Ginny Malfoy's eyes glittered with tears as she ushered her oldest son up the scarlet Hogwarts Express and bid him goodbye.
'He'll be fine,' her husband of nineteen years, Draco Malfoy, reassured her.
Catching sight of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger-Weasley, Ron Weasley, and Astoria Potter, he gave them a curt nod and proceeded to lead his teary-eyed wife out of the station and to a back alley.
'Cheer up, Scorpius will be upset to see his mother sad.'
Retrieving a handkerchief from his coat pocket, Draco gently wiped away Ginny's tears.
Grabbing her hand, he took out his wand and Apparated them back to Malfoy Manor. Astoria Potter and Hermione would be arriving in the afternoon. It was a tradition for them to meet annually on the first of September. It was the day that the near permanent polyjuice potion wore off. The day Astoria could look like herself again. It was… Complicated. A beautiful, but deadly lie fabricated on a fateful day in March eighteen years ago.