Almost Out the Door

Almost Out the Door

Harry Potter crept down the stairs, keenly aware of the voices coming from the kitchen. With luck, he'd be able to make it out of the house without anyone being the wiser.

Of course, Sirius knew where he was going. He didn't want his father putting out an all-hands alert for the son of the Minster of Magic who had suddenly gone missing from home. He only planned to be gone a few hours; with luck noone would be the wiser. He should have known better.

He froze momentarily as he heard his mother's laugh emanating from the room at the bottom of the stairs; her laughter sounded as if she were near the doorway and not sitting at the table. That would be trouble since he'd not be able to get a clear shot at making it to the fireplace if anyone was near the doorway.

Blast, and I'm already running late, Harry thought to himself. It's not that I mind them knowing, but I don't think I need the ribbing they'd put me through beforehand. What I went through with Sirius was more than enough.

When it sounded like his mother had moved back to the kitchen table, Harry continued down the stairs, and then out of nowhere a sound made its way through the silence. It was the second step from the bottom; it had suddenly decided to creak.

Bugger, almost made it! Harry cringed to himself as he heard his father ask what that sound was. The sounds of chairs scraping across the floor were immediately followed by the sound of several people making their way across the kitchen. His mother was the first one through the door.

"Harry James Potter, where do you think you're going?" Lily Potter asked with a stern look on her face that said she would brook no arguments from her only son.

"Um, I was going out?" Harry said as if he was asking a question. He fidgeted nervously on the stairway, his eyes darting to his father and his fellow Marauders who stood behind his mother. Sirius was slowly shaking his head, knowing full well what was going on, as if in mock disappointment. Harry could see a glint in his godfather's eyes that said he knew what was going to happen next.

"Out where, young man? I thought we agreed you'd finish your summer homework before going out to spend time with your friends?" Lily asked

"Well, I finished my homework," Harry said, a little bit too quickly.

"Oh really? And you forgot the part where you go over your homework with us?" Lily asked again, a smile forming on her face as she picked up on her son's nervousness.

"Oh no, it's just I knew Sirius, Remus and Peter were over, I didn't want to interrupt you." Harry told her, hoping she believed him.

"What's her name, Harry?" James asked from the doorway.

"Her? What are you on about, Dad?" Harry asked, looking up at his father, the blood draining from his face.

"Harry, I may not have Moony's sense of smell but even I can pick up on the cologne you're wearing, and if you were just visiting Ron or Hermione you wouldn't feel the need to sneak around," James said, struggling to keep a strait face. Remus, Peter and Sirius weren't even trying to contain their glee as they watched their friends interrogate their teenaged son.

Remus, suddenly feeling a bit mischievous, cleared his throat and said, "Prongs, unless I'm mistaken, the young lady's name is Ginny Weasley."

"Remus!" Harry groaned loudly as he sank to the staircase with an even louder thud.

"Ginny Weasley, you say?" James rubbed his chin as he said this, "Sweet, adorable, younger sister of your best friend Ginny Weasley?"

Shrugging his shoulders as he stood back up, he mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that dear? We couldn't quite hear you," Lily said, as she walked over to Harry and began trying to tame his unruly hair. She knew it was a losing battle, but some maternal instincts were hard to shake.

Harry mumbled just loud enough to be heard. "I said, 'Yes, Ginny Weasley.'"

"Why didn't you tell us, though? I mean, why try to give us the slip? That's not how we raised you, Harry," Lily said, stepping back to take a look at him. "Well, that's not how some of us raised you." She arched an eyebrow at her husband who pretended not to notice.

Sighing, Harry sat back down on the staircase. "Well, and keep in mind, Mum, that I love you and Dad but I knew I'd get a lecture."

"A lecture? We wouldn't do that to you, Harry," James said with a chuckle, "we're not Remus."

The Headmaster of Hogwarts had the good grace to mock a hurt and insulted look at this barb.

"I know, Dad, but..." Harry tried to say but was interrupted by his mother.

He was interrupted by his mother. "Harry, you realize you have to be very careful with Ginny. She's at an impressionable age now and..." Lily began

"And I'm what, a cradle robber? I'm only five months older then she is," Harry said indignantly.

"I know, dear, but from what Molly's told me, Ginny has been quite smitten with you for a while now," Lily told him.

Harry tried looking to his father for support, but came off looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming muggle automobile. As a result, his father and his friends were visibly shaking from the laughter they were trying to contain.

Deciding to try and divert his parents attention elsewhere, Harry called out to his godfather, "And a lot of help you were, Sirius. You were supposed to distract them while I got out of the house."

Ignoring the glares of Lily and James, Sirius simply responded, "Sorry, Bambi, I merely said I'd keep them occupied while you got ready. I never said I'd cover for you if you got busted."

Harry could see a small measure of his mother's temper begin to flare in her eyes as she turned her gaze from Sirius to Harry. "Harry James Potter, I can't believe you could act so irresponsibly. You're going to be sixteen in a couple of weeks, and from what Remus told us, you just barely managed to keep your spot on the Quidditch team after that last stunt you pulled at school." Harry had the grace to look down at his shoes and act ashamed and didn't notice Sirius trying to sneak out of the room, but his mother did. "And don't think I'm through with you, Sirius Black. Don't think I'm going to let you go so easily just because you finally got around to proposing to Julia."

Grinning, Sirius merely replied, "Sure, whatever you say Lily, and when Julia gets back from Paraguay, I'll tell her exactly who it was who beat me up."

"So Harry," Peter said, speaking up for the first time, "where were you planning on taking young Ginny Weasley?"

"Don't call her young Peter, she's my age," Harry told him, standing up somewhat defiantly, apparently working up his courage to try and reach the fireplace at some point in the next lifetime.

"Oh, but Harry, it's our responsibility," said Peter.

"It's our obligation," chimed Remus.

"It's our duty," added Sirius.

"It's our job to make sure you know what you're doing, Harry and don't act like a complete prat," James said, walking across to stand next to his wife.

"And to make sure you don't make the same mistake your father made when we went out on our first date." Lily couldn't help but grin as she said that.

"Lily Potter, what exactly was wrong with our first date?" James asked indignantly.

"Nothing at all, dear," Lily said soothingly, "if you like a two day long Quidditch match during the coldest days of the year."

"You didn't complain at the time," James shot back.

"I nearly caught pneumonia. I was stuck in the hospital wing for a week, and spent the next two catching up on all the work I missed," Lily replied.

Before James could offer up a response, their son suddenly falling to the floor in hysterical laughter interrupted him.

"And what, pray tell, is so funny, young man?" Lily glared at Harry as she said this, but he was looking past her to Remus.

Harry seemed to be struggling to restrain the laughter that had overcome him. Eventually he managed to fall silent, though his body was shaking with mirth. He locked eyes with Remus whose eyes suddenly brightened with recognition. This time he and Harry both broke out in laughter.

"What in blue blazes is so funny?" James asked, a faint trace of irritation in his voice.

Finally recovering, Harry straightened himself out and told his father what was so funny. "Sorry dad, it's just that for a moment there, you and mom sounded just like Ron and Hermione."

"And what's so funny about that, young man? They're your best friends." Lily was trying to sound menacing but was doing a poor job of it.

"What's so funny about it, Lily," Remus told the assembled crowd, "is that everyone in the school knows Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are madly in love with each other."

Before he broke out in laughter again, Harry managed to blurt out, "Except for them!"

"Okay, that's enough now. Let's get back to the issue at hand, Harry," James said stoically, trying to shake off the image of his son's teenaged friends bickering with each other. "What is it with Potter men and redheads?" His wife thwapped him across the stomach to silence him, Harry merely rolled his eyes.

"Alright, so can I go now, please? Ginny will probably think I've stood her up," Harry said, a rather pathetic whine in his voice.

"I suppose we can let you off," Lily told him, "but where are you taking her?"

Sighing in relief at his apparent victory, Harry told them, "To a Weird Sisters concert, and if we have time I thought we'd stop off at Florean Fortescue's for some ice cream."

"Well, all right," Lily said, "though I still like to know how you managed to get the tickets." She shot a glare at Sirius as she said this. "Just be sure to get her home at a reasonable hour."

"Yes mum," Harry replied.

"And don't forget to snog her," Peter shouted out, strategically placing himself behind Sirius and Remus.

"Peter!" Lily and Harry both cried out, though for vastly different reasons.

"Now, now Lily, I seem to remember that you didn't mind..." James started to say.

"James Potter, if you know what's good for you, you'll finish that statement later." Lily's eyes twinkled as she rounded on her husband.

Harry merely rolled his eyes at this and was shuffling his feet impatiently when the fireplace roared to life and Bill Weasley appeared in the flames.

"Ah, Harry, there you are. Ginny was wondering what was..." Bill began but then trailed off when he saw the assembled adults in the room. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting?"

"Just the inquisitorial squad," Harry muttered under his breath, earning slightly stern looks from his parents and sympathetic looks from the remaining Marauders.

"Don't worry, Bill, we're just giving dear Harry 'the lecture' for treating your sister properly on their date tonigh,." Sirius told his fellow Auror.

"Yes, snog her senseless, snog her repeatedly," James said.

"Dad!"

"James!"

"Minister!"

"Oh hush, if I can't have a teensy amount of fun teasing my son on the eve of his first date, what kind of father would I be?" James said calmly, ignoring the glares he was getting from his wife and son as well as Bill Weasley.

"Well, Harry, I think we've done our bit, so off with you now, or I suspect you'll be obliged to hex us into eternity before Ginny gets her hands on you for standing her up," Lily said with a gleam in her eye and soft smile on her lips. Harry leaned over and pecked his mother on the cheek before whispering his thanks in her ear.

Looking around the room at the gauntlet of assembled adults he'd have to run through to get to the fire, Harry suddenly wished he could be anywhere else, doing anything less embarrassing, like playing a game of Quidditch totally starkers, or kissing Snape in the Great Hall at dinner. Well, maybe not thatembarrassing.

He took a deep breath, sighed it out and then said, "RightwellseeyoualllaternicetoseeyouBillbyeMumbyeDadbyePadfootbyeRemusbyePeterIwontstayouttoolate."

And with that, Harry dashed across the room, grabbed some Floo powder from the mantle, threw it into the fireplace, called out "The Burrow!" With that he disappeared and all the remaining occupants of the room released a collective sigh of relief and headed back into the kitchen.

"Whew, glad that's over with. We were wondering if Harry would never ask her out," Bill said as he accepted a mug of tea from Lily who simply chuckled. "Be nice, Bill. How long did it take for you to ask out Dora?"

"We're just friends, if you don't mind. Besides, there's a new curse-breaker over at Gringotts that I've been thinking of asking out," Bill said airily, taking the ribbing in the spirit it was intended.

Lily raised an eyebrow at this, and looked like she was about to pursue it before Sirius jumped in to rescue his younger colleague. "I wonder if we should lend Harry a hand with his date." A dangerous twinkle danced in his eyes.

Remus merely groaned before asking what he had in mind.

"Oh, nothing too horrible. I was merely thinking it wouldn't hurt to have a photographer from the Daily Prophet at the concert, snap a few pictures for tomorrow's edition."

Lily Potter merely sighed as she leaned over to give her husband a peck on the cheek. He and his friends were insane at times, but she loved them anyway.

At the same time, in a rather odd looking house in the town of Ottery St. Catchpole, a young man with scruffy black hair was being given the once over by a rather stern looking, yet benign redheaded family of witches and wizards.

The last words he and his date heard as they disappeared into the Floo Network were, "And remember Harry, if you're running late, don't forget to give us a call on the fellytone!"