Okay, here is the second chapter. Thank you to those people who reviewed, followed and favourited, I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations. Please enjoy and if you have a moment let me know what you thought :)
Snicket x
Draco felt a surge of excitement pulse through him as the train pulled to a stop alongside the platform. Said platform was rammed with people so Draco did not waste his time peering out of the window, instead he focused on grabbing, his trunk which he proceeded to minimise, for sake of ease, and his other things before slipping into the hallway casting a hurried "goodbye," and an "enjoy your holiday," to Blaise and Theo who could only grin and shake their heads at their friend's antics. Fighting his way down the corridor Draco moved towards the nearest door.
Over near the middle of the train Scorpius was taking down both his and Harry's trunks from the overhead storage minimising both and placing them in his pocket. They were in no rush and so Scorpius pulled Harry back as he went to fight his way into the corridor, leaning down to rest his chin on the other boy's shoulder,
"We are in no rush little one, and I know that you are nervous, we will wait for things to clear a bit before we go." Harry turned in the circle of his arms and snuggled into the broad chest relishing in the comfort and protection he felt in that very place. Scorpius pressed a few gentle kisses to the top of his head periodically glancing into the corridor, watching as it slowly emptied a little of people. When it was fairly clear he proceeded to lead Harry from the compartment, towards one of the doors and onto the bustling platform.
Rushing from the train Draco began instantly looking around desperately trying to catch sight of one of his family members. It took him a good few minutes and several apologies as he bumped into people or stepped on toes but he finally caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Heading in that direction took rather a lot of effort as he was going against the general flow of families making their way towards the barrier, the apparition points or the floo fireplaces. Finally breaking free of the crowd Draco let a grin fill his face as he ran towards the group of three who were glancing around clearly looking for him and Scorpius. The smallest of the three barely had time to react as Draco swept him up in a suffocating hug, swinging him round, his face buried in a petite but strong shoulder. Adjusting his grip Draco brought his head back to look at the boy's face flushed slightly at the overzealous display by the blonde boy but filled with a beaming smile. Pressing a kiss to the small nose Draco finally took notice of the other two people stood with them both grinning knowingly at them.
"Cygnus? I didn't know that you were coming to get us." One of the older boy's chuckled, his darker hair and brown eyes more indicative of his mother's family than his father's Malfoy heritage, yet he still had the bone structure of a Malfoy in his high cheek bones and strong jaw.
"Yes Dragon, everyone else was rather busy and Lorcan and I had nothing else to be doing so we offered to come and get the three of you. Plus it has been a while since we have been here so it is nice to come back once in a while. The boy next to him grinned: standing slightly taller than his boyfriend, Lorcan had similar hair colouring to his Malfoy boyfriend but had deep blue eyes. Cygnus and Lorcan were the only other gay couple aside from Scorpius and Harry, and Draco and Chaos, but nobody within the family had any issues with the gender of couples, simply with how happy they were. Turning back to his boyfriend Draco once again pulled him close revelling in having the ability to hold him and kiss him as much as he liked for the next few weeks.
The busyness of the platform was beginning to die down asfamilies made their way to the exits. It was then that the group of four spotted Scorpius striding confidently towards them, pulling a slightly smaller figure behind him, Draco knew that things might be a little awkward but he would do his best to be civil with Harry, and if he was lucky maybe they could finally be friends. Chaos seemed to notice Draco's apprehension and gave his mate's hand a reassuring squeeze to which he got a grateful smile.
Harry allowed Scorpius to pull him along the corridor, smiling at the gentlemanly behaviour as his boyfriend stopped to help him down from the train. The pair then moved off again, walking against the general movement of the crowd and Harry let Scorpius lead him falling slightly behind, his nerves come back full force; he was about to meet some of Scorpius' family, and he knew how much the older boy's family meant to him, it made him worry very much that the family wouldn't like him, leaving them in a rather awkward situation. As they drew closer Harry could finally see the group they were headed towards. There were two tall, gorgeous, brunettes standing holding hands and watching the second pair. As his gaze wandered over the second pair of boys he felt himself freeze. How could he have been so stupid, of course Scorpius must be related to Draco Malfoy?
Scorpius had noticed his boyfriend had stopped walking and turned in confusion. Upon seeing Harry's panic stricken expression he frowned and drew the shorter boy into his arms,
"Hey, relax they will love you, you have nothing to worry about." Harry glanced up at him shaking his head,
"Scorp, I completely didn't think, I should have realised that you were related to Draco, I am sorry Scorp but I am not sure it is a good idea, Draco and I don't exactly have a great track record and I don't want to cause any problems." Scorpius sighed,
"Baby, I promise you that Draco will be perfectly civil, I think you will find that if you give him a chance he will surprise you. I know that many people perceive us in a particular way because of our family name, and I know that Draco can be a snobby brat, but you have to remember that his parents were under a curse for years and during that time they weren't exactly the most attentive or loving parents. I think you will find that the Draco Malfoy that you know him to be is actually a front that he puts up in an attempt to protect himself from being hurt. I promise you that the real Draco is nothing like that, in fact the real Draco is actually very kind and caring and he wants nothing more than for his parents to get better and to spend time with his family. Please give him a chance, I promise you that it will all be okay." Harry cast a glance over his mate's shoulder catching a glimpse of Draco who to be honest looked stricken with worry. He sighed and nodded, plucking up his courage and putting on a smile, trying to force it to be real. Scorpius knew at the moment that Harry was trying and he was more thankful for that than anything.
Draco and the other's had seen the pair stop and Draco instantly felt worried; having seen Harry's face when he caught sight of Draco, he felt worried that he was going to cause a problem between his cousin and his new mate and that made him feel terrible. Draco had never wanted to make anyone feel that way and to know that the stupid conflict between him and Harry, a conflict he didn't even want, may affect his cousin made Draco want to slink away and hide in shame. He noticed how Cygnus and Lorcan stepped closer to him and felt Chaos' tiny hand gently begin to rub soothing circles into his back as they watched the couple talking. It seemed to take hours but in reality it was barely two minutes before Scorpius spun round and they continued to walk towards them.
Reaching the group the Scorpius threw himself at Cygnus and Lorcan hugging them both tight, before moving to Chaos and drawing him in for a slightly gentler embrace. Stepping back to a very nervous Harry he felt himself feel slightly nervous as well,
"Erm… okay guys this is my mate Harry, Harry this is my cousin Cygnus and his mate Lorcan, then you know my other cousin Draco and this is his mate Chaos."
Harry felt a little bewildered by the names but the 3 new boys each offered him a gentle smile while Draco still looked rather worried, something that puzzled Harry, he had expected a snarky remark or something but the blonde haired boy remained quiet. An awkward silence broke out amongst the group until Cygnus seemed to have had enough,
"Okay, well seeing as we are all here we should probably head back to the manor, I know that your mum is very excited to meet Harry, Scorp, and Dray I know that you want to see your father." Stopping at one of the empty floo spots, the others occupied by the last stragglers making their way off of the platform, Cygnus turned to them,
"Okay Chaos if you go first, then Draco, and the rest of us will follow." Harry watched as Draco's apparent mate took a small handful of floo powder and gracefully stepped into the fireplace. Within seconds he was gone and Draco hurried into the spot promptly disappearing as well. Cygnus then turned to Harry saying,
"You will have to go sidelong with Scorp so that the wards will let you in, we will programme you in once we get back but until then this will have to do." Harry could only nod still slightly bewildered and allowed Scorpius to lead him into the fireplace and bring him tightly into his side before they were spinning endlessly and the platform disappeared.
Stepping out of the floo Draco was instantly bombarded with hugs, the most prominent of which came from his mother. Clinging to her baby Narcissa manoeuvred them down so that she could sit and hold her son close for a minute. The rest of the family knew that they needed this moment and they gave the pair a few minutes before converging on the young blonde once more passing him from embrace to embrace. Draco ended up in the arms of his eldest uncle, Uncle Loukas, and the man squeezed him tightly saying to him about how much he had grown since the last time they had seen each other. It had indeed been a long time since they had seen each other as the entirety of the Malfoy clan had removed themselves from the light versus dark war with the exception of Lucius and Narcissa, who they now knew had had no choice. Yet at the time they had all thought that the couple had decided to go against the beliefs of the family and thus the contact between them had ceased, this had left Draco separated from his whole family. The consequences of this were that the rest of his cousins had all grown up together and thus were very close while Draco was left rather on the side lines, however the rest of the family knew that this was something he worried about and they had vowed that the would do everything in their power to ensure that the 3 family members would once again be encompassed in the family and they would support them until the end, as well as the new addition that came with them.
Within the time that Draco had been being passed around Scorpius and Harry had arrived back and so once they had hugged Draco they immediately converged on Scorpius demanding that he introduce his mate to them immediately, as they had yet to meet the newest family addition. Coming through the floo after the new couple Cygnus and Lorcan had sidled their way round and headed settled down on the sofas to wait for the current hubbub of activity to die down a little.
Coming through the floo Harry and Scorpius were immediately pounced on by virtually the entire family, and Harry felt rather alarmed at the sheer number of them. He now realised that when Scorpius said that they were spending Christmas with his family, he didn't just mean his direct family, no he meant his whole family, and there was quite a number of them. Harry was passed between cousins, aunts and uncles alike, the only person he was vaguely familiar with was Narcissa Malfoy who seemed more reserved than harry remembered. Harry stuck to Scorpius' side like glue, worried that if they were separated he would never see the older boy again. Amongst all the greeting Harry did notice that Lucius Malfoy was nowhere to be seen, this both relieved and concerned Harry: on one hand he was relieved because the older Malfoy was rather intimidating and Harry often felt uncomfortable around him, yet he was concerned because this was clearly a family gathering and a missing member indicated that maybe something was wrong. Harry knew that Narcissa and Lucius had been under a curse but the knowledge past their admittance to St Mungo's was non-existent and so that left Harry thinking that maybe there was something he was missing.
As the hive of activity finally started to die down Harry found himself squished between Scorpius and Scorpius' brother in law Sebastian talking with Scorpius' father, Octavius, about what he wanted to so after had finished at Hogwarts. He noted how some of the family headed out of the room in small groups and how the children settled down in a corner. Octavius was just explaining to Harry about the merits of being immersed in the political world when Scorpius cut in,
"Father, where is Uncle Luc, I haven't seen him yet and I wanted to check on him?" Harry felt a little confused and also glanced to Octavius who looked a little saddened,
"He is upstairs in his room Scorpius, I think that Chaos has just taken Draco up there for a little while but I am sure that once they come back your Uncle would love to see you." Scorpius nodded and went to go back to his conversation, but Harry got his question in before he could,
"Is everything okay? I mean is Lucius okay?" at the question the entirety of the room fell quiet and Harry felt like he had maybe overstepped the line. Octavius ran his hand down his face, giving himself a minute to collect his thoughts before speaking,
"Harry, how much do you know about what happened to my brother when the Dark Lord was finally defeated?" Harry thought it over before answering,
"Not very much, only a little from what the papers said, he and Narcissa both collapsed and were taken to St Mungo's they were under some sort of curse?" Octavius nodded and a frown marring his face,
"Indeed, well the curse was one that has not been used for centuries and it is one that is considered to be more severe than the three unforgivable due to the effects it can leave behind. My sister in law was lucky, escaping from its clutches relatively unscathed, but my younger brother was not so lucky. Consequently his road to recovery is a very slow, arduous one and at the moment he is still restricted to bed rest, as his magical core fights to rebuild itself. My brother has suffered through a lot, the three of them have all suffered through a lot: Draco was left without the support of his parents and ashamed as we are to admit it we offered him no help either believing that Lucius and Narcissa had chosen to go against the family. The three of them are finally starting to get back to how they were before and we, as a family, are doing everything we can to help them get there. " Harry felt warm inside at the clear amount of dedication this family had for each other and he only hoped that one day they would all care about him in a similar way.
While his family was busy interrogating Harry Draco allowed his mate to lead him upstairs to his Father's room. As they approached the door which stood ajar, Draco felt apprehensive: on one hand he was desperate to see his father but on the other he was worried that what he would see would be rather frightening. Steeling himself for a potential shock he allowed Chaos to lead the way into the room.
The room had completely changed from how it was a few months previously, in truth the whole manor had, but his parent's bedroom had changed particularly significantly. The heavy curtains were drawn back from the large floor to ceiling window allowing floods of natural light into the room, the smaller windows on the opposite wall were open a little to allow fresh air to circulate in the room. The bed had been moved and some of the darker and more imposing furniture removed leaving the room nice and open and spacious. The bed, which had once been ensconced in dark curtains, was now draped with light linen fabric and the bed covers were a rich emerald green. Settled amongst several white fluffy pillows was Draco's father. Draco took a deep breath as his eyes trailed over his father's slumbering form. The man's hair was neatly splayed beneath his head and looked to be freshly washed and his face had filled out a little compared to how thin it had been just before the release of the curse. His skin while still pale looked much healthier and Draco could see just from his appearance that his Father was much better than he had been.
As the duo moved towards the bed the elder Malfoy stirred, silver eyes, that had been dull for so long now had a little shine in them and that thrilled Draco: his Father was getting back to his old self. Upon seeing his son the older man struggled to sit himself up, Chaos rushed over helping to settle Lucius back against the adjusted pillows so that he was propped up and better able to see around him. Draco carefully settled himself on the edge of the bed and reached over to take one of his father's spindly hands. It was a reminder of how far the elder still had to go, but Draco did not want to think of that right now. Lucius beamed at his son and gently tugged him forwards, wrapping his skinny arms tightly around his son, in a slightly awkward hug. Draco gently returned the embrace soaking up the feeling of being close to his father again. When he pulled back he saw that his father's eyes were wet with tears and he smiled saying,
"Dad, please don't cry, we are all together again and we are all going to get you back on your feet." Lucius nodded biting his trembling lip,
"My little Dragon, I am so proud of you and I am so glad you are home, I know that things have not been easy but you have been so strong and I promise you that when I am strong enough I will make the years we lost due to that dreadful man, up to you." Draco felt his own lip begin to tremble and slid further onto the bed settling down beside his father and leaning his head carefully on the older man's shoulder.
Chaos, seeing that the duo needed a few minutes, quietly left the room knowing that the two would take care of each other for a few minutes. Slipping down the hall he came across Narcissa standing in one of the alcoves, gazing out of the window looking rather vacant. Chaos quietly stepped up beside her and gently took one of her hands causing her to startle from her daze. A small smile passed over her lips as she looked at her son's mate. Chaos had been there for all three of them and she couldn't be more thankful that her son had him, especially when she and her husband were not themselves. Chaos was a fully-fledged member of their family and she hoped that he knew that. Glancing down at him once more she spoke,
"Where is Draco, is everything okay?" Chaos returned her worries with a smile,
"He is with Lucius, they needed a moment together in private and I wouldn't be surprised if they fall asleep sat side by side as I left them. I think that now Draco has seen that Lucius is all right he will allow himself to relax a little, hopefully that means he will also allow himself to enjoy himself a little bit more. However I think that if we can get Lucius up even for a short while to sit at meals and what not it would be good for both of them. Anyway, are you okay Narcissa, you looked rather deep in thought?" Narcissa smiled, Chaos was always worrying about them,
"I agree with you, and yes thank you I am fine sweetheart, just caught up in my musings. Shall we head down to the kitchens and check on the dinner preparations? Once we know how long it will be we probably need to think about a plan of action for getting Lucius up if he seems up for it." Chaos nodded and offered his arm to his mate's mother before they wandered down to the kitchen together to see to the plans for the evening.
There you have it, I hope that it was okay, the next chapter will hopefully be up sometime mid-next week.
Until then,
Snicket x