AN: Sorry for the delay in updates lovely readers , I have no intention of abandoning any of my stories but have been rather ill so struggling to update frequently x Now that A Cure For Magic has been completed, I will hopefully get around to updating more often now that I only have 4 WIP stories posted , rather than 5, that's if I can hold off on the temptation of not posting any more of my WIPs up . . .

As sleep encroached on her , she heard his gentle words "Thank You" and responded fuzzily in kind. "Thank You"

Then as it always seemed to do so in her life, things went to hell as she was awoken in the night by piercing screaming and Severus's panicked eyes met hers as he clutched his hand at his heart and gasped for breath, and her own heart sank to her stomach at his choked words.

"Something's wrong"

Severus was clutching his heart and for a bleary eyed moment she also thought it was him that had screamed, then her mind had skipped to the caterwauling charm that had signalled Lucius's abrupt arrival the other day, however when the fog of sleep cleared from her eyes she had firstly realised that Severus had not made any noise other than his choked explanation a moment prior, clutching his chest in a way that made her fear for the health of his heart, when she realised the screaming noise was continuing and it was coming from Rose's bedroom. Her stomach clenched in a way it always did when it came to Rose, a long forgotten muscle memory of when her baby was held safe in her belly, but this time it was not her daughter's screams that tugged at her womb but those of Scorpius.

For a torn moment she looked between Severus and the door, resting her hand on his arm. "Go" he grunted, still pained but making motions to stand, so she lept out the room and to the children.

Scorpius was upright on the bed and sobbing loudly and without restraint, a chubby hand clutched to his heart eerily the same way Severus had been doing. Rose was hugging the boy silently , offering what support she could. When he saw Hermione , his arms outstretched beseechingly , and she took him into her arms without hesitation, instinctively holding him close in a long practiced comforting embrace.

"What's matter little love?" She whispered to the overwrought toddler. "Are you sick?"

"Noooo" He whined, with a tremble to the words that only toddlers of his age could manage. "Oooowww"

"Are you hurt?" She asked then , looking at the way the chubby fist clutched against his chest.

The answer came just as a strained looking Severus reached the doorway.

"Daddy owwww"

Realisation struck then , more at Severus's ashen face than at the toddler's exclamation alone.

"Severus?" She questioned , but he was backing away quickly and shaking his head as though to deny the truth they had both realised.

"Severus!" Her yell chased down the hall after him , but with loud echoing footsteps so unlike the lithe and graceful man she knew, he had thundered down the stairs two at time , still only in his sleep shirt and trousers and with a loud crack of apparition he was gone, the only thing he left behind was the noise of smashing frames from the living room and a distraught Hermione holding a devastated child.

o

o

It was almost noon before he returned. Nearly 6 hours after his frantic dash in the early hours of that morning. It had taken hours to calm Scorpius down, not helped in any way by Severus's own abrupt departure. Scorpius had cried until he was sick and then he'd sobbed himself into an exhausted sleep.
The ever perceptive Rose refused to be parted from him, she grasped his hand tightly as they slept and when waking the only time the clingy boy would allow Hermione to let go of him, was to be held by an almost equally concerned Rose.

Rose's limited verbosity didn't assist her much at this time, but she showed her love and her care in other ways, even using her small hair brush to brush the toddlers soft blonde hair, while he sniffled and sucked his thumb, an action she'd rarely seen from the bright young boy, who was usually so confident and self assured.

It made Hermione's heart ache in equal parts adoration and sympathy, to watch Rose attempt to minister care to Scorpius in a way that she'd obviously learned from Hermione and Severus. Severus had been more than embarrassed the first time Rose had walked in on Hermione brushing his hair, to the point where she actually thought he'd be less distraught if she'd walked in on them during sex, but he had soon come to realise that Rose just accepted it for what it was. After all , Hermione often brushed Rose's hair, so there was no reason for her to question the same action with Severus and the girl just took it in her stride. Even going as far as inviting herself into his lap and attempting a very sloppy braid in his hair. Hermione had gone to remove her, not wanting to her to unknowingly intrude on something that she knew was so cherished by Severus, but Severus had quickly stopped her. Until she'd realised that he cherished Rose just as much. He'd even left the small wonky braid in place, until it naturally came loose on it's own, and though he'd said nothing, Hermione was certain he'd been almost disappointed it had come loose at all.

When Severus arrived it had been to the sight of Rose brushing Scorpius's hair, and she watched a myriad of expressions cross his face before it returned to the blank one she knew to be his occlumency shields.

His face was equally ashen as it was green, and she could tell from the pallor of his skin that he'd been sick before coming home, in fact from the state of his hair she was certain. Equally she could tell just how upset he was by the fact that he hadn't attempted to hide it. She couldn't form the question, especially not in front of Scorpius , but she knew her look said it all. And the answering, barely perceptible shake of his head told her everything she needed to know. As did the dead look in his eyes and the way his jaw was tensed. He was occluding harder than she'd ever seen him do before, hard enough to make a vein pulse at his temple.

He was on the verge of collapse she knew, and she also knew she had to intervene. The children had seen him, but in that intrinsic way that children sometimes do, they had known that now was not the time to bother him.

Grasping his arm she ushered him to the floor, and he went with barely an argument. His body was clammy with sweat, and he smelled less than fresh but she didn't care. Summoning the brush from the bedroom , it hit her hand with a quiet impact, and weaving her fingers through his locks, she whispered a cleansing spell into his hair and scalp before taking a seat on the sofa behind him, urging him to shuffle backwards until his back hit the sofa and she began to gently run the brush through his hair, while he sat framed between her legs.

It was only a few minutes before she physically felt as his occlumency shields broke as he took a few shuddering breaths and then he was weeping. Harsh broken sobs, he brought his knees up to his chin and buried his face in his hands. Her own tears ran unchecked down her face, but she didn't allow them to hinder her. Her pain was miniscule compared to what her boys must be going through right now. Scorpius's own sniffles had started again , though they were minor compared to his earlier sobbing. He'd cried himself out already today and didn't have the energy left in him for more. Severus on the other hand had likely spent hours occluding away every trace of emotion to be able to function in the face of what he had to deal with and so the force of the devastation hit him like a freight train and he wept and wept and wept, until both Scorpius and Rose made their way into his arms.

She didn't know how the tiny toddlers had the strength to pull his hands away from the death grip he had on his own face , but they managed and then he had an armful of two toddlers , chubby arms wrapped around his neck and wet kisses being being left on his cheeks as they hugged him for all they were worth and he hugged them back just as tightly. Hermione finally laid down the brush and wrapped her arms around him from behind, squeezing both her arms and her legs tightly around him until he was surrounded by their love on all sides and his sobs eventually settled into gasps and hiccoughs.

"Daddy is wif mummy now?"

Scorpius was the first to speak, and Hermione covered her mouth to stifle her sobs.

"Y-yes" Severus managed to get out before sniffing and wiping his eyes before repeating , stronger this time. "Yes Scorpius. Your father is with your mother now."

Hermione placed both hands on his shoulders to give what silent support she could, and Rose was still fiercely hugging both of the men with an expression that dared anyone to attempt to remove her.

The boy had a serious look , as though he was considering something deeply, then he put a hand on Severus's cheek and looked him dead in the eye.

"is not your fault"

The words, she knew, were a repetition of what she and Severus had told him when he had found out his mother had died. His mother had often been bitter towards the child, and more than once he'd been made to feel responsible for her declining health, so when she died, Hermione and Severus had made sure to make him fully understand that her death was not his fault in anyway.

Regardless, it seemed to be just what Severus needed to hear, and he sobbed once more before pulling Scorpius close and kissing the crown of his head.

"I still lub you" Scorpius whispered into his neck and Severus whispered the words back into the toddles hair.

"I love you"

"love" Rose whispered almost imperceptibly and Severus pulled her tighter into his embrace, kissing her forehead softly as Hermione fondly ran her hand through her daughter's and Severus's hair. "Love" Hermione said with a tender smile.

And though they didn't speak it outloud, Hermione kissed the top of Severus's head, and he grasped her hand in hers and it was all they needed.

Severus had turned to Hermione lost, "What now?" Clearly written in his expression, after their emotional outpouring he was lost as to what to do, until Hermione coached him into how to manage the children from hereon out.

She encouraged him to leave the toddlers together and join her in the kitchen, where they made a plan of action moving forward. From now, they had to be strong in front of the children, their routine would go as normal as possible and Hermione and Severus would carry on as usual, though if either child was upset or emotional they would be allowed to cry and vent as needed, but afterwards it was back to everyday life, at least until the elder Malfoy's arrived for Scorpius. Structure was important for young children, and they wanted to make sure both felt safe and secure.

It wasn't until that evening when both children were once more settled into bed, that Hermione and Severus sat down for the talk that neither of them wanted to have. She debated reaching for the brush once more, but she didn't want him to start associating the negative aspects of his life with this experience, once was enough for today so she refrained, opting instead on sitting behind him on the bed, wrapping herself around him, arms around his chest and legs around his waist as she'd done a few times before in what Severus had coined her koala hug.

Though she had suspected it , Severus confirmed that Draco had took his own life. Damaged and traumatised already from the war, his wife's death had been the tipping point and he'd used what Slytherin connections he could to discover a group of rogue death eaters in hiding in a remote Scottish cave, who'd been avoiding capture by the auror department since they'd escaped ministry holding at the end of the war, among them Dolohov and Yaxley. He'd summoned the aurors then torched the place with fiendfyre, allowing the fire to consume everything in it's path, and as fiendfyre was want to do, it had consumed the caster also.

The note they'd found at the manor, under a timed release charm that only appeared after the aurors had left, had said that he found fire to be fitting. He'd wrote that he wouldn't be so Gryffindor as to suggest he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, but he hoped for catharses in some way that perhaps it would cleanse him of the many things of which he was guilty.

It served the dual purpose of clearing the family's name for Scorpius to pave his own path in the wizarding world. Because Gryffindor sentiments aside, a Blaze of Glory is exactly what the prophet would report that morning. Draco's careful planning, had ensured that instead of reading of the suicide of a depressed death eater, Wizarding Britain would read of the heroic sacrifice of a widower young father, who died, avenging his cursed wife and attempting to make the world a safer place for his son to grow up in, and took 6 death eaters with him.

"He was so broken Hermione. The Dark Lord...Bellatrix... I should've done more."

Hermione allowed him to vent , allowed him his sorrow , but whenever he turned to self hatred she would grasp his face in her hands and turn him in her direction.

"No Severus , this isn't on you. You hear me? This is not your fault"

And he would weep some more, until eventually exhausted they crawled into bed and he slept with his head pillowed on her soft chest.

When morning came, they arose early as the wards woke Severus and alerted him to the presence of someone at the door. After checking in on the still sleeping children, Hermione started on coffee while Severus opened the door to a haggard and wan Lucius Malfoy, who looked every one of his years, twice over.

Hermione offered him coffee but he politely declined.

" Are you in a rush Lucius? Only he had a tiring day yesterday, and he could do with sleeping longer if you don't mind?"

Lucius had nodded in acquiescence before taking a seat that was offered to him.

"No. Do not wake him yet. There is actually something that I needed to discuss with you."

When he had both of their attention, he spoke though he didn't look at them.

"We're moving. There are too many memories for us at the mansion and not nearly enough of them good. I have lived their my whole life and I wish I could say I had pleasant childhood memories to fall back on in my time of need but my childhood was with my Father and Abraxas was..."

"Abraxas" Severus finished with a snort, and the usually proper Lucius snorted in amusement and acknowledgement himself. "Quite"

"With that in mind , we liquidated the majority of our assets and we donated the manor."

"You donated Malfoy Manor?" Severus's tone was as incredulous as the look on Hermione's face.

" Indeed" he answered.

"To what?" Hermione asked , unable to hide her curiosity.

"To whom actually" Lucius answered and at any other time the smirk he gave, Hermione would've said was playful in any other circumstances were it not for the fact that the light behind his eyes was so dead.

"I recently discovered that the orphanage that formerly housed the war orphans was closed down after claims of negligence. Someone apparently paid a visit intent on donating a number of articles of clothing and volunteering with the orphans, then promptly marched into the Ministry and tore them a new arsehole and demanded an inquiry into why the children had been neglected so long and the place was subsequently investigated and shut down, and all the orphans have been taken under the wing of the volunteer who registered as their private carer. They were looking for new lodgings as the current... situation... was overcrowded, and I signed over the manor this morning. From today, it will be know as the Malfoy-Weasley Home for Young Witches and Wizards."

Severus shook his head but he was smiling , and Hermione squeezed Severus's arm and offered him a small smile in acknowledgement and support of his actions. She knew exactly who'd pointed who in that direction. "Well played Old Man" Severus toasted him with the coffee cup in his hand. Not only would his actions help countless children get a better life, and a doting parent, they'd also further lay the foundations for Scorpius.

"Quite, There were benefits all round." Lucius smiled. Then he pulled open his robe to reveal the emerald green hand knitted jumper her wore underneath, with a surprisingly small and tasteful silver L on the front left breast. "Though I'm not sure this will be fitting for the climate in France"

Hermione almost choked on her coffee at the sight of Lord Lucius Malfoy wearing a Weasley Jumper, when his words finally caught up with her around the same time Severus's mug crashed to the floor.

"You're Moving Scorpius to France? "