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“This whole ‘magical kindergarten’ thing is utter ridicule, if you ask me,” Lucius huffed as he watched his wife dress their three-year-old son for his first day at Hogsmeade Harmony Preschool for Young Witches and Wizards.
Draco looked up at him with huge, grey eyes, a line of concern on his forehead.
“But Mummy said it’s going to be fun?” he said, blinking rapidly.
Lucius sighed deeply as Narcissa scowled at him reproachfully.
“Of course it will be, my little dragon,” she smiled gently. “You’ll make lots of new friends and you’ll play all day.”
Draco’s expression brightened immediately. “Can I bring my broom?” he asked.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Narcissa chuckled. “Now go and get your jacket.”
Draco jumped up and ran to obey his mother. Narcissa looked up and frowned at her husband.
“This might be good for Draco,” she told him. “He’s always stuck in the Manor, all day alone with us, the peacocks and the house elves. He needs interactions with children his age Lucius.”
“But who knows what kind of riffraff they’ll allow in these classes,” Lucius hissed. “It’s a Dumbledore project for unity after the war ! Salazar, you know it’s all nonsense! He’s gonna be sharing that class with Weasleys and Potters and -”
“Well, it might not be the worst thing for our family to show goodwill,” Narcissa said hotly. “Draco is young and innocent, Lucius. Don’t poison him with your prejudices. It will do him no good in this new world.”
They both fell silent when Draco returned, one arm in his jacket.
“Can we go now?” he asked, grinning widely.
Narcissa smiled, kneeling down to help him properly into the garment.
“Remember, I have an appointment with my sister this afternoon,” she told her husband. “You’ll have to pick Draco up.”
“I told you I don’t approve of you associating with Mudbloods and Bloodtraitors,” Lucius said sternly.
“And I told you I don’t care,” Narcissa said smoothly, straightening up and taking Draco’s hand. “She’s my sister and I will meet her whenever I like. Also, please stop using such language in front of Draco. I don’t want him to copy you.”
Lucius glared after them, wondering when losing the war had started equaling losing control over his family.
At four-thirty sharp, Lucius apparated to the front door of his son’s kindergarten, a little on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Lucius frowned as he took in the brightly coloured building, decorated with painted flowers and animals, all moving and some of them singing. Bright blue letters declared the building as the ‘Hogsmeade Harmony Preschool for Young Wizards and Witches, A Hogwarts Institution’. In the back, Lucius could see a wide garden and playground fan out from the building, and children were running around and laughing.
It looked horrific.
Just as he was building up the courage to go inside, someone else apparated next to him with a pop. Lucius looked up and scowled when he was faced with James Potter.
“Malfoy,” Potter said, glowering.
“Potter,” Lucius said coldly.
They wordlessly entered the building, ignoring each other as much as possible when walking in each other’s proximity. Of course, Lucius had known that the Potter brat must have started kindergarten with Draco. He was only born a month or two after Draco, towards the end of the war. He just hadn’t thought that he’d need to interact with Potter because of it.
But clearly, he had thought wrong, because when they entered their sons’ classroom (the Bowtruckle Room, all in green with trees and plants and were they really quite sure about this school?), they found little Harry Potter, glasses crooked on his nose, building a copy of the Hogwarts castle with magical building stones. Next to him was Draco, enthusiastically placing a dragon on a finished tower.
Potter and Lucius stood in the doorway and stared. Finally, Harry took note of his father.
“Dad!” he waved excitedly. “This is Draco, my new best friend!”
Lucius slowly turned to look at Potter next to him. Potter looked stricken, which was at least somewhat comforting.
“What happened to Ron?” Potter asked, an edge to his voice.
Harry shrugged, gingerly placing a Niffler on top of the Astronomy Tower. Lucius noted absentmindedly that the dimensions looked ridiculous.
“Miss Rory said Ron is sick today,” he shrugged. Then he smiled. “But it’s okay. Draco played with me.”
“Harry knows all the Quidditch!” Draco told his father seriously.
“Does he,” Lucius asked, feeling sick.
“They are quite inseparable,” the teacher came up to them with a soft smile. “It’s adorable.”
Potter and Lucius looked at each other wearily.
“Bloody hell,” Potter said, with feeling.
“Language, Mr Potter,” the teacher frowned. “This is a school.”
Lucius, though, was smiling wryly. “For once, Potter, we’re on the same page,” he noted. “And that fact in itself is quite alarming.”
All evening until Narcissa returned, Draco started every other sentence with ‘Harry this’ or ‘Harry that’, and if Lucius wasn’t sure that his wife was going to murder him in cold blood, he’d be very tempted to obliviate his son just to make him stop.
When Narcissa finally returned, Draco started his retelling of the day all over again, including all his stories about Potter Junior, so Lucius fled into his study to sulk. Eventually, his wife came to find him.
“You look in a right mood,” she commented.
“Harry Potter,” he grumbled. “He can’t be serious!”
“Lucius,” she said, a tone of warning.
“The Crabbe boy is there!” Lucius called. “And the Goyle boy! The Nott boy! Even the Zabini boy would be better… Why Potter?”
“You won’t tell your three-year-old son that he can’t play with his first ever friend,” Narcissa said sternly. “You won’t be that kind of father, Lucius. I forbid it.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear someone in this house still enforces rules,” Lucius muttered, only to have his wife scowl at him.
“I’m going to reach out to Lily Potter,” Narcissa said, and when Lucius opened his mouth, she held up her hand, silencing him with a gesture. “I’m going to extend a friendly invitation to the family and organise a playdate for the boys. And we’re going to make nice with the Potters. We’re not going to ruin this for Draco. Have I made myself clear?”
Lucius huffed. “I don’t think I have a choice on the matter,” he pointed out.
“No,” Narcissa smiled sweetly. “You don’t.”
Lucius felt like he’d dropped into an alternate universe. A universe in which Draco was racing Harry Potter through the Manor gardens on toy brooms while he was having tea with Lily and James Potter as if this was all perfectly normal.
“Thank you so much for the invitation, Narcissa,” Lily said politely but also in a strangely warm manner. Was this a Gryffindor thing or was it a women's thing? He glanced at her husband, who seemed just as confused as Lucius. Women then.
“Thank you for accepting,” Narcissa smiled back. “I know our families had our differences, but Draco was so excited about his friendship with Harry, I really wanted to make an effort.”
“I appreciate it,” Lily said, smiling when Draco and Harry laughed loudly. “Harry really likes Draco a lot. I can’t pretend that we weren’t surprised, but we ultimately just want what’s best for him. And if he’s so happy around Draco, I guess we can try to bury the hatchet for them, can’t we?”
“Exactly,” Narcissa agreed. “Draco hasn’t really had much interaction with other children, so I want to be as supportive as possible.”
“Well, for Harry, it’s actually quite the opposite,” Lily admitted sheepishly. “Harry has grown up around a lot of other children and he makes friends quite easily. He’s always playing with the Weasley kids or Neville Longbottom or Luna Lovegood or even any odd neighbourhood kid. But he just really took a liking to Draco.” Her smile turned soft as she watched them. “The friendships of children are so pure,” she said mournfully. “They’re not tainted by politics or worldviews. They just are. And we want to encourage that as much as we can.” Lily turned to her husband, glowering at him. “Don’t we, James?” she said, her tone dangerous.
“Harry is his own person,” James said in a monotone. “He is allowed to make his own choices and form his own friendships. We support all of his decisions.” Lucius had a suspicion that he’d learned that line by heart.
“We couldn’t agree more,” Narcissa smiled, looking at Lucius. “I wouldn’t want Draco to grow up tainted by the war, as we have been. Right, Lucius?”
“Indeed,” Lucius ground out.
His blank stare met James Potter’s and they understood each other perfectly: They hated every aspect of this, but they had no control here and there was nothing they could do but fall in line.
Harry and Draco scurried through their legs, hiding under the table and shouting something about hiding from a dragon. Lucius sighed and wondered how this was his life.
Not that Lucius gave up on nudging his son into more appropriate directions. It just turned out that his son was very resistant to his scheming.
“Can Harry come?” five-year-old Draco asked innocently as Lucius explained to him all the important pureblood families - and children his age - that would be at the birthday soiree they’d hold for Narcissa that weekend.
He stared at him. “You have Gregory, Vincent and Theodore to play with,” he said evasively. “Isn’t that enough?”
Draco wrinkled his nose. “But Gregory and Vincent are boring,” he winged. “And Theo is mean. He called me a girl last week on the slide.”
Lucius sighed. “Then you have to stand up to him,” Lucius said.
“Well, Harry pushed him down the slide and he started crying,” Draco smirked. His smile fell again. “Miss Rory didn’t like that. We had to clean up all the pencils.”
Lucius shook his head. “We’re getting off-topic,” he said. “I’m sorry, but Harry’s parents aren’t coming and -”
“Mummy!” Draco called, turning away from Lucius before he could even finish the sentence. “Can we invite Lily and James to your birthday so that Harry can come?”
She smiled indulgently. “Of course, darling.”
“There!” Draco said triumphantly, turning back to Lucius. Lucius scowled.
“You have to learn to play nice with other kids, Draco,” Lucius huffed. “You can’t go through life with Harry Potter with your only friend!”
“I also play with Ron and Neville sometimes,” Draco shrugged, unperturbed.
Defeated, Lucius waved him off before throwing himself into his armchair.
“It’s a bit too late to pull him away from Harry,” Narcissa said knowingly. “It hasn’t worked until now…”
“No one stays best friends with the same person all their lives,” Lucius huffed. “Eventually, he’ll meet new people and forget about the Potter brat.”
Narcissa rolled her eyes. “Sure,” she drawled. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“You want to take Draco on holiday with you?” Lucius asked in alarm, looking up from his book to where Lily Potter’s head was hanging in their fireplace, speaking with his wife.
Lily looked sheepish. “Sort of,” she admitted. “You see, we used to go on trips with the Longbottoms or take Ron Weasley with us somewhere every now and then, just so that Harry had someone to keep him company. And now, Harry is asking if Draco can come, and I promised I’d ask.”
“I think this is a lovely idea, actually,” Narcissa said, making Lucius gape at her. “We could split the holidays. Lucius and I were planning to go to our chateau in France with Draco in August, but he always gets so terribly bored after a couple of days. We could take Harry and give you a couple of days off. And when you take Draco, Lucius and I could take a trip somewhere. We haven’t done that in ages, just the two of us.”
When his wife looked back at him hopefully, Lucius’ indignation crumbled. “I guess?” he said unsurely.
“Perfect,” Narcissa beamed, looking back at Lily. “Let’s discuss the details over tea.”
And like that, Draco spent two weeks with the Potters in Italy, and Harry spent two weeks with them in France, and Lucius started to wonder when the Malfoys and the Potters had become the kind of families that shared holidays. The Dark Lord would die of shock all over again if he wasn’t already dead.
“Why are you here, Potter?” Lucius asked wearily, eyeing James Potter as he downed one of Lucius’ finest whiskeys. Potter looked strangely lost, which Lucius understood - he had been feeling lost for the past eight years of Draco’s friendship with Harry - but he wasn’t sure what exactly warranted that expression on the other man’s face today.
After all, their sons’ had been sent off to Hogwarts in the morning. It was a joyous occasion.
“Harry was sorted into Slytherin,” Potter said, at last.
Lucius stared for a long moment before he burst out laughing. “Cheers to that,” he chuckled.
“It’s not funny!” Potter called. “I don’t have the best track record with Slytherins! All my friends are Gryffindors or in the very least Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws… I don’t do well with Slytherins. My wife’s had one Slytherin friend and we’ve had a feud for all our school days and - you know, I don’t want to get into that,” he frowned. “Lily already thinks I’m insane.”
“Is that why you came to me?” Lucius enquired, his voice wry.
“Yes,” Potter huffed. “Lily will just lecture me about being open-minded, and I know you suffer the same way from Narcissa. I thought, in a strange way, you would understand.”
“Merlin,” Lucius sighed, downing his own drink. “I wished that didn’t make as much sense as it does.”
“Sirius will just make fun of me,” Potter grimaced. “Remus will try to be reasonable. Peter will say whatever I want to hear. I just need someone to complain with me.”
“Well, I guess you’re at the right address,” Lucius rolled his eyes. “Because I still bloody hate this whole ordeal, Potter.”
“Thank you!” Potter called. “So do I! And now your son has corrupted my son with his Slytherin-ness -”
“Corrupted?” Lucius snorted. “At least Harry had other friends before Draco. Harry could have chosen not to latch onto my son like a bloody leech.”
“I know!” Potter called in despair. “I still don’t understand what that’s about! I really thought he would just tighten his bonds with Ron or Neville and be done with it! But then your son comes out of nowhere and just claims him!”
“I’m pretty sure Harry claimed Draco,” Lucius argued.
“You two are pathetic,” Narcissa said from the doorway, her arms folded over her chest and her face murderous. “Your children are more open-minded and kinder than any of you can ever aspire to be. Stop your moping at once. Be grateful your children are happy and healthy and alive , unlike so many other children that were born in the war.”
They blinked at her, stunned. Narcissa huffed and left the room.
They sat in silence for a long moment. Then, Potter said: “They really can’t let us have our moment, can they?”
“No,” Lucius smiled, quite involuntarily. “It appears that they can’t.”
By the time Draco had entered his teenage years, Lucius had almost come to terms with the fact that Harry Potter wasn’t going anywhere.
It seemed, though, that his son wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted to test his father’s delicate sensibilities just that tiny bit more.
When Narcissa searched him out in his office for tea time two weeks after Draco had returned for his summer holidays after his fourth year, Lucius only needed to look at his wife to know that he wouldn’t like whatever she had to say.
“What is it now?” Lucius grumbled, looking up from the accounting he was doing. “Do the Potters need to move in?”
Narcissa smiled. “Not quite,” she said. “But we need to talk about Draco.”
Lucius sighed, dropping his quill. “What now?” he moaned.
“I know we’ve both been raised a certain way,” she began, her voice careful. “With certain expectations about carrying on a family legacy.”
“Yes?” Lucius ground out, his tone dangerous.
“But my focus in bringing Draco up is really on him being happy and well-balanced rather than him worrying about a family name that has been through the mud enough because of his parents’ choices,” she said briskly.
Lucius choked on air. “Excuse me?” he asked.
“I don’t intend to force him to marry for reputation or heirs,” she shrugged. “I want him to choose his own path.”
“Why are you bringing this up?” Lucius asked, his voice thin.
All she did was smile sweetly. “It’s not my story to tell,” she said, getting to her feet. “I just wanted to inform you that you are not to enforce adequated pureblood traditions on our son, or you’ll have to answer to me.”
Lucius was left to stare after her, quite gobsmacked.
Lucius didn’t learn what that conversation had been about until the next summer holidays when he found Harry Potter snogging his son against the portrait of Lucius’ great-grandfather, who looked quite aggravated.
Lucius turned right around again and locked himself in his soundproof office, only to scream for a good minute.
He felt better after.
“Father,” Draco said when he was home for the spring holidays before his NEWTs. “I need grandfather Abraxas’ ring.”
Lucius stared at him, apprehensive. “Why?” he asked.
“I plan on proposing to Harry on his birthday,” Draco said with a smile.
Lucius looked at him for a long moment. Then, he took a deep breath.
“You are very young, Draco,” he tried to reason. “Don’t you want to wait a bit?”
“You proposed to Mum when she was our age,” he reasoned.
“Those were different times,” Lucius ground out. “There was a war going on. People felt the need to expedite everything. You, on the other hand, have all the time in the world to figure out what you want.”
“Well, I don’t need time,” Draco shrugged. “I’ve known Harry and I belonged together since we were three years old, really. I’m not going to waste my time.”
Sighing, Lucius unlocked the safe in which he kept the treasures at the Manor, quickly fishing out the ring and handing it to Draco. His son beamed as he received it.
He’d never stood a chance at all, Lucius reflected. But maybe, if Draco smiled like that, it wasn’t so bad that he hadn’t succeeded.
“You know,” James Potter said as they watched their sons dance at their wedding reception, “it was brought to my attention that we are alike.”
“Slander,” Lucius muttered, sipping from his champagne glass. “Don’t believe anything you hear. Everyone lies.”
Potter chuckled, shaking his head. “You know, when I first saw Harry with Draco, I completely panicked. But to be fair, Draco is a nice boy. A bit snarky for my taste - reminded me of someone, pushed the wrong buttons - but his heart is at the right place.”
“They say children are the better version of their parents,” Lucius rolled his eyes. “Well, I guess Harry is alright too, even if he’s very obnoxious, for a Slytherin.”
“He’s a Gryffindor by family, if nothing else,” Potter huffed. They watched their sons kiss in silence, their smiles soft and happy. “Lily kept telling me prejudices are made. It’s not something we’re born with,” Potter said, at last. “I guess she was right. They’re the living proof.”
“You Gryffindors,” Lucius rolled his eyes. “All mushy.” He did not say that Narcissa kept saying similar stuff to him. He had to keep up some pretences, at least.
Draco laughed and leaned his head against Harry’s shoulder as he danced on, looking completely content, and Lucius allowed himself a tiny smile, hoping that no one would see.