Chapter 13 - Potter Manor

James was very happy to be home for the holidays. His parents had always spoiled him rotten and, as he was their only son and they seemed to enjoy doting on him so much, he didn't see what the harm was in letting them.

His days generally consisted of breakfast with his parents (a tradition his mother had always insisted upon), flying his comet 71, lunch then more flying or a trip out with one of his parents, if whatever they were doing sounded interesting enough to James.

He had accompanied his dad to the ministry during his first week of the summer holidays. Fleamont had been going there to attend a panel discussion on British entrepreneurs and had invited James along for a 'change of scenery'.

The pair of them arrived in the cool atrium of the ministry to find it abuzz with activity. Witches and wizards were rushing around with coffees, dictating memos that scribbled in mid-air, or taking the lifts to different floors, which moved so fast they hurt James' eyes to look at.

Fleamont led James over to the lift lobby and as they passed the fountain of magical brethren, James recognised a familiar face.

"Nora!"

It was Nora Leach of Ravenclaw. She was wearing a muggle dress and had her brown hair tied back with a blue hair ribbon. She smiled as she recognised James. "Hi." She said and she and the man she was with came over to greet them.

"How do you do, Nobby?" James' dad said, moving to shake Nora's father's hand. James wondered if perhaps this man was someone important. He was dressed smartly with straight posture and a clever-looking face. He grinned widely at James' dad.

"Fleamont Potter, as I live and breath!" He said, pumping his hand back. "I heard you were appearing on the Entrepreneurial Panel today. I'll see if I can pop in and check some of it out later. Not now though, Jenkins has called me in for an emergency meeting on 'the situation'" He said this last bit in air quotes.

Jenkins? James thought, Eugenia Jenkins? Wasn't she minister for magic? This man must be important then if he worked with the minister for magic.

"Nobby, this is my son, James." His dad said, putting a hand on James' shoulder. "He's just finished his first year at Hogwarts." James couldn't miss the pride in his words.

"Pleasure, young man." The man said, shaking James' hand. "You must know my Nora then?"

"James is in Gryffindor." Nora told her father.

"'Where dwell the brave of heart'." Nobby said with a grin at Fleamont. "Excellent house. Well, we mustn't keep you. Unless Nora, you want to show James our staff dining room? It's really quite excellent." He added with another grin. This man certainly did grin a lot.

James thanked him and the two children left the adults at the lift and James followed Nora up to the famous canteen on the fifth floor.

There were a number of ministry staff already in there when the two twelve year olds arrived. James noticed a small group of men sitting near the buffet, one of whom had his feet up on the table.

"Aha told the Minister it wouldn't happen." A ruddy-faced, blond man was saying around a puff of his cigar. "She thinks she can win this war by chucking the old chap in Azkaban? No chance, and so I told her."

"It's 'cos she's a woman." Another man said conspiratorially. "She thinks she has to take the bullyboy tough approach." He snorted. "Women. They're all the same."

"That's unbelievably sexist." Little Nora said, marching over to the man and planting her hands on her hips. "Women don't want to act like men you know, but if we're ever going to change the system we don't have a choice but to do it from the inside out."

James snorted at the stunned expression on the three men's faces. A man with salmon coloured robes had his mouth hanging open like a codfish.

"Men complain when women nag at them to do things differently and then they complain when they come into the system and do it their way. It's a good thing we're not that physically strong if we were we might want to punch your lights out!"

James laughed. She really was brilliant.

"We didn't mean you, miss." One of the men said, taking his feet quickly off the table.

"No, you're clearly not like the others."

"Yeah, aren't you a little young for politics?"

Nora tossed back her brown hair and glared at the man who had spoken. "My father's Nobby Leach." She told him. "I've never been too young for politics."

And James wanted to laugh even harder at their expressions now.

"I do beg your pardon miss." The man who'd spoken said. "Your father is a great wizard."

"Thanks." Nora grinned. "He is rather excellent, isn't he?" And she turned and walked back to James.

James wanted to applaud. "That was amazing," he said as they helped themselves to snacks from the buffet table. "Who exactly is your dad again?"

"First muggleborn minister for magic." She told him. "He left office in '68 but he still pops in to help out and advise every so often. He did a lot to challenge the patriarchy and outdated views in his time. Obviously he didn't go far enough." She said with a jerk of her head in the direction of the three men.

She took a bottle of wine from the buffet table. "Oh don't worry." She said in response to James' shocked expression. "They won't find out." And she poured herself a glass.

James wanted to applaud again. And all this time he thought Ravenclaws were swots and goody-two-shoes...

"So." Nora said, taking her wine and plate of biscuits over to a table and leaning forwards in her chair. "I want you to tell me exactly what Lily Evans and Bessie Bagshot see in Mary MacDonald."

Well, she was still a Ravenclaw girl.

James met his dad after his panel discussion where he thanked Nora for showing James around and told her she and her father were welcome for Sunday lunch any time. "Mrs Potter does a delicious roast dinner!"

For the rest of the week, James busied himself with preparations for the arrival of his friends that weekend. He wasn't sure if he or his mother were more excited as she chatted at length with Ethel the house elf about the ingredients they would need and what the sleeping arrangements would be. She quizzed James endlessly on names, likes, dislikes, favourite foods. It was as though she were preparing for them to move in, not just stay a few nights! James knew his friends didn't really care whether she served the Eton mess or strawberry trifle (well, perhaps Peter would), but he let her fuss anyway. It was nice, he supposed, how much she cared.

The day of their arrival finally came and James waited eagerly in the living room for the flames in the grate to turn green and reveal one of his ash-specked, disheveled friends.

Predictably, Remus was first, bang on time at eleven o clock. He got quickly to his feet and attempted to brush the ash from his robes as he stepped gingerly onto the Potters' thick red carpet.

"Oh don't worry about it." James told him, grinning and taking the bag from his friend.

Peter came next, landing in a heap in the grate and swearing fluently.

"Hello Pete!" James laughed, helping the shorter boy to his feet. "Where's your floo network then?"

"The local owl post." Peter said, rubbing his backside. "Mum said she'd drive me, but I said wizards always travel by floo, so here I am."

"Well, you are a wizard." James agreed.

"Nice house." Peter said, looking around the large room.

"Thanks, I'll give you a tour later." James said. And then, "have either of you heard from Sirius?"

James had to admit he wasn't altogether sure their fourth group member would make it. Euphemia had sent a letter to his parents to invite him to stay but hadn't heard anything back. And though James was still hoping Sirius would find a way to come, as the minutes on the mantelpiece clock ticked by, he wondered if perhaps he had overestimated his friend's will (or underestimated his parents').

"Guess he's not coming." He said eventually, sighing and turning back to the others. "Want to come and meet my mum?"

He led them into the conservatory where where James' mum (clearly dying to see them but doing her utmost to 'play it cool') was pretending to read a book.

"Hello everyone!" She said, jumping to her feet and hugging Remus and Peter. "How are you? How wonderful to see you! Has James offered you a drink?" She called Ethel over to fetch some pink lemonade for the boys. "Anything you need, just tell me or Ethel." She smiled at them. "No sign of Sirius?" She asked James with a frown.

James shook his head and saw his feelings of concern for his friend mirrored in his mother's hazel eyes.

"Hmm." She said, looking thoughtful. But then she smiled. "Well, no reason for you boys to not still have fun! You must all make yourselves right at home. There are no rules in this house, besides no flying without an adult of course, and if you want to visit the town just let me or Monty know and we'll take you."

"Thanks mum." James said and though he appreciated her warmth and hospitality he was also very keen to spend some time alone with his friends.

"Alright." Euphemia said, winking at him. "You boys have fun."

"Your mum is so nice." Peter said as they wandered off in the direction of James' bedroom. "And your house is enormous!"

"The grounds are bigger." James said. "We can have a game of quidditch later if you like? My mum and dad won't mind us using their brooms."

They entered James' bedroom, where his mother had set up three camp beds (in the hope that Sirius might show up too). Of course there was enough space in the house for each of them to have had their own bedroom, but James had wanted them all to share.

Remus had picked up an old toy lion James kept on a shelf. He smiled as he held it up to James questioningly.

"That's Godric." James said, blushing a little. "I wanted to take him to Hogwarts but…" he had thought the others would laugh.

"You still can." Remus said, smiling at the lion. "He can be our dorm mascot."

"Have you read all of these?" Peter said, examining James' enormous book shelf.

James shook his head. "Not even close. And there's more in the library!"

He gave them all a tour of the house which took a long time (there were a lot of rooms) and then James' mother called them outside for lunch.

"It's just too nice of a day to be indoors!" She had said, helping Ethel bring the plates and bowls out to the table.

They'd just made it to pudding (strawberry trifle) when the doorbell rang. "Who could that be I wonder?" James' mother said with a frown, getting to her feet and going back into the house.

James assumed it was one of the old neighbours. His parents were friendly with all the muggles and magical folk who lived around them. There was always someone popping by with a book for his mum to read or a new recipe for her to try. But it wasn't old Mrs Fordyce his mother brought into the house with her this time. It was...

"Sirius!"

"Poor dear, he came by bus!" James' mother said, leading Sirius over to them with a protective arm around his shoulders.

Sirius accepted a drink and a plate of sandwiches and took a seat at the table. "Knew I'd make it somehow." He grinned at the others.

The mystery of Sirius' muggle arrival wasn't discussed until after lunch, when James led his friends outside to play quidditch. "Why didn't you come by floo?" He asked Sirius as the four of them made their way to the garden shed where the Potters kept their broomsticks.

"Not allowed." He replied a little bitterly. "I wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for the fact that I quite literally ran for it."

"You ran away?"

"Well, I ran here. I got the underground (or the tube as the muggles call it), then a train, then a bus, then another bus…"

James stared at him. "How did you do that? And how did you pay for it?"

"Oh, that was easy." Sirius grinned, and he put on a convincing impression of someone very young and lost. "Excuse me ma'am, I'm ever so sorry to bother you, but my parents have no money and my aunt Mary's dying. Can I have a fiver?"

"You prat." James laughed, giving him a playful shove. "How did you know where I lived?"

"Nicked the invite you sent mum. Why did you invite her?"

"We didn't."

"Well she received it. And of course she forbade me from coming the moment she saw who it was from."

"Didn't stop you."

"'Course it didn't." And though he grinned, James thought there was something a little strained about it.

As the boys chose brooms and took off into the air, however, it was very hard to feel worried about anything. They picked teams (James and Peter vs Sirius and Remus) and set up a makeshift game of quidditch - throwing apples through the hoops James' dad constructed a few summers ago. James grinned as he ducked an apple Sirius threw at him. When he was older he'd buy himself a proper quidditch pitch, with all the balls and equipment. He'd invite Sirius, Remus and Peter over. Between them they'd surely have enough kids for a quidditch team. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

They dismounted to find James' dad standing below. He'd been watching them fly with a big smile on his face and hugged James as he ran over to greet him. "Hello!" He said warmly to the others, shaking their hands and beaming at them. "Fleamont Potter, but please call me Monty."

"How was London?" James asked him. He'd clearly only just returned as there was still ash from the fire in his hair.

"Excellent. We had a delicious lunch at The Three Mad Hatters and then I popped back into the ministry for a chat with Nobby. I've got you to thank for that." He ruffled James' hair. "You made quite the impression on his daughter it seems."

Nora had made quite the impression on James...

"Are you boys hungry? Euphemia's made tea, and there are cream cakes if you want them?"

They put the brooms away and headed back into the house, but before they could reach the dining room, Euphemia intercepted them.

"Sirius dear, can I have a quick word with you?"

James looked from his mum to Sirius. "What is it?"

"It's Sirius' mother. I'm afraid I've had an owl from her. Apparently she didn't give permission for him to be here and she's asking that I send him home by floo right away."

"No!" James said, actually stamping a foot in frustration. "You can't do that. It isn't fair!"

Euphemia looked at him.

"He's only just got here mum." James said, trying his best to sound like a very mature twelve-year-old and not a petulant child. "Why can't he stay?"

Euphemia turned back to Sirius who was looking pleadingly up at her too. She sighed. "Well alright, I'll see what I can do. I'll tell your mother we'll take very good care of you, that you're a joy to have around and that I very much hope we can keep you. All of which is true of course." She smiled.

Sirius smiled back. "Thanks."

She gave him an odd sort of look. "Don't worry." She said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear. "We'll do what we can to keep you."

And James' mum must have been an angel because that is exactly what happened.

"Result, boys!" She cried, dancing into the games room later and grinning from ear to ear. She handed the piece of black parchment she was holding to Sirius with a flourish, and James leaned over to read it. There were just three words, written in silver ink:

As you wish.

James punched the air.

"You're here 'til Wednesday, just like the rest." Euphemia said, beaming at Sirius.

She walked out of the room, still smiling, and James thought he heard her mutter "Walburga Black's fancy stationery doesn't scare me..." under her breath as she left.

Dinner that night was a delicious five course meal served by Ethel followed by a murder mystery game organised by James' mum (Sirius, it turned out, was the murderer). They were all so exhausted from the day's excitement that they were asleep by the time Euphemia came upstairs with hot chocolate for them all.

James woke early the next morning and grinned when he saw his sleeping friends. Deciding that as he was awake the others might as well be too, he picked up his pillow and threw it at Sirius' head.

"What?" His friend mumbled from beneath the pillow.

"You awake?"

"No. I'm asleep." Sirius said, grabbing the pillow and throwing it back at him.

James picked it up, about to throw it at Peter, but Sirius put out a hand to stop him. "Hold it." He said, grinning. "I've got another plan for Pettigrew."

James watched in amusement as Sirius crept over to Peter's bed, stretched his hands comically and began to tickle the boy's neck.

"Aaaargh!"

Peter screamed and jerked upright, smacking Sirius hard on the forehead with his head as he did so.

Sirius swore, Peter screamed again, Remus sat up in bed and James laughed so hard he fell onto the floor.

Fortunately James' mum had some salve for the now quite impressive bruise on Sirius' forehead. She dabbed it on over breakfast as the others helped themselves to scrambled eggs on toast and apple juice from the Potters' orchard.

"Don't give it to him mum, it's his own fault." James teased but Sirius didn't seem to have noticed. He was gazing up at James' mum as though she were a rare deity.

"There." Mrs Potter said, putting the cap back on the tube and smiling at Sirius. "It'll be gone in no time. Now, what are you boys up to today?"

Peter wanted to go to the park, Sirius wanted to check out the muggle shops, James wanted to play quidditch and Remus didn't mind. They ended up doing everything. The shops were on the way to the park, so they stopped in there first; James and Peter boredly examining the vinyl records while Sirius exclaimed over a telephone.

"Not from round 'ere?" The shop proprietor asked, looking at Sirius.

"He's from London." James said and the shopkeeper raised his eyebrows and nodded as if to say 'say no more'.

"The cars are different here." Sirius observed as they walked with James' dad along the high street. "More colourful. They're mostly black in London. Not as many motorbikes though." he added, a little disappointedly.

"Not as much need round here." James' dad told him.

"It's not about need, it's about want." Sirius said. "Think how cool it would be to go zooming down a road like this. I wonder how fast they can go?"

To Sirius' great delight (and the others' amused tolerance), James' dad organised a trip to a motorbike factory the very next day for him to find out.

"This is the absolute coolest thing ever." Sirius said, his eyes alight with joy as he watched the mechanics at work. "How old do you have to be to ride one of these?"

"One of these? Seventeen." The worker said. "But you can ride a scooter at sixteen." He gestured over to where some smaller bikes were arranged. "They don't go quite as fast though."

"I'll wait." Sirius said.

The next day, James' parents took them to Cardiff to see the quidditch match between the Holyhead Harpies and Puddlemere United. They treated them all to drinks and snacks and settled in to watch the game, which lasted nearly five hours.

By the time they got home, it was getting late. Ethel treated them to another delicious meal, and then James' parents bade them goodnight, telling them that as it was their last night that they could stay up late if they wanted.

"What shall we do?" James asked, keen to take full advantage of their evening's freedom.

"We could play exploding snap?" Peter suggested.

"Or gobstobes." Remus added. "So we don't wake your parents."

James turned to Sirius. "What do you think?"

"Don't mind mate, it's your house."

What James really wanted to do was play quidditch. They'd spent far too much time poking around silly muggle shops and cafes, and this was going to be the last chance they had in his parents' big garden with the four of them. He was also dying to try out the 'wronski feint' he'd seen Ming Yao of Puddlemere United perform. He knew flying without his parents wasn't strictly allowed, but how could it really hurt?

The others were all up for it ("it's your house" Sirius said again), and so James unlocked the broom shed, took out the brooms, and they set off flying.

It was even more wonderful flying at night than it had been in the day. As it was July it was still warm out and the night air whipped his face as he flew. He imagined he was a professional quidditch player, the crowds roaring, quaffle in his hand. He headed towards goal...

"James! Help!"

Snapping back to reality, he turned his head in the direction of the cries.

It was Peter. He was a few feet below James and seemed to have lost control of his broom. He was panicking, yelling for help as he clung on to the broomstick as if for dear life.

"It's OK!" James shouted, turning on his own broom and making to fly down to him. "It does this sometimes. Just…"

But it was too late. Peter had already fallen. He'd only been about ten feet in the air, but he hit the ground with a loud thump.

"Peter!" James yelled, quickly dismounting and running over to where his friend lay sobbing and clutching his ankle.

"What happened?" Sirius had run over join to join him. Another soft clunk from behind told him Remus had touched down as well.

"I dunno. He just fell…"

"James, you need to wake your parents." Remus said urgently.

"Yeah." James agreed and, thinking of nothing but Peter, ran into the house and up to his parents' room.

They were quite beside themselves.

Demanding to know what they had been doing outside so late, but clearly more intent on the emergency (at least for now), they rushed downstairs in their dressing gowns and slippers and out to where Peter lay still sobbing on the grass.

James' mum took Peter in her arms and gently examined his ankle. She placed one hand over it then waved her wand with the other and, from the expression on Peter's face, James could tell the pain had eased. His breathing returned to normal and his sobs died down.

"Better?" Mrs Potter asked and Peter nodded. She smiled at him. "You're alright now."

James' father was not smiling. He was glaring at James who looked quickly down at the ground. "We'll discuss this tomorrow." He said sternly.

James nodded meekly. "Yes dad." He said, still quite unable to meet the man's eyes.

He and the others put their broomsticks back in the shed and then ran back up to the house.

"You OK, Pete?" He asked once they were inside.

Peter nodded. "Sorry I messed it all up."

"Don't be silly. It was my fault. I shouldn't have let you ride my old broom. My dad kept saying we needed to get it looked at. Sorry we couldn't finish our game." He glanced at the others apologetically. "What shall we do now?"

"I think we ought to go to bed." Remus said and James thought, not for the first time, that he was probably right.

There was an odd atmosphere at breakfast the next morning. Though James' dad was clearly still angry his son had broken the one house rule they'd set for him, he seemed to be saving his telling off for when the others had left. Sirius, for his part, was acting differently too and seemed to be trying to convince James' dad it had been his idea to go flying at night.

"I'm sure that's not true." Mr Potter said, smiling a little in spite of himself. "I don't blame any of you for what happened. I hope you won't let last night's events impact the rest of your stay. It's been lovely having you all."

Mrs Potter insisted they all have third helpings of everything and then she and James' dad hugged them all goodbye, and James led them back into the living room from where they could all floo back home.

"We'll see each other soon." James told his friends, trying not to think how quiet and lonely it was going to be without them here.

He said goodbye to Peter and Remus and then turned to Sirius, now the only one left in the room.

Sirius looked at him. He looked at Sirius. "You OK?" They asked one another at the same time.

James frowned. "Why wouldn't I be OK?"

"Well aren't you about to get it in the neck for what happened last night?"

James shrugged. "Probably." But he was sure he was. His dad would 'sit him down', tell him he was 'very disappointed' in him and that he 'must do better in the future'. He wasn't looking forward to it at all. "But I'll be OK." He said. He knew he would. His dad would forgive him anything.

But Sirius continued to look worried. "I'm so sorry, James. I should have tried to stop you. It's me who should be in trouble."

James frowned at him. "What are you on about?"

It was Sirius' turn to frown. "Why aren't you worried?"

"What would I be worried about?" James said, completely nonplussed.

Sirius looked a little uncomfortable. "Well won't he... y'know... hit you?"

James stared at him. "No, of course not! Why would he…" and then he understood. Suddenly everything made sense. This was why Sirius had been acting so strangely at breakfast. Why he was perfectly comfortable talking to total strangers but seemed so frightened of his own parents. This was why. Oh those bastards!

"You can't go back home." He said, the fire in his voice surprising even to him. "You can't! You have to stay here." He wouldn't let Sirius go back to idiots who hurt him. He couldn't.

But Sirius was shaking his head. "It's not that simple."

James didn't understand. "Of course it's that simple!" What could be simpler?! "Come on, I'll go and tell my mum. You can move into one of our spare rooms. I don't know if you've noticed, but we've got about a dozen. Come on, let's go tell her now! I guarantee she'd absolutely love to keep you. My mum loves everyone."

"James, don't." Sirius said quickly.

James turned back.

The sad resolution in Sirius' eyes hurt his heart. "There's nothing you can do." Sirius said.

"Bollocks there's nothing I can..." But as James looked at his friend, he knew that he was right. They were just children. What could they possibly do? The feeling of powerlessness was harder to bear than the rage.

"Promise me you'll write."

Sirius tried to smile but it looked like it was hurting him. "You know I can't do that."

"And please try and come to Remus'."

"That I can promise."

They looked at one another, and then James did something he'd never done before. He moved forwards and hugged his friend.

They stayed in the embrace for a long time, neither of them wanting to let go, but both knowing they must.

Sirius extricated himself at last and turned to wipe his eyes on his sleeve. James couldn't bear to see it. Then he took a pinch of floo powder from the mantelpiece and moved into the green flames. "See you." He said, and then he was gone. And James didn't know when he'd see him again.

He stared at the empty grate for a minute and then ran back to his parents in the kitchen, feeling sick. They were both there waiting for him and as he looked at his father; the gentle, loving, kind man who never hurt him he threw his arms around his waist, sobbing desperately from all that he'd heard.

When he eventually let go, both his parents were looking anxiously down at him.

"James darling, what on earth's the matter?" His mum said.

He looked at his father who was watching him with deep concern too. "Sorry." James said. "We shouldn't have gone flying last night."

"It's OK." Fleamont said, stroking the back of his head as he hugged him again. "If I'd known you'd be this upset about it, I wouldn't have made you wait. I just didn't want to embarrass you in front of your cool friends."

That made James cry even harder. His dad was even thinking about James' feelings when he was angry with him.

Fleamont kissed his head. "Let's say no more about it, shall we?"

So they didn't. And over time, James fell back into his normal happy routine in his loving home. But as the days passed, he noticed that he felt a little different in himself. He felt older somehow, like he'd understood something important. His life had always been comfortable and easy, but it wasn't like this for everyone. Sirius' life was different to his. He had to deal with things James never had. He felt a bit diminished and somehow not quite so sure of himself. He wondered what he could possible do to help. Because he would do something.

...

A/N: For any curious Brits, Tony Blair is indeed the inspiration for Nobby Leach.