Gentle
By Torina Archelda
The first installment in the Pathos drabble series by Torina Archelda and atypicalsnowman. Severus and Harry have shared their first night together after moving into Severus' quarters.
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Gentle
Harry suddenly shot up into a sitting position in their bed, and Severus frowned into the dark. "Harry?" he asked, leaning up on his elbow and running his hand up and down his lover's back. "Are you all right?"
"You can't laugh," Harry replied, and there was an edge of panic in his voice that Severus didn't like.
"Of course not," he said softly, beginning to worry. "What is it?"
"I- look, the wizarding world is funny sometimes, and stranger things have-I just- there's no chance I could be pregnant now, is there?"
Severus exhaled a relieved breath and pulled Harry down to lie next to him. "No, Harry. Magic did not endow wizards with the ability to conceive children. And even if it had, do you not trust that I would have cast a contraceptive spell earlier this evening?"
Reassured, Harry leaned into his embrace, tucking his head underneath Severus' chin and wrapping an arm around his waist. "Okay, okay. Lesson learned. Harry Potter will not jump to baseless conclusions." After a moment, though, he asked, "Are there potions though? Spells?"
Severus shook his head slightly. "No." He ran his fingers through Harry's hair gently, savoring the warm weight of his lover lying partly on top of him. "Various otherwise brilliant minds have tried and failed many a time over the years. To create the biological offspring of two males is physically impossible."
Harry frowned, tilting his head so he could meet Severus' gaze. "I didn't think there was much magic couldn't do."
Severus hummed quietly, sliding his hand out of Harry's hair and moving to trace circles on his lower back. "Magic can create a habitable place for a fetus in the male body, yes. It is not ideal, but in the case that a woman is having difficulty bringing a baby to term and no other surrogate can be found, a man may carry an already fertilized embryo. But it is simply not possible to create a human being out of two sperm cells."
A strand of hair fell into Severus' line of sight, and Harry brushed it away almost before Severus had noticed it was there. He leaned into the touch and Harry smiled, tracing the line of his cheekbone. Severus reached up to catch his hand, curling his fingers around Harry's and pressing them to his lips. Harry's eyes closed and he sighed contentedly, wrapping himself further into Severus' embrace. Not wanting Harry to fall asleep just yet, Severus continued their conversation.
"Consider," he began, but then a thought struck him. "You have an understanding of elementary biology, yes?"
Harry made an affirmative noise into his neck, and Severus pulled him closer. "You are aware, then, that an ovum contains an X chromosome, and a sperm cell can contain either an X or a Y chromosome." Another affirmative grunt. Severus took that as leave to continue.
"Consider, then- assuming the possibility of a successful fertilization of a sperm cell by a sperm cell- a case in which both of said sperm cells contained a Y chromosome."
This got Harry's attention. He removed his head from Severus' neck and leaned away a bit. Severus bit his tongue to keep himself from pulling the man back to him.
"You mean… You'd have created another gender?" The thoughtful frown on his face was one of the most beautiful things Severus had ever seen, and he reached out to brush his thumb across Harry's lips before he could stop himself.
"That or something else entirely. Likely unable to procreate; possibly different from us in ways we can't even begin to imagine. Consider the role gender plays in our physical forms, and the fact that every attribute that makes up the human experience is dictated by a mere 23 pairs of chromosomes- certainly other genes must derive themselves from the sex chromosome as well. Beyond the physicality of the matter, it is clear that male pregnancy poses very dangerous situations for the entirety of the human race, notwithstanding the parties involved in the pregnancy themselves."
"All right then," Harry said with a grin. "Male pregnancy is against the natural order of things, and I'm a fool for thinking you wouldn't have taken care of me. No little Harrys or Severuses running around anytime soon." He hooked a leg over Severus' and tightened his grip around Severus' waist, pressing his face into his lover's hair and exhaling. "Can we go to sleep now? Just want to hold you."
Severus rested his hand atop Harry's head, pressing it further into his cheek, and murmured a soft yes. An indeterminate time later, when Harry's breathing had evened out and their mingled breaths were the only sound in the stillness of the night, Severus breathed, "I love you."