Chapter 4—Through the Bars
Updated 3/8/2018
A/N: Wow, you guys are completely amazing! Thanks so much for all the love shown for the last chapter. It brings a huge smile to my face.
"Oh my God," Draco gasped. His body began trembling uncontrollably as he stared in at his lover holding a small baby. He curled his fingers around the bars separating him from the man he loved, unable to keep his legs supporting his body weight alone. He felt faint and shaky, and he dropped to his knees.
Harry rushed from the center of the cell to the bars and fell in front of Draco, cradling the baby in one arm, his other hand coming to cover over one of Draco's, taking his attention from the child. Draco's eyes moved, then, from the black-haired baby to his love's eyes.
"Harry?" his voice asked, barely above a whisper.
Draco watched as Harry fell apart, big, fat tears forming in his eyes, then rolling down his cheeks. Harry's hand disappeared, and the baby was brought up like a stuffed animal, its soft-looking hair under Harry's cheek before his love began sobbing harshly. He was clutching tightly to the baby, shaking his head in denial when Draco saw that the child was awake. It had turned its head against Harry's neck, blinking big, grey eyes. Its too tiny hand came up and fisted against Harry's collarbone.
He felt tears pricking his eyes and realized he was just as close to falling apart as Harry. For so long, he had been struggling to keep his emotions in check in a house full of once enemies. He reached blindly for his lover and gasped when Harry grabbed his hand tightly, holding it against the baby's back. His tears blurred his vision as Harry brought his side flush against the bars, trying in vain to get as close to Draco as possible. The baby was held against Harry's chest by an arm as Harry wrapped his other tightly around Draco through the bars.
He didn't hesitate. With a sob, Draco grabbed Harry roughly, slinking his arms around his back, around the baby and clutched the back of the scratchy tunic before letting out his bottled up emotions and crying. His face was smashed against the bar, but more importantly, his lips were pressed to Harry's shoulder.
At some point, they both had fallen to sit in awkward positions on the cold floor, crying for all either of them were worth until they had no more tears. Harry continued sobbing as Draco's tapered off. Harry's forehead was now cradled between two bars, his nose pressed to Draco's shoulder. Draco let him cry, running his fingers through Harry's greasy hair. He was too awed to speak as he watched the baby in Harry's arms watch him.
He had at first dismissed the baby from his thoughts other than to be happy that Harry wasn't completely alone, but now that he had time to think about it, he couldn't deny that the child looked like his lover. Sure, the eyes were grey, but they were Harry's big, almond shape. Its hair was soft and smooth like Harry's; he knew from running his hand over its head a few times as he continued to comfort Harry. And those lips were all Harry. They were so tiny and thin. His skin matched Harry's flawlessly: smooth, soft, olive-toned, and unblemished. Even the soft pinkish blush on the baby's cheeks was matched in Harry's.
"His name is Aidan," Harry whispered, startling Draco from his studying of the baby. He hadn't realized his lover had stopped crying, but he snapped his head up and made eye contact. Harry sniffled, wiped his nose and eyes with his sleeve, and brought the baby closer for Draco's study.
Draco had no words. He couldn't push out the many questions he had.
Where did he come from? Whose child was he? How did Harry get him? How did he take care of the baby in the cell? It wasn't even fit for a dog to live in. Why did the child look so much like Harry? How old was he?
He knew his questions must have shown in his eyes. When Harry's eyes met his unwavering ones again, he took a deep breath, shifted into a more comfortable position, and sighed. Draco shifted too, fearing a long story, and gripped Harry's free hand tightly on Harry's knee.
Harry shifted his gaze back down to the baby in his arms and gave a little half smile, tears still shimmering on his eyelashes. The baby was beginning to open and close his mouth almost as if he was a girl blotting lipstick. "I don't know how it happened, but he's ours." Harry pulled up one side of his tunic before Draco had even registered the words "he's ours" and let the baby latch on to his chest with his tiny lips.
"Wha-what?" Draco wrenched his eyes from the sight of the baby sucking on Harry's chest to meet his lover's eyes again.
"He's ours, Dray. I-I gave birth t-to him. I don't know how it happened or why it happened, but I'm glad it did."
"He's ours?" Draco knew he sounded like a complete idiot, but he couldn't wrap his mind around those two words. How could he be theirs? How could Harry and Draco be fathers to a baby? And Harry said he gave birth? It was unheard of!
Harry smiled a little patronizingly and gazed down at the baby's head. "He's yours, and he's mine. He's ours," he spoke slowly, as if to a toddler, then continued faster, excitedly. "I couldn't believe it either. I thought I was dying and about to have some kind of tumor kill me. I knew I wasn't going to live much longer the way I was going. I hadn't eaten more than a few nibbles in weeks, and I was in so much pain and vomiting constantly. I was just praying to die quickly."
Draco felt sick to his stomach as Harry was describing how he thought he might have died. His grip on the back on Harry's neck tightened, cutting off Harry's ramblings. How could he have gone on if Harry had died? He was so thankful for the child who had brought life back to his love. He delicately ran his hand over the baby's—Aidan's—head. His little lips were working over Harry's nipple, and curious, Draco watched. "What is he doing?"
"Nursing. I-I didn't even know a man could do that!" Harry's eyes widened comically, unusually large without his glasses shadowing them, and Draco snorted.
"I didn't know a man could give birth to a baby," he replied dryly. How had it happened? He'd have to ask Severus when he returned to the cottage. He knew, watching his lover with their son, it was going to be so hard to leave the two still behind the bars which were too narrow to pass the baby through. Draco felt the heavy weight of loss already, though he still had three hours with the pair.
Harry seemed to sense his mood because his own changed from incredulous excitement to serious and slightly hopeless. "You're not here to get us out, are you?" His eyes cast down to look at Aidan, and his free hand moved from Draco's leg to the baby's small fist. "Maybe I can pass him through the bars…" He awkwardly moved close to the bars, visually measuring Aidan against them and sighed when he came to the same conclusion Draco had already reached.
Draco felt a pang at Harry's tone and the loss of his hand, but instead gripped tightly to the hair at the nape of his lover's neck. "Not yet, and he won't fit," he whispered, his voice thick with sadness. "I'm testing my theory and diagnosing the wards around your cell. They are complicated, and it's going to take a little time to work out a counter without setting off the alarms surrounding this place. I can feel the wards in the air. I can feel the tingling surrounding my magic."
Interested, Harry shifted closer to Draco. "What do you mean feel them?"
"Severus created a potion that would allow me empathetic feelings for magic. We assumed the prison would have alarms against the use of foreign magic. To be a prison guard, you have to get your magical signature registered in the Ministry and be keyed into the wards surrounding Azkaban. We found that much out through our research." He looked down from Harry's face and watched in awe as his own hand petted his son's soft head. "There's a dampening charm on my magic to make sure I don't use it on accident."
Aidan was asleep now, his lips still sucking at Harry's nipple passively. He sighed and grunted when Draco's hand first came down on his head, but his bright, grey eyes didn't open.
"I'm not going to be able to leave," Draco whispered regretfully, tears again stinging his eyes. He looked up at Harry through blurry vision.
Together, they leaned towards one another and met in the middle for an awkward kiss, the cold steel bars keeping them from deepening it. Draco tightened his hand at the nape of Harry's neck and tangled some strands of oily, dirty hair between his fingers. He maintained his firm grip on his lover's head, not wanting to relinquish this desperate attempt to be what they once were, to be together.
They pulled away from the kiss and wiped at each other's cheeks. "I love you," Harry whispered, swiping at a fresh tear that traced down Draco's face. He leaned his forehead against the bars as Draco watched his internal struggle. "Don't worry about us. Find a way to get us out of here. We'll be okay until you come for us again."
It broke Draco's heart to hear Harry's false bravado. Just like the prat to always try to be the brave one. Draco slid his hand under Harry's chin and lifted his face to meet his own. He kissed him chastely. "I will be back, Harry. Now that I know how to get in, I will be back as often as possible. I love you, and I won't stop worrying about you. My life doesn't go on without you, without Aidan."
Harry smiled through his tears. "Let's stop being so sappy," he said, forcing a half-laugh. "How much longer do you have?"
"An hour and a half."
"Good. I want to hear about everything going on outside this place." With practiced ease, Harry eased Aidan away from his chest, pulled his tunic back down, then settled the baby in his arms again.
For the next hour, Draco told him everything that was going on outside Azkaban. He explained the current political situation (no one would even attempt to oust Fudge because the last three who tried or talked about trying wound up dead), the small steps they were making to get the "Heroes of Hogwarts" names cleared, and his current living arrangements and how they came to be.
"Remus and Tonks are living with you?" Harry asked. His voice held such hope and excitement that Draco couldn't help but grin.
"Yes. And might I add that they are quite loud sometimes." As Draco expected, Harry blushed bright red, but the smile didn't leave his face.
"The Weaselette has become quite the cook. She almost rivals her mother."
Harry grinned. "Are you ever going to use her name?"
"No."
Harry snorted at the simple answer.
Draco's smile turned sad as he looked back at his son. "Fleur is pregnant. She hadn't had time to tell anyone before the final battle and the time it took for you to get sent here."
Harry smiled brightly. "So why do you look like someone kicked your puppy."
"Just thinking. I missed so much already with Aidan. I wasn't here for you like Bill is for her. You didn't get to be laid up in bed, pampered and catered to like you should have. I didn't get to rush out to a muggle grocer's at closing time to buy a pint of ice cream to settle your cravings."
"Dray," Harry interrupted patronizingly. "I didn't go through any of what she's probably going through, remember. I thought I had a tumor growing in me. I didn't know I was pregnant until I delivered him. I missed everything as well. Don't be upset about it. Neither of us knew men could get pregnant."
Harry stood and carried Aidan to the mattress, then returned to Draco, helped him to stand, and wrapped both arms as well as he could around him. Harry's lips softly met his, sending electricity through Draco's bones. The bars were really annoying, and Draco wished he could just banish them and properly snog the daylights out of his lover. Even through the discomfort, Draco still managed to push his face hard against the cold bars and deepen their kiss.
He would give anything to have Harry again. The way they were before all this. The way he dreamed about. His skin began to heat and tingle with the soft brush of magic, not his own, that seemed to wrap him in warmth. His senses were overloaded with the ambient magic in the air and the feeling of Harry's mouth against his own.
The moan from deep in Harry's throat made Draco's long neglected cock twitch with desire. Oh God, it had been too long without Harry. Harry's hands tangled roughly in Draco's hair, keeping their mouths together. Draco thrust his knee between the bars, between Harry's legs before he was painfully halted by the hard steel against his own crotch. Frustrated, Draco withdrew his leg and frantically grabbed at Harry's loose, thin cotton trousers just needing the comfort that being with his lover like this could provide. Draco pushed down Harry's trousers and grabbed his cock.
Harry gasped into Draco's mouth when Draco's hand started working to harden the flaccid length. He writhed and moaned as if it was his first time again, making Draco impossibly turned on despite the situation. God, Harry was so sexy.
When Harry's hands grabbed his jean-covered arse tightly, Draco moaned loudly, having to pull his mouth away so he could breathe. "God," he gasped as he rutted against the bar. His legs felt like they were going to give out from the relief of being with Harry, but he maintained his steady squeezing and pulling, using Harry's body and the bars to keep him upright. His fingers slid smoothly over Harry's soft skin, wet with pre-come. Unable to stand it any longer, Draco wrenched his mouth from Harry's and fell to his knees. His cock twitched hard as he dropped to eye level with the cock he had been dreaming of for eight long months.
He grabbed his lover's erection with one hand and quickly took the length into his mouth, moaning with the pleasure of finally tasting Harry again. The musky scent and taste that was all Harry flooded Draco with arousal. Fingers twisted painfully in his hair, but Draco ignored the sting and slid his mouth as far down his lover's cock as possible.
He used the flat of his tongue on the underside of Harry's length and the hands tightened impossibly in his hair. Only Harry was allowed to mess with his hair. "Love you," Draco whispered against Harry's cock before sliding the tip of his tongue through the slit, licking up more of the dripping pre-come.
"Fuck, Dray," Harry gasped, bucking uncontrollably. The cock in Draco's mouth twitched and pulsed in time with Harry's rapid pulse. When a sharp, unexpected thrust nearly choked Draco, he gripped Harry's hips to hold him still.
He took a quick rhythm, licking up the vein on the underside, sliding his mouth nearly to the hilt and sucking deeply, eliciting a deep moan from his lover. He'd run his tongue through the slit, squeeze the base, and swirl his tongue over the crown. Harry's legs were quivering under his hands and Draco knew he needed to finish before he fell.
Harry's cock tightened in his mouth and magic erupted around Draco. Gasping, he released Harry to look around in a panic, thinking someone was coming. The magic flooded over him, and he suddenly knew without a doubt it was Harry's. The erotic tingling sent sparks straight to his cock. He felt a tight squeeze around his balls and hurried to bring Harry off before he lost himself.
It didn't take long for Harry's toes to curl. Draco fondled Harry's balls, his own erection throbbing in sync with the trembling magic around him. Draco groaned around Harry's cock as Harry shouted, and his come shot hotly down Draco's throat. Without warning, his own erection exploded in hot spurts. Flashes of light danced behind his eyes as he released Harry and fell back on his heels. He panted heavily, and Harry grabbed his shoulders to pull him closer again.
They spent several long moments on the floor, just holding one another before Harry regained his breath with a soft chuckle. "Did you come?" he asked incredulously.
Draco could only nod as his vision slowly came back. He was giggling soon after, feeling so giddy and light-hearted. He had come without being touched. And he had come hard. He felt like a cat with a fresh bowl of cream, and he smiled smugly into Harry's shoulder.
"Amazing," Draco sighed, feeling boneless as he leaned against Harry.
Harry wasn't fairing much better. He had a soppy, stupid grin on his face, and his chest was still heaving. Harry's lips were against Draco's hair as he began speaking in soft, serious tones. "I thought I'd never experience that again. Every time I'd think about our last time together and start to get hard, I'd get such a horrible pain in my stomach that I'd roll onto my side and not be able to move for hours. I thought I was broken, thought I was going to die."
Draco grabbed Harry tightly, wrapping his arms around his middle and pressing his freshly wet eyes against Harry's arm. "You're not broken, you're alive," he whispered, reassuring himself as much as he hoped to reassure Harry.
Draco took a quick glance at his wristwatch, knowing it was close to shift change. The guards on Azkaban only worked 4 hour shifts every 2 days because the effects of the dementors were too much and many of them had killed themselves in the early 80s.
He sighed deeply as he slowly pulled himself from Harry, feeling tears pricking his eyes again. "I have to go," he whispered. "I won't leave you here forever. I'll be back for you and Aidan."
"I love you," Harry croaked, the lump in his throat growing with the stinging in the corners of his eyes. He kissed Draco chastely. He got up, gathered the sleeping Aidan wrapped in his blanket, and brought him back to the bars.
Draco grabbed the newborn's tiny hand and brought it slowly to his lips. The baby's skin was so soft and smooth. He knew without a doubt that he would do whatever he could to get his lover and son released from prison. He ran his hand softly over the downy hair before forcing himself to stand.
He pulled at his uncomfortable trousers, trying to alleviate some of the sticky discomfort in his pants. With a small, sad look, Harry made an odd gesture with his fingers and the feeling of the mess in Draco's pants disappeared.
Harry got to his feet as well, cradling their sleeping son to his chest and leaned against the bars. He was already crying, big, silent tears running down his pale cheeks.
"Come here," Draco whispered, using his hands to guide Harry's face to his again. As their lips touched, they both started crying openly.
Harry deepened the kiss for a moment before pulling away. "Go," he gasped through a sob.
Draco picked up the invisibility cloak and glanced longingly at Harry once more before he disappeared from sight and silently made his way back down the hall from where he came.
Harry watched Draco disappear with a heavy heart. The orgasm he had just experienced evaporated like rain on a hot day from his thoughts as his silent tears dripped onto Aidan's blanket. The hopelessness of before was slowly creeping over him as he began doubting the feasibility of an escape. He knew Draco was hopeful, but Harry's realism started to weigh on him.
There had only ever been three known escapes from Azkaban. And of course the wards would have been strengthened after Voldemort broke his followers out.
What Draco was hoping to do was impossible.
Harry sat heavily on the mattress and cuddled Aidan tightly. He would give anything to get Aidan out of here. He would give anything to be with Draco again.
When dinner arrived, Harry had already sunk into a hopeless despair that even Aidan couldn't pull him from.
A/N: Please review! I read and try to respond to every one of them.
Does anyone have any ideas for middle names? I've got one, but it kind of doesn't sound like it goes. I would love to see if anyone can come up with something unique, so please submit your ideas with name meanings because that is going to play a big part in Aidan's character.
