November 2016
Conjure Pointe Township
Wizarding Australia

"How could this happen, Draco? How could a blasted owl from Hogwarts find us all the way across the world? We live in another hemisphere entirely! Our home is Unplottable, from the second we built it, and nobody who we haven't wanted to find us could do so – until now. Until this damned Hogwarts letter! Draco, I don't feel safe anymore, if a Hogwarts owl can find us, despite us severing all contact with Wizarding Britain, years ago."

"Aurelia, love, I think perhaps you're overreacting a little bit to this –"

"Overreacting? You can't be serious, Draco. My very valid concerns about the safety and peace of our family is not overreacting!"

"I never said your concerns weren't valid, love. I simply said I feel you're overreacting. Perhaps you should come back to bed and try and relax, as we talk about it."

"I don't want to relax, Draco! I can't relax. Not when I know that someone in Britain knows about our son and knows enough to be able to get a Hogwarts letter to him, despite him not being a British citizen or never having been there in living memory. I truly don't feel safe anymore, dear…"

"Aurelia, please. If not for yourself, then at least consider what getting this worked up means for the baby. You're healthy, our daughter is healthy, but undue stress won't mean anything good for whenever you chose to go into labor in a few weeks. So, please – come back to bed and try to calm down, my love."

Draco Malfoy followed the frenetic pacing of his wife with worried eyes, his hoarfrost-gray eyes troubled as he watched her slender hands nervously roaming over the proud swell of her pregnancy. Aurelia adored pregnancy so much that she could be often found caressing and talking loving to her growing daughter within her womb. But, Draco had also noticed that it had become a nervous habit as of late – and, as he glanced again at the plain, emerald-ink letter that had been delivered at dawn by their family owl, he could finally understand what the nervous tick had been brought on by.

Scorpius had turned eleven and as they had secretly, quietly feared – a Hogwarts letter had arrived with his name upon it, formally inviting him to claim his place as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Clearly, Aurelia had been more afraid of this happening that she'd ever shared with him, for when she'd Lumos'd her wand and read who the post was addressed to – she'd instantly become panicked and had been wound up ever since.

"Draco, how can you sit there and be so calm when this is happening?"

"I'm calm because there's no reason to panic."

"So, now I'm panicking needlessly – I'm being hysterical? How can you say that when you just acknowledged my concerns were valid?"

Aurelia was most beautiful when she was pregnant, her body glowing and ripening with another life they'd created, but the tight expression upon her face was distracting from that beauty. Draco sighed, careful to not sound as exasperated as he felt. Instead, his voice was full of gentle love and reasonable assurance, as he reached for his wife and beckoned her towards him.

"You're not wrong to panic or be hysterical, but all I'm asking is that you come and do so in bed. Aurelia, you're healthy, our daughter is healthy, but this still isn't good for you." Draco beckoned more firmly, and Aurelia paused, considering him anxiously. "Come on, now, love. Come back into bed and let me hold you. You're a mess and you've a right to be – but, you don't have to be a mess alone and stressed out…"

Aurelia softened and nodded agreeably. Draco held his hands out, helping her carefully into bed and find a comfortable means of laying. When he gathered her into his arm, the firm swell of her pregnancy nested between them securely, Draco was surprised to find that Aurelia was trembling, her anxiety and fear was so stark. Draco gently kissed the riotous curls that she'd somehow tamed into a loose braid, his kisses so soft and attentive that after several long moments, Aurelia stopped trembling and began taking steady, calming breaths. Draco waited until she'd relaxed in his arms fully, before holding her tightly in a reassuring hug, looking down upon her with thoughtful gray eyes.

"Would you like to talk about it, love? Tell me what's on your mind, what has you so afraid…"

Aurelia trailed her fingertips over her baby bump and sighed.

"I don't want Scorpius going to Hogwarts. We left Britain behind for good reason and we've had a beautiful, healthy life here, so far. I feel like it would be tempting fate to allow Scorpius to attend Hogwarts – it would be asking for the past to come back and haunt us and may very well put him in danger!"

"Aurelia, love, that's not necessarily true. We don't know that, at all."

"Yes, we do know that. Otherwise, we wouldn't have gone to the lengths that we did to sever our connection to Britain and create brand new identities. When you finished serving your time in Azkaban, there was no hope of you being able to live a normal life without the stain of the war, and once the Ministry was cleared of Death Eaters and Voldemort's influence, it still was impossible for me to thrive as a Muggleborn. What makes you think it will be any better for our children? What makes you think anything has changed?"

Draco didn't have an immediate answer for that.

The only contact he continued to have with Wizarding Britain was his parents – and Draco wasn't sure that it was contact, so much as Lucius and Narcissa split their time between their home in Wiltshire and Draco and Aurelia's home here in Australia. Draco and Aurelia rarely asked about Britain and those they'd left behind. Lucius and Narcissa very rarely had any news or information to offer. If it weren't for the British accents that reminded them of their childhood and adolescence back home, Draco and Aurelia could reasonably pretend that their past had never existed in Britain and they had only come to be as the newlywed couple that had earned their Australian citizenship before their twenty-first birthdays. The beautiful life they had lived in Conjure Pointe, a wizarding metropolis in the heart of the Australian Outback, was time and world away from anything they'd experienced back in Britain and their peace was so impenetrable, they hadn't checked in once on the progress – or, potential lack thereof – of their homeland in nearly two decades.

Neither Draco nor Aurelia had any accurate idea of what Wizarding Britain was like in the present day or if it was a society that was healthy or safe for their marriage or their family.

The stark realization of this made Draco sigh, and with an appreciative kiss to her temple, he shared as much with his troubled wife.

Aurelia genuinely relaxed and calmed down, upon seeing that she had been heard and understood by her husband. One of the things she appreciated the most about Draco was his sincerity in listening and coming to an understanding of what she was thinking – instead of dismissing her, deriding her, or worse, making her feel as though she were doing too much. It was something that had been sorely missing in her life until her marriage to Draco and it was moment like this, moments where she felt the world spinning out of control and overwhelming her intently, that she appreciated how he was everything she had always craved but never knew how to ask for.

"I think I agree with you, but the fact is, we can't ignore that this letter came. We'll have to make a decision and do something about it."

"I'm aware."

"What are your thoughts, then? How should we move forward, wife?"

Aurelia looked up at Draco and the protective fire that was burning her earth-brown eyes was startling, every bit as fierce as a lioness feeling threatened. "We should move forward by burning the letter to ashes, then burying the ashes. We pretend the letter never came, we celebrate the eleventh year of our son's life with the family holiday we've planned to surprise him with, and we prepare for the birth of our newest daughter after Yule. We forget that Britain ever existed, continue enjoying our peace, and for the love of all that's merciful – we keep anything to do with Britain and its poison far away from any and all of our precious babies, especially Scorpius."

Draco smiled fleetingly at the fierceness he quietly adored in his wife.

"As nice as that sounds and as possible as most of it is, I don't think that's realistic, Aurelia, my love. A real answer, this time, please."

Aurelia huffed, snuggling closer to Draco, and was quiet for a long moment as she organized her shaken, frenetic, worried thoughts.

As clearly and evenly as she could, while rubbing her beautifully full belly with steady, soothing hands, Aurelia shared: "I don't know what we should do and that's the real answer. I know what I want to do, I know what my intuition is telling me to do - but the problem is, I don't know what is best, Draco. That's what really scares me. I don't know what is best for our child for the first time in…ever…and what does that mean that we're on our seventh baby and I'm only just now coming upon a situation that has me doubting myself as a parent. I haven't been afraid for a very long time and I am now – and the reason I'm afraid is because this means someone from our past has found us and they've found us through our child. I don't know what to do or what this means, but what I do know is that I couldn't survive if something happened to Scorpius. Something that could have been prevented by simply declining the temptation for our past and continuing to move forward with our future."

Draco softened as he listened to his wife spill her heart out to him, his own heart twisting in agreement and beating in time with her well-considered worries.

Although they were practically melded together, Draco pulled Aurelia closer to him, the swell of their growing daughter nestled impossibly close between them, and simply held her as tightly and reassuringly as he knew how.

"What about you? How do you think we should move forward?" Aurelia asked, softly.

"I don't blame you one bit for how you feel, that's for certain, love." Draco gently kissed her wild and beautiful curls, which were defiantly escaping the loose braid she'd pulled into before bed, last night. "As I said previously, I feel that I agree with you – but, I'm not sure about fully. You've brought up excellent, valid points and those I do agree with. But, I'm simply not sure about the wisdom of ignoring that this happened. I agree that we don't know what Britain is like, although as far as we understand the Second War is over with and hopefully, peace has been restored. I also agree with not blindly accepting the invitation, as if we didn't exile ourselves from Britain – because we did, and that we did so changes everything. I suppose what I'm saying is…I agree with you, but there are still doubts that I have that keep me from agreeing, fully."

Aurelia considered this. "What doubts do you have?" she asked, still clearing turning over his words in her mind.

"Well, for starters – I keep thinking about we were holidaying in at our Burkinabe manse when my own Hogwarts letter came, back in 1991. We had left for my birthday and weren't due to be back until the end of July, so we were expecting the letter to be there for me when we got back but didn't realize the time-sensitivity of it. When we did arrive back in Wiltshire, the day before the acceptance deadline, there were so many letters and two official calling cards from representatives of the Board of Governors. Hogwarts waits for an acceptance or a rejection – but, if there's no answer at all, they will be persistent in discovering why. Father says that it is a safety measure, mainly with Muggleborns, to ensure nothing harmful or untoward has happened because of the potential trouble the arrival of a Hogwarts letter can cause. And, we have no idea if this measure still in place…"

"…and if someone were to come searching for why Scorpius Malfoy didn't give a response to his Hogwarts letter, there would be a different set of problems entirely to worry about." Aurelia picked up on the implications of her husband's thoughts and wanted to begin panicking all over again.

As far as Britain was concerned, Draco Malfoy had given up his British citizenship and emigrated to Australia, never to apart of the British Wizarding World again. Whether anyone back home was aware that in his exile, he'd married and become a father, neither Draco nor Aurelia knew. What was for certain, however, would be the uproar that would come about when it was discovered who Mrs. Malfoy the younger was and all that had come out of their union – including their children.

Aurelia enjoyed the life of anonymity and peace she and Draco had cultivated, through sacrificing everything they had previously been, before coming together as their new selves in Australia.

If someone where to come looking for them, looking for why the eleven-year-old son of Draco was not responding to his Hogwarts letter…

Aurelia began trembling all over again, fear creeping up her spine like a vine.

"Draco, I'm not sure I'd be able to cope if something were to happen that threatened or destroyed the life we built together."

"I know, love. Trust me, I feel the same as you, and that's where my doubts come from." Draco sighed. "I'm at a lost for what to do, but I think I have an idea of how we can get on the right track and make the best decision for all of us."

Aurelia snuggled deeper into Draco's embrace, instinctively trusting whatever he was about to offer or suggest. In nearly twenty years, Draco had never led her wrong and had always ensured that her happiness and wellbeing was his primary responsibility.

"What do you have in mind?" Aurelia asked, evenly.

Draco kissed her, indulgently, and offered: "Mother and Father will be arriving, along with Antares and Caelum, by this evening, so that we can all depart for Burkinabé as a family. Once we arrive in Burkina Faso and everyone else is distracted with the holiday, I propose we talk with Mother in private and share with her what's going on. We ask her to draw up an equation, using Arithmancy, and allow her to interpret the sum – and, we go from there. What do you think about that?"

Aurelia was silent, but Draco could tell without it being said that she was thinking.

If nothing else, the use of something that was tried and true – Arithmancy and its equations, variables, aspects, and sums – was a solid grounding she could use to help her cope with the anxiety and uncertainty that Scorpius's Hogwarts had presented.

Arithmancy was an ancient art that had upheld the fabric of many magical societies and civilizations, for thousands of years. It was a system of mathematics and magic that could be trusted far beyond the fallible emotions and urges of the human mind and Draco knew from experience that Aurelia would trust the information that could be gleaned from an Arithmantic sum before she'd trust herself. As it happened, Narcissa Black was one of the prodigious and skilled Arithmancer's of her generation and every sum she had provided them with so far had been sound and led them to a safe and prosperous life. Aurelia and Narcissa did not have the ideal relationship as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, for Narcissa and her bone-deep beliefs about blood purity and magic were still and would likely always be a point of contention.

However, Arithmancy was dear to both witches and their dedication to the art was the only point of commonality they shared, besides the children and Draco.

Even if Aurelia didn't like the idea of involving Narcissa in this issue they were facing, the answers that lay in wait for her through the use of Narcissa's powerful skill would exceed any misgivings or unfavorable feelings she had.

Draco waited patiently for her to think over his subtle suggestion, allowed her brilliant but fretful mind to race through all the possible outcomes and understandings of what he was suggestion, before she decided. His hands soothingly roamed the length of her body and gently worked out the knots of tension and worry he found, murmuring gentle words of reassurance and allowing his magic to reach out and cloak her in a comfort that went beyond words or actions.

After a thoughtful silence, Aurelia sighed deeply and looked up at him with those stunning earth-brown eyes of hers. Draco felt his heart skip a beat as they looked at one another deeply for a moment and after a soft kiss, Aurelia finally spoke up.

"I think I'd like that very much. I'd feel more comfortable about this if she opened a cipher around it and I'm already anxious to see the sum of her equations. There are so many variables and aspects to something like this, I wouldn't trust either of our own skills to give us the best possible reading. Narcissa is a brilliant, world-renowned Arithmancer – she'll be able to go deeper into any oppositions and squares and see the possible retrogrades of any conjunctions or trines, which is more than I'm capable of. Do you think she'd be willing to go over the squares and oppositions, as well as the retrogrades? That's what truly concerns me…"

Draco smiled, vibrantly, sprinkling more feather-light kisses across the side of her face, down the curve of her neck, and back up to her full mouth. Pregnancy made Aurelia lush and soft in all the proper places and while he loved and adored her as she was – there was something about the ripeness and glow of her when she was carrying one of their children that he found worshipful.

"Of course, she be more than happy to. If nothing else, Mother loves each of our children more than anything and if we share with her that we wish for her to cast an equation because of Scorpius, I don't think she'd hesitate. Arithmancy is the only thing you two find peace over, so I'm sure she'll be on her best behavior." Draco felt a ripple of the Privacy Seal gently breaking, meaning one of the children was headed towards their bedroom, and signaled that their moment of blended intimacy and worry was coming to an end. "So, can we agree to leave the stress and worry until Mother arrives later in the evening? You and I have reached an impasse and there's nothing that can be done until later. So, let us just enjoy the birth of our fourth-born in peace and love on him a little extra to soothe our minds, yes?"

Aurelia smiled against his lips. "Absolutely."

Draco was filled with a rush of warmth, as a cheery knock sounded on the door as anticipated. The Privacy Seal faded, but didn't unlock the door, and for a moment, Draco and Aurelia shared in a moment of gratitude and love as they listened to the happy chatter of one or more their children.

This is what they escaped Britain for.

The fundamental right to be in love, be married, create a family, and thrive in the joy and peace of it all. It was clear as could be that if either would have remained in Britain after the war, not only would none of this have come to be – but, also, they would have never known such a world of forgiveness, mercy, joy, and love could exist and was meant for them.

The bountiful life they had created from the ashes of what remained was unquestionably what they had turned their back on Wizarding Britain for. Neither Draco nor Aurelia regretted one moment of their sacrifice, of their choice to put the unthinkably powerful connection between them before anything else. Had they remained in Britain…they never would have had this –

The untouchable joy of waking up every morning to their six beautiful children – seven, once the active and alert daughter in her womb joined their family after Yule.

With a silent, shared prayer of gratitude, Draco and Aurelia shared exchanged a fierce, loving kiss – and bid their children entry to their bedchamber, with a wand of Draco's wand to dissolve the Privacy Seal.

To their vibrant delight, it wasn't just one of their children, but all six of them, awake and cheerful and full of life and excitement for the day.

Corvus, their eldest child, had apparently spent the morning watching over his younger siblings with a careful, pleasant eye, for everyone was dressed for the day and well fed, if the piece of toast that baby Miranda held in her chubby fist was any indication. With a fond and infectious smile, Corvus herded the rest of the brood into the room with a cheery morning greeting. From his arms, Miranda smiled with her glowing gray eyes alight with the organic happiness of a toddler and pointed with the toast-gripped fist at the twins and the youngest boy – Corona and Vega and little Eridanus.

Corona and Vega were hauntingly beautiful reflections of one another, all golden curls and wickedly intelligent brown eyes, and they thrilled in their ability to do tandem magic, practicing it whenever possible. If the several inches he was hovering above the ground was anything to go on, Eridanus was this morning's volunteer for the twins' daily practice in tandem magic. Eridanus looked the least like a Malfoy, in the opinion of his family – but, when he smiled, it became clear that he had Draco's spirit to a fault, despite his curly brown hair and Aurelia's every feature. As his older twin sisters levitated him and spun him gently in the air so that he could perform simple acrobatics, there was no question that the youngest Malfoy boy was every bit his father's child, his mischievous smile and wild glee echoing Draco at his freest and happiest.

Eridanus and his bold happiness could have filled the room, as he announced with the help of a Sonorous Charm that must have been the work of the twins:

"Mums and Dads and little sisters yet to be born, lend me your ears! Stop what you are doing and prepare to wish the happiest of birthdays to the birthday-est of birthday boys – Scorpius, King of the Billywigs!"

Draco and Aurelia shared a knowing grin, as Scorpius drifted into the room – a crown of captured Billywigs upon his head, which were likely responsible for the reason why he was floating several inches off the ground, being held aloft by seemingly nothing. If nothing else, their children were Australian wizarding youth and knew nothing else, for the temporary powers of levitation obtained from the sting of a captive Billywig was almost a rite of passage – and Scorpius had multiple Billywig stings upon his face, dotting the pale skin of his regal cheekbones like unusual freckles.

"Happy birthday, my beloved Scorpius Hyperion – from me and your sister, though she can't quite speak for herself yet." Aurelia declared, her rounded face aglow with pure happiness and the troubled gleam from earlier seeming to have disappeared for now. "I love you, sweet scorpion, and I'm proud of the wonderful eleven-year-old young wizard you've become."

Scorpius beamed under his mother's gentle love and praise.

Out of all their children, without question, Scorpius was as much of a reflection of Draco as Corona and Vega were of one another. From his snowy-gold hair to his mercurial gray eyes, Aurelia continued to be in awe of how much Scorpius could have passed for an eleven-year-old Draco – and the only mark or touch she'd left upon her beautiful, golden miracle boy was the impossibly curly wealth of hair he had. There was no denying the curls had come from Aurelia, though the coloring was still of Draco, and as Scorpius pushed his hair back from his face and grinned at her with that impossible adorable dimple in his chin – Aurelia wondered if Draco felt as near to exploding with love and gratitude for their son and his life as she did.

The brightness of Draco's eyes said that he did.

"Hear, hear," Draco said, quietly. His eyes burned with pride and love, clearly remembering a time when they thought that Scorpius wouldn't live to see the moment they were amid now and with a glowing happiness, Draco beckoned. "If it is all the same to you, the King and Queen of Dragons would like to formally present our birthday blessings to King Scorpius of the Billywigs."

Scorpius tried to continue to regally use the power of the Billywig stings to float towards his parents' bed at his own pace. However, with a casual flick of the wrist from Corvus, Scorpius went hurtling off his stance and landed on the foot of Draco and Aurelia's bed with an outraged shriek. As the crown of wriggling Billywigs had sailed from his head with the force of the unexpected push, Scorpius could have only been moved by another force – and the smirk that Corvus had upon his face with every bit of Draco as his most mischievous, as he discreetly twirled his length of vine wand through his slender fingers.

Scorpius pulled a face at his older brother but did nothing more as he scrambled to wedge himself between his parents and lay in their waiting embrace.

"Good morning, Mummy, Father." Scorpius leaned down and kissed the rounded bump that was his unborn sister and added, "Good morning to you, as well, baby sister who doesn't yet have a name. Thank you for the birthday wishes!"

Aurelia and Draco shared a blissful smile, before grabbing the sides of Scorpius's slender face and showering him with noisy kisses and baby noises.

"Aw, yuck – come on, Mummy, Father. That's gross!" Scorpius objected, turning bright red under the pleased smile. He wriggled from between his parents and flopped backwards onto the bed, his wildly curly hair tousled and that dimpled smile melting both of their hearts. "Now, as King of the Billywigs, I demand to know – what's my birthday present this year? I've been patient all year and didn't even pry this time aroudn, so I think I deserve to know as soon as possible."

"True enough. You've been incredibly patient and kept your nose where it belongs, so I guess we shan't delay revealing the surprise, any further. What say you, Mummy?" Draco winked at Aurelia, who was snuggling with Miranda contentedly.

Miranda had recently turned two over the summer and had become aware of Aurelia's latest pregnancy somewhere around then – and, she'd been very insistent upon her mother's attention, as if she were still trying to come to terms with the fact that she would soon be a big sister, when the newest Malfoy was born in another few weeks.

Aurelia threaded her fingers through Miranda's wild, brown-sugary curls and smiled at the beatific smile that Scorpius was offering, as he barely was able to contain his curiosity.

"I think he's right and he deserves to know. What did we get Scorpius this year for his birthday, Father?" Aurelia said, sweetly.

"I'm not so sure. I think he can wait a little while longer – at least until Grandfather and Gran arrive with Auntie Antares and Uncle Caelum. He may be able to wait even longer, until we arrive at the manse in Burkina Faso…"

Clever and quick as lightning, Scorpius caught on to the subtle reveal – and jumped for joy, crowing with delight.

"Grandfather and Gran will be here! Oh, how amazing!" Vega gushed, her snowy-gold braid coming lose from its messy bun as she jumped up and down with happiness. "I've missed them so much!"

Corvus and Corona, however, were more thrilled about the holiday to Burkina Faso. Eridanus didn't appear to be sure which was the better part to be excited about, so settled for a mixture of both – thrilling in the tour of the Runespoor reserves they were sure to visit and attending the scheduled Quidditch match for Burkinabe National Team finals, while jumping with just as much joy as anyone else at the prospect of spending a holiday with their beloved Grandparents. Miranda wasn't sure what was going on or what it meant that everyone else was excited, but with her sunny personality, anyone else being happy was enough to make her overflow with happiness and infectious enthusiasm.

Aurelia and Draco allowed themselves to thrill in the joy of Scorpius pulling both into a fierce, gracious hug. "Thank you so much, Mummy and Daddy," Scorpius declared, quietly. "You're the best parents I could ask for, I mean it!"

As Aurelia buried her face in her son's curls and lost herself in the love and sheer adoration she had for her child, Draco discreetly Banished the Hogwarts letter bearing Scorpius's name to his study, where it would be taken care of and attended to later.

There would be a time for worrying about whether the past was finally catching up with them, after nineteen years of determined dedication to living a new life. But, now was not that time.

Now was the time for gratitude and joy for the beautiful life they had built together, as husband and wife.

Britain, the Second War, the ruins that Lord Voldemort had left – that was decades and a world in the past and for now, they were safe, they were loved, and they were with those who matter the most.

Their sacredly created family.

(Author's Note: This will be a short story, somewhere around ten chapters and is a total exploration of twisted canon. Everything in canon is still as is it but isn't and I've always wanted to explore alternate possibilities of the conclusions to the main story that Rowling gave in the Epilogue.

If you're unclear on who Aurelia is, then be patient. If it is clear and understood who Aurelia is, the first five readers to guess correctly in the reviews who Aurelia is gets a special shout out in the coming chapters.)