THC - August Monthly Challenge - Back to School.

Prompt: (object) a red towel

IWSC - Summer Camp - Ravenclaw - Write about somebody looking for answers

Prompt: (genre) family

Hogwarts - Assignment 3 - Hufflepuff - Photography: Images for Impact

Prompt: Task 1; Write about searching for someone or something.

Summary: Post-War in the Potter's Cottage, Harry tries to pack what he wants, rather than what he's allowed. Jily lived AU.

Word Count: 1274

Beta(s): Ash, Dhrish, Hope

Harry let out a harsh huff as he dumped the contents of his trunk out all across his bed. Where was it? He was sure it should have been in here. Oh, his father would kill him if he couldn't find the map!

Well… his father would probably kill him knowing he had stolen the map to begin with, then bring him back to life to kill him again if he lost it!

"Harry! What are you doing?" his mother, Lily, almost shouted, shock evident in her voice.

"I've just lost something, Mum," Harry replied somewhat nonchalantly as he glanced up innocently. "Didn't want to leave anything behind."

Lily tapped her foot in displeasure. "You've repacked your trunk three times and I double-checked it with you yesterday. Why do you think that emptying it at nine the night before you return to Hogwarts is appropriate behaviour?" Her tone was anything but questioning. She was angry at him, that part was certain.

Harry glanced at his mum and shrugged, stopping himself from showing he was worried by running his hand through his hair. He didn't want a lecture from his mum, after all. "Better tonight than tomorrow."

Lily sighed heavily, making her shoulders drop slightly. "What are you looking for?"

"I— nothing," he hastily said, grabbing his belongings to toss back in. "Was just checking."

"Harry James Potter," his mother spoke, her voice low and threatening.

"What did our boy do now?" his father asked, wandering in, preparing to take a bite of the apple he held. However, he didn't finish taking the bite as he looked around in mild horror before smirking. "Realised the map you stole wasn't there, eh?"

Harry's gaze snapped up. "What?"

Harry took a moment to look at his father. There, in his bedroom doorway, stood his dad, casually dressed in his lounging clothes, with wet hair and a red towel draped over his shoulders. His usual smirk had not left his face.

His mother looked like she was going to say something before smiling, patting his dad on the shoulder, and walking off.

The silence between the father and son thickened, and Harry just knew that his dad was waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Harry spoke, avoiding eye contact. He stood up and began to repack his trunk.

"Are you, though?" James asked, stepping forward to help Harry pack. "You really won't try to steal it again?"

Harry sighed and picked up two towels that he always took with him. They were identical to the one around his dad's neck— they were his security blanket of sorts. His friends all had teddies or balloon blankets that they had to badly hide, but Harry could leave the plain red towel hanging out around the dorm without question or suspicion. He made sure to fold the red towels carefully before safely packing them away.

"Why can't I have it? Don't you trust me?" Harry finally asked, not answering his dad's question.

James sat down on the portion of the bed he had just cleared. "You're not old enough, yet, Harry. In a few more years—"

Harry huffed which abruptly ended his dad's talking. "I'm in my third year, Dad! In a couple of years, I won't be at Hogwarts, then what is the point of owning a stupid map!"

"It's not that simple.."

"Yes, Dad, it is!" Harry turned to face his dad, already regretting the tone he had just taken, and shrunk back slightly. It was the last day of the Christmas holiday; he didn't want to end it on a sour note. "First years don't get a map of Hogwarts, and yet you have one right here which you don't let anyone apart from yourself look at! Why do you even need it?"

James took a second to reply, and Harry was nervous that he had gone too far. Perhaps this wasn't the right time and place to have this conversation.

His dad shifted and eventually, Harry looked at him again. "Because I want to see what you're up to when you're at school."

Harry sat down even though he hadn't cleared the space first. "You can't protect me forever, Dad. Besides, the war is over! It's been over for…" He paused to work out the maths. "Nine years now!"

James smiled at the memory. "You're right. Hogwarts is one of the safest places on earth. Let me talk about it to your mother while you finish repacking, you do have to go back to school tomorrow."

Harry nodded and stood up once more. He knew what the answer was going to be, it had always been the same since he started Hogwarts.

James Potter walked into the bedroom where he found his wife getting ready for bed. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "How is he?"

"Confused as to why I just won't hand over the map," James answered.

"Did you tell him the truth?" Lily asked, turning around.

James shook his head. "We want it to be replicated, but we just don't know the charm that Peter contributed. We've tried to recreate the Hogwarts map many times, but…" He drifted off and sighed heavily.

Lily's expression turned to confusion. "Hogwarts map?"

"Yes."

"But you're not at Hogwarts."

"Thanks for the obvious reminder. Those were simpler times. Before we were actually in the war, fighting our lives, before Peter was killed, before—" he rambled until Lily cut him off.

"What if you need to be at the location of the map you want to create?" Lily asked, gaining his attention. "You said that you all spent hours walking up and down every corner of the school."

James jumped in pure excitement at that idea; it might actually be a solution to the questions he, Sirius, and Remus had been searching for the answers for. "I'll Floo the guys now and…"

"Tell them to come after Harry has left for Hogwarts."

"And…" He hesitated. "Wait until tomorrow," he relented. Allowing his furiously beating heart to calm down.

He took the towel off and laid it on the end of the bed. "But, Lily," he started, a giddy expression in his eye as his breath quickened and his heartbeat increased. "Can you just imagine if we figure it out? We can send Harry to Hogwarts with the parchment and he can map out the school himself!"

James waited, mostly patiently, for Lily to go through all of the options in her head. He wished he could read her mind at this moment and know what she was thinking. But all he could do was wait.

"One condition."

"What?" he asked eagerly, wondering what was going through her mind.

"Let Harry join."

James felt his eyebrow furrow together as he tried to contemplate his wife's suggestion. Work on it with Harry? Surely that couldn't be what she meant. His mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out of it for the next few seconds. Lily was the logical one between the two of them—she had been a prefect after all. In the end, James just murmured, "He has school tomorrow."

"He can sleep on the train. I think this would be a great family moment, and maybe he'll be more interested in Charms; we both know he's been slacking."

James nodded. "I'll Floo the others! You might want to make sure Harry has actually packed everything, his Care of Magical Creatures book was under his bed."

Lily nodded and James took that as a confirmation and instantly strutted down the stairs into their living room.

Tonight would be one of invention and solutions!