AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This is the extended (long) version of my entry to the 2011 DRAMIONE DUET FIC EXCHANGE (September/October, 2011). The exchange had a cap of 8K words, so it appears in its shortened version on the LiveJournal site where the fest is housed. Below is the full version of the story, as intended.
My anonymous exchange partner gave me a very open template to work with. Her requirements were simply these:
- Rating Requested: R/NC-17
- Era Requested: Any era – doesn't matter. Writer's preference.
- Kinks Requested: No specific kinks requested. Writer's preference.
- Squicks not to write: Incest, cannibalism, mutilation
- Prompts to include: Blood, Chocolate, Sweat
Hope you enjoy! Please review and let me know, yeah?
Thank you to my fabulous beta, Unseenlibrarian, for all her help in assuring this story came out perfectly edited! Any mistakes are on my head.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Harry Potter" or any of its characters, nor do I profit in any way from the use of said characters and situations in this writing.
Story Details: Post-Hogwarts. Follows novel canon, but completely discards the Epilogue (EWE - Epilogue? What Epilogue? – format). Characters are OOC (out-of-character) because of the plot.
Timeline: February, 2014 – December, 2014
Characters (alphabetical order, by last name): Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Theodore Nott
Summary: Summary: Draco Malfoy needs an heir. Hermione Granger-Malfoy badly wants a baby. They never expected, however, that the incompatibility of their blood really would keep such a miracle from happening. In desperation, they approach Theodore Nott, Draco's best friend, and ask for his assistance. He's compatible with Hermione's chemistry and biology in every way, but the repercussions of sleeping with a man not her husband and sharing a child with him are too large to ignore. Can the three of them come to an agreement that will be mutually beneficial? A ménage a trois story about trust, faith, love and making miracles happen.
Extra: All spellings follow the British English dictionary. "Dormire Viri" is Latin for "Dormant Masculinity/Manhood" – I made up the spell for the fic.
Rating: MA+/NC-17 (Explicit heterosexual sex – snogging, petting, oral sex, vaginal sex, double-penetration in a ménage a trois/threesome setting; profanity; alcohol consumption; pregnancy. Controversial topics include infertility and miscarriage, the issue of infidelity, and an unconventional relationship)
Images to go along with this fic (characters, outfits, places mentioned in the story - remove all spaces to load the URL properly): http:/ / s905 . photobucket . com / albums / ac260 / RZZMG / The_Favour
THE FAVOUR
BY: RZZMG
CHAPTER ONE
Draco didn't come home after work. The owl'd note he'd sent earlier that evening said he'd be staying with Blaise and Harry tonight and be back tomorrow afternoon. Zabini might be morally questionable at times, but I could trust my best friend to make sure my husband wouldn't do anything inappropriate. They'd probably stay at Zabini's villa in Milan, get drunk, and pass out. At least, I hoped that's what they'd do.
From her seat on the edge of our dove-grey suede sofa, my mother-in-law, Narcissa, watched me as I brought my overnight bag down the stairs from our loft bedroom, silent and understanding. I set it down next to the front door of the flat, and turned to look at her. She was perfectly poised, her hair coiffed without a strand out of place, her conservative clothing meticulously straight, with the skirt tucked over the knees and her legs primly held together. Her shoes were never scuffed, and her nails were always polished. She always wore tasteful jewellery and applied elegant make-up.
I never wanted to be like her.
Draco loved me despite that fact.
"Would you like some tea?" I offered, needing something to do until it was time to leave.
My mother-in-law was as emotionally even and as poised as ever. "That would be lovely, yes."
I gave her a forced smile and headed into the kitchen.
The kitchen of our Kensington flat was divided from the living space by the presence of a darkly stained, marble-topped centre island with metal bar stools. It was upon this island that I placed the antique Limoges tea tray that the elder Malfoys had given Draco and me as a housewarming gift, and the matching pot, cups, saucers, bowl and creamer service that had followed that very next Christmas to complete the set.
As I set the water to boil behind me on our gas stove, I arranged the tray. Silver demitasse spoons and linen lap napkins were laid out. I knew from years of experience that Narcissa didn't take tea with cream, and neither did I, so I was spared that little extra burden when laying out the service. I did, however, take down the good sugar bowl – the one we only used for company – and filled it with the pink cubes that we kept on-hand for when Draco's mum came to visit.
From my stash of tea, I pulled down an expensive canister filled with my favourite blend: a White Ayurvedic Chai that smelled of cinnamon, coconut, pineapple, ginger, cardamom and cloves. It was a perfect after dinner drink, as it was dessert-like in scent and taste. Gathering some into the tea ball, packing it in tight, I closed the canister back up and set the silver ball into the pot. The whistle of the kettle a moment later let me know the water was ready, and I poured the steaming liquid over the ball, letting it steep.
As I brought the refreshments into the living area, setting them on the coffee table, the ceramic rattled. My hands were uncontrollably shaking. For all my Gryffindor courage, tonight's plan is the one thing in the world I never thought I'd ever have to face, and wasn't sure I had the actual strength to carry out.
How could I willingly break my marriage vows?
I took a sharp, deep breath and let it out slow, taking a seat in the middle of the couch. Yes, Draco and I had agreed to this plan. He needed an heir. I desperately wanted a baby. If we couldn't make one together, this was our only remaining option.
Rh incompatibility.
How was it possible that something as simple as blood type could really be the cause of the three miscarriages I'd suffered? I was O negative, Draco was B positive. We didn't match, and every child we'd conceived together had died because my immune system was strong, overly sensitive, and fought back with antibodies against my pregnancies.
My blood killed our babies.
My blood.
We'd tried every wizarding and Muggle treatment known – fertility potions, IVF, RhoGAM shots. Three miscarriages later, and we knew it wasn't going to happen for us.
In desperation, the offer of surrogacy had been made by Ginny, and for a few days, Draco and I seriously considered taking her up on it. However, we both knew that my best girl friend had had a very difficult pregnancy with Albus Severus years earlier which had caused her to be bedridden for three months after his birth. The healer had been clear then that she wasn't to get pregnant ever again, as her kidneys had been taxed too heavily. I didn't want to risk her health, and after discussing it, neither did Draco. My mother offered, as did Molly Weasley and Narcissa, but the age issues of all three women – by then well into their late fifties and early sixties – were a definite factor in turning those offers down, as we didn't want to jeopardize their lives.
A year ago, we'd turned to a wizarding agency to help us find a potential surrogate, then a Muggle one. In both cases, the several attempts we'd made in getting a contract in place had ended in failure – the women had all bowed out for one reason or another. After having our hopes continually raised only to be dashed at the last moment by fickle females, we'd decided that surrogacy was off the table three months ago. Neither of us could take the stress.
And honestly, the idea of another woman carrying our child within her body and delivering it into the world was too difficult for me to bear anyway. It may have been selfish, but I wanted to experience motherhood in all its glory, from start to finish. I wanted the vomiting, the nausea, the swollen ankles, the cravings, the migraine headaches, the constant need to urinate, the mood swings, the weird sexual drives, the kicks to my ribs, the tender and swollen breasts, and the ever-expanding waist line. I even wanted the agony of labour and all it entailed. I wanted such things more than was sane.
Of course, at thirty-five, I knew that was just my biological clock talking, but the craving was there nonetheless, lingering under the surface. It wouldn't be denied. It fed upon my woman's ego – the basic nature that is female and nurturing, and desires above all else unconditional love. I wanted to get pregnant more than I wanted to breathe some days.
I'd been so hopeless of it ever happening, but then Draco had come forward with this mad idea of finding an outside, compatible wizard three months ago, and I'd been so desperate that I'd agreed. Thank Merlin, Circe and Morgana that we'd hit the lottery on the first candidate of his choosing.
Tonight, we had our chance. I was ovulating, and both my potential partner and I had been poked, prodded, and magic-spelled to death in advance of this night to assure we would be completely compatible. All I needed to do was Apparate over to the other wizard's ancestral Manor House, lie down in his bed, and let him fuck me and fuck me and fuck me until I was filled with his life-giving sperm. An Aphrodisiac Charm coupled with the fertility potion I'd take as soon as I arrived would assure I'd come right along with him and end up impregnated by morning. It was practically guaranteed.
I closed my eyes, willed the rising panic attack away. The bitter, hot swell of liquid behind my lids was hard to contain. I'd cried so much already over this issue. How was it possible to still have tears?
To my surprise, Narcissa's arms enveloped me. We'd never been particularly close. A tentative acceptance had come over the last eight years on her part as it became clear that Draco and I were in love to stay, but I'd never felt full approval from the woman and my blood status was the reason. Now, she was comforting me, and it was enough to shatter my fragile hold on my emotions. I bent my head to her shoulder and sobbed. "I don't want to do this! I'm betraying him!"
"You have both agreed, so there is no infidelity," the Lady Malfoy murmured into my ear in soothing tones. "Draco loves you, and it has become clear to me through all of this, that you truly love him. Forgiveness will come with the good news that the pregnancy has taken hold, and this night will be but a memory."
I shook my head. "It feels wrong. Letting someone else touch me - the idea makes me sick."
Narcissa held me until my sobs quieted long minutes later. When the storm passed, the older woman leaned back. "Call Draco to you, then. Have him be with you this night."
My heart skipped several beats. "You want me to have him watch as another man... No, that's asking too much."
Eyes the colour of the sky at midday assessed me for a moment before a resolution came over Narcissa's features. "I will tell you something I have never divulged to another. This is a secret between women, and not to be shared. You understand?"
My senses reeled at the enormity of my mother-in-law's willingness to share anything of her life with me, much less a deep, dark secret. I nodded, accepting the olive branch she'd just extended. "I promise."
That seemed the right declaration, for Narcissa sat back, letting me go and placed her hands into a serene folded position across her lap – a sign of her trust. "Draco was a miracle child. I don't mean that in the same sense as all mothers feel for their children, but in the implication of a cosmic intervention. Technically, I should never have conceived. The intermarrying of both the Black and Malfoy families to each other has created issues of fertility in recent generations. Lucius is an only child, and there were no sons born to my parents because of the interbreeding. Draco is the only pureblood male of my direct family line to have been born since his cousin, Regulus. I was told by the healers after his birth that I had been very lucky to conceive and carry our son to term at all. The likelihood of giving him siblings with Lucius as the father was close to zero percent."
The woman paused, shifted her weight slightly, and wet her lips. She was clearly nervous about divulging the next part. I waited, silent and focused, feeling my guts twist up with the anticipation.
"Lucius was determined to have more children, however," she continued. "We tried for two years, to no avail. It almost ended our marriage – he wanted to set me aside for a witch just out of school and six years my junior, mistakenly believing fertility had to do with youth. In desperation, I sought... outside assistance... from a Muggle who bore a striking resemblance to my husband."
Her lips tightened up into a thin line, but she said no more.
"Oh," was all I could think to say, dumbfounded that my husband's mother had just taken one hell of a skeleton out of her closet. Confessing she'd been unfaithful was one thing, but to have been so with someone she'd always considered less than the dirt beneath her shoes... Wow.
"Yes," Narcissa confirmed. "When I became pregnant, my heart was eased of its guilt by the thought of another child to give to my husband."
But Draco had no siblings, at least as far as I knew.
"What happened to the child?"
The lines about Narcissa's eyes and mouth tightened, deepened. "She was born, but died at the age of three from a swelling of the brain and fever. I'd taken her through Muggle London to get into Diagon Alley around that time, not knowing there was illness in the air."
"Oh, I'm so very sorry, Narcissa," I offered, my sympathy going out to this woman whom I'd known to be brave before, during the war in the aid of Harry, but never to carry such a heavy sorrow. It made me see her in a different light.
My mother-in-law nodded her head in thanks for the condolences. "The point of my divulgence was this: I was unfaithful to my husband and there was tremendous guilt, yes, but seeing the love on his face when he held his daughter for the short time we were gifted with her allowed me to eventually forgive my disgrace. In your case, however, there will be no concealment or lie to blacken your good soul. Draco has been given full disclosure, and you have both agreed to this arrangement. He will never despise you for going to another man, because he loves you enough to want to give you the dream of motherhood that you desire. And he will love your child and accept it as his own, because it will allow him the dream of fatherhood that he so desperately wishes for as well." Her hand reached out and gave mine a warm squeeze. "If it continues to bother you so, call him to you tonight. It will most likely make the situation easier on you both with him there."
"But, what if he gets me pregnant instead?" I asked, fear encasing my heart. "We'd miscarry again."
Narcissa took her hand back and reached to pour the tea into our cups. "There are spells that can make his seed temporarily impotent." At my startled gaze, an eloquent smirk twitched at the corner of her perfect lips. "Witches have been protecting themselves from unwanted pregnancies for millennia, my dear. Why do you think we have so few bastards running amok amongst the pureblood families, despite all of the scandalous infidelity?"
"I know of a Contraceptive Charm for a woman, but a man? I've never heard of such a thing," I admitted. Really, since when would I ever read a book on spells to give a man a provisional vasectomy?
"I'll teach it to you," Narcissa offered, dropping two sugars into her tea and one into mine – just as I liked. "Get your wand, dear. We haven't much time."
TO BE CONTINUED...
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
So, what do you think of the set-up? Please review and let me know!