Hey people! I just got back from Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. I was there
for a month, that's why I haven't updated in a while. Anyway, camp was
awesome! I recommend it to anyone. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 4
James was released from the hospital wing when it was time for dinner. He wandered through the halls, trying to see if anything was different. Nothing really. But Hogwarts certainly had a different feel. He shook his head to himself. Some crazy things had happened to him but this was definitely the craziest. He wondered why Sirius had looked so sad. It seemed as though a lot had happened with Voldemort. (James never bought into the whole "You-Know-Who" thing either). I mean, Voldemort was an ISSUE in his time; it had been since he had been eleven, but it never really seemed to concern him or any of his friends. He wondered how that had all changed.
He came into the Great Hall. People swamped him at once.
"Harry, are you okay?" "You really did it, Harry!" "You're so brave!" "How did you do it?" "What happened?" "We are SO having a party later! It'll be like when me and George used to go here!" The last comment was from one of the red-haired twins Harry had seen in the hospital wing. James got through the people and went to sit with Hermione and the red-haired girl. He was guessing that girl was Ginny.
Hermione and Ginny both got up and hugged James, which took him by surprise. Hermione said, sounding like she was near tears, "Oh, Harry, I was so scared. Especially after we lost Ron." And then she burst into tears. James patted her shoulder awkwardly. He wondered who Ron was. After hearing what Hermione said, Ginny cried too.
"Well, I'm okay." James said. They both backed away a little, although Ginny still stayed uncomfortably close. Ginny kissed him quickly, before he had a chance to react. She smiled at him.
"I'm SO glad you're okay, Harry!"
James replied, a bit shaken (he just kissed another girl and he has a girlfriend), "Er, yeah. Me too." They all sat down; James made sure to sit next to Hermione in case Ginny tried to kiss him again.
Ginny asked in a low voice, "So, what happened? How did you actually defeat him?" Hermione shot her a look.
"I don't think Harry wants to talk about it." They both looked at James.
"Er . I really don't remember anything."
"And that's perfectly understandable," Hermione said. James heard someone clear her throat. He looked at the head table. He was surprised to see that it was Professor McGonagall. But, of course! If Dumbledore had died, McGonagall had probably taken over as Headmistress. Everyone was quiet.
"I'm sure we are all very excited tonight. We all have the right to be." She allowed herself a smile before going on, "I want to thank Harry Potter for defeating You-Know -" she stopped, looking a little unsure of herself, then said, "Voldemort, at last." The whole room exploded in applause. Even some of the Slytherins were clapping. "Therefore I would like to award two hundred points to him." There was even more applause from the Gryffindor table.
She put her hand up to silence it. "Though this is a very happy occasion, I want to remind you of the cost of this victory. Many people lost their lives in this battle. Some of them might have been people you've only heard of, and some of them might have been your best friends." She glanced significantly at James. "I just want us all to have a moment of silence for them." Everyone obeyed. James noticed that all the redheads he had seen earlier looked incredibly sad. So did Hermione. In fact EVERYONE (excluding a few Slytherins) looked very sad. ~*~It seems like everyone's lost someone~*~, James thought to himself.
"All right. If you would all stand up and get out of the way," Everyone looked a little confused but did as she asked. McGonagall waved her wand and all the tables slid to the sides of the room. Tons of snack foods appeared on the table and music started coming out of nowhere. With another wave, streamers and balloons were everywhere. "Unless there are any complaints, let the party begin!"
Everyone cheered and started dancing. James grinned. That had been so . UnMcGonagall like. He could tell she must have been VERY happy. Ginny grabbed his hand and they started dancing. While they were, James looked at Ginny. She looked a little bit like Lily. It almost felt like he was dancing with Lily and not Ginny for a second. James shook his head at himself. Ginny looked up at him.
"Is anything wrong?"
"No. I guess I'm just still a little . wound up." She smiled.
"You have the right to be. I can't believe you did it, Harry. But then, if anyone was going to be able to do it, it would have been you." James smiled at her.
"Thanks."
"You know, I bet Ron's really happy right now. Up there, I mean." James put the evening's events together and realized that Ron must have been his son's best friend. And Voldemort must have killed him. How terrible.
"Yeah, I reckon he is." She leaned her head against his shoulder. It wasn't that strange. He usually danced with girls other than Lily at parties. Lily had always been all right with it. After a while, he and Ginny went to sit with Hermione.
James looked at Hermione and asked, "Do you want to dance?" Hermione looked surprised. So did Ginny. But then she shrugged and went into the crowd of people with James. It was yet another slow dance.
"You really had me scared, Harry. I wish I would have known how to mend broken bones. Then I could have come with you and-" James put his hand up. He supposed Hermione must have broken something and hadn't been able to come with Harry to fight Voldemort.
"It's okay." Hermione smiled grimly at him.
"It only took Madam Pomfrey about a second to mend it. I really DO need to learn how to do that."
"You do that, Hermione."
"God, Harry, so much has happened. So many people are gone." She shook her head sadly. But then her eyes brightened a little. "But I think you've made everyone feel better. You know, like you kind of . avenged everyone who died. Have you seen Fred and George? They took time off from the joke shop to come see you. Anyway, they're almost acting like their old selves! They've hardly been the same since Ron." She looked close to tears again. He patted her shoulder like he had earlier.
"It's okay, it's all okay now." She nodded.
"Well, you showed HIM. V-" she hesitated, "Voldemort isn't laughing anymore!" As the song ended, James smiled at Hermione. He liked her automatically. Ginny may have LOOKED like Lily but this girl's personality was almost identical to Lily's. The two of them walked back over to Ginny. Ginny was talking to who James realized were Fred and George. They both smiled widely.
"We knew you could do it, Harry!" one of them yelled.
"You showed him!" the other said. James smiled at both of them, wondering who was Fred and who was George.
"We brought free stuff from the shop for everyone." Hermione looked apprehensive.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Fred?" So the first one was Fred. Fred smiled.
"Of course I'm sure. This place needs some laughs!" George nodded.
"So do we," he said, with a note of seriousness in his voice. Fred patted him on the shoulder.
"You really did it!" Then the two of them went wandering into the crowd, holding several bags of candies and fake wands. Ginny was smiling.
"They're practically back to normal!"
James smiled at her; his jaws were starting to hurt from so much smiling. He noticed a man with pale skin and black hair coming toward him. James raised his eyebrows. It couldn't be. But it was. Severus Snape, a grown man, was walking toward him. With a frown, James realized Snape was a TEACHER. He had AUTHORITY over James. This thought really scared him. He looked at Snape with his eyes wide. Snape surprisingly put his hand out to James.
"G-good job, Potter." James stared at his hand for a moment. Shaking Snape's hand was against everything he believed in. And yet Harry probably would shake his hand. And James didn't want any suspicion. So he shook Snape's hand.
"Thank you, er, Professor." He almost laughed at the thought of Snape being a professor. Then he looked at Snape's face. He seemed to be having some great internal struggle.
"Potter . I just wanted to say-to say . that I'm . s-sorry." His eyes widened.
"Really?" Snape groaned, as if he REALLY didn't want to say that again. "Yes. I blamed you for your father's actions and I shouldn't have. You're not him-" James thought, grinning, ~*~oh yes I am~*~, "-no matter how much you may look or act like him. And besides," this he REALLY looked like he didn't want to say, "maybe . maybe I'm not THAT angry with your father anymore. I guess . I guess he was . um, okay." Snape sighed and looked at him. James couldn't believe it. He'd always thought Snape would grow up to be a Death Eater or something. But here he was, apologizing for treating him, or rather his son, badly.
"Thank you. And, um, I'm sorry too for . whatever I've done." Snape nodded.
"Thank you, Potter." He smiled very slightly. "And really, congratulations." James watched Snape walk away.
"Did that really happen?" Hermione asked. James nodded.
"I think it did." He, Ginny, and Hermione burst out laughing.
"This had been one crazy day!" Ginny exclaimed. The party raged on until about 3:00 when McGonagall made everyone go up to bed. James wasn't exactly sure where his room was.
But a boy called out, "Oy, Harry! Our room's this way!" James smiled and followed the boy. "So, what was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"Your fight against You-Know-Who!"
"Oh, I don't really remember."
"Really?" Another boy came up to them.
"Is Seamus bothering you, Harry?" James shook his head.
"No, I'm fine." The boy who wasn't Seamus patted James on the back.
"Good for you, Harry!" They made their way up to their room. James saw one bed with a broomstick sitting next to it so he assumed that bed was his. He lied down. A sort of overweight boy walked in a little while afterward. James was strongly reminded of Peter.
"Hello Harry! Doing well, I hope?"
"A few bumps and bruises but basically I'm fine."
"That's good!" The boy sat on his bed. He gave James a serious look. "That was really good, what you did. I don't think I ever told you, but my parents . well . his supporters . hurt them." James raised his eyebrows.
"What happened?"
"They were trying to get information from my parents. When my parents wouldn't give it to them, they." The boy looked strained, "they put the Cruciatus Curse on them. I visit my parents at St. Mungo's sometimes but . they don't recognize me." Seamus and Dean were both giving the boy great expressions of pity.
"I'm so sorry, Neville," Seamus said.
"Yeah, we never knew." Neville waved his hand and turned back to Harry.
"Anyway, it makes me feel really good the You-Know-Who is gone now. I bet my parents would be happy too." James patted Neville on the shoulder. He was really wondering who Neville's parents had been.
"That's good. Maybe . maybe your parents'll get better someday." Neville's face looked grim.
"Yeah, maybe." He got up and went to his own bed. "I've got to finish this application." He held up a piece of paper on his bed.
"What's that for?" Dean asked.
"Well, since Professor Sprout is retiring, I was thinking I'd apply for the Herbology job. We get out of Hogwarts in a few months and I'm going to need a job." He smiled bashfully. "Not that I think I'll get it."
"Oh, I think you could," Seamus said. "You're great at Herbology." Neville shrugged.
"We'll see."
Everyone got into their beds. James couldn't help but notice that one of the beds was empty. He was guessing it had been Ron's bed. The lights were turned off. Dean, Seamus, and Neville all muttered their congratulations to James again before falling asleep. James, however, wasn't tired. He was still quite amazed by his situation. He drew the hangings of his four-poster and took his wand (which had luckily been in his pocket before the Damore Sero thing) out.
"Lumos," he whispered. He looked in his son's trunk at the foot of his bed. He was curious about Harry's possessions. He found what looked like a photo album. He opened it, expecting pictures of his son's friends, but was surprised to see pictures of himself. Only he was OLDER. But it was definitely him. There were pictures of him, Lily, and a baby.
"Oh god, this is WEIRD," he whispered to himself. It was very strange seeing was he was going to look like in about five years. He looked at the baby. He had hair just as untidy as his own. James sighed. Was all of this really happening? In five years, was he really going to die? Why would Voldemort ever come after him? The only threat he really posed was that he got very good grades. He was Head Boy in his year. He wondered if Harry was as well. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a snowy white owl outside his window. He opened the window and let her in. He took the letter from her.
Dear James, Hello. This is Harry's owl; her name is Hedwig. Anyway, I need to talk to you. Harry has your Invisibility Cloak in his trunk. Take that and go outside. Transform and go out to the Whomping Willow. No one'll bother us in the Shrieking Shack. Your Friend, Sirius
James folded up the letter. He looked in Harry's trunk. Sure enough, the invisibility cloak was there. He put it on and quietly left the room. He'd gotten very good at sneaking out over the years so this wasn't a very big deal. He got outside easily. He hid the cloak in a bush and transformed into a stag. It was strange going to the Whomping Willow without a dog and a rat following him. He picked up a twig with his mouth and prodded the knot with it. The tree froze and he went through to the Shrieking Shack. A large dog was sitting on the bed. Both of them transformed back to their normal selves.
"So," Sirius said, "how was the party?"
"It was fun. Very strange though."
"What do you think of Harry's friends?"
"I like them a lot. Hermione reminds me a lot of Lily."
"That was the first thing I thought about her too." James sighed.
"I like Ginny too. But I'm surprised Harry would choose Ginny over Hermione. Hermione seems to be more his type."
"More YOUR type, you mean. Though Harry's your son, that doesn't mean you have the same taste in girls." James shrugged. "And be careful, James. Don't screw things up with Harry and Ginny. That's girl's so head over heels for him."
"I won't. But really, it seems like he was better friends with Hermione."
"He was. But remember that Ron was also their best friend."
"Oh . Hermione and Ron?" Sirius nodded.
"Up until Ron's dying day."
"Sirius . how did it happen?" Sirius looked grim.
"I'll tell you at some point. It's a pretty long story and not one I feel like telling."
"Were you close to Ron?"
"Yes, somewhat. He was a good kid. He was always there for Harry."
"Just like you were always there for me."
"That's right." James looked up at Sirius, surprised to see tears running down his face.
"What's wrong?"
"I just can't believe it's you, James. And being here . it almost makes me feel like I'm a teenager again." Sirius looked at him. James saw all that grief in his eyes.
"Sirius, what all HAPPENED? I mean; you never used to be like this."
"Well . you died, for one thing."
"I know."
"And I never really recovered from that. And it's so strange to see you now."
"I know. But how did that all happen? Why was Voldemort after me?"
"Once again James, we'll talk about that another time. But your death was a great ordeal." Sirius came over and hugged him. "It's great to see you, Prongs." James hugged him back.
"Yeah, I'm here now." Sirius smiled. James saw a little bit of his own Sirius come back into his face.
"Anyway, enough of that."
"Yeah." James sat on the bed. "You know, I found a photo album of Harry's. It had me in it when I was older. It was WEIRD."
"I'm sure it would be. I remember when Harry showed that to me. It made me quite sad." James nodded. Sirius put his hand on shoulder. "You'd better get to bed now." James nodded again.
"All right. Night, Padfoot."
"Night, Prongs."
James transformed and went back to the castle. He transformed back, put him invisibility cloak on and went back to his dorm room. Poor Sirius had been through so much. James wondered what Sirius had been doing with himself for the last twenty years. He'd have to ask him about it. He thought about the people he'd met. His son had nice friends. He still liked Hermione better than Ginny. He wondered if Harry would have ended up with Hermione had Ron not gotten there first. He also wondered what Ron had looked like. There was so much for him to learn about his son's life.
Okay poppets! It's been forever since I've updated this! Hope you liked this chapter! R/R!
Chapter 4
James was released from the hospital wing when it was time for dinner. He wandered through the halls, trying to see if anything was different. Nothing really. But Hogwarts certainly had a different feel. He shook his head to himself. Some crazy things had happened to him but this was definitely the craziest. He wondered why Sirius had looked so sad. It seemed as though a lot had happened with Voldemort. (James never bought into the whole "You-Know-Who" thing either). I mean, Voldemort was an ISSUE in his time; it had been since he had been eleven, but it never really seemed to concern him or any of his friends. He wondered how that had all changed.
He came into the Great Hall. People swamped him at once.
"Harry, are you okay?" "You really did it, Harry!" "You're so brave!" "How did you do it?" "What happened?" "We are SO having a party later! It'll be like when me and George used to go here!" The last comment was from one of the red-haired twins Harry had seen in the hospital wing. James got through the people and went to sit with Hermione and the red-haired girl. He was guessing that girl was Ginny.
Hermione and Ginny both got up and hugged James, which took him by surprise. Hermione said, sounding like she was near tears, "Oh, Harry, I was so scared. Especially after we lost Ron." And then she burst into tears. James patted her shoulder awkwardly. He wondered who Ron was. After hearing what Hermione said, Ginny cried too.
"Well, I'm okay." James said. They both backed away a little, although Ginny still stayed uncomfortably close. Ginny kissed him quickly, before he had a chance to react. She smiled at him.
"I'm SO glad you're okay, Harry!"
James replied, a bit shaken (he just kissed another girl and he has a girlfriend), "Er, yeah. Me too." They all sat down; James made sure to sit next to Hermione in case Ginny tried to kiss him again.
Ginny asked in a low voice, "So, what happened? How did you actually defeat him?" Hermione shot her a look.
"I don't think Harry wants to talk about it." They both looked at James.
"Er . I really don't remember anything."
"And that's perfectly understandable," Hermione said. James heard someone clear her throat. He looked at the head table. He was surprised to see that it was Professor McGonagall. But, of course! If Dumbledore had died, McGonagall had probably taken over as Headmistress. Everyone was quiet.
"I'm sure we are all very excited tonight. We all have the right to be." She allowed herself a smile before going on, "I want to thank Harry Potter for defeating You-Know -" she stopped, looking a little unsure of herself, then said, "Voldemort, at last." The whole room exploded in applause. Even some of the Slytherins were clapping. "Therefore I would like to award two hundred points to him." There was even more applause from the Gryffindor table.
She put her hand up to silence it. "Though this is a very happy occasion, I want to remind you of the cost of this victory. Many people lost their lives in this battle. Some of them might have been people you've only heard of, and some of them might have been your best friends." She glanced significantly at James. "I just want us all to have a moment of silence for them." Everyone obeyed. James noticed that all the redheads he had seen earlier looked incredibly sad. So did Hermione. In fact EVERYONE (excluding a few Slytherins) looked very sad. ~*~It seems like everyone's lost someone~*~, James thought to himself.
"All right. If you would all stand up and get out of the way," Everyone looked a little confused but did as she asked. McGonagall waved her wand and all the tables slid to the sides of the room. Tons of snack foods appeared on the table and music started coming out of nowhere. With another wave, streamers and balloons were everywhere. "Unless there are any complaints, let the party begin!"
Everyone cheered and started dancing. James grinned. That had been so . UnMcGonagall like. He could tell she must have been VERY happy. Ginny grabbed his hand and they started dancing. While they were, James looked at Ginny. She looked a little bit like Lily. It almost felt like he was dancing with Lily and not Ginny for a second. James shook his head at himself. Ginny looked up at him.
"Is anything wrong?"
"No. I guess I'm just still a little . wound up." She smiled.
"You have the right to be. I can't believe you did it, Harry. But then, if anyone was going to be able to do it, it would have been you." James smiled at her.
"Thanks."
"You know, I bet Ron's really happy right now. Up there, I mean." James put the evening's events together and realized that Ron must have been his son's best friend. And Voldemort must have killed him. How terrible.
"Yeah, I reckon he is." She leaned her head against his shoulder. It wasn't that strange. He usually danced with girls other than Lily at parties. Lily had always been all right with it. After a while, he and Ginny went to sit with Hermione.
James looked at Hermione and asked, "Do you want to dance?" Hermione looked surprised. So did Ginny. But then she shrugged and went into the crowd of people with James. It was yet another slow dance.
"You really had me scared, Harry. I wish I would have known how to mend broken bones. Then I could have come with you and-" James put his hand up. He supposed Hermione must have broken something and hadn't been able to come with Harry to fight Voldemort.
"It's okay." Hermione smiled grimly at him.
"It only took Madam Pomfrey about a second to mend it. I really DO need to learn how to do that."
"You do that, Hermione."
"God, Harry, so much has happened. So many people are gone." She shook her head sadly. But then her eyes brightened a little. "But I think you've made everyone feel better. You know, like you kind of . avenged everyone who died. Have you seen Fred and George? They took time off from the joke shop to come see you. Anyway, they're almost acting like their old selves! They've hardly been the same since Ron." She looked close to tears again. He patted her shoulder like he had earlier.
"It's okay, it's all okay now." She nodded.
"Well, you showed HIM. V-" she hesitated, "Voldemort isn't laughing anymore!" As the song ended, James smiled at Hermione. He liked her automatically. Ginny may have LOOKED like Lily but this girl's personality was almost identical to Lily's. The two of them walked back over to Ginny. Ginny was talking to who James realized were Fred and George. They both smiled widely.
"We knew you could do it, Harry!" one of them yelled.
"You showed him!" the other said. James smiled at both of them, wondering who was Fred and who was George.
"We brought free stuff from the shop for everyone." Hermione looked apprehensive.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Fred?" So the first one was Fred. Fred smiled.
"Of course I'm sure. This place needs some laughs!" George nodded.
"So do we," he said, with a note of seriousness in his voice. Fred patted him on the shoulder.
"You really did it!" Then the two of them went wandering into the crowd, holding several bags of candies and fake wands. Ginny was smiling.
"They're practically back to normal!"
James smiled at her; his jaws were starting to hurt from so much smiling. He noticed a man with pale skin and black hair coming toward him. James raised his eyebrows. It couldn't be. But it was. Severus Snape, a grown man, was walking toward him. With a frown, James realized Snape was a TEACHER. He had AUTHORITY over James. This thought really scared him. He looked at Snape with his eyes wide. Snape surprisingly put his hand out to James.
"G-good job, Potter." James stared at his hand for a moment. Shaking Snape's hand was against everything he believed in. And yet Harry probably would shake his hand. And James didn't want any suspicion. So he shook Snape's hand.
"Thank you, er, Professor." He almost laughed at the thought of Snape being a professor. Then he looked at Snape's face. He seemed to be having some great internal struggle.
"Potter . I just wanted to say-to say . that I'm . s-sorry." His eyes widened.
"Really?" Snape groaned, as if he REALLY didn't want to say that again. "Yes. I blamed you for your father's actions and I shouldn't have. You're not him-" James thought, grinning, ~*~oh yes I am~*~, "-no matter how much you may look or act like him. And besides," this he REALLY looked like he didn't want to say, "maybe . maybe I'm not THAT angry with your father anymore. I guess . I guess he was . um, okay." Snape sighed and looked at him. James couldn't believe it. He'd always thought Snape would grow up to be a Death Eater or something. But here he was, apologizing for treating him, or rather his son, badly.
"Thank you. And, um, I'm sorry too for . whatever I've done." Snape nodded.
"Thank you, Potter." He smiled very slightly. "And really, congratulations." James watched Snape walk away.
"Did that really happen?" Hermione asked. James nodded.
"I think it did." He, Ginny, and Hermione burst out laughing.
"This had been one crazy day!" Ginny exclaimed. The party raged on until about 3:00 when McGonagall made everyone go up to bed. James wasn't exactly sure where his room was.
But a boy called out, "Oy, Harry! Our room's this way!" James smiled and followed the boy. "So, what was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"Your fight against You-Know-Who!"
"Oh, I don't really remember."
"Really?" Another boy came up to them.
"Is Seamus bothering you, Harry?" James shook his head.
"No, I'm fine." The boy who wasn't Seamus patted James on the back.
"Good for you, Harry!" They made their way up to their room. James saw one bed with a broomstick sitting next to it so he assumed that bed was his. He lied down. A sort of overweight boy walked in a little while afterward. James was strongly reminded of Peter.
"Hello Harry! Doing well, I hope?"
"A few bumps and bruises but basically I'm fine."
"That's good!" The boy sat on his bed. He gave James a serious look. "That was really good, what you did. I don't think I ever told you, but my parents . well . his supporters . hurt them." James raised his eyebrows.
"What happened?"
"They were trying to get information from my parents. When my parents wouldn't give it to them, they." The boy looked strained, "they put the Cruciatus Curse on them. I visit my parents at St. Mungo's sometimes but . they don't recognize me." Seamus and Dean were both giving the boy great expressions of pity.
"I'm so sorry, Neville," Seamus said.
"Yeah, we never knew." Neville waved his hand and turned back to Harry.
"Anyway, it makes me feel really good the You-Know-Who is gone now. I bet my parents would be happy too." James patted Neville on the shoulder. He was really wondering who Neville's parents had been.
"That's good. Maybe . maybe your parents'll get better someday." Neville's face looked grim.
"Yeah, maybe." He got up and went to his own bed. "I've got to finish this application." He held up a piece of paper on his bed.
"What's that for?" Dean asked.
"Well, since Professor Sprout is retiring, I was thinking I'd apply for the Herbology job. We get out of Hogwarts in a few months and I'm going to need a job." He smiled bashfully. "Not that I think I'll get it."
"Oh, I think you could," Seamus said. "You're great at Herbology." Neville shrugged.
"We'll see."
Everyone got into their beds. James couldn't help but notice that one of the beds was empty. He was guessing it had been Ron's bed. The lights were turned off. Dean, Seamus, and Neville all muttered their congratulations to James again before falling asleep. James, however, wasn't tired. He was still quite amazed by his situation. He drew the hangings of his four-poster and took his wand (which had luckily been in his pocket before the Damore Sero thing) out.
"Lumos," he whispered. He looked in his son's trunk at the foot of his bed. He was curious about Harry's possessions. He found what looked like a photo album. He opened it, expecting pictures of his son's friends, but was surprised to see pictures of himself. Only he was OLDER. But it was definitely him. There were pictures of him, Lily, and a baby.
"Oh god, this is WEIRD," he whispered to himself. It was very strange seeing was he was going to look like in about five years. He looked at the baby. He had hair just as untidy as his own. James sighed. Was all of this really happening? In five years, was he really going to die? Why would Voldemort ever come after him? The only threat he really posed was that he got very good grades. He was Head Boy in his year. He wondered if Harry was as well. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a snowy white owl outside his window. He opened the window and let her in. He took the letter from her.
Dear James, Hello. This is Harry's owl; her name is Hedwig. Anyway, I need to talk to you. Harry has your Invisibility Cloak in his trunk. Take that and go outside. Transform and go out to the Whomping Willow. No one'll bother us in the Shrieking Shack. Your Friend, Sirius
James folded up the letter. He looked in Harry's trunk. Sure enough, the invisibility cloak was there. He put it on and quietly left the room. He'd gotten very good at sneaking out over the years so this wasn't a very big deal. He got outside easily. He hid the cloak in a bush and transformed into a stag. It was strange going to the Whomping Willow without a dog and a rat following him. He picked up a twig with his mouth and prodded the knot with it. The tree froze and he went through to the Shrieking Shack. A large dog was sitting on the bed. Both of them transformed back to their normal selves.
"So," Sirius said, "how was the party?"
"It was fun. Very strange though."
"What do you think of Harry's friends?"
"I like them a lot. Hermione reminds me a lot of Lily."
"That was the first thing I thought about her too." James sighed.
"I like Ginny too. But I'm surprised Harry would choose Ginny over Hermione. Hermione seems to be more his type."
"More YOUR type, you mean. Though Harry's your son, that doesn't mean you have the same taste in girls." James shrugged. "And be careful, James. Don't screw things up with Harry and Ginny. That's girl's so head over heels for him."
"I won't. But really, it seems like he was better friends with Hermione."
"He was. But remember that Ron was also their best friend."
"Oh . Hermione and Ron?" Sirius nodded.
"Up until Ron's dying day."
"Sirius . how did it happen?" Sirius looked grim.
"I'll tell you at some point. It's a pretty long story and not one I feel like telling."
"Were you close to Ron?"
"Yes, somewhat. He was a good kid. He was always there for Harry."
"Just like you were always there for me."
"That's right." James looked up at Sirius, surprised to see tears running down his face.
"What's wrong?"
"I just can't believe it's you, James. And being here . it almost makes me feel like I'm a teenager again." Sirius looked at him. James saw all that grief in his eyes.
"Sirius, what all HAPPENED? I mean; you never used to be like this."
"Well . you died, for one thing."
"I know."
"And I never really recovered from that. And it's so strange to see you now."
"I know. But how did that all happen? Why was Voldemort after me?"
"Once again James, we'll talk about that another time. But your death was a great ordeal." Sirius came over and hugged him. "It's great to see you, Prongs." James hugged him back.
"Yeah, I'm here now." Sirius smiled. James saw a little bit of his own Sirius come back into his face.
"Anyway, enough of that."
"Yeah." James sat on the bed. "You know, I found a photo album of Harry's. It had me in it when I was older. It was WEIRD."
"I'm sure it would be. I remember when Harry showed that to me. It made me quite sad." James nodded. Sirius put his hand on shoulder. "You'd better get to bed now." James nodded again.
"All right. Night, Padfoot."
"Night, Prongs."
James transformed and went back to the castle. He transformed back, put him invisibility cloak on and went back to his dorm room. Poor Sirius had been through so much. James wondered what Sirius had been doing with himself for the last twenty years. He'd have to ask him about it. He thought about the people he'd met. His son had nice friends. He still liked Hermione better than Ginny. He wondered if Harry would have ended up with Hermione had Ron not gotten there first. He also wondered what Ron had looked like. There was so much for him to learn about his son's life.
Okay poppets! It's been forever since I've updated this! Hope you liked this chapter! R/R!
