Chapter 9

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"Mum!" Harry shouted on the platform. Lily stood with Sirius, his hand closed tightly around hers.

"Hi Harry," Lily said. She took a step forward, released Sirius' hand and grabbed her son up in a tight hug.

"Mrs. Potter?" Another voice came from the side. A plump woman holding a much younger girl's hand approached them.

"Yes?" Lily straightened up from her son, who was looking at the girl with curiosity.

"Ginny!" Fred and George had appeared on either side of their sister who grinned at them.

"Mum?" Ron asked looking at his mother with a very confused expression as he came to stand by Harry.

"I just came to drop off my daughter; you agreed that she could come for the holidays?" asked the woman, apparently Molly Weasley, and Lily nodded.

"Ah, a house full of kids this holiday," Sirius joked, swinging his arm around Lily's shoulders and pressing a kiss to her head.

"Hello Mrs. Potter, Mr. Black, my name is Percy Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you," Percy said, coming up behind the group. Harry, Ron, and the twins were unsuccessfully holding back their laughter; Ginny hid behind Molly's arm as she watched Harry.

"I'm sure it's grand to meet you too," Sirius said, pulling a face. He then received an elbow to the stomach from Lily.

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Percy. I was a Prefect back in day as well." She gave him a smile, gesturing to his prefect's badge.

The twins groaned.

"Ah, Gryffindor prefects tend to find each other, then!" Percy exclaimed, even Lily had no idea what he meant. "Do tell me who the male Gryffindor Prefect was."

"My friend, Remus Lupin," Lily responded.

"And the Headship in your year?"

"Me and my late husband," Lily explained.

"Interesting," Percy drifted off before turning to his mother. "Mother, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be in Romania!"

"I came to drop off your little sister. Mrs. Potter said that Ginny could stay with her over the Holidays; she was so excited to see her brothers again," Molly explained.

"Please, call me Lily." She grinned at the plump woman, who smiled back and pulled Ginny out from behind her.

"This is my youngest and only daughter," Molly told her a warm look on her face as she patted Ginny's back. "I've made sure that she has everything she needs. I trust that she'll mostly stay out of trouble."

"That's likely," the twins muttered under their breaths, earning a reproachful glare from Molly.

"Troublemakers are always welcome at my house." Sirius grinned jovially at the twins, who seemed to perk up at this prospect.

"Excellent," they exclaimed, and Molly was forced to roll her eyes.

"Have a good Christmas," Molly told them all. Lily took Ginny's hand gently in hers, and then Molly was gone, off to Romania where her second eldest son currently resided.

"You lot ready?" Sirius asked, removing his arm from Lily's shoulder.

"Yeah," they all replied.

"How are we getting back with this large group?" Harry asked his mother as they began to head towards the barrier.

"Muggle Transportation," Lily told her son, who grinned, then glanced to the girl who was holding tightly to Lily's arm.

"I'm Harry Potter. What's your name?" he asked politely. He knew full on what her name was with how many times he'd heard it, but it was still fun to introduce yourself. The girl blushed up to the roots of her hair before squeaking out a name that sounded something like 'Gary'.

"I have a feeling this relationship is backwards," Sirius said, looking down at the nervous girl and Harry.

"How so?" Lily asked.

"Well, it's obvious that little Ginny has an enormous crush on Harry, but Harry is being utterly clueless and will end up ignoring her because he doesn't feel the same way," Sirius explained.

"So, how is the relationship backwards?"

"Well, Harry is supposed to fall in love with a pretty red-haired girl who hates his guts, but he utterly in love with her and cannot get her attention until his seventh year. This is when she realizes that she's madly in love with him they get married and have children," Sirius finished.

"Sirius, they are not like James and I. We may look similar, but it just doesn't work that way," Lily told him. Sirius shrugged then turned to face Harry, who was chatting excitedly with Ron.

"What are you two planning on doing over the Christmas Holiday?" Sirius asked.

"Research," they replied.

"For what?" Sirius looked disgusted.

"We found this one thing at Hogwarts, and we were curious about it. We need to research it," Harry explained.

"Lily, you have corrupted your son!" Sirius exclaimed, making the family look at them curiously.

"What?" Lily started to laugh.

"I mean to say that your son is studying; it's not even required for homework!" Sirius exclaimed; the twins grinned at each other, this would definitely be a better Christmas Holiday.

"I don't think that's corruption, Sirius." Lily rolled her eyes.

"It is Lilybear!" Sirius tried.

"What have I told you about calling me Lilybear, Padfoot!" Lily was extremely exasperated.

"Padfoot?" The twins asked, eyebrows creeping up their heads in an identical manner.

"That was my nickname at school," Sirius quickly covered. The twins looked at each other for a moment before deciding to attack the man later.

"What are you researching?" Lily asked, ignoring Sirius' penetrating stare.

"Can we tell you later?" Ron questioned, glancing nervously at his family.

"Of course," Lily gave him a sweet smile before turning back to the street. The group was just in time to catch a bus outside. After Lily paid for each member, they settled into the seats, the Weasley's exclaiming at the weirdness of muggle transportation. Several bus passengers stared at them as though they were from the beyond. This was definitely going to be one memory etched forever in their minds.

Edited July 16, 2014- Author's Note removal, major and minor plot edits, spelling, grammar