InsaneJournal

James had recovered well enough from his rather spectacular hangover. Maybe it was just the sheer awfulness of everything that Sirius and Remus had told him came to pass, but even when he'd blinked open his eyes, he'd had no doubt of where he was. No passing hope that maybe it had all been a dream.

Well. Okay. Maybe a very fleeting hope.

But it wasn't as though he'd even bothered to put much stock in it before it expired all on its own. Because he'd needed something trivial to think about, he'd pondered revision. He went over in his mind every scrap of work he wasn't turning in that day. Every assignment he would miss. Every class, every lecture. Each meal he wouldn't be having the in Great Hall. That, at least, he found the grace to miss. He'd spent most of the day in bed, actually, though he couldn't keep his thoughts idle for long. There was just too much else to consider.

The war, he reckoned, made enough sense. Their roles, his own part. Exactly how Lily fit into it all, he wasn't yet sure. It wasn't that he'd really thought much about marriage. Oh, sure, he'd always known he wanted it someday. But it was a little impractical to consider, seeing as to how he wasn't even finished with school yet. And Lily-- well, she didn't seem to hate him quite so much lately. The tension between them seemed to be shifting to something much better than her hating his guts. Nevertheless, as soon as Harry had said it, that Lily was his mother, that she'd married James, he knew it was what he wanted. Knowing what he wanted was rarely a problem for James. More often than not, he knew exactly what he wanted all too well.

What to do, however, and what to say to Lily, he didn't yet have a plan for. One would come to him. One always did. But for the moment, there were simpler goals. He had a son. To hell with the age gaps and the wonky timing, fatherhood was something a little sacred to James. And he'd already missed quite enough of his son's life, apparently. Wasting time-- well, fuck that. There wasn't any question in James's mind what to do. Fathers were there. They showed up.

So he found himself knocking on Harry's door. Surprise seemed like a better way to go. Harry had given a standing invitation. And Harry was family, even if they'd never met. Sort of like how Sirius was family. Only different. Nobody had shagged Lily Evans to bring Sirius into the world. Probably for the best, that.