Daddy Dearest

Chapter 3

James Potter sat in the chair in Dumbledore's office waiting not so patiently for the others to arrive.

Why are you so excited to see them? They already moved on. Remember they thought you were dead all this time. a voice inside James's head said.

'Who are you?' James asked nervously. He had never heard voices in his head before this.

Well let's just say I am your voice of reason.

'Why are you saying that they wouldn't be excited to see me? If they thought I was dead then you would think they would be excited to see me.' James thought desperately.

James, they aren't the same friends you knew. They grew darker. Plus they don't know what you know about your son. They think it was just an accident and they are blindsided by the fact that he is your son and that he can do no wrong. You must not trust them!

'Are you sure? I mean I have always been able to trust Sirius and Remus.'

Are YOU so sure? Remember who your friends are? You've never always trusted them have you? Especially the werewolf right? You can always trust me...remember that, James.

Before James could say anything in return, he heard a loud coughing that caused him to jump.

"Headmaster, are you alright?"

Albus smiled at him. "I was just about to ask you that question. You looked like you were millions of miles away."

James smiled back, "Yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking." James looked thoughtful for a minute, "Albus, what really happened to Lily? I've heard several different things."

Albus stared confused at his friend for a second before answering. "James, she died the night Voldemort attacked all those years ago. From what we were able to piece together she died trying to save Harry. Voldemort used Avada Kedavra. After killing her, he went on to Harry but the curse rebounded off Harry and hit Voldemort. It caused Voldemort to lose his powers and become a shadow. We only know that much because that's what Harry hears when he gets too close to a Dementor."

James looked both in awe and confused, "But, if he lost his powers that night how was he able to bring me back?"

Albus sighed sadly, "He came back to power just a few weeks ago. He was able to kidnap Harry and used his blood to regain his body and power." James nodded.

"Now, I'm just curious as to what you heard concerning Lily?"

"Well, when I came to Peter was there and he told me that Lily died two years ago by Harry. He said Harry heard that Lily refused to allow him to train with Voldemort and cursed her, causing her to hit a wall and die. But then on the way here, Snape said pretty much what you did. I wasn't sure who to believe."

Albus nodded, "Well rest assured, James that what I told you is the truth. Harry wasn't the reason Lily is dead. It's only Voldemort's."

He lies! He lies!

James furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, 'But Albus would never lie to me. He never has before.'

Are you sure about that? He is as great a manipulator as Voldemort. You can never be sure with him.

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Albus watched, as the young man became lost in his thoughts again. It almost looked like he was talking with himself. Quite odd.

Before he could contemplate this further the door to his office opened revealing his four new guests.

"Come in. Come in," he said waving them in. He watched as Minerva McGonagall brought in Sirius from behind her and floated him down onto the floor before ushering in the other two men. "Oh dear what has happened to Sirius?" Albus asked concerned.

"So you were aware then, Headmaster, that Remus has been hiding him?" Minerva asked shocked.

"Yes of course, Minerva. I asked both of them to come here in light of this new development."

"But, how is it he is with you, Mr. Lupin? Just two years ago you believed him guilty."

"Yes, I did believe him guilty but that's before I saw Peter alive. Here, let's wake Sirius so he can help me tell it." Taking his wand out once more he pointed it at his friend and muttered, "Enervrate."

Sirius moaned before stirring and waking up. He looked around at the others in the room in confusion, "What happened?"

"Minerva stunned you, Padfoot. She wasn't told about your innocence yet."

"Oh," he replied distracted, his attention was on someone sitting a little ways away hidden by the shadows of the room. He shook his head to clear it, he couldn't be seeing what he thought he was seeing. It just wasn't possible.

"Sirius, what's wrong?"

"I think I was stunned pretty hard, because that man looks an awful lot like James."

Remus followed Sirius' gaze and was stunned when he found himself staring right at James. "James? But how...Albus?" He looked stunned over at the older man.

"Yes, Remus. That is James but we will get to that in a minute. I think we need to go over Sirius' innocence first before Minerva losses her mind," he said with a chuckle.

"Yes, of course, Albus. Sirius do you want to start or should I?" When he looked over at his friend he noticed he was still looking at James. "Sirius? Padfoot?"

Sirius jumped a little when the words penetrated through the fog in his head. "Yes Remus?"

Remus smiled a little at Sirius, "Do you want to explain or do you want me too?"

"I will." He looked over at his old Transfiguration professor before beginning to talk.

"I guess the first thing I can say is that I wasn't the secret keeper. Never was, the night we planned to do the spell I had an idea that I thought was ingenious. We would let everyone think I was the secret keeper but really we would use Peter...because who would suspect they would use shy quiet Peter? It was perfect, he would go into hiding as well and everyone would be safe. But on the night of Halloween I had a bad feeling so I went to check on Peter, when I got there he wasn't home. No sign of a struggle or anything, like he just got up and left. I panicked and went to Godric's Hollow, but I was already too late. The house was burnt to the ground, lily and James dead. Harry was alive though Hagrid had him, but he wouldn't give him to me, said Dumbledore wanted to take him his aunt and Uncles."

"That reminds me Albus, I have to talk to you about that." Albus nodded and encouraged him to continue.

"Anyway, I offered Hagrid my bike to get Harry there faster and set out to find Peter, knowing that he was the spy we were too blind to notice. When I found him, I cornered him and began to ask why he did it when Peter began to shout out to everyone that I betrayed them before he blew up the street right before cutting off his finger and changing into a rat. You know everything else."

Everyone in the room sat shocked. "A rat? How?" Minerva asked after she got over the shock.

"Yes. He is an illegal Animagus, a rat. James and I are as well. I am a large black dog and James is a stag."

"Oh my, out of everything you did, you managed to become Animagi, too. When?"

"Fifth year," Sirius said smugly.

Albus nodded before standing up again and walking to stand behind James, "Now that we have that covered its time to go on to the other reason why we are here."

"James? Are you sure Albus? How is it possible, he's dead." Remus asked.

"Yes, I believe this is James, but he has agreed to take Veritaserum so we can be certain. Severus, I believe you have it?"

"Yes, Headmaster." He stood up and handed the potion to the older wizard.

"Yes, thank you Severus. But before we give James the potion and begin questioning him I would like to hear what happened. Severus would you?"

Severus nodded, "When Voldemort went to the Potter's house that night, he didn't kill James. He put a spell on him that would cause him to appear dead then he duplicated his body and had one of his Death Eaters take James and hide him some where safe. He then killed the duplicate with the killing curse. He revived James tonight with a potion and some spells."

Remus looked confused a second later. "Why would he go through all that trouble just to let him go? It doesn't seem like something he would do. There must be a catch some where."

"I'm afraid there is, Lupin. Before letting him go he had Wormtail tell him a few lies about Harry." He continued to tell them what Wormtail had told James.

Sirius and Remus stared at Severus surprised. "Well we have that taken care of since both Severus and I have told him what happened to Lily. But I'm not sure if he believes now or not." Dumbledore said.

Sirius looked up from where he was staring at the floor in thought. "That right there tells me that that man can't possibly be James Potter."

Remus looked at Sirius curiously, "Why is that Padfoot?"

"Because there is no way James Potter would ever believe that his son would ever do anything of the sort. Especially when he is told the truth by two different people; one of which being Albus Dumbledore. James would believe Albus over just about anyone. Especially Voldemort.

"He has a point, Albus. How do we know that is really James?" Remus said.

Albus sighed, "Why don't we give him the truth potion now. Just a couple of drops should do." He walked over to James and placed two drops on the man's tongue.

"Ok, what is your name?" Albus asked.

"James Arthur Potter."

The questions went on for awhile before Remus asked the one that sealed it for everyone. "James, could you turn into a stag for us?"

James nodded and stood up. He closed his eyes and concentrated. A second later there was a pop and James was gone and in his place was an impressive looking young stag.

Minerva gasped, as she had never seen James in his Animagus form before. Sirius and Remus came closer to the stag and ran their hands over the fur of the animal and its antlers. Comparing this animal with the ones in their memories.

When they stepped away, there was another pop and James was back.

"Satisfied guys?" James asked.

Dumbfounded they only nodded. James sighed before smiling but before he could say anything he was engulfed in a strong hug by Sirius, then by Remus.

After a few minutes of hugging, Remus asked something that was on all their minds. "But there is one thing I don't understand James. How can you believe that what happened to Lily was Harry's fault? He was only a baby, how was it his fault?"

Everyone turned to James and waited for his answer. James seemed to be in deep thought for a minute before answering. "Moony, how could it not be his fault? According to everyone, Voldemort wasn't going to touch Lily but because he wanted to kill Harry she was forced to die. If he wasn't alive then she wouldn't have had to die."

They all looked at James shocked. Sirius was the first to speak, "And without Harry you wouldn't have had what you told me were some of the happiest moments of your life! James, it wasn't any more Harry's fault than it was yours that Lily died that night. I can't believe you would think that!"

James looked at Sirius angrily, "Sirius, it's Harry's fault. You just don't see it. You're too blinded by the fact that he's my son. But I'm not going to be," he stated firmly.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other then back at James. Sirius shook his head angrily, "You may be James Potter but you're not my best friend. Goodbye." He stood up then walked over to the door but stopped before opening it and turned back around to face the shocked people behind him. "Albus, did Orion arrive here yet?"

Albus got over his shock and nodded his head, "Yes, he did. I was going to fire you but they arrived before I could."

Sirius nodded, "Would it be ok for Remus and I to go and check on Harry? I'm beginning to be really worried about him."

Albus nodded, "Yes, you may go and check on him. It isn't really like him not to at least take the letters if not answer them."

"Thank you Albus," Sirius replied before walking out the door; quickly followed by Remus.