Give Me One More Chance

Give me one more chance
Chapter 2: Reunited
Pairings: So far – James/Lucius, Sirius/Severus
Disclaimer: I own nothing so I get nothing
Warning: Slash/Yaoi, male pregnancy

Notes: I would like to thank everyone for reviewing the first chapter. Yah! Also, this is not beta-read. Any and all mistakes are mine. Sorry.

Here’s the next chapter. Enjoy!

/ Thoughts /

oOoOoOo

Once arriving home, James slowly made his way upstairs to his bedroom. He just came from his monthly check-up with Doctor Bloom. Afterwards, he discreetly stopped by Malfoy manor. Ever since he found out that he was pregnant, James made a point to see if he could catch a glimpse of the blonde who had planted his seed deep within him.

For some inexplicable reason, the former Gryffindor was drawn to be near Lucius but he would always leave before any of the resident occupants would see him. He was not willing to take a chance by letting Lucius discovering he was carrying his child. The fear of loosing his child to Lucius prevented James from immediately informing the pureblood of his impeding fatherhood.

James sighed as he went about his room taking off his clothes to slip into a pair of loose sweat pants and an oversized T-shirt. Doctor Bloom told him that he was four months pregnant and into his second trimester, but James felt like a Hippogriff. The doctor told him that feeling this way was normal and would pass once the baby was born. It was necessary for him to gain as much weight as he could to ensure the baby’s growth and health.

So, James needed to gain as much weight as he possible could during the latter months of his pregnancy, seeing that he didn’t start any of his pre-natal care from the very beginning. Now, he had three months worth of ‘baby fat’ to tact on to his still slender form.

The good news out of his unexpected parenthood was that Headmaster Dumbledore didn’t revoke his post. He quickly changed James’ position to the Transfiguration assistant. He would be aiding Professor McGonagall in class. He did excellent on his N.E.W.T.s and Dumbledore felt that James was more than qualified to fulfill the requirements.

Ironically, James and his friends, excluding Peter, graduated with honors as the top five students from Gryffindor house.

Also another added bonus was the estimated date of delivery was around the last week of July, but James frowned. He would only have a month to stay at home to bond with his new baby. Dumbledore promised James there was no need for him to worry about day care services since his parents was adamant about hiring a nanny.

Well, he wasn’t going worry about trivial stuff like that right now. Now, he was going to take a nap. His mom was due to arrive soon, and he needed as much rest as possible. They (his doctor and parents) decided it was in James’ best interested to have someone stay with him at night just in case something happened. Tonight was his mother’s turn to baby-sit him.

oOoOoOo

No one could ever say that Lucius Malfoy liked surprises, because he didn’t. Walking into the foyer of his home nearly blinded him. Bright red hearts, balloons, and streamers decorated the entry hall. The further he walked the worse it became. By the time he reached the end of the directed path he could only stare in morbid disbelief at the scene before him.

There, in one of the finest ballrooms of the Manor was total repulsion. More of the god awful red, pink and white balloons, littered the room as well as floating hearts. Even small baby cupids fluttered around on tiny wings dressed in a white cloth resembling a diaper. They shot heart shaped arrows with a glittering rainbow streak. This was a bit too much for the tall aristocrat.

“N A R C I S S A A A!!!”

oOoOoOo

The lunch bell just rang to signal the start of the noontime meal. The week’s gossip around school was about Professor McGongall’s assistant. It was now the second quarter and James had been sick since coming back from Christmas holiday.

The students could only speculate as to what was ailing the young handsome wizard. The staff of course was informed of his condition back in December. James still had no intention of telling his colleagues or parents who was the father of his baby. His closest friends were privy to that bit of information and because Sirius’ boyfriend was his lover’s – correction, his ex-lover’s best friend.

James had not been feeling well for the entire morning and just pushed his food around on his plate. He finally gave up on trying to make his stomach hold food when the owl posts swooped in delivering special packages from loved ones or subscriptions of the Daily Prophet or Witch’s Weekly.

Just then a flaming red envelope fell in front of him. Seized with fear, James couldn’t think of why any one who would send him a Howler. Severus eyed the letter with suspicion. After long tense minutes ticked by with nothing happening, James cautiously opened it.

On the backside was sealed with the familiar family crest of the Malfoy’s.

/Why would Lucius send me something like this?/ James mused, taking out the letter.

Dear Mr. Potter,
You are cordially invited to our annual Saint Valentine’s Day evening ball. Please R.S.V.P. no later than Thursday, February 12th.
Inside, you will find a response card. Please indicate the number of guests who will be attending with you. We look forward to seeing you.

Yours truly,
Lady Malfoy

The former Gryffindor had no intention what so ever to attend any type of function with the Malfoy’s. He wrote his reply and tied to the owl before it finished pilfering his bacon. From down the table, onyx eyes observed the Transfiguration’s assistant with some concern.

James and Lucius were destroying each other and their child by being pig-headed. Severus talked with Lucius one too many times about how he ruined a perfectly fantastic relationship by listening to his father and letting his guard down and being ensnared by Narcissa.

The worse part about all this was Lucius was now married to Sirius’ cousin with a baby on the way. Both of which James had no idea about. Lucius’ wedding as well as his pending fatherhood was kept out of the papers, no thanks to his father. Lucien bribed every wizarding newspaper around the city, those his didn’t pay off were threaten.

Lucien was the main reason why Lucius broke-up with James in the first place. Had the conniving bastard waited a few months, he would have got what he wanted. Don’t get the Senior Malfoy wrong – he was not at all against his son’s taste in who he dated. He merely stated to Lucius, “No heirs will come from a non prosperous relationship like this”.

In other words, Lucius should marry a pureblood female and still kept James on the side if that was what he desired. However, Severus knew how his best friend thought. Lucius was not going to keep James around as a side fling. Only to be showed on special occasion. No, Lucius wanted the raven hair youth lock, stock, and barrel.

The last bell rang.

The potions teacher watched with sad eyes as James slowly rose from the table. He noticed that the pregnancy was taking a toll on him. Visible dark rings stood out beneath puffy dull hazel eyes. There was no doubt in his mind what needed to be done. James and Lucius need each other more then what they realize.

Dumbledore caught James on his way to class asking him to meet him after his last class. Students hurried passed them in the open corridor.

oOoOoOo

On the other side of the Manor, Narcissa sat in the nursery humming quietly to her-self as she cross-stitched a baby design of the Malfoy tree, when she heard her husband.

“N A R C I S S A A A!!!”

Apparently, Lucius wasn’t too thrilled with the party decorations. She put her sewing away to go downstairs to try and placate the Lord of the Manor. She did not want him messing up her plans to get Potter to attend the affair. This might be her one time opportunity to get Potter out of the picture.

Lucius was hers and she would be damn if she lost him to another man.

oOoOoOo

At the end of the day, James was sitting in Professor Dumbledore’s office. He struggled to keep his eyes open. He’d been extremely tired from the magic drain, but nothing could be done about it now.

“How are you feeling, my boy,” Dumbledore asked as he silently offered his former student a cup of calming tea. The twinkle in his eyes dimmed. James was on his guard. He accepted the cup taking cautious sips. Dumbledore was notorious for spiking tea with Veritaserum to get answers to well protected secrets.

“James? You never answered my question,” the Headmaster prodded.

Hazel eyes were glazed over letting the old wizard know the potion was working properly. James opened and closed his mouth a few times struggling to give his standard reply.

Damn – Truth potion. He had no choice but to say, “Lonely.”

Dumbledore perked up at the unexpected response. “Oh? And why is that son?” his azure eyes sprung back to life. Twinkling like mad, Christmas came again for the old coot.

Once more, James found himself unable to resist answering, “I miss Lucius.”

/What??/ “You mean Lucius Malfoy?”

“Yes.”

Dumbledore was starting to see the pieces fall together. “James, is Lucius the father of your child?”

“Yes.”

/Oh, dear god!/ “Does he know about the baby?”

“No.” James blinked. Dumbledore was running out of time to continue his inquisition.

“Are you planning on telling Lucius about the baby?”

“No.” The youth blinked again. His time was up. James stared at his Headmaster tears filled his eyes.

“James…”

“Why?” he sobbed. He didn’t want any one to know, especially Dumbledore.

“You are fading James and I cannot allow that to happen, and Lucius is the only person who can help you. Talk with him,” Dumbledore begged.

“No.”

“Very well. You leave me no other choice, James.”

“No other choice. Albus, I want you, my parents, and any body else to stay the hell out of my goddamn business!” James shouted.

“James, I didn’t call you here to argue with you-”

“So, why in the bloody hell did you summon here if not to pump me for information about my private life?”

Dumbledore sighed. His former student was having a terrible mood swings.

“First off the house-elves have informed me that you are not eating all of your food.”

“I haven’t been hungry,” he snapped angrily.

“Poppy and Regional will not be pleased to hear you are not taking care of yourself like you should.”

“Will tell that to my child. He still doesn’t like certain foods. I asked Millie for salads but the ruddy elf keeps sending me crap that makes me puke my guts out.”

The elder wizard smiled looking over his half-moon shaped glasses. That familiar twinkle was back.

“I will talk with her. She’s very fond of you, James. The next order of business I want to discuss with you is your maternity leave.”

James opened his mouth to interrupt but Dumbledore held up a shaky withering hand. “I know in the beginning you told me you want to work until the end of the school year, but I feel you won’t make it to June. However, if you were to get your magic replenished then I do not see a problem for you to finish out the term.”

The former-Gryffindor cursed the old meddling bastard.

“Is there any thing else, Headmaster?”

“Just get some rest my dear boy, and tell Lucius about his son.”

“I’ll think about the latter.” James left the office closing the door gently behind him.

“Well, what do you think?” Dumbledore asked in the empty room.

Stepping from the shadows, a dark figure took the seat James was sitting in mere moments ago.

“He didn’t even detect my presents, sir.”

Dumbledore stroked his long silver beard in thought. “Do you know what was in the letter he received this afternoon? I thought it was a Howler but it turns out to be something else.”

Raven hair bounced back and forth. “Sirius came by right after his shift to tell me that Narcissa is throwing a Valentine’s Day party, so maybe the letter is his invite.”

“Hmm…have you talked with Lucius?”

“No.”

Dumbledore clapped his hands together. Perfect. “Severus, please owl young Mr. Malfoy, telling him that James is sick. Do not mention any about the baby – let James tell him.”

“And what pray tell are you trying to accomplish?”

“Lucius’ marriage to Narcissa is not valid for the simple fact that he and James are soul mates. Just like you and Sirius.”

Severus groaned. Who would have thought that he would end up with a Gryffindor? His parents were not thrilled to hear that bit of news. “God, please don’t remind me. Albus, you know as well as I do that now is not a good time for any of us to be in current condition, but that is neither here nor there. Please, I digress. Do continue.”

“Yes, yes. You’re quite right. Lucius and Narcissa are not legally married and rightfully so. James have claim over Lucius as his soul mate. Once the Ministry finds out, and they will, Narcissa will loose all claims and titles that she received.”

“And the child?”

“The child will be an heir but only if something happens to James’ son, and we cannot allow anything to befall him.”

“Narcissa will do everything in her power to keep Lucius. She’s planning something, make no mistake.”

Dumbledore was lost in thought again. Yes, they would have to do everything in their power to keep James alive and to get him back to where he belongs – in the arms of Lucius Malfoy. James needs Lucius now more than ever, especially since reports of You-Know-Who are circulation around.

oOoOoOo

The Headmaster took pity on the sickly pregnant Transfiguration assistant and sent him home for the rest of the week. James at this point was never so thankful for the busy body. He had to admit that once in a while wizard drove him crazy but he wouldn’t have their friendship any other way.

James stumbled out of the bathroom after praying yet again to the porcelain god. His morning sickness has not abated and it looked like it wasn’t going too. Reading one of his many books on pregnancy explained that morning sickness would continue throughout the rest of the gestation period if it didn’t stop by the second trimester.

James crawled into bed wanting his misery to end when his mother gently knocked on his door. “Enter.”

“Sweetheart, there is someone here to see you,” his mother said bending carefully over him fixing the rumpled bed linen.

“I’m not in the mood to see any one mom.”

“I know you’re not but he is insisting on seeing, honey.”

“Okay, fine who is it-”

“It’s me James…”

Surprised hazel eyes looked into loving silver-blues. “Oh, my god Lucius,” James muttered before promptly fainting.

The earth must had frozen over, James thought as he came round to see that he wasn’t imagining things – Lucius Malfoy was sitting on a chair gazing at him with concern. Mrs. Potter was longer in the room with them. She was probably down stairs in the kitchen, James mused.

Suddenly, all the anger and hurt rose to the surface. “Why are you here, Malfoy?” he spat.

Lucius cringed a little. He couldn’t fault James for acting the way he did. Lucius was the one to cause the hurt in those beautiful hazel orbs.

“I…I don’t know why I am here. I only know that something pulled me back to you,” he answered truthfully. He just didn’t tell about the owl Severus sent him.

But James didn’t heed the warning. “I don’t want you here. Go away!”

“No, not until you tell me that you forgive me,” Lucius said.

“Forgive you? You got to be bloody kidding me. Why in the fuck would I want to forgive you?”

“I realize what a fool I’ve been and should have stood up to my father and defended you. I know I caused you a lot of pain behind all of this – I just proved to myself what an uncaring bastard I have been toward you. I should have told you when I had the opportunity and I was too much of a coward to say it…”

James made sure his tummy was well hidden from view. Any other time James would had welcome the chance for Lucius to come for him and eventually James would have told him about the baby, but now – now was not the time. James was too wary over who he could trust, which wasn’t a whole lot of people.

James was ready to hex Malfoy. The git was stalling for time. “Say what?” he nearly growled through clinched teeth.

Steeling himself, Lucius looked his ex-lover in the eyes he fell into not so long ago. “That I loved you. I still love you and I’m so terrible sorry for every thing.”

The younger wizard couldn’t believe his ears. The former Slytherin looked broken. James knew it must had taken Lucius a lot of strength to swallow his pride to admit he was wrong, but James couldn’t really blame him. If the blame should be placed, then it was Malfoy Senior fault. Lucien Malfoy was behind everything.

“How do I know that you won’t leave me again, Lucius? What guarantee do I have that you won’t run and hid when your Father finds out about us? I refuse to be hurt be you again! And if it means cutting you off completely to save myself the grief then I’ll gladly do it.” And I don’t want our child hurt by you either, James silently added.

To answer his love’s question, Lucius grabbed onto James hand, but a strong surge of magical energy flared between them. Blinding silver light flooded the room. Hot lightening zipped around Lucius encircling his body then traveled along his arm over to James.

The next moment Lucius found himself closing his eyes in sweet bliss as James received his long overdue feed of magic. The last thing the pureblood saw before surrendering to complete darkness was a vision of James and himself with two little boys about the same age. One had white-blonde hair while the other had messy locks of raven, but both had an unmistakable gene trait strictly common to the Malfoy bloodline – Quicksilver eyes.

- TBC -

A/N: I know I have a problem with my tenses and I apologize for the switching back and forth, but if there is anyone who would like to beta this fic for me pleasepleaseplease email me at shinigami_godeath@yahoo.com.

Tell me what you think. You comments and suggestions are most welcomed.

oOo Teaser for Chapter 3 oOo

She had found what she had been looking for. Narcissa approached the story house to confront her cousin’s friend. She went to knock on the door but stopped in mid-air. Horrified at what she was hearing from the other side of the door.

“Say it James!” the deep rich voice moaned.