An awkward silence settled upon the two grown men, as Harry looked anywhere but Draco and Draco looked anywhere but Harry. They weren't sure what to do with this idea of flirting, as it was so new to them; and was Draco even flirting with him? Harry could never be sure whenever anyone gave him any kind of romantic attention. He could just be reading this atmosphere all wrong and making it awkward where it didn't need to be.

Luckily Harry was saved by Teddy, who entered the room red faced and panting slightly. He threw himself into one of the chairs by his god father rather dramatically and rested his head on the dark oak table. "Man, those kids sure run fast." He says, moving his head from the table onto the crook of his elbow. Harry raises an eyebrow at the oldest child, silently asking him what he meant. "We switched from playing Hide and Go Seek to playing tag because James wouldn't stop complaining on how it was a kids game. He may be seventeen, but man does that boy whine. So Lily suggested we play tag and he agreed, somewhat hesitantly." Teddy shrugs, closing his eyes.

"You know, as much as he verbally protested playing, he was still in the game, so it couldn't have been that bad."

Harry gives an amused glance over Teddy's head to Draco, who was watching the interaction. He gives the other man a sly wink before looking back to Teddy, ignoring the soft blush that was now gracing Draco's features. "Ted, as the oldest, you should make sure that the kids are getting along." Harry scorns gently, his eyes sparkling in amusement. Teddy cracks one eye lid open and gives a loud sigh. "I know that Harry, I can't help that I'm an adult. I mean honestly, why did you even bring me here?"

"To make sure Albus and James don't kill each other."

"Yes well, I'll admit, I've had to be a peacekeeper a couple of times when accusations had been thrown around about cheating, but for the most part, Albus and Scorpius are in their own worlds."

Harry gives a gentle sigh before running his thumb over the handle of his tea cup. He was afraid that this would happen, and it was partially the reason why he even asked Teddy to come over today. Well, that and because he was hoping that there would be another adult who could come and interrupt any awkwardness between Draco and himself. Harry knew it was probably wrong to hope that someone nineteen years his junior could help with awkwardness, but Teddy had a knack for dissolving bad situations.

A trait inherited by his late father.

The two fell silent with Draco just watching the interaction. Finally Teddy lifted his head from the table and stretched his arms above his head before giving out a deep sigh. "Well, I'm gonna head back to those kids before someone kills someone. And by someones, I of course mean James and Albus." Teddy gave Harry a teasing grin before standing and leaving the room, leaving the two grown men alone once more.

Part of Harry was terrified now that Teddy was no longer there to block the awkwardness from being with Draco, and yet, another part of him was relieved he was gone so he could spend some time alone with his once nemesis. This realization shocked Harry, and his eyes widened slightly at the thought. Happy to spend time alone with Draco? Where was that coming from?

"Harry? Are you okay?"

Harry jumped slightly, not sure of he was more surprised by Draco suddenly speaking or the fact that he used his first name. A light blush dusted across Harry's dark skin and he rubbed the back of his neck, cursing himself for acting like a love struck teenager. "What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He glanced over at the other man before looking away, embarrassed.

"You've... never called me that before."

Draco turned a lovely shade of pink before clearing his throat, averting his gaze away from Harry. "I'm sure I have Potter, now stop making this to be such a deep moment." Still in shock at what Draco had just said, Harry didn't object. Awkward silence had fallen over the two again and Harry was cursing himself silently, wishing that just once, he could talk to the other man without it being weird or awkward.

"I heard that you're leaving the Auror's to be a teacher at Hogwarts."

Harry silently thanked Draco for breaking the silence, but was thoroughly confused as to what Draco chose to break the silence with. "Yes? Didn't we have this conversation already? On the phone?" Draco blushed again (a look Harry was scared to admit he admired) and looked away, rubbing his thumb over the handle of his tea cup. "Yes, well I was trying to break this awkwardness that seems to always fall upon us." Harry let out a small chuckle as the other man voiced his own thoughts. Harry reached across the table and rested his hand on top of Draco's, giving the blonde a shy smile.

"Look, how about we skip the whole 'I'm sure how to act around you' thing and just skip to the part where we're friends. Real friends."

Draco stared at their combined hands and while Harry was embarrassed, he couldn't bring himself to pull away.

"You rescued my mother."

Draco said finally, drawing his words out slowly, as though he wasn't sure how to proceed. The statement surprised Harry, and he (ruefully) withdrew his hand slowly, letting his fingers ghost over Draco's pale skin. "Well, she rescued me, in a way. She could have told Voldemort-" Harry ignored the small flinch that followed. "That I was still alive. But she didn't. She asked me if you were still alive, and when I said you were, she told him I was dead. It was really due to Narcissa that we won the war. I wish I could say I'm sorry that I didn't save your father-"

"I don't want you to. My father was a terrible man, and he deserved to rot in Azkaban. That much I am absolutely certain. But my mother..."

Draco glanced up from the tea cup he had been staring at while Harry had been speaking. "I am grateful to you for sparing her. And for sparing me." Draco unconsciously reached up and scratched at his left forearm, a feat that did not go unnoticed by Harry. Harry burned with questions he did not dare to ask, for fear of offending Draco and upsetting this peaceful balance the two were beginning to create.

"Of course I spared you Draco. You were just a boy, caught up in this mess. You were taught this, but it wasn't who you were. In the end, your father chose his fate and you chose yours."

"Yes, it's easy to say that now, after the fact. When so many years pass that it's impossible to separate truth from muddled truth. It's true that I was taught the wickedness that He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named preached, but it cannot be forgotten that I believed it. You can say all you wish that I was just caught up in the mess as you called it, but never forget that it was I who joined the Death Eaters and I who was tasked with killing Dumbledore. A task I couldn't even succeed none the less! No, it's easy to say that I was just a boy; but a boy must grow into a man, even in the face of war."

As Draco had been speaking, his grey eyes left Harry's emerald ones and drifted back to his cup, his hand squeezing his left forearm tightly as past memories long ago buried made their way to the surface once more. The look on Draco's face tore Harry's heart and he wished that there was something, anything, he could say that could take that look of pain away from the his graceful features, for even in pain and sadness, Draco could still look the price of beauty.

Harry's heart jumped when he realized how... gay his thoughts were quickly becoming and shoved them away to be dealt with later. Right now, his friend was hurting and Harry needed to be there to stop it, or, at the very least, be the temporary remedy.

Harry might not have been able to solve Draco's internal war, but he could at the very least postpone the battle.

So Harry put his hand on Draco's once again, ignoring the way Draco flinched, as though he had forgotten Harry was still in the room. "You're not the same person you were nineteen years ago Draco. I mean, look at you. You have me, in your house, exposing yourself to me in a very emotional way. Your son is best friends with my son, and take a look at him! Your son is the nicest kid I have ever seen. And that, is a beautiful thing. You raised that boy. You sheltered that boy. You haven't been teaching him the same things your father taught you; there's no way, because Scorpius doesn't have a hateful bone in his body. Your son is all the best things about you and more. You want to sit there and hate yourself, fine; but just realize that your son is everything good about you."

And then the strangest thing happened; Draco turned his hand and laced his fingers with Harry's, tears slipping down his cheeks slowly. He still didn't look at the raven haired boy, but Harry didn't need Draco to look at him. So Harry rubbed gentle circles on the back of Draco's hand with his thumb and allowed another silence to fall over the two of them; but this silence was awkward, it wasn't uncomfortable. Instead, it was the perfect thing they needed.

"Thank you, Harry."

Draco whispered, his voice barely audible. Harry could only hum in response and he gave him a reassuring squeeze.

And Harry decided that holding Draco Malfoy's hand wasn't so bad.

Hey everyone!

I'm so sorry this took so long, but I don't have an excuse this time. Whoops! Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. :)

So I just wanted to clarify in the beginning, because Ninjasnowflake had left a comment saying that they were confused about Teddy and all that Jazz, so I hoped I clear that up. To be completely honest, I wasn't really thinking it through because, well, this is fanfiction so PLOT CONVENIENCE but it's not like me to leave such a big plot hole and make you guys pretend for plot convenience, so I thought I'd try to clear it up. Ugh, now I have to go into this whole thing about it... jk, I'm excited :D

ANYWAYS, A major thank you to Dark Daughter of Hades, Ninjasnowflake, and ragsweas for eviewing the last chapter! I'm glad you guys enjoyed it.

Finally, please be sure to leave a review with your thoughts about the chapter and be sure to follow this so you can get notifications on when I update, and be sure to favorite this if you're enjoying this. Until next time!

Much love and stuff,

-ImmaSlytherout

(p.s. Don't diss plot convenience. It works for movies and it will work for fanfiction xD)