A reunion of sorts
Where is it? Harry had been looking around the forest for hours.
I know I dropped it somewhere around here?
Admittedly, that had been quite a few years ago, but how often do people venture into the Forbidden Forest and an animal would not pick up something like that now, would they?
Just as Harry was going to give up his search, he saw a slight reflection of the light of something off to his right.
Eureka! He found it. He turned the object thrice in his hand and waited.
He did not have to wait long. Before he had reached the end of the first verse of Weasley is our King in his mind, the clearing had filled with a lot of familiar faces.
‘Hi Mum, Tonks, Remus, Sirius… and hey Fred, good to see you… and hi Dad.’
‘I told you so,’ said Remus, looking pointedly at James.
‘Yes, Prongs, for once it is not me that is in the doghouse,’ Sirius grinned.
‘Mum, Tonks,’ Harry said, ‘Would you mind going for a walk for a bit, I have to talk to Dad and his cronies. You can stay, if you like Fred, or you can join the ladies for a walk. The choice is yours.’
‘I suppose I better stay,’ Fred said. He was after all an honorary member of the Marauders and if there was music to be faced…in for a penny, in for a pound.
‘How is all the family, by the way?’
‘They are all fine, Fred, Ginny is expecting twins at the moment and your mother is hoping that they will be less of a handful than the last set of Weasley twins. I have no idea what she is referring to,’ Harry grinned.
‘Now Dad,’ he turned to face his father. The look on his face, was not the usual one of admiration.
‘It has come to my attention,' Harry said, more pompously than he had intended, 'that you have visited my nephew Jimmy, your namesake, in Hogwarts. Thankfully he thought it was a dream and the whole exchange did not make much sense to him, but it clearly disturbed him enough to write to me about it.’
Turning to Remus, he said, ‘I take it you were the one who tried to get Dad to leave, saying it was none of his business?’
‘And you,’ he turned to Sirius, 'were you cheering him on from the side lines, as usual?’
‘Wait a minute…,’ Sirius put up his hands in a defensive manner.
Harry raised a hand to silence him.
‘It does not matter. I just want you to leave Jimmy alone. He is a good kid. He gets good grades and has actually found a purpose for himself in Hogwarts. He has gotten this whole new soccer league off the ground and has done a fine job of making his father part of the whole wizarding experience. Mum would be very proud to see how well her grandnephew is doing and she would be happy to see how well her nephew and her son have mended fences and how the rift between her sister and herself has now finally been mended, generations later. I am sorry to say that Aunt Petunia is no longer in any fit state to make amends herself, but I gather from Dudley that she talks a lot about the past, nearly in a wistful way. Wouldn't it have been nice, if things had been different back then?
I will therefore not let you four idiots make problems for Jimmy.
I also will not let you make problems for the new headmistress of Hogwarts.
After all she has done for you, Sirius, I would think that the last thing you would want to do is to make Hermione’s life as a headmistress more difficult than it needs to be.
We all have been through an awful lot. I know we survived, and you did not and we have to live with that pain and guilt for ever, but we also need to try to heal the wounds that were left. Not just the wounds of the war, but wounds of families not understanding each other and wounds of squibs being mistreated, and…’
Harry faltered. There were just too many injustices to list here in the forest.
‘You guys know I love you more than anything in the world and I love nothing better than a prank, but the Marauder’s days are gone.
If Jimmy wants to pull a prank or two, he must decide that for himself and he should not be egged on by you lot, just because you are bored.
I am going to put this resurrection stone with the cloak and the map up in my attic.
If and when I feel the need to pass them on, I will do so, but that will be my decision. Is that clear?’
Four shamefaced ghosts nodded in agreement.
‘Now let’s go find Mum and Tonks and catch up on any news, before we all have to go back to our own lives, and remember I will always, ALWAYS, love you all.’
THE END