A/N: Chapter one was written for magic_helmet's birthday. Her prompt was Philoprogenitiveness, for an explanation of the words meaning, see chapter one. If you're reading this on my journal the best way to navigate through chapters is to use the tags for the title or the characters. Thanks to my beta, bk7brokemybrain. Any and all feedback is loved and adored. Enjoy.
Chapter Summary: Charlie has his questions answered, and the family come over for Sunday brunch
WARNING: Cliffhanger
Philoprogenitiveness
In the days that followed the pregnancy news, everything seemed to happen at once. Severus threw himself into the research and development of the nerve damage preventative potion for Harry. Charlie spoke to Bill and Fleur about managing and maintaining the dragon reserve for him during Harry's pregnancy. Morning sickness, or rather all-day sickness, hit Harry full force the morning the rest of the family was due for brunch.
The afternoon that Harry had revealed the three of them were going to be parents, Poppy had painstakingly explained the potential risks of male pregnancy.
Harry was sitting on the sofa between Severus and Charlie; his legs were tucked up beneath him, one arm through the crook of Charlie's elbow, both hands resting on his abdomen where their unborn twins grew, and he was curled into his bond-mates side. Severus had one arm stretched across the back of the sofa, his fingers playing with the hair at the nape of Charlie's neck; his other hand was resting on Harry's legs gently rubbing up and down.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions Charlie. What would you like to know? Poppy asked.
"How is this possible? I always thought male pregnancies were a myth?"
"They are very much not a myth, however they are extremely rare. For a Wizard to be able to carry a single foetus, he must be quite powerful. As the foetus grows, it absorbs a small amount of magic from the carrying Witch or Wizard. In the case of twins there is the added pressure on the body as well as the magic of the parent."
"So you're telling me that Harry's health is at risk not only because he is a Wizard but also because he's carrying twins, and they are going to take a toll on him magically as well?" exclaimed Charlie.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," answered the Hogwarts Matron.
"Un-fucking-believable!" Charlie couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not ten minutes earlier, he'd begged and pleaded with Severus about what was wrong with Harry. His husband had assured him that their young bond-mate was fine. Now the Hogwarts Matron was telling him that Harry's health was at risk and so was his magic.
He knew that Harry wanted nothing more than the love and stability of family. How could Charlie, and or Severus for that matter, watch the man they loved dearly and meant so much to the both of them get sick and potentially…. No. No, he wouldn't go there, they won't let that happen.
Severus watched the emotions play across Charlie's face. He could tell that this was the calm before the storm. The second eldest Weasley son had a temper to rival the youngest. Severus was fairly certain that the famous Weasley temper was going to be directed at him. It was just a matter of when.
"Harry needs to be kept as calm as possible. There are other health conditions such as high blood pressure, stress and damage to the nerves in his lower back and legs. He will be confined to bed rest for much of the pregnancy, this should help to alleviate these problems," Poppy explained.
"I'm working on developing a potion to prevent nerve damage that will be safe for Harry to consume during the pregnancy," Severus informed the group.
"What about travel? I remember when Fleur was pregnant, she wasn't allowed to Apparate anywhere. Will Harry be able to fly or use a portkey? What about floo travel?" Charlie asked.
"Harry will only be allowed to travel for approximately another month. After that, depending on how his body is reacting to the pregnancy, he will not be able to travel. If for any reason you need to take Harry somewhere, the Knight Bus would be best. It will put the least amount of strain on his body."
"How long will my pregnancy last?" asked Harry, breaking his silence.
"Thankfully, a Wizard pregnancy is shorter than a Witch's. The normal gestation period is approximately nine months, give or take a week or two. But Wizards who are powerful enough to become pregnant usually only carry for six to seven months. Their children are slightly smaller in size than a child carried by a Witch."
The three men nodded their understanding.
After several more questions were asked and answered, Poppy returned to Hogwarts. Severus glanced over at his bond-mates and noticed Harry had fallen asleep against Charlie's side. He couldn't help but smile at the peaceful and contented look on the young man's face.
"Charlie, Harry has fallen asleep. Can you carry him upstairs? He needs the rest, I lost count of how many times he tossed in his sleep last night."
"Sure. Are you going back down to the lab?"
"Indeed," Severus replied, as he rose from his seat then bent and kissed Harry's forehead followed by Charlie's lips.
A slumbering Harry was gently scooped off the sofa, into Charlie's arms and carried upstairs to their bedroom.
The master bedroom of the Manor was spacious. It was approximately 15 metres square, had a sizeable rune-carved hearth that was situated near the door, facing the large bay windows and padded benches to view nature at its best.
From the windows the expansive, dense forest and its varying shades of greens, browns, reds and oranges that surrounded the property. Charlie's hand-crafted garden furniture made from fallen trees, and the uninterrupted views of the currently blue sky, could be seen.
Harry was placed on top of the covers on the king size bed. Charlie couldn't help but smile when Harry stirred in his sleep and made a little whimpering noise, before a soft snore filled the otherwise silent room. He decided to join Harry; it had been a long stressful day after all. Charlie usually persevered to make sure everything that needed to be done was done, but today all he wanted was to get someone else to do it and spend time with his husband.
*****
Severus had made enough anti-nausea potion to last Harry for several weeks. This allowed him to start researching the nerve damage prevention potion he was trying to develop that was safe for Harry to consume during the pregnancy.
Having Charlie home was making a huge difference to Severus' available research time. Charlie'd asked his older brother if he and Fleur would manage the dragon reserve so that Charlie could be home as much as possible. Since Bill and Fleur had moved to France to be closer to her parents while their children were young, Charlie thought they were the best option, since they both had a head for business having worked for Gringotts, and Bill had helped out in the past when they were both younger.
When asked why, Charlie had said that he needed to be home for a while because his husbands needed him. Bill and Fleur were told that they would find out more details at Sunday brunch with the rest of the family. This news made Harry even more excited, and was quickly admonished by both his husbands to calm down and take things easy.
The weekend after Harry's fall, the rest of the family were coming over for their regular Sunday brunch. It was the one day a week where Molly wasn't allowed in the kitchen, no matter how hard she tried. Sunday brunch had become a weekly tradition of the Weasley clan; at first they shared the responsibility by having it at the homes of the various Weasley children and their families. However, invariably someone would forget it was their turn and it would then cause infighting between the siblings. Harry, Charlie and Severus decided to have it at the Manor each week from then on, and the family had been coming to their country estate ever since.
Harry and his husbands had never been more grateful that the Manor came with a brownie.
Brownie was a type of hobgoblin, who, like a house-elf works around the house. However brownie's don't like to be seen and will only work at night, generally while the household is asleep. Unlike house-elves, brownies are not slaves but free, and traditionally work for small gifts such as porridge and honey.
Harry had spoken with his husbands about how they were going to break the news to everyone, and how they were going to stop Molly from crushing them all to death with her over enthusiastic hugs in her excitement.
They'd decided to tell the family about Harry's fall and explain from there. As she left the afternoon of the fall, Hermione had told Harry and Severus that she would help where she could, filling in the gaps.
The night before everyone was due to arrive, Harry slept fitfully. Constantly tossing and turning, his arms and legs flew in all directions thumping his slumbering bond-mates.
When he awoke the next morning, Harry was alone in bed and vaguely recalled having strange dreams throughout the night. He assumed that Severus and Charlie must be downstairs getting things ready for when everyone arrived later that morning. Harry completed his morning ablutions and got dressed in a pair of khaki-coloured light linen trousers, and a loose fitting midnight blue button down cotton shirt. He went downstairs to find Severus and Charlie. When Harry arrived at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the living room, he saw the sofa had been enlarged and both his husbands were asleep in each others arms.
Both men were lying facing each other on the makeshift bed. There was no blanket covering them, which surprised Harry a little considering all three of them slept naked. He approached them as quietly as possible, feeling more than a little guilty for kicking them out of bed. Charlie must have been having a good dream, because he was frotting against Severus in his sleep. Their morning erections stood proudly amongst the dark and ginger curls.
Harry watched as both his husbands' bodies tensed as their respective climaxes approached. But just as the other men were about to reach completion a strong wave of nausea came over Harry and he had to sprint for the nearest bathroom.
Charlie woke to something warm and sticky around the region of his groin. He unwound his arms from around Severus, and stretched while he looked over his battered body. When his eyes passed over his flaccid cock, he found out why he was sticky and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. It must have been a bloody good dream.
"Desist with that laughing, I am trying to sleep," Severus' sleepy voice murmured.
"Good morning, Severus," Charlie chuckled.
"I would not call being kicked out of bed and then being woken up, a 'Good morning'"
Charlie started laughing again, only to stop abruptly when he heard what sounded like retching. Having only been awake for a few minutes, it took him a moment to realise what the sound was. "Severus, Harry must have morning sickness, I can hear him in the bathroom. I'm going to go check on him."
"I will be there momentarily."
Charlie jumped up from his makeshift bed, and almost ran to the bathroom to check on his pregnant lover. The downstairs bathroom was in a short hallway off the living room. When Charlie reached the door of the bathroom, Harry was just exiting to return to the living room.
"Are you alright, Harry?"
"I think so. It came on really suddenly though."
"Come and sit down and I will make you some camomile tea."
The two men walked back into the living room, where Severus already had Harry's potion ready for him. Charlie kissed the pregnant man's forehead and left to go and make the tea. Harry drank the potion, grimacing at the horrible taste.
After a few moments passed Severus asked, "How are you feeling, now?"
"A bit better, I think I might go back upstairs and lie down for a while. I'm not feeling very well."
Harry left Severus in the living room and made his way back upstairs to their bedroom to rest.
********
Brownie had outdone himself in the kitchen. There were platters containing the favourite foods of everyone in the family. One dish was filled with all kinds of little pies, sausage rolls and quiches. Another was filled with different kinds of fruit, including strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and slices of a variety of melons.
There was a platter filled with sausages, bacon, and eggs that were boiled, poached and fried, as well as a few small slices of black pudding. The fridge held desserts like treacle tarts, a large luscious-looking, chocolate gateaux and baby meringues. Not to mention Teddy's favourite sherbet cones.
The family arrived around mid morning, Ron and Hermione arrived first with their kids. Rose and Hugo greeted their uncles with enthusiastic hugs, before running outside to hunt the unsuspecting creatures that made their homes in the surrounding forest. Molly and Arthur were next, and Molly started fussing over Harry, complaining about how pale and thin he was looking.
Harry was thankfully saved from the fussing of his mother-in-law, by the arrival of Teddy and Andromeda through the floo. The activation of the Manor's wards announced the arrival of the rest of the family.
After everyone had arrived and exchanged greetings of welcome and thanks, they all moved outside to the back garden. It was expansive, but elegant. The herb gardens just outside the back door flanked the wide cobblestone path that lead to a large paved area, where the hand-crafted table and its matching bench seats, proudly sat in the middle.
The table was laden with the food and drink that Brownie had prepared throughout the night. There were several pitchers of juice and butterbeer, as well as a few different varieties of Muggle soft drinks, all kept cold with cooling charms against the summer heat..
The children had all run off to torment the poor woodland animals. All the adults were gathered around the large table and chatted animatedly with one another. Molly and Andromeda were discussing grandchildren and what types of flowers were in the vases on the table. Arthur was talking to Fred and George about their recent expansion of Wheezes into the Netherlands, and their plans to open more stores across Europe.
Percy was talking to Hermione about Ministry policy. Bill and Fleur were talking to Charlie about the dragon reserve. Harry and Severus were quietly sipping their pumpkin juice, while they listened to Ginny and Neville talk about Quidditch and Herbology respectively.
Harry took tentative sips of his drink, still unsure of how his stomach might react to things after his bout of morning sickness. He'd drunk the camomile tea that Charlie had made him and eaten half a slice of dry toast. It had been several hours since he'd sprinted to the bathroom, but something was still making Harry feel uneasy.
His emotions were all over the place, he felt excitement and concern, curiosity and bewilderment, plus hundreds of other emotions, swirling around inside of him, which were doing nothing to settle his tender stomach.
Severus glanced over at Harry because he'd gone very quiet all of a sudden. The smile he'd had on his face for his youngest husband, immediately slipped from his features, and was replaced by a frown. Harry was looking decidedly pale and had a greenish tinge about him, indicating he was feeling ill again.
"Harry are you alright, love?" Severus asked worriedly.
Charlie's head whipped around so fast at Severus' worried question that he thought he'd hurt his neck.
Harry couldn't answer his concerned husband's question. All of a sudden he felt like he was being overwhelmed with feelings and emotions that were not his own. Everyone's fear and concern was crashing on top of him. Harry's poor body couldn't take the emotional turmoil any longer. He felt nauseous and light-headed.
From there everything seemed to happen at once. What little colour that could be seen in Harry's features, suddenly drained away. Leaving him almost ghostly pale, in the next instant, Harry threw up everywhere, all over the food on the table in front of him. Then he passed out, falling backwards off the bench and onto the ground.
TBC
A/N: Yes, I know I'm evil leaving you hanging like that. I promise all will be revealed in the next chapters. I am very interested to hear what you all think is wrong with Harry, and why he collapsed. Morning sickness remedies would also be gratefully received and possibly used in future chapters. Information about brownies can be found at the link in my profile. I also know I stuffed up the ages of the kids. *head desk* Comments feed the muse.
