Moving On

Harry's P.O.V

"James stop teasing your brother and sit down and eat your breakfast." Ginny admonished their eldest son. James pouted.

"But Mum, I was just playing!"

"Sit." He sighed and sat down at the table. I chuckled. James is going to enter Hogwarts as a second year and Al is going to be a first year. Lily will be starting next year. They just grow up so fast. Teddy grew up way too fast. It just seems like it was yesterday he was only three years old... If my parents were around, they'd probably have said that I grew up too fast... I know Remus and Sirius thought so. It doesn't hurt much now to think about all the loved ones that we lost, but the pain is still there. Al glowered at his brother and sat down in the chair next to me.

"Dad?" He asked me with those big green eyes of his.

"Yes, Al?" He started fidgeting. I leaned down and he whispered,

"Is there really a lake monster?" I chuckled.

"No, there's a squid, but it's friendly." I said smiling at him.  He beamed at me and then two seconds later, he was sticking his tongue out at James. I chuckled. To Ginny's misfortune, James has taken to being a prankster like his Uncle George and George, according to Ginny, was too happy about it. I honestly don't mind because I think the world could use some more laughter even if we aren't in dark times anymore. Ginny, however, didn't like that when I told her what I thought on the matter. She was angry with me for a couple of hours but came around to saying that as long as he didn't get expelled, then she'd be okay with it. She never could stay too mad at me. Just then an owl from the school flew in with three letters. Three? How odd... I relieved the owl of it's burden and let it drink some of my pumpkin juice before it flew off and handed James and Al their letters. The third was for me. I opened it and read through it, almost dropping it when I finished.

"What? What is it, Harry?" Ginny asked hugging me around my neck. The kids looked at me curiously.

"Professor McGonagall wants me to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year..." I said shocked.

"That's great!" Ginny said kissing the top of my head.

"Cool!" James said grinning.

"James Sirius, I already know what you're thinking, so don't even try." Ginny said narrowing her eyes at James. He pouted.

"I didn't even say anything." Lily giggled and James stuck his tongue out at her. Those three are so silly sometimes.

"So are you going to accept it?" Al asked looking excited. I chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose I will..."

"Yay!" James said grinning. He got up from his seat and hugged me. I hugged him back, shaking my head. I guess it's time to tell the children about my past. James keeps asking why people keep staring over at us. I don't want to tell them about all the horrors in my past because I don't want to ruin their innocence, but these three are just so curious. Ginny says she blames me for that. I smiled at the thought. After their breakfast, the three kids ran off to their rooms. We're going to Diagon Alley today to get James and Al's school stuff.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked me when I didn't say anything for ten minutes now. "Aren't you happy?"

"Of course I am." I said smiling. "I was just thinking that it was time to tell the children about what happened." She nodded, frowning a bit. "When I get to the school, students are going to be asking about it and James and Al will be questioning me and I want to tell them when all three of them are present and I can't very well do that during the school year."

"But Lily is too young." She protested.

"Do you really think Al and James aren't going to tell her? I mean they act pretty much like me, Hermione, and Ron when we were in school." I said chuckling a bit. She grinned.

"Yeah, minus the life-threatening dangers." I stuck my tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes. "Real mature." She sat down on my lap and kissed my cheek. I hugged her and rested my head on her shoulder.

"I hope to Merlin they don't get in as much trouble as Hermione, Ron, and I did." She chuckled.

"Yeah, well they don't have Voldemort chasing them." I frowned.

"Yeah..." She hugged me.

"Harry, don't worry. They're okay and Voldemort's gone for good. You made sure of that. The Deatheaters are either still in Azkaban or they've already died, plus the ones that died in the 2nd war. Everything is going to be okay." I smiled and hugged her tighter.

"Thanks Ginny." She kissed the top of my head.

"You're welcome, Love."

"Mom, Dad, can we go to Diagon Alley now!? We're ready!" James yelled from the stairs. Ginny sighed. I smiled and let her up and followed her into the living room.

"Yes James, we can go now."

"Yay!" Lily said grinning and running down the stairs. She missed the last step and I reached out and caught her before she hit the ground. She started crying and I hugged her.

"Shh, it's okay. You're okay." I said rubbing her back.

"T-That was s-so s-scary." She sobbed into my chest. I rocked her a bit until she calmed down. "I'm okay now, Daddy." She said looking up at me, smiling. I wiped the stray tears from her face and let her go.

"Okay, are we all ready?" I asked as Al joined us. The three nodded eagerly and two grabbed onto me and one grabbed onto Ginny before we Apparated them to Diagon Alley.