As everyone gathered at the Malfoys for a fun afternoon, Draco did his best to hide his nerves. Luckily he was adept at hiding his emotions, and he was confident the only person who could see behind his mask and see how nervous he truly was about how the afternoon would unfold was his wife. Fortunately, Hermione knew him well enough not to hassle him and she kept things light and breezy as they greeted their guests.
Almost everyone arrived with some little contribution to the afternoon, whether it be food, drink or toys to entertain the children. But when Molly and Arthur arrived they had several platters of food with them. Molly had made mini cupcakes, a tray of scones with small tubs of clotted cream and home-made jam, and a large gooey chocolate fudge cake, which just so happened to be Scorpius's favourite dessert. And of course Scorpius didn't miss the arrival of his grandparents with food, and before Molly even had a chance to put the cake on the table, Scorpius was eyeing it up.
"It looks yummy Granny Molly," Scorpius said, licking his lips in anticipation of eating the chocolate cake.
"You're not having cake yet," Hermione informed her son. "Go and play with Jamie and you can eat later."
"I want a big piece," Scorpius called as he ran back to join his best friend.
Thanking Molly for the food, Hermione turned around to find her parents arriving, also laden down with food. Her mother had made biscuits shaped like dragons, mini trifles and a large platter of sausage rolls, Scorpius's favourite savoury snack. Since there was no overlap with the food her mother and Molly had made, Hermione was guessing the two women had been in contact beforehand and sorted who was making what.
"Nana Jean," Scorpius cried, running back over to Hermione when he spotted his other grandparents. "Oooh, sausage rolls," he squealed, eyeing up the large platter of savoury snacks.
"Here." Picking a sausage roll off the plate, Jean handed it to her grandson, who gobbled it down at record pace.
"Delish," he declared. "Can I have another one?"
"Take one for Jamie as well," Jean said, handing the small boy two sausage rolls.
"Honestly Mum, you spoil him rotten," Hermione chuckled as her son once again returned to his friend, this time with treats.
"He's my first grandchild, I'm entitled to spoil him rotten," Jean replied with an indulgent smile.
"How are things going?" Hermione father, Richard, asked, his eyes darting around the vast garden searching for unfamiliar faces. "Is everyone here?"
"Mother and Father haven't arrived yet," Draco informed his father-in-law. "But you don't have to worry about them being impolite towards you. They understand they have to be on their best behaviour."
"We're not worried about them insulting us," Jean assured her son-in-law. "We just want this to be a success for you and Scorpius. You deserve to have your parents back in your life, Draco."
"But do they deserve to have me back in their lives?" Draco queried quietly.
"Only you can answer that," Jean said, giving Draco's arm a reassuring squeeze. "But you know that no matter what happens, you'll always have Richard and I. You know we love you, don't you?"
"I do," Draco replied with a smile as his parents-in-law grabbed themselves a drink and headed over to sit with Molly and Arthur.
With almost everyone present, Hermione noticed Draco slip back into the house, and following after her husband she found him in the kitchen, looking pensive.
"What is it?" she asked.
"What if they don't turn up?" Draco asked with a sigh. "Everyone else is here but them."
"We didn't give them a time, we just said afternoon," Hermione pointed out. "I'm sure they'll be here."
As if Hermione's words had summoned Lucius and Narcissa with magic, at that exact moment there was a knock on the front door, and when Draco answered the door it was his parents.
"We're not late are we?" Narcissa asked, noticing the way Draco let out what looked like a relieved sigh at the sight of them.
"Of course not," Hermione said brightly. "Come on through, everyone is in the garden."
"Actually, there's a couple of things I'd like to discuss first," Lucius said.
"Is it bad news?" Draco asked as he steered his parents into the front room and reached for Hermione's hand.
"No," Lucius replied with a slight smile. "I hope you think it's good news."
Reaching into his jacket pocket, Lucius pulled out three envelopes and handed one of them to Draco.
"What is it?" Draco asked without opening the envelope.
"Me righting a wrong I never should have made," Lucius admitted as Draco finally began to open the envelope in his hands. "It doesn't matter how angry I was at you Draco, I never should have disinherited you. It was a mistake and I am deeply sorry."
Even though his father's words had pretty much revealed what was in the envelope, Draco was still choked up to find official documentation reinstating him to the Malfoy family line. Not that money mattered to him, but he would now come into possession of the Malfoy fortune when his father died. But more importantly to Draco, his son would now inherit and would one day own the large manor house which Draco himself had once loved so much.
"Thank you," he finally managed, bobbing his head in his father's direction.
"That's not all," Lucius said, handing over the second envelope. "I don't want you thinking I'm trying to buy your forgiveness. I'm righting the biggest mistake I've ever made by returning you to the family line, and this is something I would have done years ago had I not been so stupid and pig-headed."
Opening the second envelope, Draco's eyes widened at the documentation for two new Gringotts accounts, one in Scorpius's name and the other for the unborn child his wife was carrying. There was a significant amount in each account and Draco listened as his father explained how he'd asked the goblins to calculate the interest rate for Scorpius's account, which was why his held more money than his sister's.
"And I will do the same if you have any more children," Lucius explained.
"This is too much, Lucius," Hermione remarked, gasping at the amount of money he'd put aside for her children.
"It's only right," Lucius insisted. "My father did the same for Draco, and I know it came in handy for him when he left school."
Draco nodded, recalling the similar account he'd had from his grandfather. It was that money which had enabled him to go into business with Blaise, and it had given him a sense of independence as he'd been aware that the money hadn't come from his father.
"Thank you," Draco said again, smiling at both his parents. "And you don't have to worry, I don't think you're trying to buy my affection. I believe this is what you would have done if you'd been around when Scorpius was born."
"And this is what I should have done when you got married," Lucius said, handing the last envelope over to Hermione. "I know it's late, but welcome to the family, Hermione."
"What is it?" Hermione asked, sharing a puzzled glance with Draco.
"Open it and find out," Lucius ordered with a chuckle.
Doing as she was told, Hermione opened the envelope to find deeds to a villa in Greece in her and Draco's name.
"You've bought us a holiday home," she said.
"Technically it was one we already owned," Lucius replied. "But I thought it would be nice for you to have somewhere you can escape to when you need a break. I've had the villa cleaned up since we haven't used it in a long time, but it might need some redecorating."
As his father was talking, Draco had taken the envelope from Hermione, and when he'd seen which property his father had gifted them, he felt a lump forming in his throat. Muttering a thank you to his parents, he sat down on the sofa, gazing down at the documents which transferred the villa in Greece into his ownership.
"We should go outside and say hello," Narcissa remarked, sensing that Draco needed a bit of time alone. "I'm dying to see Scorpius."
"Just go on through to the garden, and feel free to help yourself to food and drink," Hermione said, directing her parents-in-law towards the fun at the back of the house. Once they were gone, she sat down next to Draco, slightly worried about his reaction. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
"Fine," Draco whispered in a hoarse voice.
"Do you not like the villa?" Hermione asked, trying to work out what was bothering her husband. "Or do you think your parents are trying to buy your affection?"
"It's a genuine offering," Draco replied as he cleared his throat. "You won't be surprised to hear the Malfoys have holiday homes all around the globe, and I did a fair bit of travelling in my youth."
"I did kind of work that out for myself," Hermione chuckled. Her husband rarely discussed his childhood, but whenever they went on holiday it was hard to find a destination he hadn't already visited.
"The thing is, holidays in our family were determined by where father had business dealings," Draco explained. "More often than not, we would go somewhere nice and father would leave mother and I to have a holiday while he dealt with business. It was no different then being at home, except we got to see some new places."
"And he did the same with Greece?" Hermione guessed.
"Actually, Greece was the one place he didn't focus on business," Draco replied. "The one time we used the villa in Greece, it was for a proper family holiday. I've never forgotten it as it was the only true family holiday we ever had. Father was there the entire time, and it was two weeks of total family unity. It had never happened before, and it never happened since."
"And Lucius remembered," Hermione whispered, understanding why her husband was so emotional about the gift.
"He did," Draco replied with a nod. "Either that, or he got really lucky with the choice of villa."
"I'm fairly sure he gave us the villa because he remembered," Hermione said. "And now we can create our own memories in Greece."
"I'd like that," Draco replied with a smile as he leaned over and pressed his lips against Hermione's. "But for now, let's create some memories here. Let's go and join the fun outside."
Heading back outside, Draco sought out his parents and gave them a proper thank you for the villa. Hermione smiled as Draco and Lucius awkwardly embraced, but the sight gave her hope that despite their difficulties, everything would work out just fine and the tentative reunion would soon be sealed and Lucius and Narcissa were going to become a permanent part of their lives.
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Watching their grandson with the Weasleys proved harder then either Lucius or Narcissa bargained for. It really hit them just how little they knew their grandson as they watched him interact with other people so easily. The boy they were getting to know was forthright and confident, but they were only just seeing his active, fun-loving side. He really was a bundle of fun, and he bounded from adult to adult, soaking up the attention they lavished on him.
"This is killing me," Lucius whispered to his wife as they watched Scorpius snuggling into Molly, singing the praises of her chocolate fudge cake.
"Tell me about it," Narcissa returned, making sure she kept a smile on her face so no-one knew how much she wanted to jump up and scratch Molly Weasley's eyes out.
"But you know what's worse?" Lucius asked with a sigh. "This is all our fault. I'm not saying the Weasleys wouldn't still have been close to Scorpius, but if we'd been around, there would have been no need for them to become surrogate grandparents."
"This is certainly a wake-up call as to what we almost lost," Narcissa agreed with a nod. "I just hope that one day, Scorpius is as comfortable with us as he is with everyone else."
"He will be," Lucius predicted confidently as he wrapped an arm around Narcissa's shoulder.
While Scorpius had greeted them enthusiastically, he wasn't jumping around them in the same way he was doing with everyone else. Whenever he did approach them, he seemed to dial down his excitement. However, he did still seem to revel calling them Grandpa and Nana, and he'd proudly introduced them to his best friend, Jamie Potter. Although even that was hard for Lucius and Narcissa to swallow as they'd never imagined their grandchild would be best friends with a Potter.
"How are you doing?" Pansy Parkinson-Nott asked as she approached the couple and settled in a chair beside them. "This must be so strange for you."
"It is rather," Lucius admitted. "How did you cope?"
While Lucius didn't want to be rude about Pansy, he was aware that of all of Draco's friends she would have found mixing with Gryffindors the hardest.
"By remembering that Draco is happy," Pansy replied honestly. "I can't say I ever would have chosen to mix with Gryffindors, and I dare like to bet they never would have chosen to mix with us either. But we do it for Draco and Hermione. They're our friends and we love them, so we deal with each other. Besides, they're not that bad when you get to know them."
"And I guess we'll be getting to know them," Lucius remarked with another sigh.
"You will be if you want to make this work with Draco," Pansy said bluntly. "He won't give you another chance. You're lucky you're even getting this one. If my parents had behaved like you, I would never have spoken to them again, let alone given them a second chance."
"Has anyone ever told you that you're very brutal?" Narcissa questioned, rather surprised that Pansy was daring to speak to them in such a way, especially since they'd known her since she was a little girl and had been nothing but polite to them in all those years.
"I prefer honest," Pansy replied with a shrug. "And being honest, the pair of you let Draco down big time. So don't do it again, and don't mess up what will be your last chance with him."
With her warning ringing in their ears, Pansy got up to check on her children who were winding each other up and poking at each other.
"Well that was different," Lucius drawled.
"But honest," Narcissa said, agreeing with everything Pansy had said. "She's right Lucius, this is our second chance and I don't want to blow it."
"Neither do I," Lucius admitted. "So what do you say about going to try some of that chocolate cake?"
Agreeing that it was a good idea, Narcissa joined her husband as they made more of an effort to mingle and get to know their son's friends. And as it turned out, Pansy was right and the Gryffindors weren't too bad when you got to know them. However, Lucius and Narcissa were very aware that they would never be comfortable with how much Scorpius clearly adored Molly and Arthur. However, they accepted it as punishment for their own neglect and they vowed that their own feelings would never get in the way, and they would never let on to anyone how much it hurt them to see Molly and Arthur taking the role in Scorpius's life that should have been theirs.