Scorpius had been quiet - very quiet - all morning.

As soon as Hermione had accepted the position, she had gotten to work getting her other affairs in order. Draco had been happy to help her shrink, package, and move all of her belongings to her staff quarters. It hadn't taken long with a few illegally placed featherlight charms.

They were moving the last few items today and bringing Scorpius with them for his first look at Hogwarts. He had been practically bouncing off the walls when they had told him where they would be going that weekend. When he'd walked into Hermione's apartment, though, he very quickly went silent.

They had strategically left three boxes, one for each of them to carry. According to Hermione, it wasn't home until you'd lugged something over the threshold, so the two larger boxes were without charms. The little box of mugs that Hermione had set aside so that Scorpius could feel included was under featherlight and cushioning charms. He took the box without a word, his mouth shut tight in a frown.

Hermione glanced nervously at Draco as they stepped into the floo. Draco had placed his hands on top of Scorpius's shoulders, worried, as Hermione was, that he might not be feeling well. They flooed into Hermione's private quarters with Hermione flooing as soon as she felt certain they would have moved from the fireplace.

When she flooed into her new flat (she refused to call it dorm), Scorpius was sitting with his arms crossed on the sofa they'd moved the week before. The box he'd carried was set on the floor near him. Draco turned to look at her as the flood sounded with a helpless and somewhat distressed expression. Scorpius was normally very vocal when he felt unwell or was grumpy, and the silent act was jarring to them both.

"Well," Hermione said, forcing a cheer into her voice that she did not feel, "should we have a nosh before we go look around Hogwarts, Scor?"

Scorpius shrugged, but Hermione knew that he hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning. The small kitchenette had been stocked with muggle devices and electric sockets for her convenience. She pulled bags of chicken nuggets and the specific brand of crinkle-cut fries that Scorpius loved. Draco brought the box of mugs and set each of theirs carefully on the counter before sighing and rubbing his eyes roughly.

Hermione finished setting the oven to preheat and then moved to lean into his side while she filled the kettle. "Has he ever gone this quiet before?"

Draco shook his head. "No. I don't understand what's happened. He was so excited this morning, he brushed his teeth before I even asked him to."

Hermione shrugged, glancing over her shoulder to check on Scorpius. Draco told her he was going to put the last of the items away where she'd told him she'd like them. When the tea was done, she cast a stasis charm on Draco's before carrying the other two mugs to the coffee table and sitting down beside Scorpius.

"What do you think, Scor? It's nice, isn't it?"

She meant that. It wasn't as light or spacious as her last place, but it was cozy and smelled like centuries of history. Besides, she already had a pretty good feeling that she'd be spending more time at Draco's place than here. They had only been dating for a little more than a month, but they had started falling into one another for so long that it didn't feel so haphazard when they slotted their lives together. They were with each other almost every night, mostly and Draco's place because that's where Scor's room and most of his things were.

She nudged Scorpius mug closer to the edge of the table so it'd be easier to reach.

He shoved it, spilling its contents and breaking off a chunk of the mug. Hermione was shocked. She didn't even process the hot tea spilling from the table and dripping onto her leg, even as she pushed Scorpius into the couch to shield him from the scalding liquid.

"Scorpius!" She whispered despite her want to shout. "That was very dangerous."

Scorpius wriggled from her grasp. " I don't care!" he shouted before running through the first door he saw - the door to the hallways of Hogwarts. She ran after him, but he was gone by the time she got to the door.

"Draco!" Hermione screamed as she looked down each end of the hall.

Draco was at her side almost immediately, looking down the hallway. He didn't bother to ask where Scorpius was or why she'd let him leave. He simply instructed her to go one way while she went the other.

Draco simply pointed her towards one way before he took off in the other direction. She didn't even hesitate before slamming her portrait hole and shooting off in her designated direction.

It was forty-five minutes later when Hermione found Scorpius sitting with two hufflepuffs, three slytherin, and a ravenclaw. She supposed they were a part of the summer safety initiative that Harry had pushed for to ensure kids who didn't feel safe going home had another option.

Hermione practically collapsed in the courtyard when she saw him, grabbing him from between the young students who had been watching over him. She pulled him into her arms and sighed. She wanted to shout at him, she was so scared, but her relief was crushing her vocal cords. She was almost certain the only sound she was capable of at that moment was a sob anyway. She slipped her wand out of her pocket just long enough to conjure a patronus that Draco could follow back to them.

Scorpius buried his face in her shirt. One of the boys from the group - a hufflepuff - knelt beside them and hesitantly patted Scorpius back. When he had the boy's attention, the puff motioned him closer and whispered in his ear, reminding him of what they'd discussed.

Scorpius looked at the older boy and nodded, pulling himself away from Hermione to give the boy a hug and wave his chubby hand at the rest of his new friends. They waved back at him as they gathered their things to leave and one of the slytherins even blew him a kiss. He wiped his face with his sleeve leaving a trail of snot behind and then grabbed Hermione's hand.

"I'm sorry I was mean and I - I pushed my tea over." He was staring at the ground like he wanted to swallow him whole.

"I accept your apology, Scorpius," Hermione said, giving his hand a comforting squeeze, "but can you tell me why you were so upset?"

Scorpius started rocking back and forth on his feet trying to decide if he should take his new friend's advice and tell Mione why he was so upset. Finally, he took his hand and pushed it through his hair, the same way Draco tended to, and gave a little sigh.

He still wasn't looking at her face - he was afraid she would look disappointed and mad and hate him - as he said, "I don't want you to live here."

Hermione bent down further, trying to meet his gaze. "Why not, Scor?"

He huffed and stopped one foot. He couldn't help it. He was still upset. "Daddy says Hog-orts," he stumbled over the long word, "is a special place for students and teachers and no one else can come in, and I don't want you to live here because you're my mum and I don't want to never see you anymore!"

Hermione tried to swallow around the lump in her throat that had just formed. Trying her best to put aside his calling her mum for another time, she gently lifted his face so he was looking at her. "Scorpius, you and I will still see each other all the time. You're here now aren't you? So clearly you can come here. You just can't wander around the school, but you can always floo into my flat as long as your dad says it's okay. Okay?"

Scorpius sniffled. He guessed that made sense. He was here, after all. He nodded slowly as if he was afraid she'd take it back. Draco ran up to them, panting with worry, and dropped to his knees beside them.

"Scorpius, you can't run off like that! You scared me very badly." Draco's stern look was undercut by the blatant relief he felt. He was sweating from the amount he'd been running around the past half hour or so, and he felt exhaustion suddenly crush him worse than what he experienced after any quidditch game.

"I know," he said tearfully. "I'm sorry. Am I in trouble?"

As his fears about losing Mione abated, Scorpius began to realize that what he did was very not good. His dad always said to stay with a trusted adult or close enough for a trusted adult to keep an eye on him, and he didn't do that. He knew before he asked that he was in trouble.

Confirming his suspicions, his father nodded. "You are, Scorpius. That was very naughty. Do you know why it was naughty?"

"Because I wasn't nice and didn't stay with one of you and that's not safe."

"That's right. You've apologized and that's very good, but actions have consequences. What do you think is a fair consequence for your bad behavior?"

Draco waited for his son to give up his dessert, as he always did when he truly felt guilty over his actions. A whole week without dessert, Scorpius had decided, would atone for running off. It was longer than what he would have usually decided to go without, but this was a pretty serious no-no, and Draco wasn't inclined to shorten the self-imposed sentence.

The three walked back to Hermione's room without really speaking. When they made it inside, Hermione announced that she was going to make some more tea since theirs had surely gone off by now. Scorpius stared down at the mess he'd made of his own tea and began to tear up again. Draco vanished the liquid and any stain that was in the making, but Scorpius lip continued to quiver.

When Draco went to grab pieces of the mug, Scorpius stopped him by holding up his little hand and waving haphazardly. "Repairo!" he shouted before looking to his dad with expectation. He added a little "Please," when Draco didn't move to comply with his request.

Draco did as requested only because the mug had broken into large shards that were easy to fit back together. When the mug settled itself back on the table, Scorpius squealed and picked it up. He ran his finger between the two cows where the largest fissure had been. He motioned for Draco to bend down to his level and then held the mug close to his face.

He pointed at the little calf and said very seriously, "This one is me."

Draco nodded even though he strongly disliked his son comparing himself to a cow. Then Scorpius pointed to the mother cow and said happily, "And the mummy one is Mione."

Draco nodded again, slowly this time. That was why Scorpius had insisted on fixing the mug. Draco glanced over his shoulder to look at Hermione who was throwing the slightly thawed chicken and fries into the oven. He wasn't totally blindsided by this - not as he had been when he'd first realized how much his son adored his sometimes babysitter.

Hermione and Draco had only struck up their romantic relationship recently, but Scorpius had picked up the change quickly, even if he didn't know exactly what it meant. Mione was always sleeping over except for the times when they would sleepover at her flat. That was about as much as he understood about the standard family unit - two parents and some children lived in one space and if there was a mum, she did all the things that Hermione did for him.

No, Draco wasn't surprised. In fact, he knew, as did most of their friends, family, passing acquaintances, and virtual strangers if Witch Weekly had its way. Still, he had thought he'd had a little bit more time. Just a tad. Hermione had been very clear at the beginning of their relationship that even if they split, she would expect him to be civil about her staying in Scorpius's life. That was easy to agree to, and he knew that was a commitment she wouldn't turn her back on.

But being Scorpius's friend and being his mother were two very different roles and despite Draco's lackluster relationship experience, he was pretty sure maternity was a big ask at the one month marker.

Unfortunately, it was a conversation that needed to happen sooner rather than later because Scorpius fully intended on keeping her and Draco did, too. He turned back to Scorpius who was looking at him like he was weird which was fair considering that Draco had just been staring over his shoulder for what was probably a longer amount of time than he'd felt it was.

"I'll just go check on our tea, then," Draco said awkwardly, as if he had to explain himself.

Scorpius shrugged and moved to distract himself with the bag of toys that Draco had dropped off a day prior.

Draco went to the kitchen and leaned against a counter and watched as a distracted Hermione rearranged her pantry with a frown. When she finally noticed him - halfway through lining up the soups so that their labels all faced out - she smiled, weary as she was. It was only 11 AM and Draco was sure the both of them were both severely drained from Scorpius - uh - moment, for a lack of better words.

"I wanted to talk to you," Hermione said softly. Draco quirked an eyebrow curiously and nodded. She sighed, and Draco started to get a bit nervous. "Scorpius said something today, that I think you and I should probably discuss."

"What would that be?" Now he was really concerned. Was this about why Scor had been acting so off?

Another sigh. "He said that he thought if I moved here then I wouldn't be his mum."

Silence.

Draco felt a burning shame forming in his chest. His son thought Hermione was abandoning him. He didn't understand that all this changed was where they'd be staying some night, and Draco hadn't even thought it necessary to explain it to him.

"He understands now that he can come to see me whenever you give him permission. We talked about it. But Draco-"

Draco pulled Hermione into an unexpected hug. "Thank you. I didn't realize that he would think-"

"How could you? You can't think of everything." She rubbed his back comfortingly.

"I just never wanted him to feel abandoned or unwanted, and by not anticipating this - this response, I've caused that."

"You have not! Draco, Scorpius is wanted by so many people! Your mum, you, me, not to mention all my friends and yours - he is wanted and I'm sure he knows that. He's just a child, and usually kids don't see the big picture."

Draco pulled back, and Hermione noticed his eyes were red. Her thumb ran soothing lines up his neck to the base of his skull and then back down again. "I should've done better. I should have insisted we talked about it when we started dating - when him calling you mum and all that stuff would be appropriate. When you'd be comfortable with it. We knew we'd have to talk about it eventually."

Hermione felt like her whole body was locking up, tingling and detached from her brain. "Planned on keeping me around then, did you?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood and calm her breathing.

He looked into her eyes, all smoldering seriousness. "I didn't enter into a relationship with you expecting for it to fall apart. It's not my modus operandi. It's all or bust for me."

"Me too," Hermione choked out. "All or bust, I mean. And that's not just with you, but with Scor, too. You know that, right?"

Draco nodded without hesitation. "I do."

"So… does it bother you?"

"That you're all in?" He huffed a little laugh. "No."

"I mean that, well… that Scorpius wants to call me Mum. Does that bother you?"

Draco took a moment to really think about that question. "It makes me scared - a bit jealous that I wasn't enough of a parent to him-"

"Draco, don't say that! You're-"

"But overall, it makes me happy that he trusts you. He doesn't do that easily. He trusts you and he loves you and I love you. So I'm happy that he wants you to be his mum, but I also don't want you to feel like you have to be his mum."

"I don't-"

"I'd like you to, of course, but I want you to be comfortable with it. And everything has been happening very fast. With us, I mean." Draco was speaking faster and his hand twitched with the need to run it through his hair.

"Draco stop!" Hermione almost shouted. She looked over towards the living room and smiled at the Scorpius to ensure him that everything was all right. "We have been moving fast, that's true. But I've told you before, and I'll tell you again - I will always be there for Scorp. You and I could fall apart - and I don't think we will! - but we could, and I would still be there for him. If you don't mind me being his mum then yes, I want to be his mum. I do. It's not like we have to get married."

"To be fair, I would like to get married at some point. Just not immediately."

Hermione smirked, her brain and body stuttering back to life at his admission. "Let the dust settle with the press before we kick it up again?"

"Something like that." He smiled and the dimple that she loved appeared in his cheek. "Although, not too long. What was it Skeeter wrote? 'Never Too Old for Love?' Seems we're on our death bed, so we might as well get on with it."

They shared what Ginny would have described as an 'absolutely gooey' smile. It was fast and terrifying and they were all in.

"So how do we let him know, then? That you're his mum and that he's allowed to believe that?"

Hermione took a deep breath and stood up as straight as she could. "Tell him that his Mum wants to know if he wants ketchup or ranch with his nuggets."

Draco pulled her into him to kiss her soundly before he did as he was told. As he walked out of the kitchen, Hermione called after him. "Oh! And Draco? I love you too." She made a joke of very obviously checking him out. "Even if you are getting kinda old."

He gave her a playful sneer. "Never too old, then?"

"Never too old."

And that was the last chapter. I only ever intended for this story to be about 5 chapters long, but your guys' support encouraged me to push myself into longer-form content. However, I'm ready to move on to other projects that I've had simmering on the back burner due to this story. Thanks for all the support on this project!