"She's here? She is actually here?" Lily asked for what must have been the fifth time that conversation.

Sam glanced up at James who seemed to be both curious and angry at once, his face a wide array of emotions. "When was the last time-."

"I don't think they've actually been near one another for an extended period of time since that disastrous meeting with Vernon and James before Harry was even born," Hestia mused, she too watching her friends with concern.

"Although James mentioned something about the London Zoo in what must have been only a few years ago," Remus added. "Back when Harry still had spouts of accidental magic."

"Didn't the whale of a son fall into the water of a snake enclosure?" Sirius said with a burst of laughter.

"You're kidding," Sam remarked, chuckling with him. "We've got both cottages though, mum and dad-."

"Your mum and dad are here?" Lily asked, snapping out of it. Her cousin turned to her flashing the brightest of smiles as he nodded before motioning with his head towards the cottage below. "Uncle Anderson is here? Actually here?" she asked again, the thought too wild to be real.

Sam nodded, grinning madly. "You will stay though, won't you?" he asked excitedly, "Mum and dad will be belated, as will Charlie and Eva-"

"No," Lily gasped, her hands covering her mouth.

"Just a short while after you and James actually," he admitted.

"He was engaged at our wedding?"

Sam glanced nervously at James and Sirius who were both trying to hold back their own laughter at Lily's increasingly anxious expression.

"Well?" she pestered.

"They didn't want to steal your thunder," he said quickly in hopes that doing so would make it sink in faster and reduce his risk of coming into any physical harm.

"The nerve," she grumbled as James made to put an arm round her.

"Tell him off when you see him," he suggested which made her grin as she suddenly remembered that they were all less than fifty feet away. "Harry?" James asked, recalling then that he hadn't spoken this whole time.

Sam perked up at the mention of the boy's name from James' mouth.

Harry, Ron and Hermione came towards the adults huddle. "Can we go in yet? We're beat from winning earlier," Harry asked, unable to give up the jab.

"Winning what, exactly?" Sam asked.

"Quidditch," they all said at once.

"I'll pretend to remember what that is," Sam chuckled.

"So can we go?" Harry asked again.

Sam grinned. "Certainly, but first, I have an idea…"

The white curtains billowed in the wind, disturbing Dudley as he sat trying to order the young boys to fix the ancient tv antenna. The whole cottage was alight, the smells of the earlier dinner still wafting out the open doors to where Eva and Isobel sat, in part hiding from the foul whale of a man who sat just inside the door completely ignorant to his boy's awful behavior whilst Isobel's niece fetched him another drink with far too much joy for either to be comfortable remaining in the room any longer.

"Not here to give away my hiding spot, are you, love?"

Isobel rolled her eyes as she crossed the large seaside wooden deck to where Anderson sat, lounged on a deck chair in the shadows of the cottage. Her long greying blonde hair whipped around as she and Eva settled themselves leaning against the rail, wine glasses in hand.

"What's your count now, dear?" he asked his daughter-in-law who merely grinned, holding her glass up to him in a toast before taking a large sip much to his amusement. Eva motioned to his empty glass but he shook his head.

"She's happy," Isobel remarked softly, "That's what matters."

"Is it wrong that I wish Jonathan was here and that we had been flung back to the day in age where he could have prevented her from…that?" he asked, slipping between the two women as he set his hands on the rail and took in the last views of the setting sun.

"Not at all," Eva agreed immediately. "I am all for gender equality but good grief he is awful."

"Not talking about my dear cousin-in-law, are you Eva?" Sam asked almost a little too loudly, had it not been for the wind that to his luck carried his voice off in the other direction. He bumped his sister-in-law teasingly as he joined them in leaning against the rail.

"You've been gone sometime," Eva whispered to him as Isobel and Anderson tried to think of how best to slip away. "I was under the impression you'd only gone to the end of the lane to post a letter…"

"I did," he said ominously.

The blue-eyed girl eyed him curiously as she took a few more sips of wine. "Your sons have been experiencing a degree of service labor for the last half-hour," she told him, glancing at the living room doors as though she expected them to shatter at any moment.

"They'll survive," Sam shrugged.

"There you are!" Charlie exclaimed, walking up the beach behind them, his daughter perched a top his shoulders nearly asleep as she slumped over his head. "Emily was looking for you but I'd forgotten where you said you'd been off to."

"Of course you had," Eva sighed, reaching for her daughter, as Charlie leaned down teasingly placing a kiss on her forehead. "Your timing is impeccable though," she said as she gave him a knowing grin.

"What do you want to get out of him now?"

Isobel turned at that, smiling at her kids before her. "Would it not be easier to just ask him, sweetheart, rather than using the brute force of this one?" she asked, but more so suggested as her eldest son flung an arm around her petite shoulders.

"George and Jonathan keep looking at me for help – Sam! Where in god's name have you been?" Emily exclaimed as she sunk into her husband's embrace. "Honestly, please, never leave me alone with them again…any of you," she begged, Sam planting a kiss in her hair.

Eva took her away from Sam, hugging her beloved sister-in-law.

"Anyway we can zap Lily here?" Charlie asked. "Do that magic trick where you swap one body for another, except do it three times?"

Isobel ran her hand up and down her husband's arms as he turned back towards the sea, his expression masked by the shadows that fell over it, though she knew better.

"I think something could be arranged, don't you, Uncle A?"

Their breaths hitched as they registered that soft voice that seemed to almost smile as it spoke. They saw her at the end of the deck, grinning widely, her eyes focused intently on those of her uncle's.

He could hear his wife's cries of joy from beside him, mingled with the 'whoops' of Charlie and the sound of Eva's feet as they raced across the deck bringing her into an embrace with his niece, holding her just as tightly as his niece seemed to hold her.

"This is what you were being so cryptic about?" Eva called to Sam as she led the dark auburn haired woman towards the rest.

"I'm not quite-," Lily started as she approached Charlie but he cut her off, picking her up just as Sam had done atop the dunes. He held her for what seemed like forever, even after setting her back down on solid ground.

"I didn't realize you could grant wishes too," he whispered into her ear jokingly before giving her one last squeeze and letting her go.

"My sweet, sweet girl," Isobel sobbed as they held one another, Lily's tears finally freely falling. "How in the- never mind," she sighed gathering her niece into her. "Your not here alone, are you? Didn't just wash up on shore?" she teased slightly, laughing through the tears.

"Are they still making their way up the beach?" Sam asked flabbergasted as he jogged towards where she had appeared.

Lily tried to speak as she turned towards her father's younger brother who was standing shaking his head, tears streaming as steadily down his cheeks as they were hers as he took her in for the first time since her wedding all those years ago. In one stride he was embracing her, placing kisses on her head as she gripped his shirt tightly, her tears making their way through the light woven fabric.

"Lily, your son's godfather…why him? Why?" Sam complained as he made his way back, sopping wet, with the lot of them. Charlie tackled Hestia in a hug immediately, both laughing as they did.

"Uncle A, Aunt Isobel, this is Harry," she said when Harry came up next to her, James not far behind, shaking Charlie's hand before giving Eva a chaste kiss on the cheek.

Anderson took in the boy who was nearing the height of his niece. He chuckled knowing very well how much a boy this age used to tease his niece mercilessly, providing them with the most wonderful of stories whenever they were gathered. He could have sworn it was her niece's husband had it not been for the height and her eyes…his eyes, Jonathan's eyes. "I'm sorry we haven't met sooner," he stuttered when he realized he'd yet to say a word. "You remind me a great deal of-."

"My dad, except for my eyes," Harry interrupted, not meaning to be rude.

The man before him chuckled in that deep way that grandfather's do, his eyes shining as he did. "There is not a word of a lie in what you suggest but I was going to say that you remind me of your grandfather when he was your age-."

"Really?"

Anderson nodded with a small smile at the corner of his lips. "Quite the party you've got here," he remarked, joyous once more as he looked out at the assembled party.

"Good thing we rented the place next door then, isn't it dear?" Isobel remarked as she slipped an arm around her husband's waist. They stood there for a few moments watching the mingling for a short while before their niece returned to relish in their embrace once more.

"Who are they?"

Lily turned at the sound of the voice she had only heard once before at the zoo just a few years earlier.

"Your aunt," Petunia said, the shock coming through her voice as she finally made her way to the door. "And her husband-"

"Potter."

Harry and James both turned their attention towards the reddening man who stood almost protectively beside Petunia, who couldn't seem to decide her own emotions, her face a mirage displaying everything from annoyance to something akin to happiness. Harry studied the whale he was to call 'uncle', the first time he'd ever be required to do so to his face. He waited next to Ron and Hermione who had been watching everything unfold with amusement, not realizing the true extent. His dad walked over to his aunt and uncle first, holding a hand out for Vernon to shake. The expression on Vernon's face as he eyed his dad's hand before tentatively shaking it, his whole body shaking along with it was an image he hoped would be forever engrained in his brain, something to which both Ron and Hermione agreed wholeheartedly.

"Look, your mum," Hermione said, having seen Lily's movements over the boys' shoulders.

"You look well, Petunia," Lily smiled, awkwardly hugging her sister, conscious to avoid the childhood nickname her sister had grown to loathe.

"You too," Petunia said, giving a light hug in return.

"Vernon," Lily greeted, giving the man the most awkward of kisses on the cheek. "And how are you? … The both of you?"

"Quite well," Vernon nodded. "Dudley is doing quite well at Smelting's," he said, proudly clapping his son on the shoulder much to the boy's dismay.

Harry offered up a smile to the boy who is his only cousin, the boy rolling his eyes at his dad's actions.

"So you're Harry then?" Dudley asked when he slipped away from their parents who were still trying to navigate the rocky shores of their relationship. "Who are they?"

Harry looked awkwardly at Ron and Hermione who too acknowledged the boy with kind expressions.

"What have you been watching?" Hermione asked, motioning with her hand to the television that was behind.

Dudley shrugged. "The bloody reception here is terrible," he grumbled to which the others nodded, not knowing what there was left to say on that particular topic.

"How- how's, uh, Gr- work?" James asked, having long forgotten the Drill Firm's name.

Vernon clasped his hands loudly behind his back as he nodded. Harry winced at the sound, watching on with curiosity as the ferret on his uncles' lip moved as he talked eagerly about a job that his own wife seemed to be trying far too hard to be interested in, much like his own parents though his mum was having a much harder time that the others.

"I am willing to bet your mum will burst out laughing within the minute," an unfamiliar voice whispered in his ear.

Harry turned to come face to face with the man from the beach.

The man grinned as he held out his hand for Harry to shake. "I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Sam, or Uncle Sam, whatever you want to call me really," he said, his cheery demeanor still at full force it seemed.

"Oh, do you really mean it Sammy Wammy, absolutely anything?"

Ron snickered at the other man, the one they had learned to be Mrs. Potter's other cousin and Sam's brother, who came wandering over slinging an arm round his brother's neck before locking him into a headlock.

"Charlie," he greeted.

"Harry."

"Ron."

"Hermione."

"You look exactly like your dad," Charlie said, pointing at Harry as he finally released his brother. "But I can't quite place either of you," he admitted wiggling his finger between Ron and Hermione who like Harry were on the verge of laughter in light of the man's slightly intoxicated state. "You're not Hestia's or Sirius' are you?"

"Charlie," Lily sighed amidst her own laughter. Charlie leaned into her side, using her as a post when she came near, his weight now spread between Sam and Lily. "Charlie, they are Harry's friends from school."

"Blimey! Really?"

"I wouldn't bother," Eva sighed when Charlie walked away suddenly.

"Hi Dudley," Lily smiled at the boy who observed her with interest as though he was not quite sure how he was expected to act or feel in her presence.

"H-h-hi."

Lily smiled warmly at her nephew before turning to the trio beside him. "Fairing well?" she asked, fretting as she brushed Harry's hair out of his face. "I know this isn't quite what we had planned…we can-"

"You can't leave!" her cousins, aunt and uncle and even Dudley seemed to exclaim.

"Come on, can we please stay?" the rest of her own party whined, even James.

The dark haired woman held her hands up in defeat just as her cousins tackled both her and Petunia.

"And here I was thinking that one day they would grow up," Isobel expressed as she and the others watched on.

"I don't think that that was ever going to truly happen," Anderson chuckled wholeheartedly, joining in with the others who gained much amusement from the sight, but no more than that of James, Hestia, Sirius and Remus who knew how incredibly momentous this very moment was for the woman who was currently being squished by her elder cousins.

"You honestly didn't have a clue?" Hestia asked as her eyes remained glued to her best friend.

"We haven't seen any of them since the wedding," James reiterated, "She didn't want to give Voldemort anyone to go after -."

Hestia nodded solemnly. "I'd have done the same after having gone through what she went through sixth year," she admitted, "How did she-."

"You'll have to ask her yourself," James said. "I didn't really know what happened till later, after the split had happened."

"Where are you four off to?" Sirius questioned, having caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

"We're just going inside," Harry responded, his tone almost challenging.

The four adults who were gathered near one another were silenced by the remark even though it really hadn't been much at all.

"I thought you said we had a year or more till- till- that!" Sirius exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at James.

"Lily said that we had till his birthday!" James retorted. "Not a year!"

"What is with all the shouting?" Lily asked as she pulled her hair round her neck, it having got disheveled in the group hug or tackle, what it was she wasn't entirely sure.

"Having trouble keeping your son in line, Potter?" Vernon questioned, unable to hide his glare.

Lily turned to James. "Is he alright?"

James nodded whilst he continued to glare at his brother-in-law over his wife's head.

"Want to go find a place to set you up?" Anderson suggested, stepping behind his niece and in between the two men.

"Vernon, leave it," Petunia requested in a whisper nearly impossible to hear.

"Thank-you," Anderson whispered to his eldest niece before turning to James and saying the same thing. "For taking care of her, for my brother and sister…when we couldn't."

"I-."

"I'll spare you the belated lecture on having a kid so young-."

"As if you could even lecture on that subject," Lily cut in, quite literally.

Anderson chuckled. "No, I suppose not."

"I'm surprised Charlie or Sam didn't claim these rooms," she sighed, leaning against the frame of the door. The room before her was small in size, two sets of bunk-beds built into the walls on either side of the room that led to a set of double doors that opened up to a railing, that overlooked the south end of the cottage and the sandy dunes.

"Charlie's daughter sleeps with him and Eva still, not that they'd dream of forcing her to sleep elsewhere," Isobel smiled softly, "And the boys, George and Jonathan," she said, pausing as both she and her husband watched their niece gasp at the name.

"Dad?"

Anderson nodded. "Sam loved his uncle," he said, trying to keep back any more tears threatening to fall.

"No more tears tonight," Isobel ordered playfully as she stood between uncle and niece. "Now where is all your luggage?"

"Would you mind just closing the door, Isobel?" James requested, waiting till she had done so before he pulled the extremely shrunken cases out of his pocket then reaching for his wand.

"Are you certain it's alright we're here?" Isobel asked cautiously.

James grinned. "Perfectly."

"And if not, James works at the ministry, he'll just scheme his way out of it," Lily added.

"I'll ask what that is later," Anderson said, before taking a number of steps back till his back was against the wardrobe.

Lily couldn't stop the feeling that rendered her beyond giddy as she was reminded for the first time since her own parents had witnessed her magic, just how extraordinary the world she lives in is. Her aunt and uncle looked so like Harry had when he was mesmerized as a baby by all the magic that surrounded him during those early years at Godric's Hollow.

"I think Sirius has the rest in his cloak," James noted once he was through.

Anderson and Isobel both shook their heads as they brought themselves once more to the present. Anderson glanced up at them. "Now you can sleep on the pull-out in the living room, or your Sirius and the others might," he suggested, "Or you can all come next door and share the two rooms in the loft."

"The loft sounds like fun," Lily said as she shared a look with her husband.

"Sure you wouldn't rather just reverse that- that-."

"Charm," Lily suggested to her uncle.

"It'll look better if it seems as though the luggage didn't pop out of thin air," James said, passing Lily a smaller case before once more stepping out into the hall.

The small group passed through the main level of the Evans family cottage, Lily and James watching on as Harry and his friends and Dudley played a game out on the deck under the moonlight and dimmed porch lights, their excitement heard even a ways away as they trudged down the short path to the second cottage. Hestia, Remus and Sirius watched the kids' game for a few moments before tagging along.

"It'll be just like being back in the Gryffindor dorms," Hestia pointed out once they had all made it up the two flights of stairs to the loft area. "Now are you two quite adamant about sleeping separately or-."

"Can we have a giant slumber party?" Sirius suggested, his voice all girlish as he mocked he girl next to him.

James looked at his wife before shrugging.

"Pull the mattresses together it is then," Remus said slightly enthusiastically.

"Although Hestia and I claim the bedroom if Sirius' foot ends up anywhere near my face," Lily said, eying the man who winked at her as she threw her suitcase open and grabbed her toiletry bag before scurrying off, winking at her own husband as she slipped by him.

"You are not going to… oh, come on, it's a loo!" Remus groaned, flopping onto the sofa.

"Whatever happened to that dinner you were supposed to have with your cousin, Sirius?" James asked, redirecting the conversation as he threw his suitcase on top of Remus who growled in protest. He rummaged through it, searching for his toothbrush.

"Andy?" Sirius asked, perking up.

"No, Bellatrix," Remus deadpanned.

Sirius smirked. "Well actually-."

"He's skipping out on us on Sunday to go have dinner with Andy and Ted and-."

"Nymphadora," Sirius said, choking on his laughter, "And your parents thought their names were terrible, Jamesy…"

"I think dad would have said that one topped the cake," James chuckled as he waved them off.

"Sirius, ger'off me!" he heard Hestia practically shout as he descended the stairs.

"Wrestling match going on up there?" Charlie asked as he passed by in the hall, to which James nodded, amused when he saw his wife's elder cousin take off up the stairs as opposed to turning into the room he and his wife shared with their four-year old.

The bathroom lay just across from the stairs that led to the lower level, the airy living space visible just as you turned into the door. Lily stood before the mirror, her mouth full of foamy toothpaste that seemed to create an almost moustache on her upper lip that grew when she grinned upon seeing her husband in the doorway. He chuckled at her when the toothpaste dribbled out of her mouth and dripped off her chin, closing the door behind him as he crossed the floor and wiped it off her chin only to then proceed to wipe it on the old practice shirt he used to wear at Quidditch practice that she now wore to bed on occasion.

"Holding up?" he asked concerned as he observed her for a minute.

Lily nodded exuberantly, holding her toothbrush between her teeth as to free both hands in order to give her husband a reassuring two thumbs up.

James held back from asking anything further, turning instead towards the nightclothes he had thrown onto the edge of the tub upon entering.

She tried not the be so obvious as she watched her husband strip down then jump about as he pulled on a pair of plaid pyjama pants but he caught her eye multiple times as he did, winking at her every time.

"You were checking me out," he called her out, resting his head on her shoulder for only a moment before she pushed him away so she could spit the toothpaste out into the pristine white sink.

"You're my husband, it's within my rights as your wife," she defended herself; turning round in order to link her arms around her neck and pull him close. She slowly pressed her lips to his, holding them there for a moment before both of their grins made them pull back. "Why are you smiling madly?"

"You're minty fresh," he explained simply.

"Ah," she said, taking extra care to breathe in his face so the mint would fill his nostrils.

"Mature," he remarked, snatching the toothpaste from her hand.

"I aim to be," she grinned, squeezing the end of the tube just as he held it to his own toothbrush, causing it to explode all over the back of his hand.

Her scream filled the house much to her aunt and uncle's amusement, their own wall just on the other side of the loo.

"What is going on in there?" Isobel called from her place in bed, her book open on her lap as her own husband finished tugging his own shirt over his head of greying hair.

"Nothing!" the Potter's chimed all too quickly.

James scraped his toothpaste along her cheek before he stuck in under the tap then his mouth. "Joke's on you."

"I'm going to have to shower now," she complained, hoping up onto the counter. James shoved her knees apart just enough so he could stand between them, her legs straddling him once he slipped in between. "And just for that-."

"You're the one who made it explode in the first place," he countered, the toothpaste now dripping out of his mouth and onto her bare legs not covered by the boxer shorts she stole from him having realized she'd forgotten to pack her own.

"-And just for that!" she continued, ignoring him, "You have just been voluntold for the hospital fundraiser."

James' eyes went wide.

"And before you say no, your name has already been put in the program."

He spit out the toothpaste. "The program for what, Lily?"

She ran her finger along his cheek, brushing stray hairs out of his face for the briefest of moments before he grabbed hold of her wrist, stopping her movements.

"Lily," he warned.

"There'safashionshowandtheyneedmalemodelsandIsaidyou'ddoit," she said too quickly.

"No."

"Please."

"Absolutely not."

"Come on."

"Lily!"

"James!"

"This is Elizabeth isn't it?" he asked, with a roll of his eyes.

His wife nodded.

"Merlin if I didn't love you so much-."

"I love you more," she cut in, kissing him relentlessly. "So much more."

"Impossible."

"That's you."

"Says the one who still has toothpaste in her hair."

"I forgot my wand upstairs," she pouted.

"So did I," he shrugged. "Whatever shall you do?" he teased.

"You did not. It's right there in the holster you slid off not five minutes ago!" she exclaimed, pointing at it from her perch.

She had caught him and he knew it. James studied his wand for a moment as he crouched down to grab it. Twiddling it in his fingers as he turned back to her he wore an unreadable expression that made her heartbeat stop. "I will clean up your own mess and don't deny it," he added as she raised an accusing finger that went back to her lap in a second, "But, and this is a big but, but you have to first accompany me to go make sure Harry and Ron and Hermione are settled in all right before I clean up anything. And I will body block you if you try to run upstairs first," he warned.

"This is payback for signing you up isn't it," she grumbled, sliding off the counter.

"Definitely," both Isobel and Anderson agreed having been eavesdropping all the while.

James nodded victoriously.

"Let's get this over with then," she said, flinging the door open before trudging towards the stairs.

"Mum-."

"I know. There is toothpaste in my hair and on my face, yeah, yeah, yeah," she muttered, as James dragged her up the steps to the deck they had gathered upon not so long ago where the kids were still playing the game they had begun.

"So, er, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, how is," Hermione tried to speak but couldn't contain her own laughter at the sight of her friend's mum, a complete mess. "Sorry."

"Don't be, please…continue," James encouraged wickedly.

"Keep it up, I dare you," Lily said, glaring at him.

"Is there something you wanted? Sirius, Remus and Hestia followed you guys there," Harry said, nodding in the direction they had just come from.

"We saw them," Lily assured him, "We're having a party in the loft in a while."

"More like a wrestling match," James grinned.

"Speaking of which, the party not the wrestling," she said with a shake of her head, "Do you want us to show you where you're staying before we go back?" she asked.

"I could show you when were done too," Dudley offered, shocking Lily slightly, her nephew's willingness completely unexpected, to her and James at least.

"Dudley can take us," Harry shrugged, apparently unbothered.

"Alright," James smiled at the four.

"Hermione, I hope you don't mind but the room upstairs has four beds and well considering the number of people there weren't many rooms and-."

"We put the three of your together," James concluded. "If you're not comfortable-."

"You could take my room, if you'd like," Dudley piped in. "If you know, you wanted privacy."

"Thanks Dudley," Hermione, Lily and James said at once.

"We will just go in and say goodnight then," Lily said, having run out of things to do on the deck. "Night, sweetheart," she said, quickly giving Harry a kiss as she passed. "Sleep well, all of you, and see you when you wake up," she grinned before ducking inside after James.

"Early riser, I see."

Harry glanced up from the tv from his place on the couch where he was lounging to see his great-uncle smirking at him, newspaper in hand. The man took a step down into the sunken living room, intending to take a seat in the chair opposite only to jump back in surprise when he saw the redheaded boy asleep on the floor ahead of the television set.

Anderson clutched his chest as he lowered himself into the chair. "Didn't drag him out of bed on the first day of your vacation did you?" he asked, careful not to let his feet rest on the boy's hand that was outstretched beside him.

Harry chuckled as he shook his head. "We couldn't really get to sleep last night…new place and all," he answered, not wanting to admit that it was actually his cousin's snores that had kept them awake till the early hours of the morning.

"I see," Anderson nodded, knowing full well that wasn't the truth. "Your mum's a terrible liar too," he said after a few minutes once he had the newspaper spread out before him. He snickered at his niece's son's shocked expression that he was met with when he finally looked up. "The boys complained the other night about the noise from the room next door," he admitted to which Harry grinned.

"I've got to ask dad if-."

Anderson's interest peeked when the boy stopped mid-thought. "If what?"

"If he, er, packed…uh…"

"His wand so he can do something about the noise?" he questioned, grinning.

"You know?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.

"Isobel and I along with your great-grandparents were entrusted with the guardianship of your mum and aunt when your grandparents died when she was in…sixth year, I think it must have been. We didn't know until then about any of the world you and your parents and," he stopped, eying the boy on the floor. Harry nodded; assuring him that Ron too was part of the wizarding world. "Friends then, inhabit," he smiled fondly, "Although I wish it hadn't been under the circumstances that it was that we were brought into the know…"

Harry frowned. "What were they like?" he asked as he fiddled with his fingers.

"Your grandparents?"

Harry nodded.

Anderson smiled sadly. "Well your grandpa, my brother…he was my older brother so we had an interesting relationship growing up. He was always the more active of us, always loved hiking, a past time he shared with your mum till the time of his death. Those two must have hiked through over half the country…your mum used to have this map that hung in her room and boy was it neat," he said, sliding forward in his seat. His clasped hands rested on his knees as he smiled widely at the memories flowing steadily through his mind. "They used to stitch different coloured thread along the paths they would take. It was quite the sight. Truly. But your grandpa…he'd have done anything for anyone, even me. He's the one I would call if I needed to be picked up after a party or if I'd gotten into trouble at school. Never would tell my parents either, but he was incredibly honest when it came to his own stories to tell, for the most part at least. We all have stories we'd rather left untold, Harry…even your grandpa. Your grandma, well she was a beauty. Blonde hair, like your aunt's but not nearly as curly, more like your mum's in that regards. She had very soft blue eyes like your aunt as well. I met her first when I visited your grandpa at University in Leeds. He saw her first in one of his classes, he had told me when we'd spotted her across the courtyard, but she'd changed her major apparently and stopped attending that class. It was when she was no longer there he knew he'd been done for. Asked her on a date when he'd nearly knocked over her tray in the dining hall, the tray that ended up spilling all over my brother's front when he was done," he chuckled at the image. "But your grandma…well just look at your mum and you see her."

"Mum doesn't hike anymore," Harry admitted to his great-uncle.

"I wouldn't suspect so," Anderson explained, "It was their thing. I think it'd be hard to turn around and share that with anything else, especially considering-."

"How suddenly they died," Harry finished for him, his great-uncle stuck for words. "How-how exactly did…how did it…"

"They were driving home from London, having spent a couple of days with us in order to attend the gallery opening for Isobel…she works at the National Gallery as a curator, you know…they were traveling along a high-way they must have driven on hundreds of times before…every time they took your mum to school, or picked her up they would have taken that route. A driver fell asleep behind the wheel; they were so close to being home. No more than twenty minutes away… he swerved into their lane out of nowhere. Head-on. They both died on impact."

The house fell silent except for the snores emitting from the upper floor. Anderson returned to his newspaper after a while, his niece's son seemingly frozen in place as he leaned back into the sofa cushions, his own eyes focused upon his snoozing friend.

"Ron? Harry?" Hermione's voice carried out from the stairwell. The bushy-brown haired girl, whose hair had been tamed by the braids she'd fastened the night before, rounded the corner to the quiet room. "Did I interrupt-."

"No," Harry said before Anderson had the chance to.

"Not at all," Anderson reiterated soon after.

"What's with him?" she asked, taking a seat next to Harry, poking the sleeping Ron with her toe as she did.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Your cousin's snoring?" she asked. "I could hear it through the wall," she supplied upon noticing Harry's curious glance.

"Ah."

"Lovely, a room full of breakfast chefs," Isobel exclaimed, slipping in through the back door. "Any requests for this morning?" she asked, "And Anderson, I'm asking the kids," she said just as he raised his hand.

"Pancakes," Ron mumbled, causing all four to laugh.

"Ooo! With chocolate chips," Jonathan shouted, running down the stairs in his tiny robe. "Please, granny, please!"

"That sounds really good," Harry agreed.

"I haven't had those in ages," Hermione admitted, her stomach grumbling.

"Since when do you wake up before eight in the summer, Harry?" Remus asked, sauntering in with Hestia.

"Since…I've got nothing," Harry sighed, reaching for the remote to turn up the sound on the cartoons he and Ron had been watching since five am, for Jonathan and George who were both now wide awake and sitting on top of Ron, laughing wildly.

"Alright there, Ron?" Hestia asked as she and Remus passed through, joining Harry and Hermione on the couch.

"Boys," Emily warned from the stairs.

"It's ok," Ron assured her and Hestia, though the boys jumped off all the same, only to jump back on two seconds later, using the couch as a launching pad. "So this is what it must have been like to have Fred and George as younger brothers," he winced in pain as one of the boys, he wasn't quite sure who, dug their elbow into his shoulder blade. "Can't quite say it's better or worse either way," he concluded when Harry and Hermione reached forward to save him from the terrors.

"And they aren't even twins," Hestia added, to which Ron merely shuddered.

A/N: I'm posting this even though there should be more. I just feel so bad about leaving the story for such long periods of time. And I just really like this chapter. Please review if you have time. But before you do, I know the names Charlie and George are the same as the Weasley boys. I come from a family where there are a lot of repeats, especially the name Sarah (both of my cousins married girl's named Sarah and my other cousin is dating one)...