A/N: This fic is written for Maisie Malfoy, as part of the 2018 Gift-Giving Extravaganza.

Maisie, I used 'Draco' and 'broken promises' from your list of prompts. I hope some Malfoy family angst is okay for you, and I hope you enjoy!

W/C: 2952

Broken Promises

Draco threw down his quill and rubbed his stinging eyes. How long had he been doing paperwork? Hours? Days? It felt like years, and yet, it looked as though he'd barely made a dent in the pile… Salazar, kill him now.

He shivered and pulled his robe tightly around him. It was a frigid winter night, and for all the good the fire was doing he may as well be working outside. Draco scowled; as if he needed any more reasons to hate the Manor. But then he caught a glance of the photograph on his desk, and his gaze softened as he looked at the smiling baby in Astoria's arms. The birth of Scorpius had certainly signalled the beginning of a different atmosphere around the Manor. Every day it was alive with the sound of laughter as Draco chased Scorpius as he rode his toy broomstick or Astoria pounced on him with a surprise tickle attack. It was such a contrast to how Draco had been brought up, and whilst he knew in his heart that this was how a family home should be, he would occasionally snap like his father used to, and hate himself for it later on.

Draco shuddered. He'd made a promise to himself and to Astoria that he wouldn't raise Scorpius like his father had, and yet, it seemed to be a much easier task said than done.

Draco could feel his eyelids beginning to droop, and he quickly pulled himself from his thoughts before he fell asleep. This paperwork had to be submitted by ten a.m. sharp, and by the looks of things, it would take him all night to finish. Reluctantly, Draco propped his head up on his hand and continued to write, feeling like half of his mind was already asleep.

Maybe that was why he didn't hear the soft knock on the door and almost jumped out of his skin when the top of Scorpius' head suddenly appeared over the top of his desk.

"Daddy?"

"Merlin's beard!"

Draco leaned over his desk, clutching his heart. "Scorpius, what are you doing out of -?" He stopped when he saw his son, and a feeling of deep concern rushed through him. Scorpius had obviously been crying: his little face was pink and puffy, and he was clutching Monty, his toy dragon, tightly to his chest, and shaking all over.

"Scorpius?" Draco rushed over to his son, suddenly on full alert, and crouched before him. "Scorpius, what's wrong?"

"I h-had a b-bad dr-ream," Scorpius mumbled into Monty's head, his whole body jolting as he hiccoughed between words. "I was f-flying on Monty, a-and you and Mummy were there, a-and then a e-evil scary dragon came and blew f-fire onto us and w-we fell d-down and you, m-mummy and Mo-onty weren't moving a-and you were all b-b-l-ack a-an-and... a-and…" Scorpius collapsed against Draco's chest, bawling his eyes out.

"Scorpius, that's nonsense," Draco said, unwittingly repeating the dismissive comment Lucius always said to him whenever he had a nightmare as a child. The sound of those words coming from his own mouth made him feel sick, and unsurprisingly, this did little to soothe Scorpius. The sound of his cries made Draco's heart break. He wanted so desperately to comfort him, and felt like a failure because he didn't know what to say. That is, until the thought of Lucius crossed his mind again, then it seemed as if Draco's sheer will to not be like his father was enough for his instincts to kick in.

"Shh," he said quietly, stroking Scorpius' head and rubbing slow circles on his back. "Shh. Don't cry. It was just a bad dream; nothing has hurt Mummy or me. Everything's okay, Scorpius." To Draco's amazement, it seemed to be working; Scorpius' sobs had been reduced to sniffles. He held Scorpius at arm's length and tickled the snout of the pink and green toy dragon in his arms. "Monty's safe and sound, too," Draco said softly, wiping the tears away from Scorpius' cheeks and looking into his shining silver eyes. "Scorpius, none of it was real. Do you understand?"

Scorpius gave a small nod, and Draco beamed with triumph and relief. "Good boy," he said, planting a kiss on top of Scorpius' head. "Now, why don't you try and go back to sleep?"

"Ca-Can you read me a s-story first?" Scorpius asked.

Draco felt his heart swoop. He rarely got the pleasure of reading Scorpius bedtime stories (Astoria was better at doing funny voices apparently).

"Of course." Draco smiled.

"And you'll do the voices like Mummy?" The excitement creeping back into Scorpius' voice was a sure sign that he was feeling better.

"I can try." Draco laughed, but his face fell when he remembered the unfinished work lying on his desk. "Listen, Scorpius: Daddy has some jobs to do first, but I'll be with you as soon as I finish."

"Oh." Scorpius looked crestfallen.

"Hey," Draco said. "I promise."

Those two magic words made Scorpius perk up in an instant, and he threw his arms around Draco in one last hug before departing to his room.

"I love you, Daddy."

That was the first promise Draco ever made to his son. And, more to the point, it was also the first promise to Scorpius that he had broken. He never intended to, but he'd fallen asleep at his desk after finally completing his work. That had happened years ago, but now that he came to think of it, that night had started a bad habit that he hadn't even realised he had until now. And it seemed that 'now' was too late to make up for it.

Draco was still sitting alone at the dining table, having not risen since dinner finished. He didn't know exactly how long ago that was, but the darkness through the windows indicated that it must have been a while. He sipped from his glass of Firewhisky and continued to stare at Scorpius' empty chair opposite him. The conversation they'd shared earlier was still ringing in his head.

"Evening," Draco said as Scorpius entered the dining room, his arms laden with plates and cutlery.

"Hi, Dad," he replied, giving Draco a small smile as he set the table before sitting down. Then, the familiar awkward silence descended, and Scorpius began fiddling with his fork, at a loss of what else to do.

Draco sighed. Conversation was always a little forced between them; they hadn't spent much time together in years, since Draco got a job at the Ministry and was spending more and more time away from home. It was always painful for him to see how close Scorpius was to his mother in comparison to him, where his son always seemed nervous and quiet.

"What have you been up to today?" Draco asked, though he already knew the answer. Scorpius' eyes lit up at once.

"Reading," he said, breathless with excitement as he always was about books. It was one of the few conversation topics that made him open up to his father. "I found a book about all different kinds of dragons, and pictures of them flew off the pages and around the room – that was so cool – and I find out all sorts! Did you know that Hebridian Blacks can be thirty feet long –" he stretched his arms out wide, "– that's humungous!"

Draco smiled. "I didn't know you had a book about dragons in your room."

Scorpius shook his head. "I don't. I already read all of my books."

"All of them?" Draco said, feeling incredibly impressed.

Scorpius nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. I got the dragon book from the library."

Draco's smile faltered somewhat. "Alright, but listen Scorpius: there are a lot of grown up books in there that you're too young to read. I don't want you reading anything else from there unless you get permission from your mother or me first – do you understand?"

Scorpius deflated somewhat, but nodded. "Okay, Dad. Can I still sit in the chairs in there to read?"

"I don't see why not," Draco said. He paused, realising that the large majority of books he owned on dragons, spells – everything Scorpius was interested in – were far too mature for him. Then, he was struck by inspiration. "Hey, I tell you what. How about I take you to Diagon Alley tomorrow afternoon after I finish work? You can go to Flourish & Blott's and buy some more dragon books if you like. I can maybe buy you a new broom too if you want."

Scorpius looked up, his eyes shining with excitement. "Dad, you mean it? Oh, wow, I've wanted to go to go to Diagon Alley! But why? You and Mum always said I was too young to go."

"Well, you're ten now, Scorpius. You'll be getting your Hogwarts letter soon, so I think it's time we made a trip. It wouldn't do us any harm to buy you some of your supplies for your first year too, come to think of it – at least then we won't have to deal with all the crowds come summer."

"Can I get my wand, too?" Scorpius breathed.

Draco smirked. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, young man."

Scorpius pouted, but he seemed to be shaking with excitement nonetheless. "Wow! Thanks, Dad. I can't wait!"

Astoria swept into the room at that moment, and Scorpius wasted no time in telling her of their arrangements as she sat down beside Draco.

"Wow, Diagon Alley," she said. "That sounds like fun!" Then the House-Elf scampered into the room, carrying a large roast chicken in her arms as trays of potatoes, steamed vegetables and a jug of gravy floated behind her, and Astoria lowered her voice to Draco. "Are you sure it's not too early to start buying his school things?"

Draco waved a hand. "Nonsense. He's been accidentally making things fly and explode for ages. Do you remember his stuffed dragon, Monty? Scorpius made him disappear when he was four and we haven't found him since. There's no way he won't get a letter. Besides, I was only planning to get a couple of small things – Potion ingredients and quills and such."

"Well, alright then," Astoria said as the Elf levitated the food onto the table, and lit the candles with a click of her fingers. "I suppose it's a good idea; Scorpius seems really excited."

There was a jovial atmosphere around the table as the family ate dinner. Draco felt especially happy – he felt closer to his son than he had in years – and yet, there was something about tomorrow that rang a bell. He felt like he'd forgotten something that was supposed to happen tomorrow…

Oh, no.

Draco suddenly felt as though he'd lost his appetite. As it turned out, he couldn't take Scorpius to Diagon Alley, after all.

"Scorpius," Draco said after Astoria had left the table. "Before you go, I need to talk to you."

Scorpius looked confused, and settled himself back down in his chair, waiting.

"I'm afraid we'll have to have our outing another day. It turns out I have a meeting after work tomorrow. I'm sorry; it completely slipped my mind."

The atmosphere changed considerably at that. Scorpius' face fell, and he looked at the table. "Oh. That's okay."

Something about his attitude was strange. He sounded apathetic, almost like he'd been expecting this to happen and wasn't surprised that it had.

"I'll take you at the weekend," Draco said, trying to ignore this. "I promise."

There was a pause. "'Promise' is a strong word, Dad," Scorpius said quietly, still averting his gaze.

Draco frowned. "I know."

"You never keep them," Scorpius muttered.

Draco was taken aback by this statement, and he stared at his son in stunned silence as he tried to process it. How many promises had he made to him? Surely he hadn't broken all of them?

"Sorry," Scorpius said after a minute of silence. "It's fine, Dad. Honest. Can I go now?" And with that, he rose from his seat and hurried away. Draco couldn't be sure, but he could swear he saw tears rolling down his cheeks as he departed.

Draco shook himself out of his thoughts, feeling incredibly guilty. Everything was clear as day now: how could Draco have been so blind to how much Scorpius was hurting; how much he'd been taking his trust for granted by carelessly promising things over and over again and never following through; how he always put work before his only child.

Draco leaned back in his chair and raked his hands over his face. Everything was adding up: he'd been wondering for years what had gone wrong to cause him and Scorpius to drift apart and it had been staring at him in the face all along. Scorpius didn't feel like he could rely on him anymore, and that was a realisation that made tears begin to prickle Draco's eyes. And even worse, he couldn't help but wonder if this was also the reason why Scorpius always chose to coop himself up alone in the library instead of going to his cousin's house to play. Had Draco had made him feel so unimportant that he felt too insecure to socialise with other children? He sincerely hoped not. After all, he of all people should know what impact broken promises could have on children.

Lucius had let Draco down all the time during his childhood. He rarely kept any promises, was rarely there for him when he was upset, and only ever made up for it by showering him with expensive gifts. Draco could remember how worthless it made him feel to be let down by his father, and how all the presents repeatedly bought his forgiveness. But as he grew older, the material possessions became meaningless, and his deepest desire was to have a father who would give him emotional support – a father who he knew he could rely on no matter what. But he soon found out that he couldn't trust Lucius with anything. He became withdrawn around him and they drifted even further apart as a result.

Even with the best of intentions, Draco had ended up just like Lucius, and it sickened him to the core to think he could have made Scorpius feel the way he used to. One thing was for certain, and that was that Draco couldn't let this go on any longer. He already felt like he'd failed his son, but if there was even the slightest chance to rebuild their relationship, he had to take it. He doubted Scorpius could forgive him (he certainly had never forgiven Lucius), but he had to make a start on making it up to him.

Draco wiped away his tears and drained the rest of his Firewhisky before making a beeline for the library, where Scorpius would almost certainly be. The door was open when he got there, and he froze when he saw the scene within. Scorpius was sitting on the window-seat, an open book in his lap and his head resting in the crook of his mother's neck as silent tears rolled down his cheeks. Astoria had her arm around him, and was talking to him softly.

"You shouldn't feel bad about being upset, darling. Your father means well, but it isn't right for him to keep letting you down like this. I'll talk to him later and we can sort –"

"No!" Scorpius said suddenly, sitting bolt upright. "He already hates me, and I don't want –"

"I do not hate you, Scorpius."

Scorpius' eyes widened; he looked horror-struck to learn that he'd been overheard. Astoria, meanwhile, was staring daggers at Draco.

"This isn't a good time," she said, her grip tightening on Scorpius' shoulder. "Can you give us some privacy?"

"No," Draco said, walking towards them. "I need to talk to Scorpius."

"I think you've said quite enough."

"I want to tell him that I'm sorry."

Astoria's gaze softened a little at that, and she regarded Draco's tear-stained face and pained countenance for a while before she relented, and gave him a small nod.

"I do not hate you, Scorpius," Draco said gently, crouching before his son. "I love you very much – more than anything in this world." He reached out to take his hand, but Scorpius pulled away, and looked at his father dubiously. Draco gulped, trying to swallow the pain this caused, and continued. "You're right, Scorpius: 'promise' is a very strong word, and I know that I haven't respected that, or you. I keep taking you for granted and letting you down, but all of that stops today. I am so, so sorry." Scorpius' doubtful expression faltered somewhat, and this time he allowed Draco to take his hands. "I don't expect you to forgive me easily," fresh tears fell down Draco's face as he continued, "but just know that I'm sorry, and that I'm going to do everything I can to make things right – to be the father you deserve me to be. From now on, you come first, Scorpius, and I hope that one day you will be able to have faith in me again."

The seconds of silence that followed were some of the longest and unbearable of Draco's life. He looked into Scorpius' eyes, silently communicating all the regret and love that he couldn't form into words; begging him to give him one last chance.

Draco didn't think he would ever forget what happened next. Slowly, ever so slowly, Scorpius' mouth twitched to form a small smile. And the next thing Draco knew, Scorpius had launched himself off the seat and was hugging him tightly.

"I love you, Dad."

A/N: Any feedback would be appreciated :D

This story is also written for:

Hogwarts Insane House Challenge - 499 - Soft Toy

OUAT Challenge - Rumple - A Slytherin