"Please sit down." The professor told him, pointing to the chair which Snape had
just vacated.
"What did you want to see me about?"
"Although you do not consider me your father, I know that you are my son, a son who
I would like to get to know. Tell me about yourself. How did you grow up, who are your
friends, what has Hogwarts been like for you?"
Harry sighed. "I figured that was the reason. What can I say?" A shrug accompanied
this question.
"Why don't we do it this way? I ask you questions and you answer them, of course it
can go the other way around."
"All right, but I insist on my right to remain silent."
"This is not a court of muggle law." James said with a frown.
"It is a good law though." Harry replied passively.
"All right, I will begin." Harry nodded. What was it like growing up with the Dursleys?"
Harry sighed as though resigned.
"Lonely."
"Lonely?" The professor asked incredulously.
"Yah. No one wanted anything to do with me. I was the freak in glasses who wore
hand-me-downs and worked as a slave. I wouldn't exactly call it a happy childhood." The
professor's frown deepened with each word, but Harry stopped him from saying a word.
"O.k. now for my question. Why didn't you check to make sure we weren't dead that night?"
James Potter took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I was hit by the cruciatus curse
ten times, Harry. Not by Voldemort, but by his followers. The only reason they stopped, I
guess, was because the house fell apart and was in ruins. Plus they were convinced that I
was dead. I didn't check on you because I knew that no one before had ever survived the
killing curse. I didn't want to stay there when I had nothing to live for."
Silence fell between them while Harry absorbed this information. Then came the
question: "Dumbledore told me you are in Gryffindor. Do you have many friends?"
"I get along with most in Gryffindor, but my best friends are Ron and Hermione."
"The know-it-all?" The professor asked with widened eyes.
"Yes, we became best friends after we had taken down the mountain troll my first
year."
"Mountain troll?" The professor asked unbelievingly.
"Didn't Dumbledore tell you?"
"Tell me what? If you know him as well as he seemed to imply, you know that he
never gives more information that the bare facts."
Harry sighed. What followed was a discussion of Voldemort, his return and Harry's
part in it.
James stared out over the large sea. In the distance, he could see a tentacle of the
giant squid waving shyly at him.
Sirius was dead. The thought didn't seem to want to get out of his head. Peter had
betrayed them all. This though was almost as consistent at the first. How many times over
the past 14 years had be been tempted to write his friends and get together for an
evening? He had always restrained himself, but that didn't make him any better than
others. Of the marauders, only two were left. Of course, Remus! James felt ashamed that
he hadn't written him yet and decided to do so that very moment. The sun was sinking
slowly over the horizon and it was almost too dark to see where it was he was going. Still,
James knew the castle grounds better than most and headed toward the castle.
As he arrived, one of his students (he couldn't remember his name at that time) came
running to him, panting heavily and barely able to get a word out in edgewise.
"Sir . . . needed . . . Harry . . . infirmary . . ." A feeling of foreboding rose up in him and
he darted past the boy, running up to the infirmary. As he got there, it was to find Ron,
Hermione, Dumbledore and Severus al standing around a bed in which his son lay. Harry
was writhing in pain, his eyes wide open unseeing and the scar on his forehead was
glowing brightly, the only light needed in the room.
"Albus, what happened?" He asked as he took his son's hand in his own.
"I don't know, James. I can only speculate, and I hope that I am wrong."
To my reviewers:
Wanderingwolf - Thanks for pointing out the fact with the body having been found - I will
have to do some thinking on that part.
Bubbleliciousbubblegum - I love you name!
Sristi - I am sorry that you don't seem to have enjoyed my fic all too much. I try to satisfy
everyone (except for slash), but hey, I can't be superwoman.
Otherwise I would like the thank the following for their wonderful encouraging reviews:
Makalani Astral
Watcher Tale Neith
Sailor Sol
Athenakitty
Shania
Maxwell Star
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I-love-Sirius73
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