"Perry Otter," he said shakily. "P-E-R-R-Y O-T-T-E-R."

Otter was close to Potter, but not as much. Perry was better than Parry. Parry Otter might be too obvious. Perry Otter. Perfect. He'd live as Perry Otter….

"Ooh!" Lily beamed. "Would you like to play with me?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Lily," she warned.

"Oops!" Lily blinked apologetically at her mother. "May I, Mum?"

"Yes – but don't stray too far!"

"Of course I won't! When have I?" Lily asked cheerfully, blinking innocently.

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

Behind her, the perfect replica of Harry… or James Potter, his father, snickered. "You snuck out of the house when Mum specifically told you to stay put, remember, Lily Luna Potter? To meet the Scamander twins, right?"

"James Sirius Potter–"

James Sirius Potter?

"Yeah, and one time, you went with Hugo to a Muggle's ice cream truck!"

"Albus Severus–"

Albus Severus?

"I didn't know Hugo Weasley did that stuff!" James Sirius snickered. "I didn't know he had it in him. With Aunt Hermione pushing all creative genes down…"

"You sound so much like – George, James," Ginny said dryly. The sentence had started off jolly, but it had ended dryly, almost sadly.

Lily looked up questioningly.

"Ginny – can I call you that?" Harry/Perry added quickly.

Ginny nodded.

"So you haven't told them yet?" Harry asked.

"What?"

"About the joke shop!" Harry improvised quickly.

Albus frowned. "Uncle George and Ron's? We know about that, Perry."

It felt strange to be addressed to like this by his future son. Harry coughed, and glanced at Ginny and Harry.

"We haven't," Ginny murmured.

"Yes, we haven't let them go around the Muggle world by themselves!" Future Harry said.

Lily sighed. "So unfair," she complained broodingly.

"Aha! Now, you three – four – go out and play. Your father and I will discuss some things." Ginny said, ushering the four out, a bright smile on her face.

Harry could see past the cheery disguise to a glum, troubled expression.

"Come on!" Lily grabbed Harry's sleeve and pulled him to the beach. The boiling sand roasted Harry's feet. It was so boiling, it almost felt like it was freezing. "It's so nice here, isn't it? I wish the Scamanders could have come. They're Lorcan and Lysander."

"They aren't Newt Scamander's descendants, are they?" asked Harry cautiously.

"They are," Lily said proudly. "How do you know them?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"You do," Harry objected.

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's because they told me!" she exclaimed haughtily. "By force! Bragging to me! Well, my dad's Harry Potter. No one can top that!" Grinning she dragged Harry towards the water. The sand had grown like mud.

Wet sand had clung on to his now filthy feet, and his feet sank if he stood in one place so much.

"Anyway, Luna says–"

"What Luna?" For a fleeting second, Harry thought maybe this Luna could be…

"Luna Lovegood, of course!" Lily cried. She hit Harry on the shoulder. "I wonder if you live here, Perry. Luna Scamander's a famous–"

What Luna Lovegood was famous for, Harry did not find out. At that moment, a giant wave soaked Harry's shorts, leaving him panting for breath at the sudden coldness.

The coldness stung at him while Lily giggled madly. "Oh, are you okay, Perry?"

Unlike Harry, she seemed unbothered by the wave; she was shorter, and the wave had reached her waist, but she only laughed at it. She ran her hair against the red, flaming hair. Her brown eyes twinkled with mischief as she said, "I dare you to walk into the sea, going to deep as your neck."

Harry's breath stopped. "What? I'll die? I can't breathe! Too cold!"

"I can, silly," Lily giggled. Then she waded into the water confidently. Soon, the water almost reached her mouth. She was giggling, paddling. "I can't swim," she confessed, laughing so much that she almost sunk.

"But you're so… confident at going in that deep."

"This? This isn't something to consider deep, Perry! You're just like my dad. Scared of the water! I mean, he's faced Voldemort, and he's scared of water!"

This time, Lily Luna did sink. She surfaced a few seconds later, gasping for breath, paddling madly, but still giggling manically.

"Perry Otter, come in!" she yelled. She slowly attempted to swim, and made her way to the shore. "Come on, with your height, you won't go in so much."

Harry took a deep breath.

Lily was right.

He had faced many terrors, but now he was terrified of going into the icy water? No.

It couldn't be any worse than almost being Kissed by the Dementors.

Taking a deep breath, Harry waded in.

Almost instantly, the cold water swept Harry's breath away. Spluttering and gasping for breath, he took step by step. The water pressure tried to stop his steps, almost knocking him down, but he stayed balanced, trying to remember all the training he had when he was fighting Voldemort and other criminals. Auror training… Dumbledore's Army…

"Stop!" Lily shrieked.

Harry realized the water was almost up to his nose, threatening to drown his nostrils.

"Good job, okay?" Lily said hastily. "Boy, you're strong. Did you attempt to kill yourself just to make me apologize? You don't need to do that!"

Scrambling to pull Harry out, she said, "I'm sorry, Perry. There must be a reason your surname's Otter. Water genes must be inside you. Let's try swimming a little later on! Then you can teach me how to swim!"

Lily hugged Harry tightly, and plopped down onto the sand.

The hot grains of sand felt like cool pieces of stone.

He had never felt so happy in a very long time.