Chapter One

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   "No," said Draco as reassuringly as he could whilst squeezing the bridge of his nose very hard. "No, it's fine, please don't worry."

"Mr Malfoy I'm SO sorry," came the tinny voice of his babysitter Natalie from down the other end of the phone. "I know it's last minute but I-"

She made another retching noise, and Draco had to hold the mobile away from his ear, wincing. The poor girl had come down with appalling food poisoning by the sounds of it, and he couldn't in all good conscience ask her to leave the house. That didn't make him any less stressed, but it wasn't Natalie's fault.

"Don't worry," he insisted. "We'll be fine, you just focus on feeling better, okay?"

"Okay," she said weakly. "Have you got someone else you can ask?" she checked before they hung up.

"I'm sure my mum will be available, honestly, don't worry."

His mum was not available. His mum was in the Bahamas with his dad, but Natalie didn't need to know that. She also didn't need to know that Pansy was in the middle of fashion week, Theo was laid up with a broken leg, Blaise lived in the middle of nowhere, and his sister-in-law had just had her second child and didn't need to be burdened with anything else at this present time.

And Draco would rather leave his son alone with a live grenade wrapped in barbed wire that expose him to his Aunt Bellatrix.

"Shit," he said with feeling, pressing the edge of his phone to his forehead.

"Daddy?"

He blinked and pulled himself together. This wasn't the end of the world, he would manage.

He took a breath and walked from the dining room to where Scorpius was sitting at the kitchen table eating his Coco Pops, his big blue eyes wide. "Hey champ, you okay?" Draco asked, sitting down and taking a sip of his cold coffee.

Scorpius considered him. He was such a thoughtful little three-year-old. "Are you mad Daddy?"

"Oh, no," he said quickly. "But Natalie is sick, so she can't come play today."

"Oh no!" Scorpius parroted back, but with more feeling. "Poor Natalie!"

Draco nodded, making a snap decision. "But that's okay, you can have an adventure with Daddy today! Does that sound fun?"

Scorpius' face went from serious to excited in a heartbeat. "Yes please!"

"Brilliant," said Draco, wondering how convincing his fake smile was. "We can visit Daddy's work, and see some of Daddy's friends, and then if you're a very good boy we can go to the park and play on the swings."

"Yay!" cheered Scorpius, bouncing in his seat and waving his spoon around.

"Come on then, let's get you ready."

Draco was extremely grateful that Scorpius cooperated and got changed from his pyjamas into the outfit Draco had picked without any fuss. Some days he refused to wear anything other than his Spiderman costume, or his waistcoat nanny had bought him, or his welly boots with nothing but swim trunks and a cowboy hat. Today though, he was too excited about seeing Daddy's work.

Why today? Why today! Draco bemoaned silently as he helped Scorp brush his teeth. Of all the days to have absolutely zero child care available, it had to be this day.

He checked his watch again and tried to calm himself. They had enough time, and Luna would be able to help him once he got into the office. He stopped and took a deep breath. That's right, Luna would have no problem looking after Scorpius for an hour or so, and everything would be fine. 

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