Chapter 3 - Father and Son
It was almost noon by the time Draco managed to reach the entrance of Scorpius' primary school that afternoon.
He was a little out of breath, having just walked a mile from the nearest apparition point to get there on time, so he stopped by the gates beside a few other waiting parents and took a few minutes to rest. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long before the school gates swung open, and he looked up to see a small crowd of uniformed children rushing out of the building.
Draco recognized his son's pale blond hair almost instantly and moved toward him, but he stopped when he noticed the heavy slump in the young boy's shoulders.
"Hey buddy."
He waited until Scorpius looked up and noticed him there before he greeted the young blond with a warm smile.
"How was your first day of school?"
To Draco's surprise, the frown on Scorpius' face only seemed to furrow even more at his question. Instead of answering him, Scorpius just let out a disinterested grunt, followed by a careless shrug before he took Draco's offered hand and allowed him to lead him back down the street towards the direction of the nearest apparition point.
They walked for about ten minutes in tense silence until eventually, Draco glanced down at Scorpius' glum face again in concern.
He knew right then and there that something had happened.
Draco remembered how, just that morning, Scorpius had been so excited about going to primary school for the first time. The young blond had burst into Draco and Aria's bedroom, jumped up onto their bed and shook his groggy parents awake with such energetic exuberance that, despite their rude awakening so early in the morning, neither Draco nor Aria could find it in themselves to get angry. And even after Scorpius finished his breakfast and Aria managed to wrestle the bouncing kid into his uniform (only for Lily to hurl a bowl of mashed potatoes on it and thus prompt her brother to throw a fit until Aria managed to clean the uniform again with a quick scourgify), Scorpius continued to chatter excitedly the entire time Draco dropped him off.
"Scorpius."
Draco finally let go of Scorpius' hand and stopped walking. He waited patiently until Scorpius turned around and reluctantly lifted his big green eyes up to look at him.
"What happened at school today?" Draco asked gently.
"It's nothing." With a huff, Scorpius lowered his gaze again and scuffed his shoes lightly against the sidewalk pavement. "Maybe I was wrong about school. I think I don't like it after all." He admitted under his breath.
"What do you mean?" Draco pressed further.
"My classmates were all being stupid." The scowl on Scorpius' face deepened and he shrugged to himself before looking away. "They didn't want to talk to me. And no one wanted to be my friend."
Draco stiffened, and he felt his chest constrict painfully when he heard the dejected tone of his son's voice.
"Why?" He asked.
"They said I was a dark wizard because I'm from a family of Death Eaters." Scorpius sniffed.
"That's just bloody—" Draco cut himself off before he cursed and clenched his jaw instead. He drew in a harsh intake of breath.
"Did any of them hurt you?" He asked sharply.
"No." The corners of Scorpius' lips tilted downward miserably but he shook his head. "They told me that they were scared of me. None of them even wanted to go near me." He said meekly.
With a heavy sigh, Draco placed a gentle hand on Scorpius' shoulder and crouched down so that he could meet the boy's eyes more easily. It took a few minutes, but eventually Scorpius hesitantly lifted his chin again and met Draco's soft gaze.
"You know what? I have an idea." Draco offered him a small smile and tried to lighten the mood by speaking up in a cajoling tone of voice. "Lily is still staying with Granmum back at the manor and your Mum doesn't get home from work for a few more hours; what do you say we spend some time together? Just the two of us?"
"Really?" Almost instantly, Scorpius' eyes lit up and he smiled back slowly at Draco in surprise. "But didn't you say that we had to go back to your office so you could finish up some work?"
"Well, I did say that; but I heard from a colleague of mine that a new gelato parlor recently opened in London and I thought we could check it out." Draco smirked back knowingly at him. "What do you say, squirt? My offer's only good for a few seconds, you know. Otherwise, I could bring you back with me to my office at the Ministry if you really want to—"
"No, no! Let's go get some ice cream, Dad!" Scorpius suddenly blurted out, causing Draco to laugh when Scorpius grabbed at his arm and began dragging him impatiently down the street.
It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves seated comfortably behind a small table that was situated outside the ice cream parlor. They ate their ice cream in comfortable silence; and Draco sat back in his seat and chuckled at the way Scorpius watched the busy muggles walking past them on the street with undisguised fascination. Eventually, however, Scorpius' interest seemed to fade out, and after they both finished their ice cream, Scorpius looked up at Draco with a wary expression creasing his young features.
"Dad?"
"Hmm?"
"What's a Death Eater?"
Draco flinched.
In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have, because he'd anticipated that he'd have to answer that question sooner or later (it was the reason he had asked Scorpius to spend time alone with him that afternoon in the first place); but to hear the actual words coming from his son's mouth was somehow able to re-ignite all those familiar feelings of shame and pain and regret that Draco thought he had buried in his chest a long time ago.
And they still hurt.
"Death Eaters were the followers of the Dark Lord back during the Second Wizarding War." Draco swallowed the lump in his throat and forced himself to meet his son's innocent green eyes. "They were bad people, Scorpius."
"But…" Scorpius frowned at him, the confusion evident on his face. "…you and Granddad and Granmum were Death Eaters at that time, weren't you?"
Draco closed his eyes and lowered his head, clasping his hands tightly together on the table. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again and he managed to give Scorpius a pained smile.
"Yes, we were." He answered quietly.
"So does that mean we're bad people?" Scorpius' eyes widened and he gave Draco an anxious look. "Were my classmates right? Are we a family of dark wizards, Dad?" He whispered.
"No, we're not. It's not that simple." Draco told him firmly, shaking his head as he reached across the table and wrapped his much larger hand around his son's trembling fingers so he could hold them steady.
"Listen to me, Scorp."
Draco sighed and struggled to find the right words to say. "When I was younger, I wasn't as brave or smart or earnest as you are now. I made a lot of mistakes — bad, awful, terrible mistakes that ended up hurting a lot of people. Even your Mum."
"I know." Scorpius nodded in understanding. "Mum told me all about how you two didn't like each other when you were kids and that you weren't friends. She said that you were really mean to her, Aunt Mione and Uncle Ron."
"'Really mean' doesn't even begin to cover it, kid." Draco couldn't help giving him a wry smirk. "I was absolutely horrible to her for years and because of that, she hated my guts. It's a miracle she even married me, to be honest." He chuckled.
Scorpius grinned back gleefully at him. "Uncle Blaise told me that you just kept stalking and pestering Mum during your 8th year at Hogwarts until she got so sick of avoiding you that she just said yes—"
"Anyway."
Draco's left eye twitched and he vowed internally to himself to have a word with his so-called best friend about what else Blaise had been telling his son behind his back. "My point is, Scorp, is that I was a very different person back then. Your grandparents raised me with very traditional pureblood values, after all."
He waited until Scorpius nodded at him again before he continued.
"Then the war happened, the Dark Lord rose back to power and…I was young and scared and confused. And yes, I became a Death Eater like your grandfather, mainly because I thought it was the only way to stay alive." Draco winced to himself and swallowed another painful lump that had lodged itself in his throat.
"I'm not going to defend myself or justify my actions during the war." Draco closed his eyes and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And I won't lie to you. I have done things that I'm not proud of. I wasn't a good person like your mother was."
Scorpius shook his head in furious denial. "But you're not a bad person either, Dad!" He protested.
Draco's expression softened at Scorpius' words and he rewarded him with a small, sad smile.
"That still doesn't change the fact that I indirectly hurt so many people back then. Families were torn apart, homes were destroyed, and lives were lost during the war because of the evil wizard that I knowingly supported. And that's not something I'll ever be able to erase from my past."
Scorpius' eyes were a little glassy. He looked as though he was having difficulty understanding his father's words.
"B—but Mum told me that you and Granmum were already a—a—"
"—acquitted?" Draco supplied gently.
"Yes!" Scorpius nodded empathically. "And Granddad isn't even allowed outside the manor!"
"Listen to me, Scorpius." Draco cut him off abruptly and squeezed his hand again, speaking to him in a clear and firm tone of voice. "The most important thing I want you to understand from everything I just told you is this. Yes, I was a Death Eater; and yes, my decisions ended up hurting a lot of people; but you are in no way a part of that. My sins are mine and mine alone; and my past as a Death Eater is my burden to bear, certainly not yours."
Draco gently ran his hand through Scorpius' shiny blond hair, pushing the strands away from the young boy's face.
"I want you to understand that just because you're my son, it doesn't give anyone the right to belittle your worth or make you feel any less of a person, especially for something you didn't do. Don't ever listen to them or let their words make you doubt yourself. You are not me, Scorpius. It's very important for you to remember this."
Scorpius didn't answer him.
For a long time, he didn't say anything as he seemed to mull over Draco's words.
Finally, when Scorpius spoke again, Draco was a little amused when he saw that an angry, indignant glare (one that was scarily reminiscent of how Aria looked like when she was in one of her fits of righteous anger) had formed on his face.
"Are you saying that I can't get mad at them? Am I supposed to ignore all the bad things they say about our family?" He scowled.
"No, of course not." Draco shook his head and rewarded him with a roguish grin. "Just…show them how wrong they are about you. After all, you are a good kid. You're smarter and more cunning than I am, you're braver than your Mum, and you even inherited her magical talents. In other words, you're actually all the best versions of both me and your mother combined. That means you're bloody brilliant, kid, so don't ever let anyone tell you any different. You understand?"
Draco could tell that Scorpius was still a little confused after their discussion (if the uncertainty that lingered in his bright eyes was any indication) but Scorpius nodded adamantly at him anyway, causing Draco to give him a fond smile.
"And always keep your chin up. You're a Malfoy after all." Draco reached over to adjust Scorpius' collar and smooth out the wrinkles in his coat. "We certainly don't let anyone's perception of us detract us from still being the best at everything, do we?"
"No, we don't!" Scorpius chirped back, and the look on his face was laced with so much feigned arrogance that Draco couldn't help smirking at how much Scorpius looked exactly like he did at that age. "But not only that, Dad! I'm a Potter and a Black too! Mum always says that means everyone should know better than to mess with me!" He declared.
"No, they definitely shouldn't." Draco agreed.
He chuckled at Scorpius' haughty expression but apparently, the young Malfoy heir wasn't finished yet.
"And if anyone says anything bad about us again, I'll just tell them the exact same thing Mum always says to those annoying reporters that always follow her around." Scorpius added knowingly.
Draco gave his son a wary look and arched an eyebrow at him. "And what's that?"
"Fuck off!"
Notes: This scene was written for Neverlands_potato, who specifically asked to see Draco being a doting father to little Scorpius. I'm not sure if this fulfilled your request the way you wanted but I do hope you enjoyed it all the same.
I plan to post a similar scene featuring Aria and Lily for the next chapter very soon. :)
