Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter Ninety-Five

Visiting

Harry was wondering why he was standing here at this moment, what was the reason. As far as he knew, Harry had been the only one that had left Hogwarts after the Yule Ball. He had received a note the day after the ball that had explained that he was to go home so that he could visit his father in St. Mungo's which didn't make sense to him at all. Harry was worried that either something was wrong with his father or it was a trick of some sort. When he returned home, after being wary the entire time, Sirius and Remus had refused to talk to him about it. All they would say was that they should hurry before visiting hours were over at the hospital. Now, however, Harry put his annoyance, curiosity and fears to the side, as he opened the door in front of him, with Sirius and Remus standing next to him. What Harry saw surprised him a little. It had been a year ago that he had come to this room for the first time to visit his dad. It had just been a plain room then. Now the room was decorated with pictures of James's friends among other things.

"Harry!" the excited cheer came from the side of the room that Harry had yet to look at until he saw his dad coming towards him. Before he could think, he stepped into his dad's open embrace, feeling awkward and yet comforted at the same time. This was the first time he could remember being hugged by his dad.

"Dad," he said as he pulled away, trying not to shed the tears that were brimming in his eyes.

"I look better than I did last year, don't I," James said smiling broadly.

"Yeah," Harry whispered, thinking of the last time his dad had hardly been able to say a few words before he was rendered speechless.

"It's been hard," James said, frowning as he tried to think and it seemed somewhat painful.

"Don't try to explain, James, it took you five hours to get through to me and you had to mime your way through that explanation," Sirius said with a grin and James returned it.

"Why don't you tell him then, and save us all the trouble," he retorted.

"It seems that seeing you last year had made Prongs here see that he has been a lazy git the last twelve years, letting his life pass by in his crazed haze," Sirius said.

"That is not how I explained it," James pouted at his friend and with Sirius's bark of a laugh, Harry found himself laughing too. This was the dad that Sirius and Remus had told him about. Not completely, of course, he was still rather pale and sickly looking, and his eyes still didn't focus properly, but he was smiling and joking.

"Close enough," Sirius shrugged.

"It had been so easy," James said, not looking at any of them, the pout and then smile had now left his face and he seemed close to shutting off. "Before last year just to forget everything and let time pass …"

"Right! A craze filled haze, like I said," Sirius interrupted his friend barking his laughter again, though this time it was obviously forced.

However, James looked at his friend, the cloudy expression leaving again as he shook his head. "You're right … I shouldn't try to explain, it will only make this worse for me." He then turned back to Harry and said, "You've gotten even taller again, Harry."

"Um," Harry answered, not sure what else he could say to that.

"That's what kids do; they grow," Sirius said resting his hand on Harry's shoulder, "though it's hard for most of us to see with this little guy."

"I'm not little," Harry grumbled, moving away from Sirius's hand.

"He's the same height I was at his age, and I ended up taller than you," James reminded his friend.

"No you didn't," Sirius argued, sticking his tongue out at his friend.

"Twenty years later and you're still arguing like children about that," Remus said shaking his head.

"Last year you told me you were on the Quidditch team," James said, now ignoring his friends and looking at Harry again. "How are you doing this season?"

"Er … not so bad," Harry said, noticing Sirius and Remus looking uneasy. Obviously they hadn't told his dad about the Triwizard Tournament, or the fact that he was champion and he wasn't about to say anything guessing that it would upset his dad.

"How can it be not so bad?" James asked.

"I'm tied for first," Harry shrugged, thinking about the actually tournament where he was indeed tied for first with Krum.

"Ah that's nothing to worry about," James waved him off, not noticing how uncomfortable everyone else was, "it's too early to worry about ties … it's the last game that will really make the difference. Right, Sirius?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded his head automatically.

"I recall a season where you were sure we would lose our last game … seeing as we had to win by three hundred points to win the cup," James said smirking.

"And we all played brilliantly and ended up winning," Sirius finished for him. "As I remembered it … you were the one that was worried."

"Maybe … but I wasn't the one that was nowhere to be seen after the game and missed the whole after party," James smirked.

"That was a good day," Sirius laughed.

"But probably not an age appropriate story to tell," Remus chimed in and Harry rolled his eyes at the werewolf.

"I'm sure Harry has some experience with girls …" James started to say.

"As if … unfortunately Harry has about as much game as you," Sirius smirked.

"I had game," James was back to pouting.

"Right, if game is asking the same girl out until she finally said yes five years later…"

"I did get her to say yes, at least," James shrugged, not seeming to be bothered anymore about his game or lack thereof. His smile became almost sad and Harry knew that he was thinking about his mum.

"How did you get her to say yes?" Harry asked, "Remus and Sirius never said. Not in details, at least."

"That's because I never told them everything," James said with a sigh.

"You held things back from us …" Sirius was the one to pout now, but Remus covered Sirius's mouth.

"Don't mind us, we won't interrupt," he said and James shook his head before he looked back at Harry.

"I'm not sure of how accurate of a portrayal you have of me, Harry," James started, "but seeing as most of your information came from these two, it's probably not entirely correct. People tend to see the best in their friends and forget their faults.

"I first saw your mother on the Hogwarts Express," he went on, a sad smile on his face as he thought of that meeting, "I was such a prat, going on about being a Gryffindor and making enemies with Snape. I didn't really impress your mum either. The next two years I didn't do any better… I was a bit arrogant.

"Nof juf a it," Sirius mutter, but his mouth was still being covered by Remus so it didn't make sense.

"Okay … maybe more than a bit," James agreed with his friend. "But I couldn't have cared less at that time. It was third year that it started to matter that your mum thought I was a bullying git."

"You were a bully?" Harry asked, surprised and glanced at the other two in the room, who looked slightly uncomfortable. They knew that Harry didn't care much about bullies.

"That depends on who you ask," James sighed. "I'd admit that we cursed more than our far share of people but most of the time it was random … a prank."

"And the other times," Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Merlin, you look just like her," James said distracted, his smile sad and yet proud as he looked at his son. "Lily hated when I 'picked' on the Slytherins … especially Snape."

"But it wasn't bullying when it was the Slytherins," Sirius said, pushing Remus's hand away from him so he could talk freely. "They cursed us just as much as we cursed them."

"And that makes it right?" Harry questioned, "I don't go picking fights with Malfoy just because he's a git that likes to cause trouble for me. I mean sometimes I do curse him but that's because he's always trying to push my buttons."

"Harry," James said putting his arms on Harry's shoulders and calming the boy down immediately. "I never said what we did was right … fun as hell maybe, but that doesn't make it right. I never looked at it as bullying until the end of sixth year. Before I had just seen it as a rivalry … something that was probably going to develop into something more serious after school was over the way the war had been going … but still it took your mother to make me see that it wasn't all fun and games."

"What did she do?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean sixth year?" Sirius asked, looking as interested in this story as Harry was.

"It was after the End of Term Feast," James said. "Instead of asking her out for the millionth time … I asked her why she wouldn't go out with me … the real reason."

"What did she say?" Harry asked when James paused, his eyes closed as if he was finding it hard to say what happened next. Harry wasn't sure if that was because he was losing focus or because he just didn't want to say it but he waited for his dad to answer him … or not.

"First she rolled her eyes, and listed off all the things she had told me a hundred times before," James said. "Somehow, after she ranted for a while she realized that I was actually serious this time …" Sirius opened his mouth to say something but Remus again clapped his mouth shut. "Then she pointed out things to me that I never really thought about … not for long anyway. That summer I realized that I was going to have to grow up a bit if I was actually going to get her to notice I wasn't just a git since I liked to fool around and pull pranks. I knew that if I didn't get her to agree to go out with me by the end the year I probably wouldn't see her again."

"So you changed for her?" Sirius said. "That's better than it being about the Head Boy badge I guess."

"We already knew it was because of Lily that James stopped being such a fat head," Remus pointed out.

"And these are my friend," James said. "But to answer your question Harry, I got your mum to go out with me because I stopped asking her out."

"Huh?" Harry and Sirius said, the latter adding, "I remember you asking her out at least twelve times before you two started dating."

"I put a charm on her so she couldn't hear me," James said with a mischievous smile. "I couldn't let you, or anyone else, think that I had given up."

"Yeah, you certainly did grow up a lot in your seventh year," Remus shook his head.

"I said grew up … not completely changed," James shrugged. "Anyways, I told Lily on the Hogwarts Express, when we were in the Head boy and girl's compartment, that my offer for a date would always be out there, but I wasn't going to ask her out again. That she would have to ask me if she thought we might give it a shot."

"Seriously … that is so not as cool as the way you told us it happened," Sirius said making a face.

"Actually I think that was a rather cunning plan," Remus said thoughtfully. "That way you would never ruin any moment you two might have by asking her out like you did all the time the years before that."

"That's what I thought," James said. "Turns out Lily didn't have to ask me at all though. She decided it would be better to just snog me."

"Bold! That's the story I like to hear," Sirius was grinning again.

"I'm not sure I agree," Harry made a face this time, but the truth was he was happy. He liked hearing his dad tell him old stories. James, however, suddenly moved his hands to his head, pinching the bridge of his nose as he grimaced.

"Dad!" Harry said as Sirius and Remus said, "James!"

"Why don't you tell me more about you, Harry," was all James said to their worried looks, as he sat back in bed. Remembering his past had put a strain on him, but it had been good too. He wasn't better yet, but he was going to keep trying.

"Er …" Harry said, not sure what he should talk about. After all he couldn't talk about the tournament.

"Why don't you tell him about the Christmas ball you went to," Sirius suggested.

Harry turned red at the grin Sirius was giving him. "I'm sure Dad w- …"

"Would love to hear about that," James insisted. "Who did you go with?" It wasn't like he was going to know, but that seemed to be the right question as Sirius's grin broadened.

"Ginny," Harry answered.

James frowned, his son had mentioned her before, and so had Sirius and Remus … she was one of Harry's friends. Was that why Sirius was grinning so much?

"Ginny Weasley that is," Sirius said to the questioning look that James was giving him.

"Oh," James said, catching on as he laughed.

"What?" Harry asked, glaring first at Sirius, then at his dad and finally at Remus, who was trying hard not to laugh. "I don't see what's so funny about that."

"It's nothing really," James said, but if Harry was anything like him or his father … or his grandfather even, then Ginny Weasley might be a name he heard more of in the future. "Isn't she your best mates little sister?" he added so that Harry wouldn't look at him suspiciously. He knew that if he told his son that Potters had a thing for red heads, Harry would likely stay away from Ginny just to prove him wrong. He himself had done so when his father mentioned the fact at the beginning of his second year.

"Yeah, but it was Ron's suggestion we go … as friends," Harry said, as if he had to make that point clear. Sirius started to laugh again, and though Harry didn't blush, just glared, James was sure that he had more feelings about this girl than even he knew of. "Just like Ron with Luna," Harry added, still glaring at Sirius.

"And just like Neville going with Hannah I suppose," Sirius said.

"How did you know about that?" Harry asked.

"Frank told me … apparently Alice read him the letter Neville wrote five times in a row, excited having heard that he had such a good time with Hannah," Sirius laughed.

"They didn't go as friends … er … or at least I don't think their just friends anymore," Harry said.

"Good for Neville," Remus smiled. "They had such a crush on each other last year I was surprised it took them so long to get together."

"So you're going to maintain that Ginny was just your friend," Sirius said.

"Yes," Harry growled, why did he have to bring this up again?

"Ah, the friend stage … that's always the hardest things to get out of," Sirius sighed, actually talking from experience as he thought of his beginning relation with Emmeline and how things could have been easier if he had just told her how he felt. At the same time, he was just teasing Harry.

"I'm not trying to get out of it!" Harry exclaimed. "Can we talk about something else now?!"

"Why, it's fun to see you all flustered like this, and after all the hassle you put me through this summer with Em …" Sirius started.

"You started that," Harry protested.

"What did I tell you about Sirius still not maturing yet," Remus said to James as he shook his head at the other two. James grinned.

Everyone had a good laugh at Sirius's expense but changing the subject after that to something they all found easier to talk about. Harry was just glad that Sirius didn't know that he really liked Cho or he was sure that he would have been in for more teasing, not knowing that Sirius wouldn't have been too bad about that. He probably would have tried to give Harry advice instead of teasing him. It was a few hours later that the three left the hospital after having a great visit with James and returned home.

A/N: I'm sorry about not posting last week. One reason was that I almost forgot that I was going to have Harry go home after the Yule Ball so that Dumbledore (along with either Sirius or Remus and I'm not sure which yet) could go to the Gaunt house to look for a Horcrux and I couldn't think of how to write that. I had been thinking of doing something with Harry talking to Cedric about the egg clue and all, but that will just have to wait a few chapters before I get back to Hogwarts. Either way, I wasn't exactly in the right mind set to write this chapter at the time. The other reason I have for not posting anything for a week (besides one of the two Percy Jackson's chapters I normally do) is that I just didn't feel motivated in writing. I got caught up in reading and watching TV and I just couldn't make myself write. I know that's not a good excuse, but it's the truth. I like being dependable, it's something I strive for, so I'll try harder not to let this happen again.