Authos Note: Thanks to Rori Potter, ilovebooks12345678910, .3 and daithi4377 for the reviews. As well as everyone for facing or following this story so far. thanks to all of you for the support.

Baby on board

Chapter four

The next few weeks Draco writes his mother a lot and plans the wedding, which is set for the 24th of December just so Harry can wake up with his husband for the first time on Christmas. Draco truly hopes that he really will be happy with him. However, even though Harry asked not to be involved, Draco nearly constantly asks him for his opinion and to sign the permission for Narcissa to take the necessary gold from Harry's Vault. Harry always tells Draco that he can do that himself but Draco refuses to do so without checking it with Harry since it's his money and he is still worried that Harry might eventually resent him otherwise.

By the start of December Harry had noticed something else than just Draco's reluctance to use Harry's money without asking him. He noticed how Draco sometimes looked longingly to some of his Slytherin classmates. Especially Zabini.

One day, shortly after Harry noticed it, Harry once again was with Dumbledore to learn more about Voldemort when he gets an opportunity to do something about Draco and his longing looks towards the Slytherins. On his way back to Draco's rooms, Harry runs right into the precise person he needed to talk to, Zabini. "Hello, Zabini," Harry says seeing him alone for the first time since he noticed Draco's longing.

"What do you want, Potter?" Zabini sneers nearly as much as Draco used to.

Harry just smiles a little saying, "I wanted to let you know, that when Dumbledore informs the school when the wedding is and that everyone is invited, that it does include Slytherin house. And I wanted to ask you why all you purebloods, who think being of pure blood is all that, bow to a half-blood who had a muggle father like Voldemort."

"The Dark Lord?" Zabini asks. "You dare to claim that he had a muggle father?"

Harry shrugs and explains, "I dare because it's true. After all, I saw him use the bone of his father Tom Riddle and that was a muggle. He lived in that grand house that was close to the graveyard where he is buried and where Voldemort came back."

Zabini just frowns for a moment but then sighs, "What does it matter, it's not like we have a choice."

"You always have a choice," Harry replies. "After all, Draco changed sides. He escaped getting tortured by Voldemort on a whim. You have no idea what that man can do, what he does even to his followers. He might kill them due to a mood swing. He has no regret for taking human life, and his followers are just easily replaceable tools to him. He values them than most of you would value a house-elf. Think about it Zabini and let others know. I'm sure Draco would love to see his friends."

"Slytherins don't have friends, Potter." Zabini starts to say.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Harry waves him off, "You have acquaintances, or so Draco keeps saying. But no matter what you might call it, we are all human beings and you all care for others at least to some degree just like I do. For some more than for others but still, we all do care for others. I can't imagine that the whole lot of you hate Draco now on principle. I guess you are upset that he left you behind and maybe even feel betrayed by him. But please, try and see it from his point. Why do you think he didn't switch sides sooner? We were dating for some time before we got engaged. Zabini, he's pregnant with my child! And even if he cares for everyone down in the dungeons, some down there might hurt him and his baby to hurt me just to gain favours with good old snake face. Maybe not even knowing that even if they do get a pat on the back now if they do succeed, he might still torture or even kill them the next day if he feels like it. The Dark Lord really is dangerous and it doesn't matter on what side you are because he's also unpredictable in his wrath."

"How would you know what he's like to his most loyal?" Zabini frowns.

Harry just shrugs, "I know him. I learned about him. I saw what he did to those who came when he returned the day he ordered Cedric's death. Trust me, I do know more about him than most oh you and there is a reason why his followers fear him as much as his enemies do. Just think about it, Zabini. Draco cares about you, I don't want to see him hurt after you were wounded or worse, killed! Remember, Dumbledore can protect you."

"And imprison us like he probably did with Draco." Zabini sneers, "Draco was ordered to kill the man, I doubt his new room is all that. The only reason he wasn't shipped to Azkaban by now is the brat he's got in the oven."

"Dumbledore isn't like Voldemort. Draco's accommodations are more than decent." Harry grins, "It's the bath that really is something though. Trust me, he won't need the prefect's bath anymore. And I for one, love to join him. Oh, Dumbledore also made Draco his heir since Lucius probably will denounce him. Anyway, Draco is probably waiting for me, see you around. And please, do think about it, no one will ship you or anyone willing to fight for what's right to Azkaban or such rubbish. Even if you don't want to fight. As long as you don't fight for him Dumbledore will protect you."

A few more days pass and while the wedding is getting closer and closer, Harry notices that some Slytherins look less hostile towards Draco and more thoughtful and he really hopes that at least some will change their minds. The attempts to trip Draco also decrease noticeably. A few days before the wedding Blaize addresses Potter saying, "Since you talked to me, tell Draco that those are from Pansy as a peace offering, she wanted me to pretend that they are from me, fearing he would throw them out if they are from her." Blaize looks a little worried before adding, "And stress the point that they are from Pansy.

Wondering what it was about Harry does as told but also tells Draco how odd Blaize was acting and that they probably should ask Snape to have a look at those sweets before Draco eats them.

"Not necessary," Draco replies throwing them into the nearest bin. "I know Pansy and Blaize enough to know that I definitely won't eat them. I'm just surprised that he warned me."

"He is your friend." Harry shrugs. "He might not be ready to switch sides for you, but he doesn't want to see you poisoned."

"Pansy wouldn't poison me," Draco says making a disgusted face. "But she would try to give me a love potion."

"Maybe we should let her know that you couldn't stomach chocolates at the moment because of the morning sickness and that you gave them to someone else like Ron." Harry grins.

Draco starts laughing before he says. "I really should give them to someone else. Maybe to Hagrid! Imagine her face when Hagrid declares his undying love to her?"

Both boys start to laugh. "I would love to see that. But I couldn't do that to him. But we could see if one of the Gryffindor guys feels like pranking her."

"Ask Dean," Draco replies. "He'll probably go for it and since he is a muggle-born, Pansy would hate it."

"We could even take the box down to breakfast and let her see them share the chocolates. We'd just have to replace them first." Harry laughs.

Draco grins but then sighs saying, "It sounds funny. But it would just get people in trouble and I really don't want any more of that. Let's just forget about those."

"But it might stop her from trying again." Harry hopes.

"I doubt it." Draco replies, "She's too stupid to learn. And anyway, if we do that people will find out that it was only pretended, and your friends would only get in trouble. She's not worth that.

"If you say so." Harry sighs.

"I also have a question." Draco says sounding reluctant and worried, "It's about the wedding."

"Whatever you want." Harry just says, "You know that."

"No, Harry, that is not good enough for everything," Draco replies suddenly upset. "I can't decide everything alone. There are just some things you need to decide with me no matter how much this wedding seems to annoy you."

"Annoy me?" Harry asks surprised, "I thought I told you, I might not care how we get married, but I want to be married to you. I just really suck with colour patterns or flower arrangements and the other stuff that you planned so far. I would just ruin it."

"Yeah and that's fine with artistic details." Draco grumbles, "But don't you think that some things deserve your consideration? Like what kind of bonding we'll use? Or how a magical wedding even works? Or did you actually bother to read that up?"

"I thought it's like a muggle one." Harry shrugs.

"You are a moron!" Draco points out. "You do realise that if you let me do whatever, I could bind your soul to mine? Making it impossible for a magical wedding with anyone that doesn't have my soul in any of your future life's? You'd be stuck with me for eternity. Or worse, I'll bind you in a way that will kill you if you as much as kiss someone else!"

"Would that be dangerous for you too?" Harry asks suddenly sounding worried.

"Only if I did anything inappropriate with others." Draco waves him off.

"Then that one is out of the question but I'm still fine with anything else." Harry shrugs.

Draco glares at him for a moment before he insists, "You will sit down there and listen to all the possible bonding rituals, and then tell me which ones will be acceptable, or I swear to god I'm back to Plan B!"

"I'm sitting." Harry replies quickly and sits down at the table folding his hands in front of himself before he looks innocently towards Draco, "I'm all ears, explain away."

Draco still glowers before he takes a deep breath to calm himself and sits down opposite of Harry, far enough to ensure that the other boy can't easily distract him with a kiss. "There is the option to make it like a muggle wedding and lots of half-bloods marry like that nowadays. But there are still old ritual bindings that are done in most pureblood families, especially where an arranged marriage is involved but also some that are just particularly in love and want to show it by one of the rituals that are more permanent. There are two non-permanent rituals that can be broken more or less easily. One of those doesn't do much apart from letting us sense slightly when the other is about to cheat while the other actually stops your hormones from working with anyone else, meaning you won't be able to feel a physical attraction and in the case of a male, which we both are, it also ensures that you won't get erect for anyone but your bond mate, in this case, me!"

"Doesn't sound too bad." Harry just shrugs not sure why he has to decide this but still remembers what Draco said about one option being dangerous.

"There are more binding ones that can't be broken at all. We'll be magically bound for the rest of our life. One of those won't do anything else, just that we can never marry anyone else in this life because we'll be married to each other even if we move to the other side of the planet." Draco grumbles, "Another one works like the breakable one I just mentioned, the one that stops you from reacting to others in any way. And again, it would be for the rest of your life. Meaning that if you start hating me, you'll be impotent." Draco watches Harry and is rather surprised how cool he seems to be with that information.

"That doesn't sound dangerous though," Harry replies after a moment of silence.

"I was getting there." Draco grumbles, "Because another binding one will stop the heart of the partner that cheats."

"Even if he didn't mean to?" Harry asks frowning, "I mean if one was being raped. Or if someone just kissed you without asking and surprised you"

"That wouldn't count." Draco waves him off, "Magic does notice if you are willing or fighting it so it's not considered cheating, but if you were forced to let it happen, as in threatened to protect someone, it would be considered cheating."

"Then that one is out." Harry replies, "The others so far are fine. What was that about other life's though?"

Draco frowns. "That's the so-called everlasting one. It's just one that works that way and in history was used twice for real and a few times for remarriage after being reborn again."

"How did they know that they were reborn?" Harry asks curiously.

"Because during the ritual you'll see sparks. Gold ones are proven to appear during the first-time binding of a couple. Otherwise, they are silver. Which became obvious when people who couldn't marry someone else before did that one. A muggle one would work in theory. But it only happened once that someone was attempting to marry someone else first and she hadn't met her soul bounded partner at the time and they tried a non-binding ritual wedding instead of a muggle one. It is reported that those that do share a should bond by that wedding will always be born reasonably close to each other, at least close enough to have a chance of meeting and that both partners feel a draw to the other that borders on obsession which will get stronger with age."

Harry listens closely and frowns thoughtfully. He remembers how Hermione used to tell him that he was obsessed with Draco and how strange he himself had found it that he wanted to help Draco so much all of a sudden, that the thought of him dying was that unbearable. And how many kids had he seen that first day in Diagon alley, and yet, Draco is the only one he thought about for days after. He was after all the only one he really noticed and there must have been a few others. Granted, he was the only one he had a chance to talk to, but still, he was thinking of him a lot from the very first day. And hearing what Voldemort had done to Draco had made him so very angry because it felt like Draco was his. Now Harry wonders if it's possible at all that Draco and he are one of those two couples that did such a binding in a former life. He decides to read up about it some more, mostly out of curiosity.

"Now which one of those would you prefer?" Draco asks. "I guessed a muggle one but I wanted to check with you, this is something we should decide together after all."

Harry is thoughtful for a moment before he sighs "I'm not really sure, I just don't want one where you could get hurt. Apart from that, I'm not sure."

Draco raises an eyebrow but smiles a little. He had started to research about marriage bonds when he first met Harry. He had noticed that the way he loved Harry at first glance at a young age fits how people who had an eternal bond felt. Hadn't he known that Harry doesn't love him he would have been sure they were one of those two sets of souls bound for eternity! However, the last few months since Harry is helping him, Draco begins to wonder about it again. Was the animosity between their sides in this war and the house rivalry the only reasons Harry hadn't fallen for him before? Harry looks like a lovesick teen more often than not nowadays. Either he's one hell of an actor, even when they are alone, or Harry might really love him. He had gotten way overprotective ever since he knew what had happened to him. He even had acted a bit jealous when talking about their previous sexual experiences.

He smiles at Harry, for the first time really hopeful that Harry might yet fall for him. Or maybe already did and just doesn't know about it because of what he had overheard when Harry had talked to his friends about them. Something about his summers and people called the Dursleys. Apparently he wasn't too close to his family. The way Harry had said that he wants for his child what he never had, a loving home, was only confirming it. If he grew up without being loved, maybe he just doesn't know enough about it to know what he feels yet. However, even if it's true, the kind of bond can be changed or rather added up over the years by renewing the vows with a different bond. "We should do a normal muggle wedding."

Harry looks surprised. "I thought that usually isn't done by purebloods like you!"

"But by muggle raised half-bloods. It will be expected that you'd want it." Draco replies "And if Voldemort notices how much you'd do for me and our child he'll be after us even more, to hurt you. And anyway, we are barely dating, maybe we should have a muggle wedding that is easy to end for now and if things do work out, we can renew our marriage with a different bonding once this whole Voldemort mess is over and done with. It would give you even more time to think about what bond you want and us some time to get to know each other better."

Harry frowns but sighs. "I think you have a point. It's dangerous enough to marry me and carry my child. Maybe I shouldn't have done it."

"Trying to kill myself is probably just as dangerous as having Voldemort out for my blood." Draco grins. "I'm not even as high on his hit list as you are!"

Harry sighs. "Guess you're right."

"Don't worry." Draco grins "If you really want a different bonding after this war or a divorce, you just need to say it."

"The only question I still have is," Harry grins "Why did I have to listen to all this if you think the muggle way, which I thought was the only choice I had, is the best choice anyway? You know I could have spent my time better."

"Like how?" Draco growls.

"Like try and seduce my wonderful fiancé?" Harry replies grinning and stands up to walk closer to him.

"I just want you to at least know the options," Draco explains before he lets himself be seduced.