Okay, this entire chapter is split into seven parts. The first is Lily, then Severus, then Demi, then James, then Remus, then Peter, and finally Sirius. There are breaks in between like this, and the title in the middle is the name of the character. It is all the week before September 1st.

Lily

"Just one more week!" Lily squealed as she crossed off another day on her calendar. The walls on her side of the room were plastered with photos both muggle and wizard. She'd added many of the ones Demi had duplicated for her from the photo album that Sirius had given her. She looked at the nearest one. It depicted Demi, Kiaria, and Alice all during the winter break. The snowy grounds of Hogwarts, as well as the frozen over lake were in the background. She could see her three friends waving back at her, their hair flying over their faces. She waved back and settled down. He bedroom door was thrown open, and Petunia marched in, her salmon pink nightgown on.

"Sorry for calling you a freak," mumbled Petunia.

"Oh Tuney, it's okay. Do you forgive me?" asked Lily. From the day she'd arrived home, Petunia had been acting horrible to her, and even worse to Severus. Lily had felt terrible. Severus was already used to being bullied by the boys in Gryffindor house, but to be bullied while on summer vacation. Well, that just didn't sit right with Lily. Lily had yelled at Petunia, causing the poor girl to run and tell their parents, who stated that Petunia was in the wrong. After that, Petunia had decided to be ever-so-mean to Lily and made it her life's mission to make sure that her sister's visits home were as terrible as possible.

The problem was, Lily thought that she was in the wrong, and made sure to apologize for nothing whenever she got the chance. In Lily's eyes, she was the one that was being horrible.

"No, mum and dad just said I have to say sorry. It doesn't necessarily mean that I meant it," she sniffed.

"What?" said Lily faintly.

"Oh you heard me. I don't want to forgive you. You're a freak and you always will be. I'm glad I'm normal. At least I'm not the burden on this family."

"What? Who thinks I'm a burden? I'm a witch, that's all. Maybe if you spent one day with me, you'd learn that it's not a disease and that I'm perfectly normal," said Lily, reaching out for her sister's hand.

"No" said Petunia, scurrying over to the door, "We all know you're the burden on this family. Think about mum and dad, they have to hide your condition from the world." With that, Petunia closed the door.

Lily stared at it for a moment (and not for the first time), wished with all her heart that her sister would throw the door open and hug her. She wished that she was never a witch at all.

Severus

"I don't care, the boy's a nuisance" said a gruff voice form the hallway.

"But he's your son!" a woman's voice cried, "Tobias, he's your son as well, and he needs to have a father to look up to. Tobias- get back here." She said.

Severus looked up and heard the loud thud of the front door being slammed shut. He got up off of his bed and ran to the window in his room. He could see his father's long, black coat in the lamplight swishing in the wind, as he turned at the end of the street. Severus looked up and say the half-moon looming over Spinner's End. He wished that he was back at Hogwarts, the Gryffindor's pranks were preferable to the treatment he'd been getting form his father for the past seven weeks. His mum had to keep on taking Severus out to prevent his father form yelling at him and occasionally, his father would pack his trunk and walk out on the pair, not returning for days or weeks at a time.

"Severus?" said a small voice.

He turned around and saw his mother's pale face, her stringy hair flat on her head. She open the door up fully, and walked over to him, smothering him in a hug. "I love you mom."

"I love you too, sweetheart," she mumbled back.

"Does dad hate me?" Severus asked, his eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"No, he's just . . . not used to wizards, that's all" she said.

Elieen Prince sat down on her son's bed looking at him. "When do you want to go get your school stuff?" she asked.

"Lily and I planned to go to Diagon Ally on Wednesday. Will dad be joining us?" he asked.

"No, I believe your father is very busy, but I'd be more than happy to come with you," said Eileen.

"M-kay" mumbled Severus.

"My, my, look at the time. We should be going to bed, shouldn't we?" said his mother, smiling at her son.

"Just one more story, mum, please?" Severus begged.

"Of course- what'll it be today?" she asked, pulling out the hidden copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

"Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump" replied Severus, the corners of his mouth turning up. His mother smiled down at him and began to read, soon they both forgot all of their problems as they delved into the magical world.

Demi

"Is that it?" Demi said, pointing to the tall tower in front of them.

"Yes" replied Dumbledore, and they entered the base. "Many people don't know this, but the CN Tower is held up by magic, otherwise it would have toppled over ages ago."

"You sound like a tour guide" Demi replied smiling. She was hoping to see her Uncle Aberforth, but realized that the odds of Aberforth and Dumbledore trying to get along, especially in such an enclosed environment brought her back to reality. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just apparate to the top?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. But how do you think these poor muggles would react if they saw us magically appear at the top deck?"

"They'd be suspicious" she replied.

"Indeed," responded Dumbledore. The war hadn't affected anything in North America, just the fact that some Wizarding families in Europe had decided to move over to this hemisphere. Not that she could complain, from her point of view, the war was getting worse. They went through Canada in 3 days, apparating to Niagara Falls, the Calgary Stampede, and Banff Hot springs (Dumbledore looked quite funny relaxing in the springs with his silver beard flowing in front of him like soap). Demi picked up various objects for each of her friends, she'd tried to send Lily and owl, but the distance meant it wouldn't reach there until the end of the week. The rest of the vacation passed off in monotone, but on the last day before September 1st, something happened.

Demi woke up and felt a very peculiar tingling sensation on her arms, she went over to her mirror and looked at them. They were covered in red patches. She rushed into the kitchen, where she saw Dumbledore reading the Prophet. "Urm, professor? My arms are kind of messed up" she said timidly.

"We're on the summer break, you can still call me Dad," Dumbledore replied, taking hold of her arms. 'Ah yes, this is another stepping stone from that little issue we had last summer. Don't worry, it's to do with the . . . thing. It should go away in a few hours or perhaps a couple of days."

Demi nodded her head, and went back upstairs to get ready. "I don't know how much more of this I can take" she sighed looking down at her arms. I wonder if I should tell my friends, Demi thought. But then she thought better of things, Dumbl- I mean Dad- said not to tell anyone, I shouldn't go worrying them. She left it at that and continued on with her routine.

James

"But mum, nothing will happen! I guarantee it" James whined.

"Remember the last time you said you'd guarantee something? You fell and broke your leg. Do we need a repeat of that incident? Hmm?" Amie replied, as she chopped up breakfast at the table.

James looked at his mother from across the table, and nodded his head. He was going to miss his parents when he left for school the following morning, and was trying to enjoy every last minute of him being with his parents. His father walked in, still in his night clothes. "What's for breakfast?" he asked Amie, looking at the bowl in front of his wife.

"Pancakes" she said, and she saw the smiles on her husband and James' face, "with fruit" she added, and laughed as the smiles disappeared.

"James wants to go play Quidditch later on" Amie said to her husband.

"Really?" said Jack, "Well, I believe that we'll be able to get a few matches in before we start getting him packed for school, because, we both know he hasn't done that."

James turned red, "Okay as long as . . . "he was cut off by a puff and bang coming from the Potter's living room. They ran into the room and saw the fireplace blaze green. James shielded his eyes and when he turned back, there was a tall, skinny, grey haired man in the middle of the room. The man walked over to Jack and whispered something in his ear, making his father go pale.

Jack turned back to James, bending down to see his eyes, "I think I have to take a raincheck on that Quidditch match, James. Urgent business" he exchanged a dark look with his wife, "You'd better come too, Amie."

She nodded her head, and turned back to her son, "We'll try and be home as soon as we can, for now, and Tingle will help you pack."

James watched as his parents flicked their wands and changed into their robes. They stopped as they passed him, and gave him a kiss, before following the man into the fireplace. Before leaving his mother looked back at him, her red hair flowing back behind her, "Be safe" she said. With a loud whoosh, she was gone, leaving James alone with his house elf, on his last day before school.

"Love you" mumbled James, looking at the fireplace.

He felt a tug on his sleeve, turning back he saw Tingle smiling at him, "Your parents are the best Aurors there are, they'll come back safe and sound." With that the two trudged up to James' room so he could pack.

Remus

"Yes mum, I've got everything" said Remus exasperated.

"But do you have your cauldron?" said Rhea.

"Yes" said Remus.

"Parchment?" she asked.

"Yes" replied Remus.

"Quills? Ink?" she inquired.

"Yes and yes" was his monotone response.

"What about your books?" she inquired.

"Er . ." Remus stuttered.

His mum tossed a brown, wrapped bundle to him, "knew you would forget something" she said, walking over and ruffling his hair.

"How on earth do you know that?" he laughed.

"My mum senses were tingling" she smiled, kissing the top of his head.

His father walked in, his hair streaked with grey, "have you got everything?" he asked, smiling.

"Not again!" Remus groaned, causing his parents to laugh.

"Have you made sure that the . . ." his mother asked his Tiberius.

"Yes, spoke to Dumbledore this morning, he said it's still in great shape, and they managed to repair some of the damage." He looked at his son, who was gazing down at the ground, clearly unhappy. "It's our choices that count more than our afflictions."

Remus looked up, "I understand."

Peter

"Okay, my boy. You ready?" said Carlos.

"Yes dad" replied Peter, tucking the last of his stuff into his trunk. "Where's mum?" he asked.

"She's just coming."

Peter heard his mother coming up the staircase, her heels clicking away. Peter would miss that sound. It reminded him that he was at home, with his family, people who genuinely cared about him. His mother's head appeared through the door way, "Peter, are you all packed?" she asked.

"Yes mum" he replied.

They left the house to go visit his grandmother in Wister shire. Both of his parents looked back at him before stepping through the fireplace, "we'd better not get another owl about you playing a prank this year' his dad said.

"Or else" his mother added, her face cracking into a grin. Holding both their hands, they stepped into the fire.

Sirius

A loud screech was heard from the kitchen. Sirius paced the length of his room and back, finally conceding defeat, he flopped onto his bed. He pressed his palms into his eyes and said calmly, "I'd like to be let out now." No response. He got up and paced again for another 5 minutes. He'd been locked up in the room for about 3 hours, with nothing to do. It got to the point where he had actually done his summer homework, but his mother hadn't broken him yet. He could hear the conversation in the room underneath him; his brother's. Ever since Sirius had gotten home, his family members, save for Regulus had been treating him like scum. His brother was now the pride and joy of the family, while Sirius was left alone, all the time. He tried to send owls to his friends, one in particular. But seeing as he was confined to his room, whenever he made a comment on the family's customs, he wasn't able to be downstairs long enough to do so. He laid down on the floor, pressing his ear into the wood. He could just make out the words being said through the thick mahogany.

"He's a disgrace, don't you dare speak to him while at school. Do you understand?" said Walburga.

"Yes, mum" mumbled Regulus.

Sirius heard a knocking noise at the door of his brother's room. He could hear his mother move to open it and then, all hell broke loose.

"Hello dear Bella, how are you?" said Walburga.

"Just fine. How is everyone?" said Bellatrix in a soft, graceful voice. Sirius wanted to laugh. Bellatrix, his cousin, was his primary tormentor. She took pride in using him as bait to practice jinxes and curses while she was at Hogwarts, luckily for him, she had left the year before he had started. Ever since they were kids, Sirius could not wait to get his hands on a wand. Although it didn't seem like it, Sirius was anxious to learn. He always wanted to know how to do things himself, then and only then, would he be able to escape this hell-hole his family called 'home'.

He could hear Bellatrix say, rather loudly, "Andromeda has gone and married that Ted Tonks, the muggleborn."

"NO!" screamed Walburga, and she wrenched the door open, storming down the staircase. A few seconds later he heard a loud bang and a sour laugh coming from the first floor. Sirius sighed, he knew what that sound meant. His mother had gone and burned a hole through the tapestry of the family tree. It was one of her favorite pastimes. In fact, when Sirius had gotten back on the first day of school, his mother had threatened to blast him off of the wall unless he followed the family customs. Customs, he thought. The word that had plagued his childhood. When he was being raised his mother, father, and a majority of the family (also known as the ones who were still on the bloody tapestry) would teach him and his brother about the Black Family beliefs. Many of them surrounded the same thought and ideas that Lord Voldemort himself believes. As he was reflecting on the countless beating she received as a child from standing up or the muggleborns, he heard the door of his room fly open.

"Well, well. If it isn't my itsy bitsy baby cousin, Sirius the third," cooed Bellatrix.

"I've had enough of your bile, away with you" he yelled to her, still lying on the ground, daring her to jinx him.

"Aww, are you angry? Upset? Scared? My you are an idiot, thinking that muggleborns would care if you stood up to them. Your mother was telling me about your latest comment, on . . . what was it? Muggle rights? My dear cousin, are sure you're even a Black at all?" she jeered.

Sirius got up and picked up a chair, throwing it at his cousin, who flicked it away with her wand. He picked up a jug and threw it against the wall over her head, showering her with water and glass. She merely tapped her wand on her head, and she was dry. "I don't care about being a Black! We're all just bloody humans, we're all equal!" he shouted at her, throwing things around. "I don't want to be a Black. I don't want to be here!" he covered his ears and screamed to the top of his lungs, "LEAVE ME ALONE."

Bellatrix laughed as Sirius broke down, he was after all mentally, physically and emotionally broken, her favourite kind of victim.

Sirius jumped for his wand on his bed. But Bellatrix (who had years of experience in dueling) was too fast. She shot jinx after jinx at him until he ran directly at her, weaving through the flying colours. He knocked her over and ran out of his room. He'd nearly made it to the front door when he heard his mother.

"You bastard of a son, get back here NOW!" she screamed.

Sirius picked up the troll leg umbrella stand and chucked it at his mother head, she quickly cast it aside and yelled incarcerous. Sirius felt the ropes wrap around his body. He tried to run but the ropes around his legs were too tight. He fell down at his mother's feet. He looked up at her and in a flash, he was back in his bedroom once again. This time, he was in shackles, with no wand, bruised and somewhat bloody. He looked up at the ceiling of his room and screamed. He heard his mother laugh with glee.