A/N: Thanks for checking this story out! Fair warning, this one-shot is written from a young Scorpius's POV, so if that's not your speed, that's cool, I totally understand. But it would be awesome if you give this fic a chance, and I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and all its lovely characters are not mine.

Sanctuary

My best friend's name is Marsley. He's got large brown eyes and floppy ears, pointed at the tip, like the bats from Mum's book about caves.

I play games with Marsley every day, and today, it's Quidditch. We throw around these balls that are different sizes and shapes – one of them even has wings.

Mum reads me books about everything in the library, so I know wings are used for flying. I ask Dad how people are supposed to catch the ball if it's flying around everywhere.

Dad doesn't answer me, at first. Then, he says, "There are these objects called brooms. Some wizards and witches use it to fly. That's how Quidditch is really played, son. High up in the air, with people zooming about on brooms."

I've never seen a broom before, so I ask Dad to describe it to me. Then, Marsley and I spend the rest of the afternoon swerving around the playroom, and I pretend that I'm flying in the sky.

ooOOoo

I love my Dad, but Mum's my other best friend. She tells the most amazing fairytales, and sometimes I stay awake at night even though I'm supposed to be sleeping, thinking about her bedtime stories.

The best stories are the ones that have these two people named Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron. They get into all sorts of adventures, and it's usually inside a castle or in a forest.

Dad comes to tuck me in while Mum is telling her stories, and he says that Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron would have died a million times if it wasn't for Mum.

She slaps him on the arm and acts like she's mad, but Dad and I know that she's just pretending because she's got a huge smile on her face.

ooOOoo

Marsley and I are in the garden, playing out one of my favorite stories. I'm Uncle Harry, and he's Uncle Ron, and we're in a chamber hunting down a giant snake.

We jump on the long throw pillow that we brought out from the parlor, and we wrestle with it on the ground. I throw out my arms and yell out that it's dead, and Marsley cheers.

We both end up sitting on the ground, laughing about how fun it is to play Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron.

"It is fun, isn't it, young master?" Marsley says. "You like playing games with Marsley?"

I tell him yes, of course, I think it's fun to play with him. He's my best friend in the world.

"You're Marsley's best friend, too" he says, and he smiles at me so wide that I can see all his pointed teeth. But then, his eyes turn tearful, and he says, "Marsley would be very sad if young master doesn't play with Marsley anymore. If young master ever goes away."

I tell him that I'm never leaving. Why would I, when Mum and Dad, and Helena, and Marsley, and all the other House elves are here at the Manor?

"So, young master's never going to leave?" he asks, and his large eyes look at me brightly. "Young master promises to stay with Marsley at the Manor forever?"

Mum is walking by the roses in the garden when Marsley says this, and she runs over and picks me up.

She hasn't carried me in a long time because Dad gets mad whenever she does that. He tells her that I'm five years old, and I'm a big boy, so I shouldn't be carried around like a baby anymore.

I remind Mum this, but she doesn't answer me back. She carries me up to her and Dad's bedroom, and she goes and gets Helena, and the three of us stay in there until dinner.

The next time I play with Marsley, Mum stays with us and watches us.

ooOOoo

Me and Helena usually sleep in our own rooms, but the last few nights, Mum and Dad let us sleep between them in their bed.

Baby Helena – she just had her third birthday, but I still think of her as a baby – cuddles up next to Dad, and I'm using Mum's arm as a pillow.

It's dark, and my eyes are closed, and I don't know if I'm asleep, but I think I hear Mum and Dad whisper quietly over us.

"We've got to do it soon," says Mum.

I hear Dad sigh. "I still can't think of where we can go. Where it may be safe."

"Anywhere, Draco. Anywhere is safer than here."

"We don't know what's happened out there. What if Potter hasn't succeeded in killing the Dark Lord? What if the war is still going? We haven't heard from any of them."

"You know why!" she whispers louder. Helena stirs, and they stop talking. Dad rubs her back until she goes back to sleep.

Mum starts whispering again, quieter this time. "The Manor has been made Unplottable. If they've been looking for us, or trying to contact us, we have no way of knowing."

Dad doesn't answer her right away, and I think maybe he fell asleep. But, then he says, "They're so young, Hermione. What if we…They might end up out there, on their own."

I feel Mum shake her head. "It wants them, Draco. It wants them like it wanted us. We can't let it have them, too."

Dad puts his arm across the bed, like he's trying to hold on to all us. "We won't let that happen."

ooOOoo

Mum doesn't let me play with Marsley anymore.

The last time we played Quidditch, I got really excited, and I accidentally made all the balls fly round and round the room with magic.

Marsley was so happy that that he started clapping and jumping up and down. Then, he held out his hand and asked me if I would share some of my magic, so he can make the balls fly around, too.

Mum was there, and she yelled at Marsley to go away.

I only get to play with Helena now.

ooOOoo

"It's not as simple as picking up and leaving," Dad whispers. "We have a lot to prepare. We don't know what we're going to face past the wards, and without our wands or our magic, we'll be too vulnerable."

He and Mum are speaking quietly to each other on the other side of the room. Helena and I are playing on the carpet in their bedroom. Helena's too little to understand how to play Quidditch, so I help her with her dolls instead.

Mum doesn't say anything, so Dad keeps talking. "We have to make sure we really need to do this, right now. Perhaps we should hang on a bit longer. At least, here, we're away from the war. Away from him."

"Our side was so close to winning before we had to go into hiding," she says. "I have to believe that Harry came through for all of us these past few years."

"And if he didn't? If the Dark Lord is still out there, waiting for us to return? The kids might be safer if we stay—"

"The children aren't safe here! Not in this house, not with these damned House elves," she hisses.

Baby Helena starts crying. The way Mum and Dad are talking must have scared her, and Mum comes over to pick her up.

"We don't have another choice, Draco," she says, while she rubs Hel's back to calm her down. "We need to go, now, before it's too late."

"All right," Dad says quietly. "All right."

ooOOoo

Mum and Dad sit us down to talk, and they tell us that we need to leave the Manor soon.

I ask them why, when we already have everything here. My toys are here, and so is Marsley, even though I'm not allowed to talk to him anymore.

"Do you know the stories I tell you about Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron?" Mum asks, and she talks to us in the same voice she uses whenever she's about to give us sweets. "Well, they're true stories, and Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron are real people. Would you like to meet them?"

Helena is sitting next to me, and she smiles and asks if Auntie Ginny will be there, too. The stories about Auntie Ginny are here favorite, because Mum says she's strong and pretty and bosses her older brothers around.

Mum nods her head and says, "Yes, sweetheart, she'll be there."

"Listen to me, you two," Dad says, and he kneels in front of us. "It's very, very important that you don't tell anyone that we're leaving. Not the House elves, not the portraits."

I ask Dad if I'm allowed to tell Grandfather Lucius, who hangs above the fireplace in the parlor.

"No, not even him, son," he says. "We have to be really quiet about leaving."

I ask when we'll be going, and Mum says right after dinner, when the House elves are usually busy.

"If any of the House elves try to stop us," she says, "if any of them ask you to stay, you tell them 'no,' and you run away as fast as you can, and you cross the ward at the edge of the property. Is that clear?"

Hel and I nod our heads.

Mum takes something out of her pocket, and she and Dad look at each other like they're nervous about something. Then she grabs both of my hands and looks straight into my eyes and says, "Darling, your Dad and I are going to do our best to keep us all together. But if for any reason the two of you get separated from us, you need to use this."

She gives me a long metal tube with a cap on top. "This is called a Deluminator," she says. "It will take you to Uncle Harry if Dad and I aren't with you."

Mum flips the cap open and points to a button. "See this, here?" she asks. "All you have to do is think of all your favorite stories about Uncle Harry. Do you remember what I told you he looks like?"

I nod and say: green eyes, dark hair, lightning scar, glasses.

She smiles and says, "Very good. When you're across the ward, you – both of you – should think about Uncle Harry, and what he looks like, and all the stories about him that you love the most. And then, you click this button, and it will take you to him."

Mum slips the Lumator on a chain and puts it around my neck, tucking it under my shirt. Then she puts her hand on my cheek and says, "My darling boy."

Then she gives me a kiss on my hair.

ooOOoo

There's only a little bit of sunlight left when we walk out to the garden. Dad is carrying Hel in his arms, and Mum holds my hand.

Mum points to the grey stones far ahead of us, and she pulls me along. We run as quietly as we can to the graveyard, where I sometimes go with Dad to visit Grandmother Cissy.

I accidently trip on my feet, and I yell out because I'm surprised. Mum picks me up and carries me.

We get to the cemetery and hide behind a large statue of an angel, where Dad is already kneeling on the ground with Hel.

I hear a popping sound not too far away. The House elves probably heard me scream.

I count three more pops, and it sounds like they might be close.

Mum hands me over to Dad, and she's about to stand up and run, but Dad grabs her arm.

"Hermione," he says, and I feel even more scared when I hear the sound of his voice. "Don't go."

"Draco, we talked about this," she says, and she takes on the voice she uses for when I'm in trouble. "You can run faster with the kids than I can. We agreed if they come for us, that I'll distract them and lead them away."

She tries to stand up again, but Dad keeps his hand on her. "No, Hermione!" he whispers, but the panic in his voice scares Helena, and she starts to cry.

"Draco," she says, and she pries his fingers from around her arm. "You promised."

She finally gets Dad's hand off her, but she doesn't try to stand up right away this time. Instead, she gives me and Hel a kiss, and then puts her hands on each side of Dad's face.

"Take the kids and head to the woods. Make sure they get across the wards," she says, and then she gives him a kiss on the lips. Mum is crying when she pulls away, but she says, "I love you."

Then she jumps up and runs to the field, away from the edge of the woods.

ooOOoo

We are in the woods, and Dad carries us in each of his arms. I don't think I've ever been to this part of the Manor grounds, but it's getting too dark to really see where we are.

Hel is sniffing and rubbing her eyes, but Dad doesn't talk. He just looks ahead of him, and he runs with us between the trees and the huge rocks, not making a sound.

Dad stops and his eyes go wide, and I turn around to see what he's looking at. The woods that we are in right now is dry and smells like soil and leaves. But far ahead, there's white clumps coming down like rain, and it covers the ground like a blanket.

Snow, I think, from what I remember in Mum's books. I ask Dad if I'm right, and he only nods.

Dad starts running faster, but I hear popping sounds around us. He dives behind a large tree. I see one of the House elves make us out and point in our direction.

I hear a voice say, "Master," and I know it's Jensey.

"Master cannot leave," says Jensey. "Master must come back to the Manor and bring the young children with him."

Dad yells at her from behind our tree. "Please, Jensey. Let me take the kids and let us leave this place."

"Master asked the land for protection when he came here," Jensey says. "He cannot leave now. He woke the ancient magic, and he was warned that sacrifice be made if he wanted to be hidden from his Dark Lord."

"We were desperate!" Dad screams at Jensey. "We needed sanctuary before my son was born, and we were tricked into tying our magic into the land. We didn't intend for any of this to happen."

"We's tied to the land, us House elves," Jensey says. "And we do what the land wants. The land will never let Master and Mistress go now, and it wants the young children to tie their magic to it, as well."

It sounds like her voice is getting closer to us. I hear sounds of twigs snapping and leaves crunching around us.

Dad holds the back of my neck so I look up at him, and he whispers, "Take your sister and run to the wards. Don't stop until there's snow under your feet."

He hugs us both close to him, and tears start running down my Dad's face. He runs his fingers through Hel's blonde curls and presses his cheek on the top of her hair and says, "I'm so sorry, princess."

He turns back to me and puts Hel's hand in mine. "Hang on to your sister. Don't let her go. Promise me."

I tell him yes, I promise, and he hugs me one more time, and then he yells, "Go! Now!"

I run as fast as I can to where I see the bright, white snow, and I drag Helena behind me. We reach the edge of the ward, and I run into the magic between me and the snow. It pushes against my body, and I feel like I'm about to fall back.

I push again and cold air hits my face, and I yank hard at my sister's hand until she's with me on the snow. I want to keep running, but I hear a voice behind me, say, "Young master!"

I stop and turn around. Marsley is standing there on the other side of the magic, where the ground is still brown and the trees still have leaves.

I don't see any other House elves, not even Jensey. I don't see Dad anywhere, too.

"Young master," says Marsley, and he looks like he's crying. "Please, walk back across the ward. Don't leave Marsley."

He holds out his hand to me, and he says, "Will you please come back, young master?"

I look at him, at his bat ears and his big eyes full of tears, and I remember what Mum told me.

"No," I say to him, and I tug on Helena's hand. "Come on, Hel."

We run until I can't see Marsley anymore.

ooOOoo

Hel and I slow down to a walk, after a while. It's night but there's a big moon out, and I can still see our way in the snow.

Hel stops walking all of a sudden, and I'm still holding her hand, so I stop with her.

She rubs her eyes and sniffs really loud. "My feet hurt," she cries.

I rub my other hand on her back to make her stop crying, like how Mum does it. "I know, Hel. But we need to walk a bit more. Make sure Marsley can't get us."

Helena cries louder. "It hurts too much."

I don't really know what to do, because Mum and Dad are the ones who can make Hel stop crying. So, I put my hands on her shoulders to make her look at me.

"Are you a baby? Or are you a big girl?" I ask her.

She sniffs. "B – big girl," she says.

"I thought so," I say. "You need to stop crying right now, okay, Hel? We need to keep walking. Just in case."

I take her hand again, and we walk slower, but we keep moving through the snow.

ooOOoo

I don't know how much further we walk until Helena can't go on. We sit down on the cold snow, next to a tall tree.

Helena is still crying, but she is quiet.

I take the Lumator from under my shirt, and I hold it in my hands.

"Is Marsley gonna get us?" Helena whispers to me.

I put my arm around her shoulders. "I won't let him," I say.

I open the cap of the Lumator, and I ask Hel, "Do you remember what Mum told us? We have to think about Uncle Harry, so the Lumator will take us to him. What's your favorite Uncle Harry story?"

"The one with the dragon," she says, quietly sniffing.

"Okay, Hel, you have to picture Uncle Harry flying the dragon. Close your eyes and picture him in your head. Green eyes, dark hair, lightning scar, glasses," I say. "Are you doing it?"

She squeezes her eyes shut and nods.

"You have to say it with me so I'm sure that you're doing it. Green eyes, dark hair," I nudge her, and she says it with me, "lightning scar, glasses."

We keep repeating it – green eyes, dark hair, lightning scar, glasses – and then I click the button on the Lumator, and a blue flame floats in front of us.

The flame starts coming toward us, and I wrap both my arms around Helena.

"—dark hair, lightning scar—" she repeats.

The blue flame goes into my chest and through Helena, and I close my eyes and yell, "Hold on to me, Hel!"

ooOOoo

There are still tall trees around us, and it's still dark, but there's no snow. I see smoke from the tops of the trees, and we follow it, to where there is a fire inside a circle of rocks.

There are tents around, and people, too. Grown-ups, like Mum and Dad.

Helena squeezes my hand, and I squeeze hers back. We walk to get closer to the fire, because I'm still cold and wet from the snow, and I think Hel might be, too.

"Whoa! What's this?" I hear someone say, and we freeze.

A tall man with red hair comes over to us, and I stand in front of Hel just in case.

"Who are you? Where'd you two come from?" he asks.

I almost answer him, when another man comes over and says, "What is it, Ron?"

He leans down to look at us, and I can see his face better. Green eyes. Dark hair. Lightning scar. Glasses.

"Are you Uncle Harry?" I ask.

His jaw falls open like he's surprised, and he looks closer at us in the light of the fire.

Marsley says I don't look anything like my dad, with my black hair and dark eyes. But I think Helena looks just like him, except she's got Mum's curls.

"Yes," the man says. "I'm your Uncle Harry. What – What's your name?"

"Scorpius," I say. "Scorpius Malfoy. And this is my sister, Helena."

Uncle Harry stands up. "Where are your parents? Your mum?" he asks, and he looks around at the trees behind us. "Where's your mum?"

Helena starts crying again, and Uncle Harry and the red-haired man kneel in front of her.

"At home," she says between sniffles.

"Mum told us that if we get separated, that we go to you, Uncle Harry," I say.

Uncle Harry stares at us, and I see tears in his eyes like he's about to cry. He swallows loudly a few times, and then he asks, "Are you two hungry?"

My sister stops crying and nods.

The two men stand up, and Uncle Harry holds out a hand.

Helena takes it, but I keep her other hand in mine, and even when we walk to the tent, I don't let her go.

I promised.

A/N: Thank you for reading!

This story was inspired, of all things, by an interview I saw of John Krasinski talking about how his new horror flick is a love letter to his kids and explores the extent of what a parent would sacrifice for his/her children. So, there you go.

I'm planning on writing a multi-chapter prequel/sequel to this one-shot (not in young Scorp's POV, because this was way harder than I thought it would be!). I hope to see you there!

Reviews are greatly appreciated!