Three Years Later

My eyelids fluttered open, a cold dread clutching at my heart.

Today was the day I had to let go of my little boy.

"It'll be fine," Draco assured me, placing a coffee by my head before sitting on the edge of the bed to tenderly stroke my hair.

"You're up," I croaked, my voice hoarse as I blearily lifted my head, noting that he was already dressed in his standard black suit.

"Yeah," he murmured, dipping his head to kiss my brow. "I wanted to make sure Jack was all packed and ready."

"Do you remember our first day?" I asked him, sitting up and scooting along so that he could join me.

Draco shifted himself next to me, leaning back against the headboard as he languidly draped an arm across my shoulders. I sank into his side, revelling in his warm and comforting presence.

"I remember thinking how sodding lucky I was that the most beautiful girl in the world was willing to share a compartment with me."

I mimed a gagging motion with my fingers. "Per-lease!" I scoffed. "You were eleven years old and more obsessed by Harry Potter than your own reflection. Besides," I added sulkily crossing my arms. "I seem to recall that Pansy was more your type in those early days."

He chuckled, squeezing his arm around me. "You know," he said, his soft drawl making me shiver, "jealously was never a good look on you... Zabini."

"Malfoy to you," I said hitting him playfully in the chest. "Unless you want a divorce?"

"Do you want to be tickled?" he smirked, pulling me down the bed and pinning me into the mattress with his body. I shrieked in protest as his lips began to attack my neck and his hands slid up my sides. "Because I bloody well will, woman."

I was mid squeal when the bedroom door burst open and Scorpius came running in, his white-blond hair flapping up and down as he bounded excitedly onto our bed.

"Mummy! Daddy! Jak Jak is going to magic school on the train! Will we get to sit on the train? I really want to see the train! Is it a big train? Jak Jak says the train has wings and that it flies!"

Draco quickly rolled off me, and we both sat up to stare at our wide eyed five-year-old son who was always full of questions.

"I think Jack was pulling your leg, darling," I said as I reached over to pull him onto my lap, kissing the top of his head. "The Hogwarts Express is just a dull old steam train I'm afraid."

"Yes, but it has a snack trolley," Draco added as though this somehow was on par with flying, "Only you need to make sure you get in early before some show-off has-been buys the whole lot up."

Scorpius just blinked at him.

"Chill, Daddy," I drawled, a smirk twitching at my lips. "That was nineteen years ago."

To the day, in fact.

Leaving a sulking Draco on the bed, Scorpius and I went to find Jack. But he wasn't in his room.

"Huh," I said, scratching my head as Scorpius and I looked at each other. "Any ideas where your brother is, little man?"

"Let's ask Ly Ly," Scorpius suggested, grabbing my hand to lead me to his sister's room.

As it was, Jack was already in there, reading Fantastic Mr Fox out loud to Lyra who was trying her best to grab it out of his hand and tug at his hair.

"Ow- quit it, Lyra!" Jack frowned moodily, attempting to free a strand of his hair from her little fist. "I'm trying to read you a goodbye story!"

He yanked his hair out of her hand so fast that she toppled off the bed, her face mingled with a look of shock and startled surprise.

We all held our breath as she screwed her face up.

Because when Lyra screamed, she screamed.

And there was only one person she would allow to calm her down, and it wasn't me.

"Oh, princess," Draco said as he came skidding into the room, pushing me and Scorpius out of the way to get to his little damsel in distress. "Daddy's here, my sweet pea."

Jack and I rolled our eyes at one another as Draco scooped her up into his arms, her sobbing immediately subsiding as she buried her face in his shoulder.

That girl had her daddy completely wrapped around her little finger, and even at the age of three, she knew it.

"Come on, boys," I muttered, beckoning to the door. "Let's go and get some breakfast."

We left Draco and Lyra to it, his voice drifting down the hallway as he began to sing to her ("Cause I live to get lost on lazy afternoons with you...").

*****

A pleasant surprise greeted us as we stepped into the kitchen.

"Who wants pancakes?" Ron beamed, holding up a large plate of black round things.

"Oh, Ronald!" Hermione scolded as she breathlessly chased a red headed Hugo around the table. "Nobody wants your burnt crap!"

"I'll have one," Jack grinned up at him, eagerly taking a seat at the table. "In fact, make it two. Dad reckons that the snack trolley might run out before it reaches me."

Draco literally tells that story to anyone who will listen.

"That's my boy," Ron chortled, plonking three onto his plate before ruffling Jack's hair. "I hope you don't mind us being here," he added as he tipped black charcoal onto my plate. "I thought it would be a nice way to send off our Jack."

"Of course not," I grinned, feeling ridiculously happy to be sharing breakfast with them again. "I told you, you are always welcome here anytime."

Ron's eyes glistened as he watched Jack tuck happily into his pancakes.

"It only seems like yesterday when you came into the world, little fox," Ron said wistfully. "You brought us so much happiness and hope, you've no idea."

Oh god. My eyes began to sting, and I suddenly found I could not swallow as a painful lump formed in my throat.

I loved how Ron got it, how he understood just how poignant this day was. It wasn't Draco's fault he didn't feel it. After all, he had no idea that Jack even existed in those first six years.

"Hugo Harry Weasley! Will you come back here right now!" Hermione gasped, sweat pouring off her face as Hugo ran out of the kitchen, squealing with delight at pissing off his mother.

"Let him go 'Mione," Ron said thickly through a mouthful of pancake. "He needs to burn some of that energy off before we get in the car."

"But we'll never find him again!" Hermione sighed in exasperation as she wrung her hands through her bushy mane. "Remember how Rose used to get lost here all the time?"

"And we always found her again, didn't we?" Ron shrugged as he winked down at his five-year-old daughter next to him who giggled shyly behind her hands.

Scorpius, watching, copied her. He simply adored Rose, always staring at her as though she was a beautiful flower just like her name.

At this point, Draco strode into the kitchen with Lyra in his arms and Hugo hanging off his leg.

"Picked this one up on my way down." Draco said wryly as Hermione unpeeled her son off her old school bully.

Draco took the seat next to me, planting a sweet kiss on my lips as Lyra still clung her arms possessively around his neck. "How are you coping, my love?" He murmured quietly, his eyes studying me intently as though looking for any signs of distress.

I shrugged, still not trusting myself to speak.

"Help yourself to breakfast, mate," Ron said, shovelling more pancake into his mouth. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of making them myself, seeing as they used to be Jack's favourite."

Draco glanced down at the burnt pancakes, his lip curling in disgust. "I think I'll just have toast." He mumbled, plonking Lyra down in his place as he got to his feet to fetch the bread.

"Daddy!" Lyra began wailing, reaching her arms out towards his retreating back as tears sprang instantly to her eyes.

She hopped down from the chair and stomped steadily after him, her little face scowling with anger that he could neglect her for even five seconds.

I tutted, rolling my eyes. I swear my daughter saw me solely as competition for her daddy's affections. I got serious fifth year Pansy vibes from her.

A hand slipped into mine, and I looked down startled to see it was Jack's. I couldn't remember the last time I had held his hand and the thought made me feel inexplicably sad.

"Don't worry, Mum," he whispered quietly as his grey eyes twinkled up at me, "I still love you."

"Oh, Jack," I smiled, trying my hardest not to cry. "My Jack."

But when he leaned over to hug me, that was it. I felt tears pour freely down my face as I squeezed him tightly back, loving the feel of his warm body in my arms and not wanting to ever let him go.

"You know what," I heard Ron mutter to Hermione. "If he ends up in Slytherin then I'll dip my wand in ketchup and eat it like a chip."

*****

Steam billowed everywhere; I couldn't see a sodding thing.

"Scorp!" I yelled, practically choking on the damned stuff.

He'd let go of my hand and ran off somewhere. Panic consumed me. "SCORP!" I cried out louder.

Behind me, Draco was helping Jack with his luggage at the same time as carrying Lyra. I literally had had one job.

The steam finally cleared, and I let out a huge sigh of relief as I saw an old lady leading my white-blond haired son back to me.

An awfully familiar old lady indeed.

"Augusta?" I breathed. "Is that- is that you?"

I suddenly felt overwhelmed with guilt. Since our newfound freedom, I hadn't thought to visit Neville's gran, assuming she was probably dead.

"Blaire, dear," she said shakily, her face gaunt and sallow, "I believe this one belongs to you. And call me Gran, please... like you used to."

Her voice broke and I felt a horrendous wave of grief. This poor woman looked a shell of her former self. But how could I possibly call her Gran when I hadn't even bothered to send her a Christmas card?

I took Scorpius's hand in mine and pulled him back to my side. Augusta's eyes shone as she looked down at him. "He's a bonnie wee lad. Looks very much like his father, though. Nothing like you."

"He's- um-," I said awkwardly, trying to think how to word this. "I, uh- adopted him."

"Oh." Augusta looked confused, glancing over my shoulder where Draco was holding our daughter and talking to our eldest son, both children who clearly looked a mixture of myself and Draco.

This always threw people who didn't know the situation.

"Scorpius was born when I was still in hiding," I explained quickly, praying she wouldn't ask anymore questions in front of him.

Scorpius knew about Astoria; he even had a photo of her in his bedroom. But being five, he was too young to understand much more than the fact that the woman in the photo was once his mother and now was dead.

Draco refused to say a thing about Astoria to him though and was angry with me when he had discovered I'd given him the photo ("SHE WAS NEVER HIS MOTHER, SHE WAS NOTHING BUT A COLD-HEARTED MURDEROUS BITCH! YOU ARE HIS MOTHER, BLAIRE. YOU!").

But I explained to him that it was important that we didn't outright lie to Scorpius, that we could lose his trust if he found out later in his life that he had been given birth to by another woman. And the fact that Astoria's family involved themselves in his life made things more difficult to deny she had ever existed.

"I'm glad I caught you," Augusta said, her lips pulling into a smile that looked as though it caused her great effort. "I was told your eldest was starting today so I thought I'd try my luck."

Confusion flickered in my brain. What could Neville's grandmother possibly want to see me about?

She reached into her bag and pulled from it a long rectangular package.

"It was Neville's. He didn't have much, and now I'm not long for the world, I want to make sure his belongings go to good homes. Most of it I sent all off to charity. But this- this I felt he would want you to keep."

"What is it?" I asked, shakily taking it from her grasp, my heart hammering at the thought of seeing something of Neville's again.

"Don't open it here," she said at once. "I can't take the tears. Please, leave it until you get home. Concentrate on saying goodbye to your son. Your children are precious, make every second count with them. Don't let an old doddery fool like me keep you from them."

She started to turn on the spot and panic tore at my chest. "Augusta! Wait-!"

But she vanished.

"Blaire?" Draco. He was stood behind me, looking perplexed. "Who was that?"

"It was Nev's grandmother," I whispered, my heart still racing against my ribs.

"She's still alive?!"

A loud whistle sounded, causing chaos to break out on the platform. I quickly shoved the package in my bag, my thoughts now only on saying goodbye to my son.

Letting go of Scorpius's hand, I enveloped Jack in the biggest hug, burying my face in his beautiful long dark wavy hair.

"It's okay, Mum, I'll promise I'll write all the time." He said as he hugged me tightly back.

I didn't want to let him go. How could I? It's always been me and Jack from the day he was born. He was the boy who had given me light in the darkest of days, the boy who had brought me nothing but pure, unbridled happiness.

"Come on, Blaire," Draco said, gently placing a hand on my shoulder. "It's time to let him go."

Draco wrapped an arm around me as we later watched the train leave the station. I could sense Lyra's displeasure at sharing him. Her little foot kept 'accidentally' kicking me in the face.

"I'll look after you, Mummy," Scorpius's little voice said as he clutched my hand. "We can watch Peppa Pig. She always makes me happy when I'm feeling sad."

"No Peppa!" Lyra said crossly as she banged a little fist down on top of my head. "Mumma bad!"

What the fuck did I ever do to her?

"Actually," Draco said, a sheepish look crossing his face. "How would you kids like to spend the day at Granny Molly's so that I can take Mummy out to cheer her up?"

I blinked, looking mildly surprised up at him. "Out? Where?"

"It's all arranged," he said, kissing my forehead. "I've got a little surprise for you. I knew today was going to be difficult, so I've been planning something to help take your mind off things."

"Oh?" I was intrigued.

And I also quite liked the idea of having Draco all to myself. Apart from in bed where we were both too exhausted to do much other than sleep these days, we very rarely spent any time just the two of us.

So, I happily marched the kids into the Burrow where Lyra had the biggest tantrum about letting go of her daddy ("Go," Molly cooed, shooing us out the door as Lyra repeatedly smacked her in the face, "she'll be fine once I get the biscuit barrel out!").

"Good god!" I said exasperatedly once we were free. "She's got to get this from you! That girl wouldn't know chill if it bit her in the backside!"

"Leave my princess be," Draco smirked as he pulled me into his arms and brushed his nose against mine. "You can't blame her for being a daddy's girl."

The love in his eyes when he talked about her filled with me such warmth that I couldn't help but smile.

"So, where are we going then?" I asked as he removed his wand, ready to Apparate us. "Somewhere with food, I hope."

"You'll see," he said, his eyes twinkling.

******

I turned around, feeling confused.

"You've brought me for a day out to the beach?" I asked, ducking as a seagull attempted to land on my head.

"Not quite," he said, grabbing my shoulders to turn me around so that I was no longer facing the golden sands, but instead looking at what appeared to be a very colourful building.

Arcades.

"Fuck yeah, Drac," I grinned, suddenly feeling fourteen all over again as excitement mounted in my stomach, "now this is more like it."

I ran towards it, trying to open the door, but not succeeding. "Damn, it's closed."

Draco removed a key from his pocket. "No, it isn't, not anymore." And then he proceeded to unlock it.

"Drac... what-?"

Without a word, he grabbed my hand, leading me inside. The place was full of the most exciting Muggle amusements I had ever seen, all waiting to be played.

"It's all yours. I bought it for you."

"But... why?"

"Because I remember long ago when you told me this was your dream. Okay, so maybe things have changed along the way and we became parents sooner than expected. But it's not too late, it never is. I mean, fuck - we've only just turned thirty. So, it's yours Blaire, your very own arcade just like you once dreamt about. And do you know the best bit?"

I shook my head, feeling overwhelmed. Draco chuckled and pulled me towards another door that appeared to lead into some kind of back room. Above it was lettering which caused a bubble of laughter to rise in my throat.

Draco's Badges - custom made for any occasion

"Oh my fucking god, you didn't! I can't believe you did this! Oh god, I love you, you absolutely crazy gorgeous man!"

"You must know, I'd do anything to make you happy," he chuckled as I jumped into his arms, smothering his face in kisses. "You have always been the best of everything, Blaire. Which is why I named this place what I did."

I paused, frowning down at him. "What did you name it? I didn't notice."

"Go and see, it's on the front of the building. And as soon as you've done that, you're going to come back in here and we're going to christen my workshop. I've been dying to fuck you over the badge press ever since I bought it."

Jumping down, I leapt back through the hall, navigating my way past arcades from motorbike racers to dance machines, until I found myself outside.

I laughed when I turned around and looked up, my heart filling with love at the three words that had meant so much to us over the years.

Three little words that had always made everything so right, that no matter where we were or what shit we were going through, all we had to do was say them and we knew we would always be there for one another.

Three little words that somehow meant everything.

Best Of Five.

*****

What was inside the package that Augusta gave to Blaire? Will she ever rediscover her lost magic? And most importantly, which house was Jack Sorted into?

Find out in book three when focus begins to fall upon the Malfoy children as they battle their way through teenage angst and school dramas.

Best Of Five - book three out now

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A/N: I wasn't going to do a third book, but I actually like the idea of exploring how Draco and Blaire cope with being parents to teens, and how their family relationships will change and develop over time. It makes a change from writing Voldemort dramas at any rate! Give me time to think of a title and get the first chapter written and I'll have it out as soon as possible. It's not for everyone, I know, but hope those who have read this far have enjoyed the Draco/Blaire story as much as I have had writing it.

See you soon, hopefully (and thank you for all your beautiful votes and comments!) ❤️

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