As Harry Potter stood on Platform 9¾ next to Draco Malfoy, waiting for the Hogwarts Express to pull in at the beginning of the winter break, he could not help reflecting on the past four months that had brought such dramatic and drastic changes to his life.

It had only been mere months ago that he had said those fateful words to his own son, Well, there are times I wish you weren't my son, the words that had brought such claustrophobic consequences to not only his relationship with Albus, but also to the entire world. Not a day had gone by in which he had not felt regret for these impulsive words he had said, but as he had said to Albus on their day out to visit Cedric's grave, he could not ask his boy to forget it, the only thing he could do was to hope that they could move past it.

Harry noted to himself about how good things had been since that afternoon. He had been writing letters to Albus himself, without Ginny's input, since the night at Godric's Hollow, something he had not done since Albus' first year. He would rack his brain for the safest thing to write, trying the hardest to avoid anything that would irritate his boy, anything he had famously done, any comparison of Albus' Hogwarts' life to his own, anything about his own tragic childhood, anything about Gryffindor and Slytherin. He had tried to keep things simple and short in the beginning, but was able to write longer and freer gradually. In times, he realised that the magical ingredient was Scorpius Malfoy. A letter was bound to be better received if he tried to show a genuine interest and care to the young Malfoy heir. He could still remember every word in his first letter as he had spent half a day and rolls of parchments to word it the most appropriate way he could, mere days after Albus had returned to Hogwarts after Godric's Hollow.

"Dear Albus,

How are you? I hope you are recovering well from the injuries you have suffered. I want to say thank you for staying by my side that night after returning home. Words cannot express how much you being there meant to me after witnessing what we had witnessed.

I am extremely proud of you, for the bravery and intelligence you have shown that night, you have saved me and the world that night. You should be proud of yourself as well. I love you, my son, but please never put yourself in danger like this again.

How is Scorpius doing? He seemed to have experienced a fair share of trauma from this incident as well. Please say thanks to him for me.

Love,

Dad"

Harry had not have much expectations when he had sent this letter out, the best he could have hoped for was a line or two from Albus to acknowledge that he had received the letter, so he could not have been more surprised when his son had made a big confession to him in his reply.

"Dad,

You're welcome. Are you feeling better? Thanks for your compliments I guess, but I do not deserve them. Professor Mcgonagall has been keeping a close eye on us both so it's not like we can get into trouble even if we want. Scorpius seems to be doing fine but"

There were some crossed words that Harry could not make out after and the whole parchment had been torn off right below. The letter was continued on another piece of parchment.

"Scorpius was tortured by the Cruciatus Curse that night and if any permanent harm had been caused because of that, it would be my fault. I have been such a terrible friend to poor Scorpius.

Albus"

Harry had suspected that Delphi had used the Unforgivable curses on the boys but it had been even more upsetting to have his suspicions confirmed. But as Harry considered the way Albus had worded it, it had appeared that Albus himself had not been tortured, which should have been a relief but was in a way even worse than Albus being the one who had been tortured. Albus had obviously been feeling very guilty about this which meant that Delphi had likely tortured Scorpius to force Albus to do what she had wanted. Harry could actually understand why Albus would choose to confide with himself, since there was nobody in the entire world who understood guilt as well as Harry Potter, given the number of people who had died for him, and the number of people who had died, suffered or been tortured in connection to him. While he would never be able to forget the deaths of all the friends he had known, the deaths of his parents, Cedric, Sirius, Moody and Dobby had been different in ways as he would always believe that they had died because of him, the same way that George had lost an ear and Hermione had been tortured because of him. For twenty years he had tried to carry on with his life shouldering the burden of all these deaths and sufferings. There had been many times that he had wished that he had died instead of them. The burden of being accountable for his friends' deaths and sufferings was so heavy that he had wished that his children would never have to understand. Unfortunately, it had apparently been too late for Albus.

Also, by the end of Albus and Scorpius' adventures with the Time Turner, it had become obvious that if one friend had been a bad influence on the other, it was Albus, not Scorpius. Despite Scorpius' insistence that he shared equal blame as Albus because he had wanted to join Albus and Albus had not forced him to go, it was obviously Albus' faults that Scorpius had gone on this adventures and had put himself at risks, thus Harry's fault as he had driven Albus away at the first place. The days in which he had been able to do so little to recover the lost boys had been terrible enough for Harry, he could not imagine how much more terrible they had been for Malfoy.

He remembered Draco's words in his office ,... it was exceptionally lonely, being Draco Malfoy. While Harry had been suffering at the time, he still had the support of his wife, two children, his extended family, two capable and supportive best friends, his many other friends and the whole Auror department which had been doing its best to assist in his searches. During all of this, Draco had been all alone in the Malfoy Manor, with absolutely no support network, dreading that his only family would probably be lost from him forever. Despite the history he had shared with his former nemesis, Draco Malfoy had been simply a grieving husband and frightened father at that moment. Scorpius was Draco's everything. He had not hesitated at all to give up his priceless Time Turner, knowing it had been their only hope to recover their sons, even though it could have cost Draco his freedom. Albus felt guilty that Scorpius had been tortured but reading the letter, Harry could not help feeling guilty that Scorpius had been tortured, that he himself had caused such terrible sufferings to Draco and his son because of the immature words he had said. How would he be able to bring himself to face Draco if any permanent harm had been done to Scorpius?

It had been very difficult to reply to such a letter, especially when his stubborn boy had shown such a remarkable proof of trust to reveal that detail of Scorpius' torture. He understood that Albus had been convinced that it had been his fault that his best friend had been tortured and there would be nothing Harry could have written that would be able to convince Albus otherwise. Instead of trying to talk his son off of his guilt, he had acknowledged how inevitable that he would feel responsible and encouraged him to keep an eye on his best friend. He had advised Albus to look out for nightmares, tempers and mental breakdown and to just stay by Scorpius' side. Understanding more about the traumas they had experienced, Harry had sent a few bars of chocolate to Albus and Scorpius to cheer them up, which had caused his reply to be even better received than he had hoped, despite a reply that told him Draco had already sent a few luxurious boxes of chocolates to them. It had been the sentiments that mattered after all. Things had gotten better in terms of their communication as Albus had become more confident that Scorpius had not suffered any long-term effects from his tortures. The themes of their letters had gotten lighter and more casual, Albus had even tried to reproduce a bad joke of Scorpius in his last letter.

But then there was the matter of Draco, he deserved to know that his only son had been tortured. The more Harry got to know about Scorpius from Albus, the more he appeared to be someone who would hide his sufferings and put on a brave smile for the sake of his loved ones. Harry had no idea whether Scorpius had told his father that he had been tortured but it was not like he could ask Albus for that information. Also, to tell Draco that behind the boys' backs would betray Albus' trust, which was the last thing he would ever wanted. The worst thing about this dilemma was that, there was no possible way he could tell Draco that would make Albus appear blameless. Although Draco seemed to appreciate Albus' presence in Scorpius' life, there was no telling how this information would affect the way he see Albus. Having made the terrible mistake of separating the best friends once, Harry was resolved that he would never allow himself to be the cause of damage in the friendship between the boys ever again.

He had considered owling Draco to tell him this information but no matter how he wrote, it seemed very wrong. Hello Malfoy, How are you doing? I just think you deserve to know that Scorpius has been tortured by Delphi. Potter. As the days rolled by, the boys were due to come home for Christmas and Harry had yet to tell Draco. He realised that it would perhaps be better for him to approach Draco and to tell him in person on the platform as he would be able to ease him into that, or he could at least test the waters and make sure that Scorpius was okay first, so there he was.

It was actually very lucky that the boys were allowed to spend winter break at home at all. In light of the discovery of Delphi Riddle's involvements and manipulations in the boys' attempts in meddling with time, their witness of Craig Bowker Jr's death and the sufferings and traumas they had endured in the hands of Delphi, Professor Mcgonagall had significantly reduced their punishments to just three detentions and a ban of two Hogsmeade visits. Harry himself was very grateful for this timely winter break that he could use to mend his relationship with Albus, following the little successes he had so far with the letters.

A/N:This is only my third fanfic and originally, I was going to write a sequel to one of my previous stories, "Scorpius' Letter", which followed the Draco/Scorpius/ (Astoria) relationship, intending to explore the dynamic between Draco/Albus in the new story. It was during my planning that I realised I could even write a nice companion piece to that sequel focusing on Harry/Scorpius dynamic, as like D/S and D/A, we barely got to see anything from this perspective in the script. Something that bugged me a lot while reading HPCC was that of all people, Harry really should have known better than being prejudiced against poor Scorpius, it felt to me that even after Scorpius had saved the day, Harry didn't do anything to acknowledge his mistakes and cruelty to the boy, which just struck me as very wrong.

As I was having a hard time beginning to write my sequel, I felt myself getting compelled to write this "companion story" more than the original story, so here I am. I still want to write the sequel but it will definitely take me a long time.

I intend for this story to happen to the same version of these characters from my previous stories, even though there won't be much connection here to them. Please check out my other stories if you are interested.

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