Draco was fidgety. He hadn't seen Hermione since leaving for breakfast as Scorpius had been fussing. She'd insisted she'd be okay and he should just go on ahead of her, but the breakfast had finished and she still wasn't mingling with people outside the castle. At least, he couldn't see her mingling. She might have been, but he had assumed she'd be with Potter and the rest of her Gryffindor entourage. Merlin, Draco was not looking forward to their reactions when they found out he and Hermione had gotten married. Potter hadn't been angry, but Hermione had also told him he was the one most likely to just accept it.

"He knows what it's like to be hated by family," Hermione had told him. The implication that Draco was now part of the family Hermione had made for herself (which included Potter, obviously), had made him smile for almost an hour. Now, though, he was really fighting the urge to disappear back to France without telling anyone new.

"Draco?" a familiar voice said from behind him. Draco spun around to find Pansy grinning at him. He smiled and moved forward to hug her. He hadn't seen her since Blaise's wedding seven years ago and while she'd definitely changed, she was still easy enough to recognise. "Merlin, it's been so long!" she exclaimed. Her hair had gotten longer, no longer short and pointed like it had been in school, but the look fit her.

"How have you been, Pansy?" he asked, waving at Goyle who he'd just been talking to. Goyle waved back and disappeared to find someone else to chat with, though really it had just been Goyle talking and Draco nodding along.

"Oh, good, good," she replied, waving a hand around as if her well-being didn't matter to her. When she linked arms with him and started walking around the courtyard, however, Draco knew she had other plans in store. "Rumour has it you've gotten yourself a wife," she said. Draco scowled. Blaise, that wide-mouthed, git. Pansy patted his arm reassuringly, "Now, now, I promise I'm not too mad about not being invited to the wedding. France in the summer is much too humid and Blaise assured me it was a small affair. Who would have thought, though? Draco Malfoy having a small wedding." She laughed at the thought and Draco rolled his eyes. It had been small because they hadn't wanted to invite anyone from England and Hermione had absolutely refused to have an extravagant ceremony.

"Yes, well I supposed time changes people," he replied. Pansy snorted. It was at that moment he spotted Hermione passing Scorpius over to Harry and smiled as the dark-haired git met his son for the first time.

Pansy must have spotted his stupid smile because her head whipped around to find what he was grinning at. When her eyes fell on the small group surrounding Harry and Scorpius, she frowned.

"How'd Potter manage a light-haired kid?" she grumbled. Draco's smile faded. Of course Pansy couldn't have known Scorpius was his, but that didn't stop him from feeling a bit annoyed that she couldn't tell. Up close, it was obvious who Scorpius's dad was as their light hair and grey eyes matched perfectly. Aside from the slight curl of Scorpius's baby hair, they were identical.

Pansy, of course, didn't seem to care much for Potter and his friends, because she steered them both back towards the Zabinis where Delia and Theodore were playing with some kids Draco didn't recognise. However, Blaise and Daphne were talking to Theo Nott and Astoria was nearby, so the mystery children could very possibly belong to either of them.

"Did you know Potter has a blond baby?" Pansy said by way of greeting. They were met by confused looks as Draco had expected, but Blaise's eyes met his. "Either that or it's Lovegood and Longbottom's child," Pansy mused. That was a much more reasonable conclusion and how she hadn't come to it sooner, Draco wasn't sure.

"Potter has a blond baby, you say?" Blaise asked, his eyes still locked on Draco's. Draco sighed but didn't stop Blaise from picking up Delia from the ground and passing her to Draco. "Uncle Draco's going to take you to meet a blond baby," he said. Delia's eyes lit up and her small arms wrapped around Draco.

"Scor-Scor?" she asked. Draco smiled and nodded, leaving the small group before Pansy could ask what Delia had meant.

He could feel eyes on his back as he carried Delia over to Potter and Hermione. He knew Blaise had a stupid smirk on his face and Pansy was probably confused, but at least he wasn't around to see their reactions. Right now, he just had to worry about Hermione's friends' reactions.

As soon as Delia saw Scorpius and Hermione, she had squirmed out of Draco's arms and run straight into the small group. Draco paused, watching as several looks of confusion appeared on everyone's faces. He could hear Delia calling for Scorpius and stared at Hermione. It didn't take long for her to catch his eyes and he could tell she was worried. She'd been worried for almost a week, of course, but this felt more real. Her friends were about to find out.

"Is that Delia?" Harry asked, eyes wide as he stared down at the dark-haired girl in front of him. Hermione nodded. Harry looked around the courtyard, his gaze catching on Draco standing awkwardly nearby. Just behind him, he could see the Zabinis, Astoria, Theo, and Pansy watching them closely.

"Scor-Scor!" Delia called happily, reaching up at the baby in Harry's arms. Hermione took Scorpius from him then crouched down to meet Delia. She heard Ginny ask who Delia was and Harry quietly explained she was Blaise Zabini's daughter; he'd last seen her when she was only a few months old.

"Blaise Zabini? And Hermione knows her?" Ginny asked. Delia was chattering happily with Scorpius who seemed just as content to watch her.

"Yeah, they're friends," Harry said casually. At the sound of Delia's name being called, everyone looked up. Hermione pushed herself back to her feet, grabbing Harry's hand when she wobbled. Delia didn't seem to hear, still looking up at Scorpius.

"Delia, your mother would like you," Draco said, pointing back at Daphne who had Theodore by the hand. She huffed but ran back to her parents while Draco stood awkwardly between the two groups.

"Hey, Draco," Harry said after a couple seconds of silence. Draco smiled back, still staring at Hermione. With one hand on Scorpius's head, she nodded at him. He hesitantly walked towards the group, looking from Hermione to Harry and ignoring the pointed look Ron was giving him.

"Hi," Draco said pathetically. He was itching to grab hold of Hermione's hand, but aside from Luna, the group looked uncomfortable enough.

"How has France been?" Harry asked. Hermione heard someone choke on their breath behind her but refused to turn around to look.

"Warmer," Draco smiled. Both he and Hermione had almost forgotten to pack their warm cloaks and looked much more bundled up than the others around. After ten years in France, they'd gotten accustomed to the warm winters and even warmer springs, so England felt much colder than usual.

With a smirk, Draco looked at Hermione and asked, "Who's the father? Must be a pretty handsome git to make such an adorable baby. I bet he's great at parenting, too."

"Oh, sod off, Malfoy," Ron said. Hermione's smile dropped and so did Draco's. "You don't have to make her feel bad about raising a kid on her own. Besides, it's not like you would know anything about being a good father."

"I'm not on my own," Hermione snapped when she saw Draco's face go from annoyed to upset to blank all in a split second. She turned to look at Ron and glared at him. "He's not a bad father, but I suppose you wouldn't know that since you were too busy assuming."

There was a silence as the group processed her words, but the soft smile on Luna's face and the encouraging one on Harry's never faltered. Neville was the first to recover and his smile quickly matched Luna's.

"So that's where the blond hair is from," he said. Hermione smiled gratefully at him and Scorpius babbled from where he was in the sling. Side by side, it was now obvious Draco was Scorpius's father. While Draco's face was still in a hard glare, Scorpius was giggling happily, unaware of the tension in the group right now.

"You had a baby with Malfoy?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded. Ginny glanced at Harry who just shrugged. She frowned at him. "You knew they were together this whole time."

Harry didn't really need to answer. He didn't have time to either. Ron was blowing up before he could say a word and suddenly everyone else's confusion was forgotten in an attempt to calm Ron down.

"You think that git is good for you?" he yelled, jabbing a finger at Hermione. His hand came close to Scorpius's face, scaring him. His happy babbling turned into small hiccups. Draco's hand wrapped around Hermione's wrist, pulling her back to him and out of Ron's reach as she tried to comfort Scorpius. Ron's voice raised again and the whimpers turned into little cries.

"Ron, stop it," Ginny demanded, pulling her brother back and away from Hermione and Draco. Hermione had to pull Scorpius out of the sling so she could turn him around and hug him to her shoulder. His crying increased and so did Ron's accusations.

After a particularly nasty insult about Draco paying her to sleep with him, Harry silenced him and pushed him out of sight. Scorpius was still crying and Draco was standing very stiff beside her as silence engulfed the courtyard. Apparently everyone had heard and been intrigued by Ron's shouting.

"I should have done that sooner," Harry muttered, shoving Ron behind him again. "Sorry, 'Mione."

"It's—It's okay," she said, bouncing Scorpius and hoping it could calm him down. It didn't. "I knew something would happen. To be fair, it is pretty big news."

"We should have been nicer about it," Ginny admitted, watching as Draco took Scorpius from Hermione and moved inside the castle. "I mean, you've known him for ten years, so clearly you know more than we do."

"It was still a shock."

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. She was staring at something behind Hermione which made her turn around. Blaise, Daphne, Theodore, and Delia were standing behind her and even though they were smiling now, Hermione knew they'd been glaring. The tiny glare on Delia's face was still there as she clearly didn't understand she wasn't supposed to be caught, but it made Hermione smile.

"Draco isn't a danger to your friend," Daphne said, grabbing hold of Hermione's hand and pulling her to stand beside her and Theodore. Theodore grinned up at her and Delia fought him for the chance to hold Hermione's hand.

"I can handle it, Daphne," Hermione said. Daphne brushed her off and nodded at Theodore who started trying to drag her toward the castle.

"We'll be okay," Daphne assured her. Her attention turned back to Hermione's friends and she nudged Hermione to go with Theodore. After a quick glance at Harry who looked more amused than concerned, she allowed the boy to pull her all through the halls until they found Draco and Scorpius. As soon as Theodore had found them, he dropped her hand and raced back outside.

At the sound, Draco looked up. Scorpius was quiet and looked like he'd fallen asleep, but Draco was holding him to his chest and had had his face nestled against Scorpius's. When his eyes met Hermione's, she could tell he felt terrible.

"Draco," she murmured, hurrying forward to pull him into her arms. She was careful not to disturb Scorpius as she hugged her husband. She peppered kisses on his neck and shoulder and anywhere she could easily reach. "Everything Ron said is false and you know it," she told him. Draco's eyes were glassy and he sniffled despite himself.

"I know," he replied, pulling her back to his chest with his free arm. "It still—I still hate it."

"That's okay," she told him. They stayed in the hallway, hugging and whispering to each other for a long time. By the time Theodore was sent to find them, Draco had fallen asleep sitting against the wall and Hermione was holding Scorpius. Theodore had tiptoed over to her to tell her it was dinner time then watched quietly as she woke up Draco. Of course, it took a few minutes for him to be fully awake, but when he was, he took Scorpius and helped Hermione to her feet.

"Are you okay, Uncle Draco?" Theodore asked, grabbing Hermione's free hand so she was stuck between him and Draco. Draco nodded, grinning down at Scorpius who was sleeping in the sling on his chest. He hadn't needed to voice his question before Hermione had slipped the sling from around herself and was helping him put it on.

"I'm wonderful, Theodore," Draco replied, squeezing Hermione's hand as he stared down at Scorpius's little face. It was squished against his chest and Draco was sure he looked ridiculous but when he walked into the Great Hall with Hermione at his side and Theodore excitedly talking about what Daphne and Blaise had told Hermione's friends, he relished in the feeling and proudly marched over to his friends to eat dinner before they would return to France in the morning.