Dorea Potter nee Black sighed exasperatedly as she tried, once again, to flatten her six year-old son's messy black hair.
"Stupid Potter genes, stupid Potter hair, stupid me for marrying a Potter," Dorea mumbled angrily as she brushed a lock of her dark auburn hair out of her face. The guests for her New Years Ball were going to arrive in fourty-five minutes and she hadn't even begun to get ready yet.
"Insulting my ancestors and myself won't make his hair lie flat, my dear," Charlus Potter chuckled as his wife turned and glared at him. She turned back to her task and heavily pressed her hands on James's head.
"Mummy, stop that hurts," James whined. Immediately, Dorea removed her hands from his head and wrapped them around his small body.
"I'm sorry, Jamie, but you know how I get when it comes to your hair," she apologized.
"Daddy says that it looks good on me and that you are crazy for trying to make it stick to my head," James pointe to his father. Charlus mock glared at his young son.
"Traitor," he muttered and immediately felt bad when James looked at him with wide, hurt-filled hazel eyes. He scooped up the little boy and swung him onto his shoulders.
"Let's go raid the kitchen before everyone arrives and it's all eaten up." James laughed and his father jogged out of the large bathroom and down the hall. Dorea smiled at her husband's childish antics and began to change out of her plain black robes and into more extravagant navy blue ones. After magically styling her hair, she hurried down to the foyer to greet the arriving guests.
Five years later and Dorea Potter was once again trying to flatten her son's hair. Only this time it was for his first day at Hogwarts and James was due to board the Express in ten minutes.
"Mum," James wriggled out of her grasp, "Stop messing up my hair."
"Jamie, your hair already is messy. I'm trying to make you look presentable," Dorea pulled her son back into her arms and began her desperate attempts, again.
"Dad, make her stop. Sirius and Lizzie are gonna tease me endlessly about it if they see." James looked to his dad as he, once again, escaped his mother.
"Darling, cut the boy some slack. It's only a train ride," Mr. Potter placed a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Jamie!" a golden browned hair girl cried as she rushed to hug him. Elizabeth, Lizzie, Dearborn was a close friend of James's. The two had practically grown up together as they lived two houses (mansions) down from the Potters and Alexander Dearborn was Charlus's close friend and advisor.
"Hey Lizzie," James hugged the girl he thought of as his younger sister, "Ready for Hogwarts?" The normally, sensible girl began bouncing excitedly.
"I can't wait. I read all my herbology and potions books. Mum says they're the subjects you need to do best in if you want to be a healer." James nodded his head to show he was listening.
"I read my Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts ones. All the spells we're gonna learn seem so cool. I tried a couple at home and managed to turn my chair into a frog."
"You two are both such nerds," Lizzie and James turned and saw Sirius heading towards them, his parents and little brother in tow.
"Just because we have the brain capacity to understand the work we're going to do doesn't mean you have to tease us about it, Sirius," Lizzie retorted.
"Touché, Lizzie," Sirius grinned and hugged her.
Charlus and Dorea watched the exchange between the two with knowing smiles. While James and Lizzie were close, their relationship was nothing like Sirius and Lizzie's. But in the end, James and Sirius would always be the best friends, while Lizzie tagged along. The trio's conversation was interrupted when the train whistled.
"Give me a hug, Jamie," Mrs. Potter opened her arms towards her son, "We won't see you until Christmas." James gave his dad a fleeting hug, before stepping into his mother's arms and permitting her to kiss him on the cheek.
"Now stay out of trouble, look after Lizzie and try to do well," she told him, pressing his hair down lightly as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Bye, mom, dad. See you at Christmas," James stepped onto the train behind Sirius and Lizzie, waving to them before disappearing from sight. Charlus noticed Dorea's tears and wrapped an arm around her, lovingly.
"He'll be alright, dear," he comforted her.
"I know," she replied tearfully, "I know."
It was around six years since that moment on the platform, this time the Potters and Sirius were spending Easter Break at the funeral of their longtime friends. Instead of failing to fix James's hair, this time she was having no success preventing tears from rolling down her cheeks steadily. Liz as she had come to be known and the other Dearborns had been murdered by Lord Voldemort for publically denouncing him.
Despite the large popularity the family had held, very few people attended the funeral out of fear. They were joined by James, Sirius and Liz's friends from school, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald, Alice Griffith, Frank Longbottom and Hestia Jones. Dorea leaned on her husband heavily, she had gotten ill a few weeks ago and had trouble standing on her own. Tears continued to pour down her face as the last coffin was placed in its grave. The minister gave his regards and left the plot but everyone else stayed.
"We're sorry," Alice apologized for her and Frank, "But we really need to get back to the Ministry."
"I need to get back to work, too," Charlus told his wife, "I have some bills I need to go over. James, come help your mother." James quickly walked over and wrapped and arm around Dorea's waist.
"Come on, mum. I'll side along apparate you back to the manor," he told her, before turning back to look at his friends.
"You guys head to the manor as well. Remus, Peter, Sirius, you guys will need to apparate with the girls, they don't know where it is." His three best friends nodded and with a spin, both James and Mrs. Potter vanished.
"C'mon then, Lily you come with me, Sirius you go with Marlene and Peter take Mary. Hestia, are you heading back to St. Mungo's or are you coming with us?" Remus asked.
"I gotta get back to work, but I'll stop by and visit some other time," Hestia waved to them before apparating.
"Let's go," Sirius said sullenly, grabbing onto Marlene's arm. The six students turned and apparated to Potter Manor.
Three days before the children were supposed to head back to school (Remus, Peter, Lily, Marlene and Mary were staying with the Potters) Dorea called each of them into her room and talked a little with them. Sirius had just left, when Lily knocked and came in.
"Mrs. Potter?" She asked.
"Please, call me Dorea, dear. I never really had the stomach for formalities," she smiled at the young woman who had captured her son's heart.
"Why do you want to see me, Dorea? How can you be so nice to me, when I was so mean to James?" The red head sat in the chair conveniently placed next to the bed.
"Because, he did deserve some of it. You are a sweet girl and I can see why James loves you. I can also see that you love him."
"I'm not sure. After so many years of arguing and hating him, I can't seem to grasp the idea of being attracted to him. I am trying though, to understand."
"Sometimes, we spend so much time trying to figure out the hows and whys we don't take the chances we should. I suggest you stop trying to understand your attraction to him and listen to your heart before you miss your chance." Lily sat stunned as Dorea smiled at her, "Now will you please send James in." Lily nodded and left the room. Dorea sighed; the whole matchmaking thing was harder than she thought.
"Mum, you wanted to see me?" James entered, sat on the bed and took her hand in his own.
"There was once a time when I was taller than you and could at least attempt to fix the black mess you call hair," she smiled.
James snorted, "Yeah, I specifically remember all the pain you made me go through to only end up failing. I was relieved when I finally grew taller than you."
"Don't get snarky with me Jamie. Just because I can't leave my bed doesn't mean I can't reach up a whack you," she chuckled.
"You're trying to say goodbye, aren't you mum?" James asked softly.
"Jamie…."
"Aren't you? Why else would you ask to see everyone and save me for last?"
"You have to let me go, Jamie."
"I can't…."
"Yes, you can. You'll move on and have a very pretty red head to help you along the way. You Potter men always seem to be attracted to red heads. Your grandfather, your father and now you. Who knows maybe your son will fall for a ginger." James let out a small laugh.
"I really do love her, Mum."
"I know you do, Jamie," she smiled at him, "But she needs time to discover that she loves you too."
"I know, I know."
"Now go hang out with your friends before you head back to school. Your old mother will be fine. I'll have Gerda and your father, when he gets home."
"I come by later, I promise." James kissed his mother on the cheek and left the room. That night, Dorea Potter died next to the man she loved, with a smile on her face.
Just because she died, doesn't mean Dorea didn't stop caring. She watched over her husband and son. Saw Lily finally admit her feelings for James two months before they graduated. She saw her husband contract the same disease she had and join her a year later. Together they watched James become and Auror and join the Order of the Phoenix. They saw James and Lily get married, escaped Voldemort not once, but three times. She and Charlus watched as their little grandson, Harry was born. Together they watched as Harry grew and took his first steps, said his first words and smiled his first smile. They wept as Voldemort took James and then Lily from the little boy. She, Charlus, James and Lily all encouraged Harry when he and Voldemort battle for the last time. Dorea was there, even after she left the mortal world, for every big moment in her child's and grandchild's life. Even if they didn't see her, didn't mean she wasn't always there.