Harry Potter and the Forgotten Friends

Chapter Five: Pranks

After Harry and Riley had been sent to Riley's room to sleep that was the one thing they hadn't planned on doing. The two were going to try and stay up all night, and try to figure out what Riley's parents were up too. The two swung the bedroom door open, and plopped down on Riley's bed.

Riley looked over at Harry. "I was just thinking… ever since I became friends with you, my parents started acting weird. And, those things Fletcher gave you seemed to put them over the edge." Riley said, looking around her room, and over to Harry, who seemed to be thinking hard about something.  "What's on your mind, Harry?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Huh?" Harry snapped out of his trance and looked over at Riley. "Oh I was just thinking about what you said. I have no idea what they were like before I came, but the thing is remember when we came home? Your mom was down stairs, looking at some things, and she was crying when she came upstairs." Harry said. Riley nodded.

*~* Flashback *~*

"I'm down here, Riley. Just looking at some things." Her mother called up the stairs to them. Riley nodded, and shrugged at Harry. "Want to go outside?" Riley asked. Harry nodded, and grabbed the bag from his feet. They had just opened the front door, and they were going to go outside, but a thump, thump, thump was heard from the stairs leading to the basement. Arabella appeared from the basement, not looking at the two kids. Riley and Harry froze, they looked at her – and, there were tears coming down her cheeks?

*~* Flashback Ends *~*

Riley looked up, like she just had a brain wave. "Harry. I have an idea," She said, with a mysterious grin. Harry looked at her. He had seen this grin before, and she must have had a plan up her sleeves. "Tonight, after everyone goes to sleep, we're going down to the basement, to figure out what my mom was looking at. Anything could be down there, and maybe that's why they've been acting so weird lately." Riley said. Harry nodded, and smiled.

"Alright. I'll go." Harry said. Riley smiled, and hugged Harry. "Thanks buddy. I owe you one," Riley yawned.  Harry laughed. "I'm going to bed. I'll set the alarm clock to go off at midnight. Alright?" Riley said. Harry nodded, and slipped off the bed and into the bed the Blacks had made for him.

Riley managed to set the clock to go off at midnight. She then climbed into her bed, and sighed. "Hey Riley. You don't owe me one. This is to repay you for beating up Dudley and getting me away from there." Harry said, blushing in the dark. Riley laughed and muttered a 'no problem' and the two kids soon fell into a deep sleep.

*~* Midnight *~*

*~* Beep, Beep *~*

The beeping sound filled the quiet bedroom. A young girl moaned and turned the clock off with a hit the beeping off with her hand. She rubbed her eyes, only seeing darkness. She blinked many times, finally recognizing some of things in her room. Riley was awake now, and wondering why her alarm had went off. She looked over at the clock, which read 12:02am. A low snoring from her floor brought her back to reality. Then it hit her. Her and Harry were going to go sneaking around and try to figure out why her parents were acting so weird. Riley slowly got out of her bed, and walked over to where Harry was.

"Hey Harry. Wake-up!" Riley shouted, shaking Harry. After a few minutes of shaking him, he woke up. He jolted up, and bashed heads with Riley. "OWW!" Riley said, as she fell back holding her head, while Harry held his head. After a few more minutes of silence, Harry looked up at Riley.

"What did you wake me up for?" He asked, glaring at her. Riley sighed, and handed Harry his glasses. Harry put them on, and still looked at her confused.

"Remember? We're going down to the basement to figure what's going on." Riley said, standing up and walking over to the bedroom door. Harry sighed, and looked over at Riley who was waiting for him.

"Riley…? I think I'm going to stay here for the night. I'm really tired, and your mom said that we're going something tomorr—er later today." Harry said, seeing that it was past midnight. Riley looked over at Harry who was taking his glasses off and putting them on the night table.

"Alright then. You can stay here, and I'll go and look for what I'm looking for." Riley said, slowly opening her bedroom door, and sticking her head out. The coast was clear, so she waved bye to Harry and closed the bedroom door up. She walked slowly over the creaks in the upstairs landing and down the down the stairs she went until she stepped onto the cold linoleum floor.

'Ah! That's cold!' Riley thought as she ran over the linoleum floor, until she reached the basement doors. Riley grabbed the basement door handle and opened it, leading to the basement floor, with rickety wooden stairs. "Oh great! If I go down them, I'll wake mom and dad up." Riley muttered to herself, as she stared at the stairs. After moments of thinking, Riley finally thought of something.

She leaned over the first stair, and grabbed onto the railing. She managed to climb onto it, and within seconds, she was on the bottom of the staircase, lying in a pile of laundry. She had managed to slide down the railing without failing and falling half way down. Riley got up from the pile of the laundry and looked around. Once she had turned the light on, she could find things better then she could in the dark.

"Hmm… It would probably be somewhere mom would think I wouldn't ever look." Riley said to herself, crossing her arms and looking around. After looking around in every single place. She found where she thought it would be. A trunk was sitting in the corner of the basement, covered in spider webs. 'That must be it.' She thought as she walked over to the trunk and sat down beside the trunk.

She lifted her hand, and wiped all the cobwebs off the trunk and looked at the odd design. It was a brown trunk, with a gold trim, and if you looked slowly you would be able to see fine little things that looked like they were engraved into the gold trim. She sighed, thinking how beautiful it was. With that she slowly opened the lid of the trunk and looked inside. There were a bunch of black clothes in there; they looked like bathrobes with a red trim around the edge. After taking out all the black clothes and looked at them closely, she then found a picture album at the bottom of the drawer. She grabbed the book, and looked at it.

"This must be what was making mom cry," Riley said, looking at the book from top to bottom. "How could a picture book made my mom cry? There must be something special in here." Riley whispered to herself, as she opened the cover of the book. The first picture in the book was her mom around the age of eleven. She seemed to be wearing one of those bathrobes she had taken out before, with a little black hat on her head, and a black and white stick in her hand. As Riley flipped through the pages, she saw nothing that would make anyone cry. The pictures were all of her, a young girl with red hair, and four other boys, one was her father… and the other three were most likely their friends.

Riley sighed, as she flipped through the rest of the pages. As she reached the end of the picture book she placed it back down in the trunk and put the bathrobes in the trunk and closed it up. Riley sat down on top of the trunk and sighed. There was nothing inside that trunk that would make anyone cry.  Riley shook her head. "I guess I'll never understand the mind of an adult." Riley muttered, as she walked away from the trunk, turned the light off and slowly went up the stairs.

As she entered the living room she heard a shuffling sound coming down the stairs leading to the upstairs. Riley froze and looked at the stairs. A figure was standing on the stairs, looking around. "Riley?" A voice said, looking over at Riley.

Riley smiled weakly and looked at the figure. "Uh… Hi Dad…" Riley said, thinking of some answer why she was out of bed. Her father walked off the stairs, and over to Riley. He looked down at her; "Riley? Why are you out of bed at midnight?" Riley looked at him, trying to think of some excuse.

"I…er…um… was trying to get some breeze!" She said, putting her hands behind her back. 'That was lame, Black. Real Lame.' She thought to herself. Her father looked down at her, not buying her story.

"Alright… then. Now that you've had your 'breeze' I suggest you go to bed now." He said. Riley nodded, and ran up the stairs, and into the room slamming the door behind her. Her father shook his head and walked up the stairs and into his bedroom.

He flopped down on the bed, with his wife looking at him, in utter confusion. "What was that all about, Sirius?" She asked, peering over at him. He sighed, knowing she would get it from him eventually. He looked over at her, peering through his black hair.

"Riley… she's catching on to our past, she's as smart as you were at school. I caught her down in basement. She said she was 'catching a breeze' in the basement? I think she was looking at your trunk of clothes and books with Lily and the others in it. If Harry sees this his going to remember his past, and why he doesn't have any parents anymore and why their lying in a graveyard in a place where he's never been before!" Sirius shouted, looking at Arabella.

She sighed, and smiled over at him. "Don't worry about it, Riley doesn't know it's Harry's parents. All she knows is that it's you and me in that picture, and our friends. She doesn't know that we know Harry's parents. All she knows is that we know him, end of story. We'll talk about in the morning. I'm tired." Arabella said, lying down in bed and flicking the light off. Sirius sighed and flopped down into the bed as well. Soon enough, both parents were asleep.

*~* Morning *~*

"HARRY! WAKE-UP!" Riley yelled. She jumped up from her bed, and landed on the floor beside Harry. All she got for a reply was a snore. Riley giggled, thinking he sounded like a pig under water. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the pillow from her bed and whacked Harry on the head with it.

Harry's eyes snapped open, and came face to face with a blurry person. "Get away from me, Dudley!" Harry said, pushing 'Dudley' aside and grabbing his glasses. Riley glared at him, crossing her arms across her chest, waiting for Harry to look at her. Harry put his glasses on and looked over to the person that hit him. "RILEY?!" He yelled, jumping up and looking at the laughing girl.

"I'm not Dudley! Do I look like a Cow?!" Riley said, getting up from the floor and pretending to cry, which she was really laughing. Harry shook his head, and stood up. "Come on, Riley. Lets go get some lunch before your dad eats it all." Harry said, seeing right through her little act. Riley spun around smiling, she nodded and grabbed Harry's arm and ran out of the room.

The two kids ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Hi Mom, Dad." Riley said, as she and Harry entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Her dad waved to the kids and went back to the newspaper he was reading. When they sat down at the kitchen table, Riley's mother put down a stack of pancakes. The two kids eyed the pancakes, while Riley's dad did as well. The three of them grabbed a fork and started fighting over who would get the most pancakes.

Arabella sighed, looking at the three people who were trying to get the most pancakes. 'They remind me to much of us at our school…fighting over every little thing' Arabella said, shaking her head, and walking over to where the three were. On the way over she grabbed a fork from the counter and walked over to where the others were. She then slammed her fork into the pancakes. "Drop the pancakes and let me talk." She said, glaring at the three who slowly took their forks away.

"Now… I have an idea for what we can do today before Harry and Riley go back to school. I was thinking of going to the mall and getting some things that the kids will need for school and maybe catch a movie if we have time?" Arabella said, sitting at the table, putting the fork down on the table. '

The three looked at her. After thinking for about a second, the three nodded, and Arabella smiled. Harry, Riley and Sirius glared at each other, and grabbed their forks and started fighting over the pancakes all over again! Arabella laughed, seeing that the three hadn't noticed the pancakes sitting on the counter. Arabella got up and grabbed a few pancakes from the counter and sat down at the table, eating them while the others' kept fighting over the pancakes.

*~*

It was nearing ten o'clock and everything inside this one house was a total wreck. "Harry! Riley! Sirius! Hurry up, we have to get going to the mall!" Arabella said, grabbing the keys from the hook in the kitchen. Slamming of doors and running of feet were heard upstairs. Sirius and Harry were trying to get down the stairs at the same time, while Riley found an easier way down. She jumped onto the banister and sat down, with a push of her hand, Riley flew down the banister and flung of the end of the banister to the ground. Riley jumped up and ran outside, while Harry and Sirius were still fighting down the stairs, even though they were only half way down the stairs, they were slowly making some progress.

Arabella looked at the two, and rolled her eyes. 'Harry acts more like his father every day.' She thought, but was interrupted by a 'bang'. Harry and Sirius had finally got to the bottom of the stairs, and were walking over to the door. Sirius and Harry left the room, while Arabella closed the door, locked it and walked over to the car. She jumped in, and started the Jeep and drove down the road.

"Riley… why are we going to the mall?" Harry whispered to her. Riley looked over at him and shrugged. "You know adults. Way to hard to explain them, when they get in one of those 'ruts'." Riley laughed. Harry and Riley talked the whole way to the mall, while Arabella and Sirius talked about the more serious things.

"How much longer before we can tell them on what we are, and what they are. Like I said last night, Riley is going to catch on soon. And, if Harry's as smart as Lily was in school, he's going to figure things out soon." Sirius said, looking over at Arabella.

Arabella looked over at Sirius, as the traffic light turned red. "We can't let them know. You know what Dumbledore told us, when we moved here. Harry can't figure out everything until he gets his Hogwarts letter, and that won't be for another two years!" Arabella said, as she started through the intersection, as the light was green again.

After the light turned green, their conversation was over. Sirius turned and looked out the window, thinking about how he had his godson in his house, and his godson just thought him as his friends' dad. The car then stopped abruptly as the cars' engine stopped, and the doors to the cars were unlocked.

"Hey… were at the mall!" Riley said, as she realized they were at the mall. Harry turned around, and realized they were at the mall. Riley and Harry opened the Jeeps' back doors and got out of the car. The four of them walked down the parking lot, and into the big mall doors.

The four spent most of the day, in the mall. They bought some school supplies for both Harry and Riley, and grabbed some dinner at the food court in the middle of the mall. For supper they had Cheeseburgers, French fry's, and a drink of their choice. After they had finished eating, the four of them were trying to figure out what to do next.

"So… what do you wanna do?" Sirius asked, looking over at the other three. Arabella sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. Riley looked around and looked back over at Harry.

"I'll be right back. Come on Harry." Riley said, getting up from the table, grabbing Harry's arm and running off. The two ran down the stairs and over to a big board. "What are we looking for, Riley?" Harry asked, as they stopped running, and were looking at a piece of bright orange paper.

"Hmm… Star Wars Episode Two, Spiderman, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers are playing. Wanna see a movie Harry?" Riley asked, looking over at Harry, who was all wide-eyed.

"I have no idea. Would your parents want to? And, I've never been to a movie before… so, yeah, I'm in for it." Harry replied, as Riley and him walked away from the board. They walked back over to where Riley's parents were sitting. They finally picked which movie they wanted to see… Star Wars.

"Dad. Mom. Want to go and see a movie? Me and Harry want to see Star Wars, but Spiderman and Lord of the Rings is playing as well." Riley said, as her and Harry sat back down in their seats.

"Riley. The proper way is Harry and I. Me and Harry is just an improper way, always put your guests name first," Arabella said, looking over at Riley. Sirius and Riley rolled their eyes, and Harry looked at all of them, while people walking by, looked curiously at them. Arabella looked at Riley and Sirius, who were rolling their eyes. "I'm not that bad." She said, smacking Sirius on the head.

He glared at her, and looked over at Riley. "Lets go to the movies. I'm up for Star Wars! Bella?" He asked, looking over at her. She sighed, and waved her hand at the other. "Star Wars is fine." She muttered, as the four all got up from the table. Arabella walked behind Sirius, Riley and Harry, thinking to herself.

'Man… Sirius still acts like he did in the fifth year! Only this time… his friends are all gone, and so are mine. If only magic could bring the old days back… but it's gone. A moment in time that was priceless.' Arabella thought, as she looked at the others, who were now having a running race to see who would be the winner and the loser to the escalator. Arabella sighed, and ran after them.

To Be Continued…

Fire Spirt.

A/N: I'm so sorry that this took so long. I've been extremely busy with school projects and the final exams coming up. If I do get a new chapter up before summer starts, it will be a miracle! Ha