Harry's hair was very soft and curly once it had been washed, and James found it nice to run his fingers through. Harry was very easy to clean, although he had a few bruises and scars that hadn't been healed yet that Harry seemed uncomfortable with James seeing, but was okay after James pretended not to see it, he already had some potions and balms from Mme Pomfrey for them, not that he had told Harry, which he was glad about, as Harry was clearly unhappy having people know about his injuries.
"Okay, Harry," James said, putting Harry on his bed, Harry wrapped up in a fluffy white towel, his old clothes in the laundry basket for the House Elves' discretion, and a few outfits of James' that he thought were the most comfortable for Harry to choose from. "Which of these do you want?"
"I don't think they'll fit me." Harry said quietly looking at the clothes. Of course, he hadn't worn clothes that actually fit him for a long time, Dudley being much larger than Harry, and larger than a lot of their peers too, but these clothes were so large Harry would be drowning in the cloth.
"Not now, but we can use magic to shrink them. Sorry, the best I can do now is shrinking clothes from me, but when you're with my parents or during the holidays we can go and get you clothes for you." James said with a small smile, taking a seat next to Harry, looking at the outfits he had lain out. "Of course, you can rearrange the clothes."
"I can have any of them?" Harry asked, before flinching slightly at asking a question, before James smiled and ruffled Harry's hair again.
"Any of them at all, you might want to feel them to see if you like the texture first. I know my clothes aren't as good as Moony's, but they're nice enough." James said, continuing to play with Harry's hair, feeling proud of Harry for asking a question, even if he admitted he 'slipped up' sometimes and still flinched, he decided to take it as Harry trusting him.
Harry leaned forwards to feel the clothes. They were nothing special, a couple jumpers, one of which was actually given to him by Remus when Remus accidentally shrank it trying to wash it. The other jumpers were less comfortable, but still soft and one was homemade. There were a few different styles of tops, including shirts, long sleeved tees, and a few short sleeved tops too. As far as trousers went James had little to no variety.
"They're all nice." Harry said quietly, although his hands lingered on a few more than the others.
"Do you want me to decide for you then?" James said, continuing to play with Harry's hair, not that Harry seemed to mind. James wanted Harry to become more independent and make more of his own decisions, but there was no need to throw him in the deep end, and given Harry knew he was taking James' clothes it might make the decision harder.
"Please." Harry said with a small nod and a slight squeak in his voice.
"Of course, you can always ask for anything you want or need." James said with a smile as he also moved further forwards. Harry would need a couple different outfits while they waited, but he didn't have to choose all of them now.
James grabbed the homemade jumper and the one he had been given by Remus, the two jumpers Harry seemed to have liked as his hands lingered on them more, and James had to agree they were good choices. Based on that James assumed Harry liked the softer clothes, and from how self conscious he was being about staying covered by the towel it was likely Harry preferred loose fitting clothes. Green felt like it would be a colour that matched Harry well, probably because of the strong, noticeable green of his eyes, that seemed to hold a different kind of light to Lily's even if they were really the same colour. James' limited trouser selection was going to reduce what Harry could wear too, but that would probably be fine.
"What do you think of these?" James asked, having brought over the jumpers, two long sleeved green tops, three paler short sleeved t-shirts, jeans, and another dark red long sleeved top.
Harry didn't have to say anything for James to understand the look on his face, Harry was clearly happy, but seemed to be trying to not make it too obvious. James hoped Harry would quickly get past his need to hide joy and be able to express himself more.
"Pick some to wear for now, this evening we'll get some pyjamas for you too." James said, ruffling Harry's hair.
That night Harry and James slept side by side, Harry not taking up much space, but cuddling up close to James' warmth. It had been a little bit of an argument to persuade Harry to sleep on the bed with James, as it was one of the only times Harry had tried to argue with James, saying that he (Harry) should just sleep on the floor and James insisting that it was fine for Harry to sleep on the bed with him.
In the morning Harry was still keeping close to James, with the elder's arm wrapped around him too, while the other was out to the side randomly. James' hair had become a mess, but due to Harry's lack of movement it was hardly more tangled than it was before.
James was the one who woke up first, along with the other students, Harry remaining asleep, barely even responding with more than a pout when James left his side to get dressed.
"Hey Harry." James said gently, shaking Harry's shoulder gently once he was dressed. "Time to get up."
As if by magic, Harry sat up quickly, his eyes looking a little out of it, but otherwise he seemed to be fully awake and alert. James blinked for a moment once Harry was up, he hadn't expected Harry to wake up so quickly, but he guessed it was a good thing, they should be able to go through the halls without too many people looking at them. While the Gryffindors were mostly used to Harry now, he had only been in the Gryffindor common room or James' dorm, so few people could have found out about him.
"It's time to get ready for breakfast." James said with a smile, grabbing the unused clothes that had been shrunk yesterday. "What do you want to wear?"
"Sorry, I woke up late." Harry mumbled, pushing himself up to get off the bed, but James was standing where Harry would have gotten off the bed, so Harry couldn't just slip off. "I'll get started now."
"No need to apologise, we're not late for anything, and you don't need to start doing anything, well, except getting dressed." James said with a bright, wide smile, holding up the clothes again.
Harry looked into James' brown eyes through James' glasses that were reflecting the candle light that was much brighter than the candles that Harry was used to. Harry didn't have to do anything but get dressed? Then who would make breakfast?
"Have you decided what you want to wear?" James asked after a moment, honestly feeling a little awkward as Harry just stared blankly into James' eyes.
"Oh, um, I want to wear that." Harry said, pointing to the jumper that had once belonged to Remus.
"Of course, any other strong opinions, or do you just want me to choose an outfit around it?" James asked with a smile.
"Hey Prongslet," Sirius said, coming over after Harry nodded, so James was trying to decide on an outfit for Harry. "I'm sorry about yesterday, I used to do it with my younger brother and he loved it so I thought you would too."
Harry was surprised, when was the last time he got an apology? Besides, while he hated what Sirius had done to him, it was far from the worst thing Harry had been through, and his dad said this person was his friend, so Harry didn't know if he was actually going to get thrown, but the threat was enough to scare him.
"Um, this is for you." Sirius said, holding out a small stag plush that didn't seem to have any seams, so Harry had no idea how it could have been made.
Harry looked at it as it was held out, before looking to James, not knowing what to do. He had only been given something once, and that was by a stranger in the shops, and he had been locked in his cupboard for about a week because he accepted it. James was the person who was looking after Harry currently, so James was the person who had to give permission.
"Hm?" James asked, looking at the situation, Sirius holding the toy out to Harry and Harry looking at James. "You can take it if you want, Harry."
"Thank you." Harry said, turning back to Sirius and holding out both hands to take the stag.
"Just because you've done this doesn't mean I'm leaving you in charge of Harry or letting you carry him again, okay?" James said with a smile that seemed maybe a little sinister as he leaned towards Harry and Sirius over his bed. "Here are your clothes, Harry."
"Thank you." Harry said, grabbing the clothes, but not putting them on yet, looking at the people who were still in the room.
"We'll be in the common room waiting for you two." Remus said, dragging Peter with him as Peter had just sat back on his bed, not thinking about Harry, and giving Sirius a quick kiss as he went past.
"Okay, we'll be down soon." James said, waving at the three, before turning back to Harry. "You wanna take the stag with you or leave it here?"
"Wanna keep it with me." Harry mumbled, holding the stag close to him and half hiding his face in it.
"Of course." James said, ruffling Harry's hair.
-----
"All ready to go?" Sirius asked, looking up as James came downstairs carrying Harry, who was now dressed but still hugging the stag close.
"Would we be down if we weren't?" James asked, rolling his eyes and walking past them to the Portrait hole.
"Potter." Lily called from the stairs tot he girls' dorm. "Can we talk?"
"Sure, can Harry be there or no?" James asked, if Lily wanted to talk to him about what he thought she was then she probably didn't want Harry there, even if he wasn't going to tell anyone.
"I would rather not." Lily said, not looking at James and choosing to instead inspect a loose thread in the sleeve of her cloak.
"Sure, Moony, can you watch Harry while we talk? It shouldn't take long." James said, turning to the gentle giant who, until this year, had been one of the shortest of the group.
Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at James as he handed Harry to Remus, Harry not making it hard to do so, but it was pretty clear from the way he was looking that he didn't want to leave James. Peter also gave James a pointed look about spending time with Lily alone, but James ignored both, knowing it definitely wasn't anything like their looks were implying, but he had a duty to her privacy to not tell them the truth.
"I'll be back soon Harry." James said, giving Harry a kiss on his forehead.
"This way." Lily said, leading James to a small gap with a window on the way to the 6th year girls' room, James following her meekly. "There are some things I want to ask about what you said last time."
"Of course, I mean, I understand it was a lot to take in." James said, his smile seeming a little strained.
"Then how could you accept it immediately?" Lily asked, honestly it had been something gnawing at her.
"Well, other than the fact I found him and he looks like me, Mme Pomfrey told me I was the dad and then gave me a lecture about it before finishing the spell, so I did get a more reliable person telling me than you, I'm sorry about that. Besides, I've kinda always wanted kids and he's cute." James said a little awkwardly. He was well aware that he was not the kind of person Lily would naturally trust about them having a future kid together.
"You said he didn't know I was his mum either, how come? I don't see myself abandoning any kid." Lily said, honestly she had a sinking feeling in her chest about what had happened to the future her, but she couldn't deny that she and Harry had similar eyes and she liked the name Harry for a future child she may have, but so far she wasn't ready to be considered a mother.
"In the future he's from both of us are... Well.... Dead..." James said, not looking at Lily, feeling uncomfortable about telling her they would die in the future. "Apparently the people who look after him said we died in a car crash, but from what he said he remembered I think we were killed by at least one wizard."
"Is anyone looking for a way to send him back to the future he's from?" Lily asked, it seemed like James wasn't trying to stop Harry from bonding with him which could be quite harmful if Harry ever needed to go back.
"Never. I don't know how muggles raise or teach their kids, but I think even muggles would agree that how they've looked after him is mistreatment. I'm not sending my child back to a place like that." James said firmly. "Also I am not blaming your family as they are at the moment, but I would be careful with them around him in case it makes him relive trauma."
"You haven't told him yet, right?" Lily asked, her hands hidden by her long cloak sleeves.
"That you're his mum? No. I'm not planning to tell him, if you want him to know you can tell him, otherwise it's going to be a secret between us and Mme Pomfrey. I won't tell anyone else." James said with a smile. "Well... If there's nothing else you want to say I think I should get back to Harry."
"How old is he?" Lily asked.
"Honestly? I don't know, I know he's in school because it was school that told him his name is Harry, but more than that I don't really know." James said after a pause, he hadn't asked Harry yet, and he definitely didn't want to ask in front of other people.
"That's all I wanted to ask, I'm not going to parent or babysit him yet, but I might start spending time with him." Lily said, walking away.
"Whatever you're both comfortable with." James said with a smile, rushing after Lily, overtaking her about half way down in order to get back to Harry more quickly.
Unlike last time James had left Harry in the care of someone else, everything was fine when James came back. Remus was sitting down with Harry in his arms, and keeping a half joking eye on Sirius.
"Hey, I'm back." James said, coming round in from of Remus to take Harry back.
Unlike when Harry was being passed from James to Remus, this time Harry reached out to James as he was being passed over, the stag still held tightly in his hand, hugging it again when he was back in James' arms.
"Hey baby, did you miss me?" James asked with a small smile, pressing a kiss on Harry's forehead.
"Yeah..." Harry mumbled with his head on James' chest, his cheeks a little pink. A day was too little time for Harry to get used to affection; not that he didn't like it.
"Now it's time for breakfast." James said with a smile, feeling warm and fuzzy inside at the fact that Harry was willing to say he missed James. James wasn't sure anything could make him stop smiling today.