Harry took off up the stairs, slamming his door shut behind him as he put all his weight into keeping his dad out long enough to be able to properly twist the lock into place. He could feel the door shake as his dad slammed his shoulder repeatedly into it as his mum shouted at the two of them from below, her voice gradually growing louder as she ascended the stairs. He took a deep breath of relief, quickly sliding open the floorboard near the window of his room and slipping the book into his hidden storage space.
"Ha!" James exclaimed as he sent the door practically off its hinges, blasting it open.
"A simple, alohamora, would have done just as well, but no, must always go for the dramatic, door and wall breaking grand entrance," his mother muttered as she came in behind, pulling out her wand to fix the slight break in the wall behind his door.
"Hand it over. Now."
James moved slowly towards his son who sat lounging on the bed with a wide smirk, his hands behind his head as he leaned against the wall.
"Mum's right, you are mental," Harry teased, grabbing the snitch off his side table.
James shook his head, chuckling as he dropped his one had to his side that he had previously held out expecting his son to turn it over. "How often you forget that I have been using magic for years and that both your mother and I are not controlled by the same wizarding laws as you are, champ," he grinned before flicking his wand, watching as the floorboard both he and Lily had long known about flipped up to reveal the stash, and his potions book that came whizzing out into his hand. He chuckled, ruffling his son's hair before departing, reveling in the annoyed expression plastered across his son's face.
"This lunch," Harry said just as his mum was about to leave, "Is it really with your friend and her family from the hospital, or is this another clever ruse to try to get dad and I to go see Aunt Petunia," he asked, shuttering at the thought.
He watched as eyes identical to his own rolled as she shook her head, her slightly messy curls falling ever so slightly in her eyes as she glanced at her son, stifling her own laughter. "No, sweetheart, it's not," she said, tapping his cheek. "But I would like for you to change, your shirt has a rip."
"It's not like-"
"Harry!" she sighed, exasperated.
"Harry," his dad called warningly from their room.
"It's just a shirt," Harry mumbled under his breath as he got up, meandering his way to his wardrobe and ripping a shirt from a hanger.
"We still have four days until we are supposed to brace ourselves for the teenage angst," James remarked as his wife came in, wrapping her arms unexpectedly around his waist. "Here I was thinking you'd still be mad."
"Oh I am," she assured him, tugging at the hem of his shirt.
"This is you being mad?" he grinned, turning to face her.
"No," she said, lifting it up. "This is me telling you to change too," she said with a wink before tugging his shirt over his head, tossing it in the hamper on her way to their wardrobe, tossing him another shirt that paired nicely with the dress she was carefully pulling off a hook.
"New shirt, alright?" Harry asked, reappearing at the door to their room.
"Thank-you, sweetheart," Lily grinned before she turned her attention back to James. "You too."
"What is the hold up here?" a loud voice emanated from the lower floors.
"Sirius?" Harry exclaimed excitedly, taking off.
"That daft, daft bugger," James grumbled, pulling on the new shirt after doing up his slacks before taking off after Harry as Lily groaned, tugging on her new dress and following suit.
"I still could have sworn you said we were meeting there," Sirius apologized, following James, who with his wife by his side, were making their way towards the Weasley's Garden.
"Harry!" they could all hear exclaimed multiple times as the boy ran off ahead. Lily and James beamed at the sight of the garden, balloons creating a sort of fence around the freshly attended to garden, where also sitting was a long table and a large number of mismatched chairs in the grass. Harry went immediately towards where Hermione, Ron and Ginny were, the older Weasley's just coming out from the house at the sound of the latest arrivals.
"Hey Mr. and Mrs. P!" Fred and George shouted at them.
"My parents are just inside with the others," Percy said, coming towards them to greet them before retreating back to the house.
"Aren't you joining the others, Perc?" Sirius asked, catching up with the boy.
"No, I have some work to do and have been given permission from mother to go to Diagon Alley to meet up with another prefect who is also in the same class as myself," the boy responded in his typical matter-of-fact manner before taking off up the stairs.
"That boy has a stick-."
"Sirius!" Lily swatted him.
"Lily, James!" Emma Granger smiled, coming quickly towards them, followed immediately by Arthur Weasley, who engulfed Lily in a hug.
"It's absolutely beautiful, all of it," Emma said, sneaking Lily away as the two made their way towards the rear of the house where they could see the garden in clear view whilst keeping Molly company, not that she needed it with her hustling and bustling about the kitchen.
"Care for a refreshment?" Arthur asked as he led James and Sirius round back where Remus and Hestia were already stood, chatting merrily with Daniel. "I take it the surprise on your end didn't go quite as expected?" he chuckled, pouring James a glass.
"Nothing ever does in our lives," James said good-naturedly, grinning as he took in the garden. "Although I still think there are a few things still up our sleeves that they don't know about. Did Sirius come by?"
Arthur nodded.
"And?"
"It would mean a lot to the boys, and Ginny, she's quite the player you know," Arthur said as his eyes fell on his daughter who was with the others, peering at something or another that Fred and George had held out in their hands. "That's never a good sign" he sighed though he grinned as he did, his secret pride slipping through the semi-stern exterior. "Just don't tell Molly," he whispered, leaning towards James.
"Sirius will be elated, thank-you Arthur. Truly."
"I just would never want any of them to feel inadequate because Molly and I can't always give them the best-"
"You give them what they need, and that's more important, Arthur," James said honestly. "You have an incredible lot of kids, and they mean the world to my son so in many ways they mean the world to Lily and I, and Sirius and Remus and Hestia too."
"Not trying to convince him out of my gift, are you?" Sirius asked, poking in.
"Wouldn't dream of it Padfoot," James confirmed, winking at Arthur who shook his head in exasperation before patting Sirius on the shoulder as he passed by on his way to the house to check on Molly and the others.
"Because I can't return them now…well I could but I don't want to confirm the shopkeeper's assumptions that I truly am mad," Sirius said as he took a swig.
"How preposterous, someone thinking you're mad," Remus chided.
"Just for that you're off my roster."
"Lunch will be out shortly," Lily exclaimed loudly in James ear as she tackled him from behind. She wrapped her arms around his torso, her head resting against his shoulder.
"I'm curious," Sirius said staring at her.
"You're always curious," she told him. "But go on, what are you curious about this time?"
"Have you charmed your shoes so you can run, or-"
"You saw her and you didn't tell me?" James interrupted.
"That's neither here nor there," Sirius said, waving him off. "But really, how do you do that?"
"I'm just talented," she beamed. "Go tell the kids to wash up so we can eat, alright?" she asked, whisking off and taking Hestia with her as she headed back inside, the two of them arm in arm.
"We don't really have to tell a bunch of teens to 'wash up' do we?" Remus asked, observing the kids who would once more be his students come September.
"I won't tell if you won't," James said, shrugging. "But if Lily asks-"
"Not thinkin o lyin to yer wife now, are ye, James?"
"Hagrid?" the three men said simultaneously.
"Hagrid! What are you doing here?" Harry asked, running up with the others toward the half-giant who beamed at the lot.
"Couldn't very well miss the party now could I?" Hagrid remarked.
"This is a birthday party?"
"You don't miss much, do you?" Hermione laughed, pointing at the balloons and the presents that were stacked on a table near the entrance to the house.
Harry went wide-eyed as he turned back towards his dad who rolled his eyes.
"You make it hard sometimes to be your dad when you're this clueless," James remarked, sticking his tongue out at Harry in retaliation, both looking like complete children to Lily who came out just in time.
"I'm glad you could make it," she said sincerely to Hagrid. "Well go on then, claim your seats," she said, ushering the kids to the table that was filling up with food by the minute.
"How are your lessons going, Hagrid?" Ron asked, hollering from the far end of the table where he, Harry and Hermione had sat. The trio and Ginny listened eagerly to Hagrid as he outlined his lessons thus far this summer on his way back to becoming a legal wizard once more.
"Are we late?"
Ron and Hermione turned round at the unfamiliar voice, having taken notice of Harry's unsure expression and Hagrid's large grin at the sight behind them.
"Augusta!" Arthur exclaimed, rushing out from the house.
"I didn't know Neville was coming," Ron leaned in to the others. "Neville! Over here!" he shouted two seconds later, waving the boy over who looked embarrassed to be standing next to the interestingly dressed woman next to him who his own father was currently greeting.
"That's his grandmother," Ginny whispered to the group, "She sounds bloody awful," she added as the four of them stared at the woman.
"Quite the party, isn't it?" Neville remarked as he excitedly took a seat next to Harry. "Gran just told me this morning," he said, before he proceeded to jump up, darting across the lawn to his Gran who appeared to roll her eyes before digging something they couldn't quite make out from her bag, watching eagerly as she pulled her wand out simultaneously to enlarge the objects.
"This is exactly why birthday parties are for kids," Ron explained, his chin resting on his hand as his mind started frantically thinking.
"Did either of you-?" Hermione started. "Because I wasn't expecting to give you yours Harry for a couple of days at least, and Ron, well we already-."
"Yer parents have gotten it under control, surely," Hagrid suggested optimistically as he rejoined them again, a few of the other adults following behind.
"Oh just you wait," Hestia said ominously as she pulled up a seat next to the half-giant.
"Honestly," Harry grumbled.
"Here, I got these for you just before we got here, that's why we were late," Neville said breathlessly as he passed out a gift to each of them.
"We can do with those after, Ron," Molly said, motioning for each of them to tuck the unopened gifts under their chairs. Each of them followed suit but not before giving their gift a brief shake as they lowered it to the ground.
"How's your week been, Neville?" Hermione asked as the adults continued to shuffle chaotically around them, placing this and that before them before scurrying away only for another to come along and replace it with another dish, removing what had previously been.
"Alright," he shrugged. "Yours?"
"Quite similar I'm afraid," she sighed.
"Do you want to hear what we've just learned?" George asked the group as they sneakily slid into their seats at the last moment.
"Not been eavesdropping again?" Harry asked accusingly, grinning as he did.
"Might've," Fred said cheekily. "It was for a good cause-"
"We assure you."
"It's our guarantee."
"Now you lot-"
"Do you want to hear it, or not?"
The group nodded anxiously, all moving in at once.
"What do you suppose is going on over there?" Daniel Granger asked James as they carried the last of the food out from the kitchen, at least the last of the first course.
James watched the group curiously. "Nothing good, I'm sure," he chuckled. "Know what that's about?" he asked as they took their seats near their respective spouses along with Hagrid and Hestia.
The lot of them shook their heads.
"Scheming no doubt," Arthur suggested sliding in beside Daniel.
"Do they do that often?" Emma asked, a bemused expression on her face as she glanced down at the table's end once more.
"To whom are you referring exactly?" Hestia asked, causing the adults to erupt in laughter.
"You're kidding," Ginny said, her face like the others completely frozen.
"Heard it from the source himself," George grinned wickedly.
"And, there's going to be a match," Fred added.
"After dessert that is," George said.
"I can't believe that-."
"Hermione…it's wicked," Harry breathed. "Can you just imagine the look on Wood's face," he asked the twins whose grins grew wider.
"I still don't think he should have-."
"It's fantastic," Ginny exclaimed just loud enough to warrant a few stares from the far end.
"Everything alright there?" Sirius asked, warily.
The group nodded.
"Definitely up to something," Lily muttered.
"Most certainly," Remus concluded.
The afternoon shone down on the assembled guests who were here, there, and everywhere in the back garden as they sat patiently waiting between meals. The balloons seemed to almost dance in the gusting wind as they floated round the garden's edge.
"Ooo poor this in," Neville suggested, reaching for the juices from the beef dish that was sure to be the next to be taken away.
Fred and George gladly accepted the juice, pouring it into the nearly overflowing cup that contained almost anything they had in reach of them, even that which was not on the table.
"Seriously, Neville, what's in here?" Ron asked in a low voice to the boy, reaching for the gift again.
Neville looked over his shoulder before turning back to Ron. "Well Gran-"
"Neville!"
The boy rolled his eyes as he slumped into his chair. "She hears everything," he moaned.
"What are you taking for your electives?" Harry asked him.
"Well Gran," the boy started.
"Yours got to you too?" Ron asked as both he and Harry took the chance to glare at their respective parents who were deep in conversation at the other end. Neville nodded.
"Looking forward to second-year, Ginny?" Hermione asked at the same time Neville was about to.
The girl nodded. "I don't think it could be any worse than first," she chuckled truthfully.
"Well here's to hoping you lot finally experience a normal year at Hogwarts!" Fred and George chimed at once as they hoisted up the concoction, Hermione jumping back as some of its contents spilled over, splashing onto the table and inevitably onto them. "Now who's daring enough to try?" Fred asked with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
George grinned as he turned to the two boys across from him. "Harry? Neville? It is closest to your birthday's after all..."
Harry turned his head as his nose twitched at the odor wafting from the slosh. He and Neville shared a glance. "How bout everyone takes a sip?" Harry suggested after a moment.
The group reluctantly agreed.
"You're going first," Ron said, sliding the drink towards Harry.
"Seriously, what are they doing?" Hestia asked Remus, nudging him in the ribs.
"First, ouch, and second of all, Padfoot, Prongs! Take a look over there," he shouted, bringing their attention towards Harry who was plugging his nose as he held the murky brown drink to his lips, pursing his lips the moment he set it back down, the shiver down his spine visible even from ten feet away.
"I'm going to go help inside before they get any idea of bringing that…stuff, over here and doing Merlin knows what to us with it," James said, before slipping away.
"Doesn't he know that the first rule of Maraudering is to never turn your back on your enemies," Lily laughed, settling back down on the other side of Remus.
"You would think he'd have learned," Hestia giggled.
"When did your own son turn into the enemy?" Remus asked as he threw his arm round Lily's shoulders, the three of them observing the teens as they did.
"It was only a matter of time," she shrugged.
"Ah, I see."
"Are you looking forward to going back to Hogwarts in a month, Remus?" Molly asked actually settling down for what seemed like the first time that day, Arthur having finally forced her and Emma Granger out of the kitchen.
Remus smiled, nodding.
"I've heard nothing except good things about your class," she smiled.
"You're the Professor, then?" Emma asked, delighted.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," he said.
"I'm afraid I still don't know much about any of this," she sighed, still smiling as she brushed her ever-curly short brown hair behind her ear, "But what does that class entail?"
Remus explained the best he could the subject's curriculum and what he has planned for Hermione and the other third-years this term, while Hestia got up, switching chairs till she was sitting with Molly, Daniel and Lily who were discussing the final plans for later that evening with Augusta Longbottom who seemed to be slightly excited by Neville's invite.
"That's awful," Hermione sputtered when she finally managed to swallow the drink.
"Do you think they'll bring the cake out soon?" Neville asked.
"Excited to play?" Fred asked.
"Shh, they'll hear you," Hermione sighed. "If they hear then they'll know and then we won't have time to plan."
"Now you're talking," George said mischievously.
"Alright, now…"
But the planning was thwarted by Sirius who emerged from the Burrow, cake in hand, leading the singing loudly and completely off tune as everyone gathered round the teens. "Happy birthday to…everyone, happy birthday to…everyone, happy birthday to Ginny, Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville…happy birthday to…everyone!"
"Weirdest party, ever," Harry said before leaning forward and blowing the candles out with the rest of them.
"Now can we open the presents?"
She was there, smiling with not only her soft lips but with those emerald green eyes that seemed to almost grow brighter against the English meadow she was dancing around in awkwardly with Hestia as the two sung out lyrics to a song only they seemed to know. Her dress flared up ever so much as she did, revealing her fit thighs that he could proudly claim as his own to touch when they were near. He shook his head at this, smirking as he flicked his wand once more, sending the plates to stack themselves a top the others already stacked on the table nearby where Arthur was dealing with the miscellaneous items he, Remus, and Sirius were passing along as they went.
"I think we all knew the two of you would be brilliant parents from the moment you and Lils announced the pregnancy, but in all honesty I think we all figured it would be the first of many announcements…at least once the war ended," Sirius spoke, glancing up at Lily just as he had been doing moments before, "I would have thought that after the war you two would have…you know," he added with a suggestive nudge.
He offered his friend a small smile before taking the cake tray, one of many, physically to where the others were nearer the house.
Sirius followed his mate's movements, confusion plastered across his face as he took a seat at the empty table in the garden. His wand fell out of his grasp onto the wooden table with a clink, his hand resting against his cheek as he glanced between James and Lily, the gap between them shortening with each long stride James took as he sprinted towards her, tackling Hestia from behind before throwing his arm around his wife, both women shrieking when he did.
"I'm not entirely sure this is what Lily, Molly, and Emma had in mind when they instructed us to assist in 'cleanup'," Remus smirked as he tugged the tablecloth out from under the dark-haired man's elbows. "Everything alright there, Padfoot?" Remus questioned as he took a seat next to the man.
"Do you remember when after Harry was born how enthralled those two were, overjoyed just because they were parents to that incredible kid? They talked and mentioned whenever we brought it up them doing it all over again – how they couldn't wait, how much they wanted a family, a bigger one…"
Remus chuckled deeply at the memories. "All too well – what—."
"I half-expected when I finally got out of Azkaban, when I knew they were alive that they'd launch into a thousand tales of their kids. The mini-Prongs that would follow Harry and the mini-Lily's that we were all secretly waiting for just waiting to see Prong's launch into overprotective father mode."
Remus smiled fondly at the thought.
"I know you're at a loss as to where this is coming from," Sirius addressed, "I was teasing Prongs just now. Caught him watching Lils over there with Hest and then the kids."
"Teasing him in regards to what? Staring at Lils too long?"
Sirius shook his head, fingers playing with the tablecloth that had been tossed aside. "Everything I was just saying. More of them."
"Did he say something? Something that set you off on this tangent?" Remus questioned, searching the field for James out of curiosity.
Sirius sighed. "No, no, he didn't say anything at all."
"Did-"
"Moony!" Sirius exploded. "He smiled and then walked away and then took off a tackled the Hest and Lils."
"You say he smiled?" Remus inquired. "How did he smile exactly? Was it like this?" he grinned, trying his best to imitate one of James' signature grins.
Sirius shook his head. "No, no."
"More like this?"
"No it was smaller," Sirius grumbled, scooting forward on his seat, reaching forward to adjust his mate's facial expression. "There!" he exclaimed triumphantly.
"Don't let us interrupt," Lily grinned mischievously as she approached them, Harry hot on her heels. "We're coming to let you know that it's time for the surprise…"
"Yeah come on we want to get the ma-"
"Get the what?" Lily turned on Harry.
"Nothing."
Lily laughed, wrapping her arms around her sons head and covering his mouth in her best efforts to contain him. "James and I forgot to gift him with patience yet again," she teased with a roll of her eyes, releasing Harry from her grasp, watching with a gleam in her eye as he gave up attempting to get them moving only to take off running at his father, startling him as he jumped on his back.
James spun him around, trying to shake him off before he tugged at the boys arm and flipped him over his shoulder.
"James! Be careful!" she yelled after cringing at the scene. "Hurry up with this, we're only waiting for you…and Molly," she said smiling at them both before running to relay the message to Emma and Daniel whom she walked with towards the others whom James and Arthur were trying to corral.
"Where are you going?" Sirius demanded.
Remus rolled his eyes, tucking his chair under the table. "Padfoot, they want to get the match underway," he said, motioning towards the group. "He smiled, maybe you're just taking this the wrong way or out of proportion or something," he shrugged. "Maybe he's trying to hide something, who-"
"Hide what?"
Remus groaned, shoving the man out of the chair he was still occupying. "I don't know," he said when they at last began making their way. "Maybe they are pregnant right now and they are going to surprise us all late," he suggested absentmindedly.
"Well she does kind of look happy," he mused, observing the woman.
"You mean you think she's glowing?" Remus asked, straightening out the man's phrases.
"That's it!"
"Yeah." Remus sighed, "That's it."
The trees surrounding the meadow had long shadows spanning the length of the makeshift Quidditch pitch whose light was beginning to fade as the match continued on into the evening hours. Harry and Ron were hovering on their new brooms near the keepers posts on their end of the field watching as Fred and George worked together to send a bludger flying in their father's direction much to the dismay of their mum who was shouting from the sidelines. Mr. and Mrs. Granger's wide, eager smiles could be seen even from where they flew mounted on their brooms, Mr. Weasley having been himself impressed by the chair contraptions they had brought along with them much earlier that afternoon. They sat in them now down the pitch towards where the play currently was, Mrs. Weasley sitting next to them while Hagrid tried his hardest to explain the game to them.
Harry watch as his mum and Hestia were flying off to the side of the pitch, murmuring about something whilst they left his dad, Sirius, Remus and Mr. Weasley to fend for themselves. Hermione and Neville were working on guarding Remus as Ginny and the twins tried to put away the quaffle past their dad.
"Pass it to George! Pass it to George!" Harry and Ron hollered, which did nothing but earn them a holler in return from Fred.
"You want it done then you do it!" he called.
"You go," Ron suggested, flicking his hand towards the other end.
"Not going to sit on your broom and watch your team lose are you, Harry?" his mum yelled at him as she and Hestia flew a little ways towards the middle of the field, waiting for their chance.
"I could say the same to you," he yelled back as he flew towards them, "Not thinking your team will actually get the Quaffle to you are you?" he hollered again once he had passed.
"Did you hear that, James? Your son-."
"I heard, and they are all asking for it!" James shouted back just as Fred and George took turns flying circles around him jut for the fun of it. He took advantage of a gap in their flying to dart through and intercept the pass Ginny had attempted to make at the twin who was set to fly out next, not that he could keep track.
Sirius whooped and hollered as he set off on his own broom. "Yeah, Prongs!"
"Don't stop flying just cause they got away," Ginny yelled at Fred and George who seemed to pause in mid-air, both at risk of falling off of their brooms the way their bodies went limp.
"Well don't just sit there, move!" Hermione yelled at them, just as Ron and Harry shouted for back-up as the adults closed in on them, both flying around the hoops as keepers, Neville steadily making his way there.
"Goal!" James and Sirius exclaimed, high-fiving each other dramatically as they flew past, then back round to their end.
"Isn't rule one to never leave your team stranded?" Remus asked as the adults came flying towards them. "Fred!" he exclaimed when the one twin glanced between his mates before fainting.
"George!" Hestia screeched not moments later.
His head was pounding, but that was all he could tell at that moment as a multitude of voices rang in his ears, and someone's hot breath but was but centimeters from his face. The last rays of sun that stretched across the setting sky above him was all he could see before his sister stuck her face in his vision.
"Look who decided to wake up," she teased, helping him to sit up.
"Are you alright, Fred?" his dad asked as she wobbily got to his feet, his dad immediately moving to support him as he led him towards the Granger's chairs, one of which was occupied by George who was starring wide-eyed at their Professor and Mrs. Potter, both of whom were questioning him, his mum mysteriously missing from the scene. "There you go," his dad sighed, settling him down. "Quite the fall you had there."
"Really, nice catch Professor," Neville said, congratulating Remus. "You too, Mr. Potter."
"Thanks, Neville," James said, before turning his attention to Fred.
"Such the martyr's we have here," Sirius scoffed.
"You called him, Prongs before," Fred said, pointing between Sirius and James. George beside him nodding excessively.
Arthur Weasley eyed his sons warily and James, Remus and Sirius eyed one another before eyeing the twins then themselves again.
"You don't think-," Hestia whispered to Lily.
"How do you two-," Harry asked suddenly, Ron and the rest oblivious.
"YOU KNEW!" the twins shouted at once.
"I'm so lost as to how all of this is…" Lily sighed, shaking her head, as she stood upright, backing away from Fred and George who were now advancing on her son.
"Someone start from the beginning, now," Arthur suggested, taking a step between them.
"They're as bad as you when you're flustered, Padfoot," Remus chuckled, causing James to laugh as he patted his mate on the back.
"PADFOOT!"
"What?" Sirius said, holding his hands up in innocence. "Wait…"
"You're Padfoot?"
"Is that what all of this is about?" Sirius asked. "You fainted- oh!"
"And you're Prongs," Fred said, pointing at James who nodded wearily.
"You found the map," Remus said, observing the twins who looked ready to burst. "The Marauders Map?"
"No way!" Harry exclaimed.
"Oh no," Hestia and Lily said at once.
"No way," Fred and George said, reiterating Harry's words.
"You," Fred said, pointing at Remus.
"You're," George went on.
"Pro-messr Moony!" Fred exclaimed, George high-fiving him when he was done.
"Why did I not think of that?" Sirius whined to James and Hestia, both who feigned to console him. "It was right there. How? How did that not occur to me!"
"Next time, dear," Lily sighed.
"What is going on exactly…?" Daniel Granger asked Arthur who shook his head.
"It is not worth your brain power to try to understand any of this," Hestia assured the man. "All it proves is that this lot," she said, pointing at the trio of men, "Can officially think they are much more influential than they really are-."
"I'm positive that this whole situation proves you wrong, Jones," James told her.
"Hogwarts thing?" Emma Granger questioned with a playful smile.
"Hogwarts thing," Lily assured. "Want to go see where Molly is while they-."
"Cope," Hestia offered, before the three women took off, Daniel opting to stay, the entertainment too amusing to miss.
"You are the Marauders," Fred and George stated.
"That is true," Sirius agreed.
"You."
"You are our-."
"We worship the ground you walk on."
"This is officially weird," Harry admitted.
"Only just now?" Ron questioned him, wide-eyed as he watched his brothers act in the strangest manner he had ever seen in his life before his best-mate's dad.
"You guys are brilliant!"
"Completely wicked!"
"Peeves raves! Peeves!"
"But who's Wormtail?" Fred asked suddenly.
"Do you think they'll ever get over the shock?" Hermione asked as the trio took off up the stairs.
"Where do you three think you're going?" Emma asked, dishtowel in hand as she gazed up at them.
"Ron's room?" Hermione asked, skeptical as to why her parents were interested in their movement as they never had been before, not here. "Is that alright?"
"Where are you three going?" Lily asked, coming up beside Emma.
"Ron's room," Harry said this time, slowly, glancing at Hermione who shrugged as she observed her own mum. "Why are you both smiling?"
"Really, it's quite unnerving," Hermione remarked.
"Spooky even," Ron added.
"We're going soon, ok, so just stay down here, sweetheart," Lily requested.
The trio trekked back down the last few steps, collapsing onto the chairs in the Weasley's eccentric living room as they listened to the sounds of the others hears the stories they had heard many times at the Potter's before.
"Ready there, sweetheart?"
Harry blinked, waiting for his vision to clear as he made to sit up. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose as his mum came into view, his dad's grinning face just behind her glancing at him while he listened on to something Mr. Weasley was discussing. "Time to go?" he asked, groggily.
"Come on, darling," his mum said, pulling him up. "Hermione, darling, you too."
"We fell asleep," Ron mumbled as he woke up, Hermione coming to just as he did.
"That you did," Emma remarked. "Here, Hermione," she said, passing her daughter her jumper that was left hanging over the rail of the stair.
"Ready to go? Where's dad?" Hermione asked, pulling Ron up with her as she went.
"Uh-"
"Oh, there."
"Right then, let's get a move on, shall we?" James asked eagerly, clapping his hands loudly as he gave a little whistle.
"James!"
"Are we going or-," Harry questioned, glancing between his parents who seemed to have some sort of starring battle going on, his mum clearly winning.
"Lils, it's late, they're dead," his dad said, gesturing at them.
His mum wavered at this, glancing once in their direction before admitting defeat. "Alright, the time is now then," she sighed. "Let's go then."
"Have fun. See you in a couple of weeks," Emma said, embracing her confused daughter tightly before her husband stepped in, planting a kiss on Hermione's forehead before stepping back and moving towards Hestia who said 'two minutes' to no one in particular before running out the door after the Grangers.
"I didn't think we were going to the coast for another week," Hermione said, turning back to those who still remained in the living room.
"Surprise?" Lily said, shrugging before going to hide in the kitchen.
The breeze coming off the Channel was warm as it seemed to pull the oncoming night sky with it, the last traces of day evident only in the soft hues of blues and purples intertwined with the fading orange as the sun slowly slipped into the mirroring sea. The sand that was still hot from the previously beating sun felt soothing against their feet as they trudged along, his mother's teasing of his godfather heard amidst the breeze from where they walked along ahead, Sirius holding her up when she nearly tripped on her way.
"Charlie will go mental," Ron remarked still on about the Monkey conservatory not too far away from where the Evans' cottage stood just along the grassy beach.
"Is your brother really that interested in creatures, even the non-magical ones?" Hermione asked curiously. "Harry, are you sure your parents actually have our luggage there already?"
"Worried you'll have to spend the next week in that?" Ron teased.
Hermione glared at him from the other side of Harry, the be speckled boy rethinking his position between them at that moment in time but shrugged instead as Ron went back to the monkeys.
"Do you suppose we're almost there?" Hermione whispered to Harry as Ron went on, talking yet again about his brother's career.
Harry surveyed the coast before them smiling as he recognized the hill they were ascending just now. "Yeah, we're here. Mum?"
Lily stopped at the top of the dune, Sirius following suit as they stared down upon the sight below. "I thought that you and James decided against coming here yesterday morning," she stuttered, as she took in the fully lit cottage, the doors which sat open to the deck, the light flooding out against it.
"We did," Sirius assured her. "Suppose it's just burglars?"
"Well they are not very conspicuous if they are," she remarked smiling slightly at that.
The trio behind them strained their ears to listen to the conversation carrying on between the two, not wanting to interrupt in case they stopped as they so often did whenever Harry or his friends were near. Ron kicked the sand when new gusts of wind cut off the adult conversation from where they stood, the distance between acting like an indestructible wall, determined to keep them out.
"Harry…" Hermione said, tugging the sleeve of his jumper nervously as she did.
"Harry," Ron said too, having heard the girl beside him, following her gaze when he did. He looked back nervously towards where the others were still wandering, taking their time as they moved along the shore. Ron looked quickly back at his best mate who still seemed to be straining his ear to overhear his mother and godfather who still stood paused atop the dune.
"Harry!" they both said louder this time.
"What?" Harry said, shaking his head till he snapped back to the present, his glance shifting between his two mates who were looking nervously past his shoulder into the dark of the hillside. Harry squinted as he tried to make out what they were so nervous about, doing so until the figure emerged properly in his vision. The figure's silhouette came sneaking towards them until his features became prominent in the dying light. The man seemed eerily familiar, something in the shape of his jawline, but he held a finger to his lips as he took off before them, speeding towards Lily and Sirius.
"Mum-?" Harry exclaimed at the last moment just gaining his mother's attention in time for her to turn just as the man reached to snatch her into his grasp, spinning her round before pulling her tightly into a hug once she had been set back down.
"I can't believe it! What are you doing here?"
"Please tell me it was you that left all the lights on," Sirius remarked as he slapped the man on the shoulder before they both went in for a shake. "How have you been?"
The man's wide grin made Harry shake his head, closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate on where he had seen it before, only to be cut off mid-thought when his dad's voice carried up the hill. The trio watched as Hestia came running between them, tackling the man in the hug.
"Is it just me or does this happen a lot with your parents?" Ron asked as they took a few more steps forward.
Harry grumbled. "First it was Remus and Sirius and then Hestia and with her came the mention of all my mum's old friends and then it was-," but Harry stopped, remembering his promise to his mum and Neville.
"Then it was who, Harry?" Hermione pestered having noticed his sudden and curiously timed stop in speech.
"Shh," Ron said though before Harry had time to even begin to think up an excuse.
"What?" Hermione and Harry questioned in unison.
"I-I think he's related, Harry. To your mum, I mean," he said, pointing at the man and Harry's mum who were once more standing side by side.