The children led their shell-shocked parents back to their new common room silently. Once there, Hermione curled into Theo, her hands gripping his robes tightly, his arm pulling her firmly to him to the point of pain, his face was pale as he saw Hermione being used as an experiment by faceless unspeakables playing on a loop inside his head. The thought alone made him want to vomit. Draco sat alone, shaken and haunted as he tried to comprehend what havoc his father had wrought. If he had had any remaining doubts about working with Granger, they were gone now. His older self had gotten there in the end, he wouldn't be making the same mistakes and waiting until almost the point of no return. Briefly, he wondered if he could stomach going along with Theo's preferred method of dealing with their fathers. He wasn't sure. But he also wasn't sure he was completely against it either. The thought should have terrified him as he sat casually contemplating murder, but he wasn't sure it did.

"Um….do you want to hear about the time Uncle Fred tried to teach us to fly?" Alex awkwardly broke the silence.

Moving slightly, so her back was pressed close to Theo's chest, his arm banded tightly across her stomach, Hermione contemplated him. "Go on then," she replied softly. Anything to give respite from the horrors of the last few hours. They had described her life. Her life. Why the fuck hadn't she just taken the children and ran? Was Lucius' reach so long that she couldn't have emigrated? Australia looked lovely. New Zealand perhaps? She wanted to vomit. Break something. Lucius Malfoy's face sounded ideal. Anything so she didn't have to deal with this unrelenting grief. Grief that her life had ended up like that. Grief that her children had never known anything else.

"Um…we were two. You were furious."

She snorted, trying to focus on Alex's words rather than her own overwhelming thoughts. "I can imagine," she replied drily.

"Yeah well, he didn't wait on anyone else, took us both up with him on the wrong brooms, grabbed the junior brooms, not the toddler ones. Phee broke her arm after flying into a tree. I ended up on the roof and he couldn't persuade me to come down. He had to send a Patronus to Uncle Harry begging him to help. Which, apparently he did, after laughing at him and listing all the ways you were going to murder him. Apparently, Uncle Fred took Phee to Hogwarts and Madame Pomfrey because she was less likely to tell you. Only you came home earlier than he expected and he was still there and Uncle Harry was chasing me over the roof because I thought it was hilarious. You hexed him bald and spelled idiot over his face in spots for that one. We have pictures. Uncle George said it lasted a month and you refused to leave us alone with him for three months. Uncle Harry and Aunt Gin taught us to fly in the end. I'm pretty good. Phee still has issued with trees."

Ophelia stuck her tongue out at him. "Rude. What about the time our accidental magic turned Uncle Sirius' hair blue? Gods I've never seen a grown man cry like that. We were…six? Maybe? He'd assured you he could handle us. He'd transformed into Padfoot to play with us and for whatever reason, we decided he would look better blue. I can't remember why but when he changed back into Uncle Sirius all his hair stayed in colour. He wasn't too fussed about the blue beard, in fact, he kept it for months thinking that was funny but his hair….well you know how he is. Uncle Remus tried to help him but he kept laughing. I just remember both of them crying. Uncle Remus because he found it funny and Uncle Sirius because he was devastated. Uncle Remus gave us two chocolate frogs each for that."

"Uncle George once gave me a test product to use on Mum, I could only have been seven or eight and she was pregnant. I snuck it into her tea and she spent the day speaking in riddles. By the end of it, she was ready to murder someone but because Uncle George and Uncle Fred hadn't been around she couldn't blame them. So she blamed Uncle Ron." James giggled, "She gave him tentacles for hair and bat bogeyed him until he cried."

Alex snorted, "Gods I remember that. He came to see Uncle Geroge after it, raging at him because he knew it was one of his latest test products. It took them ages to reverse the tentacles. Aunt Gin is terrifying, especially when she's pregnant."

"My favourite Quidditch player used to be Ginny Weasely." Scorpius smiled. "I had all the figures, posters and a signed quaffle that I got when I convinced you to take me to a meet and greet. I have never seen you look so uncomfortable. She just laughed, muttering something about ferrets. You didn't explain that one, actually."

Draco winced. "We had an insane Professor in fourth year. He turned me into a ferret during a demonstration in class it was fucking awful. I was this little albino ferret that he then used to demonstrate the effects of the imperius curse. He had me tap dancing and giving Goyle ferrety kisses."

Scorpius gaped at him before he threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, my Gods. That explains why you look so annoyed every time you have to cast a Patronus!"

"My patronus is a ferret?" Draco yelped.

"Yes!" Scorpius giggled.

"Remember when Dad finally learned?" Cassius asked impishly. Scorpius snorted. "He was so pleased with himself, he'd been struggling with it for years. His is a stallion. You actually had a tantrum, Uncle Draco. It was hilarious."

Draco pouted. "Where are the nice memories?"

"Um….You and Uncle Blaise, and eventually Uncle Theo used to take us to Quiddich regularly. I made you take me to all the Harpies games for years, although it's the Tornadoes now."

Draco nodded, satisfied. "I wasn't totally absent then?"

Scorpius shrugged, "No." he sighed, "When I was little you were about more. You taught me to fly and to ride the abraxans. We used to go on adventures in the orchards and swim in the lake. As Grandfather got more….ruthless? You withdrew more. I don't know what you were doing, I had wondered if you had been helping the muggleborns once I realised you didn't hesitate to contact Hermione when I told you about Grandfather's plans to use them as test subjects."

Draco nodded slowly. "Perhaps. Especially given that she agreed to meet me. I would have thought in the circumstances she would be suspicious, maybe I had already proved myself.

"Dad?" Scorpius voiced hesitantly as a horrible thought occurred to him. "What are we going to do about Mother?"