Friendly Competition

[22] Epilogue

Draco introduced himself as Professor Potter the next year.

Having two Professor Malfoy-Potters seemed like a bit of a mouthful for the students, so for school, Potter it was.

Either way, he thought wryly that his original sixth years would have all had heart attacks.

The students took to calling them Potions Potter and Defence Potter to differentiate, which Harry found incredibly amusing — although, admittedly, that was mostly because Draco found it so distasteful.

~*~

Around March, Harry and Draco decided to start looking into adoption.

It was a little trickier in the wizarding world, since it was such a small community, but the Ministry Of Magic kept track of all magical children, even Muggleborns, so in the event that one of them was orphaned, they would be one of the first to know.

It caused...a fair few arguments.

They certainly had talked about wanting children (one at first, and they could reassess from there), Harry had listened to Hermione and certainly wasn't going to make that mistake again, and they had talked about wanting to adopt, but they hadn't exactly considered the logistics of it all.

Unfortunately they were of two very different minds about it.

"I can't believe this!" Harry said hotly. "I thought you were past all the blood purity shite, but you're saying you couldn't love a non-magical child?!"

"I'm not saying that, Harry!" Draco shouted right back. "But think about what sort of life they're going to have! Of course I'd love them. But then what? They'd be excluded from everything, never able to play Quidditch or go to Hogwarts or do all the things their friends are doing. You have no idea what it's like for a squib! Why would you want to do that to a child when they could be a perfectly normal Muggle?!"

"What, do they not need a home and parents just because they're Muggle? Do you think Muggles treat orphans so well? That it'd be so much better?"

"Plenty of kids need homes, Harry," Draco said exasperatedly. "We can't adopt them all! I'm just saying to wait for one that has the best chance of being happy with us."

"So we should just sit around hoping for some kid's parents to die," Harry said flatly.

"No⁠— Well when you put it like that⁠—" Draco stumbled uncharacteristically over his words.

"That's what you're saying, though, isn't it?"

"Well waiting isn't going to change the outcome! So what?! So what if I wish it?! All the wishing in the world isn't going to murder them!"

"That's⁠— That's⁠—" Harry refused to look at him. "I'm going to Neville's room. Don't wait up."

"Oh come on⁠— Harry! It's not like I⁠—" Draco's voice died off as the pillar door slammed shut behind Harry.

~*~

It wasn't long before the students noticed the odd, tense air around Harry and Draco, and their frequent, unexplained absences as they went to the Ministry to coordinate with the adoption office.

Thankfully, however, just before school ended for the year, they finally got the news they'd been hoping for, met the baby, and finalised the adoption paperwork. And suddenly, they were parents.

Holy shite. They were parents! That still felt surreal for Harry to think, even as he held her in his arms.

Their arguments and stress over the adoption itself were quickly forgotten in favour of the stress and sleeplessness of suddenly caring for a baby. She wasn't yet a year old, which meant that she still woke them up several times a night for formula.