My inbox has been going into overdrive after posting part one of this story, with almost 100 (!) people fave'ing, story altert'ing or author altert'ing... however, only TWO reviews. What the ?%*? Come on people, please give me something, it's not fair to writers for you to give them the alert button (late alone the 'fave' button!) without letting them know why you're doing it and what you liked! Reviews good and bad, constructive criticism, even flames, writers embrace it all! I'm having a lot of indecision editing part three for the millionth time right now. A bit of encouragement would sure be nice!

Ahem, end of plea.

Also, I clean forgot the disclaimer for this fic so let me give you one now for the whole story: Draco, Harry, Teddy, Andromeda and all other characters you might recognise from the Harry Potter books were not created by me, and I make absolutely no financial gain using them. Alex Cutteridge I'll keep - I'll wager he has a fit arse...


PART TWO

Draco awoke by slow stages, encircled by warmth, a muscular pair of arms enfolding him back against a strong chest. Soft lips and the tip of a nose nuzzled at that spot on the back of his neck, provoking a purring wriggle.

"Hmmm… Harry?" He managed a mumble, before his face split into a satisfying yawn. "Ssss'time?"

A low chuckle was released into his ear: "Just gone half eight. I got away early for being good this morning. You've been a sleepyhead."

"Hmm," Draco twisted, and rolled onto Harry's chest, looking at him with one eye open. "I didn't even hear you leave this morning. I was dreaming about something… we should get ready to go to Hogwarts," he muttered, trying to disentangle himself and realising that Harry had removed his training gear and showered before coming back to bed. A muscled arm restrained him gently.

"Please, Draco, don't leave. We hardly ever get to spend Saturdays in bed together during the season. Make love to me, like you made love to me last night." His face was flushed and eager. Draco blinked until his eyes were clear from the last remnants of sleep, and gave him a sceptical look.

"Great shagging isn't going to fix what's happened," he said, baldly: "This isn't a little petty argument about what's for dinner, or even something bigger like trying to align our schedules or what to say to a nosey reporter! This thing that's happened isn't something I can cope with! I think I have decisions laid out and then you come along and break them up. Just because we made love last night doesn't mean I'm not still going to move out."

He rolled onto his back and glared at the ceiling. Harry was silent for so long that in the end Draco cocked his head to look at him. He was still half-sitting, with a frozen, helpless expression.

Draco sighed. "I'm not going to break up with you. You know I couldn't even if I wanted to. I do love you, Harry. But recently, it's like being introduced to a stranger. I think it will be better for … for our relationship, if I move in with Andromeda as planned. I'm getting hounded by the press, I can't sleep, I feel tense at work, and now this thing with Teddy… tell me you understand."

Harry reached over and gently pulled a couple of fingers through the soft hair at the blonde's temple. "I think I understand," he began, earnestly, "and I don't want to be a stranger, Draco. I love you, and I've done something so disgusting to you I can't stand thinking about it, it makes me sick, and I don't want us to feel horrible. Everything is my fault, and I'm trying to fix it any way I know how… but the problem is I don't know how. I'm not going to try to stop you moving out… I'm glad you told me where. I'll ask Janet to try to do something about the press… get a holding bar or something. If I could just…"

"What?"

"I…" Harry glanced away, hot rivulets of tears trickling over his cheekbones. "I'm sorry, I was going to ask if I could hold you, that's what we always do when one of us is upset, and now it's not…"

Draco rolled into his side and pulled so that Harry's forehead was on his collarbone, tears wetting his naked chest. He wrapped his arms around his waist securely and rubbed his cheek against the wayward black thatch before kissing him softly on the back on an ear. "Don't cry, we can't start over if we're crying and screaming all the time," he joked, trying to inject a little humour into the bad situation. He felt Harry's facial muscles jump and smiled, pressing one hand down the curving slide of Harry's spine and massaging the sinewy muscle patterns. He felt Harry's hand creep round the back of his thigh and knead it slowly, working up to the swell of his buttock, evoking a low thrum of arousal, gradually building until it manifested itself in a full-body shudder that ran right through him from head to toe. Harry rose up and looked at him. Draco leant upwards and captured his mouth. They hovered for a long moment. Harry's lips tasted of saltwater and sweet saliva, and he smelled so good. So Harry.

Despite himself, he shifted into a position he knew that Harry would accept instantly as a signal to feast on him – he needed no mirror to show him that lust had painted his eyes a dark ink, and the buzz in his brain that longed for release was overwhelming him swiftly. Age had dimmed his sensory reactions, no longer leaving him effectively helpless to his lover's ministrations before the first release – with Draco there were always many, and Harry had been the only lover to never take unfair advantage of that. His breaths came in short puffs between their frequently connecting lips, transcending to breathy pants when Harry moved to the underside of his jaw and the outline of his Adam's Apple, his foot skilfully finding Draco's under the covers and caressing the sole. The world spun and he found himself over the brunette instead, gazing giddily down into a bright emerald haze.

"Draco-" he cut him off with another intense kiss, not wanting to hear Harry having to plead with him for love again. They squirmed together in the tangled sheets, getting into more comfortable positions. Harry's laugh shocked him into a jaw-cracking grin as he rained an unnecessary amount of condoms on his furred chest. Their coupling was intense and emotional, but lacking the urgency of the night before, their eyes locked, Harry's built thighs encircling his own fragile waist. He braced himself on one of the brunette's biceps, noting the increased muscle mass from the England training. Their spines arched in near-simultaneous ecstasy.

Draco rested his forehead on Harry's shoulder, echoing his laboured breaths as they came down from the trembling high. He felt the Seeker shift his legs out of their cramped position and kick the remaining stifling sheets away from them. He tried to speak, and released a growling purr, pushing his hand along his lover's chest and smoothed the quivering muscles under his fingertips. Being joined in such an intimate way with Harry was always like discovering another half of himself that he didn't miss until he was found again. Sighing, he slipped out of him and quickly went through the familiar after-motions of banishing the condom and flicking a couple of gentle cleaning charms at them before rolling back into his beloved's arms.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"I do love you."

He wriggled into Harry's side. "I know."

"When did you plan to go to Andromeda's?"

"Not until we've seen Teddy. He needs to know what's going on… he might want to spend Christmas with her instead of us, and we don't know the full story about what's happening at school… I was thinking that maybe we should both eat dinner at her house tonight. She needs to be prepared for the press, and she'll be worrying about what's happening with our relationship… um…"

"It's coming up to half eleven, shall I make us some brunch, you – you can p-pack?"

"Thank you," Draco leaned up and kissed him lingeringly, "that would be perfect. This isn't forever. I promise you that. I just don't know how long it will be."

Harry nodded and kissed him on the forehead. It made him close his eyes in contentment.

888

Draco leant in the doorway, watching Harry cook their brunch. It was hard to think that only the previous evening he had felt so aggravated by his lover that he couldn't even bring himself to enjoy a lovely meal he had cooked. That for an entire fortnight he'd been able to discipline himself not to speak, see or hold him… the thought of separation made him insides churn. Harry turned suddenly, feeling the heat of his gaze on his back, and gave him an apprehensive look.

"You look lovely," he ventured. Draco smiled, brushing the hair away from his face. He knew he looked good, if slightly intimidating – he wanted to be firm, solid, when they met with Teddy. A proud man, a good father, and certainly not weak by forgiving Harry… he hoped that Harry wouldn't read quite so many things into it. The brunette was underdressed in tatty jeans and bare skin, waiting his turn in the shower.

"You look savage," he returned, cheekily, crossing the kitchen and sliding a hand up Harry's back, who returned his attention to the hob whilst he kneaded his shoulder blades. "Hmm… scrambled eggs. Where's the salmon?"

Harry laughed. It looked lovely on his profile, prompting Draco to kiss his ear lightly. "There's no salmon, Lord Malfoy, but there's toast, grilled mushrooms, and a couple of rashers of bacon."

Draco eyed the sizzling strips dubiously. "Harry, not - not too many."

Harry banged the egg whisk against the inside of the pan, but said nothing. Draco moved away and began setting the table. It was an age-old argument with them: Draco insisted that he needed to eat less than Harry, as Harry was on a constant fitness regime. He (not so secretly) worried inside that Harry would be disgusted if he put on any weight. Harry had always disputed this, arguing that if he was allowed to eat fois gras and butter biscuits during Quidditch season, he would without hesitation. It would not be the first time that he had considered a media-stressed Draco to be erring a little on the side of too thin.

They ate their breakfast in silence. For his part, Draco finished his bacon, and Harry made sure to smile at him when he collected the plate.

888

It was grey and drizzly with rain in Hogsmeade when they apparated in. Andromeda was already waiting for them by Hogwarts' main gates, sheltered by an enormous green umbrella, and wearing Wellington boots. Students were milling back and forth on their way to or from the village, making the most of their day out by stamping through the puddles. A couple of more sensible girls picked their way past, their heads surrounded by the lingering steam indicative of a dose of pepper-up potion. Draco and Andromeda embraced awkwardly, the umbrella at a clumsy angle. She gave Harry a very stern look before patting him on the arm as well. They set off through the gates and down the long, winding entryway. The castle loomed ahead of them, and for the first time it looked to Harry to be forbidding.

"Bloody Scotland," Draco was muttering beside him, "I should've checked the weather forecast." He cast an impervious charm on his shoes. Harry clenched and unclenched his fingers self-consciously, wishing that Draco would hold his hand, but it seemed that the blond was determined to remain latched to Andromeda's arm. He felt unsettled and extremely nervous in anticipation of Teddy and what his reaction to him might be. For the first time, he felt genuinely unfit to be a parent.

They met McGonagall on the main steps and shook hands. The tight nod she afforded Harry only served to make him feel worse, guilty of all the people he had let down. He trudged up the myriad staircases to her office as though en route to detention, and looked at no one who passed them. The office itself had definitely taken on a different scheme since Dumbledore's death, the product of a rather offensive obsession with tartan, which covered all the chairs, and even the circular rug in the centre of them.

Draco and Andromeda took the only small couch, so Harry became isolated in a hard-backed armchair. He glanced at Draco and noticed the extreme straightness of his posture. His throat prickled and he rubbed the palms of his hands nervously on his jeans. Somewhere, he knew, Teddy was waiting to come in. He wasn't sure what sort of reception he should steel himself for.

"Fighting is a very serious business, especially when it comes to physical blows," the Headmistress was saying. Harry forced himself to pay attention. "However I've called you in not because of the severity of this attack, although there can be no denying it was severe, but because this is so completely out of character for Theodore. I regret that I had no idea he was being bullied. I can't impress upon you how serious the situation is, not least because, unfortunately, your own positions in the public eye make it more likely for the school to be accused of favouritism if any recurrent behaviour goes unpunished."

"But he's being bullied!" Draco interjected, angrily, half out of his seat and looking distraught, "I want to know who the culprits are!"

"There are two sides to this, Mr Malfoy, the side that has to acknowledge these bullies and their inflictions on your son, which I believe are mainly of a vocal nature, and therefore technically non-life threatening, and the outcome of this, which is the medical attention of said boys from wounds inflicted at his hand. I understand-"

"Teddy wouldn't hurt anyone! He is being victimised by these other boys! I can only imagine what they've been saying to him… where is he?" Draco was on his feet. Harry felt his own throat constrict at the pain etched on his lover's face. "Please, Headmistress, I…"

McGonagall pursed her lips briefly and shook her head. "You may come in now, Theodore," she called out, loudly. Harry spun in his seat and stared wildly at the door that had just opened, his heart in his mouth. The boy in the doorway was undeniably Teddy, and a Teddy at his most Malfoy in appearance – his hair was morphed so blonde it was just shy of white, and even his facial features seemed to have sharpened. He looked a great deal like a 16-year old Draco.

"Oh Teddy, oh my boy," Draco said in a hushed voice. He approached him hesitantly, and then drew him into his arms. "Why didn't you tell me you were being bullied?" he demanded, shaking him slightly whilst at the same time holding him as closely as he could. "We could have stopped it!"

Harry licked his lips, and stood up, still standing back a little. In the past years since Teddy had come to live with them and their relationship had become even more father-son, he could not deny that the child had been able to grow closer to Draco than to himself. The long stints of training, away matches and demanding schedule made it more difficult for them to spend as much quality time together. Teddy had even begun to look a great deal more like Draco, going blonde often in public, although his original features were undeniably more Lupin-esque. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the Headmistress slip into the next room to afford their group a little privacy.

"Tell me what's going on," Draco was saying now, insistent but gentle. Teddy's cheek returned to his shoulder, trustingly, and Harry felt a surge of envy. "What have these boys been saying to you?"

"Nothing dad, really…"

"It's not 'nothing'! Come on Ted, you've never been the type of boy to start pummelling people!"

"It's, um," Teddy was mumbling, and Harry ventured a little closer to catch the words, "it s-started, they wanted to know about being a Morphmagus, and if I can make myself into a girl… and loads of things about you and dad, and being gay, and if I was gay, and I'm not – sorry – and they kept asking me about coming home and if I'd ever f-found you, you know, at it, and they were just going on and on and I just wanted them to shut up! And they wouldn't and one of them said he'd p-pay me to m-make myself into a girl – I – please don't ask me about it anymore…" he convulsed into mewling sobs onto Draco's shoulder again, Harry's arms around them both by this time. Harry caught a glimpse of Draco's horrified, panic-stricken face before it was hidden again in the blond strands of Teddy's hair. He thought he might throw up.

"Those boys are sick, and disgusting, but they are jealous of you, Ted," Harry said, firmly. Teddy's tear-streaked face turned to him briefly before he hid himself again, but Harry knew he was listening. "In their eyes you have everything they could ever want for a perfect life, okay? You have this amazing transformative power without having to learn it, you're intelligent and outgoing, and you've got great friends in your House. And yeah, although we complain about it, they don't know what it's like to have famous parents. For all they know you've got every gadget going and have dinner with your favourite band every night. They see it all laid out in the papers and they're going to get jealous, and that's what makes them want to lash out."

"You'd know all about – about – f-fucking – papers, wouldn't you dad?" Teddy spat, shoving him away, "they might've left me alone!"

"I know, I totally cocked up, I'm sorry," Harry confessed, running a hand through his hair, "I've let you both down terribly, and I know it's going to take a long time to fix it. But the fact is, Ted, I do love you, and I do love your dad. I love you both very much and I was a total idiot. Please, I – I'm sorry, Ted."

Teddy turned away from him slightly. "You never even owled."

"I know, and that was cowardly of me."

"Let's sit down, hey?" Draco guided them both to the couch, where Teddy took the seat next to Andromeda, who gave him a disapproving look –

"An owl from the Headmistress herself, Theodore!" she scolded, "you're not too old to take over my knee! Put your appearance to rights this minute!"

"Sorry Gran," Teddy muttered, his face and hair instantly morphing into his own again. Andromeda fingered a chestnut lock ruefully and straightened his tie for him. He grinned shyly at her before pressing his shoulder against hers.

Harry had taken the stiff armchair again, and to his surprise Draco perched on the arm. "I know you've probably been feeling very isolated from us, so maybe we'd better talk about what's been happening at home while you've been at school." He paused and wet his lips for a moment. His hand was dangling over the arm towards Harry's lap, so he took hold of it and gave it a squeeze, picking up where Draco had hesitated:

"Your dad thinks, and we have made an agreement, that it will be best for us to live separately for a while. Not – not long, and not permanently-"

Draco nodded, and said, "Right."

"- and it will be me at home and your dad at gran's house, so we'll both be right where you can find us, or owl us, any time." He rubbed the blonde's knuckles gently with his thumb and continued: "I do love your dad, Ted, very much. I can't repeat that enough. Obviously I have been very idiotic and I hope in time you will both forgive me… there are some things going on with me I need to be able to talk to your dad about, emotional things, and work things, and it will probably be better for us to have separate places to retreat to if we want that. I am sorry for not owling you though," he confessed, meeting's Teddy's gaze, "I'm so ashamed of myself, I don't want to be like that for you-" his throat constricted and he had to swallow before continuing, "I want to be your dad, your – your confidant. I know I'm not as accessible as Draco sometimes but I always thought you could turn to me, that you – God, Ted, I'm so sorry that this happened."

There was silence for a long moment. Draco forcibly unclenched his hand, realising he now had Harry's clutched in a death-grip. He took a deep breath, all the while wondering what exactly Harry needed to confide to him, other than the glaring obvious. He exhaled slowly and breathed again before speaking: "We can't forget the other reason to be here today. I need to know that you're going to be alright to be back in lessons with these boys, otherwise, I'm going to ensure we get something arranged with McGonagall."

"You can't do that!" Teddy was indignant: "They already think I'm a pampered celebrity kid! Please, you're just going to make it worse!"

Harry heard Draco expel an almost soundless noise of anxiety, and stroked his hand again, their fingers hidden by the chair arm and Draco's thigh.

"I can't leave this as it is," Draco said quietly. "These boys are thugs, and what they said to you is more than disgusting. And I know it's partly our fault-"

"No it isn't!"

"It is," he shook his head, "it's not like you asked to be adopted by a couple of blokes."

"You're not 'a couple of blokes,' you're my cousin and my godfather! My… parents." Teddy looked distressed and pink. Andromeda put an arm around him tightly, but they could see him trembling.

"Draco," Harry murmured, giving his hand another squeeze before releasing him. He knew his lover would take the unspoken hint and go to reassure their son immediately, and he did so.

"Ted," Draco said, voice slightly strangled as he squatted down next to the couch, "you know we love being your parents. Adopting you and sharing that between us has been the most important moment in our lives, I can tell you that unequivocally. I'm sorry if you misunderstood me. What I meant is, for some students here the idea of having two dads is always going to be not only a subject of mockery, but probably some fear too. They don't understand the dynamic of our family, and maybe they're disgusted by it too. You and I know how stupid that is, but for some of them, when they're ribbing you about it… secretly they want to know the real answers. And they get nasty about it because it's far easier to make fun of something they're afraid of. I don't want to leave you in a position where you have to keep taking this from them. It shouldn't have to be this way."

They hugged, and Harry felt a pang of unease again, unsure whether it was okay to join in. In the end he stayed in the chair, fiddling with the ends of his cuffs. "It is this way," Teddy was saying, "But they might let up now that we're all in detention for the rest of forever. I'm sorry, you told me to be a good Prefect and already…"

"Don't you be sorry," Draco said firmly, cupping his son's face intently, "I don't approve of the way you dealt with it, but they are the perpetrators, not you, okay? Don't think you've left any of us down in that regard. You haven't." He sat back on his heels, releasing him. "What do you want us to say to the Headmistress?"

Teddy shrugged, "nothing, she can't do much anyway besides stick us in detention. I don't want to change classes just for them either." He had the steely, determined look that reminded Harry so much of Remus, and his heart swelled slightly with pride of that fact.

888

It was already past eight in the evening when they finally fell out of the Floo at Andromeda's house, and Harry was flagging slightly, any adrenaline gone. After the conversation with Teddy, which had been emotionally exhausting in itself, Andromeda and Teddy had retired to the antechamber while McGonagall put himself and Draco through a grilling not only on their son's behaviour and what she expected of him, but also their own relationship to some degree. She wasn't inappropriately invasive, but it was certainly uncomfortable. They had filled her in on the temporary living arrangements and oddly her approval had relaxed Harry somewhat.

For the rest of the afternoon, as it was still a Hogsmeade weekend, they were allowed special permission to take Teddy there for lunch, although this was somewhat curtailed by the necessity of securing a private room in one of the lesser known establishments for them, avoiding both autograph hunters, protesters and above all any lurking press. During the meal the conversation had moved into far more enjoyable subjects such as imminent try-outs for the Ravenclaw quidditch team, and Teddy's first two weeks of his OWL subjects. Harry had watched him fondly, taking note of all the animated mannerisms, and laughing out loud when he had briefly morphed his nose to explain exactly what their newest Astronomy professor's nickname referred to.

"I've put you in the Yellow Bedroom dear, the one you like on the second floor," Andromeda was saying, breaking Harry out of his reverie. Draco's two small trunks had been apparated over by Kreacher and stood at the foot of the stairs. "The study opposite is quite clear; I think it'll make a good space to do your paperwork in if you need it."

"Thanks Aunt," Draco gave her a hug but was looking quite sombre.

"I'll start the dinner if we're to be sitting down before midnight," she said, adding, "I take it you're both eating?"

"Yes, thank you," Draco said. Harry looked at him as Andromeda disappeared down the hall. He took one case and started up the stairs, and Harry quickly picked up the other and followed him, heart thudding.

The Yellow Bedroom was warm and welcoming, and they had often stayed in it, sometimes for a week during Christmas, and for even longer periods back in the days before they had adopted Teddy. Draco was sitting on the bed when Harry entered, the case on the floor next to him.

"Sit with me."

They ended up lying together on the large mattress, facing each other. Draco appeared to be scrutinising his face for differences. "I want to set some ground rules," he said eventually, "firstly; you don't sleep here with me unless I ask you to."

Harry swallowed nervously. "Alright."

"Secondly, that we don't have sex in Aunt's house. Third, I continue to give your appointments at work to Greg for the time being unless you have a serious injury. Fourth… fourth, please don't see him."

Harry sat up. "I have no intention of seeing him!"

"I know you, Harry. You say that now but soon you'll read something about him in the paper, hear a rumour, whatever, and you'll say, 'Aren't I Alex's friend? I should see him.' Please don't argue with me, just say - promise me not to see him. Not to speak to him."

Harry leant and kissed his jaw, softly. "I will gladly swear to that. Draco… they were only kisses, and they meant nothing. I don't want him."

Draco felt himself go entirely rigid, ice filling his insides. He found himself suddenly by the window, and despite the frozen state of his heart, lungs and guts he couldn't get the window open fast enough to let the cold September night air in. He couldn't breathe through his shock at the lie. He panicked before realising he was hyperventilating and needed to calm down. How he managed this, he didn't know; perhaps it was magic.

"Draco, hey-"

He turned quickly, taut to defend, and reared like a challenged cat: "Five. Don't you dare fucking lie to me again."

"What? Draco, I'm not lying-"

"Go. Go before I banish you." His wand was in his hand, how did it get there? Harry was staring at him, how could he stand there like that? "GET OUT!" The bedside lamp exploded and the entire house went dark. He heard Andromeda screech below him. When he had managed a reparo and the electrics had righted themselves, Harry was no longer there.

He sat on the edge of the bed, still carrying Harry's indentation, too tired to cry.

888

Harry half-lay awkwardly on the hard surface he'd landed on, breathing hard where his hasty apparition had set him, outside their wards. It took his a couple of moments to realise what he was sitting on: their front step. He hastily leapt up and fumbled with his key before any lurking reporters could get him. His body hurt, veins thrumming through him from the effort of apparating through Andromeda's wards. He shut the front door firmly and leant against it, eyes tightly shut.

So, Draco knew he had slept with Alex. How? He hadn't said anything.

'Because you should've admitted it without being asked, coward,' he thought, mercilessly. Blindly, he stumbled to the floo and threw a large handful of dust in, shouting "Draco, Draco!" urgently. His head looked out of Andromeda's hearth into the cosy parlour. He could hear a murmur of voices near the door. "Draco, please!"

"He doesn't want to see you dear." Andromeda's normally kindly face appeared in his range of sight. "I think it's best you both get some rest, and we need to eat some dinner."

"Please," Harry said, helplessly; miserably. He didn't know what to do.

"Harry," she had a firm expression, "stay apart tonight. I don't want to have to persuade him to eat."

Harry inhaled, mind racing. "Right. No, of course you're right." And then he was looking at the inside of his own fireplace: Andromeda had cut the connection off. He sat on the carpet he had made love to Draco to so many times on, and cried. He did not eat dinner that night.

888

We've come too far we can't turn back
Have our good days, have our bad
When I'm feeling blue
You say that I'm hurting you
We try so hard not to fight
But sometimes we cross the line
And I wanna leave
But you
Won't let me
We have our highs and lows
Just like everybody else
Doesn't mean that we walk away
We work through our mistakes

Sometimes I love you
Sometimes I don't
But I never ever
Never want to let you go
The road's not easy
But the feeling's strong
It's the little things that keep me holding on

We're both guilty of mistakes
Though you rarely take the blame
Are you coming through
Sometimes
I hate you
But it's not mistakes in life you make
It's the good you do along the way
The dues you pay

We have our highs and lows
Something everybody knows
Doesn't mean that we run away
We work through our mistakes

Gabrielle, 'Sometimes'.


Please review, that'd be grand!