Last Chance

Chapter four: The Return of Henry Potter

Once home, James could hardly sit still. Not only had he kissed Lily Evans, but his father would be coming home tonight.

Sirius sat on the couch in front of the fire, its light filling the room with a warm glow. He watched as James paced back and forth in front of the couch and Mrs. Potter stood anxiously by the fire.

Sirius's eyes followed James back and forth like pendulums. It had been like this for hours and he was beginning to get dizzy. "Prongs." James ignored him, "PRONGS!" Sirius yelled.

James stopped and jerked his head around to look at Sirius.

"If you keep pacing, you'll wear a hole in the rug." Sirius laughed.

James ran a hand through his hair, "I guess you're right." He sat down, but continuously fidgeted. Sirius sighed and shook his head. But then again, who could blame James? He hadn't seen his father in months.

They had only to wait a few more minutes before a loud crack was heard at the front door. James and his mother raced to the door and Sirius followed at a normal pace. Mrs. Potter threw open the door to reveal her husband, thin and pale, as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Oh, Henry!" she cried as she fell into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Jane." He said hugging her back and kissing her.

"Hey, Dad." James said.

Henry Potter looked up to see his son, taller than he remembered and grinning. Mr. Potter grinned back, and let go of his wife. He gave both James and Sirius hugs before entering the house, and collapsing on the couch.

"So boys, how have you been? How was your summer?" he asked as James and Sirius sat down on either side of him. Jane had gone to the kitchen to tell the house elves to prepare all of her husband's favourite foods.

"Well, it was nice to take a break from school, but now I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts." James said with a wink.

"What's all this about?" Henry asked, turning to Sirius. "Do you know?"
Sirius grinned, "Well, James here is Head Boy this year, and Evans will probably be Head Girl."

"Head Boy? Really?" Henry said, looking at James in awe. James nodded and his father slapped him on the back. "Excellent job, my boy!"

They settled down again and Mr. Potter asked, "So James, still after this Lily girl?"

James grinned sheepishly.

"She still hate you?"

James nodded, his smile slipping a bit.

Henry raised his eyebrows and shook his head in disbelief. "That's unhealthy, I tell you. You've been after her for nearly seven years!"

"Well I've sworn to only ask her out eight hundred times, and I've only got two more chances so…"

"Oh, well that makes all the difference." Henry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I'm not giving up."

Sirius cut in, "At least we know he's got determination."

They laughed at that and began talking about the last school semester and the summer. When Lock came to announce that dinner was ready, the three men joined Jane in the dining room and continued to laugh merrily.

A Disturbance at the Evans's

It was Sunday afternoon, and Lily was watching television when her mother interrupted her momentary calmness with horrible news.

"Lily dear, Petunia's boyfriend, Vernon, is coming to dinner tonight." Mrs. Evans flinched, expecting her younger daughter to explode.

"Come again?" Lily asked

"Vernon, Pet's boyfriend. He'll be here for dinner tonight."

"Oh. Well, there's a simple solution to that." Lily said, calm again. Her mother raised her eyebrows. "I won't be."

"Lily, you're leaving for school tomorrow morning." Mrs. Evans pleaded. "Please stay. For your father and I? Please?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine, Mum. But what if Petunia told her whale of a boyfriend that I'm a witch?"

"Well, you're seventeen. Doesn't that mean you can do magic outside of school? Couldn't you use some spell to clear his memory?" she asked.

"Well, I could, but I'd get kicked out of school because he's a Muggle."

Mrs. Evans sighed. Sometimes, having daughters that hated each other could be a downright pain. "Well let's just see how the evening goes, all right?"

Lily nodded and retreated to her room. She hid all of her school things in her closet, just in case Petunia hadn't told Vernon what she was. She didn't want him to walk into her room during his little tour of the house to find a trunk full of spell books. Lily shoved her wand into the inside pocket of her jacket and went back downstairs. She found her mother in the kitchen, cooking.

"So what time is he supposed to be here?" she asked.

"In about an hour." Mrs. Evans said, without looking up from the salad she was tossing.

"Great." Lily said sarcastically. She moved to the living room and turned the television on again. She flipped through the channels searching for something half interesting to watch. Lily found a channel that was playing a movie about a girl named Dorothy on the run from a witch. The Wizard of Oz, it was called. She thought it would be interesting to see what Muggles thought witches were like, but was mortified however, when she saw that the so called 'witch' was green, cackling and supposedly "wicked".

"That's nothing like us!" She shouted at the screen. "How could someone even think that we're green?"

"What's all the yelling about, freak?" Petunia entered the room, smirking at Lily's obvious distress.

"That! I'm a witch. Do I look green to you?" she pointed first at the television screen, then at herself.

"You're skin may not be green, but I'm not too sure about your blood."

"Hey!" Lily shouted.

"Calm down, freak. I only came in here to tell you that Vernon will be here any minute and I don't want you," she sneered the word, "to ruin this evening. So no funny business." Petunia turned on her heel and marched off to the kitchen.

Lily huffed and shut off the television. She couldn't take any more of the despicable stereotypes against witches. They weren't all evil and they most certainly weren't green. Well, unless a potion or spell went horribly wrong, but that was beside the point.

The doorbell rang and she heard Petunia's flat feet pounding on the floor as her sister ran to open the door. "Vernon!" came the squeal as the door was opened.

Lily stood up and went into the front hallway and politely said hello to her sister's boyfriend. He glared at her and whispered something to Petunia. She nodded and Vernon turned to Lily.

"If you try to pull your stupid magic tricks on me, I'll crack your neck." He said menacingly.

Lily was shocked. "I- I don't know what you're talking about." Lily stuttered.

"Don't pull that, freak. He knows everything. I told him." Petunia said.

"You told him?" Lily shouted. "I could get kicked out of school, Petunia!"

Their parents came rushing into the hallway. "What's going on here?" Mr. Evans said, trying to be heard over the yelling.

"She told him! She told him I'm a witch!" Lily yelled.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans glared at their older daughter. "Petunia, we specifically asked you not to tell him anything." their mother scolded.

"Well, I'm not going to keep secrets from him." Petunia sniffed.

Lily screamed in frustration and stomped up the stairs to her room. She sat on her bed fuming. How could Petunia do this to her? She knew that her sister hated her, but this was low. When she had calmed down, she went back downstairs to join the others for dinner.

It was the longest dinner that Lily had ever had the misfortune to sit through. Petunia and Vernon took turns glaring at her and her parents refused to look at their daughters. When it was over, Lily helped with the dishes and went to bed. At least she had tomorrow to look forward to. Tomorrow, she would return to Hogwarts.

[A/N]: Please remember to review! :]