~ Dungeon ~
"Push, Harry," Poppy said encouragingly. "Not long to go now. You can do it. Push."
Harry pressed himself back against Draco, who was sitting right behind him and was propping him up so he could push their daughter out. He gripped Draco's hands as tightly as he could as he pushed with everything in him.
"Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck," Harry chanted through gritted teeth, sounding like an obscene version of their son. Blessedly, the contraction passed and Harry sank back against Draco, feeling utterly exhausted. How much longer would she take to be born?
Draco was silent behind him and Harry was grateful for that. For the past hour, just the sound of Draco's voice had grated on his nerves to the point that he had snapped, telling the blonde man that if he dared to utter another sound, he would hex Draco's balls off in a most painful fashion. He would accept Draco's silent support during this time but he didn't have to be happy about it.
Another contraction ripped through Harry's body. They were coming so closely together now that he barely had time to catch his breath between them. He again squeezed Draco's hands with all his strength as he pushed and pushed, making hideous noises as he did so.
"I can see the head," Poppy said, from her position kneeling between Harry's splayed legs. The labour had progressed far quicker than any of them had anticipated. From the moment of the first contraction, to the present time, only an hour and a half had passed. Hermione was hovering behind her, ready with blankets and potions for when the baby arrived, and looked faintly jealous.
Good, Harry thought maliciously, as he gathered up his strength and pushed again.
"That's it, Harry. Not long to go now," Poppy said, her hands in places Harry didn't want to think about.
Harry was totally focused on the task at hand. He'd stopped yelling at Draco, forcing himself to put their issues aside and concentrate on giving birth to their daughter. He pushed as hard as he could and this time, there was a squelching sound with a soft 'pop' and Poppy announced that the head was out. After that, with Poppy guiding her shoulders out, it was only a matter of minutes before the rest of her came sliding out of Harry.
An indignant wail filled the room and everyone let out a sigh of relief that the little girl appeared to be fine, if a little on the small side.
Harry felt relief wash over him as he stared at the tiny baby held in Poppy's hands.
"Would you like to hold her?" she asked Harry a little tearfully. It seemed that no one in the room was immune to watching the miracle of birth.
Harry nodded and reached out as Poppy gently placed Jeremy on Harry's chest. Harry smiled gently as he held Jeremy with one arm and gently traced her face with a trembling finger. The little girl stared up at him with big blue eyes, which Harry knew, from experience with their friends' babies, would probably change colour in a few days. She was currently bald and sticky and had blood and other substances on her body, but to Harry she was the most beautiful child ever born.
"Hello, Jeremy, my gorgeous baby girl," Harry murmured, smiling down at her. He could feel Draco peering over his shoulder at their daughter but he wasn't done ignoring the blonde yet. Jeremy merely blinked up at him and yawned. Harry pressed an oh-so soft kiss to her forehead, uncaring of the stickiness.
"Harry, we have a nice warm bath ready for her, if you don't mind handing her over to Hermione. Then we can deal with this mess down here," Poppy said, gesturing to Harry's nether regions.
Harry reluctantly allowed Hermione to take the baby but he didn't take his eyes off her and his precious child as she gently bathed Jeremy and cast a spell to remove the umbilical cord. Poppy was speaking to Draco, who was replying cautiously, obviously unsure of whether Harry would get mad at him again for talking.
"I just don't understand where all the blood came from," Poppy was saying, sounding perplexed.
"Could it be internal bleeding?" Draco suggested.
"But where would it have come from? It was all over his trousers when I took them off, and that was before I cast the body altering spell," Poppy explained.
"What blood?" Harry asked, tired and aching, yet too full of joy and love to really care right now.
"There was blood all over your trousers," Poppy said, holding them up to show him.
"That's not blood," Harry said. "That's the potion I slipped in, what was it your class were brewing before I came in here?"
"Uh, it was the Epicyclical Potion," Draco said. "It has an unusually large amount of Graphorn blood in it which would account for the red colour."
"Oh, well, that's it then," Poppy said with relief. She then cast a series of spells that returned Harry's body to normal, if a little stretched. She must have noticed Harry's look of dismay at his stomach as she said, "It's nothing that a little exercise won't cure."
Harry grimaced and glanced back at Hermione who was wrapping Jeremy in a white blanket. She smiled apprehensively at him and handed his daughter back to him. She had come under fire during his screaming earlier but he wasn't about to apologise for it. Everything he'd yelled, he'd meant and he'd be damned if he'd let it go like he usually did.
Jeremy was asleep now, tired out after her bath. She was so tiny, Harry felt like he would break her if he wasn't exceptionally careful. It was incredible, she'd been inside him for so long, he felt like he knew her already.
~ Harry and Draco's Living Room ~
Harry was dozing lightly on the couch while Draco put Daniel to bed. Jeremy was already asleep in her room next to Daniel's. The little boy had been so excited to meet his sister, only to find that she was a tiny baby who slept through the entire meeting! Needless to say, he hadn't been impressed. It had come out that he had been expecting a child of his and Isabella's age to appear.
It was lucky that they lived in the building that housed the hospital wing. If they'd been muggles, Harry and Jeremy would have had to stay in the hospital for a few days but as it was, Poppy had reluctantly allowed them to return to their own rooms on the proviso that Harry rested as much as possible. Which he would, as soon as he'd had a talk with Draco.
It had dawned on Harry, a few months into the pregnancy, that for all Draco acted like a martyr, the real victim of this horrible crime was in fact, him. Sure, it had probably been hard for him to raise a child alone, without the man he loved, but he damn well could have done something about it. What he could have done, Harry wasn't certain, but he certainly could have done more than he did.
Harry was damn near certain that Draco was finally repenting for abandoning him almost three years ago. He was fairly sure that Draco's method of repenting was going to be something extreme and definitely stupid. He just didn't know what it was yet.
A soft thud to his right informed him that Daniel was now asleep and Draco had sat down in the armchair alongside him.
"I love you, you know," a quiet, resolute voice said. Draco looked startled when Harry sat up, as if he'd thought he was talking to someone while they were sleeping.
"I know," Harry replied, equally quietly. "And I love you too. But we need to clear the air between us before one of us chokes on it."
Draco nodded sharply but looked resigned. "You're right, you know. All those things you yelled at me earlier. I should have tried harder. And I did have it easier. I had support and freedom while you were locked in a tiny little cell with no one but that bitch to talk to. Tell me though…now this is just something I've been wondering, I don't mean anything by it….but how long ago did she stop giving you that emotion-numbing potion?"
"I don't know," Harry replied, leaning back on the couch. He was still exhausted but determined to finish this confrontation. "By the time she stopped it, I'd lost track of time completely. Plus there were other incidents-It was a complete shock the day she told me it was our eighth wedding anniversary."
Harry thought he'd done a rather good job of covering up his slip but Draco's eyes narrowed. There were some things he really didn't want to think about and Draco was probably going to make him relive them.
"What other incidents?" Draco asked suspiciously.
"Oh, you know, hostage-type stuff," Harry replied glibly. "Back to-"
"No, tell me now," Draco said, leaning forward in his chair, to rest his arms on his knees and stare intently at Harry.
"You really want to know?" Harry asked defensively, hating Draco at that moment.
The Slytherin nodded.
"Fine. Well, there was this one time when Eve cast Petrificus Totalus on me and proceeded to do evil things to my body," Harry said angrily. He observed Draco's jealous expression with satisfaction before deciding to take pity on him. "Nothing like that happened. She just…you know…felt me up a bit."
"And how often did that happen?" Draco asked, sounding murderous.
"I don't know, a few times?" Harry replied, exasperated. He stood up and started pacing around the room, unable to stay still any longer. "Stop thinking of yourself for a moment and think about how that made me feel – being trapped and forced to submit to that stupid woman when all I could think about was you! Did you know that I used to pray, every night, that you would be my knight in shining armour and come rescue me?"
Draco looked suitably chastised. "I wish I could have been your knight."
Harry stopped pacing and gazed at Draco with torment-filled eyes. He said nothing as Draco stood and reached out for Harry's hand. He didn't pull away as the Slytherin led him into their bedroom. Harry allowed himself to be pulled down onto the bed and into Draco's arms. He sighed as he felt that same familiar feeling of security wash over him as Draco snuggled closer to him and held him closely in his arms.
"Tell me everything," Draco quietly commanded.
Harry smoothed Draco's shirt over the blonde man's chest and pondered the request for a few seconds before he started talking, quietly, steadily and at length, pouring out everything that had happened to him, all his feelings and wishes and dreams from that time.
Draco just held him without commenting, occasionally pressing a kiss on Harry's hair. This quiet acceptance of Harry and his words did far more to heal Harry's emotional wounds than a blazing row would have done.
TBC
A.N. Going away for the weekend, there will be nothing until Monday. Just to warn you :) 2 chapters to go!
We will never know the full extent of what Harry went through, just be assured that it was horrible, imagine whatever you will but know that Eve never succeeded in having sex with him. He can only get it up for Draco!
Chapter title supplied by my friend who has no idea what he was offering a chapter title for except that it was a guy giving birth!!!