Insufferably polite was the course Draco decided to take until he figured out what to do about Potter. His plan had failed; it was the kits Potter had bonded to and not Draco. (Potter did still lust after him, but that was something everyone did and therefore held no meaning.) Draco quashed his first compulsion to leave, because his kits had bonded with Potter in return and Draco knew what it was like to have a parent taken away suddenly.
So, Draco took the kits down to Potter's room or allowed Potter to visit with them in his own room. He kept up a blank-face cordiality, responding to questions and vapid conversations with a nod and a smile.
"The kits have grown tremendously."
"Yes, I would enjoy a biscuit."
"Weasley's hair does match the Chudley Cannon's colours."
"That's all right. I shall fix something for myself later."
"My, what lovely weather we're having."
Potter watched him a lot, now, with a strange look on his face, obviously perturbed by Draco's behavior. But what else was Draco supposed to do? Pound Potter's head against the wall while screaming 'I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU STUPID, SPECKY GIT!'?
Hmm…"Dook!" Thuban jumped in circles by Draco's feet, stopped suddenly, and wobbled a few steps before attacking Draco's sock-clad toes. "Dnmk-dnmk-dnmk."
"What are you doing?" Draco asked him, wincing as sharp teeth bit into his skin. "Why don't you go and play with your sisters and leave my poor feet alone?"
"Dnmkrrr." Thuban started tugging at Draco's big toe.
Draco poked him in the side with his other foot. "Eep!" Thuban leapt in surprise and darted beneath the hem of Draco's robe. Draco chuckled and glanced around the bedroom. Dust motes danced in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window. An empty lunch plate balanced on the cage beside the bed. He saw hide, nor hair, of his other four children.
"Where are your sisters, Thuban?" Draco said, putting aside his book. Not setting up encounters with Potter left extra time on his hands. Luckily, he had access to the library once the Cruel One and his mates cleared out in the evenings.
(He had thought to endear himself to Potter with his brilliance by solving whatever problem the Gryffindors were working on that was scattered on the table in the library, but… nah.)
"Arraksis, Altais, Alsafi, Eltanin!" Draco called, listening carefully for them. The bedroom door was shut and the room ferret-proofed, so they had to be somewhere.
"Dook-dook!" Three heads poked from the small opening between the wardrobe cabinet doors. "Dook!"
"That's three of you. Where's the other one?"
Arraksis, Altais, and Alsafi disappeared back into the wardrobe.
Draco shook Thuban from beneath his robes and climbed out of bed. Arraksis, Altais, and Alsafi's bottoms greeted him when he knelt in front of the opened wardrobe and peered inside. "What are you up to?"
Alsafi turned around and gave him a lick on the nose before rejoining her siblings. Sniffing and snuffling rose from the three, and they jostled each other to get at whatever they'd found.
Draco plucked one, two, and three from the wardrobe, exposing a hole in the floor of the cabinet. A nose peeked out, sniffed the air, and disappeared again. "Eltanin!"
Draco leaned into the wardrobe and tapped the edge of the hole. "Eltanin, get out here this instant."
Arraksis, Altais, and Alsafi hopped back into the wardrobe and dove for the hole. The scrabbled at each other, fighting over who'd go in. Draco nudged them aside and stuck his hand in the hole. "Eltanin, come here!"
Eltanin butted her head against his fingers and then moved from reach.
Grumbling, Draco leaned further forward, balancing his other hand against the back of the wardrobe, as he pushed his hand further in the hole. His robe sleeve snagged on the edges of the chewed wood. Eltanin kept out of reach. "You're making me mad, Eltanin."
A weighty thump on his back was followed by a war cry. "DOOK-DOOOOK!" Thuban launched from Draco at Arraksis, Altais, and Alsafi, and they let out a scream. "EEEEE!"
The four began fighting, raising a ruckus right by Draco's ear. He caught a paw in the face. "Hey! Knock it off!" He tried pulling his arm from the hole, to put a stop to their antics, only to find it stuck.
Bloody hell. Draco shifted his weight and yanked at his arm. The material of his robe ripped on the jagged edges of the wood, but his forearm didn't come free. It was stuck firmly in the hole.
Eltanin nipped the tip of his finger.
Draco scowled, tried again, and failed. Wiggling it did nothing but stab him with the wood edges. Arraksis, Altais, Alsafi, and Thuban rolled around, knocking into him. He reached awkwardly across his chest and stuck arm to sweep them from the wardrobe cabinet. His hand got attacked instead.
"Malfoy?"
Wonderful, Draco thought sarcastically. He dropped his head on his crossed arms, imagining the picture he created: head and torso in a cabinet, arse in the air, with one hand stuck in a hole and the other being mauled by horribly noisy critters. "Go away, Potter." He wasn't in the mood to be polite.
"What are you doing?" Potter clearly thought go away meant kneel down beside me and poke your nose into things. It would be so much better if Potter would dislike him from afar, instead of being nice for the kits' sake.
"I'm playing with my kits alone, if you don't mind," Draco said.
Thuban, Arraksis, Altais, and Alsafi decided that leaping on Potter was more fun than gnawing on Draco's fingers. Potter laughed. Draco glowered and yanked hard at his stuck arm, hoping to free it before Potter noticed.
"Is your arm stuck in that hole?"
So much for that.
"Eltanin's stuck in the hole. I'm trying to fetch her," Draco said.
"Why don't you simply accio- oh, right. You don't have a wand."
Draco craned his neck and glared at Potter. "Lovely of you to notice."
"Here," Potter leaned forward into the wardrobe, wand drawn, "budge over. I'll get her."
Draco pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered what he'd done to deserve this.
"Malfoy, move."
"I can't." Draco dropped his hand with a sigh. "My arm's stuck."
A crooked grin bloomed on Potter's face. "Oh, shove off," Draco said, and Potter laughed.
With a wave of Potter's wand, Draco's arm popped free. "Accio Eltanin," Potter cast, and caught her mid-surprised squeak. He handed her to Draco.
"You are in trouble, little girl," Draco said, rising with Eltanin in his hands. "Seal up that hole, Potter. Eltanin, you know you're supposed to come when I call. And don't give me that look, you know you did wrong."
Eltanin peered up at him with huge eyes, head lowered shamefully.
"You're going into the cage and you'll stay there until you've learned your lesson." Draco set her inside the cage and latched the door. Eltanin cried sadly.
Draco turned his back to her, hardening his heart before he cuddled her with apologies for parenting her. Potter stood near the wardrobe, watching him. "Was there something you wanted?" Draco said.
"I came to let you know we're leaving."
"Lovely. I shan't expect you for tea, then." A racket of screams erupted from the wardrobe. "Get me a bag of cockroach clusters while you're out. Arraksis, Altais, Alsafi, and Thuban, stop fighting!"
The wardrobe went silent instantly. Four furry bodies slinked out of the cabinet a moment later and padded over to sit at Draco's feet. Draco folded his arms and gave them stern frowns. "Onto the bed with you."
They crashed into one another and Thuban hit his head on the bedframe in their scramble to comply. Draco shook his head and caught sight of Potter still standing there. "What?"
Potter gave him an oddly fond smile. "Take care of those precious ones, Malfoy."
Draco scowled. "Don't tell me how to parent my own children."
"Don't worry. I think you're doing brilliantly," Potter said, walking over to the door. He paused with his hand on the knob and looked back at Draco with a strange sadness in his eyes. "Goodbye."
"Cockroach clusters, Potter. Don't forget." Draco turned back to his misbehaving kits, who sat huddled together in the middle of the bed, wearing matching expressions of contrition. He heard the bedroom door open and close behind him. "What am I going to do with you four, eh?"
tbc...