the boy that could have been

home sweet home pt2

"You sure you're okay? You'll be fine Appa- I mean, travelling again?" James asked, hand hovering near Harry's shoulder. The boy still looked incredibly pale and shaky, but he was back on his feet, looking determined. James glanced over Harry's head at his wife and winked, mouthing "Gryffindor!". Lily gave him a look, but a small smile was dancing on her lips.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine. But where are we going now? Your house is destroyed, what are you going to do?"

"We'll fix it soon, don't you worry your pretty little head about that!" grinned James, earning himself another look. He smiled sarcastically at Lily, "For now, I think we'll pay a visit to your uncle Padfoot's house. I doubt he'll be home yet, but I'm sure he won't mind."

Harry didn't even have a chance to ask who "Padfoot" was before he was back in the spinning, squeezing tunnel. Just like the last time, however, it was over quickly and he was back on solid ground. Lily eyed him worriedly, but this time Harry was able to keep the contents of his stomach, causing James to give Lily a triumphant grin. A small smile spread to his lips as he watched the friendly banter between his parents. Their relationship was clearly much better than Vernon and Petunia's (which mainly consisted of her fussing over him and his ego swelling). This, he could gladly live with. 

Looking around, Harry realised that they were in a completely different place again. Without the preoccupation of vomiting and a brain-splitting headache, the shock was able to fully set in and he looked around him with panic.

"W-wait a minute. How did we- we were just- the shack- what- I-"

"Harry darling, I promise you that it will all make a bit more sense in a minute, but can we please go inside first? You have it, right?" this last part was aimed at James, who made an 'oh' sound and began to rummage through his pockets. Feeling Harry's eyes upon him, he decided to have a bit of fun.

Firstly, he pulled out a bright blue parrot, who immediately began to squawk indignantly.

"No no, that's not it" James muttered as the parrot flew away, but not before nipping his finger. Harry watched in amazement.

Despite the daggers that Lily was shooting at him (metaphorically, not literally), he kept up this charade for a good five minutes, producing more and more bizarre items, to both the surprise and amusement of Harry. Lily reluctantly allowed him to continue, seeing the joy that it brought to Harry, but she had to draw the line when a full-sized black stallion leapt from beneath his cloak.

"JAMES!" she shrieked, "Not the time! Or the place! Stop fooling around, your son deserves some sort of an explanation!" 

James guiltily extracted a sheet of paper from his pocket as Harry watched the galloping horse with awe.

"Here, read this." 

Harry looked down at the sheet of paper. It said 'Number 12, Grimmauld Place', but nothing else. He glanced up towards James in confusion and opened his mouth to form a question, but before he could speak Lily pointed towards the houses in front of them. Wide-eyed, he watched as the houses began to move, and another emerged from the middle. The people in the houses didn't seem to notice anything at all, and neither did the man walking down the street (although he did notice the horse in the distance, and rubbed his eyes in disbelief).

"What just happened?" Harry gasped, not trusting his eyes. Could his glasses somehow be fogged up, playing a trick on him? Nope, they were clean. Then was he going crazy? Houses didn't move! 

But then again, he reminded himself, people don't teleport either. Something really weird was going on.

"That, my dear boy" grinned James, "Is Chez Padfoot."

A/N

Just wanted to apologise because I've dragged out these chapters a bit, but the next chapter will have some more explanations! 

Also, I am aware that Sirius isn't the biggest fan of his family house, but for the purposes of the story he's okay with living there, and does so :)