Once upon a time in a magical land far, far away, and many moons ago, there lived a young boy. His name was...DRACO MALFOY! One day, he had an insane birthday that flipped his world upside-down.

It had been almost a whole year since Rumbleroar had, quite literally, burst into Draco's life and whisked him off to Pigfarts. On that fateful day the young boy's life had forever changed. He hadn't even been home to see his daddy all year! He swore he was going to return to Malfoy Manor every holiday, but each time the term break rolled around, he found he just couldn't leave his beloved school.

But now the summer holidays had arrived, and Draco had no choice but to head home...

Unbeknownst to little Draco, his father had (rather surprisingly) missed his absurd son immensely in the time he had been away. Lucius hadn't realised how lonely it would be without the ratbag running around the Manor, and was looking forward to having him home...for a short while at least!

Lucius sat in the parlour skimming an issue of The Quibbler. (He kept a stack of old copies hidden under the kitchen sink so Narcissa couldn't steal the puzzles in the back that he loved!) He placed the magazine on his lap, looked around the room and sighed, then continued reading. He wasn't used to not being distracted all day every day. Lucius sighed again, before getting up and heading for the kitchen. He filled the kettle, set it to boil and stashed The Quibbler back into its hidey-hole.

There was no work coming from the Ministry for him at the moment and he'd caught up on all his old paperwork weeks ago, so for the time being he was a man of leisure. Cissy had told him to take advantage of the quiet time, before leaving on a cruise with a group of girlfriends. Great, he thought…no wife, no child, no work.

Lucius loathed to admit it, but he was bored. ASTRONOMICALLY BORED! So bored that he considered getting his hands on a Muggle television set, but he couldn't quite bring himself to go through with that. How did those people fit in that little box yet move so freely anyway?

He went about making a pot of tea for himself, humming softly as he did so…wait, humming? Since when did he hum?

CLUNK….CRASH…GIGGLE

Lucius became suddenly aware of noises drifting down from the 2nd floor, which put a stop to his actions.

"Draco," Lucius grinned stupidly. He was a bit surprised by his own happiness for a moment, but quickly got over it as he raced out into the hall.

He almost skipped up the stairs and when he reached Draco's room he flung open the door…

"Draco, Draco, you've come back to love m- Ohhhh God ehhh sorry"

Draco and Hermione broke away from the sweet little kiss they had been sharing before Lucius barged in.

"Really Daddy?" Draco cocked an eyebrow at his father and grinned.

"I, err, you…must be hungry! Yes, hungry. I'll go make sandwiches, come down when you're ready, bye." Lucius almost flew from the room, leaving the door wide open.

Hermione walked over and closed it before turning back to look at Draco.

She giggled, he chuckled back and suddenly they were both howling with laughter.

Downstairs, Lucius could hear their amusement and had turned a rather interesting shade of purple, (needless to say he was mortified).

Lunch was an entirely silent and extremely awkward affair. Draco tried to make conversation but it wasn't easy when his father wouldn't look him in the eye and Hermione kept dissolving into little giggle fits.

Draco and Hermione went straight upstairs afterwards, just to escape the uncomfortable air that had surrounded them all.

Knock, Knock.

"Who's there?"

"Draco."

"Draco who?"

"Really?" Draco rolled his eyes before opening the door to his father's study and stepping inside.

Lucius peered over the top of his spectacles at his son. It had only been a year since he'd left, yet he seemed much more grown up.

"Ahh yes, Draco, I do recall you vaguely. Aren't we related somehow?"

For the second time that day Draco cocked an eyebrow at his father.

"I see you've learnt to make jokes while I was away," he replied, with only the tiniest hint of sarcasm.

"Well I had to fill the meaningless void somehow…what with Cissy away and you abandoning me." Draco thought this was another joke, until he caught Lucius' eye.

"Hang on, abandoning you? I didn't abandon you, I was at school…" Even as he said it he realised his father was partially right.

Lucius sighed gently and placed his glasses on the desk, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Yes Draco, I know but….well you didn't send any letters except one for Christmas that said 'Happy Christmas Daddy' and one for my birthday saying 'Happy Birthday Daddy'. I just, I've been lonely without your mother here and I thought you'd come to visit me during your breaks. But I guess you were too preoccupied for anything like that, what with all your fancy Mars school work – "

"Oh," Draco interrupted, having just realised what he'd done.

"What?" Lucius asked, half irritated at being stopped mid rant and half worried by how pale his son had just become.

"I…I…sorry daddy. I'm so sorry. I didn't think you'd want me to come home because you always complain that I'm in the way or bothering you. I thought you'd be happier if I stayed at school. If I knew you were lonely I would've come home for every holiday."

Lucius looked shocked.

"You, you'd have come home just for me?" he asked.

Draco, tears welling in his eyes, nodded vigorously and shot over to hug his father.

"Well, thank you son, that means a lot" he said as he returned the hug. Draco couldn't see the genuine smile that played upon Lucius' lips as they embraced.

Draco pulled away first, trying to casually wipe his eyes with the back of his hands, while Lucius pretended not to notice.

"Okay, well I'll let you get back to work then…night Daddy." Draco turned to leave.

"Wait." Lucius dropped the quill he had just picked up. "I think I've done enough tonight…go get Hermione then come back to the sitting room."

He placed a hand on Draco's shoulder as he walked past him out of the study.

Draco was momentarily confused before he wandered upstairs to find Hermione. She was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and already in her pajamas.

"Hey, I talked to Daddy and I think everything's good again," he told her as he leaned against the door frame.

Hermione finished brushing and rinsing then walked over to where he stood.

"That's wonderful Draco," she smiled, then pecked him on the cheek.

"He wants us downstairs now…I'm not really sure why though."

"Okay, let's go."

They made their way downstairs and into the sitting room…

Where Lucius was sitting on the floor by the roaring fire with a small wooden table in front of him.

"SQUEEEEEEE!" Draco made a rather high pitched noise as he realised what the tub sitting on the table was.

He dragged Hermione forward and they both sat down.

Hermione first noticed the 3 spoons, then she picked up the tub and read the front.

"Ben & Jerry's Sweet Cream and Cookie Ice Cream…" she looked up at Draco and Lucius to see that they were both quite excited.

"Care to explain?" she added as an afterthought.

Lucius smiled.

"Cissy has always been strict about sweets of any kind, but I used to sneak this into the house when she went out for the night. It's mine and Draco's favourite thing ever."

Hermione didn't think she'd ever seen Lucius more joyful about something…come to think of it, she wasn't sure if she'd ever seen him joyful about anything!

Draco chimed in now, "But we haven't had it for agesssssss."

"Well I thought since Cissy's away and you're home it was perfect timing," Lucius grinned.

ACTUALLY GRINNED.

He handed them each a spoon then popped off the ice cream lid.

"Dig in everyone!"

Hermione sat holding her spoon as the two boys stabbed theirs into the ice cream.

"But I just brushed my teeth…."

Both Lucius and Draco stared at her for a moment in disbelief.

"Really?" they said in unison, each sounding as amused as the other.

Hermione sighed, "Oh all right then," and dug her utensil deep into the tub.

She ate her first mouthful.

"OH SWEET MERLIN…that is good" she exclaimed and stuck her spoon straight back in the tub.

Draco and Lucius chuckled their approval before digging their spoons back in as well.

And that's where they all sat well into the night. They joked around, talked of Pigfarts and classmates, continued eating ice cream (which conveniently never ran out or melted) and Draco promised to visit his father during every single holiday he had for the rest of his time at Pigfarts….

And you know what, he did exactly that!

THE END!

(Seriously :P)