While chaos was reigning in the Potter household, in the Malfoy home it was one of Pansy’s bad days. So, Draco had taken Scorpius with him to Malfoy Manor, leaving Asta with Hermione. He didn’t often get to spend time with just Scorpius, and the little boy was now at an age where spending time alone with his father was one of his favorite things, so the little boy was always asking him if they could.

Today they were going to Malfoy Manor and going to have a picnic. Thankfully, it was a Saturday. Pansy had had nightmares the night before, and that morning, she locked herself in her room away from everyone else, finally allowing Narcissa in after an hour.

Draco loved his wife and would do anything for her, but he could not say that it wasn’t hard some days. Those days, however, were getting fewer and fewer. In the first year after the war, there had been more bad days than good, but thankfully with the birth of Scorpius who was now nearly four years old, it was not so. With Asta the nightmares had diminished even more. Pansy had roughly four or five bad days a year now, and Draco was thankful for that.

In his pocket, Draco held a shrunken picnic basket. After he and Scorpius did a few things in the Draco’s study, they were going to go out to a pond that sat fifty yards from the back of the house. The pond was crystal clear, held no fish or other animals as it was charmed against them. The grass around the pond was bright green and flowers and butterflies literally littered the area. Scorpius loved chasing the blue, gold, and silver butterflies.

First, however, Draco had a few things that he had to do in his office.

While he sat at his desk, Scorpius played quietly in the corner with some of his toys, of both the wizarding and muggle variety.

Draco shuffled through various pieces of paper as he listened to Scorpius chatter. While he had not necessarily always had the best times with his father, he did remember the best ones being in this very office, in the very corner that Scorpius now sat. Draco smiled and began reading what was in front of him.

While he and his brother and sister each had a Malfoy trust vault in the bottom of Gringotts, Draco wanted his siblings and children, as well as his mother and Pansy, to have other safety nets to fall back on if anything ever happened to him. That was why he was opening vaults in another, little known, wizarding bank and one in a muggle bank. He, Harry, and Ron had talked about it at length. While they were safe, and had in fact never been safer than they currently were, it would not hurt to have backups in both the worlds in case worse came to worse. They all could have used those safety nets during the last war. All three had mutually decided to use a wizarding bank in Russia and a muggle bank in America. In a safe in their homes they had the main Port Keys to both countries, and while no one in any of their families knew it, they all constantly wore a secondary Port Key that would, no matter where they were, send them to wherever they were needed with a tap of the main Port Key. Even their wives did not know about the cuff that encircled all of their upper arms, even the babies. They were invisible and could not be felt.

“Daddy, what is this?” Scorpius said from his corner. Draco looked up and watched the child for a moment, a smile gracing his lips after a few seconds.

He stood up, paperwork forgotten for the time being, and walked over to Scorpius, sitting down on the floor.

“Where did you find that, little one?” he asked quietly, remembering the vivid memories of playing with the same exact object despite the fact that it did nothing, and it was not a toy. It was, however, quite pretty.

“Over there, Daddy.” He pointed to an open cabinet under a nearby window. Draco nodded. Funny, that was the last place that he had put the object. He had been fifteen. It was right before everything had changed. He had loved it.

A Galileo Thermometer. Something so simple, yet it had intrigued Draco even in his teen years.

“That, Draco, is a Galileo Thermometer. It is made of glass, while inside there is liquid which allows the little liquid cylinders inside to float. Each color inside is a different density. When the temperature changes, they all change location. Some will go to the bottom and others will go to the top. One, however, is always special. One will stay in the middle. The one in the middle tells what the temperature is.” Lucius told his eight year old son as he sat on the floor beside him.

“Really, Daddy?” Draco asked, picking up the rather large cylinder. He turned it up one way and down the other. Lucius wrapped his large hand around the much smaller one of his son’s.

“Don’t shake it, Draco. Sometimes things can be broken if they are shaken too roughly, or if they become unbalanced. The world must always be in balance.”

“Why, Daddy?”

“Because, Son, sometimes things must simply be left alone. They are to be watched, and enjoyed. While this object may not seem like much to some people, to those who understand it, it is a beautiful, unusual device.”

Draco shook his head lightly, bringing himself back to the present to see his son shaking the thermometer to make the floating objects inside move around.

He lightly wrapped his hand around Scorpius’ so that the little boy would stop shaking it. Scorpius looked up at his Daddy, a mischievous light in the boy’s eyes.

“Scorpius, some things in life are fragile. My Daddy told me once that some things are just to be watched and enjoyed. I want to tell you something that my Daddy didn’t tell me, okay?”

Scorpius nodded, quickly snuggling into Draco’s side.

“There are some things that shouldn’t be touched and shaken, but if they are, it is okay. Because objects can be replaced. But do you know what can’t be replaced?”

Draco knew that his son was only going on four years old, but it was best to start such things early. He would tell him every day if he had to, for the rest of their lives.

“What, Daddy?”

Draco wrapped his arms tightly around Scorpius, “People can’t be replaced. People are beautiful and unusual and individual, and no matter what, they are all special. It doesn’t matter where they come from. It took me a long time for me to realize that, and I want you to always know the love of those around you because objects…” Draco took the thermometer and threw it at the wall, smashing it to pieces, ignoring the small gasp from Scorpius, “can always be replaced.” He waved his wand and said a complex charm that not only repaired the cylinder but pulled the water back into itself as well.

Draco set the thermometer aside and turned his child around to face him. He looked at his large, sapphire blue eyes, his short, blonde hair, and his perfect nose that so matched Pansy’s.

“Always remember, Scorpius Draconis Malfoy, that you are loved. No matter what you do, everyone in your family loves you. And, I always want you have an open mind when you meet new people.”

Scorpius looked up at his Daddy and smiled.

“Don’t worry, Daddy, I will always love you.” Scorpius said, wrapping his arms around Draco’s neck.

Draco barely contained the sudden stinging tears that were threatening to fall. His son hadn’t understood everything he had said, understandably as he was still very young. But he had understood the main part.

Scorpius did not want to make the mistakes his father had. He wanted his children to grow up happy and safe and without prejudices.

“I love you, too, Scorpius, more than you will ever know.” Draco kissed the top of his head and held him for a few more moments.

“What do you say you and I get out of this old stuffy office and go on down to the pond?” Draco asked.

“Yea!” the little boy said, pure excitement etched on his face.

Yes, Draco Malfoy was definitely going to do things differently than his father had. Especially the little things, like dropping all work for a day of fun with his little boy.