Chapter Text
October 31st, 1981
James Potter stood by his window in Godric's Hollow, with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders stiff with tension, and his eyes on the dark sky. He had been standing here for a while now, waiting for something he knew not what-perhaps he hoped it was something that would ease his mind from the current turmoil it was going through.
He took note of the stars, or lack thereof, the dark clouds covering every inch of the sky tonight. He ridiculously heard himself wishing for some sign, any sign that all would be okay, that they would be okay, and just that second, as if someone had heard him, the clouds shifted, and the moon showed. Covered by its own shadow, facing mostly away from Earth, a portion of the moon shined brightly.
The slight shift in the clouds oddly seemed to have pleased him, for he finally turned away from the window, and walked back downstairs.
He had just reached the last step on the staircase when he found what he had been looking for, curled up on the couch under an exquisite and abnormally long quilt, were his wife, Lily Evans-Potter, and their son, Harry James Potter. He walked towards them and sat on the floor, atop the red and gold rug. He leaned back against the couch and stretched his long legs out in front of him, facing the fireplace. He felt Lily's hands brush through his hair, and closed his eyes.
Tonight, it was Lily's turn to read to Harry before he slept, and he knew he was just on time, when he felt her shift around behind him. She reached for something, probably the book, on top of the sofa side table, and shifted once again, her one hand back to brushing through his hair, her other holding the book, while Harry sat beside her, his body resting on her side, his head resting on her abdomen.
The fire crackled, and Lily's voice filled the quiet room.
Today, it was a muggle folktale about a foolish friend, the monkey, who in an attempt to help his friend, the King, wound up killing his friend. He let out a small laugh as he found himself reminiscing about his time at Hogwarts with his best mates, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
Of course Sirius and him were the most troublesome of the lot, considering they didn’t have a single bone in their bodies which practiced caution. They were reckless and impulsive and their rash behaviors often landed them in detention for just about every night of every year at Hogwarts, only with insistence on Remus' part and anxiety on Peter's, did they practice some caution, of course it helped that Lily despised his rule breaking habit, further encouraging him to behave on some if not most occasions.
He let out a small laugh as he imagined Sirius and himself as the King and the monkey, he wondered if Lily bought this tale specifically with them on her mind. He turned towards Lily to ask her, only to find her staring back and smiling at him.
At first, he assumed she had thought the same thing as he did, but a closer look at her face, he knew she wasn’t smiling knowingly, instead it was a smile of relief, relief that he was finally smiling again.
James felt a pang of remorse hit him as he realized why she was smiling at him like that.
James knew he had been behaving like a selfish git, sulking about, but in his defense it had only been a couple of days since the 24th, barely a week, when they had cast the Fidelius Charm, concealing their house and them along with it from the rest of the world.
That was the last time James had seen Sirius, who, now as their secret keeper, had gone into hiding as well. This had to be the longest the boys had gone without seeing each other, since Sirius had ran away from Grimmauld Place.
James loved every moment he spent with Harry and Lily, and would do anything just to stay in their company, however, he still couldn’t help but miss his best mates. Sirius had been the only one of the marauders present the night the charm was cast.
While he knew Sirius was safe where he was hidden, and Peter was alright taking care of his mother, it was the thought of Remus and whatever mission he was now on that worried him. He had seen Peter and Sirius a few times the week before they went into hiding, however it had been months since he had last seen Remus.
To make matters worse, Dumbledore refused to indulge them with any information on Moony's whereabouts, which further encouraged Sirius and his fixation on being the James Bond of the Wizarding World.
He found himself comparing Sirius with Alastor Moody, a fellow member of the Order as well as a high level Auror. Both of them had some serious trust issues, and the war didn't help. He wondered which one of the two was worst than the other, Moody with his constant vigilance, an expression which one would find being yelled into their ear every other second of working alongside Moody, or Sirius who now had taken to distrusting anything that breathed oxygen, save for Harry and maybe, just maybe, James and Lily.