Harry looked down at the book in his hands, the photos were strangely still. Nowadays he was more used to seeing Wizarding photos and his parent's stillness disconcerted him. Their fixed smiles grinned up at him, and clearly they were in the middle of a Halloween party. Either that or James's fashion sense had gone downhill after he had left Hogwarts.
With a billowing black cape, shirt with puffy white sleeves, unruly hair scraped back with a Malfoy-ish vibe, James was clearly dressed as a vampire. His pointed teeth were hovering above Lily's neck, her face contorting in a mixture of laughter and mock fear. She was dressed as a demon, her flame red hair complementing the crimson scales that covered her like a second skin, complete with pointy tail.
Around them Sirius, Remus and Peter were clustered. Remus was dressed as a werewolf, and Harry chuckled to himself as he noticed Sirius and Peter had gone as their Animagi forms. He doubted many in that room realised…
"Harry?"
Considering it was almost midnight and he had left Ginny sleeping downstairs, the sound of her voice startled him. He turned around, seeing her head peeking up through the entrance to the attic.
"Having trouble sleeping?"
"I'll be down in a minute" replied Harry, tucking the photo into the pocket of his pyjamas.
Hearing her feet pad down the ladder he sighed, running his hands through his now-dusty hair. He hated Halloween, every year was the same. He could never sleep and instead ventured up to the attic to look through photos of his parents, just wanting to feel closer to them. Rising to his feet he made his way downstairs, hoping sleep would come to him eventually.
He was approaching a door, cartoon ghosts had been painted on it and with a start he realised he was in Godric's Hollow. But this wasn't his parent's house, and with a start he realised he was looking at the home of his grandparents.
He had forgotten James had moved there after they had passed. He had never visited and guilt squirmed in his stomach. After the war he had just wanted to distance himself from the place. Sure he went every Halloween to place flowers on his parents graves, he had been here only hours before doing just that, but he never stayed for long.
The door opened and light spilled onto the porch, casting Harry's mind back to the present.
"Are you going to come in?" said the figure in the doorway. Squinting Harry realised it was Sirius.
"Sure," replied Harry, wandering up to the door. Is this a dream?
"Great, cause it's freezing out here," replied Sirius, moving aside to let Harry in. "Everyone has arrived in costume" he said pointedly.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to make it" said Harry, his mind still struggling to catch up with events.
"Well everyone is through in the lounge. I think Lily was trying to pitch a muggle game, just humour her."
Entering the lounge, Harry realised everyone was wearing the same costumes as in his photo. James looked even more ridiculous in person, fake blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. Lily was glimmering, the candles catching on her metallic scales, and she was currently trying to explain apple bobbing.
"But surely I will have an advantage," remarked James, pointing at his pointed vampire teeth.
"Well it'd be better if you ate more fruit," retorted Lily.
"Let's have a go, it might be fun," said Remus, playing the peacemaker
"Okay, and after this you then need to dive for peanuts and try and get as many in your mouth. It's the same concept as apples but slightly harder," said Lily.
"Isn't this unhygienic?" asked Peter, his rat ears twitching a bit. It really wasn't a good look for him, emphasising his rat-like features even more.
"It'll be fun!" said Sirius, "By the way Harry has finally arrived?"
"Harry?" asked James, turning around, his hazel eyes meeting Harry's green.
"Finally, we've been waiting for ages!" exclaimed Lily, moving forward to embrace him.
"Wait, you were expecting me?" asked Harry
"Of course, although I'll overlook the lack of costume," said James, "I did put it in the memo though."
"Sorry, I ran out of time," said Harry. Do they know who I am?
"It was a few weeks ago…" grumbled James.
"James shush, we were just about to bob for apples, I take it you know the rules?" said Lily
"Yeah, I used to watch my cousin do this as a kid," said Harry, remember Dudley emerging from the bucket, water streaming from his face and an apple clamped in his jaw not unlike a roast pig.
"Great! Want to go first then?" said Lily, pushing Harry towards the bucket.
Plunging his face in the cold-water Harry's teeth gnashed trying to grab hold of anything. Spluttering he emerged, spitting the apple out and inhaling deeply.
"One minute, not a bad start" said Lily.
"Well watch this," said James, pushing Harry out the way and rolling up his sleeves dramatically.
"Why does it always have to be a competition," grumbled Lily to Harry, Remus and Peter's shrugs. Sirius just looked upset he hadn't got there before James.
"55 seconds James," said Lily, as James emerged triumphantly.
"Right, my turn," said Sirius, unable to contain himself anymore, before dunking his head in.
One by one each of them had a turn before Remus was declared the winner whilst Sirius complained he had practice due to his werewolf form gnawing on everything in the Shrieking Shack.
"Okay onto the peanuts!" declared Lily.
This went in much the same vein, with Harry, Lily, Remus and Peter laughing as James and Sirius tried to cram as many peanuts in their mouths as possible and the inevitable choking that followed.
Eventually Sirius conceded to James, and everyone perched on the furniture as the carpet was now soaking due to Sirius tipping the bucket of water and peanuts over James's head whilst James did his victory lap.
"Okay, I'll admit, muggle games are fun," conceded James, his arm wrapped around Lily as they cuddled on the sofa.
"To be fair, I am surprised at how many peanuts you managed to fit in your mouth Sirius, if you ever go to Azkaban you'd have great career as a smuggler," commented Remus.
"I'm a man of many talents, what can I say," replied Sirius, lounging on one of the arm chairs.
"It was peanuts in your mouth, that doesn't include your throat," said James, still smarting at having water thrown over him.
"Well no one told me that!" retorted Sirius.
"You've been awfully quiet, Harry," said Lily, her green eyes landing on him.
"Just enjoying the company that's all," he replied, trying to remain calm.
"Well it was good you could make it, we weren't sure you'd come," said James.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Harry, his voice cracking a little.
"Well I think we should get a photo," said Lily, standing up, "It's not often we're all together."
"Right, let's get this over with," said James, pulling himself off the couch and standing next to Lily in front of the mantelpiece.
"Oh, let's use one of my muggle cameras!" exclaimed Lily, summoning it to her hand.
"Well it is Halloween and you know those things scare me so why not," said James.
"I can hold it if you want?" offered Peter.
"No, we can always put a timer on it and levitate it, that should do the trick," said Remus.
"Always thinking on your feet aren't you Mooney!" said Sirius, nudging Remus in the ribs.
"Well one of us has to," replied Remus, mock sighing and pulling out his wand. Slowly the camera levitated out of Lily's hand and turned to face them. "I think that's okay."
"Right, everyone ready?" asked Lily, "cheese… Arghhh" and Harry turned seeing James suddenly tip her off balance, pretending to bite her neck.
"I just wanted one nice photo!" complained Lily, whacking James on the head.
"Worth it," James mock-whispered to Sirius, earning another slap.
"Right, I think we're going to have to head," said Remus, indicating him and Peter.
"Yeah me too," said Sirius. "You coming Harry?"
"Eh, yeah," said Harry.
"I brought my bike so I can drop you."
"Oh, thanks," said Harry, not entirely sure where he was being dropped to and really wishing he could stay.
"I had a great time tonight," he said to Lily and James as they led him to the door after the others had left and Sirius went to retrieve his bike.
"Well don't be stranger," said Lily, giving him a hug.
"Yep, we aren't going anywhere," said James, hugging him after he was released by Lily.
"I miss you," whispered Harry, unable to hold it back any longer.
"We miss you too," said James and Lily, looking him dead in the eye and for the first time that night Harry thought they had an incline of who he was. Cutting the moment short, Sirius drove up to the door on his bike, throwing Harry a helmet.
"Here get on."
Clambering on, Harry suddenly felt the air moving quickly as Sirius wasted no time launching them into the sky, Lily and James quickly becoming distant specks.
"Right this is where you get off," said Sirius over his shoulder whilst they were still high above the clouds.
"Wait wha…." Screamed Harry as Sirius suddenly pushed off the bike, falling fast through the cold air, darkness clouding his vision.
Sitting up with a start, Harry realised he was back in his bedroom, Ginny snoring gently next to him. Putting his glasses on with shaky hands, he reached into the pocket of his pyjamas, pulling out the photo from earlier. Squinting he noticed a sixth person looking up at him from the photo when before there had only been five.
Had it been real?
A/N: Just thought cause it was Halloween I'd do this one-shot. Hope you enjoyed :)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter