DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, and I really have run out of witty comments to place after this… so um… moving on!

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to update!!! I have had this chapter written for a long time I just never had the time to type it up and post it!!! AHH! Don't hate me!! Thank you to all those who have reviewed! This one's for you! Alright, you've waited long enough! On to chapter seven!

LAST TIME:

BAM! The door burst open.

… … … … … … … … … … … …

Chapter Seven: Friends and Foes

"There you are!" said Lily, relieved (ha, you thought it was someone evil didn't you? Any way… onward). "You scared me to death!"

"Oh… I'm sorry!" said Harry, startled.

"You don't need to be sorry, sweetheart. You didn't do it on purpose. JAMES, I FOUND HIM!"

A few moments later the door opened to reveal a relief stricken James. "Thank Merlin!" he said hugging Harry.

Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting that. James pulled back and held his son at arms length looking into his eyes.

"You gave us quite a jolt there, son," James informed him.

"Uh… sorry," said Harry.

"I didn't say that to make you feel bad. It's our job to be worried about you. What were you doing up here anyway?"

"Well, I came up here and saw this book and I guess I kinda got sucked into it," Harry explained sheepishly.

"You into defense, then?" James questioned noticing the title.

"Well, after hearing that prophecy I want to be as prepared as possible."

"So you've heard that have you?" James asked quietly.

"Yeah…"

"Damn… we swore we'd be there when you had to hear that," James stated.

"It's okay, I can take it," Harry teased. "I kinda figured anyway."

"What do you mean you 'kinda figured anyway?'" Lily asked.

"I've already faced him four times. Not counting when I was a baby. Didn't Dumbledore tell you that?"

"No, no he didn't," said James through gritted teeth, while Lily muttered, "Four times! Four times!" under her breath.

Silence.

"How did this happen?" James asked.

"Um… it's kind of a long story…"

"We have nothing but time, son," said James sternly.

"Can we at least eat breakfast first?" Harry asked hopefully.

Lily giggled. "Are you hungry, sweetie?"

"Yeah… a bit," he replied, embarrassed.

"How long have you been awake any way?" James chuckled.

"Um… I think the clock in the hall said 7 o'clock… ish," said Harry thinking back.

"Damn! It's 10 o'clock now! You've been up since 7 and you haven't eaten anything yet?"

"Sweetheart, there was food in the kitchen," Lily told him.

"Well I didn't want to wake you up to ask you what I could have," Harry explained. 'Is that how it is? I have to ask permission, right?'

"You don't have to ask us, son. If you're hungry, then get something to eat," James said.

"Anything?" Harry questioned, utterly confused. Surely that wasn't what his father meant.

"Anything, that's here," said his father, confuse about his son's questioning tone. "Why do you seem so confused, Harry?"

"Well, at the Dursleys' I never got to eat much."

James sighed. "You don't have to worry about that anymore."

"From now on when you're hungry, you eat okay, sweetheart?" Lily chimed in.

"O-okay…" said Harry.

"But now that I'm up, I can cook you breakfast!" said Lily excitedly.

"You don't have to do that!" said Harry panicking.

"Don't be silly of course I do!" said Lily. "Come on!"

She grabbed her son's hand and led him downstairs. James followed close behind. They entered the sizable kitchen and sat Harry at the table.

"What would you like? We have pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon…"

She looked over at Harry, who was looking quite nervous. She giggled. "How about I make a combination of all of those?"

"Um…okay…"Harry muttered nervously.

Lily placed a pan on the stove and started up the eggs. This confused Harry. 'Why wouldn't she start the pancakes and waffles first?' he thought. Lily caught the sight of her son's bewildered expression and elaborated. "I can use magic to make the pancakes," she said, smiling sweetly.

Harry smiled back. Then there was silence until James said,

"So… tell us a little about yourself. Who are your friends? What are they like? What do you do together? What…"

"Whoa!" said Harry laughing. "Slow down, I can't keep up."

"Sorry… we just don't know anything about you…" James explained.

"It's okay. Let's see… um…my best friends are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Uh… Ron's really tall and has red hair and freckles, like all the Weasleys. He's a little opinionated at times but it's about the right things. Er… Hermione…um… she's the logical one. We go to her for the facts. The three of us have been through a lot and we always try to cover each other's backs, but we still get into trouble.

"What do we do together? Hmm, well, we play Quidditch… well Ron and I do… Hermione doesn't like flying much… So she usually just watches Ron and I… Hmm… I guess we study together, but Hermione usually does all the studying and then Rona and I copy her…"

"Hermione sounds a lot like Remus when we were growing up," James stated.

"Yeah, she used to be strictly set on the rules, but Ron and I are sort of bad influences on her. She's not like that anymore…" Harry explained.

"So you find a lot of trouble, eh?" Lily asked, almost giggling.

"Not really… Trouble usually comes to find me," Harry said sheepishly.

James barked out a laugh that could have competed very well with Sirius' dog-like laugh. "Padfoot was right, you are involuntarily funny!"

"Breakfast is ready!" said Lily brightly as she placed plates of pancakes, waffles, eggs, and bacon out.

"Thanks, mum," Harry said smiling a sweet smile that could have matched hers. It felt good to call her "mum."

"You're very welcome, sweetheart. Now, eat up. You look half starved!"

Harry didn't need telling twice. He dug into the delicious looking food. James followed close behind, eager to get some of his wife's fabulous cooking. Lily waited until they had gotten their plates and then gathered food onto her own plate. The three of them ate the scrumptious meal in silence for a while before Harry broke the stillness.

"This is really good," he commented.

"Thank you! Your grandmother and I used to cook all the time when I was growing up," Lily said.

"Did Aunt Petunia ever cook with her when she was little?" Harry asked, remembering all the unsavory meals his aunt had made.

"She did a couple of times, but she never really enjoyed it like I did, so she just stopped joining us in our cooking sessions after a while."

"Yeah I kinda figured that," Harry stated.

"You 'kinda figure' a lot of things. Why might I ask do say it now though?"

"Well she's not a very good cook. Whenever we had guests I always cooked the meals. Aunt Petunia just said she made it," Harry explained.

"She had you cook meals? Since what age?" Lily asked fearfully.

"Um… I guess since I could reach the stove, so I'd guess around five or six," said Harry, struggling to summon up the first time his aunt had asked him to cook.

"Five or six! That's dangerous!" screamed Lily.

"Well, they didn't really care about my safety," said Harry bluntly.

"Did you ever get burned?" demanded James. "I mean surely you did. You had to at that age!"

"Yeah, I've been burned loads of times," said Harry nonchalantly.

"You say that like it's no big deal!" Lily cried wildly.

"Well at the time it wasn't. I suppose now that I look back on it I realize that it was a big deal. But at the time I was just afraid of what Uncle Vernon would do to me if I complained about anything."

"Complained?" shrieked Lily

"That's what they called it when I would reveal that I was in pain. I just learned to suck it up and keep my mouth shut. That way they left me alone. Alone was better than getting beat," Harry rationalized his logic.

There were tears in Lily's eyes. "I am so sorry you had to live with them. I wish you could have lived with someone trustworthier. Like Sirius or Remus," she said, sniffling.

"I will not cease until I see that man to justice. After what he's done… I just… Never again will I allow anyone to hurt you! Do you understand? Never!" James told Harry desperately.

Harry was dreading telling them about his years at Hogwarts. 'What will they say?'

A/N: Um… I believe this is the longest chapter yet! YAY! Anyway review if you want… if you don't want to that's okay too… but they are appreciated:)