James and Sirius both bought a copy of the book that they were looking at, and Harrietta bought a few different books on hexes and charms, and they went off towards the Quidditch store.

In the window out the front of the store, there was a Firebolt 001, the latest of latest model broomsticks. James and Sirius stopped to admire it, as Harrietta walked on in to see the manager who was an old friend of hers.

"That's what I want" James said pointing at the Firebolt, "It's the best of all of the broomsticks, its got better handling, better speed control, it even has better cushioning"

Sirius looked at his friend as he was looking at the broomstick; "Your Mum'll buy it for you"

"Only if I get good enough OWL's" James complained.

"At least it's possible for you to get good enough marks for your Mum" Sirius remarked offhandedly. James looked at him for a moment. Sirius had started to look back at the broomstick. Sirius hardly ever mentioned his parents, he always preferred to just not talk about them; it was as if he wanted to believe that they didn't exist.

"Well" Harrietta said putting her head back out the door, "Do you 2 want to actually look around the store, or would you prefer just to stand their drooling at the Firebolt?"

Sirius and James looked at each other and laughed, then walked into the store.

Walking around the store they started to look at the different equipment that professional Quidditch players used. Harrietta was pointing out the different posters to James and Sirius, when all of a sudden there was a jingle of the door opening and the chatter of the shop stopped. James turned around to see Ludo Bagman standing at the door. Everyone just stopped and stared at him as he walked in.

" 'ello Harri" he said to Harrietta as he walked in the door. As soon as he saw Harrietta he started to rub his hand through his hair, though instead of it being an attempt to neaten his hair, he deliberately messed it up. James thought that it looked silly. It was as if Ludo wanted to look like he'd just walked off a broomstick.

"Ludo" Harrietta said coldly, "How are you today?"

"Very well thank you Harri" he replied smoothly, "I trust that your day has been pleasant"

"Up until now" James heard Harrietta say quietly, she then spoke up louder, "Yes, thank you Ludo, just doing a little bit of shopping with my nephew and his friend Sirius here" Harrietta said motioning towards James and Sirius.

"Well then" Ludo said pointing at James, "You can't half tell he's a Potter, now can you, just as good looking as his Aunt, and father." James rolled his eyes, he was forever being told how much like his father and Aunt he looked. "I've heard about your chaser skills, and I hear you're being compared to me as a flyer" he said, he then motioned at Sirius and said, "And what was your name?"

"Sirius Black" he replied.

"Oh" Ludo said, "A Black"

"And to what do we owe the honour of your company Ludo?" Harrietta asked, sensing that Sirius was embarrassed at yet another person making a point of him being a Black.

"Oh I was just coming in to see about ordering a Firebolt 001"

"Well then" Harrietta said coolly, "We wouldn't want to keep you" And then she led James and Sirius out of the shop, and back into the street. "That man!" she exclaimed angrily, "That arrogant…"

"Why do people keep making a point about you being a Black?" James asked confused.

"Don't know" Sirius said quickly, "I take it you don't like Ludo, Harrietta?"

"No" Harrietta said trying to calm herself down a little, "He's far too arrogant, he asked me out once, and now I'm like a prize he keeps trying to win over"

"Doesn't he know how much of an idiot he looks messing up his hair like that?" James asked. Sirius simply smiled at James, and contained his laugh.

"Well, then, I think it's about time we go home" Harrietta declared.

"Can't we stay a little longer?" Sirius asked, "There's plenty more we can see"

"Sorry Sirius" Harrietta replied, "I've got some work I've got to do at home now, and I promised Milli that I'd have myself and James home for tea"

"Oh" Sirius said sadly, "Okay then"

They left Diagon Alley in silence. Sirius was looking more and more depressed the closer they drew to Potter place.

By the time they pulled up to the house Sirius looked like he was going to a funeral.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" James asked trying to cheer his friend up.

"No mate, I'd better go home;" he said sadly. "Thanks for taking me today Harrietta, I had a lot of fun" Sirius tried to force a smile as he spoke.

"It's been a pleasure to have you Sirius" Harrietta said brightly, "Remember that you're welcome at the Potter's anytime"

"Thanks" Sirius replied, "I told Mother that I'd go to Diagon Alley, and then straight home. So I'd better go and floo home"

"I'll see you Padfoot" James said in parting.

"Yeah" Sirius said sadly, "I'll see you"

James then watched his friend, carrying the book that he'd bought, walk into the house. James was left to help Harrietta carry her bags into the house.

"So Aunty, why did people continually make a point of Sirius being a Black today?" James asked once they'd entered the living room. They'd taken all of Harrietta's bags into the house, and then she had them go up to her room.

"The Black's are a very well known family James" Harrietta replied quickly. James sensed that she didn't want to be talking about this particular subject, but he refused to let it drop.

"So are the Potter's, but no one uses those tones of voices when speaking of us!"

"That's because the Potter's aren't known as some of the evilest wizards" Douglas Potter said on entering the room.

"And the Black's are?" a confused James asked.

"Generally" Douglas replied.

"Not all of them" Harrietta said quickly, "There are some good ones"

"Name one Black who is good" Douglas asked his sister curtly.

"Sirius isn't evil" James said loudly, trying to make his point.

"Sirius isn't of age yet" Douglas said sadly, "You don't know how he's going to be when he's older"

"I doubt he's going to go over to the evil side of magic" Harrietta replied in Sirius' defence, "And he's not the only one in the family that's not evil, what about Andromeda?"

"She's no longer a Black" Douglas said stubbornly, "She's different"

"She was a Black when she fell in love with a muggle!"

"Well every family has someone who is different" Douglas said tenaciously. "And Andromeda quite obviously is the Black's"

"That's not to say that she's the only one" Harrietta continued, "She was telling me the other day that she has an uncle who is like her, he just didn't marry a muggle"

"You believe anything you want Harrietta" Douglas sighed, "You just can't see that some families are just evil"

"And you can't see that you are what you are, because of your choices, not because of your family" Harrietta stated angrily, "In a way, you're just as bad as them!". And with that, Harrietta stormed up the stairs, to her room.

James was left in the living room, with his father who was still seething at his sister.

Douglas turned to James; "You'd think that after being an auror for so long, she'd realise what people are like" he said testily.

"I think she knows what people are like better than you"

"What is that supposed to mean James!" Douglas demanded. Douglas' face was red with anger, James could nearly see steam coming out of his ears. He could see that Douglas was struggling with controlling his temper and he was just waiting for his father to explode. "Are you saying that I don't know what people are like!"

"Maybe she just wants to give people a chance, and she realises that blood isn't everything" James replied quietly, not wanting to anger his father any more.

"Pureness of blood isn't important I know that" Douglas said testily.

"But saying someone is evil dependant on their family; is just as bad as saying someone is or isn't worthy of magic" James said quickly.

Before Douglas could answer, James bounded up the stairs quickly to his own room. He'd seen his father angry only a few times, and it wasn't pleasant to see, James realised it was safest to stay out of his father's way.

It was the next morning when James left his room again. He'd stayed in his room through dinner, and the house elf had brought him up some dinner to tide him through the night.

"Morning everyone" James said quietly as he walked through the door, and sat down next to his mother.

"Sleep well James?" Millicent asked.

"Yes I did Mother"

"No tummy rumblings?" Harrietta teased, "You didn't come out of your room for dinner"

Millicent frowned at James, so he tried to quickly think of a legitimate excuse; "I was engrossed in a book I bought yesterday". James silently cheered that Sirius had taught him how to think quickly of ways to get out of trouble.

"What was it James? Was it "The fall of Grindelwald"?" Harrietta asked.

"Why would he want to read a book like that Harrietta?" Millicent interrupted, "That's a far too scary book for a young boy"

"Mother I'm nearly 16" James complained.

"You're still not of legal wizarding age James" Millicent said sharply, "Thereby still a boy"

"A boy still needs to know his history" Harrietta argued.

"Why?" Millicent said stubbornly, "It's not as if it's ever going to happen again, the Ministry have made sure of that"

James could see the eyes of his aunt light up in anger, so he spoke up loudly, "That wasn't the book I was reading anyway Mother" he said, Harrietta frowned slightly at James, but his mother simply stopped and stared, "It was "Hogwart's A History", Remus has been trying to get me to read it for a while". James felt a little bad telling such a lie to his mother, but he reasoned to himself that Remus had tried to get him to read that book.

"Your father has also been trying to get you to read that book since you started at Hogwarts" Millicent beamed. Harrietta scowled slightly at the mention of her brother.

"Where is father this morning?" James asked slowly, he didn't want Harrietta to be angered any further, but he still wanted to know.

"He left early for work" Millicent explained, "He's so busy these days, the muggle's are starting to see magic more and more"

"Gee I wonder why that would be happening again;" Harrietta said sarcastically.

Millicent seemed to ignore Harrietta's comment and continued, "He really has an important job".

James knew this particular speech of his mother's, so he spoke before she got going too much; "Well I'd better get back to my book". With that he winked at his aunt, grabbed another piece of toast, and ran back up to his room.

With the excuse of reading such a thick book as "Hogwarts a History" James didn't have to leave his room too much over the following few days. He only left his room for meals, and returned straight afterwards. Harrietta came in a few times, just to see if he was alright, but she noticed that he was busy reading "The fall of Grindelwald", so she left him to it.

It was the end of the 3rd day since Douglas and Harrietta had had their disagreement, and James was sneaking down to the kitchen to get some chocolate cake. He had to walk slowly down the stairs, making sure that he didn't squeak any of the stairs, which would have woken up Douglas who was a light sleeper.

James had been able to avoid most contact with his father, and he didn't want to have to speak to his father whilst Harrietta was still in the house. He knew that while Harrietta was still in the house, Douglas would remember the words that he and James had shared. As much as James knew he was right, he really didn't want to see his father as angry as that again.

James was unsure whether he father really believed what he'd said, or whether he was just trying to protect James from the reality of the world. Mostly James didn't want to think anything bad of his father, so he let himself believe that.

So James was left to sneak through his family home so that he was able to get some much-wanted chocolate cake. He gradually crept his way through the living room, having to avoid the coffee table that had hands coming out the side of it to hold cups. It had noticed that there was someone nearby, and was automatically searching for something to grab hold of.

The next thing that James had to pass by was a cupboard that was made out of Whomping Willow. It was set to accost anyone and everything near it whilst the room was dark. As he had done the midnight raid of the kitchen many times before, James knew that all he had to do was touch a particular knot in the wood, and the cupboard would let him past.

James was finally safe from all the objects in the living room, and was just about to walk into the kitchen, when there was a loud banging on the door. He cursed under his breath as it was going to be hard to explain to his father, who would now be awake, why he was down stairs in the middle of the night.

Even so, James ran quickly to the door, as the banging had sounded urgent.