the Marauders Map. You told me that the map was broken because you had seen Peter Pettigrew's name on it. This led to all of us confronting Sirius in the Shrieking Shak and discovering that Peter had disguised himself as Ron's rat. You wouldn't let us kill him." he smiled proudly over at James. "You told us, that you didn't think your dad would have wanted his two best friends to become killers."

"Remus?" he nodded. Harry immediately shot up and gave the man a hug. Sirius quickly joined in. "I missed you both so much..."

"We missed you two Prongs Jr." Sirius gently ruffled his hair. "You haven't responded to our last few letters. I'd been getting worried."

"I was... busy..." he broke the hug and glanced over at James and Lily. "Who are they? I mean, is this some kind of glamor? Or maybe a Polyjuice poison?"

"No Harry," Sirius patted him on the shoulder, "Those are your real parents..."

"I..." suddenly, they heard the front door slam downstairs. Harry's eyes widened in fear. "He shouldn't be home yet... I haven't finished my chores..." he quickly turned back to the adults. "Get in the closet! Now!"

"What...?"

"I don't have time to explain!" He shoved them all towards the tiny closet in the corner of the room. "If he sees you, he'll be very angry... just stay here. And please... be quiet..." the fear they saw in the boy's eyes kept them from protesting. He closed the door on them, and last minute decided to slide the bookcase in front of it just in case they tried to get out.

"Boy!" the adults could hear a loud voice coming from the other side of the door. "Why are you up here and not doing your chores?!"

"I... I was just getting ready to start a load of laundry." He stuttered. "Then I was going to do some ironing."

There was a short pause before the man continued. "Fine. But hurry up! Petunia and Dudley will be home soon, and you still haven't started on supper."

"Yes sir." A loud smack rang through the room, before they heard footsteps receding down the stairs. A moment later, the door creaked back open. "Shh..." he quietly let them out before going back to the door to the bedroom and closing it. "Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting him home so early."

Lily went over to him with tears in her eyes. She gently cupped his cheek as a bright red welt began to form. "My poor baby..."

James was seething, "I'm going to kill that muggle for laying a hand on my son!"

Harry started at the two of them. "I still can't be sure that you two are even my real parents! But... I think I have an idea..."

(A/N - Hey guys! Thanks for reading!)