AN: I will be doing a flashback on Sirius' n Remus' reactions in a later chapter! So how they are acting in ch. 4 is after they have recovered!!!!!! Thanks to all my reviewers!!!!

Phoenix353: yes I would love 2 say something when/if Harry finally talks to them, I will of course mention your name again for credit.

Chapter 4

"What do you mean that they will be back today!" Harry shouted as they began to walk back to the house after their morning run. "Why couldn't you have told me yesterday, then I could have at least had more time to plan an escape!" He continued angrily.

Nope, Ron thought, definitely not too tired to argue. Ron had opted for the extra long run specifically so that Harry wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. He had grossly underestimated Harry's hatred for where his parents were concerned. "Your dad-" Harry glared at Ron, "sorry. He said that they'd be back with reinforcements. Maybe that means he'll bring Sirius or Remus." He said trying to look on the bright side.

Harry's face did manage to relax a little at the mention of seeing Sirius again before quickly becoming even harder than before. "No, absolutely not. If I have to talk with them in order to see Sirius than NO." He said as though Ron was the one who decided everything. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

That was fine with Ron because he hated seeing his friend so upset. "Fine, want to play Quidditch?" He said hoping to get Harry's mind off his parents. It worked. Ten minutes later Harry had both their brooms tucked under his arm and Ron was carrying the crate containing the golf balls and quaffle. Though Harry had received a fully equipped Quidditch set from the twins for his birthday, he hadn't yet tested out the snitch and bludgers. No one doubted Harry wouldn't be able to catch the snitch and Fred and George control the bludgers, they were all just afraid that the balls would leave the field.

Mrs. Weasley had applied tracking charms on the balls, but wasn't sure how to contain them without also forcing the players to stay inside the property boundary as well. So for now the Weasleys and Harry had to make do with apples for bludgers, and golf balls as snitches. It wasn't bad, the apples hurt a hell of a lot less, and the golf balls were white and even harder to see than the snitch.

Ron and Harry went straight for the paddock, not needing to waste the time going apple hunting (the apples became useless after being bashed by the twins repeatedly). There Harry would take turns between trying to score on Ron and catching the golf balls himself. Once they reached the pitch Harry let Ron get in position before he grabbed the quaffle.

~

Meanwhile at the Burrow Mrs. Weasley was just starting breakfast whilst the rest of the household was still sleeping when the Potters and Sirius arrived. After knocking first, James entered the kitchen when no one answered immediately. Not overly surprised by their unexpected visit, Mrs. Weasley was about to offer them some breakfast when James put a finger to his lips, a signal to be silent.

"Shhh," he whispered. "We're going to kidnap Harry." He said smiling evilly. Lily shook her red head furiously and indicated the two males.

"Correction-"

"SHHH!" James whispered fiercely. "Be quiet, are you trying to blow our cover?"

"They," she said still indicating James and Sirius, "are trying to kidnap Harry. I am here to make sure they don't go too far with anything." She said sitting down when Mrs. Weasley handed her a cup of coffee.

Mrs. Weasley smiled uneasily. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, but Harry's not here anyway." She said turning back to the stove. "He and Ron woke up an hour ago and are now playing Quidditch in a field a half a mile from here." She saw their surprised faces and added. "Sorry boys but you'll have to wake up earlier if you want to catch Harry. He and Ron don't usually come back for another hour, until they're about to faint from hunger." She added chuckling. "If not for food I doubt they'd ever leave their game."

Lily groaned when she heard this. "Great, another Quidditch crazed male." Lily, much like Hermione, did not enjoy flying. She didn't find it practical; apparating and floo were far easier so why bother with a broom? And after having to go the infirmary after what seemed like every game, to visit with James, Sirius, or Remus, Lily did not appreciate Quidditch as a game either. She didn't understand why, when it was almost inevitable that someone would get injured, people kept playing.

"Great, I can get him without having to cause a scene." James said eagerly rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"And you can see him fly then if we sneak up on them." Sirius added mirroring James' gesture without thinking. "He's great, better flier than you were…ever! He made the team as a first year." Sirius said giving Lily a pointed look. "You know playing Quidditch for four years, since he was a little, scrawny, puny, inexperienced eleven year old playing with eighteen year olds. Getting sent to the infirmary unconscious, without any bones in his arms-"

"Stop it!" Lily shouted not wanting to hear anymore about her son's numerous injuries due to a stupid useless game. "I think I'll stay here while you two go Harry hunting, I don't really want to watch as my son falls from thirty feet from shock. No thank you, I'll help Molly with breakfast." With that she dismissed them with a wave.

The men were out the door in a flash, not waiting for her to change her mind and indeed join them. A second later Sirius popped his head back inside the kitchen. "Uhh what direction is the Quidditch pitch again?"

~

"Lucky catch, bet you can't get this one." Ron said before throwing a golf ball with all his newly aquired strength on almost straight dive to the earth. After waiting five seconds to give the ball a head start, Harry turned around and immediately started searching. Finding it after quickly assessing the field.

Ron watched in amazement as Harry actually attempted to catch up with the ball. It would be hard enough to spot it with the wind going in the opposite direction as Harry, causing his glasses to shift and parts of his eye to most likely water. But no, Harry not only kept the tiny white blob in sight, but he also seemed to be gaining on it as both spiraled towards the ground at dangerous speeds.

Harry dimly heard Ron shouting something from above him, probably to pull up, but he tuned him out and concentrated on catching the golf ball. He hadn't missed one yet; it wouldn't due to mar his perfect record days before returning to Hogwarts. Harry shifted his weight slightly so he would be on a better angle to the ball, a better angle for crashing into the ground.

Harry was almost at it, just a little bit further; he could almost feel the ball in his grasp. Harry leaned down and flattened himself to his broom and stretched his right arm out.

Ron wasn't sure what had happened. One second Harry was on his Firebolt, the next he was yelling and rolling on the ground. As quickly as his Cleansweep would allow him, he flew towards the ground wondering if his mother would kill him for bringing Harry home dead.

~

Fifteen Minutes Ago

"Where the hell are they?" Sirius yelled to James as they looked about them, finding only trees, loads and loads of endless amounts of trees.

"Forget them, where the heck are we!" James answered angrily. They had been walking for twenty minutes at least, they should have reached Harry by now. Unless of course Sirius had gotten them lost. "Molly did say a half mile, right?" He asked before resigning himself to the fact that Sirius had indeed gotten them lost.

Sirius nodded absently as he preformed the point me charm to try and figure out where they were. Scratching his head in confusion, Sirius tried the spell once more. Yup, they had been going in the wrong direction. "Uhh James, its this way." He said pointing his arm East.

"Are you sure?" James asked hesitatively.

"Positive, follow me." He said back while stepping over a log. "Stupid boy scout myths." He added underneath his breath. Who the hell had made up that nonsense about moss growing on the North side of trees? Well whoever had was an idiot, moss most certainly did NOT grow on the North side of trees. "Damn stupid muggle, idiotic nature boy, lying silly sod-"

"Is that them?" James interrupted ten minutes later when they had finally reached the end of the forest. He was pointing up to the sky where there were two figures, one dark haired and the other red headed, both on brooms. Ron was flying up from the ground with a bag clutched in his arms while Harry sped wildly around the field. Neither gave any indication of having noticed Sirius' and James' sudden appearance.

Crouching behind a shrub, Sirius nodded in answer before pulling the spellbound James down after him. Still not over getting lost, Sirius continued to rant to himself as James gazed fixedly at the sky.

Fifteen minutes later he was still watching in wonder as his son dove at the earth, silently thanking God that Lily had not come for she would have indeed blown their cover when she saw Harry on a broom. Heck James had almost leaped out of the bush where he and Sirius where hiding when he spotted the speed and angle Harry was flying at, not appearing to plan on moving from his course; directly for the earth.

Sirius had held him back and motioned for him to watch. "Don't worry, you can yell at him later. Remus tells me he does this all the time; you should see him in games when he does the Wonksi Feint, incredible. He fools them every time, or so I'm told." James nodded his head and resigned himself to watching as his son picked up more and more speed.

Since Sirius didn't seem worried and Ron was still in the air acting as though it was an every day occurrence, James kept his fears to himself. But when Harry actually hit the ground with a loud yell he felt as though his blood had turned to ice. Nothing could have prepared him for that. James closed his eyes, and opened them and still saw his son on the ground not moving.

Damn kidnapping Harry, how could they kidnap him if he was dead? James, with Sirius on his heels, rushed towards where Harry lay. Unfortunately they were at least a hundred yards away; James had never run so fast in his life. Ron reached Harry first.

James was running even as he saw Ron turn Harry over and start shaking him. Then Ron bent his head to listen to Harry's chest. At that moment James stumbled and halted for the barest second at what he saw.

~

Harry couldn't move, literally. The air had been knocked out of his chest when he hit the solid ground, leaving him temporarily immobilized. He had caught the ball and then rolled over slightly, so as not to crush his broom, and exposed his body to the earth. Causing him to bounce a few times before finally settling on his stomach. Well better a sore chest then a broken broom.

Harry heard Ron yelling that he was coming and to hold on, but he couldn't yell back, yet.

When Harry felt he could breathe, painful as it was, he still kept his eyes closed and forced his chest not to heave up and down as he sucked in oxygen. He had been wanting to get back at Ron for not warning him about them earlier, now was the perfect time to play a little trick on him. Harry forced the guilty part of his mind that told him it wouldn't be funny away as Ron's voice became louder as he neared.

Ron landed moments later, throwing his broom aside in a rough landing, and then panting, he groped for Harry. Harry heard Ron cursing him as he shook his shoulder. "You idiot Harry, wake up. Mum's going to finally kill me as she's always threatened and you won't be there to see it." Then he felt Ron's head on his chest, testing to see if he was still breathing. Harry opened his eyes slowly just to make sure of it first.

Then, quietly as possible but just enough so that Ron would hear him, Harry whispered. "You're right, I would like to watch that now that you mention it, let's go." Then when he saw Ron was speechless he added. "Do you think she'll feed us first, I mean you do get a last meal don't you?"

Ron recovered rapidly for someone who had just thought his best friend was dead. "I suppose she'll give me that at least. How do pancakes sound to you?" He asked leaning back on his knees before jumping up.

"Only if they've got chocolate chips." Harry added with a grin as Ron reached an arm down to help Harry up. "I mean you deserve that even if you did almost kill me."

"What do you me I almost killed you? I believe it was the other way around. You almost killed me when I heard you yell before you stopped moving. Good sound effect though, made it all the more believing."

"Really? I had yelled originally because I caught the ball, but when I hit the ground I discovered I was quite comfortable there."

"Quite comfortable? Quite comfortable? You gave me a heart attack young man! Don't you ever do anything, and I mean anything, like that again!" They had been so engrossed in their conversation; neither boy had heard Sirius and James approach behind them.

Harry turned and vaguely noticed James there, but decided he could ignore him for a minute while he greeted Sirius. "It's good to see you too Snuggles," he said as he hugged him briefly. "And don't worry I'm saving that one for when we play Ravenclaw."

Sirius didn't return the smile. "What were you thinking? There I was telling James not to worry an-" He stopped short as Harry hopped onto his broom and sped off. He went about fifty feet before seeming to remember he was approaching a muggle area and jumped off. Harry then began running at a steady pace towards the Burrow.

The three men stood staring at Harry's retreating form, one shocked, one frustrated, and one extremely uncomfortable. Ron, the uncomfortable one, decided to say something to end the awkward silence that had followed Harry's departure. Looking at the other two, he chose Sirius as his candidate for a conversation, he wasn't sure James would answer him after meeting him yesterday. "It's err.. good to see you Sirius, got your own place yet?" He said silently congratulating himself for asking, knowing that Harry would be wondering about Sirius' living arrangements. (i.e. harry's living arrangements)

Sirius forced himself to answer Ron's question, moving his eyes away from Harry's receding figure and onto Ron's face. Sighing he began. "Right now I'm bunking in with Moony but I've been looking at some flats in London that are pretty good, closer to Hogwarts at least. I think I'll be all settled in one by Christmas," he said unsubtly. It was quite obvious; to Ron at least, that he meant the winter holidays.

It must have been clear to James as well because he quickly started to scowl and mutter incoherently to himself, kicking up tiny dust clouds in the dirt with his shoe. Not liking the expression on James' face, Ron changed the subject. "Oh that's good. Are you going to go back to being an auror, (his job pre-Azkaban) or do you have enough money from what the ministry gave you as compensation to live off?" Ron asked as the group finally began walking back to the Burrow.

Sirius seemed to be giving the question some serious thought before replying. "Well, I don't know what I'll have time for now that I'm working for Dumbledore. Since he doesn't exactly pay me I'm thinking about going back to work, not necessarily as an auror, any job that will provide a steady income." He said as he began talking more to himself than to Ron. "It will also look less obvious if I have job when I go on mission for Dumbledore, otherwise people will start to become suspicious if I disappear for weeks and come back injured. Yes, an auror would be the perfect cover." He finished warming up to the idea of becoming an auror once more.

"Oh." Ron said wanting to stuff his shoe into his mouth. Sirius becoming an auror would not make Harry happy, he'd rather see James go out and become an auror, especially with the war coming up. Yes that would probably please Harry no end. "What about you Mr. Potter?" Ron asked wondering now what exactly the Potters would do now that their mission for Dumbledore was over.

"I was thinking about just staying with the Order, but Albus mentioned something else in one of his letters, but I won't know for sure for a couple of days." James said attempting to have a friendly conversation with Harry's best friend, if he just happened to mention to Harry what a nice, agreeable, great guy he was, well far be for James to stop him.

Sadly for James nether of the others replied, giving him no chance to warm Ron up to him, and leaving the rest of the walk painfully silent. Sirius was busy contemplating what to do as a career and the youngest wondering when the others would leave.

After Ron dropped his broom in the shed he realized that Harry's Firebolt was still missing. Figuring it couldn't hurt, Ron didn't protest when Sirius and James followed him inside his house. When he spotted Lily inside, Ron knew for sure that Harry was indeed not home. He then went upstairs to take a shower, telling his mother that he'd be back for breakfast later.

"I'm guessing that you two were not successful?" Mr. Weasley said to the two men after Ron had gone up the stairs. He had been informed on what they had been planning on doing and had held off going to work to see what would happen.

James shot him a sour look before plopping down next to his wife and taking a rather large gulp of her coffee. Arthur chuckled softly as he put down the Daily Prophet. "Can't say we didn't warn you. Harry's stubborn, and has a knack for getting into or rather in this case out of things." He said smiling in response to the glare James shot him.

Having seen how things had played out, Arthur rose to leave. "Well I'm off to work," he announced before kissing his wife on the cheek. "Do let me know when you decide to drop in again, I'll be sure to wake up in time to watch."

James growled warningly as Mr. Weasley finally left. This was not his day, he didn't need somebody rubbing it in, God knew that he would have Lily and Remus to deal with when he got back to the Hollow.

Not wasting anytime, Sirius plopped down in Arthur's seat before helping himself to what was left of his breakfast. Ignoring the looks Lily was sending his way, Sirius kept on eating while James told about their hunt, interrupting only when James told them that Sirius had gotten them lost.

AN: what do u guys think about having a/the Potter(s) as (a) professor(s) at Hogwarts, Sirius, or Remus? Yes, no?

As for the ships-if I put a pair together that does not mean that they will stay that way for the rest of the story! So nothing is permanent, especially with Harry!

Thanks to all who reviewed!!!

Sorry for updating so late! I moved and everything was so hectic, I truly did not have time to update!