"The simply things in life, like girls and knickers get exponentially more complicated as you get older." – Danielle Juarez

A/N: This is the sequel to Harrowing the Dragon. You should read Harrowing the Dragon, because it is a good story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but if I did you can bet that Remus and Tonks wouldn't have died.

The Children of Potter

Chapter One

Girls, Boys and James Potter

James Potter liked girls. He had always been fond of girls, even his little sister, Lily. Sure they could be annoying at times, but for the most part he liked them. They were easy to get mad, easy to play with, they were like boys, except they were girls. As he got older he began to realize that he really liked to look at girls. They were different from boys and that baffled James. He always sort of knew that girls were different from boys, why else would they be called girls instead of boys?

James Potter was seven (going to be eight in three days) when he finally asked his father, Harry Potter, why girls were called girls and boys were called boys. He also wanted to know why he liked looking at girls' knickers so much. Girls always wore pretty knickers. Pink little knickers with flowers all over them, or sometimes with pictures of princesses from stories, or his favorite plain white knickers. James Potter liked simple knickers.

On a girl of course.

He did not really see their appeal if he was just holding a pair.

James looked up at his father. He had yet to answer his son, and said son was getting antsy. James did not like sitting still, something his mother always told him was going to be a problem when he finally went off to school. But he had plans with his brother to go search for his presents. Asking his father why girls always wore the prettiest knickers had been an afterthought.

An ill advised decision it seemed.

He had just asked in passing, expecting a simple two or three word answer that he could absorb and then move on with the rest of his day. But his father seemed to think differently. Harry had pulled him into his office and sat him down on one of the plush leather chairs in his cozy office. James started to kick his legs, effectively marking up the once flawless leather chair. His father did not seem to notice, so James continued.

Harry was pacing. He would stop every once and a while, start to say something and then stop, shake his head and keep on pacing. James did not see what the big deal was. If he was not supposed to know what made him like girls so much, then he guessed that would be okay.

Maybe he could ask Teddy.

Teddy seemed to like girls just as much as James. He was always talking about girls. But James thought, maybe that was just something that fourteen year olds were supposed to do. Teddy really did not talk about lots of girls, the way James tended to. He only really talked about Victoire. James did not see his cousin as all that appealing. He never once saw her knickers, for starters and she was his cousin, she might as well not be a girl as far as James was concerned. Like his sister. Sure she looked like a girl and people called her a girl, but that did not make her a girl.

As Harry continued to pace, James started separating the girls in his life into two groups. Girls he liked to look at. And girls that really did not count as girls, or girls he did not like to look at. He was seven after all, almost eight, it was time he got this sort of thing sorted out. Girls he liked to look at had to be pretty, with pretty knickers. Girls he did not like to look at involved….. Well, just about any girl he was related to.

Finally Harry stopped, knelt in front of James and grabbed his shoulders.

"What exactly do you want to know?" Harry asked. James blinked at his father. In his mind he could not have been clearer.

"Why are girls called girls and boys called boys?" James asked again, only this time louder and slower. Harry closed his eyes and sighed.

"Yes, I know that question."

"Then answer it." James Potter was nothing if not direct.

"Girls are called girls because they were born that way-" Harry began

"What way?"

"With girl parts." James squinted at his father and let the term 'girl parts' roll around in his head for a while.

"What are girl parts?" he asked. Harry straightened up and rubbed his hands all over his face. James knew this gesture, his father only did it when he was not sure how to answer something. Harry started pacing again.

"You've seen how your mother and I are different, physically, haven't you?" he asked. James tipped his head to the side and thought.

"Mum's shorter than you and has long hair. I suppose she's differently shaped, like Aunt Hermione or Aunt Luna. They've all got boobies, which you haven't got," James said.

"You won't get boobies." Harry stopped pacing and stood in front of James.

"Well, I know that much. Boobies are girl thing. Only girls get them. Like pink knickers, only girls get pink knickers," James pointed out, in case his father did not know.

"Yes, that is true. Boobies, or breast, are considered girl parts. Only girls have them-" Harry began.

"What about that bloke down at the market, he's got boobies, but I know he's a boy, he's got a beard and everything-" James said as the thought struck him, maybe boobies were not just a girl thing.

"Yes, yes, I know, and believe me he knows too. But he hasn't got proper breasts and he's only got them because he's fat. Boys aren't supposed to have breasts only girls are. Breasts are something that makes girls different from us boys. There is also another part of a girl that makes her different from a boy-"

"Which girl are you talking about?"

"All girls."

"Oh. What is it then?"

"Bugger," Harry mumbled under his breath. He knelt down in front of James again. "It's called a…… bugger."

"A bugger?" James asked in disbelief, he always thought those came out of your nose. And if he got buggers, it made sense that girls would too. Buggers could not be something that made boys different from girls. Not if he got them too.

"No, not a bugger. It's called a vagina," Harry said, patting James on the knee.

"A vagina," James said. He thought on that word. It sounded familiar. "I think Teddy's talked about one of those before." Harry's eyes got wide. "He said that he liked them, even though they were funny looking. At least I think that's what he said."

"I'm going to have to have a chat with Teddy."

"What is a vagina?" Harry sighed again and scratched his head.

"You know where your penis is?" he asked.

"You mean Henry?" James asked.

"What?!"

"I named it. Teddy said that he named his, so I named mine. It's name is Henry," James said.

"Brilliant. Well, girls don't have penises."

"Well, I knew that. Penises are like boobies to boys, only we get them."

"Yes, instead of penises girls get vaginas. In the same place that a penis would be. Between the legs," Harry said, somewhat unsure.

"Oh, so that's what knickers cover up?"

"Yes."

"What do vaginas do?" James asked.

"Come again?"

"Penises are for peeing with. What do vaginas do?" James asked, again.

"Vagina's are for peeing with as well," Harry said.

"Oh."

"And for having babies-"

"How do babies come from a vagina?" James asked.

"Do you remember when your mum had Lily?" Harry asked.

"Sure! She got real fat for a couple months but you told me I couldn't call her fat even though she was." Harry tried to stop his son, to make a point, but it was like trying to stop a speeding train by stepping in front of it. There was just no stopping James Potter once he got started. "Then we went to the hospital for hours and hours. And I got real tired until Teddy taught me how to nick sugar cubes from the Tea Room. And then you took me and Al into a room where mum was holding Lily." Harry opened his mouth. "And when I asked you where Lily came from, you said she came from mum. And-"

"She did," Harry said, quickly. "Your mum was so fat because Lily was growing inside of her, and as Lily grew bigger, your mum got fatter." James' eyes got wide.

"Lily was inside of mum?" He asked, slowly.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Was I inside of mum?"

"Yes."

James sat quietly for quite a while staring at his father. He eventually squinted at Harry in disbelief. "Well, if that's true, how did we get out? Was Al inside of mum? Why weren't we inside of you? How did we get there?" he asked.

"Yes, Albus was inside of mum too. You weren't inside of me because only girls can have babies. I don't have the proper parts to have a baby and nor do you. Having babies is something only girls can do, when they reach a certain age. When a man and a woman get married they do something called sex, which I'll tell you about when you're older. And babies come from sex and come out of mums through their vaginas."

"That's where all babies come from?"

"Yes."

"So, I came from mum's vagina?" James asked.

"Yes."

"I don't remember that."

"Well, you were very little when it happened," Harry said.

"How little?"

"Not even a second old, James, we'll talk about this some more as you get older. Now, that's in generally why girls are called girls and boys are called boys. Now, you like knickers so much probably because someday, a long while from now, you'll have feelings for a girl like I have for your mum. And you'll get married and have babies, a long, long time from now."

James sat quietly again. "So, girls are called girls because they have vaginas and boys are called boys because we have penises? And I like knickers because I want to get married and have babies someday?" he asked.

"Yes," Harry said, standing up.

"Well, why couldn't you just say that?" James demanded standing up. "I have presents to find." He slipped past his father and out the door to Albus who had been sitting there waiting.

"So, why do we find knickers so…… I dunno cool?" Albus asked as he and James scurried down the hall.

"Dad said its because we want to get married and have babies when we grow up," James said.

"Why'd it take so long to find that out?"

"Well, you know Dad, don't you?"

Harry leaned against the doorway to his office and muttered, "I am so screwed."