Before James knew it, it was time to go home. They'd all packed up their trunks and quickly were on their way home on the Hogwarts express. The 4 of them said their good byes to each other at the station, and walked through the barrier with their families.

Sirius' family didn't look too pleased to see him, though they were overjoyed to see his little brother Regulus. The last James saw of them, Mr Black packing it all into the trunk of their car. He was cursing and carrying on about Sirius' bags, as they apparently weren't packed as well as Regulus'. Mrs Black was already into Sirius for consorting with people like James and Remus, whose families were well known for their dislike of the Dark Arts. She then started on his OWL results, and how many she expected. Sirius got into the car looking extremely depressed at the prospect of spending the entire holidays with his family.

Remus' family, were very pleased to see him home alive and well. Over the years they'd managed to deal with his being a werewolf relatively well, though they were clearly a lot poorer for it, there were patches on patches on their clothes. They didn't have a car to take them home; instead they were taking the knight bus. Mr Lupin shrunk Remus' trunk and bags so that they were more manageable, and off they went.

Peter's mother was the one to meet him at the station. She was a short dumpy woman, who looked basically the older female version of Peter. James didn't know much of Peter's family as he didn't like to talk of them much to his friends. The only things he knew were what his parents had told him, which was that they were on the edge of the dark side, and no one knew which side they would chose when it came to a head. She was driving a battered up old car, and James' father helped to place Peter's trunk into it.

"I'll see you in September" Peter said sadly out the window as his mother started to pull away from the curb. James nodded his head and smiled as the car drove off. Strangely, he was quite relieved that he wouldn't be seeing Peter for several months, recently James had started to feel quite suffocated by Peter, and it would be a nice change without him around.

"Have a good year son?" Mr Potter asked James and they walked towards their own car.

"Yes" he replied "It was fun"

"When do you get your results?" asked Mrs Potter when they reached their brand new black Mercedes Benz.

"Oh sometime in the next few months" James said not really caring for the topic of conversation. He was still worried about Sirius. James knew that his family didn't treat him very well; he's in fact seen some scars on his back. They looked like they were from a whip of something, but when James asked Sirius about them, he brushed it off quickly as nothing.

James noticed out of the corner of his eye Lily Evans with an older, blond woman. The woman wasn't old enough to be Lily's mother or her aunt. In fact she was far too ordinary looking to be related to Lily; well that was what James thought.

"You'd better behave yourself this holidays Lily" the blond woman said harshly, "None of that freakish stuff, or you'll be out on the streets"

"Yes Petunia" Lily replied sighing softly.

"You know I don't have to have you in my house Lily!" Petunia continued, appearing to ignore Lily totally.

"I know Petunia" said Lily sighing again.

Petunia continued again, barely breaking to take a breath, "After what happened to Mother and Father, I hope you appreciate that I'm taking a risk taking you in" she then unlocked their car and got into the driver's seat.

James' ears perked up a bit, trying to hear what they were saying, he hadn't realised that anything had happened to Lily's parents.

"I do Petunia" Lily replied automatically as she opened her door, and then the back seat door. She then started to try to put her trunk into the backseat. She struggled for quite some time, and Petunia simply sat in the front seat, waiting for Lily to get in. James saw this and walked on over to Lily.

"Here" he said taking the trunk from Lily, "Let me help you with that". He quickly lifted the trunk a little higher, and managed to get it into the car.

"Thank you Potter" Lily replied coldly. Then without another word, she got into the passenger seat of the car. Petunia started the car and simply drove away.

James stood watching the car for a while, and only looked away when he felt his father's hand on his shoulder.

"She doesn't appear to be very happy" Mr Potter said.

"She rarely is around me" James admitted. He put his head down, refusing to look at anything but his feet, and got into his parents car.

It was only as they drove away, that James finally realised how thankful he should be for having both of his parents alive and well. He should be even more thankful that they loved him dearly. It wasn't something that he thought about at all, his parents had always been there, and seemed so strong that he honestly thought that they would live to very old ages. Once James really thought about it, he realised that he took his parents for granted. He promised to himself, that he would tell them how much he loved them, and try to appreciate them more.

Once James had promised himself this, his thoughts had drifted back to Lily Evans. He'd never seen her the way she'd been with her sister. She'd always been feisty and would always stand up for herself and others; and yet she'd let her sister treat her like she was scum. He could help but think, he'd just seen a little more into Lily's life, James could understand more about her, and he liked it.

The drive to Potter Place was over quickly, and James was still thinking about his friends and Lily Evans when they pulled up in front of the house. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw a familiar car. He jumped out of the car and ran on into the house.

"Aunt Harrietta" he called running throughout the house looking for her. He found Harrietta Potter in the living room sitting by the fire. She stood as James entered the room, and he through himself into her arms in a hug.

"James Potter, you're growing taller every time I see you" she said warmly letting go of him so she could look at him properly. "You're going to be a ladies man like your father"

Douglas Potter walked into the room at this point with James' trunk and bags following along behind him, "I was never a ladies man Harri" he laughed.

Harrietta laughed at her older brother, "You never noticed them anyway, but they were there".

Harrietta and Douglas continued to tease each other. James took this time to take a good look at his aunt. He hadn't seen in her in 3 years as she'd been away with business. She was one of the top auror's at the ministry of magic, and one of the youngest at that, but even so, she could still pass as James' older sister.

Harrietta was only 10 years older than James, and had the same messy Potter hair. She had the same strong yet small framed body that could have had her flying professional quidditch if she had wanted to.

James' mother, Millicient walked into the living room, from the kitchen, "Dinner will be ready in a hour" she declared sitting down on a sofa, "So till then, we can listen to Harri's stories"

"Haven't you already heard them?" James asked, he didn't want his parents to have to listen to the stories again, if they had already heard them. Also there was the fact that having Harrietta to himself would have led to more interesting stories. Douglas Potter was still wary about having his little sister in such a dangerous job.

"Harri only arrived this morning James, just before we went to meet you" Douglas replied.

"I would have come too James, but I was unpacking" Harrietta said noticing the upset look on James' face; "Also I thought that the car would be too full with all of your belongings" she teased.

"So how long are you staying?" James asked eagerly.

"A few days at least" she replied off handily, not really wanting to give an exact amount of time.

"That's not long enough" Douglas complained, "We haven't seen you in years!"

"I'm sorry" Harrietta apologised, "But we're busy with the latest pure-blooded nuts who are going around killing people"

"But you've barely had a day off in years" Millicent said kindly, "Surely you can have longer than a few days"

Harrietta shook her head sadly, "I had to call in some major favours in to get these few"

"Things are getting that bad?" James asked.

Harrietta nodded her head. "There are more tortures and killings of muggles and muggle-born wizard's everyday"

"I think that's enough of that topic Harrietta" Millicent said sharply, "We don't want James to have nightmares"

"But Mum" James complained, "I need to know what's going on in the world, its not as if the Daily Prophet tells us the truth"

"James Godric Potter there is no need for you to know what is going on, as you are safe away at Hogwarts for most of the year" Millicent replied quickly, signifying to James that the subject was closed for discussion. Harrietta on the other hand, gave James a quick wink of the eye, and James knew that she would tell him all about it later.

Douglas quickly changed the topic to quidditch, and they were all caught up in whether the Chudley Cannons would make the finals that year, when the Potter's house elf Minny came in.

"Dinner is ready missus Potter" she said in her usual squeaky voice.

"Very good Minny, we'll be there in a moment" Millicent replied curtly.

"Young Master" Minny said running over to James, "You is back!". Minny then danced around James' chair happily, she noticed Harrietta and she jumped slightly. "And Miss Harrietta too, oh happy days!"

"Yes they're both back Minny" Douglas laughed, "That'll mean more cleaning, and lots more food"

"Well cakes actually" Harrietta laughed, "I hope you still make those Chocolate cakes of yours Minny, I've been missing them"

"And you look like you has too" Minny scolded slightly, "You near skin and bone Miss if you don't mind me sayin' you need my Chocolate cake straight away"

Harrietta laughed kindly, "I'll settle for dinner first"

"Then let's eat" Douglas declared standing from his chair.

Once dinner was over, Douglas and Millicent retired for the night, and left James and Harrietta to catch up in the living room.

"So Jamesie boy, any special girls in your life?" Harrietta teased as soon as Douglas and Millicent had left the room.

"Hmmm.." James thought out loud, "I don't know how to answer that"

"Truthfully" Harrietta answered, "I will know if you're lying" her eyes were twinkling of mischievous laughter.

"You wouldn't use Legilimency on your only nephew would you?"

"Of course I wouldn't" Harrietta laughed, "Well I might, but I wouldn't need to, I can read you like a book dear nephew"

"In that case you tell me" said James as a challenge to his aunt, "That is if you really can read me like a book"

"I'm guessing by the way that you had to think about whether there was a girl in you life, that there's one you would like in your life, but she doesn't like you"

James looked at his Aunt in shock. She'd picked it in one. "How did you know that" he stumbled out.

"I told you James, I can read you like a book"

"In that case, it's my turn to know what you're thinking" James said pressing his hands to his temples as if to try to read Harrietta's mind. "You want to tell me what you've been doing these past 3 years" he declared after much 'pretended' thought.

Harrietta laughed again "Wrong James"

"You wanted to earlier, but my parents wouldn't let you"

"Your mother just doesn't want you to have to grow up too early" she explained, "Like your father did"

"But I'm 15" James complained, "And she treats me as if I'm 11"

"I'm not going to question a mother's prerogative" Harrietta said sternly, "It's her place to try to protect you"

"So you're not going to tell me?" James asked with a pleading look to his face, he really wanted to know what was happening in the magic world.

"I am going to tell you" Harrietta admitted, "All I said was I wasn't going to question your mother's decision, I didn't say I was going to take any notice of it" she smiled.

James paused for a moment in thought. It was strange that Harrietta was prepared to completely ignore his mother's decision to ensure James didn't know what was going on. Harrietta had basically adopted Millicent as a sister, and James had never heard them disagree on anything, much less ignore the opinion of the other. He told Harrietta this and she laughed.

"I am a Potter after all" she said in-between laughs. She became more serious suddenly, "And because it's a more dangerous world than your mother realises, or your father for that matter. You only have another 2 years at school James, you need to start preparing.