I was watching the Half-Blood Prince when I this idea popped into my head after Draco showed Dumbledore the dark mark... I do not own anything :) Please review!

One-Shot!... of maybe a series if you all like it. :D

Nineteen years it's been since the Dark Lord was defeated on the grounds of Hogwarts. The heroes of the final battle had moved on, slowly, with their separate lives. Draco Malfoy had moved on to marry the most fierce woman he had ever met, Ginny Weasley. Together, they had gone through good and bad for many years of marriage before settling down to start a family. Their eldest, Lucius James (yes, he had named his first child after Harry), was to be starting his first year at Hogwarts while his two twin siblings, Luna Ray and Lavender Ginerva stayed home for another three years. Now, Draco was faced with the fact that he was no longer a teenager anymore but a father with three growing children and a pestering but loving wife.

"Draco, darling?" Ginny called, walking into the bedroom to find her husband sitting on the edge of the bed and not acknowledging her presence. "Are you alright?"

"What?" Draco answered, snapping from his thoughts. "Yes, dear. I'm fine."

Ginny smiled and kissed her husband before getting ready for the day. "You should know," she began, lacing up her blouse. "Your son is excited about his first year at Hogwarts."

"Is that today?" Draco asked, falling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. "So soon?"

"I am afraid so," Ginny answered, patting Draco's leg as she passed by the bed to retrieve her shoes. "Get ready or I'll have him come in here and get you up."

Draco groaned. "For your information, woman. I am ready... it's just..."

"You're not the 'up' part yet," she finished, smirking when he glared at her. "Don't just glare at me. Get up and get your son ready."

He grumbled but stood from the bed before trudging into Lucius' room. "Luce," he said, closing the boy's door behind him. He glanced around the room, expecting his son to be on the bed, but he wasn't. "Luce?" he called.

"Yes, Dad?" Lucius answered, walking into his room from the bathroom.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked, sitting on the boy's bed and watching his son plop next to him.

"Yeah," he replied, resting his head on his dad's shoulder. "I am... but..."

Draco shifted, wrapping his arm around Lucius' small frame. "But?"

"But what if I am put in Gryffindor?" he asked, his eyes going big (a technique most frequently used when Draco might get upset). "You said you didn't like the people who were in that house."

"I did," Draco nodded.

"But you like Mom," Lucius pressed. "And Mom was in Gryffindor."

"Yes," his father answered. "Yes, she was."

"So?" Lucius continued, poking at his dad's side.

Draco made a sound that was somewhere crossed between a grunt and a groan; Lucius looked up at his father with pleading eyes. "No," Draco sighed, giving in to his son's pathetic look. "It does... not matter what... house you... are put into." Draco grumbled to himself; saying that sentence was a lot harder than he thought. "If it is Gryffindor, then you shall be the first Malfoy to be put in that house. If it is Slytherin, then you'll carry on the Malfoy tradition." He glanced down at his son, who was still poking him, and saw uncertainty in his brown eyes. "I will be just as proud of you if you are placed in Gryffindor... or Slytherin."

Lucius smiled widely at his father. Before Draco knew it, Lucius had his arms tightly wound around his neck; apparently trying to squeeze his father. "I love you, Daddy."

Draco kissed his son's head before wrapping his arms around the small boy. He blinked his tears away as Lucius called him 'Daddy'. Recently, the boy had been adamant that he was not a little kid anymore; he was a grown boy who did not need to call his parents, especially his dad, by the names he had given them when he first learned to talk. Occasionally, Lucius let slip the word 'Mommy' but he rarely did that with his father. Draco will admit that the few times he had caught Luce call Ginny 'Mommy', his heart nearly broke in half because Luce wouldn't call him 'Daddy' anymore. He had confronted Ginny about this, but all she told him was that he should definitely not push him; Luce would eventually get through his little phase of names. Slowly, Draco had healed himself but now... Draco was sure he was going to lose himself over just one silly word... One word that he hadn't heard in over a year...

"Draco," Ginny said from the doorway, not really wanting to disturb her two favorite boys. "It's almost time to go."

With a sigh, Draco glanced at the redhead before untangling his son's hands from his neck. "Come on, Luce," he said, dreading that his son was leaving for his first year at Hogwarts. "Let's get going."

Luce quickly scampered off his father's lap and went to his closet to retrieve his suitcase he had packed two weeks prior. Draco stared lovingly at his son who had grinned as he pulled the bird cage, that held the brown owl named Ferdinand, off the shelf. He stood there in the doorway and smiled at Draco. "Coming, Daddy?"

Draco, who knew he lost his voice from the emotion that swirled within him, nodded and stood from the bed before rolling up his sleeves and taking hold of Luce's suitcase.

"Daddy?" Luce asked, giving Draco's arm a curious glance.

"What?"

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the faded mark on Draco's forearm.

Furrowing his brow, Draco looked down at his arm and felt his stomach disappear. Taking a deep breath, he glanced at Ginny, who hadn't moved, for help. His heart clenched when she shook her head.

"I'll be out in the car with the girls," she said, giving her husband a comforting smile.

Draco heaved a sigh and set the suitcase down.

"Dad?"

The tall blond shook his head and knelt in front of Luce. "Son," he began, his heart beating fast. "Remember all the stories your mother and I told you about... the Dark Lord?"

Luce nodded. "Yeah, and how he was defeated by Harry Potter; the wizard who has the same middle name as me. Right?"

Draco tried not to smile. "Yes, those stories." He grasped his son's shoulders and gazed into the boy's brown eyes. "Well, the Dark Lord had... followers that aided him in his attacks against... H... Harry and his friends." Draco waited for Luce's reaction and, thankfully, all he received was a nod. "I... my..." He rolled up his left sleeve more and showed Luce the mark. "My family was loyal to the... Dark Lord. This..." He pointed to the skull and snake. "Is the Dark Mark; a mark that all of the Dark Lord's subjects had to have."

Luce stared up at his father with wide-eyes. "You were a bad guy?" he asked in a small voice.

Draco sighed. "Yes, I was." He offered his son a small smile. "Luce-"

"All the stories you told me and Lav and Luna were lies?" he whispered, his bottom lip quivering.

"No, no," Draco consoled, embracing his eldest child. "No, they were not. I just-"

"Left some parts out," Luce finished, a scowl covering his features.

Draco nodded. "I am sorry, son. I didn't want you to know what I had done... all those years ago."

"But," Luce began, "I am named after Harry Potter. If you were on the Dark Lord's side, then you were Harry's enemy. Weren't you?"

Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "Yes, we were enemies since the first day I met him at Hogwarts." He licked his lips as he tried to form reasonable words. "But, he saved my life numerous times and I saved his. He is a bit of a jerk, but I owed him everything for keeping your mother safe."

"Did he know?" Luce asked, his chocolate orbs burning through Draco's gaze.

"Know what?"

"That you loved Mom... even back then?"

Draco laughed, stood, and pulled his son close. "Yes, my boy. He did." Draco smiled and picked up the suitcase again. "But we shall save that story for another day. Now..." He grasped Luce's small hand. "You have a train to catch."