Guiltiness

Reconciliation

It would have been no problem for Draco to open the door again with a simple charm, but Harry prevented him from doing so by not returning his wand.

He still needed to digest the information he had received from Albus just a few minutes ago. He understood it must have been even more of a shock for Draco. He was still out of his senses, and Harry felt that letting him join the boys was dangerous. It was clear to him how he would treat his son, and quite understandable.

"Potter, give me back my wand!" Draco hissed.

"Not until you calm down."

"Then I'll take it," Draco shouted, lunging at Harry. They struggled for a while. Harry sensed that he had the upper hand over the broken man and didn't want to abuse it. He was deciding what spell to use to immobilise Draco, but in the end, he handed him the wand and looked him in the eyes for a long time.

"Albus didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident. If you hurt him, you get Cruciatus."

Draco was taken aback by such helpful behaviour. He reached for his wand and, without a word of thanks, took it and opened the door to the hospital room.

When he saw Albus in close contact with his son, a wave of rage surged through him again.

"Get away from him. What are you doing to him, you...." followed by a barrage of words that Harry had no idea Draco had in his repertoire.

"Enough!" Harry punched Draco hard. Draco staggered and looked at Harry in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Draco, I promised to support you, but now I'll be primarily on your son's side. You always said that the most important thing is friendship. Scorpius needs both of you, so you must respect that."

Draco thought for a moment. He watched Albus, who seemed to be trying to protect Scorpius from the conflict that was going on between their fathers. Draco was moved. His eyes met the dark-haired boy's emerald eyes. The same eyes as Harry's. And Harry has the most beautiful eyes in the world. He moved so close to Albus that their heads were almost touching.

"Help him, help him, please. Give him all your love. You have lots of love. Do everything you can." Draco's eyes were full of tears, and a few were now falling on Scorpius's face.

"I promise," Albus whispered. "I'll talk to him as much as possible, and you talk to him too, Mr Malfoy. He needs to know that he is safe and not alone here."

Draco nodded. "Call me Draco, Albus."

-----

Harry felt almost useless now, as Draco and Albus were handling the psychological care of the injured boy very well without him. Albus had to go back to school, but Harry arranged for him to get a daily pass for the afternoon so he could spend several hours with Scorpius. Draco was with him morning and evening, requesting Harry's presence. So Harry sat in the hospital room listening to Draco's quiet conversations with his son. Draco spoke in a whisper, tender and soft, as he stroked Scorpius's hand or hair. Harry loved Draco's whispering voice; it sent a wonderful chill all over his body; he could sit like that for hours. However, the content of these calls was even more interesting. Word by word, fragments of Draco's life were revealed to Harry, who realised he didn't know him at all. Draco had been living alone with Scorpius for several years, and he seemed to be a much better father than he was. He had so many experiences with his son! However, unlike Harry, he didn't go to work, so he had much more time to develop exciting activities. They often went on broomstick trips together, travelled to various places in the muggle world to view art collections and monuments, and, most of all, tried to discover muggle science. Draco, who had so despised all things muggle, was now studying chemistry and astronomy and was teaching Scorpius the same. When Draco didn't know what to tell his son anymore, he pulled out some scientific magazine and read from it. Harry listened and found it extremely interesting.

Draco finished reading the article about black holes, smiled apologetically at Harry, and sat beside him.

"I must bore you terribly."

"No, not at all. I'm just surprised about your interests. How did you come to that?"

"Because of Scorpius," Draco replied. "He's always been interested in how things work with muggles. He had so many questions. I had to find out many things all the time until I got hooked too.''

"I'm glad you have something you enjoy," said Harry.

"Yeah, that's right. I want to be at least useful, so I'm sending money to the Ministry to cooperate with muggle research.''

"You're amazing, Draco," Harry breathed admiringly. Immediately he was startled if it sounded too enthusiastic.

" I originally wanted to get to Ravenclaw," Draco revealed. "Who would want to go to Slytherin, right? But I had to pretend I didn't mind so I wouldn't lose face. I wanted to play Quidditch, but I wasn't good enough, and I was not smart enough for Ravenclaw."

"That's not true at all!" Harry blurted out. "You were always good; I admired you in a way."

"Sure," Draco smirked. "You hated me, and I'm not surprised."

Harry felt guilty. Yes, he only wished the worst for Draco back then. He was happy for his every failure, he was counting on Hermione to outshine Draco in every school discipline, and he would be punished by Lucius, and Harry would have the upper hand over him.

"But this isn't about me," Draco said harshly. "I'm worried about Scorpius. He's – I shouldn't say it like his dad – but he's very gifted and – I don't know what I'd do if... his brain... if I could take care of him if he weren't well... rather he took care of me...."

Draco's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm afraid that I just wouldn't be able to do it, seeing him as a human wreck is perhaps even worse than if he died, and at the same time, I know that I would have to be there for him and I would be there for him..."

Harry was horrified at the overwhelming honesty.

He hugged Draco tightly. "Draco, I will be here for you, for both of you. I will never let you feel abandoned by the world again. I'm sorry I didn't accept your offer of friendship back then."

Draco was moved. "I'll give you one more chance, Potter," he smiled and held out his hand.

Harry squeezed it without hesitation.