Chapter Text
“Four years, Draco. Surely that’s long enough.”
“Long enough for what, Father? To hook myself to some society lady and pretend to be in love? To marry again?”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. I just want you to find a date to take to the Ministry Ball. You’ve been parading about as the lonely widower long enough. The family has a reputation to uphold.”
Draco glared at his father. His years in Azkaban were only visible if you looked closely, but they’d softened Lucius’s edges enough that Draco had found it within himself to forgive the older man. Mostly. But that didn’t mean he wanted him interfering in his life. “I’m not interested in any of the women you’ve been throwing in my path.”
“Why not?” Lucius asked. “You’re setting a poor example for Scorpius.”
Draco saw his son flinch at his grandfather’s comment.
“Please leave me out of this,” Scorpius complained.
“He’s nearly finished at Hogwarts. One term left and he’ll be done and out in society. Surely you see that he’d do well to have a woman to help guide him. If your mother were still alive, perhaps…”
Draco’s shoulders stiffened reflexively, and he pinched his eyes shut, trying to hold his temper. “You cannot be suggesting that I am incapable of helping my son navigate his future.”
“Dad—” Scorpius said, but Lucius cut the boy off.
“I am merely suggesting you set a good example and get a date for the ball!”
“He’s going with Mr Potter!”
The look on Lucius’s face would have been hilarious if Draco, himself, wasn’t stunned into silence by his son’s outburst.
“Dad is going with Mr Potter to the Ministry ball,” Scorpius said again, and he seemed to be relaxing into the ridiculous fantasy he was concocting. “He didn’t want to tell you because he wasn’t sure how you’d react.”
“Mr Potter,” Lucius said thoughtfully before turning away from Scorpius and narrowing his eyes at Draco. “You’re taking the Minister for Magic to the Ministry ball. As your date?”
Draco swallowed the lump in his throat. What the hell had Scorpius been thinking to come up with such a ridiculous, absolutely delicious, notion?
“He is. He asked Mr Potter when he picked me up from Al’s last weekend.”
The lies just kept pouring out of his son, and Draco wasn’t sure whether to be impressed at Scorpius’s earnest face or frightened.
Lucius sat back in his armchair, steepling his fingers in front of his mouth, deep in thought. “Well, I suppose you can’t get more influential than the Boy Who Lived to be Minister, can you? I’m impressed, Draco. I look forward to seeing what comes of this.” He smiled. “I’m proud of you.”
Oh, Draco hated the thrill that shot through his stomach when his father said that. Proud. Even after all these years and everything they’d been through, he wanted that.
And Merlin knew he wanted Potter. He always had.