*

"James Abraham Potter! Come here this instant!" shouted Mrs. Potter from the kitchen. Out in the hallway, James Potter and his best friend, Sirius Black, whispered and laughed together.

"Ever wondered how many instants there are in a minute?" James asked his friend, who was bent over double from laughing so much.

"James! Sirius! Get over here!" she shouted again.

"Coming!" shouted the friends together. As they marched into the kitchen, Mrs. Potter held up a live trout in her right hand and waved it at them.

"How many times have I told you not to leave these fake wands around? They keep turning into animals all over the place! Now take it and get out!" she yelled. And with that, she threw the thrashing trout at the boys.

"Gee Mum, how're we supposed to know if they're fake or not? They look like wands, so we don't know if they're yours, or if they're ours," said James in an innocent tone.

"Exactly," piped in Sirius, as he kicked the trout out of the way. "We're just not educated enough in the art of wand-making to be able to determine whether or not a wand has been made by professionals or by two boys who want to learn what would happen if they… well… accidentally left a fake wand lying around in the kitchen…"

Mrs. Potter narrowed her eyes. "Any more of these pranks and I'm going to make sure for myself that your broomsticks are snapped in half!" she said. Both boys were out in a flash. And within 5 seconds, Mrs. Potter was happily baking a pumpkin pie for supper.

"Those boys… will they ever learn?" she mumbled to herself, as she pulled on her mittens.

Outside in the Potters' backyard, James and Sirius were laughing and joking about Mrs. Potter.

"Man, did you see the look on her face when you were saying your so-called 'innocent speech'? You sure are articulate when you don't have to be!" said James, laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha! That's very funny. At least I try to get us out of trouble. You just stand there staring at your mum as though she's an alien or something…" Sirius said but stopped.

"You know, I think she just might be one…" said James thinking.

"Well at least now I know where you get all of your abnormalities from!" laughed Sirius.

"You stinking little …" started James, but he stopped because almost immediately, two barn owls swooped down out of nowhere, and dropped two identical envelopes onto their heads.

"They're from Hogwarts!" the boys yelled together, as they ripped open the envelopes and read their letters.

"No wonder they knew exactly where we were," said Sirius, reading the address off of the envelope. "Mr. S. Black… The Potters Backyard… 25 Pennington Street… London, England. They don't leave anything out, do they?"

"Just like my mom. Perfect in every way," said James, wrinkling his nose.

"Well, we might as well tell our parents that we've gotten our letters," Sirius said.

"No we don't. My mom knows already. Look over there." James pointed to the back porch, where Mrs. Potter was standing with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, my baby, you've gotten your letter already! Oh, you boys grow up so fast," said Mrs. Potter wiping her eyes. Then suddenly, she went and gave James a big hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Mum! Get off! Oh, come on Mum! Get off of me! Oh, you're embarrassing me! Mum!" yelled James, as Sirius stood at a distance, shaking with silent laughter.

"Naughty boy!" said Mrs. Potter, slapping her son. "Oh, get on with you! I suppose you want to read the rest of your letter. Well, go on! Shoo!" And she walked back to the kitchen.

"Yuck! Aw! Why does she always have to do that! Stop laughing at me! Take that… and that!" James had been wiping his mum's lipstick off of his cheek, but spotting Sirius still laughing, he started pummeling him with some well-aimed punches and kicks.

"Ouch! What was that? That hurts! Hey, get away! Stop it! I said stop! Ok, you're asking for it! Yah! Ha! I got you that time!"

"No you didn't! I've got more! Take that you stupid idiot!"

"No! Get away! Stop! Ha ha-ha! You're the one in pain now! Don't touch me!"

And so they went on and on, until they were too tired and too full of laughter to continue.

"Last one to scare your sister is a rotten flobberworm!" yelled James.

"Hey, wait up!" It was a never ending game. They were just about to run up the stairs when they heard Mrs. Potter screaming.

"What was that? It sounded as though Mum set her hair on fire!" said James.

"Ok, now don't get too excited. Your dad's probably come back from the Ministry, that's all," said Sirius calmly.

"I wish we could Apparate, and go wherever we wanted to in seconds. Then we would actually be able to dodge the frying pan whenever my mum throws it at us…" said James dreamily.

"Come on. If we don't go down soon, then your mum will probably break into tears in front of your dad. "Oh, our little baby! He's going of to Hogwarts this year, and I'll be so lonely without my ickle Jamesey-kins"" Sirius laughed.

"Oh, shut up Sirius! Well, let's go down. Ladies first!"

And so the boys went down to greet Mr. Potter and sit down to a well-made supper. This had been one of the best days home ever! It was just too bad that they would have to go to school soon… Well, that was just a better reason to have plenty of fun in their last month of freedom!

*