Chapter 27


Sirius was awoken by two simultaneous completely frightened screams. He tumbled out of bed and attempted to grip the handle of his bedroom door with his limp hand. Lily's room was first on the way down and he threw the door open, only to see her sitting up in her bed and staring at him with wide eyes. She tumbled into his chest, tears spilling down his cheeks and a sleepy Harry tripped as he attempted to enter the room.

"Nightmare, Voldemort." He mumbled almost incoherently, staring up at his mother and godfather from the floor, holding a hand to his forehead.

"Peter Pettigrew, they're coming back." Lily's eyes stared up into Sirius' brown pools of worry.

"The details, they're slipping. Murder- it's all like trying to hold water in your hands."

"Ministry, old man,"

"You aren't making any sense." Sirius needlessly informed them.

"War is coming," Lily whispered and then she blacked out in his arms.


"I can't believe they'd be so willing to just resurrect this kind of an event." Lily grumbled as she washed the breakfast dishes, Harry sitting at the table.

"You complain about it every day and yet you still refuse to tell me what it is." Harry looked up from his homework.

"You'll find out on September first," Sirius ruffled his godson's hair; he immediately reached up to try and flatten it.

"It's funny how he's the opposite of James when it comes to his hair." Lily laughed from the sink, forgetting about her earlier provocation. Harry shook his head, going back to his homework, Sirius raised an eyebrow however. "James would mess it up on purpose and Harry tries his best to keep it flat and nice looking."

"Flat will never be possible." Sirius chuckled, flipping the Daily Prophet up into his line of sight.

An owl soared through the open window and landed on the table in front of them, just about collapsing from exhaustion. Lily placed a bowl of water next to the owl with some owl treats for when it would stand up. Harry pulled the letter from Errol's leg and opened it.

"Ron's family has gotten tickets to the Quidditch World Cup and is inviting us to go with them." Harry announced pushing the parchment towards Sirius.

"That's nice of them," Lily finished drying the dishes and began to place them in the cupboards.

"This house is so depressing." Harry commented suddenly as he stared up at the dark maple cupboards and scaly green walls.

"Maybe we should try paying for some renovations to be done?" Sirius looked up at the dust darkened chandelier.

"I'm not letting you put in all red and gold decorations you know." Lily informed him, leaning up against the black marble counter.

"Of course not, didn't think you would," Sirius winked at Harry, knowing he would get at least one room the way he wanted it.

"I'm going upstairs to work on my homework and let Ron know we'd like to come." Harry gathered his things into a pile.

"Make sure you tell him thanks!" Lily reminded waving a porcelain tea cup at him.

"Of course,"


Harry couldn't be more excited for the Quidditch World Cup. Lily allowed him to spend the week before with the Weasley's after she had checked at least twenty times it was perfectly alright to let Harry stay with them when they had so many people in the house. Molly had finally huffed a short response at the taller woman and pushed Harry towards the stairs so he could go up to Ron's room. Sirius had made fun of her for an hour afterward, earning himself no dinner and suffering being locked in his bedroom.

Sirius was tossing a quaffle up and down while he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. His eyes drifted over to the pictures still stuck to the walls. James had an arm slung around his shoulders and he was ruffling Remus' hair in a loving way. Peter was grinning as Sirius playfully pushed him to the front of the picture, a blush evident on his then round cheeks. The quaffle slipped past his hands and smashed into his face. Blood dribbled out of his nose as he sat up, swearing violently. Language Lily normally didn't even enter the house, but it had hurt, he had every right.

"Lily open this door!"

"No, you haven't learned your lesson yet." From the proximity of her voice, he figured she was sitting close by in the hallway.

"I'm bleeding, you mad woman. I need to clean myself up." The door swung open and he rushed to the nearest bathroom to clean himself up properly.

"What on earth happened?" Lily asked from the doorway as red swirled around the porcelain sink, staining it a bright red color.

"Keeping myself entertained became a little hazardous." Sirius stuffed a couple wads of toilet paper up his nostrils.

"If this is what you do to get me to fix you dinner," A smile was creeping into her pink glossy lips.

"Is it working?" Sirius winked in her direction, a smirk growing on his face.

"Nope," Lily turned. "I hope you don't expect me to clean that sink."

"Wouldn't dream of it sweetheart." Sirius turned back and ran the water, scrubbing it down with the pads of his hands.


The next week Sirius and Lily met Harry, Hermione, and most of the Weasley's at the portkey for travel to the World Cup. Lily pulled Harry into a tight hug, his muffled annoyance made Sirius grin. His godson was definitely turning into a fourteen year old boy. He caught the look in Ginny's eyes as she watched Harry and his mother. Hermione nudged her and whispered something, making the younger girl laugh.

"Everyone, finger on the boot!" Arthur commanded.

"Finger on the booty?" Sirius raised his eyebrows suggestively, wiggling his index finger. The boys snorted, some of their ears turning pink. Arthur coughed trying to appear as the responsible adult.

"The mangy old boot," Arthur glanced at a bit of green fuzzy near the heel. "It looks less than sanitary though."

"Just grab onto the boot dad," Ron rolled his eyes, lying on stomach with a finger wrapped up tightly in one of the straps.

Within moments it began to glow blue and the party was whisked away.


Note: So I have this idea for the end of Harry's fifth year and it's an important plot point. I typed it up and put it at the top of this story and it's the first thing I see whenever I open it up on word. I showed it to my friend a couple days ago and she called me a genius and I'm hoping that when I finally get there you all will think so too. ~May


Edited July 16, 2014- partial author's note removal, minor edits