Chapter Text
Harry is better. But there are days, and there are moments when he catches himself remembering him. Harry thinks of the blond boy whenever he opens the Daily Prophet and reads the Qudditch match scores. He remembers those silver eyes, full of love and hope, whenever those exact same eyes of his six-year-old daughter manipulate Harry into buying her sweets.
And that is when Harry’s heart breaks, piece by piece. Nonetheless he stays strong because he must stay strong, he tells himself.
“Daddy?” A gentle voice calls him and Harry closes the newspaper’s Quidditch section just to be met with silver eyes of his daughter Lily.
“What did you do this time?” Harry asks with a small and kind smile. Lily was his whole world and the only good thing that had happened to him after the war and after losing her father. So it’s no wonder he has spoiled her way more a child should be. And this time, her eyes gave her away once again. At such a young age, Lily was unable to cover up all the emotions and thoughts from her face and that made it easier for Harry. She was a girl after all, and as a single father it was sometimes difficult to find out what bothered Lily. At least Hermione has helped as much as she could, after having children of her own.
“Nothing,” Lily pouts and tries to avoid Harry’s eyes. Her dark blonde hair hides the blushing cheeks.
Harry chuckles and stands up. It’s time to take Lily to Ron and Hermione’s anyway. He noticed the piece of paper clenched in Lily’s hands, hidden behind her back. “What do you have in your hands, darling?”
His daughter’s eyes widen as an even deeper shade of red creeps upon her cheeks.
“It’s a photograph,” she mumbles so quietly that Harry barely hears it.
“A photograph?”
Lily nods and stretches her right hand to show him. The photo is slightly crumbled but Harry recognizes it immediately. His breath hitches as he registers the moving moment captured just a few weeks before Harry’s heart shattered. The big smiles on Draco and Harry’s faces as they looked at the camera (more exactly, they tried not to look at each other) seemed to show a clear message. They were happy and very much in love. And all that was true, at least that’s what Harry thought when he remembered those days. He truly did love Draco, even after Draco left him to marry Astoria Greengrass.
“Where did you get that?” His voice breaks at the end, just a little bit. Harry made sure to get rid of all the memories of Draco, especially after he found out about his pregnancy. It just hurt to much to remember.
“Aunt ‘Mione gave it to me last week. I...” Lily pauses to chew on her lower lip, obviously nervous.
“Go on,” Harry gently encourages her to continue. He cannot recall the last time he was angry at her, and this isn’t something to be angry at either.
“I asked her about my mummy. And she explained that I have another daddy but...”
“He doesn’t know about you, yeah...” Harry mumbles, apologetically. Sitting down in front of his precious daughter, Harry takes her small hands in his and pulls her into a hug.
“I’m sorry for not talking to you about it before.” Harry is passionate about treating children fairly and not hiding them the truths about whatever they are curious of, even if it might seem too complicated for them. But this is the one thing he had hidden from her, and luckily Lily hasn’t asked about it until now.
Tears start gathering in Lily’s eyes and he soon feels the warm tears against his skin. “Why doesn’t he know?”
“Because he married a girl he was betrothed to and left before I even found out about you.” It hurt Harry to voice out the truth behind their breakup. The fact is that Harry was aware of Draco and Astoria’s engagement even before he started dating Draco. But Draco assured him that he will talk to his parents and convince them to break of the arranged marriage. And yet, that didn’t happen. Draco left, only sending him a short apology letter after the ceremony and Harry was once again all alone in the cold world with a broken heart.
“But he looks like he loves you in that photo.” Lily is quite smart and she notices things Harry would never expect her to.
“He did love me,” Harry assures her and quietly to himself as well.
“Why did he marry that girl?”
“Because his parents wanted it like that.” Then Harry explains everything he can about arranged marriages so she can understand.
Lily lifts her head and sits in front of Harry. Her eyes are red from crying but she is acting calm. “You would never do that to me, right daddy?”
Harry once again pulls his daughter in a hug. “Never.”