"Thank you for coming, Mr. Potter."

"Harry."

"Harry. Please, have a seat."

"What's this about? I...I haven't heard of this department before."

The wizard on the other side of the large wooden desk nodded, understanding. "My name is Jameson Cook. I am a Care-Seeker here at the Department of Magical Familial Services. I realize that this is incredibly abrupt, but these matters usually are, unfortunately-"

"What matters?"

Mr. Cook sighed. "Harry, in this department, we handle situations among magical families that require an...outside party."

"Alright..."

"As there is no gentle way to present this, I'll just begin." Mr. Cook took a soft breath. "Earlier today, at 1:37 this afternoon, there was an explosion at the Malfoy Manor."

Harry blinked, and the corners of his mouth dropped into a frown.

"The Ministry dispatched the appropriate response teams immediately, though upon arrival, it was clear that the inhabitants, a Ms. Narcissa Malfoy and Ms. Andromeda Tonks, did not survive the blast."

The silence rang in Harry's ears. "But-"

"I understand that you knew of the arrangement between the Malfoy and Tonks families?"

"Yeah, I-" Harry swallowed, mouth dry. "Yeah, Andromeda and Teddy moved in with the Malfoys after Lucius died. But did-"

"Teddy was not in the Manor at the time of the explosion, no."

Icy relief poured from Harry's chest, snaking its way through his veins as he heaved a deep sigh.

"He was thankfully out with his cousin, Mr. Draco Malfoy."

Without thinking, Harry's jaw locked. Much as he had always loathed the idea of Malfoy being anywhere near Teddy since Andromeda moved them to the Manor over a year ago, Harry begrudgingly had to at least be objectively grateful.

"Once the Manor and...its inhabitants...were cared for, Mr. Malfoy and Teddy were located and brought into our department, where they have been waiting while I and my partner have sorted through the opening of this case."

"Case?"

Mr. Cook raised a surprised brow. "Teddy's case, Harry. What will become of him now that he has lost nearly all his family. Though Mr. Malfoy is the last of Teddy's blood relatives, you are Teddy's legally appointed godfather."

Harry's chest seemed to cave slightly in anticipation. Air was hard to take in, and he sat up straighter to appear less anxious.

Mr. Cook continued. "Now that you are of legal age, you are the next in line to take custody of Teddy instead of a family member such as Mr. Malfoy."

"Of course I'll take him," Harry said roughly, leaning forward in his seat. Just the mention of Malfoy ever being considered as Teddy's guardian boiled Harry's blood.

Mr. Cook nodded. "And you will, though my partner and I have our concerns."

"Concerns?"

"Yes, Harry. For one, your age-"

"You just said-"

Mr. Cook raised a hand to stop him. "Although of legal age, you are still only 19 years old. Quite young to be taking on a toddler. In addition, if I'm to believe the gossip, you are not married or in any kind of long-term relationship-"

"What does that have to do with anything?" It was a bit of a sore spot for Harry, his ongoing lack of a love life. Though things weren't strained by any means, he and Ginny hadn't rekindled as they had both hoped after the war, and Harry hadn't been terribly successful in dating since. But the wizard on the other side of the desk only responded to Harry's annoyance with a pitying shrug.

"Having help raise a child is important. Many single parents struggle not only with the parenting duties, but with supporting a child on one income, childcare, stress, and more. It is not a requirement to have a spouse, obviously, but being on your own will add to what is already a stressful situation, which is why your marital status is of slight concern.

"Your line of work is also something that came up when going over the preliminaries of this case."

"I work for the Ministry. How is that a concern?"

"Technically, you are a part of the Ministry's Auror training program, not a full employee."

"I have regular hours and a salary-"

"The point I'm making, Harry," Mr. Cook sighed, "is that you are only halfway through the extensive and strenuous program. You are more often at the Ministry than at home right now, and when you are home you are likely exhausted. This is will only make caring for a child more difficult."

Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, the three-year Auror training program was far more difficult than he had truly anticipated. He spent a third of his day in physical training alone, not to mention the bookwork and reading required. It had been almost like returning to Hogwarts in a never-ending state of pre-exam frenzy. When he made it home a little after four o'clock each day, he did tend to collapse onto his couch and not move for hours.

But if it meant keeping Teddy, Harry could change that.

"I mean, yeah, I'm sure it'll be a lot to handle," Harry said. "But I can make it work."

"And I am sure you can," Mr. Cook replied with a kind smile. "But then there's your lack of experience with children."

At that, Harry openly balked. "What, as if every parent has all this experience with kids before having their own?"

"Now that is not what I meant. I am merely expressing to you the concerns my partner and I have."

"And I can prove all those concerns to be a waste of time," Harry snapped before he could think better of it.

Mr. Cook chuckled. "And I'd like to see that, Harry, I truly would. And you'll be able to prove yourself just fine, as my partner and I will be stopping by to check in on you and Teddy periodically until you are either deemed fit or not."

"Er...sorry?"

"It's a routine procedure with cases of adoption and similar scenarios. The child's case managers make regular, scheduled visits to the home to ask questions and make observations. After a period, the guardians are deemed either fit or unfit to care for that particular child."

"And if I''m deemed unfit...?"

"Then Teddy would be removed from your care and placed up for adoption, where the process would begin again."

Panic flared in Harry's chest. "No."

"Well, obviously, it would be in Teddy's best interests not to home-hop, but he also needs a home that can provide a stable living environment filled with love and patience as he goes through his tough time."

Trying to sound as calm and mature as he currently wasn't feeling, Harry said, "I can provide that."

"I'd like to see that, Harry," Mr. Cook said with a smile. He stood then, gesturing toward the door. "Now, I need to draw up the paperwork for you to sign, but in the meantime, you're welcome to see Teddy in the waiting room. I suspect he and Mr. Malfoy are finished speaking with my partner by now."

The Department of Magical Familial Services was a rather small department, though well kept and nicely decorated, unlike much of the rest of the Ministry. The waiting room that Harry stepped into was a calming blue and purple-grey with plush but firm chairs, several parenting magazines, and a neatly kept play area. Though Harry had seen another family seated when he had come through earlier, the waiting room was empty now. Empty except for-

"Ha-wee!"

Teddy's sweet voice punctured the quiet of the room, drawing Harry's eyes as two feet of energy slammed into his knees. Harry stumbled a bit, finally collapsing into a seated position on the floor to accept the crazed embrace of a nearly-two-year-old Teddy Lupin.

Teddy had changed so much from the squished mess that rolled around in the photos Lupin had showed Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He had grown into a thick-set little toddler with large blue eyes and sandy brown hair when he wasn't changing them. Harry pulled Teddy into his chest, breathing him in.

"Hey, Teddy."

Teddy didn't talk a whole lot, but he lifted his head and stared into Harry's eyes for a moment, seeming to ask a question that Harry couldn't decipher, before dropping his head back into Harry's chest. Harry just patted his back and stood up, scooping Teddy into him as he did so.

Several seats away sat Malfoy.

Not any less sickly looking and just as angry in the face, Malfoy glared at Harry. It was more than a glare, it was nearing on pure hatred. Not that Harry and Malfoy had moved past their rivalries and angry differences, but they had more or less adjusted to simply ignoring the fact that the other existed since Andromeda and Teddy had moved in with Malfoy and his mother. The glare Malfoy wore was surprising, even if it did bring out a childish sense of satisfaction deep in Harry's chest.

"I'd be careful, Malfoy. Your face might stick like that."

"It must be nice to have everything handed to you on a silver platter, Potter," Malfoy sneered.

"I wouldn't know, I didn't grow up relying on my father to do everything for me."

"You don't deserve Teddy and you know it."

"I'm his godfather."

"You hardly know him. You think a few hours here and there are enough for you to properly care for a living, breathing child day in and day out? It'll be a miracle he doesn't starve."

"Shut up, Malfoy."

Malfoy stood, striding across the room as he snarled, "Perfect, saviour Potter being given the benefit of the doubt just because luck's always been on your side rather than brains. While you've been parading off to Auror training to further your fat ego, I've actually been with Teddy, helping care for him and actually being present. But does that matter to the Ministry? No. No, instead, they're passing over a perfectly good home and guardian for Teddy in favor of making sure the Chosen One gets exactly what he wants just because he wants it, despite how obviously incapable you are."

"Oh, I didn't realize that having a career and a future that will actually provide for Teddy was a bad decision on the Ministry's part. Especially if the only other option was an ex-Death Eater that works at a potions shop."

"The fact that you've consistently chosen fame over family throughout the years should have been enough of a turn off for anyone to ever grant you guardianship over another living creature. Isn't that how you lost the Weasley girl? You put her off so you could galavant off to save the world and it cost you probably the only witch foolish enough to love you."

Rage stormed in Harry's chest and belly, burning his face as she ground his teeth together. Malfoy's comment hit just a little too close to the nightmares that punctured Harry's fitful sleeps. He clenched his teeth harder, seeking some sort of miracle in self control as he took a deep breath through his nose.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Mark my words, Potter, your tendency to put family and friends aside for your own selfish goals will show up before long with Teddy, and I will be patiently waiting to catch him."

"You-"

"Harry?"

Harry snapped his head around at Mr. Cook's voice. He was peeking out of his office, waving a hand at him.

"I have the paperwork drawn up now. Let's get this signed and you can take Teddy home."

Hoping it wasn't apparent that he had been seconds away from drawing his wand, Harry turned his back on Malfoy and strode back into the office, Teddy still curled comfortably into his chest.

Draco should have been grieving.

In the days following his mother's death, Draco should have been in mourning; sobbing over the single photo he had left of his mother and father, not eating, growing a beard and alarmingly dark bags beneath his eyes from sleepless nights. He should have been clinging desperately to the fading memories he had of the few good times, fondly remembering the times his mother had taken charge in making sure Draco knew how deeply he was loved. He should have been sitting in the middle of his new flat, surrounded by two or three small boxes of the items that had been salvaged from the wrecked Malfoy Manor, pathetically combing over each mundane item as if it were an heirloom. He should have been unable to face replacing the material life he had always cherished, sleeping on the floor of an empty flat for the months it would take for him to properly pull himself out of the hell he had endured, from the hell that was now his kinless existence.

Except he wasn't kinless. There was Teddy.

Teddy, the strange little Metamorphmagus that had moved into his home and his heart no less than a year previous. It was Teddy that kept Draco from properly mourning. Not that it was his fault.

No, it wasn't Teddy's fault that Draco spent the hours following his mother's and aunt's deaths searching for and securing a respectable flat. It wasn't Teddy's fault that Draco forced down enough food each day to carry him through the shopping required to fill that new flat. It wasn't Teddy's fault that Draco spent every waking hour for two days straight assembling new furniture, unpacking hundreds of galleons' worth of things that made a flat a home. It wasn't Teddy's fault that Draco didn't have time to mourn. It wasn't Teddy's fault that Draco had an uphill battle against impossible odds to reclaim the only thing in his world that made life worth living.

It was Harry fucking Potter's.

Draco had caught on almost immediately to Potter's regular times that he came to see Teddy once Andromeda moved into the Manor with the toddler. Draco took great strides to make sure he worked those days to avoid the Boy Who Did Who Knows What Now, leaving the gap of interaction since their time at Hogwarts to proceed as planned. But after mere seconds with the absolute waste of space, Potter had managed to make a horrific situation even worse for Draco.

Typical.

Not only did Draco have Teddy ripped away from him, but Teddy was placed in the custody of the world's most incompetent wizard. The laws were against Draco. He would have to play by the rules entirely. There would be no sabotaging the precious, exalted Harry Potter. There couldn't even be their usual nastiness if Draco were at all hopeful to ever lay eyes on Teddy again. The thought of catering to Potter's ego was immensely nauseating, but it was not Draco's very reality.

No, Draco didn't have time to mourn. He had to prove that he was the better choice.

With a frustrated sigh, he collapsed onto his large new sofa, easily twice the size of a typical loveseat, and breathed in its new-fabric smell. Nearly everything in Draco's new flat smelled new, with a hint of cardboard and plastic. Quite different from the refreshing scents of polished familiarity, hardly a scent at all, really. The odors of Malfoy Manor were his and his family's - no one really noticed their own distinct smell.

But no longer. Now, Draco was constantly breathing in a department store. That, too, was nauseating.

To think he had wanted this. Not the circumstances that forced it but Draco had been wanting to move into his own flat, have his own space, find his own way. But when his father had been incarcerated, it seemed harsh to leave his mother alone in the Manor; and when his father had been killed in Azkaban, the hope of leaving was rushed out almost entirely. It wasn't long after, however, that Draco's mother and Andromeda rekindled what was left of their relationship in shared grief. Although Draco had felt that it was a touch forced, Andromeda and Teddy moving into the Manor had selfishly revived from of his hope to finally venture out on his own. His mother would have company without ever having to leave the Manor that she loved so much.

But then Draco fell in love with Teddy.

It had been slow - tripping over scattered toys throughout the Manor and irritably returning them to the boy, listening to wails from his bedroom after Teddy took his first spill down the staircase. And then Draco found himself watching Teddy from open doorways as he passed by rooms where the toddler stumbled about, giggly and adventurous. So different from the child his mother had said Draco once was. Teddy took on the world as if there were no risks, a sense of safety always in those bright eyes that changed color with his mood. Andromeda never shouted at Teddy, something that baffled Draco at first. She could be sharp, most definitely firm, and strict with his boy, but typically Teddy was regarded with gentle love and playful guidance.

It was fascinating.

Only a few weeks into meeting Teddy, Draco wound up knocking into the toddler as he had hastily crawled into the corridor. Teddy hadn't cried, instead babbling and clawing at Draco's leg, reaching for him to be picked up. As Draco had watched, it hit him:

Teddy was actually happy to see him.

Draco hadn't had anyone, even his own mother, look at him without a trace of negative emotion since before he could remember. Be it fear, worry, disdain, or something else, others had always regarded Draco with at least a hint of reserve. No one looked at him as though he wasn't less than one thing or the other.

But Teddy did.

That had been the tipping point, what made Draco dive headfirst into the depths of child care and development. But after a year of changing nappies, navigating finger foods and solids, reading children's stories, singing lullabies in the dark, and working on different milestones along the way, Draco felt true love for Teddy. Teddy was his own, something that he would do absolutely anything for to keep safe. There was nothing Draco wouldn't do for Teddy.

And yet, in a matter of minutes, all that was gone.

Draco ran a hand through his hair as he sat up. Sure, he hadn't achieved large goals without breaking the rules probably ever. Sure, his own reputation and past were against him. His opponent was the most prized wizard in the world, it seemed. But if it meant getting Teddy back, Draco could follow the rules of the law, he could play nice.

Clenching his teeth, Draco knew he didn't have a choice.

He couldn't lose Teddy.

x-x-x

"Mr. Malfoy, to what do I owe the pleasure so early on a Monday morning?"

Draco strode up to Kara Dribble's desk in the Department of Magical Familial Services precisely at eight o'clock the following morning. While Potter had seen a different Care-Seeker the previous Friday, Ms. Dribble had been the witch that outlined the situation for Draco. Old and frail but sharp as broken glass, Ms. Dribble hadn't spared Draco any niceties at the time, something he respected. It gave him hope that a direct approach on her would yield him from positive results.

"Is there anything that is legally keeping me from seeing Teddy?"

Ms. Dribble frowned, regarding him from behind her thick glasses with furrowed brows. "Is there something on your mind, Mr. Malfoy? You are not a dim man. You know that Mr. Potter is Teddy's guardian now."

"Yes, I know that." Draco tried not to let his exasperation show. "But what I'm asking-"

"Is if you could see Teddy? Such as visitations?"

"Yes."

The old witch tutted, shaking her head slightly. "There is nothing that prohibits you from seeing Teddy as far as our department goes. But as Mr. Potter is now responsible for the boy, it is entirely up to him who has access to Teddy, myself and Jameson being the obvious exception."

Pursing his lips together, Draco's mind whirled. If he wasn't under any sort of restraints as far as the law was concerned...

"However, just because you can see the boy doesn't mean that you should. I realize that you likely have a much stronger bond with Teddy than Mr. Potter."

If only she knew the half of it.

"But things are what they are, Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Potter has guardianship for now, and short of him proving to be a danger to or outright neglectful of Teddy, very little is going to change that. I would not recommend intruding upon them at this time. They'll have a lot of adjusting to do, and I suspect you appearing and trying to take over could complicate things for young Teddy."

"But-" Draco stopped himself. He did not want to appear angry. "I...I fail to see how my visiting Teddy would hinder his time with Potter when I'm not around."

"You're not wrong."

"I-pardon me?"

"You're not wrong." Ms. Dribble was nodding, but her eyes were sympathetic. "It could be quite beneficial, just as it could also be disastrous. For now, unless Mr. Potter personally seeks you out, my professional suggestion would be to simply wait."

"I'm sorry, what? Just wait?" Draco could hear the irritation in his voice and tried to reset. "I...I've been caring for Teddy for over a year now. I don't think I can just wait around while I don't know how that-" He stopped, took a breath. "While I don't know how Potter is faring with Teddy."

A rather knowing smile twisted Ms. Dribble's thin lips "As, ah...chivalrous as that may be, Mr. Malfoy, I have to stand firm. These cases are never easy, and there is always more than one person on the losing end in the beginning. But keep in mind that Mr. Potter and Teddy will be checked in on periodically. Should Jameson or I catch a whiff of any unsuitability, Teddy will be promptly removed and placed elsewhere."

"Like with me?"

At that, the old witch openly laughed. "Oh, Mr. Malfoy." She waved a hand at him, dismissing him. "You go on now. I know you don't like it, but stay away unless Mr. Potter asks you to help. You might be surprised later."

Hands balled into fists in his pockets and teeth furiously grinding together, Draco turned on his heel and all but stormed out of the office.

"'Might be surprised later,'" Draco seethed under his breath as he exited the department and made for the lift. "As if the egomaniac would every actually ask for help...he'll run himself and Teddy into the ground before he'll ask me for help..."

The lift doors opened to the Ministry's main atrium. Draco let the indistinct buzzing of activity wash over him, trying to let it drown away the swirling lividity in his chest. Not that he had anticipated Ms. Dribble signing over Teddy to him or anything of the sort, but he had definitely not expected her to blatantly tell him to back off. A growl hung in his throat.

"What are you doing here?"

Draco turned slightly at the voice, finding the very source of all his problems standing within cursing range. Potter's face was tinged pink and contorted in just as much disgust as Draco felt.

"This is a public space, Potter. Or had you thought you owned the Ministry?"

Seeing the fury burn in those green eyes gave Draco great pleasure. But the triumph was fleeting as Draco remembered his talk with Ms. Dribble. He needed Potter's damned approval to see Teddy. With a sharp breath through his nose, Draco took a few steps toward Potter.

Potter's hand went to his pocket.

"Merlin, you'd risk Azkaban hexing an unarmed man in the middle of the Ministry?" Draco scoffed. But as he drew closer and Potter's face was nearing the point of popping a vein, Draco tried to lose his favorite cutting tone. "Look, I-"

"Just fuck off, Malfoy," Potter snarled. He seemed to have just realized how close Draco had come and pointedly strode in the opposite direction, toward the lifts.

"Damn it, Potter, will you just-"

"No!"

And without so much as a glance back, Potter's mop of unruly back hair vanished among the throngs pouring into the lifts.

Draco ran a shaking hand through his hair, rage making him feel weak in his own skin. If Potter was going to be like that...

This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.