"We're going on vacation," James Sr. said sadly.
They were outside of Potter Manor. The entire ride home, James had known that something was up. His parents weren't joking around, and Uncle Sirius' usual playful manner wasn't as easygoing. Something big was about to happen, and he knew it.
James Dean did catch on to that, but was more than glad to ignore it. "Sweet! Where are we going?"
"Not we, James," Lily said, a frown on her face and motioning to her, James and Sirius. "But we. We're going to Japan."
James and Harry stared, as Brian and Travis looked between each other with uncertainty. Finally James sighed. "Bullcrap."
"James!"
"Watch your language."
"Why? It is, y'know. You aren't going on any vacation, not without us. You wouldn't do that to us. You're doing something for Dumbledore."
Lily's eyes bugged while Sirius coughed nervously. James sighed and looked down at his son. "What we're doing is none of your business."
"When it is coming from Dumbledore, it is. 'Cause Dumbledore wouldn't be sending you anywhere if it didn't involve Voldemort. And if it involves that jerkoff, than it involves us, too."
James bristled. "We are going, it's none of your business, and you're staying at your aunt and uncle's whether you like or not!"
"WHAT!?" The four screamed. Going on vacaqtion without them was one thing. But leaving them there?
"Why can't Uncle Remus watch us?"
"We got Quincy! And the elves, too!"
"You can't send us there! I'm short, and scrawny, and Vernon or Dudley or both will only enhance that image!"
"They think I'm a freak!"
"They think all of us are freaks!"
"This ain't fair!"
"What are we supposed to defend ourselves? We can't use magic out of school!"
"ENOUGH!" James roared. "Go to your rooms, now! This is not a democracy!"
Fuming, the four boys stormed off inside the Manor. James sighed and knelt by his wife's wheelchair, hugging her as she suppressed her tears.
"They hate us," she sobbed.
"No, they hate the Dursleys," Sirius corrected with a laugh. "And I can't blame them for being furious. I know you don't want them around Moony whenever he goes through his… er… monthly cycle, mate, but still… the Dursleys? How is that any less worse?"
"They would just boss around Quincy and the elves and get away with it. James would turn the house into an anarchist state and not even Moony would be able to stop him."
"True… he would probably be so shut up in his lab that even if James blew up a nuclear warhead in the basement, he wouldn't hear it until the fallout fell from the sky."
"Let's just try to not plant that idea in James' head, eh, Padfoot?"
Sirius snorted. "As if I need too. That kid is too smart for his good. He figured you out, didn't he?"