Harry stumbled out of his room, rubbing his eyes to keep them from drooping. He yawned as he lumbered down the stairs and into the brightly lit kitchen.
"Gah! Why is it so bright?" he yelped, shielding his eyes from the abnormal intensity of the sun, that was flooding the kitchen with its rays.
"That's what happens when you let the sun in...it goes brighter," James informed him from the stool he was sitting on. He sipped his coffee as he filled the daily crossword puzzle in.
"Hey honey, glad your finally up," chirped Lily as she walked in and sat beside James. "I'm not sure 'lily' goes there, James,"
James frowned and Harry snorted. Harry knew that James didn't actually do the crossword, he just filled it in with random words, often about his mum.
"If 'lily' goes there and I deem it acceptable then it is correct," James said, proudly. "And anybody who objects will just have to live with it,"
Harry sat down on the stool opposite them, letting his eyes adjust to the light. "I object and I refuse to hold my silence!"
James glared, slowly picking up his fork. "You wanna take dat back...fool,"
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Dat?"
James laughed. "Oh my little honey badger, I'm much more street than I actually let on," he pecked her on the cheek. "You have yet to see me in my cap which I wear at either a 37 degree angle or a 180 degree angle. It depends on my mood,"
"Mmm, whatever you say, pookie bear," Lily replied taking the newspaper.
"Are you calling me fat?" he turned to Harry. "Is she calling me fat?"
Harry snickered as Lily rolled her eyes.
"Of course not honey," she said, soothingly. James looked at her suspiciously.
"I don't know mum, I've heard that pookie bear's are often considered a sumo wrestlers best friend," Harry said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"What?" James said, confused.
"Because of the similarity...in weight," Harry said, slowly. James growled.
"You take that back,"
"I cannot,"
"Lily!"
"Sorry James but I have to agree with him,"
"LILY!"
Harry clutched his stomach as he heaved in laughter, tears had sprung into his eyes. James grumbled moodily, pushing his coffee back with distaste and glaring at the wall. Lily rubbed his arm soothingly.
"You know we're just kidding,"
James perked up immediately and engulfed her and Harry, in a tight hug. "I knew it!"
"How many times do I have to tell you? If you're gonna have a hugging session, don't forget to invite me!"
Harry struggled to break free from the hug and turned to face the source of the noise.
"Sirius!" he yelled and ran forward to give him a hug. "Wow you do not age well,"
Sirius laughed and returned the hug, ruffling his hair. "Well it looks like you haven't aged at all, prepubescent body and that baby smooth face,"
"Looks like your eyesight's gotten worse than your manners, old man," Harry shot back with a grin.
Lily and James laughed at the banter between the duo.
"Okay Sirius, when your finished insulting my first-born child," Lily said interrupting the conversation between the pair.
"Oooh, Lily still looking ravishing," Sirius said, smirking.
"Hey that's my wife and yes she still is ravishing," James laughed. Lily pretended to blush and swatted James on the arm.
"Stop it you both!" Lily said with a high-pitched giggle. James, Sirius and Harry gaped at her.
"I wasn't even aware you could speak at such a pitch," Sirius said, astonished. James and Harry nodded in agreement. "All these years you've complained about shrieky girls and it turns out that you, yourself, have an inner demon."
Lily shrugged. "Meh,"
"Wow," James muttered in reverence. "How could you hide this from me? Me? Your husband?"
"Believe it or not after 17 seventeen years of marriage I can still keep secrets from you," Lily replied with a sniff.
"Bu- but I'm not keeping anything from yo- Wait...secrets? what else are you hiding from me?" James said, squinting at her suspiciously. Harry motioned to Sirius to attract his attention and mouthed Lets go. Sirius grinned and they both edged out of the kitchen.
Harry grinned as he heard James arguing with Lily. "I find it hard to believe, that mum married him willingly, with the amount of time they spend arguing,"
"I like it, it takes me back to the good old days when James followed your mum around with puppy eyes trying to get her to acknowledge him by annoying her," Sirius sighed as he reminisced. "It was hilarious. Did I tell you the Quidditch match story?"
"You mean the time he tried to ask mum out halfway through a Quidditch match, got hit by a bludger, had to go to the hospital wing, missed the match and lost the chance to get Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor? Yes, you have told me that story," Harry said snorting in amusement.
Sirius laughed in that weird bark that he had. "Good times, good times. He was such an idiot but I guess it paid of in the end,"
"Your not going all sentimental are you? Cause I'm not going anywhere near you if you are," Harry said with a frown.
"Ha! Why would I want to settle down? What if I had a cretin of a son like you? Think about the shame..." Sirius barked in laughter.
"With your personality and looks, you should be glad that your son became just a cretin. I can imagine it being much worse," Harry smirked. Sirius barked out another bout of laughter and ruffled Harry's hair.
"You truly are a son of a Marauder,"
"Shh,"
Harry flicked his hand up, murmuring the incantation to make his chosen object levitate. He frowned as the piece of parchment lay still on his desk, refusing to move. He growled, flicking his hand up again.
It lay still.
He breathed in slowly and let it out, calming himself. He was attempting to do wandless magic and had even succeeded a few time. The first time he had done this was when he had cast a heating charm on himself as he woke up for breakfast in his 5th year. But it had took him until breakfast that very morning, when he realised what he had done. After a year of attempting to fully connect with his wand he was now able to cast minor spells using his wand without any actual contact. Spells like lumos came in handy he was unable to locate his wand in the dark.
And now he was trying to cast magic without the use of a wand. Harry had researched into preforming wandless magic but most of the books that he had read might as well have been blank for the amount of information it didn't have. He had also researched into the Trace and found that magic, from an underage wizard, could only be tracked if it was preformed using a wand so he had started practising during the summer holiday as well as at Hogwarts.
He focused on repeating the incantation that would allow the parchment to levitate under his breath, glaring the parchment. He growled again and imagined his magic stretching out and lifting the parchment into the air.
He felt a brief tingling sensation in the palm of his hand and the parchment fluttered slightly, as if caught in a breeze.
Bang!
Harry recoiled as if stung and glared at the source of the noise.
"Sorry guys, the wind just blew the door closed," a familiar shout echoed through the house.
Harry rolled of his bed and walked towards the door. He threw it open and caught sight of Remus shaking of his coat.
"Hey,"
Remus turned to see Harry jog down the stairs and walked over to him with a smile.
He chorused back a greeting and enveloped Harry in a tight hug. "Wow, you've grown,"
"Yeah, apparently its this rare disease that teenagers get,"
"Really? Don't remember being affected. Although Sirius and James did say something about me growing a metre over night but I just took it to be my fluffy problem," Remus pondered.
There was another knock on the door. Harry went to open the door but Remus was faster. He flicked his wand and the door opened to reveal his wife, Tonks. Harry glared at Remus who shrugged and said. "Your nearly 17, thought I might lord it over you while I still can,"
"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks said, brightly as she stepped in. "Look who I bought!" she thrust a bundle of blankets forward to let Harry examine it. Teddy Lupin gurgled from inside, he squeezed his eyes shut frowning slightly. Harry laughed as his currently bright blue hair turned jet black to resemble Harry's.
"Hey, Teddy! How's my favourite godson?"
"You've only got one godson," Tonks remarked. "Should we move to the living room? Not that this hallway isn't nice,"
Harry shrugged and led the trio into the living room where his parents were sprawled on the carpet playing wizard chess.
"Hiya, Lily, James." Remus greeted as he took a seat. Lily nodded a quick greeting towards Remus to engulfed in the game to give him attention. James, likewise preoccupied, grunted at the greeting to show he had heard.
Tonks grinned and also sat down next to Remus and started to play with Teddy. Harry sighed as his parents continued to ignore their visitors.
Concentrating hard on his chosen spell, he snapped his fingers. A loud crack resounded around the room followed and his parents perked up at the noise finally noticing Remus, Tonks and Teddy.
He grinned as they stumbled up to greet them.
