Fatherhood | drarry teen adoptive parents au

forty nine | resilience

thank you again to the amazing scaitlincrowe for advice on this chapter! she has such good ideas, you should definitely check her work out🥰
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Narcissa Malfoy had been right about one thing - money did talk, and people were extremely persuadable it you had enough of it.

Draco's access to the remainder of the family fortune (the little that hadn't been spent on turning his father's case over the previous month) had ensured him the best lawyers in the Wizarding world, who had uncovered substantial evidence of Lucius and Narcissa's abuse of their son.

This revelation, and a detailed account of the night in question shown through a Pensive, had changed Draco's motives officially to self-defence, so he'd only suffered through a seven-month stretch in Azkaban before his release.

The press had had a field day, of course. Rita Skeeter's headline about Draco's murder trial wasn't something anyone who'd read it would forget in a while. She'd touched on Harry, too, but as usual the tone was lacking any sense of sympathy or sensitivity.

It had been portrayed as a sex scandal, Draco outed as the "illicit gay lover" of the famous Harry Potter, Casper as their "damaged lovechild", and Narcissa and Lucius as the long-suffering parents trying to save their reputations.

But the money had talked; eventually the scandal was covered up and Draco was released.

Thankfully, Casper had been permitted to stay with the Weasleys for this time and was pretty well distracted from missing his parents, but was still overjoyed when the release came around in January, and he could at least be hugged by one of his fathers again.

"Other Daddy come home too?" he'd asked on more than one occasion, and every time Draco's eyes welled up with tears.

"Not today, Cassy," he always responded. He wondered how long he could keep this up.

Three times a week, Draco went to therapy, and Casper even had a session a week too with a child therapy specialist.

"He's bound to have some trauma and attachment issues," Cassy's therapist had told Draco seriously. "But considering everything he's been through, he doesn't show any particularly alarming signs of long-lasting damage."

"Toddlers are resilient," Draco had shrugged. He wished he could say the same thing for himself.

Every day after dinner he took Casper to see Harry, and usually cried on the way there and the way back. He remembered the headlines every time and they twisted his stomach.

Potter, 17, in critical condition following gay sex scandal with Malfoy heir .... Position is described as 'touch or go'.... Secret lover and rumoured Death Eater Draco Malfoy faces charges of murder, attempted murder, and grievous bodily harm after using Unforgivable Curses on own parents ...

Sickening.

The Healers told the boys that Harry's spine had broken millimetres from the cord from the impact of his fall - "Any nearer and you'd have been paralysed or killed for sure!"

Somehow, this wasn't reassuring.

As it was, Harry just needed bed rest and time to regain his strength, as well as time for his other broken bones to heal, but it was still hard for Draco to see him so fragile and helpless in the hospital bed.

A lot of the time when they went up Harry was asleep, drained by the exertion of his body healing, and on those days Draco stood at the foot of his darling's bed, their son in his arms, and cried until Hermione or a nurse turned up to pull him away.

"It's really fucking hard doing all the parent stuff without him," he told his therapist one evening in February after a particularly rough visit. "Casper had a fever last week and I just fell apart, I had to give him to Molly because I just couldn't take care of him. It's driving me insane."

"That's completely normal," his therapist had assured him kindly. "You've got to be kinder to yourself, remember you're only seventeen and you've been through hell. If help is offered, accept it. You don't have to do everything alone."

That advice again. Maybe one day it would stick in Draco's mind.

Valentine's day was another sad affair. Draco had tried really hard, leaving Casper so he and Harry could be alone together, bringing a cake he'd baked with Molly at the Burrow,but Harry hadn't been hungry again - the pain Potions made him nauseous - and they'd both ended up crying again.

"What has happened to us?" Harry had whispered hoarsely, and Draco had grabbed his hand as hard as he dared.

"Terrible things," he said fiercely. "But there's nothing wrong with us, you hear me? You're going to get better, and we'll get a little place together, just us and Casper. And we'll get married."

Harry blinked at him in happy surprise. "Like we'll get married soon?"

"Why not?" Draco smiled. "I love you. You love me. We have a kid - why wait?"

"And we can have more kids?" Harry asked shyly.

Draco laughed. "Of course. CJ needs siblings."

"He wants four."

"Oh, he does?" Draco laughed again, and kissed Harry's hand fondly. "Or is that what you want?"

"Oh no, that's just what Cas wants." Harry grinned. "I'd go for five or six more, myself. Why not six more? We could have a Quidditch team."

"We could!" Draco chuckled. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself though, why don't we start with one more and go from there?"

"A Quidditch team," Harry repeated happily. "Or, Draco! We could have fourteen and then there's two teams and they could play against each other!"

"Fourteen," Draco nodded. "This is your chance to tell me you've had a little too much of your pain Potion today, sweetheart."

"Might've done," Harry said dreamily. "The nurses don't like saying no to me."

Draco ruffled his hair. "Seems to be a common theme with you, doesn't it? You're very hard to refuse."

He decided to let Harry sleep, he was looking increasingly drained, and kissed him once before heading back to the Burrow for Casper.

"A Quidditch team," he laughed quietly to himself as he walked. "That boy."

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a/n: so i didn't kill harry! thanks so much for reading, leave a vote if you enjoyed🤍

~ paradisedraco