Harry Potter smiles and nods as he weaves his way through the raucous crowd of family that he calls his own. Hands reach out to stop him but he waves them away and pushes on through, eyes searching, longing. Somewhere among this crowd is a boy, a man, Harry corrects himself, who shares the same bright green eyes and messy black hair as him. A son who Harry loves dearly yet failed to protect as his own family drove him away, a son who Harry hasn't spoken to in two years.
He spots messy blonde hair disappearing down the hall in to the quieter living room and makes a beeline, skirting round the edges of groups dressed in matching woolly jumper and festive hats. Where Scorpius Malfoy goes, Albus Potter goes. Harry had heard that term from disgruntled family enough.
Reaching the doorway into the hall Harry blinks at his wife as he passes her, her red hair is radiant and her smile large. She stops him gently,
"Who are you looking for?" Her brown eyes view him with concern, the longing and grief of not speaking to Al must be evident on his face.
"Albus" Harry murmurs, not quite looking Ginny in the eye. A warm hand tilts his chin up gently till green eyes meet brown. The eyes Harry sees are full of understanding and he remembers why he married this wonderful woman.
"Go on, I saw him earlier, he promised to come through for the meal" She reassures him and presses a soft kiss to his cheek. The moment lingers a second as one sometimes does when an understanding passes between two lovers.
"God I love you Gin, you're so good with him" Harry murmurs, kissing her soft hair.
"I love you more Mr Potter, and so are you when Jamie isn't around" Ginny whispers back, wrapping small strong arms around his waist and laying her face against his chest, he can feel the warmth through his thin blue shirt. "Go see him; he's just shy because he hasn't spoken to the majority of us for a while."
"Al was always shy"
"No more so than you can be" She kisses him once more and continues on towards the kitchen, not looking back. Harry groans, why was Gin so good at this? God it was his own son and he was scared!
He remembers the first letter they ever received from Al when it all started going wrong. A short note to say he was in Slytherin and had loads of friends and everybody was really nice and the beds were comfy, the part of the letter Harry remembered with the most clarity however was the final line,
"I wish Jamie would talk to me again, see that I'm still me, I'm still Albus Severus Potter, and that I love him and I miss my wonderful funny brother who could always make me laugh."
Harry wasn't really sure if they ever spoke again. He knew that Al had been bullied by James and his cousins and had written to James to ask him to stop. James had never replied but Albus never spoke of his brother again and Harry had been relieved. When Lily started it became obvious just how bad the problem was, the reason Al never spoke of James bullying him was because James would hex Scorpius if he did and Albus couldn't stand his friend being hurt on his account, so he simply stopped writing.
The final straw for Al came in late third year, during the last match quidditch match of the season, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, Al had been playing seeker, and had spotted the Snitch, and Gryffindor was going to win. Out of pure spite James had chucked a beaters bat at the back of his brother's head, breaking his skull.
Harry still shuddered as he remembered seeing Al on the bed in the hospital wing. All wrapped up, unaware his father was there as he slept peacefully. Harry had looked down on his beautiful little face and realised that Albus was more peaceful sleeping than Harry had seen him in years. He would spend the family gatherings fending off remarks about his sexuality and relationship with Scorpius from every cousin and sibling but Lily and pointedly ignoring the pitying looks from everybody else.
His only supporters had been his sister, his mother and father, aunt and grandparents. Harry liked to think that his own parents would have supported Al too but they weren't around so they didn't count.
Then Al had woken, looked straight at Harry and said,
"Get out" So afraid his son would hurt him again Harry had fled, briefly bumping into Scorpius Malfoy at the entrance to the hospital wing he had whispered
"Look after him for me" before leaving his son for what turned out to be a very long two years. Albus had moved in with the Malfoys. Spent a Christmas and two summers with them to date, this was the first time Harry had seen him since that incident.
James's bullying at school had stopped after Albus stood up to him. Much to everybody but Harry and Ginny's surprise Albus turned into a very powerful wizard. Harry had a letter from Lily which he still had tucked away in his desk explaining what had happened. James had tried to hex Albus secretly from across the hall, but somehow, (and Harry was very proud of him for this) he had seen it coming. Having drawn his wand faster than Lily said she had ever seen Daddy draw his he blocked it and retaliated without a single word leaving his mouth.
Due to it being Lunchtime there were very few teachers about so the fight had got rather out of hand before it was stopped. James's best friends Jack and Fred had joined as had Scorpius. Lily said despite the seventh years knowing more spells and their being three of them Al and Scorpius had had the upper hand, nonverbally blocking and shooting and working absolutely perfectly together without a single word. Fred, who had always been a weak dueller, got caught out by a pertrificus totalus sent by Scorpiusearly on, making the fight even. It was Teddy Lupin who eventually found the fight, and shouted at them to stop. Al and Scorpius had obeyed and began only to defend themselves, but James ignored the order from his God-Brother and carried on trying to get the younger boys. A couple of stunning hexes later and Jack and James were out. All five boys got six weeks detention and James was suspended for a month. Harry and Ginny were told rather abruptly to get their child under control before he got back to school. Needless to say James never picked another fight with Albus again.
Harry shook himself gently and continued down to the living room. Peering in through the tinsel wrapped doorframe he could see Scorpius lying on the couch.
"Dad?" Harry spun around. Standing behind him with two glasses of champers was Albus, green eyes brighter than he had seen them since before Al's first year and black hair long and stuck up. Harry watched him carefully put the glasses on the table and wondered what his son was going to do. Suddenly strong arms were around him; he allowed himself to relax and fiercely hugged his son back.
"I've missed you Al" Harry murmured into his sons neck rubbing his hand up and down Al's back, "and I'm so sorry about James we should of.."
Al cut him off.
"Jamie was never your fault Dad, he was just jealous. He was always your son you see." Albus stepped back to explain,
"People knew who I was; I was Albus Potter, the Slytherin. Not him, in that quidditch match he didn't throw the bat at me just because he could. He wanted to make a name for himself, the commentator, some idiot Hufflepuff kept referring to me as Albus and him and Harry Potters other son. That's partly why he had Mia, I've spoken to him about it, he found me in school recently to talk to me, he wanted me to be her God – Father and we're good now."
Just like that. Harry was amazed, after five year of constants dispute between his sons they were suddenly getting on.
"You and James are talking" Harry just couldn't believe it.
"Yeah," Al looked a bit sheepish, "We even took Lily out for lunch together in that new restaurant in Hogsmeade the other day. The guy nearly fainted when he saw the Potter kids were his second customers and wanted a photo of the three of us to hang above the table we sat at. Lily thought it was hilarious and offered to sign it too."
Harry smiled at this; Lily always had been a bit more protected from the fame than her brothers.
"You and James are talking?" Harry repeated himself once more.
"That's what Mum said too" Harry turned again to where James was standing just inside the front door, he hadn't heard him come in. He had Mia in his arms, wrapped up and covered in snow and his newest girlfriend was standing just behind him, Harry was briefly surprised by this. After her reaction to Mia, James's accidental sixth year baby, Harry wasn't sure she'd stay.
"I thought you were going out all evening, that's how we persuaded Al to come!" Harry said accusingly, looking from one grinning son to the other. Savannah quietly excused herself.
"I said I would surprise you, which was the only reason Al agreed!" Harry had to laugh at this. When they had been very little the boys had been as thick as thieves. It was nice to see them regaining that now.
Ginny and Lily appeared from the kitchen to fetch them for dinner but stopped when they saw them all standing in the hall way staring at one and other.
"What's happened?" Lily said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.
"Dad can't believe we're talking, that's all."
"Oh that" Ginny grinned, Harry spluttered,
"You knew!"
"Of course I did" Ginny scoffed then looked around at her children. "Come here, all of you!"
Harry joined the consensual hug. Ginny then him, then Al then James and Mia and Lily. For a moment they all stood in a circle. Heads down. Together. Everybody had a hand on everybody else and after five years of fighting and arguing and stressing Harry's whole family was together again. Mother. Father. Son. Son. Daughter and Grandaughter. Complete.
Mia gave a squawk of protest as she was squeezed and wrapped her little arms around James's neck. Everybody laughed and begin to break apart.
"You're so good with her" Lily laughed to James as he detached Mia from him and began to take off her many layers of outdoor clothing. James smiled and kissed Mia's head.
"She's easier to get along with than you lot I'll tell you" Albus scowled jokingly,
"Here let me see my god daughter"
Harry had to smile as Al studied her furiously,
"She looks like you Jim Jam"
James groaned,
"Everybody says that!"
Then Harry began to laugh and Mia joined in, giggling away to herself. Then Lily, Ginny and James started laughing and Scorpius came out of the living room for dinner and Harry was happy to see James neither flinched nor cared as Albus strode over and hugged and kissed Scorpius and then they began laughing also. In fact James was too busy gazing at Mia, who Harry had to admit he was a good father too, to care. And after all, why should he, why should any of them?
Harry laughed that day because he was happy. He laughed because out of all the hardships he had faced and the argument he had had, James and Albus hating each other hurt him more than anything, so he laughed because he was glad. Glad that it was over.