Harry apparated to Malfoy Manor and knocked on the door. An elderly house elf answered. He asked to speak with the master of the house and was led into a large, extravagant library off of the entryway. He waited for twenty minutes before he heard the sound of hard heels clacking on the marble floor and then the crack of the door opening.

Draco Malfoy stepped through the door with his head held high and his chin out. His hair was longer now than it had been in Harry's dreams, but not nearly so long as Lucius' had been. The pale blond hair glistened with streaks of silver that shone in the light of the sconces on the wall. Draco's eyes were hard and possessed none of the light Harry was used to seeing in them in his dreams, although they were bordered by pale eye lashes that were just as thick and voluptuous as they were in his dreams. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth were ever so much more defined, indicating the years that had passed.

That Malfoy had changed in the same direction he had in Harry's dreams was not surprising, nor was the fact that Malfoy had continued to age in the same direction in the years since the last dream. Malfoy's picture made it into the paper a few times a year and Harry had seen him in person half a dozen times since the end of the war. Harry had fixated on those pictures and memories to the point where he'd noticed details he'd never bothered to see before, such as the fact that Malfoy had the same heavily lidded eyes at Bellatrix Lestrange and her sister Dromeda Tonks. Only the feature was hidden by the fact that the lash hairs were almost transparent in their paleness. And once the trait had registered in his subconscious, Harry's dreams had reproduced it precisely in all its beauty.

Sometimes he fantasized about Draco Malfoy while he was awake, but it was so much lifelike when the images came to him in his sleep. The dreams had been coming to Harry for years, for so long that he could hardly pinpoint when it was they had started. They weren't a regular occurrence, but intermittent. He would experience a string of them, having several dreams a week for months in a row and then nothing. They would stop and he'd be left with a feeling of loss and loneness.

Harry had left his ex-boyfriend Shelton, because the dreams were too brilliant for Shelton to compete. Then there was Grant, who left Harry over the dreams when they had suddenly come back to him after a dry spell of two years. Since Grant, Harry had been too fixated on his loss to even think about dating; he just couldn't get out of the funk created by his latest dry spell. There were a dozen failed dates and a few horrible blind dates scattered in between Shelton, Grant, and the dreams, but that was the sum total of his entire sex life.

Ginny, of course, had been before Shelton and before the dreams had started. If Harry would've known how exciting, sexually rewarding, and just plain bloody brilliant a relationship could be, even if only in his dreams, he would've never wasted so much of Ginny's time. He felt bad for how things ended with her; he thought he loved her once, before he knew what love was.

Back then, Harry had thought love was something a man felt for a woman. He'd been looking for it with Ginny and Cho, who were both beautiful. Both had worked for a time, but now he knew that he utterly lacked passion for them and hadn't experienced a tenth of the desire that was possible. These days he knew better; love was something a man felt for the man in his dreams. He would give almost anything to have the dreams back and he would go even further if he could somehow make them reality.

That was a deluded thought, that Harry could have a relationship with the real Draco Malfoy. The Malfoy in his dreams was just that: a dream. He was nothing like this Malfoy. The dream one was kind, passionate, loving, and in love with Harry, while this one was the cold racist former Death Eater who stood before him in flesh and bone. Harry could never be with the real Malfoy and that was something he'd accepted a long time ago. He could not be with someone like that, no matter how attractive.

"Auror Potter, please sit down and have a cup of tea with me," Draco said, ushering Harry over to an ornate looking tea table with an antique silver tea set.

Harry sat, but didn't drink. Draco poured himself a cup and took his time, adding cream and sugar and stirring slowly in a clockwise manner.

"Lord Malfoy, if we could get down to business, I'd appreciate it," Harry said.

"And just what business is that?" Draco asked.

"I got a report that you have children living here at Malfoy Manor. I'm a case worker with the Child Welfare Division of the MLE. I've been sent out to investigate this claim."

"And who might my accuser be?" Draco asked, raising his teacup delicately to his lips and blowing on the steaming hot beverage.

"The Hogwarts list of future students. It came to Headmistress McGonagall's attention that there is a Scorpius Malfoy, age ten and a half, resident of one Malfoy Manor on the list of children to attend Hogwarts next year. This was surprising, because she did not know you had children or were married; surely something like that would be in all of the papers. She looked through the other lists of students and found two additional Malfoy children also living here," here Harry paused to look down at his notes on the clipboard he carried with him, "a Dionysus Malfoy, age six, and a Corona Malfoy, age three. Do you deny this?"

"Since when are children written down to attend Hogwarts grounds for child welfare investigations? Don't you have anything better to do than harass every parent in the country?"

"Since there is no record anywhere else of your children. You haven't filed birth certificates with the Ministry of Magic, nor is there any record of any Malfoy children being born at any of the wizarding hospitals in the country. The last Malfoy birth recorded was your own."

"Perhaps I did not feel like it. That doesn't mean my children are not taken care of," Draco said.

"You are the father then?" Harry asked, a part of his heart breaking. Up until this point, he'd held onto an unlikely hope that the Malfoy children were Narcissa Malfoy's children and that Draco was still available; Narcissa was old, but not so old that it was impossible. Not that he'd ever act on his feelings, but he could fantasize; now his fantasy was destroyed by three children and a spouse, because he'd never even dream of taking a husband and a father away from a family.

Draco nodded curtly and Harry wrote that down on his clipboard, before looking back up at Draco. "And who is the mother?" Harry asked.

"There is none."

"There has to be a mother. If you don't tell me who, then I'll be forced to investigate further. I won't stop until I know the truth."

"Why do you need to know? She left them with me, their father, without endangering them. Their welfare has never for a moment been in question."

"Because there is no way to know that you didn't kidnap these children from their mother against her will. It has even occurred that a wizard murdered the mother of his children, in order to gain custody of them. I have to verify that that didn't happen in this case, Lord Malfoy."

"You think that just because I am a wizard raising my children on my own, that I'm a kidnapper and a murderer?" Draco's voice rose with incredulous intensity.

"If you were a witch, there would still be an investigation. The only reason to keep a child off of the Ministry's radar is to hide the existence of said child from the other parent."

"That is not the only reason," Draco interrupted.

"The terms of your release from Azkaban didn't restrict you from having children."

"No, they just mandated that every Malfoy from now until the end of time submit themselves for examination every five years to make sure that they are not preforming dark magic."

"There is an exception for children under the age of eleven."

"Oh, is there now?"

"Yes," Harry insisted.

"Then why was it that Pansy and Garrett Avery's daughter was brought in at the tender age of four for questioning?"

"Because the Averys were accused of performing dark magic. We only brought the child in to ascertain if she'd witnessed any acts of dark magic. It was a child welfare case."

"I think the child welfare system does more harm to children than the alleged crimes you are attempting to protect them from. Your division took a perfectly happy four-year-old from a loving family and a safe home and put her into the home of a pair of mudbloods, over nothing more than a false accusation. Do you deny it?"

"We had no way of knowing that accusation was false until we investigated. We gave the child back as soon as we determined the home to be safe."

"The child still has nightmares, did you know?" Draco asked.

"No, I didn't. But it's better that she may have nightmares than to grow up in a dangerous environment."

"She was never at risk of growing up in a dangerous environment."

"We couldn't have known that, Malfoy!"

"No, but you could do a better job ensuring the safety of the homes you leave our children in. Do you deny that little Gyldan Flint was beaten and molested in the home of a Mudblood couple your department ruled to be safer than her own?"

"Marcus Flint was a Death Eater sentenced to life in Azkaban for his crimes. He broke out and his wife decided to take their daughter with them on the run. When we captured them, we had no choice but to take the little girl into custody. The foster family cleared every background check and psychology test, so there was no way of knowing that was going to happen. We regret what happened and the little girl has now been placed with her great grandmother."

"And why wasn't little Gylddy initially placed with her great grandmother?" Draco asked with a harsh tone to his voice.

"Because the woman was thought to be too old to care for such a young child and it was thought that she was involved with hiding the fugitives. It was a mistake. Our division is committed to minimizing errors and making sure such mistakes don't happen again."

"If I would have registered my children, there would be a false allegation of my misconduct every day, simply because decent folk like yourself cannot bear for someone like me to have children. They would call it for the good of the children and insist that I was indoctrinating them into the racist beliefs my parents taught me or teaching them to worship our fallen Lord. Even if I was a witch and you knew who the mother was, you'd be out here harassing me."

"If you were a witch with unregistered children, then I would be out here trying to find out who the father was, in order to inform the wizard of the existence of his children. Ministry law says that both parents have a right to know that they have a child in the world."

"She knows. She left me the children; she doesn't want them."

"If that's true, give me enough information to verify your story and I'll go away. I won't tell the press and the false accusations will never come."

"I don't want you poking your nose in here and stirring up trouble. Right now my children don't even realize that they ever had a mother to leave them. Leave my children out of this."

"Look Malfoy, I won't have to question your kids unless you refuse to tell me who their mother is. Just give me a name and I'll track her down. If she verifies your story, there will be no further investigation."

"She's dead."

"I thought you said she left you."

"No, I said she left the children. She never left me; it was them she didn't want. I don't want them to know they weren't wanted."

"Eventually they are going to wonder, especially once they get old enough to remember her and ask where she went."

"They won't remember her; she never even held them. Milli gave birth right here, and when I tried to bring little Scorp over to show her, she refused to look. She said she wanted nothing to do with him and repeated that sentiment with Nysus and Cori."

"Milli? As in Millicent Bulstrode?" Harry asked, latching onto this key piece of information.

Millicent Bulstrode was indeed dead. She had died in the same explosion that almost killed Harry two years ago. It had taken him almost a year to recover, but at least he had lived. She, on the other hand, had been closer to the blast and was blown apart. They were never able to find any conclusive proof that she had been involved with the group of dark wizards Harry had been chasing, nor were they able to prove her innocence, because all of the evidence was destroyed by the explosion. Two of the dark wizards hadn't survived the blast, while an additional three escaped, only to be killed instead of surrendering. With everyone who knew the truth dead, there was no way to know whether Millicent Bulstrode had been an innocent bystander or was aiding and abetting criminals.

"Yes," Draco confirmed sadly. "She's been dead almost two years now. Your precious Aurors murdered an innocent and then accused her to cover it up. You ruined her name, just so you wouldn't have to admit that your bloody reckless chase resulted in the death of a civilian bystander. She was only there, in the wrong place at the wrong time, because of her stupid brother and idiotic cousin. Her doomed relatives thought that she wouldn't be using her chicken coop and that she would never notice. Only Garrett and Pansy had a go at raising chickens, failed miserably, and gave the sole surviving bird to my Milli. You got her killed because she was checking on her chicken."
"That's not true; they couldn't discover the truth with everyone dead. And I was too busy in a coma to do anything about it until the story was long over," Harry protested. Draco just shrugged. Harry took a deep breath, refocused, and got back on track with his questioning. "So Millicent Bulstrode is the mother of all three of your children?"

Draco nodded.

"None of your children have any memory of their mother, because Millicent refused to see them?" Harry asked another. Draco nodded. "And there is no way of verifying your story, because Millicent is dead and her body was badly charred and then cremated, preventing the possibility of a maternity test."

"Correct Potter. Now if you'll kindly leave so that I can get back to my children-" Draco started to say, but Harry cut him off.

"I can't leave without questioning your children and your mother. If they all verify your story, then I'll go." Of course Harry would still have to investigate further and confirm with Bulstrode's friends and family that she had indeed been pregnant three times.

Draco wasn't happy about it and insisted on making Harry promise not to give any information away to the children regarding who their mother was, before he would consent.

An aging Narcissa Malfoy came down first and confirmed Draco's story about Millicent Bulstrode being the mother. Narcissa complicated matters, by mentioning that Millicent had stayed at Malfoy Manor during all three of her pregnancies, to hide the children from her parents. Millicent's parents would never approve of her abandoning her children and would insist upon a marriage. Narcissa Malfoy tried to insist upon a marriage, but Draco had forbidden her from getting involved. If Millicent didn't want anything to do with his children, Draco wasn't going to force her. Millicent hadn't even spent time with the older children when she was pregnant with the younger and staying under the same roof, instead confining herself to the guest suite.

Even if Millicent's parents had been kept in the dark, Harry was certain that she must've told her friends. At the very least, someone must have known that she was in a relationship with Draco Malfoy. It would mean detective work on Harry's part, but detective work was something he was good at.

After Harry finished questioning Narcissa, the three Malfoy children were brought in, one at a time, for questioning. Scorpius Malfoy was a smart young man, excited for the prospect of going off to Hogwarts next year. The child had Draco's pale blond hair, light grey eyes, and sharp features, but he was several shades darker than Draco had been as a child, due to a love of swimming. He also loved reading books, accounting for his need for the pair of round spectacles he wore. He had no memory of ever having a second parent or a need for one. He had his father and his grandmother and that was enough.

Dionysus was a rambunctious and extremely active six-year-old, almost seven, who had trouble sitting still long enough to answer Harry's questions. His skin was as dark as Scorpius', but that was where the resemblance ended. Dionysus' hair was as dark as Scorp's was light, paired with a pair of bright blue eyes that reminded Harry of Sirius. Dionysus even shared Sirius' love of mischief, reminding Harry that Draco and his children were his late godfather's closest living relatives, besides his own godson, Teddy Lupin.

As far as Harry could tell, Dionysus had no concept that the word mother could be applied to anyone other than Narcissa Malfoy. Little Dionysus seemed to think that everyone had only one parent, either a mother or a father. He had a father and his father had a mother and that was all there was.

Corona, or Cori as she called herself, was barely three and incredibly shy. She wouldn't leave Draco's arms, so Harry couldn't question her alone. The only thing she said out loud was her own name. She raised three fingers when asked her age, but resorted to nodding and shaking her head to answer the rest of Harry's questions, if she answered at all. And even when she did answer, Harry couldn't tell if she had understood or not.

The only information Harry got out of her was from her appearance, because of the three children, this one looked the most like Millicent Bulstrode. Where her brothers were lean and thin, Corona was pudgy. Her black hair she shared with her middle brother; the same hair color Millicent had had. Her chin was much larger than Draco's; it wasn't jutting, as Millicent's had been, but halfway in between Draco's sharp, pointy chin and Millicent's larger, squarish jaw. The nose was too small for her round face, just as Millicent's had been.

The only features that bespoke of Draco in his daughter were Cori's light grey eyes and her beauty. Even with so many of her mother's features, little Cori's face was pleasant to look upon, somehow imbibing Draco's good looks. Harry couldn't put his finger on just what was different about this child's face to make her so much more attractive than her mother, but it was undeniable. Maybe it was just the way her eyes lit up with laughter when Draco tickled her, but Harry was captivated. The name Corona suited her, because she was as radiant as the sun.

Harry wanted to stay and get to know Draco's children. He didn't know why he was drawn to them, other than the secret crush he'd harbored for Malfoy for so long. Maybe it was the fact that Millicent would have been pregnant with Corona when Harry himself had had that strange dream that he was an Incubus and had gotten Draco pregnant. It was jealousy or desire that made him want those children; Scorpius, the smart one, Dionysus the troublemaker, and Corona the shy beauty.

But whatever it was, Harry had no right feeling it. He was an investigator and had promised to leave as soon as the children had answered his questions, a fact that Draco was quick to remind Harry of when he lingered. Harry had no choice but to leave. Besides, he had a job to do; he had to verify that these were really Millicent Bulstrode's children, so that he could close the case.

Author's Note: I've been working on this story for a long time now, but after many false starts, I believe I finally have it worked out. It's not my best work, but it does answer the question of how Harry would deal with it if he had a child who was as bratty as Draco. These Malfoy children won't be going easy on him. Please Review!