AN:
Hi guys! So this is the start to a new story that I have been writing for about a year and a half. It has taken its sweet time. I think it will probably be a short one. I have it planned to cover another two or so chapters similar in length to this one, but If it takes another turn I may take it further
I believe the characters personalities are going to come out quite similar to the personalities in my story 'Going Home' but they are two different stories and are not actually related to each other, so they won't be the same.
Anyhow tell me what you think- constructive criticism is always fab

xoxo –SSMPP-

There is nothing new under the sun

Chapter 1: A familiar stranger
-

"James." Harry knocked at his son's bedroom door.

It was now almost the second week of Hogwarts's Christmas Holidays and Harry had not seen James for more than about 30 seconds at a time, other than for meals, and even then his son would scoff down his food and excuse himself from the table before the rest of his family were even two thirds of a way through their own meals.

At first he and Ginny had thought it best to let James have his space.
He was a teenager; they got moody and needed their space and…stuff, right? But this self-exiled, socially recluse behavior was so unlike James.
There had been no bickering with Al, No midnight snacking with Lily, he wouldn't even have come downstairs to see his cousins and Teddy the three times that they had already visited unless Ginny hadn't have made him. But even then, James hadn't even put up a fight like he normally would have, being made do something he didn't want too.
He had just accepted his mother's 'request' with a quick nod of his head and came and sat downstairs. Just sat there. He hadn't even spoken with Fred or Louis, who, although his cousins were two of his best friends. Fred and Louis in turn, had ignored James as well.

All his cousins and siblings had talked and joked with one another, occasionally one would send an irritated glance James' way, another would send a slightly puzzled or concerned one. He didn't even want to play Quiditch with them. Being one of the eldest and best players, James had always been one of the main instigators of a family game of Quiditch.
Now, though? Nothing.

Harry had pulled both Albus and Lily aside separately after the first visit, to try to get some answers as to why James seemed to be at odds with just about everyone.
They had both given fairly similar answers, that James had been acting like a prat since about two weeks into term and was more concerned with himself and study than he was in anyone or anything else and that everyone was getting sick 'stuck up, self-righteousness'.
James, although slightly egotistical at times, would have to be one of the least self-righteous people Harry knew.
Albus had come to him later on that evening and had admitted that although he was "fairly pissed off with him, he was also slightly worried".
Just before the holidays, James had apparently quit the Gryffindor quiditch team, which he had been playing on since he was in his 2nd year as a Chaser.
The Quiditch captain apparently had almost cried when James had told him and had tried to get the Head of Gryffindor house to make James withdraw his resignation.

This new development had concerned Harry and Ginny.
James loved Quiditch and with good reason; he was an absolutely amazing player.
Why on earth would he have wanted to give that up? He had always done quite well in his classes but was by no means interested in being studious. Or he hadn't been before, at least.
What had changed?

What had really topped off his concern was when Heath Jordan, James' best friend since his first year, and brother in everything other than blood, had Flooed onto their hearth the morning before.

#the previous morning#

"Heath, sweetie, it's so nice to see you!" Ginny had welcomed, "James is up in his room, go on up, he'll be pleased to see you."
Heath had smiled sadly. "Actually, Mrs P, that's kinda' what I'm here about." He had replied. "You see, I…the thing is…James wouldn't be happy to see me. Quite the opposite, really…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey, James has been exceptionally moody lately, are you two on the outs?" Ginny asked, sympathetically, knowing what it's like to be at odds with a friend.

"No, it's not like that, Mrs P, It's…look; I'm just really worried about him. He's not…he's not himself. Something's not right with him. I can't say much, loyalty and all that, but he's my best friend, Mrs P, just…just he's been having all these detentions…and..."

"Detentions?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have thought detentions were all that out of the ordinary for him." He said with a wry smile, "Or for you, for that matter."

"Not these sorts," Heath said, almost desperately. "Look, you don't understand. All James does these days is go to his detentions and study. He doesn't talk, he doesn't play Quiditch…hell, I can't even remember the last time he actually got more than a few hours of sleep at night, if he even goes to bed at all! The teachers all think it's perfectly wonderful, all they see is less trouble and top of the class grades, but they don't know, they don't get it! I just…talk to him. Please. He won't talk to me. Fix his hand, and for God's sake, please make sure he gets a proper night's sleep.

Harry was rather apprehensive at this stage. Ginny as well.

"Heath." Harry said his voice hard and eyes dark with concern. "What's going on? I know you know more than what you're telling us. I can't help James if I don't know what's wrong."

Heath shook his head. "I shouldn't be here. James will kill me when he finds out I spoke to you. Just please do something." With that, he turned quickly and disappeared back through the fireplace, Harry and Ginny both unable to stop him.

#End#

Harry had been tempted to follow Heath through the Floo and demand to know what was going on, but Ginny had convinced him that it might be a better idea just to ask James. But first, he wanted to speak to Lily and Albus again. He had found them together out on the makeshift Quiditch pitch in their backyard, where they were practicing together in a game of one on one Quiditch. When they noticed him he called them down.

"You gonna come up and play?" asked Al, as soon as he had touched the ground.

"Yeah," said Lily, "We could do with an extra player and it's not like Sir Antisocial is going to."
Albus snorted but didn't say anything.

"Maybe later," Harry replied absently. "Actually, I wanted to speak to you guys about James."

"James?" asked Lily, "I don't know any James." Harry rolled his eyes. He understood that Lily was upset with James at the moment but he wasn't particularly in the mood for mind games and his concern for his son was making him frustrated with Lily's attitude.

"James. As in your brother James, Lily" He said impatiently.

"Nope, still not ringing a bell." She replied stubbornly. "Oh wait! James! You mean our family ignoring, stupid team abandoning git of a so called brother James" She exclaimed mockingly. "Oh yes, I know who you mean now." Harry sighed.

"Give it a rest, Lily" Albus sighed, though Harry could tell that he was slightly amused. Lily stuck her tongue out at him. "What is it Dad?"

"It's…" He ran a hand wearily through his hair. "It's…can either of you think of anything that could be bothering James, something that could explain his sudden change in behavior?" They both shook their heads.

"It's not like it's that sudden," Lily said, "I mean, he's been like this practically all term."

"As far as I'm concerned, Lily, that counts as pretty sudden." Harry replied bluntly.

"Yeah," Albus agreed, "he was completely normal at the end of summer."

"Has anything happened at the school? Was James involved in any…er…situations."

"Like, what sort of situation, Dad?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I'm lost, what do you mean?" Albus seconded.

Harry wasn't really sure what he meant either. But there were a couple of things that Heath had said that morning that had particularly bothered him.
As a general rule, it didn't worry him, his kids having detentions. It was a fairly normal thing to have a detention every now and then whilst at school, just as long as they weren't causing too much trouble, but Harry got the impression from what Heath had said that James was in detention a lot. What on earth could he be doing to warrant so many? Especially if James was Studying hard and at the top of his classes? And usually, if students gained too many detentions in one term, the parents were sent an owl by the head of their House. Harry knew this because he and Ginny had received plenty about James in previous years. But this year, they hadn't received a single on.
Up until now, he and Ginny had taken this as a good sign.
But there was something else that Heath had said that had caught his attention; what did Heath mean by 'fix his hand'? He felt like it was obvious, but he just couldn't see it and it was scratching around in the back of his head making him anxious.

"Heath was here this morning." Harry said finally. "He said…" God, Harry felt stupid saying this. He wasn't that parent. He didn't want to be nosing into his Son's life like this. "He said that James has been having a lot of detention-more than usual I mean" He finished eventually. "What could he possibly be doing that would concern Heath of all people?"

Lily scoffed.

"Filthy Hypocrite" She said darkly, "James did his block at me the other week for landing in detention! And he's been getting them all term? Stupid ponce!" She scoffed again.

Albus raised his eyebrows.

"Perfect Lily Potter?" He asked with mock surprise. "Detention? Surely not!" He laughed, "Honestly Lil, what could you have possibly done to land yourself in detention? Spelled a Professors name incorrectly, did you?"

Lily sniffed with an air of faux indignation "I'll have you know I'm perfectly capable of landing myself a detention, thankyou very much. And as to why, brother dear, I believe that is none of your business."

"As if a detention for you is even a real detention." Albus shook his head. "What did they have you do, huh? Pet fluffy animals or something?"

Lily pretended to glare at her brother but then abruptly broke eye contact and looked away. "Actually," she said, eventually, "I didn't even have to go to it in the end." Harry's eyebrows shot up and he laughed.

"God, Lil, I knew you'd have your professors wrapped around your little finger," He admitted with another chuckle, "but I must admit, that's good, even for you."

Harry was rather impressed but Albus looked outraged.

"WHAT?" He demanded. "That is so unfair! How the hell did you manage that?" He had received his fair share of detentions over his few years at Hogwarts, though never as many as James had nor his cousin Fred. Generally, all had been deserved for one indiscretion or another and he could honestly say that they were usually worth it. It had never even crossed his mind to try and worm his way out of one and the fact that his little sister had seemingly managed to do it with ease frustrated him to no end.

Lily looked away and mumbled something incomprehensible.

"Huh?" Albus queried.

"err…" she started, "I kinda didn't manage anything."

"So…what?" Albus asked confused. "You just didn't turn up and they forgot all about it" That seemed unlikely, even where Lily was concerned.

"Well, no," She said hesitantly, "James sorta got me out of it…which was weird." She shook her head. "Don't ask me how he managed it because I don't have a clue. What I want to know, though, is why? Why on earth would it even worry him; detention has never bothered him before. I honestly would have thought he would have been proud."
She would never have admitted it to anyone, barely even to herself, but she had been upset that James hadn't congratulated her on her first ever detention. In fact he'd done quite the opposite. She wasn't even sure how he'd found out about it but somehow he had. He'd come storming through the portrait door that evening, sought her out and immediately started yelling at her. It was just a detention! What a hypocritical arse.

"After He'd had his little hissy fit…..I, dunno…he got all weird." She tried to explain. "He got all quiet and concerned and was rambling on about something to himself."
"Then he told me 'not to worry' and that I didn't have to go to my detention, that he'd 'sort it out', then he turned around and stormed back out of the portrait hole again."

"Just like that?" Albus asked incredulously. "James fixed it so you didn't have to go."

"Well , yeah." Lily replied. "I still turned up but the teacher didn't so I left after about fifteen minutes."

"But you didn't ask James how he'd managed it?" Harry asked, feeling slightly incredulous himself.

"I tried to!" she said, "but James just laughed it off and avoided me after that."

"Oh. My. God," Albus said, a giant grin on his face. "I think I know what's going on."

"What?" Harry and Lily asked in unison.

"James," Albus replied, still smirking, "is…Sleeping with a professor!" He burst into laughter and Lily joined him. Harry wasn't amused.

"That's not funny, Albus!" He snapped. He didn't really think that that was what was going on, but the idea of his fourteen year old son sleeping with a teacher made him sick.

"Hey! He could be!" Albus, said, not letting up, "It would make sense. He's not really in detention at all! The kids just having scandalous evening rendezvous with his professors to get top marks!"

"I said that wasn't funny Albus!" Harry said sharply glowering at is son.

Albus shrunk back slightly under his father's glare.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, half raising his hands in surrender, "I'm just joking."

Harry sighed and rand a hand through his hair again, "I know. I know. It's just…" He sighed again. "You two go back to your game, I'm going to speak to your mother again."

Albus and Lily watched the retreating form of their father as he re-entered the house.

"James is alright though, isn't he Al?" Lily asked her brother.

"'Course he is, Lil," he replied, "'course he is." But Lily didn't think he looked as sure as he sounded.