Trials and Tribulations

Summary: Harry Potter knew he was going to get shocked when he visited his parents graves. He knew that'd he'd see family he never met; like grandparents, uncles, and aunts. But one thing he didn't know was that he was going to meet his sister.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am not making any profit off of this fanfic.

Chapter Sixteen: Bertie and Bott

James was sitting on the couch he had slept on, cradling his head in his hands. He was still tired; he didn't sleep well the night before, only because he rolled off the couch twice and then he couldn't fall back asleep after the second time.

He yawned, then looked up when he heard someone coming towards him. It was Mr. Evans, and he was wearing a robe over his pajamas. "Morning Sir," James said, waving slightly.

"Morning." He had a steaming cup of coffee with him. He took a sip, and then sat down in an armchair somewhat close to James. "I think it's about time we have a talk."

James gulped quietly, and nodded his head. He sat up straighter, and looked at him.

Mr. Evans put his cup on the stand beside him, and then crossed his legs. "I know you were not my daughters' friend in the passed few years and as far as I know, she hasn't liked you up until now," he paused to peer at James. James nodded his head mutely. "One thing I need to know is, was there any unnecessary force behind—"

"No," James said automatically. "I would never do that to anyone. Especially Lily."

"Good," Mr. Evans said. He picked up his cup and then took another sip. James watched him. Mr. Evans had left a strong uncomfortable silence between them. James swallowed again, and then he looked at his hands. "Another thing…why are you with my daughter?"

James just stared at Mr. Evans. 'Why am I with Lily?' "Other than the obvious," Mr. Evans stated.

James was quiet a moment. He thought about going on and on about how beautiful she was, but he thought that wouldn't go over well. "Because," James began, thinking that wasn't a great way to start his explanation. Mr. Evans lowered his gaze so he could see into James's eyes. "Because she's the most brilliant witch in our entire school." James stopped, racking his brain for ideas. "When she has her mind set to something, nothing can discourage her. She's proved all the Purebloods wrong by being a strong and magnificent witch." James paused a moment. "And I've fancied her for a long time."

Mr. Evans leaned forward. "Do you love her?" he asked. "Are you willing to be there for her and be the man that you need to be and take care of the baby, even if you're not together, because just face the facts, I honestly don't think you're going to be together forever."

James swallowed hard. "With all due respect Sir, I am not the type of man to leave someone hanging. I would never leave Lily when she's like this, and I'm not planning on leaving her in the near future. Even if it's early in our relationship, I know for a fact that I love her with all my heart, and nothing you say will discourage me." James sat back, his arms crossed over his chest.

James caught movement through the corner of his eye. Lily walked down the stairs, pausing in the middle of the room. She looked from James to her father, and then she shook her head. She walked out of the room, and went to the kitchen.

James watched as she walked out of the room, a slight smile playing at his lips. He turned back to Mr. Evans, who was still looking serious. "Well James," he began, taking a long draught from his cup. "You better treat her right. No ands ifs or buts. I do not want to hear of you laying one finger on her, no matter how justified it may seem."

"I don't hit women," James said. 'What is with him thinking I'm going to hurt her?'

Mr. Evans nodded his head. He stood up and took another long sip from his cup. "I'll be seeing you around then, won't I?"

James nodded his head and watched as he left the room. He sighed and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands again. 'Maybe I was wrong. He doesn't like me.'

A few minutes later Lily walked into the room. She sat down beside James and wrapped her arms around him. "Sometimes he can be a bit rude."

"Yeah," James murmured. "No kidding."

Lily smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I think we should get ready, unless you want to go home in your pajamas."

James just nodded his head. Lily unwrapped her arms from around him, and then James stood up. Lily got up a moment afterwards, and she looked at James. "What did my father say to you?"

James just shook his head. "Nothing important."

xoXoXoXox

"Everything's packed? You have the presents? All right, we'll talk to you later Lily." Mrs. Evans hugged Lily one last time, tightly.

"Bye!" Lily said. James put a pinch of floo powder into the flames, and watched as they turned a fluorescent green. James stepped into the fire first, and then Lily stepped in next to him.

Lily waved slightly, as James shouted, "Frank and Sophie's place, London!"

Lily closed her eyes tightly and held her stomach as the world around her began spinning quickly. She was glad she listened to James when he said not to eat breakfast.

James watched as fireplaces spun around him. He smiled, and just barely turned to looked at how Lily was doing, when the both of them were spit out of the fire.

They both landed on the floor, the breath getting knocked out of them. James hurried and got up, helping Lily to her feet. "Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"

"Fine, fine," Lily said. She took a deep breath.

"You sure? I'm sorry. I forgot that we got spit out." He ran a hand through his hair, and Lily gave him a look. He stopped. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Lily sighed, and looked around. They were in a living room, and she could smell things cooking. Her stomach growled.

"Grandma!" James called, stepping away from the fire. "Grandma? Grandpa? Are you home?"

"Did they know you were coming?"

"I come home every Christmas, so…" James said, peeking into the kitchen. No one was in there. "Bertie? Bott?" James called.

"Who're they?" Lily asked, looking at the floor, expecting to see some strange animals coming towards her.

"They're just my dogs," James said dismissively.

Lily gasped as thunder came down the steps. Thinking that someone fell, she rushed to them. Standing at the bottom was a very large dog. It peered at Lily curiously. Another dog came down the steps, and it began barking at Lily.

Lily stepped back, her hands in the air.

"Bertie! Stop barking!" James yelled, running into the living room. The dogs barked excitedly and ran to James, nearly knocking him over.

James smiled and patted them on the heads. "They're St. Bernard's. My parents got them for me a while back." He patted them a bit longer, and then he beckoned Lily to him. "They don't bite."

Lily held out her hand, and patted the one closest to her. "That's Bott. She's the one that didn't bark."

"They're really big," Lily said. She laughed as Bott licked her hand. She wiped it off on her pants. "Where're your grandparents?"

James shrugged his shoulder. "They're around here somewhere. Grandma is making breakfast still."

Suddenly the front door opened, and in came an older man. He was carrying a large package while an older woman walked in behind him. They shook the snow off their cloaks and hung them up. The older man slipped off his boots, and looked up, surprised to see James on the floor, and Lily standing in front of him. Both dogs barked excitedly, but didn't move.

"It's nice to see you finally came back. Who'd you bring home?" His grandfather put away his boots and then walked towards Lily. He held out his hand to Lily.

"Oh!" James, jumping into the air. "Grandpa, this is Lily Evans, she—"

"The infamous Miss Lily Evans!"

James's grandmother appeared. She looked a little excited, but tired at the same time. "You better come with me in the kitchen and sit down. If you're here with James, he must have done something…Come on. I'll make you some tea. Are you hungry? I'll make you anything you'd like, as long as it isn't anything that Sirius Black would eat. He ate just about everything put together on a sandwich," she said. She grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her into the kitchen. Lily was smiling. She hadn't even said anything, and the older woman had taken to her.

James shook his head, but his grandfather just smiled. "She's been excited. Sophie's missed you dearly since you left. The house was too quiet,"

"Yeah," James said, drawing out the word a bit longer than need be. He had just realized that he his grandparents didn't know anything about the baby news. He swallowed hard and was about to say something when his grandfather interrupted him.

"What's going on? Is something bothering you?" his grandfather asked.

"Yeah…err…I've been meaning to owl you and Grandma about this…Uhh," he paused. "Maybe you should sit…Or better yet…Let's get Grandma first—"

"You probably should sit down, and stop pacing. You're making me dizzy."

James sat down immediately on the couch. He began playing with his jumper, and tried to swallow, but his mouth had become too dry. 'Why am I so nervous?'

"What's going on?"

James laughed nervously. "Would you mind becoming Great Grandparents?"

At first James's grandfather looked at him confused, not understanding what James was talking about. And then his eyes opened wide. "Lily?" he whispered. James nodded his head.

"Sophia! You better come in here!"

Almost immediately she came into the room. She watched as he sat down beside James. "What is it Frank?" she asked worriedly, thinking that something had happened to Frank.

It was silent for only a moment, and then Frank said, "It seems to me, Sophie, that we are going to become great grandparents."

Lily inched her way into the living room, standing by the door incase she needed to make a quick escape. Sophie gasped and turned towards James. She had an unidentifiable expression on her face; almost like a mixture of anger and surprise. "James, you haven't even finished school yet! You aren't even married. That kind of activity should not exist until after you're married!"

James's face turned a light shade of pink from his grandmothers tirade. "Grand-"

"Oh James Potter, you're always getting yourself into some type of mischief. What would your parents say right now? How are you going to get anymore schooling or training if you're--" She suddenly stopped and turned towards Lily.

James was about to jump in the air and stop her. No matter how much he loved his grandmother, he would not allow her to rip into Lily.

"And Lily! Are you okay? Do you need anything? Come here, sit," She grabbed Lily by the arm and pulled her to an armchair. She had her sit down, and then she conjured up an ottoman for her to prop her feet up with. "Are you hungry? I can cook you anything you'd like."

James and Frank exchanged glances. Frank didn't look at all surprised that his wife had tore James up and then offered to cook Lily a nine-course-meal. He was just surprised by the fact that she didn't finish yelling at James.

"I'm fine," Lily whispered.

Sophie turned back to James. "James Potter…" she said quietly, shaking her head. "Well, you better help me finish breakfast and set the table. We weren't expecting you this morning, but we'll manage." She turned back to Lily. "Anything you want specifically for breakfast dear? I already told you I can make anything."

xoXoXoXox

"So her parents don't hate you?" Remus asked as he dragged his trunk through the fireplace. Sirius and James followed behind him.

"Her father doesn't like me, but her mum's nice enough," James said. He indicated for Remus to set his trunk in the corner of the room. Four sleeping bags were rolled up beside Sirius's trunk.

"I wish Wormtail was coming. Too bad his mum was sick," Sirius said, walking towards the kitchen. He peeked in and saw Sophie sitting at the table, Lily beside her. They were talking quietly.

"Grandma Sophie!" Sirius called, walking away from the kitchen. "When you have time, come greet your favorite grandson!"

Lily looked around the kitchen. She could see Sirius's retreating back. "Favorite grandson?" Lily asked.

"He's here more than James is," Sophie said, laughing. She smiled softly at Lily. "Do you know what you're going to do after Hogwarts?"

Lily shook her head. "Not anymore, no. I wanted to work with in the Ministry doing Charms work and things pertaining to Muggles, but with a baby…I'm not sure if I can anymore."

"Of course you can, it'll just take some time. And you should always know that I'll watch the baby whenever you or James need me to. But you know, after you ask your parents first."

Lily just smiled in return, and stretched. She pushed herself away from the table. "I think it's about time you greet your favorite grandson. He gets depressed easily."

"Tell me about it," Sophie said, before she and Lily broke out into quiet giggles.

Lily got up and made her way out of the kitchen. When Sirius noticed that they were done with their conversation, he got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Lily walked towards James, and he looked up at her expectantly.

"Where's the loo?"

James smiled. "Upstairs. That's one thing that drives me crazy. Grandpa always said we'd only need one bathroom, but with all my friends coming over, and family…he regretted it. " Lily nodded her head and walked towards the stairs. She walked up them slowly, listening to James and Remus talk about pranks. She shook her head slowly. 'Just shows what Christmas is going to be like.'

xoXoXoXox

BB/N: OH MY GOODNESS!

It's been nearly two months. I am so sorry about the delay. What happened was in July, my computer totally crashed. The last backup disk that I made was in May, so I lost about ten chapters, and then yesterday we got a computer to work properly.

I was lucky. This is the last chapter that I typed in May when I saved the disk, so now I have to retype chapters 16-24 and then finish the rest.

I AM SO SORRY!

Two months is quite a long time…

Love,
Bob Bennit