Harry Potter and the Death Awakener

Chapter Nine: Reliving the Past

   Harry sat his parents down at a table in the Burrow. He sat in a seat across from them. The Weasley's followed suit, and sat around the table as well. Ginny was on his left, Hermione on his right, and Ron beside her. Mrs. Weasley started dishing out food to everyone. She gave Harry a rather large helping of food that he stared at. He was afraid that if he swallowed the food, it was just come back up from the amount of of emotion he was feeling.

  Lily and James, however, downed their food like stray dogs who haven't seen a meal in months. Harry ate timidly, testing the strength of his stomach. He decided his stomach would
hold it down and ate more.

  Everyone ate their food in silence with only the sounds of forks and knifes clanking against their plates. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley feebly attempted at small talk, but each conversation quickly died out. The awkward silence filled the air around them while they finished the last few scraps of their meal.

  When they were finished, Mrs. Weasley whisked their plates away and started handing out pieces of cake. Harry was surprised when a piece landed in front of him. With everything that has happened today, he nearly forgot it was his birthday.

  Harry sighed loudly and everyone looked at him. He didn't mean to draw attention to himself and felt his face grow warm. He looked at Mrs. Weasley as she said, "Harry, why don't you tell your mother and father about everything that's happened so far?" He mentally cursed himself for bringing the attention to him. He knew she and everyone else had been waiting for him to bring it up, so when he didn't, Mrs. Weasley did.

  "That'll take all night!" He exclaimed. Of course, he was just trying to delay the inevitable. He didn't want to talk about himself. He wanted learn more about his parents. Mrs. Weasley gave him a glare that was usually reserved for Ron. "Okay, okay," he said.

  He started off about his life with the Dursley's. He told them how hated he was by them. He recalled the times when Dudley bullied him during school and how Aunt Petunia would only let him wear Dudley's hand-me-downs.
When he told them how he slept in a closet under the stair until a few days before his eleventh birthday, Lily teared up a little.

  "How could Petunia be so cruel to her own family?" Lily said. It came out barely more than a whisper.

  Harry dryly said, "She didn't seem to have any troubles sleeping at night with it hanging over her head."

  He moved on to the day he got his letter and how his life changed from that moment on. Harry talked about how he meet the Weasley's and how Ron was quick to befriend him. He told them about his Sorting Ceremony and the day he became Seeker for the quidditch team.

  James choked on his tea and spit it nearly everywhere. Lily scolded him but he ignored her. "You made the quidditch team when you were only a first year?!" Harry grinned, confirming James's question. "You must've been brilliant!"

  Harry kept on about his first year, telling them about the day that Hermione became Harry's and Ron's friend and how the defeated Voldemort at the end of their first year.

  He moved on to his second year when everyone thought that he was the Heir of Slytherin because Harry could speak Parseltongue. He talked about the flying car, Dobby, Draco, Gilderoy Lockhart, the basilisk, and the Chamber of Secrets. Lily was very impressed when he told them how Hermione made a batch of Polyjuice Potion all by herself.

  He remembered how everyone was concerned for his safety because of a deranged murder named Sirius Black was roaming about in his third year. Harry told them about how he met Lupin on the train the day the Dementors attacked and how he was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they had. Harry watched James when he told him about Peter Pettigrew. His face grew hard and he muttered, "I always knew he was a coward." However, his face lit back up again when Harry told him that his patronus was a stag.

  It was rather late, but Harry kept going. He recalled how he was in the Triwizard Tournament and the day Voldemort came back. He talked about how awful Dolores Umbridge was and how Sirius's death nearly destroyed him. Harry told them about his lessons with Dumbledore and about when he and Ginny got together. He told them about the year he spent searching for Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione and the Battle of Hogwarts. 

  Lily and James were good listeners. They nodded at all the right times, they laughed when he laughed, and they even cried during a few parts. He had been dreading about telling them his story, but he couldn't remember the last time is felt so good to just talk to someone. Lily and James had opened up something in him that made Harry's words spill out of his mouth.  They were easy to talk to, like parents should be. He was happy that he finally had what he most wanted. He had a family to talk to.