For those waiting for some James/Hermione - I don't want to rush them. He wasn't going to wake from a coma and jump into bed with Hermione after all. He has so many things to deal with before even considering moving on.

But I think now he's said goodbye to Lily, it'll start happening (slowly).

Vernon Dursley hated taking days off work, but he had called in sick the day James Potter had rudely turned up unannounced.

Vernon was beyond angry at the whole situation. For a start, why hadn't they been informed that one of the boy's parents were still alive?

And even worse the man had played some... magic trick and made his wife think that her dead sister was talking to her. It was disgusting - not first the first time, James Potter had ruined his life.

First, he had to raise the man's child and now... now he had given up the cottage that he had bought. It's a good thing he still had his new car.

Even if his wife and his son were refusing to talk to him. Even if his wife slept in the spare room the previous night.

Vernon knew it would all blow over soon. His wife was weak minded, allowing James Potter to manipulate her so easily. Dudley would forget when he returned to University.

He had only been in the car for a couple of minutes before he felt hot. Arriving at some traffic lights, Vernon shrugged off his suit jacket and put his seat belt back on.

A couple of minutes later, the window was wound down and Vernon was drenched in sweat - it felt like he was in a sauna. He pushed the air-conditioning button again, and could feel the cold air coming out, but it was making no difference to the temperature of the car, which seemed to just be getting hotter.

It took a few minutes of the air conditioning before the car cooled down, and Vernon was relived. He took a deep breath of cold air, and gagged.

The air smelt and tasted foul. It smelt like shit. It smelt like someone had taken shit and smeared it all on the inside of his car. He pulled over, throwing the door open and quickly climbing from the stinking car.

He stood on the pavement and turned back to his car, and his mouth dropped open. What in the hell had happened? His car was lavender, and was that a sparkly unicorn on the side of it?

He cursed under his breath, scared to approach the car. James Potter had ruined his car - and Vernon didn't trust going back to the car to see what happened next.

The man was clearly out to ruin his life. He had turned Vernon's family against him, he had taken their cottage and he had ruined the new car.

At least Vernon had his job.

...oOo...

James returned hope later that evening, just before dinnertime. He had spent the day in the cottage, exploring it and boxing up the items already there.

He would furnish it himself with something nicer.

He had a lot to think about - it was one thing knowing your son grew up in cupboard... it was another thing actually seeing that cupboard and realising it was smaller than you had imagined.

And he was exhausted over the day he had just experienced.

He headed into the kitchen where Sirius was cooking. "Almost done?"

Sirius nodded. "Grab the plates and help me out? The other's are in the Library right now."

James done as he was asked. He put the plates next to Sirius and grabbed the cutlery and set the dining table, before heading up the Library.

He knocked softly before entering, his gaze shifting between Remus in the armchair, and Hermione curled up on the sofa.

Neither had noticed him, so engrossed in their books.

He pulled the stone out and called Hermione's name, causing startled brown eyes to meet his.

"Thank you," he said, offering her the stone.

"Did it help?"

"It did," James replied. "She wanted to see Sniv... Snape and Petunia too."

"So that's where you've been all day," Remus murmured, flicking a page on the book.

"What did Harry's aunt have to say for herself?"

"She apologised, she seems quite remorseful. Vernon... what a horrible person," James said.

"What did you do to him?" Remus asked.

James grinned. "What makes you think I did anything?" He took a look at Remus' raised eyebrows. "Fine. I punched him - he deserved much more than a punch. You know I had it set up with the goblins if anything happened to me, money would go to Harry's carers? Well, Petunia willingly handed over the keys to this nice getaway cottage they had recently purchased. I was happy to take more, but Lily said nothing else."

"And?" Remus asked.

"Well, he's not going to enjoy using his car again," James said, a smirk on his lips as he tried to imagine Vernon using his car and suffering all the pranks on it. It was set the work again for a couple of days before the spells kicked in again.

"I don't even want to know," Hermione sighed. She reached out, taking the stone from James and putting it into her pocket.

"I thought you were supposed to get rid of that?" Remus asked, his eyes on the stone.

"I've been thinking of uses for it," Hermione said. "I was considering that I could set up something in the Ministry... maybe for people who have lost family unexpectedly... or for helping solve crimes as we can speak directly to murder victims and find out exactly what had happened to them."

Remus tilted his head as he thought about her idea. "I think that's a wonderful idea," he said. "We can discuss it with Kingsley when we next see him."

"Well, I also came up to let you both know that it's time for dinner," James said.

The pair stood up, books were placed on the table before they followed James from the room and down to the dining table where Sirius was serving up home-made lasagne.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, seeing the thoughtful look on Remus' face.

"Hermione gave James the stone," Remus replied.

Sirius nodded. "And how are you after seeing Lily?"

"Not just Lily. He paid a little visit to the Dursleys," Remus added.

"I feel like... I feel like I can do this now," James replied. "I'm always going to love Lily, but I still have Harry and you guys and Harry's friends. I can do this. I feel better now that I've said goodbye to her."

"So, what next?" Sirius asked.

"I just want to get used to everything and spend time with Harry," James replied. "I want to get to know my son."

Review Please :)

Thanks for FF for helping.