Summary: Months trickled by where they simply existed. Then Scorpius decides that it was time they honored his mother's by using the gift she wanted them to enjoy.

Rated: K

Genre: Family

Warning Tag: Grief/Mourning

Competition/Challenge Block:
Written for/Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Term 14); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)
Hogwarts: Ravenclaw; A9 - Childcare #3: Write about a father and son bonding together over something. Whether it be an activity, advice, anything in between.

MC4A:

Word Count: 432

To Touch the Stars

The manor was too large yet suffocating, the shadows always seemed to loom in every crevice and corner. Draco and Scorpius dwelled in the pit that Astoria left behind, the brooms she left them untouched and unused in the bedroom Draco no longer used. It smelled too much like her, everywhere he looked he was reminded of her.

They sat in silence over dinner one evening, it had been months since her passing and they simply just existed in the limbo that became of their oversized home. Scorpius looked sullen, moving his food around on the plate but making no attempt to eat. Draco could see he was lost in thought.

"Are you…" he didn't dare finish the question. They were far from okay.

"The brooms she left…" Scorpius said just above a whisper. Swallowing, he looked up from his plate to look at Draco from across the table. "She wanted us to use them."

Draco waited to hear more, but stiffened from what the conversation was about.

"There's supposed to be a meteor shower… and I was wondering if…" he trailed off for a moment, glancing to the closest window that showed the fading sunlight. "If you would fly with me to see it."

There was no way he could deny his son anything.

Father and son were soon out in the field by the pond, their Firebolt 42s in hand as they scanned the navy blue sky above them dotted with stars and planets. The shower would be happening any minute, and Scorpius wanted to be as close as humanly possible to it. So they both took off into the skies on the brooms their mother and wife had left for them. The wind whipped through Draco's hair and stung at his cheeks, but he felt alive again as he pushed the speed of the broom even more. It's handling was smooth, precise, and it was fast.

Reaching far above the tallest treetops of the backwoods lining the property, Draco came to a stop to scan the darkness for his son. The moon was barely a quill line in the sky, offering little light for him. But soon, Scorpius whipped by him, making a loop before stopping just beside his father. A broad smile on his face though with a touch of sadness lingering in his eyes, Draco reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze, and as if his silent wish came true, the sky above them started to slowly streak with the white lines of the meteors dissolving through the atmosphere.

This was what peace felt like.