Harry was absolutely in shock by the time he finally lowered Draco's letter on his desk. There was so much information to digest that he had already reread it once, still it was too much. He distractedly fingered the pages and counted that his former nemesis had written seven full pages in his delicate handwriting to him about his personal life. Although Draco had been the one to volunteer the information, he inevitably felt guilty as if he had been the one who had pried and had invaded Malfoy's deepest thoughts by reading his journal instead of a letter addressed to himself. On the one hand, he felt like he had not earned the right to learn so much about his new friend and he could not see himself volunteering as much personal detail about his own life to Malfoy anytime soon. On the other hand, it was actually rather flattering that Malfoy would trust himself so much to share some of his most treasured memories, his regrets and even some personal details about Scorpius to him.

Over the next few days, he had wanted to reply to the letter but had been preoccupied with work as always, not to mention he had no idea how he should go about it anyway. He could not really get over the fact that his former rival had essentially poured his heart out to him. Potter… He did not even have to close his eyes to hear the disdain in Draco's voice whenever he had pronounced his name back in Hogwarts as if it had been vermin, there was a part of him which still found it so surreal that they were friends now. Although Malfoy had written that he did not have to reply, he felt in his heart that it would be extremely rude and basically wrong for him not to at least acknowledge that he had read it and understood what Draco had been through, especially when he genuinely wanted to become better friends with him. He had mentioned the more factual information from the letter to Ginny, leaving out the more personal parts about Astoria and Scorpius as it had not been his place to share Draco's secrets to anyone. Being the intuitive person she was, of course his wife could tell that there was so much more but thankfully, she understood how important it was for him to keep the letter's content to himself and never asked him to elaborate, but this also meant that he had no one to talk to regarding the emotional turmoil he had reading the letter.

Draco had painted such a vivid picture of the typical Malfoy family's Christmas and his struggles after Astoria's death that Harry found himself unconsciously starting to imagine how terrible he would be at taking care of his three children himself if anything had happened to Ginny. Albus was the same age as Scorpius that it was not difficult to understand how much the boy had still needed his mother at the time of her death. Harry knew it must have been simultaneously harder and easier to lose a parent as a teenager than losing her as an one-year-old like himself. Having so many beautiful memories with her meant there was something for Scorpius to hold on to later in his life that he would not need to wonder about everything about his mother and asking as many what-ifs all the times as he had done in the past with his parents, but this also made it that much harder for Scorpius to move past the loss. Harry might not have known Astoria but having heard about her from Draco and Ginny and now having read about her in such detail, he pictured her as a young mother who had shared a lot of similarities with his own mother, which again made him feel sorry for not shielding the boys from witnessing his parents' murders. What must have been going through Scorpius' head at the time when he had witnessed Lily sacrificing her life for Harry as an infant? In a way, Astoria had done the exact same thing for Scorpius by giving birth despite her curse.

If the Malfoy's traditional Christmas had been bittersweet to read, the previous Christmas had certainly been the most upsetting part to get through, so it came as quite a relief to learn about how much an impact Albus' visit had been to the Malfoys, despite the more soberer moments in the evening. Harry felt his heart warmed with affections towards his best friends' family, who had given the young Malfoy three extra presents, and thus had played a rather significant part in making this Christmas special for Scorpius. Being the compassionate person Hermione had always been, others' teasing would not deter her from doing the right thing, like her socks-knitting back in fourth-year. She had seen a lonely child who had lost his mother and had recently gone through a terrible experience that she had to do something for Scorpius despite the fact that he was Draco's son and she did not actually know him herself. As childish as Ron had been for sending the toy ferret, it had still been a big thing for him to do to send a present to the son of one of his least favourite persons in the world, even if it had been through Hermione's prompting, not to mention the silver lining that the toy ferret had given Ron and Draco a chance to have a real conversation.

Reading the Malfoy's family trip kind of made Harry longed to bring his family on a trip to somewhere exotic. Thanks to Bill and Charlie, the Potters had visited both France and Romania before and the majority of his extended family had visited Argentina together a couple of years ago for the 2014 Quidditch World Cup but he imagined it would be quite different from planning a family trip on his own. It might be the perfect thing his family needed at the moment for bonding, especially with Albus. In any case, there were few others who deserved the distractions and bonding moments as much as Scorpius that he felt glad for the Malfoys.

It was relieving to read Malfoy admitting that he had reservation himself about the appropriateness for him to suddenly write something so personal to him that at least he did not feel obliged to put too much thoughts into writing a lengthy reply. Harry could totally understand how important it was to have someone to talk to, no matter how heavy the subject was, as he recalled the times when Ginny had scolded him about keeping his worries about being possessed by Voldemort to himself and when Luna had comforted him after Sirius' death in his fifth year. Thinking about how much Draco had suffered on his own with a wall between his son and him made Harry felt sorry for him and started to feel pleased that Draco would be willing to open up about his deepest feelings, despite not being sure he had picked the most suitable person to write to. Unfortunately, he did not feel too happy about needing to reply to such a letter.

While Harry loved and cared about his friends and family deeply, articulating his feelings and offering condolences had always been extremely challenging to him, which was somewhat ironic considering how many times he had dealt with someone's death and the fact that he was the Master of Death. In certain ways, the endless hours he had spent after Voldemort's defeat speaking to the survivors and grieving families had been even more difficult than his hunt for Horcruxes. Draco's tone might have indicated that their pain had already subsided quite a bit, Harry believed that such a detailed account on their grieving process appeared to demand condolences no matter how long she had passed, that he was actually glad to work overtime this week to delay replying the letter. But of course work was simply an excuse for him to delay the inevitable as he had made used of his lunch break twice to write short letters to Albus over the course of five days. It made him happy that his son had replied within two days both times, despite writing just a little. Sadly, he had not answered his question about how he had been sleeping but he tried to remind himself to take baby steps every day and be patient with his son. He finally set to work on a Sunday afternoon because he just could not delay this any longer for Draco's sake.

"Dear Draco,

I am sorry for not replying your letter sooner. I had a really hectic week at work and the truth is, I have never been good at putting my thoughts into words that for the longest time, I did not even know how I should start this reply at all.

Your letter has left me speechless that I find myself still processing its content now, days after I have first read it. Your wife sounded like the most wonderful person that I wish I had had a chance to meet her. No word could adequately express how terrible it was that a mother's life was taken too soon but I am sure she would be very proud of the both of you. I am truly sorry for everything you and Scorpius had to cope with and I am really glad that things have improved so much between you two. It brought me great satisfaction to learn how happy Albus was able to make Scorpius feel on Christmas day as I do think that your son is a wonderful kid who has already experienced way too much sadness and deserves all the happiness in the world. I promise that for the boys' remaining years in Hogwarts, I will make sure that Albus will get to spend some time with Scorpius every Christmas as I believe that this is something needed by the both of them.

Given our history, it has been quite strange for me to read something so personal about your family and even though I am still not feeling sure what I feel about it in a way, thank you for putting so much trust in me. Honestly, having cruelly separated them from each other before, letting the boys spent time with each other on Christmas day was the least I could do to make up for them, so you do not owe me anything. However, I have recently realised that Albus has been having nightmares about Delphi, that I am feeling extra worried about him. Therefore, it would mean even more for me now if you will let me know when you ever find out something alarming about Albus from Scorpius, as we have agreed that day on the Malfoy Ground. Thank you again for agreeing to do this, I do think that the two of us as well as Ginny are in the same boat with our sons that both of them need and will continue to need any support and love they could get from the ones closest to them, so it makes a lot of sense for us to work and support with each other.

It is perfectly fine for me that you have told Scorpius about meeting Teddy, I am sure they will get along very well. Regarding your question, Teddy is a metamorphmagus like his mother, and "the Christmas Tree" is a signature look of his in which he turns his hair green with dozens of strands of colourful highlights. I'll be meeting Andromeda on her birthday next month, when I am planning to ask her about dinner in the Easter break. I will definitely keep you posted about any updates, feel free to write to me if you have any question or if you need to write to someone.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Potter"

Compared with the long and heartfelt letter by Draco, he thought there was definitely something lacking in his own reply but he sent it out anyway after rereading it twice as he believed that he had written all the important things that needed to be said, most importantly the promise to let the boys spend time with each other every Christmas day in their remaining few years in Hogwarts. He had phrased it this way as who would possibly know where life would take the boys after Hogwarts anyway. He had specifically written "to spend some time with Scorpius" instead of "to visit Scorpius at the Manor" because he had secretly been hoping that the Malfoys would be able to join the Weasley Christmas lunch by next year. If Molly's touched reaction to Scorpius' flowers had been any indication, it should not be too difficult to convince the Weasleys at all. Merlin, he would not even be surprised if Molly decided to knit a jumper for Scorpius or even Draco next year. If Molly agreed to anything, no one in the family would dare to object to her decision, despite the conflict he had gotten into with his father-in-law earlier. It might be harder to convince Draco to join them but with Ginny, Hermione and him there, he doubted any ginger there would try to give his new friend a hard time if he did agree to join their Christmas gathering. Surely he would be able to see how helpful it would be for Scorpius to spend the day in a crowd versus in relative silence inside the Manor, right?

Having finally gotten the reply over, he left for the sitting room where he joined Ginny to relax on the sofa for a couple of hours before cooking dinner. There was something very comfortable about an easy afternoon like this in which they just talked about anything they wanted while she leaned on his shoulder and held his hand. It was always the simplest moment in life which was the most precious for someone like Harry Potter. Thinking about Draco's letter and the Malfoys' loss, he could not have been more grateful that his own family had been alive and well, despite the demons Albus would have to overcome. Over the conversation, they decided on what to get for Andromeda's birthday and Harry found himself really looking forward to the long-overdue gathering with someone who had become one of his closest family friends over the years.

Harry received a much shorter letter from Draco the next day, in which he had earnestly thanked him for his promise regarding the following Christmases, expressed his sympathy for the nightmares that had been plaguing his son and reassured him that he would do his parts to support their boys. He thought to himself that Draco Malfoy was possibly the best person who could relate to his struggles with Albus aside from Ginny, that being friends with him, a single father of a still-grieving child, actually made him feel less alone and somewhat more optimistic about helping his traumatised boy.

A/N: Originally, I wasn't going to write Harry's reaction to Draco's letter at all but it feels like something's missing that I ended up writing a full chapter on that. I hope this chapter doesn't feel too much like filler :P

Thanks for all your support, it'll make me so happy if you can leave a review, even if it's very short =)