Chapter 14:

"Why are we going home by train?" Harry asked his parents on the Express.

"Because I miss it." James answered. "And this summer, we will work on your storytelling technique."

"I told it like it was." Harry said. "Sure I left out SOME detail, but…."

"You need to learn to exaggerate." Sirius said.

"No he doesn't." Lily argued.

"Yes he does." Sirius stated.

Harry rolled his eyes. The car was a bit crowded with Ginny, Fred, George, Ron, Lily, Hermione, James, Sirius, Spica, Melissa, Remus, Colin, and Vega in there. Harry managed to squeeze out while his mother and godfather argued.

When he got to the hall, he saw Neville starring out the window in the next cabin. He knocked on the door and entered.

"Hi." Harry said to the two occupants: Neville and Luna.

"Hello Harry." Luna said.

"Hi." Neville greeted.

"Are you two okay?" Harry asked

"I was just thinking about my parents." Neville said. "They're in St. Mungos."

"Why?" Harry asked even though he knew the answer. "You don't have to say if you…"

"Bellatrix Legstrange used the Cruciatus curse on them for too long." Neville said.

Harry simply put an hand on Neville's shoulder.

"Maybe Snape will find the cure for them." Harry suggested. "He did for Remus."

"I've been hoping since I was able to understand what happened to them." Neville said.

The door opened and Ginny walked in.

"The argument was getting old." She explained.

"Are they STILL at it?" Harry asked.

She nodded. "According to Professor Lupin, they can be at it for hours."

"Who's arguing?" Luna asked.

"Sirius and Harry's Mum." Ginny said. "Sirius thinks that Harry needs to learn to exaggerate more. Mrs. Potter is happy with him being honest."

0000

After the train pulled up,

The students piled out of the train to go look for their parents or guardians. When James, Lily, Remus, Spica, Melissa, and Sirius got off the train, they were greeted by some hugs and handshakes from old classmates. Even Harry had some people give him hugs and handshakes in thanks of stopping Voldemort and also got some apologies from people who hadn't believed him. Some apologies were even for the year before with the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Unfortunately, Harry and his friends were separated from the adults. Harry managed to tell his parents, "We'll meet you in the muggle world!"

Once the kids were away from the mob,

"There you are." Vernon's voice came.

Harry paled as he realized he never told the Dursleys to not bother with him anymore.

"I'm sorry Uncle Vernon." Harry quickly said. "I was so wrapped up with defeating Voldemort this year, I forgot to tell you to not bother to come get me."

"We had to get Dudley anyways." Petunia said as she put her hands lovingly on Dudley's shoulders. "Now come on, Boy."

"I'm not…" Harry said but was interrupted when the adults managed to get through the barrier.

"Some people just can't keep their hands off me." Sirius said as if he was proud of the fact.

Petunia paled at the sight of her sister.

"Aunt Petunia. Uncle Vernon." Harry introduced. "You remember my parents, godparents, Professor Lupin and Melissa Oxford. Because of my parents' revival last Halloween, I no longer have to live with you. Dudley. You can have your second bedroom back."

"Your son has two bedrooms?" James asked.

"And how many did YOU have?" Sirius asked his best friend

"Well, my parents could afford it." James defended his four rooms. "And three of those were for you, Moony, and…we won't speak of him."

"You're…you're…" Petunia stuttered.

"Alive again." Lily confirmed. "Now, IF you don't mind, I'm going to take my son home with me.

The wizards and witches left the stunned family of muggles. If it hadn't been for the bystanders, the Dursleys would have been cursed.

Of course, that didn't stop the Dursley's house from yelling insults at the owners for a whole month the next month.

0000

Two months later,

Harry was sleeping peacefully in his bedroom that had once been his father's. Spica and Sirius had recently gotten married two weeks ago right after Vega's birthday. Remus and Melissa had been married for a month now having waited until after Colin's birthday.

He was woken up by something wet on his cheek. He whipped the dog slobber off his face and reached for his glasses.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

POP

"Good morning, birthday boy." Sirius greeted.

"Shouldn't you wake Vega up?" Harry asked trying to go back to sleep.

"He did." Vega complained while brushing her teeth in the doorway. "At six A.M."

"I told you." Spica told her daughter.

"So I found out the hard way I sleep with my mouth open!" Vega argued. "Big deal, Mum."

"Oh great." James said sarcastically as he entered. "You beat me to him."

"Of course" Sirius said. "Knowing you, the kid would be soaked."

"In a way, I am." Harry said remembering the lick. "That was disgusting, Sirius."

Sirius merely looked proud of himself.

"Let's just go downstairs." James said.

When the four made their way downstairs, they were greeted by,

"SURPRISE!"

Harry jumped and reached for his wand.

"CONSTANT VILIGANCE!" Moody yelled.

Harry looked around to see the Order, his friends, and his mother looking very amused by his reaction. He blushed as he put his wand back in the holster.

"Don't worry about it." Lily whispered. "It's only natural with your past."

"But…why are you here?" Harry said to everyone besides his parents, the Lupins, and the Blacks.

"It's your birthday." Ron said.

"So?" Harry asked.

"Ever heard of a birthday party?" Vega asked.

"Why wasn't I told?" Harry asked.

"It's a surprise party, hence the 'surprise'" Ginny said.

Harry slapped his forehead in embarrassment. For about two seconds, he freaked out when he didn't feel the scar. Then he remembered that it was gone.

The party went on as planned. As everyone was eating cake,

"I don't think I've ever seen Padfoot this happy." Remus told Harry as they watched Sirius joke around with James.

"Padfoot?" Fred and George asked in shock.

"Yeah." Harry said. "Those are Padfoot and Prongs."

He pointed to his father and godfather.

"He's Moony." Melissa added pointing to her husband.

"YOU?" George asked his professor. "A Marauder?"

"I don't believe it." Fred said skeptically as he recalled what Remus was like as a Professor.

Remus appeared to be debating something as he eyed his two best friends, the twins, and his cake. He turned to his wife.

"Should I?" He asked hesitantly.

"What do you think, Harry?" Melissa asked.

Harry thought about it. Too many people were acting like adults. And he never had a real chance to act like a kid. This was his chance.

Harry nodded.

"I haven't done this in so long." Remus said half to himself. "Oi! Padfoot!"

Sirius looked up, and to everyone's surprise, Remus threw his slice of cake at the animagus.

"You'll pay, Moony." Sirius said wiping the cake from his eyes.

"Cash or Credit?" Remus teased as if he was a teenager again. He motioned towards the twins to tell his friends that he was doing it to prove that he WAS a Marauder to them.

"Told you." Melissa told the twins as they heard the nickname.

Before anybody knew it, the entire dinning room was involved in a food fight. Harry was enjoying himself as he threw a slice of cake at someone he THOUGHT was Bill, but it was really his mother. The only thing that kept the fight going was the sound of Harry's laughter. The boy hadn't laughed like that since Sirius had put a tickling charm on him back when he was 8 months old.

Eventually, the house-elves ran out of cake and the fight stopped with everyone laughing at the fun they had. Lily had used a cleaning spell to clean everyone and everything.

"I hadn't been involved in a food fight like that since sixth year." James laughed.

"I remember that." Remus said. "Even the teachers got involved."

"Remus Lupin starting a food fight." McGonagall said. "NOW I've heard everything."

"He did it last time." James said.

"Excuse me?" Remus said. "Padfoot provoked me last time. And this time…"

"I told him to." Harry admitted. "I've heard how fun food fights could be, and I wanted to give it a shot."

"I can't believe we are in the presence of the Marauders." Fred said.

"I know." George said. "Think we can get away with having them help with the shop?"

"Don't EVEN think about that." Molly, Lily, Melissa, and Spica said.

"We'll be too busy at the school." James said

"We need to plan a welcome back prank." Sirius said.

"You're PROFESSORS!" Hermione argued.

"So?" James and Sirius said.

"Moony just proved that you are NEVER too…grown up to pull pranks." James continued

"Don't you mean 'old'?" Bill asked.

"We are NOT old." Sirius argued. "I'm in my thirties. Moony's the oldest."

"And I'm his age." Remus added pointing to Sirius. "Peter was the youngest."

"What IS the age order of the Marauders?" Ginny asked.

"Moony, me, Padfoot, and…Wormtail." James answered.

Everyone went silent at the ex-Marauder's name. He had recently been given the Dementor's kiss after being caught.

"Let's not think about Wormtail." Melissa said. "Who wants to play Quidditch?"

"I DO!" The Marauders, Spica, all the Weasley kids (Percy was at work), a few Order Members, and Harry yelled.

As everyone went out to the Quidditch pitch, Harry looked around. His father and his friends were walking together while coming up with some pranks for the school year and wondering what they could get away with. Lily and her friends were plotting on how to frame the boys for doing some pranks.

"You okay?" Colin asked

Harry snapped out of his thinking and looked around to see Ginny, Ron, Hermione on his right and Colin and Vega on his left.

"I'm fine." Harry said. "We just might need to watch out for our parents during the school year."

"True." Hermione said. "I wonder if we will learn anything in defense this coming year."

"Probably." Vega said. "Uncle James was saying last year how the Marauders were top of their class. Some of the pranks they pulled required some serious magic."

"Shhh." Harry said turning to her. "Be careful using that word. Who knows WHAT your dad could come up with."

Vega just merely smiled.

"What?" Ron asked her.

"Just…two years ago, I didn't even know my dad was alive. Now, he and Mum are married, and life is good."

"Yeah." Colin said sarcastically as he winced. "Until Grandma and Grandpa find out."

"Your mother's a grown woman." Ginny said. "She can take care of herself."

"You're right." Colin said determined. "If my grandparents don't like the fact my parents are married, tough."

"That's the spirit!" Ron said when they got to the pitch. "HARRY'S ON MY TEAM!"

Everyone laughed. Life was good.

The End