Chapter 18- Parental crisis.
Valentine's Day in Potter Manor went off without a hitch as James and Lily just had a quiet day at the manor, they both agreed that they wouldn't go overboard with Valentine's Day this year. Harry however, had a much worse Valentine's Day as his date with Cho went horribly and it ended up being a disaster although all was not lost on that day as he was able to tell people his side of the story with his interview with Rita Skeeter and published through the quibbler. It was a big hit and people actually started to believe that Voldemort was indeed back. When James and Lily got the issue from Sirius, they weren't really surprised by what was in it as they already knew what really happened but, that didn't stop them from calling Harry.
"Harry are you there?" James asked through the mirror.
"Yeah, I'm here dad." Harry responded.
"We saw your interview in the quibbler Harry, how are things at school now?" Lily asked.
"Things are actually going better then they were before I did that interview." Harry responded.
"That's great Harry." James said.
"Yeah, people believe me now. Umbridge is mad though she banned the quibbler in the school but, it was too late everyone had already read it." Harry said.
"Is Umbridge giving you too much trouble?" Lily asked.
"No, she couldn't do anything about it because she hadn't banned it yet." Harry responded.
"Well, we should probably let you go you have classes to attend." James said.
"Yeah, see you guys later." Harry said.
It was the same day when Harry called again. This was highly unusual for Harry as they had already talked in the day. When James picked up the mirror he could tell that he was obviously upset.
"What's wrong Harry?" James asked.
"Can I speak to mom please." Harry responded.
Yeah sure, Lily it's Harry he wants to speak with you." James yelled up. It was dead silent as they waited for Lily.
"Hey Harry." Lily said as she took the mirror from James as he left the room knowing that Harry just wanted to talk to Lily.
"Why did you marry him, you hated him." Harry said.
"Harry what are you talking about?" Lily asked confused.
"Dad you hated him why did you marry him?" Harry asked again.
"Harry what are you talking about I don't hate your father." Lily said still confused.
"I saw a memory and it seemed like you hated him." Harry said.
"Harry when was this memory?" Lily asked.
"It was in your fifth year right after your Defense O.W. L's." Harry responded.
"Harry your father was a downright prat in his downright prat in his first five years that I knew him. But in his sixth year he changed, and he became a better man the man who I married." Lily said.
"That still doesn't excuse his actions for his first five years." Harry said.
"No, it doesn't but, before your too mad at him you have to know more about how he was raised before you write him off for what he did." Lily reasoned. Harry just nodded. "You see Harry your father was the miracle child of your grandparents. Your grandparents were also very wealthy not only having the Potter fortune and your grandfather also created sleekeazy's hair potion."
"I never knew that dad was a miracle child." Harry said.
"Yes, so they spoiled him rotten it was like how grandparents treat their grandchildren. So, he never got into any trouble as a kid so when he got into Hogwarts, he thought he could do anything, and it wouldn't have an effect. So, he would get into a lot of trouble because he was hexing students and such, he would sweet talk to only get detentions though." Lily said.
"That still doesn't make right what he did to all those students and you though." Harry said.
"No, it doesn't but after my outburst in the fifth year at him he tried to make amends with everyone and became a better person. He stopped hexing younger students stopped acting like a prat all the time that's when I started liking him and finally said that I would go on a date with him." Lily said.
"I guess that makes sense." Harry said.
"Do you want to talk to your father?" Lily asked.
"Just give me a couple of days I need to process this." Harry said.
"Ok take all the time you need." Lily said.
"Thanks bye mom." Harry said.
"Bye Harry." Lily responded.
Once Harry had left Lily went up the stairs and found James in their bedroom.
"Hey how was your conversation with Harry?" James asked when he saw Lily entered the room.
"It was alright he found out about how much of a prat you were back in fifth year." Lily said.
"What did he find out." James said a little embarrassed.
"Remember the day at the lake after our Defense O.W. L's?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, it was the day that you got it through to my head that I was a prat to you." James responded.
"Harry found out what you did to Snape that day and I assume he also heard what I yelled at you that day and he thought that I hated you." Lily said.
"To be fair you did hate me for the first five years." James noted.
"I didn't hate you I just strongly disliked you." Lily responded.
"What did you tell Harry?" James asked.
"I told him your upbringing and how spoiled you were as a child." Lily responded.
"What was his response to that?" James asked.
"He seemed to understand but, he's going to need some time before he wants to talk to you." Lily answered. James seemed to understand and just nodded looked a bit dejected. "I mean he also questioned why I married you because it seemed like I hated you." James's eyes immediately became wide with fear, and he was about to say something before Lily continued. "But I told him that after you matured, I fell in love with you." And she silenced all of his fears with a kiss.
"So how did the conversation with your mom go?" Hermione asked when Harry appeared out of his room after talking to her.
"It went well she did give me a new perspective on my dad." Harry responded.
"In a good way or a bad way?" Ron asked.
"I'm not so sure to be completely honest." Harry responded.
"What did your mom tell you?" Hermione asked.
"She told me that dad was a miracle child of a very rich family." Harry answered. "He never got into that much trouble in school because he was able to talk his way out of it, and his parents treated him like he was their grandchild."
"What else did your mom tell you?" Hermione urged Harry to continue
"Well, she told me that she didn't agree to go out with him till he matured and that's the person that she married." Harry finished. Hermione and Ron could tell that he didn't really want to continue talking about that subject, so they let it slide for now and just went back to doing schoolwork.
It was a couple of days until Harry had called the manor again after consulting with his friends a lot and thinking about it, he was finally able to talk to his father about what he saw. Snape had cancelled their lessons after he caught him looking in his memories but, Harry could care less as he was getting no where and he didn't mind that he didn't have to spend extra time with Snape.
"Hey dad, mom." Harry called through the mirror.
"Hi Harry, how are you doing?" Lily asked.
"I'm good mom, can I actually talk to dad?" Harry asked.
"Sure, thing Harry." Lily responded. "James it's Harry. How's school going Harry?"
"It's going well O.W.L preparation is taking it's toll but, either then that it's going well." Harry responded.
James had come downstairs by that point and Lily gave him the mirror and went up to their room wanting to give Harry some time alone talking to James.
"Hey Harry." James said when he took the mirror.
"Hey dad, so I've been thinking about the memory that I saw and the conversation that I had with mom the other day and I think I understand why you were the way you were." Harry started.
"Look Harry what I did when I was younger." James started but, Harry cut him off.
"No dad just let me finish. I'm still not ok with what you did when you were younger, but I've come to realize that you've changed and you're not the same person you were in the first five years at Hogwarts." Harry finished.
"Look I can't change what I did in the past but, I hope that with the changes that you're at least ok with me being your dad." James said.
"What I took from my conversation with mom is that it isn't who you were but, who you become. I'm proud that you're my dad." Harry said. James gleamed when Harry said that. "Can you get mom back into the mirror?" James went upstairs and found Lily on their bed reading.
"Hey Harry, how was your conversation with your dad?" Lily asked.
"It was great." Harry said. "I just wanted to say to the both of you that I'm proud that you two are my parents even though that we haven't had much time with you I love both of you."
James and Lily sobbed "Thank you Harry." They said together. "We can't tell you how proud we are of you."
