Hey there,
sorry, I'm a little late. Thanks again to my beta, blacky-green and to my readers for your interest and reviews :)
Rubbyy: Michael wants a child that is the same creature species, thus needs a partner who is the same species. However, he can have a human child with anyone, because all nearly-human races have human genes as a basis. He didn't know that Harry is an elf and thus can become pregnant, otherwise he would have use contraception.
MintMousse: I don't plan on writing an abortion, not that I judge anything about it, I just wouldn't feel comfortable writing it. Solving this 'problem' so easy would take a lot of plot from this story, but you're right, in real life it might be advisable. I also don't approve of keeping such information from teenagers, but keep Athia's point of view in mind. She doesn't have regular contact with the human world and homosexuality was a very sensitive topic until late in the 20th century. She didn't know that Harry was interested in men and didn't want to offend him.
Have fun!
Hogwarts, December 1996
Harry makes his way back to Hogwarts and into his bed deep in thought. Until now, Harry has never thought about having children in detail . It was always a topic for the distant future and he'd never bothered to learn anything about raising children. However, he is pregnant. A pregnant male. In a few months he might have a child, without knowing how to deal with one. While still at school. As a single parent. The situation is less than ideal, his rational mind points are in favor of not having the child. His gut feeling is the only thing stopping him from going through with an abortion. He doesn't consider abortion something unmoral, he just can't imagine living with that decision, wondering what might have been, if it was the best decision. No, it might be overwhelming and the timing might be terrible, but Harry doesn't want to get rid of the child.
This leads to more questions. Where should the baby live? He doesn't want to give it away, orphanages are probably less awful than the Dursleys made them out to be, but it's still not the right place for Harry's child to grow up. No, he wants to keep them, watch them grow up. It's absolutely unthinkable to take care of a child properly while at Hogwarts. Who could he give the child to for the duration of his education? Who would definitely give the child back after a year? Would it be in the child's interest if Harry got her or him back after a year? Where would she or he be safe enough? It seems like the only option is to give the child to someone outside of Hogwarts, but the thought of not seeing them for a year is painful.
He needs answers for these questions before June, but right now there are more pressing matters. The baby needs his magic so he can't overl-exert himself, but his lessons at Hogwarts are designed to challenge students to help them develop their magical core. He can't avoid using magic in his lessons. He needs to know more about the level his magical core must maintain for the baby. A question he needs to ask Athia and Ryle tomorrow.
And what about Michael? He deserves to know that he has a child, even if it's 'only' a human child. Would Michael's creature inheritance influence the baby and it's development? Yet contacting Michael directly is not possible, Harry doesn't know where his folk live and owls can't deliver messages to any creature sanctuaries, otherwise it would be very easy for creature hunters to send them an owl and follow it. Harry plans to go to Diagon Alley once he has time to spare to speak to the staff at the apothecary that Michael worked at this summer. Perhaps they know how to contact him.
And what about his time at Hogwarts? Surely people would notice and report to the Daily Prophet or the Death Eaters if Harry goes around looking like he swallowed a Quaffle in a few months. A further question for Athia.
And what does a baby need anyway? Mrs Weasley made it sound like a lot when she assumed that Bill and Fleur would be starting to have children soon after getting married. Not that they intend to have any soon.
One thing is certain: this has to be kept secret. If the Death Eaters got his baby, Harry would be easier to blackmail and manipulate than if they got one of his friends.
Harry tosses and turns with questions in his head. At three in the morning, he finally falls asleep.
***HP***
The next morning Harry is distracted by his thoughts, going through breakfast and lunch mechanically and doing his homework in between. His friends put an effort into including him in their conversations, both look worried about Harry being thoughtful and withdrawn again.
By the afternoon Harry can't take it any longer. "I'm going for a walk and maybe a second bath, I can't stand to look at homework right now.", he explains before leaving his friends. He nearly jogs down the secret passage, reappears in the elven city and heads for Athia's hut. She is not there, but he soon finds her in the garden behind the main building, weeding a herb bed.
"Hey Harry. Are you well?", she asks beaming.
"Hello Athia. I'm okay, yesterday was a huge shock. I'm ready now for the rest of the information."
"Great. I knew you'd come to terms with the news quickly. Let's fetch Ryle first."
They meet Ryle in the infirmary again. She doesn't look as grumpy as yesterday, but isn't smiling either.
"So. I want to keep the baby, but it can't grow up in Hogwarts and I can't discontinue my education. Would it be possible for the baby to stay here until I graduate?"
"We'd be honoured to look after your child, but it's not allowed. It's written down in the agreement between elves and humans that no human can live in the City of Elyna, in exchange for the emancipation of every elf born by humans."
Harry nods, having anticipated that not every problem could be solved today.
"Okay. What can I expect of this pregnancy?"
Athia asks Ryle and translates again. "The male body is not made for pregnancy, muscles and tissue are not formed like with females. Organs will be pushed aside and muscles stretched, so it will be painful at times. And because of your slim physique you will start to show quite early. A balanced diet, enough sleep, avoidance of physical blows against your belly and maintaining enough magic will do the rest."
"How much magic do I have to leave untouched at any point of time? My education is magically exhausting right now."
"That depends a lot on your magical strength. Ryle can't answer that in detail because male pregnancies are not that common, she can't compare it against previous pregnancies to give a reliable answer. I contacted Valon this morning, his partner had two pregnancies, but neither worked out. It's a painful memory, but he has agreed to answer your remaining questions this evening."
Harry nods, curious about Valon's experiences.
"Is it possible to glamor my growing belly?"
"Sure. There are special glamors for that, they are very mild and don't put the child's health at risk. Male pregnancies are one of our most well protected secrets, so please keep the number of people you tell to a minimum. I'd never ask you to keep that from your family, but it's important for your security that no one else knows."
"Sure. I'm not keen to tell strangers either."
"Good. When you are here, please drop the glamors. Children are a great source of pride for our kind, and seeing that you value that would help others who were... skeptical about welcoming you into our society see you in are more positive light. After all, even with a human child that carries elven genes, you'd contribute to our race's survival."
"About that, what influence would the other father's creature blood have?"
"What do you mean? Wasn't your partner a human?"
"No. I don't exactly know what he is. At one of our first dates we recognized that neither of us is completely human. What I know is that he went back to his folk's sanctuary in November. He is 22 years old and was born near Glasgow."
"What does he look like? Did he show you any special powers?"
"No. He has dark brown hair, bright brown eyes, he's a bit taller than me. He said he can only have a child of his own kind with a partner who is, too."
"Hm. Most creatures need a partner of the same species to have a creature child. So, he can't be a veela as he is male. That leaves the fae, who live in several groups, but most of them are known to be so shy that he wouldn't have met you again after the topic came up. Very few fae groups are known to have contact with the world outside of their sanctuary. There are also some forest spirits all around the world and half-avian people in the mountains of Asia. Not much is known about them. Whatever species he is, it shouldn't influence the child, because you are not the same species. Only your human genes could be combined to create the child because all nearly-human species have human genes as a basis. The child might have a generally better feeling and understanding of magic, if its other father is a fae, for example. And he or she carries elven genes, so its descendants could be human born elves. Other than that, it should be like any other human child."
Harry nods in understanding. He didn't know that there are so many humanoid folks around, it's a very interesting topic.
"Any other questions or should we look for those glamors?", Athia asks after a small pause.
"Let's look for the glamors, I don't think I have any other question right now." They leave Ryle in the infirmary and step into the Entrance Hall again. This time they go through a different archway.
"Wow.", Harry says when steps into the library. It's a round room, with round tables and chairs in the middle, with high bookshelves all over the walls. There is not a bit of stone to be seen. Harry looks up, there are many more levels of bookshelves, it even looks like there were books on the ceiling.
"This is the grand library, our biggest pride. Every book written by elves is stored here, it's one of the biggest sources of pride for us to be the author of one of the most read books. If you go up the ladders to the upper levels, it looks like the library is a tower, the walls going straight up. Even if you look down from the highest level, it doesn't look strange. Yet physically, this building is a dome, it's a magnificent achievement. There are a lot of space expanding wards and other complicated pieces of magic at work. A tower wouldn't have fitted the building, this is the best solution to have so much store room for the books."
"This is absolutely awesome."
"Thank you. Every topic an elf has researched can be found in this library. The books are not organized by author, title or topic, but by their last use. The most recently read books are on the ground shelves, the higher up the longer since the book was looked at. This is the register." Athia points to a small piece of parchment next to the archway.
"You just say the title of a book or the topic you wish to read about, if there is more than one book that fills your requirements, they are listed on this parchment for you to choose from. Then the book will sparkle. Of course only you can see them, so that multiple people can search for books at the same time. Try it."
Harry steps to the parchment. "Books about glamors for pregnancies", he whispers in the elven language. He turns around and sees a book sparkling on the second level. He reaches out with his arm in order to summon it to himself, but Athia grabs his hand.
"Show a little respect. No summoning a book, go and fetch it."
Harry climbs up the ladder and fetches the book, which is more a booklet now that he sees it up close.
He puts it on one of the tables, then Athia and him lean over the open booklet.
"That's the book I meant. See, there are glamors to hide a pregnancy."
"I can't read this."
"Oh. It's a bit above your level, but a manageable challenge. I'll show you how the glamors are applied and you have about a month to get the hang of it." Harry nods relieved. "See, this glamor simply makes it impossible to see your grown belly, letting people think that nothing is amiss. This is easy to cast, but only good if you don't move, because it doesn't prevent people from noticing that you walk strangely. The version that also covers your movements is more difficult. I'm not sure if it's even strictly a glamor or a portable ward..."
"It sounds brilliant anyway. Can I still see my belly?"
"Sure. Anything else could cause problems because you'd always be surprised to see your body without a glamor and might not be mentally prepared for the baby to come."
"Could you start teaching me this glamor today?"
"Sure. We still have about an hour left until Valon arrives."
"Before we go, can I have a look at that book Valon's aunt wrote about the simultaneous usage of elven and human magic?"
Athia nods, goes back to the register and then fetches the book. She opens it on the table and frowns.
"Oh shit.", Harry sighs. The book is written in a neat, small handwriting that fills every inch of the parchment. Most things are written in an upright format plus some comments in a landscape format on the empty space where the pages meet. Some pages even have comments written diagonally over the whole page, making the underlying writing hard to read. Simply put, the book is a mess, a puzzle to be solved before having any chance of reading the content.
"Hm. It's written in the same old dialect that Ryle speaks, they were only few years apart. Even if you find out in which order to read the comments and passages, there is still the problem of not being proficient in this dialect."
"Can't you teach me this like the glamors?"
"I don't think so. This is much more complicated, I don't even understand everything I have read so far. I never looked into the theories behind wand usage or human magic, so I lack all the background information. I'm afraid this will become your long-term project.", Athia sighs.
Harry nods, feeling disappointed. "Okay, first things first. Let's start on the glamors." Athia grins and puts the books away before leading Harry back to her hut.
They start with the easier glamor, which is a very good thing. Although Harry became quite good with the glamors- Athia taught him in the summer, he now has significant trouble with even the simplest version. It's quite difficult to cast a glamor over something that isn't yet there. Never having been a fat person, he can't really envision himself with a huge belly. Becoming a bit annoyed by his absolute lack of progress, Athia pushes a small pillow under the shirt of Harry's school uniform. Mortified by this situation, Harry tries harder to make the glamor work, again without any success.
"You're so far along already?", a voice asks from the door. Harry whips around. Valon is standing in the doorway, a mischievous smile on his face. Harry hastily pulls the pillow out from under his shirt, blushing about being caught in such a childish antic.
"Hi Valon. I'm not yet far along. We were practicing glamors.", Harry hurries to explain.
"Why don't you two go and have your talk? I don't think we'll make much progress today anyway." Athia suggest.
They say their goodbyes to Athia and leave the small house.
"Where are we going?", Harry asks when they don't walk towards one of the other houses, but through the gates of the city.
"I thought we could make a walk through the forest while we talk. You don't mind, do you?"
Harry shakes his head and looks around. Until now he never walked out of the city and into the surrounding area.
"Where is this place anyway?"
"We are on a small island in the ocean, if you fly or swim eastbound you will reach Portugal in a day. The earth absorbs our magic, thus this place is unplottable by any means. People who come close to this island change the course because of mist or bad weather that is created by the island's magic."
They continue walking through a light forest. It's quiet and peaceful, even more so than any other forest Harry has been in. There is moss under his feet, it's like walking on a thin pillow. Valon breaks the comfortable silence.
"What is it that you need to know? As far as I know, Athia and Ryle already told you the most important things."
"I'd like to know how much magic I must have left anytime. I'm still at school and my education is focused on core-expanding right now. It would be nearly impossible to not take part in the lessons or practicing spells and charms for homework."
"I know the concept of core-expanding. We have a different concept, we think that our magic can be compared to a lake. When we are adults, it doesn't change its size, although it rains every night to refill the lake. More powerful magic becomes possible when you change the tool that you use to scoop water out of your lake. At first you have a spoon, with that it's absolutely impossible to empty the lake. With a bit of practice, you can handle a cup, with even more practice a bucket and so on.
Your magical reserves have to be on a certain level anytime, there is an easy way to visualize this. Picture your magical reserve like a vial with water. If you fall under about ten percent, you have a medical condition called magical exhaustion. You'd be in danger of falling into a coma, in extreme cases this can even be fatal. Between ten and fifteen percent, you feel exhausted and uncomfortable and are in serious danger of getting ill. The zone that your education aims at with core-expanding would be between twenty and forty percent. You'd feel exhausted, but not ill and are in no danger. Somewhere in this area is the point you shouldn't fall below for your pregnancy. The problem is that nothing about this levels can be measured exactly, you can't find out at what level someone is if that person is not in the danger zones. It's just a scheme."
"What happens if I don't have enough magic left?"
"The growth of the baby can be slowed down or stopped if you are under the level, if the development is slowed down too much compared to the timely progress of the pregnancy, there would be a miscarriage. So, being slightly under the level once is not fatal, yet should be avoided. If your reserves drop very low, there can be an instant miscarriage."
"How do I find out how much magic I can use without harming the baby?"
"You can minimize the amount of magic that the pregnancy needs by eating and sleeping healthily, but it will still need your magic to keep the baby in place. There is no reliable way to find out how much magic your pregnancy needs, it's why so many male pregnancies don't work out." Valon bites his bottom lip thoughtfully before continuing "I was in a relationship with a male elf about a hundred years ago. He became pregnant, and it was a huge surprise, we were so happy and looking forward to having a child together. And suddenly one day he miscarried, he had used too much magic, leaving not enough reserve for the pregnancy. The same happened again a few years later. We were both so upset, but my partner had it worse. He never recovered from the loss of our two children, I tried everything to make it easier on him, but nothing worked." Valon starts walking again, faster than before. "He left me and went into the human world, that was in the 1920s, when the creature hunters were very active, I never heard from him again, but it's very probable that he's dead. A kind of suicide..."
Harry stays silent, not knowing what to say.
"Be happy that you're having a human child, they're much more sturdy."
The silence stretches again, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. "So, if a pregnant man doesn't use any magic, there is no danger for the child on that front?"
"Quite right. A reasonable amount of magic is no danger. However, using magic is like breathing for elves. When you're older it's not even a conscious thought whether or not you use magic for the most basic daily things anymore, thus it is nearly impossible to completely stop using it. It's not an option for you, as you have to continue your education."
"Hm. So the best I can do is avoid using magic except for a necessary minimum? Then I wouldn't go below the point where the child's development would be endangered?"
"Yes, that would be the best."
"I'll miss learning more elven magic, it's very fun. At least I can still come here to learn the language.", Harry smiles.
Valon tells Harry a bit more about his memories of his partner's pregnancies. The ups and downs, how much they were looking forward to having a child and so on. Valon's story is incredibly sad, up to the point where he met his human wife with whom he now has three children in their twenties. Harry shares his fears and worries, Valon listens to him and gives advice. Once again, not every problem can be solved, but Harry feels reassured with the solutions he has found thus far.