Too Young

Hogsmeade was a great success. Livvie was excited to be getting new toys. She still missed some of her favorites, but she was looking forward to magic toys.

They had brought Coco along to help; Harry had no experience with toys of any kind. He just wandered the stores becoming more and more amazed. By the time they were done he had purchased a toy broom that did not really fly, several dolls that did various things and the essential stuffed animals.

Of course, no trip into town was complete without a stop at Honeydukes. Harry watched as his daughter dragged Draco Malfoy around the shop showing him chocolate lollipops and licorice wands. He grabbed a candy every now and then and the pile he had when they were checking out made her eyes grow wide.

“If you feed that to her, you’re staying to deal with her!” He told his new friend.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle!” Draco replied. Harry just smiled smugly and thought about a man named Custer.

Draco did stay over again that night. He had run down to the Slytherin commons and packed his bag for two nights. Draco woke up Monday dreading the fact that he would have to go back to stay in the dorms tonight. He had classes to go to and as much as he enjoyed staying here with his tiny cousin and his new friend he had to have access to all of his things.

***

Harry had decided to see if he could get Livvie to sit through one class. He had decided to try charms. They were currently working on housekeeping charms and he wasn’t aware of them causing problems. He knew that Livvie would enjoy watching the magic and especially seeing her Daddy do it. Maybe, just maybe he could get through it?

He met Draco coming out of Charms as he was headed in. He got a curious stare from the blond and simply shrugged in answer.

Professor Flitwick had been thrilled to have the toddler in class. He had asked if it was possible for her to help him with a few demonstrations in household charms. Harry gave his permission providing that none of the charms could be harmful and that Flitwick was the only one to perform them on Livvie.

Flitwick was thrilled for a way to demonstrate charms that might capture the student’s attention. He cleaned her dress; he retied her braids, changed her diaper, and put a bunch of toys away. Harry was thrilled. He asked on his way out of class if there was a book specifically made for charms that centered on children. He left with a list of books to check out of the library when he had a chance. That wasn’t likely to happen, so he had begged help from Hermione and asked her to create a listing of important charms and give him some basic information on each. She had happily agreed.

***

Harry thought that Charms might be an okay class for her to attend occasionally. He was dreading the time when he would have to return to class on a full-time basis. Then he would be leaving his daughter with Dobby, the house elf. He had utmost confidence in Dobby, but he was worried about how Livvie would take to being left with him for a good portion of the day.

He would be with her for the three daily meals, plus any free periods he had, but he had to have time to study and get his work done. It was going to be next to impossible to do, but the most important thing to him was his daughter and if he ended up having to repeat this year because he was taking care of her, then so be it.

The Gryffindor had read stories about teen parents and he always thought to himself, ‘they never show how much time it truly takes to care for a child’. He could spend every second of his day doing something for her and still not get everything done. It was a nightmare and if he didn’t love her so much he would have dumped her on Aunt Petunia and walked away.

It was the following Friday night when he got a knock on his door. He had been studying since the moment he got Livvie into bed and he didn’t need the interruption. He was aggravated that the work seemed to pile up on him no matter how hard he worked. There just wasn’t enough time.

The door opened after a short while and his favorite blond Slytherin walked in. “Coco, I can’t do anything tonight I’ve got too much work.” He whined to Draco.

“I know you do, that’s why I’m here. I’ve got my notes for you to help you out.” He walked over and placed a stack of parchments on the table in front of Harry. Harry stared at them mutely and then quietly whispered a ‘thank you’.

“Coco, do you think you could hang out and help me? I just need help.” Draco could tell by the tone of Harry’s voice that he was not talking solely about the homework.

“Harry,” he replied, “I’ll always stay and help you.” The blond sat down beside the Gryffindor and started to go through his notes helping Harry transfer what he was learning to his own parchments. It was four hours before they were finished and Draco again slept on the sofa.

***

Three weeks later Harry was finally attending Charms, Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was only three classes, but it was a help. Livvie had been attending Charms class and Flitwick always made something to entertain her while the other students worked. For Potions and Defense, two classes where she could be hurt, Dobby was looking after her. Harry had hopes that he would get her used to being without him a bit at a time. Next week he intended to add Transfigurations back into his schedule.

His teachers were being pretty understanding, even Snape. Provided he could demonstrate theoretical and practical knowledge of the topics they were not holding him to all the essay assignments. It helped Harry to not have to do a lot of the written work at this time, but he studied a good portion of the time as it was. Dobby would spend the day taking care of Livvie, but he would be there studying so that she didn’t miss him. It was a good compromise.

Draco was still spending Friday and Saturday nights on his sofa. He was the only student that Livvie trusted at this point in time. She liked Ron and Hermione, but would not stay with them unless her father was present. This was proven one night when he had tried to leave her with them while he did an Astronomy Project. Livvie had snuck out in search of her father and had been found huddled under a stairway on the sixth floor by a house elf that was searching that area of the castle.

Things were hard on Harry and he was getting used to being a full-time parent. He could change diapers in his sleep. He could wake to the sound of a pin dropping in their flat. What he couldn’t do is figure out a way to help his daughter get over the loss of her mother. It seemed that sometimes the only one that could comfort her was Coco. Harry thought it was more than his looks. It was that his personality was very similar to Sarah’s. He was raised as a Malfoy just as she had been and it showed through in the way he treated the child and the things that he told her and the way he comforted her. Either way it looked like Draco was going to be a continuing part of his life if Livvie had her say in it.

***

Two months into the new semester and Harry was finally back to a full schedule. Livvie didn’t like it, but she knew that school was important. Sometimes her Daddy would bring her to some of his classes if she behaved and nothing important or dangerous was happening in class that day. She loved to go to Charms class and have the professor use her to demonstrate. She felt like such a big girl. Not only that, but everyone clapped for her when they were done. She found that magic tickled. She always felt it when someone cast a charm on her, except for her Daddy. The Professor said that was because her Daddy’s magic was very similar to her own magic, so her body thought it was her magic too. He said it was very likely that she would have a similar wand to the one that her Daddy had and she wanted a wand very badly.

Livvie didn’t have any problems doing some magic. Her Daddy always told her not to show anyone her special tricks. She wasn’t sure if the rules were different here where everyone was doing magic than they were on Privet drive. Her favorite thing to do was to play ball. She would conjure a ball of light and make it do funny things. It would fly, bounce around on its own, bonk Dobby on the head or simply fly circles around her as she sat on the floor. She could do other things too, she could summon if she needed something. That was a great help when she got into bed and realized that her favorite teddy was still in the living room.

She missed her mother terribly. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her Daddy, she really, really did. It was great to be with him all the time now. She missed him when he was gone. The problem was she wanted her Mama too. Mama knew how hot to make her porridge and the perfect way to braid her hair. She knew how to give her the perfect bath and what color dress she wanted to wear without being told. Mama knew everything. Daddy didn’t read her favorite book the right way. His voices weren’t as good as Mama’s. He couldn’t make the shadow puppets on the wall or play any of the games that Mama knew. She thought it was strange that her Daddy couldn’t play games, didn’t all kids play games? She had to teach him.

***

Remus watched as Harry and Olivia adjusted to their new situation. All considered they were doing quite well. That is why Remus was shocked to come in and find Harry sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands while Livvie threw an all out tantrum on the floor in front of him.

As he got closer he could see the tears streaming down the raven-haired boys face. He had circles under his eyes and he looked like he was about to lose his mind.

“Harry?” He questioned.

“Remus!” Harry yelled. “Thank goodness you’re here. She won’t stop. I tried to put the blue dress on her and she just started screaming and crying. I don’t know what’s wrong and nothing I do works.” Harry gave him a forlorn look and then sat back in his chair. “It’s all I can do not to shake her until she stops.”

Remus sighed and then patted the Gryffindor on the shoulder before he slipped onto the floor to see if he could calm her down. He wasn’t exactly successful and he ended up getting a knee to the stomach for his troubles. Now he was sitting beside Harry on the sofa with his head in his hands, although he was able to keep from crying.

Dumbledore was heading to Harry’s room. Several portraits had come to tell him that things were out of control in the Potter’s suite. He knew that the boy would have trouble being the only parent to a toddler and he was ready to jump in and help. He had never had children and he felt that Harry was as close as he would ever get. He liked the idea of being Grandpa Albus, and perhaps that was exactly what was needed in this situation.

He knocked on the door with a smug smile on his face. What he didn’t know is that it wouldn’t last very long. The old man winced as he heard the screeches coming from inside the flat. He pulled himself together and murmured, “Once more into the breach.”

Within five minutes the bearded man was sitting on Harry’s other side with his head in his hands. He was developing a headache and wondering how much longer the child could possibly keep it up. Feeling just a bit spiteful he sent one of the portraits for Professor Snape.

The bat-like teacher arrived a few short minutes later wondering what Potter could have possibly gotten himself into. In the common room Harry was wondering how long this would last. She had been at the top of her voice for over thirty minutes now and his patience wore out after five. If it wasn’t for the men sitting on the sofa with him he was sure he might have hurt his daughter and that thought scared him beyond belief. He didn’t want to be like his Uncle Vernon.

Snape didn’t bother to knock and he was almost blasted off of his feet by the volume of the two year old’s tantrum when he opened the door. He walked in and immediately started using his intimidation techniques. He thought if they worked on eleven year olds they out to terrorize a two year old. What he got was a hard kick to the shin from her shiny, patent-leather shoes.

Now all four men were staring at the screaming child wondering if they just had to wait her out. Dumbledore had conjured some ice for Snape’s shin and Harry had apologized profusely while thinking, ‘Sixteen isn’t old enough to deal with this shit.’

It was ten minutes later and the men were in shock that she was still going when Draco just walked in the door. He took in the situation and was stunned by the men sitting quietly by while the child behaved deplorably.

“Honestly, I can’t believe that you haven’t stopped this child by now. Olivia Potter get to your feet right now and apologize. Malfoy’s do not throw temper tantrums.” He said in a loud, firm voice. Olivia screamed one last time and then sniffed and quietly got to her feet.

Draco pulled a white linen handkerchief out of his pocket and started cleaning up her face. The four men on the sofa just sat there stunned. “Coco, how did you do that? Remus and I tried to cajole her, Albus tried to joke, Snape tried to scare her, why did it work for you?” Harry asked.

“That’s simple. I know what behavior is acceptable for a Malfoy and so does she. I simply reminded her that although her name was Potter, she was in fact a Malfoy just like her mother.” He answered with aplomb.

They were dumbstruck. All they had to do was remind her she was a Malfoy? That was insane!

“All I had to do was say ‘Malfoys don’t have temper tantrums’ and she would have stopped?” Harry asked.

“Don’t be silly Harry, only a Malfoy could pull that off.” He turned to Olivia who was just standing quietly beside him and asked, “Now tell me what that was all about Missy.”

She pouted for a minute, but stopped when she realized that Coco wasn’t going to fall for it anymore than her Mama would.

“Daddy was makin me put on the bwue dwess!” Draco got a horror struck look on his face and turned to Harry.

“Have you no sense? You had her in blue two days ago. You can’t put another blue dress on her today. What will everyone think? Yellow is the way to go. She hasn’t worn yellow since last Saturday. Do I have to make you a chart to follow?” He chastised the Gryffindor.

“All of this,” Here Harry pointed at his daughter and the three other men on the sofa, “was a fashion crisis?” He asked his voice full of disbelief.

“Yes, how you present yourself to the world is very important to a Malfoy. You can’t have people thinking that she has a limited wardrobe or sense of style. Wearing the same color twice in one week could be a fashion suicide in our circles. At least she was taught by someone who had some sense.” The blond lectured.

That said, he scooped up the girl who was still in her nightgown and brought her into her bedroom. Ten minutes later the two blonds re-entered the common room. Livvie was dressed in a beautiful sunshine yellow dress with matching hair ribbons and pale yellow shoes. Once the swelling from her tears went down she would look stunning.

Harry had calmed down in those ten minutes and was again ready to face his daughter. He slowly walked over to her and hugged her to him and then carefully cast a charm on her to reduce the swelling of her eyes. She smiled happily at him and then hugged him fiercely.

“Coco, I can’t live through that again. You’re going to stop by every evening and pick out her clothes for the next day. If it’s that important to Malfoys then I think that you should take care of it!” He said to the blond standing above him.

Draco flashed him a beatific smile and stated that he would love to help make sure that his cousin looked appropriate and up to Malfoy standards. “Now that she’s dressed, we were going to head out and walk around the lake; does anyone want to join us?”

The three older men made excuses and left the room as quickly as they could. Draco just nodded and picked his cousin up and walked out behind Harry.

***

Harry had left his daughter with Dobby and was rushing to the infirmary. Draco had been hurt. He wasn’t sure what happened, but a strange house elf had come to tell him to meet Dumbledore in the hospital wing. As he walked in he was not surprised to see Snape also there. What did surprise him was the see McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick, the other three heads of house.

He rushed in and went immediately to Dumbledore who only pointed to a screened off bed in the corner. He walked over to it and slowly rounded the curtain not sure what he would find.

Draco was lying unconscious in the bed; his face was bruised and swollen as were the fingers on his left hand. He had a bandage around his chest and was breathing shallowly. It broke Harry’s heart to see him in this state. Draco had fast become an important part of his life and it hurt to see him beaten like this.

He walked back to the other side of the curtains and slowly approached Dumbledore and the four House Heads. They noticed his approach and turned to include him in their discussion.

“It was the Slytherins wasn’t it?” He asked. Snape nodded while the others remained silent.

“Who?” The Gryffindor demanded.

“They won’t say. We believe that this was a punishment imposed on him by his house for betraying them. Perhaps when he wakes he will tell us who the perpetrator was, however, I doubt that.” Snape replied. There was no anger in his statement, at least no anger directed at Harry.

“Professor, what are you going to do? He can’t go back to the dungeons if they are going to keep hurting him.”

“No Harry, he can’t. We have been discussing that very thing and we are unsure as to how to proceed. You can rest assured that we will find a place where Mr. Malfoy will be safe.” Dumbledore said to the angry teen.

“What am I going to tell Livvie when he doesn’t show up tonight? She’ll know something is wrong.” He was clueless as to what to do about his daughter who was probably already making Dobby pull outfits out of the closet for her Coco to help her choose.

“You will tell her the truth. Draco Malfoy has been hurt, he will be in the Hospital wing for a day or two and will not be allowed visitors, or at least no visitors under three feet tall.” Dumbledore said with a sad smile.

Harry nodded and went back to Draco’s bedside. He sat down and gathered Draco’s good hand into his own and gently caressed the fingers. He was scared to touch the blond anywhere else; he was so bruised. He hoped whoever did this got expelled, and if they didn’t they had better hope that Harry never found out who they were. No one hurt his family.

***

It was three days later when Draco was allowed out of the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey had worked miracles getting rid of the swelling and bruising as well as healing several broken ribs and a broken hand. He was just grateful that they hadn’t broken his nose. Dumbledore had said that Harry and Olivia were coming to pick him up and that they would make sure that he got to his new rooms okay. He was hoping that these new rooms weren’t in the dungeons. The further away from the other Slytherins he got the better off he would be in the long run. It was bad enough that he still had to take meals and classes with those bigoted morons.

He was sitting quietly in the chair by his bed when his two favorite people walked into the wing. Olivia was dressed in a wonderful pink outfit with white fur on the cuffs. He could tell from across the room that it was real fur and not some hideous artificial stuff.

“Coco!” Olivia yelled as she literally flew across the wing and into his arms. She had missed her Coco very much. “Daddy said that I couwdn’t come see you. He said you were too sick for wittle girws. I’m gwad you’wre bettewr.” She hugged him tightly and bounced in his lap.

Harry just smiled. It had been a rough few days. Livvie had begun having tantrums again and had given him a fairly hard time picking out her clothes. He finally started telling her that Draco was telling him what to choose each day.

Draco scooped her up and walked to where Harry was standing smiling at the two. He couldn’t resist the urge to give his friend a gentle hug before they turned and left the wing behind.

Draco was surprised that they seemed to be walking towards the Potter flat. He was sure he would have ended up near Snape in the dungeon. As he walked Harry started to explain.

“You’re not to tell anyone the location of your rooms. They said that the teachers, and us three are the only one’s that are allowed to know. It’s important if we want to keep you safe. You’re to reset the password as soon as we get there; the current one is ‘sanctuary’. Dumbledore’s humor.” He spoke as they walked past his quarters.

“Here you go, you’re our new neighbor. You’re welcome in our suite anytime.”

Draco was speechless. He was going to live next to Harry and Olivia! This was much better than the dungeons. He spoke the password and changed it as he was told. He purposely looked at Harry as he said the new password so that the Gryffindor would know that it was his intention to share that information.

***

Draco sat in his own common room feeling confused. It was about half the size of the one that Harry and Livvie shared. He had one bedroom and a private bath. His favorite part though was the windows. He had missed having the sun wake him in the mornings. His room at the manor had huge windows that faced the east. The sun would beam in on him in the early morning and wake him in time to savor the last of the colors on the horizon. Waking this first morning in his new rooms he was able to experience that for the first time at Hogwarts.

He also couldn’t help but be excited that he was so close to Harry and Livvie. In such a short time the two of them had become so important to him. He could tell that Livvie missed her mother tremendously. Just as much she missed having someone around who knew what it was like to carry Malfoy blood.

Draco knew what that meant more than most. His decision to live his life as he desired had cost him everything. Lucius had taken all that he could from his son. Draco only felt that he was lucky his father couldn’t touch his trust fund. It had been left to him by Narcissa’s mother. There was no way that his father could take any of it away from his son.

Now Draco wanted to let his new family know how much he appreciated them. He knew that he wouldn’t be thrown aside again. With Harry and his daughter he just felt like he fit. For the first time in his life he felt cared about and welcome.

It was getting on toward breakfast time and he was heading out to pick up his newest friends and head to breakfast. He needed their back up to keep his head held high while he walked back into the Great Hall for the first time in four days. It was well known about the school now what had happened. No one outside of Slytherin knew who the perpetrators were, and Draco planned to keep it that way. It was bad enough that his house had turned on him so completely.

He had half a mind to sit with the Gryffindors today. If it wasn’t against school rules he would do just that.

***

Harry had woken up late that morning and hadn’t had time to get a shower. He barely managed to get both himself and Livvie dressed before Coco knocked on the door. Harry yelled at the portrait to open and then went about doing his daughter’s hair again. He was trying his best to get the pale aqua ribbon tied in a suitable bow at the end of her long braid. He was just glad that he now knew the charm to make the hair braid itself. Otherwise he would be at a loss.

He gave a frustrated sigh when he felt Draco’s hands come around his waist to take the ribbon and help him tie it properly. Harry felt warm against the blond’s back. He felt as if he could stand like this all day. However, his daughter had other plans. She turned around as she felt the tugging stop and saw her Coco standing there behind her Daddy.

“Coco!!” She yelled and then she leapt up into his arms. Draco was almost swept off his feet by the momentum of the little girl.

“Whoa, little one, what has gotten into you?” The Slytherin asked.

“I missed you!!!” She told him again. She was trembling in his arms.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I’m not going anywhere.” He told her. He really loved this little girl. It was amazing how quickly she had managed to steal his heart.

“Why don’t the three of us go to breakfast??” Harry interrupted. He had to admit he was feeling just a tiny bit jealous of the attention that his daughter was getting. He knew it was beyond ridiculous to be jealous of a two and a half year old child, but he was. At least he was able to admit it to himself.

He patted Draco on the back as they made their way out of the suite and toward the dining hall. The Slytherin wasn’t looking forward to the separation at the door. Maybe he could ask Dumbledore to make an exception considering the circumstances? Of course that would put his house on more of a warpath and he didn’t need that at all. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to anger them further.

As they entered the hall, all eyes turned toward them. Livvie hugged Draco goodbye and then took her father’s hand. She wished that they could eat together her in the hall the way they did when they ate in their flat.

Breakfast was quick and Harry had just enough time to run up and drop Livvie off with Dobby before he ran for Potions class. When he got in he noticed that the Slytherins had refused to share space with Draco. He was sitting in the front row alone, the only one in the room without a partner. Much to the confusion of his friends he smiled at the blond and sat down next to him.

***

Potions went well, but afterwards things got out of control on the way to Transfigurations. Harry had Charms next door so they walked together, the whole time talking about what Draco should do about Quidditch. After all, did he really want to win the cup for the Slytherins after the way he was treated? It was all he could do not to ask for a resorting.

Hearing their conversation Crabbe and Goyle confronted Draco as he was making his way into the Transfiguration classroom. Things turned nasty and shortly Crabbe stepped toward Draco and punched him. It took all the blond had to keep standing. He was relatively sure that his jaw wasn’t broken, but his lip was split and bleeding. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand and headed into the classroom as if nothing had happened.

Professor McGonagall had questioned him, but he refused to answer. Later he met Harry coming out of the Charms room and he had enquired about the injury. Draco just waved him off and headed into the Charms classroom.

At lunch the three of them met in Harry’s suite. They decided that it was best for all of them if they had lunch here rather than brave the hall and further violence. As they were sitting for lunch, Livvie sitting in Draco’s lap she noticed the cut on his lip.

“What happen Coco?” She asked.

“I cut my lip. It’s okay, don’t worry about me.” He told the little girl.

“Coco, when I get a boo boo, Daddy kisses it and makes it bettewr. You shouwd have Daddy kiss it and it will feel bettewr.”

Draco just froze. He didn’t know what to say and he could feel his face getting red. It only turned redder when Livvie turned to her Daddy to ask him to kiss it and make it better. Her child like innocence not understanding why this might be a problem for the two men.

Both men sat there trying to come up with a reason for this not to happen. Neither was very sure of what the other was feeling but both were insecure with their own self image.

Livvie hopped off of Draco’s lap and grabbed his hand, dragging him to where her father stood staring at the two of them in shock.

Before either knew what was happening they were both standing face-to-face looking deep into each other’s eyes.

It took only a moment for Harry to admit to himself that he desperately wanted to kiss Draco’s boo-boo better. He caught himself leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on the corner of his friend’s mouth just where his lip was split. Draco’s breath caught in his throat and it took all of his will power not to deepen the kiss into something it wasn’t meant to be. Harry was just being nice, just appeasing his daughter and her childish notion that Daddy’s kisses could heal any wrong.

Harry was breathless. “Does it feel better?” He panted. His lips were still only inches away from Draco’s in case the other needed more kisses.

“Much,” was all that Draco was able to gasp out. They stood staring into each others eyes until the both felt a tug on their arms. “Coco, did Daddy fix it?” She asked naively.

“Yes, sweet pea, Daddy fixed it.” Draco answered, never once taking his eyes off the raven-haired boy to his side.

The rest of the night was quiet as the two boys tried to process what the kiss meant. Draco left for his own room shortly before nine. Just after they had finished putting Livvie down for the night.