Draco sprang from the bed and halfway across the room as soon as the door opened.

"Is she.." he began, but the healer held up a hand.

"She's well, considering what she's been through," the old man responded calmly.

"What do you mean, considering? What's wrong?" Draco stormed past the man, headed for the door.

"Mr. Malfoy!" the healer's voice halted him. The man continued calmly. "You wife is fairly well, but her blood pressure is a little elevated. Not dangerously so, and not surprising, considering the day's events. I would like to keep her here overnight, just to make sure it comes down. And I'd rather you didn't get upset and raise her blood pressure further."

Draco's mouth opened and closed, as if he wasn't sure what to say.

"You can see her," the healer carried on. "You can even stay here with her tonight if you wish." Draco's head nodded instantly. "But I do have something interesting you may like to see." The old man's eyes twinkled.

"Okay," Draco looked uncertain.

The healer looked at Narcissa. "You may come as well, madam. I'm sure they will show you later, Mr. Malfoy." he nodded at Lucius.

The healer - Alderbourne, by his name tag - lead them a few doors down the hallway. "One of our healers in the maternity unit has a muggle cousin who is a doctor. As you can imagine, the two of them frequently talk about the differences or similarities in their medical practices. These discussions led to St Mungo's aquiring a certain muggle medical instrument. While muggles depend on these machines for much of the diagnostic information we can gather from spells and charms, we have had quite a bit of fun just using this as a curiosity."

Before Draco or Narcissa could ask what on earth the man was talking about, he opened the door, and ushered them into the room. Luna lay on her back on a cot, smiling when they came in. Draco immediately crossed the room to kiss her forehead.

"I told you we were fine," she smiled up at him. "But you're very sweet to be so concerned."

"Don't tell anyone," he whispered back with a smirk.

Healer Alderbourne had walked around to the other side of the cot. "This is what the muggles call an ultrasound machine." he indicated a strange device, quite unlike anything Draco or Narcissa had seen before.

"And what is it for?" Draco asked, a little more edge to his voice than necessary.

"It allows you to see the baby while still inside the mother," the healer smiled.

Narcissa's eyes went huge. "We can see the baby?"

"It's not going to hurt Luna or the baby?" Draco frowned.

"No, not at all. I just rub some of this potion, I mean gel, on her skin, and then touch this device to it, and the image appears on this screen." he pointed at an odd black rectangle. "It won't look like a picture, just like a reverse shadow, well, you'll see what I mean in a moment."

The healer pulled Luna's shirt up far enough to expose the baby bump. He applied the clear goo, did something with the machines, touched the device to Luna's belly, and made some adjustments to the machine.

Draco reached over to hold her hand. Just in case the man was wrong, and it did hurt.

"Ah, here we go," the healer laughed. "We've started at the wrong end. There's his feet."

Draco looked at the little rectangle. He could see the outline of two little feet. That was their baby's feet.

The healer moved the weird wand-like thing around. "There's his little bum, and yes, there, it's definitely a boy."

Draco sneaked a look at Luna and then his mother, who were both watching in rapt fascination.

"The movement you see on the chest is his heartbeat. Oh, me. I should have turned the sound on so you could hear it."

He flipped a switch on the machine, and a strange sound filled the air.

"What's wrong with his heart? It sounds like he's under water." Draco frowned at the healer.

Alderbourne smiled. "Well, actually, he is surrounded by fluid. But yes, his heart sounds just as it's supposed to. Strong and even."

Draco felt a bit stupid for a moment, but then he looked at Luna again. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. He smiled back at her.

"And there is his face."

The baby's head appeared in a perfect profile.

Luna giggled. "He looks just like you, Draco."

"No," Narcissa said breathlessly, her eyes filling with tears. "He looks like Orion."

"Orion was my oldest brother," Draco whispered to Luna.

"Orion..." Narcissa choked back a sob. Draco handed her his handerkerchief. "Orion lived two hours. The other two were stillborn."

"My mother always said the things you lose have a way of coming back to you, but not always in the way you would expect." Luna released her husband's hand to reach for her mother in law. Draco slipped his arm around his mother's waist and pulled her to his side.

The healer was doing something with the machine that caused it to make a different noise. The Malfoys ignored him for a moment.

Narcissa squeezed Luna's hand and hugged Draco with an arm around his waist. "I can't wait to meet my grandson."

Luna smiled at her sweetly. "I have a feeling the next one will be a girl."

Narcissa's eyes widened again. Draco shook his head and looked at his wife. "Don't tell me, okay?"

The healer cleared his throat. "Something I neglected to mention this machine could do." He held out black and white, well, not parchments, but something like them. "We can print pictures of what we've seen."

Narcissa snatched one, looking like a little girl on Christmas. "I've got to show Lucius!" She practically ran from the room. Luna took the others.

The healer handed Luna a damp cloth. "Here, you can wipe the gel off. I'm going to see to the arrangements for your overnight room. I think I can get two rooms with an adjoining door so the whole family will be close tonight."

"Thank you," Draco told the man sincerely.

"That's why we're here," Alderbourne smiled and left them alone.

Draco took the cloth from Luna and gently wiped her belly. Then he placed his hand over it, smiling at her.

"He's beautiful," she said softly.

Draco nodded, his smile fading, unable to speak for a moment.

"I know," she placed her hand over his.

"Thank you," he choked out. He took a deep breath. "You could have gotten rid of him. Your life would have been easier if you had. But thank you..." he bit his lip, refusing to give into the emotions.

"I would never destroy part of you," she angled up to place a kiss on his nose.

There was a knock at the door, destroying the moment. Draco strode over, debating the idea of punching whomever was on the other side of that door.

It was Neville. He opened the door wider to let the visitor in, but Neville grabbed Draco's wrist and pulled him into the hall instead.

"He'll be right back," Neville stuck his head in the door to tell Luna.

Harry, Weasel, and Granger waited in the hall. Neville stood between Draco and the door, as if to block a retreat.

Weasel looked at the floor, then at Draco. "Look, I'm, um, sorry, you know, for what I said in that meeting. I know you wouldn't have jeopardized the plan."

Draco nodded, then looked at Granger. "Are you all right? I'm sorry, I never would have even suggested any of it if I had known."

She nodded. "I'm fine. I missed all the excitement sitting in the Ministry. I know you had no idea there was a leak in the department."

Draco looked at Harry. "Is Scary okay? And everyone else?"

"Why do you never call my brothers by their names?" Weasel shouted at him.

"Because I don't know their names!" Draco shouted back. "I know you from school, I know Ginny's name from the Chamber of Secrets ordeal, but I've never been introduced to the rest and no one has caught on to that yet!"

Harry started laughing. Pretty soon all five of them were laughing.

"I might have to borrow Granger's notes." Draco joked. "That's a lot of names to learn."

They all laughed harder.

"When are you leaving?" Neville asked. "I'll take you back to the Burrow and introduce you to everyone."

"They're keeping Luna and my father overnight just as a precaution." Draco sobered. "I'm not leaving until they go home."

The rest of the group nodded.

"But come here, you've got to see the pictures of my son," Draco broke into a wide grin and herded them all into the room.


Shacklebolt came later that evening, as Luna napped after dinner. He asked Draco to take a walk with him. Draco didn't want to leave Luna, but Shacklebolt stationed Neville in Luna's room, and assured him that between Neville and his mother, no harm would come to his wife or his father.

They walked to the dining area, ordering a meal for each and sitting in the back corner with a silencing charm around them.

"I heard they're both all right, but are being kept overnight for observation." Shacklebolt started off.

Draco nodded grimly. "If I get my hands on Nott first, you won't need a trial."

The Minister sighed. "Draco, don't. Don't lower yourself to his level."

"I could have lost Luna and the baby today. He made me think I had. I will not be that...I don't even know what to call it, but I will not feel that way ever again." Draco's voice was soft but intense. The tone that those close to him had learned to fear.

"Draco..." Shacklebolt shook his head, knowing that arguing would get him nowhere at the moment.

"So what about finding the leak?" the younger man asked.

"I'm working on it, with Potter, Longbottom, Weasley, and Dawlish. I hate to say it, but they're the only ones I can really trust. It's going to be a huge undertaking. Our first step has been to isolate Nott's magical signature, and we'll be checking as many traces of it we can find, to check for any other magical signatures in the area, see if we can connect it to any of the aurors."

"But that's like looking for a single grain of sand on a beach," Draco shook his head, before taking a sip of his drink.

"Pretty much," Shacklebolt agreed. "And if the leak is smart, they won't perform any magic around Nott. Or wouldn't even meet him directly, but pass the information through an intermediary."

"I know he hates me more than anyone else there, but I don't think it's Robards." Draco jabbed a piece of potato.

"Why not?" Shacklebolt looked at him speculatively.

"He's too wrapped up in making the collar, getting the bad guy into Azkaban. He's not going to help one." Draco shrugged, but watched carefully for the older man's reaction.

A hint of a smile played around the Minister's lips. "Yeah, I agree with you. You sure you don't want to be an auror, when all this is over? You have good instincts."

Draco shook his head. "I appreaciate the offer. Really. It means a lot to know you have that much faith in me. But I kind of like my life like it is, or at least like it would be, if Nott wasn't intent on ruining it. Teaching at Hogwarts, coming home to Luna at night." Draco finished off his butterbeer. "Speaking of which, I want to get back up to her."

Shacklebolt knocked back the rest of his drink and stood as well. "I'll walk you back up."

They found Luna awake, chatting with Neville about a letter from her father.

"I'm glad he's not here, with all this going on," she told Draco when they were alone. "He would be terribly worried."

Draco checked on his father, making sure everything was good in the other room, before unfolding the rollaway cot the healer's assistant had brought in, and settled in for the night, wand in his hand.


A/N - just a little light and fluffy goodness, to make up for the darkness that's coming.