Draco suddenly looked up, suspicious about the silence. In front of him, his husband sat grading student essays.
“Harry” he whispered.
“Yes love?”
“Does it seem too quiet to you?”
Harry looked up alarmed. They both remember too well what happened when it was this quiet last time. “Noo” Harry said horrified.
“Do not make a sound” and they both creep out silently from the office. Normally one of them would be with Scorpius playing or reading but today Harry had to grade transfiguration essays when Minerva took a nasty fall and Draco had to cover for a colleague who went on vacation. As a senior cursebreaker, Draco rarely had to work overtime but research was a big part of his job.
They both walk slowly dreading what they might walk into. When Draco sees the state of his drawing room he is too horrified to scream and Harry is cracking up.
“Scorpius!!!” “Oh hi papa” Scorpius said cheerfully.
Scorpius has somehow gotten hold of a lipstick, maybe Pansy left it the last time she visited. He managed to uncap it and draw with it all over the walls and himself. On the wall, there were three stick figures which Draco assumed was their family.
Scorpius had tried to put lipstick on his lips and somehow ended up with lipstick on his chin and teeth. Truthfully he looked like a monkey. There was even lipstick on his hair!! How was that even possible?
“Scorpius now you’ll have to take a bath, look at the state of you” Draco said. It was a battle every day to make Scorpius take his baths and today was Draco’s turn, he was not looking forward to it.
At the mention of his bath, Scorpius took off screaming “YOU’LL NEVA CATCH ME, PODDAH”. After hearing this Harry doubled up laughing, he had tears streaming down his face. “Where did he learn that?” Draco asked stunned, “Is Weasley telling him Hogwarts stories again” Draco groaned. “Well you are a potter now, he didn’t say anything wrong” Harry said while stifling his laughter.
“You are enjoying this far too much potter” Draco said annoyed. “Oh now I’m Potter, what happened to Harry”. “You’re potter when you annoy me, honestly all the mischief Scorpius gets up to is your fault, malfoys are very proper” Draco said haughtily.
Harry snorted “Please you’re also a Black and Sirius Black was a marauder, you can’t blame me for all his naughtiness, and let’s not forget who was the mastermind behind that dementor prank in 3rd year and --” “Alright, alright merlin I was joking” Draco blinked innocently, “Now c’mon we have a hellion to catch”.
They both ran to catch Scorpius who made it a game to dodge his dads at each turn and when Harry finally caught he was giggling so hard he almost fell over, “Caught you, you little rascal” Harry smiled. “Let me go Dad” Scorpius giggled and squirmed.
This domestic scene of Draco’s husband and son laughing and playing around in a house that was untouched by the darkness of his youth brought tears to his eyes. Draco never thought he could ever be this happy and at peace, some nights he still woke up screaming, seeing Harry’s limp body in Hagrid’s arms. But those incidents were getting fewer and further in between.
Harry noticed Draco standing with a melancholy look on his face and softly smiled, he knew what his husband was thinking about because Harry too was not a stranger to those feelings.
“Come on, love” Harry murmured to Draco “Let’s give Scorpius a bath”. Draco looked up with a smile and started walking towards them.
“YOU WISH, PODDAH” Scorpius screamed making both his dads laugh.