‘We need to talk.’ Harry said as he barged his way into Draco’s small office on Tuesday morning.

‘Do you mind not disrupting my work for no good reason, Potter.’ Draco snapped. He was in a foul mood. He’d been over the moon yesterday when he’d officially signed a lease for an apartment just south of Paris starting in November. However, that excitement was short lived when he realised that on Thursday his little wolf would be going to Hogwarts for the first time. Draco finally understood why his own mother had wept for days before Draco’s first year. He felt like a little piece of his heart was leaving with Teddy.

e off it, Draco. Stop playing games with me.’ Harry shot back.

‘I’m not playing games, Potter. I’m on the verge of getting you the evidence you need to prove the clinic is involved in this damn case and to be honest the sooner this case is solved the better. We’ve been monitoring Hopkirk and Runcorn for weeks now and we’ve still got no tangible evidence to link them to the case.’ Draco’s fuse was very short at the minute and Harry had always known how to get under his skin.

‘I don’t care about the ‘damn’ case.’ Harry growled. That got Draco’s attention.

‘My, my, we are sensitive today, Potter. Lover’s tiff?’ Draco mused. The familiar twitch in Harry’s jaw appeared and Draco felt a little thrill shoot down his spine knowing he could press Harry’s buttons just as easily.

‘What the hell are you on about?’ Harry demanded.

‘What was her name? Hilary? Teddy hates her by the way.’ Draco knew he was being petty, but he couldn’t help himself.

‘Oh for crying out loud, Draco. Get over yourself. We need to talk about that kiss and if you think I’m going to let those potions go, you’ve got another thinging.’ Harry was leaning menacingly on his desk the same way Draco had done when he’d needed to bully the Minister’s secretary.

‘There’s nothing to say.’ Draco said shortly. He didn’t want to talk about it and the middle of the work day was absolutely not the time or the place.

‘Don’t give me that. Do you really think I’m going to let Teddy stay at yours if you’ve got some disgusting potions addiction?’ Harry was seething. Draco could’ve seen it, having known Harry all these years, except he didn’t need to. The ink well on his desk was rattling and the generic picture frames on his office walls were shaking. Harry’s magic was reacting to his anger and threatening to explode.

‘Using my relationship with Teddy against me, are you?’ Draco’s voice was low and cold. ‘Because the last time I check, I’m the one who’s related to Teddy by blood.’ Draco knew it was the wrong thing to say, but he was more than pissed that after all this time, Harry still assumed the worst of him.

‘How dare you imply that my relationship with Teddy is less important than yours! Remus and Tonks chose me to take care of him if anything happened. Tonks never even fucking met you.’ Harry spat. Draco was incensed.

‘Oh yeah, there you go again with The Chosen One thing. You think you’re so much better than me just because you got that stupid scar and have the whole world fawning all over you!’

‘You’re taking the piss, right? You can’t seriously be throwing that in my face again. Who even are you?’ Draco knew he was being horrible and unreasonable, but he didn’t much care. He was having a terrible day and he couldn’t deal with this right now. Thankfully, when Teddy went off to school, he and Harry wouldn’t have any reason to see each other anymore.

‘Potter. You need to leave.’ Draco could feel his anxiety building and he was not about to have a breakdown in the middle of work.

‘Why should I? This is my department and you are my employee and if I feel the need to speak to you I’ll damn well do so. How do I know that this addiction isn’t affecting your performance?’ Draco knew Harry was right but he was not going to be pushed around by him.

‘Fire me if you want.’ Draco said, his voice shaking. ‘I’ve done more to solve this case than the rest of you morons put together. Fired or hired, get the hell out of my office.’ His breathing was bing uneven and he was twitching with the effort of restraining himself. Harry needed to get the hell away from him in the next couple of minutes or it would all go to shit all over again.

‘What the fuck, Draco? Why are you being like this, it’s my right to know what’s going on as your boss and your friend.’

‘YOU’RE NOT MY FUCKING FRIEND!’ Draco screeched. His heart was pounding, and hot tears were welling in his eyes. Why couldn’t Harry understand that Draco needed him to leave?

‘I see.’ The anger drained out of Harry in an instant and his expression was so wounded that Draco wished he could just evaporate on the spot. ‘This isn’t over.’ Harry said as he turned on his heels and stormed out.

Draco collapsed into his desk chair and took ragged breaths trying to get his anxiety under control. A couple of stray tears escaped his eyes, but he scrubbed them away with such ferocity it made his eyes sting.

Twenty minutes later he’d calmed himself down enough to resume his work. He refused to leave his office for the rest of the day, but it worked out quite well because he ended up collecting the evidence he needed to prove the pills Harry received from the clinic fit his theory on the cause of the magic core separation. He sent the results off to Macmillan, since he’d be avoiding dealing with Harry as much as possible in the future. When he went home that night, he sent an owl to Pansy asking if there was any possibility that she could get a last minute international floo. He didn’t think he’d make it through this week without some moral support.

et about the war, Thursday 1st September was shaping up to be the worst day of Draco’s life. He stood on Platform 9 ? for the first time since the beginning of his seventh year of school. There were kids everywhere, shouting between carriages, pushing and shoving to get their luggage on as quickly as possible and finding someone to spend their first train journey with. There were parents laughing and crying, some doing so at exactly the same time.

Draco was on edge from the minute he stepped through the barrier. He’d taken a double dose of his potion, against his better judgement, and could only hope that he would hold up long enough for the train to leave before he had his inevitable breakdown. Pansy, god bless her terrifying soul, was waiting at his flat for him. She hadn’t hesitated when he’d ask her toe and he would forever be grateful for her.

He spotted Harry and Teddy loading Teddy’s trunk onto the train. He was clutching onto the owl Draco had bought him from Eeyelops which Teddy had named Eltanin because it was the brightest star in the Draco constellation. He’d been ecstatic when Draco had bought him the eagle owl and hadn’t stopped talking about him since. Draco was just glad he’d have a well-bred owl that wouldn’t drop his letters in the river like Draco’s first ever owl had.

Draco could tell that Teddy wasn’t faring much better than himself. His hair was a dull shade of brown instead of the turquoise it usually was, or even the bubble-gum shade of pink it sometimes turned when he was overexcited. Draco took a deep breath as he approached but didn’t have as much time as he’d have liked topose himself because Teddy had clocked him and launched himself into Draco’s arms. Draco clutched him as close to his chest as physically possible without Teddy crawling inside him and resisted the urge to cry his heart out.

‘Hey little wolf.’ Draco said, his voice scratchy. He glanced over Teddy’s shoulder to see Harry standing there holding Eltanin’s cage, a conflicted look on his face. Draco supposed it was a mix between the hatred he was feeling towards Draco mixed with the empathy he felt at the fact this this was a tough day for the both of them.

‘I don’t wanna go.’ Teddy said into Draco’s shoulder and he was sure he had an actual pain in his heart. He wanted to tell Teddy that Draco didn’t want him to go either, but this was the most important day of Teddy’s life so far and all issues aside, Teddy needed Harry and Draco to be there for him today.

‘I know sweetheart, but I promise you you’ll have a great time. You can owl me, or your dad whenever you want.’ He let Teddy down again and he looked up with watery eyes that made Draco’s chest ache terribly. Teddy walked back over to Harry and Draco reluctantly followed. It appeared that Harry wasn’t going to acknowledge their issues today and Draco was glad that they could pretend to be mature adults at the very least for Teddy’s sake.

‘You sure you’ve got everything, bud?’ Harry asked him. Teddy nodded seriously.

‘Yes.’ He said proudly, puffing out his skinny chest. ‘I checked three times. Twice last night and once this morning.’ Draco felt a stab in his chest knowing Harry got to spend Teddy’s last night with him while Draco drank a whole bottle of chateauneuf du pape and cried watching The Parent Trap.

‘Good. Remember what we talked about?’ Harry asked him. Teddy nodded.

‘You and Da-Draco will love me no matter what house I’m in, but if there’s a house I really want to be in the Sorting Hat will take it into ount.’ Teddy parroted.

‘You really said that?’ Draco asked Harry. A glimmer of warmth flooding through him that Harry included Draco when he’d told Teddy that.

‘Of course.’ Harry said stiffly, not looking at Draco. Draco supposed he should take what he could get.

‘You’d best get on the train Ted, it’ll be leaving soon.’ Draco told him. He plastered a fake smile on his face and blocked out the voices that were beginning to sound in his head. The noise of the crowd was getting louder and parents fought to shout at the kids who’d already got on the train.

‘Family hug?’ Teddy asked, looking hopefully between Harry and Draco. Draco’s insides squeezed ufortably, and he looked to Harry for a clue as to what to do next. Harry glanced sideways at him and shrugged a shoulder almost imperceptibly. Fuck it, Draco thought, this is Teddy’s day not ours.

‘Of course, Ted.’ Draco said a little nervously. Thankfully, Harry took over and pulled both Draco and Teddy towards him. Draco felt Teddy’s skinny little arm cling onto his waist while Harry’s stronger grip pulled across his shoulders. Draco held onto Teddy tightly and rested his chin on Harry’s shoulder. It was a blatant attempt at seekingfort and he knew as soon as Teddy had left Harry would go off on one at him, but Draco didn’t care in that moment. This wasn’t how he’d hoped this day would go and if he could tell himself even for a second that they were still a happy family, he’d take it.

Draco was the first to pull away, trying his best not to get overwhelmed.

‘I love you.’ Teddy said, looking up at them with a smile.

‘We love you too.’ Harry said, Draco watched as the little crinkles appeared by his eyes as he smiled and Draco memorised his face.

They ushered Teddy onto the train and Harry handed him Eltanin. Teddy seemed to have otten

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