"Hey bub." James greeted Harry who came flying up to him faster than he was really happy with, but he guessed it was only a short distance. "Did you behave?"

"Does he literally ever not?" Lily asked, rolling her eyes as she walked over to the two of them, Harry raising his broom to be above where he was supposed to go, but Lily didn't seem to notice.

"No, of course not. He's our best little bean, but asking does no harm." James ruffled Harry's hair as he smiled down at him, pushing him down as gently as he could. "Did anything happen?"

"Not particularly, but it seems that Slughorn didn't believe my excuse to avoid the Slug Club as I saw one of the more loyal members spying on us. They left after I called Harry back and he came. I gave him a piece of tart." Lily looked a little mad. "The stag I talked about didn't show up, though."

James blushed a little at her words, though Lily looked rather disappointed at the lack of the stag.

"Harry, Professor Sprout thought your drawing was amazing and wanted to talk to be about it." James knelt down to be about eye level with Harry.

"Really?" Harry gasped, his whole face lighting up, magic seeming to make his eyes actually glow in his excitement.

"Yes, my little complement addict. She loved it, but she wanted me to ask if it was one of these," James held up the Potion Mushroom. "Because there are a few things it could be, and she wants to be able to proudly display it." James grinned, ruffling Harry's hair with the other hand.

"Yeah, that!" Harry pointed at the animal. "Is it bad?"

"No, no, it's not bad. Do you remember where you saw it though? They're hard to find, so it's impressive for you to have found any." James put the Potion Mushroom away again. "If you don't remember, that's fine, don't force yourself."

Harry's brow scrunched up as he thought, staying silent for a moment that felt to Lily like it was dragging on. The only noise was Lily shifting her weight.

"No, don't remember. Sorry." Harry looked downcast as he mumbled, flying a little closer to the ground.

"Don't worry, Harry. Like I said, it doesn't matter if you don't remember, it's just that you're really lucky to have found any." James pecked Harry on the forehead.

-----

"So?" Professor Sprout asked as James entered the greenhouse, Lily and Harry waiting outside.

"You're right, this is what he drew, but he doesn't remember where or when he saw them." James handed the Potion Mushroom back to her. "Is there anything you want me to do about it?"

"No, no. Just keep an ear out for him mentioning them in case he remembers anything." Professor Sprout shoved it back into the draw, throwing it closed carelessly.

-----

"Hey!" James waved his free hand as he ran up to a shorter boy dressed in plain, black robes whose hair was basically a more tame, shorter version of Sirius'.

"Hey, you missed last week." The boy greeted, looking away from the window he was sitting at to look at James, his eyes lingering on Harry, who was sleeping in James' other arm.

"Yeah, sorry. It's taken a while to get used to having Harry with me. Maybe sometime you two can meet when he's awake. Now he's sleeping because of a potion he needs to take." James smiled down at Harry and sitting on the other side of the window seat.

"I'd heard you had a kid." The other boy seemed a little down as he said it, his voice trailing off.

"Yeah, he showed up recently, but apparently his mother and I are dead when he's from. He's still healing physically and mentally, I'm sure my parents will look into getting him a mind healer." James looked at Harry a little sadly.

"You said he's called Harry? Why is he always with you?" He asked, he wasn't trying to be rude, but few to none of the students at Hogwarts who had previously had children didn't walk around with them all the time, staying in the Children's ward. Even now that was closed they were not always with the parents. Even in this case with Harry and James that was unusual, Dumbledore seemed to be putting pressure on the teachers not to let him in the classrooms, Harry often having to stand outside the Potions classroom or wait somewhere else for some of the more dangerous Herbology lessons.

"Like I said, for him both his parents are dead, he was cared for by people who abused him. He's rather clingy, and unfortunately Sirius treated him like his little brother when they first met, but it was something Harry had some trauma with. My parents can come in about a week for him, but it will be weird not to have him here." James smiled down at Harry slightly sadly. If he was being honest he hated the idea of being away from Harry for so long, but it was true that he shouldn't be waiting outside during Herbology lessons regularly, and Harry would tend to wait outside rather than in the castle.

The Slytherin flinched slightly at the mention of Sirius. It wasn't the first time James had mentioned Sirius and the Slytherin had reacted like this, but it never went anywhere. James had asked the first few times if he was alright or if he wanted James to stop talking about Sirius, but he said there was no need.

"How did Sirius treat him like m- his little brother?" The Slytherin asked, though he was looking out the front of the house.

"Apparently he used to pretend to throw him. He did it with Harry, I know he wouldn't have thrown him, but Harry didn't and I feel like someone has thrown him in the past due to the severity of his reaction." James kept his eyes on Harry.

The two sat for a moment, eyes moving between the window, Harry, and the other.

"So, Cutie," The Slytherin's cheeks reddened. "How has your week been? Or, well... How have you been since we last met." James grinned, his smile a little lopsided.

"Still insisting on calling me that?" The Slytherin seemed to be trying to sound annoyed at the name, but their warm cheeks and slight smile undercut that as eh stared out of the window.

"Cutie is quicker that Cute Slytherin, and you still refuse to tell me your name. I'll change it when you tell me." James' eyes looking at the Slytherin were the same as the way he looked at Lily, though he still wouldn't admit that to himself yet.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Cutie, as James had dubbed him, rolled his eyes with a laugh. "It's been alright. Snape is still the same prat he always has been, threatening to out me to my parents. Not sure they would believe him if he was the only one saying anything and Lucius is too scared of Nico to agree with him, but it's still..."

"Hey, you may eventually need to share it, but you know you have a room open for you at mine, right? Your safety should be your top priority." James was genuinely concerned about this young Slytherin, whenever he spoke about his home life he would seem so flat. It was concerning.

"You really sound like Nico whenever you say that." Cutie rested his chin on his hand.

"Well I don't know who that is, but they seem to be a very intelligent person. My dad said there used to be the ability to get resorted, if you can't deal with Snape you can try to get one. I'm sure you know I am very good at kicking up a fuss." James took Cutie's other hand.

"I like Slytherin, even with its stigma. I don't want to be forced out by someone like him." Cutie shook slightly as he talked about Snape again. "I know you like him, but how has it been adjusting to being a father?"

"Well... I mean, with my friends I kinda already was." James laughed at his own little joke. "But Harry is almost too well behaved. I mean, it does make it easy, but it's not a good sign. I really like being with him though, more than I originally thought. It'll be harder to adjust to him being with my parents than it was to adjust to him being here, I'm sure. Main issue is how powerful his magic is."

"I think everyone forgot how he came back in time like it was nothing." Cutie agreed with James' assessment of Harry's magic, it was more than he had ever seen before, and while he had been isolated, he had also been around a fair few powerful wixes.

"Well, nobody was there when he showed up, so I guess I can understand that." James smiled down at Harry. Cutie didn't say it, but he thought it also had something to do with how normally James treated Harry.

"Does he know your parents will pick him up in a week? If he doesn't you really do need to tell him soon, Hogwarts is old, old enough to be able to handle a lot of haywire magic, I don't know if your house is the same." Cutie's eyes were soft as he looked at the sleeping Harry, though a little afraid.

"I did tell him a while ago he was going to need to live with them when they came, but I don't know if he knows how soon it will be." James' eyes were sad as he thought about it. "I know I need to tell him, but I don't want him to get too scared."

"Wouldn't he be more scared if you spring it on him? Like thinking you don't want him." Cutie looked back out the window, expression darkening again. It was a feeling he knew all too well.