AN: This is going to be a collection of oneshots that would've occured in the Mauraders and Harry's life had Voldemort never existed. Of course, Harry's life at Hogwarts would have been very different; no one would've been after the philosopher's stone so it wouldn't have been hidden in Hogwarts, the chamber of secrets never would've been open, there never would've been an azkaban escapee roaming about, if the triwizard tournament took place Harry's name never would've been in it... you get the point. I'll be taking some creative liberty with if and how these occur or not, or if I even mention them. All canon events we know about the Mauraders occur, except that after school they never join the Order of the Phoenix, because obviously it never needs to be founded. There also may not be any chronological order to these, I'll just explain when they take place at the beginning. So without further ado...

This first story takes place when Harry is in his sixth year, home for the Christmas holidays, asks his dad for some romantic advice...

James and Harry, like they often did when Harry was home at the Summer or Christmas holidays, or even just when James and the Mauraders snuck in to see Harry, or snuck him out to come home for dinner with his family, were doing what the father and son duo loved to do best; they were flying.

Their feet skimmed over the tops of the trees as they raced side by side, noses' pink with the cold. Lily had enchanted their glasses so the falling snowflakes wouldn't block their vision, and as they reached the end of the tree line where the ground below them opened into a steep valley, they dived, letting out excited 'whoops' as their sped towards the ground, pulling up at the last moment.

Though James' younger self would have scoffed at the idea of anyone being a better flyer than him, he now felt only extreme pride for his son, who far outshone him on a broom. Having been flying for a while, the two angled their brooms towards a large rock that overlooked the valley, where they landed easily. This was 'their spot'. James had a special bond with all three of his children, but he and Harry, who was two and three years older than his sisters respectively, had found this place before they were old enough to come, so it'd remained theirs.

They sat on the rock, looking out over the valley, and James summoned a fire to keep them warm.. They spoke about Harry's last few months at Hogwarts, his classes and friends, and of course they spoke about quidditch, Harry was the captain of the Gryffindor team, much to James' delight, and so they talked strategy too. But James knew his son well. Harry may look like James, but he had much of Lily's personality, and James could read both of them like a book, and something was on his son's mind.

"Want to tell me what's bothering you?" James finally asked, when Harry had made no mention of something.

Harry shrugged, but James didn't miss the reddening of his cheeks. Ah.

"Does it have to do with one Ginny Weasley, by any chance?"

Harry's head snapped up to look at his father, his cheeks definitely red now.

"How..?" Harry wondered.

"How did I guess?" James shrugged, "I know you, and you forget I was your age once."

They were silent for a few moments. "Ginny's a nice girl," James said eventually, "good as quidditch, able to enjoy a good prank."

"She's Ron's sister," Harry said, which was clearly what was bothering him so much.

James made a 'hmmm' sound in agreement.

"You know," he said, "it took me three and a half years to get your mom to go out with me."

Harry had heard his parents mention that his mom hadn't liked his dad much when they were young, but he didn't know the full story. "Really?" he asked.

James nodded. "I wasn't the best person when I was a teenager," he admitted, "Sirius and I were always getting into trouble, and some of our pranks could be on the malicious side, which isn't something I'm proud of now. But I always seemed to be at my worst around your mom. She used to call me an arrogant git." James smiled ruefully at Harry, before continuing. "Eventually I grew up enough to realise that if I was ever going to have a chance with her, I'd have to start acting like someone who deserved her, because I definitely didnt at fifteen. It took a while, but she warmed up to me and agreed to give me a chance in our seventh year. Lucky for you and your sisters," he said grinning.

Harry smiled, a little embarrassed hearing about his parents' romance, but only a little.

"My point is," James continued, "I'm probably not the best person to be giving you advice, but I can tell you this; Ginny is her own person, she's going to do whatever she wants at the end of the day. As long as you decide to be someone who'll she deserve, someone who'll treat her right and make her happy, no one should have a problem. Once Ron sees that, I'm sure he'll be okay with it."

Harry nodded, feeling an immense gladness that he had his dad, in his opinion the best dad, in his life.