December 3rd - Christmas Card Photo Day

Harry awoke to a knocking on the door. "Come in," he called, sitting up and stretching.

"Oh, sorry," Draco apologized at finding the other man still in bed. "I didn't mean to wake you. I'll just talk to you at breakfast. This can wait."

"No, it's fine. I need to get up anyway," Harry replied. Noticing the jumper in Draco's hand that he had left in the other man's room under a disillusionment spell set to expire this morning he smiled. "We're taking the Christmas card photo today."

The blond held up the jumper. "And you expect me to be in the photo."

"Of course."

Draco nodded once and left.

Harry chuckled. He's going to fight me on this. He's going to argue he's not part of the family. He's sure he's going to get out of it. He shouldn't underestimate me.

"Dad, do we really have to have a picture taken?" Liam asked as they sat down to breakfast.

"Yes," Harry answered. "We really have to have a picture taken, and yes you really do have to wear the new jumpers that came out of your calendars this morning. After the picture, if everyone cooperates, I will have chocolate frogs before we start letters and reading."

Conor pouted. "What if we don't want to?"

"Family photos for Christmas cards are quite common," Draco informed the boy. "My family did it every year. Before I went to Hogwarts we took them in December. After I started at Hogwarts we took them in the summer. If you don't want to wear your jumpers now, imagine how miserable it would be to do it in July or August when it's actually warm outside."

"Grandma Molly will be sad if everyone isn't in the picture. She'll hang the card up on the wall with the other cards she gets so she can look at it every day. Then I bet she'll put it in a frame with her other family photos," Harry added. "It won't take long. Everyone just needs to put on the new jumper you got in your calendar today. We'll line up in front of the fireplace with its decorations and take a few pictures and get them developed and turned into cards we can all sign."

"We have to sign them too?" Conor whined.

"It won't take long."

Draco just stared at Harry. Won't take long to get ten children to stand in place long enough to take a good photo? Or does he mean to get ten children, some of whom are still learning to write their names to sign who knows how many cards? Either way, how naive. Well, we'll see. He's able to do incredible things with this crowd, maybe he'll prove me wrong.

Half an hour later Harry was directing the children to stand in front of the fireplace in two rows of five. Half of the children were in red jumpers, the other half wore green. Harry was also wearing a green jumper, the red one he'd bought for Draco was nowhere in sight, as he'd expected. He actually had a second identical one stuffed in the sideboard as a precaution.

Draco stood at the camera on its tripod looking through the viewfinder and giving additional directions. The kids wiggled and made faces and began to poke and elbow one another. Harry's hair was messier than ever as he looked back to Draco with exasperation clear on his face.

"I'm not sure this is going to work the way you want it to," Draco commented to Harry. "If you were just taking a picture of the kids, then them being in two rows would work fine but as a family photo… where are you going to be? You're too tall to stand next to them with the camera set up as closely as we have it."

"Don't you mean where we are going to be?" Harry responded.

"No." The blond head shook. "I meant you."

"You're a part of this family too."

"It's kind of you to say that, except I'm really not. I just live here and help out," Draco argued. "You're the father and they're your kids."

"Draco you have to be in the picture too," Caela whined

Connor nodded. "Yes, because I want to stand by you."

"But this is a family photo," he told the children. "You all make up the family."

Fiona frowned, "I thought you loved us. Aren't people who love each other family?"

"I do love you all," he replied urgently, soothing the girl, "just like if you were my own, but you're not. Harry is your dad. Besides, there are other people that love you that aren't part of the immediate family. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, Aunt Ginny, Aunt Addie and Aunt Elaine, and Uncle Theo all love you, and so do Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur, and Grandmother Malfoy. None of them are part of your immediate family though. Only immediate family will be in this picture and I'm not part of that."

Harry shook his head. He'd known Draco was going to be stubborn about this, but he'd thought the children would be more effective at talking him into it. He had been counting on them to wheedle Draco into agreeing as they so often did. He supposed he'd underestimated the other man's stubbornness. "You're practically their second father," he argued.

"Yeah!" Liam shouted.

"You can't have two dads," Michael said. "There has to be a mum and a dad."

"Nu-uh," Teddy replied.

"Yeah like that book we read," Freya pointed out. "Some families have two mums. Some have two dads. Some have both and some have just grandmas and grandpas or aunts and uncles. There are lots of kinds of families. Draco loves us and takes care of us just like Dad does, doesn't he?"

"I guess," Michael conceded.

"See," Harry said, looking at him knowingly. "They think you're like their other dad."

"But I'm not," Draco replied softly with a pained expression he would have been surprised and embarrassed to see on his own face. He never wanted to let on just how much he'd love to be their father, their second father.

Harry was at an impasse. He wasn't quite sure what to do anymore to convince the other man and he was beginning to think it was time to do the thing he'd been considering for a few months now. Next week when he went shopping maybe he'd look into it if he could remember. In the meantime… what to do? What to do? Ah! "Okay. Fine. I'm making a new rule. Everyone who lives here has to be in the photo. You live here so you have to be in the picture on the Christmas card. That's all there is to it."

"Well if that's the rule then Winky and Kreacher should also be in the picture," Draco challenged with a smirk.

"You are absolutely right!" Harry responded. "You go get your new jumper, and I'll get the elves."

Draco stared wide-eyed for a moment at the other man. Realizing he'd lost the battle, he shook his head and went to get the sweater.

When he returned the sofa had been moved in front of the fireplace though far enough out that two dining chairs had been brought up from the kitchen and placed behind it.

"You and I will sit in the middle," Harry instructed. "We'll each hold one child on our lap. Someone will sit next to us on each side. Two kids can be behind us on their knees holding on to the back of the sofa to be safe and the rest will be down in front with Winky and Kreacher."

"Can we talk for a second in the hall?"

"Why?"

"Harry, please."

"We'll talk after the picture. Let's get it done. So I think Teddy and Caela can sit with us since they're the youngest. Marcus and Conor, why don't you two kneel on the chairs."

"I wanna sit by Draco," Conor insisted.

Harry sighed. "Ok then, Freya, why don't you go to the back with Marcus. Conor can sit beside Draco, Michael, and Riordan. You sit on the floor right in front of us."

"Fiona can sit between us," Draco put in quickly. "Liam or James, one of you sits with the twins, the other sits next to Harry. Kreacher and Winky will be next to the boys on the floor."

Everyone settled into position. Winky seemed absolutely thrilled to be included in the photo. Kreacher, on the other hand, was his normal grumbling self but he did as he was asked like a good elf which he pointed out. He also pointed out a good elf was rarely seen and never in photographs.

"Wait a minute," Draco said. "Who's taking the picture?"

"I am," Harry replied.

"Um, how?"

"Like this, everyone smiles." Harry waved his hand quickly at the camera, dropped it to his side, and a second later the flashbulb went off. "Two more just to be on the safe side."

When they were done the children scattered to change out of their Christmas jumpers, so they could come back and get their promised chocolate frogs.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Harry asked when the room had emptied, as he and Draco moved the sofa back to its usual spot.

"You're only sending these out to family and friends right?"

"Yes, why?"

Draco looked at Harry as if he was questioning the other man's intelligence. "Really?"

"Yes, really. What?"

"Just think about what it would look like and what would happen if this somehow found its way into the paper. Think of the result, the sheer number of Howlers you'd get. I know you still have the ward up but they'd be blowing up outside like crazy. The mere suggestion that I'm actually a part of your family would lead to insanity. You'd be mobbed every time you go out in public. Your friends and family would be mobbed by questions. You do remember what happened when I went to Diagon with Ginevra, don't you? You have to make sure it's only family and friends and no one else."

"You worry too much, you know that right? It's going to be fine, even if one somehow got out to the press. They won't though," Harry said holding up a hand to cut off Draco's next protest. "They're going to be spelled to only be opened and seen by the addressee or those living in that home."

"Just wanted to be sure. I'll go make sure everyone is changed and heading for lessons."

Harry chuckled softly. Yeah, I've thought about what it would look like. It would look like what it is, that we're a family. Maybe we're not an official family, but we're a family. Anyone who doesn't like that can stuff it. My actual family agrees with me. You'll get used to the idea in time.