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A/N-

Hello guys. Its been some time. I would like to apologise for taking much time, but i was busy with my college examinations. Apart from that, I will certainly provide the promised amount of chapters that I might have missed. Enjoy

Chapter 17- Strike 2

“You did all you could, love. There was nothing more you could do.” Narcissa assured her boyfriend as he dropped his head in his hands. Bellatrix had gestured for the others to leave them alone for sometime.

“Cissy is right, love. You went there as soon as possible. You tried your level best, but ultimately, you did all that was possible.” Bellatrix tried to reassure him.

“But Lily won’t see it that way, Bell. She blames me for this, and partially, I am the one to be blamed. The very reason she was attacked was because of her association to me. That is what their attackers said as they attacked them.” Harry muttered.

“You think that she would have been safe otherwise?” Narcissa spoke as she gathered his hand in hers.

“You explained Riddle’s cause to us, Harry. Do you truly think Lily and her family would truly have been safe? I seriously don’t think so.” Narcissa consoled him.

“She is grieving, Harry. That is understandable. She lost her father after all. She needs to vent. She didn't mean those words, Harry." Bellatrix soothed him.

"I hope you are right," Harry whispered. His eyes were filled with a level of sadness that they had never seen before.

"She is a very important person to me. How could I let this happen?" He asked the two

The girls felt sad when they saw how down Harry was. They desperately wanted to cheer him up, but now was not the time to have fun. But the two shared an unspoken agreement that they would get him out of this state.

“Come on, Harry. We will go home.” Harry went rigid.

“No.” He shook his head. “No. I can’t face them again, Bell. I literally died when Mrs Evans looked me in the eye and begged me to bring her husband back. The agony….” He shook his head. His eyes got tearful.

“I … I can’t.” He mumbled.

“But Harry…” Narcissa stopped Bellatrix. She shook her head at her sister.

“It’s alright Harry. Fine. We will go to The Peverell Manor. We will go to a place where you can be alone for now.” Narcissa placed her hand in his.

“Let’s go. We can spend some time away from all of this.”

—-&&&------

“Are you sure that this is the right path, son?” Charlus was nervous. James had disappeared a few hours earlier. He didn’t tell anybody where he had been. He had returned a few hours later with a small package.

“I am sure, Dad.” James assured his father. “Lily is a good girl, Dad. But she would turn against him. She doesn’t hate him. But she doesn’t like him much now either. She thinks that the reason that her father died is Harry. I still don’t think that this is the right way, but this would be the only way that we can have her calm down. Let her grieve and rave today and stop it.”

“Was Harry ok with all this?” Dorea asked her son.

“I just asked for his memories. He didn’t ask nor bothered asking what these were for. He is worse, Mom. It’s a good thing the girls are over there.” He explained.

“Come on. We will have a look as well.” James called his parents. “I would like to see his life. Just for my personal satisfaction.” He shrugged as he walked inside.

He slowly went into a room that Lily and her mother had occupied. He knocked on the door and then waited for the answer that didn’t come. James opened the door and looked inside. Mrs Evans was inside her eyes containing a faraway look. Empty.

Lily was lying on her mother's lap and her eyes had gone red from crying.

"Lily?" The girl looked up at her boyfriend and James once again, felt very bad.

"Can I come in?" Lily looked back at her mother who nodded.

"Come in." The older woman whispered. James walked in and quietly sat down on the couch.

"I have something to show you." He said.

"The both of you." He said, surprising the two women.

"What is it?" Mrs Evans asked after a few moments of silence.

James called for Tippy.

"Could you get my parents and our pensieve from the Lord’s office?” The diminutive creature nodded, before popping away.

“You have a pensieve?” Lily asked curiously. “Aren’t they very rare and extremely expensive?”

James nodded. “Perks of being an old family. My family is older and more powerful than you can comprehend, Lily. Centuries of trinkets, riches, secrets and artifacts lie in our vault still untouched.” He explained proudly.

He stopped when his parents and surprisingly, Bellatrix, Narcissa and Sirius turned up as well.

“What are you two doing here?” The girls shrugged. “We want to see those too.” Bellatrix was blunt with her reply.

“I guess I can’t stop you.” He walked towards the pensieve that Tippy had delivered, before dropping the memories in the pensieve.

“I guess the two of you could do with an explanation.” James muttered, as Lily and mother frowned in confusion,

“This would seem overbearing, Lily. Lots of things won’t be the same after seeing what I am about to show you. I am only doing this, so that you are not too accusing towards Harry.”

He explained.

“Harry Potter is not my brother, Lily.” James explained. Lily frowned in confusion.

“What?” She croaked.

“Yes.” James took a deep breath. “Harry Potter was born on the thirty first of July, 1980.”

It was Lily’s mother that broke the confusion.

“Isn’t it still 1977? What is going on here?” She asked.

“That is right. Harry was born on the day I mentioned, and not as my brother. No. He was born as my son. Harry James Potter.” Lily stared at James open mouthed.

“James. Now is not the time to have fun.” She muttered, her eyes glowing slightly with anger.

“No, Lily. I might be a lot of things, but I am not someone who makes fun in times of such tragedies. Especially not to my girlfriend who is grieving.” James said.

“Harry is a time traveler, Lily.” James explained and watched as the girl’s eyes widened in shock. “Impossible.” Mother and Daughter replied at the same time.

“I am telling you the truth.” James muttered.

“Everything you need to know is here.” James replied as he pointed to the pensieve.

“We only know the partial story of his life. We haven’t seen his memories. This will be the first time we are doing this.” James said.

He tapped the device with his wand and a white light filled the room, before the memories started to be projected on the pensieve.

—--&&&------

The memory showed a small scrawny four year old boy who stood on top of a stool, as he was busy stirring a very hot vessel. He was handling a pan as well. They watched as the little boy dropped the vessel down on the floor by mistake.

The boy jumped in fright when the vessel dropped and the viewers caught a glimpse of the boy. The brilliant green eyes of the kid, a giveaway on the identity of the boy. His hair was a mess, but his face was swollen on one side.

The next moment, a shrill scream caught their attention and they watched horrified as a lanky and horse-like woman hastened to the boy and cursed the poor boy before hitting him with the hot pan.

“Petunia?” Lily whispered as she recognised her sister. She looked no different than she is now.

The mother and daughter pair watched in shock as their family member assaulted a little boy.

The Potters almost emptied their stomachs as they watched the woman hit their Harry again and again. Bellatrix couldn’t watch this. And Narcissa, she was already shaking with shock and pain.

The memory changed and they watched as a fat boy walked up to Petunia before handing over a small wrapped package. “Happy Mother's day.” The boy wished her and the woman hugged and kissed the boy, fussing over his actions.

It was then that another boy went up to the woman. It was Harry.

He held a beautiful Lily flower in his hand.

“Happy Mother’s Day, mummy.”

They watched as the woman's face turned into a snarl. “Don’t you dare call me your mother. I won’t have the son of a whore of my freakish sister addressing me as his Mother.” She thrashed Harry without mercy.

Lily sobbed as she heard Petunia’s words.

“What….” She choked back a sob, when she started to put things together.

James put an arm around the girl.

“He has his mother’s eyes, Lily. Your eyes. Your son. Our son” He whispered as the girl couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.

"How could she?" Mrs Evans croaked.

"She is a monster." She muttered.

Lily was sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn't watch this. She watched as many memories played on and she felt disgusted by calling that woman her sister.

James wasn't any better. This was not something he had expected. This was cruel. And his own son. His little boy.

The helplessness on the young boy's face broke the viewer's heart.

They watched as the young boy got beaten, starved, bullied and tortured for just being in existence.

"Bastards…." Bellatrix hissed, her eyes shining with tears. Her mind was filled with rage. Rage that someone had dared to treat her sweet Harry this way. Family, moreover.

“I’ll find them and I will kill them. I am going to kill them.” She snarled, anger palpable.

The memory continued playing. They continued to watch Harry grow up and go to school. Just like he was, he excelled in school for the year. Then they witnessed Harry getting beaten for scoring more marks than their Dudley.

By the end of the first set of memories, the others had enough. They stood shell shocked by what they had seen. Family treating their own this way was not something bearable.

“Those bastards!” Bellatrix was off again. She was shaking with anger. Her rational mind couldn’t tear away the image of the helplessness in little Harry’s eyes. Her Harry suffered such a fate at the hands of those filthy muggles.

She was not overly hating towards the muggles, but after this, her hatred for them rose. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"No." The person spoke. She cleared her mind, quelling her rage as much as possible. Her Aunt Dorea was watching her with concern. Her eyes, red from crying.

"I know what you are thinking. I know what you are feeling. I am feeling those as well. I want to listen to what all my ancestors usually tell us about the muggles. I so want to torture those sorry excuse for people." Venomous. That was how one could describe Dorea's expression.

"Hold it together. Hold it for his sake." She soothed the girl. Bellatrix nodded, though she was very much far away from letting this go.

The others went silent for sometime as they watched Lily and Mrs Evans. They waited calmly, wanting to gauge their reactions, as they wanted to listen to what the two would say.

In the space of a couple of hours, their world had turned upside down. They lost the face of their family. Now, they are learning that they have a time traveling son and grandson respectively who will go on to be abused by their very own member of the family at such a young age was an even harder pill to swallow.

"Lily?" James was nervous. He knew that this was not such a good idea, but something told him that it would be better this way. That weird gut feeling.

"Oh God, James." Lily muttered as she fell into her boyfriend's arms.

"He was a little boy, James. Just a small boy. She abused him." Lily sobbed, her heart breaking as the image of the little boy, her own son apparently being beaten and abused.

"She abused my boy." She cried into his chest. James held the girl as she wept.

"My own sister." She said.

She remained in his arms for a while. Sounds of sniffs could be heard occasionally.

"Why?" It was Mrs Evans. The others turned to the woman.

"Why tell this now? Why did you want to reveal all of this?" She asked James

James thought for a while.

"I know that the two of you blame Harry for what happened." He held his hand up to stop them when he saw they were about to voice their disagreements.

"No. I understand. We all can understand you trying to blame him. You are grieving. But I won't let him take the blame. Not for something he hasn't done. More than that, I wanted to tell you the truth. I don't want to hide this any longer. It won't be fair on both you guys and Harry." James explained.

"Is…is this why you are dati….." James didn't let her finish the sentence.

"Harry didn't come here until two years ago. I was in love with you, the moment I met you, Lily. You know that." He said with confidence.

"You know that very well don't you, Lily?" James questioned with a mischievous grin and smiled triumphantly as he elicited a giggle from the girl, who turned red with embarrassment.

"Shut up." She mumbled softly.

"Are you ready for the next chapter of his life?" James asked. "We can take some time if you are not." He asked the girl. Lily shook her head.

"No. I want to see everything today. I want to know how it goes. Good or bad, I want to know it all."

"How is he?" James asked Bellatrix and Narcissa. Bellatrix was in no state to answer. Narcissa took it upon herself to answer.

"He was asleep. He was very much down after the incident and we brought him to Peverell Manor." She said.

Just when they were about to return to the memory, Matty popped in looking anxious and scared.

"Matty?" The elf jumped when addressed.

"What are you doing here?" Bellatrix questioned the elf irritably.

"I am sorry, mistress." The elf muttered, shuffling nervously. "Master Harry be leaving suddenly." He squeaked.

"Where?" Bellatrix asked suddenly.

"Matty doesn't know." The elf replied sadly.

"Master became very scary. He became extremely angry. He be disappearing, Mistress.” The elf answered.

“I don’t like where this is going.” Bellatrix whispered. “Why, Matty? Do you know why he was so angry?” Bellatrix asked the elf.

The elf shook its head.” I be not knowing, Mistress. But Master be dropping his letter. Matty be bad elf if he be reading master’s letter.” He whispered before handing over the letter to Bellatrix.

Bellatrix was quick to snatch the letter.

“Thank you, Matty.” Narcissa smiled at the little creature who beamed at the compliment.

“Master’s Narcissa be thanking Matty.” The elf skipped happily on his feet.

“Master be finding great mistresses.” The elf praised both Narcissa and Bellatrix.

Mrs Evans turned to James. “Mistress? Your brother and….” She trailed off.

"You might find this a bit weird. The girls are madly in love with Harry. And he is with them as well. In our wizarding world, this kind of relationship is acceptable. Matty here is my brother's elf. And to his master, he sees the girls as his mistresses. He already accepts them as the Ladies of his master and obeys their every command.

The girls love it when they are addressed as such and they never bother correcting the elves." James answered the woman softly.

Bellatrix paled considerably after she read the letter. Her eyes had gone wide.

"Oh…Merlin." She muttered.

"What is it?" Sirius asked.

"There was to be an attack on Pettigrew and Bones today in Diagon. Florella Parkinson was the one who sent this letter. She was around when the Death Eaters were planning and she immediately sent a letter to Harry."

"Ok. This is not good." Charlus muttered.

"Is he in trouble?" Mrs Evans asked.

She heard incredulous snorts around her.

"Trouble?" Narcissa questioned rhetorically. "We would like to think that we know Harry very well. And by now, it would be a massacre." She muttered.

—--&&&&------

"Where the hell did these two go?” Harry asked no one in particular. The house was empty and the girls had disappeared. Harry walked all over the place and then finally stopped in the kitchen. He watched Matty bent over a vessel, as he was preparing something.

“Matty?” The elf jumped a bit but calmed down quickly. “Master Harry is awake.” The little creature squeaked. “Where are the others, Matty?” The elf jumped from the top of the high stool.

“They be going to the Potter Manor, sir.” The elf replied. “They told Matty to tell Harry sir that they would be returning very soon.” The elf informed him.

“Fine. Is there any food, Matty? I am starving.” His stomach growled softly right at the same moment. “Yes sir.” The elf quickly hastened to set a plate.

He was about to take his seat on the dining table, but the arrival of a letter caught his attention. The wards immediately alerted the presence of an owl. Sure enough, a brown owl flew inside the window and perched on his shoulder and held out its foot.

Harry retrieved the parchment tied to the owl and rolled it open.

Potter,

Peter and his family are being attacked today along with the Bones Lord and his sister.

Save Peter. Please.

Florella Parkinson

Just like that, his hunger disappeared. Worry was what he felt at first. Fear of his friend's safety. Fear of Amelia’s safety. Fear for Peter and his family. Just like that, the worry was replaced by anger. Raw anger. He would not spare a single one of them today.

“Hedwig!” He roared and his loyal companion was on his shoulders within a second and the two disappeared with a flash, causing Matty to jump in shock and fright.

Harry appeared right in front of Gringotts. He didn’t see anything right away.

“Hedwig?” The phoenix trilled at his call. “Find Amelia for me, girl.” The phoenix disappeared.

Harry made his way deeper into the Alley and sure enough, he watched a group of masked  men laughing around a smaller group of three who were on the floor. Harry suddenly felt a feeling of dread overtake him.

He crept up closer to the group. He was dreading every moment of this walk and then he came across a sight he would never have hoped to see. Peter was on the floor, sitting cross legged, and in his lap, were the two beheaded figures of who could only be his parents. The boy sat motionless on the ground, covered with blood from head to toe. He was jerking from time to time. The cruciatus had done a number on him.

“You wanted my daughter?” The man in the front of the group laughed as he kicked Peter in the face. Peter took the blow. He had no fight left in him. His posture and eyes screamed vacant.

Harry couldn’t take it anymore. He was on the edge from the moment he saw the devastation in Lily’s eyes. Seeing Mrs Evans stare and sob at her husband was too much. But this was above and crossing every limit possible.

With a guttural roar, his wand was in his hand and a golden beam left his wand, taking the masked attackers by surprise.

A loud gong silenced the entire alley.

A trill and a flash later, Amelia and her brother dropped next to Harry. He was a little relieved by the fact that they were alright, but once again, that disappeared when his vision was back on the attackers.

He circled his wand in the air and his eyes glowed dangerously. The whole of Diagon Alley watched as a wave of coldness swept through them.

The feeling of impending doom struck the death eaters. Freezing cold.

He stopped and with a swish a wave of magic was released from his wand. It was when he gave an incantation to it that shocks reverberated around the Alley.

"PROTEGO DIABOLICA!" He roared into the skies and the magic rose in waves like a huge tornado and black flames danced around the alley.

"Die!" Harry roared once more and the flames encircled the entire group of Death Eaters and Harry himself were encircled by the dreaded flames.

The black flames swallowed the area and pitch black darkness was what one could see. Soon, painful screams were the only sound that occupied the silence of the Diagon Alley.

Harry watched all the Death Eaters burnt as they caught on fire. Their screams did not do justice to the injustice that had been done to his friend. This was not revenge. This was justice.

Harry didn’t let a single one of them out. Many who tried to walk through the flames were burnt along with the others. The death eaters, at least the ones that were still sane enough even with the dangerous flames on their bodies tried to quell the flames on their comrades or themselves to no avail.

Harry twirled his wand once more as he concentrated hard to bring down the flames. The air and vision suddenly calmed down and the black flames receded.

Harry's eyes were still glowing ominously. He stalked forward to the heap of dead bodies. All of those who had attacked Amelia and Peter and their families were dead. Every last one of them. The burns on their bodies were horrifying. Charred flesh and blisters were visible that had many cringing in unpleasantness.

He raised his wand vertically and all the dead bodies were hooked to a vertical pole, tied together.

"What are you doing Harry?" It was Edgar Bones. The Auror was watching the Peverell lord with interest.

"Sending a message." He muttered and after a few swipes of his wand, he had carved his message on the dead bodies.

“You pushed too far. I am coming for you.”

—--&&&-----

Harry hummed seriously as he stepped back. He remembered the boy who lost his parents today. His adrenaline wore off slowly and reality came crashing back to his head.

He crouched next to Peter.

“Peter?” Harry whispered. No reply. He shook the boy by his shoulder.

Peter slowly turned to look at Harry. He recognised the face. He knew who this was.

Peter trembled slowly and Harry immediately put an arm around his shoulder. That broke the dam. Peter shed tears for the first time as he recovered from the terrible shock that he had faced.

Harry held the young man and let him vent. It was painful. If anybody had said that he would be comforting Peter Pettigrew of all people, he would have cursed them rotten for even suggesting such a thing. But this Peter was not like that. He was loyal. Very loyal. He had reluctantly agreed to give the boy a chance and he had not come to regret his decision. He was a very good friend.

“I am sorry Peter.” That was all Harry could say. There was nothing he could do to help him anymore. Once again, another of his friends had suffered partially from their association with him.

Sure they won’t blame him, but he didn’t need to hear anything for now.

“I am sorry I wasn’t able to do more, Peter.” Harry mustered.

Things certainly messed up very badly and he was not looking forward to the coming days.

Harry was lost deep in thought. His thoughts turned into fury. He never felt more angry and helpless in his life. Especially the helplessness. What is he supposed to say to Lily and Peter?

The magic started to roll off him in waves. Power crackled around him. The concentration of magic around him was too much for the others.

Just then, Harry felt someone take his hand and something soft covered his lips. His vision came back and the blonde locks of Narcissa’s hair were visible to Harry. He melted into her arms and he started to relax.

After a few minutes, the two broke apart and stared into each other's eyes. Harry smiled softly, his thumb caressing her cheek.

"Thank you." Harry muttered. Narcissa smiled at him. "Always." She whispered, placing another chaste kiss on his lips.

Whisperings were heard around them and Harry scowled much to Narcissa's amusement. "Great." He muttered sarcastically.

"Lord Peverell?" Harry noticed that the Aurors had arrived. "Yes?"

"We have to…" Harry snorted.

"Let me guess. You want to arrest me for some bizarre reason and I have to follow it?" The man nodded nervously.

"You can go and tell your minister to fuck…" Narcissa was immediate to silence him. She shook her head.

Harry nodded. "I won't be going anywhere. You can go and tell her that." He said and walked towards Peter.

"Peter, let's go." He pulled the boy up and nodded to his father who was behind him and received one in return.

"Let's go, mate." He led the boy to Potter Manor. He hoped that Peter would not lose himself to pain and sadness. He and the others will help him grieve. He won't lose a friend after all this.

As he led the boy, Harry promised himself that he would never let the others close to his heart be hurt again. He would protect them with all his heart and soul. He would go to any extent to make sure that his people survived this war.

TBC—---------------