Prologue
A young woman sat at her desk in her study. The warm glow of the lamp illuminated her slim figure as she shifted her body weight to a more comfortable position. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she let out a quiet, frustrated sigh before crossing out the notes she had just made. A noise in the background made her head turn, her coppery hair getting tangled around the pencil in her left hand. She deciphered the sound of laughter from the kitchen before turning back to her messy desk.
As she attempted to refocus her eyes on her scribbled papers, the woman’s attention was once again drawn away as yet another sound pulled her from her thoughts, this one much closer than before. This time, some footsteps and shushing noises from just beyond her study door. A glint entered her deep, forest-green eyes and she figured out what was going on.
Lily hunched over her papers, appearing to be deep in thought as she awaited her attackers and planned her course of action. The sound of the door creaking open alerts her to the incoming intruder. Still pretending to be oblivious, she glanced out of the corner of her eye and found herself greeted by a small head of curly, untamed black hair. Smirking to herself, she waited for the curls to draw nearer.
“Harry James Potter, you tell that father of yours that I am not easy to sneak up on, young man” Lily turned in her chair dramatically, her arms folded and eyebrow raised as she made eye contact with her mischievous son.
Said son was currently pouting, sulking over how his grand plan (that he came up with himself, actually!) was spoiled. Of course, he’s not going to confess that it was originally his idea, now that his mother had given him the perfect out.
“But Mommy, Daddy said he wants you to play with us” Harry lied, transforming his previously pouting face into one of total innocence, complete with puppy-dog eyes.
Unfortunately for little Harry, his mother was not nearly as gullible as he hoped, an unfortunate side effect of marrying a notorious prankster after going through school with him and his notorious prankster friends. After all, a 4-year-old boy’s priorities are much different from that of a 27-year-old husband of a fearsome woman who does not like to be interrupted. Namely that one has little concept of ‘repercussions of one's actions’ and the other does not want to sleep on the couch that night.
Lily gave her son a doubtful look at his statement and he gulped, realising he made a mistake in his answer but not knowing exactly what gave him away. She opened her mouth to lightly reprimand him for trying to lie to her and to inform him that she was busy when the door (which was previously open just a tad) banged open loudly as the aforementioned 27-year-old, prankster extraordinaire, and father-trying-to-come-to-his-son’s-aid strode into the room.
Unimpressed, Lily just sighed and shook her head, all thoughts of her work having been forgotten. She sat in her chair and listened as James and Harry tried to come up with even a semi-plausible excuse for why they tried to startle her earlier. Once again, she sucked in a breath about to end their suffering when the mixed bag that is the Potter Luck struck again, saving the two Potter males from their own mistakes as the whoosh of a fire downstairs alerted the family to a visitor.
A grin that the Cheshire cat would be proud of appeared on the little raven-haired boy’s face as he ran out of the room and down towards his favourite dog-father, followed shortly by his parents (albeit at less of a run and more of a sophisticated, old person and boring way of going down the stairs).
“UNCLE PADDY!”
“Hey Prongslet!" Sirius crouched down to hug his godson and ruffle his soft hair. He got what would have been a withering glare in return from said godson, that is if he wasn’t in the body of a tiny boy.
“Whatcha doing here?” Harry asked as he looked up, all thoughts of revenge and retribution forgotten immediately
“Prongs senior and I are rehearsing some lines.”
“Why?”
Sirius prayed to whatever deity that was listening that his godson wouldn’t go into one of his famous ‘but-why’ spirals that he was particularly fond of.
“He has a big audition in the morning and wanted some last-minute practice.”
“What's an aw-di-shan?” he sounded out the foreign word.
“Well, you know how your daddy and I are actors? and we uh-” Sirius looked at James but all he got in return was a smug look that practically told him he was on his own.
“- so basically we play pretend but uh, we um, we have to play pretend for some people first before we can do it on the stage, and that's called an audition. We have to make sure we know what to say so we read this paper called a Script-” Sirius noticed Harry's eyes had glazed over.
“You know what, kiddo? Nevermind. How about you just watch us?”
Harry nodded but he looked a bit uncertain. He was pretty confused and Uncle Padfoot's explanation did not help at all. He was never very good at explaining things to Harry.
Harry watched them practice some lines for a few minutes and began working up the courage to announce he was going back to his room to play because the adults were boring.
All of a sudden, all three of them stopped what they were doing and stood still. They could hear the most beautiful music! and it seemed to be coming from Lily's study (the room she had silently slipped back up to whilst the three other occupants were distracted).
Harry's face lit up and ran out of the room to go back upstairs. Sirius elbowed James in the ribs, getting rid of his love-struck face. James sent his best friend a light-hearted glare while rubbing his bruised side. Before Sirius could realise, James pushed past him and rushed up to follow his hyperactive son.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sirius caught up to James and little Harry just as they entered Lily's study to see her playing the cello. Her eyes were closed in concentration and her brows were furrowed, but she looked absolutely beautiful as she let the music flow through her. The sound reverberated around the room, and Harry felt as though the music was sinking into his skin. It almost felt like something was tickling him and he felt something in his chest stir. Harry felt a wave of foreign emotion come over him and he turned to his dad to ask what was going on but James held a finger up to his lips, engrossed in the scene before them. Harry's gaze returned to his mother, remaining quiet. The three of them listened in silence until Lily finished, the final note echoing.
Lily finished the piece and opened her eyes. Upon realising she had company, she immediately turned bright red and covered her face. sneaking a look between her fingers, she saw her husband staring at her with metaphorical hearts in his eyes.
Lily opened her mouth, about to say something when Harry ran up to her and hugged her legs.
“MOMMY THAT WAS AMAZING!” Harry shouted in his mom's face, not quite realising how that wasn't the best idea. Wincing a bit at the volume, she smiled and hugged him back.
“Thank you, Harry-pie.” Lily's cheeks were still tinged pink as she continued avoiding direct eye contact with James. Honestly, he was well aware that it freaked her out when he stared at her while she played. And Sirius? Well, he was Sirius, and at this point, Lily was just happy that he hadn't turned into his Grimm form and started licking her. Or peeing on her carpet.
Harry cleared his throat, bringing Lily's attention back to him.
Harry cleared his throat, alerting her to his incoming question. "Mommy, you played differently than normal?"
Lily looked at him and smiled again, opening her mouth to explain. James, coming out of his 'I-love-my-wife' stupor, tries to butt in but a quick side-eye from Lily shuts him up again. She was seriously tired of being interrupted that night.
“It's called ‘Emotional Projection’ and it is a form of instrumental magic. When I play, I focus my magic on my hands as I make each note, slowly weaving in emotions with the music. It is a difficult process and requires lots of practice and concentration." She pauses and gives them a Look.
“Can you teach me to do that?” Harry asked with stars in his eyes.
“You can learn it if you decide to go to Hogwarts, that's where your mother and I went” “-AND ME, and Moony and Wormtail!!” Sirius interrupted, feeling a bit left out of the conversation and wanting his Prongslet to also be impressed with him. Harry turned to Sirius excitedly.
“Can you do that too?!” Sirius’ grin fell a bit.
“Well, I can play the trumpet but I'm not as good as Lils is with her cello.” Harry's eyes dimmed slightly.
“Tell me more about Hogwarts!” James ruffled his son’s hair and chuckled at his enthusiasm.
“And ruin the surprise? No way, Squirt.” Harry pouted, causing all three adults to burst out laughing.