Harry shot up in bed, chest heaving as his nightmare faded. The image of Sirius' cheerful, smiling face - topped with a crooked red paper hat - morphing into the cold, undead one of an inferi lingering at the forefront of his mind as he came to his senses.
A cold sweat chilled his skin, soaking the unfamiliar sheets bunched up around his waist. As he slowly came back to himself, the last vestiges of the dream slipping away, he could hear voices coming from outside the door and the clattering of dishes.
He was still at Draco's, he remembered. He can't quite remember who had suggested it, only that it had involved the visit from the social worker today.
The sheets were softer than his own and the quilt was a deep blue, with small clusters of silver sequins stitched at random across the material. It was much more...regal than his own slightly ratty and worn quilt at home, which was a simple red.
The room was decorated very plainly, with white walls and blue accents, a stark contrast to the cluttered walls of his own room. It was strangely calming when combined with the tinsel that Teddy had insisted on draping over every available surface.
The voices outside his door stopped and Draco and Melissa suddenly burst into the room, a tray with breakfast dishes wobbling in Draco's hands.
"We made you break-fust!" The girl shouted gleefully, bouncing up onto the bed. Harry raised a questioning eyebrow, finding it difficult to imagine Draco Malfoy making him breakfast in bed, despite the strange sort of friendship they'd struck up over the years. "Oh?"
"She insisted." Was all Draco said, but there was a small Christmas tree shape in the foam of his coffee that he was quite certain Melissa had nothing to do with.
•••
After Harry had dressed back into the clothes he had worn yesterday and Melissa had dug a jigsaw out of a box under the bed in the spare room, he and Draco finally sat down to talk.
"This is going to be the longest conversation we've ever had." Draco remarked after they had sat in silence for several minutes, interrupted only by the occasional mumble from Melissa in the living room.
Harry found himself laughing and Draco seemed to relax.
"What's the plan for today?"
"You don't seem like the planning type." Draco remarked idly, fingers twisting on the handle of his cup. "One of my best friends is a social worker and I've talked so many adopting parents through what they can expect with the social worker visits, so I don't know why I'm finding it so difficult to explain it to you and why I'm so damn nervous."
Impulsively, Harry reached across the table and covered Draco's hand with his own, squeezing it gently.
"Breathe. I don't think you have anything to worry about - you're taking brilliant care of her, you both adore each other and no sane person can look at you and call you a bad parent."
Draco gave him a shaky smile. "I think I'm more nervous about them taking one look at my arm and taking her as far away from me as possible."
"I'm still an Auror, even if I'm on injury leave. I'd have them arrested and investigated before they could say 'Quidditch'." Harry replied sharply, hand tightening on Draco's. "You've changed since our school days. If that mark was any sort of reflection on your personality I wouldn't have testified at your trial, I wouldn't be sat here today and most importantly, you would never have been able to come close to adopting Melissa."
Draco flushed. "I suppose, though no one would want to be the person to take a child away from the Saviour."
Harry frowned. "I mean it. They have no reason to take Melissa away, regardless of me being here."
Draco gave his a disbelieving look and Harry quickly changed the subject.
"So today then. What specifically will they be looking at?"
"They'll want to check how she's settling in, see how well she's being looked after, make sure she's living in suitable conditions etcetera." He glanced down briefly at their hands. "Probably most importantly at the moment, they'll be looking at the relationship between the parents, to ensure the child is living in a stable home. Obviously, a social worker can't know the ins and outs of a relationship from an hour or so with the couple, especially in a planned visit, but if they have any sort of concern, they will conduct random visits within the next few weeks, on top of the scheduled ones."
"What sort of questions will they ask?"
"They usually ask about the length of the relationship and the potential of biological children - obviously not a problem for us - because there have been so many cases of couples breaking up and putting the kid back in care or couples discovering they're going to have a biological child and suddenly not wanting an adopted one anymore. It's far more common in the Wizarding world purely because of the importance we place on blood." Draco still refused to look at him, his words sounding rehearsed, like he'd said them a thousand times - although given what his job was, he probably had. "We should probably tell them that we've been together in secret for over 2 years, but we have long-term plans."
Harry nodded slowly, squeezing Draco's hand again. "Will they ask about our jobs, income?"
"Jobs - yes, especially due to the nature of yours. Income, probably not, given that we are well known for our riches."
"They'll ask Melissa questions too, won't they? She'll be okay though, right? She seemed to warm up to Teddy and me quick quickly."
Draco laughed, a fond smile on his face. "She'll definitely be fine. She's a very friendly child, which is quite surprising considering how she started life. She'll have no problem answering their questions."
At that moment Melissa shouted from the living room, "Finished!" She came flying in moments later, grabbing their still-joined hands and pulling them into the living room with unexpected strength.
She pointed proudly at the jigsaw - a bouquet of flowers in a small, transparent vase - bouncing and beaming as she did so. "Do you have any more please?"
Draco nodded, summoning a few more boxes from somewhere up stairs. He pulled two particular ones out of the pile. "These two move when you finish them."
Her eyes lit up and she carefully moved her completed one out of the way before she tipped the pieces of another onto the carpet. She rescued a piece that has bounced under the couch and sat down again.
"Easily pleased." Draco murmured as he sunk down onto the couch, pulling Harry with him. He drew his feet up underneath him, elbow on the arm of the couch, hand supporting his head as he watched Melissa piece the puzzle together.
"They'll ask you about her allergies too, and her hearing aids. She's allergic to 4 potion ingredients - armadillo bile, rosehip, knotgrass and occamy eggshells. She's also allergic to walnuts, fish and has had reactions to cows milk in the past, but we believe she's grown out of that one, as she accidentally ate chocolate with dairy in two weeks ago and didn't have a reaction. She has monthly appointments regarding her allergies and separate ones for her hearing. She used to have weekly speech therapy lessons when she first got her hearing aids, because she hadn't learnt how to talk, but she only goes every two months now, because she can speak almost perfectly now, as you can see."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Rosehip, armadillo bile, knotgrass, occamy shells, walnuts, fish and cows milk." He glanced at Melissa, who had begun to sing something under her breath. "It's a muggle hearing aid isn't it? How does it work with magic?"
"There's very little electric stuff inside it, unlike a muggle phone. They are battery powered and don't need as much energy as, say, a remote control car, so they don't react too badly with magic. They are surprisingly resilient too, for some reason they don't succumb to magic like phones and cameras do. They're fine here, because there isn't much concentrated magic, but if she was to enter Malfoy Manor, they'd short circuit because the wards reach every inch of the property."
"I didn't know you were so familiar with muggle technology. And I mean that in the nicest way possible!" He hurried to correct himself.
Draco only laughed quietly. "I know you did and I don't blame you for being surprised - Draco Malfoy, pureblood poster-boy, knows all about how muggle hearing aids work." His fingers drummed against his leg and he seemed lost in thought.
They were startled by a knock on the door. Draco jumped up, waving his wand and shooting off cleaning spells, vanishing dust and stray balls of cat hair off the sofas. "I forgot the time!" He muttered, straightening cushions. "I didn't realise it was so late." He turned to Harry, "What are you waiting for? Go open the door!"
Harry got up, leaving Draco to his cushions and answered the door to a short man with thinning grey hair.
"Good day!" He greeted Harry cheerily, leaning forward eagerly, leaving Harry fearing he would topple over into the flower pot by the door.
Harry welcomed him in and the man stepped inside, glancing at the landscape paintings that hung in the hallway. He led him to the living room, where Draco had returned to his seat, now clutching his most likely cold coffee, and Melissa was still working on her jigsaw.
"Mr Malfoy, good morning. And little Melissa, how are you?"
Melissa gave him a smile. "It's Lissy. I'm okay, look at my jigsaws!" The man gave suitably impressed noises as Lissy pointed out different parts of the completed jigsaw and the incomplete one.
"What's your name?" She asked.
"My name is Bernard Jones, but you can call me Bernie, Lissy."
She gave him another grin and returned to her jigsaws.
The man sat down on the other sofa and pulled out a set of papers from his pocket. He conjured a quill and ink pot and set them on his knee as Harry returned to his seat next to Draco, sliding a hand onto Draco's bare ankle. Draco gave him a weak smile, which Harry returned with a reassuring grin.
Already, Bernie was jotting things down on his papers. "Now, gentlemen, I'd like to ask you a few questions. If I may call you by your first names?"
They nodded.
"Good, good. Now, there's nothing to worry about, you know, this is just standard practice. I've done a little bit of background research and I feel confident that there will be no issues." He dipped his quill into the ink again.
"Right, how has she been settling in?"
Draco answered. "Perfectly fine. She was ready to come and live here for weeks before we signed off the adoption papers. She seems to enjoy having more space to herself and she has been eating and sleeping fine."
"Likes waking us up early, though."
Bernie chuckled. "I have four of my own, I know all about the 5am wake up calls. I assume you are keeping up with all her medical appointments and catering to her allergies?"
They both nodded and Draco answered again. "Her next hearing appointment isn't until early January, they're rather busy this month, but there's a newer model they want to try, one that has a higher resistance to magic."
"Excellent news. And the speech therapy? I presume that it isn't a priority now that she is speaking, and quite well at that?"
Draco nudged Harry with his toes and he hastened to reply.
"It's still important, but her appointments are only every two months now, since her speech is much improved."
"And how are you two doing? I must admit, I was quite surprised when I saw the two of you had adopted a child, I wasn't aware you were together."
"We're getting used to it, but it isn't too much of a change. We have my godson around quite a bit and we both spend time at the orphanage. It's not the same as having Teddy over some times, but we aren't having any trouble - it's going well."
Bernie nodded, turning over the page. "Wait until the teenage years! You'll take that all back!"
Draco removed one of his hands from his cup and reached for Harry's, linking their fingers. "We are both very public figures and we decided to keep our relationship quiet, to allow us to build a relationship without the scrutiny of the media. We've both always wanted children and we made the decision to adopt several months ago."
"And future children? Obviously biology doesn't allow you to have children of your own, but would you adopt more children in future, or perhaps use a surrogate?"
"At the moment I don't think Draco and I will use a surrogate when there are already so many children in care. We have my godson, who will most likely come to live with us in a few years when Andromeda gets too old to look after him and we might adopt in future, if we want to expand our family. "
Bernie muttered to himself and continued to write.
"Schooling. Are you home schooling her or does she attend a Wizarding primary school?"
"She is enrolled in a Wizarding primary school and has been going since September. She's been allowed to stay off school until January to allow her to adjust to life with us, but she still receives worksheets from the school with letters to us explaining what has been taught and telling us what events are coming up, like the Christmas fair in a week or so."
"Brilliant, do you have some of the worksheets?" Draco summoned them from the kitchen and handed them to Bernie. He read through them and wrote a few more things down.
"Now Harry, there is one thing I am a tiny bit concerned about. Your job. I know you are currently on leave - and Draco, you are now working part time - but it is the nature of your job that has me concerned. You work as an Auror and you have quite a history of injuries. This is your most serious to date, correct?"
Harry nodded. "Usually, I only get a few scratches and very minor injuries, but we had an issue with one of the new recruits. He didn't do a complete frisk search when we arrested one of the criminals and they managed to get hold of their extra wand and curse me."
"Can you confidently say that your job won't cause any disruption to the family?"
"It is extremely rare for an Auror to die on the job, especially as we've come so far in medicine over the last decade. There's some upheaval at the moment because we are rounding up the last few of the unconvicted death eaters, but there are a very small number left and I have requested to be taken off all cases that involve death eaters to ensure this doesn't happen again."
"Very reassuring." He folded up some of the papers and shrunk them down to go into his pockets. "I have a few questions for Lissy herself, but then I will be off."
The girl looked up at her name, watching Bernie closely as he knelt down next to her. "I'm going to ask you some questions, alright?"
"Kay."
"Do you like living here?"
Lissy beamed. "Yep! Draco always makes us breakfust and I get to have my own room and there's space for all my froggies and I can play with Butch the cat!"
"How did you get the bruises on your arm?" He gestured his quill at her arm, where the sleeves of her jumper had ridden up, showing purple bruises.
"We went icy-kating and I fell over and so did Harry and he said a naughty word that Draco said I'm not allowed to say." She giggled as Harry turned bright red.
"Why didn't you use bruise ointment?" The question was directed at Harry and Draco this time and Harry, recalling the list of allergies Draco had told him and several incidents with a very clumsy Teddy, answered.
"Standard child bruise ointment contains rosehip, which she is allergic to. We haven't bought the rosehip free version yet, but we plan on stocking up on it in future."
Satisfied, Bernie stood and shook hands with the two men. "I shall floo to arrange a further meeting, but I believe that may be the last one, you are obviously providing a good home for her. I hope you have a good day, gents." He gave Lissy a wave as Draco led him to the door.
The door clicked shut and Draco returned to the living room, practically throwing himself onto the sofa. "That went better than I expected." He murmured, his head coming to rest on Harry's shoulder.
"I told you that you had nothing to worry about."
"I know, but I was expecting him to care more about who we were than he did. It's rather strange, being treated as a perfectly normal, average person." He yawned.
"I wouldn't call you a perfectly normal, average person." Harry said, laughing as Draco pinched his side.
He yawned again, raising a hand to rub his eyes. Harry nudged him. "Sleep for a bit, she had you up at the crack of dawn again didn't she? I'm perfectly capable of watching her."
Draco nodded in agreement, already dozing on Harry's shoulder.