Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and characters belongs to J.K. Rowling, unfortunately not me.

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Chapter 4

Draco sat at the desk in his study composing a letter to his son. The last two letters he had sent had gone unanswered, and Draco was starting to get anxious. He knew that his son loved him and was simply caught up in his classes and his friends, but it was hard for Draco to relax. He missed his son dearly, and he was just so alone in his huge ancestral manor. He had considered selling it many times recently, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. It had been in his family for centuries and knew it wouldn't be right. Plus, he knew his son loved coming home to the Manor over breaks from Hogwarts and wouldn't want to deprive Scorpius of that simple pleasure. Sighing and rubbing his forehead in frustration, Draco set down his quill. He could feel a headache coming on and figured he may as well take a potion before it got worse. As he stood, Draco heard a tapping at the window. Hovering outside was a plain, brown barn owl with a letter tied to its leg. Draco froze and stared at the owl. It looked an awful lot like the nondescript owls the Ministry tended to use to send mail. But what would the Ministry need from him? He hadn't gotten a letter from them since his trial had ended all of those years ago.

Attempting not to panic, Draco opened the door and retrieved the letter from the bird. He gave it a couple of treats before the owl took off. Obviously it had not been instructed to wait for a response. Taking a deep breath, Draco examined the letter. Sure enough, it was sealed with the Ministry's seal. Bloody hell, what could this possibly be about?

Draco opened the letter and immediately skipped to the signature at the end. H. Potter. Leave it to Potter to send such an official looking letter about absolute rubbish. Draco took a calming breath before reading the rest of the letter.

Malfoy,

How are you? I hope all is well with you. I never heard from you after running into you at King's Cross a few weeks ago. You mentioned that there was something you wished to discuss. What do you say we discuss it over a couple pints at The Leaky Cauldron Friday night, say around 7pm? Let me know if this works with your schedule.

Sincerely,

H. Potter

Draco simply stared at the letter in confusion. Potter wanted to meet him somewhere in public? To have a couple drinks? Had he and Potter become mates without his knowledge? What would they even have to talk about for a whole evening? Now he could really feel a headache forming so he simply laid the letter on his desk and left to obtain a Pain Potion.

A couple days later, on Thursday, Draco sat at the desk in his study, staring at Potter's letter. He had yet to answer the bloody thing because he had absolutely no idea what to say to the man. He did know, however, that he had to answer today, as waiting any longer would be downright rude and rather undignified. Malfoys were many things but undignified as not one of them.

On the one hand, he did have a couple things to discuss with Potter regarding their sons' Christmas break from Hogwarts. In addition, Draco would be lying if he said he hadn't been a tad lonely since Scorpius had gone back to school. A night out with Potter might be nice. Every time he went to respond to Potter that he would be there, an image of Astoria's furious face would appear in his brain, the same angry face she had made after she had accused him of being in love with Potter. And isn't that just what he needed, to end up in the Prophet having dinner with Potter? Astoria would have a field day.

Draco knew that he shouldn't let Astoria's imagined reaction get to him, but he couldn't help it. He didn't need anyone else to get similar ideas to his ex-wife, especially because he had not yet informed his son that he was gay. He didn't need the papers making trouble for his son. He knew better than anyone that Hogwarts students could be cruel. He tried to convince himself that one picture of Potter, a married man, and him in the paper wouldn't lead to rumors of his sexuality, but he simply couldn't. The last thing he wanted is for any of his decisions to negatively impact his son. Deep down he knew he was being paranoid, but he also knew that Scorpius had had a rough first couple months at Hogwarts his first year. He hadn't confided in Draco, but the Headmistress had informed him there had been some trouble. Even after all of these years, being the son of a Death Eater was looked down upon, particularly in Ravenclaw. Everything had gone much more smoothly after Scorpius had befriended the mini-Potter, but the last thing Draco wanted was to rock the boat while things were going so well.

With his mind made up, Draco set about writing a response to Potter.

Potter,

Although I appreciate the offer, I unfortunately cannot make time this week to meet up with you. What I wanted to discuss you can easily be done via owl. My son's birthday is December 26th, and his mother will be out of the country for all of December and January. Because of this, it will just be him and me for the holidays. Although he'll never admit it, I know that this will upset him. I think he would very much enjoy seeing his best friend on his birthday, and because he has apparently picked your son for this honor, I wanted to inquire if it would be possible to have him spend some time at the Manor on the 26th. I understand that the holidays are a time for family, and you no doubt have many plans. Please let me know if this is agreeable to you. If the 26th is not an ideal date, perhaps later in the break would be more suitable.

Sincerely,

D. Malfoy

Draco reread the letter once more before sealing it. He knew that he had probably been overly formal, but he just couldn't shake the odd feelings he had been having ever since Astoria had made her appalling accusation. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he headed off to send the letter.

It was around midday on Friday that Draco heard the telltale sound of a Floo call. He made his way into the small parlor off the entranceway, where the open Floo was. Other rooms in the Manor had fireplaces connected to the Floo network, but only a select number of people were allowed access to these.

When Draco arrived, he was alarmed to see none other than Harry Potter's head glowing in his fireplace. Bracing himself for whatever was to come, he knelt in front of the fire. "Potter, lovely to see you. To what do I owe this honor?" As he looked closer, it appeared that Potter had been running or something, as well appeared out of breath.

"It's the boys, Albus and Scorpius. Neville just Flooed to say they're both in the Hospital Wing, unconscious. He was about to Floo you, but I told him I would take care of it."

Draco felt his heart sink into his stomach. "Unconscious? What happened? Are they going to be alright?"

"Neville didn't know exactly what happened, just that he had been the one to find them. It sounds like they'll be alright though. I'm going to head over there and figured you may want to do the same."

"I'll be right there. Thanks, Potter."

Draco ended the Floo call before looking frantically around for his wand. This wasn't the first time that his son had landed himself in the Hospital Wing, but that didn't make it any less nerve-wracking. What if this time, it was more than just minor bumps and bruises? He finally located his wand and immediately Apparated to the gates of Hogwarts. It looked as though he'd be seeing Potter today, after all.