December rolled around quicker than ever that year, and in a blur of coloured lights and parchment, the winter term was over, and it was time to head home for the holidays.

Before leaving for the Burrow, though, Harry and Draco had made a special trip to London with Ron and Hermione.

The most important thing on the boys' minds had been paying their friends back for the money they'd borrowed over the summer (which they did, tenfold, once they got to Gringott's) but they had also made sure to get a large selection of presents - this wasn't exactly going to be a small Christmas gathering, and they wanted to show their appreciation to Molly and Arthur.

So, on that last day of term, armed with several bags of shopping that they hadn't left Hogwarts with, the group boarded the late night train down south from St Pancras to the Burrow, exhausted from the long day of travelling and gift-buying, but delighted to be heading to the Weasleys' together.

"Did you tell your mum about Casper, Ron?" Harry asked with a sudden jolt of worry and realisation . "She's not going to know what to think!"

"Don't worry, I told her you had a baby," Ron assured him. "But I didn't say whose, and she didn't push it. She'll probably pry later, mind you. But she'll just be being motherly."

Harry nodded, and looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms. He knew Molly would love Casper like her own, but he didn't want to make things awkward for Hermione. She seemed to be warming to the baby quite a lot these days, even offering to take him out sometimes, though never without Ron's support.

But Harry didn't want to push it. He knew it was a weird situation, and Hermione would never be able to really forget that Casper was technically her son, but he hoped there would be as few unwelcome reminders as possible this holiday. The last thing they needed was more stress.

The lights on the train had dimmed at the start of the journey, and this darkness, along with the motion of the train, made a nice environment to be lulled to sleep. Draco and Hermione were each already fast asleep, and Harry was just leaning on Draco's shoulder, ready to drift off himself, when a sharp bolt of pain ripped through his forehead, causing him to loudly wince and jolt upright.

Casper began to wail in his arms, frightened by the sudden awakening, and Harry passed him quickly over to Ron, clapping his own hands over his scar. "Ow, Merlin, that's painful," he said through gritted teeth, and Draco stirred slowly awake too, to stare at him in concern.

"Your scar again?" he asked, leaning in for a better look. Harry knew there was no use in lying; everyone knew his scar had been hurting more and more over the past couple of weeks.

He nodded reluctantly. The pain was ebbing away now, though he knew it could well be back in another wave any second.

Ron looked up from soothing Casper, and alarm was written all over his face. "It's getting bad again, isn't it Harry?" he asked quietly. "I've never seen you as bad as this.

Harry screwed up his face as another blinding flash of pain began to build behind his scar. This time, it was accompanied by an image, blurry at first, but growing clearer - Lucius, at the feet of the Dark Lord, taking his hand....

"OW, oh, fuck, that hurts!" Harry pressed his forehead against the cold darl glass of the train window, hoping for some relief from the cool pressure, but none came. "Lucius - I mean-"

He looked at Draco frantically, whose eyes were wide with shock. "You can see my Father?"

Harry nodded, waiting for the pain to subside so he could speak.

Casper, meanwhile, was sobbing again on Ron's lap, clearly able to pick up on the weird energy in the compartment.

Harry hoped his baby didn't know what terror looked like on his fathers' faces, but at eight months old he'd already been witness to a fair amount, so Harry realised reluctantly that he probably could recognise it after all.

"It's ok, Cas, Daddy's fine," he smiled weakly, reaching out to hold the baby's hand. Ron bounced him gently on his knee, shushing him and stroking his fluffy hair back off his red little face until he quieted down.

"Are you fine?" Draco asked worriedly.

Harry smiled again, more convincingly this time. "Yeah, much better. Let's not ruin Christmas with it, we can focus on it later."

"There might not be a later," Draco muttered, and Ron and Hermione nodded seriously, but none of them said any more on the matter.

Harry closed his eyes, and when he slept, his sleep was fitful and his dreams were real, though he hid this from the other three as best he could. There was no need to worry them yet.

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a/n: thanks as ever for reading!

this was a short one but it's getting darker. it's also getting longer as a story than i anticipated, there's a good few chapters ahead for what i want to happen. but hopefully that's a good thing!

and hopefully the next chapter should be a bit of a relief... think christmas at the burrow, fred and george playing with casper, draco bonding with molly .... bliss!

hope you liked this one, please vote if you did ❤️

~ paradisedraco