Author's Note: NaNoWriMo's a bit behind, but I could never neglect you guys! Responses to particular reviews are at the end of the chapter.
[James Potter]
Friday, November 14, 1980
HELLO HARRY!
It's so great to write to you again. Hope you're not disappointed in having to read my chicken scratch again so soon, but Lily got it last time and we don't have any visitors today. No matter, I know I'm your favorite.
So the good news is that Lily's feeling a bit better. She was really sleep deprived for a while there, with all of your crying. But I think we have a schedule down now, and it's getting a bit easier to follow.
Lily reckons she can tell the difference between your different cries, too. She says she can tell when you're hungry, and when you want sleep, and when you need your nappy changed. Mother's intuition, maybe? I'm not sure. (Haha, it's magic. See what I did there?).
So I'd like to think that you're doing less crying than you were before, because Lily's got them all figured out. But the truth is, I have no bloody idea. Oh well, that's the way it goes.
I'm going bloody mad cooped up in here, you know, Harry. It's making my skin itch and my fingers twitch. Annoys the hell outta Lily, I can't sit still. It better not last long. I can't stand to be out of the war for so long- I need to be doing my part.
Dumbledore still won't tell us exactly why we need to stay in hiding. And it's gotten worse- more security, more being careful, more, more, more! It's infuriating. I'm sure he has his reasons, but would it kill him to share them with us? We're the ones that are being affected.
Lily's been terribly patient about it. I wish that I could be as calm as her. Maybe it's you that calms her down so much. You've been doing wonders for me. I would have gone insane long ago stuck in here without you. So thanks for that.
I think we'll have a visitor write in your Wizarding Book next week, so you can be excited for that. I'll probably be just as excited. No promises, though, because I'm never sure with all this protection who will be allowed in.
I shouldn't say that. It's to protect us, and I can't argue against anything that protects Lily and you. How could I? You're the most important people in my life, and aside from Sirius, my only family. I'm sure that you already know this, Harry, but my parents died a couple years ago. It's still painful to think about. But they were old, and dragonpox is common at that age. At least they didn't die bloody, right? But of course I still miss them.
To tell you the truth, I miss going to Hogwarts. It was so much fun, just joking around with Sirius, Remus and Peter… Remind me to tell you about some of the pranks we pulled on the Slytherins, Harry, I am sure you will get a laugh out of them. We were little hellions in our time.
Merlin, that sounds odd, even writing in down. In our time. Wow. I'm not old, I swear to you, Harry. Your dad's not an old man. I was just feeling like reminiscing a little bit. Yeah, that's it.
But in fact, I still miss being a child. Life was... simpler, you know? Well, actually, I hope that you don't. You're only seventeen, and I don't want you to know about war. I hope to Merlin that it'll be over before you're an adult. I don't think I could stand to watch you go into war and fight.
Let's not talk about that. What else can I talk about? Er… This isn't terribly relevant, but what I was doing before writing this was talking to Lily. We're still getting used to the house here, and it's a bit empty. There are already cat scratches on the furniture of course, but the house is pretty lacking when it comes to decorations. Lily's been asking for artwork for Christmas.
I've told her that she should be more specific, pick some stuff out, but she won't do it. She'll likely end up with some stuff she doesn't like, but will need to put up anyway, so as not to offend anymore.
Oh well. It's impossible to change your mother's mind when she wants something, Harry. You'll do well to remember that.
With love,
-Dad
Author's Note: Responses to reviews:
Natto'n'aliens, It does say that they use the Fidelius right before they die, but if they had other protection that successfully kept Voldemort away, why wouldn't they continue to use that, in addition to the Fidelius? Now I'm not saying Voldemort found out about Harry the day before Halloween, but a whole year seems like a long time to be focusing all his energy upon one household, and still not get it. I was thinking that at some point Voldemort finds out about Harry, and starts working on destroying the protections. He's breaking them down, so Lily and James panic, and get Peter to do the Fidelius. They relax a little bit, and Voldemort is able to get past all the protections put in place, including the Fidelius.
Renata MM: Haha, that's a really cool suggestion. Fanfiction inception? And using this for real life is an awesome idea. Though I would expect it would be a bit more baby-oriented and less fighting Voldemort. But you never know ;)