Harry marked a day off on the calendar with a black marker. On Saturday, which he had circled in red, was the Weird Sisters concert. He and Sirius were going to the concert. They planned to meet Remus, Tonks, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George at the Leaky and take a portkey to the concert. Harry has been looking forward to the concert for weeks since Sirius told him he got tickets. He knew his parents didn't have plans, and they would spend Saturday night at home.
The concert was said to be one of the year's best ones. It was currently sold out. Sirius and Remus managed to secure tickets for the five of them, including Hermione, while Fred and George got tickets for Ron and Ginny as a late birthday present for Ron and an early birthday present for Ginny. Even though each group got their tickets on their own, they decided to go to the concert together and then hang out afterward.
All thoughts about Saturday were broken when Lily called from the bottom of the stairs.
"Harry, supper's ready!"
"Coming!" Harry called back. He left his bedroom and headed downstairs to the bathroom, where he washed his hands.
When he entered the kitchen, James was sitting down in his chair.
"Hey, Dad," he said in greeting as he sat down at his place at the table.
"Hi, son. How was your day?"
"Fine," Harry answered. He passed the basket of rolls to his dad. "I mowed the grass and finished some of my summer homework."
"Which class?" Lily asked.
"Charms," Harry replied.
James took the plate Lily handed him with some potatoes, roast, and carrots.
"This looks good, Lily Flower."
Lily handed Harry his plate.
"Thank you, honey. How was your day?" she asked.
"Good. Long, but good. They had a meeting today about security for the concert this weekend."
Harry didn't say anything but wondered if James had volunteered.
"Did you volunteer?" Lily asked.
"No, I didn't. Because I needed to check with you," James replied.
Lily took a drink of the lemonade she had made earlier. She had made two pitchers of it today because Harry had drained the first one after coming in from the yard work.
"Actually, we have dinner plans with my sister this weekend," Lily informed her son and husband.
"Do you have another sister I didn't know about?" James asked, confused. Lily had one sister, Petunia, and they hadn't gotten along since their parents died.
"No. Petunia called and invited us to dinner this weekend."
"On Friday?" Harry asked.
"Saturday."
"Okay, you and Dad could go, have a good time and…."
"You're going," Lily said.
"But Mum, Sirius and I have plans this weekend. Can't you and Dad go without me?" Harry tried not to sound like he was begging, but he was close.
"Harry, you are going with us to the dinner with Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley. That's final," Lily said sternly.
Supper was a quiet affair for the rest of the meal. Harry didn't bother asking to be excused when he finished, but he had the decency to take his plate and glass to the sink before he escaped outside.
Did his mother think they would go to dinner and everything would be fine? Dudley bullied Harry when they were in primary school, and the last time they saw the Dursleys, they had spent the entire time gloating about their new car, Vernon's raise, Dudley's boxing awards, and then they would ask about their life, which they ended with an argument between Petunia and Lily when the former found out that Death Eaters may have had something to do with their parent's death.
"Brooding, are we?"
The voice caused Harry to jump and turn around to find James sitting beside him in the swing that was in the backyard off the patio.
"When did Mum and Petunia start getting along?" Harry asked his father.
James sighed and looked out beyond the Quidditch pitch and into the forest behind the house.
"They've been talking for a few weeks. That is all I know. But this is important to your Mum. She wanted to start fresh with her sister, and this is how they are going to start over."
Harry sighed. "So I got no choice?"
"Afraid so, buddy."
Harry looked up at the sunset above the tops of the trees. His eyes remained on it when he asked a burning question.
"What happened to Grandma and Grandpa Evans?"
James sighed. Harry was almost fifteen. He was more than old enough to know.
"According to the Muggles, they died in a house fire. They were in the process of moving to a smaller home and were going to move into their new home the next day when the house caught fire. Things like important pictures and things your Grandmother wanted your Mum and Petunia to have had already been moved out of the house. Come to find out, it was a group of Death Eaters. The house was destroyed, and the blaze had burned up your grandparents. They had a closed casket service, short and sweet for the sake of your Mum. She was living with me in the flat at the time. At least they got to see Lily and I get married.
"I always heard that Petunia hated Mum."
James nodded with a sigh. "She did. Your Mum was the favorite, the perfect one, the only witch in the family. She was also the popular one and had a lot of friends. More at Hogwarts than she did in Muggle School."
"And then there was you," Harry added. He had heard the reasons why his aunt disliked his mother many, many times.
"Her Dad loved me from the moment she brought me home to meet her family. Something your aunt never did forgive your mother over was bringing me home on the same night she brought Vernon over."
The two men sat in silence for a minute until James broke it.
"I know you made plans with Sirius this weekend, but this dinner is important to your mother. It would mean a lot to her for you and me to go."
Harry remained silent as James spoke. He decided that even though he really wanted to go to the concert with Sirius. He would make his mother think he was going up until the day of.
"Okay, I'll contact Sirius and reschedule."
James smiled and patted Harry's shoulder. "Good, you'll be making your mother very happy."
After James left, Harry headed to his room, wrote a note, and sent it to Sirius with Hedwig. He would need to think of a plan soon.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
"So let me get this straight," Sirius began. "Your mother had accepted a dinner invitation from the evil woman she calls a sister and is expecting you to go instead of going to the concert with me?
Harry sighed. He had flooed over to Sirius's flat the next day to talk to him and to let him know that the plans were changed. Or that's what Lily thought this morning. But Harry had decided that he wasn't going to go to the dinner with his relatives. He was going to keep his plans with Sirius.
That is if Sirius would go along with Harry's idea.
"I wish there was a way that I could get out of this dinner. The problem is, what can I do?"
"Are you saying you want your mother to believe that you're going to the dinner until the day of, and suddenly you're not?"
"Yes, Sirius," Harry replied. "I just don't know what I can do. Pretend to be sick?"
Sirius nodded and started to think.
"Maybe we could figure something out for you to pretend to be sick with?"
"Maybe I could say that I have a headache?" Harry suggested.
"Your Mum may think it's related to your scar," Sirius reminded him. Anytime Harry complained of a headache, his scar was often the cause. But Harry did have regular headaches from time to time.
"I've had a normal headache before," Harry reminded him.
"What about something that would be more believable and something that your Mum wouldn't question?"
"Okay, I'll think about an illness I could fake. Maybe go to the library and do some research on symptoms or something. But I do have another idea."
"What's that?" Sirius asked his godson.
"I could suggest that you come and stay with me and let Mum and Dad go on to the dinner."
Sirius thought for a moment and then nodded. Lily had left Harry with Sirius a few times when he was sick, only when Harry had a minor headache or stomach ache, nothing too major. Because if Harry was really sick, he wanted Lily.
"I've stayed with you before when you were sick. I stayed with you when you had a cold, and your parents needed to attend a meeting with the Order when you were a baby."
"So, Mum wouldn't have a problem with you staying with me if I'm "sick" then?" Harry asked, making a quotation mark with his fingers.
"No."
Harry nodded and smiled. At least he had a part of his plan completed. Now, all he needed to do was think about what he was going to pretend to have.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
A few days before the dinner date and the Weird Sister's concert, Harry was found at the public library in London. Lily had no problems with Harry exploring Muggle London on his own. So he could go to the movies, walk around the park, and had mastered the Underground quickly. He would floo to the Leaky Cauldron, where he would walk to the nearest Underground station and go wherever he wanted.
As long as he was home by his curfew, there were no problems.
Today, he was at the library trying to find an illness to fake to get out of his parents' dinner date with his aunt and uncle. In the last phone conversation between Lily and Petunia, Harry learned that Dudley wouldn't be joining them and that it would just be the five of them. This new information didn't change Lily's mind about Harry going ahead with his original plans, and Harry now needed a plan.
"Fancy seeing you here."
Harry jumped ten feet and turned around to find the smirking face of his best friend.
"Geez, Hermione, you scared me half to death!" Harry exclaimed, trying to calm down his racing heart.
"Sorry," Hermione responded. She sat down in the chair next to Harry. "I didn't know you knew how to use the computer."
"I do. We have one at home," Harry muttered. "It's in the basement. But this is something that I don't need Mum or Dad discovering."
Hermione turned to the screen.
"How to pretend to be sick," She read, then turned to Harry, and his explanation stumbled before she said anything.
"My aunt and uncle and my parents have decided to have dinner together. Guess when it is."
Hermione thought for a moment before realization kicked in.
"The same night as the concert!" she exclaimed, resulting in a shushing from the university students a few tables over.
"So, you're going to pretend to be sick to get out of the dinner and go to the concert?" Hermione inquired in a whisper.
"That's the plan. Sirius is going to come over and stay with me," Harry explained.
Hermione nodded.
"What about if your parents come home before you do?" She asked.
"Dad plans to take Mum out for the evening if the dinner doesn't go well, and Sirius will be with me. Because of that, they could stay out a little later. We'll be home around eleven or midnight at the latest. We'll sneak in by climbing the trellis beside my bedroom window if we have to," Harry explained as they continued to whisper their conversation.
Hermione gave Harry a hard look. "Is that safe?"
"I've climbed in and out of that window many times since I was thirteen," Harry explained, adding, "You don't want to know."
Harry then turned to Hermione, realizing he could ask her and save himself some time.
"Do you have a suggestion?"
Hermione smiled and patted Harry's shoulder.
"Let me make this easy for you, Harry. What have you pretended to have before to get out of things you didn't want to do? You told me last year."
Harry pondered the question before he answered.
"A stomach… Hermione, you're brilliant. Thank you."
Harry signed off the computer and left the library. He headed to the underground station to head home, where he would let Sirius in on the plan.
Hermione sat there, shaking her head.
"You're welcome."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
"So, are we clear on the plan?" Harry asked Sirius.
"Clear," Sirius said through the mirror. Harry was sitting in his room, whispering with Sirius on the mirrors that Sirius gave him so that they could communicate with each other.
Harry informed him that he started faking sick last night by going to bed or at least his room earlier and acting not his usual happy and hyper self. Sirius said that that should be a sign to James and Lily that Harry wasn't feeling well.
When he heard the sound of his parent's bedroom door open, Harry ended their conversation.
"Let the show begin," he signaled.
Harry laid down in his bed, his back facing the door, curled into a ball, and wrapped his arms around his stomach.
"Harry, time to get up," Lily called before she headed downstairs to the kitchen.
After another twenty minutes passed, Lily tried again.
"Harry, are you up yet?" she called from downstairs. When she received no answer, she walked upstairs to Harry's room and knocked on the door before she turned the knob.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?"
"Mum, I don't feel so good," Harry whined.
As a child, he would pretend to have a stomachache or a headache to stay home from school or to get out of an unpleasant activity, such as his cousin's parties. Vernon and Petunia seemed to celebrate everything from birthdays to school awards. They made up any reason to throw a party, which was a lot. James and Lily were never the wiser.
Lily was instantly concerned. She approached Harry's bed slowly and sat down on the side.
"Do you have a fever?" she muttered to herself, feeling his forehead. He was warm but not burning up. She soothingly rubbed his back.
"What doesn't feel good?" Lily asked.
"My stomach," Harry replied.
"When did you start to feel sick?"
"Last night." Harry pretended to be suffering from a strong stomach cramp.
"Was it something that you ate?" Lily mentally went through what they had for dinner the night before.
"I don't think the steak and kidney pie agreed with me," Harry explained, groaning slightly and rubbing his "aching" belly. His stomach sometimes didn't agree with kidney or kidney beans. Really, Harry did have a small stomachache from it last night and got up quietly to take a stomach soother. But he decided to play on it to make it more believable, he hoped.
Lily snaked her hand under the covers and Harry's T-shirt and began to rub soothing circles on her son's stomach.
"No wonder you have an unhappy belly. I'll get you a stomach soother," Lily said. "I'll be right back."
Once Lily was gone, Harry pulled out the mirror and found Sirius's face looking back at him.
"Good job. Now we need to keep the act up all day."
Harry laid his head back. "What happens if we get caught?" he pondered.
"If we do, you are on your own," Sirius deadpanned.
Harry smiled. "You're afraid of Mum, aren't you?"
Sirius's face was Harry's answer. They just needed to be sure they didn't get caught.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Maybe we should cancel." Lily was pacing in the sitting room, debating whether or not she should call her sister and reschedule.
She had taken Harry the stomach soother, and Harry had pretended to swallow it. Lily didn't know he had spit it out in the bathroom sink after she had returned downstairs.
"Lily, I think we should go." Before Lily could rant, James cut her off. "We'll call Sirius and see if he can come and stay with Harry, and we'll go to dinner," he explained.
Lily thought about James's suggestion momentarily, and then she agreed. This may be the last chance to meet her sister and her walrus of a husband for dinner to rekindle their relationship.
James sighed. "Lily, even Harry starts to feel better. His stomach would need some time to recover, and taking him to a restaurant wouldn't help his stomach recover."
"Okay, call Sirius, I'm going to check on Harry," Lily agreed, walking to the stairs and heading up to her son's room.
She found Harry in the same place she had left him, lying in bed, curled up in a ball with his arms wrapped around his stomach.
"Are you okay with us leaving you with Sirius?" Lily asked.
Harry nodded.
"Go on and have dinner. I'll be fine here. I might even feel better later. I don't want to mess up your night."
Lily settled herself down on Harry's bedside, pushing back his fringe. "You're not messing up anything. Maybe since you're feeling sick, I figured you would want us to stay. We'll go ahead with the dinner. We'll leave Sirius the number of the restaurant if you need us, okay?"
"Okay, Mum."
So far, their plan was working, but it would work, and they wouldn't get caught.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Now, the number for the restaurant is on the counter. I left some stomach soothers on his nightstand and…."
Sirius cut her off by placing his hand over her mouth.
"Lily, I got it," Sirius assured her.
"Mum, I'll be fine. Sirius has taken care of me many times before," Harry reminded her. He stood, leaning against Sirius, wrapped in his quilt. What James and Lily didn't know was that under the quilt, Harry had on his Weird Sister's 94 tour T-shirt and dark jeans with his black Converse shoes. All he had to do was fix his hair, and they would be ready to go after Sirius changed clothes.
"Okay," Lily sighed. "Bye, sweetheart." She kissed Harry's cheek, and James ruffled his hair.
James and Lily went out the door, got in the car, and drove off to London. Once they were out of sight, Sirius quickly changed clothes while Harry fixed his hair.
When they were ready, they flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Come on, Sirius, Harry! The portkey is about to leave!" Tonks exclaimed. Quickly, Sirius and Harry grabbed hold of the old umbrella, and soon the portkey activated, and they were standing in front of the stadium where the concert was being held.
"This is going to be a great concert," Tonks decided. A preview had been playing on the wireless for the last few weeks. They were heading to their seats when Remus pulled Sirius close.
"I thought that dinner with Lily's sister was tonight?" He whispered.
"It is," Sirius replied.
Remus looked at Sirius and then to Harry, who had found Ron and Ginny with Bill and Charlie. He was talking with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione as they followed the older Weasley boys into the stadium.
"I won't say a word," Remus promised. He had a guess that Harry had pretended to be sick or something to get out of the dinner to come with Sirius here.
He also made a note to avoid the Potter's house for the next few days. He didn't want to be Harry when Lily found out.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
James sat in the driver's seat, glancing occasionally at Lily. To say that dinner had been a disaster was the understatement of the year. Vernon had done nothing but gloat about his new promotion, his company car, and Dudley's boxing. Lily had tried and failed to bring up the reason for the meeting, which was to rekindle her and Petunia's relationship.
Petunia laughed and said she wouldn't want to change anything about their relationship. She was a freak and always was. James found that the whole reason for the dinner was to give Lily false hope. When Petunia brought up how Lily was responsible for her parent's death, James decided they were leaving, deciding to leave the bill to Vernon.
James drove to one of Lily's favorite restaurants in London and ordered dessert. Lily apologized for believing her sister when actually Petunia was playing a game. They sat in a booth, sharing their desserts and drinking coffee.
Conversation drifted from Lily's work, James's upcoming mission, and Harry.
A part of Lily felt guilty for leaving Harry when he was sick. She only did it a handful of times, and each time, she wanted to get home to her son as soon as possible.
"I think Harry was right. People like that don't change," she stated as they turned down the road to take them home.
James didn't say anything until he pulled into the driveway. When they got out of the car, they noticed that none of the lights in the house were on. Lily glanced around at the other houses in view towards the front of the driveway and saw lights on at the other houses. Worried, they parked the car and got out, cautiously approaching the front door.
James tapped the doorknob with his wand, swung the door open, and did a spell that would tell him how many people were in the house. He panicked when it showed no one.
"Sirius? Harry?" he called. No one answered.
Lily flicked the light on in the sitting room and found it empty. She began to run through the house, flicking on the lights, looking for any sign of her son or Sirius. She returned to the sitting room and sat down on the couch.
"They're not here," she whispered. James looked around the house. There was neither a sign of forced entry nor a presence of a note. He was about to floo the Auror office to report Harry and Sirius missing when there a Pop outside.
James turned around in time for the front door to open.
"I thought you said that…." Sirius trailed off at the sight of James standing in the hall.
"What's wrong, Sirius?" Harry asked from behind him. Sirius moved out of the way, and Harry paled.
"Uh oh."
Sirius looked between Harry, James, and Lily, who had gotten up when she heard the door open. He noticed the blank look on James's face and the growing anger on Lily's.
"Well, gotta go." With that, Sirius made a run for the door and left.
Harry turned back to his parents. "So, how was your evening?"
Lily looked at Harry with an angry expression and pointed to the study.
"Study, now," She growled.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Let me get this straight," James began. "You pretended to be sick to go to a concert instead of the dinner with me and your mother?"
"Yes, sir," Harry answered. He just finished telling James and Lily how he had pretended to be sick and had gone to the concert with Sirius.
"You could have said something, and we would have let you go," Lily said gently.
"I tried to. But you were very clear that I was to go to this dinner. Which, by the way, how did it go?"
"Not good," James replied. He looked at his son from across the desk. He had a hard time figuring out how Harry had pulled this off.
"So not only did you lie to us, but you sneaked out. Did Sirius know about this?" Lily inquired.
Harry's silence was their answer.
"He was a part of it, wasn't he?" Lily asked in her quiet voice. Harry just nodded. When Lily used her quiet voice, Harry and James knew they were in serious trouble.
Harry broke the silence in the room.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you what our plans were."
"You're forgiven," James murmured, looking at his wife, who nodded.
"Am I grounded?" Harry asked.
"One week," Lily answered. "Starting Monday, I'll have a job for you to do every day."
Harry sighed inwardly, already imagining the work Lily would have for him.
"Okay."
"Go to your room. We'll be up in a minute."
Harry obeyed, left the study, and headed upstairs to his bedroom. He changed into his pajamas, having showered before he left.
His mind went back to the evening he and Sirius had enjoyed. It was fun to be a normal teenager for once, without the worry of an attack or something that would endanger his life. He even had fun with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. He and Ron had gotten matching Weird Sister Army T-shirts. Black and gray camouflage with the Weird Sisters lettering in white.
Truthfully, being grounded was worth the concert.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
By the end of the week, the garage had been cleaned out and organized. James's tools were cleaned and organized along with the gardening tools. The attic and basement had been cleaned. Lily's potion lab, the cleanest room in the house, was cleaner with clean cauldrons and vials. Harry had finished the potions lab by mid-morning, and Lily had set him to do the yard work outside.
Lily assigned the chores to keep Harry busy during the day, and in the evenings, he was in his room, reading books to pass the time.
Both James and Lily had a talk with Harry in which they learned a few things, such as how smothering they were with the over-protectiveness and how Harry tried to tell them he would much rather go to a concert with his godfather and friends than to a stuffy restaurant and have a meal with people who hated them.
Something that Lily noticed was that Harry did things without being told. He took his shoes off and left them in the scullery if he came into the house for anything. After whitewashing both sheds, he stripped his whitewashed covered clothes off in the scullery and laid them in the sink and not on the floor before heading upstairs to shower. He cleaned the bathroom from every shower, which was typical for Harry, but he deep cleaned it before Lily got to it.
He even cleaned his room without being told. He really cleaned it, which meant he ran the sweeper, dusted with a spray and rag, and even sorted through his clothes to see what still fit and what didn't. To Lily's surprise, he even stripped and made his bed. When Lily came to inspect it, she was shocked to see that it was spotless. Even the windows were clean. If that surprised her, she was even more shocked to discover that Harry had not only taken his dirty clothes down to the scullery but had put them in the washer.
She went to check on them and found them in the washer, washing. She was so shocked she was speechless.
If that wasn't enough of a shock, Harry sat the table before dinner every night and then took all the dishes to the sink.
James and Lily shared a look when Harry washed them afterward.
"What is going on with our son?" James asked one night after Harry went up to his room.
"I don't know. I think he's trying to regain our trust," Lily suggested.
"You think so?"
Lily nodded and sipped on her tea. She told James about Harry's clean room, how he did his own laundry, cleaned his own bathroom, and took out the trash from his bathroom and bedroom and the garbage from the kitchen and scullery. He took the cans to the end of the driveway for the garbage pickup and then swept the walk from the road to the front door.
Lily didn't ask him to do that.
"I think so."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Saturday came and the last day of Harry's grounding. He was up earlier than usual and dressed in old clothes. He made himself breakfast, and once he was done and cleaned up after himself, he headed outside where he watered Lily's flowers, swept off the deck, and then, since the Potter's Volvo was sitting outside in front of the garage, Harry fixed up water and began to wash the car.
By the time James stepped out, Harry was rinsing the car off.
"I'll collect the trash can from the scullery and clean out the inside," Harry called as he returned the hose to its place.
"Harry, can we talk?" James said, stopping Harry from going into the house.
The tone made Harry think he was in trouble again, but he didn't know what he did. "Sure."
They walked over, where Lily had a swing on the back patio. James sat down first and then patted the spot next to him.
Lily joined them a minute later and sat down.
"Sweetheart, you've been forgiven for this. What's going on?" she asked gently.
"I've been trying to do something to earn your trust back," Harry replied softly.
"What makes you think you needed to earn our trust?" James inquired.
"Well, I not only lied to you and Mum but also sneaked out of the house while you were gone. I thought you didn't trust me no more."
Lily reached over and lifted her son's chin up. Her own emerald eyes looked back at her.
"If you would have asked us this, we would have told you that we still trusted you, just not as strong as it once was."
"Harry," James began. "You're a good kid and never have done anything that would break our trust. With the work you've put in around the house this week, you've earned it back some."
"And next time, talk to us. Since Sirius was going with you, we might have been okay with it."
"So I've earned your trust?" Harry asked.
"You have," James assured him. "This was what I call a first offense. But I will warn you. If this happens again, the consequences will be much worse than this. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"And Harry," Lily began.
"Yes, Mum?"
"I'll still believe if you told me you don't feel good. I'm telling you this so you don't be afraid to tell me that you're sick. I might question you more, but I will believe you."
Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He was afraid that his mother wouldn't believe him if he did get sick for real.
"Thanks, Mum."
Then, without warning, Harry stood up and leaned over, hugging his mother. James joined them a moment later, turning their hug into a group hug.
Harry was relieved that things were slowly returning to the way they were two weeks ago.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Lily quietly slipped into Harry's bedroom later that evening. Harry was asleep, snoring lightly and lying on his stomach. She strengthened up the duvet and picked up his arm that had fallen off the side of the bed. She watched the rise and fall of his back.
The moonlight shining through the curtains made Harry look paler. He was sleeping shirtless tonight. Lily noticed as she saw the small scars on Harry's left shoulder and the small one on the small of his back from the Triwizard tournament. They were no longer pink but a lighter shade than Harry's skin color.
She tucked the duvet to his shoulders, knowing it would be on the floor in the morning. She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned over, kissing his cheek.
She knew, other than the matter of the concert and how Harry went about it, that she was lucky that Harry was, otherwise, a good kid.
She softly kissed his head, and then she quietly left the room.
Things were better for the three of them. James and Lily started giving Harry more freedom as he earned it, and Harry communicated better with his parents. Even with all the secrecy regarding Order activity, their relationship got better.
To think, it all started because Harry wanted to get out of a dinner to go to a Weird Sisters concert.