For like five seconds there, it looked to Harry that Scorpius' eyes were about to pop out of his head while the boy was staring at him in silence.

Instead of answering Harry, the stunned boy turned towards his father and asked hesitantly, "R-Really?"

Draco pulled him into a tight hug before saying firmly into his ears with a thick voice, "Really." Harry could understand why Scorpius would feel the need to reach for his father because for a long time, all they had had been each other and Draco must be the only one who could really understand how lonely and alienated Scorpius had felt and how much the boy needed and yearned for more family. This father-son moment felt so intimate that Harry felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward standing there.

The Malfoys stayed like this for a whole minute in which Draco kept whispering something to Scorpius. At last they broke off from each other, Scorpius took out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes before turning back to Harry with red eyes. He inclined his head a little as he said, "Thank you so, so much, Mr Potter… I can't describe just how much this means to me because for quite some time now it's been just my dad and me… Albus had told me so many great things about Teddy over the years that he felt…" he tilted his head a little like he was searching for the most accurate words, "more like a fantastical person or a concept to me than someone real, than my cousin… I've always wanted to have more family even though my dad is the best dad in the world…"

The boy took a look at his best friend, who had reached out his arm and had been patting him in his back, before continuing, "I know Albus hadn't particularly enjoyed his big family gatherings but I've always wished that I could have siblings and cousins like him… This is a dream come true to me, truly, Mr Potter. No one has ever done something like this for me before so thank you so, so mu-much..."

The boy was crying again and Albus was quick to react, he pulled his best friend into an embrace and let Scorpius cried on his shoulder while he started rubbing a hand soothingly down Scorpius' back. Harry could see that both Ginny and Hermione's eyes looked shiny and for once, Ron was speechless as he looked uncomfortably at the blonde boy. Rose looked at her friends with an uncharacteristic sad smile on her face. She might have acted all cool around Scorpius usually, but that expression was evident enough to Harry that under her sometimes rather snarky remarks, his niece did care about her new friend.

As for Harry, again he was surprised by how much he could relate to the young Malfoy. Like Scorpius, he had had so little family of his own as a child that he had felt a bit jealous of Ron's loving family despite the Weasleys' lack of means. He might not have wanted to use the word jealous because Molly Weasley had always treated him like her own son but deep down inside him, he had felt undeserving of Molly's love and attention, which was why he had felt so guilty when he had been the first to arrive at Andromeda's home following the Battle of the Seven Potters when the fate of the majority of the Weasleys had yet been unknown.

He could still vividly remember the moment after he and Ginny had exchanged their vows when he had looked into the eyes of his new wife, that dreamlike moment when he had realised that she had become part of his family, a tiny family of two. Unlike most other brides and grooms, it had been he instead of she who had cried uncontrollably at his own wedding. Then there were the magical moments when James, Albus and Lily had first born into his world. Having the chance to meet a cousin might not have felt as monumental as he had felt back then, but surely it was more than the boy could have dreamed of for the most of his life. At moment like this, Harry could look past the bubbly persona and catch glimpses of the lonely and vulnerable boy Scorpius truly was, a fifteen-year-old who had lost his mother and who had been bullied by almost everyone in school for years.

It took another five minutes for Scorpius to completely calm down after this. For obvious reason, everyone just started taking turns to make things more light-hearted for him. Ginny was the first to come up to pull Scorpius into another loving hug, "You're going to love Teddy, dear. He's always been like another son to me."

Scorpius smilingly replied, "I can't wait."

"Oh Scorpius, you have to tell me what your favourite food is so Harry could cook it for you for the Easter gathering." Harry was amused by the thought that other women would be volunteering to cook themselves instead of offering their husbands' service but he did not mind at all because Ginny would not be Ginny if she had been good at cooking.

Scorpius looked absolutely terrified thinking about having the Harry Potter cooked his favourite food for him. "I-I love eating everything… there is n-no need for Mr Potter to trouble himself for me… I mean, he has already done so much for me."

"Well, you can just tell me if you change your mind but I'm sure he'll love cooking something for you. Harry is an excellent cook." she gave Harry a wink that he felt inclined to chime in.

"Hmm… Scorpius, it's really no trouble, cooking is a hobby of mine so I'd love to cook something for you."

"See." Ginny said smugly but Scorpius only laughed a little nervously. Then it was Hermione's turn.

"I'm really looking forward to the gathering and to getting to know you better, Scorpius. I'm quite sure we'll get along very well." In moment like this, one could easily tell how great a mother Hermione was despite being considered as one of the strongest career women by the majority of the wizarding world.

"Thank you so much, Ms Mi- Ms Granger."

As Hermione had to go back to work after having a quick dinner with her family, Ron and Rose came over to bid him a quick farewell before the four of them would have to leave in hurry.

"I-I suppose I'll see you at the gathering, kid." It was so unnatural to see the usually thick-skinned Ron acting awkward in front of a teenager.

"Thank you, Mr Weasley. Good bye."

"Have a nice holiday, Br- Malfoy. Don't you dare slacking off completely though because the exams are coming up really soon. I want to have a fair competition with you." Harry had to suppress his urge to laugh out loud as he thought about how potent a mix Hermione's love for school and Ron's stubbornness was, he felt bad for Scorpius because he honestly would not mind Albus relaxing for the entire Easter break at all, but he guessed Scorpius was so like Hermione that he truly did enjoy studying as he remembered how his best friend had been extremely disappointed by the cancellation of their final exams in their second year.

Scorpius only laughed, "Of course I'll study during the break, Rose. I'll see you soon." Ron dramatically mouthed "of course?" to Harry, before he waved a hasty goodbye to their family, while Draco was saying a very formal goodbye to Hermione.

Now that they were gone, Malfoy purposely moved a few steps to the side to be standing right next to Harry.

"Harry?" Draco might be calling his name but he was looking straight ahead towards his happy son, who was chatting excitedly with Lily of all people at the moment, instead of looking at him.

Lily had spent most of the past fifteen minutes chatting with Hugo but as soon as her favorite cousin had left, she had come up to Scorpius and surprisingly, she had reached for his hands without a hint of hesitation while exclaiming "Oh Scorpius, I'm so happy that you're visiting soon! It'll be an amazing gathering!"

"Yes, Draco?" His former nemesis stood straight and tall as always, had his hands behind him and was wearing a serious expression.

"Thank you," he had pronounced these two words a bit slowly in a way which put an extra weight to them, "so much for organising this for Scorpius. As Scorpius has said just now, no one has ever done anything like this for our family."

Harry was moved by Draco's gratitude but he did not need to search his heart to know that he had organised the gathering for not just Scorpius, but also Draco, Albus, Teddy, Andromeda and… himself. In a way, he was doing it for the selfish reason to atone for his earlier actions to Scorpius and Al and to comfort himself that he was doing something for Al's nightmares that he believed Draco was giving him more credit than he deserved.

He was not going to openly contradict Malfoy because he felt like this would be too complicated to explain but hearing Draco's words, he could not help but feel that his friend had been placing too much focus on his son to the point that he had forgotten about himself and his life that he believed Harry had planned the gathering completely for Scorpius.

Potter, how can I ever make you understand that Scorpius' happiness is perhaps the only thing that matters in my life now? Draco had said that back on Christmas day. Harry could understand how this had come to be considering the widower had been isolated from the wizarding world for so many years and he must have felt that he had failed Scorpius badly following Astoria's death. While Harry had been doing not much better as he had been focusing a disproportionate amount of attention on Albus in expense of his other children and his job to some extent, his life was still in relative balance with a full-time job, his wife, his other children and his friends. In Draco's case, Scorpius was the centre of Draco's universe that he might as well have been Draco's life itself. There was nothing particularly wrong with that but Harry was convinced that this was not the kind of life a wealthy, well-educated, forty-year-old wizard should live for the rest of his life, for the sake of Scorpius and Draco himself. He knew that the Malfoys could afford to not work at all for generations but he believed that Draco could have so much more to offer that it could do him some good to have an occupation. In any case, building relationships with distant relatives seemed like a good first step for someone as isolated as Draco.

"You're welcome but the gathering is meant for you as well, Draco. I do hope that you can get along well with your relatives. It'll do both you and Scorpius, no, all of you including Teddy and Andromeda, some good if this goes well."

Draco's mouth parted a little in surprise, then he remembered himself. "You're right…I do hope to leave a good impression but it almost sounds too good to be true to gain more family now having lost almost everyone and having gotten used to being almost alone… Not that I don't want... relatives, but I'm not good at meeting new people and considering our last name, I try not to have too much expectation..." he sounded so solemn that Harry felt bad about how self-conscious Malfoy could be, which was such a sharp contrast comparing to how he had proudly introduced himself almost thirty years ago in his train compartment, but he supposed being sneered at for more than twenty years could do that to even the proudest person in the world.

"I can promise you that Teddy and Andromeda are among the most accepting and wonderful people I have ever known and they are really excited to meet both of you."

Draco did not smile but his face softened a bit as he nodded, "Thank you, Pot- Harry." Harry could tell his friend seemed to need a moment to digest the conversation, so instead of awkwardly trying to move on to something else, he chose to silently look at their children instead.

"... and you'll get to see Teddy's starry night hair!" Lily said in delight.

"Oh, I thought the Christmas tree is his signature look?" Scorpius seemed so comfortable around his daughter that they must have spent quite some time together before, Albus was standing next to him looking at them affectionately.

"Sure it is but honestly, I find it boring after so many years and starry night hair is so much more gorgeous. While you're at it, you can check out his sunset look as well, and I bet you'll adore his animal looks."

The boy looked reluctant, "I'm not too sure about it… I don't know him at all that I don't wanna be bothering him too much the first time I meet him. I mean, I want him to like me, Lily."

Lily answered with one of her cheekiest grins, "Of course Teddy will love you! But anyway, it's no problem at all, I can ask him to do it for you. And you know what? Teddy always loves an excuse for him to change his look as frequently as possible. The adults and even Vic had gotten a bit fed up by it that he's banned from changing more than twelve looks a day. With you there, none of them would say anything even if he changes once a minute."

As much as he loved seeing Scorpius so comfortable around Lily, which meant that Albus must have been spending way more time with his sister at school these days than before as well, Harry simply could not resist stepping in, "Lily! Don't you think you can use Scorpius as an excuse to turn Teddy into a living kaleidoscope!"

His daughter whipped her ginger hair around to give him a puzzled yet innocent look and ask, "What's a kaleidoscope, daddy?" She was usually up to no good whenever she called him daddy instead of dad. "Anyway, it was only a joke…" she turned back to Scorpius and said, "I'm sorry but it looks like ten minutes a change is the best you can hope for, Scorpius."

He laughed, "That's already way more than what I could have expected, Lily."

Ginny, who had been talking with James at the side, came over to Draco now that James had gone to the toilet, "Hey Draco, what time should we meet on Diagon Alley tomorrow? Would you two like to hang out with all of us? Or would you prefer having Albus join you two for like an hour or two before we meet up again so I can bring all the kids to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes together? They may be in their fourth year but trust me when I say I'm not ready for my kids to go to the shop completely unsupervised yet." Ginny was usually a rather easy-going mother but knowing most of the secrets going on at the store, she was much stricter about everything whenever the "family business" was concerned.

Unlike his usual composed self, Draco seemed hesitant when he answered, "Thank you for the invite, but… I would prefer for Albus to join us… if it's really okay for you?" Perhaps he was worried about disappointing her by saying that he would rather not hang out with her whole family.

Ginny waved him off, "Don't worry about it, Draco, of course I understand why you would rather shop with just Scorpius and Albus. All three Potter kids can be a lot to deal with sometimes, especially James." Lily was still talking with Scorpius but Albus probably had felt a little bit left out that he had joined in the conversation too.

"Thank you, Ginny. Hmm… Scorpius has told me that he got to spend more time with your other children and they've been nice to him so I know they are great kids as well."

She shook her head, "You know, Draco, you really could be way too formal and polite sometimes… Anyway, what time would you arrive there tomorrow?"

They had been talking on the platform for so long that a train agent had come to inform them that they were closing the platform, so their group of weird-looking parents and children were standing awkwardly on a Muggle platform with old-fashioned trucks, overly formal (in Draco's case) outfit and owls in cages when a black-haired boy hugged his blonde-haired best friend goodbye.

Their hug was a little shorter this time, perhaps because both of them knew that they would be meeting each other again very soon. Al patted Scorpius on his head like one would do to a younger kid after they had separated while Scorpius laughed.

Seeing Albus with Scorpius, it was funny to Harry how even though his son had always looked young and short for his age, he could appear much older and more mature than his friend at times. He had always been very protective of Scorpius and had tried to look out for him like how he had stood up to Rose to stay with Scorpius on that very first day, how he had gotten into troubles time and time again in school before for defending Scorpius against his tormentors and how he had stayed by his friend's side after Astoria's death. Harry thought that while his son could be impulsive and a bit self-centred at times, he was actually very good at taking care of others, well, at least Scorpius, in his ways.

On the other hand, there was Scorpius, who was intelligent, level-headed and sensible that he could keep Al grounded even through the craziest of times during the incidents. He had also been helping Al after knowing about his friend's nightmares by forcing the words about his guilt and nightmares out of his mouth and dutifully following him around everywhere. However, Scorpius also possessed a childlike innocence that you just could not help wanting to protect him at times, especially when this tender-hearted boy was moved to tears because of his happiness and sadness, which had happened way more frequently than Harry had expected. Over the past four months, Harry had felt this way himself and had witnessed Draco, Ginny, Albus, Rose and Neville all acted or looked protective around Scorpius or when talking about Scorpius.

It was pretty amazing to think that the Slytherin boys had been simultaneously relying on and taking care of each other since they had first met four years ago. At their young ages, both of them were better at taking care of others than a lot of adults had learned in their entire life time. Seeing Albus patting his best friend on his back a last time before leaving the station, he knew his son had a good heart and he had grown into a pretty remarkable boy that he felt insanely proud of him.

A/N: I've been referring to the boys as fourteen-year-olds quite a few times but at some point, one or both of them would have turned fifteen. Since their birthdays are not mentioned in any canonical source, I've to make my own assumptions. It's March at this point of the fic and I thought it unlikely that both of the boys would have birthdays nearing the end of the spectrum that I decided to have Scorpius turned older first offscreen. Harry and Ginny would have gotten presents for Scorpius but it wasn't relevant to the main plot.

Shoutout to Cris46 again because it's a guest review. (I love all my signed reviewers so I always make sure to thank them in PM but this is the only way I can thank a guest reviewer)