Monday morning, Harry apparated into the Auror department of the Ministry of Magic. He told the Malfoys he was going to request help building the wards for Malfoy Manor, which he was planning on doing, but he also wanted to talk to Auror Robards. Draco got the feeling Harry was keeping something from him, but chose not to say anything.
Robards looked out his open office door and was pleasantly surprised to see Harry Malfoy knocking on it. "Come in, come in, Harry! I'm so glad to see you. Have a seat, what can I help you with?" Robards asked.
"I need help erecting wards on Malfoy Manor to protect my family, but there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, sir. Um, in private. Do you mind if I close the door?" Harry asked.
"No, no, of course not," Robards replied, spelling the door closed. "I'd be happy to send out a couple of my most trusted Aurors to help protect your family."
"Great."
"Now what else did you want to talk to me about, Harry?"
"Well, have you read the latest addition of the Quibbler? It came out on Saturday."
"Ah yes, the open invitation to all Death Eaters to attend the Bellatrix Lestrange funeral?
"Yes."
"I got the impression that you wouldn't know about it."
"Well yes, my husband was going for that effect. How else would we lure the Death Eaters into the trap?"
"So it is a trap! I knew it couldn't be anything other than a trap with you involved."
Harry explained about Draco's original idea for the trap, to get the list of names of Death Eaters. Robards didn't look too happy about that, but his face lit up when Harry told of the plan to use the deluminator to gate crash the funeral. Robards was very eager to help, although he did mention that the unknown jurisdiction would complicate matters, but still, he pledged all available Aurors. Aurors had a way of summoning other Aurors to their location, so they only needed to side-along one Auror in. The new plan was for Hermione, Ron, and Harry to meet up with one fully trained Auror and then the four of them together would gate crash the funeral.
Once the details of the funeral raid were worked out, Robards took Harry around to meet some of his most trusted Aurors to talk about wards, and that's what they were doing when Kingsley walked in.
"Harry, my man, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be on a month's paid holiday," Kingsley said. "If there's anyone who deserves it, it's you."
"Thanks Kingsley. And thanks for having me hired and the back pay. And thanks especially for the benefits; I really needed those."
"You're more than welcome. It's the least we could do after you took care of Voldemort for us. Actually, I'm trying to arrange for Order of Merlins for all the most critical players in the war, such as yourself, your husband, and Severus Snape."
"That's great! Draco's gonna love that."
"So Harry, I ask again, what are you doing back at work already?"
"I need help erecting wards on Malfoy Manor. It's too big for any of the wards I'm familiar with to work. And I'll be living there with my family, so the wards have to hold against all manner of attacks. I'd ask Ron and Hermione to help, but the Malfoys hate Ron."
"You should have come straight to me, Harry! I'd love to help you with this problem. And it's not good to let just anyone help you with wards; this sort of information really mustn't get out. You don't have to worry about me though, I won't risk the safety of my star Auror; I'd probably lose my job if anything happened to you."
"Thanks, Kingsley. When can you help?" Harry asked.
Kingsley was very busy these days, but he took Harry back to his office and looked at his schedule, before agreeing to come over Wednesday to help. While Harry was there, Kingsley discussed which types of wards and protective spells to use. They decided on a large number of spells that would work across large distances and cover the expansive grounds associated with the Manor, as well as many stronger charms that covered smaller areas and would be placed on the house, including the fidelius charm. Kingsley agreed to cast the fidelius charm with Harry as the secret keeper.
Kingsley had business to discuss with several of the Aurors, so when they finished talking, he walked Harry back over to the Auror department.
Robards then informed Harry that Scorpius' muggle hospital stay would be covered, since it was an emergency. That meant that Robards' assistant just needed a copy of the medical bill and then a reimbursement check would be made out.
Harry thanked Robards for his help and then apparated back to the Villa, where he found Draco alone with the three babies and visibly upset about something. Harry took one look at the tear tracks running down Draco's face and knew something was wrong.
"Draco, what's wrong?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Draco and wrapping his arm around Draco.
Draco leaned into Harry's side and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.
"Where were you? I thought you'd be back hours ago," Draco said. Harry had been gone far longer than discussed.
Harry could see a lone tear making it down Draco's sharp cheekbone. He leaned over and kissed it away, before replying, "I was at the Ministry, talking to Kingsley about wards, just like I said I would be when I left this morning. Why are you crying?" Harry asked.
Draco didn't really know why he was crying, so he shrugged. He wasn't pregnant anymore, so he couldn't blame that and he hadn't been this emotional in months. But Harry's return was a big change and he always was the more sensitive of the two. On top of that, everyone had left him to do their own thing and he was stuck at home with the babies, again. He was still upset about how little control he seemed to have over Teddy, despite the fact that he was doing all of the caring for the baby. Add to that, Harry's strange behavior; he'd got the feeling something was off several times now and then Harry had been gone all day. While Harry was gone, Draco couldn't help imagining what Harry could be up to.
"Why'd it take so long?" Draco asked.
Harry blushed and stumbled as he tried to figure out what to say in order to keep from being caught. He ended up saying Robards and the other Aurors had talked his ear off, but when pressed, couldn't come up with any details of what they'd talked about, other than the wards.
Draco knew Harry was lying; he could read it on Harry's face. He wanted to trust Harry, so he decided to forget his fears and that he wasn't going to say anything. He pursed his lips and let the lie go.
"Where is everyone?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"They went out. I told Mother to go, because I thought you'd be back any minute."
"Sorry." Remembering one detail of what had actually been discussed, Harry added, "I was on my way back when Robards stopped me to tell me that Scorp's hospital stay will be covered by the insurance." That conversation had only taken a few minutes, but at least it was something he could tell Draco about.
Draco agreed that it was a good thing, but he was still rather upset.
Harry asked again why Draco was so upset, wondering if something had happened with the boys.
The babies had given Draco some trouble, but he'd gotten it sorted and they were fine now. He told Harry about it and Harry comforted him. He didn't want to mention that he was still upset about whatever Harry was keeping from him, so instead he proceeded to explain why he was upset over Teddy. He didn't think it was fair that he was doing all of the work and making none of the decisions. He was also concerned that until they actually signed the adoption paperwork, Teddy could be taken away from him and he'd already grown too attached for that.
"I love you," Harry replied, looking Draco in the eye.
That must've been the right thing to say, because Draco's eyes melted and he quickly leaned forward to claim Harry's lips. They kissed passionately for several minutes until a cry from Scorp broke them apart. Harry would've liked nothing more than to fuck his husband right then and there, but they had babies to take care of, so he held back. Instead he fed Sev a bottle, while Draco nursed Scorp.
"And you don't have to worry about Teddy, because Andy already agreed that we could adopt him. He'll be ours soon and then no one will be able to take him away," Harry added.
Draco was unconvinced. Until those papers were signed, anything could happen. But he let Harry distract him into forgetting his worries.
Harry and Draco passed the time until the family came home by entertaining themselves with the Gaunt family house elves. Their names were in parseltongue but they responded to the English translations. They were a family of four, with a mother, father, son, and daughter called Tea Cup, Viper, Venom, and Sugar, respectively. They spoke enough parseltongue to be able to translate all of little Sev's hisses and so the object of the game was to get Sev to hiss and then get the elves to translate.
Author's Note: Now the Aurors are involved and so the plan for the trap grows... Please review!