The first Hogsmeade weekend of the term came only one week before the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and the whole school was already buzzing with anticipation for the match. The Gryffindor team had been practicing almost every night for a week and Alex had been working especially hard to improve his game.
Today however he and Sirius were sitting sulking at the breakfast table, wishing they too could go to Hogsmeade.
“It’s not fair!” said Sirius moodily. “I live in Hogsmeade for crying out loud! I can’t believe dad didn’t even try to arrange so that I could go, I am after all thirteen! I would be a third year if I had only been born earlier!”
“I wouldn’t!” said Alex dully. “And knowing my parents they’ll probably won’t let me go next year either, they’ll think it’s too dangerous or something. They always do!” he added. Sirius looked at his best friend
“They gave you the broom,” tried Sirius, but even at the mentioning of his new Nimbus did Alex look happier.
“That was only because your dad convinced them it was safer than using the school brooms,” he said quietly. “I swear they would lock me up in a padded room if they could! They hate magic and are convinced it is dangerous.”
Lily looked at the boy compassionately. She could relate to having muggle parents that didn’t always understand magic, although her parents had always been proud of her for getting into Hogwarts. Alex’s parents seemed very reluctant to letting him attend in the first place.
“Not sulking, are we?”
The boys jumped when they heard Lily’s voice and Sirius gave his sister an annoyed look as she and Millie sat down next to them.
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad! You’ll be able to go next year,” Lily continued happily.
“Yes, and if there is anything you want we could buy it for you,” added Millie in an attempt to bring up their spirits.
“Thanks,” said Sirius, although it didn’t seem to cheer him up much. Lily looked first at her brother, then at Alex. She then turned and looked at Millie who didn’t seem to know how to cheer them up.
“Look up!”
“What?” Sirius asked and stared at his sister as if she had just told him to take a walk through the forbidden forest.
“Look up!” Lily repeated calmly. The boys looked at each other and shook their heads slightly before they did as she said.
“What do you see?” asked Lily.
“The ceiling,” marked Alex.
“Work with me here, will you!” exclaimed Lily in frustration. “What do you see?”
The boys once again looked up at the enchanted ceiling above and tried to figure out what Lily meant.
“I don’t know what you want me to see, sis, but I see absolutely nothing!” said Sirius. “It’s just the sky, not even a cloud to look on,” he finished. James and Lily looked up and realised that the boy was right. There was absolutely nothing but the clear blue sky above.
“Exactly!” said Lily with a smile. “We’re in the end of October, and there is not even a cloud on the sky. This is the most beautiful day in a month “ and the two of you are going to waste it by sulking away up in Gryffindor tower are you?”
James and Lily smiled. Suddenly they realised what Lily was up to. Sirius and Alex however still weren’t getting the point.
“Well what do you suppose we do?” asked Sirius. “It’s not like we can go to Hogsmeade like you, then we wouldn’t be sulking, now would we?”
Lily moaned and hid her face in her hands.
“You know there are other things to do on a day like this,” helped Millie. “Practicing Quidditch for example! We wouldn’t want Slytherin to beat us next Saturday, now do we?”
“No,” said the boys in chorus.
“I guess we could practice,” Sirius said looking at Alex, who thought about it for a while before he shrugged his shoulders and nodded his consent.
“Good!” said Lily firmly. “And since that is settled, how about it if we got moving, Millie?” Millie smiled and nodded and the two girls got up from the table and headed towards the Entrance Hall, leaving the boys behind.
When they reached the Entrance Hall James and Lily saw Filch standing inside the front doors checking names of a long list making sure that only students with permission went to Hogsmeade. They looked at each other and smiled, remembering their own Hogsmeade visits being carried out in the same manner.
Millie and Lily joined the students standing in line to get outside where a group of third years were talking about everything they would do and see when they got to Hogsmeade with great anticipation.
When Millie and Lily had managed to get past Filch’s suspicious glare and out on the grounds, they walked quickly towards Hogsmeade. Joking and playing around they then spent the next few hours going in and out of stores, not forgetting to buy a large amount of sweets at Honeydukes for Sirius and Alex.
They were both in a great mood when they entered The Three Broomsticks, looking around to spot any unoccupied tables. The task was nearly impossible since the place was absolutely swarming with Hogwarts students, but standing on her toes Lily finally spotted a table in a corner in the back that was vacant. They decided quickly to go and sit down before someone else hogged it.
“Malfoy! I want to talk to you!”
Millie and Lily both turned around to see Nott standing leaning casually at the bar looking at them. Millie turned back to Lily and gave her an alarmed look.
“Should I go?” she asked, looking very much like a cornered animal.
“I guess it would be rude not to,” answered Lily and attempted to give her an encouraging smile but failing miserably. “Don’t worry, I’ll get the table in the meantime, and you’ll be done in a fraction of a second.”
Millie nodded, turned back around to face Nott while Lily made her way down to the table in the corner. Taking a deep breath she walked over to him and asked him what he wanted.
“Isn’t that obvious?” Nott asked coolly. “I want to take you to the ball.”
“Oh, well I’m…”
“Naturally I understand if this is a bit sudden,” Nott interrupted her. “But I am sure when you think about it; you’ll se the many advantages for you.” Millie looked almost nauseous by now and James and Lily saw how she strained to keep in control.
“Look Nott, I…”
“Oh please, call me Nathan. Now when we are going to the ball together I think first names are more appropriate, don’t you Millifred? Or is it Millie you prefer to be called? I guess I could see why, I’m not overly fond of Nathaniel myself. That’s why I call myself Nathan instead…”
Millie stared at him in utter disbelief as he went on talking and even James just mouthed silently towards the boy, too stunned by the boy’s arrogant behaviour to speak.
“If you were to keep quiet for two seconds you might want to hear what I have to say about this!” snapped Millie suddenly. Nott looked at her with surprise, but soon went back to casual way and servile smile.
“I’m sorry Millie, I should of course give you the opportunity to properly accept my invitation. I hope you’ll forgive me,” he then said, continuously smiling. Again Millie took a deep breath.
“It’s fine, only I have no inclination of accepting your offer. I already have a date for the ball,” she said in a much nicer tone than Lily would have if she had been in the same situation. For a moment Nott looked thrown off, then he collected himself again and put his smile back on.
“Oh, for a moment there I almost thought you didn’t want to go with me,” he said casually. “Look I understand you are a nice girl and you don’t want to hurt anyone, but it is only October. Whomever you’ve agreed to go with will have plenty of time to find himself a new date. There is really no reason for you to deny yourself the pleasure of goi….”
“I DID NOT SAY NO OUT OF OBLIGATION TO MY DATE, I SAID NO BECAUSE I WOULD NEVER GO WITH A POMPOUS JERK LIKE YOURSELF!” shouted Millie forgetting all about being nice and thoroughly shocking James and Lily who would have never thought she had it in her to shout at anyone like that.
“MOREOVER, I’M FAIRLY SURE THAT BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR EGO THERE WOULDN’T BE ANY ROOM FOR ME ON A DATE ANYWAY!” she finished. For a second or two they stared at each other, then Millie turned her heal and walked away.
Furious she stalked across the room to the table where Lily was sitting folded over with laughter. She wasn’t the only one. Millie’s shouting had gotten the attention of everyone in the pub and more than a few of them were laughing just as hard as Lily was, some was even applauding.
Millie however weren’t laughing. She stared angrily at her sister who seemed to have difficulties breathing because she laughed so hard.
“Lily, stop it! It’s not funny!” snapped Millie finally at her looking rather miserable.
“Not funny?” asked Lily in between giggles. “You’re joking! Did you hear yourself? That was hilarious!” she laughed. Millie shot her an irritated look, and didn’t seem to think her outburst was funny at all.
“What’s so funny?”
James and Lily looked up to see Jordan and Eddy standing next to the table. They sat down next to the girls and Lily went on to tell them what had happened just moments before. Soon Jordan was laughing just as hard as the girls; Eddy however, although grinning a bit, was looking a bit worried.
“You’re ok?” he asked quietly leaning in so that only Millie could hear him. “You don’t usually shout at people, so…”
Millie looked up at him and nodded slightly although not completely convincing. Eddy looked anxiously at her.
“You know there is nothing wrong about loosing your temper,” he said quietly.
“I was mean, Eddy,” Millie said looking down on her hands sounding very unhappy. “I said things, in front of everybody, I humiliated him. I behaved like…”
“No you didn’t!” Eddy interrupted her leaning in a bit further to make sure no one else heard him. “Loosing your temper when someone is being a git is a very Potter thing to do, Millie. Just look at Lily or even your dad. They have fierce tempers. You’re not like Draco, then you wouldn’t feel so horrible right now,” Eddy said quietly. James and Lily suddenly felt very sorry for Millie and were very glad that Eddy was there to make her feel better.
Millie smiled and looked up at Eddy, suddenly becoming rather flushed by having Eddy sitting so close to her. Eddy, apparently becoming aware of how close their faces were, grew a bit redder himself, but he did not move away from her. Instead he mumbled something to her that James and Lily couldn’t make out. Millie blushed even more than before, smiled and averted her eyes as Eddy took her hand in his under the table.
Suddenly Lily got up from the table.
“Jordan, come with me,” she said commandingly. Jordan looked up at her with surprise, and so did Millie and Eddy.
“To buy Butterbeers for us,” said Lily, taking a firm grip on Jordan’s shoulder, pulling him with her. Jordan got up from his seat and shot of a furtive grin to Eddy before he followed Lily to the counter.
“So Potter,” he said as they reached the counter. “Why did you ask me to come with you, I mean really?” he asked smiling. Lily looked at him in surprise.
“I thought that was pretty obvious,” she just said, turning her attention forward, trying to get Madame Rosmerta to notice them. Jordan looked at her and smiled even wider. He leaned in and was just about to say something when Lily continued without even looking at him.
“I wanted to give Eddy and Millie some time alone,” she stated simply. James and Lily couldn’t help but to feel sorry for Jordan when they saw the disappointed look on his face.
“Right, that’s what I thought,” he said dully.
“No it wasn’t,” Lily said in the same knowingly tone of voice. “But then you don’t seem to be able to understand the phrase not interested either,” she stated still having her eyes fixed at Madame Rosmerta who was busy taking a black haired boy’s order.
For once Jordan didn’t answer her back this time. In fact he looked so disappointed that James and Lily were quite sure that Lily would have felt rather guilty if she had seen the look on his face.
“Look Jordan, seriously,” she said and turned around. Jordan met her eyes and smiled. “What’s wrong with that picture?” she asked and threw out an arm towards the corner where Eddy and Millie sat.
“Wrong?” he asked looking confused. “Nothing, they’re the prefect couple.”
“Exactly! The perfect couple, not the perfect quartet!” Lily said. “We are what’s wrong, Jordan. Eddy and Millie never get to be alone, because we are always with them. I mean this is the perfect time for them to have a date, and what do they do? They spend the day with us! See where I’m going?” she asked.
“You think we should leave,” said Jordan. Lily nodded.
“We buy them Butterbeers, make our excuses and leave them alone,” she said, making Jordan nod this time. They were interrupted by Madame Rosmerta that finally had finished serving the black haired boy. Lily ordered, paid and received the Butterbeers. She was just about to pick them up when Jordan touched her arm.
“I think your plan may have a problem,” he said.
“What problem?” Lily said annoyed.
“The problem that just walked in,” Jordan said nodding towards the door where his eyes were fixed. James and Lily looked in the direction Jordan was nodding and saw Manning and her friends standing in the doorway. They were looking around the place, probably to see if they could spot somewhere to sit, but instead they spotted Millie and Eddy.
A very nasty smile spread across Manning’s face. She turned to the entourage behind her and said something. The girls started to giggle hysterically, and shot of mean looks towards the corner.
“This cannot be good, Evans,” James said warily as he let his eyes wander between Manning, Millie and Lily.
Lily had by now forgotten all about the Butterbeers and was instead staring furiously at Manning.
“If she even tries…” she almost hissed. Cautiously Jordan put his hand on her shoulder.
“Potter, don’t do anything rash,” he pleaded. “Think about what Snape said, if you get into trouble…”
He didn’t even have time to finish the sentence because as he was speaking, Manning had stopped giggling with her friends and started to make her way towards Millie and Eddy. Lily was off so fast that Jordan, even with his hand on her shoulder, did not have time to stop her.
“Potter don’t!” he called after her as loud as he dared given the situation. It was however too late Lily had already caught up with Manning.
“No you don’t!” Lily said firmly as she reached out and grabbed her by the arm, forcing Manning around to face her.
Jordan looked miserable and James groaned, vividly remembering the glee in Snape’s face when he had threatened Lily two day’s before.
“Get in trouble one more time, Miss Potter, just one, and I’ll ground you for the match next Saturday!” he had whispered coldly, bending down over her, snarling.
Maybe it was knowing about Snape’s threat that made Manning smile when she looked at Lily. It wouldn’t have surprised James if it was. During the two days since Snape’s threat Slytherins had been trying to bait Lily constantly, now it looked like Manning was going to succeed.
Snape couldn’t have planned what happened better himself. Manning looked intently at Lily, then still smiling she opened her mouth.
“Don’t what Potter? Go down there and join Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes and Prince Charming? Break up there little date? Now just tell me why I shouldn’t?” she smirked. “I’ll just spare her some misery, I mean really someone like Eddy Weasley needs a girl with a lot more…well everything…than Miss Prefect over there.”
“You wouldn’t stand a chance Manning! Even Nott would rather go to the ball with her than you. He just asked her you know. Less than half-an-hour ago,” Lily replied her voice dripping with disdain. Manning’s eyes grew darker, and if possible both colder and meaner than they had been before.
“If that was true, which I highly doubt it is, then it would only be because he feels obligated to. She is a Malfoy after all, even though you and your father try to deny it. Once a Malfoy always a Malfoy “ wonder what you will think of you…”sister”….when she joins her father at Azkaban?”
Within a fraction of a second, and before Jordan stood any chance of stopping her, Lily had pulled out her wand and shot off the hex. Manning screamed almost as bad as a banshee when the curse hit her. She tried to hide her face in her hands as she felt big, green boils developing on her face and neck, then she turned and ran out of there, followed closely by her band of friends.
“Lily what the…ARE YOU INSANE?” Eddy’s voice sounded desperate and he stared at Lily in utter disbelief. “You know what Snape said! You’re our seeker Lily! How on earth are we going to beat Slytherin with our seeker grounded? What were you thinking?”
“Eddy calm down. If you heard…”
“CALM DOWN? JORDAN IF YOU THINK I CAN CALM DOWN WHEN LILY JUST HANDED THE VICTORY TO SLYTHERIN, YOU’RE DEAD WRONG! AND WHY IN MERLIN’S NAME DIDN’T YOU STOP HER?” shouted Eddy almost hysterical.
“Hey he’s not my guard!” snapped Lily angrily.
“If we all calm down, I think we can fix this,” said Millie turning everyone’s attention to her.
“How?” asked Eddy doubtfully.
“All we have to do is to get another teacher to punish Lily first, then Snape can’t do anything.”
“She’s got a point,” said Jordan hopefully.
“Well maybe, but we don’t stand a chance. Manning will run straight to Snape and she has got a pretty good head start.”
“Not if we go to the teacher that is closer,” said Lily meeting Millie’s eyes. Millie nodded. Eddy looked from one to the other looking completely confused.
“Dad!” said Lily firmly before he had time to ask. “He’s at home, a five-minute walk away.” Eddy stared at her looking like he could kiss her out of pure happiness.
“So let’s go!” said Millie and headed for the door.
“Millie no!” said Lily firmly. “I did it, I’ll go. You just stay here with Eddy and have fun,” she smiled.
“In your dreams Lily! We’re all coming. I’m not risking anything, and I wouldn’t have fun if I didn’t know that this was fixed,” Eddy said firmly. Lily looked at him clearly annoyed, but realised that they would just waste even more time by arguing, and so she shrugged her shoulders and headed for the door.
They reached the house five minutes later, being greeted by Christopher and Kevin playing in the front garden.
“Hi sis!” He yelled to the both of them waiving as he saw them coming down the road.
“Hi Christopher, where’s dad?” Lily asked as soon as they entered the garden. Giving a bit of a waive to Kevin as she spoke.
“In the study, why?” Christopher asked curiously.
“Are you in trouble?” asked Kevin immediately giving a huge grin showing the gap between his front teeth.
“You could say that,” said Lily causing an equally large grin to spread across Christopher’s face.
“Lily, we should hurry up,” said Eddy impatiently. Lily nodded and started to walk inside. Christopher and Kevin looked at each other with very big eyes.
“Sounds like they’re in really deep trouble,” grinned Kevin. “Should we go and see if we can hear what it’s about?” he then asked hopefully.
“No use! Not with dad. He’s got a sixth sense about things like that,” Christopher said with a frown.
“Oh,” said Kevin a bit disappointed. Then he shrugged his shoulders and went back to the game they had played before. James and Lily smiled a bit, before they headed in after the four teenagers.
When they reached the study the kids were already there, and Lily and Millie had apparently told their father about what had happened, because he was not in a good mood. James and Lily could in fact not remember ever hearing him sound so angry during the months they had spent with him and his family.
“Lily how could you have been so irresponsible?” he scolded. “Why is it so impossible for the two of you to stay out of trouble?” he asked fuming with anger. The girls were standing next to each other and the boys were standing just behind them. Harry standing in front of them all did not look anywhere near happy.
“But, profess…” started Jordan, but he was quickly interrupted by Harry.
“I don’t want to hear any explanations or excuses! Right now the three of us have to go to Hogwarts so that I can punish you before Snape does,” he snapped. He pushed the girls in front of him into the living room where he walked over to the fireplace.
“We’re using the floo network?” asked Lily giving the bookshelf that led to the passageway a quick glance.
“You do want to get there as fast as possibly, don’t you?” asked Harry coldly. “You two, go back to Hogsmeade, I’m only taking the girls,” he added firmly to Eddy and Jordan. Once again Jordan wanted to protest, but this time Harry didn’t need to interrupt him. Instead Eddy grabbed him by the arm and pushed him outside.
Harry and the girls arrived in Harry’s office soon after. Harry went over to his desk and took a deep breath before he turned to face the girls.
“I’ll deduct twenty points from each of you for this,” he started in a very low voice.
“But that’s not fair! Millie didn’t do anything!” Lily exclaimed looking quite shocked.
“Twenty points each!” Harry snapped. “And a weeks worth of detention, starting Monday. Is that clear?” he asked looking at the both of them. The girls nodded, but especially Lily looked like she had just suffered a great injustice.
Still angry Harry ushered them out of his office and classroom out to the corridor.
“Now go back to Gryffindor tower, and no being outside after curfew tonight. If you get in trouble like this again I might just let Snape give you his punishment,” he said firmly and waited for the girls to nod again. He then turned and opened the door to go back inside.
“Miss Potter!” a cold harsh easily identified as Snape’s was heard behind them. James and Lily turned around as did Harry. Snape was striding down the corridor, his black robes billowing out behind him. He was looking quite pleased, with a grim snarl on his face.
“Miss Potter, I though I told you what would happen if you got yourself into trouble again,” he said his low voice filled with glee.
“If you are talking about the incident that happened at The Three Broomsticks, I have already punished the girls for that,” Harry interrupted coldly. Snape let his cold black eyes fall on Harry, hatred and disdain etched across his face.
“You’ve what?” he said his voice trembling with anger. “They hexed a fellow student, giving her boils in her face that even Mrs Pomfrey has problems removing. If you think for a second that a slap on the wrist and a few points off Gryffindor…”
“Twenty points off Gryffindor each can hardly be called a few point, even with your standards Severus,” Harry said calmly not turning his eyes away from Snape once. “And detention for a week is hardly a slap on the wrist, but if you feel they haven’t been punished sufficiently then by all means go to Professor McGonagall and complain,” Harry finished crossing his arms across his chest.
Suddenly James understood why Harry had been so harsh to the girls. It was not only because he had been angry, but also to ensure that Snape wouldn’t have the opportunity to change his punishment. Snape seemed to realise the same thing. His upper lip curled and his eyes narrowed malevolently.
“Potter, you may think that you’ve won this one, but this is by no means over,” he hissed in a voice so filled with hatred that James wouldn’t have been surprised to see him place his long thin fingers around Harry’s neck. The thought seem to be one Snape shared, because as he spoke he forcefully kept making fists with his hands.
Harry didn’t answer but just continued to look Snape in the eyes, not twitching for a second as Snape moved closer, so close that Harry must have been able to feel his breath on his face. Then suddenly Snape swirled around his robes swishing behind him as he stalked down the corridor and the stairs, furiously rubbing his arm then forcing himself to stop as if such a sign of humanity was beneath him.
Millie and Lily, who had been very quiet during the confrontation they just witnessed, now looked at their father with the utmost admiration. Even Lily seemed to have gotten over the injustice of Millie being punished as she too seemed to understand the need for the harsh punishment. Harry however was still not pleased with their actions and took the opportunity to tell them so.
“I do not enjoy confrontations such as the one you’ve just witnessed,” he said calmly. “I trust that you will both stay out of trouble and not force me to have any more,” he said rather harshly while looking sternly at the girls. Looking first at each other and then at their father they both nodded. “Good,” Harry said conclusively. The girls nodded and turned to leave.
“Lily, don’t ever risk being grounded from a match again, you hear?” Harry then called after them; unintentionally showing exactly what he thought was their biggest transgression.
“This from a man that got a lifetime ban from Quidditch,” Lily muttered under her breath as they walked away, making Millie giggle and James gasp as if he just found out his son had been sentenced to life in Azkaban instead of banned from participating in a sport.
“Hello Harry, what are you doing here? I thought you should be at home today?” they heard Dean’s voice calling.
“Hi Dean, and yes I was supposed to be at home today. Lily and Millie got into trouble with Snape, had to make sure he didn’t prevent either of them from playing Saturday.” Dean frowned at the risk of either of the girls being grounded from the match.
“What are you doing here by the way, why aren’t you at your quarters with Susan?” Harry then asked.
“Susan’s mother is there, and while I love Susan to pieces I can only handle her mother in small doses,” Dean said with a grin.
“Right! Well I wouldn’t pretend to understand you, but if you want you can come in for a cup of tea. That would keep you busy for a while,” Harry offered laughing. Dean accepted with a smile.
“So what is so horrible with Mrs Bones?” asked Harry as he descended into his office.
“The fact that I still call her Mrs Bones might be a hint,” Dean frowned. “I guess she’s ok and all, I just…I don’t know,” he said throwing himself in one of the chairs in the office. Harry smiled and got started on the tea.
“Sometimes I get the feeling she doesn’t think I’m good enough for her daughter,” Dean said pensively making Lily feel very sorry for him. “Not to mention the fact that she keeps asking us when we are going to give her a grandchild. Like we haven’t been trying for the last decade,” he said a tiredly and Lily’s heart suddenly went out for the man sitting in her son’s office. Harry just nodded, apparently aware of his colleague’s difficulties.
“And I thought I would spend the day following West Ham’s game on the radio,” Dean sighed.
“West Ham? Don’t tell me you’re still into football?” Harry laughed as he poured the tea into cups. “Seriously Dean, when there is Quidditch to be concerned about?” he teased.
“Hey, I get that when it comes from Seamus, or Ron, but you’re muggle-raised! You should understand the magic with football,” Dean exclaimed. James and Lily felt the by now so familiar chill run along their spines. They had suspected this since they heard Ginny mentioning that Harry was raised with muggle technology at the birthday party at the Burrow, but they hadn’t been sure before. Dean’s words however were not up for interpretation. Harry had been raised by muggles, and the only muggles it could possibly be were Petunia and that horrible husband of hers. Harry however laughed at Dean’s comment.
“Yes of course, Uncle Vernon used to take me to football matches all the time! You know in between beating me up and locking me in the cupboard under the stairs,” He said tauntingly. Lily felt a surge of guilt and sorrow run through her. He hadn’t had any childhood at all, and it had been their fault. If they had been more careful, done something, anything, differently then maybe they would have been alive and Harry wouldn’t have been forced to grow up abused by her sister’s husband.
“Sorry!” Dean said. “Didn’t really think that far.”
“That’s ok,” said Harry simply taking another sip from his cup. James gaped at his son. Ok? No it was certainly not ok. He felt the anger raise within him. He couldn’t and didn’t want to understand how his son could have been allowed to be raised with people like his in-laws. How could Sirius have allowed it? He was supposed to be his guardian!
“I’ve always wondered,” Dean said. “Why were you raised with those muggle relatives of yours? I mean there must have been plenty of wizarding families willing to take you in.” Harry smiled over the rim of his cup.
“It was Dumbledore’s decision,” he then said making James feel another surge of anger run through him. “You know about the protection my mother’s death gave me, right?” he asked. Dean nodded. “Well it ran in my blood, and Dumbledore enhanced it. So as long as I could call the place where my mother’s blood dwelled my home, Voldemort couldn’t touch me,” he concluded. Dean nodded and took another sip of his tea.
“Makes sense!” he then said plainly. Lily couldn’t help to think so too, even if the thought of her son growing up without the joys of a happy childhood still pained her and the feeling of guilt still lingered. James still didn’t want to understand. He wanted to be angry “ at Dumbledore for placing his son in a family like that, at Sirius for allowing it to happen. Why should his son be denied a real childhood? Why should Voldemort be allowed to ruin so many lives? Somewhere in his mind he knew that Dumbledore’s decision made sense, but right now he was not prepared to accept it.
They watched Dean finish his tea and frown at the thought of going back to his quarters and his mother-in-law. Harry laughed at him and followed him outside before he himself sat down at his desk and started to work.