Revived Emperor

Open your eyes

June 31, 1995
 
Harry slowly open his eyes. The rays of light were hitting his eyes and that woke him up. He would like more if he slept more. He really hated waking up and preferred sleeping majority of his day. Years of being a pirate in the Grand Line really made his sleeping habit abnormal, with the crazy weather that it had. Good thing being back in this world is that now weather is normal and does not changes abnormally. He would have to get used to this weather. Even though he is in a body of a 15 year old, he is still craving alcohol and a cigarette the first thing he wakes. "Uuuugggghhhh" he groaned as he forced himself to get up and he yawned. His eyes were still sleepy and he was using a lot of his energy not to close his eyes. His stomach then grumbled loudly. He made his way out of the room and walked towards the kitchen.
 
The Potters were silent while eating their breakfast. The only sound that can be heard are the utensils that the family were using. No one dared to start talking, afraid it would lead to the topic on the elephant of the room. Harry. Seven years had passed since the last time they had seen him and five years had passed since he died. At first James and Lily kept denying their part in Harry's death and solely blamed Vernon. But eventually they felt responsible of his death. They had neglected him, treated him like he didn’t matter and ignored him. Ever since Michael was proclaimed to be the boy-who-lived, the Potters and sometimes the Marauders let the fame and glory get over their heads. There was a time when every one of their friends and acquaintances hated them and couldn't bear to be in the same room as them and they slowly lost all of them. By the time Michael and Harry were nine, no one would go to their parties, gatherings and invite. The only people that would go are the fakes whose motives and purpose are all political and financial.
 
It was worse when Rita Skeeter published an article about how the Potters threw away a son for an unknown reason. The wizards and witches of Magical Britain and even Europe demanded an explanation for their action. Majority of them were even hostile towards them. They had tried to ask some people for help but all of them had turned their backs away and stayed away from them. Thankfully, Dumbledore helped them, and with his connections around the world, everyone except for a few believed that they had done it because Harry was a squib and that he would be under the loving care of a muggle family. Alice and Frank Longbottom, Amelia Bones, the Weasleys, the Tonks, the Abbots and even the Mckinnons who were Lily's magical foster parents had abandoned them and were even disgusted to be in their presence. It took the news of Harry's death for James and Lily to finally open their eyes and realized what horrible people they had become and the two vowed to be better.
 
FLASHBACK
 
Lily was reading a book that a colleague of her recommended for her to read to use as a basis of her research. Suddenly she receive a letter from Petunia telling her to go to a hospital. She was annoyed at first as she was busy enough already. With taking care of Michael who is having a hard time because of the scandal that was circulating about how they threw away their squib son. Then there was Jasmine, their 5 year old daughter. She was an accident to be honest. They weren't planning on having another baby, raising Michael was hard enough already. There was a valid reason why they had to give Harry away to Petunia, 3 kids were just unbearable for them. So she arrived at the hospital, she asked where Petunia Dursley was staying. She quickly left after the woman at the counter told her where to go. Not wanting to waste more time.
 
She arrived at the room where Tuney was staying. She was shocked, horrified even, by what she saw. Petunia was covered in bruises. She rushed to her side and sat sat down. She did not touched as she was afraid that it might hurt her. "Tuney, what happened?" Lily asked. Petunia stopped staring into space and looked at her younger sister. "Lily" she whispered, then she starts sobbing. Lily immediately starts hugging her. Petunia's body hurt more when Lily hugged her but she didn't mind, she was comforted by it, she felt safe by it, she continued sobbing. "I'm sorry Lily, I'm so sorry.” Petunia kept saying it while sobbing for half an hour. Lily was getting worried the longer her sister sobbed. She had an idea why she kept apologizing but she dreaded to ask for it. After Petunia had calmed down Lily asked. "What happened Tuney?"
 
Petunia tried to collect herself by taking a deep breath. The she told her what happened that day, that Vernon was having a terrible month and he became abusive. Then that day, Vernon came home drunk, she then told her how he raped and beaten her and Dudley. She took a pause and a deep breath "Harry tried to protect us and went in front of us. Vernon then took him by the collar and he started to beat him too. And" Petunia stopped and began crying, it was harder, quieter and more painful. Lily connected the dots of what happened but she had to hear it. "Where's Harry Tuney?" Lily asked, she prayed, hoped that anyone whose listening that it isn't true. "I'm sorry Lily. Vernon went too far and, and, and Harry didn't make it. He's dead." Petunia said grimly. No, no it's not true, he's not dead. He can't be dead. Please tell me it's not true Tuney, please." Lily begged.
 
"I'm so sorry Lily. I tried my best to protect him but it wasn't enough." Petunia said grimly.
 
"Why didn't you told me that Vernon was abusing the three of you?" Lily asked. "I did. But I have no ways of contacting you. You didn't gave me an address for me to send a letter, you don't have a phone and you never visited your son not even once." Petunia answered.
 
FLASHBACK ENDS
 
They had buried Harry's body together with his ancestors. The funeral service was only attended by a few people, it was just the Marauders and the old members of the order. It was Dumbledore's idea to have the service be attended by a few people as they don't want to arm the Daily Prophet with more bullets to harm their reputation. The Potter's agreed immediately to the Headmaster's idea, as they don't want to experience another episode of a scandal. They had tried to find photos or any memorabilia of Harry but to their disgust and shame, they had found none. They had scoured every inch of every room in the manor but the only thing they had, were old photos of a 1 year old Harry and Michael. James and Lily remembered the day it was taken. It was before they were hunted by Voldemort himself, granted many people did want their heads because of their participation of the war but the two were a very strong couple and team and no one could beat them.
 
They were still staying at this manor, Britain was so glum and depressing but Lily and James didn't care, they had two beautiful, healthy and active sons and that’s the only thing that matters. Sirius was the one to take the pictures of them and all of them were so happy, as if the war didn't exist. But after Voldemort's downfall, the two pictures that Harry was with them his expression were filled of pain, sadness and longing and that was taken when he was still five years old. From that moment, the Potters except for young Jasmine and Michael had realized what horrendous people they had become.
 
The emotion James and Lily felt when the realization dawned was pain. Pain for what they had become, pain for forgetting Harry, for ignoring him, for leaving him. Pain for the loss of their son, and pain for being the cause of his death. They had tried to apologize to their closest friends before the fame got over their heads but Alice, Lily's best friend and Harry's godmother didn't accept it and had cut-off their relationship with them. The Tonks, Bones, Abbots and some families in the order thankfully gave them a second chance. James became more hardworking in the DMLE instead of using Michael's name to raise his rank while slacking off. While Lily became more focused on raising Alyssa and Michael and she took a step back at her job as a researcher in the Ministry.
 
Michael on the other hand……. They couldn't determine what he was feeling or how he is coping with the current situation and it worried her. It was as if nothing is wrong in this world and that Harry's death is no big deal. It worried them to no end and because of them Michael is becoming a spoilt, egotistic, narcissistic, obnoxious, apathetic and a bully. James and Lily tried to set it right by changing their mindset and attitude in raising him. Gone were the days were Michael can do anything, get anything he wants, where he can slack off in his education and training, where he can treat people horribly. It was hard raising Michael, old habits do die hard, James and Lily learned at the worst moment. Michael kept throwing tantrums every time some things didn't go the way he wanted. It was very hard. There were times when James and Lily would just let Michael be and just focus on Jasmine, but they were determined to make him a better person. It was their mistake and they were not going to run away from that.
 
It was the sound of utensils hitting the plate that filled the dining room of the manor. Jasmine was fidgeting in her chair and was becoming more restless every second that pass. She kept looking towards her mum and dad. She really wants to ask what caused this mood. She looked at her older brother and as always he looked bored and indifferent. She wished her brother was a little different, and that he would be like Bill Weasley is to Ginny. That he would be more caring, kind, fun and less obnoxious. "Do we have a visitor today? I heard some noises upstairs and a stranger's voice last night. Who is it?" Jasmine asked. Lily and James shared a glance at each other, Michael still looked indifferent and bored. But he did looked curios when his parents suddenly became nervous. "We'll introduce the two of you to him some time." Lily answered casually and continued eating. "Okay, when?" Jasmine asked excitedly. "Soon" Lily answered with her temper rising and starting to show. Sensing the anger in her mother's answer, Jasmine decided that it would be best to keep quiet and just continued eating. The awkwardness continued to fill the table. James decided to break it by making small talk to Jasmine and Michael. It did alleviate the tension they were feeling.
 
Harry was outside his room, he was only wearing clothes in his lower body but he didn't care. He had one thing in mind and that is eating. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the smell of good food hit him. He closed his eyes and took a sniff 'the house elves really did it this time'. Harry thought, if there was one thing he miss in this world was the Potter house-elves, Barney, Leafy and Icy. They were the ones that took care of him and raised while he was being neglected and forgotten by his parents. He arrived at the dining room of the manor, his eyes went immediately to the food that was on the table, his mouth watered and he immediately walked towards the table took a sit and a plate and began putting large portions of every food on the plate and began eating hungrily.
 
The Potters were so shocked at Harry's actions, the state of dress he is in, and how he eats. James and Lily thought that it would be harder for them to introduce or re-introduce him to Michael and Jasmine and explain it to them how he was alive. Michael was shocked and fuming. He shouldn't have told them what Voldemort told him then maybe they wouldn't resort to dark magic. "So that's why you were so busy in the last ten days, you were doing dark magic." Michael said angrily towards his parents. James and Lily looked ashamed and lowered their heads. "What do you mean?" Jasmine asked, looking towards his brother, the stranger and his parents alternately. "Yes, tell us who he is and why he is here." Michael said, pointing his hand to Harry, who was still eating with no care about what is happening. "Well this your older brother Harry." James said, introducing Jasmine to her older brother. "Harry, what do you mean Harry? Isn't he supposed to be dead? Why is he here? Healthy and so alive. Are you sure that it’s him? If yes, how is he alive?" Jasmine asked to his parents with a barrage of questions.
 
"Oh, I'm Harry alright. And yes I'm technically dead, and I came back from the dead to eat little children."  Harry said, with a terrifying voice and a terrifying face. Jasmine's eyes welled up with tears and immediately ran towards Lily and hid behind her. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Don't worry, don't worry, I'm just kidding. I'm guessing you must be Jasmine." Harry said, Jasmine still hid behind Lily and nodded as a response.  "Wow, last time I saw you, you were just 3 years old. How old are you?" Harry asked. Jasmine looked at her mother with her eyes still welling up with tears. Lily stroked her daughter's hair and answered for her. "She's ten years old. And is going to be 11 this December. She is actually starting Hogwarts this year even though it would have been next year but she is 1 year ahead of her peers in terms of intelligence." Lily replied. Harry nodded, not really interested in talking to Lily and just continued eating. Michael was still glaring at his parents, James leaned towards Michael and whispered into his ear that they'll talk later. Lily meanwhile was still comforting Jasmine to stop her from crying. "Wew! That was delicious. I've got to thank the house-elves for the delicious meal." Harry said and then left the table.
 
"How is he alive?" asked a fuming Michael.  "Jasmine can you go to your room for a while?" Lily asked and Jasmine nodded, Lily then led her to the stairs. After hearing the sound of a door closing, Lily left immediately and started walking towards the dining room to face the upcoming confrontation. When she reached the dining room, James put up silencing charms around the area. "WELL!? How is he alive?" Michael asked with a raised voice. James and Lily then proceeded to explain how they used a ritual to resurrect his twin brother. "WHY?" Michael asked.
 
"It's not something we should tell you. Not yet anyway, you're too young to know such information." James answered.
 
"Is it because I'm not the true Boy-who-lived? Is that it?" Michael asked, anger is still present in his voice and expression.
 
"Yes, but it is not the main reason we did it." Lily answered.
 
"Because the two of you are selfish. That’s it. This is not being the boy-who-lived or not. No, it's because you want another chance with Harry. Because you can't stand the chance at the fact that you gave him away and that is why he was dead. Is that it?" Michael asked angrily. Lily lowered his head in shame while James glared at him. "You are fucking hypocrites. HYPOCRITES!" Michael shouted.
 
"It was a risk we have to take. Harry is the boy-who-lived and with the ritual we took, we increased the possibility of defeating Voldemort." James replied with a raised voice.
 
"What does that mean?"  Michael asked frustratingly.
 
"You're still too young to know." Lily answered. "So when will I be old enough to know?" Michael inquired.
 
"After you graduate or next year. After you're OWLs." James answered.
 
"I can't believe it. To think that you always. ALWAYS. Say that I shouldn't dwell nor touch the subject of Dark Magic yet here you are. Then one day performed the darkest magic there is." Michael said, then stormed out before his parents get to say anything. On the way out, he grabbed a vase and threw it to the ground to alleviate his anger. Lily flinched at the sound of the vase breaking, she would have reprimanded him like always but he had a valid reason to be angry and to throw a tantrum. James sighed, flopped down on his chair next to Lily's. "Don't worry, he'll come around soon. Once we'll tell him the prophecy he'll totally understand why we had to do it."