A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. This was written for .together's challenge, "What happened to them? – A Post-Hogwarts Challenge/Competition".
Draco POV:
It wasn't just a war; it was more than that. It was the ultimate battle between light and dark, the last crack in the infrastructure before the whole thing came tumbling down to the ground. I had my chance of redemption, yet I gave it all up to please the two pitiful, hovering masses that brought me into this world, namely: my parents.
Sometimes, on days like today, I wonder what would've happened differently if I had chosen a different path. Would the famous Harry Potter still defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Could I, just a weak and pathetic seventh-year at the time have had the power to change the future of the wizarding world? I have no idea. Astoria always tells me that I shouldn't fret over it, that what's done is done, but still I wonder.
All of the memories of what happened on that fateful day nineteen years ago have been extremely vivid lately because today is when I take my own Scorpius to Platform 9 ¾ and load him onto the Hogwarts Express for him to have his own adventure, like I did twenty-six years ago, today. Of course I've been dreading this day for a long time. After the war, I kept mainly to myself, unwilling to face my peers who thought me a coward (which I wholeheartedly knew was true).
"Dad, can we leave now?" Scorpius walked up to me, snapping me out of my reverie.
"Yes son, just a moment. Let me just collect your mother." I replied. Scorpius was a good boy, but I dreaded being the father to him that my own was to me. I constantly worried about him finding out about my past, which is why I always kept him at arm's length.
"Yeah! I can't wait to go to Hogwarts like you did, Dad!" He was dancing around the room with a silver cage holding a tawny Great-Horned Owl he had named Nyx.
I chuckled a bit at his crazy antics, and slowly rose out of my leather armchair to find Scorpius's mother and tell her we were both ready to leave. Scorpius was humming to himself, and I could just make out something about how this year at Hogwarts was "gonna be totally awesome".
"Astoria, we're ready to leave whenever you are." I called down the hall to our room. My wristwatch read 10:16.
"I'll be right out." she called out. A few moments later, a tall woman with long brown hair stepped out of our room. "Ready to go?" she knelt down next to our son.
"Yeah! I can't wait to be just like Dad!" he was practically jumping up and down from excitement. Astoria shot me a nervous look, and I immediately knew what it meant.
Do you want to tell him about who you were? Her eyes said. I gave the slightest shake of my head. The mood in the air suddenly tensed up by a lot, yet Scorpius was completely oblivious to the matter like usual. He was still beaming, and had taken to looking at his owl and speaking softly to her.
"Well," I said, clapping my hands together, "We better get going if we want to make that train!"
Scorpius ran outside with his owl and luggage where an old football lay on the ground. He reached out and laid one finger on it, laughing nervously. My wife and I stepped outside and did the same. At precisely 10:30, the football began to glow, and we were lifted up in the air, spinning around in continuous circles. I could hear Scorpius's ecstatic laughter next to me, as if he'd never traveled by portkey before (which I knew for a fact that he had).
We landed behind Kings Cross Station, out of view from the Muggle world. "Is everyone alright?" I asked my family. They both nodded, and we stepped out into the street.
The Muggles never as much glanced our way as we made our way into the busy train station. "Do you have your ticket?" I asked my son. He held up the golden piece of paper as proof, and we walked to the column between platforms 9 and 10.
"Just run straight at that wall." I squatted down next to Scorpius and pointed at the barrier. "You'll go through it to Platform 9 ¾, where the Hogwarts Express is waiting. He nodded eagerly before putting his entire luggage on a cart. Scorpius backed up a little before walking into the wall nervously and going through to the other side.
"After you." I told my wife as I gestured to the barrier. She laughed before taking my hand and walking through, taking me with her. The platform was full with people, many of which I recognized as my former classmates. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple that resembled two of my colleges, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. Luna saw me and bounded over, taking Neville with her.
"Hello, Draco and Mrs. Malfoy." she said, her dreamy voice the same as ever.
"Hello." I replied, my face turning impassive. She used to be a part of Dumbledore's Army, which I outright detested in my school days.
"Hello, and who might you be?" asked Astoria. She didn't know of my hatred for DA or some of its members.
"I'm Luna Lovegood, and this is my husband Neville Longbottom." she replied, smiling at my wife.
"Hi." Neville mumbled. I could see that he still had his social awkwardness from when I last saw him.
"And you must be Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy, right?" the inattentive blonde asked.
"Yes, that is I." Astoria replied, a bit flustered that Luna had recognized her.
Suddenly, a young girl that looked to be Scorpius's age came up and tugged on Luna's dress.
"Mom, what time does the train leave?" she asked. The girl was the spitting image of her mother in her first year, except with Neville's dark brown eyes and well, erm, scrawny frame.
"Eleven o'clock on the dot, Wren." she said warmly.
"Who are they?" Wren asked, pointing up to us.
"These are my friends, Draco and Astoria. We went to school together, and now their son is going to Hogwarts as well." she replied to her daughter. Friends? I was not aware we were friends. On the contrary, I would have thought the opposite. "I mean, if he is your son," said Luna, gesturing to Scorpius who had came up behind us."
"Yes, this is Scorpius. He's starting his first year in school today. What about you, Wren?" Astoria asked Luna's daughter. She had always been so good with children. It was more of a gift than a talent. Scorpius was lucky to have a mother as good as her.
"It's my first year, too. Maybe we'll be in some classes together?" the little blonde replied, walking over to Scorpius.
The two children began a conversation, each one of them laughing loudly every few seconds. Luna was looking at them adoringly, and smiling. "I think our kids will be very good friends." she said finally.
"Yes, hopefully." Astoria said. I had been relatively silent throughout this entire conversation, unwilling to speak. I know it was extremely petty, to hold a grudge throughout all of these years, but being in the presence of someone who was a part of my past made me extremely uncomfortable.
"Well, I think it's about time we go now." I said to my wife.
She looked a bit crestfallen, but waved to Luna and Neville. "It was a pleasure to meet you two," she said, and the couple returned the wave, Luna saying, "Hopefully we'll see each other again soon!" Astoria nodded before I guided her over to where Scorpius and Wren were talking about what house they hoped to be sorted into.
"Come on, Scorpius, it's time we get you on the train." I told my son.
"Bye, Wren!" he called out to the little girl.
"Bye, Scorpius! Bye Scorpius's mom and dad!" she waved to us, and our son smiled and waved back.
"Well she was nice, wasn't she?" my wife asked Scorpius.
"Yeah. I hope that we get put in the same house!" he exclaimed and did a funny little dance.
"Well, it's time to get you on the train." I told him.
"Okay. Bye, Mom!" he ran over and hugged his mother forcefully. She planted a kiss on he top of his head, and he smiled up at her. When he released her from his iron grip, he turned to me. He ran over and hugged me. I was startled, for I never showed much affection for him, even though I loved him very much. I tentatively wrapped my arms around him. For a second I was extremely startled, because I felt tears come to my eyes. I was really going to miss this little kid. I blinked back the tears and hopefully there was no evidence that I was almost about to cry. A good father shows no weakness, only strength.
"I'm going to miss you, Dad," he said into my shirt.
"And I will miss you too, Scorpius," I replied.
With a final smile and wave, he boarded the Hogwarts Express with his trunk and owl, and sat down in a compartment close to us. He waved energetically, ecstatic that he was finally going to the school of his dreams. My wife and I waved back, and soon his attention to us faded while he started to fiddle with his rosewood and dragon heartstring wand. The red and black train let out a final whistle, letting everyone know that it was the last chance to board. I saw Luna Lovegood's daughter, Wren, sit down next to Scorpius and they quickly were absorbed in conversation.
Soon, the train's motor started, and it was slowly pulling out of the station. Scorpius's head shot up as he frantically searched for us in the crowd that accumulated around this side of the train. Astoria raised her hand, and he spotted the two of us instantly. He began to wave to us like a madman, a huge smiled plastered on hid face. I couldn't help but smile, breaking my impassive façade. As the train pulled out of the station and began speeding down the tracks, I heard a quiet sob emit from Astoria.
"They grow up so fast, don't they?" she said, looking up at me with a few tear tracks making her eyeliner run a bit. I nodded, and brushed one of the tears on her cheek away.
Suddenly, I could feel someone's presence behind me. I spun around and found myself staring into the eyes of someone from my past. Sure, he had aged a bit, but there was still the faint trace of a lightning-bolt scar, and the broken glasses perched on his nose.
"Hello, Draco." he said, peering at me curiously.
"Good day, Mr. Potter," I replied, feeling extremely awkward.
"Is your child off to Hogwarts, then?" he asked me.
"Yes, my son Scorpius. And you?" I answered stiffly
"My children Albus and James are going this year. And I have a daughter Lily who's going to be attending next year." he said, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"That's nice," I replied flatly. This conversation was getting more uncomfortable by the second. Suddenly, there was a huge amount of guilt well up in the pit of my stomach. Soon, I couldn't contain it anymore and everything just spilled out. "I'm really sorry Potter, about everything I did in school and what I called you and you friends, and joining the Death Eaters in year seven, and just everything that I've ever done, alright?"
He looked a little taken aback, but soon said, "It's fine, Draco. I forgive you. That was way back when we were in school years ago. I haven't been holding a grudge against you or anything."
I peered at him curiously. "You haven't?" I asked. Even in my own ears, I sounded like a confused five-year-old.
"No, of course not. I mean it's not like-" he was cut off by none other than Ginny Weasley coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around him protectively.
"Why are you talking to Malfoy?" she asked, saying my name as if I was an unpleasant kind of insect one would find crawling around in their attic.
"We were just talking about our children going into Hogwarts, Ginny. No need to be like that." He looked a bit put off at her behavior, but soon regained his calm composure.
"Well alright, honey. I thought that we weren't talking to him anymore though." she replied, irritating her husband a bit more.
"No, it's fine. We were just talking." he said.
"Okay, I'm just saying." she said, running a hand through her red hair.
"Well, I must be off. It was nice talking with you again," said Harry to me. He still looked a little confused about my previous apology, but smiled and gave a small nod to my wife and I. I saw him meet up with a couple that looked a lot like Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, before leaving together through the front doors of Kings Cross Station.
"Do you want to go home, now?" asked Astoria, placing a frail hand on my shoulder.
"Yes, that would be nice." I replied. I was surprised at my own behavior from earlier, blurting out my apology to Potter. I had no intention to, and it didn't even cross my mind until I was actually saying the words.
I pushed the incident to the back of my mind and followed my wife out the main doors of the train station where we Apparated back to Malfoy Manor.
When I was back in my armchair with a book on my lap, Astoria came over and sat on the couch directly next to me. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"Scorpius, and how he's doing at school." I responded truthfully.
"Me too. They should be about halfway there by now, I'd say." she remarked.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." I said, glancing sideways at her.
"So what should we do with our lives now? Just wait until he comes back to us for Christmas Holiday when he'll just need to leave again?"
"Pretty much. We could always write him letters, you know. He'd definitely respond to us if we did." I assumed.
"Yes, you're probably right. He's such a good boy." Which was completely true. I never really gave him credit, but Scorpius could always brighten up the room with his cheery attitude, no matter how dismal it formerly was.
I really hoped that he'd find good friends at Hogwarts, and not just be a pariah like I had been during my school days. That Lovegood girl, Wren, seemed pleasant. And maybe he would make friends with one of the Potter children. I no longer had a grudge against any former classmates, and I could only hope that they no longer had a hatred for me. Even if they did, I couldn't exactly blame them. I'd been a really nasty kid. All I really wanted, though, was that anyone who had resented me in our Hogwarts years would not blame Scorpius. I didn't want my bad image to make his school-life miserable.
Wasn't that what any dad wanted?