Draco was humming as he gave Scorpius a bath. Scorpius watched his father intently, as if to say, "what's going on?"

Draco chuckled and answered the question. "I'm just happy, little man," he said and Scorpius giggled, the way he always did when his father smiled or laughed at him.

Then he splashed about his little tub, spraying water all over Draco's face and making him laugh again. Scorpius was a bundle of mischief all the time and even more so in his bath. 'Which is why I enjoy doing this so much,' Draco thought, as grabbed his son and pretended to wrestle with him. Scorpius kicked and pushed and tried to get away, giggling the whole time. By the time they were done, Draco had soap in his hair and his eyes, water all over his shirt and he looked a mess. He could easily have used a charm to keep himself dry, but this was more fun...a concept that had been alien to him for most of his life, until Scorpius came along and turned his life upside down.

Draco and Scorpius got dressed and went into the living room to wait for Harry. Binky was whizzing about the kitchen getting a picnic lunch ready for Master Draco and his young man, as she insisted on calling Harry.

"Look, little man. It's a beautiful day," Draco said, as he went and stood by the window. And it was. The sky was an intense blue and it was sunny and warm...the kind of warmth that gets under your skin and makes you want to get outside. A perfect day for a picnic.

This was something that Draco had never done before. His father had considered a picnic too plebeian a thing for a Malfoy to indulge in and once he'd grown up, there had never been any time for such frivolities. Draco acknowledged with a sigh that there were a lot of things that he had never really experienced in his life...the sort of things that most people take for granted. He'd had an isolated childhood and by the time he was eleven, his father had mapped out his entire life for him and Draco had had no choice but to walk down the path that his father had laid out.

He'd had years of 'Malfoys don't do this,' and 'Malfoys are not like that,' dinned into him. All that he had known was duty, responsibility and family pride. It was only after he'd become a father that Draco had started to feel like he was actually living his life, instead of merely getting through his days, doing what was expected of him, though he still did a lot of that. He glanced up at the clock and saw that there were a good ten minutes to go before Harry would get here. He settled down on the carpet with Scorpius after putting a Cushioning Charm on it and then he Summoned a few of his toys. They played quietly for a while. Scorpius soon got bored of his flying brooms and he reached for his dragons.

Draco looked up when he heard the sound of the Floo. Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, as usual. It was a sight that Draco was starting to find rather endearing and he couldn't help the fond smile that crossed his face as he stood up. Harry looked up and saw that smile before Draco was able to shut it off or turn it into something less goofy. 'Bloody Hufflepuff,' he said to himself. He had been raised to believe that it was unseemly to show his feelings and there was enough Slytherin in him to be concerned about making himself vulnerable by showing what he felt.

But Harry had no such qualms. He smiled happily as he walked up to Draco and drew him into a hug. It was such an unexpected gesture that for a moment, Draco did not know how to react. He wished he was as easy with his affection as Harry was, as he reached up a little awkwardly and put his arms around him, relishing the way Harry felt against his body. He wanted to rest his head on Harry's shoulder and nuzzle against his neck, but he couldn't bring himself to take that liberty just yet. 'Soon, I hope,' Draco thought as they moved apart.

Harry couldn't help but notice how good Draco looked in the blue denims and the light blue shirt, with his soft blond hair hanging loose about his face. Draco stared right back, still unable to believe that the scrawny kid that he used to know had turned to such a gorgeous and seriously fit bloke...

"Would sirs be wanting some tea before they leave?" Binky said and they both started. Draco flushed a little when he realised how obvious he was being.

"So...um, would you like some tea?" Draco said to Harry, his cheeks pink.

Harry thought Draco looked adorable with that hint of pink on his cheeks. He was so absorbed on looking at him that he took a few seconds to reply.

"Um..." he said, having forgotten what the question was.

"Would you like some tea?" Draco said again, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Harry coloured. "Thanks, but no. I think we should just go," he said and then he quickly turned his attention to Scorpius, who was looking at Harry with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open.

"Hello, Scorpius," Harry said, as he knelt in front of the little boy who cocked his head to one side and looked thoughtfully at him.

Harry chuckled and then he cupped Scorpius's cheek and kissed the top of his head. It was a sight that made Draco's heart flip over as he stood there looking at Harry and Scorpius together. They made such a cosy picture. He quietly went over to his table and picked up his camera. Harry was sitting with his head inclined while Scorpius showed off his collection of dragons, babbling about each of them in turn while Harry listened intently. Draco took a few quick photographs before either Harry or Scorpius became aware of it and when they noticed what he was doing, they were more than ready to pose for him.

"So...where are we going?" Draco said, when he was done.

"To one of the Black family properties," Harry said. "It's an estate on the Channel Islands."

Draco's eyes widened. "I remember that place. It's by the beach isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's got its own private beach."

"Mother used to take me there sometimes, when I was a kid," Draco said. "It's pretty big place, if i remember correctly."

"Yeah. It's a lot of land, all covered with trees and plants that look like they were planted hundreds of years ago. The house isn't too big, but it's comfortable."

"Who takes care of the place?"

"There was no one there when I inherited the property and the whole place was a big mess. So I hired a couple of house-elves and we spent a whole summer clearing it up. The elves take care of it now and I spent a lot of my weekends and most of my summers there. It's a lovely place."

"What happened to Grimmauld Place?" Draco said.

"I restored and redecorated it. It's much more cheerful now. But I could never bring myself to live there somehow. It reminds me too much of Sirius and how unhappy he was living in that big house all by himself."

"Mother and I have been working on the Manor too, but it's slow going. If it was up to me, I'd rip out everything and do it over," Draco said.

"Why?"

"I hate it, that's why. Every single room has been tainted with memories of that madman," Draco said in a low voice. Clearly, this was a sore point with him.

He sighed and shook himself out of his thoughts. This was not the time or place to be gloomy.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay," Harry said. "Shall we go?"

"Sure," Draco said and he called Binky. She walked out of the kitchen with a large picnic basket that she had stuffed full of food. Draco shrunk the basket and put it in his pocket. Then he took the bag that he had packed for Scorpius and put it on his shoulder as Harry reached for Scorpius, picked him up and held him close. Draco's heart did that weird flipping thing again. He wondered how he was going to survive the day at this rate, when Harry came up to him and wrapped an arm around his waist and looked right into his eyes.

"Ready?" Harry said.

Draco nodded and then they Apparated away. They landed on a warm beach. Harry let go of Draco and they stood in silence for a moment, just taking everything in. The beach was empty except for the seagulls and quiet, except for the cries of the birds and the soft lapping of the waves. It was low tide and the sea was relatively peaceful. It was a stunningly beautiful day and the water looked gorgeous as the sunlight glinted off it.

"It's beautiful," Draco said.

"You should see it on a moonlit night," Harry said. "The waves are huge and noisy and the sea looks just incredible."

"Thank you," Draco said.

"It's my pleasure. I've been quite eager to show this place off," Harry said. "I've never brought anyone here before."

Draco raised his eyebrows at that. "Not even Granger and Weasley?" he said.

Harry shook his head, but before he could say anything, Scorpius began to squirm in his arms, clearly bored of all this talk. He wanted to look around and explore this shiny new place.

"I think Scorpius is getting bored," Harry said. "Come, I'll show you the house."

Harry handed Scorpius to Draco and led them off the beach. The house was just a few yards away, hidden by a dense clump of trees, all several hundred feet tall, looking majestic as they stood around the house and the gardens, almost as if they were guarding it from intruders.

There was a narrow path through the trees that led to what seemed to be the backyard. There was a small kitchen garden there and an outdoor dining table set up under the trees.

"I don't remember any of this," Draco said.

"Oh! None of this was there before. I planted the garden a couple of years ago and set up the dining table and..." Harry trailed off, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Let's sit," he said as he quickly walked over to the table and sat down. Draco set Scorpius on the table and got out his toys.

"This should keep him busy for a while," he said.

A house-elf appeared as of on cue, carrying glasses of water and pumpkin juice.

"Will sirs be wanting lunch?" he asked.

"No, Benny. We've brought our own, thanks. I'll call you if we need anything," Harry said and the the house-elf bowed and disappeared with a crack, making Scorpius clap and laugh.

"I don't know why he's so fascinated by that," Draco said.

He offered Scorpius a glass of water which his son promptly refused. Scorpius played with his toys for a couple of minutes and then he got bored. He put them aside and before Draco could stop him, he reached for his bag and started rooting around...he pulled out the spare diapers and the spare set of clothes, the bottles of milk and started tossing them about. It took both Draco and Harry several minutes to grab everything, put it back in the bag and take it away from Scorpius.

"What you need is a distraction, little man," Draco said as he drew out his wand. He picked up a couple of pebbles and Transfigured them into toy soldiers with little drums and then he animated them so they walked around drumming and singing. Scorpius squealed and clapped in excitement as he watched them march around the table.

"That's a neat little trick," Harry said.

"Well, being a parent teaches you a few things," Draco said with a wry smile. "I just hope it keeps him occupied for a while. I'm sorry, Harry. I'm a perfectly awful date."

"No you're not. I like Scorpius a lot and I like...this," Harry said as he waved his hand vaguely between the three of them. "I like the domesticity of this," he said and Draco was floored again. 'That does it,' he thought. 'I don't know how I'm going to manage it, but I have to find a way to keep this man forever.'

They talked idly for a while and then Draco subtly manoeuvred the conversation around to the one thing he wanted to ask Harry about.

"I hope I'm not prying," he said. "But you obviously love this place. And yet you've never brought anyone here. Not even your best friends...Why is that?"

Harry looked a bit uncomfortable again. "I...um...this place has always felt very personal somehow, even more so than my home. I can't explain it, but this is where I come when I want to get away from stuff."

"I came here for the first time after I quit the Aurors. It was a bad time for me. I was a bit lost and unsure of what I wanted to do and all of my friends were hounding me, insisting that I had made a big mistake and that being an Auror was my calling and all of that shit. I badly needed to get away to a place where no one could find me. So I came here and this place was in a shambles and yet it was so peaceful. I just...I've never wanted to share it with anyone before."

...

A/N: Tell me what you think.