One evening a couple of weeks later, Draco found himself sat in the lounge at the Manor awaiting Harry's arrival. He still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about their being on friendly terms, but even he had to admit that he and Harry had grown to have several things in common since their schooldays.

The curtains were drawn, the room dimly lit and the fire roaring in the grate. Draco was sat comfortably in his favourite armchair, a glass clutched in his hand with the remains of a double fire whiskey inside. He was sat contemplating, as he so often did these days, completely immersed in his own thoughts. Scorpius hadn't gone missing since the last time, much to his relief, and his relationship with his son seemed to be on the mend, albeit slowly. Draco was just wondering that perhaps Christmas wouldn't be so bad this year when the chimes sounded in the hallway and he jumped, startled. He placed the glass down on the table before heading to open the door.

"Draco," Harry greeted him rather formally, holding out a bottle of mead as Draco stepped aside to let him in. "It felt rude to turn up empty handed..."

Draco examined the bottle, his mouth upturned, surprised by Harry's decent taste in alcohol. "Thanks," he said. "Not bad at all."

"You almost sound surprised," Harry pointed out as he took off his thick winter cloak. "Bitter wind out there, by the way."

"Is there? I haven't been out for several days now."

"Probably for the best."

The two of them made their way through to the lounge, Harry guided by Draco, although he remembered perfectly well where it was from his last visit many years ago.

"Shall I crack this open, or would you prefer something else?" Draco asked, heading to retrieve two glasses form the cabinet.

"What have you got?" Harry inquired.

"What haven't I got? I'm pretty big on drink since... anyway, come and see for yourself. Take your pick."

"May as well open up that mead, eh?" Harry said, seating himself on the edge of the sofa, palms to thighs, feeling somewhat out of place. He may have plenty of gold, but his and Ginny's abode was nowhere near as grand as the Malfoys'.

Draco nodded in agreement, poured two glasses, and walked slowly over, handing one to Harry before seating himself back down in the armchair. An awkward silence settled between the two men for several moments before Harry raised his glass.

"Cheers."

Draco hesitated before leaning forward and clinking his glass against Harry's. "Cheers," he repeated, before sinking back into the chair.

"So... a Quidditch player, eh?" Harry attempted to initiate a conversation.

Draco shook his head. "In an ideal world, perhaps. Never was as good as you though, was I?" He smirked and took a sip from his glass.

"Well, you certainly had a knack for cheating, that's for sure. Always were the epitome of the perfect Slytherin student, weren't you, Draco?"

Draco laughed shortly. "Oh, I certainly tried my best. For father's sake more than anything... I wonder what he'd have to say about this." Draco spread his arms, indicating that he was referring to the two of them sat drinking in the Manor together.

"He'll be turning in his grave," Harry said, before realising what a horrible thing that was to say. "I'm sorry - that was insensitive," he said hurriedly.

Draco raised a hand. "It's fine. You're right, he would be turning - and somehow, that makes this all the more worthwhile. I became so accustomed to him disapproving that I started to revel in it, to be honest with you."

"I'm guessing he didn't approve of the way you raised Scorpius?" Harry spoke slowly, carefully. He knew how volatile Draco was and had no desire to push him over the edge after everything he'd been through recently.

Draco nodded slowly and took a long sip of his drink. "Of course he didn't. We didn't raise Scorpius the way he wanted. You know, when he disapproved of mine and Astoria's engagement, he cited the likelihood of her being unable to carry children as the reason. One of the reasons... And when we did have a child, that didn't satisfy him either. I learned to stop caring in the end. Astoria made me happy. I wasn't going to let him get in the way of that."

Harry watched Draco carefully, listening. Draco seemed reluctant to make eye contact, but was talking freely. Harry couldn't help but let his eyes wander up to the family portrait hanging above the mantlepiece. Draco noticed and looked up at it, too. He still felt a certain sense of sadness when he looked at that picture, no matter how hard he tried not to - his loss was far too great to have come to terms with in thirteen months.

"Did you know - when you married?" Harry asked gently, looking back towards Draco.

Draco's eyes lingered on the portrait. "Yes. We'd been dating a few months when I found out that she was sick but I didn't know it would... she didn't know either. I was there when she found out. I asked her to marry me shortly after. I couldn't bear the thought of being without her."

Harry looked back up towards the portrait once more. "It was visible, you know? How happy she made you. Just for that hour or so that I was here before... when we heard... I know family means everything to you, Draco. It's one of the things we do have in common. I can't imagine what it was like for you."

Draco sat for a moment, contemplating how to respond, staring into the bottom of his glass. "It was... and still is... so hard. She just... understood me... which was no mean feat, that's for sure. She was the only person who was ever able to understand. Since losing her I feel so sad, and then so angry... bitter... she shaped me, you know? Into the man I became. And I just - I don't feel like that person anymore. But I'm trying really hard to stay that person for her sake. And for Scorpius'."

"Do you know what I think?" Harry asked quietly. Draco's eyes met his. "I think you're better at being a good person than you give yourself credit for."

Draco looked away again and swiftly downed what remained of his drink. Silence fell for a minute or two. "Would you like to see some photos? I have a wedding album upstairs."

Harry, confident that he was getting somewhere, smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Half an hour later, Draco was talking animatedly as he and Harry looked through not one, but several albums of family photographs. It was certainly the most talkative Harry had seen him, perhaps since school. For Draco, it felt almost refreshing to have someone new to share the memories with, even if somewhat unusual that that someone was Harry Potter. Talking about Astoria to someone who hadn't suffered the pain of losing her was relieving, because he could omit the difficult parts and concentrate on the good. Draco found himself smiling as he looked through the albums, just as Astoria had said she wanted him to after she was gone. That was progress, albeit small.

"Another drink?" Draco offered.

"Scorpius, he's a good kid," Harry said as he took a second glass from Draco and relaxed back into the chair.

"You're wondering how he turned out so well," Draco said, sitting back down himself. Seeing Harry struggling for what to say next made him smile. "I'm joking."

Harry looked visibly relieved; the whole concept of he and Draco getting along was still so new, so he was far from able to fathom when Draco was joking and when he wasn't. It was always safer to assume he wasn't.

"He is a good kid," Draco agreed. "I made every effort not to raise him as my father did me. All I ever wanted was for him to be happy, but Merlin knows, it's difficult sometimes." He rubbed at his brow with his fingertips as though frustrated.

"I struggle with Albus, too. A lot. You've seen the evidence - I bet you've never told Scorpius that you wish he wasn't your son." Harry's eyes settled on the floor, still ashamed that he'd ever allowed himself to speak those words.

"I haven't," Draco admitted. "But I have lost it with him on several occasions. He used to know exactly how to press my buttons. He doesn't do that so much these days... now, I just... on an emotional level we - we're just very different. He's very outwardly emotional, quite the opposite of me. He snapped at me after the funeral, you know? I apologised for him having to see me cry. He asked why I would apologise for that... that it was normal and that he didn't understand why I would try to not cry. Certainly put me in my place, that's for sure..."

Harry looked back up to Draco. Every time he opened up about something this personal, Harry was surprised. It was as though the man who sat before him really were a different person to the boy he'd attended school with. There wasn't even a hint of Draco's younger self.

"Albus was really upset after Astoria's funeral. In tears, actually. He said it was hard to see Scorpius so upset and not be able to help in any way."

"Oh, he did help, believe me," Draco said, incredibly sincerely. "I know how much it meant to Scorpius to have him there. Why do you think I ever allowed it in the first place? If I hadn't been so overcome with grief, I might have noticed that one of the most surreal moments of the last couple of years has been introducing your son to Astoria's family as though... I don't know, you were a family friend or something."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. Draco gave a short laugh, himself.

"If only we knew back at school, eh? That we'd be sat here drinking together..."

Draco suddenly remembered what he'd said to Astoria all those years back when Harry had turned up at the Manor uninvited. He chuckled to himself.

"What?" Harry said. "Why are you laughing?"

"Remember that day you turned up to search the place?" Harry nodded in response. "Well, Astoria was bothering me, asking about how we came to hate each other. I told her how I, you know..."

Harry gave a shake of the head, encouraging Draco to go on.

Draco tutted. "For crying out loud, don't make me say it."

"Say what? How you wanted to be best friends from day one?"

Draco's eyebrow twitched involuntarily. "I wouldn't go that far, Potter."

"Oh, back to Potter now, is it?" Harry jested.

Draco smirked. "Anyhow, yes. That. Whatever you want to call it. She was poking fun at me... saying 'oh, didn't he want to be your friend then?' And I said 'obviously not, or we'd be downstairs sipping fire whiskey." Draco shook his head disbelievingly.

"Well, it's mead, but close enough," Harry said, raising his glass before taking a sip.

"She would certainly have a few things to say if she could see the two of us now." Draco smiled fondly, wishing more than anything that she could still be there to poke fun at him. He wouldn't complain.

Harry noticed the change in Draco's facial expression. "She really did change you, didn't she?"

"In a lot of ways," Draco said, nodding thoughtfully. "Not completely. But in the ways that mattered, she certainly did."

A comfortable silence settled for a minute or two as the two of them sat reflecting on all that had been said.

"So, Draco Malfoy's son, a bookworm," Harry said, attempting to break the silence. "Where exactly did he get that from?"

"Me," Draco said, finishing off his second glass.

Harry raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

Draco rolled his eyes. "What you saw of me at school was only a small fraction of who I was - and hopefully not even a fraction of who I am today... a lot of things that were said about me at school - and after school, actually - weren't true. I know I relentlessly took the piss out of you and your friends. I'm still a piss taker - it's in my nature. But there's a lot more to me than that. I read a hell of a lot, and I did even at school - that just wasn't a part of me that you saw. In recent years, I've done a lot of research into alchemy... I make things. I was a full-time carer to Astoria in the months leading up to her death. I am a lot of things, far deeper than a class clown and a bully. You have a lot to learn about me."

Their eyes met for a moment and it dawned on Harry how big of a deal this was to Draco; as someone who was so used to hiding himself (or at least parts of himself) away from others, to talk so openly was not an easy thing for him to do. For him to announce that Harry had a lot to learn about him suggested that he wouldn't be opposed to this being a more regular thing. Knowing that Draco wouldn't want him to make a big deal out of it, Harry pressed on.

"He's musical, too. Don't tell me that's you as- ?"

"Astoria," Draco confirmed. "I certainly appreciate good music but I'm no musician. Astoria could play the piano. She could sing as well, although she was incredibly shy about it. I used to catch her sometimes, if she didn't know I was around, but rarely would she sing if she knew I was listening. I never understood why. She had a beautiful voice... delicate."

Another silence. However, it was Draco who broke this one.

"Being without her won't ever get any easier, but acceptance might come eventually. Scorpius on the other hand... I... I've tried, I really have. But most of the time I feel like he resents me. Almost everything bad in his life exists because of me. Because of what I did. Then he lost his mum and... let's just say, it would have been easier all round if it was me that he'd lost."

"Don't say that," Harry said immediately. "Your boy needs you, and quite clearly loves you very much. One hug. That was all it took. That one hug back in Godric's Hollow lit up his entire face."

Draco sighed. Harry was starting to sound a little like Astoria now.

"Don't sigh, Draco. You marched into my house and demanded that I see sense when I was keeping the boys apart. Not just for the sake of your son, but for the sake of Albus and possibly for mine, too. What you said, it made sense. I respectfully took your advice and I acted on it. Now it's your turn. You're so clearly a great father. You're certainly better than me. But you say you struggle to reach Scorpius, that you're on different levels emotionally... what your boy needs is a little more affection from you. It's so clear that he craves it, Draco. He wants you to hug him and tell him that everything is going to be ok. Lord knows, we certainly needed a bit of that back when we were his age. And I'm sorry, but just because your dad didn't give it to you, doesn't mean you can't give it to Scorpius. What was it you said to me - don't lose the boy. Straight out of the mandrake's mouth. Whatever issues you have with intimacy, I'm sure you have your reasons, but you need to bloody well snap out of it for Scorpius' sake and for your own, just like I had to snap out of my pigheadedness."

He had a point. Draco knew he had a point. Just like he'd known Astoria had a point. He thought about it for a moment.

"When you hugged back there, it wasn't just Scorpius' face that lit up, you know? It was yours, too."

Draco nodded slowly. "It was long overdue."

"So... just don't wait too long until the next one. There's nothing to feel awkward about. He's your flesh and blood. You've broken down enough of the Malfoy stereotypes. One more won't hurt."

Harry eyed Draco as if to say 'you know I've got a point'. Eventually, Draco cracked a small smile, though he didn't say anything. Harry stood up and stretched. Time had flown.

"Bathroom?" he asked. "Two glasses of that stuff is probably one too many for me."

Much to Draco's surprise, Harry didn't make to leave after he returned from the bathroom. Instead, Harry diverted the conversation to their schooldays, perfectly aware that he'd pressed Draco enough regarding his issues with Scorpius. The rest was up to him, now.

"I really was quite awful to you, wasn't I?" Draco said, as they reminisced on all the cruel ways Draco had taunted him, Ron and Hermione.

"Well, yes, but... it's ok. You were slightly amusing from time to time."

"Oh, of course. And my badge making skills? Second to none."

The two of them laughed.

"You were on my case from the off though, weren't you. In sixth year. I had a million obstacles standing in my way and you just had to make it a million and one. In hindsight, I guess that's a good thing but... my god, I hated you so much."

"I saw you up on the tower that night. I was there," Harry admitted, unsure of whether it was the right thing to do.

Draco's face dropped. "You were there?" he asked quietly. He hadn't known. This revelation was somewhat sobering.

Harry nodded. "I saw you lower your wand. You looked as frightened as I felt."

Draco's nostrils flared, and he blinked slowly several times, looking down at the floor.

"To a sixteen year old boy, it couldn't really have got much worse than it got for me that year. He threatened to kill me and my parents. I was terrified. I - I didn't know what to do, I really didn't.'

"You were backed into a corner, Draco. Not many kids would know what to make of that. Merlin, if I think of someone putting my kids through what he put you through... You might have been a bully, but you were no murderer."

Silence.

"It fucked you up pretty badly, didn't it - the war?" As time passed, Harry was feeling a lot more comfortable broaching what were once unapproachable topics where Draco was concerned.

"It did most, didn't it? I'm still ashamed. My intentions may not have been the worst, but I'm still ashamed. Even afterwards I just... I didn't know how to cope. From the Battle, right through to when Astoria and I became as we were... I really was the biggest fuck up in every way imaginable."

Harry scoffed, reaching for the bottle and pouring he and Draco a third and final glass. "I'm sure you weren't that bad..." He was trying to be kind. He'd read the stories. Seen the photographs.

Draco gave a short laugh. "Don't make out like you didn't see me splashed across the Prophet's gossip pages weekly. I don't need wrapping up in cotton wool, Harry."

Harry shrugged. "Well, maybe a line or two but - "

"It was never as bad as they made it seem." Draco suddenly felt the need to defend himself. He picked up his drink and drank from it a little too eagerly, almost finishing it in one. "They always made me seem like such a womaniser. I hated that more than anything. That's not who I am."

"Draco, seriously," Harry said, feeling a little uncomfortable. "You don't have to explain yourself. People deal with pain in different ways."

"I have to tell someone," Draco said, his voice rising an octave. "And Merlin help me, I haven't got anyone else to tell! You know something, most of the time, I was just making sure those girls got home safely. How ironic is that? As if what I'd done wasn't bad enough, the papers were just desperate for more ways to vilify me. It was personal and still is. And it is something I've lived with for more than twenty years." He paused. "I am so tired," he said, looking up at Harry. Their eyes met. "I really am. So tired."

"I know the feeling," Harry mumbled.

"You don't though, do you? You're everyone's hero. As far as the world's concerned, the sun shines out of your backside. I know I made mistakes. I know I did bad things. But the things they've written about me - Salazar, my sperm has been the talk of the wizarding world! Those ridiculous rumours. Those disgusting rumours." Draco was practically spitting the words out. "I hid them from Astoria, you know? We never got the Prophet. Her dad eventually showed me what they were writing. Astoria was really upset that I hadn't told her but... Merlin, how could I? She was so sick after having Scorpius. I was scared the shock would make it worse."

Harry shook is head in disbelief. As if Draco and Astoria hadn't been going through enough. Suddenly it all made sense, why Draco had been to desperate to put an end to those rumours.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I'm sorry I didn't help you sooner."

Draco shrugged it off. "You weren't to know."

"I did though, didn't I? You came to me and you told me Astoria was ill. I was too wrapped up in my own problems to think that it was that serious. If I'd realised, honestly..."

"It caused a lot of pain but we got through it. Together, we could get through anything. It's just the way we were. To this day, I can't tell you why she was interested in me. She was far too good for me."

"How did you meet?" Harry was genuinely interested.

"A party. I was sat alone, she brought me a drink. Even with all the shit that got printed about me, I was never short of attention. I was suspicious at first. But we talked... I relaxed. After the first night, I think I knew..." Draco's face become flushed and he finished his last mouthful of mead. "Well, I just knew she was different."

"The papers... I remember they pretty much left you alone after the two of you became official."

"I believe so. We got photographed a few times but they realised we weren't anything out of the ordinary. That was until just after Scorpius was born, I think. Then they decided we were a family of freaks."

"Well, it's over now. Hopefully, at the very least, you and Scorpius can be left to grieve in peace."

Draco nodded. Harry checked his watch. It was just gone midnight. "Merlin, is that the time? I'd better be off."

"Of course," Draco said, standing as Harry did.

The two men stood awkwardly for a moment, not knowing how best to leave things. "Well, thanks for having me over," Harry offered.

"And thank you. Really. It's... been good to talk about her. I don't usually have the chance. It helps."

"I'm glad," Harry said, extending a hand. Draco eyed it for the briefest of moments before bringing his hand up to shake Harry's. "Just remember," Harry went on. "What you've been through is probably the most distressing thing anyone can experience. Losing a child would be difficult, but you'd have your partner to support you through. Losing your wife... and having to put your child first while you grieve... That takes a lot of strength, Draco. For what it's worth, I think you're doing a damn good job."

"Thank you." Draco didn't know what else to say.

Harry nodded, making his way over to the fireplace. Best not to apparate after three glasses of mead. "We should... do this again some time," he risked suggesting, remembering Draco's 'you have a lot to learn about me'.

"Careful, Potter. You almost sound like you want us to be friends," Draco joked.

"Stranger things have happened, Malfoy. Stranger things have happened."

Author's notes: Wow, here's a chapter I certainly wasn't expecting to write. I've never been a fan of pairing Draco and Harry up, as friends or otherwise - I've always felt that Draco resented Harry far too much for a friendships between them to be realistic. When I heard that they became 'friends' in the Cursed Child, I rolled my eyes, annoyed by how cheesy it was. (Seeing it on stage was much more subtle than is scripted in the book). However, Draco speaks a lot about loneliness in Cursed Child - for a fan, it's the most heartbreaking aspect of the story. If they must have taken Astoria away from him, the least they could do was give him a friend; if that friend had to be Harry, then so be it - I'd much rather that than he be alone. Considering it isn't what I'd choose myself, I found this chapter so easy to write. I decided to have Draco opening up further to Harry, carrying on what was started in the Cursed Child script. Draco's honesty is something I love about his character, and I found it heart warming that he opened himself up to Harry and Ginny for the sake of his son in CC canon. This chapter is more about him opening up for his own good - essentially, to prevent himself from falling apart any more than he already has. I hope you enjoyed the chapter - let me know your thoughts!