'The best of summers, the worst of summers. Part I.'

Chapter-2

Six years had passed since that particular "event". It was the summer vacation, and for the Marauders, the summer vacation before their sixth year.

In the magnificent mansion of the Potter's, James Potter rolled over to one side, and groped about for his blanket, while in bed. A second later, his bedroom door opened, to reveal Sirius Black, in a highly disheveled state, with his hair mussed up and his pajamas tousled from his sleep. Sirius yawned noiselessly. This sleepy state in which he was did not deter the sparkle of mischief from appearing in his eyes. Grinning wickedly, he disappeared into the bathroom adjoining James' bedroom. Reappearing quickly with a wet sponge in his hand, he stole sneakily towards James' bed. His grin widened, as he savored what he was about to do. Holding it carefully right over James' face, he squeezed it.

Downstairs in the large dining room, Harold Potter and his wife Andrea Potter, stared at each other as someone screamed bloody murder from above. Glancing quickly at the ceiling, they heard a shout of laughter emit upstairs, followed by the unmistakable sounds of someone swearing. Both adults grinned as Sirius ran down the stairs two at a time, to escape James whose hair was sopping wet, and who was clearly ready to strangle Sirius.

'Boys, did you think of wearing something over your nightdresses first?' Andrea asked, extremely amused at the state of the two boys' pajamas.

Both boys stopped in their tracks immediately.

'Mum, we don't wear nightdresses! They're p-paj...pajams-shit!' James stared horrified at what was once his quaffle covered pajamas. Sadly, it now was pink, with violently red hearts covering it.

Sirius examined his pale red pajamas with blue teddy bears clutching hearts, which was originally covered with bludgers and beater bats.

'DAD!'

'MR. POTTER!'

'Alright boys, I just couldn't resist,' Harold Potter grinned widely, and with a sweep of his wand restored the articles of apparel to a more dignified state. 'Anyway this is your third week of vacation, and you've still not got your Hogwarts letters. Strange I call it.'

'And what do you plan to do today? Other than raiding the kitchen, playing Quidditch, playing tricks on the house elves and sending letters to what seems like all the female population, in Sirius' case.' Andrea turned a highly amused face to the boys.

'Well…' Sirius trailed off.

Shaking her head, Andrea got up from the table. Her husband followed suit.

'See you dear. And you two, try not to get into too much trouble.' Harold kissed his wife, clapped Sirius and James on the back and with a wave to the three of them, he Apparated.

'Bye dear. See you boys.' Kissing both of them on their cheeks, Andrea Potter also Apparated.

'Now where was I? Oh yeah, I was going to kill you for ruining my wonderful hair.' James grinned evilly and stepped towards Sirius.

'Wonderful hair, nothing,' Sirius snorted, and stopped at the look on James' face. 'Um…James, let's just keep calm, shall we?' Quickly taking a step back, he rushed up the stairs, with James on his heels.

This was all the two of them had done- had fun. During the first week of the vacation, Sirius had appeared out of the blue on the Potters' doorstep and had asked James whether he could stay for the remainder of the vacation:

It was a horrible, rainy morning and James was busy lounging on the plush sofa set, doing nothing. The weather was sick, with rain pouring in every corner of that town. Wind howled and lashed against the windows. James groaned, glaring at the miserable weather. The horrible weather had continued for three whole days.

"So much for good vacation." He thought sourly.

The horrible weather was not at all ideal for anything, Harold had commented at breakfast, when James mentioned Quidditch wistfully. A few matches had been CANCELLED! Usually, even during horrible weather, Quidditch prevailed, as it would test the players' skills. Sadly, nearly every match of the season was postponed.

Need an explanation for the weather? Lord Voldemort. The reason that the days were soggy and wet was Voldemort. He had made weather changes with his extraordinary amount of magical prowess and seemed to know the way to make the country tremble with fear. Add insult to injury, hurricanes, cyclones, tornados and heavy storms, were now prevailing strongly, even in places where they would normally not occur. And worst of all, murders and mass killings occurred every day. James glared at the headline of the Daily Prophet regularly. The headings all brought news of terror and death. That day's headline- "Mass of Muggles Massacred."

And now a different mood was gripping the wizarding community. People were more distant, more unfriendly and more private. Nowadays, no one seemed to open. And worst of all, people were so close knit that they endangered the lives of others.

Harold Potter and Andrea Potter, Auror and Unspeakable, highly respected and each holding a high position in the ministry, were now really protective of their only son, James. And James was no fool. He knew and agreed with his parents, that Hogwarts was the safest place to any young witch or wizard. Trouble was, some people thought otherwise. Many parents, in order to be close to their children, to remain close knit, had –in James' point of view- "been bloody dunderheads", and –more politely- had withdrawn their wards from Hogwarts and simply remained at home, quiet and unmoving or went into hiding. This in the Potter's point of view, endangered their children's' lives unnecessarily, because the only safe place was in the protection of Hogwarts- with Albus Dumbledore's protection.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. James frowned. The intruder alarm had not gone off, meaning that whoever rang the bell did not intend to harm anyone. James placed his hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. His eyes widened in extreme surprise, as he recognized his best friend, Sirius Black, standing on the doorstep, wearing a cloak and clutching his trunk and broomstick, and owl in a cage. Sirius's hair was wet and he was obviously cold.

'Padfoot?' was all James could say, having been sapped of any vocal exertion.

'James, that family's driving me crazy. I can't take it any more. Could I stay here for the rest of the vacation?' Sirius asked bluntly.

'Get in,' James gestured inside, to a sofa near the fireplace. 'I'm glad you're here Padfoot.'

'So am I. Bloody dad and mum has been driving me batty, along with that damned house elf.' Sirius grunted, removing his cloak.

'Whydon'tyoustayhereevenforChristmasandthenextvacation?' James blurted out.

'What?' Sirius stared at him.

'Mom and dad won't mind.'

'Really, are you sure?'

'Sure, I'm sure.' James assured him. His parents would not mind. Harold and Andrea approved of Sirius's and James's inseparable friendship and were always amused by the number of scrapes Sirius got into, and were definitely heartily amused by the number of girls Sirius dated and snogged. Harold and Andrea had heard of the "Most Noble and Ancient House of Black", and disagreed about their views on Muggleborns and their ideas of "purity". After realizing that Sirius was nothing like the rest of the Blacks, and that his family looked upon Sirius as a "blood traitor", Harold and Andrea disliked the Blacks even more than before. And now they had no problem with Sirius staying with them.

James' parents commented that in one week of Sirius's arrival, the two boys caused more trouble than James would have alone. And James's and Sirius's reply that they were practicing for pranking the "Slytherins asses off", made Harold and Andrea wonder how the Slytherins survived in Hogwarts.

The two boys had fun, definitely. Whether it was planning ways to get "Snivellus's ass", or get Lily to go out with James, it was fun for the two of them, throughout that vacation, which otherwise would have been spent in just lounging the day away, with Sirius shut up in that "damned ditch they called home", and with James just doing nothing but "think of Evans's boobs". That particular comment of Sirius earned him several severe glares and a hard kick in a very private spot.

Plz review! The third chapter is coming just around the corner!