Draco spent most of Thursday in the hospital sleeping and he was recovered enough Thursday night to be released. But beforehand the healers sat him and Harry down for a chat on what they needed to do once they got home to avoid Draco passing out again. Eating and drinking more, while nursing less were on the list, but so was maintaining constant physical separation, so that he didn't transfer any of his magic to Harry.

"Constant physical separation at all times means that the two of you need to sleep in separate beds and that you can't have sex for the remainder of Harry's pregnancy. I also recommend dressing in long sleeved robes to minimize the accidental touches that come with day to day activities and gloves would also help to that end. You may touch each other if there is a cloth barrier separating your skin," Healer Richards said.

"So if I cover myself up completely with cloth, I could hug him?" Harry asked.

"Forget hugging, what about dry humping?" Draco asked.

"Yes, you could hug if you're very careful about it and make absolutely certain to cover up all skin, but you can't kiss," Healer Richards answered. "As for dry humping, the same applies, in that it's okay as long as you don't kiss and all skin is covered."

"Great," Draco replied with a smirk, happy that his sex life wasn't going to be as thoroughly decimated as he'd feared.

"Now you've been doing well with nursing without the breast pump while you've been in here, but if you find you absolutely have to start using it again, keep track of the milk you pump and only pump enough to fill the number of bottles you need to currently feed your babies. That means if Sev goes back to bottles and he drinks four bottles a day, you can only pump four bottles of milk from your chest and no more," Healer Richards said.

"Yeah, okay," Draco replied.

"Have either of you considered going back to Hogwarts to finish your NEWTs? If one of you was away at school, you'd be less tempted to touch," Healer Richards said.

"No, I've been let into the Aurors without them," Harry answered.

"I was planning on doing my NEWTs from home, but I can't go to Hogwarts with three babies to nurse; there's no way I could manage all of that on my own," Draco answered.

"What about if you took just Scorp to Hogwarts and sent bottles of milk home for Sev and Teddy? Scorp is the only one who refuses to take a bottle and it wouldn't be too difficult to care for one baby while at school, would it? Harry could stay home and take care of the other two while you're away and then you wouldn't have to work at maintaining the separation between you," Healer Richards said.

"No, I don't want to be separated from my husband and two of my children," Draco replied.

"Alright, but I recommend you think about it. At the very least you need separate beds and ideally separate bedrooms," Healer Richards said.

"That's fine; I can sleep in the spare bed in the nursery and Harry can have our bed. Everything will go back to normal, with me studying for NEWTs during the day and watching the babies at night. Harry can sleep at night and watch the babies during the day," Draco insisted.

"Now there is one more option I need to discuss with you, but it could potentially be very dangerous," replied the healer. "There is a potion that you, Harry, could take that would prevent him from drawing magic off of Draco. It would eliminate the danger for him from contact, but it could also cause you to miscarry, because if your magic dipped too low, he wouldn't be able to step in and transfer some. Of course such a transfer would likely be painful for him and possibly cause him to pass out, but it is possible that such a transfer could be necessary to avoid a miscarriage. With this potion, there would be no chance of an emergency transfer, which is why you two need to consider it very carefully if you choose to go that route."

"We'll do it," Harry announced automatically.

"Harry, we need to think about it first. Your health and our daughter's health could depend on this," Draco implored. "I won't put you two at risk."

"We won't be at risk. I'll stay at home and not do anything dangerous. I have enough magic for the two of us and as long as you're not drawing magic from me, there won't be a problem," Harry retorted.

"Will that happen?" Draco asked concerned. "If Harry takes this potion, will I start drawing from him again?"

"Most likely no. If you also took the potion, it'd be a definite no," the healer answered.

"Then it's settled; we'll both take it," Harry concluded.
"How long will a dose last?" Draco asked.

"A week," Healer Richards answered.

"That seems reasonable. If something happens to indicate I'm not having an easy pregnancy, then we can stop taking it and resume transfer in a week," Harry suggested.

"Yes, but if there is a sudden unforewarned emergency the pregnancy could terminate before the potion wears off," the healer replied.

"I need to think about it more," Draco said.

"But Draco, this potion is just what we need. I'm not gonna have any difficulties, you'll see. We should take it and then everything will go back to normal," Harry urged.

"You're probably right, but this is a big decision and I need to sleep on it. Your health and the health of our unborn child are not to be taken lightly," Draco cautioned and Harry acquiesced.

With that settled, Healer Richards went over the list of symptoms that Draco needed to watch out for and implored Draco to come in again if any of the symptoms returned. Then Draco was made to eat one last dinner, reminded to take it easy while he recovered from the magical exhaustion, and finally released.

Draco was very happy to be home and even agreed to take it easy. Instead of helping with the evening baths, he curled up on their bed with one of his history of magic books, letting the others do all of the work.

Harry got Narcissa to help him with the nightly routine, but he took the three babies to Draco to nurse before bed. Scorp and Teddy were put on first and Harry held Sev while the baby waited for his turn.

"You know, I should move into the third bedroom for now. It's got your old furniture already set up in there," Harry suggested.

"Nonsense; I want to share a room with my husband, even if we can't touch for months," Draco replied.

"But if it's for your health, we should do it. We're not using that bedroom until our daughter is born, so why can't I move in there? It'll only be until you agree that we should take the potion."

"We're using it for storage. Have you been in there lately?"

"No…but we can't possibly have that much stuff to store."

"We do. Cradles, basinets, a bouncer, and several piles of clothes are all in there. Then there are all of the things we bought for when the twins are older; enough clothes and toys and nappies to last until they're two. And then there's all of the things we were given for Edward at the baby shower and haven't used yet. Not to mention that the pile of clothes for when Scorp moves into the next size is all over the bed."

"Scorp's clothes are getting tight; we need to switch him into the larger size already. And we'll get one of those bags with the wizard space charms on them and move it all into one neat and tidy bag, which we'll put in the closet."

"Even so, I don't want to be separated from you. Even if we can't touch and can't sleep in the same bed, I want to share space with you. That's why I told that healer that I won't go to Hogwarts."

"I don't want to be separated from you either, which is why I want to take the potion. It's the only way we can possibly make it through the pregnancy, Draco."

"But it's potentially dangerous for you and the baby, Harry."

"Bay-bayssss?" Sev asked, pointing to Teddy.

"Yes Sev, Teddy is a baby, but Daddy has another baby in his tummy. You're gonna have a little sister," Harry said taking Sev's little hand and placing it on his flat stomach.

"Bay-bayssss," Sev insisted with a hiss, pulling his hand away from Harry and pointing again at Teddy.

"Sev's too little to understand," Draco said.

"Yeah, it seems that way," Harry replied with a sigh. "Draco, what are we gonna do if we can't touch each other for the next nine months if we don't take the potion?"

"Well for starters, it should be closer to eight months. Our daughter was conceived two weeks ago tomorrow and they start counting two weeks before conception, because of witches and their bloody periods, so you're already a month pregnant."

"Oh…well one month down at least…"

"And we'll get through the next eight months just like we'd planned. I'll focus on my school work and you'll focus on our children and taking care of our new baby. We'll stay together, but just not touch."

"Yeah, but it'll be so much better if we can touch. What harm can it possibly do?"

"Well for one, you're not the type to lie in bed and take things easy. Suppose a Death Eater is on the rampage and you're the only one who can stop him? You, having that egregious case of hero complex of yours, will rush out to save the day, putting our daughter at risk. Then it'll be you lying there having a miscarriage and me left powerless to save you. How do you think my near miscarriage would've gone if you hadn't been there to donate magic to me and stabilize me? Scorp would've died and I would've been lucky to keep Sev, that's how," Draco said, answering his own question, but making sure to leave Ron's name out of it. As per their truce, he was not to mention the cause of his near miscarriage and he was determined to stick to that agreement, for Harry's sake.

"No, I won't go after anymore bad guys. I'll leave that to Ron and the Aurors. All of the really bad people have already been captured, so it won't be a problem."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You'll save you and our daughter before you save the entire Wizarding World?"

"Yes, I will, I promise. Besides, if you could get through a pregnancy with twins without my magic, I can get through a single pregnancy without yours."

"But I was on bed rest. I knew you wouldn't be able to defeat the Dark Lord with me around and that it'd be too dangerous, so I hid myself away where I'd be safe and nothing bad could possibly happen to me. I don't think you're capable of doing the same," Draco admitted. This was his hang-up when it came to using the potion.

"I will do the same, Draco. I swear to Merlin I won't go chasing after dark wizards nor do anything else dangerous. All I plan on doing is staying here and watching the boys. If I feel like getting out of the house, I'll go to the Burrow or visit Hermione at Hogwarts. There is nothing that can possibly go wrong."

"Hogwarts hasn't exactly proved safe before."

"Then I'll arrange for Hermione to meet me."

"Alright, I'll think about it, but I'm not going to agree to it today."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't know how your pregnancy is going to affect you yet. You haven't shown any symptoms."

"Which is good. It means I'll have an easy pregnancy."

"No, not at all. Morning sickness is linked to healthy pregnancies. Pregnancies without morning sickness are more high risk in terms of miscarriage potential or pre-term labor."

"Are you sure? I thought it was the other way around…"

"I'm sure. I read several pregnancy books. How many have you read?"

"I tried to read one…but I got busy and never finished," Harry admitted. Plus, he couldn't be sure he hadn't read it and forgot it, because he hadn't exactly maintained that information through the war.

"Well trust me, it's true. That's why I want to wait. If in two weeks you're puking all over the place with none of the negative signs, then we'll start taking the potion. If you're still symptomless, I want to wait until your checkup next month and see what the healer says."

"And if the pregnancy is healthy and I'm not puking next month, will you agree to take it?" Harry was more concerned with getting Draco to also agree to take the potion, because if it was only necessary for him to take it, he'd go behind Draco's back and take it. But with Draco breast feeding, it'd put the pregnancy at risk for Harry to take it without Draco also taking it.

"Yes," Draco finally agreed. "But if at any time your pregnancy becomes high risk, I'm stopping."

"Deal."

"But what about that muggle gala for the NICU we said we'd go to? It's next weekend."

"We don't have to go," Harry said.

"I want to go."

"Then we'll go and I'll be careful. But do you think you'll be up to it? I mean, shouldn't you rest?"

"It's nine days away; I think I'll be recuperated by then. I wanted to go and see the muggles who saved Scorp's life. I want to see the new incubator they bought with the money we donated too."

"Alright, I would like to meet them," Harry agreed.

"Here, take Edward and give me Sev," Draco said, since Edward was done nursing.

Harry did as told and once the three boys were fed, they put them to bed. Then they took baths separately. Draco went to sleep in the nursery and Harry slept in their bedroom.

It was hard, but they got through it. Harry bought the thinnest pair of gloves he could find and took to wearing long sleeved robes, even though it was still summer and the Manor was hot; he just made liberal use of cooling charms to compensate. Draco grew stronger and after a week he was back to his normal self, just without the breast pump on his shoulder and with spending a bit more time each day nursing all three babies. Meanwhile Harry grew sicker. There were several instances when Harry didn't pay attention to how much of the anti-nausea tea he was drinking, forgot a dose or two, and wound up hugging the toilet. After the third time, Harry started drinking his tea religiously.

The Saturday of the big gala arrived and the Malfoy family dressed in muggle clothes. Harry put on one of the new muggle dress shirts he'd been given for his birthday and lent one to Draco, who put the muggle shirt on over his paternity undershirt. Harry was about to put on a pair of trousers, but then Draco pulled out a pair of Harry's new Malfoy jeans and said, "Put these on."

"Why, you can't touch," Harry protested. "Not until we start taking the potion. Did you want to start taking it five days early? I've certainly puked enough."

"No, but I can look and maybe later I'll dry hump you; the healer said I could," Draco replied with a smirk. Now that he was feeling better, he was a bit randy. It'd been almost a month since the last time they'd had sex, although the presence of three babies and his parents in the house still kept a pretty significant damper on his sex drive.

Harry put on the jeans and then went to the nursery to help dress the boys in the set of matching outfits Luna had given them with the lions on the little summer suits. Then they pulled out the twin stroller with the two infant carseats on top and strapped Teddy and Scorp in; the carseats were to make the muggles think they had arrived in a car. Harry spelled the stroller to appear to have wheels like a muggle stroller. Draco carried a nappy bag and Sev, who rarely liked sitting still long enough to be strapped into a stroller. They were joined by Andy, Narcissa, Lucius, and Hermione, who were already dressed and waiting for them.

The lot of them flooed over to the villa together. Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco had all been to the muggle hospital before, so the three of them apparated over. But Andy, Harry, and Hermione had all never been, so the three of them flooed with the babies to a nearby wizarding market and walked from there to the hospital. Andy and Hermione took turns carrying Sev, who was nearing twenty pounds and quite heavy, especially because the baby kept squirming, wanting to be put down.

"Here, give him to me and I'll carry him the rest of the way," Harry offered.

"No Harry, you're pregnant; you shouldn't be struggling with heavy loads. It's not good for the baby," Hermione replied.

"She's right you know," Andy seconded. "Lifting heavy objects is a major cause of miscarriages."

"But I'm a guy; I can lift way more than Sev," Harry protested, but continued to push the stroller.

"Doesn't matter; you shouldn't be doing it, especially in the first few months," Andy replied.

Harry grumbled some more, but he didn't want to have a miscarriage and sacrifice the time he'd already put into this pregnancy. Three weeks down, just thirty-six to go.

The hospital was a few blocks away from the wizarding market, so it only took them half an hour to make the short walk, even with Sev causing problems. Then they were arriving at the hospital where Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco were waiting for them and led the way to the large conference room where the gala was being held. A large machine was on display and Draco took Harry and Hermione over to it.

"Looks like this is the incubator they bought," Draco said. "Scorp was in one like this, but his was a bit different."

"It's wonderful," Harry replied.

"Truly amazing what can be done these days with a bit of science," Hermione added.

"Ah, if it isn't Drake Malcolm and his twin babies; the guests of honor, yes?" Dr. Leroy asked, approaching them.

"Yes. Dr. Leroy, this is my husband Harry and our friend Hermione," Draco introduced.

"You make married now, yes? Wonderful," Dr. Leroy replied.

"Yes," Draco agreed.

"This is baby Hyperion, yes? He makes growing quite a bit," Dr. Leroy said, indicating Sev, who Hermione had passed to Draco.

"Yes, but we changed his name to Sev. Hyperion is his middle name now," Draco replied.

"And then this little one must be Scorpius, yes? But where did this third baby come from?" Dr. Leroy asked, indicating Teddy, who had a hat firmly covering all of the baby's hair, in case it changed color. They were hoping no one noticed the baby's eyes changing colors either, but then it was harder to cover up the eyes.

"My Aunt Andy's grandson Edward. My aunt's over there with my parents," Draco said, pointing to where his aunt and parents were talking with Dr. Martin, who was the first doctor to treat Scorpius and the one to get Scorpius hooked up to the respirator.

"Ah yes, I see. I make the best English, so all of the doctors and nurses asked me to thank you on their behalf for making the donation for the incubator. We honestly didn't think you'd be able to make your bill, let alone a donation. We want you to know that thanks to you, we will be able to save many more babies every year. This incubator is more advanced than our old ones and it will make saving even smaller and more premature babies possible," Dr. Leroy said.

"You're very welcome. We were just so grateful to you all for saving Scorp that we wanted to do something to repay you. We didn't have access to our money last year, but as soon as we could we sent the payment in," Draco replied.

"Why didn't you have access? It was your money, yes?" Dr. Leroy asked.

"It was my money and I wasn't eighteen yet. My parents are dead, so I inherited it on my birthday. I was also able to make an honest man out of Draco and we joined in a civil union," Harry lied, telling the muggle what he'd want to hear and correcting Draco's earlier mistake. Unlike the magical world, the muggle world didn't allow same sex marriages.

"Ah, very good. I must make conversation with the chief of staff. Excuse me, yes?" Dr. Leroy asked.

"Yes," Draco agreed.

As soon as Dr. Leroy was gone, Hermione asked, "Draco, how do you know Dr. Leroy again?"

"He was the one who examined me. I don't speak French and most of the healers here don't speak good English, so they asked Dr. Leroy to examine me. He's the only one here who knows that I gave birth and that Harry is the dad. The rest think that someone else is the mother and that I'm the father," Draco answered.

"That's strange; muggles normally check to make sure that the mother is a real person and that it's someone who has actually given birth," Hermione said.

"I gave them the name of a real person, but none of that really mattered once Dr. Leroy figured out that I had given birth. He handled the muggles for me," Draco replied.

"Who did you tell them the babies' mother was? Pansy Parkinson?" Harry asked.

"No, as a matter of fact, I told them it was Hermione, so if the French healers treat you like the mother Hermione, then just go along with it," Draco said.

Hermione almost spit out the water she was sipping on in her surprise. "What? When were you going to tell me this?" she asked.

"Relax; they don't speak English. I had to tell them someone and you were perfect. You're muggleborn with muggle parents and muggle neighbors they could question. Plus you were on the run, so I knew they wouldn't be able to find you," Draco replied.

"But I wiped my parents' memories and sent them to Australia," Hermione protested.

"I didn't know that… oh well, it ended up not mattering," Draco replied.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll just have to be the mother then. But, um, just how do you explain how one of our children has black hair, when I have brown and you have blond?" Hermione asked.

"My mother's family all have black hair; sometimes these things skip a generation."

"Blond hair might, but black is dominant, so it can't skip."

"Then maybe you cheated on me with Harry."

Dr. Leroy came over then with the muggles in charge of the hospital and they were thanked for the donation. There was dinner and dancing and rich old muggles donated more money to the NICU. When the night was finally over, Harry, Hermione, and Andy apparated back to the Villa, while Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco walked with the babies back to the wizarding market and flooed back to the Villa. From there Andy, Narcissa, and Lucius took the babies back to the Manor, while the three young adults stayed behind.

"Well Hermione, just one more week and then you're back to Hogwarts. What's it feel like to be going back?" Harry asked.

"Pretty surreal, but I'm definitely excited," Hermione answered.

"I wanted to ask you, Hermione, what you think about the safety of that potion Draco and I are supposed to start taking." Harry knew exactly what his friend thought, because they'd been owling about it.

"I've looked it up and other than the side effects the healer mentioned, it seems safe," Hermione conceded. "I really must be going. Harry, I'll stop by and see you whenever I can. Headmistress McGonagall said she'll allow me to floo home on weekends. Take care of yourself and your babies," Hermione said, giving first Harry and then Draco a hug, before flooing back to the Burrow.

"Why did you try to bring your friend into our disagreement?" Draco asked.

"Because I thought she'd take my side," Harry replied.

"Look, I don't mind Hermione hanging out with us. I don't mind being friendly with your friends, but don't bring anyone into our marriage. This is between you and me and it's gonna stay between us. If you want to talk to her about your side of things, okay, but don't go putting her between us. Understand?"

"Yeah, okay, I'm sorry."

"Good, now do you wanna go upstairs and have make up sex?"

"We can't…"

"Make up dry humping then."

"Yeah."

Draco turned and went upstairs to the bedroom that they'd shared before they moved back to the Manor. He took his clothes off and lay down on the bed. Harry took his clothes off too and went to look in the dresser for something he could wear to block his skin from touching Draco's skin, but he had forgotten that all of their clothes were at the Manor now. Harry ended up calling a house elf to bring him a set of long sleeved robes, which he put on. Then he put his gloves on and carefully climbed into bed with Draco.

They had to be careful and couldn't even kiss, but the passion was still there and they managed a release.


Author's Note: Has there been enough drama in this story, or should I include a chapter when Harry's magic suddenly dips too low and Draco can't rectify it, because they're both taking the potion?

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