On the first Friday of December, Harry had been given permission to go home for the weekend to attend Sirius' wedding. He met his father at Professor McGonagall's office after his classes for the day were over.
"So, have you been waking up and getting to your morning classes on time," James teased as father and son were heading down the stairs of the castle. He was carrying Harry's trunk which had been charmed to be light on one hand while his other hand was around Harry's shoulder.
"I never had a problem waking up," Harry protested.
James narrowed his eyes.
"Well, you put me in a school that was so far away that I had to wake up at six-thirty in the morning to make it on time," said Harry.
"I'm sorry about that son, but there was no choice. I couldn't put you in a muggle school nearby as the risk of breaching the statute of secrecy was higher," said James.
"We could have moved to a muggle house near the school," Harry pointed out.
"And give up our family home and heritage? Our ancestor, Linfred the Potterer was awarded …" James began but cut off by Harry.
"A large land by the Ministry for his invention of skele-gro, built a small house there and for generations our ancestors worked hard to renovate the house to the mansion it is now, most notably Grandpa Harry and Grandpa Fleamont," Harry drawled. He had heard James tell this story at least a few times before and his father could get in a roll when he began talking about his family history.
"Oh, alright," said a bemused James as he ruffled a grinning Harry's hair.
Harry was greeted warmly by both his uncles when he entered Potter Manor. Sirius and Remus had lived with James and Harry for a few years after Lily died but once they were settled in their careers, they bought their own posh apartments at Luxury Ville, the area of apartment buildings in front of Potter Manor. Both Marauders were almost daily visitors at Potter Manor.
Just then, Harry heard Miranda's voice yelling at someone from a distance. It came from the living room and he saw her look livid as she yelled at a man and woman who were wide-eyed with fear.
"Bridezilla in full action", Sirius explained at Harry's questioning look.
"Come on Sirius, be fair to be Miranda. She's just stressed out with the wedding preparations", James reasoned.
"And having things go wrong the day before the wedding would be extra stressful", Remus joined.
"James, didn't you call Lily, Bridezilla too when she kept losing her temper over wedding preparation?" asked Sirius.
James looked away. "Well … to be fair, you called Lily that first and I just agreed with you," James stammered.
"Emphasis on you agreed with me".
"Emphasis on you said it first".
"Oh, knock it off both you," said Remus.
"Harry, how nice to see you," said Helen who had come from the kitchen.
"Nice to see you too, Helen", said Harry as she gave him a fleeting hug.
Helen was his caregiver. She was a tall and thin woman in her late fifties who wore her greying black hair in a tight bun. Befitting her character, Helen had a stern look about her face but her brown eyes were kind. James hired her because she reminded him a lot of his favorite professor, McGonagall.
"Harry, why don't you wash up and get dressed. I'm making one of your favorite dishes for dinner", said Helen as he obliged and she went back into the kitchen.
The Marauders were having Sirius's bachelor's night at the Platinum Hotel's bar with a few of their friends. Remus noticed James being preoccupied with his thoughts and knew he was reminded of his own wedding.
"So James, it has been ten years. When are you getting married again?" asked Sam just as Remus was about to covertly console the messy-haired wizard.
James looked at Sam as if he had suggested he threw his son off the hotel's highest floor.
"I will not give Lily's place to someone else," James resolved.
"You still think about her after all this years?" asked Phillip incredulously.
"Everyday" he said gloomily as his friends exchanged wide eyed looks.
"Well, thank you mates. Now you've got James all upset when my bachelor's party is supposed to be fun," said Sirius incredulously.
"It's alright. I'll be fine with a few more shots," said James and Remus knew he wanted to pull himself together as to not ruin the mood of Sirius's bachelor's party.
"You know on second thought, maybe I shouldn't. I don't want to risk having to go home to my son in an embarrassing state."
"Don't worry mate, if you're drunk to the point of embarrassment, Gunther over here would get you into a hotel room to spend the night," said Sirius as James complied.
Gunther was their hired sober escort to see that they got home or to a hotel room safely in case they were unable to do so.
Sirius and Miranda were married the next day and Harry was glad to catch up with his other family members who included the Tonks's and the family of James' cousin Luke who lived in the United States. Luke was the son of Fleamont's brother Charlus. He went back to Hogwarts on Sunday evening after Sirius and Miranda had gone off on their Honeymoon to Paris.
As December passed, Draco and gang got even more unpleasant due to Slytherin's recent Quidditch loss to Gryffindor. Still being reluctant to direct his antagonism at Harry, Draco would direct his antagonism towards Ron and Hermione. One such incident involved Draco mocking Ron about being the next gamekeeper when latter was offering to help Hagrid with a Fig tree. This resulted in Ron lunging at the obnoxious git. To his misfortune, Snape who witnessed this took five points off Gryffindor despite Hagrid's protest that Draco had started it. Aside from that, the Golden Trio frequently visited the library in fruitless efforts to find out about Nicholas Flamel.
Since the Weasley children were to stay at Hogwarts due to their parents and sister visiting Charlie in Romania for the holidays, James had asked Harry to invite the boys over to Potter Manor to spend the holidays. Hermione was to spend the holidays with her parents. An initially reluctant Molly agreed that her sons could spend the holidays at the Potters after James had reassured her in his letter that they would be in good hands. To the distress of the Weasley twins and Ron, she conditioned that they could only go if Percy came along.
"Say Percy, won't it be nice to spend Christmas at the Potters?" asked Fred innocently.
"I'm not comfortable staying at a stranger's house," said Percy apprehensively.
"Harry's not a stranger. He's my best friend," said Ron indignantly.
"But it still feels like an intrusion since we're strangers to Mr. Potter," said Percy as his brothers exchanged exasperated looks.
Just then an idea struck Fred.
"Percy, don't you want to experience what it's like to live in a mansion?" asked Fred as his brother's eyes perked up for split second but went back to being resolute.
"It has a Quidditch pitch", said George.
"I don't play Quidditch".
"It has a library with books that aren't available at Hogwarts", said Ron as Percy began deliberating.
"Mr. Potter, being the owner of a Quidditch team has close connections at the Ministry, particularly the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Some of them could show up for their Christmas party", Fred went in for the kill.
"If you impress Mr. Potter, he might introduce you and put in a good word for you to them. Didn't you want a good position at the Ministry?" George asked as Percy was finally sold.
=to be continued=
A/N: Please remember to FOLLOW the story if you want updates and FAVORITE the story if you liked it.
Please, please REVIEW so that I know if it's good or not.
Helen isn't supposed to be a duplicate of McGonagall. They just have common elements. She's actually more inspired by Marilla from Anne of Green Gables.
I think I'm going to start polls on my tumblr for this fic, so I have a clearer picture of what readers want. My tumblr can found on my profile. Two polls would include whether or not James should remarry and who Harry should end up with.
Please feel free to comment your thoughts on the above two questions in the comment section as well.
I will update in 4-8 weeks I promise.