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Draco Malfoy silently pushed the door open. He closed it gently behind him and pointed his wand at the lock. He locked the door with a whispered spell, before he leant back and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of contentment.
The feeling that he was going to fall asleep standing upright made him force his eyes open and move away from the door. It was after midnight, so the fact that the house was dark and silent didn't surprise him.
He quietly made his way up the stairs, remembering to skip the step that they all knew squeaked. Even though he wanted nothing more than to go to bed, he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he'd made sure the kids were tucked up safely in their beds.
The first door he stopped at was that of their eldest son, James. Pushing the door open, Draco paused in the doorway and smiled to himself as he drank in the sight before him. Despite the late hour, James was sitting at the Muggle computer they'd bought him for Christmas, with his back to the door and his headphones covering his ears. The ten year old was completely oblivious to the blond's presence.
Chuckling to himself, Draco shook his head and he crossed the room silently. He placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder, chuckling when he let out a small yelp of surprise before turning around with a guilty expression on his face. "It's after midnight," Draco whispered, gently tugging the headphones from James' head. "You should be in bed."
James threw him a bashful look and nodded, turning the computer off and slowly getting to his feet. Draco smiled affectionately and kept his hand on James' shoulder, steering him towards the bed and urging him to get under the covers.
"Try to sleep," he murmured, brushing his son's hair back from his forehead. James nodded his head and closed his eyes, but Draco knew that it wouldn't be long before the pre-teen would be out of bed again; he had never slept for long, no matter what they tried, he simply didn't needa lot of sleep. "Night, Jamie," Draco whispered, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss against James' forehead.
James shifted and his eyes flickered open as he rolled over. "Night 'ather," he mumbled.
He waited a moment, until James' breathing evened out slightly before getting to his feet and moving towards the door. The boy wouldn't stay asleep for long, but any sleep he could get would be good and Draco didn't want to disturb him.
The next stop on Draco's journey was across the hall where two eight year olds were sleeping silently. While the house was nowhere near the size of Malfoy Manor where Draco had grown up, they certainly had enough rooms for each of their children to have a room of their own. But, the two boys Draco was looking at had adamantly refused to be separated when the choice had been presented.
Carefully Draco stepped into the room, mindful of the toys that he could see scattered across the floor. The first bed he reached was that of their only blond child, Scorpius, and the only child for whom Draco had won the coin toss, thus letting him choose the name. Scorpius was lying on his back, with one arm slung over his head, while the other was gripping the covers tightly. Draco was always amazed at how much Scorpius looked like he had at that age, even if he did sometimes resent that fact. The elder blond had often found himself wishing that his middle son had gotten the same genes and looks as his brothers; it would certainly have helped push away the stigma and prejudice people would throw in his direction – purely because of mistakes Draco had made as a teenager.
Sighing sadly and pushing that thought away – he was always being told that melancholy thoughts like that never helped anyone – Draco leant down and pressed a kiss against Scorpius' forehead in the same way he had on James'. "Night, Scor," he whispered, uttering the nickname he told other people off for using.
Unlike his twin, Albus was lying on his stomach with his face turned towards Draco. One hand was tucked underneath his head and the other dangled uselessly off the side of the bed. Draco chuckled to himself and carefully shifted Albus so that his arm was on the bed. As he was moved, Albus let out a small whine of protest and he opened his eyes a little, glaring at Draco with sleepy green orbs – the only thing that he and Scorpius had in common other than DNA. "Wha?" he whined, turning his head and buying his face into his pillow.
Draco chuckled and shook his head at his son's antics. While James generally got as little sleep as humanly possible, Albus was happiest when he was flying or sleeping. Draco was positive that if he could find a way to do both, he would. "You can't sleep like that," Draco chided, covering Albus' shoulders and pressing a kiss to the back of Albus' head. "Night, Al," he added, laughing when the eight year old lifted his hand and waved it sleepily, before letting it drop off the edge of the bed.
Passing the door next to the twins' made a quick jolt of pain shoot through Draco and he scowled, rubbing at his chest as he tried to push the feeling away. He knew it was a stupid thing to feel – Teddy wasn't dead,after all – but he still found himself pausing outside the room on occasion, before he remembered that Teddy no longer lived with them.
As a baby, Teddy had been a semi-permanent fixture in their house until Andromeda had admitted that she couldn't care for a small baby as well as he deserved and they had adopted him at the age of three. The now-teenage metamorphmagus had returned from his final year at Hogwarts and spent a few months living with them, before announcing that he wanted to go to Egypt and work with his Uncle Bill as a cursebreaker. Draco had spent the next week after his announcement diffusing arguments about Teddy and his penchant for dangerous career choices; an argument that Draco had always thought was completely hypocritical and had told his partner as much when they'd been alone.
Teddy had moved out and, while they still saw him on a frequent basis, it just wasn't the same as having the young man living with them. Unfortunately for Draco, he knew that the same thing would happen when the rest of his children grew up, but he was dutifully ignoring the knowledge that it was inevitable.
The next door Draco paused in front of always made him smile, regardless of the mood he had been in before seeing it; it was pastel pink and covered with dozens of yellow and blue flowers. The sight that met him when he pushed the door open didn't surprise Draco in the slightest. Instead of being asleep on her bed like her brothers, six-year-old Lily was curled up on the floor surrounded by Barbie dolls and stuffed animals. He had a feeling that she was going to be like James and not sleep much when she was older. He carefully navigated his way across the room, stepping over the toys so he could crouch next to Lily.
Slowly, he slid his hands underneath her and carefully picked her up, cradling her against his chest as best as he could. "Papa?" she whispered, lifting her head and looking up at him with grey eyes. When she saw that it was indeed Draco that was holding her, her mouth curled up in a smile and she cuddled even closer to him. "You're home," she murmured sleepily, her fingers clutching at the front of his black suit jacket tightly.
Draco grinned and pressed a soft kiss against her hair. "Of course I am," he chided softly, placing her down gently on the bed. "But little witches like you should be asleep in bed, not on the floor."
Lily shrugged sleepily and rolled onto her side, pillowing her head with her hands. "I was waiting for you," she grumbled, her fingers curling around Draco's own as her eyes drifted closed again.
"Well I'm home now, so you need to go to bed," Draco replied, brushing her hair back and pulling the covers up to tuck them around her shoulders. He would never admit it to anyone, but while he loved all his children equally, inside, Lily was his favourite. As a child, he had always wanted a younger sister and had always resented being an only child. When they had made the decision to have children of their own, Draco had always hoped that each child would be a little girl he could dress up and plait her hair. Finding out that they were expecting a girl was definitely up there with one of the best days of Draco's life.
"Night, Lils," he whispered, kissing her forehead just like he had with her brothers.
He smiled affectionately when she sleepily replied, "Night, P'pa," before falling back to sleep once more.
Stifling a yawn, Draco slipped out of Lily's bedroom and headed down the corridor to his own room which was at the end of the hallway. As always, there was a light coming from underneath the dark wooden door and he knew that he wouldn't find his partner asleep inside the room.
"Hey," Harry Potter greeted when he heard the door open. He looked up and watched Draco cross the room, his emerald green eyes shining brightly from behind glasses that, thankfully, were more stylish than they had been when he'd been younger. "You've finished your rounds, then?" he asked, leaning up slightly when Draco ducked to press a chaste kiss to his lips in greeting.
Draco chuckled and began unfastening his tie. He pulled his jacket off, hanging it carefully on the hook on the inside of the wardrobe door, before moving to undo his cufflinks. "How did you know what I was doing?" he asked over his shoulder as he undressed.
"You came through the wards about twenty minutes ago," Harry responded, turning off the television he had been watching almost silently. "And you do the same thing every night you work late," he added, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
The blond let out a murmur of agreement and leant back against the pillows. Harry was right, of course. When they had adopted Teddy, their work patterns had changed immediately. While they were both used to spending late nights at the office – Harry at the Ministry and Draco at the local Muggle Hospital where he worked as a doctor (something he would have never thought he'd do) – Teddy's constant presence in their lives had made them re-evaluate their priorities. Now, over fifteen years later, they alternated the days they worked late on, so that one of them was always at home with the kids.
Draco turned so he was lying on his front, in an almost perfect mirror of the way Albus had been sleeping. "I am so tired," he grumbled, burying his face in the pillow.
Beside him, Harry chuckled and ran his hand across his partner's shoulder blades. "Get some sleep," the former Gryffindor whispered, sliding closer and pressing a kiss against Draco's temple.
Draco let out an incoherent murmur and shuffled towards Harry, pressing against his side. "Love you," he murmured sleepily, moving his left hand so it was resting on the other man's chest.
He barely heard Harry's similar response, before the tiredness of the day caught up with him and he fell into a deep sleep with a small smile on his face.
x
The End