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Cissa Potter Malfoy’s bum was half-perched on the kitchen table. The table was in the precarious situation of possibly teetering over. Her father glared at her over the top edge of the Daily Prophet. He shook his head and lifted the paper to hide his disgust with his eighteen year old daughter’s attire. The faded ripped blue jeans and her dad’s old red and gold Gryffindor t-shirt were enough to squelch his appetite. Yet, he bit his tongue, and if he did it any harder, it was going to start to bleed. He knew his eldest child was in pain, he just wished she wouldn’t be so dramatic about it.
“Cissa, one egg or two?” her dad asked as he cracked an egg and it began to sizzle in the bacon grease.
“Daddy, I can’t eat. I may never eat again,” she whined pitifully.
Draco sighed and turned the page to the business section.
Harry turned down the flame as the grease began to smoke and turned to face his beautiful blonde daughter. Her usual shining silver eyes were swollen and red, the dark circles and splotched skin revealing a night’s worth of crying over her latest broken heart. The first time her heart was broken, he and Draco had hunted down the boy and threatened him bodily harm if he came near her again. After the fifth boy, they resigned themselves to the idea that Cissa may be the one with the problem. Well actually, it was their fault according to Pansy and Hermione. Cissa was subconsciously trying to find a boy who was like both of them; the bad-boy as Draco had been, and the rescuing hero as Harry. Now, twenty-five years later, they resembled any other couple in their steadfast ways.
“Cissa, love, you are still young. You just graduated from Hogwarts and you’ll soon be traveling the world with the Cannons. I’m sure you will meet many wonderful boys along the way, and if I’m not mistaken, they will be the ones crying through the night when you leave them in the wake of your broom.”
“Just don’t sleep with all of them,” Draco mumbled as he turned to the next page.
Harry gave a reluctant chuckle.
Cissa snatched a napkin off the table and wiped her wet nose. “Really, Daddy, you and Father started seeing each other at eighteen. Did you know he was the one, right away?”
The Daily Prophet lowered and interested silver eyes peeked over.
Harry turned to the stovetop, flipped the fried egg over, and raised the flame under the pot of water for tea. “Honey, you know your father and I had a sordid history during our school years, so the answer would be no.”
“Well, when did you know?”
The newspaper lowered further. Harry lifted the fried egg out of the pan and set it on plate filled with toast, fruit and bacon. He set it on the table and returned to the stove to make more tea. “Dad, aren’t you going to answer me?”
“Yes, Harry, aren’t you going to answer our daughter?”
Harry turned and glared at his husband and then smiled at their daughter. “I knew the moment he kissed me.”
“Really?” Cissa responded excitedly, and then quickly sat down in the kitchen chair.
“Yes, really,” Harry responded back. He poured the hot water into the teapot with the correct measurement of Earl Grey.
“Father kissed you first?” she asked as she picked up a slice of bacon. “How did it happen? I mean, wow, I can’t imagine.”
Green eyes met silver from across the kitchen. A lifted brow from one was met with a slight grin from the other. “It was his birthday and he was pissed,” Draco said dryly, and went back to reading the paper.
Harry shook his head. “Like you weren’t.”
“Potter, I could handle a few shots. You, on the other hand, were wasted after the first two.”
“I was not.”
“Were too.”
“Well, so what if I was. It was my birthday and I had just kill…vanquished Tom.”
“Yes,” Draco drawled. “I do suppose you had a reason to celebrate.”
Cissa’s long blonde tresses swayed with each turn of her head as she listened to her parents discuss the old memory. “Dad, get back to the kiss. I want to know how you knew Father was the one.”
“Yes, Harry, how did you know?”
Harry sighed. He poured a cup of tea, brought it over to the oval table, and sat across from his husband. “It was my birthday, Cissa, and I was amazed that I made it to see eighteen. A large party was held at the Great Hall in Hogwarts for the occasion. Your father made an appearance with his Slytherin cohorts. Aunt Hermione and Aunt Pansy thought that it would be a good idea to show class unity.”
“So you still didn’t like Father then?”
“No, I detested the ground he walked upon.” Harry snickered as Draco cleared his throat.
“That is not true, Potter. I saw you checking me out every chance you got that night. If you hadn’t been, I would never have gone along with that juvenile game.”
Harry burst out laughing. “Oh my God, Draco! I wasn’t checking you out with interest, I just couldn’t believe anyone would wear such an outrageous outfit. I was trying to figure out how you got those leather pants on, and when you decided to pierce your left nipple. That shirt was unbuttoned enough for all to see.”
Draco folded up the paper and set it down on the table. “As I said, you were looking.”
“Wait, what game?” Cissa asked before she took a bite of the marmalade-covered toast.
Harry turned his focus on Cissa and away from Draco. “My friends, and I use that term loosely, decided that I should receive a kiss for every year of my age. Of course Ginny was not thrilled with the idea.”
Cissa tilted her head to the side. “Aunt Ginny? Why would she care?”
Harry coughed repeatedly before answering. “Um, Aunt Ginny was my girlfriend at the time.”
The toast fell from Cissa’s grasp. “No way! You had a girlfriend?”
“If you could call…”
“Draco,” Harry reprimanded. “Yes, I had a girlfriend. In fact, Ginny was my second girlfriend.”
“Wow, wait until I tell…”
“Cissa, you will not be telling anyone. It is in the past and it is best left there. It took years for Ginny to speak to me again.”
“And some of us she has never graced with a word from her spiteful mouth.”
Cissa’s eyes widened. “Father, you and Aunt Ginny don’t speak to each other? I never knew that.”
A sly smile crossed Draco’s face. “That’s because I was raised with manners, darling. A Malfoy would never reveal dirty laundry in public. It’s a private matter and there was no reason to involve you and your cousins.”
Harry and Cissa both rolled their eyes.
“Back to the kiss. I want to know about the kiss,” Cissa said impatiently.
Harry sipped his tea, the steam fogging up his glasses. “Well, to make the kisses more interesting, everyone wrote their name on a piece of paper and put it in the Sorting Hat. I pulled eighteen names out without looking and handed them to Hermione. She glanced through and I saw her eyes about bug out. Even in my inebriated state, I knew there was probably a Slytherin or two in the bunch. She quickly changed the rules and put a blindfold over my eyes.”
“So you had no idea who you were being kissed by?”
Harry nodded. “Ten points to Ravenclaw.”
“Oh, Dad. You can’t give me house points anymore.”
“I know,” Harry said with a hint of sadness.
“So who was the first to kiss you? Do you remember?”
“Well, I couldn’t see him, but I knew it was Ron. It was this fast peck on the lips. Oh, that’s right, it had to be on the lips. Anyway, it was quick and I could tell the person was completely uncomfortable. I said his name right afterwards and everyone cheered.”
“Merlin, Potter, please don’t remind me that I kissed you after a Weasel touched your lips.”
Harry frowned at Draco. “After Ron, there were a few girls I didn’t know. I could tell they were girls by their perfume and their giggles. Then there was a kiss from a boy that about knocked me on the ground. It was Seamus and he was more pissed than I was. I knew it was him because he tasted like Guinness. Ginny was next. I knew her scent and I knew her kiss. She always waited for me to take control of it.”
A soft hiss came from Draco’s direction.
Harry continued and ignored Draco. “After Ginny, I recognized Luna and then Hermione. They both laughed as they started to kiss me. A few other blokes were in the mix and finally I was at number eighteen. The room instantly became silent. For the first time that night, I was nervous. I was thinking it might be Romilda Vane, or worse, Greg Goyle.”
“Greg’s a good chap, Potter, don’t knock him.”
“Like Ron isn’t? Plus, Greg was smoking cigarettes that night. I was not looking forward to that rubbish.”
“Dad! Father! I want to hear about the damn kiss!”
Both parents glared at their daughter. Her eyes traveled between the two. “Sorry.”
“So, as I was saying, the Great Hall became completely silent. I reached behind me to brace myself against a table. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and little did I know my world was about to change. Two fingers, soft to the touch, raised my chin, and then these warm full lips covered my top one. He pressed down slightly and I could taste a hint of mint. Whoever it was had the courtesy to freshen their breath. The lips gave a soft kiss. Its gentleness caught me off guard. I slightly parted my lips and then I felt the tip of his tongue swipe over my lower lip. I felt magic,” Harry almost whispered.
Cissa leant towards Harry. “You mean it was magical in the feeling.”
Harry smiled at his and Draco’s daughter. “No, Cissa, it was magic, a wizard’s magic. It coated my lips and then I hesitantly met his tongue with mine. My world turned upside down. He was both gentle and forceful. He would only take what I would give, and suddenly I felt like giving it all. I removed my hands from the table and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. My hand stroked his soft short hair. He in turn gave a small whimper only I could hear. There was no awkwardness in the kiss; it was as if we were long time lovers. Our noses didn’t clash, our teeth didn’t hit, he instinctively knew that I liked to have my lower lip nibbled on. My knees started to weaken; he held onto me with greater strength, and then one hand reached up to my hair and pulled the scarf knot undone. I opened my eyes, and for the first time in seven years, I saw what was in my rival’s soul.”
“Wow! That is so romantic,” Cissa said dreamily. “So what happened next?”
“Cissa, while your dad may tell you in detail about our first kiss, he will not be telling you anymore beyond that point. Those memories are private, and between your Dad and me,” Draco said as he gazed at Harry, not his daughter.
Cissa looked crestfallen. “But…” And then she stopped and looked at her parents. They were staring at each other and it was as if she wasn’t there. She smiled at them and with the grace of a Malfoy left the room quietly. She stepped to the family room doorway, and watched her two younger brothers fighting over Chocolate Frog cards. “Hey, Siri, Luc. How about I take you to Hogsmeade today?”
Finis