Chapter 5: Here Comes The Sun

It was six in the morning, and Harry had just woken up from a beautiful dream. He looked at the ceiling for a few minutes before sitting up. He stood on his feet and looked out the window, where the sun peeked in and the usual hustle and bustle filled the sleepy London streets. Harry welcomed in the sunshine; it's been only since last night that he'd seen any sun at all.

He then looked away from the window and pulled on his robe. He then left the room and walked down the stairs into the foyer, accidentally tripping over a loose stair. Harry came crashing down the stairs very loudly, waking the inhabitants of the old house of Black. There were many shrieks and yells from the pictures hanging on the wall, but loudest of all was from Mrs. Black.

"Filth! Scum! Half-Breed trash! How dare you besmirch the house of my father's-" screamed the portrait. Harry covered his ears at the noise and ambled slowly towards the portrait. He grabbed the curtains over the portrait and eventually the shreiking died. All of a sudden, he heard Phineas Nigellus's voice coming from his portrait.

"She is rather loud, isn't she?" he said silkily.

"Yes she is. I don't know how Sirius deals with her. Phineas smiled and said, "Well, I happen to know for a fact that he sleeps with earplugs on. Oh, and Dumbledore says hello." Hary turned his head and spoke.

"Dumbledore? He's out of the veil?" asked Harry hopefully.

"No, he's still in a portrait over in the castle. However, he has a message for me to give to you."

"Really? What?"

"In his will, he said that it was to be you that took over Hogwarts when he died." said Phineas stiffly. Harry couldn't believe his ears. Hogwarts? Hogwarts was his?

"No way." said Harry automatically. Phineas gave him a quizzical look and said, "No way as in 'No way he'd leave me Hogwarts' or no way as in 'There's no way I'd come back to Hogwarts'?"

"The first one, Phineas."

"Good. I'll tell McGonagall then. Good day to you, Headmaster." With that, Phineas Nigellus disappeared out of his portrait, and left Harry thinking out loud to himself. "I can't be Headmaster! I haven't even passed seventh year yet! I mean, and if someone sends me to the Headmaster's office, I'll have to go upstairs and talk to myself. I don't know what to do." Then, as he was walking to the kitchen, he ran into his dad, rummaging through Sirius's drawers.

"Dad, what are you doing?" asked Harry. James looked up at him and smiled.

"Oh, hey Harry. Just looking for one of Sirius's combs. I need one badly, and that primadonna's got to have one somewhere." He looked back down into the drawer, throwing papers around.

"Primadonna? Sirius? Please..." said Harry. James looked up at Harry and said, "Are you crazy? He wouldn't leave the dorm without spending forever on his hair. He's worse than your mother!" Then, Harry and James heard a yell from the basement. It was Lily. She came thundering out of the bedroom and towards them. Her arms were crossed as she spoke.

"What you said was a total and utter lie. I just brushed my hair in the morning. You, darling, showered for a half hour and then used gel in your hair. I remember a certain date when you told Sirius to tell me to wait a minute because your hair needed to set. Sirius kept Artemys waiting for an hour because he didn't want to go outside bacause it was raining and it would mess up his hair." said Lily with a satisfied smile. James's jaw dropped and spoke.

"That's sooooo not true!" said James.

"Oh yes, it's true. It's damn true, and you can't deny it." said Lily with satisfaction. James opened his mouth, closed it, and looked back down into the drawer. Lily smiled and whispered to Harry.

"See darling? That is a marriage rule you've just witnessed. The woman always has the last word in an argument. Any word after that is the start of a new argument. You'll learn that eventually." And with that, Lily took off towards the kitchen.

"Lily, you'd better be making pancakes!" yelled James.

"If you want pancakes, you have to make them yourself." yelled Lily. James rolled his eyes and muttered, "Isn't it great to be 19 again?" Harry gave him a confused look and said, "19? You're 19? I thought you'd be older than that."

"Well, yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you? But no, I'm only 19. We - your mother and I - died when we were 19. So yeah. We'd be in our late 30's, like Sirius or Remus."

"Dude, you people are old!" said Harry loudly. James lowered his voice to a whisper and said, "Don't let Sirius hear-" Just then, they heard a voice from out of nowhere say, "Don't let Sirius hear what?"

It was Alexis. Her hair was illuminated by the sun rising in the window behind her. She slowly descended he steps, leaving Harry at a loss for words. She smiled and said, "Good morning, Mr. Potter."

"Good morning, Alexis. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes sir, very well indeed." she said as she winked at Harry. Then she turned to James and said, "Don't let Sirius hear what?"

"You really should call him 'Uncle Sirius', Alexis." said James in a mock-scolding tone. She smiled and spoke.

"I did once, and I got yelled at for it. He thinks 'Uncle Sirius' makes him sound too old, so he forbids his nieces and nephews from calling him it."

"Well he needs to grow up. He's turning 36 in November. I don't see what the big issue is." said James irritably. Alexis walked to the kitchen as Harry started laughing and said,"I thought you were just messing with me when you said all of that 'primadonna' stuff about him."

"I wouldn't joke about this one, and I have a question for you, son."

"Yes?"

"How does it feel to know that your parents are only two years older than you?"

"Pretty weird, to tell you the truth. I mean...it's my parents, and they're old enough to be my old Quidditch captain. It's really messed up." said Harry.

"Well, at least we'll be on the same level when we talk about stuff. Ya know, like the weather, girls..."

"Yeah, well in that case, can I tell you something?" asked Harry. James smiled and said, "Oh, you mean how you have the biggest crush on Alexis the world's ever seen and you think no one knows?" Harry's jaw dropped to his ankles.

"How did you know?" asked Harry, bewildered.

"Oh, it was easy. 'Those red lips cannot afford to be so cruel'? Or was it how you looked at her when she walked down stairs and winked at you? Don't think I don't know these things, Harry. I was your age once."

"Well, that's okay Dad, because I heard you last night too." And with that, Harry walked down towards the kitchen, leaving James sputtering.

"W-ho-th-what do you mean, 'you heard'?" yelled James down the hall. Harry turned, smiled and said, "Now, Dad, I will be your age eventually."

X.

"Ron, you know better! We shouldn't be here!" said Hermione angrily. Ron ignored her as he walked up to the old house of Black. She ran up from behind him and grabbed his hand. He quickly jerked it out and spoke.

"Hermione, we have permission from Dumbledore's portrait to be here."

"Well, how's that going to sound when someone in there asks why we're here? We can say, "Oh, but Dumbledore's portrait sent us!" How truly idiotic."

"Well, the portrait said that it's Harry's house now and that we can go in any time we want, under his invitation, of course."

"Were we invited?" asked Hermione.

"He's out best friend. Of course we're invited! I swear, Hermione, somethimes you're so-"

" 'So-' what, Ron? Need I remind you of last night when-"

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up!" snapped Ron. He put his hand on the doorknob and quietly turned it, remembering the oh-so-unpleasant Mrs. Black. He crept through the door and motioned for Hermione to join him. She tiptoed up the steps and into the house.

The hall was dark, long, and empty with sleeping people in portraits all around. It was at least seven in the morning. Ron and Hermione made their way slowly down the hall, when all of a sudden, they heard a loud noise that made them both jump. When the noise was over, Ron realized that they were holding onto each other tightly. He blushed slightly as they walked down the hall further. As the hallway came to an end, they saw a person with jet black hair standing over a table, rummaging through a drawer.

"Harry!" Ron called out. The person with the jet black hair walked over to them.

"Ron," Hermione whispered, "I don't think that that's Harry."

"I don't think he is either." said Ron, his ears reddening violently. James smiled and said, "So you must be Ron. Harry told us so much about you." James shook his hand and looked over to Hermione.

"And you must be Hermione. We've heard a lot about you, too." He shook Hermione's hand as she nervously said, "Good morning, Mr. Potter."

"Well, like I said, Harry's in the kitchen. You may join us for breakfast if you wish." James returned to the drawer and Ron and Hermoine walked to the basement kitchen. Ron stopped and spoke.

"How'd you know who he was?"

"Oh, Ron. Haven't you ever seen the newspaper article after they died? He looked just like that!"

"You mean, that was his dad?"

"Yes, Ron. It was." Ron looked blankly at her as he said, "But he's dead! You can't come back from the dead..can you?"

"I don't know, Ron."

"But you always know, Hermione. Now who can I rely on for good information?" Hermione blushed at these words as they continued down the steps to the kitchen. Once they got there, they saw Harry and two girls preparing a large breakfast. One, Ron recognized as Alexis, his favorite cousin. The other, however, with her piercing green eyes and wavy red hair, Ron had no idea. The red-head moved gracefully around the kitchen, with the glow of the lights illuminating her pure, porcelain skin. Ron's jaw dropped as Hermione said, "Ron?"

Ron, however, was paying her no attention as his eyes fixed upon the red-headed girl. Hermone punched him in the arm and spoke.

"Honestly, do you gawk at every pretty girl you see?"

"Uh huh..." said Ron nonchalantly. Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him to the table.

"Ron, do you even know who that is? That's-" but Hermione was cut off by Harry.

"Guys! Hey, what's going on? I would've written back but I was a little busy. Anyway, so...hi." Harry garbled. Hermione smiled and said, "Won't you introduce us to your mother, Harry?"

"Oh, sure." Harry walked up to the red-headed girl and brought her back to the table.

"Guys," Harry began, "this is my mum. Mum, this is Hermione, and that's Ron."

"Very nice to meet you all." said Lily gently. Hermione nodded and Ron smiled. Harry noticed Ron was in a daze and spoke.

"Dude! What's wrong?" asked Harry. Ron snapped out of his daze and replied with a dull, "Huh?"

"Um, okay then. So, what have you two been doing all summer?" asked Harry. Hermione, as usual, was the first to reply.

"Well, I went to France on a pleasure trip, read all of my old books all over again, and spent the rest of the summer at Ron's. I had a good time. How about you?" said Hermione briskly.

"What do you think I did? I hung out at the Dursleys until Sirius came to pick me up." said Harry irritably.

"What do you mean that Sirius came and picked you up?"

"He came to my uncle's house and brought me here. That's what I mean."

"Harry, Sirius is dead."

"No he's not. He's just as lively as my mum is. He's still sleeping, though. So," he turned to Ron, "how was your summer?"

"Eh, not bad. Actually, it was quite, um, interesting." said Ron as he glanced at Hermione. Harry noticed that they were holding hands under the table; it made his stomach turn uncomfortably.

"So, um, how's Ginny?" asked Harry nervously.

"She's okay. She got a job in Fred and George's shop, and she's attracting all sorts of new customers."said Ron bitterly.

"No, I mean, is she seeing someone?" asked Harry. Ron had a look on his face like he just swallowed a sour Acid Pop.

"Yeah, she's seeing David Whittier or something or other. I don't really remember; she's been through seven boyfriends this summer." finished Ron. Harry's heart dropped into his stomach, and Hermione shook her head. All of a sudden, Lily called out, "Breakfast!" Harry looked up at her as she brought a humongous feast to the table.

She had just put Hogwarts to shame; there was sausages, bacon, eggs, porridge, fried potatoes, pancakes, and strawberry tarts. Harry eyed the feast and looked back up to his mother.

"Mum, we don't eat that much!"

"Well, Sirius does. Haven't you ever eaten with him?"

"Not since last year, Mum. When we were with him last year, he didn't eat that much; in fact he barely ate at all." said Harry.

"Trust me, he can eat." Lily turned to Alexis

"Alexis, please get Sirius up."

"Yes, Mrs. Potter." and with that, Alexis left the room. Hermione spoke up and said, "That's your cousin, Ron?"

"Yeah, she is. She's so weird though. I don't know what is up with her."

"What do you mean she's weird? She seemed all right to me." said Harry.

"You haven't been around her as long as I have. And it's really weird being her cousin, too."

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"Not much, it's just that she's the only American witch in the entire school. She's entirely different than the rest of us. She's more popular than Harry is, for crying out loud!" said Ron dramatically.

"So? There's nothing wrong with being an American girl! I happen to be pen pals with one as a matter of fact. She's rather nice, but she's only a little different than us." said Hermione.

"So what's so strange about her?" asked Harry.

"She is my only cousin that isn't pureblooded."

"Once again, what's wrong with being different? I'm half-blooded and Hermione's Muggle-born."

"Well, oh bloody...you'll see when school starts." Ron sputtered. Harry and Hermione exchanged glances and looked back towards Ron. Just then, Sirius came bursting through the door, with Alexis trailing after him. Sirius eyed the table and began shoveling down the fried potatoes, leaving Hermione with a look of disgust on her face. Lily looked up at Sirius and spoke.

"Is it good, Sirius?" she asked sarcastically. Sirius looked up at her with wide eyes and mumbled a gruff, "Mhmmm" through a mouthful of food. Lily turned to Harry and said, "So, you still think he can't eat much?" Harry shook his head in reply as he grabbed the plate of bacon. Hermione and Ron commenced eating, when all of a sudden, James came through the entrance and screamed, "BACON! OH MY GOD!" He dove into the table and ate with Sirius. Harry's expression was nothing short of shocked. He started laughing, and soon the whole table joined in. Then, there was a knock at the door.

A/N- Omg, cows! Anyway, please review.