Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put all my poor victims in.

Decorating The Bond

Once they'd put their stuff away and changed into regular clothes Albus and Scorpius hurried back downstairs to sample Tomo's delicious cookies and hot chocolate, insisting that she have some with them and help them decorate the tree since they considered her part of the family. Unfortunately this offer prompted her to cry, though they were happy tears, and by the time they'd calmed her down the noise she'd made had woken Phoenix from his nap, the little boy sitting up on the couch to peer owlishly around him as he tried to figure out where the heck he was.

"Hey, You, just in time to decorate the tree with us." Walking over Albus scooped Phoenix up and brought him over to Tomo, who gratefully opened her arms to give her favorite person a cuddle, which the boy gladly returned as he crowed her name gleefully.

"Why don't we put on the lights first, Albus, Tomo and Phoenix can start looking through the decorations to pick out their favorites." Taking command of the situation Scorpius figured that Tomo could probably use a minute to compose herself without them hovering, and Phoenix was a pro by now when it came to making people feel better.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Winking at Tomo Albus gave her a smile and then headed over to the box of decorations waiting for them, really glad when Scorpius pulled out the lights to reveal that they weren't in a tangled up mess. Probably because they'd never been used, he told Scorpius as he regaled the Slytherins with tales of fighting to detangle the strands every year because no matter how carefully you stored them they ended up a mess by the next year without fail.

Taking that as a personal challenge Scorpius stated that he'd be in charge of packing everything up after Christmas as he took his position on the other side of the tree so that they could pass the strands back and forth between them.

Tomo, meanwhile, took Phoenix's hand and brought him over to the box of decorations so that he could take a look, Phoenix's attention zeroing in on a colored bulb, which made him appear another color on its reflective surface. Then he started making faces at himself and that was enough to make him giggle and wiggle with glee, which soon had Tomo beaming and in a much less emotional state of mind.

As soon as the lights were up it was time for the other decorations, Tomo patiently helping Phoenix hang up various decorations, most of which he wasn't exactly happy to let go of since he preferred to play with them instead. But eventually he caught on to the idea and turned cooperative, though the boy refused to relinquish a red bulb that he insisted remain with him.

It had a teddy bear painted on it, enough said.

"You were right, this is rather fun."

"It is, though you realize I'm putting up about three ornaments to your one." Picking out a crocheted snowflake Albus waved it teasingly in Scorpius's direction.

"That's because you're not giving any thought to where you're putting yours." He was already planning to make some adjustments later for that very reason. While he had no intention of trying to turn their Christmas tree into one of his mother's creations, he did want the tree to be somewhat balanced too. Which Albus didn't seem to care about one little bit.

"Da!"

Looking down Scorpius smiled at Phoenix, who was holding out a green bulb to him. "That definitely has to go on this side of the tree, doesn't it?" Picking Phoenix up Scorpius turned him around so that the boy was facing the tree, Phoenix carefully attaching it to a bough the way Tomo had taught him to. "Good boy. Would you like to pick another?"

A happy nod was his reply.

The rest of the decorating went well, and though it went without saying that it could have looked better the boys and Tomo thought it looked pretty darn good for their first family tree. Leaving Phoenix to lie under the tree to appreciate it from that view, Tomo sat beside him while Scorpius and Albus took seats on the couch, the Gryffindor slugging an arm over Scorpius's shoulder, the blond responding by moving in a little bit closer.

Taking it all in with a great deal of contentment Albus's eyes happened to land on a box that had been set on the floor near the tree. He didn't recognize it as being one of theirs, and asked Tomo about it.

"Those are the cards Master Scorpius ordered to send in thanks for the gifts we've received for Master Phoenix."

"Ah, yeah. We saw the presents when we were putting out stuff away." Shaking his head at the memory Albus gave the side of Scorpius's head a smacking kiss of thanks that the man had had the sense to order the cards in the first place. Speaking of which…he had yet to see them.

Getting back on his feet Albus walked over to crouch in front of the box, opening up the flaps to retrieve the first bundle of cards, a smiling breaking over his face as he watched the image that made up the front of the card, which started with a large, wrapped present, the lid coming flying off as Phoenix popped into view wearing antlers, sitting in the present box and grinning widely as he waved.

Laughing in delight Albus picked up the other bundles, all of which started the same way though in some Phoenix was wearing a Santa hat, his bear snowsuit, or holding a piece of mistletoe over his head and smacking his lips.

Shaking his head Albus handed one of the mistletoe ones to Scorpius when he came over to crouch by his side. "These are great."

"They did turn out nicely, didn't they." Scorpius smiled back before calling Phoenix over to see his pictures, though he was completely ignored in favor of the Christmas tree.

"Next year we should do a family picture though." Albus thought but didn't say that it would be a good way to reinforce the fact that they really were a family in the eyes of the Wizarding World. At school most everyone had come to understand that Scorpius was part of the Potter/Weasley family and treated his boyfriend accordingly, but with the older generations…that was going to take some doing. And they did say that a picture was worth a thousand words.

"I'm fairly sure that the majority of the Wizarding World wouldn't want a picture of a Malfoy in their home. There's a reason Phoenix is the only one on these cards."

"Nope, sorry, mind's made up. You're definitely going to be on the next card with Phoenix with me. And the next one after that, and the next one after that." Punctuating each 'next one' with a kiss Albus grinned when Scorpius didn't argue the point with him. A change in subject couldn't hurt either, Albus thought, motioning towards their son who was still ignoring them in favor of enjoying the Christmas tree. "I think he approves of our decorating, even if your mum won't."

"I guess the tree is his new B-O-X H-O-U-S-E."

Nodding his head, and well aware that it wouldn't be a good idea to mention boxes until they'd made Phoenix a new box house for him to play in while he was here, Albus helped Scorpius put the cards away before getting to his feet, holding out his hand to help Scorpius up.

And then, hand in hand, they decided to retake their seats and enjoy being home. And some more snogging too of course.

)

Waking up the next morning Phoenix wasn't at all sure what to make of his surroundings. This wasn't his little house, that he loved so much, nor was he looking up at the ceiling of his room in the big place with all the people in it. And yet there was something familiar about this place too, especially the thing that was hanging over his bed, with other things dangling down from it. Reaching up Phoenix amused himself by batting at the shiny things for a minute or so, quickly becoming bored with that since the things were sorta pointy and therefore not much fun to swat.

Pushing off his blankets and holding his birdie against his chest, Phoenix turned his attention to locating his parents, who he knew were nearby and currently doing that sleeping thing from what he could tell. They sure liked to do that a lot. Almost as much as they liked pressing their lips together and making weird noises.

Giggling at the thought, his parents were so funny sometimes, Phoenix carefully climbed out of the little bed he'd been given and taking advantage of his footsie pajamas soundlessly crept over to the bed they were sleeping in, choosing dark parent's side since he generally stopped sleeping faster than light parent.

Taking a moment to consider the situation Phoenix came up with a course of action, setting his stuffed animal down on the floor before grabbing hold of the blankets edges, since the bed was up too high for him to just crawl in with them. Blankets firmly in his grasp Phoenix smiled and then started to jerk on them repeatedly in the hopes of waking someone up.

Sure enough, after a few good tugs his mummy turned over and blinked at him sleepily, Phoenix grinning at him angelically since he knew he wasn't supposed to wake his parents up before the weird noises came from the thing that belonged to his da that went off every morning.

"Well good morning to you too."

As soon as his mummy held out his arms for him Phoenix went happily into them, kicking his feet with glee as he was lifted up and then onto his mummy's stomach. Sitting up Phoenix shared a grin with his dark parent before looking over at his da, who was still fast asleep unfortunately.

"Oh no, no waking your poor da up early, especially as we're on a holiday." His mummy's tone was sorta scolding, but Phoenix knew he didn't mean it.

"All right then, I know that look in your eye. You stay here and be quiet, and I'll be back in a jiff. We'll go downstairs and find something to do till Scorpius wakes up. You'll be a good boy for me, won't you?"

"Ogay." He wasn't exactly sure what he was being asked, but that was usually the right answer, and judging from the pleased look he was being given it had been the right one.

"That's my good boy."

Delighted to be lifted up and into the air Phoenix was a little less happy when he was deposited back on the bed without his mummy, who was apparently leaving him with da while he went somewhere else. But the blankies were nice and warm when he snuggled under them, and his mummy gave him his birdie before he went which was also nice. Moving in close Phoenix happily traced his da's features with his fingers, giggling in delight when his da scrunched up his face and wiggled his nose when he touched it.

And then the blankies were being lifted and he was back in his mummy's arms and being told something in his dark parent's soft, scowling voice.

Then they were out of the room they'd been in and Phoenix settled comfortably in his mummy's arms as they went down the hallway and down the stairs to the room they'd been in before, the one with the pretty tree in it which had all sorts of sparkly things on it. Delighted to see it again Phoenix pointed towards it, wanting to show his birdie how pretty it was.

"All right, all right, down you go then."

Set back on his feet Phoenix hurried over to the tree, showing his birdie the things he had put on it before. Belatedly he recalled the red one that he'd insisted be hung on his bed for him, and frowned because he didn't have it, but still, he had birdie and that was good enough for him, Phoenix decided, especially when the music started playing. Hurrying away from the tree and over to the object he recognized as one that made music play for him Phoenix jumped up and down with glee. He loved these things!

"Okay, you and birdie dance and I'm going to put together something hopefully edible enough to call breakfast."

Waving him off as he and birdie danced, Phoenix hardly noticed at all when his mummy left.

)

After breakfast, which was indeed edible thanks to the fact that Albus had opted to make them toast with peanut butter and cut up fruit, the two teenagers put away their dishes and then convinced Phoenix that he had to stop dancing and let them put him into his snowsuit so that they could go out and start their errands. He wasn't thrilled about it, but they were letting him take birdie with him which seemed to ease the sting a little, so to speak. Then it was off to Diagon Alley, with their first stop being the Ministry to visit Albus's Aunt Hermione at work.

Normally Albus wouldn't have dropped by without telling her they were coming, his aunt was always busy and was often all over the ministry hounding people into falling into line with her ideas, but in this case he hadn't seen the point since he'd been pretty sure they'd be mobbed by people and therefore not likely to be on time anyway. The Ministry was not only full of older members who would want to fuss and pinch Phoenix's cheeks, but also the arse kissers who wanted to be associated with him family or just have the right to brag that they'd met The Chosen One's first grandson in person to those who actually cared about such things. His cheeks hurt just remembering how often they'd been pinched when he was a boy visiting there for some reason.

Looking down at the boy walking between them, his arms wrapped around birdie, Albus gave him a silent apology for putting him through this.

And they did indeed descend upon them like locust, Scorpius picking Phoenix up as a matter of preservation for them both as the boy clutched his stuffed animal like it was a life preserver as they came to fuss and pet and coo at him all at once.

But just as the sword of Gryffindor presents itself to worthy Gryffindors, so too would Albus's cousin Molly gravitate towards large crowds and the potential for juicy gossip like a Niffler sensing gold.

Making her way through the crowds with expert skill to find her family members all but under attack, the redhead immediately took over as she demanded to know what they were doing here, and once told immediately went into full bossy mode and had them away from the crowds before anyone really could comprehend how she'd done it. She took after her namesake that way.

"Good thing you were here." Scorpius said with a shy smile in Molly direction as the elevator doors closed behind them. How she'd moved so fast in her heels he didn't know, but it was a skill he was certainly appreciating at the moment.

"Happy to do it." Waving aside their thanks, though she had done a bang up job of rescuing them if she did say so herself, Molly held out her arms for Phoenix who was still so shell shocked by what had happened that he just stared up at her dumbly while she stroked his very mushed hair. "Imagine, penning you in like that and scaring poor little Phoenix. Such shameful behavior, and they work here, for Merlin's sake."

Albus had to bite down hard on his bottom lip to keep from pointing out that Molly had been part of that group before she'd realized who was being penned in. But that was Molly for you, just like her dad.

"So why are you here to see Aunt Hermione? She's very busy you know."

"I know. We just have a quick question for her and then we have shopping to do."

Rolling her eyes, Molly spent the rest of the elevator trip lecturing Albus over his complete and total lack of organization skills and how he really did need to grow up and realize how important it was to get things done as early as possible instead of waiting until the last minute so that he ended up scrambling around like a chicken with its head cut off. Scorpius's attempts to change the subject only led to him also being lectured for not realizing that Albus needed supervision, so that by the time they stepped out of the elevator both their ears were ringing and Phoenix had yet to recover from all the weird people he'd suddenly had to deal with so early in the morning.

"Is being around her always like being caught up in a tornado?" Scorpius asked once the elevator had left, taking Molly with it since she was far too busy with actual work to stay a moment longer.

Settling Phoenix more comfortable on his hip Albus nodded ruefully. "Always a force of nature, that's Molly. You should have seen her when we were younger."

"I'm glad I missed it. So where are we going, anyway? This place is so big I always get turned around when I'm here."

Grinning, Albus slipped his free arm through Scorpius's. "Well stick with me and that definitely won't happen. I've spent so much time here I could probably draw you a map if I was insane enough to want to waste that much time."

"Just don't let Phoenix go." Scorpius gave Albus a look that made it clear how important that was. "If he were to run off in here who knows what trouble he'd get into. Or how long it would take us to find him depending on how much of a head start he had."

Imagining it too Albus couldn't help but pale a little, not to mention tighten his grip on both his blonds as he led the way to his aunt's office just in case

Bad things often happened to mischief seeking Potters in the Ministry of Magic after all.