Broken

Family

Draco sat with his arm around Hermione, watching the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff through the rain. His team would be playing today's winner in the final the next day. His eyes skimmed the pitch, carefully examining both team's strategies, watching out for their strengths and weaknesses.

Ginny swooped overhead, and the children shrieked in excitement. Her face was focused and determined, but he saw her lips quirk in a smile.

'Never thought I'd see the day,' Hermione murmured in his ear.

'Hmm?'

'That a Malfoy would be cheering for Gryffindor,' she teased, gesturing at Scorpius. He was leaping up and down, cheering for Ginny with the others.

'Well...at least it's not Hufflepuff...'

Rose heard him, and turned around to stick her tongue out. Draco grinned and pulled a face back at her. She giggled, her face contorting into a ridiculous expression, before turning back in time to see Ginny score another goal.

'Yaaaay! Auntie Ginny!' Rose howled, her tiny fist pumping in the air.

'Yellow team not win,' Scorpius said, prodding at Rose's Hufflepuff robes. 'Lions winning.'

Rose's face darkened.

'Ok little man, that's enough of that.' Draco scooped his son onto his lap, reluctantly moving his arm from around Hermione. He adjusted his other hand, which was casting a magical umbrella from his wand, so it would keep them both dry.

Rose was still glaring at Scorpius, her mouth working mutinously. Hermione caught her eye and shook her head. Rose sighed dramatically and turned back to the game. George chortled in the seat next to them, and lifted his niece onto his lap.

'You remind me more of your parents every day,' he grinned, tweaking Rose's nose.

'That's what worries me,' Draco muttered, rubbing the bridge of his own nose, which had healed slightly crooked after Hermione had broken it over a decade early.

'AND HARRY POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH!' Lee Jordan bellowed into his microphone. 'GRYFFINDOR WINS, 220 TO 40!'

'Bugger.' Draco closed his eyes as the Weasley family erupted in cheers around him.

Scorpius catapulted off his knee, hugging Rose as they yelled happily, all else forgotten.

*****

'Would you mind watching Scorpius for me tonight?' Draco asked Hermione, his cheeks reddening. 'We've got a final training session, and I was hoping to stay out afterwards to get some more practice in myself.'

'Yeah, sure thing. The kids were asking about a Disney marathon, so he can join in that.'

'Can I come help, Draco?' Teddy asked.

'If that's ok with Harry and Ginny. You have to ask-'

'Oi, Harry!' Teddy hollered across the Great Hall as Harry walked in.

'That's not what I meant!' Draco looked scandalised.

Teddy smirked at him, mimicking Draco's signature expression perfectly. Hermione choked on her pumpkin juice as she tried not to laugh.

'Sup?' Harry sat down wearily at the table, his hair still damp from his post-match shower.

'Can I go with Draco to help him practice for tomorrow's match?'

Teddy didn't see the flicker of hurt that crossed Harry's face, but Draco did.

'Teddy, maybe it's not such a good idea...' Draco suggested gently, 'I mean, I'm playing against your family after all...'

'You're my family too,' Teddy reminded him. 'And these guys have been practising together for like...months. You need all the help you can get, cuz. No offence.'

'None taken,' Draco laughed, making a mental note to teach Teddy the importance of tact.

'It's fine,' Harry cut in. 'Of course you can go and help. But don't stay out past your bedtime!'

'Yes! Thanks Harry!' Teddy threw his arms around his godfather, his eyes flashing momentarily green.

*****

'It still catches me off-guard,' Draco confided to Hermione as they strolled through the halls, 'the metamorphmagus thing. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.'

'Oh, you should have seen him as a baby,' Hermione smiled. 'His hair changed colour constantly. It was enough to make you dizzy, watching him. When he was about Hugo's age, it'd change to the colour of whoever he wanted to hold him.'

'But...all the Weasley's are ginger! How did you figure that one out?!'

'We'd just play Pass-The-Baby until he stopped crying!'

'I'm not sure I'm sorry I missed that stage!'

'It must have been so hard for your mother,' Hermione mused. 'Getting back in touch with her sister after so many years.'

'It was,' Draco agreed sadly. 'She was so young when my grandparents disowned Andromeda. She was still in Hogwarts, with her parents and Bellatrix dripping poison in her ear. She believed what they told her.'

'Sounds like someone else I know,' Hermione squeezed his hand.

'Then she met father and he was just as elitist as they were. Her parents were so proud of their match!'

'What changed for her?'

'She tried to write after the War, when she heard what happened to Nymphadora. But she couldn't bring herself to send it. She said it felt heartless, knowing that I had survived and her niece hadn't.'

Hermione said nothing, but slipped her arm around his waist. She knew that in his darkest moments, Draco regretted that he lived when so many others died.

'After the War, it was like all the blinders fell from her eyes. She tried writing a few times, over the years. Then I moved out, and father died. She felt so alone. She said she was sat one night, drinking and reading the letters of condolences. Not that there were very many, mind you. And she found one from Andromeda. Just a short little note. She just sat and cried. The house-elves came to my house to get me, they were so worried about her. I found her curled up by the fire, sobbing. She apologised, said she'd been a terrible mother and an even worse sister. She said she'd been selfish, so lost in her own self-importance that she didn't reach out to comfort her sister when she must have needed her the most. She wrote Andromeda a big long letter that night, and she had a reply by morning. They arranged to meet up for coffee the following weekend. I've never seen mother looking so nervous!'

'Andromeda was a wreck,' Hermione told him. 'I went over to babysit Teddy, since I was on maternity leave ahead of Rose being born. She changed clothes at least a hundred times. I wasn't sure she'd go!'

'It was a shock the first time I met her,' Draco grinned ruefully. 'I thought for a second it was Bellatrix, back from the dead. I think my heart just about stopped!'

'Harry thought the same thing. He tried to attack her the first time they met!'

'I have something in common with Potter?!' Draco shuddered theatrically.

Hermione elbowed him sharply. He smirked, entirely unapologetic.

'Well, I'd best get back,' Draco sighed, glancing at his pocket watch. 'Quidditch practice calls!'

Hermione walked him to the entrance hall, where Teddy was eagerly waiting. Draco pulled her into a hug, laughing as Teddy pulled a face when they kissed.