Home Is Where The Heart Is (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Two

   "Go on champ," Harry said, easing Teddy to the floor. "Why don't you get your new car to show Draco?"

Teddy squealed and tore out into the back room where he had several crates of toys that he loved to scatter all over the entire floor. Draco watched him go with a raised eyebrow, then turned back to the other man. "Harry?" he said.

Harry stuck out his hand. "Harry Potter," he said as Draco shook it. "I'm Teddy's godfather, my dad knew his before they both passed away."

Draco blinked. He knew obviously about Teddy's parents, how Remus and his young wife had been killed in a terrible car crash, but the casual way that this guy Harry mentioned his own father's death struck a chord in Draco's heart. Lucius Malfoy was a hard man, but Draco loved him and he couldn't imagine talking about losing him so easily.

"Um," he said, regaining his senses. "Draco Malfoy, Andy is my mother's sister."

"I know," Harry said with a grin, turning back to the kitchen. Draco became aware that the oven was on and he could smell chicken nuggets cooking away. The radio was playing indie rock music and the whole room felt extremely homely in a way Draco wasn't sure he'd felt it before. "Teddy talks a lot about you, I think you're quite the hero."

Draco found that quite hard to believe – he barely had anything to do with the child? But rather than contradict Harry he gave a non-committal shrug, and went to go sit on the battered old green sofa in front of the humungous flat screen TV hanging from the wall. "So," he said as placed his empty coffee cup on the table and undid his shoelaces. "Are you here to help Andy out as well?"

Harry cracked the lid on a tin of baked beans and tipped them into a pan on the hob. "Well," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He was wearing a faded t-shirt and jeans with bare feet, and as he moved around the kitchen Draco could see most of his tight muscles at work. He was becoming increasingly glad that Harry had not, in fact, been a burglar. "I started school in the city a few weeks ago, so now I can visit a lot more often. Good timing considering the accident."

"Oh," said Draco, feeling tongue-tied. "Well, that's good," he added lamely.

"How about you?" Harry asked as he stirred the beans with a wooden spoon, but his attention was all on Draco. He was quick to smile, Draco was starting to appreciate. Easy to laugh. Very open – all concepts quite alien to Draco. He tried to keep his emotions close to his chest as much as possible. "I knew it couldn't be long before we ran into each other, Andy said you and Narcissa often came over of an evening."

Draco was feeling that guilt creeping up in him again. He only ever really came because his mother asked him to, not because he wanted to. He preferred staying home with his paints and pencils. "We try," he said. "Actually, I should probably go check on my aunt upstairs-"

"Oh sure," Harry said, turning and taking a fork to poke at the peeled potatoes bubbling away next to the beans. "Could you pop your head into Teddy as you go, make sure he's still alive?" Draco realised his cousin must have gotten distracted on his quest to fetch the toy car Harry had mentioned, and was probably sprawled on his belly on the playroom floor.

"No problem," he said. He walked back out again with a cautious eye on Harry as he obliviously tended to Teddy's dinner. Draco had though he was going to have to try and muddle through that, in fact he'd been planning on just asking Teddy if he fancied take-away pizza despite knowing that was probably not a very responsible thing to give to a child. He hardly ever cooked for himself, let alone a fussy toddler.

Harry had rescued him. Not just with dinner, but with easing the tension that Draco knew he helplessly carried around with him that effected everyone, not just children. He was simply quite rubbish with people, but for some reason Harry didn't seem to care. And that made something inside Draco's chest flutter.

He shook his head and ignored the sensation. He was so hopeless around other people, the slightest bit of kindness from a hot bloke had got him swooning. How desperate.

"Hey mate," he said in what he hoped was a light enough tone. He leaned on the door frame of the spare room where Teddy stored the toys he liked to play with in the larger space of the rec-room, as well as the outdoor items for summer. "You alright?"

"The fire engine is helping the dinosauws fight the monkeys in space!" Teddy cried, flinging several toys in the air as his brown eyes bugged wide. "Does Dwaco want to play?"

He couldn't help but chuckle. Normally such an invitation would scare him, but he knew help was literally a few feet away. "Maybe in a little bit," he said. "I need to go check on Nanny."

"Okay!" Teddy said brightly, before jumping back onto his tummy and making loud, wet engine noises between his lips. "Hurry Mr T-Wex! The fire fighters need us!"

Draco watched for a moment more, enjoying his cousin's care-free play. He couldn't remember making up nonsense like that, he doubted if he ever could have. But the way Teddy did it looked like fun.

Draco eventually decided he should leave him to it, and went in search of his bed-ridden aunt.