Disclaimer: -sigh- Harry Potter - Harry Potter = no Harry Potter. It's first grade. (Duh)
Anyway, I am dreadfully sorry, and I know hibernation was over months ago, but my life is chaotic, so I came back to safe haven.
Enjoy, at your leisure.
A serene afternoon greeted the small cottage down the hills. The bright snitch floating on the surface of the ocean cast a fluorescent glare, lighting an exultant atmosphere as it peeked through the curtain of a small girl's room.
The girl was currently teleporting her imagination onto the smooth skin of an unidentified animal. Occasionally, she glanced up at a teasing clock precariously hanging onto the top of her dresser. Her vibrant, fiery locks of hair curtained her fragile features as she immersed herself in her work, her small fingers manipulating the Quill that trailed down the fine parchment gifted to her by her mother. After a moment, she seemed proud of her work; springing up, Lily shuffled to her window to award her owl with an esoteric job.
After she finished and the owl fluttered away, she hummed in acceptance. Placing her hands on her hips, she rocked on her heels, nodded, and skipped out her bedroom door, heedlessly disregarding the foreign taciturn atmosphere of the house.
When Lily finally reached her intentional landing, she halted on her way to the living room to subtly peek through the kitchen. Satisfied with the vacant room, she then proceeded to the serene living room where all the windows and doors were hung ajar, and the sun, yet again, greeted her civilly and intensely.
From her perspective, Lily could spot a large couch situated in front of an unlit fireplace. A natural inquisitive specimen, she peeked her eyes from over the couch, and indeed, she insinuated correctly. Lily, just as she expected, sighted the untidy mop of hair of her brother's: Albus. Craning her neck, she could see that he was reading, a banal hobby for the boy.
Her giggle threatened to emerge as she watched her impervious brother. It was so easy to mess with him. There was always a reaction, but Lily had one more job to accomplish.
She traced the wall absentmindedly as she approached the door leading to the back yard. She peeked into through the door only to find an occupant in the outdoors, leaning against a tree, engrossed in their task. Lily sighted her mum's gleam of flaming red hair breezing gently among the wind; her mother appeared immersed in the parchment she was writing in.
Resisting the impulse to whoop in victory, Lily retraced her steps back into the living room, and back to her second oldest brother. Deciding to put the plan into effect, her slithery finger wormed its way towards her brother's shoulder. Poking him once, he ignored her; twice, he flinched away from it; thrice, however . . .
"Cut it out!" Albus muttered disgruntledly. He twisted his neck to find empty air behind him. Adopting a bemused look, he turned around and settled himself again, astutely aware of the demons around him. And as he elicited a huff of exasperation, he was poked yet again.
"Lily!" Albus cried, climbing to his knees. He peered down from the couch only to find his sister's gleaming eyes peering up at him in humor. She laughed as she waved her hands portentously.
"Hi, Al!" Lily exclaimed jubilantly, raising herself to meet her brother's disapproving gaze as he frowned and leaned back against his knees, looking quite annoyed, indeed.
"What do you want, Lily?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at his sister. He knew she only bothered him when she wanted something. Hence, why she was such a good deceiver.
Lily, however, intentionally disregarded his question. "What are you doing?" she asked, curiosity dripping in her tone. She eyed the book placed to the side; she merely wanted to distract him.
Albus awarded her with a searching stare, a stare that gleamed with annoyance. "Oh, I dunno, Lily, what am I doing?" He nudged the book abruptly as he elaborated while Lily struggled to stifle her giggle. "And why do you care, anyway?"
"You're my brother."
Albus scowled.
Lily smiled.
"What are you planning?" Albus said suddenly. Akin to an expert, she veiled her emotions and appeared significantly stoic. Albus, however, caught on to every twitch.
"I'm not planning anything," Lily said, her tone suddenly dropping to a troubled tone. Her eyes flickered around the room as she improvised, "It's just – I–I haven't – I mean – I don't know much about reading," she prodded the carpet with her toe, peering innocently up at her exasperated brother, "I was wondering if – you–you know . . . you'll help me," she glanced up at her brother in a timid manner, but her brother merely looked annoyed, "You will, won't you?"
Her brother didn't buy it. He simply had too much experience.
"Alright," Albus agreed, and Lily inadvertently snapped her head up in surprise; she hadn't intuited that it would be that easy to persuade her brother, but Albus wasn't finished. "I'll help you, but I need a favor, right?"
Lily looked bewildered.
"What is it?"
"Tell me what you're planning." Albus stated bluntly, confident in his hypothesis. Lily winced for a second before she altered the plan slightly in her head.
Lily huffed. "I told you, Al, I'm not planning–"
But Lily was interrupted by a crash in the kitchen. Both Albus and Lily jumped in surprise: they glanced at each other hastily before sprinting towards the kitchen, thinking it was their father's arrival, but Harry rarely used the Floo network. They guessed – or Albus guessed – that this was one of the rare days, as Harry always uses the Floo for a dramatic entrance; their father wasn't quite graceful in his arrivals.
However, it was far too early for their father to arrive now.
"No, Albus, wait!" Lily exclaimed, shuffling in front of him to block the entrance of the kitchen. Albus frowned. "You can't go in there."
"Why not?"
"Well, I . . ." Lily endeavored to find the proper diction, "I threw a Dung bomb in there."
Albus's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Where'd you get a Dung bomb? I thought Mum threw them out."
Lily shuffled on her feet. "Uncle George let me borrow one. He said it's for protection."
"Protection?"
"Mmhm."
Albus crossed his arms.
"I can't smell anything."
"Well, yeah . . . Mum's cooking onions, remember?" Lily stated obviously, rolling her eyes at her brother's apparent stupidity. "Maybe your nose closed."
Albus blinked. He was rendered into a state of bewilderment.
"Nose clos–?" Albus breathed dumbly, shaking his head at the pathetic excuse of logic. "Lily, onions don't close your nose, I can smell fine."
"Well, what do I smell like, then?"
"You – argh!" Albus growled annoyingly, his curiosity rendering him into a state of assertiveness. "Let me in, Lily. What if someone got lost?"
"Daddy'll handle it."
"Dad's not here. Let me in."
"I can't."
"Lily, if you don't move, I'll call Mu―" Albus halted in his speech, freezing at the sight that emerged from the kitchen doorway. He first saw the rem of robes emerge, then a specimen, too gallant to be called human, emerge from the doorway, with – much to Albus's irritation – with an expressive wince, but a smile nonetheless.
"You're supposed to be at Hogwarts." Albus blurted out, despite himself. He would never admit he missed his brother, but what was he doing here?
James rubbed the back of his head in pathetic attempts at appearing ashamed, when, in fact, he wasn't. He came here for a purpose.
"I know. Funny story, actually," James mumbled in mock-shame. He caught Lily tossing him a grateful look, and he smiled pretentiously.
And the questions began.
"What happened? Did McGonagall suspend you?" Albus's curiosity went overdrive as he voiced his thoughts, rather vehemently, "You're not in detention already, are you? Dad isn't here to hear about it if you are. Mum's outside writing her report," his eyes suddenly widened as a thought crossed his mind, "Wait here, I'll get her."
"No!" James and Lily chorused, tackling their brother down before he sprinted outside. Albus felt the breath knock out of him as they knocked him down on his stomach.
"No, Al, you can't tell Mum or Dad about this, please?" James pleaded, pinning his brother's head to the carpeted floor while Lily rested her weight onto his back.
"Gerroff!"
"Make him promise, James!"
James's eyes lit up at the idea as he frowned down at his brother. "Yeah, promise."
"Mu–!" A hand suddenly muffled Albus's yell.
"Promise, Al!" James demanded, resolutely meeting his brother's mutinous gaze. Then a dawning idea crossed his mind, and his eyes lit up mischievously. "If you don't promise, then I'll let you go tell Mum, and when you come back, I'll be gone, and Mum's going to think you've gone mad." He tilted his head towards his brother, and added, "D'you want Mum to think you're mad?"
And as foreshadowed, Albus's eyes grew worried at the thought, and he took a moment to mull it over before shaking his head reluctantly.
"Right," James studied his brother's countenance for a moment before removing his hand from where it was muffling his brother's voice, "Then you can't tell, and I'll hex you if you do. I know some good ones now."
"Alright, I won't tell Mum–" Albus started ominously.
"Or Dad." Lily and James chorused.
"Or Dad," Albus affirmed, rolling his eyes. He then turned his head to glare at the two as he stood up. "But you'd better tell me why you're here."
James and Lily exchanged at amused glances before reverting their gazes back to their brother.
"Very well," James said sophisticatedly, tugging on his robes in a portentous manner. "I'll tell you," he draped an arm around his brother as he led him to the living room, and Albus didn't notice Lily slipping out of the scene; he was occupied with glaring at his brother, "You remember that blank piece of parchment that Dad found us messing with?"
"Yeah."
"Well . . ." James struggled to mitigate his bluntness, to no avail, "That was the Marauder's map."
He watched warily as his brother's eyes flashed in disbelief; Albus searched his brother's countenance for a hint of deception.
"You're lying."
"I'm not!"
"How d'you know?" Albus's tone rippled with curiosity.
"Filch told me." James said absentmindedly. Albus's eyes widened in horror.
"You got caught by Filch?" Albus demanded. "It's only first year, James." His brother had the modesty to appear guilty as he tossed himself on a couch.
"Er – tact, I s'pose."
His brother didn't look amused.
"Tact? Mum's not going to be pleased."
James looked outraged. "Oh, c'mon, I'm the son of Harry Potter. Everyone'll be expecting things from me – and . . . " James emphasized firmly when his brother rolled his eyes; he jutted his chin up in mock-arrogance, "Dad'll be proud."
But his sense of victory immediately faded away. "Dad didn't tell you to land yourself into trouble. He only said to defend yourself, James." He stated firmly; his brother looked exasperated. "And besides, Dad didn't do it because he wanted to, he did it because he was saving people."
"He's only saying that. I bet he had tons of fun, too."
Albus' eyes blazed.
"How do you know? Did you ask him?"
"Well, is he here?" James frowned at his brother.
"No."
"Point proven."
"What?"
"He isn't here. He chose a job so he wouldn't stay locked up. See what I mean?" James's eyes crossed slightly at his logical – yet absurd – thought, "He likes it, and so do I."
And for the first time, Albus was rendered speechless. James looked smug as he cushioned his head with his hands.
"James, you're a –" Albus began, but was rudely cut off by the rush of the fireplace in the kitchen, and James scrambled to his feet in horror.
"Al? Lily?" They heard the familiar voice, and James hastily grabbed his brother's shoulders, and whispered pleadingly with him.
"Al, please don't tell. Please? I'll send you loads of chocolate frogs if you don't. Every-time I write. I promise."
Albus narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he said, hesitancy present in his tone.
"Fine."
James smiled, and quickly scrambled behind a thick curtain, punctual to a fault.
"Al?"
Albus gulped and cursed James incessantly as he slowly turned to face his father, who was glancing around the living room, a routine habit for him, but Albus didn't know if he had a different reason for studying the room today.
"Er – h-hi, Dad." Albus stuttered, and he could hear James snickering behind him.
He resisted the urge to kick him.
He waited for his father to approach him, and to fuel Albus's horror, he saw that his dad had his eyes narrowed.
"Where's James?" Harry said succinctly, straight to the point. Albus tried furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, and it was done, albeit shakily. He watched his father open the closet door where the family hung their cloaks when they got home, dearly hoping that Harry wouldn't have time to inspect the entire house, but his father was an Auror. He accomplished the task on a regular basis.
"J-James?" Albus chattered, his eyes not meeting his father's similar ones, "Erm – isn't he at Hogwarts?"
"Isn't he?" Harry pressed.
"Er . . ."
"Daddy!" A new voice cried, and Albus finally noticed that Lily had disappeared long ago. With a breath of relief and slight suspicion, he watched his sister move forward to embrace their father, but still, Harry wasn't distracted. After he finished with Lily, he set her down, and proceeded to inspect the house with Lily and Albus on his tail.
"What're you looking for, Daddy?" Lily asked inquisitively, watching her father enter his study without the slightest hesitance.
But Harry didn't answer. It seemed he was distracted as he drew open a drawer. Comprehension finally dawned him, and Lily and Albus watched as he forced a smile and shook his head in apparent exasperation.
"Nothing," Harry said absentmindedly, his thoughts flooding his mind, and he turned back towards his children as he asked, "Where's Mum?"
"Outside." They chorused, reluctantly eager for his departure. Harry nodded and swept out of the room. With James still concealed, the two occupied themselves with activities, feigning a normal day, and as expected, Harry emerged from the outside with a smug look about him. He saluted to his kids – and they waved, in return – as they watched their father return to work, and they breathed sighs of relief.
"Whew! That was close." James breathed, emerged out from the curtain and sprawled down on the carpet floor with an exasperated atmosphere about him. Lily shook her head and furtively left the room. "Al, you make me and Lily look smart with your lying."
Albus glared.
"I didn't ask you for an award about lying," Albus bit out; he was irritated that he had to lie to his dad, of all people, "I lied to Dad, because of you!"
"So?"
"So?" Albus exclaimed outrageously. "I never lie to him."
"Oh, come on, it's not like he didn't know you were lying. I'd be doubting his sanity if he didn't."
"Wouldn't you?" A new voice suddenly thundered into the room, and this time it was effective. James stumbled on his feet as he scrambled up, and the brothers turned to greet the new guest of the room: their mother.
Their mother looked as intimidating as always, with her hands resting on her hips, and her eyes blazing with irritation. The breeze from the windows didn't help by teasing her hair, making her look like a sight unseen.
And James, ever the signature Gryffindor, found his insanity, indeed.
"Mum!" He exclaimed, moving to hug his mother around her middle, like a true Gryffindor: brave but stupid, "I've missed you! I came here just for you, I swear."
Albus shook his head.
"You did?" Ginny said, feigning interest through gritted teeth. Humoring him, she placed her arms around him, "Just for me, did you? Is that what you told McGonagall?"
James broke free from his mother's embrace and ducked his head, catching onto the bite.
"Well . . . that's just it," James half-shrugged, looking genuinely contrite, "I . . . didn't tell her."
Ginny nodded knowingly.
"Mark my words, James, you'd better be here when I get back." And the brothers watched warily as she turned to the hallway leading to their dad's study, and James's eyes widened as he scanned the room for his sister. Oh, Merlin, she was going to get in trouble, too.
"Lily?" James hissed in an attempt to find her.
"Yes?" Lily's head suddenly appeared from behind the couch, and James furrowed his eyes bemusedly.
"Where's the m–?" His words died down as his mother entered the room once more, her eyes glaring, but she seemed satisfied, anyway.
The three watched with peeled eyes as their mother approached James. "If you're so homesick," Ginny emphasized sarcastically, "why didn't you let us know, then? You could've let McGonagall know, or Neville."
James had an awful time meeting his mother's eyes; like his father, he didn't look at the person straight in the eye when he lied. "Well I . . . you know, I couldn't."
"Why not?"
"Because . . . it's embarrassing. I mean, d'you want to tell your friends that you're homesick?" He winced when his mother crossed her arms knowingly. It was hard to lie to a mother.
"I wouldn't tell them I'm lying, that's for sure."
The children froze.
"Er . . ." James said nervously, "Are you?"
Ginny huffed, and grew abruptly fierce that James ducked his head in shame.
"If I ever see you here without good reason, James, you'll be spending the rest of your summer with your Uncle Percy!"
James gasped in horror, and for the first time, Albus was sympathetic.
"Uncle Percy?" James demanded, gaping at the thought, "You-you wouldn't?"
"Let's test that, shall we?" Ginny said ominously. She certainly got the reaction she was expecting when she moved towards the fireplace, but was halted when James reached out to her in apparent dismay.
"No!" James cried, "I'm sorry, Mum. Honest."
"You'll never repeat this again?"
"No." James mumbled gloomily.
"Then take your exit." She pointed towards the kitchen where the fireplace resided. James glanced around the living room gloomily as he mumbled a farewell to his mother, embraced her, and his siblings followed him to the kitchen where they bid their farewells in private.
But before James left, Albus had something to say. "I told you so."
"Shut it, Al."
"Bye, Jamie." Lily moved forward to embrace her brother, and when she pulled back, James gazed down, a questioning gaze present on his countenance.
"It's . . . The Marauder's map!" James exclaimed, studying the blank piece of parchment he had unrolled in his exultance. "Thanks, Lily!"
Lily nodded, and Albus rounded on her.
"You were in on this the whole time?"
"'Course." Lily piped in a matter of fact tone, proud of her efforts. "That's why we wrote every day. We were planning, that's all."
"Planning?"
"For good reason, too." James shoved the parchment into his robe pocket, embraced Lily once more (for his own sake), waved at his brother, and with the rush of flames, he disappeared, leaving Lily to her brother's disapproving glare.
Later that day, when Harry returned home and he had settled in front of the fireplace with a stack of parchment on his lap and a delightful plate of treacle tart, he glanced subtly through his trademark round glasses at his small approaching Snitch that endeavored to climb up the couch. Smiling, Harry set his parchment down on the coffee table, and helped her up until she was securely tucked into his arms, and Harry presumed that she was getting too old for this, but nevertheless, he denied it firmly, resolutely refusing the notion that his children were growing up.
"Did you give him the parchment, then?" Harry asked, tilting his head to meet his daughter's lethargic gaze. She nodded against him, yawning in lassitude.
"Yeah," Lily mumbled, a weak giggle slipping out of her mouth as she glanced up at her father. "He didn't even check it."
"No," Harry agreed, drawing the respected parchment out of his robes to mutter the proper words, snorting at the irony, "But he will next time . . . if there is a next time."
"If there is, then it's Uncle Percy for him." Lily said seriously, collapsing in a fit of giggles as her dad tickled her mercilessly. And they were – not wholly – indifferent to the cry of exasperation slipping out of James's mouth. He finished his day with a stream of curses that would certainly have ended him up in Uncle Percy's, but as always, he blamed his Uncle Ron for his exaggerated profanity.
A/N: Hello to my fellow readers. To the reviewers: thank you so much for reviewing (I occasionally forget to thank y'all), but anyway, I'm sorry if this is not much, but I needed that escape. Stress. -sigh-
Anyway, feel free to review, if its amusing, if you want to rant about how unfaithful I am, if its a bit rushed, or any errors you found in the story. Mark my words, I read them all. O.O (Ha)
Oh - side note - I wrote a small ficlet, another one pertaining to a family sort of atmosphere, albeit dismal, so if you like, check out Prolonged Encounter. That's mainly why I haven't updated in a while. Shall I beg for forgiveness? ;)
Until next time.
Review.