It was cold, it was snowing, but Draco had decided that it would be a good idea to have a date in the grounds of Hogwarts. It was their place now, no cameras were allowed in or out so actually it was perfect. McGonnogal had given them the go-ahead, she secretly cooed over them, happy that they had found each other, that they no longer argued. They had better ways of releasing that tension, now. Anyway it would have been perfect if Harry wasn't stood waiting for him, he mumbled under his breath "Bastard." He didn't mean it, nor would he ever call Draco a bastard to his face. But why the fuck was he late? He could've been held up at work, Harry thought to himself, but he would've sent an owl. Like that guy who stood me up. No. Harry didn't want anymore rejection owls, they stung too much. He looked up at the castle that he had called home for so many years and thought back to his fonder memories, of quidditch, of fires, of Hagrid and other professors that he held in a special place in his heart. He thought about Dobby and the other people that had been lost to the war.. Stop it. He couldn't go there right now, he couldn't bring those faces to the front of his mind. Thankfully Draco came into view, he was holding a crate that didn't look dissimilar from a qudditich crate.
"Hey, fancy seeing you here. At our date." Harry pouted, rubbing his hands together. "That better not be bludgers and merlin knows what else in there, Malfoy."
Draco raised an eyebrow, "Malfoy? Someone's grumpy. Don't worry Potter," He winked and smirked, and all was forgiven on Harry's part. "It's not a bludger, or a snitch, or a quaffle. And I'm sorry I was late but this shit is heavy and I bumped into Neville."
"How is he? How's Luna?" Harry helped Draco with the crate, finally resting it on the grass. Draco made Harry sit on a nearby fallen log and wrapped a scarf around his eyes.
"He's good, he looked tired, but then he said he'd just had 1st years. Anyone would be tired after that." They both laughed and Draco set to work constructing their date. "Luna is feeling the effects of her third trimester now, I think she's a bit sick of being pregnant from what Neville said. The cold weather isn't helping either, she's trying to continue working part time, fight off infections and get the house ready for a baby. Which you know will be an absolute nightmare, Neville is currently repotting mandrakes in their kitchen."
Harry laughed and pulled his coat around himself tighter, "I'm glad they found each other, glad they managed to get it together. But I never thought that those two would be the first ones to settle down out of our lot." Harry talked about the group like Draco was a part of it and now in some way he was, he'd been accepted by their close friends, but they were still treading the water with other people. They hadn't told Neville and Luna for example, but they would soon enough. It was more of a case of omitting the truth, than keeping it from them. They were still trying to find their feet in the relationship before the whole of the wizarding world needed to know. "When are we going to tell Scorpius?"
"That was sudden." Draco raised an eyebrow, even if Harry couldn't see it. "Where did that come from, babe?"
The dark haired man shrugged, "He should know Draco. He's your son. I know he's only two and he probably won't understand but we'd be able to be ourselves around him then. We'd be able to kiss and cuddle and he would know who you really are."
Draco sighed, "You put up a good argument. I'll think about it." He had finally finished building their date, he took the blindfold off of Harry and Harry looked at the site before him. There was a wigwam set up with fairy lights scattered around it, he presumed they were pixies but skimmed over that. There were little jars dotted around the grass that glowed elegantly, inside of the wigwam there were thick fluffy blankets and pillows of varying shades and textures. A hamper lay outside the wigwam which looked like a smaller version of the crate Draco had been carrying earlier, inside of the crate there was a mass of food, Bertie Bott's every flavour bean, chocolate frogs, treacle tart, no melt ice cream, pumpkin tart, sandwiches, crisps, cheeses. There were two bottles of butterbeer wrapped in cloths so they would stay warm, because there is nothing better than a warm butterbeer in the middle of winter.
"Draco.." Harry whispered, shocked. He stepped towards him and smiled, "You don't need to say anything." He kissed him gently and Harry leant into him, wrapping his arms around the slightly taller mans neck.
They'd been chatting aimlessly for a while, feeding each other food and drinking the beer. "I wish I didn't have to go to this meeting tomorrow, I wish I could just stay here with you."
"Forever? I don't, but you certainly have a life to get back to Draco."
Draco shrugged, "Work is work."
"Woaah. You feeling okay babe? Work isn't just work to you, it's your life. Apart from Scorp and me, obviously." Harry winked and kissed Draco quickly.
"I know.. But sometimes, when I've worked all week and weekends, and I've barely seen my boys, I feel like it's not worth it. Someone else could do my job just as well as I can, someone else could be me.. The ministry is changing and I'm not sure I like all of the changes, Kingsley is doing an amazing job of course, but the department heads, they don't all trust him. They think that his allegiance to Dumbledore etc was misplaced, and there was a time when I would have believed those sorts of people. They're just confused, no ones explained things properly to them."
"Maybe the meeting tomorrow will help, clear things up a little?"
Draco nodded and kissed Harry's lips, laying his head in his lap he was comfortable and happy and he felt like he could talk to Harry about anything.
(( LINE BREAK ))
Hermione was sat at the long table in the middle of the wizarding conference room, deep in the heart of the Ministry. It was the tri annual meeting of all the departments and Hermione had to bring up the Puddlemere incident to ensure that qudditch teams had no means of travelling out of their areas, for the good of muggles, for wizarding safety, etc. Draco was also there, sat next to her, and he had to bring up the burning-school-because-a-child-got-hold-of-a-wand incident. He didn't want to, but he was going to have to initiate a system where teachers had locks on their wands, it made life much more complicated for professors but he would only be implementing it to professors that taught children of primary and pre school age. Professors at Hogwarts would not need to have the same system, their wands would not need to be locked unless an incident occurred in the future, and for Draco's sake he prayed that there would not be an incident in the future.
Hermione was tired, she was fed up and she thought that she would have been able to get home to Oliver, but clearly not. It was nearing 10pm and they were still sat at the table, Draco slipped Hermione a note under the desk and she opened it up..
You okay? You look like you're going to be sick any minute.
She looked at him and nodded, mouthing "Cover for me." She jumped out of her seat and ran out of the room, clutching her stomach.
