Okay consider this a disclaimer, if you can't tell that I didn't write these

books. You really ought to check the author name and see a psychiatrist.

Thank you and enjoy chapter 17.

Chapter 17

Who Needs Family When You Have Marauders

By Empathicallychosen

"Our family is a circle of love and strength. With every birth and every union, the circle grows. Every joy shared adds more love. Every obstacle faced together makes the circle stronger." --Unknown

(o)(o)(o)

"May I see the ring again," asked Hermione as Lily filled Olivia and Victoria in on the proposal as they took the carriages back to Hogwarts after the holiday.

"Of course you can sweetie," said Lily allowing her hand to fall to Hermione's eye level and continuing to talk to her friends.

For some reason, Hermione had loved absolutely everything about Lily and James's engagement. She seemed to think that it was like something right out of her storybooks, the handsome prince rescuing the maiden from her wicked sister and what not. Some girls might have considered it a little strange to have a little girl thinking of them as some kind of princess in a bedtime story, but to be honest Lily found it rather flattering.

Besides it was harmless fun and if it made Hermione happy than it was worth all of the staring and snickering Lily got when Hermione started pretending that Lily was a princess. Especially when Lily considered how rarely Hermione smiled these days. Unlike the boys, the poor thing had never spent the holidays away from her family and spending the holidays with Lily's family really seemed to upset Hermione because she couldn't be with her parents. The only thing that seemed to console her was Lily's attention.

"That sister of yours is a real piece of work, saying stuff like that, and on Christmas Eve no less! I hope James popped her one," said Olivia when Lily elaborated on her sister's behavior.

"No, he didn't want my dad to take back his blessing. Ron nearly caused an earthquake though."

"Atta boy, Ron," said Victoria patting him on the head.

When they arrived at the Castle Lily looked up to see her future father-in-law staring back at her. It looked as though Aidan had been waiting for them for a while. Hermione's face brightened up immediately. She knew that the reason Aidan was waiting there had to have something to do with sending them home. James and the others seemed to come to the same realization, because James visibly paled and Sirius's hand tightened on Ron's shoulder. Harry didn't seem perplexed at all. He happily scampered up to his grandfather and started to relay all of his activities at Lily's house

"... and then James put the ring on her finger and they kissed! It was really yucky," Harry said dragging Lily's ring hand into the man's eye line.

"Well, welcome to the family Lily. Listen Harry, we need to talk," said Aidan kindly.

"Are we going home now," asked Hermione hopefully.

Aidan shook his head apologizing and then went on to say that he had spent the holiday doing hours of research each day and after vigorous interrogation of the Death Eater who had originally kidnapped the trio, Aidan discovered that the Death Eater used a relatively new spell drawing on the power of Solstice. This meant that, in no uncertain terms, the only way to get the kids home would be to cast a counter spell on the eve of the next solstice. And since Winter Solstice was over, it would be June before they could get the kids home. James let out a sigh of relief, however not everyone shared his sentiments. Little Hermione burst into tears and raced up to the Gryffindor tower without another word.

"Hey Ladybug, why are you crying? You heard our dad, we know how to get you home now. Next June you will be telling your mum all about our adventures," Sirius reminded her.

"But that's too far away," said Hermione sobbing so hard into Lily's shoulder they could barely understand her. "I want my mummy now!"

"I know, honey, I know. But you know what the good news is," said Lily warmly.

"What?"

"Aidan says you'll be back the same day you left. Which means you get two birthdays and two Christmases this year," Lily continued in a tone of excitement.

Hermione considered this. Aidan did seem pretty certain that they would go home in June and she really did like Lily and all the Marauders a lot. Well except for Peter. He was mean, but she loved everyone else and if they left now Harry might be sad. Harry would probably miss his Mummy and Daddy the way Hermione missed hers. Hermione thought about it and she decided that she would miss Lily and the Marauders too. Padfoot was always very fun to play with and Remus always told the best bedtime stories.

"O -- okay," she said taking deep breaths to calm herself down. "Come on Ron, let's go find Harry."

Sirius and Lily jumped. They hadn't noticed the small boy until Hermione brought him to their attention. This surprised Lily because it was usually Harry who blended in with the background. Ron was usually the one that they noticed most of all because he was so outspoken. But at the moment he was standing perfectly still and staring at Hermione, Lily and Sirius as though he was seeing them clearly for the first time.

Hermione hopped down from her bed and scurried quickly down the staircase. Ron was obviously very distracted by something because it took him several minutes to even realize that Hermione had left the room. Concerned, Lily and Sirius decided to follow them.

Downstairs they found Remus and James trying to explain why Harry had to go back to his own time, even though James and Lily loved him and his aunt and uncle didn't. Unfortunately, the more they tried to explain it the more miserably they failed. It was almost to the point where Harry was in tears. Whatever was troubling Ron seemed to distract him even more after arriving downstairs than ever before.

"All right, on that note I think it's time for bed," said Lily from the staircase coming to her fiancé's aid.

"Aw, do we have to," pouted Harry.

"You heard the queen," James replied definitively.

Harry nodded submissively and Harry, Ron and Hermione headed up to their dormitories, exhausted from the emotional upheaval they had that day. After tucking each of them in, Lily and James joined Victoria and Olivia in a couple of armchairs by the fire while Sirius and Remus sat in a far corner catching up on some reading they had to do. And that's when the exhaustion set in and they all fell asleep without even realizing it. None of them knew how long they had been there exactly, but it must have been quite awhile because when they woke up the common room was deserted.

The house elves must have sensed that they had not had an easy day with the 'eternus liberi', because on the table was a steaming pitcher of hot chocolate. Gratefully, Sirius poured himself a cup and rubbed a painful knot in his neck. These where the days that Peter complained about so incessantly. As Sirius pulled down at the mountain of homework in front of him, he reluctantly admitted that there was something to his argument that the children were trampling on their lifestyle.

Unlike Peter however, Sirius wasn't completely sure that it was a bad thing. He hated that he didn't have any time for himself and some nights he would give anything for a good nights sleep, but upon reflection Harry, Ron and Hermione offered him something that he would gladly give up sleeping for the rest of his life to obtain. Sirius was just pondering this when the panicked cry of a small voice brought him back to reality.

"PRONGS! PRONGS! HURRY, RON'S CRYING!" Harry called. The alarm in his voice was telling them that Harry had never experienced his best friend bursting into unexpected tears.

James groaned a little getting out of the armchair and quickly hurried up to the dormitory with Sirius, Remus, Lily, Olivia and Victoria following closely behind him. When they arrived in the dormitory they found no one was sleeping. Hermione and Harry were trying fervently to comfort Ron, who was sobbing loudly in his bed, and Peter was being his usual uncompassionate self, which just made the crying worse.

"Hey there, little man, what's the matter," said James sitting down next to Ron on the bed.

"I'm not crying," said Ron between deep shuddering breaths. Silent tears still streaming down his face.

Peter snorted cynically and Olivia glared at him.

"Of course not," Victoria consented. "You're just a little upset. Why don't we go downstairs and talk about it so Peter can get some sleep."

Slowly, Ron got out of his bed and allowed himself to be led over to the fireplace in the Common Room. Hermione and Harry followed the group as well. Hermione sat at Victoria's feet and Harry climbed up onto Remus's lap. Ron burst into tears again, but this time the lamentation was louder and messier than before. Even Hermione was taken aback.

"Shh, shh, come on now, we don't want to wake up the whole tower," said Olivia soothingly.

"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. Now why don't you tell us what the problem is so we can help you fix it," said Lily kneeling down on the floor next to the distraught child.

"I -- I don't miss m-my fa- family," Ron choked out sadly.

Remus chuckled, more out of relief that it wasn't anything more dire than out of amusement. Both Ron and Sirius didn't see eye-to-eye with Remus on this particular matter. Ron went back to crying and Sirius started staring at Ron as though he were evaluating the boy.

"Why don't you miss them, mate," he asked finally.

"They don't like me," Ron explained.

"That's ridiculous," said Remus calmly.

"No Moony, it's the truth. They don't like Ron because he is not normal," said a half sleeping Hermione.

Harry nodded his head energetically.

"Mummy says I was a mistake," admitted Ron in barely more than a whisper.

Sirius was very unhappy and James called Ron's mother something that made Lily glare at him even while she engulfed Ron in an enormous bear hug. Remus couldn't seem to say or do anything. He was so stunned that any woman would possibly say such a thing to her child. Victoria was outraged and horror-stricken, while Olivia stated affectionately that she just didn't understand how anyone could hate such a great kid.

"It's okay Ron. I'll share my mummy and daddy with you," Harry yawned. "We can even share Moony and Padfoot if you want."

Ron cheered up immediately.

"That's a wonderful idea Harry. So, problem solved I think. Now it's late and if you don't get to bed I'll have to call Dad and tell him that you're too tired for your surprise," said Sirius in his most mysterious voice.

"What is it? What is it," chorused Harry, Ron and Hermione together.

"Better get to bed or you'll never find out."

The atmosphere in the Great Hall the next morning was tense because, as was a common theme lately, the Marauders were fighting. More accurately speaking, Peter was pouting because of his friends' attachment to Harry, Ron and Hermione. All Harry had said was that he couldn't wait for Potions to be over so that they would finally find out what their big surprise was. It seemed that James, Sirius and Remus had forgotten that they had made plans to sneak into Hogsmeade and load up on sweets. James tried to explain that Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't going to be around much longer and they could go to Hogsmeade any time, but Peter wouldn't listen. He just kept hollering about how Harry was a deceitful midget who was going to ruin James's entire life and he proceeded to call the child everything under the sun until Lily finally got fed up and slapped him.

Nobody said much of anything on the way to Potions class. Things were so tense between the Marauders that none of them could stand to sit anywhere near Peter and they didn't care whether or not the separation furthered Peter's paranoia about Harry and the others.

"Do you hate Peter now," Hermione asked once James had finished setting up a play area for the children.

"Surprisingly no. He always gets this way around test time. As soon as the N.E.W.T.s are over things will calm down," said James glancing over at Peter. "Do me a favor and try to stay away from him until then, okay?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione promised they would try and turned their attention to Professor Slughorn. The man must have gone somewhere warm for the holiday because he was particularly tan. In fact, he was sunburned and he had to leave class before it even started to see Madam Pomfrey about some kind of ointment, leaving the class to fend for them selves. Harry heard footsteps coming closer, but was far too busy pretending that Hedwig was kissing Andy the teddy bear like he had seen Sirius kissing a Hufflepuff girl last week, and only looked up when Hermione squealed.

"Livi, will you hide Crookshanks for me," she muttered staring straight ahead.

Harry followed her gaze and shuddered. Isabella Fontaine and Samantha Tisdale were headed straight towards them.

"Oh no! Hedwig, fly away quick before she sees you," he told his beloved toy, nervously throwing it as far as he could before it landed, miraculously, right in the middle of Remus's lap.

"Yikes! Hurry Pig! You fly away too. Follow Hedwig," Ron said, throwing the pygmy owl straight up in the air before it came crashing down. He stared at it disappointedly. "You're not very smart."

Sirius choked with laughter that reverberated through the chambers of the dungeon.

"I don't think you have to worry about Isabella taking your toys," said Remus, who seemed completely confident in his statement. "I'm sure she'll be to busy with James to bother you again."

"But why? James gave all of his good toys to me," Harry asked puzzled.

Everyone stared at Remus to see how he would respond. Thankfully, he was spared having to answer because Isabella had reached the table and Harry was far too busy helping Ron hide Pig to worry about James. Olivia was brimming with excitement. She had been looking forward to Isabella's reaction to Lily and James's engagement news ever since Lily had showed Olivia the ring. Isabella was surely going to die.

"Hi Jamie, how was your holiday?"

"Great! I met with Lily's parents . . . Say what do you think of Lily's Christmas present," he asked pleasantly, trying to hide a smirk behind his hands.

Harry watched curiously as Lily held out her hand to show Isabella the engagement ring and was surprised to see that Lily was smiling. Harry had never seen Lily smile in Isabella's presence before. Samantha's eyes looked as though they were going to fall out of her head. Isabella looked like her head was going to explode. For a long time she just stood there gaping at them with her mouth wide open.

"You -- you -- you're going to marry her," Isabella stuttered in disbelief.

James nodded, unable to mask his wide grin any longer. Isabella's face got as red as the lava from a volcano. She was shaking violently with anger as she turned to Lily with a menacing look in her eyes.

"You conniving hag. How dare you? You sneaky little wretch! Pretending you didn't like him, while I spent six years of my life trying to catch him. I didn't waste all that time trying to hide my contempt for Quidditch and trying to fake that whole maternal instincts crock so that you could steal my boyfriend! How did you do it, huh? A spell? An enchantment? Love potion? Merlin knows you're too frumpy to get him any other way," Isabella snarled practically salivating with rage.

James was just about to respond by cursing her with boils on her overly made up face when Harry piped up.

"My Lily is way smarter, prettier and nicer then you," he snapped, fiercely.

Isabella got a deranged look in her eyes as she stared venomously down at Harry, who bravely stood his ground. SMACK! Isabella had struck Harry sharply across the face. Harry stumbled, unsure what to do. Hermione was the first one to act. Abruptly she ran to find cover on Victoria's lap. Instinctively Ron followed, holding Pig so tightly it would take the jaws of life to separate them. Harry stared up at Isabella and decided that his friends had the right idea and raced over to his godfather for protection with tears streaming down his face. Lily, Olivia and James stood up seething with anger.

Peter was sitting at the front of the potions class, brooding about the events that morning. He was furious with those three brats for continuing to ruin his life. He just didn't understand why the others couldn't see that Harry would bring nothing but misery into their world. It was already happening to Peter. One minute he was living life to the fullest, doing whatever he pleased and the next these kids popped out of nowhere and suddenly Peter was a nobody. Peter knew that if he could just get the kids out of the picture everything would be fine again, but everything he tried backfired.

Then it hit Peter. He had been completely open with his loathing of Harry, while James was on his little paternal kick. What he should have been doing was pretending he actually cared what happened to the little ankle biter, keeping himself in good standing with James and the others, while he perfected a plan to get rid of Harry, Ron and Hermione. That way no one would suspect anything when Harry had been taken care of. Peter decided that what he needed to do now was to fix things with James and pull a changed man routine, at least until June. Then he would correct the mistake that James made in the first place. Even if Peter wasn't able to convince James never to have children, a lot could happen to a baby if Lord Voldemort reigned supreme.

It was perfect. The only question was how he was going to prove to the other Marauders that he had changed. Just when the situation seemed hopeless, an opportunity presented itself.

"My Lily is way smarter, prettier and nicer then you."

Peter could hardly keep from throwing up at the sappiness of it all.

SMACK! Peter watched along with the rest of the class as Lily headed toward Isabella, but Isabella was prepared for this. At once she whipped out her wand and said, "This has been a long time coming hasn't it mudblood?"

"Oh please, you don't have what it takes," snapped Victoria, positively seething with rage.

However, it seemed that Victoria was wrong. As a matter of fact, it seemed that they were all wrong about Isabella. She did have the muscle to back up her threats. There was a flash of magenta light. Lily was on the floor covered in blood and tears. Instantly, everyone knew what had happened. Isabella had used a form of the Cruciatus curse that, unlike its mother spell, was just barely legal. Peter knew this could be his only chance to get back into the group. He stood up and approached Isabella as swiftly as he could.

"That was uncalled for," he snapped drawing his wand.

Peter wasn't sure how far he wanted to take this little charade, but thankfully he was saved from any further action because Professor Dumbledore was standing in the doorway looking more frightening than Peter had ever seen him in his life. The headmaster separated the two of them with very little effort and when Professor Slughorn arrived (and was sent back to the Hospital Wing to get the matron), Professor Dumbledore led Isabella from the room, shouting at the girl and mentioning expulsion at least half a dozen times.

Peter chanced to glance at his friends. He hadn't done much, but judging by the looks on their faces he could see that his plan had worked.

-- -- --

Harry was very confused by the time he left the dungeons after class. He could sense that Peter hadn't really cared about Isabella hurting him. If anything, Harry thought he sensed pleasure about it. What Harry didn't understand was why James was being so nice to Peter now. He didn't even do anything to Isabella! The other thing that was baffling Harry, was why Peter had stood up to Isabella in the first place.

Harry shook his head and tried to focus on his surprise. No matter what he said or did, Sirius wouldn't tell them anything, except that they were going to love it. Harry started imagining all the fabulous things Sirius might have in store for them when he noticed, with some disappointment, that they were headed to the Quidditch pitch.

"Why are we going here? We've already seen the Quid --"

Harry stopped mid-sentence. In the middle of the pitch sat a glistening motorbike, complete with a sidecar. Sirius took Harry, Ron and Hermione out to the middle of the pitch and let them examine it. Then he announced that he was going to take them flying in it. Harry had never heard of such a thing as a flying motorbike. He was sure that Uncle Vernon would not be pleased. Hermione backed away a little bit.

"I don't wanna fly, " she said fearfully.

"That's okay. It stays on the ground too," Padfoot assured her.

"Oh okay. Then can I go first, " she asked, showing just as much enthusiasm as the boys.

Padfoot said that she could and she got in the sidecar, which Padfoot promised an apprehensive Olivia had numerous safety enchantments, and they drove around the pitch a few times. Ron went next and Harry was completely spellbound to see that it actually could fly. He couldn't wait to get up in the air. Harry had fantasized about flying ever since the first time he saw James take off on his broomstick.

Then, finally, it was Harry's turn. Flying through the sky was the most fantastical feeling in the world. The sun was bathing them in an entirely new kind of warmth and the speed of the motorbike created a gentle breeze that made the entire experience absolutely perfect. Everything looked so different from up there. The trees, the birds, even Hagrid looked small. The best thing of all was that being so high in the sky Harry didn't have to worry about anything down below. It was like he had left all of his worries, cares and suspicions about Peter somewhere on the grass for another time.

A/N: First of all would like to thank Nicolett for her wonderful anonymous review. Second and perhaps most importantly I would like to let you all know that there's only one chapter left and if you would like to make suggestions or comments on things you would like to see happen in the sequel which will be called reunion with darkness. Then please click the little button that says submit review now click go good
next chapter epilogue. Will the trio make it back home. Will Peter succeeded his plans to keep James from ever having children?