Unofficial Portkey Archive

When Lily Potter heard the boom of thunder reverberate from the trees surrounding the back garden, she jumped instinctively toward the window, a look of dismay on her face.

Not rain today, she thought anxiously.

But, looking up now, she saw only a blue, cloudless sky stretching to the edge of the trees clustered on all sides of the small back garden. She puzzled for a moment, then her head flew back in a sweep of long red hair, her eyes flashing like chips of emerald.

"Not again!" she groaned.

She dashed out the back door just in time to see a motorcycle fall out of the sky and plow a great furrow in the lawn less than six inches from a picnic table set with plates and glasses, all shaded by the branches of a towering elm tree.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Lily bellowed. "Are you out of your mind? This is a Muggle neighborhood! What if someone saw you?"

"Not to worry, luv," Sirius grinned as he swung his leg over the petrol tank and planted his booted feet on the ground. "I enchanted my bike with a Muggle Repelling Charm last week. Any Muggle who hears it automatically turns the other way and forgets everything. Trust me, no one saw anything over your street but clear, blue sky."

"And what about that?" Lily barked, pointing at the disrupted ground under the motorcycle's knobbed tires.

"Uh, sorry," Sirius mumbled. He pulled his wand out of his black leather jacket and pointed it downward, but when he opened his mouth to cast a spell, no sound came out. He closed his mouth and looked up at Lily sheepishly.

"Don't tell me," Lily sighed. "You skived off Charms the day the Landscaping Spell came up."

"Aced my N.E.W.T.'s anyway," Sirius grinned. "Good job Landscaping never came up on the final, wasn't it? And what would I have done with it if it had, go off with the Order of the Phoenix and weed Voldemort's vegetable patch?"

Lily drew her own wand, glancing around to see that none of the neighbors was looking her way (something Sirius had not bothered to do). Satisfied, she flicked her wrist smartly, and the rut under Sirius' feet closed up as he leaped aside with an amused whoop. The green lawn swept over the smooth, flat earth like a blanket tugged over a sleeping child. Sirius nodded his approval as he stamped his boot smartly on the grass, which now showed no sign of its recent disruption.

"Has Moony arrived?" Sirius asked as he eyed the picnic table eagerly.

"James is bringing him," Lily said. "They should be here any minute."

"It's a double celebration this year," Sirius said excitedly. "Harry celebrates his birthday and receiving his Hogwarts letter."

At that moment, the back door opened and James Potter jogged into the back garden, followed closely by Remus Lupin.

"Glad you could make it, Moony!" Sirius greeted his old friend, who, like himself, had exchanged his wizard's robes for Muggle attire. It had long become second nature for their visits to the Potters.

Remus essayed a tired smile that in no way dimmed the light in his eyes. "Wild hippogriffs couldn't keep me away, Padfoot."

James swept Lily into his arms and kissed her so forcefully that Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus with a shake of his head.

"They get worse every day," he grunted. "You'd think they were still seventeen the way they carry on."

When James and Lily finally parted, somewhat breathlessly, James asked, "So, where's our guest of honor?"

Lily's bedazzled smile melted away. She looked meaningfully at James as she nodded her head toward the house next door, the roof of which was just visible through the surrounding trees. James instantly comprehended the meaning of that gesture, and his own face grew serious.

"I never gave that a thought. What Harry must be going through..."

Sirius and Remus both nodded understandingly.

"You hardly ever see the one without the other," Sirius said.

"I should have known something like this would happen when Albus relocated us here," Lily sighed.

"It was for the best, Lily," Remus said. "Even with Voldemort gone, there are still any number of Death Eaters who think they can prove their worthiness to take their master's place by killing you. It would be just the wedge to unite them under a single leader again. Just now, they're in disarray, posing no threat. But I shudder to think what evil they might visit on the world as a united force. No, Dumbledore knew what he was doing. With Harry going to Muggle school, no one would suspect him of being the son of the witch and wizard who rid the world of Lord Voldemort."

"But we didn't," Lily repeated for what felt like the ten thousandth time. "We never did find out who that witch and wizard were who stayed behind and fought Voldemort in our place. We may never know their names."

"Exactly," Remus said. "And Voldemort's followers can't avenge themselves against nameless enemies who've disappeared without a trace. All they know is that their master went to your house and never returned."

"You're sure Harry won't be in danger at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, resurrecting a subject of much discussion over the preceding years. "You could still change your mind and arrange with the Ministry for Harry to receive his training at home. He has all of us to teach him, and I've already offered to let you use my house whenever you need it - it would be an ideal place for Harry to take his O.W.L.'s. Look around you," he said, his eyes sweeping the peaceful neighborhood. "No one's penetrated the Fidelius in ten years, so if it's a question of security, we know Harry would be safe staying here until he's of age."

And happier, too, Lily thought as her eyes drifted again toward the house next door. But James gave his head a brief shake.

"Dumbledore must want Harry to attend Hogwarts," he reasoned. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent the letter. We just have to trust him. He's never let us down."

"Shouldn't we be getting the party started?" Remus said, redirecting the argument delicately. "Harry does know to be here at one?"

"Yes," Lily said. "I'm sure they'll be along."

James could not miss the sadness in his wife's voice as she continued to stare past the trees separating the two yards to the house beyond. "Harry will make loads of new friends at Hogwarts," he said reassuringly. "Frank and Alice Longbottom's son, Neville, is starting school this term. You remember the Longbottoms? They work with me in the Auror division. Neville was born the day before Harry." Lily nodded. "And Arthur Weasley's youngest son, Ron, got his letter last week - you've met Arthur, he works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department. Good chap, if a bit odd. The whole family's been in Gryffindor for ages - has three boys there now, in fact - wouldn't surprise me if Harry and Ron became great mates."

Lily was not looking at her husband. Her eyes remained fixed on the house just beyond the trees. James slipped his arms around his wife's shoulders in a comforting hug.

"Look at the two of us. Our meeting at school, being sorted into Gryffindor together, was the best thing that ever happened to me. More than that, it was Fate. I think I fancied you the moment I laid eyes on you. And once you'd knocked some of the bollocks out of me, I began to see just how empty my life would have been if we'd never met. I have a feeling the same thing will happen to Harry. You'll see. And if he's smarter than his dad, he won't have to wait until his last year of school to spot what's right in front of him."

James tightened his hold, and Lily lifted a hand and placed it on her husband's arm.

"You knew when Dumbledore placed us here we wouldn't be living in the Muggle world forever," James said quietly. "Harry is a wizard. His future is in the magical world. Just as yours was. And is. When you got your Hogwarts letter, you made the decision to leave the Muggle world behind. I know you must have missed your mates, but you found new friends at Hogwarts, just as Harry will."

Lily nodded mechanically, her emerald eyes opaque and unreadable. She and James seldom spoke about that night when they and Harry had missed death by a razor's edge, nor of the prophesy which had brought it all about. It had been easy to draw the curtains on those memories while they lived the life of ordinary Muggles. But now Harry was about to take his place in the wizarding world. For the next seven years, he would be isolated from them, from their protection. James was right, it was for the best. If Harry was to fulfill his special destiny, he would need the training which only Hogwarts could provide. They had taught him all they could. It was time for him to move on, to learn the things only Albus Dumbledore and the staff at Hogwarts could impart. In that time, Harry would grow from a boy into a man. He would become self-reliant, a wizard in his own right. And when the moment came, as they knew it must, for him to prove himself, she could only pray that he would not have to stand alone. She and James had found each other at Hogwarts. Perhaps Harry, too, would find the one who could share his unique destiny - one who could see past the prophesy to the man beyond.

"I'd best go fetch the cake," she said.

"Make sure you get the right one," James teased.

"I make two cakes every year," Lily told Remus, who'd missed more than a few of Harry's birthdays due to his "condition."

"That's right," Sirius said, his face lighting up in anticipation. "One for the official party, and another for the private party later."

"What's the difference between the two?" Remus asked.

"The first cake is Muggle-safe," Lily explained. "Since Harry's been playing football at school since last year, I baked a rectangular cake and decorated it like a pitch, complete with goalposts and little plastic players - all in the school colors."

"And the other?" Remus prompted.

"Quidditch!" James said, his eyes alight with memories of his playing days at Hogwarts. "Goal rings and everything! You have to stay on and see it - ruddy masterpiece!"

"Gryffindor colors, of course?" Sirius said in a manner to imply that anything else would be sacrilege.

"As if Harry would be in any other House," Remus smiled.

"Here they come now," James said, nodding his head in the direction Lily had been looking. Everyone turned to look, their faces tensed. Each was expecting to see Harry's face reflecting something less than the full measure of joy such a double celebration might ordinarily inspire. Leaving behind his closest Muggle friend of the last ten years would be the most difficult thing he had ever done. But when Harry's face appeared at last, they were startled to see it glowing with a radiance beside which the afternoon sun seemed to pale as if the sky had suddenly clouded over.

"MUM! DAD!" Harry cried excitedly. "You'll never guess! You'll never guess!"

As expected, Harry was not alone. He was leading a girl by the hand, a girl with very large front teeth and a nimbus of bushy brown hair that flew about her shoulders in a manner to make Harry's always-messy hair look positively sartorial by comparison.

"MUM! DAD!" Harry gasped out. "EVERYONE! LOOK!"

Harry was brandishing an envelope of yellow parchment from which flakes of purple wax dribbled. Lily was momentarily startled, but she and James had left it to Harry whether or not to reveal the unvarnished truth about his impending departure to his closest friend. Given the strength of the bond between the two youngsters, it was a concession they felt they could not withhold. The Muggle authorities, along with their friends and neighbors, had been informed that Harry was to be enrolled in an exclusive school beginning this term - which was true enough, omitting certain pertinent details. Whether Harry chose to follow their example or, in James' words, "release the Snitch and let it fly," they were agreed that they could trust their son's judgment, whichever choice he made. That choice was now revealed - as was, they realized, the truth about themselves.

"We know, Harry," Remus smiled when James and Lily failed to respond. "We know you got your letter."

"NO!" Harry said as he pushed the letter into his mother's hands. "LOOK!"

Lily turned the envelope over, and as James bent to look over her shoulder, the pair gasped in astonishment. The name on the envelope was not Harry Potter. Instead, the bright green ink read:

Hermione was fairly dancing with excitement. "I couldn't believe it!" she squealed. "I was so excited, but I was also so sad, because I didn't know how I was going to tell Harry I'd be going away! And when he came and showed me his letter - !"

"Sirius!" Harry said excitedly. "Can we fly to Diagon Alley on your bike to get our school supplies?"

"No!" Lily said sharply, coming out of her trance with the force of a whipcrack.

"Lily," James entreated. "You always forbade Harry to ride with Sirius, and I always agreed with you he was too young. But now that he's got his Hogwarts letter, it's time we started treating him like a young man and not a little boy."

Lily's face was set in stone for long moments before she turned and fixed Sirius' eyes with hers.

"You'll use a Sticking Charm so Harry doesn't fall off - and one on yourself, come to that. You will not fly faster than fifty miles per hour, and you will not perform any dangerous maneuvers. You will go straight to Diagon Alley and come straight back, with no detours. Do I make myself clear?"

Sirius nodded gravely, his face a carven mask.

"And Hermione's parents will have to give their permission," she stressed, her emerald eyes scrutinizing her son's closest friend as if seeing the bushy-haired girl for the first time. "I'll go have a chat with them later today. We have a lot to talk about now, I'm thinking."

Looking properly cowed, Sirius nodded wordlessly as he repressed a triumphant smile with an iron will.

"Inside, you two," Remus said with a surreptitious glance at James and Lily. "Harry, you can carry the cake. Hermione, you can handle the lemonade."

Harry and Hermione went inside as Remus held the door open for them. Remus flashed Sirius a meaningful look, and the smug-faced Marauder followed, closing the door behind him.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking," Lily said quietly.

"I'm thinking a lot of things," James said. "You do know how Albus and Minerva know when and to whom to send out Hogwarts letters, don't you?"

"There's a magical quill in a secret room in the castle," Lily said knowledgably. "A room known only to the heads of the school. When a child with magical blood is born, the quill writes that child's name on a list so that the letter can be sent out at the appropriate time."

"Albus knew Hermione was a witch!" James said. "Why else would he relocate us here, of all the places in Muggle Britain?"

"I think he knows a lot more than that," Lily said in a ghostly voice.

"What do you mean?" James said.

"Do you remember the young couple who saved our lives - ours and Harry's?"

"How could I ever forget?" James replied. "Bloke looked just like me, didn't he?"

"And the witch?" Lily whispered. "The Muggle-born witch with bushy brown hair?"

James' hazel eyes widened behind his round glasses. "That's impossible! That was ten years ago!"

"Who's to say what's impossible?" Lily said. "Yesterday, the Grangers would have said there were no such things as witches and wizards. Now, they know witches are real, because their daughter is one."

"This is too much for one day," James said.

"Then let's think about it another day," Lily said. "Today is Harry's day. His and Hermione's."

The back door banged open. Harry emerged, a large chocolate cake balanced carefully in his hands. Hermione followed, shivering as she held a pitcher of iced lemonade against her chest. Sirius and Remus came after, the latter closing the door behind him with his foot, his hands being filled with cutlery. Remus was watching his young charges carefully, allowing them the fullest measure of responsibility, all the while keeping his hand on his wand in case of mishap. As the table was set and the lemonade poured (all without incident), James called his two friends to one side in a conspiratorial manner.

"Padfoot," James said in a low voice. "Do you think you can slip into Hogwarts without being seen?"

"I suppose so," Sirius said. "I don't think Filch ever found that secret passage behind the hump-backed witch. Why?"

"Funny you should mention Filch," James said. "It's his office I want you to break into."

"The Marauder's Map?" Remus said, his pale eyes igniting with the fires of youth.

"I think Harry can make good use of the handiwork of Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," James said.

"Especially with Snivellus there," Sirius growled. "If only Dumbledore hadn't taken Quirrell back this year as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - I know I was only filling in while he was on holiday in Albania, but I hoped Dumbledore would keep me on for Harry's first year. Snape's going to use his position to bully Harry every chance he gets, you know he will. I wanted to be spot-on to let him know he's not going to get away with it."

"I'm not that concerned about Snape," James said in a low voice. "I'm more worried about Voldemort."

"You really think he's still out there, biding his time?" Remus asked.

"Dumbledore thinks so," James returned. "That's good enough for me. And if he does come back to have another go at Harry, he's bloody well not going to find us napping."

"Bugger that sodding prophesy anyway," Sirius said. "As if Harry doesn't have enough to worry about. He's only a boy, for Merlin's sake. He can't carry a load like that alone."

"He won't have to," James said. "Not as long as the Marauders are on the job. We're going to see to it that Harry has as normal a life as is possible. We'll do whatever it takes. Are we agreed?"

Sirius and Remus both nodded.

Smiling slyly, James cast a narrowed eye toward Harry and whispered, "I'm giving Harry a very special birthday present this year, something I'm sure he'll make good use of at Hogwarts."

Remus responded with a curious look, but Sirius grinned insightfully.

"Your Invisibility Cloak!" he said, careful not to let his voice carry to Harry's ears.

"I had it from my father," James said. "It's time it passed to the next generation."

"Do you think that's wise, James?" Remus cautioned. "Between your cloak and the map, there's no telling what kind of mischief Harry could get into over the next seven years. Look at all the trouble we got into."

James and Sirius exchanged wicked grins, and Remus sighed in defeat, feeling as if his old prefect badge were still pinned over his heart, as useless now as then.

Painting an innocent smile on his face for his wife's benefit, James said, "Come on, let's go join the party before Harry eats all the cake."

The three Marauders took their places at the table as Harry sat poised with a long, blunt knife in his hand. Everyone was admiring the cake, but none more so than Hermione. She was bending close to examine the tiny figures arranged in two groups on a field of green icing - and the two sets of rings on either edge of the flat surface.

"This is a very special cake, Hermione," Lily smiled, nodding her approval at Remus and Sirius; their slightly guilty expressions confirmed her suspicion that it was they who had chosen which of the two cakes Harry ultimately carried outside. "It was originally going to be saved for the family-only after-party and another cake brought out instead - one safe for Muggle eyes."

"Muggle?" Hermione said, not recognizing the word.

"Our word for non-magical folk," James said. "One of the most important laws in the wizarding world is that we're not to use magic in the presence of Muggles. But there are no Muggles at this table, are there?"

He winked at Hermione, who smiled broadly, revealing her large front teeth. Returning her smile, James reached into his pocket and brought out his wand with a grand flourish. Hermione's face lit up at once.

"Is that a wand?" she said excitedly.

With a Marauderesque chuckle, James waved his wand over the top of Harry's cake. Hermione gasped as the tiny Quidditch players came to life and flew a few inches above the surface of the cake, borne on tiny brooms no bigger than an eyelash. The two sets of players - half of them red, the rest green - flew around and around, and Hermione laughed delightedly when she saw an orange speck the size of a pinhead sail through one of the hoops.

"Ten points for Gryffindor!" Harry cheered.

"Gryffindor?" Hermione said curiously.

"One of the four student Houses at Hogwarts," Remus explained.

"The best House!" Harry declared, his eyes quickly returning to the miniature Quidditch match atop the cake. The tiny figures darted around for another minute, then one of them shot straight up in a blur of red and hovered over the rest in an attitude of triumph. "He's caught the Snitch!" Harry laughed, his eyes dancing behind the lenses of his glasses.

"The what?" Hermione said.

"You have a lot to learn about the wizarding world, Hermione," Harry said good-naturedly. He flashed a superior grin as he began to pick the tiny players out of the icing, where they had fallen inert with the conclusion of the "match."

"Then you'd best get busy teaching me," Hermione said, her peremptory tone offset, as ever, by the familiar twinkle in her eye. Holding out her plate as Harry cut a large slice from the cake, she said, "I may be a - what did you call it - Muggle-born witch, but I don't intend to let those from wizarding families outdo me just because they had a head start. I'm going to turn Hogwarts upside-down and shake it until it begs for mercy."

"I have no doubt of that," Lily said sincerely. "I think Harry will have a job keeping up with you."

"I'm gunna be Head Boy," Harry said cockily. "Like Dad."

"Then it's a good job I'm going to Hogwarts with you, isn't it?" Hermione said as she licked cake icing from the corner of her mouth in as ladylike fashion as she could manage through a profound smile.

"And why's that, then?" Harry challenged with a defiant smirk.

"How many letters has your mum got from school about you not paying attention in class?" Hermione said. "I've seen you hiding them in your school bag," she added when Harry assumed a offended demeanor while stuffing cake into his mouth with forced nonchalance. "Who's always borrowing my notes the day before an exam, then, feeding me all that rubbish about what a lifesaver I am and how he'll do better next time? Who spent nearly every day last year thinking about football when he should have been doing his lessons? And I shudder to think what the teachers would have said about the state of your homework if I hadn't checked it over for you before you handed it in. I don't reckon you'd have got beyond grade three without me being spot-on every time you needed a swift kick in the bum."

"I suppose you think you'll be Head Girl, then?" Harry responded, his eyes rolling skyward over the rim of his uplifted lemonade glass.

"Piece of cake," Hermione said, brandishing a forkful of birthday cake for emphasis.

"What do you think, Lily?" James asked as he shoveled cake into his mouth with a childish enthusiasm easily the equal of his son's.

"I think," Lily said as she regarded her son and his best friend warmly, "that those two can do anything. Together."

Lily raised her glass of lemonade, and everyone responded in kind.

"To Harry and Hermione," she said. "The future Head Boy and Girl of the Hogwarts class of '98."

As everyone drank to the two fledgling wizards, none noticed Harry's hand slip under the table to gently tap Hermione's where it lay on her lap. Her eyes swiveling covertly, she slid her hand over and into his, her cheeks coloring slightly. Their fingers curled together for a moment; then, exchanging a secret smile, they returned their hands to the table and tucked back into their cake.

I hope all this didn't prove to be a total waste of everyone's time. I'll try to do better next time. See you next year.