Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter.
She had this perfectly plan. Ten years after the war should be long enough to depress the hatred, shouldn't it? Well, whether it has or hasn't, Andy's made up her mind and planned it perfectly.
First, of course, she had to invite Harry to visit her on 28 December, three days after Christmas so that they have enough time to visit the burrows which always came first. Then, she had to confirm that Draco can arrive at 28 December, which should be enough time for the Malfoy's to spend time with the Greengrass. Luck was shining on her. They both agreed.
She couldn't believe her luck at all! She even managed to choose a time before Teddy went to Hogwarts because she wanted him to spend his Christmas at Hogwarts (it isn't a sight to miss after all), even if she would miss her little anchor, not that she'd ever tell him that.
"Teddy," Andy called. And in an instant he was in front of her. She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Teddy, you didn't just disapparate, did you?" Teddy beamed at her. She laughed, nevertheless. "James, Albus, Scorpius and Uncle Harry's new baby girl Lily will be here together! Isn't that great?"
He frowned, "I thought..."
"I know, they don't get along but they'll learn to. You'll help, won't you?"
"Sure!" Teddy agreed completely, grinning from ear to ear. "Mission Friend-Making in process!"
"Uncle Harry!" Teddy yelled as the doorbell rang. Andy sighed as she saw Draco walking in instead. Looks like the cat would be out of the bag within minutes. Teddy's hair turned into a shade of chocolate brown like Tori's but Andy swore that it turned red for about two seconds first. Either way she gave Cissy a hug and nodded to the rest of the Malfoy family, ushering them to the round dining table which had been magically expanded and more chairs were added. No one seemed to notice just yet.
"Why did you end my name with 'ry'?" Draco asked, looking rather curious.
"I didn't," Teddy retorted, his mind whirling quickly. "I said Uncle Tori." Okay, maybe Teddy had just very forcefully stuffed the cat out of sight.
Tori looked positively disgusted. "Why would you do that?"
Teddy beamed up at her. "Simple. See, I don't want to have to say Uncle Draco and Aunt Tori everytime so I combined it! Isn't that great!" He yelled in delight, probably at his own genius and improvising skills though. Tori was looking at Teddy with new interest as though he just grew an extra head.
"Good idea," Scorpius replied in that childish little voice of his. Tori shook her head and mumbled something that sounded like anyone who had the Blacks' blood must be crazy.
She wasn't wrong, because Draco joined in. "At least that's better than Aunt Draco," he decided. Tori smacked the back of his head but Teddy and Scorpius merely laugh. Even Andy was suppressing her own laughter. And as if this was a good time to change the mood, the doorbell rang.
Draco frowned. "Who is that? I thought it was just us coming today."
"Umm.." She had barely started on her sentence/reasoning/excuse when she was rudely interrupted by Teddy.
"Uncle Harry! Aunt Ginny!" He yelled swinging open the door with Ginny's red hair, Harry's features and... bubblegum pink eyes? Okay that combination was even weirder than any Dora came up with. Draco and Astoria turned to look at her and she gave them a weak nervous smile. Scorpius was still sitting on the table eating cookies, completely oblivious. Lucius and Cissy pretended not to notice.
"Hello Teddy," Harry replied, ruffling his hair. Ginny squashed (Andy swears that young lady is too rough to be a mother) Lily into Harry's arm and gave him a tight hug which Teddy tried to get out of. His muffled "I'm ten!" could be heard. Albus was nowhere to be seen.
James however looked up and spotted Scorpius. "Hey, look!" He yelled, running over and tugging at Scorpius hair, hard. "He had blond hair! Like what Uncle Ron describe Malfoy as!" The poor two year old screamed in pain.
Harry glanced at Draco and Astoria, then back at Scorpius. After sending a questioning look at Andy, he addressed James. "That is Malfoy, James. And don't pull his hair."
James pulled his hand back immediately. "Ew... I'm going to wash my hands. I just touched a Malfoy!" He made a face at that statement. Harry winced. Did he ever tell James that Andy was related to the Malfoys? Probably not.
Ginny pulled James by his unruly hair back in the room and forced him on a chair right next to Scorpius. "You will sit there and you will not make any more rude comments about Malfoy regardless of what Uncle Ron have injected in you. Is that clear?" Every single word was punctuated with force and shrinking into his chair, James nodded.
"Where's Albus?" Andy asked, deciding the James would probably start to cry if Ginny glared any harder. Really, that lady is too hard on her children. She's been playing Quidditch too much for her own good. Ginny's attention shifted to her, away from James which was good. The Malfoy's were still rather stiff and hopefully, Al could turn the table. He was very good at that.
"Oh, he's in the garden. He went to catch some..."
"LOOK!" Albus yelled delighted. "I caught one! Mum you have to tell Granny Molly I caught one. She doesn't ever believe me." At that he stepped in to the threshold all muddy from rolling around in the garden trying to catch that garden gnome. The worst part, he dragged his little gnome in with him. This was not how she expected him to make everyone less awkward.
Ginny shut her eyes, clearly trying to keep her cool. Harry was patting her back, trying to get her to calm down as he turned to Al. "Albus..."
"That is so cool!" Scorpius decided that this was a good time to hop off his chair and run towards Al and the gnome. "Is that a garden gnome? I've never seen one before. Mother told me about them but she says that father keeps the garden too clean and the gnome don't have hiding places. She used to have them back at her house though but Aunt Daphne hates them. She keeps her garden very clean due to that too." He leaned in and poke the gnome.
Albus beamed at the fact that someone actually shares his fascination with that damned gnome and it seems that Ginny had enough. "Out, out! Albus Severus Potter out of this house this instant. You will only be permitted to enter once you've cleaned yourself with the hose outside and drop that gnome!"
Albus sighed in defeat. "Yes, mum." As he walked out though, Scorpius followed him.
"Where do you think you're going, Scorpius?" Tori asked him.
"I'm helping him to wash up. Have you ever seen how big the hose is?" He put his chubby hands out and stretched it to the furthest. "It's this fat, mother. He's two and tiny. He can't do it by himself," he declared. At that he dragged Albus out of the room.
Tori turned red with anger at that ridiculously horrible excuse and she was about to reprimand him when Draco merely laughed. Both Ginny and Harry turned to stare at him curiously. "That was a terrible lie, Scorp. You'll have to work much harder!" he yelled. Tori smacked the back of his head again (which he deserved).
Meanwhile, Scorpius grinned at Albus outside the house. "You're not seriously going to wash up, are you?" Albus looked at him confused. "Come on!" He dragged Albus to a corner of the garden where people from the house couldn't see and took the gnome from Albus.
"Do you want to die?" He asked the frightened gnome who shook his head frantically, not that they were going to kill it of course. "Good, when I set you down, stay still. Deal?" The gnome nodded unsurely. Slowly, Scorpius set him down and obediently the gnome stayed, although it was quaking with terror. Scorpius exhaled in relief and sat down in front of it.
"Tell us about yourself. We'll tell you about us. We've never learnt about gnome's life before!" The gnome looked a little surprise that they weren't going to hurt him but once he gotten over it, he burst into his life story (which was quite long) and Albus and Scorpius listened with interest.
After half an hour was gone, Scorpius and Albus burst into the house, not before promising the gnome they would talk to him again of course, sporting identical grin both squeaky clean but dripping wet from head to toe.
Lily peered over her father's (who decided that Ginny had held Lily for long enough and any moment she would think that she was a quaffle and she would drop her to reach for some food) shoulder at the two of them curiously but James shot Albus a glare of disapproval.
"Al, after all the stories that Uncle Ron told you and dad even joined in to tell some of the stories, how can you hang out with him?" James asked, his tone accusing.
"Aunt Mione said Uncle Ron is often wrong. And Aunt Mione topped her year which means she's always right so Uncle Ron must be wrong," Albus replied innocently and jumping into the seat next to Scorpius previously occupied by James (who decided he will not sit next to the seat that Malfoy previously sat on and was probably going to sit on again).
James groaned but before he said anything else, Andy spoke up. "Harry, Draco, you have to be friends. Look, your wives are chatting like no tomorrow," she pointed at Ginny and Tori who was chatting about who knows what and did not look up, "your sons are friends and Harry's godfather is Draco's uncle, Harry's godson is Draco's nephew. What reason's can you have not to be friends? You can't avoid each other forever!"
That was to no avail, to her disappointment. She sighed internally as the day was coming to an end. It looks like they were never going to be friends after all. She was really getting annoyed but turns out, she didn't have to do anything at all.
As the Malfoys' were about to leave, Scorpius tugged on his father's shirt. "Do you think I can play with Albus again tomorrow?" Cissy, Tori and Ginny all were holding in their delight. Lucius anadJames choose to remain emotionless. Lily merely gave Scorpius an intense look (she couldn't possibly understand, could she?). Albus beamed openly and looked at his own father hopefully.
Harry and Draco just stared at Scorpius with their mouth hanging open. Then their eyes met for a moment and with a sigh Draco nodded. "We'll come here tomorrow, alright?" Scorpius nodded happily and Albus jumped with joy. Looks like Draco and Harry will have to meet up a lot then and becoming friends was just a sooner or later thing.
