Mr. Thompson's quiet afternoon was disturbed by a sharp knock on his door. He begrudgingly stood up from the couch to answer the door. The last thing he expected was to find an elegantly dressed blond man glaring at him.

Before Mr. Thompson could ask what the stranger wanted, the blond man spoke up. "I'll give you 100 pounds if you let my son go into your backyard for a few minutes."

"Pardon?" Mr. Thompson looked around for this supposed son. He finally noticed a small boy hiding behind his father's legs. He looked back at the man. He had yet to break into laughter, so Mr. Thompson had to assume that the offer was genuine. "Why do you want to go into my backyard?"

"There's a Garring-dose-"

"Gyarados," the young boy corrected.

"Yes, that, in your backyard and my son wants to catch it. It's one of the more rare Pokemon." The man said, as if that explained anything.

"Let me get this straight, you'll give me 100 pounds just to let your kid stand in my backyard? For a video game?"

"I can offer more." Again, the man's face was completely serious.

Mr. Thompson looked between the two blondes, completely flabbergasted. In the end, logic won out. "Go crazy, kid." He stepped aside to let the blonde boy run in. The father was already pulling out bills from his wallet (Mr. Thompson still hadn't expected actual payment). His wife was never going to believe him when he explained this later.


Five minutes later, Draco and Scorpius were once again walking through the park. Scorpius had his eyes glued to the phone screen, prepared for any new Pokemon that showed up.

"Oh! Oh!" Scorpius exclaimed with delight. "There's a Pikachu over there! Come on, Dad! We're going to miss it." Scorpius started sprinting down the park path.

"Look up when you're running!" Draco shouted after him. He needed to remind himself not to wear his business attire the next time they came out hunting. His feet were already sore. Draco quickly caught up to Scorpius. He must have found the Pikachu, because he was standing still for once. Draco noticed others standing in the same vicinity, all swiping at their phones to try to catch Pokemon.

Draco looked over Scorpius's shoulder to see how he was doing. Draco had already been told that he was not allowed to talk while Scorpius was mid-capture because then his aim would be affected. Scorpius let out a cheer of delight when little stars shot out of the red and white ball. Draco knew that that was the sign that he was successful in his capture. Without a glance towards his father, Scorpius continued walking down the park path.

Draco smiled fondly at his son's obsessive determination.

"Scorpius?"

"Mmm." That meant Scorpius was listening.

"You said this was a video game for ages nine and above." Another murmur of acknowledgement. "Well, then why are so many of the people playing old?"

"Old?"

"There are a bunch of adults out here catching Pokemon," Draco explained.

"Oh, yeah, it's very popular with them.".

"Why?"

"Because, it was a cartoon a few years ago. Very popular. A lot of the older people playing it feel like kids now, cause they didn't have this when they were my age."

"And it's normal? For Muggle adults to play kids games?"

"Oh yeah, some make careers out of it," Scorpius replied. His face was still glued to the screen so he missed the disapproving-of-the-younger-generation face that Draco had. Grown adults playing kid games. He'd never understand Muggles.

Scorpius kept leading them around the park. At one point, he insisted that Draco play too.

"What if I don't catch it? Won't you be upset?"

"Nah, it's just a Pidgey. I've got tons of those already. Just don't waste all my pokeballs."

Not finding encouragement in his son's words, Draco tentatively took the phone. After ten missed throws, Draco was taking personal offense from the little bird. When he started mumbling under his breath, Scorpius tried to take the phone back. "It's alright, Dad, I can-"

"No, I will capture this bird for you."

"Well, I don't really need it."

"I will enclose this bird in the tiny ball and force it to do your bidding. This bird will not make a fool out of a Malfoy."

"Dad, you've used up 15 pokeballs on a Pidgey!"

"I think I got it!" Scorpius and him stared at the screen as the ball shook once, twice, and-

"No!"

"It's okay, Dad."

"Where did that insufferable bird go?"

"It ran away. Come on, let's go find another one. Maybe you'll have better luck with a Rattata. Or a Magikarp. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a Caterpie for you to practice on."