Chapter One – Do you ever behave?!
It was a particularly warm day, and warm days meant playing in the garden, flying, getting dirty and exploring. At least it should have been. One young man in particular had decided that rather than playing in the garden with his siblings and cousins, he would take advantage of the empty manor and explore without getting in trouble. Now, this particular young man was known for many things, his hankering for mischief, his ability to make anyone smile, his jokes and pranks and his extremely large family! But he was mostly known as the son of the chosen one, and James Sirius Potter was sick of being compared to his father! He loved his father, of course he did. But James' father wasn't just some hero that saved the world. He was a hero that soothed his nightmares as a young boy, a hero that healed and comforted every bump, bruise and scrape James managed to cause himself, and everyone knew that was a lot! He may have saved the world, but to James, his father was simply just Harry Potter.
On this particularly warm day, while his younger brother, sister, and cousins were outside playing Quidditch and exploring the stream under the supervision of his Godbrother Teddy Lupin and eldest cousin Victoire, he and his cousin Fred Weasley were exploring the only forbidden room in the manor. You see, Harry Potter was head of the Auror department at the Ministry, meaning he brought home quite a few dangerous but mysterious items. Items that James and Fred were determined to find. Climbing the staircase to the 3rd floor of the house, James had a mischievous but determined look upon his face. As they reached the top, they stood still, side by side, looking down at the last room at the end of the hall. The room also known as Harry's office.
"Are you sure your Dad brought some new stuff home?" Fred questioned his cousin, keeping his voice barely above a whisper.
"Positive!" James grinned. "He came home yesterday with a big bag and ran straight upstairs."
"There better be something decent in there." Fred said, rolling his eyes at James.
"Fred my boy, have I ever let you down?" James smirked.
"I guess not. Let's go before someone finds us." Fred said, urging his cousin forward.
They both knew they would be in serious trouble if they were caught trying to enter Harry's office and so they moved as quickly and quietly as they could manage. James reached for the door handle slowly, only to pause as a loud alarm sounded throughout the house.
"James! Make it stop!" Fred hissed, turning back to look behind him.
"I can't, I don't know how!" James panicked. He pulled out his wand and tried to silence the alarm but it was no use. The siren only got louder.
"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" Teddy's voice boomed up the staircase. Teddy, followed by Victoire reached the top of the stairs with red faces. Teddy silenced the alarm with a quick wave of his wand and walked up to the boys.
"What do you think you're playing at? You know you're not supposed to go into your Dad's office! It's kept locked for a reason!" Teddy scolded the younger boy.
"How did you turn off the alarm?!" James ignored Teddy to ask his own question.
"Your Dad put the alarm on to warn him, or us, when someone under age tries to break in. Only someone of age can stop it once it's gone off." Teddy sighed. "Do you really think he'd leave it unprotected with the likes of you here?"
"Come on, outside you two." Victoire gently pushed them towards the stairs and the four of them slowly descended to the ground floor and headed outside to join the others.
"Ha! You got caught again!" A small girl with long, shiny red hair jeered at the two sulking boys.
"Shut up, Pipsqueak!" James glared at his sister.
"James, don't be horrible to Lily." Teddy scolded.
James turned to face Teddy with a pleading look. "Look, I know I did wrong but please, please don't tell Mum and Dad! Dad will be furious and Mum will probably lose her voice screaming at me." He begged.
"James, if I don't tell, you won't learn your lesson." Teddy sighed.
Before James could respond, they heard the front door open and close, signalling that their parents had returned.
"Sorry James." Teddy whispered and walked into the house, followed by Victoire and the remaining Potters and Weasleys.
"Hey guys, I hope you've all been good." Ginny smiled as she pulled off her coat.
"Mostly." Teddy nodded.
"What did he do?" Ginny sighed, looking directly at her eldest son.
"What makes you think I did anything?!" James pointed to himself. "Mother, I am hurt!"
"No, usually someone else is hurt, what did you do?" Ginny raised a questioning brow.
"Nothing serious. Just climbed too high in one of the trees and wouldn't come down when I asked him to." Teddy chucked, lying to his Godparents.
"James, I've told you time and time again, listen to Teddy!" Ginny sighed again.
James nodded and looked up to Teddy with a relieved look. He watched as his parents walked further into the house followed by his Aunts and Uncles. The Weasley grownups, besides Ron and Hermione, rounded up their children and slowly got them all ready to go home.
"Thank you so much for watching them, Teddy. I hope they weren't too much trouble." Angelina Weasley smiled. "I know Fred can be quite a handful when him and James are together."
"Mum!" Fred whined. "Roxie isn't exactly a saint!"
"She is compared to you, son." George Weasley snorted a laugh.
"Like you were any better." Ginny smirked at her brother.
"Ginevra, I'm a changed man." George said dramatically, holding a hand over his heart.
Fred rolled his eyes at his parents and said his goodbyes to James and the rest of his cousins. After 20 minutes of goodbyes and thankyou's, only the Potters and four Weasley's remained.
"Are you guys staying for dinner?" Ginny asked her brother, Ron.
"Go on then, I'm sure the kids will enjoy playing with their cousins a little longer and it means I don't have to cook." Hermione interrupted.
"Can Rosie and Hugo sleep over?!" James asked eagerly.
Sure, Hugo and Rose weren't as daring and fun as Fred, but it was better than spending the night stuck with his siblings. As if on cue, Rose entered the room talking intensely with James' younger brother, Albus. Following them were Hugo and Lily, laughing at something apparently hilarious.
"James, you'll see them both tomorrow anyway." Ginny chuckled.
"Please?!" James begged.
"What's going on?" Harry walked into the room.
"James has asked if Rose and Hugo can sleep over." Ginny informed her husband who walked up to her and kissed her cheek.
"Oh please Mummy, can they?!" Lily pleaded, her eyes growing large.
Ginny exchanged a knowing look with Hermione and nodded once.
"ON ONE CONDITION" Ginny yelled over the loud cheers of the children. "You're all in bed by 8.30pm at the latest, and NO PRANKS!"
Ginny rubbed her temples and closed her eyes as all five children cheered loudly. She loved having her nieces and nephews over to stay, but she felt like she constantly had a headache just from her own children, never mind more.
James, Albus and Rose all went into Al's room, and Lily and Hugo sat in the living room and prepared a game of exploding snap. As James walked past the hall towards the staircase, he spotted a black satchel sat by the front door. On the front was the Ministry symbol.
"Wicked!" James whispered to himself. He grabbed the bag and ran upstairs to show Al and Rose what he had found.
Hugo watched as Lily split the cards into two piles, her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth in concentration. Out the corner of his eye, he spotted James in the hall peering over his Uncle Harry's bag.
"Hey Lil, I think James is up to something." Hugo said softly as he stood up to follow James. Lily peered over her shoulder and stood up to follow James. When they reached Al's bedroom, they opened the door to reveal James pulling a funny looking hourglass attached to a long gold chain.
"Jamie! What are you doing? That's Daddy's work bag!" Lily yelled.
"SSSHHHHH, shut up Lily!" James hissed as he pulled his sister and cousin into the room and closed the door behind them.
"What is it?" Hugo asked, looking at the odd thing in James' hand.
"I think I've read about these, this is a time turner!" Rose gasped and took a step back.
"Cool! What does it do?!" James asked eagerly.
"It's called a time turner, what do you think it does?" Albus rolled his eyes.
"Put it back it's dangerous!" Rose said.
"Not until I figure out how it works!" James sneered.
He began fiddling with the device trying to get it to work when Lily rushed over.
"I wanna see!" Lily exclaimed.
In her excitement, she crashed into James, knocking the device from his hands. The time turner crashed to ground, smashing into tiny pieces. All five children froze in sheer panic.
"JAMES!" Rose yelled.
"It wasn't my fault, Lily ran into me!" James yelled back.
"What's going on?!" Teddy yelled as he ran into the room, followed by Victoire.
A cloud of gold smoke began to form around them, and the seven of them huddled together with worry etched over their faces. Lily clung to Teddy's hand as the smoke continued to snake around them, covering them completely.
"What's happening?" Lily cried.
"This isn't good." Teddy said, shaking his head.
As suddenly as they were there, they were gone.