分卷阅读19（2 / 2）

“Uncle Harry, where is Phantom?” Rose asked, peering over his shoulder down the hall.

Harry laughed.

“He’s around here somewhere, I’m sure. Why don’t you go look for him?” he asked, setting the little girl down and sending her into the house.

Hermione was following close behind her daughter, shaking her head.

“I still can’t get over that name. A little on the nose, isn’t it?”

“He said he wouldn’t abide a name like Snuffles. You know he can be rather… opinionated,” he said, shooting a look over his shoulder as he heard Rose shriek with laughter in the sitting room.

“Well, he can call himself whatever he wants as long as he keeps making Rosie laugh like that,” Ron said, appearing at Hermione’s shoulder.

“And makes Harry happy,” Hermione added, giving her husband a look.

“Well, of course that, too,” Ron said, slapping Harry on the shoulder as he passed.

“Remind me, I have a new muggle book I think Dra—Phantom will like. I’ll give it to him when Rosie goes down for a nap,” Hermione said, following Harry into his home.

Draco lay on the loveseat in the sitting room, smiling to himself as he listened Harry and the Granger-Weasleys talk. He had worn Rosie out playing tug of war, something he had thought was below him until Harry’s niece was born (Hermione insisted on referring to Rose as Draco’s niece as well, but he felt odd accepting the honor of being an uncle if his niece thought he was a dog. Nevertheless, he adored her).

“I take it Phantom is a big hit with the students, then?” Ron said, steering the conversation away from what Harry was planning for the fall term’s lessons. That was always Hermione’s favorite topic of conversation, still unable to get enough of school, but Ron always liked hearing about what the students got into outside of class.

“He’s the favorite part of the course. They like him more than me, which is a first,” Harry said, glancing at Draco with a snarky smile. Draco huffed out a breath of annoyance. He was better about reacting to Harry like he understood him in mixed company, but they had all decided when Hermione was pregnant that while the baby may not know Draco was a person, that didn’t mean they couldn’t know he was a very…special kind of very smart dog.

“He seems to be a big hit with little ones, too,” he said, readjusting Rose, who was sat on his lap, resting her head on his shoulder. She was struggling to keep her eyes open. “Speaking of, I am going to go put her down upstairs, or else we will have a very unpleasant trip home.”

Hermione and Harry watched as Ron left the room, both of their gazes turning to Draco when he had disappeared from their sight.

“That’s your cue, Phantom,” Hermione teased.

Draco changed his form almost immediately, straightening out his shirt as he stood up.

“Hi, “Mione,” he smiled at her as she crossed the room to hug him.

She immediately went into a tangent about a new book she had brought him, explaining all the reasons why she thought it was just his sort of thing, and he listened attentively, nodding as she spoke a mile a minute. His gaze came to rest on Harry for just a moment, the smile on his partner’s face melting his heart in an instant. He was clearly so happy that they all got along, that he had this little family, strange though it was. Draco was happy, too. So what if he had “died.” He had gone to heaven, after all.