James was a different story. He managed to fall asleep quickly, thanks to an excess of eggnog, but he awoke before dawn and his eyes refused to close again. He had no idea what his parents would say, but for once in his life he knew it was time to do exactly as he was told.

James decided to go out to the deck to watch the sunrise. It was a very un-James-like thing to do, but he had never gotten up that early before, so he probably wasn't thinking straight. To his surprise Albus was already there.

"James? Are you okay? Do you know what time it is?" asked Albus concernedly.

"Too early." mumbled James sleepily. "What are you doing out here?

"Working." replied Albus. "It's peaceful. But what are you doing here?"

"Watching the sunrise." replied James. He took a seat. "I wanted to see one while I was still a free man."

"What'd you do this time?" asked Albus. He was used to James' exploits, especially as Al was usually on the butt end of them.

James didn't reply.

"James? Whatever you did to me, there is still time to redeem yourself." said Albus.

"It's not you." said James cryptically.

"You could tell me anyway." suggested Albus.

"No. And you'll hate me." replied James.

Albus sighed. James had been out of sorts these past few weeks, and although he could be a pain, James was still his brother.

"Did you try to fix it?" asked Albus.

"I'm working on it." said James. "But it can't be fixed."

"Here." said Albus finally. "Whatever it is, I promise not to hate you, or even get mad."

James looked at his brother. "Thanks." he said slowly. After all the pranks, James couldn't see how his brother could say that. He wouldn't tell Al this, but he was really a good kid.

Albus returned to work while James watched the sky. A strip of pale blue appeared on the horizon and crawled over the sky. Just as the glowing yellow orb appeared, the clouds took on a pink tinge. Slowly light covered the land. They sat in silence for hours.

"It's beautiful." said James finally.

Albus looked at James strangely. "It is." he replied.

James braced himself. He knocked on the door of the study.

"Come in." called Harry.

James did. He sat down. "Dad? ...I have to tell you something." At his words, Harry stopped what he was doing and turned to face James. To his surprise he saw tears brimming in his eldest child's eyes.

"Okay." he replied.

"I... I sort of had sex." said James, looking at the floor. "With my girlfriend."

Harry waited, but James didn't continue. "Did you want to talk about that?" asked Harry, hoping the answer was no.

"No!" replied James. "But we did er, it, more than once, and er, well one time she didn't want to. I mean, she did, but she er, said she couldn't." He paused again.

"And you respected that?" asked Harry who really had no idea what was going on.

"Yes, well er, no. I did before but this time was different, so I thought I'd er, surprise her, sort of. I mean if she had said no then then I would have. Respected her I mean. But I went to her dorm to see. Er, well it was dark and I er, got the wrong bed." explained James.

"I see." said Harry, who didn't see at all.

"Well it was er, Rose's bed." said James quickly.

"Okay..." replied Harry.

"But well, she was er, waiting for her boyfriend, and she thought I was him."

Harry struggled to put the pieces of this strange tale together. "You had sex with Rose." he realized finally.

James nodded.

Harry sighed, and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Well James, that's very unfortunate, and I'm extremely disappointed in you. However, you're of age now. You really don't need to confess everything to me." said Harry, in an attempt to deflect future awkward conversations. "You're always welcome, but some things you'll have to handle by yourself. Anyway, what's done is done. It's probably best if you and Rose just forget about it."

At this a tear finally slipped down James' cheek. "Dad... Rose is going to have a baby."

His words hung in the air. Harry fell back in his chair flabbergasted. He didn't speak for a long time.

"...You're sure?"

James nodded sadly. "She says so. I thought we should check and make sure that she is and it's mine and everything, but she has to tell Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron before she can go to the hospital..."

"And they would have told your Mum and I." finished Harry. "Oh James."

James finally started to cry. Harry felt like joining him. "I'm sorry Dad. I know that it's supposed to be my fault because I wasn't careful enough, and I'm supposed to have a plan to support this baby, but I was careful, so I don't have a plan. I just wasn't careful in the right ways, I guess. And Rose and I never made a plan because no one plans to have a baby with their cousin, and I don't know what to do!" He gave this speech as a long garbled chain of mixed words and sobs.

Harry laid his head in his hands. "Let's go tell your mother."

He and James walked downstairs, where Ginny was washing dishes. She smiled at them, then raised her eyebrows.

Harry gave James a poke, and James took a deep breath. "Mum? Rose and I had sex. Accidentally. And she's pregnant." It was best to get it out fast before she could start yelling.

Ginny dropped a plate. "What did you just say?" Harry went over to comfort her, but she held up a hand to stop him.

"Rose and I had sex and she's pregnant."

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU HAD SEX WITH YOUR COUSIN AND SHE'S PREGNANT? HAVEN'T WE TAUGHT YOU ANYTHING? AND HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY BE AN ACCIDENT? OUT OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS YOU'VE DONE THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST IDIOTIC AND I THOUGHT WE RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FAMILY IS GOING TO SAY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS GOING TO DO TO YOU'RE FATHER HE'S UNDER ENOUGH STRESS AT WORK AS IT IS AND YOU'D BETTER HOPE THIS ISN'T A JOKE OR SO HELP ME I WILL GROUND YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE YOUNG MAN-"

The rant continued, but Harry had restrained Ginny when she had started to advance on James with a frying pan, and he had ushered James out of the room.

There was a knock on James bedroom door. "Come in." said James. It was Albus and Lily.

"Yo Jamie! The cat's out of the cauldron now isn't it?" said Lily.

"This is what you were talking about?" asked Albus, who had obviously heard the shouting minutes earlier. The neighbours had probably heard it, which was pretty telling, because if you wanted neighbours, plural, you had to go at least a kilometre away to the nearest town, as the only one closer to the Potter's quiet country home lived by himself and raised geese.

"Yes. And you hate me." said James flatly.

"No." said Al. "I considered it, as this certainly wasn't what I imagined when I pardoned you, but I really don't. I mean, I hate to say it, but every time you mess up it makes me look better."

"Yeah," agreed James bitterly "you're definitely the favourite son right now."

Albus ignored this. "Lily told me what happened. It's crazy. I mean, I've never done it, so I don't really know, but I doubt if I would have double checked identities first. Of course, now it's top of my list."

James chuckled ruefully.

"Have they said much yet?" asked Lily.

"No." replied James. "Rose is telling Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, and then they'll probably come over here and kill me, if Mum doesn't beat them too it."

"Mum will be okay." said Albus. "I'm worried about Dad. It's harder to be supportive than angry. Every time you pull something he has a few more grey hairs."

James, who hadn't noticed this, suddenly felt a pang of regret.

"But Grandpa's okay. And he had two troublemakers to worry about." said Lily.

"Oh, because neither of you ever cause any trouble?" said James sarcastically.

"Grandpa wasn't Head Auror." explained Albus. "He had some hard years during the war, of course, but he didn't have to wake up and deal with it every day. Dad needs to retire, or at least take a long vacation."

"We could do that!" said Lily.

"I think Dad's going to have to deal with some bigger stuff first." replied Albus "We'll leave you alone now James."

As they got up to leave there was a call from the kitchen. "James? Could you come down here please?"