Harry awoke with a start the next morning, thinking that the day before had only been a cruel dream. He quickly showered and dressed before running down to the kitchen to see his wacked up family sitting around the table eating.

Lily smiled brightly and fixed him a plate when he sat down. "Eat up," she commanded. "We're getting out of here today."

"Yes!" Ron exclaimed. "No offense, Sirius, mate, but this place is boring."

"I ran away from here," Sirius reminded him. "I am aware of how boring this place is."

"Do you think it's wise to have Harry leave the house?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"YES!" Everyone else at the table, including Harry exclaimed.

"But-."

"Mrs. Weasley," Lily began sweetly. "I really appreciate your concern for Harry's well-being. However, if he's anything like me, and I'm sure he is, he will go mad staying cooped up in this house."

Mrs. Weasley looked disgruntled and opened her mouth but Remus beat her to the punch.

"We're going to be in muggle areas anyway, We'll be relatively safe, plus there are Order members going along too. We planned this, Molly, we know what we're doing."

"Now that that's settled," James said loudly.

An hour later when everyone was headed toward the Ministry so James, Sirius, and Lily could get their wands back, the adults, chose that time to have a serious discussion.

"She thinks I'm not good enough to be Harry's mother," Lily hissed.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "She doesn't think anyone deserves to be Harry's parent."

"She's going to have to get over it," Lily said firmly. "Because I am his mother and I have more stories in the short year I had with him than the six she's know him."

"Down, Tiger," James murmured.

"Will you two stop with the sexual pet names?" Sirius exclaimed. "Merlin, you two can be so selfish."

Remus nodded sadly. "It's true."

"Always touching each other," Sirius said, point at James's hand squeezing Lily's thigh.

"It's rather rude," Remus said.

Lily flushed and pushed James's hand off her lap. "Shut up," she muttered. "Harry!"

Harry turned from his conversation with Ron and Hermione at his mother's call. "Er-yes?"

"How are you?" Lily asked. "You look kind of peaky."

"He's not pregnant, Lily," Sirius said.

Lily turned to Sirius and raised her eyebrows. "You? Shut up."

"Done and done," Sirius assured her quickly.

Lily expected the trip to the Ministry to be a quick one but Minister Fudge's secretary didn't seem to want to cooperate. So Lily had to take matters into her own hands.

"I'm sorry," the young witch said snootily. "But the Minister is in a conference and does not want to be interrupted."

Lily smiled falsely. "Really? Well, Brittany-," Lily checked the girl's tag. "is it? That's just too bad, because we need to see Minister Fudge. If you have a problem with it, take it up with your boss."

With that final statement, Lily turned on her heel, past the desk and into the Minister's office where she beheld a sight so horrible it burned her eyes. "For the love of all things pure, James, shield their eyes!" she cried.

There before them were Dolores Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge-indulging in sexual activities-on his desk-in public. The two scrambled off each other and straightened their clothing.

"I believe that my scratch has been itched," Fudge said. "Thank you, Delores."

"Not at all, Minister," she said in her sickening voice.

Fudge cleared his throat and waved to the seats in front of his desk. "May I help you?"

James shook his head vigorously. "I mean, yes, but, er-we don't need to sit."

"We need our wands back," Sirius said.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny nodded quickly in agreement.

"We also need to hex you because of the way you've treated Harry," James added. Sirius nodded his agreement.

Cornelius Fudge paled before flushing with fury. "Now, listen here! I am the Minister of Magic, you can't tell me-."

"Try us," Sirius growled. "I take it you know that it was Umbridge who set dementors on Harry last summer. And that she used illegal blood quills for her detentions, and that she attempted to use an unforgivable on Harry. Why isn't that hag in Azkaban?"

Fudge paled again. "We-er-settled this last year. Didn't we, Son?" he asked Harry.

Harry shook his head gleefully. "Nope. In fact you blamed the whole thing on me."

"You know," Lily placed a hand on Sirius's arm. "We'll just be getting our wands."

James reached over and grabbed them from a crevice near the door. "Thank you."

"By the way, Minster," Lily said on their way out. "Politicians are supposed to be liars. But they're not supposed to get caught."

"What is that supposed to mean, Mrs. Potter?" Fudge asked through clenched teeth.

"You take that which ever way you want to, Fudgey," Lily smiled.

As they were leaving the Ministry, James turned to Sirius. "What was that, back there?"

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean?"

Lily joined the conversation. "The stuff about the Dementors and unfogivables?"

Sirius blanched. "You have to talk to Harry about it."

James frowned but accepted it.

Lily, however, did not. "Sirius! Please, I'm his mother."

Sirius wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulder. "I know, Lily Tiger. But you're going to have to trust me on this. Okay?"

Lily pouted but in the end, nodded.

The group split up. Sirius, Remus, James, along with Ron and Harry went to a muggle cinema, while Lily went with Hermione and Ginny to a mall near the theater.

"So," James said while they were in line for their tickets. "How about that show back there?"

Harry turned green and Ron laughed.

"You should see you face, mate, it's priceless," Ron laughed.

Harry punched Ron. "This is not a laughing matter."

Just to tease him, James and Sirius laughed loudly.

Finally they were at the front of line and Sirius scanned the showtimes. "Chick flick, chick flick, chick flick," Sirius muttered. "Eureka! We're going to watch Soul Food. It's a chick flick, but there are hot chicks in that one."

James rolled his eyes and paid the guy at the box office. Being married to a muggleborn had it's perks, including have a need for muggle money.

They sat in the center of the movie theater. While Ron and Sirius were racing to see how much popcorn they could eat, James took the time to talk to Harry.

"I just realized that I don't know who you were living with while your mum and I were gone," James said.

"No, you don't know," Harry said evasively. If his temper had any correlation to his parents, he didn't want to be there when James got upset.

"Don't try to evade the question. I invented evasion when my parents starting asking why Sirius was over so much back when he ran away," James informed him. "Spill."

"I sort of lived with Aunt Petunia," Harry mumbled, stuffing a fistful of popcorn into his mouth.

James stiffened. "Petunia Evans Dursley?" he asked tonelessly.

"That's the only Petunia I know," Harry said, trying to make a joke of it.

However, before James could begin to rant, the movie began and he decided to continue the conversation later.

Meanwhile, the ladies were sitting in the food court at the local mall.

"This is so weird," Ginny burst.

Lily smiled indulgently. "You're telling me."

"I meant to ask," Hermione began. "How was-."

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed. "You don't ask people 'how was death?'. It's just not done."

Lily laughed. "Come, let's check out the shops. My treat."

"You know, Mrs. Potter, I like you already," Ginny smiled.

Dinner that evening was a festive affair. Lily cooked along with Mrs. Weasley and the table groaned under the strain of plates and goblets. Harry had a hard time hearing anything as everyone was talking above each other to be heard but his eye caught his mother and she smiled and he knew he wouldn't have it any other way.

Harry was heading up the stairs with Hermione and Ron when Lily grabbed his arm.

"Would you two mind terribly if I borrowed Harry for a while?" Lily asked Ron and Hermione.

"Not at all," Hermione shook her head.

"Splendid."

Lily said nothing to Harry as she dragged him into the drawing room. She shoved him onto the couch in between his father and Sirius. Remus stood a while away, grinning at the sight of three men cowering at the tiny Lily.

"We need to talk," Lily said.

Harry stared at his mother through wide eyes. "Er-about what?"

"What happened after your mother and I died?" James asked.

Harry shot Sirius a withering look. Sirius looked away and whistled a happy tune. "Sirius said something, didn't he?"

"Yes," Lily admitted. "But, that's not the point. Talk to us, Harry. We really want you to be comfortable with us."

"I am," Harry lied. "THi is great."

"You're lying," Lily deadpanned. "Just because I haven't been around for about 14 years, doesn't mean I can't tell when my so is lying."

Harry looked down. "It doesn't matter. I mean, you're here now."

"But, what if," Lily began when James shot her a dark look.

"What your mother means," he stressed. "Is that, yes we're here, but we want to know how you fared without us."

Harry sighed deeply. "Fine. I'll tell you. Dumbledore left me on Aunt Petunia's doorstep…"

FAQ:

I don't think I have any questions to answer this week or anything to say. However, yeah, I got nothing.