With his mouth slightly ajar, Harry was doing a poor job hiding his surprise. Draco Malfoy had looked rather self-conscious and awkward while asking whether he would like to join them for a cup of tea (and perhaps breakfast). His former nemesis reminded Harry a lot of an awkward school boy trying to make friends on his first day of school, which was the complete opposite of Draco's younger "superior" self confidently and condescendingly offering his friendship. Being reminded once again of their conversation at his office … Mainly I wanted to be happy, Harry could not help feeling sorry for Malfoy.
It had not surprised him then to hear Draco admit that he had not been happy in his youth, but the more he thought over this, the more pitiful Draco's life appeared to him. Sure he had been a bully and a pain in the arse back in Hogwarts, but young Draco had been very much Lucius Malfoy's creation. The older Malfoy had been obsessed with blood purity, powers and Voldemort that he had instilled all his superiority and believes into his son, who had idolised him and had yearned desperately for his approval. In a way, Draco had been raised with (at least he had thought so) everything he had wanted, a noble name, wealth, prestige, parents, and power, while Harry had grown up believing he had nothing. Little had they known, their situations would be completely reversed by the time they were forty. Harry now had a loving family, enough money to comfortably support his family for the rest of his life, a well-respected job, the admiration of the majority of the wizarding world and a lot of friends, while Draco had lost his true love and his parents, had no friend and relative that he kept in touch with, and he would forever be stuck with his ruined names, others' disdains and a cruel rumour that plagued him as well as his precious son, he had lost everything he had valued except for his wealth and Scorpius.
While Harry most definitely preferred finishing breakfast with his family and stealing a cosy moment with his wife to having a very awkward tea (and breakfast) with Draco Malfoy on Christmas morning, he understood that it must have taken his former rival a lot of courage and internal struggles to take this step to initiate a friendship, and if he said no now, he could rest assured that Draco would never ask him again, whereas his family would always be there for him. Also, something had definitely changed since Draco's visit to his office that Harry had felt connected to Malfoy and for the first time ever, he genuinely wanted to be his friend, no matter how scandalous this would be for some of the wizarding world. Besides, it was only eight twenty that surely it would not have hurt to stay for a bit.
The rare look of insecurity was still there on Draco's face while their sons had stopped dead in their tracks when they had heard the invitation. They had turned and wanted to witness their fathers' exchanges, with an excited look of anticipation on Scorpius' face and a mixed expression of shock, uncertainty and dread on Albus', clearly he was not keen on having his dad with him while having fun with his best friend. It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room with three people staring at him breathlessly when Harry answered, "Hmm… that would be nice, I guess I can stay for a little while. But I will have to call home briefly as my wife… the rest of my family are expecting me."
Draco literally let out a breath of relief, which he realised a moment too late when he coughed and said, "Of course, take your time." Scorpius looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect of witnessing the historical moment of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy having a cup of tea together, while poor Albus looked extremely disappointed, but Harry reminded himself that he was agreeing not because he wanted to make things hard for his son, he was agreeing for Draco, for a second chance he believed the former Death Eater deserved.
Harry called home with Malfoy waiting nearby as the Slytherin boys proceeded to the dining room. His sitting room had mostly been cleaned up by the time it had come into views. James seemed to have returned to his room, Lily was excitedly playing with some moving figure of a member from a popular band at the table, while Ginny was simply resting on the sofa, looking tired despite it being so early. At the sight of his head instead of his whole body, she raised an eyebrow. "I have left you to it for ten minutes and Malfoy has already got you beheaded? Or am I just too sleepy that my eyes are playing tricks with me?"
"Ginny, I knew I have said that I would return immediately, but Draco has just invited me to have a cup of tea…" the invite had gotten his wife's attention that she immediately got up to get close to him, "I think this would be a perfect opportunity to know him better. I'm sorry but I will only stay for a short while for tea, I promise I'll be back within half an hour."
"First Albus, now you, I'm starting to think that Ron was right to get worried..." Ginny seemed to be talking to herself instead of him with a slightly displeased impression.
Harry started to panic, "It's alright, I can go back and told him no…"
"Harry," Her teasing smile was mere inches away from his face, "you are just way too much fun to tease that I couldn't pass this up. Of course you can stay for a cup of tea. Actually, could you ask if I can come as well? Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy having a drink together, I can't possibly miss that!"
He was relieved that she was not upset but he was feeling concerned for Draco, "Hmm… I'm not sure, love. He seemed so shy and self-conscious when he asked, I guess you coming would be a bit too much for him."
Ginny was sulking with an expression that looked identical to Albus', but she recovered within a second, "Well, I guess someone does need to keep an eye on our other kids."
"Thank you, love. You're the best." Harry was now leaning forward, wanting to give his wife a kiss but he found leaning forward with only his head very difficult. Sensing what he wanted to do, she leaned forward too to kiss him right in the mouth. It was not quite as good as the cosy moment he had in mind but good enough, if he could ignore the fact that Lily was now openly gaping at the mortifying sight of her dad's head kissing her mum. Their children had been disgusted at their displays of affection enough as it was without the creepy factor.
When Harry returned to the Manor, Draco was not exactly smiling but he looked somewhat amused, making Harry feel very self-conscious and wonder if Draco had somehow witnessed his little intimate moment with Ginny. Seeing how uncomfortable his guest was, Malfoy attempted a little smile that did not appear as welcoming as he had intended and said, "Please come over this way, Potter."
Harry dumbly complied and followed his host briefly along a dark corridor, before entering a grand dining room with beautiful marble flooring and a long wooden table fit for at least a dozen of people, which was handsome but not as luxurious as he would have expected and was filled with food. There was plenty of spaces around the table that he would not be surprised if thirty people could be seated here with some extension charm. Harry suddenly remembered that Voldemort would most definitely have used the dining room for meetings and started to feel uneasy and sick.
His host however, immediately understood his concern and said calmly, "Don't worry, Potter. Neither the Dark Lord nor any of the Death Eaters… well, any of the Death Eaters except my family, had entered this dining room before." Although Draco had been a Death Eater, Harry had never truly considered him as one, it felt wrong for him to hear Malfoy grouping himself together with the others. "This is much smaller but cosier than the original dining room we had."
Harry would not call a dining room that could fit in thirty people cosy but he knew better than to argue. He turned his attentions to the table where the boys had been seated already. Even though Malfoy was only supposed to prepare breakfast for two people (three even if they had thought that Albus would eat with them), there was enough food here to put Harry's own Christmas's Eve's "feast" to shame. There was an assortment of bread, a thick stack of pancakes, a dish of honey scones, an assortment of jams, a dish of scrambled eggs adorned with truffles, a pâté of foie gras, a dish of cold cuts with smoked salmon, parma ham and the likes, an assortment of sausages, a dish of golden hash brown, a dish of wild mushrooms cooked with truffles, a dish of grilled tomatoes, assortments of cheeses and chopped fruits, and a dish of Molly's mini fruit cakes. For drinks, there were tea, pumpkin juice and milk available. The temperatures of all the foods and drinks were carefully moderated with warming or cooling spells respectively.
He could not help himself from rolling his eyes. "Malfoy, there is enough food here to feed an entire army."
"The Malfoys are always the best in hosting meals and parties." There was an air of smugness in his tone that reminded Harry of the arrogant bully he used to know. "Besides, I want everything to be perfect for Scorpius. Last year's Christmas has been a disaster and he has been through so much this year."
Harry was wondering if this, like another extravagant feast from last year had been, was Draco's clumsy and misguided attempt in expressing his love for his boy. He started to feel sorry for him again thinking that the only thing he had been able to do to compensate for his boy's loneliness and sadness had somehow emphasised that emptiness and all the associated emotions even more. At least this feast was bound to be different with the presence of Albus Severus Potter, who had already begun stuffing his face with all the delicious foods. It was time like this that Albus would remind Harry of Ron, the boy had used to eat like a pig all the times before Hogwarts. He knew that he would be absolutely powerless in stopping his boy now that he had seen the buffet, even worse, he was tempted to have breakfast himself despite his promise to Ginny. Still, he tried to hold his ground by teasing his host.
"And to think that you only had half a day to prepare this." He muttered to himself as he sat on one side of his host, who was sitting at one end of the table with Scorpius sitting at his other side, he was somehow glad that Draco chose to ignore him.
"Albus, you got to slow down, you are definitely going to choke…" He shut up as he noticed how annoyed his son was for being babied in front of the Malfoys.
Draco poured him a cup of tea, he uttered his thanks then started to stir in a lot of sugar, which was not allowed in his own home. Draco looked amused while Albus was staring with a mischievous expression, no doubt realising he had found a lever he could use against him in front of Ginny. Harry tried to look away as he could feel himself blushing.
Scorpius was completely oblivious to the little exchanges as he was intently buttering one of two slices of toasts served exclusively to him on special silverware. The boy had amazing postures and his movement was rather graceful, which was a sharp contrast to his wolf of a best friend, who was devouring everything right next to him.
Harry looked around and saw that there were no other toasts on the table, his curiosity got the better of him. "Scorpius, are your toasts specially-made for you? They are served differently from anything else here."
"Oh, yes!" the boy beamed brilliantly, "they were sliced from the loaf of bread Rose got me for Christmas, Mr Potter! They smell so good!" One pair of green eyes met another, before Albus started choking very loudly from the food he was wolfing down a moment ago.
"That's… nice of her." Harry tried to answer politely even though he was reminded of the 50-pence, toothpick and tissue he had received from the Dursleys in his youth, presents that were meant more as mean jokes, but Scorpius seemed genuinely delighted to have received his bread.
"Yes, bread is one of my favourite foods in the world." Scorpius answered while concernedly patting his friend's back. Harry suddenly remembered his niece's nickname for the boy. Poor boy, he was so clueless.
"That would have been enough for me, but she has also sent me a nice book of magical bread recipes to me. I don't usually cook but I'll certainly try learning some of those." That was more like it, at least Rose was not as mean as he had thought just now, or he would definitely have to talk to Ron about it.
"Albus, are you okay?" Scorpius was now trying to help his friend drink a mug of water, which was brought here by an house-elf Draco had summoned, the latter had yet to recover from his choking fit.
A/N: So I have decided to change the story's summary as the Harry/Albus and Harry/Draco relationships have evolved to become almost as important as the Harry/Scorpius relationship in this story. I would have added Ginny to the list of main characters if five characters are allowed as she has become a crucial character here as well to keep Harry grounded.
Thank you for your support, comments make me very happy, cheers =)