Dear Prongs Jr. or whatever you choose to be called,

It's your Dad, James Potter AKA Prongs. Well, it's not really me, it's a cautionary letter that I hope you'll never have to read but you know what I meant - I'm sort of talking to you. Hopefully when you open this, I'll be sitting with you, probably at a father son Quidditch match where we dominate the pitch and then become matching stags and ride off into the distance but it's not decided yet (Although that would be pretty cool). You'll probably laugh at how persistent I was with your mother and how I wanted to name you Elvendork and I'll be able to defend myself properly and not just with some paper.

But this is just in case I'm not there, just in case I don't make it through this war for whatever reason (probably boredom at basically being under house arrest thanks to Voldy and his stupid prejudiced ideology), I want to be able to sort of talk to you. It sounds cheesy but I'm quite a cheesy guy.

Anyway, I feel like I already don't know where to start as there's so much I could say and want to say. I guess I'll start with my parents as you'll never get to know them which really sucks.

They were awesome, Harry, they really were. If you have a name like Fleamont, it's hard to be awesome but he managed it. They were both aurors, really good ones too, like the heroes you read in books. They fought for what was good, they were brave and good looking (that's where I get it from) and I can't express how much I loved them in writing. I like to think that you'll think of me this way although I'll be honest, I don't feel like a hero right now, locked up in this house whilst brilliant people like Marlene are being killed. If it keeps you safe though, me and your mother would stay locked up forever even if I'd probably be completely insane by the end of it and you'd have to send us to St. Mangos. Well, I probably would, Lily seems a lot better at keeping her head in this situation than me.

She's an amazing witch, your mother. An amazing person, full stop, well worth chasing for seven years. You'll probably have heard this story from your mother, about how for the first six years of Hogwarts she hated me with a passion. She'll tell you I was an arrogant toe- rag who she hated so much that she'd rather kiss a giant squid than me... that was until I deflated my head a bit. Then she fell for me suddenly as much as I'd fallen for her. You're probably not enjoying this part as much, nobody really wants to think about their parents being teens, it's weird but I'm going to tell you my side of it anyway.

Anyway, my side is a little different. I was a bit of a bully, there's no denying it and I'm not too proud of it either. I was arrogant but I was also 11 and hopelessly devoted to the beautiful redhead who had taken a dislike to me, the moment we'd met. I did some really dumb things to try and get her, stupidly thinking she'd notice me more if I was a bully. She says she hated me for this but I'll be honest: for someone who hated me she did spend a lot of time talking to me and loudly arguing in the corridors. It wasn't a dramatic 'she hated me and then she loved me' thing, I think she subconsciously saw that I was changing and it took my amazing jawline to bring out those feelings.

Of course, she wasn't the only important person in my love at Hogwarts though, I had my Marauders: we were Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. That probably made no sense but those were the names we gave ourselves. I was the stag, Sirius was the dog, Remus was the wolf and Peter was the rat (I'll let you try and figure out who's nickname belonged to who). They were my brothers from other mothers, we did everything together. If something did happen to me or Lily, I know that you'd be in safe hands with them, they'll be like your uncles and I have all the faith in the world that you'd grow up awesome.

You'd grow up amazing either way but they'd make you especially awesome. Is awesome-er a word? I don't think it is, but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway: you'd be awesome-er with them.

Anyway, as I said before hopefully I'll be able to read this with you and maybe even with littler sisters and brothers around you (I say we don't stop until we have a ginger although I'm more than happy with you of course, Prongs Jr.) I really hope you don't read this alone but even if you are, I'll be sort of with you in this letter. I'd be sort of with you all the time, even if I wasn't in person.

This is getting sort of morbid so I'll  try and end it on a happier note, I promse. Even if something does happen and you read this without me, I don't think you'll be alone because you'll find other people who love you as much as we do: you'll have your own Sirius, your own Marlene, your own Lily (Probably not with the same names as that would be odd or the greatest coincidence of all time). You'll have people who love you even if you're not around and in that way you'll never be alone.

I'm going to go now because I need to start making supper as Lily is putting you to sleep as we speak and she'll be annoyed if I let her get hungry so I'm going to go to avoid invoking your mother's temper. Whatever happens, steal the Marauder's Map for me, finish the job I never got done! The password is 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' and once you're done just say' Mischief managed' to keep it away from prying eyes. Pretty smart, huh?

Anyway, bye for now, Prongs Jr. (Face it, it will happen)

Love Dad x