Draco regained consciousness in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He drank a glass of water at the urging of a medi-witch and promptly turned over and went back to sleep.

The next time Draco woke up, it was morning and his mother was there with Scorp and Edward. Looking at his babies made his chest ache, so he looked down at the source of his pain. He then realized that not only had he been stripped of his paternity robes, but his breast pump was gone. His chest felt like it was on fire with all the backflow of milk. He reached out for Scorp, settling Scorp onto his right side and then for Edward, letting out a sigh of relief as Edward latched on and the pressure started waning.

"Mother, why'd they take my breast pump off?" Draco asked. "I have to pump."

"I don't know," Narcissa replied.

"Lord Malfoy, you are pumping too much; that's why you are in here. From now on, you can only pump what your babies drink and no more," Medi-witch Thompson said.

"But what about Sev? He's not here and I always pump for him and give it to him in a bottle," Draco replied.

"Is he one of your babies?" the medi-witch asked.

"Yes, he's my oldest. He's Scorp's twin," Draco replied.

"Well then bring him down here and let's get him latched on to a teat as soon as one opens up," Medi-witch Thompson replied.

"Excuse me?" Draco asked, appalled that she had just referred to a part of his body as a teat.

"Andy's feeding him a bottle. I better go stop her," Narcissa said, standing up and apparating away.

"Drink your glass of water and then we'll talk; half of the reason you're in here is dehydration," Medi-witch Thompson said.

Draco drank his water and by the time he was done, his mother was back with Sev.

"Andy had just started feeding him; she said she changed his nappy and dressed him first," Narcissa said, bouncing Sev in the hopes that the baby wouldn't start crying for milk while he waited.

"Okay," Draco said. He was nervous about nursing Sev again after all of these months of bottle feeding.

"How'd you get three babies all of different sizes and under nine months in age?" the medi-witch asked.

"He had twins and then my nephew was orphaned, so we took him in," Narcissa explained.

"And when he was orphaned, Lord Malfoy started using his breast pump excessively to keep up," Medi-witch Thompson said knowingly.

Draco didn't answer that, but concentrated on the two suckling babies on his chest. He really hoped that they were both extremely hungry today, because his chest was exceedingly full and this nurse didn't seem to want to let him use the breast pump at all.

Sev got tired of waiting for breakfast and started crying. Narcissa tried getting him to suck on a soother, but he just started screaming before either Edward or Scorp were done.

"Give him here Mother. I'll take Edward off for now and put him back on later," Draco said, removing his elongated nipple from Edward's mouth.

Edward cried at first, but Narcissa quickly made the hand off of Sev to Draco and took Edward. She offered him a soother and rocked the baby until he quieted down and forgot that he wasn't finished eating.

Draco offered his nipple to Sev and said, "Now Sev, do not bite Father or you're gonna be in big trouble, young man." Sev was so hungry that he latched on eagerly and didn't even think of biting Draco, especially because he wasn't cutting any new teeth at the moment.

"By the way Draco, Scorp went to sleep in the middle of the night after barely touching his bottle. He's bound to need more than usual this morning to make up for it," Narcissa said.

"That explains his unusually ravenous appetite," Draco replied.

"Your babies can spend the night with you here at the hospital. We're going to move you to a private room soon and we'll put a couple of cribs in your room. Although, I don't think we've ever tried to fit three cribs into one of the maternity rooms before," Medi-witch Thompson said.

"Paternity," Draco corrected. He was seriously not liking this medi-witch. He was also getting the distinct impression that she was muggle-born and he wanted a real medi-witch. He glanced over at Harry, who was still sound asleep, to make sure Harry didn't overhear what he was about to say. "Are you going to be my medi-witch when I'm moved?"

"No, I'll stay here in emergency and a couple of the nurses over in maternity will take good care of you," the medi-witch replied.

Draco let out a sigh of relief that he wouldn't actually have to ask for this witch's removal, if he could just hold out for a little bit longer.

Sev and Scorp both released Draco's nipples at about the same time, so Draco handed Sev over to his mother and took Edward back, encouraging Edward to latch back on. He kept hold of Scorp, having nowhere to put the baby and refusing to hand his son over to the hated medi-witch.

When Edward finished nursing, Medi-witch Thompson moved Draco to a private room in the maternity/paternity ward. They left Draco's bed in the middle of the room, with two cribs already pushed against the rear wall. Narcissa followed after him with Sev and another couple of medi-wizards followed after her with Harry and his bed; Harry was still passed out on sleeping potions.

A nurse came in and introduced herself, "Hello, I'm nurse Rosier. Do you remember me, Cousin Draco?"

Acacia Rosier's father, Evan Rosier was Narcissa's cousin. He'd been killed after the first war with Voldemort, because he'd refused to allow himself to be captured and had fought until the end.

"Yes, of course. It's good to see you, Cousin," Draco replied. The Malfoy family and the Rosier family spent Samhain together every year. There weren't many Rosiers left and there weren't many Malfoys either, so she knew the patient she was treating, but hospital policy dictated that she introduce herself formally, even with relatives.

"Hello Acacia. How is your mother?" Narcissa asked.

"Good to see you, Cousin Cissy. My mother is as well," Acacia replied.

"Good to hear," Narcissa replied.

With the greetings out of the way, Acacia went into her official hospital required speech, "I'll be taking care of your family this morning. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. I can get you food and water and I can take your babies off your hands if you need that. Also you should feel free to bring in anything you need from home, such as toys and clothes for the babies. The babies are free to come and go, but I'm afraid we have to keep track of them and you need to let me or another medi-witch know before they leave the room."

"I'm glad it's you assigned to me," Draco said.

"That's very good to hear, Cousin Draco," Acacia replied.

"Well if the babies are to be staying here, I better get some supplies. Edward and Scorp need nappy changes," Narcissa said.

"Oh we have nappies and wipes. I can change them or I can bring the supplies to you to change them," Acacia said.

"Can you change them here, in front of Draco? It's just with Harry being the dad, we're concerned about security and letting the babies out of our sight," Narcissa replied.

"Oh sure, I can do that. Let me just get a changing cart and be back," Acacia said before leaving the room.

Acacia came back a few minutes later pushing a floating changing table, which she wedged into place along the wall by the door, on Harry's side of the room. "I was hoping we could make do with just two cribs, because this room is already rather crowded," Acacia said, checking to make sure she had adequate supplies in the changing table, which she did.

"That's fine; Sev and Scorp can share for now," Draco replied.

"If you've got everything handled, I'll just leave Sev here and be back with some toys," Narcissa said, putting Sev into one of the cribs.

"Mother, do get me some of my history of magic books to read," Draco requested.

Narcissa agreed and apparated back to the Manor.

Acacia changed Scorp and Edward's nappies. When she handed Edward back to Draco, he offered Edward a nipple. He didn't think the baby was hungry but he hoped Edward was, because his chest still ached. Edward took a few sucks, but then let go and started babbling.

"Can you trade me for Scorp? Mother said he didn't eat in the middle of the night and I want to make sure he's fed," Draco said.

"Yeah, sure. Which one is Scorp again?" Acacia asked. Draco may have been her second cousin, but the only time she'd seen the babies before was at the baby shower.

"The black haired one." Today Edward was alternating between bright yellow hair the color of dandelions and yellow green hair, so all three babies had distinctive hair coloring.

"Right," Acacia said picking up Scorp and bringing the baby the one step over to Draco's bed. She handed Scorp to Draco and took Edward from him, setting Edward down in the second crib. "You know, I can push your bed right up against the cribs if that would make caring for them easier, but you really should get some sleep; you're suffering from magical exhaustion."

"Yeah, maybe, but my chest hurts too much to sleep. Maybe you could find my breast pump for me and help me out," Draco suggested, getting Scorp to successfully latch on.

"Sorry, but you're not to be expressing extra milk right now; you're expressing more milk than you can naturally produce and your body's drawing on your magic to do so."

"But I never got to breast feed the three babies last night. That milk's still backed up and it hurts. Mother fed Sev and Edward bottles while I was here and Scorp went without."

"Let me get your healer to come have a look at you, but I can tell you he wants you expressing less milk," Acacia said before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her, to give Draco privacy.

While Acacia was gone, Draco held his left nipple, the one Scorp wasn't latched onto, out from his body, towards the floor and pinched, letting the milk drip onto the floor. His chest was so full that the milk left his body in a strong gushing squirt. When it started to wane, he shifted his fingers and pinched again, letting loose another strong gush that lasted half a minute, before repeating the process again. The puddle of milk on the floor was growing increasingly large. He found his wand lying by his side in the bed and used it to vanish the puddle, to cover up the evidence of what he'd been doing.

Draco continued to squirt his excess milk onto the floor and vanish it for a good five minutes before he noticed a wet feeling on his right side, where Scorp was nursing. He turned his head to look at Scorp, who was sucking, but not swallowing. Scorp was using him for a soother, and letting the excess milk dribble out his mouth, back onto Draco's chest and the underlying hospital bed. Well it was basically the same thing Draco was doing to himself with the other side, so he said, "Good boy Scorp, keep helping Father," and vanished the growing milk puddle on Scorp's side.

It was fifteen minutes before the door opened again. Draco quickly stopped what he was doing and vanished the evidence from the floor, before anyone could catch him expressing the extra milk. Acacia and a male healer in a white coat came in. She immediately went over to the cribs, where Edward was fussing and Sev was entertaining himself by chewing on the crib rails. There was a toy strapped to the side of Sev's crib that he had been entertaining himself with at first, but in the last few minutes he had gotten bored, used the crib rails to pull himself up, and proceeded to chew the wooden rails.

"Hi, I'm Healer Richards," the healer introduced himself, before explaining to Draco his diagnosis of dehydration and magical exhaustion. The treatment was rest, plenty of fluids and food, eliminating physical contact with Harry, and limiting the amount of milk expressed. Then he said that Draco could have the breast pump machine back for thirty minutes, but if Draco's chest still hurt after that, he had his choice of a pain potion or a sleeping draught, or both.

Draco agreed and handed Scorp over to be placed in the crib with Sev. Healer Richards gave Draco the breast pump back. While Draco pumped, Healer Richards said, "Your husband is perfectly fine, but we gave him a sleeping draught in the middle of the night. He's free to leave whenever he wakes up. We didn't leak either of your conditions to the press, but it's gotten out that you are a patient here.

Healer Richards pulled out his copy of the Prophet from the pocket of his robes and handed it to Draco. The headline on the front page read, "Lord Malfoy Pregnant and Hospitalized with Complications." The story went on to insist that Lord Draco Malfoy was pregnant yet again with Savior Malfoy's baby, which caused his hospital stay. There was some speculation as to the cause, but the paper had dehydration and magical exhaustion from breast feeding three infants and being pregnant at the same time as the most likely cause, which really wasn't far off of the mark. What was off the mark was that the article claimed that this pregnancy was an accident and the result of Savior Malfoy's incredible virility breaking a contraception charm.

Just as Draco was finishing the article, Narcissa returned with a nappy bag, officially adding more people to the room than could easily fit. Draco showed his mother the paper and said, "Well at least they haven't figured out that it's their savior up the duff."

"Yes, at least there's that," Narcissa agreed, skimming the article.

Narcissa put the paper down and pulled the expandable swing out of the nappy bag. She placed it on the floor between Draco and Harry's beds, before unshrinking it and spelling it to be a two seater. She put Scorp and Edward in and spelled it on. For Sev she brought several toys, which she unshrunk and put in his crib.

Draco's breakfast arrived in the middle of all of the commotion. The breakfast tray was placed on a floating tabletop in front of him and he set to work eating the prodigious amount of food they had given him. "Do you really expect me to eat all of this?" Draco asked, in between bites. He was hungry, but not this hungry.

"That is one third the number of calories you consume in a given day with the amount of milk you've been expressing. If you were a muggle, you would've died of malnutrition months ago," Healer Richards said.

"Right, well how about you take half of this away and get me something high calorie to eat instead?"

"Eat what you can and I'll make sure you get some ultra-high calorie food with every meal from now on."

Draco ate a bagel with cream cheese, the oatmeal with way too much butter and sugar, and his fruit. He left the pancakes and syrup, the tomato juice, and the eggs with bacon.

By the time Draco finished eating, his half hour of breast pumping was done, so Healer Richards gave him a pain potion and the sleeping draught. It was a few minutes before the pain dulled and then a minute more before he fell asleep.


Harry woke up just before noon to find himself in a room in St. Mungo's with Draco, their three babies, Narcissa, and Andy.

"Is Draco alright?" Harry asked, sitting up to get a better look at Draco in the next bed. Draco appeared to be asleep and Narcissa was watching over him, as Sev and Scorp suckled from his chest.

"He's fine, Harry. He was up all morning while you were sound asleep. Healer Richards wanted him to go back to sleep, so he gave him a sleeping draught," Narcissa explained.

"Is he going to be alright?" Harry asked.

Andy came over, holding Teddy, and handed the baby to Harry. "He's going to be fine, Harry. He ate and drank and now he's back to sleep," Andy said, summarizing what her sister had told her about the events of this morning. "They're actually ready to kick you out if you want to go home, Harry."

"No, I want to stay here with Draco. Why are the babies here?" Harry asked.

"Because Healer Richards took away Draco's breast pump and is making the babies all nurse from the source for the time being," Narcissa explained.

"Even Sev? Did he bite Draco?" Harry asked, dreading what Draco's nipples would look like after being bitten by Sev's teeth.

"No, not yet, thank Merlin," Narcissa answered.

"You must be hungry, Harry. Do you want the rest of Draco's breakfast or do you want me to track down a lunch tray for you?" Andy asked.

"No, I'm actually fine right now. Maybe just some tea," Harry replied.

Andy nodded and left the room to find Harry some tea. She came back with a tall glass a few minutes later. By the time Harry finished drinking the tea, lunch was there. He ate his lunch, but Draco's lunch was left uneaten on Draco's bedside table, while the remains from breakfast were removed.

"So Harry, do you want to go home when you finish your lunch?" Andy asked, taking Teddy back from Harry to change the baby's nappy.

"No, I'd prefer to stay here with Draco. I don't want to leave him," Harry replied.

"Alright, then what should I bring you to entertain yourself while you're here?" Andy asked.

"I don't know. I'd like some supplies to write Hermione a letter; I'm sure she'll want to know and Molly too."

"Harry, you're only in here because you don't want to leave Draco. Draco needs to stay a few days more, but you could take the babies home, put them down for naps in their own cribs, and invite Hermione over to talk. You know Molly and Hermione will want to visit with you and this hospital room is already pretty crowded. Why don't you go home and I'll watch after Draco?" Narcissa suggested.

"Thanks, but I'd really rather stay with him."

"Harry, you can't touch him, you know that right? If you do, your pregnancy will draw magic to you that he can't afford to donate."

"Yeah, I know, but…"

"But you're worried about him, I know. We all are," Narcissa said.

"Harry, why don't you invite Molly and Hermione over here and meet them out in the waiting room? You can't bring them in here, but there's no reason you can't go out there and have a nice chat," Andy suggested.

Harry agreed and he had finished his lunch, so Andy gave Edward back to Harry and went to firecall the Weasleys for him. Harry put Edward in the swing and then went into the bathroom, to relieve himself and freshen up. By the time he was done, Andy was back.

"Molly, Ginny, and Hermione will all be right over," Andy said.

"Great," Harry replied. Sev was reaching his little hands out for Harry, so Harry picked the baby up.

"He wants to walk, Harry. I put his little shoes on, but he wore me out," Narcissa said.

"Alright, let's go Sev," Harry said, finding his own shoes in the wardrobe that was in the room. He put his shoes on and then set Sev down on the ground, holding the baby up by his little hands.

Sev lurched forward on wobbly legs and used Harry's hands to support his weight, Harry following after. They had just barely made it down the hall and found the waiting room when Ginny came through the floo, followed by Hermione and Molly.

"Oh Harry! You're alright!" Ginny said coming up to Harry and hugging him sideways, so that she didn't interfere with Harry's holding Sev's hands. "This is Sev, right?"

"Yeah, Ginny. Hi Hermione, hi Molly," Harry greeted.

"Harry dear, we came as soon as we heard. What happened?" Molly asked.

"Draco passed out in the night; dehydration and magical exhaustion. Apparently it's my fault, because I was touching him and because of my pregnancy, I've been drawing magic from him," Harry said, leading Sev and the group of witches over to the deserted sitting area.

"Oh Harry! It's not your fault; you couldn't have known," Hermione said, giving Harry a sideways hug.

"Yeah, but I knew I was hurting him. Since Monday morning he told me that my touch was painful and burned. I tried not to touch him, honest, but I must've moved against him in the night. He was completely drained when he woke up and didn't even make it out the door to feed the babies," Harry said, sitting down, but leaving Sev standing up in front of him. Sev lurched forward, he pulled Sev back, and Sev repeated the process.

"Harry dear, how are you going to get through an entire pregnancy without touching the Draco? Right now it'll be fine, but as you get further along the baby will draw more and more power from you and then you'll be magically exhausted too," Molly said.

"I don't think that'll be a problem, Mrs. Weasley; Harry's very powerful," Hermione said.

"Um, yeah, I don't think I'll have a problem. If Draco can make it through a pregnancy with twins without me, then I can make it through a single pregnancy without him. I'm more worried about him. The healers say the problem is he's breast feeding too much ever since we took in Teddy, but he needs to breast feed or the babies will starve," Harry replied.

"The twins are getting older, Harry, and they can be fed more solid foods to make up for a lack of milk," Molly said.

"Oh, yeah," Harry agreed.

"Have you been here all night, Harry?" Ginny asked, taking in Harry's messier than normal hair. It looked more like the way he used to wear his hair, before he started combing it for Draco.

"Yeah, but they gave me a sleeping draught and I just woke up," Harry answered.

"Do you want to go home? Are we keeping you?" Molly asked.

"No, I want to stay here. Even if I can't touch Draco, I still want to be close to him," Harry replied.

"Alright, dear. May I hold Severus?" Molly asked.

Harry agreed and handed Sev over to Molly for the first time. Sev didn't have a problem with her, just with being held in general when he wanted to explore. Sev lurched out of her hands a few times, but after seven children she easily caught him each time. "Ginny, I think this one wants to walk about. Do you want to take him for a walk?" Molly asked.

Ginny walked Sev around the empty waiting room, eager for her first chance to play with Harry's baby.

Hermione and Molly asked Harry a few more questions about how his pregnancy was going and there wasn't much to tell, because this was only the third day of it and so far all of the symptoms had happened to Draco. Then Harry let Hermione and Molly feel his flat stomach, even though there was nothing to feel; he too liked feeling it lately and for some reason he didn't mind the attention, but he was more than pleased when he managed to shift the topic of conversation to how Ron was doing in the Aurors. He had seen Ron during his birthday party, but they had barely had a chance to talk with all of the fun they were having with the swamp-n-slide.

"Oh Harry, George told me to tell you that the Swamp-N-Slides are flying off of the shelf faster than he can produce them. Apparently word got out that you had one at your birthday party and now everyone wants to try a Savior party," Ginny said, coming back around the circle with Sev.

"That's great, Ginny. After this hospital stay, I'm sure we can use the money," Harry replied.

"Harry, you have medical insurance with the Aurors; Draco's covered too," Hermione said. "You did tell Robards you're pregnant, right?"

"Yeah, yesterday I wrote him an owl," Harry answered.

"That's good. Have you calculated when you're due yet?" Hermione asked. Harry gave her a perplexed look in return. "Alright, I'll take that as a no. Do you know when this baby was conceived?"

"Yeah, on my birthday," Harry answered.

"Alright, so that's July thirty-first, meaning we can expect another April baby," Hermione replied.

"Wow, that'll be right around the time Teddy was born and then Harry will have four children within sixteen months of each other," Ginny said, looking up from where she was still walking with Sev on the other side of the room.

There was some more talk of babies and then Harry switched the conversation back to George and the joke shop. Ginny got tired walking Sev around, mostly because she had to bend over to do it, so Hermione took a spin at it. Then Andy came out of Draco's room and announced that Teddy and Scorp were down for their naps, which meant Harry should put Sev down too. Andy stayed out in the waiting room with the Weasley witches and Harry took Sev in to Narcissa, who laid Sev down in the crib with Scorp.

Then Harry went back out to the waiting room to talk to the women some more. But Draco was the person he really wanted to talk to and he didn't get that chance until just before dinner time, when Draco finally woke up. Molly, Ginny, and Hermione had all gone home half an hour before and Narcissa and Andy were there taking care of the newly awakened babies, so Draco and Harry went out to the waiting room to talk. Draco had missed lunch and now it was time for dinner, so he took his dinner tray with him.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, watching Draco eat.

"Yeah. My head still hurts and now my chest does too, but I feel better than I did this morning when I woke up. The healer came by and said he'll give me another pain potion and another sleeping draught in a few hours."

"It is all my fault that you're in here."

"Harry, what makes you say that?"

"Because I touched you in your sleep! If I wasn't drawing off your magical energy, you'd have enough to feed three babies and not pass out."

"Harry, this isn't your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine for getting lazy and always leaving the breast pump on instead of shutting it off when I had enough milk."

"But even then, if I'd just stayed to my side of the bed…"

"Harry, look at me," Draco said and waited until Harry looked up and met his eyes. "You're pregnant with my baby and I love that. I wanted you to touch me. Granted it hurt, but I wanted to donate my magic to you, just like you donated your magic to me when I was pregnant. I'm so sorry I'm not strong enough for you…"

"No, you're more than strong enough; you're just already taxed out with the three babies. If I hadn't brought Teddy home, then you'd only have two babies and would probably be fine."

"You know, you really ought to see a mind healer about your pathological need to take blame for everything."

"What?"

"You haven't noticed how you can't ever let anyone else take the blame for anything? Not that I mind most of the time, but I was trying to make you feel better, since you're up the duff with my child and I can't even touch you, but no, you have to be the martyr and take all of the blame for yourself."

"Huh?"

"So why don't you just drop it and let's not assign blame to anyone. Does that make you feel better, or does it eff up your whole martyr thing you've got going on?"

"Fine, if that's how you feel, we'll drop it."

"Good."

"Good."

"Now do you want to tell me why you haven't gone home?" Draco asked.

"I wanted to be here when you woke up."

"Yes, well now I'm awake and I'm ordering you to go home tonight and take care of my daughter. I expect you to bathe and go to sleep on time."

"Yes Mother," Harry said snickering. He tried to say it in the tone Draco often took with Narcissa when Draco didn't want to hear something.

"I'm serious, Harry. And why aren't you eating? You know you're eating for two now, right?"

"Yeah, but I ate lunch and you didn't; I'm not even that hungry."

"Well humor me; get your dinner tray and feed my daughter."

Harry retrieved his dinner tray, eating with Draco in the waiting room. They stayed close by each other, but maintained at least an inch of separation at all times. Then Andy came out to announce that she was going home, since it was late.

Harry and Draco went back into the room and Draco took a bath, while Harry and Narcissa took the three boys over to the nurse's station, where they watched while Acacia gave the three boys baths. Scorpius was apparently in the worst need of a bath, since he had been allowed to sit there and suckle on Draco long after he was full quite a few times today and consequently had milk dribbled all over him.

After Draco and the babies all had baths, Acacia piled all of the babies in the bed with Draco and pushed the bed up against the cribs. Harry and Narcissa went home for the night, so that Harry could fulfill his promise to Draco to take care of himself.

Acacia was replaced by Nurse Davis and Narcissa was replaced by Lucius as the night shift began. Draco nursed the three babies and then put them down for bed in the two cribs. Then Nurse Davis came in and gave Draco his two potions and he fell right to sleep. Lucius, not having anything better to do with his entire family asleep, lay down in Harry's old bed and went to sleep. He could've gone home, but he wasn't comfortable leaving his son and grandsons asleep without protection in a strange place; thus he slept lightly with his wand in his grip by his side.


Author's Note: Draco will be released next chapter!

The AO3 site had been experiencing glitches in posting new chapters for a week now, which has caused me some delay in posting chapters. I hope they fix it soon.