Wow, I can't believe the reviews I got! I've been off for a minute so just noticed I had them, thank you so much! Also, I realize that I'm portraying Lucius as totally ooc, I hope that's okay :)
First off though, I got a review from a guest that I would like to asses real quick:
Linda, I totally understand what you meant saying that Harry would be trying to spend all of his time with his son and not getting drunk instead. I'm trying to portray him in this sort of light that I have going, where you see that he can be a dutiful father but at the same time he's just a kid so it's easy for him to be a little unnatentative and to make bad judgement calls. This will play a role later in the story I hope this makes sense! Thank you though for calling me out :)
-Annes
Chapter four.
"Harry, I think four shots is enough." Lucius said with a chiding and fatherly tone in his voice. Harry simply stuck out his tongue as he downed one last.
"I can't believe we got smashed." Harry muttered and set down the glass. It was barely six in the evening, the two had skipped right over dinner and Harry hadn't complained.
"You got smashed Harry, I think I can hold my liquor a little better than a child." Lucius said with an eye roll and Harry slumped back into the couch.
"I'm not a child." Harry pouted which brought a laugh to Lucius's lips.
"If you think I'm old, than you are most definitely a child." Lucius explained and the pout further covered Harry's face.
"I never said you were that old." Harry protested.
Lucius gave another roll of his steel blue eyes and Harry leaned up against him, like he had been earlier at the lake. "Do you think James is alright with McGonagall?" Harry asked and Lucius nodded.
"I'm sure she's teaching him all kinds of things that could get him into trouble." Lucius assured and Harry covered his eyes with his arm.
"I hope she's alright with keeping him for at least another hour. I'll probably fall right to sleep once we get to our quarters." Harry said and Lucius tentatively put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "At least we had fun though." Harry announced, not unlike how James announced things that he thought were important.
"That we did." Lucius said as he glanced around the small room. Lucius had abandoned his robes on the armchair and a bottle of firewhiskey lay on the floor, it was messier than Lucius was used to but not bad.
"Thank you for keeping me entertained." Harry said with a small smirk.
"Come over anytime." Lucius said and before he could react Harry pressed his lips lightly against Lucius's. The contact caused him to jump but all to soon it was over.
"That's you're payment for the firewhiskey." Harry said with a chuckle and Lucius turned red. He had to remind himself that Harry wouldn't remember any of this in the morning, that Harry was completely smashed.
Harry did remember what he had done, and it weighed on him.
The next morning he woke with a pounding headache and as soon as he remembered what he had done, booked it to the restroom where all of yesterdays food came up. Harry wiped his mouth and gargled before running a comb through his hair and going to wake James, he had actually woken up earlier than the boy for once.
"Jamesy," Harry called to rouse him from sleep. James' eyes fluttered and he looked around for a moment before sitting up with a smile, Harry was always surprised at how much of a morning person James was. Just like a Slytherin the way he always got up early and made sure that he looked nice, James was always very worried about how he looked so as to impress others, Harry thought it was cute.
"Morning." James mumbled and scooted out of bed. Harry helped him into a pair of red cotton pants and an oversized tee shirt, Harry dressed himself in more or less the same.
At breakfast Harry took an awkward seat next to Lucius, he knew the man remembered what happened last night as he had been sober but Harry was smashed, so even if it had only been the alcohol Harry still felt awkward about it.
"Morning Harry." Lucius greeted with a grin, Harry tried to return it but it only half formed.
Morning." He returned in a monotonous tone whereas James beamed up at Lucius and announced 'good morning lu-shus', sounding like 'luscious' instead of 'Lucius'. That brought a chuckle to Lucius' lips and Harry found himself staring at the lips that he had kissed the night before for just a moment too long, Lucius raised an eyebrow to Harry, who quickly looked away.
This was going to be a long school year.
Two weeks later, school has been in session for a week.
Harry has having a surprisingly good time with his new teaching job. He had made a list of everything he had gone over according to year, just so he would know what to teach the students, and for his birthday he had gotten several good guides on teaching and the Dark Arts.
Harry hadn't spoken to Lucious anymore then he had to over the past few weeks and Harry was thankful that Gryffindor Tower and the dungeons were fairly far away, they only say each other during meals and Harry tried to make quick work of those.
James was having a ball, during classes he would sit in on one of the lectures, usually he would be in Harry's class but James had also snuck off to McGonagall a few times. James would trail after a couple of students in the halls and would wonder around during meal times, making friends. The girls all adored James so he always had someone to be with.
The students had all been very surprised to see the Harry Potter as their new teacher and the chatter still hadn't died down after four and a half days of lessons.
Harry was currently sitting at his desk, located at the front of the room while his students wrote papers on what they already knew. It was a class full of first year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw so Harry wasn't much paying attention to them, they weren't the type to speak when they weren't supposed to or cause a ruckus.
Harry wasn't sure where James had gone off to. McGonagall had seventh year Slytherin and Gryffindor this hour and James was terrified of seventh year Slytherin (who wasn't?) so Harry had ruled that out as an option. That was really the only class Harry could think James would be in, he wasn't that close with any of the other teachers.
He was drawn from his thoughts when a Ravenclaw timidly spoke up, "Professor Potter, what will you have us do when we're finished?" She asked, nervously trying not to mess up her words. Most of the first years were intimidated by everyone.
"Set them on my desk and you may work on other classes assignments or read." Harry instructed and the girl walked down to set the paper on his desk, he gave her a small, reassuring smile which made her light up and she walked back to her seat more confident than before.
"I need to step out for a moment, please try to stay on task." Harry said and stood up from his desk, walking towards the door, intent on finding James. He was curious if the class would stay quiet while he was away or if it would be like when he was a first year and the moment a teacher stepped away it was chaos.
An idea had crept into Harry's mind while trying to think or where James may be and with a small sigh he walked down the still unfamiliar steps to the dungeon, more precisely, the potions classroom.
The silent treatment Harry had been treating Lucius with had not also spread to James, the boy still animatedly exchanged pleasantries with Lucius every morning and whenever they sat each other. Harry didn't particularly like the thought of James in the potions classroom.
Harry heard an unfamiliar amount of chatter coming from the potions classroom and as he poked his head in he saw students talking among themselves as they brewed. A completely different brewing atmosphere than what Harry'd had with Snape.
James was standing on a chair at Lucius' desk as the man showed him how to brew a potion. James was animatedly stirring the concoction and the pair didn't notice as Harry got closer.
Lucius glanced up once Harry started to get close and gave him a small smile. "Looking for James?" Lucius asked and James looked up from his potion.
"Daddy," James said excitedly. "Lu-shush is showing me how to make a...," James trailed off, unsure of what he was actually making, his eyes flitted up to Lucius' for help.
"It's just a babbling beverage. Nothing dangerous." Lucius explained.
Harry grimaced a bit, "like he needs to talk more." Harry said with a small sigh but he smiled when he saw just how excited James looked at the prospect of brewing.
"Can I stay here daddy?' James asked with a pleading look on his face, fearing that Harry was going to make him leave.
Harry glanced at Lucius, "is that alright Lucius?" Harry asked, he didn't want to be a nuisance.
"Of course, it's perfectly fine." Lucius said.
James continued to bring up something that Harry desperately didn't want Lucius to know about, "Daddy, lu-shus should come with us to London tomorrow." James exclaimed with one of the largest smiles Harry'd ever seen the little boy give.
"You're going to London tomorrow?" Lucius asked with a tweaked brow as he took up stirring the potion that James had forgotten about.
"Yeah, I need some stuff, muggle stuff.' Harry said with a slight shrug. He really didn't want Lucius to come, but the option was out there now and James obviously wanted Lucius along. Harry thought things would just be too awkward with them out together after the kiss, not that Lucius had even mentioned it, but still.
"I suppose I can go, if you'll have me." Lucius responded with and turned the burner for the cauldron off, finishing the potion and bottling it.
Harry bit back a sigh and nodded, "of course we'll have you, we'll leave tomorrow morning." Harry said and Lucius handed James the potions, the toddler took it eagerly.
Harry pulled Lucius into his arms, "see you later Lucius." Harry said and Lucius gave him a smile as he walked away.
At nine Harry was dressed and ready to go, he skipped breakfast as he had an upset feeling churning away and he had the house elves bring him and James a breakfast. James seemed glad to be able to just eat with his dad for once.
Harry had on a pair of navy cotton jeans, cuffed, and a white button down to maintain a semblance of professionalism. Harry had a list of things to pick up while in London that he slipped into his wallet and with that he left the room.
Lucius was just leaving the Great Hall when Harry and James found him. James immediately ran over and latched onto Lucius so he was gripping the fabric of Lucius' pants as they walked.
"Hey, are you ready to go?" Harry asked Lucius as he bent and picked James up to rest on his hip.
Lucius nodded and they walked towards the entrance to the school it what Harry would describe as an uncomfortable silence.
Harry had gotten permission from Severus last night to leave campus for a few hours, it was a weekend so the three wouldn't be missing much.
"Should we apparate to the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked and Lucius nodded, with a crack they were there.
Luciuc instinctively reached out to balance Harry when they arrived at the Cauldron and Harry gave him a small smile of thanks. James handled the apparition surprisingly well and was right back to talking away when they arrived. Harry was glad that James was often able to break the silence, he was going off about some 5th year girl now, a quiet girl names Petunia that had apparently read a book to James in the library, the four year old seemed positively in love.
The Cauldron was crowded as always and same as before, Lucius and Harry got stares from almost everyone in attendance. Thankfully the Weasley's weren't there this time so nothing stopped them from walking right through to London.
"I haven't been to London recently, do you know where you're going?" Lucius asked as he glanced around.
Lucius had opted to wear black slacks and a white button so he wasn't standing out too much, though Harry had to admit Lucius was quite good looking, so they weren't completely inconspicuous.
"I have my map." Harry said and to Lucius' wonder Harry pulled his smart phone out of his back pocket. Harry didn't use it for making calls anymore but the GPS on it worked well so after punching in the names of a couple stored he wanted to stop at he hailed a cab.
"What in Merlin's name is that?" Lucius asked with a raised eyebrow as Harry pulled James into the cab and Lucius took a seat next to them.
"Just a cell phone." Harry said with a shrug and rattled off an address to the cab driver.
Lucius gave Harry an eye roll, trying to convey his thought of how the hell would I know what that is?
"How about I explain it to you later to we don't seem completely barmy." Harry said with a slight chuckle.
James pressed his face up against the glass of the window as they were driven deeper into the heart of London, Lucius had a tweaked eyebrow at everything they passed and the cab drive finished in a comfortable silence.
"Twenty seven fifty." The driver stated as they rolled to a stop and Harry handed him thirty as they got out.
"It has been way too long since I've been here." Lucius mumbled as he glanced around. The streets were packed and the stained sidewalks were littered with people. Harry kept James held close at his side and reached to grab Lucius by the wrist.
"Stay close," Harry warned but didn't let go of Lucius' wrist, just in case.
The first thing Harry needed was general snacks for James. As a two year old, James had a hard time sticking to planned meal times and when they lived in the States it was more eating when you felt like it. Harry figured they should have some things to keep James going when he was hungry- that wouldn't involve bothering the house elves.
There's was an Aldi's just around the corner from the mall Harry wanted to stop in as well. He had severely misjudged the amount of professional wear he had and being the stubborn teacher he was who wouldn't wear the professors robes, he needed to buy more clothing. There was one more thing that Harry had to purchase, he would need to make sure Lucius and James were distracted while he bought it though.
"Where are we headed?" Lucius asked as he kept an eye on everything that was going on around him. He much preferred the wizarding world to this loud and dirty muggle one. He didn't have the same disdain for muggle's that he used to carry, but he didn't find them to be as nice of company as wizards.
"Supermarket." Is all Harry replied with, as if Lucius was supposed to know exactly what that meant.
He had a few ideas, though they all involved something fairly magical. What Lucius wasn't prepared for was how utterly plain and boring this so called 'Supermarket' actually was. People were spilling through the doors in massive quantities like it was something magical but to Lucius it was just shelves of organized food.
It took Harry only a few minutes to get oriented in the store, he sat James in the cart and kept his grip on Lucius as he pushed. A few years ago Harry would have been just as lost as Lucius seemed to be, but supermarkets weren't that hard to get used to, they were all organized in mostly the same way and Aldi seemed to be close to the American Albertson's.
Lucius allowed himself to be pulled along by Harry, not seeing any reason to put up a fight. He knew he would probably get lost if Harry stopped guiding him. In the wizarding world he was top bitch, here, not so much.
Lucius watched in a wonder as Harry pulled items into the cart, all while keeping James occupied and whisking him along. Harry truly was good at multi-tasking. Lucius supposed that was just what came with being a single father.
"Ready to go?" Harry asked Lucius, pulling him out of his thoughts. Lucius gave a nod and Harry started to push the cart back towards where the entrance was.
"How are you going to carry all that stuff?" Lucius asked with a raised brow at the practically full cart.
"I'm going to cheat." Harry said with a small wink that he soon regretted. Why am I so comfortable around him? Harry questioned himself with a sigh.
After everything was paid for Harry ushered Lucius and James into the public restroom, taking one last look around before walking in, making sure no one was looking at them. The restroom was empty and with a slight mutter the bags were gone.
"Isn't that a little risky?" Lucius asked incredulously.
"How so?" Harry asked, pulling James back up onto his hip.
"What if someone saw you come in with the bags and leave without them?" Lucius asked.
"It's the muggle world, weirder things have happened." Harry stated with a grin and reached for Lucius' wrist again. Their hands touched and Harry gripped Lucius', not letting the man wander. Harry wasn't particularly worried about Lucius getting lost, he just didn't want to have to wait for him or anything. Harry really wanted to just be in and out of London.
The trio walked around the block, dodging people and saying the occasional sorry as they bumped into people, being in London made Lucius feel entirely ungraceful.
Lucius was greeted by a store even larger than the one they had just been in, while not really just one store, more like forty stores inside one building.
"I need to get some more clothes for work." Harry stated as he pulled Lucius into a store with large lit up letters on the outside that read 'H&M'. Lucius hadn't the slightest as to what that might mean but he figured it was a clothing store from all the clothing.
"This is odd." Lucius muttered as he looked around.
"I was surprised by this kind of thing at first too. No one wear's robes around here." Harry explained as James started to fidget a bit in his grasp.
Harry set James down and handed him the cell phone he had used earlier. "James this will only take a bit, would you mind being really patient?" Harry asked with a reassuring smile.
James turned the phone on, expertly for a toddler and nodded with a grin. Harry didn't usually let James play with things like a cell phone but at the same time he didn't want James to be screaming by the end of this. James found a windowsill to sit in and started playing on the phone.
Most people would think Harry was an atrocious parent for letting his kid sit alone in a department store but Harry had quite a few magical tracking devices on James, if the boy moved even ten feet Harry would know. These same charms didn't work at Hogwarts because of the schools own charms.
"Will he be alright?" Lucius asked.
"I have charms on him. He should stay rooted to that seat until we're finished." Harry said with a shrug. It was about twelve in the afternoon as well so Harry didn't have to worry much about someone kidnapping James, most people were off to lunch, not that any muggle could kidnap the savior of the wizarding worlds son while keeping their life.
Harry began looking through racks of clothing, Lucius followed closely behind, glancing at everything as Harry piled it up onto his arm to try on. "You should try some stuff on too." Harry suggested and Lucius was slightly taken aback.
"I wouldn't even know where to start." Lucius replied a bit sheepishly and with a small grin Harry gave Lucius a once over before handing the man a few things.
"This stuff should fit you, and should look alright." Harry muttered to himself as he started shopping for both of them.
When Harry was satisfied they both had about eight garments and only because Harry asked very nicely and flashed the dressing room girl an award winning smile, where they allowed in with that many things.
"Just try everything on, if you like it I'll get it for you." Harry said with a small smile. Merlin, I've warmed up to him quickly.
"Oh guys- before you go in!" The dressing room attendant called with a slightly flushed look on her face. "There's only the handicapped dressing room left, you could share it if you want, or you could wait." She said rather sheepishly.
"That's totally fine, we can share?" Harry asked Lucius with a raised eyebrow. Lucius didn't really know what that meant so shrugged his shoulders with a nod.
"Great, sorry for the inconvenience." She said and Harry flashed her one last smile before they walked into the men's side of the dressing room. There were only three small rooms including the handicapped one and Harry pulled Lucius into it. As expected it was quite large, enough to easily fit two people.
"So, I just put all this on?" Lucius asked as he followed what Harry was doing and hung everything up on the racks provided.
"Yup, sorry if this is awkward. I figured it would be alright." Harry said with a small shrug as he toed off his shoes and started to unbutton his shirt.
"Oh not, it's fine." Lucius said and they left it at that as they both stripped.
Harry tried his hardest not to steal glances at Lucius but it was hard not to. The man was sculpted. Harry took a deep breath as his eyes ghosted over Lucius' perfect ass, only concealed under one more thin layer of clothing. Am I really going to day dream about his ass now? Harry thought with a sign and pulled on a pair of cotton jeans he'd grabbed.
After Ginny left Harry had come to terms with the fact the he was gay, he still loved Ginny, but she was probably the only girl he would ever love.
Harry was pulled from his thoughts about Ginny when he saw that Lucius had a pair of the jeans on. Oh Merlin does his ass look perfect in those jeans.
"Do these fit right?" Lucius as, looking at the jeans in the mirror.
"Yeah totally, you look hot." Harry said before he could stop himself. His face turned red and for a moment Lucius looked shocked, it slowly melted away into a smirk.
"Thanks." Lucius replied and buttoned up the shirt he'd grabbed as well.
Harry thankfully made it through the rest of their changing session without saying anything embarrassing.
"I think I'll get all of this. Is there anything you wanted?" Harry asked. He personally thought Lucius had looked great in everything he tried on but wasn't about to say it.
"I'm not sure. I'm not really used to wearing clothing like this." Lucius said with a small shrug.
"I'll just get it all for you." Harry stated and Lucius looked a little shocked but gave a small half nod.
"I can pay for my own stuff by the way." Lucius added.
"No you can't." Harry stated and Lucius looked confused. Harry stood on his toes and whispered into Lucius' ear. "I'm almost sure you only have Galleon's on you." Harry said with a chuckle before grabbing the clothes from Lucius. "Will you go round up James while I pay for this?" Harry asked and Lucius nodded with a slight blush on his face.
James was enjoying a large cup of frozen yogurt while the three sat at a bench in the mall. Harry had the one bag by his feet as he looked around at all the unfamiliar faces around him.
He was feeling oddly comfortable around Lucius today, which was odd because just yesterday he'd been dreading doing this. Lucius was drumming his fingers lightly on his pant leg, sitting in a nice silence.
"Mate!" Harry heard a ruckus from behind him and in no time two familiar red heads were standing in front of him.
"Ron, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed with a wide smile. He still felt a little odd towards Ron but he was happy to see him all the same. Harry stood and enveloped them both in a hug.
James lost hold of his frozen yogurt in excitment, though thankfully Lucius caught it.
"Uncle Ron! Aunt Mione!" James practically shouted and latched himself onto the two of them.
"What are you two doing here?" Harry asked, the grin not leaving his face.
"Mione heard about a sale at one of her girly stores and she just had to bring me. There was a Quidditch game today too." Ron said with a slight frown, but it was wiped away when Hermione thunked him on the back of the head.
"What about you Harry?" Mione inquired, her eyes landed on Lucius and she added, "and mister Malfoy." Pleasantly. Lucius obviously wasn't expecting her to say that so looked a little taken aback.
"I had some shopping to do and James wanted his new best friend to tag along." Harry said with a chuckle and James nodded enthusiastically. A small half smile crept onto Lucius' face when that was said.
Ron and Hermione both smiled at that, "it's actually a good thing you guys are here. Would you mind watching James for a moment, I need to go pick something up. It should just take a moment." Harry asked.
Hermione nodded. "We would love to." She said and picked up the eager two year old.
Ron gave Harry a small frown, he had a good idea of what Harry had to go pick up, but didn't comment on it. Hermione still didn't know.
Harry didn't really want Lucius to come along with him but he didn't have a reasonable excuse to leave Lucius with them.
"Alright then, see you soon." Harry said and he again grabbed Lucius by the hand to pull him from the mall.
"What is it that you need to go get?" Lucius asked with a raised brow.
"It's really nothing." Harry said with a shrug, he didn't much like to talk about it. Lucius left it at that and let Harry pull him along. "I haven't heard anyone call you mister Malfoy for a while." Harry said, trying to make conversation as they walked across the street towards a small convenience store.
Lucius chuckled a bit, "I suppose not, I dropped that a while ago. I think it makes me seem more friendly just to go by Lucius." He explained and Harry nodded.
The convenience store was two levels of people jammed together and Harry was thankful he didn't have to hunt the aisles for what he needed as they were right up at the front.
"Please don't tell anyone I'm getting these." Harry warned Lucius. In response Harry got a look that read Who would I tell?
"Two packs of cigarettes." harry told the cashier at the front. He rattled off the type and the peppy cashier got them for him with a smile. Harry hated smoking, he thought it smelled terrible and it made you look bad, but he did yearn for the occasional smoke.
He had cut down from when he first started, it was a nice way to ease the PTSD from watching your friends die around you and in the beginning he had smoked at least two a day. Ginny complained and now Harry only smoked when he really needed something to calm him. He had himself convinced that he could quit any time he wanted to.
"What in the world are those?" Lucius asked as they walked out of the convenience store.
"They're called cigarettes. It's like a drug that calms your nerves. Extremely addictive and terrible for you. That's why I didn't want you to tell anyone. Ron's the only person who knows." Harry said with a small sigh and dropped the packs into his H&M bag.
Lucius didn't respond, just had his eyebrows furrowed together.
Great, and now he knows one of my biggest secrets.
And here is chapter four! I'd like to hear some feedback before continuing because I don't have the next chapter written yet :)
As a note, I am terrible with children like honestly when people have babies I like remove myself from their lives so I don't get babysitting duty. Yes, I know I'm a grown ass woman and I should get over this, but they freak me out. So, I know that James has very little dialogue but this doesn't mean that he's quiet, I try to add in the occasional side note that reminds you James is usually talking to Lucius or Harry even when I don't put it in, it just seems trivial to explain everything a four year old is saying, so what I'm really doing with James is highighting the important stuff. Please let me know if you would like to see more of his conversations.
Thanks :) -Annes.