Archive of Our Own

Chapter 1

“Harry will you keep stirring the sauce for me? I have to go see if I still have a living room left,” Hermione handed the wooden spoon over to Harry and took off before he could reply.

Sighing Harry took over and waited for the eventual explosion.

“Ronald Weasley if you don’t want to sleep on the sofa for the rest of the month I suggest you clean up this mess right now!” And there it was.

Harry almost laughed at Ron’s weak protest, and little Rose’s giggling. This is why he loved coming to Ron’s and Hermione’s; the chaos, the noise, the squealing and laughter of children, the feeling of coming home that was missing from his oh so pristine life.

No one was more surprised than him when he had politely refused to become an auror and then had broken up with Ginny. He felt like he was too young to just settle down and get married; he wanted to see the world. That was why he took up the position of an international liaison officer between the different wizarding ministries, it allowed him to travel and see the world. He was surprised when he actually started to like, no, love his job, meeting new people, negotiating different treaties, it’s like he was born to do this.

“Thanks Harry.” He was jolted back to the present.

“No problem, ‘mione,” he turned towards her and still couldn’t believe this beautiful woman was the bushy haired girl he and Ron had rescued from the girl’s toilet in first year. He smiled at the memory and Rose gurgled, stretching her small hands out.

“So how’s life? I feel like we don’t see you at all Harry! How are you?” Hermione asked as Harry took Rose from her.

“Life’s good. Australia was amazing, I have to go back sometimes with more time. I have nothing to do for a week or so from today on and then I’m off to the states about the new muggle wizard relation bill that’s about to pass,” he rattled off almost breathlessly.

“Wow! No wonder we don’t see you anymore! So what’s your plan for the week that you are here?” she asked as she dished up the spaghetti.

Harry hugged his god-daughter closer to him, “Well I’m going to spend some time with this monster, and I have some dinner plans but other than that I’m free.”

“Dinner plans? With a certain Blaise Zabini?” she enquired almost innocently.

“Maybe!” Harry knew it drove Hermione crazy when he gave her as little info as possible.

“Harry!” she gave him a look, showing him she knew exactly what he was doing.

“Ok Ok! Yes, I have dinner plans with Blaise” he followed her out of the kitchen.

“Who knew one day you would be dating anyone from Slytherin” she said, as if still she wasn’t sure how everything had happened.

“Well he’s charming and good-looking-“

“And he was in Slytherin!” interrupted Ron as he came into the kitchen.

“Oh grow up Ron, we aren’t in school anymore. No, what worries me most is that I heard he is a bit of a playboy,” Hermione looked at Harry in concern.

“I’m not dating him, we are just having dinner. So you have nothing to worry about Hermione. It’s not like I’m going to sleep with him!”

Ron’s face went green at the thought of Harry sleeping with anyone, “Whatever, mate, I’m still freaked out that you’re dating a Slytherin, though I guess I should be thankful it’s not Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret ” he finished with a pinched look on his face.

“I still wonder whatever happened to Malfoy. He just disappeared after the war!” said Hermione.
Harry clearly remembered the panic and confusion on the Malfoy’s face after nobody could find their son, it was like he just disappeared off the face of the earth. Harry was sure Draco Malfoy wasn’t dead. Harry still had the blonde’s wand, if anything had happened to him, he would surely have felt it.

“Well whatever happened to him, I wish would happen to the rest of the Malfoys as well” mumbled Ron as he started eating.

Harry wasn’t sure how he felt about that statement. After the war the Malfoys had been model citizens. Lucius helped rebuild the ministry with donations and his connections, whereas Narcissa Malfoy helped so many charities and even helping Harry with his own war orphan foundation that Harry had grown immense respect for the Malfoys.

“I mean Harry even if you are into dating blokes, why can’t you date a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw? Even some Hufflepuff is better than a Slytherin,” Ron said.

Harry didn’t know how to tactfully tell his friend to stop being such an obnoxious idiot so he left it to Hermione and as if on cue she started berating Ron for being so juvenile.

When Blaise had first asked Harry out, Harry had thought it was a joke, and laughed it off, the second time Harry was stunned when he realised Blaise was genuinely asking him to dinner and Harry thought it was a Slytherin plot so he politely refused. The third time, however, he couldn’t think of a single reason to say no and had finally agreed to go to a dinner. The dinner date in question had been very well thought of and Harry was surprised as to how much he enjoyed himself and the second, third dinner date had led into a weird, off-on relationship.

When Hermione started to ask questions about his job Harry was grateful for the change of topic and the rest of the evening went smoothly without any more talk of any Slytherins.

Chapter 2:

Harry looked at his watch and saw he was already late but he didn’t worry, nobody was ever on time for the Weasley summer barbecue. There were so many relatives with their kids that nobody could keep count as to who came when.

Harry stared at his reflection in the mirror and took in his appearance, deciding he looked okay. At least he didn’t look so uptight like last night, he had never been that comfortable in wizard’s robe and such but Blaise had such a sense of propriety that whenever they went to a date Harry had to wear robes.

Now in his jeans and a casual t-shirt he looked relaxed and comfortable but the other wizard didn’t like Harry’s usual muggle clothes. ‘It’s a good thing we weren’t serious about each other’ thought Harry, ‘otherwise our break up last night wouldn’t have been so agreeable’.

As soon as Harry arrived at the Weasleys he was attacked by two shrieking cries of
“Uncle Harry” and he was knocked down.

Harry grunted as his head made contact with the floor. He kept his eyes closed until the room stopped spinning and then cautiously opened his eyes. He immediately spotted his assailants, staring down at him so close to his face he could count their freckles.

“Did we hurt you Uncle Harry?” asked the girl, her nose scrunched up in worry.

“We didn’t mean to Uncle Harry” added the boy, his bottom lips quivering.

“Its ok guys, no really, I’m ok Stacey. You guys didn’t hurt me,” Harry sat up and pulled the boy into his laps. “How’s my favourite nephew in the whole wide world?”

The boy giggled, “I’m your only nephew in the whole wide world Uncle Harry.” It was true, Mark was the only boy in the Weasley brood, and the rest of the kids were girls. Harry always felt a strong kinship to Mark, may be because he was Ginny and Neville’s kid but Harry always thought if he ever had a boy it would have been like Mark.

“Harry, you made it! Hermione said you weren’t coming,” Harry turned around and saw Ginny leaning against the door watching Mark and him with amused interest.

“I would never miss a Weasley cookout” he came forward and kissed her on the cheek.

Many people were still surprised that Harry and Ginny still were such good friends, but Ginny wasn’t; she knew Harry well, they would have never made it. Harry treated her like a sister and she was head over heels in love with a certain Herbology professor.

“Well it’s good to see you, come outside, everybody’s in the garden. Mimi is showing everybody tricks, I swear that girl gets more and more like her dad everyday” she said, referring to George’s daughter as she led him out to garden.

In the garden various people called out greetings to Harry, while Ginny wandered off to check on her 5 month old daughter. Mark had already run off to see what his cousin Mimi was up to now and Harry saw Hermione sitting on the bench near the garden and made his way there.

Kids were the most prominent features of any Weasley get together and Harry loved being around them. It was almost bittersweet when he realised he was gay, and that he might never have a child of his own with the person he loved. So Harry thought about it as less as possible and always enjoyed the kids whenever he was around them.

“Harry, I thought you weren’t coming,” said Hermione as she looked up to him.

Harry sat down next to her “Why wouldn’t I?”

She gave him a look that spoke volumes, “I’m ok, you should be happy that Blaise and I broke up. You never liked him anyway.” He nudged her gently with his shoulder.

“But you liked him Harry that’s what matters, what happened with you two anyway?” she turned to look him in the eye as if searching for the answer.

“Well it was never really serious, I mean I had fun but there was no chemistry between us you know, no spark. Anyway, last night he asked why I was going to the states and we started to talk about the new muggle wizard treaty and he made some comments that lead to a polite disagreement, and I finally realised that he definitely wasn’t the guy for me,”

Harry looked at her right in the eye so she would have no doubt he really wasn’t that sad about the break up.

“It was for the best Harry,” she reassured him.

“I think so too, I mean we went ‘out’ for a quite a while but we never progressed from kissing to anything else physical you know, not that he didn’t try but I never felt that it was the right time…” Harry trailed off.

“So when are you leaving for New York?” she asked as he put his hand around her shoulder.

Harry was glad for the change of subject, “In two days. International portkeys give me headaches, so tomorrow I have to sleep all day, otherwise I won’t be able to report to the liaison office on Monday.”

Both of them turned at the raised voices and saw Ron gesturing them to get up, so they both made their way to the dining table arms linked together.

“Well you might meet somebody special in your trip” she finally said as she made her way to her husband.

She didn’t know how right she was.

Chapter 3:

It was a crisp, sunny Monday morning in New York and Harry was already late.

Yesterday after he had arrived he made the mistake of going a bit sight seeing and was tempted by a small bistro where the food had been delicious and the atmosphere had been cosy. But by the time Harry made it to his hotel room his head felt heavy as lead and he felt a migraine come on. By the time he woke up and took a shower, though the migraine has disappeared, Harry was behind schedule.

By the end of the day Harry decided Mr. Blades was a tough Wizard to work for. As he made his way to the hotel he felt as if he worked for a week instead of a day and tomorrow he had a negotiation meeting with the wizarding and muggle ambassador and he knew now it won’t be easygoing.
God he was looking forward to the weekend may be he’ll actually get to see a bit of the Big Apple.

At the end of the week Harry was quite stunned as to how violent his thoughts were concerning one Peter H. Blades. He like all of Blade’s other employees spent his free time day dreaming about inventing new ways to torture and kill Blades.

Harry had a vague suspicion that Blades maybe related to Umbridge because surely even Voldemort wasn’t so cruel to his victims.

And he seemed to think that the fact that the representative ambassadors couldn’t get along with each other and agree on anything was solely Harry’s fault.

So when the weekend came Harry was more than happy, actually he was ecstatic to be away from that Umbridge look a-like.

Harry spent the whole Saturday sight seeing. He went on a tour of the statue of liberty; he went on top of the empire state building and other tourist destinations. In between he did a bit of shopping as well, by the end of the day he was beat and he decided that he will take it easy the next day.

On Sunday he slept in till eleven in the morning and after a luxurious bath and a relaxing brunch on the hotel balcony, he decided to go shopping for toys for his godchildren and the rest of the Weasley kids.

He went to the biggest toy store he could find, he hit ‘FAO Schwarz’ on Fifth Avenue that was actually open on a Sunday, ‘that’s a nice change to some places where everything was closed on Sundays’ he thought. Harry was the only person who ever bought muggle toys for the Weasley kids and he knew they would love whatever he bought just because they were muggle toys.

As Harry made into the shop he felt like he was transported into another world, he always loved toy shops, maybe it was due to his impoverished upbringing (stupid Dursley’s!) but he could spend hours in a toy shop. Whenever he went shopping with Rose and Mark they would spend the whole day just in one shop.

Harry looked around the shop he started looking for things that the kids he knew might like, he bought a deluxe magic set for Mimi (she like her grandfather loved muggle magic stuff), a huge colouring set for Victorie (that girl was going to be an amazing artist one day), a complicated looking puzzle set for Percy’s little girl Donna (who it seems inherited her father’s brain) and other little soft toys he knew the kids would love.

When Harry looked at his watch he saw he spent two hours in the shop already and he still hadn’t bought anything for his godchildren Rose and Mark. He was just contemplating on what he wanted to buy for them when he spotted two little children pulling on one teddy bear.

“It’s mine” said the dark haired little boy.

“No, I saw it first so it’s mine” argued the blonde haired little boy.

“I pulled it off its place so it’s mine” said the dark haired boy one again.

Harry looked on with amused interest; the boys looked about 4/5 years old, the dark haired one standing few inches taller then the blonde one. Harry thought they looked like they were related as they had similar features.

The blonde boy seemed to realise that he was losing the battle and his bottom lip quivered and Harry felt a tug in his heart.
He wanted to go and pick the boy up in a big hug when he saw a pair of long legs enfolded in blue denim came into view, the long legs that gave away to muscled thighs and harry felt his cock twitch, and his eyes slowly travelled up to the flat abdomen that was covered my soft white t-shirt ‘What a lucky t-shirt’ thought Harry when his appraisal was interrupted.

“Boys, what did I say about fighting before?” the drawl of the voice seemed familiar to Harry.

“Not to do it in front of witnesses?” came a sweet reply from the black haired boy who Harry was beginning to think was a very clever boy.

“Exactly, we don’t want people to think we’re violent or anything” the stranger’s voice sounded amused and Harry finally took in the strangers face.

“Eh!” Harry was so shocked that he didn’t even realise that he squeaked until he was on the focus of three pairs of eyes.

“Potter?!” apparently Malfoy didn’t expect to see him here either.

Chapter 4

Harry was sure that his mouth was hanging open, but the shock of seeing Draco Malfoy in a muggle toy store, wearing muggle clothes (which looked hot and sexy, but Harry so did not think that) with what appeared to be muggle children, was a bit too much for poor Harry. Malfoy recovered from his shock first and the infamous Malfoy mask slid back in place with an expression Harry didn’t know how to interpret. “Fancy meeting you here Potter” he said quite nonchalantly as if he met up with his school arch-rivals at a muggle toy shop everyday.

“Malfoy?” asked Harry quite dumbly. “Draco Malfoy?!” he asked again as if he didn’t quite believe his eyes.

“Yes, that’s my name Potter, don’t wear it out” the familiar smirk was back in it’s place just as Harry remembered it, only instead of making Malfoy look all pointy like before , now it made him look almost…charming?

‘You’ve really lost it, Potter’ thought Harry.

“Daddy, can we get ice-creams now” asked the black haired little boy, the bear all forgotten. Harry’s attention snapped to the two little boys standing next to Malfoy, one of whom were calling Malfoy daddy?! ‘Now I know I’m having a hallucination’ mumbled Harry to himself.

“Its ‘may we’ Damien, not ‘can we’, and of course we may get some ice-cream” Malfoy answered as he knelt down next to the boy and fixed his little scarf. Harry couldn’t get around the fact that Malfoy seemed almost fatherly; correcting grammar and all.

“Well Potter are you going to stand there all day like a gaping buffoon or are you going to introduce yourself?” he indicated the two little boys who were now giggling. “Its only good manners you know” he drawled.

Harry’s attention once again veered towards the two little boys who had stopped giggling and were now looking at Harry as if he was an interesting animal at a zoo. Harry noticed their identical blue eyes held a spark of mischief and almost wonder that only children seem to possess and Harry was almost charmed.

Before Malfoy could say anything else he knelt down in front of the two little boys and offered his hand, “Hello, I’m Harry Potter, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The black haired little boy instantly took Harry’s hand, “hello Harry Potter, I’m Damien Malfoy and I’m five years old” with a crooked smile fixed on his face. Harry looked down at the soft small hand that was almost dwarfed by his own calloused big ones; he wondered how Malfoy of all people ended up with such a sweet, friendly son.

He turned his attention to the other boy who was still looking at Harry with such a scrutiny that Harry felt like a specimen under a microscope. Now this one Harry could believe to be Malfoy’s son, apart from his dark blue eyes he looked exactly like a younger version of Malfoy, including that platinum blonde hair that Harry hadn’t seen on anyone except Malfoy before. He seemed to be satisfied with whatever he was searching for in Harry’s face, because suddenly he gave the biggest smile making his eyes light up and a dimple appear on his left cheek, “Nice to meet you Mr. Potter, I’m Ashton Malfoy” and Harry felt like he was granted a special privilege to see the boy so uninhibited.

Harry realised that its only good manners to that he say hello to the older Malfoy as well, “Erm…Hello Malfoy, how are you?” Harry said as he stood, he just could not get over how bizarre it sounded him asking after Malfoy!

“I’m very well Potter, how are you?” Malfoy nodded his head almost politely.

“Fine, I’m fine. So you’re a muggle now?” he asked making himself almost laugh at the irony.

Before Malfoy could reply Damien asked impatiently “Daddy, ice-cream remember, we got to go before five.”

“It’s ‘we have to’ Damien, not ‘got to’ and yes lets get going” Malfoy replied looking relieved at the interruption.

“You should come too Mr. Potter, Maria’s has the best ice cream ever and all the flavours you can imagine” this came from Ashton whose eyes were looking very excited at the prospect of all those flavours.

“Ahh…” Harry was quite stuck as to what to say, he didn’t want to offend the boys but this was Malfoy, so he looked up at their father for some guidance ‘god that’s so weird’ he thought.

“Now, now Ash, I’m sure Mr. Potter is very very busy, even for ice-cream” he drawled as if expecting him to say no. The boys turned to Harry as if waiting for an affirmation, their blue eyes looked huge to Harry and he didn’t have the heart to say no straight away.

“No, no, I’m not busy, it’s just I wouldn’t want to intrude” replied Harry the answer sounded quite lame even to him. He didn’t sound forceful enough but he kind of wanted to go, for he was curious, damn it ‘I wonder what he has been up to’ he thought.

“Oh you wouldn’t intrude… I think! Daddy what does intrude mean?” Damien turned to his father.

“It means being in the way” replied Ashton in an all knowing kind of voice before Malfoy could answer.

“Oh you wouldn’t be in the way, Mr. Potter, we want you to come” Damien finished giving Harry his crooked smile again. Harry looked at Malfoy questioningly and saw the smirk was back in his face, his grey eyes almost challenging Harry to say yes.

Now Harry James Potter was never the one to turn down a challenge, especially when it came from Draco bloody Malfoy so he decided to give Malfoy a taste of his own medicine and Harry smiled. He was satisfied with the shocked expression on Malfoy’s face who it seems didn’t expect Harry to even consider saying yes. Malfoy seem to struggle with himself, Harry knew Malfoy wouldn’t want to back out now and seem rude but he didn’t want to deal with Harry’s presence either.

Harry was really starting to enjoy the situation now so he turned to the boys and said, “Ok then boys, I would be honoured to join you guys on such a…” before Harry could finish he was pulled away by Damien who already started walking towards the exit.

Chapter 5

Draco had to grab Ashton’s hand to stop himself from shaking; he was not prepared to face, anyone from the wizard world, especially Potter.
He looked ahead and found them, he was standing tall, muscular, and heroic with Draco’s son who was talking a mile a minute ‘stop that, don’t think about Potter like that’ he berated himself mentally.

“Daddy?” asked his other son who looked deep in thought.

“Yes, Ash?” he started walking towards exit himself, keeping Damien and Potter in his eyesight.

“What’s a muggle?” making Draco, almost falter in his strides, he could feel his heart practically run through his throat. His eldest son was very bright and had a very inquisitive mind; Draco knew Ash would be fixated on strange words.

“It’s nothing Ash, let’s hurry so, we don’t lose Damien” he replied, relieved when Ash let it go, and ran to catch up with Damien.

As Draco looked up and watched Harry Potter walking out the store with his two sons, gently holding their hands; he thought, it was strange and almost laughed at the irony before hurrying up to join them.

Maria’s was a cute little ice-cream parlour with cute, girly pink decorations that at first impression seemed like it was decorated by a bunch of little girls instead of an adult. When Draco first discovered Maria’s, his sons and himself were quite horrified, however the décor was almost forgivable, if only because of the quality of ice-cream served.

Once they were seated it was time to order, Draco noticed Ashton and Potter ordered the strawberry surprise sundae, and Damien who was chocolate mad like Draco ordered choco chocy mania, whereas Draco himself ordered the Dark chocolate delight, it was rich, and creamy with a hint of sophistication; just how he liked his men. Draco wondered what Potter thought of the décor or the situation itself, he didn’t look overwhelmed and he was still chatting away to Damien and Ashton, ‘hmm, I’m sure he’s used to this, probably has a brood of his own with that Weaslette’ he was quite taken aback at the vicious tone of his thought.

He was brought back to the present by the constant chatterbox that was his youngest son Damien, who was literally talking Potter’s ears off.

“And we have an imaginary kitten because daddy says we're not responsible for a real pet yet and this is good learning practice. We call him Mr. Tibbles and even though he is a kitty he is really good, and we have a pretend pony, I really want a pony but daddy says I can’t have a pony, do you have a pony?” he was almost breathless, while Potter had a bemused look on his face. Ashton seemed to be content, just listening to his brother talk, this was his personality, even at home. Ash would rarely say anything preferring to read or just listen whereas Damien could go on and on.

“Damien, isn’t this the drawing you wanted to color, the last time we were here?” indicating the coloring mat that was on the other side of the table, knowing his son would jump at the chance.

“Oh yes” his blue eyes all lit up with excitement and Draco felt that tug in his heart he always did, when he looked at one of his sons, especially when they were in bed after an exhausting day, knowing all that exhaustion was worth it.

Damien’s attention seemed to waver, halfway through reaching for the mat and he turned to look at Potter, “Do you mind if I color, Mr. Potter?” at which Potter seemed puzzled and so was Draco.

Damien rushed to finish “I mean, you can color with us if you want” at which Ashton nodded along as well who already made a start on his colouring.

“You probably don’t want to color, so we could just talk, I don’t mind if we just talk” at which point he looked up at Draco quite guiltily.

At that moment Draco had never felt more proud of his sons or more ashamed at himself; here they were making an effort to talk to a complete stranger so he wouldn’t feel left out because their father was acting like a spoiled brat by ignoring the stranger who really wasn’t a stranger ‘huh? God I’m going crazy’ thought Draco.

Before Harry could say anything, Draco replied, “It’s ok Damien, you and Ash work on your painting and I’ll keep Mr. Potter entertained.”

“You will?” Draco almost smiled at the bewildered look on Potter’s face.

By the time Draco built up the courage to talk to Potter, the kids were well into their coloring.

“So Potter, what brings you to New York?” he asked hoping like hell he didn’t sound too eager.

“Well, work basically” Potter finally looked at him, Draco was stunned by the intensity of the greenness of Potter’s eyes and felt a flutter in his stomach that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
‘No! No nice flutter! Stop it!’ he scolded himself mentally and forced himself to ask, “Oh! I hadn’t realised being an auror would bring you to the states, especially the muggle areas? Unless there’s some sort of threat” he felt his stomach sink at the thought of any rogue death eaters running around, his heart beating so fast had only calmed a bit when his eyes found his boys still coloring; he vowed that his kids would not go through what he went through and they would never know the terror and fear.
His anxiety must have shown on his face because Potter replied instantly, “Oh no, no I’m not an auror” as if reassuring him. Draco couldn’t help but feel relieved, if a bit confused.

“But I thought, well if you’re not an auror, what are you?” he almost winced at his accusatory tone, but damn it, he hated being out of the loop.

“I’m a diplomatic ambassador,” Potter replied quite seriously, and Draco didn’t know if it was Potter’s serious tone or the sheer absurd fact that somebody made Potter of all people a diplomat, made him burst out laughing.

Harry nearly jumped of his chair at the abrupt laughter, he really didn’t see what was so funny, but Malfoy seemed to find something really hilarious at the thought of Harry being a diplomat because he was nearly in tears.

Harry has never seen Malfoy so carefree and full of laughter and apparently neither has his sons by the way they were staring at him. Just when Harry thought Malfoy was becoming hysterical, he stopped, “I’m sorry Potter but for a second there I thought you said you’re a diplomat, I mean who in their right mind would make you a diplomat? Now tell me the truth, are you some kind of famous Quidditch player or something?”

“You didn’t hear wrong, and I’m not a Quidditch player; famous or otherwise, I’m an ambassador” Harry replied quite coolly.

“Ambassador of what?” Malfoy seemed genuinely baffled.

Harry was quite irritated now, why was it so hard for Malfoy to believe that, yes he didn’t keep up to his stereotypical expectation, ‘wonder what his reaction would be when he finds out I’m gay? Although why that would come up in a conversation between Malfoy and him was beyond Harry!’

‘Liar’ his mind replied, Harry decided that his mind didn’t know anything.

“I work with the head of wizard relations; we work towards the improvement of ministry relationship between the British ministry of magic and other magical communities. Sometimes working with muggle relations as well, right now I’m working with the American magic council and their integration of muggle policies and how it can be adapted over at the British ministry of magic; I find I quite like negotiating,’ Harry finished with a smirk of his own.

Malfoy seemed rather shocked at Harry’s confident tone and the smirk, which pleased Harry to no end, ‘that’s right Malfoy, take that’ he thought quite childishly.

‘Oh and the fact that he looks utterly edible and cute with that baffled look on his face has nothing to do with it’ his mind supplied quite unhelpfully.

While he was scowling at the thought of his own mind turning against him, Malfoy seemed to deal with his own inner struggle.

“Huh! Well who would’ve thought Harry Potter; poster boy for all good and moral, golden boy of Gryffindor having such a… Slytherin career” he looked quite amused.

Harry suddenly felt something pass between them, never in his career had anyone made that connection. Being a diplomat wasn’t all nice and fun, negotiation wasn’t all clean and sometimes all ethical, at the end of the day both parties had a goal and that is to go with what they want, and Harry had to find the middle ground that would leave both parties feeling they won and sometimes he was almost toeing the border of what is ethical, there was a cunningness to it that only a Slytherin would appreciate.

That’s one of the main things Harry loved about his job, because this is where he can let his inner Slytherin come out to play, and if his friends ever saw him on a board room they would be quite shocked. But, Malfoy seemed to understand instantly what his job would entail, maybe because he himself was a Slytherin. But that’s not quite true, Blaise Zabini was a Slytherin and he didn’t understand Harry’s position.

Thinking about his job made Harry wonder about Malfoy’s life, and what he did for a living. Harry was sure it would be something cool and sophisticated like he owned the half of New York or something, “So what do you do Malfoy?”

“I’m a social worker; I work for the New York State office of children and family services”. Malfoy’s answer was quite serious, and where Malfoy was moved to hysterics, Harry was rendered speechless.

Now, Harry had been shocked, surprised (whatever you want to call it) a few times in his life, heck the whole you-are-a-wizard-and-there’s-bad-guy-after-you-and-a-prophecy-you have-to-kill-him-or-die thing was a bit of a surprise. He didn’t think he could be anymore shocked then walking in a muggle toy store in New York and seeing Malfoy with his two sons, but boy-oh-boy was he wrong.

He always imagined Malfoy would be a CEO of some company and owned one or two private Island or being a man of leisure going through his vaults and cruising in the Caribbean, or at-least being a banker or something, never in his wildest dreams did he think that Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, right hand man of Voldemort, one of the most evil things that roamed the earth, (beside Darth-Vader that is!) would become a social worker.

Chapter 6

Later that night as Harry lay in bed trying to go to sleep, he finally had the time to process everything; seeing Malfoy again, meeting his kids and the fact that Malfoy seemed so different from the Draco Malfoy, that he used to know. Harry didn’t know, how to interpret all these new changes.

Malfoy’s love for his kids was evident and the boys themselves were so charming that Harry had to admit Malfoy had done a wonderful job raising them. He was also surprised, by how sincere Malfoy seemed, when he was talking about his job, apparently he loved being a social worker.

Harry thoughts, went back to that moment when Malfoy announced that he was a social worker; Harry had been rendered speechless, because he knew that Malfoy was telling the truth. Fortunately, he had not made a fool of himself when their ice-cream arrived and the subject was closed.

Throughout the “reunion,” for Harry didn’t know what else to refer to the accidental meeting as, Malfoy talked excitedly about his life, it all seemed so normal to Harry.
He wanted to ask about the children’s mother, but the sudden silence at the table when the mother word was mentioned, alerted Harry that it was sensitive topic.
The moment was saved by Damien, who suddenly pointed out that the owner’s daughter, reminded Harry of the female version of Dudley and the conversation resumed, if a bit stiffly. Harry didn’t ask again and tried to steer the subject in another direction.

“Are you in contact with your parents at all? Weird, I had lunch with Narcissa last week and she didn’t mention anything!”

“You had lunch with my mother? Narcissa Malfoy? Was she under the Imperious? Were you under the Imperious?” the incredulity was clear in Malfoy’s voice.

Harry snorted, “You would think that. No, we weren’t under the Imperious; we had lunch quite regularly, she helped me out with my charity organization, charming women your mother.”

“Wow! How things change!” Malfoy said, surprise was still evident in his voice. He didn’t mention anything else after that and Harry assumed that Malfoy wasn’t in contact with his parents, or any one of the magical world for that matter. Obviously, Malfoy didn’t want to continue the conversation, so he just went back to his ice-cream and spoke, only when his kids asked something.

Harry didn’t know how to take Malfoy’s disinterest in the magical world so he remained silent as well and listened to Damien’s chatter.

As he drifted off to sleep, Harry decided he will go to the party that Damien and Ashton invited him to. Obviously, he knew that Malfoy was just being polite when he said, ‘Of-course, you are welcome to come’ with a pained look on his face.

However, Harry really wanted to see the kids again, ‘and maybe Malfoy as well’ his inner voice supplied, but he was too tired to argue with the voice in his head.

At the other end of the town, similar thoughts were racing through Draco’s mind as well. He couldn’t believe, how much Potter had changed. He didn’t seem like the same impulsive Gryffindor, now he was almost suave in his style in the way, he talked and carried himself.

Although, his Gryffindor nature was not completely lost (you can take the boy out of Gryffindor, but you can’t take the Gryffindor out of the boy!), it made an instant appearance when he started interacting with Damien and Ashton.

Draco was certain about his notion, that Potter had a brood of red-haired children of his own, so he was surprised when Potter declared that he wasn’t married, and no, he didn’t have any illegitimate children, and no he didn’t marry the Weaslette. Apparently, she came into her senses and married Longbottom instead. (although how marrying Longbottom was showing sense Draco could never figure out!)

However, none of that even compared to the shock when Draco caught Potter checking out the waiter, a very male waiter. He didn’t know how he felt about the fact that Potter was gay, ‘Yeah right! You would be doing the samba in drag if you could’ his inner voice replied quite cheerfully.
“Shut up!” he replied as he drifted off to sleep, feeling quite stupid that he was arguing with his own mind.

Draco didn’t know, what woke him up, but when his eyes adjusted to the dark; he thought that it was the rain pelting on his bedroom window. He glanced at his clock and groaned when he realized it was only 3:16am, when he heard it again, not the sound of rain but an awkward shuffling by the door.
He instinctively turned to the door and saw one of the most adorable sights, that melted his heart. His two sons were standing in their ‘I love monkey’ pj’s, holding each other hands, looking quite uncertain, if they should come in. Just then, another thunder sounded somewhere and both of them flinched, reminding Draco of the time when he first met them and Draco felt that his heart would stop beating if he ever had to see his kids afraid ever again.

“Hop in boys” he moved the duvet in an invitation to the boys that ran to his bed.

By the time he settled them, Damien was already asleep and Ashton’s eyes were drooping, “Daddy” he whispered.
“Yes, baby?” Draco replied and settled himself, comfortably between his two precious bundles.

“I know, we are not meant to be scared, but…” Draco stopped him in mid-sentence and kissed him in the forehead.

“It’s ok, baby, now go to sleep. School is tomorrow,” he gently reminded Ashton, who was already softly snoring.

How many nights, had he spent with the kids in his bed? He lost count, because he never turned them away. It hadn’t seemed logical that the smallest member of his family were expected to sleep alone, when they were feeling, the most vulnerable.
It reminded him of his cold childhood at the manor, when he wasn’t allowed to be afraid of thunder and darkness, when nobody came and hugged him to sleep when he woke up from nightmares.
He vowed to himself, when he first saw his two year old boys; sitting in a cold, sterile room, looking scared at everything and everyone, holding each other so tightly as if the other would disappear, that they would never be alone again.

Draco never believed in God, but that cold month of November proved to him that maybe there were a higher power at work. He had finally decided to leave New York and go back to the magical world after nearly 2 years of endless partying and soul-searching when, he nearly squandered half his trust fund. He was already on his way to the airport when, he got that phone call.

His whole life turned upside down when he was told that New York state family and children services wanted him, to go to their office.
Although, Draco knew he would miss his plane, he felt like he should go; besides he was curious what they wanted from him.

He was greeted by a case-worker named Libby, who asked him, a bunch of questions, which didn’t bother him until she asked; did he know anyone named Monica Rutherford?

Monica Rutherford was a southern beauty; she had pale porcelain skin, with black hair that came up to her chin, a cute button nose, and blue eyes the color of cornflower. She had a twang in her voice that made even a gay man like Draco, stand up and notice. She was a model, in town for NY fashion week, and Draco saw her at a party, when she decided that Draco should take her out and be her escort for the week. He genuinely liked her and had seen no problem with it.

He hadn’t known, what aspect of her, attracted him to her, she was charming, beautiful and she was also the only woman, that Draco had ever slept with.

She was fun to be with; and one night they got really drunk and she decided that how can he know he is completely gay until he had sex with a women. She decided as his best friend she should rectify the situation. Draco was too drunk to resist, and in his mind he was curious too. The whole night was a blur to both of them and the next day it was time for her to leave for Paris. They said hasty goodbyes and that was that, Draco never spoke to her again or heard from her or saw her again even in the fashion circuit where no-one knew where she was.

Libby explained to him that Monica died last week; she overdosed herself, apparently she was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin.
To which Draco politely replied that he was sorry to hear that, but what exactly does that have to do with him?

Libby told him that Monica had two kids, twin boys and in their birth certificates Draco was listed as their father.

Draco felt like his whole world was crashing down on him, he felt a buzzing noise around his ears. He followed her like a robot to a room that had a cold, sterile feel to it; there were only a single sofa, where two boys were sitting, holding each other’s hand tightly and looking towards a matronly woman who was reading a story to them.

As they entered the kids looked up and fixed their gazes on Draco, and any reason to deny their paternity, died in his throat. There was no way, these children weren’t his kids, when they had the Malfoy look, only their eyes indicated that they were also related to Monica.

They left the kids with the other woman and Libby took him to an empty office, where she told him some horrific things.

Ashton found his mother dead with a needle, still stuck in her arm, bleeding on the floor; the two year old didn’t understand, why his mummy wasn’t waking up. One of the neighbours had heard their crying and called the police that found the two boys crying and hugging their mother’s dead body.

Draco kept his control over his magic with great difficulty; his kids witnessed something they never should have seen. They’ve gone through a fate that he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemies.

He wanted to take them with him straight way, and start making up for, what they went through. He felt responsible, if only he kept in touch with Monica and talked to her, maybe her death wouldn’t had happened.

Libby told him, that he couldn’t take them home with him right way; there had to be a background check, a check that his living arrangements were suitable for children etc. The situation, made Draco’s head spin, but he agreed to all of it. He didn’t know what to do, in just the spun of a few hours, his life had turned upside down; he knew that his life was about to become more complicated when he needed to think about his kids and less about himself, and he couldn’t wait.

He was terrified of becoming a parent and being responsible for another human being, so he was surprised that he took to parenting, like a duck to water. He took them home and he was terrified that he would do something wrong, so he insisted on weekly visits from Libby who assured him that he was doing fine.

Sometimes, he would worry that they were psychologically damaged, because they were young enough at the time, to repress those horrible memories. First time, Damien had a nightmare, Draco was terrified it would be about Monica but thankfully it was one of those nightmares that all kids had in their lifetime.

Although, Ashton was unusually quiet for a boy of his age and Draco went with him to a child psychologist who announced that he had no psychological problems. He grew up and Draco saw a definite change in Ashton, who was extremely shy but when he got along with someone, he became more talkative.

Draco was brought back to the present by Ashton’s shuffling about in the bed. Draco looked down at him and thanked God, that both of them were in his life because they were a wonderful blessing. He never imagined this life for himself, however he had a happy life with his children and he wouldn’t trade his life for the world.

His feelings of happiness, brought his thoughts back to Potter; he didn’t want his past mistakes to have an effect on his kid’s lives. He didn’t want them to know about the magical world or what a burden it was, to be a Malfoy.

He didn’t want Potter to go back to England and tell everyone about Draco’s whereabouts. No, he had to talk to Potter about his situation, so that’s why he didn’t say no, when the kids invited him to little Izzy’s birthday party.
He would speak with Potter and tell him to keep quiet about his location by threatening to hex him, because he didn’t know that Draco still didn’t have a wand.

Chapter 7

Harry arrived at the address, a hour earlier than the time, that the party was scheduled. He left his hotel, two hours ago, because he wasn’t familiar with the area and he didn’t want to get lost. Therefore, he left his place early, because he was anxious about, spending the day with strangers. He was definitely not nervous, about seeing Dra-Malfoy again or meeting his friends,

‘Uh-Uh, no siree’ he calmly told himself.

‘Right! The fact that you were preening in front of the mirror like a 15-year old girl or the fact that you changed your clothes six times before you settled on the single type of clothing, that made you look like a model (Hermione’s exact words were a walking billboard for sex) had nothing to do with Malfoy?’ his inner voice sounded almost bored.

‘Um…Of-course not, I don’t want to go to someone’s house looking like a hobo, I don’t want to embarrass Ma- er... I mean the kids in front of their friends! Yes!’ Harry almost started sweating.

‘Uh-huh, you keep telling yourself that and when you accept the fact that you want to have wild kinky sex with Draco Malfoy, I’ll be here to give out the ‘told you so’ ok,’ It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

It was not like, Draco was gay or anything. Harry was 70% certain that Draco wasn’t gay; then again, Harry’s gaydar had always been a bit faulty when it came to other gay men. Draco had two kids, which meant that he had sex with a woman, ‘he could be bisexual, it could be one night stand, just because he had sex with a woman doesn’t mean he is not gay, look at yourself!’ his mind replied in a voice that clearly said duh you moron.

Oh god, what was one supposed to do when their own mind turned against them?

So, here he was standing in front of an apartment building, clutching a professionally wrapped (because even a three year old could wrap a present better than Harry!) Bratz doll. Apparently, Barbie wasn’t cool anymore or something, his finger was positioned the buzzer.

He didn’t want to look like a dork by arriving early, what if Malfoy wasn’t there yet. He glanced at his watch and he noticed, that he had already wasted almost twenty minutes standing here. There was no point, going somewhere and coming back.

Harry finally, pressed the buzzer and he was startled to hear Draco’s voice, responding to the door bell. Harry would recognize that clipped British accent, and how he had a hint of New York accent anywhere, “You’re late Alex, I have other things to do, you know” and the door opened, before Harry could reply.

Harry’s mind was racing; Draco was here already, and who was Alex? Was Draco dating Alex? So, does that mean Draco was gay? Why would I automatically think that, Alex was a man ‘There are girls who are called Alex, and why would I think Draco was seeing Alex?’

‘Because you’re a pervert?’ his inner voice replied happily.

Harry found the apartment quite easily, there were plenty of balloons that were stuck to the hallway and the door and it was decorated with Happy Birthday Motifs. The number nine was everywhere, it seemed that Izzy was turning 9 years old, and Harry felt a bit stupid, that he wasn’t sure if 9 year olds played with dolls.

He found, that the door to the apartment was opened, so it seemed that Draco kept the front door open, when he buzzed Harry in. Harry was certain, that it wasn’t safe to do so, especially in New York. ‘He didn’t even ask, who I was. He just opened the door, it could’ve been anybody’ thought Harry worriedly. The Draco Malfoy that he knew, wouldn’t do that, ever!

Harry entered the house and he observed the living room. Harry thought that he came to a balloon shop by mistake, because there were balloons everywhere, all types of balloons and it was all overwhelmingly pink and baby blue. He saw the sofa and Harry heard children’s chatter, and he could see four heads that he easily recognized as Damien and Ashton. There was another girl and a boy and they were watching some cartoon on the TV and giggling, so they didn’t even notice Harry.

Harry didn’t know why, but this sight had made him angry; there should’ve been an adult or someone else to watch them because anybody could come and kidnap them, ‘Ok, cool the paranoia Potter, just talk to Malfoy about it’ he told himself as he walked towards the wonderful smell of baked cookies with the full intention of reprimanding Malfoy for letting people in, without checking who it was.

As soon as he walked into the kitchen, Harry’s voice had died in his throat.

He found Draco in the kitchen, all right; (and yes it was Draco because Malfoy would be dead, before he got caught doing, what Draco was doing!) he was mixing a white pasty substance in a bowl, but it was cute that he was wearing a pink frilly apron and seemed to be talking, quite seriously to the little girl that was sitting on his hips.

Harry never thought that he would ever see Malfoy so unguarded, his hair was dishevelled and he had a white streak of flour across his cheek, while he was smiling so beautifully that it made Harry’s guts clench as his pants tighten with arousal, ‘I’m not attracted to Draco! Who am I kidding?’ he snorted, which made, Draco look up.

When he saw Draco’s grey eyes go big like a deer, caught in headlights, Harry didn’t even bother to listen the glee of his inner voice, ‘I’m so screwed’ he thought.

‘I’m so screwed’ thought Draco; he really thought that it was Alex coming back, with the rest of the ingredients for his oatmeal and raisin cookies, but it was potter, who looked gorgeous.

Draco took in the D&G (he could tell designer ware from a mile off) light blue jeans and the green long-sleeved t-shirt that Draco was certain that it was made from some sort of silk. The whole ensemble with Potter’s stylish, tousled black hair and his trademark glasses made Potter, look like he walked off a catwalk.
Next to that (Draco refused to call it perfection, even in his mind!) Draco was sure that he looked like an idiot, his hair was all messy and Argghh! He was wearing that stupid pink, frilly apron.

“Potter! Your early” yeah, point out the obvious genius.

“Yes, I wasn’t sure if I would find the neighbourhood on time, so I just left early, you look very…domestic” Potter sounded as if he found the situation, quite funny.

Draco was saved from committing murder in front of a 1 year old by the sounds of keys in the front door, followed by a “Honey I’m home.”

All Draco could think was ‘Thank god, Alex is here!’ hoping the awkward situation would be a bit diffused, and he didn’t see Harry frown at the proclamation.

Alex Beaumont wasn’t what you would call someone, that Draco Malfoy would normally be friends with, he wasn’t gorgeous, or rich, but he was one of Draco’s best friends, along with Alex’s wife Libby.

The couple has done so much for him and his kids that Draco knew, if he gave all the money of his fortune to them, that it wouldn’t be enough.
It was Libby who gave him the reassurance that he could be a good parent, and it was Alex that gave him the encouragement, to become a social worker and work with kids that went through trauma or had no-one, to help them. They adored his kids so much, that Draco made them, Damien and Ashton’s godparents, now they were like an extended family.

“Hey sweetie, don’t you look all cute and pretty in pink?” Alex commented as he came around and planted a kiss on Draco’s cheek, making Maddie laugh merrily at seeing her daddy giggle.

“Beaumont, if you want to have kids ever again, you will take back the cute comment, and how many times have I told you not to call me sweetie?” Draco scolded, playfully; he didn’t mind the comment really, he couldn’t help, being pretty.

“Yeah right, come on Maddie, lets go back to our cartoon” Alex stated as he turned around, to leave with his girl, when he finally noticed Harry on the corner.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there, I’m Alex, you must be Harry. I heard a lot about you from Draco” he extended his hand for Harry to shake but Draco noticed that Potter didn’t take it, actually he looked quite angry.

“Yeah, and did you hear, that I can kill someone with my mind?” Potter inquired quite seriously, his face was still, like thunder.
If Draco didn’t know any better, he would have thought that Potter was jealous, ‘but that’s absurd! Isn’t it?’

He turned his face just in time to see, Alex looking at him with his eyes, clearly stating that he thought Potter was crazy as he made his way to the living room with a bemused smile on his face.

“He’s just a friend. He’s married and straight” Draco explained, he didn’t know why, he was justifying himself to Potter of all people.

“Right, he looked really cosy with you for someone that’s supposedly straight and married” Potter’s voice was almost growling, as he advanced, towards Draco with such a look on his face that made Draco, almost dizzy.

“That’s just the way he is, he loves his wife, and they are both my best friends.” He replied as he stopped, when his back hit the kitchen cupboard. He didn’t even realize, that he was moving back. “And, why are you so interested anyway? Are you jealous or something?” Draco asked, conveying his questions as a jokes, to lighten the situation, but it certainly didn’t feel like a joke when Ha-Potter was near him. His smell was surrounding Draco and he looked up to find Potter, quite close to his face.

“Maybe I am” Harry growled again and Draco didn’t have the chance to do anything before, those lips were inches away from his.

Draco thought Harry was going to kiss him, but he didn’t and Draco didn’t want to think about why he felt disappointed as he looked into Harry’s eyes. The green pupils were, almost black and Draco felt pleased that he could get such reaction out of Harry.
His thoughts must have showed on his face, because Draco felt Harry move, even closer.
Again, he thought Harry was going to kiss him, but Harry only moved his face and licked the white icing off his face. Draco felt like he was paralysed, inside he was shaking, it was such a simple gesture but it turned him on so much, that he had to grip the counter, to make sure that his knees didn’t give away.

Draco’s reactions made Harry feel like the king of the world, when that Alex guy came and kissed Draco (even if it was a peck on the cheek) Harry knew that he was in trouble.
Harry knew that he had a jealousy streak, but it was only when he really liked his partner, and he thought of them as relationship material. The jealousy that he felt with his other partners was nothing in comparison to, what he felt just now. He wasn’t even sure if he had a chance with Draco or not.
He really thought that Draco would hex the guy, but his playful banter with Alex, had made his jealous monster come out with vengeance.
When Draco started offering pitiful excuses, Harry couldn’t think of anything else except, ‘Mine!’

He wanted to kiss Draco so bad, but he knew this wasn’t the time or the place. So he just settled for a taste, “You look absolutely edible” he whispered against Draco’s lips. He saw them, forming into a shy smile and Harry lost it. Before, he knew what he was doing, his lips were on Draco’s, it was tentative at first, soft and gentle that made their hearts feel warm and their heads feel dizzy.

When, Harry brushed his tongue against Draco’s lips, he thought that his brain would fry. Draco felt something like electricity go down his spine, making him gasp, as soon as Draco’s tongue contacted Harry’s, it turned all hot and passionate. Draco couldn’t think, all his senses were just taken over by Harry, his smell, his touch, the feel of his hard body against Draco’s. When Harry ended the kiss, they were both breathing hard. Draco gripped Harry’s arm like a lifeline, and Harry felt the same way. He just wanted to drown into Draco but knew they had to come down, there were kids in the other room and party would start soon.

Harry blurted out suddenly, “Go out with me.”

“Huh?” Draco still felt his ears buzzing, he had kissed, had been kissed a lot of times in his life but never in his life, had anyone managed to turn him incoherent with just one kiss.

“Go on a date with me? Please” Harry pleaded; he really didn’t care if he sounded desperate.
“Mmm…Okay” Draco replied, he felt like he was floating on a cloud, and he really wanted to go on a date with Harry.

Harry was prepared to sweet-talk Draco into it, but he couldn’t believe that Draco had agreed, so readily, ‘maybe he really likes me’ Harry felt his heart might burst from happiness at the thought, but before he could examine his thoughts, Draco was pushing him away.

Harry wanted to protest but he saw Draco’s eyes looking towards the doorway and he turned around, to see Damien and Ashton run to him. His heart did another jump when with twin cries of ‘Harry’, they embraced him. Harry really did like Draco’s family and felt a pang of longing in his heart that he hoped that he could be a part of it.

“Come on Harry, we’re watching The Little Mermaid, I don’t like it but it’s Izzy’s birthday and Daddy said that we have to do, what she wants” Damien was already tugging him towards the living room. Ashton was just nodding along.
Harry turned to look at Draco from the doorway, who was watching them with a peculiar expression on his face. Harry just couldn’t resist, “Draco, your going to make me a great wife, one day.” He ran away from the kitchen as he laughed with joy, before the spatula could hit him in the head.

Chapter 8:

As the week progressed, Harry felt like he was going crazy! He felt that, Draco had taken over all his thoughts. Harry kept replaying the kiss over and over in his mind. He did not remember it voluntarily, but his thoughts of Draco kept hunting his mind at inappropriate times.

Yesterday, Harry was in the middle of a conversation with the muggle ambassador, when Harry remembered that Draco had tasted like chocolate chip cookies with a hint of coffee; his lips were really soft, making Harry almost drool at the prospect of kissing those lips again.
Unfortunately, Harry knew by the looks that muggle ambassador kept sending Harry’s way that he wasn’t impressed with the meeting.

He was involved in another very important, but extremely boring meeting with some lawyers about some legislation, when Harry’s mind began to daydream again.
‘he looked so sexy, all flushed after being kissed; his lips were swollen and red after the passionate kiss, wonder what he would look like, after being fucked senseless,’ he thought to himself, which made his cock twitch in arousal at the thought of fucking Draco.
Someone cleared their throat, which snapped Harry out of his reverie, and he wondered if anyone died from getting constantly hard, over the course of a week.

His wayward thoughts went back, to Draco at the party because it had been weird seeing Draco interact with muggles. However, Harry shouldn’t have been surprised since he realised that the Draco Malfoy, he knew at Hogwarts was certainly different from the Draco Malfoy in the present.
Although, he hadn’t completely changed his personality, he still had the same snarky attitude and Harry found himself, oddly thankful because he didn’t know how he could’ve dealt with a “nice” Draco. However, Draco was not completely cold-hearted because he was charming with the children and his godchild Maddie seemed to adore him. Harry found himself in agreement with the child, after eating Draco’s homemade cookies.

Harry chuckled at the thought of a domesticated Draco, which earned him a weird look from the lawyer that was sitting next to him and a disapproving look from his temporary boss. Harry found that he really didn’t care because his mind was already focusing on their date tomorrow.
He really cursed his Gryffindor impulsiveness when Draco asked him if it was casual or if Harry planned to take him to a place that required formal or dressy attire. Harry didn’t know any perfect place that he could take Draco to on their date.
His first thought was that maybe Draco would like to go to one of those really expensive restaurants, where they charged people, an obscene amount of money for a tiny portion of salad.

But after he put more thought into Draco’s needs, he realized that Draco would like to be taken to place that was exciting instead of very flashy place that had an intimidating environment. Unfortunately, Harry hadn’t come up with the “exciting idea” yet, so he just told Draco to dress in casual clothing and he hoped that, he didn’t end up, looking like a moron at the date. Draco seemed to take it all in stride and didn’t say anything else on the subject; instead he started a running commentary on “who was who” at the party and how much Libby hated them!

Apparently Libby thought most of little Izzy friends’ parents were snobs and she didn’t like snobs. (Harry stopped himself just in time before, pointing out that her best friend was Draco Malfoy who was probably one of the biggest snobs in England) well he hadn’t completely lost his marbles yet.
So, she spent most of the party drinking milkshakes at an alarming rate and complaining about how every time, she went to a PTA meeting and met the mothers; they always asked her how was her “little job” going and if she could make the costumes for this year’s Christmas play or was it too much to ask!

Harry found that he really liked Libby and by the time he also realized that Alex was a raging heterosexual who was deeply in love with his own wife and had no desire for Draco so, Harry found himself liking Alex as well.
It seemed that Draco was surrounded by good people and great friends; it was evident that they cared about him and vice versa.

However, Harry couldn’t help but feel a little concerned about Draco because it seemed that Draco completely renounced the magical world. Harry wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but he knew Draco had no contact with his parents and Draco didn’t know what Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy went through, after he left the magical world.

Narcissa went through a bad case of depression after Draco went missing, when she wouldn’t eat and leave her bed for days and she couldn’t even enter Draco’s suite, without bursting into tears. Harry had never thought that he would see Lucius Malfoy so frazzled and helpless, when he first ordered, then pleaded the Ministry to use their resources to look for Draco.

Harry related to their feelings of desperation because his own parents had given their lives to protect him. It didn’t seem strange that Lucius Malfoy was willing to give up his pride, to find his son.

The ministry had relented if only because Harry had pressured them and searched for Draco for months and they found nothing. Nobody saw Draco leave Hogwarts and there were no sightings of him anywhere so, it seemed that he literally, vanished into thin air.

The Malfoy’s finally stopped searching after four years when Dominic was born, which made Harry’s thoughts stop short. ‘Shit; Draco didn’t know about Dominic.’ He had no idea how Draco would react to hearing that he had a three year old brother.

“…agree Mr. Potter? Mr. Potter!” Harry’s thoughts broke at the sharp tone of his voice and he looked up to see, all the faces of the people in the meeting, turned towards him; some faces expressed irritation while others showed amusement, hence Harry finally began to concentrate on the meeting.

Draco knew he was going crazy, when it really hit Draco that he was going on a date with Harry Potter, who was the bane of his existence.

By the time, which Ashton and Damien left with Libby for their sleepover, he went through every outfit he owned twice and then rejected all of them before putting on the first outfit that he tried on previously in his attempt to look presentable for his date.
Harry had explained that it would be something casual but Draco wondered where Harry was planning to take him, Draco presumed that Harry would take him to a touristic place because Harry didn’t live in New York.

He was taking no chances so; he wore low slung Blue jeans that hung low on his hips, a black pure cotton button down shirt that was tucked into his jeans, which he accessorised with a black leather belt.

He completed his look by rolling the sleeves up to his elbow, which showed his strong forearms and a black leather bracelet. His blonde hair fell and artistically frame his face, making him look like, he walked of a model catalogue. He was just putting on his converses (because lets face it; converses are hot!) when the doorbell rang.

“Right on time” Draco Mumbled to himself.

He opened the door and stared…and stared…and then stared some more.

Harry looked like he walked out of a GQ photo shoot, he wore Black trousers made of French wool that Draco knew was Armani and a white cashmere turtleneck that Draco knew, felt as soft as it looked. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, which made his green eyes look even greener. The black leather Italian loafers completed his assemble and the only accessories that Draco could see, was a silver Rolex watch.

It was simple yet, it made Harry look elegant and sophisticated which made Draco feel that he could fall in love with this man.
When Draco was taking his fill, he was aware that he was being ogled by Harry as well and if that heated look in those green eyes was anything to go by, he didn’t look half bad.

“Do you want to come in for a drink? Or shall we leave?” he asked, showing none of the nervousness he felt in his voice.

“Err… we should go” Harry’s voice was unnaturally high and breathy.
Draco got his wallet, cell phone, and keys quietly and it was all he could do, not to preen.

“We have to take a taxi, because I can’t apparate to a place that I’ve never seen.” Harry’s voice was back to normal.

“That’s fine” replied Draco, now feeling quite uncomfortable.

The taxi ride was both uneventful and uncomfortable because both of them were lost in their own thoughts, hoping that the rest of the date wouldn’t be this awkward.

When they got out of the taxi, Draco was quite surprised by the location, it wasn’t the Rockefeller centre or the empire state building or the Times Square as he previously thought it would be.

Actually, it seemed they were in a residential area with identical two story houses in rows after rows. Did Harry live here or something?
Draco’s confusion must have shown because Harry said, “It’s a surprise, your going to love it…I think.” The poor guy, sounded so nervous that Draco didn’t have the heart to smirk or sneer and just settled for a smile that said, of-course I’ll love whatever half-baked Gryffindor plan you’ve cooked up, as if.

“Come on, I think it’s this way” said Harry as he started walking towards the main road, leaving no choice for Draco, but to follow him.

Draco was getting cranky because they were walking for about 25 minutes in circles mind you, and he was starting to think Harry had no idea where they were meant to go; he was hungry, damn it.

“Potter! Where are we going?” Draco tried very hard to control his temper. He had been asking that question for the last 20 minutes and Potter just wouldn’t answer him. He kept saying it was meant to be a surprise.

He heard Potter mumble something that suspiciously sounded like, “It was meant to be here” followed by a whooping noise. Harry turned around to face Draco with the biggest smile on his face again, turning Draco into such a pile of mush that he couldn’t even get angry at Potter for making him walk nearly half-an hour on an empty stomach. “It’s this one” Harry said mysteriously and walked through the gate of a two-story building and knocked on the front door.

Before, Draco could say anything, someone had opened the door and Draco looked up just in time to see this huge bear of a man standing in defensive stance. “What do you want? Who are you?” he grunted.

If Potter was uneasy he didn’t show it, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” he said in a clear voice.

Draco was impressed at the confident voice if a bit confused as to why they were there in the first place and why Harry was quoting My Fair Lady to this guy, who suspiciously looked like a bear.

“What did you just say to me?” the bear grunted in a growly voice and cracked his knuckles menacingly.

Draco felt like they were in a really badly made, gangster movie and by the look on Potter’s face that he hadn’t realized it yet. “Erm… sorry he has mental disorder that makes him say weird things. We’ll just be going now,” Draco said as he pulled a protesting Harry down the porch on to the street. “What is wrong with you?” he asked Harry when they were safely on the street who was looking around the street.

“It was meant to be here” Harry replied in a small voice.

“What was meant to be here? Potter you better start giving me some straight answers, what kind of date is this?” by the time, Draco had finished speaking, he was breathing hard and his voice had increased in volume.

Potter looked embarrassed; “There was supposed, to be this secret club,” he said lamely.

“Secret Club?! Potter you pervert, you were going to take me to an underground sex club on our first date? You kinky deviant” Draco had to stop himself from laughing out loud at the baffled look on Harry’s face.

“Se-sex club! No! It’s nothing like that.” Harry was nearly tripping over his words to reassure Draco. “It’s like this super exclusive club; you know the places that celebrities hang out. I had to find house no.27 and give the password, ‘The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain’ and they were meant to let us in” by the end of his explanation, Harry had looked so miserable, that Draco had to physically stop himself from doing something sappy like hugging the guy or kissing him until they were both dizzy.

“Oh Potter! When will you realise that not everyone is a goody-to-shoes like you?” Draco exclaimed with exasperation, clear in his voice.

“I’m sorry Draco, I was trying to give you this wonderful, unique date and we ended up with no date at all. I ruined everything” Harry dejectedly replied.

“Who said the date was ruined Potter? Come on you idiot, it was my fault for leaving, our first date to a Gryffindor.” Draco said, like he was quite happy that his prediction of Gryffindors-can’t-plan-a-date-worth-shit came true.

Draco linked his arm with a bemused looking Harry and they started walking towards the main road, suddenly feeling inexplicably really happy. “Can you apparate us couple of blocks away from my flat?” he asked.

Harry nodded like a robot, as if he still couldn’t believe Draco was still here and he put his arms around Draco for a side-along apparation. Even though, Draco knew Harry could’ve just touched his arm for side-along, he didn’t say anything.
He felt Harry’s strong arms around him, the heat of Harry’s body, made him shiver in the warm summer night. As they disappeared, Draco didn’t want it to end, you greedy slut his mind unhelpfully supplied.

He didn’t even bother contradicting himself, as he leaned in, to smell Harry and the very arousing, masculine, and musky scent had reminded Draco of sweat and spice that he became so aroused that he felt like was in pain.
Draco was so lost in his feelings that he didn’t even realize that they had stopped, until Harry moved his hand up and down his back in a soothing motion that Draco realized he was hugging Harry and his face was tucked in Harry’s neck while Harry’s chin was resting on Draco’s head.

He hastily moved away, aware that his blushing face was as red as a tomato. Harry must’ve realised how embarrassed he was, as he hurriedly said, “You haven’t apparate in a while, huh?”

“Yeah” Draco answered truthfully, still mortified.

“So where are you taking me then, Draco?” Harry asked with curiosity and Draco was happy at the change of subject.

Draco looked around to see where they were, after he realised that they were 5 minutes, walk away from the restaurant that he wanted to go to, he started walking towards the destination, leaving Harry to follow him.

He loved Mama’s and Papa’s and it was his favorite Italian restaurant that was run by this old couple, whom Draco had presumed were the mama and papa. The friendly atmosphere put you at ease while the food was amazing, the service was great, and it was gay friendly.
Harry still hadn’t said anything, until they were seated and given their menu however Draco could tell that Harry liked the place. “Nice place, what’s good?” Harry asked, looking very comfortable.

“Everything!” Draco confidently replied. When the waiter came Draco went first, he loved the fish here so he ordered, spicy fishcakes with a mint and cucumber salsa for starters, and butterfly pasta with pieces of fresh salmon fillet in a creamy dill and paprika sauce for a main course.
He wasn’t a big wine drinker so he just ordered some water, and the waiter turned to Harry for his order.

“I will have the Antipasta Mista for 2” he said. Draco felt his mouth fall open, Antipasta Mista was a selection of Italian meats, olives, sundried tomato, capers, artichoke, baby Mozzarella balls and sliced bread. Those platters were huge.

He started to stop Harry when he continued, “And a Calzone hot & spicy (folded pizza with meatballs, salami, chilli, onion, chicken, topped with Bolognese sauce) and sparkling water please” he finished, giving the menu back.

When the waiter left, Draco forced himself to speak, “Do you know how much food you just ordered Potter? The portions here are huge, how are you going to eat all that?”

“I’m a growing boy Malfoy” he said with a grin on his face.

“Growing boy? Potter your 27, I’m pretty sure that you stopped growing, a long time ago” he said playfully, starting to have fun again.

“Yeah whatever, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it,” Harry said and he poked Draco with a breadstick.
The rest of the evening went, far too quickly in Draco’s opinion. He couldn’t help but admit that Harry was amazing. He was intelligent, well spoken, and still had a hint of childishness, that Draco found very endearing.
They had a lot in common to Draco’s surprise and they talked about everything, except the war and Draco’s parents, however Draco knew that the subject would come up eventually, just not now.

Oh God, watching Harry eat was an art in pure form. Draco thought as Harry attacked his food with so much gusto, that it should’ve put him off, but Draco found it completely appealing, when Harry ate the folded pizza; Draco felt his breathing move fast and get a bit heavy as he never thought he had a food fetish before, but watching that pizza disappear between those lips made him, think of the other things that those lips could do. If Harry ate with such passion, Draco wondered how he made love.

Harry just smirked at him in a knowing way, making him blush…again.

They walked from the restaurant to Draco’s house, it wasn’t that far away and it was a warm summer night. Despite the crazy start, the rest of the date had been amazing.

They lingered in front of Draco’s door, both of them were lost in their thoughts and Harry fidgeted adorably which made Draco make a quick decision. “Would you like to come in for coffee or something…” he asked, looking straight at Harry.
Harry seemed surprised but he nodded vehemently.

Draco left Harry in the living room and went to the kitchen to put the kettle on as he slumped on the kitchen counter. What was he supposed to do now? He thought as he thought about Harry in the next room.

“Where are the kids?” Draco spun around at the sudden question and saw Harry leaning on the doorway.

“Erm…they are at a sleepover at Libby’s place” he replied, physically stopping himself from fidgeting, Malfoys didn’t fidget.
Draco finished, making the coffee and he could feel Harry’s presence behind him, but surprisingly the silence wasn’t that uncomfortable.

Draco stopped when he felt Harry standing, behind him because the heat emitting from the other man, made him turn around as Harry closed in. Draco found himself in the previous situation again, disappointed that Harry was so close, yet not kissing him, while his rational thought process (whatever amount that was left) told him think.
He put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, but didn’t push him away. He looked into Harry’s eyes and he knew that he better start taking off his clothes or they would be flying off soon.

“Look, Harry we have to think about this. I don’t have casual relationships and I couldn’t have that, especially with you. I have to think about this.” He whispered.

“I don’t want to have a casual relationship either. Draco, I want you” Harry replied, his voice was deep and husky with lust.
Harry’s lust filled voice did terrible things to Draco’s body, but he used all his determination and pushed Harry away, “These feelings, between us. I have to think about it, worry about it. Just let me think about this. Please.” Draco knew it was the please that made Harry nod and pull away from him.

“I like to negotiate” Harry said.

“I know” Draco replied wondering where this was going.

“And, I know when to let the opposing party consider all the options,” he said and continued speaking, before Draco could say anything. “I want you, naked, in bed, out of a bed, I’m not picky. I want to feel your heart pounding against mine, while I make love with you. So think about that as well, when you’re considering your options.” Draco was still staring when Harry strolled out of the kitchen like he owned it.
He managed to press a hand to his heart and yes, it was pounding all-right.

Chapter 9:

Harry slumped on to the living room as the brave face that he showed to Draco a moment ago, began to crumble.
He knew that, what Draco said had made sense, but they couldn’t have a casual relationship because Harry already felt a deeper connection with him and his heart already knew, what his head refused to acknowledge.
He looked around the cosy and stylish room that was Draco’s living room. The room was modern and the room gave off a feeling of comfort, because the children’s toys and books that were scattered around the room had made the place, seem like a loving home.

Harry’s attention was drawn to the pictures on the mantle piece and he walked over to the fireplace and saw Damien and Ashton’s smiling faces, looking at him. There were various pictures some with Draco in them, some without in various stages of growing up. There were no baby pictures of them and Harry felt himself get angry, because Draco had told him about the kids’ childhood and how they came to be with Draco. Hence,
Harry regretted that the woman responsible was already dead; otherwise he would have showed her a thing or two.

He realised this also meant he had to be cautious regarding them as well, sure they liked him fine but how will they react to Harry’s continuous presence in their lives, when they find out Harry was having a relationship with their father.
‘Oh my god, I want to have a relationship with Draco Malfoy’ he thought, which caused him to laugh out loud at the irony.

“What’s so funny?” asked Draco shyly.

Harry turned around and still felt the same breathlessness, that he felt when Draco had opened the door. Draco was simply breathtaking.

“The fact that we’re here, you and me” he said, Draco nodded along as if he was baffled too.

“Well Potter, I can’t fault you for having a taste” Draco said finally with a smirk on his face. Harry just laughed at that, because seriously it was a true statement.

They cuddled with each other on the sofa and drank their coffee in comfortable silence.

“Well, despite the disastrous start to this date, I had fun Potter” said Draco.

Harry felt himself blush; he was going to kill his assistant for suggesting that he take his date to this hot new exclusive secret club that was apparently so secretive that you wouldn’t find it, unless you were part of the CIA or something.

“Sorry about that” he apologised again, because he still felt guilty for dragging Draco on a wild goose chase.

“It’s okay Harry. It sort of reassured me, that you haven’t changed completely. Plus, it gave me a chance to make fun of you” he replied, unconsciously snuggling in to Harry’s side.

Harry just laughed again and put his arms around Draco’s shoulder, it was still so surreal for both of them, to be sitting and snuggling with each other.

Draco Malfoy and Harry potter, who would’ve thought?

Draco woke up with a start, because he didn’t realise that he dozed off for a moment. He tried to sit up, but something heavy was covering his waist. He looked down to see, Harry was sleeping on his back on the sofa, while Draco was slumping awkwardly, half on Harry and half on the sofa.

Draco remembered that they were talking about the magical world and Harry suddenly brought up the war. Although, Draco didn’t want to discuss it, he knew they had to talk about it sometime and this was as good opportunity to do so, when they were together to comfort each other.

Draco was surprised to realize that talking about aftermath of the battles weren’t hard as he suspected, because he didn’t feel the need to hide his feelings. He talked about all his feelings of helplessness that he felt through 6th and 7th year. He wanted to save his family, but he really didn’t want to kill anyone; he didn’t even want to be a death eater.

He was terrified. When the war ended, Draco felt lost and suffocated and he also felt that his life was completely destroyed while people weren’t going to trust him ever again.

Draco always understood that the name Malfoy carried a heavy burden, that’s why he behaved a certain way in school, because he was supposed to follow different ideals, he was forced into taking the dark mark, because all Malfoys had served the dark lord.

Now, the Malfoy name was ruined, and Draco confessed to Harry he couldn’t stay and watch his parents fight for an empty name and a hollow pride.

So he left and went to the one place he knew his parents wouldn’t think to look for him; muggle America.
In America, he drifted from one club to another, from one casual fuck to another until he found out about his sons.
When Draco first found about Damien and Ashton he was scared but after spending a couple of days with them he felt like he was given a second chance, to love and be loved in return and that love was so pure that Draco felt all his past sins were washed away.

At the end, Draco was exhausted from his confessions, he hadn’t even realised he began crying sometime during his story and it was all so overwhelming.
Harry didn’t say anything, throughout his breakdown and warmly embraced him. Draco realised that Harry didn’t need to say anything, because he understood perfectly everything that Draco went through in his life, and the fact that Harry was there to comfort him was enough.
Harry told him about Draco’s parents, how they were so confused when they couldn’t find Draco, how much his mother cried when she realised he wasn’t coming back.

Harry had met Lucius and Narcissa, when they were looking for Draco and he was surprised when he realised how much they had genuinely changed since Draco’s disappearance from their lives.
Harry got along with his mother and she looks after Harry’s various charities for him and Draco realised that it was a perfect job for his mother.

Harry laughed and said even Lucius had mellowed, because Draco said he couldn’t think of his father as being mellow. Harry had told Draco about the time, that he found Lucius Malfoy playing horsie with little Dominic.

When Draco asked who Dominic was, Harry had became tense and after much persuasion (tickling until they were both sprawled on to the sofa) Harry had given in and said that Dominic was Draco’s little brother.

Draco didn’t know how he felt about that information. He had a little brother, a 3 year old brother, who was younger then his own sons. He prodded Harry for more information, but Harry just huffed and said Dominic was the miniature version of Draco only, with better manners.

They both became quiet after that; Draco was still digesting the fact that his parents procreated again and that he had a little brother. He didn’t even realise when they both fell asleep.
A groan below him made him realise how uncomfortable their position was, so he sat up.

Harry’s eyes fluttered open and he felt a bit disorientated, then he groaned again because something was digging into his back.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you” he said promptly.

“It’s ok” Draco whispered, his voice was hoarse after hours of crying.

Draco looked at the table clock and saw it was nearly 3 O’clock and they haven’t slept for a long time.
Harry stood up and looked at him apologetically, “I really am sorry, for everything. I better get going, because if it gets too late, there won’t be anyone to check me in.”

Harry was staying at a hotel and Draco didn’t even register, what he said before he said it, “Harry, stay the night.”

At Harry’s raised brows he realised how that must have sounded, “No, I mean it’s nearly 3 Harry and you might as well just stay. Nothing has to happen, just sleeping” he stated, hoping his desperation didn’t come through his voice, because he really didn’t want to be alone tonight.

Harry must have seen something on his face because he agreed. They decided to share Draco’s bed, while Harry got ready in the bathroom; Draco had taken out another pair of Pj’s. He normally just wore the pyjama’s bottom to bed, but he didn’t know if he could survive skin-to-skin contact with Harry without begging to be fucked like a whore.

When Harry came out of the bathroom wearing Draco’s pj’s, he had to bite his lips from whimpering out his desire.
Harry had broader, stronger shoulders than him, so the t-shirt was tight on him, showing off his muscles and he was also taller then Draco (not that Draco would admit THAT to anyone even at wand-point!) so the bottoms rested above his ankle, the whole effect was both hot and dorky.
Draco practically ran to the bathroom, before Harry could see he was hard and he decided to take a cold shower. They settled onto their own sides of the bed by keeping a distance between themselves, before he knew it, Draco had fallen asleep.

Draco woke up, feeling warm and comfortable.
Someone was breathing on to his neck but it wasn’t uncomfortable while the same someone was also rubbing his stomach in such a soothing way.
Draco had almost fallen back asleep, when he thought who was it? A hard length was digging into his hips making him moan, “Harry” it seemed that his subconscious, knew who it was.

The hand made its way up Draco’s stomach and rubbed Draco’s nipples, making them stand to attention. Draco moaned again, pushing his bottom into hard body behind him, which made Harry moan “Mmm, Draco.”
Draco’s eyes snapped open and he finally caught up with what his body was doing.

When Harry started to kiss his neck, he shot out of bed like it was on fire. He turned to see Harry settle on to his back, eyes hooded with both sleep and desire and a smirk on his face that seemed to convey the message that Draco had better run, if he didn’t want to get fucked through the mattress.

By the time, Harry had dressed again; he could smell the wonderful aroma of coffee and something that smelled a lot like cinnamon. He went to the kitchen to find Draco still wearing his pj’s (a thin white t-shirt and baby blue cotton pants) while his hair was pulled up in a messy pony tail.
Harry didn’t think even if he lived to be 100 he would never get over how beautiful Draco was in any attire.

He turned and smiled when, he saw Harry standing there, “Good Morning, breakfast is ready” he merrily announced. Harry had noticed the spread that Draco laid out for breakfast. There were a lot of food which included pancakes, cinnamon rolls, French toast, scrambled eggs, and different types of fruit.
The food smelt wonderful and the meal also looked freshly made, “Good morning. Wow, you made all these just now?” he asked as he took a sip from his coffee, soo good he groaned to himself.

“Well, I know what a big appetite you have, and I know you stayed last night for me so the least I could do was feed you. Although, it’s no bother because I love to cook and I always end up cooking this amount on weekends anyway” Draco replied as he opened the editorial.

“It feels so quiet, without them here” Draco murmured with a sigh.

Harry understood who he meant by them, because he missed Damien’s constant chatter and Ashton’s quiet presence. “When are you picking them up?” Harry asked.

“In an hour” Draco replied.

They finished breakfast in relative silence, Draco reading the paper as Harry was wondering if he could persuade Draco to go out with him again, maybe this time with the kids. Harry looked at his watch and saw it was nearly 11, he knew he couldn’t prolong his stay anymore so he stood up to leave, squashing down his disappointment at the thought of leaving Draco. “Well I better get going” he said.

Draco put down the paper and stood up, “Ok” he said.

He hesitated a bit and then asked, “Do you have any plans today? If not you could come to the central park today because I’m taking the kids for a picnic there,” he said almost nonchalantly.

Harry wasn’t fooled one bit, and he thought that his heart might burst from happiness, not just at the prospect of seeing Draco again but also spending time with Damien and Ashton again as well.

Central park was crowded, not that it was surprising. It was a Saturday afternoon and the sun was shining. Families were scattered all over while little kids were running around the park as they threw Frisbees, at dogs that were barking at excitement. The happy atmosphere was contagious, as Harry found himself smiling as he made his way through all the people to where Draco said they would be.

He heard Damien, before he saw him, “When is Harry coming? Why isn’t he here yet? Does he know the way? Do you think he’ll like this spot we chose?” He heard Draco laugh and shake his head before shooing both of them with a football, and suddenly Harry felt this pang in his heart.
A sense of rightness filled him; this could be his family, because he could already imagine weekends spent playing with the kids while the nights spent with Draco in bed playing a different kind of game. Oh how Harry wished that this fantasy would come true.

“Harry, you’re here!” Harry was surprised at the voice because it wasn’t Damien but Ashton who was shouting his name. Both of them ran towards him and he picked both of them up in his arms, which made both of the children giggle in delight.
They spent the rest of the day, playing different types of games while Draco sat in the sun as he read a book, only stopping when Draco called them to eat lunch.
Lunch consisted of three different types of salads, sandwiches with different fillings and different types of fruits that were served with chilled lemonade.
When it was time to go home, the kids insisted that Harry come with them for dinner, and Draco just smiled and nodded.

For dinner they made pizzas, Draco made the base from scratch, while Harry played PS2 with Damien and then Ashton, losing both times.
The kids insisted on putting on the toppings themselves, Damien wanted pepperoni and sausage meat and a lot of cheese like Harry, while Ashton wanted peppers, red onions and chicken like Draco so they ended up making two but they all ended up sharing the pizzas.
Ash (as he insisted Harry call him) and Draco ate sparingly while Harry and Damien (who insisted Harry not to call him Demi like uncle Alex, because it sounded so girly) finished all of their slices and then proceeded to steal from the other two’s plates.

After dinner, they ended up watching ‘finding nemo’ which made the kids suspiciously clingy because Ash climbed on to Harry’s lap, while Damien was on Draco’s lap. Halfway through the movie, the activities of the day caught up with the boys, because both of them soon fell asleep.
They put the boys to bed, and Harry went back to the living room and started picking up the toys that were spread about the room. Draco came back to the living room and they worked silently in synchronicity and Harry thinks it would be so easy to fall for Draco maybe he was already a little in love.

Otherwise, why would it hurt so much at the thought of leaving this behind?

“Harry, we need to talk” said Draco.

“Yes, we do” he replied and sat down.

“What are we going to do?” Draco asks again, his voice pensive.

“I feel like I waited my whole life for you Draco and if this sounds corny or cliché so be it, I don’t care about our past or our present, all I care about is our future, all I want is you and the boys” he said with a determination that he hadn’t felt since he realised he had to kill Voldemort.
As he said it, he knew it was true; there was no going back now.

Draco stood up and offered Harry his hand and Harry without any hesitation had placed his hand on Draco’s hand, who used the leverage to pull Harry up.
Harry let himself be led through the corridor and past the children’s bedroom door, and stopped when both of them stood in front of Draco’s bedroom door.

After a second that felt like an eternity to Harry, Draco went in and dragged Harry with him, then he let go of Harry’s hand. Harry went and stood near the window as he looked down at the quiet road below him.
He felt Draco move closer to him and turned around, “You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?” Draco asked, before closing the space between them.

Yes. Harry knew, what was going to happen, either this will be the love of their life or the biggest mistake of their lives.

Chapter 10:

Draco thought he might faint, he was kissing Harry. His head went into an overload from all the sensations and the fleeting touches all over his body, while light caresses on his neck were sending shivers down his spine, like the feather-like touches against his lips. The kiss was so soft, gentle and it left Draco feeling warm and mellow and…a little bit in love. The kissing ended before both of them were completely lost to their lust, and Harry stepped back, making Draco look in his eyes. Those green eyes that had now darkened with desire; something hot and alive flared into Draco’s stomach at Harry’s look and he whimpered, before he could stop himself.

Harry moved so fast that Draco thought that Harry had apparated or something. One minute, he was standing there and the next moment, their bodies were pressed together and their lips met heatedly over and over again. Unlike the previous kiss, these kisses weren’t gentle but full of passion; as Harry plundered Draco’s lips and Draco let him. Draco had reached up and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck impulsively as he pulled Harry more closer to him and deepened the kiss. Harry didn’t seem to mind and his fingers found their way under Draco’s t-shirt, almost growling when he found the soft, warm skin.
Draco suddenly stopped and backed away before grabbing a protesting Harry’s hand and tugging him towards the bed. Draco had to smile at the look on Harry’s face, who suddenly got a wicked grin on his face and proceeded to take off Draco’s t-shirt. He took in Draco’s slender form and his pale, soft skin, “Beautiful” he murmured, his hands reverently touching Draco’s body.

Draco didn’t even realise they were moving backwards until his legs hit the back of the bed and he went down with an ‘oomph’ pulling Harry down on top of him, groaning as Harry’s weight settled hard on him. Their mouths met hungrily, and Draco didn’t think he’d ever get enough of kissing Harry and revelled in that feeling. He kissed those sinfully delicious lips, and then his kisses moved up to Harry’s square jaw where Draco finally stopped, he took an earlobe into his mouth and sucked on it.

Harry hissed and then groaned, “I’m glad you’re having fun, because you’re killing me you know.

“I know,” Draco replied finally letting the earlobe slip free, “I’m dying to see you naked,” he whispered making Harry groan again.

“You sure you can handle it?” Harry said cheekily as he slid off the bed.

“Bring it on baby” all Draco said as he made himself comfortable in the bed.

Harry seemed to get the massage and pulled his shirt off instead of taking the time to unbutton it and dropped it somewhere near their feet. Draco’s mouth went dry, he knew Harry was fit but he never dreamed that Harry would be so fit. He reached up to touch the skin in front of him with his fingers spreading at the play of the muscles, underneath his hands, “Mmm” was all he could think.

Harry then teasingly opened the button of his jeans and Draco could see the black curls but no underwear, “Where’s your underwear?” he asked breathily.
“Not wearing any. Do you have a problem with that?” Harry asked as he unzipped his fly. “I don’t know, let me see the goodies first” he said staring intently at the bulge that was barely concealed.

Harry chuckled and pulled his jeans down completely down, making Draco salivate in the process, if Draco thought Harry’s body was gorgeous, his cock was magnificent. But he hadn’t nearly begun to take his fill when Harry pounced…again.
Harry wasted no time in pulling Draco’s sweats off and kissing him. “So you like my goodies?” Harry asked him in a low, husky voice.

“I love your goodies.” Draco replied as he pulled Harry down for another desperate kiss.

“Want you now,” Harry said his desperation clear in his voice.

“There’s lube on the side drawer, hope you have condoms,” Draco replied breathlessly.

“No, need” Harry said and snatched his jeans off the floor and took out his wand. He whispered couple of spells Draco recognised as lubrication and protective charms and Draco knew that the spells worked, when he felt the familiar tingle.

Draco nearly screamed when Harry pushed a finger inside him, it stung a little but felt so good especially when Harry rubbed his stomach in such a soothing way.

Harry introduced another finger just when Draco was getting used to the feeling and Draco’s fingers clutched the bedspread and arched into Harry’s soothing touches.

He was so hard and Harry hadn’t even touched his cock but Draco wasn’t complaining he knew there would be plenty of opportunities for other types of actions later. Harry took his time preparing Draco thoroughly and Draco was grateful as it had been a long time since he was in this position, nearly four years to be exact.

Draco knew it had been almost painful for Harry but he was amazed at the care Harry took prepping him but he shouldn’t had been surprised; because his Harry was in a league of his own and Draco fell a little more in love, not even realising he was already thinking of Harry as his own.

Draco was nearly an incoherent mess by the time Harry was satisfied that Draco was sufficiently prepared and it could’ve been mere seconds or eternity Draco had no clue all, but he knew that if Harry didn’t fuck him now, Draco would kill something.

“Are you ready?” asked Harry again his voice rough as if his control would snap in any minute.

“Potter if you don’t fuck me soon…I’ll fucking kill you…” he trailed off, all coherent thoughts fleeing his mind when Harry took him on his threat and without a seconds delay, thrust in home.

Draco hadn’t been expecting such a brutal thrust and arched his body crying out “Harry.” He groaned loudly and pulled his legs higher wrapping them around Harry and hooking his ankles together making Harry thrust directly into his prostate, “More” he urged.

Harry speeded up his pace as he lost a bit more control in keeping his thrusts even and hard, making Draco shake each time their bodies slapped together. Draco’s body arched into Harry’s with each thrust as if the pleasure was too much, yet not enough. Harry held onto Draco with one hand and guided his other hand down to Draco’s cock, which was flushed red and was already leaking. Harry locked his eyes onto Draco’s and as he thrust into him, and Draco never felt more cherished or more loved by a lover as he had felt at that moment.

The moment was broken as Harry thrust particularly hard, almost making him cum, “Oh My God” Draco responded in a tortured plea. He could hardly form coherent thoughts at the moment let alone words as Harry slid into him so easily over and over again, all he could think was ‘Harry…Harry…Harry.’

“Please…Harry…come inside me…please” Draco gasped, his voice almost pleading as his toes curled involuntarily. Harry growled at Draco’s words and snapped his hips even harder and faster making Draco completely lose it, falling backwards as spraying his cum on both of their chests while tightening his internal muscles which caused Harry to lose complete control.

“Fuck… fuck… fuckfuckfuc…” Harry almost yelled before freezing for a few seconds and hissing as he came. Almost a minute passed before Harry fell into his elbows and slid out of him gently, slowly and Draco smiled at just how wonderful Harry was and Draco was sure Harry always would be wonderful.

“What are you smiling about?” Harry asked as he settled himself next, to Draco while wrapping his arms around Draco.

“Do you even need to ask? You stud, you,” he replied softly as he moved closer to Harry dropping a kiss into the tanned shoulder.

“Stud hmm?” Harry asked laughter clear in his voice.

“No need to get a big head potter. But that was absolutely amazing” Draco answered truthfully and pushed sideways until he faced Harry.

“Thank you” Harry said sincerely, his eyes serious.

“Oh Potter! What am I going to do with you?” he said as he hooked his legs over Harry’s hips and hugged him close.

“Love me” Harry said quite seriously and began to kiss Draco languidly, before he could reply, possessively sliding his other hand around Draco’s back.

Harry stared at the cream coloured ceiling; he was feeling lazy and relaxed but too hyped up to actually fall asleep.
He couldn’t believe that he actually made love to Draco, it had been beyond amazing and Harry knew he had been very close to blurting out a declaration of love.

Harry was relieved when Draco brushed off Harry’s ‘Love me’ comment, he had no doubt now that he was in love with Draco but he just didn’t want to say it as a result of their first time’s passion.

He tightened his hold on the blonde who was sleeping peacefully on his arms, Draco looked beautiful in his sleep, but that didn’t surprise Harry, his Draco looked beautiful all the time. Harry knew Draco was tired, because they had talked for ages about trivial little things, until they were both drowsy, but it made Harry feel so much closer to the blonde. Draco accidentally let it slip that this was his first time having sex since he got the kids, nearly four years ago. Harry had been so surprised and humbled and a little turned on (ok REALLY turned on) that he held Draco even closer to him and they started kissing hungrily again, which resulted in Draco rolling on top of him and both of them rocking together lazily.

They had stayed like that for what felt like an eternity to Harry, both of them on edge but both of them not wanting the moment to be over. By the time they came together both of them shaking and Draco dropping off to sleep almost immediately.

Harry finally untangled one of his hands and found his wand on the bed side table, he whispered a cleaning charm, which made Draco shiver and slid even closer to Harry. Harry dropped his wand, tightened his hold on the blonde, hooked his legs over Draco’s hips, dropped a kiss on the blonde’s forehead and finally slept; happy and content.

Chapter 11:

Contentment radiated from Draco in waves, he woke up feeling like he was cocooned in happiness and pleasantly sore. He blinked his eyes open and was instantly aware that he was sleeping in Harry’s arms. Last night had been amazing, he forgot how many times they had made love and how often they had woke up to give into each others’ desires.

Making love with Harry was like coming home, it shouldn’t have felt so good. It should’ve scared Draco, or at least intimidated him considering who Harry was in the magical world. It should have been just sex, but it wasn’t because the passion between them, felt stronger than petty lust.
Truthfully, Draco was happy that they made passionate love with each other and he felt hopeful about the whole situation, because it was Harry. Even when they were enemies, Harry had always had a way of getting under his skin. Draco had left the cowardliness of the Malfoy name behind him, many years ago.

Draco was fully prepared to face the truth at-least to himself that he was head-over-heels in love with Harry Potter and he wasn’t scared (okay, he was slightly terrified but that was the natural reaction that came from the realisation of oh-my-god-I’m-in-love!).He was prepared to give this relationship 100% because even Draco Malfoy had to take a leap of faith sometime.
The outcome of such decision would depend solely on Harry, if he wanted to take it further; Draco would be deliriously happy but if he didn’t Draco certainly wouldn’t put any pressure on Harry. Finally, he stopped plundering about the future as he snuggled into Harry’s arms, breathing in his scent that made him giddy with pleasure.

Next time he woke up he was alone in the bed, looking at his watch, he muffled an oath, it was 11:33 am and it looked like Harry had left, while his boys had probably been starving all morning. He quickly dressed into a t-shirt and jeans, not even considering taking a shower as he ran into the living room and he suddenly stopped when he saw them. They were lounging on the couch in their pyjamas and watching cartoons completely oblivious to their surroundings. Draco saw a shock of pitch black hair in between Damien and Ashton’s head and came around to see whom the hair belong to, when Draco’s heart almost melted at the sight that Harry hadn’t left, because he was sleeping on the couch with Damien and Ashton on either side of him, both napping away.

He made his way to the kitchen and instantly felt like hyperventilating that his beautiful kitchen, looked like, it had been hit by a hurricane. There were scorch marks, what the hell, and flours all over the place, broken egg shells and a distinct smell of burn in the air. Draco counted one to ten to stop himself doing something crazy like, screaming and throwing sharp objects at Potter!

“Oh your up, I had meant to clean all this up before you woke up but I nodded off there” Draco slowly turned around to face a sheepish Harry, wearing Draco’s PJ, which he must have spelled to fit his body. The image did nothing to diminish Draco’s anger.

“Potter! Tell me there is a bloody good explanation as to why my kitchen looks like it fucking threw up on itself” he whispered barely controlling his rage.

“Erm…well we got hungry and Damien decided he wanted muffins and I followed Ash’s instructions and mixed everything and Damien assured me it was supposed to look like that before its cooked and so I put it in the oven and…” Harry trailed off shuffling from foot to foot.

“And?” Draco prompted finding Harry cute despite his anger.

“We started watching this cartoon called Scooby Dooby Doo, and it was a really good episode you know, I would never had guessed it was the curator, I mean he was supposed to save the museum and if it wasn’t for Shaggy and Scoo…”

“Harry, stop stalling” Draco interrupted biting his lips to stop himself smiling, but it was so hard to stay mad at Harry when he was being so cute.

“Well…wekindofforgotaboutit” he rushed to explain.

“You forgot? Ok that explains the scorch marks what about the rest of it?” he asked not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“Well then I tried to clean it up and make pancakes, only I never made pancakes before and the batter wouldn’t come out right, first it was too thick, then it was too thin and it just…” Harry trailed off looking uncomfortable again.

“Right. Ok I’m going to go to the living room and have a word with my two little chefs and then I’m going to shower. By the time I come back, this kitchen better be spotless and there’s better be a cup of coffee waiting for me, or so help me god…” Draco left the threat hanging and walked off.

Draco found them in the living room, all dressed properly watching cartoons like two angels but Draco wasn’t fooled.

“Good morning daddy” they said in unison with perfect smiles on their faces and Draco had to physically stop himself from scooping them both up and kissing those adorable cheeks, no Draco you must be strong.

“Good morning boys, I heard you guys had an eventful morning.” It wasn’t a question. “Daddy it wasn’t ours fault at all, it was Scooby Dooby’s fault.” Damien said scrunching up his nose in a way he knew Draco found adorable.

“Yeah and how do you figure that?” he asked not letting his amusement show in his face.

“Well if it wasn’t so interesting, then we wouldn’t have forgotten all about the muffins and then it wouldn’t have burned.” Ashton said quite confidently, nodding along as he said and biting his lips that tugged on Draco’s heart. Hmm it seemed his sons were pulling out all the stops.

Draco was so proud of their Slytherin tactics he just gave up, “Oh right, you two get ready, because we have to go grocery shopping,” he just huffed at the triumphant gleam in their eyes and left for his shower. By the time he made his way to the kitchen again it was indeed spotless, a steaming mug of coffee waiting for him and Harry was dressed and washing his hands in the sink.

“Mmm the coffee is wonderful” he said as he took a sip, making Harry turn around. He was startled at Harry’s tortured expression, “Harry, what’s wrong?”

“Oh Draco, I’m so sorry. I am such an idiot and I would perfectly understand if you don’t want to see me again but please don’t do that Draco” Harry said his voice pleading.

“Harry, what are you talking about?” Draco asked his confusion clear in his voice.

“I could’ve burnt down the house Draco; I put the boys and you in danger. I’m so sorry,” Harry looked almost in pain that it seemed almost inappropriate that Draco’s mind was screaming 'I love you Ilove youIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouloveloveloveyou.'

“Oh you foolish Gryffindor, once you realised it was burning, did you let the boys in the kitchen?” he asked.

“Of-course not” Harry replied giving Draco the are-you-stupid look.

“And did you let the boys in the kitchen afterwards, when you did successfully make some sort of breakfast?” he asked again almost smiling at Harry’s confusion.

“Of-course I didn’t, I made them stay in the living room and they ate there as well, Draco why are you asking me this stupid questions?” asked a bewildered Harry.

“Because my foolish Gryffindor you need to understand that accident happens and it’s not your fault. In this instance nothing serious happened and even if it did I have complete trust that you could handle it without putting anyone at unnecessary risk” he said as he stood in front of Harry trying to make him understand.

“But Draco they were my respons…” Draco cut him off with a kiss, but Draco had to let go when breathing became a problem for both of them. But Harry kept giving him small kisses, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up, but I heard the boys moving and couldn’t resist spending some time with them,” he said and Draco was amazed just how brilliant Harry was.

“Harry apart from Libby if there was anyone that I would trust my boys with beyond a doubt it would be you,” he said completely sincerely. Harry’s face expressed what he was feeling that he couldn’t put to words, so he pulled Draco in for another breathtaking kiss.

Twin cries of Daddy and Harry pulled them apart and they both made their ways to the living room where both boys were getting impatient from being ignored for a moment. “Daddy, is Harry going to shop with us?” asked Damien both he and Ash looking so hopeful that Draco knew Harry wouldn’t be able to say no. However, he didn’t expect the genuine happiness on Harry’s face at the prospect of grocery shopping.

Usually, Draco drove to the supermarket, with two hyperactive boys and enough shopping to feed a small army, it was a necessity. He finished putting seat-belts on both of the boys, then he turned around to find Harry looking at him like he’s grown three heads or something, “What?” he had to ask.
“It’s just strange that you have a car and you drive to the supermarket to get groceries, you Draco Malfoy,” Harry replied with a bemused look on his face.
Draco sighed “I simply grew up,” was all he had to offer and he jumped on to the driver’s seat.

Grocery shopping was simply a chore for Draco, he never enjoyed it much and certainly not with two five year olds who only wanted to buy sweets and chocolates. If he thought shopping with Harry would be a bit better, Draco soon found out what a sad mistake that was. It was like shopping with three kids as they kept putting back all the fruit and vegetables that they didn’t like. Damien had put back the peppers three times, Ashton kept hiding the broccoli every time that he went to pick one up, and Harry didn’t like carrots. On top of that, they kept piling up the trolley with junk food, all kinds of sweets, and about 10 different types of hot chocolate, about dozen packets of biscuits and every time Draco put something back they came back with another.
Draco had enough before he threatened Harry that if he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life getting acquainted with the sofa that he had better start helping Draco, not even caring that he started to sound like a pissed off wife. After this talk, shopping became more pleasant.

The day passed by too quickly for Draco. Harry had been wonderful as usual, when he helped Draco put away the groceries, played with the kids, and helped them with their homework, while Draco was cooking a meal. It was all so normal, almost like they were a family and Draco suddenly felt a pang in his heart, as he found himself, wishing this could be real that they could be a real family.
When he was half asleep and he decided that he was willing to give this relationship 100%; he didn’t appreciate all the factors, Harry’s job, Draco’s kids, and the biggest problem of them all; the magical world.

Before Draco knew it, the boys were off to bed, and Harry was saying goodnight.

“I had a really good weekend Draco, thank you” Harry’s voice tinged with an emotion Draco couldn’t place.

“So did I, it was wonderful” Draco replied completely sincere and a little sad that this was probably it for them, so much for a relationship.

“Draco I’m going to be completely honest with you, I don’t know what we’re doing here, but all I know that there’s something between us, something true something that has the potential to be everything. Do you agree?” He asked now completely serious.

“Harry what are you saying?” Draco asked too afraid to hope.

“I’m saying is that I want to find out, I don’t want to give this up, the thought of never seeing you or the boys again is just too painful to comprehend” he said moving even closer to Draco until there were no space between them.

All Draco could do was nod his head in agreement and Harry was kissing him, all day they have been touching each other discretely, just simple touches and glances here and there and Draco felt giddy with love. By the time Harry actually left it was close to eleven in the evening and Draco was exhausted physically and emotionally, all he could think about was collapsing in his bed and sleeping for months.

He turned off all the lights and made his way to Damien and Ashton’s room. He first went to Damien’s bed and he wasn’t surprised when he saw an empty bed. Damien had the habit of climbing into bed with Ashton or Draco whenever he couldn’t go to sleep. He found them curled up with each other, looking so innocent that Draco knew that even if it didn’t work out with Harry, that his life wouldn’t completely be miserable. He dropped a kiss each on their foreheads and smoothed Ashton’s hair when Damien blinked his eyes open, “Daddy?” his voice sleepy.

“Shhh baby, go back to sleep” Draco whispered knowing Damien would nod off any minute.

“Daddy, do you think Harry will be our Daddy as well?” he asked. Draco was shocked speechless, he was so wrapped up in his own feelings that he didn’t even think how his boys were affected by Harry’s presence. Oh god, but he was saved from answering when he saw Damien already went back to sleep.
Even exhausted Draco went to bed with a heavy heart, because he didn’t know what will happen between him and Harry, he just hoped it wouldn’t break their hearts in the end.

Chapter 12:

The next two weeks went by amazingly fast and it had been the most wonderful weeks of Harry’s life. Most days he went to Draco’s apartment straight after work and after a couple of days he unofficially moved in.
It felt so wonderful and normal waking up with Draco every morning, eating breakfast together, coming back from work to find Damien and Ash impatiently waiting for him, eating dinner together, and spending the weekends together like a typical family.
And Harry often fantasised that Draco loved him as well and that he was Damien and Ashton’s other dad. They really were a family and would be spending the rest of their lives together.

But even Harry knew the difference between fantasy and reality. Just because he wished something, it doesn’t necessarily come true. As he spent more and more time with them Harry got anxious, his work in New York was nearly complete, the ambassadors have agreed and was about to sign the legislation within a day or two. Very soon it will be time for Harry to leave the New York and back England, back to the magical world. And Harry had no idea what to do about it.
There was no doubt in his mind that he was in love with Draco and that he loved Damien and Ash as if they were his own boys and the thought of never seeing them made his heart hurt.

But all the times he had spent with them, Draco hadn’t ever showed any inclination that he might want more. Draco certainly never expressed such a wish and Harry being Harry never pushed the issue. Sometime Harry got the feeling that Draco might want a real relationship but he shook it off as wishful thinking. The truth was Harry hadn’t a single clue as to what Draco really felt about him, did he want a relationship? Or were they just fuck-buddies? And if he was honest with himself he was terrified what Draco’s answer will be if Harry asked.

As his time to go back to England came nearer Harry knew they had to talk but his Gryffindor bravery went out of the window at the thought of the “dreaded talk” and he chickened out almost every time they were alone.

Harry dropped his face into his hands, he had no idea as to what to do, he didn’t want to lose Draco and the boys but he didn’t even know if they wanted him in their lives, ‘arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ he screamed in his head in frustration.
Harry nearly jumped at the tapping sound; he looked around his tiny office and saw an owl perched on the window sill. Harry recognised it at once as a ministry owl and took the letter with a slight hesitancy. For the first time in his career he dreaded what might me in that letter.

Breaking the ministry of magic seal he opened the letter and read.

Ms. Melinda West
Preston Chambers
Wizard relations
British Ministry of Magic
London

Mr. Harry Potter
Wizard Muggle relations
American council of Magic
New York

Dear Mr. Potter

I am very pleased to hear about your success in New York. I can not express how important a task you have accomplished in bringing these two countries even closer together.

We are yet again in need of your expertise, Germany is about to pass a new legislation that will make trading between our two magical communities even easier and we are about to enter into a contract with the German Magical institute.

I would like for you to oversee the whole negotiation, you are hereby requested to report at my office this Monday at 10am.

Sincerely
Melinda West

Monday, but that’s only three days away Harry thought to himself, he re-read the letter and found himself shaking. There is no way he could continue putting it off any longer.

He and Draco had to talk.

Harry found himself spending all Friday avoiding being alone with Draco, he played video games with the kids, watching ‘Inspector Gadget’ (which Harry found profoundly stupid and Ash secretly agreed with him, but they kept the thought to themselves as Damien thought the guy hung the moon and got upset if anybody said otherwise!) he even put them to bed reading them bed time stories, a really bittersweet experience. He realised he loved them as much as he was in love with Draco. He wanted them to call him Dad, he wanted to be there to teach them how to fly, he wanted to see them go off to Hogwarts and fight with Draco about which house they will end up in, but somewhere in his mind he knew it was an impossible dream. They didn’t know about the magical world and even if they did Draco wouldn’t want him as a permanent fixture in their lives anyway.

By the time Saturday rolled around Draco send the kids to Libby’s house for a sleepover and Harry knew Draco was planning something. The whole day went by very uncomfortably, Draco was acting really nervous and almost apprehensive as if he was scared of something, and Harry was berating himself for not having the nerve to tell Draco the truth. And as another uncomfortable moment went by Harry couldn’t stand it anymore and apparently neither could Draco.
“Harry I have some….”
“Draco there’s some…”
They both said at the same time.

“You go first,” Draco said looking a bit relieved.

“My work here is kind of finished and I have to go back to England on Monday,” Harry blurted out.
The look on Draco’s face would have been comical if it was any other situation, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and horror.

“Say something Draco” tell me to stay he urged silently.

“Right. Ok, right,” Draco repeated still looking like he had been hit by a bludger. Without saying another word Draco walked out of the room and Harry felt his heart break a little; the message was clear, Draco couldn’t care less if Harry left tomorrow or today. He heard a thump in the kitchen followed by a muffled curse, before he could go and investigate Draco came back from the kitchen with two cups of what looked like coffee and handed him a mug silently.

Harry seeing no option took a sip and nearly choked, god what is this? He looked at Draco quizzically. “Irish coffee” was all Draco said without any emotion. Draco drunk the whole mug like water and then took Harry’s mug from him and drunk that too, if Harry didn’t know for a fact that Draco didn’t really like to drink and very rarely got drunk he would’ve worried about Draco turning into an alcoholic.

“Stop gaping and sit down Potter” he snapped and Harry winced at the use Potter but sat down nonetheless. He sighed sadly “So that’s it, you go back on Monday” it wasn’t a question.

“Yes. But we can still see each other Draco, I mean there’s floo, there’s apparation, and portkeys. There’s no reason we couldn’t see each other anymore,” Harry said hurriedly his voice oh so eager.

“Harry, you know how tiring it would be, international travel even by magic is daunting and to do it almost everyday is just…stupid” Draco pointed out.
Now Harry was getting angry at how calm and rational Draco sounded, ‘what did you think was going to happen? He would beg you not to leave him and pack up his life and his kids and move with you wherever you want’ his inner voice piped up nastily. The thought did nothing to improve Harry’s spirit and he snapped at Draco, “Well if you weren’t such a coward and moved back to the magical world where you belong. This wouldn’t be so stupid” Harry winced as soon as the words left his mouth; he sometimes really hated his Gryffindor temperament.

Draco’s eyes showed a flash of hurt before it disappeared as quickly as it came and he asked “Why do you want me to go back to the magical world Harry?” as if he was anticipating the question.

“Well, because that’s where you belong Draco” with me Harry thought. “Your parents miss you, and think about Damien and Ashton, what about them?” Harry asked desperately.

“What about them?” Draco asked his voice sharp with suspicion.

“They have magic don’t they, will you hide who you really are from them for the rest of their lives? Will you deny them their magical right? What will you do when they show signs of magic? You going to send them to a muggle high school and ignore their Hogwarts letter.” Harry was nearly shouting by the end.

“You don’t think I’ve thought about that, everyday I wake up terrified they will show signs of magic and when they don’t I’m terrified they will be squibs because I stunted their magical growth.” Draco stood up and paced anger and hurt both radiating from him. “But what am I supposed to do Harry? I’m supposed to go back to the magical world and endure everyone’s taunt about what a death eater scum I am, or stand back and watch my kids getting bullied because of something that wasn’t their fault,” Draco continued and was almost breathless by the time he finished. “You know what Harry? You’re right I am a coward. I always have been and I always will be.” Draco slumped on to the sofa looking completely defeated.

“Just go Harry, go back to your world, I don’t belong there anymore,” I don’t belong anywhere anymore Harry could almost hear what was left unsaid and it tore his hearts to shreds.

“Draco please, don’t do this to us. I love Damien and Ash and I love…spending time with you, and I’m not asking you to move to the magical world, I’m just asking you to renew contact with them. Please Draco, I love this, I love us” Harry pleaded not even realising what he just said.

“You love us?” Draco almost whispered, “What does that mean Harry? What does that exactly mean?” he had a strange gleam in his eyes and Harry felt a bit hopeful.

“I love spending time with you Draco, you are amazing and I love the boys and you know this couple of weeks we were almost a family. And I loved that,” Harry finished almost smiling that maybe now Draco would continue there relationship.

Though he wasn’t prepared for the stricken look on Draco’s face, he looked almost hurt, “Oh Harry. This is exactly why this wouldn’t work. While I don’t doubt you sincerely think you love us it wouldn’t last Harry. You are in love with the idea of this family. This ready-made family that the boys and me represent that when you realise that you want your own family it would all break apart. And my boys would be heart-broken and I won’t put them through that, not for you not for anyone.” He finished with a determined gaze and Harry was so stunned he didn’t know what to say.

Harry wanted to deny vehemently that though he loved the idea of the family it wasn’t about that at all. He really was in love with Draco and he really just wanted this family not any other family. But he knew saying so would be pointless and a tad humiliating. Draco wasn’t willing to fight for them; he was ready to let go of whatever they had and if Harry now said he loved Draco, then Draco would stay with him but it would be out of pity. And Harry couldn’t deal with that, so he did what any foolish Gryffindor would do, he walked away from the love of his life, his head held high and his heart completely shattered.

Draco flinched at the soft click of the front door closing, he would’ve preferred if Harry slammed the door. The sound of Harry walking away from his life made his heart scream at him, what are you doing you fool? This is the love if your life, go after him beg him to take you back, tell him you love him but what was the point, if Harry didn’t love him back.

The last two weeks had been so amazing that Draco had been waiting for the other shoe to drop but Harry was continuously wonderful and Draco came to realise he just didn’t love Harry, he loved Harry, as in he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man, have a family with him. And finally he decided that today would be the day, he would tell Harry he was in love with him and then deal with whatever consequences…what a joke!
He wasn’t prepared for what Harry had to say though, when Harry said he was leaving for London, Draco felt his whole world crashing to reality because they couldn’t be together.

Harry was the hero of the magical world and while the magical world had no problems with gay couples he didn’t think the magical community would welcome Draco Malfoy as Harry’s Potter’s boyfriend.
How stupid was he in thinking this relationship could really work out, that Harry maybe really loved him.

When Harry started making suggestions about having a long-distance relationship and explanations as to why Draco should move back to the magical world, Draco wanted to scream just tell me you love me, just tell me you can't live without me and I would move to the end of the world if I have to…just to be with you. But Harry didn’t, and when all Harry continued to say was that he loved the boys, he loved spending time with Draco, he realised Harry didn’t love him; he had just loved the idea of family, the comfortable arrangement they had in the last two weeks and Draco knew he had to let Harry go because it wasn’t fair to Harry, or the boys. For the first time in his life Draco acted like a complete Gryffindor and let the love of his life walk away; just because he was stupid enough to fall in love didn’t mean Harry had to.

But Harry did raise a good point; Draco couldn’t live in fear of the magical world anymore, if only for the sake of his children. They both done accidental magic and at the time Draco explained it away to them in a flimsy manner and thanked whatever deity existed that they weren’t old enough to understand that they did anything out of the ordinary. But now they were getting older and soon they would start doing more accidental magic and Draco couldn’t just explain it away, nor did he want to.

He wanted them to go to Hogwarts, he wanted them to know magic, it was their birthright and Draco wouldn’t deny them it. He would get in touch with his parents, he was still not ready to move back to the magical world but maybe he would be when it was time for Damien and Ashton to go to Hogwarts.

Draco sighed; he felt a migraine coming on and was thankful that the boys were at Libby’s because he didn’t think he could deal with heartbreak in front of them. He didn’t even bother changing clothes and just curled up in bed when he felt a piece of fabric; he pulled it to his face and saw it was Harry’s t-shirt.

That was it for Draco, he gave up all his Slytherin pride and held on to the t-shirt like a lifeline and cried.

Chapter 13:
Harry was miserable, for the past week he had felt like he had been cheated somehow. He set aside the report he hadn’t read and gazed across his living room window and wondered what they’d be doing today. Was Ashton finally getting along with Izzy again? Had Damien finished reading the “series of unfortunate events” they started reading together? Did they miss him? Did they even think about him? And Draco…was he sad about their brake-up? Or was he glad to get rid of Potter?

Harry was tired of being alone with his own misery, so he wandered his way over to the refrigerator, maybe he could get drunk, only to be stopped by the sound of the floo. The last thing he wanted was berated by Hermione about why he still hadn’t made his way to their house yet, or chat with Ginny about how her 2nd time pregnancy was running much more smoother then her 1st one. He stalked over to the floo and groaned inwardly, oh god, it seemed like they came with reinforcements. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna burst inside and hurled themselves into his arms while their husbands stood sheepishly near the fireplace.

They were barely in the room before all of them started speaking at once.
“You sounded so depressed when I talked to you yesterday…”
“…so we got together and decided to visit.”
“To cheer you up!”
“Oh god I have to pee… again”
“Had it anything to do with the trip to NY?”
“Did you get attacked by nargles again?”

In an hour they rearranged his furniture, broke his new coffeemaker, drank all of his beer... god he was glad to see them.

Having had more fun then he had in days he was sad to see Luna and Dean go, but they had to go to dinner with Dean’s parents and couldn’t stay any longer, they were followed by Ginny and Neville who had to pick Mark up from the Barrow before going home, “I know there’s something on your mind Harry but we didn’t want to pry. Just know if there is anything you need we’ll be there for you…all of us” Ginny whispered in to his ear before she left, Harry looked up to see a soft smile on her face and Neville nodding along with his wife.

Ron settled down in front of the TV, excited to watch Chelsea Vs Man United and Harry was happy to indulge, he knew what they were doing, trying to distract him and it was working…to an extent.

He got up to get more beers and found Hermione in the kitchen washing up, “You don’t have to do that Mione,” he said.

“I know,” she replied and turned around, “Ok enough stalling Harry, tell me what’s wrong?” she said as she sat down on the counter stool.

Harry sat down next to her, “Why do you think anything is wrong?” he asked.

“Harry you are like a brother to me and we all know each other almost as well as we know ourselves, so spill” she said, her voice soft and sad.

“I am in love” he said it bluntly.

She didn’t look surprised.

“When I was in New York, I met someone…actually I re-met someone! And I fell in love with him” Harry felt his heart warm at the thought of Draco and he had to smile, “he’s amazing Mione, and the boys…” he trailed off his heart constricting painfully at the thought of never seeing them again.

“Boys?” she asked softly as if she didn’t want to disturb the moment.

“Yes, two beautiful amazing boys,” he said before deciding its now or never, “I am in love with Draco Malfoy.”
The stunned look on Hermione’s face told all Harry needed to know and he made his way upstairs, he couldn’t deal with their rejection right now.

By the time he made his way downstairs it was almost dark and it was quite, he nearly jumped when he heard Ron speak. “You are so stupid you know that,” his anger clear in his voice.

“Please Ron, I can’t deal with this right now,” Harry was so tired; he really didn’t want to fight Ron about a relationship that didn’t even exist.

“Hermione went home; she had to pick up Rosie from her Mom’s house. She told me to tell you that she is very cross with you and before jumping into your own stupid conclusions you should floo her and find out exactly why she is cross with you” by the time Ron finished speaking he was grinning at the fish-out-of-water look on Harry’s face.

“So sit down and tell uncle Ronny all your problems,” Ron patted the sit next to him. Ron was acting so uncharacteristically that Harry actually went and sat down. “What’s the problem then, you told Malfoy you love him and he told you to get lost?” Ron asked a pinched look on his face at the thought.

“Yes…well no, not exactly” Harry stammered.

“What do you mean not exactly?” Ron prompted.

It all came pouring out like a dam had been broken inside Harry; he told Ron all about Draco, how and where they met, about Ashton and Damien. He told Ron about how he fell in love (Ron pretended to gag at that point but Harry recognised it for what it was, an attempt to make him smile) and the subsequent fight they had before Harry left.

“Let me get this straight, you never actually told Malfoy that you loved him?” Ron asked with a frown on his face.

“Erm…no?” Harry couldn’t stand the look of pity on Ron’s face.

“Let me tell you something about Purebloods Harry, it’s all about family for us, we live for our family, we can die for our family, in short we can do anything to protect our families. And on top of that Malfoy is a Slytherin and don’t take it the wrong way mate but they are all about self-preservation. Malfoy is not going to put himself and his whole family into your hands when you didn’t even tell him you love him!” Ron finished.

Harry started pacing Ron’s mid-explanation, it all made sense now, why Draco gave up so easily, he believed Harry didn’t love him…Harry kicked himself at his own stupidity. He stopped pacing suddenly and faced Ron, “What do I do Ron?” Harry had to ask.

“You act like a true Gryffindor Harry; you go and declare your love like a brave knight and then get down on your knees…then beg and grovel at Malfoy’s feet to love you back,” Ron said his voice laced with laughter.

Harry laughed, really laughed for the first time in weeks and his heart felt so light, like he had been swimming for so long and now suddenly he could see land. “I’m glad you’re enjoying my misery but when did you get so smart?” he felt all cheerful again.

“Hey! I am married to the smartest witch of our age you know. I do listen to her rants…sometimes.” They both laughed at that. “Harry we always supported your decisions no matter what and we always will, Hermione is not angry at you for loving Malfoy, she’s angry at you for not having any faith in her. And nobody else that matters would get angry at you or judge you for falling in love with Malfoy and if they do, then you’re better off without them. This is your life and who you love is nobody’s business but your own,” Ron was completely serious.

Harry was nearly moved to tears, he knew Ron could be hot-headed but he always came through when it matters and this was a prime example. He had no words so he just stood up and dragged redhead in a hug.

“I couldn’t ask for a better brother or a better family” he said to Ron.

Ron pulled away with a smile on his face, “Don’t go all mushy on me you prat, I have to deal with enough females at home,” he said as he got ready to leave making Harry laugh.

“Thanks Ron” Harry said as they made their way to the living room.

“What are brother’s for, if not for knocking some sense into each other. Now stop moping around and go get your family,” Ron replied just as the floo turned green and he disappeared.

Harry had a plan; he perfected his plan over the course of two days it took him to finally get to New York. But to put his plan into action he needed a couple of peoples help, first he made his way to Alex and Libby Beaumont’s flat, and after some angry threats (Alex) cool disdain (Libby) and begging & pleading (Harry) they agreed to Harry’s plan.

Now it was time to get the two little Malfoy’s to agree.

He put his plan into action on Friday and made his away to Damien and Ashton’s school and saw them standing near the gate with Libby, she saw him and gave a nod getting both of the boy’s attention as well. Damien saw him and sprinted towards him with a scream of “Harry” and almost jumped into his arms. Harry scooped him up and stopped himself from twirling, but he was so happy.

He pulled back and saw tears falling freely from the big blue eyes and Harry had to put Damien down and wipe his tears away, “Don’t cry baby, I’m here now,” he said nearly crying himself.

“We missed you so much Harry... hic, we thought you didn’t love us anymore... hic,” he sniffled.
Harry felt like his heart was breaking all over again, how could he have be so stupid to hurt his boys…his sons, “I missed you two so much as well, and don’t ever doubt I don’t love you guys, I love you so much,” he said as he pulled Damien to another hug.

He searched for his other son and saw him hanging back, his posture all awkward and unsure, as if he wanted to jump into the hug but he was still hurt.

“What do you want?” Ash asked, looking him right into his eyes.

Harry hesitated, and then decided he couldn’t afford any more fumbles, “I want my family back.”

“Your family?” his voice bristled with suspicion and Harry knew this one would be in Slytherin, “What do you mean by that?”

“You and Damien and Draco”

“We’re not your family,” his voice wavering.

“Who says? I found out I couldn’t stand to live without you guys in my life.”

Ash stared at him and then his face crumpled, “I didn’t think you wanted to see us again.”

Harry couldn’t stand it any longer and he pulled Ash into a hug alongside Damien, he held them both tight against his chest, “I missed you both so much.”
Both of them were now hiding their face in his neck and crying and Harry wondered how could he had been so stupid and walked away from not just Draco but his boys too, “I love you both.” It should have been hard to say but it wasn’t, in fact it was so easy he said it again, “I love you both so much.”

They buried their face in his shirt, although their voice was muffled, he didn’t have any trouble understanding the, “Loveyousomuchtoo.”
They stood that way for a while, Harry holding Damien on one side and Ash on the other not wanting to let them go. Finally when he set both of them on their feet, they both looked happy but vulnerable.

“But what about Daddy?” Damien asked.

“Well, I need some help with that, and you guys are the only ones that can help me.”

They both instantly responded, “What do you need?”

He explained what he wanted and by the time he was done both of them had big smiles on their faces. He congratulated himself on his strategy; there was nothing any kids wanted more for their parents than wanting them to be happy, and his boys definitely wanted their daddy to be happy.

Draco felt all confused as he went about making supper, first he got a phone call from Libby who said she’ll pick up Damien and Ashton from school and take them to her house for dinner so Draco can spent some “alone” time (whatever the hell did she mean by that?!) And now the boys called him up and said they were having so much fun playing on Izzy’s new Wii that please can they spend the night at Libby’s. Draco hadn’t had the heart to say no to those pleas and said they can spend the night as long as they behaved. But now he was all depressed again, he wanted his boys here; he wanted Damien’s constant chatter and Ashton’s reassuring presence so he didn’t think about Harry.

The first two days after Harry left, all Draco did was cry and sleep, he didn’t even bother to get out of bed, or eat. But Sunday morning Draco woke up determined, his boys were coming back and he had to be strong…for their sake. He didn’t want to but he had to, he had to keep up a normal appearance because the kids were already questioning where Harry was and when he was coming back, damn it Potter, it wasn’t enough you broke my heart but you had to break my kids heart as well.

He tried to put it all behind by never mentioning Harry, to go on as if Harry never came into their lives because thinking about Harry even in a small way made his heart dizzy. He didn’t talk to Damien and Ashton and didn’t think much of their whisperings until he caught them talking in the living room couple of days after. He was putting away laundry, and was walking by the living room when he saw their heads bent together talking furiously back and forth. He was about to call out their name when the words…Harry…left…us came into his ears and he stopped to listen.

“Do you think Harry left because of us?” asked Ashton.

“Because we were naughty?” said Damien his nose crunched up in confusion.

“No…yes…maybe,” replied Ashton.

“But Harry loved daddy, didn’t he?” Damien said in a knowing voice.

“He did” Ashton nodded along but suddenly stopped and his face looked sad, “maybe he only wanted daddy but he didn’t want us, and that’s why he left.”
Damien had a contemplative look on his face as if he too thought that was a distinct possibility.

Draco felt his heart might burst at the hurt look on his kids face and he knew it was about time he told the kids the truth about everything. He had to tell them that Harry did love them, he did want them, he just didn’t love Draco. He cleared his throat and the boys jumped, he walked up to the sofa and sat down next to them, both of them instantly crawled into his lap and he put his arms around them and sighed, “I’m sorry boys.”

“Why are you sorry Daddy?” Said Ashton

“I didn’t tell you guys the truth about Harry,” he said as he breathed in their scent.

“What truth daddy?” asked Damien.

“Me and Harry, we knew each other since we were eleven, we went to school together and I wasn’t very nice to him and his friends. Actually I was a bully.” He said and prepared himself for the outcry that was to come but both of them just hugged him tighter and Draco breathed a bit more easily. He told them all about magic and wizards and Voldemort to some extent, he told them about Malfoys and some of the decisions Draco had to make because of that hoping like hell they weren’t ashamed of him.

It was amazing how through all of the explanation they hadn’t said a word and when Draco did some basic wand-less magic just to show them magic existed, Damien had been extremely excited, not just about magic but also that he had grandparents and an uncle and that he get to go to a special school of magic, however Ash looked at him with betrayal, “How could you lie to us?” he whispered.

“Because I didn’t want you guys to hate me and I kept putting it off…”Draco trailed off his eyes begging for Ash to understand. And he did understand, he held onto Draco and whispered, “Does that mean we have to move to England now?”

“It’s up to you guys, we still have six years till you guys go to Hogwarts so we can think about it,” he said, his heart much lighter both terrified and excited at the prospect of going back to the magical world.

Draco had to thank Harry for giving him the courage to do this, if it wasn’t for him Draco probably wouldn’t had told the boys the truth so soon and now that he had he felt guilt free. He was glad he told them when they were young…they were much more resilient and would deal better with the knowledge.

He sighed as the microwave went ping, he missed Harry so much, he dreamt of their fight every night and every time the decision was different, sometime he would tell Harry he loved him or sometimes Harry would tell him he loved Draco and they wouldn’t break up. Draco would wake up from those dreams so happy and then the tears would start to fall because it was all just a dream.

He was startled when he heard the doorbell ring, who could it be now? Then he thought may be it was the kids coming back anyway because they missed daddy so much and he smiled at the thought.
He was still smiling when he pulled the door open.

Chapter 14:

Harry gazed at the man in the doorway and felt everything, inside of him melt.

God, it was good to see Draco again. He itched to sweep him up and carry him to the bedroom, where he could strip away the Malfoy mask that came over the smile as soon as he saw Harry on the doorstep, but he figured that might not go over that well…just yet anyways. His heart swelled in his chest, but he couldn’t think of anything to say except I love you, which seemed a little premature so he just settled for a nod. Draco stepped back to let him with an emotionless face, which made Harry’s stomach hurt at the way that Draco was looking at him like he was a distant memory. He followed Draco down the familiar hallway down to the living room where Draco gestured for him to sit while he sat himself, in a seat that was further away than Harry’s seat. “What can I do for you?” Draco came to the point.

Harry drew a deep breath, “I’ve missed you.”

Draco didn’t look impressed. He finally sighed “What are you doing here Harry?”

“Okay let’s say it like it is. I screwed up. I know that, so let’s put it behind us and move on.” Harry breathed harshly.

“Move on?” gray eyes as cold as stone.

“Because, it’s the future that counts right? We need to look ahead and not back,” was it hot in here, or was it just him?

“Harry what are you talking about?” everything about the stare Draco sent his way reeked of aristocratic disdain.

Harry couldn’t take it anymore, he leaped from his seat, “I love you damn it! And if you don’t like it, then too damn bad!”

Draco’s eyes shot open, “You love me?” Harry waited for those eyes to soften or a smile to bloom but neither happened, instead Draco looked like he had been told Voldemort came back alive again.

Harry paced like a caged lion at Draco’s silence, he wanted to shout and scream in outrage, Draco could...

“You don’t look very happy about it,” Draco’s cool voice interrupted his thoughts.

“I am Happy! I’m delirious!”

There went that eyebrow again.

Damn it! “Draco, I love you, I’m sorry it took me so long to come here, but we shouldn’t throw what we have just because I was too stupid.”
Draco didn’t show any emotion in his face, “So, when did you exactly have this…revelation?”

“Erm…I knew before I left, I was just too much of a coward to say it before” Harry’s answer sounded pathetic even to his own ears.

“Coward…I thought that was me,” Harry winced at the accusation in Draco’s voice, but he wasn’t finished, “coward…you Gryffindor extraordinaire? I don’t think so!”

“Dra…”

“Shut up! No, I think you missed the boys so much you realised that you couldn’t live without them, so you thought you would just tell me you love me and I would fall at your feet, did you?” finally there was some emotion in Draco’s voice, even if it was anger.

“Do you really think so low of me?” Harry sadly asked as all the fight left him.

“I don’t know what to think of you Harry. Please just go,” Draco said and sighed when he heard the pop of an apparation.

Draco felt his knees go weak; he didn’t know why he felt so angry when Harry said he loved him. That’s not true, he did know why, he couldn’t believe Harry would use such words, just to have his precious family. Only one thing was for definite…despite the days he spent hugging Potter’s stupid t-shirt and crying, he was his own person, he wouldn’t let himself be used this way, because Harry said what Draco wanted to hear. His appetite gone, and with a heavy heart, Draco made his way to his bedroom and nearly screamed when he felt a hand clamped over his mouth.

Draco’s heart hammered when a muscular hand wrapped around his waist and pulled him against a very hard, a very familiar chest, “Sorry, but I had to find way to make you listen.”

Draco tried to bite the palm, but couldn’t sink his teeth in, although his attempt was a half-hearted one. Because to be honest, inside he was quite thrilled at the turn of events, although it was more, because he thought if Harry went into all these troubles he should hear the guy out, oh and it has nothing to do with the fact you are dying for Harry to tell you he really does love you, his mind offered.

When he was finished berating himself he found himself as he laid on his bed with Harry straddling his thighs. “If you think…” What he thought we would never know because at that moment Harry planted a hard kiss on his lips that made Draco forget what he was supposed to say.

When Harry pulled back Draco eyes focused again and before he could say anything Harry started to speak, “I Love you Draco, with all that I am, from my heart and my soul.” Draco felt his toe curl at the honest emotion in Harry’s voice, “Now I’m getting this awful feeling in my stomach that maybe you don’t love me back. And even if it is true it doesn’t make my love for you any less true. Even if you don’t want me in your life, I want you to know you will always be the best part of me.” Harry’s voice now dropped into a whisper, full of so much of emotion Draco could almost taste it, “I love you, I admire you, I lust after you, and I adore you.”

Draco’s heart sang in happiness, he felt almost dizzy with pleasure, “I can’t even describe how much I love making love to you, with you. You make the most amazing sounds and you hold onto me like I’m the only person who had ever made you feel this way and it makes me feel like I can do anything.” Draco felt like his world had exploded, was it possible to die from such happiness?

“You’ll never find a man who will love you as much as I do, and who will protect you better then me, who will love Ashton and Damien more than I do, who will help you become the best person you could be, because that’s what you’re making me, the best man I could be.”

Draco didn’t even realise when he started to cry, but tears trickled down his face down into his neck wetting his pillow, but he didn’t care. Now, he had no doubt of Harry’s love, but he just didn’t know what he was supposed to do with so much happiness because He felt that he was not worthy of such devotion.

He touched Harry’s face with his fingers, traced the straight nose and the planes of those cheekbones, looked onto those green eyes full of emotions and let himself believe in everything that Harry just said. The absolute rightness of it, this was what he always dreamed of but never believed he would have. He felt his lips turn into a slow smile and only could say one thing, “Oh well if I must!” Harry let out a ragged laugh before pulling Draco into a soul searing kiss.

They made love slowly that night, both of them not wanting to let the other go. Just before Harry was about to come, Draco said ‘I love you’ for the very first time to Harry, which made Harry spontaneously orgasm, Draco felt quite proud of that one.

Afterwards they slept in each others arms, and woke up happy because for once all of their happiness wasn’t a dream anymore. Harry actually made breakfast without setting the kitchen on fire again and they ate in bed which was followed by slow lovemaking that resulted in quite a mess. They ended up showering together and spending more time getting dirty again rather than washing their bodies.

By the time it was lunch time both of them made their way to Libby’s place to pick up the boys. Draco was so happy he decided to forgive Libby and the boys for not telling him about Harry’s plan. Oh he knew about it alright, he didn’t think it was a coincidence Libby decided to look after two hyper 5 year olds for fun the same weekend Harry decided to put his little kidnapping plan in action! As they walked to Libby’s flat Draco noticed everything made him happy, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, “God Potter you turned me into a first year Hufflepuff! I’m actually happy the stupid birds are singing!”

Harry laughed and laughed at Draco’s accusation, oh god life was good again.

Chapter 15:

Six months later

Harry slumped on the sofa with an ‘oomph’ they had been unpacking all day, and finally there were some sort of order in the mess they called their possession. He looked around his new living room, and even though he was tired to the bone he couldn’t help feeling happy, in the last six month his life had changed so much…for the better. Closing his eyes he let out a relaxed breath, he couldn’t believe how excited he was and it was all due to three Malfoy’s. Harry laughed at the irony, whoever thought any Malfoy would be responsible for Harry Potter’s eternal happiness.

“What are you smiling about?” ah there he was.

Harry opened his eyes as the blonde sat next to him in the exact manner Harry himself did, Harry could see the tiredness in Draco’s posture, his usual pristine hair looking frazzled, but the blonde’s grey eyes were sparkling with the same excitement Harry felt. “I’m smiling at my good luck; I still wonder how I’ve managed to land three Malfoy’s in one swoop,” Harry replied as he put his arm around the Blonde.

“Well you do seem to have extremely good luck.” Draco said his tone completely serious but his eyes dancing with amusement. Harry just smiled and pulled the blonde even closer to him.

“I’m so happy we finally finished all the unpacking and if I see another cardboard box in my life I’m going to set it on fire,” Draco scowled. Harry just made an agreeable noise, he knew by now when Draco started to rant it was safest to let him get it all out. “And did you see what Weasley did to my Persian throw? He just put it in a pile in the corner box like it was some sort of cheap rug,” Draco sounded offended. Which Harry reckoned Draco probably was, Ron and Neville helped them “move” and the blonde was thoroughly incensed that Harry asked them without asking Draco first. Draco had been throwing digs at them both all day and they (good natured Gryffindors that they are!) took it all in good humour, which seemed to rile the blonde up even more. “And thank goodness the boys weren’t here today, although I worry that they are spending too much time with the Weasleys, though it seems like Granger is a good sort even if she did have the bad taste to marry that weasel,” Draco said as he yawned.

Harry wasn’t fooled at all by those declarations; he knew Draco had no rancour towards the Weasleys. Harry was really surprised at how good Draco went along with them after the initial shock wore off, him and Mrs. Weasley immediately bonded over cooking of all things, and in no time at all Draco was calling her mum-Molly like Harry and showing her how to make fajitas and pizzas. Arthur and he seemed to be cooped up at Arthur’s garage to discuss muggle items whenever he was at the Barrow; Draco also had introduced him to computers and the joys of internet. Draco and Hermione were almost friends sharing baby stories and apparently having “intellectual” conversations that were wasted on their other halves. He goaded and teased Ron who teased him right back but anybody could see there was no nastiness involved, just habit. They weren’t best friends and probably never will be but they weren’t enemies either and Harry was happy with whatever effort both of them made.

No the only Weasley Draco seemed any problem with was Ginny; and Ginny seemed to share the same feeling when it came to Draco.
Harry couldn’t understand it at all, he knew Draco knew any feelings between Ginny and Harry ended right after the war, now Harry saw her just as a sister, nothing more nothing less and Ginny knew that as well, she was in love with Neville. So what was the big problem?

When he asked Draco about it, Draco was adamant that Harry left it alone, but Harry wasn’t a Gryffindor for nothing. He pushed and pushed until Draco gave in and blurted out, “It’s just that every time I see her, I realise how close I was to losing you, how I would’ve never been this happy if only…”
“Exactly Draco, if only! I love you not her. For god’s sake Draco I’m gay, and even I was the least bit inclined to date women, it would never be Ginny.” Harry reassured the blonde his exasperation clear in his voice. After that conversation things between Draco and Ginny “improved” a bit, well improved as in they didn’t show open hostility towards each other but just seem to avoid each other.

Harry looked down on his lap to see the blonde has fallen asleep, his mouth a little open just like Damien sleeps. Harry missed having the boys around today, the house was unnaturally quite. They seemed to have taken to the magical world like duck to water, Damien excited beyond words always asking Harry or Draco (who finally had his wand back from Harry) to show him how to levitate the pens or make the papers dance which always seemed to send him in fits of giggles.

Ashton on the other hand drank everything in like he had been thirsty for years; he asked them so many questions about theories of magic and history of Hogwarts, Harry just introduced him to Hermione who was absolutely delighted by him and his endless questions.
Harry knew Draco had been most apprehensive about seeing his parents again and telling them about the boys.

It took them about two months to come back to magical world, Draco had to sell the flat, leave his job, the boys had to leave school and Harry admitted to using a bit of harmless magic to speed the process. They moved in to Harry’s flat near Diagon Alley and after an nerve wrecking afternoon with the Weasleys, Draco decided it was time to stop being a coward and see his parents. Harry wanted to go with him but Draco insisted that this was something he had to do alone, which is why he was leaving the boys with Harry, “I don’t want to shock them too much at one time Harry.”

Flashback

Draco was so nervous he felt like he was going to be sick. He didn’t know how to react when he saw his parents; Harry had assured him that they were more mellowed now and he had to laugh that Harry seemed to know his parents better than him! And that was the crux of the problem, the feelings of guilt was overwhelming for Draco. His parent had been devastated when Draco left and he knew that they would be but he still cut them out of his life. They didn’t even know they were grandparents, he knew how disappointed his parents will be when they find out the whole truth. He pulled on the neck of his new robes uncomfortably; he was so used to wearing muggle clothes now days that he really didn’t feel comfortable wearing wizard robes anymore. But he knew he probably wouldn’t be able to get past the manor gates if he looked like a muggle. Draco prayed for some courage as he stood in front of the manor doors and pulled the old fashioned knocker.

The doors opened and he looked down to see Tippy their head house-elf looking more clean then he ever seen them with her big eyes that were now filled with tears.

“Master Draco has returned! Oh my mistress will be so happy” her voice even more squeaky and laced tears.

“Hello Tippy,” Draco offered a smile and braced himself for what was about to come.

“Oh master remembers Tippy, Tippy is so unworthy,” she was fully sobbing now.

“Tip-tip, why you cry?” said a soft voice from behind the stairs.

Oh, Draco felt like he had been punched in the stomach, it was like looking at a miniature version of himself. That must be Dominic…his brother.

Draco didn’t even think about him when he considering coming to see his parents, but now that Draco saw him, standing there like a proper little wizard with his brows farrowed in concentration Draco felt a tug in his heart…this was his brother, his little brother he always wanted when he was growing up, and now that he had one Draco wasn’t going to waste his chance, his mind made up Draco took a step forward.

“Hello, you must be Dominic,” he said as he kneeled down in front of the little boy.

“Yes, I’m Dominic Scorpius Malfoy,” he replied like proper little wizard.

“Well Dominic, I’m Draco,” Draco offered his hand to Dominic who quickly took it, his tiny hands seemed to be engulfed by Draco’s just like it did with
Damien or Ashton and Draco felt a lump in his throat.

“Draco? I have a brother whose name is Draco as well, but he doesn’t come to visit me, my mummy cries whenever I ask about my brother. Do you know my brother?” Draco felt like someone stabbed him in the heart at his brother proclamation.

“Dominic, who are you talking to over there?” Draco’s heart twisted, he knew that voice. He hadn’t heard that gentle tone since the night of the final battle. Draco got up whatever courage he had left and turned around to face his mother for the first time in seven years.

“Dominic, how many times have I to…” her chiding tone disappeared as she saw the stranger turn, her face betraying every emotion she felt, shock, anger, sadness and the love…oh the love shined in her eyes and finally the tears came.

With half chocked half laughing cry she threw herself at Draco, who now had tears running down his face as well and caught her in his arms just in times.
She buried her face and sobbed, all Draco could hear was, “Oh my Draco, my baby…I knew it…oh my Draco,” over and over again.

Noise of another sobbing made Draco looked down; his brother was crying as well, looking scared and not understanding what was happening. Draco adjusted his hold on his mother and dragged his brother closer to him with his other hand, all three of them crying like there was no tomorrow.

“Well now isn’t this a touching scene?” sarcasm clear in the voice.
Draco looked up to see his father standing in the hallway, looking cool, suspicion clear in his grey eyes.

His father’s voice seemed to jar his mother from her crying daze; she moved away from him enough to look up in to his eyes as if she still couldn’t believe Draco was in front of her eyes.

She seemed to be stuck to her place and didn’t even seem to notice when Lucius came around her to pick Dominic up! To say Draco was shocked would be an understatement, he knew Harry said his father had mellowed but he didn’t think he would ever see the day when Lucius Malfoy picks up any child like a “plebeian” as his father was so fond of referring anyone who showed any sign of affection to their child.

“Who are you?” oh boy, his father didn’t sound happy…not happy at all.

“Well father, I had hoped even though it has been nearly a decade you would still recognise your own flesh and blood,” Draco said with a bravado he really didn’t feel.

Lucius didn’t say anything to that just kept looking at Draco with such intense scrutiny that made Draco feel like he was eleven again; when he broke into his father’s study without permission. Then suddenly he grabbed Draco’s hand almost violently and pulled the sleeve of his robes staring intently at his pale arm. It was so sudden that it took Draco a minute to get his bearing, when he collected himself he realised his father was staring at his un-marked arm where everyone (including Harry) had assumed that Draco had the dark mark, what they didn’t know was Voldemort never branded Draco as a Death Eater; apparently a “snivelling cowardly little Malfoy” wasn’t worthy enough to be part of The Dark Lord’s inner circle, Draco had never been more happy to be unworthy of anything in his life.

Suddenly Lucius gasped and grabbing Draco’s wrist pulled him into a hug, it was certainly awkward, as Dominic was still hanging on his other side looking at Draco with his wide grey eyes. But Draco didn’t care, to be honest his father had never been physically affectionate with him, this was the first hug he received from his dad since he was seven years old and he enjoyed this one to the fullest.

As suddenly as Lucius grabbed him, that suddenly he let go of Draco as if it dawned on him that Draco really was here. He righted his hold on Dominic and took a step back, making him stand next to Narcissa, without realising they stood like they were posing for a family portrait. Draco had to bite his lips from saying something stupid or hurtful like ‘don’t you guys look like the perfect family’ but he knew that would be selfish, he was the one who left, but god he was jealous!

“Hello father, mother,” he nodded to them in turn; it was going to be a long day.

End Flashback

Draco didn’t tell Harry exactly what he told his parents, but next thing Harry knew Draco came through Harry’s floo with his Parents in tow. Narcissa had been so overwhelmed by seeing her grand sons she hugged them both and cried for a good ten minutes, while Lucius stood in the corner looking at the scene with a stoic look on his face. Draco wasn’t untouched by the scene either, Harry saw him wipe his eyes couple of times.
That night they went to bed and Harry could tell Draco was both emotionally and physically exhausted but Harry was happy that Draco wasn’t pushing him away and allowing Harry to be there for him just like he would be there for Harry; if needed. As Harry was falling asleep that night he thought about the day they spent and knew without a doubt he would spend the rest of his life making his Draco happy.

A glint on his peripheral vision caught Harry out of his day-dreaming, Draco was fully asleep now and the glint was coming from the light that reflected on his left hand. Harry smiled and picked up the hand that was as lovely as the rest of Draco and his eyes found what he was a looking for, it was a medium width almost plain platinum band except for the embedded little diamonds that Harry was scared at first was going to look feminine and Draco would kick his ass for thinking he was a girl or something.

Harry could almost hear Draco’s voice as he was buying the ring, “Just because I cried just a little when you told me you loved me Potter, doesn’t mean I’m the freaking girl in this relationship. Actually you’re the girl if you could come up with such sappy lines.” But Harry had fallen in love when he saw the ring, it was simple yet elegant, and Harry thought Draco might just like it.

Harry was wrong, Draco didn’t like it…he loved it, his exact words were, “Well Potter, how can I say no when you bought me such a lovely ring. But mind you I’m only saying yes because I want that ring,” but the tears and love in his eyes told Harry what he needed to know and the rest of the night was spent in sweet oblivion.

Harry smiled when he thought back at the proposal; Harry spent an entire week trying to think of the most romantic way to propose but it all seemed wrong for them. When Harry finally asked they were in Harry’s old living room watching a movie, the kids fast asleep on one side of him and Draco had his head on his lap much like he has now and Harry just blurted it out, “Draco?”

“Hmm?” he sounded half-asleep himself.

“Will you marry me?” that made Draco shot out of the sofa like someone hexed him, he was wide awake now.

“I’m sorry but I thought I heard you say you wanted to marry me or something,” he said shaking his head as if ready to laugh it off as a joke.

But Harry didn’t give him the chance, he stood in front of Draco and took his scowling face in his hands and gently kissed him on the lips, “Would you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me. Please?” he offered a weak smile.

Draco looked so stunned he didn’t speak for a minute and then smirked, “Well Potter, it seems you finally lost it. So have you bought a ring or is this another one of your Gryffindor foolishness,” even though he sounded like he couldn’t care less Harry could see the emotions storming in those grey eyes, Draco was scared…he was scared of hoping.

Harry took the ring that he literally took with him everywhere he went, out of the pockets of his sweatpants and gave it to Draco; he was still feeling too nervous to say anything that might change Draco’s mind. Draco took the ring from his hands stared at it for a long time and the rest as they say was history.

That was three months ago and since then their life had been crazy, their family had been very happy upon hearing about their engagement, even Lucius seemed nice as he even cracked a pained smile at Arthur at Harry and Draco’s engagement party (courtesy of Hermione, Molly and Narcissa), Harry knew he was only being so agreeable because Narcissa threatened him, who seemed to get along famously with Molly and Hermione.

If their family was happy for them the rest of the magical world hadn’t been so welcoming about the news. The media went into frenzy, the Daily Prophet claiming that Draco had been in hiding, secretly working towards resurrecting Voldemort and Harry was now under some sort of a spell or potion.
They received everything from howlers to how to throw of imperious or love spells instructions leaflets.

After a week of hounding, Harry sued the Prophet for libel and slander (successfully, he still was the boy-who-lived and was Slytherin enough to know how to use it to his advantage!) and gave an exclusive interview to the Quibbler that smoothed a couple of ruffled feathers.
The change wasn’t instant but it has been nearly two months after that interview and they haven’t received a howler since, there were still a few angry publics but the majority of the magical world seemed to have backed off.

Harry looked around his living room again, they had fallen in love with the house as soon as they saw it, and the boys have loved the huge garden they never had in New York. The house was a small mansion; it had ten bedrooms, a huge kitchen that Draco instantly worshipped, five bathrooms, the master bedroom was magnificent with its big windows and an en-suite and a walk-in closet.

The boys were adamant about sharing a room, and Draco decorated their rooms in a magical castle theme, which they instantly adored. Draco also allocated rooms for Teddy, Mark, Dominic and Rosie for whenever they would come to visit, which he quipped knowing Harry and his boys would be a lot.
When Harry enquired who rest of the rooms were for Draco just blushed and changed the subject. Harry let go of the topic because he had a feeling he might know what Draco was blushing about.

Harry looked down at his fiancé (he still shivered whenever he thought fiancé) and smiled he still couldn’t believe how his life changed so much in such a short amount of time. He brushed the hair off Draco’s face, poor baby was completely worn out, they finished all the un-packing today, they were officially moved in.

Harry couldn’t get wait till they would get married, they both wanted a small intimate ceremony with just their family and close friends and put it on hold till they were finally moved in. Lucius offered them the manor gardens and after seeing the extensive grounds Harry could definitely see himself getting married there and readily agreed, and things have gotten slowly organised. In About two weeks time Draco finally would be his husband. Harry shivered again the thought.

Harry was just day-dreaming about being Draco’s husband, and spending the rest of his life with him when the little knocks on their kitchen window got his attention. Harry got up from the sofa and made his way to the kitchen. A ministry owl with an official looking letter was perched on the window.
At first Harry was confused, it couldn’t be from his work because Harry took a leave of absence, because he realised even though he loved his job he couldn’t afford to travel like a nomad anymore, nor did he want to. He had a family now and he wanted to come back to them after the end of the day, he was actually in the process of negotiating a new contract with the department that allowed him to still do what he loved to do but still kept him in the country.

Harry fed the owl some treats and took the letter; he watched the bird fly away and tore open the letter. He couldn’t help the big grin that settled over his face as he read the letter; he didn’t think he had been ever so happy to receive a letter from anyone, even his Hogwarts letter didn’t come close to this one.

“What is it?” Draco’s voice was husky from sleep.

Harry just grinned and pulled Draco into his arms with a hard kiss, Draco slowly put his arms around Harry’s neck and they made out like teenagers for a full minute or so. After which air became an issue and they both reluctantly let go. “I love you,” came a whispered declaration. Harry didn’t reply just pulled Draco in for another kiss, much slowly this time; they spent a couple of minutes just slowly kissing like they were making love. When finally Draco’s curiosity got the better of him and he asked again what the letter was about to which Harry just grinned like a lunatic.

“Ok Potter, you’re scaring me with your happiness, what’s happened? You win the lottery or something?” his eyes dancing with amusement.

“I’ve won something bigger and better then a lottery! I’ve won my family. The adoption is official, the boys are now legally my sons and heirs” Harry said with a big grin on his face.

“Damien Malfoy-Potter and Ashton Malfoy-Potter. No wonder you have a goofy grin on your face,” Draco just chuckled and shook his head. He knew how important this was to Harry but to him what mattered is that he knew Harry already thought of them as his sons in his heart and for Draco that was enough.

He turned around and put his arms around Harry “Thank you for making me so happy,” he said his throat constricting, damn it he wasn’t crying again.

“No Baby thank you,” Harry said completely sincere.

“Don’t call me Baby Potter,” Draco knew he sounded whiny but didn’t care, “How many times do I have to tell you?” a lot by the mischievous grin on Harry’s face.

“Aw, don’t be like that my poochie-pooh,” Harry said and knew it was time to run for his life as Draco was silently mouthing poochie-pooh? Harry's laughter was resounding through the stairs.

Oh he was heading for the bedroom was he? Draco smirked and made his way to the bedroom more slowly. Being married to Potter? Well my life would certainly be never boring, thought Draco and smiled as he made his way to the bedroom, oh yes, never boring.

The End.