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

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

Chapter One Hundred Nineteen

A Day in the Life of James Potter

James opened his eyes blinking. He still wasn't use to the dark room since the room he had been in for the last fourteen years was much lighter. He felt the now familiar sense of confusion as he tried to remember where he was and why he was here. Today was a good day and that only lasted a minute before he remembered. It was good that he remembered so quickly today because there were only five more days left before Harry was going to leave and he wanted to spend as much time with his son as he could.

He then looked over to his left to the table where his potions for the morning were. Dumbledore had come the day after James had been taken out of St. Mungo's with enough of his daily potions for a week and the recipe for how to make more. James wasn't sure if the potions had come from Lorie or the healer that Dumbledore had put on his case since the moment that James had gotten into St. Mungo's (for he was sure that one of his healers was there watching him for Dumbledore).

Pushing that thought aside, he took his potions and got out of bed. After getting dress he headed downstairs and passed the living room with only a glance at Remus, Harry and all of his son's friends working on meditation. He was proud to see how serious his son took his training even though he had hardly studied himself. It reminded him of Lily and how determined she was whenever she learned something new. Of course he knew that his son's eagerness wasn't just about learning a new skill, but so the boy would be able to protect himself more, but James was still proud.

"Hey mate, what do you think of doves?" Sirius asked as soon as James got in the kitchen.

"Um … they're alright?" James said raising his eyebrow.

"They're supposed to symbolize love," Sirius explained, "maybe I should have a dozen of them flying …"

"That would probably be rather messy," James pointed out. "Besides, I don't think Emmeline is that fond of birds … remember all the times when she cursed them out at our practices."

"Well, they were being annoying flying around us," Sirius said laughing at the memory, "but I supposed doves might not be the way to go."

"Er … Sirius? Why do you have so many notes?" James said when he realized that Sirius had a stack of parchments that he was currently shuffling through.

"I figured that I should ask Em to marry me before I start at Hogwarts," Sirius said. "What's your thought on music?"

"I love it," James answered sitting down and putting his hand on Sirius's shoulder, making him put down the parchment he was holding. "But I'm not the one that you're proposing to."

"As if I would want to marry a git like you," Sirius rolled his eyes, "why are you stopping me from reading?"

"You can't rush a proposal," James said. "Remember my proposal to Lily … it was horrible."

"I thought Lily said it was romantic," Sirius reminded him.

"I tripped over every bloody word, my palms were sweating … I think the actually proposal that I got out was 'will you marrorme.'" James said smiling as he thought back at it.

"But it worked out for you," Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah," James agreed. "And I'm sure however you asked her will work out for you, but that's not the reason you want to make it so special."

"You think I only want to make it special because she told me that's what she wanted," Sirius frowned at James.

"No," James chuckled shaking his head. "Emmeline was right, you do like to do things theatrically," he said, Sirius had told him everything about the conversation he had with Emmeline a week ago and James had been helping Sirius ever since. "You want to do something like this, because that's who you are. Don't rush this Sirius. She'll wait for you."

"She's already waited for me, mate," Sirius frowned. "For years she's been waiting for me. And then when I finally figure out that she loves me like I always loved her, I had to bloody disappear for months without talking to her. Then a year later and I still haven't asked her. I should have done this a long time ago."

"Maybe," James frowned, "but don't rush because you feel guilty. You only get to ask her once, after all."

Sirius looked at his hands for a long time before he said, "I don't know how often I'll be able to see her when I'm teaching."

"Hm …" was all James could say to that, but Sirius didn't seem to need him to say more.

"I know I'll get to see her all the time … I can go out at night … or other things … but I just … it's going to be difficult," Sirius rumbled.

"And getting engage quickly will make it less difficult?" James asked him and Sirius grimaced.

"I supposed I haven't really thought this all through," Sirius muttered. "Thanks for talking me around, mate."

"Don't mention it," James smiled.

It came on suddenly, one second he was smiling and the next his head felt like it broke open and things started to fade away. He wasn't sure where he was or what he was doing or why the man sitting next to him was holding his shoulder asking if he was alright. He did nod his head, the only response he could make at the moment because he wasn't quite sure how to form words. He grabbed his head trying to hold in the pain and calm down. Slowly things formed again, starting with the man … Sirius. Then the place … Grimmauld Place, Sirius's home. The ability to talk however wasn't coming back to him and he knew that it wasn't likely to happen for a while now.

"James," Sirius frowned, recognizing both that James hadn't known who he was for a few seconds and that he was coming back to himself. "You're not okay. You need to rest more. You're pushing yourself too hard."

James shook his head, still unable to talk and looked towards the living room.

"I know you want to spend as much time as you can with, Harry, but don't force yourself too much," Sirius said with concern.

James just nodded his head before leaning forward so he could rest on the table. Sirius was right; he had been trying so hard to be himself that when he lost his control he lost so much more of himself.

"You don't have to be social with the rest of us, we'll understand," Sirius added patting his shoulder as James let his mind wander.

O

James was woken up by the sound of several people stomping into the kitchen. He must have fallen asleep sometime while Sirius continued to plan his proposal or whatever else Sirius might have been doing. Now it seemed like it was lunchtime judging by the increase of people and the smell of food already in the air.

"Hey Dad," Harry said as soon as he came into the room, smiling broadly.

"How did your personal lesson with Moony go today?" James asked please to see he was able to talk just fine at the moment.

"About the same," Harry shrugged, slightly annoyed by his slow progress.

"Actually, I think you did better today," Remus put in.

"But you still got through my shield in the beginning," Harry frowned. "I was just able to push you out after you saw … er … well you know."

"Yeah," Remus said trying not to think of the embarrassing memories he got from Harry's mind. "But still. You were able to expel me much quicker today. I think soon you'll be able to use your protective nature to help you encase your thoughts so no one can be hurt by them."

"I never realized your thoughts were so dangerous, Harry!" Ron quipped.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how dangerous my thoughts can be," Harry glared at his friend.

James smiled as the conversation continued to progress. He didn't force himself to say anything, as he has done in the past, but he still enjoyed watching everyone talk and joke around, even while discussing something very important.

"… He is good at it …" Remus was saying but James wasn't sure what he was talking about. That was until Sirius exploded.

"You can't be serious! He would be a horrible teacher for Harry!"

"Sirius, he already teaches Harry," Remus pointed out with an eye roll.

"Yeah, but that's with other students around. And that's not going into Harry's mind and seeing everything …" Sirius gave his own eye roll.

"So you think I can't keep him out!" Harry huffed indignantly.

James was really starting to wonder what he had missed.

"I didn't mean it like that, pup," Sirius tried to assure him and still be upset at the same time, which didn't seem to work so well for him. "But I just thought part of the reason for you teaching him, Remus, was because Snape couldn't. Now you're telling me starting in a few weeks you think it'll be alright to have that git try to test Harry's Occlumency. Wasn't it supposed to be dangerous, or something, to let Voldemort know how close Snape is to Harry?"

"Worried about Snape now? That's a change," Remus said wryly.

"I'm not worried about that git," Sirius snorted. "I just don't think he would be a good teacher," he added and then looked at James. "You agree with me right."

"Huh?" James asked a little surprised to be included. He was also aware that in a way this was going to be his first parent like act he had to do in fourteen years. "Actually, I think Snape might be a good …"

"Traitor," Sirius pouted.

"Sorry," James found himself chuckling. Sirius had always been good at making him feel normal.

"The truth is, the points you just made are actually why I think Severus needs to teach Harry," Remus said. "Harry will be much more uncomfortable with Snape seeing his thoughts than he was with me."

"I don't know about much more …" Harry muttered under his breath, he hadn't liked it one bit that Remus continued to discover his private thoughts, though it was true that it would be worse with Snape.

"I'm confident you've learned the skills you need Harry," Remus smiled at the boy. "You're ready to take the next step."

"I'd be more excited, but seeing as the next steps involves being around Snape more often, well … not so much help with the excitement factor," Harry said.

James attention wandered again as the other made comments about this. He didn't mind that the words didn't make sense to him this time, they weren't really important. He liked the sense of family that flowed throughout the room.

"Dad," Harry said and James's mind snapped back to focus. He had been lost for so long that he hadn't realized that the others had left and it was just him and his son.

"Huh?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to play exploding snaps." Harry asked.

"Exploding snaps?" James repeated raising an eyebrow, he was sure that wasn't what Harry was wondering about.

"Yeah … I like playing games with you," Harry said, this time he was telling the truth.

"That's only because it's easy beating the crazy old man," James joked.

"Hardly," Harry shook his head. "You're too observant to be easy to beat."

"Sorry," James said, clearly not sorry at all. As he sat there, Harry started dealing the cards. After a few hands James asked, "so, are you worried about going back to school."

Harry looked startled by the statement. Then he looked like he was about to say something before giving a small smile. "A bit."

"It's not only about all the things you have to learn and Voldemort being back is it?" James asked, though it was again more like a statement.

"Definitely too observant," Harry muttered under his breath, but James could hear him and he smiled.

"I'm not all the time," James said. "But what I do notice sticks in my mind pretty well."

"Hm," Harry grunted.

"So what are you worried about?"

"Stuff."

"Girl stuff?" James asked and when Harry looked up at him alarmed James gave him an innocent look.

"What makes you think that?!" Harry demanded.

"I'm observant," James eyes twinkled. "I've also noticed you chatting up the enchanting young lady that's …"

"Ginny," Harry rolled his eyes. "She's my friend."

"And yet you knew I was talking about her and not the other young lady that's here," James pointed out.

"Like I'm going to chat up Hermione, she's practically my sister who just happens to be dating my best friend," Harry pointed out.

"That's just proving my point that you see Ginny as having more potential as a dat …" James started.

"DAD!" Harry growled at him. "Just don't. Besides, she's not even the girl …" he went on before cutting himself off.

"I know, Cho Chang is the girl you like now … I hear she's very pretty," James said.

"How do you know all this?" Harry demanded again.

"I have sources," James grinned.

"Remus told you, didn't he," Harry huffed.

"Of course not," James rolled his eyes, "Remus isn't about to tell anyone your feelings. Especially, now that he can actually read into your mind. He wouldn't betray your trust."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, feeling a little guilty he thought of Remus in the first place. "But who told you then?"

"A prankster never reveals his sources," James said smiling again.

"Whatever," Harry grumbled and then leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table and hold his head. "It doesn't matter if I like Cho either. She has a boyfriend."

"Relationships come and go all the time at Hogwarts," James pointed out. "You just have to be persistent and win the girl's heart."

"I'm not going to steal someone else's girlfriend," Harry said. "Not that I could anyways."

"Don't sell yourself short, Harry, I'm sure you can steal plenty of people's girlfriends," James said. "Hm … that didn't come out how I wanted it to."

"It's okay," Harry chuckled before he sighed. "Even if I could, I don't think I would want to. Cedric's a decent bloke …"

"If it's meant to be between you and Cho, it will happen, Harry," James said. "It took me three years to get your mother to say yes to me."

"Yeah … I know," Harry said, he still didn't understand how it took so long, but he had heard the story of his parents getting together multiple times before.

"And sometimes it's difficult letting the girl go," James added, he could see it in Harry's eyes that he knew that Cho wasn't the girl he was meant to be with.

"I don't know if I'm ready to do that yet," Harry admitted.

"You don't have to," James said. "That's the thing with crushes … they never really leave you. You just have to come to terms with them."

"Like you know, you never gave up on your crush," Harry pointed out.

"Your mother wasn't the only person I've had a crush on," James said. "She's just the one I knew I never wanted to let get away."

Harry didn't have anything to say to that and James found his mind wandering off to his love one.

"Thanks Dad," Harry said sometime later and James nodded his head. He supposed that meant that he had given good advice about all this. It wasn't long after that that the kitchen started filling with people again as it was getting close to dinner time. James ate the meal only half comprehending what was being said. But again he was left with a feeling of family as he sat there.

After the meal, there was a meeting for the Order members. James wished he could go to the meeting but he knew he didn't belong there anymore. He walked up the stairs so he could go to his room. Even with his nap that day, he felt exhausted … his body and mind needed to shut down. On the first landing he passed the twins and Ginny as they held a flesh colored string to their ears.

"You know the least you could do is hide the fact that you're spying on the Order from me," James scowled at the three of them.

"On your honor as a prankster you couldn't possible tattle on us," George pointed out. "Do you want to know what the meeting is about?"

"Nah … it would just make my head explode or something," James declined the string George was offering him. "Why aren't Harry, Ron and Hermione here?"

"Harry doesn't want to know what's being said until his mind's safe," Ginny said. "Noble git."

"Sounds like him," James smiled.

"And Ron and Hermione are probably snogging in a cupboard somewhere," Fred added.

"Well to be fair, during meetings are the only time that Mum's not dogging them and making sure they're never alone," Ginny pointed out.

"Doesn't change the fact that they're probably snogging somewhere," Fred shrugged.

"Aw, I think poor Freddie is jealous," Ginny teased her older brother.

"As if," Fred retorted.

James knew enough of the Weasleys to know now was the time to leave.

When James finally got in his bed not to long afterwards, he felt that today was a rather good day. He had some lapses of time but still, he had a few memorable talks.