Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: I should really make a drabble of Halloween fics since I write so many of them. What can I say? I love Jily, and I always think of them on Halloween. As always, we raise our wands in salute to James and Lily Potter today. Until the very end. Xx HogwartsPrincess89
Harry Potter trudged up the familiar path for the first time in years, pulling his scarf tighter around his neck against the sharp autumn wind. He was on his way to McGonagall's office to discuss his wayward, trouble-making, son. He sighed. He had hoped these visits would end this year, since James was a seventh year and all. But it seemed to be going the same way as always. Ginny had been so angry she had been unintelligible, so he had made the wise decision to make the trek alone.
He usually flooed directly into the Headmistresses office when he came back, and as such he had not actually walked the grounds since the night of the final battle.
He felt a pang of loss and home at the sight of his beloved Hogwarts, the first place he had belonged. It was now tainted with the memories of loved ones' dead bodies and his own death. But it didn't matter, because he had found a home with Ginny, and no matter where he went, Hogwarts would always be his home, regardless of the horrors that had happened there. But that was a long time ago. Forever ago, really.
Harry sighed. James was in trouble for the same stupid sorts of tricks he had always done, and Harry didn't understand how someone could be so cavalier about rule breaking. He grinned slightly to himself as he realized the rich irony of that statement. But in his defence, he had only broken rules to save the world. Mostly.
James didn't even try to look remorseful as Harry pulled him aside to the Headmistress's office and was forced to lecture him on his pranks sometimes going too far. "I understand it's just for a laugh James, but at a certain point it's not. Your mother was so angry she was reduced to tears which forced me to come down here and now I have to lecture you. Pranks are all good fun until someone gets hurt." James looked at him angrily.
"But I did it because someone got hurt. I did it because stupid Ackerly made some lewd comments about Lily." Harry frowned, reigning in his own desire to knock the kids lights out.
"Two wrongs don't equal a right. Besides, your sister is quite capable fo defending herself." He couldn't help the slow grin spreading across his face. His daughter was her mother incarnate. She had all of Ginny's bravery, ferocity, and looks.
"I know but someone else is just going to do it again. I was sending a message." Harry sighed.
"Send a message a little quieter, will you? Can't you just give them a murderous look and be done with it? You're giving us all sorts of grey hairs Jamie. This is your last year, you're supposed to be more responsible."
James sighed. "Okay. I'll try. But it's not easy with Freddie and Lou around. Maybe we'll just have to make sure we don't get caught." Harry gave McGonagall a pained and apologetic look, although his ex-Professor looked suspiciously as though she was trying not to laugh.
"All I ask is that you try." Harry responded, pointedly ignoring his son's last comment. He clapped him on the shoulder. "Now off to class with you, and don't make me come up here again any time soon." James saluted Harry, gave him a big grin, and spun on his heel before leaving the office.
Harry heaved a great sigh and turned to face his old Professor, who was no longer trying to hide her smile. "He reminds me so much of your father." She told him kindly.
"At least I can see my parents in my children, if nowhere else." Harry said sadly. They had been on his mind a lot lately. It was Halloween today, as luck had it.
"Do you really believe they left you no other legacy?" McGonagall asked in despair.
"I don't know anything about who they were. Not really. What I know is all through stories other people have written. The closest I've ever gotten is seeing a letter my Mum write, proof of her existence. I make "g"s the same way she did."
"Oh Harry." McGonagall lamented, voice laden with empathy. "Sit down. Have a biscuit."
Harry snorted unintentionally at the memory of the last time Professor McGonagall had offered him a biscuit. She raised an eyebrow as if she knew what he was thinking.
"You know so much more about your mother than the fact that you wrote your g's the same way. It is so unfair that you never got to know them, but you have, through yourself. You have kept their memory alive all of these years. Their very nature is in the way that you walk, talk, and act. Your face is all James but your smile is all Lily. You have your father's loyalty to his friends, your mother's compassion, your father's strut, your mother's tenacious curiosity. You could have walked away when Dumbledore told you neither could live while the other survives. But you didn't. Why not?"
"Because he killed my parents." He mumbled.
"You love them. And they loved you. You're a parent now, Mr. Potter. You finally understand the sacrifices they made for you. You understand how much they loved you."
She regarded him for a moment and he looked back at her in awe.
"So yes. You know them. They exist in you. You died to save your loves ones just as James faced Voldemort without a wand, as Lily refused to step aside. And they exist in your children. And they will exist in your children's children, and their children's children, and their children's children. What do you tell Teddy when he asks you questions like these, which I assume he must?"
Harry sat up straighter as understanding dawned. "I tell him that they are always with him. I told him what Sirius told me all those years ago. That the ones we love never really leave us. That he is so much like them it's as if they're still here with me," he said softly. Merlin the expressions he would make sometimes it was like Tonks was alive again. And when he left his features as they were normally he looked an awful lot like Remus.
"He is so much like them it is as if they are still here." McGonagall repeated with a watery smile. "I knew your parents since they were eleven. I knew them in the Order. And every single day that I taught you it felt as though they had come back to life. Your father's messy hair and warm heart, your mother's green eyes and gentle kindness." She peered at him over the top of her glasses and he grinned, abashedly.
"Does it feel like they're here again with the kids?" He asked curiously.
"Absolutely. James Sirius is undeniably like both of his namesakes, but thankfully less tortured. Albus Severus is very much like you and your mother."
"And Lily?"
"She's much more like her own mother, but she looks so much like her grandmother. The point is, Harry, that your parents have been with you every day of your life. You have always, and will always, know them. Even though you never got the chance to meet them. So I never want to hear you say that the only thing you know about them is from others, or the way your handwriting mimicked theirs."
Harry nodded and stood up. He walked around the desk and hugged his tough but compassionate old Professor. "Thank you, Minerva." The words were but a whisper but carried more weight than if he had yelled it.
"You're very welcome, Harry James Potter." Her eyes watered as she emphasized his full name.
And that day, when he visited his parents' graves, it was bearable for the first time. They had never really left him at all. He was their son. He always had been, and he always would be. He hoped that they were looking down at him. He hoped they loved Ginny and James, Al, and Lily as much as he did. And he hoped that one day when he did finally meet them, he could see himself in them the way everyone else saw them in him.