~ The Great Hall ~
Harry was annoyed. Very annoyed in fact. It seemed that Draco was determined to coddle him throughout this entire pregnancy and Harry felt like he was going to go insane from just four months of the treatment. Just how on earth was he supposed to survive five more months of this??
There was only one thing for it, Harry decided. He would have to play dirty.
"Daniel," Harry said, smiling at his son who was once again sitting on Draco's lap. "You want to come and sit with your Daddy, don't you? I've got a chocolate frog here for you."
Daniel's small arms reached out instantly for the treat. "Frog-frog-frog-frog."
"Oh no, you don't," Draco said smoothly, plucking the small box from Harry and handing it to Daniel.
"Hey!" Harry protested. "Stop being such a…"
Draco raised an eyebrow and Harry cursed him mentally, since he couldn't bring himself to swear in front of their son.
"He's two and a half, Harry," Draco said gently. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we can take the risk. What if he kicks your stomach by accident and you lose the baby?"
Harry sighed, his expression softening as he saw how worried Draco really was. It was touching, he supposed, that Draco cared so much about him and their children. Harry glanced over at Hermione and grinned victoriously.
"Look over there," he instructed Draco. The blonde man turned around, somewhat reluctantly. There, sitting two seats away was Hermione, eight months pregnant, calmly holding Isabella while she ate her breakfast and chatted to Ron and Ginny.
"Fine," Draco said, sounding defeated. He handed Daniel over to Harry, who cuddled the little boy close.
"Thank you," Harry said, smiling at his husband.
"Grandpa give me frog too," Daniel said, smearing chocolate over his face as he tried to fit the whole frog in his mouth at once. But the frog was having none of that. It had braced its four legs around Daniel's mouth and was fighting back as hard as it could. Unfortunately for the frog, its legs were melting from Daniel's body heat causing chocolate to dribble down his chin. He held up two messy fingers. "Two frogs for Daniel!"
"Two chocolate frogs for breakfast," Draco said with a groan. "Albus spoils him and I can see you're going to be the same."
"That reminds me," Harry said thoughtfully. "Why does Daniel call Albus Grandpa? I meant to ask you that after the Peeves Incident, but I fell asleep."
"Albus insisted on it," Draco said, smiling fondly. "Since both our fathers are dead and Daniel doesn't have a grandfather, Albus took it upon himself to fill that void. We'd better get Daniel to the pre-school so we can go and see Poppy about that scan."
~ The Hospital Wing ~
"Alright, Harry. Just lay still and pull up your shirt so I can rub some of this potion on your tummy," Poppy said, her authoritative voice soothing Harry. It comforted him to know that at least one of them knew what they were doing.
He pulled up his shirt and gasped as the cool potion made contact with his skin. He glanced down, still startled to see a slight bulge down there. It wasn't much, and most people wouldn't notice, but Harry did. Sometimes it bothered him. He'd lost most of his muscle down there and now he was only going to get fatter and fatter. Oh, he knew that it was the baby, but that didn't stop an irrational part of him that wailed every time it saw his growing stomach.
Poppy picked up the camera and pointed it at Harry's stomach. She snapped off a few pictures.
"I'll go and develop these right away," Poppy said cheerfully as she left them alone.
Harry watched as Draco reached for some paper towel and gently wiped the sticky potion from his stomach. I am so lucky to have him, Harry thought, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. He really is a wonderful husband.
"Thank you," Harry said softly, when Draco had finished and was pulling down his shirt.
"You're welcome," Draco replied, leaning over to kiss him quickly.
"It's a girl," Poppy declared as she entered the room, waving a picture at them.
Harry burst into tears.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Draco asked, sounding distressed. Neither of them noticed Poppy leaving the room.
"I'm just so happy," Harry managed to say through his tears. He reached out for the photo Poppy was holding out to him and stared at it in wonder. "She's just so perfect."
Harry felt overwhelmed as he stared down at the small colour photograph of their daughter. This was his child, his little girl and she was inside him just waiting to be born. He felt the most overpowering protective feeling flow through him, it was the same feeling he had when he thought of Daniel in danger. He would do anything to keep his children safe.
*
"She is perfect," Draco agreed, as he leaned over and wiped away the tears. He felt the anxiety that had instantly sprung up the moment Harry's tears had appeared begin to recede. "What shall we call her?"
"Not Lily," Harry said instantly.
"No, not Lily," Draco said softly. "And if Sirius says anything, we'll just say it was my idea again."
"Actually, there is a name I've always liked…" Harry said hesitantly.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Draco asked as he moved to lie on the small hospital bed next to Harry. He wrapped his pregnant husband in his arms and kissed his temple.
"It's actually a boy's name, but I like it for a girl," Harry said. "Jeremy."
Draco closed his eyes and pictured their little girl. Dark hair and silver eyes just like her brother. He imagined calling her Jeremy and was surprised to find that it didn't seem as weird as he'd thought it might.
"Jeremy Potter," Harry said wonderingly. "What do you think?"
"It's…different," Draco said, still testing the name out in his own mind. He compared it to other names he favoured but found them all lacking. Jeremy was different and that made it perfect for their child. It fit.
"I like it," Draco declared at last. "Jeremy Potter. Daniel and Jeremy. Perfect."
Draco slid his hand up under Harry's shirt and gently caressed the small bump there. "Hiya Jeremy. I'm your Dad."
The two men froze as they each felt a tiny flutter of movement beneath Draco's hand.
"Did you feel that?" Harry whispered, as if speaking loudly might frighten her.
"Yes," Draco whispered back excitedly. "She knows who I am!"
"Jeremy," Draco said, then stopped as he realised that he didn't know what to say to his unborn daughter. It turned out that he didn't need to say more; just the sound of his voice saying her name was enough to cause the child to move against his hand again.
Draco beamed at Harry, who chuckled at his child-like glee.
"You have no idea how much this means to me, that you would do this for me," Draco said ardently. He reached up and allowed his fingers to trail over Harry's face before kissing him fervently. Harry returned the kiss just as enthusiastically. They had both been delighted to discover that Harry's sex drive had increased with the additional hormones in his body. These days, it didn't take much to turn him on, as evidenced by the erection currently digging into Draco's thigh.
"Let's get out of here," Harry said against Draco's lips before plunging his tongue inside the Slytherin's mouth.
Draco murmured something intelligible and they scrambled off the bed and hurried back to their rooms, just barely remembering to grab the photo of their daughter off the bedside table.
TBC