Stormy Nights

Summary: James provides some much-needed comfort to his son during a thunderstorm.

This thunderstorm popped up out of nowhere. The weather report didn't say anything about a thunderstorm. The rain poured down hard, changing the risk of flooding in the small community of Potter's Bar. The thunder shook the ground and the lightning flashed in the dark night sky, so brightly that it would be blinding if one stared at it for a long period of time.

In a brick house on the outskirts of the village, lived a family. In a bedroom in the brick house was a young boy.

Harry turned on his side in bed for what must have been the hundredth time that night. The blue sheets tangled around his waist, wrapping in him the web of sheets and blankets. His raven black locks tussled more than usual and the dark circles under his eyes. It was well past midnight, almost one in the morning.

Harry tried to go back to sleep, closing his eyes and willing himself to go to sleep.

A loud crack of thunder and a flash of lightning made Harry jump and yelp at the sudden noise.

He untangled himself from the sheets before he ripped them and shuffled to the bathroom. He came back in five minutes, wiping the remaining water on his pajama pants.

Crawling back in bed and covering himself with the covers, he hid underneath the sheet, hiding from the storm outside his window.

"Some Gryffindor I am," he muttered. Harry would never admit it to anyone, but he was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. It had seemed a reasonable fear when he was younger, but now it was just embarrassing. He was thirteen and still scared of thunderstorms. In his defense, the thunder was pretty loud and lightning was pretty creepy when it cast eerie shadows on the walls of his room.

Harry jumped as another loud boom of thunder shook the house. He wondered how his father slept through this. Lily was gone to a conference for work and had been gone for two days.

He wished that his mother was here. She was better at providing comfort than James, especially in times like this. But James was great at giving comfort. He had been there to take care of him the handful of times Harry had gotten sick when Lily was away. He got cold clothes for headaches, potions for any ailment from headaches to stomachaches and rubbed his back when he threw up.

If he had a nightmare, James made hot chocolate and they would sip it while Harry told him what the nightmare was about.

When he was younger and thunderstorms popped up, he would crawl into bed with his parents and sleep with them.

Another loud clap of thunder brought Harry out of his thoughts and he yelped in fear. Maybe it was irrational, but he couldn't take it anymore. He got up from his bed and crossed the room to the door, nearly colliding with his father. He had come to check on his son to see if he was okay.

"Hey, are you alright, Harry?" James whispered.

Harry was going to answer, but another clap of thunder answered for him. Harry jumped and wrapped his arms around James, snuggling into his father.

Then, before he could stop himself, Harry asked, "Can I stay with you?" His voice sounded like he was a lot younger than thirteen.

James nodded and wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulder and led him to his bedroom. The large king sized bed was small and lonely without Lily. He led Harry to Lily's side of the bed, and then returned to his side.

"The thunder is too loud and the lighting is creepy," Harry stuttered. He let James pull him into an embrace. "I know it's stupid, but…"

"It's not stupid, Son," James murmured. "They're plenty of people who don't like thunderstorms."

He knew what his son was going to say. Harry always didn't like thunderstorms, even when he was a baby. James knew that Harry would eventually outgrow it, but in the meantime, he knew Lily loved the snuggles and cuddles that usually accompanied thunderstorms. Harry always ended up in bed with him and Lily when a thunderstorm formed.

This may be a thing of the past when Harry got older.

"How many thirteen-year-olds do you know who are scared of thunderstorms?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure there are a lot," James said, trying to sound assuring. There were silencing charms, on the windows to prevent the students from being startled by sudden noises from outside. The charm was set to work at night and at sunrise, the charm ended. That and sleeping with the curtains closed was how this wasn't an issue at Hogwarts.

"Yeah, right," Harry muttered, bitterly. He made no move to leave his father's embrace.

"It's not stupid," James repeated, determined to make Harry feel better. He wished Lily was here. She was better at comfort than he was. Any thoughts Harry or James had were broken as a loud crash of thunder sound outside and Harry pressed himself closer to James.

"Hey, it's okay, buddy," James comforted. They laid like that for a while, James comforting Harry every time lightning flashed or thunder rumbled.

"I'm sorry," Harry said after a while, pulling away from his father.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" James asked. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Yes, I do. I woke you up in the middle of the night all because of a stupid little thunderstorm. I should be able to face them on my own." Harry paused to turn on his back, looking up at the ceiling of his parent's bedroom. "And I can't," he whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," James repeated, pulling Harry closer to him. He knew Harry would still be looking for comfort even though the storm was beginning to start moving out and Harry could go back to his bed. "Don't worry about it, son. It's not your fault. Fears are fears."

"I guess so," Harry murmured, his eyes drooping tiredly.

"Getting sleepy?" James asked, chuckling lightly. "Harry?" He looked down and seen that Harry had fallen asleep. He reached over and pulled off his glasses and laid them on Lily's nightstand and then took off his own and laid them on his nightstand.

"Get some sleep, son," he whispered. He leaned over and kissed Harry's forehead.

A loud clap of thunder once again sounded outside this time not as loud as before. Harry's face scrunched up, but he remained asleep. He snuggled up to James, unconsciously. James smiled, knowing moments like this were getting few and far between. He wrapped an arm around Harry, kissing his raven hair before closing his eyes and falling asleep himself.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Lily appeared with a crack in the back garden of her home the next morning. She smiled. She was home. She could be home with her boys and not off to some conference that she had to go to. Next time, she was taking James with her and sending Harry to Sirius's. She began to walk towards the back door.

She walked to the back door and tapped her wand at the door, unlocking it. Upon entering the kitchen, she realized that no one was up yet. She sat her bag down in the scullery and dropped her purse on the counter. She slipped off her shoes and headed upstairs to her bedroom first. If she didn't find Harry and James, she would floo Sirius and Remus to see if they knew where they were.

Quietly entering her bedroom, she smiled at the scene in front of her.

James and Harry were both still asleep and cuddled up together. Harry's head was on James's chest and from the looks of it, half of his body was over James. She smiled and quietly summoned her camera and snapped a picture of the moment in front of her. She approached the bed and noticed that James was waking up.

"Hey," James whispered.

"Hi honey," Lily greeted, softly. "Thunderstorm?"

James nodded. He looked down at his son, sleeping on his chest.

"Yeah."

He watched as she ran her fingers through their son's unruly hair. Ever since Harry was a child thunderstorms brought out the same reaction. He would quietly sneak into his parents' room and crawl in between them and would snuggle close to the parent he wanted. Mostly he went to Lily, but other times he would to James.

"Was he any trouble?" Lily asked, whispering.

James thought back to Wednesday when Lily left. Even though Lily had made a casserole for supper that night, James decided to get pizza in town. When they came back home, they decided to play Mario Kart, which resulted in a rematch because Harry had won all three games. They went to the diner for breakfast on Thursday and spent the day in London, where they had a late lunch of cheeseburgers, fries, and chocolate milkshakes. James had taken some time off from the Auror office to spend time with his son.

Lily was pleased to know that had the chicken casserole she had made for the previous night on Thursday. Yesterday, Sirius joined them and they went to Thorpe Park, where they spend the morning to late afternoon. They came home and decided to play Quidditch for a while.

"He was no trouble at all." James watched as Lily ran her fingers through Harry's unruly thick hair.

Gently as he could, James picked Harry up, holding him up long enough to get out from under the sleeping teen. It didn't faze Harry and he was still asleep.

"You know, you wouldn't think he's thirteen when you see him like this," Lily whispered. She tucked the sheet around her son and kissed his cheek. Harry had turned to laid on his stomach when James moved him off of him.

James smiled at his wife and kissed her on his way to the bathroom. Lily unpacked her bag while James was in the shower.

She headed downstairs to make breakfast for her boys. Entering the kitchen, she used her wand to begin to fix eggs and sausage with a little bit of bacon. She didn't cook with magic only when she needed something quicker than cooking the Muggle way would. Harry had just entered his teen years, she had a feeling she would be cooking with Magic more often.

Footsteps on the stairs brought her attention to the other occupants in the house. She glanced at the clock and realized that this wasn't James as she could hear the shower in her bathroom running.

She smiled when Harry shuffled into the kitchen, pausing when he saw her.

"Hello, Sweetheart," she greeted.

"When did you get home, Mum?" Harry asked, walking into her open arms.

"This morning," she said, embracing her son in a loving hug. She realized then that Harry was almost as tall as she was. He had a few inches more to go before he matched her in height.

"Did you sleep well last night?" she inquired.

"Before the thunderstorm I did, but then I moved to your and Dad's room."

Lily put her hand on Harry's face, pulling it towards her to meet her own.

"There is nothing wrong about being afraid of thunderstorms. But you've gotten better."

"How?" Harry asked.

"Well, you used to cry every time a thunderstorm appeared. You don't do that anymore. You also used to won't leave the room or me. You were glued to me until the storm passed. Now, you go on your own and would leave a room."

"What about sleeping with you and Dad?"

"Everyone needs comfort, Harry. No matter what is going on. You still sleep with us when you have a nightmare, right?"

Lily was right. Harry did come and sleep with them when he had a nightmare or a bad dream. Even though he would climb in between them, he would snuggle closer to Lily.

James came down the stairs in time for Lily to serve breakfast. She told James about the trip she went on, telling him that if she had to go on another one, she wanted him to come with her. Harry was happy with the idea of staying with Sirius.

It was after breakfast and James was in the study, looking over paperwork he had in his work bag when Harry approached him.

"Hey Dad," Harry said, leaning against the doorframe.

"Yes, Harry."

"Thanks for last night."

James smiled and got up from his chair, hugging his son. He relished in it as he didn't know how many more moments like this he would have.

"You're welcome."

AN: Please feel free to send me a message, either in the review or a PM of anything you would like to see in Harry's Life with Parents series. I love hearing from my readers about their thoughts or suggestions.

For those who would like to see more of James comforting Harry, fear not. I have a fic in progress that is about when Lily is away on a business trip and Harry gets sick, James takes care of him. It will be published as soon as it's finished.

Thank you to everyone who has read this series, reviewed, or added this story to their alerts and/or favorites.