"But I like to think I can cheat it all
To make up for the times I've been cheated on.
And it's nice to know when I was left for dead
I was found and now I don't roam these streets,
I am not the ghost you are to me."
"Here we are," James said as he and Sirius apparated in the middle of an empty field. Silently, the two boys started walking across it diagonally, dragging their trunks along, until they came to a small stone set in the grass, which they crossed and seemingly disappeared to any watching muggles.
Across the field rows of houses came into view. The Potters lived in a small countryside community where several pureblood families had homes, including the McKinnons, and Walburga's brother Cygnus Black. The whole area was secured by several spells and concealment charms.
They came up to the Potter house, a large stately red brick monument with a perfectly tended front lawn.
They walked up to the front door and James knocked on it impatiently, and it was opened by Mrs Potter a moment later.
"Boys!" she cried, enveloping both of them in a hug.
"Good to see you," Sirius said when she let go.
James kissed his mother on the cheek and walked past her into the house. "I'm starving."
"I've got enough food to feed an army, come along," Mrs Potter said, leading Sirius down the hall and into the large and airy kitchen.
She seated the two of them at the sleek wooden table and began stirring a pot whilst pastries stacked themselves on a plate, directed by her wand. Like her house, Helena Potter was a sophisticated combination of tradition and modernity; she had auburn hair pinned back delicately, hazel eyes identical to James's, and a sculpted yet soft face that seemed to age gracefully. A silver necklace, no doubt a family heirloom, glinted at her throat.
The tray of pastries brought themselves over to the table, where the two boys attacked.
Mrs Potter came and sat down with them, guiding over a small cake and tea cups that filled themselves.
"So, tell me, James, how high should my expectations be for your NEWTs?"
James looked up from his plate at her, eyes wide, mouth bulging with food, red tomato sauce on his chin. "Ahfinshfweylow."
She rolled her eyes. "How about you, Sirius? How'd you think you'll do?"
He swallowed his bite. " Okay, I guess. But I dunno about later. I heard the Ministry stopped training new aurors for the time-being."
"Yes, they did, because all of us are required in the field right now. There's a new disappearance almost every day."
"But now they need new aurors more than ever!" James spoke up, having finally swallowed his food. "And assisting would be pretty good training for us."
"Don't be absurd James, it isn't worth the risk." she snapped.
"Because allowing people to go missing is," he muttered.
Mrs Potter shot him a glare. "We're doing the best we can; the whole department's working overtime. And it would give me some piece of mind if I didn't have to worry about the two of you as well."
Footsteps clattered in the hallway, and the three of them looked up as Mr Potter walked into the kitchen.
"Hello lads," he said to the boys. "Alright?"
"Yes sir," the two of them chorused.
He leaned down to kiss his wife before picking up a piece of cake from her plate. "Mad-eye needs us both for that Knockturn Alley operation tonight."
Mrs Potter eyed James, who's ears had perked up at his father's words, and then turned away to whisper something to her husband, and the both of them got up and walked out into the hall after a moment.
"Oh, the agony, the pain, et tu brute, my own parents don't trust me!" James cried out, falling back onto his chair, clutching his heart.
Sirius kicked him as he stood up. "Should've never let you take Muggle Studies. You're way too inspired by that Shake-a-pear bloke."
James followed him up the staircase where the bedrooms were located. The two trunks had already been placed in the hall by the Potters' part-time, paid house-elf. Sirius's mother would've fainted at the very thought.
James hauled his into the first door on the right, while Sirius dragged the other into the room across where he'd stayed the previous summer. He discovered that Mrs Potter had taken up all measures to make the room feel as homey as possible; quidditch posters and photographs on the walls, Gryffindor hangings above the bed, even a small muggle motorcycle model on the nightstand. This gesture touched him the most, that she'd taken pains to find out what he'd liked, had went to the muggle shops for him.
Sirius stood in the middle of the room for a moment, tears blurring his vision. He thought of his room back at Grimmauld Place, the walls a battleground, red and gold instead of green and silver, motorbikes instead of brooms, and his mother's cold stare, watching, judging, disapproval in every breath. And here was Mrs Potter, who owed him nothing, yet welcomed him with open arms, loving, caring and so accepting.
"The whole wide world awaits us!" James sang, leaping into the room. He stopped when he saw Sirius furiously blinking back tears.
"Just some dust in my eyes," Sirius said gruffly, turning around, pretending to look for something in his trunk.
"Mate, er, erm," James cleared his throat. "Er, look you're in no way a burden or, or anything of the type. I mean, I obviously love having you around, and Mum and Dad more than me. You're a part of our family now."
"Er, thanks."
"Don't mention it."
A moment of extremely awkward silence, which Sirius broke by chucking a pillow at James. A wrestling match ensued.
A muggle record player churned out rock music, James wore a flowery apron and carefully stirred a brown concoction on the stove, while Sirius chopped vegetables, each one coming out a different size and shape.
"They're like snowflakes, see," he explained, holding up a particularly asymmetrical carrot. "Beautiful and unique."
"Just use your wand, Pads."
"I forgot to brush up on my culinary spells," he muttered, sticking a fork into the boiling pot of pasta.
After an hour of labour, they finally produced a dish of pasta and a salad, which they sat down to devour.
"Now, the piece-de-résistance," James announced, pulling out a bottle of his parents' Firewhiskey.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, before James said. "I don't want to just sit around while people die or go missing. I want to help. Even if they won't let us."
"They can't stop us. Legally, we can do what we want," Sirius pointed out.
"I, just, ugh, its so fucked up."
Sirius chuckled darkly. "Life is fucked up prongsie. But yeah, feeling helpless is the worst. It eats you alive."
"I'm worried about my parents, you guys. Lily." James hesitated a moment. "I - I want to ask her to marry me."
Sirius showed no surprise, looking at the odd expression James got on his face when he spoke of her.
He'd always found it strange, the confident, unwavering way James had loved Lily, long before they were together. James had always been slightly clumsy, awkward, over-excited, and girls found that endearing, but Sirius was the real charmer, smooth words that fell like poetry from his tongue, mysterious good looks, exciting and dangerous. Yet, in reality, it was James who was sure about love, believed in it, while to Sirius it was a chase, a game, much too demanding to take seriously. He supposed it had been the way James was brought up. When Sirius first visited the Potter household, he was thrown off completely by what he saw; Mr and Mrs Potter no doubt loved each other deeply, they were always touching, a comforting arm, fingers entwined, they seemed aware of each other, a simultaneous existence. Sirius had barely even seen his own parents make proper eye contact.
"I think you're good for each other," Sirius finally said. "And right now, we need all the good we can get."