Warning: More smut in this chapter because Abra and I can't seem to help ourselves XD
I think it's cuz there wasn't any smut in the last like... 5 chapters of WL. XD We're making up for it.
Also! Thanks, everyone, for all the fabulous reviews :D We write this for YOU
Teddy knew he should go to the Manor and greet his godparents. He hadn't seen either of them in weeks and missing them was causing a definite ache in his body. But since it was just one more ache among hundreds currently plaguing him, he figured they wouldn't begrudge him a night of sleep.
"You were gone again, Teddy! No note, nothing!"
And one reason he wouldn't be getting any sleeping was staring - more like glaring - him straight in the face: Alexander Zabini.
Teddy sighed. He'd come to Grimmauld Place - it would always feel more like his home than any other place - in the hopes of avoiding everyone. It had been a long case, culminating in the loss of his own partner. He was reeling from it, knew that he'd have to deal with a Mind-Healer as procedure decreed.
And now Alex was going to harp on him... "I'm sorry. It was supposed to be a quick one." He didn't bother to mention the few days he'd spent trapped, wandless, in a dungeon of an old castle. It had taken him forever to dig his way out with the help of sharpened and enlarged nails. He'd still be in there if not for his metamorphmagus abilities.
"A quick one? You make it sound as if you were only going on a quick errand!" A dark skinned hand waved in front of Teddy's face. Alexander Zabini was as kind as he was a horrible painter. And Zabini was not a horrible painter. Dark skin, bright green eyes, a bright smile and a dastardly wit, Alexander Zabini was a force to be reckoned with. What, with Blaise and Pansy Zabini as his parents, how could he not be? Standing at a charming five feet and eleven inches, he was the perfect height to come face to face with the person who set his blood on fire and his teeth on edge. "All you do is go and disappear, Teddy! No word, no note! Robes and wand gone! You're a bloody 'It Wizard! You could die! And I'd like to know if my boyfriend is going to GO AND GET 'IMSELF KILLED!" His accent was light, thanks to English parents, but there thanks to French schooling.
"It was a quick get in and get out mission. I was going to be back by morning, but our intel was flawed." And he didn't feel like explaining himself to someone almost seven years his junior. As soon as that thought came, the unfairness of it struck and made him sigh. "And I'm obviously alive, so everything's fine." Except he was partner-less and exhausted. He went passed Alex to try his legs on the stairs. He stumbled on the third and nearly took a header, but latched onto the banister and continued up.
Zabini's hands clenched, "Fine," he spat. "See if I give a shit if you come back on a stretcher." Turning, Alexander stormed out of Grimmauld, slamming the front door, shaking the portraits on the wall with the violent slam. He needed to walk off the anger before he'd ever decide to go and splinch himself with Apparition.
Teddy winced at the words, trying to brush them off, but Alex was right. He should've said... Damn it. Damn it! He didn't want the bloke to make him feel guilty, had been careful for years to not have someone in his life who could. His family was bad enough. He should just let Alexander go, just let him walk out and that would be that.
But the thought of losing him hurt. Irritated, he stormed back down the stairs and wrenched the front door open. He caught up to Alex quickly, grabbing his arm and spinning him around. "You would give a shit! I know you would. So don't slam out of the fucking house like a spiteful little child just because I have a job!"
Alexander's glare was instantly cold. "Just because you 'ave a job?" he spat. Alexander was an aspiring painter, a novice in London, but slowly becoming well known. He was good. Very good. Teddy had told him on more than one occasion. But the exhausted brunette still hadn't grasped the concept that this was Alexander's job.
He adored waking up to the smell of acrylics, he adored taking a shower early the next morning after a hard fifteen hour painting session, ending just to be covered in paints and charcoal. Alexander adored what he did, but Teddy didn't fucking grasp the concept that this was. His. Job. Maybe he didn't get paid the loads of galleons Teddy did, maybe he didn't need to leave the house to have to paint something, but he did get paid, and people did know his name! Wasn't that fucking enough? "Just leave me the bloody fuck alone, you cowering prat." Alexander jerked his arm back.
"Grow the fuck up, Alexander!" Teddy latched onto his arm again, abruptly terrified that he was going to leave. The fear only made him angrier because he didn't want it. "You don't know what I do! You don't know what I have to deal with! I don't want to come home to deal with accusations after my fucking partner dies right in front of me! It should've been me!" he shouted and dropped his arm just as abruptly as he'd grabbed it as those words bounced back at him.
"Fuck," he muttered. "Fuckfuckfuck. I'm going back inside. I'm not going to stand out here yelling on a bloody Muggle block."
"I grew up the minute I discovered my mother 'ad been raped." Turning, shoulders tense, tone full of venom and ice, Alexander didn't look back. "Get bent, Lupin. I don't give a fuck anymore." Alexander disappeared with a violent crack of apparition.
"Shite," Teddy muttered and turned to go back in. Fine. That was fine. Fuck it, then. He didn't need some nineteen year old idiot in his face. But when he went inside, every instinct in his body reminded him that the house was empty. Even Kreacher had finally died, no one bothering to replace the crotchety old elf. Teddy had never seen the need to utilize them in the small home when it was just him.
He wasn't going to be able to sleep in there though, he realized, and went into the parlor. He snatched up a bit of floo powder and tossed it into the flames. "Potter-Malfoy Manor," he snapped and stepped through, coming out on the other side. Papa probably wouldn't be home, judging the time, but dad would be.
A quick Point-Me led him up the stairs - he stumbled twice as his body reminded him that he hadn't slept in three days - but he made it up and then down a hall to the library. Of course. If he wasn't in the former dungeons working on potions, he was in the library.
Sighing, Teddy leaned against the doorjamb and watched the tall blonde work for a few moments. He only spoke when there was a lull of activity. "Dad?"
Draco Malfoy-Potter jumped in shock, turning around with wide silver eyes. "Teddy!" he gasped, the blonde instantly setting down the books he was organizing and rushing over, dark black robes billowing behind him. Long blonde hair and pale skin with only the faintest sign of wrinkles, Draco Malfoy-Potter had aged gracefully, still 'in his prime,' as his dad liked to say. The blonde instantly pulled his eldest son into his arms. "What are you doing here?"
"Got home from a case, wanted to see you." Had a fight with Alexander. Teddy's grip tightened slightly. "Papa working?"
Draco pulled away with a curious expression. "Yes, but he'll be home in time for dinner. I'd invite you to stay..." His hands went to the brunette's shoulders, turning him away from the messy library, "But you look as if you are about to fall flat on your face. So off to your old room. I'll send Genma up with some tea." Genma was Genna's sister, the little elf having been the one that had woken Draco all those years ago, decades really, to find his son coughing up blood.
"I might not manage to be up long enough to drink it, so don't bother." He yawned. Since he was working, Harry would hear about the case. He wanted to fend off the worry news of it would undoubtedly bring. "Hey, it was... It's been a bad few weeks. Let papa know I made it here okay before he hears the wrong thing and panics?"
Draco's brow furrowed in worried confusion. "Okay, Teddy. We'll talk later, after you've slept, okay?" Their walk ended at the staircase the brunette was more than familiar with. Draco leaned forward to press a kiss against Teddy's temple. "Go and get some sleep."
Good old dad, saving his questions for later. Teddy smiled tiredly, leaning against him for a moment before going up the stairs and into his old room. He collapsed onto the bed without bothering to get undressed and was out before his head found the pillow.
-8-8-
Harry was home early. Draco had sent him an owl letting him know of Teddy's arrival, but the report that had landed on his desk minutes after still made him a little ill. It had been a joint case with the Aurors, and nearly the entire team had been lost. Faulty intel. Hadn't that always been the downfall for some of his own investigations? Damn it all, everything should've been checked better!
Instead, they'd lost three excellent Aurors and Teddy's partner. If the report was true, they should've lost Teddy. Trapped for four days in a fucking basement and no one had told him; no one had bothered to inform him that his son was missing.
Now Harry was standing at his oldest son's door, watching the man sleep and picturing the child. Out of the four of them, Teddy was the only one he'd had around his entire life. For the first ten years he'd been "Uncle Harry," but when Teddy had come to live with him permanently and was surrounded by three other boys who knew him as papa, Teddy had begun to change his tune. At first, Harry had been unsure about it - was it unfair to Remus and Tonks? Only when Andromeda had given him a very stern lecture had he realized that it was just fine.
Harry looked up when he heard Draco coming down, lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. "I just... wanted to make sure he was okay."
Draco stayed silent, giving a small nod of his head and placing a sure arm around Harry's waist. "He was exhausted when he came. But he is sleeping now, so let's leave him be. You can talk to him when he wakes up, love."
"He's home for a little while. They've given him desk duty until he can find a partner and get cleared by a Mind-Healer." He dropped his cheek onto his husband's shoulder. "We almost lost him, Draco."
"I know, Harry." Draco had already gotten a fire-call from James, and Harry had explained in thorough detail what had exactly happened to Teddy's team. Draco's anger was only quelled with a fist against a wall and an exceptionally strong healing spell against his bloody knuckles with a few choice words at the stupid idiots that called themselves Ministry officials.
James had nearly been part of that mission, but Harry had made the decision to put him somewhere else. He hadn't thought that they would need more Aurors on an already large enough team. He didn't know if his presence would've been a help or if James would've ended up dead too, but was extremely thankful just in case it had been the latter. "Four days," he whispered, "and nobody told me."
Draco worried for the Head Hit Wizard that he knew his husband would be having a few choices words with soon. "Come, love. Let's get you some rest." Turning, Draco shut Teddy's door with a quiet click and led Harry down the South wing where the boys were located and up towards the East, where their bedroom was.
"I don't need rest," he protested, smiling slightly. "I'm alright."
Draco chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Mhmm. And I'm Blaise's brother-in-law. No, I don't think so. Rest." He gave Harry another small shove towards the Wing stairs.
He lifted a brow, grabbing Draco's hands and jerking him close. Being Head Auror rarely kept him from going into the field when he felt it necessary and he kept in shape, kept his reflexes sharp, for just such occasions. The added benefit, of course, being that he could still pin Draco when he wanted to. "Maybe I'll... rest if you came with me."
A smirk was instantly resting against Draco's lips. "Am I in trouble, Mr. Head Auror?" A few long strands of hair danced across Draco's cheeks.
"You did just shove a Ministry official," he pointed out, lips curved in a teasing smile. "I think the punishment should be confining you to your quarters."
Draco's lips pushed themselves into a pout. "But, sir, I didn't do anything wrong."
"I see things a little differently." Harry turned Draco's body, pinning him to the wall. He started to lower his mouth to his lover's when someone cleared their throat. He only glanced back, took in Blaise's unamused stare, and resumed.
"The pair of you are more like hormonal teenagers than married adults," he commented.
Draco chuckled, the sound muffled by a moan from Harry's lips. "Little busy, Blaise," Draco panted, tilting his head as Harry divested him of his robe.
"So I see. I was hoping to get here before your very amorous husband. Teddy's upset Alexander."
Harry was tempted to roll his eyes, but didn't. His lips descended to Draco's throat, though, so the blonde could speak.
Draco huffed, tugging at Harry's hair to drag him back to his lips, desperately devouring his lips in a kiss. "You sure..." The blonde panted, moaned, "it was Ted?"
"Yes. He came home and declared that he never wanted to see him again. You know how Alexander can be, but I know the difference between angry and hurt." He sighed. "Alex was very much hurt."
"Teddy's just gotten home," Harry pointed out, fingers slipping below Draco's shirt. "What could he have done?"
"I haven't the slightest clue, but he has done something."
"Well, we'll- Harry-" Draco moaned, hands scrapping against still taut muscles, deliciously hard beneath his fingertips and trailed down an addictively lean waist. "Talk to him when he wakes." Draco's pants were shallow and harsh as he tugged harshly at Harry's trousers.
"Wonderful. And since I'd rather not see the pair of you fucking in the hall, I'll be going." There was a crack of apparition and Harry was pulling off Draco's shirt, his teeth sinking into the blonde's shoulder.
"You think Alex is, mmf, just being dramatic?"
Draco groaned, arching against the brunette and tugging off his trousers. "He-" He inhaled sharply at the bite. "Might be. Should I go-?" He nipped temptingly at the others lips, drawing him into a kiss. "Should I go talk to Blaise?"
"After," he replied, dragging Draco to the floor. The bedroom suddenly seemed entirely too far away.
Draco rutted against the brunette desperately, all thoughts of Blaise and quelling accusations against his son seemed too far away as heated skin was pressed against heated skin.
Why, Harry wondered, after so many years together did this one man do the things no one else could? On a groan of his husband's name, Harry cast a lubrication spell wordlessly and plunged two slick fingers within Draco's heat.
Draco flopped listlessly to the floor, hips thrusting down against Harry's fingers, begging - no, demanding to just be fucked already!
Harry was more than happy to oblige, giving minimal preparation before coating his length with conjured lube. He grasped Draco's hips and plunged within, moaning as he was surrounded. "Draco...!"
"O-Oh shite!" His body arched, muscles clenched in pure bliss as he was so achingly wide and filled perfectly to the brim, pushing at his sanity, words of pleasure slipping past kiss-swollen lips.
Harry didn't let either of them get used to any one sensation for long, moving his hips quickly, hands finding and exploiting the places Draco liked to be touched best. The worry he'd carried the entire day had converted itself to desperate, aching need and it made him frenzied. He bit sharply into an old scar where his lover's neck curved into slender shoulder.
Draco's body jolted in shock, an intense and forcible jolt of pleasure forcing itself through his body, causing the fair-haired man to let out a desperate cry, nails clawing against Harry's skin, hips snapping back and forward. "Fuck, Harry! Fuck!"
Harry wrapped long fingers around Draco's length, moving it in time with his quickening thrusts. "Draco," he chanted. "Draco, Draco, Draco."
"Please Harry," Draco moaned, desperate for a release from the blistering heat building in his stomach, the moan coming out more along the lines of sobs, begging- pleading for more, harder, faster!
Harry gave what was demanded, hands, mouth, and hips working in tandem to drive the blonde beneath him absolutely wild.
Draco was coming undone, clawing at Harry's back, his shoulders, leaving droplets of blood and red welts in his wake. "Harry, Harry- Please, don't stop," his voice wasn't even above a mere whisper, his lungs working desperately to get in some form of Harry as rutted against his husband.
Teeth sinking in again and again, breaking the skin, scratching over it, Harry gripped Draco's legs and hooked them over his shoulders. The angle of his thrusts changed, the length of him dragging mercilessly across that sensitive bundle of nerves with each motion.
Draco's body was accepting Harry's thrusts with demanding glee, cries of desperately barbaric pleasure leaving his lips as Draco felt the familiar curling inside his stomach, hand reaching down shakily to wrap around his own aching, rock-hard shaft. "D-Don't stop..."
He pressed his lips to Draco's, nipped his bottom lips sharply. "Come," he panted. "Just come."
The Slytherin's body writhed against the floor, muscles tightening like a suffocating vice around Harry's rock-hard cock pounding in and out of him. Draco came with a shout, body arching in a painful release of searing hot ecstasy.
He kept his hips moving even as his own orgasm raced through him, ruthlessly pounding his release into his lover, eyes squeezing shut to keep them from rolling back. "Draco!" he cried, gripping his waist.
Draco's body sagged against the cold tile floor, allowing his body to be pounded into oblivion as Harry's release filled him to the brim and dripped between his thighs. "Fuck," he whispered breathlessly.
Harry collapsed onto him unceremoniously, sated and drained. "That was..."
"Bliss?" A hand drifted through Harry's sweaty, tangled locks.
"Intense. Now it's bliss." Panting, he dropped his head to Draco's shoulder. "You scratched me. A lot."
"You bit me. A lot." The blonde tilted his head to prove his point, blood dripping down his shoulder from his scar.
"The battle scars of the well-pleasured." Harry smiled, sighing pleasantly. "The very well-pleasured."
Draco smirked, "The very well-pleasured whose husband can only seem to go once before collapsing with exhaustion."
Harry pinched Draco's hip sharply. "You know I could go again. But we're in the damned hallway." His back arched like a cat as he nipped the already bleeding mark on his neck. "And you need to go see what Blaise was talking about."
Lifting lean, long legs, Draco wrapped them around Harry's waist, drawing him back against his body. "Once more?" He purred temptingly.
Harry didn't need to think twice, cock hardening, still within his lover. "Absolutely."
-8-8-
"Enjoy your rut with Potter?" a voice drawled as Draco strutted leisurely into the library of the Zabini manor with an air of relaxation hours later.
"Very much so. And after the fourth time, I still enjoyed it." Draco smirked as he gracefully slunk into a high-backed chair.
"Four? For Salazar's sake, the pair of you are bloody teenagers." There was the faintest hint of admiration in his tone. He lifted a crystal decanter. "Brandy?"
"Of course." Draco chuckled, waving a hand. His face fell to a solemn expression instantly. "How is Alexander? Mind explaining why you walked in on me and my husband having sex, muttered something about a fight, and then walked out? It'd be appreciated."
"You weren't having sex yet or I would've sent a house-elf with a message later on." Blaise poured a snifter and handed it to his guest before refilling his own. He sank down, setting his papers aside and studied Draco for a moment. "You and I both know that I disapproved of this relationship from the beginning. Not enough to do anything about it, but enough to be wary. Teddy's relationships have been, in your own words... colorful and my son is still rather young." Never mind the antics they'd gotten up to while still students.
"And?" Draco prompted, already having an inkling where this was heading. He took a sip of his brandy, letting the sharp taste and the burn of alcohol melt against his tongue.
"And I was beginning to think I was wrong." Blaise swirled his drink, dropping his gaze to the amber liquid. "Now I find myself uncertain again because he's clearly done or said something to hurt him. I know Alexander has a flair for the dramatic like his mother, but I still worry. Did you speak with your son?"
"Briefly. He was too haggard to be able to even string two sentences together. But did you get the case files I had sent over?" James, at Draco's request, had sent over a summary of Teddy's report. And after his little... rendezvous with Blaise, Draco had an elf send over a copy of the file between his and Harry's second and third time with the little dance known as blissful pleasure. Or was it third and fourth? "Did you talk to Alex?"
"Yes, I did, which is why I'm not asking you if I can have a look at Ted's insides." Blaise's smile was pleasant in spite of, or possible because of, the words. "I do understand that he's had a difficult few weeks, but Alex tells me he has a very poor habit of leaving without any warning. He doesn't wake Alexander up, nor does he leave a note. Has Harry ever done that to you?"
Draco shrugged minutely, gazing down into his glass. "Once or twice." And he'd worried himself sick each time. "But I do suppose you're right. Where is Alexander now?" Inwardly, Draco was grappling for something, anything to go on. Teddy was his eldest son, but the most... Confused. Conflicted. They'd need to sit down and talk. And soon.
"He slammed out of here as quickly as he slammed in." Blaise shrugged, lifting his hand in a purely French gesture he'd adapted after over two decades in their Parisian mansion. "He's gone off to paint his frustration away, though he doesn't know I slipped in the copies you'd sent me. I apologize, of course, for doing so without asking you first." Though that was his typical behavior - do first, request forgiveness later. "I feel he should know what Teddy went through. I still, and I don't doubt Alexander will, do not see why that gives him the right to simply leave. It only proves that his job is a dangerous one, and I cannot begin to imagine Alexander's devastation if something were to happen. Particularly without having said goodbye first."
"Yes, well..." He took a rather large sip of his brandy, an emotion of unease prickling at his shoulders as he adjusted his robes around his shoulders, feeling the inner silk strain against his bones as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. "I... Teddy isn't the best with emotions, anything heartfelt, I suppose. I think it might be because Tonks and Lupin died when he was a baby. We may be his fathers, but not his biological parents." Draco swirled the brandy around, glancing down as amber colored swirled around in his glass.
"I suppose, but James and Albus don't seem to cause you this much trouble. They don't remember their parents anymore than Ted does. Draco," he began with a rare ring of sincerity, "you and your Potter have done an excellent job with all of your children. Whatever your eldest's problem may be, it isn't because of the pair of you. I do think that he needs to be spoken to since Alexander will probably do little more than shout his demands. If Ted wants to keep my son in his life, he needs to have more... tact."
Draco chuckled, raising his half empty glass in a toast. "Plan on teaching my player of a son some tact there, Zabini?"
"If I see tears glistening in my son's eyes again because of yours, I will do a bit more than that." His smile was sharp and dangerous.
Draco nodded his head, knowing the exact same thing was true from him to Blaise. "Well then, I must be off." Knocking back the rest of his drink, Draco stood with a flourish. "I have a son to go talk to about some misplaced 'tact.'" He strutted towards the door. "Give Alexander my best, will you? Tell him to be around for dinner soon. We miss him."
Blaise lifted a brow, understanding the code well. Send him on an evening Teddy will be there. "Tomorrow night?"
"Sounds perfect!" And the library door thudded behind Draco with a flourishing wave of his hand.
-8-8-
Teddy awoke with an aching head a very vague recollection of having been woken once already. Questions about Alexander... With a groan, he mashed his face against the pillow. He'd been a royal arse to his beautiful young lover. An absolute royal arse. Blaise probably wanted his head on a platter.
And since his head was currently being overrun by angry pixies, he wouldn't have minded his head on a platter at that moment either. He needed a decent potion and a direct line to Alexander so he could apologize. He'd told him to grow up. What a bloody joke. Ha bloody ha, Lupin.
He rose slowly, holding his head, and staggered to the ensuite. One thing he loved about the Manor was the attached water closet to each and every bedroom. With provisions. He opened the medicine cabinet, keeping the lights in the washroom on low. Grabbing a small bottle, he uncorked it and drained it. His dad would refill it later, he knew.
And as it kicked in, a shudder worked its way through his entire body before he relaxed. Head blessedly clear, he walked out of his room to locate his parents. He hoped they weren't screwing around somewhere so they could actually talk. Never had he met two people who were so... physical. He'd grown up with the impression that every couple held hands and kissed and were just close. He'd thought every relationship was like that.
He'd tried desperately to find a relationship like that, and through partner after partner - gender notwithstanding - he'd found no one. No one could come close to his parents. No relationship could compare to that... that absolute love.
But then he'd stumbled into this thing with Alexander Zabini and... Well, it terrified him. Scared him to the bone. His job was... It was for a family. It wasn't for a love. He could die at any moment and Alex was only nineteen... Not that Teddy was ancient, of course, but at twenty-six he felt it. He was heading towards thirty, and wasn't that a kick in the arse? How could he put someone not even twenty through that life? It wasn't fair... Maybe it was better that Alexander had left. Maybe now he would find someone else and everything would be alright again.
Ignoring the twist in his heart, Teddy pushed open the door of the library to see his parents nestled together in a chair. Soft kisses and softer words were exchanged, Harry's arms wrapped loosely around Draco's waist. His heart twisted once more, this time with a jealousy he couldn't even begin to fight.
"Dad? Papa?"
Draco lifted his head, eyes glancing through wire-framed specs that Harry had made him get after years of spending time glaring at Potions textbooks and standing over heated cauldrons. "Teddy?" Draco sat up, glancing back at Harry for a quick peck on his lips, and adjusted himself to sit comfortably against Harry's side, his lover's arm instantly pressing around his waist. "Did you sleep well?" Draco knew that they would need to have a conversation soon, he just prayed that his husband could handle it with a calm demeanor and not go... Well, bat-shit crazy against their son.
"Yeah. I vaguely remember being woken up, though." He'd never been one to evade when it came to his parents. "Blaise showed up, then? I guess Alexander flipped."
"Yes," Draco rolled his eyes with a small sigh, Harry massaging his fingers at the nape of Draco's neck. "And Alexander is not pleased with you." Oh Teddy... What is happening with you? "But that is for a later date. Come, sit and have breakfast." Draco snapped his fingers, Genma appearing with a crack.
He ran a hand through deep blue hair, sighing. "Yeah... I can't tell you the last time I actually ate something." Harry bit down the urge to tell him he was too skinny. He and Draco had agreed already that they wouldn't lecture, not yet. The younger man walked forward, sinking into a chair. The air felt heavy, awkward, and Teddy hated that. "What's the matter?"
Harry reached out, laid his hand over his oldest son's and just held. Teddy looked down at their hands, turned his and gripped. "You got the report."
"Head Auror," he reminded him. "Joint team."
"I... It was a hard one and it wasn't supposed to be."
"You know it wasn't your fault, don't you?"
Teddy was quiet for a moment, so Harry's eyes narrowed a fraction. "Why don't we just leave that for the Mind-Healers, papa?"
"Teddy-"
"You've never lost a partner, papa. And if I hadn't lost my wand, we wouldn't have lost so many people."
"You were in a basement for four days."
He didn't respond, releasing his papa's hand as the house-elf set a plate down before him. "Thank you, Genma."
She bowed her big head. "Master Ted is welcome. Do Masters Draco and Harry need more from Genma?"
Draco shook his head quietly, Genma glancing at Harry with wide, dewy eyes before popping away with a crack of air. "Ted... Teddy." Draco sighed quietly. "It's not your fault. No matter what you think might have caused... anything to happen. It wasn't your fault."
"Dad, I just..."
"What Teddy?" Draco's voice was calm, sure, open and waiting, ready to take in any knowledge Teddy was ready to give them.
He leaned back in his chair, looking at his parents. They were such a unit, so together. He wanted that, but was terrified at the same time. It wasn't feasible, not really. He bowed his head, gathering his thoughts.
"Teddy?" Draco egged on quietly after a few moments, hand searching for Harry's to clasp between their bodies. What was going on inside their son's head?
"I can't..." He looked up, frowning. "I don't know how to explain."
Standing swiftly, Draco walked over to sit down gracefully against the ornate arm of Teddy's chair. He lifted a pale hand, carting it through shaggy brown locks. "Just... talk."
"I can't, dad. It's been... It's been a long few weeks. Things have gone wrong and people have died." He found his hand and squeezed it. "I've got desk duty for a while, which basically means I'll have a lot of nothing to do." Hit Wizards were useless behind a desk. "I'll figure things out. Just... don't worry."
"Teddy, like we have a choice."
He gave Harry a small smile. "Give it a shot, then. I'll... I'll be alright." I just can't be you two, he thought, and wondered what he was going to do about Alexander.
Draco sighed after a moment and leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to Teddy's hair. "We love you, Teddy. So much. I hope you know that." Standing, the blonde paused, glanced over his shoulder at Harry and turned around, quietly exiting the library with the dull thud of the door sound ominous in the tense atmosphere of the room.
"And there's the cue for you to yell at me," Teddy mused, resigned.
Harry reached out and laid a hand over his son's. "I love you."
"I know you do. I love you guys too." Teddy turned his palm, gripped his father's hand. "You're my parents. I love you."
"Do you know that no one told me you'd gone missing? Absolutely no one. I had no idea. None. You could've died and I wouldn't have known." Harry stared at his son, eyes like steel behind his glasses.
"Papa..." Teddy sighed, picking at his fruit with his finger. "I..."
"You need to get into the habit of telling us when you have a case. It's not like James. I give James his assignments. None of us know when you're leaving. You come when you want and you go when you want. That can't..." Harry took a careful breath. "I don't want to find out that my son has died when I don't even know he's on a bloody assignment. You're an adult, I know, but Draco and I didn't raise our boys to be selfish like this."
Teddy's heart sunk in his chest. "Selfish? Papa... I... I'm not being selfish! I just-"
"You're just doing whatever you like without thinking of us. I never did this to you. If there was even a chance that I was going to be gone even a few hours I at least sent an owl. Even before Draco, when it was us and your grandmother, I did that for you."
"But that's the thing! I'm not you!" Teddy crushed a piece of fruit between his fingers, eyes stinging, hands shaking. He wasn't Harry James Potter. He didn't always do the right thing and he didn't have an amazing husband and wonderful children and a supportive... He had a supportive family... But they all had their amazing lovers. What did he have? Cold coffee and late nights that threatened your life.
"No, but you are my son. And you're... You're excellent at what you do." Teddy lifted his gaze and Harry shrugged. "I read your reports. They get released among the different heads. I know the things you've done."
"Papa..." Teddy hadn't wanted any of them to know some of the things he'd had to do.
"I know, Teddy. You may get different cases than I do, but I've done much of the same. I know your job better than you think I do. So does James in a smaller capacity." He sighed quietly. He could be so much like Remus... Harry wasn't always sure if it was a good thing. "We're your family, though. Don't forget that we love you. That we're here for you. We just want to know when you're leaving."
"You'll just worry, papa. I don't want-"
"You act like we don't worry anyway." Harry got to his feet, laid his hand on his son's shoulder and squeezed. "But I'd rather know when to worry instead of having it be a constant thing. Tell us! Just tell us when you're going."
Teddy froze for a moment before sagging with a sigh. "Okay, Papa." He'd try. He'd have to. And maybe he'd try and fix this thing with Alexander.
"I love you, Teddy. And I am proud of you." He gave his son's shoulder a squeeze, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "I've always been proud of you. Try and remember that." With that, he left Teddy to his breakfast.
Staring down into his half squished bowl of fruit, Teddy sighed, leaning back into his chair and knocking the bowl across the room, an elf coming up to clean with and leaving with a simple crack-crack. He wasn't hungry anymore.
Now what was he supposed to do about Alexander?
Yay, Teddy XD
And also drama :D
I think I got Syl addicting to angst. XD
Drama's different from angst ;p
Oh don't give me that. XD You like Angst now. Just admit it to your little sister. Come on, you can do it Syl! I- LIKE- ANGST.
Um... No? XP
Anyway, we will now be called Fin and Albus! XD
But I like my name D:
...Fine Syl. Syl-Fin... Sounds like a drug. Like... Cyphillin... is that even a drug? I don't know. I'll invent it.
Um. Don't? Cuz cyphillin is awful close to syphilis.
Yeahhhh... That's what it sounded like. And I don't do drugs. :/ So. Sorry Syl-Fin. You're just gunna be big sister Fin in my book.
Ew XD
YOU LOOVEEE ME. XD
Next chapter coming soon :D Guess who's coming up next?
Barack Obama?
Ugh. Hopefully not.
Well now that we know Syl's political standpoint. XD SEE YA NEXT CHAPTER LOVELIES.
-Syl (Fin) and Abraxas. XD