A/N: Whew, longest chapter yet! I'm getting back into this story, but am considering reposting it to start from the death of the Longbottoms' with some minor alterations. Thoughts? Thanks for all the reviews, they mean the world to me! And without further adieu, enjoy!
The next morning, Harry woke up and ran his hand through his already unruly mop of hair. A quick glance at the clock on his wall showed him that it was only 6 o'clock in the morning. Knowing he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, Harry threw on some trainers, a t-shirt, and a home-knit sweater, and headed outside.
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was just about to rise, enveloping the world in its bright rays. There was dew covering the grass and flowers of the Potter's back yard. Harry took it all in, committing it to memory, and headed to the broom shed.
After securing his Nimbus 2000, Harry mounted and started practicing maneuvers. Harry's breath rose in puffs as he finally dismounted and headed in to wash up.
Unbeknownst to Harry, he was being watched by Lily and James out of their bedroom window.
"He's such a great flier!" James said enthused by his love of Quidditch.
Lily agreed, and cuddled closer to James, shivering slightly. James wrapped his arm around her, and pulled up their blanket, enveloping Lily in its warm embrace.
A few moments later, Lily reluctantly wiggled out of the embrace, to go down and make Harry breakfast. James looked at her, and then also reluctantly gave up the warmth of his bed to get up. He stretched, ruffled his hair, and then summoned his robe and went downstairs.
Downstairs he saw Harry sitting on the couch, deep in thought.
"All right there champ?" James asked sitting next to Harry.
"Wha-yeah I'm fine," answered Harry, emerging from his reverie.
"Anything you want to talk about?" continued James.
"No, no, I was just thinking, that's all," came the reply.
"All right," came the answer from a dubious James. "Anyways, after we go to Diagon Alley for some gifts, how about you and me do some one on one eh?"
"Yeah, great!" answered Harry, brightening considerably at the thought of Diagon Alley and Quidditch.
Soon the boys were joined by Lily, who smiled at seeing her two favorite boys together on the couch. She started on breakfast, making eggs, bacon, rashers, and pouring pumpkin juice. Soon delectable smells started wafting out of the kitchen, and the boys were sitting at the table, all but drooling.
Sirius stumbled down the stairs half-asleep, and gave almost a comical start at the sight of breakfast. He ran down the rest of the stairs, tripping on the last one, and plunked into his chair with such enthusiasm that his momentum ended up carrying him sideways where he landed on the floor with a thud.
James gave a snort, and Harry said,
"Very smooth Pads," while just barely suppressing laughter.
In return Sirius shot them a venomous glare, but all was soon forgotten as plates piled high with breakfast landed in front of the boys. Before anyone knew it, the plates were empty, and Callie, purring softly joined the table.
"So what are you guys planning to do today?" inquired Lily.
"Well," started James clearing his throat, "I was thinking that we should go to Diagon Alley for some gifts, and then me and Harry were planning to play some one on one."
Sirius snorted into his coffee and muttered almost under his breath, "one on one what?"
Lily shot Sirius a glare of such loathing, that he quickly wiped the smirk off his face, and automatically straightened up in his chair. James however caught on, and started laughing uncontrollably, while Harry just looked confused.
"Just ignore them," said Lily, "they're just acting very immature."
At this Sirius and James started guffawing even louder, and Lily just rolled her eyes and started cleaning up with rhythmic waves of her wand.
Before Harry knew it, the three Potters and Sirius were tapping the bricks to Diagon Alley, and splitting up with promise to meet back up in an hour. Harry wandered from shop to shop trying to find something that struck his fancy, but not succeeding. Finally he found a book on Quidditch for Lily in response to her complaints that she never understood anything. For his father he got a new Quaffle and a set of Quidditch robes, and settled on cologne charmed to attract any woman for Padfoot.
As he was mulling over what to get his friends, he heard the door to the shop open and close, followed by a draft. Harry turned around, one hand on his wand in his pocket just to be cautious, only to see Draco Malfoy in the shop looking decidedly smug. Following Malfoy was his father who Harry had heard bad things about from his dad, so he was immediately on edge.
"Potter," Malfoy spat as his eyes landed on Harry.
"Malfoy," Harry answered with equal animosity.
Draco's lips lifted into a sneer as he saw that Harry was alone without his parents.
"What happened, got separated from Mummy and Daddy, have you?" he asked with contempt.
"No, Malfoy. You see unlike you I don't have to be around my parents every minute of each day. They trust me to be alone once in a while."
Harry's lips lifted in a short-lived triumph, until the eldest Malfoy noticed Harry seemingly for the first time. Lucius' eyes flitted back and forth between the two boys, but decided that a crowded shop in Diagon Alley wasn't the best place for an argument.
"Come on Draco, he isn't worth notice," Lucius said, and started to leave the shop. Draco shot Harry one last glare, and turned on his heel leaving the shop too.
Harry sighed in secret relief as the Malfoys left. Though he would sooner give up Quidditch than admit it, he wasn't sure who would come off on top in an argument with both of the Malfoys. After all Lucius was rumored to be a Death Eater, Harry thought to placate himself.
Harry realized that it was probably time for him to meet back up with his parents, so he headed back to the Leakey Cauldron, still brooding over his encounter with Malfoy. He met his parents and godfather, and they flooed back into the Potter Prideland with a whoosh.
After a rather intense game of Quidditch, the boys headed in for dinner where they stuffed themselves to the breaking point with Lily's cooking.
This sort of relaxing existence continued for the next week, where Quidditch and eating filled days flew by.
Before Harry knew it, it was two days before Christmas and Moony was coming over. The family was putting the final touches on their Christmas decorations, when Remus Lupin stepped in the door. His somewhat haggard appearance was masked by a rare childhood glee as he stepped inside, his scarred face rosy with cold. Before anyone could fully comprehend what happened, they were covered in snow from head to foot, and a mischievous Lupin stood wearing an angelic face.
"And I thought you were the normal one!" Lily sputtered as she made her way out of her personal snow pile, and vanished all the snow with a wave of her wand.
"Sorry Lily!" Remus said, "I just had to get those three back for last Christmas!"
The three boys looked equally affronted, as they faked innocence and said, "Who, us?" Sirius suddenly had a sly smile creep up his face as he said,
"You do realize what this means Remus? This means WAR!"
Upon the last word, Sirius launched himself across the room, and tackled Remus who stood frozen by the doorway backwards into the snow outside. Harry and James shared equally evil smiles, as they ran outside to join the assault on Moony. Lily only had an exasperated look on her face, as she said, "Honestly, boys!"
The now four boys traipsed back inside their faces aglow with life, and their cheeks ruddy from the cold. Lily cast a warming and drying spell on each of them as James gave Lily a peck on the cheek.
Everyone (save for Lily) attacked dinner with gusto that night, all ravenous from their adventures outside. After Sirius' third or fourth helping, he leaned back looking very satisfied and sighed. James simply looked amused as he polished off his third fruit tart. Remus was delicately cutting his steak and potatoes, as Harry didn't even look up as he stuffed his face.
"So how have you been, Moony?" Sirius asked as tipping back in his chair. Moony stiffened momentarily, but relaxed again almost immediately.
"I've been alright, just busy trying to get a job." Sirius and James' faces darkened at the thought of the prejudice that wizards hold towards other 'lesser' races. Remus realized how his comment affected the mood, and hastened to find another topic.
"Any news on your front?" he asked quickly hoping to deflect attention.
"Nope," Sirius answered popping the 'p'. "Just the usual."
"The usual being shagging girls and stuffing your face?" James inquired with interest.
"Yep," Sirius answered the same way.
"How about you James?" Remus asked. "Eh, not much, just standard Auror stuff. Just yesterday that idiot, Dawlish tried to tail Hagrid to find out what old Dumby is up to."
"How did that go?" asked Lily with concern for the Auror.
"Oh, Dawlish is alright. That is he will be. At the moment he is at St. Mungo's getting treated for three broken ribs and a skull collision."
Sirius sniggered at this, but stopped at the look on Lily's face.
"Oh lighten up Lily love!" James said. "Honestly, he should have known better."
Lily only shook her head sadly, but let it go.
"Are you enjoying Hogwarts, Harry?" Remus said steering the conversation farther away from him.
"Oh definitely!" Harry replied with enthusiasm. "Charms and Transfiguration are great! Herbology isn't bad either, but Defense Against the Dark Arts is just a bore with our stupid professor, as is the History of Magic of course. Couldn't they find anyone competent?"
Harry had purposefully emitted discussing Potions, after the awkwardness the subject had ensued before. Lily frowned at her son for badmouthing a professor, but to his defense Harry simply said,
"What, it's true? He's afraid of his own shadow!"
The rest of the meal passed pleasantly as the older generation reminisced about their glory days at Hogwarts, and before Harry knew it, Lily was sending him to bed again despite his insistence that he was old enough to decide his own bedtime.
The next morning was the day before Christmas, so upon the descent by Harry to the kitchen, he was met by a glorious sight. The kitchen table was all but groaning under the weight of the breakfast Lily had prepared. She had really outdone herself this time! There was bacon, scrambled eggs, hardboiled eggs, toast, rashers, ham, fruit, jam, butter, cinnamon rolls, and a pot of oatmeal sitting prettily arranged on the table. Harry was doing all he could not to drool, as his eyes bulged out of his head at the thought of so much food.
Soon the rest of the 'family' joined Harry, and laughed out loud at his expression, though Sirius was mirroring it unknowingly.
Thirty minutes and five full stomachs later, Harry was sitting on the recliner not able to move a limb, much less form a coherent thought.
"So, who wants to play Quidditch?" Lily asked in a falsely cheerful voice. All she received in return was four groans, as the male population of the house sat bleary eyed and full-stomached.
After much rest, the family recovered their hunger in time for the Christmas Eve feast, after which once more everyone was full to the stuffing point with ham, vegetables, pork, and delicious buttered rolls. Everyone got to open one present per tradition.
Harry chose his present from Sirius, and a maniacal grin was seen on his face, which would send any of the bravest Gryffindors into hiding. He had gotten a complete set of 'tools' for practical jokes.
James privately thought to himself that any enemies of Harry better watch out, and mentally prepared himself for many more owls coming from Hogwarts regarding Harry behavior.
Lily opened her present from Remus, which turned out to be a book on potions that she had been eying for quite a while. Needless to say, Remus was ambushed in a hug/attack.
James received a new pack of quaffles from Sirius, while Sirius received from James a book on picking up girls incase he needed to 'brush up' on his talents. Remus in turn got a book on curses and jinxes from Harry, who claimed that they needed a proper defense teacher with a side-glance at Remus.
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas Eve, and Harry went to bed that night plotting what exactly he would do to Draco Malfoy when he returned to school with his new 'ammunition'.
Christmas day was a rowdy affair at the Potter Pridelands. The four unfortunate residents of the Potter Pridelands who didn't manage to wake up before Harry, got awakened by cold water and blanket yanking. Sirius first waved Harry off, but once he realized it was Christmas, he joined Harry in awakening the rest of the house with the aid of the Levicorpus spell.
Once everybody was properly dried off, they had a breakfast, which wasn't quite as filling as yesterdays, only so that people were able to open presents afterwards.
From his parents, Harry received more Quidditch gear, from Remus an interesting book on the history of Quidditch, from Ron some chocolate frogs and a confirmation that he was coming next week, from Hermione a book on the history of Hogwarts, and from Neville an interesting looking plant, which Remus explained was very rare.
Harry in turn gave Sirius more pranking supplies which he ordered along with the cologne he bought earlier with clear instructions never to use the pranking supplies on him or else.
For James there were several Zonkos supplies (by owl-order), and a broom-servicing kit, and for Lily there was an IOU for one haircut.
Harry also got an invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map from his Dad with instructions to "use it well" which James said with a twinkle in his eye.
After all presents were exchanged, Lily called upon their house-elf, Tinky, to help with the feast. The Potter family didn't tend to use their hose-elf too much, for they didn't like slavery, but once in a while it was inevitable to need some help. Tinky only agreed to this under the condition that she could still do all of the housework, if not the cooking. Lily agreed to this with an eye roll, so an agreement was made, though once in a while Tinky 'forgot' and was found trying to do some cooking or dish-washing.
After another amazing feast, everyone started yawning, and one by one excused themselves to bed. Harry's dreams were filled with thoughts of revenge on Malfoy.
It was one week later, and Harry was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his friends. Hermione was the first there, and after a quick introduction of their 'family' and a thanks for Harry's present, she ran upstairs to drop off her stuff in the room next to Harry's.
Neville arrived next by portkey and landed in a heap in the snow. Harry hurried to give him a hand up, and Neville emerged blushing heavily.
"Mum, Dad, Padfoot, Moony, this is my friend Neville Longbottom," Harry introduced.
"It's very nice to meet you Neville! We were very good friends with both of your parents," Lily said with a sad twinkle in her eye.
Neville shifted uncomfortably, and after Prongs, Moony, and Padfoot introduced themselves, Harry went up to show him his room, which was across from Harry's.
Ron arrived by floo powder, and barely managed to keep from falling face first into the table. Introductions were made, and the four friends went upstairs to catch up.
Harry sat cross-legged on his bed, Ron and Neville claimed the two beanbag chairs in red and gold, and Hermione took the armchair, which Harry had for reading.
"So how have your guys' holidays been?" Harry asked breaking the silence.
"Alright," Hermione started. "I was mostly just catching up with my parents, and then for Christmas my grandparents came over, how about you?"
Hermione directed the question to Neville, after which Ron seemed a bit put out.
"Not bad," Neville answered. "Gran and I mostly just have a quiet Christmas. What did you do Ron?"
"Eh, my older brothers, Bill and Charlie came back from their jobs, so it was just the usual huge family affair."
Hermione looked pointedly at Ron, so he hastened to ask, "How was your holiday Harry?"
"It was pretty good," Harry replied. "Uncle Moony and uncle Padfoot came over, and I played a lot of Quidditch. Thanks for the presents by the way. They were awesome!"
There was a chorus of "you're welcome" and "yeah thanks guys" before everyone lapsed back into a comfortable silence.
"Did you guys come up with anything else regarding the, you know, conversation?" Neville asked this time.
It turned out that nobody had, so the best the four could think to do was to wait until they got back to Hogwarts and do some more snooping then. After they got their serious conversation out of the way, Ron offered to teach Hermione wizard's chess, to which she agreed, and Neville and Harry settled for a game of exploding snap.
Two hours, three singed eyebrows, and four wins for Ronald later, the children were called to dinner, to which Ron's stomach responded with much enthusiasm. Everyone laughed, and the four kids headed down to the kitchen.
Just before walking in, Harry stopped everyone and said in a hushed voice,
"My uncle, Sirius, can act a bit weird when it comes to food, so just be warned."
Neville and Hermione burst out laughing, as they knew exactly what he meant having eaten countless meals with Harry, who was the same way. Harry in turn cast them odd glances, and Ron was preoccupied trying to spy what was going to be for dinner.
The four finally entered the kitchen, and sat down, ravenously eying the food on the table. This did not go unnoticed by James, who simply chuckled and took a roll for himself, demonstrating to his guests that it was all right to eat. Prongs' move seemed to break the tension, as soon everyone was busy eating and joking as if they had known each other their whole lives (only some had).
Soon, the four headed up to 'go to sleep', but instead met up in Harry's room like before to brainstorm some pranks they could play on Malfoy with the aid of Harry's new presents. Harry demonstrated the Invisibility Cloak and the marauders map which everyone agreed was really cool. Hermione was only mildly disapproving as it was the holidays, and soon joined in with their fun.
The rest of the holidays passed in a whirl of snowball fights (the marauders versus the second generation, where the marauders won thanks to Padfoot using magic), eating, and plotting pranks on the Slytherins.
Before they knew it, the four kids were being escorted to the platform by Lily, James, and Padfoot (Remus had to stay at home because he 'wasn't feeling well' (aka his 'furry little problem')).
Lily was a bit tearful in her goodbye to Harry, and made him promise to stay out of trouble and study hard for his exams. Neville, Ron, and Hermione, seemed a bit uncomfortable with this show of affection, and were finally engulfed in a huge hug from Lily, and an assurance that they were always welcome in their home. Neville and Ron looked slightly uncomfortable again, but Hermione beamed, and thanked Lily and James profusely for letting her stay over.
Finally the train tooted, and the four piled on and waved out of their window to the Potters until they disappeared out of sight.