"Happy Death Day!" Regulus said brightly when he arrived to the Potter Cottage on Halloween. "Did you see Peter destroyed Draco's robes this morning?"
"Yeah." James scoffed and led Regulus in to the sitting room with the others. "Don't see why Peter's fucking with Draco."
"Oh he undoubtedly see's him as a traitor to the Dark Lord," Regulus said airily as he took a seat beside Elaine and conjured himself a glass of white wine. "It's all very amusing."
"Hysterical," James said drily. "I love that there's a fucking death eater sleeping in the same room as my son."
Regulus grimaced and raised his wine glass in a show of defeat. "What is our favorite little monster up to today?"
"Don't call him that," Lily snapped from her seat between Marlene and Dorcas.
Regulus looked towards the twins, but they both just shrugged, just as bemused by the tense mood as he was.
"Harry and Susan made a new friend," Elaine told Regulus as James took the other seat beside him. "Her name is Luna, and they're going to a Death Day Party."
"That girl is bloody barmy," Gideon said. "She's got Harry convinced that noogles—"
"Nargles," Lily corrected him.
"Nargles then," Gideon said. "Apparently they're invisible creatures that tell her the future."
"She's insane," said Fabian.
"I dare you to call her that to Harry's face one day," James said with a smirk. "I don't think he cares much for people picking on Luna."
James' pride in his son seemed to grow every day, honestly. And the day that Harry threatened a group of bullying little girls, protecting little Luna, James knew that his son was already a better man than James had ever been.
Which is what every parent hoped for when their children were born. When Harry was born, James looked in his tiny green eyes and felt Harry grab his fingers and James whispered his dreams for him to him.
"I hope you play professional quidditch," he grinned. "I want you to be happy, feel loved, love freely, be brilliant." James looked at Harry's sparse black hair and frowned a little. "I wish you had gotten your mummy's hair, but it's fine." James nuzzled Harry's head gently. "I just want you to become a good man, a better man than I ever will be."
Harry had already eclipsed James so fully that James wondered if his newborn little baby had truly taken his message to heart.
"Did you guys see Minnie dock Harry three points for screaming 'JESUS FUCK' in the middle of the Great Hall?" James grinned. "I lost ten for saying 'bloody hell'."
"Ten?!" Fabian shook his head at James. "I lost twenty for saying 'damn' under my breath!"
"McGonagall plays favorites," Dorcas giggled. "And she's finally realized our Harry's a doll."
"And Snape's driving Harry crazy," Marlene chuckled while the kids skipped off to the party Luna invited them to.
"Is he?" Gideon asked. "I thought they were all buddy-buddy last time we checked up on Ronnie?"
"Snape keeps asking Harry about his day, trying to chat with him a little every day," Dorcas said with a grin. She pushed on Lily's shoulder, guiding her to the floor in front of her so she could play with her hair. "Poor Harry was so confused. Snape asked him about his feelings and Harry called him 'fucking weird'."
"And I bet Sev didn't dock him a single point, did he?" Regulus smirked.
"Nope. Harry just made Snape promise not to ask about his feelings anymore," Marlene laughed.
James laughed with the others, but he remembered Harry's soft voice nervously telling Snape that he could still ask him about his day sometime and how badly that simple request had shaken him.
He knew Harry needed a home. He needed love. He needed affection and support.
He hadn't even thought about Harry needing something as simple as an adult asking him about his day.
But Snape did.
Bastard.
"Oh." Elaine laughed quietly at the telly. "They make a funny group, don't they?"
James watched Harry, Susan, and Luna run around at Nearly Headless Nick's Death Day Party and grinned as they tried interviewing the ghosts about their deaths.
They were a funny little trio. Harry and his scowls and his defensive posturing. Susan and her sweet smile and her snarky comments whispered to Harry. Luna and her… her especially unique comments and her dreamy eyes.
But Harry was having a good time, and that was all that really mattered.
While the kids hung out on the telly and Dorcas braided Lily's hair and Elaine and Regulus chatted quietly, James listened to Fabian and Gideon describe their nephew's most recent prank invention.
"So they stole a bunch of ingredients from Snape, right?" Gideon grinned. "And they basically tossed a bunch of… let's say…"
"More explosive ingredients in a cauldron," Fabian jumped in. "And BOOM! They blew up that room right beneath Flitwick's room."
"And somehow they convinced their buddy Lee to try a bit of the gloop left in the bottom of the cauldron—"
"And he began molting!" Fabian laughed. "Right in the middle of their dorm!!"
James laughed and shook his head. "Merlin, they're clever," he said. "I wish Harry would befriend them. I'd like to see more of Fred and George."
hissss… hissss… hissss…
James turned curiously from his conversation with the twins to see Harry wide-eyed on the telly.
"What's this then?" James asked as Harry's thoughts became curious about a voice he heard.
"Your son's a parslemouth, Jamie," Regulus quipped. "I imagine that the hissing we hear is a snake that Harry hears."
"No shit," James rolled his eyes. Everyone became quiet while Harry ran through the corridors, Susan and Luna on his trail. Harry's thoughts didn't reveal what he heard that had him so worked up though. "Any idea what the snake is saying?"
"I think…" Gideon leaned forward and squinted at the telly. "It's saying 'hiss hiss, I am a snake, hiss hiss'."
Lily laughed and threw a sweet at Gideon over her shoulder while Dorcas worked her hair into intricate braids. "Go home, Gid, you're drunk," she joked.
James wasn't laughing though, James was watching the telly as intently as Elaine was as their kids ran around a corner and Susan gasped.
"Look!"
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
"Oh, my," Regulus gasped.
"What's it mean?" Elaine asked.
James had no idea. But he spotted the dead cat hanging from the torch the same time his son did and vehemently agreed with Susan when she suggested they get the hell out of there.
"What's going on here?"
"Is Harry going to be nearly killed every Halloween?" Gideon whispered as Argus Filch stormed up to Harry's group while other students filling the corridor came to a skidding halt around them.
"GET YOUR BLOODY HANDS OFF HIM!" James roared when Filch grabbed his son by the front of his robes and began screaming at him.
"You've killed her! I'll kill you!"
"Damnit, where is Sev?!" Lily scowled as their son went pale and his hands began trembling.
BANG!
The twins let out a cheer as Filch was sent flying in to the far wall and cracked his head on the stone wall.
"There he is!" Gideon cheered. "Go, you greasy git!"
"Oi." James tossed a few pieces of popcorn at Gideon's head and shook his own. "Don't."
Lily glanced up at Dorcas and winked while Regulus smirked to himself.
"Come with me, Argus. You, too, Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood, Miss Bones."
Brill. Now I'm going to get expelled.
James grinned a little and tsk'd at his son. "They won't expel you, you didn't do it."
Except… except Snape seemed like he believed Harry when Harry told Snape he didn't petrify the cat (apparently it wasn't dead), but… but nobody else did.
"Harry, I need the absolute truth. Have you done anything recently that you wish to speak with me about? We can find a more private venue if you'd like to explain."
"He didn't do it, you stupid old man," Lily growled, her hackles raised by the look Albus was giving Harry. "Piss off!"
"She really doesn't like him," Elaine whispered to Regulus with a bemused grin.
Regulus shrugged and took a sip of his wine. "Who does?"
Not James.
And not Harry.
Get out of my fuckin head.
"I'm starting to get a headache."
"Oh, I know he isn't trying to legilimize the kid," Marlene snarled. "It's illegal, Albus."
James clenched his jaw and ground his teeth together while he watched Albus interrogate Harry and Snape defend Harry.
"Tell him about the snake," Regulus told Harry, "it could be a basilisk."
"What's a basilisk?" Gideon asked.
"It's—"
"I just- just wanted to ask for a potion, you know? I didn't think I'd sleep too good tonight with it being the- the anniversary and all."
Lily twisted from her spot on the floor and quirked a brow at James. "Should we be offended that our son just shamelessly used our death to garner some sympathy?"
James grinned. "Nah." He saw Minnie's eyes go soft and Albus nod a little. "Nothing else would have worked."
"The boy is lying! My cat has been petrified and I want him punished!"
"His name is not boy."
"Yeah!" James raised his glass at Snape on the telly. "You tell him! His name's Harry!"
"We picked it ourselves!" Lily laughed.
Elaine, surprisingly, laughed meanly when Gilderoy offered to brew the restorative potion for the petrified cat. "Gilderoy is a moron," she said with a flick of her hair. "Severus should do it."
And Harry apparently agreed with her.
"I believe Professor Snape is the highest ranking, and youngest ever, Potions Master in the United Kingdom."
"Defender of the bullied," James grinned at his son while Snape looked shocked as hell. "Man, Harry's a good boy, isn't he?"
"Yeah." Lily turned to smile so softly and sweetly at James. "He really is. Not at all like us," she winked.
James and Lily watched their son deny his involvement to Snape that night after their friends all left.
"You think this chamber of secrets thing is some big deal?" James murmured to Lily.
"With a little bit of luck- this whole evening will be proven to have been a ridiculous prank."
"Probably not," Lily said, nodding to where Snape was reassuring their son on the telly. "Like Sev said, it's probably just some prank."
James hummed while his son yawned and Snape sent him to bed. It wasn't that he didn't necessarily agree that maybe it was a prank, but… but who more than James knew how sometimes a prank could get wildly out of control?
***
"Fucking send him to Ilvermony!" Lily cried at the telly a week after Halloween. "Sev! Send him somewhere else or kill those damn brats!"
"Where's the scary potion master at now?" James snarled by her side. "He- FUCK!" James took a swing at the telly with a quickly conjured beaters bat when one of the older boys that cornered their son on the way to quidditch practice shoved Harry in the wall and the sickening crunch and spurt of blood meant they broke their baby's nose.
"HE ISN'T THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN! I'M A BLOODY MUGGLEBORN!" Lily screamed at the telly.
For the last week, they'd had to watch as their son was pushed, hit, kicked, tripped, and generally harassed to the point of multiple injuries over the 'Heir of Slytherin' bullshit.
The Slytherin students were all so impressed with Harry that they'd been congratulating him in the corridors. Harry's friends congregated around him when Harry wasn't sending them off to keep them from getting caught up in the bullying. The rest of the students were going out of their way to harass Harry at every given opportunity.
And, once again, none of the adults were doing a damn thing.
Harry was miserable, which was making Lily and James miserable.
James took another swing at the telly when Harry sprinted down to the quidditch pitch before vanishing the bat and sitting beside Lily again.
"This is so unfair," he sighed. "When does Harry catch a break?"
Lily sighed as well. "Never, apparently."
"New plan, Potter goes no where alone tonight or before the game tomorrow. The last thing we need is to be down a seeker because Potter's too noble to hit back."
"Oh piss off!" Lily snarled, conjuring her own bat to take a swing at Harry's quidditch captain. "Albus is already stalking him, you ugly little troll!"
Even watching Harry's practice, something they loved to do, couldn't raise their spirits.
How could it?
Harry still had blood on the front of his robes from where those boys broke his nose.
James had perked up enough on the day of Harry's first ever quidditch match to invite every single person he knew to come watch though.
Lily laughed and indulged her husband by converting their sitting room to mimic the quidditch stands. She gave James a hard time, but she knew that the sport was important to him and James was thrilled to finally see his son fly.
Even if it was through a telly.
But Lily dutifully converted their sitting room to be set up with bleachers and Slytherin flags and their telly had expanded to stretch across the wall.
Lily, oh so ridiculously, thought perhaps she would sit beside her husband during their son's first ever quidditch match, but James squeezed himself between his parents in the front row.
He was so close to his parents that Lily knew it killed him inside to know Harry would never get a relationship with them like he had to Effie and Fleamont.
"Wait til you see him, dad," James was gushing. "He's amazing."
"'He's brilliant'," Gideon mimicked James.
"'My son, suuuuuch a good flier'," Fabian snickered.
James didn't even seem to hear the twins right behind him as Harry stepped on the quidditch field.
"WOO! GO HARRY! GO SLYTHERIN! Oi." James turned and grinned at Regulus, who was sitting beside Lily. "That felt bloody weird to say."
"For the record, Jamie, are you saying that you hope Slytherin beats Gryffindor today?" Dorcas asked James.
James rolled his eyes at their friend before he turned back to the telly. "Duh."
Effie leaned forward and stared hard at the telly for a moment. "Nope," she said brightly, "I don't see any pigs flying."
"Hell is certainly frozen though," Fleamont laughed.
"HERE HE GOES!" James shrieked, oblivious to the teasing going on around him. "EVERYONE WATCH HARRY!!"
Lily smiled as Harry soared high in the sky. She loved to see Harry fly, he looked like he left all of his (ever multiplying) problems on the ground when he did. When Harry flew, he was just a twelve year old boy playing a game that he loved.
"Yes!!" James cheered and Fleamont waved a green flag as Harry dodged a bludger from one of the twins' nephews.
"I'll try again, eh, Potter?" the twin winked.
"That's Fred, bloody flirt he is," Fabian laughed. "Kid found out he was gay and he's been shagging half the castle ever since."
"Fabian Prewett," Effie gave Fabian a disappointed look, "watch your mouth, young man."
Fabian had the good sense to look ashamed while Regulus and Lily grinned. "Yes ma'am."
"Draco is a wonderful player," Fleamont said when little Draco scored his third goal. "A natural, he is."
"Who cares?" James scoffed quietly. "Your grandson is the real natural."
"We know, dear," Effie said with an indulgent smile.
Lily loved seeing James with his parents, they were much closer than she was with hers, but she hated thinking of what her baby was missing out on.
It was fun that day, cheering on their son while he flew around the pitch trying to find the snitch and dodge bludgers. Regulus was just as caught up as James was while he cheered for Draco.
Marlene and Dorcas were leading a chant for Harry when he finally zeroed in on the snitch- the twins were chanting for Gryffindor with playful smiles.
Lily sucked in a breath as Harry reached out for the little golden snitch when—
BAM!
"FOUL!" Fleamont cried, jumping to his feet in outrage. "GIDEON! YOUR HORRIBLE LITTLE NEPHEW COMMITTED A FOUL!"
"That's Fred," Gideon said quickly, "he's Fabian's problem. I called dibs on Ronnie."
"IT DOESNT MATTER!" James positively shrieked. "HE'S GOT IT!!"
Everyone, even the twins, cheered when they saw Harry grab the snitch with his, very obviously, shattered arm.
Those Weasley twins were menaces, honestly.
"NO!" Lily screamed and jumped to her feet as her baby slipped right off his broom and fell down, down, down, and landed in the mud.
"He's fine!" James laughed. "Happens all the time!"
Lily watched her son faint, his channel going black, and glared at her husband. "Switch to Draco, now," she hissed.
"Yes, dear." James quickly flicked the channel in time for them to all see Draco sprinting through the mud, a wide smile on his face, trying to push through the crowd to get to Harry. When he did get through, Harry was awake again and Gilderoy was crouched down beside him.
"Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."
"Don't fucking touch me, I'll do it myself."
"My," Effie brought a hand to her mouth and shook her head, "he has a wretched vocabulary; doesn't he?"
"We'll just ground him, hmm?" Lily muttered, rolling her eyes behind Effie.
"Take one more photo and I'm going to kill you," Harry yelled at a little Gryffindor boy who was clicking his camera at him.
Lily adored her little foul mother mischievous monster baby.
Draco piped up for Harry, offering to go get Severus, while Gilderoy was loudly offering to fix Harry's arm.
"I'll be right back!" Draco assured him.
Draco snorted, causing Lily to giggle a little, when he ran past the Weasley twins apologizing to Ron.
"It was an accident, mate," one of them said quickly.
Ron scoffed. "Tell that to Harry."
Draco wound up running face first in to Severus and grabbed his sleeve. "Lockhart's trying to heal—"
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Draco looked back toward the crowd with a politely curious smile and Severus picked up his pace as he brushed past him and all but ran to Harry.
Draco followed behind him and smirked as Harry argued against Severus for going to the hospital.
Because apparently Gilderoy vanished Harry's arm bones, and Harry wanted Severus to fix it.
"I cannot regrow bones."
"I'm going to kill Lockhart."
Lily smiled alongside Draco as Severus put his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"And I will assist you."
Guess Blaise was right- Harry's really his favorite.
Lily laughed when Draco followed behind Harry and Severus like an eager puppy with his happy thoughts and his excitement over winning not dampened at all by Harry's injury. It wasn't that he was selfish, he just was childlike in a way that Harry's captions never were.
Lily summoned the remote straight from James' hands, not that he noticed as wrapped up as he was now in recapping the game with his parents and the twins, and switched back to Harry's channel when their group got to the Hospital Wing and Poppy kicked everyone except Harry, Severus, and Susan out.
Severus sniped at Harry, telling him maybe to do without the dramatics next time, and Harry replied cheekily.
Severus could talk as snippily as he wanted- Lily saw his concern.
And Lily saw when Harry began spiraling after Poppy told him to put on a hospital gown, his thoughts causing everyone to go quiet:
I can't. I can't fight someone off with one arm in a gown.
And Lily was useless to reassure him, but Severus wasn't.
"Poppy surely Potter can wear his own clothes to sleep in? We can sever the sleeve so you can monitor his left extremity."
"Well." Effie nodded toward the telly. "I suppose little Severus has grown, hmm?"
"It was a good match," Fleamont said with a bracing smile as he patted his son on the shoulder. "I'm sure you're very proud."
"Yeah." James watched as their child trembled and paled and looked so impossibly tiny in the hospital bed. "We are," he said softly with a commiserating kind of look towards Lily.
James had left with the twins, eager to go brag about their son ('He caught the snitch with a shattered arm! He could be a professional!') while Lily was cozied on the sofa with a glass of wine, a book she'd read eight thousand times, and her son sleeping on the telly.
She hadn't expected anything of interest to happen that night, she merely enjoyed feeling as if she were watching over her baby, as useless to him as the gesture was.
Plus, sometimes, not now when Harry had taken dreamless sleep, but sometimes Harry's dreams would filter on the telly and they weren't always nightmares.
On occasion, Lily got to see Harry flying with his friends. Harry fishing with Susan and Hermione. And sometimes Lily got to see Harry laughing with Severus in his class.
Tonight though, the telly was black and blank and silent for a long time.
"Get Madam Pomfrey."
Lily looked up curiously from her book as a whispered argument broke out- clearly waking Harry, but not enough that he bothered opening his eyes.
"What happened?"
"Another attack. Minerva found him on the stairs."
"There was a bunch of grapes next to him. We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."
Lily's stomach lurched as she considered the many different male friends that Harry had that might have been sneaking up to see Harry.
Harry peered one eye open, just enough to see Albus, McGongall, and Poppy surround a bed with a student frozen on it, his eyes wide and a camera clenched in his outstretched hand. It wasn't any of Harry's friends, thank God, it was the little boy that kept trying to take photos of Harry.
Thank God. He deserved it if he was on his way to try and take my photo again.
"That's right, baby," Lily murmured as the telly went black again and Harry feigned sleep. "Nosy boy."
"What does this mean, Albus?"
"It means that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."
"But, Albus, surely… who?"
"Good question," Lily frowned.
"Has Mister Potter been here all night?"
"Wrong answer, you bloody moron!" Lily scowled. "Harry didn't do anything, quit blaming my baby!"
"Albus! Surely you can't place the blame on Potter!"
"That's right!" Lily raised her glass to McGonagall's voice. "Get him McGonagall!"
"You believe it was a coincidence that he publicly threatened Mister Creevey the same day he was attacked?"
"If every student that Potter threatened was petrified I believe we would have a castle full of statues."
Lily grinned as Harry mentally agreed with her.
It was surprising really, how little Harry struck back at the little brats who tormented him.
"The point is moot. Potter has been in bed since the match ended."
"Hmm. Then I believe the question is not who, but is how."
Lily felt a shiver of unease go down her spine as she once again agreed with her son's thoughts:
He thinks I did it, he just wants to know how I was in two places at once.
That is how it sounded.
***
James felt his heart break in the weeks that followed Harry's first quidditch match.
He'd thought for years that once Harry got to Hogwarts, his whole life would take a turn; and it did, just not for the better.
Sure, he had food and a bed and friends- but he was also being tormented to the point where Harry withdrew in to himself and looked utterly miserable. Ever since the Gryffindor boy got attacked, it seemed as if fear and hate towards Harry increased and students were taking it upon themselves to make Harry feel unwanted, disliked, and hurt.
And Merlin himself knew that Harry didn't need anyone's help to feel that way.
"I wish we could help him," Lily sniffled when Harry slid in to dinner one night with his head held low and his eyes dull and flickering around warily.
"Pst, Harry." Draco leaned toward Harry and caught his attention. "Professor Snape told me to tell you to hang out with Neville more."
Harry didn't say anything, he just raised a curious brow at Draco.
Draco shrugged. "He said that if you're being bullied by the Gryffindor's, that it would be better if you had a Gryffindor witness with you as an alibi."That… that did make sense.
"Seemed like he was speaking from experience," Draco said casually after Harry nodded and went back to picking at his food.
James didn't need the little look Lily gave him. He was well aware of how Snape learned the best ways to fight back against the Gryffindor house- a house that James could now see did seem to get away with a little more than the others.
"Maybe… maybe when Snape dies I'll take him for a pint," James offered quietly. "You know, if we don't try and kill each other right off the bat."
Lily smiled up at him so warmly that James was pretty sure that was the right thing to say.
***
"Son of a bitch!" Lily was clutching her hair and raging in front of the telly only a couple of days later. "Four against one isn't very GRYFFINDOR OF YOU!" she screamed while four boys ganged up on Harry.
"COWARD!" Dorcas cried, throwing variously conjured items at the telly. "STAB HIM HARRY!"
Harry tried. He yanked a knife from his pocket and took a sharp swipe toward the Gryffindor boy in his year that called him a freak.
"Kill them!" Marlene yelled.
"Slit their throats and bathe in their blood!" Regulus cheered after Harry took another swipe toward an older Hufflepuff boy.
Lily turned her head just enough so she could raise a brow at Regulus' uncharacteristic viciousness.
"What?" Regulus blinked innocently at her. "I think if he did it that the other students would leave him alone."
"No, no…" Dorcas tapped her lips with her fingernail thoughtfully. "He's right."
"Bathe in their blood!" Lily told Harry.
It was silly, but having her friends stand there and chant with her while her son was being attacked helped to take some of the ache out of her heart.
What was better though, was when Severus appeared on the telly and immediately assigned detentions and point losses to all but Harry.
The girls cheered for him and easily began chanting 'Go, Snape, go!' and Lily took a deep breath.
"Are you injured?" Severus asked Harry gently once they were alone in the corridor.
Harry lifted his shirt a little, showing the edge of a dark bruise on his stomach. "I'm fine, Professor," he said before vanishing the bruise.
"No he's not," Lily said. She sat down on the floor with her legs crossed to watch the two on the screen. "He's not fine at all."
Severus seemed to agree, because he squinted at Harry for a long moment before sending a note off to excuse Harry from charms and ordered him to follow him.
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise. You'll enjoy it, I'm sure. Your mother did."
Lily scrunched her brows together and summoned the remote from Marlene. Harry's thoughts were too dark, too dull, too incomprehensible.
She wanted to know what Severus was thinking.
"I was under the impression you owned your fathers infamous cloak, is there a reason you no longer use it?"
"They'd like that, if I was invisible then I'm basically gone and they'd be happy about it. No sir, they don't get to see me disappear. Not on their behalf."
Severus hummed while Lily frowned.
He is disappearing already.
"He is," Dorcas agreed. She sat on the floor beside Lily and grabbed one of her hands while Marlene sat on the other side and took her opposite hand.
"Oh!" Lily gasped as she recognized the area Severus took Harry to. "It's our park!"
"Park?" Regulus swatted at Marlene until she rolled her eyes and scooted over so he could squeeze between her and Lily. "What park?"
"Watch," Lily smiled as the door for the secret room her and Severus found popped in to existence.
Harry's eyes widened the slightest bit as he stepped in the room behind Severus and seemed to be transported to a playground. It looked exactly like the one in Spinner's End, the one between Severus' childhood home and hers, but much nicer than the one in the dirty old factory town had been.
Regulus' sharp eyes softened as he looked in the room Severus made appear. "We used to hide in there and talk," he said quietly. "That's where I convinced Severus and Barty to join me in the inner circle."
"How... how did you do this?"
"Magic."
Harry didn't smile, thought it was close.
"I met your mother at a playground similar to this when we were children. She was swinging as high as she could then jumping off and floating to the ground."
"Did she know she was using magic?"
"Not until I told her, quite bluntly and rudely, that she was a witch."
"He did," Lily confirmed to her friends around her teary sniffles. "I thought he called me a bitch."
The others chuckled, though they sounded just as sniffly as Lily was as they watched Harry slowly kick his legs on a swing while Severus sat on the one beside him.
It would be a touching moment- listening to Harry and Severus chat about Harry's emotion driven magic, if it weren't for the sadness that curved her baby's shoulders and dulled his cheeks.
And the more Harry spoke, so softly to Severus, the more Lily weeped until Regulus had her cuddled in his side while Dorcas squeezed her hand and Marlene rubbed her back.
"I keep thinking about leaving. I don't need this, you know? They can't take my magic from me. It's mine. Dumbledore could snap my wand and I'd still be a wizard."
"Oh, Harry." Regulus shook his head sadly. "He'd never leave you in peace."
Lily nodded miserably- Albus had kept a close eye on Harry since the moment he heard the prophecy. Apparently, he only stopped watching for the ten years that Harry was in the muggle world.
And God help him if Lily ever found that he knew a single bit of what was going on in Harry's life and didn't step in.
She didn't think he did, she wanted to believe Albus was a good man at heart who wouldn't have seen a little boy all alone and ignored him, but he didn't seem as fond of Harry as he had once been of her and James.
"I believe it does not matter one whit to Albus what happens as long as you are alive with enough strength to defeat the Dark Lord should he rise again during your lifetime."
"I'm not going to have much of a lifeline at this rate."
Lily clenched her eyes shut and prayed that James was too distracted with mischief with the twins to be watching their telly.
It was bad enough that she heard Harry say that- James certainly didn't need to.
"You believe the attacks will escalate?"
"Sometimes I just wonder what the point is. People here hate me. People outside of here hate me. I just... I just don't see a point to it all sometimes."
Lily let out a wretched wail that even her friends' presence couldn't keep from escaping her.
"No, no, no," she said desperately, her eyes cloudy from the tears that wouldn't fall as she watched her son. "You have to live, baby. You have to."
"Don't bugger this up, Sev," Regulus murmured with an intense look at the telly. "Tell him he has to live, convince him."
Severus' thoughts were sad, pitying, and sympathetic, but his voice was calm as he considered Harry carefully.
"When you wonder what the point is- you come find me. And I shall inform you of the many credible points of validity in you living a long, successful, and happy life."
Lily, let him find a reason to want to live.
"Sev." Lily let go of Dorcas' hand so she could reach the telly and she smiled sadly. "You have to help him do it."
***
"We'll just have Harry and... Mister Malfoy!"
James laughed loudly at the look of terror on little Draco's face. "Place your bets, boys," he called to the twins. "Does Harry kill Draco or just rip his skin to shreds?"
Gideon scoffed, his blue eyes bright as he watched the first meeting of the dueling club on his telly. "No way that Snape's going to let your son kill his godson, Jamie."
"A poor idea, Draco's father would undoubtedly bring the castle to ruins once Potter sends his son to St Mungos."
"Ugh." James groaned and threw a roll off his plate at the telly. "Let Harry beat someone up! He's having a shit time, Snape!"
"How about... Mister Weasley?"
"Not Ronnie!" Gideon groaned with a wide smile. "Awe, man, I was just starting to like him too!"
"Mister Fred Weasley."
"Yes!!" James laughed. "My kid verses yours, Fab!"
"Booo!" Fabian cried. He summoned the remote from James and switched it to Fred's channel in time for them see a weird little caption:
This was not part of the plan.
"What plan?" James asked.
"Bring your brother, let us showcase a paired duel."
"Yes!" James cried, ignoring all about Fred's plan. "Give Harry a challenge!"
Fred leaped up on the stage, quickly followed by George, and took dramatic sweeping bows to the students.
"Now I don't want any of you to worry—"
"- you'll still have your Heir of Slytherin when we're done with him!"
"That's not funny," James scowled, his amusement dying down quickly. "They shouldn't be encouraging the rumors."
"Fred didn't mean any harm," Fabian said quickly, pointing at the caption:
Bloody hell, George. Making him hate us is also not part of the plan.
"What plan?" James asked again.
"Look! They're starting! Let's see if the twins earned their middle names!" Gideon said quickly.
It was actually cool watching the duels through the twins' eyes, because they were all cocky confidence in the beginning and then Fred's thoughts quickly took a down turn:
Cute and mean- I like him.
"Did he just say cute?" James laughed, startled by the errant thought of Fred's. "Harry's— shit!"
Fred conjured a snake with a silly grin and thoughts of teasing Harry ('Master Snake' Fred called him in his thoughts), but he clearly didn't know how to conjure specific breeds (hopefully) because the long black viper he conjured could kill Harry with a single bite.
Oh, excellent work, Fred. Really, top notch there, Fred thought bitterly as the snake reared back to bite Harry.
Snape raised his wand, but Gilderoy rushed forward before he could.
"Allow me!"
"Just kill him," Fabian yelled at the twins as Gilderoy pissed the snake off by blasting it in the air and setting it on a nearby student. "You can make it look like a—"
*Hisssss, hisssss, hisss.*
"Fuck."
Fred's eyes went wide as he stared at Harry, who was speaking with the snake on the stage, and even though there wasn't anything funny about the moment, not when the school already thought Harry was the Heir of Slytherin, James did laugh once more at the thought Fred had.
I'm going to marry him or die trying.
***
"You're absolutely certain?" James asked his grandfather again.
Charlus Potter stroked his neat white goatee once more. "Yes," he said firmly. "Now, we're distant relations to the Slytherin line, but not close enough to really count, I shouldn't think."
James groaned and closed his eyes. "How close are we?"
Charlus tapped some tobacco in his pipe and took a long drag from it before blowing out the little smoke rings that used to fascinate James as a child. "My father, Henry, said he was cousins with Salazar Slytherin. Through his fathers side, the Peverell's of course. And his wife—"
"Adelina the fae veela, I know," James sighed. "So, hypothetically, Harry could be the Heir of Slytherin?"
"Could be," Charlus said slowly. "Though I think the Marvolo boy holds much closer ties through the Gaunt's."
"Thanks," James said, getting to his feet heavily. "I need to get home. I'll see you on Monday."
James drug himself outside, half-heartedly waving at his grandmother where she was puttering around their lavish garden, and made the trek back to his house.
Ever since the night of the dueling club, the night where Harry, apparently accidentally, let his Parsletongue abilities slip, James had a horrible feeling in his chest that he couldn't ignore.
He'd hoped his grandfather could alleviate his worries- assure him that there was no way that Harry could be the Heir of Slytherin and eventually someone would think to check Harry's family tree and confirm it and his son could go be a happy normal kid. Instead, all his grandfather confirmed was that if anyone cared to check Harry's family tree- they'd have a decent case to be made for Harry being the heir.
And only James and Lily knew it wasn't truly Harry.
"And?" Lily asked anxiously from the sofa the moment James stepped in their cottage.
"And Harry and Voldemort are cousins and if anyone looks up Harry's family tree on my side then our kid is out of luck," James said flatly. He closed his eyes as he kissed Lily's head, pained and grateful to be suffering through this with his best friend, and then took a seat beside her. "What are they up to now?"
"They had a gang meeting," Lily said. "Theo told Harry that if he was hearing a voice nobody else could, it meant it was a snake."
James blinked at his son on the screen as he walked beneath his cloak beside Hermione. "Did- did Harry not already put that together?"
"Apparently not," Lily said drily. "Hermione wants to turn in the heir once they find them, Harry wants to kill them."
James shrugged. "They aren't worried about Harry getting beat up, I'm not worried about him killing them."
"That's what Susan said," Lily told him. "And now Harry and Hermione are going to research family lines with known Parsletongues."
"Basically the opposite of helpful," James groaned. He watched his son pursue shelves about magical lineage and prayed that Harry wouldn't discover his own history.
Harry seemed content to simply look, rather than grab anything, but then his interest was obviously piqued by a group of whispering kids in the back.
"At some point, I think he's going to snap and kill all his classmates," James said as the kids were (of course) talking badly about his son.
"I think Susan will help him," Lily said with a ghost of a grin on her worried face. "She's very loyal, it's quite sweet."
"Oh, that reminds me," James finally did grin as he looked down at his wife, "did you watch the dueling club?"
"Yes?"
"Did Harry think anything special about either of the twins?"
"Nooo… why would he?"
"I thought I'd save you the trouble of talking about me when you could talk to me."
"Oh." James turned back to the telly since Harry decided to confront the little gossiping brats. "Good for you, son, tell them off!"
"W-we don't want any trouble! And I'll have you know I'm a pureblood!"
"It's like nobody remembers that Hermione is one of his best friends," James scoffed. "My son does not care about your pedigree, you idiot."
"I don't care what kind of blood you have. You're an idiot anyway."
"Is that the gimmick? You're attacking anyone you think isn't as smart as you?"
"If that was the case then I would have had that snake attack you last night. Keep this up and I will next time."
Lily groaned and rubbed her eyes as Harry hissed at the Hufflepuff boy. "He never thinks before he speaks, does he?"
James ran a sheepish hand through his hair. "He gets that from me, I think."
"He definitely gets it from you," Lily said with a huff. "Oh! But he gets that from me." Lily laughed when Harry slammed his hand on the boy's table and magically silenced him with a sweet little 'oops' before turning on his heel and stalking out of the library.
"You shouldn't have done that," Hermione told Harry as she ran to catch up with him.
"He's a bastard and he's lucky that's all I did."
"That's either or," James chuckled. "We never did care much to watch our language, did we babe?"
"Fuck no." Lily leaned up and kissed him. "That kid is a bastard."
James was feeling a little more light-hearted as Harry and Hermione made their way back to the Slytherin dorm (and it was kind of bullshit that Harry let all his friends in the Slytherin rooms, but James couldn't even bribe any Slytherins to let him in when he'd been a student- he even offered Evan Rosier fifty galleons once). But Harry had his best friends by his side, all helping him work to find the true heir, and James had his best friend by his side, helping to bear the weight of their son's life.
So maybe things would perk up for Harry soon.
"Oh, no."
Or maybe not.
Harry and Hermione skid to a halt in a corridor not far from the library after Harry tripped over the petrified body of another student and Hermione nearly walked right through a Nearly Headless Nick shaped black mist.
"Run, Harry, go," Hermione whispered.
"Run, Harry!" James yelled while his heart hammered in his chest. "Go! Get out of there!"
"Too late," Lily cried, pointing to where Peeves flew up on the duo and the victims (could a ghost be petrified?).
"That is my son!" James yelled fruitlessly at Peeves. "He's a marauder! Don't fuck with him!"
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"
"You have the worst taste in friends," Lily snarled.
Yeah.
Apparently he did.
James and Lily couldn't do any more than watch with terrified eyes as Harry and Hermione were quickly surrounded by shrieking students and an obviously flustered Minnie.
Even prissy little Hermione cursing at the Hufflepuff boy from the library couldn't draw a smile from James as Minnie sighed and ordered Harry to follow her.
"Just go to the kitchen, find Mavis and tell him I'm sorry and to stay here. Got it?"
If they kill me or send me to prison- I don't want Mavis to be homeless.
"And they think he's attacking muggleborns?" Lily whispered, her voice stricken. "James- they won't arrest him, will they?"
James wanted to say no. He wanted to reassure his wife, but… but the odds seemed to always be stacked against his son. James only shook his head and watched with dread heavy in his chest as Minnie led Harry to Albus' office.
Harry looked around with a detached and hopeless sort of interest when Minnie left him there alone and told him to wait. It wasn't until he spotted the Sorting Hat that any fire returned to his green eyes.
"Stupid fucking hat. 'You'll be great in Slytherin, no doubt about it, you were made for that house. LOOK WHERE I AM NOW!"
They're going to kill me. Or send me to prison. Or expel me. I'm never going to see Susan again. Or Mavis. Or… or Snape.
"Harry…" James couldn't even find the words to reassure his son-
It didn't look good for him.
It looked even worse when Albus stepped in the office after his Phoenix burst in to flames and told Harry to take a seat.
Show no weakness.
"I didn't do it."
"I once made the mistake of ignoring my gut instinct before and a young girl died because of it. There will be no more Myrtle Warrens in this castle. Not as long as I remain Headmaster."
"What the hell does that mean?" Lily demanded hotly as Harry's thoughts were as confused as theirs were. "He didn't do it, Albus!"
"Maybe he's waiting for Snape," James said hopefully. "Snape and some veritaserum?"
"Maybe…" Lily brought her hand to her mouth and began chewing her nails while her anxious eyes were glued to their son.
They weren't waiting on Snape.
Albus was waiting for Hagrid.
"What the fuck?" James breathed, his brows pinched with confusion. "Why's he want Hagrid?"
"Mister Potter, I need your wand."
James intensely bad feeling tripled at that request. "Don't do it!" he yelled. "It's your wand! He can't legally take it, Harry!!"
"Here."
"God damn it, Harry!" James groaned. "No! Bad, Harry!"
"Bad Albus!" Lily screamed.
"Mister Potter, you are formally expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are a danger to your fellow students and I cannot allow you to remain here while your very presence puts them at risk. Rubeus will escort you to your home and your belongings will be sent along at a later time."
James and Lily sucked in a shocked breath as one then simultaneously leapt to their feet and began screaming.
"YOU CANT DO THAT!" James shouted with a kick to the telly. "THE HEADS OF HOUSES HAVE TO WEIGH IN!"
James would know. It was only thanks to McGonagall that he wasn't expelled in his fifth year. Flitwick, Sprout, and Slughorn all voted to expel James and Sirius both, but McGonagall voted to keep them in.
Which James only discovered during his endless detentions he served with her for the last two years of his time at Hogwarts.
"FUCK YOU, ALBUS!" Lily screamed. "KILL HIM, HARRY! DON'T GO BACK TO PETUNIA!!"
Harry couldn't hear them. Harry just glared up at Dumbledore and jerked his arm away when Hagrid tried to grab him.
"You're making a mistake."
"I don't believe I am."
He's taking me from the only people I've ever cared about.
"When I come back, because I will, I'm going to kill you."
"Kill him now!" Lily screamed, like a bloodthirsty psychopath.
"He can't," James told her. "KICK HIM IN THE GROIN AND HIDE IN SNAPE'S QUARTERS, SON!"
Lily turned for a moment and raised her brows at James. "That's actually a good idea."
James snorted and watched as Hagrid took Harry to Albus' floo. "Don't sound so bloody surprised, Lils."
Lily ignored him as Harry went spinning through the floo. "James… James he can't go back to Petunia. He- he can't."
James watched as Hagrid joined Harry in old Arabella Figg's house and led him across the street to a plain tan house with a large #4 nailed to the front of it. Hagrid rang the bell then cheerfully wished Harry luck and walked back to Arabella's place while Harry stood on the pathway with a gobsmacked expression on his face.
Harry's hands trembled as he looked up at Petunia's house. Then his eyes narrowed and his entire face darkened.
Fuck this and fuck them.
And Harry pulled his invisibility cloak from his bag, tossed it over his body, and strolled off with his head held high.
"Fuck them," James agreed gruffly, working to speak around the lump in his throat. "Fuck all of them."