It was the summer after first year and a shocked Mr and Mrs Potter watched as a trembling twelve-year-old can crashing out of the their fireplace late at night, asking if this was where James lived, and repeating over and over that he was so sorry, but James had told him to come over whenever, and he really couldn’t stand the screaming right now. Mr Potter calmly chatted to the boy until he stopped shaking while Mrs Potter made up the bed in the spare room next to James. The next morning that room was empty, and instead there were two messes of black hair on James’ pillow.
*****
It was the summer after second year, and the boy appeared again, stony faced and too angry for a thirteen year old. He tensed at any attempts to touch him and looked surprised every time Mr and Mrs Potter asked him if there was anything they could do for him. He stayed for a week, before mumbling something about needing to look after his brother as he resignedly stepped into the green flames again.
*****
It was the summer after third year, and the boy appeared a few weeks into the holidays looking too thin even for his normally lanky body and a fading yellow bruise on his cheek. He refused to answer Mrs Potter’s concerned questions about what happened, but wolfed down third helping of everything she offered. At night he would wake up in a cold sweat, and would be found in the kitchen drinking cocoa with Mrs Potter or curled up on James’s floor.
*****
It was the summer after fourth year, and the room next to James’s was already set up and waiting, and at least half the nights of the holidays the boy was there. He had chores and responsibilities and Mr Potter called him “son”. Even so, once when he dropped a glass and he shot out the room when Mrs Potter drew her wand to fix it and it took over an hour to convince him that she wasn’t angry at all and she had no intention of punishing him.
*****
It was the summer after fifth year, and when the boy came whizzing through the fire this time, he fell to the floor hardly able to see as his hand clutching his chest turned slippery with his own blood. Mr and Mrs Potter vowed never to let him step foot in number 12 Gimauld Place again, and even though the money of the Most Ancient and Nobel House of Black protected them from legal action, McGonagall accepted the legal guardian slip from Sirius signed by the Potters without any question.
*****
It was the summer after sixth year, and he came straight home with James. He and James both had shiny new gold watches on their wrists and bickered about who was the favourite son. There was a family picture on the mantle that had not just three smiling faces, but four.
*****
It was the summer after seventh year, and Mrs Potter cried when Sirius moved out, and made him promise that he would come over for Sunday lunch every week. She was proud and worried in equal measures that both her boys were standing up for what they believed, but more importantly, she made sure they both had everything they needed, knowing that they really were still kids who needed a mum to look after them.
*****
It was the summer after that and the air was full of wedding plans and secret missions. Uncertainty and chaos were everywhere in a not entirely unpleasant manner, and Mr Potter still made them laugh at his jokes and Mrs Potter was always up for a cup of tea in the midst of sewing her daughter- in – law’s wedding dress.
*****
The Potters never made it to the next summer. A bout of Dragon pox took them in their sleep mid February. While the summer was filled with plans for a baby and increasing precaution, it was also filled with a big black hole of longing from two black haired boys who had grown into men, who never again could call on mum and dad for Sunday lunch.