Author's Note: JDTEA, Ern Estine 13624, and lizhawkins549 all left me wonderful feedback. Thank you all for the inspiration to keep going; I needed it this week after losing this chapter and having to rewrite it from scratch.
After my little talk with Ron at work, he was doing a better job of keeping his mouth shut around Draco, the other Malfoys, and Pureblood children in general. Just the same, I was relieved that Hermione would be the one accompanying Rose to the charity party. The plan was that she'd bring Rose and Hugo and meet Teddy and me there at the park.
On Friday Rose had been really excited about the party, going on about the petting zoo and the magical park, the cake and the pizza, as well as the games and the crafts. Teddy, however, was of a different mind.
Once again, the only thing Teddy could talk about was Quidditch and the Malfoy Saturday Quidditch party he was missing out on.
"Harry, can you please ask Aquila's dad this time? I really want to go," Teddy whined as we made our way to the park. He didn't like side-along apparition, so we had flooed into the wizarding pub down the street and walked from there.
"No, Teddy. I already told you that the parties are for the kids who have classes with the Malfoy kids. You aren't on Aquila's Quidditch team—you are on the other team—so you weren't invited. End of story," I said for what was at least the tenth time this month.
"But Aquila said that if you ask her dad, then he'll say yes and I can go," Teddy retorted, again.
There was a chance that a request from me really would get Teddy invited over to Malfoy Manor for a third Saturday every month, which was why I refused to ask. I was already seeing Draco three nights a week and two weekends a month. Draco was hot and we'd been getting on quite well, but this was bordering on too much of a good thing. I feared that upping our dose of Malfoy to three weekends a month might just be the tipping point. Plus, I didn't want anyone to notice my continued obsession with Draco that only seemed to be getting worse the more I saw him. My life was already starting to revolve around the wizard and as it was, I couldn't stop him from being the focal point of my dreams.
In addition to those concerns, there was the fact that Teddy and I both had lives prior to reconnecting with the Malfoys. Dromeda wanted to see her grandson on a regular basis and because of her physical limitations, she wasn't able to take him places by herself, especially not to an event held outside on the lawn of Malfoy Manor. She went with us to the dance parties and sometimes to the YPGB meetings, but the other events were too much for her.
As for me, I had other time commitments in my life, such as the weekly Weasley get-togethers every Sunday and evenings with my friends. Dromeda and Teddy went with me to the Weasleys and the day had pretty much been designated family time since the end of the war. I saw Ron, Hermione, George, Angelina, and Ginny then, but they only accounted for about half of my oldest friends. My other friends also expected to see me on a regular basis and that used to include Friday and Saturday nights. As it was I still had three Saturdays free every month to spend with them and I wanted to keep it that way.
The only reason this Malfoy-heavy schedule was working in the first place, was because I was currently single. Eventually I'd get over my crush on Draco, someone else would come along, and I'd want a bit of time to spend with that special someone. As it was, juggling Teddy's three weekday extra-curricular activities and two weekend parties and a boyfriend, was borderline impossible. If I committed to one more thing, then I was practically condemning myself to a life of celibacy, because I couldn't agree to something now and then take it away from Teddy once I met a man.
"Just drop it Teddy. I'm not going to ask. Now today is supposed to be about helping orphans and doing a good deed to make their lives a little happier. Do you really think these kids want to hear you whining about a Quidditch party?" I asked as we entered the park.
"But I'ma war orphan too and a Quidditch party would make my life happier," Teddy reasoned.
"Yes, but you're my war orphan. There are a lot of kids coming today that aren't nearly so lucky," I replied.
As we drew near the children gathered in the park, Teddy grumbled to himself, the only intelligible word being, "Unfair."
"Teddy!" Cepheus called excitedly from where he and a handful of boys were setting up a picnic table for the party.
"Put a smile on your face and go help out," I instructed Teddy.
"Fine," Teddy grumbled, making for Cepheus' table.
I spotted Hermione two dozen feet away sitting under a shady tree with baby Hugo on her lap. I headed in their direction, one eye and both ears on Teddy.
"Come join our table, Teddy! We have the best toys!" Cepheus exclaimed as Teddy approached, holding up a muggle remote control.
Vic Jr. was in the group too, holding a muggle toy truck, which he set on the ground in front of the boys. Behind them was a table filled with every kind of toy a little boy could want, from sports equipment, both Muggle and Magical, to building blocks, to potions sets, to marbles, to Weasley Wizard Wheezes items, to action figures, to Muggle vehicles.
Cepheus pressed a lever and the truck took off, Vic, Teddy, and three other boys following after.
"Where's Rose?" I asked Hermione.
"Over there with the girls," Hermione answered, pointing to where Rose was indeed talking to half a dozen girls around a table filled with girl toys. It was mostly dolls and there was a suffusion of pink.
The girls, like the boys, were fawning over a Muggle toy, this one a doll that moved and talked. In addition to the two tables of toys, there were another three tables being set up by the other children in our YPGB group: a table of girl clothes, one of boy clothes, and a craft table.
A few minutes later, Draco came forward to make an announcement. "Listen up everyone. Listen up!" he called, getting the children's attention. The kids stopped horsing around and moved in closer to hear. "Our guests will start arriving any minute now. Remember, this is a charity party and we are here to give back to the less fortunate. I know we are giving them some pretty cool stuff, but remember that these children do not have the advantages that you lot do. So I don't want to see any jealousy or trying to keep the good toys for yourselves. Does everyone understand?"
Draco looked around the group of children and waited while the little heads nodded and murmured out their understanding.
"Good. Now I want each and every one of you to go out of your way to make today special for at least one of our guests. Play with them, make friends, talk, and have fun. Got that?"
Draco asked and again the kids nodded. "Good. Gifts are last and the animal pen does not open for another hour, so you are all dismissed: go play and have fun!"
The kids cheered and half took off running for the playground. The other half divided themselves up between the table with the girl toys and the table with the boy toys, looking at the goodies. The boys seemed most interested in the remote control truck and the girls couldn't get enough of the talking doll. Wizarding toys and Magic were everyday things to them; it was the Muggle that was unfamiliar and fascinating.
Draco walked over to where the boys, including Cepheus, were wearing in the toy truck. "Cepheus, you do know that that truck is going home today with one of our guests, do you not?" he asked.
"Yes Father," Cepheus answered, standing up straight and clasping his hands, and the remote, behind his back. Today he was dressed like all of the other children: in his YPGB uniform robes, complete with merit badges.
"And you do realize that the toys do not need to be mucked up in advance? I am sure that whoever receives this truck will be able to break it on his or her own," Draco continued.
"But Father! We just wanted to see how it works!" Cepheus protested.
"I know son, but we all know how easily these things break and catch on fire. We don't want it destroyed before the party even starts," Draco said sternly.
I'd purchased a few such Muggle toys for Teddy over the years and while none of his had caught fire, they had all broken quickly once inside Grimmauld Place. One had actually blown up, but it was just a teeny explosion. The solution seemed to be to only play with them in non-Magical locations and store them at a Muggle-neighbor's house in between usage. According to Hermione, there was something about the way the battery packs reacted to the Magical field that was doing it. This park was an open area, so maybe the batteries would be alright, but it was a Magical park, so there was a possibility that the Muggle toys would be no good by the time the orphans got them home, especially if in use.
"Alright, we'll put it back," Cepheus said, taking the few steps over to the table and setting the remote down.
One of the other boys who I recognized as Reggie picked up the truck and returned it to the table.
"Thank you," Draco said, before walking over to the table with the girls and repeating the lecture with regards to the Muggle doll.
The girls put the doll back and scampered off to the playground. Draco then went to the front entrance of the park to greet the arriving guests. A few orphans and their adopted parents and or guardians had already arrived and been greeted by Ivy, one of the other two parents in charge of the event. The final parent in charge, Yasmine, was monitoring the picnic table area with the gifts, snacks, and drinks. Together Draco, Ivy, and Yasmine ran almost everything about our YPGB group. The rest of the parents, like Hermione and me, were scattered around the park keeping an eye on our children.
The park was open to the public and not restricted to the attendees of our party. As such a handful of people came and went through the rear entrance. Among those entering that way, were a short wizard and a tall boy. The wizard was about my height or maybe a little shorter with a stocky, but lean build. He had dark hair and neatly trimmed facial hair in the goatee fashion. Wearing expensive looking robes, he was the type that would fit in easily amongst the over-dressed group of YPGB parents. Most strikingly, he in no way resembled the boy he was with and appeared to be about my age, making him too young to be the boy's father.
Where the wizard had dark hair, the child had light brown. Where the wizard was stocky, the kid was lean and lanky. Where the former had a square jaw and handsome, rugged features, the child had a heart-shaped face with a rounded jaw. The wizard's eyebrows were sharply arched, while the boy's were curved. The elder was pale, in contrast to the deep tan of the younger. Then there was the fact that the boy, despite being obviously younger, was only an inch shorter.
The boy was tall enough that I would've figured him for Hogwarts age, if the school was not currently in session, making his appearance here impossible. I was certain he wasn't finished with school, both by the childish way he carried himself and by his clothing. He wore the same YPGB uniform that Teddy, Rose, and the rest of the kids in our group wore. The YPGB was for children not yet in Hogwarts, meaning that this boy had to be not yet eleven come this past first of September. Thus I guessed his age at just turned eleven or not quite eleven.
I took in the pair with the attention of an Auror, but I saw nothing sinister about a wizard taking an unrelated boy to the park during a party for orphans, so I turned my attention back to where Teddy was playing on the monkey bars.
It was only when Aquila yelled out, "Daddy!" that I looked again in the direction of the wizard and the boy. Aquila jumped off of the jungle gym she'd been climbing on and ran at top speed in their direction, apparently recognizing the wizard.
Cepheus then stuck his head out from the inside of a tube slide, looking around excitedly. When he spotted the wizard and the boy, he too shouted, "Daddy!" and took off running in their direction.
Aquila reached the pair first, flinging herself into the wizard's arms. He picked her up and swung her around in a fierce hug. Then Cepheus was there, clambering to be picked up too. The wizard put Aquila down and repeated the twirling hugging process with her brother. Meanwhile the unknown boy and Aquila hugged like old acquaintances. And although the boy looked no more like a Malfoy than he did the unknown wizard, he did have the same uniform as the Malfoy children and a large number of merit badges in common. Judging by the ear-to-ear smiles all around, the two Malfoy children were ecstatic to see these new arrivals and the pair was just as happy to see them.
When the wizard finally put Cepheus down, the two boys hugged. The wizard picked Aquila up, hoisting her onto his shoulders, and she bent her head down to speak with him. A moment later, she pointed towards the swings, where Pansy and Blaise Zabini were pushing Equuleus; the Zabinis were newly married and did not yet have kids, but they had been tending to the youngest Malfoy all day while Draco set up the party. The wizard took off in the direction of the swings, Aquila on his shoulders. The two boys, still holding hands, followed happily after.
The group only made it halfway to the swings. Draco, having noticed the interaction between the new arrivals and his children, had run flat out from his position by the front entrance. He was fit and a fast runner, so he was closing the wide distance between them at a rapid pace.
Noticing Draco racing across the park and anticipating trouble, I stood up and said to Hermione, "I'm going to see if they need my help."
Just then Draco came to a screeching halt in front of the wizard and bellowed, "Put my daughter down now!"
"Harry, sometimes outside help isn't appreciated in family matters," Hermione warned to my back, because I was already jogging away.
I'd started off quite a bit closer to the confrontation than Draco had, so I made it in mere seconds.
As I approached, the wizard was saying, "Calm down, Draco. Surely we can talk about this."
"Don't you tell me to calm down! Release her this instant!" Draco yelled back.
It was while Draco was yelling that I cast first a Notice-Me-Not charm and then a Silencing Bubble, figuring that this was something that Draco would want kept private. At that moment he may have been too upset to notice the audience, but almost everyone in the entire park was now staring, so I doubted it would be long before he did notice. If I waited for that to happen, I'd be cast out with the rest of the looky-loos. As it was, I'd done the casting, increasing the likelihood that I would be included in whatever disagreement was in the process of happening. It also meant that if this turned violent, I'd just isolated myself from all of my most likely sources of backup.
"Alright," the wizard said, lowering Aquila to the ground.
"Father, Daddy came! You said he wouldn't, but he did!" Cepheus exclaimed happily, still holding hands with the unknown boy.
Draco grabbed his daughter's arm and pulled her towards him. She protested, "But Father! I want to see Daddy!"
"He was not invited. I specifically sent the invitation for Danny and any escort other than him! Only someone with the brain the size of a flobberworm wouldn't be able to figure out that that meant not to come," Draco replied to Aquila, while staring angrily at the wizard. He didn't, I noticed, protest the use of the term Daddy in regards to the wizard. "You should not be here!" The last was practically growled at the wizard.
"I would gladly allow you to see Danny without my supervision, if you would be kind enough to return the favor. As it is, you left me with no alternative to see my children than to crash your little party," the wizard replied.
"I am not ever going to let you see my children!" Draco returned.
"But we want to see Daddy!" Cepheus whined.
"We miss Daddy!" Aquila seconded.
With the children referring to the wizard as Daddy, I figured he must have dated one of their parents. Judging by the fierce hatred Draco was projecting towards the man, I guessed he was Draco's ex. There was no other rational that could explain such a reaction.
"Draco, if I may interject," I ventured cautiously, not wanting to get my head bitten off.
"Yes?" Draco asked, not taking his eyes off of the other wizard. His tone was still harsh, but not nearly as harsh as when directed at the wizard.
"The children shouldn't be in the middle of this fight. Why don't you send them all to go play? Or do you not trust this boy with your kids either?" I asked.
Draco looked to the boy then. "No, Danny is fine. He's a good child. He's actually invited; a war orphan. It's only his arse-wipe of an adoptive dad I have a problem with."
"So are you, sir, also okay with it if the children go play?" I asked the wizard, still unaware of the man's name.
"It's fine with me. Go ahead Danny," the wizard replied.
"But I want to see Father!" the boy, apparently named Danny, exclaimed releasing Cepheus' hand and throwing himself at Draco.
Draco let go of Aquila's hand and engulfed Danny in a hug. "I miss you too, son. I'm sorry about this, but there is nothing I can do."
"I wanna live with you, Father!" Danny pleaded.
"I wish you could live with me, too. But legally you belong to him and you have to live with him. Next year though, you will be off to Hogwarts. It will be better then, I promise," Draco replied.
"You could grant me visitation of yours and I could grant you visitation of mine," the wizard offered in what was probably the most reasonable thing said so far.
"Never," Draco spat out over Danny's shoulder, before turning to look the boy in the face. "Don't worry son. Soon you will be old enough to see me whenever you want, without him."
The boy had a tear running down his face, but he said nothing and nodded.
"Remember I love you," Draco said and again the boy nodded.
"Love you too," Danny replied.
"Now take your brother and sister over there and stay with Aunt Pansy and Uncle Blaise," Draco instructed.
"Is that alright with you? Danny being with Pansy and Blaise?" I asked the wizard.
"Pansy is a nosey harpy, but I have no problem with it," the wizard answered me.
Danny complied, letting go of Draco. He took Aquila's and Cepheus' hands. Together the three children walked slowly towards the swing set where Pansy had Equuleus on her hip and Blaise was standing guard over them like a fierce mother dragon.
I was a bit surprised by the interaction between Draco and Danny, having assumed the bond between the other wizard and the Malfoy children was one way. But now it seemed that wasn't the case and this was a former family split in two, although I still didn't know the circumstances behind it all.
The moment the three children were outside the Silencing Bubble, both the wizard and Draco started screaming names and accusations at each other. It was hard to decipher it all, since they were not letting the other speak and yelling over each other, but I did pick up the gist. Draco was an overbearing self-righteous prick, a closeted fag with a stick shoved so far up his arse it was amazing it didn't come out his nose, and a git for keeping the children away. The other wizard was a no-good cheating philandering pathological liar whose brains, composed of troll dung, were in his dick, which accounted for why he fucked anything that moved.
"Stop! Shut up!" I bellowed, interrupting the bickering.
"Twat," the other wizard said to Draco, getting in one final insult.
"Home-wrecker," Draco replied, getting in one last jab of his own.
"Stop it, the both of you!" I repeated. I waited to make sure I finally had both of their attention, before continuing. "Draco, would you kindly tell me what this is about? I don't even know who this wizard is."
"My apologies Harry. This is my ex-boyfriend Phil, the cheating arsehole who broke up our family, because he couldn't keep his pants up," Draco explained.
"Actually, my name's Jacob, but everyone calls me Jack," the wizard said, offering me his hand to shake. I took it quickly, getting the task over with before Draco could take offense.
"Jack is short for Jackarse," Draco explained evenly, as if this was nothing but the stone-hard truth.
"Would you stop telling people my name is Phil?" Jack asked, sounding annoyed.
"I just thought it would save everyone a lot of hassle if they knew from the start that you are a dirty rotten scummy philanderer. Phil suits you," Draco replied.
"Right. You two were dating and Jack cheated," I summarized.
"Pansy caught Phil here with his filthy tongue down another wizard's throat and this stupid slimy git couldn't even be man enough to own up to it! I had to find out for myself about his long, torrid list of fuck-buddies," Draco added. "I should have listened to Pansy in the first place; she always hated the git."
"And Draco, ever the over-reacting prat that he is, decided to retaliate by keeping three of our children away from me. I have been trying to arrange visitation with them for months now, but his arsehole-ness refuses. The only thing I could do was to keep Danny away from him in return, so that he'd see how it feels," Jack explained, not protesting the allegations of cheating.
"I hardly think that is fair, since I am not the one who broke up our family and put getting a wad off over the needs of our children. No one ever caught me making out with street workers in Knockturn Alley and I certainly haven't slept with half of the Wizarding World while in a supposedly monogamist relationship. This situation is entirely his fault, so why should Danny and I suffer too?" Draco asked, pointing an accusing finger at Jack. "The only mistake I ever made was trusting him and bringing him into our family."
"I never ignored the needs of our children," Jack replied.
"Did so. They needed a stable home and disease free parents," Draco retorted.
"Whatever. The facts remain that Danny is mine and until you let me see Aquila, Cepheus, and Equuleus, I will not be letting you see him," Jack countered.
"It is better for my children to forget you ever existed and move on. Danny is different: he's old enough to remember," Draco said.
"And how do you think that makes me feel, huh? Knowing that my baby Equuleus probably doesn't even know who I am anymore?" Jack asked, emotion in his voice. He was clearly hurting over the loss of children he considered to be his.
"Don't care. You should have thought about that before sleeping around and they are not your children. They belong to me and my wife," Draco answered.
"Just as Danny belongs to me. And you're so pure, is that it? Are you saying you aren't sleeping with Potter here? Yeah right, why else would he be in the middle of this?" Jack accused Draco pointedly.
"Typical, you accusing me of being like you, again." Draco rolled his eyes. "That alone should have tipped me off that you were a degenerate rakehell. But no, I am not saying that at all. We've been broken up for six months, giving me six very long months to enjoy Potter's nice hard shaft up my arse. Let me tell you, there is nothing like Savior cock fucking you until you scream. I'm surprised I can even stand straight right now after the buggering he gave me just this morning. Oh, and my knickers! They are positively dripping with Savior ejaculate," Draco fibbed. "Isn't that right, Potter?"
"Er…" I wasn't sure how or why the argument had switched focus to me like this, nor did I know what to do to get myself out of it.
"Whatever, you liar. I bet you think that keeping yourself pure somehow puts you above the rest of us," Jack said to Draco, clearly seeing through the lie on his own. "Tell me Potter, have you had sex with more men than fingers you can get up your bum?"
"That is none of your business!" I retorted.
"See Draco, it's just you. No one else is so stuck in antiquated ideals that it interferes with their sex lives," Jack said.
"And no one else is as full of shite and disease ridden as you are," Draco countered.
"Alright, enough, the both of you. Just stop this, please," I said, holding both hands up. They stopped, so I continued. "This is getting us nowhere. This is not the time or the place to have this out. We are in a public place surrounded by children and their nosey parents."
"But you cast the Notice-Me-Not and Muffliato, did you not?" Draco asked me.
"A silencing spell with the Notice-Me-Not, actually," I clarified.
"That's even better, because now they can't hear how shrill Draco's rants are, even when muffled," Jack commented.
"You are one to talk. You sound like a harpy with its head cut off," Draco retorted.
"Look at all of the attention you two are attracting, even with the spells," I directed, pointing at the adults, half of whose eyes were trained on the area disguised by spell. Notice-Me-Nots worked best on Muggles. With wizards who knew what to look for, it was pretty obvious that there was something being hidden. Plus Silencing Bubbles occasionally gave off noticeable discharge. Between the two, anyone who was aware of how much Jack and Draco disliked each other was watching attentively for any sign of the hidden fight.
"Potter is right. We cannot do this here. It is best if you leave now," Draco told Jack in probably the most civil tone he'd used with the wizard today.
"No way. So you can spend time with my Danny and I can't see your three? Not. A. Chance," Jack replied.
"Danny was invited. It is a charity function for war orphans, after all," Draco returned, still calmer than he'd been, but starting to get riled up again.
"Right, so Jack doesn't want Draco to see Danny and Draco doesn't want Jack to see Aquila, Cepheus, or Equuleus. Is that correct?" I asked and both wizards agreed. "The only solution then is for neither of you to interact with any of the children. You both stay away and let the children play together." I then looked towards the group of Malfoy children gathered around Danny and being guarded by Pansy and Blaise. The kids looked happy to be reunited and were chatting. Whatever had caused the split between the parents clearly had nothing to do with the children.
"This is a YPGB charity party. I am one of the three leaders of our group. I have responsibilities to carry out," Draco objected.
"Well talk to the other two mums and switch so that wherever Danny is, you are somewhere else," I reasoned.
"And Danny doesn't need to stay for the gifts. We don't need your charity," Jack added.
"Cepheus picked out one of those Muggle trucks for Danny. I told him there was very little chance Danny would end up going home with it, but he still insisted," Draco said.
"Our younger son is a sweet boy. Tell him we appreciate the thought, but just the same, I'd rather not take home a fire hazard," Jack replied.
"Only the one toy heli-copter ever caught on fire," Draco interjected.
"And the rest just fizzled and smoked. Yeah, no thanks," Jack replied.
Obviously these two had quite a bit of shared history together.
"Alright, I will arrange for Yasmine and Ivy to take over any activity that Danny is involved in, if Phil stays on the other side of the park," Draco compromised.
Jack glared at Draco at the use of the name Phil.
"Is that alright with you, Jack?" I asked and Jack nodded. "Good, but that doesn't solve the underlying issue that you both miss each other's children. That is something that you two need to work out elsewhere. I think you should both go to mediation and come to an agreement."
"The only agreement I am going to agree to is that Jackarse here sends Danny over by himself, like he was supposed to do today," Draco said.
"Not going to happen. As long as you are keeping three of our children away from me, I'm going to keep Danny away from you," Jack retorted.
"The both of you are making everyone miserable. Don't you see how much you are hurting your children?" I asked, pointing again to the cluster of children.
"This is Jack's fault for breaking up our family. He should be the one to suffer," Draco insisted.
"I am suffering. I haven't seen three of my children in six months, for Salazar's sake! We've been together since Aquila was a baby. I participated in the conception of Cepheus and Equuleus. I was there for their births. I raised all three of them as my own. And now you tell me that they aren't mine? Fuck you, you bloody arse!" Jack replied.
"You should have thought about the consequences of your actions before you shoved your cock into every gay wizard who would have you," Draco retorted. "Personally, I cannot believe you have not come running, begging me to take Danny back. You work; it was me who took care of Danny and the others all day. We both know Danny told me that you dump him on your mother and sister and never take him anywhere. You are just keeping him away from me to spite me."
"Your mother helps you too," Jack countered.
"My mother helps me; yours is more of a care-giver than you. There's a difference. Besides, I raised Danny as my son since he was five years old and you took him away from me. How do you think that makes me feel?" Draco asked.
"He was the only thing I could take away from you. I tried for months to work out a visitation schedule, but you refused to answer my owls. You left me no choice," Jack countered.
"So you are both hurting. Go to mediation and work something out," I urged.
"I will if he will, but he's too much of a coward to go," Jack said.
"Coward? I am the one with everything to lose. You have nothing to lose," Draco replied.
"You are right: I have nothing to lose because you've already taken everything away from me. But I haven't gone to the papers, have I? I've kept it to myself, even the fact that you've forbidden me from seeing three of my children. If you do not agree to mediation with me, I will tell all," Jack threatened.
I looked pointedly at Draco, making sure he knew my position on the situation. I wasn't directly involved, but I knew enough of what was going on. Jack had cheated and broken up the family and now Draco was getting back at Jack by keeping the children away. If Draco didn't want Jack to tell the Council of Elders everything, Draco would have to compromise.
Draco looked from Jack, to the children over at the playground, to me, and then back to Jack. "Fine," he spat, clearly displeased with having to cave.
"Fine," Jack spat back.
"Good. Now Jack, you go over there." I motioned towards the rear of the playground area on the far side from the picnic tables. "Draco, you go arrange for Ivy and Yasmine to handle things today. I will explain to the Zabinis and the children that they are to stay away from the both of you," I directed.
As Jack turned to storm off, Draco said, "Oh and Harry? In case anyone asks, the number one thing I am looking for in a wizard is an ability to keep his penis in his pants." It was clearly aimed as a dig at his ex. Then he too stormed off.
I canceled the spells and took off in the direction of the swings. Danny was upset to learn that he was forbidden from spending time with Draco, while Aquila and Cepheus were equally upset over not being able to see Jack. Although, they were at least grateful for the chance to see each other again. Equuleus was the only one who seemed oblivious to the situation. The one thing that was for certain was that the rift between their parents was tearing the children apart and breaking their hearts. This couldn't be allowed to go on forever.
Jack did as promised, limiting himself to sending longing looks towards the three Malfoy children, Equuleus in particular. Draco too stuck to the bargain, but blew Danny a few kisses when he caught the boy looking at him.
When the Magical Petting Zoo opened up, the four children migrated there, where they stayed away from both parents for the majority of the visit. Equuleus seemed particularly fond of the Hippogriff, which judging by the tense look on Draco's face and the way he was gritting his teeth, displeased him. Knowing his history with the species, it probably took all of his restraint not to run into the pen and get his children away from the animal. As it was, he sent Yasmine in with directions to keep all of the children out of a ten foot radius surrounding the Hippogriff and to move Equuleus along to the much safer Aethonan. Flying horses were always a safe bet with young children.
The Hoo-Hoo with its extravagant plumage was a crowd pleaser, even though it wasn't a burning day. Teddy came out of the petting zoo raving about how, "Super cool," and "Awesome," the cage full of imps was. Rose, Cepheus, and a large portion of the girls in the group agreed that the Hippocampus, swimming in a large in-ground water enclosure, was beautiful and clearly the best animal there. Aquila was more fascinated by the Tadfoal that could be seen inside the Hippocampus' egg, which all of the children thought was pretty neat.
Draco seemed to want to delay the conclusion of the party, but after the petting zoo closed and the other parents started talking of wrapping things up, Ivy and Yasmine announced it was time to give out the gifts.
Jack called to Danny then, saying, "It's time to go."
There was a tearful goodbye between Danny, Aquila, and Cepheus, but then Danny turned to leave.
Draco called out, "Wait!" and sent one of the boys in our group running over with a sticker to give to Danny. Danny took it with a smile and waved to Draco, before turning once more.
Then Jack and Danny left. The orphans choose their gifts and departed soon after. Once only the kids in our YPGB group were left, Draco gathered them around him armed with his usual stickers and a box of uniform patches.
"As most of you know, after our friends leave, we have a little party of our own to celebrate all that we have accomplished this past month. Rose and Teddy, as our newest members, earned a number of beginner's badges, including the one for charity work. Rose, Teddy, come forward will you?" Draco requested holding out a pair of small patches. Rose and Teddy took the badges and returned to their places. "Now none of the rest of you have earned charity badges for today, but I would like to remind you all that your participation has been marked down and you are now one step closer to earning the next charity badge. Aquila, Sean, Marcus, and Sandra are all only one more act of charity away from earning the gold badge!" A chorus of cheers went up at that. "So for the rest of you, come receive your stickers and give yourselves pats on the back for a job well done!"
The children cheered as they lined up to receive their stickers and patted themselves on the back as they returned to their places. Once they were settled again, Draco returned to his box of patches.
"Let us see, a number of you have received badges this month. If you are not among them, remember that you have to keep at it. It takes hard work and lots of practice to move up to the next level. So here goes," Draco said, before going into his list of additional badges.
Teddy and Rose received a beginner's badge for every activity that they did with the group during this past month. These badges were the smallest and were usually in the shape of the head of an animal. Ivy came over and told me and Hermione to sew them on with lots of space in between, so that the rest of the animal parts could be added when the higher level badges were earned.
Everyone earned a badge for Muggle Movie Night, because that was a new activity for the group. This badge was among the exception when it came to design, composed of an old-fashioned movie reel instead of an animal. But then it also seemed to be a one-off, without higher levels for watching more movies.
A handful of the kids also earned a higher level badge for one of the regular activities. There was a lot of cheering and lively ruckus and then the group was dismissed.
Teddy came over to me with a wide smile and two hands filled with badges for Molly to sew onto his uniform. "Now I'll look a proper YPGB kid, won't I Harry?" he asked proudly.
"You sure will Kiddo," I replied, liking the way this organization so freely rewarded kids. Try an activity once? Get a small badge. Master it, get a full animal of badges. Lose? Get a sticker and have a good time. There wasn't much competition in it, but these were all young children, so I considered that a plus. It wasn't the type of organization I'd pictured Draco being a part of, but I was glad he'd twisted my arm into signing Teddy up. This would be good for him.
Author's Note: Hot of the press, a second time; I just finished rewriting it after losing the nearly complete chapter earlier in the week :( What do you think of Draco and his ex-boyfriend? Any burning questions left unanswered about his life pre-breakup? It's too bad it ended so ugly. Hopefully he'll have better luck the next time around and now that I've set everything up, it's time for him and Harry to start growing closer. Please Review!
