Saturday morning, Snape brought news that he had an impending visit with Voldemort, which meant they needed to get their story straight first. He wanted to discuss it right after checking Draco over, but a near-miss with morning sickness delayed him, because Draco had to eat first. When they were done eating, they set to work on the letter to Lucius.
"So what are we gonna tell Lucius and Voldemort?" Harry jumped right in and asked.
"In my last meeting with the Dark Lord, I let on that I had discovered Draco's plan to complete his project. Draco was struggling with it, but I was able to point him in the correct direction and so I suspected the project would be completed shortly. However, I pointed out that it would not be feasible for me to help with the final stage of the plan until the end of term and Voldemort agreed. He therefore decided that I was to stall Mr. Malfoy's completion until the opportune moment," Professor Snape said.
"What is this project?" Harry asked curiously. He had been trying to find out what Draco was supposed to do for Voldemort all year and now the answer seemed to be dangling right in front of him and he couldn't help but ask.
"That cannot be divulged at the present time," Professor Snape replied.
"Does Professor Dumbledore know? Maybe he can put a stop to it," Harry replied.
"Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore has ordered me to carry through with it, despite my protests. There is nothing I can do but comply or quit it all," Professor Snape replied.
"Dumbledore ordered you to actually do it!" Draco exclaimed in shock. How could Dumbledore order Professor Snape to kill him? Did Dumbledore want to die?
"Yes," Professor Snape replied.
"Oh my," Narcissa replied. She remembered the unbreakable vow Severus had sworn to her. She hadn't thought about it since being rescued, but it now occurred to her that either Severus or Dumbledore had to die, because of it.
"I don't want to do it," Professor Snape admitted. There was no one he could talk to about this, besides Narcissa. He didn't want the boys involved in his problem, but Draco was already involved and Harry didn't know what he was talking about.
"Then don't," Harry replied.
"He can't. He swore an unbreakable vow to do it, if I fail," Draco said sadly. He regretted that he had put his favorite professor in this position. He and mother should have fled and gone into hiding the moment father was captured and then none of this would be happening. Well the Dark Lord would have probably found some other student to kill Dumbledore and Professor Snape would've still gotten involved, but then it wouldn't be his fault.
Harry remembered back to Slughorn's party and sneaking out to spy on Draco and Snape. He felt vindicated now that he knew he was right about Snape taking the unbreakable vow to help Draco.
"I shouldn't have made you swear it, but it was the only way I could think of to keep Draco safe. I wouldn't have worded it the way Bella did if I had cast it," Narcissa said.
"Not to worry, Cissy; that vow helped me gain support in his circle and I really do want to shield your son from making the same mistakes I made in my youth," Professor Snape replied.
"So if you don't do it, you die?" Harry asked for clarification. He couldn't imagine what it was that Snape didn't want to do; his professor had never been a coward before, but maybe Snape was to torture muggles or some other repulsive act.
"Yes," Snape answered. He would let Narcissa and Draco fill in the alternative in their own heads.
"Well if Dumbledore wants you to do it, then you must do it," Narcissa said.
"I know; I'm just tired of the double life and this will be crossing a line I have never been made to cross," Professor Snape admitted. He let the silence fill the room for a minute before he spoke again. "Enough of my problems; I will do what the Dark Lord and Professor Dumbledore agree I must do. We need to discuss the new things I am to tell the Dark Lord today. Draco, I like your suggestion that you have been caught sneaking out to find your mother. I will say you were caught for a third time last night after receiving the letter from your father."
"That was mother's idea, actually," Draco replied. The letter he had written told of the idea, but not the details of who came up with it.
"Then my congratulations must go to Lady Narcissa," Snape replied before continuing. "Obviously the Dark Lord will either have heard about Draco's injury or he will hear about it in the near future; that will have to be worked in. Draco is rumored to be staying with me, so I shall say that I caught Draco trying to leave my quarters last night, even though he is still gravely injured. I had to stop him, for his health and twice previously other teachers have found Draco sneaking out and stopped him."
"Are you going to tell him about the sectumsempra thing?" Draco asked, wondering how much his professor could lie to the Dark Lord and get away with.
"Yes, I have no choice. It is all over the school and he has eyes and ears in this place," Professor Snape replied. "But as I happen to be the authority on that particular obscure bit of dark magic, he will believe me when I tell him the curse wounds are tainted and easily pop back open with little provocation; no one has ever survived a straight on blast like that before. This will also come in handy when Draco disappears at the end of term, because I will say he is too injured to aid the noble cause and doesn't want to be captured by Aurors or the Order."
"Good. I don't want anyone to suspect that he's with me at Order headquarters," Harry replied.
"Speaking of which, we have received your first order of paternity clothing. Should I send it along to headquarters?" Snape asked.
"Um no, can I have the pants now?" Draco asked. His current pants were getting tighter every day. His stomach was not pouched out much, but it was still uncomfortable having the pressure of the waistband against his lower abdomen.
"The robes can be sent along to headquarters, just as long as they are left somewhere that no one will find them," Harry added.
"Very well. I will send the pants up here and the robes to headquarters. You need not worry about security, because I will be warding the room against intruders; only the four of us will be able to enter," Professor Snape replied.
"Is there anything else we need to discuss about the Dark Lord?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, there is the matter of Draco's letter to his father," Professor Snape replied.
"Let me get out some parchment and a quill," Draco said, reaching around only to find that he was not sitting in his wheelchair and didn't have his school bag on the back of his chair. He had only been using the chair for a few days, but had already grown used to the convenience. Instead he had to summon his school bag to retrieve his things.
The letter had to sound like it was from Draco and that he hadn't heard from his mother and was very worried. It also had to include mention of the latest injury and since Draco couldn't remember if he had told Lucius about the previous injury, he made sure to include that too along with a vague request for his father to help him seek vengeance against Weasley and Potter for almost killing him twice in a month's time.
It took an hour and several revisions, but finally Draco was left with the final version and just had to copy it over onto a clean piece of parchment.
Next for Harry was Quidditch practice, so he had to go back to Gryffindor tower to get his Quidditch gear. He kissed Draco goodbye and told Draco he loved him and then was off to confront the reality of the rest of the world.
Harry ran into Ron in their dorm room, where Ron was putting on his Quidditch gear. "Harry!" Ron greeted enthusiastically. Harry was back and this was Ron's chance to fix his major fuck up.
"Hi," Harry replied weakly.
Dean was also there getting changed, because he was their substitute and continued to practice with the team, along with their other substitute, Cormac McLaggen. Harry was considering telling Ron he was out and putting McLaggen in, but Harry wasn't so sure he wanted to keep playing himself. Their last match of the year was only a week away; it would decide the winner of the Quidditch cup, but also it would probably be the last game Harry or Ron ever played. Harry would be in hiding next year with Draco, not back at school and he couldn't imagine Ron going back without him. Harry just had to get through one more week of practice and then one more game and this would all be over and it would be someone else's problem. Harry hoped that Ginny would be captain next year, but as long as it wasn't him, he would be happy.
"Look Harry, I meant what I said yesterday: I'm really sorry. And I'm gonna apologize to Malfoy too, just as soon as I see him. He's not around much anymore and even his cronies said they don't see him outside of classes," Ron said, abandoning the protective padded helmet he had been about to put on.
"Yeah, okay. Let's just concentrate on practice and get through our game next week," Harry said, not wanting to get into it. He wasn't ready to forgive Ron, especially not after hearing the way Snape had described Draco's injuries this morning. Snape has said something about the embryo separating from the uterus during the near-miscarriage.
"Yeah, alright," Ron replied. It sounded like Harry was going to forgive Ron.
"Great, let's get down to the pitch," Dean said, hoping to keep everything neutral so that he wouldn't have to break up a fight between their seeker and their keeper.
And so Harry finished getting ready and the three boys went down to practice. Harry got so involved with coaching that he forgot about his issues with Ron. Ron stayed out of the way and never once got in Harry's face during practice, so the entire practice passed without incident. Well except for when McLaggen tried to insist that he should be allowed to play, because Ron was to be in detention most of the week. Ron would only be able to make their Wednesday practice and only that if Harry moved it to before dinner again. Harry told McLaggen to shove off. McLaggen would play if Ron was injured and that was the end of it.
Harry left practice feeling exhausted and went back to the room of requirement to find Draco lying on the beach with a picnic spread out in front of him. "What's all this?" Harry asked, coming over. He expected to find it all half eaten, because of Draco's appetite lately, but it was untouched, even though Draco was eying it like he was starving.
"I had Dobby make us lunch. I've been waiting for you," Draco replied, sitting up.
A smile lit up Harry's face when he realized that Draco had arranged a date for them. All of the other times Harry had suggested the date and Draco had agreed; this was the first time Draco had shown any initiative in their relationship. "It looks wonderful, thank you," Harry said, kneeling down in front of Draco to give Draco a kiss. The kiss turned into a snog when Draco fervently kissed Harry back. Harry broke the kiss when he needed an intake of breath. "What was that for?"
"I'm sooo horny," Draco whined. His dick was hard and throbbing in his pants. He had woken up that morning with a hard on and the only thing that made it go away was the presence of Professor Snape and his mother. He wanted a wank so badly that he could barely concentrate all morning when Harry was gone, hence his decision to arrange this picnic on the beach.
"I know, but the longer you wait, the better it'll be for the baby. I promise I'll make it good as soon as we get the okay," Harry said, sitting down on the sand and pulling Draco into his arms.
"Yeah, I know, it's just hard," Draco complained. He was fairly sure Harry was wanking himself when doing his stretching, which meant Harry was getting some and he wasn't; it wasn't fair.
"So what did Dobby make us?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
"Roast turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and broccoli and carrots," Draco answered, shifting his bum around in Harry's lap. He didn't want to hurt the baby, but he couldn't help trying to provoke Harry into action. If they could just get caught up in the moment long enough to stop thinking about what they were doing…
"I thought you didn't like poultry now that you're pregnant," Harry replied, remembering that lunch with the chicken Draco couldn't eat. Ever since then he hadn't seen Dobby bring chicken.
"That's chicken, not turkey. I was craving turkey earlier," Draco answered. Turkey and a nice wank sounded about perfect right now.
"Well let's dig in," Harry said putting his hands on Draco's hips to still them. Draco was giving him a boner with the wiggling and that needed to stop or he was going to have to remove his boyfriend from his lap, no matter how pregnant and emotional Draco was.
They ate and enjoyed their picnic on the beach. Afterwards Harry told Draco about his morning on the Quidditch pitch and Draco told Harry about his morning with the history books. Draco had a big term paper he was working on. He was supposed to have started it at the beginning of the year, but really he didn't start it until last month when his mother was rescued. He was spending all of his free time catching up on it, hence the perpetual scattering of books on his desk in the study.
Instead of their usual afternoon wank, they practiced occlumency and legilimency. Harry had improved enough that he was ready for the next step; he'd have to ask Hermione for his occlumency book back. Draco was glad Harry was improving in occlumency and upset at the same time, because he was unable to find out if Harry had been wanking when Harry did his stretching or not.
After occlumency the boys went for a slow walk in the lilac forest, because Draco was trying not to push it too much for his first day without the wheelchair. The boys sat on the banks of their pond and talked while they ate lilikoi and guavas. Then Draco went back into the hut for a nap and Harry hit the books to study. That was followed by a pleasant dinner with the two boys and Narcissa.
After dinner the three of them went to the sitting room where the order form, the baby furniture catalog, and multiple lists cluttered the coffee table. Narcissa was prepared for the meeting as if she were going to war. She deftly and swiftly presented her case for why they needed dozens of additional items, from a highchair to a jumper and all of the things she had mentioned before. There were nappy bags, nappy pails, nappy organizers, and changing pads. There were bathtubs, baby shampoo, baby lotion, and bathing seats. There were stuffed toys, rattles, night lights, and activity stations.
By the end of it, Harry was on information overload. He just wanted to agree to it all and get it over and done with.
Draco was in a buying mood and found himself agreeing with most of his mother's arguments. He shot down a few things as unnecessary, but mostly he acquiesced and picked out the one he like best from each list. It helped that his mother had researched each item for him and knew which ones were the best choices, so all he had to do was take the three picks and say which one was cutest. With all the stuff they were ordering, they could probably fill up a room bigger than the nursery and that was with just one baby.
Author's Note: Hermione's visit is tomorrow! Yeah!
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