The rest of the winter break had been rather uneventful, not that Harry had been able to see for himself with his hectic work schedule. According to Ginny, who had secretly cast a special monitor spell, which would alert her if there was any strange human sound, in Albus' room every night, his son had not have another nightmare for the rest of the break. This came as quite a relief to Harry, who was able to talk himself into hoping that Albus' nightmares were rare occurrences that would not pose much disturbance to the boy's emotional wellbeing and daily life after all.
After putting in more overtime earlier in the week, Harry was able to take the whole morning off on the first Thursday of the year so that he could see his children off at King's Cross station after their winter break. Despite arriving home at one o'clock the previous night, Harry was up at seven thirty this morning in order to cook his children a homemade breakfast before their long train ride. He had just finished mixing his pancake batter when he heard Ginny joining him in the kitchen.
"Aww, you are so sweet, love. I was just gonna feed our kids bread or cereals for breakfast. Wait till they see this." Ginny had reached his side and picked up a spoon to dip into the batter, which she proceeded to taste in her mouth.
"How many times do I have to tell you that raw batter is not safe to eat, Gin?"
"I just can't resist, dear. I swear I will drink a whole bowl of this one of these days, at least I used a spoon this time. The original is so good that I really don't get our kids' preference for fruit-flavoured ones at all. But well," She had her arms crossed with a hand holding her chin while surveying his other ingredients on the counter, which included strawberries, blueberries and bananas, "how lucky am I to have such a dedicated father, who would cook a different kind of pancake for each of our children, as my husband? Who need 'the boy who lived' when you can have 'the boy who cooks'?"
Harry coughed at the rather awful pun, he could feel his ears warmed when he said, "I'm really flattered, Gin, but I hate to break it to you, I think Ron has rubbed off on you." Ginny's look of adoration had disappeared so fast that he instantly regretted to have spoken at all. But then both of them immediately got distracted when they heard someone reached the ground floor, they looked out to the living room to see their youngest son let out a yawn with his uncontrollable hair sticking out all over the place, which looked identical to his own.
"You're up so early, love." Ginny had turned into her most caring mother mode as quickly as her affectionate wife mode had disappeared a moment ago.
"Good morning, mum and dad." The boy smiled towards them with half-closed eyes. "I want to arrive at the platform a little early today. Scorpius wrote in his last letter that he would like to say hi to you two."
"Aww… that's so sweet of Scorpius, I would like to wish him a happy new year as well. I barely got to talk to him last time on the platform at all." Ginny happily replied. Between the two of them, Ginny was the one who had brought Albus to the Manor every summer holiday that she had even talked to Draco's late wife Astoria more than once in the past, and thus the one with the better relationship with the young Malfoy. Draco shared a somewhat cordial relationship with Ginny before the Time Turner incident but now that he could call the older Malfoy a friend, he was cautiously optimistic that he would be able to get Draco to warm up to Ginny.
After the initial surprise that Scorpius would like to greet them specifically had worn off, Harry found his heart warmed unexpectedly to the thought of this well-mannered and smiley boy. No wonder Albus always lighted up whenever Scorpius Malfoy was mentioned.
As soon as Albus had arrived onto Platform 9 ¾ at half past ten in the morning, he started rushing down the platform in search of the blonde-haired boy. A wide grin broke out on the young Slytherin's face the moment he spotted his smiley best-friend, who was enthusiastically waving his arm and excitedly calling out his name at almost the end of the platform, with his father standing next to him. His son rapidly picked up his pace that he seemingly arrived in front of Scorpius in no time, then he immediately wrapped the young Malfoy in a hug. Albus had told Harry that he had not hugged Scorpius before the start of this school year, which seemed rather unbelievable looking at this hug and considering his observation that they hugged all the times these days. Harry thought to himself as he and Ginny had reached the boys, after sharing a brief hug with James and Lily, who had quickly boarded the train in hope of reserving some of the better compartments, that the silly grin which was gracing Al's face at this moment was so much more preferable to the constant brooding frown in the previous few years and the heartbreaking look of fear and pain after his nightmare. He noticed that Ginny looked as happy for their child as he was.
"I miss you, Scorpius! How's your holiday?"
"It's absolutely wonderful! We have been to a few coastal towns, both Muggles and wizarding, and I had a stroll on a breathtaking beach… too bad dad wouldn't let me go into the water." Somehow Harry just could not picture his former nemesis on a beach at all… with his ridiculously fancy dress suit.
"It's winter, Scorpius. Of course I did not want you to get sick." Draco supplied matter-of-factly.
"It wasn't even that cold in France… By the way, Albus, that's the best thing about southern France, it's so warm and sunny over there! This was the first time I have ever been there at this time of year so I didn't know how comfy it would be. I wish England could be this warm in winter. And I haven't finished telling you about the beach, the water is so clear and blue..."
The young Malfoy was talking a mile a minute with such excitement that Albus was openly laughing at his friend, Harry found himself unexpectedly let out a hearty laugh as well. At this, Scorpius looked up at him and stopped abruptly, looking mortified. "Oh, that's so rude of me! I was too excited to catch up with Albus that I didn't see you at all, sir. I-I… am so sorry. Good morning, Mr and Mrs Potter, thank you again for the amazing Christmas day." The perfect-mannered boy inclined his head a little as he greeted the Potters.
Harry smiled and said, "That's quite alright, Scorpius. But you seriously don't have to thank me again for Christmas, especially when you've already given us the lovely flowers." Scorpius looked very pleased of himself. "I'm so glad you had so much fun in your break. I hope you had a nice time too, Draco."
His new friend clearly was not expected to be addressed, "Hmm, yes I did. It has been a while since I have last gotten away somewhere with my family. Scorpius was happy and it was all that counted." Draco gave the back of his boy's head a fatherly pat, which brought a softer smile on Scorpius' face as he turned and gave his father a tender look. The Malfoys seemed to share a really natural and caring father-son relationship these days that Harry found himself feeling unreasonably proud of Draco, despite not being sure if it was his place to feel so.
The Malfoys turned back to the Potters, then Ginny took her opportunity to talk to the blonde boy.
"Scorpius, I didn't get a chance to thank you for your flowers yet, they were so gorgeous."
"I...I'm really happy you liked them, Mrs Potter. Flowers were one of my mum's favourite things in the world that we want to keep them alive. It would please her to know that others like her flowers as well." Despite bringing up his mother when the topic had been least expected, Scorpius was remembering his mum fondly without getting emotional. Ginny, a mother of three, however, could barely keep herself from sounding thick when she said with certainty, "Aw...Scorpius, I didn't just like them, I loved your flowers." As pleased as the boy was for being appreciated, he looked a bit lost seeing Ginny clearly on the verge of getting emotional.
Ginny took a moment to take a deep breath, before turning to Draco and said, "I need to ask you something, Draco."
"Hmm… yes?"
"Your son is way too adorable that I would like to give him a hug if you don't mind." Her tone was light but Harry could detect the emotion and yearning barely buried beneath the surface.
Draco coughed once embarrassingly before saying, "That's okay for me. You should be asking Scorpius instead of me anyway."
"May I?" Her voice was so gentle and kind when she slightly opened her arms as if she was talking to a young child of four instead of a fourteen-year-old teenager who was her height.
Scorpius was so dumbfounded that his jaw had dropped open. His pale face had turned red as a tomato in a matter of second when his gaze dropped and shyly nodded his consent. To everyone's surprise, Ginny proceeded to embrace Scorpius with such fierceness as if he had been her own. The boy at first had appeared winded and unsure about what to do with his arms, but then he hesitantly wound his arms behind her back until he slowly relaxed into it and was firmly hugging her back as well. Harry was reminded of the way Molly Weasley had given him the first motherly hug he had ever felt, in that long night after he had returned from the Third Task after witnessing Voldemort's return and Cedric's death. He thought about how his wife had happily reported that their son's best friend was lovely back when she had first visited the Malfoy Manor. Thanks for the flexibility of her job, she had always been there to receive the young Malfoy heir when he had, in turn, visited the Potters' home every summer. She was the one who had always made the efforts to be friendly to Scorpius and to make Albus talk about the friendship all these times, way before the Time Turner incidents and his own new-found mission to make up for the boy.
"I didn't get to tell you that night, Scorpius. Thank you so much for being there for Albus all through that terrible experience. I couldn't even imagine what would have happened had you not been there… Albus is so lucky to have you as his friend." Harry saw a tear escaped her eye, it was startling to see her cry as Ginny had been his rock all these years that she rarely cried in front of her family, let alone outsiders in such a public place. But then, perhaps she did love this nerdy boy the way Molly had loved himself in the past, he thought fondly about how generous these Weasley women had been with their love. They loved so openly and unreservedly, the world would surely be a much better place if there had been more of them.
"Thank you so much… M-Mrs Potter. Your... words, t-they mean the world to me." The boy was choking up that he struggled to get his words out, but he looked so moved with gratitude that all three males looking on could not help feeling affected as well. He was also holding on to Ginny as if he was afraid for her to let go, it did not take legilimency to understand that he was reminded of his own mother.
Albus, who had initially looked embarrassed on her behalf when Ginny had started to get emotional, had been shocked when she first asked the question. As the shock had subsided, his look turned melancholic as he realised his own mother was trying to offer his best friend the maternal love that had been sorely missed for almost a year and a half, however temporary and insufficient it would be. He looked so uncomfortable as he alternately turned towards and away from the hug the whole time. Harry guessed that Al must be feeling somewhat embarrassed but he was absolutely unwilling to interrupt knowing how much his friend needed that, which did not mean he liked looking at the hug much though.
Draco, on the other hand, steadily looked on with a sad smile on his face. He might not be Ginny's biggest fan but he obviously recognised how valuable her hug was to his precious son, something that he would never be able to give the boy no matter how hard he tried. For that he seemed grateful but perhaps there was a bit of sadness there for realising the impossibility for him to provide for all of Scorpius' needs as well as for the loss of Astoria, the most giving woman he had known whose chances to express her love to her son through hugs and kisses had been cruelly stripped away by death.
While Harry was very glad about the hug, he was feeling jealous as well. For quite some times now he had been trying to make things right with Scorpius and he knew that his quest would never feel complete without apologising for real. On the one hand, he had been feeling that the longer he delayed it, the more awkward it would be, especially when he was now in friendly terms with him. On the other hand, he simply could not bear to do it in front of either Albus or Draco because he had been feeling too embarrassed, which made him feel extremely pathetic as a forty-year-old. The one time he had been able to talk to Scorpius himself was during the Floo call on Christmas day when the boy could only see his head, he had other priorities at the time and it really did not feel like the proper time to do that. He wondered when he would get another chance to talk to him in private next. Looking at the hug, he inevitably felt a bit jealous of his wife, who, being female, could get away from doing this sort of thing in public without looking creepy to others, but perhaps it was just his own problem. That being said, he could relate with the hug in so many levels that he could feel his tears threatening to fall.
A/N: I would like to acknowledge a very special milestone for this story- it has just past 10000 views. I know that it may not be a lot for others and it's much easier when the story has 25 chapters, but it's still something I could never imagine happening when I first started. I have been working on this for six months and of course, there have been ups and downs. I know that the HPCC fandom is relatively small comparing to the general HP fandom and even with next-gen stories, scorbus and scorose are much more popular than my type of story with no ship and arguably not much going on that there have been times when I have wondered if I should do ships or book fanfics. There have also been times after I have updated, when previous followers would decide to unfollow or when there was almost no comment, when I couldn't help from doubting my own writing or the directions that I have chosen. I know that while I do want to please my readers and you are a big reason that I write, ultimately, I write for myself and I want to write the story I want to tell.
Another thing that has fascinated me the most is how international my readership is. As I have said, English is not my first language so when I had first started writing, I had imagined that I would get corrected by my readers a lot, which wouldn't be a bad thing but I did hope to be taken seriously as a writer. Almost a year later, it's flattering to know that my stories are being read by a lot of native speakers as well as people from all around the globe. So for all of you who have stuck with me for so long, I just want to say a big thank you for your continuous support. I have a full-time job so it isn't always easy to find time to write but I hope to be able to keep it up until I finish it.
Please comment, your comments often make my days =)