Nobody would want to be dead, he could understand that. He found it hard to begrudge her the lack of an answer in her answer, especially when she certainly seemed to have no trouble with his present condition. In fact, she quite seemed to like his present condition. That was bolstering. Maybe if he'd said it differently - and besides, if James had to choose between being a zombie and being properly, continuously alive, it wasn't even a question. If he could change it, of course he would. With present options, however, you could only work with what you had.
His brow furrowed a little as she went on. Sure, there was time lost, holes and inconsistencies. The whole- Merlin, he'd lost the last year of his life. He only had one proper memory of his son. The last Christmas he'd had with his complete family since his parents had died, and he had none of it. All he had was that one first moment, and then... just, nothing. Worse than a blank, it was a voice. Instead of certainty he had speculation. Sacrifice was the right word for it in the end, he supposed.
But changed? It wasn't him that had changed, it was the world that had changed. If he was any different from the person he was when he'd first been alive it was only because of trying to cope with the loss of... most of everything he'd known and cared about. Precious few constants remained as he knew them. Though sure, he'd turned a bit younger, but not by much, and that hardly counted for a change at all. Not like Remus, who had gained years, or Sirius, who'd had so many more ripped away. Sirius' loss seemed a bit like a blessing if it spared him the time in Azkaban. It was tempting to let his ire latch onto the idea as it was always so quickly inclined, but he managed to keep his focus on Amarissa's face, snagged on the term 'studying.'
"Changes?" he repeated, almost a murmur, the idea hijacking his thoughts even as his gaze continued to distractedly brush along her cheek and neck.
It was mysteriously easier to talk when his brain had something else to focus on instead of hashing over his speech before the word had tumbled from his lips.