Chapter 212 - 211- Interlude: a Christmas miracle

JAMES' POV

It was 2 AM, the night of Christmas, and James was drinking his third glass of Firewhiskey He had since the other people at the house went to bed.

Since he was all alone, he finally let the glamour He casted on himself to fall apart.

The changes in him weren't as pronounced as most people would expect from someone who use glamour.

he wasn't fat, ugly or has a nasty scar, his hairline did retreat a bit, but that happened when you grow older.

No, the glamour didn't hide any of those things, it hid his eyes, made them look alive and happy even in truth they were dead, angry and full of guilt.

The world seem to fall apart to him.

Voldemort returned, his money disappeared, and one of his sons estranged.

And worse than all, he could do nothing about any of that.

Sure, he was part of the order, doing as the headmaster say as they fought in this secret war, but except for wasting his time guarding the prophecy about Marcus he hadn't actually did anything.

At this point he couldn't even say anything about Harry, as in the bits of free time he had he has investigated him, and what he found made his heart ache.

He started with the simplest of things, asking the teachers at school about the boy, and with the exception of Filius, who spat on him in anger for abandoning Harry, and Snape, who just sneered at him, the rest all said the same thing - "Good grades, but average student, most of the time could barely be felt in class."

For a second, it felt like an angle he could use, bond with his son by helping him improve.

In the end, as he wasn't sure, he asked for Moony's opinion, who, when James managed to reach him, told James about how he tried to do the same two years ago, only to fail.

After that, he tried to look into his son's past and current living conditions.

It took him over three months to find everything.

Find how he is hailed as a genius in the muggles world, how he seems to be living by himself since the age of 11, how he came to the orphanage.

Finding the Dursley family and ripping Petunia's memories from her before doing the same to Vernon made James puke, twice.

Memories of Putting a baby in a cupboard, feeding him twice a day and letting changing his diaper once, making him clean by the time he is three, Harry would have never survived without his magic!

He made sure they would never have a peaceful night again by enchanting the picture of their family on the wall in their bedroom with the nightmare curse.

That night he started the ritual of drinking before bed, using the liquid's burn as a way to make his sorrows disappear as he understood what he has done to his eldest.

Having such an excellent mind, yet average student? Having almost no presence in a magical class? Leaving him in the care of those monsters has damaged his magic!

'No,' he promised himself. 'I will stay away from Harry, watch him from afar, as I help as much as I can.'

His promise to himself was harder to accomplish than thought, as apparently, he has almost no money.

The numbers he got from the goblins made no sense, he couldn't see where the hundreds of thousands of Galleons disappeared.

Which is why, he took the remaining gold he had in the bank to his house, making sure to leave enough for the payment to school the boys needed and the 100 Galleons he vowed to Harry.

But it was too late, and James was forced to sell the percentages the Potter family had in many stores to versus families to regain parts of his money.

He started cutting expenses, no more fancy gifts for no reason to his wife and Marcus, no more going to the bar after work with friends.

It worked, the expenses of his family reached a balance with his paycheck, making him capable of staying sane.

Till Lily, his wife, decided to invite the entire Weasley clan and Marcus' friends for Christmas, making a dent in the already small savings they have.

Finishing the fourth and last glass of Firewhiskey for the night, James thought about the Weasley twins and their new and successful business he discussed about with Arthur.

Maybe not everything is lost, maybe he should make a small investment in their business, maybe he can get out of the hole he seem to be stuck at.

Going to bed, James couldn't help but wonder if this is a Christmas miracle.