Chapter Text
The next few weeks weren't easy. Not that Scorpius himself was a problem. He slept peacefully most nights and when he didn't, Harry was quick to go and check on him and hold him close. Draco got used to waking up to the sight of Harry walking around their room, holding their son against his chest and singing half-remembered songs to him. If it had just been the three of them, if they could have walled out the world, it would have been perfect.
But the world wasn't going anywhere. In the eyes of the world, Draco was a Death Eater. Harry's act might have saved him from Azkaban and the marriage might have gone some way to restoring Draco's reputation, but it hadn't gone far enough to stop rumours circling about Scorpius's parentage. The rumours that the child had somehow been fathered by Voldemort were much less entertaining when they were printed in the gossip columns. Harry had to endure more than one check by the Ministry to ensure that he wasn't somehow being manipulated or forced into the situation.
Harry bore the speculation with more grace than Draco could have managed. At least no one doubted the child was Draco’s, there were enough photographs out there that proved it. The fact that, to him, Scorpius clearly looked like Harry's child didn't seem to be more widely accepted. But Draco knew the truth. They both did.
Draco gazed absently at the smouldering remains of a Howler that had arrived just as they had been tucking into pancakes. It had interrupted their morning and yelled at him for tricking the Saviour of Wizarding kind.
"Is it over?" Harry called out from the hallway where he had taken Scorpius. Scorpius didn't like Howlers and would scream every time one went off. Draco could hear his son's soft sobs and Harry's quiet noises to shush him. He made himself take a couple of deep breaths, then spoke once he was sure that his voice would hold steady.
"It's over."
Harry walked back in, coming to stand beside him. Scorpius's cries had subsided to sniffles, and Harry looked at their boy with obvious love. "I'm sorry, Draco."
"It's alright." Draco winced a little. "I'm just sorry that Scorpius and you have to listen to my hate mail."
"We'll sort out something." Harry said firmly. "I'll speak to Hermione. There must be something that can be done..." Harry handed Scorpius over, and Draco cradled their son as Harry's arms wrapped around his waist. He rested his chin on Draco's shoulder. "We should go to Andromeda's today."
"Have you told the school that we’ll be at Aunt Drommy’s?" Draco asked quietly. He knew the NEWT results were due that afternoon, and he didn't want to miss them. Harry smiled and nodded, and Draco finished the rest of his breakfast with Scorpius supported on his lap.
He was nervous about NEWTs on his way to his Aunt's house, but he told himself it would be alright. Whatever results he got, he was still going to have the support of his mother and Harry. He could be a good father even if he had failed every one of his exams.
Andromeda seemed to realise their tension. She'd got freshly baked cookies waiting for them on the patio. She embraced Harry tightly, checking on Scorpius who was curled up in a sling beside Harry’s heart, before smiling at Draco. "How are you all doing?"
"We got another Howler this morning," Harry told her, and she frowned. Harry always said the Howlers were for them, and that made Draco feel warm inside in a way that he couldn't quite explain. He was always the target, but Harry never blamed him or seemed angry, at least not at him.
"I'm sorry," Andromeda sighed. "I got a few of those when Ted and I..." She shook her head, and smiled. "Big day for the two of you today, isn't it?"
"I guess..." Harry shrugged a little. "The Ministry still keeps asking me to come and work for them. But I've told them not yet. I want time with Scorpius while he's small, and..." Harry glanced over at Draco. "I need to work out some things."
"That seems like a good idea," Andromeda reassured him and reached out to pat his shoulder. Before she could say more, Draco spotted a couple of owls approaching. He raised his hand.
"They're here."
Watching them get closer and knowing they had the answers was almost agonising. Draco's mother joined them from inside the house, and the four of them stood waiting in silence. Eventually the owls landed, and Draco reached for his results letter with trembling hands. He tore it open once he had it, taking a look and nodding. It certainly could have been worse, and he pushed down the hurt he was feeling.
Harry thrust his paper into Draco's hands without opening it. "What did I get?"
"It's good," Draco reassured him once he had cracked the seal and unfolded it. "You passed. O in Defence, E in Charms and Transfiguration."
Harry nodded, reaching for the paper again. He read it over twice as though uncertain what he was seeing. He smiled nervously, and then looked at Draco. "How did you do?"
"O in Potions, Charms and Ancient Runes, E in Astronomy, A in Defence." Draco reeled off, glancing at his mother. Narcissa smiled at him, and he managed to smile back. "Not as good as I would have liked, but... I passed Defence, so..."
"You did well," Harry said quickly. "That's... that's really good." Harry paused, seeming to see that something was wrong. He frowned, concentrating. "You needed an E in Defence to be a Healer, right?"
"Yes." Draco shrugged a little, trying to blink back any tears that threatened to spill at the knowledge that Harry had bothered to learn that for him. "But I passed it, so that's good."
"You could retake. If you wanted, I mean." Harry shrugged. "They sabotaged you in the paper."
"Maybe one day." Draco pushed those thoughts aside. They weren't his concern right now. He had a son and a husband who needed him. Mother walked over and embraced him for a moment.
"I never doubted that you could do it, Draco."
Draco nodded, and then smiled as his mother very awkwardly hugged Harry. The moment only lasted a second or two, but for Draco it was confirmation that everything would work out, that Harry was her concern as well. Draco paused, and then whistled for the owl. "I have to write to Blaise and Pansy. Granger too."
Harry cursed under his breath, earning a disapproving look from Mother. Andromeda fetched some paper for the two of them. Harry kept smiling at Draco, and even if Draco hadn't gotten the grades he'd hoped for, he smiled back. He'd passed. He'd made his mother proud, and he felt like he had done what he had needed to for whatever would come next. He still doubted he would ever get a job, but he would at least have the qualifications for it if he needed them.
He watched the owls flying off to their friends, and he felt a sense of calm settle over him. Scorpius began to whine, and Draco was instantly on his feet, going to reassure his son. Harry walked over to stand beside him, folding a spare bit of parchment up into a crane and enchanting it so it hovered over Scorpius's head.
"You learned that off me?" Draco asked, and Harry nodded. Draco smiled. "You deserve your E in Charms, Harry."
Two years later, Draco watched his son running around Andromeda's garden, chasing after Teddy. The older boy had a streak of blond in his hair again and he was laughing. Mother and Aunt Drommy were having tea, and Harry was sitting with them talking through his plans for the renovations he was working on for Grimmauld Place.
Draco was scrabbling about in the mud, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing a bandage on one side. He was trying to check on some of the plants he was growing. He'd decided that this was the year he was going to take examinations in Transfiguration and Herbology and retake Defence in the hope of scraping an E. If he could do that, he would have the qualifications needed to be a Healer.
There had been a long time when Draco hadn't allowed himself to consider the future. When he hadn't thought he had a future. But now he had a plan. He was making potions that were needed in the Hospital Wing of the school, and he wanted to continue and maybe even learn some of the more practical side. He wanted to show Scorpius that no matter what mistakes you made, it was possible to have a future. The boy deserved to know that. Draco thought his life might have gone differently if he had known, but he didn't regret where he'd ended up.
Harry laughed, loudly, at something his mother said, and Draco couldn't help smiling to himself. Scorpius peeled away from Teddy to come and sit by Draco, staring at the plants in wonder.
"This," Draco explained, gesturing to the nearest plant and waving at its soft green leaves, "is Origanum Dictamnus, more commonly known as dittany." He paused, and gently took the stick that Scorpius had begun to chew on from his mouth. "You shouldn't eat things you find on the floor, Scorpius."
Scorpius blinked at him softly for a moment, then nodded with the seriousness only a toddler could manage. Draco stood and reached down, lifting the boy up into his arms, and walked the short distance to where the rest of them were talking. He settled down between his mother and his husband, casting a few non-verbal cleaning charms over his son to neaten him after playing. His mother poured him a cup of tea.
Harry smiled, and it was an honest smile. Draco leaned against him, letting Harry embrace Scorpius and trying to commit this moment to memory. He'd tried to cast a Patronus a few times over the past two years, and nothing had come from it. But as he focused on his family, he knew that the scars were healing, and one day he thought he might manage it.
Even if he never could, he had Scorpius, and he had Harry. They had a life and a family, and that was enough.