An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 13/13
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson/Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley
Additional Tags: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Secret Relationship, Breaking Up & Making Up, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Sentient Hogwarts, Muggle Studies, Slow Burn, Pining, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, POV Draco Malfoy, Humor, Swearing, Post-War
Summary:
Draco’s voice shook. “You don’t know what it’s like to have you. No one knows what it’s like to lose you.” A sob fled from him. “Please don’t make me be the first.”
Harry’s face crumpled, looking away, and Draco knew then it was over.
“It’s my past, it must be. I asked before and you said –”
“I have forgiven you –”
“I am a person!” Then quieter, “A person; not just something to be forgiven.”
~
With his family’s name and misdeeds laying heavily upon him, Draco Malfoy returns to Hogwarts for a torturous eighth year. He finds himself unrequitedly in love with Harry Potter and at odds with everyone around him, even the bricks. While navigating the post-war world, he is forced to decide both who he is and what he wants.
Hi Jude! I absolutely adore your work. The characters literally come to life for me. But coming from the books and seeing what he had to do and the choices he made, why do you think Draco is one worth giving a second chance to?
Hi anon! Thanks for reading my work!
Great question and I’m not even going to attempt to be succinct. I re-read the entire HP series once a year, and when I was much younger and reading the books for the first time, Draco didn’t really register as much of an interesting character for me. He was just this spoiled bully who existed to make life sort of annoying for Harry and his friends. Re-reading as an adult, he reads as pathetically jealous of them and it’s a bit sad, actually. He’s just a little shit, not much depth there for books 1-5.
Then we come to HBP and it’s painfully clear that this boy has no real friends. He has no one to help him get out of this truly terrible position. Not only that, Dumbledore (an adult. An adult in charge of Draco’s [a child] care while he is at school) knows exactly what is happening. Not only does he let Draco carry on, but two other students (Katie Bell, Ron) are almost killed because of his negligence. It’s pretty fucked up. Draco’s breakdown in front of Myrtle (and Harry) is heartbreaking for what it reveals about his fears and desperation. He doesn’t feel as if he has a choice or a support system. So yes, I think he deserves a chance to earn a redemption.
My personal interest in exploring a redemption arc for him is because his canon arc was really underwritten and narratively unsatisfying. JKR wrote some pivotal moments for him where from a story-telling perspective it seemed like he might turn a corner and then… nothing. On the top of the Astronomy Tower when he lowers his wand, again at Malfoy Manor when he doesn’t identify Harry and is vague about the others, and then in the Room of Requirement. She kept setting up these opportunities and then left those potential plot threads dangling.
It was an odd narrative choice to me, especially with all the work she does to redeem Snape and even tacks on a hero arc for Regulus. She could have made a powerful statement with Draco about overcoming brainwashing and ingrained prejudice.
His lack of an arc is particularly puzzling when we consider the epilogue. Here, he has a wife and a kid and can trade polite nods with the trio and everyone is cool? I’m not sure why that moment is included at all, except to show some maturation has occurred over the years. Obviously that moment sets up Cursed Child future money-making endeavors for jkr I guess, but that wasn’t a thing at the time of DH’s release so who knows.
Draco does get his second chance in Cursed Child cash grab, so while he does technically get redeemed in canon, to me, there were ways to have done this much earlier.
A wild thought erupted into her mind. It made no sense, and part of her wanted to physically shake it out and laugh at herself.
The other part, the sliver of her that was unbearably curious about what could potentially subdue that normally pompous git, couldn’t help but acknowledge that there was a person in obvious distress right in front of her. It won out.
In a burst of bravery, she decided that it was the right thing to do. And even if he made her regret it, she’d still have done it and stayed true to herself.
Hermione argued with herself silently for only a few seconds more. Her feet had not moved an inch since they bumped into each other. He’d only made it a few steps past her before she whirled.
She caught up quickly, reaching out and settling her hand in the crook of his left elbow.
Malfoy froze, turning in her direction slowly.
She was a step above him, now, and even so barely eye to eye with him.
He had a quiet anxiousness to him. Like a cornered animal, hesitant to move too quickly for fear of retaliation but mentally racing to escape. His skittish gaze flitted up to meet her steady, imploring one.
Neither moved an inch, caught up again in the oddness of how close they were, how they peered into the other without any aggression.
Hermione fought the urge to clear her throat and poured as much sincerity into her words as possible. “Are you alright, Malfoy?”
Those mercurial orbs shone up at her, widening for a fraction of a second as he instinctively laid his hand over hers. She’d half expected him to throw her off in disgust and make a dramatic show of it. Or viciously squeeze her fingers for daring to touch him with her supposedly filthy hands.
Instead, cool fingers lightly rested atop her own. Malfoy looked deep into her eyes, disbelieving and shocked. His forehead furrowed, a piece of platinum hair falling forward to contrast sharply against the darker hair of his brow. He seemed to unconsciously lean slightly towards her like a magnet naturally pulled into its opposing force.
For a split second, she thought she saw something akin to helplessness simmer back at her as he stared. Vulnerability shone through with such intensity it nearly stole Hermione’s breath as his fingers tightened over hers. She glimpsed a deep sorrow within, swirling in the unexpected depth of his eyes.
Hermione gets married, but not to the right man as Draco thinks... (One-Shot)
Her Divorce, His Forever - Freshly divorced, Hermione decides to leave the country and takes a train trip to the South of France, reminiscing about mistakes she had made... (One-Shot) (Sequel to “Her Wedding, His Funeral”)
Draco groans out loud. It's probably been over a few minutes now and he can still hear the sound of a baby crying their heart out. He tries to tune it out, hoping that if he stares at his documents hard enough, the sound would probably diminished.
It doesn't.
Instead, it gets worse as the baby's voice sounds harsher than before, wailing as loud as they can.
Draco put his head between his hands, resisting so hard not to grab his hair out of frustration. He looks down at his documents desperately, and try to find a glimpse of concentration that he can pull in order to continue his work.
There's none.
His attention slowly diverts back to the sound of the baby, still whining and bawling their little heart out, their small high pitch voice resonates throughout the space.
Draco can't take it anymore.
He abruptly stands up - sending his chair toppled to the floor - and round up his desk as he walk purposely straight out of his office.
He follows the sound of the baby, and feels his heart squeezed painfully when he sees them in the arms of a stressful witch, surrounded by a few wizards and witches who probably tried to calm the baby down themselves and failed.
The baby's face was already red, fat tears running through his small face as they keep twisting their body around, trying to escape from the witch’s hold.
Draco waste no time as he quickly approach the scene when one of the witches turns and cries out in relief when she sees him. “Mr. Malfoy!”
Draco was surprised to see that she was actually one of his employees, which make things easier as he quickly asks. "Ms. Bloom! What happened?”
“He won't stop crying!” She gestures. “We tried everything, but he won't budge!”
“Where's his parents?”
“His father was in an important meeting, and that witch was his babysitter but as you can see, he doesn't do well with her.”
Draco frowns, unconsciously walks closer to the wailing baby, placing a soft touch to the baby's back. He look at the witch who warily stares at him in confusion and he smiles at her reassuringly despite the baby's loud cries. “May I try?”
Her stares was full of distrust, perhaps it's because he's Draco Malfoy - former Death Eater - but he kept his smile steady.
The witch sighs eventually as her eyes turns thankful. She smiled apologetically at Draco as she carefully hands the baby over to Draco. “Yes, please. Thank you.”
Draco immediately fasten the baby securely in his arms, making sure he was in a comfortable position as he softly wipes the baby's tears away, and place a soft kiss on his head. “Don't cry, love. I'm here now.”
He softly patted the baby's back, lightly bouncing him up and down in his arms as he brings the baby walks around the place. The baby was hiccuping in between in his cries now, mouth open wide as he trash around in Draco’s arms.
Draco tries to whispers loving words to the infant but to no avail, he won't stop his cries.
Draco sighed, almost desperate that he can't be a help to calm the baby down when a song deep in his unconscious mind involuntary stumbled out of his mouth.
“Five little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away.” He gently moves the baby in rocking motion, rubbing his back and continues to sing. “Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack. But only four little ducks came back.”
To his great surprise, the baby slows down, sobbing as he takes a broken breath in between calming down his cries. Draco’s heart swell when the baby drops his head on his shoulder, burying his face onto his neck and fist his collar with his miniature hand.
Draco continues to sing, counting down the ducks and restarts when the song ended. He rocks and bounce the baby gently as he whimpers, and soon all Draco hears was silence.
He caresses the small nest of a black hair, quite sure with himself that the baby has fallen asleep. “You poor little thing, cried yourself to sleep, aren't you?”
The small fist on his collar loosen their grip, conforming Draco that the little wee has totally knocked out, and Draco softly chuckles, amused.
Now, that the situation has settled down, it dawned on Draco that he has never even took care of a baby in his entire life before, let alone held a baby. He didn't know what possessed him to go and try to console the baby - he can't even believe he's holding a baby now. This would be his first time, and now that the baby has fallen asleep, he had no idea how he manage to carry the baby in his arms without dropping him.
He was quite proud of himself.
He continues to rock the baby gently in his arms, softly sings the nursery rhyme - now that he manage to recall - that was sung to him when he was a child himself.
He casts a Feather-Light Charm on the baby when his arms started to get stiff, singing softly, mostly to himself when a voice calls his name.
“Malfoy?”
Draco slowly turns only to see a person that he hasn't seen for almost a decade since after the war. He silently regards the other man, not sure with himself if he was truly him seeing that he looks different from the last time Draco saw him.
To say that he was stunned by the sudden change of situation was an understatement.
“Draco Malfoy?” The man says with hesitancy, as if he can't believe that he's standing in front of his old archenemy.
Draco unconsciously swallows.
“Harry Potter.” He greets.
They stared at each other for a good moment before Potter slowly approach him, and Draco unconsciously stand up straighter, his grip on the baby tightens.
Potter stops right in front of him, standing awkwardly as he eyes the baby in Draco’s arms and scratch his head.
“Uh, thank you for taking care of James for me.”
Draco blinks.
“He's yours?”
“Yes.” Potter nods, and stiffly smiles. “He's my son, uh, James.”
“Oh.” Draco says, and nothing else. Not that he got anything else to say, knowing that the baby - James - in his arms was actually Potter's son managed to make him tongue tied.
“Uhm, yea.”
“Cool.” Draco says, and honestly he doesn't know what to do, should he perhaps congratulate Potter for having a son? He doesn't even know that Potter's married. It's been a long time since he read the papers, and he stayed away from gossip as much as he can. Plus, he has been focusing on redeeming himself to put his attention elsewhere.
“So, uh, I'm actually done with my meeting and we should probably head back now…” Potter trailed off, gesturing to his son who's sleeping soundly in Draco’s arms.
“Oh, yes!” Draco nods, canceling the charms he put on James and moves closer to Potter who gently peel his son off Draco.
He feels a great amount of emptiness once Potter has his son back in his arms, so he covers it up by stiffly straighten his clothes, felt it was a bit damp from where he had held James earlier.
“Thank you, Malfoy.” Potter says and Draco look up to meet his sincere gaze. He return them with a small smile. “My pleasure, Potter.”
They hold their gaze on each other for a moment, and it was Draco who avert his eyes first, dragging them to James who continues to sleep soundly in his father's arm. He can't help but gives a soft chuckles. “He's a beautiful child.”
“Indeed he is.” Potter says, caressing the small boy's head as he regards Draco once again. “I should probably head back now.”
“Of course.” Draco stepped back, allowing Potter to move and walks away from Draco. He stops to look over his shoulder when he was about to disappear from Draco’s eyesight, a thankful smile drawn upon his face which Draco replies with a smile of his own and an awkward waves. With a polite nod, Potter continues his journey, disappearing from Draco line of sight and probably away from his life too.
He probably won't see Potter again, the chance for them to be in each other's company are too slim and it's not like they were in the same social circle. He was a former Death Eater for Salazar’s sake.
He gives himself a few moments to collect himself before he walks back towards his office, blinking in confusion when his table was full of stack of papers. He reaches for one of them, raising his brows to see it was an article from the Prophet, an article of Potter to be exact. He turns his gaze on the rest of the papers, skimming them briefly to see it was all about Potter.
He took his seat with a confused mind, eyes trained on the piece of paper in his hand as he read the content carefully. Draco read the content twice, thrice and locked his eyes at one particular sentence again and again.
“Harry Potter, Saviour of the Wizarding World has decided to adopt a son.”
Adopt a son.
Merlin.
Draco slowly put the article on his table, and runs his fingers through his hair. He's not even sure if Potter was the one who put the stack of papers in his office, it might be someone else's doing.
Even if it was actually Potter, what exactly his agenda by sending all the articles?
Is this Potter's way of telling him that he's actually single and not married?
Draco didn't dare to give any assumption.
He decided to put the matters away - it's not that important anyway, and focus on his work. But he knows he's lying to himself when his eyes keeps diverted back to the stack of articles.
He curses when his hand reaches for the offensive papers, pushing away his work - not that he can do anything to it when his mind was elsewhere - and starts reading them one by one. By the time he's done, he knows that Potter has been a single man since the last five years, he adopted James since he was still a newborn, he has opened a Defensive Class for two years already, he knows that Potter sometimes went to Hogwarts for the same said class and he also knows that Potter has come out as Bisexual, and there's even one or two articles that showed him in various dates with some witches or wizards.
A sudden tap on his office's window grab his attention, he moves to peer at his window to see a small unfamiliar owl, blinking their eyes at him. Draco takes the small rolled letter tied on the owl’s leg once he let the small bird in, and open the letter with mild curiosity, only to gasps when he reads the content.
Honestly, he'd never imagine the turn of the event would lead to something like this. Before he knows it, a smile bloom upon his face and he quickly search for his parchment to write a quick reply, rolls them neatly and tied them on the small owl’s leg before the bird gracefully flies away.
Draco watches until the bird disappears from his view, and he just had to chuckles. If he got to be honest with himself, he doesn't know if it will lead them to anywhere, but he's willing to find out.
Dear, Malfoy
Fancy a drink? You might already know much about me, but I want to know about yours.
"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Weasley," Draco smiles nervously.
"Please, call me Molly, dear. And we've been telling Harry to bring you over for ages, now. Please know that you have an open invitation to Sunday brunch," she says patting Draco's hand, leaving him in awe of her kindness.
