Chapter Thirty Five
After a couple of days Scorpius had been in his house, Harry decided it was safe to try and talk to Draco, and took a fireplace to the manor unannounced one afternoon after he returned from the Ministry. He was afraid the other would avoid him, though he wasn't quite sure why.
His arrival set of some sort of bell, and within seconds, a house-elf was in front of him, looking curiously at the unexpected guest. Harry smiled kindly at the creature.
"I'd like to see Draco Malfoy, please." He requested.
"Master Malfoy wasn't expecting any guests, Mr. Potter." He (or so Harry guessed) replied in a high-pitched voice, trembling a little, as if he was scared of something.
"I know, but I'd like to see him anyway. Do you think it would be possible?" He asked gently, a little uncomfortable with the conversation.
"I-I will announce your arrival to Master Malfoy. Please wait here, Mr. Potter." The elf requested, and Harry nodded briefly before he was gone. A minute or two later, Draco entered the room, followed by his wife and his parents, to Harry's surprise.
"What are you doing here, Potter?" Lucius asked, almost spitting his name as if it were something disgusting. It seemed he hadn't moved on from the war, then.
"Good evening, Mr. Malfoy." He nodded with the best smiled he could muster, and turned to the women. "Mrs. Malfoy. Astoria." The last woman smiled at him. "I'd like to talk to you, Malfoy, if that would be possible?"
"I believe this is not the best moment, Potter." He replied, shaking his head a little.
"I think you know this already, but it's about your son." He insisted.
"What do you have to say about my grandson?" Lucius questioned, one eyebrow raising disapprovingly.
"How is he?" Astoria asked, her worry evident in her voice.
"He is fine, don't worry." He smiled kindly at her. "But I'm afraid to say it still doesn't look like he's planning to come home."
"And why would you know such things of my heir, Potter?" Lucius insisted, frowning.
"I'm sure you know it, but my son and your grandson are..." He hesitated for a moment, not knowing how much the boys had told them, and decided not to make the situation any worse, he opted for a different word from the one that first came to his mind. "Best friends, and Scorpius knows he's welcome in my home whenever he needs it. So after whatever happened here that left him so altered, he sought shelter at my house." He explained calmly. "Given the... delicate nature of the situation," He continued, turning to Draco, "I'd like to have a few minutes in private with you."
"Whatever you have to say about my grandson, you can say in front of me, Potter." Lucius insisted, and Narcissa walked to him, holding his arm.
"I know you're worried, but I think it's best if we give them some privacy, Lucius." She said in a low tone, and it was easy to tell from his expression he wasn't happy at all about the situation.
Draco cleared his throat, looking from one adult to the other. "Very well, then. Join me in my office." He said at last, and it wasn't an invitation, it sounded more like an order - which didn't surprise Harry at all, as it was just as he remembered the blond behaving. Maybe being under pressure brought back old habits. "So? What is this about?" He asked once they'd sat each on one couch by the fire.
"Would you... Tell me what happened to make Scorpius run like that?" He asked, not wanting to make things worse for pure ignorance.
"I believe it's none of your business-"
"Your son arrived in my house very altered, Malfoy. He punched the wall so hard it drew blood, and he's refused to address the matter ever since."
"It is true we've had a... disagreement, but again, it doesn't concern you, Potter."
"I think..." He bit his lower lip for a split second before continuing. "I think I know what happened."
Draco raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"I think... Scorpius told you about his relationship with Albus, and you didn't... take it too well."
"So you knew our sons were... dating?" He asked, surprised, and Harry nodded, a slightly embarrassed smile on his lips. "For how long? And why didn't you tell me?" His tone was somewhere between alarmed and angry.
"I've known for a while now. And it's not my place to tell; I knew they would when they felt ready." Harry hesitated a moment before adding, "Perhaps because of the way you reacted that they delayed it so long."
"I don't know what he expected, but he certainly must've known it wouldn't be any different."
"What wouldn't?"
"I admit my father isn't the subtler of people, so when he heard about it... He immediately dismissed it as unimportant teenage behavior, and reminded him he had the responsibility of bringing an heir to the family." He sighed, and only then Harry noticed how tired he looked. "And then he kept going on and on about this girl he'd found for him, and his responsibilities to the family name-"
"And let me guess? You didn't do anything? Or even worse, agreed with your father?"
"I know I should've said something. But I thought Scorpius knew that's what's expected of him."
"And having an heir is more important than your son's happiness?" He arched an eyebrow.
"I- Wha- The two aren't connected." He replied, shaking his head.
"Of course they are. As I'm guessing happened to you, you intend to force him into a marriage with someone he might not even know and certainly doesn't care about enough to make such a commitment, and that will make him undoubtedly unhappy just so the family line can continue."
"It's not your place to judge us, Potter, and not that it's any of your concern, but I married Astoria willingly, and we've been happy together ever since." He replied, slightly altered.
"And does she know about your... escapades?" He asked, remembering their trip to Romania.
"Again, our marital arrangements are none of your business. But evidently I've been too soft with Scorpius if he thinks that, just because he's seeing someone, and thinks it's serious, he'll be relieved of his duties." He said conclusively.
"You're really willing to lose a son over that? Don't you see, Malfoy? Either you accept him for what he is or you'll have no son to produce an heir at all!" He was also getting agitated, and stood up. Taking a few breaths, he walked back and forth a couple of times before looking back at the blond. "Just... Think about it, okay? Figure our your priorities, and then maybe we can persuade Scorpius to come home." He said quietly before leaving the room.
Two weeks passed between that conversation and the next time Harry met Draco. The blond man, finally rid of his parents, sent an owl to Harry letting him know he intended to go to Grimmauld Place to fetch his son that night, and to have the boy ready. It was easy to tell the whole situation had started off on the wrong foot, so it was no surprise when Scorpius started protesting loudly as Draco tried to drag him downstairs towards the fireplace.
"No, I'm not going, let me go!" He complained, pulling his arm from his father's tight grip.
"We'll talk about it when we get home. Now come on!" Draco hissed back, evidently angry not only to be defied, but to be defied in public.
"No, I'm not going, you can't make me!"
After a few minutes during which the two struggled, each pulling one way and Scorpius using the stairs banister for leverage, Harry got tired of watching and flicked his wand, separating the two.
"If you can't behave in a civilized manner, I'll have to ask you to leave, Malfoy." He said firmly, looking at the man almost shocked to have Harry use magic on him. "You want to talk to him? Great. The two - or three -" He added, turning to Astoria, who was on the verge of tears. "Of you can use the study. And then you decide what happens. But I'm sick of this." He warned, and for very tense moments, they all just looked at each other.
"Fine." Draco said at last. "We'll talk here, then. But rest assured I'll be putting plenty of privacy spells on the room, Potter, so don't even thing about eavesdropping."
"I wasn't planning to, Malfoy." He replied angrily, before taking a deep breath. "Go on, Scorpius." He encouraged, and the boy hesitantly came down the stairs.
For the next hour and a half, Harry and Albus sat at the bottom of the stairs, anxiously waiting for the others to come out of the room. They couldn't hear anything, evidently because of Draco's spells, and it made them even more nervous. Ginny had simply rolled her eyes at the whole scene and taken refuge in her office, James was passed out in his bedroom and Lily was trying to do her homework in the kitchen table. She always complained she didn't like to be alone if it could be helped, and rarely studied in her own bedroom.
Finally the three blonds emerged from the room, Astoria with her face red and swollen from the tears she obviously shed, but all three of them were smiling. Scorpius quietly made his way upstairs with his Albus on his tail, and they heard Harry ask, "I assume everything was solved, then?"
"So? Is everything alright now?" Albus asked anxiously, watching the other boy collect his things from all around the room.
"Yeah." The blond replied with a faint smile. "Dad apologized for not doing anything about it, and said that I don't have to marry anyone I don't want to."
"That's great!" He replied excitedly, jumping from the bed where he'd been sitting and walking to the boy for a hug and kiss.
"He keeps insisting on an heir, though." He said quietly, their foreheads resting against one another. "I don't know how we'll pull that one off." He joked before kissing the brunet again.
Once they broke the kiss, Albus giggled. "I'm sure we'll think of something." He replied letting the boy go, so he could finish packing. "I'll miss having you around, though."
"We're just a fireplace away." He joked, smiling.
"Yeah, well, it still isn't the same as having you live in my bedroom."
Scorpius closed the suitcase and picked it up. "I guess not."
They shared a long kiss, the bag falling to the floor as hands became eager to explore one another, retrace all the trails they knew so well.
"Scorpius! Come on!" They heard Draco call, and broke the kiss, chuckling.
"Okay. Let's go, then." The brunet said, picking up the bag and making his way downstairs.
Harry felt strangely relieved to see the three of them leave together, all of them smiling. Whatever agreement there was between them, they were all content with it, and he wished for a moment that he and Ginny too could make things work again between them. But after nearly a month sharing a house with her again, he knew they never would. And knew it was time to for them to lay all their cards on the table and settle their problems for good.
"Gin? We need to talk." Harry asked quietly a few days later, standing at the door to her office. All three kids were spending the day with their grandparents, and he decided to seize the opportunity.
"I'll be right there." She replied in the same tone, with a slight nod.
They sat face to face in the study, observing one another for long minutes, the only noise made by the crackling flames in the fireplace. Neither knew where to begin, yet they both knew very well where it would end.
"I think..." They said at the same time and smiled, motioning for the other to go ahead.
"Okay. I'll go." Harry said after a few moments, taking a deep breath. "I think..." He began, uncertain. "I don't think this is really working between us." He confessed. After a month and a half on his own, it was at least very strange to be sharing the house with Ginny again.
"Harry... I know we have our differences. A lot of them. But I've been thinking, and the children are still so young, Lily and Albus, I really think we should give it another try, for them."
"That's the problem, Gin. At least on my side, these past years, the past decade, even, I've been doing it for them. And as much as I want what's best for them, I don't think this is it. I don't think I can go on with this farce."
"What you mean, for the past decade?" She asked, frowning, the first signs her control was giving already showing. "For the last year, two, maybe since Al went to Hogwarts, maybe, but certainly not more than that."
"I've had a lot of time to think. And so did you. And I think it's time for us to be honest with ourselves and with one another, Gin." He replied quietly, avoiding her eyes. "I loved you so much, once. And I still love and care for you as a friend, and I always will. More than that, even, I'll always consider you, and the rest of the Weasleys, my family. But I can't honestly say I'm still in love with you, or that I still love you as... I don't know, call it what you want, a wife, a partner, a lover."
"Fine. I suppose you're right, it's clear we're not in love with one another anymore, and haven't been for a while. But are you also implying that what we've had was a lie? That you were pretending all this time?" There was a hurt tone in her voice, and he sighed.
"I didn't fake it. I told you, I care about you, and I wasn't lying. But I haven't loved you like that in a long time, and I think you haven't either. Think about it, Gin. When was the last time we even bothered with each other?"
"I can't believe what you're saying, Harry." She stated firmly, standing up and starting to pace around the room. "This is what we've always wanted, our dream, wasn't it? Us, together, with our family-"
"It was our dream. But it isn't anymore. It isn't what we want, what I want, anymore."
"Why?" She asked, hurt, her back turned to him and the first tears running silently down her cheeks. "Why would you say something like that? Why would you be so mean?" Her voice was getting higher with each sentence.
"I'm not being mean. I'm being honest, and I thought that was the point of this conversation." He replied calmly, but definitively.
"I don't believe you, Harry. After everything we went through-"
"Can't you see this isn't about the past? We achieved a lot together, and this doesn't diminish that. But the present reality is, we don't work as a couple, not anymore, not for a long time now. And I'm sorry to say, but I'm not willing to keep wasting efforts to try and fix that. I've tried for too long already."
"The day we got married." She said quietly, still refusing to look at him. "We made a promise. Whatever came our way, we'd stick together. We'd work it through, we'd dedicate ourselves to making that commitment work."
"And I meant it when I said it, Gin."
"What happened, then? How can you say you'd rather give us up without even trying-"
"I have tried." He replied quietly, standing up. "I've tried really hard for really long. I've been really patient, and made more concessions than I thought I'd be capable of. Than I'd make for anyone else. And I'm sure you did too. Because I believed things would get better, that if only that time I let it go, things would be fine. But they weren't."
"We've had our problems, sure, but certainly-"
"No, we've had our problems and chose to overlook them, hoping things would be as they used to. But they didn't. They couldn't."
"I can't believe you're actually saying that, Harry." She shook her head slowly, drying the last traces of tears and taking a deep breath before looking at him again. "Fine. What didn't we properly discuss, then?"
"Gin..." He sighed, turning to the window for a few moments before meeting the brown eyes watching him. "A world of little things. Most of them unimportant, some that really mattered. I don't think it'll do us any good to revolve the past, in any case."
"You keep saying we have so much unsolved business between us that the idea of being together isn't appealing to you anymore, and yet you keep refusing to address whatever's bothering you?" She asked, angry.
"No, Gin, I don't want to bring it up because it'll end up the way it always does, with the two of us yelling at each other, too busy at arguing our sides to actually listen to one another, before one of us gets sick of it and walks out."
"That's just because you-"
"Don't make excuses." He said between gritted teeth, feeling the anger already growing inside him. "You don't believe me? Fine. Let's get the latest of our arguments, then. James damn near killed Albus, but you're still angry at Albus for having a boyfriend, and insists James wasn't to blame, when he very well admitted to his doings."
"No, but that's-"
"And now you'll argue how James didn't know what he was doing, it was only a prank, and wasn't aimed at Albus, and I'll tell you how he's a grown up and should be at least a little more responsible for his actions. Then you'll tell me how Scorpius is a bad influence and absolutely must be forcing this relationship into Albus, and that all the problems between the boys are his fault, and I'll tell you he's a good boy and you need to respect your son and love him for who he is instead of being angry at him for not being what you expected him to be. And then you'll bring up how we should've severed their friendship from day one and have Albus transferred to Gryffindor, where-"
"Okay, fine, I got the point!" She complained louder than him, and they sustained the angry look they were sharing for long moments.
"It doesn't matter how many times we go through that." He said quietly, a few minutes later, sitting back on the couch after pouring himself a dose of Firewhisky. "We always get stuck in the same arguments, and we'll both feel hurt the other doesn't understand and proceed to ignore one another for a while, and become civil again only after deciding not to address the matter again."
She didn't have arguments to counter him, and Harry seemed to be done talking as well, so they just sat in silence, across from each other, avoiding to look at one another. Once again they'd sat to discuss their relationship and got nowhere; at least they hadn't started screaming yet and they were still in the same room.
"I... I like somebody." He said quietly, not really knowing why. Perhaps because he'd decided to talk to Ginny honestly, perhaps because he wanted to somehow make her feel a little better about their situation.
"So it's not about me, then." She replied, getting angry again, and he immediately regretted his decision. "Who is she?"
"It doesn't matter, Gin."
"What you mean, it doesn't matter? Of course it does! I have the right to know who's the bitch that's splitting us up." She complained.
"It doesn't matter." He repeated quietly.
"So, how long have you been cheating on me for?" She questioned, even angrier that he refused to answer her.
"I haven't cheated on you, Ginny. Never. Nothing's happened, and probably nothing will. But I'm not in love with you anymore, and I can't keep pretending we're still together."
"Who is it?" She insisted, not reassured at all by his reply.
"As I've said, it's one-sided, and it probably will lead nowhere, so drop it, okay? I don't even know why I told you." He mumbled the last part, drinking the rest of his whisky before leaving the glass on the table beside the couch. "What I want to talk to you about is what you think we should do next, and how we should break it to the children."
"So this is it, then? Twenty years out the window just like that?" She was so evidently hurt it annoyed Harry, and he took a deep breath before replying.
"Not out the window. They were twenty years of my life as well, and I'll always cherish what we shared. But my decision is final, Gin. I..." He hesitated, never having said the word before, at least not regarding his relationship with the redhead. "I want a divorce."
"What... What if I say no?" She insisted, clearly much more hesitant to end the relationship than him.
"It takes two for this to work. And I'm no longer in it. So don't make this harder than it has to be, don't make us fight over it and end up hurting each other. We still share three beautiful children, and it's best that we're in good terms with one another, for their sake."
They remained in silence for long minutes as the redhead tried to work with her new reality. "I..." She began weakly, eyes focused on the fire and battling the tears that once again threatened to fall. "Can we wait until the end of their holiday? I think it would be for the best. I still need to... get used to that idea myself. And then they'll have school to distract them, so hopefully they won't keep thinking about it, and friends to... to talk to."
Harry nodded. "I think it's a good idea. And we both need to tell them together, Gin. They need to know it's our decision, not just one of ours."
"It is, though, isn't it?" Her voice was shaking as the first tear dropped. "I'd stay with you, but-"
"But I don't want to be with you anymore." He said conclusively, before she had the chance to start their previous argument again. "What will you do?" He asked after a moment, trying to change the subject a little, but not really interested in the reply.
"I'll stay at the Burrow for a while, I guess. While I look for a place for myself." She shrugged weakly, drying a stubborn tear.
"Do you want me to help you with that?" He offered. He hoped, after all, that they could somehow still remain friends. They'd shared too much - and he'd lost too many people - not to want that. "Looking, or buying or-" He continued, but she shook her head.
"I'll be fine. Thanks."
He nodded briefly, and suddenly they were very uncomfortable around one another. Without saying anything, the redhead left the room and entered her office, which she didn't leave until the kids arrived for dinner. They weren't sure they didn't know what was going on, as they were civil to one another, but didn't behave much more like two people who happened to live under the same roof.
But at least now he knew where he stood, and it made him surprisingly relieved and weightless to have that matter settled. It had been his choice, and he knew he wouldn't regret it. Now the only thing left to do was to deal with the consequences of that decision. And unfortunately he knew it would be much harder than it had been so far.