The Life that Never Lived ? (Philosopher's Stone)

THE SORTING HAT

Only after Lily had taken baby Harry from Sirius and put him into his crib in his own room did the four sit and have a long, extensive talk. Discussing everything they had read so far, the good, and through a lot of teeth gritting and cursing, the bad. After their discussion, they then came to the conclusion that they wouldn't hide anything from this Harry. They hadn't really planned on it before, but deep down they all wondered one thing. What if Harry couldn't get back to his own time?

What if he was stuck here with them? Sure he'd have all his memories of his old life back, but none of them even knew for certain how he'd come here. Time travel was the sketchiest part of any magic, and even the Department of Mysteries had only begun testing it, and they weren't very forthcoming with what they had. If this ended up being the case, then after they read these books they would have to come up with some sort of alibi for Harry.

Agreeing about more details on that later, they then briefly spoke of this supposed Death Eater that had followed through with Harry, here into this time as well. They were all convinced that the magical spells surrounding the house would have alerted them if there was someone here who shouldn't be, and to make sure they even went back over them. Nothing came of it; Harry was their only uninvited guest.

The topic did briefly come up of how, of all the places Harry could have landed, the boy ended up here. It was quite a coincidence, and none of them really believed in coincidences. Perhaps after Harry had his full memories back he could explain this, or at least they hoped so, because now they all felt a bit less secure here.

They talked long into the night, until finally Remus almost cracked his jaw yawning. Lily demanded they all go to bed, having meant what she'd told Harry, this had been the longest day of her life, and surely the others as well.

After a brief conversation, Remus and Sirius decided they would kip here for the night, Sirius merely slumping back on the couch, and tossing his feet out and claiming it as his. Remus took the hint and decided to use the other guest room for the night.

Up the stairs in his very own room, still an odd idea to Harry fresh from his memories of a solid ten years at the Dursleys, he was having a very restless night. He heard the whispers downstairs but thought nothing much of them past his worry of the trouble he was causing them. His utter faith in their company though wasn't helping to settle his mind, full of feelings he just couldn't quite get a grasp on. There was a sense of urgency still hovering just out of sight, there was still something very important he should be doing and it wasn't getting his memories back, but of course he couldn't know what any of this meant until he did, it was all very confusing. When he did finally doze off, it was full of unpleasant reminders from his childhood, something he may have been happier forgetting all the times he'd been shoved headfirst into his cupboard and other goings on of that place. Mixed in though was Ron's smiling face, and the breathless chatting of the bushy haired girl Hermione. His assurance of Ron being his friend lingered, and even in the depths of his ream cycles this other girl lingered on the same level even if he couldn't grasp why.

The next morning, once they'd all awoken and had a bit of breakfast, Remus disclosed his full story to Harry, and James and Sirius often jumped in. Harry beamed and laughed along, finally understanding and looking as if a great relief had been lifted from his shoulders. Telling them all that this made him happy and feel whole once more did puzzle them a bit, since Harry had only felt like this before when a strong memory had been returned to him. They knew that all the Marauders were dead in Harry's time, so they were the only ones that could give Harry this story. Where then would he have heard it to be now hearing it again?

Knowing there was nothing to it and no reason to ask the boy, they decided instead to gently ease into the topic of the Dursleys. Harry made to clench up at once, but they were all quick to reassure him. In fact they spent most of the morning trying to get him to warm up to them, and after only a few hours they seemed to have made a bit of progress in convincing him that what the Dursley's had done to him, was indeed wrong.