It's been a little while since I've had anything new to post, but now I do! Would you believe I still own nothing? Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

"About time," Scorpius Malfoy muttered. Open before him was The Daily Prophet, and the front page headline proclaimed his parents' divorce. Beside him, Rose Weasley frowned at his reaction. The little blond-haired boy rolled his eyes as he turned the page. "What? We both know they don't love each other. We both know they never should have gotten married. Why it took them twelve years to figure it out, I'll never know."

"You wouldn't be here if they never married," she pointed out, flipping her long red locks over her shoulder.

Scorpius shrugged, wondering if it would have been better had he never been born. Perhaps his mother and father would have realized sooner that they were wrong for each. Maybe they would be happy. They might even be friends if they didn't have to be husband and wife. The first year Ravenclaw scowled at the thought. He had ruined his parents' lives.

"Your parents are divorced," he commented. "Did that make things better?"

Rose rolled her brown eyes. "You say divorced, I say abandoned," she retorted. The only child of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Rose barely knew her father. Two years after she had been born, Ron left. Her mother never spoke of him and never remarried. Ron, however, had. She had seen it in the paper; the engagement announcement, the wedding photos, and her half-brother's birth were newsworthy stories. "I don't know. I think it's better this way, just Mum and me."

Scorpius nodded and put the newspaper away so he could finish his breakfast. "Maybe I'll get to pick which of my parents I want to live with," he said thoughtfully. "I think I'd pick my dad. At least he likes me."

The little girl smirked. The stories she'd heard from her mother about Draco Malfoy as a boy were nothing short of horrible. And then she met the man. He was kind, he smiled, he acted the way she thought a father should. A friendship had formed between their parents over the years, thanks in part to Scorpius and Rose. They'd become fast friends as toddlers, playing together in the Ministry's daycare. The children's attachment to one another meant their parents were forced to spend time together, and a friendship quickly bloomed between them as well.

"He loves you, Scor," she told him. "You're lucky to have a dad like him. Some people get fathers like Ron."

Beneath the table, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "And some people get mothers like Astoria. Maybe we'll get lucky, and your mum and my dad will marry each other," he joked. They had often tossed around the idea of their parents marrying, but Astoria, Scorpius's mother, had been very much in the picture. Now, she was no longer a hindrance. "I wish he'd told me so I didn't have to find out from the paper though."

"Maybe he planned to, but it was leaked before he could," Rose suggested. Scorpius shrugged and let go of her hand. They finished breakfast without speaking again and left the Great Hall for their first lesson.

"Mr. Malfoy, you're wanted in the headmistress's office," Scorpius was told by Professor Slughorn.

With a roll of his eyes, the young Malfoy left the classroom, wondering what trouble he'd gotten himself into so early in the day. He made his way through the castle, gave the gargoyle the password, and waited for the staircase to take him to the office. His father waited by the door and beckoned him inside. The first year scowled at the sight of him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Sighing, Draco Malfoy sat down in front of the empty desk and waited for his son to join him. "It was never my intention for you to find out about the divorce from the paper," he began. "I know you've known for awhile now that your mother and I weren't happy together. It was just a matter of time before we decided that we couldn't stay married any longer."

"Did you stay married to her for me?" Scorpius wondered. "Because if you did, you're an idiot."

Chuckling, Draco couldn't deny it. "Are you okay with this?" he asked. Scorpius nodded, but didn't meet his father's gaze. "We both still love you."

Smirking, the little boy rolled his eyes. "You should have done this years ago," he said. His father laughed, though he knew he shouldn't encourage such talk against the boy's mother. "Have you talked to Minnie?"

"She knows," Draco confirmed. "We talked this morning before the paper came out, and she offered me her sofa until I find something a bit more permanent."

Scorpius perked up for the first time since seeing his father. "Are you going to accept?" he asked.

For years, the children had asked their parents to marry one another. It began as two children who never wanted to be apart, but as they grew older, Scorpius often longed for a mother like Hermione Granger. While Astoria cared about her son, she wasn't nurturing and maternal. He had never heard his mother say "I love you", and she had barely hugged him before putting him on the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

"I don't know, buddy," Draco said, suddenly sounding tired. "I don't want you and Rosie to get the wrong idea. Her mum and I are just friends. It wouldn't be fair to Hermione to get dragged into all of this."

Reluctantly, Scorpius nodded. "Do I have to go back to class, or does your divorce earn me a free pass?" he inquired.

Rolling his eyes, Draco sent his son back to class. "Tell Rosie I said hi," he added before parting ways. Leaving his old school, the first place he went was Hermione Granger's house. It was a modest, two story home, but it was welcoming. He needed something welcoming. Without knocking, he let himself in and found her in the kitchen. "Don't you hate how quiet it is when the kids aren't around?"

She smiled and poured a second cup of coffee for him. "Well, at least I have you to barge in whenever you feel like it," she remarked, joining him at the table. "I saw the paper. How are you handling all of this?"

Sighing, he sipped his coffee and shrugged. "I'm fine with it. It was my idea, after all," he replied. "It's the kids though. More than once, I've overheard them say they wish we were a family. What if they know?"