The Happiest year of his life

By

Hannio

Chapter Two

Nothings changed Moony

Disclaimer – None of the characters mentioned in the below story belong to me in any shape or form, I'm merely borrowing them for my own writing entertainment.

Author Note – Yay here's chapter two. This is a rare thing that I've updated twice in two days. Clearly having no money until pay day and re-reading the Harry Potter series from the beginning is doing me the world of good.

This chapter is slightly more angsty. I promise most of the story will be upbeat and everything. I just cant ignore the whole Voldemort threat ect. This though will probably be the saddest chapter I think.

Anyway thank you so much to my three reviewers it really makes my day to know that people are liking what I'm writing!

Summary – Not all of Harry Potter's life was bad, in fact the first year was pretty awesome if you discounted Voldemort that is… Being raised by the Marauders was never going to be easy but it was certainly going to be fun!

Pairings – Definitely James/Lily, Possible Sirius/Remus but I'm unsure whether I want this particular story to go that way.

James pulled the door closed behind him and glanced down the corridor, his eyes narrowing into a watchful look. As he had suspected Remus wasn't anywhere in sight. Being a werewolf gave him the ability to be extremely fast when he wanted to be, a fact which was a constant pain in the ass if you wanted to talk to him and he didn't want to. Still he couldn't have gone too far.

"Excuse me" James remarked, attracting the attention of a nurse who was standing just outside of the room opposite him, a clipboard in her hand which she was studying with a puzzled frown on her face. She glanced up at the sound of his voice, her puzzled look morphing into a questioning one.

"Yes?" she remarked pleasantly "Can I help you with something?" James smiled at her brightly.

"I hope so. I don't suppose you saw a man leave this room did you? Quite tall with light brown hair" he jerked his finger over his shoulder at Lily's room. Her eyes followed his movement before she nodded.

"Actually I did" she replied, a brisk tone to her voice which reminded him strongly of Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher from Hogwarts. "He left only a few moments though and walked down there" she lifted her hand and pointed to the left of them, her gaze still on James "He was walking very fast but he did look upset" James sighed and nodded his head.

"Thank you for your help" he remarked distractedly as he set off down the corridor she had indicated. He looked carefully around him, his hazel eyes searching every space where Remus could have hidden. It wouldn't have been the first time that Remus had found a small hidey hole to disappear into until he had his emotions under control and clearly something had upset the older boy if even a stranger could see he was troubled.

He stopped at a junction and frowned as he ran a hand through his thick black hair. When Remus didn't want to be found then he did a real good job of making it a reality. James was about to give up and head back to the room when he saw a splash of green from the corner of his eyes. He glanced round and peered out the window, that green looked remarkably like the green in the polo shirt Remus had been wearing.

Giving a shrug James headed to the door which led out to the patio. If it wasn't Remus then he would give up and try and speak to his friend later on. He opened it and stepped out trying to ignore the chill in the air. Sure enough in front of him was Remus leaning against the bricked wall of the hospital. His light coloured hair blowing in the cool breeze while his eyes focused on something in the distance, narrowed in concentration.

James raised an eyebrow as his eyes focused on the cigarette that Remus held in his hand, the sight cementing the worried feeling in his stomach. Remus only ever smoked when he was really upset. He watched him for a moment surprised that Remus seemed unaware of him and wondered not for the first time how Remus could appear to look so calm and composed when everything in James told him that he was anything but that. It boggled his mind.

"So here you are" he called out as he headed towards his friend. Remus glanced around at him, a flicker of surprise in the green-blue eyes confronting him.

"Here I am" he agreed, his voice reflecting the confusion that was now showing in his face "Why are you out here Prongs? Shouldn't you be enjoying this time with your new born son?"

"Possibly" James replied, leaning his shoulder against the wall so he was still facing Remus. Remus blinked clearly waiting for him to continue, when he didn't the other boy shrugged and held out the cigarette packet with a questioning look. James hesitated for a moment before he took one, lighting it with the lighter that Remus handed him. One wouldn't hurt. "But then again Moony possibly not. I mean I couldn't leave one of my best friends upset and alone. I've never done it before and to be frank Remus I'm not going to start now"

Remus glanced away, a small smile coming to his mouth as his fringe hid his eyes

"You're such a silly stag sometimes Prongs you know that right?" he asked, humour in his voice as he glanced towards James, his eyes warm

"Yeah well as I said I'm not gonna change now am I? Not when I'm so perfect to begin with" he winked at Remus before glancing at the sky, it was a gorgeous day apart from how cold it was, the sky was a bright blue, the sort of blue that almost hurt your eyes and there wasn't a cloud in the sky."So you ready to tell me what's wrong because I can stay here all day if need be" James remarked as he took a deep drag of his cigarette. He made sure he kept his eyes from Remus, years of experience teaching him that Remus was more likely to answer him if he didn't feel pressured. "Is it because Harry is a boy so Sirius is the godfather or is it something else?" James heard Remus sigh and glanced out of the corner of his eye in time to see Remus drop his cigarette crushing it beneath his shoe.

"Its stupid James so there's no point in going through it, certainly not now. You should go back to your son Jim; you won't get many more opportunities like this. You'll regret it if you don't. I'm fine the same as I always am, you don't need to worry about me any longer" He spoke calmly but James noted that Remus wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Enough of the bullshit Moony" he stated firmly "You're a good liar I'll give you that but you forget that I've train in the art of Moonism for the past nine years I know when you're not okay and trust me when I say that you're as far from being okay as Sirius is from being normal." He continued speaking not giving Remus the chance to reply. "It's true that Harry's in there" he said indicating the hospital with a wave of his hand "but he's only been in my life for the past few hours and as much as I love him, I also love you. You're more then a friend to me Remus, you're family and if you think I'm going to drop you just because we all have a Marauder child to raise then you're sadly mistaken and I've been crediting you with a level of intelligence you clearly don't have so I'll ask you once again what is wrong?"

Remus glanced at him, his face expressionless in the look that Sirius and James had dubbed his prefect look. God James hated that look; it never failed to make him squirm on the few occasions that Remus had used it on him. Sirius was worse, when he saw the look he would literally throw himself on Remus begging him to forgive him. It would almost have been pathetic if James didn't fight the same impulse each time.

"You really want to know?" Remus now asked flatly.

"Did you not listen to my speech?" James demanded "Because I thought it was one of my bests" a slight smirk came to the other boy's face as he sighed

"Fine but just remember you asked and you pushed" he remarked before turning his head away from James and lowering his eyes "I'm jealous of you and Lily" James blinked, that hadn't been quite what he was expecting, he had assumed Remus was disappointed, not jealous. Remus nodded his head clearly catching the questioning look on James's face. "Yep you heard me, I'm jealous of you and Lily and hell I'm even jealous of Sirius. Pathetic right" he said with a snort.

"Why?" James asked

"Because" Remus replied shortly, crossing his arms over his chest. James ran his hand through his hair again.

"You're gonna have to do slightly better then because, we're twenty now, I'm pretty sure you can at least attempt to come up with a better answer then that" Remus leaned his head back against the wall and sighed.

"James the chances of me having children is slim, how could I not be jealous?"

"How is it slim?" James demanded "You've never mentioned this before to me, I don't think you've mentioned it to the other two because one of them would have mentioned it by now." Remus pulled out another cigarette and lit it, his hand trembling slightly as he did.

"Well its not exactly an upbeat topic of conversation Prongs" Remus pointed out "I can technically have children, there's nothing wrong with my ability that way I'm just as likely to father a child as the rest of you, I just can't" he said shortly, a line of red coming to his cheeks "If I got a woman pregnant then there would be a chance the baby would also be like me, they don't know for certain, apparently it's a fifty/fifty chance give or take. The baby would never live past its first full moon. You've seen what it's like James with your own eyes. The wolf, even a small wolf cub would rip itself to shred. There would be no way in hell a baby could survive that. I wont put myself through that agony of losing my child for the sake of fifty percent chance it would be normal. I couldn't live with myself."

James remained silent, his face a mixture of horror and pity as Remus let out a shaky breath, his free hand curling into a tight fist which caused the skin at his knuckles to go white.

"Remus I-" he began stopping when Remus continued to speak a distant look on his face.

"I've always wanted children though, a son like Harry would have been great but if I was being honest it was always a girl I wanted, one who looked like me or at least had my eye colour. That's the only thing about my appearance I've ever liked. I would have called her Thea and I would have given her the world even if I had to work myself down to the bone to get it but thinking like this is a pointless exercise because there will never be a child in my life it will be up to my brother to carry on our family name."

James waited only a second, watching as Remus dropped his half finished cigarette before he stepped forward, dragging Remus off the wall and pulling him into a tight comforting hug.

"You're a fucking idiot keeping something like that to yourself Remus, you should have said something" James said sharply, blinking back the tears prickling his eyes "You may not have your own child in your life but you'll certainly have Harry and I doubt he will be the only one, we'll have more and I promise you if we have a girl we'll name her Thea and she'll be your goddaughter" Remus remained silent and rigid in James's grip as the younger boy continued "You should have said something" he repeated "I thought we had agreed after you revealed your furry little secret that the four of us wouldn't have secrets anymore? All those times we sat there talking about having families and you never said a world."

Remus shrugged, reaching up and placing his hands on James's shoulders and pushing him away from him.

"As I said James it's not exactly an upbeat conversation" he made a huffing sound, brushing his fringe away from his eyes "and quite frankly its not one I really want to continue now. I didn't tell you all because I knew you would all react the way you're reacting now. Well Sirius would have reacted worse but you get the general drift. I don't like being pitied especially by you guys"

"You will have a part in Harry's life just as much as Sirius will. Being a Godfather is just a title Moony, it doesn't mean anything and besides while he has to be boring and pay attention to the spiritual side of things you get to be the fun Uncle Moony. I've learned from experience that the Uncles and Aunts tend to be loved more then anyone so I think you're on a winner there" Remus smiled faintly.

"That's because Harry will know that every visit will end up with him getting chocolate and I've yet to meet a kid who doesn't like chocolate."

"True though you might want to hide that from Lily, you know what a health freak she is" Remus nodded with a rueful expression on his face, he was well aware of what his friend was like once she got going.

"Well maybe not all the time then, I can always get him a small gift instead"

"Everyone will want an Uncle like you and they'll all be jealous of Harry because of it and gods only know what you would be like when Thea is born, she'll be your little princess and have you wrapped around her finger before she's even opened her eyes for the first time." Remus laughed at that, his face brightening for the first time since James has found him.

"I wish I could deny that but we both know it's true" Remus looked awkward for a moment rubbing the back of his neck, a trait he had picked up from Sirius "Thanks for everything James, it really means a lot to me" James shrugged with a smile.

"Moony that's what I'm here for! God knows how many times you've been forced to sit and listen to one of my rants or Peter's rant or Sirius's rant. I think you're entitled to one of your own every once in a while and don't worry I wont say anything about what we spoke of here. You have my word. Anytime you want to talk our door is open to you."

"Likewise" Remus answered. James clapped his hand on Remus's shoulder and began to guide him towards the door.

"Lets go back in, I don't know about you but I'm freezing not to mention scared of what Sirius is trying to teach Harry to say" Remus laughed

"Gryffindor or Snape is an evil git, those are the most likely ones but you're right we should get in. Children absorb more in their first year then in the other years combined" James shuddered dramatically.

"All the more reason to rescue Harry from a fate worse then death" James remarked

"And that is?" Remus queried as they stepped back into the warm hospital closing the door behind them. James glanced back over his shoulder as he led them down the corridor.

"Ending up like Sirius of course" he answered with a grin. Remus nodded

"Too true Prongs, too true"

Author Note – Here's chapter two! I cant believe I've managed to get it done so quickly. As I said it was a bit sad but the story most definitely will lighten up now!

It's been so long since I've written a conversation between James and Remus, I'd forgotten how much I love writing their interactions. I'm definitely going to have to write more!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed it! Please review but no flames and I'll try and update next week.

Thanks for reading x