Chapter 3

It was actually a very nice morning as far as mornings had gone the past month. Most people had entirely ignored the fact that his hair was a vibrant pink, at least, they had ignored it after he'd cursed Zabini, who happened to be the first one to say 'Malfoy, you're hair, it's pink' when he had explicitly told them not to say anything. After a very extensive shower, which he took late to ensure a modcum of solitude, Draco made his way to the Great Hall feeling, for the moment, rather chipper. He received a few snickers from passerbys, but no one actually said anything and as long as they maintained their semi silence he could maintain control over his temper.

Harry was already in the Great Hall, his friends on either side of him. They seemed... strange. There really was no other word for it. Granger kept patting Harry on the back, leaning over and whispering in his ear. The Weasel frowned down at Harry's half empty plate and started piling food on it, which Harry didn't seem to be taking too kindly; in fact, he was starting to turn on him when Granger said something that made Wealsey turn several shades of red, his shoulders slump dejectedly, and Harry chuckle.

Normally secrets did not bother Draco, but something about the despondency in Harry's posture, the way he hunched over his eggs jabbing them incessantly with his fork as though they might still be alive, made him feel slightly uneasy. He eventually caught Harry's eye and the Gryfindor nodded hello, but quickly looked back down, shoving some food in his mouth and chewing with obvious distaste.

It wasn't until mid day that Draco was even able to get close to him. Granger and Weasley had left him alone long enough to grab whatever it was they were wrestling for Care of Magical Creatures. Draco had decided he was uninterested. Who knew what the great oaf would throw at them today, but he wasn't about to go over and find out, instead, he leaned on the tree next to Harry. "So, what's got you're nickers in a twist?"

Harry shot him an amused glance, "None of your..." Then he stopped, grimacing slightly before turning away. "Who says my nickers are in a twist, anyway?"

"Oh, like it takes a bloody genius to figure that one out." Draco noted the sharp elbow in his ribs, but ignored the quickly spreading pain, "You look like you lost your Weasel."

Harry looked back at him sharply, "And you look like a twisted tooth fairy."

Draco paled, "Potter, I am going to pretend you did not just say that."

The Gryffindor quirked an eyebrow and shrugged, "Whatever, Malfoy."

Weasley and Granger were headed back and Draco decided he'd rather wrestle giant worms or slimy whatalls than deal with the Weasel gloating and laughing about exactly how wrong this shade of pink was for his already light complexion. "See you later, Potter."

Harry watched Malfoy walk off, his somewhat cold demeanor melting into relief. Hermione stopped beside him, handing him a pair of especially thick gloves, "What did you say to him, Harry, he looked like he was going to be sick for a moment there."

"I told him the pink hair made him look like the tooth fairy."

Ron's face became a mix of horror and amusement and Hermione had to pause for a moment in the middle of opening the small box they'd carried over, "Harry, remind me to show you a picture later."

Sudenly catching on, Harry tried to cover his chuckle, "I'm taking it the tooth fairy isn't a good natured woman in a pink too-too?"

"No, Harry, no their not."

Draco dragged himself miserably through the halls towards the Slytherin dungeon much later that night. The new captain of the Quidditch team was just about on his last nerve. If he heard one more time that he wasn't paying attention the boy would be speaking through other orifices for a week. Of course he wasn't paying attention, it was becoming unpleasantly clear that, no matter how he tried to deny it, he was concerned about Harry. More than just concerned, he was positively fretting. He'd watched the Gryffindor during both lunch and dinner. It seemed that despite his friend's efforts, the raven haired boy refused to eat, he just picked at it and occasionally made a half hearted attempt to swallow some.

Damnit! He was Draco fucking Malfoy he was not supposed to be watching Harry fucking Potter's every mood and he was not suppose to be fucking worried about... "Malfoy?"

Stopping sudenly in mid stamp Draco grabbed the wall for support, trying to make it look less like an attempt to keep his balance and more like a suave turn. "Potter!"

Harry was standing against the wall next to a portrait, more than a little amused, "You walked right past me." Draco shrugged, still leaning awkwardly against the wall, "We need to talk."

"Says he who called me the bloody tooth fairy." Pushing off the wall, he stumbled slightly and cursed under his breath before gaining his footing, "Besides, didn't you say it was none of my business?"

Harry made a face, "I started to, but quite frankly it is your business, so, if you don't mind?" He gestured towards the classroom door on his left and Draco grudgingly entered after him, shutting and locking the door, waiting somewhat patiently as while Harry erected silencing charms.

They stood facing each other in silence for some time. Draco sensed that it was probably better the let Harry speak first, and every few moments it appeared the Gryffindor might, he'd opening his mouth before shutting it and scowling nervously. Nearly five minutes later, Harry seemed to lose patience with himself and sat down on the desk, rubbing his temples, "All right, the thing is, no matter how often I practiced this it's just not something any man should ever have to say. So, instead, we're going to play a kind of twenty questions till you get it right."

"What's twenty questions?"

One look at Harry's sudenly furious gaze and he backed off, taking a seat across from him and waiting for the first class glare to slowly melt from his face. Snape would be proud. After several deep breaths, the green eyes relaxed somewhat and Harry took a deep breath, "Well, the thing is Malfoy, I... no, wait. Remember last night when we were doing inventory and I told you there should have been five hang over remedies missing, but there were only four?" Draco nodded slowly, "What else was missing?"

"I don't know?" The green eyes flashed dangerously and Draco quickly scanned his brain, holding back a chuckle, "About three vials of 'easy slip' lubricant."

Harry went both beat red and pale, putting his head in his hands and mumbled, "Other than that."

"Who do you think took those, anyway?"

"Malfoy!" Definitely red, but also very obviously devoid of patience, "Other than the lubricant."

Shrugging, Draco put his hands behind himself for support as he leaned back and kicked the air, "I really have no clue. I was far too angry with you for the hair to remember those lists."

Harry took a few more deep breaths, his face slowly returning to it's natural golden shade, his ears, however, retained the embarrassed pink shade, "Think really hard, Malfoy, or it'll be gold and red before you can take out your mirror."

Paling slightly, Draco sat up, fingering his back pocket as he tried to defend himself. "I do not have a mirror!"

"Some third year saw you take it out a few months ago."

Hunching over, Draco crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, his semi good mood ruined, "Find, whatever, can we just get on with this?"

Rolling his eyes, Harry took a very large breath, "Male fertility potion, Malfoy. There was one male fertility potion missing."

"That's right!" He chuckle deeply, trying to keep his voice down, "I was too busy picturing you on Snape's couch to remember that. What, you took that instead?" He nodded, his face a mask of non emotion. "That's classic! You fertilized yourself? Well, I'm not having sex with you again if that's what your getting at. I don't care how bad you wanna get knocked up..."

He felt two hands nearly shove him off his perch and pink hair fell in his face. "Time before that, Malfoy."

Harry had taken the potion when they'd gotten drunk the time before? That's right, that would be the time Draco woke up to the entire Slytherin dorm watching him vomit, a week before they'd (shudder) tried to have sex. Well, technically they had, technically he'd gotten it in before... before...

Oh shit. "No way." Pausing he added, "No way!" again just for good measure. "Absolutely positively no way in hell are you... you know."

Harry shook his head gravely, "Afraid so. The potion's effects last two weeks and we..."

"Don't say it!" Draco got off the desk and started pacing the room as the shock of the realization began to wear off, "Do you have any idea what this means?" One heir, one heir, the Malfoy line could only have one heir, he could only have one child. This was not happening, not with Harry of all people. Friend yes, lover no; and even if his father had ignored their friendship, or if he'd been to angry to reply, there wasn't a charm or curse around that could keep him from getting his hands on his son when he found out Draco had secured the family line with a Potter.

Harry's eyes slitted dangerously, "Of course I fucking know what it means, Malfoy. It means I'm god damned pregnant with you bloody child! You think I'm happy about this?"

Draco kicked a desk over and eyed another one dangerously, "No, I very much doubt you're a ball of joy, Potter." He paused and looked back curiously, seeing Harry had seated himself on the floor, back against the wall. He looked remarkable like he had the night one month ago when... Not thinking about that, actively not thinking about that. He slithered down the wall as well, doing his best to ignore the irony of the familiar position. "So, who all knows?"

He felt Harry sigh heavily next to him, but the other boy had put his head between his upraised knees and didn't appear keen on looking up, "Dumbledore, Madame Pomphrey, Professor McGonagal and Snape. Oh, and Ron and Hermione; they kind of knew something was up, so there was no use hiding it."

"What, like you've had morning sickness?"

"No."

"Mood swings?"

"No."

"Discolored nipples?"

"I'm not a bloody girl, Malfoy." Harry looked up sharply, scrunching his nose in distaste, "I really didn't get a very clear explanation myself, or if I did I wasn't paying close enough attention. The baby is in this kind of magical bubble, I suppose, and the only thing it gets from me, apart from the usual DNA contribution, is food and magic to sustain the life. All I'll be getting are some strange food cravings, and a swollen belly."

Draco reached his hand out wearily, "Is it swollen yet?"

Harry moved away quickly, the moon light hit his face from the window as he stood and it appeared paler than normal, "No, of course not, it's only a month old. It won't start showing for a while."

He added something under his breath that Draco didn't catch and didn't bother to pry for. He got up as well, dusting off the back of his pants in case there had been any dirt on the floor and looked at Harry for a moment, "You don't look so well."

Harry nodded, leaning against the wall, "I haven't eaten all day, I feel kind of dizzy."

"Want me to..."

Harry held up a hand and shook his head, "No. Whatever you were going to say, no. This doesn't change anything between us, Malfoy. We're friends and that's all, we enjoy each others pain because the look on your face is really funny and you like to see how far you can push me. Nothing changes. If it makes you feel better I'll be going to the kitchens for a really large meal before I go to bed, but I don't need company."

Draco shrugged and walked out the door, standing in the hall until he saw Harry emerge, "Potter?" He searched the green eyes for something, anything that could help him, but Harry seemed to have closed himself off rather effectively, "I just need time to think and when I'm done we are going to have a very long, very detailed conversation. This may not change our friendship, but it changes just about everything else."

Harry nodded, a small frown on his lips as he walked away. Draco's voice lowered to an inaudible whisper, "It changes so much more than you know. One heir, Harry, I get one."