Harry Potter and all related copyright do not belong to me. Story is compliant through most of the epilogue, meaning I have changed only some names, ages, and numbers of children. There will be slash.

This story is a companion piece to my previous H/D fic: Five Times Harry Drank On the Job (.net/s/7596648/1/Five_Times_Harry_Drank_On_The_Job)

It can be read alone, but may be much more enjoyable after reading the first.

Hints of Scorpius/Albus pre-slash


"Why do you need to speak to anyone else? My boys could have been killed! I demand to see the Minister, right now!"

"I understand, Mrs. Boot," Ron sighed, rubbing his temple. "But I'm just following the procedure. I will conduct the remainder of the investigation, beginning with the young Mr. Potter. If you wish, I can arrange a meeting with Minister Shacklebolt after the initial report is complete. Thank you."

Marietta Boot's indignant protests were cut off as Ron quickly shut the infirmary doors behind.

"Merlin, Al," Ron murmured, leaning against the heavy wood. "What have you gotten yourself into now?" Resigning his self to a very fruitless confrontation with the closed-off child, Ron started to make his way down to the Slytherin common room.

'Never thought I'd get so familiar with these passages,' the Auror mused as he navigated the labyrinth of corridors and dungeons. With Al being the Head Auror's son, the Minister felt it would seem too biased to send Harry out to deal with his antics. However, given the high-profile status of the Potter family, Kingsley didn't want just any Auror taking charge. So, every time Al got into trouble, Ron found himself marching down into Slytherin territory to clean up the mess.

He was halfway there when he felt a light tug on the trailing edge of his robe.

"Excuse me, Mr. Auror," came a hesitant voice, lightly resonating through the stone tunnel. "May I speak?"

Ron turned around to find a small blonde boy clutching the hem of uniform nervously. Between the platinum hair and the pointed noise, it didn't take an Unspeakable to figure out who the boy belonged to (not to mention Ron had seen the pictures of this child that were slowly beginning to work their way into the Head Auror's office).

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" Scorpius let go of Ron's robe and suddenly became very interested in the floor.

"It's just…" Ron raised an eyebrow as the young Malfoy shuffled his feet. Whatever he had expected Draco's kid to be like, it wasn't this. The little Slytherin almost seemed frightened, but was frantically wringing his hands while searching for the right words.

"Well… the thing is… I mean…" He looked like he had something really important to say, so Ron didn't push it. Even still, Scorpius seemed to grow more agitated by the second. The minutes ticked by though, with still no cohesive statement from the distressed blonde.

"Look, I'm sorry kid, but I'm kind of on a tight schedule. Maybe some other time-…"

"Al didn't do anything wrong, you see!" the boy loudly blurted out, face coloring a bright pink. Embarrassed, he covered his mouth with his hands as Ron stared at him with wide eyes.

"Oh?" Suddenly interested, the Auror knelt down to Scorpius' level. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, I just… please don't be angry," the boy began pleading frantically. He took a great breath as his eyes filled with tears. "It's just I don't want Al to get in trouble for something that's not his fault and now there's gonna be an inquiry and he's gonna go to Azkaban and the Dementors are gonna get him 'cuz he can't do a Patronus Charm and he's my best friend and I'm never gonna see him again and then I'll just DIE!" Ron blinked in confusion as Scorpius' sobs turned into hiccups. The poor thing's imagination had apparently run wild with him, and Ron couldn't quite keep up.

"C-calm down, uh… Scorpius, was it?" The blonde nodded, blinking up at him with bright blue doe-eyes through tear rimmed lashes.

"Al's not going to Azkaban, so you don't have to worry about that," Ron placated, trying to calm the adorable bundle of nerves in front of him.

'Damn,' Ron cursed to himself. 'How'd a guy like Malfoy end up with such a cute kid?' He hadn't known the child for more than a few seconds, and already Ron felt like picking him up and sheltering him from the world. As the hiccups began to subside into sniffles, Ron motioned toward an empty room on the left.

"What year are you in?"

"Third year…"

'The same as Al,' Ron thought. 'Odd. He looks so much smaller.'

"How about we sit down, and you can start from the beginning, alright Scorpius?" The boy nodded, and shuffled in as Ron shut the door behind him.

"Alright," Ron hopped up onto a large desk near the front, and motion for Scorpius to jump up beside him. "Tell me what happened." Scorpius hesitated, and then took another deep breath.

"Slowly!" Ron interjected hurriedly.

"Sorry," Scorpius replied, looking a little sheepish. "I get a little carried away sometimes. Al says that it's okay though, 'cuz he's quiet and shy so I've gotta have enough excitement for both of us." Scorpius face lit up with a great big genuine smile, and Ron was happy the boy had calmed down.

"Just take your time, Scorpius."

"Okay. Well…" Scorpius closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, wiggling his nose in the process. Ron bit back a laugh.

"I was coming back from the library. It was late, 'cuz Professor Chang had given me a lot of remedial Transfiguration work to be due at the end of week, but I wasn't worried 'cuz I'm really good at Transfiguration!" Scorpius puffed up his chest with pride, and Ron was struck with how much like his father the boy really looked. He hadn't seen it through the nervousness and uncertainly, but now that Scorpius was relaxed and growing more confident in his presence, Ron felt as though he was peering back in time.

"So I finished up around Eleven o'Clock, and started to go back to the common room."

"Wait a minute, Scorpius," Ron interjected, thinking of something odd. "If you're really good at Transfiguration, why was Cho-… err, Professor Chang giving you remedial work?" The Malfoy miniature just shrugged.

"I don't know, but a lot of the Professor's do. 'Cept for Professor Slughorn, which is weird, 'cuz that's the only class I'm horrible at." Scorpius laughed it off, but Ron frowned, filing the information away for later.

"Alright, so what happened then?"

"Well, curfew's at Eleven, but since I was only out late for school work I wasn't nervous. There were footsteps though, and I thought someone else was around, but I never saw anyone. Until one of the other houses' Prefects saw me…" Scorpius started to quiet down, intensely serious all of a sudden, and Ron had a feeling they were finally getting to the meat of the story.

"I tried to tell him I was doing work, but he wouldn't listen, and kept saying things like how it figured a Malfoy would think he was above the rules, and how a nasty Slytherin wouldn't have any respect for the authority of a 'just' and 'noble' house like his own." Scorpius was gripping the edge of the wooden desk tightly, his knuckles turning white. Ron patted the boys shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He wasn't surprised. Tensions between the houses had been exceptionally strained in the years after the war. He supposed Harry's naïveté had begun to rub off on him though; he hadn't thought things were still this bad.

"Then what, Scorpius?"

"It got… weird." Ron frowned.

"Weird like how?" Scorpius stared at the floor.

"The Prefect started saying things like how pretty I was, and how cute I was, and how it was shame who my dad was. Then his friends showed up and were saying the same sorts of things, and the Prefect said we could come to an 'arrangement' and one of the others grabbed my wrist…" Scorpius trailed off, and Ron could feel rage bubbling up in his stomach.

"What happened then, Scorpius?" he whispered, expecting and dreading the answer. However, he definitely hadn't expected the boy's face to light up like the Burrow at Christmas time.

"Al saved me," Scorpius beamed proudly. "I hadn't even seen him, and there was nobody else around, but suddenly there's a swish and he's there!" Ron let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"So, they didn't do anything else?" Scorpius shook his head, giggling as he swished his blonde hair around.

"Nope! Al got 'em good!" Ron smiled. He hadn't known Al and the Malfoy boy had ever spoken to each other, let alone become friends, but now he was glad. The little Slytherin sitting next to him swinging his feet had already wormed his way into Ron's heart the same way the Potter children had. If Al hadn't come along just then ('or been following him all along, it seems like,' Ron thought with suspicion), he didn't want to think about what might've happened.

"So… Al's gonna be okay, right? He's not gonna go to prison?"

"No, he's not," Ron laughed, acting on impulse and ruffling the boy's hair. "I'll take care of everything."

"Thanks a lot, Mr. Weasley!" Ron did a double take.

"You know who I am?" Scorpius nodded at him, still smiling.

"Yup! You were just like how Daddy told me."

"Your father told you about me?" Ron asked, incredulous. "What exactly did he say?" Scorpius scrunched up his nose again.

"He said that if I was ever in any trouble, and he wasn't around with his Auror partner, 'cuz he's partnered with the Head Auror himself who's really busy," Scorpius exclaimed with pride, puffing out his chest again. "Then I should look for man with really red hair and lotsa freckles. He said that Mr. Weasley might seem a little scary at first, 'cuz he's an Auror too, but that it's okay 'cuz he's fair and a good person. So, I shouldn't be afraid to talk to you, 'cuz you'll listen to me no matter what the other Aurors think."

Ron stared, gob smacked, while the child beamed at him. Had Malfoy really said all that?

"Right, well…" Ron coughed, gathering his composure. "You should go on to bed. It's late, and you want to be rested for class." Scorpius nodded, thanking him once more, and scurrying out the door towards the common room. Realizing the truth in his own statement, Ron glance down at his watch and decided to put off talking to Al until tomorrow.

Besides, he wanted to have a little chat with a certain Deputy Auror tonight.


Malfoy glanced up, rubbing his tired eyes as Ron entered the room.

"Golden Boy's not in. Have a nice day."

"And here I am, thinking you actually have it in you to be civil," Ron snorted, wheeling the swivel chair reserved for visitors in front of the blonde's desk and plopping into it without invitation.

"Oh? What on the earth would have given you that idea?"

"Your son." Malfoy immediately tensed, sitting straight up in his chair and pinning Ron with a serious gaze.

"What are you saying, that you've spoken to Scorpius? Why? Did something happen?" Ron realized Draco had no idea how involved his son was in Al Potter's latest mess.

"I… ran into him. At the school, when I was on my way to see the Problem Child." Malfoy loosened his grip on the quill he was currently crushing into nothing more than a featherless twig.

"Oh." An awkward atmosphere settled over the room, Draco itching to say more, and Ron giving nothing away. The nervous father caved first.

"And? How was he?" Ron laughed.

"Fine, fine. He's… he's a good kid, Malfoy." Draco visibly relaxed, setting aside the much abused quill.

"He doesn't say much, in his letters. He thinks I worry too much, about how my past will affect his life at school. He-… it seems as though he leaves things out. I don't really know anything about how he gets on with the other students, or how his classes are going…"

"He…" Ron wasn't sure exactly how much to tell the other man. "He has good friends. Loyal friends." Well, one at least. "Though I'm surprised he's rubbish at potions. I thought that ran in the genes or something."

"Hardly," Draco snorted. "You'd never hear him admit it, but my father was even worse than Potter. Severus wouldn't let him within three feet of a cauldron, even at school." Ron laughed, and Malfoy joined suit.

"Look at us, having a chat like old school buddies. Harry would be proud."

"The only thing missing is the firewhisky," Draco chortled. Ron glanced furtively at the door.

"Well," he answered, pulling a suspicious bottle and two glasses from his coat. "Not necessarily." Ron figured the expression that flitted over it would be the closest thing to shock he would ever see on Malfoy's face.

"We're at work, Weasley." The red-head shot a pointed glance at Harry's desk. Malfoy laughed. "Valid point."

Glass now filled and firmly in hand, Draco looked at Ron oddly.

"Why this sudden interest in striking up conversation? It seems a bit out of place. Hell, you even brought alcohol. Not that I'm complaining, mind you…" Ron shrugged, filling his own cup.

"I was surprised, meeting Scorpius. We didn't talk for very long, but it's was still evident you've done a good job with him. I figure, given the… whatever it is that you've got going on with Harry," He hid a smirk as Malfoy nearly choked on his drink. "I might as well start making an effort to get to know you better."

Ron ignored the splutterings of "I don't know what you're talking about," as he smiled and took a sip.