Jamie moved to sit next to his dad, not too close in case the other man needed space, even though Jamie had to admit, at least to himself, he was afraid of his Dad shutting down when they were finally having a real conversation. "I'm not asking you to explain anything. You weren't there, you don't know. And, if I'm being honest with myself, I have to accept that I'm not ever going to have those answers. So, I'm not telling you any of this with the expectation you have an answer. I just want you to understand where I'm coming from, the things you should know if you really want to know me."
Sighing, he closed his eyes briefly because he really wanted to believe what his dad was saying, believe it was true of the man who'd raised him as much as it might be true for this younger version. "I think it needs to be enough that you as you are now mean that," he said when he opened his eyes again. "You're not that man. You can guess at his motives, we will ever know the truth unless you become who he was, which...I really hope you don't. I think you're happier as you are now. Whether that's Draco or not being Head or just not marrying Mum, I don't know. But, if anyone deserves to be happy, Dad, you do." He put an arm around his dad's shoulders, much as he would have for Al or Lilu in a similar situation. "I didn't just see things through Uncle Ron's eyes. I got his memories, but I also have my own. I had to learn to read your body language in order to guess what was going on in your head, what your mood was. Uncle Ron remembers the events, I can pick out details he remembers but didn't understand. And, yes, I know, he and Aunt Hermione will always understand you better than anyone else ever can. But, Aunt Hermione is also the one who pointed out Uncle Ron has the emotional depth of a tea spoon."
He smiled sadly. "You can't protect us from who you are. The only way to do that would be to cut us out of your life entirely and none of us want that. All you really have to do is just...be there. Let us in a little. Good, bad, stupid, bloody, funny...we're family. We're the ones who are supposed to see each other through it. Kids can support their parents, too, more and more as they get older. That's why I took on being the face of the family. Not because you made me do something I hate, but because it was something I could do, something I was good at that helped protect you."
Dropping his arm, he leaned back on both hands with a snort. "Sadly, a cocoon is a better descriptor than most versions I've heard of it. But, yeah, that would solve most any problem of not being able to have kids. The biggest problem here was that people didn't want to have them yet. While our parents' and grandparents' generations were obsessed with increasing the population, mine was asking for patience, give us time to figure out our lives before we inflicted them on a new generation."
Jamie let his head drop back, eyes on the ceiling but his mind turning over his father's suggestions. "There were noises being made about 'the opposition', those against the experiments, getting ready to act right before we arrived here. Been growing for months, but it was starting to sound serious, more of an actual threat in the few weeks before. I actually wondered if Ted was under imperius and being used to get to you through us when he started talking about what had happened. The loudest voices were the old pureblood families, but we knew there were some muggleborns who agreed with them. So, if that was a cover for something else, your theory would track, there." It was his turn to snort softly. "Padma and Aunt Hermione don't get along because you told Aunt Hermione to mess with her brain. She and the other D.A. members have been around enough I have heard her rant that obliviation should be the fourth Unforgivable a few times by now. You're just lucky that, if this young version is anything like the woman I knew, she's a consummate professional who can work with anyone she has to, even while imagining clawing their face off."
Sitting up straight again, he rolled his eyes. "Then let me just say your idea of a normal Tuesday is insane and my new mission in life is to introduce you to some non-life or death fun."