Chapter Text
A summer breeze drifts lazily through the quidditch stands, wrapping around Harry and Draco, cooling the sweat beading on their necks. A sweet bubble of laughter rings in the air as the snitch flits by their box, undetected by either team’s seeker.
Harry smiles over at Dean and Seamus, the pair of them bracketing a totally enamored Lottie on the other side of the bench. It’s her first quidditch match, according to Seamus. Before today she’s never seen any sport other than football, having been indoctrinated into the muggle sport since birth. Dean never did let go of his love for West Ham football.
Her black hair spills wildly over her shoulders as she bounces up and down on her toes, her 8-year-old enthusiasm at watching a golden snitch flit about for the first time drawing adoration from all four of the grown men around her.
Harry’s first Hogwarts summer term is well underway, and he’s inclined to believe that it’s going swimmingly. Seventeen students are enrolled in the summer program. Fourteen of them muggleborn, two half-bloods, and a single pureblood. Among them are students that Harry knows well from the Christmases he’s spent with them at the castle, and a few that he doesn’t. The majority are those that don’t have a good home to return to, but several are simply here to continue to learn.
Notably, both Elliot Collins and Violet Warrington are among the summer students. They spend quite a bit of time together, heads bowed over some book or another, or playing gobstones in the courtyard. Harry’s not sure what’s going on there exactly - but he’s interested to watch it develop.
Their lessons consist very little of performing magic, but are geared towards learning more about living in the magical world beyond their years at school, a crucial part of their education that has been overlooked up until now. Most interestingly for the students, very few of their lessons are given by an actual Hogwarts teacher. Throughout the summer they’ll see a staggering variety of past students and teachers with interesting stories to tell or trades to teach.
Draco brought in former colleagues from Mungo’s to talk about healing on one day, Charlie Weasley made a visit with a baby dragon in tow on another. Today, Seamus spent the morning sharing about the possibilities of living in both worlds, muggle and magic. Tomorrow, Dean has plans for a dueling exercise - one much better organized than Lockhart and Snape’s version - before he and Seamus return to Dublin, and next week Hermione will take the time to speak about the Ministry - particularly the role of witches and wizards of all blood statuses in rebuilding it after the second wizard war.
The lessons aren’t everything, of course, they have only one of those each weekday, but are mostly allowed free time to do as they please. Meals are spent together around one large table in the same room as the Christmas feast, and most days there are additional supervised activities for the students to participate in, like diving in the lake to see the giant squid, roasting marshmallows around a bonfire on the grounds, or scouting for fairies in the forest at twilight.
Today, Harry has organized a quidditch friendly, the students divided into two teams made up of all houses and years, while a rising 6th year Hufflepuff referees, and a pair of 4th year twin sisters, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, keep score and commentate in a rousingly irrelevant fashion that rivals even Luna’s performance.
It’s a chance for students who’ve never had the opportunity to play, and provides a little entertainment for the handful of staff still on grounds while they’re at it.
It’s certainly nice for Harry and Draco, as they sit on the bench in the staff box, huddled close together despite the heat. It’s no secret anymore that they’re together, especially not with the students that have stayed the summer. It isn’t so uncommon to see the two of them walking the grounds hand in hand, and if one sneaks quietly enough into the infirmary on a Sunday afternoon, one might be able to sneak a peek of the healer and the Defense teacher sharing a chaste kiss over lunch in Draco’s office.
Harry’s attention strays from the game to Dean and Seamus again, their own attention divided between the game, their daughter and each other, and he finds that the pang of jealousy that used to simmer in him isn’t there anymore.
He mentions this to Draco later as they lay in bed in what is now their quarters. “I used to ache with how much I wanted what they have. What Ron and Hermione have with each other, and Rose and Hugo...what Ginny and I could have had.”
Draco sets aside the copy of Incendio Effect , his most recent mystery novel, which he’s taken to reading aloud to Harry as they laze about, avoiding the heat. He cards his fingers through Harry’s messy hair and hums. “A family?” he asks quietly, somehow knowing exactly what Harry means, like he usually does.
“Yeah.”
“And now?” The question is tentative and Harry sits up, turning so he can face Draco where he reclines against the headboard.
“The ache is gone,” he says resolutely, green eyes wide and honest. “I have Teddy, and you, and Scorpius, and all these kids.” He gestures vaguely towards the door, meaning to indicate all of the students that remained this summer. “It’s not what I expected, but…”
“It’s all I could have ever wanted,” Draco finishes, reaching out to tangle his fingers with Harry’s against cool silk sheets.
“Yeah.”
And it’s true. Maybe it isn’t the family he pictured, and maybe he never did get to have children of his own...but he does have children of his own, children that depend on him, even aside from the one he actually raised.
He remembers standing in his old quarters two years ago, trying to convince himself that he could never be lonely at Hogwarts. Now he can admit to himself that he was lonely, even at Hogwarts, but only for a little while. Only long enough to lead him here.
Harry shuffles in the bed, tugging at Draco’s knees until he can place himself between them and lean forward to kiss him languidly. They’ll get married, maybe, or they won’t, but he knows that Draco isn’t going anywhere, and that he’s not either.
Hogwarts won’t be lonely.
Never again.