Hello. Welcome to my newest MC. There will be about 15 chapters.
As it says in the summary, this is not intended as a Crack! story.
Warnings: Nothing from this chapter
Please Enjoy!
Harry felt a bit nervous walking toward the house. Kingsley had insisted that the threat was real and that Harry was the only one unbiased enough to protect Malfoy and his family. Harry wasn't quite sure what to expect though. It had been years since the trial he had last seen Malfoy at. They had sat at opposite ends of the courtroom for both of his parents' trials. Even when Harry had taken the stand for Narcissa Malfoy and for Draco Malfoy they hadn't looked at each other. They hadn't said a word. Harry shook the past from his mind and continued forward.
When Harry knocked on the door he was surprised that Malfoy himself had answered. The two ex-rivals took a moment to look the other over in silence. Harry's eyes were first drawn to the blue robes the man was wearing. Some part of him had always expected the man to be in black or green. He then noticed that the man's hands were surprisingly free of a wand. That was his second assumption proven wrong. Harry suddenly felt as though he didn't know the man at all. Another moment later and Malfoy had moved to the side to let Harry in.
Harry automatically sent out a detector looking for malicious spells. Nothing turned up, and from the frown on Malfoy's face, he had been insulted by the act. But it had been ingrained in Harry to do this. He hadn't done it because it was Malfoy's house. He didn't think so at least. Harry felt his throat dry up as he realized he would have to speak now. Harry tried to clear his throat, but still no words seemed to come up. His eyes had been firmly planted on the stair opposite the door, despite his body angled toward the blonde. But now Harry glanced at Malfoy expecting some sort of insult, instead found the man standing still with his eyes closed.
Luckily, the silence was broken by a giggling child. Harry and Draco looked to see a young two year old run into the room from the right giggling madly. Harry couldn't help the smile on his face as the child spotted his father. He watched as Malfoy scooped up his son with a gentle almost-smile on his face. Things really had changed. Harry took a deep breath, gathering his courage, before turning to Malfoy fully. "Hello. Malfoy."
The blonde froze for a moment before turning fully to Harry as well. He seemed unaware of the child currently slobbering on his robes. Malfoy paused for a second before responding. 'Hello Potter."
Draco leaned against his bedroom door warily. The entire day he had felt so strung up. First there had been the threat from his ex-wife. He hadn't wanted to acknowledge it but the threats toward their child had prompted him to call the Ministry for protection. He should have expected that Potter was the one they would send. He had then spent the day showing Potter around his home. He hadn't noticed how warm and inviting his house was until Potter had commented on it. The man had blushed, and Draco had flashed back to when he had been in Hogwarts.
Draco had unintentionally followed Potter's story throughout the years. From the moment that Potter had stood up for him while on trial Draco had found his eyes scanning the paper for word on his old foe. He hadn't expected to be so surprised in the changes the man had gone through.
Scorpius seemed to like Harry enough. After getting the tour Draco had expected Potter to disappear. But he had sat with Draco in the family room. Draco had worked on the paperwork at is desk in the corner. Draco had first been firmly aware of every breath Potter had made, but after an hour his attention was firmly on the papers before him. Until he had heard the delighted shriek of his son. His head had shot up and he had seen Potter on all fours walking around the room with Scorpius balancing on his back. It had been impossible to forget he was in the room after that.
But now Scorpius was asleep and Potter was hidden away in the spare bedroom. Draco allowed a shuddering breath to escape him. The fear for his son was gone. Draco was almost ashamed to admit that Potter's presence made him completely reassured. Despite this, it took nearly two hours for him to fall asleep that night.
The next morning Harry warily made his way down the stairs. There was no sign of life. Harry let out a breath and wandered over to where the kitchen was. He ended up in the library, and a bathroom before he found the correct door. It was then that Harry realized that he hadn't seen a single House Elf. He immediately wondered who cooked. His mind provided an image of Malfoy in an apron covered in flour. Harry snorted. That was unlikely, no matter how much the man had changed.
There was a moment's reluctance before Harry began to look around. After seeing what was available he began to make chocolate pancakes. He was torn for a moment whether to cook only for himself or to make it for the two Malfoys as well. But shrugging he made a large batch of dough and began to make the pancakes. He was just finishing the second set when he heard a rough sounding "Potter?" from behind him. Harry looked over his shoulder to see a sleepy Draco Malfoy standing there with a half-asleep Scorpius sitting on his hip.
"Oh. Um. Good morning. I hope you don't mind that I started to cook. I am a good cook. At least that's what everyone has said. And I didn't see a house elf, and I was hungry. And I..." Malfoy sniggered softly. Harry felt his face heat up again and he looked down. "Sorry."
"It's ok." Malfoy tucked Scorpius into a highchair before walked toward him. "I'll just make some tea. K?"
Harry nodded a bit dumbly and turned back to the pancakes. He quickly flipped them and saw that they were only slightly burnt. While the two were eating Harry quickly placed undetectable tracking charms on both Malfoys. It was standard procedure when a kidnapping was possibly, but still Harry found himself relaxing once the charms settled on them. When they were just finishing an owl arrived for Harry. The package contained a bunch of paperwork that needed to be done. It was his least favorite part of being an Auror, but while he was on bodyguard duty, it was easy to finish it all.
The three of them retreated to the family room once more. Malfoy went in and out of the room on multiple occasions, and Harry would turn away from his paperwork and concentrate on the tracking charm. He was able to tell where Malfoy had gone, as well as his general safety. Luckily there was no reason for Harry to go running toward the man.
After lunch, chicken salad sandwiches made by Malfoy, Scorpius had naptime. When Malfoy came back down the stairs, Harry pulled out some paperwork. For the next hour they spoke of Malfoy's ex-wife. Despite Malfoy's reluctance, Harry learned exactly why their relationship had gone wrong, she was cheating, as well as the final straw, she was giving her lover galleons of Malfoy's money. Harry learned every detail about the woman that Malfoy could remember. The birthmark on her left elbow, and her hatred for cheese.
They never truly talked about Malfoy. They certainly didn't talk about him. But Harry felt part of him relax that they were able to talk without hexing one another. After the paperwork was finished they both escaped to silence until Scorpius came back into the room. At the end of the day Harry sent his report back to Kingsley, and began to prepare dinner.
Harry felt the alarms around the house trigger as multiple people apparated near the house. Harry dropped the sauce spoon and immediately ran to the family room. He entered the room just before the front door was broken down. Harry shut and barred the door. He turned to find Malfoy standing there, clutching his son. He tugged him toward the fireplace but they soon discovered that there were anti-floo spells as well as anti-apparition spells around the house. They had no escape.
Harry took a steadying breath before conjuring a Patronus and sending it off. He was horrified to watch it evaporate instantly. He had never seen magic that could stop a patronus. Harry felt his stomach drop. This was much more than an ex-wife's anger. The doors to the family room shuddered. Harry threw a spell at the door to fortify them before standing in front of Malfoy. His spell didn't last long. Soon the double-doored entry broke open. Harry felt a sliver of worry as at least two dozen masked men and women entered the room. The mask was just similar enough to the Death Eater masks that Harry and Malfoy shivered simultaneously.
Draco wanted to fight, but he had to protect his son. That was his first priority. So he hoped that Potter would prove to be as good of a duelist as they had always reported. But Draco knew that there were too many people for Potter to handle completely on his own. When he could Draco sent a stunner or expelliarmus at the group. They never seemed to hit. Not long later, Draco saw Potter go down. Potter was back up in an instant, but blood was dripping from his now limp right arm. Draco knew it was going to end badly. He suddenly remembered a spell he had learned back in his sixth year. It was a protection spell. He thought of the risks for only a moment before beginning to chant. He threw all of his power around his son and watched as his son disappeared with a loud crack. Draco stared numbly at his empty hands for a moment. If he survived he would go find his son. If he didn't... suddenly the magic began to swirl in the room.
Harry fought at the helplessness trying to creep into his veins. But he just couldn't see himself coming out of this one alright. He tried to remind himself that he had fought one of the world's worst Dark wizard and won. But he also realized that he won mostly because it had been one on one. Harry also was protecting two people behind him, so he couldn't move as much as he wanted. When the severing charm hit his arm, he quickly grabbed his wand with his left hand. He was determined to protect the innocent behind him. He didn't analize whether that included Malfoy or not.
There was a loud noise from behind him, and Harry quickly glanced over his shoulder. He saw Malfoy sitting there alone. Before he could ask what happened his wand shuddered. Harry turned at it in shock and noticed that it wasn't only his wand. Everyone was staring at the wands in shock. Then magic began pouring out of the tips. Only seconds later the back end of the group began dropping their wands and running. Harry couldn't blame them, it felt like he was drowning in magic.
As the last group member turned to flee Harry turned to Malfoy. He quickly began to pull at him, to try and get him to stand. But Malfoy was staring at his hands and tears were slipping down his face. Harry opened his mouth to yell sense into the man before everything snapped.
TBC
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