Living with Draco and Harry, the story of seventeen orphans

by onemoregeek

Draco and Harry work together to take care of seventeen orphans from the second wizard war.

Year 1

Harry stood in the atrium of the ministry of magic and looked at the fountain, glad the magic is might statue had been removed.

"They should have come up with a new design; it was lazy just bringing back the fountain of magical brethren." Harry turned at the sound of Draco's drawl.

"I suggested something with the names of those that died during the war, it was politely turned down." Harry said bitterly.

"You also suggested they make one that showed true equality between wizards and magical creatures. Another suggestion was one that showed the plight of Werewolves. I think there were a few others." Draco said knowingly. "Personally I voted for the names but apparently paying for the new fountain does not give you much of a say in what it will be. You looking for a job, Potter?"

"No, I am trying to get funding for a project. But it is about as likely as getting water from a stone." Harry said.

"That's not hard, just skip the stone and use aguamente, instant water." Draco said, wondering why you would bring a stone into the process.

"Nevermind" Harry said "What are you doing, trying to buy a politician?"

Draco scoffed "no, they cost a lot more than they used to now that my name is tainted. Actually I have been looking for departments and projects to donate to, try and get a little respect back for my name. Father gave me this wonderful responsibility."

"So the politicians will be cheaper?" Harry jabbed.

"No, so I can walk around with my head held high once again. I really hate being despised by everyone." Draco eyed Harry "What is this project you are working on?"

"An orphanage, I have found seventeen kids that lost their parents in the war but have no family to take them in. McGonagall is letting them stay at Hogwarts for now but soon school will start and all the kids younger than eleven will need someplace else to stay. I am trying to get funding to buy a house big enough for all of them and additional funds to care for them. So far all my attempts have not gone well, these kids are not a high priority right now."

Draco smiled "Well that is a good cause. We should discuss it, I would prefer to fund something like this than just handing pouches of money to the Ministry." Draco looked thoughtfully at the fountain "Come to my house tonight, I have an appointment right now and would like to give this some thought before I offer anything to you."

"Are you serious?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Absolutely. If I help you at least I will know what my money is doing."

"I appreciate the offer but I would prefer not to go to your house." Harry said.

"Why?" Draco asked, confused.

"Bad memories." Harry said obviously.

"Oh, I don't live at Malfoy Manor; I moved to the family cottage, my parents gave it to me. Use the floo password, Malfoy country cottage, that will get you there." He extended his hand "see you at nine?"

"Wouldn't it be better to meet someplace public?" Harry asked uncomfortably. Draco's hand fell.

"Are you afraid of me?" Draco asked mockingly, raising an eyebrow "No, it has to be the cottage. Keep your wand handy if you are so worried."

Harry was sure this could fund everything he needed, if it was not some trap. But the Malfoys were working hard to repair their reputation and attacking him would be counterproductive. Plus having their name on an orphanage would get them a lot of good will, he could see how this would benefit them. "I'll be there."

"Good, I will see you tonight Potter." Draco turned and went to the elevator.

Harry went to another elevator, just because he might get funding from the Malfoys was no reason to not try to get some from the ministry, the whole Malfoy thing might fall through.

Harry stepped out of the large fireplace and into the entrance hall of Malfoy country cottage. The room was bigger than he thought most cottages would be. "Welcome to my home." Draco said from the couch.

"Thank you for having me." Harry said politely.

Draco smirked, "So the ministry denied your request for funding then?"

"Did you have something to do with that?" Harry asked angrily.

"No, but you were being so polite it seemed you were desperate for the money, desperate enough to be nice to me." Draco pointed out "Besides if the ministry had given you money that would have been less out of my pocket so why would I do something silly like that? I don't need to help you."

"Sorry, I just could not believe they would not care about something so important." Harry said disappointed.

"They only care about themselves. And no one is thinking about orphans from the war. Now if you had gone to a newspaper and made a big deal to the public, that might have encouraged the ministry to give you the money. But it does not affect them so they don't care." Draco explained.

"You seem to have them all figured out." Harry said sickened.

Draco waved "Slytherin here, this is basic stuff in our common room. Try giving me a real challenge."

Harry jabbed "Okay, try to sway public opinion about the Malfoys."

Draco nodded with approval "Yes a challenge indeed, but now that you are here. I might succeed. Follow me." Draco led him out of the sitting room and started to give him a tour of the house.

Looking at the eighth bathroom Harry became annoyed "it is a lovely house a bit dark but hey that's your family's whole schtick. Can we please talk about funds for the kids."

"This house. I offer use of this house for about twenty years. Oh and I will help provide food, clothes and supplies to the kids." Draco offered.

Harry's eyes got huge "You will cover everything?"

"Yes, but I still need to live here." Draco explained "I am not moving back into Malfoy manor just so this house can become an orphanage."

"Please, show me the rest of the house." Harry said with new excitement ready to actually pay attention to the tour for the first time.

Draco sat back on the couch in the sitting room "What do you think?"

"I think it solves all my problems and only creates one new one." Harry said musing out loud.

"What is that?" Draco asked.

"Well," Harry said uncomfortably, "You. These kids lost their parents because of people in a group you belonged to."

Draco sighed "I understand that, actually I expect it will be rather hard to live together. But I think they would prefer to be here with me than on the streets."

Harry nodded "Can I think about it?"

"Wow" Draco said "I must be pretty bad if you are even considering turning this down."

"You do understand we would be living together right? I am the person that is going to be taking care of these kids. Are you going to help with that? There are ten kids under the age of eleven that would be living with us year round. Are you going to have a problem if someone else comes to help with the kids and has to live here as well? Have you really thought about the day to day reality of this decision?" Harry asked.

"I don't use much of this house, the space is wasted on me. The kids won't even need to see me."

"That is not practical. Are you going to eat meals with us? Will you have rooms that are off limits to the kids? In theory it seems great but I don't think you are going to like this much and I don't want to have to displace the kids after you realize you are miserable. I think you should take time to think about this too." Harry said realizing this was not going to work and he needed to come up with other options.

"I will think about it more." Draco said realizing Harry was right, it would not be as easy as he made it out to be. "I think it would be best to come to a decision soon though since school is coming up. How do you want to discuss this?"

"You are still considering it?"

"I am. I want this to work out. It would benefit all the kids, you and me. We just need to work out the kinks." Draco said, trying to think of solutions. "What if I just put in a door to the outside and I basically have my own apartment, you and the kids can have the rest of the house and you can invite whoever you need to help."

"Why don't you help? Not just with the money but with everything?" Harry asked "then you would be a part of the house and not have to cut yourself off from us. I know I could use the help."

"You already said they won't like me. I don't want to make this harder for them than it has to be."

The conversation went on in circles of problems and solutions for hours.

Harry looked at his pocket watch "Malfoy I am exhausted, we are not going to come to a solution tonight. I admit defeat, do you want to try again tomorrow?"

Draco looked displeased "Fine, tomorrow, first thing?" Harry nodded, not really caring what he said. "Good, just come by floo again, I can show you the grounds. The kids can fly on their brooms here. We have lots of space."

Harry nodded again and walked over to the fireplace eager to get to bed.

Draco got up early and started writing lists of questions to ask Harry once he had time to think more clearly. Harry came not through the fireplace but to the front door holding hands with an old house elf. Harry knocked and waited patiently for Draco to answer. He looked around. The grounds were very nice but needed a little maintenance, so did the outside of the house. Some new paint would do wonders. Draco opened the door "I thought you were coming by floo?"

"I wanted to introduce you to Kreacher, he is my house elf and we discussed him helping with the orphanage, mostly the cooking and helping with the cleaning so I could focus on the child care. I wanted to see if this met with your approval."

"Actually that is genius. It would solve a few of the problems you brought up last night." Draco said walking back into the house gesturing for them to follow him. He found his list and scribbled next to a few lines. "Can you give me information about the kids that would be living here?"

The morning consisted of Draco and Harry talking with Kreacher listening. By lunch they had a plan and multiple lists.

"I'm starving." Harry moaned.

"Do you want to move the discussion to the kitchen? We can have sandwiches and Kreacher can get familiar with the kitchen." Draco offered.

The kitchen was large and was stocked with everything but food, the icebox was mostly empty except some sliced roast beef and roasted potatoes.

"What do you eat?" Harry asked.

"I eat a lot of sandwiches." Draco said apologetically.

They made the sandwiches and ate, feeling more confident about their plans.

"When do you think we could move the kids in?" Harry asked.

"Next week? We should be able to get the house ready by then." Draco planned "It's before school starts so we can get the kids out of Hogwarts before a huge influx of students. Some of the kids are going to have to share rooms. I do not have twenty rooms, it is only a cottage. I suggest the older kids share rooms since they will not be here for a majority of the year, and they will move out sooner. I almost think it is wiser to group them by house than by age. There are also the three babies, we can put them in a nursery together, I suggest next to your room." Draco looked at Harry to see if this was acceptable.

Harry thought, "No, I think it would be better to group them by age. This way they might become friends with students other than the ones in their house."

"You know there is a Slytherin in this group right. Do you really think any of the other students are going to want to share a room with "one of the evil kids"? That is naively optimistic." Draco said, trying to protect the Slytherin.

"Can we ever agree on anything?" Harry moaned.

"The only thing we seem to agree on is letting the kids stay here, but everything beyond that is a fight with you." Draco vented. Harry looked at him with disbelief "Oh let me guess, we are back to "maybe this is a bad idea, I should look for other options." Am I right Potter?" Harry pulled back in frustration that Draco was right. "There are no other options, give up looking for them and instead find solutions to the problems here. You are not going to find something else in time." Draco went back to his list pretending the last conversation never happened "Potter can you get me an inventory of what each child has? I need to know what they still need."

"They need everything, they have nothing" Harry yelled.

"What about their homes, just because their parents were killed does not mean their homes were destroyed. They should still have school books, clothes, toys, decorations, possibly brooms. Do they have pets? I also would like to know which kids have inherited houses so we can arrange to have protections put on them till the child is old enough to inherit them."

"You are so cold and calculating." Harry said disgusted.

"No I'm not, okay I am. But that has nothing to do with this. What I am being is realistic. I am going to have to go back to school shopping for how many kids?" he picked up the paper "Seven kids. And then I need to make sure the house is properly stocked for ten kids to live here full time. I will check my attic but I don't think I have the three cribs necessary for the nursery. And that is just basic stuff. If they have grown out of their clothes I need to get more and I don't want to have them wear tattered second hand clothes. I have standards and I will not be cheap to these kids. They need to know we care about them more than just the minimum. So I need to figure this all out. Knowing what I am working with would be a great help."

"I will get the information." Harry said embarrassed by the dressing down.

"Thank you." Draco said getting back to his many lists.

"I'm going to go home now. I'll come back tomorrow when I have the information." Harry was eager to leave. He wondered if he would survive living with Malfoy for seventeen years.

Harry knocked at the cottage door. Right cottage he thought sarcastically, this cottage was larger than most peoples normal homes. Which was also why it was perfect for the orphans. Kids like him. But unlike him they were going to be brought up in the wizarding world. He would make sure they never felt like he had growing up. They would never feel like they are a burden. Draco opened the door, the look on his face not amused. "You don't have to knock, I was in the middle of work. Just come in, you will be living here." He turned and left, Harry followed behind him surprised at the speed that Draco moved.

"I got most of the information you wanted. McGonagal did not have a lot of it so I had to spend a bunch of time trying to get someone at the ministry to help me." Harry explained.

Draco turned and took the large files from Harry and started to look at them immediately. "Next time you have to go to the ministry let me know in advance."

"Why?" Harry asked indignantly.

"I have" Draco looked up from the file to Harry's robes disappointed. "Something you can wear and I'll give you some money. The ministry moves faster with incentive. You could have been back here just after breakfast instead of right before bed." He went back to the files.

"You know all your bribes are what is wrong with the ministry. They wont do anything without incentive." Harry bit back.

"You think my family invented corruption?" Draco scoffed "This has been a problem since the first monarchy. I know how the game works. I can complain about it or I can play it and move on." Draco went into the library and sat at a desk piled with papers and books. Harry looked over the papers quickly. There was a rough map of the house every room labeled. A very long parchment with items and prices. Each kid's file looked like it had been investigated thoroughly. Draco started combining the information Harry had brought with what he already had. "Can you summon your house elf?"

"His name is Kreacher." Harry retorted acidly.

"Wonderful, can you summon Kreacher?" Draco said still working with the papers.

"Why?" It came out much more stubborn than he wanted, making him sound like a child.

Draco looked up from the files "Because I need a grocery list. Also I need to make sure he is familiar with the house and our expectations of him."

"I'm not even familiar with our expectations of him."

Draco folded his arms and gave Harry his full attention "tell me what his responsibilities will be."

"Just cooking and cleaning." Harry said.

"Okay, Cooking three meals a day for minimum twelve people on an average day and during breaks and summer a minimum of twenty people. He is to what? Do the laundry? Clean their bedrooms? Scrub their bathrooms? Do these kids have any responsibilities? Does he keep common areas clean or is he just to keep to the kitchen and clean up the dishes after all those mouths he just fed. Just cooking and cleaning is not very clear. I think it would be better to make it clear what is expected of everyone."

Harry looked away. "What do you suggest?"

Draco took a breath "He is responsible for the kitchen, cooking, dishes, all that. It is his domain. He needs to give me a grocery list every Tuesday with the ingredients for the rest of the week. If any of the kids are interested in helping him they can as long as they do not get in his way. It is good to learn that skill. I will encourage it since I know only eating sandwiches sucks. He is not responsible for the housekeeping. I think I will see if I can find another house elf to help with the basic housekeeping, laundry, that sort of stuff. It is too much for one elf. I already have an idea but nothing confirmed yet. Kids are responsible for their rooms. I plan on teaching the kids every weekday, weekends are free."

Harry looked at more of the papers realizing the books were kids books and had lesson plans sticking out of them. "You have everything figured out. Where do I fit into all this?"

"You have the younger kids, I cannot teach and watch out for infants and toddlers. When lessons are out we both supervise the kids but you are the main caregiver. I will have to manage the house, you know the fun financial aspect of things." Draco rolled the map up and handed it to Harry "Check my work, get more familiar with the house. I have more work to do now that you have provided me with more information."

Harry was being dismissed. He grabbed the map and left the library in a huff. He grumbled as he unrolled the map. There were two large pieces of paper, he ignored the first floor since all the bedrooms were on the second floor. Each room listed the proposed occupants, their ages and house if they were old enough and needed missing furniture. Twelve bedrooms, eight bathrooms. Harry's room on one end of the house and Draco's on the other. He scoffed as he saw that the three youngest kids would be sharing his room. He wandered to his room annoyed he would have no room being cooped up with the three small children. He opened the door to a huge room. Honestly it was massive, nothing like he was expecting. There was plenty of room for three cribs. He moved on to each of the other rooms inspecting them, finding them to be comfortable. Large, not as large as his, but definitely large enough for two people. He found himself standing in front of Draco's door. He was curious but aware how rude it would be to look in there. The six middle kids would have their own rooms. The three youngest with him. The eight oldest kids shared four rooms that would rarely be used. He was pleased the shared rooms were a little bigger than the personal rooms. Harry went back to the library watching Draco scratch notes as he read.

"I have a question." Harry interrupted.

Draco waved his quill for Harry to continue.

"It looks like the two oldest kids are sixteen and seventeen. In two years they will both be adults. Who moves into their rooms?"

Draco looked up "The toddlers in your room will be old enough to share a room. You will still have the infant who will be a toddler. The next two oldest kids are fifteen now and will both move out the year after. I suggest then that the two youngest share. This is all assuming they want to move out. I do not know what to do if they are not ready. It looks like most of them will inherit homes, they may want to move as soon as they are seventeen. I was pleased to see this. I do not want them to use any of their savings while they live here so they have a head start when they move out. Some of them look like they inherit little more than the house, others not much of an inheritance to speak of at all. Which might throw a wrench into my plans. Tomorrow I am focusing on their assets now that I know who has what"

"How did you plan all this?"

"Simple, I didn't sleep. There was a problem to figure out, so I did it." Draco said going back to the documents "I'm not done yet though. Are you going to talk to the ministry tomorrow to become guardian of the kids? I suggest a lawyer."

"I already have a lawyer, Mr. Bellkins. You want me to be the sole guardian?" Harry asked, surprised.

Draco smirked "I think you will have better luck getting approval than I will. Let's not make this needlessly difficult."

"But if that is the case you could just change your mind and kick us out."

Draco looked up with a surprised face "Oh, my" he mocked "I never thought of that." He then returned to his serious tone "Think a little, if my goal is to return respect to my family how would kicking seventeen orphans out help. It would do the, oh what would it be, oh yes. It would do the opposite. If we go through with this. I have to stick it out."

"You are such an ass." Harry said disgustedly.

"Oh but what an ass." Draco joked and got back to work. Harry stood there unsure what to do. "Go home, pack, sleep, whatever. Just don't stand there staring at me. What are you wearing tomorrow?"

"Nice robes." Harry replied.

"Do you own any nice robes other than your dress robes?" Draco looked at him disbelieving.

Harry considered it, no not really. Being on the run for most of the last year destroyed most of his clothes and the dress robes would be far too formal for the ministry. Draco stood up "follow me".

Harry followed him to his room, it was far from the largest room but it was nice. He opened his wardrobe and started rifling through the robes and pulled one out he held it up to Harry "This will work. Do you have money?"

"I'm not comfortable with this." Harry said as Draco pulled a pouch out of a drawer.

"I don't care. We are on a time restraint and we cannot wait for your morals. School starts soon, will we be ready?" Draco stated.

Annoying as it was, he was right and Harry knew it. They didn't have time for him to waste sitting at the ministry doing nothing. Fudge was brought back till they could vote but everyone knew Kingsley would become Minister. It was just bad timing. Kingsley might have been able to find the time but Fudge would not. Harry took the robe and pouch and nodded.

Draco led him out of the bedroom. "Don't come back till you have approval. It might take a while even with incentive. Don't be discouraged, be persistent, annoying even. Send Kreacher to me first thing in the morning when you leave."

Harry was frustrated, when did Draco become the one in charge. At what point did Draco decide he could order Harry around. He wanted some control, but Draco was handling everything before Harry even knew it was something to think about. There was a slight tingle in Harry's hand as he opened the door to leave. He groaned, was this what it was going to be like, petty little pranks the whole time?

Harry stood outside the cottage door and he knew Draco was going to be mad. The best he got was an appointment. He opened the door and came in. Draco was not in the library, Harry smirked so he is human. He checked all the rooms down stairs and moved to the ones upstairs, Draco was nowhere to be found "Malfoy are you here?" He yelled as loud as he could. Silence answered him. He went into the library again and read the titles of some of the books. Some he recognized from school others he did not. He went over to the table and started to read some of Draco's notes. He once again was faced with things he never considered about raising these children. Draco put a lot of thought into the situation.

"So does this mean I get to read your diary when you move in?" Draco asked from the door.

Harry blushed "I could not find you so I thought I would see all the progress you made."

"Well since you are here I assume we have permission to move forward with the plan." Draco said, coming over to the table.

"About that." Harry said awkwardly.

"I told you not to come back until you had it." Draco said annoyed.

"We got an appointment for tomorrow at noon." Harry said, pleased that he had been able to do that much.

Draco sat at the table and rubbed his temples. "Tomorrow at noon. No, be there when it opens. I will meet you there. I don't care what you do for the rest of the night. Stay here, go home, I don't care. but don't talk to me, I need to think."

Harry turned to walk away frustrated. Didn't Draco know how hard it was to get that appointment and then to act like it was nothing. "Where were you anyway?" Harry asked frustrated, "why didn't you just take care of this to begin with if I am so imcompitent?"

"I visited each house the kids inherited. I wanted to document the state of the house. Once we have the official go ahead and have custody of the kids, I will return to the houses and cast protections, mostly to protect them from vandals and thieves. It was ridiculously easy to get into their homes, if we don't act soon stuff might go missing. It just took a lot of flying to get to all of them. Honestly I just wanted to sleep tonight but once again that is not happening. I don't have time to do everything myself"

"You know what, maybe I should have Hermione cast those protections, because you can't even protect your own house. I walked right in." Harry grumbled.

"Okay speaking of your friends where are they? Hm? Why am I the one helping you? Where is the rest of the 'golden trio'?" Draco lost hold of the control he normally had.

"You're an asshole." Harry said and turned to leave.

"I'm not the only one in this room." Draco said through gritted teeth.

Harry turned back around "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry did you not know?" Draco asked sarcastically.

Harry held tightly to his wand in his pocket. " You don't know anything about me."

"Oh, yes, I do and you are not nearly as perfect or good as you like to think. Raise your hand if you have used an unforgivable curse." Draco raised his hand and glared intently at Harry, "Oh you think you were justified in using them? Interesting I didn't know they were forgivable if you had a good reason."

Harry was seeing red and pulled out his wand "I could curse you right now and I don't need to use an unforgivable curse to hurt you."

"Oh I remember, you left more scars on my body than a whole war and having a mad man and my insane aunt living in my home did. Oh great hero." Draco snarled.

Harry dropped his wand hand in shame and left.

Draco walked in full of purpose, his confidence rolled off him in waves. He looked powerful. He found Harry and Mr. Belkins. He looked at Harry disapprovingly. "Mr. Belkins I presume."

"Yyes, sir." the lawyer stammered.

Harry knew Draco was incredibly disappointed in his choice of lawyer, honestly so was he but all the others were working for Muggle borns trying to get their lives back. "The meeting is at noon?" Draco asked, regaining control of himself.

"Yes. Why did you want us to come so early?" Harry answered shortly still angry about the night before but not stupid enough to mess up whatever plan Draco had made.

"Come with me." They followed Draco into the elevators, down halls and many places Harry had not been before. They stopped finally in front of an ornate desk manned by a rather attractive young woman. "I need to speak to Fudge."

"Mr. Malfoy I am sorry he is very busy today." She said uncomfortably.

"Is he really? I do wonder how much busier he will be when I let the Daily Prophet know how he is planning his exit once Shacklebolt takes office. We all know who the next Minister of Magic is going to be. I mean I guess I could wait for Shacklebolt, Potter here is pretty close with him so I guess it will be incredibly easy to get an appointment then... But I want one now." Harry had never appreciated the power of Draco's arrogance before. Now as it was utilized in front of him he was incredibly appreciative of if.

"One moment please." She got up and went into the office.

"I, I , I cannot condone blackmail." Mr. Belkins forced out.

Draco looked at him with disdain "If you were better at your job, I would not be here right now. This should have been easy. No one wants to deal with these children. How is it that you could not convince them to pawn the responsibility off onto Potter yet?"

Harry wanted to speak up but he was frustrated with Belkins as well. They had been working together for months and nothing had happened.

"When we get in there do me a favor and don't help me, either of you, unless I ask for it." Draco ordered.

The door opened again. "He can see you now." She said timidly.

"Thank you." Draco said suavely "I do hope you stay on when Shacklebolt takes over, you are very professional."

They walked in and Harry turned to the secretary "Thank you, I really appreciate it." She gave him a small smile.

"What is the meaning of this?" Fudge asked angrily.

Draco strode over to the desk, looked at the chair next to it and sneared. He pulled out his wand and an elegant chair appeared, he took a seat. "A small matter. Potter here has been trying for quite some time to take care of an issue no one else seems to want to deal with. Orphans of the war." He said dismissively "And even though no one wants to take care of it they will not allow him to either. I want this settled."

"Mr. Potter has good intentions but he cannot care for all those children on his own. Besides, some of them are barely younger than he is. Children raising children, it's preposterous" Fudge explained.

"Wouldn't be the first time in this war children had to take the difficult jobs the adults didn't want to deal with." Harry said bitterly, but then stood down seeing Draco raise an eyebrow at him.

"What is your solution once school has started? The teachers will not be responsible for the children under eleven and there are ten of them." Draco asked, looking bored with the whole meeting.

"I don't know. It won't be my problem soon."

"Oh, Yes, you are only the temporary minister, the leader that did absolutely nothing to fix any of the problems after the war. You leave a mess everytime you leave this office. The history books will not be kind to you." Draco mused out loud.

Harry forced his mouth not to move, though he wanted to smile so badly. He watched the words sink in to Fudge and knew they had him.

Draco smiled "I have an offer, one that gives Potter what he wants and makes you look less incompitent. You might even get a front page picture with Potter. You can finally be in the newspaper for something that does not make every witch and wizard hate you."

"What is your offer?"

Draco pulled out a long piece of parchment and laid it on the desk in front of Fudge. Fudge grabbed it and started reading. Harry wondered what was on the paper.

"This is very thorough," Fudge looked over to Belkins, impressed "You left nothing to chance."

Belkins said nothing, just stared at Fudge.

"Can we be done with this?" Draco asked once again bored.

"I will have to get this checked out." Fudge said inspecting the paper again "Can you come back tomorrow?"

"Oddly, no. I have plans tomorrow, but we can be here at noon to sign this." Draco pointed at the contract. "Don't mess this up, the press coverage will not be kind." He stood up, his chair disappeared and he led the group out the door.

Once in the elevator. "Malfoy, what do we do now?" Harry asked, reeling that they had gotten further in one meeting than he had with Belkins in months. It seemed so close to being real.

"There are a couple hours left before we sign the papers, so I am going shopping." Draco said with a cocky smile "What do you want to do?"

"Can I go with you?" Harry asked eager for things to finally move forward.

"Why?" Draco asked, confused.

"To help - divide and conquer." Harry said, hoping to show his appreciation for everything Draco had done and maybe ease some of the tensions after their fight.

Draco smiled "Conquer, Potter? How very Slytherin of you. You can come." He looked over to Belkins "We will meet you at Fudge's office at noon."

Harry looked at the imposing bank "The last time I was here I broke in." Harry admitted.

"That was actually really impressive. I enjoyed reading about that. Sure beats the next day." Draco said darkly.

They went with the goblin to go to their vaults. The goblin eyed Harry warningly.

Harry was stunned as they stood in front of the very vault he had broken into. "Why are we here?"

"It's mine to do with as I wish." Draco explained as he poured money into a small pouch "Bellatrix left it to me. Prison was... not kind to Rodolphus and Rabastan the second time around. I got everything. And now I am using it to clean up some of the messes they...we, made."

Harry looked around. It was very impressive when you were not fearing for your life. He knew it would not set off any charms or spells but he still made sure not to touch anything.

Once back in Diagon Alley Harry finally felt comfortable asking "So all the help you do, it does not come out of the Malfoy family vaults? Is it all Lestrange money?"

"It is all my money. My parents have control of the Malfoy vault. How about you? Didn't you get the Black vault as well as the Potter vault?" Draco countered.

Harry looked down, if Sirius had not left the vault to Harry it too would have probably gone to Draco. Though the funds in the Black vault had been seriously depleted "Do you want to split the list?"

Draco pulled out multiple papers, looked at them and handed Harry one. You get these. I am going to have to talk with Madam Malkin to see if she can come to the house for a day and measure all the kids at once. Much easier than trying to get them all in her shop and keep them entertained." Draco handed Harry a pouch and they split to go their own way.

Harry's arms were full of packages when he met up with an empty handed Draco.

"Where are all the things you got?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"I gave the store owners the lists and told them I would pay upon delivery." Draco smirked. "We should get you to the house though so you can put all these down and we need to get back to the ministry."

It was one of the times he just wanted to punch Draco in his too smug face. Harry disapperated once he could clear his head and concentrate clearly on his destination.

Harry struggled but finally opened the door. "You could have helped" Harry yelled.

"You got in the house didn't you?" Draco asked.

"Not like that's hard. Anyone could get in as long as they don't have an armful of stuff." Harry said bitterly as he put the items down.

"Oh it is if you do not have permission." Draco said "The door is always locked, only people I have given permission to can open it. All the doors and windows outside of the house work that way. Didn't you feel the tingle when you left the other night? " He looked at his pocket watch "We need to get to the ministry."

Harry put the rest of his items down and followed Draco outside to apparate to the ministry once again.

Harry watched Draco hand over his wand to be weighed.

"Security is so much better than it used to be. How embarrassing for them that three school kids broke in not once, but twice." Draco commented to Harry.

"It is better, but quite a pain to deal with every time you visit." Harry noted as the security officer waved a secrecy sensor around him. Harry followed Draco, who seemed to have every corridor of the ministry memorized.

"Harry my boy, what are you doing here?" Arthur called out happily in one of the halls.

"Meeting with Fudge about the orphans, we are finally getting somewhere." Harry said happily.

"Potter we are going to be late." Draco said, holding up his watch.

Arthur gave Draco a hateful glare and looked back at Harry "Be careful getting entangled with that one." He got his regular smile back "Are you going to move back in after this meeting gets the kids settled? Everyone was so surprised when you moved into Hogwarts to help with the kids. It is a great cause but it kind of whisked you away."

"Actually I am going to move in to take care of the kids, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next few years. I'll be glad to visit but I will have a lot of responsibilities." Harry explained and looked at Draco who was irritatedly pointing to his watch. "I really have to get to this meeting. It has taken me months to get here and I don't want to mess it up. Bye" Harry left a crestfallen Arthur as he followed Draco.

Draco had increased his pace to make up for the lost time "Why are you running away from the Weasley's? I thought you were like family."

"I'm not running away." Harry said, quickly becoming out of breath.

"I love it when you lie to me. It makes me feel like I'm back in the dungeons amongst my peers." Draco said slowing down a hall before they would get to the minister's office.

"It's complicated."

"I'm sure it is but at this point we are business partners and I need to know if something is happening that could mess this all up. I don't like surprises." Draco said, "they can be the downfall of days, weeks, months of planning and preparation."

"It won't affect anything." Harry insisted.

Draco came up to the secretary and smiled. "They are waiting for you inside." She said professionally.

Draco nodded and went into the office. There were a few extra witches and wizards all trying and failing to look important. "Can we sign this and be done, I have things to do." Draco said, as if this was a terrible imposition.

"We have all gone over the contract. We cannot see anything wrong with it."Fudge said, perplexed.

"Of course, I covered everything" Belkin replied, receiving nods of approval from most of the witches and wizards and a warning side eye from Draco.

"This contract is near perfect; it protects everyone, and benefits everyone. Except maybe Malfoy here. He is going to have quite the bill to pay." A witch noted taking particular glee in the last sentence. "Mr. Belkin, we might have to consult you on some of our future contracts."

Malfoy's lip twitched a little as he held back a smile.

"Shall we sign then?" Draco asked.

"I would like to reread the contract, make sure nothing has been changed in it." Harry spoke up.

Draco nodded, took the contract and read over it with Harry.

Harry was in shock as he read the contract, it really left nothing to chance. It covered all incidentals, even what would happen if Harry got married. The contract covered the entire seventeen years it would take to raise the youngest child. All financial responsibilities would be covered by Draco and it clearly listed what he was expected to cover. Harry noticed Draco rub his chin as he read. And pointed to a line that looked oddly like it had been forced in. Harry got to that point and raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me" Harry said politely "we do not agree to extend this contract if another orphan is found and to raise them till they too become seventeen. This contract only covers the seventeen named children I have been working with. The next administration can come up with another solution if more children are orphaned in the future. We are taking orphans of the war."

"But what if we find others we did not know about?" An old wizard asked.

"Well I guess you will need to figure that out. I think we are being more than generous offering this much help." Harry said.

"Take it out." Draco said sternly to Fudge. "I think you have made Potter mad, he might not feel up to a photo shoot with you." he gave a thoughtful look. "But maybe he is feeling up to giving one on his own."

Fudge pulled out his wand and started erasing the line in question. They all looked over the contract quickly and signed it one by one. Fudge put the paper on top of a stack of blank papers and placed a seal on it. He handed each person a copy of the signed contract and put the original in his desk.

Draco rolled up his own copy "Good day." He turned to leave.

"Mr. Malfoy" Fudge called "could you stay behind? I have another matter I wish to discuss with you. The rest of you can get back to work."

Draco stood to the side as the room emptied out. "This is a very expensive commitment you have taken on. Can the ministry still rely on your assistance in other matters for the next month?" fudge asked.

"You do not care what happens after a month?" Draco asked unfazed.

"Well as you mentioned I would like to be seen as doing something before I leave." fudge noted "And I was able to get this handled very quickly, I think I should get some credit for that."

"Potter has been running around the ministry for months trying to get help. It was not till I mentioned how it might benefit you to help him that this went anywhere. I think I will focus on this monumental task right now. I can try to come to the ministry a couple times this month but seventeen kids is a lot to take care of." Draco gave a slight nod and left.

Harry was standing outside of the door with Belkin waiting for Draco to come out.

"Good luck writing all those comprehensive contracts for the ministry, they know what you are capable of and will expect the same quality work in the future." Draco said to Belkin with a smile.

"I think I will stick to smaller cases." Belkin said, the full weight of Dracos words hitting him.

Draco looked at Harry, "Why did you wait?"

"I'm not sure what the first thing we should do is." Harry said, thinking of all that was left to take care of.

"Prepare the house, tell the kids. I need to go find a house elf. We have four days before we should move the kids, so get to work." Draco ordered.

Harry barely saw Draco at all the next three days. He could see changes Draco had made - new beds and wardrobes in rooms and lots of packages, but no sight of Draco himself. Kreacher moved in right away to help prepare the house. Harry reluctantly did a press conference with Fudge, he emphasised how integral Draco had been in the process. All three were busy from morning to night.

Harry came in to find Draco giving a tour of the house to a new house elf.

"Hello, what's all this?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I found a new house elf. Potter, this is Meek. Meek, this is Potter, he will be the other adult running this madhouse. If he calls you come, it will probably mean he desperately needs help." Draco led Meek away, continuing the tour.

Harry found Draco in the library alone later. "I don't like it." Harry said "Having another house elf."

"It is impossible for just the two of us to take care of all those children properly without them becoming feral. Not having to worry about cooking and cleaning will give us the time we need to actually raise these children." Draco said dismissively.

"That is a lot to ask of the elves. I don't like it." Harry said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, find another solution and I will send him away." Draco said getting back to work.

Harry searched the house to find Meek and found him sitting at the kitchen table with Kreacher talking. "Hi, what are you two doing?" Harry asked uncomfortably.

"Talking about the house, it is really big." Meek said his voice was deep but not the croak Kreachers was.

"Great, so Meek, where were you before you came here?" Harry asked.

"My masters died in the war. Mr. Malfoy offered for me to come here since I no longer had a master." Meek explained.

"Oh, okay. Where are the two of you staying?" Harry asked, realizing he had not yet considered it.

"Servants quarters." Meek said impressed.

"Oh, that's great. Kreacher, can you show me?" Harry asked.

Kreacher scooted off the chair and jumped to the floor. He led Harry through one of the doors in the kitchen to a hall with six more doors. He opened the first door and there was a small plain room with a bed.

"This is my space, Mr. Malfoy said I can put whatever I want in it but to keep it clean." Kreacher croaked.

Harry wondered how he didn't know about the servants quarters when he had been running around the house for days.

Harry stomped back into the library. "You didn't tell me there were servants quarters."

Draco stopped his work and rubbed his forehead "Stop yelling at me." he said exhausted.

"Excuse me." Harry yelled angrily.

"I said stop yelling at me. We are stuck together for the next seventeen years. Do you think you could save yelling at me for when I have actually done something wrong." Draco looked intently into Harry's eyes "And never yell at me in front of the kids."

Harry walked away to calm himself down. Seventeen years of that prick. It's for the kids he reminded himself. He walked around the grounds, parts were well maintained but the rest was just forest. There was a little greenhouse filled with new plants. A little patio with tables and chairs, Harry imagined grand garden parties being held there in the past. There was an ornate owlery that looked like it had seen better days. He felt calmer when he walked back into the house. Draco was still in the library when Harry walked in.

"Can we talk?" Harry asked calmly.

Draco looked up and put his quill down giving Harry his full attention.

"Is there anything I should know about the house?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure, You had a week to explore it, I thought you knew everything about it. You have been in my bedroom, but did not explore the kitchen?" Draco asked, surprised.

"I thought it would be Kreacher's area so I didn't worry about it." Harry explained. "Besides you didn't cover it during the tour of the house the first day I came."

Draco nodded. "Okay. You were in a bit of a hurry to get to planning the kids coming here. I should have started on the ground floor." Harry nodded "The kitchen has access to the servants quarters, including their own washroom. I was planning on using the extra rooms for storage. There is also a door in the kitchen that goes to a basement, it is used for storage of food and kitchen supplies, it also holds the wine cellar." Draco thought a bit, "Want a full tour of every nook and cranny?"

Harry nodded. Draco did just that, he showed him every secret passageway and hidden room, mostly ones that had been used by servants in the past. They both smirked at the secret passage from the master bedroom to one of the other guest rooms and agreed to seal potions room which also was in the basement but you got there through a hidden panel in the hall. Much of it Harry had seen before but it was good to see what they had missed. When they got to the office Harry blurted out "Why don't you work here, you are always slouched over that table in the library?"

Draco looked offended "I do not slouch. And I needed the reference books for some of the work I was doing. It made more sense to just work in there."

Harry laughed at Draco's indignation, of all the things for Draco to be truly offended by it was his posture that made him react.

Draco looked at him disappointed and Harry laughed harder "Wow I bet you are going to be using that look a lot the next seventeen years. It is totally a parent's look."

Draco just left the room. At the end of the tour back in the library Draco sat not at the table but on one of the couches. "Don't take this the wrong way and I have not spent so much time with you around other people to know if it is just me or not, but you lose your temper a lot. We are dealing with kids and not just any kids but kids with trauma. You cannot do that around them. If it is just me that's fine but you are going to need to work on it. The kids do not deserve to have that around them."

"It's not just you but mostly it happens around you." Harry admitted. "I hated you for so long in school. It is hard to turn that off."

"Noted, but I have been working so hard getting almost no sleep and have gotten nothing but abuse from you and for the most part I have not given it back. If I can restrain myself, can you? It would be great to show the kids you can work with someone you don't necessarily like and still be respectful and functional." Draco explained.

"I will try harder not to go with my knee jerk reaction of blowing up at you." Harry agreed.

For all his planning Draco still did not feel ready. He removed the grate from the fireplace and sat on the couch waiting for the parade that would soon be coming through his house. Harry came through the fire holding an infant, this would be Albus, his parents had decided on the name after Dumbledore died. Draco thought it was ridiculous to name a child after a celebrity. Harry walked over and handed the baby to Draco and started organizing the kids as they came through the fire so everyone would be able to fit into the room. The last two to come in were Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall each holding a toddler.

Harry started a roll in his head to make sure each of the kids were here. "Great, we are all here." Harry started. "I want to introduce the person responsible for all this, Draco Malfoy."

"Yeah, he's responsible alright." A voice said in the crowd.

Draco looked around, he was pretty sure he knew who said it, "Want to discuss that comment?"

No answer came so Harry continued. "As I mentioned before there are twelve rooms and eight washrooms. There is one additional washroom here on the main floor. Some of you will be sharing rooms, you should already know who your roommate is so please find them and follow me up the stairs to find your rooms."

Draco walked next to Harry, "That was Silas, correct?"

"Yeah, we can talk to him later." Harry noted, then to the group "Okay your names are on the doors to your room, you can look for your own room - if you cannot read, find an adult. Take your time in your room to set it up. Your personal items have been delivered to your rooms." There was a small amount of chaos, Draco knew he could have organized it better but he had too much else to do and this really was not that bad. The hall cleared as rooms were found.

"I don't want to be here. Let me stay at Hogwarts. I only have one year left." Silas whined.

"Get over yourself Silas. They are offering us a place when no one wants us. Do you even understand that? No one cares about us, but at least Potter and Malfoy are willing to take care of us," Warren commented as he unpacked.

"It would be fine if it was just Potter, but I don't want anything to do with Malfoy." Silas growled.

"I can talk to them but I do not think it will be as pleasant as you want it to be." McGonagall said. She stuck her head out the door "Potter, Malfoy. A word."

Harry and Draco joined the room that started to feel crowded now that five people and a baby were in it. "What did you need, Professor?" Harry asked, a little harried.

"I want to stay at Hogwarts, I don't need to move here, I won't be here long."

Draco leaned over and whispered into Harry's ear. Harry looked unhappy with the news.

"Silas, what are your plans after school?" Harry asked.

"Go home, get a job. I was thinking Auror" He said glaring at Draco.

Draco nodded approvingly "I went over your records, you have all the grades to become an auror. You have a good chance of succeeding. There is only one problem with your plan. Your home is rented, your parents did not own that house. Luckily it is owned by an understanding wizarding couple. One of the other kids' parents rented from muggles and that was a mess. But they are becoming less understanding as the months go by. They want their house back to rent to someone else. I can go with you to pack it up but I cannot convince them to keep it empty waiting for you to come back. And I am not sure you could afford the rent once you came back." Silas looked like his world was crashing around him. "You could stay with us for a year after Hogwarts and save up. You would have your own room for that time since Warren would be at school for the majority of it. I was going to discuss this with you later today. I was going to discuss this with each of you so you all knew what you had to work with. I'm sorry about this. You are welcome to stay here, I will not force you though." Draco left the room still holding Albus.

"I have nothing?" Silas asked, broken.

"Malfoy has all the information, he will go through it with you after everyone is settled." Harry said leaving the room too.

McGonagall looked at him "It is an unfortunate situation. But you are being offered help." She left the room. Warren quietly opened another of his trunks and started to unpack it. Silas sat on his bed letting the information sink in.

After the rooms had been unpacked Draco led the group around the house showing them the different rooms and giving rules for each room. Harry was pleased he did not show any of the secret rooms or passageways. They ended in the dining room which was already set for lunch.

"Take a seat, you can sit anywhere.'' There were multiple shepherd's pies on the long table. The adults sat in a group discussing the last of the plans and the kids loudly talked to their neighbors. The only silent person at the table was Silas.

"Are we all really going to just pretend this is normal?" Silas yelled. The younger kids looked at him scared. The adults looked shocked, except Draco who looked nonplussed.

"Do you want to do this now?" Draco asked.

"Yea, let's do this now." Silas said angrily "If it was not for you and your buddies we would not be in this position, we would still have families. No amount of playing house is going to make that go away. I hate you, your parents, your whole disgusting family." He yelled, getting louder with each word. One of the little girls, Freya, started crying. Draco turned to Harry, nodding towards the door. Harry nodded back "Hey kids let's go look outside. There is a great forest to explore and unlike the dark forest at Hogwarts this one is pretty safe." Harry picked up the crying child and the rest of the table followed him leaving just Draco, Silas and McGonagall.

"You could have done that in private." Draco said coldly "I'm surprised only one of the kids ended up crying." McGonagall looked at Silas with her signature pursed lips, but she said nothing. "You are right this is not normal, this is a group of people trying to make the best of a horrible situation. Do I deserve some of the blame, a bit yes. But not as much as you give me credit for. I get it you are mad, you feel like you have no control. People you care about have been hurt or worse."

"Because of you!" Silas screamed.

"Tell me, who did I kill?" Draco asked. "I know for a fact it was not your parents because I never killed anyone. Did I hurt people, yes, when I had to."

Silas interrupted, "You didn't have to. You could have said no."

"You are only a year younger than me. What would you have done if someone told you that you had to find a way to kill Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in existance or your whole family would die?"

"I would not do it." Silas said defiantly.

"Really? You would not try to save your family? Okay after your family is killed in front of you, possibly by you, Voldemort was very skilled with the Imperius curse, after all. After that you become a prisoner in your own home, not the cushy kind, the dungeon cell kind and tortured regularly. Would you still stand by that decision?"

"Yes" Silas said with less conviction.

"Well guess what, I made that choice. I was there with Dumbledore in that tower, I could have killed him. Even knowing what the repercussions were going to be if I did not, I lowered my wand. I was scared and trapped. I became that prisoner in my own home but it looked more comfortable, it looked like a choice but I was just trying to survive, like everyone else."

"You took the dark mark." Silas spat.

"Yeah that looked like a choice too didn't it?" Draco asked.

"You don't take any responsibility for the death and destruction?"

"I do, and that is why I have been trying to make things better. I have donated money and potions to St. Mungos to help heal those injured. I wasted a lot of money trying to get the Ministry to do something, that was not efficient. That is why I opened my home to seventeen children I don't know. Trying to be accountable. Though I did not kill their parents, I did nothing to stop it from happening."

McGonagal watched the two young men "You can come back to Hogwarts with me when I leave. I think it is a mistake, but I think subjecting the younger kids to you would be a bigger one. They will not heal while you are intent to fester. Go bring your luggage down to the entry. I need to speak to Mr. Malfoy." Silas left the room. "Your parents' sins are not your own, your aunt's actions do not reflect what is in you. You could not have saved everyone. These kids need you" McGonagal said, unsure what to say.

"I know. I am capable of doing good if I am allowed to." Draco said standing up. "I am going to go help Potter. I don't know if just he and Madam Pomfrey can handle all those children." McGonagall followed him out of the house to the forest.

"It was irresponsible to let the kids wander in the woods." McGonagall said showing her disapproval.

"They are fine. I have a very good border around a section of the property. They cannot pass it." Draco stated as they found a large part of the group together.

Draco sat at the kitchen table eating another slice of treacle tart. Harry walked in and Draco slid a plate with a slice on it over to Harry. "Thanks" Harry said, taking the plate and digging in.

"Potter, what on earth happened?" Draco asked.

"What are you talking about?" Harry looked confused as he took a bite.

"With the Weasleys. I know Ron and Hermione moved but why would they leave you behind and you had everything set to move on to this perfect little life, what happened? Why are you here?"

Harry was too tired to get mad. "Ron and Hermione had unfinished business in Australia. As for the rest of the Weasleys? The war was over for them. It was not for me."

Draco looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"They were ready to move on with their lives and I could not. Ginny was ready to get married and start a family, and have our happily ever after, I didn't want... that. All the mess that was left after the war, it was not their problem, they moved on. I could not. I was collateral from the first war and I know how messy it is and I didnt want that for anyone else. I could not just ignore what needed to be done. They still want me to come back and move on. They felt like they gave enough, that I gave enough. But I did not."

"I think this is more than just your hero complex acting up. Have you talked to anyone about what happened to you?" Draco asked.

"Have you?" Harry retorted.

"Occasionally, when I have to defend myself." Draco said, taking another slice of tart.

"Like with Silas. I don't think that is what you meant."

"It's not." Draco ate his tart slowly. "You know today could have gone a lot worse. All things considered it went really well. You did a good job calming Freya down."

"She just got scared from the yelling, once I got her outside playing with the other kids it was fine. What do we do about Silas?"

Draco looked at Harry confused "What do you mean? He is staying at Hogwarts."

"I know, but we still have a responsibility to him."

"I'll send him some money for Hogsmead, remind him he can stay here after Hogwarts if he wants but he is going to have to not cause problems for the other kids and either get a job or get training for a job. Is that satisfactory?"

Harry sighed "Can't really ask for more."

"Honestly, he is already seventeen. If he doesn't want our help we cannot force it on him."

"I have to go back to school in a week. I'm sorry but you are going to have to get over this." Cornelia said quietly. Draco peaked around the open door to find Cornelia sitting on her bed braiding Freya's hair.

Freya had tears in her eyes "But I need my hair braided, stay with me."

"You can learn to braid your own hair," Cornelia reasoned.

"No, it's not the same." Freya ran out of the room the moment her braid was tied.

Draco knocked on the open door. Cornelia looked up, she looked tired and not at all ready to deal with Draco "Sorry to interrupt, can I talk with you?" Draco asked.

"Your house." Cornelia said, gesturing around her defeatedly.

"My house, your room. May I come in and talk with you please?" Draco forced the politeness.

"Fine, what would you like to discuss, Malfoy?"

"Freya." Draco replied.

"Oh" Cornelia looked surprised "What about her?"

"What was that all about?" Draco asked, standing just inside the door.

"Her mother used to braid her hair every day, it helps her feel connected to her mom when her hair gets braided."

Draco thought for a moment "Would you mind continuing to braid her hair each morning till we take you to school? I will take care of it after that."

Cornelia scoffed, "You are going to braid her hair?" Draco cocked his head and raised his eyebrows prompting Cornelia to let out a sarcastic laugh "You hoping that braiding her hair will erase what you did last year? You and Snape and the Carrows. You can never make up for that."

Draco gave a weak smile "I can try." And he left the room.

The dining room was loud. Albus was crying, all the kids were talking, it was chaos. Harry and Draco sat at opposite ends of the table realizing this was their life for the next seventeen years. Draco finished his omelet and stood up. He spoke loudly "After you have eaten please come into the library, we have our first lessons." Draco took his plate into the kitchen where Kreacher was already cleaning the bowls and pans. "Breakfast was lovely, thank you. Where should I put this?"

Kreacher looked over to Draco "Leave it on the table, I will get them."

"No, I insist the kids bring their dishes in. You refused to take more than a sickle a week for payment. The least we can do is bring in our own dishes." Draco explained again.

"What am I going to do with a sickle?" Kreacher croaked.

"Anything you want, buy something nice for your room. Let me know when you want that raise to a gallon. I know that's what Dobby got and it's what Meek gets." Draco placed the plate and silverware next to the sink.

Kreacher grumbled as Draco left and returned to the dining room "Please bring your dishes in and put them next to the sink when you are done." he said as he walked through the room and went to set up the library.

The kids filed in slowly taking a chair at the tables that filled the room.

"We are supposed to be on vacation, why are we taking lessons?" Cassius complained as he took a seat next to Cornelia.

When the thirteen chairs were filled Draco walked by and placed a paper in front of each person. "Please fill these in." When he got to the front row where the three youngest kids were, he sat on the chair facing them. "Hello I am going to help you a little" He slid a paper over to Rowan. "Look at this, can you do this work?" Rowan looked at the paper, there were a couple questions on it and he shook his head. "Okay I was not sure," He looked at all three kids "Okay raise your hand if you know your ABC's" Rowan and Freya raised their hands, Hope fidgeted in her chair. "Thank you. You can put your hands back down now," the two small kids complied. "Raise your hand if you can write your ABC's." Rowan raised his hand proudly and smirked when Freya did not raise hers. "Thank you, you can lower your hand." Now raise your hand if you can count to ten." Freya's hand shot up proudly and Rowan raised his as well. "Good, good. Keep your hand up if you can count to twenty." Both hands stayed as high as they could stretch. "Keep your hand up if you can count to fifty." Both hands were up but Rowan's started to sag a little. "Wow, that is very surprising, you both must have practiced a lot. Keep your hand up if you can count to one hundred." Rowan's hand went back to the table but Freya's stayed up, she did not look confident but it was there. "Okay you can put your hand down now. Raise your hand if you can write your numbers." Rowan's hand went up. "Great, I think I know where we stand. The three of us are going to work together closely. Draco slid a lined paper to Rowan "Please write your ABC's and as many numbers as you can." He pulled out a paper with a few letters to trace and slid it to Freya "The letters on this page, do you recognize them?" Freya nodded, her little black braids bobbing a little as she did. "What is this one?"

"C" she whispered.

"Very good and this one?" Draco pointed to another.

"F" she looked intently at the paper as she said it.

"Correct again, do you know what sound an f makes?"

"Ffff like Fffreya and Fffairy." She smiled a little as she said it.

"Perfect, would you please trace these letters for me while I help out Hope?"

She nodded and grabbed her quill starting on her work.

Draco looked over to Hope, "Hi Hope."

The tiny child waved.

"I didn't really expect you to know those things yet, you are still very young but I thought you would be bored with the babies." She gave a little smile "Do you like to draw?" Draco asked.

She gave a tiny nod.

"Good I have this paper for you to draw on and these, he pulled out a box of crayons. "These will make your pictures colorful. I will come back in a little bit to see how you are doing. For now I have to check how everyone else is doing." Draco stood up to see ten pairs of eyes staring at him. No one had started their own work; they just watched him work with the three young kids. "Do any of you have any questions about their papers?" They shook their heads and started reading their assignments picking up quills to answer the many questions on the papers. "Raise your hand if you need any assistance." The room was quiet till Freya raised her hand proudly and Draco moved over to her "Do you need help?" He asked quietly.

She shook her head "I finished."

Draco picked up the paper. The lines were a little shaky and rushed but recognizable. He took another prepared paper and placed it in front of her. "Those were good but I bet if you take a little more time you could completely shock me, we have lots of time so focus on the letters. If you get them absolutely perfect there might be a little surprise."

Freya put her quill to the paper once again and very carefully traced the letters. Draco went to his table to work on papers but noticed Cornelia glaring at him. He calmly got back to his own work. A giggle broke the silence, he looked up to see Freya giggling and pointing at her paper for Rowan to see as her perfect letter started dancing around the paper and stopped when it had gotten back to its place. She looked up at Draco with a wide grin and gleaming eyes. She quickly got back to work. The older kids were all stretching their necks trying to see what had made her giggle. The glare was no longer present on Cornelia's face. As lunch approached Draco stood up again. "When you finish your work, place it on my desk. You can explore the grounds till lunch time. We will resume lessons after lunch." The papers were placed next to him and their authors disappeared as quickly as they could. Evelyn place her paper on the stack "Ah, could you wait with me till the others have finished, I have something I would like to discuss with you."

Evelyn went back to her seat and Draco read over the turned in papers. Once it was just the two of them Draco looked up. "Evelyn, would you like to move up here or should I go to you?"

"I think we are fine where we are, what did you want to discuss?" She asked coldly.

"I know your books and basic supplies for the year have been covered by the school and in two days Madam Malkin will come to fit you all for your new robes. But I believe your first year at Hogwarts you should feel special. Pick your animal to take with you, personally I suggest an owl. Get little odds and ends, get your wand. Tomorrow I plan on sending you to Diagon Alley to get these items. Would you like Potter to take you or would you want me to go with you?"

Evelyn looked at him suspiciously "What's the catch? If Potter takes me I wont get as nice of things or what?"

Draco raised his eyebrow "I'm sorry have we met before? I didn't think we had but you are acting like you know I will find a way to wrong you."

"I have heard stories about you." Evelyn said coldly.

Draco sighed "From who?"

"All the older kids, they all warned me to be wary of you. A snake in snake's clothing." She spat.

"I will arrange for Potter to take you tomorrow." Draco said, "You can join the others, there is about twenty minutes before lunch is served."

Evelyn looked surprised, there had been no retaliation. She left the room. Once she was out of sight Draco rubbed his face and picked up the paper by Warren.

Evelyn was the most popular person in the dining room. Everyone wanted her to pick up something for them at Diagon Alley. She enjoyed the attention and wrote down everything they asked for letting them know she might not be able to get them. Draco thought about her accusation that she would not get what she wanted if he didnt go. It would have been nice to get out and he really wanted to buy a book but he would have to pass that responsibility on to Harry. The meal had been good but he had no appetite, so Draco got up and went to Harry "I need to make a list and make sure you have enough money to cover everything. Do you have this covered?"

Harry nodded "I'll send them for showers as soon as they are done eating and I will take care of the story."

Draco left the room relieved to have some time alone. He went to the office and started his list. Once he was done the house was silent. He checked the sitting room and found Harry drinking a small glass of whisky. "You are going to want to lock this type of thing up. With this many kids I am sure you will discover it disappearing before your very eyes."

"Noted." Draco said, pouring himself a cup.

"Did you get your master list taken care of?" Harry asked.

"I did, and I have no clue if I am sending enough money with you. It's all I have laying around."

"You are being very accommodating. Why? Did the kids hurt your feelings, I heard they were pretty harsh with you." Harry asked knowing he was pushing Draco's buttons.

Draco scoffed "I lived with Deatheaters, I don't think there is a single thing those kids could say that could possibly affect me."

"Then why the list and all the extra money?" Harry asked, interested.

"Because, I think they deserve it. How they treat me does not play into the equation. I had expected incidentals to pop up today that we would need to purchase tomorrow. I just didn't know how many there would be. September first, how is that playing out? We need to get the kids to Kings cross."

"I have been thinking about that. I want to buy a van. I can get a license so it is easier in the future to do things as a group. As for the first, I think it would be best to divide and conquer. Only take the kids going to school and the rest stay here with the other adult. I can use floo powder to get to number twelve then take a taxi."

Draco laughed, "You really like that phrase."

"I think I should take the kids and you should stay here with the rest." Harry said ignoring Draco's comment.

"Yeah, I should not be seen in public." Draco downed the last of the cup and handed Harry the list and a pouch of money. "See you in the morning."

Harry was surprised at some of the items on the list, no matter it was not his money.

Draco was lying awake in his bed when he heard it, the alarm to let him know someone arrived on his property. He got up and threw a robe over his nightshirt. He tried to quietly go down the hall, knowing he had time to get outside before the intruder got to the house, but he made the floor creak. Hoping no one heard it he continued on. Draco made it outside and still could not see anyone so he started adding protection spells. He did not know who was here but this late at night, it could not be good. "Scared Malfoy?" Goyle yelled as he got closer.

"Not particularly. But I do like this house and would not like to have to repair it after your visit." Draco said loudly, turning to see Goyle walking closer.

"You think preventing us from apperating closer to your house is going to save you?" Goyle snarled.

"Oh that is just to waste people's time. It's not really a defence." Draco smirked. "It got you walking so I guess it worked."

"You are going to pay." Goyle said angrily "People are not happy with this little decision of yours. Their parents died for a reason, they share their parents' blood."

"Yes, I know. It was a very stupid reason." Draco explained.

Goyle pulled out his wand and Draco reacted. Goyles wand flew out of his hand and a few feet away. Goyle dived to get it. He pointed the wand and yelled "incendio" Fire flew towards the house but hit a barrier and snuffed out.

Goyle looked angry and pointed his wand at Draco, "Confringo"

Draco flicked a protego with his wand before Goyle could finish his spell.

"I was always better at magic than you were, this is not going to end well for you." Draco said knowing the angrier Goyle got the worse his decisions would become.

Goyle looked at Draco thoughtfully "You're right. But you were always weak." He dropped the wand and ran after Draco fists flying. Draco lifted his wand and Goyle lifted into the air by his ankle. Goyle punched the air in front of him.

Draco thought about what to do now that Goyle was no longer a threat at the moment. He needed a permanent solution, something that would prevent future attacks.

The front door opened and Kingsley walked out "I heard you were being attacked but it looks like you have it covered. Should I go back home?"

"Shacklebolt, how would you like to put a bunch of Deatheaters and followers away with specific charges. Not just you have a dark mark on your arm, but actual crimes they committed?"

Goyles eyes widened.

"I think I would like that."

"It sure would make you look good right before voting happens." Draco mused.

"I don't care about that, I want to get this scum off the streets." Kingsley said, nodding towards Goyle.

"I look forward to you being our new minister." Draco said "Are you going to take him to the Ministry?" Kingsley nodded. "I have to get a couple things. Can I meet you there in about a half an hour."

Kingsley nodded again "Use the floo to get to the ministry, I will approve the use."

Draco went into the house with Kingsley holding Goyle. Kingsley forced Goyle into the fireplace and they were gone. Harry and Oswald stood there watching.

"Thank you for calling Kingsley. I was just trying to figure out what to do with the trash." Draco said annoyed. "I am going to the ministry, I'm not sure if I will be back before the kids are awake. I will try my hardest to finish quickly."

"Malfoy, what the hell just happened?" Harry blurted.

"I got a warning that we are in danger and I would be a fool to ignore it. Some people want to finish the job concerning everyone in this house." Draco said as he went to the stairs.

"How did you know?" Oswald asked.

"I have a couple perimeters. If you land in them I get an alert. Enough time to prepare and react." Draco explained as they walked up the stairs.

"You expected this to happen and you still had us move in here?" Oswald accused.

Draco stopped and turned to look at Oswald "Yes, I always expect someone to attack. Before I even got to Hogwarts I was trained not to trust people, even those close to me. Protect yourself even if there is no danger. If you are always prepared you will never be surprised."

"That is so cynical." Harry said, disbelieving.

"Yes, it is. But our house is not on fire because of it." Draco said going to his room "Besides it was not me he was going after." He had sounded harder than he felt. He wondered what it would be like to not always have to keep up this facade. He wondered what would be left if the facade was gone, would Draco Malfoy even exist anymore? Draco pulled out a box from under his bed. He opened it and checked out the journals he had written in hopes that one day they would benefit himself. Now he was glad he had kept them, they could protect everyone in this house. He pulled the robe off and changed into it properly without a nightshirt underneath. Draco took the box and found Harry standing outside his bedroom door.

"What did you mean, he was not here for you?" Harry said a mix of anger and fear.

"Goyle said the children share their parents' blood, and he first tried to set the house on fire. Yes he was going to try to kill me but I was not the main target." Draco explained "I am going to try and take care of this. Calling for Kingsley was an inspired idea." Draco stopped "How did you do it?"

"Patronis spell can carry messages, the Order of the Phoenix used them when they needed to send a message urgently." Harry explained.

"Fascinating." Draco said, raising his eyebrows impressed. He went to the fireplace, Harry following him.

"Should I do something?" Harry asked.

"Check my room in the morning, try to distract the kids if I am not in it. I really will try to get back before they even know I was gone. Get some sleep, you have a day of shopping ahead." Draco said grabbing his floo powder "Oh and lock this back up. I will apperate back."

Draco stepped out of the fireplace into an empty ministry. He went straight to the auror department surprised to see more than just Kingsley there.

"Welcome Malfoy, are we ready to start?" Kingsley asked "I will send these chaps out to collect anyone you give us the name and crimes of and have the biggest raid in a night before they have a chance to warn each other."

Draco nodded, keeping eye contact only with Kingsley "I will be interviewing you with Cromwell."

"I only agreed to talk with you." Draco said firmly.

"You cannot go in alone" another auror, Monroe noted "You need a witness."

Kingsley nodded "They are right and Cromwell volunteered."

"I am sure he did." Draco laughed sarcastically.

Kingsley's eyes thinned "You think this is funny?" He grabbed Draco by the collar of his robe and shoved him into the wall. "This is not funny," He yelled. He punched Draco a lot lighter than it looked but it gave him time to get close to Draco and whisper "How many of them?"

"Four. Cromwell, Monroe, Gatlin, Yarrow" Draco whispered and he acted like the punch took the wind out of him.

"Damn" Kingsley whispered as he let go and Draco dropped to the floor, holding the box tightly.

"You know what, let's all be witnesses, let's see what Malfoy here has to say." Kingsley said, looking at the group.

"This is very irregular." Yarrow said "We should do this by the book."

Cromwell looked threateningly at Draco.

"No, I don't mind going off book a little. I think a few of you here are used to it. So let's see" Draco concentrated trying to pick the most incriminating information he had on the four aurors in the room.

Gatlin spoke up for the first time "How do we know we can even trust what he has to say?"

"We don't." Monroe agreed.

"You messed up." Draco said to Kingsley "Your enthusiasm to be super efficient has left us with quite a problem."

"What is the problem?" Another auror Draco did not know asked.

"I have information about four of you." They became very tense as Draco spoke "Monroe helped infiltrate the ministry, he and Yarrow were both for lack of a better word converted by Yaxley. Cromwell gave information about muggle borns and helped eliminate some of them, including the parents of one of the kids living with me now. Lastly Gatlin, he was the newest recruit to the Aurors, after the war ended. His job has been to try and keep people out of jail, calling their information into question."

"He is just trying to get out of answering for his own crimes." Gatlin accused.

"Why now?" One of the aurors asked.

"I was attacked at my home tonight, luckly by a very inept attacker. I will not just sit and wait for it to happen again." Draco offered the box to Kingsley "I started keeping a journal years ago; these are the years my house was used as a base for Death I heard with my own ears and everything I learned from my mother. "

Kingsley spoke. "Detain Gatlin, Monroe, Cromwell and Yarrow."

The fight broke out immediately and Draco did nothing but protect the box, it was all of his proof. It was an impressive fight. Kingsley fought like a dracon, full of power and not restraining it even a little. Draco noted to not get on his bad side. All the aurors looked a little worse for wear after the fight but the four had been restrained.

"Lock them up." Kingsley ordered, then looked around the room, "Does anyone need a healer?" The aurors shook their heads. "Okay let's get started." He held out his hand to take the box and Draco handed it over. Kingsley sat down and started to read, occasionally looking up at an auror and giving them an assignment or asking Draco for more information. It was quick and efficient. A few times Kingsley looked over the journal at Draco who sat in a chair across from him with perfect posture. The room was empty.

Draco spoke up "I would have preferred to do this a little differently. I would have liked to give you time to prioritize who to pick up and maybe keep my part in this quiet."

"I was not sure what was going to happen and wanted back up. I was unaware my backup had been compromised." Kingsley said. "Can I keep these journals?" Draco nodded. "Why do you trust me?"

Draco smirked "Potter trusts you enough to call you to our home in the middle of the night and you show up. That is enough for me." Draco looked away. "Besides there would have been so much gloating at meetings that we had you on our side, it is not even a glimmer of a possibility that you are "One of the bad guys", Can I go home now? It is getting quite early and the kids will be up soon. Potter needs to take Evelyn out to get her school supplies."

"How domestic" Kingsley said in his smooth voice "You may go, but I will probably be asking again for your assistance and you will be called to court to testify."

Draco stood up and nodded, he turned to leave.

"Why didn't you give this to us before?" Kingsley asked quickly.

Draco scoffed "I had hoped they would be smart enough to straighten out, but I cannot be that naive where the kids are considered."

"I might have to bring your father in, this journal does not make him look good." Kingsley warned.

Draco just nodded and left.

Draco got into the house as kids were running around trying to make sure Evelyn remembered what they wanted. She beamed with pride to be so important. Draco got into the dining room before the kids took their seats and started to stuff their faces. Harry looked across the table wanting to talk to Draco and knowing it was not a good time. Draco looked over at Oswald, he looked worried. Draco brought his dishes into the kitchen and Oswald followed him. "What happened last night?" Oswald said quickly, hoping to finish the conversation before any other kids came in.

"I gave evidence that would help put many followers behind bars, help keep us all safe." Draco explained.

"Who was he after? You said it was not only you." Oswald needed more information.

"All of us, every person in the house is the enemy of anyone who still believes that load of rubbish. All the way from Potter to Albus, they blame an infant. I think the only one they do not want to kill would be Meek."

"But whatever you did last night will keep us safe?" Oswald looked worried.

"Yes, and I will add extra precautions tonight. This house will be the safest place in the wizarding world." Draco explained trying to calm him.

"But us older kids are supposed to go back to Hogwarts, we all know that place is not safe. There was a battle there." Oswald started to look frantic.

"I will write to McGonagall today and remind them to up their security. I will let them know what happened here." Draco said as Cornelia came in holding a stack of dishes.

"Harry wants to talk to you before he leaves." Cornelia said as she left.

Draco looked at Oswald "Everyone's safety is my number one priority."

Oswald nodded and left the kitchen with Draco behind him.

"Malfoy, a quick word about this list of yours." Harry said.

"In my office." Draco ordered as he walked through the room.

Draco would have loved nothing more than to just sleep. Then he laughed, no rest for the wicked right. In the office Harry immediately started asking questions that Draco patiently answered. Even Harry could see how tired Draco looked.

"You need some sleep, should I reschedule the Diagon Alley trip?"

Draco shook his head "Absolutely not, she needs this. I will sleep tonight." It was a lie he would be spending the entire night improving the defences but Harry didn't need to know that. It was going to be another long day.

Draco knocked on Freya's door, she opened it a crack. Draco knelt down "Hey Freya, I have been learning something new. Do you think you could help me with it?"

"What are you learning?" She asked quietly, rubbing her eyes.

Draco pulled out a braiding book and opened it to a page showing two, three strand braided pigtails. "I wanted to try this one, it is simple but I think if I get this one right I can learn other, harder ones. Would you allow me to braid your hair this morning so I can practice?" Her eyes lit up, she opened the door and ran to her bed to sit. "I'll take that as a yes." Draco brought in the book and a little basket of supplies. He sat on the bed and started brushing her long black hair. She hummed quietly as he brushed her hair. He pulled out a couple ribbons and placed them on the book in front of her. "I can braid the ribbons into your hair, would you like that?" She nodded enthusiastically "Which color would you like?" She picked up two purple ribbons and handed them to him. They sat there with her little humming the only sound in the room. The other kids had started their morning. Running around packing their last items into their trunks, putting their owls into their cages. The hall was full of noise but in Freya's room it was peaceful as she got her hair braided.

"Thank you."She whispered.

"My pleasure, do you think I can practice again tomorrow?" Draco asked.

"Please." She gave him a wide grin.

Draco nodded and exited the calm room and entered the chaos that was 1 September for British wizarding children trying to get to Kings Cross Station to board the Hogwarts Express.

The library felt empty with only seven kids in it. The extra tables had been put in storage to give more space in the room. The kids all looked disappointed that the others got to go without them. Draco stood up "everyone stand up we are going out today. Follow me." Draco put Albus, Marabell and Phoenix in the stroller and left the house. "This is a field trip because we are taking a trip to the field and a couple other places. We are going to go further than you have been allowed to explore before. Today we are going to the lake." The kids got excited as they followed Draco. Even Luthor at the age of ten was excited to get out of the house. Draco first took them to a field as promised. "First one to get to the tree stump and back gets a treat," the kids started running, except Luthor who was too cool to do something so silly. Esme got to the stump and back before anyone else and looked at Draco expectantly. Draco pulled a box of Bertie Botts out of the stroller and in front of the rest of the kids presented them to her.

Esme opened the box and took one. A look of pleasure covering her face. She offered the box to the other kids, some of which were not as lucky in their flavors. Esme offered the box to Draco, he took a jelly bean and inspected it. He put it in his mouth and instantly regretted it. The kids all laughed as his face showed the disgust of what he was tasting. "How about we move on." He led them into a forest and after a bit found the lake. "Can we play in the water?"

Draco pulled out his wand and cast a spell. "You can play in the shallows, you will be pushed back if you try to go in too deep." The kids stripped down to their underwear and ran into the water playing. Draco watched them as he kept the three youngest playing on a blanket. Exhausted, the kids came out of the water when Draco called them for lunch. They ate and laid in the sun. The first day of school felt like their first day of vacation. Draco led them back to the house to find Harry sitting on the front steps.

"Did you have fun?" Harry asked.

The kids ran to him to tell him all about their adventure.

The kids fell asleep early and were the happiest they had ever been in that house.

"You didn't let me know you were going to be out that late. I thought it was going to be a quick outing then back to lessons." Harry accused once he was sure the kids were all asleep.

"They were having fun." Draco explained, relieved he did not have to go over any papers for a night.

"It did sound like they had a lot of fun."Harry ceded.

"Speaking of fun, Meek and Kreacher both have a day off each month. I think you should too. Every Saturday maybe?" Draco offered "Go shopping, go on a date, just have a nice day."

"Not really fair to you is it?" Harry asked.

"I need to take every other Wednesday off to take care of various things. You know ministry stuff or shopping. Basically, I need to go spend a bunch of money two Wednesdays out of the month." Draco said dryly.

"Maybe you could go on a date after all that business is taken care of." Harry offered.

"Probably not." Draco said, harsher than he meant to.

"Pansy not as hot on you as she used to be?" Harry needled.

"She is, but I was never interested in her, it would be a waste of time to let her think I was." Draco said "I'm going to bed, good night Potter."

Draco looked up from his table as the yelling started "What the devil, what is the meaning of this, let me in."

The kids stopped their work as the yelling went on. Draco stood up "Continue your papers I will go take care of this." He left the library and went to the entry to find Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt trapped in his fireplace. Draco smirked, "Minister I was not expecting a visit, let me get you out of there." Draco pulled out his wand, unlocked the heavy metal screen and pulled it out of the fireplace allowing Kingsley to come into the room.

"What the blazes?" Kingsley started but Draco raised his hand stopping him.

"Security precautions. If I am expecting someone to come I open the screen before they get here. To what do I owe the honor of having the Minister of Magic as a guest in my home?"

Kingsley shook off the embarrassment, "I came to speak to you. You have not been back to the Ministry since your last trial. I was hoping to get your support on something I am working on."

"I have been busy taking care of other things on my days off and have not had a chance to visit the ministry. By support you mean money, correct?" Draco asked pointedly.

"I do."

"Follow me." Draco led him first into the library where all the kids looked up curiously but quickly got back to their papers. Draco nodded in approval then led Kingsley to his office. "What do you want support for?"

"A Thestral therapy center." Kingsley stated and Draco perked up "This is the type of project that will never get funding approved at the ministry. They say we have more important things to worry about and they are right but I think this will help a lot of people that survived the war. My only option is private funding."

Draco nodded "How much do you need?"

"That is it?" Kingsley asked, confused.

Draco answered "It is a good cause, I don't need anything else, but don't over charge me or it will be the last time you get money from me, no matter how noble the cause."

Kingsley nodded in understanding "It won't require much, I found a location and can get it fairly cheap and since it is not near roads, no muggles go anywhere near the area." He looked up "I really thought I would have to do more to convince you. I should have just sent an owl."

"Don't get used to it. But yes in the future send an owl or I might take more time opening the screen."

Draco sat in the library going over the papers the kids had given him. Harry came in "Kids are all down."

Draco looked up "Thank you" and got back to reading the papers. Harry came up behind Draco leaned down and started reading over Draco's shoulder. Draco could feel Harry's breath on his ear. Draco turned to look at Harry, "Can I help you with something?"

"Just interested in what the kids have to say." Harry said with a smile.

Draco lifted a paper between them "Then read this, I don't like people reading over my shoulder."

"Yes sir," Harry said playfully, taking the paper. Harry read but found his attention often wandered over to Draco studiously reading the papers making little marks on them.

Draco sighed and looked up at Harry "Are you going to go over that at all?"

"I can't," Harry explained "I don't read latin."

Draco handed him a different paper "You should learn latin and this paper is very basic. But here this one is in english."

"Thank you." Harry said and looked at the paper, it was incredibly dull. Freya was writing about manners and how important they are, at least that was what he thought it was about. There were tons of mistakes. Harry shook the paper at Draco "Trade with me, this is going to melt my brain."

"No, I have been going over these papers for months and I read every single one of them. It does not matter if I find the topic interesting. This is how I get to know the kids, Freya is only five, give her a break."

Harry went back to the paper and sighed heavily.

"Go to your room." Draco said frustrated "If you are not going to actually help me, don't get in my way."

Harry laughed "Did you seriously just tell me to go to my room?"

Draco gave an embarrassed laugh "I'm sorry, I have a lot going right now. Do you want to read Faye's or Luthor's? They are older."

"Pass over Luthor's." Harry said, trading the paper back to Draco. They quietly corrected the papers. "What else do you have?"

"Math." Draco said, shaking the papers enticingly.

"Oh boy." Harry took a paper and started correcting it. It was Hope's work tracing numbers and matching them to groups of items like balls. "Don't they have work books you can buy, it would make your life a lot easier than making your own work sheets every day. And might be more engaging for the kids."

"No, nothing like that. It's a great business idea though." Draco said thoughtfully. "You know if we made those, any profit could be split between the kids."

"Or hear me out, ask Cornelia if she would do the artwork and it can be her own business. She sends pictures she drew to the kids sometimes, she is really good at it. Become a partner with her. You do the educational part, she does the art." Harry said looking at the embarrassingly simple pictures Draco had on the sheet.

"I'll send her an owl tomorrow. I already have the previous months worth of worksheets she could play with if she is interested. But for now correct what you have so I can get to bed."

Harry went into the library searching for Freya, the only child not in bed. He found her asleep curled next to a sleeping Draco, a story book discarded on the floor inches away from his fingertips. Harry picked up the book, 'Muggle Tales, the unbelievable stories of those who live without magic', and put it on the coffee table. Harry shook his head at the sight in front of him, Draco looked so different asleep. It was hard to believe this was his life now. He leaned over and started to pick Freya up and Draco's eyes shot open, he held her protectively and his wand was instantly in his hand.

"I'm just taking her to bed" Harry whispered, calming him down. "I'm not a threat," he touched the tip of Draco's wand pointing it in another direction. Draco nodded as the weight of the child lifted off his chest. He sat up on the couch trying to shake that rush of adrenalin he just received. He followed Harry to her room. Harry tucked her in and closed the door.

"Sorry about that," Draco said. "She wanted a story and you know how she gets."

Harry laughed quietly, happy to avoid the other topic. "You mean how she has you wrapped around her finger? You know you are not supposed to have favorites right?"

"I don't, how about you though? Afton could ask you for anything and you would make it happen." Draco countered.

"I do not do that." Harry said.

"Why else do we have a training broom that no one else wants to use?" Draco asked.

"I might spoil him a little, but we both spoil them all a little." Harry accepted.

Draco nodded in agreement. "Thanks for making sure the rest of the kids were taken care of. Do you have any fun plans for tomorrow?"

Harry shook his head "No, I appreciate the offer but I don't feel like going out."

"You need a break. You never take your day off." Draco stated.

"How about you, your day off is spent getting things we need for the kids or taking care of your projects." Harry said.

"I have work to do and one day every two weeks to do it." Draco said "really you should go out and enjoy yourself. Send an owl and ask Ginny out or something."

Harry turned red, "That broom has flown. She has a boyfriend, Ron told me all about it. The family is pretty crushed."

"Oh, that would be terrible timing to go on a date with someone else then." Draco said thinking about how it would look.

"Yeah, I just want to focus on the kids till they move out. No dating, it would just cause problems." Harry turned to go to his room.

"No date, how about just getting out of the house. Go to a quidditch match or something. Do something fun, it's not healthy to live like this." Draco offered.

"Night Malfoy." Harry said, continuing to walk away. He stopped and turned back to Draco remembering the unsettling feeling of Draco's wand pointed at him. It had been instant, he didn't even have the chance to lift the little girl and Draco had a wand pointing at him. He both wanted to understand more and to never speak of it again. Draco disappeared into his room, Harry continued his path back to his own room.

Year 2

"Muggle Mondays" Freya squealed happily in her little muggle dress.

"Sit still." Cornelia said as she finished braiding Freya's hair. They all sat in the library in their muggle clothes sitting at their long tables hoping today would be a field trip, the lack of books on the table hinted it would be. There was only two weeks before the new school year would start again and they hoped the last two muggle mondays would both be outings. Harry and Draco walked into the room together. Harry held up a new record, placed it on the player, he cranked it and "I want to break free" by Queen played. The kids bobbed their heads along as they listened to the music.

"What did you think?" Harry asked.

"What do they want to break free from?" Freya asked.

"Good question, I don't actually know. It could be anything. Evelyn, what do you think they are breaking free from?" Harry asked. Evelyn turned red and shook her head. "Okay how about you Phyllis?"

"I don't know. There are lots of things it could be, what were they dealing with at the time?" Phyllis asked.

"We have talked about this before. Sometimes when music is written they have a definite idea what it is about. But then you listen to it with your experiences through your ears and the song takes on a whole other meaning. What does the song mean to you?"

Phyllis sighed "It means to break free of what other people assume about me, I can break free of the stigma of being a Slytherin."

The whole room was very quiet. "How does the song make you feel?" Harry asked.

"Silly because the singer mentions falling in love and guess what no one but a Slytherin is ever going to love me because I will never break free, none of us will ever break free. And this will just keep the cycle going." She was frustrated and embarrassed for being called out.

"That was very good." Harry said and turned to look at the other kids "How about another prospective, anyone want to volunteer?" He looked around but no one raised their hands "Afton, what did you think of the song?"

Afton smiled "I liked the music, it is fun to move to."

"And the lyrics." Harry pressed.

"They are okay. Can we listen to it again?" Afton pressed. Harry played the song again. A couple kids sang the parts they could remember. It was loud, off key and quite a few of the words were wrong but the kids enjoyed it.

"Okay, today we have a field trip. We are going to the zoo." Harry said after the music ended. All the younger kids got excited and the older kids looked bored.

"Non Magical animals?" Oswald scoffed.

"Correct. Now everyone, out to the van." Harry said with a smile.

Phillis walked slower than anyone else and Draco walked with her. "You know one of the younger kids could become a Slytherin, you could be a great example to them."

"They won't be, they are all too innocent." Phyllis said weakly.

"You know Slytherins are not evil kids." Draco said "There are a lot of good values of Slytherins. You have a lot of good values."

"How do you know, you have only spent a couple months with me, you don't know me." She hit back.

"I recognize the self loathing, the shame, the fear. You are so much more than just a Slytherin." Draco said compassionately. He heard it, the small sound only he could hear that alerted him someone was on the property. He looked startled.

"What is wrong?" Phyllis asked, jarred by the sudden change.

Draco thought quickly "Nothing, I just remembered, we did not pack a lunch. I am going to send the rest of the kids back in and could you all help Kreacher make some sandwiches?" Draco said, moving quickly to the front door.

The Van was almost full. "We forgot our lunches. Into the kitchen all of you, make some sandwiches."

Harry looked at Draco confused, they never brought lunches, they always ate out.

"I had planned a picnic, but I got distracted. Go get to work." Draco said. The van emptied with the confused kids going into the house.

"What the heck?" Harry asked.

"Someone is on the property. I don't know where but they passed my border. I would rather the kids be in the house." Draco turned and started casting a protection spell.

"Are you afraid?" Harry asked.

"There is no one for miles and miles, people don't just run into the place. They did not send a message to expect them. So they might not be friendly." Draco was scared.

"What can I do to help?" Harry asked.

"You have your wand?" Draco asked. Harry nodded, he always had his wand.

They heard the voices coming up the driveway. Draco put his wand back into its holster, ready if needed. It was a man and a woman in muggle clothes walking up the path.

They looked surprised to see Harry and Draco standing outside.

"Oh good, our car broke down, could we use your phone?" The woman yelled as they got closer.

"We do not have a phone." Harry replied.

"Oh, well could we come in and have a drink?" She acted exhausted.

"I will get one for you." Harry said leaving Draco alone with the two strangers.

"I am so tired, I need to sit." She said.

Draco pointed to the stairs going up to the house.

"You're not very trusting are you?" She noted, annoyed.

"No, I'm not." Draco said, watching the man inspect the house with his eyes. "Where were you headed?"

"Oh going for a hike, we saw this great open area on a satellite map." She explained.

"Could you see our house on this satellite image?" Harry asked giving her a glass of water.

She drank the water and looked at the glass. "We could, so we hoped someone would be here to help us when we broke down."

"We cannot help you, sorry." Draco said, taking the empty glass.

"Actually I think you can." The man finally spoke. "You have no phone, no way to call out and I know you are not lying there are no phone lines or even electric lines coming to your house." He pulled out a gun "This place looks like it would be full of nice expensive antiques." he turned to the woman "good find."

Draco made a sudden movement and his wand was in his hand. A few moments later the man's arms and legs locked up and he fell to the ground stiff as a board.

"What did you do to him?" The woman screamed. Draco turned to her, casting the spell on her as well.

Harry looked at Draco "What are you doing they are muggles, you cannot use magic on muggles"

Draco pointed to the gun "I know a weapon when I see one, I was not going to give him the chance to use it."

Harry looked at the two angry petrified muggles "What do we do with them?"

"They have to have a vehicle. I need them to forget about this house completely. I don't want them coming back." Draco now looked more annoyed than scared. "Veritaserum." he whispered as he went into the house. He came back with a little vial and put a drop in the woman's screaming mouth.

"Why do you have that?" Harry looked disgusted.

"You never know when you will need it." Draco said as he handed Harry a spiral notebook and pen Harry kept in the library. Draco released the spell and she looked confused.

"Is this the first time you have tried to rob a house?" Draco asked.

"No." The woman answered then threw her hands over her mouth in surprise.

"Thank you, can you list some addresses you stole from and what you stole please?"

She started giving general locations and items and Harry wrote everything down.

The man was angry but unable to move or speak and she just continued talking.

"Has he or you ever hurt someone before?"Draco asked looking over at the gun.

"Yeah, it happens sometimes when people are home, they should have gone out or something. It was their fault." She explained without remorse.

"Tell me when you hurt people." Draco said and she continued to tell them all the awful things they had done.

Draco turned to Harry "I think we should deliver these two to the muggle police, cast a memory charm and give them another drop of this before delivering them."

Harry did not look happy but nodded. Draco went into the house and Found Cornelia standing by the front door. "Potter and I need to take care of something. Can you watch the kids?"

She nodded "I told them to go play in the sitting room. I will join them. Who are they?"

"Some muggles that thought they could rob the house, probably thought it was abandoned, an easy mark." Draco said "You sure you got this?"

She nodded.

"Good, I will make sure they don't remember this place so they will never come back here."

"Can Harry stay with us?" she asked quickly.

"I need his help, I cannot drive. And I am afraid he would not hurt the muggles if they tried something." Draco explained. She nodded again "I'm sorry to leave this responsibility with you. We should be back soon. The nearest town is about a half an hour away. We will apperate back."

She nodded again, "I have this, no problem." She looked more confident.

Harry drove as Draco sat in the back with the petrified would-be thieves. It was a long half hour. Harry parked the car in a no parking zone in front of the police station, the note about the crimes sitting on the dashboard. Draco cast a memory charm removing everything that had happened in the last three hours and removing the memory of the satellite image. He gave them three drops of the potion and cast a spell to put them asleep. Harry and Draco left the van, went into a back alley and watched till an officer approached the Van. Draco released the spell and they apperated back to the driveway as close to the house as the boundary would let them.

Harry was relieved they were gone. "Why that plan? You could have just erased their memory and sent them on their way."

"They would have done it to someone else after us. Maybe this protects someone else. You do know he was going to kill us, no loose ends and they could come back and empty the house at their leisure. I wanted them gone from our lives forever. I also now know I need to do something to protect us from the sky. I did not think about that, I need to think." Draco got lost in his mind.

"Malfoy" Harry called him back to reality, Draco looked at him "We need to take the kids out, we need to return this day to as normal as we can."

Draco nodded, he wanted to get to work on new security measures but the kids would know something was wrong if they just changed their plan. "You get the kids, I'll put a few extra precautions up."

"The odds are not great that we would get robbed twice in one day." Harry reasoned.

"I am aware, just let me do this okay." It was more desperate than he had ever heard Draco sound. He was really shaken, even more so than when Goyle had shown up.

"Okay I will get the kids. You do what you feel you have to." Harry said going inside, he turned back and Draco already had his wand up focusing on the sky.

The drive home was quiet, most of the younger kids were asleep and the older kids were chatting quietly amongst themselves. Harry focused on the road and occasionally he looked over to Draco who was lost in thought. "Malfoy" Harry said quietly "How long are you going to be distracted?"

"What do you know about these satellites?" Draco asked.

"They are machines sent to space and they relay information. This time it was pictures for maps." Harry explained.

"We need to tell Shacklbolt." Draco said uncomfortably.

"That's a bit extreme, don't you think it was just a fluke." Harry reasoned. "We don't need to concern the minister in this."

"No, I think we do. Many wizards live in remote areas because it keeps us hidden and safe. We are able to fly our booms and do magic without having to worry muggles will find us. That has been jeopardized and he needs to let people know what they can do to protect themselves from muggles finding them. If this technology is in its infancy we can get ahead of it."

"You are exaggerating."

"What if it was the Weasley house they had come to? Or the Lovegoods? Could any muggle go up to those houses and think, yep this is a totally normal house? No, even muggles would know those houses are magical. This concerns the statute of secrecy." Draco whispered angrily.

The older kids were noticeably quiet. Draco turned to see six pairs of eyes watching them, intently focusing on the whispered conversation.

Draco sighed, "I thought you were talking amongst yourselves."

"Your conversation was much more interesting." Warren noted.

Harry looked in the rearview mirror "You know that was a private conversation."

"But you had it in a public place." Phyllis defended "And it was hard not to overhear."

"What are you going to do?" Cornelia asked.

"Just what I said, go to the ministry." Draco answered.

Freya sat on the bed as Draco braided her hair, she was fidgeting and she never did that when he braided her hair. "Is everything okay?" He asked as he pulled another patch of hair into the braid. She sat there quietly fidgeting. "Freya, are you okay?" He asked with increased concern.

"I'm fine," she said, clearly lying. Draco finished the braid and patted her head. He moved in front of her to see how the braid looked from the front and her eyes were red and wet. "Can we talk about it?" He sat on her bed in front of her.

"I miss my mom, she seems so far away." She cried, unable to hold it back anymore.

"Oh, sweetie, it's okay to be sad." He put his arm around her and she crawled into his lap.

"I feel like such a mean girl. I miss my mom but sometimes I…" She stopped afraid of saying it out loud.

Draco held her close "It was not fair what happened to your mom. And I am very sorry that it did. But you can always cry on me if you need to. You love your mom and you always will."

"If I love my mom so much how can I want you to be my dad?" the tears came back with force.

Draco kissed her head "You are capable of loving more than one person. Loving a new person does not mean you no longer love the other. I love you and that has not replaced the love I feel for others."

She looked up at him, her eyes puffy and red "You love me too?"

"Of course I do. I think you are wonderful and I love seeing the world through your eyes. You make me so proud when you learn something new that you enjoy. You make me happy when you smile. I love it when you discover something and share it with me."

"Who else do you love?"

"I love all of you, having all of you in my life makes me feel complete. You are part of my wonderful, beautiful family."

"Do you love Rowan?" She giggled.

"I do, I love Rowan." Draco smiled.

"Do you love Afton?" She asked as she rubbed Draco's robe between her fingers.

"I do, I love Afton." He said bopping her nose and making her smile.

"Do you love Harry?" She beamed.

"I do, I love Harry." Draco said, forcing the smile to stay on his face. "We should get to breakfast though or all those people we love are going to eat all the bacon."

She giggled as she rolled out of his lap and held out her hand to walk with him to the dining room. Draco got up and followed her on autopilot.

They joined the others in the dining room. Harry watched them since they were normally the first ones down to breakfast. Freya was excited and full of smiles. Draco looked tired.

Freya was happily eating, but Draco mostly played with the eggs on his plate.

Draco got up and took his plate into the kitchen.

"Are you feeling well Mr. Malfoy?" Kreacher asked as Draco scrapped the scrambled eggs into the trash.

"I'm fine, thank you for your concern." Draco said, placing the dish next to the sink. He went back into the library to collect the craft supplies for the day.

Afton was singing loudly, placing the paper chain around the room. The rest of the kids sat with Draco making ornaments for the tree that would be delivered tomorrow before all the kids came back from Hogwarts. Harry came into the room and put a record on the player and Christmas music filled the room Draco turned to Harry and mouthed a grateful "thank you"

Harry gave him a quick nod and helped Afton finish putting up the paper chain.

"Potter, are you going to go alone tomorrow to pick up the others?" Draco asked.

"I think so, no point in bringing them all out for a long drive, Just don't let them decorate the tree till we get back." Harry replied.

Draco put his finger on his chin in a dramatically thoughtful pose "What can I have the kids do tomorrow to keep them entertained?"

"Hmmm." Harry said thoughtfully, going over to the window and opening the curtains "How about let them play in the snow?"

All the kids left their crafts unfinished and rushed to the window in excitement. Draco couldn't help but smile at their excitement. Harry walked over to him, "That went well."

"It did. I don't think they care at all that they are not going tomorrow." Draco admitted.

"Good because it would not be fun to have them all stuck in the van for hours."

Draco swatted him "I am with them in that library for hours with them every day."

"Not the same, the library is bigger." Harry countered, "And you can take a break anytime you want."

"I know I don't know much about muggle inventions but I really was under the impression that cars can stop and you can get out as soon as you stop the car." Draco said thoughtfully.

"Smart ass." Harry said walking away.

"Okay the sooner you get into bed the sooner you can wake up and play in the snow. Up stairs the lot of you." Draco called out. The kids reluctantly left the window.

Harry smiled "I am so glad you are the killjoy and I am the fun one."

"Is that how you see it?" Draco asked, a little hurt. Harry was taken aback, it had been playful banter but at some point it had gone too far. "Good night Potter." Harry followed Draco up the stairs. Kids were already getting into their showers. Harry went over to Draco's room and knocked. No answer came, so he knocked again. Harry waited a bit before turning to help the kids with their night time preparations. They all sat in the sitting room waiting for Draco to come in with the story for the night. Harry worried Draco would not come, but he did holding a new book.

"This story is by a muggle."

The kids ohhhed.

"It is The Little Mermaid. Now remember when I tell this story muggles do not know mermaids are real and they do not know magic is real. For them this is all make believe, pretend. Now let's start the story."

By the end of the story a couple of the kids were quietly crying.

"The poor mermaid died," Esme sniffled.

"It's not a real story" Harry said

"She loved him so much," Freya cried.

"She didn't even really know him" Harry explained desperately

"Sea Foam, that's an interesting thought, can you actually turn into sea foam?" Afton asked thoughtfully.

"No." Harry answered, but then looked at Draco whose expression screamed "oh really?"

Draco got up "Time for bed"

The kids filed out of the room and Harry was able to grab Draco "You could have told a story with a happy ending"

Draco looked empty, "Not everyone gets a happy ending," and he was gone.

Once the kids were all tucked in and no more tears to be had, Harry tried to once again talk to Draco. He knocked on the door. No one locked their doors but everyone respected each other enough to not open a door unless given permission. For the first time Harry considered ignoring that but the door opened. Draco stood there in his black velvet night robe.

"How may I help you?" Draco asked.

"I wanted to talk, I was just playing around earlier. I thought we were being friendly."

"Potter, how much time do I spend with the kids on an average day? Just me while you take care of the three youngest ones?" Draco asked a hint of anger slipping into the question.

"I don't know. You spend about six hours in the library together." Harry answered.

"How many hours do you spend with the kids over the age of two?" Draco continued.

"Maybe an hour outside of meals. I don't know, my time with them is not scheduled." Harry snapped.

Draco looked at him with disbelief "I… you know what, never mind, good night."

Draco turned to go back into his room and Harry grabbed his wrist.

"We are talking." Harry said.

"You don't appreciate me." Draco said, pulling his arm away.

"I do too."

"No, I serve a purpose to you. I pay for things and I take care of things you don't have time for. You are cordial with me, sometimes even friendly. You tolerate me, but you do not appreciate me. I appreciate that you take care of the littles, I could never do that. They would drive me nuts and you do it so perfectly. I respect how well you care for them. The reverse cannot be said. Good night Potter." There was a finality in his voice that told Harry not to continue forcing the situation.

"Good night Malfoy." Harry turned and heard the door shut. He went to his room, all three kids in their cribs were quietly sleeping. Harry changed thinking about what Draco had said. He hated to admit it, but Draco might have been right; he didn't really appreciate everything Draco did.

Harry arrived at the house and the van was full of laughter as they drove up to see twenty snow men. Some were wearing house scarves, two that almost resembled house elves and at the far ends two large snowmen one with a stern face and the other a large smile. Harry felt guilty. The kids piled out of the van and greeted the younger kids waiting on the steps for them. The younger children showed the older kids their personal snowmen.

Harry went over to Draco. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing, I know my place" Draco said dismissively.

Harry knew it was not nothing, but he would have to wait till later to talk to Draco about it. The full house kept them both busy, so later was a lot longer than he had expected. Harry was unsure if Draco would have been that busy if they had not had the conversation before but he could not get a moment to talk to him alone. The night before Christmas after all the kids were asleep Harry found Draco taking presents out of his room and down to the sitting room to go under the tree. "Can I help?" Harry offered.

"If you want, all the presents I got are already wrapped and on my bed." Draco continued to the sitting room. Harry went to Draco's room, the bed was covered with gifts, he picked up as many as he could carry and went down to the sitting room passing Draco in the hall. They passed each other in the hall many times but neither said anything until the bed was empty. Draco turned to Harry, "do you need help moving anything down?"

Harry nodded and went to his room and piled Draco's arms full of stockings. The stockings each had their names stitched into them.

"They look nice" Draco said, carrying his load down.

They placed the stockings in the room and Draco started to organize the presents into color coordinated piles with the stockings laid on top. Draco took four little presents into the kitchen and placed them outside Kreacher and Meek's doors.

Harry followed Draco back into the sitting room "Can we please talk?"

Draco smiled brittlely "Do we have anything to talk about?"

"Yes. You are avoiding me." Harry said.

"I am doing what I said I would. I am taking care of the kids and I am paying for their needs, it was all very clear in the contract we signed. I am doing what is expected of me." Draco said coldly.

"Thank you, for teaching the kids, that was not in the contract. You are going above and beyond with that. Thank you for making Freya comfortable by braiding her hair every morning. Thank you for taking pictures of the kids so they will always have these memories. Thank you for going out of your way to make sure this works, it would all crumble if you were not taking care of so many responsibilities. And thank you for not stopping doing all of it to show me how much you do for me. Thank you for talking to me like an adult, I need that more than you know. Thank you for encouraging me to have a day off even when yours is nothing more than more work. I'm sorry I didn't care to see before everything you do for me and the kids. But I see all your hard work now and I appreciate it."

Draco nodded "Thank you for seeing me. And thank you for giving me this chance."

Harry laughed "I don't think you should be thanking me for piling all these responsibilities on you."

Draco shook his head "No, I mean some people would not have worked with me at all, you are. Thank you for giving me a chance. The kids will be up early tomorrow so we should get to sleep."

"Tomorrow will be a mess but at least I will know we are okay." Harry grabbed Draco's hand "I am sorry I took advantage of you, I will try not to do it again. But if I do, call me out on it sooner."

Draco looked at their hands, nodded and pulled his hand away "Good night Potter."

Draco woke up to the sound of running in the hall and excited, loud conversations. He changed and went down to the dining room that had a full table of food yet not a single person. He then went into the sitting room. The kids were pointing at different packages but no one touched any. Draco took a mental roll and noticed Cornelia, Harry and the three youngest were still upstairs. "Breakfast is ready, go in and have a seat while I get everyone else from upstairs." The kids left the presents but looked back at them longingly. Draco first knocked on Cornelia's door "Everyone is at Breakfast are you ready to join us?"

"Just a moment." She called out.

Draco then knocked on Harry's door. The door opened and Harry handed Albus over "Take him down please. I am fighting with Marabell, she does not want to wear clothes today."

Draco chuckled "Want me to take Phoenix?"

Harry looked relieved and guided Phoenix over to Draco, he was glad they were back to normal. Draco took the kids down and set them up in their highchairs. Chatter at the table consisted only of speculation of what the presents held. Cornelia joined the room "Where is Harry?"

Draco smiled, "Trying to convince Marabell that clothing would be a good idea."

"Should I go up and help him?" She looked towards the door.

"I'm sure he has it under control now that he does not have the other two." Draco said, giving the small children some food on their trays. Harry eventually came in and put Marabell in her highchair. Draco stood up and the table went silent with all eyes on him. "I know we are all very excited to open presents. We first need to eat this wonderful feast Kreacher has made for us."

He sat and plates started to fill with breakfast treats they only got on special occasions. Draco put an iced bun on his plate. Freya grabbed an iced bun too and watched for what he would pick next. He grabbed a spinach and cheese quiche, she wrinkled her nose a little and grabbed one as well. Draco then got a scoop of fresh fruit, Freya smiled as she put a scoop on her plate as well and gave Draco a big grin. Draco ate and Freya straightened her back to sit up tall like Draco sat and held her fork like he did, mimicking his movements as she ate. Harry stifled a laugh watching her try to imitate Draco's mannerisms. After they had all eaten their fill Draco stood up again "Potter and I will clear away the dishes, you can go to your rooms and bring down your gifts." The kids got up and started to excitedly go up the stairs. Harry put the smaller kids in their play pins and helped Draco clear up. "Thank you Kreacher everyone really enjoyed it, do you want to take tomorrow off?" Draco asked, placing some of the dishes by the sink.

"No thank you." Kreacher said getting back to work.

"I was a little disappointed you still did not join us to eat, maybe for dinner you will join us?" Draco asked again.

Kreacher grunted. Draco accepted the dismissal and went to the sitting room. The older kids had found couches and chairs but the younger kids sat on the floor next to the tree.

Harry stood up this time and held out a hat and offered it to Esme, Esme pulled out a slip of paper "Evelyn" she read off the slip. Esme grabbed Evelyn's stocking and gave it to her. Evelyn pulled out a fancy quill and Cornelia ohhed with jealousy. Evelyn continued pulling out her little treasures as everyone watched, commenting on her lucky haul. "Pixy poppers" She said curiously examining a box of candy.

"They are a new product from Honeydukes. The description sounded right up your alley." Harry said getting up and opening the hat for Evelyn to pick the next person.

"Freya" Evelyn got the stocking and gave it to Freya. Freya excitedly pulled out her gifts. Magic ribbons that change colors or flash brightly, hair clips and barrettes. Her squeals of joy only increased with every item she pulled out of her stocking.

Harry brought over the hat and she pulled out a paper she looked at in intently, "Wwaaarren. It's Warren." She hopped over and got his stocking, handing it to Warren proudly.

Freya brought her new treasures over to Draco and handed him two color changing ribbons for him to braid into her hair as they watched the rest of the stockings get emptied.

Harry put all the names back into the hat adding himself and Draco and the process started over again. It took hours but no one complained, they had their own gifts to entertain themselves with quietly as the process took place.

Freya once again pulled her slip out of the hat. She focused on the letters and brightened up "Dad" she ran over to get a present for Draco and handed it to him. The rest of the room was silent as Draco opened the present, aware the mood in the room had changed. Draco's gift was from Harry, he pulled out a bottle of American Bourbon. "Thank you" Draco said, "I have never tried that before." He looked at Freya "I forgot a present in my room. Could you go get it for me? It is on my bed."

Freya was excited to be trusted with this responsibility and she ran out of the room. Draco took a deep breath "If it makes her comfortable I will not stop her. You all can call me whatever you are comfortable with. If that is Mr. Malfoy fine, if it is Draco I don't mind. But for her right now it is Dad and if that brings her joy I will not take that from her. I do not expect any of you to call me Dad. I do not want you to feel like you need to if you don't want to. But please respect each other's choices. Please do not give her a hard time for this."

Harry spoke up "Same goes for me, I have never cared what you call me, just call me something you are comfortable with."

The kids sat silently thinking about what they had just been told. Freya came in carrying a long box, placed it under the tree and went back to her spot on Draco's lap. "Thank you again for the Bourbon, I look forward to sharing a glass with you later." Draco said to Harry as Harry brought over the hat to pull a new name. Draco pulled a name, "Cornelia." Harry then picked a gift for her to open.

"Oh, my." Cornelia said in shock as she opened the art kit. She touched each item like it was precious. Harry looked at the gift in surprise; it looked like a simple art kit. Yet he was sure he heard a sniffle coming from the young woman caressing the supplies.

She looked over to Draco "Thank you." He nodded back knowingly. She slipped her hand into the hat "Harry"

Harry got the long present. Everyone watched eagerly as he opened the box "Malfoy" Harry whispered as he pulled out a firebolt.

"I know there are nicer ones now but this was the one you had before." Draco explained "If you want a different one we can return it."

"No, this is perfect." Harry looked over to the tree that still had a few presents under it. He pulled a name out of the hat hoping to end the present opening soon so he could get back on the broom. "Cassius."

He opened his gift, it looked like a load of junk to Harry but it looked like possibilities to Cassius, he also quickly pulled a name and his attention went back to his box inspecting each item.

"Take your presents to your rooms. Then we have lunch, then you can all disappear to enjoy your new possessions." Draco ordered.

Harry looked at all the presents in the room. Almost all of them paid for with Draco's money even when he took the kids out to get gifts for eachother it was Draco's money that paid for them.

"This is too much." Harry said, bringing the broom over to Draco.

"It's nothing, enjoy it." Draco said while filling Freya's arms with her gifts.

"No really, this is too much. I cannot accept it." Harry said as Freya ran off.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"It is too much money." Harry explained "We might need it for something else for the kids later."

Draco smiled and gave a little laugh "You are adorable, it's fine. I have enough money to take care of them. I am very good at investing. How else do you think the Malfoy family didn't end up broke like so many other old families. As soon as I could count I was learning about money. It's fine. Go put your stuff away and eat. Then you can get on that broom and take off like you know you want to."

"My gift seems so pathetic compared to yours" Harry admitted.

"I will enjoy it tonight after the kids have all gone to bed." Draco said "It is something I never would have thought to buy myself, it is a very good gift."

Harry looked at Draco's gift pile, it was small and generic. "I'm sorry you didn't get much for Christmas."

Draco turned and without a hint of sarcasm smiled, "This is the best Christmas I have ever had." He put the bourbon in the liquor cabinet and locked it.

Cornelia spent the entire day trying out her new supplies. When Draco came by she said, "These must have cost a fortune. I have never had this quality of supplies." She raised a niffler hair paintbrush "You know this alone cost more than all my previous art supplies combined."

"You are an adult, I think you deserve quality supplies, especially since you will be using them to make a living." Draco said.

"I'm not always nice to you, why do you treat me this way?" Cornelia asked, putting the brush away.

"Because in my sixth and seventh year at Hogwarts I learned some very important lessons. Mostly that the way I treated people was not okay. I needed to reevaluate my actions and break the cycle of hurt. Just because someone hurts me does not mean I need to hurt them back." Draco looked at Cornelia. "Sometimes you have to look beyond the action and find out why it happened. You are hurting and I know a part of you blames me for it. I am not going to punish you for hurting. But if I care for you, maybe I can lessen that pain."

"I miss my parents. They were good people, they hid some muggleborns. They were punished for it. I miss them so much." Cornelia looked at Draco,"My mother used to sing when she did the dishes, she was not a great singer." She laughed through the fresh tears, "My father, he was an artist, he made magic portraits. My mother used to listen to the weird sisters, she thought they were so cool. My father wanted to have another child since I was at Hogwarts, they missed my noise. My mother used to force us to go watch muggle movies, she loved them. My father taught me to draw and to mix my own paints and to feel the art. They were good people why did they have to die?"

"Evil was allowed to get out of hand. There were warning signs and most of the adults at the time ignored them. People were scared, and scared people make bad choices. Your parents might have been scared but they were the rare people who helped others because it was the right thing to do. I know it does not help but they are heroes." Draco whispered.

Cornelia grabbed Draco's left wrist, he knew what she was doing and did not fight her. She unbuttoned the cuff and pulled the sleeve up to reveal the red brand. Draco looked away, ashamed, "I was not like your parents, I was scared and I made bad choices. I wanted to live, have my family live, so I gave up my soul."

She shook her head, not quite understanding.

"That mark was going on my body whether I was dead or alive. It was a punishment to my parents. A reminder that he owned all of us. He didn't need to brand my mother if I was alive, the message would have already gotten across. I lived in a house where murderers would just walk through the door and you had to open that door and be polite. The worst werewolf we know of visited me regularly. One night I woke up and he was standing over my bed. He reminded me that the full moon would be the next night. I was alive but I was not safe and I felt like I had no control of my life. I was disgusted by my entire family, myself included. I wish I was a hero but I am not."

She covered up the ugly mark."Will it ever go away?"

"It will fade but it will never go away, like my shame."

"I didn't realize everything that happened."

"I don't talk about it much. But I am not going to lie when I do. I was ordered to kill Dumbledore and what I did was start a battle in a school. I did not kill Dumbledore but I really messed up and that will never go away."

Harry stepped into the room, "Dumbledore had already arranged for Snape to kill him by that point. Actually at the beginning of the year they had agreed that Snape would kill Dumbledore when the time was right. He was already dying and was not going to survive to the next school year." Draco and Cornelia looked at him in shock. "The order needed Riddle to trust Snape."

"The order was crushed." Draco blurted.

"Not really when the time came they all came and fought. They never knew the plan between Snape and Dumbledore but then again Dumbledore did not like to share." Harry looked back at the door he just came through. "You probably should not talk about this stuff where people could eavesdrop. There are a lot of little ears and we don't want to ruin their Christmas."

Draco looked ashamed, "Sorry."

"It was my fault." Cornelia said "I know all us kids are missing are parents today. The younger ones are more easily distracted by shiny new toys, but us older ones know what we are missing. I guess I never saw you as a victim."

"I try very hard not to look like one. It is hard to command respect when all a person sees is a victim." Draco explained.

"Do you need to anymore?" Harry asked "I know it was useful to get this all going, but you hardly go to the ministry anymore. Only when Kingsley asks you to specifically. Why not let the truth out?"

Draco turned to Harry "I just negotiated another book deal for Cornelia, I needed that arrogant reputation to get her the best possible deal. It worked. Cassius wants me to help him sell a product we have been working on together. I need that reputation of being the most powerful person in the room. How can I do that while looking like a victim?"

Cornelias eyes were wide with realization, everything Draco did was for the kids. "You are only a couple years older than me, why do you act like you are the only person that can do all this?"

"Because I know what will happen if you went in to negotiate, they would take advantage of you and you would not get what you deserve. I won't let that happen when I can take care of it." Draco explained softly.

Cornelia got her art kit and left the room.

Harry looked at Draco, "So Fenrir visited you in your bedroom?" Draco looked away and nodded. "Is that why you sleep with your wand in a holster?"

"One of the reasons, far from the only one." Draco got off the couch, "I'm going to check on dinner."

"You are running away from the conversation."

"I know."

Draco was disappointed Kreacher and Meek did not join them for dinner. But all he could do was offer, he was not a master to either of them. Even if he was, that would be a terrible thing to do. He was relieved though that Cornelia did not seem to be affected by their conversation earlier and she was talking excitedly with Cassius. Freya made sure to take the seat next to Draco again. She sat up tall and carefully pushed the spoon away from herself to get a spoonful of the soup like Draco did. Draco smiled fondly at the innocent child trying her hardest to learn table manners. Though when it came to her roast he cut it for her moving around the table to each child that had problems cutting the meat. Warren sat there staring at his lap as he ate. Draco stood behind him and tapped him lightly on his shoulder. Warren looked up surprised and Draco glanced down at the book in Warren's lap. Warren guiltily closed the book and slipped it under his chair and joined the conversation with Cornelia and Cassius. Harry turned and fed Albus to hide his little laugh. Draco sat back down and resumed eating, even with the unfortunate conversation that afternoon, it was still his best Christmas ever.

Draco got up "Tonight's bedtime story will be the fountain of fair fortune" and gave Cassius a meaningful look.

"But we have already heard that one" Rowan complained "A bunch of times"

"And we will hear it again tonight, see you after your showers" Draco went into his office and pulled out a large contraption, wheeling it into the sitting room. Cassius joined him in the sitting room setting up the machine.

Cassius looked worried "What if it does not work?"

"I double checked all the charms, it should work perfectly." Draco reassured him.

The kids came into the room and got excited seeing Cassius tinkering with the box. After all the kids found seats Draco spoke, "Tonight we have something a little different. Cassius has been working on this project for a while. Enjoy." Draco turned down the lights in the room, only the tree and the box were lit. Cassius cranked the machine and put the needle on the record. The fountain of fair fortune played on the record and paper cutouts of the story moved in the large box. The whole room was enthralled, even Harry who had watched television his whole life, was fascinated by the box. Cassius flicked his wand and the light went out in the box. Draco turned the lights back on.

"That was so cool." Rowan said excitedly.

Cassius was the center of attention, and thrilled his invention worked.

Harry moved over to Draco "When did this happen?"

"Last summer we started working on it. We have been corresponding and he told me what to do. We finished it up this last week." Draco said proudly, "He did great didn't he?"

Harry nodded "Is this the product he wants help selling?"

"Yeah, I think it will do really well. He just needs to get the process to make them smoother and I think it will be a hit." Draco watched the group and reluctantly continued "They should get to bed."

Harry walked towards the group, they did not respond "Hey guys we should head up to bed." They turned to look at him and nodded but continued to talk excitedly.

Draco watched amused wondering if he should step in or if Harry could handle it. Draco took the three youngest kids and led them up the stairs, changing Albus and getting them all tucked in. The hall was silent. He went down the stairs and entered the sitting room. The kids stopped talking and looked at him, "Bed, now. You can talk in the morning."

They all moved to the door and up the stairs continuing their conversations as they walked. Harry and Draco followed them making sure they all got into bed.

"Want that drink now?" Draco offered. Harry nodded.

Draco poured the bourbon into two glasses and handed one to Harry.

"Why do they listen to you?" Harry asked.

"You want so much to be the fun one, I just want to take care of them and sometimes that means telling them to do things they don't want to. Do you think any of them want to learn Latin?" Draco explained. "And really you act like everything is a suggestion, one they feel comfortable not acting on. They listen to me because they believe there will be consequences."

"And what would those consequences be?" Harry asked, calling his bluff.

"I do favors for them that I do not have to. I can still make sure their needs are met, but I do not have to do anything extra. They like the extra, so they listen." Draco explained.

"Have you ever done it? Kept something from a kid?" Harry asked.

"Kind of. I fulfilled my base requirements with Silas. The other kids watched as he struggled while they had a very pleasant year. I was not asking much of him, just to be respectful. Warren recognised the difference before Silas even left the house. Cornelia noticed it at school, she and the others received a few galleons for their Hogsmead visit, I sent a single galleon to Silas. She and Oswald and even Phyllis used their bounty to treat friends to drinks or candy. Silas could buy only what he needed for school. I offered for him to come to Christmas, he refused. When the others returned from the holiday. They had nice presents, he had gotten a couple galleons as his gift. I offered for him to come back and live here to get his feet on the ground, take the Auror training. He refused, he currently works at the three broomsticks for room and board and a little extra. Cornelia already has a workbook out and it is selling faster than it can be printed. They see that working with me and listening to what I say benefits them, so they act on it. They respect me, I respect them."

"Are you sure that is respect and not fear?" Harry asked, wondering where the line lay.

"I would not hurt them. They know their basic needs will always be met. I will always make sure they have enough food. That they have clothes that fit. That they feel safe. They know they will have supplies they need. I have never raised a hand to them and I never will. They also know I will protect them with every weapon I have, whether it is my words or my wand."

"How do you know they know that?" Harry asked.

"Because I talk to them regularly and help however I can." Draco explained, "Phyllis has been having a really rough time, I have encouraged her to tutor younger kids in charms and transfiguration, her two best subjects. Now she is helping kids from all four houses. Things have gotten a little better, those kids stick up for her if she gets teased for being a Slytherin. Oswald is her best friend. Everyone loves Oswald. He is just so kind, but he can get taken advantage of. I have been trying to help him create healthy boundaries. Phyllis is helping him stick to the boundaries. I work like this with each of the kids and they trust me enough to ask for my help. Also they talk with each other."

"You sound like a puppet master controlling their lives." Harry said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You are such a Slytherin."

"I give them options, they don't have to take my advice." Draco defended, then added unhappily "Don't say things like that in front of the kids. It can be very damaging."

"I thought you would take it as a compliment." Harry said.

Draco put his glass away, "Slytherins are complicated. Everyone is wary of us because we think so much. But we are incredibly loyal, to a fault sometimes. We are intelligent and thrive on solving problems. We are brave and do things others are too afraid to do. The other houses only see the worst in us but ignore what we have in common. Slytherins are just extreme members of the other houses because we have the ambition to keep going when they want to stop. What we need is someone to let us know when we have crossed a line. But we are so despised that no one steps up for that particular task, and Slytherins refuse to be kicked without a fight. Slytherins need a diverse group of friends, but all we get are more Srlytherins encouraging us to stay loyal to people and ideas that do not deserve our loyalty, to solve problems that were never problems to begin with and to run headfirst into battle because our friends told us to."

"So this is our fault?" Harry scoffed.

"No it's not, but you did nothing to stop it either." Draco left the room.

Year 7

Harry watched Draco from the library door as soft music came from the record player. He was practicing a dance. His right arm bent out and he circled from it occasionally bowing or gracefully leaning back. He turned and his left hand replaced his right as the center of the dance "What are you doing?" Harry asked amused.

Draco stopped dancing, "Tomorrow I was going to teach the kids to dance. Just trying to brush up."

Harry joined him and mirrored his pose, Draco touched the tips of their fingers and led Harry in the most complex and structured dance he had ever done. It had looked so easy when he was watching from the door, but that had been quite deceptive. "What kind of dance was that?"

"The warlock's reunion, it's an old traditional dance, not many people still do it. Want to try a more modern one?" Draco offered.

"I'm up for it." Harry accepted, watching Draco again as he led the dance. It had more energy in it than the last dance but it still seemed very set with no room for improvisation, it felt stifling.

"You don't like the way I dance." Draco noticed.

"It's just not the way I learned to dance. Your dance is full of rules, it feels so strict. There is no expression in it at all." Harry said.

"Did you do a lot of dancing when you lived with your aunt and uncle?" Draco asked skeptically .

"Not really, but I saw others do it." Harry noted.

"Teach me your dance then."

"There is not much to teach. I mean you listen to the music and move to it." Draco looked at Harry skeptically. "Okay I know one that is a little more structured but it is more of a suggestion than rules." Harry took Draco's right hand and put it on his waist and put his left hand on his shoulder. They started to dance in a circle. Draco followed his movements waiting for something to change. Harry laughed "This is it, not complex just dancing."

"This is silly, we are just going in circles." Draco commented.

"Wait." Harry pulled away and changed the record.

"Your song by Elton John." Draco was pleased with himself as Harry came back to dance.

They moved in a circle once again.

"We are doing the same exact thing, I thought this was supposed to have no rules." Draco said.

"Well some people do it like this." Harry said, putting both of Draco's arms around his neck and placing his own hands on Dracos waist. Draco's heart beat a little faster. They looked in each others eyes as Elton John sang "You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue anyway the the thing is, what I really mean yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen"

"How can he say he cannot remember the eye color of the person he says he loves?" Draco scoffed. "So this is it? Two ways to dance this incredibly versatile dance."

Harry moved Draco's hands once again this time placing his arm around his waist and holding hands. He pulled Draco closer "This one is most effective if one person rests their head on the shoulder of the other, want to try?"

Draco could already feel Harry's heart pounding in his chest before placing his head on Harry's shoulder. Even though they were moving slowly Draco started feeling dizzy. He found his own heart was pounding, he did not want it to end. But the song did end and Harry pulled away slightly. Draco lifted his head and moved forward, the kiss was small, light and very quick. Draco was gone before Harry could react more than to watch Draco leave quickly. When he got his senses back Harry touched his lips processing what had just happened. He turned off the record player, put his record away and placed Draco's back on the player, preparing it for the dance lesson the next day. He walked to his room in a daze. He looked down the hall to see Draco's door staring back at him, calling him. He turned away and went into his own room.

Harry found himself touching his lips throughout the next few days. Neither of them spoke about the kiss, but it was alway lingering in the back of their minds. Draco continued as if nothing had happened. He taught the kids to dance and did their lessons, managed the house and talked to Harry when they needed to discuss anything important. Harry still helped Draco read and correct the papers after the kids had gone to bed. But not a word about that night had been spoken. Harry began to wonder if he had dreamed the whole thing.

Harry found Draco as usual in the library working. "You know we are running out of kids." Draco said sadly. "Soon the house will be empty almost the entire year."

"Yeah, next year Hope goes to school then Phoenix and Marabell will go. Poor Albus will get all your attention." Harry said realizing soon they would only see the kids at holidays and breaks.

Draco went back to his papers and read them intently. "Can we talk?" Harry said quietly.

Draco put the paper down but did not look up, "Are you sure you want to?" Harry kept quiet and Draco picked the paper back up.

They sat at the table, Harry staring at Draco realizing he was not actually reading the paper he was looking at. "Yeah, I think I do."

Draco put the paper back down and looked at Harry, "Make sure you want to go down this path. Things are fine right now, this discussion will change that. Do you want things to change?" It felt like a warning.

"I can't stop thinking about it." Harry blurted.

Draco let out a disappointed sigh and gestured for Harry to continue. It almost looked painful for Draco to have this conversation.

"I keep replaying it over and over in my mind, I don't really know what happened." Harry said urgently.

"What if I just say I'm sorry. I am. I am very sorry it happened. And it won't happen again. Can we just continue like we have been. I promise it won't happen again." Draco's tone sounded incredibly business-like.

Harry looked at Draco surprised. "No, that's not what I want."

"I can not change the past. It happened and I'm sorry" Draco said, "in a few years you can move out for a majority of the year if you want, but we need to be there for the kids while they are here. I'm so..."

"Do it again." Harry said, louder than he had intended, interrupting Draco. Draco looked shocked. Harry got up from his seat, walked over to Draco and turned his chair to face him. "Do it again, now, please?" Draco's eyes were wide but he obeyed and leaned forward to kiss Harry once again. Harry fell to his knees in front of Draco's chair. "Again" Harry whispered. Draco cupped Harry's chin and kissed him again, longer and more forcefully. "More".

Draco looked at him now amused "More?"

Harry nodded and threw his arms around Draco's neck pulling him into a passionate kiss. Once they broke apart Draco laughed "This is a funny way to talk. Do you want to actually discuss this?"

"I don't even know what this is." Harry admitted.

"What do you want it to be?" Draco asked.

"I don't know, what are the options?"

"I see a few different ones, firstly we say living together made us confused and it felt nice but it was just us being lonely and we go back to life as it was."

"NO" Harry interrupted.

Draco smiled "Glad you don't want that one, I would have eleven years of pretending that was what I wanted as well. The second option I see is take this slowly for the next three years while the kids still live here then figure it out once they are all in school. Three, throw caution to the wind and just go for it, no matter the consequences."

"So obviously you want option two." Harry said, thinking it over.

Draco nodded "I think it would be best for now. We can figure it out at night while the kids are asleep, but during the day we act like nothing has changed. Once all the kids are in school we decide if it is something we really want to pursue, a real relationship in the open."

"So what changes?" Harry said thoughtfully "We already act like a family during the day."

Draco grabbed Harry's hand, "Trial run. We can be a couple at night and parents during the day. Two different worlds for a few years. That way if this does not work out it does not affect the kids and we just go back to the way it was."

"Do you think it is not going to work out?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, I hope it does, but you also hoped it would work out with Ginny. You never start a relationship thinking it is going to end, but it is a possibility and I don't want to affect the kids with our choice."

Harry looked a little uncomfortable with that statement "How much work do you have left to go through?" Harry asked, peeking over the table.

"I can put it off, what do you have in mind?" Draco said indulgently.

Harry looked over to the couch "Want to sit and talk someplace more comfortable?"

Draco stood up and offered Harry a hand up. They sat on the couch not sure what to do next. Harry awkwardly put his arm around Draco's shoulders. Draco leaned into the embrace.

"You got a letter from Freya today didnt you?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, she is doing great academically . She said some of the kids made fun of the way she eats and how she stands. I guess Ravenclaws can be pretty common. I'm trying to decide what to write back. I want to encourage her to continue being herself without putting those idiots down. I think they are just jealous of how advanced she is in her classes."

"That is absolutely your fault. Most of our kids have been top of their class. You gave them a great head start, but it puts a target on their backs." Harry explained.

"I'm not the only one, your defense classes put them so far ahead of their peers it was embarrassing to the teachers." Draco looked over to Harry "Speaking of which, I saw you got a letter from Hogwarts a couple days ago, what was that about?"

"McGonagall offered me a job. She said that since there are so few kids left, you could handle them and that I would benefit so many more kids if I became a professor. She gave me permission to come home for the holidays."

Draco scoffed, "Well that was kind of her." a heavy silence filled the air "Did you respond?"

"I haven't yet." Harry said. "I don't know what to say, it is a kind offer but now is not the right time."

"When would a good time be?" Draco asked.

"Maybe when professor Slughorn retires." Harry nudged Draco. "You are right though I would like to see where this goes. No rash decisions."

They were unsure what else to say but they did not want to move. The silence did not feel awkward, it felt comfortable. "If we stay like this much longer I am going to fall asleep." Draco said with a yawn.

"I know but I don't want to move." Harry admitted.

Draco sat upright and kissed Harry's hand, "Time for bed."

Harry nodded and they walked up the stairs holding hands. They each looked towards their rooms regretfully. Harry tightened his grip on Draco's hand and started to walk to his room. "I can't stay there, the kids would notice and I don't have my nightshirt." Draco explained as he followed behind Harry. Harry opened his door and they both walked in, Draco had not been in this room for years, not since the cribs moved out, it had not changed much in that time. "You didn't change much here, no personal items."

"Not true," Harry pointed to a wall that had different pictures and crafts the kids had made pinned to the wall. Harry pulled out two pairs of pajamas and threw one at Draco. Draco raised his eyebrow but complied, he went behind the screen and quickly changed into the borrowed pajamas. Harry changed the alarm on his clock for a half an hour earlier than normal. Harry got into the bed and pulled the covers aside for Draco to join him. Draco got into the bed that was once his, his heart raced in his chest. "I just want to spend the night with you. I promise tomorrow we can go back to normal, but just tonight stay here."

Draco nodded and Harry turned out the lights. It was a pleasant surprise when Draco felt Harry's head on his chest and his arm around his waist. They were happy even if it was just for the night, it was the happiest they could each ever remember being. Draco kissed the top of Harry's head and they both fell asleep.

Draco woke up to a strange sound, it was Harry's alarm. He knew he needed to get to his room so the four kids would be none the wiser. Harry had turned the alarm off and looked over at Draco. "Good morning"

"Good morning" Draco replied "I should probably go."

Harry nodded "See you at breakfast."

Draco grabbed his clothes and made his way down the hall unseen. The day had just started and all he could think about was tonight. He knew they would not sleep together again but he just really wanted to hold Harry. Draco got dressed and came out of the room as Hope joined him in the hall. She gave him a quick good morning wave as she went into the bathroom. Draco went down to the dining room, sausages and toast were already on the table. Kreacher came in with a large platter of fried potatoes.

"Morning Kreacher. How's the kitchen?" Draco asked.

Kreacher croaked "Good."

"Today is your day off right? Do you have any plans?" Draco asked pleasantly.

"Visiting Winky at Hogwarts."

"Nice, would it be inappropriate if I asked you to deliver a couple things to the kids while you are there?" Draco asked, pleased he might be able to send bonus care packages.

"Of course I would be happy to deliver them for Mr. Malfoy," Kreacher said as he left to get the eggs. Draco grabbed a piece of toast and left to write his letters and get packages together before Kreacher left.

Harry came into the dining room as Draco was leaving.

"I'm getting together some extra packages for Kreacher to deliver to Hogwarts, want to help while they eat?" Draco asked with a smile.

Harry grabbed a piece of toast and plopped a sausage into it, eating it like a breakfast hotdog. Phoenix came in, "Enjoy breakfast we are getting packages together to send with Kreacher if you have anything to send to Hogwarts let us know. And tell the others while you all eat." Harry said as he left the room to join Draco in the office. On the desk were a couple piles of various items. "You are not sending that," Harry said, picking up a small firework.

"McGonagall knows about it, Esme wanted it for an experiment." Draco said, pulling various items out of drawers and placing them in the little piles.

Harry picked up a broom servicing kit "You know I got one of these for my birthday, not you know just because I asked for it."

"Yes well Afton did ask for it to take care of that fancy broom you got him as a reward for getting on the team." Draco said, pulling out various sized boxes to place the items in.

"This looks like Christmas, you really are bad about spoiling the kids." Harry chided.

Draco stopped packing and looked at Harry "I didn't forget you know, that you never received mail. No care packages. It was that information that has my owl take a trip to Hogwarts everyday delivering something to one of those kids. They will never have a pompous ass give them a hard time about that. They might get teased for other things, but not for anything that I can do something to eliminate."

Harry thought back of all the packages and letters sent to the kids making each feel special and individual. Draco tried to give each kid the personalized attention they deserved. How great he treated those kids to make up for how awful he had treated Harry. He went to the other side of the desk and kissed Draco, "I know not during the day, but you deserve that one."

Draco blushed and got back to work. They sat down writing letters to each of the kids when a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in. " Draco called out. All four kids came through the door holding gifts to the other kids. "Anyone have something for Luthor?" Hope held up a letter and Phoenix held out a small bottle with clear liquid. "Phoenix, what is in the bottle?"

Phoenix looked pleased with himself, "Luthor asked me to get him some water from our lake, he said he is making a potion and it works best with water from our lake."

Draco nodded in approval and held out Luthor's box. Wrote a quick note and with a flick of his wand it was affixed to the bottle "In the future, label your potions ingredients. Anything for Faye?" Harry put his letter in Luthor's box and sealed it as they moved through all the boxes to be sent. When all six boxes were sealed Draco pulled out a bag and put all the boxes into it. "Potter, can you give this to Kreacher while I take these four to lessons."

Harry nodded and took the bag and Draco ushered the kids to the library.

"Hope, you have a couple books to start with but you can use anything in the library. I want you to write about which plants benefit being planted next to each other and why. Phoenix, disregard the books I put on your desk. I want a paper on why ingredients from different locations can be superior in potions and examples and why. Marabell, I would like your opinion on the treatment of house elves, you can use any resource you want to support your opinion. Albus"

"Draco," Marabell interrupted shyly. Draco turned to her and nodded encouragingly "Um, Mr. Malfoy, would Meek be considered a resource?"

Draco smiled a wide proud smile "Absolutely, as long as he does not mind talking to you. And I've told you, you can call me Draco if you want. You can call me whatever you want as long as I know it is me you are referring to." He turned back to Albus. "Albus I want you to write about what your favorite thing you have seen on a Muggle Monday is. Any Muggle Monday experience qualifies, it could be a song, a place we visited or something we saw. You each have till lunch to write your papers then we will move on to math."

The four kids set to work. Marabell disappeared from the room searching for Meek. Hope started going through the books on her table. Phoenix looked at the books in the potions area. Albus looked at the ceiling as he ran through his memories. Draco went to his own table and continued the work from last night.

"All down for the night" Harry reported.

"Good." Draco said distractedly while reading a paper.

"Let me guess Hope's Herbology paper?" Harry asked.

"No, actually Phoenix's potions paper. It is really good it seems he has been corresponding with Luthor, they are a good team. I should pull out Luthor's similar paper and see how much they have advanced."

"Why are you so concerned with their education? I never really understood your push for that." Harry asked while taking a paper to read.

"The better education we give them the better opportunities they have, they don't have their parents as a safety net." Draco explained.

Harry looked angry, "Like hell they don't. Any one of those kids walks through that door and says they need help. Without a moment's hesitation you will be helping them figure out a solution. They know that. They know they will always have us in their corner. And if you want proof, think about how crowded this house is at Christmas. Sixteen of them are here, because they want to be. We are their family. They take care of each other at school because they are siblings."

Draco raised his hands in surrender and they continued reading their papers. They sat quietly reading, Draco stretched his legs under the table kicking Harry's feet lightly.

"That's distracting." Harry said, putting down his finished paper.

"Oh no." Draco teased as he marked the paper.

"What did you think of the paper Marabell wrote?" Harry asked, ignoring the sarcastic reply.

"She did really well. Only a few misspellings and punctuation issues, and the content was really good. It sounded like she had a good conversation with Meek. Tomorrow I am going to ask Hope to continue her Herbology paper. It was good but I feel like she could use more time to get better information."

Harry got up and went over to the record player. He flipped through the muggle records then looked at the wizard records. Harry pulled out a record and cranked the player. Harry went over to Draco and bowed "May I have this dance?"

Draco put down the paper and stood. Harry led trying to get Draco to loosen up. It was not successful but they enjoyed it, just happy to relax a bit. "Is all your work done?" Harry asked spinning Draco.

"It is, I was just going over Phoenix's paper a second time. I should run the numbers for Cornelia tonight, but it is not time sensitive."

"All business, no fun." Harry teased.

"Am I not having fun now?" Draco countered.

"I'm not really sure you are." Harry laughed. "You know we cannot go on a real date for a few years. Are you going to be okay with that?"

"Do we really have a choice?" Draco asked.

"Yes and no. If we are being responsible we should wait, but if we are reckless we could just get a babysitter and go out." Harry said.

"Let's go on a date right now." Draco stopped dancing "Meet me outside in about ten minutes." And he left the library.

Harry stood outside looking at the stars as Draco came up behind him holding a basket. "A moonlit walk and picnic?" Draco offered.

"Best offer I have gotten in seven years. I'll follow you."

Draco led Harry around the property, they talked and strolled slowly "Are we getting too far from the house?"

"The kids are asleep and no one else can get on the property without me knowing. We won't be long, you know that." Draco led them to the lake and they sat down . Draco pulled out some desserts from the basket and a bottle of wine. Harry laid on his side and rested on his elbow.

He took a tart. "Tell me something I don't know about you."

"I'm gay." Draco said as he stretched out his legs in front of him and poured a glass of wine.

"You know I kind of figured that one out." Harry laughed. "Come on, tell me something real that I don't know."

"I have not seen my parents since a week after the battle of Hogwarts." Draco sipped his wine.

"Really?" Harry was surprised, this had not occurred to him the entire time they lived together.

"Honest truth, it's when I got the deed to the cottage." Draco took a cookie "How about you, what do I not know about you?"

Harry looked at Draco debating what to say "My cousin used to beat me up, and my school did nothing about it."

"That is a sucky school, they cared about students almost as much as Hogwarts did." Draco jabbed snidely.

"Tell me another." Harry said.

"I hated being a death eater, I really hated it. But I always knew you were safe because they were so frustrated they could not find you. Silver lining I guess."

"That is creepy and sweet." Harry said, ignoring the fact he already knew Draco didn't want to be a death eater. "Why were you concerned for me?"

"You were the only person that could take Voldermort down and I have had a crush on you for… well for a long time."

Harry smirked "How long?"

Draco looked away, "Madam Malkin's, first year."

Harry was taken aback, "You were so terrible to me."

"And you and your friends were pretty awful to me. Besides, I had a reputation I had to maintain." Draco said, still looking away ashamed. "I was trying to impress you in Madam Malkins, it kind of had the opposite effect. I tried to make up for it on the Hogwarts express, but then I got jealous of you and Ron being instant best friends, so another bad impression. When I was placed in Slytherin I hoped beyond hope you would be too. When you went to Gryffindor it felt like another nail in my coffin. Snape treated you horrible and favored me. All of it together, I could never come back from it. You hated me immediately and I hated how you made me feel. But I didn't want you dead. Your turn to share."

"I had a piece of Tom Riddle's soul in me. That's how I could see into his thoughts, a very scary place to visit. It's gone now. But I thought I was going to have to die to get rid of him and I was willing to, I kind of did."

"Wait, What? You kind of died?"

"Well Tom used the killing curse on me again and it killed his soul, somehow I survived. It was strange, it was like it was my choice to live or to be at peace. I chose to live and your mom lied to Riddle, she knew I was alive and she told him I was dead."

Draco let out a low whistle "That whole thing is so messed up, the whole situation must have felt hopeless."

"No, I could have walked away and let him win or I could sacrifice myself and save everyone else. It finally felt like I had control. I chose to meet Riddle. I chose not to fight against him and I chose to come back. It was liberating really"

"Those were pretty bad options." Draco admitted.

"It's fine, I'm over it. I moved on, life is good." Harry took a sip of wine.

"Are you sure you are over it?"

"No, but taking care of the kids helps. Speaking of which, we should probably head back to the house." Harry started to get up.

Draco repacked the basket. "I'm glad you chose to come back."

"Me too." Harry said, taking Draco's hand.

A realization came to Harry as they walked, "You didn't know my name in Madam Malkins."

"Nope." Draco said simply.

"But you had a crush on me?"

"Yeah,"

"What were you thinking when you came to my train compartment?"

"My dad had suggested I become friends with Harry Potter, it would look good for the family. When I got to your compartment I was kind of disappointed to find out you were Harry Potter. I wanted you to be just you, someone attainable. But Harry Potter seemed impossible, especially with a Weasley letting you know how awful Slytherins were. I knew you would not be in Slytherin, you had two Gryffindors as parents, how could you be, but I still hoped."

"I almost was put in Slytherin, but I had been told so many awful things about them I asked to be put anywhere but there."

Draco nodded, "I see it in you sometimes."

"What?"

"The Slytherin, there are moments where I really thought you were sorted wrong, and others where it felt so obviously like you were a Gryffindor."

"You know sometimes I see the Hufflepuff in you."

"Hufflepuff," Draco scoffed, "not Ravenclaw? What have I been doing these last seven years?"

"Putting everyone else's needs before your own."

Draco blushed at the compliment .

Harry lay on the couch, his head resting on Draco's lap. Draco was completely immersed in his book and absentmindedly stroking Harry's hair. Harry had discarded his own book a while ago.

"What is so fascinating?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.

Draco looked down to Harry, "Extinct potions ingredients."

"Sounds interesting..": Harry said sarcastically.

"It is. During the black plague, wizards did not get sick, we have better immune systems. But once they realized just how bad it was, wizards and witches decided to help. They discovered this root could save people." Draco showed a picture of the plant "They made potions and gave them to the muggles. But making that much potion made the root extinct. If it happens again, well that root is gone forever. It is very interesting, the reasons ingredients were overused and the source destroyed. Fascinating right?"

"Yeah." Harry said, indulging him.

Draco went back to his book. Harry just lay there enjoying the soothing feeling of Draco's fingers gently running through his hair.

"Are you a virgin?" The words came out as Harry thought them and he instantly regretted asking.

"Of course." Draco said, putting his book aside.

"What do you mean, of course?" Harry asked.

"It would be the highest disgrace if a child were to be born out of wedlock." Draco explained.

Harry looked at him for a moment to see if he was joking, he was not. Harry laughed, "There is so much to unpack in that sentence."

Draco looked annoyed "I am aware two men cannot have an unplanned child, I was just taught to wait till marriage. There are many good reasons to do so. Even in the wizarding world you can pass along diseases. And being intimate can give the other person power over you, never make yourself vulnerable."

Harry shook his head "Draco you are aware we have sixteen kids out of wedlock right?"

"I know." Draco said sadly. To Harry it was the first time Draco seemed to regret the decision to have raised the kids. Draco shook his head "I know," he said more brightly.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Nothing" Draco said, with a smile looking down into Harry's eyes.

"Don't lie to me." Harry said sitting up, "You are hiding something."

"I'm not hiding it, I just don't want to face it." Draco said sincerely.

"Do you regret raising the kids with me?" Harry pushed.

"No, it just cost more than I thought it would." Draco said with a touch of melancholy.

"I thought you were a great money manager and had it all figured out. You would have plenty of money even after this was done." Harry said anger creeping into his voice.

"I do have more than enough money, it's not an issue." Draco said getting up "I think I'm ready for bed."

"Running away from a conversation again?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"Yes." Draco left the room.

Harry sat there running over the conversation knowing he missed something. Knowing he messed up somewhere, just not sure where. Harry got off the couch and wished he had just continued to read his book or even shown interest in Draco's book. Harry went up the stairs and looked towards Draco's room. He didn't want to leave it this way. He knocked on Draco's door, why was Draco always running? Why was he always the one standing at Draco's door asking to talk? Harry knocked again, "Draco please talk to me." Draco opened the door. "Can I come in?"

Draco shook his head "I don't think that is a good idea."

Harry's shoulders fell "I'm sorry for pushing you, I just hate it when you don't talk to me."

"I don't always want to talk." Draco stated.

"Do you not trust me?" Harry asked, hurt.

"Believe it or not, this is not about you." Draco said, moving to close the door.

"Then will you let me in and share the burden?" Harry asked.

Draco stood there debating what to do "Harry your parents were taken from you, you had no choice in the matter. I did, I made a choice and I live with it. I do not regret it but I am allowed to be disappointed in what I gave up. Sometimes, I need time and space to process it and I rarely get that."

"I'm sorry." Harry said as Draco closed the door.

Harry went to his own room and laid on the bed. He ran over the conversation realizing Draco had given up his family to help him. The full weight of the last seven years hit Harry. Every Christmas Draco was here with their adopted family, not with his flesh and blood in their manor house. He knew it had been a long time since they had seen each other but he just thought Draco was always too busy. He didn't realize it was his sacrifice. Harry felt awful.

Harry woke up feeling worse than when he fell asleep. He could hear the kids already moving in the hall. He wished he had gotten up earlier to talk to Draco, but even now he didn't know what to say. Harry got dressed and went downstairs and into the dining room. Draco was already there sitting, he looked lost in thought.

Harry sat down across from him. Four kids came into the room, took their seats and started eating. Harry made a plate of food and put it in front of Draco taking his plate to fill for himself. Draco looked up at him appreciatively.

"Are you going to have fun on your day off?" Harry asked.

"I am visiting Cornelia, I have new workbook pages to give her. Then I will see Cassius, he wanted me to help him tinker with a new project. Warren asked me to come over for lunch, so I'll be in the ministry which means I will probably end up spending some money." Draco explained, then forced a smile "So yes I am going to have fun."

Phoenix looked at Draco, "Can I come with you?"

"You have lessons."

"I know, but I could learn a lot going with you today." Phoenix reasoned.

Draco looked like he was considering it, took a deep breath and said "No. I need to focus when I help them"

Phoenix groaned "Come on, why do you get to have all the fun. We never do anything fun."

Draco raised his eyebrows, "Really?" He looked over to Harry "Mission failed, we might as well cancel Muggle Mondays, and the field trips," Hope, Marabell and Albus glared daggers at Phoenix. "I had thought the Sunday dinners were fun but I'll let the adults know we are canceling."

Phoenix gave in, "Don't, I like all those things. We all like those things."

Draco looked at Phoenix again "You know the lessons are for your own good right?" Phoenix nodded "and you still get time to do whatever you want outside of lessons, be it flying or exploring or even just playing tag or chess." Phoenix nodded again "Good, nothing changes then. I'm glad to hear you enjoy those activities."

Hope, Marabell and Albus looked relieved.

Draco got up, Harry noticed he looked tired too. Normally he would have taken more time to explain things to Phoenix, but he just didn't seem to have the energy today.

Harry took his plate and followed Draco "You should stay home and sleep, that was out of character."

"I know. But I promised I would do these things today." Draco said. Kreacher looked over to him and took his plate. "Thanks."

"Of course sir." Kreacher said.

Harry looked over to Kreacher. He wanted to help Draco but could not with Kreacher watching. Kreacher put his rag down and quietly left the room. Harry placed his dish down and gave Draco a hug. "It's okay to take a real break. You deserve it."

Draco scoffed "What do I really deserve? If you ask The Daily Prophet I am sure they will tell you exactly what they think I deserve."

"They don't know you. These kids do, I do. We think you need a real break." Harry said.

Draco broke free from the embrace, "See you this evening."

It was strange to see him this way, Harry tried to find the word for it, vulnerable. The scariest thing for Draco was to be vulnerable and here he was. Harry was not sure if that meant Draco truly trusted him or if it was finally too much for Draco to carry.

Draco pulled the grate out of the fireplace and set it aside. Cornelia was the first to come through the fireplace. Hope greeted her with a squeal, "You're here." She pulled her into the library to show her a new project she was writing. Shortly after Cassius came through, Phoenix ran into the room hearing his voice wanting to hear all about the new invention. Phyllis and Oswald came through one after the other and made their way into the sitting room.

"We got almost all of them," Harry noted.

"Warren said he was working late today. So he will be here just later." Draco explained as they watched the groups. Cornelia had convinced Hope to join the others in the sitting room before dinner. Cornelia joined Harry and Draco "Thank you for these Sunday dinners. I'm glad we are still welcome here."

"It is your home, you are always welcome here." Draco said. "Speaking of homes, did you get the sink fixed?"

Cornelia turned bright red "No, it is spitting out ice cubes, I can't figure it out." She turned to Harry, "do you think you could fix it?"

Harry laughed "Not even a little bit. But I could ask Kreacher if he could go over to fix it. He is very handy in the kitchen. I have never had to work in a magic kitchen before so I have no clue how any of it works."

Hope came over and pulled Cornelia away again to talk about new muggle fashions. Draco had a feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched Cornelia regretfully being pulled away and he could not shake it. Warren joined the group and threw his arms around Draco and Harry "I'm here, the feasting may commence."

The group moved into the dining room. Draco looked sadly at the chair next to him, the one Freya always found her way to. He really missed her now that she was in school. Cassius sat next to Draco to talk shop. It was the one thing he could never control, the volume at the dinner table. No matter the age they were always excited to talk and eat together. Draco problem solved with Cassius, while Cornelia and Harry discussed her first non-workbook; a text book she was working with Phyllis on. Occasionally Draco glanced over to them talking as animated as the rest of the table. Warren tapped his glass with his knife and stood up "I have big news. I have officially finished Auror training today. I got the results of my test. I am going to be an auror."

The table exploded with congratulations. The excitement increased the volume for the rest of the dinner.

Draco looked at his watch, it was officially late. Tomorrow was going to be a headache. He stood up "Showers." Phoenix grumbled as he got up. "You can see them next week, time for showers and bed."

Cornelia stood up with them, "Come on guys up the stairs."

"We are old enough to wash ourselves." Phoenix said bitterly as she guided them out of the room.

"I'm heading home." Cassius said "I'm already tired." He threw an arm around Albus giving him a tight hug, "Good bye, see you next week."

The goodbyes continued before the kids went up the stairs, it was now or not tonight. The kids filed up as the adults started to go through the floo.

Warren didn't leave "I want to talk to you about something."

"Of course" Draco said "Here or the sitting room?"

"Sitting room if you don't mind." Warren followed them to the room and sat on the couch.

Draco went over to the cabinet "Want a drink?"

"I really am an adult," Warren joked. "Yes please."

Draco poured three glasses of honey mead and handed them out. "What do you want to talk about?"

"There is a ceremony for the new aurors. I get four tickets and I want both of you two to come. Do you think you could find a sitter for the four younger ones?" Warren looked uncomfortable.

"Maybe we could ask Cornelia, she was mentioning how much she missed the kids at dinner." Harry offered.

Warren looked relieved "You two never do anything together besides take care of us. I was not sure if I would make you feel uncomfortable if you were both there."

"It is purely a logistics situation that we never do anything together. Sixteen kids is a lot to juggle." Draco explained.

Cornelia came into the room "Oh Warren you're still here."

Draco held an empty glass towards Cornelia in offering, she nodded enthusiastically. Draco gave her a cup of the mead.

"We were just talking about you." Harry said.

"Oh really, what about?" She asked brightly.

"Would you mind watching the kids so Harry and Draco could come to my Auror ceremony. They both did so much to help me get to this point. I could not imagine this without the both of them," Warren said proudly.

Her smile faded a little "Of course."

Harry smiled "I was just telling them how you wanted to spend more time with the kids, this worked out perfectly."

She nodded with a smile that did not reach her eyes. Draco was unsure what to do. Warren handed the glass back to Draco "Thank you for the drink, it has been a great night, thank you for everything."

"I should go too." Cornelia said, handing Draco her glass. Draco followed Warren out to the entry and heard Cornelia ask quietly, "Harry can I talk to you?" Harry and Cornelia did not come out. Draco said goodbye to Warren as he went through the flames. He stood by the sitting room door listening. "Harry, I am only three years younger than you. I am older than you were when you started this whole craziness. I was thinking I could come back and help with the kids in a perminatate way. There are only four kids left and you and I could take care of them easily, just the two of us. I know it is Malfoy's house and he is very helpful to all of us but I think he is tired and needs a break or a vacation."

Well played Draco thought, doing it as a favor.

"Cornelia, I appreciate your concern. We both plan on relaxing a bit in a few years when all the kids are in Hogwarts. It really is sweet of you to offer though. You should enjoy your life now, do things you can do when you have no kids. Go on dates, enjoy life."

You idiot, Draco thought.

"Oh, oh, no no no no no. No." Harry said firmly. "I'm sorry, but no." Draco wanted to go into the room and see what was happening but was afraid she would blame him.

"Why? We are close in age, I love you. We can just try it out, it doesn't have to be weird."

"I don't like women." Harry said firmly.

Cornelia laughed "But you dated Ginny Weasley and you were pretty hot and heavy when you did."

"I know and I have tried it, but I don't like it. I know what I want and no woman can give it to me."

"What do you mean?" She sounded confused.

"I was with a woman and I hated it and couldn't wait for it to be over and hated myself after it. I know I do not want to be with a woman ever again." Harry said. "I'm sorry, you are perfectly lovely. But for so many reasons including the facts that I was your guardian and I am gay, this is never happening."

Draco almost didn't hear her whisper, but he did, "Malfoy". It sounded painful for her to say it.

Draco went up the stairs silently and stood in the hall. Cornelia was standing next to the fireplace. She said, "Good night Harry," and left.

Harry joined Draco in the hall after sealing the fireplace.

"You could have come in and saved me." Harry said.

"No I could not. She would have believed that it was my words, my decision, not yours. She needed to hear it from you." Draco explained.

Harry grabbed Draco's hand "Stay with me tonight."

Draco nodded and followed Harry to his room. It felt uncomfortable, Harry could feel it too.

"Out with it." Harry said once they had lain in the awkward silence long enough.

"You have been with a woman?" Draco forced out the question.

"Yes." Harry said wishing he didn't have to.

"Sooo." Draco tried to find the uncomfortable words.

"So no, I am not a virgin." Harry hoped to get it over with.

Draco stayed silent and Harry felt worse for it.

"It helped me realize who I really am. I could not pretend when my reaction was so obvious." Harry continued just so he could not hear the silence anymore.

"Who?" Draco whispered.

Harry sighed "You already know."

"Who?" Draco asked again.

"Ginny, she thought if we did it, we would get closer quicker. Make up for lost time during the war. It just ended things immediately. Her parents don't know." Harry explained.

Draco rolled over and looked at Harry "Does she know why?"

"Yeah." Harry whispered "It was hard not to notice."

"You told her you were gay after having sex with her?" Draco said "That had to suck for her."

"Yeah, it did." Harry admitted "I didn't want to hurt her. But in the end it looks like she is happy and I'm happy so it was not so bad right?" Draco nodded. Harry looked out of the corner of his eye "Do you think less of me because of it?"

Draco moved uncomfortably, "It is just different than how I was raised. My mother would have called me a slut if I had done it."

"Your mother and Molly have more in common than they think." Harry scoffed.

"You grew up in a truly muggle family so I don't know how they react to premarital sex. But in the wizarding world many families believe it is a bit scandalous." Draco explained.

Harry grabbed Draco's hand "And this" he moved it between the two of them, "is this scandalous?"

"It is not scandalous, just not common. I could walk down Diagon alley kissing you and the only reason we would get any disgusted looks would be because it is me you were kissing." Draco said sadly.

"That's not true." Harry argued.

"Your next day off, find out. Ask what people think of me. Then come back and tell me I am still wrong" Draco challenged.

"Can I fix it?" Harry asked.

"Our first meeting here, I asked you to challenge me. Remember what you said?" Draco asked

"I told you to sway the opinion the public had of the Malfoy family." Harry noted.

"And after all these years, I am still working on that challenge. What do you think you could do to fix it?" Draco asked.

"I don't know yet." Harry said "But I can try with you. And I believe you have made more progress than you think."

Draco walked out to the mini owlery in their backyard. "Not to Hogwarts this time" He stroked his handsome owl's beak. The owl responded with a light nip of Draco's finger. "I need you to take this to Cornelia." The owl grabbed the package and nipped him again. "I will give you extra treats when you get back." The owl took off and Draco watched it hoping the letter it carried would be enough to make Cornelia know nothing had changed.

Draco went back into the house distracted, his thoughts with the bird flying away. He ate Breakfast thinking about Cornelia. Taught lessons thinking about her. Even as they ate dinner he was miles away wondering if his message had truly been received. Draco sat on the steps of the house watching the night sky.

"All in bed." Harry said, sitting behind Draco and putting his arms around him. "It's okay, give her some time to process all of this."

"I know. She needs time, but I don't want to mess this up. Things were going so well, they were all connecting. It felt like a family, she is an important part of our family." Draco said, staring at the sky willing her owl to fly down and drop a letter off for them.

"That is one magic we cannot do, you know." Harry said kissing Draco on the head "You can't just make this all better. It takes time and a lot of effort."

"I am aware. That does not make it any easier." Draco looked again at the stars "Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Yeah of course. I don't want to exile her for having a crush." Harry scoffed.

"That's not what I meant. I mean this" Draco turned and looked at Harry "Is this a good idea?"

"There have been a few choices in my life that I know for sure I made the right decision." Harry explained "Facing Riddle, taking in these kids, and being with you. I will never regret these choices. Even if we break up later I will be glad to have had this. This is special and I hope it never ends."

Draco pulled Harry down into a kiss.

Draco spent the week waiting for Cornelia's owl. The kids enjoyed their distracted and shortened lessons. Sunday dinner felt incomplete without her there. Draco sent another letter letting her know they all missed her at dinner. And he was tired of Harry telling him to just "give her time". He could not think of a more tedious phrase at the moment. He knew she needed time, but he wanted to help.

His heart leapt when her owl finally flew down to meet him. "You know where the owlery is, go relax before the flight back." Draco stroked the head of the owl and it took off. Now that the letter was in his hand he was afraid to open it. He went into his office and sat down placing the letter on the desk. He straightened the letter on his desk lining it up perpendicular to the edge of the desk. He tapped his desk, it could be good news. It could be bad news. Not opening it was not going to change the news inside of it. Draco grabbed the letter and opened it

Malfoy,

Thank you for the worksheets. I worked really hard this week, I really felt the art and I got artwork for all of them done. I was thinking maybe it was time to work on some more advanced workbooks. Not quite the text book I am working with Phyllis on but more advanced than just tracing letters and numbers and basic math. I have a few ideas I would like to discuss with you. Could you come over on Wednesday so we can talk it over, around noon?"

Cornelia

Draco grabbed a quill and wrote a response

Cornelia,

I will be there Wednesday.

D.M.

Draco was able to send his brief response back with Cornelia's owl.

"Are you going to take her to lunch?" Harry asked, nervously fidgeting with the collar and chest of his robe.

"I am going to offer." Draco said, swatting away Harrys hands from adjusting his robe further "I will handle this."

Harry had played it cool all week and was now as nervous as Draco had been "Can you fix this?"

"I will try." Draco said, turning to go through the fireplace.

Draco came out into Cornelia's living room. He always liked this room. It was bright and she improved it every time she put up a new piece of her art. Draco looked at the newest addition.

"It's a bit dark isn't it?" He asked as she came into the room.

"Yeah, I was working through some stuff." She said watching him.

Draco took a seat "Where would you like to start."

"Don't patronize me. I know you know." She said, embarrassed.

"Yes, I know. But what I do not know is if you want to discuss it or if you would like to move on like it had never happened." Draco said compassionately.

"But it did happen and it was so embarrassing." She sat and threw her head into her hands.

"Okay that is a place to start. Why do you find it embarrassing?"

She looked up at him annoyed. "I told him I love him and he told me he likes guys."

"Yes, so it was nothing against you at all. The truth is he does love you, but he loves you the same way I love you, a familial love not a romantic one."

"It hurts."

"Yes, love can hurt. But you have to decide if it is something worth being around. It will hurt for a while but it can change and evolve and the hurt can become understanding. Sometimes this works. And unfortunately other times, it will never stop hurting and you need to pull yourself away from the continued pain to protect yourself."

"Have you done this before?"

"Oh yes. Both options and in my case each was the right choice for each situation." Draco said putting his arm around her shoulders giving her a hug "No matter what, I will always be here for you if you need me. You can decide you cannot take the Sunday meals and you will be missed at them. But know, the moment you ask for us, we will be there for whatever reason. Contract negotiations, I'm there. Book ideas, I'm there. Broken heart, I'm here." She could not hold it in any longer and she cried on his shoulder. He let her get it all out; he just gently patted her back. Draco handed her a handkerchief and she whipped away her tears "You are a stunning young woman, talented and clever. You will find romantic love, you are an absolute catch. Just make sure whoever you fall in love with is a perfect fit for you. He was a bad fit."

She blushed "How do I act around him now?"

"Like an adult. Just like Evelyn did after she let me know I was a terrible person. She realized I am complicated. We moved past it and we are fine now. It was a little awkward for a bit but we are fine now. And Harry wants things to go back to normal as well. The best thing to do if you want things to go back is just show up, talk, and relax. Laugh with him about it, he does not hold it against you."

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Because I know how much he cares for you." Draco explained.

"You know what the worst part is?" She sniffled "I keep asking myself what I could have changed to be right for him. And I know the answer, he told me outright. Nothing, there is absolutely nothing I could possibly change."

"Oh Cornelia, never change for a person. If someone tells you they would love you if only you were different, then they are not right for you."

"You changed for Harry." She was disappointed in his hypocrisy.

"No, I didn't. I changed because I needed to, for myself. He just happened to like the changes I made. And I keep changing, I'd like to think it is for the better. We are all constantly changing. I have become more open minded and more compassionate. You are becoming stronger with each day, your experiences help shape you but it is how you react to them that make you who you are. Right now you hurt and rightfully so, but you will move past these feelings. And I look forward to seeing what changes come next."

Cornelia took a deep breath and sat up straight. "Do you feel better?" Draco asked.

"A bit." She admitted.

"Do you want some lunch? My treat, anywhere you want to go." He offered.

Cornelia looked at his very obviously wizard robes and sighed, it limited her options. Draco pulled out a little bundle and teased "I brought muggle clothes."

She lit up "I know the perfect place. Go change." Cornelia ran into her room.

Draco changed into his suit. Harry tried often to get him to wear blue jeans, but Draco hated them. They were so restrictive and tight. Cornelia came out in a light summer dress and a pair of high heels. It was the dress Harry got her last year for Christmas. It was her go to muggle outfit if the weather permitted.

"Is this a business lunch or personal lunch?" Draco asked.

"Both." She said with a smile, it faded a little "You said you love me but how? I am too old for you to love me like a daughter."

"I love you like a sister, you are indeed too old for me to love you like a daughter, like I love Freya. But I feel like we have a very strong bond. It gets confusing because we have so many different relationships in our little family. You have full meaningful memories of your parents. You never needed us to be parents to you but you did need a guardian and we were glad to step up. So we did like a sibling taking in their sister after a tragedy. Are you comfortable with that description?"

"Yes, and does Harry think of me as a sibling?" She asked.

"That I do not know, but I think yes."

She gave a relieved sigh "Sometimes it is just nice to have a label to understand things. I think if I had known that before. It might have helped me understand my own feelings about him and this whole mess never would have happened."

"You know now. We are all learning and maybe at the next Sunday dinner we can have a discussion about it. Make sure all the kids know so they do not have the same confusion." Draco mused.

"Maybe not as a big family discussion, but personal one on one discussions." Cornelia suggested. "You know if I had known you two were an item, I never would have done anything."

"I don't want anyone to know. If something happens and we are not compatible, I don't want it to affect the kids. Besides, we are taking it super slowly."

She nodded understandingly, "Ready for lunch, big brother?" She asked brightly.

Draco offered her his arm and she took it "Lead the way little sis."

"We will be back before lunch," Draco explained.

"And we will have a celebration lunch. Then Warren is going to run off and celebrate with his friends all night. Probably in a very unprofessional manner." Cornelia finished for him.

Draco laughed, "Yes that's about the long and short of it."

"Don't worry if you can handle sixteen kids, I can handle four."

Harry came down looking rather embarrassed in his fancy new robes. They were not dress robes, but he guessed they cost as much.

"They look good." Cornelia complimented.

"They do, you look very nice." Draco agreed.

"You are only saying that because you picked them." Harry accused the both of them. They both nodded, agreeing to the accusation.

"Get going or you will be late." Cornelia said pushing the two towards the fireplace.

Harry and Draco both went through security, for Harry it was frustrating, for Draco it was just tedious. They went up to a nice presentation room sometimes used for press conferences. They sat next to each other, the chairs in the room were crammed together. Draco felt his heart lighten as Harry rubbed against him when a large man sat next to Harry. The room filled and Harry and Draco looked at the program. Draco groaned, it was not just Aurors graduating today it was for the entire Department of Magical Law enforcement. Draco did have a moment of pride though when he saw that only three people were graduating into full aurors though. A young witch saw Draco and Harry and her face lit up. "You are Harry and Draco, yes?" The two men nodded "Wonderful. I am Aurelia, a friend of Warren's. Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"Please," Draco said, gesturing to the seat next to them.

"He talks about you all the time. He told me he never would have gotten through auror training if you two hadn't helped him." She continued brightly. She chatted pleasantly to them as they waited together. The room was full now and music piped in and the room went quiet. A long line of young witches and wizards walked down the center aisle and took their seats in the front. Harry and Draco watched Warren as he proudly strode past them and gave them a quick wink. They were both sure the wink was meant for Aurelia.

Kingsley came up to the podium "Thank you all for taking the time to join us today to celebrate these young witches and wizards moving up to become protectors of our society. The department of magical law enforcement has many offices with many different specialties." Harry and Aurelia's eyes glossed over as Kingsley described the functions of the many offices and why each one was important to keeping order in the wizarding world. Draco knew all this information from when the Death Eaters infiltrated many of those offices. Finally they started to call people up to receive a badge and a pin. The room was getting fidgety and bored the longer the ceremony went. Polite claps were given as they received their items and took their seats again. Aurelia clapped enthusiastically as Warren received his and he blushed lightly. Draco allowed a little smirk as he clapped.

Kingsley ended the ceremony encouraging the graduates to enjoy their weekend because their important and difficult work starts Monday.

As the graduates found their way to the guests Kingsley made his way over to Harry and Draco. Warren had already gotten to them and was talking to Aurelia. "Long time no see." Kingsley noted.

"We have been busy" Harry explained.

"I know, and am I correct that you only have four more kids left in the house and only two more years of them being with you full time." Kingsley noted.

Draco looked at Kingsley skeptically; these were not just numbers he randomly remembered. "Correct."

"Warren was the top of his class, blew every other candidate out of the water. I have to believe that was your doing?" Kingsley continued. Harry and Draco nodded. "We need more candidates like him, would you be interested in becoming instructors?"

Draco smiled now that he had finally gotten to what he wanted "Another job offer Potter. You don't even need to look for them, they come to you."

"Another?" Kingsley asked.

"Headmistress McGonagall offered me the Defence Against the Dark Arts position." Harry answered.

"That is even better, we would get quality candidates before we even started to train them. I do hope you are considering it." Kingsley said thoughtfully.

"I still have kids at home." Harry explained.

"You are telling me Malfoy here cannot handle four kids on his own?" Kingsley scoffed "It would be easy for him, as I understand it he was taking care of all the kids that could walk while you cared for the crawlers. There are no more crawlers, Malfoy has this covered."

Draco felt his heart fall, it was perfectly logical, he had no retort.

"I don't want to right now. I started something and I intend to follow through." Harry said firmly. "Maybe in a few years, but for now, I belong there."

"Well I do hope you reconsider, Malfoy what about you?" Kingsley asked.

"I need to focus on the kids' education. It has proven incredibly beneficial to the kids once they are in school. It would not be fair to deny these last four kids just because it is almost time for them to start school."

Kingsley nodded "Well it would benefit the entire wizarding community if you both decide to become teachers, here or at Hogwarts. Have a wonderful rest of your day." Kingsley shook Warren's hand and left.

"What were you thinking? Turning down that job is crazy." Warren said once Kingsley was out of sight.

"I have more important things right now." Harry said, giving Draco a quick glance. "We should go to lunch. Aurelia, will you be joining us?"

"You don't mind?" She was pleasantly surprised.

"No, it would be an honor to have you over." Draco said.

Year 9

Harry walked into the library and placed a card in front of Draco, it was a wedding invitation to the union of Ginny Weasley and Viktor Krum. Draco looked at it, "Good for her."

Harry pointed to his name and plus one. Draco looked up questioningly. Harry nodded towards the invite. Draco looked over at the three kids watching them. "Is that the most efficient way to finish your work?" He asked pointedly. All three heads went back down and their quills scribbled away. Draco pushed the invite away "We can discuss this later."

Harry took it and left. Draco got back to making workbook pages for Cornelia. But he kept thinking back to the invite, plus one did not mean him. Marabell handed her paper to Draco "Can I go to the kitchen now?" Draco nodded. Phoenix brought up his paper and placed it on his desk and moved to the door. Draco grabbed the paper "Phoenix, come back." Phoenix groaned and came back. "You are well aware your ingredients are important to your potions so why exactly are you taking shortcuts with your Herbology?"

"Because it's boring." Phoenix said annoyed "Anything is more interesting than Herbology. Even healing is more interesting."

"I'm glad you find everything else so interesting. But if you want the best potions you want to control your ingredients." Draco got up and looked at the book shelf, he pulled out the book on extinct ingredients and handed it to Phoenix "read this."

Phoenix looked at the book and groaned but took it and left the room. Just Albus was left, Draco looked over his shoulder. "Looks good, do you want to take a break before lunch and math."

Albus shook his head knowing he would just have to finish later "I'm almost done."

Draco went back to his desk and started to read Marabell's paper. He finished both Marabell's and Phoenix's papers before Albus brought his paper over. Albus ran out of the room and Harry came in, "I thought he would never finish."

Draco grabbed Albus' paper. "Come with me," Harry said.

"I don't think I would be welcome. I'm kind of surprised you are." Draco admitted.

"What if I invite them to dinner? If it goes badly then I let them know we cannot go to the wedding."

"Harry, just go by yourself, enjoy the day. Catch up and reminisce." Draco said, trying to end the conversation.

"I want you to come." Harry insisted. Draco shook his head. "Draco, I want you to be there with me."

"Why?" Draco asked uncomfortably, putting Albus's paper on his desk a little more forcefully than he meant to .

Harry grabbed Draco's hand "Because I want to be there with you." He tried to emphasise every word, showing how important this was to him.

"Invite them to dinner." Draco gave in.

"Thank you." Harry gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Not Sunday dinner." Draco warned, "Just a normal dinner."

"Okay." Harry said about to leave the room, "are any of the kids allowed to be there?"

"Yes, the three that still live here are fine." Draco answered.

""I could ask Cornelia or any of the older kids to babysit and we could go out. I mean since you said you didn't want the younger kids to know about our relationship." Harry offered.

"What do you want?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"To live one life." Harry said and left Draco alone to think.

Cornelia came through the fireplace "This is exciting." Draco nodded but he looked like he was going to be sick. "Have fun tonight?" Draco nodded again and went up the stairs. Harry came into the entryway.

"Cornelia you're here." He gave her a hug "thank you so much for this."

"Yeah, is he going to be okay?" Cornelia looked towards the stairs "He looks unwell."

"It will be fine." Harry assured.

"So this is like your first real date right?" She asked.

Harry nodded pleased.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"The endless table."

"Very nice, I have been there a few times. It is ummm… really popular." She said concerned.

"Must have good food." Harry said.

"Yes, it does but… Harry, have you thought about how he is going to feel being there? Around so many people?"

"He goes to the Ministry and there are a lot of people there. He shops in Diagon Alley. He is not a hermit. He will be fine." Harry started up the stairs.

"Do the kids know?" Corneila asked quickly before he got too far away.

"Not yet." Harry said "Soon, I hope." Harry went to Draco's room and knocked "We should get going."

The door opened and Draco looked great, he looked in control, elegant, powerful.

Harry smiled "You don't have to do that."

"I don't know how not to." Draco said "We should go." He went down the stairs and stood by the fireplace.

The kids came to say goodbye. "The meeting will probably take a while. We will be back after the kids are asleep. You can stay in your old room if you like and just leave in the morning." Draco said, his tone like he was in negotiations.

Cornelia was surprised to see Draco's demeanor so changed "See you after your meeting." His hugs were stiffer than normal.

Albus looked confused after his hug with Draco. Harry gave him a hug and whispered "He is just getting ready for the meeting, he will be back to normal tomorrow.""

In Diagon Alley Harry led the way to the restaurant, he tried to hold Draco's hand but Draco avoided it. People watched them as they walked. He had experienced this before but never quite like this. Draco acted like he did not notice the looks. They got to the Endless Table. "Draco, please relax." Harry whispered.

Draco followed Harry in "We have reservations for four under Potter."

The host nodded "Your guests are here." She was giddy as she took them to the table. She looked at Krum "Can I get you a refill of your drink?"

Ginny looked peeved. Krum looked at his mostly full glass confused and shook his head.

She left and Draco and Harry sat. "Congratulations on the engagement" Harry said. Ginny and Viktor nodded appreciatively.

The table was tense. "I hear you are taking care of orphans?" Krum broke the silence.

"Yes, we had seventeen to begin with but only three live with us full time now." Draco answered.

Krum turned to Draco, "That is a lot of kids."

"Yes I do not recommend it." Draco said. Harry kicked Draco under the table. Draco stood up "I'm Sorry I have to use the washroom. Please excuse me." He left the table and Harry followed.

Draco looked at himself in the mirror.

Harry came up behind him and hugged his back. "I'm sorry. I should have eased you into this."

"I can't do this. I cannot pretend everything is okay when you can so clearly see how despised I am. When I am on my own, I can deal with this. But I hate you seeing this. I don't know what to do." Draco said, looking at Harry in the mirror.

"You can, just be yourself and not this, you don't have to be this." Harry kissed his neck "Take the armor off, show them what a great dad you are, what a great person you are."

"You mean show them how weak I am." Draco said coldly.

"I don't think you are weak. A weak man could never have taken in seventeen kids. A weak man would not have learned to braid hair or studied for Cassius' crazy inventions to make them work. A weak man would have decided it was not their problem. A weak man could not comfort Cornelia when her heart was breaking. Or encourage Phyllis to stand proud and make friends. You are by no means weak. You are wonderful and strong and you hold our whole family together."

Draco gave a weak smile, "Thanks."

Harry let go of his back and held his hand "Can I introduce you as my boyfriend?"

Draco looked worried but nodded. Harry's smile was brilliant and made Draco give a genuine smile back. Harry held his hand and they walked out of the washroom together. Draco knew people were staring and whispering, a few even pointing. Harry did not care and pulled Draco even closer to him as they walked. They got to the table "Ginny, Viktor. I know you both know Draco, we are dating."

Viktor looked from Harry to Ginny and let out a little laugh. "This is why you told me you would never get back together with him?"

Ginny sighed and rubbed her face "Yes, I told you we wanted different things."

Draco raised a finger, "Technically you wanted the same thing." Ginny and Harry both turned red.

Viktor looked at Draco and laughed harder pulling him to a hug "Sit, let's talk. Obviously I have a lot to catch up on."

Draco and Harry took their seats once again. "Did you already order?" Draco asked.

"No, we waited for you." Ginny said "We should probably decide though." They lifted their menus. Their waiter was as starstruck as the hostess. Harry held Draco's hand under the table, it helped. Draco felt more at ease feeling Harry's supportive squeezes.

As Draco ate his steamed pudding he felt relaxed. Harry took a thoughtful bite of his tart, he was not sure how to ask the question that needed to be asked.

Ginny spoke up "We kind of expected your RSVP by now." she took a deep breath "Will the two of you be able to join us?"

Draco looked up from his dessert, surprised "You don't mind me being there?"

"I hate your aunt, I hate your father, but I don't hate you. I still love Harry, as a brother," She raised her hand before anyone could say anything 'a complicated brother, but I realize now that is what it is. And you make him happy, happier than I have ever seen him. I have lost enough, I want my brother back and this means I accept his boyfriend as well. So will you come? Even Ron and Hermione are coming all the way back from Australia to be here for it. And you still have a couple months to work out the kinks"

"Please come, celebrate with us." Viktor encouraged.

Draco nodded just enough for Harry to see.

Harry pulled the filled in RSVP card out of his pocket and slid it across the table "We would love to be there."

"Wonderful, three of the champions will be together again, but not competing, all winning." Viktor said, pleased with a touch of melancholy.

"We need to get home." Draco said "We have never been away from the kids this late at night."

Ginny smiled "You really care about them don't you?"

"Oh my god, you need to come over and visit when Freya is home. She used to crawl into his lap, and he still lets her braid his hair, with ribbons. It is…" He looked over at a blushing Draco "Just the best. Those kids are his whole world."

"No, my family is my whole world." Draco corrected "And we really should get to them. See you at the wedding."

Draco and Harry left the restaurant. Harry held Draco close as they walked out together.

The owl tapped on Draco's window. He opened it and the owl dropped the Daily Prophet on his bed, Draco slipped the coins onto the pouch on it's leg. The owl took off and Draco sat on the bed and opened the paper. There were pictures of Harry and Draco at the table with Ginny and Viktor and Harry and Draco leaving holding hands. The pictures actually looked really nice but he was not pleased to see them. His stomach fell as he read the paper. Draco quickly walked down the hall and knocked on Harry's door. He nervously tapped his leg with the newspaper waiting for the door to open. He knocked again, his heart pounding. The door opened "What's wrong?" Harry asked, looking at a panicked Draco. Draco handed the paper over to Harry.

"Nice pictures." Harry commented before reading. "Oh, that is not very kind." Harry commented as he read.

"Open the fireplace" Warren yelled from the entryway. Draco looked like the world was crashing around him.

"It's okay." Harry reassured "Let's open the fireplace, I'm sure we are going to have a full house. Do you want to warn Kreacher?"

"Yes." Draco and Harry went down the stairs together, splitting at the base.

Cassius was now also in the fireplace trying to get Warren out of the way. Harry pulled the grate out and Warren and Cassius tumbled out of the fireplace.

"What the heck." Cassius said angrily "Were you ever going to tell us?" Warren looked angry but let Cassius do all the talking. "We lived here for years and it never once occurred to you to mention you are fucking?"

"Watch your mouth." Draco said as he came into the room. Warren suddenly looked ashamed. "No one said anything about that at all."

"Then what is this?" Warren asked "and how long has whatever this is, been going on?"

"Calm down and come in for breakfast." Draco said "We will explain when the others get here, I'm sure it won't be long." The younger kids came down and instantly became excited their older brothers were there. Cornelia came down and was surprised to see the others till Draco handed her the paper.

"Oh." She said as she sat and read. Phyllis, Oswald and Evelyn all made their way to the dining room as well as a couple owls bearing letters. The first of which came from Ginny apologizing for the article and how she never even saw a camera. She said she was currently writing a strongly worded letter to the Daily Prophet to give them a piece of her mind. Another letter included all the kids from Hogwarts insisting to come home right away to discuss this. Harry handed that letter to Draco "Can we even do this?"

"I don't know, it is Saturday, they would not be missing any classes and it is kind of a big thing for the family."

"Bring them, now. Let's have this talk." Cassius said angrily.

"Harry, can you send a patronus to McGonagall?" Draco asked.

Harry left the room to summon his patronus. Owls flew in from witches and wizards they had never met. Draco patiently read their letters as the rest of the table ate.

A very stately owl flew in and Draco looked resigned as soon as he saw it. The room became very silent as the red envelope was placed in front of Draco. The owl snaped at Draco with its beak before leaving. Draco used a napkin to wipe the blood off and stood up, took the envelope and left the room, left the house and stood on their lawn as he opened the seal and the howler started to scream at him.

"How could you? You are a disappointment. I cannot believe this is how you repay me for everything I have done for you. I lied to Voldemort to find you and this is what I get? Can you drag our name through the mud any further? I should have told the truth and this would not be happening. First you cast your lot with those mudblood children, then you betray your father and now this? Everything I have done trying to get our name respected again has been destroyed in one night because you decided to be a little slut. You are a blood traitor, that is what you are. Do me a favor and just disappear so at least I do not have to deal with the blowback of being associated with you. You chose him so make it clear you are not a Malfoy. I had hoped you would come crawling back begging forgiveness, but nothing you could do now could ever make me forgive you. You are dead to me. " Draco stood there, his heart breaking all over again. He turned and saw all sixteen kids standing in the door, not laughing but hurting with him. He gulped and walked back. Harry ordered the kids back to the house and without hesitation they left.

"I'm sorry." Harry said to the broken man before him, pulling him into a hug. His robe suddenly wet from Draco's tears. "I'm so so sorry."

Draco pulled back and wiped his face. "It's fine, I expected it as soon as I saw the paper." Draco took a deep breath.

"It's not fine." Harry said.

"No, it's not. But it is what it is and it cannot be changed." Draco said firmly.

"Are you ready to talk to the kids?" Harry asked.

Draco gave a weak smile "no, but we need to anyway." Draco led the way into the sitting room. The loud room was suddenly silent. All eyes followed the two men. "A few things before we start. This will be a respectful conversation, we will take turns speaking and control our volume." Draco took a seat on the couch.

"How long has this been going on? " Warren started the conversation

"This is the first time we have gone on a real date." Harry answered "but we have been exploring our feelings for about two years. Only after everyone else is asleep. If this didn't work out we didn't want it to affect you. We were trying to protect you. I honestly did not think just going out on one date would reveal everything."

The kids digested the new information.

"Are you going to get married?" Albus asked.

"We are not close to that yet." Draco said with a smile "We are still working on things."

"Like what? " Albus continued.

Getting to know each other better. " Draco explained.

"What did she mean in the howler?" Phyllis asked.

Warren raised his hand. "Draco turned in information that led to his father being put in prison. It was like the first day we were here. Draco turned in everyone he had information about to protect us. " He looked guiltily at Draco, "sorry, I looked at the file at work."

Draco gave him an understanding nod.

Oswald looked at Draco "That is what you did that night after Goyle showed up?"

Draco nodded again.

Harry spoke up " When I fought Riddle - Voldemort, Narcissa lied and told him I was dead. This allowed me to eventually end the war. I guess it is a decision she now regrets."

"What is a blood traitor and a mudblood?" Albus asked.

"Those are very bad words and she was very naughty for saying them." Draco explained. "Not only are they naughty but they are lies." Draco paused trying to explain it the best way "There are some people who believe, wrongly, that if a witch or wizard is born into a muggle family they have dirty blood, mudblood, and that they are magically inferior. This is incorrect, and has been proven incorrect. A witch or wizard is one no matter their background. And their skill is not based on how pure their blood is."

Albus still looked confused "who are the mudbloods you left her for."

"We are," Cornelia said, hurt.

"You cannot be something that does not exist." Draco reasoned. "But yes she is an ignorant woman and she was calling all of you a bad name because she is mad at me."

"Who is she?" Albus continued.

"My mother," Draco admitted.

"Your mother is a bad person? " Albus tried making sense of all this.

"Yes, she is. And my father was too. And they tried very hard to make me like them and they almost succeeded. But I realized how bad they were and I left." Draco said regretfully. Every kid that had gone to Hogwarts got a version of this talk from Draco. It was hard everytime he gave it. He tried not to minimize his role in the war, but it was hard to admit you were part of the problem. It was a surprise for the older kids though because Draco never really spoke about his parents before. He had always taken full blame for his actions.

Harry spoke "Your father is in prison?"

"Yes."

"You sent him there?"

"I helped, yes. It is the reason my parents don't speak to me. I gave the ministry all the information I had including information on my parents. To keep my mother safe he in turn gave all the information he had. But he still had to go to prison." Draco explained.

"How did I not know?" Harry asked.

"You don't like the Daily Prophet. Other than shopping, we have essentially insulated ourselves from the world." Draco explained.

The room fell silent again.

"I still don't understand why you had to hide your relationship from us." Oswald said hurt.

Draco looked over at Harry then back at the kids "If we break up it will affect you. We didn't want it to affect you. The plan was that once all the kids were in Hogwarts we could really explore the relationship fully, not just at night while grading papers or taking walks. We could go on real dates and see what we were when we were like as a couple, not just parents. We have happily dedicated all of our time to this family. Right now we don't know who we are outside of it. And we don't know if it can last once we have time to actually go all in on a relationship." Draco looked over to the window "We have company."

Harry walked to the window to see a lime green robe walking down their driveway. "Damn." Harry whispered. He turned to the room "A reporter is here. Until we tell you to, do not talk about anything at all that you would not say if she was in the room. She might actually be even if you cannot see her. And she twists things to get the story she wants to write. We will try to take care of her"

"What do we talk about?" Freya asked.

"Talk about school, Muggle fashion, braiding techniques" he gave Freya a wink "visit with each other. Just for now don't talk about this current situation. Until we tell you it is safe, nothing you say is private." Draco emphasised.

"Can we help?' Warren asked.

"Yes" Draco ran out of the room and came back carrying a basket of jars. "If you see a beetle and you can catch it for sure, catch it. If you think it will get away, make an excuse to call Harry or I into the room with you."

"She is an animagus?" Warren asked.

"Yes, an unregistered animagus." Harry said bitterly.

Warren smiled "Let's catch her then I can turn her in."

Harry looked over at Draco and teased "Your Slytherin is rubbing off on him."

Draco looked over to Warren proudly. "Good, it will benefit him in his job." The kids all tucked their jars into their pockets

Harry opened the door once they heard the knock.

"Rita Skeeter, I should have expected you." Harry said icily.

"I can help you, you know. I could write a piece from your side. I have helped you in the past. You remember, when you named Lucius Malfoy as a death eater." She watched Harry and Draco's reactions, they gave her nothing. Her nose twitched annoyed. "Well I came to help and it seems you do not want my help."

"You did not come to help, you came to stick your nose into other peoples business and craft a story you think will sell well. No thank you." Harry said.

"I give the people what they want." She bit back.

"You keep telling yourself that. You would be better as a fiction writer because everything you write is lies." Draco said.

"You didn't mind making up lies for me during the Triwizard Tournament." She said with a smile.

"Yeah and then I grew up. What the heck are you doing still playing that old game?" Draco scoffed. Evelyn came out and tapped Draco on the shoulder. She opened a book she had her finger slipped into and handed it to Draco. Draco read the passage she was pointing out. He could not be more proud of her. "I don't want to play games anymore. We both know you are an illegal Animagus, it never occured to me why you would not just become a legal animagus. But that is because you could no longer work in the press. They call it a conflict of interest. Essentially you are spying on people and then reporting on it, it's illegal."

"You have no proof." She said worriedly, "Other than the frizzy haired girl, no one has ever seen me transform."

Warren walked up. "But you just admitted to it in front of an auror. I have to take her in, do you mind if I use your fireplace, I think it will be easier than fighting with her while apperating." She started to run and tried to apparate but failed. Warren shot a stunning spell at her.

"Of course." Harry and Draco stepped aside letting him collect the twitching woman.

"I will be back when I can. And I understand, finish talking with the others." Warren said as he threw the floo powder into the fireplace.

Harry and Draco went back into the sitting room. "Thank you Evelyn, well done." Harry said, collapsing into a chair.

Phoenix looked at his bottle disappointed, "I wanted to catch the beetle."

"I'm relieved we didn't have to run around the whole house searching for her." Draco noted taking a seat himself. "That woman is vile." He shook his head "Do you have any other questions?"

"I think we all get it, you were scared and then someone took the choice of when to tell us away." Rowan summarized.

"That's about it." Draco admitted.

"Now that the drama has ended can we just go play?" Afton asked.

"Go, play." Harry said, waving his hand towards the door.

The room fairly emptied only a few stayed behind

Draco looked around the room and got back up "I need to go think." He left Harry and the others behind.

"What does he have left to think about?" Cassius asked.

"I am guessing hearing his mother tell him he is dead to her took more of a toll on him than he would have liked. He tries to act like he feels nothing but we all know that is a facade." Harry said "Any ideas on how to turn the tide of opinion about him in the public?"

Cornelia looked over to Phyllis who nodded "We have had a few projects together one of them we called "Growing Up in the House of Malfoy". It is stories, a history of sorts of our years here. We have been collecting stories from everyone for a while. At first it was just remembering funny stories like when you tried to teach Draco how to drive. But then we started remembering other stories like you two protecting us from those crazy muggles. And that time Draco came to Hogwarts and gave Slughorn a reality check on what Slytherins needed because of all the bullying. The stories of late night lessons with Warren to teach him his Patronus or Occlumency. How every year he still sends an invitation to Silas to join us for Christmas. We just started writing and remembering and they are all good. We were thinking of organizing it better and giving one to each of you for Christmas. But this might be a better use of it. No one knows Draco better than us and if this helps him then I think we should offer it to the public." Phyllis nodded in agreement.

"Can I help you with it? I would love to surprise Draco with this." Harry said.

Cornelia looked around the room at those that stayed. "Will you all help?" It was a unanimous yes.

Draco looked around the table suspicious of everyone. They had been acting strangely since the Daily prophet article two months ago. But tonight they all seemed to be having whispered conversations. Aurelia and Warren looked conspiratorially at Draco as they quietly chatted. Draco took a bite of his stew, Freya had not looked at him at all since she arrived for break this afternoon. She gave him a hug when she got there, a good tight hug, but not even a glance since. Harry cleared his throat, the room got quiet "Um Cornelia you have something to tell the family?"

Cornelia stood up nervously and looked towards Draco "I'm sorry I have been too busy to work on the newest workbook the last couple months. I had another project I felt it was important to complete. I used everything you taught me and I hope you are proud of me. I negotiated the deal on my own, I know you probably could have done better but I wanted to surprise you. We wanted to surprise you." She bent down and pulled a book out of her bag and handed it to Draco. She was so nervous the book was shaking slightly.

Draco accepted the book and read the cover. "Living with Draco and Harry, the story of seventeen orphans". Draco opened the book dedicated to all our parents, they sacrificed so we could live a better life.

Draco quietly read the table of contents.

Everyone watched hoping the silence was a good thing.

"Thank you" Draco forced out though his throat was tightening.

Freya got up and ran over to him, giving him a big hug "They told me I could not spoil the surprise."

"You all wrote this together?" Draco asked.

Cornelia looked a little more calm "Yes, we all worked together. Thank you for everything you have given for us."

Draco found himself in the middle of a giant group hug. The night was emotional as they moved into the sitting room and Draco read their favorite stories. Draco handed Harry the book when he could no longer read. Harry read the book and looked at the pictures, they laughed, and cried and had a great night. Albus fell asleep on the floor.

"We should call it a night." Harry said picking Albus up, he would not be able to do that soon, nine year old boys were heavy. They moved to their beds, the adults staying in the sitting room till Harry and Draco got back from putting the others down.

"Do you really like it?" Phyllis asked.

"I do, this is the best gift I have ever gotten. How long has it been out?"

"Two weeks" Cornelia admitted "we wanted to get the Christmas rush. Most of it was already written. Phyllis and I had been working on it all year. We just had not considered publishing it until it was clear everyone needed to know who you really are."

"How did I not realize?" Draco asked.

"I convinced you to get rid of the Daily Prophet till this all settled down. Then I took care of all the book shopping for christmas. And I was sorting through all the mail because of all the hate mail we had been receiving" Harry explained.

"Good job guys, you really surprised me. I knew something was going on but I never would have guessed this." Draco commended "How are the profits?"

"So far the best selling book of the season." Evelyn said happily "and we are splitting the profits nineteen ways. So you know we don't get a lot each. But it is something."

"Nineteen?" Draco asked.

"Well all seventeen of us kids, then you and Harry." Oswald explained.

Draco smiled "You are splitting the profits with Silas?"

"Yeah, and he has not sent them back so I guess he doesn't mind." Warren noted.

"We uh, we got a large influx of mail. If you want to go through it." Harry said.

Draco looked at the group "It is your book, should we look at them?"

They nodded and Harry started to pull bags of mail out of his room and down the mail party lasted till the morning. They read all the letters but only read out loud the parts they really liked.

"Draco," Phyllis said uncomfortably. She held a letter out for him to take. "I cannot read this one."

He took the letter and recognized the handwriting immediately. It was short

Draco,

You are forgiven for embarrassing me. But you still have a lot more work to do for me to ever welcome you again."

Narcissa Malfoy.

Draco laughed and threw the letter over his shoulder. They looked at him awaiting an explanation "Just someone who thinks they are more important than they really are."

When the last letter had been read, they filed into the fireplace and went home to get some sleep.

"The kids will be up soon." Harry reminded Draco.

"I know. But I want to enjoy this. Most of those letters were very positive." Draco sighed happily. "They gave me the gift of acceptance. Not just from these strangers but that they cared enough about me to help me. I am truly accepted for who I am."

"And do you know who that is yet?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I am a good dad, a good brother and a good boyfriend. I am a good man. It just took a long time to get there and it only happened when I stopped trying to be someone else." Draco said with satisfaction. He turned and looked at Harry "Did you know that I love you?"

Harry smiled "Yes" He gave Draco a kiss "Do you know that I love you"

"I did, but it is nice to hear it." Draco said, kissing Harry back.

"You look amazing," Harry said when Draco stepped out of his room. His black robes were trimmed in grey.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself." Draco replied appreciating Harry's new green trimmed dress robes.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded and went down the stairs together holding hands. Draco had to admit it was nice to not have to remember when it was safe to show affection. Oswald and Phyllis were at the base with the three kids.

"Have fun." Phyllis said.

"Oh don't forget this." Oswald held out their wedding gift. "That would have been embarrassing."

"Thanks" Harry grabbed the gift and together they walked out past the apperation barrier.

Draco took Harry's arm as he guided the apparition. The Burrow looked transformed, lights covered it and they went to the tent that was set up in the yard. George came over. "Let me show you to your seats." He took them to their seats "Just so you know I am getting a lot of mail from a certain young lady named Esme. she's a clever girl, she wants to get in the action at Weasley Wizard Wheezes. She is expressing concern you will not approve of this career choice."

Harry sighed "Are her ideas any good?"

George snickered, "Well, she is creative, I think she would do well as an apprentice."

Harry nodded "She still has a couple years left at school. But thank you for the warning."

"I shall talk to you after the ceremony '' He said with mock pomposity.

The tent filled as more guests arrived. Aunt Muriel sat next to Harry, this was a special kind of torture. Draco listened to her moaning about everything. That her goblin made tiara was not good enough for little Ginevera. That the bridesmaid was weird. How she could not believe so many of the kids married foreigners. Draco was patient as he switched seats to listen to her babble on. Harry looked around the tent waving at old friends, wanting to get up and visit but knew that could happen after the ceremony. After the seats were filled, the music started. Viktor came out and stood next to the officiant. Victoire threw petals as she walked down the aisle. Luna came behind her holding the arm of a nice looking Bulgarian man. They split as they reached the front. Ginny walked down holding Arthur's arm, she looked lovely. She gave her father a kiss on the cheek as he took his seat. The ceremony was beautiful and shortly after the party started.

Harry and Draco sat at a table watching people mingle.

"Go say hi, you know you want to." Draco nudged Harry.

"Come with me?" Harry offered.

"If you insist." Draco got up and followed Harry around visiting with old friends.

Harry found Ron "How is Australia?"

"Bit hotter than England." Ron glanced at Draco.

"Where is Hermione?" Draco asked, looking around.

"She went to get a couple pictures of Ginny" Ron explained "So it wasn't a joke?" Ron pointed at Harry and Draco "I thought maybe it was a joke, pretty cruel joke."

"Not a joke." Harry said disappointed. "How have you been?"

"Fine, living in Australia. Friends with my girlfriend's parents whose memory she erased and they just think we are this sweet couple they randomly became friends with. My life is great. It does not rip my girlfriend's heart out to know she did that to her parents and she cannot figure out how to fix it. And if she ever does, how can she explain it to them that they didn't know her for ten years, that she took ten years of their lives so she could save their lives. And one of the guys she was fighting is now dating her friend. It really shows how much you care about her sacrifice."

Hermione came up smiling "Harry you came." She gave Harry a hug. She looked over at Draco and hugged him too. It was so tight it was uncomfortable. She pulled back "Sorry, I recently heard about everything you did. It must have been so difficult to send your father to prison." Ron looked surprised at this news.

Draco swallowed "Actually it was not very hard at all. I was trying to protect the children in my care. I wish I had that courage earlier. Having my mother disown me, that was hard. But I only occasionally get letters from her reminding me what a disappointment and an embarrassment I am. But we are not here for that. The wedding was beautiful wasn't it?"

Hermione laughed while wiping away a tear "It was. I heard you got stuck with Muriel. Oh goodness it must have been quite the commentary."

Draco laughed "Yeah she has a lot of opinions. Personally I think she was focusing on the wrong things. Ginny seems very happy, Viktor seems happy and now they are married. It was perfect."

"It was perfect. Victoire was a lovely flower girl and Luna was very tame for Luna. Ginny's dress was gorgeous." Hermione gushed.

Ron watched them talking, wanting to be angry but Hermione seemed so happy. He looked over at Harry who was just enjoying listening to the conversation. Ginny and Viktor came out for their first dance. After the dance everyone came out to dance.

"Hermione, would you do me the honor of joining me in this dance?" Draco asked. She nodded and took his hand leaving Harry and Ron.

"I wanted to punch you when I heard. Malfoy. You left my sister for Malfoy." Ron said angrily.

"I didn't leave her for him. I left her because I tried to love her, but it never felt right. I tried so hard to love her like a girlfriend but really she is like my sister" Harry said "She is perfect, I just was not right for her."

"She is too good for you." Ron said.

"I know." Harry agreed.

"Why Malfoy?" Ron asked.

Harry sighed "How much time do you have?"

Ron laughed, "Really, that bad?"

"Yeah, that bad. I love him." Harry said watching Draco and Hermione dance. Draco was leading her in one of his complicated old dances, and she laughed as she followed his lead.

"Did he really change?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure if you can take seventeen kids under your wing and not change." Harry said "He offered, I didn't ask him. The moment he found out what I was doing he was making a plan to make it work."

Draco and Hermione came back from the dance, Hermione laughing as they came "How old is that dance?"

"Two hundred years old." Draco said as they joined the men that had been watching them.

"Why do you even know it?" Hermione asked

"I had, uh, quite the education." Draco said uncomfortably.

"Well it was a lot of fun." Hermione said, grabbing Ron's hand.

"It was my pleasure." Draco bowed and turned to Harry "Harry, would you like to dance?" Draco offered his hand.

"Always" Harry said, joining him on the dance floor. They moved to the music. Harry leading, holding him close as they moved in small circles. "Thank you for coming." He whispered in Draco's ear

"It is getting harder and harder to say no to you." Draco admitted.

"Good, that means you trust me." Harry said.

"Does it?" Draco asked, thinking about it. It could just mean that he gave Harry power over himself. Something his parents would say was foolish. Trust or power, either way he didn't really mind. He liked giving in to what Harry wanted.

Draco felt a tap "Can I cut in?" Ginny asked. Draco stepped out of the way and Ginny took his place. "You two look good, you make a handsome couple."

"Thanks, no hard feelings?" Harry said.

"No, it was for the best. I'm glad you decided to be honest with me before we made a really stupid mistake. Plus I found my love. So it worked out well for me." She looked over at Draco sitting alone at their table "How about you? Is it working out well for you?"

"It is. It has complications, but they are worth it." Harry said

"The book was genius. I have never seen public opinion turn so quickly. I guess information helps." She said with a smile.

"Yeah I get the feeling Ron didn't read it." Harry said somberly.

"I'll give them a copy before they go home. How about the rest of the wedding guests, are they treating you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah no problem. And as for your wedding, it is perfect. Thank you for inviting me." He said as the song ended.

"Keep the owls coming." She said as she moved on to talk to someone else.

Harry found Draco at their table. A few people made their way over to visit with Harry.

"Harry, how are you?" Luna asked, sitting at their table.

"Good and you?"

"Quite satisfactory. I enjoyed your book, well I guess it is the kids book isn't it?" She looked at Draco "They must really love you to have written it."

"The feeling is mutual." Draco said.

"What comes next?" She asked "Once the kids are gone most of the year?"

"Still figuring that part out. Funny thing we only planned ahead seventeen years." Draco teased.

Luna smiled, "You can have a life outside of the children, many of which are no longer children."

"As you could see in the book even after they are adults we are still very active in their lives." Harry said.

"You are more than just parents." She said getting up to go dance with herself.

"Do you get the feeling everyone thinks we are idiots for helping those kids?" Draco asked.

"A bit, it feels like they are saying, it was so noble of you to take them but really you didn't have to give up your life for them." Harry agreed. "I think we removed ourselves from the world a little too much."

"Yeah, want to get some more food?" Draco asked.

They got up and went to the buffet table. "Harry dear, we were so glad you could come. We have missed you." Molly said when she saw him, she filled his plate up with delicious food "I had always hoped you and Ginny would get back together, but I see there was a very large reason that was not going to work out."

"Sorry to disappoint you Mrs. Weasley." Harry said.

"No, I just wish we had known earlier, Percy is gay too." Molly said politely.

"Oh I had not heard that, we don't talk often." Harry said uncomfortably.

"You know you are always welcome in the family." She said with a smile.

"Thanks Mrs Weasley." Harry said, taking his full plate and leaving.

Draco followed him dumbfounded, they sat down together. "Did that just happen? I mean did I interpret that correctly?"

"Yes" Harry said "I think you did, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I just didn't want to cause a scene at Ginny's wedding."

"They really hate me." Draco said looking at his empty plate.

Harry took a tiny sandwich and held it up to Draco's lips. "I don't hate you." Draco took the offered bite.

A mortified Percy came to their table "I'm so sorry, I just found out what my mother said…" He stood there with his mouth hanging open in disbelief "I'm so sorry. You know how stressed she gets about weddings, I mean I missed the last one but I heard stories. She was very out of line, thank you for not making a scene, she would have deserved it but it would not be fair to Ginny."

Draco laughed "Have a seat?"

"Thank you. God this wedding has been miserable." Percy vented.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Well I spent the better part of a week being reminded that I did not come to Bill's wedding. I have been run ragged cleaning and setting up. And just about ten minutes ago my mother spilled wine on my boyfriend and when he went to clean it up casually let me know you were here and happen to be gay as well. I got the story out of her and had to decide if I should chase after my boyfriend or express an apology for the actions of my whole family."

"You chase after your boyfriend," Draco said firmly, "Go."

"Why are you still sitting?" Harry asked "The longer you wait the more rightfully angry he is going to be."

Percy stood up "Thank you, once again, I'm sorry." and he left.

"This family is insane." Draco stated.

"Yeah, I think I dodged a stunner on this one." Harry said, rubbing his face at the absurdity of it all. They ate the food on Harry's plate and watched the people at the party. The party started to thin as it got late, Viktor and Ginny came by again. Ginny grabbed some of the food still left on Harry's plate.

"I'm starving." Ginny said, handing Viktor a sandwich.

"Why didn't you eat?" Draco asked, concerned.

"Everytime we tried Molly told us to do something else, entertain someone else, pictures, dancing." Viktor said, frustrated.

Harry pushed what was left on the plate towards them. "Enjoy."

"Thank you" Ginny looked ravenous as they split the plate.

"It's a good thing my mother won't be at any wedding I have, this would be child's play" Draco said pitying the two before him.

"I should never have let her plan it." Ginny said "She just kept guilting me 'My only daughter, how could I not plan a perfect wedding for her.' It is just crazy, this is not the wedding I would have planned."

"My parents didn't care as long as we were happy." Viktor said worn out.

"You should go to bed." Draco suggested.

"We can't, not till every guest has left, then we need to clean." She looked like she was going to cry.

"We will take your place cleaning" Draco offered "Once everyone else is gone, just leave and we will take care of your mother."

"I could kiss you." Ginny said, exhausted.

"Save that for this guy." Draco said, patting Viktor on the shoulder. Finally enough people left and Ginny and Viktor waved goodbye to Harry and Draco before disappearing. They started to clean with the rest of the Weasley's. Draco asked if Kreacher and Meek could help and Harry disappeared too.

"Where is Ginny?" Molly asked.

"On her honeymoon." Draco said.

"What, she was supposed to help." Molly yelled.

"Well she is gone, I told her I would clean in her place."

"Who gave you the right to do that? You are ruining everything." Molly said angrily.

"Mom, Ginny was tired." Percy defended.

"But,"Molly said.

"The boys are right, Ginny should not have been expected to stay and clean" Arthur said "We didn't on our wedding night."

Harry showed up with the two House elves and got to work cleaning. Hermione stormed over to Harry "House elves, really?"

"I offered them a bonus if they came and helped, they agreed." Harry said, folding chairs and putting them away.

"Bonus?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I told them I would give them an extra galleon if they helped." Harry said as he went back to get more chairs "If you are going to follow me could you at least help with the chairs?"

Hermione folded a few chairs and walked with Harry to put them back "How much do they normally get paid?"

"You have to ask Draco, money is his department. I think it is a galleon a week and room and board." Harry said.

Hermione scoffed "Room and board. Sleep under the oven and have our leftovers. More like."

Harry stopped walking "No, they each have their own bedroom, they share a bathroom that is just theirs and Kreacher makes enough food that they get their own portions. Draco has encouraged them to join us at the dinner table for years but they always decline." Harry was getting angry "You don't know, so don't assume." He put the chairs away and helped with stuffing the table cloths into bags to be cleaned.

Hermione found her way over to Draco who was helping Benjamin, Percey's boyfriend, cleaning dishes and putting them into crates to be picked up tomorrow.

"Malfoy," she said sternly, "Why do you have house elves?"

"Because taking care of seventeen kids is difficult. I could either take care of their basic needs or hire house elves and help them thrive. I chose to hire help." Draco said, not stopping washing the dishes.

"How much do you pay them?" Hermione asked.

"As much as they want." Draco said "Currently a galleon a week, two days off a month and their own rooms. Kreacher is in charge of the kitchen, Meek is in charge of the rest of the house. Kids clean their own rooms. Every year I try to renegotiate but they are quite happy with our arrangement." Draco turned to look at Hermione "Good to see you still have your convictions." He handed a dish to Benjamin.

She looked deflated, "Why?"

"You remember Dobby was my fathers house elf?" Draco asked "I spent a lot of time with him. I really had hoped that when Bellatrix threw that knife that it missed. Unfortunately she was a very precise woman." Draco handed another plate to Benjamin. He looked at Benjamin "Were you able to get the stain out yourself?"

Benjamin laughed "I did, by the time Percy came to check on me the only damage left was knowing how badly she wanted me not to be here."

"I know it does not help but she pretended I didn't even exist" Draco commiserated.

Hermione understood the conversation was over and she went to find Ron and help him while thinking over her new information.

Draco, Harry, Kreacher and Meek popped into the kitchen.

"Thank you for the short cut" Draco said heading to his room.

Kreacher and Meek said gruff good nights as they went to their rooms.

Harry ran and grabbed Draco's hand. "You were the hero of the night."

"No I wasn't, I just told them to leave." Draco waved it off.

"No, you were a hero and hero's get rewards." Harry kissed Draco on the cheek, then the lips.

Draco kept walking as Harry peppered him with kisses, hinting at wanting more. Harry guided him to his dark room. The kisses became more passionate, no longer hinting, but demanding more. In the back of his mind Draco recalled all the lessons he had learned when he was younger. Only sluts and protitutes have sex before marrage. Harry pulled him closer as they kissed. No one wants a used partner and they will leave you once they have used you. Harry pushed Draco onto the bed. Never give anyone power over yourself, giving into their desires lets them know they are in charge. You must always be in charge. Harry kissed him, biting his lip. Sex is power, you hold the power. Harry unbuttoned Draco's top button. You are not weak, only the weak give in to such basic urges. Harry continued unbuttoning his robe and his real worry presented itself. What if Harry leaves me like he left her?

"I want you." Harry whispered.

"When was the last time I told you no?" Draco replied weakly between kisses.

Harry pulled back "It's not enough, I want you to want me back."

"I do," Draco said, pulling Harry back into the kiss.

Draco woke up and found Harry watching him. While they were intimate he hadn't cared but now he felt ashamed. One by one his parent's words came back.

Harry ran his fingers through Draco's long hair "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Best night I have ever had" Harry said with a smile pulling Draco in for a kiss. "You seem off, are you okay?"

"Of course." Draco said while all his parents' words kept screaming in his head.

"Thank you" Harry said "that was amazing" Harry pulled Draco closer. Draco felt Harry's skin against his own. Draco looked at him, he wasn't leaving, he was holding him close. Harry still wanted him. All his parents' words disappeared and Draco kissed Harry.

"We should get up," Draco said, looking at the window full of sunlight. "We still have kids to take care of." Harry got out of bed and Draco saw Harry's scars. He had seen them before when they went swimming and when Harry decided not to wear a shirt with his sleep bottoms. But it reminded him Harry had never seen him topless.

Harry turned and pushed Draco encouragingly "You are the one that said we should get out of bed."

"You change first. Then I will." Draco said, trying to make it sound normal.

"We just had sex, I think I can see you naked." Harry laughed.

Draco reluctantly sat up, the sheet falling revealing his chest. The little slashing scars turned his chest into amature modern art. Harry was stunned "Draco" he whispered.

"How about you just get dressed, and then I will." Draco reiterated pulling the sheet back up over himself. Harry got dressed thinking about the thin white lines marbling his chest.

He went over to Draco "I'm so sorry. I didn't know." He caressed Draco's face.

Draco looked away pulling his face from Harry's touch "Ditany" Draco answered the unasked question "Once I was stable they focused on preventing the scarring on my face, they did not have time to treat the rest, the damage was already done. It was a pretty wicked curse."

"I never would have used it if I had known." Harry tried to explain, but how could he explain how extensively he left Draco's body scared.

"It happened. I survived." Draco said, pulling the sheet tighter to himself covering the scars on his chest. "I would like to get dressed now."

Harry nodded and got up. He left the room wishing he had never picked up that potion book.

Draco came down the stairs, and sat at the dining table. He looked normal like nothing had happened. Three kids looked at him "No lessons today. We were out very late last night." The kids celebrated and made plans for their surprise free day. Phyllis and Oswald joined them for breakfast. Harry watched wondering how Draco could just come in like nothing had happened like he had not seen what he did.

"What are your plans for today? Oswald asked.

"Relaxing." Draco said "maybe take a walk" he looked at Harry "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

"Yes, that would be nice." Harry wondered how Draco could even look at him.

"A walk sounds lovely." Phyllis said to Oswald she looked over to the two men "Do you mind if we stick around and have a walk for ourselves, we would not interfere with yours."

"It is your home, you can come walk any time you want. Just let me know in advance so I don't attack you in defence." Draco said with a smile. "If you want some snacks, check with Kreacher. He might be able to whip up a pretty great picnic, if he is not too tired."

They nodded appreciatively.

The kids ran off to enjoy the day without assignments, math or Latin looming over their heads.

"You want to take that walk now?" Draco asked Harry.

Harry took Draco's offered arm and they walked around the grounds.

"I don't hold it against you." Draco said as they strolled "I didn't mean to make you feel guilty. It was a mistake and I forgave you for it a long time ago. I know how important it is to be forgiven, I made a lot of my own mistakes. I was ashamed of my body, embarrassed by it. You have embraced your scars, that is wonderful for you. But I am not allowed to have weaknesses, scars are proof of your weakness."

"Do you think I am weak?" Harry asked, challenging.

"No, I don't. I think you are incredibly strong" Draco tried to backtrack.

"Then why are my scars strong and yours are weak?" Harry asked. Draco shook his head, unable to answer the question. "Why is everything a double standard for you. You know you don't have to be perfect right? And what perfect was for your parents is not normal, it is a twisted , perverse version of perfect." Draco looked away "Draco I think you are perfect, scars and all. The only reason I was shocked by your scars was because I put them there. I hurt you and I was ashamed of it."

"I am so tired of my parents coming back and haunting my thoughts. I wish I could just get them out of my head. I know the things they taught me were wrong but they are alway there reminding me what a disappointment I am, and I listen, knowing I shouldn't."

"You are not a disappointment. Stop letting them in."

"It is so easy to say."

"Treat yourself as you would me. If I am allowed to have scars and be strong, you are too. If I am allowed to have sex before marrage, you are too. If I am allowed to be sorry, you are too. If you would not hold it against me, do not hold it against yourself. Love yourself as much as you love me, you deserve it."

Draco stopped walking and looked at Harry "I'm not sure I could love anyone as much as I love you."

"I challenge you to try." Harry said with a kiss.

Year 10

Harry noticed Warren giving Draco nervous glances all throughout dinner. Next to him Aurelia would stroke his hand soothing him and whispering in his ear. After Albus had gone to bed it seemed Warren wanted nothing more than for all the other adults to go home. He nervously tapped his shoe. When at last it was just the four of them left in the sitting room Aurelia gave an encouraging nod to Warren. He bit his thumbnail and fidgeted.

"Draco, I have something I need to tell you." Warren forced out.

"What?" Draco said, looking over to Aurelia.

"Lucius is getting out of prison next week." Warren rubbed his head.

"Oh." Draco said. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Yeah, I thought you should know. I can ask for extra protection around the house. I don't know if he is the vindictive sort. I don't like this, but I was told he got a lower sentence because of how helpful he was in giving information and he was a model prisoner."

"Thank you, I think we can handle it. A week is plenty of time to get some contingencies together." Draco said decidedly.

"What do you mean contingencies?" Warren asked.

Harry spoke "If they ignore us we don't have to do anything. If they send an owl asking to speak they might want to bury that hatchet" Draco looked at him like that was not likely "Or they might want to tell you what a terrible person you are."

"Your contingencies are a game of what ifs? You need more than that." Warren said not believing what he was hearing.

"We start with what ifs and then make plans for each of them. If you are prepared for everything, nothing will be a surprise." Draco explained "I really appreciate you telling me this.I have to get to work." He gave both Warren and Aurelia a hug. He whispered in Aurelia's ear "I really thought he had finally asked."

She gave him a tight squeeze "Soon I'm sure. How about you?"

"I keep getting cold feet." Draco admitted.

"Just do it." She nudged him a little as they ended their hug.

"Warren, don't worry about it, we will take care of it." Draco said as they went to the fireplace.

Harry let out the breath he had been holding "I thought they were going to say they got engaged. I would have much preferred that."

"I think they would have too." Draco agreed, he sat on the couch and looked up at Harry "What do I do?"

"Plan and wait for them to make the first move. You were always better at chess than me, you can plan moves and moves ahead. Come to bed, we can figure this out in the morning." Harry started up the stairs and looked back when Draco did not join him "Come on, to bed." Draco got up and went to their room. His mind was racing long after he heard Harry start to quietly snore. Draco went over to his desk and started writing.

Harry woke up to see Draco scratching away at a paper. "Please tell me you got some sleep?"

"Not a wink, but I think I have a plan. Want to read it while I shower?" Draco offered.

Harry sighed and took the papers "It is going to be a long week isn't it?"

Draco kissed him on the head "Yes, and I'm sorry. This is just how I deal with things."

"I remember." Harry said, trying to focus on the stack of papers in his hand "Do all slytherins solve problems this way or did I just get lucky?"

"You got lucky." Draco said going into the bathroom.

Harry was reminded how thorough Draco was when solving problems. Draco came out of the shower and was braiding his hair. "What do you think?"

"I think you should have gotten rest, but you covered so many bases I don't even know what to say." Draco looked thoughtfully at Harry trying to decipher his words. "You recognized a lot of issues and made great plans for them."

Draco nodded. He spent the next week barely sleeping instead sitting at his desk reading, writing and planning. Nothing Harry did helped him relax. The day of Lucius' release Draco read the paper, there was a small article on page five. Then nothing happened that day or the day after.

"This is fine, it was always a possibility that nothing would happen." Harry said.

"I know but do you know how hard it is waiting? If they did something I can react to it, right now all I can do is wait till they do."

Harry held Draco's hand "Get them out of your head. They don't deserve this much of your attention. Get dressed, muggle clothes. We are going out."

Harry went down to tell Albus to change. Harry managed to distract Draco and Albus by taking them to a movie then shopping after. It was dark when they pulled up to the house. Draco slept in the car on the drive home, the week of terrible sleep finally taking its toll. Harry pulled out his wand and floated Draco to the door as Albus walked behind him. "Go straight to bed." Harry ordered and he took Draco into their room. Harry gently changed Draco into his nightshirt, relieved he was finally getting some rest.

"He's in bed," Harry whispered and kissed Draco's neck.

"Oh good, I want to show you something." Draco said getting up "Follow me." Draco led him out of the house and into the clearing a large blanket was laying on the grass. Draco lay down on it and patted the spot next to him.

"What are we doing?" Harry asked hopefully

"Star gazing" "Draco started to point out different stars and constellations. "I'm sorry about the last month. I didn't handle it well. I was paranoid and you were right. They don't deserve this much of my attention. I will give my attention to other matters."

"Oh like what?" Harry asked.

"I have a few projects I am thinking of starting." Draco said "There I am."

"Where?" Harry looked around the stars. Draco grabbed Harry's hand and pointed to the Draco constellation. He slid a ring on Harry's finger as he did. Harry looked away from the sky to see Draco watching him.

"Marry me?"

"Are you joking?" Harry asked.

"One of the children's main gripes about me is I do not really joke." Draco said "So Harry James Potter, will you marry me?"

"Spending the rest of my life with you sounds pretty good." Harry said and kissed Draco "Yes, I will marry you. Now where was the constellation?"

Draco laughed and pointed it out again.

Draco sat in the library with Albus.

"No one else learns Latin, can't I just skip this?" Albus moaned looking at the foreign book and dictionary.

"Ask any of the kids in Hogwarts right now how much easier it is to learn charms and spells because they know Latin." Draco said "Now translate."

Albus growled but returned to translating.

Harry came into the room "He is right, school will be a lot easier for you if you know this."

"But I'm not in school. Other kids don't have to do this." Albus whined.

"All the kids I was in charge of did." Draco stated "And they are top of their classes and having an easier time of it than any other student. Besides, I had to learn all this stuff before I went to school."

"Lucky." Harry muttered. Albus looked at Harry like he was crazy "No seriously, remember I was raised by muggles, I knew nothing about the wizarding world. You are going there with a great muggle and wizard education. I wish I had this before I went to Hogwarts, it would have been so much easier. I struggled with everything."

Albus went back to his book. Harry sat on a chair and read while Draco worked on a rough syllabus for Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts class next year. Albus stomped up to Draco and shoved the paper at him "Can I go now"

"Yes," Draco said. Albus left the room. "You would think I was torturing him."

"You are." Harry teased.

Draco suddenly looked serious "Get Albus. We have company."

Harry got up quickly to find Albus. Draco went to the front door and saw two dark figures walking towards him. His heart fell, he didn't want to do this.

They walked up to him, taking their time as if it were on a Sunday stroll. "You didn't welcome your father home. We waited patiently for weeks so we thought we would see what was keeping you so busy that you did not even write." Narcissa said coldly.

"I am taking care of my ward." Draco casually said "Welcome back."

"Your ward, the reason you sent me to prison?" Lucius snarled.

Draco suddenly felt very small. He knew this feeling, it was how he had felt his entire childhood.

"I was protecting my family." Draco said with a power he did not feel.

"I was your family, we were your family and you discarded us the moment you thought you could get into bed with that blood traitor." Lucius spat disgustedly.

"Talking about me already?" Harry asked, meeting up with them. Their glares were deadly but Harry did not care "I really thought it would take longer than that. I guess you don't have much else to say. Or I guess I'm more important a topic than I thought I was." Harry looked impressed with himself. He put his arm around Draco's waist. "So what are we discussing, you must have a lot to catch up on, you haven't spoken in ten years." He was met with angry silence. "You know what, I will take care of him from here on out. You two have done enough damage to Draco. Just leave him alone, unless you are here to beg his forgiveness and are able to tell him exactly what you want forgiveness for, just go."

"We have done nothing wrong." Narcissa said angrily.

"That is why I left." Draco yelled "All this time, all your mistakes and you cannot admit you messed up. Even when He was living in our house, taking over everything we owned. Taking your wand. You could not say it was a mistake. When He ordered me to kill Dumbledore you would not admit we chose the wrong side. I am sorry for all of it and I will keep telling the world I am sorry till I can prove it. I have not told my story of how I grew up. But if you threaten me or my family, I already have the book written. All I have to do is publish it. All the dirty laundry will be out there. You will never come back from that. Right now you can at least pretend to be sorry. You can go back to being feared and respected. I'm done with all of it. I am so tired of pretending, I'm not doing it anymore. And I suggest you grow up and stop pretending you did nothing wrong." Draco was breathing heavily. He could feel Harry's support and was grateful for it.

Lucuis' sneered, "Where is this book?"

"Quite safe." Draco smiled, knowing that now he had an understanding. "You know we have that really nice house in France we used to vacation at. Maybe France is a better fit for you than England."

"I can disown you." Lucius snarled.

"I thought you already had." Draco said, confused. "But then again I am your only child. No nieces, no nephews. I am the end of the Malfoy line, when we get married it is gone and I don't care," He breathed a sigh of relief "Oh god that feels so good. I. Don't. Care. You have no power over me anymore. " Draco started to turn with Harry right next to him.

"Don't walk away from me" Lucius ordered.

"Bye, Father." Draco said, waving behind him as he walked to the house with Harry.

"Is it safe to turn our backs?" Harry asked just as a stunning spell hit a barrier behind them.

Draco turned "Just because I won't play your game anymore does not mean I will not protect myself and those I love. I know your tricks, you taught them to me. Just go home, maybe one day you will decide you want me back and when that happens I will decide if I will let you come back."

Harry and Draco closed the door behind them.

"You okay." Harry asked.

"I feel lighter than a dirigible plum" Draco replied "Where is Albus?"

"With Kreacher and Meek. I told them if there were any problems to go to Cornelia's." Harry said.

"Good, good. Go get him, let him know he can play anywhere in the house right now." Draco said, watching the two figures from the window. "I am going to watch till they leave."

Harry did not want to leave, but knew he had to talk to Albus.

Draco watched them talking, apparently this was not how they expected the meeting to go. Lucius gestured towards the house then walked away. Narcissa looked towards the house but then turned to follow Lucius. They walked till the border and disappeared.

Harry came back "Did that go to any of your plans?"

"No, I think not caring affected them more than the book threat. I never thought I would be capable of just not caring anymore." Draco admitted.

"You did a good job." Harry said, putting his arms around him.