The Next Generation

Malfoy and Potter Meet Again

Draco Malfoy whirled around at these words, a fearful look plastered on his face. "H-Harry, nice to see you again... please tell me my son is alive." His face appeared drained of all color, and he looked worried sick.

"Yes, he's alive. But why did you think otherwise?" Harry inquired, concerned. The slytherin's muscles relaxed and he looked immensely relieved.

"Oh, I was so scared... thank god... but I still don't know why..." he was having trouble forming a sentence, so Harry interrupted.

"What don't you know, Draco?" he asked gently. Clearly he was distressed about something.

"...why my son hasn't written to me all year. I feel like such a terrible father, just leaving him with Lucius... I should've thought of something else, but I didn't have enough time to come up with anything else. I just needed him to have a home... oh, I hope he's alright at Hogwarts. He's not like the other slytherins... what if they bully him, or, I don't know..." Draco rambled on about his son, and Harry was taken aback by what he was saying; he had never seen this side of him before.

"Draco..." he didn't know what to say, but for the first time ever, he felt genuinely sorry for him. Harry could see tears forming in the man's eyes, and he wanted to reassure him that his son was alright, but what if he wasn't... there was no way of knowing for sure. Draco stopped talking and looked up at Harry, who appeared concerned.

"I'm sorry, I got a little carried away."

"Don't be sorry, being worried about your son is nothing to be sorry about. But do yourself a favor and please try to relax... I need to tell you something." Draco remained silent, waiting for whatever news Harry had to tell him. "My son wrote me a letter that I thought you should read. I don't know what exactly is going on, but you need to stay calm, alright?"

"...Okay." Harry passed him the letter, and as he read, his face turned paler than he had thought possible. Taking Harry's advice, he tried his best to stay calm, but was clearly struggling. "So you think my son's in trouble?" Harry nodded. "What do you think Parkinson has planned?" Harry frowned, thinking.

"I really don't know, but whatever it is, it's pretty serious. But before you do anything crazy, you need to understand that your son is going to be okay. I trust that my sons and Scorpius will write to me whenever they figure something out, and I'll be sure to tell you everything I know. We have time to figure something out together."

"Thank you, Harry, I really appreciate it. I just want to see my son..." Draco couldn't take it any longer. If he hadn't glimpsed an owl making its way towards the pair of them, he would have broken down crying right then and there, but this owl filled him with a sliver of hope. Maybe, just maybe, Scorpius had finally written to him. The beautiful snowy owl perched on Draco's shoulder, waiting for him to grab the letter from his beak.

"That's James's owl," Harry said, confused. Draco took the letter, and the owl flew away. It was addressed to him in Scorpius's handwriting! He grinned for what was likely the first time in awhile, tearing off the envelope and reading the letter anxiously. His expression changed from excited, to sad, to thoughtful, to angry, and to worried once more. Without saying anything, he passed the letter to Harry.

Dear father,

I swear to god I would've written so much sooner if I had actually received those letters before yesterday. Somebody has been keeping them from me, and that same person also killed our owl... I'm planning on burying him tomorrow. I am so so sorry I had you so worried, but I promise I'm ok. I miss you so much dad, I wish I could see you... I also wish I'd seen your advice about winter break, because I ended up going home, and I really wish I hadn't. Grandfather made me tell him who I was friends with— Albus Potter and Rose Weasley— and he used the cruciatus curse on me when he found out they weren't in slytherin. But don't worry too much about it, I'm okay now. Anyway, I have so much I want to tell you about school next time I see you. So much has happened, both good and bad things... but don't worry, I'm fine. I know you can't write to me anymore, but I hope you're alright as well, and that they're treating you well wherever you are. Goodbye, for now, I promise I'll write soon. I love you.

Love,

Scorpius

~

I was going to send this letter to you earlier today, but something I thought I should share with you happened before I got a chance to. Connell Parkinson is the person who kept your letters and killed our owl. He's done some other terrible things, and is planning on killing me on the last day of school. I was debating whether or not I should tell you this, because I know how worried you get, but I decided you should know. I'll explain to you another time how I found this out, but I need you to know that Albus and James Potter— and Rose, when I tell her what's going on— are going to make sure I don't get hurt. You need to trust me on this one... I'm going to be alright. I'll see you soon, father, I love you so much.

Love,

Scorpius

Both men remained silent for a minute, soaking in what they'd just read. Harry spoke first. "Draco... I'm so sorry. But you're going to have to trust your son and everyone else. I'm sure Scorpius will be okay." Draco still did not speak, and instead started to shake. Harry realized he was going to cry. He couldn't blame him, if this was one of his children, he'd probably be reacting the same way. He pulled Draco into a gentle, and slightly awkward, hug in an attempt to comfort him. He was sure that he'd been with Draco for longer than 20 minutes, and was grateful to the people managing the camp for letting him stay there. Draco stopped crying after a minute, and finally spoke.

"If I ever see my father again, I think I might kill him." He looked into Harry's green eyes, his expression unreadable. "I should have known... after all, he tortured me and killed my wife. But my son..." Harry was truly at a loss for speech. It seemed there was so much he hadn't know about Draco's life, things that if he had known, perhaps he would have been more understanding of his cruel demeanor. But he understood how Draco felt. Harry had felt the same exact way towards Bellatrix after she murdered Sirius. He also knew there was no point in trying to talk sense into him right now, Draco had every right to be angry. The fact that it was his father who had that caused him so much pain in his life sent chills down Harry's spine. "You don't have to say anything," said Draco, as if reading his mind. "Thank you for letting me know all this, I owe you so much..."

"You don't owe me anything. I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now, I really am sorry. I promise I'll come back with any new information, we're going to figure this out." Draco nodded, thanking Harry again with his eyes. "Oh, and please do yourself a favor and take it easy here. I know you want to see Scorpius as soon as possible, but you can at least eat a little more," said Harry. Draco shrugged and laughed lightly. This comment seemed to relieve him of a lot of tension.

"I suppose you're right. Thanks for everything, Harry." He paused for a moment, then said, "since when do we call each other Draco and Harry?" Both men laughed at this, not quite sure why they'd been addressing each other by their first names, but not upset about it. Soon after, Harry departed, glad he'd come to see Draco in the first place. The man had been in desperate need of a visitor... even if it was Harry Potter.