Chapter 23
Lily and James were unsure as to how to respond to that revelation and were quite relieved when Mark broke the silence by saying, “Thank you for being honest with me, I understand that had to have been difficult for you. Is it okay for me to show you your room now, I helped pick out the decorations!!”
As all of the kids wandered out of the kitchen to begin their exploring, James felt his knees begin to weaken, and he was immensely grateful that the breakfast table was behind him, and he stumbled to the seat. Lily in a daze made her way over to him, slowly sinking to the floor. “They fucking held him captive for months….” James mumbled.
With a nod, Lily responded, “I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea it could be that bad, we need to have a full family meeting, like tonight, we are going to need everyone involved to make sure he is okay in the long run.” When James had given the nod of agreement Lily waved her wand and sent off a Patronus to the group giving them a small update and inviting them to dinner that night.
After about an hour and responses from everyone agreeing that they would be there for dinner, Lily was finally able to move and go and check on her boys, Ron, and Hermione. Making her way upstairs Lily heard something that up until a couple of weeks prior she thought she would never hear again, her eldest son laugh, peaking into the door of what had previously been James’ home office but had quickly been repurposed as Harry’s new bedroom she saw a bit of Mark in the red walls that he had chosen based off Harry’s Hogwarts house, Sirius in the broom set in the corner (once he had heard that Harry was a speaker he insisted on purchasing him his first broom). Remus in the various books along the shelf that had been added, Marlene and Dorcus in the artfully chosen bedspread and curtains that perfectly complemented one another, as well as a touch of Regulas and Severus in the small potions kit that had been set up in the corner. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the knowledge that her son who had been deprived of so much love for all of his life was finally going to receive the love that he deserved. Lily vowed in that moment that she would never let her son feel alone again.
As soon as Lily moved into the room, she could see the tension visibly appear in all three of the older kids and she felt her heart break a little more for each of them. With a fortifying breath Lily said, “Hey guys, I and your dad were thinking we could go ahead and introduce you all to the family now that you are able to be home, they have all been very excited to meet you and get to know you.”
Harry could feel his nerves rising but knowing that he had his family of Ron, Hermione, and his Sirius on his side helped boost his strength and so with a smile he said, “Of course that’s totally cool with me. Mark was just showing me that game that we played in the hospital and it’s pretty fun now that everything is out in the open maybe we could play that with everyone so it’s a little easier getting to know everyone?”
With a happy laugh, Lily agreed.