Hey Lovelies! Sorry it's been longer than I thought between chapters. I finished mid-terms and had to go straight to a wedding, but now my cousin is a married woman and we are all super thrilled for her! So, here is the next chapter of our tale, "Meanwhile Back At Mama's" is a duet by now of country music's favorite couples, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill! Enjoy!
Chapter 10 – Meanwhile Back At Mama's
They had planned on meeting Draco and Hermione for lunch later that week. Hermione had some things that she wanted to talk to Cissa about regarding the wedding, and the Potters wanted to tell the soon to be Malfoy Lord and Lady about their son. Harry was bouncing on his toes waiting for two of his three best friends to arrive.
He was just as surprised as everyone else that he now thought of Draco in the same category as Ron and Hermione. It was a place that eleven years ago he never would have even considered for his, well, his stepson. He shook his head at the thought, and turned around when he felt eyes watching him.
She smiled from the doorway. "What are you doing in here? You act like you couldn't possibly stand still even if you tried."
"I don't think I could." He moved to the door and leaned his arm against the frame, just over her head. He bent and pecked her lightly on the cheek before he crouched in front of her ever-growing baby bump. He pressed a gentle kiss to her stomach and then looked up at her from his spot on the floor. "He needs a name."
"I know…" She sighed and leaned heavily against the doorframe. "I want to do both of our families justice with it though. The Potters don't have the same traditions that the Blacks do, but I don't want to just choose something at random."
Harry was surprised that she had been giving this some thought. It had only just occurred to him that they needed to think about it. Granted, he thought to himself as he stood up and gathered her in his arms, she had done all of this before. Besides she was a Black and a pureblood, she would be more caught up in finding the perfect name than he was from the start. "Do you have any ideas?"
He had regrouped and was going about the topic cautiously, obviously she was more ready for this conversation than he was. She smiled, "I do, I have a few actually." She took his hand and pulled him with her into the hall, "But that's not what I came in here for. I came in here to let you feel this," she held his hand to her stomach where he could feel their baby move under his hands.
"Wow." He grinned, "I guess I'm not the only one that can't manage to sit still today?"
"No, you're not." She kissed his cheek and focused his attention back on her. "That's not the only thing though. Draco and Hermione are going to be here pretty quick, I just wanted to come and find you so that we could tell them together."
"Tell us what?" The kitchen door opened below them and together Draco and Hermione stepped into the hall below the other couple. His voice floated up the stairs to them and Narcissa laughed.
"Hold on, we're coming, meet us in the library." Four sets of footsteps could be heard as the two parties of two made their way to the first floor landing. They met just as Harry reached for the doorknob. "'Mione," Cissa kissed the girl's cheek as Draco let his fiancée pass in front of him. "Darling." She touched Draco's cheek affectionately as she followed the younger woman into the library.
Once they were all settled, and Hermione had rid herself of all of the books and magazines she had brought with her Draco looked up, piercing his mother and Harry with an intense gaze. "What were you going to tell us?"
Cissa looked over at Harry, who smiled and nodded for her to tell them. He wanted to watch their faces, Draco's especially when he found out that he was getting a little brother. "Well, I had an doctor's appointement yesterday,"
"Is everything okay?" Immediately Hermione had jumped to the worst conclusions, but Harry just laughed.
"Yes 'Mione, they are both perfectly fine, will you let Cissa finish?" He chuckled when the brunette actually looked sheepish.
"I'm sorry." She peaked up at the woman that was becoming her mother-in-law.
"Don't worry about." She reached across the space and patted her knee. "And you," she rounded on her husband, "don't be so hard on Hermione. I appreciate her concern."
"Sorry." He grinned at her and she just rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't worth the argument.
"No you're not. Anyway," she refocused her attention on her son and Hermione, "No, I'm perfectly fine and so is the baby. Susan brought in a muggle device called an ultrasound machine?" She looked to Hermione for confirmation on the name and when the girl nodded she continued, "We got to see the baby,"
"You got to see the baby?" Draco's eyes went wide and he looked at his fiancée, "Did you know that they could do that?"
She laughed, "Yes Draco, muggles have been doing it for years." She turned back to Cissa, "I didn't know that our world had adapted the practice?"
"It hasn't fully, Susan is one of the few that are learning to do medicine in both the magical and the muggle sense. But what we wanted to tell you was not simply that we saw the baby, but that we saw your baby brother." She beamed at Harry when she saw the other two faces light up.
"It's a boy?" There were tears in Hermione's eyes as she looked back and forth between Harry and Cissa. "That's wonderful!" She launched herself out of Draco's embrace and into Cissa's before quickly switching to Harry's.
The blonde man caught his mother's attention once Hermione had slipped from her arms. He got up and crossed the space between them, "Congratulations Mother." He kissed her cheek, "May I?" He asked before he touched her stomach and she nodded.
"Of course."
He crouched down in front of the sofa where she was sitting so that he was eye level with her bump. "Hey baby brother, Mom seems to think that you are doing good in there, and I hope you are." He looked across at Harry, who was still talking to Hermione, "I know that we still have a few months before you get out here to meet all of us, but I want you to take that time to prepare." He chuckled to himself. "Trust me little guy, your parents are great, but this family is kind of a lot to handle, so be getting ready."
Cissa reached down and took her son's hand, the baby was wiggling like crazy listening to his big brother talk to him and she wanted him to feel it. He was a little apprehensive at first, but he allowed her to pull his hand over towards her stomach and put it on top of the baby. He grinned up at her when he felt the baby move through her skin. "That's amazing."
"He likes you." She laughed, "He has been moving around all day, but while you were talking he was wiggling like crazy." She cupped his cheek in her hand, "He must know that his big brother is always going to have his back."
"Well, yeah he does. That's what big brothers are for." He got up off the floor and kissed her cheek again before settling back on the other sofa. He glanced over at Hermione, who was sitting on the arm of Harry's chair talking to him. "What are the two of you talking about over there?"
"The future." She looked over her shoulder at him. "The fact that we are getting married, and they are having a baby, and that five years ago none of us would have even considered being in either one of these situations, but that now we wouldn't change them for the world." She moved back across the room as she spoke and plopped down on his lap. "You know I wouldn't trade this for the world right?"
He brushed the tip of his nose against hers, "I know."
Cissa was lying on the couch flicking her wand up at the ceiling, scrolling through her family history when Harry reentered the room. "What are you up to darling?" He sat down and put her feet in his lap, taking off her shoes as he did so. He had just shown Draco and Hermione out after a long afternoon of wedding planning. He started absentmindedly rubbing her feet as she gazed up at her family in the stars.
"The baby." Her left hand was rubbing small circles over their son as she flicked her wand again. Harry didn't even look up towards the ceiling, knowing that he more than likely wouldn't be able to follow her train of thought if he tried. Choosing the safer course of waiting for her to explain.
After a minute of silence she let her wand arm fall and closed her eyes. When she spoke again she didn't open them. "I was thinking about his name, and what we should call him. There are so many traditions, and being the Lord Potter-Black, your son will inherit those titles, so he needs a name that will honor all of them."
"Are there any traditions on the Potter side?" Harry racked his brain trying to think of any similarities that he could come up with given his limited amount of background on his own family.
Cissa sighed, "No, not really, there aren't any specific names that we have to use or anything, no real standing traditions like there are on my side, but still I want it to mean something."
She got really quiet for a minute and Harry smiled, "What are you thinking Love?"
Finally she opened her eyes and looked down at where he was still rubbing her feet. "You call me love and you rub my feet, all while I'm being completely ridiculous? You are an amazing man Harry Potter."
"I try." He winked at her, "But really, what are you thinking?"
"I told you earlier that I have a few ideas for names, but now, looking through the stars, looking through my family history I'm not so sure."
"Cissa, you are due in February, it's barely November we have plenty of time to figure it out." He kissed her foot before switching to rub the other one. "Relax, he doesn't have to have a name today."
"I know." Her right hand reappeared from between her body and the back of the couch. Her wand once more flicking through the names and the faces mixed in among the stars. "I just want it to be perfect."
"Don't worry," he covered the hand lying still on her stomach with one of his, "it will be."
She propped herself up on her elbows to look at him, "How do you know?"
He shifted so that he was hovering over the top of her; mindful of the bump that was their son between them. He gently pushed her wand hand down beside her and kissed her. When he pulled back he smiled at her, "Because I believe in you, and because I love you, and him, more than anything. No matter what you end up picking it will be perfect."
"Even if I name him after a star?" There were tears in her eyes, she looked like she was about ready to cry, but Harry wasn't sure if it was because she was happy with his words, or stressed over the decision.
"Even if you name him after a star." He kissed the hollow spot at the base of her throat and she couldn't help the soft moan that escaped her lips. She bit her bottom lip and then when he turned his head she kissed just below his ear.
"Then I have a suggestion."
"Oh?" He pulled up and away from her so he could look in her eyes, "What's that?"
She shook her head and looped her arms around his neck, pulling his ear back down to her lips, "How about…"