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“Papa! Papaaaaaaa!”
Draco swooped his daughter up the moment she ran into his office. He raised his eyebrows at her trembling lip and wide eyes, lashes damp with tears. As soon as she was in his arms, she buried her head in his neck and held on tightly. He shushed her softly. “What’s this? What happened, little love?”
“Scorp has a vampire.”
“Lyra, it’s not a vampire.”
Eight-year-old Scorpius entered the office with a bundle in his hands. Whatever it was let out a series of chirps from within the towel that wrapped around it. The sounds were familiar and then Lyra’s words clicked.
“Scorpius,” Draco sighed.
But his son was giving him big eyes, as he rubbed a hand over the towel like he was trying to infuse more warmth. “Dad, she was on the ground. I did what Miss Luna said and ran to get a towel and scooped her up and kinda flung the towel. But lightly! I promise. But she was sticking to the towel and I couldn’t just leave her! Dad!”
With a sigh and a rueful shake of his head, Draco set Lyra down and stayed crouched. She stood but wouldn’t let him go, even when he crooked a finger at Scorpius. “A she, hmm? Well, bring her here. Let me see.”
Scorpius presented the bat like it was gold. He was careful, so careful, and he worried his bottom lip with his teeth when Draco took her from him. Draco’s hands seemed abnormally large around the baby animal. Its head was the only part sticking out of the towel; wanting to make sure nothing was broken, Draco slowly unwrapped the fabric. Lyra let out a whimper at the sound of tiny wings unfurling. At the same time, the baby bat squawked.
“It’s alright,” Draco said to his daughter. “Look here. It’s just a baby. She won’t hurt you.”
Lyra turned her head, white-blond curls bouncing around her cherub face. “Vampire.”
Scorpius pried his sister away from their father and made her sit on the floor next to him. “‘S not a vampire, silly. It’s a bat. An animal. Look how cute she is.” He scrunched his face up and rubbed his nose against her cheek. “Like you.”
Draco laughed at the conversation, but nodded his head. “She’s just a bit scared, little love. But it’s alright. We’ll calm her down. Come here. She feels a bit like a balloon.”
Though she was hesitant, Lyra scooted over to where Draco still crouched. Scorpius took her hand and led it over to touch the bat gently. She let out a little giggle. “She feels funny.”
A few minutes later, Hermione walked in, pausing at the doorway to take in the scene before her. Scorpius was holding a tiny bat sprawled out on a towel, both of his palms filled with the animal. Next to him, Lyra was trying to imitate the bat’s squeaks, while Draco smiled indulgently at their children.
“What’s that you’ve got there, Scorp?”
Scorpius looked up with a wide smile and a pleading look in his eyes. “Mum! I found her in the garden. She wouldn’t fly away. I think she’s still too little.”
“Little like me!” Lyra interjected with another sweet giggle. “‘S not a vampire, Mummy.”
“Dad said we could keep her,” Scorpius said, then frowned when Draco cleared his throat. “Well, he said we could keep her if you said okay.”
“‘S so cute!” Lyra said, like that was why the Malfoy family should take in a bat.
“Mum, please?” Scorpius pleaded. “She’s all alone and look, Lyra isn’t scared anymore. And—And I think—I think I love her, Mum. I promise. I’ll take care of her!”
By that time, Hermione stood next to Draco, leaning into her husband whose arm had snaked around her waist. Her heart melted when she saw the look on her son’s face, so wishful and hopeful. Lyra was giving her doe eyes that always helped her get what she wanted – at least from her Papa.
Hermione gave both of her children a smile. “As long as we get Miss Luna to check on her first, okay? And if the bat wants to fly away when she’s older, you can’t force her to stay. Alright?”
“Yay!” Lyra threw her hands in the air.
But Scorpius. The young boy just nodded solemnly. “I promise. Thank you, Mum.” He turned his attention back to the bat, murmuring some names to see if anything sounded right. He drew his finger over the animal’s head, over and over, until its bulbous eyes squinted then shut.
Draco smiled, but looked down in alarm when he heard Hermione sniffle and felt her burrow into his side. “Love, you alright?”
Hermione nodded before she propped her chin onto Draco’s chest to look up at him. “I just… I didn’t think I’d lose him to another woman this early.”
And though he knew it wasn’t meant to be funny, and because he knew her emotions were partly hormonal at this time, Draco let out a chuckle. When Hermione glared up at him, he shook his head and leaned down to press a kiss onto her forehead.
“It’ll be alright. Another member of the Malfoy brood.” Hermione sighed at his words. She felt his hand slide over to caress her belly. “What’s one more, anyway?”