We ADORE all the questions were are getting in from reviewers towards all these characters! Can't wait to see what you think of this chapter, and already loving the hatred for Bailey. She wasn't even in Wingardium, so it's kinda funny.

So keep sending in those questions!

Also, I'll be moving over the next couple of days, so no internets for the time being D: This may be the last chap for a few days

Enjoy~


"Masters Potter-Malfoy, Genma is sorry to interrupt, but Genma was to tell Master Potter-Malfoy and Master Potter-Malfoy that their children have arrived, sirs." Genma bowed down, long, pointy nose almost touching the floor as she fumbled with her long pink dress that Missus Victoire had helped her make... The missus was s-so nice! T-The whole Potter-Malfoy family was so nice! Yes, yes! Gemma worked for them till she died, she did, now Genma was able to work for them! Such nice wizards, yes, yes. Unusual wizards, yes, yes.

Harry sighed, lips curving against his husband's neck. They still hadn't made it out of the tub. "Thanks, Genma. Guess we lost track of time."

"Shall Genma lead masters Teddy and James to the dining hall?"

Harry laughed. "Genma, if they don't know the way themselves, they're not actually our children. Just let them know we'll be down in a few minutes."

Draco flicked some warm, bubble-filled water at Harry's head. "Don't give me a heart-attack, you idiotic Gryffindor. I don't need people parading around as our children skulking through the hallways of Potter-Malfoy Manor, thank you." Genma popped away with a bow and a crack of apparation.

"That's what wards are for, darling. You know mine are strong enough to keep anyone out who we don't want." It barred against everything he'd ever come across. "And I haven't seen James since punishing a wall and Teddy since..." That morning. His eyes clouded over slightly. That the boy had insisted on heading into the Ministry to start paperwork worried him. But he sighed and nuzzled his husband lovingly. "I s'pose we'll have to get up."

"How about you go greet our children, dearest husband, and I," Draco stood from the bath, droplets of water dragging down his pale skin. "Go and finish that potion that I was slaving over for hours for you?"

"For me?" he asked blankly, attention caught by his very slick lover standing over him, water droplets clinging rather nicely to his skin.

Draco rolled his eyes, stepping out of the bath carefully, as not to slip, and grabbed a towel from near the sink, wrapping it snugly around his waist. "You said you had a click in your wrist during Auror missions and training, did you not?" He grabbed another towel for his hair.

"Well, yeah, but it's no big deal." If it had been causing him daily pain he wouldn't have thought about it. But he smiled and rose because Draco was being sweet. "Making a potion to fix me up, darling?"

Draco's smirk reflected in the mirror as he toweled his hair, the strands whipping wetly against his face. "Obviously, Potter, I'm being a sweet, caring husband, because I wouldn't have married you and raised four little brats if you needed, as you say, 'fixing up.'"

Harry reached out, wrapped his arms around his husband and drew him back. "Thanks, love."

Draco hummed in contentment. "Think nothing of it, Potter. My husband only gets the best Potions and needs to be at the top of his game if he is married to me, yes? Yes." Draco turned, tilting his head and sealing their lips in a fluid motion. "Now go get dressed."

"You like me better when I'm not." Harry smiled, nipped his bottom lip, and strode out with a drying charm rather than a towel.

The Potions Master rolled his eyes. "It's bloody well amazing that your skin doesn't dry out and shrivel up, love." Lifting his fingers to comb them through damp locks, he tied his hair at the nape of his neck with a quick charm.

With no other response but a laugh, Harry made his way down the hall towards their bedroom. He dressed quickly, eager to see his boys and his family together, and scrambled downstairs to find them in the parlor swirling what was most likely Firewhiskey in their glasses.

"Papa!" James was up from his perch on the loveseat instantly, striding across the room. He grabbed his father's hand, studying his hand carefully. "I guess dad fixed you up."

"Fixed him up?" Teddy wondered, eyes narrowing. "Papa, what'd you do?"

"Showed a wall who was boss."

James snorted but, since he was close enough, wrapped his arms around the man in a tight hug. "Yeah, the wall, " he teased and had Teddy laughing.

Harry took the jibe only because it had been too long since he'd heard a laugh like that from his oldest boy. But he still tugged on James's ear. "You little git. Watch your tongue."

"I can't. My eyes don't work that way."

His brows lifted. "You want them to?" he warned and both of his sons grinned widely.

"So where's dad?" James wondered and Teddy lifted his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm still wondering why papa punched a wall. Did it call you bad names?"

"Ha. Ha," was the sarcastic response, though Harry's lips twitched. "No, someone else irritated me. And, strangely enough, the Ministry frowns upon department heads striking one another."

Teddy's eyes narrowed a fraction. Uh-oh. Was this why he'd been called in at the end of the day? Hell, he never would've seen James in the hall if he hadn't been trudging back to his office after getting a dressing-down from Head Hit Wiz Huxley. "Papa, what'd you do?"

"What'd Huxley do?" Harry shot back, ready to be infuriated on his son's behalf.

Called him a spoiled brat who needed to learn his place in the Ministry. Now he understood the spoiled part. Teddy brushed his hands on his slacks, not answering for a moment. He knew that whatever his papa had done had probably been something that would benefit the whole department. The fact that it had gotten him in trouble, though, was something for Teddy to think about. "Everything's fine, papa. He didn't do anything. Where's dad?"

"Finishing a potion," Harry murmured and decided to make it his business to find out each and every time Huxley called his child into his office.

"Dad is right here," Draco swept into the room, a grey jumper and a plain pair of black slacks fitted to his body as he walked into the parlor. "Hello, boys."

"Dad!" James abandoned Harry to throw his arms around his taller father.

Harry laughed. "Gee, I see how it is."

"Sorry, papa, but he's just prettier than you are." James grinned and Teddy let out another laugh. Harry just hoped that all his laughter wouldn't just die away when Alexander arrived.

Draco's chuckles rumbled in his chest as he pulled James into his arms. "Hello, James. Thanks for the compliment, but I don't need your father kicking me out of our bedroom to sleep on the couch." His laughter told otherwise and Teddy rushed over to greet his dad as well.

"Oof!" Draco was bombarded by his other son. "Ha, hello, Teddy."

"Sorry about... this morning and... well, stressing you and papa out," he murmured. He'd spent his day doing quite a bit of thinking about what papa had told him and the man had made some valid points. He just needed to talk to Alexander. They had to be able to work... something out. He hoped.

"Oh, Teddy..." He pulled his eldest son tighter against his chest as James moved away to converse with Harry about the 'Wall Incident' as it was dubbed. "You're our son. We may get into some rows, but it doesn't mean that we don't love you any less." When had their children grown up? His missed childish smiles and morning tickle sessions. But Draco was so proud of the young men they had all grown up to be. "We'll always be here for you. No stress involved, okay?"

There was always stress involved. But Teddy held his father tight for a long moment. "Okay, dad. I love you. You and papa... You know you guys means the world to me, don't you?"

"And you mean the world to us, Ted." Draco pressed a kiss to Teddy's temple. "Now how about we get ourselves set up in the dining hall and wait for the rest of our rowdy horde to arrive?"

"Hell yes," James agreed. "Isn't Al supposed to be here tonight?" He had things he wanted to talk to his younger brother about. "He's usually here by now."

Harry had just been thinking the same, so fidgeted a little. "He'll probably be along soon enough."

Settling themselves quickly and efficiently into the dining room, Draco leaned back into his chair with a small glass of brandy clasped in his palm as James regaled them with the tale of his newest 'adventure' in Morocco.

Teddy sat back and listened, smiling to himself. It always amused him how few differences there really were between Aurors and Hit Wizards, just the supposed level of danger really. And, well, he wasn't exactly investigative. James mentioned blood samples and Teddy was as baffled as his dad was. Harry, though, understood perfectly and laughed. "He left blood samples? Idiot."

"I know! And it didn't help that we already had his magical signature on file. Is he smart enough to use someone else's wand?"

"Of course not."

"Of course not!" James exclaimed, grin wide. "But the country itself is really something. You been there, Ted?"

Not on anything carefree or pleasant. He smiled. "A few times, yeah."

Draco leaned forward, chuckling as he clasped his hands together and rested his chin against them. "English boys, please? For us that are not fluent in 'Auror' speak?" He loved his boys, Harry included, but it did get partially confusing, no matter how many times Harry explained the terminology to him. Well, except for the fact that most of the times they were... Distracted.

The door to the dining room flung open, a figure rushing into the room at a blurring pace. "Papa! Dad!"

Harry barely had time to brace himself, being closest to the door, before he was tackled and nearly thrown completely off the chair. He laughed, delighted, as he wrapped his arms around his son. "It's about time! James was boring us with Morocco."

"Don't even start that," James said, offended. "You were laughing."

"Pity, son, pity." But Harry was grinning, so James rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Scorp, how's Hugo?"

"Hugo's pretty good," the redhead replied, striding into the room himself. His baskets of chocolate were hidden away for the moment because he knew that James would be sniffing for them.

Teddy's eyes zeroed in on Hugo's jacket pocket. "You brought us chocolate."

Of course Hugo hadn't been counting on Teddy's nose to be doing any sniffing. He shrugged. "Might've."

"Might've nothing!" Harry beamed. "Hand it over, kid."

Scorpius chuckled, jumping off of Harry's lap like an overly large child and rushing forward to embrace his dad who had stood from his chair, arms held wide. "Missed you, dad." Daddy.

"I missed you too, Scorpius." Draco pressed a kiss to his son's hair. He was never biased with his sons, but Scorpius always held a fond place in Draco's heart, being his first born son and true blood heir. But, blood didn't matter to Draco anymore. As long as it wasn't blood dripping into his cauldrons from a knife accident it didn't. "How's the surprise for Hugo coming along?" His voice dropped to a mere whisper over the rowdy, rambunctious laughter of his sons, guest and husband.

"Wonderful!" Scorpius's whispers jumped up in a squeal.

Hugo dropped down into the seat beside Teddy since he was much less likely to jump him for the sweets than James or Harry were. "You look well... rested," the teal-haired man teased and Hugo quietly cursed his coloring as the blush rose to his cheeks.

It didn't stop his tongue though. "Very well, thanks. Your brother's very good at keeping me in bed."

James made a strangled sound. "Does every conversation devolve into sex?"

"You've lived in this house long enough to know the answer to that," Harry put in, chuckling. "For the record, Hugh, he probably gets that one from his dad."

"The sleeping right after?"

Harry's lips twitched, eyes finding his husband's. His smile only widened at The Eyebrow. "Definitely."

"Watch if I let you shag me against the shower wall, oh great Boy-Who-Lived." Draco took another sip at his brandy, eyes locking with Harry's as their children groaned.

"It wasn't the shower wall," he corrected. "It was the bathroom door and the floor and the tub after." He smiled sweetly. "I notice you haven't been sitting for very long stretches, darling."

Draco groaned along with his children. "Bloody menace, you are. See if I brew you any potions anymore." Draco knew that Harry knew that he would do it anyway, regardless of what he said now.

Crack.

"Genma will be serving dinner now, Masters Potter-Malfoy and children Potter-Malfoys and guest?"

"Guest." Hugo placed a hand over his heart. "I feel so slighted."

Teddy elbowed him, amused. "Don't be such a prat, Weasley."

"He can't help it," James put in. "You did just call him Weasley, after all."

Hugo's grin was wide and wicked. He knew of James's deep and abiding crush on one particular Weasley. "All Weasleys are prats now, are they?"

He lifted his glass to his lips to try and hide the blush that wanted to rise into his cheeks. Damn it, Hugo. "You and Rose, at any rate."

"Hey, hey. No insulting my boyfriend." Scorpius slid into the seat next to Hugo, placing a kiss against his lover's lips and smiling at his brothers. "So, what has been going on in my lovely brother's lives?" There was a pregnant pause in conversation, a quiet lull as dinner appeared on the long, bright oak table and the Potter-Malfoy family helped themselves.

Teddy shrugged and lifted his glass. "I'm home for a while. No wild missions for a couple of weeks or so."

Harry reached over and patted his eldest's son hand, gave it a squeeze. "We'll just have to see how it goes, Teddy."

Draco nodded his head, opening his mouth to agree with his husband and suggest maybe him and Teddy could go out to lunch, but was interrupted again by the banging of the dining room door. That thing was too heavy for that to be happening...

"A-Alex!" Teddy stared, his glass nearly slipping from his fingers. He set it down quickly, his hair flitting through a multitude of colors before his system settled. He flicked his gaze towards his parents, who had both strategically sent their gazes elsewhere. Blighters. One of them could've warned him.

"'E... 'Ello... Sorry that I'm late, Mr. Potter-Malfoy and Mr. Potter-Malfoy..." The young adult awkwardly shuffled into the room, eyes downcast, heart stuttering in his chest. Shite. They at least could have warned him that Teddy was to be there. Or... Did they? Fuck, he didn't think he could do this...

Scorpius, previously oblivious to his brother's relationship troubles, now saw them head-on. "Hi!"

Harry smiled. "You're not late, Alex. You're on time. It's Victoire and Albus that are late at this point." James choked on his Firewhiskey, coughing loudly.

Shuffling slowly into the vast room and taking a seat near Scorpius with a small, shaky grin, Alexander nodded his head as Genma popped in with another glass and place setting. "O-Okay... Thanks for inviting me, truly."

"You're always welcome, Alex." Draco spoke up quietly, noticing the tense posture Teddy adapted and the way Alex's eyes looked anywhere but across the table at his now... What? Ex-boyfriend? "Me and your father are close friends, so you'll always be allowed here."

Teddy's eyes were fixated on the young man, greedily taking in every fidgeting detail. It wasn't often that the so-sure painter was fidgety. He was grabby and greedy and took what he wanted. So the fidgets were interesting, the fidgets made him a little ashamed of himself. But they also gave him some hope that maybe, hopefully, Alex still wanted him. He wanted to reach out, drag him across the table and snog until they each forgot where they were or the fight they'd had.

"So Alex," Draco spoke up quietly, taking a small bite of the fish he had placed on his plate. "Blaise tells me you have a new photo set coming along? A new line of paintings for a manor in Wiltshire?"

Scorpius and Hugo glanced on quietly, conversation muddled between the two as James sat silently, cursory glances darting between him and Harry. How would this pan out?

Did he? Teddy wondered and fiddled with his napkin. That was wonderful. When had that happened? Why hadn't Alexander told him? Why wouldn't Alexander look at him? Teddy was just shy of waving his hands around to get so much as an eyebrow lift from the gorgeous bloke. His gorgeous bloke. His heart thudded painfully in his chest. Look at me, Alex. Look at me.

A small blush bloomed against Alex's cheeks as if he could tell without a glance the path of Teddy's thoughts, no sexual need, no lustful want, just the want and need of a glance, a simple look. "Yes, it's for a manor of a half-blood family. I apologize that I forget their name at the moment..." He fidgeted awkwardly. He shouldn't have come... He couldn't... He just wanted to be in Teddy's arms... He... was an idiot. A stupid, childish idiot with a backbone to kill a man.

It hadn't been the explosion he'd been expecting. But Harry wondered at the raw need in his son's eyes. He was in love, desperately so, and that was a bit of a revelation. This wasn't another careless fling, was it? Not like he'd thought. Wow... Oh, wow... He still hadn't gotten used to Scorpius being in love and now he was losing Teddy to a Zabini. But Teddy was screwing it up.

He sighed. "Teddy, you're not eating."

"What?" He looked up, eyes a little dazed. Then he shook himself, looking down at his plate. "No, it's... Big lunch," he lied. "I'm not that hungry."

James blinked, opened his mouth as if to contradict his brother and Harry casually cast a silencing charm on him. His lips moved, nothing came out, and he looked accusingly at his father. Harry's lips curved.

Teddy looked between the two of them for a moment before sighing. His papa, the bloody matchmaker. And how damned pathetic was that? He'd gotten himself into this mess with Alex; he could get himself out. Waiting for Alexander to look his way wasn't the way to go about it though, so he took a swallow of his Firewhiskey to steady his nerves first. "Alexander, can we talk?"

Alex's eyes had Teddy cursing himself entirely as their eyes met with a jerk of the painter's head. A bright green, so vivid and full of life was a dull green, skin puffed and red around the edge's, hidden with a concealment charm that even a child could have seen through. "U-Um..." His hand shook so he lowered it below the table, his heart took a thundering leap in his chest. Hope? Maybe. "S-'ure."

Harry hid his smile behind his glass, pleased. Now that was his son. Teddy rose. "In the parlor?"

Alexander nodded shakily, rising with a squeak from his chair and rubbing his hands subtly against the fabric of his pants.

Teddy walked out quickly, trying to ignore the fact that his entire family was staring after him.

Walking quietly, staring at the floor as if it was the most interesting to ever be built (even if it was beautiful), Alexander felt like turning and booking it; pride and backbone be damned. Had Teddy always been this beautiful? Maybe it was just a sleep addled mind, but as Teddy and Alexander quietly walked to wherever it was in the Manor that Teddy wanted to go, Alexander could appreciate what he once had. Shite.

Teddy stopped in the parlor and turned to face the younger man, ran a hand through his hair. "I..." Am a coward. "Congratulations. On the, uh, Wiltshire thing."

Alexander remained by the door, arms wrapped firmly around his stomach as it clenched and rolled with a violent wave of nervousness. "Thanks."

"Yeah... You're... You're excellent. So whatever you do'll be... Fuck. I can't take this." He couldn't look at Alexander another moment. He strode forward, jerking him close, and captured his lips with his own. The weeks without him, the sheer terror of losing him, took him over. Hard and hungry, he plundered. He was desperate for the familiar taste, could hardly believe that he'd just seen him the day before.

Zabini whimpered, hands shooting up to grip at Teddy's shoulders and press their lips together desperately. He could have cried. Fuck, he was screwed; so desperately, soulfully screwed.

"I'm sorry!" came a muffled gasp against Alexander's lips. Teddy broke the kiss, barely taking the time to gulp air before he was peppering kisses over the bloke's face. Cheeks, brow, ghosting over his lowered lids, along the line of his jaw, finally back to his lips. His hands were racing over him as if he could feel his skin through his clothes, their bodies fused together. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I never meant to- I didn't want you to- Oh, shite, Alex, don't go home tonight. Come back to Grimmauld with me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Alexander's heart thundered, pins and needles pricked behind his eyes as his arms, lean, muscled, wrapped almost-choking around Teddy's neck. Could he? How couldn't he? Teddy was so... So... "Y-Yes... Okay." Like a child he was accused of on more than on occasion, Alexander's arms tightened around Teddy's neck as the young adult pushed his head firmly against Teddy's chest. "Yes, yes, okay."

"I'm sorry," he said again, gripping the younger man and pressing him as close as possible. "I hurt you and I'm sorry. I won't... I won't just leave like that again." Or he'd try his hardest not to. For his parents and for Alex.

"Merlin," Alexander refused to cry, refused to be the weak child Teddy saw him as. His heart twisted painfully. Was that all he was? "I hope you don't... I-I hope you d-don't..."

"I won't." He cupped Alex's cheeks, lowering his lips to his lover's once again. "I couldn't stay at Grimmauld after you left. It was too empty. Just stay with me."

Alexander's heart thundered like a herd of stampeding centaurs. "T-Teddy... I..." He pressed back against the kiss, hands shaking as they lifted to caress cheeks, so contrastingly pale from his own.

"You will." It wasn't a question, but his voice wavered just enough to reveal just how unsure he was. Fuck. Fuck. Why was Alexander able to just flip his world around like he did?

To say Alex was confused would be folly. His whole fucking world was tilting on its axis. If he didn't go with Teddy, he could expect long nights, unfinished paintings, heartbroken tears and a sick body; stomach and mind. But... if the painter did choose to go with Teddy... If he did choose to... Warm nights, snuggled in bed together... flour fights over pancakes in the early hours of the morning... accidentally grabbing the wrong cup of coffee and tea... warm arms wrapped securely around his waist after long, arduous hours of painting... O-Oh, Merlin, he wanted to say yes. "I-I..."

"Please," Teddy whispered, letting the last band of pride snap. Begging. Shite, he'd been reduced to begging. "Please, Alex, I need you..."

"Teddy..." How can I trust you? "I..." The dark skinned man took a step back, out of the arms he so desperately wished to stay in, to shelter himself in. "I-I can't." And his heart snapped. He couldn't handle the bads that out weighed the goods. Wonderful nights of whispered words and blinding throes of passion, to wake up to a cold bed, no note and a broken heart? Fights over long nights and empty coffee mugs, insults thrown around like common conversation? What you do isn't a job! At least I don't go trying to get myself killed! I hate you! I hate you, you stupid child! That's all I am to you is a child! He couldn't. Alex just... He was too confused. He couldn't. H-He couldn't...

Teddy felt his heart shatter, eyes going wide and dull. Even his hair faded as he tried to take it in. "A-Alexander," he breathed. "Y-you... I... Why not? You can. You can! I won't- I..." Oh, sweet Merlin, no. "I can't lose you..."

He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, the twist in his heart, the tears in his eyes. He tried so damn hard. "But I-I've almost lost you." Alexander's hand shook violently as he lifted it to press it firmly against Teddy's cheek, sighing shakily at the stubble and warmth beneath his fingers. "I-I've almost lost you, and I wo-wouldn't have known." He tried to solidify his heart, he really did. He tried to stop the tears, the sudden, suffocating heartbreak, but he couldn't. "I-I can't." I can't be another fling on the side.

"I know," he whispered, reaching up and taking Alex's hand, keeping it against his cheek. "I know. I know, I do. It wasn't supposed to be-" He cut himself off, blowing out a ragged breath. "But it was. It was and I'm so sorry. Let me make it up to you, Alex. Let me try. All I could think about when I was trapped down there was you... You can't go now. Please."

Alex's eyes were hollow; his exhaustion and heartbreak easily reflected against the lines of his face. "Is that it? Am I supposed to come back with a please and a plea that I was all you could think about?" He would, he so would. "I can't, Teddy. Too many mornings did I wake up alone, having to fire-call your father to ask where you were, and even he didn't know. Too many nights did I stay up worrying about where the person I loved wa...s..." He froze. Shite. Love. They didn't confess love. It just... Didn't happen. Shite, shite, shite!

Cut off at the knees, Teddy could only stare. Oh... Oh. He... oh. He drew him close, held tightly. "I will never do this to you again, Alex. I won't. I swear. Please. Just give me one last chance." He kissed the painter softly, slowly deepening it. "This is it, Alex. Please. When I got back, I was so tired. I just wanted to hold you, but I messed it all up. Please, Alex." His voice had softened to a whisper, his fingers sliding through Alex's hair. "Just one last chance so I can make it right."

"This is it?" His words were a meager whisper. "So I take your 'offer' or you up and walk? Is that what you're trying to explain to me?" Alex's words, so unlike the man's that he loved were emotionless, void of anything but simple truth and fact. Alex didn't think he could handle anymore emotion than that. Alex wanted to lean into the touch, wrap his arms around Teddy and never let him go because the Hit Wizard just made him feel. The sharpest flashes of anger, the surest of strong heartbeats as they kissed and lost themselves to passion; did they make love? Alex didn't know. Alex didn't know a lot. But what he did know was that he couldn't handle heartbreak.

He was breaking.

"I won't walk away from you," Teddy murmured. His touches gentled, reveled in the knowledge that this beautiful painter loved him. "I can't, Alexander. I'll keep coming back to you again and again. One last chance. It's all I'm asking."

Alex leaned into the touch. Moments passed, silence strained against their hearts and lungs, and Alex's thoughts whirled around in his head like a vicious storm. Should he? ...Could he? Could he handle the eventual heartbreak he hoped to Merlin would never happen? Could he put his faith, his love, body mind and soul into this older wizard? Could... he? Yes. His heart knew the answer. Yes. His brain knew what he wanted before the rest of his body. He could handle the bads, because the goods, the things that Teddy did to make up for it all... All the pale skin, bloodied with cuts and bruises, so shockingly white against his own, the soft kisses and muttered words of adoration and sweet declarations all made up for the long, lonely nights and the cold cups of coffee in the morning. "Y-Yes." Their eyes, dull, pleading brown and void emerald met.

"Oh, s-sweet Merlin," Teddy breathed and hugged him tightly, rocking. "Alex... Merlin, Alex..."

Pressing himself fully against the taller male, Alex rocked back and forth to quell his own shaking body and chest-racking sobs. "I-I-" Alexander lifted his hands, shaking and sweaty to grip at Teddy's shirt. "I love you, I love you, you stupid, stu-stupid fool."

The door to the parlor closed quietly, leaving James to lean against it. He swallowed hard, rather stunned by the emotional scene he'd witnessed. He'd been headed to the Floo to call Al at Harry's not-so-subtle comments that his brother was later than normal. He hadn't meant to walk in on his oldest brother begging to be taken back.

And to hear Zabini's love confession? Oops. He jumped nearly a foot when someone appeared just down the hall. Apparition was blocked to all but certain people, so it was rare to hear the loud crack. But his jaw stayed dropped when he realized just who had arrived.

Victoire Weasley in all her senselessly beautiful glory. His heart tripled it pace as he started to attempt a greeting, but it stuck in his throat when he noticed the man beside her. Oh, shite, she'd brought a date?

"V-Vicki, I really shouldn't be here..." Fin fidgeted nervously, picking at the dark blue dress shirt and denim jeans she had shoved at him the minute his tired and addled body had risen from its short dregs of sleep.

"Bof!" She dismissed his protest with an airy wave, hooking her arm through his. "Uncle 'Arry said you were welcome! And Uncle Draco. 'E will like you. the 'ole family will! I-" She broke off, having seen James. For a moment, the air sizzled between them and she started to step forward when his eyes went curiously blank.

"Um... hi?" he greeted and wondered just who this was. He felt a rather elemental pull towards her, was entirely unsure what to do about it because he didn't think he'd ever met this woman before in his life.

She sighed. "'Ello, James."

Fin blinked in confusion. What was with the sudden lack-luster looks the Potter-Malfoy was giving Victoire? They knew each other, didn't they?

Victoire shook her head. "'E'll be back to normal in a minute," she murmured. And then louder. "James, this is my friend Fin. 'E's 'aving dinner with us."

"Alright." He offered a smile, ignored the curious pull of jealousy. Why should he care that his arm was linked with Victoire's? Wait. Oh. His spine straightened as he snapped away from the door. "Right. Yeah. Everyone's already eating."

Fin's brow furrowed. What the...? "Victoire... Are you sure..." he turned back to the blonde, suddenly swept with a violent wave throe of nervousness. "Are you sure I should do this? I should be here? I mean... I-Isn't Al?..." He didn't think he could handle seeing Al only so short a time after having his heart broken.

"Oh, Fin, come! Do not be nervous."

"Al's not even here," James muttered and wandered passed, giving them a wide berth. He had no idea why the beach-boy (and wouldn't Victoire go for someone like that?) was asking about him, and he didn't much care.

Victoire pouted, both from James's actions and the lack of Albus. There went her master plan of romance. "There, Fin, see? 'E isn't 'ere. Everything will be alright."

A few moments passed in tense silence. Fin fidgeting, Victoire huffing and motioning impatiently and James glaring daggers at Fin's bodily form.

"Okay," the awkward photographer mumbled after a moment, discoloured eyes glancing around slowly as if looking for a plausible escape if James's brother were to appear.

"Bonne!" Delighted, Victoire practically dragged him down the hall. "Isn't this place magnifique? My 'ome away from 'ome. One of them." She burst into the dining room without waiting for an answer, going straight to Harry since he was closest to the door. "Salut!" she greeted, her voice intended to all the occupants in the room. She went to Draco next, peppered his face with delighted kisses as she had with Harry. "Scorpius! You are 'ome, too? C'est merveilleux! This is wonderful!"

Hugo laughed. "I'm here too, cousin."

"Bof." She waved a hand. "I see you too often. You try and make me fat."

"I don't shove chocolate down your throat." He grinned. "You do that yourself."

Scorpius chuckled. The few moments that James had been away, Hugo had moved (Read; forcibly pulled) into Scorpius's lap, the two snuggling together contently. Scorpius fed Hugo small pieces of food, pressing their lips together happily. He couldn't get enough of the red-head, ever.

She made a cooing sound. The pair of them had always made her happy. They were as cute as Uncle Harry and Uncle Draco. So she bent over them, giving them both delighted, smacking kisses. "You are both silly. And this is my friend. Fin. 'E is 'andsome, non?"

Harry's brows lifted as he finally caught sight of the bloke. He was a little surprised to see how nervous he was. The way Seamus had talked about him, his son was all Gryffindor. "You look entirely too much like Seamus to be handsome," he teased, offering a grin. Reporter or not, he couldn't be mean to someone who looked like he was about to turn tail and run.

Fin snorted in jittery amusement. "T-Thanks Mr. Potter-Malfoy. I'll make sure to tell him that." He was tugged towards a seat across from Scorpius and Hugo with a firm grasp on his arm by the blonde witch.

He got a few points for using the full name, too. He looked to Draco, shrugged in silent communication. Not bad so far.

His husband smiled, turning to glance at their kids. "So, Fin was it? I hear you covered the Ballycastle vs. Hollyhead game? How did that-" The door to the dining room swung open with another dull thud. The Potter-Malfoy family groaned.

James stormed in, too irritated to even bother with glaring specifically at the bloke Victoire had brought along. Harry straightened in his chair, his hand slipping away from Draco's atop the table. "Did you talk to Al? Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's great," the wizard grumbled in response. "He made it here finally."

"Finally." Draco mumbled quietly, taking a sip from the goblet of water beside his brandy. "Well, where is he?"

Fin's heart sunk as his throat closed up, making it that much harder to breathe in the already stifling room.

"Yeah, I wanna' see my brother!" Scorpius chuckled, arms tightening around Hugo's waist as the other tried to shimmy out of his grip. "I don't think so," the blonde whispered laughingly.

"Want to, Scorpius," Draco muttered.

"I'm not seven, dad."

"You couldn't even speak when you were five, brat."

"I could too!"

"Her-my-ninny?"
"...Shut it, old man."

Harry grinned. Now they had the right bloke.

"That's your father." Draco took another sip of his water.

Or not. Harry rolled his eyes. "Git."

Hugo laughed, sending a grin Fin's way. "Now this'd make the front page, wouldn't it? Blonde versus Blonde."

Scorpius raised a brow. "Blonde versus..." The look he sent his boyfriend had Hugo chuckling and going back to his food. Just like his ginger father.

"Now," Draco righted himself, hand instantly finding Harry's like a Point Me spell, lacing their fingers together pleasantly, lovingly. "James, where is your bro-"

That damn door needed to stop denting the wall. It banged open far too much for the elder Malfoy's tastes. Al, hair disheveled, eyes wide, jumped a little at the bang. "Oh, shite! Sorry." He grinned widely, running a hand through his hair and mussing it more.

"Language, Albus!"

Harry snorted, giving Draco's hand a squeeze. "We're the ones who taught him that language."

Albus shrugged, eyes dancing. He was almost a different person here than he'd been the day before. Surrounded by reporters and strangers - that wasn't his comfort zone by any means. But here, with his family, he was content. And then he saw Fin and faltered a little. Oh. Oh, no. He was there? There'd never been a reporter at their table and- "What, papa?"

"Is that lipstick on your collar?" Harry demanded for the second time.

"You bet it is," James grumbled and now Harry understood his irritation. Bailey.

"You were with her again?" Hugo asked, not bothering to hide his distaste.

Fin's head was down, his fingers picking apart the seam of his pants below the table, his mind continually screaming at him in heartbroken tears that he shouldn't- have- come.

Al misinterpreted the tone of Hugo's voice and ended up dropping into the seat beside Fin because it was closest. "I know I'm late. I'm sorry." She hadn't, for some weird reason, wanted him to come. But he'd promised and he'd already abandoned his plans the day before to be with her. He wouldn't do so two days in a row. "I tried to get away."

"Yeah. The struggle's all over your face," James grumbled and Al's face reddened significantly.

"James, don't tease your brother," was Harry's automatic reprimand, though he echoed the boy's sentiments. He glanced at Draco again, passing on his disapproval and his worry with his eyes a small fidget.

Fin, feeling disquietude at the situation, ducked his head and just sat still. Don't move. Don't look at him, just focus on the food that you could barely afford in a year. That... Didn't improve his mood. Finny started violently, body jumping in his own skin as Victoire's hand closed around his wrist, and soft, muttered words of French drifted into his ear.

"Just calm down, mon ami. It'll be alright."

James twitched, wondering what sort of romantic suggestions she was pouring into his ear. Lucky fucking bastard...

Al, completely oblivious to the discord going on around him, turned to Fin. "Ah... About yesterday. You left so suddenly. Did you have something to do or... did you change your mind about the whole interview thing?"

"Wait." Now James had something new to nitpick at. "You. Albus Severus Potter-Malfoy. You. Let yourself be interviewed?"

His cheeks pinkened. He, more than any of the others, had always harbored a deep mistrust for anyone in that particular profession and everyone knew it. "Well... Victi called him over. And he's not half-bad." And it was rude to talk about him like he wasn't there, so he turned his attention back to Fin. "You're not half-bad."

Fin's eyes slipped closed, his hand tightening around Victoire's. "Thanks, Albus. S... Same to you." Lifting his free hand, he ate a forkful of some vegetables that Victoire had placed on his plate the moment he had sat down. "If you want, we can... U-Um, I mean, we can always finish the interview." Later. Where your stupid little girlfriend isn't around-! No! He couldn't think that way... Okay. Maybe he could. Not like he didn't still have his damned Gryffindor backbone. It was just... Hidden. Behind a damn, girlish broken heart and... Oh, who the fuck was he kidding. "J-Just let me know when and where."

"Somewhere where Bailey isn't?" Al scrubbed a hand through his hair, smile apologetic even as a small flurry of glee spread through the occupants of the table. "She was... Really mad, actually, that you didn't talk to her. I don't see why she'd want you to anyway."

Harry very nearly facepalmed. Hugo did. "Cor, Al, how thick can you get?"

He bristled slightly. "I'm not thick."

The food tasted like ash in Fin's mouth. "I-I... W-Would you like me to interview your... Your- ...Bailey?"

Draco very nearly wanted to start screaming old Slytherin antics about how Gryffindors are foolish, stupid. Anyone could see that Fin was positively devastated by the mere mention of the bitch- witch, he corrected himself. Why couldn't Albus?

Harry sighed, giving his hand a squeeze. Al was shaking his head. "N-no! I don't want her in the Prophet. There's enough speculation on my love life. I don't want anything reported unless it's something serious."

Hope instantly flared in Fin's heart just to be squashed by the devils on his shoulders. He didn't want her in the Prophet? Did he lov... care for her that much that he didn't want her exposed? Fin could understand that, Albus had been in front of the camera his whole life. Why would he want his love life exposed? Of course not. They were on two different ends of the spectrum. Fin's heart ripped in two.

"Okay... Sorry. Didn't know."

"Hey Fin," Scorpius spoke up quietly. "I'd like to thank you for the expose' you did on the Bats a few weeks ago. I loved your photos!" Scorpius, always the one to lighten a situation.

Hugo looked at Fin with wide eyes. "Oh, wait, you're that Fin? I saw that! It was in Witch Weekly."

"Oh, 'Ugo. It is so adorable to know that you read Witch Weekly." Victoire blew him a kiss, wickedly amused.

"Oh, shove off! It mentioned Scorp. Of course I'm going to pick it up," he muttered, leaning comfortably back against his lover.

Scorpius laughed warmly, the situation instantly defusing. "Thanks, love. I'll remember that when I'm thanking the 'little people.'" He waved a hand dramatically. "My one and only love! Supports me by reading a magazine only a homosexual lover would!"

Draco snorted into his goblet of water. Oh Scorpius.

Hugo wriggled, attempting to free himself from the blonde's lap. "You shove off too, git. See if you get any chocolate anytime soon."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" James teased and Hugo very nearly retrieved his wand to hex him.

Laughter bubbled from everyone's lips, including Fin, whose laughter was almost infectious after the tense atmosphere.

"Seeing as it's my opinion that matters when you happen to be covered in chocolate and very pleasantly tied to the bed, I think I'll be sticking around. Thanks." Scorpius tugged Hugo back almost forcefully at the whispered words, nipping lightly at his lover's pale neck.

Crack.

They all winced, thinking it was the door.

"G-Genma apologizes Masters Potter-Malfoy, Potter-Malfoy, Potter-Malfoy's children, Misses Weas-el-ee-"

"Genma!" Victoire interrupted, a broad smile breaking across her face. "You are wearing the dress! You look wonderful! Très charmante!"

"M-Misses Weasel-lee! T-Thank you!" The small, wrinkly house elf bowed deeply before turning and scuttling towards the elder Potter-Malfoys. "Genma apologizes greatly on disrupting your dinners Masters, but Genma was told to tell you that Masters Teddy and Mister Zabini have apparated away sir, to Grimmauld place." She lifted a hand to dab at her eyes. "Very beautiful couple sirs, if I do say so myself, if I may."

Harry grinned widely, lifted Draco's hand to his lips. "So maybe we did raise him right. Thanks, Genma."

Genma scuttled back towards Victoire to greet her warmly and a promise to make more pretty dresses with her before popping away with a crack.

"Hey!" the cries of indignation were instant from the Potter-Malfoy children.

Chuckling, Harry waved his hand. "Maybe you lot were raised right too."

Draco raised an eyebrow, flicking Harry's nose lightly as his hand was still held up to the others lips. "They were raised perfectly well, if I had anything to say about it."

"Dad, please don't give papa an opportunity to prove you wrong," James pleaded.

Harry laughed. "How might I do that? Pointing out the time you actually locked Filch's cat in McGonagall's bedr-"

"We do not speak of that!" Draco grumbled, rolling his eyes and pushing a playful, non-Malfoy like smirk against his lips. "Nor do we speak of the time in fifth year you mistook your Weaslette for-"

"For nothing, ferret boy." Harry poked him sharply.

Draco's laughter was light, airy. "Ferret boy. Haven't heard that in a while." He was traumatized for months after the fact.

Al smiled, the expression not fading when he looked at Fin. "You've heard the ferret story, haven't you?"

"If Seamus hasn't shared it, I'll have to knock some sense into him," Harry put in.

Fin nodded, flashing a small smile Al's way. "Yeah. First story he told me when I was old enough to understand what Gryffindor vs. Slytherin meant."

Scorpius chuckled, rolling his eyes. "The only people that philosophy applies to is papa and dad. The rest of us are normal, thank you very much."

"Are you sure you're speaking for yourself, love?" Hugo smirked widely, only laughing when Scorpius playfully shoved him from his lap.

Fin returned to quietly eating the food set out for him, enjoying the rich delicacies that were so different from boxed chocolate frogs and stale coffee that he survived on most of the time.

"Oh, um, Fin?"

The heterochromic glanced up from his goblet of pumpkin juice (he wanted water, but Victoire forced him to drink something slightly heartier) for a moment, reminding himself to thank the Masters of the household for not mentioning his... disfigurement. "Yeah Al?"

"Ah... The interview. We could just get it done after dinner if you wanted. Up in my room? I have to get a few things."

"A few things for what, Al?" Draco questioned curiously as he speared a piece of meat with his fork before Fin could speak up. The rest of the table ate on in amicable silence.

His cheeks colored. "Just some things." He toyed with his goblet, frowning slightly. "And some of the different posters and things I have about for the shop. Bailey thinks we need a change of scenery." Al hadn't, until she'd convinced him.

Hugo snorted. "Like she even knows how to read."

Draco nodded slowly. "Let us know if you would like us to... Send anything over." Oh Al, how could you not notice what was right in front of your face? Draco wish he could just spell it out for his son, but fear of making him run away from their family had him tightening his hold on his emotions till he felt the need to spell it out word by word what an utter arse Bailey was for Al.

Crack.

"Would the Masters like desert now?"

"Chocolates," James decided, flicking his gaze to Hugo.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone want to steal away all my sweets? It's mad."

"Want about the baskets you made, my love?" Scorpius spoke up quietly, a mere whisper in Hugo's ear as Genma popped away with a nod and appeared a moment later, setting down tray after tray of chocolates, fruits, and cakes for the Misses that Genma knew she liked, wondering if the baskets were supposed to be a surprise or not.

Hugo shrugged, color rising. They were in his pocket, thanks to a shrinking charm, but after Genma had just delivered all this he felt silly. Surely what the house-elves managed to come up with was better than what he did. "It's... it's fine," Hugo mumbled.

"Hugh," Scorpius sighed plaintively. "They love your sweets so much more than what's on the table. You know this is all things from Diagon Alley, the only thing made is the cakes from Genma to your cousin." His fingers gently massaged at Hugo's sides.

But rejection from this lot would be a devastating blow... Hugo bit his lip. "Bugger," he muttered and dug in his pocket for them. He enlarged them and sent them around the table, thankful that he'd remembered the cooling charm so the pieces were whole.

When one of the seahorses broke loose - Fin's - Al laughingly caught it. "Oh, these are great, Hugo." He offered the chocolate back, smiling.

Lifting a hand to grab the small piece of white chocolate from Al's hand, Fin jolted back from the grip, his hand tingling from a simple brush of finger's with Al's hand. The chocolate fell to the table, the tail cracking off. "O-Oh I am s-so sorry-!"

"No, it's okay." Albus looked at his own hand, color tinting his cheeks again. That had been... "M-my magic does that sometimes. I have flares." Though not anything quite like that before.

Victoire bit back the giggles, but not the broad smile and Harry sighed. Oh, Al, you oblivious git...

Glancing up for a moment at a feeling of ice pricking against his chest, Fin's gaze wearily met that of James Potter-Malfoy, the glare being sent his way enough to break bones. Shite. Was this about Albus? Did the second oldest Potter-Malfoy child approve of the relationship his brother was in? He'd hope not. But hope never got him very far, did it?

"Who wants some chocolate?" Scorpius cheered, taking a bite of an orgasmic piece of white chocolate, with just the subtlest hints of vanilla, before leaning forward to lick some off of Hugo's lips. "I know I do."

Hugo laughed, approval across the table. He relaxed against his love, his own hope burning bright.


So what I've garnered from this chapter is that Syl is a pervert XD and I'm a prude at two in the morning. We compliment each other well.

Draco - Harry

Scorpius - Empty (Door.)

Hugo - Victoire

James - Fin

Empty - Albus

Empty (Teddy.) - Empty (Alexander.)

Place Settings

Enjoy that. XD

Also! Just in case anyone gets all hung up on Genma having a dress (like I did since that was Abra's idea XD) she IS technically a freed elf. But that house-elf loyalty is strong within her XD So she sticks around~

-Abraxas and Syl.