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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Lucius and Narcissa became so jittery as the birth approached that anyone would have thought the baby was their son or daughter, not their grandchild.
During the last two weeks of Harriet's pregnancy, Draco had left the office to stay by her side under the guise of a supposed family crisis for which he needed to be present.
Despite the fact that they remained unmarried, he had Harriet and their baby on his mind far more than any qualms about social formalities.
His parents were clearly displeased that the couple had failed to marry.
Although Draco was not terribly thrilled that his son or daughter would enter the world without his last name, as the reality of the baby's impending arrival pressed upon him, his main concern became safety, not honour.
Harriet barely had a reprieve as she laid in her nest and waited for her labour to begin.
Draco sat or laid beside her every second of every day.
Visits to the lavatory were the only times she escaped his sight and even then, to her annoyance, she noticed that he lurked close by the door.
His hands were on her belly more than her own.
To Harriet's dismay, Narcissa often accompanied her son.
Draco was on one side and her future mother-in-law on the other as Harriet tried to lay in her nest and rest.
Outside of her bedroom door, Harriet often heard Lucius inquiring about her health and the baby's.
She turned over in bed one morning with a sigh as she pressed her face into her pillow and struggled to go back to sleep.
The furious movement that came from her heavy womb halted her plans as she laid a hand on her side and drew in a deep breath.
"Love?" A groggy voice asked, "...Are you alright?"
Harriet squinted her eyes shut at the sound.
Oh no!
She had woken Draco!
If she couldn't go back to sleep, then she had hoped for a moment of undisturbed, unworried peace!
"Yes, I'm fine." She whispered, "Just trying to rest a bit longer, go back to sleep, Draco."
"You're holding your belly." He quickly determined as he slipped his hand under the covers and placed it over hers, "Are you feeling any pain, love?"
"No." Harriet lied as their son or daughter used her organs as toys, "...I am very sleepy, though. Please, Draco, let me rest."
He said nothing in return as he slipped his hand off of Harriet and allowed her the still silence that would usher her back into a deep sleep, but that only irritated her more.
She knew that she had inadvertently placed her alpha on high alert.
Uninterested in returning to sleep as he feared his mate's time of need may begin while he dozed, Draco propped himself up on one elbow and stared down at Harriet in loving vigilance.
As she laid there and felt the possibility of rest slipping away, Harriet sighed to herself.
She couldn't wait to give birth.
Between Draco, his parents, and the Malfoy family house elves, Harriet knew she would have ten times the usual amount of assistance with her new baby that most first time mothers received.
Perhaps then, with the attention focused on her little one, everyone would leave her alone.
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A large, public wedding had been ruled out for the time being.
Together, the Malfoy family had decided the best way to legitimize the birth would be for the couple to marry in secret, then announce their love for one another at a later date, citing their own rights to privacy as a reason why their relationship had been kept from the public eye.
Lucius and Narcissa held their breath that no one would question the date of their grandchild's arrival to the closeness of Harriet's hasty divorce less than a year earlier.
Harriet had reluctantly agreed to their plan.
She would gladly marry Draco, although he had never officially proposed.
She attempted to focus on her love for her alpha and on the joy of the pregnancy she had spent years longing to experience.
"Enjoy" was a relative word during the final days before the birth.
Harriet's back ached and her feet swelled.
Rest, sleep, and comfort became the things she craved most besides food, yet they remained elusive as she struggled with her changing body and the energetic life inside it.
Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco were left to make the secret wedding preparations, in most of which Harriet could see little point.
If the wedding would be private, then what was there to prepare?
She viewed the dress, the flowers, and the cake they all insisted on as largely unnecessary, yet Draco questioned her about all of those little details while they cuddled everyday and waited on the midwife to come to the manor for her frequent check-ups.
He could scarcely believe how much his lover had blossomed as Harriet sat in her nest during one such appointment and sighed as the midwife gently passed her hands over her full womb.
"She has a rash on her ankles that's come up this morning." Draco nodded at the midwife as he glanced towards Harriet's legs, "Can you take a look at that?"
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy." The midwife smiled. She beamed at Harriet as she removed her hands from her belly and nodded, "Everything appears to be going well, though!"
"What about the rash?" Draco asked worriedly as Harriet slipped her hand into his.
The midwife moved down and furrowed her brow as she examined the splotchy, red rash that covered both of Harriet's ankles.
Harriet and Draco watched as the healthcare worker passed her wand over the irritated patches of skin before she smiled and asked Harriet, "Does it itch, Miss Potter?"
"A little, not much." Harriet shrugged.
"I noticed it this morning." Draco proudly quipped.
"If he hadn't mentioned it, I probably wouldn't have known it was there." Harriet shrugged.
"It's of no great consequence." The midwife reassured the expectant couple as she pocketed her wand, "...It only means the baby is on its way."
Draco's grey eyes nearly bulged out of his head as his face paled in shock while he exclaimed, "...ON ITS WAY?!?!"
Harriet did not outwardly show her concern, although her heart did lurch in anxious anticipation at the midwife's words.
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." The midwife frowned as she glanced from Draco to Harriet, "Active labour doesn't appear to have begun yet, but rashes of this kind are common in expectant mothers. They're usually an indication that the birthing process will begin in the next day or two."
Draco let out a weighty sigh as he turned to Harriet and clutched her hands in his as he frowned at her in utmost sympathy.
"It's alright, Draco." Harriet chided, "I have to give birth eventually. What did you think was going to happen?"
"But….But….We're to be married tomorrow!" Draco snapped before he could stop himself.
"In the morning." Harriet frowned. She glanced over at the midwife as she asked, "Do you think I'll make it until morning?"
"Based on what I've seen during my exam today, my dear," The midwife nodded as she went on, "I dare say you may have another three days until you're holding your little one. There hasn't been any spotting or discharge at all?"
"No." Harriet said as she shook her head quickly, "None."
"Excellent." The midwife nodded, "Another two days then, three at most."
"Brilliant!" Harriet said as she flashed Draco a smile while she nodded at the midwife, "That's a bit of reassurance."
As the midwife nodded back and chatted with Harriet, the colour did not return to Draco's pale face.
The midwife and Harriet had both failed to calm him at all.
He could sense it….
He could smell it if he focused hard enough on that lingering, sweet scent that drifted through the air.
His mate was nearly ready to birth their child.
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Despite the lie she had tried to convince herself of, Harriet knew something was off as soon as she opened her eyes the next morning.
Draco woke shortly afterwards to find his bride-to-be pacing the floor with one hand on her belly.
"Harriet?" He asked as he forced his eyes open. He hurriedly sat up in bed and stared at her as if she were some sort of unspeakable horror as he demanded, "HARRIET?!?!"
"I'm fine, Draco." Harriet snapped as she threw him a glare of annoyance, "I have an ache in my back, that's all. There's no need to shout."
"Should we call it off today? Just in case?" Draco asked as he rose from the bed and hurried over to Harriet.
She let out a breath as he supportively held her up while he rubbed gentle circles into her tense lower back.
"No……" Harriet sighed as she let a hand rest on the underside of her belly, "We should get on with it and become husband and wife……Then we can have that behind us."
As Harriet let her head rest on his chest, Draco frowned and increased the pressure his fingers put on her aching back.
Harriet was too uncomfortable to notice that his frown didn't vanish from his face.
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A short while later, Harriet stood with Draco in Malfoy Manor's parlor as Lucius and Narcissa watched while the officiant prepared to close their wedding ceremony.
Draco frowned at his bride in dreadful worry, but Harriet grit her teeth and listened to the officiant speak the last words.
Hard cramps of agonizing pain had started in her belly just after Narcissa had helped her into her wedding gown.
Long and lacey, with a plunging neckline that revealed a tantalizing hint of Harriet's creamy cleavage, she silently lamented the fact that she wouldn't be able to let Draco admire her dress the way she had hoped.
Harriet could barely think.
As she stood and held onto Draco's hands for dear life, all she could do was hurt.
"Under Ministry law, with these vows spoken today, I declare you both Mr. and Mrs. Draco Lucius Malfoy!" The officiant proudly proclaimed to the newlyweds.
Draco smiled brightly, but Harriet sucked in a breath as a pain unlike any other slammed into her midsection.
The officiant looked at Draco as he said, "Mr. Malfoy, you may now kiss your-"
"NNNNNGGGHHH!"
Draco, the officiant, Lucius, and Narcissa all watched in terrified disbelief as Harriet hunched forward to curl around her swollen belly as a primal groan left her lips.
Lucius's mouth fell open.
Narcissa stepped forward, but Harriet continued to groan through her pain as Draco took her into his arms and called out, "Mother! Father! Please!...Call the midwife! It's time!"