Draco watched on as Blaire left his side to go running into the arms of their eldest child.

He couldn't understand how Jack had gotten so... strapping. He'd been so small when Draco had rescued him from the underground, feeling much lighter than his six years.

And now he stood, seventeen years old and towering above his mother - almost towering above Draco. It unnerved him, made him feel a flicker of redundancy, as though he was no longer needed.

He glanced guiltily away, silently scolding himself for even thinking that way. Besides, Lyra still needed him. As did Scorpius, to an extent.

"Jack," Draco grunted as he drew up behind them, nodding to his son over Blaire's head. "Good year?"

"You know," Jack shrugged, keeping his arms wrapped tight around his mother who looked as though she wasn't willing to let go of him any time soon. "Sixth year and all that, essays, chilling, exams... the usual."

No. Draco didn't know about that. His sixth year was spent being involved in a murder plot which eventually led to the premature and dramatic end of his Hogwarts education.

Not to mention his headteacher's life.

"Quidditch good?" Draco asked, already struggling with the small talk.

Jack chuckled, irking Draco somewhat. "You know me, pops. Not really my thing. But you'll be pleased to hear Slytherin won."

Draco's eyebrows shot up, the familiar feeling of excitement he had once felt when it came to Quidditch sparked like an old friend in his chest.

As though sensing it, Blaire twisted out of Jack's embrace, her eyes shining amusedly up at Draco as she reached up a hand to playfully ruffle his hair.

"Finally you can rest in peace," she teased, standing on tiptoes to press her soft lips against his cheek.

Draco closed his eyes, feeling an instant warmth spread through him. He curled an arm around her waist and pulled her possessively to him, hating that he was feeling as though he was vying for her attention over Jack's.

"Come on," he murmured authoritatively, reaching out his free hand to take Jack's trunk, "let's get the others from Augusta's and get Jack settled back home."

He was just about to turn and lead them away, when Jack quickly snatched his trunk back.

"No need, Dad," he muttered, swinging it by his side with ease as he draped his other arm around Blaire's shoulders, stealing her back, "I've got this. Now come on Mum, I'm sure you're dying to tell me what plans you've made for the summer. And don't forget, I can do out of school magic so consider the chores on me for the next two months."

Draco followed on dejectedly behind as Jack and Blaire walked on ahead, laughing and only having eyes for each other.

How he couldn't wait to pick his little princess up.

*****

"Daddy!"

Draco sighed happily as his eight year old little girl came flying down the hallway, her long shining white-blond hair rippling behind her as she jumped up into his arms.

Her beauty never failed to take his breath away, never failed to take most people's breath away. Like Jack, she wore a beauty that was almost inhumanly possible, with a rare but striking combination of dark skin and silvery hair. She was an exact mixture of him and Blaire... of Jack, who was all his mother, and Scorp, who was all his father.

But Draco wished Lyra weren't so stunning. In fact, he would have given anything for her to have the kind of bland looks that would make her blend safely into the background.

Because he was afraid of the attention she was going to get. Afraid of his daughter getting caught up in the same predatory drama that Blaire had once gone through.

"Gran says that she's going to get me a princess dress for my birthday and that I can give Trevor a kiss to see if he turns into a prince!"

Draco balked. Good god, he wasn't hearing this. "I don't think that would be very sanitary, do you, darling?"

Lyra just blinked her big dark eyes up at him, her lower lip wobbling. "But Gran says-"

"Aw, shawks, please don't tell me you're thinking of boys already, Ly," Jack bellowed behind them as he towered in the doorway of Augusta's little two bedroom townhouse where Neville Longbottom once used to live. "You're only eight!"

"Nine in three weeks and two days!" Lyra said crossly, frowning up at her oldest big brother whom she hadn't seen in over six months. "And Daddy said I could have a party and invite all my friends, didn't you Daddy?"

"What friends?" Scorpius muttered as he sloped out of Augusta's living room, his shoulders slumped heavily as though he'd had an exhausting morning. "You're home schooled, Ly Ly."

"So are you! And I have lots of friends, don't I, Daddy?"

"Of course you do, sweet pea," Draco agreed softly, kissing the top of her head. "There's Rose and Hugo, and Gregory, of course."

"I'm not inviting them!" Lyra sniffed loudly, sticking her nose in the air. "I meant the ones I go to Little Witches with on Wednesday afternoons."

"Little Witches, my bumhole," Augusta muttered as she shuffled out behind Scorpius on her walking stick. "Bingo! That's where it's at! A nice large Long Island tea and a natter with the gals whilst winning a decent little pot of gold. No better way to spend an afternoon, I say."

"As I said before, Augusta," Draco gritted, resisting the temptation to roll his eyes, "Lyra is too young to drink and gamble."

"Oh Drac, stop being so serious," Blaire drawled as she marched over to Augusta to give her a warm kiss on the cheek. "Hope the monsters haven't given you too much trouble, Gran."

"Nonsense!" Augusta roared. "Just been showing young Scorpy here my latest knitting patterns. Said if he's a good boy, I'll knit him a Gryffindor comfort blanket for him to take school with him in September. My Nev used to love his, took it with him everywhere, he said."

Tears glistened in her eyes as they were prone to do at the mention of her late grandson. Draco coughed awkwardly, making a point of looking at his watch. He was anxious to get back on the road and beat the traffic.

He also wanted to point out that Scorpius might not get into Gryffindor, just because Jack had. It was as though Augusta had forgotten that he and Blaire were both Slytherin. In fact, she treated his kids as though they were actually Longbottom's and that he, Draco Malfoy, were just some sort of interloper who happened to be shagging their mother.

But then, he supposed, they had a lot to be grateful for with Augusta appearing back in their lives.

For one, she was always keen to babysit.

And two - well...

******

Six Years previously - Jack's First Day

Draco paused outside Jack's bedroom, noticing his door was open a jar. He was just about to reach out and close it when he heard sobbing on the other side.

"Blaire, darling," he whispered as he pushed it open to reveal his wife curled up on Jack's bed and crying into his pillow, the sight making his heart twist.

He swiftly crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, gently coaxing her into his arms.

"He was the only thing that got me through those years underground," she wept, burying her face in his neck as he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. "After losing Neville, and being torn away from you, I would have just... given up, you know? But all of a sudden he was there and so I put all my energy and will to live in him."

Her body shook as she sobbed harder, and he held her tighter, trying to think what he could say to show he understood and that he was there for her, that he'd always be there.

"We always knew this day was going to come," he soothed gently. "And we always knew that Jack needed to fly his own wings. At least he's still in the country, and when you think about it, only an Apparition away. I don't care what Minerva says about visits messing with their settling in - if we need to see our son then we will go and see him. I'll take you there now, if you like and we can gatecrash his Sorting. I'm sure that won't embarrass him."

To his relief, her sobbing subsided and he felt her lips pull into a smile against his skin. She lifted her tear stained face and he immediately clasped it, dipping his head to kiss the tip of her nose.

"Where do you think he'll end up?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because somehow I don't think our little boy is going to follow in our footsteps."

Draco shook his head, softly chuckling. "I can't believe I'm saying it, but that boy is a Gryffindor through and through. If Longbottom hadn't been quite so atrociously gay, I might have worried Jack was his."

Blaire seemed to sag and he knew she was thinking about her earlier meeting with Augusta at the train station.

"I feel so bad that I didn't try and get back in touch with his gran the moment we came out of hiding." She murmured quietly.

"Don't beat yourself up Blaire, we had a lot to deal with what with Mother's passing and trying to help Jack and ourselves through the trauma of everything. I just thank Merlin that Scorpius was too young to remember any of it."

"Okay then, but after we returned from our travels - what excuse did I have then?"

"Life." Draco shrugged. "Sometimes it just has a habit of getting in the way and causes us to lose connections with people we never intend to lose. We had another one on the way, Blaire, and not to mention all the 'nieces' and 'nephews' we have acquired on our journey here."

He felt Blaire stiffen and a frown flickered across her face as though she had suddenly thought of something.

"She gave me a package," she said, sitting up straight, her dark eyes widening as they looked into his, "from Neville - something of his, she said. I left it in my bag."

Without a word, Draco removed his wand and gave it a flick. Moments later her bag came flying into the room.

"Would you like me to leave you alone?" He asked as she tentatively removed the package.

"No," she said at once, grabbing his arm. "Drac, I think I know what it might be."

The tone of her voice sounded fearful and Draco automatically curled a protective arm around her back as he watched her release the package from its brown wrappings.

"Blaire?" He whispered as she pulled from it a long rectangular box which he recognised immediately as an Ollivander's. "Is that," he swallowed. "Is that his wand?"

"Cherry and unicorn hair," Blaire whispered as she carefully lifted the lid, peering inside. "Nev said he reckoned it was one of the last ones Ollivander had sold right before he was kidnapped."

Draco felt his stomach knot unpleasantly, his eyes casting down at the floor, recalling the screams he'd once heard coming from beneath the Manor.

"Drac!" She gasped, almost dropping the box.

He looked up, his heart racing. "What? Are you alright?"

"No- yes, I mean... did you see that?"

He frowned, shaking his head.

She reached inside, her trembling fingers curling around the wand and, to his amazement, tiny red sparks flew out from the end.

Their eyes met, sharing a look of utmost wonderment and elation.

Blaire hadn't lost her magic. It had just been waiting for Neville Longbottom's wand.

*****

Present Day - Summer 2016

"Should've hexed his arse off, Mum."

"She would've done if I hadn't walked out." Draco gritted as he rolled the car to a stop outside the Manor and pulled up the handbrake.

He removed his sunglasses and tossed them in the glove compartment, winking at Lyra who beamed brightly up at him from the passenger seat.

She always liked to sit up front with him, and Blaire was more than happy to sit in the back with the boys. Especially now that she had Jack back who'd had his arm draped over her shoulders for the entire car journey home.

"Spoil sport," Blaire pouted, crossing her arms huffily over her chest. "I've always wanted to try out the Bat-Bogey Hex, too."

"Ew!" Lyra squealed dramatically, pulling a face of utter disgust as she twisted in her seat to scowl at her mother.

"Nah, Mum," Jack said, his voice shaking with anger. "Only Crucio is good enough for racist bastards like that. Why didn't you kill him for talking like that to her, Dad?"

Draco's eyes flicked up to the rear view mirror where his eldest son's eyes were staring fiercely back at him. He recognised an accusation in them that Draco didn't like. Coward, they said.

"Because he isn't worth losing our wands over." Draco muttered. "Your mother has already been in trouble for using it on a Muggle. Another strike and her wand gets snapped in two."

"That's not what I said." Jack snarled, his lip curling up in a way that Draco recognised very much. "I would have at least punched the fucker's lights out."

Both Scorpius and Lyra gasped and covered their ears in a way that Draco would have found amusing if it weren't for the sudden rage of anger in his head.

"DO NOT USE THAT LANGUAGE IN FRONT OF YOUR BROTHER AND SISTER!" He bellowed as he twisted round violently in his seat to glare at Jack, his voice so loud that it literally shook the car around them.

"Drac-" Blaire started, reaching out for his arm just as Lyra began to cry and Scorpius's mouth fell open.

Jack, however, didn't flinch.

"Whatever," he muttered, yanking the car door open before sloping out.

The disappointment on Blaire's face as she looked at him was too much, so Draco turned his attention back to his daughter, apologising profusely as she sobbed hysterically into her hands, terrified by her usually placid father's unnatural burst of anger.

However, she hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out without looking at him, just as Blaire and Scorpius did too.

Draco clutched the steering wheel in his hands, his heart racing as he remained alone in the car, watching as Blaire ran up to Jack, throwing her arms around him. Looking down, he noticed his knuckles had turned white as anger continued to flow through his veins.

He hated this. He couldn't understand why he was feeling the way he was feeling. Jealous of his own son?

Making a snap decision, he put the car into first gear and sped off back up the drive, wheels spinning as he left a cloud of dust behind him where his family stood, no doubt all wondering what had just happened.

He needed to get away.

******