The next couple of weeks went by smoothly for James. It was quite a cold, wet summer, so he spent a lot of his time cooped up at home. On the days were the sun shone bright and hot, he went to the neighboring muggle city, Teirm, for an ice cream or played Quidditch with his father. Henry had been getting plenty of time off work, and even though it worried him slightly, James was enjoying it immensely. They soared over the mini pitch behind the house, racing to catch the snitch that he'd nicked from Hogwarts. It was a bit surprising to see how much better than his father he'd grown over the school year – his father had only caught the snitch twice before James, and that was only because he'd been distracted. Then again, it wasn't all that surprising. Being on Gryffindor Quidditch team at Hogwarts did have its perks.

One chilly night, James lay snoring in his bed when there was a loud knock on his bedroom window.

Knock.

He grumbled into his sheets and stuffed his pillow over his head, trying to shut out the noise.

Knock. Knock.

"Go away mum, Merlin," he moaned, trying to drift back off into sleep.

KNOCK.

"Good Agrippa, what is that?" he muttered, and he opened his eyes in a squint. It was pitch dark in his room. Faint moonlight streamed through the windows, illuminating a square path on the floor. For a second, he thought he'd imagined the knocking, but then it came again.

KNOCK.

He turned towards the window, full of confusion. There was nothing outside the window, but he was positive the noise had come from there. Jamming his glasses on, he untangled himself from the sheets and stumbled towards the window. The cool summer air hit him as soon as the window was open, but he paid it no attention. Down below, by the fountain of a hippogriff he'd become so familiar with, stood a lone figure staring up at him.

James immediately recognized the person.

"Sirius?"

The person blinked. "James?"

James rubbed his eyes, making sure that he was fully awake. "Sirius, what are you doing?"

"Just popping in for some tea, what the bloody hell does it look like I'm doing?"

Ignoring the comment, James stared at him for a moment before turning away from the window and quickly pulling on a shirt over his head. For a brief second, he considered taking his Invisibility Cloak, but then he realized he was at home, and not Hogwarts. Sneaking around at home was permitted, for the most part. When fully dressed, he hurried out of his room and down the stairs, tiptoeing over the creaky floorboards. It wasn't long before he was slipping through the front door and approaching the fountain. Sirius was still there, perched on the edge.

"Padfoot," he said as he walked up to meet him. "Under normal circumstances, I'd love to have you at my house. However, seeing as it is three in the morning, and you've interrupted my much needed sleep, I'm sure you understand why I ask: what the bloody hell are you doing here?"

James raised an eyebrow as Sirius slowly rose, though he was secretly glad to his best friend. Merlin knew his summer had been terribly boring so far. James smiled, but the smile quickly fell as he caught sight of the strange look on Sirius' face.

"Padfoot..." he said uncertainly.

Sirius looked at him blankly, and James fought the urge to step back. In the dark, with his windswept hair and the dark circles under his eyes, Sirius looked a little mad. "I can't believe I did it. I... just did it."

"Did what?" James asked slowly. Sirius was still staring at him, a dazed look on his face. Then suddenly, as James glanced to his feet where a large trunk was laying by a broomstick, it all started to make sense. "You left." he said, the realization hitting him. "You left for good."

Sirius nodded dumbly. James was momentarily struck speechless. He'd actually run away. He'd finally done what he'd been threatening to do since he was twelve. He'd left his family!

"Sirius, mate," he said breathlessly, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he let out a low laugh. "I can't believe you actually ran away."

He didn't answer for a while, so James sat gingerly on the fountain edge, a grin forming on him face.

Sirius made a small noise at the back of his throat. "Technically, I flew away."

James rolled his eyes, though he was glad he sounded normal again. "Technically, you're an idiot."

"Really helping my self-assurance there, thanks mate."

"Anytime."

There was a pause as Sirius took a seat beside him. Finally, he was smiling slightly, the top of his shaggy brown hair seeming silver in the moonlight.

"This goes without saying," James nudged his side with his elbow, "but you're welcome to stay for as long as you want. Mum dotes on you."

He shook his head, grinning too. "She does, doesn't she? I reckon she loves me more than you, actually."

"Oh, so you've noticed too? It's always 'Sirius this, Sirius that.' I don't think she realizes how much of a bad influence you are on me. Anyway, what happened? How did you get here anyway? Surely you didn't fly all the way, did you?"

He shrugged. "Mummy Dearest caught me writing to Kira Sanjay – that bird from Ravenclaw, you know her don't you? Flew into a rage about me talking to filthy 'Mudbloods'. She said no son of hers would associate with people like that and… I dunno, I kind of just… lost it and I told her I wasn't her son. Then I grabbed my trunk-" he pointed at the black trunk at his feet "-and strapped it to my broom. One Featherweight Charm and three uncomfortable hours of flying later, here I am."

James was about to tell him that Kira Sanjay wasn't that fit to initiate his flying away, when lights flared up through his room window. Evidently, he hadn't been as quiet as he had hoped.

"Come on, mate," James yawned, suddenly realizing it was dawn. "Let's head in. Mum's probably having a heart attack finding my room empty."

And so Sirius Black began living with the Potters. And as it was only the middle of the summer holidays, they spent the next month almost always together. They began to get bored soon, though, after the novelty of having a friend's company wore off and there really wasn't much to do except to play Quidditch and maybe visit Remus or Peter once or twice. So one morning, they went to Teirm. As luck would have it, they met two muggle girls who took an interest to them and invited them to a party they were throwing. Ridiculously excited, James and Sirius decided that they had to go. All they had to do was convince James' parents.

"No, Padfoot, listen, I'm the brains and you're the brawn, alright? I came up with the plan, so now you carry it out, it's really simple," James whispered to Sirius as they jogged down the crystal staircase. It was the morning after their visit to Teirm.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed loudly, and James gesticulated wildly with his hands, shushing him. Sirius dropped his voice to a whisper. "You've always insisted you were the brawn! Besides, brawns don't do things like... plead and negotiate. We get in there and we throw a few punches and that, my friend, is the brawn lifestyle, something you obviously don't know very much about."

"Well, I'm not asking you to punch my parents," James hissed, "I'm asking you to get permission from them! Look, Sirius -"

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and James raised up his hands in a soothing manner. "Sirius, do you know how often I get invited to a muggle party around here?"

He sighed. "Prongs-"

"Never," he interrupted. "That's how often. Never. And now, out of the blue, we meet a pair of muggle girls at Teirm who want us to come to their party and you want to just pass this away? Mate, this is an opportunity of a lifetime!"

"I think you're being a little bit dramatic," he rolled his eyes. "Why can't you ask them? They're your parents!"

"Sirius, we both know my parents love you more than they could ever love me. It's been established. Use their love to our advantage. Like I said, I came up with the plan, and you've been delegated to carry it out."

"So now I work for you?"

"No, we're partners," he replied, shoving Sirius into the sunny kitchen where James' parents were having breakfast. Sirius sighed and slid into the seat next to Henry. Giving him a thumbs up, James poured himself some orange juice.

"Morning, dears," Marie smiled as she stood washing the dishes in the sink. "Do you want some toast? Your father ate all the pancakes."

They agreed to have some, and James took his place at the table. Henry was already finished with his breakfast and he was reading the Prophet, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose. He looked slightly comical but James was too busy silently communicating with Sirius to laugh. Ask now, he told him with his eyes. Sirius shook his head just as Marie placed a plate full of buttered toast in the middle of the table.

"Wow, this is great mum," James said cheerfully, grabbing some and placing it on his plate. "I really love it when you cook, you know that? I really just love you in general. You're so great. You as well, dad."

Henry peered at him from behind his newspaper. Sirius snorted into his plate, but James went on. "Wow, Sirius, have you noticed how attractive my parents are looking these days? Really, what is it you're using? A new body wash? Glamour Charms? It's working, let me tell you that."

His parents exchanged glanced before Marie shrugged and returned to the sink. Sighing, Henry put down his newspaper, and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose. "What is it you want, son?"

"There's a party tonight," James replied promptly. "A muggle party to be exact. In Teirm. Sirius and I want to go."

"Absolutely not," Marie cried, whipping around from the sink. "James, you know how we feel about you going to Teirm as it is, and now you want to go to a party?"

"Mum," he began, but Henry cut him off.

"Hang on, Marie," he said curiously. "How did you get invited to a party in Teirm?"

"We met some Muggles when we went over there the last time," James shrugged. "We had a good time, so they invited us to their party, no big deal. Please? I'm going to be sixteen soon, and you won't even let me go to a party? Plus I got nine O.W.L.s, including an O.W.L. in Muggle Studies!" He figured if pleading wouldn't work, maybe he could guilt them into it.

"I don't care if you're going to be thirty or if you got seventeen O.W.L.s, James," Marie said, shaking her head, "I just don't feel comfortable letting you go to a party full of muggles -"

"Says the person opposing the anti-Muggle mindset," James shot back.

She glared at him and placed her hands on her hips. "James Henry Potter, that has nothing to do with this and you know it."

James groaned. It was obviously going nowhere. He turned to Sirius, who was watching with an amused expression on his face. "Sirius, your turn. Say something. Anything."

He rolled his eyes, but he still folded his hands together and said, "Mr. Potter. Mrs. Potter. We'll be back by midnight, there'll be no drinking, drugs, or fighting. We'll keep safe and even leave our wands home, so nothing happens. If anything happens, we'll leave right away and find a way to contact you as soon as possible."

James' jaw dropped open as uncertainty passed over his mother's face. It was a rare occasion that Sirius was ever responsible, so it was strange to hear him sound so put together. No wonder James' parents loved him. Sirius shot him a quick wink and waited for Marie to answer. She looked at Henry, who shrugged and turned back to his paper.

"Oh, alright," she said unwillingly and James cheered.

"Brilliant," he said, rising up and kissing her on the cheek. "We'll be safe, I promise."

"Not a second past midnight," she warned, "or you're sentenced to house imprisonment till you're thirty."


A/N: Reviews = sex

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