The marquee was very noisy as if all the thirty voices were talking, or perhaps shouting, at once but everything died down the moment the two of them entered.
"Al! Finally! Do you have any idea how much an agony it was to be drooling for half an hour in front of gran's glorious roast beef, sustaining on salad and potatoes?"
All things considered, Harry was actually surprised that they were able to return before two but of course, James, as well as all his cousins, did have every reason to be upset. Harry just wished that his older son could go a bit easier on Albus today. It did not help that Ron decided to join the fun next.
"If I didn't know better, I'd have guessed that ponytail has kidnapped you or something." He was laughing at his own joke but stopped when he realised that no one thought it was funny. He actually looked embarrassed when he noticed that his sister and wife had teamed up to glare at him again.
Albus cleared his throat nervously and said, "Everyone, I am sorry for being late. We have lost tr… actually, I have make Scorpius played longer than we should that Draco and dad had to come look for us on the Malfoy ground. It was my own fault, not the Malfoys' or dad's." True to his words to Draco, Albus apologised to his own family for his lateness. What Harry did not expect was how honest his apology was, he could easily had continued to say that he had lost track of time and no one would have questioned it, it showed a growth of his characters that his son had not picked the easy way out but opted to honestly admit his mistake. It was also evident that he was remarkably protective towards the Malfoys that he would rather confess his own mistake than letting anyone blame them for his own fault.
Molly was quick to rise to welcome her grandson. She reached Albus with an agility impressive for her age and lovingly pulled him into a tight hug then kissed him on his forehead, which was no surprise to Harry considering this was the first time she had seen him after the boys' "adventures".
"You don't need to apologise for anything, love. I'm just so glad to see you safe and sound. And happy, I hope?" She had released him earlier than Harry had expected in order to look him in the eye to try to look for confirmation that Albus was indeed happy.
From her voice, he could tell that his mother-in-law was getting emotional, which was somewhat foreseeable for Harry, but she was able to resist her urge to cry. On the contrary, he had not expected to see his son's emotional response to his grandmother's welcome. His eyes looked shiny which seemed to accentuate their green when he wordlessly nodded to her question, it took him ten more seconds to compose himself enough to answer, "Yes, grandma... I'm… very happy, thank you." With this, he pulled her into another hug, which took even Molly Weasley by surprise.
Everybody looked on in an uncomfortable silence as Albus had used to be the one least prone to emotional displays out of the entire extended Weasley clan. Harry could tell that Ron wanted to say something to lighten the mood but even he knew better than to ruin Albus' moment by making light of his nephew's rare show of emotion and vulnerability. At least Albus himself knew the perfect way to drastically improve the atmosphere. As he released himself from the hug this time, he lifted Scorpius' bouquet up and held it out for his gran.
"Gran, Scorpius wants you to have this… and he said your cakes are delicious!" Harry could hear the sounds of "Aww" echoing all around the tables, mainly by the female in attendance and most noticeably by Ginny and Hermione. Molly, however, was unable to suppress her tears this time. She reached for the flowers with slightly trembling hands and she dramatically breathed in the scents of the flowers while inspecting them. It took her a full minute to finally say, "They are… gorgeous! I would love to meet your friend, Al. We should invite him to the Burrow sometimes." Harry could see Ron looking uneasy while Ginny was eyeing Harry with a satisfied look, no doubt priding herself for being right that Molly would feel sympathetic enough to want to invite the Malfoys over.
His son seemed to love the idea very much that he replied eagerly with a grin, "Scorpius would love it here, gran!"
Albus finally moved towards a seat Teddy had reserved for him to his side when Rose said, "You know, Al. I honestly couldn't understand how you had to make such a fuss to spend time with Bread Head on Christmas day of all days when you are already spending 24 hours a day with him most days in Hogwarts."
Harry was trying to defend Albus by saying, "Rose, it was my idea for Albus to…" when Albus suddenly pointed at Rose, "You! What kind of sick joke it was for you to send a loaf of bread as Christmas present? I almost choked to death because of you."
"It would clearly be your own fault to choke to death by something as trivial as that. And it was exactly as you said, a joke. I even sent a real present along with it in case he would take offense. Besides, didn't you say so yourself that Bread Head absolutely loves eating bread? I doubt he would hate it to receive a wonderful loaf himself…" Harry had a feeling that Rose would be quite capable of retorting for a full five minutes if it was not for Hermione's interruption. "Rose, that was quite enough."
"But mum, Albus is the one acting rude and stupid, why am I the one…"
Hermione did not raise her voice, but her stern tone was enough to make Rose shut up mid-sentence, "Rose, you have started it. You know well enough why it would do your poor, lonely friend Scorpius some good to have his best friend over on Christmas day." She had pronounced the word "friend" with such emphasis as if daring Rose to correct it.
Rose looked flushed when she uttered "It's not fair…" under her breath. By now Albus had settled on his seat and after an uncomfortable minute, he coughed and said, "Hmm… for your information, Scorpius did love your bread." He gave his cousin a reconciling smile. She, in return, gave him a triumphant look and a smug smile.
On his way to take his seat between Ron and Ginny, Harry handed Hermione the other bouquet and said, "Hermione, Scorpius wants to give this to you."
His best friend's face lit up as she said, "Aww… that's so sweet of him. Would you have any chance to thank him for me?"
"Hmm… I don't think so, the Malfoys are leaving for France in two days. I don't think I will see them again myself until the kids return for Hogwarts."
She replied with a smile, "I see, I will remember to thank him myself the next time I see him, hopefully I will be able to send them off at King's Cross after the holiday. I'm not sure if I'd be able to make it yet."
Harry noticed that Teddy was now greeting Albus warmly, "Merry Christmas, Al. How's Scorpius? Did you two have fun?" Harry remembered that when Albus' cousins had used to ask about Scorpius in front of him, he would immediately tense up or look braced for attacks but that had never happened with Teddy. Judging by how enthusiastic Albus tried to recount his wonderful Christmas morning to his godbrother while devouring Molly's delicious feast,and how attentive and responsive the latter appeared to be listening about two school boys' flowers picking and snowball fights, it seemed to him that Albus had not wondered for a second if Teddy had asked out of pure politeness but instead knew with confidence that he was genuinely interested about his friend's happiness. Needless to say, he was very pleased by the observation.
He waited till everyone had settled back down, started eating and chatting when he turned to his best friend and whispered, "Ron, Scorpius' flowers are for you as well."
Ron almost choked on his drink that it took him a while to recover, before he hissed under his breath while his cheeks were turning Weasley-red, "Me? Why would the… mini-ponytail give me flowers?"
Harry almost laughed out aloud and had to work really hard to suppress his voice, "Seriously? Mini-ponytail? There's nothing secretive about this nickname at all and it just makes you look stupid."
Ron ate for a full minute before turning back to Harry as others were starting to look curious about their conversation. "You're missing the point, Harry. Why would he send me… you-know-what?"
"I see how this conversation would turn into, why would you-know-who send me you-know-what…" Harry shut up when he saw both of their wives eyeing him with suspicions. He too ate a few spoonfuls of food before turning back and whispered, "To thank you for sending him a present, of course."
Ron looked, for lack of a better word, guilty when he focused back on his food and hissed back, "I have no idea what you were talking about."
"If you say so."
Ron continued to eat for a while then he turned back towards him and quietly asked, "If Sc… I mean if the boy wants to give them to the both of us, why didn't you say so at the first place?"
"Because I'm not sure if you are ready for your whole family to know just how compassionate you are." Harry could not resist a smirk when he answered.
His friend sighed then said after a beat. "It was Hermione's idea. You know how sympathetic she could get about these things sometimes. I'm not complaining as I love her the way she's… and nothing could have surprised me about that after the S.P.E.W. She heard about his trunk's vandalising and started asking Rose many questions about the bullying he got that when it came to time to pick out Christmas presents, she just had to pick an extra one for Scorpius. I'm totally fine about that but she made me send one myself as well, saying 'You literally run a gift shop for school kids, Ron, how hard could it be for you to send out a couple of your most harmless products for a poor boy?' so I relented and did as I was told. By the way, I was totally offended by the 'most harmless' bit."
"I imagine you would." Harry laughed easily then said with a more solemn tone, "I hope you are not unhappy to receive the flowers though. I have never seen a young boy quite as grateful for receiving Christmas presents as he did… well, perhaps except myself as an eleven-year-old."
Even Ron looked scandalised by the idea, he said seriously, "Of course I'm not unhappy, it's just I'm somehow grateful that you didn't tell the whole world about it. I don't regret sending him the present as you all have said, he deserves a nice winter holiday. Whatever I had felt towards ponytail, I've never resented his kid… even though I might have advised Rose to be cautious and not to get too close to him initially. As I have said, I think he's a good kid… but that still doesn't mean I would like him as a son-in-law."
Harry could see that if he wanted to see his friend befriend Draco, there was still a long way to go but at least he was no longer hostile towards the former Death Eater. He thought he could totally live with sarcasm and some occasional bantering. Meanwhile, he could try to make his other best friend befriend Draco while getting Draco more comfortable around Ginny.
"What would I have paid to see Draco's reaction to your present though… Scorpius almost said something but he stopped himself when Draco gave him a cough. He did think they are very nice and interesting."
His best friend now had a mischievous look that Harry was not too happy to see, "I can totally imagine it without seeing it myself... You see, we have these enchanted toy animals that could be enlarged and are really convincing-looking and you could even interact with them to a certain extent… I have sent the boy a couple of other 'most harmless' products, along with a toy rat… and a toy ferret."
It was now Harry's turn to choke on his food that Ginny shot him a look of concern. He had wanted to see Draco's reaction out of curiosity but now he found himself feeling sorry for his new friend. It took him a full minute before he could possibly hiss back, "How would Hermione ever agree to this?"
"Of course she didn't, I sneaked it in when she was not looking." Ron looked extremely smug to have pulled it off, but then it turned into a look of worry, "Don't you dare telling her about this!"
Harry could not resist teasing his friend for a bit, "Well, I don't know… that was mean and Draco is a friend to me now…"
Noticing the change of Ron's emotional state, Hermione was eyeing them suspiciously now. "What are you two talking about? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing! Nothing's wrong at all!" Ron replied while giving him a pleading look. Hermione obviously had seen right through Ron.
"Hermione, I was just telling Ron about my visit to the Manor, he was just suffering from a minor panic attack remembering the last time we were there. It's nothing too bad." His friend was not entirely convinced but she did not look as suspicious either when she turned back to talk with Bill.
"You owe me big time for this." Harry was totally going to enjoy this controlling power over Ron while he could but he added with a sterner tone. "But I really do think Draco deserves an apology for you-know-what. How hard could it be for you to send out your most harmless products for a poor boy?"
"Fine, I'll try to apologise to him next time… provided I could talk to him away from Hermione. And I'll try… to be friendlier towards him."
The rest of the Christmas lunch passed by smoothly and quickly. Thanks to Albus' playtime on the snow, he was perfectly capable of eating second, even third helping of his favourite roast beef from Molly. Harry felt like it had been a long time since he had been able to feel completely relaxed to chat with each and every relative of his like this, it warmed his heart to see his younger son enjoy doing the same, even though he definitely spent as much time as he could chatting with Teddy when his godson was not getting too cosy with his fiancé. Albus seemed to have a nice conversation with Arthur as well which ended with a hug. As much of an emotional roller coaster this Christmas had been so far, he could confidently say this was going to be one of the best Christmases he had ever have himself.
A/N: I'll finally be wrapping up the *day* soon, but there's still a long way to go with this story. Next chapter will be a much longer one but it will be a one time thing for now, please long forward to it.
Thanks for all the support, it cheered me up so much to read your comments.
Edit (8/12): changed a bunch of "least harmless" thanks to a comment by an anon guest. I edit my own work and even though I try to make sure there are as few noticeable mistakes as possible, these things do happen I suppose.