The beach at Shell Cove was one of Albus’ favourite ways to escape the fast paced life he was used to in London. A warm, April breeze carried the scent of salt over to where he stood on the sand, a few feet behind his husband. Scorpius had kicked his shoes off, rolled his trousers up to his calves and was allowing the gentle waves to lap at his ankles. He turned and reached his hand out to Albus, beckoning him forward.
“I don’t want to get my new shoes wet and they take forever to unlace,” Albus said softly, taking Scorpius’ hand anyway. He could feel the familiar wedding band, cool and smooth between his fingers.
Scorpius chuckled lightly and pulled his wand out, disguised by a pale blue wand cover, aiming a quick impervius spell at Albus’ feet. “There you go, they won’t get wet.”
It was a mark of his trust for Scorpius’ magic, Albus thought, when he went splashing into the sea without hesitation, his brand new, floral patterned boots repelling the water and sand perfectly. They’d been the most successful part of a shopping trip he’d ended up having to take by himself when Scorpius got stuck working at the hospital again and Albus was rather pleased with them.
They held hands, stood in the shallows of the cool water. Scorpius caught his eye and smiled shyly, spurring Albus to lean over and kiss the corner of his mouth. Grinning, Scorpius wrapped his arm around Albus’ shoulders, allowing Albus to rest his head in the crook of his husband’s neck.
Married life is perfect. Scorpius is flourishing in his dream job at the hospital and Albus’ brewing business continues to make waves in the world of potioneering. But nothing is as gratifying as coming home to each other, Pepper Imp the pygmy puff and their recent yet very real plans to have a baby.
Not everything is straightforward though. When a dangerous disease begins to spread exponentially through the children of magical Britain alongside a barrage of relentless attempts to steal from Albus’ business, Scorpius and Albus’ hopes to start a little family of their own slip further and further out of their reach.
Nothing can put a stop to their plans forever, though, can it?
The second sequel to Sweeter Than Fiction but can be read on its own. This is a completed fic, updates will be every Monday.
Warnings/Content Notes: contains Love, Simon spoilers
Summary: “Sometimes, I like to stand at the top of the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night, and just look out at the stars. The universe is huge, and for a single second, I feel comforted by the fact that I am so small and insignificant in this big, wide world. I feel almost as if my worries don’t matter, because stars don’t have worries, they exist and shamelessly so. So this is my first step, into my own shameless existence too.
I’m gay, Hogwarts. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough to say that out loud.Stargazer”
Albus Potter has a secret, one which not even his best friends know about, and one he certainly isn’t planning to reveal to anyone before graduation. Apart from Stargazer, because he can tell Stargazer anything.
(Based on Love, Simon)
Word Count: 37,963
A/N: Thanks @marisdrawings for collabing with me and producing some gorgeous art to accompany this fic!
Day 3, The 12 Days of Shipmas - Baby’s first Christmas👶🏼
In which Draco considers whether a newborn and a ponytail are really the best combination.
Words: 1,673
Pairings: Draco/Astoria
25th December, 2005
Everybody says that the world looks different once you become a parent. That what was once small and insignificant evolves into the most relevant and important part of one’s life. This was true for Draco Malfoy. Scorpius rocked his world in the very best way, making everything easier but at the same time so much more complicated.
The only problem was that Draco really couldn’t buy into the whole baby thing. He thought it was stupid to talk to his son in a silly voice all the time like everybody else seemed to want to do. He refused to pull stupid faces at his baby when he seemed perfectly happy with Draco’s normal smile. Draco loved Scorpius so much, more than he’d ever loved anything in his life, and he didn’t see why he needed to demonstrate this fact by making a complete fool out of himself.
Astoria told him to try to sound less sarcastic when he read to Scorpius, but he argued that it seemed to make Scorpius laugh more than when she read to him, and anyway, he was only two months old. Scorpius certainly didn’t seem to be unhappy with his dad’s cynical approach to fatherhood.
The one thing Draco wasn’t counting on though, was how much more of a big deal he was supposed to make over every tiny thing that happened to Scorpius. Since the twenty-fourth of October, everything was so much more meaningful because it was Scorpius’ first of everything.
Scorpius’ first night at home, Scorpius’ first bath, Scorpius’ first outing, Scorpius’ first Friday, Scorpius’ first rain. The most mundane things became important when they were Scorpius’ first time experiencing them.
Astoria wanted Scorpius’ first Christmas to be perfect. It didn’t matter that he was only two months old and wouldn’t remember it one bit, which Draco refrained from pointing out. He found himself quite powerless to protest against anything if it was something Astoria wanted.
They decorated the manor more meticulously than they had for any of the other three Christmases they’d lived there as a married couple, even though it would only be the three of them there to enjoy it after they managed to get out of hosting Draco’s parents, who were actually staying with the Greengrass family while they were in England.
Draco thought maybe he should be offended by this, but it was quite perfect that their families got on so well, better in fact that than their families got on with them. Astoria’s parents were of similar ideals to his own, and they’d bonded over a shared dislike of how Draco and Astoria had chosen to raise their son outside of the traditional pureblood realms. They avoided spending time with each other usually, but Christmas forced them together.
They’d endured a stiff and awkward, painfully formal Christmas dinner at Astoria’s family home, during which Scorpius had been appraised judgingly by everybody. Astoria’s father claimed he seemed too small and Lucius curled his lip at the pale yellow outfit Draco had dressed him in.“It should be green, he’s a Malfoy heir. Do you want him to end up in Hufflepuff?” Astoria opened her mouth to politely dispute this and Narcissa quickly jumped in with a loud comment about how much Scorpius looked like Draco did as a baby to diffuse the moment.
Eventually, finally, five painful courses later - and no fewer than four suggestions from Lucius that they leave Scorpius upstairs where a house-elf could look after him, instead of having him at the table with them (He’s two months old, Lucius, and he’s our baby.) - it was over. They were back at the manor, at home as a family.
The living room was a winter wonderland and beside the large Christmas tree, Scorpius was lying on his back in a bassinet, his tiny amount of white-blond hair, like the fuzzy seeds of a dandelion, sticking up from his head where he’d been sleeping. He was gazing with interest at his parents, making tiny snuffling noises and wriggling around.
“And this one is from Auntie Daphne,” Astoria told their son, holding a present up in front of him as if he could understand. “Would you like to open it?”
“That looks means yes Mummy but unfortunately I’ve not developed full use of my thumbs yet,” Draco explained and Astoria laughed at him.
“Shall we ask Daddy to open it for you?” she continued, handing Draco the present, picking Scorpius up gently and cradling him in her arms. He kicked his legs and arms in excitement. “That look means hurry up and open it, Daddy.”
Draco rolled his eyes and undid the wrapping paper, removing a grey, stuffed animal and holding it up in front of Scorpius. He stared at it with his clear, grey-blue eyes.
Astoria took it from him and inspected it. “Oh, it’s an owl, how sweet.”
Draco looked at her like she was mad. “I thought it was a mouse? Look at its ears.”
“It has wings, honey. See?” Astoria turned the creature round, still holding Scorpius in one arm, and indicated what vaguely resembled wings.
Draco shook his head. “No owl has paws.”
“It has a beak!”
“It has whiskers!”
“What in Merlin’s name is it?”
They were stopped by a sudden gurgle from their baby. He was staring at the toy, eyes wide, and his hand extended out towards it. Astoria moved it closer to his outreached hand and he grasped at thin air a couple of times before successfully gripping onto the toy and pulling it towards him, where he promptly stuffed it into his mouth.
“Apparently Scorpius likes ambiguous crossover owl-mouse creatures,” said Draco dryly.
“He reached out for it! He’s never reached out for anything before.” Astoria sounded overjoyed.
“I’ll alert the minister at once,” Draco said sarcastically.
“You’re so clever Scorpius, reaching out and grabbing onto things all by yourself.” She tickled him and he squealed in delight.
“He grabs onto my hair all the time,” Draco muttered, massaging the back of his head where Scorpius had previously wrenched at his ponytail.
“I told you that would happen before he was born,” his wife said to him, although she was looking at Scorpius as she spoke and tickling him under the chin with the owl-mouse.
Draco watched her with a smile. “Yes, but you still wouldn’t let me cut it off.”
Astoria looked up, offended. “Never! I love it too much.”
She adjusted Scorpius so he was upright and leaning against her chest, where he attempted to gnaw on her shoulder. The hand that wasn’t holding their baby in place came up to smooth Draco’s hair back from his forehead and towards his immaculate ponytail, which she curled around her fingertips. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she rested her head on his shoulder, Scorpius gurgled happily between them.
“This is the part of Christmas I was looking forward to the most,” Draco murmured and kissed the top of her head.
“Just us, our family,” she whispered back.
“I have one more present for you.” As Draco spoke, Astoria lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him in question.
“You do?”
Draco nodded. “It’s in here.”
He lead her into the hallway where they had a second, smaller Christmas tree in the alcove beneath the grand staircase. Under the tree was one, small gift, wrapped in silver paper. Draco gently took Scorpius from her, tucking him into his chest and kissing his fluffy head.
Astoria curiously picked up the present, giving Draco a look of confusion. After all, they’d exchanged presents hours ago over breakfast.
“I probably should have given it to you sooner,” Draco said apologetically, even though this meant nothing to Astoria because she hadn’t opened it yet. “Go on, open it.”
Scorpius was babbling excitedly over Draco’s shoulder as if he knew what was inside the present. Astoria unwrapped it carefully and removed a tree ornament by its silver ribbon. She examined the ornament and looked up at Draco, clutching the present to her heart.
“You didn’t?” she gasped and Draco nodded at her. “I thought you hated things like this.”
Draco raised his eyebrows. “I don’t hate things like that. We’ve never even discussed getting one of those.”
“Because I knew you would think it was stupid,” she said, a huge grin on her face.
Draco shook his head. “It’s not stupid. Do you like it?”
“Draco, I love it.” She caught his face in her hands and kissed him sweetly. He hugged her to him, one arm supporting Scorpius and the other around his wife.
“I love you,” he said softly.
“And I love you,” she breathed into his shoulder before suddenly pulling away. “Scorpius, no baby. Don’t eat Daddy’s hair.”
Somewhere behind his head, Astoria was dislodging a section of his ponytail from Scorpius’ grip (which was surprisingly strong) and patting it back into place.
When his hair was free, Draco lifted Scorpius up and held him in front of his face. The baby kicked his legs out with a smile. “Why do you always have to go for the hair?”
He kissed Scorpius on the nose, making him laugh, and turned him around, holding him against his stomach with one hand underneath him so he could watch his mother place the ornament on the tree. She smiled at Draco and their baby and hung it carefully on an empty branch, tapping it with her finger so it gently span. Draco watched it slowly revolve, as did Astoria, and Scorpius waved his arms about, his fists clenched.
The ornament caught the light of the fairies sat all over the tree. It was a simple crisp white circle, with a tiny handprint indented into the front, enchanted to glow softly. Underneath the handprint, written in a tiny version of Draco’s handwriting, were the words Scorpius’ First Christmas 2005.
Day 2, 12 Days of Shipmas - Christmas tree decorating 🎄
In which the simple act of decorating a Christmas tree is anything but simple for the Potters.
Words: 1,781
Pairings: Harry/Ginny
9th December, 2013
A large space had been cleared in the Potter’s living room and the three children stood round it expectantly. The door opened revealing the end of a large cardboard box closely followed by Harry’s face.
Lily ran excitedly to the doorway and attempted to help carry the enormous box causing her mother to smile at her from where she was carrying the back end of the box. The boys watched from afar.
“We can put it here, Daddy!” Lily announced, gesturing to the space her brothers stood around and they nodded happily in agreement.
“Help me open this box then,” Ginny said from the floor where she was beginning to untie the fastenings on the huge box. Lily ran to assist her and Harry started undoing the fastening on the other end of the box. James and Albus were busy looking into the decorations box.
“I’ve already chosen my first decoration. You should choose yours too, Al,” James said bossily to his younger brother. Albus glanced at the small, carved hippogriff on a string in James’ hand.
“But that was the decoration I wanted to choose first,” he stated glumly, knowing his brother would get to hang it on the tree as he was two years older.
“Well this one’s taken; you can have this one though.” He dived into the box and emerged with a sparkly pixie decoration that released glitter showers every time it moved.
“Yuck, no! That’s a girl decoration,” Albus said and he physically backed away from the contents of James’ hand.
“There’s no such thing as boy and girl decorations, we’ve talked about this.” Ginny sighed. “Anyway, you love glitter, Al.”
Albus gave her a sulky look and Ginny suspected the rejection of the pixie decoration had all been an attempt to impress his big brother - Albus completely idolised James.
“Hey! Give Pixie to me,” Lily commanded as she scrambled up from the floor and grabbed the decoration, showering James with glitter in the process.
“Lily!” James shouted angrily as he brushed his hair of glitter.
“Don’t fight over the decorations guys. There’s plenty in there for all of you,” Ginny told them. Albus was still sulking so she stood up and made her way to the decorations box, inspecting its contents.
“How about this one, Al?” she asked after a minute of searching. It was a bright red dragon decoration that breathed harmless, small flames when hung on the tree.
“Yeah!” Albus cried enthusiastically, bounding over to his mother and gently taking the dragon from her hand. “I love dragons.”
“I don’t…” Harry muttered from where he had finally managed to open the box.
James’ face fell. “Oh but I wanted that one too! That’s from Uncle Charlie isn’t it?” He swung the hippogriff from his finger, giving it an evil look.
“James, Hippy is from Uncle Charlie as well,” Lily responded exasperatedly whilst bouncing around Harry and urging him to get the Christmas tree out.
Hippy. Why did Lily insist on giving all the Christmas tree decorations names? James found it incredibly annoying.
“Hippy the Hippogriff? That’s a stupid name. This is my decoration and I say he doesn’t have a name,” he commanded maturely.
“Here it is,” Harry announced as he stood back to show a large, green, artificial tree laying on the ground. They used to always have a real Christmas tree in the house until three Christmases ago when they discovered that James, who was six at the time, was allergic to them. The poor boy had spent most of Christmas day dosed up on Sneezing Potion before they’d worked out what the problem was.
Lily was looking at the tree in awe, still clutching her pixie decoration. “How does it go up?” she asked loudly. Everyone turned to look at Harry.
“That’s simple. Constructo!” He pointed his wand at the tree which was lying on the floor forlornly. Nothing happened.
“I’m not Hermione or anything, but I don’t think that spell is designed to work on muggle Christmas trees,” Ginny said laughing and the children looked between them with disappointed faces.
“Ok then, you try,” Harry joked, passing her her own wand.
“Ok, I will.” Ginny gave him a cheeky grin and replaced her wand onto the table where it had previously resided. She approached the dismantled tree and considered the pieces for a second before selecting one and snapping it into the base unit.
Harry watched with an annoyed look on his face as she placed the remaining section of the tree on top so the two clicked together and stood back to reveal a towering, perfect Christmas tree.
“Cool,” said Albus.
“Yay, Mummy!” Lily applauded.
“Sometimes the Muggle way is the easiest way,” Ginny said casually, feeling very proud of herself.
“Well I could’ve done that…” Harry muttered.
“Decoration time!” Lily cried and she ran forward to hang her beloved pixie on one of the branches.
“No Lily, we’re not having your stupid girly decorations on the tree. Cool ones only.” James ordered, replacing the pixie with his own hippogriff and throwing the pixie to the ground in a cloud of disappearing glitter.
“James,” Ginny reprimanded in a warning tone from where she was opening a box of baubles decorated with different Quidditch designs. “If you can’t be nice to your sister, you won’t get to join in.”
“Mine’s cool!” Albus stated as he too ran towards the Christmas tree and proudly placed the dragon on a branch.
“Pixie is cool,” Lily told him stubbornly, her eyes filling up with tears. “Why can’t she be on the tree? It’s not fair, Daddy.” Lily picked up the pixie and ran to Harry, sniffing miserably.
“James, let your sister put her decorations on too. It’s everyone’s Christmas tree.” Lily brightened up immediately as she replaced Pixie onto the tree.
“I’ve taught her well,” Ginny muttered to Harry, nodding her head to Lily who was happily picking out the pinkest, most sparkly and girly decorations she could find and deliberately putting them next to wherever James put his own decorations.
“You fell for the fake tears too,” she added mischievously to Harry who looked shocked.
“They were fake? How do you know?” he asked her.
“Harry, I grew up with six brothers. I know everything about being a little sister. She used the Daddy card too.”
“Daddy card? She always calls me Daddy.”
“She’s got you right here,” Ginny said, twirling her little finger around.
Harry scoffed. “That is just not true. Anyway, you’re hardly one to talk.”
Ginny put her hands on her hips and surveyed him as Lily dived between her legs for a stray decoration. “Meaning?”
“You can’t say no to Al,” Harry said smugly. They both watched as their younger son demurely placed a decoration on the tree, ignoring his siblings who were squabbling over who would get to put the angel on the top of the tree. His dark hair was on the neater side for once and his green eyes were alive with excitement.
“Look at him, he’s you in miniature. He’s adorable.” Ginny walked over and pulled Albus in for a quick hug. He was startled, a decoration still in his hand, but he hugged her back.
“That’s exactly what it’s like with Lily,” Harry muttered, watching his red-haired daughter twirl around on the spot, making her dress fly out around her.
“It’s finished!” she cried, running at Harry and requiring him to employ his Auror reflexes rather quickly to protect himself from injury. Instead, he caught her and lifted her up into the air where she screamed in delight.
“Is it time for the fairy lights?” Albus asked excitedly.
“Fairy lights, fairy lights!” Lily squirmed to be put down.
Harry withdrew a large jar from beside the fireplace which contained several golden fairies, happily whizzing about. They’d purchased them from Diagon Alley just that morning and Lily had already named them all.
With the jar open, Lily was able to gently lower her hand inside and she squealed with delight as five fairies climbed onto the palm of her hand and she withdrew it. She rested her hand open on a branch of the tree and the fairies fluttered from her hand, nestling into the branches where they glowed prettily.
“Al?” Harry offered the jar to his son, who also collected and released a small handful of fairies onto the tree. One of the fairies fluttered to land on his shoulder instead of the tree and he smiled at it.
“Jamesy?” James scowled at his father’s use of his childish nickname (which James had given himself when he first learnt to talk). “Sorry, James.”
James was reluctant to scoop any of the fairies from the jar.
“Shall we give your turn to Lily?” Ginny asked with a knowing smile.
“No! I want to do it,” James cried, rushing forward to retrieve his own handful of fairies. They too found places on the tree and the whole thing was flashing and twinkling.
There were enough fairies for the children to each have one more turn and James’ sulkiness had evaporated by the time the jar was empty. The fairy on Albus’ shoulder whizzed from her perch to the tree to join her sisters, leaving a little cloud of fairy dust all over Al’s dark hair. Harry absent-mindedly went to brush it away and Albus smiled up at his dad.
Ginny placed the angel on the top of the tree to avoid any arguments and the Potters stood back to admire their Christmas tree. The bottom two thirds were a mess of random clusters of decorations where Lily had put all of hers right next to James’ choices. Glitter from the pixie coated everything and would last for twelve hours before disappearing and the top third was more or less bare where the children couldn’t reach it.
James, Al and Lily looked delighted. Harry and Ginny exchanged looks.
“Well done, kids. I think it’s our best one yet!” Harry said convincingly.
“Redecorate after they’ve gone to bed?” Ginny muttered into his ear.
“Only if I get to hang the Hippogriff,” he whispered back.
In which the whole Potter family collectively decide to never let the Grangers babysit their daughter again.
Words: 1,150
Pairing: Harry/Ginny
21st December, 2010
The Potter children were all very different at two years old. It seemed to be the age when their personalities really started to shine through.
James at two refused to wear clothes. It was not uncommon to walk into the Potters’ house to find a little, naked James wandering around shamelessly. He just seemed to have a distinct aversion to being dressed. Although he did like to wear socks, and would often choose to remove every item of his outfit but his socks. It wasn’t a problem at home - that was just how James preferred to play - but when he started to remove his clothes in the middle of public places such as Diagon Alley, Harry and Ginny had to regretfully break his little heart by explaining that he had to wear clothes.
Albus, thankfully, did not decide to imitate his brother and remained dressed most of the time. No, Albus’ thing at two was cuddles. He gave them to everything and everyone he came across, regardless of whether they were living, breathing humans or not. Albus had been known to pick up snails in the garden and tuck them under his chin, wrapping his arms around himself so he could cuddol them. He would take books from shelves, utensils from kitchen drawers, and his baby sister from her bed, just so he could give them a cuddol.
It was adorable, and Ginny was rather disappointed when he grew out of it.
At the age of two, Lily’s thing was singing. Or rather her version of singing, which involved repeating the words she thought she knew over and over to a rough approximation of the tune.
“Who you wanna build a snowman?” she sang, spinning around and staring at her feet. “Come unnagunna play!”
“Lily! I’m trying to tell Mummy about my drawing, stop singing.” James sulked at the kitchen table.
“Okay bye,” Lily sang mournfully and ran to the other side of the room, where she jumped on Albus’ back and grabbed him from behind. He barely looked up from the tower he was building, sat with both legs stuck straight out in front of him and his tongue out in concentration. “Who you wanna build a snowman?”
Lily singing directly into his ear was too much for Albus to ignore and he grumpily looked up from the tower he’d been building. “I’m building a tower,” he explained to his sister, who sat down on the floor beside him.
“Soosabee best buddies, now we not. Wish a tow me why!” Lily continued to sing loudly and with abandon. Albus scowled at her and turned his back with his tower.
“As nice as it was of Mr and Mrs Granger to take Lily to see that muggle film with Hugo-”
“I really wish they hadn’t.” Ginny finished for her husband who nodded regretfully.
“How does she know all the words?” He ruffled James’ hair and looked up expectantly at Albus, who had come over with his tower in one hand.
“Never see me at the more, in the door, like away!” Lily had resumed spinning on the spot.
“This tower is for you, Daddy,” Albus said, proudly handing the structure to Harry, who looked at it with over-enthusiastic joy.
“A tower handmade by the Albus Potter? It’s just what I always wanted!” He pulled a giggling Albus into a hug.
“Who you wanna build a snowman?”
“My picture is finished, Mummy, look!” James waved the parchment like a flag, nearly slicing Ginny’s eyelid open in the process.
“Duza have a be a snowman.”
“It’s beautiful James, is this all of us?” Ginny stared bemusedly at the picture, which showed five shaky figures that really could have been anybody, although the hairstyles were sort of a giveaway. The figures stood beside a Christmas tree which was double their height and covered in glitter from James’ magical crayons.
“Yes. That’s me,” he pointed to the first figure who had carefully coloured, red and brown hair.
“Your hair’s not messy enough,” Ginny teased, ruffling it as she spoke, making James laugh.
“Best buddies, now we not.”
“This is you and Daddy,” he continued and indicated a pair of figures on the end, one with wonky oval shaped glasses covering his eyes and one with two red lines of hair which reached her feet.
“Build a snowman!”
“That’s Al,” and a figure with black crayon hair and for some reason a green hat that he definitely didn’t own or wear in real life.
“Why’s he wearing a hat?” Harry asked, looking at the picture over James’ shoulder with Albus sat on his hip.
“He’s not, I accidentally coloured his hair in green a bit by accident,” James explained.
“And is this Lily?” Ginny asked doubtfully, as the last figure had hair that had been coloured in with bright blue crayon.
“Duza have a be a snowman.” Lily had stopped spinning and swayed as she walked towards her family. Harry caught her with one hand as she nearly toppled over. “Okay bye.”
“No, Mummy. That’s Teddy of course!” James looked at her like she had asked a stupid question.
“Did you miss out Lily?” Albus asked, sounding offended on her behalf.
“Lily is here.” James stabbed his finger in the table, a few inches off the edge of his parchment. “She is too busy singing to stand by the tree, see?”
His enthusiastic pointing allowed Harry and Ginny to see that, coming into the picture from the side James indicated, were some musical notes and the word snoman amongst them.
“Who you wanna build a snowman?”
“Maybe it’s time to learn a new song Lily-Lu,” Harry said, as Albus wriggled from his arms and onto the floor, jumping up and down in excitement. He knew what Harry meant.
“Excellent idea, Daddy,” Ginny said, helping Harry open the magical record player. It didn’t actually play records, and instead stored as much music inside as you wanted, to be selected with a tap of a wand.
“Hand Clap!” Albus requested enthusiastically and Harry nodded and played the song he asked for.
All three children danced enthusiastically around the kitchen and Lily forgot about singing her snowman song for the rest of the evening.
On Christmas morning, Lily was excitedly opening her present from Ron and Hermione. She ripped the wrapping paper away and squealed in excitement when she saw what was inside. It was a princess doll from the film she loved so much.
“Look, pwincess!” she cried, showing everyone in the room. She inspected it in great detail all over and gave the doll’s hand a squeeze.
“Do you wanna build a snowman?” the toy began to sing loudly and James looked up in horror.
Because nothing bad has ever happened on October 31st, nope, definitely not.
Words: 1,975
Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Draco/Astoria
Also on AO3
“Ginny, why is our daughter blue?” Harry called this odd question out from the opposite side of the landing. Ginny appeared in their bedroom doorway, looking overjoyed.
“Doesn’t she look cute? Wait, let me put these on her.” She reached into the wardrobe and removed a pair of pixie wings, moving across the room to where Lily was crawling around on the double bed. Harry crossed her path and intercepted their daughter, scooping her up off the bed.
“No more!” He held Lily to him protectively, not allowing Ginny access to her shoulders to attach the wings. “Our daughter is blue, Ginny. You turned our daughter blue!”
“Because she’s meant to be a pixie.” Ginny sighed and let the pixie wings fall to her side. “Come on Harry, it’s Halloween and she loves it.”
Lily was giggling away to herself where she was pressed against Harry’s chest, waving her little arms about and watching them move in all their blue wonder.
“It’s only a charm and it’ll wear off eventually. Please?” She held her hands out to take Lily from him and Harry reluctantly passed her over. Ginny attached the pixie wings to their daughter, who was a deep shade of blue from the tips of her hair all the way down to her little toes. She was wearing a little blue dress to add to the effect and the pixie wings finished the whole costume off perfectly. It was hard for Harry to deny she looked adorable, even though she was unnaturally blue.
“She does look cute,” he commented, as Ginny placed the baby on the floor where she stood shakily holding onto her mother’s hand.
“Come on little pixie, let’s find your brothers,” Ginny said to their daughter as she lead Lily from the room.
“I’m coming too, before you cover Al in glitter or give James a tattoo or something.” He sprinted from the room in pursuit of his family.
“ROAR!” came a squeaky voice, as Harry was immediately ambushed by his three-year-old jumping from his bed and straight at Harry’s chest. Fortunately, Auror reflexes combined with an adolescence spent playing Quidditch meant Harry caught him in time before he toppled over.
“Help, Gin! I’m being eaten by a very scary dragon!” Harry shook his son around, making him giggle, before lifting him high up into the air above him. “Actually, don’t worry, he’s flying away now.”
Harry helped Albus soar around the room, keeping a firm grip under his arms and narrowly avoiding being hit over the head by the large tail attached to the back of Al’s costume. He facilitated Albus ‘landing’ on the floor and straightened his little, red dragon outfit, pulling the hood back up over his head. It had a vertical row of little spikes starting at the top of his head and leading all the way to the end of his tail.
“Rah!” Albus bared his teeth and held his hands in claw-like positions in front of him.
“Merlin, you’re a very scary dragon aren’t you? Where do you come from Mr Dragon?” Harry was now sat cross-legged on Al’s bedroom floor, watching his youngest son jumping around like he’d never seen any dragon do.
“Raaaah rah!” said Albus, with a particularly energetic spinning leap that sent him careering straight into Harry again.
“Are you only going to speak in roars?” Harry asked suspiciously, knowing what the answer was going to be.
Albus nodded from his father’s arms. At three and a half, he was more than capable of talking and actually had quite an impressive vocabulary for a child his age.
But no, this evening Albus Potter would not be convinced to say anything more than ‘rah’ in various combinations and at a variety of ear-splitting volumes.
In the quiet moment that came before Al started roaring again, Harry could hear the unmistakable sounds of his oldest son crying in the room next door, shortly joined by Lily’s own cries.
He rushed to join them immediately, picking Albus up and bringing him too. The sight that met him was a confused and concerned Ginny gently rubbing James’ back; their son had thrown himself face down on the bed and a bewildered Lily sat on the floor watching her brother with tears streaming down her own face.
“Come here Lily-Lu,” he said, placing Albus down and going over to his daughter who immediately reached her arms up for him. He picked her up and tucked her into the crook of his neck like he did when she was a tiny baby and she sniffed.
“I don’t know what the matter with her is, I think she just didn’t want James to get all the attention,” Ginny said from where she was still comforting James.
“What’s wrong?” Harry mouthed, nodding towards James’ shaking figure clad inexplicably in his pyjamas. Albus was watching him too, his feet crossed over and his finger pressed to his lip like he was thinking.
“His costume. It’s a bit scary,” Ginny murmured and nodded her head towards the wardrobe door, which was slightly ajar. Harry peered round it to see James’ Halloween costume where it was hung up; a tiny vampire complete with pretend fangs. “He put it on and looked in the mirror and then-”
Harry caught Ginny’s eye and both of them tried not to laugh. It wasn’t funny that his son was scared.
“James?” Harry joined Ginny in rubbing soothing circles on James’ back. “Look at Al’s costume, Al show him.” He turned his head back to his younger son, who grinned and came up behind James.
“Rah!” he shouted and performed his dragon pose for James’ benefit. James still wasn’t watching and saw nothing but the top of his bed, but Lily was highly amused from Harry’s arms and clapped her hands together, pointing at her brother.
“Rah?” He tried again with less conviction then shrugged when he realised James wasn’t paying any attention.
“Maybe later, Al.” Harry patted him on the shoulder of his dragon costume while Lily struggled to be put down. She was a much more willing audience and ran around after her big brother as he continued his well-practised dragon impression, shrieking with delight every time he roared at her.
“James, you can wear a different costume if you like?” Harry offered gently and Ginny shook her head.
James finally lifted his head from the bed and gazed at Harry with red eyes. His cheeks were tear stained and his hair was rumpled at the front where he’d been lying on it. “I… I don’t want… to wear a… costume,” he managed to say between sobs.
It was really quite heartbreaking seeing his little body racked with sobs. Harry opened his arms out and James fell into them, curling up against Harry’s chest and clinging to his sleeve with one hand.
“You don’t have to dress up, James,” Ginny said kindly, one eye on Albus and Lily, who were still playing boisterously.
“It's… too scary,” James choked out into Harry’s shirt.
“Alright, you can be something that isn’t scary. What’s the least scary thing you can think of James?”
James mumbled something that sounded like ‘treading’ into Harry’s chest. Harry pulled him away slightly so there was a space for James to be heard and he smoothed his hair down with one hand.
“Teddy,” James repeated.
“You want to dress up as Teddy for Halloween?” Harry asked uncertainly and James nodded determinedly.
“I think that’s a great idea, James! Come here,” Ginny gently eased him away from Harry and sat him down on the bed. He rubbed his red eyes with his fists and sniffed. She gave him a big hug then held him at arm’s length. “This should do the trick.”
Ginny waved her wand over James’ hair, causing it to turn a bright shade of turquoise just like Harry’s eleven-year-old godson’s hair.
“What is it with you and turning our children blue tonight?” Harry shook his head but was pleased to see James looked a lot happier.
They dressed him in his white school shirt and grey school trousers and they charmed his school tie to be yellow and black striped instead of blue and grey. A simple shrinking charm meant one of Harry’s black travelling cloaks would fit James for the evening and Ginny even found an old Hogwarts pin to fasten to the front.
“What do you think, James? Not too scary?” Ginny asked him as she pinned it to the cloak. James looked at himself in the mirror and grinned.
“Cool!” he squeaked. “Look Al, I’m Teddy!”
“RAH!” Albus responded, looking like he was starting to regret his no talking decision but also that he was too stubborn to let it slip.
“Now, what colour would you like to be?” Ginny pointed her wand at Harry and he wrestled it away from her, both of them falling onto James’ bed in laughter. It didn’t take long for all three of their strangely dressed children to join them in a giggling heap of Potters.
“Look Daddy! Look at me!” Draco watched his four-year-old son brandish a pretend wand inexpertly, looking nothing like a Malfoy as he ran around the room.
“Astoria, are you playing a joke on me?” he bemusedly asked his wife, who had followed Scorpius in after helping him get dressed in his Halloween costume.
“No, that’s what he wanted to dress up as.” She accepted the arm Draco wrapped around her waist as together they watched their son climb up onto the sofa and point his pretend wand at the curtains.
“No dementors can get me! Expect-uh patonus!” He shook the toy wand as if a spell were coming out of it and laughed delightedly.
“His hair will change back won’t it?” Draco asked with concern. Scorpius’ usual platinum blond locks, identical to his own except not long enough to make a ponytail, were dark brown, nearly black. The effect made him almost unrecognisable.
“Of course it will! Do you really think I would permanently dye our son’s hair for a Halloween costume?” Astoria rolled her eyes at her husband.
Scorpius jumped down from the sofa, pushing his glasses up his nose where they had slipped down.
“Doesn’t he look cute wearing glasses?” She nudged him in the side as he considered her question. Of course Scorpius looked cute, it was near impossible in Draco’s opinion for his son to ever look anything other than cute. He was angelic, even without his blond hair.
“I’m still not sure about this,” Draco replied stiffly. “What if he finds out?”
“Oh come on Draco, we’re not leaving the house. Nobody will ever know, and look how happy it’s making him.” She pointed to their son, who was running proudly round the room shouting ‘we won!’ and twirling his toy wand around.
“Daddy, Mummy, I’ll save you!” he said, taking Draco’s hand and standing in front of both his parents, brandishing the wand at an invisible enemy.
“I thought you just won?” Draco asked his son in amusement.
“But I still had to save you?” Scorpius replied, blinking up at his dad as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Thankyou for saving Mummy and me, Scorpius,” Draco replied, patting his abnormally dark hair.
“I’m not Scorpius!” he cried indignantly, pushing the glasses up his nose again and pointing to his forehead.
The combination of Scorpius’ indignation and the look Astoria was giving him was the only thing that could have convinced Draco to say what he did next. “Sorry. Thankyou for saving us, Harry Potter.”
Scorpius grinned and rushed off again and Astoria smirked at him, ignoring the murderous expression he was sending her way.
“Not a word to anyone,” he told her but he couldn’t help a small smile taking over as he said it.
Everyone in the family knew that Lily Potter loved board games. They also knew that Lily Potter was the most viciously competitive member of her generation. These two facts were why everyone avoided playing games with her on the off chance she lost and threw a tantrum or a hex their way.
But Christmas Eve was the exception. It was the one night of the year Lily could convince her family to play with her, and they didn’t hold back. Now Lily was no longer a child, her brothers thought she could handle losing from time to time, and they did their best to make that happen. Some rather underhanded tactics had taken place in previous years to prevent Lily from winning.
As the kids got older - and James started playing professional Quidditch and really discovered his competitive side - the gameplay became even dirtier. With the addition of alcohol in more recent years, Potter Christmas Eve Game Night was really quite something to behold.
Of course Teddy had always been part of Game Night too, and then Victoire when he married her. This year was the first year their baby twin girls were also in attendance. Albus started to bring Scorpius along from their first Christmas out of Hogwarts and living together and Scorpius enjoyed the whole thing immensely. James, ever the bachelor, was unlikely to bring anybody with him. Lily was gushing to anybody who would listen about her new boyfriend who she’d met at university, but he was a muggle and it was a very new relationship so she hadn’t brought anyone either.
“Who wants The Lily Special? I make them at uni all the time.” Lily asked her family loudly, brandishing a cocktail glass. Everybody said no, apart from Scorpius who politely asked what was in it before Albus listed the five different types of alcohol included and Scorpius shuddered.
“I can’t drink much tonight. The twins have never slept away from home before,” Teddy explained, appearing in the living room with his wife after having put their twins down to sleep in the spare room.
They were three games in, Lily was in second to last place (Harry was last because he always let Lily beat him) and she was really not enjoying herself. She was bored of being picked on by her brothers in every single game and the smug look on Albus’ face was starting to get to her.
“Next we’re playing Mandrake Mime!” Lily insisted and Albus rolled his eyes at the mention of the game which only Lily actually knew how to play.
“That game is the worst.”
“Last place always gets to choose,” Lily turned to her father, who was nursing a firewhiskey and making eyes at his wife sat beside him. “Daddy, do you choose Mandrake Mime?”
Harry looked up, confused. “What? Oh, yes definitely.”
Lily gave Albus a triumphant look. “You’re incorrigible,” he muttered as she set the game up.
“Cheer up Al, this one’s always hilarious.” Scorpius poked Albus in the side. “What was it you had to do last time?”
“I don’t remember,” he muttered.
“He had to mime eating a hot dog and didn’t understand why we were all laughing so hard at him,” Teddy put in helpfully.
“That’s you lot and your dirty minds, not my intention.” Albus held his hands up.
Lily scoffed. “Probably for the best, otherwise I’d feel sorry for Scorpius if that’s actually how you-”
“Who wants more eggnog?” Ginny quickly interrupted and offered it round. Albus was rolling his eyes at Lily and Scorpius had turned bright red. With a triumphant look, Lily shook her head and gestured to her own glass which was already full with some concoction probably containing copious amounts of vodka, knowing Lily.
Despite Al’s protests, they played Mandrake Mimeand to Lily’s delight, the withstanding ‘don’t let Lily win’ rule was sidelined in favour of ‘pick on Al’ instead. The game required each player to choose someone to act out a phrase on a card, and there was also a board and a complicated system of earning tokens, which only Lily understood.
Nobody was paying a great deal of attention to any of the rules and instead they were enjoying winding Albus up.
“Oh, it’s my turn to draw a card.” Scorpius innocently took a card from the pile and held it face down. “Let’s see, who do I choose?” He pretended to consider everybody before handing the card to a scowling Albus with a flourish. Albus was in such a bad mood by this point that Scorpius was probably the only person who could have gotten away with giving him another card.
“I’m moving out, you no longer have a housemate,” Albus said to Scorpius as he begrudgingly took the card and read it to himself. “Or a boyfriend.”
“It’s okay Scorp, you can move in with us, can’t he Dad?” Lily patted Scorpius on the shoulder.
“Any day Scorpius. You’re much tidier than Albus.” Harry grinned at Albus who was rolling his eyes but was taking the teasing well.
“Can I get this over with?” he held the card up.
“Short, scrawny potions nerd,” James yelled as soon as Albus stood up.
“Wow, Jamesy. Got it in one.” Albus threw the card down in front of his brother and fell back onto the sofa next to his boyfriend. “Can we play something different now? I’m bored of being a performing monkey.”
“This says realising you’ve forgotten your wand,” James read the card incredulously.
“Yes!” Lily drowned out everyone else. “That means I won that game!”
There was a collective groan.
Somehow the next game didn’t ever happen as the family descended into conversation and everyone was too busy drinking and talking to bother setting up another game, even Lily. Albus and Scorpius were curled up together in an armchair, not far from the sofa which Victoire was sat on with Ginny and Harry. Over on the other sofa, Lily was leaning against James and tapping at her muggle mobile phone, chatting to Teddy as she did.
Teddy’s wand, which was lying on the mantelpiece, emitted glowing sparks and the sound of a baby crying came from it. Victoire put her drink down immediately.
“If one of them wakes up, it doesn’t take long for the other one to join her,” she muttered to Ginny, rising to leave.
“I’ll do it, you stay here, Princess.” Teddy was on his feet already and he kissed the top of her head, stroking her hair lovingly. “I love you so much.”
Vic raised her eyebrows as she watched him leave.
“That was… sweet. A little over the top, but sweet.” Ginny was confused by her almost-son’s behaviour.
“He’s drunk,” said Victoire shrewdly, narrowing her eyes into the distance where Teddy had just left. “That, right there, that was drunk Teds.”
“I thought he wasn’t drinking much ‘cause of the babies?”
“So did I.” Victoire looked thoughtful. “He’s barely drank at all since we found out I was pregnant, it’s supposed to be a solidarity thing. I told him he didn’t have to but, well, you know what Teddy’s like.”
“His taking-care-of-people thing,” Ginny said proudly. “What happened tonight then? It’s not like Teddy to just abandon ship like that.
Victoire considered her question for a second and then turned in her seat. “Albus!”
He looked up from his boyfriend and grinned at her, his green eyes giving away instantly that it wasn’t only Teddy who was drunk.
“What did you give my husband to drink?” She eyed his full glass of something that looked like one of Lily’s Special Cocktails.
Albus gestured vaguely to the door that Teddy had just left through. “Your husband went that way.”
“Not really what I asked. You’re no help when you’re drunk, Al.”
He shrugged and took a sip of his drink happily. Scorpius had been listening to their exchange and luckily was able to shed light on Vic’s question where Albus had failed.
“He’s just been drinking this delicious eggnog all night. It’s not strong at all.” Scorpius was holding a glass of said eggnog precariously as he spoke and Victoire looked at him suspiciously.
“Give me that a second.” She reached for his glass and he obliged. One quick sip confirmed that Harry’s eggnog recipe certainly was strong.
“Merlin, Uncle Harry! How much rum did you put in this?” She turned to her uncle who was all kinds of confused.
“James made it this year.”
Everyone turned to look at where James was sitting and talking to Lily.
“What?” he said, looking up when he sensed so many people looking at him.
“How much alcohol did you put in this?” Ginny asked, looking confused but also like she was trying to hold back laughter.
“Did someone spike the eggnog?” James looked shocked and appalled, and grabbed Scorpius’ glass from Victoire’s hand to taste it. “Tastes fine to me. I followed Dad’s recipe exactly. Lily helped me, you saw, didn’t you Lil? I used the recipe.”
Lily didn’t respond and was looking rather shifty.
“Lily Luna Potter!” Ginny reprimanded her daughter as if she were seven, rather than eighteen. “You didn’t?”
“Come on, you have to admit it made everything more fun. Look at Scorpius.”
“Oh, hi everyone,” Scorpius said, looking pleased when he noticed so many eyes on him. He’d conjured himself a party hat which he’d been unable to convince anyone else to wear with him.
“You got Teddy drunk, Lil.” Ginny looked as if she was slightly amused by her daughter’s actions.
“He got drunk from that? When did he become such a lightweight?” Lily looked incredulous. “He’s not Scorpius.”
“Hey!” Scorpius said, offended, but then he shrugged his shoulders. “Actually, fair point.”
“You’re a cheap date,” Albus threw an arm around his shoulders and stole his party hat.
“Your idea of a lightweight isn’t on the same page as anyone else’s if your stories from freshers week are anything to go by, Lil.” Ginny rolled her eyes.
“Teds hardly ever drinks anymore, Lily,” Victoire explained calmly; she wasn’t upset by the situation because drunk Teddy just meant he was more tactile and a bit soppier than usual.
“Since he had babiesand turned boring,” Lily muttered, stirring her own drink with a straw. Victoire laughed at her words and got up to go to the kitchen and refill her drink, taking Harry’s glass with her too.
Teddy appeared in the kitchen, their daughter held firmly in his arms, one of her hands in his as he exaggeratedly danced around with her and she squealed in delight. “That’s your mummy, the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Victoire rolled her eyes and took the baby from him. “Is Clemmie still asleep?”
Teddy didn’t seem to hear her, he was still holding their daughter’s little hand and making exaggerated faces at her. “I love your mummy so much, and I love you so much.”
Victoire looked around the kitchen and lowered her voice so nobody else could hear her use his pet name. “Blue Bear, I know you’re drunk right now. Lily spiked the eggnog. I don’t mind one bit, you can stop all this.”
He smiled at her gratefully, as Pippa let go of his hand. “Thought you’d be cross with me,” he muttered, stroking the baby’s blonde hair. “S’all Al’s fault.”
“It’s actually all Lily’s fault,” Victoire replied, leading Teddy back into the living room with their baby. They were met by both Ginny and Scorpius descending on them to coo over the baby.
Ginny took her from Victoire and Scorpius held onto her little hand, waving it around and making faces at her. Baby Pippa was smiling widely at him and her smile grew even bigger when she spotted Teddy again over Scorpius’ shoulder. She reached out for him and Ginny obliged, handing the baby over to her dad where she curled into him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“She’s normally such a good sleeper,” Victoire sighed, watching her daughter.
Scorpius ended up sat on the floor with his back up against the sofa, his knees bent up and Pippa sat across his stomach happily.
“Look at her little feet, and her little toes, and her little pyjamas. Look how little she is.” Scorpius was practically in tears over how cute the lower half of baby Pippa was. He was talking to Albus, who was spread out on the sofa behind him, giving non-committal noises of comprehension every few seconds and gazing at the baby too. “She’s just so little, wow, so small. She’s like a human, but really tiny.”
“Have you done your term in the neo-natal ward yet, Scorpius?” Victoire asked him, watching her daughter giggle. Victoire was a junior Healer and she’d chosen to specialise in mental health magic; Scorpius was in his third year of Healer school and about to choose his own specialism.
“That’s my last one! I’ve got the whole paediatrics department still to go. I’ve been in Spell Damage this past term, and before that Potion Poisoning.” Scorpius turned to speak to her then immediately shifted his gaze back to the baby and started cooing over her again.
“I think you’ll enjoy it,” she laughed as Scorpius babbled away to her daughter.
“You should have seen him when he was on the Labour and Delivery ward.” Albus grinned, sitting up on the sofa behind his boyfriend. “Albus, this baby was only this big. He was so small, only this big I tell you.”
“I don’t sound like that!”
“You do a bit, love.” Albus stroked Scorpius’ shoulders and Scorpius, noticing he’d sat up, picked baby Pip up to sit beside Albus on the sofa. The baby reached curiously towards Albus and he leaned forward to take her from Scorpius. Pippa was more interested in grabbing a fistful of Al’s hair, and his neck was stuck tilted at an odd angle as she happily pulled at it.
“Your daughter’s broken my neck, Ted,” Albus laughed, his head still leant over to one side. Teddy didn’t hear him because he was curled up against his wife who was stroking his hair fondly and keeping an eye on their daughter from across the room.
Scorpius freed Al’s hair from Pippa’s grip and she looked at him reproachfully. “She’s cross with you now,” Albus observed.
“I’m sorry, Pippy. I’m quite attached to your Uncle Albus’ hair,” Scorpius told her very seriously and she giggled at him, squirming down further and settling herself across Albus’ chest.
Albus kissed the top of her head. “I think I want one, one day. A long time from now.” He spoke loud enough so that only his boyfriend could hear.
“Me too.” Scorpius rested his head on Albus’ shoulder and gazed down at the baby too. “You know I can’t give you one of these. Or did you mean with somebody else?” he said quietly.
Albus looked up at him and furrowed his brow. “Of course I meant with you.”
“Which takes me back to my original point. I can’t give you a baby, I lack certain essential components.”
Albus laughed lightly as Pippa crawled across the two of them, landing on top of Scorpius. “We’ll work something out. Imagine having one of these around all the time.”
Pippa sat up and stared at Scorpius, as if realising for the first time that he was neither of her parents. Her bottom lip trembled and she let out a piercing scream, attempting to throw herself from his lap. Scorpius’ reactions, while slower than usual, still kicked in to catch her in time, but that only made her cry more. He hastily lifted her up to deliver her back to Victoire, where she settled almost instantly.
“I think I prefer it just the two of us for now,” Scorpius sighed, throwing an arm around his intoxicated boyfriend. Albus nodded in agreement.
