Orion- 9
Gabriel - 7
Sakura - 5
Juliette - 4
Micah - 1
Violet - unborn
"Harry!" The call had Harry dropping his bowl onto the table and hurrying into the next room. Remus was looking a little stressed as he tried to sooth Sakura who was sobbing into his shoulder. He hurried over to the werewolf who quickly passed the sobbing 5-year-old over to her daddy.
With a great sniff, she wrapped her little arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder.
"What happened hunny?" Harry asked.
"I want to see Santa!" She pouted.
"Oh, ok, well you can't see Santa or he will lose his magic sweetheart," Harry tried to fight down his laughter. Remus mouthed to him that she was tired. "Have you had fun with Grandpa Remi?"
"Yes!" Orion bounced into his legs, wrapping his little arms around Harry's legs tightly. Well, when Harry said little, they were still small, but he was scarily too big for his baby boy.
"Grampy Sev gave us a present!" Gabriel gave him an extremely gap-toothed smile as he too raced over. Looking up Harry smiled as he watched Sirius and Severus walk into the room, Severus holding Micah close, his youngest looking quite sleepy.
"Daddy!" Juliette squealed hurrying over.
"Sweetheart, remember we need to be gentle with Daddy," Remus caught her before she could throw herself full tilt at Harry.
"I'm sorry," Her bottom lip trembled making Harry smile lovingly at her and tug her into his side as Remus took Sakura back.
"It's fine baby," Harry reassured her.
"But I nearly hurt the baby," She sniffed.
"The baby is fine," Harry smiled.
"M sorry baby," She reached up and gently patted his very swollen stomach.
"There, all better," Harry kissed her dark hair. "Now, who wants hot chocolate?"
"Me! Oh me! Me!" Sirius called louder than any of the kids making Harry laugh.
"Thank you for having them," Harry said as he placed a kiss on the forehead of each of his 4 children.
"We love taking them out," Remus shook his head as he followed Harry into the kitchen to make the hot chocolate. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better, thank you," Harry smiled.
"You have taken on too much. You are due in two weeks, and decided to cook Christmas supper for all of us," Remus shook his head.
"You sound like Blaise!" Harry grumbled good-naturedly.
"He worries," Remus smiled. Harry rubbed his swollen stomach with a soft smile as he thought of his husband. "Missing him?"
"Yes, so much. Honestly, it's silly, but this is the longest I have been away from him since we got together," Harry sighed.
"It's not silly, you love each other. Plus with you being so close," Remus smiled patting Harry's stomach gently. "Plus if you think we are bad, wait till Blaise finds out you had a dizzy spell,"
"You had a dizzy spell!" Harry groaned and turned from Remus' guilty amber eyes to meet two sets of concerned silver-blue eyes.
"I am fine!" He reassured Lucius and Draco.
"But, that isn't good! Harry, are you feeling ok? Why are you up? You need to be sitting down," Draco fretted.
"I have had the whole day off, no kids besides this little one. Remus and Sirius looked after them for me. Honestly, I am fine now," Harry smiled.
"Maybe we should cancel Christmas, or do it somewhere else?" Lucius suggested, only to flinch when green eyes narrowed in a way they rarely did, and Blaise swore he had learnt from Voldemort.
"We are not cancelling! I am fine! I have worked hard at this and if anyone so much as breathes another word about cancelling I will curse everyone black, blue, green and purple before removing certain parts of you body!" He growled.
"Ok," The three men squeaked.
"Wonderful, hot chocolate kids! That includes you Sirius," Harry called brightly bouncing through with the tray of hot chocolate floating behind him.
"Merlin I am glad they said this was their last child, he is mildly terrifying with hormones," Lucius huffed.
"You don't have to live with him," Remus muttered gaining sympathetic looks.
"I heard that," Sing songed from the other room making the men blanch.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy..."
"Sweetheart I am well aware who I am, I gave birth to you, you do not need to repeat it that often," Harry grinned yanking a bashful Sakura onto his knee. "Now what have you got?"
"Snowflakes!" She beamed showing him the paper snow flakes that she had been so carefully cutting for the last hour.
"Oh wow! They are lovely!" Harry beamed proudly at her.
"Do you think Papa will like them?" She asked.
"I think he will love them. How about I charm them to sparkle, and for them to float over us?" Harry suggested.
"Yes!" She grinned.
Harry tapped the snowflakes making them shimmer before flicking his wand so that they would float up and hover over their head, to join the others that were floating prettily up there. Suddenly he was surrounded by the other three all holding up various Christmas craft items he had had them working on. Laughing he appreciated each piece and them charmed it into place in the room.
"Alright! Cuddle and story time!" He called. There was a small scramble of legs and arms, some bickering before they were all settled around him and Gabriel presented him with a book, it was his choice today. "Again?" He laughed.
"I like it," Gabriel grinned.
"Me too,"
"And me,"
"Honestly, your uncle Draco has a lot to answer for, giving you this book," Harry sighed but got comfy and opened the book. He smiled softly to himself as Orion and Juliette settled with their heads on his stomach. Micah was already snoozing against his chest. Gabriel and Sakura snuggled into his sides. "Once upon a time there was a fair prince called Harry, who had been tricked by an evil Lord, but not to fear, waiting and ready to rescue the gentle, loving prince was Prince Blaise, who had loved Prince Harry from afar for a long long time..."
Blaise dropped his bags by the fire and hurried down the hallway to the family living room, where his family would no doubt be for story time. He had been hoping to make it home for supper but sadly the international flooing centre had been jam-packed. Although standing with Voldemort hissing and spitting insults while using him as a human shield to avoid human contact had kept him entertained.
The two of them had been as bad as each other for missing their family and their respective partners in particular. Since Voldemort and Fenrir had bonded officially in their private ceremony three years ago they had hardly been apart, so his sort of step-grandfather in law had not been in the best of moods anyway, never mind being away from the children, who he surprisingly got on very well with.
Blaise though Blaise had missed his family with a vengeance, being away from his children and his gorgeous pregnant husband who was about ready to give birth...it had been like an ache in his chest constantly. Now, however, he was done with his side of the business, and he was free to concentrate on the kids and the new baby when it came along.
He slowed and quietened his steps as he heard Harry's voice, recognising the rhythm and tone as him being deep into story time, the fact there was silence and no laughing, screaming, shouting, talking or squealing going on meant the kids were sitting still for the only thing they would, reading time.
"...and then Prince Blaise swept Prince Harry into true loves kiss, and together they were crowned Kings of their Kingdom. Standing proudly in front of their people they hugged Prince Orion close and promised to rule over their kingdom fairly and wisely,"
Blaise covered his mouth to smother his laughter as he realised what story Harry had been forced into reading ye again. Honestly, he was surprised that Harry hadn't killed Draco by now for that book. None of them had seen it coming when Draco had decided that he was going to become a professional writer creating children's books, but he had definitely had a knack for making up stories that Orion loved and his skill with children had not been limited to Orion. He had published quite a few boos before the story of Prince Harry and Prince Blaise had hit the bookshelves and become a best seller. Harry and Blaise had both been immensely pleased that their love story was a best-seller, and mortified.
And of course, their kids loved it! It was read at least once or twice every week.
He slipped into the living room and gazed around stunned at the transformation. They had decorated and put up the tree before he had left and put a few things up in their living room. But the kids and Harry had clearly been busy while he had been away.
The ceiling had paper snowflakes, dozens of them, floating and bobbing around, some of them were coloured blue indicating that they were Juliette's who was currently going through a phase where everything had to be that colour, others were sparkling either clear or silver. There were paper chains, popcorn strings, a wreath that had clearly been made by them, he could see home made ornaments on one of the trees in the room that was for the kids decorations alone, dozens of other things were in the room, but his eyes were drawn back to his family piled onto the sofa curled around Harry.
He walked further into the room and smiled when they all turned and looked at him. There was a second before the squealing started, though he noticed with pride that Orion, Sakura Juliette and Gabriel were all carefully of Harry's belly as they scrambled off of the sofa before racing at him.
He knelt down on the ground, opening his arms with a grin as his sons and daughters threw themselves at him with shouts of 'papa'. He pulled them close against himself and hugged them tightly, scattering kisses over their faces repeatedly.
"Oh, Merlin I have missed you so so so so much my darlings," Blaise smiled between kisses. They were all trying to talk over each other to get his attention, all of them pressing as close as possible to him. There was gesturing to various decorations in the room indicating that they were the creator of each piece.
He ooed and ahhed over each piece, nodding and listening intently to their chatter. He looked up when Micah was suddenly lowered into his view, his youngest wobbling over to him with Harry's support and latching onto his Papa's arm. He smiled proudly and kissed Gabriel's forehead when his middle son reached out and helped steady his little brother.
"My sweethearts why don't you come with me to get Papa a drink and something to eat, and let him and daddy say hello,"
"Ewwww!" The kids groaned, scrunching their noses in nearly identical ways, but they went with a smiling Gabriella, who paused to brush a kiss to Blaise's forehead before she picked Micah up and led the way to the kitchen. Blaise chuckled as he heard the kids arguing about what he would prefer to eat. He was about to be given 4 different meals and drinks, he just knew it.
"Blaise," Harry breathed out, and without conscious thought Blaise was on his feet and pulling his husband a close against him as he could with his very pregnant belly, and kissed him deeply. Harry groaned against him, combing his fingers through Blaise's hair and holding on as he kissed back with just as much enthusiasm. Blaise could taste all the longing and hunger in Harry's kiss, his hands clinging onto him leaving him with no doubt that Harry had missed him a lot during their time apart.
"Merlin Harry, never again!" Blaise swore.
"Never," Harry nodded seriously.
"How are you, how is the little one?" Blaise smiled kneeling down and cupping Harry's stomach.
"Ok, but..." Harry grimaced when Blaise looked up sharply, but they had promised never to lie to each other.
"What is it?" Blaise stood up again, his hands gently stroking Harry's stomach.
"I had a little bit of a dizzy turn a couple of days ago. I'm fine we both are, and Siri and Remi took the kids the next day to give me a little time to put my feet up. I was just a little tired and hadn't drunk enough,"
"You're fine, both of you? Are you ok? You have been doing too much I told you doing a big Christmas this year was not the right thing to do anything could have happened and you have been pushing yourself too hard and I shouldn't have gone away and..."
"Blaise! Breathe!" Harry barked glaring at his husband.
"Sorry," Blaise grimaced.
"Ok, stop, calm down. I am fine, we are fine. I admit I overdid it just a little, but I was being silly and got distracted with the kids. I really wish everyone would stop trying to cancel our family Christmas,"
"No, don't do that!" Blaise groaned.
"I am not doing anything,"
"You are using those eyes on me,"
"I am not, I don' have eyes,"
"You do so,"
"I do not,"
"Yes, my love, you do, and I am weak to them every time," Blaise smiled pulling Harry close and stroking his cheek. "Everyone has been trying to cancel?"
"They have been trying to convince me that it is too much, I just want to have a family Christmas," Harry sighed.
"Ok," Blaise smiled.
"What?"
"We will have the family Christmas that you have been dreaming about. But," Harry rolled his eyes when Blaise paused making Blaise laugh and kiss him softly before carrying on. "But, you will let me help,"
"I could agree to that," Harry smiled.
"Good," Blaise smiled leaning in for another kiss. "I missed you, my love,"
"I missed you too, so much," Harry sighed contently sinking against his husband.
"How have they been?" Blaise asked.
"What the kids or the adults?" Harry snickered.
"Hey!" Sirius protested walking into the room.
"It is true," Severus drawled.
"Oh and you are an angel?" Sirius snorted.
"Quite angelic,"
"Dear Merlin, why did I marry you two?" Remus huffed walking between them with a roll of his eyes. He walked over and pulled Blaise into a tight hug. "We have missed you pup,"
"Of course we have!" Sirius grinned coming over for his own hug. Severus' was slightly less enthusiastic but had no less feeling behind it.
"Has he told you he..."
"Yes Sirius I have informed him you snitch," Harry stuck his tongue out.
"We have an agreement," Blaise assured them.
"Papa papa papa papa!" They all laughed as the kids stampeded in holding different plates, Gabriella grinning behind them holding a plate of her own.
"Ok guys settle down, put your plates on the table, Papa needs to eat something proper before he tries the sweets we made," Harry ordered. Blaise groaned contently as he sank onto the sofa and accepted the sandwich from his mother while admiring the assortment of biscuits and sweets, all homemade, the kids were showing him.
"This looks amazing," He smiled as Harry awkwardly lowered himself down next to him on the sofa. "You have been busy," He said leaning over to kiss Harry again.
"Ew!" Orion scrunched his nose and exchanged an exasperated look with Gabriel.
"We saved Christmas cookie decorating," Harry promised. Blaise smiled and kissed his husband once more before tucking into his sandwich. Christmas cookie decoration was something that they did every year at Christmas, Harry had started it Orion's first Christmas and they had done it every year. The Malfoys, Weasleys, Fenrir and Voldemort and Hermione and Theo would come over and they would all do it.
The first year it had been quite funny watching the expression on all the purebloods faces when Harry had informed them that using magic was banned and it had to be done by hand. But they had had so much fun that year and had promised to do it again. Though Arthur spent less time on his decorating and more time on inspecting the muggle baking ingredients and equipment... actually he did that every year.
"I can't wait. I have some great ideas this year I think I might even win!" Blaise teased.
"No Papa! I will this year, you will see," Juliette giggled climbing onto Blaise's knee.
"No Papa, mine will be!" Gabriel argued climbing onto Blaise's other leg and snuggling close as Orion and Sakura sat down at his feet. There was a brief flurry of activity as Micah wriggled to be put on the floor before Gabriella could place him down safely. Once on the floor, he quickly crawled over and plonked his bum firmly down onto Blaise's foot.
"Well, we all know I am the King of the decorating," Sirius sniffed.
"Yes bad decorating!" Orion snorted before squealing and racing around the room as Sirius lunged after him. Juliette threw herself off of his knee and chased after Sirius to protect her brother, and Blaise watched and listened as the other kids shouting out encouragement to either their brother or Grandfather Micah was bouncing on his foot squealing with excitement as he watched. Merlin, he had missed this.
"Oh please my darlings, I will win this year, I have been planning!" Gabriella chortled gaining another round of arguments about who would win.
Harry groaned contently as Blaise dug his fingers into his back, his strong hands hitting all the right places, experience now knowing exactly where he needed to massage to help ease the aches that the pregnancy gave him. The oil that Severus had specially made for him when he had been pregnant with Gabriel smelled like honey and vanilla and was amazing at helping ease the aches of pregnancy. It had also made him quite rich selling it even at a low cost.
Blaise moved a little further up his back, working away relieving the muscles in his shoulders as Harry melted under his ministrations. The dark-haired man smiled as Blaise brushed a kiss against his shoulder and then neck before he carefully climbed around Harry and lay down in front of him, his hand coming out to gently stroke his stomach. Harry wriggled a little to get more comfortable on his side before watching Blaise.
Merlin he still loved this man as much as he did when they had been younger and only had Orion.
"What?" Blaise chuckled.
"Just thinking about how much I love you, and that I always will," Harry sighed contently.
"I love you too," Blaise leant forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "Always,"
"You are definitely not allowed to leave me alone for that amount of time again," Harry grumbled.
"I promise," Blaise chuckled. "Siri said that you were brooding,"
"I was not brooding!" Harry huffed.
"I heard there was definite brooding, a lot of sighing, some pouting, ow!" Blaise laughed as Harry's foot connected with his shin, a cute glare on his face. "I am sorry, I missed you too, so much. There may have been a little bit of brooding and sighing from my part too,"
"Really?" Harry grinned.
"Really," Blaise smiled combing his fingers through Harry's hair. "You ok?" He asked concerned as Harry grimaced and wriggled a little.
"Yes, fine, the baby is kicking my ribs," Harry groaned.
"They are going to be a handful," Blaise smiled as he reached out to start rubbing Harry's stomach again trying to soothe the baby.
"I don't think my insides are ever going to be the same again after this little kicker," Harry groaned before jerking. "Oh, Merlin they got my bladder!" He squeaked.
With ease, Blaise was on his feet and lifting Harry running for the bathroom.
Blaise shook his head as he watched the children arguing over their cookies and whose were the best, biscuits being waved around in challenge. Meanwhile, his and Harry's children were sitting carefully decorating away and behaving much better than the adults.
"Juliette do not encourage your uncle Draco," Harry rolled his eyes getting another giggle from his daughter as she watched her uncle and grandfather Lucius battling over whose cookie looked the best.
Blaise shook his head as Sirius took a massive bite out of the cookie Theo had been waving under his nose getting a stunned look from the younger man while Hermione nearly fell out of her chair laughing at him.
"Neville dear lord keep your husband under control," Harry groaned as Draco actually started a thumb war with Gabriel to be allowed to use the blue icing first.
"That hasn't worked in 9 years, why on earth would it start working now?" Neville snorted as he quite happily carried on with his own cookie.
"Good point," Harry laughed before turning to stop Micah from shoving a whole cookie in his mouth, and admire Orion's cookie. His oldest son put the cookie onto his plate and then grabbed another blank cookie before starting again.
Blaise caught Harry's eye and nodded down towards the other end of the table his green-eyed husband glancing passed him before smirking and lifting the camera beside him to snap a quick picture.
Gabriella and Remus seemed to be locked in an intense competition to produce the best cookie and were working feverishly away. Voldemort was sitting straight-backed as he neatly and carefully iced the borders of the cookie carefully while assisting Sakura with her cookie when asked. Fenrir was sitting between Sakura and Juliette and was more interested in what they were doing and helping them while sneaking bites of cookies when he thought the girls couldn't see him. Severus was sneaking glances at Molly's cookies and seemed fairly determined to beat her this year.
Arthur was as normal carefully inspecting all the ingredients and instruments that Harry had bought for today, Bill and Charlie were laughing and joking as they decorated, making more noise than anyone else while helping Fleur and Bill's children. Fred and George were working feverishly away on their cookies with a single-minded determination, Ginny and Luna seemed a little more interested in decorating each other than they did their cookies, and Hermione kept coughing to remind them that there were children present.
His family were big and loud and whacky, but it was family and he loved them.
And he dreaded having to make the choice this year as to whose cookie was the best.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Harry asked stunned looking up from the paperwork resting on his knee to look between Hermione and Theo. Blaise was in much a similar state beside him of the sofa.
"We have discussed this and decided that this is what we want to do. We have waited to make sure that this is the right decision, but neither of us want kids," Hermione smiled.
"It is just something that doesn't interest either of us. We adore the brats and we love spending time with them, but having our own kids if just something that we do not want," Theo nodded.
"But the Nott line needs to continue, so naturally we both agreed that we would like it to go to one of the kids. Orion has the Zabini Lordship, Gabriel the Potter, Sakura the Black, so we would like for Juliette to take the Nott Ladyship," Hermione smiled.
"Guys, this is amazing, thank you," Harry sniffed.
"Hey, we adore the kids, we do, there was no one else once we agreed that neither of us wanted kids and never would," Theo shook his head, standing and moving to hug them both, though he was quite careful with Harry. He always seemed to the think that he was made of glass while pregnant.
"Thank you," Hermione hugged Blaise tight enough to break ribs
"Thank me? Why are you thanking me?!" Blaise shook his head.
"For making sure that we had this option and producing so many godkids for us to choose from," Hermione grinned cheekily.
"Hermione!" Harry squeaked.
"What? You are like rabbits you two, honestly six kids!" Theo laughed.
"Oh Merlin I am going to go and pretend I didn't hear that!" Harry flushed hurrying towards the door.
"Don't forget to sign!" Hermione called after him, before snickering at the gesture that she received over his shoulder.
Blaise balanced Micha and Juliette on each hip as he made his way through the garden. After their cookie decorating they had gone outside to make some snowmen and have a snowball fight. However, Micha and Juliette had tired out and been more than ready to get back to the house, when he had picked them up and started walking they had quickly nodded off in his arms, Micah drooling and snuffling against his shoulder and Juliette letting out soft little snores.
It was quite peaceful really, he could still hear the shouting and laughter of his family behind him, walking through the garden covered in snow everything was a little muted though and pleasant. The warming charms Harry had carefully applied to all the children's clothing and his own before seeing them out the front door were working away.
He smiled softly to himself as he pressed his nose into Micah's fluffy hair that to Harry's distress seemed to be taking after his messy hair. He hugged Juliette closer and carried on walking, humming Christmas music contently to himself.
The past nine years had not been easy, there had been some uproar and unrest, a few attempts of resistance to Voldemort's rule, and though he and Harry had tried their best to stay out of it, their closeness to so many involved made them open targets, never mind Harry's 'betrayal' of Dumbledore and the Order.
Being young parents had been a little stressful, Gabriel had been a shock, they had not planned for him, and they had not been sure that they were ready to have more children, despite the fact that they both agreed it was what they wanted. Harry had not been well during that pregnancy either, and Blaise had been a little scared that he and the baby would not make it through the pregnancy. At the end, they had had their second son, their amazing little boy, ad they could not have been happier.
And steadily their family had grown. Orion had enjoyed playing big brother after the shock of not being the only child had passed, and he had been fascinated with his baby sister when she came along. They had been thrilled to have a girl, and something seemed to settle for them.
Juliette had been another shock, but a welcome one and they had been looking forward to their family expanding a little bit more when they had found out about her.
They had planned for Micah to be their last baby, but as seemed their habit they had been well and truly caught by surprise by their latest addition, they couldn't regret it though. And Blaise knew Harry was thrilled for one more, though this one really was the last one. Probably.
Merlin, Blaise loved Harry, he grew more beautiful to him as the years went by, he had grown into his looks, his green eyes seemed to be green as the years went on, and their children thankfully all had the exact same eyes, mainly green but with flecks of his own whisky. He loved their family. There was nothing better to him than an evening in their living room with Harry and the children. Their family had grown. And he was happy. Happy in a way that he had never imagined he would get to have when he had been a teenager.
Merlin, but he had been so sure about the way his life was going to go, he could not let anyone in, he could not let anyone close beside that select few. He had been certain that family, love and children were something that he was not going to have in his life, even at that younger age.
"Blaise?" Harry yawned looking up from where he was curled up in an armchair in front of the fire, covered in a warm blanket that did nothing to hide the large swelling of his stomach.
He had been so sure, and then this man walked into his life. Well, fell into his life. He had fallen hard, and fast, for Harry and he had never looked back. He had never once regretted the choice that he had made, he had never once regretted bringing Harry and Orion into his life.
"We got tired," He explained with a soft smile, watching Harry wriggle to the edge of his seat and lever himself to his feet. He accepted the warm kiss from Harry before carefully passing over Micah, trailing Harry to the pile of bedding and mattresses that they had set up in front of the fire before they had gone out to play in the snow. He laid Juliette onto the bedding, quickly transfiguring her clothing into pyjamas and tucking her in carefully and pressed a kiss to her forehead, leaning over to press a kiss to Micah's forehead.
He helped Harry back to his feet and they stepped back, smiling at the same time as they watched Juliette wrap her arms around Micah in her sleep and the two snuggle close. Blaise wrapped his arm around Harry's waist and drew him back over to the fireplace, sitting down with him on the sofa with a soft groan.
"Merlin I am tired," Harry sighed dropping his head against Blaise's shoulder contently.
"Have you enjoyed yourself?" Blaise asked.
"Yes, it's been wonderful," Harry smiled brightly.
"And you're ready for tomorrow?"
"Definitely, I can't wait to see their faces when they see what we bought them," Harry beamed.
"It's going to be an amazing day, you have planned so hard for it," Blaise kissed his temple gently.
"You have worked very hard, I am quite proud of you," Harry patted his knee.
"Quite proud of me?" Blaise scoffed.
"Yes, nine years and who would believe that you could actually take orders quite well!" Harry smirked before squawking when Blaise pounced on him, scattering kisses over his face and lips.
"Daddy, Papa!" Was the warning they got to part before the rest of their chicks flocked into the room. They hurried over to the two of them telling them about the snowball fights and who had won. Blaise lifted Orion onto his knee, settling Gabriel between them, Sakura wriggling onto Harry's knee carefully as they all talked.
Eventually, though they calmed down enough from the excitement of their play time to be convinced into their pyjamas and onto the mattresses as well. Lying in a row they smiled sweetly at Blaise and Harry as they tucked them in and kissed each of them on the forehead. Once they were settled down Harry and Blaise climbed onto the mattresses themselves and got comfy.
Normally they would lie at either end of the mattresses, but with Harry being so close to giving birth Blaise did not want to sleep anywhere but right next to him, especially considering how long he had had to be away from Harry.
"Daddy, can you do the story please?" Gabriel asked as he snuggled against Orion.
"Just once, and then we need to go to sleep for Santa," Harry warned. There was some exciting giggling and shuffling before they all settled down again. "Ok, Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
Blaise leant over and kissed him sweetly before they looked over their brood all sleeping soundly snuggled together. They loved this tradition that they had created when Orion was two years old. They had kept it up every year since. The kids loved sleeping together in the living room.
There was a soft sound as the living room door opened and Gabriella, Sirius and Remus poked their heads in. When they got the thumbs up from Blaise they hurried in with all the presents floating behind them. With a few quick flicks of their wands they had the presents settled under the tree.
"Night night my loves," Gabriella blew them a kiss.
"See you in the morning," Sirius and Remus blew their kisses before they left the room.
"That's midnight," Blaise hummed.
"Merry Christmas," Harry smiled leaning up to kiss Blaise before he rested his head on his pillow and looked at his babies sleeping faces.
"Santa has been! Santa has been! Santa has been!"
"Careful kids!" Blaise yawned pressing his hand protectively to Harry's stomach as the kids bounced on the mattress.
"Sorry, Papa! But Santa has been!"
"Ok, ok we're up," Harry laughed before letting out a jaw-cracking yawn. "What time is it?" he groaned.
"Half five," Orion admitted sheepishly.
"Ugh, go wake your grandparents and aunts and uncles, then we will get up," Harry yawned and flopped back on his pillow.
"Ok!"
"They are going to kill you for that," Blaise snickered against his neck as he watched Orion pick Micah up and hurry out the room after the others.
"I'm pregnant, I will just start crying, they all get awkwardness about them still when I start crying," Harry smirked.
"You are so evil, and I love it," Blaise snuggled close.
They managed to catch a little more sleep before the kids barrelled back into the room dragging with them the very sleepy Grandparents and Hermione, Theo, Draco and Neville. Narcissa was looking particularly grumpy as she flopped onto a sofa, though Draco did not look much better.
"Presents!" The chants got louder until Blaise had managed to lever Harry to his feet, the pregnant man grumbling at the difficulty it took to get back off the floor.
"Ok, we sit down, we sit nice, we sit patiently! Daddy needs to go pee and then we can open presents," Harry held up his hand.
"Ok!" They chorused.
Harry hurried out of the room to the toilet, grumbling at the pressure on his bladder, before hurrying back to where his kids would be waiting impatiently. When he stepped back into the room the smell of mince pies, coffee, hot chocolate and tea filled the air making him smile. The adults were all tucking into their mince pies and drinks, the kids were all ignoring their drinks and food and were instead staring longingly at the piles of presents.
"Ok, go on," Harry laughed.
He settled down with Blaise on the sofa to watch the kids tucking into their presents. Though he noted with great pride that they stopped and thanked the relevant people for each present and admired it before moving onto the next.
He had been worried for a little while that his children might turn into Dudley 2.0's, they wanted for nothing and were admittedly spoilt rotten. But he could admit to himself that he and Blaise had done a really good job in making sure that the kids appreciated everything that they had, and they knew that they were lucky to have what they did.
The four older ones were running back and forth between different people hugging them in thanks for their presents before hurrying back for their next one. Micah was just sitting in the middle of a pile of paper, more happy with shredding the paper the older kids were discarding than focussing on his own presents.
"This is for you," Blaise slipped the small wrapped present into Harry's hand while everyone was distracted. Turning to look at his husband he opened the present curiously, before casting another look at Blaise when he saw it was a ring box. Blaise just smirked at him, that smirk that he knew drove Harry mad.
Opening the box he gasped at what was there. The band matched his engagement and wedding ring perfectly, and when he ran his thumb over it he felt the humming magic of Blaise and each of their children.
"It's an eternity ring. When the baby is old enough, we can add a touch of their magic to the ring as well. The kids were really excited to do it, though Micah nearly blew it up. He is going to be a strong little bugger," Blaise snorted.
"I love it, thank you," Harry sniffed. "And I definitely love you,"
"I love you too," Blaise took the ring and slid it onto his finger, the ring sliding seamlessly into place against his wedding ring and magically resizing to the perfect size.
"Daddy! Papa!" The groans had them laughing and parting from the deeper kiss they had been sharing, turning to find their kids all looking at them horrified, besides Micah who Hermione was convincing not to eat the wrapping paper.
"Don't look then," Harry teased before leaning in to press another deep kiss to Blaise's laughing mouth.
"I am stuffed!" Sirius groaned flopping onto the sofa resting his feet on Remus' lap and his head on Severus'.
"That was even better than last year," Fenrir nodded, undoing his belt with no subtlety at all.
"Orion was a massive help this year," Harry smiled proudly at his oldest son, running his fingers through his hair. He was sitting pressed against Harry's legs, reading the cookbook Harry and Blaise had bought him for Christmas.
"I like cooking," Orion shrugged flushing with pride as everyone complimented him. "I think I was a bigger help than Papa, he kept looking confused when Daddy told him different cooking terms,"
"You weren't supposed to tell anyone that!" Blaise mock scolded his son, feigning clipping him around the ear and getting giggles back.
"I am ready for a snooze," Hermione yawned getting comfy on the sofa.
"Me too," Draco sighed happily placing his feet on her lap.
Really the friendship between them had been something that none of them had really seen coming. But bound by their love for Orion - cemented by the peeing incident as they liked to joke - they had formed a great friendship together. Great and slightly scary. The two of them were lethal together, and the family could not be prouder.
"The little ones have already dozed off," Gabriella chuckled. Sure enough, Micah, Juliette and Sakura were in a small pile of limbs in front of the fire sleeping soundly. Gabriel was curled up on Lucius' knee for cuddles nodding off but fighting it.
"Oh, I meant to ask, ask we are all together, have you decided on a name for the baby?" Narcissa asked looking over to Harry and Blaise.
"Actually yes. We have decided that if it is a boy we will call him Victor, and if it is a girl Violet," Harry smiled happily as Blaise reached over to stroke his stomach.
"I like them," Fenrir nodded.
"Another brat to have to look after, wonderful," Voldemort said dryly from behind his book.
"You love us really," Orion snickered, crawling over and pressing himself against his great grandpapa's legs instead. Voldemort huffed, but did not hesitate to reach down and run his fingers through Orion's hair.
Harry smiled softly at the sight of his son sitting cuddled against the Dark Lord's legs having his hair stroked. Orion had no idea how amazing his existence really was, and he had no idea how he had changed the course of history, simply by existing. One day they were going to have to tell him when he was older. Harry refused to hide that from him, and despite being a little more dubious Blaise had agreed when Harry had explained how he had felt having such big things kept from him.
Right now though he was just Orion Blaise Zabini-Potter, older brother to Gabriel, Sakura, Juliette and Micah, and soon the new baby. And very much loved.
"...Blaise! Blaise!" Harry grunted shoving at his husband.
"What? Harry? No! We had Christmas? It's too early! It's boing day, there are no presents to open, one more hour sleep, please!" Blaise groaned trying to wriggle under the duvet.
"Santa has a late delivery!" Harry snickered.
"Wha?" Confused and very sleepy whisky eyes cracked open to peer at him.
"Your child is coming my love," Harry grinned before grimacing as a contraction hit.
"Oh! Oh! Oh, Merlin! Right! Yes! Oh!" Blaise was out of bed in seconds and racing around the room.
Harry made himself a little more comfortable against the pillows and waited. Really for someone who managed to deliver Orion so calmly Blaise still had an initial panic before every birth. It made him wonder how panicked the teen had been when delivering Harry Potter's surprise baby.
"Ok, deep breaths, are we ready?" Blaise was back at his side and looking a lot calmer.
"Ready,"
"Then lets welcome our son or daughter to the world shall we?" Blaise laughed kissing Harry. "And thank you for the Christmas present,"
"I love you," Harry kissed him before he moved to the edge of the bed, ready to head to St Mungo's to welcome the newest member of their family to the world.