Chapter 42

Folding the last of his shirts, Harry set it in the suitcase along with the others. His books, photo albums and other personal affects were already packed in the large trunk lying beside the bed. There wasn't much, he realized sadly. Everything he owned fit in a trunk, one suitcase, and a bag. It'd been this way for years, since when he'd lived with his aunt and uncle. Dudley had gotten everything he'd ever wanted, but Harry had always been left with the scraps. Not until he'd started attending Hogwarts had he actually had anything to call his own. Even that wasn't much, as evident by the little packing he was doing. Minimalism, Hermione had called it once. Molly claimed it was because he had no place that felt like home.

A home, Hogwarts has always felt like one, but I don't know if it's right for Draco and I. Harry closed the lid and locked the case. Right now, we're going to have to make the best of it.

Taking Hedwig's cage in one hand, Harry lifted his wand. The trunk, suitcase, and bag lifted into the air at his command. Like conducting a small procession, he urged the items towards the door. He was almost there when it opened inward.

"Are you finished?" Draco inquired sticking his head in. Something bumped the door against him. Peering around, he noticed the floating objects.

"Yes," Harry replied. Watching, he waited for Draco to open the door all the way. Together they walked the rest of the way to Harry's new residence. Neither spoke, but there wasn't much to say at that hadn't been said in the past two days. Dumbledore had given his agreement to allow Harry to share living space with the Malfoys and Heather.

"I have no objections, I'm sure Cassie will like having both her parents with her at last." The old wizard said smiling behind his beard when they'd told him of their plans. He'd seemed happy for them. It was comforting.

Continuing down the hall, the luggage bobbed along. They passed Snape, who gave them a passing glance, before drawing himself up and stalking off towards his office. Harry watched him out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't think he approves," he muttered.

"Professor Snape doesn't approve of many things," Draco replied casually.

"Yes, but your last name isn't Potter."

"No, it's not."

Harry sighed.

Draco slipped ahead and knocked twice on his door. Arching an eyebrow, Harry wondered why he didn't just go in. It was his quarters after all. Suddenly the door swung open and Cassie greeted them with an excited cry.

"Daddy, Papa! Wàtea! Welcome home!"

Harry couldn't help but smile. This wasn't the first time he'd heard the words. When he'd lived with the Weasleys after his seventh year, Molly said it all the time. This though, was the first time a member of his own family had said it to him. Cassie was his daughter and her saying it meant more to him than anything.

"Thank you Cassie," he replied as Draco stepped inside. Moments later they and Harry's belongings were all in the sitting room. Cassie was eyeing the trunk like she contemplating climbing up on it or trying to open it. Neither of which Harry wanted her doing.

"Why don't we move all this into my, I mean our, room?" Draco suggested. "Although, the birdcage can be left over there in the closet." He pointed to a small door in the corner of the room. Harry nodded and took Hedwig's cage over. She was in the owlery with the other owls and wouldn't need it unless they went traveling.

"What's in the big box thing Papa?" Cassie asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"It's called a trunk and just some of my books, a few photo albums, my dress robes…"

"Photo albums? You mean books filled with pictures of when you were little, like me?" She asked, leaning excitedly on the trunk. When Trina used to baby-sit her, sometimes she'd show Cassie the family photo albums. There were lots of pictures of Lisa as a baby, Nash and Trina's wedding, and when they went to magic school. The best ones were the photos of Nash and Trina when they were little kids. Cassie wondered if Harry had any pictures of himself crawling naked across a beach or wearing a wreath of soapsuds around his head.

"Actually, they're mostly of when I was at Hogwarts or when I spent the summers with Ron and his family," Harry said setting the cage on floor of the closet. "I only have a few from when I was a baby."

"Oh. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why don't you have any pictures from when you were little?" Cassie ran her index finger over the wooden curve of the trunk. "Daddy says he has lots, but they're far away. I have a bunch, but that's because Daddy and Gran take them and put them in picture books."

"They're photo albums," Draco corrected, picking up Harry's suitcase and taking it to the bedroom.

"I just don't." Harry shrugged. "My parents, your grandparents, died when I was very young and my relatives didn't take any of me." They were too busy taking pictures of Dudley, he growled mentally. He had to let it go though. It'd been nearly a year since he'd last spoken to any of his relatives and then that had been by force. There was some concern that they might be potential targets by Voldemort, so Harry grudgingly had to go and put spells all over their house and Dudley's new flat to keep them safe. They hadn't thanked him, but he hadn't expected them too. The only down side was that he'd have to go back at the end of the year and reinforce the spells again. He wasn't looking forward to New Years at all.

"So no baby pictures?" She laid her chin on the trunk, her face showed her disappointment.

"Only a few. Most of them were taken by other people and given to me." Harry walked back to her and picked up the bag. Looking over her, he nodded to Draco who had just come back from the bedroom. "This can be put in the washroom," he said holding up the bag. Draco nodded and pointed towards the bathroom.

"I cleared off space for you already in the cabinet," Draco stated coming up behind Cassie. Leaning down he touched her shoulders. "We need to move the trunk Snapdragon, can you move?"

She nodded and stood up. Scooting around to the other side, she let Draco levitate the trunk into the master bedroom. Harry was already on his way to the washroom, so she hurried to follow him.

"Can I see them?" She asked standing in the doorway. Harry placed his shaving cream and razors on the cleared off shelf.

"See what?"

"Your photos. I know you said you didn't have a lot, but can I still see them?"

Harry paused. Peering over his shoulder, he regarded her curiously.

"Why are you interested in my photos?"

Cassie rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Because. Daddy's photos are with his parents and he says he was disowned and can't get them. Nash and Trina and Gran have lots of pictures of when they were like me. Gran's sister, Nana Mary, sent some of them last year. They were really old. They were in black and white, except some had turned brown. They were really neat. I just want to see. You can look at all of mine."

She said it so plaintively that Harry was couldn't help but say yes. If nothing else, he could at least show her what her grandparents looked like.

Draco and Heather had found it hard to explain to Cassie that Lucius had wanted to kill her when she was a baby. Over the years they'd thought about it, but decided that she was too young to understand Lucius' way of thinking. Two fathers she could handle because Nash had two fathers, but when it came to Lucius and Narcissa, Draco had found it too heart wrenching to explain. He hated his father for wanting to murder Cassie and he was afraid of what his mother would think of it all. She'd been set on him marrying Pansey Parkinson or any other approved of female. So Cassie hadn't known that Lucius was her grandfather until recently and knew nothing about Narcissa.

Harry doubted Cassie realized that she had a grandmother other than Heather. It didn't seem to bother her, but somehow, Harry felt she'd been cheated slightly. Just like he'd been cheated out of parents.

"I'd like to see your baby pictures, so it sounds like a fair trade to me," he said finishing putting his toiletries away. "We can do it as soon as you'd like."

"How about right now?" Cassie asked, her voice squeaking with excitement.

"Let me finish unpacking and then you, Draco and I will look at pictures together."

"Okay."

She hung around waiting for him, following Harry from room to room. A quiet little shadow that he nearly tripped over twice. He was going to have to get used to it, although he hoped his novelty would wear off in time. Finally after he figured he had everything put away and it was somewhere he could find it again, he took out the photo albums. Harry always packed them wrapped in velvet cloth to keep them cushioned during transport. Of all of his possessions, the photo albums were treated as if they were made of gold. They were his windows to good memories and a few sad ones. Setting them on his and Draco's bed, he unwrapped each and stacked them one on top of each other in order.

"Cassie where are you going with those?" Draco's firm voice carried into the bedroom.

"Papa and I are going to look at photos. I'm going to look at his and he's going to look at mine. Want to come?"

Harry snatched up his and carried them out to the sitting room where Cassie and Draco already were.

"I haven't seen any of Cassie's baby pictures and she wanted to see some of mine, so we agreed on a trade of sorts." Harry explained sitting down on the couch.

Draco bit his bottom lip feeling a bit embarrassed as to have not thought to show Harry the pictures sooner.

"Do you want to join us?" The other man asked, as Cassie hopped up next to him. She had two big photo albums. One was covered in cloth with a purple flower print; the other was leather and had embossed lettering on the cover. Harry guessed that the first one was Heather's purchase and the second was Draco's.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind at all. I admittedly would like to see a picture of you as a baby," Draco said, eyeing the stack in Harry's hands. "But first let me get the rest of the albums. That's only two out of the seven we have."

"Seven, wow, you take a lot of photos."

"They're not just my doing, Heather, Nash, Trina, Stephan and Anaru have also had a hand in the picture taking."

"Stephan and Anaru are Nash's fathers, right?"

Draco nodded, disappearing from the room. A moment later he returned with the other five volumes. Something told Harry this was going to be a long night.