"How much longer do you think we are going to have to wait here for?" Sirius asked, kicking his leg against the cold brick wall that he and James had been leaning against for the past half an hour at the back of the platform.
"I could not tell you," James responded wearily, checking his watch again. He stretched his neck out a little, looking down the tracks in hopes of spotting the puffs of smoke that the Hogwart's Express would be emitting when it came barreling into King's Cross on this hot London day. "I can't even remember what time we used to come home at," he laughed.
"Are you sure that darling wife of yours told us the right time?" Sirius whined.
James chuckled, thinking about Lily and her obsessiveness with timeliness, and her knowledge of his inability to be so. "I think she may have told us to be here earlier because she knew you and I would most definitely be late," James chuckled to an appalled looking Sirius. "Which we were," he added, "if the time she had told us was the actual time."
"But we weren't because it wasn't, so she can't say anything!" Sirius chuckled, rubbing his hands together.
"Oh she'll find something to say," James said, bemused.
"Why'd you pick such an outspoken woman, Prongsie?" Sirius joked, punching James in his upper arm.
"You know as well as I do that I had almost no control over it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it a hundred times back in the days," Sirius said, bored sounding, but his mood picked up instantly as he found a new topic of interest. He strutted back towards where James had remained leaning, purposefully bumping into him. "Jamesy, Jamesy, Jamesy…."
"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius," James said back, rolling his eyes.
"Can you tell me now where you and Lily are kidnapping me, starting tomorrow?" Sirius pleaded, giving James puppy-dog eyes.
"Oh don't give me those, I get those enough from Harry as it is when he wants to stay up later than Lily allows him to," James chuckled, pushing Sirius away from him.
"Tell me!" Sirius practically begged. "You can't just expect me to go away on a moment's notice without telling me where we are going! What if there are women there— I need to be at my best for them, but I can't do that if you don't tell me what to pack!"
"Seriously?" James turned to his friend, an incredulous expression plastered across his face. "You have the audacity to call me self-obsessed yet when Lils and I are taking everyone away for a little while, the thing you are most concerned about is how you have to look for the women?"
"You were obsessed with one girl for your entire Hogwarts career and you were obsessed with your hair, even after you got her!"
"Like you're any better? When you were with Marlene you wouldn't let her go near your hair even when you were snogging. She wasn't even allowed to grip it or run her fingers through it because you had to protect your precious 'do'!"
"Yeah? Well you wouldn't leave our dormitory unless you had checked to make sure your 'Potter Charm' was still good to go!"
"I only did that for like two years!"
"Yeah right, more like two times…" Sirius said, holding up his fingers to do the math.
"Ladies and gentleman we have found Sirius Black's weakness— arithmancy!" James announced loudly, causing quite a few head's to turn and chuckle at the two.
The two men failed to notice the train pull into the station, and were still in an argument when the doors flung open and the student's flooded out onto the platform.
James head snapped up when he heard Harry yelling out over the crowd, "Dad! Dad!". He pushed Sirius away, giving up on the argument and jumped up to try to see where his son was yelling from. He spotted the mop of black hair pushing its way through the crowd, inadvertently bumping people with his owl cage and trunk.
"Harry!" James bellowed, waving Harry over to where he and Sirius stood. He watched as Harry finally made it through the last of the crowd and dropped Hedwig and his trunk automatically, rushing to his father. Harry ran straight into James, knocking him back slightly before James enveloped his arms around his young son who was gripping his waist tightly.
"So how was the feast?" James asked, holding Harry at an arm's length from him, and chuckling at his antics.
Harry grinned up at him. "WewereinlastinthehousepointsbutthenwetookitfromSlytherinandyoushouldhaveseenMalfoysfacewhenwewon!"
James and Sirius looked at one another, laughing before turning back to Harry again, who was literally shaking with excitement.
"Whoa, say that again, slower," James laughed, ruffling Harry's hair.
"Well we went to the feast and the hall was decorated in Slytherin's colors because they had won the house cup and it was horrible to see that. Then Dumbledore got up and announced the final number of points each house had and Slytherin celebrated but then Dumbledore hushed everyone and said that he had some final points to give out because of what we did to protect the school by finding the stone and then we won! Gryffindor won the house cup!" Harry exclaimed, jumping, excitement radiating from him.
"Way to take it to them!" Sirius beamed, high-fiving Harry and doing a little Gryffindor chant around Harry with James, who was also celebrating.
"Celebrate while you can, Potter," Malfoy spat as he walked by, bumping shoulders with Harry who stared him down as he continued walking past. Sirius and James stopped dead, watching the scene unfold. Sirius' eyes though were glued to Malfoy's entourage that followed him out. They glared back as Malfoy Sr. stalked by, his long platinum hair flowing out behind him as he walked quite a few paces ahead of his strikingly beautiful wife who had fallen behind when her eyes had fallen on Sirius.
She paused right in front of them, speaking to Sirius alone.
"I heard you got out," she said quietly, her eyes flashing back and forth between Sirius and her retreating son and husband. "It was wrong, what they did. Goodbye, now." And with that she was gone, slipping back into the crowd.
"Well that was," Sirius started.
"Something," James said quietly, standing behind Harry. He clapped Sirius on the back, bringing him back to reality.
"She always was a little kinder than dear Bellatrix," Sirius noted. James merely looked at him and shrugged before he grabbed Sirius to come with him to grab Harry's trunk and owl cage from where they had landed during Harry's mad dash minutes before.
Sirius picked up the owl cage only to see a disgruntled Hedwig try to peck at his fingers. "Ruddy bird," he muttered under his breath. James and Harry laughed at him as they swung his trunk up onto a trolley and pushed it out towards the platform entrance.
"So, where's mum?"
"Shift at the hospital," he said at first, but leaned in closer to Harry so that only he could hear, "She's getting everything ready for the cottage, but don't tell Sirius, ok?"
Harry looked at his father then towards his godfather who was taunting Hedwig in her cage as they walked through King's Cross. "Ok," he said, smiling mischievously.
"Glad to be home, sweetheart?" Lily asked as she pulled the covers tightly around Harry before taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
"Yeah," he responded wearily, yawning as he snuggled into the covers. "Hogwarts was absolutely brilliant though. It'll be weird being without Ron and 'Mione though," Harry added before he slipped away into sleep.
Lily smiled, sitting there for a few moments while only the light from the hallway illuminated the room. She leaned over to give him a kiss on his scar before she quietly unplugged his alarm clock, wanting him to sleep in. She moved to pick up his laundry bin, filled with all his Hogwarts garments and clothes from the year, near the door. Pulling the door shut behind her she made to go downstairs only to bump right into James who was just hopping up the last step.
"Hey stranger, where are the boys?"
"Sirius wanted to go out for the night, took Remus with him to some pub or another," James responded shrugging.
"Are they coming back tonight or...?"
"Who knows? It's Sirius," James chuckled. "Is he asleep?" he questioned, taking the basket out of her hands and placing it next to the knewl post on the floor.
"What are you doing?" she half yelled, half laughed.
"I'm taking my beautiful wife to our bedroom," he grinned, pulling her in for a kiss, which she deepened, slinging her arms around his neck. His strong but gentle hands cupped the back of her heads, his fingers tangled up in her long auburn locks. He pulled at her head ever so gently, opening up her neck where his lips automatically moved to, slowly tracing her collarbone. He moved back up towards her ear, which he kissed lightly before whispering, "I want to go to bed with the most beautiful and mesmerizing woman that has ever walked the halls of Hogwarts. I want to curl up with my insanely intelligent wife who finally gave me a chance and who has loved me, sometimes undeservingly ever since. I want you, Lily, the only woman who could have ever made the wonderful boy that's completely zonked out in that room behind you— the mother of my pride and joy."
"How long did you practice that speech for, Mr. Potter?" she giggled, embracing him while the tip of her finger lightly raced the lines of his face.
"Lily!" James said, sounding defeated just like he did all those times after she had rejected him at school. "I meant all of that!"
"Did I ever say you were lying?" she teased. "But," she added, moving to pick up the laundry basket for added effect, "I guess if you are all turned off now, I can just get started on this…"
James watched her for a moment before he absolutely beamed at her and moved towards her, knocking the basket out of her hands causing the clothes to go all over the floor.
He pulled her in for a deep kiss, pushing her up against the wall. She pulled him closer, embracing him while her one hand feebly dealt with the buttons at the collar of his shirt. His hands grasped her back, slowly gliding them up and underneath her flowing navy shirt.
She felt him smile against her lips when he found her shirt clasp, causing it to fall ever so slightly off of her shoulders.
"We should move to safer grounds," he moaned, as her fingers pulled at his hair.
"Ok," she obliged, pushing him playfully off of her and into their door. He fell back into it, the door flying open behind him. He smiled at her before disappearing into the darkness. She grinned widely before she followed him in, closing the door safely behind them.
"I think something happened here," Sirius said, observing the obvious as he bounded up onto the third floor of the Potter's London home.
He came up, only to find what he assumed was almost the full contents of Harry's school trunk askew on the landing, spreading out down the hall to where the bin was overturned halfway to James and Lily's door.
"Looks like James got a little frisky last night," Sirius said to Remus, who was just reaching the top of the stairwell now.
"I'm glad we were gone last night then," Remus chuckled, "I don't want a repeat of the first year at Godric's Hollow."
"Now that was a fun time!" Sirius exclaimed clapping Remus on the shoulder. "Was it just me or did Prongsie say that we had to be back by 7:30 so we could leave here by 8?"
"I heard it too," Remus agreed.
"Well then, let's go remind our friends, shall we?" Sirius said as he marched on towards the door at the end of the hall.
He opened the door wide, the back of it slamming into the wall causing quite the ruckus as it did. Remus and Sirius watched in anticipation as James and Lily jumped from their sleeping position, gripping their sheets around their bodies as they looked back at the two men standing near the door with expressions of complete shock on their faces.
"What are you doing!?" James yelled, while Lily went to hide under the covers.
"It's not like we haven't seen you in this state before, Lilikins!" Sirius said, plopping himself down on the end of the bed.
"Sirius. Get out!" Lily moaned from underneath the covers, only peaking her head out a little to give him one of her infamous glares.
"Really hate to uh, barge in," Remus said with a gleam in his eyes, "But we were told that we should be here for 7:30 because we were leaving at 8…"
"And?" James asked, his hand patting around his bedside table for his glasses, which he found and stuck on his face, lopsided.
"It's 10 o'clock, Jamsie!" Sirius exclaimed. "For the first time in my life I am ready ahead of schedule AND ahead of Lilikins over here!"
"What time is it?" James asked, scrambling for his watch.
"It's 10 in the morning! I just said that!" Sirius exclaimed loudly. "And do you know what that means?"
"What?" Lily moaned from her hiding place. "What does that mean?"
"It means that I am a whole two and a half hours ahead of you! You are an two and a half hours late! I win!" Sirius yelled, jumping up and down.
"If I admit defeat and that you're right will you please leave my bedroom?" Lily whined, still hiding beneath the covers.
"And you have to make me breakfast!" Sirius demanded, jumping from the end of the bed.
"Fine!" she whined, sitting up a little more.
"AND you have to finally tell me where you are taking us!" he exclaimed once again.
"Fine!" but this time it was James who rolled over and moaned, agreeing to the demands.
"Perfect!"
"Come on, Sirius," Remus said, gripping his friend around the shoulders and leading him back towards the door.
"Finally," he heard James say quietly before he shouted at his two departing friends. "Oi! Can you two wake Harry?"
"With pleasure," Sirius replied, clapping his hands together in a mischievous way.
"Can we have a lock installed on that door?" Lily groaned, slipping out from underneath the covers and pulling her robe on.
"I don't think that would stop Sirius one bit," James chuckled, pulling on his jeans. He pulled the doors to the wardrobe open, grabbing a few of his shirts off of their hooks and shelves and throwing them onto the bed. He laughed harder when he heard his son's scream echoing down the hall.
"I think he's awake," Lily said, grabbing one of her dresses off the hanger and slipping it on. "What do you suppose they did to make that happen?"
"I have a few ideas, but I don't think you would, uh, agree with any of them," he said, trying to hide the grin on his face.
"I think you're right, I don't want to know," Lily said, tying her hair up into a ponytail before she made to leave the room. She spun around before she went to collect the laundry from the landing, "Oh, and don't take too long with that last-minute packing…"
"Smart-ass," James muttered under his breath as he packed his stuff into a bag.
"Come on!" James hollered, tossing the final bag into the trunk and slamming it shut. "We're going to hit all the traffic if you are another minute longer!" he yelled towards the house once again, staring at the front door, waiting for someone, anyone to emerge. "Lily! Harry! Remus! Sirius! Let's get moving!"
"Lily running a little late today?" Mrs. Hollander, the sweet old woman from next door yelled over to him as she watered her prized flowers.
"We had a late start today," he said, smiling back at her as he hopped back up the steps to his own house. He poked his head in the front door to see the place completely deserted, only Harry's rucksack left. "Guys?"
"Over here!" a singsong voice yelled from behind him, causing him to stumble over his own feet as he whipped around.
"Where? How?" he asked, taking in his wife and son and two best mates as they leaned up against the car.
"This little thing called apparation. You know the thing you took a test for when you were seventeen?" Sirius grinned. "You know, the same thing that we should use to get us to this destination as opposed to taking a four hour car ride!"
James pulled the keys out of his pockets and turned to lock the front door after getting the approving nod from Lily. He sauntered over to the group, pulling Harry into a hug before tossing him his rucksack and pushing him towards the car. He watched as Lily followed Harry around to the other side of the car and get in, with Remus in tow.
"Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way," he said to Sirius whilst inching towards the spot where his wand lay resting in his back pocket. He chuckled, watching Sirius face drop the smirk it had been wearing and as he retreated into the car. "Perfect," he said to himself before he too ducked into the car, slamming the door behind him.
"Are we there yet?"
"No," Remus moaned, the question having awoken him from his sleep against the window.
"Now?"
"Sirius, were not even close," Harry groaned, his eyes glued to the license plates around them as he and Lily played a game to pass the time.
"Are we there now?"
"NO!" Lily and James both yelled, having had to listen to him the most.
"Do we have any food in this car?" Sirius complained louder as he hauled himself over the back seat, digging into all the bags and boxes that occupied the trunk.
"Try the cooler," Lily suggested, smirking.
"Awe, you packed this all for me, Lils?" Sirius said, mouth full with sandwiches. "Ah! Cookies!"
"Sirius, please, get back in your seat and put your seatbelt on—you'll get me a ticket!" James yelled over his shoulder.
"Buzzkill," Sirius said, climbing back over the seat, his foot landing on the side of Harry's head which only ended up jamming Remus up more against the window.
"Padfoot, sit your arse down so I can breathe over here," Remus muffled, his face pressed against the window.
"But I wanted to sleep," Sirius said, leaning his back up against the window while he flung his legs over Harry's and Remus' laps.
"Mum!" Harry whined, getting uncomfortable with the current sitting arrangements.
"What, Harry?" she asked, half asleep.
"Make him get his feet off of us!" Remus answered this time, trying to push Sirius off of them to no avail.
"Sirius!" James and Lily yelled simultaneously. "Sit up!"
"But I'm comfortable like this," he said sweetly, resting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
"That's it," James said, pulling the car over to the side of the road. "Get out," he said, pulling the back door open.
"Prongs! You can't make me apparate to a place I don't know!" Sirius complained as he, Harry and Remus filed out of the back and Lily made her way around the side of the car.
"I'm not making you apparate there!" James said tirelessly. "Lily's going to drive," he continued, tossing her the keys, "and Harry's going to sit up front with her and we are going to sit in the back with you in the middle so Moony here and I can keep you in line," he said smacking Sirius in the side of the head. "Good?"
"Good!"
"Ok, good, get in," he said pushing his two mates into the car while his wife and son hopped into the front seats.
The ride went well for a while with Lily and Harry taking the roles as the Pilot and navigator respectively, playing games as the drove down along the coast. Sirius, Remus and James passed out for a good hour of the trip, their head's falling to rest on one another's shoulders.
"Are we there now?" Sirius yawned, knocking the top of James' head when he stretched out.
"Sirius, if the car is still in motion and you are still strapped in that seat then no, we are not there yet," Lily said sarcastically, looking in the rearview mirror at Sirius.
"Are we there now?"
"No!"
"Now?"
"No!"
"Do you know when we are going to be there?"
"When we get there?"
"Do you know when that'll be?"
"In approximately an hour and a half, maybe?"
"Can we get there faster?"
"No…"
"Then what's the purpose of this contraption that you are forcing me to ride in?"
"It's how muggles get themselves around, Sirius."
"Are you a muggle?"
"No, Sirius, I'm not."
"Is James a muggle?"
"No."
"Is Harry?"
"No."
"And neither are Remus and I, right?"
"Right."
"So then, WHY ARE WE IN THIS GODDAMN CONTRAPTION!"
"BECAUSE THIS IS HOW WE ALWAYS GET TO THE COTTAGE AND WE INTEND TO KEEP GETTING THERE LIKE THIS!"
"BUT WE HAVE MAGIC! WHY DON'T WE USE IT?"
"Harry's underage, there is a lot of luggage, and neighbors would probably question how they got there without a car," Remus muttered, woken up from the yelling match that had just taken place.
"I still don't see why we can't," Sirius huffed, crossing his arms across his chest and pouting.
"Lils," James moaned.
"I got it," she said, pulling the car over yet again. "Everyone out."
They all shuffled out of their seats and leaned up against the side of the car just like before.
"New arrangement," Lily said a bit calmer than a few minutes ago. "Sirius, hop in the passenger seat next to James. James take the wheel again. Remus, Harry and I will sit in the back. Got it? Good. Let's move."
"Oh, I like this seat!" Sirius exclaimed, once they were back on the road. He had stretched out, his feet of the dashboard; head flung back and arm hanging out the window.
"So did I," both Lily and Harry muttered quietly.
"Do you want to play the game with us?" Harry asked Remus who happily obliged.
"So Jamesie-poo," Sirius said in an eerily sweet way.
"Yes?"
"This thing's got one of those thingy's that spins and the sound comes out and," Sirius muttered on, trying to get the right words.
"You mean a radio?"
"Yes, one of those!"
"Right there," James said, pointing to the spot in the dashboard where the controls were.
"Sweet," Sirius exclaimed, before he turned it on and put it to full volume, causing Lily to smack him on the head from behind and everyone, minus James, to cover their ears.
"Turn it down!" Harry, Remus and James yelled at the top of theirs lungs.
"But it's my jam!" Sirius yelled excitedly, rolling down his window further while he serenaded nearby cars.
"Sirius, I am not afraid to tie you up and keep you locked up underneath the suitcases in the trunk if you do not turn this music down now and stop serenading people!" Lily screamed from the back seat.
"Fine, but you are all going to be sorry when we get to this cottage place of yours!" Sirius said, sulking in his seat as James turned the music down.
"Now that that's settled, maybe we can make it to the coast in one piece?" Remus asked, slightly louder than usual to which he heard a muffled agreement from all occupants of the car.
It was under the darkness of night when the black car rolled along the gravel roadway that would bring them to the ivy-covered seaside cottage. The waves crashing against the nearby cliffs welcomed them warmly, the headlights and the moonlight the only lights guiding their path up the old wooden steps to the rear-facing door.
"James?" Lily whispered, stepping out of the car door and onto the sandy grass. He came over to her immediately, and stifled a laugh when he saw his son sprawled across the backseat, his head resting heavily on Remus shoulder, who too was passed out. "Do you want to grab him?" she said softly, resting her hand on his waist.
James smiled at her, and at the scene before gently kissing her forehead and reaching into the backseat to pull out his son. "Come on, Harry," he said quietly, gathering his son in his arms and bringing him in the cottage. He and Lily and Harry went on ahead, leaving Sirius to wake Remus.
"Welcome back," Lily said happily, opening the front door and breathing in the smell of their summer home. She immediately went to open the windows to let that salty breeze come in while James took the stairs up to the loft where he placed Harry down on their bed.
He came up behind her, pulling her into a hug from behind. He moved his lips right next to her ear before he said, in his best superhero voice, "Ready for another summer adventure?"