Day Five

"Draco."

"Pansy."

"He smells."

"Well, after spending a few weeks with Goyle you tend to get used to his body odor..."

"Not Goyle, stupid, the baby!"

"Scorpius?" Draco looked up from his essay, "So wash him."

"Wash him? How do you wash him? He's a sack of flour, Draco!"

Pansy gestured to the strangely-shaped moving lump wriggling on a rug beside the sofa. For a few galleons, they had employed a first-year to watch him whilst they did their homework. Draco couldn't recall her name, but Pansy had suggested her as she was Daphne's sister. Annie something. Or was it Marie? He couldn't remember.

He frowned, "Put an air-freshening charm on his blanket. We'll just have to hope that Snape has a cold on Friday."

"A cold? In May, Draco?"

"People get colds in May!"

"Sure." Pansy smiled and shook her head. Her gaze travelled to the small blonde girl who was playing with Scorpius. She frowned and stood. She didn't like the way the girl was gazing avidly at the baby. Yeah, so all of the first-years liked cooing over the various sacks, but the way she was looking at Draco you would almost think-

"That's enough. You can go now, Greengrass."

Astoria looked up sharply. Pansy tossed her the galleons, smirking as the small bag collided with the girl's forehead and coins flew everywhere.

Pansy picked up the baby and gazed thoughtfully at him.

Scorpius. He'd grown a little – he was definitely heavier than the first time she had picked him up. His eyes were icy grey and wide, they would light up when he saw her or Draco. He would gasp and wave his arms and legs (she guessed they could be classed as limbs now; they were stumpy with fingers and toes). She was pretty certain that they were going to win the competition. But...

"It's gonna be strange without Scorpius here." She said quietly. Draco looked up and blinked.

"How?"

"I mean...we spend all of our free time with him," Pansy quickly replied, "We won't have anything to do once he's gone."

Draco stared at the girl for a long time. If he didn't know Parkinson better, he'd have said that she was starting to like Scorpius-the-sack. From the beginning she'd been strangely attached to it – no, him, as he was constantly reminded – and had shown enthusiasm in most areas of the task.

And, to be honest, he supposed it wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. The 'baby' wasn't much trouble, only needing occasional feeding and attention, which he took his turn in doing.

Pansy broke him from his reverie by passing him the very object of his thoughts.

"Well, I'm off, I'm meeting Daphne at eight."

"What?" Draco looked down at the squirming sack sitting on his stomach. "What do I do with Scorpius?"

"I don't know. Anything." Pansy turned and shrugged, "Spend some quality time with your 'son'."

"I'm meeting Cassandra for afternoon tea and I'm taking the house elves to carry my shopping. You'll have to look out for Draco."

Lucius looked up sharply from his paperwork. His eyes fell on the small boy who was almost hidden behind his mother's skirts.

"Me? Don't we have a nanny or something?"

"Lucius, dear, it's only for one afternoon. Spend some quality time with your son." She smiled and patted the boy on his blond head, "Be good for daddy, Draco, sweetie." Then she left. There was an awkward silence.

It wasn't that his parents had mal-treated him. On the contrary, Draco had everything a child could ever want or need. And Narcissa lavished motherly affection on him. But Lucius...he was always busy. Work took priority – over everything. He couldn't remember the last time they'd had a proper conversation that wasn't about finances or the importance of keeping up the purebloodline. What did normal fathers talk about with their sons? Why couldn't they talk about Quidditch, or the world cup, or even girls, as embarrassing as that would be?

Draco watched the small baby curled up on his stomach, its chest rising and falling in rhythm with his own breathing. For the first time he wondered what would happen to Scorpius after Friday. Surely 'he' couldn't just be disposed of? Draco felt a strange pang in his chest. That was inhumane – sort of. Did enchanted sacks of flour have human rights? Scorpius was almost human. He had fingers and toes, a pair of large grey eyes that lit up when he saw one of his adoptive parents. He could eat, sleep and breathe.

Draco shook his head to rid it of these weird thoughts. Scorpius was a bloody sack of flour. He would be gone in two days. He couldn't get attached to him.

No, Draco thought, he was a Malfoy. He was egoistic. He was smug. He was aloof. He didn't care for Scorpius-the-sack. Not even a little.

Not even a little.