A Different Beginning

Chapter L - The Book of Memories

The driving lessons had gone surprisingly well in Harry's opinion, though James thought it was a different matter. He had decided to take out the corvette and yes it had gone alright, but the problem was that two out of the three of James' cars had a stick shift. It had taken Harry quite a few tries when it came to working on getting the car into the proper gears but he quickly got the hang of it and drove around 20km an hour around some back roads. James told him that he was making progress and once he got a bit more comfortable they would try the car without the stick shift and see which one he was better at and go faster in speed as James hadn't allowed Harry to go any faster for fear of his own safety. Harry didn't care much; he just couldn't believe that he was actually driving a car!

They picked up their lessons again and this time began to take them into new territory. Harry now had total control over all nine of his elementals at once but he was still slowly progressing at giving them more difficult tasks at one time. But now James wanted to move onto something that he felt that Harry was ready for - conjuring. He wanted Harry to learn how to conjure things out of nothing and without his wand. This was something that Hogwarts never even started until seventh year and James wanted Harry to get it wandlessly.

Again they started out small but by the time that Harry's sixteenth birthday came around he not only had a driver's license (which James helped him get by having the Ministry of Magic Auror Department forge the muggle card saying that he took the test because the muggle tests took too long; apparently this was quite normal for the few wizards that actually bothered to learn how to drive, they only had to pass a test within the Ministry of Magic first, which Harry did fine on, and sixteen was the minimum age for this to happen.) But he also could conjure out of thin air anything smaller then an ink pot. James was thoroughly impressed and he still couldn't get over how quickly Harry was learning even if he still had while to go.

The two of them had really bonded again over the driving lessons. Harry wasn't sure how it had happened but it was the day before his birthday when he realized that James had his full trust and confidence again and that Harry had forgiven him for holding the secret of the prophecy back. Somehow knowing that he had finally put his anger behind him made him feel more at ease and happier. He knew that James had noticed the difference as well but neither one of them said anything. He wondered briefly if the visit from Lily had sparked anything to make him and James come back together but he didn't dwell on it. He was just glad to have his Da back in his life.

The Weasleys (excluding Percy), Tonks, Remus, Lexy, Sirius, Hermione, Neville, and Luna came over on Harry's birthday for dinner, cake, and presents. It wasn't anything special but Harry had fun just the same. From Ron he got a tee shirt that said: I'm the World's Biggest Canon Fan. Harry never did have the heart to tell Ron that he thought the Canons sucked and was all about Pride of Portree. From Hermione he got three new muggle novels, the latest best sellers. From Neville he got a book on advanced defensive magic. From Luna he got a weird gift. It was a wooden box with gold etchings on the side and when it was opened the box would loudly sing children's songs. Apparently the box would keep the Crumple-Horned Snackork away. From Fred and George he received a sample of the newest merchandise for him to try out. From Molly and Arthur he got a silver spoon hand with his name and picture on it to go on the clock in their home. He was extremely touched by this and thanked them over and over again. From Ginny he got a nice black leather jacket that he knew she had to have saved up for. But the best gift of all was from the Marauders.

Everyone went home after dinner but Ginny was allowed to stay until midnight to spend some time with Harry. The Marauders had waited to give Harry his gift until everyone else had left. The gift was a large book with thick pages and a leather green cover. In gold letters it said: The Book of Memories.

"The Book of Memories?" Harry asked as he ran his fingers over the etched gold writing.

James nodded. "It was Sirius' idea originally, but I came up with the book and Remus came up with the idea to add a few things from Ginny, Ron, and Hermione as well."

"What is it, exactly?" Harry asked as he opened the cover.

"Memories." Sirius replied.

Remus nodded. "Memories that we wanted to share or memories that are important for you to remember."

James smiled. "We've been working on it for a long time now but we finally managed to succeed. It's like a pensive. Each page holds a memory for you to view. But unlike a pensive our memories are not trapped in that book. We made sort of a copy of the memory and placed it in the pages. That way we still have the memory in our mind as well. You view each memory like a television show; you watch it in the page of the book."

Harry grinned. "That's brilliant."

Sirius nodded. "Well, we're brilliant. We figured that you'd like Gorgeous to watch them with you so we'll leave you two alone."

James smiled. "I hope you enjoy them. Ginny, I'll tell you when it's midnight."

Harry watched as the Marauders left the room and he turned to Ginny. "You knew about this?"

Ginny shook her head no as she snuggled next to him on the couch. "They asked for some really important memories of you and me for a gift but I didn't know what they were planning and then when they gave the memory back to me I was even more confused. But this really is brilliant."

Harry nodded. "Yeah it is. Well, shall we see what the first memory is?"

"Whenever you're ready."

Harry opened the book to the first page and grinned at the date carefully scrawled across the top in black ink: 1st September, 1973. Then he looked down at the huge frame that engulfed the entire page and like he would a pensive, he twirled his wand in it and the picture began to form but unlike a pensive he did not fall into the memory but instead watched it as if it was on a screen.

James was standing in between two people that he recognized as Andrew and Gwen Potter. Gwen was trying her hardest to tame down James' hair as he squirmed uncomfortably. "Mum, stop it! It's not going to go down!"