A/N: This fic is a request from AnnMarie94, I hope you like it :) I also wanted to clarify something that I skip over in the fic, but I think some of you may be interested in. In this fic James Remus and Sirius are all professors at Hogwarts. James teaches advanced classes to small groups (so for example, he may teach the animagus transformation to a group of 10, and teach dualing to a group of 12). Sirius took over history of magic, and Remus is tutoring students who need extra help.
Harry stood face to face with the massive form of his father's animagus. Prongs nostrils flared, and Harry felt the warm breath buff against his face seconds before his father tossed his head, trying to encourage him to mount. In the distance a resounding howl from Moony was answered by an equally loud howl from Padfoot, causing both father and son to jump a bit, before settling. Both howls had been happy, playful even. Far more playful than either animal had sounded upon discovering Harry in the forest a few minutes earlier.
Prongs tossed his head even more sharply, letting out another huff. While Moony and Padfoot may be friendly, it didn't mean that everything stomping around in the forest would be. Growing up with Remus, who was always eager to ensure that Harry didn't go out into the forbidden forest, Harry knew better than most that the Forbidden Forest was filled with all sorts of things that would love to eat him, or worse. The danger that the forest presented was part of the reason that he entered in the first place.
This time Harry obeyed his father's head toss, scrambling up onto the massive back in a way that could only be managed with long practice. Prongs took of almost immediately, long legs gliding over the uneven forest floor without any trouble at all. This far in, the forest was just a maze of trees and dense undergrowth, with one section almost identical to the next, but his father seemed to know the exact path to take. It had taken Harry nearly two hours to get deep enough into the forest to run into the marauders (and it was just in line with Harry's luck that in a massive, creature infested forest he would run into the creatures he wanted to see least). It took no more than 10 minutes from the time that Harry climbed onto his father's back, until he could feel the tingle of reentry into Hogwarts wards.
James stopped just inside of Hogwarts wards, and Harry slid off the back of Prongs. By the time Harry had righted himself and turned to face his father, James was standing, arms crossed, eyes flashing.
Harry opened his mouth, not quite sure what he was going to say to defend himself. He didn't have to worry about it too much, because James beat him to the punch.
"The next words out of your mouth better be that Hogwarts is ablaze and overrun with death eaters, because there is no other reason that I can think of as to why any student, and especially my son would be out and about after curfew, in the forbidden forest, on a full moon." James tone was clam in a way it only got when Puddlemere United was having a losing season, or when Harry was in really big trouble. Harry didn't care, he was done putting up with all this utter crap everyone was spewing at him.
"I can take care of myself."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me! It's none of your bloody business. I finished the tri-wizard tournament on my own, I fought Voldemort on my own, and I've dealt with dementors on my own, and death eaters, and Umbridge. I certainly don't need your help to deal with a wear on wolfsbane, and a mangy mutt!" Harry was yelling, glairing up into James flashing eyes. Suddenly, his ear was being pinched between his father's fingers, and he was being drug towards the castle.
"Oww! Let g-"
"I don't know what has gotten into you Harry James, but you very well know I have never put up with this behavior, and I'm not about to start. Merlin knows it's been a rough year for us, especially for you. That does not excuse your behavior. You do not have a free pass to be disrespectful towards others, especially towards myself, Sirius and Remus. And just because you have had some hair raising experiences does not give you the right to put your life endanger by wondering around outside in the forbidden forest."
"Dad-"
"I really have no interest in hearing it at this moment Harry. You've been disrespectful, uncooperative, and have been in a horrendous mood for weeks now. I've been fending off your teachers, my colleges, left and right. I hoped that if given some time you would either come to myself or one of your uncles, or sort it out amongst yourself and your friends. Clearly that was a mistake, because tonight my son wonders into the forbidden forest that he knows contains all sorts of dangerous creatures including a werewolf, on a full moon."
"He had wolfsbane"
"Which is not a guarantee. Wolfsbane is an incredibly finicky potion. The brewing is beyond difficult, it has to be taken at the exact same time each day, and one can build up an immunity to it quite suddenly. Had Moony not been correctly drugged, he would have been off after you before Sirius or I realized what was happening. Do you have any idea what that would have done to Remus when he woke the next morning?
"It's not like-" Harry started, attitude dripping off of every word.
"I don't want to hear it." James pushed open the doors to the castle. "It's half gone one in the morning, I'm tired, short tempered, and utterly fed up with this little attitude you have. We are going to my quarters, you are going to your room, and to bed. Lucky for us tomorrow is Saturday, so we should have the whole day to discuss what exactly went so very wrong here."
"I don't want to go-"
"And I don't much care at the moment." Harry stared at his father in a bit of shock. While it was true that his father expected good behavior, he was also a man with seemingly endless patience. James was always willing to talk, to hear Harry's side of the story. He was always eager to teach Harry how to avid certain situations, or how to overcome problems. The last time Harry could remember his father being this upset with Harry was at the end of second year, when he went into the Chamber of Secrets without consulting with a (qualified) adult. Harry could remember walking up to Dumbledore's office with Ron, a barely conscious Ginny, and a very confused Lockhart. His father had been terrified, pacing back and forth, and once he saw Harry, shaking hands had grabbed his shoulders, turning him one way and then the other, searching for any injuries. Then he had pulled harry into a crushing hug. Once the group had explained how they had found themselves in the chamber, James started lecturing. It was the closest Harry had ever seen his father come to outright yelling at him.
James tapped his wand sharply onto the blank concrete wall, causing a cheery red door to grow from the wall. James grabbed the handle, and quite suddenly let out a yelp releasing both the door handle and Harry's ear. James quickly conjured a mirror, and stared at his reflection in horror. He was currently featuring the green and red stripes of the Caerphilly Catapults. Harry's snort snapped him out of his stupor.
"Looks like uncle Padfoot is two ahead now." James didn't respond to his son's comments, instead banishing the mirror, before carefully pushing open the doors to his quarters (avoiding the knob).
"In." Harry entered without argument, heading towards the couch in the living room.
"I don't think so Mr. Potter. You can head right to bed."
"I'd rather not, thanks."
"Harry" James stopped and took two deep breaths. Harry had never been a particularly easy child. James loved his son more than life itself, but with James love of mischief, Lily's temper, and Hogwarts as a backdrop Harry was forever getting into some little bit of trouble. But it was always just that, a bit of trouble here and there, albeit more recently it was dangerous trouble. Harry's bad attitude, and outright defiance was completely new though, and James briefly wondered if it was related to his son's recent brush with Voldemort or if it was just a phase his teenaged son was going through.
"It wasn't a request. You can go to your room of your own volition, or you can get a spanking and then go to your room."
Harry hesitated, sending one last glare before making his way over to his room, slamming his door behind him.
James sighed, rubbing his eyes before heading into his own room.
Harry jumped, suddenly awakened with the angry growl of his godfather still ringing in his ears. He pulled himself out of bed, rushing out of his room. Sirius was someone who was always looking for the next laugh. So much so that his history of magic classes had become the most loved classes in all of Hogwarts. House ghost acted out battles, often collimating in fireworks. Students acting out battles often launched dungbombs down hallways and into classrooms with the full knowledge and approval of Sirius. There was often spontaneous laughter so loud that other professors would storm into the class to complain of the noise. For Sirius to be upset enough to be yelling in the hallway something had to be seriously wrong.
When Harry made it to the living room, the only person in it was James. Still in pajama pants and a tee shirt, his father had a cup of steaming tea sitting on the table, and the Daily Prophet in his right hand.
"Morning kiddo. There's breakfast on the table." James managed to get his customary morning greeting out before the door was flung open, without any knocking at all.
Harry watched in a stunned silence as his usually cheerful godfather stormed into the Potter's quarters. Sirius was muttering curses under his breath, and if not exactly stomping his feet, allowing them to fall heavily. He was dressed in the bright blue and gold of Puddlemere United, his hair and skin also gleamed in the blue and gold of Puddlemere, which completely confused Harry for a moment until he remembered the night before, when James had a similar experience upon grabbing the door handle to the Potter's quarters.
James continued reading his paper as he spoke to Sirius.
"Have some breakfast Padfoot…. The Macaws are having a winning streak this year, speculation abound that they are going to make the World Series."
Sirius ignored James commentary, instead focusing on a still somewhat shocked Harry.
"You, Mr. Harry James Potter are in more trouble than you can handle. Out of all the rules that you could have possibly broken, you choose to go skipping through the forest under the light of a full moon!"
James continued to skim over the paper. Allowing Sirius to give a bit of a lecture wouldn't hurt either party involved, might even do some good. Sirius tended to favor the fun uncle roll, buying Harry ridiculously expensive presents, imparting dating advice, and giving inspiration for pranks. However on the rare occasions that Harry did something serious enough for his godfather to feel the need to lecture him, Sirius had no problem doing such. Contrary to James, who had a long, slow to burn fuse, and who made it a point to never yell at his son, lectures from Sirius often consisted of shouting, pacing and wildly gesturing arm movements.
This lecture was no exception, as Sirius stomped from to one room to another, yelling about recklessness, and responsibility as he swung his arms in wide arcs which were occasionally interrupted by sharp jabs of his finger in one direction or another.
Harry stood still, listening to his godfather rant and rave, until there was a pause in the lecture. The unspoken "what do you have to say for yourself" was quite clear. Harry spoke just as clearly.
"Not going out during the full moon is a stupid rule. You and dad both go out trampling through the forest, and you've never even faced Voldemort. I can take care of myself, and so if I want to go out, I'll go out if I please."
At this declaration James sat down his newspaper, looking between his best friend and his son.
"Excuse me?" James demanded.
"You heard-"Sirius cut off Harry's smart remark before he could get it all out.
"You know what? You need a new attitude because yours absolutely stinks! A bloody good hiding will do you some good." Sirius marched towards Harry, whose eyes widened dramatically.
James also felt his eyes widen a bit. If it was rare for Sirius to give out lectures, anything more than that was virtually unheard of. The occasional swat, or essay was just about as harsh as Sirius got. In fact the last time that Sirius had administered an actual spanking had been when a four year old Harry had directly disobeyed a request from Sirius, nearly resulting in broken bones. Sirius had given the child a handful of swats and a bit of corner time. The whole incident upset Sirius (who moped around for days after) more than Harry, who had been utterly fine the moment he was allowed out of his time out.
"You can't!" Harry protested.
"Harry, he is your godfather, and make no mistake, if Padfoot thinks you need a spanking, then you very well know he has my permission to do so. However," James turned towards Sirius "I do want to personally handle the little incident last night. If you still feel he owes you for the disrespect after our discussion, then you can settle up with Harry."
Sirius glared for a moment.
"Fair enough Prongs."
"Good. Now that that's settled I want you both to go get some breakfast."
Harry didn't reply, but since he headed over to the counter holding an assortment of breakfast foods, James chose not to push the matter. Sirius, whose temper always burnt out fast, did reply, once again in good humor.
"Yes mother."
"Make sure to wash your hands before you grab a plate, and don't skimp on the fruit and veg, it's good for a growing lad."
Breakfast was a relatively quiet affair, and Sirius quickly excused himself afterwards, claiming that he was planning on grabbing some papers to grade, and heading to the infirmary in order to babysit Remus.
Once he left, James looked at his son for a moment.
"In your room I should think." He said softly, before standing and making his way there. Harry followed closely behind.
The older man took a seat on the desk chair, which had been turned to face the bed where harry was sitting.
"Why Harry?"
"I can take care of-"
"No. I want the real reason, not an overused one-liner. If this was about being able to take care of yourself the smarter choice would have been not to go out into the woods at all."
"That is the real reason. No one believes anything I say! Everyone treats me like I can't do anything, like some brain addled two year old. I fought Voldemort," Harry felt tears well up in his eyes. Ignoring them he continued on. "I brought back Cedric's body, I warned everyone, and because they are all too scared to accept Voldemort is back, they buy into the ministry bull. The Daily Prophet is calling me a liar, everyone is avoiding me, and even Ron and Hermione are too caught up in each other to talk to me."
James felt the breath leave him for a moment.
"Oh Harry. You know you have nothing to prove to anyone. You don't need to be a hero, or a savior, or the chosen one. You know that right? " James waited a second and when there was no reply he continued on. "I wish your grandfather was still alive. As a public figure you will always be in the news. Frankly there's not much we can do about it, but he had a way of manipulating the media so skillfully that they didn't even realize they had been duped. Unfortunately I inherited more of my mother's blunt nature than my father's skill with words. And you, you never even had a chance between your mum and me. There's really not much we can do about the paper. It will blow over though, they will find a new story, and you'll become old news. As for Ron and Hermione, they are still in their honeymoon phase, and I know it came at a horrible time for you, but in a few months they will realize that they aren't the last two people in the world, and will start interacting with you more. This will blow over, just like it always does. Until then, just remember that you have people that love you, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Severus, Mini, Uncle Moony, Uncle Padfoot, and myself, just to name a few."
"You all expect me to act like nothing ever happened. You expect me to worry about homework, and Quidditch, and girls, and such like I'm just a child. You won't even give me any extra training."
"Bambi" James hadn't used the nickname in years, but it felt familiar and comfortable on his lips. "Let me make something perfectly clear. You are a child, my child. You are receiving some occlumency training from Severus, and dueling lessons, but I don't want you overloaded, your school comes first. When you turn 17 you can make the decision to take on as much training as you would like, or to drop out of Hogwarts and go backpacking in the alps and there will be nothing I can do about it. Until then, you are a child under my supervision, and you will do your best in school, and have fun playing Quidditch, and have a good, long happy childhood."
Harry and James sat in silence for a few moments before James continued on.
"I had friends in Hogwarts who joined the war efforts when were just children, 14 and 15 year olds that the ministry accepted into a junior auror program. I begged my father for months to let me join, and he refused ever time. I was furious at the time. I was among the best students in my year group, and I wanted to be an auror when I graduated, I wanted to fight in the war. Others my age were doing the same, getting to see action, and there I was, stuck in boring old Hogwarts. It wasn't long after I sent a letter to my father threating to run away from home and go to war on my own that the Prophet covered a story about the ministry closing down the junior auror program. A raid on a death eater house resulted in a battle killing all but 6 of the junior auror, out of the 6 that survived, 4 had severe mental and physical trauma, all of whom still reside in Saint Mungo's, the other two eventually recovered from psychological trauma. I understand your desire to fight. I understand that because of the prophecy you think that you have to. You need to understand that as your father it is my job to protect you. Losing your mother nearly killed me, I wouldn't survive loosing you too. I'm doing my best to keep you safe, but I need you to work with me. You're old enough to know better than to put yourself in dangerous situations, but if I have to I'll set up a schedule to ensure someone always has an eye on you. Is that going to be necessary?
"No….No Sir."
"Alright then, let's get this over with."
"Do we have to?"
"You were wondering about in the Forbidden Forest on a full moon. If I didn't Remus would beat me and you, and Padfoot might even help."
"Fine."
Harry stood, walking over to his father's side. With little ceremony James pulled down his son's pajama bottoms, and pulled the boy over his lap. Wordlessly, James summoned an old leather slipper, and brought it down onto his son's backside with a sharp smack witch was met with an equally sharp noise from Harry.
James started laying smack after smack, starting at the top left cheek, and moving down Harry's thighs. Half way to Harry's knees, James switched sides, starting at the top of Harry's right cheek, and slowly working his way down to mid-thigh, then he began the whole circuit again. By the third trip around, Harry was sobbing out a confused mix of apologies and promises to behave between the oww's and the 'please stop's. James sealed his heart, determined to complete two more cycles before he let Harry up.
He hated this, he would hazard a guess that he hated it more than even his son did. James did his best to avoid spanking Harry, instead teaching and coaching, encouraging, explaining, even grounding, but when Harry put himself in danger, especially when Harry intentionally put himself in danger to prove a point, it became absolutely unavoidable. It was his duty to discipline and guide his son, and this was part of it.
James landed one last swat on Harry's lower left thigh before pausing.
"Alright Harry. You understand what you did?" He absently rubbed Harry's back as he questioned him.
"I put myself in danger because I was upset instead of talking to someone."
James pulled the pajama pants up, and assisted his son off of his lap. Harry lied on the bed, spread out on his stomach, head in James lap, and James combed his fingers through Harry's hair as he spoke.
"Exactly, you are already in enough danger without you going out of your way to seek it out. You have people who care about you, who believe in you, who love you. It would destroy us all if anything happened to you."
"Not Uncle Sev."
"He may grouch at you, but you remind him of your mum. He had a thing for her in Hogwarts, and they were close childhood friends. Besides that, you're one of the few people he has in his life."
"I thought he only put up with me because if he left it to you and Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus to raise me I would be even more impossible than I am now. I would be ill mannered, and rash and end up destroying Hogwarts and everyone in it." Harry quoted Severus back to his father with a smile.
"That too." James agreed easily.
A few moments passed before Harry spoke again.
"You and Padfoot got to run around in the forbidden forest when you were my age. You weren't in human form, but still…"
"That was kept very hush hush. Had your grandfather found out that me and Sirius were animagi, much less that we were running around the forbidden forest we would have been in for a rough time with his strap."
"Can I go see Uncle Remus?"
"You know you're going to get the lecture to end all lectures?"
"I know."
"Alright then, get changed and we'll go."
James headed to his own room in order to change into something more suitable for a professor to go wondering through Hogwarts in. In his own room, Harry quickly pulled on a t-shirt, and considered jeans, before settling on sweat pants. Meeting his father back in the living room, Harry beat his father to the door, grabbing the handle before jumping back with a yelp.
James burst out laughing, and Harry quickly glanced in a nearby mirror in horror. He looked as if someone had dunked him into a vat of florescent orange. Harry sent an accusatory glare at his father's laughing form.
"It wasn't me" James through his hands up. "If I were you, I would speak to your Uncle Padfoot about the… bright color pallet your currently sporting."
"How do I get rid of it?"
"As I said, you'll have to speak to your uncle about that." Carefully avoiding the door knob, James strolled out of the Potter's quarters happily. Grumbling, Harry followed after.
As always, I love to hear questions and concerns, so please review.