The Potters arrived at the same moment as the Malfoys and found themselves standing right across of their hosts. For a moment, the four of them just stood awkwardly together in a circle, until Draco said in a firm but understanding tone, "Scorpius, it is time for you to say goodbye to Albus. Harry and Albus are in a hurry."
Scorpius set down his crate then slowly moved towards his best friend to pull him into another suffocating hug, "It's so good to see you today, Albus. Thank you for making this the best Christmas ever! I'll miss you." The blonde boy was obviously getting emotional as his voice sounded unusually nasal, Harry thought he might be thinking about the rest of the day ahead without all the distractions that was Albus Severus Potter. This being only the second Christmas after his mother's passing, he suspected Scorpius would end up thinking much about her after all.
"You won't miss me when you are eating all the delightful desserts in France." His son tried to lighten the mood, "And you can just write to me when you miss me. But for your information, today is my best Christmas ever as well."
"Of course I'll write to you! I'm going to write to you every day."
"I'll write to you as well, merry Christmas, Scorpius!" Albus was now patting his best friend in the back soothingly.
The young Malfoy finally let go of the young Potter, then he turned towards Harry and smiled. "Thank you again for letting Albus come, Mr Potter. It means so much for me!"
Harry was about to say You're welcome but unexpectedly, Scorpius had turned away from him to his crate. He saw the boy carefully lifted the lid then put it aside before lifting the crate up and turning back towards him. "I would like you to take these, Mr Potter."
Harry looked toward the crate curiously to find three small bouquets of about a dozen of flowers each. The bouquets were amateurishly arranged with flowers of different sizes and colours, there were so many different types of flowers with very little repeat within each bouquet. The arrangement followed almost no pattern, except there were three of one kind of flower in each bunch, and they were wrapped with parchments. At first glance, he could see that there were roses, lilies, orchids, carnations, chrysanthemums and some other flowers that he could not recognise. Considering it was Christmas, he found it curious that none of the flowers was red in colour, instead they were a mixture of white, yellow, orange, blue, pink and purple. Of course they could not be compared with flowers expertly arranged by a florist, but Harry thought they had this innocent and charming quality that melted his heart upon first glance. He saw that his former nemesis was eyeing the flowers but was trying to look as disinterested as he could.
"Hmm… The flowers are really nice, Scorpius. But are you sure you are giving them all to me?"
In response, the boy nodded his head not once, but at least five times in a row. He pointed at one bouquet with three lilies and said, "This one is for you and Mrs Potter… and I am hoping that…" Scorpius stared down at the flowers with a blush and continued shyly, "you would not mind delivering the other two for me."
"Oh…" He was undoubtedly surprised, "to whom would you like me to deliver them?"
"This…" Scorpius was now pointing at a bouquet with three carnations, "is for Albus' grandmother, and would you mind telling her the cakes are really delicious?" Carnations for the person who had shown him maternal love on Christmas day and whose cakes had reminded him of his own mother. It struck Harry that the young Malfoy seemed to have put much thought into his flower choices.
"That's… so sweet of you. I'm sure she would love them. How about the other one?"
He was now pointing at the bouquet with three roses, even though they all knew it was the one he was referring to, "Hmm...this one is for Rose's parents, the Minister and Mr Weasley."
"Ron?" To say Harry was taken aback was an understatement, "Are you sure you are not delivering them to Rose?"
Scorpius kept nodding his head again that just seeing him nod made Harry's neck feel tired, "Rose did give me a really nice present but I think we are friends now and I have already sent her a Christmas present, which I believe to be rather nice that she would like it…" The boy seemed so nervous that he was talking a mile a minute, "On the other hand, I hadn't expect both the Minister and Mr Weasley to send me presents at all. I would pick something out but I could only send flowers now because there's no time but I have tried to pick my mother's and my own favourite ones… with a little help from Albus… I'm just really really grateful that so many people seem so unexpectedly kind to me this Christmas…"
While looking at this lonely boy staring at his precious flowers while rambling on about the presents he had received and the flowers, something Albus said the day before echoed in Harry's mind: He has always have so little yet he keeps giving, even after his mother has passed away… He found his gratitude endearing, especially considering how all his children, nieces and nephews seemed to have taken all the attentions, love and presents for granted growing up. But he was unable to respond not just because he was moved by this sincere display of gratitude, but also because he was extremely bewildered by the information that Ron Weasley of all people had sent Draco Malfoy's son a present.
Mistaking his silence as unwillingness to comply, the boy disappointingly said, "Hmm… it's okay if you would not like to take this… Mr Potter. I suppose I can send them an owl… "
"Of course I will deliver them for you, Scorpius." He interrupted firmly, then added sheepishly, "I was just surprised that Ron had sent you a present…"
"Thank you, Harry! Yes, I was shocked to see his present as well, I don't think I have ever truly talked to him before… Hmm… or did I talk to him at Godric's Hollows? I don't think so… Well, except when I was in the other world… but he would not remember that. It's a few products from his store and they are very nice and interesting… I don't think my dad was too happy to see it though…" Scorpius trailed off as Draco pointedly coughed once, Harry saw that both the younger and older Malfoy had a slight blush on his face. Harry wished he could have been here to witness Draco's reaction to the present himself.
Harry moved to take a closer look at his own bouquet and found himself not able to look away from the three large blooming lilies, two white and one pink. He did not really have much of a preference for flowers but he guessed the boy had picked lilies for his mother, which was extremely thoughtful of him. "This… is very beautiful. Thank you, Scorpius. I... love them." He was surprised to realise his own voice had turned unexpectedly thick.
The young Malfoy gave him a brilliant smile, "Really? I'm so glad!"
Since they were now travelling by the Floo back to his home, where he could leave his own bouquet, before returning to the Burrow, Harry thought he could easily just take two small bouquets on their own without the crate and had Albus take the other. After reassuring Scorpius that he would safely deliver them to their recipients, he carefully lifted them up and went toward the fireplace.
Albus was the first one to leave, he turned towards his best friend and said, "Good bye, Scorpius. I'll miss you, too. Have a wonderful trip! And don't forget to get me chocolates!" The last bit of his farewell might sound a little self-centred but Harry could tell that it was Albus' way to keep it light-hearted for his friend.
"Thank you, Albus! I'll see you next year. Of course I won't forget to get you sweets!"
Albus then turned to Draco and said, "Mr Malfoy, thank you for the delicious breakfast and everything. I'm truly sorry for being late."
It pleased Harry to see that Draco looked genuinely fond of his son when he said, "It is our pleasure to receive you here for Christmas, Albus. Thank you for coming and... for your present. I do understand how much you two enjoy each other's company so it is okay for me… but you should be apologising to Harry and your own family instead of me if you want to apologise for being late."
While he agreed with what Draco had just said, he thought it could be quite humiliating for Albus to be asked by an outsider to apologise to his own father that he kind of preferred Draco to have left that out. He was nervous about how Albus would react but at least to his understanding, his son seemed to have a lot of respect for Draco that he would try to contain his annoyance even if he was annoyed or upset.
Albus stared down at the flowers he was holding when he said, "I understand, I will apologise to my family." Harry was surprised to see his boy turned to him next looking red-faced and genuinely sorry but not reluctant when he apologised, "I'm sorry, dad. I do understand that letting me visit today was a big deal for you."
It took him longer than he should to reply as such an apology was extremely rare for Albus and he was impressed by how easily Draco seemed to be able to get through to his own son. "Hmm… That's alright. And I should have let you know that your gran would feel okay even if you stay here for the whole day." He said that partly because it was true and partly because he wanted to save Albus' face, especially in front of the Malfoys.
"I understand, dad. Christmas is a time for family."
Harry remembered back in Albus' earlier Christmas holidays, when he had refused his demand to visit the Malfoys during the holiday with this reason: Christmas is a time for family, his son would walk away dissatisfied muttering the phrase under his breath. Harry had been an orphan without his own family for a long time and had to acquire a family later in life through friendship and marriage, so it had hurt him then that his son could take his loving family for granted so much that it almost as if he had not wanted to attend the Christmas gathering. It was for this reason that he was remarkably touched now that Albus was saying this phrase without a hint of irony, but with a visible sincerity like he truly believed it.
Albus turned back to Draco and said, "Good bye, Mr Malfoy. Good bye, Scorpius." then proceeded to floo back home.
It was now Harry's turn to leave. He addressed Draco first, "Thank you for being so welcoming to Albus, Draco, especially at such short notice."
"As I said, it was our pleasure… Harry." He seemed to want to say something more but remained silent. The atmosphere turned awkward within seconds.
With a sigh, he addressed both the father and son, "I hope both of you will have a nice trip, especially you, Scorpius. You deserve a wonderful Christmas and New Year."
The father replied somewhat stiffly with a simple "Thank you" while the boy earnestly replied, "Thank you so much for everything, Mr Potter!"
"You're welcome, Scorpius. Thank you again for your flowers. Well… good bye."
He had entered the fireplace and was about to floo away when Draco interrupted, "Harry,"
"Yes?" He was a bit concerned by the interruption.
"Merry Christmas, Harry." Malfoy was blushing pretty badly, probably feeling annoyed by himself for the silly interruption. Harry, however, was pleased by the well wish, so he smiled warmly when he said, "Merry Christmas to you too, Draco. Good bye."
Both Harry and Albus returned to the Potter house briefly, where Harry had sent Albus to change his trousers as part of them were caked badly with mud. How he had been able to get so much mud there was a mystery to Harry as the ground was completely covered in snow. He could have cleaned it with a scouring charm but the texture would still be wrong that it was preferable for Albus to change it out altogether. Harry, however, was able to dry Albus' jumper pretty well with magic. He put it aside then placed Scorpius' flowers for him inside one of the nicest vases he could find at his home. He was admiring them, thinking about how much Ginny would appreciate them as well, when Albus returned.
"Nice! They look even better inside a vase. Scorpius would be thrilled!"
"Yeah… that was very sweet of him. Anyway, we better get going, or your mother would mercilessly bat-bogey hex me for keeping everyone waiting." Harry made Albus put on his jumper quickly, took the bouquet for the Granger-Weasleys then gave Albus the other one.
Albus winced a little and said, "I'm sorry, dad. I shouldn't have…"
"We have been through this already, Albus. It is truly okay. Let's go."
A/N: I have been feeling a little frustrated with the pace of my writing mainly because of the never-ending Christmas day (11 chapters and counting... I hope it hasn't been dragging much to you), so I'm considering doing a little experiment with the chapter length. Around 2500 words is the average length of my later chapters, as well as the average length I have been able to write per week. I want to try posting longer chapters (about 4000 words or longer) but I don't suppose I could write much faster, therefore longer chapter will likely mean longer wait, but it could also mean a more satisfying read. It will be helpful to hear about your preference but I'll probably try this at least once no matter what. But things will start to speed up a bit from here anyway (at least that's the plan)
Please comment, your support is my motivation. Cheers =)