There was a buzz of excitement around the room when Harry was finally able to rejoin his family after hastily sending out his report by the floo, about twenty minutes before the New Year's countdown. With everyone arrived, there were not enough chairs but almost everyone was standing around and chatting anyway. From across the room, he saw that Ron was contentedly hugging Hermione from behind while they were talking with Ginny. He joined his wife from behind when he kissed her softly on her cheek, catching her in surprise before she turned to return a kiss on his mouth. Her kiss was sweet as always but he tried not to be distracted by his best mate's rolled eyes.
"You see what I mean, Hermione? As I have said, I have every bloody right to be annoyed by this."
Ginny retorted with a raised eyebrow, "Said the forty-year-old man who's clinging to his wife like a kola… or whatever that muggle creature is called." She had turned towards Harry for confirmation.
Not wanting to fuel their arguments but sensing that she expected him to respond, he awkwardly answered, "Hmm… it's a koala."
Hermione completely ignored the exchange by turning towards Harry and said, "This is perfect timing, Harry. I have been meaning to ask you a couple of things about yesterday's raid…" It was obvious to him that her questions was just a way for her to defuse the tensions between the siblings, which worked perfectly as they did not know enough to join in their talk but they did not want to leave either, which left them no choice except to listen awkwardly in silence. Being the Minister for Magic, of course she only disclosed information that had already been made public anyway. Within two minutes, Ron, who had reluctantly released himself from the hug earlier, had more than enough.
"Shouldn't you take a break after working for fourteen hours straight today, Hermione? I do not want to hear another word about your work this year."
"If you say so." Hermione feigned hesitancy in her voice but Harry could catch a wink she threw his way while Ron was not looking.
"By the way, Harry, it looks like I won't be able to send the kids away after the break." His best friend appeared quite bummed.
"Oh, that's too bad."
"Could you please thank Scorpius for his flowers for me? I was really looking forward to thank him myself." It seemed to Harry that the idea of asking Ron to thank the young Malfoy had not even crossed Hermione's mind at all.
"Hmm… sure, if that's what you want." He shot his other best friend, who had promised him to apologise to Draco, a meaningful look which he purposefully dodged. He had debated about suggesting Ron but decided to let it go.
Presently, Molly levitated a large tray out with about twenty glasses of butterbeer. Technically, the adults could of course have a Firewhisky but Molly always believed that it would be merrier for everyone to drink butterbeer together. Each person took a glass followed by more half-hearted chatters while waiting to countdown. Having located their children clustered around their grandfather, the Potter parents moved to join the not-so-captivated audience of Arthur's gushing of his latest Muggle-find: the smartphone, mere minutes before the countdown.
"It's absolutely magical! One would have thought they would need something much bigger than this," Arthur was now shaping his hands into a small rectangle, "to do so much! I wish more of you would use it just so Molly would let me get one of those… Chatting sounds so exciting with the Muggles' magical boxes…I heard you can even send moving wizard photos from them!" While they barely used Muggle technology in their home, the Potter children were aware enough about these through their Muggle-raised father that it was impossible for them to feign half of Arthur's enthusiasm on the subject, but they loved their grandpa too much to throw cold water on it or to correct him regarding the muggle phone's video functions. Fortunate for them, he was finally distracted.
"Oh, look at the time! It's the end of quite an eventful year here." Arthur gave them a good-natured look but Albus seemed to take it the wrong way and blushed embarrassingly while the extended family started counting down.
At the turn of the new year, George lighted Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' most popular indoor fireworks while everyone toasted with their glasses. Harry gave Ginny a New Year kiss in which he could practically taste the butterbeer from her mouth.
"Not again." James muttered under his breath while being hugged by his sister.
Ginny turned toward her eldest son with a devilish smile, "there's nothing gross about physical affection. As a matter of fact, I'm well aware that you have plenty of exposure with what's-her-name, oh Je…"
"Stop it, mum!" The Potter first-born looked absolutely horrified to have his love life exposed in front of his entire family.
"Oh, she's such a pretty girl with gorgeous blue eyes, What a pity it is that you won't even invite her over during the break, I haven't got the chance to chat with her myself yet…"
"Please stop, mum." James pleaded with his mother in a desperate tone while eyeing Fred and Roxanne who were standing nearby with Angelina.
Her eyes twinkled triumphantly while her mouth had curved up in a smug smile when she said, "I'll stop if you stop teasing your parents whenever we kiss. Between Ron and you, I really have had quite enough." Then her expression softened, "Just kidding. Serve you right but I'll let you keep it low-profile for now…who would have thought my nosy James could be so bashful? I love it" She moved to give his eldest son a New Year's hug, which was readily accepted as he was too relieved for being let off the hook. Meanwhile, Harry was hugging Lily while Arthur was happily embracing Albus.
Ginny hugged Albus next while Harry was turning to hug James. Lily had thrown herself in Arthur's arms that his glass almost got knocked off. "Have a wonderful 2021, love. You deserve all the happiness in the world." He heard her whispered to Al's ear. It was quite jarring how she seemed to be on the verge of choking up considering she was just playfully tormenting James a moment ago. Looking at them made Harry felt bad as he had been so focused on his relationship with their son that it had not even crossed his mind to make Ginny talk with the boy about his nightmares. Knowing how desperate he wanted to be the one to help their son, Harry thought Ginny might try to be quiet about this. The main goal should always be relieving Albus' burden, regardless of who Albus chose to confide his problems with. But then Harry turned his attention to James, knowing that he had been so intent on making sure that Albus had been okay at his other children's expense.
"Happy New Year, James. This is going to be quite an exciting year for you now that you will be starting your Apparition class soon." At the mention of apparition, James immediately lighted up, "Oh yes, I can't wait! The Floo isn't too bad but it's a nightmare whenever you want to dress up. Of course, dad you wouldn't understand how bad it's for us ginger, the soot can pretty much blend right in with your hair."
Harry looked fondly at his eldest son, whose interest in his look reminded him suddenly of the way his father had constantly messed up his hair in Snape's memory. James had always been the perfect embodiment of his namesakes, in the sense that he carried himself with an easy confidence, a great sense of humour and an adventurous attitude.
"That may be the case... By the way, sorry I didn't come over earlier, I haven't seen you at all for the past two days."
"That's quite alright, dad. Unlike Al, I know when I should leave you to your work. You should have seen how distracted he looked after you had gone up earlier."
Although he knew James meant no harm, he warned him with a rather stern tone but made sure to keep his voice low. "James, I know that this may be all teases for you but you can't even imagine half of what your brother has been through the past few months. We should be grateful that he's been opening up instead of isolating himself from the family like before. What you consider as jokes could feel quite hurtful for him, please go easier on your brother."
The red-headed boy's wide eyes told Harry that he was taken aback by how serious he had sounded all of a sudden. His son looked away a little when he said, "It's not like I hadn't wanted to be there for him before, there's only so much I could do when he kept himself inside the Slytherin dormitory or Merlin-knows-where all the times. I'll try not to tease him but I do wish you all could tell us more about what have happened. I thought… Lily and I would have a right to know."
His son was right, they deserved to know at least part of what had happened between Delphi and the Slytherin boys, but with Lily so young, Harry and Ginny had agreed that they would tell the two of them later together. "I promise that I will tell you two about Albus' experience someday." Harry glanced towards Lily briefly at the end, James immediately gave him a nod of comprehension and considerately said, "I understand, dad." Almost everyone knew of James' sarcastic and humourous side but much fewer people knew of his sweet and empathetic side. Harry's heart warmed with affection as he gave his eldest son another hug.
As if it had been orchestrated, Ginny grabbed Lily for a hug next while Arthur cheerfully turned towards James, leaving Harry and Albus looking a little awkwardly at each other. Al had sneaked away to the toilet during last year's countdown, which had prompted him to have a frustrated talk with the boy after. Despite having hugged Al a mere hour earlier, Harry could tell both of them were reminded of the previous year's talk. Reminding himself that things had changed so much for the better, he was about to make the first move when his son gave him a bashful smile and slightly opened his arms.
"I guess it's my turn now?" Before Harry could nod his agreement, Albus had immediately proceeded to embrace him to his bewilderment.
"I love you so much, Albus." He squeezed the boy so tight that he could practically feel his heart pounding against his son's chest.
"I…" For a moment there, Harry thought Albus might say the words back but then after some hesitation, he said, "I know, dad."
While he could not help from being slightly disappointed, it was completely understandable how a fourteen-year-old awkward teenager would hesitate to say "I love you" to his dad, so he gave him an understanding smile when they let go.
"Happy New Year, Albus. Hopefully this will be a year of peace and quiet for you." Perhaps that was not the best thing to say, Harry kicked himself immediately after saying that. The best way to help someone forget a traumatic experience was not to refer to it in any way at all.
His son's features darkened for a millisecond there before giving him a smile, "I hope so too."
A/N: I have been deliberately avoiding to write James until now as it's tricky to create new personas, especially for a character that should have been a big part of any Next-gen story but only got minimal stage time in CC. I have read other fanfictions in which James played a big part and have enjoyed others' versions a lot but I don't want them to influence my take of the character. At the same time, I couldn't write a version that's untrue to what we know from the books and the script.
I decided to write him now as I feel like my story can benefit from a bit of Potter-family dynamic, of course Harry, Albus and Ginny are the important characters here but something that bothered me in the play was that the trio + Ginny all went to Godric's Hollow without thinking about their (other) children at all. It's somewhat understandable when one of your children's life is in danger with the limited stage time but in a way, I feel like real parents shouldn't be able to all join what could be a suicide mission like that. I understand why it's done but I do want to show that James(and Lily, even though it's not shown here) are as important to Harry as Albus is.
PS: a hug with Ron may have been inspired by a certain still from the play.