Title: Yours, Mine, and Ours
Author: AlexJanna
Pairing: H/D, past H/G and D/A mentioned
Rating: PG-13 (overall)
Genre: Au, Romance, Post-Hogwarts/War
Warnings: SS(PS)-DH compliant, EWE, future m-preg, reference and discussion of difficult topics
Word Count: (For this Ch.) 5,554
Disclaimer: HP is not mine. Plot and OCs for this fic are though.
Status: WIP
Summary: After his wife leaves him and abandons their children abruptly, Harry doesn't think he or his kids will ever be able to heal. But a chance meeting with an old nemesis and his son in Diagon, various childish schemes, and a little bit of quick upheaval makes Harry realize that just maybe everything isn't as irreparable or dire as he thought.
A/N: Inspired by the classic movies Houseboat (1958) and Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968). I love fics with their kids in them and have never really written one before for this fandom. This idea just came to me while I was watching Houseboat and started flowing like water. I hope you all enjoy this one!
***Chapter Ten***
The next few visits went famously for everyone involved. Each one started out with conspiratorial grins exchanged among the kids and, when they were at the Manor, knowingly amused looks from Lucius and Narcissa.
Draco and Harry greeted each other each day with increasingly familiar kisses and parted with the same, but didn't go much farther beyond that. They resolved to continue moving slowly, but neither of them really minded.
Teddy and his co-conspirators were basking in the glow of their victory. They fairly glowed with happiness every time they caught their fathers looking at each other in the way that James dubbed "moony-eyed". Of course, despite his teasing, he really didn't mind all that much.
Everything seemed to be moving smoothly until one afternoon at Grimmauld.
Draco was in the kitchen baking a few batches of cookies for the kids while Harry watched the little heathens out in the yard when the floo flared up.
Glancing over to see who had popped in, Draco had a fleeting thought that next to no one even knew he and Harry were friends much less dating when everything just left his mind in shock. He had a flash of need to pull his wand, but just settled for dropped his mixing bowl instead.
Of course, the woman standing in front of the hearth looked about three times as surprised and simply stood staring at him much like he did her.
Thankfully a particularly loud and happy shriek from outside snapped them out of their shock and they seemed to reel back away from each other.
Draco was remembering images of his insane Aunt Bellatrix as he looked at this woman that looked so much like her. Of course, he knew exactly who she was. She was Teddy's grandmother. She was Andromeda Black Tonks.
"Good lord." Andromeda breathed and pressed a hand to her chest. For a moment, when she'd stepped through the floo she'd thought she'd been seeing Lucius Malfoy standing in Harry's kitchen with flour on his cheek, and a spatula and mixing bowl in his hands. Then she saw the bits that weren't Lucius; the nose and lips and ears. Of course she knew who he was, but what she didn't know was what he was doing in her Harry's kitchen.
They stood silently staring at each other, studying each other until Draco remember he'd just dropped a mixing bowl filled with flour, eggs, and sugar on the kitchen floor.
Shaking himself, he bent to pick up the bowl, thankfully not broken, and straightened, eyes never leaving Andromeda.
"I'm sorry." He said deciding that perhaps politeness would help smooth over the edges. "I'm Draco Malfoy."
"I know who you are." She said, voice hard and unfriendly. Of course she didn't mean to sound so abrupt, but couldn't seem to shake off her shock.
He set the bowl back on the counter and sniffed a little in irritation. Obviously she didn't want to be polite.
"Right." He nodded, voice clipped. "And I know who you are. You are Andromeda Black Tonks." He said pulling out his wand and vanishing the ruined cookie mix from the floor. "Widowed by Theodore Tonks, mother of Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, mother-in-law of the werewolf, Remus John Lupin, and grandmother of Theodore Remus Lupin. I know who you are." He finished, voice growing frosty with every word.
Andromeda flinched. There had been no reason for her to be quite so suspicious. The boy was baking cookies for God's sake. It wasn't like he was rigging the house to blow, but even so. She hadn't had contact with her family since she was disowned. It was a bit of shock to see her little sister's son standing so domestically in Harry's kitchen.
She opened her mouth to apologize, to do something, but didn't get a chance.
Harry stepped through the open kitchen door. "Hey, Draco. I heard something crash. Is everything al...right?" He trailed off and stopped abruptly when he took in the scene before him.
Draco turned around giving Andromeda his back and flashed Harry a vague smile. "Yeah, I just got a bit of a shock and dropped the mixing bowl." He said. "I'm going to go check on the kids. The timer should go off in twenty minutes, pull the cookies out, and don't forget to turn off the oven." He instructed brusquely before he brushed passed him and disappeared outside.
That left Harry and Andromeda standing awkwardly in the kitchen with a heaviness in the air.
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Right, well. I guess that didn't go well, did it?"
"I'm afraid I might have been a bit abrupt." Andromeda agreed, her eyes still fastened on the kitchen door.
A breath puffed out of him and Harry pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down, motioning for Andromeda to join him. She took the chair next to his and turned to face him. "I thought he was Lucius Malfoy when I first stepped through the floo."
Harry snorted and folded one arm on the table. "And I'm sure he thought you were Bellatrix, as well. I thought you were the first time I saw you."
She pursed her lips in irritation and fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. "Yes, well. Thank goodness my darling sister is no longer with us. God rest her soul." She muttered grudgingly.
Shaking his head, Harry leaned back. "What happened, Andromeda?"
"I was suspicious and short with him." She said. "He took me by surprise, Harry. I'd never seen the boy in my life, I haven't seen his mother, my own sister, is decades and suddenly I find him in your kitchen baking cookies. Do you mind telling what is going on?" She gave him that penetrating stare that Harry figured all mothers knew. It was the one that said they knew everything, they were just waiting for you to say it out loud.
Harry had the good grace to look marginally guilty. "Draco and I are... seeing each other." He mumbled. "We hadn't spoken in ten years then when Albus ran away that one day after Ginny left, he hid out in Draco's shop in the Alley until Draco closed up and brought him home. After that we just kinda kept seeing each other." He shrugged helplessly.
"Scorpius, Draco's son, gets on amazingly with the kids, even Teddy likes him and Draco is great with them. We've been over to the Manor quite a bit and Narcissa and Lucius are -quite surprisingly, mind- great. It came as a shock, I can tell you, considering the last time I'd had any prolonged contact with them had been when I testified at their trial." He finished.
They sat in silence for a time until Andromeda finally found her voice. "You took my grandson into Malfoy Manor." She repeated flatly. "You put my Teddy in the same house as my condescending, prejudiced sister and her bastard husband?"
"Andromeda!" Harry snapped, a great surge of angry indignation suddenly welling up inside him. "I may not like Lucius, but Narcissa is not condescending nor are either of them excessively prejudiced any longer." He informed her assuredly.
"It doesn't matter! You still took my grandson to a house of former Death Eaters, and continue to put him in danger recklessly without even thinking to give me a say in the matter! Do you even know what they would have done to him during the war just because of what his father was?" She snarled at him.
"I know what would have happened to him better than you or anyone, Andromeda. But this isn't the war. The war's been over for a decade and Teddy has never suffered a single disparaging remark or dirty look from those people while under their roof." He told her, voice dangerously deep, before his face contorted into a sneer. "And how dare you suggest that I would ever subject Teddy -or my own children- to situation that I felt was even remotely dangerous or unwelcoming?"
"The war may be over, but the prejudices are just as strong now as ever." She responded coldly.
"I know you and Ted feared and, to some extent, disapproved of Tonks marrying a werewolf, but you have to let it go, Andromeda! You're holding onto fears ten years irrelivant. Narcissa and Lucius have never once given any indication that they cared that Teddy's father was a werewolf." He ground out in frustration.
"When were you going to tell me, Harry?" Andromeda demanded angrily, turning the argument back around. "When were you going to explain to me that you exposed Teddy to the last of my horrid family? He is my grandson and you didn't even think to inform me!" She yelled.
"Teddy may be your grandson, but Tonks and Remus named me his godfather. I have only ever had his best interests at heart and I will take him to Malfoy Manor, and I will let him spend time with some of the only blood family he has left, and I will inform you when I bloody well consider it important!" He shouted back leaning forward in his chair, legs tensed to spring to his feet.
"You had no right, Harry! No right to do any of that without my permission." Andromeda snapped, slapping a hand on the table violently.
"I have every right, Andromeda! By wizarding law Teddy is imy/i son, blood or not. If I had realized that it would be this much of an issue I would have spoken to you ahead of time, but I didn't, and it's done with. Teddy has never been in any danger with the Malfoys, nor suffered any emotional damage and your accusations are completely unfounded." He said coldly as he slowly rose to his feet.
"I will not stand for you falsely accusing any of the Malfoys of present wrongdoing or of the future intent of wrongdoing toward my family. Draco is my friend and more, Narcissa has welcomed Teddy, welcomed all of us into her home with open arms, and Lucius has been kind and considerate to iall/i of the children. If you are going to continue besmirching them, then I am going to ask you to leave and return when you are no longer dwelling in the past." His voice rang with finality and Andromeda knew she'd long over stepped her bounds.
If there were things Harry didn't tolerate above all others, they were the implication of any kind of neglect of his children on his part and unprovoked attacks on those he cared for when they could not defend themselves. She'd made a grave mistake in her overreaction; in her old angers and bitterness, in her fears.
"Alright, Harry." She whispered, sounding strangled in the thick air of the kitchen and stood from her chair. "I'll just collect Teddy and we'll go."
"No."
She looked up at him with an uncomprehending frown. "What?"
"Teddy stays here, with me." He stated in no uncertain terms. "I consider him to be, and he is by law, my son. I think it would be better if he wasn't around while you work things out. He stays with me."
Andromeda felt her protests choke her and she simply stared at him in shock.
"When you are ready to talk, when you are resolved, we can discuss him then, but for now he stays with me." Harry repeated.
She felt numb, but Andromeda knew that it was probably best. Harry was fully within his rights in the Wizarding World as godfather and Teddy loved it at Grimmauld. Teddy loved Harry.
Fidgeting, she stepped away from the table and began backing away toward the fireplace. "Alright, Harry." She murmured, not looking at him. "I'm sorry."
"I am, too." He sighed looked very tired and regretful. "Come back soon, Andromeda." He said trying to soften the harsh cruelty of the situation.
She flashed him a rueful smile as she made it to floo. "Will you tell Teddy that I'll- that I'll be visiting soon?"
Harry nodded and was about to add something more, to offer some apology for the way things had escalated, had ended, but he was stopped by a small voice from the doorway leading into the rest of the house.
"Grandma?"
Both adults spun around to see Teddy standing just inside the kitchen with Nova and Stella wrapped comfortingly around his neck, his face pale and sad.
"I hope you come back soon." He said softly, sounding much younger than he was wont to do.
Andromeda felt herself blanch then flush with shame. How much had he heard? It didn't matter, she realized, as she looked at his mousy brown hair and into his dull amber eyes. He'd heard enough.
"I'll be back, sweetheart." She assured him with strained smile.
He took a step, hesitated then unwound his snakes from his neck and held them out for Harry to take before he hurried forward and wrapped his arms around her middle.
"I love you, Grandma." He said in a small voice.
Blinking back tears she held him tightly for a moment before pulling back and stroking a hand over his dark messy hair. "I love you too, Teddy." She stepped away and took a pinch of floo powder from the jar sitting on the mantle. Slipping into the fireplace she spared a look at Harry and watery smile for Teddy. "Be good for Harry, and I'll see you soon."
Then she was gone in a flurry of green flames.
Harry felt his heart heavy in his gut as he stared at his godson with his unhappy brown hair and his slumped shoulders. Nova and Stella sat silent around his shoulders as he stepped toward him.
"Teddy?" He called placing a tentative hand on the little boy's shoulder.
"I'm alright, Harry." He said quietly as he turned around and buried his face in Harry's stomach for a moment, before pulling back and stepping away. "I'm gonna go to my room now." He mumbled and bolted for the door.
Harry remained silent and could hear him pounding up the stairs. Collapsing against the kitchen table, Harry looked down at the two sad snakes around his neck and asked, "How long had he been there?"
"The whole time, Serpent Lord." Nova answered with a mournful sigh.
"Poor little Chameleon." Stella moaned and laid her head down on top her brother's dejectedly.
Blowing out a stressed breath, Harry combed his fingers through his bangs again and leaned his head back. "Great." He muttered. "Just great."
"Do you think one of us should go up and talk to him?"
Harry lifted his head and saw Draco standing in the open kitchen door, his body framed in the afternoon light and his expression rueful.
"No, Teddy will want to be left alone." Harry answered. "He's the kind of kid that won't talk until he's absolutely ready."
Draco blew out a breath and walked into the kitchen, coming to a stop directly in front of Harry. "That was-... a very intense argument." He commented blandly. "Was it what you expected from her?"
Harry let out a sound that was somewhere between a groan and whimper before letting his forehead fall to press against Draco's chest. "I'm not really sure. I didn't think it was going to be quite that hurtful, but I figured it wasn't going to be all roses and hearts."
A flicker of amusement creased at Draco's eyes as he lifted his hands and began to stroke them through Harry's hair soothingly. "Roses and hearts, Potter?"
"You know what I mean." Harry grumbled as he pressed his face more firmly against Draco's chest and inhaled his perpetually cookie flavored scent. He felt the snakes shift and begin slithering down his body to the table then the floor. They were probably going to Teddy's room, Harry thought, feeling glad for their presence.
"I know, Harry. Are you alright?" Draco asked leaning down to press his lips against the top of Harry's messy head, his fingers still moving gently through his hair.
"I don't know. I didn't think she was still so -stuck-, you know." He shrugged halfheartedly. "She and Ted had some issues with Remus, but I didn't realize they still held bearing for her, or that she would still fear people's reactions to Teddy's parentage."
"It's a valid concern, Harry." Draco told him honestly, shifting obligingly when Harry's arms wound around his waist to pull him closer. "A lot of the old pure-blood families still have the same prejudices, and a lot of the Wizarding World still have the same fears. But I do think her mistrust in your judgment was unwarranted."
"I know about the prejudices and the fears, but I can't believe that Andromeda would think I could so oblivious or blasé about it." He muttered. "I would sooner rip out my heart than subject any child to that sort of unpleasantness willingly."
Draco sighed and wrapped his arms around Harry's neck comfortingly. "I know, Harry, and I'm sure she knows that too. Being disowned and estranged from your family instills a certain hurt and distrust that is hard to look passed. I'm not surprised Andromeda's not willing to assume the best of us considering. Give her some time, okay?"
"Okay." Harry mumbled unhappily. He understood, he really did, but hearing all those things just brought back so much anger and frustration that he hadn't really felt in ten years.
Pulling back enough so he could look up into Draco's face, he asked, "So, how much did you hear?"
"Pretty much all of it." Draco admitted unrepentantly. "Did you really expect me not to eavesdrop?"
Harry snorted and stroke his hands up and down Draco's back. "No. Did the kids hear?"
"No." He shook his head. "They were busy stalking that God awful gnome. Why do you let him camp in your yard, anyway?"
"The children like waging war on him and I'm inclined to think he likes it too. Did you know Teddy was listening?" He asked.
"No." Draco replied firmly. "I didn't see him until just near the end, but I think he'd been listening since the beginning."
"Mm." Harry agreed absently, suddenly feeling drained and lethargic in Draco's arms. "Nova said they'd been listening the whole time."
"Did you and Andromeda say anything you didn't want him to know, or hadn't already told him?" He asked curiously, somewhat worried. He didn't care that everyone knew about his family's past political allegiances, but he was worried that if Harry's kids didn't know they would react badly.
Harry shifted and looked off to the side. "He knew that his dad was a werewolf and knew that the Wizarding World still doesn't view them in a favorable light, but everything about his grandparents not approving of his dad and about your family was new."
Draco placed a hand under Harry's chin and pulled his face around to look at him. "You didn't tell your kids that we were enemies?" He asked incredulously.
"They know about the war, but I haven't told them about your family's part in it. It hadn't really crossed my mind to tell you the truth. And besides, they know that we hated each other in school anyway." Harry said defensively.
Draco just sighed and leaned his forehead against Harry's in resignation. He should have known dating Harry Potter would be hazardous to his sanity.
"You told Scorpius about the war, then?" Harry inquired neutrally.
"Yes." Draco answered dryly. "He knows everything. That Father was once the Dark Lord's right hand man, that I was given the task to kill Dumbledore, that we were imprisoned in our own home and I was forced to torture and kill people." His breath hitched and he paused.
"He knows that Mother saved your life." He continued quietly. "That you saved mine. He knows all of that. Even that the only reason we aren't in Azkaban is because you testified on our behalf." Draco finished softly.
Harry watched his face, his eyes for a long moment before he leaned up and captured his lips in a warm kiss. "I'm glad I testified for you." He murmured against Draco's mouth before tugging on his bottom lip with his teeth.
"Fuck." Draco gasped, then let out a breathy chuckle. "I am, too."
Harry's lips turned up for a split second in a grin before he slid a hand behind Draco's neck and pulled him in, deepening their kiss.
Their lips moved against each other and their tongues stroked and petted for a long while until they were rather unceremoniously interrupted.
"Yu-uck!" James exclaimed overly loudly from the kitchen door.
"Eeeew!" Albus drawled in mock disgust. "That's gross!"
"Da-ad! Har-ry! Stop snogging! We don't want to see it!" Scorpius moaned in protest.
"Shut up, you stupid-heads! I think it's sweet!" Lily scolded them, her pretty little face pinched in annoyance at the boys for being so very immature.
Draco and Harry just stood there for a moment with surprised blank looks on their faces before Draco snorted with laughter and buried his face in Harry's shoulder.
"Oh my God! Our kids caught us necking in the kitchen." He groaned between chuckles.
"They don't seem too upset." Harry observed as the boys all began making exaggerated icky faces and pretending to gag good naturedly while Lily smacked them for being "unromantic".
Good lord, where did his five year-old daughter learn about things like romanticism? He was suddenly very afraid for when she hit puberty.
"I think they're more amused than bothered by it." Harry smirked in amusement.
Draco sighed and pulled his face away to look at Harry wryly. "I guess we should be glad it wasn't my parent's catching us snogging. Now, that would have been truly embarrassing."
A shudder racked through Harry's frame before he threw his had back and laughed. "Right, well. Let's get those cookies out of the oven so the kids can think about other things besides us snogging."
Draco laughed and pulled away to do just that.
Teddy laid awake in bed that night, his bedroom window open to let in the late spring breeze and bathe his room in moonlight. He glanced out at the dark night sky and stared at the moon, the full moon.
Nova and Stella had slithered under his door hours ago and now sat curled on his belly fast asleep. When they'd first come back to him, they'd hissed and sighed and swayed in ways that Teddy just knew they were saying things meant to comfort and reassure. He appreciated the effort even if he couldn't understand them.
He'd never seen Harry quite that mad before. Not even when he and James had broken the window in the front parlor playing with his practice Snitch. He'd also never heard him talk about the war before either. Oh, he'd talk about it in broad terms like "a dark wizard wanted to get rid of non-pure-bloods", and "I was the only one who could stop him".
Of course, his grandmother had told him things in a little more detail. She told him that Harry had been born to a prophecy, that he had to die to kill Voldemort, that the Death Eaters had been Voldemort's followers, and his parents had died in the Final Battle where Voldemort fell.
Everybody knew that stuff though. Grandma-Molly had told them the stories about Harry and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione while they were in school, but a lot of the bad stuff, a lot of the stuff about the Death Eaters and what it was like during the war was never talked about.
And what about Draco? He thought, still staring up at the moon.
His grandmother had said that Draco and his family were Death Eaters and Harry hadn't denied it. The Malfoys couldn't be bad, though. They were so nice, and Harry believed they weren't dangerous at all. And he liked the them, too. Draco was completely awesome, and Miss Cissy was so kind, and Mister Malfoy was, well, not nice, but cool, impressive. And Scorpius was the best; Teddy wanted him for a brother like he wanted James and Albus and even Lily.
He rolled over dislodging the sleeping snakes and curled up facing the window. He remembered what Harry had said about his grandma and grandpa not approving of his dad when his parents got married. Was that true? It must be. Werewolves were feared these days and before and during the war even more so. What had it been like for his parents to get married and have him in the middle a war?
His mind was silent for a time until an echo of his grandmother saying those things about Miss Cissy and Mister Malfoy made him scowl. He'd known that Narcissa and his grandmother knew each other, had guessed at least, but he hadn't even considered that they'd be sisters. Why didn't they like each other anymore? Why did his grandmother hate her family so much?
Ugh! It was all too much. Teddy sniffled realizing that his eyes had begun to tear and wiped at them furiously with the back of his hand. It felt like he didn't know anything anymore. It was frustrating and it hurt to realized that there were things about his family that his grandmother and Harry hadn't told him.
The only good thing about any of this was that he got to stay with Harry now.
A small smile flicked at his lips before melting away leaving behind a calmness, if not happiness. Harry thinks of him like a son. Well, that's good because Teddy loves him like his dad too. At least that's a good thing. Maybe he can call him "Dad" now.
His bedroom door creaked open and Teddy looked over his shoulder to see James in his Snitch pajamas standing nervously in the doorway.
He wiped at his face one more time, to make sure it was dry before giving him a tiny smile. "Hi."
James smiled back and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "Hey. What happened today?" He asked.
Teddy huffed out a breath and scooted toward the window to make room for James, pushing his irritably sleepy snakes nearly off the bed in the process. "Harry and my grandma got in a fight." He said quietly so their voices wouldn't travel.
Climbing on the bed, James wriggled under the covers and curled up facing Teddy. "What did they fight about? You didn't come down to dinner."
It was true. When Harry had knocked on his door for dinner he'd ignored him and gone without. Now that he remembered that though, he wished he hadn't skipped it.
"Grandma didn't know that Harry was friends with Draco and that we'd visited the Manor with him." Teddy answered simply.
James frowned in confusion. "What does that matter?"
Teddy shrugged and gave him a shortened version of the fight as an explanation. "That's why she was so mean." He finished.
The other boy looked thoughtful for a moment. "You mean the Malfoys were Death Eaters and fought for Voldemort?"
"That's what grandma said and Harry didn't say she was wrong." Teddy confirmed. "Are you worried about that now?" He asked.
"Not really." James replied truthfully enough. "They've always been nice to us, and Dad wouldn't let us near them if they were dangerous."
"That's what I thought, too." He agreed. "But I'm more worried about why Grandma is so angry with them. Do you think they were really awful during the war?"
"I don't know." He said. "I don't think so, I mean they're not in Azkaban, are they?"
"No." Teddy agreed. "I think we need to find out exactly what they did during the war." He announced.
"What do you mean? Dad killed Voldemort and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione helped him, that's it." James frowned.
"No, no. I mean, we need to find out what the Malfoys did. Why my grandma is so angry at Miss Cissy, and why she thinks that they wouldn't be nice to us, to me." He explained.
James thought about that for a moment. "I guess you're right, but how would we find any of that out without asking the adults for help? You know they'd try and tell us the 'kid friendly' version of everything." He sneered, his face scrunching in familiar disgust.
He was right. How would they go about researching the war without getting the adults involved? "I think we're going to need help." He said.
Teddy looked James in the eyes and he immediately understood perfectly. "Who do you have in mind?" He asked.
"Albus and Lily, definitely." They both nodded in complete agreement. Teddy bit his lip debating with himself, then finally reached a decision. "And Scorpius too. He'll be able to get things from his family's side that we wouldn't be able to get."
James's turned his eyes to Teddy's and he raised a questioning eyebrow in a perfect imitation of Draco and Mister Malfoy. Teddy couldn't help it. He giggled at the sight of it, but calmed when James started to speak.
"Are you sure about him?" James asked. "You'd have to tell him about Dad and Aunt Dromeda's fight." He warned.
Teddy nodded assuredly. Scorpius was a master schemer and he was a bit of a bookworm like Albus. He'd know what to look for, and how to get it without the adults getting suspicious.
"Alright." James said with finality. "How do you think we should do this?"
He thought about that. How would they even know where to begin?
"Family tree?" He suggested. "Dad's godfather was Sirius Black, right?" He started, but just rolled his eyes when James gave him a look that said quite plainly, "duh".
"Okay, right." He continued. "Dad said that Sirius was my cousin through Grandma, so we should start looking at the Black family." He said.
"Alright." James nodded. "Where do we look for that, then?"
They looked at each other and groaned. "The library."
"Man! I hate having to go in there. It's all dusty and smells like parchment." James sniffed in disgust.
Teddy rolled his eyes again. "You just don't like it cause you know if you go in there you'll have to read something. Besides, it's supposed to smell like parchment, that's what books are made out of."
"Yeah, well. We'll make Albus and Lily do all the reading." He grumbled.
Of course, Teddy didn't argue with that. They'd always been better at researching for stuff than him and James. Aunt Hermione was always gushing about it.
"We'll talk to Scorpius about what he knows next time we see him." Teddy yawned, suddenly feeling very tired. "He might know more than we do."
"Good idea." James said as he rolled onto his back to get comfortable. "I hope we can figure out why Aunt Dromeda was so mad. Maybe then we can fix it."
Teddy was quiet for a time, then mumbled, "I hope so, too. I like the Malfoys and I want her to like them, too. It would suck if she hates them when Harry and Draco get married."
Turning his head just enough to look at him, James asked, "You really think Dad and Draco'll get married?"
"I hope they do." He replied. "I'd like Draco to be my dad like Harry."
James looked back up at the ceiling. He hadn't considered that if Harry and Draco do fall in love and get married then it would be like having two parents again. He didn't know if you could have two dads, but since Draco could have babies maybe it would work.
If that was true then he could almost be like a mum.
A jolt of pain lanced through his chest. James missed his mum, but not as much as he probably should, he realized. It more like he missed the things a mum would do for you. Like give you hugs, and make you cookies and pancakes, like patch you up when you get hurt, and hold you when you're sad. Draco did those things, he realized, and so did his dad really.
He lifted his hand up and looked at the healing pink scar on his index from where the garden gnome had scored a lucky bite. Draco had healed it for him with a special potion he'd made. And Draco had made cookies that day too and always hugged them all when he saw them.
His dad hugged them too, and made pancakes for breakfast. James blushed a little and remembered when his dad had held him while he cried just after his mum had left.
You can have two dads, he decided. And if one of those dads can have babies, then that's just an added bonus.
Grinning, he flicked his eyes over to see if Teddy was still awake. He was, just rolled onto his back as well and staring up at the moon.
"I want Draco to be one of my dads, too." He whispered and was rewarded with a small flash of a smile from Teddy.
"Yeah," he sighed, still staring at the moon. "That would be great."
TBC...