Safe and Sound

“But mum, I don’t want to wear a dress.” I turned around at the sound of the bedroom door opening. Evangeline stood in a white dress, her long blonde hair flowing like golden curtains framing her sharp face. Her eyes were green, a matching pair of my own. I gave her a look. “Evangeline Lillian Potter, you will wear a dress and you will like it. This is the one holiday where you must.”

She bowed her head, looking at her feet. “Alright.”

I walked up to her and bent down to her eyelevel. For a twelve year old, she was extremely tall, so I didn’t need to crouch far. I smile at her, tilting her chin to meet my eyes. “But since you’re stuck with the dress, you can have extra desert tonight.” She grinned at that, the smile lighting up her beautiful face. “Does that sound fair?”

“Absolutely.”

“Only if I’m included on it.” Scorpius walked in the door. Like his younger sister, he had fine, sharpened features with light blonde hair, his eyes dark green. He was dressed in a fine suit, crisp and clean as he grin, ruffling Evangeline’s hair. She smacked at his hands. “Oh come on, Eva. I was only teasing you.”

“Just because you’ve just turned fourteen doesn’t mean you get to pick on me.”

“No, I’m your brother, which means I get to pick on you.”

I stood up, looking at the two of them. They were standing side by side, looking up at me with their glowing eyes. Licking my lips, I shook my head, grinning at them. If anyone had ever told me that I would have children, I would have called them crazy. And yet there they were, two beings that I loved more than anything in the entire world.

“How is it,” I asked, flicking my wand to fix Scorpius’ bowtie, “That I’ve managed to have two children who have their father’s features and blonde hair, but have my eyes? Doesn’t seem quiet fair, does it?”

Draco walked in then, grinning at me. He was clean shaven, blonde hair slicked back. He crossed the room, slipping and arm around my waist and pressing a soft kiss to my temple, making me roll my eyes. “On the contrary, Scorpius seems to have picked up your knack for hexes.”

Scorpius looked at his dad, giving him a scowl and muttering, “You said you wouldn’t tell her.”

Draco grinned. “Now she doesn’t look so mad, does she?”

The sound of the doorbell echoed through the upstairs. I cut a glare at Draco and my son, my finger flicking between the two of them. “I’ll deal with both of you later. For right now, we’ve got a Christmas party to host, haven’t we?”

White and gold color schemes covered the manor. Every shade of gold known to man lined the house, candles floating near the ceiling much like they had when I attended Hogwarts. Music swelled throughout the house and the large Christmas tree in the corner of the gold and white ballroom stood twelve feet tall, decorated with glittering ornaments. Underneath the tree, piles upon piles of neatly stacked presents gleamed in the light, labeled for each guest and their children.

The doorman had answered the door, letting in the flood of people. Walking down the steps with Draco holding my hand, I grinned. It had only been a few weeks since I had seen my brother, but I was thrilled beyond belief that he and the others wanted to have a Christmas party at the home I shared with Draco.

Squeals echoed from the room and I watched as Evangeline and Lily tore through the room, heading towards the back yard. Shouts followed them as James, Albus and Scorpius followed the girls, charging and yelling like savage boys. I couldn’t help but laugh at them.

Reaching the foot of the steps, I let go of Draco’s hand and rushed forward as my brother walked in. Harry opened his arms, grinning and hugging me tightly. Next to us, Draco leaned over and kissed Ginny on the cheek, giving her a warm hello. It hadn’t always been so easy for us, but it had gotten to an area of comfortably.

Draco and Harry shook hands, Harry asking, “The kids off to the back yard already?”

“Scorpius conned us into letting him open a present early,” Draco grinned. “I bet you can guess exactly what it was.”

“A broom,” Harry and I said in unison, me rolling my eyes and him laughing loudly. “That doesn’t surprise me. And what about Evangeline, does she like quidditch?”

“Can’t get her off the bloody thing.”

The doorbell rang again. Draco clapped Harry on the shoulder, gesturing for him to follow him. The two began talking instantly. A long time ago, I would have thought it a strange sight to see. Now it was normal to see them talking and getting along. I raised my brows to Ginny. “What do they even talk about?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”

Within the hour, Hermione and Ron had shown up with their children. Everyone from the original DA trickled in, holding their children’s hand and kissing one another on the cheek. Not once did I find myself at unease. In fact, it seemed like it had always been like this, as if we had never experienced days where we had been at ends.

Blaise kissed me on the cheek as we stood in the backyard, watching an impromptu quidditch game, his son in a Ravenclaw scarf throwing the quaffle to Evangeline in her Gryffindor scarf. They were in different houses, but like their parents, they were best friends.

We all stood drinking champagne, no one talking about the old days. We talked about our life now as ministry workers, aurors, writers at the daily prophet. All of our lives were good, sound and happy. Our children attended Hogwarts together, never knowing the darkness that had occurred in the halls of their schools long before their time.

The safety of the children was all that mattered to us now. It was an unspoken thing each one of us shared, the care of our children. I smiled as I watched Raymond Finnegan clearing his throat and raising his wand, gesturing to a goblet that Scorpius was holding.

“Seamus, I think your son is about to cause an explo-“ Whatever was in the goblet had a small explosion, making everyone flinch and look at Scorpius and Raymond who had freshly blackened faces, their eyes wide as they looked at us all. “Just like his father,” I added with a laugh.

While Seamus began lecturing his son as he walked across the yard, I beamed. Draco appeared at my side, slipping his arm around my shoulders. He pressed a lingering kiss to the top of my head. I turned as I heard someone approaching to find Blaise, smiling at me as he took his place next to me.

The three of us stood there, quietly observing for a moment. I caught my brother’s eyes from across the room. To no surprise, Ron was on one side of him and Hermione was on the other. The three of them always seemed to gravitate towards one another at some point, just like myself and my two men.

“Another Christmas,” Draco said to us, looking across the grass at Harry. It seemed like in that moment, my trio and Harry’s trio were all connected, though we were standing on opposite sides of the makeshift quidditch field. “Another year united.”

“Another year united.”

Blaise, Draco and I lifted our glasses. Harry, Ron and Hermione did the same. We all toasted one another. Because somehow, some way, both of our trios had made it. We survived, and we were happy. We were safe and sound.