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.
Harry rubbed his temple as knelt by the fireplace, Ogden's at his side as he spoke into the floo.
"I understand Al, but that's a really dangerous hex. I know you want to stand up for your friends, but whether or not they were threatening him makes no difference. If you had miscast only slightly, and Headmistress McGonagall hadn't gotten there as quick as she had, those students could have died."
Draco, listening from the door of their office, heard a muffled voice say something that sounded suspiciously like, "yeah, but they didn't."
"Al, please," Harry sighed, pleading with his middle son. "You have to be careful. People are just waiting for you to mess up. The moment you and your friends were placed into Slytherin, you were made a target."
Draco heard the boy begin to protest, but his father cut him off.
"I know it's not fair, and it's not right, but that's the way it is Al. And I understand your need to protect them, really I do, but you just can't use curses like that and not expect repercussions."
Unconsciously, Draco rubbed at his chest. More murmuring issued from the floo, this time sounding apologetic.
"I know, Al. Look, I'll… I'll talk to the Headmistress, as well as those other boys' parents, and see if I can't work something out. In the meantime, just… just be cautious. Please." Harry's shoulders relaxed as the voice seemed to agree.
"Oh, and Albus? If anyone does try to start something again," Draco could picture the child in question rolling his eyes in preparation for the usual platitudes of 'just ignore them,' or 'tell a professor.'
"Do try and stick to the standard jinxes and hexes. And you can never go wrong with a well-timed Weasley's product. 'Best served cold' and what not." Albus Potter spluttered in shock as his "Golden Boy" father sent him a sly wink and ended the connection.
Harry stretched as he stood up with a sigh, taking a healthy swig of the firewhisky now grasped in his hand. Draco laughed softly as he moved further into the room, letting his presence be known.
"Trouble with the 'Problem Child?'"
"Oh hush, you." Harry playfully chucked a case file at his partner's head. Draco caught it and set it on his desk. He poked fun at the media frenzy surrounding Potter's middle son, but to tell the truth he was rather fond of the young Slytherin. The few times they had met (when Harry would, every so often, bring one of his children into the office), Draco had been impressed by the boy's reserved nature. Albus had spoken little, and whenever he did speak it was always something worth saying. His posture was straight-backed and relaxed, and his tone serious yet amicable. The boy's mannerisms were such that, if Draco hadn't known any better, he would have thought the boy was raised as a conventional pureblood. As a matter of fact, had he been blessed with a girl, Draco would not have minded arranging a traditional marriage into the family.
Al was the near opposite of Harry, but out of all of the three Potter boys he seemed to have the closest relationship with his father. Having inherited the Chosen One's looks, there had always been a stigma looming over the boy's head, the world pressuring Albus to follow in the Potter patriarch's footsteps. Still, after the initial frustration and misplaced anger with his father had subsided, he had chosen not to emulate the Great Harry Potter, and was instead forging his own, less forgiving path. Draco watched Harry stand back and support the boy discreetly from the sidelines; Albus was the type to flatly reject any obvious assistance from his father. So, Harry kept exactly how proud he was of his middle son to himself, though Draco saw him glow whenever he spoke about Al's latest bout of getting himself into trouble.
'That at least,' Draco pondered, watching Harry sort his desk back out, place the bottle of Ogden's on the corner, and settle down in his chair. 'Is the same between the two.' The partners worked in silence for a while, the scratching of quills on parchment and the crackling of the fireplace filling the room.
"So," Draco offered, after stewing about in his own curiosity. "What did he do?" Groaning, Harry put down his quill and placed his head in his hands. Then, despite the gravity of the trouble Al was facing, he began to laugh. Across the room, Malfoy lifted a brow.
"He stumbled upon a Prefect and a couple of other older students touching and harassing one of his housemates. So, he a cast a hex that lacerated their testicles from their bodies." Draco let out a high bark of laughter as the Head Auror dissolved into giggles.
"It's… it's not… funny!" Harry gasped between breaths, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. Regaining his composure, he continued.
"If Al's concentration had been off just a bit, the spell could have gone wild and severed a vital part of those boys' bodies." A smile quirked playfully at the edge of Draco's lips.
"Oh, come now, Potter. I'd say those are pretty vital, wouldn't you agree?" Malfoy finished it off with a leer, raising his eyebrows, watching as Harry blushed violently and gulped down the rest of his firewhisky. The ringing laughter from the Head Auror's office that day could be heard clear down the hall, and Auror Weasley's mouth twisted up in a knowing grin.