Archive of Our Own

Harry and Hermione sat next to each other, their hands clasped in a tight but trembling grip.

“How are we ever going to manage?” Hermione whispered, her tears falling silently for the moment.

“I honestly don't know,” Harry whispered in return. His tears refused to fall, but tried to cloud his eyes nonetheless.

They both looked up to find the rest of the Weasley family watching them even as they all tried to comfort one another. Molly was simply inconsolable, wailing about her precious babies until almost everyone was tempted to cast a silencing spell around her. There was a surprisingly large crowd of mourners from all over the world.

“It's not fair,” Hermione insisted in a hiss. She'd said this many times, and as with all the previous times, Harry had no idea what to say.

Except: “I know.”

Ginny had come home from playing Quidditch for the season. Being so famous as a professional player – not to mention married to Harry Potter – often made it hard for her to go out into public, but she didn't let that stop her from visiting her brothers in their shop. However, as it turned out, George had popped over to their other branch for the day since the manager was out sick.

This left Ginny and Ron on their own in the lab. George was always the brilliant one when it came to creating and testing new products for Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, but Ron had recently gotten the hang of it and was really starting to shine. What he didn't account for, was Ginny slipping an extra ingredient into the cauldron when he wasn't looking.

She was just playing around, and she had known that the extra ingredient would cause a small explosion. Explosions were normal in the lab, as a lot of the new products they created exploded a couple of times before they got it right. What Ginny hadn't counted on was that Ron had already added a couple of other ingredients that were intended to explode at some point as well.

Thus, when he went to add the final ingredient, the explosion that he had counted on was far far greater than it was supposed to be. It was so large that it burst through all the safety wards and killed them both before they had a chance to know that something was wrong.

So it was that Harry and Hermione were now sitting at the joint funeral for their spouses. It really wasn't fair! Life wasn't supposed to end up with such tragedy!

Thankfully, Luna had volunteered to stay at Harry's house with their respective kids. Harry had three – a one-year-old girl, a three-year-old boy, and a five-year-old boy. Meanwhile, Hermione only had one – a three-year-old little girl – but she was currently pregnant.

This thought occurred to Hermione all over again, and she placed a hand over her still flat stomach. She'd learned the good news from a Healer at St. Mungo's almost exactly at the same time as the accident. For perhaps a half an hour before she'd learned the bad news, she'd been possibly the happiest she'd ever been.

“He never even knew,” she murmured miserably.

“He knows,” Harry assured her.

“What am I going to do?” Hermione asked, not for the first time.

However, this time, Harry had finally figured out what to say. “You'll move in with me. We can be there for each other until we figure out how to move on.”

Hermione burst out into sobs of relief because she had honestly had no idea how she was going to survive mourning a husband and raising a toddler while pregnant! But now that she knew that Harry would be there for her, she could allow herself to fall apart. Her sobs turned into wails, and soon, Molly had come over to wrap her in a strong hug. The two women found it comforting to cry on each other's shoulders.

Harry struggled to keep himself together. He had absolutely no desire to fall apart in public where it was likely reporters were just waiting to capture every moment. Even so, he was shaking from the effort of holding back his grief.

George saw this and sat down in the chair Hermione had been in before Molly had pulled her into a hug. “I think I might know how you're feeling,” George said sympathetically. “I imagine that losing a wife must feel the same as losing a twin did.”

“I imagine you're right,” Harry murmured.

George placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder before pulling him into a hug. “You just cry on my shoulder and I'll make sure no one sees.” He proved this to be true by casting a privacy charm around them that would make it hard for anyone not nearby, such as the family was, to see them – and impossible for anyone to take Harry’s picture in such a state.

“Thanks,” Harry just barely had time to whisper before silent sobs erupted from him. Hermione was right, this wasn't fair!

Over the next month, Harry temporarily stopped taking on new clients for his carpentry business – in which he specialized in building things like sheds, garages, and even playhouses. He also sent word that he'd be taking an extended break from all his current projects. People were disappointed, but they understood.

During the same month, Hermione took an extended leave of absence from the Ministry of Magic – where she was an important and well respected law expert. She moved into Harry's house and focused on trying to work through her grief. After a week of random outbursts of sobbing, they both decided to see a grief counselor.

It was nearly three more months before they started to feel just a little bit better. Not anywhere close to normal, but no longer so sad that they cried on a daily basis. It was then that it happened.

“Harry,” Hermione murmured hesitantly, as she came into Harry’s room one night. “I know we're not... I'm not trying to... I was hoping...” She sighed in frustration, growled a little, and then just spit it out. “Can I please sleep in your bed tonight?”

Harry was frankly shocked by her directness. “Are you asking what I think you're asking?”

“No,” Hermione stated. “I just can't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep without taking potions since it happened.” And four months was longer than recommended for taking such potions.

“Neither have I,” Harry informed her.

“When we were camping that year we were trying to find the Horcruxes, we often slept together for warmth and comfort and we never once had sex,” Hermione pointed out. “That's all I'm asking for.”

“That's true,” Harry admitted with a tiny nod. “But we were both virgins back then. I'm not entirely sure that it would work the same now.”

Hermione frowned in puzzlement. “Are you saying that you want to have sex with me?”

Harry shrugged. “What I want is for life to go back to normal. I want my wife back. But since I can't have her, I think that maybe you and I should comfort each other.”

Hermione sighed a little reluctantly but with an open mind. “We do still have needs. And our therapist did warn us that we were both likely to eventually have one offs with others in an attempt to feel better. I suppose that it would probably be a lot better and safer if we didn't go looking for strangers.”

Harry had to think this over for a moment, but then he nodded. “Exactly. And just so you know, I'm not saying that we have constant sex like lovers. Or even tonight. Just the occasional sex of two friends who need each other.”

Hermione gave him the first tiny smile she'd been able to manage for months. “Does this mean I can sleep in your bed from now on?”

“It does,” Harry confirmed, also managing a tiny smile.

They went to bed feeling much like a couple who had been married a long time. They were just so comfortable with each other that there was no awkwardness. They stripped down to their underwear, crawled into bed, gave each other a quick kiss, and then lay there staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

Harry eventually pulled Hermione so that she lay with her head on his shoulder. The sound of her breathing actually made him feel better. It made a real difference knowing that someone was there for him if he needed anything.

Hermione felt much the same, listening to his heart beat. They were able to relax and sort of drift into a state of half sleep. Even so, real sleep would not come.

“Harry,” Hermione murmured, gaining his attention. “Make me fall asleep.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Harry wondered.

“Wear me out,” Hermione suggested with a shrug.

Harry took a deep breath before answering. “I... I think I can do that.” He shifted until he was between her legs, and then used his tongue on her in the way that Ginny just loved.

Hermione was already so wound up from months of tension and emotional instability that it didn't take her long to reach an orgasm. After that, she tugged Harry until he was in place. Not only had he not removed her underwear – merely shifting it to the side – but now he simply opened the flap on his boxers so that his shaft was free to slide into her.

This was the first time that Harry had been with anyone other than Ginny, and he was surprised to find that some things were very different. For one, there was no deep emotional bond that made sex almost electric. For two, Hermione was noticeably tighter.

On the other hand, a lot of it was the same. Once Harry let his mind drift, he was able to pound into her in a way that had them both panting in satisfaction. In fact, the sex was much better than he had expected it to be! He had thought it would be perfunctory, much like masturbation, but it wasn't.

It was good. Not madly in love good, but still good.

Harry flung himself onto the bed when he was done, feeling like he could actually sleep. Hermione purred softly, resting her head on his shoulder once more. She also stroked his chest with a hand while they both recovered.

“Thank you,” Hermione eventually whispered. “I think I can sleep now.”

“Mmm,” Harry murmured in agreement. And then, almost astonishingly, they both fell asleep and stayed that way all night.

A week later, they sat down to talk about what was happening. It was decided that since they were planning to live together, raise their kids together, and sleep together, they may as well just be a couple. They didn't want to make it overt just yet because that seemed like it was inviting trouble from the press, but they both had hope for the future now. It may not be the family they expected to have, but they were a family nonetheless.

A year later, life was almost back to normal for Harry and Hermione. Harry was working again, which not only made him happy, but also gave his life purpose. Hermione'd had her baby – a little boy – and then had spent months bonding with him. Now, she was back at work as well.

She was currently meeting with an important client and mentally kicking herself for rushing out of the house without eating breakfast. Her stomach growled loudly, but she ignored it. However, since she was still nursing, and thus needing to eat a lot more than normal, her stomach felt like it was caving in. She unconsciously covered it with one hand.

“We could always take this meeting out to lunch,” her important client suggest sympathetically.

Hermione sighed, resolving to be professional. “It's fine, Malfoy. If we just keep going, I'm sure we'll finish in a little more than an hour. Maybe two.”

Draco Malfoy tilted his head at her curiously. “Didn't you recently have a baby?”

“Yes,” Hermione answered with a smile. “Hugo. He looks so much like his father.”

Draco was silent for one awkward moment, and then said what was on his mind. “I know that you'll find this hard to believe, but you have my condolences for what happened. No one should lose a spouse like that.”

Hermione's smile was a bit stiff, but she managed to be gracious. “Thank you. What about you? How is your wife? I think I remember her from study sessions at Hogwarts.”

It was Draco's turn to sigh a bit morosely. “We're... not well. In fact, that's something else I was planning to discuss with you. I know that you're only supposed to work on legal matters for the Ministry, but you have a reputation as the best of the best. Would you be willing to represent me during my divorce proceedings?”

Hermione was stunned. It took her a moment to process the request, and then another moment to think through the details. As she thought, her stomach growled again.

“I'm serious,” Draco stated, his eyes drifting to her stomach. “We should take this meeting out to lunch. I'm sure either the Ministry or my business can cover the expense.”

Hermione sighed. “Yes, maybe that would be for the best.”

However, before they could decide on where, a jingle let her know that she had an incoming firecall. “Do you mind if I answer that?” Hermione asked.

“Not at all,” Draco permitted with a smile. He knew that calls to the Ministry were screened, and so it must be someone important.

Hermione flicked her wand at the fireplace to lower the wards and let the caller through.

“Hey 'Mione,” Harry greeted affectionately.

Hermione smiled at him. “I'm glad you called. I think I might be working late tonight, so you should probably not bother keeping dinner warm for me.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Harry murmured, frowning as he realized that Malfoy was in her office. Then he pushed the discovery to the back of his mind. “Anyway, I was calling to let you know that Hugo seems to be coming down with a cold, so I'm going to take him to see a Healer at St. Mungo's.”

“What about Lily? I thought she looked a bit peaky this morning,” Hermione stated. “And wait, aren't you supposed to be working on a garage on the other side of the country?”

“My client had an unexpected emergency come up, so I'm home for the next couple of days,” Harry explained. “I think I'll just take all the kids to the Healer for a check up. They're due anyway.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Hermione agreed with a smile. “Can you pick me up a bottle of wine while you're out? And maybe some headache potions. The kind that are safe to take while nursing.”

“Yep, no problem,” Harry stated with a grin. “You want me to pick up that nice red wine or the insanely expensive white wine you love?”

Hermione made a show of thinking this over. “Both!”

Harry laughed. “Alright! See you when you get home. Love ya!”

“Love you too,” Hermione returned automatically. “And give the kids kisses from me.”

Draco couldn't help but chuckle over this. “You sound like a married couple.”

Both Hermione and Harry laughed and blurted out: “We may as well be!”

Then Hermione looked up and put a finger on her lips in thought. “Actually, we really should.”

“So long as you do all the planning!” Harry fervently insisted. “You remember how Ginny wanted my opinion on everything and drove me mad?!”

Hermione heaved a great sigh. “Great, more things to do! Maybe we could just skip all that and have the Ministry sign a certificate. Shacklebolt owes us both a ton of favors.”

“That would work, and then we could have Molly host a reception,” Harry suggested.

“I'll talk to her about it,” Hermione promised.

“Nah, I'll talk to her about it since I'm the one that drops off and picks up the kids each day,” Harry reminded her.

“Okay,” Hermione acquiesced. “But I should really go. Apparently we're taking this meeting out to lunch.”

Harry snorted. “I was wondering how long you'd skip eating since you forgot this morning. George and I had a bet going. Looks like he's going to win. Will you at least let him think that you waited another two hours?”

Hermione laughed and shook her head.

“Later!” Harry called out just before his head disappeared from the fire.

Hermione turned to Draco. “So, where did you want to go to lunch?”

Draco was staring at her in confusion. “You two just...”

Hermione tilted her head curiously. “What?”

“You two just agreed to get married like it was another chore to check off your list,” Draco elaborated, finding this concept unbelievable.

Hermione gathered up her purse and the black leather bag she carried her work around in. “At this point, it sort of is.”

Draco got to his feet so that he could follow her out of her office. “What do you mean?”

Hermione shrugged. “Well, we've been together for a year now, and we actually work surprisingly well. It's not true love for either of us like we had, but we do love each other, and we plan to raise our kids together. We're already a family, so it's only logical that we make it official.”

Draco sighed but remained silent. It took Hermione until they exited the Ministry to realize that he was brooding about something. She hailed a cab, and then directed the driver to a nice, spendy, Muggle restaurant that she figured Draco might like that knew her well enough that they should be able to get in even without a reservation.

“What's the matter?” Hermione asked when the silence of the cab ride got on her nerves.

Draco shrugged. “It's just...” He sighed heavily again. “Well, I couldn't make one marriage work, and yet the two of you are going to get married for the second time. I'm sure that your marriage will be every bit as successful as the first ones were, and actually, neither of you did anything wrong. Your first marriages didn't fail.”

“Oh Malfoy,” Hermione murmured in sympathy. “I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong either. Some marriages just don't work out.”

Draco merely shrugged. Part of him wanted to talk about it, but part of him didn't. However, since he was hoping to persuade Hermione to represent him, he figured that talking with her might help.

“What do you think you did wrong?” Hermione wondered.

Draco took a deep breath, because this was the thing that could entice her to help him, or repulse her so that she refused. “We're both... cheaters, I suppose you could say. Astoria was only ever faithful long enough to conceive our heir, and then she took to going out all the time and hooking up with lovers.”

Draco fell silent as he looked for lint on his sleeve to pick at, but of course, the spells placed on it by his highly skilled tailor ensured that there was no lint to pick at.

He continued. “I didn't quite realize this at first. I mean, I knew that she wasn't coming home at nights, but I always thought that she was simply staying with friends after attending parties. After I figured out that she was staying with a series of lovers, I fell into the habit too.”

Draco looked up at Hermione so that she could see he was serious. “And by that, I mean that I would find a lover from time to time to bring home with me. It was always important to me that my son have me around since his mother was always gone. That's one of the reasons I want the best representation in the divorce; I don't want even the slightest possibility that Astoria could take Scorpius from me.”

“Hmm...” Hermione hummed in sympathy. “So, do you plan to cite infidelity as a reason to expedite the divorce?”

“Yes,” Draco murmured sincerely. “I just want it to be done with.”

The cab pulled up to the restaurant and came to a stop.

Hermione placed a hand on Draco's arm. “I tell you what, why don't we finish our business meeting as soon as possible, and then we'll go back to my place to discuss your divorce.”

Draco gave her a look of clear hope. “You mean you'll represent me?”

Hermione smirked at him. “You're just lucky that my afternoon appointment canceled on me.”

She held up the little magical book that was connected to one kept by her secretary. Sure enough, the appointment that was written in for later on was now crossed out. As they walked into the restaurant, Hermione wrote in the book an order not to make any other appointments for the day. She also extended the appointment with Draco so that the Ministry would know that she was actually still working.

“There! Now we're set,” she stated, and then noticed that Draco still looked a bit glum. After they'd been shown to a table, Hermione took Draco's hand in hers. She mentally admitted that it was strange to be comforting someone she used to dislike so much that she'd once actually punched him, but at the moment, he seemed so vulnerable.

“Hey...” she murmured soothingly. “It'll work out. I promise!”

This had the effect of cheering him up. He gave her a wry smirk. “Provided that you are still as tenacious and resourceful as you ever were, I have no doubt that you'll keep your promise.”

Their lunch was both delicious and productive as they nearly finished hammering out all of the details of the contract between the Ministry and the business Draco owned. Malfoy Industries made a point of offering a wide variety of services to their clients, especially those related to the Apothecary that had been in the family for over a millennium. Several hours and several glasses of wine passed before they were ready to leave. Draco paid the bill, and then they walked to the alley where they had the privacy to Disapparate.

Hermione had taken Draco's hand in hers so that she could control the side-along, which was necessary because Draco had no idea where she lived. It was also necessary to get him through the strong protective wards around the house she shared with Harry. Soon enough, she was giving him a slight tour.

“Harry must still be out with the kids,” Hermione stated, mostly to herself. “That'll make this easier for now.”

She gestured for Draco to sit on a plush cushion next to a table that was low to the ground. Draco looked around the room curiously, not very enthusiastic about basically sitting on the floor. It was not a parlor intended to entertain guests, as he expected. Instead, it looked like some sort of room in which the entire family frequently gathered, just to be together.

Draco took a seat only after Hermione sat on a different cushion and arranged some blank parchments in front of her.

“These parchments are quite possibly one of the best inventions ever! All I have to do is write the title of the document I need on them, and...” she trailed off as she wrote the word divorce across the top. A moment later, the parchment was an actual document – an official one that could be filed with the Ministry when ready.

By this point, Draco had already felt quite reassured by her calm capability. He could easily see why she was the best of the best. What he hadn't expected was to discover that he actually liked her. They could even end up as friends!

Frankly, if she wasn't more or less engaged to Harry Potter, he might have considered dating her. It had been a while since he'd last had a lover, and she was a lot better looking than he remembered from their school days. He suspected that they might actually have a lot in common and could get along rather well.

His thoughts were interrupted when Harry arrived home with their passel of children. “James! Why don't you take Albus and Rose outside to play for a while so that Lily and Hugo can have their nap?”

“Okay dad!” James called out, beckoning his siblings to follow him out to the backyard. It had a tall privacy fence to protect them from the media should any reporters ever figure out where Harry lived.

Just as Hermione was opening her mouth to call out to Harry, he walked by and noticed her. “Hey, you're home!”

Hermione chuckled. “Well spotted! My other appointment canceled and I've decided to take on Malfoy as a private client as well as a Ministry client.”

“Okay,” Harry replied evenly, and then belatedly added a greeting. “Malfoy.”

“Potter,” Draco returned the greeting, wondering if one of them might start a fight out of sheer habit from when they were younger.

“How's Hugo doing?” Hermione asked, holding her arms out.

“Pretty well,” Harry informed her. “The Healer gave him a modified Pepper Up Potion safe for babies, and now he just seems tired and hungry.”

Hermione lightly smacked herself on the forehead. “I'd pumped before my meeting started, but I forgot the milk at the office. Oh well, it'll keep until tomorrow,” she murmured, referring to the powerful cooling charms she'd placed on the bottles so that the milk wouldn't spoil.

Draco was completely flustered and looked away a moment later when Hermione quite abruptly pulled out a breast and held Hugo so that he could latch on and drink as he drifted off to sleep. Lily wiggled out of Harry's arms and walked over to carefully sit in Hermione's lap. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly even as she pulled down the front of Hermione's shirt.

Hermione laughed softly. “One of these days, you're going to have to wean.”

It had been a surprise to her when Lily had insisted on nursing alongside Hugo after he was born, but Hermione didn't mind because it was a way for her to bond with her sort of step daughter. Also, had Ginny not died, Lily would have still been receiving milk from her mother. Mostly from pumping since Ginny was gone so often, but also from actual breastfeeding when she could manage to come home for a while.

The last reason Hermione didn't mind was that for the first few weeks, her supply had been too low to properly feed Hugo, and Lily nursing had quickly and effectively built it up. It was only when Hugo was a few weeks old and failing to gain weight that the Healers had realized that he had a tongue tie that prevented him from nursing correctly. Had it not been for Lily, Hermione might have dried up altogether, and that would have triggered more stress than necessary in a mother who was still feeling like she'd had no control over anything in a long time.

Now that Hugo was almost seven months old and Hermione was back to work, she was half kicking herself for not just weaning them both. A happy sigh escaped her as she reminded herself that the hassle was worth it. She gave each of them a kiss on the forehead.

Meanwhile, Harry had rummaged around the various bags he had been carrying until he found a few vials of potion. He sat next to Hermione on another of the cushions around the low table, and kissed her cheek.

“Here's the headache potion,” he informed her. “I'll put them in the potions cabinet, but I figured that you could use one now.”

Hermione sighed in relief and turned her head to give him a quick kiss. “You know me so well!” She then looked down to see if she could take one of her hands off a child for a moment.

Seeing her dilemma, Harry opened a vial for her and helped her drink it. “If the headaches get any worse, you should go see a Healer.”

“I know,” Hermione admitted with a sigh. “I just hate trying to find the time!”

Harry rolled his eyes and lightly pushed on her nose. “You just hate seeing Healers! If it were anyone else needing to go, you'd have made the appointment ages ago.”

Hermione looked away with a soft growl. Lily caught her attention by wobbling. The toddler had already fallen asleep, still trying to remain latched to the nipple, but she popped off with an audible sound.

“I'll go lay her down,” Harry stated, grabbing his daughter and getting to his feet. “And then I'll start making dinner. Anything in particular you want?”

“Shrimp. Lobster. Salmon? I don't know, what do we have?” Hermione wondered, pressing a kiss to each of her son's sleepy eyes.

“All of the above since I went shopping this morning while the kids were still at Molly's,” Harry explained.

Hermione looked over to find Draco firmly looking at anything but her. She was tempted to laugh! Instead, she simply smiled.

“What about you? You may as well stay for dinner so that we can finish up this paperwork as much as possible,” Hermione stated sensibly.

“Er... Salmon sounds good,” Draco decided. “But I'll have to firecall my mother to let her know I'll be late picking up my son.”

Hermione nodded in understanding. “After Hugo falls asleep, I'll connect our floo to the Manor.” Which let Draco know that they must have a lot of layers of wards and security measures on their home since normally, simple firecalls didn't need to be specifically connected to the network.

“Thanks,” he murmured, and then looked over to Harry to see how this news was being handled.

“So... Salmon for dinner,” Harry stated with a faint smile. “And that white wine to go with it? Good thing I remembered to pick it up!”

“And shrimp!” Hermione called after him as walked away, shifting Lily so that he had a better grip on her. Under her breath, she muttered. “God! I feel like I'd kill for some shrimp right now.”

Draco snorted in amusement. “That seems a bit drastic!”

Hermione adjusted her shirt now that Lily was no longer nursing. Hugo still was, but he seemed to be slowing down and drifting off.

“It's alright, you can look at me,” Hermione permitted with a peaceful smile. “For the moment, there's really not much to see. Didn't your wife nurse your son?”

“Not really,” Draco answered with a shrug, glancing at her. “She hired a wet nurse for a nanny, and I didn't really watch her either. I mean I did see it from time to time, but it felt a bit perverted to just watch.”

“Your son is an only child, correct? How old is he?” Hermione wondered.

“Yes. He's four,” Draco stated, a soft smile that he tried to hide let Hermione know that he liked thinking about his son.

“Does he have any playmates?” Hermione wondered.

Draco sighed, seeming just slightly depressed. “Not really. I'll have Pansy and her baby over every couple of weeks, and also Millie drops by with her little girl about once a month. Other than that, it's usually just Scorpius and my mother at the Manor each day, and then him and me at my house each night.”

Hermione felt a tiny shudder run through her as she remembered her one and only visit to Malfoy Manor. However, she diplomatically didn't mention it. A glint of recognition let her know that Draco had noticed it and also tactfully decided not to say anything.

Hermione plastered a smile on her face. “Why not bring him here for dinner? He's the same age as Al and Rose, and it would probably be good for him to meet some kids his age.”

“That's a surprisingly good idea,” Draco admitted. He actually was surprised because he hadn't expected Hermione to treat him like a friend. He was technically a client, so she didn't have to treat him with anything other than professional courtesy.

Hermione laughed. “However, I feel I must warn you, it's usually loud in our house. Your son might be a little shocked since he's not used to it.”

As if to prove her point, Harry suddenly roared from the kitchen – where he was watching the kids out the window as he made dinner. “Rose, no! You're not supposed to jump off the playhouse with the toy broom!”

“Oh dear,” Hermione tutted, getting to her feet.

She could tell by Harry's tone that nothing serious had happened, and so secretly, she was impressed that her daughter had apparently come up with a theory about how to get her toy broom to fly a little higher, and then climbed onto the roof of the playhouse to test it out. Holding Hugo in one arm, she walked toward the kitchen, beckoning Draco to follow her.

“Come on, I'll make us some tea, and then I'll connect your Floo,” Hermione said.

Draco followed her, feeling rather anxious. Had it been his son planning to jump off a roof, he'd be running faster than a Hippogriff could fly! He wondered if Hermione was secretly daft and somehow managed to hide it very well.

“Rose! Oh no, not you too Al!” Harry called out. Hermione giggled as she came up behind him because she knew that he was just trying to sound like a worrywart. Had he felt that there was any real danger, he'd be outside in less time than it took any other wizard to Apparate.

“Still fearless?” Hermione asked with an impertinent grin.

“All three of them,” Harry confirmed, his hands covered in flour and bits of dough as he kneaded it. “Since you're in here, can you hand me that bowl of shredded cheese? I have no idea why I left it on the table.”

“Garlic bread?” Hermione asked as she carried the bowl of cheese over to Harry, and then looked out the window. Sure enough, Rose was hovering slightly higher than her broom could usually go. The charm to ensure that she didn't fall off was working even as the charm that controlled height seemed to be confused by the proximity of the playhouse. “Smart...”

Harry dumped the shredded cheese onto the dough and started to knead it in. “Al seems to find it great fun to dive off the playhouse in a way that sends him spinning slowly around the axis of his broom.”

Since Al promptly did exactly that, Hermione snorted in amusement. “So I see!”

“That's the sort of thing I'm not sure my son would ever think to do,” Draco commented, wondering if they had forgotten that he was standing behind them. Hermione sent him a smile before she started making tea. Using only one hand since the other cradled a sleeping child who still seemed to be nursing quite lazily.

“Does he like riding a broom?” Harry asked, also turning to look at Draco. Without needing to see what he was doing, Harry divided the dough into a dozen or so buns.

Draco nodded. “Yes, but I usually take him on my broom with me. I am not sure if my mother lets him ride his toy broom on his own while I'm at work, but she probably does. After all, I had one at his age.”

“By the way, I invited him over for dinner,” Hermione informed Harry, kissing him on the cheek. “I figured that you'd make plenty and we'd have enough for one more. Plus, it sounds like the kids will almost certainly get along, since they can bond over broom riding.”

“Hmm...” Harry hummed in thought. “What's his name?”

“Scorpius,” Draco answered, finding it a bit surreal that he and Harry Potter were having a civil conversation about their children. Like any other parents. It was almost as if they had met at a play park or something and didn't have years of bad history between them.

Draco watched Harry toss the baking sheet of buns into the oven, clean the dough off his hands with a quick cleaning charm, and then summon various vegetables out of the refrigerator. Every part of Harry was both like Draco remembered him, and also different. Harry had tanner skin and his clothes now fit him better than what he used to wear. His hair was a sort of balance between stylish hair cut and wild carelessness.

All in all, he looked really good! I must be horny! Draco silently muttered in his head. It must have been too long since my last lover if I was considering first Hermione Granger – Weasley, whatever – and now Harry Potter as good looking!

The more he thought about it – however – the more all statements seemed to be true. Both Harry and Hermione were good looking and it had been a long time since he'd last got laid. Some perverted part of his mind even went so far as to wonder what the two remaining members of the golden trio looked like in bed together.

“I'll let the kids know they'll have company,” Harry said as he set a magic charm to chopping up the vegetables and levitating them into a pan on the stove that was already warming up. Butter sizzled softly as it melted.

“I'll go lay Hugo down since he's finally too asleep to keep nursing,” Hermione stated as she poured hot water from a kettle into mugs that she'd already set up with tea bags. “And then I'll deal with the Floo.”

Draco was surprised that they felt comfortable leaving him alone in their home. After Hermione left the kitchen, Harry determined that the veggies needed enough time to cook that he could step outside for a moment. He gathered the three kids around, forming a huddle as if they were a sport team discussing strategy.

Harry was still rather quiet when he came back into the kitchen. Outside, the kids were shouting joyously and running around in excited circles. This provoked a chuckle from Harry.

“They love having visitors,” Harry murmured. He then spotted something behind Draco. “Oh! Watch out for the kneazle. She's downright grumpy lately because she's hugely pregnant.”

Sure enough, Draco looked behind him to find a large calico kneazle glaring at him. She looked ready to claw him if he so much as exhaled in her direction. He made a point to step away from her and give her a wide berth.

Draco then snorted in amusement. “I have a mastiff that is also pregnant, but the closer she gets to delivery, the more she seems to think she is a tiny lapdog that can fit in a chair with me!”

“Aren't mastiffs huge?” Harry asked with a smirk. He was now preparing a long griddle with butter to fry up the salmon and shrimp.

“Yes!” Draco exclaimed. He tried not to be too obvious about the fact that he was practically staring at Harry, but to be fair, he had no idea Harry could cook. It was something house elves did. Or Muggles, Draco supposed.

From the look of it, Harry was actually good at cooking. Draco had a hard time fitting the image of the Boy-Who-Defeated-the-Dark-Lord with the Father-Who-Could-Cook. It was just weird!

“Do you cook often?” Draco blurted out curiously.

“As much as I can,” Harry replied, giving Draco a smile that stated he knew Draco was used to house elves. “I learned when I was really young and found after I got married that I actually liked doing it. It's sort of relaxing.”

Before Draco could say anything, he heard the kneazle growling and looked over to find her glaring at him. “What?”

The kneazle stalked forward, prompting Draco to take a step back, which had him accidentally bumping into Harry. The kneazle hissed in a very threatening manner, and interjected herself between Harry and Draco. She wound around Harry's legs, continuing to wail unhappily in Draco's direction.

“She thinks I belong to her,” Harry explained with a laugh. “She even tries to attack Hermione when we go to bed at night. I've had to explain that she's not allowed to attack anyone – Misty that is. But – naughty kneazle that she is – she tries it whenever I'm not looking. It's a good thing that Hermione still has Crookshanks to protect her.”

“So... you're saying that your kneazle is glaring at me because she's jealous and thinks I'm, what? Trying to seduce you?” Draco asked, not sure whether he found this absurd or far too close to the truth for comfort.

Harry snorted a laugh. “Who knows? Maybe she does!”

Hermione entered the kitchen just then. “Floo's ready. Why don't you go get Scorpius?”

Draco looked back down at the kneazle. “She won't attack my son, will she?”

Harry looked down, pushing her away just a little with one foot. “Misty, if you don't behave, I'll lock you in the garage for the rest of the night!”

Misty instantly stopped her caterwauling and looked up at Harry with an expression that looked a lot like she was thinking: But Harry, baby! I'm just trying to make sure that these nasty beasts don't try to steal you away from me!

“I mean it!” Harry insisted.

Misty sighed grumpily and slunk away.

“She'll leave Scorpius alone,” Harry promised. “She knows that I get extremely upset if she hurts any of the kids.”

“Okay,” Draco murmured, and then followed Hermione to the fireplace. He was back with his son in less than five minutes.

“You're so adorable!” Hermione practically squealed as she knelt in front of him and ruffled Scorpius' hair.

Scorpius took a step closer to his father, unsure of this stranger who dared to touch his hair. He looked to the floor, a bit afraid to make her mad at him. He also had good manners from his aristocratic grandmother.

“Thank you,” Scorpius murmured.

“Would you like to meet the other kids?” Hermione asked.

“I suppose...” Scorpius replied, actually curious. He pulled a tiny broom out of his pocket. “Father told me to bring my broom.”

Hermione held out her hand invitingly and waited for Scorpius to decide that he trusted her enough to place his hand in hers. Once he did, she led him out to the backyard. James, Rose, and Albus practically mobbed him in their enthusiasm to introduce themselves. As they did, Hermione unshrank the broom.

“Would you like to fly too?” Hermione asked, referring to the fact that her three were planning to continue doing so.

“Yes please,” Scorpius answered, holding out his hand for his broom. It took him cautiously watching his three new friends run amok for almost two whole minutes – each of them chattering at him at the same time – before a smile spread across his face. He was flying very low to the ground and not saying much until...

“Try to catch me, if you can!” He challenged, flying his toy broom around the back yard as fast as he could. The four kids had so much fun flying around in circles chasing each other that no one wanted to actually catch anyone.

Rose flew toward the slide, ran up it, leapt onto the roof of the playhouse, and then jumped off it so that she had a bit more height than the others. Albus did barrel rolls and cried whee! James leaned forward and tried his best to be the fastest flier.

Scorpius decided to try a barrel roll and absolutely loved it. He giggled merrily as he and Al circled each other and took turns showing off for each other. Hermione grinned as she watched this, and then turned to go back inside.

She found Draco standing in the doorway with an expression of shock on his face. Like downright gobsmacked and feeling faint with shock. She gave him a curious look.

“He's playing!” Draco stated incredulously. “I'm mean he plays quietly all the time, but...” He gestured toward the exuberant children. “I've never seen him like this.”

Hermione put a hand on Draco's arm. “Then we should leave him to it. And don't worry, our backyard is safe. There's nothing that could hurt him – except for crashing his broom, but the safety charms on the toy brooms are enough that he probably wouldn't even get a scratch.”

“I know,” Draco murmured. “I had extra ones put on so that he could fly faster if he wanted.”

Hermione stepped into her kitchen, but left Draco standing in the doorway for a while longer. Though they couldn't see it, the expression on his face as he watched his son was saying so many things. He had been an only child growing up in isolation except for the times when his parents' friends brought their kids for a visit.

Now, Scorpius was in the exact same situation. At this rate, he wouldn't have any real friends until he was old enough to attend Hogwarts! This thought saddened Draco.

He turned back into the kitchen. “I think I might need to have another child after all.”

Harry looked up at him from where he was searing the salmon and shrimp. “So that Scorpius has someone to play with?”

“Yes,” Draco stated a bit sadly.

Harry smiled and shrugged. “Since you're going to be working with Hermione for a bit, you may as well bring him over here for at least an hour after dinner each night.”

“Or you could arrive in time for dinner,” Hermione suggested. She had been surprised to find – while working with Draco that day – that they got along rather well. And now that she had met Scorpius, the maternal instinct in her wanted to do whatever it took to keep the adorable and well behaved child from being lonely.

Harry shrugged. “Why not? That'll just give me more reason to cook.”

Draco was stunned. “Why...? Why are you being so nice to me?”

Harry shrugged again. “It's been seven years since the war ended. I'd like to think that we've all grown up and become adults. I also don't think I am being particularly nice to you simply because I'm not actively trying to hex you.”

“And we will be working together for a while,” Hermione added. “So I don't see a benefit to maintaining animosity. It would just make things harder on the both of us.”

Draco nodded slowly in acceptance.

“Besides, you dedicated Malfoy Apothecary –” This was a reference to the Apothecary that had been owned by the Malfoys for over a millennium. “To providing low cost or free potions to people in need,” Harry pointed out, and then smirked. “So you can't be all bad.”

Draco smirked in return. “Yes, well, when the most popular item sold in my Apothecary is a special red wine aged a thousand years that carries a hefty price tag, it's easy to provide free potions to people who need them.”

Hermione gave Harry a significant look. “That reminds me! I want you to buy me a bottle of that wine for my birthday.”

“Are you crazy?!” Harry exclaimed as he divided up the food onto plates for everyone. “That wine is 5000 galleons a bottle!”

Hermione continued to simply stare at him.

“For that price, we could take the entire family on vacation to Wizarding Disney Land!”

“Wizard Wonderland,” Hermione corrected absently. “And while that is true, I know we can afford it, so just think about it, Harry. Okay?”

Harry rolled his eyes at her and grumbled but did not agree.

When dinner was on the table and ready to eat, Hermione called all the kids in. James, Albus, and Rose came running in like a herd of Hippogriffs and Scorpius followed at a sedate pace. He looked around the kitchen again, a small curious frown tugging at his mouth.

“Aren't we going to eat in the dining room?” Scorpius asked.

Hermione smiled at him. “Our home is a bit too small for a dining room.”

Harry rolled his eyes at her and shook his head. “Actually, we decided that the dining room would be better used as a playroom. The kids can show it to you after we're done eating.”

“That sounds fun,” Scorpius admitted as he slid into the chair Albus was holding out for him. Rose wasn't giving him much choice in the matter anyway as she was practically pushing him into the chair. “But isn't the kitchen where house elves and servants work?”

The kids all giggled. “Our house elf is ancient! He can barely clean!”

Hermione growled and glared at them. “Kreacher is still very valuable to us and should not be mocked for getting older.”

James didn't like to be chastised when he didn't think he'd done anything wrong. “But he's always muttering the worst things!”

“Just ignore what he says,” Harry advised firmly. “He spent most of his life with bad people and doesn't know any better.”

“Yes dad,” James muttered with a reluctant sigh.

Harry then turned to smile at Scorpius. “Besides, I rather like to cook, so why would I ask my house elf to do it for me? That would be like asking him to fly my broom for me.”

“Oh,” Scorpius murmured in understanding. “If you like to cook, then of course you should do it.”

Harry chuckled and grinned as he nodded in agreement.

Dinner was strange for Draco because he was used to either dinners in which the adults talked and the children remained silent, or dinners in which it was just him and Scorpius in which both of them talked a little when they had something to say, but otherwise remained silent. This dinner, in which the kids chattered loudly and the adults only spoke a little here and there, well... It was just weird!

“And gran says that when Hugo and Lily have grown up a bit, we'll nearly have an entire Quidditch team!” James blurted out.

Hermione laughed. “By the time Hugo is old enough to play Quidditch, there'll be enough cousins to nearly form two teams!”

“Then we can play each other!” James added enthusiastically.

Before anyone could say anything, an owl tapped at the window. Hermione assumed that it was for her, so she let it in, but it flew to Harry. Harry accepted the letter with one hand as he stroked the owl with his other.

Misty reacted to this blatant cheating by yowling in outrage, and then trying to leap and catch the owl with her claws. Lucky for the owl, she was too pregnant to reach him. Also lucky for the owl, Harry had already paid him and given him a treat, so the owl was free to leave.

“Bad news?” Hermione asked based on the look on his face as he read the letter.

“Well, not bad for me,” Harry admitted with a shrug. “Someone in the Scottish low lands is experiencing a flood and went to check on his garage only to find that the protective charms have failed after nearly a century. His garage is flooding and he's worried about all his antiques.”

“And so he hopes you'll rush over there and save him,” Hermione stated with an amused grin. “Harry Potter to the rescue again!”

Harry twirled his finger at the little bit of food that was left on his plate, which responded by glowing from a stasis charm. “I'll finish this off when I get home.” He then stood up and looked at Draco. “It was strangely nice seeing you again, Malfoy.”

“You as well,” Draco murmured in reply, rather surprised that it was true.

After that, Harry kissed the kids, ruffled Scorpius' hair with a fond see you later and ended by kissing Hermione goodbye.

“If you're not home by the time I go to bed, I'm petrifying your kneazle!” Hermione informed him.

Harry grinned at Misty. “Hear that? I'd stay away from 'Mione if I were you.” Misty was currently giving him an expression that clearly read: You're leaving me again?! Harry responded to it by carefully picking her up and stroking her fur. “Behave and I'll let you sleep on my pillow when I get home tonight.”

Misty immediately purred and shifted so that she could kiss him. Her meowing even sounded like she was saying: I love you Harry. Harry handed her to James. “Pet her for me, will you, son?”

“Sure thing!” James cried out gleefully, ignoring the fact that Misty was now glaring at Harry as if she wanted to murder him for giving her to a child...

Harry went over to the fireplace and left to his job via Floo.

The month and a half until Hermione's birthday passed fairly pleasantly. Draco fell into the habit of coming over every evening for dinner as suggested. He could spend hours just watching his son play with the five Potter/Weasley kids.

When Molly heard that Harry and Hermione wanted to get married very quietly and have a reception after the fact, she put her foot down. She positively insisted that they have a real wedding, and they reluctantly agreed. Thus, their wedding plans were more or less on permanent hold until they could figure out a date. Neither really wanted to go through the hassle of having a wedding, and so picking a date was not a high priority, and in fact, both were planning to just wait until Molly forgot about it, and then elope as originally suggested.

This meant that Hermione didn't have to worry about making any sort of plans in her free time – which was actually being taken up by Draco's divorce. Not that there was much that needed to be done for the paperwork. They'd had to go over financials and the clauses of the prenup, but other than that, Hermione had filed the paperwork and was preparing as strong a case as possible for if it went before a judge.

She had every reason to expect that it would be a simple and peaceful resolution, but if Astoria wanted to fight for any reason, they needed to be prepared. So, Hermione was having Draco write down everything that he could remember – going back to the beginning of their marriage – that could be considered a mark against Astoria. Also, anything that could be seen as a mark against Draco – so that they could come up with a defense for it.

All in all, things were going pretty well. Draco had hope that he might make it through his divorce with custody of his son intact. Hermione assured him that the fact that Astoria was never home spoke volumes as to who actually took care of their child.

In gratitude, Draco arrived the night of Hermione's birthday with a bottle of the wine she wanted. The Special Red aged at least a thousand years that cost 5000 galleons a bottle. It was made by his apothecary, so it wasn't actually costing him anything to give it to her. That said, it was still a fabulous gift.

Hermione's eyes goggled when she opened the soft and plush wine bag to see her gift. It might be rather sad, but it was the best gift she could remember getting in a long time! Even Harry had decided against buying her a bottle in favor of a gorgeous mother's necklace that included stones from his children as well as hers. A way to make sure she knew he considered her part of his family even if they weren't married yet.

Anyway, Hermione was so touched that she carefully set the bottle aside and threw her arms around Draco's neck to hug him tight. “It's exactly what I wanted! Thank you!”

Draco blushed, unsure whether he should return her hug. Manners dictated that he probably should do so very briefly, but then again, manners dictated that she shouldn't have hugged him in the first place unless she was intimate with him or a good friend. This thought had him reeling in shock. Hermione thought of him as a good friend!

Fortunately for Draco, before he could wrap his head around the fact that she was hugging him and likely considered him a friend, she let him go. Then she kissed him on the cheek. “I love it and promise to drink a glass tonight after the kids go to bed.”

Draco chuckled. “In that case, I hope I'll be welcome to join you. It's been a few years since I opened a bottle, but I remember the vintage being excellent.”

“Of course!” Hermione gushed since sharing wine was always better than drinking alone.

Molly arrived through the Floo just then and called out to let them know. “Harry! Hermione!”

“In here!” Harry called to her.

Molly entered the family room just as Harry got to his feet. She pulled him into a tight hug. Then Molly smiled at Hermione.

“Happy birthday, love!” Molly said, handing Hermione a soft package. “In addition to that gift, we've decided to take both Lily and Hugo for the night. Arthur figures that having a night free from nursing every once in a while is the next best thing to heaven, and I can't argue because I well remember what it was like.”

“Oh Molly!” Hermione breathed out emotionally. She threw her arms around Molly, and then quickly released her. “I'll go get them ready!” After that, she raced off to pack a bag before gathering up Lily and Hugo – who were trying to play with the other kids in the playroom, which was easily seen from the family room where the adults were.

Molly laughed when the two were practically thrust into her arms. She then gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek. “You know, as much as I admire you for working full time and mothering five children, I wouldn't begrudge you for hiring a nanny to help out a bit.”

Hermione shrugged. “I feel like I don't get to spend enough time with them as it is. I can't imagine hiring someone to look after them while I'm at home, and since you watch them when we are working, what good would a nanny do?”

Molly shrugged. “I never could understand why women hired nannies either, but I'm worried about you, dear. You look exhausted!”

Harry kissed Molly's cheek. “'Mione has been having headaches almost constantly – which have been keeping her awake at night – and she won't go see a healer.”

“It's not that I won't!” Hermione protested. “I just haven't had time!”

“Hermione, love, you need to take care of yourself,” Molly admonished gently.

Hermione sighed in defeat. “I know. I'll make room in my schedule for it tomorrow.”

Harry raised a brow at her. “You'll make time to see a Healer tomorrow, or you'll take a look at your schedule tomorrow and try to find time?”

Hermione looked away from him with a light blush. “Erm, well... I'll look at my schedule tomorrow and try to find time to go see a Healer sometime this week.”

Harry gave Molly a significant look. “I'm home tomorrow, so I'll go have a chat with her secretary and make sure that there's time to see a Healer.”

“Good!” Molly stated in satisfaction. “I'll just keep these lovelies until you're ready to pick them up.” After that, Molly left.

“Do you suppose that it's too early to send the rest of the kids to bed?” Hermione asked eagerly.

Harry chuckled. “Well, it's only a half an hour before their bedtime, so perhaps we can have them watch a cartoon and set the player to turn off when it's over?”

“Brilliant idea!” Hermione exclaimed. “I'll go do that!”

“What are they going to be watching?” Draco wondered curiously.

“It's a Muggle thing made for kids,” Harry explained.

Draco followed Harry to the room that James, Albus, and Rose shared. Hermione was already busy casting spells on the telly. The moment it was ready, she called out for the kids to come to their bedroom.

“Albus? Will you share a bed with James tonight so that Scorpius can have your bed?” Hermione asked with a smile.

“Scorpius gets to spend the night?” Albus asked, echoed by James and Rose.

“Yep,” Hermione confirmed.

Albus whooped with joy as he jumped off his bed and flung his arms around Scorpius. The two boys jumped up and down as James and Rose joined in on the hug. The cheering got so loud that Hermione had to cast a momentary silencing spell.

“Oi! If you'll quiet down a moment, I can tell you that I've put in a cartoon for you to watch until bedtime,” Hermione explained. “The telly will turn itself off when it's done, so don't worry about anything other than going to sleep.”

“Yes mum,” James murmured, making Hermione's eyes tear up. She pressed a hand to her heart and half sobbed as she pulled him into a tight hug and kissed his cheek.

“Goodnight mum,” Albus stated, throwing his arms around her and kissing her cheek while she was still hugging James.

“Hey! That's my mum!” Rose protested, trying to pull Albus off of her mother.

“Rose,” Harry interrupted gently. “Is it alright if my boys think of your mum as their mum too?” He could see how much it meant to Hermione to have his sons call her that. Especially since this was the first time.

“Well...” Rose gave this some serious thought. “I suppose I can share, like I share with Hugo. And Lily.” Rose had started calling Lily her baby sister right about the time Lily had decided to nurse from Hermione.

“Oh Rose!” Hermione cried out happily, pulling her daughter into a hug and giving her a smooch.

“Goodnight mum,” Rose murmured.

“Goodnight all,” Hermione said, and then turned to Scorpius. “That includes you. I hope you enjoy the sleepover.” She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek as well.”

Scorpius blushed at the unaccustomed attention, but then wouldn't let go of her for a good ten seconds. “Goodnight Hermione.”

Hermione appeared to be half floating from happiness as she left the room. Harry quickly passed out hugs and kisses to his three, and then decided that it would actually be awkward to omit Scorpius, so he gave the boy a hug and kiss too.

Which left Draco standing just inside the room a bit awkwardly. He normally hugged and kissed his son goodnight, but it was rather quick and to the point. This seemed a bit overdone. With a sigh, he sat on the edge of the bed his son was in.

“Goodnight Scorpius,” Draco murmured. The two gave each other their usual quick hug and kiss, and then Draco tried to stand so that he could leave the room, but he was literally ambushed by the rest of the kids.

“Goodnight Draco!” They called out as they hugged him and pressed kisses to his cheeks. “We're so happy that Scorpius is spending the night! Please let him do it again sometime!”

Draco blushed, tempted to cover his flaming cheeks for a couple of reasons. First off, he hadn't expected them to like him enough to show him affection. Secondly, these were Harry Potter's kids! And third, he just wasn't used to being affectionate.

Harry was quietly snickering at the expression on Draco's face. When the two men were standing in the hall a moment later, Draco gave Harry a stunned expression.

“Your kids like me!”

Harry laughed. “Of course they do! We wouldn't let you keep coming back if they didn't.”

Draco couldn't say anything because he was suddenly hit by the realization that Harry now considered him a friend. When in Merlin's scraggly beard had that happened?!

Harry continued to chuckle lightly as he led the way back to Hermione. She already had the bottle of wine open and was pouring it into three wine glasses. “I put a spell on the telly that the kids would fall asleep when the cartoon was over... What happened to Draco?” She asked when she saw the still very flummoxed expression on his face.

Harry laughed outright. “The kids all gave him a hug and a kiss. You should have seen it; it was adorable!”

“Aww! You big softie!” Hermione heckled with a soft smile. “To think, all this time, all we had to do to 'defeat' you was attack you with a pile of lovey-dovey kids!”

Draco harrumphed softly. “I'm not sure that would have worked back then.”

Hermione handed him a glass, handed one to Harry, and then picked up the one for her – which had a noticeably larger amount of wine in it. “Here's to a lovely birthday! And Special Red.”

They all clinked glasses before Draco and Harry took a decent swallow. As for Hermione, she practically drank the whole glass in one gulp.

Draco held up a hand to stop her. “Careful! It's potent!” But it was too late; the glass was empty.

“I took a sip as soon as I opened the bottle and it was so delicious that I couldn't help it!” Hermione explained with a giggle.

Harry laughed. “Watch out! Hermione gets extremely affectionate when she's drunk!”

Draco took another sip of his wine, shaking his head in a very bemused way. Harry sniffed his glass, shrugged, and then downed it. When he set his glass down, he saw Draco raise a brow at him and chuckled.

“I don't really like wine, so I tend to just get it over with when I have to drink it,” he explained. “Whereas Hermione loves wine and usually savors it very slowly. I can't believe she gulped hers!”

“Hey! You would have too if you'd had my day! I had clients nonstop and they all wanted to whinge for hours as if I was the cause of all their problems!” Hermione huffed, her speech already sounding a little slurred. “And then the Minister of Magic himself decided to come for a visit literally five minutes before I was supposed to leave! He wants me to be his personal secretary – which might be nice when the kids are all a little older and I don't have to worry about working a hundred hours a day! But I just had a baby for Merlin's sake!”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, Kingsley likes to show up when I'm working out in the middle of nowhere to try to talk me into taking up the position of his right hand man. He thinks that I would be perfect to take over for him when he feels like retiring.”

“Ha!” Hermione snorted derisively. “There, I'll take up position as secretary to the Minister when you're the Minister!”

Draco chuckled and shook his head as he took another sip of wine. “There was a time in which the Malfoys would have given anything to be the Minister of Magic, but I realized a long time ago that it was a terrible job. Far too demanding and not enough changes for the better.”

“Well, I suppose that dep, dep-pep-pep, pends!” Hermione hiccuped. “On yer def-nition of better!”

Draco looked towards Harry with an expression of: Is she really drunk already? Harry laughed and ruffled Hermione's hair. His eyes looked just a little glazed over, which made Draco wonder if Harry was drunk already too. He then looked at the amount left in his glass – which was about half of what he'd started with.

“Perhaps I should stop now,” Draco murmured, weighing his options. Somehow, it didn't seem like the best idea to get drunk with the Savior of the Wizarding World. On the other hand, it had been a while since he'd last gotten drunk, so...

He downed the rest in a single gulp.

“That's more like it!” Hermione cheered happily, hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Relax, unwind. Un-wine... Un-wine... Hmm, I think I need more wine.” She tried to pour herself another entire glass, but Draco had just enough wits left to realize that if one had gotten her sloshed, then two might well kill her. He took the bottle after she'd poured barely a sip.

“Hey!” Hermione protested.

Draco subtly cast a charm to prevent the wine from coming out of the bottle. “Look, you drank it all already,” he informed her as he upended the bottle over his glass.

“Oh... So I did...” Hermione stated in disappointment.

“That was sneaky of you,” Harry whispered in his ear.

“That jus' means you hafta dance w'me!” Hermione announced, pulling Draco into a very wobbly dance.

“You're hilarious when you're drunk,” Draco observed with a grin. He led her through a dance, doing a lot better at maintaining his balance than she was.

He was starting to feel the alcohol, but since he had grown up drinking this particular wine once a year from his sixteenth birthday on, he probably wasn't nearly as affected by it as she was. Or Harry, from the look of it. Harry seemed to be dancing with an invisible partner.

Hermione stopped dancing abruptly. “Harry! Can I do that thing that we were talking about?”

Draco wondered if Harry would be able to understand the slurring, but apparently he did. “That thing we joked about but didn't think would go over very well?” He was slurring a bit as well.

“Yes, that thing!” Hermione confirmed enthusiastically.

“Sure, why not?!” Harry stated with a shrug and a grin.

“Hooray!” Hermione cheered.

“What thing?” Draco wondered with a curious frown.

“This,” Hermione informed him right before she kissed him. It was a wet and heavy kiss that almost distracted him from the fact that her hands were groping his arse.

His first reaction was to grunt in surprise and protest – after all, her sort of fiancé was standing right there. On the other hand, Harry seemed to be enjoying the view, which made Draco groan in longing. It had been so long since his last lover.

Hermione took this as a green light to keep going, so she broke off the kiss and grabbed Draco's arm so that she could drag him toward the bedroom.

“Er...” It occurred to Draco to murmur when he realized where they were going. A look over his shoulder assured him that Harry was following with an eager look on his face. “Wait! What do you plan?”

“Plan?” Hermione asked as if this was a foreign concept. “No plans other than to have fun.”

“I mean,” Draco was struggling to find a sober section of his brain. “I mean all together, or just us with him watching?”

“Both?” Hermione asked with a shrug. “Why?”

“I... I've never been watched before,” Draco murmured a bit shyly. “I don't think I like that idea.”

Harry laughed huskily. “But you have no objection to us all together?”

“Well... no...” Draco whispered, not sure if they were serious or teasing him.

Harry grinned and seized Draco's lips in a demanding kiss. As he did, Hermione busied herself with taking his clothes off. By the time he was naked, she lost all patience, grabbed her wand, and vanished her clothes. This left Harry as the only one with clothes on, until Hermione grabbed Draco so that she could snog him again and Harry had time to get naked.

“Whoa...” Draco muttered. His head felt like it was spinning with how fast they were basically attacking him. Apparently I wasn't the only one thinking about this!

Hermione was eager to move on. Ever since she'd gotten with Harry, what she liked in bed had changed dramatically. She used to prefer slow and gentle. She used to prefer lasting all night if possible. Now, however, she preferred it rough and fast and hard.

Harry found that the same was true for him. He and his wife used to make love most of the time, but he and Hermione tended to simply fuck until they were ready to fall asleep. Yes he missed the gentle aspects of sex from time to time, but the two of them had made a pact to explore those things they never felt they could with their spouses.

Which had led to them inviting – well actually, dragging – Draco to their bed. As for him, he was half certain that they were going to start laughing at him and tell him they were joking. Deep down, he didn't feel like he was worthy of them.

And then Hermione pushed him onto the bed and climbed atop him. She settled herself between his legs while Harry got comfortable in a position that allowed him access to snog Draco. With a mental smirk, Draco decided that it was ironic that they were treating him like he was special and deserved the best. These days, there were very few people who treated him like that.

Hermione soon had his knees shaking from the best – like hands down the best – blowjob that he'd ever had. He grunted and groaned even as Harry continued to snog him. And this wasn't just any snogging! This was what Draco imagined as making love just with a pair of mouths.

Just when Draco thought for certain that the end was near, Hermione pulled her mouth off him and cast a few spells on herself. Draco broke off the very enjoyable kiss to look over at her curiously. Harry whispered in his ear: “She just cast protection spells to make sure she doesn't get pregnant or contract any diseases.”

“Ah,” Draco murmured in understanding. Harry then helped him crawl into position on top of Hermione – who cast a protection spell on Draco. The chances of any of them having a disease (especially Harry and Hermione, who had never been with anyone but their spouses and each other) were low, but it was always better to be safe.

Hermione pulled Draco close for an intense kiss while Harry positioned him so that Draco's arse was in the air. The wine made Harry forget all his inhibitions and just do something he'd long wondered about – which was have sex with a bloke. At the moment, he was starting on this quest by licking Draco's tightly puckered hole; something he had actually practiced on Hermione at some point, and to both their astonishment, she had loved it.

Draco moaned and gasped in amazement and pleasure. He'd never once in his life honestly thought that Harry Potter would be literally kissing his arse! And Merlin's saggy balls! It felt so good!

Harry moved onto fingering Draco and stretching him open. Little gasps, groans, and moans let Harry know that Draco was thoroughly enjoying every moment. Just when Harry thought that Draco was ready, Hermione grew impatient again.

“Inside me, now!” She ordered, her hands on Draco's hips pulling him down into her.

Draco was more than ready to comply. He slid inside her with a happy sigh, thrusting a few times until he was buried deep. Then he was completely distracted by Harry carefully pushing into him.

He'd never had a threesome before – usually preferring to have hours of indulgent one on one sex – but at this moment, Draco loved the feeling so much that he hoped he could do this again, and as much as humanly possible! It was sheer bliss to be buried inside someone while someone else was buried deep in him. Especially once they all started writhing and moving together.

Hermione was positively wild under Draco! She thrashed about and undulated into him so much that Draco almost thought she was trying to get free. Except that she held onto him, digging her nails into his shoulders and back to make it clear that he was not allowed to go anywhere just yet.

When her breaths started escaping her in short panting gasps, she wiggled one hand between them until it found her clitoris. Just a few circular rubs had her getting very tight around Draco's shaft. A few more rubs and she was digging the nails of her other hand into his back again as she squealed. Draco felt her orgasm rippling on his shaft and it sent a shock through him, ripping an orgasm from him as well.

Harry loved hearing his girlfriend squeal. He also loved the feel of Draco squeezing his shaft from an orgasm as well. But best of all – in Harry's opinion – was that he was not done yet. He slowed down a bit to help extend the orgasm without overwhelming Draco, but he did not stop. The moment that Draco seemed to melt onto Hermione – who still had her fingers rubbing her clit – Harry sped up again, making sure to hit that spot that pulled mewling cries from Draco.

Harry had great fun pounding into Draco. The wine seemed to be blessing him with extra stamina, even as Hermione seemed to be blessed with a delightful series of orgasms. Draco almost felt helpless to do anything but ride the waves of pleasure as Hermione continually stimulated his shaft and Harry seemed determined to turn him inside out and wring every drop of pleasure possible from him.

Draco was slightly embarrassed to realize that he was actually squealing when the next orgasm hit him. It was a low squeal, a breathless squeal, but a squeal nonetheless. He buried his head in Hermione's neck to muffle the noise and hide his embarrassment. To his joy, Harry pumped him full just then, which was strangely soothing to his overly sensitive nerves.

Harry threw back his head and softly roared. He couldn't remember having such an intense orgasm in, well, possibly ever. He could only figure that either the wine had been laced with a pleasure enhancing potion, or that this particular sexual partner was just that much more enjoyable.

The trio collapsed onto the bed and snuggled up. Draco was too sated and exhausted to care that he was in the middle of a hot and sweaty sandwich. Normally, he was used to sleeping alone, so even when he did have a lover over, he would roll over and sleep next to but as far away from the person in his bed as he could. This truly was the weirdest experience he'd ever had.

They all slept soundly. This was actually astonishing because all of them tended to have nightmares and general trouble sleeping. As Hermione drifted awake, she wondered if it was the wine or the sex that had made them sleep so well.

Draco woke to find that their positions had basically reversed while sleeping. Now, instead of them all laying more or less on Hermione, his head was laying on Harry's arm and shoulder and he was utterly snuggled up to Harry – who had his arms wrapped around Draco as if he planned to never let go – and Hermione was snuggled up to Draco's back with an arm over his waist and her leg between his.

On the one hand, he rather shockingly enjoyed their closeness. He sincerely wished that he could stay right here and never move again. Memories made him blush and bury his head in Harry's chest. He wondered if he'd be able to talk them into doing this again sometime. With a relatively silent sigh, he admitted that it was probably a one off fueled by the wine.

Unfortunately for Draco, he couldn't stay where he was. He really really wanted to, but a certain part of his body threatened quite seriously that he would make a wet and embarrassing mess in the bed if he didn't get up and find a bathroom, right now! However, sliding out of bed was rather surprisingly not an option.

First, Draco had to figure out how to wiggle free from the possessive arms of his lovers. He didn't want to wake them, but the situation was rapidly becoming an emergency! He decided to start by moving Hermione's arm from his waist.

Since she had already been drifting awake, she shifted so that she could kiss his cheek. “Morning,” she whispered softly.

“Morning,” Draco returned with a warm smile. “I need to get up.”

“Ah,” Hermione uttered in understanding. She watched him try to pull free of Harry's embrace for a moment, only to be thwarted by Harry tightening his grip on Draco. With a giggle, she offered help. “Let me show you how to get him to let go.”

Draco couldn't actually see what she did since he was literally too close, but he could feel her slide a hand between him and Harry. Her fingers wiggled around a bit, and then Harry inhaled a sleepy gasp before murmuring incoherently. Continued wiggling prompted Harry to release Draco and roll onto his back. This made it impossible for Hermione to continue what she was doing, but also made it possible for Draco to climb out of bed.

He watched them over his shoulder as he walked toward the en suite bathroom. Hermione was using a skillful hand to wake up at least one part of Harry. Soft moans of enjoyment made the scene so erotic that Draco almost ran into the doorway of the bathroom. Very reluctantly, he shut the door behind him and did his business.

It took him a few minutes, but when he returned to the bedroom, it was to see Hermione riding Harry with wild abandon. They looked good together! This was a many week fantasy come true. It didn't take long for Harry to roll her under him and pound as hard as he could. She squealed as he roared out his climax, and then they collapsed back onto the bed and panted heavily.

With a grin, Draco left the room. As much as he wanted to crawl back in bed and initiate another round, he was pretty sure that they would need at least a few minutes to recover. So, he decided to check on his son.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he found. His stomach dropped as he stood there in the doorway. There, in one of the beds, lay his son in a dog pile with Albus and Rose while James had an arm wrapped around Albus so that his hand was resting on Scorpius – as if he had been patting the boy on the back and offering comfort.

This was obviously completely innocent – as opposed to the similar position Draco had been in last night. However, it was unexpected and shocking because he really thought that his son would insist on sleeping in a bed by himself. Scorpius had never had a sleepover before, and didn't seem the type to snuggle!

Draco was still reeling in shock ten minutes later when Harry came up behind him.

“Is something wrong?” Harry whispered in Draco's ear.

“No,” Draco replied almost soundlessly, shaking his head. “I just never thought that Scorpius would get along so well with your kids.” He then wrapped his arms around his waist and looked to the ground. “I think I've made an enormous mistake.”

Harry felt an overwhelming urge to comfort Draco, and so wrapped his arms around Draco and pulled him into a warm embrace. “What mistake?”

“I shouldn't have let him get so close to anyone like this. It's only going to hurt him unbearably when my divorce goes through and we no longer have any reason to come over here,” Draco murmured in explanation.

Harry turned Draco around until they were eye to eye. “Draco... I know it's only been less than two months since we started getting along, but I hope you know that we all really like you and Scorpius. The kids wouldn't be the only ones to find it unbearable if you stopped coming over for visits.”

Draco felt his breath catch in his throat. “But... But you're Harry Potter and I'm Draco Malfoy! We're not supposed to get along!”

The strangest smile twisted Harry's lips. “Why not?” He asked, rubbing Draco's back with a hand while his other locked around Draco's waist so that he couldn't escape, even if he wanted to. “Are you saying that we're never allowed to grow up or change? That we're supposed to let what happened between us as children dictate the rest of our lives?”

Draco felt like the rug was pulled out from under his feet. His head was spinning and he really felt like he was going to fall over or pass out. Instead, he clung to Harry and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

Harry stroked Draco's hair. “I don't really know why, but I've obsessed over you for a good third of my life. Now that you're here and we're getting along, I really don't want to let you leave. Ever.”

“I agree,” Hermione murmured from behind them. “Harry really has obsessed over you and now that I've gotten to know you a lot better, I can see why. I think it would be wonderful for you and Scorpius to move in here with us.”

Draco gasped incredulously. “You mean that?!”

“Yeah,” Hermione confirmed softly.

“Me too,” Harry added, stroking Draco's cheek as he forced Draco to look up at him. The fierceness in his eyes made it obvious that he was serious.

“I...” Draco was speechless! He scrambled to think of something, anything to say. A long moment passed before he could think. Then another long moment passed before he closed his gaping mouth. “I think I'd like that...”

Harry gave him the sweetest, most tender kiss he'd ever had. “Good.” And then Harry let Draco go and walked away. “Pancakes for breakfast?”

“As long as there's a ton of bacon,” Hermione stated in agreement. “I feel like I could eat an entire roast pig at the moment!”

“That sounds good,” Harry moaned, already making plans to roast a pig as soon as possible.

Draco pressed a hand to his stomach as it growled. “It does.”

They all went to the kitchen where Draco found Misty sitting in his usual chair, positively glaring at him. She'd had her kittens – which were in a very comfortable box in the corner of the kitchen – and tended to stay near them. Even so, she must have snooped on them at some point last night because her expression clearly stated: You are trying to take my Harry from me and I will murder you the first chance I get!

Draco gulped in apprehension and wondered exactly how living here was going to work.

As Harry promised, he went to Hermione's office and chatted up her secretary. The woman was a true gem! She was not only extremely competent, but she didn't fall all over Harry like practically everyone else did. That said, the two of them loved to flirt with each other most scandalously.

“So Gorgeous, I need you to do me a big favor,” Harry announced with a smoky grin.

“Anything for you, babe,” the secretary promised with a wink. “You need me to get on my knees before you?”

Harry groaned longingly. “Tempting, but no. I just need your sexy arse to snoop through 'Mione's diary and find time for her to visit a Healer as soon as possible.”

“No problem! And speaking of sexy arses, can I grope yours in repayment for this favor?”

Harry chuckled and grinned at her. “I think I could be persuaded to give your hands a minute or two of free reign.”

“Are you serious?” Draco asked in astonishment as he walked up behind Harry. He was Hermione's next appointment, so he had actually dropped off his son with his mother and then gone home to shower and change clothes. Thus he had not come here with Harry, and had not been prepared to hear him flirt so outrageously.

“Of course!” Harry stated as he gave Draco a flirty wink.

“How's this?” The secretary interrupted with a suggestion. “I've rearranged her schedule so that she's free for two hours after Mr. Malfoy's appointment.”

“Perfect!” Harry crowed in triumph. “Now I just need to make her appointment with a Healer. How about I use your Floo and you grope me while I talk to the receptionist?”

“Lovely!”

Hermione screeched in outrage from her office. “How in the ever loving hell is it possible that I have only been in my office for ten minutes and already I have an appointment to see a Healer in my diary?!”

Rather than answer the question, her secretary cast a spell to carry her voice into Hermione's office. “Mr. Malfoy is here to see you.”

Hermione sighed in aggravation and defeat. “Fine... Send him in.”

“I'd better set that appointment,” Harry muttered under his breath as he grabbed some Floo powder.

Draco chuckled and eyed Harry over his shoulder as he walked into Hermione's office. Sure enough, the secretary was caressing Harry's glorious arse as he bent over to talk through the fireplace. She was careful to remain off to the side and out of view, but Harry wiggled ever so slightly in a way that probably confused the receptionist he was talking to.

“I don't think you're getting out of that appointment,” Draco warned her seriously.

Hermione sighed again, this time sounding like she was surrendering. “Fine. Now, the purpose of today's meeting is to review how well your company is performing for the Ministry.”

Draco couldn't help but smirk as he listened to her since his mind was filled with visions of Harry's arse, which led to visions of Harry naked and inside him, which led to visions of Hermione writhing under him. His expression must have given his thoughts away, because when Hermione stopped talking and looked at him expectantly, she wore a hint of an amused smirk.

“Er... I agree?” Draco responded hesitantly.

“Good,” Hermione stated with a smug grin.

Two hours later, Draco tagged along with Harry and Hermione to her appointment. The Healer found it a bit unusual for them to have an extra person with them, but said nothing. She simply busied herself trying to figure out the cause of Hermione's frequent headaches.

“Not feverish, not ill, not cursed, not reacting to a potion, not truly dehydrated – although you could stand to drink a bit more water, my dear. Hmm... Oh, that explains it. Congratulations dearie, you're pregnant,” Healer Rowe announced.

“What?!” Hermione demanded in shock. “But I can't be!”

“We always use contraceptive spells,” Harry added, also surprised, but not upset.

“Well, perhaps you forgot once,” Healer Rowe suggested with a patient smile.

“Oh...” Hermione droned with a tone of horrified remembrance. “I think I might have... But still, this can't be happening, I just had a baby!”

Voice full of sympathy, Healer Rowe cast a spell to help determine how far along Hermione was. “Looks like you're still in your first trimester, about two months along.”

“Bugger!” Hermione swore in acceptance. Then she sighed and looked over at Harry. “I guess we're having a baby.”

Harry chuckled and squeezed her hand. Then they both looked at Draco. Their expressions were hesitant and hopeful.

“Still want to live with us?” Harry asked.

Draco reached out and took a hand from each of them. “Yes.”

Hermione smiled in relief and threw her arms around him. “I'm glad!”

Harry grinned brightly. “Me too!”

Healer Rowe had to look away to hide her gobsmacked expression. Never would she have guessed this a possibility! That said, it was none of her concern.

“You'll have to make appointments...” Healer Rowe murmured a moment later, making Hermione sigh in aggravation.

“Of course I will,” Hermione stated, her voice dripping in displeasure. “Harry, I think I might have to do something to punish you for being so damn fertile!”

Harry laughed. “You seem to be fertile too!”

Hermione simply harrumphed and dropped the matter. Meanwhile, Draco wondered what it would be like if she was carrying his child instead. The thought was highly appealing.

Draco moved in with Harry and Hermione a little bit at a time. He started by staying over every night. By bringing extra clothes with him. By buying food and learning how to help Harry cook.

Over time, Draco brought more and more of his belongings – and Scorpius' clothes and toys – over to the house. Part of him thought that if he tried to move in all at once, the lovely balance between them would break, and they'd change their minds and ask him to leave. Part of him was just waiting for them to ask him to move back out.

Especially after the first week when Draco finally gathered up the courage to ask if he could bring his dog over. He utterly dreaded the chaos that would ensue when his mastiff – who had three-week-old puppies – met Misty and her kittens. He was more than half certain that it would be the straw that broke the camel's back – so to speak.

Sure enough, Misty glared and hissed at Cassiopeia very angrily. She yowled and threw a nasty temper tantrum. Then she listened to Harry threaten to lock her in the garage if she didn't behave, and started to cry.

As for Cassie, she took everything in stride. She simply adored all the new kids to mother, and even loved Harry and Hermione. It didn't take long at all for her to try to sit on Harry's lap and attempt to lick his face clean off.

“Sure, even my dog loves you,” Draco muttered almost silently.

This was the thing that made Misty see red. She jumped on Cassie's back and tried to sink her teeth into Cassie's neck, but Cassie didn't seem to notice. She simply used a paw to knock Misty off, and then held her in a firm grip as she bathed her like a puppy. Misty wailed indignantly, but couldn't escape Cassie's grasp.

As for Crookshanks, he watched the scene from a shelf and laughed. He sniggered so hard that he nearly rolled off the shelf! Only quick thinking saved him, but then when he was comfortable again, another look at how miserable Misty was made him meow with laughter all the harder.

Harry chuckled. “I guess that Cassiopeia is safe from Misty, but we'd probably better put security spells on the puppies, just to be sure.”

Just then, Scorpius, Albus, and Rose ran into the room and chased each other in circles around the coffee table. Lily was trying her best to keep up with them, but kept getting knocked onto her rump. Meanwhile, James was awkwardly carrying Hugo, who also looked like he wished he could run around like the big kids.

“No I get to be the Dark Lord!” Rose shouted insistently. “And you have to be the Hero that tries to defeat me!”

“I don't want to be the Hero today!” Albus whinged. “I'm always the Hero!”

“Tell me about it,” Harry grumbled under his breath.

“I can be the Hero!” Scorpius announced. “And Lily can be my secret weapon! If you so much as scratch her, I win!”

“That's not fair!” Albus shouted. “She always gets in the way and it's hard to avoid scratching her!”

“Is so fair!” Scorpius insisted. “It just means that I'll probably win!”

“Spoken like a true Slytherin,” Hermione snorted in amusement.

Draco rather puffed up in pride at that. Then he leaned over to speak into her ear so that she could hear him over the noise. “Is there any way to get them to stop shouting?”

“On it,” Hermione murmured with an understanding grin. “Oi! Sprogs! Go outside if you're going to shout!”

“Yes mum!” They all cried out – even Scorpius, which shocked both her and Draco. They only ran around the coffee table two or three more times before changing direction and racing out to the backyard.

“We warned you that it was always loud here,” Harry reminded Draco with a laugh. He pulled Draco onto the long couch with him (and Cassie and Misty, who were still in his lap bonding – quite reluctantly in Misty's case). “But I'm glad that you're not freaking out and running away,” Harry murmured before snogging Draco senseless.

Misty started sobbing heartbrokenly at this sight even as Cassie took this as her cue to try kissing the both of them, slobbering them thoroughly.

“Ugh!” Draco cried out in horror, shuddering as he wiped his face dry. “Cassiopeia! We've had this conversation! No slobbering on me!”

Harry burst into uproarious laughter as Hermione giggled. She ruffled Cassie's hair and pressed kisses to her head. “Such a good dog!”

Misty finally managed to break free and crawl away, still sobbing miserably at all these nasty creatures who want to steal her Harry away. Harry caught her before she got more than a foot away. He pulled her close and cradled her so that she could hear his heart beating.

“You know I love you, right?” He informed Misty as he stroked her soft and sleek fur. “There's no need to be jealous because no one could ever take your place in my heart.”

Misty rubbed her face against his chest, meowing piteously. Draco imagined that she was saying: But Harry, I shouldn't have to share you with anyone! Least of all these vermin!

“It's a big change, I know,” Harry murmured softly in her ear. “But it's for the best. You'll see.”

The obviously offended tone of Misty's meows made it sound like she was saying: No! It would be for the best if you let me murder all of these nasty intruders so that it's just the two of us forever and ever!

“Er... Out of curiosity,” Draco interrupted the conversation with a soft and respectful tone of voice. “How did Misty feel about your wife?”

“Absolutely loathed her. Why?” Harry wondered curiously.

“I'm just wondering if there's any possibility that Misty was involved in her death,” Draco muttered as he looked away.

Harry gave his kneazle a deeply speculative look. “I don't think so...”

Unfortunately... Misty grumbled. With a huff of pure entitlement, she wrapped herself around Harry's neck, and then started licking his hair as if she was grooming her own fur.

“I'd say this is going pretty well, so far,” Hermione remarked, pleased that everyone seemed to be getting along – aside from Misty.

“I'd say that we should probably order takeaway tonight since I'm fairly sure these two will not let me off the couch for the next few hours,” Harry hypothesized based on the fact that Cassiopeia was not just in his lap, but sprawled out as much as possible and snoring away.

Hermione giggled before kissing him on the cheek. “I'll firecall our favorite restaurant.” She turned to look at Draco. “Pork Fried Rice and Chicken Lo Mein alright with you?”

“Sounds good,” Draco murmured, hungry enough to try anything.

“Don't forget the Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken Chow Mein,” Harry added.

“And probably some Egg Foo Young and Egg Rolls,” Hermione added in a thoughtful tone.

“With a side of Dragon?” Draco asked in amusement at how much food they seemed to be suggesting.

“That sounds good...” Hermione murmured with a soft moan. “Now I'm going to have to ask if Dragon is on the menu...”

“Pregnant women!” Harry snorted in amusement.

“I was only joking!” Draco called after her in alarm as she walked over to the fireplace.

Hermione simply smirked at him over her shoulder and shrugged.

Just over 20 minutes later, Draco found himself hastily enlarging the kitchen table to make room for all the food, not to mention all of them. It had been a rather tight fit previously, but now that Draco and Scorpius were living here, it made sense to make room for them. After he was done, Draco stared at the table in surprise. He had no idea why, but knowing that they were making room for him in their lives filled him with an almost perverse pleasure.

I always did want a bigger family...

Harry was off working and Hermione hadn't picked the kids up from Molly's yet because – unlike Harry – she needed quite a bit of time and quiet to hear herself think when it came to cooking dinner. Draco had stopped by the Manor to pick up his son, and then sent him to go watch that muggle thing called a Telly while dinner was being made. Scorpius was more than happy to have a bit of time to himself before the rest of the kids got home.

“I'm so happy we live here now,” Scorpius whispered in Draco's ear before giving him a kiss on the cheek and leaving to do as told.

Draco watched him go with an adoring smile. “This thing between us is working out better than expected.”

Hermione turned to smile at him. “I think that's because we're not trying to be perfect. All three of us know from prior experience that we have flaws – some of them very big – and rather than try to hide them or pretend they don't exist, we just accept them.”

“The way that you accept that I was a Death Eater and never mention my Dark Mark,” Draco murmured thoughtfully.

“Exactly,” Hermione stated with a nod. “And it's not love for any of us. Well, not true love, whatever that means. Yes I was deeply in love with Ron, but does that make him my one true love? I don't think there is such a thing. I think that everyone has it in them to love more than one person. In fact, the more I fall in love – with my life, my work, the kids, Harry, and you – the more I realize that love is infinite. It doesn't have to be one true love or nothing at all. We can love each other like friends who happen to have a lot of satisfying sex.”

Draco smiled at her, feeling a profound sense of understanding. “I think you're right. I did love my wife – and Merlin help me, sometimes I still do – but it was never the all consuming passionate love that it's supposed to be. Then, when I think of what I feel for both you and Harry, I feel a deep and overwhelming gratitude.”

She paused, the pot she was stirring would be fine on its own for a moment. After walking over to Draco she hugged him and kissed his cheek. He sighed and nestled his head between her breasts.

“I just don't know... I've never really had to deal with living with people before. Aside from in the dorm, but that was definitely different,” he admitted.

“Having three of us in a relationship will be harder than just having two, but we'll do whatever we can to make it work out,” Hermione promised.

Feeling a bit better, Draco simply nodded in agreement.

Draco was shaking from fury! He had woken up early because he had scheduled a business meeting for first thing this morning. Then he'd had a rather nice shower – the first time he had been completely alone in almost two weeks – and now he was sitting on a chair full of spilled milk. Even his socks were soaking up the part of the spill that had leaked onto the floor.

The worst part was that he didn't have the slightest clue what to do! He was in expensive dress robes that were now completely ruined, but he couldn't complain. He actually could complain quite venomously, but he strongly suspected that it would get him into trouble.

See, James – at only six going on seven – was trying to be wonderful by serving all the kids cereal for breakfast while their parents slept. This somehow led to there being cereal everywhere – literally everywhere – across the kitchen. The floor, the counters, the table!

Cassiopeia was more than happy to help clean up the mess. Well actually, she was the only one trying to clean up the mess, and she had started with a spot near the refrigerator that was one of the many places that had a large puddle of milk spilled.

In his distraction of going over his imminent meeting in his mind, Draco had somehow walked through the kitchen and sat down in his usual chair without noticing that anything was wrong. Which led to him sitting without looking. Which led to him absolutely furious to be so thoroughly messed up after he had just finished dressing!

It took everything he had to bite his tongue and not start shouting at the kids. But really! Even Scorpius could manage to pour himself cereal and milk without making a mess! I think...

Seeing that the kids were actually eating – and chattering on happily and oblivious to Draco's ire – Draco took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. This felt about a hundred times worse than it actually was because this was not the first time that Draco had caught the Potter/Weasley kids doing something that – in his mind – they shouldn't be doing. Something that made him want to shout in outrage! But they weren't his kids...

Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to move in, he thought. At least before, I was content in my own home with the quiet and the orderliness. Scorpius wouldn't have dared to make such a mess!

Which hurt a bit. On the one hand, Scorpius was clearly happier than he'd ever been (and he was a quietly happy child in general), but on the other hand, these kids were clearly a bad influence on him. Draco was still taking deep breaths, and they didn't seem to be helping. Before he could do anything he could regret, he Apparated directly to the closet in their bedroom.

He'd helped Hermione cast Extension Charms until the closet was almost bigger than their room, but at least he felt like his clothes were welcome here. Angrily sorting through his clothes for something clean to wear, Draco muttered continually. At this very moment, he was about 80 percent tempted to grab Scorpius and move back home.

Harry entered the closet in a quest to find Hermione a particular blouse she wanted to wear while she was sorting through her accessories. He heard Draco muttering angrily. The most offensive swear words were being thrown together in a long string that left no doubt that Draco was upset.

Harry pulled Draco into his arms and stroked his soggy back soothingly. “Hey... What's wrong?”

“Your... Your... sprogs!” Draco ground out. “Have tried to make a nice breakfast without any help from anyone, only to have made such a thorough mess in the kitchen that I sat in milk and have to change before I can leave for my meeting! I'm going to be late, and my clients might just decide that my company isn't worth dealing with if I cannot arrive in a perfectly punctual manner!”

This was just the tip of the iceberg! They were always loud. They interrupted adult conversations most rudely. They were everywhere! No matter where Draco turned for a bit of quiet and privacy, he ended up being interrupted by at least one child. Even in the en suite bathroom!

As a person who had been more or less alone his entire life, he was having a hard time coping with this sheer chaos. He really had no idea how much he actually valued being alone. Now that it was basically impossible, he found his nerves fraying. He was jittery and shaky even on a good day!

Harry sighed as if he found it completely likely that Draco was not only telling the truth, but probably minimizing the true damage to the kitchen. He gave Draco a tender kiss, still stroking his sopping back.

“I'd better go deal with that,” Harry murmured softly.

Draco was half melted in his arms. “Do you have to go deal with that this moment?”

Harry grinned. “I suppose it can wait a minute or two.”

They spent those undefined minutes snogging so deeply that they both forgot everything else in the world. By the time they broke apart, Draco couldn't remember why he had been angry. He also gave no more thought to moving out.

Until Harry left and Draco still had to figure out what to wear. Nothing seemed right for such an important meeting. He tugged on his hair in frustration.

“I don't have time to go shopping!” He roared.

Hermione chuckled as she entered the closet. “Harry told me what happened. I think I might be able to help.” She cast a spell to activate the built in stain repelling charms on the dress robe, and then cast a spell to gently clean the rich fabric. Just 30 seconds later and Draco's outfit was good as new.

Draco sighed in relief as he looked himself over in the mirror. Deciding that he was perfect once more, he pulled Hermione into a hug and kissed her with deep gratitude. Hermione purred happily, wrapping her arms around him.

“I love it when you're being affectionate,” Hermione murmured when the kiss was over. She snuggled into him a bit like a cat would.

Draco gave her a wry smile. “I always loved hugs and never felt like I got enough of them.”

“Well, a big part of that is probably that you were always such an insufferable prat in school!” Hermione reminded him with a giggle. “I tried to help you out by slapping the attitude right out of you, but I don't think it helped much.”

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. “I remember.” Then he shook his head and gave her a light smooch. “I can't linger any longer. I have to go or I really will be late.”

Hermione returned his smooch, and then stepped back. “See you tonight.”

With a nod of agreement, Draco Disapparated.

Once again, Draco was trembling with rage. After he'd left Hogwarts and formed a life without Harry Potter in it, he'd become a fairly calm man. Controlling his emotions was almost absurdly easy when he wasn't around Harry, but the worst part was that it wasn't even Harry who had provoked his ire.

It was those blasted kids again! They all had toy wands now that shouldn't allow them to cast anything more complex than Lumos – or colored sparks – but somehow they'd all learned to cast Aguamenti spells! So, at this very moment, they were running around the backyard chasing a litter of half grown puppies, a litter of half grown kneazles, and Cassiopeia, shooting water at them as they pleased.

Of course, it seemed that a good half the spells missed their intended targets to find Draco instead. The half that didn't hit Draco seemed to hit each other more than the animals, but every once in a while, they got lucky. Thankfully, the animals seemed to find this great fun.

Even so, Draco was growling softly. “Barbarians... Heathens... Extremely rude, ill-mannered, hooligans!” Another pair of spells hit him, making him feel like a drowned rat. “For fuck's sake! By Merlin's raunchy hole, I swear I'm going to lock you all in a null zone for the rest of the afternoon if you don't stop this instant!”

“Uh oh!” Harry murmured, also drenched from the spells, but rather amused by this fact. “Sounds like Draco is getting hungry and needs a bit of alone time!”

“Daddy!” Rose whispered in shock. “Draco said bad words...”

Harry gestured with his chin for Draco to go inside for a bit. Then he knelt in front of Rose and gathered all the kids into a huddle for a family meeting. They crowded around him curiously.

“Yes he did,” Harry admitted honestly. Draco paused just outside the sliding glass door to listen for a moment. “But sometimes, adults get so angry they can't remember any good words to say. The best thing to do is ignore the bad words, and then forget about them.”

“Why is Draco angry?” Albus wondered in confusion. James seemed bored and wandered away.

“Father doesn't like getting wet, and he really doesn't like when it's noisy,” Scorpius explained softly.

Rose and Albus jumped up and down excitedly and shouted. “I know, I know! We should try to be quiet for Draco! We should try to play quietly!”

Harry couldn't help but laugh at their ironic enthusiasm. With a grin, he gave them an excellent suggestion. “Perhaps it might be a good idea to start by lowering your voices?”

Rose nodded very seriously in agreement, but Albus ran circles around James. “James! James! We're going to be nice to Draco by being quiet for a while!”

James paused in casting his Aguamenti spell at one of the kittens to look at his brother. “What?! How quiet???”

“Super SUPER quiet!” Both Rose and Albus insisted at the top of their lungs.

“Okay!” James roared with a grin. “I can be super SUPER quiet!”

“Soo-per soo-per kite!” Lily ran around squealing, her wand flinging drops of water rather than full on streams like the bigger kids managed to produce.

Harry couldn't stop the torrent of laughter that had him literally rolling on the ground, completely uncaring of the fact that he was getting wetter than ever and might possibly be rolling in a place that some of the animals had urinated at some point. “Super super quiet!” He giggled between guffaws!

“You're an arse,” Draco muttered under his breath as he finally went into the house. Despite his words, he was fighting a huge grin. It made him feel a lot better that the kids were – in their own inexpert way – trying to do something good for him. It made him feel shockingly happy to see Harry laughing so hard.

He basked in the feeling of joy for a few moments as he made and then started sipping a cup of tea. Suddenly his heart sank down past the pit of his stomach. A feeling akin to terror washed over him.

No... Draco thought, one hand actually clutching his chest over his thunderous heart. I'm in love with Harry sodding Potter! Oh fuck! This is not good!

Hermione watched the terrified expression on his face for a moment as she stood in the entrance to the kitchen. Before he even noticed her standing there, Draco tossed his tea cup into the sink, inadvertently shattering it, and then he ran for the stairs as if Fluffy the vicious three headed dog was hot on his heels. Hermione held out a hand as if she could stop him by sheer will alone.

“Draco wait! What's wrong?!” She called out desperately.

Draco looked horrified to see her standing there, witnessing him at his most vulnerable. “I have to go!” He gasped out, and then Disapparated before she could say another word.

Baffled, Hermione set down the bags from her trip to the market, and then went to find Harry. She grew even more confused to find Harry and all of their kids – aside from Hugo but including Scorpius – running around shouting super super quiet!

Unable to gain their attention in any other way, she inserted two fingers into her mouth and whistled as high pitched as she could. “Oi!”

Harry was happy to see her because he really wanted to tell her how their brilliant kids had attempted to be quiet in a nice gesture for Draco. He ran over to her and scooped her into an enthusiastic embrace, twirling her side to side as he nuzzled her neck. “You have to hear this!”

Hermione giggled from his obviously happy greeting, but then tried to push free from his embrace. “Harry. Harry! Listen! What happened to Draco? Why did he just leave here terrified and in a blind panic?”

“What?” Harry asked, sobering up instantly. “He did?”

Hermione nodded. “When I first walked into the kitchen, he was staring at his tea cup with an expression of happiness, but then it changed to terror, but before I could ask why, he ran away. Then when I did ask why, he Disapparated.”

Thankfully, the kids were still shouting too loudly to hear this. Except for Hugo, who was tugging on and trying to climb Hermione's skirt. Without giving it any thought, she picked him up. He promptly pulled down her shirt and freed a breast so that he could latch onto a nipple.

Harry frowned, biting his lip in worry. “He was mad at the kids again. I bet that he just needs a few minutes to himself. To, you know, calm down.”

“You're probably right,” Hermione admitted with a sad sigh. “I just wish he'd let us in more often. Rather than let us talk him through these issues, he seems to hold us at arm's length.”

Harry looked around to see that the kids were playing happily, ignoring them completely. Even so, he decided that this conversation should be private. With a somber expression, he led Hermione into the house.

“I have to tell you something,” Harry murmured with a look like he thought she was about to get very very angry.

Hermione frowned at him curiously. “Anything. You know that.”

Harry nodded slowly. “I think I love him.”

Hermione smiled at him softly. “I love Draco too.”

“No...” Harry murmured, looking away. “I mean I think I love him. I want to spend all my time with him, and when I look at him, my heart feels like it's about to burst from happiness.”

“Oh Harry...” Hermione exhaled softly. “More than... more than even Ginny?”

Harry nodded, feeling a bit ashamed to admit it out loud. “Yeah. I don't even know how it happened!”

Hermione hugged him the best she could with a baby nursing in her arms. Then she looked him in the eyes very seriously. “I think somewhere deep down inside, you've always been in love with him.”

“But what about us?!” Harry blurted out, feeling strangely angry now.

“I love you and you love me,” Hermione stated with a patient smile. “We're raising our kids together and having a baby. We are always going to be family. It seems that Draco is just fine with how things are between you and me. So I don't see why anything has to change.”

Harry exhaled in profound relief. He carefully pulled her close. “I was so afraid that you'd get upset and ask me to choose between the two of you!”

“I couldn't do that!” Hermione assured him. “Not after everything we've done to become a family. If I lost Draco or Scorpius now, I don't think I'd ever fully recover!”

Harry looked close to tears, but he didn't actually cry. “I feel the same about all of you! Losing Ginny and Ron was more than enough heartbreak for one lifetime...”

“It was,” Hermione agreed grimly.

“So...” Harry began, and then elaborated a long term plan. Hermione smiled and nodded her approval.

Draco calmed down enough to return by that night, but then he spent the entire next week snarling at everyone. Even Scorpius. This was so rare that Scorpius burst into tears and ran from the room to hide under the bed he was sharing with Albus – and frequently Rose and James.

Draco felt like the worst scum on Earth! Never once in his life had he ever wanted to hurt his son. This made him all the more short tempered as he tried his best to bite his tongue and leave the room.

“Hey,” Harry called out very softly as he followed Draco down the hall toward the stairs.

“Leave me alone you uncultured mongrel!” Draco snapped, his fury so hot that it could almost be seen manifesting as a fire around him.

“What's wrong?” Harry asked, trying to maintain a soft and soothing tone of voice.

“I am not meant to be part of such chaos!” Draco roared in frustration. “I am not meant to play happy families! I am meant to be alone!”

Harry paled as it felt like all the blood drained from his body. “Are you saying that you want to move out?”

“Yes!” Draco was immediately horrified by his answer and it showed on his face. “No!”

Harry bit his lip in concern. “Well... which is it?”

Draco exhaled all the rage and frustration out of his body, leaving him feeling so empty that he slumped against Harry. He rested his head on Harry's shoulder and simply breathed in and out for several long moments. Harry simply held him and didn't pressure him for an answer.

When he felt ready, Draco turned his head to murmur in Harry's ear. “I don't want to lose you. Or Hermione. Or even those infuriating creatures you call kids. I just don't know how to cope with this. There's never a quiet moment around here. There are too many animals running around underfoot. Every single moment has the potential for a sudden fire or a flood! I am not built to handle so much stress...”

“We should talk to Hermione about this. It seems to me that we just need to figure out how to help you cope,” Harry stated confidently, even though he was terrified inside by the near certainty that Draco was about to leave for good. “Maybe I can make one of the spare rooms into a sound proof space for you to go when you need a break.”

Hermione was hovering in the background, torn between trying to give them some privacy and wanting to be included in the family meeting. She cleared her throat. “That's a good idea. We can also try to institute a noise curfew in which the kids all have to try to be quiet. We can make it a bit easier on them by reading to them.”

“Can I cast silencing charms on them when they're out of control?” Draco asked hopefully.

Harry chuckled and Hermione giggled. “Only if they wear off after ten seconds or less,” Hermione permitted. This reminded Draco that he'd seen her do that from time to time.

Hermione positioned herself behind Draco, who was still resting his head on Harry. She then slipped her arms around him and rested her head on his back. They all stood there, silently holding each other, for a few long moments.

“I don't want you to feel stuck with us,” Hermione eventually informed Draco. “But I also don't want you to leave. Please, if you ever feel trapped, please let us know so that we can try to help you feel better.”

Draco buried his face even more and smiled. For the first time in a long time, he felt better! It was true that living here often set him on edge, but it was also true that he had never been so happy in his life.

Just as he was relaxing into the feeling of being surrounded by care; by people who cared about him, James interrupted the quiet. “There's an owl pecking at the window.”

“I'll get it,” Hermione stated, pulling free from the group hug.

James was silent as he watched his dad keep on hugging Draco. He was smart enough to realize that Draco shared a room with his dad and Hermione, and he had certainly noticed that the three of them were always kissing, but he had never really thought about it before. About what it meant.

Harry stroked Draco's cheek a few times, and then – when Draco finally looked at him – gave Draco a hot kiss that promised so much when they went to bed that night. James felt himself smile. Oh, I see. My dad loves Draco. With a mental shrug, he walked away.

“Draco!” Hermione squealed urgently. “Draco come here!”

This sounded like it might be the end of the world, so Harry and Draco broke apart, laced their fingers together, and then ran to see what was wrong. Hermione waited for them in the kitchen. She held a letter and wore an expression of utter shock.

Draco felt his heart stop and immediately ran through an entire list of everything that could have gone wrong. He snatched the letter from her. Even so, his eyes apparently refused to read it correctly. He'd swear it said:

Dear Mr. Malfoy, we are writing to inform you that your divorce has gone through uncontested. Enclosed, you'll find the final paperwork. Once you have signed and returned it to our office, you'll be a free man.

He looked up at Hermione to find that her shock had changed to giddiness. “She didn't fight it!”

Draco stared at his hands, which were shaking profusely. “She didn't fight it,” he whispered in disbelief.

Hermione threw her arms around him and squeezed him tight. “I'm sorry I opened your letter, but it was so obviously a legal packet and I saw the name of the firm on it and I thought it was for me and –”

Draco cut her short with a kiss. “It's fine,” he assured her.

“This calls for a celebration!” Harry announced, having caught on right away as to what was going on.

“Maybe we can have someone take all the kids for the night and finish off that bottle of Special Red,” Hermione suggested.

“I'll firecall Molly,” Harry stated in agreement.

“If she doesn't want them all, I'll ask my parents to take Lily and Hugo,” Hermione informed him.

“Wait,” Draco blurted out in concern. “You're pregnant!”

Hermione grinned at him. “Which is why I can't have more than a sip, but that's practically the equivalent of a regular glass of wine, so I won't feel like I'm missing out.”

Draco turned her around and then pulled her so that her back was pressed against his front. Then he put his hands on the small bulge in her lower abdomen. “I'd hate if you risked the health of the baby celebrating my divorce.”

Hermione turned her head to smile at him. “My Healer assures me that a single glass of wine a day won't hurt the baby. Besides, if the baby was going to be hurt by the Special Red, it would have been on my birthday. As far as Healer Rowe can tell, the baby is just fine despite our unknowing mistake.”

Draco frowned at her, clearly worried. She kissed him, and then rested her head on his shoulder. “I promise, just one sip.”

Sighing in capitulation, Draco nodded. “Fine, but if I catch you trying to take a second sip, I'll vanish the bottle before it can touch your lips!”

“Fair enough,” Hermione agreed with a smile.

“Molly will take the four older sprogs,” Harry announced a couple minutes later. By this point, Draco and Hermione were slow dancing to the music in their heads. Harry grinned at them. It's so good to see Draco happy!

“I'll call my parents,” Hermione stated. She then swept her hand from Draco to Harry in an obvious invitation. “Which means that you need to take over this dance.”

“Gladly,” Harry stated with a grin.

“She didn't fight the divorce,” Draco reiterated in disbelief. He was also more than a little giddy. “I was so afraid that she'd try to take Scorpius from me!”

“I know,” Harry murmured, stroking Draco's back as they danced.

Suddenly, Draco pulled back and stared at Harry curiously. “When did you learn how to dance?”

Harry blushed, well remembering the yule ball from their Fourth Year in which he danced so horribly that he almost couldn't even be embarrassed by it. Well, maybe he was a tiny bit mortified...

“I took lessons... before,” Harry hesitated, looking away.

“Before what?” Draco wondered with a puzzled frown.

“Before my wedding...” Harry mumbled, still not looking at Draco.

“Ah,” Draco murmured diplomatically. Then he stroked Harry's cheek for a change. “Hey, it's alright. I know that you'd still be married to her if she was alive. I know that you still love her and always will. I'm not upset when you mention her, and I'm not jealous. Well, not of her,” he amended.

Harry frowned in confusion. “Then... Who are you jealous of?”

“Not who. What,” Draco corrected with a soft smile. “I'm jealous that you had a happy marriage. Both of you did, actually. I'm jealous that you two are so perfect compared to me, and I'm so afraid that I'll fuck this up too.”

“Aww, Draco...” Harry half purred, his heart melting. He was torn because he wanted to confess his feelings right away, but he also didn't want to scare Draco away by getting too serious too quickly.

Hermione returned a moment later. “My parents will take Hugo and Lily!”

“Yes!” Harry hissed happily. He kissed Draco hard, hoping to convey all his feelings in a way that would leave Draco breathless rather than skittish. To his delight, Draco snogged him just as passionately.

By the second anniversary of Ron and Ginny's death, Draco had mostly settled into life with Harry and Hermione. He still got overwhelmed and angry far more often than he wanted to, but having a private and quiet room to go to helped a lot. He found that he usually only needed about ten minutes of silently sipping his tea to relax and calm down, and then he was ready to rejoin the rest of them again.

The best part was that when he needed the solitude, Harry and Hermione not only left him alone, but they made sure that none of the kids bothered him either. On the other hand, when he needed a hug or some other comfort, they were both willing to drop everything and give him what he needed. No one in his life – other than his mother – gave him that. It made him love them more and more each day.

So it was, with no small amount of trepidation, Draco prepared to be the strong one. Harry and Hermione were both emotional wrecks! They couldn't help dissolving into tears all day. Not even an emergency session with their therapist that morning had truly helped.

They planned to go visit the graves, and as much as Draco really didn't want to be anywhere near the Weasleys – not even their graves – he felt like he would be the lowest of the low, the shittiest of the shitty, if he didn't man up and support them when they needed him to. Therefore, he helped them out as they needed, no matter how insignificant the request.

“Here's your water,” he murmured as he handed a glass to Hermione.

“Thank you,” Hermione said almost silently.

Then Draco noticed that Harry was staring at his clothes as if he had never seen clothes before in his life. Taking a deep breath, Draco walked over and helped Harry button his crisp white shirt. If it wasn't such a somber day, Draco would be practically singing from glee at seeing Harry dressed up so nicely.

“Don't worry,” Draco whispered reassuringly. “You look nice. Here, let me help you with your tie.”

Harry simply handed him the dark blue satin tie. It had been Ginny's favorite; a gift she had given him their first Christmas together. Draco had it on him correctly so quickly that Harry half wondered if he'd used a spell.

Draco wasn't sure whether or not he should kiss either of them on this day. They were obviously grieving, and it seemed disrespectful of him to show affection. It also seemed awkward to not offer comfort. In short, Draco had no idea what to do!

They arrived at the grave site about ten minutes to noon. Molly, Arthur, and all of the remaining Weasley sons showed up over the next twenty minutes. Hermione unabashedly bawled on Molly's shoulder while Harry stoically passed out hugs to everyone.

George – possibly the last person Draco had expected to offer him comfort, well actually, he honestly didn't expect it from any of them. George took Draco aside just before the family agreed to spread out an impressively large knitted blanket. He patted Draco on the back and murmured in his ear.

“You weren't around yet last year, so you can't imagine how to get through such a somber day,” George said, getting straight to the point. “But try not to worry. Their grief will only last a bit longer, and then – just like the rest of us – they'll move from grief to reminiscence of the good times. After that, they'll talk about all the good things that have happened in the past two years. Finally, they'll feel better. If you can make it that long without breaking, you'll be fine.”

Draco pushed aside his natural inclination to react as if he had just been insulted – basically, the way he always felt when talking to any of the Weasleys, whether they were insulting him or not. Slowly, he nodded his head in understanding.

“Thank you,” he murmured sincerely.

They joined the rest of the family on the blanket. An astonishing amount of food was passed out, especially considering that all of the kids that belonged to the family were currently being watched by Fleur, Angelina, and Audrey (Percy's wife). Everyone – except for Draco – took turns talking about Ron and Ginny.

The memories were all sad or bittersweet at first, often talking about how they each reacted when they found out about the deaths. Then George was proven right. Talk turned to happier memories. Some were silly enough to provoke laughter!

Slowly, almost all the food disappeared. By the end of the picnic, it almost felt like any other party. Draco exhaled a sigh of relief that both his lovers seemed better. Neither had cried in the last half an hour, nor looked like they might burst into tears at the drop of a hat.

After about two hours of general camaraderie, Harry took Draco's hand and led him to Ginny's grave. The rest of the family had spread out just a little, having a bunch of smaller conversations. Except for Hermione, who was quietly sitting on Ron's grave, slowly rubbing her approximately seven month pregnant belly. She wasn't sad anymore, but did look like she was talking to him in her head.

Harry sat down on Ginny's grave and gestured for Draco to do the same. It took him a minute to do so because he had to cast a few charms to ensure that his clothes wouldn't get soiled by the grass or dirt. Soon enough, Draco was sitting cross-legged next to Harry – who was also cross-legged.

“I wanted to do this in front of Ginny,” Harry began, lacing his fingers through Draco's.

“Do what?” Draco wondered curiously.

Harry looked at him very seriously. “I love you.”

Draco felt frozen in disbelief for a moment. “You do?”

“I do,” Harry confirmed with a soft smile. “Very much so.”

For the first time that day, Draco was the one who felt close to tears. “I... I love you too...” he whispered, looking at the ground.

Harry reached into his pocket with the hand that wasn't holding Draco's. Then he gave Draco a fairly bright smile – all things considered. Draco studied his face for a moment before looking at the fist Harry made around whatever he was now holding.

“Draco Malfoy, will you marry me?” Harry asked, forgoing flowery speeches that he was not good at anyway.

Draco felt his heart stop. He couldn't breathe! Then the blood rushed through his blood vessels with a loud whooshing sound. He'd swear he almost fainted! He swallowed a couple of times to wet his suddenly dry mouth.

Then he noticed that Harry was holding an intricately carved gold band in the palm his now open hand. Draco's eyes were wide, and for the second time in his life, he realized that he was speechless. He looked over to Hermione to find her smiling at him and ever so slowly nodding her head. This could only mean that she'd known that Harry was going to do this, and approved.

In the background, the Weasley family was silent from shock, a little bit of anger, and being caught between wanting to protest and also wanting to support Harry. They'd known about the strange living arrangement and relationship, but none of them had honestly thought that Draco was anything more than a temporary addition to the family. Seeing the look of sheer love on Harry's face made them think again.

Finally feeling like he could breathe again, Draco flung his arms around Harry's neck and buried his face to hide his perilously wet eyes. Harry was pleased by this response and stroked Draco's hair. However, when the silence stretched out a bit too long, Harry chuckled nervously.

“Is that a yes?”

Draco pulled back and took the ring from Harry's hand. Admiring it, he slipped it on his finger. After that, he gave Harry such a thorough kiss that the assorted Weasleys – who were now pretending not to watch them – shifted uncomfortably. Hermione showed her happiness at this turn of events by hugging first Harry's back, and then Draco's. After that, she returned to Ron's grave even as they kept kissing for a few moments more.

When they broke free, Harry raised a brow at Draco. “So...?”

Draco rolled his eyes. He cast a glance over at Hermione as if asking her: Is he really this dense? Hermione grinned and gave a half shrug and a nod as if saying: Yes, he really is! When Harry felt like he was about to die if he didn't get an answer soon, Draco finally relented.

“Yes!”

Elated, Harry threw his arms around Draco and pulled him tight. The two of them clutched each other for a long time, tempted to cry again – as was Hermione as she watched them – but for very different reasons than earlier. If anyone thought to ask them at that exact moment this weighty question: What makes a family? Their answer would be joyously simple.

Love; no matter what shape or form it took.