A Different Beginning

Chapter XLVIII - Amends and a Wedding

Harry and James avoided each other the next few days. Harry spent all of his time in his room, refusing to come out. Maddy brought him up trays of food at meal times and he ignored his father when he knocked on the door. He spent his time going through the books that he had and teaching himself how to do defensive spells wandless. He had mastered almost twenty spells in the three days that he had spent in his room. He anxiously awaited the letters from Ginny, clinging to them as his only light of happiness as his stubborn nature kept him from speaking to anyone in the house.

James was at a complete loss for what to do. He kept replaying their argument over and over in his mind, wondering how he could have changed the outcome but knowing that there was no possible way. Harry had every right to be angry at him and that's what made him ache more. He felt like a piece of his heart had been ripped out and stomped on. He had become a wreck. After two days of no Harry, he had cracked open a bottle of Firewhiskey. Maddy had thrown a fit when she had found him passed out in the living room with half of the bottle gone. He had deeply regretted his decision when he had woken up the next morning with the mother of all hangovers, not that it had stopped him from drinking of course.

And to his dismay, Maddy had called in the Marauders.

James had been trying not to bother them. Remus was happily married now and Sirius was still spending a lot of time with Lexy and he didn't want to bother them with his problems. But he should have known that they would come. They were his best mates and they loved Harry just as much as he did. All he could do was a lift a hand when Remus and Sirius came into the living room and found him sitting on the couch. His hair was messier then usual and his clothes were wrinkled and looked slept-in, which they were. He looked and felt like crap and he didn't care. He hadn't even gone to work in the last three days and had even stopped going to his usual daily stop. It had been one week since Harry had come home and he still hadn't spoken to him since that night at dinner.

"Prongs, what the hell are you doing to yourself?" Sirius demanded as he ripped the glass of Firewhiskey from his friend's hand.

"I'm drowning my problems, what does it bloody look like! Give that back!" He slurred as he reached for it.

Sirius kept the glass out of his reach and signalled to Remus. Together the two of them picked him up and dragged him upstairs to his bedroom. Then they threw him fully dressed into an ice-cold shower.

"BLOODY HELL!" James yelled when the water hit him.

"Feel any better?" Remus asked in a bored voice.

"Certainly smell better, anyway," Sirius replied.

Remus closed the shower stall door. "Take a long shower, James, clean up. Then we'll talk."

"I don't want to bloody talk!" James muttered.

"Too bad."

Remus and Sirius went into the bedroom to wait for him and ten minutes later James came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. His eyes still looked a bit bloodshot but he looked ten times better.

"Get dressed and meet us in the living room." Sirius replied before he led Remus out of the room.

James came down five minutes later, glaring at them as he plopped himself down into a chair. "I can bloody well take care of myself."

Sirius smirked. "Sure showed me. What the hell's your problem, James? Sitting on your arse drinking Firewhiskey sure as hell isn't going to help your problem?"

James shrugged. "No, but it makes the pain go away."

Remus sighed. "James, what happened? I haven't heard from you or Harry since he came home from school. Did you talk?"

James snorted. "Talk, more like yelled. He hates me. Says he never wants to talk to me again! He's been up in his room for the last three days. He won't even come down for meals."

"So you had an argument? Get over it." Sirius replied.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! James, it's only natural! You and Harry have had a great relationship. This is the first year that you've really argued about anything. He's a teenager, arguments with his parents are natural!"

Remus nodded. "And of course he's going to be angry with you. This is a big thing James, bigger then kids his age have to go through. It's the ultimate BFD and you can't expect him to get over it just like that. He's angry and he doesn't want to talk to you for now but he'll get over it. You're his father. Didn't you and Andrew ever argue and didn't you ever tell him that you hated him and that you never wanted to talk to him again?"

James sighed as he dragged his fingers through his hair. "Well, yeah but this is different!"

"How is it different? You still needed time to yourself as did your Da and when the time was right you spoke and made up."

"But Harry said ... he said that he had lost his trust in me and that he didn't know if I could ever make it up again." James replied.

Sirius whistled. "Whoo, now that's a BFD!"

James groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I'm a horrible father! I should have bloody well told him last summer when I considered it! After all that stuff that I told him about the elementals! He deserved to know and I knew it! I just didn't want to hurt him and I knew the news would hurt him, maybe scare him a bit. Just like I'm not telling him about ... But Merlin, you two didn't see him. He was dead calm and what came out of his mouth was so mature and so adult. I felt like I was the kid and I was getting one hell of a tongue-lashing."

Remus nodded. "James, this is going to take a long time for you two to mend this. You'll have to move step by step and slowly build that trust again. It's not going to happen overnight. But you can't keep ignoring each other either or drowning your sorrows in alcohol. You need to pick up the lessons again. Harry needs to be prepared."

Sirius nodded. "I agree and starting the elemental lessons again will put the two of you back in constant contact and I think that's what you need to start mending this relationship. And you need one more thing that we've all overlooked."

"What's that?" James asked.

"Gorgeous."

"Ginny?" Remus asked and then he grinned. "Ah."

"What are you two on about?" James asked.

Sirius grinned. "Haven't you ever noticed how good she is for him, James? Gorgeous Ginny Weasley is his lifeline. Who is it that forced him to tell us about Umbitch and her blood quill? Who is it that has managed to knock some sense into Harry whenever he needed it this year? Who is it that he clings to at all opportunities? He needs her."

Remus nodded. "He needs her more then I think even he realizes. Send Molly an owl and ask if Ginny can come spend a day here. I think she's exactly what Harry needs and what you need to get the ball rolling in that direction."

James sighed. "Alright, let me just find some parchment."

*********

Ginny arrived by Floo at Potter Manor the next morning. She had agreed with James and not told Harry in her evening letter that she was coming over. She stepped into the entrance hall and smiled warmly at James.

"Hi James."

He smiled. "Ginny, thanks for coming."

She nodded. "No problem. Where's Harry?"

"He's in his room. Ginny, before you go up there - he's really angry at me and I'm going to try to mend fences with him but the first thing that needs to be done is that we need to continue his elemental lessons. I'd really appreciate your help in helping me out here?" James explained.

Ginny nodded. "I'm firstly on Harry's side in this, not yours. But I do know that he needs you so I'll do what I can."

James grinned. "Thank you."

She smiled. "No problem. I'll go find Harry now."

Ginny was half-way up the stairs when she ran into Sirius. "Hey!" She grinned and threw herself into his arms for a warm hug.

"Hey Gorgeous! You didn't really think that I'd gone and died on you, did you?"

She nodded and kissed his cheek. "I forgot that you were invincible."

He laughed. "Of course. It was my idea for you to come here and knock some sense into the prat. Moony and I found James drowning his sorrows in a bottle of Firewhiskey. It's a desperate situation."

"And you think that I can fix it?"

Sirius nodded. "Gorgeous, you're his lifeline and personally I just wanted to see you again."

She grinned. "I'll see what I can do. I told James that I'm on Harry's side for this. He should have known about this prophecy."

"I know. I didn't even know and since this is the second secret that's come out from James it makes me wonder if he's hiding anything else from us."

She hugged him again. "I'm glad that you're alright."

He grinned. "Well, me too, Gin, I didn't really want to die." He kissed her forehead. "Now you go in there and smarten the git up. He can't avoid his father forever."

Ginny nodded. "Alright. I'll talk to you later."

She smiled warmly at him and squeezed his hand gently before she made her way upstairs and knocked gently on Harry's bedroom door. There was no answer so she tried the knob and found it locked. She shrugged and pulled out her hair pin, glad that Fred and George had taught her this particular trick. She shimmied it into the lock and it clicked open. She put the pin back into her hair and opened the door.

"I had that locked for a reason. Get out!" Harry replied coldly.

Ginny closed the door behind her and walked over to where Harry was lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. She climbed into the bed next to him and wrapped her arms around him, her head resting comfortably on his chest.

"Ginny?" He asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

She turned to look into his eyes and kissed him softly. "Visiting. And I think that you should be a lot nicer. Good thing that I learnt how to break and enter from the twins."

Harry laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so glad that you're here."

They lay like that, holding each other close for a few minutes before Ginny spoke up. "James told me what happened." Harry stiffened and tried to move away but Ginny held on tighter. "Harry, you have to talk to him."

"I did and now I've got nothing else to say to him."

"Oh, that's real mature, Harry! You need him! Now that you know the truth you need to start preparing yourself! You need to work on your elementals and to continue to learn magic and you need James to help you! You can't ignore him forever!" Ginny exclaimed.

"I know that. But right now it's working just fine for me."

"You're a prat, you know that! You can't brood about what happened or push everyone that cares about you out of your life! There are more important things that you should be doing! You should be making amends with your father! So he didn't tell you about the prophecy, Harry? Get over it! You know now and being upset about what didn't happen isn't going to change anything! Forget the past and look into the future! You need to prepare yourself for Voldemort! He's going to keep coming after you! You need to be ready and for that you need James."

Harry was quiet for a few minutes. "I'm not a prat."

Ginny laughed. "Harry!"

He sighed. "Alright, I know that you're right! It's just ... he kept this from me my whole life. Dumbledore's one thing but he's not my father! How am I ever supposed to trust him again?"

Ginny kissed his cheek. "Because you love him and because he loves you. You're his only real family and he's all you have. He did what he thought was best and nothing is ever going to change his decision. But now you know and now you need to think about it and to speak to him and to get over your anger or at least push it aside. You need to forgive him and you need to start making amends in your relationship. That relationship may be a little strained for a while but that strain is going to turn into a gap and that gap into an enormous hole that's not going to ever get fixed. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. "How did you get so wise?"

She snuggled closer. "I don't know. I guess I'm just special like that."

He sat up, leaning back against his head board and pulling Ginny up into his lap. "Will you come with me when I talk to him?"

She nodded. "Of course." She kissed him softly. "Let's go."

She stood up and held out her hand to him. Harry took it in his and allowed her to pull him to his feet.

"Gin? Before we go down, I just want to shower and get dressed and ... think."

She nodded. "Alright, I'll wait for you here."

Harry grabbed some clothes to change into and headed into the adjoining bathroom and closed the door. He quickly showered and dressed and brushed his teeth before he went back into his bedroom. Ginny was sitting on his bed, flipping through the pages of one his novels.

"Okay, I think I'm ready to go now." He took Ginny's hand in his and they headed down the stairs. They found James sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. Harry stood in the doorway and just stared at his father. He had no idea what to say.

Ginny elbowed him and when he still didn't speak she sighed. "James?"

James turned around and stopped when he saw Harry. "Yeah?"

Harry still didn't speak so Ginny spoke again. "Harry has something that he'd like to say to you." Harry's mouth opened but nothing came out. "Harry!" Ginny hissed.

"Da," he murmured.

James stood up now and looked at his son from across the room. "Yes, Harry?"

"I - I want to start up my elemental lessons again. I need to prepare myself for Voldemort."

James nodded, his eyes sad. "Alright."

Harry winced, when Ginny stepped on his toe. "And ... and ... I'm sorry for how I acted the last time we talked. I had no right to speak to you like that."

"I accept. I'm sorry too, for not telling you about the prophecy and for anything else that I may have said or done in that argument."

Harry nodded. "Okay."

He turned to leave and stopped when James called out his name. "Harry! I love you."

Harry turned around to look at his father and nodded. "I love you too." Then he took Ginny's hand in his and walked out of the room.

Ginny stopped him in the hallway. "Was that really so hard?"

He nodded. "Incredibly. I still don't know if I can trust him, Gin."

"Of course you can trust him. You just have to build that trust up again is all. It's going to take time and hard work. But now you've both made the first step to making amends. That's the important thing." She replied.

"You've got a smart girl there, Harry," Sirius replied from behind them.

Harry grinned. "Yeah I know."

Sirius smiled. "Did you talk to James then?" When Harry nodded he grinned. "Good. He was wreck this last week but Moony and I managed to talk some sense into him. It's nice to know that Gorgeous here obviously managed the same with you. Why don't you two come on into the kitchen with us and eat some lunch? I've uh ... I've got something to tell you."

"Good or bad?" Harry asked.

Sirius winced. "Scary actually, just plain bloody scary."

Harry glanced at Ginny quizzically as he followed Sirius into the kitchen. He grinned when he found Remus sitting there already. "Hi Uncle Moony. How's married life for you?"

Remus grinned. "Wonderful actually. Hi Ginny."

"Hello Remus."

They sat down and helped themselves to some of the delicious lunch that Maddy and Mickey had provided. James and Sirius entered the room and took their seats. After a few minutes, Remus finally spoke.

"Alright Sirius, come on, what's this horrifying news that you've got to share with us?"

Sirius gulped. "I think that I need a glass of something stronger then butterbeer to get through this one."

James' grin widened, his eyes twinkling with understanding. "You didn't?"

Sirius gulped down his butterbeer and then he shrugged. "I love her mate, I don't know and I asked her before I really thought about it and ... hell, I'm happy! Kill me now! I've fallen into the death trap!"

Remus laughed and slapped Sirius on the back. "You and Lexy are getting married? That's amazing! Congratulations, mate!"

Harry grinned. "The death trap, Uncle Sirius? I don't think that marriage is that bad."

James shook his head. "Marriage is wonderful and Sirius is going to be a really happy guy."

Remus nodded. "It is wonderful. So when's the wedding?"

"We were actually shooting for two weeks."

"Two weeks?" James exclaimed. "Hell, you move fast."

"Well, we want to get married before school starts up again and still have time to go on a honeymoon, you know?" Sirius explained. "Something else scary happened as well."

Harry laughed. "What you got a job?" Sirius nodded and Harry almost choked on his water. "I was joking! You actually got a job!"

Sirius grinned sheepishly. "And everyone is so shocked. I talked to Dumbledore this morning. You're looking at the new DADA teacher for next year."

Ginny smiled. "Congratulations, Sirius, I think that you're going to be a great professor."

James grinned. "Lexy talk you into that one?"

Sirius shrugged. "I bought her a rock, didn't I?"

"What does the ring look like?" Ginny asked.

Sirius looked bewildered. "I don't know, it's gold and has a big diamond in the middle. Anyway, we're getting married in two weeks, we're thinking the nineteenth of July. Can we have the wedding here?"

James nodded. "Sure of course."

Sirius grinned. "Good. James you're my best man. Moony and Harry I need groomsmen. Gorgeous, I believe Lex wants you, Tonks, and Hermione in the wedding party."

Remus laughed. "I don't even know what to say. I'm in complete shock."

Sirius grinned. "Me too, Moony me too."

*********

Harry picked up his elemental lessons with James though they started off a little strained they eventually became more comfortable with each other. They picked up where they left off, practicing controlling more then one elemental at a time. Harry was still struggling a bit with it so they took it slow and continued the physical work out sessions as well.

They were constantly checking the newspaper for any sign of the horrors that Voldemort would be committing but it had surprisingly been fairly quiet. Not too many disturbances or disappearances, other than a break-out of Azkaban. But that was to be expected since the ministry no longer had control over the Dementors. The only thing that had come to light that was surprising was the article in the Daily Prophet that appeared the day before Sirius and Lexy's wedding.

MALFOY HEIR MISSING
Written by: Donna Roberts

Draco Weston Malfoy, only son and heir to the Malfoy fortune of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, has gone missing as of last night. His parents are terrified that something has happened to him.

"Draco would never run away or anything, he's a good boy!" Narcissa insisted when questioned of the possibility.

His father had something else to add on the matter. "Draco likes to think he's independent but pulling a prank like this is one step too far. He needs to get home immediately especially with the current dangers about."

If anyone has seen the sixteen-year-old, Aurors insist that they be informed straight away.

Draco stands 5 feet eleven inches (and growing), has short white-blonde hair, greyish-blue eyes and a sharp angular face. If anyone is aware of his whereabouts please inform the authorities immediately.

Harry had been surprised to read the article. Draco being missing seemed odd. Considering that Lucius was one of Voldemort's prized Death Eaters, Harry highly doubted that something had happened to him. It was even odder that Malfoy would be interviewed for the profit, considering he had been in Azkaban at the beginning of the summer. He wondered briefly if maybe Draco had run away, though he couldn't imagine why. Draco was always boasting about how much better his family was.

But he couldn't help but remember the last words that Draco had spoken to him on the school train.

"Because of you, bat bogeys are the least of my problems."

But thoughts of Draco being missing were pushed aside by the celebration that was happening at the Hall.

Potter Manor was alive with wedding plans for the next few days and by the time the nineteenth arrived, Sirius was a nervous wreck. Harry was dressed in green robes for the wedding and he made his way up to Sirius' room. James and Remus were already there. Sirius was pacing back and forth and muttering to himself.

"What the bloody hell was I thinking? Getting married ... it's ridiculous! We're just going to end up hating each other and fighting all the time! It's a death trap! A life of misery and turmoil! But God she's beautiful."

James laughed. "Padfoot! She loves you and you love her. You're going to be really happy. Now let's go down and get you married before you give yourself a heart attack."

"God ... I'm getting married!" Sirius exclaimed.

Harry laughed as he followed the three of them down and out into the gardens. They stood at the front of the aisle as the seats were filled with guests. Lexy's parents were there along with the staff from Hogwarts, excluding Snape, Order members, the Weasleys excluding Percy, the Marauders, and Hermione. The bridesmaids were in dresses of forget me not blue silk and knee-length and strapless. Harry thought that Ginny looked amazing and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her as she walked down the aisle and then stood across from him at the alter. Lexy came down the aisle in a beautiful white dress that fell slightly off her shoulders and shimmered down to the ground. She looked amazing and Sirius' eyes were staring at her in pure desire as she walked towards him.

They said their vows and kissed to seal the deal and then the party began in the manor. Sirius couldn't keep his eyes off of Lexy the entire night and Harry still couldn't believe that he was actually married. They waved the new Mr. and Mrs. Black off at midnight when they took an international portkey to the Dominican Republic and then the house emptied itself out. Harry once again found himself alone with his father.

"I can't believe that Padfoot is a married man!" James exclaimed. "I never thought I'd see that day!"

Harry laughed. "I don't know, there was something special about Lexy from the beginning. He wanted her and look how long he courted her before she even agreed to go out with him."

James nodded. "Yeah. But still, it's Sirius. Well, he's married now and probably anxiously awaiting for the hotel staff to leave them alone."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, well I'm going up to bed, Da."

James nodded. "Goodnight, Harry. We'll work on those elemental lessons a bit more tomorrow alright, when I get home from work?"

Harry nodded. "Sure Da, goodnight."

Harry headed upstairs to bed and sighed. He was making amends slowly and it was lot easier then he thought.