Chapter 5

"No mountain's too high for you to climb
All you have to do is have some climbing faith
No river's too wide for you to make it across
All you have to do is believe it when you pray And then you will see the morning will come
and everyday will be bright as the sun
All of your fears cast them on me
I just want you to see"

Harry paused singing and looked at Daniel, whom was falling asleep in the makeshift crib that had been set up for him three days ago when they arrived.

"I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I hear your voices when you call me
I am your Angel,
And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your Angel, I'm your Angel"

He finished off as he saw Daniels eyes closing. "Sweet dreams" he whispered. He moved away towards the door when he was interrupted by James,

"You always sing that song to us. Why" he questioned softly.

Harry paused and walked back to James' bed.

"I don't know. Its just nice I guess." Came the unsure reply, "I just want you all to know that I love you, and I'm always going to be there for you"

"We do know that dad. It's amazing how you've coped with everything. There are things about your past that you don't want us to know, and I understand that, but we're here for you too. You're not alone." James said earnestly.

Harry smiled wryly.

"I'm not stupid. I can tell that you're upset about something dad" persisted James. "Is it Grandpa?"

"God, that word. Grandpa. I guess…I guess I'd just imagined meeting him so many times; I always pictured him to be so much like Albus. Albus was always telling me what a wonderful man he was. How proud he would have been, but the reality is, he's a paranoid and cantankerous old man, who doesn't like or trust me" said Harry unhappily, "It's my fault really". At James' dubious gaze he carried on, "You put someone up on a pedestal, they're bound to fall. I found that out the hard way. People always do that with me. I even did the same thing with my father. I just didn't learn."

Harry looked back at Daniel sleeping peacefully in his crib, and said to James "I shouldn't be offloading on you. I'm sorry."

"I don't mind. Who else are you going to talk to? Besides, it's nice to talk to someone with a mental age older than 5" he chuckled.

Harry smiled then his face became serious again. He looked back at Daniel again and said "Don't let them make the same mistakes as me. I don't want you all to have this great picture of me being this all-powerful good guy, only to find out it's not true. I'm not a perfect person; I just try and do what's right. That's all I can ask from you as well" he walked tiredly from the room, pausing at the doorway, he said without turning around, "I don't want you to be disappointed in me", then he carried on, leaving James standing alone in the darkness, with his brothers and sisters fast asleep.

"You'll never disappoint us dad." He whispered into the darkness

"So here's the deal." Said James in a conspiring voice, "your job is to keep dad busy in his room" pointing to Lucy.

"But, how am I going to do that" she asked.

"You know. Ask one of those questions that get him going, so he'll end up giving you a lecture about it. You're an expert at this sort of thing Lu" he answered.

"Ryan, Steven, you need to guide the mark into the living room. You can use any method, as long as it doesn't cause permanent damage."

At there their identical grins he quickly repeated, "No lasting damage".

"What's my job?" asked Rachel, who was sitting cross legged on Stevens lap. "I want to help daddy too".

"You've got the most important job Rach. We need you to stay in the hall as a lookout for anyone coming. If someone arrives and their not one of us, then you need to scream really loudly and run back to here. Do you understand" he asked.

"Daddy, where do babies come from?" asked Lucy, with an innocent expression on her face.

"Babies?" asked Harry dumbly. "You want to know where babies come from."

"Yeh, I asked James, but he said to ask you"

"Oh god, this is Ginny's job. We agreed, she'd do the girls, I'd do the boys. Dammit!" he muttered to himself.

Lucy was sitting on the end of her father's bed, smiling inside, and waiting with a rapt attention. She was actually curious about this, but knew it was a better idea to ask her mother.

"Daddy?" she asked

"I know sweetie. Here goes" he began. "Right, when two people love each other very much and they decide they want to have a baby together," he paused "how do I explain this?" he asked himself.

Meanwhile, Orion and Steven had managed to herd Richard Potter into the living room, through a variety of tricks including the use of some patented Weasley products. James stood outside the locked room and said to Steven and Orion,

"Thanks. Is he mad?" He winced at the sound of a piece of furniture being thrown at the door followed by some cursing. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, wish me luck". He turned to the door, and took a deep breath. He took out his wand and opened the door, entering and locking it behind himself.

"And then the little tadpole swims towards the egg-"

He was interrupted by Lucy, "You mean like a chicken egg?" she questioned.

"Chicken egg? No. Smaller, much smaller-"

"You mean like a robins egg?" she replied

"A robin's egg! No, no. Tiny, like a……smaller than a fish egg. It's tiny. You can't actually see it with your own eyes. And when they meet, they join together and the –"

"But how does the tadpole thing get into mummy?" she asked

"Merlin, this is gonna take all day" groaned Harry.

James looked at the irate Richard Potter and gulped. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea" he said.

"It was you, you little shit!" he snarled.

"No! It was Orion and Steven. I did ask them to do this though. I need to talk to you. About my dad" said James.

"I don't want to know" snapped Richard.

"Well tough! Can't you see how much you're hurting him. You're his fucking grandfather and you're acting like he's the enemy!" he looked at Richard sternly. "I don't care about getting to know you, because quite frankly I have enough family. I have parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunt's and uncles who all love me. My dad had none of that when he grew up. He had a muggle family who hated him, and then a world who used and abused him. He was cannon fodder to the world." He watched carefully for his reaction. "I don't know how much dad's told you, but I'm going to tell you what I know."

"For 7 years, my dad had to fight Voldemort. For 7 years he faced things not many adult wizards would face in their lifetime. He was 14 when he first put under the cruciatus curse. 14, that's 3 years younger than me! When he was 16, he was captured, tortured by Voldemort. He was younger than me and he was put through things you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. And through all that, he still fought. He stayed loyal to the light side. Would you have saved a world that gave you nothing but pain and grief? He has been ridiculed, feared and tortured in the name of good, and he still refuses to stop. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like a man you can trust. A man you can believe in." he said passionately. "He has a family now. But that doesn't take away the need to know your roots. He's spent a fortune helping charities and other stuff because he wants to make you and his dad proud. As if saving the world isn't enough. We have spent years making him believe that his family would be proud of him. That you would love him. 17 years work and you manage to destroy it in less than 3 days. You don't deserve to be related to someone like my dad. He's the most amazing person you could ever wish to meet. There are bloody statues and awards dedicated to him! If you knew how much your behaviours affecting him," James trailed off as he began to get tears in his eyes,

"Look-" began Richard.

"Let me finish" said James. "Please, talk to him. It doesn't matter if you don't like him. Pretend! We're not going to be here long. Dumbledore trusts him, and he's a hard man to please. I can't believe you can turn your back on family. Do you even remember the Potter motto?" he asked. "I've done my best; I've tried to make you see sense. I just hope you're the man I was led to believe."

James turned and left a flabbergasted Richard Potter in the lounge. He rubbed his face and groaned,

"What have I done?"

I do not own the song, its a brill song by R. Kelly and Celine Dion (really, she actually did a song i dont want to strangle her for!) called "Im your Angel".