𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗭𝗞𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡 [𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍]

Chapter Fifty Two: Dreadful Trolls

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"There are potatoes in the sink, James. Would you be a dear and peel them for me?" said Mrs. Potter when she came back with groceries.

James' parents hadn't been home, and Sirius and James were playing Exploding Snap in the kitchen and sipping lemonade when Mrs. Potter came back from work about half an hour ago.

"I am a deer, Mother." said James and smirked pointedly at Sirius from the kitchen counter. "But why can't you do that with magic?"

"Do you think I gave birth to you for fun, Potter?" Mrs. Potter said as she pulled out cutlery from the kitchen cabinet. "No. I did it so you can do chores." she answered herself.

James groaned. "What about Sirius?"

"He's a guest. He doesn't have to do anything."

"It's okay." Sirius piped up. "I basically live here anyways, Mrs. Potter. I'd be happy to help."

"Thank you, dear." Mrs. Potter beamed at Sirius and left the room.

"Why are you sucking up to my mum?" James whispered as Sirius joined him by the sink with a knife.

"He's not sucking up, James." called Mrs. Potter's voice from the next room. "It's called being a gentleman. Not that you'd know anything about that."

"I swear to God this woman has magical powers." whispered James through gritted teeth.

"James." Sirius said and gave him the same look Remus gives them when they are being stupid. "We're wizards. We all have magic powers."

"Oh, sod off." growled James and flicked some water at Sirius. "You know what I meant."

"So . . . who's the block who almost jinxed my nose off yesterday?" Sirius asked as they set to work.

"That's Alastor Moody but everyone calls him Mad Eye. You know, because of the eye." James answered, his index finger pointing at his own eye. "But I personally think that eye should be made illegal. It sees through everything. And by everything, I mean everything." he added and shuddered.

Sirius tried to remember if he had been wearing his regular boxers or the Chudly Cannons one him and James bought for a bet last night when he was being interrogated by Mad Eye. "Is he a family friend or something?" Sirius asked instead.

"I guess so." James said with a shrug. "He's an Auror so they work with Dad. There were more of them yesterday. Had some sort of a top secret meeting in the dinning room. Mum threatened to force me into a haircut if she found me anywhere near the room so I couldn't figure out what the meeting was about."

Sirius smiled at the mental image he formed of James being given a haircut by his mum while he sobbed. "Why would you want to know what the meeting is about, anyway?" he asked. "It's probably some boring Ministry stuff."

"I don't think so, Padfoot." said James and lowered his voice even more so Sirius had to lean in closer to hear what he was saying. "Mad Eye was talking a bit too loud when he first showed up. Before Mum shut him up with a spatula, that is. And he was saying something about Death Eaters and You-know-who."

Death Eaters. That word was everywhere these days. Any murder or disappearance was liked to those people.

And Sirius's parents didn't seem to get enough of them. "It's getting worse, isn't it?" Sirius said, biting his bottom lip and his hands momentarily stopping peeling the potatoes as he looked up at James.

"Yeah." sighed James and he looked more serious than Sirius had ever seen him. "I'm really worried, Padfoot. Lily's Muggleborn."

"She'll be fine." Sirius said and nudged James's shoulder with his, wishing Lily could see him like this and see just how much James really cares for her. "She's the brightest which of her age. Evans could probably win a duel even against Voldemort himself, if given the chance."

James cracked a smile. "So we're speaking his name now."

"Hmm." Sirius nodded, running his knife under the faucet to give his hands something to do. "I tried it with Mother yesterday and discovered it saves time and breath. Very efficient. Your mum says it too."

"Well. She's my mum." James said with an eye roll. "You know how she is."

Mrs. Potter came back to the kitchen to find the two boys just leaning on the sink, the potatoes long forgotten. "Stop talking and peel the bloody potatoes, James." she scolded.

James and Sirius jumped a little at her voice, not expecting it at all.

"Oi! Sirius was talking too." James whined, recovering himself. "I'm your son, remember?"

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Sirius ran to James and the Potters and they welcomed him with open arms and treated me like he was one of their own. Like he'd been living with them this whole time and hadn't just barged in on them in the middle of the night. Something his own mother wasn't able to do for him.

Sirius settled into life at the Potter Manor smoothly. This somehow felt different than all the times he'd came here to stay. It just felt more permanent now. More like home.

Mrs. Potter was nicer than she usually is and smothered Sirius even more. Mr. Potter has also been a bit too kind so he suspected James must have told them about him being disowned. But Sirius didn't mind.

One day, he came downstairs to see that Mrs. Potter's clock that told where everyone of the family member was, had an extra hand.

"Hey, mate. You noticed." James said as he made himself toast and saw Sirius staring at the clock. "Mum added you to it last night. Are you crying?"

"No." Sirius said, every muscle in his body working to hold back a sniff. "There's just something in my eye."

Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were barely around so the whole mansion was left to Sirius and James and the Potters' aged and kind house elf, Blinky.

The boys spent the sunny days out playing one on one Quidditch, eating themselves silly and sparing a few minutes a day to scratch some homework so they wouldn't get a lecture about that from Remus when school starts.

When the effect of being disowned wasn't very fresh anymore and he could relaxedly talk about it and even crack a few jokes about the whole situation, Sirius sent Remus and Peter letters telling them he got kicked out of Grimmauld Place and the replies his friends sent made being disowned seem like a comic subject.

Even though it didn't start out ideally, this summer was easily the best of Sirius's life, even after the results of their O.W.L's arrived.

Sirius and James scooped in pretty much the same results as if they'd copied off each other. The only difference was that Sirius got a Troll for his Divinations exam and James got a Dreadful, while Remus managed to snag an Exceeds Expectations (though Sirius is very sure Remus probably took the exam with his eyes closed just out of disrespect for the subject).

But James and Sirius couldn't have cared less about Divinations because they had all the O.W.L's they needed to be Aurors. McGonagall was sure to be proud of their Outstandings in Transfigurations since they've gotten good at it after trying to be Animagi.

Mr. Potter was almost literally over the moon when Sirius and James told him they wanted to be Aurors but Mrs. Potter wasn't particularly ecstatic about their career choices, saying that these were bad time to be Aurors.

Nonetheless, she was overruled by Mr. Potter when he said he'd make sure Sirius and James both became Aurors like them if it was the last thing he does.

Mrs. Potter didn't argue any further. She just sighed and told the boys to finish their dessert and head to bed. But she had a proud smile on her face and Sirius thought, it's good to have someone who cares.

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