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Draco's heart was beating in his ears, his breath caught in his lungs when he finally recognised the tangerine coloured walls covered in messy crayon drawings and colourful posters with numbers, letters and magical creatures on them. The room seemed to be empty which was not such a huge surprise considering every competent parent picked up their child from this stupid, overrated daycare. He turned around, looking for his child, hoping his dear Scorpius wasn't taken away by fucking child services.
He walked through the room, through the hallway and then suddenly he heard laughter. Child laughter. That must've been a good sign - there had to be someone in the building. He followed the laughter into a small office room at the end of the hallway. As you'd expect from a daycare 'principal's' office the walls had framed children's pictures in handmade and messy frames, the walls were pastel yellow and the room itself was very light because of a big window that spread across the wall opposite of the door.
The doors were open but Draco still knocked before entering. Scorpius was sitting on a huge office chair at the desk his hands busy trying to build a complicated card structure he's been practising with Draco for two weeks now. Just two more card and he will finish it - he never managed to finish it before.
And... that was not a day he would finish it either. "Papa!," he chimed and jumped from the chair to run to Draco's arms. The cards went flying all over the table but with a chuckle and a swish of a wand they were in a neat pile next to a metallic plate with Potter's name engraved onto it. It was supposed to inform everyone who came into his office that yes, the man sitting in front of them was indeed their praised Saviour. It was pretty dumb if you asked Draco. It was as if anyone in the wizarding world didn't know how Harry Potter looked like.
"Mr Malfoy," Potter walked around the table and then leaned against it, his hips blocking the nameplate from view. Draco decided that the fact that Potter was a daycare teacher didn't change the other fact that his hips are godlike."I'm glad you could join us this afternoon."
"No need to be formally bitter, Mr Potter," Draco rolled his eyes, taking his son's hand. "I've had a day filled with bitter prats telling me I don't deserve my life. You don't need to rub it in with your childish lectures."
"I'm not lecturing you," Potter laughed. "I'm just pointing out that your arrival was slightly late."
"Yes, I know, I apologise for arriving so late," Draco rolled his eyes and went to pick up Scorpius' cards. They weren't really his cards because he had stolen them from Draco's desk but he enjoyed them more than his father ever would. Scorpius was that kind of a kid that find something of no value and makes it into something special that will one day become a transportation device for all the nostalgic memories he's made with the thing.
"Everyone had a mental breakdown at the office so I was stuck with paperwork," Draco explained then, putting the cards in a box that Scorpius previously stuffed into his pocket. "Unlike you, I wasn't showered with job offers after the war so I can't lose this one that I managed to get."
"It's fine, I understand," Harry waved his hand dismissively and tilted his head. He had to admit that watching Scorpius whisper to Malfoy in a hushed voice all about the fantastic time he had with Mr Harry was quite adorable considering it was Malfoy who was standing in front of him. "I tried calling you but you didn't answer. Just wanted to tell you that we're fine right here - to take your time."
"I was buried in work, sorry," Malfoy apologised once more and raised his eyebrows, nodding when Scorpius giggled at something he remembered. "Do you want to show it to him anyway?"
"Yes!", Scorpius grinned, his eyes shining. "Will you help me?"
Draco nodded and then looked up at Potter again. "Scorpius would like to show you the whole trick he's been practising. The one he failed at when I walked in."
"He didn't fail," Harry objected. "It was an accident."
"Yes, exactly. Do you want me to set it for you so you can do the end?" Scorpius nodded quickly before running to Potter's chair so he could have a better view of the desk. It is universally known that it is acceptable for six-year-olds to stand on office chairs if they need a better view of the desk before them, so neither of the adults complained when Scorpius stood up, his legs a bit wobbly on the padded chair and placed his palms firmly onto the desk. Draco opened the box that Scorpius handed to him and swished his wand so the cards would form the structure Scorp was attempting to build earlier. There was a faint blue glow of magic as Draco made the card tower stable. When the glow vanished and the stability of the tower was dependant on nothing more than gravitation ad basic physics, Scorpius grinned and waved at Potter.
Potter walked over so he was standing right next to Malfoy and right in front of the kid. Scorpius leaned over, expecting the card tower from all sides before pushing his hand through the bottom and twisting his fingers upwards. Draco smirked at Potter's face that filled with pure shock as the cards stayed floating in the mid-air instead of falling back to the table. Draco started clapping and Potter soon joined. Overwhelmed by his success, Scorpius clapped too and with the disappearance of his concentration cards were once again spread all over the table in a huge mess.
"That was amazing, Scorp!",Potter praised and then turned to Malfoy. "You have a very talented kid."
"I try to teach him basic wandless magic so he would have some idea of how magic works on a basic principle. You know how all those kids come to Hogwarts and they don't even know how to hold a wand?", Draco looked pointedly at Potter who frowned. Draco smirked and continued. "I don't want Scorpius to be like that."
I feel slightly offended," Potter laughed and nudged Draco's shoulder as they watched Scorpius' small hands pull all the cards on the pile in front of himself. " I don't think you should really offend a person that took care of your kid for three extra hours."
"Scorpius is the best kid you could take care of but thank you. I'm very sorry I didn't pick him up as usual." Draco lowered his head in a shameful position and then flicked his wand so the cards would place themselves back into the box. Scorpius squealed surprised as the cards flew neatly into the box next to his hand but it didn't take long before he proudly announced he's going to do the whole trick himself now and the two of them can't leave before he does it.
"It's fine," Potter tried to assure him. "As you said, Scorpius is a great kid."
"It's not fine though," Draco crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Potter. "Any normal, responsible parent wouldn't do this."
"Since when has either of us been normal?", Harry chuckled and tapped Draco's should.
"When you're a parent, you have to be normal. It's an absolute must." Draco stopped for a moment, contemplating if he should say anything more. With Potter, he didn't know if it was worth fighting for. The shame he felt for leaving his only son with a bunch of strangers while he cursed everything there is because of a bunch of annoying, self-centred brats was indescribable. "You don't have kids... I don't know if you could understand even if you tried."
"I have a grandson; that has to count."
"Oh, yes. Teddy. We're cousins - did you know?"Draco nodded slowly.
"Andy is your aunt then, isn't she? Why didn't you call her to pick up Scorpius today?" Potter's gaze was buruning holes in his temple but Draco would rather be damned to hell than look him in the eye. He could feel the judgemental sting in the air everywhere he went, it's been following him since he was fifteen and he will never manage to forget that foul smell even if it miracolously went away.
"She's finally got some peace now that Teddy's in Hogwarts. I don't want her to waste her days helping her inadequate nephew.," Draco shrugged as if it was not a big deal, as if insluting himself was the easiest thing in the world. Maybe it would be if the claims were pure overegsatiration if they were simple jokes...
"You're not inadequate, Draco," Potter shook his head quickly. "You think too badly of yourself. You're a good parent in a difficult situation."
"You're not adequate to call me Draco, Potter," Draco scoffed and turned his head toward his son who was in a state of deep concentration. His tongue was sticking out and he was standing on the tops of his toes so he could reach the top of the tower.
"And why would that be?"Draco shot him a look before waving his fingers the tiniest bit so Scorpius' card tower wouldn't collapse.
"We're not on that level yet."
"And on what level are we?", Potter whispered to Draco; it made him shiver.
"We or that level where we used to be sworn, enemies but not we're barely acquaintances because you're my son's daycare teacher and I'm a single parent with a crappy job at the Ministry's court office and with an aunt Scorpius is only interested to see if her cat is awake and a reputation that I will never be able to recover," Draco finished with a nod of his head and Potter just looked away, walking towards Scorpius. There was pure triumph on Scorpius' face as he watched the frozen cards in the air.
"Did you see that, papa? Did you see?", Scorpius laughed and Draco smiled back, walking closer.
"Of course I saw, Scorp. It was incredible." Before Draco could say anything more Harry turned the chair Scorpius was now sitting on towards himself and crouched so his eyes would be in the same level as his.
"You like cats, don't you Scorpius?", Harry asked but it was Draco he was looking at.
"Cats are better than people," Scorpius nodded and Draco snickered along with Harry.
"Well, I agree. I think we could all agree that this was a rough day," Harry said carefully, keeping his eyes on Malfoy but his hand on the armrest so Scorpius knew he was still in his attention. "So, how about... we got to my place and I show you my cat so we could all pet it and take the edge off. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"That's great!", Scorpius jumped from the chair and ran to his dad who raised his eyebrow when Scorpius began begging him. "Can we, papa? Can we please?"
"I think we wasted enough of Harry's time for today, Scorp," Draco took Scorpius' hand.
"Please, please pleaseee! I'll call you father if we don't get to pet Mr Harry's cat!"
Draco gasped and shot Harry a glare when Potter tried to laugh. "You wouldn't dare!"
"I dare! It's your weakness, papa! I'm your weakness!"
"How do you know my weakness, you little snake?", Draco began laughing himself and crouched down to tickle Scorpius.
"I n-need to k-now," Scorpius murmured as he laughed. Draco's fingers continued to tease Scorpius' belly. "I know Mr H-harry's too!"
Draco stopped tickling him and turned his face towards him in a serious manner. "What is Potter's weakness. Tell me and we can rule the world together, my little evil mastermind."
"He hates baby powder because it makes him sneeze," Scorpius whispered into Draco's cheek. "And he wants to have yellow hair - he always draws yellow hair people."
"Have a thing for blond, don't you, Potter?", Draco smirked and patted Scorpius on the top of his head.
"I do not!" Potter shook his head quickly but his cheeks betrayed him. Draco couldn't remember if he's ever seen Harry Potter blush.
"Father, are we going to see the cat now?"
"Yes, son," Draco snorted as Scorpius slapped his shin. "Are we, Harry?"
"Yes, we are."
.o0o.
The living Harry lead them into was painted white but that didn't mean it wasn't full of colour. The sofa and two armchairs were in olive green that matched a dozen or so cacti all around the room. Shelves were full of all kinds of books, mostly muggle, Draco recognized, and the walls were patched with photographs glued on by spellotape and those decorative tapes that Draco sometimes saw in supermarkets. There was also a standing lamp with a beige shade in the corner and a red, knitted blanket draped over one of the armchairs. In the middle of the room, instead of a normal coffee table, Harry had stacked a bunch of wooden pallets with a metal plate over them to act as a smooth surface. Potter also had a television set shoved between two shelves and a small yellow carpet.
The sofa was, Draco concluded after three minutes of waiting for Harry to find his cat, averagely comfortable despite its outrageous colour. It turned out that finding Harry's cat didn't require as much time as Draco thought it did because when Potter walked in with the infamous Nolly, he was very obviously wearing a different shirt. It was a T-shirt with red horizontal stripes all over it.
"This is Nolly," Harry announced and gave the cat to Scorpius who tackled her and immediately started scratching her back. Nolly wasn't very pleased at first but after a moment or two she turned onto her back and allowed Scorpius to scratch her belly instead. Gentle purring filled the room. "She's very snuggly when she likes a person. I can see that Scorpius is very good with cats - she can too."
Draco could only nod to agree. He looked up at Harry and Harry sighed, catching his eyes. "Want some ale?"
"Who drinks ale?", Draco snorted.
"A lot of people do. Most people do," Harry's eyebrows furrowed.
"Some people like wine."
"Some people like both."
"You don't have to brag about that, Potter. Everybody knows your preferences." Draco smirked and Harry laughed then.
"Oh, don't worry. I bet everyone knows yours as well," Harry's laughter left a bitter taste in Draco's mouth.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. You just so obviously look like a wine person," Harry shrugged with a satisfied grin. "If you know what I mean."
"That's offensive," Draco shook his head. It only made Harry laugh harder. "You basically called me a poof. I don't appreciate that."
"You'll appreciate my ale - it's homemade."
"I'd rather taste your wine," Draco commented, licking his lips as Harry turn to get them a drink. Harry gasped, playfully, wagging his finger.
"We're in a company of a child. Don't scar him for life."
"Oh, he's scared enough," Draco laughed. "Aren't you Scorpius?"
"I have a scar on my elbow," Scorpius nodded, lifting his arm up. "Kiki scratched me when I pulled his tail." Kiki was Aunt Andromeda's cat and as would be assumed, he wasn't very pleased when Scorpius Malfoy pulled his tail. It took Draco half an hour to stop Scorpius' crying. For some unapparent reason, the boy was utterly terrified that everyone's going to hate him because he has a scar on his elbow.
"Well, don't pull Nolly's tail because you're gonna get another scar," Harry told him and wandered off to get the wine. Draco leaned over Scorpius to pet the cat himself. It was a really beautiful, Siamese cat with bright blue eyes and the softest mess of fur Draco had ever touched. Although, he could bet his money any time that Harry's mess of hair would be softer. Somehow, even though it looked harsh and wiry, he had a feeling Harry actually took good care of his hair.
When he returned, Harry was balancing two glasses and a bottle of wine between the two of his hands. "Ever heard of magic? You know, Wigardium Leviosa and thing like those?"
"Oh, shut up, you poof," Harry laughed and Draco allowed himself to grin. He watched as Potter poured them wine, half a glass each. Draco's original plan was to simply read the label, but since there was no label he could only hope Potter would tell him what wine it was. He sure as hell would be asking him. He took a small sip and rolled it around on his tongue before swallowing and filling his mouth with a smooth, fruity aroma of berries and nuts.
"I didn't think you'd have Elves'," Draco admitted and Harry then shrugged.
"People don't really know what to gift you when you don't like anything in particular. So usually I get wine, a book and a cactus if I'm lucky."
"That's dull. I'd buy you a skull to plant any cacti you want in it if we were friends," Draco glanced at him and took a sip of wine. It was a good wine.
"Why aren't we?" Harry asked, his brows furrowing again. He was sitting on the sofa next to Draco and Scorpius was in one of the armchairs snuggling Nolly and whispering sweet nothings into her fur. "Friends?"
"I don't know," Draco admitted and reached for the bottle to refill his glass. "We're not on that level yet."
"You and your levels... I was meaning to ask you," Harry then started, staring into his empty glass. Draco waited for a second and when he started pouring him more wine, Harry started talking. "Can levels be skipped?"
Draco considered it for a moment, realising that he had really nothing to lose by skipping a few levels with Potter. It wasn't like he didn't have a crush on him since he knew his name. It was one of those crushes that were never really crushes, to begin with, but rather those spontaneous chemistries and weird energies that never got a resolution so you get stuck with all sorts of feeling for the person until the rest of your life. Potter was just one of those people who... Draco knew he could fall in love with Potter if he wanted to, he really could, but they weren't that level yet.
"Maybe, " he finally said. "If the wine's good enough." He down his second glass as Harry chuckled, and leaned back into the sofa to sit more comfortably.
They talked for what seemed like hours but it could barely be one or two. They drank one and laughed together and Scorpius told them some jokes he heard from other kids at daycare. And they petted the cat. It was a nice cat. Well, it was a nice cat until around courter to eight when it scratched Scorpius' palm.
"I didn't do anything, papa," Scorpius told them. "I didn't do anything!"
"It's okay, Scorp," Harry then said taking Nolly away. "She does that sometimes when she gets bored. I'm sorry."
"She's a dumb cat," Scorpius concluded and waggled to his dad so Draco could clean the scratch. There was barely any blood and it definitely wouldn't scar but Draco but a healing salve on it as well as a big checkered band-aid.
When Harry had successfully discarded the cat he returned the living room to find Draco on his feet with Scorpius tapping along behind him. "We should get going," Draco said with a smile that was more sad than happy.
"Do you, um, do you really have to go? We have more wine... I have more wine," Harry offered. "We could call Andy and Scorpius could -"
"It's late and all of us had a rough day," Draco shook his head walking into the hallway. "I think it's safe to say that all of us need some sleep."
They were standing at the door and Harry looked particularly nervous, tapping his foot. Well, good night then."
"Good night, Harry," Draco smiled and was about to turn away when Harry decided to reply.
"So we are on the 'Harry/Draco' level now?"
"We skip a couple of levels every now and then," Draco shrugged and felt his cheeks burn. Scorpius tugged on his hand and rubbed his eyes.
"Oh, so could I -"
"Good night, Harry," Draco repeated with a chuckle.
"But Draco," Harry almost whined. "The wine."
Draco let out a snort and then wink with "I'll see you soon."
"Okay", Harry nodded as he closed the door. Draco disapparated with Scorpius who was already half asleep. That okay was echoing in his mind like a promise and with the cards floating in the mid-air in the peak of the trick, and his heart hammering like it hasn't ever before, he knew - when they see each other soon, they'll skip a couple of levels, and then a couple more.