Harry Walked out of the floo to the most unexpected sight. Narcissa Malfoy was seated primly sidesaddle on a blanket on the floor, clapping sweetly at whatever James' current trick was. The baby turned around towards the floo and smile widely
"Dada!"
Harry came back from his stupor to step forward and kneel to receive his son, who was waddling towards him. He held him in a hug and kissed his head before turning to the surprising visitor
"Mrs. Malfoy. Hello. I didn't know you would be visiting. How are you?" he asked, feeling a bit awkward.
"Chief Potter, hello. I'm sorry when Eloise invited me to meet little James I assumed Pansy would be the one picking him up. I hope you don't mind. He is such a lovely boy, I am so happy he found such wonderful parents," she said sincerely.
Harry smiled. He had not seen her in years, but she had written him a letter on behalf of her family, apologizing and thanking him profusely for helping her and Draco during their trials. Besides, If Narcissa had James' seal of approval, she must be alright.
"Of course. And please call me Harry."
At that moment James broke the ice by pointing at Mrs. Malfoy and saying to his father
"Cissy! Tee!"
"Oh," said Harry, amused. "So this is aunty Cissy?"
Narcissa blushed but couldn't contain a smile. James happily added people to his extended family, and Harry suspected he could sense that there was a reason why this woman was family to him, so he opted for offering some clarification to help the older woman keep up with the child's extraordinary ability.
"And you know what James?, aunty Cissy is uncle Draco's mom"
James comically put his hands to his face, as if this was the revelation of a lifetime.
"Daco?" He asked, looking at Narcissa.
She gave a little laugh, fascinated
"Yes, sweetheart, Draco is my baby."
James clapped enthusiastically
"Daco baby"
At that moment Mrs. Parkinson walked in, bringing some pureed food for James that she insisted on preparing herself while a house elf popped with a tray of tea and finger foods.
"Harry, dear, I didn't hear the floo. Are you hungry?"
Harry approached the lady and kissed her cheek, then took the puree from her
"I'll have some of those delicious looking pasties after the little man eats. Pansy should be coming in any minute too."
Mrs. Parkinson smiled, face lighting up like a Christmas tree. She had great difficulty accepting Pansy's choice to move to New York and the fact that she wouldn't marry Draco Malfoy. But just as she had given up hope that her spinster of a daughter would ever marry any man of worth and give her grandchildren, Pansy hit the jackpot: she scooped the Chosen One and in less than four months they had created an instant family. Unconventional, for sure, but Harry had proposed quickly after they finalized the adoption of James, and the only reason they were not married yet was Pansy's own request to wait, she wanted to make sure Harry was in it for real. But anyone that could see him sitting in the drawing room of Parkinson Manor, feeding a toddler while chatting politely with Eloise Parkinson and Narcissa Malfoy would know he was all in.
Narcissa watched him feed the baby and sigh. She wished Draco would get with the program and give her a grandkid of her own to babysit. Then she had an idea
"Harry, can I ask you to be a little indiscreet?"
"You want to ask me about Draco," Harry said, chuckling.
"What in Merlin's name is that boy's problem?" Narcissa asked, her voice slightly raised, probably as close as the prim woman would ever get to exasperation. "How is it possible that he is not dating? Is he gay? Because if he is, that's fine, as long as he gets married and starts a family. I just can't stand the idea of him bouncing around life all alone," she finished with an exhale.
Harry couldn't help himself and laugh.
"Actually, his problem right now is not him. His problem is that he is in love with the most stubborn witch in Britain."
"He is not in love with Pansy, is he?" Mrs. Parkinson deadpanned.
Harry cackled loudly, startling James a little
"No, it's much worse than that. He is pinning after Hermione Granger."
The two Slytherin women gave silent "Oh" gestures.
"Well, that is indeed complicated," said Narcissa sadly, "Miss Granger has a lot to forgive before she can even consider him. At least I know she is civil to him. My poor boy. This is karma."
"Oh, no, no," said Harry, "on the contrary, I'm quite sure she is taken with him too. When I say she is stubborn I mean it, she is stubborn. I'm sure the problem is that she feels out of control around him."
The two ladies exchanged looks and Eloise said
"I think we can help. She may just need a peek of what her life with Draco could be."
Pansy arrived a little later and found them all chatting and laughing. James yelled
"Mama!"
She smiled and picked up her baby, then kissed hello all around until she got to her fiance and sat on his lap.
"What is going on?"
Harry giggled
"I think I got sucked into a Slytherin plot. Operation Get Draco Married."
"Finally!" she said, raising her arms. "We have been so busy with our relationship and then James that we haven't done anything to give those two a push. But it's been driving me crazy. I mean, how stubborn can she be? The man is slowly dying at her feet and she has doubts about his feelings? Give me a break!"
The other three laughed.
"Well,' said Eloise, "I think Pansy, Harry and I are about to get extremely busy. I do want to join the organizing committee for the Hogwarts Yule Ball, but I was going to decline because of James. And Pansy should provide lots of dresses for it, and Harry is a very busy man. I also think James is going to want to spend time with aunty Cissy, and who better to pick him up from her house than his godparents? And of course, since we are all so busy we will send redundant messages so both of them end up going to pick him up at the same time."
"Wow," said Harry, "this is making my head spin. Is this how it was in Slytherin house?" he asked, looking at Pansy.
"Please. This is nothing," said Narcissa, sipping her tea. "Lucius was supposed to marry one of those simpering cousins of mine, the Rosiers. We had to manage to get caught in flagrante delicto by my mother so Abraxas would force him to take responsibility."
"Agh! Too much information!' whined Harry.
The minute Draco and Hermione found themselves walking out of the floo of the elder Malfoys townhouse in London one right after the other he figured out something was going on, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He had learned that not all is fair in war, but he still believed all is fair in love. So he let Hermione get entangled in his mother's web. He made sure she stayed for dinner, with the excuse that Narcissa had not fed James yet. She was, of course, nervous, but the older witch made a passing comment about Lucius being at the manor working on some urgent estate business, so the Gryffindor princess would relax. She would eventually have to share with the wizard, but that could wait. And Narcissa had made sure that Lucius would behave when the time came. The elder Malfoy was lucky he got off with a three-year sentence in Azkaban and a year probation, and when he came back home he found Narcissa ruling with an iron fist, not willing to take any more nonsense from him. And she had warned him to not meddle in Draco's life anymore.
They had a pleasant dinner, the upcoming Yule ball giving a lot of conversation room. Narcissa reminisce of the balls she attended during her Hogwarts years and Hermione talked fondly of her experience of being escorted by the Durmstrang champion. Draco had to school his face to not sneer at the memory of a gorgeous Hermione walking into the Great Hall on the arm of Viktor freaking Krum, who was back the best Quidditch player in the world. Narcissa saw the darkening in his eyes and smirked. If he wanted this witch he better worked for it.
The second time Draco floo called his mother before the end of the workday and asked her to keep the baby and Hermione entertained a bit while he took care of some last minute work stuff, so Hermione was getting quite comfortable around Narcissa.
The third time, when the curly witch walked out of the floo, Draco was standing there, signaling her for silence and holding a laugh. Lucius Malfoy was asleep on an armchair, James sitting on his lap, leaning on him, and he had grabbed a handful of Lucius' long hair and put it on his head like a makeshift wig. She cast a muffliato so they could both barked out their laughter without waking up the man. They picked the baby carefully and sat for dinner. Lucius joined a bit later, excusing himself for falling asleep, being very polite to Hermione and sitting to eat completely unaware of the state of disarray of his hair.
About a week into the charade Hermione walked through the floo to find a female house-elf bowing low.
"Welcome, Missus. Young master James is gone, his mother came to get him a few minutes ago and Mistress Narcissa said that she and Master Lucius apologize but they had to go back to the manor. But they wanted to make sure Mimsy took care of Missus Hermione. Mimsy cooked dinner for you."
"Oh Mimsy, please, do not bother. I can just go home," she said, but regretted it immediately: the elf looked like she was going to cry. At that moment Draco walked in
"What is going on?"
Mimsy answered quickly
"Young Master James has gone home and the Masters are back in the manor but they wanted Mimsy to serve dinner for Miss Hermione, but Miss doesn't want Mimsy's cooking,"
"No, no, I'll stay, Mimsy, please, I just didn't want to bother you," Hermione explained, flustered
Draco hid a smirk and said
"Mimsy set the table for two. Miss Hermione and I would love to have a quiet dinner together."
Mimsy grinned widely and bowed before popping away. Draco offered his arm
"Shall we enjoy our dinner and not make my mother's elf cry?"
Hermione shook her head but smiled
"Of course. Lead the way, Master Malfoy."