Harry James Malfoy-Potter could gladly say he had never thought he would be sitting on any couch in his house and having tea with Dudley Dursley, who unknowingly married a squib and had a magical daughter. He would also never have thought Dudley would come looking for him to help prepare his now Hogwarts aged daughter to head off to school.

It was bloody laughable.

He's pretty sure Draco did laugh. Multiple times, actually. Eventually he just excused himself from the room and took Dudley's daughter, Ava, to hang out with Scorpius and Teddy.

"So- uh..." started his cousin staring at the baby in his lap instead of up at him. "You have a daughter?"

"I have twin girls actually, and two sons."

"Oh," the bigger man responded dumbly, not knowing what else to say. "Where's their mother?"

"Long story," Harry said with a tone even he wasn't sure how to decipher. Instead, he tries to turn the conversation to the real topic at hand. "Why don't you tell me about Ava..."

"Nothing to tell," Dudley's wife, Vivian, speaks up for the first time since she's walked through the door. "She's a- a witch," she whispered to him conspiratorically as if she weren't used to speaking out loud about it. Harry only nodded, because he remembered that feeling. The understanding that even when you're safe you just have to double check and triple check your surroundings to make sure you aren't being followed. The feeling of not being sure if even a safe zone was safe.

"Her letter from Hogwarts came and we didn't know what to do. I- uh- I remember you getting your letters," Dudley puts in. "All the letters all over the house. We couldn't even go out for all the owls waiting."

"So..." Harry said, looking away. "Why did you need my help?"

"My parents died before the war ended. I was only 14 and since I wasn't in Hogwarts, I was sent into muggle foster care," Vivian says by way of explanation. "I don't know how to- well I can't teach her anything. She has to go to Hogwarts and I can't really help her buy any of this stuff, I don't even know what half of it is and Duddy said you would know. He's been bragging about this brave cousin of his, but I never knew it was- I mean, you're Harry Potter. When he found out Ava took after my side of the family he told me who you were and I bloody flipped!"

"I guess I could help you decipher some of the things on the list, but-"

He was cut off by crying. He looked down at his daughter who was looking back up at him with wide eyes and a hand in her mouth.

"Potter!" Yelled Draco from upstairs. He looked over at his cousin and his cousin's wife who didn't want anything but a little help. Something his Uncle Vernon wouldn't have asked for if it killed him and he sighed before motioning for them to follow him up the stairs and into the rest of the house.

"Nice house you got here," said Dudley as they made their way up one of the winding staircases.

"It's my husband's family home," he replied. "It's bloody tortue with all these steps."

It's as if only then Dudley began putting together the pieces.

"So the man who opened the door is your-" Dudley stops when he spots his daughter laughing at something a little pale haired boy is showing her. There is a blue haired boy making faces off to the side as well. "Those are your boys?" He asks instead.

"Yeah," Harry responds fondly like he's forgot where he is. He shakes his head. "Would you like to meet them? I mean, I guess you have to since you're here, but-"

"Daddy!" says Ava Dursley pleasantly, before rushing over and wrapping her arms around her father. "They can do magic like I can!" Harry smiles at the young girl, because she hasn't learned the same shame her mother has and he's happy for her.

"This is our son, Scorpius," he says then, trying to get introductions through quickly. Scorpius stands and shakes Dudley's hand with a slight bow before reseating himself on the floor, but Harry can still see the proud look on his husband's face. "And this is our son, Teddy." The boy in question only throws a hand in the air.

"Wassup?"

Harry can see Draco roll his eyes out of the corner of his view, but the blonde is still smiling.

"Scorpius, Teddy, this is my cousin Dudley and his wife Vivian. I grew up with his family before Hogwarts, when my parents uh- yeah."

"So do we have to call him Uncle Dudley or something?" Teddy says finally paying attention. Harry had told him the story of his childhood when he was old enough to ask about it.

"Not if you don't want to." Harry shrugs. "I mean, he's not your uncle, he's your cousin."

"Potter," Draco says cutting the conversation short, over a quietly crying Anita, holding the little girl up. "She wants to pull on Teddy's jewelry."

"Then Teddy shouldn't wear shiny lip jewelry, isn't that right princess," He responds giving his son a playful grin, sitting  Lyra on the floor. He watched as she crawled over to her older brother, before taking Anita from Draco's arms. He makes his way into the room and sits down attempting to calm his daughter on his lap. Meanwhile, the older blonde almost immediately turns to properly introduce himself.

"Draco Malfoy," he says with a small bow before Harry lobs a pillow at the back of his head. "Draco Malfoy-Potter," he corrects then turns with a glare towards his husband. "Soon to be widowed."

He shows the couple into the room and offers them seats in the two armchairs closest to the window, before taking the seat next to Harry and making himself comfortable.

"You're such a proper host," Harry praises sarcastically.

"One of us has to have manners, right, 'Nita?" Draco asks the now giggling baby girl, poking her nose and smiling softly when she grabs at his hand with her smaller ones.

"No!" Scorpius yelps as Lyra forces herself into a standing position to get her hands into his hair. Teddy snorts and Scorpius slaps a hand over his mouth. "I can talk," he whispers in awe before a grin grows over his face. "I CAN TALK!"

Draco's sappy smile grows as he looks at his son who quickly turns remorseful and rushes over, knocking Lyra back onto her butt by mistake (she only giggles), to smother him with a hug.

"I didn't m-m-mean any of it. I'm so sorry, Dad. You know I'm s-sorry don't you? I'm so sorry." Then Scorpius is crying, which means Draco is crying, which means Teddy is laughing and Harry is fondly shaking his head.

"Of course I know you didn't,that doesn't mean you didn't need to learn-" Draco says as he starts into a lecture with the smaller blonde leaving Harry to explain.

"Er- well...Scorp said some things he should not have said, so Draco rendered him mute for a bit too learn manners and respect and things."

"Ever heard of just rapping'im on the knuckles?" Vivian tries to joke and Dudley squeezes her hand softly. She looks at him with a questioning eye and Harry supposes she'd learn to read his blank expressions as guilt because her eyes widened. "L-like magic?" But the word is a whisper again. Like she knew what 30 lashes felt like when things happened even when you didn't mean for them to. When Dudley nodded without looking at her she angrily pushed him away. "How could you let them do that to him!?" she said, practically screeching and for the second...maybe third time in his life, Harry felt the need to protect his cousin.

"Vivian, it's fine. He didn't know any better, and I made it out alright so-"

"It's not fine," both she and Draco say at the same time.

"Maybe not," says Harry. "But we've both grown up since then. He's apologized and I've forgiven him. So we're fine and thats what matters."

Both spouses nodded, but Harry knew his husband would use this as a reason to stop them helping or at the very least make them work harder for something Harry would do anyway. He had hoped it wouldn't be too long of a night.

-&-

hey futher muckers
its technically ghe 8th so here is chappie 1 of book 3

im so stoked to be finishing this after all this time of whatever...hope you enjoyed

you can meet up with me and some other drarry fans on discord

https://discord.gg/MBMFCXm

love y'all

-- angel janeé xoxo 💋