CHAPTER FOUR
Draco showed up short before dinnertime with Astoria and Scorpius to pick the kids up, his lawyer and a friend from the Ministry brought along to make sure the Weasleys would cooperate. The greetings at the door were cold among the adults, but within a few seconds the three boys were sitting together in the living room playing excitedly. Lily was already being fed by her grandmother in the kitchen.
"Are their things in the bedroom?" Draco asked, nodding towards the staircase.
"Yes, I'll go get them for you." Hermione replied, turning around.
"There's no need, I'll do it myself." The blond walked past her, careful not to brush against the brunette.
"James's room is the second-"
"I know my way around. It's not the first time I come here." He interrupted her as he disappeared up the stairs.
"He's just a little anxious about the whole deal." Astoria said apologetically, awkwardly standing in the hall.
"I can see that." The brunette mumbled, nodding towards the other two men. "We know you're in charge of the children now, you didn't need to bring the cavalry along."
The other woman smiled, slightly embarrassed. She'd said so herself to Draco, but the man was unwilling to listen. She knew there was some friction between the two families, but it genuinely surprised her to know her husband thought so much coercion might be necessary. Especially when she thought about the relationship between him and Harry, how close they were. It must've put the brunet in a very complicated position.
The heavy silence in the hall was only broken by the distant sound of children, three boys to one side and a little girl to the other. Astoria shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
"Is there... Is there anything they're allergic to, or hate or anything else we should know?"
"What, Malfoy doesn't know that?" Hermione snorted. "One would've thought that, with him being specially appointed to keep the kids, he would know all about them..."
"Maybe he does. We haven't talked about that yet. But as I'll be responsible for them as well, I thought it was better to ask than to find out by trial and error." She replied as politely as she could, trying not to let herself be affected by the other woman's tone.
Hermione looked intensely at her for full ten seconds before talking. "They're not allergic to anything as far as I know. But Jamie tends to eat too much candy and get hyperactive if you don't watch him. Lily likes to climb things, so watch out for that. And Albus is naturally quiet, so you don't have to worry about it if you don't hear his voice for hours at a time."
Astoria nodded appreciatively. "I... I'm sure you'd be great for them as well, I'm just sorry the situation got so tense and had to be resolved in a court room."
Hermione nodded, but didn't reply. A moment later, they heard Draco coming back.
"I've got everything, we can get going." The blond said as he walked down the steps, patting his left pocket. "Would you mind terribly if we used the fireplace? I didn't want to... upset any of you by arriving unannounced, but Scorp really hates to apparate, and I'm certain the other children wouldn't appreciate it either."
"The fireplaces are... connected?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He was my friend, Granger. Now, may we or may we not use it?"
"Yes, of course..." She mumbled, pointing towards the study. "I'll go get Lily."
With a short nod, Draco called the children from the door before heading to the study. His two friends had already showed themselves out the door - as most adults, they strongly favored apparition over Floo - by the time Hermione showed up with Lily, who was babbling excitedly and had a few food stains in her clothes.
"Take good care of them, Malfoy. I swear, one little scratch on them and-" She started as she handed the baby to Astoria.
"Making threats now, are we, Granger?" He mocked. "Don't worry, they'll be perfectly safe with us."
"When can we see them?" The request sounded more like a demand, and Draco smirked in reply.
"I don't know. We need to give them time to adjust to their new lives, and I don't believe it'll be helpful for them to keep going back and forth. When I think they're ready, I'll let you know."
"Don't you dare disappear with those children, you hear me? And we'll be entering with an appeal. This whole situation is just temporary."
"Good luck finding a judge willing to go against the Golden Boy's wishes, Granger." He turned his back to her. "James, can you go with Astoria and Lily? Don't let go of her hand, okay?" He said gently to the boy nodding vehemently. "And I'll be right behind you with Scorpius and Albus."
A few seconds later, the six of them had disappeared.
The three boys were excited about the Floo trip by the time they arrived at the Malfoy Manor, but looking at Lily, the two adults wondered if perhaps they should've chosen a different way to travel. Draco handed over to his wife the shrunk bags that belonged to the girl before she disappeared down a hallway, and then guided the other kids through the maze that were the manor corridors to James's and Albus's new rooms.
"So this is where you'll stay from now on, Jamie." He opened the door, and the boy smiled from ear to ear as he took in the majestic bedroom he'd been assigned. As all bedrooms in the manor, there was a sitting area to one side, a desk surrounded by bookcases to the other and a four-poled bed on the far side, decorated in the Malfoy family colors, green and silver. "We can, uh, redecorate if you want. I wasn't sure what you liked so I thought you'd prefer-" He stopped talking as the boy started jumping on the bed, clearly not hearing a word of what he was saying. Shaking his head, he walked back to the corridor. "I've put you on the room next door, Al, so you can be close to James." He nodded towards another door.
"And my room is right in front of yours, Al!" Scorpius exclaimed happily, taking his friend by the hand and rushing towards the door to the brunet's room, trying unsuccessfully to open it.
"That way you don't feel lonely, being around the two of them." Draco explained, opening the door to a room much like the other one, with the exception of the protective rails around the bed to make sure nobody would wake up on the floor.
As he'd done in the other room, as the boys ran around - James showed up a minute later to join them -, he took out their belongings and returned them to their original size, leaving them by the door. While they ate, the elves could unpack and put everything in its right place.
"Boys, boys! I know you're excited, but now it's dinner time. Come on, I'll walk you to the dining room."
Surprisingly, none of them objected, and bounced around the hallways on their way. It was a bit more challenging to make them eat their greens than it had been when it was only Scorpius - they seemed to spur each other, and a shiver ran down Draco's spine when he considered the effects of that over the potential trouble they could cause -, but eventually all three were rewarded with a big slice of chocolate fudge cake.
Deciding that divide and conquer was as good a strategy as any, Astoria, who'd met them at the table after she put Lily down, took the younger ones and left James with the blond man, all three children headed for a warm bath and then their own beds. I'd been a while since Draco had been delegated that task, but all in all, he felt he'd done a good job.
"Can we go see daddy, uncle Draco?" James asked quietly as the two sat on the boy's new bed.
"Of course we can!" The blond exclaimed, surprise at the question, and the boy cowered a little.
"Aunt Hermione and grandma said he was too sick to see us." The boy explained.
"He really is very sick, Jamie." He explained patiently, pulling the boy onto his lap. "He can have visitors, but only for a few minutes at a time. Which means you wouldn't be able to be with him for long, and it could be very hard to say goodbye again."
"What happened to him?"
"Didn't they tell you?" He frowned.
"They said there was an accident." James shrugged.
"It was... a little more complicated than that, Jamie." Draco sighed, wondering how much a five-year-old could understand - and just how much he should know. "Have you ever heard stories with bad guys in it?" The brunet nodded. "Well, some bad guys tried to hurt your mom and dad, and they were trying to protect the other people around them. Help came and they defeated the bad guys, but your parents were hurt. Your mom..." His voice trailed off, and he looked away from the brown globes staring at him intently.
"She's in heaven now." James completed.
Draco smiled and nodded. "Yes, she is. She's watching over you from up there now. And your dad... He was badly hurt too. He's still alive, but he's sleeping."
"Can't we just wake him up?"
"I wish we could. But he needs to rest to get better. And Jamie... I know it's hard, but sometimes, when people suffer accidents like this, they just can't wake up."
"Then they go to heaven?"
"In a way. It looks just like they're sleeping, but there's nobody inside anymore."
"Is that what will happen to my daddy?" He asked seriously, and Draco felt his heart ache.
"The healers are doing everything they can to help your dad, Jamie. But nobody knows if he'll wake up again or not."
The boy nodded solemnly, and remained quiet for a minute. "Do you think he's already gone to heaven to be with mummy?"
"I hope not, Jamie. They said your dad could still wake up, and that's what I'm hoping will happen." The brunet nodded. "I'll take you to see him tomorrow, okay? We'll go just you and me. I think it might be too hard for Al to come with us."
"Okay, uncle Draco." He smiled.
"Very well, then! Time for you to go to bed." He announced, and James scrambled out of his lap and under the covers.
"Will you read me a story?" He asked smiling.
"A story?" Draco frowned playfully. "Yeah, okay. Just one, though, and then you go to sleep."
James's smile grew as the blond man stood up to select a book from the shelf across the room.
The next day, the two of them left the manor short after breakfast, once the other two boys were distracted playing in Scorpius's room. They took the Floo to St. Mungo's, and despite the obviously reproving looks they got from some of the staff and the rest of the people in the hospital, they were treated politely and within minutes they were standing with a healer outside Harry's room.
"How is he?" Draco asked quietly, peering through the small window on the door.
"He's stable. We've treated most of his physical injuries, but there was some swelling on his brain when he arrived, and it's been resisting all potions we've ministered so far. We believe that's what's behind his comatose state, and hopefully the swelling will go down in the next few days to weeks, by which point he is expected to wake up."
The blond nodded. "How is he looking, physically? I don't want Jamie to be scared with what he sees."
The healer nodded in reply. "All his bruising has already healed, as well as his bones. He's not connected to any equipments, and the monitoring spell records his condition on a parchment over his head, but there's no reason for that to scare the boy."
"Thank you, doctor."
"It's good for him to receive visitors, but I'd like to ask you to keep it short. He needs to rest, and with a kid in the room..." His voice trailed off, but the end of the sentence was clear.
"Don't worry about it. We'll make it quick because your dad has to rest, right, Jamie?" The boy nodded. As the healer walked away, Draco kneeled in front of the brunet. "You remember what we talked about, Jamie? You can't run in the room, or yell, and you have to be very, very gentle with your dad, okay?"
"I know, uncle Draco."
"Okay. Let's go in, then."
Draco opened the door slowly, and the two made their way to the bed in silence. Just as the healer had said, Harry looked like he was sleeping peacefully, and at any moment would wake up to hug his son and claim all his children back. The blond levitated two chairs to the side of the bed, and James promptly climbed on one of them, leaning over the bed.
"He doesn't look sick."
"I know."
"He looks like he's just sleeping. Can't we just shake him and make him wake up?"
"I'm sorry, Jamie. But he needs to sleep to heal, and he can only wake up when he's ready to. We can't make him."
"Not even if I scream really loud in his ear?"
A weak smile spread through Draco's lips. "Not even then, champ."
James nodded and stayed silent for long moments. He then grabbed Harry's hand in his, and looked up to his face. "Hi daddy. It's me, James. Uncle Draco brought me to see you, and he's taking care of me and Albus and Lily. We're living with him at his house now. I really like it there, but you have to wake up soon, because I want to go home, daddy. Okay? So wake up and come pick us up, and I promise I'll be a good boy, and I'll make Albus and Lily be good kids too. I promise. I miss you daddy."
Draco rested a hand on the brunet's shoulder, and when the boy turned to look at him, he had tears in his eyes. "I know it's hard, Jamie. But we have to believe he'll be better soon, okay?" James sniffed and nodded. "Okay. We should get going, then. He needs to rest, remember?"
"Already?" He pouted his lip.
The blond nodded. "We can come back some other day."
"Okay." He mumbled, and leaned forward to kiss Harry's cheek. "Bye, daddy. I love you."
James then turned to Draco, who picked him up and felt him rest his head on his shoulder. Holding the boy with one arm, he returned the chairs back to their original place before putting the wand away and letting his hand rest for a moment over Harry's before walking away.