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“Now, you are sure you aren’t too cold for this, Scorpius?” Draco asked as his feet crunched through the soft snow. “Because if you are-”
“I’m fine, Father,” Scorpius insisted. “It’s not too chilly, just windy. Besides, we’re almost at the top of the hill.”
“Right. Now, do you remember what we talked about?”
“Feet first, lean backwards and forwards to adjust speed, dig one heel in the snow to turn – two heels to stop.”
“And get yourself off it you think you are going to crash. I can replace the sled, but I’d rather not have to see you get hurt.”
“Yes, Father.”
By now they had reached the top of a decently large hill near their manor that was relatively void of trees and Draco set down the sled he had been carrying on his shoulder. Scorpius wasted no time at all jumping onto it.
“Are you ready?” Draco asked.
He watched as his son took a deep breath. “Yes. Wait, no -”
But Draco had already given Scorpius a push down the mountain. The little guy had been so excited when he had been told today was finally going to be the day Draco taught him to sled, but like so many other things before this he had expected his son to get nervous at the very last moment.
And like always, Scorpius had quite a bit of fun after he made it past that hurdle. Or at the very least he looked like it. Draco watched as the squealing little boy shifted and turned through the crisp snow before landing in a bunch of soft powder at the bottom of the hill. Standing up and wiping his mittens off onto his jacket, Scorpius waved up to his father before dragging the sled back up by its rope.
His face looked red, but excited, as he crested the top of the hill.
“Did you see me, Father? Did you see? I made it all the way to the bottom before I fell off!”
“Yes, I did see you, Scorpius. That was a great ride – especially for your first try.”
“May I go again, Father?”
Draco chuckled. “Of course, Scorpius. You can go down as many times as you want to, or at least until I feel like you’ve gotten too cold to go any longer.”
The smile on Scorpius’ face was bigger than Draco had ever remembered it being. The young boy didn’t hesitate this time as he went flying back down the hill aboard his sled.
Draco tried to think back to his first sled ride. He couldn’t remember if it was one of his tutors or another child that ended up teaching him to ride, or even if someone had indeed taught him. It was quite likely that Draco had been given a sled at some point and was sent outside with it to learn through trial and error.
It most certainly had not been his father – of that he had no doubt. Draco almost pitied the old man now that he saw how much his father had missed of his childhood. Some of the best memories Draco had lately included doing things like this with Scorpius – helping him learn to read some of the children’s books in the library, showing him the basics of herblore and care in the family’s greenhouse, laying out on a blanket under the stars to teach him the names and locations of all the constellations their family had been named after, and somehow even coaching his little league Quidditch team.
And now he could add sledding to the list of things he had been able to share with his son. Shifting his focus back onto him, he noticed that the young Malfoy had taken a different way down the hill than Draco had initially pushed him. This way there were a few large boulders he would need to avoid hitting.
“Look out for the rock!’ yelled Draco as Scorpius just managed to avoid the first one. He narrowly avoided the next one as well, but the third one came up so quickly on the heels of the second that Draco was already racing over before his son had actually wrecked.
“You okay? I told you that you would need to bail if something like that happened.”
“Yes, Father, I’m sorry. I heard a metal ding when I hit. I haven’t done anything to the sled, have I?”
After checking to make sure Scorpius was alright, Draco turned his attention to the sled itself. Sure enough, the left runner had hit the rock hard enough that it had nearly broken the piece into two. Beyond that the sled looked fine.
Draco pulled out his wand. “Reparo,” he commanded. He watched as the metal moved back into precisely the same place as it had been before the collision.
“There, now. It was no trouble at all to fix it, son. Let’s head back up together this time.”
“Yes!” Scorpius half yelled in excitement.
Turning to head up the hill, Draco only made it a few steps before something grabbed him around the waste. He looked down and saw Scorpius was hugging him tightly – something his father would have been quite mad about had he ever even thought to try, but Draco was adjusting to it with ease.
“Thanks, Father. This is so fun and I’m really happy to be doing this with you!”
“I – I’m happy to be doing this with you, too, son. Race you to the top of the hill?”
“I’m going to win!” hollered Scorpius, taking off and leaving the sled for his father to carry.
Draco smiled before running up the hill after his son, ready to make more memories before the day was done.