Draco's blood ran cold. He stood as his body slowly turned to ice, fixing him to the spot, while Harry was a hurricane of action, doing a million things at once.

Narcissa stood in the doorway and trembled with a mixture of terror and furious impatience. The shock impeded her actions for a couple of minutes as she attempted to take in the scene in front of her.

While Draco stood frozen, Harry's arms dashed out to dress Casper in a nappy and his warmest clothes, including a little coat, and then he began stuffing spare nappies, pre-made bottles and a couple changes of clothes for each of them into a bag.

Casper's face crumpled and he began to sob at the unfamiliar roughness with which Harry was dressing him, though it couldn't be helped.

"Take Casper," Harry instructed Draco, shoving the wailing baby into his boyfriend's immobile arms, and turning back to the packing.

Numbly, Draco jogged the baby up and down until he quieted, watching Harry grab their wands and the Invisibility Cloak, and feeling more overwhelmed and inadequate by the second.

"What's going on, Mother?" he managed to whisper, but she ignored the question.

"Give that brat to Potter and take my arm, Draco," she said, choked by the intensity of her emotion.

"You're not dragging him anywhere without me, Narcissa," Harry barked out, grabbing Draco's right arm defensively across Casper.

Narcissa froze, appearing to debate the issue for a second in her mind. She could no longer effectively Apparate with just Draco, now that Potter was clinging onto his other arm, and he was holding the... baby.

She'd have loved to leave the two of them behind for Lucius to discover and deal with as he saw fit, but that would mean leaving Draco - and she knew all too well that her husband wasn't above torturing him too.

In a split decision, Narcissa squeezed her eyes shut and Apparated forcefully away from the Manor, bringing both boys and the baby with her. There'd be time to dispose of Potter later, she decided.

Within a second, Harry found himself sprawled on the rain-soaked lawn of an unfamiliar, ominous house, gasping and wheezing. He checked Casper was alright, and then turned to Draco, the question evident in his eyes.

"My grandparents' house," Draco muttered, by way of a response. "Mother, are you going to tell us what the fuck that was all about?"

Narcissa brushed down her robes with hard but shaking hands. "Now is not the time, Draco," she said in a forcedly even tone. He could tell she was livid - and yet petrified at the same time.

"No," Draco said, scrambling to his feet and physically blocking her walk towards the house. "Harry, take Cas or I might accidentally hurt him."

Harry obliged quickly, hushing the wailing baby and doing his best to keep him sheltered from the wind. It was still tipping down with rain, and somewhere in the distance thunder rolled like a  great boulder down a cliff.

"I'm not going in there until you tell me what just happened," Draco continued, using his physical size to tower over and intimidate his mother. He felt like a bit of a dick doing it, but presumably his soul was at stake if the Dark Lord was at Malfoy Manor, so this called for serious action.

Narcissa shook her head angrily. "Draco, you don't-"

"I said! Tell... me... what.... happened," Draco ordered her slowly and menacingly, enunciating every syllable to make sure she heard him. "Or, I'll waltz into that mansion with my boyfriend and our baby in front of your parents, who will promptly disown you. How about that?"

Narcissa forced her gaze away from her son to look Harry up and down scornfully. "So your father was right all those years ago," she said, turning back to Draco. "You're a blood traitor and a poof."

Draco slapped her hard across the face before he could stop himself; she winced but didn't flinch away from him, which he had a small amount of respect for.

"Say that again, you cow," he hissed, his tone menacing. "Say my father was right to torture me again. You evil, malicious enabler."

"Your father was doing what was best for you at the time," Narcissa spat in the cruellest tone she could muster.

"THAT IS A FUCKING LIE!" Draco screamed, just as another roll of thunder exploded overhead and the sky burned up with lighting. It lit up the pure, unadulterated rage in his expression, and for a moment even Harry was terrified of his boyfriend.

"It's a lie, Mother. And you know it is. And I hope those memories eat you up inside for the rest of your life." Draco's voice was quieter now; just as serious but far less lethal. Narcissa was no longer able to look up and meet her son's gaze, and silence hung in the air before it was broken by a third pounding bellow from the heavens.

"We need to get inside, Casper's getting soaked," Harry said quietly, and Draco was instantly snapped out of his aggression and into his role as caring father.

"Is he ok?" he asked protectively. "I can put him up my jumper- you did grab me a jumper, didn't you?"

Harry nodded, handed it to him from the bag, and helped slip their baby under the soft material for warmth. Gradually his sobs subsided.

"I knew what was happening tonight, Mother. I just wanted to hear you say it." Draco kept his gaze straight ahead as he spoke, his tone icy and measured. "And you couldn't say it. You're a fucking coward, you know that? I'll never love you again as long as I live."

Narcissa made no response other than to tilt her sharp jaw higher in the air, beyond caring that she was getting soaked.

"That snivelling creature under your shirt is Potter's cousin, understood?" she said stiffly as the group neared the house. "And Potter is a ... friend ...from Hogwarts."

She all but vomited the word.

"Won't they recognise me?" Harry pointed out, and Narcissa shot him a withering glare.

"Not if you keep your distance, you loathsome little troll."

"My grandparents can't see very well because they're old," Draco explained awkwardly. "I was going to pretend you're Blaise, by the way, is that alright?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. This was so surreal. Literally twenty minutes ago they'd been in the river with Casper, and now they were escaping Voldemort with Narcissa Malfoy? It had to be the weirdest birthday of Harry's life, and that was saying something.

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a/n: what's going to happen next?!? haha please vote if you enjoyed this one, im not feeling too well so updates might be slightly slower than normal now but i still have a chapter plan don't worry, more will come ❤️