Chapter 24: Return of the prodigal

James hadn't expected to feel quite so relieved at seeing Harry, a hunched figure trailing after Sirius and Remus.

It had taken James some effort to keep himself from hugging Harry when he'd finally made it back to the house. Instead, he'd simply placed a hand on his shoulder, but even that small gesture had made the boy jump. James had squeezed once and gently steered the boy towards the door.

James got a sharp look from Sirius and a raised eyebrow from Remus as they passed him on their way into the house, but neither of them made any further comment. Sirius did open his mouth as if to say something, but before he could, Remus had nudged him out of the kitchen and towards the Floo.

"Thank you," James said as he'd walked them to study.

Remus had nodded, and Sirius had given him a narrow-eyed look.

"We'll talk about it before the next full moon, alright?" James had said.

"Before the next full moon?" Remus had asked, surprised. "You're still coming then?"

"I'm not sure you should leave Lily alone with –" Sirius started but James interrupted him before he could say more and ruin all the feelings of goodwill and gratitude that James currently felt for his friends for bringing Harry back safe.

James could tell that they had wanted to stay, that they were dying to ask questions, but they were restraining themselves – for now at least, James thought wryly. He was sure to get an earful soon enough. And he certainly owed them an explanation, but now was not the time…

As the last of the green flickered out of the sitting room's fire, James ran a hand down his face and took a deep breath before returning to the kitchen.

Lily had risen upon Harry's arrival and was staring at him. Harry, though, seemed to be fascinated by the tip of his trainers. He scuffed his feet for a second longer – then there was a startling flash of green as he stared up at them behind his fringe.

James himself felt at a loss. With any of his other children – his other children? said a surprised voice at the back of his mind – he would have known exactly what to do. Hug, scold… But Harry…

Lily seemed similarly uncertain.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Harry muttered, so quietly that James could only just make out the words.

"Oh darling," Lily said.

She took a step forward, hesitated and settled for taking his hand. James knew she also noticed the way Harry started before holding on almost convulsively. And as he looked at their joined hands, James was shocked to see that, despite his short stature, Harry had a man's hand – large, strong and scuffed. Lily's freckled fingers were all but engulfed in his palm. And all James could think was how different that hand looked from his Harry's, his baby's delicate fingers, so chubby, so soft and warm…

"Mum?" came a voice from the corridor making them all jump.

Harry precipitously pulled his hand away from Lily's.

"Mum? Dad?"

"We're in the kitchen, Vi," Lily called back just as their daughter burst in.

"Mum, Josh is asking whether – oh, you're back?"

She broke off as she spotted Harry, and James noted the way Harry's face closed off slightly. But there was no resentment, only resignation in his expression as he answered.

"Yes, Remus and Sirius brought me back."

Vi glances over at Lily, then at James.

"Oh…" she said, and from her tone, James was in no doubt that she'd somehow managed to overhear a large part of his earlier conversation with his friends and of Sirius's telling off. She raised an eyebrow, a gesture learnt from her mother, but didn't push the matter further. Instead, she turned to Lily.

"Mum, Josh asked if I could stay over next week."

Lily tucked a loose curl behind Violet's ear. "For the whole week?" she started to ask, leading Violet out of the kitchen.

James suppressed a sigh and turned back to Harry.

"You must be starving," he said.

Harry, who had been staring at Lily and Violet's retreating backs, blinked and turned back to James. He gave a one-shouldered shrug, which James decided to take as a yes.

They were silent as James put together a sandwich, handed it to Harry and seated himself at the table. Harry hesitated, then wolfed it down in a few gigantic bites.

Lily and Violet were still in the hall, negotiating, and he could hear the film Lily had put on for Anna and Sam after the earlier upheaval winding to a close. They didn't have long before they would be interrupted.

But before James could decide what to say, it was Harry who spoke up.

"Is Sam ok…?"

"He's fine. Just a little tired after what happened earlier, but otherwise fine."

Harry's eyes narrowed as he considered James's answer. If James had to put a name to it, he'd have said the boy was trying to decide whether James was telling him the truth.

"Look, Harry," James said, taking a deep breath before diving in. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you – about the spell I mean. I was still trying to decide how I felt about it. I didn't want to start this conversation unprepared. I didn't think it would be fair on you."

There, that was said. A lot more honestly than he'd initially planned, but there it was. He glanced up at Harry who looked taken aback.

"I –" the boy started. "I thought… I mean, that's alright."

And to James's relief, there wasn't any doubt about James's truthfulness colouring his tone this time.

"It's – quite a lot to take in, isn't it?" Harry carried on with a flash of a smile.

James found his lips stretching in response. "It is rather," he admitted and leaned back in his chair. "And it isn't that we don't trust your story, or Sam's. Really. It's just that the world we live in has been – unpredictable… and dark. The war didn't end when Voldemort came to ours that night in October – the Death Eaters managed to keep his disappearance a secret for a while, and when it eventually became known, they had managed to organise themselves to keep up Voldemort's work. It took us years to round them all up," James admitted.

A glance at Harry showed the boy nodding with far too much understanding.

"You want to protect your family," Harry said – and it was a statement rather than a question.

James nodded grimly. They'd lost too much before to take any chances…

"I think…" Harry started saying then abruptly stopped. Green eyes searched James's and seemed to come to a decision. "I think I might be able to help with that – protecting your family and your world from Voldemort that is. I know some stuff from my world. Quite a lot of stuff actually," Harry said and gave James a rueful smile.

"What kind of stuff?" James asked warily.

"Well, stuff about Voldemort, for example… And how to get rid of him," Harry finished casually.

James had sort of been expecting it, yet still it somehow managed to steal his breath away. He looked towards the corridor, but Lily was still busy with Violet – and they had been joined by Anna and Sam by the sound of it. Their time was running out.

Harry seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"It'd take too long to explain now. We should speak soon though," he said, and there was an urgency in his voice that wasn't there before.

James could only nod before Anna burst into the kitchen. She hesitated when she spotted Harry, but then seemed to make up her mind to ignore him for now.

"Dad, Mum says that she's putting Sam down for a nap – like a baby," she added in a mutter, nose wrinkled, and James found himself torn between the urge to smile at his daughter's obvious disgust and to tell her off for being mean to her brother. Before could decide however, Anna perked up. "Hey, does that mean that I get to go fly with you all on my own today?"

At that, James did laugh. He put a hand on Harry's shoulder, gratified to find that this time the boy didn't shrink away, and said: "We'll speak about this later, alright?"

A/N: Have a good weekend everyone!