Chapter 22

When Harry was thirty feet from the ground someone finally noticed Harry's predicament. Lily screamed and pointed at her falling son. Everyone looked at her and then at Harry and several people, including Ginny, Ron and Bill, started to speed over to try and catch him.

Sirius and James were glued to their brooms in horror. Neither was as adept at flying as they once were, being about seventeen years out of practice on James part. Both stared in open horror at Harry's fall. Neither was able to discern Harry's scream of terror from his whoop of glee.

As Harry was falling and others were speeding towards him and even more watched in shock and dread on the ground, Luna continued her commentating as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"And now Harry is plummeting to the ground, the look on is face though is very please and happy. Maybe it's because he has his parents back or maybe it's because he planned this move. See, he's pulled his broom back underneath him and he's leveling out now. And look, he's caught the snitch, that move was really daring, and kind of dangerous I think. Looks like everyone is mad at him though, now. I don't understand why, it is his birthday and he is alright."

Lily was full out sprinting to get to Harry half a field away. The look on her face was murderous. Harry was surrounded by his former team mates who after they're initial shock then relief, were very happy to have won their game. Harry was smiling and shaking Oliver's hand and didn't see the large crowd of very angry people coming at him.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Harry winced. He had never heard anyone call him by all three names before.

He turned just as Ginny, Hermione, Molly, and Lily all stopped in front of him. All four women were royally pissed off. Lily grabbed Harry by the ear and dragged him from the field and over to the house. They were followed by the other three women, James, Sirius, Ron and the other Weasleys. As soon as the door was shut and Harry was forced into the chair at the table and a silencing charm was placed around the room Lily started yelling.

"YOU ARE GROUNDED FROM EVER FLYING AGAIN, YOUNG MAN! IF I EVER SEE YOU PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT I WILL PERMANENLY STICK YOU TO THAT CHAIR AND CHARM ANY BROOM YOU EVER GET WITH AN EXTRA STREGTH GRAVITY CHARM SO IT NEVER LEAVES THE GROUND AGAIN! WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME OUT THERE? I JUST GOT YOU BACK, AND YOU PULL A STUNT LIKE THAT? YOU COULD HAVE DIED OR AT THE VERY LEAST BEEN PERMANENLY INJURED! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?" Lily panted after screaming everything in one breath. George, Ron, Ginny, Bill, Charlie, and Percy were gaping at her. Even their own mother, the queen of screaming at her children, couldn't do that all in one breath.

Harry's mouth opened and closed a few times, his eyes widened in astonishment.

"I'm…sorry?" he asked with a squeak. George smirked and tried to hide a snort. Molly whipped around and silenced him without a word. George would have been silenced anyway, since he was so surprised she had cast a spell at him without him even realizing it.

"You're sorry?" Lily asked with her eyes narrowed. All the Weasley boys backed up a step. When mother is yelling and then gets quiet…the results were not good and usually painful to witness.

Harry nodded and shrank into his chair as best he could. Lily stared at him for several long seconds which unnerved him even more. The Weasley boys took another step back, knowing the worst thing an angered mum could do was go quiet. Usually they thought of their best punishments when they were quiet. At least when they're yelling you know what they're thinking, but The Quiet was a bad child's worst nightmare.

Harry didn't know that when a mum went quiet the best thing to do was to also be quiet.

"Mum, I really didn't think about how you all would react. I mean when I fly it just comes out naturally, and I do what I think of. That whole move was completely spur of the moment, I knew from instinct when to pull out. I was in totally control, the only thing that could have hurt me was if the wind resistance pulled the broom out of my hand, and that didn't happen. I'm fine, I'm sorry I scared you, but I am okay," he said all this very quickly not noticing the danger signs in his mum's face, or the simultaneous movement from the Weasley kids as they each took yet another step back at the phrase 'spur of the moment'. Ron had been silently waving to Harry trying to tell him to shut it, but to now avail.

"You mean you've never even seen someone practice that…that…death plummet?" she asked with a clenched jaw. Ginny hid her face in Bill's shoulder and he wanted to hide his in Charlie's but refrained. The kid just kept digging deeper and deeper.

"I…no, but I mean, I'm a good flyer, I knew when to pull out and what to do. That's not the worst thing I've done on a broom. That was when I had to get past the dragon in fourth year and steal the egg. That was a hundred times more dangerous than this move," Harry defended. The word dragon sparked interest in James's eyes but he wisely didn't say anything.

"Harry, you are grounded. I don't care what you have to say, you are grounded. The only reason I'll let you stay for the rest of this party is because I can see that it took a lot of time, effort and money to set everything up, and I'm not going to make them waste it, but starting tomorrow, you are grounded to your room, and…I'm assigning you homework, chores, and…I'll think of more stuff for you to do. Get out of my sight before I…before I spank your arse," Lily said as she ground her teeth.

Harry looked like he wanted to dispute his side, but one look at her face and he was out the door at a faster rate than he had been falling. Ron, George, Ginny, and Hermione followed him. Bill, Charlie, and Percy all took a silent gesture from their mother to leave the room and also traveled outside.

They followed Harry to an alcove in the trees he had found summer before his second year. He hadn't really been back since then since most of his subsequent visits since then he had been under surveillance the whole time. Now he was walking without watching where he was going and the others knew when he did this he was both very confused and thinking very hard, or he was really angry.

When he got to the darkening clearing and started pacing around the center, the others shared a glance and sat down. Several minutes went by before he said anything.

"Grounded? From flying? Wha…is…Why?!" he exploded. The others were a little shocked that he was so angry.

"Harry, you do realize that stunt you pulled had us all scared to death for you. You could have at the very least told someone what you were going to do," Ginny said firmly. She whole-heartedly agreed with Lily. Harry had to learn that just because he was alive didn't mean he had to endanger that life with stupid stunts like falling from a broomstick at one hundred feet in the air. To her and Lily, it didn't matter that he was supposedly in control the whole time. The fact that he did it was bad enough.

"I was in control the whole time, I knew what I was doing! Flying is the one thing I can do naturally without having to train all day, several days a week to be great. Flying is my natural talent that I can actually be happy when people congratulate me on my skill. It's natural for me to do something dangerous like that. At least flying isn't as bad as fighting another Dark Lord. Would she me rather do that again? She can't just ground me like this!" he yelled. The others were blinking and confused and Ginny voice all their thoughts.

"Harry, she's your mum. She can ground you as much as she wants," Ginny said. The steel in her voice told all of them that she wasn't liking the way this conversation was going.

"Well, so what! She's been gone for seventeen years, what gives her the right to just wake up and start demanding things of me? I've lived almost all my life without a mum to ground me if I do something stupid, why does she think she can just start now after everything I've lived through? Why now? Why?"

The others were stunned that Harry was acting the way he was. He stomped over to a dead tree laying on its side and sat upon it with a huff. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other in shock. Neither could have anticipated this kind of a reaction in Harry, at least not so soon as only three hours after he returned his parents to life.

"Ginny, I don't think Harry knows what he's saying. He's wanted his parents back since he was really little. Maybe he's just…" the older girl had no words to describe the attitude Harry was displaying. He was acting like a spoiled two year old. Ginny looked over at Harry with a blank look.

"He doesn't know how to react to having parents who care about him. Mum's always treated him like…well, like a very welcome, long term guest. Of course she was like a mum for him after the Triwizard Tournament, and sent him family jumpers every Christmas but really, he's never known what a real parent is like." Ginny stopped. The others realized how true her statement was. She stood up.

"Why don't you guys head back to the tent, play some games and such. I'll talk to him and help him understand what's wrong with the way he's acting. We'll be back over there in a little bit," she saw most of them nod and stand up. Hermione and Ron looked to want to join her but she shook her head.

"He doesn't need a crowd right now. Today has been a horribly emotional day for him. Just let me talk to him for right now."

"If you two aren't back at the tent in fifteen minutes, we're going to come looking for you," Ron said. Ginny raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing as they followed the others out of the clearing and back towards the house.

She walked over to where Harry was sitting and sat with him for a few minutes before taking his hand.

"I know what you're going to say, Gin. I'm acting like a child, I should be treated like one," he said scathingly. Squeezed his hand and smiled.

"Well, then my work here is done. You know you're being a prat, I don't have to tell you to grow up," she said calmly. He glanced over at her and saw her smirk, and rolled his eyes.

"Look, Ginny, listen—"

"No, Harry, you listen. I realized why you were so surprised that your mum was acting like a mum. It's because you don't know what having a real mum is like. I know this sounds harsh but its true. Petunia was a horrible aunt and mother even to her own son. My mum cared about you a lot, as much as her own children, but in the end she was still just Mrs. Weasley to you until about a month or so ago when she forced you to call her Molly.

"I'm not saying you didn't care about her like a mum, but face it, you never felt as comfortable here as you did at Hogwarts. This wasn't your home, it was The Burrow.

"All your life, you've wanted your parents back. Now that you have them, you need to learn that they are your parents. They have the right to punish you and hug you and praise you and scold you, all in one breath sometimes even. Your job, is to try not to earn the scolding and punishments, and to get more hugs than spankings. You can't blame her for punishing you for that damn act of sheer stupidity earlier, even my mum would have yelled for an hour at you.

"Your mum is being a mum. You know what the Muggles say; be careful what you wish for. You wished for a mum and dad, now you have them. Treat them right," she finished. He stared at her and then looked down to his hand in hers.

"You're right. I'm a complete arse," he said shaking his head.

"No your not," she replied.

"Um, yeah I am. Or did you not here me earlier?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, I heard what you said. But neither of your parents did. It would have crushed your mum to hear that, but she didn't. And I'm pretty sure that the others wouldn't tell her that, so as of right now, you're still clear of conscience in that aspect. Almost giving your mum, dad, Sirius, my mum and dad, Hermione, and everyone else at the pitch a heart attack however, deserves an apology from you, I think," she said as she stood up. She pulled his hand and he stood up as well.

They walked hand in hand to the edge of the grove and he stopped.

"Just one more question," he started. She nodded and he took a deep breath. "Did it at least look cool?" he asked. She slapped his arm hard and he winced.

"Too soon?" he asked again.

"What do you think, Harry?" she inquired. Her raised eyebrows and pinched frown told him not to answer positively. So he ducked his head and didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"I was going to call it the Potter Plummet," he mumbled. She held back a snort, but didn't comment.

Ginny thought secretly that the move itself was brilliant. But to say that to him now would be stroking an ego that at the moment, didn't need to be stroked.

As they walked they could see several people entering the tent, and a few people exiting the house. He could see his parents and Sirius walking from the front doors towards the tent and he stopped.

"Gin?"

"Hmm?" she mumbled.

"Do think she really meant I'm not allowed to fly forever? Like, never again?" he asked quietly. She looked over at him and saw genuine worry in his eyes and she burst out laughing. She continued to laugh as she pulled him with her to the tent flap.

A/n: Okay so a different feel to this chapter…I want you all to know, this isn't one of those sappy, fake James-and-Lily-wake-up-and-everything-is-better! Fics. Harry, James, Lily and Sirius all need to get to know each other since they really don't know anything about one another. James and Lily know Sirius, but not after they 'died'. Harry knows Sirius, but not much about him from before Azkaban. James and Lily know virtually nothing about Harry and vice versa. There will be a few angsty moments still, but it wont drag on and on. And it will be interspersed with humor. Just wanted you all to know this.

On another note, everyone should go check out another plot bunny attack of mine that I just finished and it's completely posted called Beautiful Little Monstrosity. Please read it and review! It needs more reviews! It's also the first muti-chapter story i've ever finished...i need to know how i did!

Chraelix: I'm glad you broke down and reviewed! It makes me so happy to see people doing that! I love reviews! Thanks!

Becca and Joanie: I love Luna she's my most favorite character and the most difficult to write, the fact that both of you commented on her fills my heart with joy and giddiness! I was worried I did it wrong. Becca, I know James played Chaser, but I see him and Sirius being another Fred and George as beaters kind of. Plus having the trio of chasers play. I couldn't break them up. Thanks for reviewing!

Now everyone please review again for this one too! Sorry this was so long! You know, this story almost has the same amount of reviews as my 200k+ word story? I love you all!