To say that Draco was obsessed with his wife's changing body was an understatement.

In fact, for the first time in his life, he felt like picking up a paintbrush and immortalising her beauty onto parchment.

He spoke to her growing stomach every day, kissing and caressing the skin, watching in wonderment as it stretched to accommodate their growing child.

Her breasts grew twice their size, as did her nipples, with dark purple veins decorating the flesh, almost like river lines along a road map. She complained about them, but Draco couldn't see why. He found it fascinating the way her body changed, everything it was doing was for their child, and he couldn't help but marvel at how magical it all was.

He found it endearing how emotional pregnancy made her. Once, he walked into the kitchen to discover her crying into a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. At first he was terrified, thinking something awful had happened. He could not reach her fast enough, holding her tightly in his arms as he fretfully asked what was wrong.

It turned out she had just watched the episode of Topsy and Tim when their grandma's dog was put down ("Mossy was too p-pure for this world!").

Scorpius too loved to cuddle his mummy's tummy, calling it 'my baby' whenever he did so, and he sang to it lots, his favourite song being 'The Wheels on the Bus', of which he only knew one line and so repeated it over and over again despite Draco attempting to teach him the rest of the words.

Jack, on the other hand, began to scowl a lot. Draco understood. For such a long time Jack had had Blaire all to himself, and now she was being monopolised by not just him and Scorpius, but by this new baby too, who was quite literally changing his mother's body.

"You know," Draco confided in his son one evening as they walked Orion together through the grounds, "there was a time when I had mummy to myself too."

Jack scowled, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

"I didn't want to share her with anyone else either," Draco pressed, desperate to show his eldest son that he really did understand and that it was perfectly natural to feel jealous. "But you know something? I'm glad she has you and Scorp too, and now the baby. Do you know why?"

Jack shook his head, his black hair falling around his shoulders, still refusing to speak.

"Because you all make her so happy, Jack. She loves you all so much and all she wants is for you boys to be happy too. And that little baby, oh it's going to be so lucky to have you as a big brother, you and Scorp."

Jack looked up, his grey eyes piercing him curiously; the eyes he shared with himself and Scorpius. At least, Draco thought, he was no longer scowling.

"You'll always be Mummy's first born, nothing can change that, Jack." Draco said, his voice strangled as he thought guiltily of Scorpius and the fact that he wouldn't ever have that.

But then again, neither would the new baby, and that was okay, because his and Blaire's children would never be short of love or ever want for anything. He would give them all the world and be the best father and husband he could possibly be.

"Come on, little fox," Draco said, his knees creaking as he crouched down to Jack's height. "How about we go to the treehouse and I'll make us a couple of hot chocolates and read you Fantastic Mr Fox?"

"Just you and me?" His voice sounded so small and so vulnerable that it twisted Draco's heart.

"You, me and Orion," Draco grinned, standing up and holding out his hand for his son to take.

His heart lifted as Jack's scowl vanished completely, replaced by a delighted smile as he slipped his hand in his.

And together, father and son headed towards the treehouse.

*****

Lyra Narcissa Malfoy was born on July twenty-fourth, two thousand and seven.

True to his word, Draco had hired me a Healer who had the best drugs in town.

Hermione disapproved, stating that a natural delivery was best for the baby. Pfft, whatever. She was just jealous because she hadn't thought of it herself first. After giving birth to Hugo, she banned Ron from the bedroom until further notice ("Forever, actually," she muttered to me under her breath when Ron was out of earshot. "Like hell am I tearing myself in two again to give birth to his spawn.").

I'd never seen Draco cry quite so much, tears coursing down his face as he held his daughter to him for the first time, closing his eyes as he kissed the top of her head where white-blond hair wisps were already beginning to grow.

"My little girl," he murmured softly, "my beautiful little girl."

And she really was, especially as she had my eyes. Finally.

Jack was fascinated by Lyra, more so than Scorpius who had showed more interest in his little sister when she was in my stomach. But then again Scorpius was only two and a half and therefore still found the gift wrap more exciting than the actual gift inside.

No, Jack was proving to be the adoring big brother that he was to Scorpius. I caught him sitting by Lyra's crib reading Fantastic Mr Fox out loud ("She likes it, she makes this gurgling sound when I read it. Whenever I read it to Scorpy, he just pulls the book out of my hand and grabs my hair.").

Jack always made time for Scorpius too, of course, noticing the difference between his brother's and sister's ages - that Scorpius could play, whereas Lyra could not. He was happy, and that made me happy.

Or so I thought.

*****

Two months after Lyra was born, I poked my head into Jack's room to see him morosely playing with Mr Dog.

My heart clenched at the sight of the familiar Scottie dog; an innocent Monopoly piece that ended up representing so much in my life.

I closed my eyes remembering the day that Draco had given it to me, a Christmas in Hogwarts where which we spent lazing around his prefect bedroom listening to the mixed tape I had made him whilst we played game after game of Monopoly.

"Mummy? Why are you crying?"

My eyes flew open, and I quickly wiped my face.

"Happy tears, Jack," I reassured him. "I'm just remembering how it was when Daddy and I were just kids ourselves."

"I miss things sometimes too," Jack said sadly, his admission surprising me. "I miss the Downstairs."

"Jack," I breathed, my heart thudding frantically in my chest as I looked at his forlorn expression. "I'm sorry."

Of course, why wouldn't he miss it? It had once been his everything. He had been so happy living in our little world, oblivious to the things the rest of us had feared but were careful to keep from him.

So I made the decision to take him back, to properly say goodbye to the place he was torn away from in frightening circumstances.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Draco asked dubiously, sweeping his tongue across his lip when I told him of my plan that night as we settled down into bed. "I mean, I know it's safe now, but what if it triggers some sort of post traumatic stress in him... or you?"

"We'll be fine, Drac," I promised him, wrapping my arms around his neck to kiss the top of his ear. "I think it will be good for him to do, especially if he's going to be going there for school in a couple of years. I think he needs to say goodbye before he can say hello again."

Draco frowned, looking sceptical. "Okay, but as long as I can take you both, maybe Molly will agree to have Scorp and Lyra-"

"I love you, you know I do, but I think it's something Jack and I need to do alone. Besides, I'd feel better knowing the kids are with you. Especially with Lyra still so little."

Draco wrapped his arms around me holding me against him as he kissed my forehead. "I love you too, my darling. I love you and the kids so much. I'm sorry if I worry, but after everything-"

I silenced him with a kiss, causing a longing groan to vibrate in the back of his throat. "We'll be fine, I promise you. Just trust me, Draco. Our little boy needs this."

So, that was how Jack and I found ourselves tumbling out into McGonagall's fireplace the very next day.

"Sorry about the carpet, Minerva," I said, brushing soot off Jack's hair.

She rolled her eyes, a smile twitching at her lips.

"Well, Jack," I said, taking his hand, "are you ready to say goodbye?"

He looked up at me, his grey eyes shining brightly into mine, and he nodded.

*****

Jack's hand delved into his pocket, giving Mr Dog an extra squeeze for courage as he followed his mummy through the 'secret wall'.

It was cold, he realised. And not only that, it was dark, so dark.

His eyes took a while to adjust as his mummy shone the torch, the light hitting the black muddy walls that seemed to press down on Jack in a way they had never done before.

"Mummy, I'm scared," he found himself saying, his voice trembling and small.

She grabbed his hand, pulling him close, and her familiar scent instantly calmed him.

"It's okay, little fox," she whispered. "It's safe, there's nothing to be scared of. Remember, this place kept us protected for so long."

Memories flooded in his head of running through the tunnels with his hat bobbing up and down wildly on his head. Tears sprang to his eyes. He missed that hat. He had loved that hat.

Together they walked, following the beam of light the torch made.

Jack couldn't understand why everything seemed smaller than he remembered; colder and darker.

"It's exactly how it was, Jack," his mummy said when he voiced this to her. "It's just now you've seen how big the world really is, that's all."

It made sense, yet at the same time, it didn't at all.

And when they stepped into the room he used to sit and have dinner with Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Hermy, he found his heart was hammering crazily in his chest. He could see them, smell them, remember every single detail about it.

A part of him wanted it back, yet another part of him wanted to be home with Scorpy, Lyra and Daddy. His head hurt with a feeling that made him want to cry, and he could not understand it.

"It's okay, Jack," Mummy said gently, cradling him to her soft body as together they sank to the floor and cried. "My little fox, we've been through so much, and it's time to move on."

So, together they said goodbye to it all - goodbye to the kitchen table, and the big tub Mummy used to bathe him in. They said goodbye to their bedroom which was just a dirty mattress in a tiny space. They went and saw the Secret Room where the grown-ups used to meet and said goodbye to that too.

They said goodbye to everything; see you, so long, thank you for protecting us.

It was a goodbye that hurt Jack's heart, yet healed it at the same time.

And finally, Jack said goodbye to that part of his life, to the boy in the Downstairs.

Goodbye, Boy.

******