Harry was currently working as the Care of Magical Creatures professor at Hogwarts under the assumed name of Harvey Malloy. He was mostly doing this so he could spend some time with his kids without having to deal with his ex-wife after their particularly nasty divorce. Or, at least, the kids he had helped raise, and had reasonable assumptions as to their being his before said nasty divorce… and the proof of all her rather extreme promiscuity. He had not fought for custody at the time because his love for the kids had been tainted by the knowledge that they might not even be his.
When the only reason he married Ginny in the first place was because she was pregnant, meant something pretty big to him – something rather awful. Even before finding out James might not really be his, he'd often found himself resenting him just a little. He was the result of a drunken one-night stand that ended his two-year relationship with the love of his life and bound him to a loveless and apparently faithless marriage. Albus had been a last-ditch effort at salvaging things, or so he thought. Lily, though – she was how he'd finally found out the truth. If Ginny wasn't cheating, how could she be pregnant when they hadn't had sex in almost a year?
So, that was how he found himself where he was here, today. He was, yet again, breaking up a fight between his son and Malfoy's, neither aware of who he really was, when he made the mistake of asking why they argued so much and hated each other. They were both Gryffindors, after all, and their fathers had eventually gotten along, so what could be the problem, he had reasoned with them, expecting them to fall into line.
It was the shock of his life to hear just how wrong he was. The second shock of his life came when he heard why.
"Our fathers get along? That's a laugh! The Malfoy family has an individual blood feud legally documented, registered, and on file at the Ministry of Magic against Harry Potter. Filing it may have been Grandpa's last act before he died, but Daddy supported the decision. We all *HATE* him for what he did to Daddy; for what he did to me. We hate him!"
It really wasn't all that surprising to hear his ex-lover hated him. After cheating on him, and dumping him to marry the person he'd cheated with, well, a little hatred would be normal. But, he'd thought after all this time it would have faded. Hearing Lucius hated him was also not surprising; when had Lucius ever not hated him? But hearing the hatred was strong enough to merit a blood feud, and that they'd told Draco's son about it; that was shocking. Wait- old romances, no matter how badly ended, were not cause enough for a blood feud. As murder could legally occur under such a feud, the Ministry had *very* strong regulations for their formation. He'd done nothing to merit such measures; at least not in the eyes of the law.
Thus, he stupidly asked, "What did Harry Potter ever do to your family? Last I heard, he was a pretty good guy – you know, saved the Wizarding World, kept your family out of Azkaban; that sort of thing." This was when his second shock, the much stronger one, occurred.
"Professor, you're the Care of Magical Creatures professor, but how much do you know about Magical BEINGS? Like… Veela?" The boy asked, a sly, mocking tone to his voice. Harry felt an odd sense of foreboding come over him. Didn't Draco make some sort of joke about being Veela the day he dumped him? He indicated he had some knowledge, and for the boy to continue.
"Well, our family gets our name from our first male ancestor – Mordred Le Faye, and our first female ancestor – a Veela. Both deal heavily in fate, or the French "fait," and the source of our name "Bad Fate." Daddy's one of the unlucky ones whom the Veela genes are active. What do you know about a mate's rejection of a Veela AFTER bonding?"
The sense of foreboding solidified into horror and self-loathing. Draco hadn't been joking, and could very well have died, and most likely had wanted to, when he had broken up with him. Since he had been told; it counted as attempted murder and if Draco had died it would have been murder.
"Daddy was pregnant with me at the time; that's the only reason he lived. His heart still stopped four times though – or so Grandpa said. I was early and nearly died too, because of all the stress. And he just kept hurting Daddy, as if nearly killing us then wasn't enough!"
Remembering the owls he had sent over the years, attempting to initiate friendship and make peace, and celebrating his children's lives… oh, hell... he'd asked Draco to be Al's godfather! Yes, he could see how they thought he was torturing Draco. Shame flooded him.
Not seeing the inner torment of his professor, only the anger and rage on the face of his rival – one hated his whole life for having the one thing every child yearns for, and he had never received – the love of his father, Scorpius continued in pure vicious glee. "The day Daddy got out of the hospital, he sent us a letter about this little shit, and Daddy had a stroke. My first birthday, we were given a pregnancy announcement for Father's whore's second born. It took six healers and me begging for his heart to restart. Grandpa never showed Daddy the request for him to be the devil's spawn's godfather. We all knew he couldn't take that. When I was four, I broke an arm and went to St. Mungo's. Guess who was there celebrating their first daughter? That's the only time I've ever seen my Father face-to-face. You know what he had the balls to call me? Son. It may be biologically true, but that asshole will *never* be my Father."
"That's right you little shit, you're just a bastard, and Dad never wanted you!" James burst out, his anger. It took a great deal of effort and will to calm and silence the boy. It also hurt his heart to know that his children, all his children, probably believed that. They believed he didn't love, didn't want, Draco's child; even Scorpius himself believed. There had been no reason not to.
"So that's why you're fighting, then – because you're half-brothers and your 'mothers' dislike your father? Harry asked, just for clarification.
"We're fighting because he keeps talking about how wonderful his father is, and I disagree. Harry Potter is a little shit and I look forward to meeting him and enacting our feud upon him!" The vicious anger and hatred burning in his bearing showed every word to be true.
Harry allowed himself a brief moment of sadness to mourn the family he could have had – Draco, loving him with every fiber of his soul, Scorpius as a devoted first son, and how ever many other children after that. Love, happiness, and faithfulness. It could have been his. It was his, once – before he got drunk and made a life-changing mistake. But, the past was set, and some mistakes can never be undone no matter how you might wish it, and 'sorry' can never be good enough.
As Harry set about fulfilling his obligations and trying to prevent future battles between the two boys he mourned the life he would never have. He realized this was why you should never indulge in alcohol.