Hari gives one last kiss to Heather, pokes her button nose. "You behave for your daddy, okay?" she says seriously. "You're the little lady of the house, and you need to keep an eye on him for me, make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Can you do that?"

Heather nods her head solemnly, more serious than any five-year-old should be. "I promise," she swears, offers Hari her pinky.

Hari hooks their pinkies together, and they shake on it, as powerful as an Unbreakable Vow. Dudley is rolling his eyes, glancing at his watch. The airport is bustling with activity, but then again, LaGuardia is always packed with people rushing to catch flights and running to last minute gate changes.

"It's almost time for us to go," Dudley says. He stares indulgently at his daughter, then levels a flat stare at Hari. "Please try to behave, cousin."

Hari gives him a hug, pats his back. "Hey, trouble finds me, not the other way around," she protests.

Heather sniffles a little. "I'll miss you, Aunt Hari," she says. Her green eyes, so like Hari's and Lily's, are watery, her bottom lip tugged downwards in a pout.

"Aw, no tears, Heather-Feather!" Hari wipes them away before they can fall. "I'll be seeing you over the holidays!"

Heather looks a little hopeful. "With Scorp'us and Teddy?"

"You betcha!"

They walk until Dudley and Heather are at their gate. Hari waits until they board their plane, watches as it takes off, and then she takes a taxi home. The visit was far too short, probably because it was a business trip instead of a vacation, but she wasn't lying when she told Heather she'd see them over the holidays. She likes to show Teddy and Scorpius the Muggle traditions that she never got to enjoy as a child, wants them to grow up knowing the best of both worlds.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket. She fishes it out, smiles when she sees a text from Tony. Ever since that lunch nearly a week ago, they've been talking a lot more. Things have kind of shifted from strictly sex to a friendship with the potential for something more. She doesn't mind at all, likes his dry wit and his sarcastic humor.

It's not something she thought would happen when she took him home from the bar weeks ago. He's a Muggle, doesn't know about magic, has no idea about her status in the Wizarding world. It's beyond too early to tell him, especially since she doesn't know if their friends with benefits relationship will progress beyond that.

She's open to it. Tony is sexy as hell, fun to be around, and Hari wants to know more. Googling him is becoming more and more tempting, but she likes this slow pace of actually taking the time to get to know someone. She's so used to people just knowing about her entire life back home and she knows he feels the exact same.

Tony: (7:24 am): I know there's a line between supporting and enabling, but I don't have the heart to tell DUM-E that his smoothies aren't as good as he thinks they are.

There's an image attached, one that has Hari smiling fondly. The robot has a chef's hat on the mechanical arm, a smoothie that looks like black tar positioned right next to it. Tony's sent pictures of his robots before, introducing each one of them. The way Tony talks about them is like she talks about her children, and she supposes that his bots are his children. He created them, taught them, nurtured them.

He told her he'd introduce her to them one day, and Hari gets that fluttery, nervous feeling in her stomach.

Truth be told, Hari feels like she's never had a romantic relationship before. Her marriage hadn't been about love, wasn't anything born out of a deep, fiery passion and the need to spend the rest of her life with someone. The war had just finished, and Hari found that she didn't know what to do with her life.

After so many years of fighting and surviving, to suddenly not have something threatening her was disconcerting, left her restless. She joined the Auror forces immediately, didn't bother going back to Hogwarts like Ron and Hermione. Instead, she took her NEWTS at the Ministry, passed them, and started the Auror basic training.

It was when she finished that Andromeda asked her to take care of Teddy full-time. Not an old woman by any means, Andromeda found that taking care of Teddy was too painful, reminded her too much of the daughter she lost, and it was getting harder and harder on her mental stability, not that the Blacks were known for being sane in the first place.

There wasn't an ounce of hesitation in Hari's body when she said yes. She knew nothing of taking care of children, had no clue what to do, but she wasn't going to abandon Teddy, fail Remus and Tonks. With Molly's help, she learned, and Teddy thrived. And with motherhood, Hari found that she wanted a partner.

She wanted someone who could take the mantel of being Teddy's father, wanted someone who she could share her fears and dreams with. Hari wanted the love she'd seen between Molly and Arthur, Ron and Hermione, Remus and Tonks.

She wanted a love like her parents had shared.

It's one of the few areas in her life that she completely failed. If someone wasn't dating her for the Potter and Black fortunes, they were dating her because she was Hari Potter, the Woman Who Conquered. They weren't dating her because she was Hari, a woman who loves treacle tart, who became an Auror because she didn't know anything beyond fighting for her life, who still had so much to learn about the Wizarding world because she was Muggle-raised, who took in a young orphan because it was the right thing to do.

And then Draco Malfoy came knocking on her door with a proposal that she couldn't refuse.

"You're looking particularly well today, Potter," Malfoy says cordially. He looks at her expectantly. "Are you going to let me in?"

Hari stares at him, jaw slightly dropped. "What are you doing here?"

He cocks an eyebrow. "I'm here because I have something that I need to discuss with you."

She hesitates, but when Malfoy makes it clear that he's got nothing but time on his hands, she steps aside, motions him forward. He looks all around, eyes Grimmauld Place with no small amount of interest. Hari leads him to the sitting room.

There is already a tray with tea and biscuits, no doubt supplied by Kreacher, and for a moment, things are silent as they add the cream and sugar to their steaming mugs. Hari waits for Malfoy to take a sip of his tea before speaking up.

"What is it that you need to discuss with me?" she inquires.

Malfoy takes another sip, daintily sets the cup down. His grey eyes bore into hers, and she's only slightly surprised at the lack of hostility in them. The war changed everybody, and she's not going to begrudge him his current behavior.

People are allowed to change, grow, develop.

That doesn't mean she isn't a little skeptical.

"You saved my life that night." It's not a question.

He doesn't need to clarify which night. She remembers the unbearable heat, remembers spotting him clinging desperately to a pile of books, remembers going back for him.

"I've saved a lot of people," she says instead.

Malfoy smirks a little, inclines his head. "I'll cut to the chase, Potter. I owe you a Life Debt, and I intend to pay it in full."

Hari sips her tea. Ron's told her about Life Debts, how your magic demands they be fulfilled. "How do you plan on doing that?" She's curious; he has nothing that she wants, and they both know it.

Malfoy bites into a biscuit. He chews slowly, purposefully, and Hari fidgets a little as the suspense grows. Then he drains his cup of tea, pats his mouth dry with a napkin.

Malfoy's face grows solemn, serious. "Marry me."

Hari chokes on her tea, the liquid spilling down her shirt and all over her lap. Malfoy offers her his used napkin.

"Are you insane?" she demands. "Why the bloody hell would I marry you?"

The blond doesn't take offense. His tone is matter-of-factly as he starts listing reasons, "It must be difficult trying to find a husband who doesn't want your money or your status. If you marry me, you won't have to worry about that at all as I have the Malfoy fortune to fall back on, and I've also never cared for your previously undeserved fame."

"We hate each other," Hari points out, setting down her teacup.

"I don't hate you," he says seriously. "You're annoying, brash, uncouth, but you also speak your mind and you don't care what people think about you. Truthfully, I wanted to be your friend years ago and was upset that you chose Weas—Weasley." He coughs to cover up his stumbling over Ron's last name. She notices, though, levels a glare at him. "You want a family, don't you?"

Hari stands up, starts pacing. "Yes, but I want…I want a relationship, Malfoy. And I don't love you." She pauses, turns to him. "You haven't been secretly in love with me this entire time and have just been violently yanking on my pigtails, have you? Because, I have to say, there are healthy ways of getting a girl's attention, and that isn't one of them."

Malfoy barks out a laugh. "No, I'm not in love with you." He looks amused, crosses one leg over the other and leans back.

Hari narrows her eyes. "Then what's in it for you?" she asks suspiciously. "Why do you want to marry me if there's no romantic feelings involved?"

Malfoy keeps his calm composure, but his eyes tighten a bit. "It's an old Pureblood custom to arrange marriages," he says quietly. "I was arranged to marry Astoria Greengrass, have been since I was a first year, but now that the Malfoy name is tarnished, her father broke off the engagement."

"I'm, uh, sorry?"

He shakes his head, rolls his eyes. "I have no interest in romantic relationships of any kind, Potter. This is more a nuisance than anything else. Despite my own personal feelings, I have a duty to continue the Malfoy line, and that means fathering children." He frowns severely. "My father is looking for other possible matches, but I find that I am hesitant to follow through with any of his choices. He's already led our family down the wrong path. We're disliked by both sides of this conflict, you know, and it's his fault."

Hari's eyes widen in understanding, and without her permission, she starts to feel sympathetic. Malfoy was raised to believe in Voldemort's ideology. He never had a choice as to which side he truly wanted to be on. A memory hits her, sudden, and she recalls with visceral precision that night on top of the Astronomy tower, tears running down his ashen face as he tells Dumbledore, "He'll kill my family if I don't do this."

"Marrying me won't save you or any kids from your father's bad choices," she says gently.

"No, not completely," Malfoy concedes, "but at least they'll have the protection of having you as a mother."

Hari flops into her chair, buries her head in her hands. Her mind is whirling, spinning, and she can't believe she's actually considering this. She doesn't love him, doesn't think she'll come to love him with time, and from what he's said, he definitely won't come to love her either.

"How would this even work?" she asks hesitantly.

Malfoy grins, an actual little half-smile that makes him look like a boy again, takes that cocky edge away from his entire demeanor. "We can draw up a contract," he says. "The Malfoy family needs a son to inherit, so we will be expected to produce a son within the first two years of marriage. If you have any extramarital relationships, I only ask that you be discreet."

"I wouldn't do that," she says hotly. "Even if we don't love each other, I wouldn't just find someone else to…to have sex with!"

He raises his hands in defense. "It's just an offer," he says. Then he smiles at her slyly, "We can, of course, have sex whenever you want. My not wanting romantic relationships has no bearing on my libido, I can assure you."

Hari wants to kick herself when she feels her face growing hot. "Oh, sod off, Malfoy," she sneers.

He laughs, head thrown back, shoulders shaking in mirth. "You can stand up to the most feared Dark Lord of all time, but Merlin forbid someone mention sex to you," he says, wipes a tear from his eye. He chuckles a bit more, Hari's face steadily reddening further. Then he stops, as if an idea occurs to him, and he stares at her with frightening intensity. "Are you still a virgin?"

That's it.

Hari's entire face erupts into flames. "I was a little too busy fighting for my life," she starts.

Malfoy waves her off, uncharacteristically gentle and understanding. "I'm not mocking you for it," he says softly. "You should…if you…" He sighs. "You should lose your virginity to someone you care about. I hear it's important to girls."

Hari is startled, stares at him, looks for any shred of dishonesty or mocking. He's being serious.

She can't help but think how different he is compared to just a few years ago.

She doesn't love him.

But maybe she could learn to like him.

"I need time to think about all this," she says.

He nods his head, stands up. "Take all the time you need," he replies. He starts to show himself out, stops, and turns to her again, a smirk on his lips. "Just keep in mind, if we do get married, it will greatly aggravate my father, and I know how much you love to get on his nerves."

Hari laughs as he leaves, a full-bodied cackle that nearly convinces Kreacher to dose her next cup of tea with a Calming Draught.

Hari stares at her phone, smiles again at the message. It's too soon to tell, but she's willing to see where this goes.

Hari: (7:30 am): I look forward to meeting them. They sound as eccentric as their daddy.

Tony: (7:32 am): 1 image attached.

Tony is staring at the camera, eyebrow cocked, smirking, cup of motor oil-infused smoothie in hand. DUM-E is in the background, claw raised high in what she assumes is victory.

Hari grins, sets the picture as his contact photo.

As soon as she arrives at her apartment, she heads straight for her bedroom. She throws on a jumper, half of it green and silver, the other half black and yellow. She ties her hair into two pigtails, charms them to flicker through all the colors. Then she grabs a button and waits for the Portkey to activate.

Portkey is the best way to travel internationally, and in no time at all, there's that familiar hook around her navel, and she's whisked off.

Draco is having tea with his parents in the dining room when she arrives. He stares at her jumper, snorts into his tea.

"You're going to embarrass them," he says as she walks over to him. She gives him an affectionate kiss on the cheek that he returns.

Hari grins wildly. "I'm their mum. That's my job," she retorts. "It's rotten luck that the first match of the season is between the both of them, but now it just lets me showcase my wonderful sense of fashion. It's chic, isn't it?" She eyes his professional black robes critically. "And where's your Hogwarts spirit, huh?"

Draco conjures two different flags, waves them in the air. "Go Slytherin, go Hufflepuff," he deadpans.

Hari pouts. "You used to be so excited for Quidditch. You've grown up boring," she says. She turns to her former in-laws, greets them, "Good morning Narcissa, Lucius."

Narcissa offers her a small smile, inclines her head. Hari and Narcissa had warmed up to each other by the time Scorpius was born, having reached an understanding mother-to-mother.

Lucius, on the other hand, never accepted her, and she is quite fine with that. There's too much bad blood, too much negative history for there to ever be a somewhat decent relationship between them. He will always think she's a worthless Half-blood, and she will always think he's a racist bigot whose ideals should have died with his old master.

He sneers at her colorful attire. "Thank Merlin you're no longer Lady Malfoy," he mutters under his breath.

Hari hears it anyway, because of course he actually wants her to hear him bad-mouthing her. Draco sighs, fixes his father with a hard stare. "It's the boys' first match. Is it too much to ask that you not start anything?"

Lucius' purses his mouth, thin lips practically vanishing under his ire. "Such attire is unbefitting a Malfoy, former or current," he says. "It will besmirch our name. And only Scorpius is your concern."

"You besmirched the Malfoy name yourself when you chose to follow a mad Half-blood driven by his own selfish lust for power and destruction," Hari shoots back, unable to help herself. She glares at him. "I will support both of my children. Your approval is not needed."

She hits a nerve, knows she does because it's a hit below the belt, but she doesn't care. He's always had an issue with Draco stepping into the role of father for Teddy, but he needs to get over it. Draco helped Harry raise Teddy, is the only living father he knows, and there's nothing Lucius can do to change that.

Draco stands up, glares at both of them. "That is enough," he says. "We are all going to act like the adults we are." He turns to Lucius. "Hari may be my ex-wife, but she is still the mother of my children," he emphasizes, "and she is due respect, for that if nothing else. I know you do not approve of my choices, but they're already made, and your disapproval will not change them." He turns to Hari. "And I know you so enjoy antagonizing Father, but can you do it when our presence is not needed at Hogwarts?"

Hari shrugs. "I'm sorry it's happening now, but I will not apologize for what I said. He ought to know better than to bring Teddy into this."

Lucius stands up, throws his napkin on the table. He leaves without another word, nose upturned.

Narcissa murmurs an apology for her husband, squeezes Hari's shoulder in solidarity, and then trails after her petulant husband, intent on making him see reason.

Draco sighs, shakes his head. "You will be the death of me," he tells Hari, not for the first time, and certainly not for the last.

"Hey, annoying your father was one of the perks of this marriage we had," she defends. She sobers up, says, "I really am sorry it happened now. I intended to be amicable, but, well…Your father still gets to me."

Draco stands up, shoots her an amused look. "I've accepted that you two will never get along. So long as we keep the peace when the children are around, I do not care what spats you get into."

It's a simple rule, one that Hari had suggested, and Draco wholeheartedly enforced. Regardless of personal feelings, any time the children are around, there were no snide remarks, no passive aggressive behavior, nothing. It's made holidays very peaceful.

"Ten galleons that Slytherin wins," Draco says, extends an arm out.

Hari loops her arm through his. "Why, are you betting on our children?"

"Of course," Draco retorts. He gives her a sly grin. "Scared, Potter?"

"You wish." She grins back. "Ten galleons that Hufflepuff wins, but Scorpius catches the snitch."

He leads her to the fireplace, hands her the Floo powder. "After you, Scarhead."

Hari snorts, stomps on his foot as she cries out, "Hogwarts Headmaster's Office!"

Draco's cursing follows her as she's whirled away.