The initial wait at St Mungo's had been awful for Harry. He and Scorpius were ushered into the corner of the room while the Healers worked on setting Teddy's ankle and although Narcissa and Draco had followed shortly behind, they hadn't been allowed in as they weren't relatives. As a result, Harry and Scorpius sat together waiting and watching the bustle that was going on around Teddy who had been sedated to manage the pain.
Eventually, Scorpius asked if he could sit on Harry's knee and have a cuddle.
'He is going to be okay, isn't he?' Scorpius asked in a worried little voice.
'Of course, Scamp, they'll just be taking their time to ensure they set it right before they fix it back together.' The confidence in his voice hid the nerves that Harry was feeling in his heart, even though he knew that really, it was only a break and he'd suffered far worse in his lifetime. That didn't make it any better, and in fact, it was the reassurance of the cuddle that Scorpius was giving him which helped calm Harry the most.
'It's my fault,' Scorpius said in a quiet voice into Harry's neck where he's buried his head. 'I dared him to go higher.'
Harry gently smoothed the blond boy's hair. 'It's not your fault, Scamp. Boys will be boys. We all do silly things as we grow up. Even as adults we do silly things. We sometimes feel like we have to push ourselves. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. That's how we learn. Teddy didn't have to climb the tree to start off with, let alone go any higher. He's responsible for his own actions. You mustn't blame yourself.'
'He's my bestfriend, Harry. I don't want anything bad to happen to him.'
'He's going to be okay, Scamp. Do you believe me? One day I'll tell you about the adventures that I got into with my bestfriends Ron and Mione. We got in all sorts of trouble and we came out fine.'
'Worse than breaking your ankle like that?'
'Far worse.'
'Was my papa there with you too?'
'Not really, mostly it was just me and Ron and Hermione.'
'Is that the Uncle Ron that Teddy talks about?'
'Yes. He's my bestfriend, a bit like you and Teddy, only we met on the Hogwarts Express when we were eleven.'
Scorpius looked up at Harry with deep contemplation on his face. 'Teddy says that his Uncle Ron says that you're going to kiss my papa. Is that true?'
'Well...' Harry knew he was blushing and was grateful that Scorpius seemed oblivious to his discomfort. He ran a hand through his hair.
'Is it like a kind of dare?'
'No, it's because... well, its complex.'
'Do men kiss other men?'
'Sometimes, when they like each other a lot.'
'Do you like my papa?'
'Yes.'
'Just like-like or love-like?'
'Love-like, I think.'
'So why haven't you kissed him yet?'
'I guess, Scamp, I'm a bit scared, I don't want to get it wrong.'
'But you're Harry Potter, you don't get scared.'
Harry shook his head. 'No, Scamp, we all get scared, it's normal to get scared of things or situations we're unsure about or don't know enough about. I guess that when it comes to kissing your papa, I'm scared of where it might lead. It's a bit complex to explain.' And Harry realised it was true. All these people around him who had been telling him to work out what he felt for Draco and it was a nine-year-old who managed to eek-out the truth quite plainly. The truth was he did love Draco, he probably had for years once he'd got his head around Confessions and re-thought his past. But he was scared, scared of his sexuality and scared of the future.
'I get scared too sometimes. Sometimes papa has to check under my bed to make sure there aren't any monsters hiding,' Scorpius said, resting his cheek on Harry's shoulder.
'So, would you mind if I kissed your papa?' Harry asked because suddenly he knew that Scorpius's approval was very important.
'No, not really, just don't do it in front of me because it's icky when people kiss and embarrassing.'
Harry laughed. 'Oh, okay then.'
'I'd like it if me and Teddy were brothers though. So long as we have our own rooms.'
'It's good to have your priorities sorted, Scamp.'
'Cool,' Scorpius sighed. 'I think they might have finished fixing Teddy's ankle.'
Once the pain had been forgotten, Teddy appeared to revel in his accident. Enjoying both the attentions and the conveyor belt of visitors bringing gifts, that is, mainly chocolate frogs which he kept hiding from Harry. Everyone in the Weasley family insisted on visiting, including the beautiful Victoire who cooed round him, much to Harry's amusement because the ten-year-old turned profusely bashful. But Harry noticed that it was only when Scorpius was there that Teddy truly relaxed. The clue was in his hair colour which he would always turn white-blond as soon as he saw the other boy.
Harry and Draco arduously ignored The Nearly Moment at the manor but the tension and frustration swirled between them every time they were in same room together. The situation was only worsened by Ginny who had popped into visit Teddy one lunch time only to pass Harry talking quietly to Draco in the corridor outside. They were both busy pretending that everything was Completely Normal and discussing Draco's rescheduled Apparation test. Gin, being Gin, decided it would be a good idea not to interrupt the conversation as such, but just take the opportunity to give Harry a friendly slap on the arse as she walked past. Harry immediately concluded that he really needed to stop standing so close to Draco. The natural reaction was for his hips to jerk forward; she really did have quite a hard slap with all that Quidditch playing. The thing was, his lurch away from her meant he thrust his pelvis forward so quickly that he slammed against Draco and full-frontal contact was made.
Draco moaned.
And clutched Harry's hips, before quickly letting go like he'd just grabbed a hot pan.
Both blushed profusely.
And the result was a combination of Definitely Not Looking at Each Other and the Funny Little Stomach Flip-Thing turning into a Funny Large Stomach Flip-Thing every time Harry thought about the feeling and Draco's moan and Draco clutching his hips.
Still, they tried hard to pretend that everything was Completely Normal because the focus here was Teddy.
Gin smirked with glee.
Teddy was in St Mungo's for five nights. His biggest disappointment was that by the time he came out of hospital, the snow, which had fallen thickly through Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, had melted by the Thursday he was discharged, leaving behind a grey slushiness that was no good to play in. But more impactful was the dramatic effect the accident had on Teddy's behaviour, for despite Harry never leaving his room apart form when Ron and Mione came in (and only so he could grab a shower), Teddy was suddenly very insecure about being away from Harry, especially at night.
On the Thursday he got home, Teddy had crept into Harry's bed in the middle of the night. On Friday, he'd dragged his duvet and pillow downstairs and curled up on the sofa next to Harry, falling into a contented sleep with his pillow against Harry's leg, his hand on Harry's knee, and with Harry carding his hair softly. Harry retreated back into Jane Eyre. He was absorbed in Jane's dilemmas about Rochester when the Floo kicked into life and Draco's head appeared amongst the flames.
'Harry? Can I come through?'
'Sure, but Teddy's asleep on the sofa.'
Draco stepped through into the sitting room.
'Do you want a drink?' Harry asked.
'I'll get it, you stay put with Teddy,' Draco said quietly.
When he returned with the bottle and two glasses, he sat on the floor at Harry's feet. 'How is he?'
'Suffering a bit, it's knocked his confidence. With his past, with losing so many important people in his life, he gets unsettled when life's upset. He likes his stability and our routines. We'll get back to normal quickly, he's good a bouncing back.' Harry looked fondly at the mess of mousey-brown hair that was showing over the tip of the duvet. 'His hair goes this colour when he's discombobulated. He hates it but I always think he looks like Remus. Funny thing is, I saw it with Tonks once, her's did the same: it was when she knew what she felt for Remus but he was scared to commit because of the lycanthropy, she was truly miserable and her hair did this.'
'Remus obviously came around.'
'Yes, the irony was, this was the very situation he didn't want to leave a child in.'
'Sometimes we have to follow our hearts though.' Draco leaned against the sofa, looking up at Harry. 'Was it true,' he asked softly, 'about Remus and Sirius?'
'Yes, but we're talking the 1970s, a very different time even in the more liberal wizarding community, they kept it very quiet. You know Scorpius asked me at the hospital whether men kissed other men.'
Draco looked shocked. 'Why an earth would he ask you that?'
'Oh, you know, a conversation overheard which had been relayed to him...' Harry answered obliquely.
'What conversation? What on earth were you talking about? Why were you talking about it?'
'I only raised it in case you'd never had a conversation with Scorpius about same-sex relationships.'
'And you already have with Teddy?'
'Yes. Teddy knows about my sexual orientation and Remus's bi-sexuality. He has done from an early age because he asked why I didn't have a partner and I gave him an honest answer.'
'Which was?'
'I hadn't yet met the right person.'
'And if you've met them, but didn't realise?'
'Well, sometimes a period of separation can help cement feelings, one way or another.'
'And so we come back to Jane Eyre.'
'But surely she doesn't leave Rochester because she needs to understand her feelings for him, she leaves because he has lied to her, he has hidden the truth about Bertha.'
'Yes and no. But Bertha is more significant than that. Bertha is Jane's double, the same as Jane and yet the opposite, she represents the side of Jane that Jane is trying to control and overcome. We can go back to the Red Room to see the start of the parallels, Jane locked in the Red Room mirrors Bertha's imprisonment at Thornfield Hall and if Jane doesn't learn to control her passions then her fate is the same as Bertha Masons'. No, she must leave, so she doesn't become Bertha. Jane must discover herself and understand herself before she can return. And even then, she cannot return to Rochester while Bertha is still alive.'
'Neither can live while the other survives...' Harry muttered.
'Sorry?'
'Neither can live while the other survives. It was part of the Prophecy regarding Voldemort and me, it was what your father had to retrieve from the Department of Mysteries in the fifth year. Voldemort wanted to find out the full prophecy because he'd only heard the first part of it. He thought it would reveal a way to kill me, he thought it would be a weapon. He never got to find out the key part, that is that neither of us could live while the other survived, that we both had to die and only then one of us could survive.'
Draco was looking at Harry with wide eyes, 'that's why you went into the Forbidden Forest alone to face him?'
'Yes, I knew I had to die so he could be defeated, I knew I was a Horcrux that had to be destroyed.' Harry felt Teddy stir against him and looked down in fear, he didn't need the boy to hear this part of the story. He carded his hair again and the boy visibly relaxed and smiled in his sleep.
'You realise that this adds to my argument that you are paralleled with Jane?'
'You're suggesting that Voldemort was my double, that if I hadn't controlled my emotions, or rather in my case, my magic, I would have become him.' Harry stated, flatly.
Draco looked at Harry with a hint of fear, 'sorry, that's not a good thing to tell someone.'
'I already knew that, Draco. Why do you think I wouldn't let you ask the question when we were stood under the tree at the manor? It's an uncomfortable question when people ask how powerful my magic actually is.'
'How did you know that was what I going to ask?'
'Because, sooner or later, everyone invariably asks, and there's a very particular look of admiration just before they do. The truth is, Draco, even being an Auror gave me too much authority over others. If I had followed the Dark Arts, I could have been equal to Voldemort, if not worse. There were some aspects of ancient magic that he did not understand or that he dismissed. He was mistaken, I understand that, and it makes me all the more stronger for it.'
'Oh!'
'Yes, it's a heavy burden to carry.' Harry paused, looking thoughtfully at the man leaning against his legs. 'You realise there was a third reason why your father wanted you to befriend me?' He paused and Draco waited for the answer, his fearful gaze unswerving. 'If he had groomed me, think of the power he would have had as the man behind me, as my advisor, as my right-hand man, as my financer. Your father was a shrewd politician and would have probably liked to hedge his bets. I imagine Lucius saw Voldemort's weaknesses long before anyone else but there was no escape for him. I could have been his protégé and the answer to all his problems. I would have been a monster.'
*****