Acceptance

"Welcome back, Padfoot."

He knew that voice...but that was impossible...

Why was it so bright all around him?

He forced his eyes open, the light invading his eyes making him blind for a few seconds as he blinked, trying to focus on the blurry figure that was standing above him.

"There you are...knew you'd make it eventually..."

One last blink made James Potter's smiling face swim into focus and Sirius felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Prongs...you're...?"

James suddenly became quite somber and nodded his head.

"So I'm...?"

James reached down, helping Sirius stand up on his shaky feet. If it had been any other situation, Sirius might have been in awes of the place he was currently in, or the hordes of people all around, going to and fro from houses and chatting with one another.

His attention, however, was focused on his friend who was standing before him...

The one who had been dead for 14 years...

He felt tears come to his eyes and, without a word, James reached forward, gathering him into a hug. Sirius gripped onto his old and dear friend, his tears trailing down his face and onto James' shirt.

When they finally pulled back, Sirius saw that James had been crying as well but managed a small smile through his tears. Neither quite knew what to say, but finally both spoke at the same time.

"I'm sorry."

They were startled at each other's apology but James got out his argument first.

"We should have told someone else about the switch," he said forcefully. "Bullocks! 12 years in Azkaban, Sirius! I'll never know how you got through them..." He started tearing up again. "It was awful to see you there..."

Sirius started as he heard those words. "You saw me?"

James nodded. "We can go watch certain things down on earth while we're here...I guess I just had to see how you were doing once. Lily found me there, I was in your cell with you...she made me leave but I didn't want to...you were in so much pain..."

"Stop it, Prongs!" Sirius said quickly, grabbing his friend by the shoulders. "It's not your fault, not in the least bit. I should be apologizing to you..." He hesitated. "I should have seen Peter for the rat he really was..."

"Not even,' James countered. "We were both fooled. Besides, we agreed with you. At least you were still around to be there for Harry."

"Oh, right," Sirius scoffed. "After 12 years of Azkaban and being on the run after that. I'm sure I did a lot of good there."

"No, Padfoot, really. You'll probably never understand what you did for him...and Lily and I will be eternally grateful to you."

"But I left him...I fell through the bloody veil..."

"He's still got Remus. He's strong, he'll pull through."

Sirius sighed and reached forward to embrace his friend again, still grasping the concept that James was here, he was real and...he was dead.

"Where's Lily?" he finally asked.

James smiled. "Oh she's still back at the house. I told her I wanted to come get you by myself and she agreed that we needed a minute."

Sirius grinned, trying to block the sadness from his eyes, but James still noticed.

"Really, Sirius, don't worry about Harry...We could go see him right now if you want?"

Sirius' head jerked up. "Really? Now?"

James smiled at his friend, clapping him on the shoulder and holding tight. In a moment, Sirius saw that they were back on earth; his body was shimmering slightly and seemed transparent. He looked over to James whose gaze was already locked on something else.

Immediately, Sirius recognized Harry right in front of them, sprawled out on a lumpy bed, half covered with a thin sheet and dressed in rather baggy clothes. He still had his glasses on and he was breathing softly and irregularly. Harry's school trunk was at the foot of his bed, still packed and his tiny room was full of old clothing, books and broken toys.

Sirius turned to James and saw that his friend had tears in his eyes as he saw his son sleeping.

"Prongs?"

James hurriedly wiped the tears away and turned to Sirius. "I'm fine...it's just hard to see him sometimes...knowing I can't touch him."

"Yeah..." Sirius turned back to Harry. "I'm getting to know the feeling."

He slowly 'drifted' forward and bent down watching his godson carefully. He saw him gripping something in his right hand that seemed to be moving. Sirius' eyes widened in recognition.

"Is that?"

"Yeah," James confirmed. "That's the snitch I used to play with it. Moony gave it to him a few weeks ago."

Sirius' eyes moved over to Harry's small and messy desk where a letter was open on it. Curious, he read it.

Dear Harry,

Yes, I'm sure it was probably Fred and George's fault, but who can blame them!? At least it got out spirits up. Oh I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they find out who the Marauders really are! Poor Remus will never hear the end of it!

Mum says that you get to come stay with us in 2 weeks! Ron went crazy when he heard and was so excited. I think Hermione's even planning on being here and a few others were going to come for a few days before we have to go back to Hogwarts.

Write back soon!

Love,

Ginny

Sirius' amazed face was not missed by James who chuckled.

"Yes, it seemed we Potters always go after the redheads."

James came over and put his arm around Sirius who was looking sorrowfully down at his Godson again.

"It's alright, Padfoot. He's got so many good people watching out for him, plenty of friends and people that love him."

Sirius looked at him in amazement. "How can you accept this so easily?"

"I didn't," James said, frowning. "I've been through almost 15 years of this, Sirius. It took time..."

"But...just to be so sure?"

James sighed and started pulling Sirius away from the bed and Sirius noticed their bodies were beginning to vanish. "It was that, or spend an eternity trying to change something that I couldn't...I had faith in Dumbledore...in Remus and you...in the Weasley's...even Hermione," James smiled that that. "She reminded me of Lily and it comforted me to know that she'd make sure Harry didn't get himself killed."

Sirius seemed to finally be getting the fact and suddenly they were back in 'heaven', the brightness all around them making Sirius squint again. He noticed that they were now near a house.

"This yours?" Sirius asked as they started walking towards it.

"Yeah, Lily's waiting inside." They walked up the stairs and Sirius noticed that it was the exact house that James and Lily had lived in on Godric's Hollow. He gasped at the comforting familiarity just seeing it again.

He took a deep breath as James opened the door.

"Welcome back, Padfoot."