Draco was enjoying a cup of his favourite tea in the sitting room the next morning while wondering when the boys would come down. He smiled to himself as he tried to recall how the notion of "boys" had become almost natural to him. It might feel like Albus had been here many times but Draco could actually count all the times he had visited with his fingers and of course, this was the first time Albus had ever slept over in the four years the boys had been friends.

It was times like these when he would sometimes let his thoughts drift freely, mostly about sentimental thoughts he had been raised to keep hidden and buried for the first seventeen years of his life, about Scorpius, Astoria and lately about friendships.

Despite having wanted to befriend Harry Potter all those years ago, Draco imagined he would probably have been too proud to accept his offer had it happened a few years ago. For better or worse, his life and destiny had always been entwined with the Boy who Lived since they had first met at Madame Malkin's all those years ago. Admittedly, it had been his own doing during their school years and he could have left the Golden Trio alone and avoided many of the conflicts and troubles but looking back, the best way he could explain, not excuse, his bullying and general nasty behaviours towards them would probably be jealousy, as well as the twisted values he had been raised in. In a way, he had been completely disillusioned by the time he had done Potter that favour at this very house and when the Trio had later saved his life twice during the Final Battle at Hogwarts. Potter had later spoken on his behalf at the Wizengamot that he had been somehow able to avoid all punishments despite being of age, thus had been expected to have to answer for all his crimes and actions during the War. Even at the time, he had felt compelled to thank Potter for saving his life but somehow he had never been able to bring himself to do it. By the time he had seen Harry again on the Platform when their boys had first gone to Hogwarts, too much time had passed that a solemn greeting had been all he could manage. It had taken that crisis and shared worry over their sons for them to truly bond in a way for the very first time.

Draco had not allowed himself to show his emotions in front of Potter but it had honestly been one of the best things that had ever happened to him when Harry had stuck out his hand on Christmas Day. He had felt restless after Harry's departure that he had briefly visited Astoria at the garden where he had shredded a few tears while telling her about what had transpired because it had been something huge to him that he simply needed to tell her despite the fact that he had been meant to stay at the house while the boys were there. However, it could have been the cold or the loneliness but for five minutes he had wondered if it had been ultimately just a cruel joke. He had, after all, made Harry's life hard and miserable in so many ways in the past that a joke like this would be nothing in comparison. It took looking at Astoria's sweet swan statue to calm his nerves, to remind himself that Harry Potter was too noble to ever use anyone cruelly, even Draco Malfoy.

It had been more than three months since that fateful day and to be honest, Draco had been perfectly aware that Harry had been using Scorpius and him to gain points with Albus, who had been annoyed by Harry's lukewarm reception towards Scorpius before. Bringing up Scorpius more and encouraging them to spend even more time than they had been allowed to with each other had been a foolproof and simple way for Harry to gain Albus' trust. In a pragmatic sense, this friendship had been mutually beneficial for both parties that his Slytherin self had no reason to complain about being "used". In a more emotional sense, this had been the first time since Astoria's passing that Draco had felt supported by anyone he could trust. Not surprisingly, Harry Potter had been just as emotionally-stunted as he had been if not more but Ginny had been wonderful and always offered the best advice whenever Scorpius was concerned and was the most attentive listener who seemed to always know when to lend an ear without judgement.

The friendships had done the Malfoys lots of goods, even though Draco was feeling worried and anxious about meeting Andromeda and Teddy, two of his very few remaining blood-relatives. Despite everything Harry had said and Andromeda had written, it felt so unbelievable and surreal to him that these relatives of theirs would willingly associate themselves with his family, one of if not the most unpopular and infamous family in the British Wizarding World. He was aware that messing up the meeting would be disastrous for Scorpius, who had first expressed a desire to meet Teddy to Astoria back in First Year when Albus had casually mentioned to his son that Teddy was a Metamorphmagus.

At this moment, Draco saw that it was eight and was starting to feel a bit uneasy. It might not be that late but like himself, Scorpius was an early riser even during holiday that it was extremely rare for Draco to find his son not up before he did despite Albus' stay warranting a delay. As his thoughts turned to the young Potter boy, he tried not to think about it but inevitably, he started wondering if he had another nightmare right here, which did not seem that unlikely considering the amount of tortures that had taken place in this house.

Draco thought about the way Harry had been fussing over Albus lately. He had been lucky that despite the unfortunate circumstances that Scorpius had survived that unforgiving alternate universe in which Voldemort had won and had been tortured by Delphi, his son had somehow not suffered any lasting injuries and traumas. Had the situations been reversed, Draco had no doubt that he would have fussed over Scorpius the way Harry had been doing with Albus lately. The difference, however, lied in the fact that Albus had not been half as receptive to Harry's clumsy attempts in comforting and helping as Scorpius would have now post-Time-Turner-incidents. For that, he had honestly been feeling bad for his friend.

On the night when they had returned from Deathly Hallows, not only had Scorpius recounted everything that had happened since Albus and he had jumped off the train, he had also confessed a lot of his thoughts and feelings that he had kept hidden forever, most notably the way he had always believed himself to be a disappointment to Draco. It had been a stab to his heart to see that his son, who he had loved and been proud of with all his heart, could possibly see himself to be a disappointment, and worse, could consider himself to be a disappointment to him, that Draco had broken down crying and apologising to Scorpius, swearing that he would never again give Scorpius any reason to doubt how much he loved him from that day forth.

Since then, it had seemed like a glass wall between Draco and Scorpius had been broken, Draco had started to open himself up and Scorpius seemed to be able to sense him warming up that his son had become so ready to talk to him about everything and even to hug him. He was not like and could never be as good to Scorpius as Astoria, he remembered how stiff he had been when Scorpius had first hugged him, which had confused the boy to think that Draco had not liked it, but he had gradually been getting better with it, and had stopped flinching when Scorpius had accidentally touched his old Dark Mark.

Draco could say that Scorpius had his eyes, the same gray-blue eyes, but the truth was, all Draco had been able to see in Scorpius' eyes had been Astoria, in the way Scorpius would lit up, get excited, even when he got teary, and lately, in the way Scorpius had looked at him and Albus, the same softness, affection and love he had found comfort in Astoria's eyes.

Draco could not help looking up at every faint sound by eight-thirty, which startled the poor house-elf Becky at one point that she almost spilled the teapot that he had to remind himself to relax. He told himself that no doubt the boys were still sleeping because they had stayed up late from stargazing, one of Scorpius' favourite activities, or from just some random chitchat. This was the whole point of a sleepover, for the boys to have fun, or at least what Draco believed to be the point since he had never experienced a sleepover himself.

"Having fun" was itself a rather foreign concept for Draco for the longest time, but surprisingly, he had been having a fair share of fun himself. Of course there was the trip to France he had taken with Scorpius during the Christmas holiday, the excitement with the fireworks the night before, which thankfully was not as dangerous as he had anticipated, but also all the peaceful, quiet times he had been spending with Scorpius, when his son would eagerly told him about every fascinating and silly things he had read, or even when they were not talking but merely keeping each other company in contented silence.

Scorpius had told him that he had used to believe that Draco would want him to look proud, well-mannered like the pure blood they had been raised to be, like the way Draco had always carried himself. Little by little, Draco had been able to convince Scorpius that he truly wanted him to act true to himself in front of him, even if it meant baby-talking to his pets or manipulating him into making a house for those Pygmy Puffs.

He would never openly admit it to Scorpius or his late father but Draco did have fun himself making that ridiculous dollhouse. Sure it had been unexpectedly challenging and difficult to the point that Draco had been tempted to just shrink his own house to get it over with but it was all worth it to see the joy on his son's face. Scorpius, who had lost his mother at such a young age and got stuck with the infamous family name and terrible rumour that left him bullied day and night for years, deserved to be happy just like any child and if it took making an extravagant dollhouse expensive enough to buy a real house for him to be happy, so be it. It had been a few days but Draco could still feel his son delightedly enveloping him into a hug the moment they had finished the house and hear his pure laughter as if he had been a five-year-old seeing snow for the first time. Yes, his son had suffered but Scorpius was as happy as he had ever been since Astoria's death and seeing him happy made Draco felt… proud of himself for once, surely Astoria would be proud of how much he had grown as a father as well.

As for Draco himself, even though he and Astoria had tried their best to make this gloomy house their own, he had always felt like he had been living under the shadows of Voldemort, the Death Eaters as well as his father that making the house had been strangely therapeutic like building a new house free of the gloomy presence. Moreover, it had amused him to think that Lucius would have been rolling in his graves seeing the sole Malfoy heir baby-talking with Pygmy Puffs bought from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and even had a luxurious house made with Lucius' money for them, which was of course, all the more reason for Draco to let Scorpius do whatever he wanted.

Just then, Draco believed he heard footsteps that he perked up his ears. The person seemed to be keeping it down deliberately and moving rather hesitantly, which made him felt a bit worried as Scorpius would have rushed in to greet him immediately while the house-elves were always careful performing their jobs and knew exactly what they were doing but never nervous that the person in question could only be Albus, but why in Merlin's name would Scorpius be not up while Albus was roaming the house on his own?

Draco guessed that Albus would probably be somewhat nervous, worrying if he would disturb Draco, that he did not want to scare the boy so he tried to walk as naturally and confidently as he normally did on his way to the archway that Albus would no doubt be able to hear his approach. As expected, Albus was facing him directly, about ten feet away from the archway entrance by the time he reached there.

"G-Good morning, Mr Malfoy."

Albus had already changed but was still in his slippers, perhaps a deliberate choice to lighten the noises he would make. If the boy had combed his hair, Draco could not tell at all. He definitely looked similar to how Harry had looked as a Fourth-year but he believed Albus was a bit shorter and there was something about the boy that felt somewhat… softer. Draco could not tell if Albus was nervous, which he had no real reason to be but Draco would find rather understandable if he was, they had only talked with each other on their own once before after all. What worried him a little was there was not a hint of a smile on Albus' face, the boy looked serious and exhausted with visible bags under his eyes, which was not at all how a teenage boy should look at his first sleepover with his best friend.

"Good morning, Albus." Draco suppressed the dozen questions popping up in his mind as he nodded to greet the boy with a polite smile and as much respect as he would to any adult wizard. He cared deeply about Albus and certainly wanted to leave a favourable impression. "Could I help you with anything?"

"I...hmm… Could I have some warm milk please, Mr Malfoy?"

"Certainly." Draco gestured to the sofa, on which Albus obediently sat the next moment, before snapping his fingers, a house-elf immediately apparated and bowed in front of him.

"H-How may I help you, Master?"

"Could you bring Albus a mug of warm milk please?"

"O-Of course, Master."

Becky disappeared then reappeared right away holding a mug of milk with steam coming out of it as she gingerly walked over to hand Albus the mug. The boy received it with thanks as the house-elf bowed low to Albus then to Draco before apparating out the room.

The temperature of the milk did not bother Albus at all as he quickly gulped down half the cup."Thank you, Mr Malfoy."

"You're welcome." Draco frowned in concern. "But Scorpius should have taken care of that, instead of letting you wander the house on your own. Where is Scorpius? He should be up by n..."

Albus immediately put down the mug on a side table next to the sofa as he put his hands up interrupting Draco with a trace of panic in his voice, "Please, Mr Malfoy, Scorpius is still sleeping. Let him sleep, please."

Draco thought about Harry and Scorpius' worry about Albus' nightmares, he did not want to make this traumatised boy uncomfortable by forcing him to talk about things he did not even want to share with his own family. He genuinely cared about Albus, his son's best friend as well as the son of his friends, but it would be tricky to say anything here without addressing the elephant in the room.

"I see, you two must have had a long day yesterday. Were you two up late last night?"

"Yes… No, we stayed up for a bit but went to sleep before one."

"Is Scorpius alright? He rarely sleeps past eight."

"He's fine…" Albus sighed dejectedly as he continued, "except he got woken up at three by m-my… screamings. It's all my fault, I should have foreseen that and slept in the guest room you have prepared for me as I was told instead of his room and I should have brought my sleeping draught. He shouldn't have to…"

It was Draco's turn to interrupt Albus. "I am sorry, Albus, but I must stop you there."

Albus stared at Draco with his blood-shot eyes.

"It is not your fault that you are suffering from your nightmares so you should not have said that. You having a nightmare here was unfortunate but definitely not your fault."

"But it was my fault that Scorpius had to witness that. He was having the best time, he did not need to see that…"

"So you don't think Scorpius needs to see that or know about that, even if you're screaming your head off."

"That's not what I meant… well, yes...it's my problem, Scorpius did not need to be burdened by that... He had suffered enough on his own."

Draco shook his head, "Can't you see, Albus? Scorpius had already been burdened by that before last night. Scorpius is clever and very observant and from what he has told me, I believe you're aware that he knew that you've been taking Sleeping Draught and been casting a silencing spell before going to sleep every night in the dormitory you share with him. He has known for a while that you've been hurting and it broke his heart to see you suffering on your own without being able to help you in any way." Of course all of that applied to Harry as well, but Draco thought it would be wise to keep Harry out of the conversation for now.

"I know." Albus reached for the mug and slowly finished his drink as if he was trying to buy some time. Albus' eyes looked suspiciously shiny to Draco.

"I know it's not my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't do… but I hope you can at least try to understand that Scorpius would hate seeing you hurt as much as you hate seeing him hurt."

Scorpius had told Draco about how terrible Albus had screamed witnessing his son's torture that he said it hoping it could somehow reach Albus. Draco could see Albus wincing with a deep frown on his forehead as if he was in pain that he wondered if he had just crossed a line. Draco thought it best to talk about something a bit less personal.

"Hm… I hope that you are able to get some good sleep sometime at least. I know how things are like in your Fourth-year, when they have started covering things important for you O.W.L.s, it would not do for you to be sleep-deprived most of the time."

"I'm able to sleep alright… most of the time. It's just that when I have a nightmare, it could be so bad that I feel...sc… terrified of seeing that again that even if it isn't that often, I go to sleep every night worrying if I'm going to have another one again that night it's hard for me to truly be relaxed whenever I go to sleep lately."

To say Draco was surprised would be an understatement. It was true that he had wanted to get Albus to talk but as much as he cared and worried about Albus, they did not know each other personally enough that he would not have guessed that the boy would reveal that about his nightmares, especially because he was pretty sure that Albus had not told Harry or even Scorpius as much.

Draco had never been good at comforting people, considering the way he had kept his distance from his own grieving child the past two years instead of trying harder to be there for him. Albus might not be his child but now that he was kind of talking, Draco felt obliged to say something as he did not want to let down Scorpius or Harry, who would both give so much to be sitting here right now hearing that much confession that he desperately searched for something to say, even if it was something he would not otherwise reveal to anyone.

"I know I do not and will never know what you are going through, Albus, but I do understand how it feels to be plagued with nightmares. You see, I used to have nightmares myself during the war and for years after."

He had Albus' full attention now, "Wh... I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to… but what did you dream about?"

A/N: Thank you so much for everyone who have commented, your continuous support has kept me going even though I thought I'd have completely abandoned this earlier. I decided to update today as it's the 4th year anniversary of this fic, which might be a bit of a cheat considering how rare I updated the last two years. I really enjoyed writing Draco here but the next chapter may take a while again and I haven't started returning to the main fic yet.

Life has been complicated and disappointing to me lately but I'm hanging in there. Please comment :)