Harry and Remus looked up when James and Sirius walked into the kitchen the next morning; James had a goofy grin on his face and Sirius looked smug in a way that he hadn't in years. Harry wrinkled his nose and looked at Remus. "Rem, they did gross things."

Sirius choked on his drink, James thumped on his back, and Remus laughed loudly. Harry watched the three of them smiling softly; he'd never seen Sirius or Remus this light.

He'd first met Remus on the way to his third year; he was worn down, ragged, and frail looking. Harry had never felt safer. Remus had defended him, cared for him, and done everything he could to defend him - from anything that came at him that year. He had spent time with him and told him about his parents. He didn't hear much from him during his fourth year, a couple small letters from when he was on the run with Sirius and a couple longer ones once they had settled.

He remembered spending time with him during the years that followed; Remus always stood behind him, helping him and the others in any way he could. He'd even offered to come with him, Ron, and Herminoe when they'd gone after the Horcruxes. Harry's not sure if he could have handled being in close quarters with Remus for that long; he'd had a crush on him back then, even if he had been fighting with accepting who he'd love back then. Plus Remus had his short-lived relationship with Tonks going at the time. And Remus had only seen Harry as a kid then - it was something that they had talked about in the beginning. The age difference had been a huge hang up for Remus when things had started to take a serious turn in their relationship.

Harry wasn't sure if Sirius would ever look like the man he'd seen in his parents' wedding pictures but since his dad's return it was the closest Harry had ever seen. Sirius had lost the haunted look in his eyes, he regained his health, he was exonerated, and he was happy. Sirius had done everything for him, given up everything for him; he'd nearly died because Harry had fallen for Voldemort's trap. He'd lived off rats and stayed (for the most part) locked up in the house that he'd hated to help Harry in the Second War.

Harry had done everything he could think of to repay them; it was one of the main reasons he had fought so hard against Grimmauld Place and made it into the home they had now. He'd gifted Remus books and worked to try (and succeeded) in making things better for werewolves. All he had wanted was to make them happy. And in a way he had, but this was better than he had hoped for.

"Cause you've never done gross things before," Sirius muttered towards Harry and Remus.

Harry smirked. "You guys hungry?"

"Starving," James grabbed a cup and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Harry set some food out. "So I think I'm going to work on setting up my office today."

"Do you want some help?" Sirius, Remus, and Harry and looked over at James. "What? I want to spend some time with my son. Get to know him."

Harry glanced at Remus before looking back at James. "Okay, sure. We'll go after you're done eating."

James smiled and nodded. "Great."

Harry nodded and walked upstairs to change.

Remus waited until Harry was out of the room before turning to face James. "Don't blow this with him. I meant what I said."

James nodded.

"What did you tell him?"

"Told me if I hurt you or Harry, he'll hurt me."

Remus smiled sweetly and Sirius smirked. "Well, you hurt Harry and I'll hurt you."

"Rude, we're supposed to be family, you know."

Sirius pressed a kiss to his cheek. "We are, Harry's part of it. Besides, you're the one that asked us to look after him."

Remus stood up. "You guys get dishes," He said and walked out.

James groaned and Sirius laughed. He finished eating, one of his hands entangled with James's the whole time. "Just be honest with him, Prongs."

"I will be," he promised.

Remus leaned against the door frame of the study, watching Harry shrink the boxes and trunks that Harry had been putting together since he'd accepted the offer from McGonagall. "Have everything?"

"I think so, if not it's not like I won't be able to make it here. Besides, I plan on visiting you here when you're not with me there."

He smiled and walked into the room. "Like I'd let you leave me behind."

Harry chuckled and looked over at him. "I never could." He moved into Remus's arms when they wrapped around his waist. "Love you too much."

Remus smiled and leaned down to peck his lips. "You okay to do this with him?"

"I can't hide from him forever. He's my dad. Plus, he means a lot to you and Sirius. I don't want anything to come between any of you. You have a second chance with him."

"You do too, Harry. It's going to be hard for all of us. Sirius and I have changed a lot since we were 21. We've all gone through so much - you're more mature than we were at your age, even if we did go through a war and Sirius went through what he did at Azkaban. Everyone needs to adjust, but especially you. You never even got to know him."

Harry rested his head against the taller man's chest. "I'm going to try."

"That's all I ask. And no matter what -"

"You're not leaving me," Harry whispered.

"Right," he said just as softly and kissed him.

"Harry, you ready to go?" James yelled up.

"Just grabbing my stuff, be right down." He looked back up at Remus. "I'll be back in a bit."

He smirked. "If you're not Pads and I will come after you and make sure you're both in one piece."

He laughed, "Yes, sir."

Harry pulled the last of the shrunken trunks from his bag and brought them to their proper size. "I think this is it."

James looked around at the varying trunks and boxes. "Where did you get all of this stuff?"

He hopped onto the desk, his desk, and shrugged. "Some of it is stuff that I gathered throughout the years, some of it Remus gave to me from when he taught here, the rest of it Sirius let me take from the vaults. Nothing too dangerous of course, we've all gone over it and it won't cause any...well, permanent damage." Harry smiled softly. "I just...I want to be good at this."

James plopped back into the chair across from Harry and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "What makes you think you won't be?" He frowned when Harry shrugged. "You can tell me."

"People...they expect certain things from me. I'm supposed to be perfect, have all the answers. And...I am good at defense. Some of it was luck, a lot of it was because I do know what I'm doing, but I didn't do it alone. People tend to forget that - and I don't always have the answer. O just...I don't want to disappoint I guess."

"Listening to you...you sound a lot like Moony."

Harry tilted his head to the side. "Rem?"

James nodded. "His self esteem is about as great as yours - though his seems to have improved since...well, it happened. Moony's stemmed from his lycropanthy and how his parents and others treated him once they knew about his furry little problem.

"I think you...I know you've been through hell. And it's not fair. What happened to you after your mom and I passed away was not what we wanted for you. We wanted you to be raised with Padfoot and Moony - I thought...I had hoped that Pads wouldn't react like he did."

"Don't blame -"

James held his hand up. "I'm not. I knew it was a possibility. I never thought Peter would betray us willingly - but the Marauders were the only family that Pads had. He and I were closest and I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same thing." He smiled sadly. "We never wanted you to grow up not knowing what it was like to be loved. You were treated...I really wish you'd let me and the others go take care of them.

"But that can't have made it easy. You were treated like you were worthless." James looked at him. "You're not used to being treated like you're good enough and you are."

"But -"

James shook his head. "I did the same thing. When I snapped at you the other night. It wasn't your fault that Pads and Moony were almost killed. It's not your fault that anyone died or was put in danger. That was Voldemort, no one else."

Harry looked down, playing with his hands. "You really think that?"

He stood and walked over and when Harry didn't look he wrapped his arms around him. "I'm so sorry for everything you've been through and everything that I've put you through."

Harry tensed before slowly wrapping his arms around James. "Thanks, d-dad."

James smiled. "Say that again."

"Dad."

"I like hearing that."

Harry bit his lip and pulled back. "I want to get to know you."

James smiled. "I'd like that."

"It might take me a while."

"I'm okay with that."

Harry stood and wiped his eyes. "Good...let's get this place set up. If we take too long Rem and Sirius will probably come looking for us." He opened a trunk while James pulled a box open.

"Harry?"

He looked over from where he was placing books on the shelves behind his desk. "Yeah?"

"Why don't you call them by their nicknames?"

"That was...well their thing. Your thing with them. They've always been Remus and Sirius to me. Well, Remus started as Professor Lupin and Sirius was a nut job that was hunting me down. It sucks that it took them so long to get to me, but I'm so glad they did. I don't know what things would have been like if they hadn't found me. When I almost lost them my fifth year and then again during the last battle -"

James smiled softly. "I'm glad they're alive. I'm glad you've had them."

"Me too."

James glanced over before looking back at the artifacts he was setting up. "And now you have me."

Harry looked over but James kept his back to him. "I hope so."