Chapter 14- Advice
The next day Harry returned to school early the next morning as he had classes and they couldn't let anyone know that he was away. Harry was on cloud nine as he returned to school, he knew that he had to contain his excitement because he knew that he could only trust Ron and Hermione telling them about what had happened on Halloween night. Harry was still so happy that even Umbridge and Snape couldn't bring his mood down. This only lasted for less then a week though as the reality of the state of Hogwarts settled back in pretty quickly, Umbridge was somehow becoming more unbearable than she was before he frankly didn't even think that was possible but, it was. Snape was still being hard on him however with his parents telling him that they didn't have a good relationship with Snape made him understand Snape a bit better still he didn't know why Snape took out his anger on him. The only bright spot that was left in his life at Hogwarts right now was the DA and he was more then pleased with the progress that they had been making recently.
James and Lily were more then excited that they had told Harry about the baby and that he accepted to be godfather. Now that Harry knew that they were having a baby and they knew that the baby was going to be a girl they started decorating a new room for the baby. They started out painting the room they painted it in pink. James and Lily were busy at work on the room as it took a while to paint the room. It was nice to have something to do around the house now order work was incredibly boring right now as most of the work was field work. But making the baby room ready gave them something to do. They would have to get new baby stuff however since everything they had when they had Harry was destroyed now. It was fun to go shopping for new baby stuff it reminded them of simpler times when there was no prophecy to worry about and they weren't hiding. Of course, when they go out to buy these supplies, they have to use a dissolution charm or Polyjuice potion. James and Lily were also going through baby names, and they had decided on a first name, but they were still trying to figure out a middle name. It was about a week from December when Harry called his parents again.
"Hey mum, dad." Harry called.
"Harry how are you?" James asked.
"I'm good dad." Harry responded. "Where's mom?"
"She's just coming right now." James answered.
"Actually, I have a question for you." Harry said.
"Yeah, sure what is it?" James asked.
"How can you tell if a girl is attracted to you?" Harry questioned.
"That's a tough question it's a mystery on how to read girls." James responded.
"Well, how did you find out that mom liked you back. You have to have some idea on how to read what girls are thinking." Harry said.
"Well for me a lot of the girls that liked me threw themselves at me, so it wasn't hard to tell for them." James responded.
"Well, what about mom? You said that she didn't like you at first." Harry said.
"Well, your mother was a special case. She was one of the few girls who didn't throw themselves at me." James said.
"How did you know that mom liked you?" Harry asked.
"To be fair I didn't really know until I overheard your mother saying that she liked me." James answered.
"Yeah, your dad is the most oblivious guy around." Lily said as she walked in the room and into the mirror.
"What kind of hints did you give him?" Harry asked.
"Well, I personal feel that I was being obvious actually I know I was being obvious because literally everyone knew except for James." Lily said.
"Hey, it's not my fault that you rejected me so many times I didn't know if you were messing with me or not." James retorted.
"I was still being pretty obvious James." Lily said back.
"Hey but what did you do for everyone else to make it obvious that you liked him." Harry asked before James retorted.
"Well, I was caught staring at him multiple times. I also made subtle hints that I liked him." Lily answered.
"What were those subtle hints?" Harry asked.
"Doing whatever I could to be around him, finding excuses to hang around him, and brushing up against him when I could." Lily responded.
"What's up with all these questions about signs from a girl?" James asked.
Harry blushed a bit as James asked this question. "Well, you see there's this girl that I like, and I really can't tell if she likes me back and for me it's been kind of hard to read." Harry said.
"Well have you seen any signs that might indicate that she likes you?" Lily asked.
"Well, she does blush a lot when we talk but other than that I haven't really been able to tell if she's into me." Harry answered.
"Blushing is a big sign that she's into you. But only blushing is just a start it needs to be a bit more if you want a definite answer of whether she likes you or not." James commented.
"Not sure how to find out more information on whether she likes me or not." Harry said.
"While just look at the things that I told you it. Girls are pretty obvious about it to everyone except themselves and the boy that they liked." Lily said.
"Thanks mom." Harry responded.
"So, how's school been going Harry?" James asked.
"Well, it's been going alright Umbridge is still a nightmare, but Snape has gotten worst ever since the two of you talked to him." Harry answered.
"We're really sorry about that Harry we'll try our best to fix it but, I don't know if we'll be able to." Lily said.
"It's fine he's been picking on Neville for a long time so now that he is focusing on me Neville's been doing a lot better in potions." Harry said.
"It's still not alright that he's picking on kids Harry we'll talk to him and hopefully get him to stop picking on you guys." James said.
"Actually, I've got to go." Harry said as he didn't really want to continue talking about this subject. "Thanks for the advice and I'll see you when I call again."
"Ok Bye Harry." James and Lily said as Harry left.
"We've got to reconcile with Snape." Lily said.
"As much as I dislike Snape, I agree we can't have Snape keep on picking on kids just because he still has a bone to pick with us." James agreed.
"We should write a letter to him telling us to meet for tea at Grimmauld Place." Lily said. James just nodded as they got parchment to write a letter.
Dear Snape
We invite you to tea this Saturday at 13:00 at Grimmauld Place to settle our differences and finally move past this grudge that you have held against us for the past 20 years or so and the grudge that we have held against you knowing what you did to us and Harry.
James and Lily Potter.
Snape was surprised by getting a letter from Lily he was a little salty that James was going to be there as well but, he would do almost anything to at least get back into her good books. For him Saturday couldn't come soon enough for him.
James and Lily got to Grimmauld Place around 12:30 it was hard to convince to let Snape come into his house that had no order business the only way that they convinced him to let Snape in was to tell him that it benefitted Harry. Sirius really couldn't stand Snape and he knew that this was between James and Lily and how Snape was treating Harry.
Snape arrived at Grimmauld Place at the agreed time he was so excited that after 20 years he would finally have an actual conversation with Lily without a cold shoulder or her just yelling at him. Snape entered the kitchen where James and Lily were waiting for him.
"Hello Snape." James greeted as he got up to shake his hand.
"Potter, Lily." Snape greeted. Lily had to bite her tongue from giving a retort to Snape about how she was a Potter now but, she held her tongue knowing that this was for Harry.
"Snape" Lily responded.
Snape wasn't surprised by the cold demeanour that Lily was giving him. This was an improvement however as last time that he saw Lily she punched and yelled at him and probably would've continued if James hadn't pulled her away.
"So, let's just put it out there we know that you've been mistreating Harry for the grudge that you hold against us but mostly me." James started.
"But you also took away 14 years of our life with Harry when you told Voldemort about the prophecy." Lily continued. Snape was about to interject but Lily just held up her hand.
"We're looking to overlook these things and forgive you for these things if you stop mistreating Harry at school." James finished.
"Look you don't have to forgive what James did to you back at Hogwarts but, you can't keep on taking it out on the students especially Harry." Lily added.
Snape considered this he knew that he always went after Harry because he looked like a carbon copy of James except for the eyes. "Very well" Snape said, "I will stop going after Harry."
"Also, Snape you have to get over me." Lily said. "I know you still harbour major feelings for me but, you got to get over it."
"But- "Snape was about to say something, but Lily continued to talk.
"Look you got to get over me I'm married and I'm very happy. There's someone out there who you deserve but, it isn't me." Lily finished.
"You've been living in regret and sorrow but, Lily's back now so you have closure now you can move on with your love life you deserve someone who's brave like you Snape." James added.
"It's not going to be me though it was never going to be me." Lily said.
Snape knew this was the truth it was time for him to move on from Lily and pursue his own happiness in his love life. It was then that Snape took his leave to think about these things.
"Thank you for the advice you have given me." Snape said as he left and went back to Hogwarts.
Once Snape had left James and Lily bided Sirius goodbye and went back to Potter Manor.
"I think that went well today." James said.
"Yeah, it seems like it got through to Snape's head that he has no chance with me and he's finally going to move on." Lily added.
"Hopefully he'll lay off Harry now though." James finished.
Lily just nodded because even though she was relieved that Snape was no longer pinning after her Harry was still suffering Snape's treatment and hopefully that would change.
