His Veela Heritage by RiverWriter

chapter 25

Draco watched his father watch the car that carried his mother and Hermione away until it was out of sight, and sighed. He tried to remember when he’d last known his parents to spend even a single night apart and realized that they probably hadn’t since those weeks following the war when Lucius had been confined to a holding cell in the Ministry. And before that it was when he had been in Azkaban. Despite how he assiduously he tried to hide it, he knew those days still haunted his father.

Draco sighed again; he hadn't anticipated feeling so reluctant to leave the man alone, but they couldn’t stay here and he couldn’t imagine anything he could say to convince him to come with them. Lucius was as stubborn as they came and he'd rather stay here drowning in his dark memories than accept his son's pity.

Draco eyed the little boy running around the entrance hall at a speed that defied explanation, given his short legs. “Father, I have to get him out of here before he breaks something that can’t be fixed.”

Lucius leaned heavily on his walking stick. “What do you plan to do with the creature all weekend?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “You understand he’s here to stay, right? Hermione thinks of him almost as her own. There’s a reason that Andromeda asked me to watch him this weekend. Hermione has things pretty well child-proofed at home so I’m taking him there. My lovely wife has left me sheaves of parchment including lists of things I can do to keep him entertained. I’d be insulted if I wasn’t so grateful,” he said, watching the whirling dervish of a little boy- he was starting to think Hermione’s stories about the kid’s mother weren’t the exaggerations he’d assumed them to be. He'd turned his hair blond again, it gave Draco pause. “Did I ever have this much energy?” he asked wryly.

His father looked visibly surprised by the question.

“You were energetic, but then again I do not remember you being quite this boisterous. However, I will admit that I did not spend much time with you at this age.”

Draco just nodded, unsurprised. “Truly, we need to go before Teddy does something I can’t undo,” he said as he watched the kid run at full speed into a wall and then bounce off, giggling the whole time. He walked over to collect the toddler and then paused, mid-step. “If you don’t want to stay here by yourself, you are welcome in Scotland with us.”

“I’m an adult, I will be fine in my own home, by myself,” Lucius answered tersely.

Draco let out a frustrated breath. “I’m not afraid to admit that I will miss Hermione this weekend. If you are not prepared to admit the same about Mother, that’s fine, but I’m not blind. And I want you to know that despite everything, the one thing you taught me- the best thing you ever taught me- was to love and treasure your wife. Your feelings for Mother have never been a weakness in my eyes. Good day Father.” He nodded curtly and held out his hand for Teddy who, surprisingly, immediately ran over and took it. “Have a good weekend Father!” he called out swinging the babbling little boy into his arms.

Draco didn’t expect a response and it was a good thing, because he didn’t get one.

He missed Hermione, though it didn’t feel like she was exactly missing, she was always there, it was more like he was stretched too thin. Everything was more difficult without her physical presence. However, he had a surprisingly good time with the kid. He didn’t have any experience with children and he couldn’t have anticipated how fun it would be to simply play with the little boy who found such joy in the smallest of things. It was refreshing.

But he was exhausted. By late Saturday afternoon he needed some kind of break because Teddy showed no signs of slowing down and he felt dead on his feet. So he flooed Ginny. She had offered to help him out on his weekend babysitting, but he had stubbornly told her he wouldn’t need it. He was throwing in the towel.