Changes and Secrets

Chapter 5

Harry woke up on his Birthday morning, forgetting for a moment that he was no longer at the Dursleys. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relieve when it all came back to him. Harry immediately wanted to find to James. He had yearned to have his parents by his side for years and now that he finally had his father, he felt like he could look at his father forever. But he had his morning routine. He had to take a bath first. The Potter house elf, Agron was in his room, picking his dirty laundry. Agron was quite old and had been working for the Potters since the days of James' grandfather, Henry Potter. Unlike Dobby, Agron actually wore clean pillowcases and had no bruises.

"Good morning Master Harry," said Agron.

"Morning," Harry said sleepily.

He was then reminded of Dobby and wondered if Agron wanted to be free like Dobby too.

"Agron, do you really like working here?" Harry asked.

"Of course Master Harry," answered Agron.

"I mean, if you would rather be set free, I could talk to my dad about freeing you," Harry offered.

Agron put his hands on his ears.

"No master. No. It is Agron's duty to serve the Potters. It would be awfully shameful for Agron to be set free," Agron said hysterically.

"But you're serving us without a pay. Don't you at least want to be paid?" asked Harry.

Agron got hysterical again.

"No master. It is against the nature of Agron's kind to accept a pay in return of our service," said Agron.

"But the Malfoy house elf, Dobby wanted to be set free," said Harry as he recounted how he freed Dobby to Agron.

"Dobby is an exception to Agron's kind. Dobby was ill-treated at the Malfoys. Agron has met them and knows they are not very nice people. Either way, it was Dobby's duty to serve the Malfoys. Dobby should not have agreed to be set free. But Agron is happy here at the Potters. Agron has always been treated well here," said Agron.

"Ok, if you're sure," Harry shrugged.

"Thank you Master Harry," said Agron.

Harry understood what Agron had said about the nature of house elves and deduced that it was only right to free house elves that were ill-treated and wished to be freed like Dobby, while it was offensive to even attempt to free house elves that were content with their positions like Agron.

Errol came bearing Ron's reply to Harry's letter. Ron was not fully convinced that his Scabbers was an animagus, but nevertheless agreed to keep Scabbers locked up in his cage for Harry.

After breakfast, Harry tested his new Firebolt on the Potter Quiditch pitch. He was on cloud nine flying his new Firebolt. James and Sirius preferred to watch rather than fly themselves as they wanted to get into shape first before getting on a broom.

"Your father takes his workout very seriously. He chose to be Chaser instead of Seeker because Chasers get more workout," Sirius said teasingly to Harry.

The Marauders eagerly watched Harry on his Firebolt, admiring how good he was. James was especially proud.

"My boy, the youngest Seeker of the century," James proudly thought to himself.

Harry did a double flip and made a difficult catch of the snitch before landing to see The three Marauders beaming at him with pride.

"Harry, you fly just as good as your father did," said Sirius

"You could have given your father a run for his money in his prime," said Remus.

"You were excellent out there son. And wonderful catch of the snitch," said James, giving Harry a fleeting hug.

Harry had the best Birthday that he could remember. It was the first Birthday that was actually acknowledged as his Birthday and his first Birthday during which he received presents (unless his 1st Birthday that he couldn't remember was counted). That evening, there was a small celebration at the Potter home with another Birthday cake. He was promised a bigger celebration next year when there was more time to plan a party. The Weasleys and Grangers could not be invited as they were still on vacation overseas. Harry was even shown pictures of his first Birthday party which was also a small do due to his family being in hiding.

Later that night, Harry entered James' room to find James looking at a picture of Lily, tears trickling down his cheeks at the thought of his flower. He quickly wiped his tears away at the sight of Harry.

"Sorry son, I didn't realize you were there," said James.

Harry sat beside James on the bed.

"You still miss mum don't you?" asked Harry sympathetically.

"Everyday," James admitted earnestly as he put an arm around Harry. "It's all my fault. If I didn't put my faith in Peter, she'd still be alive," he said ruefully. But then he silently berated himself for showing his vulnerable side to his thirteen year old son, who he was supposed to be strong for.

"Dad, it's not your fault. He was one of your bestfriends. You had no way knowing he' turn out to be a traitor," said Harry.

James put both his arms around Harry in a light squeeze.

"What was mum like? I mean...if it's not too soon to talk about her," asked Harry.

Harry had heard his mum was kind and good from various people, but he wanted to know to more.

"She was the most wonderful person you could ever meet, Harry," said James fondly.

Harry laid on James's lap as James began telling him about Lily while stroking his hair. An hour later, Harry had fallen asleep on his father's lap and his father watched him fondly. James fondly remembered how Harry had often fallen asleep on his arms as a baby. However, he couldn't help but feel a heaviness in his heart as he blamed himself for the miserable life Harry had lived. He had promised to always protect his little boy, but he hadn't been there to protect him all these years. He knew Harry had more pain and misery in his life than he was willing to let on. It was particularly difficult getting Harry to open up about his treatment at The Dursleys and he knew Harry had only recounted the jist of it.

If he hadn't become an illegal animagus, Dumbledore may not have been able to get him thrown in prison and he could have been there for his son. He also felt guilty for being the main reason Snape ill-treated his son at school. He felt like bashing Snape and Vernon Dursley up for how they treated his son. But all that was about to stop. He loved his little boy more than anything in the world and would do everything he could to protect him from now on. Dumbledore wanted to put the weight of the world on Harry, but he wasn't going to let him. He would make sure his son led a life that was as normal and happy as possible.

Please review! And please let me know if I'm going too fast or too slow. I feel like every scene I put in is essential to my plot even if they seem like fillers.

I promise it would get more interesting. For those of you wishing for Marauders bonding, that's definitely coming up. 

Please vote on how James should handle Vernon Dursley:

a) Visit him and give him a punch on his nose

b) Prank his house with Sirius and Remus, Marauder style but using a muggle prank (like the toilet paper and egg Halloween prank)

c) Just leave it

d) Something else (please state). I have a suggestion from my cousin to do something to Vernon's car.