The family dinner was deemed a success, for the most part, but that didn't stop Teddy from poking fun at his fathers for the rest of the week about how scared Draco was before the 'big talk'.

Scorpius understood why his father made the decisions he did mostly, but he doesn't think he would have done the same in his father's position. He thought that maybe that's why he wasn't. Things happen for a reason. Sometimes they help you to learn lessons, other times they can help you grow. In the end it wasn't his choice to make and he thinks his father turned out okay, nonetheless.

The problem now was the fact that the school year was practically over and his fathers couldn't agree on what to do for break. There were debates over staying to complete the publishing process from his father while his dad insisted they stay on a wizard reservation near actual dragons. Scorpius' decision was made without giving it another thought.

3 days since school had let out and they were finally preparing to leave. The suitcases had been packed and shrank and enlarged and unpacked and repacked enough times to give them all a headache. They had changed clothes almost 5 times a piece. Draco didn't want them to look too matching, because it made him feel uncomfortable.

The second day after school let out was full of Teddy begging for the boys to be able to bring friends along. By this morning there was an owl sent to a Miss Elle Hathor, inviting her to join the Dragon hunt. Scorpius floo-ed to the Granger-Weasley home and invited both Rose and Hugo. Rose smiled, but told him she would be studying over break. Harry made a joke about how she was so much like her mother. Then Hugo laughed and agreed to go, but was blushing profusely.

Teddy paced around the room with his hair seemingly a permanent shade of lavender, waiting for a response from Elle.

"When are we leaving," whined Scorpius as he flopped onto the couch beside Harry.

"Whenever Teddy's girlfriend shows up, Scor," said Harry jokingly as he ruffled Scorpius' hair.

"She's not my girlfriend!" yelped Teddy, but his hair blushed pink then lavender again as his nerves took back over. "Do you think she'll be able to come with us or do you think her parents'll think it's dangerous? I don't think they'd mind, but I've never met her parents. Maybe they're completely against the idea and now they won't let me see her and-"

"Breathe, Ted," says Draco coming into the room and kissing Harry on the cheek before sitting on the arm of the couch next to him. "You forgot to do that somewhere around your first sentence."

Everyone but Teddy laughed. When they looked up at him they noticed he was blushing again but with profusely lavender hair as he walked towards the open window where a small snowy white owl sat.

Harry looked at it and gasped causing Draco to look at him with worry.

"Are you alright, love?"

"Uh- y-yeah. Just a soft spot, is all." He turned back to Draco and gave a sad and tired smile. The blonde looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a tilted head before glancing back at the owl and turning back with a questioning gaze to Harry.

"Didn't you use to have an owl like that back when we were in school, Potter?" Draco asked and Harry just swallowed hard then nodded.

"Yeah," he said as if the word was stuck in his throat.

"Whatever happened to it?" Harry shrugged sadly at Draco's question.

"War." Harry swallowed hard again and took a few seconds to blink back tears. When he looked up again Scorpius looked scared, but Teddy was still focused on the letter. Draco had moved his hand to his mouth.

"Harry- I didn't- I'm so- I didn't know..."

"You should go ahead and open it, pup," Harry tried to speak in his normal voice, ignoring Draco. Surprising no one, Draco wasn't standing for being ignored.

"Yeah, you go on ahead and open it. I have to talk to your Papa for a moment." Draco stood, pulling Harry along behind him towards their room in Grimmauld Place. When they were finally there he closed the door behind them.

"Draco, we don't need to have this talk. Not before we go on vacation. The boys have friends coming-"

"Harry, we are going to Weasley's Dragon Reserve and we're taking a Weasley."

"It's more of a vacation than you wanted," Harry said using his sadness to fuel his anger. This is what he was good at. Arguing with Draco. What he'd always been good at.

"I didn't pull you in here to fight. Why haven't you told me everything?"

"It was a damn bird, Draco," Harry snapped angrily. Draco quickly cast a silencing charm around the room.

"That clearly meant a lot to you," the blonde talked quietly trying to keep his voice calm.

"It wasn't important. I'm just tired or whatever. The boys are waiting."

"Your owl's name was Hogpit or something right?"

"Leave it."

"Hea- something..."

"Just leave it, Draco."

"Head-widget? No... Hedwig!"

"You just never know how to leave well enough alone, do you, Malfoy!" Harry was loud and Draco had to force a few deep breaths to keep himself from snapping and cracking his fist into Potter's nose. That isn't how adults solved their problems and it is most certainly not how lovers handle their spats either.

"Harry, I just want to help you, but I can't help you if I don't know what bothers you."

"Dray, I'm not going to sit around and recall all the deaths I've had to go through, okay? It would be a waste of time. That won't bring them back."

"Neither will keeping it all to yourself. Harry, I love you and I want to be there for you, but I can't do that if you wont let me. Is this what you've been up to then?" Draco asked placing his hands on Harry's waist and tilting his head to the side a bit. "I mean, if you say I've been pouting. Have you been angrily stomping about?"

"Oh, shut up," Harry said trying to shove him away, but there were clearly tears in his eyes. Draco kissed the first one that fell down his cheek once he blinked then lifted his hand and swiped a thumb over the next. When more continued to fall he pulled Harry into a hug and kissed his neck softly.

"You know I'm always going to be here for you, love."

"Do I?" Harry hiccuped. "Do I really know that? Last time I thought that you shoved me out for 6 years, Dray."

"I found this on your desk the other afternoon before I went to tutoring," said Draco pulling his left hand from Harry's waist and holding it out so that they could both see the dark ring that sat in beautiful contrast with his pale finger.

"Draco this isn't the time for jokes. We have to get ready to go," Harry said trying to pull away.

"I'm not joking, Harry. You're incredibly strong and powerful, but it's about time you stopped trying to be strong by yourself. That's why I'm here. For those moments when you don't have to be- when you don't want to be. Can I be that for you Harry?" Draco bent his head forward even more until he forced Harry to look up into his eyes that were full of love and completely sincere.

"Malfoy," started Harry letting a smile ease onto his face as the tears stopped falling down his face. "Are you trying to propose to me?"

"Oh, bloody hell, no." He stated completely honestly with his old Malfoy sneer in place and Harry sucked in a surprised breath. After a minute of seeing Harry's almost visible heartbreak he kissed the raven haired man before catching his eyes and smiling again. "I'm just hoping it isn't too late to accept yours."

Harry punched him in the arm before crushing their lips together. He tasted like his own salty tears, but he could also taste the coffee and omelette on Draco's tongue from breakfast. He could feel their hearts hammering as their chests were placed flushed together. They broke apart grinning like school children before Draco spoke again.

"You know I bruise easy, you great oaf," said Draco as he rubbed the spot on his shoulder, but even he couldn't keep the smile from off of his face.

"You're such a ponce! Do you know that?" Harry spoke with a grin he was sure he hadn't had since the first time they had all gotten ice cream together or the first Christmas they spent together. The door to their room was almost blown open by the sheer force of a small, bright blue haired boy with a huge grin and extremely red cheeks.

"Her parents said yes! She's flooing over as soon as she finishes packing!" Teddy couldn't stop grinning and it made both of his fathers laugh as they followed him back out of the room and towards the fireplace to open the floo network. Almost immediately they were knocked off of their feet by a bundle of red hair and soot.

Harry sat up and looked over at a now soot-covered Draco who's eyes looked to be as big as snowballs with Hugo laying on his chest as they laid nose to nose.

"Harry," he spoke slowly as he stared up into Hugo's eyes. "Is there a Weasley on me?"

"A Granger-Weasley actually, Mr. D," said Hugo with a smile as he pushed himself off of Draco and clambered over to give Harry a hug. He was pretty tall for a 9 year old and he suspected he got that from his father, whereas his eyes were huge, and all-knowing like his mum's.

Moments later a young girl popped through as well, but she spelled her clothes clean before stepping out of the fireplace and talking almost a mile a minute.

"Professor Potter. Professor Malfoy." She nodded at each of them in turn. "Thanks for letting me come with you guys. My parents are going to my grans house during break. One of my distant relatives are getting married or something. It's on my father's side of the family. They're part fairy or something. I hate going to those events anyway. They always put stuff in the drinks or whatever, you know, so I can never drink any of it. Then the cream makes me extra tired anyway. My dad says it's a thing with Faire folk, but I don't know, so I try no to ask-"

"Speaking of asking," cut in Draco. "We didn't." He turned away from her and looked around the house doing a quick survey. "Is everyone ready to go?"

Everyone in the room mumbled or chuckled their agreement and he nodded before picking up the figurine they were using as a portkey. He spoke the passwords and within moments they were swirling and whisked away towards Romania, where one of the eldest Weasley's had made his own permanent Dragon reserve.

~~~<~>~~~

hey futher muckers :)
sorry this was up kinda late
but this is the end

or is it? DUN DUN DUN

lol. nah, it is

an epilogue should be up monday
its just the wedding & honeymoon

sooo it will be fluffy & smutty
if you dont wanna read that you can just consider this the end

i tried to tie up some loose ends and start some baby ships
(cough-cough Scorp & Hugo)

i hate ending stories like this, but i think its better this way

this way you kind of know where the characters are headed for the most part and you can make your own decisions past that, you know?

"Please believe that things are good with me, and even if they're not, they will be soon enough."

i may do a few one shots in the future with this story verse, but i kind of doubt it

i hope yall have enjoyed
reading this story as much as
i have enjoyed writing it

love y'all

-- angel janeé xoxo 💋