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Home Is Where The Heart Is
Draco knew he was dawdling, but he couldn’t muster up the energy to feel guilty about it. He’d already stopped off for a coffee from one of the many Starbucks along the walk between the tube and his destination, and then he’d purposefully taken the long way round because he told himself the weather was beautiful and it would be a shame to waste the scenic route.
But now, here he was, empty coffee cup in hand as he stared up at his aunt’s foreboding four story town house in Clapham, trying to think if there was anything he could do to get himself out of this.
That, finally, prompted a guilty conscience at how selfish and unfair he was being. It wasn’t that he begrudged Aunt Andy for her broken leg, far from it. He was actually quite fond of his mother’s oldest sister (but to be fair, anyone was better than Bellatrix). He just wasn’t used to coming to visit her on his own, let alone taking care of her whilst she was under orders for strict bed rest as she recovered.
But that wasn’t the real reason he was hovering on the first step that led up to the front door. The real reason was he was scared.
He sighed, and rolled his shoulders. “Honestly Malfoy,” he grumbled to himself as he trotted up and fished out his key. “What’s the worst you really think can happen?” He cringed and chose not to answer himself.
He let himself through the second interior door and into the lobby. To his left was the sitting room and then the dining room, but he couldn’t ever remember a time where either room had been used. Instead he headed towards the stairs on his right that lead both up and down, his heels clicking on the polished marble as he reached for the banister and made to ascend to his aunt’s bedroom on the next floor.
But then a clatter came from downstairs that made him pause. “Hello?” he called.
The clattering stilled, but now he was paying attention, Draco could just make out the faint sound of music travelling upwards, as well as a couple of other indefinable noises. “Hello?” a man’s voice drifted up to greet him, and Draco was instantly on alert.
He marched back along the entrance hall and jogged down the stairs into the lowest level of the house, which had a couple of storage rooms, but mainly boasted the open plan kitchen and rec-room that led through French doors into a hundred foot long garden.
What it did not normally contain was a dark haired man wearing glasses and holding a spatula up like he wasn’t afraid to use it. “Who are you?” Draco snapped, wishing he had something to hand other than an empty coffee cup. As it was, all he could offer was to stand and threaten the man with a good telling off if he was robbing his aunt’s house.
“Who are you?” the guy demanded right back, which Draco thought was a little presumptuous.
Either man was spared answering though as thundering footsteps met their ears, and Draco turned just in time to see the blur hit him before he had a rambunctious three year old attach himself to his leg.
“Dwaco!” the bundle yelled at an excitable pitch. “Nanny didn’t say you were coming, are you staying for dinner, Hawy’s making nuggets, he’s the bestest cook ever and he doesn’t even make me eat the bwoccoli, oh Dwaco I’m so happy you’re here!”
Draco looked down in astonishment at his second cousin, the earlier fear he had been trying to quell threatening to bubble up. He never had any idea what to do with this flurry of hyper-activeness that, for some reason, always insisted on attaching itself to his leg. He usually relied on his mother to peel the child off at this point and work her magic, but with her being in the Cayman Islands he guessed it was down to him.
“Uh,” he said, and didn’t move.
His rescue came in the unlikely form of the dark haired man, who was apparently perfectly fine diving down and scooping up the boy into his arms. “Is this Prince Draco!” he cried, settling the child on his hip, a goofy, overenthusiastic look on his face as he feigned reverence. “The one I’ve heard so much about?”
Draco winced, embarrassed that his pet name had been divulged to this admittedly very handsome stranger.
Teddy nodded, practically using his whole body to do so. “Pwince Dwaco and Auntie Sissy help Nanny with her leg and Auntie Sissy gives me baths and weads me stories and Prince Dwaco works in an office with computers and art and is weally clever.”
Draco wasn’t sure his lowly position at an advertising agency qualified him as being really clever, but he felt a flare of warmth towards the boy all the same. He didn’t seem so scary if there was someone else around who knew what they were doing.
The other guy looked about the same age as him, early twenties at most, but he was familiar with Teddy in a way that suggested he knew exactly how to handle the three-year-old. “Is that right?” he gasped. Teddy nodded again, and stuck two fingers in his mouth. Draco’s mum was always trying to stop him doing that, but Draco himself didn’t really see the problem. He’d grow out of it eventually, and when he was sucking on his fingers it meant he wasn’t jabbering nonsense that left Draco flailing to figure out its meaning.
“And, er,” he said, not used to addressing the child directly. “Who’s this? Another Prince?”
“No!” giggled Teddy and swatted at Draco even if he was too far away to reach him. “This is Hawy.”
That, apparently, was enough of an explanation as far as the toddler was concerned.
“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.
Andromeda Black had been born the eldest of three sisters, into a very wealthy family that had held prestigious standing in the London community since the turn of the previous century. When marrying out of the family name Andy, along with her two sisters, had been expected to maintain, if not elevate the status the Blacks had become accustomed to.
Andy though, was never really one for the rules.
Ted Tonks had been a builder when they had met in their early twenties, and despite every protest her family had thrown at her, Andy had married the labourer and Mrs Black had vowed never to speak to her eldest daughter again, a promise she took bitterly to her grave. At the time of Ted’s passing he had grown into quite the businessman though, owning a company that oversaw several of the largest developments in the city over the last decade, and Draco’s mother had been tempted to swallow her pride and reach back out to her estranged sister, seeing that she was not quite the social pariah she might have once been.
That was Sissy’s excuse anyway. Draco suspected it was because she was actually rather fond of Andy, and had wanted to comfort her in the wake of her husband’s death. The grief had given both sisters a chance to forgive and forget (there was no hope of reconciliation with Aunt Bella after all) and in retrospect Draco had been very glad they had reconnected when they did.
He had liked his cousin Dora quite a lot. Despite the age gap between them and her mildly terrifying pink hair, she had always made an effort to be nice to Draco when he visited, and when he’d met her scruffy teacher husband at their wedding he couldn’t help find them quite a likable, if not strange couple.
The car crash had happened when baby Teddy was only four months old.
Draco sighed as he arrived back onto the marble landing and walked slowly along to the next flight of stairs. It didn’t seem fair that life could be snuffed out so suddenly, but it had struck the Lupins with no warning whatsoever. Teddy couldn’t even remember them, his home had always been with his nanny, and Draco had understood his mum wanting them to be a part of that, despite his reluctance to leave the safety of his own bedroom and deal with the world at large.
Visiting without her was different though, as he expected it would be, but thanks to Harry’s friendly reception, he was actually starting to think it might be different in a good way. Without his mother to rely on he was already being forced onto his own two feet.
“Aunt Andy?” he called as he knocked slightly on her bedroom door; it had been left ajar but he felt rude striding in without announcing himself.
“Draco love, is that you?”
He pushed the door open and walked shyly into Andy’s bedroom. “How are you feeling?” he asked, looking at her leg in a complicated cast, propped up on a couple of pillows.
“Oh fine, fine,” she said dismissively, and patted the empty patch on the bed by her. “Did you meet Harry? I thought I could hear the hurricane come down to greet you both.”
She smiled, and Draco tried not to let it show how fragile she was looking without her usual coiffed hair and brightly coloured lips and eyes. It was only a broken leg though, she would get better soon enough.
“Yeah,” said Draco, perching on the bed. “I didn’t know Teddy had a godfather? He um,” he cleared his throat and wish he hadn’t carried on talking. “He seems nice.”
“Oh he’s lovely,” Andy said, folding her hands in her lap. “I’m surprised he hasn’t come up in conversation before, but his hometown is quite far west, he’s not been able to visit much whilst he’s been studying.” She beamed at Draco, and the tough old lady he was used to shone through for a moment. “He got into the best culinary school in London, isn’t that something?”
Draco blinked. “Erm, yeah,” he agreed.
“Bless him,” Andy carried on, seemingly unawares. “I told him not to be fussing over an old bird like me, that he should be making friends, trying to find himself a nice fellow-” Fellow? Draco’s brain screamed at him. This hot guy was gay? He wasn’t sure what his face did in light of this new knowledge, but he tried not to let it happen in any case. He’d only come out to his parents, and he was not ready to face the rest of the world because he couldn’t control his reactions.
“Ever since I fell down those blasted stairs though,” Andy rattled on. “He’s insisted on practically moving into the spare room. He accompanied me and your mother to physiotherapy the other day,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Didn’t Sissy mention it?”
Draco swallowed and ran through the last few chats he’d had with his mum before she and his father had gone on holiday. “I don’t think so,” he said with a shrug. “I um, I’m sorry I’ve not been round as much as I should have, I’m glad Harry-”
“Now you wipe that look off your face immediately young man,” Andy interrupted kindly but firmly.
“What look?”
She sighed, and rubbed his knee. “That guilty look. I know you do the best you can, we’re all busy people. I’ve got lots of people looking out for me and Teds, we’re just happy to see you when we can.”
Draco knew she meant it to be reassuring, but he just felt worse after that. He hadn’t wanted to come today, he’d been so crippled by his own anxiety he hadn’t properly considered that she and Teddy both needed help, a lot of help, especially for the next few weeks. “Still,” he said, his voice small. “I want to do better.”
He started by helping his aunt get ready for the evening, assisting her as she hobbled to the bathroom and swapping over some of her sheets so her bed was a bit fresher. Harry popped up with a tray of soup and toast just as she got resettled, but before Draco could even catch his eye he was running back downstairs to make sure Teddy wasn’t choking on his nuggets and mashed potato.
Draco sat with Andy whilst she ate, helped her once more to the bathroom to brush her teeth, then got her tucked in for the night. “Do you need me to wake you up to take your tablets?” he asked. He’d fully intended on going home to sleep, but he really did want to make up the time he’d neglected so far with her care…and if Harry was staying too, he wasn’t so inept he didn’t see the potential in that.
But Andy smiled and squeezed his hand. “You’re more than welcome to stay love,” she said. “Teddy would be delighted I know. But don’t feel you have to – I’ll set my alarm for my pills in any case.”
He nodded, deciding to make his mind up later, and took the tray with him back downstairs.
If the kitchen and rec-room had felt homely earlier, it was nothing to how Draco found it when he came back down with the dirty dishes. Dusk had rolled in, so the curtains had been pulled and several lamps turned on. Rich smells of tomatoes, herbs and cheeses wafted through the air, and Teddy laughed raucously as he watched a cartoon and ate his nuggets with his fingers on the couch.
“Hey,” Harry said fondly from where he was stirring the heavenly smelling sauce, a glass of white wine in hand. “How’s Andy? She said she only wanted soup but I’m worried it wasn’t enough?”
“She’s fine,” Draco said after a beat, crossing the room and loading the contents of the tray into the dishwasher. “She’s resting now with her book.”
Harry nodded. “You’re staying for dinner aren’t you? Do you want some wine?”
Draco hadn’t known what he’d been expecting, but he suddenly felt gripped by panic. Dinner? He’d have to talk to Harry if he did that, unless they could watch a film? Maybe wine would help, but he knew if they were looking after Teddy they couldn’t exactly get drunk. What should he do, should he leave now, make an excuse?
“Yes,” he spluttered, even though he was almost certain he’d been intending to say no. But he couldn’t bear the thought of seeing Harry disappointed. “O-of course.”
Harry’s smile widened as he poured a glass for Draco and handed it over. “Is pasta okay?” he asked. “I’m just throwing together what I can find in the fridge?”
Draco took a sip of wine, and as the cool buzz hit his tongue, he gave a more relaxed, genuine smile. “It smells wonderful, whatever it is.”
“Dwaco?” Teddy called, having obviously just spotted him. “Are you having a sleepover?”
“Um, maybe?” he said, purposefully not looking at Harry. But Teddy squealed.
“Please say yes, please! Hawy said we can all make weal pancakes in the morning if you do.”
At this, Draco did glance at the other man, but he only got a devilish shrug of the shoulders back. “Well,” he said, trying his best to be brave. “If there’s pancakes involved, I think I better stay for sure.”
Teddy jumped up and flung himself at Draco’s legs again for one of his signature hugs. “YAY!” he bellowed.
Harry chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Okay champ,” he said. “But finish your dinner first alright, then cuddles.”
“Dwaco come watch Night Garden with me!” The toddler tugged on Draco’s hand, and he let himself be lead to the sofa, where some rather alarming multicoloured creatures were dancing about on the TV.
For the next ten minutes he watched Teddy muddle through his dinner, eyes glued to the TV show, glancing occasionally at Harry at work on their own dinner in the kitchen. The third time Draco looked over Harry caught his eye and winked, and after that he stubbornly kept his focus on the TV.
“Right,” Harry said, coming over and wiping his hands on a tea towel. “That will be good simmering for a while. I think that makes it bath time Teds.” Teddy pouted and made to protest, but Harry was already turning off the TV. “You can show Prince Draco your bubble beard?” he said enticingly.
Teddy forgot all his protests at that and jumped to his feet, grabbing Draco’s long fingers with his chubby hand and dragging him back towards the stairs. “It’s so funny Dwaco, you’re gonna laugh so much!”
Draco felt his panic creeping back up his throat. Giving Teddy a bath was something his mum always did, it seemed like a big responsibility and he wouldn’t know where to start? But that was when he felt Harry right behind him, his hand lightly touching the small of his back and smiling when Draco turned to raise his eyebrows at him.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
Teddy hauled him up the next flight of stairs, but they stopped as they all went in to say goodnight to Andy who was just on the edge of sleep, her book held precariously in her hand.
“Night night Nanny,” Teddy whispered loudly, and kissed her clumsily on her cheek.
“Night night cherub,” she said back, her voice raspy from tiredness brought on by her painkillers.
Harry rescued the book least it fell to the floor and placed it on the bed-side drawers, before leaning in and giving Andy a kiss of his own. Then he and Teddy stood back whilst Draco remained rooted to the spot, unsure if he should do the same and offer a kiss? The thought made him practically break out in a sweat though, he didn’t touch anybody like that, he barely hugged his mother. This wasn’t like helping his aunt walk to the bathroom, what if he did something wrong? In front of Harry?
Andy though just cracked an eyelid and smiled at him. “Goodnight Prince Draco,” she said croakily. “Will we see you in the morning?”
He swallowed and nodded stiffly. “Yes,” he managed. “Teddy, uh, bribed me with pancakes.”
Andy chuckled and closed her eyes once more. “Marvellous,” she said with a sigh.
Draco wasn’t sure if he’d just made another mistake, but Harry’s hand was on the small of his back again and then all three of them were back out in the corridor as the door gently closed behind them.
“Okay,” Harry said softly, wide eyes turning down to Teddy. “I think it’s finally bath time!”
The toddler bunched up his fists and took off at a scramble up the next set of stairs on all fours. He had his own floor of the house with his bedroom, own bathroom and playroom, each equipped with baby monitors so as to not leave him too much by himself. Draco and Harry followed at a more steady pace, and there was that hand barely touching the small of Draco’s back one more.
“You’re doing fine,” Harry said warmly. “Andy said you’ve never come alone before, but honestly, you won’t break him, he’s a great little boy.”
Draco nodded and swallowed around the lump in his throat. “I know,” he said. “I just…I haven’t…” He bit his lip and looked at Harry as they reached the top landing. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Harry had dropped his tentative hand, but they were still quite close, and Draco tried his best to refrain from shying away. “Me too,” Harry told him, smiling openly.
A chattering, jumping, stark naked Teddy ran between their legs and startled Draco out of his reverie. “Bubbles! Bubbles!” Teddy shrieked, and Harry burst out laughing.
“My goodness young man,” he cried, chasing after the boy. “The police will be around if you don’t cover up that bum!”
Teddy though just ran into his bathroom, leaving the adults to follow as had become the norm. Thankfully, he had snatched his little dressing gown from off the radiator and put it on by the time Draco came and stood by the door, covering himself whilst Harry started to run the bath.
Draco was sent to fetch Teddy’s pyjamas from under his pillow whilst Harry negotiated the daunting task of teeth brushing with a toddler, and Draco couldn’t help but lean against the door and watch as Harry successfully cajoled the little boy into scrubbing away his dinner. Then with one single motion, the robe was deposited and Teddy plonked into the suds, along with several rubber ducks, a tug boat and for some reason a plastic hotdog complete with mustard and ketchup.
Harry sighed and rocked back to sit against the warm radiator, before looking up at Draco in invitation to join him. So, with only a small breath of assurance, Draco dropped to the carpet as well and sat opposite the bath with Harry to his right, and the pyjamas folded in his lap.
“What on Earth would I have done if you hadn’t been here?” he murmured before he realised he had spoken aloud, but Harry was quick to reassure him by bumping their shoulders together.
“Now you know for next time,” he said.
Next time? Could Draco try maybe to do this by himself one day? If he was honest (which he tried not to be for fear of the blush creeping up his neck) he quite liked the idea of trying this whole thing again with Harry. Maybe ‘next time’ he could show him he wasn’t quite so useless as he was sure he’d presented himself to be.
“Look Dwaco, look!”
Teddy was peeking out over the bath with bubbles all over his face. Draco blinked a second, then let out an involuntary laugh. “Bubble beard,” he said with a nod. “Very clever.”
There were a few tears and the threat of a tantrum when it came to wrangling Teddy from the bath, but Harry was having none of it. “No Teddy, it’s bedtime now,” he said as the boy whimpered and groused. Even Draco with his limited experience could tell he’d become too tired, but he was learning from Harry that he couldn’t let his sympathies show if they were going to win the bedtime battle. “Only good little boys get a bedtime story,” Harry warned, and although Teddy was still sniffling, he allowed himself to be manhandled into his pyjamas.
“Why don’t you carry him?” Harry suggested to him, and before Draco could question it, Teddy had stumbled into his arms.
“Oh, okay,” said Draco, getting clumsily to his feet with the toddler perched on his hip. Teddy snuggled his damp head into the crook of Draco’s neck, and he couldn’t help but stroke his cousin’s hair as they walked to his bedroom. He was already sucking on his two fingers by the time Draco laid him down, and Harry had barely read a page of his story book before he’d conked out.
“That was easy,” Harry whispered as they crept out and pulled the door to.
Draco wasn’t quite so sure. He’d been bewildered by pretty much the whole affair, and now as he feared, he’d been left with just Harry and nothing at all to say.
“Come on,” Harry spoke for him, and touched his elbow lightly. “Let’s go see if dinner isn’t completely burnt.
Dinner was not in fact burnt. It was incredible. Harry had managed to make an exceptional pasta dish along with creamy garlic dough balls and a fresh salad with what he claimed were ‘scraps’. Draco even felt confident enough to say he’d like to know what he could manage when he had a fully stocked kitchen.
“I’ll have to show you some time,” Harry replied easily, before taking a sip of his wine. Draco blushed into his penne and couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
As a result, he mostly let Harry do the talking as they ate at the table. He told Draco all about his training and how he hoped one day to run his own kitchen. He was extremely confident, like it was only a matter of time before he got what he wanted, but not so much that he was arrogant. He just knew what he loved and had faith that would take him as far as he needed to go. Draco half entertained the idea of confessing he’d love to have his own studio one day, before swallowing that firmly down with another dough ball. He’d never told anybody that, it was a silly daydream.
Draco kept anxiously glancing at the baby monitor stood on the table between them, feeling its presence heavily. The more Harry talked, the more he relaxed, and without a peep from the little box for over fifteen minutes Draco tried to stop worrying about it, but it was hard. Harry eventually closed his hand over Draco’s, startling him into giving him his full attention. “Teddy’s fine,” he assured him. “He’ll call if he needs anything, I promise.”
Draco wanted to argue what if he got sick and couldn’t call? Worry was coiling in his stomach. What if something happened to him, and it was Draco’s fault for having a nice time with Harry instead of watching his cousin? He was so small, he’d never forgive himself.
“Hey,” said Harry, squeezing his hand and getting his attention again. “How about some tea, or hot chocolate maybe?”
Draco nodded and managed to smile a little. The wine wasn’t sitting right with him anyway. “That sounds lovely.”
“So, tell me a bit about you?” Harry surprised him by asking as he rose and took several dishes to the kitchen side of the room. “Andy said you’re a designer?”
Draco bit his lip. “I make patterns for clothing and bags and stuff,” he said, feeling his throat contract at risking sharing even this small bit of information. “I um, do a lot of screen printing and stuff.”
“Sounds brilliant,” Harry said as he set about getting mugs and coco from the cupboards. Draco shrugged. It wasn’t all that impressive, he thought. Art had always made sense to him, he’d just been lucky enough to find a job that let him carry on using it. He was about to say as much, when the baby monitor actually did crackle.
“Dwaco?” a scratchy voice called, followed by the unmistakable sound of a shaky sob. Draco stood up so fast he almost banged the chair to the floor. He glanced at Harry, who only had time to raise his eyebrows before Draco had broken into a run, traversing the four floors in less than twenty seconds. He stopped at Teddy’s door and forced himself to take a deep breath before pushing it open.
“Teddy?” he asked, flicking on the lamp by his cousin’s bed.
His little chest was shuddering. “Bad dream,” he choked out as Draco sat on the bed, and he flung his arms around his waist, burying his head into Draco’s side.
“I’m sorry,” Draco said, stroking his hair. Now he could see he wasn’t having a seizure or anything he felt a bit stupid for running up like he had, and wasn’t sure what to do next. So he continued to cuddle the little boy and stroke his back. “It’s okay,” he said after a while. “I get bad dreams too sometimes. My mum cuddled me when I was your age.”
“I don’t have a mummy,” Teddy whispered. He sounded exhausted.
Draco’s throat constricted and he felt completely lost. What was he supposed to say to that?
“Let’s um,” he started. “Let’s get back into bed hey? Get you comfy.”
They reshuffled so Teddy’s head was back on the pillow and Draco had his back to the headboard. “Hawy doesn’t have a mummy either,” Teddy said, small fingers pulling at the edge of his duvet. “You have a nice mummy though.” He looked up at Draco with wet, brown eyes, and the lump in Draco’s throat got even bigger.
“She is nice,” he said. “She’ll be back soon to see you.” He wanted to tell Teddy he was so sorry he’d lost his parents, and that Harry had apparently lost both of his too, that it wasn’t fair, but that his nanny loved him very much, and his aunt Sissy. And his big cousin Draco. But he didn’t have regular words for that, let alone words a toddler could understand. “Do you think you can go back to sleep now?” he asked.
“Can you tell me a stowy first?” Teddy asked. He’d fallen asleep so quickly before, Draco guessed that would be alright, but he couldn’t see the book Harry had been reading from previously.
“Uh, sure,” he said regardless. “What kind of story?”
Teddy shuffled over so his head was by Draco’s hip, and he sucked at his fingers again. “A stowy about a pwince,” he said around them.
Draco only knew one prince.
“Okay,” he said, steeling himself. “So, um, there was this prince-”
“No Dwaco,” Teddy scolded, slapping him gently with the palm of his hand. “You have to start with ‘Once upon a time…’”
“Oh,” Draco chuckled. “Sorry. Okay, once upon a time there was a prince, and he lived with his mummy and daddy, the queen and king, in a big castle.” He shifted where he sat, and wondered if this was a good idea. He didn’t really have any other stories to hand as such though, so carried on.
“The little prince was lonely though because, um, a wicked witch had put a terrible curse on him and made him sick.”
“Oh no,” Teddy gasped. He wasn’t quite as sleepy as Draco would have liked, but he was at least snuggled and not crying anymore.
“Yeah,” said Draco sadly. “The king and queen loved the prince very much though, and tried to make him happy even though he couldn’t leave the castle, because he was sick all the time.” He wiggled his toes and decided not to mention that this particular prince got plenty of visits to the hospital, just not much else. “It was hard because the prince couldn’t go out and play, so he didn’t have any friends.”
“Poor pwince,” Teddy said. “Dwaco, is this a happy stowy?” he added nervously.
“Oh, yes,” Draco assured him quickly. “Because instead of friends, the king and the queen made sure that the prince had all the beautiful crayons and pencils and paints he could need, and he made whatever art he wanted, he loved it so much and one day he got so good that a special, um, fairy school for artists told him he could come study with them.”
“What about the curse?” Teddy interrupted.
Draco blinked a moment. “Well, the kindness of the fairies helped lift the curse a little bit,” Draco told him, hoping that was a satisfactory explanation. He hadn’t exactly thought this through. “Enough so he was able to go to the special school, but it was still hard to make friends, because he’d never had any before.”
“I’d be the pwince’s fwiend,” Teddy said stubbornly.
Draco swallowed around the lump in his throat determinedly, and hugged Teddy closer. “I know you would buddy,” he said with a little smile. “But the prince wasn’t very good at talking to people, so he didn’t get the chance to meet someone like you.”
Teddy yawned loudly, his small mouth stretching so wide Draco almost worried his jaw would snap. “That’s not the end though,” he asked. “Is it?”
“Oh no,” Draco comforted him. “No because one day the prince did meet someone as kind as you. A, um, a hero, a brave knight.” Teddy gasped and nodded up encouragingly at Draco. “Erm, so this knight was kind, and erm, friendly and generous, and he became friends with the prince, his first real friend.”
“Did they fall in love?”
Draco frowned down at Teddy in surprise. He figured he was going to have to make up a princess for that part. But this was his story, and Teddy had asked, so why the hell not? “Yes,” he said, smiling down at his cousin. “They fell in love and that broke the prince’s curse. So they got married and the whole kingdom celebrated.”
“And they lived happily ever after,” Teddy sighed sleepily, popping his fingers back in his mouth as he squirmed down into the bed.
“The end,” Draco whispered.
“Good stowy,” Teddy mumbled around his fingers. “Thank you Dwaco, I like it when you tell me stowies.”
Draco smiled down at him, rubbed his shoulder with small circular motions as the little boy’s eyes drooped. “I can tell you another one,” he said softly. “The next time I come around, if you like?”
Teddy’ nod was small, but it warmed Draco’s heart nonetheless. Maybe Harry was right – he wasn’t going to break his cousin, he just needed to try with him and it would get easier and better.
“Night night Teddy Bear,” he whispered fondly, watching as the boy’s mouth grew slack and his fingers slipped away. Draco waited another few minutes to make sure he wasn’t going to wake up again, then pulled the blankets up around Teddy’s chin, turned off the lamp, and tiptoed across the room. “Sweet dreams,” he whispered, sliding out the door and closing it gently.
He startled slightly as he realised Harry was sitting on the landing waiting for him. “I was worried you might have wanted help,” he said in hushed tones as he got to his bare feet, grinning. “But you didn’t sound like you needed me at all.”
Draco slipped his hands into his pockets and looked back at him through his lashes, chewing his lip. “Um, thanks,” he said, glancing at Teddy’s door. How long had he been sitting there? “He had a bad dream, so I guess he just needed a bit of reassurance. I don’t know why he asked for me, you’re much better with him.”
He felt awkward as soon as he’d said it. Of course Harry was better, but now he’d think Draco was rubbing it in his face that he’d wanted Draco instead. He frowned at looked as the ground.
Harry though, chuckled. “I’m boring now,” he said, coming to stand by Draco and catching his eye. “You’re still special. Wait until you’ve been round more, then we’ll see who’s really the favourite.”
Draco’s brain was caught on the word ‘special’. Did Harry think he was special? Or did he really just mean that Teddy did? And what did he mean by ‘been around more’? Was that something he wanted? He curled his hands into fists in his pockets, wishing some words would come, but he was just leaving Harry hanging, yet again.
“Did you still want that hot chocolate?” Harry asked though, breaking the moment.
“Um, sure,” Draco said, grateful for the out.
Harry led the way, and Draco took long steady breaths in and out as he followed him down the stairs to the first floor. Harry stopped and listened in at Andy’s door, but after a minute he was satisfied that she was sleeping too, and they carried on their descent back to the basement level.
Draco watched as Harry re-boiled the kettle and sang along to the latest song playing quietly on the radio. He was feeling relatively calm again by the time Harry handed him a mug of coco. “Do you like mini marshmallows?” he asked, fetching a bag from the side and standing in front of Draco. He nodded, and Harry carefully sprinkled several pink and white lumps into his drink. “There you go,” he announced warmly.
Draco smiled and took a sip, surprised to find it had a caramel sort of taste to it. Harry really did know his way around the kitchen.
He settled himself on the sofa, feeling the need to curl up and be comfy rather than sit at the table again, but before he could even worry about it, Harry had fetched the baby monitor to place on the coffee table, and was dropping into the settee next to him.
“I liked your story,” he said, blowing on his chocolate.
Draco’s eyes widened in acute embarrassment. “You heard that?” he spluttered out.
Harry though laughed and squeezed his knee. He really was sitting quite close. “Don’t look like that, it was lovely! I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I hope you don’t mind?”
Draco bit his lip and looked into his mug. Harry had said before he’d only been concerned Draco would need help, which, considering how rubbish he’d been with Teddy most of the evening, was only fair. It was just, it had been one thing to tell Teddy that story, because he most likely wouldn’t realise how personal it had been. But Harry? Surely he couldn’t have failed to miss its only vaguely hidden double meaning.
“No,” he fumbled. “I don’t mind, as long as, I mean, that you didn’t think…?”
Harry’s hand, still on his knee, squeezed again. “It was a lovely story,” he repeated. “I especially liked the sound of this handsome knight coming to the rescue.”
“I never said he was handsome?” Draco blurted out, then felt himself go red with heat almost immediately.
Harry though just grinned, and leaned over so they could bump shoulders. “I heard he was very handsome,” he teased. “And I think…he’d like to be the prince’s friend very much.”
Draco risked looking up, only for a second, then quickly went back to his coco. “Oh,” he said, and managed to nod his head. “Yeah, that sounds…that sounds good.”
Harry suggested they put on the TV, and Draco agreed purely because he wanted to make Harry happy. He said he didn’t mind what they watched, and concerned himself with his cooling hot chocolate as Harry turned off the radio and fetched the remote control. They settled on a wildlife documentary about birds in the tropics, watching as a colourful mother made a nest for her babies.
“I hope none of the eggs fall out,” Draco worried, realising too late that might have been quite a lame thing to say. But it was worth it when Harry took his free hand and laced their fingers together.
“Don’t worry my liege,” he said in mock concern. “I’ll protect you from the scary birdies.”
Draco stared at their hands.
Harry was holding his hand.
He wasn’t letting go.
“Thanks,” he breathed, not caring if he sounded lame anymore. No one had ever held his hand before, not like this, and no one had certainly ever rubbed their thumb against his knuckles with such care. He looked up, and realised Harry wasn’t watching the baby birds (who were still safely in their nest) but was looking at Draco instead.
“I hope you’ll come and stay with us more often,” he said softly, his green eyes sparkling in the dim light from the telly reflecting on his glasses. “This has been really nice.”
Draco tried to remember how to breath, or swallow, either would do. “Yeah,” he said once he’d managed to scramble around enough to regain his senses. “Um, yeah, me too.”
He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, he felt sick at the thought Harry might actually kiss him. Draco had…well he’d never really kissed anyone, he wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted. But he’d forgotten Harry was his hero.
He carefully eased a bit closer to Draco, then leaned his head on Draco’s shoulder. It was way more than Draco had ever managed with anyone else, and even though he knew that was ridiculous compared to other guys his age, it was just perfect. He exhaled carefully, and allowed himself to lean slightly back against Harry.
“You know the thing about knights?” Harry asked, and Draco shook his head. Harry smiled against Draco’s arm, but didn’t look up. “They’re really patient.”
They watched the rest of the show in companionable silence, but Harry didn’t let go of Draco’s hand, or raise his head from his shoulder, despite the fact it must have been giving him a crick in his neck. He knew it was selfish, but Draco was glad. He didn’t want this moment to end.
But it did end eventually as the credits began to roll, and Harry stood and stretched, before plucking up their empty mugs and heading into the kitchen. “Are you alright with the sofa-bed for this time?” he asked as he turned the dishwasher on for the night. “That’ll probably be easier to set up than the other spare room.”
Draco had briefly entertained a notion that Harry might have offered to share his bed with Draco, and the thought had simultaneously terrified and enthralled him. He was glad Harry had made the decision for him; he’d promised Draco patience after all. But Draco hadn’t missed the way he’d said ‘this time’ – like next time might be different.
The bed made saw Harry bidding Draco goodnight, but he didn’t seem to be doing a very good job of actually leaving to go to his own room. “You’ll stay tomorrow?” he asked hopefully, taking Draco’s hand again and playing with his fingers in a way that made Draco’s heart pound in his chest. He nodded, and Harry smiled. “Um, you can tell me if I’m being too forward or anything you know?” Draco shook his head, and managed a smile back. Harry was doing just fine as far as he was concerned. “So…this is okay?” he asked, giving their hands a little tug. Draco nodded, and his shy smile grew wider.
Harry paused, and seemed to ponder something. “How about this?” he murmured. He leaned forward, and gently grazed his lips against Draco’s cheek. It was the most chaste of kisses, but Draco shuddered and took in a deep breath, electricity shooting across his skin. Harry stepped back and considered Draco carefully, relaxing visibly as Draco nodded once more.
“That’s okay,” he said, his voice barely a rasp.
Harry beamed. “Goodnight then,” he said.
“Goodnight,” Draco replied, letting his fingers trail against Harry’s as they eventually drifted apart. Draco watched as the other boy walked to the steps, and smiled as he turned the corner to share just one last look.
Draco slept well that night on the slightly rickety sofa-bed. He dreamed of chocolate kisses and soft touches, and thought that maybe he could stand to spend a lot more time in this house after all. In this home. The home that after so many years of silence, had finally made his heart sing.
End