Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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"There, there, my dear…..It's alright. You don't have to be afraid…..I'm here with you. I'm not going to let anything bad happen. I promise to protect you."
Those sweet, whispered sentiments were the first sounds that Harriet heard as her green eyes slowly fluttered open.
She sighed gently, feeling surprisingly relaxed.
Harriet noticed something.
She felt an unfamiliar sensation, a soothing, gentle motion over the firm curve of her swollen belly.
Harriet realized she was lying on her side and as she became more awake, she started suddenly when she recognized that something was drifting over her abdomen…...
And she was no longer in her apartment…….
Comprehension swirled through Harriet's hazy mind.
She was in Malfoy manor and Draco was sitting by her bedside, tenderly petting her rounded womb!
Harriet jerked away from Draco so hastily that he jumped. He had been so focused on comforting his unborn that he failed to notice the baby's mother had woken.
"Get your hands off of me, Malfoy!" Harriet hissed, "I beg your pardon, but I don't need your protection!"
After he recovered from his sudden surprise, Draco scowled back at Harriet, "I wasn't talking to you, Potter! I was speaking to my child, thank you very much!"
Harriet stilled when her head started to throb again. As she relaxed back onto Draco's bed, she asked wearily, "Why…...Why am I here?...You've abducted me."
"I've done no such thing!" Draco scoffed, "I came to escort you to the paternity test, wherever that will take place...and I found you unconscious in that shabby little flat of yours, with which I was very disappointed, Potter. I imagined you would still have enough left of your father's gold to afford something better….Anyway, I saw you weren't well and when I was unable to rouse you, I brought you here."
"Why didn't you take me to the hospital?!" Harriet asked groggily, raising a hand to her head.
"I don't know anything about muggle hospitals." Draco sneered, "Did you really want the attention that our sudden arrival in St. Mungo's would bring?"
Harriet swallowed while Draco went on, "Our family healer should be here shortly."
"I don't want a healer." Harriet murmured, "I'm fine."
Draco's sneer slipped into a dangerous grimace as he glared at the expecting omega, "Potter, why do you insist on making this a battle between us?! I thought that we-"
A loud pop rang out from downstairs in the foyer and the sound quieted Draco.
Quick, scuffling footsteps came pounding through the hall until a quiet knock fell on Draco's bedroom door.
"What?!" Draco barked.
The door opened slowly and a small, frightened house elf peered inside the room.
"Mr. Malfoy, sir….." The house elf began, "The healer's here to see you."
"Well, send her in! Hurry up!" Draco hissed.
The house elf yelped and scurried away.
Harriet shifted nervously as a new set of footsteps confidently walked down the hall.
An elderly woman with a strict gaze came to stand in Draco's doorway. Her piercing eyes glanced from Draco to Harriet as she asked, "Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy. You sent for me?"
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Harriet writhed on top of the covers anxiously as the healer's cutting stare dissected the curve of her belly, which was more than obvious, even through her loose nightclothes, which she was still wearing.
"Thank you for coming so suddenly." Draco explained, "There's no one my family trusts more than you, healer Marigold."
While Draco spoke, the healer's eyes remained fixed curiously on Harriet. When Draco saw that, he cleared his throat and introduced the healer to her new patient, "Harriet, this is Margerie Marigold, the Malfoy family healer. Healer Marigold, this is Harriet, my mate."
"I am not your mate!" Harriet snapped at Draco.
The healer ignored Draco and Harriet's disagreement as she sat her bag down.
Although Draco remained unmarried, it was clearly evident that he would soon no longer be the youngest Malfoy. Although the obvious implications of the situation seemed to be of no consequence to Healer Marigold.
As one who served a prestigious wizarding family, Healer Marigold made it a point not to get entangled in the Malfoy family's member's personal affairs.
Healer Marigold had come to do her job and tend the ill, not gossip.
"Very well." The healer said with a sigh that sounded almost irritated, "You may take your leave now, Mr. Malfoy. I have work to do."
Draco blinked incredulously.
Harriet didn't protest but she seemed a little uneasy about being left alone with a healer she hadn't selected.
"M-May I not stay with her?" Draco asked with a frown.
"These are women's matters." Healer Marigold snapped. She opened up her bag and pointed towards the door, throwing a glare at Draco as she ordered him without hesitation, "Out!"
Draco glared right back at the healer but he reluctantly stood and obeyed. Perhaps he had overestimated just how lovely it was to have an old fashioned family healer after all.
Draco feared that Harriet was probably relieved to see him leave.
That thought broke Draco's heart. He wasn't sure he could withstand the hurt of seeing that idea validated, but in spite of himself, he turned to glance back at Harriet just before he left the room.
A fragile hope rose in Draco's heart when he saw the saddened look on Harriet's face as she watched him walk out the door.
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Draco may have been thrown out but that didn't stop him pacing right outside of his room and pressing his ear against the wood of the door to eavesdrop.
How were things going?
What was the healer doing to help?
How were Harriet and the baby?
Draco's face twisted in frustration as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket.
Was this how his mother's care had gone before his own arrival?
It annoyed Draco to think that he and Harriet were going to have to find another healthcare provider to welcome their child.
He trusted healer Marigold.
He liked healer Marigold.
Regardless, if healer Marigold wouldn't allow Draco to remain with Harriet during a simple examination, she probably wasn't going to allow him to remain with Harriet during the birth either.
….And if anyone thought that Draco was going to be more than a meter away from Harriet when their baby arrived, they were mad.
His irritation was made even worse as his instincts screamed at him to go in the room and help his frightened, suffering omega.
If only-
Draco's brooding ceased as the door finally opened and the healer stepped out into the hallway.
"Well?" Draco asked hastily, furrowing his brow, "How is she? How is my child?"
"The girl is exhausted." The healer explained, "Worry and fear have disrupted her body. She's lacking hydration and rather poorly at the moment. I've given her a tonic and prescribed rest and fluids, though after my brief introduction to her, I doubt she'll follow my advice."
"What about my baby?" Draco asked.
The healer shrugged, "Not quite yet formed enough to salvage, I'm afraid. If the mother doesn't improve, I fear the pup may be lost."
Draco's heart clenched in his chest.
He had been hoping the healer would say that there was some harmless, simple explanation, that Harriet's episode wasn't anything more than an abrupt rush of anxiety.
"She's resting comfortably for now. There's nothing more I can do." The healer spoke, nodding at Draco before she took out her wand, "Good day, Mr. Malfoy."
With a flick of her wand, the healer apparated away and Draco frowned to himself as the healer's grim warning echoed in his mind.
If the mother doesn't improve, I fear the pup may be lost.
Draco couldn't bury his emotions any longer.
He was angry.
He was angry at Harriet.
He was angry at himself.
With a scowl, Draco opened the door and barged into his bedroom without bothering to knock.
Harriet's eyes widened as Draco rushed into the room.
Wordlessly, Draco stomped over and sat at Harriet's bedside once more.
A moment of silence passed before Harriet asked quietly, "...May I go home now?"
"You already are home." Draco huffed.
Harriet frowned. Without her wand, she couldn't apparate. Muggle taxis didn't come to Malfoy manor and she was in no condition to walk.
She was completely reliant on Draco to take her back to her humble flat.
"This isn't my home." Harriet said calmly.
"It is until my child arrives." Draco said, scowling over at Harriet.
Another moment of silence passed between them.
Eventually, Harriet sighed and began to plead, "Draco, I-"
Her alpha interrupted before he thought, "-How dare you, Potter! How dare you! First you run off and leave me without any warning whatsoever then you hide my own child from me?! For some reason, you believed you could trade it away like a pack of unwanted cards?! Now this?! You're not even taking care of yourself! Do you want our baby dead?! Do you want to die?! Is that what you want?!?!"
Harriet was ashamed about the tears that gathered in her eyes as she listened to the harsh words being hurled at her. She had been through much worse than Draco's verbal attack, but in her pregnant state, she found herself defenseless against the pools of thick tears that clouded her vision.
"Don't cry!" Draco hissed, wincing as Harriet put her hands up to her face and sobbed, "That'll just make it worse, Potter! Stop that immediately!"
"I can't, Draco!" Harriet cried in infuriated irritation.
Understanding that he had only made the situation worse, Draco made a bold move.
He followed his heart and let his instincts guide him.
Seeking to protect his suffering mate, Draco stood from his chair and crawled onto the bed.
Vulnerable and frightened, Harriet may have pushed him away if she wasn't so upset, but instead, she didn't protest at all as Draco pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms lovingly around her.
With one hand, Draco guided her head to lay against his chest and he began to idly stroke her hair as he whispered, "Please……..stop crying."
Harriet's sobs gradually lessened as she enjoyed being wrapped in Draco's embrace, leaning against him. Harriet closed her eyes and allowed herself to inhale, taking her time to savor the soothing scent of the alpha that she continued to deny.
Draco looked down at Harriet once her tears had ceased. Harriet felt his gaze upon her and she turned her head to look up at him as well.
Draco brushed a stray strand of hair out of Harriet's face as they both silently remembered what had happened between them the last time they had been together on Draco's bed…..
"You can slap me or scream at me if you want to, Potter." Draco whispered to Harriet, with an unfathomable softness in his grey eyes, "But I simply have to kiss you."
Harriet didn't slap Draco, or scream at Draco, but she did pull him down until his lips crushed against hers.
Softly and sweetly, their kiss continued, apprehensive and surprisingly innocent.
Draco let Harriet dictate the speed and intensity of how their lips brushed together, but he did take advantage of the opportunity to lay a hand over her mounded tummy.
Draco's heart leapt in his chest when instead of pushing him away again, Harriet placed one of her hands over his own.