AN: There is a slight AU in this story and that is that Lucius Malfoy is not Draco's father, he's his uncle. So, in this story Lucius Malfoy is thirty five while Harry is twenty three. I was easier to write him being in his thirties rather then almost fifty. So, this means Lucius's 'brother' would have been Draco's father but we're saying he's dead and Lucius raised him in his stead. So Lucius is Draco's father figure. This doesn't really change much in the events of the books

Harry had never really planned on coming back to teach at Hogwarts, it had just sort of happened.

One ago Harry had been living happily with Ginny far away from England. As far away from anything that reminded of Voldemort as he could get. They had been living in America, content to visit the burrow on holidays and meet up with Hermione and Ron for the occasional dinner.

Ginny had been happy with the change at first, living in Muggle London had been hard on her as well, too much destruction and sadness to start a family, so Harry's suggestion of moving to California had been great at the time.

Harry worked a nine to five office job while Ginny stayed home. Harry didn't really need to work, he was set for life with his vault at Gringotts but he liked working, it took his mind off of everything that had happened. It let him do menial tasks that kept his mind from wondering.

Ginny loved staying at home, getting to do anything she wanted all day, and eventually she found herself pregnant and was even more glad that she could stay home and take care of their child.

Everyday Harry would come home to a delighted Ginny who's stomach expanded more and more, and in the summer of 1999 Ginny gave berth to James, the happiest baby Harry had ever met.

In 2001 Ginny got pregnant again, this time with a girl.

Harry had been overjoyed, of course at the prospect of another child, but Ginny miscarried and grew depressed.

Eventually the two had to divorce and Ginny moved back to the burrow to be with her Molly and Arthur, leaving Harry and James alone.


2003

"Daddy, do we have to move?" James asked with his arms crossed and the best scowl that a four year old could muster on his face as Harry moved around him, packing the toddlers many toys into moving boxes.

"Sorry James but we do. You'll love it in London, I know it. You can use your magic all the time." Harry promised and held out his finger to do a pinkie swear with James. James wouldn't trust you if you didn't do it.

"I can do magic like outside?" James asked, forgetting about how mad he had been about moving.

"You can do magic anywhere you want." Harry said and picked up the last suitcase full of James' baby stuff. Harry hadn't told James the whole truth yet, they were going to London and would stay there for a weeks or so. They would see Hermione and Ron, Molly and Arthur, maybe even Ginny would have lunch with him. After that they would be going to Hogwarts so Harry could begin his new job as the DADA professor. Snape had specifically asked if Harry would take the job after their previous instructor had to leave.

Harry had vowed never to go back to the wizarding world but he found that he missed it. That and he needed to get out of he and Ginny's old house. It had too many memories in it.

"Come on James, let's get this in the car then get to the airport." Harry said and reached out his hand for James to take. James gripped it tightly and they walked down the stairs together.

All of their belonging were either sold or coming with them. They had kept only the bare minimum and stuff Harry couldn't part with. James had two suitcases and a carry on while Harry only had one with his carry on. Both boys would get new clothes when they got to England.

James swore that he wasn't going to get on the plane when they got to the airport but in the end he did and sat right next to Harry on the whole plane ride.

Harry knew they could have just apparated, but he wanted to hold on to that last bit of normalcy before they were thrown back into a world that to Harry didn't even seem to make sense anymore.

James fell asleep on the plane and when he woke Harry was carrying him off the plane, both of their carryons in his hand. James had to carry his carryon and one of his suitcases while Harry carried the rest, Harry hailed a cab that took them to the leaky cauldron, where they could get some lunch and then walk to Hermione and Ron's apartment.


"Aunt Mione!" James practically screamed when she saw Hermione, now sporting short hair but she still looked like the bushy haired girl that Harry met on the train. He gave her a small smile which she returned before turning her attention back to James and pulled him into a hug.

"I missed you so much!" She cooed and picked him up as Ron came out of the bedroom with a grin on his face. He gave Harry a death grip hug and a clap on the back.

"Haven't seen you recently mate." Ron said with a raised eyebrow and Harry shrugged.

"Sorry, it's been kind of crazy since Ginny left." Harry admitted with a sheepish look on his face.

Hermione interjected, not wanting the two to start on that topic, she knew it was still hard for Harry to talk about it. "So, are you staying for good or is this just a short visit?" Hermione asked, though Harry had never been to visit them.

"This is for good. Next week we'll be moving on to Hogwarts and I'll start teaching." Harry said as he sat down the bags he was holding, he would stay with Hermione and Ron for the next week.

"That's great Harry, I'm glad you decided to come back to the wizarding world." Hermione said with a smile and passed James to Ron.

Ron crinkled his nose at the thought of Hogwarts, "so you'll be working for the dungeon bat?" Ron asked with a small scowl on his face. Snape had definitely made up for everything that he'd done to them as students but all three of them still couldn't shake the slight resentment they still held for him.

"I suppose, yeah, he's seems to be a lot nicer though. The letter he sent me was oddly pleasant." Harry said with a chuckle.

"You'll also be working along side Lucius Malfoy" Hermione added and when Harry gave her a puzzled look she continued. "You know, Draco's uncle? He's the new potions professor since Snape took Dumbedore's position. I heard he's scary and creepy as always." Hermine said with an eyeroll.

"I still don't understand why they made him a professor, he was in league with Voldemort." Ron said with a scowl.

James looked very confused, Harry hadn't told him any of this, James had never even heard the name Voldemort.

Harry let out a soft sigh at the mention of Lucius Malfoy, he had been hoping it would be mostly the same group of professors as when he went to school there but obviously it wasn't. "Let's talk about this later. How are Molly and Arthur?" Harry asked as they moved to sit on the couch.

"They're fine, they want all of us to go over for dinner tomorrow night. We don't have to though, I mean... Ginny will be there." Hermione mumbled the last bit and Harry tensed up a bit, he knew that he would have to see her but he hoped it wouldn't have been so soon.

"No, no, we should go. Molly and Arthur still haven't met James and Ginny hasn't seen him for a year." Harry said and James perked up.

"Mommy? We're going to see mommy?" He asked. James didn't have the clearest vision of her, he had been three the last time he saw her but he still liked to look at pictures of her and talk about her. He had been very confused when she left and Harry had to quit his job and take care of James.

Harry nodded with a smile to James, "yes, we're going to go see her." Harry said and his eyes glanced down at his ring finger were the gold band used to rest. He still had the ring, he even brought it with him. He couldn't bare to part with it almost as much as he couldn't bare to remember Ginny.

He still had a hard time thinking about the events that led up to their divorce. After the misscariage Ginny was constantly crying, even Harry had cried some, but after the third month and Ginny still would barely even bother to look at James of him Harry'd had enough.

They got into fight after fight until finally Ginny brought up divorce. Harry hadn't even thought about that, he thought that maybe she could go to therapy or that they could work something out, but it wasn't going to happen. Ginny had slapped him, thrown her ring at him, and announced that they were getting a divorce. It hadn't been hard to get full custody over James when Ginny hadn't even tried.

Ron put a hand softly on Harry's shoulder, "It'll be good for you mate." Ron promised.


A week later when Harry and James were walking up to the main doors of Hogwarts Harry felt more angry than he ever had in his entire life.

When they had gone to the burrow Ginny hadn't acknowledged him at all, not a hello, nor a smile, nor a glance. It was as if he wasn't even there.

James was incredibly excited to see her, he had immediately bounded over to Ginny and latched on to her. Ginny had tried to look happy to see him but Harry didn't believe in the fake smiled that she was giving him.

Just yesterday Harry had gotten a letter from Ginny that said she didn't want to have anything to do with neither him nor James. That she was moving on with her life. Harry had almost gone ballistic when he read that. He couldn't even imagine ever giving up James, simply forgetting that for four years of his life he was happily married to her.

This morning before Harry and James had apparated to Hogwarts Ron had decided that he agreed with Ginny, that she deserved the right to move on past what had happened and Harry had almost hexed him into next year. He had been just inches away from pulling his wand and before Hermione could say anything or Harry could do anything stupid he appareted them both away.

Now, Harry had a vice like grip on James's hand as he pulled the young boy along, not giving him time to marvel in how great Hogwarts was.

"Daddy, you're hurting me." James muttered when they walked into the main building, making Harry stop in his tracks and let go of James's hand.

Harry took a deep breath before kneeling next to James and picking him up. "Sorry Jamesy." He said and carried the small boy on his hip.

After a few more turns and up several staircases Harry found himself outside the head masters office, thankfully he hadn't run into anybody on his way.

James had been babbling about things as they walked, talking about all the pictures they saw, and extremely surprised when the paintings spoke to him.

Snape greeted the both of them when they came into his office.

"It's good to see you Harry." Snape greeted.

"Good to see you too, and this is my son, James." Harry said and James waved at Snape with a bright smile on his face. To Harry's surprise Snape didn't scowl at the child, it actually looked like he was kind of smiling.

"Nice to meet you James." Snape said and took a seat behind his headmasters desk, motioning for Harry to take a seat as well. "Not many things have changed while you were away, a few different teachers, but that's it. You're first class is in two weeks and I'm sure you know where the classroom is. You're quarters are near Gryffindor tower, you'll find them easy enough. If the room isn't big enough for the both of you let me know and arrangements can be made." Snape finished quickly and looked towards Harry to see if he had any questions.

"Sounds great," was the only thing Harry could think to say, he didn't really have any questions, that or his mind was just drawing a blank.

"Dinner should be soon, you should head down to the Great Hall, James can eat at the head table with the rest of the professors." Snape said and Harry nodded, standing with James still on his hip.

"Thank you Professor Snape." Harry said with a small smile, probably the first smile he'd ever given the man.

"Harry, you're not a student anymore, you can call me Severus." Snape said with a low chuckle.

Harry nodded, he hadn't even thought about it but if would probably be hard to call his old professors by their first names. "Alright, thank you Severus." Harry said and James gave Severus a wave.

"Bye, bye, Sev-rus." James said, trying to sound out the name as he said it, it brought the same small smile to Severus's lips and with that Harry ducked out of the room.

"I like him." James announced as they left which made Harry laugh.

"Good, I'm glad you do." Harry said and made his way to the Great Hall, it was a familiar walk that he felt like he'd done a thousand times.

Harry was glad to see that Snape had lightened up over the years, he really wasn't that old and without the angry lines across his face Harry definitely thought he was more attractive, in a friendly way of thinking.

"This place is huge!" James explained, throwing his arms up for emphasis while speaking.

"It is huge, we'll be staying here for a while too. Is that alright with you?" Harry asked. He wasn't really offering James a choice, he just wanted to know what the toddler thought of the place.

Harry was worried that James would get bored without anyone to play with all day but Harry figured he could probably tag along with some students when school started back up. Harry would have to put some sort of charm on James to make sure he always knew where the boy was, other then that Harry would let him have free roam of the castle. He figured it was the least he could offer him, not letting him get lonely cooped up in their quarters all day long.

James nodded eagerly and squirmed to try and get out of Harry's grip on him. As soon as James's feet were on the floor he was at least ten paces ahead of Harry, trying to get a look at all the paintings as he went by.

James babbled amiably with all the people in the paintings and shied away from the scarier ones, but Harry could tell he was trying to make friends with all of them, it brought a grin to his face. He knew James would do well finding friends at Hogwarts.

Harry couldn't remember aver hearing of a teacher having children at Hogwarts, it always seemed like if you decided to teach here you were giving up on having a family. Eventually Harry knew he would have to leave teaching at Hogwarts, James would need a mother figure to grow up with. There were plenty of women and female students at Hogwarts but Harry just wasn't sure if that was enough to take the place of the hole that Ginny had left in both of them.

The Great Hall came into view and Harry called James back to his side and pulled him up so he was resting on Harry's hip once again.

They were a few minutes early for dinner so Harry hadn't seen anyone in the halls as the two walked. He was a bit nervous to see all of his old professors, and make nice with the new ones. He knew he would have to find at least one that he could get along with who could teach him how to plan out lessons and such, Harry was fairly sure that in the muggle world you needed more education than simply defeating Voldemort to teach.

With a deep breath Harry pushed open the doors to Great Hall.

James gazed about in wonder at the size of the room whereas Harry felt as if the grandeur of the room had worn off with his age.

The head table was full, it figured for professors to always be early. The only spots open were a spot that Harry knew was Severus's and a spot in between McGonigall and a blonde man that Harry couldn't recognize from behind. James would have an easy time sitting on Harry's lap or squeezing in between.

At the closing of the doors everyone turned their heads to Harry and he let out a sigh at the sea of familiar faces, there were almost no knew professors. This would make things a lot easier for Harry.

Harry immediately began to hear happy shouts of his name and he broke into a smile, for the first time since Ginny left Harry felt like he was at home.

Hagrid was the first person to greet Harry, standing and walking to pull both Harry and James into a one armed hug that still managed to crush the two. James looked terrified as the giant of a man pulled away and Hagrid let out a booming laugh at the sight of James's face.

"Good to see ya 'arry, 'nd this is?" Hagrid asked.

"James, my son." Harry said and with a reassuring smile at James the toddler gave a small smile at Hagrid.

"I'm four." James announced, extremely proud of the fact as any four year old would be. Hagrid let out another booming laugh and slapped Harry on the back before taking his seat again.

As Harry took the only open seat everyone around him started with a barrage of questions. James had a dopey smile on his face as Harry spoke with the people around him, only occasionally would James interject with something he found very important to say. Usually nothing James had to say was important but to a four year old almost everything was.

"It's good to have you back." McGonagall said with a small and knowing smirk on her lips as if she knew this was going to happen.

"It's good to be back." Harry said with a smile.

"I'm James." James introduced himself and stuck his hand out at McGonagall, practically hitting her in the face. McGonagall shook his hand lightly which made James beam.

After the chatter centered around Harry died down and Harry was focused on cutting James sized portions of the food. An extra plate had been added for James.

"Potter, I don't think we've formally met." The man to Harry's left said after all the talk died down.

Harry turned his head to greet the man and turned white. Lucius Malfoy. Draco Malfoy's satan spawn of an uncle who pretty much was the sole ruiner of Harry's life other than the nephew himself and Voldemort.

"W-we've met." Harry muttered, he could tell that Lucius was trying to be polite by reintroducing himself but just looking at the man's face was making him nauseous.

"Daddy I'm full," James complained at just the right moment and Harry gathered James up in his arms, sparing Lucius one last glance before skirting out of the Great Hall.


Only when Harry was in his quarters did the sick feeling go away. Thankfully some paintings had been able to point his way to his room and James had fallen asleep on the walk.

The apartment was simple, you walked into a large living room with couches scattered and a fire place against on wall, from there was a hall with two bedrooms, an office, and a bathroom. One of the bedrooms was obviously for James as all of his suitcases were in the room and the bed was tiny, Harry lay James down to sleep before walking to his own room.

Harry took a seat on his bed and buried his head in his hands with a groan of frustration.

Harry kept trying to think of good things, like that since Severus was so different, maybe Lucius Malfoy had also changed, but thinking about Lucius made his nauseous again so Harry busied himself with unpacking.

At eight Harry heard a knock on the door. He looked down at his state of dress, he was simply in pajama pants and a tee shirt but figured that was acceptable for someone who was showing up at eight in the evening.

Harry poked his head into James's room as he walked to the living room and with a check that he was sound asleep, pushed the door closed.

Harry was a little mad that he didn't have windows or a peephole or anything to tell him if he really wanted to open the door, a part of him was telling him just to ignore it, but he didn't. Harry pulled the door open and immediately regretted it.

"Potter, I wanted to-" Harry cut him off by slamming the door but Lucius had wedged his foot in it so let out a wince when the door harshly collided with his foot. "Damn." Lucius muttered and Harry sighed, pushing the man out of the room and following after him, closing the door behind him.

"What do you want?" Harry asked with a scowl on his face and his eyes down cast.

Harry couldn't wrap his mind around why Hogwarts would want Lucius Malfoy to teach here, the man had almost been sent to Azkaban for the rest of his life and then some!

"I just wanted to apologize." Lucius said with a wince as he tried to shift his weight onto his damaged foot.

"You're apology is not accepted, can you leave now?" Harry asked and the blonde sighed, trying to come up with something to say.

"Can we at least start fresh? I know my nephew was always horrid to you and that I was one of the worst people you knew, but I promise you I've changed." Lucius swore.

Harry mulled his words over for a moment before giving a slight nod. "I'm Harry Potter." Harry said.

"Lucius Malfoy." Lucius introduced himself in earnest almost as if it was his first time meeting Harry.

"Nice to meet you Malfoy, now please leave my son and I alone." Harry said angrily and went back into his quarters, slamming the door in Lucius's face.