Remus had been pleased to see Draco accept his invitation to visit with baby Felicity. Truth be told, Remus' affection for the boy had gripped his heart something fierce and it would have killed him had Draco expressed no interest in his new baby. However, he was only sad Tonks was napping in their room at Hogwarts. Remus knew she needed rest, but he wished she'd see Draco meeting the baby.
Nonetheless, he didn't have the heart to wake her. He'd make sure to get a picture, that was all there was to it.
He had perfected the floo from the secret house to Hogwarts so that no unpleasant surprises could pop up. All that was left was waiting.
In allotting for travel by floo, the wait was curtailed. A moment or two after Draco stepped into the fireplace at the house, watched carefully as he gave the correct direction, he emerged into the bounds of Hogwarts. He was back in these perennially familiar walls, but this time he was not a prisoner to his own fate. He was just a guest. He saw Remus waiting for him and offered what was for Draco a smile; half smirk, half neutrality. “I cannot wait to be allowed to Apparate again,” he grumbled, but his tone was nowhere near as petulant as it could have been.
Remus smiled at the familiar face. It had been too long since he had last seen Draco. He held a hand out, using the other to clamp Draco on the back. "Come, come." He gestured to the door of his apartment.
Draco followed; the interior hadn't changed much since he'd left. That fact was actually comforting in the face of so much change over the past year. It almost made him feel better about the whole thing, enough to look back and eye Remus. "I'm not holding her," he warned. "I'd be like as anything to drop her. And don't tell Tonks I said that, I'll never hear the end of it."
Remus quirked a brow, but said nothing. Instead, his hand guiding the boy from the back, he stopped in front of Felicity's basinet. "Felicity, sweetheart." He gently pulled the baby into his arms, presenting her to Draco. "Felicity, Uncle Draco. Uncle Draco, Felicity."
Draco observed the baby tentatively, almost as if he was afraid that looking at the child would merit some harm. But as the moment went on, he gained a bit of confidence, enough to come closer and peer down at her features. "'Felicity'," he repeated to himself, half stretching a hand toward her before stopping. He pulled back at once and tried for a look of disinterest.
"Go on," Remus urged, a gentle smile spreading over his face. He nudged Draco's foot with his own. "I won't tell." His tone was teasing, but his eyes expressed more. They held hope.
Draco hesitated a moment further before reaching out again, more slowly this time, to stroke his fingers against the hands Felicity had curled up almost to her chin as she lay peacefully in Remus' arms. He was not a sentimentalist, but in that moment Draco could understand why his father fought so hard to keep Teddy and himself out of the war.
"She's precious, no?" Remus was every bit the proud papa as he posed the question. His face was filled with excitement and it was clear he thought the sun rose and set with his little girl. He hadn't felt such love for a little person since Harry was put in his arms all those years ago.
"She'll do," Draco allowed, though the expression on his face belied the sheer smallness of his words. He just remained intent on stroking her hands, looking at the softness of her features.
"Are you surrrrre you don't wish to hold her?" Remus planted a slight kiss upon the baby's forehead. "She won't break; I promise." He nodded toward the couch. "All cushioned. We can even throw in some charms."
"No," Draco said, shaking his head. "That's .....it won't be necessary. Really." Holding her would be a stretch for him at the moment.
"Alright." Remus wouldn't push even if he was disappointed. It felt a rejection as much as he willed himself to believe otherwise. He withdrew, settling on the couch with the girl. He said nothing for a few moments. He simply watched his daughter whose trusting eyes tore at Remus' soul. "Tonks is asleep. Felicity barely allows her a good night's rest."
Draco folded his arms over his chest, choosing to remain standing so as not to tempt himself to come closer and stare more. "This she should have anticipated." A slight hint of a smile flickered across his face. "Mother said I drove her mad those first few months, and I understood from her that there's a history of it in the family. Something about us all having very loud mouths, no?"
Despite himself, Remus laughed. "Yes, it does seem big mouths, as you put it, run in that family." When Felicity started to fuss, he shifted her to his shoulder, patting her back. "Visiting with Lucius while you're here?"
Draco stiffened slightly. "I don't think so. I don't have time," he lied.
"Hmm." Remus continued petting Felicity, but his eyes rose to regard Draco. "I'd give anything for another conversation with my father. Did I ever tell you about him?"
Draco shook his head, watching father and daughter. "No," he said warily.
"Well. He was a great bloke." A dream expression overtook Remus' features as he remembered his beloved father. "He made some mistakes…" He cleared his throat. "Namely going after Greyback." He glanced down, summoning courage from his darling girl. "He upset him something dreadful and…well…he knew what it would do my father in going after me." Remus watched Draco carefully, trying to see if his words were doing anything. "My father felt awful, but what could he do? He couldn't do anything to take it back, just be there for me in the future." He shrugged. "His loss was quite difficult for me."
Children always paid the price of their elders' stupidity. But if their elders did well, they also reaped the rewards. Fate was a capricious thing, to issue such ties between parent and child. This Draco knew, but knowing it didn't mean he was ready to forgive it, either. His father was simply not the man that Draco had thought he was, and the boy was having a hard time getting past the fall of his idol. And he didn't know what to say to Remus, on that account. "I think I will," he said, and added, "hold her, I mean." It would certainly give him a distraction from what Remus was saying, at any rate.
"You don't have to, Draco." Remus meant not only holding Felicity, but visiting Lucius.
Draco took him at the surface of it, simply because it was what he wanted to discuss. "I know I don't. I want to."
"Well, then come here." Remus beamed encouragingly.
Draco rather regretted that impulse decision as he neared father and daughter, looking at the baby before glancing back at Remus, totally baffled as how to even begin.
"Sit. Come on, it's alright."
Obedient for once, Draco sat, trepidation making him wait for more instructions. It was not until Felicity was actually in his arms that he realised the mostly hard part was over. All he had to do was keep from dropping her.
He wasn't the baby-talk sort, Draco. He merely looked down at her, grey eyes softened for once, much as Lucius' own might have been on a day seventeen years previously. "She's even smaller than I thought," he voiced, half-surprised.
"And light, hm?" Remus felt himself choke up at the moment though to his credit no one watching would be the wiser. Slowly, he wrapped one arm across Draco's shoulders. It wasn't as easy as it was with Harry, but maybe as worth it in the end. "I do believe she likes you, Uncle Draco."
It was going to be turned into one of those very sentimental moments right under Draco's nose. He'd resigned himself to it, in truth, the moment he sat down. He just sat with Felicity and Remus, looking down at that little face. "Yes, well, she's young yet. Though I suppose that inheritance will make her favour me somewhat as she grows."
Remus wasted no time. His hand rose in a light but forceful tap against the boy's head.
Draco did flinch, but it was more from the surprise than any real pain. "Hey! Holding someone's allegedly precious child here," he retorted. "I could have dropped her."
"I knew you wouldn't." With that, Remus' faith in the boy could not be questioned by any.
Draco wanted to be cynical, but for once held his tongue. It was enough to allow someone to have that faith, for just a little while. He just grunted in response, rising with Felicity and walking slowly to the window.
Remus was surprised by the motion. This was the boy who had been so terrified of dropping her, wasn't it? Still, he remained seated himself. "Andi's over the moon."
"Having the baby allows her not to think," Draco summarized matter-of-factly. This was no secret to him; it was a tactic he'd used on himself multiple times, with varying degrees of success. And because Felicity was another living, breathing human being - much like Pansy - the success would depend largely on how she reacted. The child's innocence and need would drive Andromeda toward her, as Pansy's need was driving Draco away.
"I think she deserves a chance to not think for a little while, no?" Remus was worried, but he didn't press, allowing Draco the space he needed.
Draco looked at Felicity, the delicate set of her eyes. They were like Tonks', surprisingly graceful. In her face was a future he wasn't sure of, especially of the role which he was to play. "Yes," he said quietly. "Not thinking might be a good thing for her." For a while, at least; Draco remembered how grateful he had been for the privilege of not having to think in those rare moments he was distracted after his father's 'death' earlier that year.
Slowly, Remus stood, going over to where Draco stood. Every so gently, he wrapped an arm around the pair from behind. "Family can prove a useful distraction," he whispered.
Family. She was, and her father. Family, the kind that undoubtedly his father would not approve of. That much had not changed. Perhaps, though, he was accustomed to it, and now he was again faced with the idea that he was not going to please his father in everything. He was getting used to that, in small ways. Faced with a child? That was not a small sign. The fight went out of his posture, though he did not answer Remus; he merely allowed his fingertip to stroke her hand.