Is This Really Happening?

It's time to bury the hatchet! Draco and Harry are about to come face to face to have a father-to-father talk! This might change many things along the way, but, then again, it might just make things worse.

Sit back, enjoy, and, if you like, leave a review.

Love always,

Avoline

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Harry sat at the small table in the cafe, waiting for his "guest" to arrive. He had received a letter from Draco Malfoy, suggesting that the two of them meet up for lunch on Harry's day off to have a civil conversation. Harry, of course, was suspicious of what Malfoy's intentions were, but agreed to it anyway. His suspicious thoughts still couldn't stop his sorrow for Lily. He should have already accepted that his daughter was dying with every breath she took, but he couldn't. She was his world, and he had spent so many years dreaming of how beautiful she would become.

Of course she would be beautiful. Lily looked just like Ginny, who, ironically, looked just like his mother, Lily Evans Potter. He had hoped that he would be able to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.

All of that changed when she told him, as well as Ginny, Albus, and James, that she was dying.

Harry began to tremble. He just couldn't accept it. She would never know how much she really meant to him.

Why her, of all people? She would never hurt anyone. Why does she have to die?

He was pulled from his thoughts as Malfoy sat in the seat across from him.

"Malfoy," he greeted, his voiced laced with sadness. He didn't mean to wear his heart out on his sleeve, but he was too emotionally exhausted to care anymore.

"Potter," Malfoy responded. "I heard about your daughter. I'm deeply sorry, Potter." Harry shook his head.

"I think the whole Wizarding world knows by now," he muttered. "You can't possibly be here to discuss my daughter's predicament."

"I wish I could say I wasn't," the blond replied, "but it has just as much to do with my family as it does yours." Harry lifted his eyes to meet the steel grey gaze. "It seems that my son has taken quiet a fancy to your daughter." The Gryffindor knitted his brows together.

"How so, Malfoy," he questioned. The Slytherin sighed.

"The day he found out about... this," he began, "he came home, clearly confused. I had to pry the truth out of him after halting the flight of a very heavy glass bowl." Harry stifled a laugh. "I've never seen him so worked up about anyone like he is about your daughter." Their eyes met, and Harry noticed, with a start, that Malfoy's were shimmering with tears.

"He's my only son, and it kills me to see him like that." Harry nodded.

"This is tearing him apart," he wondered aloud.

"What do you say we bury the hatchet, for their sakes," Malfoy pleaded. "The last thing either of them need is for us to bicker like school kids, her especially." Harry pondered the idea, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

On one hand, Scorpius wasn't that bad of a kid. He was a Gryffindor, like Lily, and seemed to be much different than his father was. He clearly cared about Lily, and she needed someone closer to her age that could keep a cool head through all of this. James and Albus were just as emotionally unstable as Harry, and her cousins would be just as useless. Maybe Scorpius would be just want Lily needs.

On the other hand, his father was Harry's childhood enemy. What if Malfoy was lying just to trap Lily into a relationship as a way of getting back at Harry? What if Scorpius was much, much different behind closed doors? What if Harry put her in an abusive situation?

If that was the case, then why was Malfoy on the verge of tears? Harry has only seen the blond cry once, and even then it was only for a few seconds. He knew, though, that a Malfoy would never want to be in such a venerable position if they can avoid it.

He means what he says. Do it for Lily.

Close to tears himself, Harry looked into the eyes of the slimmer man.

"She needs someone who can keep a cool head," he whispered, his voice choked. "Her brothers and cousins are useless right now. If you can guarantee that he won't hurt her, I'll let go of the past." A smile tugged at the corners of Malfoy's mouth.

"He couldn't if he tried," he answered. "I don't know if she knows, but he's wrapped around her finger. All she has to do is say jump, and he will." Harry couldn't hold back the smile.

"She'll figure it out. In her own good time."