Growing Up Potter - Part IV

“My belly is too big!” Harry whined. “It's in the way if I try to do you or you try to do me!”

Draco sighed. “Yeah, mine's in the way too, but that doesn't mean that we can't do anything at all. My hands still work, and so does my mouth.”

Harry lay on his side and watched as Draco shifted around on their bed until he had his head between Harry's legs. With their bellies in the way, Draco was not close enough to Harry's mouth for him to return the favor, but Harry could still reach Draco's shaft with his hands. Draco's mouth was talented enough that Harry had a hard time concentrating on manipulating Draco's shaft.

Even so, Draco'd had a kinky dream and was more than ready to squirt. There was enough force behind it that he nearly got it in Harry's eye! Harry stuck a finger of spunk in his mouth even as he thoroughly enjoyed Draco's moans of pleasure on his own shaft. Harry was so close!

Their door burst open and Pansy stomped in angrily. “Draco, darling, if you don't hurry up and come down to breakfast, I'm going to send the howler up here!”

Harry groaned in disappointment as Draco's mouth moved away.

Draco looked over at Pansy. “What are you talking about?”

“Our lovely interview from yesterday has already made its appearance in the Prophet, and there's a rather tenacious eagle owl carrying a howler addressed to you that won't let any of us eat in peace!”

“Oh bugger!” Draco exclaimed as he jumped out of bed and rushed to clean up and get dressed.

Harry felt like crying a lot more than he wanted to admit to. “But Draco...”

“Take care of it yourself!” Draco called out absently.

Pansy stood next to the bed, smirking at Harry. “I'd offer to take care of that for you, but I rather think that Draco would kill me for it.”

Draco wasn't really paying attention to them at the moment, so he replied honestly and without thinking. “Not so much since I am willing to let Harry have whatever he wants.”

Both Harry and Pansy stared at him in astonishment. Harry recovered first. “Thanks anyway Pans, but I think I should probably get dressed too.”

Pansy shrugged and walked away. “Suit yourself.”

Draco seemed to realize what he had said. He stood up a bit straighter and glared at Pansy. “What I meant to say was, don't you dare touch my boyfriend or I'll have to hex your hands off!”

Pansy smirked at him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Sure you did!”

Harry waited until Pansy was out of the room, quickly finished tugging himself off, and then threw on a bathrobe so that he could follow Draco – who was already rushing down the stairs from their third floor bedroom. As he approached the dining room, Harry watched Draco stop short just inside.

“How in the world did she find me here?!” Draco wondered incredulously, referring to his family's majestic eagle owl.

Hermione shrugged as she devoured her breakfast. “We adjusted the wards a while back to let in owls from family for all of us.”

Draco's hands shook as he took the steaming red howler from the owl. She bit one of his fingers angrily for making her wait so long, making Draco suck in a sizzling breath, swear hotly, and then try to push her off her perch.

“I've never gotten a howler before,” Draco muttered nervously.

“It really is better if you open it before it explodes,” Ron reminded him, surprised to find himself feeling a bit of sympathy for the snarky git.

With a deep breath, Draco ripped open the howler.

“DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY! HOW DARE YOU HIDE SUCH IMPORTANT NEWS FROM US, AND THEN PUBLISH IT IN THE DAILY PROPHET WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A WARNING! YOUR FATHER THOUGHT IT WAS A HORRIBLE PRANK TO BRING SHAME UPON THE MALFOY NAME UNTIL HE SAW THE PICTURE OF YOU LOOKING OBVIOUSLY PREGNANT! WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL US?! AND JUST WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN AND SALAZAR SLYTHERIN WERE YOU THINKING?! DATING HARRY POTTER!!!”

The howler paused as if to take a breath, and then calmly turned to face Harry. “And Harry, I'm glad to see that you are doing well. Not even something as scandalous as this can make me regret saving your life. Please come with Draco to the Manor when he finally shows up to explain himself.”

And with that, the howler tore itself into tiny pieces, which disappeared with a series of small poofs.

Harry stopped looking at where the howler was and looked at his boyfriend. He couldn't stop a smirk from twisting his lips when he saw the pale and vaguely nauseous look on Draco's face. “So, I guess I was wrong in assuming that it's me they'll want to kill.”

“I was really hoping that they'd never find out,” Draco murmured, still shaking just slightly as he stared at the spot the howler had been.

Harry pulled Draco into a warm embrace. “Why not?”

“Mostly I figured that after I moved here – a place that they couldn't find me – that I'd be able to live my life without them trying to tell me what to do. They've been trying to arrange a 'good marriage' for me for years, and I figured that if I stayed away, they couldn't pester me. Also, I thought the shock of me dating you might kill them,” Draco explained.

Pansy laughed rather cruelly. “So naturally, you let them find out about it in the Daily Prophet!”

Draco glared at her. “I was planning to go tell them today before the article could appear in the Prophet. I guess I should have known that it wouldn't wait even a day!” He sighed and slumped a bit.

“News concerning Harry never does,” Ginny murmured as she grabbed yet another slice of toast off a plate in the middle of the table and slathered thick apple butter on it. And then layered a sunny side up egg on top.

Harry looked around, still finding it a bit amusing that all eight of the pregnant women had ultimately decided to live in his house with him. Ginny had originally planned to stay with her parents, but it turned out that Molly had baby fever something fierce and wouldn't leave Ginny alone about it. Thus Ginny moved in for a bit of quiet. Well... relative quiet.

And Luna – being the only one of them that didn't have any reason whatsoever to live with Harry – had decided to do so anyway. She still saw her father everyday as they worked on the Quibbler together, so she felt it only fair that she join in on all the fun. Harry chuckled as he remembered that Luna had actually called it that. Fun. As if the copious bickering that happened when nine women, three men, and little Teddy Lupin all lived in one house was actually a form of relaxation.

Speaking of, Teddy was bouncing around like the ball of energy he was. His hair changed color at least every 30 seconds, and he got as much food on the floor as he ate. At about a year and a half old, he still felt like the world and all the people in this house revolved around him. He clapped happily when Harry looked at him, and then stood up in his highchair and flung himself into Harry's arms, provoking a pained ooph!

Harry hugged him tight, murmuring: “I'm so happy that you and 'Dromeda decided to live here!”

“Luv you 'arry!” Teddy announced, kissing him on the cheek. Harry just about melted all over the floor.

Draco pulled out a chair and helped Harry sit down. “Let's try to eat something before we go visit my parents.”

“I could eat a dozen chickens!” Harry exclaimed as his stomach growled. “I still think it's unfair that my body is supposed to make room for two growing babies and yet somehow, I still need my stomach to work despite it being pushed up into my throat!”

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. She was unsympathetic because she was also carrying twins. “Rather than complain, only eat one or two chickens right now and pack the other ten or eleven up to take with you. It is okay to eat constantly, one bite at a time.”

Harry ignored her, shifting Teddy forward on his lap since Teddy kept accidentally jabbing him in the stomach. “Ooo! Bacon!”

“Just make sure you at least eat some eggs to go with that bacon,” Draco stated, narrowing his eyes at Harry as if daring him to disagree.

Luna hummed, taking another egg onto her plate before slurping the runny yolk right out of it. “I'm not sure if I've said this yet, but in the Chinese culture, an expectant mother would eat as many eggs a day as she could afford in order to have a smart baby. Except the yolk had to be runny, otherwise the nutrients in the yolk that develop a baby's brain are destroyed and eating the egg does nothing special for intelligence.”

“We have a similar belief in our culture,” Padma murmured as Parvati nodded in agreement. They also tended to eat at least two eggs each morning for breakfast.

“Really?” Hermione asked, sounding both intrigued and a bit offended that they hadn't told her this earlier. She served herself another egg. “That actually makes sense when I think about it. I was researching infant nutrition, and a lot of the nutrients that formula makers try to fortify their formulas with – for brain health (she air quoted this) – come from eggs.”

Draco smiled at her. “The Malfoys believe in the power of eggs too. One of the reasons that we breed peacocks is that there is an old legend that Hera – Queen of the Greek Gods – would bestow her favor on any man that consumed a peacock egg each year on his birthday. That said, peacock eggs are not very tasty. They have a strong, gamy taste. My mother always had the yolks of mine whipped into a pudding to hide the taste.”

Harry smirked at him. “And you breed albino peacocks because you're a bunch of vain gits!”

Draco snorted. “Actually, I have no idea how long we've been breeding them albino like that, but I would not put it past one of my ancestors to think that turning them blond elevated him to the status of a God!”

Luna giggled. “Actually, if that were possible, that would make him a Goddess. Perhaps you are not the only Malfoy who also likes men.”

“Hmm...” Draco hummed speculatively as he stroked his chin. “Something like that would be hard to figure out since society once expected a man to get married and produce heirs no matter what he might prefer. Not to mention, my family usually tried to keep quiet about affairs.”

Harry was a bit confused. He gestured at his stomach. “If this is possible, then why isn't it common for wizards to marry men if they want?”

Padma sighed. “I think I have perspective on this since the culture my family came from before moving to Britain – before we were born – is still to this day mostly against same sex relationships. Perhaps the reason why it isn't common even though it is possible is that muggles are against it, and thus it would be dangerous – historically – for wizards to get pregnant whenever they wanted.”

Hermione nodded in agreement. “And the wizard would have had to remain secluded for the duration of the pregnancy so that muggles didn't see it and think he was a minion of the devil or a specimen that needed to be studied for science. I presume that such a thing would be harder in times before we had large wizarding communities.”

Ron snorted in amusement. “I think you're all rather forgetting that it would take a rare and possibly insane man to knowingly get pregnant!”

Harry and Draco looked at each other with expressions that clearly stated that Ron may have a point. Then Harry shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe if I wasn't carrying twins, I might feel a little more comfortable and I might actually like this whole pregnancy thing.”

“Not me! I'm beyond delighted that I am able to have my heir without marrying someone chosen by my parents, but I don't think I would have ever chosen to do this voluntarily,” Draco informed them all in that posh accent of his that made almost everything sound like a sneer. Then he sighed a bit morosely. “I'd have chosen a woman to co-parent with eventually since I am not adverse to having sex with them. I just don't want to marry one.”

Harry pushed his empty plate away and set Teddy on his feet. The toddler was rubbing his eyes sleepily – likely from having gotten up much too early and then running around all morning like an eager greyhound. To Harry's relief, Teddy wobbled and toddled over to his grandmother, who picked him up and carried him off to take a nap.

“We should do this now and get it over with,” Harry suggested, getting to his feet.

Draco sighed in reluctance. “You're right. We should.” He got to his feet and linked his hand through Harry's. “Nervous?”

“Yes, but I think probably not as much as you are,” Harry stated with an encouraging smile. Harry tilted his head in confusion. “Out of curiosity, where do your parents think you've been living?”

“I told them that I was staying in a flat with Pansy,” Draco stated with a shrug.

Ginny giggled and shook her head. “How very Slytherin to lie by telling the truth!”

“Mostly,” Pansy added with a grin. “Not sure most people would consider this big old house a flat.”

“Probably a good thing that your aunt 'Dromeda is currently not speaking to her sister,” Luna observed with a dreamy smile. “Or your mother would have known ages ago.

“Good point!” Draco exclaimed with a considering look. “Although, maybe that would have been better in the long run than this.”

“Stop stalling,” Harry urged, tugging on Draco's hand. Draco followed him at a sedate pace toward the fireplace designated to floo travel.

“Care to explain to me why my mother seems to like you so much,” Draco asked grumpily.

Harry gave him a careless shrug and a charming grin. “I don't know why, but mothers always seem to love me!”

Both Ron and Ginny snorted at that. “Yes, they do!” Hermione nodded in agreement since her mother had also taken quite a shine to Harry when they'd met.

No matter how much Draco tried to drag his feet and delay the inevitable, they were soon stepping out of the fireplace into Malfoy Manor.

“I really thought that my mother might have forgotten to adjust the wards to let you through,” Draco muttered, then shrugged. “It's good she didn't though as I can throw you to the wolves – so to speak – if they start badgering me.”

Harry chuckled and slung an arm around Draco's shoulders so that he could use that hand to turn Draco's face toward him and give a quick kiss. Draco smirked and snogged him in return.

“We could always turn around and go home,” Draco suggested. “Go back to bed and stay there forever.”

Harry chuckled. “Forever seems a bit excessive. Besides, we'd eventually have to get out of bed when these bundles of joy arrive.” Harry stroked Draco's belly with the hand not still pressed to Draco's face.

“Not so,” Draco denied haughtily with his nose in the air looking adorably snooty. “I'm quite certain that we can hire a nanny to look after them while we lounge around.”

Harry snorted. “Maybe you can, but I couldn't stay in bed for very long. If we weren't sleeping or having sex, I'd be so bored that I'd have to go do something.”

“Is that honestly all you can think to do in bed?” Draco asked curiously.

“Well... What else is there?” Harry wondered with a puzzled frown.

“I could read you an interesting book or you could draw on my back or we could have a picnic featuring strawberries. Mmm... a pie; some pudding; a cake. Merlin's mangy hair! That sounds so good right now!”

Harry snorted. “It does! And you know, all those suggestions sounded a lot like sex to me.”

Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Only you, Potter.” He turned so that he was facing Harry just a bit more directly, and then pulled on Harry's shirt as he kissed him. Harry moaned and opened his mouth, preparing to take the kiss to the next level.

“Really Draco! Are you planning to stand there snogging in the entryway all day?!” Lucius demanded after loudly clearing his throat.

They turned to find both of Draco's parents watching them with strange expressions. Harry wondered how long Lucius and Narcissa had been standing there. Or more importantly, how long they'd been able to hear Harry and Draco talking since they were apparently quite stealthy, even in the privacy of their own home.

“If I say all day, will you leave us to it?” Draco asked pertly. He was fighting a deeply embarrassed blush over being caught by his parents – despite being 19!

Lucius looked a bit put out, like he dearly wished to sigh and roll his eyes but was fighting it. “Come. Let us have tea in the parlor.”

Narcissa took this as her cue to smile and pull Draco into a tight hug as she kissed his cheek. “I missed you so much!” She then turned to Harry and gave him a brief and mostly impersonal hug as well. “It's nice to see you again, although, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this situation.”

Harry decided to just go with it when Narcissa slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. She gave him a puzzled frown as they followed behind Lucius and Draco. “The Daily Prophet reported that you are carrying twins, and while you are noticeably bigger than Draco, you don't look big enough to safely be carrying two babies.”

Harry smiled at her. “My Healer assures me that they are growing within the healthy range. They are a bit smaller than the other babies, but that is common in twins.”

“Oh?” Narcissa asked with a tone of mild disbelief. “And who is your Healer? Perhaps you need one more qualified when it comes to wizards carrying twins.”

“Er...” Harry flushed and rubbed the back of his neck as Draco blurted out: “Is there such a Healer?”

“I understand that it's not all that common, but considering that these two carry Malfoy blood, a little extra caution can't hurt,” Narcissa insisted.

“Er,” Harry awkwardly tried again. “Well my Healer is the best and I trust her implicitly.”

“Implicitly?” Draco questioned with a brow raised. “You continue to make me wonder if Granger made you swallow a dictionary.”

Harry rolled his eyes at Draco. “As it happens, she did back in our third year when she was tired of me grunting like a caveman.”

Draco snorted. “Why does that not surprise me?”

Harry decided not to let himself be sidetracked. “And besides, even you agreed that she's a skilled Healer.”

“That's because I know how motivated she is to keep my bloodline alive and thriving,” Draco stated with a careless shrug.

“Who?” Narcissa politely asked again.

“Er...” Draco drawled hesitantly.

Harry gave him a look that was clearly asking if he should confess or keep it a secret. Draco sort of looked away evasively, not entirely sure. Harry sighed, and then gave Narcissa a determinedly cheerful smile.

“My grandmother... Andromeda Tonks.”

“Wha...?” Narcissa blurted out in surprise and shock. She stopped short, looking back and forth between Harry and Draco. They felt quite sure that she thought they were trying to put one over on her.

Lucius gestured into the parlor. “We may as well sit for this discussion.”

They all remained silent as they walked into the parlor and took a seat. Harry was pleased to note that the room was arranged so that there was a comfortable and roomy loveseat facing two overstuffed armchairs. He wasn't sure which he was intended to sit on, but he plopped onto the loveseat before anyone could object. Draco sat next to him without being asked.

A house elf served them tea and a plate full of strawberry tarts.

“Yes!” Draco hissed, grabbing the plate, which he then tried to keep out of Harry's reach.

“Hey now!” Harry protested. “I'd share with you!”

“Which just makes you a bloody Gryffindor! If you want one, you have to earn it like a Slytherin,” Draco informed him, and then shoved a bit of a tart into his mouth as if proving a point.

Harry put a finger to his lips and looked to the ceiling as he thought this over. Both Lucius and Narcissa were torn by being appalled by Draco's lack of manners and being impressed by his very Slytherin attempt at manipulation. Narcissa opened her mouth to insist that Draco share while Lucius opened his mouth to remind everyone that he could always have a house elf bring them more. Both parents ended up being too curious about how this would play out to say anything.

“Hmm...” Harry hummed, a sly look crossing his face. “How about,” he whispered the rest in Draco's ear.

Draco flushed, nodded, and promptly handed over the plate after taking just one more tart.

Harry smirked at him. “Didn't I ever tell you that the sorting hat spent a good ten minutes trying to persuade me to go into Slytherin? But I stubbornly refused.”

Draco gave him an appraising look as he ate another bite of his tart. “That means that our boys have a good chance of all going into Slytherin after all.”

Harry chuckled. “And Hermione and Padma think their kids are going to be a dangerous combination of rule breaker and genius!”

Draco looked supremely pleased. Harry had a point. A trio of Slytherins with Gryffindor tendencies could be very dangerous indeed.

“They'd be rule breaking evil geniuses!” Harry teased.

Draco narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. “You know, I think that they'd get the evil bit from you.”

Harry merely shrugged as if saying: Hey, what can I say?

Narcissa finally decided that she had an opening to bring the conversation back around. She took a demure sip of tea, and then delicately placed the cup back on the saucer. After that, she smiled at Harry as sweetly as she could.

“Harry, care to explain how my estranged sister is suddenly your grandmother?”

Harry gave her one of his brilliantly charming grins. “It's not a blood connection, as I'm sure you know, but I consider her a member of my family for two reasons. First, Sirius was my godfather and he made me the sole Heir to the Black fortune – thus connecting me to Andromeda as a cousin at the very least. But then Tonks and Moony – er, Remus Lupin – named me as the godfather to their baby before they both died.

“So, when I found out that we were all pregnant and needed a private Healer, I asked 'Dromeda if she'd move in with us. It didn't take long before she jokingly told me that I acted like a big kid myself and I just grinned and called her gran. We both know that she's not really old enough to be my grandmother, but the way she clearly cares for me and the babies inside me – and all the babies and those who are pregnant – well, she comes across very grandmotherly. So, we've sort of adopted each other,” Harry finished this explanation with a fond grin.

“I have to agree,” Draco murmured as he sipped on his tea. He'd stealthily asked a house elf to bring him some more tarts and a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream, and was now eating his way through the berries. “About Andromeda caring, that is. She does an excellent job of monitoring our pregnancies, but she's also there for us anytime we need an ear to complain to, a bit of wisdom to stop us from panicking, or just some tea and scones because we're hungry. Again.”

Harry chuckled and wrinkled his nose at Draco in a way that was utterly adorable – although he was going for impertinent smirk. “And she doesn't try to intervene every single time some combination of the ten of us are bickering!”

Draco smirked at him in return. “Haven't you noticed? Now that Pansy is off training so much, there's less bickering in general. Pans likes to wind people up.”

Harry put a hand on his chin in thought. “Now that you mention it, yeah. The house is almost... I was going to say quiet when she's not around, but I think quiet isn't the right word. Maybe still chaotic but less argumentative?”

Draco nodded in agreement. Then he noticed his father giving him the strangest look. “What?”

“I'm just trying to wrap my head around the idea that you are living in a house with eight pregnant women, and you're dating the only other man that lives there,” Lucius remarked.

“Unless you count the weasel,” Draco added, and then decided to try to wind his father up. “And I'll have you know that all of us have become quite close since the orgy. I'm sure you'd really rather not think about what we get up to.”

Both Lucius and Narcissa looked as if they couldn't decide whether to be intrigued by that statement, or repulsed because their son was involved in the implied naughtiness. Harry snickered a bit secretively for a moment. Then he decided to back Draco up.

“For example, while there are a couple of small loos, there's really only one bathroom. Fortunately for us, it's huge! I really have no idea what the builders were thinking when they built the house with only one bathroom – and I suspect that it's been added onto with an extension charm or two – but the tub can comfortably fit at least 20 people. Which is for the best really, as once all the babies are born, we're going to need all that extra room to take a decent bath,” Harry explained. The funny thing was that he was being honest.

It's not like a set bath time was announced and then everyone piled into the tub. Instead, it seemed that – at any given point in the day – someone would decide that they needed a bath, and then at least half of the people living in the house would shrug and announce that since a bath was being drawn anyway, they may as well not let all the water in that huge tub go to waste. Thus, Harry wasn't lying when he implied that they all tended to bathe together.

Even Ron had gotten used to what basically boiled down to the same lack of privacy as living in a dorm, except with eight pregnant women and two pregnant men. It was a godsend that he had such a sense of humor, because Ron could often diffuse a tense situation with just a joke or two. He once told Harry that he was completely used to lightening the mood because Harry and Hermione were both such serious or intense people that if he left them to it, they'd probably never laugh at all.

Harry had to admit that he had been an intense and serious person back during the war, but that was because he was always so stressed out by trying to save the world. Now that he had defeated Voldemort and won the war, his playful side was coming out. There was a reason that Andromeda thought of him as a big kid!

Lucius sighed and visibly pushed away all thoughts of possible inappropriate behavior. Then he gave Draco a serious gaze. Draco tensed up when he noticed this.

“Son... we would like for you to remember that after you've played happy families for a while – say a couple of years – you should still get married to a suitable witch and move back into the Manor.”

Draco looked crushed. He sighed to give himself time to think of a response. Anger took over, but he tried to control it.

“Happy families? You think that I'm simply playing around?” Draco ground out, trying to sound mild but not quite managing it. “Is this your way of telling me that the child growing inside my belly will not be my Heir in your eyes? Do you plan to snub him? Or what about them?” Draco pointed to Harry's belly. “They're mine too!”

Lucius was feeling so many conflicting emotions that he was at a loss. “Draco... I just want what is best for you. I know you don't believe it now, but there is a deep comfort in being married. In knowing that you will always have someone there for you, no matter what happens.”

Lucius reached out and took his wife's hand. “Believe it or not, children eventually grow up, and then what will you have left?”

Harry had been attempting to pretend to give them a bit of privacy by asking a house elf to bring him some fresh cherries and a vanilla pudding to dip them in, but he was listening to every word. He was shocked to find that he thought Lucius had a valid point. None of them had really thought about the future beyond the necessary: what will happen when the babies arrive?

Draco rolled his eyes. “So your solution to a problem that may or may not exist in 20 years is to try to marry me off to a pureblood witch? That's what you've been trying to do since I turned 16!”

Harry moaned as the cherry dipped in pudding practically melted in his mouth. As he took another cherry and dipped it, he murmured: “Draco could always marry me.”

Draco gasped in astonishment and Harry looked up to find all three of them staring at him in shock. Harry gave them a puzzled frown and set his food aside.

“Er... couldn't you? Or is there some sort of law in the Wizarding World that forbids it? If so, I'll set Hermione to changing the law,” Harry stated in determination. “And actually, now that Kingsley is Minister, I could ask him to either help change the law or grant special permission.”

“You're serious?!” Draco exclaimed with a tone that was both incredulous and happy.

“Well yeah, why wouldn't I be?” Harry wondered, confused. “You said it yourself; we're a family. I'm carrying your children and you're carrying mine. It would be agony not to be together!”

Draco – showing possibly the most emotion that he ever had in his life – flung his arms around Harry and buried his face against Harry's neck. “Oh Harry,” he murmured softly.

Harry chuckled nervously, sliding an arm around Draco's back. “Is that a yes then?”

Draco straightened up, his face already a cool Slytherin mask. “That's a: You had better get me a damn good ring and ask me properly, you arsehole!”

Harry snickered. “Oh. So I guess that makes you the girl then. You plan to wear a dress too?”

Draco grabbed the pillow from behind him and hit Harry over the head with it. “I most certainly will not! How dare you suggest such a thing?!”

Narcissa was watching them with an expression of happiness and parental pride, but Lucius looked aghast. He desperately wanted to protest! However, he couldn't recall seeing his son look so happy since he was 11 years old and about to go to Hogwarts. And oh Merlin's scraggly beard! Draco actually looked like he was in love!

And so did Harry.

Harry snatched the pillow from Draco, using the motion to pull him close, and then gave him a kiss. Draco blushed and turned his head so that he was looking behind Harry. “Not in front of my parents,” he mumbled.

Narcissa laughed. “Oh Draco! I assure you that we will not be so scandalized that we burst into flames if we see you kiss your boyfriend.” She sobered up a moment later. “Is that why you didn't tell us? Were you afraid that we'd be so upset that we'd disown you?”

Draco looked down at his lap and tilted his head to the side as he shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Yeah, I think so.”

Narcissa got to her knees before him. “Oh my darling boy!” She lay her head in what remained of his lap and slid her arms around him. “Don't you know by now that your happiness is my happiness? I love you so much!”

“Mother...” Draco exhaled in awe.

Lucius cleared his throat and looked like he was trying to swallow something acidic and bitter. “I... suppose... that you could do worse than marrying the Savior of the Wizarding World.”

Draco was gobsmacked. “Did... Did you just... give me your blessing?!”

Lucius sighed. “Yes, I suppose I did.”

Draco gently pushed his mother off his lap. “I need some air!” He then Disapparated without another word.

“So, er...” Harry mumbled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Any idea what Draco might consider a good ring?”

Go To Part V