That night Harry slept through the night with no nightmares in the boy's dormitory. Maybe that was because he was so exhausted from the day's excitement that he was already sleeping on his godfathers arms on the way back, or maybe the fact that he had spent hours with his parents for the first time in years. They had gone to the guest quarters that Lily and James would be staying and seen baby Harry, Tonks and Ginny kept gaping at the baby and remarking how cute he was as a baby, Harry thought he looked kind of boring, I mean, all he did was sleep.

Remus, and Sirius looked fondly at the baby thinking that maybe, things could be different for this one. They had explained what the new names would be and the jokes about Mrs. Lupin had not stopped. Mainly led by both Siriuses and James. Tonks and Remus would be Amy and Daniel Lupin, distant cousin of young Remus. Harry would be Brian Potter, brother of Amy and both children of James uncle. James asked why Brian, and Harry said that that was the name of a wise man that once said that we are defined by the choices we make not by the abilities we have. No one but the future people and Dumbledore understood. He felt affection towards this kid that obviously admired him, to the point of choosing his name. Sirius would be Joey Geller, he said he mixed up the names of a muggle show named "Friends", and thought appropriate. He did not elaborate that he had seen the show through a window while he ate that muggle family's trash on his way back to Hogwarts as Padfoot last year. Fred and George where the more difficult ones, they wanted names that suited their personalities, they wanted James and Sirius since they had been endlessly compared to the two of them but Sirius had pointed out that that would be strange. James was somewhat amused at the fact that he was someone's hero. So Remus had suggested they take one's first name and the other's second, so they ended up being James for Fred and Anthony for George, they did not spare Sirius from the fact that someone that was named after stars had such a common middle name. Ron decided to go classic and chose Arthur, he said that this way even if they were supposed to be sons of one of Arthur's cousins no one would doubt that they knew each other well. You wouldn't name your son after someone you barely know. Remus confided to Lily that Harry had wanted James that after all was his middle name, but even he knew that that wasn't possible.

Later in the evening, James was walking to the kitchens half expecting Mr. Filch to show up and put him in detention, he tickled the pear and entered, the house elves were nowhere to be seen, but he thought that maybe that was due to the fact that this was the middle of the night. He saw two figures seated at the tables oblivious to his entrance. Future Sirius and Remus were absorbed in some conversation, he quietly made his way up to them.

"I think maybe he won't have nightmares tonight, I mean, he seemed at peace" Remus said.

"I hope so, I'll never forget that night," Sirius said with a shudder.

"What happened?" James asked and the two time travelers jumped.

"James, we didn't see you come in, midnight snack?" Remus asked, an obvious attempt to steer the conversation from dangerous waters.

"You were talking about Harry, weren't you?" James continued, "I'm not stupid, I saw his look. He looks older than his age, what happened?"

"We can't tell you that James," Sirius pleaded, how could he tell his friend he had failed him.

"I know changing the future, but I want to help my son! I want to fix what's wrong!"

"Then just be there," Remus said calmly "that's what he needs."

James stared at him, "Why do you always have to be right? Don't you get tired of showing of Moony?" the other two laughed.

"Tell you what! We can tell you stuff that doesn't affect the future. Like the time the Marauders Map insulted Professor Snape," Remus said.

"Good I want to hear that one" Sirius added.

"Professor Snape? That git is a teacher? I bet he is horrible!" James said pulling a face.

"Yes, he specially loathes Harry. I think if he could, he would put Harry in detention for looking like you," Remus said laughing "Anyway, somehow Harry got hold of the Marauders Map, I think the story was that the twins "rescued" the Map from Filch's office their first year, and then gave the Map to Harry on his third year, the year I taught there. Snape caught Harry sneaking back from Hogsmead and made him empty his pockets" so he told the story leaving the part were there was a killer after Harry out.

"You confiscated the map?" James said astounded.

"I was his teacher, I had to."

"And then he proceeded to use the map to keep an eye on a certain trio," Sirius stated "Harry, Ron and Hermione" he added seeing James confused face.

"But that's not what that map was meant for!" James said outraged

"Well I returned the map at the end of the year when I had to resign."

"Why did you have to resign, the kids seem to love you?" James asked

"Oh, they did, they adored him," Sirius said proud of his friend "but at the end of the year Snivellus couldn't keep his mouth shut, and told his slytherins all about Remus being a werewolf, and this one" he pointed at Remus "thought appropriate to resign before the owls from parents came. Who knows? They may have never come!"

"You know perfectly well they would." Remus said.

"What I know is that even after they knew the truth, most of the students still thought you were the best teacher ever" Sirius said in a victorious tone as if that closed the argument.

James was amused, some things never changed. He knew something bad happened to make his friends´ eyes so hardened but Sirius still thought his job to make Remus see his qualities and Remus was still the sensible one. He wondered how he was, and how come he and Peter weren't part of the group that was attacked. His son was being protected. He most surely must have wanted to be there. He remembered Sirius saying Molly and Arthur were in the house but didn't remember hearing his name, maybe he was in the house too. And then there was Peter, but somehow he thought Sirius punching him hadn't been an accident. They had asked not to tell him anything because Peter couldn't keep secrets, but that wasn't true. Peter always kept Remus secret, and theirs. He decided that time line or not he was going to find out what happened, he just didn't know how. So he decided to know more about his son, and what better way to start.

"And quiditch, does he play?"

At this his friends lit up on two identical smiles.

"Does he play? He is a genius on a broomstick," Sirius said.

"Youngest seeker in a century. Never failed to catch the snitch," Remus added, "well there was one time, but that wasn't his fault. Dementors came to the castle and he fainted and fell off his broom, the other kid didn't see he had fallen and caught the snitch. But even with that game they managed to secure the cup. First time his house had won since the legendary Charlie Weasley was seeker, and in a big part thanks to Harry."

James swelled with pride, his son was a good flier, excellent by the sounds. Seeker was the most difficult position, he himself had been a chaser. But then he remembered "Dementors?" Sirius choked in his drink "What were Dementors doing at Hogwarts?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged glances that were not missed by James. "Well there had been an escape from Azkaban and the ministry put them there for the kids' security, mind you Dumbledore was not happy."

But James didn't care about the escape. Dementors were bad, but what could have happened of so terrible to his son to make a young boy fall off his broom, the other kid obviously hadn't felt that much. He himself never fainted in their presences, and in this war he had lived some terrible stuff. He knew his friends wouldn't tell him now that they went to the defensive mode after letting that slip, so he continued.

"So he breaks rules. A lot?" a mischievous smile on his face. Glad for the change of subject Remus grinned and said "Well not as much as the twins but a fair amount."

"Actually they remind me of us, Ron and Harry are me and you, James. The trouble makers, and Hermione is Moony, the sensible one that can be persuaded and becomes the brains of the operation."

"Oy, that's not true! I can't be persuaded" Remus said in mock hurt. James laughed, that was a perfect description of them. That was how they worked. Peter was never an active part, he was more of a tag along.

They kept at that for a while, remembering the good old times and James hearing descriptions of Harry's catches, all from the year Remus taught. He was proud to know that Harry had learned to produce a Patronus in his third year. He even laughed when Remus said that only James' son could learn such a difficult piece of magic for a Quiditch match. But what impressed him most was that he was Harry's patronus. The obvious love and admiration that his son felt for him swelled him, he never knew that someone's love could mean so much.

---

Lily woke up and saw her husband watching her. He gave her one of those smiles that had always made her legs turn to jelly even if she had spent years telling anyone who would listen that she would never fall for such an arrogant prat. But deep down she knew he wasn't. That was just a show he put, and once he deflated his head and decided to show the real James, the kind and loving man, the loyal friend, she gave into their love. She knew him like she knew herself. "Do you want to talk?" she asked softly.

"About what?" he answered, he would never get tired of loosing himself in those eyes.

"About Harry, that's what worrying you. That's what's worrying me."

"Something happened, not just to Harry, to Sirius and Remus too, maybe to us." He said caressing her arm "Where do you think we were during the attack?"

"We must have been near, if we were…"

"What?"

"Just that, at the beginning, it seemed like he didn't know how to act around us. The Weasleys didn't seem so shy towards their parents."

"You think we're dead?" she nodded

"He fell off his broom." He said.

"What?"

"Remus said, more like let slip, that he fainted when Dementors came near. Do you think he was there, when we died?"

"Maybe he was."

"At least he has Remus and Sirius, I'm glad" James said not meeting her eyes.

"Glad or jealous? I saw your face yesterday James, when Sirius picked him up, to go away."

"No. I wasn't jealous! He just, clinged to him, so automatically, that for a second I thought that maybe…"

"You were replaced," and she made him look at her.

"Yes, but then this night, when I was talking to Remus and Sirius, they said that what he needed was me to be there and that I was his patronus, you know, Prongs. I know he loves us, that's on his eyes, but I don't think we are a part of his life."

"Yes, we are. Even if we're not there, you just said, Prongs is his patronus."

"I am going to find out what happened and fix that for baby Harry, and even if that's not going to change big Harry's future, I'll make the best of the time he is here," he said matter of factly. Lily smiled, that was her James, and she said "He is actually not that big, he is small for his age."

"Oh, you understood me," and they laid there next to each other until baby Harry decided he wanted his parents up.

---

They all went down for breakfast, even Harry, that this time didn't object to being carried to the front of the Great Hall, but he would not get in there that way. All the teachers were there on a big round table in the middle of the Hall, the House tables had been moved to the corners and they just figured this must be the way they ate during the summer holidays. James and Lily were already seated, chatting with little professor Flitwick. Dumbledore had already explained to the teachers about the new arrivals but they had yet to be introduced. It felt kind of weird being introduced to people they knew but never the less they played their part. The only new addition to the staff besides them was Professor Trelawney who proceeded to declare that Harry had a very conturbed aura that indicated he was in danger of a sudden violent death. Hermione and Lily, who shared the girl's opinion about Divination, rolled their eyes but Harry just said "Good, as long as I have a quick one. I don't want to suffer. Would you please pass me the sugar Professor Flitwick?" But Professor Flitwick was unable to do so as he along with all the others was trying to suppress his laughter from a very affronted Professor Trelawney. Dumbledore was amused. The woman must have predicted Harry's death constantly for him to have such a light reaction.

Later on, the time travelers had decided they needed to go to Diagon Alley, or mainly the girls had spotted the need to go to Diagon Alley. The men weren't so convinced.

"But our clothes are too 95. I mean, OK the school robes haven't changed, but on the Holidays the kids use muggle clothing and that has changed a lot, people are going to start noticing, and we still have a month before school starts!" Tonks pointed out.

"And the fact that you also prefer muggle clothing to robes and only have one change of clothes here has nothing to do with this "need", that's all for the kids sake?" Sirius retorted.

"Well honestly Sirius, you two also have only one robe each, we only brought the kids stuff. I know the gruff look goes perfect with the runaway prisoner, not so great for a teacher though," she answered not a little inclined to budge. Sirius and Remus did see a point in this.

"And we need our new school stuff, we hadn't bought that yet. And you three need to decide the books you're going to use for classes," Hermione pointed out.

"And we should get new brooms also. I mean Harry can hardly use his firebolt," Ron said

"Why not?" Harry protested.

"He's right, your firebolt will call to much attention, as will your clensweep 7, I think they are still at the 1 at this time," Remus explained.

"Yeah, but that's not why Ron remembered the brooms, he doesn't have one," Fred protested at the prospect of having to ride an inferior broom.

"But where are we going to get the money for all that?" Ginny asked.

"I still have money in my trunk. Last year Mrs. Weasley got much more than I needed from Gringgots, I had even thought I wouldn't need to get more this year, but I don't know if that's enough for everybody," Harry said ending kind of apologetic.

"That and the advance pay that Dumbledore gave us will do, we don't need to get all the books. I mean, most of Fred's and George's will do for you three, so we'll only have to get one set. Same goes for Ginny. I'm not changing the book list. Snape used the same as Slughorn and that went well. I know Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Vector and Sinistra haven't changed either, if Sirius keeps to McGonagall, the only new one will be Defense. The only problem is your editions will be more complete than the others so you have to be careful not to lend them," Tonks said.

Sirius stared at her and asked "When did we get pay advances?"

"Well" Tonks started looking like someone that got caught in the act "I kind of asked him after breakfast. I mean we needed the stuff, but he said he had already thought of that and opened three accounts at Gringotts for us yesterday, while we were with the Potters. He also offered a Portkey for us to go today, we have to be at his office at noon."

"Oh, so when you "suggested" we go to Diagon Alley, you weren't really suggesting as much as stating," Sirius said with an offended look.

"Well, you know men, it's always best if we make you think the idea was yours," she ended the discussion. Remus and Sirius stared bemused at her antics.

They all prepared to go to Diagon Alley. Harry was a bit embarrassed when the girls took all his measures for clothes. Sirius had said he couldn't go; he was supposed to be in bed rest and had already been around the castle the whole day yesterday. Harry did not protest as he was already feeling as if he had just ran a marathon, but he pushed Sirius to the side and begged him to watch what the girls would get him. He had seen old eighties movies and the scene was not pretty. He was fretting he would end up wearing some neon color, and even Dudley's hand me downs looked better than that. Sirius chuckled, remembering Harry was right, honestly, what were people thinking?

James was cursing Sirius for having lost the Marauders map; this would be much easier with the map. Future Sirius had said the entrance to their quarters was at the portrait of the drunken monks by the tree on the seventh floor, but he had already been through almost the whole seventh floor and couldn't find the blasted painting. When he finally found the place he stood there for a moment, remembering he didn't know the password.

"Er, please let me in?"

"No password, hic, no entrance," one of the monks said.

"But I want to see my son!"

"Password then."

"Oh, ok" he said resigned "lets see, future, broomsticks, past, kids. No, too obvious. Bertie's every flavor beans, Chocolate frogs…" and he continued like that for almost twenty minutes. "Come on, I need to see Harry. What could they have used?" then he smiled when an idea came to mind "No, they surely wouldn't. I mean, they are responsible adults now, " and he laughed at the idea of Sirius a responsible adult "let's try, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and he stared at the portrait sure nothing would happen.

"Then you're most, hic, certainly welcome" one of the monks answered and the portrait moved revealing the entrance. James was dumbfounded. That was the password? He entered the room and was reminded of his times as a Gryffindor, the common room was almost identical. Then he remembered that Sirius and Remus never said in what house Harry was, what if he was a Ravenclaw or Huphlepuf, or worst, a Slytherin. No, his son surely was not a Slytherin!

There seemed to be no one there so he started peeking in the rooms until he found Harry on one of the beds of the larger dormitory. He was trashing around and mumbling.

"Mum, dad help! He killed Cedric, he is going to kill me."

James went to his son side, trying to wake him up, "I'm here Harry, you're safe" but nothing happened. Harry was still trashing violently and sweating profusely. He was terrified, what could have he been dreaming of? Suddenly, like two nights ago, he sat upright shouting "I won't!" and like Sirius had done James hugged his trembling son.

"Calm down Harry, everything is fine," he wanted to ask what happened but the desire to calm his son was bigger, so he just held him. He didn't like the fear he saw in his son's eyes. What could have happened? He knew that Voldemort was back, but they had said that that was only a month ago, and Harry had lived almost his whole life with Voldemort gone. What could be worse than that lunatic?

They sat like that for some time until Harry had calmed down, trying to take Harry's mind from whatever happened James asked "Were are the others?

"Diagon Alley. Tonks said our clothing was too 95. I hope she doesn't come back fluorescent." James laughed, he himself didn't like this new flashy fashion, preferred more discreet clothing.

"So, Sirius tells me you take after your old man," But at that Harry looked at him undignified and said.

"That's not true, I don't go looking for trouble, trouble usually finds me, they exaggerate."

James laughed at this comment. Obviously his son knows the kind of trouble he had gotten into at his time at Hogwarts, and from the sound of the defense, Harry was no stranger to trouble either. So he calmed his son.

"Not that. I mean flying; they said you're a seeker."

And Harry's eyes lit up with the kind of passion that he felt when flying.

"Yes, I am, wait a moment," and he dashed to his trunk. James followed and watched as his son rummaged through the trunk producing a broomstick. He caught a glimpse of a Gryffindor Quidicht robe folded and his heart swelled, so he was a Gryffindor. Harry stood up holding a broom to his father, not just any broom, a perfect broom.

"That's my firebolt. Sirius gave it me for Christmas on my third year because my Nimbus 2000 had been trashed by the womping willow."

"They said that you got picked on your first year. Youngest seeker in a century."

So Harry told him all about catching Neville's rememberal and thinking McGonagall was going to expel him when she introduced him to Wood, the Gryffindor captain. He didn't tell his father that that had been his first time on a broom. They kept talking Quiditch, then proceeded to abusing Snape when James told him what Remus had said. James got angry when Harry said that Snape always said he was arrogant, but glad that Harry seemed very inclined not to believe Snape. Harry showed him the Marauders Map, and James told the story of how Sirius got caught coming back from a Hogsmead unofficial trip and Filch confiscated the Map. And Harry told him how the twins rescued the map when they were innocent first year's. James looked skeptic, those two looked as if they had never been innocent. They were still deep in conversation when someone approached the door and stood there just watching for a while before he cleared his throat. They both looked up and Harry said with a great smile "Snuffles," he got up and hugged his godfather.

"Snuffles?" James asked

"Well Harry likes to call me that."

"But does he know were that comes from?" Harry shook his head, "Oh, but then he must." James said with an evil smile walking to the common room.

"You wouldn't dare." Sirius said following him, closely tagged by Harry. The others were sitting at the couches and chairs looking exhausted when Remus asked, "What wouldn't he dare?"

"To tell the origin of Snuffles," James said sitting right in the middle table so as to everyone to have a good view of him. Harry sat next to Ginny that had perked up completely alert at this, just like the other kids. Remus was laughing and Sirius was glaring murderously at James, "See what happened" James began "was Sirius here thought that it would be funny to scare Snape as Padfoot in one of the hogsmead weekends. You know, big black dog showing up from a dark alley. He thought Snape would think he was seeing the grim."

"But the problem was " Remus continued "Snape didn't think that and decided to just jinx the dog. So Padfoot got knocked out, and when he came to he wasn't up to transforming back. A little girl saw him and decided she wanted him as a pet. Since he was hungry, he just followed her. She named him Snuffles."

"We, worried friends that we were, " James said "went looking for him when he didn't show up for dinner. Peter had heard Snape talking with his friends about this dog he jinxed and we realized what had happened. So, risking expulsion, we went back to Hogsmead and knocked in every door asking if someone had seen our dog."

"When we found him, he was very cozy in the girls house, with a nice pink bow" Remus said not containing the laughter, "the girl's mum gave him back to us but not before telling us that the girl was convinced he was a she and that if we hadn't showed up until the next day she would have had him fixed."

At this point everyone was laughing even Sirius. After a while James had to leave. His intention when coming here was to take Harry to his quarters to be with him and Lily, but now he'd been away for too long and Harry was already beginning to get tired, and in a bad mood for no being able to stay up for more than a few hour at a time. Ginny told him that if he did what Madam Pomfrey said instead of waltzing around, he would get better sooner. At this Harry just glared at her but shut up. James was marveled, they reminded him of himself and Lily and he wondered if there wasn't something going on there. Harry himself had started noticing how Ginny was more talkative, and definitely bossy. He liked that she didn't take rubbish from anyone. He thought that must come from having six older brothers, you have to claim your grounds or be commanded. She definitely claimed her grounds. But what he liked most, was that she wasn't shy around him anymore, sometime last summer, while living together at the Burrow she had started to be more comfortable around him. He liked that, he liked her friendship.

---

James entered his quarters to find Lily putting baby Harry on his crib. She was another one that did not like to be in bed. She looked up and said, "the great James Potter got lost?"

"Of course not! I just got sidetracked," and he told her everything that happened. "Someone was trying to kill him and he begged for our help. But how can we be dead if we were there?" he asked.

"I don't know James. I am not sure we are, I told you, it was just a feeling."

"We have to find out what happened," he stated