Chapter 1
Eileen stood in the doorway, laughing as her husband tossed their son high into the air. The small boy shrieked with joy as Harry caught him effortlessly. A small hand tugged at Eileen's pant leg, and she bent down to tug the little girl onto her hip.
"Ms. Prince, I want a turn!" pouted Lily.
Eileen grinned down at her son’s best friend. "Well, I’m sure Mr. Prince would love that. Why don’t you go play with Sev for a while? Your mother will be picking you up soon."
Laughing, she knelt to set the now squirming 4-year-old on the stoop. As she straightened up, she caught Harry’s mischievous gaze. In the blink of an eye, he scooped Lily up too, a giggling child now perched on each hip.
Spinner's End rang with joy.
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Harry woke with a start, gazing up at the ceiling in confusion. Eileen’s laughter still echoed in his ears. For a moment, he reached out, expecting to feel her shoulder, but his fingers curled into a fist. He sighed deeply, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes.
Slowly, the memories returned. The pull of the time barrier. His last glimpse of Eileen’s widening, horrified eyes as she ran desperately toward him. The shrieking laugh of a child.
It had been three weeks since the time barrier had spat him out on the edge of the forest near Hagrid’s hut. Three weeks of frantic desperation, of research, of never-ending horror that stretched out endlessly in the face of the present day.
The year was 2003, not 1963. Severus was 43, and Eileen had been dead for 26 years. Silent tears flowed down Harry’s face, and all was quiet.
After a long moment, he threw off the covers and started his day, the dreariness of Grimmauld Place hitting him like a shock to his system. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, grim determination took hold. He still had Severus. His son was alive. He would make it count.