Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Christmas was fun. There was much food, laughter, and people. Ron and I were banished to Harry's den to peruse the collections of anime we were given as gifts. Some people just have no taste. Aside from the anime, Molly dolled out more sweaters. Threw me for a loop when everyone called them jumpers. I had to explain that in the US, a jumper is a little girl's dress.

People. I believe I mentioned there were people. Lots of people. Due to Draco's enforced inactivity, everyone convened here for the holiday. Molly and Arthur. Ron, Hermione, and Westley. Bill, Fleur, and their daughter, Nicole – she's two. Charley, Fred, and George. Ginny and her latest fling. And, of course, Draco, Harry, Seamus, and myself. Tonks stopped by for a bit, along with Remus Lupin, and I think even Minerva McGonagall showed up for a spell. All-in-all, rather like Christmas back home. Too bad Mom adamantly refused to fly over again. I don't think she approves of the company I keep, though I do know she thanked Seamus for 'settling me down.' As if!

Anyway, the week between Christmas and New Years' passed uneventfully. Seamus was working double-shifts at the bookstore as Chuck – his boss – was recovering from some wizarding bug or another. A family purchased a rundown house on the other side of town, and Harry was spending his days helping them clean out the house. So, I was stuck at home with the irritable bedridden albino. At least I managed to introduce him to the wonderful world of video games. He spent a good fifteen hours playing Atari throwback games on my PlayStation. He actually managed to beat my all-time high-score on Pac-Man; something that to this day he keeps bringing up in that irritatingly superior way of his.

New Years Eve was a bit of a letdown for me, though. Draco, too, for that matter. I had a horrible cold that just wouldn't go away. The albino was still bedridden. Eh, misery loves company and all that. Seamus and Harry disappeared to the twins' place for the evening, after nearly being hexed into going by Draco. I had to be a bit more creative in getting Seam to leave me be for the night. I love him dearly, but I really don't like having people around when I feel like shit.

I was watching some old black and white horror movie on cable when the clock indicated the new year had arrived. I toasted the arrival of the year with a double-dose of Nyquil. It was about ten minutes later that I registered another presence in the living room. In the glow of the television – because who bothers watching movies with the lights on? – I saw the albino standing in the doorway, leaning on the door frame and breathing hard. I know it sounds weird, but he looked paler than normal, even with the lack of lighting taken into consideration. I muted the movie and tapped the lamp on the end-table. It flared on, and I had to wince at the sudden shift in lighting. Damn, I hate being sick. "Why're you outta bed? Harry'll have my hide if anything happens to you…"

Draco's skin was even more pale than I had thought. I could easily see the tracework of his veins under his skin. This can't be good. "I… I… Harry… Get Harry…"

Have I mentioned how I hate being sick? I was living on decongestants, and damn if those things don't slow my reaction times. I had barely gotten up from the sofa when the albino's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the floor. "Fuck-all!" I hurried over to him, slightly woozy from the cold medicine.

Now, I pride myself on my strength, but I'd been ill for several days, and despite his somewhat misleading small frame, Draco weighed a healthy 150 pounds before he got pregnant. Add another twenty pounds to that, and I would have been hard-pressed to drag him on the floor on a good day. I tried, and almost passed out myself from the exertion. After a good five minutes, I settled on straightening him out on the floor. I took off my house coat and bundled it under his head.

With that taken care of, I took a moment to think. Something was wrong with one of my best friends. He was pregnant. He was a guy. "Damn it! It's not like I can call 9-1-1 over this! I'm not a witch, so the floo won't work for me. Harry's cell won't work at the twins' place because of the magical interference. What the fuck am I supposed to do?" I wanted to pound my head into the nearest wall. I couldn't even call Hermione, both she and Ron would be at the twins' party. Why did this have to happen tonight? Why not last night or tomorrow?

Then it hit me. Almost literally. Hedwig normally stayed in Harry's den, but had taken to following me around while I was ill. I think it was because one of my comfort-foods has always been popcorn, and when I'm sick, I tend to leave a lot of it laying around. The owl had fluttered from her perch on the back of the sofa to land on my shoulder. "Oh, thank all the gods that are or ever were. You're a lifesaver, Hedwig." I grabbed the nearest piece of paper, which happened to be part of the ads from the Daily Prophet, and a writing utensil. I scrawled out a message and handed the paper to Hedwig. She took it gingerly in her beak. "Get that to Harry as fast as you can. It's an emergency. When you get back, you can have all the popcorn you can eat."

She hooted around the paper and winged out of the room, towards the open window in the study. Harry had charmed the window especially for Hedwig. It had no glass, but the heat stayed inside and the cold stayed outside.

I took a seat near Draco's head. "Come on, Draco, wake up. You know Harry's gonna kill me. You don't want him to kill me, do you? Please wake up." I stroked his hair out of his face. "Please, please, please wake up. You know if Harry kills me, then Seam will kill Harry, and I really know you don't want that to happen! Wake up, damnit! If you don't wake up, I'm going to paint all your cashmere sweaters lime green! You know I'll do it, too!" I continued begging and threatening him until there was a resounding crack behind me.

I jumped and screamed a little. "What happened, Shay?" Harry was somewhat frantic. Not that I could blame him for that.

"I was watching a movie and suddenly he was in the doorway, he told me to get you, then fainted." I started chewing my fingernails, a habit I had tried to leave behind when I finished school.

Harry knelt down and scooped Draco into his arms. That surprised me. Harry's always looked like a strong wind would blow him over, yet he picked up Draco like he was nothing. I would have suspected magic, but he didn't have his wand out at the time. My medicated head dredged up old tales of mothers picking up cars to rescue their children. Harry hurried to the fireplace in the corner. "Toss in the powder for me, Shay." There was a strange waiver in his voice. When I got closer to him, I saw that he was trying to hold back tears. I did as he asked and threw a handful of emerald green powder onto the glowing coals. He stepped into the fireplace. "Saint Mungo's!" Harry shouted and disappeared in a flash of green flame.

I had just sat down on the sofa when another crack bounced around the room, followed mere seconds later by yet another. Ron and Seamus had just apparated in. "Where's Harry? We saw him get a note from Hedwig and he bolted from the party so fast…" Seam trailed off when he saw me. "Shay? What's going on?"

"Draco collapsed. Harry took him to Saint Mungo's."

"Shite." Seamus came and sat next to me on the sofa.

"Hell. I'm going back to the twins' and getting Hermione. We'll meet you there in," Ron checked his watch, "ten minutes?"

Seamus nodded. "Come on, Shay. Let's get you into something besides pajamas."

Seamus helped me up to our rooms where I pulled on the jeans and sweater he handed me. I slipped on a pair of sneakers. Seam pulled me close and apparated us to the lobby of the wizarding hospital.

Waiting was sheer hell. Harry, as Draco's spouse, was the only one allowed in the room where they were doing… whatever it was. He'd not made an appearance to let us know what was going on, though I know that one of the nurses, or whatever the hell they call 'em here is, had told him we were there. I was pacing, a headache throbbed in time to my footsteps. Seamus was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his eyes closed. I was pretty sure he was more than a bit drunk. Ron and Hermione were sitting on a bench, Hermione had her head resting on Ron's shoulder. Ron was watching me pace. I hope everything's going to be okay. I really don't want Harry to kill me…

After about an hour, a nurse stopped by and directed us to a more comfortable place to wait than the corridor. Ron and Hermione took a seat on the dark blue sofa. Seamus, still preferring the floor, sat in front of the fireplace, gazing at the flames. Tired, I stretched out on the other sofa. I noticed that the waiting room, if you changed the fireplace to a television, would have been exactly like the one at the private hospital in LA where Mom had her appendix out when I was twelve. I blame the cold medicine for the odd thought.

I think we all managed at least a little sleep. The window was showing the pinks and golds of sunrise when I snapped awake. I blearily looked around and saw the others were still asleep before my eyes landed on Harry. He was standing in the doorway, grinning like the village idiot.

"I take it the albino's alright?" I yawned.

Harry nodded and laughed a little. "He's fine, now. I am, too. He managed to break three bones in my hand when he came to, before the anti-pain spells took effect."

"Sounds like something he'd do." I looked at my watch, thankful Seam had gotten me an analog one for my birthday, rather than the digital one I had wanted. It was six thirty. "I think these three would sleep through the end of the world." I jerked my head to indicate Hermione, Seamus, and Ron. "What do you say we go track down some breakfast for them?"

"Of course." I followed Harry out of the waiting area.

"While we're here, Harry, d'you think someone could get rid of this damn cold of mine?"

"Probably."

The thing a lot of people seem to misunderstand about my and Harry's friendship is that we respect each others' privacy. When I met him, I didn't pry into his past, and he didn't pry into mine. It was something that both of us needed. We really did understand each other rather well. Still do, in fact. Besides, I knew that if I was quiet enough, Harry'd eventually crack and tell me at least as much as I wanted to know, and in some instances more than I wanted to know.

We found the 'tea room,' though I would have called it the cafeteria, but that's probably just another of my 'Americanisms.' Heh, they should be happy I don't call it a cantina. Harry purchased enough food for the five of us for a decent breakfast and we made it back to the waiting room just as Hermione was waking. Harry still hadn't stopped grinning like an idiot.

Hermione was one of those irritating people that could go from being asleep to fully functionally awake in a matter of seconds. It was irritating. I had been awake a good half-hour, and still felt like my brain hadn't yet shifted out of 'neutral.'

She immediately sat up and started firing questions. "Is Draco alright? What about the baby? How long have we been asleep? Are you alright? Is that breakfast? Will Draco be able to come home today? Is there –"

Her chattering had awoken Seamus and Ron. "Whoa, there, Herm. Let him have a chance to answer, for Merlin's sake! And breathe, honey." Ron exchanged a long-suffering look with Harry. Harry, still grinning, shrugged as if to say 'you're the one that married her…'

"Ach, my head." Seamus moaned, confirming my suspicion from earlier that he'd had far too much to drink at the party.

This proved to be too much for Harry to take, as he broke down into uncontrollable giggles. After he'd calmed down, he shook his head. "First things first," he pulled his wand out and cast the same anti-hangover charm he had used on me those many months before. He then turned to me and cast something else that made my nose tingle and my ears ring. After a minute or two, though, I felt decidedly healthier. Hermione was practically bouncing on the couch, and literally biting her tongue. She knew Harry'd get to the news. He's dragging it out for Hermione. It's not often he – or anyone else, for that matter – knows something she doesn't.

Harry handed everyone their breakfast; pastries, fruit and tea. Once everyone had something to eat before them, he finally sat for a moment. One thing I had learned the hard way about him was that he never sat still if he was excited. He grinned wider at all of us before finally, finally letting us know what had happened.

A/N: Yes, yes. I know that A.) It's been too long since this was updated, but real life's a bitch sometimes. B.) I'm evil for leaving this a cliffie. and C.) There is definately only two more chapters before this story's complete. I find myself simultaneously extatic and depressed over it. Having never finished a chaptered fic before, is this a normal reaction? If so, I shudder to think how I'll feel if I ever finish one of my original works...

Anyway, please let me know what you think! Also, this is one of your last chances to make any contributions to the story. I like hearing what you-all want to see included, and even though I might not use all the ideas, I will definately use at least one of them. You'll even get credit for the idea. This is also the last chance to tell me if you want the baby to be a boy or girl (sorry, no twins. I think the twin-thing is over-used in fanfiction. No triplets, quadruplets, quints, etc. either. If there were going to be a multiple birth, I'd have mentioned it already.) I'd also like to hear some suggestions for names (put these with you votes for boy/girl.)

Well, I think I've rambled along quite long enough.

Read & Review!