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The Stag and the Fox - Drarry

Chapter 8: A Giggle

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Harry and Ginny stand at the edge of the Weasley’s orchard in comfortable silence, watching Bill and Fleur greet the arriving guests on Victoire’s behalf, and casually commenting on their clothing choices, until Harry turns to her with a confused crease in his brow,
“Hey, you said that Malfoy had already told you about the painting at Hogwarts. When did you talk to him?”
“He got here a little while before you all did, to drop off some papers for George. They were talking about the memorial in the kitchen, and he mentioned it. And you, that’s how I knew you two were on better terms. He was really nice as well. You know how much Alby hates travelling by Floo and throws a tantrum? Well, Malfoy was kind enough to entertain James while I calmed him. He also helped Fleur and I with arranging the centerpieces. Oh, did you know he was gay?”

‘If he wasn’t, I’d be worried,’ Harry thought, but shook his head, “It didn’t come up in conversation last night. I don’t think arranging centerpieces makes him gay, though.”
Ginny sighed, “Oh, don’t be silly, he told me he was gay when I asked about Astoria. Anyway, we invited him to stay, of course, and he wanted to refuse. I understood, it’s a little odd being somewhere where you hardly know anyone and everyone else knows each other, but you know how Mum is… She pretty much told him he shouldn’t be rude and that he must stay because now he’d already help set up.”
Harry’s eyes shot wide open in surprise, “What, he’s still here?”
“Yeah, being all shy though and staying inside the house,” Ginny answered in an aloof tone, slowly losing interest in the conversation as guests started accumulating under the marquee.
“Oh…” Unable to stop the subconscious action, Harry, looks over at the Burrow. Ginny notices his staring, and gently nudges his arm,
“If you’ve got more to say to him, you probably should.”
“You think?”
“Before the opportunity leaves and you’re left with regret.”
Harry doesn’t move for a few moments, but after a meaningful glance at Ginny, crosses the lawn, and finds Draco in the kitchen, standing over a cauldron.

“Afternoon, Malfoy.”
“Alright there, Potter?” Draco doesn't turn, but Harry doesn’t miss the smile in his voice. He cranes his neck to inspect the contents of the cauldron,
“Not poisoning us, are you?”
Draco glances over his shoulder at Harry with a barely contained smirk, a simple look conveying a simple, ‘Really?’.
“You offend me, Potter. As if I’d let you discover me while I sabotage a party.” Draco said with uncharacteristic drama, but with his trademark sarcasm. Harry chuckled, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking down, unable to deny the flutter of his insides at the sight of Draco in a crisp white shirt, top buttons undone, and navy slacks. He clears his throat,

“Not a fan of birthday bashes, then? Hiding out in the kitchen and all that.”
Draco looked out of the window, and paused for so long that Harry wondered if he’d heard him or if he was doing it for effect.
“It’s wonderful to see so many people together for a good time, young Victoire is lucky to grow up in such a large family that loves her. I’m grateful that my cousin can experience the Weasley's warmth.”
Harry seemed puzzled by the last, so Draco nods and elaborates, “Ted’s grandmother is my mother’s sister- Andromeda is my aunt.”
Harry smacked his forehead, “Of course, Andromeda is from the Black family.” Suddenly remembering that he’d heard very little mention of, let alone seen, Malfoy since Hogwarts, Harry ventured a question, even though he was fairly certain of the answer, “Have you met Teddy yet?”
It was Draco’s turn to look down at his shoes, “I can’t say I have…”

Without a second of pause, Harry takes Draco's hand and leads him out of the house, pauses just outside the door, then strides through a few groups of people, until he halts Teddy mid-run, letting Victoire tag him and run off again.
“Hold your horses there, Teddy boy, I’d like to introduce you to someone.”
Teddy looked Draco up and down, then holds out his hand and Draco shakes it, “Hello Ted, it’s great to meet you. My name is Draco, we’re cousins.”
Teddy’s eyes light up, “Really? I thought I didn’t have any cousins, I didn’t even know mom or dad had siblings.”
Draco noted his mistake, “Well, technically I’m your first cousin, once removed.”
Suddenly very interested, Ted beckoned Draco closer so he could whisper, “What were you removed for? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
Draco laughed, but went along with it. Matching Ted’s whisper, he crouched lower, “I trapped the family cat in the attic.”
Ted nodded understandingly, “Was it Crookshanks? ‘Cause I’d be fine with you trapping him in our attic for a while. I wouldn’t have removed you for that, just so you know.”
“Thank you, that means a lot to me.”
Teddy gives Draco another nod, then goes off to find his friends.

Draco stands up and watches him for a few moments with a loving smile, then turns to Harry when he disappears out of sight.
“He’s great, Potter. You’ve done a good job, raising him.”
“Well, it wasn’t all me, not even close. Andy- Andromeda, is always there to pick up my slack, Ginny too.”
Having none of Harry’s modesty, Draco insists his praise, “Even so, raising children is a skill that you seem to be very good at. No surprise there, but co-parenting is arguably even harder. Communicating with each other in a way that doesn’t distress the kids, sharing time on busy and irregular schedules… Worrying about whether you’re there often enough for them to know that you’re still their dad and will still be there for them, or if you’re there too often and infringe on how much time the other parent can take of you sitting about and interacting with the kids, wondering if they’re being silent because they are wishing that you’d leave, or actually listening to what you’re saying, and if they think what you’re saying is acceptable or not, if they are the right things to say, the right answers to the never-ending questions…”

Draco had to take a breath, worried that he’d gone overboard with getting carried away.
Harry found himself looking at Draco in a way that one would look at someone who just hit a punch bag so hard that it swung right back, squarely into that someone’s face, “Wow, Draco… I don’t know about her wishing that I’d leave or how much of what I tell my kids is acceptable or not to Ginny, but I agree with the never-ending questions part. Sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate. I didn’t realise you had kids?” He cast aside the tidbit of gossip that had crossed through the conversation last night, which had in fact let Harry know that Malfoy did have a son, deciding to start anew with the direct source instead.

Draco smiled, and Harry knew exactly the feeling that Draco had in that moment, the warm and fond feeling of thinking of the giggling face of your children, something that would make any parent smile.
“Yeah, a little boy, Scorpius. Turned two last January.”
“Is he talking?”
“A little. Now and then he surprises me with full sentences.”
Harry remembered that stage of surprise, “Alby, my youngest, he’s two in August, and usually just copies whatever James says and does. James loves that, and will go around the house pointing at things, loudly exclaiming what they’re called, so Albus knows as well,” Harry chuckled at the thought, “If they stay as close as they are now, they’d be the type of brothers that would follow each other to the end of the earth, just like…”
“George and Fred,” Draco offered, coutiously, still unsure of how triggering the name was to Harry. To his relief, Harry just sighed.
“Yeah, just like George and Fred.”

“So, from what I can gather after that little exposition, it’s a bit tense between you and Scorpius’ mum?”
“Yeah, but that’s not a party conversation,” Draco murmurs, as he’d become increasingly aware of the nosy glances directed at their way.
Harry didn’t need to ask for an explanation, “Alright, so tell me about your escape to Africa.”
Grateful for the smooth change of topic, Draco smirked, “Heard about that, did you?”
“Yes, well, you can’t escape dropping into conversation completely when you bugger off to some mountain for potions classes.”
“I’ll have you know that Uagadoo teaches advanced alchemy, and that I owe my career, and by extent, my life to that school.”
“Your life? How’s that?”

“Coming back to Hogwarts would have been miserable after the Battle. Epecially after I crossed the courtyard and seemed to join Voldemort. But we’re getting off-track. I finished a re-sit of the seventh year in Uganda, and I was taken on as an apprentice by a renowned witch. She taught me a few more advanced brews, but I wanted to learn more, so I ended up being referred to a different witch, and through her I met a couple of wizarding people who were all very obliging in teaching and even working with me on a few potions of my own invention, mainly against hereditary illnesses amongst muggles.”
“Whoa, sounds like quite the adventure. Admirable of you, very humanitarian to dedicate time and effort into curing ailments. A lot of academic people in your friend circle?”
Draco wobbled his hand so-so, “We’ll call it a colleague circle, friendship with alchemists that you work with won’t last very long, it’s easy to disagree on ingredients or methods, and those arguments can get heated when both parties start pulling out books.”
“Wow, I’d pay to see a bunch of old chemists batter each other with dusty manuscripts!”
Draco tutted at Harry’s distasteful assumption, “Such violence, Potter? They are philosophers, not Beaters on a Quidditch field. I meant that alchemists like to prove their point by citing past research and tests.”
“Of course you did.” Harry moved on from the disappointment, “Alright, so no mixing business with pleasure-”

As if he were summoned, Seamus walked up, looking much too happy about catching the last snippet of Harry’s sentance, “What’s this about pleasure?”
Harry rolled his eyes, “Of course that’s what you pick up on.”
Seamus rubbed his shoulder against Draco, “Well? Is there anything going on...?”
Wedging his hand between Draco and Seamus to push them apart, Harry shot a look that could kill at the intruder, but didn’t have a chance to say anything before Draco beat him to it, “Jog on, Finnigan.”
“Touchy, touchy… Done any of that yet, maybe?” Seamus made a point to obviously eye Draco up and down with a smirk, then at Harry, “Malfoy looks stiff as a board, I’d say he could use a pair of hands on his-”
Cutting him off with a loud cough and an apologetic glance at the other guests stood near, Harry clenched his teeth to contain his stirring frustration, even if there was something strangely amusing, “Seamus, please, this is a kid’s party. Now shove off, would you?”

Seamus finally retreats with a wink, and joins Dean, where he immediately fills him in, and they both look back with thumbs up.
Finding the whole thing rather funny, Draco looked from Dean and Seamus to Harry with a growing smile, “Do they…”
Exparated, Harry yielded, “Your clothes gave me away this morning, I’m afraid. Took about three hungover minds and maybe five minutes before the penny dropped, but they caught on to the fact that I’d slept over at yours. So far, I think it’s just Dean and Seamus that suspect…” they catch each other's eyes, only to swiftly avert them again, “Something.”
Draco cleared his throat and leaned closer to Harry, “I think they agree with what you said last night. We had it coming, let’s be honest.”
Pushing away the flutter-y feeling in his chest, Harry nodded, “It was long overdue.”
“Agreed.”
They grin at each other, and if he could, Harry would have paused that moment in time, he would happily have stood there for hours with Draco, marvelling at the complexity of emotions that he felt whenever Draco was near. Whenever they spoke, always so candid and plain, and the feeling of being understood and understanding, even though he had yet so much to learn about the man that he’d known for so long but only just really met.

Tragically, the spell ends prematurely when Molly bustles up to Draco asking about the punch, and he disappears with her into the house. Harry didn’t even have a moment to process the thoughts and revelations that he’s just gone through, because seizing the spot just opened up next to him, Hermione moves to stand next to Harry, conspiratorial glint in her eye and all.

“That looked like quite a comfy conversation, and I swear I saw fireworks flying at the end, when you both looked into each other's eyes as if you were all the other could ever want and more.”
Harry chuckled, massaging his brow, “Oh, please ‘Mione, it was just a little small talk-”
Refusing to let him downplay any more, Hermione resolutely held up her hand, “Save it, Harry. I’m no idiot, I do have eyes, you know. And I can see that you’re still not over each other, now even less than before.”
Barely following what she was saying, he looked at her as if she were on the other side of an opaque window, “Are you saying that you knew I liked him in school?”
“Please, everyone knew, Fred and George had everyone placing bets on you two. You might want to talk to George about getting a slice of the winnings.”
Harry simply nodded vaguely before falling silent for a few moments, re-running what Hermione had said in his mind, “All the other could ever want, eh?”
She rolled her eyes, “Oh Harry, you’re hopeless. Malfoy wants you. There, is that put plainly enough for you?”
“Right… What should I do about that?”
“Merlin’s sake, ask him out, of course. Get coffee, find something to do together.”
“I’m going to help him learn to do the patronus charm. And he’s going to assist on a case at work, do those count?”

Stumped, Hermione blinked, “Wow. What do you need my help for? Tell me, how did you get that far, without realising he was into you?”
Harry shrugs and pulls her into a hug instead of answering the question. They don’t pull apart until someone walks out with the birthday cake, and everyone starts singing. Victoire blows out her candles, people cheer and the cake is cut.

For the rest of the afternoon, Harry involves himself in party games with the kids and Ginny, and doesn’t get a moment to talk to Draco for a while. Ending up at the buffet table at some point, he fills a glass with punch, and goes looking for Draco, who he finds next to Angelina. She politely excuses herself, and Harry raises his glass at Draco,
“This is exquisite.”
Draco scoffs, bet not without looking pleased with the compliment, “I should hope so, it is essentially my area of expertise.”
Forgetting whatever else he had planned to say, Harry merely nods and looks around. Draco picks up on his loss for conversation starters, and takes the opportunity to address something that had been lingering in his mind for most of the day.

“If it’s alright with you, I would like to get to know Ted a bit better. I know I told you about Scorpius and it might seem like-”
Harry shakes his head understandingly, “It’s alright, you don’t have to explain. I get it. Of course you can see Ted, he’s already ten and you’ve only just met him. After his grandma, you’re his closest relative, after all.” Harry stops to consider the request for a moment, “He spends most days with her while I’m working, but the three of us could get dinner some time this coming week. Or I could drop him off at the restaurant and make myself scarce for a while, if you prefer...”
“No, it would be great if you’d stay. That would probably make it easier.”

They work out that they’ll meet up on the following Tuesday, after which Draco excuses himself to thank Molly and congratulate Bill and Fleur, then leaves. Harry watches him until he walks into the fireplace, then wanders about until he finds Ginny, holding a sleeping Albus and James who are cuddled up against her in a lawn chair.
Pleased to see him, Ginny waves, “Harry, there you are! Could you bring me a glass of punch, I’m in dire need of a drink.”
Harry crouches down to ruffle both boys’ hair, then smiles fondly at her, “It’s alright Gin, I’ll take over now. I need to get these two home, are you alright to have Ted over with you tonight?”
Ginny agrees and rouses James, leaving Albus to sleep while she gently hands him over to Harry, who takes both boys home after saying his goodbyes.

Once home, he puts his sons to bed, and after a few attempts to read a page of a book, Harry gives up and settles into sleep as well, wiped out after the day.

Notes:

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