Custody

Warnings In Red

I'm back! I have three chapters done! I'll publish these two first. The third still has to be edited.

Thank you for being so patient about this short hiatus!
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     Sunlight was streaming through the window, making Draco whimper and bury his face into a pillow. The harsh sunrays hurt his eyes as they fluttered open. He cuddled more into the bedsheets, craving the comfort of sleep and the warmth of his own body heat radiating from the covers. The musky smell of safety and Harry Potter surrounded him. 

Draco shot up in surprise. Harry? Why was he in Harry’s bed?

He let out a tiny yelp of pain, holding his elbow close to him and glared at the nightstand hatefully. Why was it so much closer to Harry’s bed? That was really going to bother him. Groaning, he got out of bed and went over to the bathroom. As much as he loved his pajamas smelling like Harry, he didn’t want to walk around in pajamas all day. Not to mention that his hair was a mess. Quickly undressing, he got into the shower, sighing softly as he forbid any thoughts of Harry while he was showering. 

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Harry was incredibly cramped from sleeping on the couch. He would’ve slept in a guest room but the threat of traps laid by the elder Malfoys was enough to keep him from leaving the living room. He woke up to the sound of a wailing, angry toddler. He immediately hurried to get to Teddy’s room, tripping over his own foot halfway down the hall. He scooped Teddy up into his arms, rocking him gently as he examined the child, trying to see what had caused him to start crying like that.

Teddy sobbed and whimpered, burying his face in his godfather’s neck and clinging onto him, his tiny fists knotted in Harry’s shirt. His eyes were an angry red and his face was soaked with tears. Poor baby. 

Harry gasped when he saw the window. Despite the lock and the charms Draco had used (most of which were very strong and no longer taught in charms lessons), an eostrix owl was perched on the windowsill, the windows thrown wide open and the curtains billowing slightly from the ocean breeze. Swearing softly, Harry held Teddy close and untied the heavy letter from owl’s leg. The second that the message was untied from it’s leg, the owl took off in a rustle that made Teddy start screaming and bawling again. 

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“So the window was open and the note was there? Those charms were extremely strong ones. How the hell did an owl break them?” Draco asked. 

“I have no idea.” Harry said, tiredly running a hand through his hair. 

Both boys were sitting at the breakfast table. Harry was still in his rumpled pajamas and Draco in casual clothes and dripping white-blond hair. 

“I know the window was closed last night. I made sure that the physical lock was fastened and the spells… And the wards on the house! Nobody but us can enter without triggering the alarms.” 

“Ron, Hermione, and Pansy can.” Harry said with a soft frown. “Do you think this is them playing a joke?” 

“Hermione would never do a prank that involves Teddy. And Pansy is deathly afraid of owls. Well, birds in general.” Draco shook his head. “Blaise can also get in the wards but he knows that you’ll kick his ass if he bothers Teddy. He doesn’t like werewolves because he’s scared of dogs so he is extremely wary that Teddy is a werewolf. That he got it from Professor Lupin.” 

“Ron wouldn’t. Not something this creepy. I mean, look at this!” Harry held up the letter. The letter was made out of a thick parchment, their names written in a maroon colored ink. 

“It’s ominous as fuck. Are you sure that there aren’t any hexes on it?” Draco took the envelope from Harry, turning it over in his hand. 

“I tried every curse revealing charm that I know. I even went into your demon library to try and find more. None of them showed anything. Do you think we should ask Hermione? I’m sure she would know more spells. And I already called her over anyways for some help with something.”

Draco shook his head and picked at the wax seal. It was just a plain glob of black wax. No decorative pattern on it. “We might as well try and see what it says.”

Teddy, ignored by the two boys in their confusion over the note, was happily playing in his playpen. His chubby little hands pushed around blocky, colorful beads on a brightly covered wire. His eyes were as dark as the night sky, his hair a shadowy brown. Nothing like anyone that he had been around. He turned his head towards the window, crawling away from the bright beads. He was stopped short by the thick bars of the playpen. Sitting down, he silently watched what was going on outside. 

“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to open up random letters? Like this in particular? You have to know that you don’t exactly have a fan club. You could have your eyes burned out or something.” Harry was worriedly hovering next to Draco’s shoulder, having gotten up to see the letter better instead of watching from across the table. 

“You’re one to talk. Harry ‘fucking-off-to-go-fight-a-giant-venomous-serpent-thing’ Potter.” 

“I regret ever telling you about that.” Harry scowled. 

Draco rolled his eyes and slowly opened the letter, pulling out the paper inside. “Holy shit.” He mumbled, his eyes scanning the paper quickly. He had to read it a few times before he shuddered and put it down. 

Harry quickly snatched it up, reading it out loud. “His eyes are as green as a killing curse, his hair as dark as the mark. I wish he was dead, he fills me with dread, the ‘hero’ who vanquished the Dark Lord.” He flinched and dropped the paper like it had burned him, his chest clenching painfully. It was a horribly twisted version of the valentine that Ginny had once sent him. 

“Who would have written this? I mean, it has to be a Death Eater. No one else would hate you that much.” Draco rubbed the inside of his left forearm that was covered in a bandage. “Didn’t Ron’s sister write you a valentine like this? Ginny? So whoever wrote this obviously was a student when you got that message.” 

“Well, yeah. There’s plenty of students that joined the death eaters. Do you know them?” Harry really didn’t mean for his comment to sound so sharp. He didn’t intend to sound so cruel. 

Draco flinched back from Harry, looking like Harry had slapped him. His grip tightened on his arm, nails digging into the soft fabric of the bandage. 

Harry, oblivious to the emotional blow that he had just dealt to the blond, continued to study the letter. “Once Hermione is over, I’ll ask her about what might have happened to the wards. How someone could have disabled them or whatever.” 

“Whatever, Potter. If someone got through the wards then I’ll just go strengthen them. No wonder someone got through. You’re the one that made them.” He snapped, leaving the room so quickly that Harry didn’t have the chance to say anything to him. 

Harry watched Draco go, stunned and hurt. Why had Draco lashed out at him like that? He thought that they were getting along better. Just another thing to ask Hermione about.