Scorpius-

"That's me." The boy tapped at the letters at the top of the page, interrupting before his father had really had a chance to begin. "Harry wrote me a letter."

"So I see." Draco Malfoy adjusted his son more comfortably in his lap. "Shall I read it to you or are you going to talk over me?"

He looked up through bangs that were in need of yet another trim. Draco resisted the sigh, only brushing his fingers through the soft strands. His hair grew like a weed but, as his mother informed him each time he complained, his own hair had been just as quick. "Read it, read it! I wanna know what my letter says, daddy!"

Now Draco did sigh, lifting the letter up again.

Scorpius-

You're right. It has been a whole three weeks since I saw you last.

"That's a long time," the boy interrupted and Draco congratulated himself on ignoring it.

I would love to see you more often, really, but the cases I've been on lately have been tough ones. You know I don't stop until the very end.

Now Scorpius tilted his head back and grinned at his father, revealing the tooth he'd lost just the day before. Draco only ran a hand through his hair before continuing.

But I've just come off one, with the bad guy headed off to Azkaban, and find myself with a free weekend. Ask your daddy if you can spend it with me. I'll most likely have Teddy as well, so you can finally meet him. I know you've been wanting to and, if you're lucky, there may be pancakes for breakfast.

So ask if it's alright that you come over. I'll bet it will be. Your daddy works awfully hard, and I'm sure he'd appreciate having the house all to himself for a couple of days.

Sneaky git, was Draco's opinion of that, but Scorpius's absolutely delighted expression had his lips twitching in amusement. It wasn't as though Potter was completely incompetent, either. He'd co-raised his godson, after all, and when Harry was over and playing with Scorpius, his affection tended to shine through every little thing he did.

And perhaps a weekend to himself would do him some good, let him relax. With the trials drawing closer, Draco's nerves had been steadily mounting. He'd been a little clingier than usual to his son, and irritatingly distracted from his writings. A couple of days on his own would be appreciated, and he could trust Harry. It was a continuous surprise, but he could.

If he says yes, owl me and I'll pick you up tonight. If he says no to you, have Perry ask. No one can say no to Perry.

-H.P.

Have Perry ask. If Draco hadn't already been leaning in the direction of allowing it, that would have tipped his hand. Scorpius rarely went anywhere without his beloved unicorn. Only when they went to the park did Perry stay home, but that was only to keep him from getting dirty and somebody had to watch the house, after all.

"Daddy," Scorpius began, tone serious. Draco lifted a brow and bit the inside of his cheek to keep the smile at bay. "You work awfully hard, so Perry and I think you should send us away to Harry's house for the whole entire weekend."

"Perry thinks so, does he?"

Scorpius nodded rapidly, lifting the unicorn in his lap. "Tell him, Perry." There was a beat of silence. "Okay?"

Draco considered another moment, though he'd already decided to let Harry have his way. How would Potter react, he wondered, if he asked to meet Teddy? They were rather closely related, all things considered. The boy was his mother's great-nephew, his own second-cousin. And it really wasn't his fault that he'd never met the boy's mother - Nymphadora? - or his aunt Andromeda. Those were ties that had been cut long before he'd even been born.

He remembered the boy's father from Third Year, the man who had turned out to be a werewolf. He'd been... Well, he'd been an excellent professor. By far the best they'd had in all the years Draco had gone to Hogwarts. But he'd had such shabby clothes and those ugly scars on his face and... and he'd very clearly adored Harry. And Draco had been thirteen years old and still very much a Malfoy heir, so he'd made fun of the shabby clothes and the greying hair. He'd rushed headlong at a bloody Hippogriff and, if he was remembering correctly, that had also been the year Hermione Weasley, Granger then, had given him a very solid punch in the jaw. He couldn't quite recall what he'd done to deserve it, but he was vaguely certain the injury had been well-earned.

Certain that Hermione would remember just why and when she's struck him, Draco rubbed a hand over his jaw and watched the impatience begin to cloud his son's features. "Yes, you can spend the weekend with Auror Potter."

With this acquiescence came the squeals. Perry was thrown skyward and he was scrambling from his father's lap to catch him again. Draco only winced at the kick to his thigh, as it had been accidental, and let his child run in dizzying circles through the living room, tossing Perry again and again.

Shaking his head, Draco vanished the words from the parchment with a flick of his wand and took a moment to stare at the hawthorn. He'd gotten a new wand, somewhere between the end of the war and Harry's stilted return of this one while they worked to rebuild Hogwarts the summer after the war. It had been a very awkward conversation, full of muttered thank you's and half-whispered apologies. And then Potter had said, "See you around" and positively winced directly afterwards as if horrified by the very thought of seeing Draco Malfoy anywhere.

And Draco had promptly gone to his room - the remains of Slytherin's dungeons - and written angsty, ansgty porn.

To have it back now and to have it be the only wand at his disposal kept bringing about things he'd rather not remember, but... Harry had returned it to him so very differently this time. He'd simply whipped it out of his sleeve and had offered it alongside a wry grin. And then he'd dropped down, ruffled his son's hair, and the "See you around" had been for them both. There'd been no wince, just a loud laugh at something silly Scorpius had said in response. (The porn he'd gone and written after that encounter hadn't been angsty, so much as hot and needy... it was becoming a compulsion.)

Draco sighed quietly, tucking away his wand and glancing at his son. Scorpius had tired himself out and lay sprawled on the carpet, chattering to Perry about all the things they were going to do over the weekend. Draco was doubtful of their chances of going to the moon, but let the boy have his dreams.

A quill was plucked up and his response to Harry just started when yet another owl tapped at his window. Brow lifted, Draco rose and took the envelope. Another from Harry? This one, though, was addressed to him and the owl stuck around as if expecting a snappy reply.

He opened the envelope quickly, hoping it wasn't Harry changing his mind. Scorpius was already so excited and - oh.

Draco,

The blonde paused, studying his own name on the page. Harry had hesitated over it. He could clearly see that the 'D' had started as an 'M' based on the awkward stilt of it. It was always a little bit of a start to hear his first name coming from the auror, so used to the memories of being Malfoy, his surname spat like soured wine. Why was Harry trying so hard to change that?

And why, when Draco thought of him, did Harry come so much easier than Potter...?

Sorry about this. Two letters in ten minutes can be irritating, but it couldn't really be helped. Ron's pants at remembering to give me details. And Hermione's invited us to dinner. She misses Scorpius and, well, the pair of you are a package deal. If you've agreed to let Scorpius stay the weekend with me - which I hope you do; I miss the kid - you can just leave him with me when you go home.

I'll most likely have Teddy there, too, and I'm not sure if that's going to be a problem for you or not. I know Andromeda was blasted off the Black Family's tapestry. Considering, though, that it had nothing to do with you, I wasn't sure what you think about her or Teddy.

He's about ten, by the way, and a metamorphmagus like his mum. He's a good kid. I'm thinking he and Scorp'll get along fine.

So just let me know if you're coming. I can meet you at your place after I pick up Teddy and I'll take you by Ron/Hermione's. Don't tell her I said this if you want me to live another day, by the way, but she's not as brilliant in the kitchen as she is in a library, so the sooner we make it there, the sooner I can "help" her cook. Hopefully, we end up at the Burrow.

-Harry

He hadn't signed this one with his initials, Draco realized, brushing his thumb over the simple name as he read the letter a second time. "Us," it said. "Hermione invited us." And then Harry had felt the need to tell him about Teddy, making sure that he'd be alright with it.

Salazar... What was he supposed to do about this damn man?

Draco rubbed his temples when he felt a hand tug at his slacks. "Daddy, what's that for?"

"It's another letter from Harry." At the delighted sound, Draco couldn't help but smile. "We're going to be having dinner with the Weasleys."

"Ron and 'Mione and Baby?"

Of course it was all Ron's fault that he didn't call the child by her real first name. Harry had been watching Scorpius the day Hermione had gone into labor and, when he'd learned that they were in St. Mungo's, Draco had popped over to fetch his son and been treated to a slap on the back and an entire roomful of Weasleys. They'd been absolutely intimidating, really, and he'd stared down the Wizengamot and been in a room full of Death Eaters and their Lord. But Ron had come into the room at one point, shouting about the baby and unable to speak clear sentences, consistently leaving out definite and indefinite articles.

"Baby's fine; Baby's healthy. Baby's beautiful." And his son had decided that rather than Rose, the new arrival (who Scorpius insisted had come out magically, much to Draco's amusement), was actually named Baby.

Draco ran his fingers through his son's hair, vaguely wondered if he'd ever get out of that habit. "Yes, Scorpius. All of them."

"I like 'Mione even though she doesn't have Baby in her anymore. She still has really funny hair and she and Ron still kiss lots."

"I'm sure they do," Draco interjected, derailing the rant about married people his son had adopted from somewhere. He liked to insist that married people were always super happy 'cause they were in love and stuff and there were babies. Draco highly doubted that he would ever be able to explain to his son that there'd already been no love when he'd been conceived. Though the blonde often wondered if there'd ever been love in the first place...

Thinking of the woman who'd abducted him, he somehow doubted there had been.

"I'm going to write Harry a response and then we'll pack you a bag for your weekend stay."

Arms thrown into the air on an excited sound, Scorpius charged up the stairs to get to his bedroom and start packing on his own. Mourning the almost certain loss of organized drawer's and a clean armoire, Draco returned to the blank parchment and plucked up his quill once more.

He let it hover over the paper a moment before deciding to take a chance. Harry was scrawled at the top.

b'aw

I love, love, LOVE Scorpius.

And, oh, Draco. You are going to be SO MUCH FUN to write. The last one was centered so much around Harry that I'm thinking most of this one will be centered around Draco

I cannot wait XD