TRAINING WHEELS

EPILOGUE

Golden rays peaked through tall grass and into a clearing of flat land. Draco Malfoy lay with Amora Buckley and a basket of pastries, a charm keeping the food warm as they sprawled out among the French fields and flowers. Amora's head rested slightly on Draco's shoulder as she read her book. He'd let her buy every book her eyes had landed on in the dainty bookstore at the edge of the village they'd explored that afternoon, and their holiday home's kitchen table was stacked to the brim.

Amora had chosen something light after the past few months she'd had. Her book contained no mention of a war, nothing of dead parents and lost best friends, or about miscarriages and unborn children. Draco stroked her arm, content with lying back and basking in the melting glow of the sun. It wasn't too warm or cold, this was perfect and exactly what they had needed.

"Are you hungry?" Draco murmured, his voice tickling her neck.

Amora smiled as she squirmed away, nudging him slightly with her elbow. "Let me guess – you are."

"Starving," Draco replied quietly, exhaling against her. "And I've been craving the mille-feuille you picked for a good hour now."

The brunette closed her book, raising an eyebrow and shifting to face Draco. "Which one was that again?"

"Some people call it a vanilla slice," Draco said, leaning forward to search through the wicker basket for it. "It actually translates to a thousand leaves. It's absolutely phenomenal — and also extremely messy. Let me feed you some."

"Oh," Amora smirked, brushing her summer dress out. "This is the part of our dream where you feed me food whilst I sit there and read my book, right?"

"I believe it might be," Draco murmured, holding up an intricate-looking pastry that Amora could have never made in a million years by herself. "Hold open your mouth. The cream and the jam tends to get everywhere."

Amora leaned back on him further to tilt her head, her mouth opening. She could feel Draco's concentrated gaze as he lifted the pastry towards her mouth, past her lips and between her teeth.

"Bite," he murmured.

Amora bit down lightly, surprised to find that the pastry was a little harder than she thought it would be, despite the cream and jam that immediately oozed out. Draco chuckled, keeping it there until she managed to bite off a piece. He pulled it back, chuckling when he saw cream resting on her bottom lip and partly on her chin, flakes of pastry decorating her chest.

He moved his hand forward, cupping her chin and swiping his thumb across her bottom lip. Amora raised her eyebrows at him as he drew it back and popped his finger into his own mouth, licking off the cream.

"Mhm." Draco made a noise of appreciation. "Beautiful."

Amora smiled softly. "I liked it."

"You did?" Draco hummed, "Good. They're my favourite. I was never allowed them when I was younger – I always got the insides down my dress robes."

Amora chuckled. "You have the rest."

"You're so generous," Draco teased her, and popped the rest of it in his mouth. He threw his head back dramatically and moaned. "So good," he muttered, licking his fingertips.

"Stop it," Amora whined, pushing him.

"Stop what?" Draco laughed as he grabbed her wrists.

"Making pastry-eating sexual!"

"No – you stop sexualising my pastry-eating," Draco retorted wittily, "Not my fault you find the way I eat arousing."

"You're an arse. It's because you're moaning and stuff!" Amora huffed, but was cut off by a pair of lips connecting with hers.

He smirked slyly against her after a moment. "You still taste like mille-feuille."

Amora beamed as she shook her head at him.

"Happy birthday, darling," Draco whispered against her. "What do you want to try next?"

"The one with the cherries on top of it. I forgot what it's called."

Amora was stuffed by the time they had tried every pastry that they'd packed – and oh had Draco spent some money at the bakery in the village. The dark haired girl flopped back on the picnic blanket, groaning dramatically and placing her hand on top of her stomach. The sun was still setting, but by now the sky had gone more pink and purple than gold. She was pretty sure she could hear crickets in the tall grass further away, and the trickling of the nearby stream.

"I think there's something else in here," she heard Draco's muffled voice as he dug about the picnic basket.

"Oh, no more," Amora groaned, waving a dismissive hand. "I cannot stomach the thought of eating anything else right now. I think I'm going to slip into a food coma. You might have to carry me back."

"It doesn't look like it's more food."

Amora's brows furrowed. "What do you —"

She shifted her head to face him, her voice dying in her throat. Amora's heart skipped a beat and then began to pound. She instantly felt warm, butterflies swarming her stomach.

Draco was kneeling in front of her, a ring box in his hands that he extended towards her. Inside was one of the most beautiful and expensive looking rings that Amora had ever seen, however, her eyes instantly flickered back up to Draco's face as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Draco!" Amora choked.

Draco grinned, and she swore his eyes were a little watery. "I hate the idea of fate. I despise the idea that everything is written in the stars, and that we have no control over what happens to us. I... I don't believe in soulmates, Amora. Or at least I never did, I suppose. Maybe I do now, maybe I still don't — I haven't entirely made up my mind yet. But, I do know, whether or not soulmates exist for everyone, you are mine. You've been my everything. My best friend, the love of my life... once upon a time, even an enemy.

"I don't think the universe meant for us to fall in love. We did that all by ourselves. We were in denial at first, I know, claiming it was the universe itself pushing us to spend more time together and fall in love, but... the universe didn't make me love you. It didn't force me to spend countless nights thinking of you, or for my chest to ache whenever you're not around, or for my heart to skip a beat when you smile at me. You did that to me — you and your brown eyes and your laugh and all of your little quirks. You made me fall in love with you.

"I'd even go as far as to say that, after everything that's happened to us, the universe probably tried to keep us apart. I mean, on pen and paper we sound like we should never work in a million years — and that's what makes me think we're bigger than the universe. Bigger than anything it throws at us, tougher than a war and heartbreak and death... We've survived every single thing that's come our way, Amora. And fuck, I hate to think about how different my life would have been if I had never been locked in the library with you that night."

"Draco..." Amora croaked, a tear slipping.

He smiled, leaning forwards with one eye to swipe it away. "I don't normally forget my lines, you know that. I'm going to kick myself later, because I had so much more of a speech planned for you, Amora. But with the way you're smiling at me and your eyes in this sunset... I'm dying to ask you. I can't handle it anymore."

Amora cupped his face in both her hands. "Ask me."

"Amora Buckley, will you marry me?"

"Yes." Amora flung her arms around him, nuzzling her nose against his neck. "Yes, yes, yes, Draco."

Draco laughed, holding her tight, the ring box forgotten in his hand behind her. He sighed shakily, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Draco had had many reasons to be scared over the past few years, but that was definitely one of his most nerve-wracking moments, even if he was sure she would say yes.

"You'll have to read me the rest of your speech later," Amora laughed as they pulled apart. Draco slipped the ring on her shaky hand. "Oh, it's beautiful, Draco."

"I will read you the speech every night for the rest of our lives if it makes you happy," Draco declared in a murmur, tracing his thumb across her cheekbone. "I'd buy you a thousand diamond rings, scream at the top of my lungs how full you make my heart feel. I will do anything for you, Amora."

And of course Draco kept his promise. They were married a year later, on the very cove that Amora had grown up on. Buckley Cottage had been decorated perfectly for the event, thousands of Galleons put into making the most beautiful wedding Amora could have dreamed of. It was a late August day, a few weeks after her nineteenth birthday, and the celebration had included many of Amora and Draco's friends and family members.

A lot had changed in the year after Draco's proposal in France.

For starters, they had their own home now, one that their friends were constantly invading and stealing food from, and Amora had even gotten a job at St Mungos whilst Draco went to work at the Ministry. However, perhaps the biggest change of all, was the fact that Amora's biological father had been there to walk her down the aisle.

Amora remembered the day she had found him so clearly. Draco had told her the month before that he'd been hiring someone to privately look for her Muggle father, whose name was apparently David Cattley, and it had taken her three whole weeks to pluck up the courage to turn up at his doorstep.

When she did, Draco right by her side, David had opened the door and immediately dropped the mobile phone in his hand. It crashed beside Amora's feet with a bang, but all he could do was stare – his mouth agape.

"E – Wha – Elle?" He gasped, his eyebrows furrowed.

Amora took a deep breath and swallowed thickly, shaking her head. "My – My name's Amora."

His eyes seemed to widen even further. "Amora?" He repeated, "You – Elle – Are you —?"

Amora nodded quickly, her face creased with concern that he would immediately shun her away. "I, erm, I think that maybe – that perhaps, possibly – you could – that you might actually be my father?"

David was stunned but was surprisingly quick to allow Amora and Draco into his home. It didn't take him much to believe that Amora was his daughter — not when she was nearly the exact age he last saw Elle, or when Amora looked so much like her. It also turned out 'Amora' was the name of one of David's sisters – Amora's aunt, she supposed – who Elle had been very close friends with. Elle's annual speech on Amora's birthday speech about her name had been a complete lie, to add to the pile of those from her deceased mother.

Amora brought some photographs to show David, and David showed Amora some of his own of Amora's mother. Amora was introduced to David's wife, a lovely woman who was more than accepting of her, and Amora's little half-sister who was about seven. The young Muggle girl, Ruby, was slightly obsessed with Amora, begging her to come over all of the time.

David would invite both Amora and Draco around every other week for Sunday lunch, and it was on their fourth meeting as David's wife was tucking Ruby into bed that they told David about Amora's true identity. David's life changed forever the moment he realised why Elle had run away so abruptly — when he found out his past lover had been a witch, and that his long-lost daughter was one too. A few weeks later, they felt safe enough to tell David's wife and Ruby too.

Of course, after eighteen years without knowing each other, Amora and her father didn't jump straight into some sort of flawless father-daughter relationship. It took work and there were many awkward breaks and heartbreaking questions along the way, but Amora had found it was only fitting for him to walk her down the aisle on her big day.

After all, it wasn't his fault that he'd not been in her life for her most important years. It only mattered that he was there now, and that he was more than accepting of Amora and her world. She wanted him to be there for the most important day of her life.

He sat front row with his wife and Ruby. Narcissa sat beside them where she let Ruby make a fuss of her 'multicoloured hair', and Blaise had a fun time making her blush with little comments – it was obvious Ruby had a crush. Leon and Kathy sat front row too, of course, Theo and Evangelina there, and an empty seat reserved for Pansy Parkinson.

And yes, they did mention Pansy in their wedding vows, just like she had insisted they do so after she'd locked them in the library for the second time.

When word got out that Amora was not a pureblood thanks to her Muggle father, there was plenty of drama inside the recovering wizarding world. Amora really had been the end of the Buckley's pure bloodline, and the Diggorys too, and she had even ended the Malfoys' with the public announcement of their engagement. Lucius was enraged from his cell in Azkaban.

When little Scorpius came along, however, Lucius was more than repentful. It seemed he did have a soft spot – and that was when he realised Amora Malfoy had given birth to his grandson.

After finding out what had happened during the Battle of Hogwarts, Amora had been terrified through her entire pregnancy. She was terrified of losing Scorpius, but Draco made sure all of her needs were met. It had been a scary birth. Draco had gripped her hand for dear life as she screamed and cried, promising her she would be okay whilst yelling at the doctors and nurses to do better, and it was hours later that he was eventually holding a baby boy. His baby boy — no, their baby boy.

Scorpius Cedric Malfoy was a spitting image of his father. Narcissa had won her little bet that the Malfoy genes would overpower Amora's Diggory blood, and Amora and Draco's child sported the fluffiest platinum hair and the most striking silver eyes. His skin was more on the tanner side than Draco's, most likely from Amora.

Within reason, Scorpius got everything he wanted. Amora made sure not to spoil him too much, but he was just like his father — he knew how to wrap her around his finger, how to get her to cave in. And he could do the same to Draco as well.

Despite Scorpius' looks and his cunning behaviour, he took after Amora in many other ways. Draco noticed that his son pulled the exact same reading face that his wife did, and he found it adorable. Scorpius was a mummy's boy – he followed Amora around like a shadow growing up, copied all the songs she sang, loved the extra honey in his porridge, and spoke some of Amora's sayings with the most serious face.

A gentle breeze drifted through the open window of Amora and Draco's shared bedroom, dancing momentarily with the curtain before making its way over to the grand king sized bed they lay on.

Amora's dark hair was sprawled out everywhere, her face nuzzled in her pillow as she breathed in and out, in and out. Her breaths relaxed Draco from where he lay on his back next to her, one arm closer to his wife whilst the other was thrown over his chest.

As if on cue, he heard the door creak open. His body clock was reprogrammed for this the moment little Scorpius Malfoy learned how to walk. Now, he was better prepared for his son's rather early good mornings.

He heard Scorpius' feet pad over and Draco shut his eyes. There was a small grunt as Scorpius pulled himself up the bed, and Draco felt the mattress dip next to him.

"Daddy," Scorpius whispered, poking Draco's cheek. "Daddy, I'm awake now."

Draco tried to play with Scorpius, keeping his eyes shut as if he was still asleep, but another prod to his nose and Draco was grinning.

"Hey!" Scorpius complained with a sweet giggle. "You were faking it!"

"Sorry, sorry," Draco said with a chuckle. "I was only teasing you."

Scorpius released a disappointed sigh and flopped down into the middle of the bed, folding his arms across his chest. He was clad in his favourite penguin onesie – the one that always brought grins to Draco and Amora's faces when they saw it. The way Scorpius' brows furrowed and his lips curled reminded Draco scarily of his younger self. Scorpius even had the mop of platinum blond hair on top of his head, and the silver eyes to match.

"You're mean, daddy," Scorpius insisted, "I want to wake mummy up."

Draco lifted an eyebrow. "Dare you wake the beast from its slumber?"

"Hey," they heard the muffled whine of Amora before she turned over, facing her two boys.

Her eyes were sleepy as she glared at her husband and grabbed Scorpius, pulling him closer to her.

"Oh, come here, Scorp. Daddy's being a bully to both of us, isn't he?" Amora cooed, smirking at Draco when Scorpius nodded in agreement and buried himself against his mother.

"Mummy, daddy pretended to be asleep when I was trying to talk to him," Scorpius huffed.

"Oh, my poor boy," Amora sighed, brushing his hair. "Ignore daddy. Daddy's an arse."

Scorpius gasped and pulled away. "Mummy! That's a bad word!"

"It's true though," Amora yawned sleepily.

Scorpius furrowed his brows in thought for a moment before he giggled and copied her. "Daddy, you're an arse!"

Amora's eyes widened and she shot up, Draco choking on his own spit for a second. Amora almost started to laugh, but she saw the appalled look on Draco's face and grasped Scorpius' tiny hands.

"Scorp, Scorp, darling. I'm sorry I said that in front of you, I shouldn't have. We really shouldn't use words like that, especially not about each other. Mummy was just tired and a bit grumpy," Amora quickly tried to get rid of the grin on his face – she could see it coming.

"Daddy's an arse!" Scorpius laughed louder, and Draco glared angrily over at Amora.

After that, Amora was a little more cautious about the words she used around her son. It turned out that they should have warned their friends to do the same, though, as upon arriving back from a date night out, Amora and Draco discovered that their babysitters Leon and Blaise had managed to accidentally teach Scorpius the word 'fuckface'. Draco was so furious he didn't speak to Blaise for nearly a month – it took a good visit from Uncle Theo to diffuse the tension.

Despite all of the happy memories they created together, it felt like Scorpius' time with his parents was over far too quickly. One moment he was four years old and begging Draco to take him out for a ride on the broomstick, and the next they knew, he was pushing a trolley towards a train that would take him onto the next part of his life.

Draco and Amora had stayed up with him late the night before, preparing him for his first day ever at Hogwarts. Scorpius sat between them on the couch, his hair slicked back but in a much looser fashion than Draco's had ever been in the first year, his pyjamas on as Amora flicked through a photobook.

"See?" Amora pointed at the photo of herself with her mother and Mr Buckley. "This was me on my first day of Hogwarts. Years ago now! There's your grandma." She pointed at Elle.

"That's not grandma," Scorpius replied, scrunching his nose in a Draco-like fashion.

"That's your mum's mother, Scorp," Draco replied, "Don't you remember the other pictures you've seen of her?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember now," Scorpius replied. "Mum, you look really young."

Amora laughed a little. "Well that's because I was. I'd only turned eleven the month before." She flipped the page. "Oh, this is my cousin and I at the train station on my first day."

"Cedric," Scorpius beamed, "Like my middle name."

"Yep," Draco said, "And there's a photo of me – look."

Scorpius' face moved closer to the picture. "You look angry."

"I probably was," Draco scoffed, "That is also the day I met your mother."

Scorpius scrunched his nose up. "Please don't tell me about it."

"Awh, don't you want to hear about it, Scorp?" Amora laughed and then shook his hair a little. "Don't worry. It wasn't cute or romantic at all. Your father was very rude to me!"

Draco feigned shock as he glared over. "Excuse me! You said I looked like a toad," he played along.

Scorpius ignored his parents' banter, flipping through a few pages. He seemed to decide what was boring and what was not. His eyes lit up on one page in particular.

"Mum, that's Harry Potter!" Scorpius gasped, pointing to a picture of Amora in her fourth year with the Golden Trio. "You're standing with Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, yeah," Draco grumbled with a scrunched up face, snatching the book to skip the page. "He's actually a very boring man, Scorpius. And Potter was only able to beat Voldemort with my wand, of course. And because I allowed him to have the Elder Wand – which, remember very clearly, Scorpius – your father owned for months."

Amora rolled her eyes with an amused smile.

"Look at this photo," Draco said, "This is your mother and I when we were sixteen at Hogsmeade. You'll like Hogsmeade."

Scorpius looked down at the photo. "Cool. Mum, was Harry Potter friends with you?"

Draco took a deep breath to hide his seething anger and Amora laughed, patting Scorpius' shoulder. "Your father's right, Scorp. Harry Potter is boring. Look – it's your dad in his quidditch uniform."

Scorpius did look rather interested at the mention of quidditch. Amora and Draco sort of worried that Scorpius would get to Hogwarts and hear things about his mother and father during the war – that Draco was a Death Eater and that Amora murdered a Carrow or how she was Potter's fake lover for months. It was because of this that a few months ago they sat Scoprius down and simplified the way Draco had been roped into the bad side, whilst keeping as much information as possible away from him until they were sure he was completely ready and old enough to hear it.

"Dad, you played for Slytherin, right?" Scorpius asked, a strange tone to his voice like he was thinking.

"Of course," Draco said proudly, "Look at the green robes. You'll be wearing them this time tomorrow."

Amora rolled her eyes for the millionth time and squeezed Scorpius' arm. "Or you could be wearing yellow — like mummy."

"Don't call yourself 'mummy', I'm not five," Scorpius protested before he sighed heavily and sank a little. "Isn't... Isn't Slytherin a bad house?"

Draco stilled. "What do you mean, Scorp?"

"Bad people go into Slytherin," Scorpius said.

"No, they don't," Amora quickly protested. "That's not true at all, Scorp. Your father was a Slytherin, just like Uncle Theo and Uncle Blaise!"

"But so was Voldemort. And a majority of his soldiers," Scorpius furrowed his brows. "I don't want to be bad like grandad was. Or have to follow Voldemort like dad."

"You will never have to do that," Draco spoke through gritted teeth. "Never, okay? So long as your mother and I are on this earth, you are safe, Scorpius. Voldemort is long gone — and I will not let you down like my dad let me down. I shouldn't push you into wanting to be a Slytherin. You don't have to be a copy of me, Scorpius. That's what your grandad wanted of me, and it was wrong. And I understand why you wouldn't want to be like me —"

"I want to be like you," Scorpius cut him off quickly, nodding his head. "I want to be a Seeker like you, dad. And I want to get really good at Potions like you were as well."

Draco smiled proudly, and for a moment he looked away. Amora's heart could have melted.

"I'm glad," Draco muttered, his voice thick, his eyes still trained ahead as if scared to let Scorpius watch him get too emotional.

Amora reached around their son to squeeze her husband's shoulder. "Scorpius, you will never find a friend greater than a Slytherin one. Whether you're in that house or not, I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with them. They're there because they're ambitious and determined, never because they're bad."

Scorpius nodded. "I wouldn't mind Slytherin."

"Trust me, your father wouldn't mind Slytherin on you either," Amora chuckled, "When you were younger, when he got to dress you, you were never not wearing green."

Scorpius released a small chuckle. "Well... What house do you want me to be in, mum?"

"I don't mind at all what house you are in, Scorpius. I will be proud either way."

Draco narrowed his eyes and he barked a laugh. "Oh, come on. That was too quick to be true."

Scorpius grinned slyly. "Dad's right. You want me to be a Hufflepuff, don't you, mum?"

Amora sighed dramatically. "It would be nice, okay!" She flung her hands out. "It's an underrated house, alright? And the dorms and the common room are all really cosy! Bu – But," she sputtered at the eyebrow raise she was receiving from both her boys. "But I still wouldn't mind any way! You can be a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, I don't care!"

"It sounds like you care, mum," Scorpius said pointedly, "Doesn't it sound like she cares, dad?"

"Oh, very much so, Scorpius," Draco replied and smirked at the exasperated expression on Amora's face.

"Oh, shut up, you two," Amora huffed.

"Uncle Leon did say Hufflepuff was the best house," Scorpius shrugged. "He said they really like Herbology. He said he was really good at it and that he grew his own herbs or something. Then Uncle Theo smacked him and told him to shut up so I think Slytherins must not have been very good at it, right?"

Draco looked slightly angry again as Amora furrowed her brows in confusion. "But Leon was rubbish at Herbology, he didn't even — Oh!" She noticed the look on Draco's face and suddenly their expressions were matching. "Ugh, I'm going to kill him!"

"I like Uncle Leon, don't kill him," Scorpius said, "Do you have photos of him?"

"Only from the first few years," Amora said, "Your Uncle Leon and I drifted apart for a little bit towards the end of school."

"Oh." Scorpius looked a little disappointed. "Who did you hang out with then?"

Draco flipped through pages, finding a photograph from some point in the sixth year – when things weren't too bad. Their faces both relaxed at the photograph, Amora's heart clenching as her eyes stared into familiar green ones. Amora had rushed back from pressing the button on the camera, making it just in time as she crashed in between Draco and Pansy. Pansy had her arm flung around Amora whilst Draco tried to hide his own amused grin. Theo and Blaise stood either side of the three of them. Theo smiled politely, though the loop of the photo showed him eventually smacking Blaise who had reached around to grab his ass mid-photo. The picture played over and over again.

If Amora thought about it, she could still hear their young, naive laughs.

"Who is that?" Scorpius pointed at Pansy.

"That's Pansy Parkinson," Draco answered upon seeing Amora swallow thickly. "She was your mother's best friend in the whole world – she died during the Battle of Hogwarts. If you want to look up to someone cool, forget Potter — Pansy was ten times cooler. And scarier."

"Scarier?" Scorpius repeated. "She doesn't look scary, she's smiling."

"Only when your mother was around," Draco barked a laugh. "Otherwise, she was terrorising your uncles and I. Trust me, Scorp. You think nobody could tell Uncle Blaise off, but that's because he's too used to your Aunt Pansy's threats and abuse."

"Aunt Pansy?"

"Yeah," Amora said softly, skimming her finger over Pansy's photo. "She would have loved you, Scorp. Just like Cedric and your other grandma."

Scorpius pursed his lips. He recognised the look on his mother's face and felt his gut clench. Seeing his mother upset was the worst feeling in the world. He threw his arms around her and Amora immediately held him back.

"I love you, mum," Scorpius whispered, "And it sounds like Slytherin and Hufflepuff both have had some pretty cool people in it. I think I want one of those."

"I love you too," Amora whispered, stroking the back of his head. "Ugh, I wish you didn't have to go to school. Wish you could stay with your dad and I forever and ever."

"I'm going to make loads of friends like you two and become a Seeker for my house," Scorpius dismissed her. "I'll be fine, mum."

"We know you'll be fine, Scorp," Draco smiled. "We just wish you'd stay younger for a bit longer, is all. We're going to miss you. It will be lonely without you running about here."

"I know," he yawned. "I'll miss you too. But I'll write to you everyday, and I'll tell you which house I will get tomorrow."

"You sound tired, Scorp. Why don't you hurry up to bed? We'll come and say goodnight in a minute," Amora squeezed his arm.

"I'm eleven, I don't need you to say goodnight anymore," Scorpius scoffed, but stilled when he saw the warning look on his father's face and the slight disappointment in his mother's. "But of course I want you to, mum. I'll leave my door open."

Amora gave him a watery smile and kissed his forehead. "Okay, then."

Scorpius bid his father a goodnight and raced away, leaving his parents alone in the living room with nothing but the fire and their book of moving photographs. Draco's arm extended so his hand grasped Amora's face and pulled her into his chest. He kissed the top of her head.

"I'm proud that you haven't cried once yet," he teased her quietly.

"I nearly lost it for a second there," Amora chuckled, and then gave a long exhale. "Merlin, I'm going to miss him, Draco."

"I know, darling," Draco cooed, planting another kiss on her temple. "But he is about to have the best seven years of his entire life. Try not to cry."

Amora rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Please, as if you won't be crying once we get home from the train station tomorrow and you see his first broomstick by the back door, or one of his socks in your laundry pile, or – or —"

"Okay, I get it," Draco chuckled, squeezing her. "But let's make this a good experience for him. I, for one, cannot wait to be ten Galleons richer this time tomorrow when we get the letter confirming Scorpius is a Slytherin and not a Hufflepuff."

Amora narrowed her eyes. "Oh, you want to bet, Malfoy?"

Draco grinned, running his tongue along his teeth. "I do, Malfoy."

"You're on," Amora snided, "Ten Galleons Scorpius is Sorted into Hufflepuff."

Her husband only laughed, shaking his head. "You're making a grave mistake, my love."

The next evening was a quiet one. The Malfoy household felt larger and colder than normal, Amora's heart aching for her son who had grown up far too quickly. She scrubbed at the dishes in the sink, washing up the very bowl Scorpius had eaten his porridge in that morning before setting off for the Hogwarts' Express.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist as Draco rested his chin on top of her head, glancing out the window at their garden. It was a fairly decent-sized plot of land, fit for playing quidditch and more than enough room for picnics and gardening, but further down, past the hydrangea bushes, was a path that led down onto a private beach. It was perfect, and Draco had loved watching Scorpius grow up inside it over the past eleven years.

"You realise you have magic that can sort those out?" Draco murmured, glancing down at the soapy bubbles crawling up her arms, inhaling her sweet scent which had barely changed over the years. "Saves you slaving away over here all night. I bought us some of that wine we like and I've set our glasses out in the living room."

Amora hummed, putting the last bowl onto the drying rack beside the sink. She dried her hands on a tea towel as Draco began to sway his hips slightly, gently forcing Amora to move with him. The corner of her lip twitched upwards as she rested her hands on his forearms, leaning her head back onto his chest and closing her eyes. She realised he had turned the radio on in the living room, the muffled music carrying over.

"You're perfect," Amora sighed, her hands shuffling down to rest on top of his, Amora's fingers playing with his wedding band that never came off.

"I try," Draco mocked quietly against her ear and then pulled away. "Come on, darling. I even have those crackers that —"

The familiar squawking of an owl filled their ears before, sure enough, their family one swooped down to rest on the window ledge outside, a letter in its beak. Amora gasped loudly, opening the latch and reaching out to grasp it. Draco threw the bird one of the treats they kept on the windowsill, Amora too occupied with her son's familiar handwriting on the front, and then quickly joined her at the table.

"What did he say?" Draco ordered, hovering behind her, desperately trying to make out the words.

Amora shifted it so they could both read, their breaths hitched.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I've made it to Hogwarts, although not so safely, actually. Dad says I should blame you for my clumsiness, mum, because I ended up tripping down the stairs after the Sorting ceremony —

"Down the stairs!" Draco quickly cut them both off, "The Slytherin dungeons! My boy's a Slytherin!"

Amora whacked him for making her jump. "So is the Hufflepuff basement, dumbarse!" She scowled, "We don't know for sure yet. Also, pay attention to the fact that he's hurt more than —"

"Amora, just read!"

— but I'm okay. I scratched my knee a bit but a prefect took me to the hospital wing and a lady called Madam Pomfrey did a spell that fixed it. She knew who I was as soon as she saw me! She said I looked just like you, dad. And she asked about you two, and she was really happy when I told her you were both okay. I think she almost cried? But she was okay other than that.

Anyway, I also made a friend already. I actually bumped into him on the train journey to Hogwarts. His name is Albus Potter — I told him you were friends with his dad, mum. It's kind of cool that his dad is Harry Potter, but I told him his dad used my dad's wand to kill Voldemort and he admitted he didn't know that bit.

"Not a Potter," Draco groaned. "Scorpius can kiss my arse if he thinks the Potters will be coming over for dinners or —"

"Draco," Amora warned.

He said he wanted to be Sorted into Gryffindor like his parents and his older brother, and I said I wouldn't mind Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Anyway, Professor McGongall, the Headmistress, made us put the Sorting Hat on and it told me a bunch of stuff and for a moment I thought it was going to be Hufflepuff like mum but then it yelled "SLYTHERIN!" and the whole table cheered for me!

"Ha!" Draco jumped, a huge grin on his face as he grabbed Amora's shoulders and shook them. "I told you, Malfoy! I told you our son would be a Slytherin!"

Amora rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling softly. Maybe she was a tiny bit disappointed that Hufflepuff wasn't the house for Scorpius, but she knew he would make a whole other family with the Slytherins. She was so proud of him.

Then Albus also got Sorted into Slytherin so we are roommates now. The Slytherin common room is so cool! You can see under the lake from it. Tomorrow after classes I'm going to go exploring with Albus and the other boys in my house. It's going to be fun.

I love you lots and miss you already,

Scorpius Malfoy.

"You're not crying!" Draco cried when he saw Amora tenderly dabbing her eyes with her fingers. "Slytherin is the best house, everybody –"

"I'm crying because I am proud, you twat," Amora huffed, but stood from her seat and threw her arms around her husband. "Merlin, he's going to be just like you. I don't know how I'll cope."

Draco smiled slyly and stroked the back of her hair. "He's got your heart of gold, Amora — and we both know he's a mummy's boy. Scorp adores you more than anything."

Amora pulled away from the hug to hold Draco's face. "You taught him well," she teased.

He pressed his lips to hers without warning. "Scorpius and I will always look after you, like you look after us."

Draco leaned down, his forehead resting against Amora's. "I love you, Draco Malfoy," she mumbled.

"I love you more, Amora Malfoy."

...

so that's it!! training wheels is officially complete! i feel like i gave a proper kind of speech on the last chapter, so i wont go too much into it again, but thank you soo much for reading until the end! it means absolutely everything to me <333 training wheels has been my favourite fic that i've ever written!

also, in case you don't know, ive published my next draco malfoy fic "how to be a heartbreaker". you can find it on my profile if it interests you!! it won't really follow the original hp plot line, and the oc is going to be quite different to amora, but there will still be gay!pansy and a good pansy and oc best-friendship, and of course leon and blaise being the icons that they are.

anyways, hope you enjoyed the epilogue!! thanks so much for reading <333

sequel / spinoff is now posted on my account!!

word count: 6.4k

OVERALL WORD COUNT OF ENTIRE FIC: 562.689k (in case anyone is interested, that is EXACTLY the same size of the prisoner of azkaban, the order of the phoenix, and the deathly hallows combined -  198,227 (deathly hallows) 257,045 (ootp) 107,253 words (prisoner of azkaban) which i think is pretty insane and also very cool that they add up to 562k words exactly like training wheels idk)

dyiansobrien.