1970
1970-
Lily's letter:
It's not that Lily didn't believe Severus, it's just that she never heard of this school and if she was honest, she didn't think they'd want her. Maybe she could sprout a flower or two. It didn't mean she could do more complex actual spells, or hell even understand potions like Severus did.
All in all, when a brown barn owl dropped a letter in her lap while she was playing in the meadow, she was extremely surprised, practically vibrating with excitement, that was until petunia marched the letter inside to their parents and announces that lily is a freak and now is accepted to a freak school and that they shouldn't let her, since she's old enough already.
Luckily their parents told her off thoroughly and congratulated Lilly on her acceptance, believing it fully when a kind middle aged woman showed up to explain it to them while she was off playing. When the woman saw Lilly when she came in, she explained that she was no freak but in fact very special and will receive a top-notch education in witchcraft and wizardry which while to some might seem absurd to Lilly, it filled her with unbridled joy and excitement.
And if lily had not been convinced when her apparent new teacher “Professor McGonagall '' herself than when she went to Diagon alley with Severus she was completely sold. As they went through the old pub than honestly made Lilly a bit nervous and out to the alleyway and tapped a wand, an actual wand to the bricks that seemed very unpromising suddenly opened up into a long street lined with shops, venders and a whole lot of people dressed in robes walking along.
Severus showed her everything, they got ice creams of fun flavors, dared her to try Bertie botts and let her spend a whole hour in Flourish and Blott's bookstore for her to spend her entire recreational budget on a thick book of magical stories that lily was fascinated by. By the time he was finally able to get her to the wand shop she had convinced herself that nothing could beat the experience she'd had so far. Of course, she was wrong, very wrong.
They walked in, practically buried in all the stuff they were carrying and set it down on a convenient little table and walked up to the kind looking man at the counter. When he noticed both of them, he smiled and for some reason it put Lilly at ease.
“Well, some fresh faces, let's see here, let's start with you young lady, I sense charms within you, my girl. I'll find just the thing” the man said, and Lilly had no time to say a word before he was back looking within the shelves upon shelves of wand boxes. After a minute or two he came back with a long velvet box and opened it, handing the wand inside to her.
She took it cautiously and Severus gestured for her to wave it and against her better judgment she did just that and a loud thudding sound came down within the shelves and boxes upon boxes fell from the shelves. She jumped back in shock, and handed the wand immediately back to the man, feeling awful for messing up his lovely shop and probably expensive merchandise.
But he only smiled, put in the box and went back the same isle at which he came and brought her back another, then another, then another until finally, when she took a slightly thinner wand, less than a foot long, she took upon instinct and then it happened, an energy surged through her body with enough force to knock her off her feet.
“Hmm that's quite the wand there, willow, unicorn hair core 10 ¾ inches strong, despite its core, but sturdy, good for charm work might i add flexible on every sense but fierce” Olivander said and she smiled taking the box and paying him handsomely as he repeated the process with Severus till he ended up with a pine wand, also with unicorn hair and he payed as well and they quickly left, whispering to each other happily on what their respective wands could mean for them.
James and his parents:
James ran down the stairs with a huge smile on his face, he bolted down the hall and slipped into the dining room and kitchen where his dad Fleamont was cooking. He turned and smiled at James as he flung himself into his father's arms, grinning brightly. Fleamont squeezed him tight then stabilized him firmly on the ground and ruffles his hair lightly and James giggled, ducking out from under his touch and smiling proudly when he successfully evaded.
“Hey bud. Someone's excited, what's going on today? It's not your birthday…hmmm what could it be…” fleamont said pretending to be in deep thought about what James could possibly be so excited about James scoffed in disbelief, not noticing the glint in his father's eye, instead rolling his eyes in disdain.
“ Daaaad! Comoooom, you know it's the first day of school! My first year at Hogwarts!” James exclaimed, his face pulling into a pout as he rolls his eyes and fleamont eyes widen as if in surprise, then a hand flies to his hair as if he remembered something.
“Oh right! Oh man I got nothing prepared, what are we going to do?! Do you even have your stuff packed?” Fleamont says, faking panic, seeming to scramble for what to do, James laughs despite himself.
“You know I did! You made me check yesterday” James protests when his mother Euphemia walked in with a sleepy smile, ruffling James's hair as he smiles at her and as she places an arm around his shoulders.
“Good morning Mijo, did you pack everything on the list? Make sure you double check, and pack anything you want that's not on the list too, if you don't pack it, you won't have it for a while so make sure you have everything” she says, and he nods and heads out to do just that.
He heads back upstairs with a huff to check once again but he does recall not putting a couple things in there in favor of using them last night so probably for the best he does this now. He goes into his trunk and mentally checks things off his list and then goes and scrambles to get whatever is missing or in low enough quantity for James to be unsatisfied.
After a bit he's satisfied and heads back downstairs to where his dad had set out dinner and his mom was nursing a tall mug of tea. They sat down in the dining room and helped themselves to the spread in front of them. As they ate, they chatted idly about the day ahead which only fueled James's excitement, but he stayed there, enjoying his morning, his over excitement only shown in the slight bounce of his leg.
When they finally finished eating, James went upstairs and grabbed his things and brought them downstairs. He then grabbed his wand, a slight tingle running up his arm at the contact the familiar buzz of magic filling his body he waved his wand and a couple things flitted into the air and he chuckled lightly before he grabbed his owl ned and headed downstairs, ready for the day ahead.
Sirius and His Brother:
Sirius was always close with his little brother regulus. Ever since he could remember it had always been the two of them. The black brothers against the world. Whenever Reggie had a nightmare Sirius was there, letting him sneak over to his bed so that he didn't have to be alone. They made up games together for their few moments of time that they had to themselves. They just were stuck together like glue.
But Now Sirius stood in front of the doorway looking at his little brother. Regulus sniffed, tears in his eyes and Sirius sighed and grabbed him in a hug. Regulus seemed to hold back a sob and Sirius sighed and kneeled down in front of him. Regulus stiffed, wiping his tears on his sleeve.
“Hey, reg you know I'll be back, I'll always come back, besides, next year you’ll be there with me” he says and Reggie nods.
“Promise?” regulus asks and Sirius smiles and nods.
“I promise '' Sirius says in a single breath and Regulus smiles and hugs Sirius tight and Sirius hugs him back, rubbing his back slightly.
When Sirius hears his mother's steps on the stairs he stands and pulls Regulus out of his arms and they both quickly straighten up and make their faces blank. Walburga walks through the hall and quickly is standing with them and she looks down at them daring them to say a word of “inappropriate softness.” as she calls it.
Of course they don't. instead, they stand there in silence, looking like the pinnacle of pureblood society, slicked back hair and overly fancy robes that make Sirius itch and cut his neck all funny, he resists the urge to adjust it or worse yet, rip the damn thing off and live only in his button up shirt underneath.
“Goodbye Sirius, Goodluck” regulus quickly, pulling Sirius form his thoughts and urges says then slips by and goes upstairs, only smiling at him from behind their mother as he does.
“Thank you, regulus,” Sirius says, and Walburga just nods and just grabs Sirius’s arm, he makes the effort to not flinch away, knowing that would only make it worse.
“Do you have everything?” she asks and he nods
“Of course, mother” Sirius says, and she nods, and her grip loosens slightly as they apperate out by the train station, giving Sirius quite a bit of whiplash. They quickly walk through the station and make it to the platform entrance, and they walk through without issue.
He looked around the platform in admittable awe. The train was already there, red and huge, the engine car steaming in all its glory, he was mesmerized by it, only able to move forward with the slight encouragement of his mother's harsh grip on his shoulder.
He sees other students talking with their families or running to their friends with big smiles and tight and long hugs, laughing together without a care in the world, Sirius wishes he had that, but he knew he maybe never will, not if he had to live the life his parents wanted for him, because their plan had no room for the kind of friends he wanted. but that would just have to be ok, it would be just fine, right?
The train:
~James
When James showed up on the platform with his parents he ran head on through the barrier, full speed with little care for any others that may bump into him, luckily though he appears, far enough away from the masses. and stands in awe, on platform nine and three quarters.
He stares at the train in awe as his parents follow him in, standing behind him within seconds. He smiles up at them then they move forward, they stop near an entrance, and he turns around, facing his parents as they bend down in front of them.
“Alright sweetheart, you're going to be good at school ok Mijo? Be good to your friends and listen to your teachers alright?” Euphemia says and James nods with a smile as she adjusts his collar and fixes his glasses, she smiles and hugs him tight.
“Alright kid, remember, we’ll write you all the time, every week if you want, and you better write us back” Fleamont says.
“I will dad, I promise, by ma, bye pa” James says, a Spanish accent thickening in his voice which made his mom smile and kiss his forehead.
he smiles then grabs his things and heads to the train to board and get his things stored away. As he does, he met with a grinning Marlene and unsure peter who he smiles brightly at and hugs both tightly.
“Hey guys!” he exclaims. Of course, he knew they'd be there, but he couldn't quite hold in his excitement at seeing them. They were his best friends after all. Marlene squeezed him with a laugh, and they pulled back, al smiling now.
“Hey James, can't believe we’re actually going!” Marlene says and James nods in agreement and petter does the same, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I can't believe we can’t try out for the quidditch team this year!” James in disbelief and Marlene huff, immediately irritated by this fact as she had been since they found out.
“yeah, it's ridiculous.” she complains “at least we get to have our brooms’ she says and James huffs with a smile, equally glad for this. He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't get a good fly in here and there.
~ Remus
Remus would like to have it said that he was minding his own business when Sirius black entered his train compartment, not that he knew who it was then. Either way Sirius did enter, and it changed everything.
“Sorry, do you mind if I sit?” the strange boy said, and Remus nodded wordlessly. The boy nodded Back and sat down opposite of him.
“My name is Sirius, Sirius black, what's yours?” the boy says, and Remus looks at him for the first time.
He could tell that Sirius's raven black hair usually is pushed back but at this moment it was messy and carefree like someone had purposely messed it up, which doesn't make sense to the name, or the overly formal robes Sirius wore. Remus knew about the black family and this boy did not fit that mold, and that, he was glad for.
“Remus, Remus lupin.” Remus says and Sirius seems to take it in and try to place the name before understanding fills his eyes, but he says nothing.
After a moment there's a loud noise and Remus huffs and looks towards the door where the sound came from and then there another boy his age had run past. Black curly hair, round glasses and brown skin and very nice-looking clothes. glanced inside the compartment and quickly slipped inside and another plump looking blonde boy followed him and Remus sighed.
“Hi, sorry, can we sit?” the first of the two says, revealing himself to be winded but he's smiling bright.
“Sure” Remus says, giving up on his quiet ride to the school. The boy nods, smiling wider and then goes to sit down next to Sirius and the other boy sits down by Remus, opposite his friend.
Remus just sighed and grabbed a book and started reading, deciding that if he can't be alone then at least he could get some reading in. after a moment the curly haired boy cleared his throat.
“Um, my name is James, James's potter.” he said, and Remus nodded and gave his name in return James smiled politely at that “and this is Peter, Peter Pettigrew” James adds pointing to his friend and Sirius gave his name and before Remus could truly comprehend Sirius and James were roughhousing.
In the end Sirius got James in a head lock as they were laughing breathlessly. James tapped out and Sirius let him go, standing up and dusting himself off with a smug smile, offering his hand to help James up who took it gratefully and stood up, quickly adjusting his glasses and dusting himself off as well.
Remus huffs in disapproval but doesn't bother to look up from his book, not wanting to feed into whatever that just was and definitely not wanting to somehow to get involved, since he's never been one for roughhousing, especially since he's never had many friends growing up at all.
So, for the rest of the journey to school Remus learned how much he definitely needed friends. They were fun and light, and it wasn't like they were passive and calm. They were loud, bright and almost overwhelming and it felt good, if only Remus had it but… alas, how much would a werewolf really deserve? How much good could he receive without a horrible catch?
James and the little redheaded girl
It was maybe a couple weeks into school that James noticed her. She was a Gryffindor, in all of their classes, sat with the fellow 1st year girls during meals, she'd seem like just any other girl in their year but for some reason she just wasn't. For one she had red hair, something James had only seen a couple of times at Hogwarts and their names were Fabian and Gideon.
She had to be the prettiest girl that James had ever seen in his life and that was saying because Marlene wasn't ugly by any means, his mom actually called her the prettiest little girl she knew, and Marlene had nothing on her. From her light freckles on her plump cheeks to her sweet smile and cute pigtails as she laughed with a girl in their year, Mary if James remembered right.
The issue though was that she had not once, not ever noticed him in the slightest, which usually wouldn't be a problem, cuties and all that but for the first time in his life he actually preferred if she Did come talk to him, at least just once for crying out loud.
He pathetically took to hovering around Marlene all the time in hopes that the girl would talk with him, just by group connection alone, but she never seemed to be around when he was. Marlene explained that Lilly (that was her name and James loved it) was always out, talking with an old friend in another house which make James pout and slump down into the couch beside an unsuspecting Sirius who just shoved his down to the floor with a barking laugh.
It took all of two weeks for James to get the idea to just run into her. It was after classes one day, they were all walking towards gryffindor tower, she was close to an unknown slytherin boy with slicked back black hair.
They were walking down the hall, ahead of him and Sirius when he ran forward, wanting to say hi, unfortunately he ran too fast and right into her and her friend and knocked their books out of both their arms. She looked back at him and he smiled apologetically and went to pick up her books but her friend had already grabbed it. The boy glared at james wh chuckled nervously
“Sorry, I um, hi, what's your name?” james asks
“Im lilly…” the girl says, somewhat unsure of James and the situation on hand but he smiles , trying to be reassuring that he is indeed sorry about her book and does hand her the single book he was able to grab.
“ And we should get going, common lilly, he's just a jerk” her friend says angrily and James narrows his eyes at him, lilly looks at the boy in disbelief.
“Oh common sev, it was an accident!” Lilly says and James smirks despite himself.
“Yeah, SEV” james laughs and sev glares
“It's Severus, Severus snape!” The boy huffs and James chuckles in amusement at the name and tone of the boy.
“ Shut your mouth pretty boy!” severus threats, stepping toward james then lilly glares at the both of them and pulls severus by the elbow away from them and james frowns as they head off and sirius sighs, putting an arm on his shoulder
“Sorry mate” he says and james sighs, frustrated but undeterred,
“ What would you say about pranking a certain snake ridden common room?” James says and Sirius smirks, immediately on the same page and James smiles, a mischievous glint shining in his eye.
The Girls:
The first night was quiet , they unpacked, went to bed and in the morning they went along with their schedule and payed little mind to each other, it wasn't until that first full day where they had a few hours free time in their dorms that they got to talking as they decorated their dorm and decided to set a few ground rules per lilly’s request
They agree to eat together at meals, to stick with the girls and avoid cooties
Everyone has their designated space, keep your stuff there, clean up after yourself in the common
Curtains drawn, no entry unless knock and they open no questions asked
No boys in dorm ( this wasn't possible anyways as they find out)
Always be civil after 8, no going to bed angry ( with each other)
Designated hair days at least once a month
2 shower times in morning, keep it flowing people, after! 7 30
Quiet until 730 no exceptions lilly!
No snitching unless in danger or agreed with minimum 2-1 outnumbered
Quiet after lights out to avoid trouble
They agree and add their own additions ( number 7) and things are quickly very civil between the four of them. They chat through their meals and get to know each other pretty quickly with how much down time they have.
They all fell into their own things, marlene had quidditch with the boys, lilly had her mysterious slytherin friend and mary and emmaline had the absolute avoidance of everything that was boys, they, on several occasions convinced lilly and marlene to ditch the boys in favor of doing things together as a dorm.
By the end of the term the girls were thick as thieves, walking to every class giggling to each other in the halls about whatever gossip was going around the school which at the time was actually mostly from the oldest, newt level students who seem to be always getting themselves into some sort of drama.
So when they went to the end of term it was a lot of tears as they said goodbye to each other, they hugged then inevitably went their separate ways, promising to write to each other every day and fill them in on everything when they returned the next semester.
Exploration:
It was of course Sirius and James that became the closest the most quickly. It took all of 2 weeks for the boys to become totally inseparable. They bonded quickly over shared interests and mischievous natures. They took it upon themselves to sneak around the castle, sometimes being able to drag Remus and Peter along.
This new exploration was heavily aided with the use of James's invisibility cloak, ever so kindly gifted to him by his father, fleamont. In their exploration they discovered the location of the kitchens. They end up spending a lot of time down there, sneaking snacks and drinks once they found out how to get in; they were frequent flyers of the room.
They also found the slytherin common room and used this knowledge to sneak in and prank all the slytherin boys by putting itching powder in their beds and placed dung bombs all throughout the the dormitory, and ofcourse they put extra effort into snapes or snivilous’a as james had so cleverly nicknamed him, bed and dorm room and in the morning the poor boy came to breakfast red and puffy all over.
Now you'd think that this would make a reasonable boy like Remus into a coma with how silly and ridiculous they were being and when they got detentions over the whole ordeal he'd definitely hang up the towel and decide that these boys were not worth his time but instead he loved it. He loved the thrill that the boys brought, they listened to his fun ideas on how to make each prank do better and when they planted dunbombs in the teachers bathroom on the third floor without getting caught he definitely won their favor, releasing them in their success.
They also were fun to be around,joking and laughing freely, sirius at least laughed as if for the first time, only becoming brighter and overwhelming as time went on and he began to forget the horrors of home, not that any of the other boys caught on, instead thinking of it as more of him getting comfortable, settling into his new life which, in a way was true.
James and Sirius’s love of quidditch
When James found out that Sirius loved quidditch even a fraction of the amount that he did, he flipped. When quidditch tryouts happened despite the fact that they very clearly said no entry year students allowed due to seeker already being taken and it's not safe for students to play in other positions till O.W.L years, though James thought he'd get around that sooner or later.
Either way Sirius and James decided to crash the tryouts and watch if not try out themselves depending on how lucky they got.they took their brooms, snuck down to the pitch a good 30 minutes before it started. They stayed well hidden, giggling excitedly to themselves till a crowd gathers, Frank, the captain quickly separating them into positions and that's when sirius and james sneak into the beater and chaser lines respectively and when frank inevitably saw them he luckily humored them, ordering them up in the air and thoroughly testing them.they did surprisingly well.
James actually got the quaffle in a couple times and sirius managed to not die when the bludgers came at them but in the end they weren't quite up to snuff, frank gave them plenty of tips though, telling sirius to not be afraid to get a little banged up since his gear would protect him from the worst of it, and told james to just keep practicing to perfect his moves.
They of course took this in stride and started practicing in all the off time they had, much to the despite of peter and remus who, the good friends they were did not enjoy this in the slightest but at last marlene had similar enthusiasm and so the three of them would spend hours in the air, mucking around and definitely not playing hit bludgers at james every time to which james pretended to despise but really found fun and effective as he dogged them all expertly.
In the end, every day they'd come in to dinner every night, big smiles on their faces and breathing heavy, splitting up to eat with their dorm mates per usual and the girl made rules of their year to prevent “cooties” not that the boys minded, preferring having their health unlike the absolute heathens in the years above who'd make out in front of the entire great hall, point deductions be damned.
Worst Christmas ever:
Sirius stepped off the door and almost immediately he saw his mother waiting on the platform. He steps off and she grabs him on the shoulder. he tenses despite himself and she only squeezes, making his shoulder hurt but he doesn't move
“Do you have all your things?” she asks and sirius nods, he had checked 3 times over, so yes he does. He knew better than to lose any of his things or keep his mother waiting.
She nods in understanding and suddenly they are apparating. Their twisting and pulling through the air till their firmly planted outside number 12 grimmauld place. Sirius makes sure to just take a deep breath then get a grip on his things and pull them forward over to the house which now magically showed its true self.
When he walked through the door he had to remind himself that Regulus would not be allowed to greet him at the door; instead he headed upstairs to unpack his things but before he could histher come down the stairs from the third floor Sirius stops in his tracks, straightening up immediately.
“Sirius, you'll come to my office within the hour, understand?” he says and sirius nods, slipping into his room and putting his things down and changing out of his school robes into something cool and light but of course acceptable.
Once he's changed sirius knocks on regulus door quietly and the door clicks open and reggie pops his head out of it and smiles slightly
“Sirius, Hi!” he says and sirius smiles brightly at his little brother
“ Hey Reggie, miss me? ” he says and regulus huffs
“ no, never of course not i'm not a baby!” he protests and sirius just raises an eyebrow at him and he huffs again but lets sirius in the room, sirius smiles and ruffles the younger boy's hair who swats his arm away with a huff. Once they're in the room with the door closed, Regulus hugs him tight, Sirius is shocked for a minute but then hugs him back, squeezing his brother tight.
“You're ok” regulus whispers into sirius’s shoulder who looks at him in confusion
‘Why wouldn't I be?” Sirius asks and Regulus looks at him.
“ I mean mother and father were so angry and I… I didn't know…” regulus says and sirius sighs and hugs regulus again tightly, immediately in comfort mode as regulus sniffs sadly.
“Its ok reg its ok '' sirius says reassuringly. He then spends the next 30 minutes comforting Regulus and telling him all of his favorite stories, nevermind he's heard them all before a thousand times. Regulus luckily is sound asleep by the time Sirius has to head downstairs to the study. He unfortunately has to leave Regulus asleep in his room. He takes a deep sigh then goes down quickly.
“Father?” he says as he knocks on the door, knowing he's not allied to open the door without permission
“Come in sirius” he says and sirius walks in, keeping his head high and his posture straight, his body unbelievably tense. He just looks at his father and mother at his side.
“so , boy. As you know we know about certain…unfortunate sorting, I think you know we can't let this mistake go unpunished.” Orion says and Sirius gulps, a spike of fear running through his veins despite his resolve.
Then it happens, a sharp pain like a blow, making him double over in pain to the gut then spreads across his whole body, making him fall to his knees then just drop to the floor screaming. It then turns like fire, burning him from the inside out, he has the small thought that he must be on fire, he's burning alive, how did the fire start? Why can't he feel the heat and only the pain? Why isn't everyone else screaming?
Oh. oh, no. once he's able to open his eyes as he screams in pain, he sees there's no fire at all and actually, this is a spell, he doesn't know what spell because clearly his mother said it wordlessly but he sees a glimpse of her pointing her wand at him with a furrowed brow as if in concentration before he blacks out due to the pain.
He wakes up with regulus with him, sirius looks up at him immediately worried which is only increased when he sees the concerned at teary eye expression on his younger brothers face he backs up a bit upon sight of sirius gaining consciousness, letting sirius sit up and get some air, sirius and coughed in surprise.
“Reg, what you were asleep upstairs” sirius says, very confused and disoriented
“I woke up when you left, then I heard screaming, then mum and dad came up and i… i had to check on you” regulus says quickly, an edge of panic in his voice, sirius stretches his limbs checking for the damage, finding a dull ache in his bones and he had to holdback a painful wince
“I'm alright reg, look i can stand..” sirius says and tries to stand up and fails miserably, his head going fuzzy and he quickly loses his footing and stumbles, making regulus have to catch him and hold him upright
“Sirius whats wrong, your not bleeding i dont understand” he says and sirius shakes his head
“It was wordless, i don't know what the spell was” he explains and regulus huffs and they make their way up to Sirius's room upstairs and get Sirius into bed. Regulus just sits at the end,not knowing what to do but not wanting to leave Sirius alone after that. Eventually he settles on laying down with Sirius and they both just fall into a fitful sleep.
Best christmas ever:
James stepped off the platform and tight into his parents arms. They immediately started fussing over him, his mum desperately trying to fix his unruly Hair and immediately started stripping him for details of his term which he happily obliged as they left the platform and headed home.
When they arrived james brought all his things up to his room and put them out of the way at least he before heading downstairs where his mum was deciding between tea and hot cocoa, looking at the two jars intently, as if trying to get the jars themselves to tell her which one she wanted to make
“Tea or coca jamie?” she asks when she sees him, he comes and stands next to her, allowing her to wrap an arm around his shoulders and truffle his hair slightly he laughs and swats her hand away
“Muuum” he protests with a smile and she scrunches her face playfully, making her aged features only wrinkle more and more, james turns to the jar of tea and the the jar of cocoa powder intently, trying to decide which he wanted
“Hot cocoa for sure it's christmas after all, and can you put some peppermint in mine pleeeeease!” he decides, giving his mum pleading eyes and she nods, smiling in agreement to his request
“ definitely, three mugs of hot cocoa coming up, why don't you grab your father and tell him he's required to spend at least an hour chatting with us before he's allowed to waste away in that office of his” she says and he nods, darting out of the room in search of his father, going to mentiend study first.
He was always there Either working on some new potion or talking with ministry officials. It was all so formal but James had to admit it was a cozy room despite him hardly ever being in there. He had no reason too, if his parents wanted to have a serious talk with him they would call them into whatever room they were in, it didn't matter where and it was his dads more private area. Mum had her garden and kitchen, dad had his study( and kitchen in the mornings) and James had the whole quidditch pitch sized yard to play and fly in wherever he pleased, it was a good set up.
In the study there was a warm fireplace and large important chairs with bookshelves filled with all sorts of things, it also held the trap door entrance to his fathers old potion room, he didn't use it much anymore after selling his business in favor of retiring early to spend time with james and his wife but he did still like to brew and he always had a stash of handy potions ready.
“Dad, mum says and i quote “ can't waste away in here until he spends at least an hour with us’’” james says, peeking his head into the room
“Alright, tell her i'll be there in 20, i have an important chat with dumbledore of all people” fleamont says, looking up from his newspaper
“Am I in trouble? Hope you know any longer she'll come in here and drag you out "James says, remembering the several times his mother has had to drag his father by his ear out to the living room to have tea or even dinner with her and james.
“Not that I know of. it's… ministry business and I'd expect nothing less.” he says with a smile and James chuckles the=n heads back to the kitchen to relay the information.
“Does he know it's a requirement not a request?” she says in crisp Spanish as she watches the milk boil. James nods
“ mhm, says he has to talk to Dumbledore but after that he'll be out. And yes, he knows you'll drag him out if need be” James says, and she nods in satisfaction.
“Alright, how about you get into some comfy clothes this will be a minute” she says, and he nods, and he heads up stairs to get into pjs and slippers, nice and comfy for coca time, satisfied he heads back downstairs decoding to pluck at the piano a bit until the coca is done.
Once it is they all spend a good hour chatting at catching up on the events from while James was away. James spared no details, full describing his fun little gang to which his parents were proud though sought a few extra questions about Sirius, they knew the black family and they didn't exactly expect their eldest son to be sorted into Gryffindor yet alone be friends with James since the potters were knowingly hated by most of the pureblood society, deeming them inferior for almost a century not that they cared at all, thinking the whole pureblood supremacy to be quite ridiculous.
But James confirmed that Sirius didn't really have a lot of love for his family, in his own words they never let him do anything fun so while he's at Hogwarts he's going to do his best to have as much fun as humanly possible and he didn't care how much rule breaking it took to do so, it only added to his excitement. Upon hearing this Euphemia and Fleamont were convinced that Sirius was a good boy who just needed a better family to help his wild nature. And just perhaps they were just the ones to do it.