Breath-Drarry COMPLETE

Chapter 31

—Draco POV—

The second we stepped through the floo, Scorpius ran from the fireplace while shouting an excited welcome to Lettuce, picking him up and hugging him so tight that I'm surprised Lettuce didn't retaliate by scratching.

"Rose, Teddy, this is Lettuce!"

"Cute name," replied Teddy with a smile, reaching out to pet it.

"It's peculiar, don't you think? But it does fit him," said Rose. "And it's adorable," she added enthusiastically.

"Alright kids, Draco and I are going to begin cooking. Rose, do you like chicken nuggets?"

She nodded, and Harry and I left the kids to their own devices, my heart stinging. The second Harry and I were out of earshot, we began speaking.

"Rudolphus Lestrange-"

"Speaking with my son. And who was that girl anyway, looks like she keeps her clothes in the rubbish bin during school holidays-"

"He was a Death Eater... Why did he never go to Azkaban?"

"And did you notice how cold he was to his daughter? Or... whoever she was? And she didn't show even a shred of happiness seeing him."

"And what if he's up to something?"

"With my son."

Before I could realize it we were standing in the center of the kitchen, each gripping each other's forearms with a vice. I was trembling, looking down, trying to catch my breath. My head hurt.

"I think..." began Harry, "I think... we should talk to the kids. Figure things out... if we do or say anything too crazy it'll drive them away."

I nodded faintly, blinking to regain my focus, to loosen my grip on his arms. "Yeah. We do this quietly... so they don't notice it."

"Yeah."

"We'll figure this out."

For a while there we just stared at each other. I took to grounding myself in those green eyes, my mind racing. Before I knew it, I became weak, a wave of emotion coming over me with unrelenting force.

"I don't want Scorpius to be involved with them," I whispered. "I know what it's like. They'll threaten him. He'll want... he- he'll... he'll want to kill himself."

"Hey," Harry's hand came to either side of my temples. My hands went to his shoulders as he pulled me closer. "Don't do that. Don't jump to conclusions. We'll figure out what's going on, remember?"

"But Scorpius," I whimpered, wrenching my eyes closed at the tears that were suddenly forming. I felt Harry's forehead land gently on mine.

"I know, I know... but this is... it's serious. It's. We don't have time anymore to be casual. It's... just listen to me. It's going to be fine. We'll come up with something. Ron and Hermione are coming over tonight. We'll schedule an order meeting, we'll figure things out. It's okay."

I hung my head, feeling my breathing get more intense. Harry brought my forehead back up to his.

"Hey, just keep your mind forward. Think about the strategy. We're going to figure this out."

I nodded weakly, pushing forward and digging my face into the crook of his neck, giving him a fierce hug, trying very hard to keep my composure. Your son is home. You've been waiting four months for this. Be happy.

"Let's start making lunch."

And so we did, setting to work on the food we knew would make our kids smile... Merlin. When did us watching over Teddy and Scorpius become our kids? I suppose we always treated them like that, but when did it happen?