Just Like James

How often has that poor boy heard that phrase since he learned he was a wizard? How sick of hearing those three words he must be, having it thrown in his face all the time? I cannot even imagine!

The list of people who've used it is endless. The descriptions are countless.

He looks like James.
He flies like James.
He's brave like James.
He's loyal like James.

And on, and on.

But he's got Lily's eyes.

I don't hear it as much as he and already I am tired of it!

I didn't know James and Lily Potter all that well. We'd met, chatted a bit, but not much more. James seemed to have an arrogancy that was kept in check by Lily's presence. Alone he could be a pain in the backside.

They say James was a powerful wizard as well, but I think Harry got all his talent from his mother. You could look at Lily and know that the older she got the more formidable she would become. The same is true for Harry. I get so angry with that Sirius Black, talking about Harry as if he were James Potter! A physical resemblence is about all there is, why can't he see that? There's so much more of Lily in the boy than James.

I almost regret snapping at Sirius the other day. Something about Sirius not realizing Harry wasn't James. It made him angry. It made both Harry and Sirius angry but for different reasons, I think. Why Harry would be angry I cannot say, though perhaps it was because he idolizes his father so much and is flattered to be compared to him. Sirius was angry because my words struck a bit too close to home.

Arthur rebuked me later, said I'd said wrong. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but I was still on the mark. Sirius is confused and rightly so. He lost most of his life in Azkaban for something he didn't do. Lost his friends, his surrogate family and his sense of self. Maybe a bit of his mind too. That he's this together mentally and emotionally still astounds me.

He should be insane by now. He should be dead.

But he's not and Harry is his only link to his past and a possible bright future. I do not begrudge Sirius Black that. He more than deserves it, I say!

But Harry is not James, despite the almost disturbing physical resemblence. He's still a confused boy, thrown unwittingly into a war that he is a key participant, an unwilling one too. It isn't right and it isn't fair.

Oh, I know, I know! I tell my own children often enough that life isn't fair, but just this once...couldn't it be? For both Harry and Sirius? They could do each other a world of good.

Until Sirius slips up and calls Harry James.

Does Remus Lupin see James or does he see Harry? That werewolf is a quiet one. Never intrusive, always polite, very intelligent, but what goes on in that mind of his is anyone's guess. Does he see what's going on with his friend like I do? I think he does but just reacts differently. It's almost as if he doesn't want to make anyone angry with him. Another life that's horrible unfair.

Irony. The way this war will probably end is ironic.

Just like James.