‘He wants to invite you to his birthday. He said Teddy had been pestering him about it for weeks. He even offered me an invitation if it meant you’d come.’
‘He invited you. To our house. His house. His.’ Draco corrected himself, but it was too late. Pansy gave him one of her most piercing looks and Draco felt like she was looking at his soul.
‘Yes, he did. I think you should go. I have some time off from work so if you want to I’ll stay, and we can go together. Luna will be there too, and Granger. You won’t be alone.’
‘I’ll think about it but right now I really need to analyse these samples. I think I might be on to something here.’ He said as one of his samples started giving him some bizarre readings. Pansy huffed at being turfed out of his lab.
‘Ugh. Fiiiiine. You’re such a bore these days Draco. You’re all work, work, work.’
‘If you want to talk about work, go listen to some Rihanna.’ He said absently as he noted down his findings. He really needed to show this to Harry as soon as possible.
‘You know Rihanna?’ He grinned in vaguely the right direction.
‘Pansy please,’ he imitated her exaggerated tone, ‘I’m gay, I’m not dead.’
She cackled her way out of his lab and he was finally able to get back to his work in peace, his mind whirring with the implications of Harry wanting him at his birthday. It would be the first time he’d ever been back to his marital home and he wasn’t sure he would ever be quite ready for that.
Chapter 4
Draco was never letting Pansy talk him into anything ever again. The minute he apparated them to the doorstep of his former home, he felt his world tilt on its axis. He lifted a hand to knock on the door and froze, it felt totally wrong to be knocking on his own front door. In the end, he hesitated so long Pansy knocked for him. Luckily for Draco, it was Luna who answered the door. Draco wondered whether that was a strategic move by Potter but then the thought Potter probably wasn’t quite that switched on.
‘Hello lovelies! Perfect weather for tinglinger fishing huh?’
Draco simply nodded and hugged her. He knew better than to question Luna by now.
‘Hello Luna. You look well.’ He greeted her politely. She flashed him a dazzling smile and for once he was reminded of how beautiful she could be. Not that he’d ever really forgotten, but it wasn’t like he ever looked her way.
‘Thank you, Draco. You look wonderfully handsome as always. Pansy my dear, let me take your jacket.’ And off the pair of them went, leaving Draco standing in the hallway. It wasn’t like he needed to be shown the way. He let himself reacquaint himself with his surroundings. The hallway remained warm and open as he remembered. They’d lined the hall with hard wood when the kids were small so that they wouldn’t traipse mud through the house when they’d been playing outside. The coat rack Harry had fixed to the wall lopsidedly was filled with the family’s jackets; it was midsummer so there were no coats this time. Draco had thrown a fit when he’d realised Harry hadn’t put it up straight, but Harry claimed it added charm.
They’d agreed to decorate the house in warm shades throughout. Draco had surprised Harry with this because Harry had assumed he’d want an ultra-modern house full of chrome. Years living in the dark and cold manor had meant Draco wanted the exact opposite. Now that he was back for the first time in three years, he marvelled at the way the bright summer sunshine shone through the hallway. It bounced off the mirror Draco had strategically placed opposite the coats and filled the hall with a warm glow which accentuated the pale-yellow walls. He’d always loved the warmth of this house, something about it always evoked an inner peace he could never achieve anywhere else.
It wasn’t the same now though. He supposed much of that feeling must’ve come from knowing Harry was here waiting for him. The house hadn’t been enveloped in magic long enough to be quite as sentient as the manor or the Black estate, but Draco thought he could feel a little something from the wards, as if they were happy to see him again. After all, he helped create them.
He was pulled from his reverie when he noticed he had an audience. Harry stood leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. He was wearing Draco’s favourite shirt of his; the jade green button down that was made of such fine cotton it felt like silk. It was rolled up to his elbows as Draco had always told him to wear it. He’d definitely filled out, as Draco had suspected when he’d seen him at the Ministry, and now the sleeves were pulled taut across his biceps.
‘Strange feeling huh.’ His voice came out gravelly and Draco wondered how long he’d been stood there watching him.
‘Definitely.’ Draco replied, his voice strained. They looked at each other for a long time, Draco searching Harry’s green eyes as if looking for something lost. He still had that stubble he’d had during their meeting with Kingsley and Draco had to admit that he much preferred that to when he was clean shaven. Draco thought Harry had over-groomed himself during their relationship, thinking Draco expected that of him. He didn’t, he just wanted Harry to be himself.
‘Come through.’ Harry said, his voice still slightly choked. Draco followed him numbly into their old kitchen. He sucked in a deep breath as a barrage of old memories hit him. Late nights fighting over who said what to whom, mid-morning brunches when they fed each other ridiculously sickly pastries and stayed in their pyjamas all day, family dinners and Christmases. It all seemed like a lifetime ago now, although it had only been three years. Harry’s hand on the small of Draco’s back did nothing to ease his apprehension as he stepped out the French doors and into the garden. Draco couldn’t contain his gasp when he saw it.
The garden was as beautiful as the day he’d left it. There was a wash of the most vibrant colours; the deep oranges of black-eyed Susans against the bright fuchsia of Dahlias phasing into pale pink ribbons of roses. Draco had always taken great pride in his garden; the gardens of the manor were his favourite places to be as a child and he’d aimed to recreate them here. Coupled with his love of potions and therefore potions ingredients, he’d found himself to be quite a proficient gardener.
They’d agreed that they’d grow Narcissus and Lily in their garden, as an ode to their mothers, without whom their garden would never exist. Except it turned out that Draco was allergic to lilies, so they’d agreed to put in Pineapple Lilies, a native South African flower instead, as the variety was just different enough from English lilies to not bother Draco. Thankfully, with the use of weather charms, they could grow any plant they wanted.
‘Harry…’ Draco’s eyes pricked with hot tears as he tried to force his breathing to remain steady. His chest burned with the effort, but he refused to make a scene at Harry’s birthday.
‘The garden was always so beautiful,’ Harry said, his voice still thick. His thumb grazed Draco’s lower back gently and it felt as though it was burning through the blue shirt he’d chosen that morning. ‘I couldn’t let it go to waste. It’s still one of my favourite parts of the house. It has you written all over it,’ he said with a dry laugh. Draco thought he must be able to feel his ragged breaths with his hand positioned where it was, but Draco refused to look at him and admit defeat. Harry wasn’t wrong though; the garden was done up with banners and fairy lights which only brought out the vibrancy of the flowers. Someone had scattered beanbags across the lawn and the kids were having a whale of the time trying to jump between them.
‘Happy Birthday, Harry.’ Draco whispered, his throat squeezing painfully. He strode off as confidently as he could and made a beeline for Hermione, who was standing talking to Neville right at the far end of the garden. Screw it all, he thought. Why did I have to listen to Pansy?
‘Hi Draco,’ Hermione said as he approached. He smiled at her weakly and blinked away the tears that had gathered.
‘Hermione, Neville.’
‘I’m surprised you came Draco.’ Neville said. They weren’t exactly friends, but they’d learned to be civil over the years.
‘Yeah, I’m not sure it was the right thing to do. Coming back here…’ He trailed off, not having the words to say. ‘Anyway,’ he said as he straightened his posture, ‘it’s not about me, it’s about Harry.’
‘He really put a lot of effort into this. I’ve never seen him plan like this before, you know how he feels about birthdays and parties.’
Draco was surprised. Harry hated celebrating his birthday, he hated big groups of people and more than anything else, he hated unnecessary attention.
‘I’ll admit I was quite surprised myself.’ Draco agreed. ‘Even more so that he’d invite Pansy because he thought it would get me here.’
‘Did it?’ Neville asked him curiously.
‘Yeah, would you have come otherwise?’
They both seemed keen to know and if Draco was honest, he’d had enough of his friends prying in his and Harry’s affairs. They were done, there was nothing more left to be said.
‘Of course not.’ He lied. ‘As if I would ever come back here voluntarily.’ He sauntered off to get a drink, it was going to be a long evening. He found Pansy picking up an overly full glass of wine and he prayed this wouldn’t end with her making a fool of herself as she usually did when she drank too much.
‘She’s not here.’ Pansy whispered in his ear.
‘Who?’
‘That woman you told me about. The female you.’
Draco’s breath caught.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive.’
By the time the sun was setting, Draco was exhausted. He found himself sitting on the swing seat at the western end of the garden. He’d chosen to put it here because it meant he could see Harry in the kitchen, Teddy playing in the sand pit they’d built him when he was small, and he’d still have a perfect view of the flowerbeds.
To Harry’s credit, the party had been a raging success. Pansy had brought him a cake from a fancy French patisserie on her way from Dubai. Which quite frankly was the best cake Draco had ever eaten, possibly even better than his wedding cake. Ok no, nothing was better than that. Teddy was fast asleep tucked up next to Draco. His arm was going a bit numb from supporting the boy’s head and neck, but it was worth it if it meant Teddy wouldn’t be sore when he woke up. Rose and Hugo had worn him out terribly.
Teddy’s hair had again turned platinum blond the second he’d seen Draco at the party, which didn’t seem to surprise anyone except Draco. It had stayed the same shade throughout the day and as Draco looked down at his messy mop of hair, for a split second it looked as though Teddy really could’ve been Harry and Draco’s son. Something iron-like clamped down over his heart when he thought that, and he immediately shoved the idea out of his mind and thought of something else.
‘Hey, we should be heading off Harry.’ He heard Hermione saying, Hugo asleep in her arms.
‘Of course,’ Harry said politely. ‘The kids are well and truly exhausted huh?’ He said, dropping a kiss on Hugo’s head and hugging Hermione goodbye.
‘Yeah, they get a bit excited when they’ve got Teddy to play with. Different company and all,’ she said as she adjusted her grip on Hugo. ‘It was a really beautiful party. You did well on this one.’ She shot a subtle look Draco’s way and he pretended to be watching Teddy sleeping.
‘I think this is the best birthday party I’ve ever thrown.’ Harry said with a beautiful grin. He showed Ron and Hermione to the floo, as if they didn’t know where it was already, and disappeared out of view. Draco knew he should be heading off soon, but he didn’t really want to disturb Teddy too much.
