Chapter 3
The last day of summer
wasn't bad at all for the boys. Remus, James and Pete weren't hanging around at James's living room. The summer was coming to an end, and they wanted to make the most of their time before they had to go back to Hogwarts. Remus had brought over a box of muggle gadgets he had collected over the summer.
"Jameees! Come here we want to show you something!" screamed Pete.
"I can't wait to show you guys all the cool stuff I found," he said, eagerly pulling out a small device with a screen.
"What is that?" James asked, intrigued.
"It's called a Game Boy," Remus explained. "You can play all sorts of games on it."
The three boys spent the next few hours playing Super Mario and Tetris, amazed by how engrossing the games were. Pete and Remus were familiar with Muggle technologies so they mainly explain to games what everything does. James was amazed. Euphemia and Fleamont were curious about the Game Boy as well. All of them were pure-blood wizards, who rarely interacted with the Muggle World, so Remus and Pete were more teaching them about batteries and electricity.
"Oh, and this is a Gramophone- my favorite. You can play records - the big black round disks. They play music. My favorite is David Bowie! I am so exited to show him to Sirius I get he is going to love him! OHOH- and The Rolling Stones!" Remus clapped his hands with excitement.
"Oh- I miss Sirius, man!" cried Pete
"You miss Sirius! What about me! My darling Sirius didn't contact me the entire summer! How rude!" Said James dramatically putting hand on his forehand and acting as if he is about to pass out from heartbreak.
"I am pretty sure he has his reasons." tried to justify Remus.
"I know. But c'mon man! The whole summer! He could have at least send an owl! Just one!" James complained.
"Now, now boys! Don't be so hard on Sirius. His parents are strict you know that!" Euphemia stood up "so, come and help me Fleamont I want to make Paellas y Gazpacho for lunch." Her husband stood up starting to walk away.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Remus. He always like cooking. He didn't get to do it much in Hogwards, so he wanted use this opportunity before he returned there.
"Sure thing Remus!" answered Fleamont, returning back to James and Peter, who were still sitting on the floor playing with the Game Boy.
Ms. Potter and Remus walked into the kitchen. Remus started to look around with excitement. Their kitchen was a quite nice. It had dark red cabinets with black iron handles ans stove. It smelled like spices and vegetable even before they started cooking.
"Could you chop up some of the vegetables for me?"
Remus eagerly washed his hands and grabbed a knife, carefully chopping up peppers, onions, and tomatoes as Euphemia directed him. James showed for a bit too, he helped by, handing ingredients to his mother and stirring the rice, then he dissapeared back into the living room. As they worked together, Remus asked Euphemia about her recipe for paella. She happily shared her family recipe, explaining the different spices and ingredients she used to make the dish flavorful.
"It smells amazing," Remus said, as he stirred in the vegetables.
Euphemia smiled. "Thank you, dear. It's always been a favorite of mine."
"Do all wizard families have kitchens like this?!" asked Remus.
"No, actually they don't. House elves usually cook for them. Some wizards probably never seen a kitchen in their life ever!" she laughed. "Fleamont was actually pretty surprised that i knew now to cook, he was one of them actually!" she continued to giggle. "I know I may not look the part, but c'mon i can look stunning and being able to cook good, ya know!" she swung her hair around revealing her big circle loop earrings. "Do you cook with your Mama often?"
"My mom- she--, I love my mum, but we don't see each other much." he turned his eyes down. "She work at a hospital as a nurse, so she isn't home much."
"A nurse?" Ms. Potter looked at him with confusion.
She is a muggle healer?" he tried to explain best he could. "she helps people recover from injuries... the Muggle way."
"Ohhh. I think I understand." she nodded her head, checking the food. "that is iinteresting."
"HEY GUYS! We getting hungry!" James scream came from the living room.
"If you come and help we can eat in minutes!" shouted Euphemia back. Just a second later two pair of hungry eyes appeared in front of them scavenging for utensils to set the table. James father followed right after them.
The boys sat down and Ms. Potter set the food on the table. James was just about to scoop a spoon full of Gazpacho.
"JAMES! Where are your manners! Prayer first!" Euphemia scolded him
"Perdón, mamá!" he smacked his hand together and put his started mumbling something in Spanish. Remus and Peter looked at each other confused, Pete's parents weren't religious and Remus's mum didn't push her religion on him. He knew she went to church every Sunday, but that's was all he knew. They never prayed before food before, so they tried to imitate James and his parents to be respectful.
"I thought that was a Muggle thing?" tried Pete
"Oh it is!" Euphemia nodded. "Back when I was still living in Spain, my older sister was a squib. Protocol there says we had to erase her memory about everything magic. My parents refused to leave their daughter. So after they did Obliviate her we let her stay with a Muggle family for a while. I insisted to go to a Muggle school." she laughed. "So I could talk to her, still be her friend. We planned on taking her back after we weren't under inspection, but after we saw her with her new family... we couldn't take her away from them, she seemed so happy. So my family befriended her Muggle family, and they showed us a lot of Muggle traditions. Most of my recepies are from them actually."
"I miss Tía Maria!" sighed James. "I miss everyone! I wish we could come and see them. AND SIRIUS! I miss Sirius!"
"He is going to be so surprised when he sees Moony! Look at him now!" started Pete
"You are right! Sirius was taller than you, wasn't he? You are like so tall now, dude!" nodded James
"Guys- stop it, you both changed a bit as well."
"They are right, Remus. You have grown quite a bit." confirmed Fleamont.
"You say that because you haven't seen me for a long time! Pete is now also like super muscular, he could be a the Keeper OR the Beater! Look at him!" Remus tried to take attention off himself and shift it to Pete.
"I think I'm gonna tryout actually." Pete took the hint and started talking about Quidditch with James and his father enthusiastically joining in.
It was nice to know that some things stayed the same. James was still all around the place making everyone feel welcomed. Remus wanted to get around with as little attention as possible, observing rather than being part of the conversation and Pete, Pete had always had his friends backs, always bright and shining with a killer smile, him and James could always get away with anything. The boys couldn't help but wonder if Sirius changed much during the Summer.