What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 3 - The Memorial

Minerva left the office and Harry was grateful that she had offered to fetch the children as he avoided the Hogwarts corridors and common rooms as much as he could; too much staring. Harry wondered why she didn't just send an owl but he supposed it would probably take longer to find one than it would to just go herself and shortly she returned from the Gryffindor and Slytherin dormitories. "James, no. We all know that I got the family's Quidditch talent....."

"NO WAY!!! 12 year old me could SO beat you, I made the team in 2nd year too"

"Yeah only because you were the first to come here and everyone was desperate for Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley's child to join."

"HEY!!!! You had the exact same advantage as me, if anything they wanted James Potter's sister too because at that time, I was already a legend."

"And people can't understand why I wanted to be a Slytherin, to get some peace and quiet from you two"

"Yeah right. Being with Malfoy is soooooo much better than time with us"

"SHUT UP ABOUT MY BEST FRIEND"

"HI DAD!!!! DID YOU GET THE LATEST FIREBOLT? It's supposed to be the fastest one ever made and my friend told me it's the most expensive at a million galleons!!!!" James yelled loudly. Harry looked up as his 3 children entered, he had been listening to their arguments since they stepped on to the staircase. "McGonagall told us to go on up, she said she had some sort of errand to run and she'll be back soon." his youngest daughter added. His other son stayed quiet and a step away from his siblings, Lily and James were very close despite their age gap and as far as Harry could tell, Albus chose not to interact with them very much at Hogwarts as he preferred his friends, who Harry's Gryffindor children disliked. They normally stayed on friendly terms with some sibling arguments so Harry was happy with the situation as long as Albus was. Albus Cedric shared the same kind personality as his namesake and both were brave without being Gryffindors and represented their houses well. Harry was glad had chosen to name his child after the first victim of the war, even though he had not been close to Cedric, he admired his courage and ability to play fair. Cedric had unintentionally taught him a lot about how to be a good person and Albus was having the same effect on him. Harry pulled his mind back to the discussion happening beside him, his children were talking about Quidditch, the main thing that linked them together after the countless matches they'd seen as a family together. "So Dad, are you here to surprise us with tickets to a match?" James Sirius asked hopefully. Harry laughed at James' expression with his wide hazel eyes like a puppy. "Not today, I'm here for the DA". All three children looked disappointed, clearly they were all pinning their hopes on Quidditch and Harry was left slightly confused since he regularly came to teach the DA and had not once surprised them with tickets during the school term. They brightened slightly at the thought of the DA, most of the school came and Harry's children were always in the thick of things, for James and Lily's friends it was one of the main social events of the year and even Albus brought Scorpius along. Lily suddenly spied the sweets Minerva had laid out and all three rushed towards them. Somehow James managed to open the tin upside down and the newts ran in all directions, "Very slick coming from 'Hogwarts' best Quidditch player'"

"See, I TOLD you Dad would take my side"

"To be fair James, she is better than you" Harry grinned at his oldest son and saw his joking look of horror reminiscent of Fred and George at his age. The family (minus Ginny who was busy at work) spent the day together playing 2 a side Quidditch in a quiet part of the Hogwarts grounds, James and Lily against Harry and Albus. They were evened out as Harry wasn't as good as a chaser, Lily was a very good chaser and James and Albus were both reasonably talented. There was nothing in the rules against this however it was just that this kind of thing didn't happen often because most pupils did not want to spend the Saturday with their professors and Harry qualified as an honorary one for the days he taught the DA. Shortly before dinner, Harry said goodbye to his children for a while and walked towards the Great Hall, seeking some peace and quiet before everyone arrived for the feast. He gazed at the huge memorial that took up the majority of space behind the teacher's table and began to examine every word closely as he had done every time he'd visited since it was created.