Second Chance (2025 Christmas Story) - Chapter 17

Title: Second Chance – Chapter Seventeen
Author: sesheta_66 || AO3: sesheta_66
Prompts used: slythindor100’s early bird prompt O – Collection of Gifts Wrapped in Brown Paper (picture under the cut) and dracoharry100’s prompt 9: Christmas Tree Topper
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 1.8K (this part)
Rating: R (eventually; this part PG)
Warning: none
Summary: This is the second Christmas for Draco without Astoria and Harry's first since Ginny remarried. Will best friends Scorpius and Albus be just what they need to rekindle something they'd thought fleeting and lost forever?
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Written for the slythindor100 Early Bird 25 Days of Draco and Harry and the dracoharry100 Christmas Challenge.

On LJ: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17

OR on AO3





Second Chance – Chapter 17

Harry spent the balance of Saturday recovering from shopping. He and Albus had accomplished what they'd set out to do, but not without the mayhem of pre-Christmas December crowds. He was nearly done with his gift shopping, and he'd managed to pick up a few more decorations, including a new tree topper that Al had convinced him to buy for the big pine in the backyard. He'd got home, put his parcels in the front room, and collapsed on the sofa. It had been an up-and-down week, and he'd had more than his fill of human interaction, so he opted to have a cup of tea and watch mindless television.

Sunday morning arrived and he decided to get a head start on wrapping, even if he didn't have a tree up yet. He was nearly done when his Floo lit up and Draco's face appeared. "Potter! Oh, good, you're up."

Given his fame and the utter lack of appreciation the general public had for his privacy, Harry had restricted access to his Floo immediately upon returning to live at Grimmauld Place after the war. Even after his fame had died down, being an Auror meant he'd kept the restrictions in place. He only now realised that that he'd never changed the access spell, and apparently Draco had remembered it. "It's past eleven o'clock, Draco, of course I'm up."

"Are you wrapping presents? Bit keen, aren't you?"

Harry pushed aside the gifts and said, "Wanted to get the kids' stuff wrapped while I had the time to do it. You can come through." Draco did so, and infuriatingly showed no signs of ash on his robes. Harry got up from his wrapping station setup on the floor and looked at Draco's robes more closely. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Come through the Floo without a spec of dust or ash on you."

He frowned at Harry. "Surely you know a good repelling charm for your clothing?"

Harry felt his cheeks warm. That seemed like a useful sort of spell to know. "Er … not my area of expertise, clothing spells."

Draco chuckled. "Some things never change, I suppose."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "And what does that mean?"

"Just … well, I recall in school you'd always had ill-fitting clothes, whenever you weren't wearing wizarding robes. Your Muggle attire was not the most flattering."

"Yeah, they were hand-me-downs from my large cousin."

"And yet you never shrank them to better fit your frame."

"Er …"

"Anyway, as much as I'd love to discuss fashion choices all day, I did have another reason for calling on a Sunday morning."

"Do tell."

"Remember I said I had a theory?" Harry nodded. "Well, it seems I was right."

Harry motioned towards the stairs. "Let me make us some tea and you can tell me all about this theory of yours."

They went down to the kitchen and as Harry went about making some tea, Draco explained.

"Potions masters often have a signature built into their custom potions. I do. It's generally a little non-essential element or combination of elements that can readily identify the maker. Like an artist signing his painting."

"So you think this person is signing his potions?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. A signature in this case doesn't identify the person as such, but can be used to authenticate a potion. If someone were to steal one of my potions and try to pass it off as his own, I could identify it using my signature, because I bind it to the completed potion. Attempting to remove it will render the potion useless and will destroy any possibility of analysing it. People are always looking to capitalise on others' work, so it's something most accomplished potions masters do to protect their property."

Harry handed Draco his tea. "And you've found a signature in the sample?"

"Thanks." He took a sip. "I believe so. There are a number of ingredients bound together with a spell and based on their properties, have no discernable purpose for being there. They are also bound to the whole in the same way commonly used. None of the ingredients – separately or collectively – would enhance, amplify, complement or otherwise interact with the properties of the main ingredients. Likewise, they have no addictive properties. There's just no reason for them to be there. And the fact that they've been bound together suggests a signature."

Harry sipped his tea. "So now what?"

"Well, as I said before, this potion is rather elegant. It was not made by some amateur. Whoever created this is a well-trained and skilled potioneer. I would suggest that a product this clean and this well produced could only be created by one of a handful of experts in the country. The list of possible suspects should, theoretically, be very short. I think that if your team can approach schools and masters who have trained students, you may be able to get a short list."

"That's excellent, thanks. I'll pass that along to Drummond in the morning." Harry thought about this approach. Could it be as simple as that? "How likely is it that whoever is making this is a legitimate potion maker?"

Draco swirled the tea in his cup as he thought about that. "I think it's as likely as anything, I suppose. If someone were financially strained, they might consider a side source of unreported income. Or you could be dealing with someone who is skilled but undisciplined. They might have failed out of the program or withdrawn because of the exacting standards and copious regulations surrounding the industry."

"Okay, we can look into that angle as well."

"And of course they may not be British at all, so there's that."

"Right." He'd have to talk to Drummond about motive. If the culprit is this skilled in potions, surely he – or she – would have known of potential side effects. Which might mean that it wasn't an accident at all. "How likely is it that someone this skilled would know of potential side effects?"

Draco shrugged. "Hard to say. If they had never tested the formula on humans prior to releasing it, there'd be no way of knowing."

"So this could have been a test run? Experimenting with kids?"

"You're the Auror, not I. What this person was thinking, what motivated him I wouldn't know. But I could look through the other samples at the Ministry, see if the formulas are all the same, or if there were adjustments, even slight differences between batches. That might give a clearer picture."

"Thanks. That would be great. Meanwhile, we've got an angle to investigate."

"There's another angle you might want to pursue."

"Which is?"

"This potion is very well made."

"So you've said."

"Yes, so that suggests he's worked up to this. There might be previous drugs he created. If you've come across his previous work, he may have left a signature there too."

"So if we compare them, we might be able to link the cases." Harry would have Drummond pull evidence from previous illegal potions cases. "Would you be able to run those comparisons?"

"Sure. But I'd say you could have your lab do preliminary reviews to determine the complexity of the potions in order to shortlist them. That could speed things up."

"Will do."

"I'll send over my notes on the analyses I ran, so the team will have an idea of what to look for – the finesse I was talking about. It's likely the person's skills have evolved, but there would still be a high level of precision in anything made by someone so proficient."

"Great, that's helpful."

"As I mentioned to you the other day, I'll be at Hogwarts tomorrow, but I'll be home in the evening. If there's anything you need me to look at when I get home, just let me know and I can pick it up and sign for it."

Harry recalled what Al had said: Scorpius worries that his dad works too much. "I'm sure Tuesday will be fine. You've given us lots to work with in the meantime."

"Okay, but let me know if you change your mind." He finished his tea and stood up to leave.

"Hold on. Do you have a few more minutes?"

"Sure." He sat back down.

"I'm actually glad you dropped by. Not just because of the case."

"Well of course you are. I'm a delight."

Harry laughed. "Perhaps, but I wanted to talk to you about my lunch with Al."

"Oh, right. I'd completely forgotten." He waved his hand in the air. "Distracted. So, did he mention Scorpius' invitation?"

"He did. And I told him yes."

"Well that's good then."

"And then he asked if Scorpius could come to our Christmas party."

"You said yes, I presume?"

"Not exactly."

Draco stiffened in his seat. "Was there any particular reason?"

Harry leaned forward. "He asked if you and Scorpius could come." At Draco's puzzled expression, he said, "Apparently Scorpius is worried that you have been working too much. I didn't bother mentioning that I had just recently added to that work."

Draco rolled his eyes. "So ... what? Attending a party is the cure for my workaholic ways?"

Harry shrugged. "I got the feeling there might be more to it, but that's what Al told me."

"That's my mother talking, you know. She's enlisted his assistance in pestering me to work less. I'm not sure what the hell else she thinks I should do with my time."

Harry chuckled. "I hear you. Anyway, I don't have any problem, per se, with you and Scorpius coming over here. Only … well, Ron will be here."

Draco's face darkened. "Oh, that would be fun."

"Yeah. That's what I told Al. He pointed out – rightly so – that this is our house, not Ron's, to which I said it's not just Ron who might be uncomfortable. But apparently they've worked it all out. They will enlist Rose to tell her father to be nice. Al asked me to have Hermione do the same. And he said that you could drop off Scorpius, gauge how things go, leave if it's uncomfortable and then come back to get him at the end of the night."

"They've thought of everything, those two."

Harry chuckled. "Apparently so. I expect you'll be ambushed with this tomorrow. Thought you might appreciate a head's up."

"I do. Thank you." He looked like he wanted to say more, but then stood up again. "I'll get the materials sent off to Drummond and the lab later today, so they can start first thing in the morning."

"Thanks." They walked back to the drawing room and just as Draco reached for the Floo powder, Harry said, "Draco. Just so you know. You are welcome to join us, both you and Scorpius. But I'll understand if you don't want to."

Draco gave him a half smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."