Out With the Boys

Missing Scene

July 20, 1973

Thomas stared at his son as he explained that his friends were coming over for the night. He groaned as James mentioned Mrs. Black. Thomas glanced over at his wife Evelyn and saw her shaking her head.

"So you see, Dad, Sirius won't be able to come unless you talk to Mrs. Black." James pleaded with his father. "You know Sirius and I are so much like brothers. I can't stand to see him at home with his mother."

"You know how much I hate talking with that woman, Thomas. She treats me like I'm the scum of the earth because I work instead of being a lady of leisure. I don't think she ever forgave me for marrying you." Evelyn placed the cup of coffee in front of Thomas. "You are the only one she'll listen to, dear, and James has his heart set on Sirius being here with the others."

Thomas groaned as he climbed to his feet. "I'll talk to the old bat." He moved to the kitchen fireplace and tossed in a pinch of Floo powder. Sticking his head in, he yelled. "12 Grimmauld Place." Suddenly he was staring at the kitchen of the Black family home. "Acantha, are you home?"

An elegant looking woman stepped up to the fire. "Why Thomas Potter. What do I owe this unexpected but delightful pleasure?"

"My son is having a get together tonight and would like for Sirius to come." Thomas waited briefly while Acantha Black swept her black hair back from her face.

"I suppose he could come since you are asking. What time is he to be there?"

"As soon as you want to send him." Thomas didn't wait for her response. "I've got to go, Acantha. Perhaps I'll speak with you again." He pulled his head out from the fire and turned to his wife. "You and your son owe me big time for that. I swear she was drooling over the floor."

James threw his arms around Thomas. "Thanks, Dad." He hurried out of the room and into the parlor.

Evelyn wound her arms around Thomas and kissed him deeply. "I promise to make it up to you."

"You better make it up to me now." Thomas grabbed his wife's waist and dipped her.

Meanwhile James was in the parlor waiting for Sirius, Remus, and Peter to arrive. A whoosh and a thump later he saw Remus step from the huge fireplace. "Remus! Glad you could make it."

"Mum and Dad said that since it wasn't anywhere near the full moon I could come." Remus dropped his bag beside the fireplace and started to brush the soot from his clothes. "So what are we doing tonight, James?"

"Don't know. Mum won't tell me anything. I think if she has her way we'd be locked in the attic cleaning." James rolled his eyes slightly.

"Did you manage to get Sirius' mother to agree to the get together?"

"Yep. Dad talked her into it." James snorted once. "You wouldn't believe it. I think she was waiting for him to come over so she could jump his bones."

Sirius arrived with a whoosh, thump, and a huge cloud of soot. "My mother is so annoying."

"Why do you ay that, Sirius?" James smirked slightly.

"She wanted me to see if your dad would stop by to help keep the house elf in line." Sirius shook himself slightly as a pile of soot landed on the hearth. "I swear every time she hears his name it's like a tigress in heat."

Remus and James glanced at each other as another thump came from the fireplace. Peter stepped from the fireplace quietly. Peter glanced around the room looking for Griff.

"Peter, good to see you." Remus thumped him once on the back.

"Okay, men. We have the house to ourselves." Sirius heard James snort. "What now?"

"Mum's here. In fact let's take your stuff upstairs and get everyone settled before going down to supper." James led the group up to his room. "Remus, you can use the shower in here. Peter, you've got the one down the hall. My dear friend Sirius, you get to use Vee's."

Remus looked up from his bag. "Why can't I use Veronica's?"

"Because I promised her that you would stay out of her room." James shooed them slightly. "Go on. Get your showers."

"What are you going to do?" Sirius could barely be heard because his head was in his bag.

"I'm going to see if Mum and Dad are finished in the kitchen."

"Disgusting, Potter." Sirius hurried out of the room followed by Peter.

"Do you really think they're doing anything gross down there?" James glanced over at Remus.

"Nope. Not with a house full of hormone challenged teenagers." Remus carried his clothes into the bathroom and quickly showered.

When he emerged, his hair completely soaked, James was nowhere to be seen. He shrugged slightly and shoved his soot-covered clothes into his bag as Sirius and Peter returned from their showers.

"Come on. Let's go find some food." Sirius led them down to the kitchen where they could hear Evelyn yelling at James.

"How could you leave your friends upstairs like that, James Herbert Potter!" Evelyn didn't hear the other three boys stepping into the kitchen until Sirius gave a bark of laughter.

"Herbert? No wonder you never told us your middle name." Sirius gripped his stomach as he laughed even harder.

Suddenly they heard Veronica's voice. Remus took off like a shot causing Sirius to laugh harder than before.

"Mom? Dad?" She gazed around the empty parlor before she heard footsteps running in. Remus knelt before the fireplace. "Hi, Remus. Have you seen Mom or Dad?"

"They're coming. How's your party?" Remus leaned forward slightly.

"It's been fun so far. I can't wait to tell you about the..." Patricia kicked Veronica in the rear. "Knock it off, Patricia. I'm speaking to Remus not James." Veronica smiled as Evelyn and Thomas stepped into her line of sight. "Mom, Dad, I was wondering if one of you could pop over and bring me my camera?"

"Anything to get out of this house full of boys." Evelyn hurried from the parlor.

"I'll see you tomorrow sometime, Dad. Bye, Remus." She pulled her head back from the flames.

Remus sighed as he climbed to his feet. Thomas placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not to worry son. You'll get to see her tomorrow."

A whoosh and thump gave way to a cloud of soot as a strange man stepped from the fireplace. "Never again I tell you. That crazy woman shoved me in and tossed my bag on top of me. Now I'm covered with soot."

Thomas meanwhile had shoved Remus behind him and had his wand trained upon the man. "Who are you? Who sent you?"

"Who sent me? Why Evelyn Potter sent me. If you call shoving me into a fireplace sending me." The man stopped brushing at the soot covering clothes and extended a hand. "I'm Daniel Evans."

Thomas shoved his wand back into his pocket before gripping Daniel's hand. "Thomas Potter. The crazy woman, huh? I won't tell Evelyn you called her that."

Daniel's robust laughter filled the parlor. "Thanks. Damn soot." He slapped his hands against his pants as Thomas pulled out his wand again and cleaned the soot from Daniel. "Where's all the testosterone that Evelyn said was here?"

"Down in the kitchen most likely eating me from house and home." Thomas led them back to the kitchen. Peter, James, and Sirius were busy downing several sandwiches. "Boys, I want you to meet Daniel Evans. Daniel, that's my son, James, and his friends Sirius, Remus, and Peter."

"Good to meet the terrors that annoy my Lily." Daniel smiled as he sank into one of the chairs.

Hook poured Thomas and Daniel each a firewhiskey. "If you don't mind me asking, Daniel, but why are you here?" Thomas sank into the seat opposite him and reached for a sandwich.

"To tell you the truth, I forgot about Lily's little sleep over and managed to change nights with one of the other officers so that I could a nice quiet night at home. Rose was going to send me to a motel but then Evelyn told me to come here and help you." He bit into his sandwich. "That's when Evelyn shoved me and my bag into the fireplace."

"Sounds like Mum." James gulped down his pumpkin juice. "So, Dad. What are we going to do tonight?"

"Well. Now that Daniel is here, why don't we go to Hogsmeade? I'll just contact Alastor and get permission to create a Portkey." Thomas climbed to his feet and moved to the fireplace. Quickly he contacted Alastor Moody and had permission for the Portkey. "Okay, boys, we're all set. Go get your robes on."

The boys raced out of the room as Thomas and Daniel followed them. "Why do they need to change?"

"Oh that. Hogsmeade is an all Wizarding village. You'd look a little out of place in your Muggle clothes. Come on. I'll load you a set of my robes." Thomas led him to his and Evelyn's room. "Let's see." Thomas pulled out a set of emerald green robes. "These will be perfect. They'll match your eyes."

Daniel pulled off his sweater and stretched slightly before pulling the robes over his head. "Fits great."

"You look like you work out quite a bit." Thomas led the way back to James' room.

"When I get a day off from arresting crooks and writing tickets." Daniel rolled his emerald eyes slightly.

"You work in law enforcement? So do Evelyn and I."

"Really. Amazing how much we have in common."

"Yeah. Well I deal with the higher profile stuff. You know disappearances and attacks while Evelyn deals mostly with underage magic." Thomas shrugged. "I know of a few who get away with it, though I never let Evelyn know about it."

Daniel laughed as they stepped into James' room. The boys were in various stages of undress. Remus had his t-shirt halfway off his muscular but scared chest. He managed to pull the too small shirt off and shrugged into his new green robes with golden embroidery. Peter's pudgy body was stuffed into his plain brown robes. James and Sirius were fighting over which robes they should wear. Both had their shirts off and their muscles rippled as they shoved each other. Finally James pulled on a set of black robes with silver embroidery while Sirius pulled on a set of black robes with metallic blue embroidery. Daniel grabbed Thomas' arm and pulled him out into the hallway.

"What's with Remus' chest?" Daniel made sure the boys couldn't hear him.

Thomas quickly set up a Silencing Charm around them. "Remus is a werewolf. He'll have those scars forever."

"A werewolf? I didn't think they existed."

"They do. It's a shame that it had to happen to Remus. He's such a nice young man." Thomas shook his head.

"I remember Lily saying something about werewolves are considered dangerous but they are only dangerous on the nights of the full moon. Isn't that right?"

"Yes but some people are afraid of them no matter the time of the month." Thomas took down the Silencing Charm as he entered James' room again. "You have five minutes to get your butts downstairs."

"We're coming, Dad." James shoved his friends out the door.

Thomas pointed his wand at the parchment in his hand. "Portus!" The parchment glowed blue for a moment. "Just a finger will do, boys."

Once they all were touching the parchment, they felt the familiar jerk behind their navels. Daniel stumbled when they landed. James looked up at his dad who nodded and the four boys took off down the street with Daniel and Thomas hot on their heels.

"Where...are...they...going?" Daniel struggled to keep up with the teenagers.

"Most likely...Zonko's Joke Shop." Thomas and Daniel rushed into the joke shop.

James picked up a bag of Dungbombs while Sirius looked over Dr. Filibuster's Famous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. Remus was looking through the Hiccup Sweets as Peter picked up a Nose-biting Teacup.

"Can we get this stuff, Dad?" James turned to Thomas, as he and Daniel got closer to them.

"Sure. Get what you want as long as it isn't going to be used to torture Veronica or any of the girls at the sleepover." Thomas watched as the boys piled things onto the counter.

"That'll be five Galleons and three Sickles, sir." The clerk took the money from Thomas' hand.

"Let's go, boys." Daniel ushered the boys out into the warm summer night and allowed them to lead him to Honeydukes Sweetshop. "Oh boy. Just what I need...Chocolate."

Thomas followed them into the shop and watched as the boys loaded up on the various kinds of candies. Daniel even grabbed a few types of chocolate to try. Slowly the pile on the counter grew. "Hey, Daniel. Whatever you do, don't let the boys talk you into trying one of the Every Flavor Beans."

"Too late. Lily already got me with them." Daniel grabbed one of the boxes sitting in their pile. "It wasn't too bad once you got over the fact that you were eating gym socks. Hell, I even managed to get a couple of the guys at work to try them. They want more."

"No telling with some Muggles." Thomas tossed a dozen more boxes of the Every Flavor Beans into their pile. "That's all for now, boys. I don't want Evelyn to rip my head off."

"Twenty Galleons, Mr. Potter." The owner of the shop smiled brightly as Thomas paid her. "Have a good night."

The group slowly trouped out into the summer night. "Now where to, Dad?" James lugged on of the heavy sweet bags.

"How about the Three Broomsticks before we go?" Thomas looked over at Daniel who nodded.

"Sounds good to me." Daniel followed the others into the bright cheerful pub.

Thomas made his way to the counter. "Two firewhiskeys and four butterbeers."

"Right away, Thomas." Madam Rosemerta hurried to gather the drinks.

Thomas and Daniel managed to get the boys to a table near the back of the room as Madam Rosemerta brought the drinks to the table. Thomas and Daniel sipped their drinks while the boys seemed to fall asleep in theirs. Thomas finished his drink and went to pay the bill. Daniel gathered the bags as Thomas rushed the boys out of the pub as the real drinkers started to pile in.

"One more thing to do, boys." Thomas held out the parchment and they each held a finger to it.

The group landed in a heap on the kitchen floor. Daniel placed all the shopping bags on the table before helping Thomas drag the boys up to their beds. Once they finished undressing the boys they went back into the kitchen for another round of firewhiskey.

"Tonight was a blast. Maybe next time we could all go camping?" Daniel held out his glass for more firewhiskey.

"I think the boys would like that. I'll talk to Alastor and maybe Arthur Weasley and see if they want to come." Thomas glanced at the kitchen clock. "Time for bed or those boys will be ripping us to shreds."

"Lead the way." Daniel weaved on his feet slightly and followed Thomas to the guest room he would be sleeping in. "Good night."

"Good night." Thomas closed the door to his room as Daniel did the same.

"Boy the Wizarding World sure is great." Daniel collapsed across his bed fully clothed without realizing that Thomas was doing the same thing.