James was enjoying his holiday with Sirius. In the first week when he was back home Sirius already arrived with the Floo powder and all of his Hogwarts possessions. It was clear that he would stay the whole summer. They played Quidditch in the backyard, they swam in the swimming pool and they talked a lot about Remus and what is was that made him disappear once every month. "Do you think that maybe he is the one who is sick? And that he needs some kind of treatment every month?" James asked Sirius one night. "Could be for all that we know. Maybe we need to give him some Veritaserum? He will for sure tell us the truth then." James snorted. "Great plan, but how do we get that? We could never make it!" Sirius said: "Well, I was mostly joking. But somehow we can probably find out what he has exactly. What if it is something bad?" James thought about that for a second. That thought had also crossed his mind. But did he really care? He knew Remus was a good person. He was smart, nice and trustworthy. So maybe if he did something stupid once, that did not make him a bad person, right? "I don't think I really mind, to be honest. He is genuinely a good person. He never gets into trouble." Sirius shrugged. "Well, not in big stuff. We got into more trouble already. But he did participate in some of our pranks and he got himself detention twice this year." James laughed. "Do you remember how nervous he was before his first time? He kept asking us questions about everything, he was sweating so hard and he almost cried when the teacher called his name." Sirius started laughing too. "I do remember that! He was so ashamed afterwards for his behavior. The second time he got detention he was a lot more relaxed."
James and Sirius were also in contact with Remus and Peter. Both had no money nor the transportation to get to James. They did agree on meeting up in Diagon Alley to get school supplies. They decided to do this in the last week of the summer. "We better also get you some robes, dear. You are growing like crazy! I cannot handle the fact that you are turning thirteen so soon already." James, Sirius, Fleamont and Euphemia were eating dinner. "Mum, I just turned twelve. That was in March. That was only 3 months ago." Euphemia smiled. "I know, I know. But you grow up so fast. You are already starting your second year. I cannot believe it!" James rolled his eyes. Euphemia laughed. "All right, I will stop embarrassing you. Enough for one night, I guess." She gave James a small pinch in his cheek and she turned around to Sirius. "Sirius, dear. Shall we go to town to do some grocery shopping after dinner? I could use the help and I would like to show you where James grew up." Sirius smiled. "Of course I will help you, Mrs. Potter. Is James not strong enough to carry everything by himself?" Euphemia smiled. "He is indeed always complaining. But James will stay at home. His father needs him." Sirius looked surprised. "Okay, I will help you. No problem. That is the least I can do for you after letting me stay here almost all summer." It was Fleamont this time who said something. "You are always welcome here. It is no problem at all!"
After dinner Euphemia took Sirius with her running some errands. "Sirius, are you ready? We need to go now, the shop closes in an hour." Sirius nodded. "Ready, Mrs. Potter." They walked through the door towards the car. "Son, could you join me in the living room? I have something to show you." James curiosity was fueled. His father was a simple men, usually straight to the case. So that he was quite secretive about this, meant that something was going on. His father walked to the living room and James followed him. "You can take a seat. I will get it." Fleamont walked to the cabinet in the room while James took a seat on the couch. He opened the cabinet and on the bottom there was a thick black box. James recognized it, but he did not know what was in the box. His father always said to him it contained important items. Items that needed to be kept in privacy and not somewhere where people could easily find it and get in. He ticked on the box with his wand and it opened up. He took something soft and silvery out the box. The boxed closed again after another tick of his wand. Fleamont stood up and walked to a chair next to James.
"Son, it is time that you receive something that I had in my possession for years. But first I need you to tell me something." James shifted on the couch. He felt a little bit uncomfortable, but his curiosity took the best of him. "Anything father." James answered. "How often did you get detention the past year?" Fleamont asked. James looked down. He loved his parents and he did not want to disappoint them. "I think it is more than you would like to tell me?" Fleamont said. James nodded, still looking down. "As a father I must say that I of course rather see you not in trouble. But as a member of the Potter family I would probably also be a little bit disappointed if you did not get in any." James looked up in surprise. "You do not mind? You are not mad at me? Or disappointed?" Fleamont laughed. "Quite the opposite! But do not tell your mother I said this." James nodded in understanding. "And I guess that you sometimes probably could avoid detention if you could just hide yourself, am I right? If they could just not see you at all?" Fleamont asked. James thought about it. "Yeah, I guess that would help indeed. There were a lot of times that we could hide ourselves. But sometimes we got caught indeed." Fleamont said: "And with 'we' I think you are talking about you and Sirius?" James had the feeling he just betrayed his friend, so he said quickly: "It is mostly me. Sometimes Sirius, but also Remus and Peter." Fleamont gave his son a pet on the back. "It is impressive how loyal you are to your friends. That is a good quality and something that is always admirable. But maybe what I am about to give you is a great help to you and your friends." Fleamont took the package from his lap. "I sealed it with a sealing spell. It is not a necessity to do that, since it will remain in great condition anyway. My father Henry, your grandfather, gave it to me when I started at Hogwarts. I wanted to wait after you were done with your first year. There was chance you might looked a little bit more like your mother and you would avoid getting into trouble. But here it is and it is yours now!"
Fleamont unsealed the package and handed it to James. The fabric felt soft, slippery and it glistered a bit in the light of the lamp. It was folded so Jams unfolded it. After a few seconds it started to look like a cloak. "Father, what kind of cloak is this?" Fleamont smiled. "Would you believe me if I said that this is an Invisibility Cloak?" James looked up in awe, his mouth wide open. "You mean that this will make me invisible?" Fleamont nodded. "Yes, you can try it now if you like." James stood up. He was slowly getting excited now that the shock wore off. This would give him so many more opportunities for sneaking around. He draped the cloak around him, looked down and gasped. "Merlin's beard! Where is my body?" He threw it over his head and he disappeared completely. "Well son, it is yours now. Use it wisely and please do not get caught with it. It is an heirloom. This cloak has been in our family for generations, passed on from father to his first born. All of our ancestors would roll around in their grave if it would get confiscated." James felt proud. "Of course father! I would not want to betray your trust." Fleamont nodded. "I know I can trust you with this. And I guess that your mother will return soon. So go put it away in your trunk. She wants to give this to you once you turn of Age. But you will be leaving Hogwarts soon then and I had the best time in the castle due to this cloak. It would be a shame if I would take that away from you." James took the cloak off. "Thank you, father. I can guarantee you that you will not regret this." Fleamont rose from the chair and hugged his son. "You will make me proud anyway, son."
That night when everybody was already fast asleep James tiptoed to Sirius who was sleeping in the guestroom. "Sirius, are you awake?" James asked. "Yes, what is up?" Sirius whispered. James walked into the room and sat down in the chair. "Did my mum bore you to death with her groceries?" Sirius snorted. "You wish. Your mum is amazing. She told me a lot about you and your childhood. I heard some embarrassing stories from your youth." James could almost see the big grin on Sirius his face. "Those are all lies, of course. But I have something important to tell you." James could hardly contain his excitement. He couldn't care less that Sirius had some leverage on him. This was something he needed to tell Sirius right now. "Hold your horses, what is it? I can practically see you glowing." Sirius sat up straight in bed now. "I received an heirloom today. Something that has been in my family for generations. And you will never guess what it is. This will give us so many more opportunities for roaming through the castle at night and in parts where we usually cannot enter. Mate, I am the proud owner of an Invisibility Cloak." James could hear Sirius gasp. "Get out!" James said: "Sst, mate! You will wake-up my parents. But it is true. I locked it up in my trunk for now. But I will show you tomorrow." Sirius whispered back: "This is great! We can do so many things now that were impossible before. But can you promise me one thing?" James said: Of course, mate. What is it?" "That you will not sneak up on me when I am in the shower or something!" James snorted softly. "That was not even on the top of my mind. I can promise you that I will not that, ever." Sirius laughed softly. "I will go back now to my room. Sleep tight." "Sleep tight, mate."
James walked back to his room and tried to sleep. This was quite hard to do since his head was overflowing with ideas to do with his new possession. Finally he fell asleep and his dreams were filled with mischief, pranks and his friends.
Lily was in Ireland with her parents and Petunia. They decided to go camping and after two weeks at home they stepped into the car. Petunia was still barely speaking to Lily, but now that they were away she kind of had to. The conversations were polite and Petunia avoided Hogwarts as a subject like the Plague. Lily was fine with that. She already told her parents about everything in the first couple of days she was home. And she had no desire at all to talk about her school with Petunia. She would not understand anything at all. If Lily now pretended that she never went there the past year, she truly believed she could enjoy hanging out with her sister again.
During their eight night the Evans family was sitting next to a campfire. "Tuney, could you hand me those marshmallows?" Mrs. Evans asked. Petunia gave her mother the bag and Mrs. Evans put one on a stick. "I think we should start to think about our next destination. We are pretty close to the coast now. Maybe we should go there next." Mr. Evans said. "What do you guys think?" Mrs. Evans put her hand on his hand and smiled. "I do not mind where we go, dear. The coast is fine with me. I could use some sunny days on a beach, what about you girls?" Lily looked at her parents and then to Petunia. "I am okay with that! Did we pack sunscreen? I get easily sunburned." Lily asked. "I packed it into my suitcase, honey. So you do not have to worry."
The next day they drove to a small coastal town and checked into a hotel. "Finally a normal bed again!" Petunia sighed. "My back hurts so much from that stupid air mattress." And she fell down onto the bed she had to share with Lily. Lily felt a little bit uncomfortable. This was the closest she would be to Petunia in a long time. But so far everything went okay. They were already more than a week away from home. That afternoon they went to the beach and just relaxed a little bit. Lily was in the water and she was wearing a green two-piece that complimented her eyes. After she swam a bit there was a boy close to her. He was looking at her with a smile and Lily smiled politely back. "Hi, my name is Thomas." The boy said. "Hi Thomas, I am Lily." Lily answered. Thomas came a bit closer. "Are you staying here for long?" He sounded a bit hopefully. "Eh… Not really, no. We will probably just stay for the night. And you?" Lily said. Thomas looked a bit disappointed. "We have been here for two nights now and we will stay for at least two more. Where are you going next to? Maybe we can go visit you there if we are close." Lily was surprised. "I am not sure. We kind of decide if when we are on our way. Sometimes we see where we end up when it is getting dark." Was her answer. Thomas nodded. "I understand. Maybe we run into you anyway. How old are you anyway?" Lily had the feeling he thought she was older then she really was. "I am twelve and you?" Thomas eyes became big. "Oi, twelve! I thought you were a bit older. I am fifteen." Lily was blushing. "I am turning thirteen in January, though!" Thomas hold up his hands. "No worries, Lily. You are beautiful anyway. Maybe, when we both are older, we might run into each other one day. And who knows what then. By Lily, enjoy the rest of your holiday!" And Thomas swam away.
"He left just as quick as he came, right?" Lily looked to her left. Petunia was standing there in her white two-piece. "I guess so. It was kind of weird. He thought I was older." Petunia smiled sadly. "I heard. He also thought you were pretty. Do you know that almost every boy we meet thinks you are pretty? Usually they barely look at me and if they do see me, they do not pay attention." Lily was flabbergasted. What was she supposed to say to this? "To be honest, Tuney. I have no idea if they think I am pretty or not. They never say it to me." Petunia laughed now, loudly. "Well, they do say it behind your back. I hear them." Lily felt a bit attacked. It was not her fault that they said stuff like that, how could she help it? Why was Petunia acting so jealous right now? "Come on Tuney, you cannot tell me that there has never been a boy who was not into you!" Lily said trying to be nice. "I guess not. And maybe if there was, they never said it to me either. But hey, at least I am safe for the weirdos. You got that Snape boy crushing on you, poor you." Petunia said snarky. This made Lily mad, but she decided to take the high road. So far there were almost zero fights and she would gladly keep it that way. "As far as I am concerned we are just friends. I barely see him anymore in school. Our schedules are so different." And that is when Lily made the mistake of bringing up Hogwarts. She saw how Petunia's eyes got big and her mouth started twitching. "I do not want to hear a single thing about that freak school you go to." Hissed Petunia. "You should be happy that you barely see that weirdo anyway. He looked into my personal stuff and made fun of me." That Petunia claimed that about Severus reached the limit for Lily. "I was there as well, Tuney. I looked at it with him. I did not stop him from doing it." Lily said defensive. "It is always I, I, I with you now Lily, isn't it? I am so sick of it. You are the one who left us, you are the one who can do all this stupid magic now. You are never around anymore." Petunia was getting worked up. "I offered to ask professor Dumbledore to let you in, to persuade him to do it." Lily said. "But you called me names and offended me. This is who I am, Tuney. This is who I always have been. I did not change, you did. And I miss you, we used to be so close and now you are shutting me out. I can see why you think that I left you, but I try to include you. But you never let me in!" Lily was almost begging Petunia right now to understand her.
"What is there to understand? You live there now and we are not good enough anymore. Our regular school, our boring lives and our non-magical way of living. You forgot where you came from. I hear those owls screeching at night to get in with one of your letters from your witchy friends. You are in your room doing God knows what and we barely see you." Petunia looked in Lily's green eyes. Lily saw a flash of hurt, anger and some resentment. "Tuney, my life changed completely when that professor came to our house. You know that I wanted to throw a goodbye party for all of our friends, but mum and dad thought it was better not to. Their advice was to do it like you rip of a band aid, quick and all at once. And I do know where I am from. That is why I returned both holidays back home. I could have stayed. Some of my friends stayed and they are indeed also writing me now. But I do not have to justify myself to you. Why aren't you happy for me? Why aren't you willing to listen to my stories about stuff we only read in books when we were five? I live in that world now. I am part of that 'imaginary' world now and I want you in it as well!" There were tears welling up in Lily her eyes while she looked at Petunia. For one second, but only one, Lily thought she saw a flash of sadness in Petunia her eyes. But maybe she had seen it wrong, because Petunia's answer was nothing but sad.
"I told you before and I will tell you this time again. I do not want to be a part of your freak world. Let alone go to your freak school or engage with your freak friends. You hurt me when you looked through my stuff and you did hurt me more when you left me behind covering for you when you do all that … that stuff that you do." Tears were streaming down from Lily's eyes now. "Tuney, please do not say stuff like that. I know you miss me too. We used to have so much fun when we were on holidays like this. Please, let's go back to that!" Lily begged while wading through the water towards Petunia. "Don't you dare get closer to me!" Petunia hit the water with her fist and it splashed around her. "You are a freak and nothing more. Our memories are of a time when nobody knew about that abomination that is part of our world apparently. But now we know and we cannot go back there. Everything is different now. Do you think that I wanted to come on this holiday? Mum and dad basically begged me to come along and to talk to you. They think we could patch things up probably and become closer again. I only did it for them, but I have no intention in forgiving you for anything that you did." This was the drop for Lily and her voice seemed not her own when she spoke. "You forgive me for what I did? Forget it Petunia, I am done now. All I did was the right thing, every single time. You ignore me, you push me away, and you call me names and treat me like dirt. I am done sticking up for you when I tell other people about how you behave. And most of all I done feeling sorry for you. You are just mean and mad at yourself. Do not take it out on me anymore, I am done." Lily waded through the water towards the beach.
She was so angry and she hated it that she always teared up then. Petunia was being so mean and all she could do was cry like a baby. Well not anymore. There were few days left before they would head home and those last few days would be peaceful. That is the least her parents deserved. Lily walked back to the hotel and took a long shower. After that she braided her hair and put on one of her favorite dresses. During her time in the bathroom she heard that Petunia entered the hotel room but she had no desire in talking to her. When she was done she walked to her parent's room and knocked on the door. "Lily, honey you are a bit early. And why are you alone? Where is Tuney?" Her dad asked when he opened the door. Lily smiled. "She was still busy with getting ready, but she will be her shortly I guess." Mr. Evans smiled. "Good to hear. Did you had a nice day on the beach?" Lily nodded. "It was good. Nothing special. I am starving now though. What are our dinner plans?" She quickly changed the subject. "Well, I guess we might all feel like something very tasty, but also very unhealthy. Something greasy, Italian and round. I know you and Tuney love a good pizza." Lily felt her mouth smiling, even though she felt a bit empty. Her father was so sweet. Her parents did not deserve to be in the middle of her fight with Petunia. "That is the best idea you might have had so far this holiday, dad." She joked. Her dad ruffled her hair while laughing. "So cheeky!" "Hey, watch out! I just braided my hair!" Lily laughed. At that moment her mother came in and she had Petunia with her. "Look who I ran into in the hallway? And Lily is already here! Are we ready to go down?" Petunia nodded. "Yes mum, we are more than ready. I am starving." The Evans family walked downstairs to the pizza place and the evening was quite nice. Lily and Petunia shared some civil conversations, but did not look at each other. Her parents enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and that is probably why did not really notice that particular part. It was already dark when they returned to the hotel.
"Okay girls. Sleep tight and tomorrow we leave at 11. But we will see you for breakfast at 9, do not be late." Mr. Evans said. Lily and Petunia nodded. Their mother kissed them goodnight and they left to their room just down the hall. Petunia opened the door and immediately disappeared into the bathroom. Lily sighed and decided to walk to the balcony. She grabbed a book along the way and sat down in the chair. After 20 minutes she heard Petunia open the door and walk to her bed. She put down her book and went to the bathroom. She got ready for bed and turned off the lights after she got in bed. She was thinking about this day and kind of waited for the regret to kick in. But it never came and at one point Lily realized she was not regretting anything. She only told the truth, did the right thing all along and she stopped feeling bad about it. There was nothing she could do about her magical abilities, her new friends or anything else. It was a part of her and if her parents could accept it, why not Petunia? This was Lily now and Petunia could either take it or leave it.
I decided that James would get the cloak in his second year. Somehow I could fit it nicely in the story while showing the father-son relationship he has. Now the upcoming years will be even more exciting. Futhermore Sirius stays with James whenever he can I think. He really hates his family and house. First he was a bit shy and he felt like he would maybe be a burden for James' parents, so he stayed at Hogwarts during the holidays in their first year. But now he met them on Kings Cross, so it feels less weird.
Sometimes there is a while between chapters and I might forget something that I wrote earlier. So if you find something, do not hesitate to let me know. I try to remember everything and keep reading everything so I know it, but it still slips sometimes.
And now for Lily. I think her relationship with Petunia is struggling really. Tuney is jealous at Lily and envies her, but she masks that in hatred and being mean. In their holiday they would be together 24/7 and Petunia sometimes even forgot that Lily went to Hogwarts. So they can have a converation, but as soon as she remembers the resentment is back immediately.
Lily is so nice as a person and she loves her family. Her loyalty lies with her family and friends, that is why she is also a Gryffindor. But once she hit her breaking point, there is no coming back. And she just hit hers with Petunia. She is done if Petunia is going to act like this and she feels now more sorry for her parents and not for herself anymore.