They'd been married for three months the night she found him in the garden behind the Manor; he was so focused on the peacocks, strutting and squawking and generally being peacocks, to notice her coming up the path behind him. Moonlight glinted off of the ripples the fish in the pond were making. It wasn't so dark that there was a risk of tripping or falling, but the sun was just barely gone past the horizon and the full moon kept the back garden well lit.

Astoria wrapped her arms around his shoulders and whispered in his ear, "What are you doing all the way out here?"

Startled, Draco jumped, to her amusement. "I just felt like sitting out here."

Astoria came around the back of the bench and snuggled up under his arm. It was getting dark earlier and earlier but the early fall heat hadn't gone and the long sleeved shirt he wore was nearly to the point of being uncomfortable. The additional heat of Astoria didn't help, but long sleeves were all he wore, and he swore to himself that he'd wear them until the day somebody figured out how to remove a Dark Mark. Four years in America hadn't accomplished even that much; it was anybody's guess what spell Voldemort had used to burn it into the skin of his followers, and every attempt he'd made had failed. Astoria affectionately referred to it as his conscious; he couldn't knowingly do something bad, because it would all lead back to his family and the Death Eaters and the Dark Mark was a permanent reminder of that.

"Did you have fun today?" she asked, with that leading tone that clued Draco in to the fact that there was something else on her mind. It continually astonished him how easy she was to read. She had that air of cocky confidence that most people couldn't see through, but Draco, after spending even only the last year and a half with her, could read her like a book. He played along for her sake; she'd take her time in getting to whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Of course. I was with you." He grinned and kissed the top of her head. Cheesy, something he never thought he'd ever be, was a lot more fun that it looked from the outside. "There's not another person alive I'd rather spend a boring day at the Manor with besides you." Their day hadn't really been boring, per se, just long. Mother wanted their company because Father was feeling ill and she didn't want to be left alone in case something happened. Father insisted it was just the flu but Mother had gotten somewhat dramatic since the end of the war when it came to family, and so Draco and Astoria had spent most of the morning and all of the afternoon playing cards with the both of them.

"So…" Astoria fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

"Yes?" One hand found its way to her hair and he ran his fingers through it, over and over. He never got tired of playing with her curls and it looked the same messy or neat so he didn't feel bad about messing it up.

"I don't suppose you noticed anything…different…today?"

Instant panic flooded through Draco. Was anything different? She was wearing a simple skirt and blouse, nothing extraordinary, and her hair was down. She hadn't cut it…at least, he hoped she hadn't. There was no way to tell until she lopped a lot off, and as far as he could tell it was all there. Mother and Father were the same as always. What changed? He settled for a vague, "Possibly."

"You have no idea." She didn't seem upset; actually, she seemed amused, like there was a secret he hadn't been let in on that he was supposed to know about already. "You didn't know a glow, maybe?"

"No," he said, assured. "I definitely would have noticed something glowing that wasn't supposed to glow."

Clearly that wasn't the right answer. Astoria smothered her giggles by burying her face in his shoulder and she was shaking so hard the bench was vibrating. "Astoria?"

"No, you dolt, me!"

Draco paused, and thought about it. "Wait, glowing, you don't mean…?"

"Are you ready to be a dad?" Astoria looked up at him, her face full of slightly worried hope. Draco didn't say anything; his mind was too busy reeling to remember how to respond. "Draco?" Astoria sat up. "Are you okay?"

"You're pregnant?"

"Well, yes, that's what happens when two people have sex without remembering to use contraceptives. Draco…?"

Draco looked at the ground, then the sky, then Astoria, his mind running in circles. "I'm doing to be a dad," he said. A shock ran through his heart at the thought of a child of his own. The chance to do things right like his parents had tried and failed; an innocent child dependent on him for their view of the world? "I'm going to be a dad?"

"You're going to be a dad."

Draco couldn't help the grin that slowly grew on his face. "We're going to be parents." He wrapped Astoria in his arms and despite his every attempt to stop it, tears of sheer happiness started to gather. "I can't believe it," he murmured into her hair. "I can't believe we're going to be parents."

Without him needing to ask, she said, "Six months. Our child will be here in six months."

Draco half-laughed, half-snorted. A wedding night baby? Oh, that would result in no end of hilarity from their families. Six months to learn how to be a dad? Talk about six months of sheer panic.

Nine months later, infant Scorpius was noisy, refused to sleep, and loved throwing up on nice clothing. His hair was patchy and his eyes were so pale that Draco routinely worried that he might be blind, despite what the mediwizards at St. Mungo's said. He didn't like looking at him or Astoria and seemed to always be focusing on spots on the walls. Mother said Draco did the same thing when he was an infant and Daphne joked that Scorpius was pranking them, but nothing helped appease his fears. Draco felt like he could never let him out of his sight and Astoria routinely found him asleep in the rocking chair in the nursery.

One night, after waking up to his cries, Astoria started to sit up but Draco quietly told her to go back to sleep and he rolled out of bed to go take care of their child. Astoria had warned him, long before their engagement, that there wasn't a man alive who could convince her to give up her job, and since Draco flat refused to let anybody but his parents and hers watch Scorpius, it made more sense for him to let her sleep. He could always catnap when Scorpius napped during the day and most of the time he kept the same sleeping hours as Scorpius.

"Hey, kid," he whispered to the squalling, red-faced child. "What's the matter?" He lifted Scorpius out of his crib and checked his nappy. That was a no-go; either he was hungry or he woke up and felt like demanding some attention. He was a Malfoy, so it really could go either way. Draco smiled softly down at the adorably angry face his son was making and fiddled with the formula. It pacified Scorpius and Draco settled in the rocking chair while Scorpius sucked on the bottle.

Sometimes he woke up abruptly in the middle of the night to dead silence, with Astoria sleeping peacefully beside him, and he would lay there wondering if it was all a dream, that they had a son. Usually the disconnect between his thoughts and reality was quick to sort itself out and he'd get up to check on Scorpius. It was so hard to believe that he, former Death Eater and all-around former bastard, was capable of helping to produce something as innocent as a child. He had always thought he'd make an awful dad; having to get up in the middle of the night, dealing with dirty nappies and puke and other general gross results of having a baby, potty training (although that was a long while away), teaching the child to be a good person…it was all so terrifying. The nights were the easiest to handle, when it was just food and attention that Scorpius needed. Draco didn't know how he'd handle bigger issues (the thought of explaining his Dark Mark was never very far from his mind) but at night, with only a gentle glow from the lights along the wall, it wasn't hard to pretend that everything was going to be okay.