A/N: Written for the Quidditch League as a Chaser 3 reserve for Round 4.
Prompt: "This is a peculiar theme."
Additional Prompts: [action] Hide
[creature] Hippogriff

One would think that the Boy Who Lived, the hero who slayed the Dark Lord, and all of the other things people called him nowadays would have more important things to do than throw the most extravagant birthday party of the decade. But no. Somehow, although the man couldn't care less about his own fame, he wanted to make sure that all of magical Britain and preferably the entire world knew that his godson was turning two.

What he did not mention to anyone until the day of the grand event was that he was entirely incompetent in the area of bringing such grand ideas to fruition.

Harry Potter had never been known for his planning skills.

Normally, the—Draco took a moment to flip through his mental catalogue of complicated family relations—first cousin once removed of the celebrated almost-two-year-old would have been enjoying a normal morning in his modest flat. However, as usual, the Chosen One had to appear and make sure that his life wasn't getting too easy.

"What do you want?" he sighed. Of course his "peaceful day" would begin with a bad omen—in this case, a bad omen accompanied by a blue-haired toddler.

"I enjoy being here even less than you enjoy having me here," his former nemesis said flatly.

"I doubt that that's even a possibility. However, that doesn't answer my question."

Potter huffed and glanced over his shoulder. "You probably don't even know any more about it than me—I'll bet it wasn't even worth coming."

Teddy glanced up quizzically at his godfather with wide eyes.

Draco sighed and raised his eyebrows. "It's astounding how much you can say without answering a very simple question, Potter. What is so important that it should bring you of all people to my doorstep on an otherwise peaceful morning?"

"It's a party. For Teddy."

Draco raised his eyebrows. Why on earth had Potter come to him? "So, naturally, you would come to me about this? Because I doubt I'm being invited."

Potter glared at him. "Look, every single other person I would have come to before you is gone. Ron and Hermione are off on their honeymoon and Ginny's got this really important game that her mum went to watch and I promised Andromeda that I could handle this but—"

Ah. There it was. "Are you asking me for help, Potter?" Draco asked, amused.

Potter scowled. "No. I mean—sort of—but—"

"Fine, I'll help you," Draco said smugly. It was so satisfying to finally have Potter need him. He couldn't wait to take advantage of the opportunity. "Merlin, I am related to the child, you know. I really hope you haven't made a mess of him."

Potter took this opportune moment to wipe one of Teddy's grubby hands on the hem of his robes. "Of course not." He frowned and glanced at Teddy, who was looking around curiously. "Do you actually know anything about parties, though?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I've been dazzling high society since before I could talk. Name a celebration and I've probably been to one."

"A birthday party for a two-year-old?" Potter said skeptically.

"I did turn two once myself, you know. Admittedly, I'm assuming that you've corrupted him, so this will be... different."

"Malfoy, are we doing this or not?"

"Of course; it's just you, me, the birthday party of the century, and a mischievous one-year-old. What could go wrong?"

"He's almost two," Potter corrected.

Draco cleared his throat.

Potter frowned, seemingly realizing that the situation called for him to actually be polite.

"Thanks," he said awkwardly, scooping up Teddy and handing him to Draco. Teddy looked up at Draco, turned his eyes a matching shade of silver, and laughed.

"No," Potter said sharply to Teddy, "You're not supposed to like him."

"Dwaco!"

"Now that seems a bit demeaning—I mean, I need some sort of title, don't I?"

Teddy, who was struggling with his R's, merely gave a wide smile and turned his hair white-blonde, although it was still a mess. "I'm Dwaco!" he chirped, and seemingly found this so hilarious that he dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"You're better than that," Potter replied, his eyes not leaving the parchment in his hand.

"You're a poor imitation," Draco corrected, rolling his eyes. "I'll have you know that I would not be caught dead with my hair looking like that."

Teddy got up, toddled over to a small end table, and began inspecting a teacup with fascination. He then picked it up in his chubby little hands and looked at Draco with the gleeful grin of one who was about to cause trouble. Draco had the feeling that a certain godfather of Teddy's had taught him that smile.

"Pretty cup," he said in fascination. Draco inched closer in an attempt to prevent the inevitable disaster. Potter's oblivious eyes scanned one of his pieces of parchment.

"Pretty cup smash!" Teddy chirped, his face lighting up.

"No!" Draco yelped, leaping forwards to rescue his prized possession, but the fact that he had dabbled in ballet at the age of six was apparently not enough to save either the teacup or the toddler.

"Will you stop crying, I'm trying to focus and—look, fixing this is not exactly my specialty—yes, I know your arm hurts! Merlin, you might as well be Potter's son, you're as whiny as he is!"

Teddy only bawled louder, tears streaming down his reddened face as he clutched his scraped arm.

"Oh, shut up, Malfoy, I could remind you of plenty of times—"

"I can't believe you haven't killed this child. Reparo!"

The cup stubbornly refused to reassemble itself. Apparently it had realized that its worth was owed only to its first owner, a long-forgotten Malfoy ancestor who once claimed that its tea leaves had formed the shape of a Hippogriff.

"Priorities, much, Malfoy?"

"I don't see you trying to help!" Draco snapped.

"One of us is at least trying to comfort him, and it isn't you!"

"Oooowww!" Teddy wailed, his hair turning crimson. The fact that his hair changed to match his mood was usually helpful, but right now it was just annoying. Draco dropped the cup in disgust and spun his wand in his hand towards Teddy's arm. "Episkey."

The small cut closed and Teddy's hair faded to a powdery gray. "Silky!" he sniffed, rubbing away tears with his little fists.

"His toy hippogriff," Potter clarified. "Here," he said, handing a small stuffed toy to Teddy, who cuddled it close and stroked it with a little smile.

Draco glanced at Teddy out of the corner of his eye. "Honestly, you'd think a little scratch had killed him."

Potter snorted. "That sounds familiar."

"Oh, shut up," Draco muttered. "Does this party idea consist of any actual plans?"

Potter handed him the stack of papers. "Sort of."

Draco scanned the pages, eyebrows raised. "This is a...peculiar theme."

Potter shrugged. "This is all about Teddy. He really likes Hippogriffs."

Draco shot him a questioning look.

"He's heard stories about Buckbeak"—Potter grinned—"and then he got this toy."

"Buckbeak…?"

Oh.

Hagrid's bloody chicken. While Draco had to admit that it had not actually tried to kill him (and he'd been a bit of an idiot), he still did not have fond memories of the creature.

"Stupid bird," Draco muttered.

Potter smirked. "Look, we need to actually make this happen, okay? It'll make Teddy really happy and I want to do something special for him."

Draco sighed. "Don't try your sentimentality with me. I've already said I'll help you. Have you decided on the seating yet?"

Two hours, four seating charts, three tantrums, fifteen attempts at drawing Hippogriffs, and ten gray color swatches later, they had the beginning of what Draco might actually call a plan. It certainly wasn't perfect, but they both knew that there was no way Harry Potter could have done it on his own.

Potter grinned as if he actually thought they were done. "Teddy! Come look at this!"

Draco opened his mouth to reply, but then it occurred to him that an excited toddler should have come running to them by now. He glanced at his former nemesis and co-babysitter.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know," Potter replied, looking worried. He looked around as though hoping to summon the missing child from wherever he was hiding. "He was over there playing with Silky just a minute ago, and then—"

He broke off and glared at Draco. "You distracted me with those stupid color swatches! If you hadn't—"

Draco held up a hand to stop him. "Absolutely not, Potter. You are currently the primary caretaker of your godson and allowed yourself to be distracted. Therefore, this is entirely your fault."

Potter glared at him. "We're supposed to be watching him together, Malfoy, take responsibility for once!"

"Then I would suggest we find him. Together, since you're so fond of teamwork," Draco added.

Potter immediately got up and started searching under the furniture.

"I highly doubt he would fit under there," Draco commented, inspecting the room for the trail of damage that would probably be left in Teddy's wake.

Potter attempted to stand up but smacked his head on the underside of the table he'd been peering beneath and swore. Draco smirked.

"You'd better hope your impressionable godson didn't hear that."

"You have too many useless things in here," Potter grumbled, rubbing his head.

"Is that going to give you another scar? You could be 'The Boy Who Vanquished The End Table'," Draco suggested dryly.

"You have to be the least helpful person I have ever had to work with," Potter snapped, making his way into the kitchen.

Draco shrugged. "Don't break anything."

He glanced at the door. Nothing. However, something just on the edge of Draco's vision caught his eye. He turned to see what it was.

The window was open.

"Potter," he called. "I believe our escapee may be outside."

"Outside?" came a panicked reply from the kitchen. Its owner rushed into the room and his eyes found the open window. "Oh no."

He raced out the door and Draco strolled after him.

"Teddy!" he called, his voice rising. "His grandmother's going to kill me…."

"That would be ironic," Draco noted. He scanned the landscape—porch, other doors, sidewalk, bushes. Nothing that really stood out.

Then he heard a giggle.

He trotted over to its seeming source, a row of bushes. "Potter!"

The addressee turned around sharply, his eyes wide and frantic. "What?"

"Come here."

Another giggle, definitely closer. Draco gingerly pushed aside the leaves of the bush it seemed to be coming from.

"Yay! I win!" Teddy chirped.

"What were you doing?" Potter exclaimed, scooping him up. "You scared us!"

"Hide and seek," Teddy answered, clutching his toy Hippogriff.

Potter sighed. "We're supposed to be watching you," he said, cupping Teddy's round little face with one hand. "You have to stay where we can see you to keep you safe, okay?"

Teddy pouted.

"You want to keep Silky safe, don't you?" Draco asked, surprising himself with the gentleness in his voice.

Teddy nodded and ducked his head, partially burying his face in his godfather's shoulder. Draco smiled. "Come back inside and you can draw with us."

Potter glanced at him over the top of Teddy's head, eyebrows raised.

Teddy turned his head just a fraction and peered up at Draco. "Draw? Draw Silky?"

Draco looked at Teddy's earnest, hopeful little face. "Er... sure." What is it with the Hippogriff theme?

A tiny smile crept onto Teddy's face. "Okay!"

Finally, they seemed to have found something close to peace. The two "responsible adults" switched back and forth between entertaining Teddy and planning the party. Meanwhile, Teddy scribbled away happily with a Muggle invention that Potter called "markers". Draco called them "a threat to my floors."

Draco brushed the end of his quill against his chin thoughtfully. He jotted down a few strokes on the piece of parchment in front of him, then glanced at Potter, who was currently drawing with Teddy.

"Let's give this one bigger wings—that way it can fly higher."

"Whoosh!" Teddy cheered. Teddy enjoyed making sound effects.

"Potter," Draco called, "what color did we choose for the tablecloth?"

"That dark gray," Potter said. "And call me Harry, it's easier."

Draco glanced at him quickly, trying not to show his surprise.

"I think it's your turn," Potter—no, Harry—said.

Draco sighed, but he couldn't keep the smallest smile from creeping onto his face. "All right."

He knelt next to Teddy, who appeared to be attempting some sort of triangular shape, and neatly rolled up his sleeves. "What's that supposed to be again?" he asked.

"Wing!" Teddy said happily. "Wing go flap!"

Teddy, marker in hand (and on his hands), added two vaguely circular blobs inside of the shape. "Dwaco," he said, poking at his new artistic creation.

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Right." But Teddy's attention seemed to have been captured by something else. His eyes wide with curiosity, he grabbed Draco's left arm in his pudgy little hands. Draco reflexively tried to tug it away, but the toddler was surprisingly strong. He touched the scarlike remains of the Dark Mark, fascinated, and looked up at Draco quizzically.

"I—that's just—" Draco licked his lips nervously and swallowed. There was no good way to explain that to a toddler.

"What is it?" Harry interrupted.

"It's nothing," Draco muttered.

Harry looked over at the two of them, Teddy still curiously inspecting Draco's arm. "Oh. Hey, Teddy, don't touch that." His gaze flickered from the floor to Draco and he shifted uncomfortably.

Teddy slowly let go, looking disappointed. Draco quickly tugged his sleeve back down, avoiding both of their eyes.

"I think it's almost done," he said quietly.

"Er...good," Potter said awkwardly. "We just need to take all of the decorations to the park I picked out."

"Can you do Side-Along Apparition?" Draco said, his manner suddenly brisk and formal.

"Um...yeah."

He silently scooped up Teddy, looking as if he wasn't sure what exactly he wanted to say. Draco stiffly placed a hand on his shoulder and they Disapparated.

Once they reached the park, the work of setting everything up was easy in comparison to planning it; Harry watched Teddy while Draco magically arranged tables and levitated banners and balloons. By the time it was finished, there was not a wrinkle, spot, or tear to be found anywhere—which, of course, Draco planned to claim credit for as soon as possible. He only hoped that it would all hold up when small children began to fill the park.

Draco looked around and allowed himself a slight smile of pride in his work.

"You should consider a career as a party planner," Harry joked, coming up behind him.

"If I did, I'd be starting my career off with one of the stranger requests," Draco replied. The party was as thoroughly Hippogriff-themed as Teddy could have wished for and more; there were Hippogriffs on the balloons, little models on the tables, and of course, a banner covered with what Harry and Teddy claimed were Hippogriffs, hand-drawn by Teddy himself.

As the park started to fill up with more people, Draco found a table and sat by himself, unsure of whether he should stay. Then he felt a little hand tugging at his sleeve. He glanced down. Teddy stood beside him, his hair brilliant blue and a marker in hand.

"Draw," he said.

"On what?"

Teddy clambered onto the chair next to him and attempted to tug on his sleeve again. "Pretty arm draw."

Draco blinked. Then he realized what Teddy was talking about, and sighed. I can always wash it off later.

He reluctantly rolled up his sleeve and let the little artist work away. Teddy seemed very determined to accomplish whatever he had in mind. Finally, he put down his marker and looked up at Draco with a wide smile of satisfaction. Draco glanced down at his arm. The scar was hidden beneath a spectacular mass of scribbles. "Remind me what this is again?"

And that is how Draco Malfoy taught Teddy Lupin the longest word he had ever said: "Hippogriff."