Harry lifted James up off of the baby blue rug that stretched across the nursery. James grinned up at his father with a cheerful expression.









“Alright, James. I think that we have the perfect look for you today. Jeans, blue tee shirt, old school trainers and we are almost done!” James giggled and reached up for his father’s glasses.









“Hey! You are going to be a real trouble maker at Hogwarts, kid.” He ruffled James’ neat, jet black hair.









It was a great mystery how James had managed to have jet black hair that was somehow neat and tidy. James had his mother’s deep, chocolate brown eyes and Harry was convinced he also had her laugh.









“So, you think Daddy did a good job dressing you?” Harry scooped up the tiny baseball hat that was hanging on a hook on the wall and gently eased it onto James head. “There you go. Now you are truly the best-looking one-year-old in Britain!” James gave a loud laugh and waved his tiny hands in the air out of excitement for the hat. His deep brown eyes were glued on Harry in awe.









Harry smiled at him took a look around the nursery. The walls were all a soft baby blue, like the rug beneath his feet and above James’ crib was a mobile that had quaffles, bludgers and tiny golden snitches soaring after each other. His gaze wandered to the side of the room where James played and kept all of his toys. The toy chest was wide open and James had managed to take everything out of it and scatter the items all over the one side of the room.









Harry sighed and looked back down at James. “You certainly enjoy making messes, don’t you?” He shook his head, walked over to the crib and placed James in it. James waved his arms and stood in the crib in protest of his dreadful imprisonment.









“Dada! Dada!”









“I’m sorry, buddy, but your mum will be rather unhappy if we leave this mess sit.” Harry shook his head again and bent over to gather the toys.









Harry was half way finished when he realized that the toys were already organized. James had all of his books in one section, anything muggle related in another and anything involving Quidditch in another. He looked over at his son who was watching intently through the bars of his crib. “You’re an amazing baby, you know that?” James looked up at him blankly.









“Oh, now you’re silent!” Harry continued to pile up his toys into the chest. He placed James toy broom stick in the corner of the room and then turned and strolled over to James who was impatiently awaiting his freedom.









“How about you help me make breakfast?”









“Brefas! Brefas!” James swung his arms around in the air, jumping up and down in his crib and shouting impatiently up at his father.









“Brefas? Is that even a word? Don’t let your Aunt Hermione hear that; she would just correct you. I, on the other hand, think that we should make it a real word, just for you! You like that idea?”









James clapped his hands together and stuck his tongue out at Harry.









Shaking his head at his son and laughing he carried James out of the nursery and into the kitchen.









The kitchen’s walls were a cheerful, sunny yellow and a small table was set in the middle of the room. Kreacher was standing on a tall, wooden stool and was placing shimmering clean dishes into the large, wood cabinet.









“Good morning, Kreacher!” Kreacher looked up from the dishes and jumped off the stool at the sight of Harry and James.









“Master Harry and young Master James.” Kreacher bowed his head and James squealed at Kreacher and waved. Kreacher gave a miniscule smile in return.









“Hey, Kreacher, we’re going out today, so how about you take off today?” Kreacher’s eyes went wide with fear and Harry immediately saved himself. “Or you can go to Grimmauld Place and do some cleaning or whatever?” Kreacher nodded in approval and Harry relaxed.









“Can Kreacher do anything for Master?”









“No thanks, Kreacher; we’re going to make some breakfast and then we’re going to the park, so you can leave now if you want to.”









Kreacher bowed and with a loud crack, he disappeared from the kitchen. James laughed and pointed frantically at the spot Kreacher was just standing in.









Laughing, Harry sat James on the counter and pulled out some bowls and spoons. “Come on, kiddo! Let’s make some brefas!” James chuckled deeply and was grinning wildly at Harry.









Harry walked over to the pantry and began pulling out everything he needed for pancakes. “Pancakes sound good?” He asked James as he set the large bag of flour down next to him. “We’ll even do it the muggle way too!”









Harry turned back to the pantry and scooped up the rest of the ingredients. “Here we-“ Harry nearly dropped the armful of ingredients at the sight he was looking at. James had dumped the entire bag of flour out onto the floor and counter.









“Aw, James!” Harry set down the other ingredients on the table and he stepped over the mess to get to James. “Wait a minute! You’re not covered in flour!” He searched James with his eyes, but the only trace of the mess was the white smudge on his face.









Harry let out a deep sigh. “Well, it would be rather ironic if you didn’t cause trouble. Who could imagine James Sirius Potter the Perfect Prefect! It would be one of the great mysteries of life!” James looked up at Harry with eyes full of innocence.









Harry smiled and pulled his wand out of his pocket. “Forget the whole part about doing it the muggle way!” With a flick of his wand the spilled flour vanished. James giggled and watched his father with eyes full of amazement.









“Now, let’s get to work!” Within minutes the entire house was filled with the sweet smell of butter, pancakes and hot maple syrup.









Harry was cutting up small pieces for James to eat with his fingers when a mane of long, flaming red hair appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.









“You made breakfast?” She smiled and walked over to her husband, grabbing the mug of coffee that was waiting for her on the counter. Ginny was wearing a casual pair of jeans and a simple brown sweater that matched her eyes.









Harry sighed and smiled at his wife, he was ready for a relaxing day with his family.









“Good morning!” Harry gave her a long, sweet kiss the second she reached him.









“What was that for and why am I getting such special treatment today?” She smiled and planted a kiss on James’ head.









“You can’t just say ‘I love you’ and take the treatment?” Ginny eyed him carefully before taking a long sip of her steaming coffee.









“I love you too. Now, what are we doing this chilly Sunday?” She was wiping maple syrup off of James’ face as she asked.









“The park. No work, no Ron or Hermione, or anybody named Weasley today.” Ginny laughed and looked up at her husband.









“Just the Potters today?”









“Just us. Want some pancakes?”









“No, I’m not too hungry.” Harry gave a concerned look which she rolled her eyes at. “Harry, I’m fine! I think I might be catching what this little guy had last week, that’s all.” Ginny was playing with James in his high chair.









Harry took the answered and stood up and picked up his and James’ empty plates. He looked at his wife and son and grinned widely at them.









“Alright, let’s go!” Harry gestured for them to leave as he handed Ginny James’ jacket.









Ginny was busy scooping James out of his high chair and getting him ready for the day, but she still smiled and shook her head. She washed her son’s face and tugged on his tiny denim jacket. Harry pulled on his own jacket and helped Ginny into her coat.









Holding open the door for Ginny, who had an excited James in her arms; Harry smiled and looked forward to the day ahead, just him and his family. But at the time he didn’t realize what would really happen that day.

“James!” Remus grabbed Lily by the arm and pulled her behind the tree he was hidden behind. James and Sirius had launched an attack of leaves on Lily and Remus.







“They’re twelve years old!” Lily threw her hands up, frustrated. She sighed and pulled a bright yellow leaf out of her hair.







“Well, you married James.” Remus laughed.







“Don’t remind me…” Lily smiled and cautiously looked around the tree. “We can only hope that Harry won’t cause trouble like this when he grows up.”







Remus laughed. “With James as his father and Sirius as his godfather? No bloody chance.” He nodded seriously and grinned.







“Yea, well…RUN!” It was too late. A sheet of red, yellow and orange leaves came crashing down on top of them. They screamed and covered their heads with their arms.







“Sirius! James!” Lily fought her way through the rainstorm of leaves. She reached out blindly and caught Sirius by the shirt. “Sirius, you git!” Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.







“Come on Lily! Have a little fun!” Lily sighed; she knew there was no such thing as saying no to Sirius and James.







She cracked a small smile and laughed as she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her tiny waist. James nuzzled his face in her long, red hair. She could feel him smiling into her neck and giggled.







“Prongs, not in public please, mate.” James laughed and looked up.







“How about you boys fix this lovely storm?” She gestured to the masses of leaves that were flying around them. She could hardly see Sirius and James and she knew that they would never find Remus in the storm.







“What do you think Padfoot?”







“I don’t know, Prongs.”







“We probably should, but…”







“But that goes against our marauding ways.”







“She is my wife.”







“Hullo! The wife is still here! Now fix this!” Both men nodded, pulled out their wands and muttered the counter-spell in unison.







“Oi! Moony!” Remus appeared from behind his tree and was pulling leaves out of his graying hair.







“You need to watch out! This is a muggle park, you know.” He gestured around them and smiled.







“What?” James gestured to his muggle attire. “We dressed the part!” Remus merely smiled and turned to walk with the group.







James had his arm wrapped around Lily and Sirius had his hands buried in his pockets and was gazing around at the environment, walking on James’ right.







“Shame Wormtail wouldn’t join us.” Remus turned to see what the others would say. Sirius shrugged his shoulders and James followed suit. Remus sighed peacefully and turned back to looking at his surroundings.







“I hope Harry’s okay.” Lily had a worried look on her face. James squeezed her closer to him and Sirius just rolled his eyes.







“Harry is fine with dear old Bathilda. I think he’s perfectly alright there. After all, he is my godson.”







Lily laughed and playfully hit him in the stomach. James laughed and looked down at the ground. “Hey, what’s that?” Remus and Sirius looked down at what James was pointing to. A golden pendent necklace was resting on top of a bright red leaf.







Lily bent down and reached to grab it. The next thing that the foursome remembered was the world around them going black.

---

Harry smiled and took in a deep breath of air. He had an arm wrapped around Ginny, who was struggling to keep her tight hold on James. Various muggles were playing in the park with their friends and family.







“Mumee! Mumee! Look, leez! Leez!” James was swinging his arms forward, dying to chase after the thousands of leaves that were flying through the air.







Harry laughed. “I think he’s talking about the leaves.” Ginny looked up and grinned at her husband.







“I don’t know, are there any other translations of ‘leez’?”







“Perhaps.” Harry shrugged his shoulders and his eyes found a large pile of leaves beneath a large oak tree. “Hey…” He motioned over to the pile and then to the bench that was sitting about ten feet away from the pile.







Ginny seemed apprehensive, but she still nodded and walked over to the pile.







“Okay James, now mummy and daddy will be right over there, okay? You can play in the leaves for a while.” She placed James on the ground and he immediately squealed in delight and scrambled over to the pile.







“Look at that!” Harry laughed at his son’s merriment. “Kid hasn’t been walking for more than five months and he’s already racing around.”







“I’m almost concerned that he will christen himself a marauder.” Harry smiled and sat down on the bench beside Ginny, with his arm firmly wrapped around her.







“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing!” She snuggled up closer to him and kept her eyes on James, who was thoroughly enjoying himself. She sighed and Harry looked down at her.







“Are you sure that you’re okay?”







“Harry, I’m fine! I just don’t feel too great.” She turned to look up at him. He sighed and kissed her. He could feel her smiling beneath his lips and he returned the smile. They broke apart and he looked back over at James, who had managed to jump high enough to grab onto a low branch of the tree and was swinging himself back and forth.







“I don’t think we’re ready for him.” Harry stated plainly, completely unconcerned about James hurting himself.







Ginny let out a sigh. “I hope he’s being careful.” She craned her neck trying to see him as clearly as possible. James suddenly let go of the tree branch and flew into the pile of leaves. Harry could hear Ginny’s sharp intake of breath.







“Hi, Dada!” James’ head popped up from the mass of leaves and waved frantically.







“His vocabulary amazes me.” Ginny nodded in agreement.







“He will be a smart boy when he goes to school.”







“Not too smart though; I don’t think I could handle a miniature Hermione.” Ginny laughed and looked around and the park.







“So, Godric’s Hollow isn’t too far from here.” Harry’s smile faded and he looked down into Ginny’s deep brown eyes.







“I know.”







“Is that why you chose this particular park?”







“Maybe.”







“You can tell me Harry, we’ve been married for over five years. I think you can tell me.” Harry couldn’t help but smile at her comment. He had always told Ginny everything.







“I guess, I just like to think that they came here, you know? That this was a place they might’ve taken me to as a baby. Makes me feel closer to them; does that make sense?”







Ginny smiled a placed her hand on his cheek. Harry still got chills when she touched him.







“Perfect sense, Harry.” She leaned up and kissed him again. They became lost in each others arms, completely unaware that they were being watched.