'James!'

The boy was in his newly-ironed robes, glasses askew and black hair in a carefully choreographed mess. His head whipped round to look at his mother, whose frizzy hair was in a similar state of disarray.

'Are you sure you've got everything?'

She looked flustered, having spent the most part of the morning attempting to organise her two messy boys. Now their trunks were packed, robes were on, and their small room in the Three Broomsticks was practically bare in the absence of the boys' clutter.

And yet Euphemia Potter couldn't help feeling like she'd forgotten something. As her son gave her a quick hug and headed for the door, she smiled sadly. James was her only biological son, born long after she'd already given up her dreams of children, and though James was now in his sixth year of school, the pain she felt when he left for Hogwarts never really got easier. She watched helplessly as James' new glasses (He'd finally convinced her to replace his battered round frames with some trendier aviators) fell down his nose slightly as he struggled to lift his trunk.

Fleamont Potter put his hand on Euphemia's shoulder while she let slip a single tear. He carefully brushed the teardrop from his wife's wrinkled cheek and gently kissed her nose. The inventor of Sleekeazy's hair potion, Fleamont was a sparkling advertisement for his own product; hair smoothed in a perfect arc over his forehead. His smooth brown head looked positively shiny in comparison to Euphemia's frizzy blonde mane.

The couple watched James leave quietly, and were brought down to earth by a frenzied Sirius Black as he rushed out of the bathroom. He grabbed his trunk and pulled up his drooping Hogwarts robes.

'I'd leave that for five minutes if I were you Fleamont', he said cheekily as he gave him an enormous hug. The big man chuckled as he clapped Sirius on the back jovially.

When he came face to face with Euphemia, Sirius' smile dropped as he struggled to hold back a torrent of emotion.

'Goodbye', he mumbled, eyes fixed on the floorboards beneath him. Euphemia smiled fondly and brought a soft hand under his chin, pulling his head to look at her.

'We're always here', she said gently. Her watery smile was genuine. Sirius smiled back.

'Thankyou'. The words were short but their meaning was clear. Ever since Sirius had collapsed into the Potter's living room that summer, crying and cursing his pureblood family, Euphemia had become the mother he had always wanted. James had been asleep when Sirius had flooed into their living room in the first week of the holiday, a skinny pale wreck weeping uncontrollably on the Potter's carpet. Euphemia would never forget the sight of the two boys that night, all elbows and knees, messy black heads resting on the same pillow. She had rehomed him without a blink, giving him meals and shelter, and more love than he had ever imagined possible. The boy was almost unrecognisable now. So that small thankyou, whispered so quietly it was almost inaudible, held so much meaning.

After a lingering hug, Sirius followed James down the stairs of the Three Broomsticks. The two boys started walking down the cobbled streets of Hogsmeade with their trunks in tow, followed by the waves and smiles of their parents.

Their procession came to an abrupt halt as James' trunk went over a bump and spilled its colourful contents over the floor.

'Oh you can't be serious', he moaned, bending to pick up his belongings.

'Don't be silly, of course I'm Sirius!'

Even with his eyes on his exploded trunk James could feel the cheeky grin on Sirius' face as he made the awful pun, for what had to be the millionth time since they'd met.

'Don't start that again', he groaned.

'You walked right into it James, I just couldn't help it'. James opened his mouth to retort but was stopped short by the sight of Lily Evans not ten yards away. She had stopped wheeling her trunk down the road and was smiling at the boys as they crouched over the spilled clothes and quills.

'Evans', James gasped, standing up with a jolt. One hand went immedietly to his messy hair, and the other half-lifted to wave. He was mortified to see that he still had a pair of boxers embroidered with small golden snitches balled up in his fist. He pulled his arm back in horror, but Lily had already seen and was giggling quietly.

'Well hello to you too', she laughed. Sirius looked up wryly from his spot on the floor and gave her a small wave.

'Alright Lily?' he asked as James' mouth opened and shut helplessly like a goldfish.

'Hey Sirius', she replied, 'had a bit of an accident?' She knelt down and started helping to shovel the socks and pieces of parchment back into the trunk messily. James went bright red in embarrassment as her hand brushed against the rest of his underwear, carefully folded into squares by Euphemia that morning.

'Why are you here then?' asked Sirius, calmly packing away an errant game of exploding snap with a wave of his wand.

'Mum and dad wanted to see Hogsmeade', Lily explained. 'They're very excited about all this magic stuff.' She smiled, remembering the wonder on her father's face as she'd taken him to Honeydukes, his eyes almost as wide as the fizzing whizbees.

James, suddenly regaining the power of speech, tried again to talk to her. 'I can't believe we didn't see you! We've been here all week, we could have hung out and stuff.'

He cringed. Too dorky.

'We only got here last night,' Lily smiled. Her and James' frosty relationship had thawed slightly over the summer and James got a rush every time she smiled at him. He'd worked hard over the last year to tone down his crush on her, and she appreciated this new James; big head deflated to a slightly more acceptable level. Although she knew his old bravado was only to cover up his feelings, she had found it infuriating.

The last of the contents safely put away, the three stood up and started walking together down the cobbled street, Lily's copper head bobbing between the boy's black ones.

Sirius and Lily chattered inanely all the way up to the castle, with James occasionally chipping in, desperate not to make a fool of himself. All three of them were excited to be back at Hogwarts, and their excitement only grew as they sighted the stone turrets of Hogwarts looming before them.

When they reached the bustle of students by the gates, Lily gave the boys a quick little wave and slid off to join her friends. James and Sirius stood awkwardly on their own for a moment, then lit up when they caught sight of a bedraggled Remus Lupin coming towards them, Peter Pettigrew almost treading on his robes as he tried to catch up.

'Moony!' yelled Sirius. 'Wormtail!' the four boys squished together in a close hug. Their trunks lay forgotten on the grass as they excitedly caught each other up on the gossip, all talking over each other in their rush to speak. As they made their way into the brightly lit great hall, James couldn't help but smile as he realised how amazing it was to finally be back.