James couldn't sit still.

He had been waiting outside Lily's hospital room for nearly 15 minutes without any word. She had gone into labor nearly 14 hours before, with no sign of a baby yet. While James had tried to be comforting, he was too much of a nervous wreck to be much help. His constant pacing and wringing of hands had been enough to drive Lily to dismiss him to the hallway. James couldn't blame her.

All of this waiting had given him time to think. He and Lily had chosen to not learn the gender ahead of time. The truth was, he was dying to know. Why had he listened to Lily?

He couldn't decide if a boy or a girl would be better. Sure, it'd be nice to have a daughter, a beautiful baby girl, but he didn't know the first thing about raising a girl. And if it happened to be a boy? James didn't know how to raise a son either. What if he grew up to have nothing in common with James? What would he do if he ended up being exactly like James? He didn't think he couldn't handle all of the pranks and trouble he had gotten into as a kid.

Then he started thinking of all of the things he had screwed up in the past. What if he screwed up fatherhood? It never occurred to him until this moment that he might fail in raising a child. What would Lily think?

He was just about to have a full-on panic attack when a nurse walked calmly out of the room.

"Mr. Potter?", she called, and James nearly fell out of his chair.

"Yes?" His voice seemed to fail him, as all that came out was a squeak.

The nurse seemed to be unfazed by his nervousness. "Congratulations, you have a healthy baby. Your wife's ready to see you now."

James' legs had seemed to turn to jelly, but he somehow made it to the door. He attempted to flatten his hair, which was now even messier than usual, with no success. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Lily was lying in the bed, red hair astray and covered in a sheen of sweat, but James had never seen her so glowing and beautiful. She looked up at him with smiling eyes. He looked down to see a baby wrapped in a blue blanket, resting in her arms. James walked over and embraced her, feeling more proud of his wife than ever before.

"He's beautiful", whispered Lily, and though James felt her crying, she was wearing the biggest smile he'd ever seen.

"He," said James, feeling himself wearing a goofy smile as well. "So that means-"

"Harry." answered Lily. "Harry James Potter."

James looked at his son for the first time. He was like a miniature James. He had the same noble complexion, and despite being born just minutes before, already had sprouts of messy black hair.

Before he could properly react, Lily was putting Harry into James' arms. As soon as Harry's head rested on James, Harry looked upon his father for the first time.

James felt his eyes well up with tears. Those eyes. The very same emerald green eyes he had fallen in love with. The same ones who had looked up at him hopefully after his first kiss with Lily. The same ones that had shined with excitement after he asked Lily out for the first time. The same ones that had filled with tears of happiness when he proposed to Lily. The same ones that had sparkled with happiness when Lily told him she was expecting. The same ones that had made him feel things he'd never felt before. The same ones that he had fallen in love with.

There were two looking up at him right now, with a sense of curiosity and hopefullness.

"Hi Harry," James said, but he could barely trust his voice to work because he was on the verge of crying. "I'm your dad."

Harry smiled for the first time and James felt the tears rolling down his face. Lily threw her arms around him, and they became a heap of crying joy.

All of the insecurities he had felt. All of the worries he had. All of the worst case scenarios he had made in his head.

None of that mattered. Nothing else but Harry mattered.