Second Chances

"Adrian," Ella said thoughtfully, raising her head from his shoulder, "I think there's something else you should know."

Adrian looked a bit apprehensive but nodded. "Go on," he said.

"It was a boy," she said. "I saw Damien kissing a boy."

"Are you sure?" Adrian asked, his eyes going wide. "That's a stupid question," he answered himself. "Of course you're sure. I just never thought..."

"Neither did I," Ella said. "I mean, I knew Armand fancies boys, but..." She clapped her hand over her mouth, realising she had said more than she meant to.

"Armand?" Adrian asked sadly. Ella nodded an affirmation, and then settled her head on Adrian's shoulder again. "I can't believe he'd do that to Sera," Adrian added.

"Love makes people do crazy things, or so my Mum always says."

"Or maybe it isn't love," Adrian said thoughtfully, "There are other things that make people act a little odd."

"So what, then? A hex?"

"I don't know," Adrian replied. "A person would have to be either awfully brave or awfully mad to muck about with a professor's kid, though, don't you think?"

Ella nodded against his shoulder. They sat in silence, contemplating.

"Ella," Adrian said after a moment. "I just remembered a rumour I heard about your cousin. Something Kira MacMillan told me."

Ella snorted. "I was going to say that if it's about Armand, then it's probably true, but you never know what Kira is going to come up with. I swear she starts half the rumours she spreads just to see who will believe them. Anyway, what did she tell you?"

"She said that Armand's mum was a veela, and that's why all the girls swoon over him. Her words, not mine."

Ella's face broke into a wide grin. "For once MacMillan's got it right - or close enough. His mum's part-veela. I wonder..."

"It would make sense," Adrian said.

Still grinning, Ella leaned up to kiss Adrian's cheek.

"You're brilliant," she told him. She jumped to her feet and pulled him after her. "I've got to see if I can find Uncle Harry, find out if he thinks that we might be right about this."

Adrian gave her a shy smile. "I think I know where to find him."

*** ***

Draco looked up as the door to his room opened, automatically holding his hand up to his face in a shushing gesture. He watched as Adrian led an uncharacteristicly shy Ella Weasley inside and silently shut the door behind her.

Ella's gaze flitted around the room, coming to rest almost at once on Harry. He leaned against the headboard of Draco's bed, absently stroking the tousled blond head that rested on his thigh.

"I take it he's made up with you, then," Adrian said quietly, nodding towards his brother who was curled against Harry's side.

Draco smiled. "We've reached an understanding," he said softly.

"Is he all right?" Ella asked.

"He'll be fine," Draco assured her. "And you?"

Ella glanced at Damien and then at Adrian before meeting the elder Malfoy's eyes again. "I'm thirteen. I'm not allowed to be all right," she replied with a grin.

Draco laughed softly.

"Dad," Adrian said, sitting carefully on the arm of the sofa "What do you know about veela?"

"Veela?" Draco asked, obviously confused at the unexpected question.

"Fuck," Harry exclaimed from across the room, drawing their attention and causing Damien to stir in his sleep. He petted the boy's hair, soothing him, and then answered the unspoken question in Draco's eyes. "Armand's mum is Fleur Delacour. I'm sure you remember the stir she caused during the Tri-wizard tournament."

Draco's eyes widened. "You don't think...?"

"I don't know. Maybe. There's no real way to know, though, is there?"

Ella and Adrian glanced at each other.

"Convince him," Adrian said, his voice quietly confident. He crossed the room to climb into the bed beside his brother. "You have to make him believe it, Dad. You have to give him a way out."

"Adrian," Harry began.

"No," Adrian cut him off. "I'm right about this." He lay down and curled protectively around his brother.

Draco mused for a moment how different his boys were from one another. Adrian, so innocent still, and Damien facing the trials of impending adulthood. And suddenly he understood what Adrian was driving at. "I think he's right, Harry," he said.

And even if Adrian wasn't right, even if it was wrong to convince Damien that what he felt for Armand was the result of a very typical reaction to veela charm, he would do it anyway. He would give his son the chance to be a child for a little longer.

*** ***

After much discussion with Harry, Draco decided that he wouldn't try to force the idea on Damien. The next afternoon, he and Harry explained the situation and told him that it was very likely that his attraction to Armand was simply because of the boy's heritage. Harry made certain to explain that the cause of the attraction didn't make Damien's feelings any less real, but merely made his reactions to those feelings harder to control. Harry pointed out facts and anecdotes from a couple of books to back up their logic.

Damien was more than willing to let himself be convinced.

*** ***

Before breakfast the next morning, Sera had heard about the veela conversation from both Damien and Adrian. She absorbed their words thoughtfully and then passed them on to Armand as soon as classes were finished for the day.

Armand just shook his head tiredly. "It doesn't seem to work that way," he said. "Apparently, it's kind of rare for a woman with veela blood to have a male child. There isn't much written about boys like me because of it, but what Dad and I have managed to find says that males of veela descent have little, if any, of the same charm capabilities that the females have."

"So you don't think that had anything to do with Damien...liking you?" Sera asked uncomfortably.

"It's possible, I guess. Just not likely. Still, maybe it's better for Damien to think that. It makes things a little less complicated, at least." Armand sighed and leaned his head back against the tree behind him.

"So... you don't think it has anything to do with...with me liking you?" Sera asked shyly.

Armand leaned forward and tilted Sera's face up, forcing her to look him in the eye. "The books were absolutely clear on one thing: veela charm, as you call it, only works on males."

Sera smiled at him and blushed, then blushed again when he pressed a quick kiss to her flushed cheek. Slightly flustered, she pulled away and scrambled to her feet. "I've got revising to do."

"So do I," Armand replied. He gathered both of their school bags into one hand and offered her his free arm. "I'll walk you up," he said.

*** ***

Damien seemed to brighten somewhat, but he still blushed slightly anytime Armand spoke to him and pain still lingered in his eyes Draco had noticed all of this, and he worried.

"Do you think we did the right thing?" he asked Harry as they lay curled together late one night.

"I think we did the only thing we could do," Harry replied, stroking Draco's arm that lay wrapped around his waist. "If, in time, Damien discovers a true attraction for men...well, maybe he'll be better equipped to understand and deal with it. He's enough to deal with right now without that."

"Do you think he'll be angry with me? Will he think I lied to him?"

"Draco," Harry sighed, turning over to face his lover. "Whatever his reaction might be, if any, he'll eventually come to realise that you always do what you think is best for him."

"This was so much easier when they were small children," Draco lamented. "Some days I'm certain I'm going to royally fuck up and turn them all against me."

Harry snuggled closer to Draco, offering comfort. "You worry far too much, Draco. They love you, and they know you love them We'll all make mistakes, but we'll work them out again."

Draco sighed softly. "At least there are only a few years left in that awkward, rebellious stage. Maybe things will be easier after that."