"Mum we've finished with the garden, can we please go now to play some Quidditch?" Ron begged to Molly who was standing over the stove.

She turned to look at the four boys in front of her who were all looking at her with pleading, guilty expressions. "Oh all right, but take Percy with you!" she said, yelling at the boys who had taken off as soon as she said 'oh'.

Fred yelled back at her almost instantly, "We already tried, but Perfect Percy wouldn't come out!"

"No more nicknames Fred! Just because Percy has chosen to get ahead on his school work does not give you two a reason to make fun of him!" she yelled out the door to their retreating backs. "Do you understand me!?" she yelled louder, only to receive a waving of hands as an answer.

"Mum, I want to play Quidditch too!" Ginny whined, coming down the stairs. "It's so lonely being the only girl," she continued to pout as she leaned on the ledge of the Dutch door.

"Go then Ginny, I'm busy trying a new cleaning spell," Molly said, shooing her daughter out the door.

"What's Gilderoy Lockhart got you doing today Mollykins?" Arthur Weasley said merrily as he came through the door.

"Oh nothing I can't handle," she said triumphantly, as she followed the motions in the book.

Arthur Weasley smiled at his wife, giving her a small hug before heading to the door, "I should be back for dinner tonight, if there aren't another stack of raid folders on my desk when I get back."

"Alright," Molly responded, not fully paying attention to his departing words. "Can you do me a favor before you head out dear and tell those sons of yours that they better be including Ginny in that game of theirs or else they will have an attic to clean out instead?"

"Yes dear," Arthur sighed, trudging towards the field way out behind the house, only to be startled when Molly shrieked behind him.

"Arthur, Molly!" a breathless James Potter called out as he stepped out of the fireplace, followed closely by Remus and Sirius.

"Ah James, Remus, Sirius, lovely to see you," Arthur greeted them; smiling and shaking their hands once they patted the dust off of themsleves. "What are you doing here?"

"Harry," Remus answered for James who was still trying to regain his breath after all that running at the ministry.

"And here I was thinking you were fit," Sirius said to James, nudging him in the side.

"Shut it, Padfoot," he said firmly as he regained his composure, turning to Arthur Weasley. "Harry, is he here?"

"Yes, he arrived here this morning," Molly said, clearly putout by the whole situation.

"I'm on my way to go find the boys now, follow me," Arthur said cutting in to avoid the tension that was sure to come

Arthur led them out to the fields behind the Burrow that led to the woods and the clearing ahead, trudging through the overgrown weeds and long grasses that were surrounding them.

"So uh, Arthur," James asked wearily, not really sure if he wanted to hear this answer, "how exactly did Harry get here?"

"You don't, you don't, oh!" Arthur exclaimed, a bemused expression on his face. "Quite brilliant really, though it scared Molly half to death to see the three boys gone this morning. She doesn't blame Harry of course," he added, noting James' expression. "The boys flew my car to London last night, genius really, wish I could have tagged along…"

"They flew-" James started.

"Your car?" Remus continued.

"Wicked," Sirius added, with an equally wicked grin. "I have a flying motorbike, or did at least," Sirius added, bragging.

"Genius," Arthur said, marveling at the thought before he went into a deep conversation with Sirius over it which James and Remus happily ignored.

The four men walked hastily through the woods towards the clearing, only realizing how close they were when a bludger came speeding towards them causing them all to drop down against the ground in fear of being struck.

"Who hit that?" James said in awe of the strength. "That was brilliant!"

"Oh one of the twins I presume," Arthur said, patting the dust off of himself before walking on ahead.

Following him quickly, James, Remus and Sirius looked up to see four figures flying in a uniformed pattern in the sky, playing what they assumed to be a compact game of Quidditch.

"Dad!" they head a small voice yell, only connecting it with the little girl who yelled it when she came barreling towards them, tears streaming down her face as she ran into Arthur.

"What's the matter, Ginny dear?" Arthur said, hugging his youngest child closely.

"They said I couldn't play with them because I was a girl!"

"I'm sure they just don't want you getting hurt," Arthur reassured before he projected his voice for all to hear. "Isn't that right boys?"

"Yes, dad," they heard three voices mumble unanimously.

Harry and Ron sped like bullets around the clearing, throwing the quaffle between them trying to get past the twins yet again.

"Over here, Ron!" Harry yelled as he flew right past George into an opening.

Ron threw the quaffle to him with all his might but it was wacked towards Fred instead when George sent the bludger towards in sending the balls in opposite directions.

"Sorry, Harry!" Ron yelled before swerving himself around and heading towards their own end.

"Watch out, Ron," Harry yelled from far behind, as a bludger barreled towards his best friend.

"What?" Ron said, turning around just in time for the speedy ball to fly past him missing him by an inch. "That was a close one," he laughed nervously, trying to regain his composure.

"Let's fly around the back and attack from there," Harry suggested, flying along side Ron, only paying attention to what was going on around them when they were pulled from their conversation by Mr. Weasley's shouts about the bludger cutting a bit to close.

"Oh no," Ron moaned, looking at the scene a little more closely.

"What?" Harry asked, trying to follow Ron's gaze.

"It's just Ginny," Ron complained. "She doesn't get that we don't want to play against her, she's just too small and doesn't get the game enough to make it fun…" Ron said, continuing to ramble on despite his best-mate's frozen face. Ron looked up a few minutes later when Harry was hitting him repeatedly on the arm but not uttering a word. "What, Harry?"

"Look!" was all he said, as he pointed at the three figures that emerged from the bush behind Mr. Weasley and Ginny.

"Is that your-,"

"Dad?" Harry said, a little nervously. He gulped, "Yes."

Harry and Ron proceeded to watch from their place in the sky as Harry's dad searched the sky until his eyes fell on the two of them. His body hunched over when James motioned for him to come down to which he turned to Ron and muttered something along the lines of 'it was fun while it lasted', before he sped off towards the ground.

He stumbled a little as he stepped off his broom just as it hit the ground, gradually slowing his run into a walk as he approached his father.

"H-Hi Dad," Harry said, refusing to make eye contact as he stopped in front of James who was standing there with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Harry, what were you thinking?" James started, with a tone of disbelief.

"Yeah, what were you thinking?" Sirius said, coming up behind James with a huge grin as he slapped his godson jokingly on the back. "How dare you think that you flee the house to come play Quidditch and not invite us? Got an extra broom around here?" he added, looking around.

"Sirius, that was not exactly what I was going to say to my son," James said, emphasizing the 'my'.

"But Jamesie! It's Quidditch," Sirius whined as George came over and passed him one of the extra brooms, which he then proceeded to pass towards James as a pleading gift. "Tell me you aren't a little jealous that they are up their flying around freely and you're down here having not played a game since before Harry was born!"

"Ok, maybe a lit-, no I see what you're doing Sirius," James said shaking his head.

"I tried," Sirius whispered to Harry, who stifled a laugh at his godfather's antics. "Up to you now," he added before he jumped on the broom and flew up towards the twins while Ron took his place next to Harry.

"It wasn't his fault, Mr. Potter, I mean James," Ron said, remembering what James and Lily had said about being addressed like that. "I was worried, you see, me and 'Mione both. We had been writing to Harry all summer and heard nothing back and we thought something had happened."

"That something had happened?" James asked curiously.

"Well you know, after everything last year. We thought maybe," Ron said the rest in a low whisper after checking his surroundings. "That You-Know-Who had gotten to you guys or something…"

James looked at the boys, Ron looking a little scared out his mind while Harry looked at his father waiting for his reaction.

"Oh," James said, scratching the back of his head. "Well that was er, thoughtful of you to come and check then," he continued, really not sure of what to say about Ron's suspicions for Harry's lack of response. "Harry," he said, regaining his speech and turning to his son, "I'm glad you, I, uh, I'm glad that you got to see Ron and the Weasley's and all but you shouldn't have left in the middle of the night without saying something, or leaving a note so your mum and I would know where you are."

Remus coughed.

"Or," James continued, giving his friend a side-look, "Remus when your mum leaves him in charge while we're out."

"Sorry," Harry said, making his eye contact with his dad for the first time that day.

"It's alright champ," James said, clapping Harry on the shoulder before he turned back towards the Pitch. "Well since we took the rest of the day off, might as well do something fun, what do you say?" he said, looking at Harry who smiled before he remounted his broom.

"Catch, Mr. Potter," Fred yelled from above, dropping an extra broom down.

James caught it in an instant and mounted it even faster than Harry had and took off into the sky. He turned around only once to yell, "Are you coming or not Remus?" to his friend, who grabbed another extra broom and took off after them all.

"That was wicked, I didn't know you could fly like that Mr. Potter!" Ron gawked as the men and boys made their way back towards the house, brooms over their shoulders.

Sirius coughed trying to receive a similar compliment regarding his skills only to be ignored by the surrounding party.

James, who was the only one to take notice chuckled a little bit, "Thanks, Ron, not so bad yourself."

"Did you hear that Harry?" Ron said is a whisper so only Harry could hear. "He said I was good!"

"Yeah, I heard Ron," Harry said, slightly annoyed by how much Ron fanned over his dad.

Ginny popped up behind the group just as they passed the garden gate.

"You're in trouble," she grinned widely before she led the way into the house.

"What does that mean?" Sirius questioned obnoxiously as he placed his broom in the shed along with the others.

"I don't think you really want to know," Remus said.

"Now what does that mean?" Sirius demanded, walking up behind a frozen Remus who stood parked outside the door that led to the Weasley's kitchen. "Remus?" he asked again, shoving his shoulders. He gave up after a few attempts and followed his friend's gaze until his own eyes landed on an auburn haired witch sitting at the long wooden table, a grin pulling at her lips from behind her tea mug that was held up to her chin.

"Hi Sirius," she said, almost a little too sweetly.

"H-hi Lily," he said, stumbling over his words.

She took a sip of tea before addressing him again. "Mind telling me where that darling husband and son of mine are?"

"H-husband? S-son?" Sirius blithered on like an idiot, "don't know what you're talking about there Lils…"

"What's the hold up?" James said, patting Sirius on the back as he came up behind him with the four boys in tow.

"Hi James," a sickly sweet voice said.

James didn't look, his eyes remained resting on the profile of Sirius' head. "Is that who-"

"Oh yes," Remus said, jumping in before turning to James and whispering so only he and Sirius could hear. "Prongs, get in there before she finds another reason to hold something, anything against us."

"Right," James said, before turning to face the wrath of his wife. "Now it's not what you think," he started, walking towards her slowly, arms stretched out in innocence as if hoping to calm her down.

"Oh its not," she said, faking understanding as she stood up and moved around the table until she was directly in front of him. "So what isn't it exactly?"

James blinked. "It's not what you think it is?" he tried again, his voice a little squeaky this time and not quite so sure.

"Oh!" she exclaimed before laughing obnoxiously and turning to wink at Molly before turning back around to her husband. "So I don't need to be the least bit concerned that you two," she said, pointing to James and Sirius, "ran out of work today, alarming quite a few people in the ministry might I add, because Remus came running in yelling something about Harry," she continued, staring down her son as she said his name, "going missing? Was that it Molly?"

"I think that is what you told me dear," Molly agreed as she sipped her own cup of tea.

Harry looked up at his dad, terrified. James looked down at him before mouthing 'sorry' and turning to Remus and Sirius hoping they'd know what to do, only to have them not even return his gaze as their eyes were so intently focused on the flaming woman in front of them.

"Anything to say for yourselves, anything at all?" she said, crossing her arms across her chest and starring both of them down, making them feel significantly reduced in size.

Both James and Harry shook their heads 'no' whilst staring at the ground, too timid to meet her eyes.

"Well if that's all," she said, her voice kind of fading out. She grabbed her cup of tea from the table and took a long sip, her eyes not losing contact with them for a minute. She set it back down and stood there for a moment, appearing slightly calmer.

Unfortunately for Harry and James it was all a façade.

"What were you thinking Harry?" she shrieked, her voice causing them all to wince. "I thought we told you to never, ever leave the house or go anywhere without telling us where first, and even then we thought those adventures would be in the day! Not a bloody two in the morning when you are supposed to be in bed! You didn't even leave us a note, you know better than that, we taught you better than that! And on top of the fact that you snuck out in the middle of the night at the age of twelve no less, you snuck out and hopped into a bloody flying car! A flying car! A flying car that was driven by a boy who doesn't even have a proper license! You could have been killed! What we're you thinking? Don't answer that because you weren't thinking, you can't have been thinking! Oh you're exactly like your father…"

"Right here Lils," James mumbled, sending her a slight wave to acknowledge his presence.

"Oh I'll get to you next," she said, her eyes sending daggers at him before she turned back to Harry whose wide eyes were staring at her out of shock. "You do not leave the house in the middle of the night again, am I understood?"

"Yes, mum," Harry said quietly, but loud enough for her to hear.

"Don't scare me like that again, sweetheart," she said a little softer, crouching down so she was eye to eye with him. "You are far too valuable for us to have you stripped from our lives because you died in a flying car accident."

"I promise I'll leave a note next time," Harry said, smiling slightly at her but having that quickly diminish when he noticed her expression after he uttered the words 'next time'. "I-I mean, I won't do that again, ever."

"Better," she laughed, ruffling his hair. She stood up and looked James, Remus and Sirius, square in the eyes, holding each of their gazes for a few minutes. "What in the bloody hell were you three doing?"

They just stared.

She turned on Remus. "I don't want to be mad at you because despite your friendship with these two idiots you have always been reasonable. But this, this! Remus I expect more from you!" she yelled, causing him to take a few steps back. "I would have thought you would have had the mind to come back once you found him and tell me where you really are instead of causing me to go on a wild goose chase to find all of you!"

"How exactly did you, er, uh, find out Lils?" James asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't you 'Lils' me, James Potter," she said, whipping around to her husband. "I found out because when I was coming back from the hospital I had the thought that I wanted to have lunch with my husband so I went to the ministry and chatted with a few people. And do you want to guess what they told me, Sirius?" she said averting her gaze to the next Marauder in front of her.

Sirius rapidly shook his head 'no', his curly hair lashing in front of his face.

"I'll tell you what they told me," she said, her voice starting off softly before it erupted out of her. "They told me that my fool of a husband and his fellow idiots left in a hurry because his son wasn't to be found this morning. That he was missing."

"He was," James protested, only to be shut up by her rounding on him again.

"So Molly confirmed," Lily said fiercely. "And you know what," she said, her voice a little more normal now, "I am glad you love him enough to ditch work to go and find him. That's swell-"

"Doesn't sound swell," Fred whispered to George, who unfortunately for him, Molly heard.

"Fred Weasley!"

"Yes mum."

Lily turned back to the three men again. "It is swell James, Sirius and Remus that you ran all over the ministry, crashing into employees all in the name of tracking down Harry, but what is not swell is walking into a place to find that you left to get him five bloody hours ago. Five!"

"It's been five hours?" James asked awkwardly.

"Yes!" Lily screamed.

James took in his wife, whose chest was moving rapidly with her short breaths. He stepped forward and put his arm around her shoulders, leading her out the door and a ways into the garden where he sat her down on a small bench under one of the trees.

He watched her as her breathing evened out for a moment before the tears started falling and she buried her face in her hands. James moved his hand comfortingly along her spine and around her back, waiting for her to form the words that she so desperately needs to let out.

"James," she said quietly after a few moments, her head coming out of her hands until her emerald eyes stared directly into his. "Please, please, please don't ever let me walk, run, fly, or apparate into that position again, especially with Harry. I can't handle it any more, always being worried about who might hurt him. Who might want to hurt him, or us."

"I won't," he promised before he pulled her close to him, her head resting in the crook of his neck.

"He's grounded though, ok?" she said, looking up at him.

"I completely agree. I'm sorry that I didn't take him home and punish him as soon as we found him, it was stupid—I know how paranoid you are about all this. How paranoid we both are, really," he added, noting her raised eyebrow. "Can you forgive me?"

She laughed, "Well I guess I can forgive you, again… for like the 1500th time…"

"I can't have done that many things to make you mad," he gawked in disbelief.

"No, you haven't…"

"Oh thank god, I thought you had actually-,"

"It's more like 2000 really…"

"That's it," he declared, standing up and throwing her a little off balance.

"Oh no," she said, her eyes wide as he leaned in closer. "No, no, please, no don't do it!" she screeched as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, tickling her mercilessly as he did.

"You're parents are so strange when it comes to their bickering," Ron noted as he and Harry watched James and Lily's exchange from Ron's bedroom hideout.

"You have no idea," Harry responded, flopping over on the bed just as Ron started launching into a conversation about the Chudley Canons.

"Harry!" he heard his mum call up the stairs.

"Yes?" he yelled, his mind still wrapped up in the books he was reading on his bed.

"The phone's for you, its Hermione!"

"Coming!" he yelled excitedly, jumping off the bed and shoving the books to the floor. Moving to the door rapidly he stretched out his hand to turn the knob only to find it stuck. He turned the lock and tried again. Nothing. He banged his fist repeatedly on the door, trying to unjam it. Nothing.

"Why?" he pulled on the door again. "Won't this open?" he questioned himself as he fell backwards, trying too hard to open the door.

He sat there, slumped against his desk, staring at the door for a minute before he got up and ran into it. Nothing.

"Harry!" his mum yelled again. "It's not nice to keep people waiting!"

"I'm not trying to!" he yelled back as he jumped against the door again. "It's my door. It's locked itself!"

He could hear his mum sigh loudly at his response downstairs before she went back to the phone and told Hermione that he would have to phone her back. Harry looked around his room, his eyes landing on the window. He hopped up, crawled over his bed and landed next to the window, trying, without much success to heave it open. Nothing.

"You can't be serious…" he muttered in disbelief, laying back on his bed.

His head hung over the back of his bed causing his entire room to be flipped upside down. He scanned the room from this new perspective, his eyes catching onto a movement coming from his closet. He slowly flipped over, thinking his mind was playing tricks on him but he heard something break. He pensively got up and creped over towards the closet, ripping the doors wide open after counting himself down and finding his courage.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Harry asked, stepping back as a weird wrinkled creature with large eyes and ears rolled out of his closet and looked back at him awkwardly.

"Harry Potter," it said in awe, startling Harry a little bit. "It's an honor to meet you, sir," it continued, standing upright but still staring with that same look.

"Right," Harry said, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, exactly what- I mean who are you?"

"I'm Dobby the House-Elf, sir."

"Harry," Lily half moaned, half yelled as she walked up the two flights of stairs. "Harry, what are you doing up here that is so important that you couldn't come down and answer the phone?" she said, knocking on his door.

"Harry?" she said, knocking again and trying the handle. "Why is the door locked?"

She put her ear to the door to hear her son talking, well arguing it was more like it about his missing letters. She heard a cry after a while, signaling alarm. "Harry, I'm opening the door."

"I have to go back to Hogwarts," she heard Harry say quite angrily.

"What?" she asked, kind of shocked backing away from the door a bit. "Harry?" she asked, again. She pulled her wand out of her boot and pointed it at the lock.

She opened the door to see a small house-elf look at her for a split second before it apparated away, leaving her son yelling at thin air about his lost letters.

She stumbled into the room, tripping over her feet as she did.

"So uh, what was that?" she asked quite awkwardly.

"That was Dobby," Harry said harshly. "He was the one who took my letters all summer!"

"Wh-why would he do that?" Lily asked, in complete shock at what she was hearing.

"He said that there were going to be bad things happening at Hogwarts this year and that I shouldn't go back," Harry said shrugging while he threw his things back in his closet.

"What kind of bad things?" she asked in a threatening tone. "Harry," she said forcefully when he wouldn't meet her eye.

"All he said was that there was a plot to make terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," Harry quoted.

"But he didn't specify?"

"No," Harry answered immediately. "He only said what I just told you."

"You're not telling me something," she said, looking at him a little closer. "Your father may have taught you his poker face when it comes to telling lies but I saw right through his and I can see through yours," she warned, laughing a little despite her attempt to be cross.

"He might have mentioned something about it being too dangerous for me to go back," Harry said as if it was nothing.

Lily held her hand to her forehead. "Right then," she said, settling herself down on the chair.

Harry looked at his mom, waiting for her to say something only to see her look blankly out the window and around his room for minutes. He kicked his feet around, closed the cupboard doors and chucked a pillow that was on the floor onto his bed. She still just sat there.

"Did you uh write Hermione's number down, mum?" he asked timidly.

"Yeah, it's on the pad next to the phone," she said, her eyes still glued to a photo on his wall of the three of them.

"Lils? Harry?" James Potter's voice boomed through the house.

"Mum?" Harry asked, lightly tapping her on the arm when she didn't react.

"Ok, then" he said, slowly backing up to the door before he darted down the stairs.

"Hey ya, Harry," James greeted his son who had come barreling down the stairs, jumping the last few steps as he landed with a thud right in front of his dad. "Where's your mum?" he asked, sitting down on the stairs to take his shoes off.

"My room," Harry answered, yelling back to his father as he ran towards the kitchen.

"Wh-"

"Making a phone call, dad," Harry shouted, interrupting James mid-sentence.

James just shook his head and headed up the stairs.

Harry dialed the number his mum had written down, hopping up on the counter while he listened to it ring.

"Hello?"

"Hermione?" Harry asked into the receiver.

"Oh, Harry! I didn't think you'd get back to me that quick," Hermione answered quickly.

"Sorry, got a little preoccupied by a house-elf trapping me in my bedroom?"

"A house-elf did what?"

"It kept me locked in my bedroom when my mum was calling me to the phone."

"I didn't know you had a house elf…"

"We don't."

"Then whose elf is it?"

"Don't know, he didn't say who he worked for."

"Well what did he want with you then? He wouldn't have been there just to say hi."

"He wanted to warn me."

"Warn you? Warn you about what, Harry?"

"He said there was a plot to make terrible things happen at Hogwarts this year and that because of them I shouldn't go back, it'd be too dangerous."

"I wonder what he means by that. Hogwarts is the safest place in the world to be, who would want to endanger students."

"I'll give you one guess who."

He heard her gasp on the other end before she came back on. "You don't think…"

"No, I mean he doesn't have a body and he's weak, he can't do anything too bad at this point right?"

"No, I suppose not. Did you tell your parents?"

"Well mum kind of walked in on it. She managed to unlock the door and saw him just before he apparated away. I suppose she's probably telling dad now though…"

"Well did she say anything about the warning?"

"No, she kinda just went silent, it was weird."

"Hmmm, well I suppose your parents will figure it out. They've dealt with stuff like this already."

"What do you- oh! Right, yeah I guess they kind of know how to deal with threats against me before," he said awkwardly.

"So do you think you'll be coming back?"

"Where else would I go?"

"Well…"

"Hermione, I'm coming back."

"Of course you are," she said, he could hear her smile over the phone.

"So why did you phone?"

"Oh right! Well I wanted to check that this was actually your landline, you know after we figured out at Diagon Alley that we could've just phoned each other, both living in muggle environments and all."

"I still can't believe we didn't figure that out!"

"Yes, well, anyways I wanted to check. Also, did you want me to save us a compartment on the train? Knowing you and Ron, you'll both be late."

"Er, yeah, sure, that'd be fantastic."

"Ok, well I have to go finish packing before dinner. I'm having the most difficult time trying to get everything in my trunk with all the new textbooks for Defense…"

"I got mine in fine."

"Yes, well, I picked up a couple extra books at Flourish and Blotts after the whole fiasco with yours and Ron's dad and Lucius Malfoy."

"Don't remind me…"

"Oh mum's calling me, have to go now, Harry. See you at King's Cross!"

"Bye, 'Mione!"

"Come on!" Harry yelled as he pushed his trolley at top speed throughout King's Cross, his parents running behind him, trying to weave through the crowd with less pedestrian casualties then Harry. "We're going to miss the train!" He yelled again when James and Lily had stopped to let an old woman hobble to the train ahead of them.

James and Lily both gave their son a look that said they were not impressed by his manners in that moment. "Just go on ahead, we will meet you there!"

Harry pushed on, through the crowds, his trolley rolling over quite a few toes on the way. When he finally spotted the wall that stood between Platform's 9 and 10 he started sprinting, taking notice that the clock on the wall read two minutes to eleven.

"Harry!" Lily screamed after watching her son hit the barrier at full force, only to be stopped, his trolley broken and him sprawled out on the floor surrounded by a small crowd. She and James pushed to the front only to see their son already standing up and latching his trunk up.

"He's ok," James announced to the small crowd and platform officer who was yelling at Harry's recklessness. "He just tripped from going to fast, he's sorry, right Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry muttered as he wandered over to where Hedwig's cage was turned over on the ground. "Sorry girl," he said softly, trying to calm her down.

James and Lily both looked around them before they approached the barrier wall. He patted it multiple times, even taking a little run at it himself before he determined that it was sealed.

"Why would it have sealed itself? I didn't think that was possible," Lily muttered as the three of them walked back out of the station towards the car.

"Neither did I," James said, scratching his head and pulling his keys out of his pocket to unlock the car.

"Hogwarts: A History mentioned nothing about the platform having that capability," Lily continued to mutter on.

"You sound exactly like Hermione," Harry moaned as he and James lifted his trunk back into the car. "So how am I going to get to Hogwarts now?" he asked his parents once they were all settled in their seats.

Lily looked at James, concern flooding her eyes and mind. He returned the glance, but shook his head at the end, signaling that they still had nothing to support the elf's warnings.

James smiled before looking in the rearview mirror to see Harry's face. "We're going to go to Sirius' and Remus' just around the corner from here and contact Dumbledore from there, ok?"

"Ok," Harry agreed, turning to Hedwig to stroke her feathers.

"I always knew that you would run away at one point, Harry," Sirius declared slapping a hand on his godson's shoulder as he passed over the threshold. "I thought you'd be a bit older, granted, but I'll take it. What'd mum and dad do to get you all worked up that you had to come stay with your dashing godfather?"

Harry was about to answer when Remus came down the stairs. Remus looked the boy over for a second before raising his eyebrow, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Harry but does the train for Hogwarts not leave today?"

"That's what I was forgetting!" Sirius yelled, but continued to direct Harry to the living room anyways.

"So did mum and dad disinherit you?" he continued on. "Did you sneak out again and your mum made true on her promise to practically murder you so you got away?"

"You know a nice thing to do sometimes, Padfoot, if to let the guest speak," Remus said rather sarcastically.

"And you know what's better?" James said, coming into the room with Lily's hand in his, "What's better it to not assume that Lily and I are absolutely horrible parents to our son."

"Well I don't know about that Prongs," he said clapping James on the shoulder. "I mean Lily's pretty good at keeping track of that godson of mine, well minus a couple of weeks ago," he added winking at Lily who rolled her eyes in response and continued to glare at him as she directed Harry towards the next room where the fireplace was.

"You weren't exactly the ideal godfather figure in that instance either," she said slyly bumping into him on her way. "Maybe Remus would have been better..." she continued on, exiting the room. "Jobs yours if you want it Remus!"

"You can't do that Evans!" he yelled after her, stomping his feet in retaliation and pouting much to the amusement of Remus and James, the former who stood up taking the whining as his chance to speak.

"Not that I don't find this all very amusing," Remus said, motioning towards the tantrum Sirius was throwing, "but why isn't Harry on the train?"

"The barrier was sealed," Harry answered for his dad. "Mum wants you," he said, turning to James who ruffled his hair before joining Lily.

"It sealed itself?" Remus asked incredulously, grabbing his copy of Hogwarts: A History off a nearby shelf.

"Oh not you too!" Harry complained, sinking into the couch. Remus raised an eyebrow at the boy, before it clicked.

"Lily" Remus said, to which Harry nodded profusely.

"Ok, champ," James said loudly, reentering the room with Lily. Harry sat up eagerly, or at least attempted to- the oversized couch consuming him.

"Dumbledore said you can floo to his office just before the carriages arrive," Lily said, sitting down on the edge of the couch, trying to avoid ending up like her son who was getting pulled out by James and Remus.

"So you'll be joining us for lunch then?" Sirius asked happily.

"Seems like it," Lily said, sighing as she and Remus began pouring over the books on the coffee table.

Harry, James, and Sirius looked on at Remus and Lily with equally disgusted looks plastered across their faces. Sirius turned to James after a few minutes of observing the two bookworms who were adamantly discussing the days events.

"So what now?" Sirius asked.

Harry just shrugged as his stomach rumbled, muttering something about not having the trolley lady to help quench his hunger.

"To the kitchen it is then!" Sirius proclaimed, and dragged Harry away with him, leaving the others stunned.

Lily looked at Remus who shrugged before they went back to their discussion, James plopping down in a chair across from them watching their amusing discussion.

Harry stared at Kreacher, his jaw dropped to the floor much to Sirius' amusement.

"Ugly thing isn't he?" Sirius commented laughing with his hands on his hips.

Harry just stared. "Y-you have one too?" he said, turning to stare at his godfather.

"Came with the house unfortunately. Nasty thing," Sirius said, observing the house-elf much to its discontent. "We'd like some food," Sirius continued, talking strictly to Kreacher who bowed, obeying the command and muttering some insult or another as he set to work.

"Where'd he come from?" Harry asked, peering around Sirius to get a better look at Kreacher.

Sirius just shrugged and pulled out two chairs at the table, sitting down on the one while Harry took up the other. "Why on earth are you so interested in house-elves, let alone this one?" Sirius asked, motioning to Kreacher behind him.

"There was one hidden in my cupboard the other day who warned me to not go back to Hogwarts this year," Harry said with such a straight face that Sirius couldn't help but topple over in laughter.

"Wait, what?" he asked, after resituating himself on the chair.

"A house-elf was in my room and told me not to go back to Hogwarts."

"What house-elf?"

"Some elf named Dobby," Harry said before grabbing a bite of the food Kreacher had set in front of them just moments before apparating away.

"Don't know that one," Sirius said, his mouth half-full.

Harry just shrugged.

"So did it say what kind of danger?"

Harry just shook his head. "No, just that it was too dangerous for me. Mentioned something about a plot…"

"Huh," Sirius said, sitting back in his chair. "Maybe it's a prank," he half joked, punching Harry in the arm, "Sounds like something I'd do to have some fun with some kid," he continued but corrected himself after looking at his godson, "Not that I did this!"

"I'm going back anyways, so it doesn't matter what Dobby said," Harry said, nonchalantly. "Hogwarts is like my home, I have friends there."

Sirius mocked hurt before ruffling Harry's hair. "Kidding!"

"See you at Christmas, or your first Quidditch match, whatever comes first!" James yelled to Harry before he floo'd to Dumbledore's office.

Harry rolled his eyes, before giving his mum one last hug and waved to the group before allowing the green flames to engulf him and his luggage.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling over his spectacles as moved around his desk to greet Harry. "Shall we head to the feast now?" he asked, guiding Harry out of his office, gripping Hedwig's cage, thoroughly mesmerized by the snowy owl.

*So it's not my favourite chapter, I had pages of paragraphs everywhere, needless to say I got a little scrambled- I promise it will be more on track next chapter! I want to thank all of you for favourting, and following my story, and of course those who review, your appreciation means everything and I can't wait to update again soon! All recognizable J.K. Rowling content is fully hers and I take no credit for it, the rest is my own imagination.