Ghosts of What We Used to Want (A Drarry Fic)

Part 6

Back at his flat, Draco placed the pasties on the table and told Potter he could come get them whenever he wanted. Then Draco relieved him of the robes and laid them across several of the chairs. He could worry about how to actually store them later. Though that did bring into question what Harry would wear to bed. Resizing clothes to exactly the right size was tricky. Draco didn't really want to sacrifice any of his clothing to the wear and tear that came with the constant adjustments required to achieve it. Adult Potter could suck it if he later thought that was selfish.

"Are you okay sleeping in that?" he asked baby Potter.

Potter looked down and nodded. "So we are sleeping in a dream? Is there a dream bed for me?"

Draco could survive one night on his couch. "Yeah, just go through that door."

While Potter explored his bedroom, Draco rummaged through the rucksack until he found Potter's glasses and wand. When Draco entered the room, Harry was jumping on the bed. Draco winced and cast a cushioning charm. It was more to protect the bed than the child, but Draco could be forgiven for wanting to keep a nice bed, right?

Finally Potter settled down and appeared to be thinking. "Luna told me to think about what I've seen other people do. They jump on beds and read stories. Do you have a dream story?"

Draco summoned one of the wordier picture books from the chest. It was one of the books Draco read to Teddy until he fell asleep. Thinking of that, Draco explained how to put the toys to sleep as well. No need for their movements to wake the boy up again if he fell asleep during the story. At the explanation, Potter looked scared and gripped his toys harder.

"They won't go to sleep permanently," Draco said as he handed Potter his wand. "Watch." Then Draco tapped his own wand on the dragon's head. The dragon stilled to a more ordinary stuffed animal. Then with another tap of Draco's wand a puff of steam came from the toy's nose.

Mollified, Potter tapped each of his toys with his wand after saying goodnight to each of them. Draco praised him and asked him to get under the covers. Once everything was situated, Draco began to read. It was a story about a wizard boy who was looking for his father. No one knew where his father had gone, but more and more people volunteered to be the boy's father until he had a whole slew of surrogate fathers. It had been published after the war when Teddy was far from the only fatherless child.

"Mr. Ghost?" Potter said sleepily after Draco finished the story.

It took Draco several seconds of looking around the room before he realized Potter was speaking to him. "Er, yes?"

"Are you my dream father?"

Draco resisted the urge to recoil. After all, fathers didn't have the same connotations for him and the thought of being the older Potter's surrogate father was distressing. "If you want me to be," he said finally. He would feel like a monster if he said anything else to this small vulnerable child.

Potter nestled deeper into the blankets. "Yeah, I do."

"Potter," he whispered before the boy fell all the way to sleep. "Why did you call me Mr. Ghost?"

"Mmm," Potter said sleepily. "You're really pale. And you don't always have a body."

Draco thought about asking more but Potter seemed to be drifting to sleep. So instead Draco quietly left, grabbing a pair of his own pajamas on the way out.

It took some time for Draco to fall asleep. It was becoming increasingly difficult to see baby Potter and adult Potter as the same person. He would have to watch himself to make sure he didn't show any vulnerabilities that could be used by adult Potter in the future.