the-darker-path

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“Not inside, do you hear?”

-“Wouldn’t dream of it, Granger”

A/N: he would and he does.

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MAGDALEN&A.K

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Tiny snippet of a meeting in The Room of Requirement 🗝️

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both harry and draco have their mothers eyes but resemble their fathers, and yet they carry the spirits of their mothers in every action. in this essay i will…

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🐍Ssssilver trio

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Autumn Dramione🍂

Art commission for rus ff “Pen Pals” written by xasta

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eighth year, things are different

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"Look at those colours."

"Don't tell me you've never seen a canola field? They're everywhere."

"They look amazing."

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A sort of remake of an old comic I did years ago, but with more context and whole lot more of Draco’s cute bum 😛🍑

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UNBROKEN

Draco Malfoy

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"Ha, fair enough," Draco allowed. "My visits were mainly summertime, and usually with Blaise and his mum--she had him take surf lessons when she spent a year married to an Australian ambassador. He favored the Ives beaches. Hm...Brighton's also crowded...perhaps somewhere inland from Branscombe..."

He did love that Taylor intended to have a flourishing garden. "There'll be an apple tree or two, right?" he asked his wife with a teasing grin. By now, they'd gotten to know each other a little better...and he readily conceded to her observation of his preference for the green variety of the sweet fruit.

Draco grinned when Taylor proposed something cultural. "Mother's going to know," he joked, grinning as Dixie wriggled around in her owner's arms. "Spontaneous family dinner, craving your unique dishes....if we're lucky, she'll just have noticed that things are better and think we're announcing that we're done being at odds."

Narcissa had to have noticed that shift, but she hadn't commented yet. And when she learned that not only was her son's marriage taking a positive turn, but she was a grandmother-to-be? Oh, she was going to be over the moon.

Flora had brought a second cup, this one coffee with a touch of sugar, and Draco smiled as he took a sip. "Flora's been doting ever since we told her the truth," he noted, sitting by the fire. "You know, she'd be thrilled to help us work out a clever a surprise to tell all your family. I know they'll think its a house warming party, we could do something creative with a cake, or..."

The mental image of a sunny room with a bassinette by a window struck him, and Draco grinned. "Or we finish the house tour in a fully-furnished nursery--oh, Molly Weasley will melt all over you."

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Draco did not entirely know how to explain the change. It felt as if it would be asinine to say that finding out he was a father-to-be did it all; in his mind, that diminished Taylor to just being a vessel for their child, and it did not justify his behavior for the past six months of marriage. Or the handful before that, as they'd agreed to the contract and had their legal ceremony.

But Taylor was happy to be pregnant. And somehow that was....so surprising, so pleasantly so, that it made Draco feel as if he had woken up from a coma of sorts. He had been in a fog, the same as back in sixth year, and just as seeing Katie Bell alive and well and eyeing him as if trying to remember something had scared the life out of him, now this...

Well. It was not fear. It was the opposite of fear, it was like coming up from deep, dark water, and having oxygen saturate his lungs again. Taylor may not have wanted to marry him, but here she was, breathing life back into him...and giving him new purpose.

So he brought her flowers to thank her, and a puppy because she deserved that little dog she had mused on liking more than peacocks. Seeing Taylor's sheer, unadulterated delight over the puppy made him feel like he could fly, and Dixie became a beloved little member of the household.

"I'll tell Mother and Flora, then," he said happily. "That isn't too fancy, we can do it tonight. Yes....Mother's going to be ecstatic." He smiled as he turned a page in one of the folders. "You know, I think this one is my favorite. St. Ives is a lovely village."

Flora popped in, bringing a cup of soothing tea for Taylor, and a biscuit for Dixie. "Flora, we need a big of a celebratory dinner, tonight if Father is available," Draco told her. "Their favorite wine for them, and some sparkling cider for Taylor and I, if you please."

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"Ah, the fearsome maternal instinct," Draco grinned. "I know many a member of the animal kingdom don't care for their young once born or hatched, but those that do... 'Mama bear' is a phrase for a reason."

And considering how over the years he had seen Taylor earn that title of hers, the American terror, as she protected Harry and the rest of her little family....well, Draco could only imagine how she would be once it was her own little one she was defending.

Not that Draco intended to ever allow there to be anything, within a hundred meters of his child, that would require protecting them.

He nodded his thanks at her kind words about Orion. "He was a sadist," Draco shrugged. "Father angered him, and he asked which Father considered the more valuable asset to a wizarding home--house elves or birds. I remember Mother just covering her mouth, unable to conceal her horror....and while I don't entirely know if I've forgiven Father, for Orion's sake, I know it would have been a thousand times more agonizing had he chosen the other way."

Thinking of their baby was far happier than mourning their lost beloved pets. "Well, then, it sounds settled," Draco chuckled. "Minerva or Aurora....and then Scorpius would be a boy. My my, we seem to be planning a brood."

But that would not be starting today. Today was a nap, and Draco did not recall sleeping so well in....years. Waking up with dark curls tumbling over his chest and hand, a soft cheek resting against his heart, was officially the happiest he could remember.

(~)

They had two more appointments with Celestra, confirming that all was progressing beautifully. As they neared the 15th week, they agreed that it was time to begin planning.

"We've narrowed it to three cottages," he mused, looking at the portfolios Pansy had gotten; she didn't know about the baby yet, but he'd confided that they wanted to move into their own place. "I know we want to tell the whole extended lot of yours at the house warming...would you mind if we did a small dinner to tell my parents, first? Or do you prefer it all together?"

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"Do you know, I was told that by an American?" Draco laughed. "Some Ministry function or charity or what-have-you, something Mother hosted and Father wanted to rub elbows and earn favors..an ambassador MACUSA attended and was admiring Father's birds. Not that I would ever have the audacity to speak ill of them to a guest, but I remarked that they have a harsh bite, and he told me that swans in the States are a similar nightmare with wings."

Taylor looked surprised, and touched, that Draco recalled her raven. He might not have remembered her so vividly if there had been others of her kind, but like her mistress, the sleek bird had stood out.

Taylor confided how Persephone had died, and Draco's eyes widened. He recalled the night in question; beforehand had been hell, with Riddle incensed over the whole wand cores business, and afterwards.... Well, he had been in a punishing mood, having missed another chance to kill Potter. But apparently he'd still had casualties that night.

"Sounds like she was her owner's bird through and through," Draco smiled, sadly. "I didn't know you knew Orion--that makes me happy to hear. He had a gentle heart, though a sharp beak." Draco swallowed. "Riddle killed him. It wasn't even about me, just...one of his lash-outs at Father. He slaughtered all the Manor's mail birds."

They had been replaced, because wizarding mail was what it was, and they had needed them. But Lucius had been properly cowed by yet another outburst demonstrating that he had no say, no power, in his own home, having let that monster in.

Back to the matter of baby names, Draco smiled at her idea. "I assume you mean Minerva, and not her surname," he chuckled. "I think that sounds grand, as it's also the goddess of wisdom."

Taylor's dry response did banish the attempt to be chivalrous, and Draco had to laugh as he toed off his own shoes, neatly placing them on their rack in the wardrobe. "Alright, you sarcastic minx, point taken. Yes. Let's start making better memories for this space. Not--uh, not like that," he added apologetically, blushing. "Just--just sleeping. Of course."

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"They are," Dracon confirmed readily. "I accept that there are intelligent birds, but those feather-brained vain morons are not among them. And they bite. I'm told swans are worse, and geese, but I've been chased 'round a garden by those wankers." He smiled. "I never had a dog, or a cat. But I did become fond of the cats that would roam Hogwarts when not with their students. I'd be happy to have some."

He heard how her voice changed when she mentioned ravens, and Draco met her eyes with sympathy. "I remember your bird," he told her. "Never got too close, but I always thought she was pretty. I know you lost her at some point...I'm sorry." His own smile saddened. "Orion died during the war, as well. I still haven't gotten another personal owl, since. Just used Manor birds."

It was touching that she was willing to use the name he and Narcissa liked so much. "Do you have any family names that you care for?" he asked. "I know you had brothers, didn't you?"

Draco nodded acceptance at Taylor's musing on knowing your child's name when you met them. He did want to plan on learning the sex, but it did not have to dictate settling on a name.

He was not expecting to be invited to rest with her. Draco paused, looking at her face quickly. "...you don't mind? Sharing the bed with me? I mean-- I can sleep on the sofa in the lounge, just as well."

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I saw it was @lqtraintracks ‘s birthday and I had to just shower my joy that you exist on this chaotic space rock. Happy Birthday!!!✨

Here’s a drawn scene from one of the 1st fics I read of yours ( click here if you wanna read it, too! Warning for 2300 words of steamy goodness if that’s not your thing I suppose).

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"Hey, he could have still had a career," Draco cracked back, laughing. "With our....circle, it's basically just a choice to make, how you want to spend your days. If you want to supplement the inheritance by earning your own, or just live off of it and pass it on. But our generation's changing the rules, I can tell....not just the war and all that. None of us want to be lazy. I had my Healer dreams, Pansy writes....Theo wants to run a pub. Blaise hasn't settled yet, but I know he doesn't want to just be a pretty socialite like his mother."

Then he snorted again. "And don't get me started on the sodding peacocks. I hate those insufferable birds. Mark my words, when Father passes, they're gone. Mother doesn't detest them as I do, but she doesn't love them."

He'd been a bit afraid she'd laugh at the odd-sounding name--here they were on the cusp of a new century, and not a Malfoy or Black had a particular common first name--but Taylor looked approving. "It may have been disenchantment with my father, but I always wished it was mine," he agreed, smiling. "It can be a middle name if preferred, but I'd love to use it."

Draco nodded at once when she mentioned her heritage. "Yes, I was tempted to suggest that as well, though I...wasn't sure how you felt about your ethnicity. I think that'd be marvelous."

He reached one hand out, brushing her stomach, even though of course there was no bump or movement to be felt yet. "Does that mean you don't wish to learn the gender beforehand?"