WHO: James and Harry WHAT: James is going to take care of his son WHERE: James' parents' place WHEN: Saturday 6th, after this WHY: Harry is poorly RATING: G STATUS: in progress
Being a father really was the most brilliant thing ever. And not just being a father in the way that James had been for the past couple of years, unbeknownst and to a son older than he was, but a father to a baby, a baby who needed his parents 24 hours a day. Harry feared that once he was born in his parents' time, they would lose interest in him. In reality, he couldn't be farther from the truth. The more time James spent with baby Harry, the more he loved him, and the more he loved baby Harry, the more he loved, and the more easily he loved, the adult Harry. It was easier, infinitely easier, to see Harry as his son when he had known (or, did know, as it were) Harry as an infant. And, conversely, being able to see the man that his baby would become in the infant's face made his heart swell the more to hold and comfort him. It was strange indeed, this time-travel, but it was, as Sirius would say, cool.
Harry, however, was being silly. James was perfectly aware that there was nothing physically wrong with him, and was equally aware that when people felt like they were ill when they weren't, they needed at least as much attention as if they were ill. It didn't take a genius to know Harry was feeling left out, and worried, and scared, and James spent as much time as he could spare away from his new family, making sure that Harry knew he was still loved and appreciated. The fact that James' mum prepared little care packages of cooked food for him to take back with him every time James came over was merely an added bonus.
Hungry and more than a little tired from sleepless nights, James nevertheless showed up at his parents' house at 5 ready and raring to go. He let himself in and stomped up the stairs to Harry's room, where he knocked firmly on the door.
"It's me," he said needlessly, since no-one else in the house would pound on the door so unapologetically.