Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying this story! A few people mentioned the age difference between Remus and Tonks. It was actually accidental, but I decided to work with it instead of going back to change it. Thanks for pointing it out!

James paced the living room back and forth, back and forth. The time was 4:30am, but he couldn't sleep. Today was to be his first day back at work; leaving his son for the first time since he lost his wife 8 weeks ago. Truthfully it still felt far too soon, but he knew he eventually had to get his son back on a schedule; develop some sense of routine, and better sooner than later. He watched as the minutes ticked by, from 4:45 to 5:00, when he allowed himself to take a shower and dress, until finally Harry awoke at 5:30, and Sirius shortly afterward. As they were all sitting down for breakfast, Remus came through the floo, ready for a full day with his favorite little tyke.

James and Sirius finally flooed to the ministry at 7. James felt an odd sense of de ja vu as he entered the auror corridors that he'd entered so many times before. It was as if no time had passed since he'd quit his job months ago. Everything looked the same, but somehow brighter; the focus no longer being on stopping Voldemort, but on catching as many of his remaining followers as possible. James was welcomed back with open arms, everyone overjoyed to see him.

James was assigned to Kingsley Shacklebolt's team, including himself, Sirius, and Frank Longbottom; he was grateful to be assigned to the same team he had left those months before, they worked well together. His replacement had apparently never worked well with the rest of the team, and they had no qualms with transferring him to another.

"Alice was excited when I told her you were coming back to work," Frank told him as the team sat down to lunch. It had been a boring morning, consisting primarily of James getting settled back in his office and several floo calls to Sirius' home to check on Harry. The afternoon promised more excitement as James would be briefed on what the team was facing. "She's been worried sick about you. She insists Harry and Neville have a play date, and soon," Frank continued. James nodded his agreement, "Harry would like that," he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. But he wasn't sure how much he himself would like it. Lily and Alice had been best friends for years; two peas in a pod. They had been pregnant together, given birth within weeks of each other, and always said their boys would grow up together. Alice would remind him too much of Lily.

"Why don't you and Harry join us for dinner tonight? Alice would love it," Frank persisted. James wanted to get up and walk away from his well-meaning friend. He didn't want to spend time with the family that reminded him so much of his own; not when his own was no longer in tact. Didn't Frank realize that?

"Not tonight," he said simply.

"Well, another time then," Frank replied; to which James said nothing. He got up and threw his unfinished lunch into the rubbish bin before heading back to his cubicle. He wanted to floo call Remus again, but Remus had told him under no uncertain terms that James wasn't to call back unless it was an emergency…he'd already called 4 times before lunch.

He had barely entered when he was joined by Alastor Moody. "I'd been hoping you'd rejoin us," the older man told the younger, clapping him on the back. "I was sorry to see you go; a young man with more Auror potential then you, I've never met." James gave him a small smile, before Moody continued. "Constant vigilance, it's what I've always said, and I'm sorry that you had to learn that in such a foul way. Never let your guard down. It's a lesson learnt the hard way. We're glad to have you back." With that, Moody left James' cubicle and stalked away, leaving a startled James staring after him. Of all the things he didn't need to be reminded of, this was at the top of his list. He did NOT need to be reminded that he had let his guard down with Peter, trusted the wrong person, and where that had left him. He was sure the older man had meant to compliment him, to welcome him back, and to give his sympathy but right now James felt nothing but rage. Did he have to be reminded so blatantly of his mistakes on the day he returned to work? Sirius poked his head over the top of his cubicle and looked down at James.

"Don't listen to him, mate, he didn't mean it that way," he said, noting his friends enraged face. At that moment Kingsley called for his team to follow him, and the four men made their way to a conference area to discuss tactics.

The rest of the day went smoothly, but far to slowly for James' liking. He wanted to get back into the crimefighting world, and today that just didn't happen. Hopefully tomorrow would change things. Before he left to go see his son, Frank approached him, "Sure you can't change your mind about dinner tonight?" he asked the man, wanting to help cheer him up and thinking his wife's cooking and the boys playing could do the trick. "I said no, Frank," James replied shortly before stepping into the floo and going home, to Harry nearly knocking him over on his toy broom and Remus laughing at the sight.

"DADA!" Harry screamed, running into the sofa in his momentary lapse of attention. He laughed and jumped up, rushing into James' arms. James lifted him and threw him in the air to the delight of the baby. "Were you a good boy for Uncle Remus?" he asked him. Harry laughed and wrapped his arms around his father's neck.

"He was good as gold," Remus replied. "A little upset after nap that you weren't there, but other then that the day went great. He's a bundle of energy, I'll sleep well tonight," Remus chuckled. James spent the next hour playing with his boy, until Remus called them for dinner.

Later that night, after Harry was put to bed and Remus had left for the night, James sat thinking about how rude he was to Frank; who just wanted to make him happy and welcome him back. He felt bad, and decided to floo his old friend and apologize. He threw powder into the fire and stuck his head through, into the Longbottom's kitchen. For a moment all was quiet, and James thought he and his wife had gone to bed early, until he heard a scream and high pitched evil laughter. James pulled his head out, called and called for Sirius, who came rushing into the room.

"Something's going on at the Longbottoms, I heard screaming and an evil laugh from the other room. I couldn't see whats going on, I'm going over there," he told his best mate, grabbing his wand.

"James!" Sirius said, urgently, before James could get to the fireplace. "Don't go alone! I'll come with you."

"You need to stay with Harry," James replied, before running to the fireplace and quickly flooing through it.

Sirius didn't know what to do; he couldn't leave his Godson unattended, but he also couldn't let his friend go into a dangerous unknown situation alone. Thinking quickly, he rushed upstairs to grab Harry from his crib, waking the baby in his carelessness, and flooed to Remus' place.

"Sirius, what the.." Remus began, but was silenced as Sirius shoved the baby into his arms and said something about going after James, before rushing back through the floo.

Remus, completely flabbergasted and more then a little worried, set about to calming the screaming baby, hating that he could do nothing more right now.