Flashbacks?
Sirius and Remus fell asleep and woke up much later in the day. The teens still hadn’t gotten up and neither had Harry. Harry’s trial was tomorrow so they knew they had to wake him up at some point so they decided it would be better to do it now rather than later.
They walked into Ron and Harry’s room to the sounds of soft snoring from both boys. They bent over and nudged Harry who thankfully woke up quickly. “Hey Prongslet, why don’t we go down stairs and grab some food?” Remus asked. Harry nodded and made his way to the bathroom. When Harry left Remus turned to Sirius, “I’ll go floo Dumbledore, he’ll want to know what happened and let’s not put Harry through it twice.” Sirius nodded and let Remus walk down the stairs.
Harry came out moments later and immediately walked into Sirius giving him a hug. Sirius paused in surprise before hugging him back. “Not that I don’t love this, but what’s got you all huggy? Is it your dream?”
“No, well, I don't think so. I just needed a hug I guess,” Harry shrugged. Together they walked down the stairs to the dining room. Remus was already waiting for them with some stew and tea enough for four on the table.
“Dumbledore will be here any minute,” Remus said. “Harry sit, please eat something. You’re looking pretty pale.” Harry nodded and didn’t find a good reason to argue, he was quite hungry. Harry started eating when Dumbledore walked into the kitchen.
“Ah good morning Harry, Remus, Sirius. I wish I was here under better circumstances…” he trailed off. “Harry, I understand you had a pretty nasty nightmare last night?” Harry nodded in response. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
Harry cleared his throat, “Uhm, well to be honest I don’t really know what happened. I remember being surprised and then I was in a really dusty room. Kinda similar to the attic I think?” Harry directed the question to Sirius who just nodded at him to keep going. “It felt so real but it must’ve been a dream. I must’ve been getting flashbacks or something...”
“What do you mean by that?” Remus asked leaning forward.
“Well, I saw my parents. They were in so much pain, it must’ve been Halloween, before they, uhm, well died.” Harry said looking at his guardians. Both leaned back in their seats processing what they just heard. They both thought that James and Lily died quickly and without much pain. COuld that have been wrong?
“I am very sorry you had to go through that Harry. It seems like it was only a memory triggered by your encounter with the dementors. I suggest a dreamless sleep potion tonight and maybe some of Remus’ chocolate.” Dumbledore stated, “Now if you don’t mind, I would like to talk to your guardians on some more private matters.” Harry nodded and got up to leave the room. “It’s good to see you again dear boy, remember to be ready for your trial tomorrow.” Harry smiled and left the room.
“Dumbledore, you told us that they had no signs of torture when they died…” Remus started.
“I am almost entirely positive that they weren’t tortured when they died. However, that doesn’t account for the present.”
“Wait, are you saying that they could still be alive?” Sirius questioned.
“One can hope, but noone has ever had the power to resurrect the dead, I am certain that Harry’s dream last night was due to a connection between him and Lord Voldemort. The extent of it, I am uncertain, but I do not believe we should be worried at this moment. It seems that Voldemort had a particularly strong feeling and it projected itself into Harry’s dreams. I think what Harry saw last night could’ve merely been what Voldemort was fanticising about.” Dumbledore concluded
“Wow, well that’s reassuring. Voldemort fanticises about torturing my best friends.” Sirius scoffed.
“As improbable as it seems, it’s a little more believable than James and Lily coming back to life” with that Dumbledore headed back to the fireplace and with a flash of green flames he was gone.
Harry had gone upstairs to find Ron waking up. Even though it was late in teh afternoon it was still odd to see Ron awake on his own. Ron looked at him worriedly before he got off his bed and walked over to Harry. Harry stood there, unsure what exactly was happening, his confusion was momentarily paused when Ron hugged him. After a few moments Harry hugged back. Their brief embrace ended with Ron calling out to the hallway. “Hermione, Ginny! He’s back!” after a few more moments Hermione and Ginny came bursting into the room.
Hermione launched herself onto Harry, burryingher face into his neck while Ginny walked over and gave him a pat on the shoulders. Hermione finally let go and looked at him, “Are you ok Harry? You gave us quite the scare last night.”
“Yeah I’m alright. I’m sorry I woke everyone up..”
“Don’t worry mate, it was just us, Sirius, and Remus” Ron reassured tactlessly. He was met with an elbow to the ribs by the other redhead in the room.
“Merlin Ron you have no tact,” she rolled her eyes before addressing Harry again, “Don’t worry Harry, do you want to talk about it though?”
“Honestly, there’s not much to say. I think it was a memory of the night my parents died. But I don’t know for sure, it seemed so real. Dumbledore doesn’t seem overly concerned yet but Sirius and Remus were pretty worried.” Harry explained.
“Well if Dumbledore isn’t concerned then I think it’s best we just leave it for another day…” Hermione pauses. A silence fell over the room before the twins walked in.
“Oi, someone die in here? I’ve never seen you four so quiet before,”
“Blimey it’s like you guys saw a ghost! Anyway, we hadn’t seen you four all day, wanna see our new joke shop material?” They both asked, it was difficult for the four to tell who was who at the moment. Certain phrases were easier to tell apart but when the twins spoke in turns it was difficult to differentiate the two.
The four nodded anyway and followed Fred and George to their room to see their new testers.
Lily looked directly into Voldemort’s eyes as he threatened her son. “You touch him one more time, I will make sure you never see the light of day. You may be the most vile creature I’ve ever met, but you have never seen an angry mother. You couldn’t get to him once when you murdered me, I can do it again just as easy.” She growled out.
James looked at his wife through half lidded eyes. He knew she could be scary, being at the brunt end of her anger more than once, but this was a different side fueled by being a mother. He was almost positive he saw a hint of fear flash through Voldemort’s eyes as he pulled away from Lily’s face.
“Take them back to the cellar. Prepare to retrieve young Mr. Potter at his trial,” and with that Voldemort walked out the door.