Sacred is the Windswept Time

Eighteen: Whatever Happened to Harry James Granger?

Lily nudged James when she caught sight of the headmaster descending the stairs into the dungeons and once he laid eyes on Albus Dumbledore he stood, helped Lily up, and together they approached him. They stopped as soon as they saw the expression on his face. There weren't many who ever witnessed a sad Albus Dumbledore, but unfortunately James and Lily Potter, were one of the few to witness the eyes of Albus Dumbledore, not twinkling with mirth, but clouded over with sadness.

Lily brought her hand to her mouth in horror, in an attempt to muffle the sobs building within her. James put his arms around her and held her close, as Lucius, Narcissa, Severus, and Remus joined them and gathered around the headmaster. They all expected the worse as Albus sighed and Lily buried her face in James' chest.

Finally the headmaster spoke and said, "Tom Riddle, or as he has come to be known, Lord Voldemort, has been defeated, though the price was higher than I had hoped."

The sobs escaped Lily, and her tears stained James' shirt. Dumbledore suggested that they go elsewhere to discuss anything further and the six students followed the headmaster to the infirmary as the professors returned to the castle and took charge of the rest of the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Albus led them to Poppy Pomfrey's office and there he told them what he'd witnessed.

"Once their wands locked, the power engulfed them. Harry summoned the Sword of Slytherin, and then there was screaming, both of them were screaming. Once the light began to fade the Death Eaters screamed as their marks burned and the only thing left where the final battle was fought was the broken body of Tom Riddle, the Sword of Slytherin, and two broken wands. Harry was nowhere to be found. I can only assume that he has returned to his own time, as he was nowhere to be found. I can only hope that he returned to his time in good health," he said.

"Oh God, not Harry. Do you think...? If he had died there would be a body," Lily whispered as the sobs threatened to tear from her throat once more.

"He did what he came here to do. He killed Voldemort and then he returned to his own time. We shouldn't have expected that he would stay in our time. He just wasn't meant for this time," Lucius said, "We were selfish, all of us, to think that he would stay here with us. He has other friends, Ron and Hermione, and he has my son as his rival, they are his world, not us, not in his future."

"How can you say that about my son, Malfoy?!" James snarled.

Severus cut in, "Because, it's the truth. He knew it was only a matter of time before he would return to his own time. He was our friend, too, Potter. Don't you think we're worried too? But we'll see him in three years time, and we'll all watch him grow up, and maybe when the time is right he'll come back to us. That's all we can hope for. Twenty years from now he will remember this, and he will know us then the way he knows us now. Until then we wait."

"Oh Merlin, what about Sirius? What do we tell him?" Remus said, and everyone present turned to look at the werewolf, and they all dreaded waking Sirius up.

"Maybe we should let him sleep until Harry comes back to us," Narcissa whispered.

James shook his head. "We can't do that to him. We'll just have to wake him up and tell him what happened. He needs to know."

Lucius scoffed. "Potter, do you have a death wish? He would likely maim if not kill who ever tells him that Harry is...gone."

James turned to the headmaster and said, "Professor Dumbledore, I want to be the one at Sirius' side when he wakes up. I want to be the one to tell him. He would probably take it best coming from me."

"Very well," Dumbledore said and nodded, "Let's go see him. I'm sure Serrano is ready with the anecdote."

James took a deep breath and steeled himself. He was about to tell his best friend that the potential love of his life was gone.

Serrano looked up as he saw the headmaster enter the room where Sirius was being kept, he noticed that James Potter was behind him and he stood up. He almost asked where Granger was, but taking note of the expression on Potter's face he thought better of it. With a nod from the somber headmaster Serrano Sorcebaine administered the anecdote, now it was only a matter of waiting until the anecdote took effect. Dumbledore and Sorcebaine left James Potter alone in the room with Sirius Black, Dumbledore thinking it best that the two be alone when Sirius awoke and Sorcebaine following Dumbledore's lead.

It was nearly four hours after the anecdote had been administered before Sirius returned to consciousness and regained the use of his upper body. As he groaned and opened his eyes to look around the room, James Potter startled awake in the highly uncomfortable chair that was next to Sirius' bed. Sirius simply looked at James in confusion for a moment until he remembered what Harry had done to him.

"Where the bloody hell is he? Scared to face me after he knocked me out to keep me out of the battle? Well?" Sirius growled and then he noticed the sad expression on his best friend's face and his heart stopped and sank into his stomach. "Oh Gods, what happened James? Where is he?"

"He's gone Sirius. I'm sorry, but he's gone. No one really knows what happened, but all that was found at the scene of the final battle was Tom Riddle's body, the Sword of Slytherin, and what was left of Riddle and Harry's wands. Harry was gone."

"No. That can't be James! I love him. I know I told him one day at a time. No commitments, but I lied. I need him James. I need him," Sirius pleaded, and struggled with the emotions raging deep inside him, and while he was completely paralyzed from the waist down for the time being, he still lunged at James, and together they tumbled to the floor as the chair toppled over backwards. James recovered first and held his trembling best friend, as Sirius gave into the emotions overwhelming him and clung to the father of the only person he'd ever loved.

"I'm sorry. So sorry," James whispered over and over as he rubbed up and down Sirius' back trying to comfort his best friend while dealing with his own grief at the loss of his son, and he wondered if in three years time his son would be the same young man they'd only just met a few short months ago...

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Lucius groaned as he awoke to the steady pacing of his very pregnant wife. He sat up in bed, his hair in disarray, but he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he looked at her. She was beautiful, glowing in the moonlight that streamed through their window, her hands gently rubbing over the pregnant swell of her belly where their son rested. It was only a matter of time before he was born and they'd finally decided on a name for him after months of debating and arguing over the matter. Lucius swelled with the pride at the thought of his son, and shook his head as he remembered James Potter flooing him the other night to deliver the news that Lily was pregnant, but that was good news as well, it would mean that Harry would be born soon. This go around things would be different. The Malfoys and Potters were friends now, and their children would undoubtedly grow up together, so rather than be rivals, Harry and Draco would grow up friends, close as brothers and thick as thieves, and Lucius would watch as his best friend grew into a man.

Suddenly Lucius was brought out of his reverie as his wife gasped. He then noticed the puddle at her feet and all color drained from his face as he realized what was happening.

"Lucius!" Narcissa wheezed, and then she was screaming as the pain over took her, what had seemed like cramps earlier increased in number and came upon her more rapidly. She struggled to breathe trying to remember what she'd been taught by the midwife that had visited from St. Mungo's a few months ago, but it was difficult to concentrate with the overwhelming pain.

Lucius flooed St. Mungo's and demanded a midwife as soon as possible, as it was impossible to get his wife to St. Mungo's in time, and within ten minutes a rather plump woman with greying red hair stepped through his fireplace, and casting a cleansing charm on herself she followed the very nervous Lucius to the room where Narcissa writhed in pain on the bed, her fingers clutching the sheets as each contraction cut through her. The midwife took one look at Lucius and knew that he would be of no use to her. She pushed him out of the door and told him to contact all the family and tell them the good news, that a baby would be entering the world soon, and Lucius, unable to deal with his wife's screaming alone, went to the library and flooed the Potters, Sirius Black, Severus, and Remus, and within a half hour all of them had arrived at nearly three in the morning on the twenty-first of December.

Severus yawned and watched as his friend paced a hole into the rich marble floor of the library and shook his head. "Only your son would choose this ungodly hour to make his presence known. You're lucky I'm on holiday Lucius. I swear if I had class to teach tomorrow..."

Remus gave Severus a good knock in the arm and scolded him. "Severus! It isn't everyday that your friend's children are born!"

Severus glanced at Lily in James' arms and rolled his eyes as he replied, "Looks to me as though pregnancy is becoming a bit of an epidemic around here."

James and Lily looked indignant as they glanced in Severus' direction, and Sirius finally having enough of Lucius' pacing, grabbed the man by the shoulders and guided him over to a chair. After a few minutes of sitting, Lucius had enough of that and approached the loveseat where James and Lily were sitting. Lucius looked at James and then knelt down before Lily and put his hand over her abdomen, and smiling he whispered, "It's only a matter of time before you meet him, Harry. I promise I'll do my best to be the father you thought I would be. I can't wait to watch the two of you playing together. You'll be best mates. I just know it. Just don't transfigure him into a ferret the first time you meet him, that is rather unpleasant business. I know from experience."

Sirius watching Lucius talk to the child growing in Lily's womb, grew choked up, and quickly turned away, his eyes locking on the fire in the fireplace, and then he closed his eyes and a face swam into his vision, a face reminiscent of James, only slightly softer, with green eyes and a scar on his forehead. The tears rose unbidden to his eyes, as he felt that familiar ache once again. There had been no one since Harry, and Sirius knew that there never would be, but how could he tell that to James or anyone?

Sirius was suddenly startled from his thoughts as he felt a hand land on his shoulder; he inclined his head to see who it was and his eyes widened as he looked at Lucius.

"Could I talk with you for a moment?" Lucius asked and inclined his head toward the doorway.

Sirius nodded, and followed Lucius out of the library and into Lucius' private study. Lucius shut the door behind them, locked it, warded it, put up a silencing charm, and then indicated a chair for Sirius to sit in. Sirius took a seat and looked at Lucius, the man that he very seldom got along with, and wondered what the man had to say to him.

Lucius took a deep breath and asked, "So how have you been holding up Sirius?"

"As well as can be expected," the dark haired man replied and Lucius sighed.

"That's not what I meant. Are you seeing anyone? You could at least try to move on. He wouldn't have wanted you to be miserable. He fought for all of us to have lives, and he expected us to live them. You can't waste what he gave you by mourning him."

"And what would you have me do Malfoy? I know I only knew him for a short time, but he became my life. And knowing that in a few months he's going to be a part of my life again... How am I supposed to act around him? Do you have any idea how painful it's going to be to watch him grow up and live and love and know that he's my Harry, but he won't know me? I'll just be Sirius, his godfather and his dad's best mate. That's all I'll ever be to him. Everything that we once were is gone, and I wanted it for the rest of my life. I think I have a reason to mourn, don't you?"

"Hey, he was my best friend. Don't you think we all miss him? There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him and what he did for us. He saved Severus and me, and he saved my wife's life. I owe him more than I can ever repay. At least we'll have him back again," Lucius replied.

"But it won't be the same," Sirius snapped. "He won't be the Harry that he was. He won't love me."

Lucius crossed the room to where Sirius sat, grabbed the dark haired man by the shoulders and shook him. "I remember the day of my wedding and how he looked at you, how he cried over you, and I watched how he sat by your side for hours those three days before the final battle begging your forgiveness for him petrifying you. He did it so that you would survive, because he needed you to live, wanted you to live. He loved you and nothing will ever change that. I don't know why or even understand how he could love you, but he did, and I know that nothing could change that, but you have to know it too. So for Merlin's sake, pull yourself together and be strong for him, for James, and for Lily. Someday we'll have our Harry back, you just have to be patient until then."

"Do you think he would come back to me?" Sirius asked.

Lucius smiled, a genuine smile and for the first time an understanding was reached between Lucius Malfoy and Sirius Black. "I know he will."

"That's good enough for me," Sirius replied, and what had been a rocky acquaintance between the two men, became friendship as Sirius stood and clapped a hand on Lucius' back, and once Lucius removed the silencing charm, the wards, unlocked the door, and the two of them walked out, most of the animosity shared between them was left in the past, though there was still much bickering to be slung back and forth between the two.

A few moments later a house elf popped into the library and looking at Lucius with wide amber eyes said, "Master, it is mistress that calls you. She wants you to meet the little sir."

Lucius' face broke out into a wide grin as he rushed from the library and straight to his bedroom where his wife lay in bed exhausted with the efforts to bring their son into the world, but in her arms was a small squalling bundle, and as Lucius approached the bed he knew it was the most beautiful sight in the world, his wife holding their son. He sat down on the bed, careful not to disturb Narcissa or their son, and then he laid down next to her and gently moving aside the edge of the little blue blanket that the baby was wrapped in he looked at his son for the first time and smiled.

Narcissa handed him the baby and Lucius held him close to his chest, careful to support his head as he looked down at his son and then said, "You'll never know how proud I am to be your father. I want you to know that I love you, Draco. And you are going to be the luckiest boy in the world because you are going to grow up with the greatest man and wizard I've ever known."

Draco's reply to this was a soft hiccup followed by a great wail, his little hands flailing in the air, and Lucius could only shake his head and laugh at the antics of his already seemingly spoiled son.