Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the Potterverse, and no copyright infringement is intended. This is Not for Prophet (or profit, for those of you who don't get it smile).

This is un-beta'd. Any mistakes are mine alone.

Secrets Never Hurt, Right?

Chapter One: In which things are revealed and shopping is done.

Harry Potter sat on the bed in stunned disbelief. He knew it could happen, he just never thought that it would have happened to him from just that once. Blinking, he focused his emerald gaze on the mediwitch in front of him.

"Are you sure, Poppy?" he asked. The mediwitch looked affronted. And indeed she was. As if she didn't know how to do a simple diagnostic scan of her young charge.

"Yes, Harry, I am," she replied in a curt tone. Harry immediately looked contrite.

"Sorry. It's just, this is all so . . . overwhelming. You know? I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know dear. It will take some time to get used to."

Harry nodded, and after an endless round of what he should eat and how to take care of himself, he departed the Hogwarts infirmary. He was just glad he decided to come see Poppy instead of going to St. Mungo's. If this leaked out to the press . . . Harry groaned. He could just see the headline now.

Boy-Who-Lived Pregnant!

'Wouldn't that just be fun,' he thought to himself. Luck was on his side that day, however. He did not run into a single person. As the only people present were the professors, he was rather glad of that fact. They knew him well enough to know something was wrong just by looking at him.

He apparated to Hermione Granger's flat in South London intent on telling her the news. He knew he'd need help, and there was no-one he'd trust more. Arriving in what Hermione called the mudroom, but was really an apparation point, he knocked on the door. Hearing a male voice bid him enter, he stepped in and smiled at his former year-mate and one of his closest friends. Next to Hermione and Ron, this was his best friend.

"'Lo Dray!" Harry said, grinning.

"Hi Harry. What brings you here this fine day?" Draco Malfoy replied.

Harry shrugged and suddenly looked nervous.

"Is 'Mione around? I really need to talk to her."

Draco studied him a moment, scrutinizing him before nodding, apparently satisfied that Harry wouldn't tell him anything before Hermione was there.

"She's in the bath now, but should be out soon. Would you care for some tea while we wait? Some quidditch talk? Sex?" Draco said the last with an overly dramatic leer, and Harry laughed, his nervousness fading away.

"Nah. Save it for your fiancee. Unless you're thinking of flying for the other team?" Harry waggled his eyebrows in what he hope was a lecherous manner while Draco snickered.

They sat sipping tea and talking until Hermione emerged, dressed in a casual summer robe. It was then that Harry realized that she and Draco were obviously dressed for an outing.

"Hello Harry!" Hermione said, coming towards him and enveloping him in a hug. "What brings you here?"

Harry snickered. His friends obviously thought alike. Making an impulse decision, he turned a brilliant smile on the two.

"Would you care to go shopping with me? I need to pick up a few . . . necessities, while I still can."

Hermione looked curiously at her best friend, then to her fiance who shrugged in response.

"Harry, what is this about?" Draco asked. "I know you didn't come here just to go shopping. For Merlin's sake, you hate shopping!"

Harry sighed and sat down again.

"I got some news from Poppy today. I really do need to go shopping, and I'd rather go now before my reasons become too obvious."

Draco raised a slim blonde brow, slight irritation showing in that one movement.

"Care to tell us what these reasons are?"

"I went to see Poppy because I haven't been feeling well lately. She did some tests, and told me that I . . ." he broke off, unable to continue. Hermione took in his teary eyes and miserable countenance and couldn't help herself. She sat next to him and held him to her.

"It's okay, Harry. Just take your time."

Harry gave her a watery smile, and whispered, "I'm pregnant."

Hermione blinked, then shrieked in the way only a woman can after hearing such news.

"Oh Harry! That's wonderful! Isn't it? I mean, have you told the father? Who is the father? Last I knew, you had only slept with . . ." she trailed off. "Oh. I see."

"Yeah. Oh," Harry replied, a sad look on his face. "He can't know, 'Mione. I can't tell him. It was just the one time. I've never . . . well, not with anyone else. What am I going to do?" he asked pleadingly.

Draco stood up abruptly, and smirked.

"Right now, I say we go shopping. We can think about the rest later."

Hermione gave Draco a shy smile and turned back to Harry.

"Yes, I think that's best. Besides, we were going shopping today anyway. We'll just have to double our purchases," she said with a wicked glint in her eyes.

"You mean--" Harry blinked, then smiled blindingly. "Congratulations! How far?"

Hermione blushed and Draco's smirk widened into a grin.

"The same night as you, I'm thinking. Six weeks, anyway."

Harry nodded. The three talked a bit about what they were expecting to happen, and decided where to shop. Finaly, they all agreed on two shops in Diagon Alley, and one in Muggle London. They would go there last.

They had fun in Diagon Alley. The first shop they went in, they purchased cribs, cradles and bedding. The cribs had baby monitor charms on them, and the cradles did that and had charms to gently rock the babies if they were fussy. All the bedding, plus receiving blankets, had charms to control the temperature around the babies, so they were neither too hot nor too cold when wrapped in one.

The second shop, they purchased robes and other clothing for the babies. Draco and Hermione picked most of the clothes out, as Harry obviously had no fashion sense according to Draco.

"But Dray! They'll grow out of them soon enough. Do they really need to be at the height of fashion when they'll only wear their clothes for a few weeks at most?" Harry had asked. Draco had replied with a single nod and that was that.

They stopped for ice cream at Fortescue's, then made their way into Muggle London. The shop, a boutique, was Hermione's idea. She wanted to be able to dress their baby in Muggle attire when they went to visit her family. Harry agreed, as he liked to make excursions to the Muggle world as well on occasion, and would enjoy not having people gawk at his baby's wizarding wear. They got toys from both the Wizard and Muggle shops, finding quite a few that they liked in both.

Harry was glad when the shopping was over, but he didn't want to leave the comfort of his friends' company so soon, so he invited them to his house for dinner. They agreed, and soon all three were eating and talking over a light meal. Neither Harry nor Hermione could handle much heavier foods at the time. It was as they were sitting in the parlor that Draco brought up a question that Harry had been dreading.

"So Harry, when are you going to tell Severus?"

tbc

A/N: So, what do you think? I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update, as I tend to get side-tracked easily. But I wanted to put this out, and I already have most of it planned out mentally. However, getting it onto paper doesn't always work the way I want it to. But please let me know what you think, okay? Thank you.