Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its contents, and I'm not making any money off this.

A/N: This isn't properly British.

"...We'd have to expand it, of course, but I think it could work with a few spells and modifications."

Draco stares incredulously at his son, while the glass door slides open behind him. Neville brings him a glass of lemonade, but he doesn't reach out his hand.

Neville picks up his arm and holds it out, forcing the cup into his fingers. Draco whips around. "Do you know what our son is asking me for now?"

Neville's expression takes on minor surprise, and he bends down to hand Scorpius a plastic cup. Scorpius takes it with a small, "Thank you," and goes back to kicking his feet lazily over the pool edge. He's got his trousers rolled up and a white t-shirt on. It's too hot for robes, and Draco, dressed similarly, came out to ask if he wanted to finish reading the book they started last week. Scorpius' ideas for the swimming pool, however, stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Since when do you ask for things?" Neville grins, crossing his arms. "I thought you were determined not to be spoiled." This time he leaves out the, 'unlike your father,' and the 'despite what your father does to you.' (Personally, Draco doesn't think it would be spoiling, even if Scorpius did accept half the gifts Draco wants to shower him with. He deserves it, after all. He gets Os on all of his tests, and he's just an all-around amazing child.)

But he has some strange ideas, and, looking sheepish, he says, "Well, I was thinking for my birthday and Christmas presents combined."

Draco rolls his eyes. "Scorpius, that isn't the issue. You know I'm normally happy to give you whatever you like whenever."

"That would make me spoiled," Scorpius grins. How Draco's managed to raise a self-monitoring child in Malfoy Manor with his parents around, he has no idea. Narcissa doesn't believe in not-spoiling children, and Lucius hasn't stopped being delighted over having 'another Draco.' (Except that Draco was always happy to be spoiled, and he would never ask for what Scorpius just asked for.)

"Is someone going to fill me in on what the issue is?" Neville looks at Draco pointedly, sipping the lemonade. It's a hot day, and even the peacocks are smart enough to stay in the shade. Draco swirls his own lemonade around his glass.

"He wants to fill the pool with sharks," Draco says, in clear exasperation.

"Grey reef sharks," Scorpius says, as though this makes it any better.

Neville says, without skipping a beat, "Wait until you're seventeen."

"Neville!" Draco practically shrieks. "He is not getting sharks!"

"Well, not now, obviously. He's only in second year."

"He's my baby!" Draco squawks. "He's never getting sharks!"

Neville has the nerve to sound as if he's being the reasonable one. "Well, we can't control him when he's seventeen."

"Of course we can! He's my baby!" Draco turns to glare lovingly down at Scorpius and says firmly, "And you're going to be my baby until the day I die and you're certainly not getting anything with more teeth than you."

Scorpius, probably used to his father's love, only smiles indulgently. "Sure."

"Don't 'sure' me!" Draco looks back at Neville, and this glare is more intense. "If I find out you ever help him get a dangerous creature for a pet I'll divorce you immediately."

"You know I worked as an Auror, right?"

Draco raises an eyebrow and huffs. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Neville shrugs. "I could handle sharks."

Scorpius chirps, "So could I."

"You could not!" Draco says, furiously. "You absolutely are not filling our pool with sharks, nor are you ever getting any. Understood?"

Scorpius wrinkles his nose. "Well we don't have room for a dragon, so what else am I supposed to do?"

"You can have a cat," Draco says, trying to control his breathing. "A nice, fluffy, already-de-clawed cat."

"Can I have a mountain lion?"

"No!" Draco doesn't add, 'what's wrong with you?' But thinks it.

"What about a toad?" Neville tries. "I had a toad when I was your age."

Draco rolls his eyes again and gives his husband the you're-not-helping look. "You're not exactly the best role model."

"You did marry him," Scorpius says from the poolside.

Neville smiles down at him. "Thank you, Scorpius. Yes, he did."

"And I regret it every day," Draco grumbles. "Honestly, sharks and a toad. You have no concept of pets."

"Can I have a puppy?"

"Yes!" Draco whirls around so fast he almost spills his lemonade. "You can absolutely have a puppy."

"Can it be a half-breed, mixed with a—"

"No."

"I didn't eve—"

"Scorpius, no."

Scorpius looks as though he's thinking for a moment, and then he says contentedly, "In that case, I'd like a toad for my birthday."

Neville says, "Hah hah," at Draco. And he turns to walk back to the manor.