A/N: Thanks quickly to the people who have reviewed this fic so far. Thanks especially to LilyLavender14, bonifaco16 and BeckyBoo12221 for reviewing the last chapter. Enjoy!
2. The Vanishing Glass
"WHAT?" James jolted upright in bed. It was about five in the morning, judging by the pale rays of light seeping in through the scarlet curtain, and he hadn't expected to be woken for another few hours. Rubbing his eyes and trying not to fall asleep where he stood, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, and made for the door, the other Marauders and their dorm-mate Frank on his heel. He'd recognize that voice anywhere.
"Lily?" He croaked, as he made his way down the stairs and into the Gryffindor common room, where the fiery red head was pacing, looking furious. "What are you doing? It's early!"
"He left him on the doorstep?" The girl growled, bright green eyes flashing dangerously. "With my sister? On the doorstep?" James sighed. Oh. It all made sense now.
"Look, can we talk about this later?" He asked, ruffling his hair up at the back. His eyes were fixed on the staircase behind Lily, to the girls dormitories. It appeared that Lily's outburst had attracted quite a crowd.
"No!" Lily snapped, turning her anger on him. "We're going to talk about it now! In fact, get your little friends; we're going to the Room of Requirement to do some more reading!"
"But-"
"Don't you dare try and fight me on this James!" She said dangerously, eyes glinting. "Come on, let's go!" And she dragged him through the portrait hole and out of the common room by the collar of his crimson pajamas, barely leaving him time to call over his shoulder at his friends to follow him.
"You know, Lily," he said once he was released from her grasp, massaging his neck. "I'm beginning to regret telling you about this book."
"Yes, well I'm beginning to regret your existence, but you don't hear me complaining do you?"
James blinked. "Someone's snarky this morning."
Lily growled threateningly, "Don't you dare irritate me right now James, or you'll wish you'd never been born!" James gulped, and decided to do the wise thing –shut up. Lily threw him a sharp look. "Why are you being so calm?" He asked, annoyed, "Why aren't you being all angry and indignant too?"
James let out a long yawn, "Too early." He grunted.
Lily scowled. "Of course."
When they paced past the wall on the seventh floor and stepped into the Room of Requirement, it was to find the future children all asleep, the sounds of soft snoring and deep breathing drifting through the air. A strangely tender look passed over Lily's face as she caught sight of a tuft of flaming red hair poking out the top of a blanket on one of the beds (which had popped out of nowhere once they were needed). She made her way over to the girl and gave her head a gentle stroke. She turned to the others.
"Let's not wake them," she said in a low voice, "They already know what happens. "Let's just read by ourselves." James, who also was staring down at the little girl, nodded.
And so, the four Marauders plus Lily, settled into the chairs from the previous night (James sharing a sofa with Sirius, Lily with Remus, and Peter once again alone).
"I'll read," said Lily, and opened the book to the appropriate page.
Chapter Two, she read, The Vanishing Glass.
James grinned. This chapter smelled of accidental magic.
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, (Lily growled) But Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursley's front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bobble hats –
"Charming," Lily muttered, scowling at the book.
But Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blonde boy riding his first bicycle,
"And it didn't break from his weight?" Sirius gasped, dragging a tired chuckle out of James, who was holding his eyes open with his fingers in an effort to stay awake.
On a roundabout at the fair,
"Same question."
Playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign that another boy lived in the house too.
"Maybe one of us took him," said Sirius hopefully, "Me or Remus or Pete." But Lily shook her head grimly, as she read the next sentence.
Yet Harry Potter was still there,
"Damn!" Said Sirius. Lily quickly checked to see his cursing hadn't woken anyone up, before turning to him with a reproachful look and gesturing for him to be quiet.
Asleep at the moment, but not for long. His aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.
Lily shuddered. "Horrible thing to wake up to."
"Up! Get up! Now!"
"Lovely Tuney," Lily scowled, narrowing her eyes at the book.
Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.
"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking towards the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker. He rolled on to his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it.
"IT WASN'T A DREAM HARRY!" Sirius yelled at the book, so loudly that James jumped violently and covered his ears with his hands, and Lily turned to check on the kids again. "IT WAS REAL!"
"Padfoot!" James hissed, massaging his head. "What's with the shouting?"
"It was real!" Sirius said excitedly, but lowered his voice as a sharp look from Lily.
"Well, we know that, don't we?" James said, glaring. It appeared that Sirius's shouted had done what nothing else could do, and had woken him up. "You don't need to shout!"
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes as Sirius began to pout and complain. Ignoring this, she turned back to the book.
He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.
"Yes, we know it wasn't a dream Sirius!" said James, clapping a hand over Sirius's mouth and sighing. He had to deal with this kind of thing way too much for his liking.
His aunt was back outside the door.
"Are you up yet?" she demanded.
"Nearly," said Harry.
"Well, get a move on,
"Lovely person, you're sister," James said dryly, but flinched at the look Lily shot him.
"What was that James?" she said.
James gulped, "Nothing, nothing…"
I want you to look after the bacon.
"She's making him cook?" Lily growled, forgetting what she's just told James off for doing. James decided not to point the hypocrisy out to her however. Lily could be scary when she was mad.
And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."
"Do it yourself if you care about it so much," James grumbled while Sirius scowled. Lily blinked, confused. Since when had those two ever cared about a person?
Harry groaned.
"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.
"He didn't say anything horse-face!" said Peter, scowling. The other Marauders all smirked at his remark and not even Lily could find it in herself to tell him off. It was true after all.
"Nothing, nothing..."
James blinked. Now that was just odd…
Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider of one of them,
James grimaced. Urgh! Spiders...
Put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,
"So?" James said, bewildered.
And that was where he slept.
"He WHAT?" James roared shooting to his feet and ignoring the grumbles of the people he'd woken. "The cupboard under – What d'you mean the cupboard under the stairs?" He stared at Lily through burning, furious eyes, as though it was somehow her fault that her sister had locked his son in a small, stuffy cupboard. Beside him, Sirius had jumped up as well, and was glowering around the room, looking ready to kill. "Wuzzgoinon?" James heard from one of the beds, but disregarded it completely, seething.
"He did not just say the cupboard under the stairs!" He growled loudly and, Lily had to admit, quite frighteningly. "Dursley! I swear when I get my hands on you you'll wish you were never born! I-"
"James," Lily said quietly, standing up from her own seat next to Remus who was glaring murderously at the book in Lily's arms and looking quite like he'd like to rip it apart. Lily shivered. Who knew he could look so honestly scary? "James," she said again, and she carefully approached the boy. She laid a hesitant hand on his arm, and tried not to wince as he started from the contact. She tried very hard not to notice his bulging muscles, which were twitching and flexing as he clenched and unclenched his fists, hazel eyes burning with rage. He looked down at her for a moment, honestly startled that she was standing so close – he hadn't noticed her stand up – and just looked at her for a short moment, before nodding reluctantly, and settling into his sofa, trying hard not to crack his knuckles threateningly.
When he was dressed he went down to the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all of Dudley's birthday presents.
James growled, thinking that if his son got a single present less than his cousin, he might just punch something. He noticed a conveniently placed punch bag hanging in an obscure corner of the room and blinked. Had that been there all along?
It looked as though Dudley had got the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.
Lily looked at James expectantly, almost as if waiting for him to interrupt and ask what these things were, but he was too furious to give it any thought. To her bemusement, it was Sirius who spoke.
"What does he need a racing bike for? The fat lump will squash it the first time he sits on it." This was said with such bitterness and hostility that Lily was extremely startled. She still wasn't used to this whole Potter-and-Black-caring-about-people thing. She entertained for a few moments, the idea that she was dreaming, but she dismissed that thought almost at once. Why would she dream about Potter? She imagined his reaction if he ever heard that such a thing had occurred. She shuddered. It hardly bared thinking about.
Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry,
"Exactly Harry!" Sirius exclaimed emphatically.
As Dudley was very fat and hated exercise –
"See?" Sirius cried, practically glowing, "The Prongslet thinks like me!"
Lily groaned, "We're all doomed!"
Unless of course it involved punching somebody.
And if that person's Harry… James thought. He might be needing that punch-bag earlier than he'd thought.
Dudley's favourite punch-bag was Harry,
James growled and got to his feet. He stalked past Lily and Remus, ignoring the worried looks on their faces, past the children just getting up from their beds, and over to the punch-bag. "Take. That. You. Bullying. Toe-rag. Take. That." He timed each word with a hearty punch, then turned and walked back to the sofa, sitting back down and turning expectantly to Lily as though this were the most normal thing in the world. Lily shook her head. Did James Potter seriously just call someone else a bullying toe-rag? Oh, the irony…
But he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.
"Sounds like you James," Sirius grinned in an effort to break the tension, "He's going to be a great Quidditch player." It worked.
"Yeah he is!" James yelled triumphantly, punching the air with his fist, "Way to go Harry!"
Sirius grinned.
Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard,
All my hard work! Sirius thought hopelessly, as James's face darkened again, Stupid Muggles!
But Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.
"Nope, sorry kid," Sirius grinned. There was still hope! "That's just the Potter genes. James was a scrawny git too when I first met him." And he ducked to avoid a punch being directed at him by his so-called "best friend".
"Trust me Black," James growled, "If you don't mysteriously shut up in the next two seconds, you're going on my black list."
Sirius gulped, and nodded mutely. James sighed and turned away. "Indecently," Sirius began, cowering when James turned to look at him, "who's actually on your black list?"
James grinned and tapped the side of his nose. "Let's just say that a certain couple of Muggles and their spoilt brat of a son are going to be getting a kick up the arse if they don't change their act soon."
He looked even smaller than he actually was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's
James sighed but seemed to have calmed down, if only a little.
And Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.
Remus snorted. "Fat ba-"
"Remus!" Lily cut him off, looking shocked.
Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright-green eyes.
Lily felt a soft smile pass over her face and looked over at James, thoroughly expecting to see him indifferent. To her surprise however, he was smiling too, and if she hadn't known better she would have sworn that his eyes were slightly glazed. Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Could it be possible that Potter of all people, cared more about her baby than she did?
He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
The smiled slid from James's face as quickly as it had come, and his eyes took on a hard, burning look. Lily shuddered. She would hate to be in the Dursley's shoes when James dealt with them.
The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning.
"He liked that?" interrupted Al, who had slunk over in his pajamas to join the readers. It was fascinating being in the mind of his 11 year old father. "He always said he hated it."
Lily Jr nodded, looking wise. "He probably only started hating it when he found out the significance of it." She said knowledgably, and Al dipped his head in recognition.
He had had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it.
"In the car crash when your parents died,"
"WHAT?" Lily sighed as James once again jumped to his feet. She felt a wave of chagrin run through her, as she watched Black's attempts to calm her future husband down, and it wasn't about the lying. Did James care more about her future son than she did?
She had said. "And don't ask questions."
Don't ask questions – that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
James scowled but didn't interrupt. It seemed Sirius had done a good job calming him down.
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.
James snorted. "Don't bother, it won't work," he said, running his hands through his own untamable mess of hair. Lily scowled.
About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.
"Yup," James sighed, causing the other Marauder's to snigger. They exchanged glances, clearly sharing some happy memory. Lily scowled again, not buying James's chagrin for a second.
Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large, pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes and thick, blonde hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.
"Beautiful image," Remus smirked.
Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel –
Snorts were heard all round.
Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.
There was a moment of silence, then – "Ha!" Sirius let out his usual bark-like laugh, and raucous laughter burst out through the room. "Prongs mate," Sirius grinned when the laughter had died down, "I worship your son." And, still chortling, he turned back to Lily, waiting for her to continue the reading.
Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents.
James snorted.
His face fell.
"Of course it did."
"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."
"Darling, you haven't counted Aunt Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."
"Alright then, thirty-seven then,"
"Well done, you can count," said Sirius snarklily.
Said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.
Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger too, because she said quickly, "And we'll by you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"
Lily blinked. That was no way to raise a child!
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.
James snorted.
Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"
"Okay, I take that back," said Sirius, retracting his earlier statement, and looking disgusted.
"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.
James looked nauseated. "Lily, your sister seriously needs some backbone.
It was a fair point, and coming from anyone else Lily would have heartily agreed, but she just glared at James and said, "Shut up Potter. She's got a hundred times more backbone than you." And she read on quickly before he could reply.
"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."
Again, James looked sickened but decided, very wisely in Lily's opinion, not to say anything.
Uncle Vernon chuckled.
"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.
This time, James wasn't able to contain himself. "Of course Dudley would get rewarded for being a spoilt prat while Harry gets jammed in a cupboard for being decent. Lily couldn't bring herself to glare.
At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a cine-camera, a remote control aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a video recorder.
Peter looked like he'd never had more questions in his life, but restrained himself, having noticed the hostile looks the future children were directing at him with some confusion.
He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.
"Two Galleons it has something to do with Harry," James announced to the room.
"I don't think anyone's going to take that bet, Prongs," Remus grinned, causing James to pout childishly.
"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction."
Lily scowled. "He's not an animal Petunia!" She scolded, glaring at the book.
Dudley's mouth fell open in horror but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.
Sirius choked. "Cats!" He snarled, looking crazed. "I hate cats!" James sniggered.
"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.
"It's not his fault!" James and Lily cried in unison.
Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.
"Harry!" Lily chided half-heatedly while Sirius nodded vehemently along with Harry's train of thought.
"Stupid cats," he muttered.
"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.
"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."
"And I'm sure he's just so fond of her," James spat. Lily stared at him, shocked by the venom in his voice.
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.
James growled. Again, Lily stared. Why did he seem to care so much more than she did? It wasn't right!
"What about what's-her-name, your friends – Yvonne?"
"On holiday in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.
"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).
"Not going to happen," Remus sighed, at the same time that Sirius smirked, saying, "Nice try kiddo."
Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.
"And come back to find the house in ruins?" she snarled.
"I won't blow up the house," said Harry,
Remus snorted. "If you're anything like James, you will."
Lily scowled. "And if he's anything like me, he won't!" she said hotly. She didn't like the thought of her son being like Potter. James looked crestfallen.
But they weren't listening.
"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car …"
"He's not a dog Petunia!" Lily said crossly.
"Hey!" snapped Sirius, "I'll have you know that dogs are very beautiful and intelligent animals, who deserve to be treated with respect!" For some reason, Lily pondered, it seemed like he wasn't talking only to her as he said this, as he kept shooting pointed glares at his three friends, who were sniggering behind their hands. None of them noticed the amused looks the future children shared.
"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone …"
James scowled.
Dudley began to cry loudly.
"What a baby!" Sirius said.
In fact, he wasn't really crying, it had been years since he'd really cried,
"Oh."
But he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.
"What an arse!" Sirius scowled.
"Dinky-"
Lily broke off, making an odd choking nose, before she broke into a peal of laughter. Sirius blinked. While his friends liked her, and he'd tried to be supportive, Lily had always come off to him as a little prude. He'd never seen her laugh. All was explained though, as she gasped out the line.
"Duddydums, don't cry,
Her laughter was suddenly echoed all over the room. Remus doubled up, James took off his glasses to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes, Peter had fallen off his chair and was rolling around on the floor, and Sirius was snorting uncontrollably.
"Dinky – Duddydums!" the latter choked out, as his face grew steadily redder. It was a while before Lily had collected herself enough to read again.
Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.
"I … don't … want … him … t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.
James swore and made a rude hand gesture at the book.
Just then, the doorbell rang – "Oh, Good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically –
"Drama queen," Lily snorted.
And a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.
"Hey!" cried Peter, looking mortally offended, "Don't compare a rat to the likes of him! I'm ten times the person he is!"
The Marauders nodded fervently, but Lily, who couldn't see the connection between the two pronouncements, merely looked confused.
Albus sighed as he watched Sirius nodding passionately along with the rest. Oh, the irony.
He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.
"Well, he sounds great," James said dryly. Lily bit back a retort, finding no reason to fight Potter on this.
Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.
"Of course," James said savagely.
Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.
"Why do I not like the sound of that?" James sighed, looking compassionately at the book as though he could see Harry through it. That scared Lily more than anything. Why hadn't she been the one to say that? It really did seem like Harry meant more to James than he did to her. What did that say about her parenting skills?
"I'm warning you," he said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's,
"Ew!" Sirius squealed in a very girl-like fashion, and scooted back in the couch as though Uncle Vernon were talking to him and not Harry. Lily snorted, the amusement getting to her before she could stop it. Sirius looked stunned.
"I'm warning you now, boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."
"And I'm warning you Dursley," James growled, "You lay so much as a finger on my son and you won't live to see Christmas." Lily gulped. Somehow, she didn't doubt it.
"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honest …"
"Urgh, don't go saying that Harry!" said Remus sadly, shaking his head. "You've gone and jinxed it," he shook his head again disappointedly, as though saddened by Harry's knowledge about the way of the world. Peter smirked.
But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him.
"Of course he didn't," James sighed.
No one ever did.
The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry
"Yay, accidental magic!" crowed Sirius, bouncing up and down on the sofa childishly. His namesake sniggered.
And it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.
"Because you did, Harry!" Sirius yelled excitedly. Remus sighed and face-palmed, much to the amusement of Lily Jr and Rose.
Lily Sr however, sighed sadly, "Oh Tuney," she whispered, "It's accidental magic, you know it is! Why punish him for it?" She stared beseechingly at the book as though expecting an answer, then, realizing she wasn't likely to get one, continued reading.
Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barber's looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his fringe, which she had left "to hide that horrible scar".
James scowled and made a face at the book, a movement, oddly enough, shadowed by Lily.
Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who had spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and sellotaped glasses.
"Stupid kids," James muttered.
Next morning, however, he head got up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.
Lily frowned at the use of the word "sheared". What was he, a sheep?
He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.
"Stupid Dursleys," James muttered.
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange bobbles).
Even Peter, who was sent the most horrendous jumpers from his mother for Christmas, cringed at that, shrinking into the couch as though afraid the jumper was going to leap out of the book and attack him. The future children snorted, watching Sirius, whose face was twisted into a disgusted grimace, and James, who was staring blankly at the opposite wall as though scarred just by hearing it. Lily tried very hard not to laugh.
The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it became, until finally it might have been able to fit a glove puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.
The whole room let out a breath they hadn't realized they had been holding, and Sirius grinned, "Alright, mini-Prongs!" he said, punching the air with his fist, "Nice save!"
Remus rolled his eyes.
Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.
Lily paused at that, looking thoughtful. Petunia must have realized that it was accidental magic – she was not, however much Lily liked to disagree, completely stupid. She couldn't help but wonder whether her sister had just decided to overlook it. Although why she would overlook that but not the hair thing, she had no idea. Maybe she just didn't want her dear husband to believe that she could hold so much as a shred of compassion for a freak. Yes, that was probably it. Lily sighed. Oh, Tuney…
On the other hand, he'd got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.
"What?" Lily asked, looking annoyed. If her son turned out to be a rule-breaker like his father, she might just hit something.
Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.
The Marauders, including Remus who Lily shot a death glare (she'd always thought he was the good one!) burst into laughter, and Lily nodded thoughtfully. She guessed that was all right. She still didn't like it though.
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school building. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big bins outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed the wind must have caught him mid-jump.
"Oh, come on, godson of mine!" Sirius exclaimed with an air of long suffering martyrdom, "Surely you could come up with something better than that!"
"Godson?" James asked, bemused, staring at Sirius.
"Well, of course," Sirius looked at him as though it were the most obvious thing in the world (which, in his mind, it was), "Who else would you pick?" His tone left no room for argument, and James sighed, accepting defeat. After all, he thought to himself sheepishly, it was perfectly true.
But today, nothing was gong to go wrong.
"What did I tell you about jinxing it?" Remus said, half sigh, half growl. Teddy raised his eyebrows at him, smirking.
It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard or Mrs Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.
Sirius chuckled. "I love the way your son thinks," he said, in reply to James's questioning look.
While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects.
"Wow, I think he likes you Harry," Sirius said dryly to the book.
"Noticed have you?" said Lily loftily.
This morning, it was motorbikes.
"What's wrong with motorbikes?" Sirius sniffed.
"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorbike overtook them.
"I had a dream about a motorbike," said Harry, remembering suddenly.
"Oh no," Lily moaned.
"It was flying."
"Stupid, stupid!" she muttered.
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beetroot with a moustache,
Sirius chuckled again, "Prongs mate, your son in a genius," he chortled appreciatively.
"MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!"
Dudley and Piers sniggered.
"I know they don't," said Harry, "It was only a dream."
Lily sighed.
But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, (Lily scowled) it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
James snorted angrily, "Doesn't even let my son dream," he muttered, "Stupid walrus!" Lily rolled her eyes and shot him a disapproving look.
It was a very sunny day and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice-creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice lolly.
James, who had been scowling throughout the whole thing, looked slightly mollified.
It wasn't bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a large gorilla scratching its head and looking remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blonde.
Sirius howled with laughter. "He's got your sense of humour James," he grinned, clapping his friend on the back.
Remus however, shook his head. "I think he's more like Lily," he said thoughtfully, "She's more sarcastic and, well, cruel."
Lily scowled, "Shut up, wolfy," she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth, "Okay, you may have a point."
James snorted.
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored of the animals by lunch-time, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him.
James growled, but Lily merely said, "Good."
They ate lunch in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory wasn't big enough, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.
"Uh-oh," said Remus, and in response to the questioning looks he received, expanded, "It all just seems a little too good to be true." And on that ominous note, he gestured for Lily to keep reading.
Harry felt, afterwards, that he should have known it was all too good to last.
James blinked, and then let out a surprised laugh. "I think he inherited his pessimism from you, Moony," he grinned.
Lily sneered. "Both logic and biology lacking a little there Potter."
Confused, James tilted his head a little to the side, "What's biology?"
Lily growled.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in here, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.
"Cool." Sirius crowed.
Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons.
Sirius began to jump up and down in his seat, making Lily Jr snort.
Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place.
Sirius leaned forward eagerly on his seat.
It could have wrapped itself around Uncle Vernon
"Whoa," he said, "That's big." Lily gave him a look before continuing.
's car
"Oh."
And crushed it into a dustbin - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.
Sirius pouted.
Dudley stood with his nose pressed up against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.
Lily snorted at the mental image.
"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.
"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
"This is boring," Dudley moaned.
"You're boring," James growled.
He shuffled away.
"Good, learn when you're not wanted," Sirius said viciously. Lily frowned. Having Potter love her child more than her was one thing, but Black?
Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long.
Lily smiled. Her son was so thoughtful!
It was worse than having Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to visit the rest of the house.
James frowned. His son was sympathising with a snake? He had a bad feeling about this.
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.
It winked.
"What?" said James quickly, exchanging worried glances with the rest of the Marauders, "Why would it do that?"
Sirius frowned. He had a hunch, but he wasn't going to be the one to say it.
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked too.
Sirius shot James a worried look. He was pretty sure he knew what that meant. But how?
The snake jerked its head towards Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."
The future children were watching the faces of the adults intently, wanting to see their reactions when the truth sank in. The Potters frowned. James looked quite plainly terrified.
"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."
The snake nodded vigorously.
"No way!" yelled James, leaping to his feet and staring at the book as though it had just announced the end of the world. "He's a parseltongue? No! No way!" he repeated. James Jr frowned.
"Why do you care?" he said quietly. He looked a little disappointed. "It doesn't change anything. Why do you care?" James's mouth opened and closed in very quick succession as he tried to find a valid answer. Albus frowned.
If this was how he took Harry being a parseltongue, how was he going to react when the Sorting Hat nearly put him in Slytherin? He was quite glad they had decided against taking their father into the past with them. He wouldn't have wanted to see this.
Lily, seeing that things were getting out of hand ploughed determinately on with the reading, and James Sr sunk slowly into his seat, red in the face. Sirius lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.
James felt his palms begin to sweat.
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
Boa Constrictor, Brazil.
James gulped.
"Was it nice there?"
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?"
As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"
Dudley came waddling towards them as fast as he could.
"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.
Sirius hissed. James Jr let out a little sigh of relief. At least one of his namesakes was able to get over his stupid prejudice. He shot a glance at James to see that he was looking pale and shook.
Sighing heavily, he turned back to his grandma, who he was pleased to see was taking it all in her stride. She kept reading.
Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened –
"What?" asked Sirius eagerly, and James Sr turned to stare at him. How was he able to brush over the fact that his godson was a parseltongue so easily? Was he just over-reacting? He frowned as he let these thoughts speed around his brain. He was so confused.
One second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.
"What?" Sirius repeated, leaning forwards in his seat.
Harry sat up and gasped;
Lily shot Sirius her most threatening death-glare as he opened his mouth to repeat his question yet again, and he quickly shut it, looking sheepish. Lily tried not to laugh. Lily Evans did not laugh at the antics of Sirius Black. It went against everything she stood for! That thought placed firmly in her head, she kept reading.
The glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.
Silence fell for 10 short seconds, before everyone was rolling on the floor laughing. "Brilliant Harry!" said James, who it seemed, has got over his shock. James Jr smiled.
The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor – people throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Muggles," he said fondly, shaking his head.
As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come … Thanksss, amigo."
Sirius grinned widely, "Brilliant!" he laughed.
James blinked. Okay, friendly snake. He thought, non-plussed. I guess that's alright.
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong sweet tea while he apologised over an over again.
"Do you think he knows?" said James thoughtfully. "I mean, he doesn't seem very shocked does he?" Lily nodded along, but then quickly stopped. She didn't agree with James Potter, ever. It just wasn't done.
Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them all how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
"Idiots," Peter muttered.
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"
"You prat!" Sirius yelled, while James looked livid.
Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry.
"Of course he did," James hissed angrily, "Can't let the locals know he's abusing his nephew." He looked furious.
He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals," before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
"NO MEALS?" Sirius roared, looking as though Harry had been sentenced to death. Food was very important to him.
James growled angrily, "He locks my son in a bloody cupboard while he sits there drinking brandy!" He swore loudly, something that not even Lily could find the heart to tell him off for.
"Why Tuney?" she said again, tears pricking in her eyes. "You know it's accidental magic, you know he can't help it! You should be punishing your fat lump of a son for pushing him over, not Harry for something he can't control!" Against her will, a tear leaked out the corner of her eye, and it was a long time before she could collect herself enough to read.
Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
James smiled slightly and that and Sirius managed to mutter, "A true Marauder," proudly, albeit quietly.
He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since his parents had died in that car crash.
James managed a scowl but was too emotional to do much else, something eh would later deny as after all, "feelings are for girls".
He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain in his forehead.
A tension-filled silence fell in the room, one that no one dared to break for a while. Finally, James whispered, looking almost tearful, "He survived the killing curse?" No one answered him.
This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.
Suddenly, Lily burst into tears, and had to pass the book for Remus to continue as she struggled to subdue her sobs. He put a comforting arm around her as he read - something that she would have shrugged off had it been any of the other Marauders. As much to his surprise as anyone else's, James didn't scowl. Suddenly, there seemed to be much more important things in the world than his jealousy. Lily tried, and failed, not to feel miffed about this, which only made her angrier. What reason did she have to be upset? James Potter was nothing to her.
His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.
Remus's voice was strained as he read. After all, reading about his friend's deaths was not a very easy thing to do, even when they were living and breathing not ten feet from him. However, he carried determinately on.
When he was younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.
"What about us?" Sirius croaked, and for once there was no hint of a smile on his face. "Where were we?" he looked to the future kids for some sort of response, but they were all determinately avoiding his eye. He blinked back the tears he could feel pricking in his eyes. He refused to cry.
Yet sometimes
Everyone looked up at the book in hope. Sometimes what?
He thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking him furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.
Lily sniffed and blew her nose, smiling at the thought of all the people out there who loved her son already, even if he didn't know. It gave her hope.
The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
Lily smiled again and let out a watery giggle. Remus squeezed her shoulders supportively and she grinned.
At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.
"Idiots," Peter broke into the silence that ensued at the end of this rather sombre chapter. The Marauders laughed weakly, and even Lily managed a grin. The future children were looking sad at the thought of the treatment Harry had received, and Al was looking at Peter oddly. He seemed to be an alright kid, he mused. If only he didn't know what the little rat was to become.
Thanks for reading folks! That chapter was very long! The next few chapters will probably take a while longer as they aren't my favourite, but please review! Revies act as my stimulants! :)