No One's Secret To Keep
By darkmosmordreheart
General Summary: D/H. What they have is not a secret, but what they feel is. 7th year.
Summary of This Chapter: BABY!! Where's Harry?
Warning: slash, sex, language, all that good stuff.
Disclaimer: The characters I have borrowed for sexual favors are not mine . . . but they were last night, if you know what I mean! LOL!
Author's Note: Okay, so this is the last chap before the epilogue goes up and, I'm such a sap as I've stated earlier, I'm listening to James Blunt – not the latest cd 'cuz no one is willing to buy it for me, grrr – but I completely love this cd and the song High is playing and, I swear, if the ending is super sappy, blame that and the damn repeat button. Such a good song! -DMH
Chapter Fourteen
"I hate Harry Potter."
"Don't say that."
"But I do, Pansy. I absolutely do."
"You don't mean that."
"I'll make myself mean it!"
"That doesn't make sense, Draco."
"Your face doesn't make sense."
The brunette made a small squeaking noise and brought her hands to her cheeks.
"I think your face is perfectly logical."
"And just what does that mean, Ronald?" Hermione asked, sending him an arching look as Pansy's expression practically gushed with appreciation.
"Nothing, 'Mione, it just means Pansy's face does . . . make sense, I guess."
"Well, what about her face, Ronnie? Does hers make sense?" the Slytherin girl goaded, smirking at the future hole the redhead was going to dig.
"Yeah. It's the most logical face I've ever seen!"
"And just what does that mean!" Hermione snapped, her logical face going red with anger.
"I don't know!"
"Excuse me!" the pacing blond in the middle of the room screamed at the bickering couple and his best friend. In less than seventy-two hours, he had gone from first trimester to third and they had the nerve to stare – no, gape like fishes at him as if he was completely mental. "Pregnant!" he screeched at them, pointing at the amazing growth where his abs had been not so long ago. "Not shut up and listen to me bitch about how much pain I'm in!"
The two Gryffindors sat up quickly, but Pansy just stretched across Draco's hospital bed and smiled. "Calm down, sweetie. You know what Madam Pomfrey said about stress."
"Yes I do, Pans," he gritted through his teeth as he began pacing again. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and bit his lip through the next contraction. He growled out his pain and continued to pace once more. "I don't want to do this. I change my mind. End this fucking curse and just kill me."
"Come, sit," the brunette urged, sitting up and patting a spot beside her on the bed.
"No," Draco moaned, clutching his stomach and squeezing his eyes shut as he stood still in the middle of the room; he refused to release the tears, absolutely refused. "Where is he?!"
"Professor Snape is looking for him!" Hermione told him, but the blond just shook his head and opened his mouth to let out a dry sob when more pain shot through his body. "Oh, please, Draco! Sit down!"
"No!" he growled at her as the pacing started once more. "When I see him, he's dead. He's so dead! I will never forgive him for this! Never! He's going to spend time graveling at my feet well into his afterlife. I will destroy him; his mind, his body, his spirit! He will appear nothing more than a soulless shell, worse than a victim of dementors because I'll take his soul and cut off his –" The hospital wing's doors flew open. "– Harry!" Draco's hopeful smile melted into misery when his quick silver eyes took in the sight of a frustrated Snape, a worried McGonagall, a twinkled eyed Dumbledore, and no Harry. "Where is my husband?" he roared, a surge of his enraged magic shooting through the room and causing several vials of potion shattered. A soft curse was heard as a rather frazzled Madam Pomfrey scurried into view.
"Where have you been, Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, surprising her with his presence when her attention had been focused on the man in labor before them.
"I've been looking up all the information I could, Albus," the mediwitch told the headmaster who nodded and moved to look at one of the many books she carried. "In all my books about pregnancy, there is barely a mention of wizard pregnancy, let alone of the actual birthing process. They all basically state that both of the partners must be present for the birth, otherwise . . . you know," she explained, casting a nervous look to the pacing blond.
"It's death, isn't it?" Draco asked, clutching his stomach. No one matched his gaze and he groaned. "Of course, it's always death! Always death! What the hell is wrong with you people! How come no one tells me these things until the moment I'm about to die?! I hate all of you! Harry and . . . and . . . and you!" he shouted, pointing at Hermione and Ron who whimpered. "This is your entire fault! Why don't you keep that bloody wanker on a bloody leash?! He's always running away somewhere! He's probably up a tree trying to save a kitten or . . . or anywhere but here with me when I'm giving birth to his firstborn son! I hate him! I hate him and all of you and . . . and . . . and if I die, I'm taking all of you with me. I'll decorate the walls in your blood like paint and . . . and . . . Mummy!"
The attention turned from the blond to his mother as she entered the room, dragging her husband along with her. She took in the sight of her son's haggard appearance and dropped Lucius' arm without a second thought as she ran across the room. "Oh, Draco, darling!"
"Oh, Mummy! I went into labor and Harry's not here! He hates me, Mummy! I just know he does!" Draco wailed as he dropped all his weight into his mother's arms and Narcissa, being a foot shorter than her son, was surprisingly strong and led him to the nearest bed, shooing Pansy off of it and laying her son across it. She stroked his sweat-dampened forehead and cooed at him, telling him that everything would be alright as she kissed away his tears.
Lucius stood beside her and frowned, but he occasionally reached out and patted his son on the leg.
"Now that the beast has been tamed," Pansy said out of Draco's earshot to Hermione, Ron, and their teachers. "Has anyone figured out what's happened to Harry?"
"I fear I know what's happened to him," a small voice said from behind the professors. They all turned to face a sheepish looking Ginny Weasley, a blush gracing her pale, freckled cheeks.
"So, I think Harry's stuck in a suit of armor," the redhead told them as she led them to the hallway where the suits of armor dwelled.
"What the hell, Ginny?!" her brother gasped, earning a slap on the arm from his head of house.
"Yes, we would all like an explanation for this," Professor McGonagall agreed, though she gave Ron another stern look that made him rub his arm.
Ginny flushed. "Well . . . I kinda told Peeves to throw Harry into a suit of armor, but I really didn't think he'd do it!" she finished hastily before everyone could explode.
"What the hell, Ginny?!" Ron roared again, going rigid in preparation for another slap that never came. It seemed McGonagall was too in shock to do anything, as were Hermione and Snape. Dumbledore, however, stifled a laugh.
"I didn't think he would do it, seriously!" she insisted. "I told him like a week ago and all he did was fly off cackling!"
"Well, we should find Harry, yes?" the headmaster suggested, his eyes twinkling bright as he walked past them all to inspect the long hallway of armor. "Now, if I was detained in a magical suit of armor, where would I be?"
"Perhaps the suit that is emitting loud clangs, sir," Snape drawled drily, though his eyes were twinkling about as much as Dumbledore's at the thought of Potter helplessly trapped in a suit of armor.
"Ah, perhaps you're right, Severus," the headmaster chuckled, moving to a suit the was not only clanging, but moving it's helmeted head around in a attempt to find the source of the clanging. "Disimbartem."
With a wave of the headmaster's wand, the suit fell apart and a gagged Harry fell out onto the floor before them, a wild look in his eyes and the helmet sitting skewed atop his head. He spit what looked to be a sock from his mouth and scrambled to his feet, glaring at them all. Even the suit of armor seemed angered as it pulled its headless body back together. "It's about time you found me!" he yelled, more than a little loudly. "I've been in here since morning!"
"We didn't know where you were!" Hermione told him with a squeak as Pansy laughed at him.
"Ron has the bloody Marauders' Map!" he bellowed.
As everyone's gaze fell to Ron in question, the redhead flushed until his hair and his skin appeared to be one red entity. "Oops, forgot I had borrowed it."
Just as Harry opened his mouth to let his friend have it, Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder. "As much as we would all like to stand here and bicker, there's a young man in labor that you may like to see."
"What?" Harry gasped, his eyes wide with worry. "Where is he?"
"The hospital wing," McGonagall said, but before she could finish her statement, the young man had shot off, but being a bit disoriented, he ran down the hall in the wrong direction, realized his mistake and ran past them all again, the entire time being chased by a headless knight intent on getting its head back.
Lucius aimed his wand at the hospital wing's door as a large entity – apparently made of metal – collided into it with a series of curses. The door blasted open and there stood Harry Potter amongst a pile of broken wood and what appeared to be . . . a suit of armor? Before he could question the young man, however, the brunet rushed to the bedside, his friends and teachers following close behind him, and promptly pushed Lucius out of the way. "What the hell?!"
"Oh hush, Lucius," Narcissa scolded him as she stepped away from her son and slapped her husband on the arm. "This is a moment for Harry and Draco. Everyone else, get out of the way!"
The group quickly dispersed at Lady Malfoy's orders and Madam Pomfrey was quickly at the young couple's side, flicking her wand and conjuring a curtain that shielded them from the rest of the room. Harry leaned over his husband and gazed down at him, his eye apologetic as they were worried.
"Draco, I'm so sorry," he whispered, reaching to clutch the blond's hand in his. He frowned when Draco refused his hand, but relaxed when the pale hand lifted to his face and cupped his cheek.
"You're here now," Draco smiled and Harry leaned down to kiss him. "But, seriously, where the hell were you?"
"Can you believe I got trapped in a suit of armor?" Harry asked him, laughter in his voice as he stroked the hair plastered by sweat from his love's forehead.
Draco closed his eyes in pleasure. "Actually . . . I think I can . . . Harry, I'm so glad you're here."
"I know, baby." Harry kissed his temple as the blond's tears began to fall once more. "But there's nowhere else I would rather be right now. I need to be here with you. I love you."
"I love you, t – Ah!" Harry jumped as the other man suddenly grasped and clutched at him. He looked to Madam Pomfrey with wide eyes of fear.
"What's happening?!"
"It's a contraction," she told him, placing a cool rag on the blond's forehead as he sobbed and rubbed a hand down his stomach. "The more evident you two make your love, the more the baby needs to come out. It's fully developed now and is ready to meet its parents."
"Oh God, get it outta me!" Draco sobbed, punching Harry in the gut. The brunet doubled over in pain, but did not even bother to ask what the violence was for; he and Draco had been in enough fights and he knew by now not to question something that was probably his fault in Draco's eyes.
"How do we do this?" Harry asked, inching away, out of his husband's reach.
"Well, it's best if you straddle him. You hands need to be on either side of his stomach and you need to concentrate all your magic in your palms," the mediwitch and Draco's head whipped around to face her with outrage.
"Isn't that dangerous?!" he snapped, panting heavily as another wave of pain hit him. "Shiiiiiiit . . . As much raw magic as he has, he's going to kill us all!"
"Thanks for the faith, honey," Harry muttered.
"Oh, shut up, Potter! You have no understanding of what all your power can do! You barely have understanding of half the magic you are capable of doing!" He turned back to the nurse. "And you're saying that he has to be able to hold all of that magic to my stomach and our baby?!"
"Just because I don't understand magic half as well as you do does not mean I don't know how to control it!" Harry barked at him before the woman could answer and before Draco could reply, he was straddling the bed, rolling his sleeves up, pulling Draco's shirt over his head and off, and placing his palms on either side of the blond's swollen stomach. "Just trust me, Draco. I would never do anything to hurt you or our baby. I promise."
"Aww, fuck, Potter, why do you have to be so damn . . . amazing?" Draco asked weakly, covering the back of Harry's hands with his own.
"Shut up, Malfoy. I want my baby," Harry said, his smile wide. He waited until his grin was returned before he turned to Madam Pomfrey. "What do we do now?"
"Concentrate the magic in your hands, all of it," she told him, shuffling around and picking up a large book. She thumbed through it a moment before finding what she sought and explained, "Since the two of you cannot birth the child in the traditional manner, the baby must be pulled out of the magical womb – coaxed, if you will – by your incantation."
"Our incantation?" Draco huffed, his face reddening as pain became almost unbearable. Harry blew him a kiss.
"Yes. You have to develop a unique incantation to release the child from the womb of your combined magic. Depending on what you say, you might be able to determine the child's personality or appearance, but that's very rare in rare cases like these."
"Are we going to have to do this for every child we have?!" Harry asked, his voice panicked. "What if we forget what we –"
"Potter, start the bloody incantation already!" Draco ordered at the top of his lungs, making sure to curl his short fingernails surprisingly deep into the backs of Harry's hands.
"Right," the brunet replied with a wince. "Uh . . . I don't know what to say."
Silver eyes rolled and Draco gave a shuttered breath. "Come to us, our firstborn. Rise from our magic and grace us with your presence –"
"You sound like you're summoning a demon," Harry muttered.
"Shut up, Potter!" Draco growled before directing his angered gaze to his stomach, the silver eyes immediately softening. "Evan . . . our child; may you be beautiful, clever, and gracious."
"May you be courageous and just," the Gryffindor added.
"We love you so much, Evan." Draco said quietly and the pair looked to the nurse.
"That was the worse incantation ever," Harry snorted and received a swing at his head by a laughing Draco. He bent and kissed his husband's bared stomach, nuzzling the soft skin as he did.
"Well," Madam Pomfrey said, blushing slightly at the intimate scene. "All is left to do is . . . reach inside and pull Evan out."
"Reach inside?" Harry asked, wiggling his fingers a bit on Draco's pale flesh and noticing that it did not feel the same as it had moments before. He pressed slightly and Draco screamed and bucked in pain. Immediately, he snatched his hands back, but Draco's were gripping his wrists, directing them back.
"It's alright," he whispered, his eyes hooded and reflecting his tiredness. "Get our baby, Harry. I want to see you holding him."
Harry nodded and positioned his hands again. He slowly pressed inside, easing his husband into the pain and biting his lip to stop from objecting to hurting the man. His hands disappeared into Draco, but he could see them, as if pale skin had become transparent. He was gazing at what appeared to be a spinning cyclone of threads of gold and silver. The tips of his fingers grazed the cyclone and intense heat shot through his body, almost to the point that he feared he was going to burn. With a determine expression on his face, he pushed his hands into the cyclone and was surprised when the magic was suddenly melting away as his hands gained a gentle grip of something soft. He gasped as he pulled his hands back and he trembled when he heard the cries.
"Oh my God, he's perfect," Draco sighed tiredly, sounding as if he had done nothing but run for the last few hours. Harry smiled shakily at him and looked back to his son . . . his son, wiggling around in his hands, dripping with what looked to be the foamy residue of their combined magic, crying out, squeezing his small fists and scrunching up his red face beneath a dark tuft of hair. He was beautiful. "Harry, I want to hold him."
The new father nodded and carefully placed the baby into Draco's waiting arms. He climbed off the blond's legs and helped him to sit up. Then he stared in silent awe at his son as Draco and Madam Pomfrey dried him and wrapped him in a blanket. The baby cried out a few times, but Draco quickly stifled sobs with soft strokes to the child's forehead and soft kisses and words. As he hugged the child closer to him, he looked to his silent husband and smiled. "He smells so good, Harry."
"Does he?" Harry asked, gulping down a lump in his throat. Draco nodded, so he bent down to sample the scent. Sure enough, the baby smelled of something that could only be explained as . . . pure. He wrapped his arms around his husband and child and kissed both on the forehead. "He's perfect."
"He is," Draco agreed. "Evan Abraxas Potter-Malfoy." Evan began to fuss again, but calmed when both his parents placed a gentle touch to his rounded cheeks. "It's alright, Evan . . . Shh, darling . . . We love you so much . . ." Evan wiggled around happily at these words and curled up contently against Draco's bare chest. Harry bent and kissed his husband, in gratitude and love. Draco gently pulled away from the kiss and lifted Evan into Harry's arms. "Show him to everyone else while I get freshened up, alright?"
"Yeah," Harry said as he took the child. "But I don't get why you need freshening up. You're beautiful."
Draco smiled sweetly at him and blew a wet and lanky strand of hair out of his face. "Right."
Harry smiled, kissed his forehead and took Evan out to the other side of the curtain. The first thing that he had noticed was that there were much more people in the hospital wing now than there were before. At least the entire seventh year class and a few underclassmen were crowded around the door. Hag rid was there, taking more than a little space himself along with something large and wrapped in hideous brown paper. Hermione was stroking Ron's head in her lap while Pansy read a book with Ron's feet in her own lap as he chattered on about something that left a slight smile on all of their faces. Dumbledore and Snape were playing a complicated game of wizard's chess. But what Harry noticed the most was that almost no one had noticed him come out of the curtain with his child. The only ones that noticed initially were the Lady Malfoy and Professor McGonagall; even Lucius had fallen asleep on his wife's shoulder and was snoring obnoxiously with his mouth wide open. Both women looked at him with wide eyes and he gestured at the bundle in his arms and they absolutely squealed, jumping to their feet, knocking the slumbering Lucius to the ground, and scurrying to Harry as they alerted the rest of the room to his presence.
"Shh," he said with a finger to his lips as everyone in the room opened their mouths at once. Some people coughed at having to gulp down their shouts of joy, but otherwise the room was quiet enough for the baby to sleep. Harry smiled at them all, bestowing Narcissa with an even wider smile as he said, "This is . . . T-this is m-my son."
She bit back her own smile as she wiped at the tears on his reddening cheeks and looked down at the child. "Oh, Lucius, come here! He's gorgeous! Oh . . ."
She covered he mouth to stop her cries of joy and turned just in time for her husband to take her in his arms. The former death eater patted her blonde head and peered down at the child, his eyes widening as he took in the sight. He lifted his gaze to Harry's, the steel grey eyes still soft from seeing his grandchild, and the two men stared at one another for a long time before Lucius lifted a hand and clapped Harry on the shoulder. "Good job."
"Thanks," Harry replied as the new grandparents moved away so his friends could see the baby.
"Oh, Harry!" Hermione squealed and Ron had to wrap an arm around her waist to stop her from jumping into Harry's arms. "He's so beautiful! How's Draco doing? Is he alright? You were in there so long! But look at the baby! Ron, look at Evan, isn't he –"
Ron rolled his eyes as Hermione burst into tears and launched herself into his arms. Pansy sidled up beside them and peeked at the child.
"Looks like . . . L-looks l-like y-you f-f-finally did s-something right f-for a ch-change, P-Potter," the Slytherin girl suddenly sobbed out as her eyes fell on the baby and she, too, launched herself into Ron's arms.
"Congratulations, mate," Ron told him with a nod before dragging the two girls away, muttering something that sounded like, "Bloody blubbering females."
Harry smiled at his friends and turned to his teachers. Snape nodded to him, McGonagall kissed him on the cheek, Hagrid burst into incoherent tears, and Dumbledore just stared at him with twinkling eyes. "Congratulations, Harry."
"Thank you, sir," he replied as Narcissa came back to claim the baby, having rid herself of her tears. He handed the baby off to his grandmother and hastily pushed his way through the crowd, earning slaps to the back and a handful of presents on his way to the doorway. Gratefully, no one followed him out the door of the hospital wing – probably because a glance at the baby was far more important – and he was left alone in the hallway.
He pressed his back to the nearest wall, sunk to the floor, placed his head in his hands and wept.
Violent shudders were wracking his body with every sob when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into concerned brown eyes and let himself be pulled into the comforting arms of Ginny. She stroked his hair softly as he calmed himself, not caring that he had caused a giant puddle of tears on her shoulder a bit. Finally, he pulled himself away and leaned back, staring straight ahead of himself at a tapestry on the wall. "Are you alright?"
"I think so," he said softly. "I just . . . I'm so fucking happy, it hurts. I've never been this happy."
She smiled at him and patted him softly on the leg. "You should be happy. This should be the happiest day in your life . . . Harry, I'm happy for you."
"Thank you," he said, smiling at her and reaching out to hold her hand. "Did you see him, Gin?"
"No, but I hear he's beautiful."
"He is . . . even though he's so small and bright red and covered in wrinkles, but . . . he's perfect. I was the first one to hold him," he added on hastily, turning to her and blushing when he saw the laughter in her eyes. "I want to be the first one to know the color of his eyes."
"You will be," she assured him. "You're his father."
"I am," he confirmed with a nod, more tears forming in his eyes. He pulled his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh God, I'm a father. I'm Evan's father. He's my son. My son . . . My family."
"I'm so happy for you, Harry," Ginny told him again, tears in her own eyes as she grinned at him.
"God, I have a family," Harry laughed shakily, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling and beyond. "I never really thought about it until he was here. I haven't thought about having a . . . a family since Sirius . . . and now . . ."
"You have one," Ginny supplied for him and he nodded, crying a bit more before wiping the tears on the sleeve of his shirt. He smiled at the ceiling, then at Ginny, then at his hands, then at the floor, then at the sun shining through the windows as it set, then anything else he could have possibly smiled at. "Come on, Harry. Let's go see your baby."
"Yeah," he agreed, climbing to his feet and helping her up. "Uh . . . Thank you, Ginny."
"I didn't do anything," she said, smiling up at him in confusion, but he shook his head.
"Yeah, you did." They walked back into the hospital wing, pushing through the crowd that quietly cheered at Harry's reappearance, no one even caring that he was leading his exgirlfriend through them. When he reached Narcissa, she was sitting beside Draco, looking as immaculate and stunning as ever as he held Evan in his arms.
"Harry, where were you?" he asked, eyeing the redhead behind his husband.
"I needed to step out for a little while, Draco, but everything's fine," he told the blond as he conjured a chair and sat beside his family.
"You sure?" Draco asked, a silver brow arched as he stared pointedly at Ginny, causing her to blush.
"Yeah," Harry laughed. "Come on, Ginny. Come see our son."
The girl stepped forward and crouched down until she was on her knees. Draco held Evan to him hesitantly for a moment, but after a glance to his husband and a few prodding words, he allowed Ginny to hold the baby. She smiled at him and then smiled at Evan.
"Oh," she sighed, rocking the sleeping child in her arms slightly. "He looks like you, Draco."
"Does he?" the blond asked, forgetting his worries and leaning over to peer at the child. "I thought he looked like Harry."
"No. I think it's just the black hair that he has in common with Harry," she told him.
Harry leaned forward to take a look as well. "Yeah, he has your darty little nose."
"My nose is not darty!" Draco exclaimed, covering the nose in question.
"And your pointy chin," Harry continued, ignoring his husband's protests.
"My chin is pointed, not pointy!"
"What's the difference?!"
"There's a difference, Potter!"
"That makes no sense."
"Neither does your face!"
"Your parents deserve each other," Ginny whispered to the child in her arms and Evan giggled in his sleep.
- The End -
Author's Note: Alright, so that was not as sappy as I intended it, but it was pretty darn sappy without our boys going too out of character, right? Well, I hope you all liked it – even the Ginny haters – but I had to put the reconciliation in there. It was just weird for me to end it without there being some forgiveness between Ginny and Harry. Also, I recall telling a few people in review responses for earlier chapters that Lucius was going to get his at the end, but I just couldn't do that – I love him too much! If it makes you feel better, I'm sure Narcissa made him sleep on the couch on the other wing of the Manor for at least a month for his naughty actions.
There's something else I should address; Hermione and Ron and Pansy. I have no idea what I was doing with all of them, but I was sort of hinting that Pansy could be a threat to this couple's relationship if anyone caught it. I guess I can't decide who I like Ron the most with, Hermione or Pansy. I'm kinda leaning towards Pansy. I should write an oneshot. If anyone has ideas, please share.
So, you'll hear more about Harry and Draco and Evan in the epilogue, but this story is over! I hope you liked it and I hope the ending was satisfying!
– darkmosmordreheart