Friday morning came and there was no talk of Bellatrix's funeral. Harry kept two ears open for anything that might indicate what time the funeral would be, but the only funeral that came up at breakfast was Fred's.

"Harry and Andy, can you two take Teddy with you to Fred's funeral? Lucius and I want to move my mother back into her own house tomorrow," Narcissa said.

Harry hadn't even thought of taking Teddy with him before, just assuming that he would leave all the babies at home. But if Andy was going with him, then it would be too much to leave three babies at home, especially after Draco had gotten overwhelmed watching them the other day.

"Yes, of course; I was planning on taking him with me anyway," Andy spoke up before Harry finished contemplating it.

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem," Harry added.

"I don't want you to take him; I can watch him," Draco said. Watching three babies was hard and he was still resentful of frequently being left alone on baby duty, but it was better than alternative; anything was better than Teddy going to the Weasleys.

"Nonsense, dear, I'm taking my grandson with me. I'll be fine with him and three are too many for one person," Andy replied.

"I've been watching all three for a week now," Draco protested.

"Draco, Teddy will be fine at the Weasleys; he came back unharmed last time," Narcissa said.

"Yeah, and I promise not to let Ron anywhere near him," Harry added, knowing that Ron was the issue.

With his mother and aunt for the plan, Draco was eventually cowed into going along with it, although he didn't like it.

Talk turned to Druella's house and whether or not it would be safe enough for the old woman. Of course that depended on whether or not Death Eaters would consider her a target, because of her grandson's relationship with Harry. Druella insisted that she'd be fine and that as the mother of the most notorious female Death Eater, she was immune to Death Eater attacks. Just because her grandson was soft, didn't mean she wasn't loyal to the cause.

Harry got the distinct feeling that if any Death Eaters showed up at her door, Druella would invite them in for tea. All the wards in the world wouldn't matter, because the barmy old lady would let her attackers in. He hoped that Druella was right and that she didn't need to fear Death Eaters, for her own sake, but he made a mental note to talk to Robards about the situation. At the very least, the Aurors could keep regular watch on Druella's house, hoping to catch the Death Eaters as they stopped by to visit.

After breakfast, Lucius left to meet with a muggle businessman about a deal to import muggle jeans into the Wizarding World. He didn't mention being back in time for Bellatrix's funeral, but then he wasn't invited, because of his own ongoing criminal case.

Andy and Narcissa spent the morning once again working on funeral arrangements, while Harry spent the morning with Draco and the three babies.

When they laid the babies down for their afternoon lap, Harry couldn't take it anymore and asked, "When are you going to your aunt's funeral?"

"I'm not; it's canceled. I'm taking a nap," Draco answered and went to his room to lie down.

Harry confirmed that the babies were all asleep, before following after, crawling into bed with Draco.

"What happened? I thought it was today?" Harry asked.

Draco had suspected that Harry might try to pull something—that would explaining the lying about the visit to Auror headquarters—but he didn't know for certain until now. Harry's sudden interest confirmed his suspicions. There was a flash of anger in his eyes, but then it passed as he began thinking of ways to use this to his advantage. Harry was in the wrong, which meant Harry owed Draco. He wanted to rage at Harry, but he wasn't willing to give up an advantage in exchange for worthless venting. "What happened to letting me handle the trap?" he asked calculating.

"Er," Harry said, not knowing how to respond to that.

"Er? That's all you have to say? So much for martial trust."

"I trust you," Harry insisted.

"Just not with anything more than nappies and naptime. Right, I'm tired; let me sleep." Draco closed his eyes, turned over, and made like he was more interested in his nap.

"Fine, I won't interfere with your trap if it means that much to you." Harry knew that his trap couldn't work without Draco attending the funeral. Worse, no trap could possibly ever work without a funeral in the first place. And Draco's trap was better than no trap at all.

"Too late; no one's coming and it's already been canceled." Draco's back remained turned, but his eyes reopened.

"Wuh? What happened?"

"Word was that Aurors were gonna be staking the place out. I guess the Death Eaters don't trust me anymore than my husband does." Draco's voice was cold now as he spun his web. What had actually been said to him by his parents was that public pressure was too hot and now wasn't a good time for it. That wasn't suspicious on its own, but the fact that Grandmother Druella had nothing to say, was. Both sides were keeping something from him and putting him in the middle of it. He didn't appreciate being left clueless. He was used to it from his parents, but not from Harry.

"I'm sorry," Harry apologized. "How did they find out?"

Draco wasn't about to give away a good hand by revealing the truth; not when a lie would serve his purposes better. "Sources say their information comes straight from the mouths of Weasleys."

There was only one Weasley who was in on the plan, Harry knew, and that was Ron. He knew there was no way Ron had betrayed him, but he thought it was possible the secret had slipped out of Ron's big mouth. Ron had probably thought he was safe at the Burrow and accidentally let a visitor overhear. Harry couldn't think of anyone in Ron's family who'd betray them, except for maybe Percy. Surely Ron and Hermione wouldn't blab and could be trusted, but what if they told Percy and Percy told someone? Or what if there was a spy within the Auror department? There were spies inside the Ministry before and there probably still were spies in place. It was possible that a remaining spy in the Aurors had leaked the information to Percy Weasley and that Percy was the Weasley who blabbed. But then why would Percy pass along that sort of information?

Harry was silent, lost in thought and Draco decided to let him suffer, so that the gravity of his mistake could seep in. Draco closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, thinking that later he'd get Harry to grovel for forgiveness.

Harry wished he had done something to help with the ruse; something that would've convinced the Death Eaters that he was going to let the funeral happen without turning them in. Maybe he could've given a statement to such affect to the papers, saying that he felt people had a right to mourn without Aurors interrupting their funerals, even if they were Death Eaters. Then he decided that if he had come out saying something like that in the papers, the Death Eaters would know for sure that it was a trap. Not saying something was probably the best thing he could've done.

Harry's pity party was interrupted by Teddy's cries, so he got up and fed Teddy a bottle. When he was burping Teddy, it occurred to him that quite a few people were still waiting on him and would have to be told that there wasn't going to be a funeral at all. He took Teddy downstairs, strapped him into the swing and wrote an owl to Ron and Hermione. Then he wrote another owl to Robards.

Then Harry turned to Teddy, who was happily changing his hair color in time with the swing's lightshow. Harry watched Teddy for a few minutes before he remembered his date with Draco tonight and that he still needed flowers. He asked Andy to watch Teddy and went outside to pick some flowers from the garden. Then he had an elf deliver the flowers to Grimmauld Place for later.

In the time it took Harry to make the flower arrangement, Draco and the twins finished their naps. The rest of the evening passed in a whorl of childcare and a family dinner. When Draco was nursing Scorp one last time, Harry changed into something nicer.

As soon as Sev and Scorp were asleep for the night, Harry and Draco apparated to Grimmauld Place. Harry headed for the stairs, but Draco held back in the entryway, staring at the covered portrait.

"Um, don't you want to come upstairs?" Harry asked quietly, trying not to wake the portrait.

"You lie to me, you don't trust me, and then you still expect sex?" Draco asked too loudly, waking up Aunt Walburga. He still wanted sex too, but he wanted to finish their earlier conversation first. Knowing his late-aunt, this location would give his words a dramatic flair.

Walburga screeched and wailed, throwing open her curtains. Harry lunged to pull the black cloth back into place, while Draco slipped away up the stairs. Harry stunned the portrait and went in search of his husband, finding Draco looking out a second story window onto the street. It was growing dark and the street light had come on.

Harry had wrongly assumed that the issue had been dropped. He hadn't given much thought to how Draco would feel about him going behind Draco's back. Only now did he began to feel bad and realize the enormity of his screw up. If things had been the other way around and Draco hadn't trusted him, he'd feel betrayed. "I'm really sorry; I didn't think. Please forgive me?" Harry asked, biting his lip.

Harry had finally done what Draco wanted, so Draco took mercy on him. "Yes. I am your husband and that's what husbands do; forgive each other when they mess up," Draco said, holding his arms open for Harry. This argument would set the standard for the rest of their marriage; next time it could very well be Draco who messes up and Harry will then be forced to forgive Draco as quickly as Draco forgave Harry.

Harry stepped into Draco's arms, grateful and relieved that Draco wasn't going to hold onto a grudge over this. Harry looked into Draco's pale grey eyes and remembered how he'd fallen in love in the first place; he'd fucked it up then too and Draco had forgiven him. It seemed Draco was more understanding that he'd known and he loved his husband all the more for it. He was likely to make a hundred more mistakes in this marriage and it was good to know that Draco would likely forgive him for them all.

Harry leaned in and kissed Draco, pushing the passion he felt for his husband into his lips. A good snog after an argument suited Draco just fine. They almost didn't make it to the bedroom, but when they pulled apart for air, Draco noticed that they were still out in the hall and said, "Bedroom, now." He had no desire to fuck on the floor, especially when there was a bed not far away.

They stumbled into the bedroom. Harry started toeing off his shoes, pulling off his shirt, and working on the button and zipper of his trousers immediately.

Draco too stripped to his pants. When he went to set down his breast pump, he noticed the flowers. "You made me flowers again?"

"Yeah. You like flowers, right?" Harry asked, suddenly unsure whether it was the right thing to do. Flowers were rather girly…

"Yeah and I love you," Draco said walking the few steps to Harry and kissing him.

*Censored


Author's Note: Whew, I finally finished it! What did you think of the no funeral twist?

I've gone home to California for the holidays and have been super busy at my brother's ranch. He needs lots of help, especially because his wife is expecting the baby, which means I have less time for writing.

Please Review!