It was one ten by the time Harry and Hermione had finished up the cooking and food preparation with Molly and had transferred everything out to the marquee and cast all the necessary spells to keep the food warm with the help of Bill. Harry was very glad to see that his mother-in-law seemed to have recovered from her outburst of emotions. She was now affectionately greeting and catching up with everyone she had not been able to earlier. Amid all the chitchats, laughters and banterings among his extended family, he found his wife and caught her by her arm.
"I'll floo to the Malfoy Manor now to pick up Albus, love." He had to speak close to her ear as it was extremely noisy there. The marquee made the noise even louder than it would be inside the house. She did not even bothered to answer because of the noise, choosing to give him a nod of approval instead. Anyone who saw them now would have interpreted this to be one of those intimate moments between the couple.
It was such a big contrast to return to the house now that it was empty and unnaturally quiet as everyone was outside. He realised he might not be able to access the Floo at Malfoy Manor from here despite having mentioned that he would floo from the Burrow, so he flooed home first before flooing to the Manor.
Harry accidentally bumped onto the side of the fireplace when he arrived, which got soot onto his glasses and temporarily blinded him. He took off the glasses and rubbed his eyes with the inside of his robe without looking up.
"Ah, there you are, Potter. I was beginning to wonder when you will come." Again Harry felt disappointed by Draco's use of "Potter", but it took him another half minute to shove the glasses back on, get out of the fireplace to look at his host.
"Hello again, Draco." Malfoy was now standing right in front of the fireplace with his hands clasped together in front. He was wearing the exact (very uncomfortable) outfit as he was in the morning. Harry noticed that an armchair was positioned right behind of him with an opened Daily Prophet lying on top. He realised Draco must have been waiting for him for a while in front of the fireplace. "Have you been waiting for long?"
"Not for long. I mean, I am not waiting here for you specifically but I have not been here for long. This is my preferred place for my daily reading." He replied awkwardly with a slight blush. Harry could not help suspecting that Draco had been staying in this room the whole time since he had been gone.
"Okay." There was a time when Harry would feel tempted to tease his former nemesis in circumstances like this, but he decided to let it go. "I suppose the boys are in Scorpius' room? Would you mind letting them know I am here?"
Unexpectedly, Draco looked embarrassed and a bit guilty when he hesitantly replied, "About that… they have actually gone to the garden at about eleven forty. I told them they should have gone earlier had they wanted to go, knowing that you were supposed to return any minute. They insisted that they had forgotten the time but I am sure they have purposely waited till the last minute to ask to buy them more time. I relented when I saw Scorpius pleading with me with those eyes." Harry only had to think of Albus' puppy eyes from the morning to understand how impossible it must have been to say no.
"I see… So I suppose we will have to go look for them now?" Harry was not too keen on going out to the snow again and would love to send his Patronus to call Albus. But he believed that Draco was incapable of conjuring the Patronus Charm, it could be a sore point of his that sending his stag flying around the Malfoy's ground might offend his host.
"I am sorry to have appeared uncooperative, Harry. I know I should not have agreed but I could not resist when they said they had not played together in the snow before… They have promised to come back inside within an hour but they must have lost track of time..." Harry was surprised that not only had Draco not appeared to have heard his question, he also seemed nervous that Harry would blame him. It occurred to him that Draco might be worried that he might not want to send Albus back next year, believing that Draco had delayed Albus' return intentionally. As he was so occupied with these thoughts, it had taken him some time to realise that his former nemesis had finally called him Harry and to process what he had just heard.
"It's okay, Draco. But did you just say the boys had not played together in the snow before?" The Hogwarts ground would be covered in snow plenty and the boys had known each other for too long that it sounded almost impossible that they had not played together on the ground in winter before.
"Hmm… yes, from my understanding, they always try to maintain a low profile in Hogwarts to avoid the bullies, so they had not played in the snow before. And this is the first time they got to meet outside of school in the winter."
"That makes sense, but I guess we will have to go look for them now since they clearly would not come back in anytime soon on their own. Or is there a way for you to call them?"
Draco hesitated for a moment before replying, "No, we will have to go find them… or you can wait here while I go out to fetch for them. I could have a house-elf bring you water or a drink."
"No, that's fine, we can go out together." Judging from how nervous Draco had appeared, Harry was sure he would have brought them right in without further delay, but part of him was very curious about the Manor's grounds and the boys' first play in the snow. All of his children had used to play together in the snow every year when they had been younger that just the mention of this immediately brought forth a lot of cherished memories of Harry's. Unfortunately, it had not been the same for the last few years as Al had outgrown that much sooner than his siblings, or so he had thought.
Harry was glad to have followed his host the moment he stepped outside. Despite the presence of the blanket of snow, which he estimated to be less than two feet thick as it had only been snowing the night before, it was sunny but not too bright, too cold nor windy, it was no wonder to him that the boys would go out to play in such weather. The ground of the Manor was massive with thick snow-topped hedges that it was extremely easy for him to forget the scary time he was brought in through the doors. It was very nice out here that it took Harry a while to realise a potential problem.
"Draco, your garden is very nice but it was huge, it may take us more than an hour to walk through the whole garden. Do you know where the boys are?"
"Not the exact location but a fair approximate one."
"Good." Harry wanted to say something more but walking in the snow with him felt surprisingly intimate to chat casually. They walked for a minute in complete dead air.
"Draco, do you remember me asking you how Scorpius had been doing on the platform?"
"Of course. Why?" He looked impassive but sounded slightly curious.
"I was asking because I have been worried that the boys might be traumatised by what they have witnessed and experienced. I have never wanted my own kids to ever have to witness death and t… , especially at such a young age. Albus seems to be doing fine but I've been trying to keep an eye on him. According to him, Scorpius had been okay in school as well. But I think it would be better… if both of us can try to make sure they are truly fine."
Draco had been listening intently. He furrowed his brow and said, "Of course I have been trying to make sure they are fine. I do care about Albus very much, he is important to my boy thus important to me as well." He paused for a beat before continuing, "and Harry, were you trying to talk about the torture?"
Harry could feel his heart sink, the Cruciatus Curse was of course one of the reasons why he had wanted to look out for the boys, but it was not something he was ready to address in front of Draco since he had speculated that the former Death Eater had already learnt about that. He had almost mentioned it just now but had hoped that Draco would not notice his slip-up. For this once, he kind of hoped that Draco had called him Potter instead. "I was actually hoping that we would not have to talk about it, I have been afraid that you would blame Albus for Scorpius' torture."
He sneered, "She is a dark witch, of course she did what dark witches or wizards do best, to hurt someone with his love. It was not Albus' fault that he cares for Scorpius' life more than his own." Harry tried not to think about Sirius, it had been his love for his godfather that had led him to the Department of Mysteries and it had been Sirius' love for himself that had brought him to the Ministry, and had ultimately got him killed. "It just so happened that his friendship was also his weakness, at least it was for her."
It appeared to Harry that Draco did know all the details about that night, which he was understandably curious about, that he was tempted to ask Malfoy for the details but decided against it out of respect for his son. He had faith that Albus would tell him all about that night when he was ready and needed to talk about it.
"Still... I believe Albus has been feeling guilty because of that. Sometimes, the guilt of causing someone else suffering, even indirectly, could be much worse than the actual suffering itself." This was something Harry knew way too much about.
"You can let him know that I don't blame him, if it could make him feel any better." Draco's tone had softened, he seemed lost in thought for a while, "I will never be able to forget that night when Scorpius recounted to me what had happened… I was… weeping when I realised what she had done, but it was also the proudest I have ever felt for my son, that is saying much as I have always been very proud of him since his birth. Despite how he looks, Scorpius has been much stronger than I have ever been. He has the strength and bravery to openly defy her… Merlin! Imagine if Scorpius had been sorted into Gryffindor instead! It would have been worth it just for the reaction of my father." Harry was surprised to see a smirk on Draco's face, but then he looked sober again.
"The more I think about it, Scorpius seems to fit all four houses except Slytherin, they really should get that mouldy old hat checked or replaced. Anyway, my little boy was ready to sacrifice his life to stop a murderous witch while I had been a coward the whole time in the war, and I had been much older than him too."
"Well… not the whole time." Draco was looking at him uncertainly.
"They would have us killed immediately and all would have been over had you identified me in the Manor. Someone else might buy it but I know that there was no way in hell that you could not recognise me. Your family was in disgrace with Voldemort at this point that surely your refusal to identify me could have cost you." Harry said firmly, it was something they had never talked about but in a way, he had always believed it to be destiny that Draco had a part to play in Voldemort's downfall, even if it was indirectly through his wand.
They were nearing an opening of the huge hedge when Draco responded, "That… was nothing compared with what my son did. But for the record, I do prefer this world to the world Scorpius has seen, despite the prejudices and rumours. It was terrifying to live here with the Dark Lord…" Harry caught sight of Draco unconsciously stroking his left forearm with his right hand while mentioning Voldemort. "So I guess there was a part of me that had secretly rooted for you to kill him."
They crossed the opening together and Harry found himself standing in front of a large greenhouse. "You have a greenhouse in your garden?"
"It was my wife's idea, she was talented in Herbology and she loved all kinds of flowers. She used to spend hours inside daily back when she…" Draco trailed off as he led Harry along the side of the greenhouse. "Anyway, Scorpius kept stopping every sentence during his recount to emphasise that it has been his own choice to defy her, to make sure I won't think that it was Albus' fault… I don't think Scorpius would forgive me if I dare to blame Albus for his torture. He also gushed about how Albus has come up of the method to communicate with you through the blanket, saying 'it was all thanks to Albus that you guys could come to save us.'"
"To be fair, both of them have played a huge part in saving the world… despite having almost destroyed it, but I am very proud of both of them indeed."
Draco looked thoughtful for a few seconds, before solemnly said, "About what you were saying, Harry… You needed not have asked as I would have kept an eye on the boys without you asking, but I give you my word that if I find out there is anything wrong with Albus, I will let you know."
Harry said sincerely, "Thank you, Draco. I will do the same for Scorpius as well."
A/N: Thank you so much for all your support, especially the lovely comments. I try to say this every time but you have no idea just how much they mean for me. Before last year I have only tried writing stories three times, never finished, never longer than 10000 words and they have been so poorly written that I'm glad I probably could not find them even if I try. If anyone has told me then that I would be able to write a rather coherent story of 36000 words (and counting), I simply would not believe it. The fact that there are a number of people following this story has motivated me so much and has kept me going so far. If I have tried finishing it before posting, it would probably have been abandoned by chapter 3, so it's all thanks to the people who have shown their support in any form along the way that this story exists in its current form and length.
Please comment, cheers =)