"See ya later, mate!" Ron grinned as though it was the most natural thing in the world to leave his best friend stranded at home with seven children in the middle of a blizzard. Harry glowered back at him.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said apologetically as Ron helped her put on her coat, "But someone has to help take care of the kids – Mum can't because a couple of her friends invited her over for dinner and I don't think it's quite safe for Dad to watch the kids – even if he's doing much better with the oven, he still might blow up something – "

"And Neville and Luna can't either, since they'll be at the party," Ginny added as she laced up her boots. "George and Charlie are off in Brazil somewhere…"

"…Bill and Fleur are in France visiting her parents," Ron recited, "And Percy would rather eat dragon dung than take time off of work to come take care of the kids."

Harry grimaced. "And all this adds up to me babysitting these seven – " he jerked his thumb back at the living room, "while you three go off partying?!"

Ron pretended to think about it for a second. "Hmmm…yes, yes, that's about right," he said seriously, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "Well, toodles! Come on, Hermione, we're going to be late..."

"Bye, Harry!" she called over her shoulder as they stepped outside of the security spells, turned, and Disapparated with two consecutive cracks. Ginny turned to him.

"Have a nice night, dear," she murmured as she kissed him softly on the cheek. Harry breathed in her soothing scent and smiled.

"You too, Ginny." She smiled and blew him another kiss before she too, Disapparated.

Harry sighed and, after closing the door behind him, walked back into the living room. He was immediately bombarded by three shouting children.

"Daddy Daddy Daddy – read this to me, please?" Albus shoved a crumpled piece of paper at his father.

"Hey – give it here, you little cheater!" James tried to snatch it away, but Harry grabbed it first.

"What's this all about?" he asked curiously, unfolding the scrap of paper. It read, in James's clumsy writing,

"ALBUS IS AN IDEOT." He looked at his oldest son, who grinned guiltily.

"It was just a joke," he said sheepishly. Rose, who was standing next to Albus, shot him a dirty look.

"That was a mean joke!" she snapped. "And you spelled idiot wrong!" Harry resisted the urge to laugh at her Hermione-ishness. James flushed at being told off by someone a year younger than him.

"Well," he said defiantly, "if you can beat me at a game of wizarding chess I'll change it from 'Albus' to 'James,' how's that?"

Rose glared at him suspiciously. "And you have to spell idiot right," she countered. James grinned.

"No problem. But I get to be white!" Harry watched as they settled down with the beat-up chessboard.

"Oi, Harry, can you come here for a sec?" a voice called. He turned and, for a second saw Remus in the face of Teddy Lupin. He blinked and shook his head to clear his mind. It was Ted again, with the long dark blue hair he'd styled especially for tonight. Sitting beside him was Victoire, her silvery tresses glowing faintly in the dim light.

"Could you show us a Patronus?" he asked eagerly. "Victoire's never seen one, and" – he looked faintly embarrassed – "I haven't learned how to do Patronuses yet, so…"

His godfather grinned at him. "Sure thing, Ted." He pulled out his wand and took a deep breath, centering himself. Then, thinking vaguely of Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the times they had shared together, he commanded, "Expecto patronum!"

Immediately, the silvery-white stag burst forth from the tip of his wand and landed lightly on the carpeted floor. Harry stroked the silvery creature fondly, and as it began to fade he turned towards his two onlookers and explained,

"You have to think of happy things when you perform a Patronus." Smiling slightly at the memory of Remus and dementors and chocolate, he continued on. "Otherwise, all you'll get is silvery mist, which does very little to protect against dementors."

Wide-eyed, Victoire asked, "Are all Patronuses reindeers?" Her perfect English, marred with a slight French lilt, was filled with curiosity.

"No," Harry replied. "Patronuses take the form of the animal you represent most, or…they can also take the form of the people you love most." Harry was about to explain further, but was interrupted by the sudden call from the doorbell.

"Mr. Potter," the high-pitched doorbell wheezed, "you've got a visitor."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "It'd better not be Ron coming back to get his Weasley's Wheezes hair gel or something," he muttered vaguely, getting up and starting towards the door. "Who is it?"

"Two strangers," he was informed, before the door swung open to reveal a man in his thirties, about as old as Harry. The child by his side was clearly his son; they looked strikingly alike. The man was checking his watch, and when the door opened he looked up and began in a neutral voice,

"Hello sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but would it be alright if my son and I used your Floo network momentarily? You see, we were on our way home but this blasted blizzard came around, and we were blown off course…"

Harry interrupted with an incredulous look on his face. "…Malfoy?"

The stranger stopped in his tracks and blinked. "Merlin's beard. Potter." He blinked again. "What are you doing here?"

The other snorted. "I happen to live here, Malfoy." He paused. "It also happens that we're out of Floo powder."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Is that so." An awkward silence followed. "Never mind, then," he said abruptly, "I guess we'll Apparate after all. Come, Scorpius…"

But the young boy beside him pulled back. "Do we have to?" he pleaded. "I don't like Apparating…it makes me sick, Daddy…can we just stay here until the storm's over, please?" Draco glanced uneasily at his son, then at Harry, clearly torn between his son's comfort and the unpleasant prospect of staying at his old rival's home.

Harry stared back at him tiredly. "Look, Malfoy," he began, "just because you were a git fourteen years ago doesn't mean that I'm going to deprive…"

"HEY, GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SHRIMP!" All three of them jumped and turned to watch as Albus, his small hands full of chess pieces, came running. James was close on his heels. Rose followed the two boys, looking pink-cheeked and out of breath.

"Daddy, Daddy, help!" Albus shrieked as he tumbled into his father. "James is being mean!"

"I am not!" James retorted loudly. "You're the one who's cheating! Again!" He turned and tossed Rose a contemptuous look. "Just 'cause she's never lost a game of chess doesn't mean that it's wrong for me to beat her!"

Rose shot an equally angry look back at him. "I bet you're cheating!" she snapped. "I could have sworn that your rook wasn't there when I moved, and I'm sure that my queen wasn't in front of it!"

Before James could reply, Harry hurriedly stepped between them. "Alright," he said sternly, "let's settle this later. For now, why don't you three just –"

"Hey," Albus said suddenly, "who are you?" He was looking at Scorpius.

"I'm Scorpius," Scorpius told him.

"Scorpius?" Albus repeated. "Hey, you wanna play with us? Maybe if you helped us, we could beat James!"

Scorpius smiled delightedly. "Okay!" He looked at his father. "Can I, Daddy?"

His father sighed. "I suppose," he said reluctantly, glancing sideways at Harry. "If it's alright with you."

Harry shrugged. "As long as you don't burn the house down."

Draco snorted. "Unlikely," he muttered, stepping inside. "Then we really would have to Apparate."

"In here." Harry motioned Draco into the living room, where the children had already settled down for a brand new game of chess, this time with Scorpius watching intently from the sidelines.

Draco's sharp eyes quickly swept the room, taking in the comfortable lack of order and its seven young occupants. He raised his eyebrows.

"If these are all yours, your wife needs to get a hobby," he informed Harry.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry replied blithely. "The two in the armchairs are my brother-in-law's child and my godchild, the black-haired ones are mine and so is the little redhead, and the rest are Ron and Hermione's."

The other smirked. "A lovely little family gathering," he remarked. He looked amused. "So Weasley married Granger, did he?"

"Mm. And who did you marry, Malfoy?" Harry shot back at him. "A pureblood, something tells me?"

Draco eyes slanted away. "…A classmate's sister," he muttered. "You wouldn't know her."

Harry glanced at him briefly, then dropped the subject. "So how old is Scorpius?"

"Six." Still Draco seemed reluctant to answer. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Same as Albus and Rose, then. They'll be in the same year."

"Mmm…" The other looked away. An awkward silence followed.

"Tea?" Harry offered half-heartedly.

"No, thank you."

Harry settled back into his chair and, for lack of anything else to do, turned his attention to the chess game. The four children had sprawled themselves out before the merrily blazing fireplace with the chessboard.

James was eyeing Scorpius suspiciously, who was leaning forward with his eyes glued to the board. Rose was still pouting, her eyes darting back and forth between James and the chess game. Albus just looked at the chessboard mournfully.

"Your turn, James," Scorpius was saying. James glared at him, but said evenly,

"Bishop to E8." As the white chess piece slid forward, it knocked out a black pawn and dragged it off the board. Rose jumped up.

"That's impossible!" she shouted. "I didn't move that pawn there, I'm telling you, you – "

"I've got it!"

Everyone turned to stare at Scorpius, who had stood as well, and was looking delighted with himself. He pointed to the board and said excitedly, "It's a simple spell, an old trick! Niveus verto vinco. The pieces automatically arrange themselves so that white is always at an advantage."

"But how could he have charmed it without a wand? And I would have noticed if the pieces kept rearranging themselves!" snarled Rose, as Albus said incredulously,

"There's a spell like that?" while James leapt up and shouted,

"You little brat!"

Which promptly ended in a brief fistfight involving words that 6-year olds shouldn't have known, a couple of chess pieces bursting into flame, and Harry and Draco prying their children off each other with much swearing and apologies.

James scowled. "Uncle George offered!"

Harry sighed and shook his head. "He would."

Scorpius laughed, seeming pleased despite the pummeling he had just barely escaped. "My father taught it to me ages ago."

Harry looked at his old rival. "You would."

Draco smiled faintly. "I did."

Rose beamed and danced around the living room with a scribbled piece of paper in her hand. Albus watched, grinning.

"At least he spelled 'idiot' right this time!"

This was fun to write. ^^

The logistics:

Harry is 31. Ginny is 30. They've been married 8 years.

Ted is 15. Victoire is 14 (And just in case you don't know, she's Bill and Fleur's daughter.)

The kids:

James – 7

Albus – 6

Rose – 6

Scorpius – 6

Lily and Hugo (though they don't appear in this story) – 4

There is an illustration of the chess game that can be found here: http: // deviantart .com/art/HP-Winter-Chess-144882242 (Delete the spaces)

And as a special little thing, note that Draco only smiles once in this fic. ;)

P.S. Niveus verto vinco literally translates to "white exchange win". Haha.

Hope you enjoyed!