Tears of Erised

Summary: Harry's greatest wish was to grow up with his parents, but he knows that that will never happen. Instead, he gets the next best thing – to get to know them. Now as a year that Harry thought would be bliss, turns out to be hard for him and almost no one trusts him. Especially his prankster father, James.

Spoilers: This is Post-HBP, so there will be mentions of the sixth book.

Ratings: PG-13 (Or T)

Warnings: Mentions of torture and some gore in the later chapters and language.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine at all. I'll get over it.

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature" – Ralph Emerson

It was surprising to James when he made it to Defense class on time that morning. Sirius had luckily woken up and all four made it to class at a respectable time. What James wasn't expecting was to happily see Lily sitting at the front of the room while the new kid, Harry, sat all the way in the back. The boy had been annoying him more and more every time he saw him talking or just walking by Lily that week. For two people who had just met, they seemed to be getting along well, a fact that greatly ruffled James' feathers.

Smiling most smugly, James took his usual spot behind Lily and the three other Marauders took seats next to him.

Leaning forward, he lightly tapped Lily on the shoulder, 'Good morning, my darling. It seems your sightless chum doesn't want you around. You know, Lily, I want you – "

"Shut it, Potter," She interrupted, "I'm not in the mood for one of your pick-up lines. Not today."

Before he could answer, Lily was saved by the bell ringing and the Professor walking in just as it did.

"Good morning, class!" Said an overly enthusiastic young Milton; most of the teens just grumbled tiredly.

"So much for a warm welcome from this class. No matter, hopefully you'll be more awake tomorrow afternoon.

"Welcome to your final year of Defense Against the Dark Arts! This year we'll be focusing mainly on blocking dark charms and knowing the rest of our dark creatures. I know you learned most of the creatures in your third and fourth year, but this year we're going to finish up with the rest of them."

"What's up with him saying 'we'? It's not like he's the one who's learning… then again, we probably won't be learning much either," Sirius had leaned over to James and whispered into his ear, causing him to snicker.

Milton's attention was then focused onto James, "Excuse me… Mr. Potter, care to share what's so amusing?"

Caught off guard, James just stuttered slightly but still had a smirk on his lips, "Um, n-no sir, I think I'm quite fine with not answering that right now." Sirius was smiling too much for his own good, making the boy being questioned grin.

"Fine then, do you care to answer what a Cockatrice is, why is it so dangerous, and how a person may be able to defeat it?"

He of course hadn't yet read the text, so he shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, sir, no idea."

"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter. Is there anyone that knows the answer and care to gain points for their house?"

Lily's hand went up as usual, but she wasn't called on. Instead, the Professor pointed towards the back, "Mr. Winters?"

"A Cockatrice has a body of a dragon but the head of a rooster. They're so dangerous because their breath and even their look can be poisonous," Harry's quiet voice carried to the front of the class, and he paused for only a moment before going on, beginning to sound as if he hadn't memorized the information from a text. "And some certain types of Cockatrices can turn you to stone by also just looking at you. There are only two ways to kill it, which is by the sound of a rooster's crow, or… a weasel."

A few giggles went through the class to hear such odd ways to kill something.

"Very good, Mr. Winters! Ten points to Gryffindor. Now don't laugh too much, they sound like strange creatures but of course are very dangerous. Thankfully, though, they are one of the rarest creatures out there. Another creature almost similar to these are… ah yes, Miss Evans, please answer for us."

"Cockatrices are similar to the Basilisks, except the stare from a Basilisk will kill you instantly." Lily stated intelligently.

"Excellent! Another five points to your house! Now, we're not here today to be awarding many points to Gryffindor, sorry to say. Today, we'll be taking a test – now don't groan too loudly. It's easy and it should be all review, but there are some questions you may not know. This is just to show me what you all know. Mr. Lupin, could you please help me pass these out?"

Remus passed out all the tests within a minute and all the students went to work answering the questions. Half way through it, James began to day-dream while still writing down the questions. He began the usual dream of him and Lily getting married, growing old together, his vision of a nice life. Sirius had always teased him greatly about being a romantic, claiming Remus had rubbed off his personality to James.

When the Professor collected the papers a half an hour later, he was sure most of his questions were incorrect. That's what you get for thinking too much, Potter, he scolded himself mentally.

"That wasn't too bad, now was it? And since we see each other tomorrow, I'm just giving you the first chapter to read for homework, and write a foot long essay about the reptilian creatures in the chapter, due tomorrow. Class is dismissed early, use the free time wisely! And Mr. Potter, I'd like to see you before you leave."

Sighing heavily, James stood up with his bag, getting slapped on the back by Sirius and "good luck" by both Remus and Peter; he headed towards the Professors desk.

Milton waited until the last of the students filtered out of the classroom before he turned to him, giving him a frown and a stern look.

"Mr. Potter, what you did in class today was unacceptable. You will not speak like that in my class again or you will lose more then house points. Don't do it again. I expect your essay to be a foot and a half long."

James couldn't help it, his jaw dropped and he gave Milton an exasperated look, "I think I'd rather want a detention, Professor."

"I know you would, but not this time. Good day to you, Mr. Potter."

He couldn't help grumbling rude words under his breath all the way till he found his friends, and then his words became louder.

"Harry! Wait!"

The said boy stopped at the sound of her voice.

"What is it, Lily?"

What surprised Harry the most was when Lily pulled him into a hug. He automatically tensed, not really sure how to respond to the affection and she pulled back before he could relax.

"Listen, I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have accused you like that."

He took a moment to register what Lily was saying, still surprised by his mother's hug.

"It's… it's alright, Lily. You were right though, my family wasn't really there at the Platform."

"But why?"

He shrugged, "It doesn't really matter."

"We're friends though, right?"

Smiling, he nodded. "Yeah, friends."

"Awe!" Cried Jesse from the side, making Harry jump at another surprise, not realizing she had been there, "I think that calls for another hug!"