Reunited
“Mother! Father! Papa! My letter has arrived!” Draco shouted, his voice echoing throughout the Manor, his thumping footsteps following his shout. He was heading towards his father’s study, where he knew all three of his parents would be. He appeared at the door, his face beaming with joy, face red with excitement, but the look soon dropped as he took in the look covering his father’s face. It was quickly masked into a strained smile but Draco could see right through it.
“Congratulations Draco,” His father said to him with a slightly less strained smiled this time. Draco was then pulled delicately into his mother’s arms who was genuinely smiling, eyes sparkling with excitement for her son. She had noticed his reaction when he had seen his father’s face when he had entered the room.
“Congratulations my little Dragon!” Draco smiled at her but couldn’t help but cast a worrying glance over at his Father. “Don’t worry about your father, he is having to go on a house call for the Headmaster.” She explained gently. Everyone in their family knew how much Severus disliked the Headmaster.
“A job that Minerva should be doing” His father grunted out, his displeasure at doing such a task for the Headmaster now very clearly evident on his face.
“Oh don’t be such a wart Severus! We will meet you at Diagon Alley later how does that sound? Three o’clock?” Draco’s Papa laughed. He saw the amusement in the situation his husband found himself in. Severus Prince-Malfoy had hated James Potter with a passion from age elven to the mans death and now he had to take the man’s spawn to Diagon Alley to buy his school things. Severus knew the only thing that would get him through the trip was the boys supposed green eyes that looked like his Mothers, or Severus’ high school and childhood best friend. Yes, he was miffed that he had to go, but he respected the Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall’s decision and if she wanted Severus to go then he couldn’t refuse.
Severus glared at anyone he walked past as he walked down the road to 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey. He still couldn’t believe that Minerva had chosen him to take the boy to Diagon Alley knowing his past with the boy’s parents but also she chose him out of all the other qualified Professors at the school. She had told him when he asked that it was because the address on the Letters had caused her to worry. Not to mention, Harry Potter had been sent hundreds of letters with not a single reply received. And as much as she had wanted to go and do it herself she had three other muggleborn students to take to Diagon alley herself today. It did not help that two days ago Harry Potters address kept changing to multiple different locations, confusing the owls delivering the letters. As he approached the front door, a voice called out behind him.
“You won’t find the Dursleys today my friend.” Severus whipped around to face the man who had spoken to him.
“And you are?” he growled out. The man looked startled at the gruffness in his voice but continued on.
“I live at number two. They asked me to watch their house till they came back.”
“And where have they gone?”
“They left a few days ago. Strangest thing though, as soon as they did, the owls disappeared too. Annoying though, my son was getting quite interested in them and since they have left he’s gone back to those bloody video games.”
Severus nodded his thanks at the man before heading off back in the direction he had come from, grumbling under his breath, cursing the Potter boy for wasting time in his day. He did subconsciously know that it wasn’t the boys fault, if his guardians had gone on holiday it would only make sense for the boy to go with them. Upon reaching his home he realised it was empty which meant that the rest of his family had already set off. He grabbed some floo powder and threw it into the fire.
“Minerva, are you there?” He spoke loudly.
“Severus, oh good. Dumbledore sent Hagrid. The poor boy must be terrified! He has lived with muggles his whole life! What on earth is Albus thinking sending a half giant! Are you going to Diagon Alley for Draco?”
“Yes, I was going to meet them all after I had spoken to you.”
“Take this note with you then,” She sent one through the floo, which he grabbed and placed into his pocket in his robes, “If you see Harry, give this note to Hagrid and then take the boy around with Draco.”
“Of course Minerva” He said with a strained smile, not being able to think of anything worse than spoiling his sons special day by a pretentious arrogant little boy. “I’ll be off now then.”
He pulled his head out of the floo before grabbing another handful of floo powder and throwing it into the fire and stepping through into the Leaky Cauldron. He wasn’t in the Alley long before he spotted the half giant oaf and sped up his long strides to come alongside the mismatched duo.
“Hagrid,” He greeted, “Minerva asked me to give you this.”
Hagrid took a few minutes to look it over before handing it back to Severus, shaking his head.
“Headmasters orders I’m afraid”
“Unfortunately Hagrid, the headmaster isn’t in charge of students coming into the wizarding world from the muggle world until they start attending Hogwarts. So I will take the boys vault key and we will be on our way.” He growled out.
“Well, I don’t know about tha” Hagrid replied, “Albus made me promise not to give the key to anyone.”
“Well then, I will get a new one at Gringotts. Come along Mr Potter.” He held his hand out for the boy to hold, knowing that if he didn’t the boy would get lost easily as he was so small. Severus was slightly startled when the boy flinched out of the way of the hand coming towards his face. A small red hue in the form of a blush scattered across the boys cheeks before he gently grabbed the offered hand, grateful that the professor had done so but unused to someone caring enough to hold his hand so he didn’t get lost. It also alarmed Severus that the Potter boy had several large bruises layering his skinny pale arms in a variety of green and purple, and one that covered a rather large area across the boys right cheekbone. He started his walk to Gringotts, completely ignoring the grumblings of Hagrid behind him, knowing full well that if Albus did decide to say something then there would be nothing he could do about it because firstly he was already doing it and secondly he had permission from Minerva to take Mr Potter around.
“Lord Prince, how can Gringotts help you today?” The goblin in front of them sneered.
“Griphook,” Severus nodded politely, knowing that the only way to deal with the Goblins was too be polite, “Mr Potter needs to enter his vault.”
“And does Mr Potter have his key?”
“No, Mr Potter is in need of a replacement.” The goblin in front of them grumbled slightly under his breath before retreating down a corridor.
“Follow me Wizards.”
“They entered a very large office and Severus relaxed as he felt the powerful goblin magic wash over him. Still as awed by the magic as he was when he first stepped through the wards when he first claimed his heirship to the house of Prince when he was only eleven years old. He continued to the chairs in front of the desk before turning around to instruct the Potter boy on what was going to be happening now and why but instead he could only stop and stare, his mouth agape. He couldn’t stop his standard emotionless mask from crumbling to one of disbelief, shock and happiness. Because stood in front of him was not the eleven year old boy that he had brought into the bank with him. No, in front of him was a small boy, about five or six years old, with black hair that hung to his chin with bright blond highlights. No, this boy was not Harry Potter.
This was his son.
His Hadrian Severus Malfoy.