Harry stumbled a bit as he came out of the fireplace and managed to catch himself on a chair. The kitchen was empty, the kettle on the stove and the tray Remus was planning on using to serve the tea with still on the counter. He could faintly hear Sirius's bark like laugh and Remus's gentle chuckle, the snickering he heard was so unfamiliar but he knew that it had to be James...his dad.

He pulled a bottle out of the freezer and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet next to it. His hands shook as he poured a drink and he made himself sip it slowly. By the time he finished the drink his hands and stopped shaking and his heart didn't feel like it was going to burst out of his chest.

He poured himself another before putting the bottle back. Harry turned the stove on and got cups down for everyone. He put some biscuits on a plate before adding a few more once he remembered James - his dad.

Harry leaned against the counter, sipping his drink again as his mind drifted back to seeing him in the office. For as long as he could remember Harry had wanted to meet his parents. He'd heard stories from various people over the years, of course, and the best ones, the ones that really let him learn what his parents had been like, had come from Remus and Sirius.

He also remembered the memory he had seen of Snape's during his fifth year. Sirius and Remus had assured him that James had changed; that was the reason that Lily had agreed to date him. Harry may not have always liked Snape, but he respected the man. His father from that memory seemed so far from the one that smiled up at him from his photo album.

He'd talked to his mother he'd held the resurrection stone, never bothering to ask her why James hadn't been with her - the fear at what he had needed to do distracting him.

But now he felt a different fear settling in his stomach. He didn't know what to do now that James, his dad, he told himself, was alive and here. What did that mean for them? Sirius may not have been a typical father-figure, but he was the man that Harry had leaned on most in that way, no one else had stuck by him in the end. What if Sirius decided he should step aside? And that kiss between Sirius and Ja- his father; no one had ever mentioned anything about that to him.

And his relationship with Remus. He couldn't lose him. Remus had struggled with their age difference in the beginning and also said that his parents would have been furious at him for taking advantage of Harry. He'd never seen it like that but Harry's words back then had done little to comfort him. It was when Sirius got involved that the werewolf had started to let go of the doubts he had about being with Harry. They had been together for just over three years now - he knew that their relationship was strong but Remus still doubted himself sometimes. Now that his father was back...Harry didn't want to lose Remus over a man he'd just met, even if that man was James Potter.

James was also younger than Harry and while James had been involved in the first war he had no idea what Harry had been through. What Remus and Sirius had been through, even. But what if they went to James now that he was back. What if they just left Harry alone? What if -

"Harry!"

He jumped and dropped his glass to the ground when Remus called to him. The kettle was whistling on the stove and he cursed to himself. Harry turned his back to Remus and poured the water over the tea to let it steep before using his wand to clean up and vanish the remains of his glass. He didn't even realize his hands were shaking or that his breath was coming in harsh gasps. So much for the drink calming him down.

"Harry, look at me."

Remus watched as Harry turned and folded his arms over his chest, a means of shielding himself. He walked over and pried Harry's arms apart and held Harry's hands to his chest. "Breathe with me," he instructed softly.

Harry closed his eyes and focused on the firm chest rising and falling under his hands and the smell of safe and home and pure Remus that surrounded him.

The former professor waited till Harry's breathing evened out before wrapping his arms around the narrow waist in front of him. "What's going through your head?"

Harry looked Remus's face over and blinked back tears. He rested his head against the werewolf's chest. "I'm being stupid."

"I doubt that." Remus stroked his back gently and kissed the top of his head. "Tonight's been a lot. For all of us, but I can't help you if you don't tell me -"

"I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you, Remus."

"You won't, sweet thing," he whispered and pulled him closer.

Harry wrapped his arms around the other man's waist, blushing slightly at the pet name. "You always said dad would hate you if he knew we were together. Now he's here and -"

Remus gently raised Harry's face and kissed him slowly, his other hand lightly gripping the hair at the back of his head. He only pulled back when he felt Harry start to relax against him. "I'm worried about his reaction, but I'm not letting you go. He doesn't...he wasn't here. He doesn't know what it was like, what brought us together. I don't know if he'll accept it or not, but I'm too selfish to let you go now."

"Promise?"

"I promise." The pair stood there quietly, leaning on each other for a few moments. Remus kissed the top of his head again. "Do you want to go see him or just go to our room?"

Harry pulled back and vanished the ruined tea before just conjuring a pot; it never tasted as good but he knew that if he'd continued to wallow down in the kitchen he would never go upstairs. "No, I'll be all right. If it gets to be too much I'll go to our room or go sit with Buckbeak for a while."

"Okay."

"Are we...are we telling him?"

Remus smiled softly and levitated the tray ahead of them. "Why don't we wait it out? Let everyone calm down a bit. I don't want to hide you, never wanted to do that, but let's give things time to settle."

The younger man smiled and some of the tension was released from his shoulders. "Okay."

Remus walked ahead of him and up the stairs to the drawing room. He heard Harry take a deep breath and follow him up the stairs; he could also feel Harry's hand on his back, keeping him steady after the recent transformation.

"I'm not going to break. I've been dealing with this longer than you've been alive."

Harry snorted as they walked in. "Never said you'd break, you're just old."

James and Sirius looked over. "So disrespectful," Remus muttered and set the tray down and poured the tea, giving Harry his cup first.

Harry thanked him and sat in a chair near the fire, furthest away from James. Remus handed out the rest of the cups before settling on the couch, facing Sirius and James who were tucked into the other corner.

Sirius gave Harry a smile and tried to keep the conversation light, steering it away from what had happened since James died. Remus caught on, doing the same. Instead they told stories from when they were in school; the three Marauders laughing while Harry just smiled softly, swirling his tea around.

Harry studied his father; no one had lied, he did look a lot like James. Harry wasn't as tall or broad thanks to the treatment he'd received as a child, but the resemblance was still uncanny. Their cow-licks were in the same places, Harry noticed that the gestures James made as he spoke were similar to what he did, they even laughed the same way; head thrown back and whole body shaking with it.

Harry watched as James ran his fingers through Sirius's hair, just like he did to Remus, before he got up and put his cup down on the table. The tea spilt over the edge with the force behind the movement. "I can't do this right now. I'm going to bed." He spoke quickly and quietly, not saying anything else before he rushed up the stairs.

James frowned. "What was that about?"

Sirius looked at Remus before answering James. "He's...been through a lot. I think he's still just in shock that you're here and how ah...close we are."

"You guys never told him about us?" He looked back and forth between Remus and Sirius.

"It's complicated." Remus finally settled on saying.

"What in the hell happened?"

Sirius and Remus looked at each other before Sirius sighed and got up. "I'll get the firewhiskey. Remus, you need a pain potion?"

He shook his head and Sirius walked down to the kitchen.

James eyed Remus. "When was the last moon?"

"Two nights ago," Remus answered James. "They're not nearly as bad as they used to be. There's a potion now that keeps the wolf calm, I have almost total control over him. Sirius and Harry help out of course. Still hurts like a son of a bitch, though."

"Harry's an animagus?"

Sirius walked back in with three glasses and a new bottle of firewhiskey. He poured them each a glass before sitting back with James. "He is. Picked it up hell of a lot quicker than we did, too."

"What's he transform into?"

"A panther," Remus said, smiling. "They surprised me with it."

James swirled his drink around. "I missed a lot."

"It wasn't your fault, Prongs," Sirius said softly.

"Wasn't yours either, Sirius." Remus's voice was soft and stern, a challenging edge to it.

Sirius shrugged and leaned back into the sofa. James looked between his two friends. "You guys will tell me everything?"

"What we know," Remus said and Sirius nodded in agreement.

Remus took a quick sip of his drink while Sirius downed his and poured himself another. He looked down at the amber liquid and struggled with where to start. "I knew you were attacked instantly;" he said after a few moments. "I suddenly knew where you and Lily were staying. I was on a stake out for the Order when it happened. I didn't care if the death eaters found out I was there. I rushed to the house and...it was awful James."

Sirius continued to look down at his glass. "The door was in pieces, part of the house missing entirely. I was so scared to go in, I didn't...I had wanted to hate you for what happened but I couldn't...and I knew what I would find if I went in there.

"The living room was clean except for pieces of door. I went to the stairs and you were...you were laying there, it looked like you'd been thrown into them. Some of the wood was splintered from where you'd hit it. You weren't moving...I never would have -"

James squeezed his hand. "I know, Pads."

Remus stared into the fire, his eyes distant as he listened to Sirius start talking again. He had heard all this before, but it never got any easier.

"I heard Harry crying in his crib so I went to him. Lily was on the floor in front of his crib, the wall behind him was missing. I just took him and was going to get you when Hagrid showed up. He wanted to take Harry to Dumbledore, to keep him safe. I wasn't going to, you wanted me to look after Harry if anything had happened and even though I was still so…" He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

When he started speaking again his voice was monotone and James couldn't help it. He gripped Sirius's hand tightly. "I saw you dead behind Hagrid and I handed Harry over. I told him to take my bike and go, I had something that needed to be done."

"Pads -"

"I went after Wormtail," Sirius said, effectively cutting him off. "But things didn't exactly go to plan. I…"

"Sirius found him," Remus continued once Sirius paused. "And Peter knew how he'd react and knew how to play it. There were people around, muggles that heard everything. Peter yelled at Sirius for betraying you. He set off a blast that killed a few of the muggles."

"Thirteen muggles," Sirius said softly.

"Peter cut off a finger and transformed and was able to escape." Remus looked at James sadly. "None of us knew you made the switch, not even Dumbledore. We all thought that Sirius betrayed you."

James frowned and his eyes narrowed. "How could you think that?"

"You weren't around James. You were in hiding. Remus and I were already suspicious of each other. We thought that the other was working for Voldemort." Remus nodded gently in agreement with Sirius.

"So then what happened?" James asked. There was still anger in his eyes as he watched Remus.

"Sirius was charged with the murders of the muggles and of Peter. He was charged with assisting in yours and Lily's. He was sent to Azkaban without a trial."

James paled. "You were in Azkaban?" He took a large gulp of his drink when Sirius nodded. "For how long?"

"Twelve years," Sirius spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Twelve…you let him rot there for twelve years?!" James looked like he was going to be sick but continued talking before either Sirius or Remus could jump in. "How did Harry survive? Who did he go to if Sirius wasn't able to raise him?"

"Dumbledore said that Lily's sacrifice is what saved him. An old magic that created some sort of shield. That's why he was sent to live with the only family that Lily had left."

James frowned at Remus. "He sent my son to those...they hated Lily and me!"

"Hated Harry too," Sirius said and downed the remainder of his drink.

"Why didn't you take him?" He demanded of Remus.

Sirius frowned at James, but Remus took it in stride. "I wouldn't have been able to support him, and by the time I heard what happened Dumbledore had already sent him away. I was staying with Greyback's pack at the time." Remus watched the pair of them, James looking ready to either pass out or start screaming, it was hard to tell, and Sirius's eyes were glassy and distant. "I think that's enough for tonight."

"I want to know -"

"And we'll tell you," Remus promised. "But it's...heavy stuff. You have a lot to process. We should all get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning, yeah?"

James looked like he wanted to argue more but took one look at Sirius and nodded. They all stood, not bothering with any of the dishes from that night. "Do you want to stay in Sirius's room?" James nodded and Sirius tugged on his hand, leading him up the stairs.

Remus followed behind and stopped Sirius before they went up to the next landing. "There's a Dreamless Draught in the medicine cabinet, Sirius. Drink it."

Sirius nodded and led James up to his room. Remus listened to the door close before he slipped into the bedroom he shared with Harry.

Harry looked up from the book in his lap. "Didn't think you guys would be turning in so soon." He closed the book and Remus saw it was the photo album that Hagrid had gifted him at the end of Harry's first year.

Remus slipped his robe off and started to work on his shirt as he toed his shoes off. "Things got a bit heavy. James wanted to know what had happened so Sirius and I went through that night and Sirius being in Azkaban."

"Went right for the big stuff, didn't you?" Harry kept his eyes on Remus. He felt calmer watching Remus get ready for bed in their room. He remembered all the thoughts that had bombarded him earlier that night, but the thought of Remus leaving was quieted as the man slid his pants down to pull on the pair of flannel pants that he preferred to sleep in. Harry set the photo album aside as Remus got into bed.

"He wants to know everything. The happy stuff comes later, unfortunately. I don't think any of us will be sleeping well for a few weeks."

"I never knew his body had never been recovered," Harry said as he removed his glasses and Remus extinguished the lamps.

"It was never made public. Mainly only the order knew. At the time we thought that...well some of his followers had taken it for some reason. A few of us searched but we could never find it. I hate to say it, but I wish it had vanished before Sirius saw it. Things would have gone differently, don't know if it would have been better, but..." he trailed off.

Harry just nodded and rolled to rest his head on Remus's chest. He played with the hair there and draped one of his legs between Remus's as they settled. In the quiet he could hear the soft swish of a wand and the curtains close, the soft thud as Remus put his wand on the nightstand, and Remus's heart beneath his ear. He nuzzled against his chest as Remus stroked his fingers through Harry's hair.

"Rem?" Harry traced shapes onto the older man's skin. "Why didn't anyone tell me about my dad and Sirius?"

"I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you that."

"Is this going to be another 'picking on Snape' sort of story?"

Remus kissed his head. "Probably worse considering it happened to Sirius," he said gently. The black-haired man went quiet and Remus could almost feel the anger radiating off of him. "Sirius has come to terms with it. I think he knew that it was going to happen before it actually did. He doesn't hold it against James anymore, and you came from it."

Harry nodded and stayed silent. Remus had thought he'd fallen asleep when he heard another soft, "Rem?"

"Yeah, sweet thing?"

"You're...you won't leave me, right?" Harry's voice was barely a whisper and he swallowed when Remus tensed under him.

Remus rolled them over, leaning on his forearm to keep himself from putting all his weight on Harry. Their legs were still intertwined and his free hand continued to stroke through Harry's hair. "I'm not going anywhere. I told you that before."

Harry lowered his gaze. "I know but...it's stuck in my head, you know? You were always so worried about what they would think. Now he's here and…" he trailed off. He looked up when Remus's fingers stopped playing with his hair and lifted his chin instead.

"You're going to work yourself into a panic attack," he scolded gently. He kissed his forehead and smiled down at him. "And I was. And I doubt his reaction is going to be pleasant when he finds out, but I am not leaving you. Like I said, I'm far too selfish to give you up now that I've had you."

"You're nowhere near selfish."

Remus smirked and leaned down, kissing along his jaw. "I see how people watch you, even when they see you from behind and don't know it's actually you. I see how people follow your hands and lips while you talk, especially when you get worked up about something. I can picture your older students fancying you...but I won't let you go. Not without a fight and I am definitely not walking away from you. If you think-"

Harry smiled and tilted his head back to give Remus more room to trail kisses down his neck. "If you think that I'm going to let one man, your dad, scare me off now when dozens of those young whipper-snappers -"

Harry laughed loudly and turned so his face was in Remus' chest. "Oh Gods."

Remus chuckled. "What?"

"Young whipper-snappers?" Harry kept laughing. "You're in your 40s, not 80s."

He chuckled again and pressed his lips to Harry's. "My point is," he said, smiling at the amused look on Harry's face, it was so much better than the worry that had been there moments before, "is that I'm not going to give you up. I love you, you're mine, my mate."

A small, private, and sweet smile found its way onto Harry's face and Remus knew it was one reserved for him alone. "You've never called me that before. Never mentioned either of the 'M' words."

"We've never talked about it from my werewolf side. It's for life, you know. Not like a wizard wedding where you could walk away."

"Or you could walk away from."

Remus chuckled and smiled down at him. "Selfish, old werewolf, remember? I'm extremely possessive."

"I love it when you get possessive," Harry whispered and leaned up, kissing Remus slowly. He ran his fingers through Remus's hair and down his cheek. "We'll talk about it later. You look exhausted."

"No more freak outs?" Remus whispered against his lips.

"None tonight at least," Harry promised. Remus chuckled and laid back down, Harry resting his head on his heart again, his hand resting on the other side of his chest. "Good night, Rem."

"Good night, sweet thing," He whispered and only fell asleep ince Harry's breathing evened out.

James followed Sirius up and into a bedroom on the 3rd floor. The pair were quiet, James's eyes going over Sirius as he sat on the bed. "I'm sorry."

Sirius looked up at him. "For what?"

"Making you go through all of it."

"You need to know what happened, Prongs. It's not fun to talk about and it's not fun to hear, but you should know."

James watched as Sirius stood again and walked to a dresser, pulling out a pair of pajama pants. "Do you want a shirt too?"

"No, I'm fine."

Sirius nodded and handed them to him before grabbing a shirt from the same drawer. He shut it, grabbing a pair of flannel pants off the chest at the end of his bed. "I'll be right back." He slipped from the room and James could hear another door shut quietly.

James changed while Sirius was out of the room before looking around it. He wandered over to the dresser, looking at the pictures on it. Most of them were of Harry, but they were all when he was older, his mid-teens at the earliest. A couple had Sirius and Harry together and James could see the bright smile on his son's face and the adoring one on Sirius's. He could see tattoos and scars running across the older man's chest in one of them; they were in front of a Christmas tree that was surrounded by presents, Harry laughing and moving away when Sirius ruffled his hair.

The one in the center of the dresser was James's favorite. Sirius was dressed in nice clothes, the top few buttons of his shirt undone and his hair and robes fluttering in a breeze, Harry was next to him, his glasses crooked and he was wearing a set of black robes, black pants, white shirt with a light blue tie, Remus was on his other side, his robes a little tattered compared to the others, but he was dressed similarly to Sirius, though his buttons were done up to his neck, the last one left open. Sirius had his arm around Harry's shoulder, while Remus was around his son's waist. All three were smiling at the camera and James could just catch a glimpse of someone in a white dress in the corner.

"That's when Harry's best friends got married after the second war."

James jumped and turned to face Sirius. "Scared me."

Sirius smirked and sat on the bed, an empty vial joining a few others on the nightstand. "Remind me tomorrow and I'll show you some of the albums downstairs."

"We can look at them as you guys catch me up."

The now older man tensed slightly but nodded. "Come on, let's get some rest."

James walked over to the other side of the bed and laid down, keeping some space in between them. "Harry doesn't like me."

"He doesn't know you. He spent all of his life believing you died and you're suddenly back and younger than him. He just needs time to adjust, I know I do and I'm sure you do too."

James nodded and stared up at the ceiling. "Do you still hate me?"

"I never hated you, James. I was angry and I...fuck it hurt. But I never hated you. I wouldn't have been in your wedding if I did. I wouldn't have gone after Peter that night or tried to get back to Harry." Sirius turned his head so he could look at James properly.

"I just...left you. I made promises to you and I betrayed you."

Sirius looked back at the ceiling. "I know what you did. But I betrayed you too, and Remus. I deserved everything that happened after that."

"You didn't," James said and took his hand.

Sirius squeezed it gently and didn't let go. "Get some rest, it's been a long day and I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be the same."

James bit his lip and closed the gap between them. He rolled onto his side after removing his glasses and faced Sirius.

"You're staring," Sirius whispered.

"Sleep."

Sirius nodded and James watched as his breathing slowed and the potion took effect. He rested his head on Sirius's shoulder and closed his eyes, sleep not coming till a couple hours later.