Soooo remember when I said this would be a shorter story?

Apparently by that I meant less than 100,000 words…

I am already at 45,000 and I still have about 5 chapters left to write, 10 or more left to post.

Sorry about that, I hope you bear with me.

The updates will still come daily,

Though some of them will be single chapters as they are getting longer.

More ideas just keep popping into my head.

It is like writing "Not Marriage Material" all over again lol.

Glad this is getting such a positive response.

Thank you as always for reading and for reviewing!

And of course, if you are looking for JK…I am not her.

Chapter 10

Listening to Your Elders

After an hour or so of Elizabeth and Harold getting to meet Harry and talk to him, it was late, they had already missed dinner. Harry was visibly exhausted, Lily looked completely overwhelmed, Pete had been asleep in the chair for an hour, the full moon was starting to wear on Remus as it was coming up in just two more days, and Sirius looked like he was ready to drop. They had all been through so many emotions in the last few hours that they were all spent, they sat staring at one another, Harry and Sirius on their couch, Remus from his chair and James and Lily from their place on the sofa, Lily's head was lolling on James' shoulder as she drifted off. Smiling, he stood and pulled her into his arms to carry her to her room.

"Uhm, We'll see you tomorrow." Harry said suddenly jumping up and trying to run from the room, his face beet red.

James looked him dead in the face. "You, sit!" he said firmly.

"No, really, I don't wanna..." He tried before being cut off.

"I said sit. Now." James demanded, causing Lily to lift her head groggily.

"Come on you're my mum and dad, don't make me." He whined, causing Sirius to laugh at his dilemma.

"For once, don't talk back to me and just stuff it and sit." James said calmly. And for once Harry listened, sitting directly back down into the spot he had vacated.

"Harry." Lily called sleepily over James' shoulder.

"Yeah?" Harry replied back, hoarsely. She hadn't said much all night, he wasn't sure how she had handled all of this.

"Don't forget out date Saturday morning. You better not stand me up on my first date with a Potter boy."

James, Sirius and Remus burst out with laughter, Harry smiled in relief.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He replied before James carried her into her room.

"Why don't you stay in our dorm tonight? We can stop by the kitchens and eat before we go back, you need to eat." Sirius said looking at Harry. Who glanced over at Peter asleep in the chair.

"He's not a death eater yet Harry." Remus said softly. "And now that you have come here and told us everything, he may never be one at all."

"Why do you have to go al professorish on me when I want to hold grudges." He huffed and threw himself back into the couch.

"Awe is the baby Potter gonna pout." Sirius teased, poking him in the ribs.

James came out of Lily's room, smiling hugely. Harry buried his face in his hands. "Can you please wait and talk about this after I go to my room." Harry whined.

"Well aren't you the whiney one tonight." Sirius continued to tease and poke at him, causing Harry to try and smack his hands back.

James laughed as he looked at the two of them, "Are you going to the kitchens?" he asked Sirius.

"Yeah, I think Harry and I are going to go while Remus gets Pete to the dorm, and then he is going to stay in our dorm since he passed out twice today and you know, his father choked him out and all." He replied.

James had the decency to blush at the thought. "Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't mean for you to actually lose consciousness. Anyway, he is staying here. Can you have one of the elves bring some sandwiches here?" he said in his sweetest voice.

"Yeah, it's fine, we will drop off Pete and then Sirius and I will go down." Remus said simply.

"How is he going to stay here? You don't have an extra bed." Sirius said stubbornly. After their fight earlier he wasn't sure leaving the two of them alone together was a good idea.

James scowled. "He is going to sleep in my room, if I can't figure out how to conjure an extra bed than I deserve to sleep on the couch." James said calmly.

"Really, we have classes tomorrow and I am not hungry, I can just go back to the sixth year dorms." Harry said diplomatically. James reached his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. "Or I'll just stay here, yeah I think I'll stay here tonight, and eat the sandwiches." Harry amended quickly.

"C'mon Siri, let's get wormy to our room and send food back before Harry falls asleep before he eats, and Jamie beats his arse for it." Remus said with a smirk.

"Hahahahaha." James said dryly. As he pulled Harry up by the back of his robes and pushed him towards his room. Surprisingly Harry allowed himself to be steered and went willingly.

When they made it into James' room Harry literally let himself fall face forward onto the bed with a groan. James looked at him sympathetically before digging through his wardrobe for pajamas the boy could wear. He reemerged with a pair of track pants and a long sleeved shirt. He threw it over Harry's back before finding clothes for himself and changing. He turned as he pulled his shirt over his head to find Harry still lying in the same spot, clothes still thrown on top of him. He sat beside him and laid his hand on the back of his head, gently ruffling his hair to wake him up.

"Come on kid, wake it up." He chuckled

"No" Harry mumbled

"Come on, don't make me undress you like a drunk Sirius."

Harry opened his eyes and glared at him. Before sitting up and pulling off his uniform shirt half hazardly. James thought he was going to strangle himself on his tie for a minute. He got his shirt off and sat on the end of the bed, his head dropping forward onto his chest. James laughed momentarily and lifted his arm to pull him to a stand, when he saw the long scar that ran down his forearm. He couldn't stop from running his finger down it. Harry lifted his head and looked him in the eyes, the green meeting hazel.

"Peter did that." He said quietly before pulling his arm away.

"I'm sorry." James said softly.

Harry shrugged "You didn't do it."

"But I didn't stop it."

"You couldn't James, you can only die to protect somebody once."

"This time, I don't care what I have to do, I am not dying, I won't leave, I promise." He picked up the long sleeve shirt and handed it to Harry, who was looking up at him, eyes full of questions.

Instead of speaking he pulled the shirt over his head and proceeded to pull on the pants and fall back over sideways onto the bed. James smiled at him and sat on the opposite side and lay back so he could see him.

"I'm also sorry for trying to force you to listen to me when no matter what I knew or didn't know, who I am right now is obviously not the father you would have known in your time. If I had lived you wouldn't have remembered me as a 17 year old Hogwarts student, you would remember me as a 30 something auror who is a bad ass guy that scares you into listening." He said with a playful grin.

"Hey, I listened tonight." Harry replied quietly.

"You did, I was impressed, I'm not gonna lie. Is there anyone you listen to without putting up a fight?"

"I listen to Sirius, or I did." He said quietly.

"You listen to a fugitive?" James said shaking his head. "If you only just met him three years ago, why do you listen to him? Why do you care about him so much?"

Harry went silent as he thought about it. James watched his shallow breathing, a sure sign that he was trying not to show emotion. "He is the closest thing I have ever had to my own father. The first person that I knew who was his friend. Professor Lupin told me he knew my dad but I didn't find out they were friends until I met Sirius and he just...He was so happy to see me, it was like he instantly cared about me. Like he knew me. He didn't see me as the boy who lived, he saw me as…well as me, as Harry. He remembered when I was little and he had cared about me my whole life. I think he may have actually loved me." He answered in barely more than a whisper.

"Knowing Sirius, as only I know Sirius. And seeing him with you now. He adored you Harry and he absolutely loved you."

In his exhaustion he couldn't stop the tear that escaped, "I miss him."

"I know you do." James sighed.

"I miss you too." He said even quieter.

"I know." James cuffed his hand over the back of his teenage son's head and squeezed his neck, like he often did with Sirius. He removed his hand and lay silent looking at the younger boy laying across from him who was looking back just as silently.