Troubled Past

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns pretty much everything, but I do own James's grandparents, and his dog!

Thank yous: orlin, RoschLupin-Black, Kime, VampiricSheWolf, BabyBoo0968, honeyduked, pixy, inumoon3, Goddess of Gorgeousness, the-mpreg-spirit, Althea, im no muggle, iamtherealmaverick, lost angel92, nercomi, Sarahamanda, vytiri, Serious Fan, Bonnie Mizuhara.

Kime: Thanks for letting me know!

I don't seem to have made this clear, but in this story I have given James brown eyes instead of hazel, and Harry has inherited James's brown eyes.

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Chapter 7: Christmas Time

It was the morning of the students going home for Christmas headed for the Hogsmeade train station, or at least those who wanted to go home. James was quite excited about finally getting to leave school for a little break, he was so desperate to see his son and to spend some time with his grandparents and his friends away from Hogwarts; but he was a little upset about having to leave Lucius's company for two short weeks, or what would probably transpire to be two very long weeks.

"I'll meet you guys down in the entrance hall," said James as he dragged his trunk towards the Fat Lady's portrait so that he could leave Gryffindor tower.

Sirius nodded, "Okay, going to see lover boy?"

James rolled his eyes, "In my dreams, 'lover boy'…honestly…" with that said, he left the common room and headed down to the Hogwarts school grand entrance hall. He deposited his trunk near the big entrance hall doors and then he headed down to the dungeons to the potions classroom. Upon arriving he headed straight through the classroom and the office and to the potion professor's quarters, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

James opened the door and saw Lucius and the headmaster; "Oh sorry…am I interrupting?"

"Not at all, James," said Dumbledore, "I was just leaving," the old man looked back to Lucius before heading for the door. "Think about what I have said, Lucius, and try and have an answer for me after Christmas?"

Lucius nodded, his brow furrowed slightly, "Yes sir," he sighed after Dumbledore left his quarters. "Come in, Jay."

James closed the door behind him; he decided it was probably best not to question Lucius about what Dumbledore had wanted to he put on a small smile. "I thought I would come and say 'goodbye' before I go home for Christmas. I know how much you're going to miss me, and all."

Lucius snorted and nodded, a sarcastic tone to his voice, "Oh yes, James, I just don't know what I'm going to do without you. I will just have to find something else that will satisfy my miserable existence while I wait anxiously for your return."

James grinned, "I knew you felt that way, see," Lucius quirked his eyebrows at him. "Anyway, I will bombard you with owls while I'm gone, because I know how much you like my lengthy waffle."

"Oh lucky me," replied Lucius in amusement. "Do try to keep it to just one letter a day, yeah? You don't want to exhaust the poor owl."

"I think I could probably manage that."

Lucius glanced at his clock, "You best be going, Potter, you don't want to miss the train."

James smirked and nodded, and because he was feeling rather affectionate today and the fact that he would not see Lucius for a while, he gave his blond professor a hug. "Goodbye," and in a moment of pure daring, he pressed a chaste kiss to the slightly surprised blond's lips and bolted out of the door before Lucius could do or say anything about it.

"What are you looking so pleased about?" questioned Sirius when James caught up with him, Remus and Lily on the way to a carriage outside on the snowy Hogwarts grounds.

James smiled serenely, "Nothing. Nothing at all, my dear, Padfoot," he replied as he got into a carriage followed by his friends.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, not believing his friend's words for one second, "You just snogged him under the mistletoe, didn't you?"

James laughed, "No, I didn't actually…I may have kissed him, quickly-"

"You snogged a teacher?" cried Lily in surprise, but she found the hand of James pressed over his mouth before she could make any further outburst.

"Keep it down, would you?" he said, removing his hand and raising an eyebrow at the affronted look on the red head's face. "And I didn't snog him…it was just…a-a quick peck and then I ran out of his quarters before he could yell at me or something…"

"Oh classy, James, real classy," teased Sirius in amusement. "But at least you made a move at last."

Remus was feeling too sleepy to say anything about James kissing their teacher, it had been a full moon the night before last and he was still quite tired from it. However he did manage a disapproving grunt.

……

Very soon the four teenagers were on the Hogwarts Express and starting the long journey back to Platform 9 ¾ and Kings Cross Station. Remus was lying on one of the seats with his head resting on Sirius's lap as he slept, finally giving into the constant yawning he was doing. Sirius was playing the card game 'Go Fish' with James, just so that they didn't wake Remus up with noise by playing 'Exploding Snap'. Lily was deeply engrossed in a muggle romance novel, and upon seeing the cover both Sirius and James decided that they probably didn't want her to give them a summary of what was in the novel.

"So, what's the plan for this holiday, Jameo?"

James scowled at his best friend, "Call me that again and you sleep outside," Sirius gave a quiet laugh. "I don't know, really, as long as I can spend time with Harry, I don't really care."

Lily finally looked up from her book, her face a little flushed, "What is he, about eighteen months old now?"

James shook his head, "Nearly seventeen months old."

Lily gave a smile, "That's quite a cute age. One of my little cousins is about three now, but I used to love hanging out with him when he was a bit younger…now of course, he's a little shit."

"I'm sure Harry will be too, soo-ow!" Before Sirius had been able to finish his sentence, he had received a swift kick in the shin from James who was scowling at him now.

James huffed, "I'm sure if he spends time with you, he certainly will be."

"I was only joking," Sirius weakly in defense of himself. He honestly had only been trying to make a joke; he hadn't really realised just how sensitive and protective James was of his son.

James smiled serenely, "I know, I just felt that you deserved some punishment."

"Little git."

"You still love me," replied James, he flicked one of his playing cards at Sirius.

"I do not, you brat."

"Sirius, stop moving!" demanded the sleepy voice of Remus.

……

It was very dark by the time the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform 9 ¾ that evening; it was extremely cold out on the platform as well so the four friends wrapped up as warm as they could before hauling their trunks off the train.

"Oh, there's my granddad," said James, pointing over to the tall form of Henry Potter waiting for them near the barrier between Platform 9 ¾ and the muggle part of Kings Cross Station.

"Ah hello, you four, you certainly took your time," said Henry as the four teenagers stopped in front of him.

Sirius threw an arm around Lily's shoulders, "Had to make sure dear Lily was warm enough."

Lily had a very sour look on her face, "Get your arm off me, Black, or I will rip it off and beat you with it."

Henry snorted quietly as Sirius jumped away from Lily, "I think you will get on just fine with James's grandmother, Lily."

The three boys cowered away slightly as a slightly sinister look passed across Lily's pretty face, and they winced when she cracked her knuckles.

………

The four teenagers were two days into their Christmas break now, and currently they were all lounging in the cosy living room around or near the fire with little Harry who had taken a great liking to Sirius.

"Hey! James, tell him off, he keeps throwing bricks at me."

James laughed quietly, "Good boy, Harry," he took a note off his owl that had just come into the room.

Remus pulled Harry onto his lap and tickled the little boy so that he started giggling; "You keep that horrible dog in line, Harry."

"Oh thanks a lot, Rem…"

James unfolded the note to see a familiar scrawl on it, one that, since he had left school for the holidays, he was not entirely certain would see again after what he did. However, the note's contents held a rather pleasant surprise.

James,

Now why would you kiss me before leaving for Christmas, I wonder? The only explanation that I can come up with is that you are hopelessly and helplessly in love with me. You poor child. Of course, this is coming from a Malfoy and everyone knows we are incredibly in love with ourselves; therefore everyone else must be too.

Anyway, joking aside. As much as I have come to like you, James, and please do not take this as rejection; I just do not think it would be a good idea for you to do that again, especially in the confines of Hogwarts. I would hate to jeopardise your education and I would rather not lose my job as well, but- Scrap that. I think we should talk after the holiday is over, don't you?

I must end this here as the Powers That Be are beckoning.

Have a safe and fun Christmas,

Lucius

James continued gazing at the letter completely ignoring what was going on around him for a few minutes, before summoning a quill and some ink to himself so that he could reply.

Lucius,

You are assuming an awful lot, my Blond Confidante. However, I must be honest with you, as you have pretty much got me figured out. Yes, I do really like you, a lot. That kiss was just a spur of the moment thing but I was rather hoping that it could happen again.

I don't want to get kicked out of school and I don't want you to lose your job either, so if you don't want me to do it again, then I won't.

Hoping to see you soon,

James

"That for lover boy?" asked Sirius, as he noticed James tying his replying to the owl's leg before sending it off. He had finally stopped sulking after being beaten up by a seventeen-month-old child.

James stuck his tongue out at his friend childishly, "Stop calling him 'lover boy'…and yes, it was for him."

………

The rest of the Christmas holiday was fairly uneventful for the teenagers. Sirius had ended up getting beaten up by both Harry and Lily nearly every day, while James and Remus found it all too funny for words. Little Harry had been spoilt rotten on Christmas Day by his dad, his grandparents and his new unofficial aunt and uncles; a present each for the child and his father had also arrived from one, Professor Malfoy.

All in all, it had been a good and peaceful Christmas, but James had not wanted to leave his son but was eventually dragged out of the house after giving Harry a big bear hug goodbye. He was still upset though, after all, his son would be nearly two years old when he returned home.

……

It was pitch black and raining by the time the teenagers arrived back at Hogwarts; as they were ushered into the Great Hall for the feast by Professor McGonagall, James immediately noticed that Lucius was absent from the Staff Table. "Where's Lucius?"

Sirius gave a shrug, "Who knows?"

James frowned, he hoped Lucius would turn up; he wanted to see the blond.

But by the middle of the feast, Lucius Malfoy was a no show and James was beginning to get very worried. With what he knew about Lucius, he knew the man enjoyed routine and tried not to break it for anything; he had also gotten another letter from Lucius last night promising to see him at the feast.

"James, I'm sure he's fine," said Lily, noticing James's worried glances around the Great Hall. "He could have just fallen asleep or something."

"Maybe…" replied James, he was fidgeting in his seat, barely paying attention to what was going on around him or his food.

……

The feast finally finished, though not fast enough for James, and once he was certain that he would not be spotted by other students (the Slytherins in particular) he high tailed it down to Lucius's chambers. Upon arriving he banged loudly on the door and waited for a few minutes; as he was about to knock again the door opened and the tired and injured form of Lucius Malfoy greeted him sourly.

"Oh, its you," the blond, a hand pressed to his left side, indicated for James to enter his quarters.

James ignored the greeting and gave Lucius a quick go over with his eyes, "What happened to you?"

Lucius waved the teenager off and poured himself a glass of Firewhiskey, "Don't worry about it."

James frowned, "Of course I'm going to worry. You're hurt and you look terrible."

Lucius gave the messy haired boy a grim smile, "Maybe so, but it doesn't matter," he sighed when he saw the doe-eyed look he was getting. "I'm really not in the mood to explain right now, ok?"

James gave a reluctant nod, "Ok… So, our talk is out of the question tonight?"

Lucius ran a hand down his face and nodded, "I'm afraid so. I think this weekend would be a better time, as neither of us will have classes in the morning," James nodded. The blond placed his glass down on the table and was about to walk over to James when a wave of light headedness washed over him and he gripped the table to keep from falling over.

James was at the blond's side immediately, a hand tentatively on his back, "You should go to Madame Pomfrey-"

"No! James, I'm fine."

"Stop being stupid, you're not fine," replied James and in return he got on of the famous Malfoy Death Glares. "You need help."

Lucius, still gripping the table with one hand, squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, "I think I just need to sleep," he heard a quiet growl of disapproval. "I will go and see Madame Pomfrey in the morning, will that make you happy?"

"No, but I suppose it will have to do."

"Yes, it will," Lucius pushed himself away from the table and nearly fell over again.

James continued to frown, he planned to get to the bottom of this, "Do you want some help?"

"No."

James sighed, "Lucius."

Lucius gripped the back of an armchair and groaned, "Ok…help me, please…" within seconds he had an arm around James's shoulders and was supported to his bedroom by the teenager. Once there, the blond fell down onto the bed and held his left side again. "Thank you."

"Do you want or need anything else?"

"No," Lucius managed to lift his head so that he could see the concerned face of young James Potter watching him. "I'll be fine, James, you should go to bed."

James nodded, "Ok… But if I don't see you at breakfast, I'm coming back here to drag your sorry arse out of bed."

Lucius smirked and put his head back down on the bed, "Is that a promise?"

James smiled slightly, "Goodnight, Professor."

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Author's Note: Another update! Finally! Aren't you proud of me? (Though this chapter did suck just a little bit).

Next Chapter: Will James find out how Lucius got so injured? Lucius and James have a talk and someone (identity undisclosed) writes to James about his relationship with their Professor.