Mischief Not Managed Yet

Chapter 10: The Reunion

4th January 1999

One must take into account that 'as soon as possible' or 'as fast as you can' is much quicker in the wizarding world than it is in the muggle world.

So, when Andromeda Tonks, Harry Potter and the whole Weasley family received a letter, telling them to come to Hogwarts as soon as they could, of course they would be fast. They didn't have to spend a day driving a car or being on a train, so that sped up the process of getting to the castle.

The letter had barely arrived for two hours when Andromeda Tonks, Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George and Ron Weasley joined Harry Potter and apparated to Hogsmeade.

They didn't know what to expect, only that Ginny had told them not to worry. Not aware of what the reason for their trip was, they were curious and a little confused.

~~~

The marauders had returned from their scheming and wanted to spend their time waiting for Hermione in the Gryffindor common room. For the lessons were supposed to continue for quite a while, they were just hanging out, doing nothing specific. That was, until the portrait hole banged open much sooner than expected.

It was dead silent as the four ghosts and the nine people stared at one another, frozen in shock.

Ron finally broke the silence after many seconds had passed."I- is this a joke?"

The ghosts all exchanged nervous looks, only James' gaze didn't drop from his son, who seemed to be petrified.

Remus was the ghost who answered. "We.... Wanted you all to know that the ghosts of Hogwarts have invocated us. We're back, against our wills, but we wanted to see and meet you all."

Some of the humans exchanged looks. They still couldn't believe their eyes.
"Remus?" Andromeda asked in a quiet voice. He nodded.

George couldn't tear his teary gaze away from his white and silvery, obviously transparent, twin brother. "Freddy," he sobbed. His knees buckled, but Percy, who was standing next to him, quickly wrapped an arm around his younger brother's shoulders and helped him keep his stance.

While the Weasley's eyes were fixed on the late twin and Andromeda's eyes rested on her son-in-law, Harry Potter couldn't move as he stared at the young man with glasses and messy hair. If the man weren't of a silvery white colour, he could've been mistaken for Harry.
Although Harry had never really known his father (and only seen him in the pensive, dreams and by using the stone of resurrection), he immediately recognised him. How couldn't he? For all his life, people had told him how they looked so much alike. Still, Harry couldn't believe his eyes. It couldn't be real.

And James' thoughts were quite similar at that moment. He laid eyes on his son. He saw him in real life, for the first time after seventeen years. He couldn't believe it. Despite his tremendous grudge against the Hogwarts ghosts (the present ones excluded), and despite the fact that he wanted to be anywhere but there, his chest felt warm. There was a happy feeling inside him, although his throat tightened all the same. Too many emotions were running through James' body, fogging up his brain.  He couldn't think straight, let alone of something to say.

The only one who was pretty unfazed by the current situation was Sirius Black. "I think it's time to break the ice, right? This silence is making me uncomfortable." He cleared his throat.  He looked at the humans, then at his fellow ghosts and back to the humans. "You see, we were aged down and are now a part of Hogwarts' ghosts. We don't exactly understand it either, so don't bother asking. And for everyone who hasn't been able to meet during our lifetime: Weasleys, this is James Potter, James, this is the Weasley family. Harry - James, James - Harry."