Chapter 53

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything.

Harry and James arrived in Italy in the afternoon. James took him for lunch in a restaurant. Harry wanted pizza with coca cola. When the food arrived Harry grinned and tucked in.

"Wow." He said after the first bite.

"I know." James agreed with a smile.

"I wish I could cook like this." Harry said.

"You are a good cook, Harry. At your age, I didn't have a clue about cooking. My mum tried to teach me once, which was a disaster. Let us just say that she didn't let me back in the kitchen without her or dad supervising me." James said.

"Can you go one day without getting into trouble, dad?" Harry asked.

"I don't believe so. Well, so far in my life, that theory has not been proven incorrect." James said with a grin as he ate another forkful of pasta.

"What about mum, what about her cooking?" Harry asked.

"As I've said, your mum was a brilliant cook. She made the best cake on your first birthday. It was chocolate. She often liked to do things the muggle way, and then was one of those times. She said to me 'James Potter, I want you to spend the next few hours entertaining Harry. But I want peace and quiet. Do not enter the kitchen unless it is an emergency. This needs my full attention'. Needless to say, I didn't disturb her. On your birthday we had a small party. Just us and your Uncles, they were hyper on that day. It was a magnificent cake; your favourite thing at the time was your stag teddy. So she had drawn one on the cake in white chocolate icing. Your face when you saw it, you lit up. Lily was very happy that she had brought you so much joy. I said 'Harry, mummy made that for you.' And you gave her a big cuddle and didn't let go of her for a while. So there you sat on her lap, a plate with a slice of cake in front of you. And you grabbed it in your hand and dove into it. I believe you were trying to eat it all at once. You didn't succeed in that mission, most of it ended up on your lap and around your mouth. You giggled right along with the rest of us." James said.

Harry listened intently to the story and chuckled at the end.

"I took your mum here once." James said.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yep, she ordered that pizza too. I know that people seem to think that you are more alike me. But I don't think that that is quite true. I mean, around me, my characteristics that you have inherited from me are rather prominent to everyone else. But I think you're more like her. For one, she was one of the kindest people I ever met. She was considerate and forgiving. I mean, you've forgiven Snape haven't you?" James asked.

"I think so. I don't like him very much because he's rude to everyone. But I've forgiven him for the things that he has done. I kind of owe it to him. He's saved my life a lot. And dad, about him... you don't think you could leave him alone for a bit? It's just... he isn't that bad. I think that if you left him alone, then he might not be so grumpy and mean to me." Harry said.

"If that's what you want, then of course." James said "I didn't realise it bothered you so much."

"Well... I don't know. I just... I was bullied when I was younger. I was the weird kid with broken glasses and clothes far too big. I had no friends but that didn't mean that they left me alone. They would... call me names, a few kicks here and there. Nothing so bad that the teachers picked up on it. And I just remembered how much I hated it, and I can kind of sympathise with Snape. He may have made some wrong decisions, yes dad, leaving me in a broken building with nothing but my parent's dead bodies being one of them, but that doesn't mean he can't change. And that doesn't mean that you can stoop down to his level. I think it's best to just leave him be." Harry explained.

"I'm sorry. I will stop. And I'll tell Remus and Sirius about it too. I didn't know you were bullied, son, I'm sorry about that." James said sadly.

"And again, dad, my past isn't your fault. I may only be fifteen, but I have lived through a lot of things, mostly bad. And you weren't there to be blamed. You did what you had to do all those years ago. It isn't your fault." Harry said seriously.

James smiled.

In the evening Sirius and Remus portkeyed into Italy with massive smiles.

James took Harry to another restaurant which was equally amazing.

"So, how was Spain?" Sirius asked eagerly in his seat between Harry and James.

"It was really cool!" Harry said excitedly and began explaining all the things that they did there.

The meal was eaten as they chatted about all the things that they had done and what they were going to do.

The four went to a hotel and Harry just fell into his bed and went straight to sleep.

James took Sirius and Remus to his room after he checked on Harry and they sat down on the bed while James sat in an arm chair.

"Guys, we have to stop pranking Snape and saying mean stuff to him." James said bluntly.

"What?" Sirius asked in fear and surprise.

"Well, that won't be too hard for me; it is mostly you two who are mean to him." Remus said.

"Why?" Sirius pressed on.

"Harry doesn't like it. He was bullied in Primary School. I don't want Harry to look at us and be reminded of one of the many things that made his life so terrible." James said.

"Oh, well, I'll try my best then. James... how much more do you think Harry hasn't told us?" Sirius asked sadly.

"We know about all the massive things in his life, the tournament, the philosopher's stone, the chamber of secrets, the bullying and the abuse. But what about all the little things? They're just as important." Remus said.

"I think we've only just scratched the surface." James said.

Author's note: Please review! Thanks! And a small message to MissCHSparkles: Thanks for the reviews, and I do understand why you may feel that way towards some of my chapters. But this is my fanfic, so I believe that anything can happen if I want it to. For example, that is why all those bad memories were shown to the whole class. I'm sorry if you have been disappointed in James' character, but as you have seen in this chapter, he does have morals and a heart. I hope you enjoy at least some of my story.

Thanks to everyone else for your reviews, as usual, I am very much appreciating them

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