Valentine's Day

A/N- It's the twelfth chapter. It took twelve pages. It's the twelfth month of the year. And it is now 12:00 on-the-dot a.m. where I am living! Wow! What a co-ink-y-dink! (have no Idea how to spell that word, so I just spelt it out *smiles*) Since it is morning, MERRY CHRISTMAS!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!! This is your x-mas present from me to you (even though it is a valentine's chapter). I believe this is my longest chapter, coming to be 3,083 words, so review review review! I'm going to bed now cuz I don't think Santa has come yet… tee hee

Shopping with Mum and girls

"I wan' dis cereal Papa!"

"No, it's just sugar." Draco took the colorful box form Hope's hands and placed it back on the shelf. He shifted Bethany, who was sucking her thumb and had her head resting on his shoulder, and went on pushing the half full metal cart down the breakfast lane. His mother was right beside him guiding her own loaded cart with Leelah in the front seat as was Hope in Draco's cart.

"Mum, I don't know what to do; I've just been so busy lately, I haven't had time to give a proper thought to it." Draco sighed, continuing their conversation before he'd been interrupted by Hope. "I mean, he's been hinting that he's planning something, but not on purpose, mind you."

"Well then how do you know he's planning anything?"

Draco picked up a jar of peanut butter. "Because! Ever since the babies birthday he's dodged all of my questions of where he's been for long periods of time."

"Dragon, you're making this entirely too complicated. Now, what did you get him last year?" Narcissa asked calmly.

Draco looked at her, placing a box of Trix (Harry's favorite cereal) in his cart and checking it off his list. "Mum, you can't be suggesting I get him the same thing!"

"Don't be silly; of course not. I just want to see if there's any correlation between the gifts you've gotten Harry over the years."

"Oh, well um…" Draco cleared his throat, a light blush gracing is pale cheeks. "I just got him one of those 'personal 'gifts." It was now Narcissa's turn to look at her son with raised brows and a slight smile. "I see."

~*~*~*~*~*

Soccer Field- Working out with Blaise and Boys

Harry jogged around the track pushing the triple jogging stroller in front of him with Blaise keeping pace beside him.

"Daddy can we get out now?" some little body asked. Harry couldn't exactly tell who with the wind rushing past his ears, but he answered anyways.

"Not yet. Remember when we get to that gate over there you can get out then." Harry said in light puffs. He thought he heard a frustrated sigh but ignored it.

"Getting tired?" Blaise chuckled and ran in front of the stroller before turning around to face his childhood best friend and children. The bundled up three year olds immediately hollered out their excitement. "You's funny Base!"

Harry snorted."Yeah, funny looking!"

Blaise grinned and gave him the finger.

"Blaise! They're looking right at you!" Harry scolded, not all that astonished, but still. "Yeah, I hope you fall and break your neck." He said when Blaise tripped over his own feet, but still managed to stay up right. Blaise glared at him and faced forward again and sprinted the rest of the way, Harry quickly catching up to him.

"Now we can get out Daddy?" Jacob asked with juice cup in hand, leaning over the side in able to see his father.

"Stop it Hayden! You getting' me duhty!" Lucian whined as his brother wiped his crumb covered hand on his jeans.

Harry ran a warm roughened hand through his sweaty black locks and crouched down in front of the stroller, unbuckling the seatbelts. "Guys, knock it off."

"Daddy he, um, wipe his hand on my clothes." Lucian told on his brother, getting out of his seat. Hayden swiped his hands on Lucian's clothes once more before running off, giggling. "Stop it!"

"Boys stop. Lucian it's alright if you get dirty; your Papa has gotten it in your head that you need to be clean all the time. You're boys, who cares?" Harry stood finally and went over to his duffle to pull out a tattered soccer ball. "I don't."

Lucian looked a little crestfallen, his small fingers entangled in his jacket, looking at his brothers chasing his uncle on the turf.

"Here Luc," Harry handed the three year old a small football and ruffled his soft blonde messy hair. "Go play with your brothers." He said as he expertly kicked the tattered soccer ball high into the air.

"Wow! Daddy how you do that?!" Lucian exclaimed looking up into the sky. He gleefully ran towards his brothers who were gazing up into the sky also, with their arms out ready to catch the falling ball.

"So."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Blaise as they began to stretch, first bending over to touch palms to the ground. "So?"

Blaise smirked, slowly standing upright. "So, it's Valentine's Day today."

"And?" Loud shrieking had Harry glancing at his wrestling boys.

"And, what have you got planned for your hubby?"

"Blaise don't say that." Harry groaned into Blaise's ear. They were leaning close to each other as they touched the balls of their feet together, stretching their calves.

"Well he is yourhusband." Blaise grinned and sat on the track. He spread his legs as far as they could and leaned over to touch his Nike clad toes.

"Yes I know, just don't…say that; it's weird." Harry joined the Italian on the ground, getting in the same position.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Pansy." He reached out both of his hands, clasping them to Harry's. Harry leaned back, pulling his friend forward. "Okay that's enough." Blaise said in a strained voice. He cleared it. "Anywho, have you gotten anything special planned for the princess today?"

It was Harry's turn to be pulled, easily making it far enough to touch his nose to the ground. He was sure he heard a muttered 'Show off' from above and smiled. "I haven't got anything extravagant planned if that's what you're asking, but it will be something nice."

"Daddy look!"

Harry immediately let go of the rough hands, causing his friend to topple backwards and sat up quickly, cursing when something popped in his back.

His pain was short lived as wailing landed more heavily on his ears. "Daadeee! Luc kicked me!" is what he heard, but the rest was a jumbled mess. But what really caught his attention was the blood flowing from Hayden's nose.

As Hayden came toddling over in tears, he lifted his arm, "Don't," to late. "Wipe it." Blood was now smeared across the right side of Hayden's face.

Harry bent and lifted little Hayden, who curled into his chest, smearing blood over his favorite white T-shirt. "God. LUCIAN CARTER MALFOY-POTTER GET OVER HERE NOW!"

Lucian took one look at his yelling father and promptly burst into tears while Jacob kept on playing.

Harry rolled his eyes, turning away to keep from yelling anymore. He counted to ten just as Draco insisted but then Hayden sneezed.

"Blaise…"

"I'm on it." Blaise said, quickly running off to retrieve his godsons.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Whitaker Elementary Private School

"…and remember, you have a spelling test on Monday, so don't forget to go over your words with your parents this weekend."

Alex drowsily watched as his teacher wrote a note on the blackboard. The heel of his right hand dug harshly into his cheek, making it plump up. He gave a sigh and looked desperately at his best friend, Thein Ly, sitting next to him. It seemed the other boy wasn't holding up any better than he was; his spiky black bangs covered his dark brown eyes which stared into oblivion, his head was set on his desk and his left hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it drew nameless objects onto the wooden surface with a pink eraser. Alex licked his lips and directed his gaze to a festively decorated table in the front of the room. He wished Mrs. Tiefel would just hurry up and stop talking so they could start the long awaited party. No one was listening to her anyways…

"Alex?" Alex immediately sat up, hurriedly swiping hair out of his eyes. His teacher pursed her lips in irritation. "Pay attention." Alex made sure her back was turned before morphing his face into an ugly expression, causing the ones who'd been looking at him to burst out laughing. Mrs. Tiefel huffed and slammed the white chalk onto the metal ledge. She fixed Alex with a pointed glare.

"What? That wasn't me!" Alex lied defensively. Beside him, Thien, now fully recovered from boredom, stifled a laugh.

"Do not lie to me Mr. Potter."

"Malfoy-Potter."

Mrs. Tiefel sighed, tapping her painted fingernails on her wooden desk. "Am I going to have to send you to the principal's office today?"

"I didn't do anything!" Alex retorted. He bumped has shoe clad foot against his Vietnamese friends'.

Thien, receiving the message of needing help, straightened his posture and spoke up on his best friends' behalf. "Mrs. Tiefel, may I speak?" he asked politely with his hand raised.

She knew she would regret it, but she trusted the dark haired boy more than she did his fair haired friend. "Go on then, Mr. Ly."

Thien straightened his glasses upon his nose and glanced at a quiet red headed boy. Hugo Weasley. Hugo had his head lying on his desk just as Thein had seconds ago. Unlike the other students, he seemed bored with the whole situation as if it occurred every day. Which, it did, just not every single day. His red hair was short and overly curly and his glasses were rectangle with royal blue frames. Matched his eyes perfectly. He was the perfect target as always. Thein allowed a small smirk to grace his lips when those eyes caught his and immediately widened.

"Mrs. Tiefel, Alex didn't do anything." He restated. "I saw Hugo," Hugo's skin grew paler than it already was. "making faces behind your back. That's why everyone laughed."

"Mr. Weasley, is this true?"

Hugo sat up, pushing his glasses as far as they would go, licking his dry lips. His hands fidgeted and perspired as everyone's attention was directed towards him. "Um, no ma'am; I haven't done anything."

"So I've been told." Mrs. Tiefel said to herself, sighing. But, wanting this to be a joyful day, she decided to forego trying to figure out the truth and assigning punishments. Instead she gave a warning to the whole class to behave themselves during the festivities.

Under a desk, two pairs of knuckles tapped together in success.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Back at home

"Puppy chow, puppy chow, puppy puppy puppy chow…" Bethany sang happily as she sat perched next to her sister's on wooden stools. They all watched as their grandmother gathered the ingredients for the much desired "Puppy Chow".

"Now, who would like to help grandma make this… whatever is this called again?" Narcissa asked, feigning confusion.

"Puppy Tow!" Leelah laughed gleefully, throwing up her arms.

"I wanna help you grandma." Hope said, looking with interest at all the sweet things. There was Crispix cereal (not her favorite) peanut butter, chocolate chips (two of her favorites), some yellow bar thing and some white powdery stuff.

"That's the name. Now, I'll just measure out everything so we can easily pour them into the bowl here…" Narcissa said mostly to herself as she started the search for the measuring cups.

"Papa!"

"We're making Puppy Tow, Papa!" Leelah said excitedly when he walked into the room.

"Puppy chow .And yes, I can see that." Draco said as he began putting the girls hair up into pony tails. "Mum, what are you doing?"

"Well, I'm trying to find your measuring cups." Narcissa opened the top shelf cabinets near the sink, emitting a successful 'hum'. "Here we are. Hope, my princess, you can pour the chocolates…" Narcissa drifted off when a low humming came from behind her. She turned to look at her son who was bluntly looking in the opposite direction, filling a kettle with water.

"Draconis, do you have something you would like to share?"

Draco shook his head, smiling. "Not at all mother." He set the stove on high under the kettle. He went over and kissed his mother on the cheek tenderly. "Just singing to myself." He sat himself on the counter.

"Papa?"

"Yes sweetie?" Draco tilted his head in Bethany's direction.

"Daddy always sit me dare when I takes my med'sine." Bethany informed him with her chin placed promptly on her fist.

"Does he now?" Draco blew her a kiss and smiled when she giggled and caught it. Draco watched, as did his daughters, as his mum laid out the peanut butter, chocolate chips and cereal in front of the three year olds.

"Mum that's not going to work." He said and hopped off the counter to turn off the heat below the screeching kettle.

"What's not?" Narcissa asked, monitoring each movement her princesses made.

Draco left the tea bag sitting in the steaming water, going over to oversee the treat making. "You gave them all glass containers and…"

"Look Papa, we did it all by ourselves!" Draco looked into the blue bowl which now held gooey muck.

"You were saying love?" Narcissa smirked and took the bowl, popping it into the microwave.

"Us big girls!" Leelah said.

Draco lifted his eyebrows at them. "Guess I didn't get the memo."

The microwave beeped three times, notifying Narcissa to retrieve the now melted ingredients. Draco, after pouring too much sugar, took his tea upstairs, picking up a Parenting magazine off the kitchen table on his way.

"I wanna lick the red thing!"

"No, me first!"

"No, you was first last time!"

Draco smiled.

~*~*~*~*

"Mum!!"

"Draco? What is it?"

Draco plopped himself at the table, head buried in his arms. "I still haven't got an idea of what to get my husband."

Narcissa relaxed when her son said this, assured nothing was overly wrong. "Well, it's too late to buy anything now. Why don't you make something for him?" Draco peered over his folded arms skeptically.

"Like what?"

"You're an artist Draco, I'm sure you can whip up something creative."

"Whip up? Mum, this can't be something raggedy…"

Narcissa looked at her son with that look. "I didn't say anything about your gift being 'raggedy', as you say. As long as it comes from the heart, Harry should love it dearly. Now pick up some of this construction paper and scissors and start creating."

Draco moaned, but lifted his head, finally taking in what was going on around him. There were bits and pieces of colored scrap paper all over the table, along with already finished drawings. Leelah, Hope and his mother were all immersed in their art work and were eating the finished the product of the earlier made treat. Draco directed his eyes to Beth who was watching him thoughtfully.

"You can have some of my paper Papa. I can help you make a heart for daddy too." She said to him, sliding some of her scraps his way. "See, I made all these already."

Draco smiled somberly. "Thank you baby. That's very kind of you." Bethany beamed at the complement and started making mew hearts for her Papa.

Draco held in his groan and got to work.

~*~*~*~*~

Once Draco was sure his children were fast asleep, he climb down the stairs, looking forward to relaxing with his husband after said husband finished his kitchen duties. But, as he got to the last step of the stairs, he faltered; there, on the last step was a simple rose. He gently picked it up, smelling the soft sent. His grey-blue eyes looked for a certain brunette who he thought may be hiding in some dark corner. Instead he saw that there wasn't just this lone rose, but that there were multiples of the love flowers lying delicately on the carpeted floor.

Draco stepped down and followed the trail, all the while retrieving the simple roses. The trail led him to the backyard door which had a note taped to its surface. Draco carefully took off the note and read the quickly scrawled note.

Love,

Put your coat on before coming outside

Luv, your Hub :)

Draco raised an eyebrow at the last comment and did as the note said, adding light boots to the attire. He hurriedly retrieved Harry's present from him, from under the toaster (believe it or not, he couldn't think of any other place) and the flowers that were now a bouquet and headed out the door.

There were rose petals and small red candles littering the light blanket of snow, leading Draco to his destination. His breath caught as full roses stood in the form of a heart became apparent. He bent down, aware of the bundled figure standing in the middle watching him, to pluck a rose that served as the point of the heart. The rose had only one petal.

Not missing a beat, Draco stepped into the heart. When he got close enough to see Harry's face, he set down the bundle of roses and held out the lone, one petaled rose.

"He loves me." Draco said softly, plucking off the petal.

Harry grinned and leaned in to kiss curved pink lips as the petal fluttered lightly to the ground. "I love you."

Draco smiled and wrapped his coat covered arms into Harry's jacket and around his waist. "I love you too."

Harry shivered and pulled his lover closer. "Do you like it?"

"I love it." Draco said into Harry's warm shoulder. He'd felt the shiver. "You're shivering, how long have you been out here?"

"'Bout 20 minutes; took me forever get everything situated. Everything kept tipping over." Harry kissed the blonde head.

Draco laughed and pulled back. "Well, I'm afraid my gift to you isn't as great, but all your girls chipped in and helped make it."

"Whatever you and my children make together will always mean the world to me." Harry said softly, but in a serious tone.

Draco's heart skipped as he gazed into warm hazel orbs and pressed his lips roughly to his loving husbands'. "I love you so much."

Harry chuckled, "I know. Now let's see that gift."

Draco sighed, but pulled out a sparkly heart from inside his pocket. Some of the glitter from around the edges and the letters, fell to the ground as it caught the outside lip of the pocket.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Draco handed Harry the pink and red heart. Harry took it gently in his hands and read in big bold silver, glittery letters:

H + D

(insert equal sign here)

LUV

4EVER

Draco looked at Harry's face. "Do you like it?"

Harry looked up from the simple gift. "I love it."

A/N- dang equal sign doesn't work... :P