A/N It's taken a long time, but I'm back, and it's finished.

25th June- James Potter

James laid on his bed his eyes chasing the snitch he'd released around the room. The snitch had been gifted to him by the former quidditch captain, he'd been given it at the final game, (Dan had caught the snitch by leaping from his broom and falling 10 feet. A stupid move). Morgan had pressed the fluttering snitch into his hand and told him that it was for luck. After all, Morgan had told him, it was damn lucky Dan hadn't broke his damn neck catching the bloody thing.

His room was a dusty red colour, just like the Gryffindor colours. His bed was a large double in the centre of the room with the headboard just below his window. He'd plastered photos of his friends (half of which were family) above his barely used desk. The rest of the room was in utter shambles, boxers and clothes littered the floor and in the corner was a growing pile of pots. His mother refused to move them for him and he had absolutely no urge to take them down.

The summer holidays were good in theory, but in reality? They were boring!

Especially since both his parents were at work and apparently he was supposed to be responsible for Al and Lily.

He snorted at that. Albus was so damn serious that he should have inherited the middle name. Although, James didn't think he wanted Al's mouthful of a middle name. Lily probably needed watching, she was likely to take off on a broom or vanish into the village if you didn't keep an eye on her. Not that she was bad on a broom or irresponsible, it's just that she tended to cause damage to herself or others and James always got blamed for that.

James staggered to his feet and plucked the snitch from the air and shoved it into the desk drawer. Stepping carefully across his room, James broke into the landing. Albus was doing homework or something equally boring, so that left Lily.

James barged into Lily's room. Lily looked up from her laptop and rolled her eyes. James didn't understand Lily's want for muggle things but it was something his parents supported. So Lily had a laptop and a television that she could operate efficiently.

James once tried to google and he broke the damn thing.

"What ya' doing?"

"Muggle stuff," she said with a huff, she used to reply truthfully but he'd stuffed his ears and made noises. She no longer tried to explain the interweb or whatever.

"Awesome," James sighed, "Fancy playing Quidditch? Or going Swimming? Or… something?"

"Why don't you bother Al?"

"Cos Al isn't as fun as you," James said with a wink, "come on, you want to get on the team don't you? I'll help you train."

Lily frowned, "who says I want to be on the team?"

"You did, last year. Morgan said-"

"I hate Morgan," Lily said fiercely, crossing her arms over her chest. "Fine, but only if you take me to the village and buy me an icecream?"

"Deal." They shook. "I probably should ask Al…"

"Meet you downstairs in a tic."

Albus, to the great surprise of James, agreed to venture out of his bedroom and the three of them went on the short journey to the town.

The three were close, but despite being in the same house they never seemed to spend as much time together as they probably should. James liked his siblings, and he'd even grown out of that stage where he couldn't bear to be seen with them at school, cos they affected his 'coolness'. The sad fact was that James missed his siblings when he was at school, he missed sneaking out with them or annoying their parents. He missed bickering with them even more. James wasn't sure how he'd cope when he left Hogwarts and had to leave them behind- they'd probably end up killing each other or destroying the school. James was obviously the responsible one. Not.

Albus was almost as tall as his brother but there was still several inches difference between them, James hoped that Albus didn't get any taller. His pride couldn't stand it. Plus it would be great fun if he could pick on Albus for the rest of his life. Al and James looked very similar, they had their father's face shape and his unruly hair. Albus had inherited their dad's famous eyes however, whereas James had inherited his mother's chocolate brown ones. While they were almost the spit of their dad, their little sister definitely took after their mother. She was small and dainty, her red locks reaching mid-way down her back. Unlike her cousin Rose's, her hair was straight and easily controlled. Or so she said, James didn't really understand what could be hard about having hair. Personality wise James didn't think any of them were like their parents. Except perhaps Lily's and his mother's temper. He shuddered at the thought.

The Potters lived in a rural part of the Yorkshire Dales. The cottage had been bought a couple of years before James was born, before which his dad had shared a flat with Uncle Ron and Professor Longbottom. His parents had moved up here shortly after his mum had finished school and to quote his dad they'd fallen in love and decided to never leave. James had asked once why they didn't live in a wizarding village (he'd been sick of muggle candy, the frogs didn't even move.) His parents had laughed and said they'd preferred being anonymous. At the time James hadn't understood the implication, it was only when he went to Hogwarts that he realised that his childhood wish had been impractical.

"Jamie, what do you want to do with your life?" Lily asked suddenly, James considered giving her the usual shrug off response before stopping himself. Both of his siblings were looking at him inquiringly and he wanted to tell them the truth, even if he couldn't verbalise it to his parents.

"I have no idea Lily-bean," James shrugged, "I don't want to work for the ministry, I don't want to play Quidditch and I have no idea what else interests me."

"You have no idea?" Al asked. James shook his head, "I told Mum and Dad I want to be an unspeakable… but I really don't know if I do."

"I think I want to go to muggle university." Lilly said suddenly, wringing her hands as she walked.

"what?" James asked in disbelief, Lily flushed.

"I don't know if I want to work in this, our, world. The muggle world… it's so much cooler."

"And do what?" Albus asked, leaning around James to see his sister better, Lily's eyes lit up.

"I'm not sure, there is so much choice!" Lily enthused, "I could do psychology or a degree in muggle technology…" she trailed off, "mum and dad probably wouldn't approve."

"Our parents are a lot of things Lily," James said smiling, "unsupportive isn't one of them."

"You really think?" Lily chattered excitedly, "I'd need to do my GCSE's over summer, probably before my OWLs, if I start early I'll be able to do my A-levels when I finish Hogwarts, but I think I could do it. I could probably study at Hogwarts and do my tests over summer."

"Why do you want to go to university?" Albus asked, "do you not like being a witch?"

"Of course I do!" Lily said offended, "but muggles don't have magic and they've achieved so much! The closest thing we have to a tv is the wireless and that's been around, like, a 100 years."

"I suppose," Albus said, "It sounds fun, anyway."

Lily nodded and James agreed. It was so Lily to want to do something completely different, and perhaps she was right about muggle technology. Wizards never seemed to evolve or develop and in comparison to the muggles they were generations behind. Maybe Lily could change that.

"You could develop muggle products that would work for wizards."

"Exactly," she breathed, skipping ahead and then turning and walking backwards so she could face her brothers, "think of what wizards could do with the technology that muggles have. Think of how much easier Hogwarts would be! We'd be able to research from one place rather than flick through hundreds of books."

James smiled, Lily had always loved muggle stuff in a way even Grandpa Arthur didn't. Grandpa Arthur loved muggle things, but he'd never really learnt to use them, not like Lily could. Lily could use any device you gave her, she could probably fix it too.

The rest of the walk was filled with gossip from school, when they returned later they were clutching icecreams and chocolate and giggling hysterically.

They ate their icecreams on the back porch, looking across the garden and the open space beyond. "So when can we expect Scorpius this summer?" James asked.

"He'll probably come for a day or two soon, he's visiting his grandparents at the moment and he can't really leave." Albus, to the great surprise to the entire family had become fast friends with Scorpius Malfoy almost the second the two of them had reached the Gryffindor tower. They had bonded over the annoyance of everyone judging them on their families and within days one couldn't be seen without the other. Personality wise they weren't that similar, Albus for all his bookish, nerdy ways was quite outgoing where Scorpius was more reserved- specially in the company of the Weasleys- that could be because Uncle Ron spent a lot of time glaring at him.

James thought it was silly that his parents and family regarded Scorpius with suspicion in the beginning, but then if he had been through what they had perhaps he would be the same. Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Alexis Wood had been friends since the first week, and because they were such good friends they tended to spend the entire summer visiting each other.

James had good friends, the best friends. There was him, Fred of course and then Daniel Thomas, who he'd known since he was small. They were good friends from family gatherings and from playdates. Obviously, Fred was family, so they'd always been best friends, but Daniel and he were just as close. Together they drove their parents and teachers mad. The three boys hung out with Aalaa and Madeline, both as different as day and night. Maddy, who had- for a time- dated Fred, was popular with the male population of Hogwarts, with her blonde hair and stunning eyes. She was certainly a flirt! Although James thought that it was her humour that made her far more amazing. The other girl in their group, Aalaa, was much more reserved with the boys in general due to her upbringing and religion, although James had long suspected that Dan had a little soft spot for her- Aalaa was completely oblivious. Aalaa was a second generation Yemeni muslim, the first in her family to go to Hogwarts. Together, their gang was complete. The girls, who didn't normally like to get involved with pranks, most often had the best and most brilliant (and evil) ideas.

They spent the afternoon improving Lily's skills, she wasn't bad at all but James wanted to be certain that she was the best at try-outs else he would be accused of favouritism. Her rolls were fantastic and she was fearless in the air. He'd seen pictures and heard play-backs of his mother playing and Lily reminded him of her fearless flying, she would dive for the balls, she would tackle with the best of them. James was damn proud, he just wished he'd actually had more of an input in her learning, but really it was all her.

They cleaned up and James started tea for them all, his dad would probably be late- had been every day they'd been home and his mum had asked him to get the tea started for when she got back. James didn't mind, it was however hard to make food without the aid of magic with the peeling and such. Lily and Albus helped and together the tea was about ready for when their mum came through the front door.

"I'm back!" She called as she kicked off her shoes and walked into the kitchen, "oh smells lovely, thanks kids." Ginny didn't look tired, but she did have ink on her nose and hands, they sat down.

"What did you do today, mum?" Lily asked between mouthfuls of food.

"An old colleague of mine is retiring, I was covering the press conference and the write up." Ginny told them, "to be honest she should have retired years ago, she was never the same after she got hit against the wasps. So what have you been doing today?"

"We've been training for next season. Mum, you have to see Lily's dives!" Albus said excitedly,

"She's like a bullet, she drops so fast and me and James thought she was a goner but she pulled up perfectly." Albus paused for breath, "we are so going to win the cup."

Ginny laughed, "I'll have to watch you, probably could give James and Al a few pointers." She teased, they shook their heads vehemently causing her to laugh.

After they had eaten they went into the living room, Albus and James starting a game of chess while Lily read a book. Their mum was working on her article and was frowning at annoyance and scribbling over it frequently. James knew his mum hated press conferences: she much preferred doing the coverage of games, she found it far more interesting. He didn't blame her, James rather thought it was boring. He managed to win once against Albus but it could have been because he was teasing Albus about Ruby Smith, he'd noticed his brother giving her a few lingering looks and wasn't going to let the subject drop. In retribution Albus swept the floor with him for the next three games, James eventually having to abandon his teasing to concentrate more fully.

"Is Dad going to be home soon," Lilly asked, their mother looked at the clock on the wall and frowned. It was past 10pm, their dad was rarely this late- especially without sending an owl.

His mum jumped when she realised the time, she too must not have realised how much time had passed, "I'm sure he'll be back soon Lils, but perhaps we should all go get ready for bed." She rose from the sofa and dumped her work on the coffee table, steering Lily out of the room. "Come on boys, I don't mind you staying up- but we should all get ready for bed."

James felt worry rise inside of him, his mum was being calm but she was trying to get rid of them- why? He wasn't sure. Maybe she felt that something was dreadfully wrong and didn't want them to realise. James tripped into his room, falling over the bag he'd left behind the door. He scowled, stupid bag. James changed quickly and then bumped into Al on the way to the bathroom, Al turned to him eyes wide. "You think he's okay, James?" Albus was just under two years younger than him, but it was times like this when he felt the age difference more keenly, the urge to protect his brother and reassure him. Even though he too was worried.

James rolled his eyes, acting as though Al was being ridiculous. "Al he's the saviour of the wizarding world, he's allowed to stay out past bedtime," he said in his most patronising voice, causing Albus to flush angrily as he stomped back to his room. Hopefully Al was now more irritated at him to be worried.

On his way back from the bathroom he knocked on his parents door, "Mum?" he asked quietly before pushing it. His mum was sat curled on the sofa in their room, reading a book Aunt Hermione must have lent her for he hadn't seen it before.

"What's wrong Jamie?" She asked, she didn't look worried and that for some reason reassured him. If she wasn't scared then neither should he be.

"Nothing Mum, just came to say night." Then surprising both of them, James initiated a hug. "Night," James said bashfully.

"Sweet dreams baby," she said stroking her hand over her hair. He was taller than her now but she still repeated the caress that had soothed him so as a child. He left the room quietly and dithered in the hallway, debating whether to go downstairs to wait against waiting in his nice comfy bed. He decided on the latter.

He laid in the bed for what felt like hours, waiting for the sound of the door downstairs. After sometime he heard his mother go downstairs, but he remained in his bed, his stomach clenched in worry. His door creaked open slowly and someone walked in. James tensed as the person stumbled over the mess. "Ow, crap." He heard his sister moan.

"Lil? What are you doing?" James said in surprise. When they were small Lily used to sneak into his room for comfort when she had decided it was uncool to go to their parents. But she hadn't since before his second year of Hogwarts.

"Couldn't sleep," she muttered dragging her blanket with her. She climbed over him and plopped herself onto the bed, turned away from him their backs facing each other. "Night."

"Night," he said in confusion. Within minutes her breathing evened out and he knew she was asleep. He stayed awake for a while longer until eventually he heard the door open and murmured voices from downstairs. Relieved, sleep finally took him.