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Warmth
Warmth is what Draco Malfoy felt on the morning of December 25th 2011
Despite the billowing winds outside, carrying with them a plethora of snowflakes, shapes and sizes galore.
He felt warmth
Warmth from his wife, curled into his side, her mane of hair blanketing his face. He would never tell her, but it is his favourite way to wake.
Smothered by her locks.
Warmth
Warmth from his son, who at some point in the night must have snuck in and crawled into their bed.
Scorpius, who without a doubt, whenever in his parent’s bed to sleep, would wind up sprawled across Draco’s chest.
His second blanket.
Two of his reasons for living.
Two of his hearts in his arms.
A familiar sense of contentment washed over him, a feeling he fought hard to earn for many years, even when the most important people in his life tried to convince him he was deserving of good things, he had pushed against the idea.
Until the 26th February 2006 when he held his son in his arms for the first time. The smallest little thing he had ever seen. His pink face scrunched up in anguish as the first few inhales of oxygen went barrelling through his lungs. It was only then, when he looked down at his child, the first of two most precious gift’s Hermione could ever have given him, that he truly believed her when she reiterated that he was worthy of everything good.
With this feeling of complete peace, rippling through his soul, he allowed himself to drift back to sleep.
------
Peaceful.
Serene.
Blissful silence.
Pounding.
Scorpius.
Pounding on his chest.
Cracking one eye open, Draco met the bright eyes of his son.
“MUMMYYYYYYYY” Scorpius screamed.
“Yes, sweetheart?” Hermione replied softly, still curled into Draco’s side.
Draco turned to see her slowly opening her eyes too, she yawned, an act which brought forth a soft smile from him.
Oh, how perfect a witch was his.
“DADDY’S AWAKE” their little bundle screamed again.
Soft laughter spilled from her lips.
His favourite sound.
“I can see that Scorp” she replied, trying to hold in her laughter, “are you excited for today?”
“yes yes yes mummy!!”
Before Draco had even had time to comprehend the fast movement, Scorpius had launched himself towards his head, smacked his tiny hands on either side of Draco’s face and placed his nose to his fathers, locking eyes.
Draco smiled.
Scorpius did too.
“It’s Christmas daddy” Scorpius whispered.
“It sure is bud”.
“Can we open presents yet?” Scorpius wailed with glee.
Hermione sat herself up in the bed and brushed an unruly blonde curl from his face, “How about we go wake your sister up first and get ready for Grandma Cissa’s visit, then we can open presents”?
Down from the bed he jumped in lightning speed, running out of the room and down the hallway screaming “ELARA, SISSY WAKE UP!”
Ah yes, that would be the second of Hermione’s most precious gifts to Draco.
His third reason for living.
His third heart.
Elara Cissa Malfoy born the 15th December 2010, who’d just turned one.
She had been born with a thick head of hair, ice blond with unruly curls, just like her brother, a mirror of their parents combined. Bets had been placed on who she would most resemble, and of course, much to Hermione’s chagrin, he had won. Icy hair and icy eyes the pair of them.
But alas she had grown a lot in the past year, her once blonde hair had grown darker, even curlier, more wild.
Oh, how she loved to loured that over him.
Smiling fondly at the thought of his daughter, all groggy and puffy eyed from sleep, he pulled the duvet away from himself and began to rise.
Standing up and leaning back down to tuck her in more tightly he murmured to Hermione “I’ll go get them sorted, get a little extra sleep love.”
From down the hall he could hear Scorpius’ soft voice as he talked to Elara, regaling her on just how many gifts must be awaiting them downstairs.
Upon entering the room, he was greeted by the sight of Scorpius peering down into his sister’s crib, trying to reach for her.
“Daaaaaa” she squealed, once Draco had walked into view.
“let’s get you two sunshine’s ready for the day then, shall we?”
He looked to Scorpius, who, if he’d been nodding his head with any more excitement, would have likely dislocated it to some degree.
------
Descending the stairs sometime later, Draco could smell the tell-tale signs of breakfast, as is custom for them on Christmas, apple cinnamon buns, the combination of his and his son’s favourite deserts.
Hermione just managed to turn around in time to catch a forcefully bounding Scorpius, lifting him into a squeezing embrace as she leaned back against the worktop.
When she looked up, she was met with Draco, cradling Elara on his left hip, both smiling at her with so much love.
The moment was broken however, when Elara, who had been grabbing for Draco’s hair, landed a startling wallop right to his cheek.
Draco turned to Elara just as the room erupted in stomach clutching laughter “oh is that funny little miss” more laughter ensued. “Is. That. Funny” he offered again, peppering her face with kisses between each word.
He and Hermione locked eyes in response to her joyous cackling. And before either child could register movement in their parents, they had been fully seized in a tickle attack whilst being carried to the kitchen table.
Once there Draco fastened Elara into her high chair, before proceeding to feed her the stewed apples Hermione had already placed on the table.
The two of them had barely finished their first bun before Scorpius had reached across the table for his third, his face and hands slathered in thickly made silver spoon icing.
In a rush to finish up, he’d hurried out a “can we open presents yet?” practically bouncing through the ceiling as he did so.
Draco hummed for a moment, as if he were deeply considering saying no to the question.
“I reckon we could do that, don’t you think mummy?”
Scorpius head whipped towards Hermione.
“We sure can.”
With a clattering of his plate as he whipped up from the table and a streak of blonde hair, Scorpius flung his tiny body in the direction of the living room.
When Draco, followed by Hermione carrying baby Elara, arrived into the room, they were met with a sight neither had anticipated.
Scorpius was stood in the centre of the room, which had been decked out in full Christmas regalia. A tree so tall it reached from the floor to their high vaulted ceilings, decked in the finest red and green baubles, warm toned lights, an angel on top that Hermione and Scorpius had made together when he was three. Fake snow that had been charmed to fall from the central chandelier on a continuous loop. Snow globes and wreaths and tinsel lining the edges of their expanse of bookshelves. Christmas candles and lanterns galore. You name it and it would be there somewhere. Yet despite all of this cheer, Scorpius was stood in the centre of the room sobbing his heart out.
Draco knelt down next to Scorpius “Scorp, bud, what’s wrong?”
Sniffling some more, he turned to Hermione, his watery gaze meeting her concerned one.
As she bent down and placed Elara in her bouncer, she heard him weep out a soft “Thank you mummy.”
When she reached him, she knelt down too.
“What for sweetheart?”
Scorpius pointed towards an extra-large gift stood in front of the tree.
“How do you know what it is?” she queried, catching his tears with a swipe of her thumbs across his cheeks.
“I can tell. I see my friends with theirs at school in the mornings.”
“Okay then. Do you want to open it?”
“Ugh huh.”
“Go ahead then.”
Draco and Hermione sat facing the tree as they watched Scorpius start to open the present. They felt their hearts swell more than perceived possible as he dropped more and more of the wrapping paper to the ground. His face growing wider, more joyous as his excitement overtook him.
Once all the paper had been removed, he was jumping up and down with glee, clapping his hands as he repeated a chorus of “thank youuuuuuu’s.” and “It has dragons on it.”
“You are welcome my little love” she smiled at him.
As Scorpius busied himself with his new gift, giving it a good once over, Draco nudged Hermione.
“What’s that?.”
“That Draco, is a bicycle.”
“No. absolutely not, I’ve heard they’re dangerous” Draco declared.
“It’s what he asked me for.”
“You could have just told him no!”
“Oh yes Draco of course, just say no, because that’s always so easy isn’t it” she drawled sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.
“what’s that supposed to me-
------
2 WEEKS AGO
A storm of colour, screams and laughter crashed around her senses, like waves meeting the jagged edges of the shore. She focused solely on this for a moment, before a small hand tugged on her own.
“Mummy mummy mummy, pleaseeeeee can we get those?”
Hermione followed the path of Scorpius’ pointed finger to a stand of light up novelty toys all boasting different shapes, colours and sizes. She released a soft sigh, already anticipating how this was going to go down.
“You can get one little love” she says, brushing his hair away from his forehead and back into place. “You’ll have to pick your favourite though.”
In the quickest flash his eyes darted over to his father, stood with a sleepy Elara strapped to his chest, before meeting hers once again. Anyone else would have missed said look, but she knew her son, and so she knew that she had lost this one.
Scorpius tapped her hand twice before looking up at her “Okay mummy”, and just like that he was gone, when she blinked, she saw him stood staring up at his father.
Their conversation just about audible over the bustle of the crowd.
“Daddy daddy daddy, pleaseeeeee can we get those?” He pointed to the same stand as before.
“What did mummy say bud?”
“She said I can get one, if I pick a favourite.”
“Which one is your favourite?”
“Well, they’re all my favourite” he lifted his eyes to meet Draco’s and began to lightly pout.
Christ Hermione thought. She’s definitely lost to Slytherin with that one.
“Daddy, I can’t choose.”
She watched as Draco looked down, considered his son for less than a second, before pulling him towards the toy stand, chests puffing as they walked.
------
“338 Draco. You bought him 338 light up toys, there were kids crying left and right because there wasn’t any left to buy, and don’t even get me started on how long it took me to pull them all out of my bag. He hasn’t even thought about them once since the moment we got back with them.”
He puffed his chest out with pride “He asked very nicely for them, what was I supposed to do?”
“Say no perhaps? That could have been a start.”
“Yes okay, well it would appear that you’re right, as per usual Granger.”
A death stare, that’s what greeted him. He loves it.
“As I was saying, you are right, except for the fact that those lights do not in any way pose a risk to his life, whereas this bike likely does”
“Let’s circle back to the time you bought our three-year-old a broom” she tried, knowing one of them was going to have to concede on the matter before Scorpius noticed.
Before either of them got a chance however, Scorpius came bounding over to them, his baby ferret printed dungarees covered in scraps of wrapping paper and Sellotape.
“I’m ready now” he squealed, reaching for Hermione’s hand.
“Me too Scorp- lets open the rest of your presents, yeah? And you can help Elara too” Draco suggested, trying to distract his son from the death machine staring at him from beside the Christmas tree.
“No not that, I’m ready for mummy to teach me to ride my bike.”
Draco’s face paled, there’s no way that thing isn’t dangerous he thought to himself.
Hermione looked between the both of them, before sighing softly.
While running a hand through Scorp’s hair she suggested “maybe we wait till tomorrow, little love, what’d you say? Grandma will be here soon.”
Crossing his arms, he whined out “I want to learn now” before he looked up at Draco, forcing his eyes to glaze over.
As a result, given her sons newly discovered Slytherin charm and tendencies, Hermione found herself spelling snow covered pathways clear in the newly and, magically expanded gardens of their south Kensington home, whilst Draco put Elara down for a nap.
When she turned, Scorpius was wheeling his bike out of the kitchen door, fully kitted in his new bicycle helmet plus knee, shin and elbow pads.
Eager to jump straight into his lesson, Scorpius allowed Hermione to lift him straight up onto his bike.
She ran through all of the notable information with him.
“When you need to stop you pull on these two leavers here, but not too abruptly or else you could fall.”
“You’ve got your stabilisers on at the moment, so we don’t need to worry about balancing just yet.”
“When you want to go in a specific direction, you move your handle up here, the speed you’re going will determine how big of an adjustment the handle bar needs, okay”
“Lastly for now, peddling, you use these two things here”, she said, pointing to the peddles, “you move them around with your feet, and as they’re attached to a chain, that’s attached to the back wheel, it makes you move.”
He’d been nodding up at her the whole time, enthralled and when she looked down at him, he already had his hands braced on the bars and his feet on the peddles, rearing to go.
And so off they went, Hermione guiding him with her hand on the back of his seat.
They remained in this routine, him riding his bike, her guiding for an hour or so, or at least until she felt he was ready to try on his own.
And so as they reached another stretch of straight path in the garden, she let go, and watched as he sailed away on his own.
What she hadn’t realised however, was that Draco had been sat at their garden table, watching intently, waiting for the moment that something could go wrong.
And so no sooner than she had let go, Scorpius found himself lifted into the air, his legs peddling away at mammoth speed now the resistance from the ground had been eliminated, and still he moved nowhere. After a few moments Scorpius looked over towards Draco, legs still going like the clappers.
“Put me down daddy.”
“Scorpius no.”
“Daddy. Put. Me. Down. I want to ride my bike.”
“Scor-“
“I want to ride my bike like Mummy, like she taught me.”
Draco lowered him to the ground but quickly scooped him up from atop the bike.
“Scorp I don’t know why you would want one of these things, what if you get hurt?”
In an eruption of tears, a howling Scorpius flung himself from Draco’s arms and ran to Hermione and into her waiting arms.
Peering at Draco over Scorpius’ head, she mouthed to him “what are you playing at?”
“You let go.”
“He can’t ride his bike with me attached to the end forever.”
“Why can’t he.”
“Come on Draco, look at him. He ju-“
“Daddy?”
Draco looked down to Scorpius, still clinging tightly to Hermione, his crying had waned to mere sniffles.
“Yeah bud.”
“Maybe you can learn too, so you don’t think it’s scary anymore.”
“I don’t know about that scorp.”
“Please daddy.”
“Ohhh do as my grandson requests, Draco!”
They all turned to the direction that the voice had carried from.
Narcissa.
Elegant as ever, strolling down the path, a recently woken Elara on her hip.
“You’ll be fine, my dragon, I’ve seen Teddy ride them at Andromeda’s, he always seems to have a lot of fun.”
Scorpius perked up at this.
“See daddy, you can do it, its not scary” he beamed up at Draco.
“I don’t have a bike though bud.”
“Mummy can make you one.”
Draco looked to Hermione, who was stood smirking.
“You’ve got me there bud.” He sighs, “do your worst granger.”
As Hermione moved across the garden to transfigure a bike from one of their deck chairs, Scorpius made his way over to where Narcissa had sat down.
“Happy Christmas Grandma” he kissed her cheek, “thank you for telling daddy he could do it.”
“you’re welcome my little dipper, now why don’t you get back to helping your dad huh, we can see each other when you’re done.”
And with that he was off, he made his way towards his parents. Hermione was attempting to explain the same pointers she had used with Scorpius earlier in the day when he placed a hand on hers.
“I’ve got it from here mummy.”
Chuckling she nodded her head, and proceeded to go sit by Narcissa.
And so she watched, as Scorpius, ever the quick learner, taught his dad to ride a bike. Even holding onto the back of Draco’s bike to guide him. She heard him repeating over and over “you’re the bravest daddy” followed by Draco’s “I love you bud. You make me brave.”
She turned to watch beside her, at Narcissa bouncing Elara on her knee, Narcissa smiling down at her as Elara clapped her hands together at the antics across the garden.
As she sat there, preparing to get up and head inside, to make a start on what would be their late afternoon roast dinner, she found herself looking between the four people around her.
A mother, who at one time she would never have expected to be sat here next to her. But a mother, her mother, truly, completely.
Her children, who are her heart, beating outside of her chest. Without them she would feel but a shell of the person she knows she can be.
Her husband for whom she would survive a thousand sunless days, if only it meant she could see him smile the way he was right then, all teeth and dimples.
Watching them out here together, in the cold of the snow and the tunnelling winds, she felt one thing above all else.
Warmth.