A/N: Well, this is the second last chapter of this story, which I'm kind of sad about. A couple of people have been asking if I'll do a sequel. I think I see "As The Walls Fall Down" as the sequel to this, even if some of the event don't completely match up, so I don't think I will. However, I do plan to write a prequel about Lucius and Narcissa, so look out for that.

You're Beautiful

"We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts!" Lyra and Faye danced excitedly round Draco and Astoria, chanting the words in unison, until Astoria began to feel a little dizzy. Her daughters might be eleven now, and heading off to Hogwarts, but sometimes they didn't seem a day older than seven.

"Yes, yes, we know," Draco said patiently, "But if you don't shut up then your mother's going to have an awful headache and might not be able to drive properly, in which case we might reach the station late and then you'll miss the train." The girls fell silent at this sobering thought, and Astoria threw her husband a grateful look.

With the twins now helping, they soon got the trunks safely stacked in the boot of the car, followed by the three children. Lyra and Faye were chattering away excitedly, asking Scorpius all sorts of questions about Hogwarts, most of which he avoided with a mysterious, "You'll find out soon enough."

"I wonder what house we'll be in," Lyra said. She and Faye pondered the question for a minute.

"Not Hufflepuff," Faye said, "We're far too smart to be in Hufflepuff."

"Oi!" Scorpius retorted, batting playfully at her, "Hufflepuff's are smart!"

"Perhaps we'll be in Ravenclaw," Lyra continued, ignoring him, "Ravenclaw's are smart."

"Nah, too boring," Faye argued, "We'd have to study all the time if we were in Ravenclaw!" She looked disgusted by the very thought, and this time it was Astoria's turn to glare at her.

"So either Gryffindor or Slytherin," Lyra concluded, "They'd both be good."

"Yeah," Faye agreed, "Gryffindor or Slytherin."

Either Gryffindor or Slytherin. That was an odd decision to come to, considering the houses had always been mortal enemies, the complete opposite of each other. But now that Astoria thought about it, it wasn't so surprising really. After all, it was the similarities between the two houses that were really the cause of their enmity.

They arrived at the station in plenty of time. Of course, Lyra and Faye had been here plenty of times before to see Scorpius off or pick him up, but they were far more excited this time. This time they wouldn't be waving the train off and then returning with their parents. This time they would be on the train, and they were sure to remind everyone about that fact as often as possible.

It would be different for her and Draco too, Astoria knew. Their one consolation while waving Scorpius off had always been that they still had two children at home with them. But not anymore. The flat would seem very empty with just the two of them.

There were no emotional goodbyes from Lyra and Faye. They just weren't the type for that. They'd always been more independent than Scorpius, perhaps because they had each other.

"See ya!" Lyra cried, jumping onto the train and pulling Faye with her.

"We'll write when we get the chance!" Faye said, before being dragged off down the corridor. Astoria smiled fondly after them.

"Keep an eye out for them," she said to Scorpius, who hadn't yet got onto the train.

"Of course," he said, hugging her briefly, and then his father, "I've got to go – I said I'd meet Rose and Al."

He jumped onto the train, which pulled away shortly afterwards.

"Can you believe they're so grown up?" Astoria asked, turning to Draco, "Lyra and Faye setting off to Hogwarts for the first time, and Scorp going into fifth year."

"It'll be strange not to have them around," Draco agreed.

"What are you going to do now?" Astoria asked. It had suddenly occurred to her that this must be harder for Draco than for her. At least she had her job. Looking after the kids had been Draco's job for the last fifteen years.

"Well Hannah offered to let me come back to the Leaky Cauldron," Draco said, "But I'm not sure I could go back to being a waiter now. That's a job for young people, not for a middle-aged father. But I was talking to some friends the other day who said they knew some people who were having the same difficulty we had about teaching the kids. They can't send their children to a muggle primary school, can't afford a tutor, and they both work so neither of them can commit to full-time home-schooling. And I was thinking there must be a lot of people within the Wizarding World who face the same issue. So what if I were to start little classes for those children? I'd charge far less than a tutor, and I'm sure the children would benefit from learning as part of a group. It would be a bit like a school, but less formal."

He looked at her, obviously seeking her approval. She smiled. She hadn't seen him this excited about something since he'd first started teaching Scorpius.

"That's a great idea, Draco," she said, "You're brilliant with children, and I know of at least three different couples who'd be thrilled to take you up on this. You should go for it."

Tap. Tap. Tap. Draco looked up from the table, where he and Astoria were sitting eating breakfast. It was a Sunday, which was the only day the two of them were ever able to eat together in the morning, without Astoria having to rush off to get to work on time.

"I think that's Lyra's owl," he said, getting to his feet to let it in. Astoria looked up with interest.

"I think you're right," she agreed, "It's about time the twins wrote to us. We must have had at least three letters from Scorpius already, and I really would like to know what house they've gone into."

Draco skimmed through the letter, then sat down very quickly.

"I think they've been waiting to tell us all their news at once," he said, "This letter's from both of them. Apparently they've had three detentions already. And they don't seem very apologetic about it either. In fact, I'd swear they're actually boasting about it."

Astoria shook her head fondly.

"We'll have to write a very disapproving reply, of course," she said, "But honestly I'm not very surprised. I do feel sorry for their teachers, however."

Draco had to admit he wasn't surprised either. The one thing he didn't miss from his days teaching the twins was trying to think of more and more imaginative forms of discipline, ones that might actually get through to the two troublemakers.

"What about their house?" Astoria asked, "Which poor Head of House is stuck with them for the next seven years?" Draco took a deep breath. This was the part of the letter that had surprised him the most.

"Lyra's in Slytherin and Faye's in Gryffindor," he said, "I'm not sure who the Slytherin Head of House is, but if anyone can handle them then I suppose that Neville can. I wish him luck in that."

"Different houses," Astoria mused, "Well I didn't expect that. They've always been so inseparable. I suppose it'll be good for them, though, to make some different friends. And can you believe that with children in three of the four houses, not one of them made it into Ravenclaw?" She pretended to look offended, and Draco laughed.

"I guess you're the only Ravenclaw in the family," he said, "But Scorpius is the only Hufflepuff, and Faye is the only Gryffindor. What a strange, mixed family we are." It was very odd, and once upon a time the idea that his family would have anyone but Slytherins in it would have horrified him. But now he had all four houses represented, and he couldn't bring himself to be upset about that. It was quite nice, really.

"Any other news?" Astoria asked. Draco nodded.

"They're both on their respective Quidditch teams," he said, feeling a little glow of pride as he imparted this particular piece of news, "Apparently neither of their captains even wanted to let them try out because they're only first years, but they refused to leave the pitch until they'd been given the chance. I think both captains probably only agreed to try and get them to leave more quickly, but the moment they saw them fly they were both signed as Chasers."

"That's great!" Astoria exclaimed, "And they deserve it, after all the practicing they've done over the last few years."

"Yeah," Draco agreed, "But I dread to think what Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch matches are going to be like. They both get so competitive." He sat down to read the letter again. He was so proud of his girls.

"Draco, leave all that paperwork and come and eat!" Astoria pretty much had to drag her husband through to the kitchen. He'd been very distracted lately. The school idea had been far more successful than they'd ever expected. He'd had to rent out premises near Diagon Alley to use, because there were far too many children to fit in their little flat, and had hired a second teacher. He was currently applying to the Ministry of Magic to try and get funding to expand the project, and was hoping that one day it could be run like the Muggle education system, without parents having to pay for their children's schooling.

But today was their wedding anniversary, and Astoria was determined that the two of them would spend at least a few hours together. A meal together in the kitchen was hardly romantic, but it was better than the takeaways on the sofa they'd been eating more and more of lately.

She thought Draco had probably forgotten about the anniversary, what with everything that had been going on lately. She didn't blame him, not really. They'd been married for seventeen years now. It wasn't practical anymore to expect romance all the time.

But Astoria couldn't help but feel a little frustrated as they sat down to the meal, both wearing their usual, casual jeans. Would it have been so hard for Draco to book a table at a fancy restaurant, as he had for their anniversaries back in the first few years of their marriage? And she could have dressed up, and he could have worn a suit, and just for the evening she could have felt young and beautiful again.

She had to force back the tears as she looked up from her meal to Draco, who had set his fork down and was contemplating her.

"There's something missing," he said thoughtfully, then drew a little box from his pocket and set it on the table in front of her. She knew a look of surprise must have come onto her face, because he laughed.

"You didn't really think I'd forgotten, did you?" he asked, "Happy Anniversary, Tori."

Carefully, she lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a beautiful, heart-shaped locket on a silver chain. She opened the locket. In one half was a picture of her and Draco on their wedding day, while the other half held a picture of the three children, taken a few years ago. Scorpius was waving enthusiastically at the camera, while the twins pulled faces at each other.

She sighed. Draco immediately looked worried.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "Don't you like it?"

"It's gorgeous," Astoria said, "It's just … well I look so pretty in that picture. And I love the kids, I really do, but I miss being pretty and young and swept off my feet by how much you were in love with me."

Draco was silent for a long moment, and Astoria felt tears well up in her eyes. She felt guilty for ruining the anniversary like this, especially after Draco had got her such a wonderful gift. Then Draco got to his feet, picked up the locket and carefully fastened it around her eyes. Standing behind her, he wrapped his arms around her.

"You're right," he said, "You were very pretty on our wedding day. I've never seen such a gorgeous bride. But when I look at you now I don't see somebody pretty, or even gorgeous. I see somebody beautiful. You're beautiful, Tori, and I'm more in love with you now than I ever was then."

His voice was low and sincere, and in it Astoria could hear the man she had fallen in love with so many years ago. But more than that, she could hear the man she was in love with now, and it was a deeper love than she could ever have felt back then. It was a love with seventeen years worth of memories to strengthen it, and she knew she would never give that up, even to return to that wonderful wedding day.

Because on her wedding day, everyone would have agreed she was pretty. But that meant nothing compared to the fact that right here, right now, sitting at the kitchen table in jeans and an old t-shirt, with her hair a mess and no make-up on, in Draco's eyes she was beautiful.

"And Potter passes to Malfoy, who takes off down the pitch, dodges her sister, narrowly avoids a Bludger, and she shoots … aaaand she scores! That's quite a team James Potter has put together this year! People weren't sure about his decision to take on young Faye Malfoy, what with her only being a first year and having her twin sister in the opposite team, but boy has she proven them wrong! So that's sixty-fourty to Gryffindor, with the Malfoy sisters having scored thirty goals each. And Slytherin is in possession, heading up towards the goalposts …"

Draco thought this was probably one of the most gripping games of Quidditch he had ever seen, though that might have been because he had a daughter on each team, and wasn't really sure who he ought to be supporting, so found himself cheering whenever anyone scored a goal. Lyra and Faye were both flying beautifully and mostly the scores stayed fairly even, though Gryffindor were always slightly ahead. They had a stronger team of Chasers, and Draco had to admit that James Potter was a very good captain.

He had come to Hogwarts to see the Quidditch match at the request of the twins, and had consented because it was one of the few opportunities parents had to see their children during term time.

"And Malfoy scores again, bringing the score up to one hundred and fifty-eighty to Gryffindor. Gryffindor are really starting to pull ahead and Slytherin are going to have to start making an effort if they want to catch up."

To Draco's astonishment, the Slytherin team didn't immediately panic and resort to the dirtiest tactics possible, as they always had back when he was on the team. In fact, as he watched Lyra swoop around the pitch, he realised she didn't look concerned in the slightest. Watching carefully, however, he noticed that the Slytherin team began to play more defensively. They didn't seem very worried about scoring goals, but preferred to do everything they could to prevent Gryffindor from scoring more.

Automatically, he found his eyes drawn to the Seekers, the position he had once played. Both Seekers were well above the action, circling lazily around above the pitch. As he watched more closely, however, he realised there was a significant difference between them. The Gryffindor Seeker looked younger, and clearly less experienced. He was obviously happy to let Gryffindor score as many goals as possible before trying to find the Snitch, which would mean less responsibility riding on his shoulders.

The Slytherin Seeker, on the other hand, was doing a very good impression of looking calm and uninterested, but was also very alert. His body language remained relaxed, but his eyes darted around the pitch.

As Gryffindor scored again, prompting an enormous cheer from the spectators in red and gold, the Slytherin Seeker glanced down at his captain with a slight, questioning jerk of his head. It was such a tiny gesture that Draco was sure he would never have noticed it had he not been watching the Seeker at the time. The captain gave a tiny nod, then gave Lyra a look. She smiled, intercepted the Quaffle between two Gryffindor Chasers and set off on the most complicated manoeuvre Draco had seen in the game so far. Immediately, most of the Gryffindor team set off after her. While impressed by her skill at flying, something seemed slightly off about what Lyra was doing. Up until now she had simply grabbed the Quaffle and got it into the goalposts as quickly as possible. She hadn't wasted her time with all this fancy flying. What was she doing?

Eventually, she lobbed the Quaffle towards the Gryffindor Keeper, who caught it easily. It was a sloppy throw, and Draco couldn't understand why she looked so triumphant. Following her gaze, he felt a smirk creep onto his face.

On the opposite side of the pitch, the Slytherin Seeker had his arm in the air, the Snitch grasped firmly between his fingers. The Gryffindor Seeker was still miles away, having been too caught up in watching Lyra to notice his opponent take off. And everyone else, including the commentator and the entire Gryffindor team, had also been so focused on Lyra that they'd been unable to warn him.

"And Slytherin wins with two hundred and thirty points to one hundred and sixty! Impressive tactics from the Slytherin team! I'm sure nobody saw that coming." The commentator was shaking his head, and Draco found himself cheering along with the Slytherins. He was very impressed. That was how Slytherins ought to play, not with blatant cheating but by sneaky tactics and taking advantage of the arrogance of the opposite team.

As he made his way onto the pitch to congratulate Lyra, Draco found himself surprised again. The Gryffindor and Slytherin teams were shaking hands, laughing and congratulating one another on a good game.

"Should've known we couldn't trust you snakes to play a nice, honest, straightforward game," James Potter was saying cheerfully, "But we'll get you next time. A trick like that can only work once, whereas us Gryffindors have actual talent."

"Yeah, a talent for not being able to see your own hand in front of your face!" Lyra said, and everyone laughed, while James swiped at her playfully.

"Well done, girls," Draco said when he finally got the attention of his daughters, "That was some pretty impressive flying today."

"Thanks, Dad!" Lyra said, "I think Scorpius should be somewhere around. He said he'd like to see you while you're here."

As if on cue, Scorpius pushed his way through the crowd, greeting various members of the two Quidditch teams by name, commiserating with the Gryffindors and congratulating the Slytherins.

"Hey, Dad," he said, "Good game, wasn't it? I was sitting with the Gryffindors because of Al and Rose, but the Slytherins were very impressive."

Draco agreed, and the two of them caught up briefly. There wasn't much to say because Scorpius still wrote regularly, but it was nice to see his son in person. Draco didn't have a favourite child, of course, but he'd always been closest to Scorpius, perhaps because he was less independent than his sisters.

The conversation didn't last long, however.

"Sorry, I'd love to talk for ages," Scorpius said, "But I'm in charge of organising the party tonight, to celebrate the Quidditch match. You guys are all coming, right?" he said, turning to the two Quidditch teams, who were still discussing the match. They all agreed enthusiastically. Draco frowned.

"But you're in Hufflepuff," he said, "Why are you organising the Slytherin party? And why are the Gryffindors going?" Scorpius gave him a very odd look.

"It's not just a Slytherin party," he said, as though that ought to be obvious, "Anyone's invited. We always have one after Quidditch matches. It started when Rose and me discovered the Room of Requirement, back in second year. The teachers know that we do it, but they don't know where, so there's not much they can do. As long as it doesn't get too wild, and we get the younger years back to their dormitories before curfew, they don't really mind. It's always great."

"And you always organise it?" Draco asked. He was struggling to grasp the concept of all the houses celebrating together after a Quidditch match. It just seemed so odd.

"Yeah. It makes sense, really. I'm in Hufflepuff, so it's really easy to get food from the kitchen. And I know most people, so that helps. Anyway, I've really got to go. Tell Mum I said hi."

He hugged Draco and then walked away, stopping regularly to talk to people. Due to it being a Quidditch match, everyone was very much dressed in their house colours, but there seemed to be no distinction when it came to Scorpius. He greeted members of all four houses the same, with a friendly smile and an individual comment for all of them. He was now too far away for Draco to hear his actual words, but he could see the way people's faces lit up when they saw him, particularly the younger students, who all seemed to adore him.

It was so different from how Draco had been at school that he felt a twinge of something which couldn't quite make up its mind as to whether it was pride or envy.

"Scorpius is quite something, isn't he?" said Neville's voice from behind him. Draco turned to look at his friend, and then back at his son. His inner battle was won and it was with a voice brimming with pride that he replied to Neville.

"He certainly is."