A/N: A Chapter of Shorts :) Am half way through the next chapter too! love x

The rest of the summer passed quickly and easily for, once there was no sense of deadline, we were just able to enjoy the hot, heady days without fearing what would happen at the end of them. Lucius visited my house frequently to spend time with Draco and to build their relationship up from the foundations. This was the first time they had ever really spent any proper time together that hadn't had any particular purpose, as such. All the time that Lucius had forfeited when Draco was very young, reading or playing and the like, seemed to be being made up for now. It took a while, for neither of them really knew how to do it, but soon they learned how to relax in each other's company and just enjoy their time together. One day, at a suggestion from my mother, Lucius brought Narcissa with him and tried to teach her how to do it too. It was clear that she enjoyed taking her son to the park, and they made a beautiful picture, the three of them, but it was clear that she didn't really understand or see the point, and Draco later said how uncomfortable it felt with his mother there. But he loved her, so he tried for her sake.

I felt strangely proud of Lucius that he had been sincere in his desire to make amends with Draco, and with me for that matter, for we spent as much time reassessing our own friendship. Many an evening was spent in my living room or in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor in the company of a bottle of something or other, reminiscing about the days that seem so long ago now.

"You know, it's only been just over a decade since we left Hogwarts," Lucius sat back and pondered one night. "It seems more like a hundred sometimes..."

"Mmm that," I agreed sagely. Firewhiskey did not do good things to me.

"D'you miss it, Sev?" continued Lucius with a contemplative expression. "I suppose you must if you're putting yourself through it all over again." He laughed, leaning over and slapping me on the back. The firewhiskey made the acquaintance of the two-hundred year old carpet.

"Potter's a sonofagoblin," I told Lucius with a wise nod.

"Mmm's true," he agreed. "Dead now though."

"As a door post."

"Deader."

"More dead?"

We considered this for a while, before deciding that 'deader' sounded better.

"The boy will be there though," Lucius kindly reminded me.

I scowled. "The sonofasonofagoblin."

If Malfoys had fits of giggles, Lucius was definitely having one now.

Personally, I couldn't see what was so funny. I was being completely serious.

" 'Spose him and Draco'll be in the same year," I mused on. "P'raps friends...T'would be odd."

Lucius stopped giggling and shook a finger at me. "None of that, Sev," he warned. "None of that nonsense. Off to Durmstrang with him, and don't you f'get it!"

I patted him sympathetically. "If you say so."

"But I do," he assured me sincerely. "Really very lots."

"Indeed."

"Indeed."

We sat and contemplated the meaning of life for a while, each lost in our own disjointed thoughts. I liked contentment, I decided. It most definitely suited me and I most definitely felt I was owed a life time of contentment after the couple years I had just had.

I rolled myself over to look at Lucius, was all but drooling in his armchair. "Keep your fingers crossed," I told him.

"Mmmkay."

31st August 1988

"Are you sure you've got everything?" my mother asked for what felt like the sixtieth time, looking to me,

then Draco and back again.

"Yes," we both assured her in unison. Every inch of the small house had been scoured for rogue socks and missing books, there was absolutely no chance that anything could have escaped.

Still, ever the cynic, my mother pursed her lips and frowned at us. "I know perfectly well that as soon as I go upstairs and look, I will find something either of you have forgotten."

I gave her a challenging look, "Go on then."

She sniffed. "Nope. If you're sure, on your own heads be it."

"Then we'd best be off." I leaned down and kissed her cheek, which she returned as affectionately as she could. "See you soon."

She nodded brusquely, gave Draco a quick hug and waved us away. Although she would never admit it, I know that she had enjoyed having a full house over the last few months and was sorry to see us go. Especially Draco, who my parents had come to think as one of their own. I was almost jealous that they would be spending more time with him than I would be over the coming years... Still, I was thankful that they would be looking over him whilst I was away. Even though the relationship between Draco and his parents had improved more than I could ever have expected it to, they both still needed all the help they could get.

My mother watched from the threshold as we tottered down the path with all our, albeit mostly my, luggage, and waved as we reached the gate.

We waved back, Draco holding on tight to my hand, before we grabbed our bags and apparated away.

Draco clung to me in the foyer of Malfoy Manor, face buried in my shoulder. I think it had only just struck us both that this was goodbye for quite a long time. I hugged him back fiercely, it was much harder than I had expected it to be. I was not worried or scared for him as I had been, it was just the simple fact that I was going to miss him.

"I'll see you at Christmas ," I murmured into his hair. "I'll bring you back something fantastic and so many stories of Hogwarts that you'll get sick of listening to them."

Draco merely tightened his grip, almost choking me in the process. Gently, I loosened his fingers and put his arms down by his sides. I was grateful that he did not voice what he eyes were saying.

"Miss you," he simply said instead.

"Miss you too."

I leant to kiss his forehead, then quickly turned away before I allowed myself the time to change my mind.

No goodbyes.

Draco stared at the empty space that Severus had just occupied only seconds before, and waited for the sickness to come. But it didn't. He felt fine. A door opened behind him and Draco turned to see his father. The usual knot in the bottom of his stomach did not appear.

"Welcome home," said Lucius with a slight, almost nervous, curve of his lips. He walked across the marble floor, footsteps echoing from wall to wall, and stopped in front of Draco. They regarded each other. "You okay?"

Draco nodded with a flickering smile.

"Good," said Lucius approvingly. He bent to pick up one of Draco's bags. "Come on then."

And, together, they climbed the grand staircase to Draco's room.

Life was comfortable at Hogwarts; the teaching was simple and the rest of the time was my own to do as I pleased. I had nothing and no one to worry about besides myself and it was bliss. The students, naturally, took a while to get used to the fact that I had replaced Professor Slughorn but within a month I had established myself in my own way. I didn't care particularly whether I was like or disliked, which I think helped, although I took my responsibilities as the head of Slytherin House very seriously and always left my door open for my students. I wasn't going to pry, but they knew I was there if they needed me.

I didn't hear from Draco as frequently as I expected to, but when I did his letters were always positive and banished any concern I might have had. It seemed that nothing much was happening in Wiltshire; he told me of the books he was reading, of the flying lessons his father was giving him, of his preparation studies for Durmstrang. 'And Mother's trying to spend more time us because Father wants her to, but really I can see that she'd rather not. She doesn't really see why she should.' Every single letter was signed with I miss you. Draco Malfoy.

My mother backed up the encouraging tone of Draco's letters, reaffirming that he was happy and healthy. 'Although,' she maintained, 'I'm not sure that that would necessarily be the case were Lucius left entirely to his own devices.'

It mattered not. The arrangement was working, and that was all that mattered.

For Draco, things were a little less simple; the good times were very good and the bad times were very bad. Although life with his parents had improved immeasurably, there were still times when his father would lose his temper and lash out, his mother was still hopeless and he was still lonely. But these were more than made up for by the good days, and Draco made it a point only to write to Severus on those occasions; his father's threat was still of the forefront of the boy's mind, but he could not bear to lie. Life was better than it had ever been and Draco made it a point to remind himself of that every time it got hard. Knowing that he'd be staying at Spinner's End every other weekend made time pass much quicker and the space that those weekends gave them all made whatever tensions that may have risen during the previous weeks die down.

He could feel Eileen scrutinising him every time he arrived, deciding, if anything, what she would need to report back to Severus, so Draco was always careful to conceal any bruises that might be left over from her, just in case. If ever she suspected, she never asked and, for that, Draco was grateful.

Still, Christmas could not come soon enough and as Draco counted down the days, the quicker the time seemed to pass.