Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who's commented. I'm overwhelmed how many people are reading this story. When I first started posting on this site, I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of fanfics that are posted here and thought that mine would be lost in the shuffle. I was very grateful to those who commented on my first two stories in this series. There weren't many, so I wasn't expecting this story to take off as it has. Thank you all again. I hope I can continue to entertain you with these fics.

Chapter 29

The blankets were on the floor. Harry wondered when that had happened. Some time earlier was the only answer his mind could offer. Sighing, he rolled onto his side coming face to face with Draco. He was still asleep, exhausted by six years of pent up sexual yearnings being acted upon at once. Wishing he could return to his own slumber, Harry shivered. It was too cold to be without clothes now that the heat of sex had worn off, and he was reluctant to cuddle next to Draco. He didn't know what his reaction would be and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Draco had made it clear that he was still in love with him, but how much of that was simply needing release? Merlin knew he'd needed it, but as he gazed at the blond he realized that wasn't all. Reaching over and brushing a strand of pale hair away from Draco's face Harry knew he wanted to wake up to this site every morning.

Draco stirred, his eyes fluttering open.

"Potter?"

"Harry," he corrected. "You can call me by my first name." Draco smiled briefly.

"Harry then," he replied, propping himself up on one elbow. Harry nodded as the other man glanced down at the rumpled sheets. They were silent for a time before Draco spoke again. "We need to talk."

"I know."

"We can't go through our lives with a fling here or there."

"I agree." Harry replied. "It won't do either of us any good."

"Not to mention Cassie. She will figure out who you are sooner or later. She already knows that she has two fathers." Draco said shivering slightly. Looking around for the covers, he reasoned where they were and decided he didn't have the energy to retrieve them.

"You told her?" Harry choked, not sure that he would've in Draco's position.

"Yes. Heather and I thought it was best if she knew. No sense lying to her. Eventually she'd ask who her other parent was anyway. Heather always says it's better to tell the truth about something that important." Draco paused, looking towards the door of his bedroom briefly. Collecting his thoughts, he gazed back at Harry.

"We aren't the only ones who've taken Hathor's Kiss. There have been plenty of others. It seems New Zealand and Australia are the Mecca for child bearing men. Nash Fa'avah, my neighbor, is the offspring of a pair. His fathers hauled me to their support group when they found out I'd been pregnant."

"There's a support group?" Harry rolled onto his back and gazed at the ceiling in amazement.

"Yes." Draco grumbled, finally sitting up. Drawing his knees up to his chest, he wrapped his arms around them. "It did feel good to know I wasn't alone."

"If I'd known..."

"We've been over this." The blond pointed out. "I still would've done what I did. What I need to know is where do we go from here?"

It had seemed so clear in his mind just a few minutes ago, but suddenly Harry wasn't sure. What would Cassie think of him? Could he and Draco live together without killing each other? Did he want to risk his heart? For a time he didn't answer as he struggled with the unknown. Everything was changing and he wasn't sure he was ready. You've loved him all these years, the voice whispered. You have a daughter. There is much to loose and much to gain. To gamble with your heart is the toughest act, but has the greatest chance for reward. Aren't you willing to place that bet?

Slowly he sat up. Turning to look at the other man, Harry reached over and placed a hand affectionately on his shoulder.

"I'd like the chance for us to be together. I don't suggest I move in right away, but maybe spend more time with you and Cassie?"

Draco smiled.

"I know I'd like that and Cassie will be thrilled to know who her other parent is. She's asked me about it a few times, but all I've ever said was that you were a nice guy." He said, facing him. Harry frowned.

"Only nice?" He teased, placing his other hand over his heart. "I'm so distraught." The blond glared, resisting the urge to snatch the pillow from behind him and whack him with it. Just as he was about to make a scathing remark, they heard something from outside.

A door opened and they could distinctly hear an Irish accent. Swearing, Draco lunged for his dresser. Pulling out two pairs of jeans, he tossed one to Harry before hurriedly yanking on his.

"Now dearie I don't want ya usin' that curse on any...oh my." They heard Heather gasp.

"What are Daddy's clothes doing out here?" Cassie asked, followed by her feet trudging through the living room. "This isn't Daddy's. He doesn't wear robes."

Draco flung a shirt at him. Mercifully Harry fit into Draco's clothes for the most part. The jeans were a little tight, but they would do for now. Dressing quickly, they prayed the five-year-old wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Cassie, sweetie. Why don't we go down ta the Great Hall an' get somethin' ta eat?" Heather asked, nervously slipping through the room to retrieve the child. She had a pretty good idea what had happened, and the gentlemen obviously needed a little time to clean up.

"But it's not lunchtime. Daddy sure made a mess. Look! His socks!"

"I know, but Gran is hungry. She'd lika snack." Heather was trying, but the child wasn't taking the hint.

"Oh and you want company?" Cassie asked putting down the sock she'd picked up.

"Yes, exactly!" Heather exclaimed. "Besides it'll give your father and Mr. Potter time to clean up their mess." She said the last part loud enough to carry into the back bedroom.

"Okay!" Cassie replied merrily. "What were Daddy and Mr. Potter doing that would make such a mess?"

"Wrestling." Heather answered scooping her up.

"Without their clothes?" Cassie laughed. "That's silly. They'll catch cold!"

Draco glared at Harry as the door clicked shut behind the females.

"She gets that from your side of the family." He growled.

"Unfortunately I have to agree." Harry moaned, sinking to the bed. "We better go pick up our clothes before they return."

"I'm not sure how I'm going to explain 'wrestling' to her." Draco muttered, shaking his head. "Let's just hope she doesn't share with anyone."

"Oh Merlin." Harry groaned, dropping his head to his hands as Draco snuck out to retrieve their clothes.

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Hand in hand Ron and Natalie Weasley skipped down the corridor acting like a pair of love struck teenagers. They'd returned to Hogwarts only a few minutes earlier and were on their way to see Professor Dumbledore. They had news. Exciting, wonderful news that they felt needed to be told in person rather than by owl.

"This is truly marvelous." Ron proclaimed, letting her hand go and wrapping his around her waist. Natalie laughed.

"I can't wait to see everyone's faces," she replied, pausing when she noticed a familiar figure walking towards them, head down. "Harry!" Waving her hand madly at him, she grinned.

He looked up just as Ron called out his own greeting. The couple hurried up to him with smiles on their faces.

"You two certainly look happy," Harry said slowly, unsure how he was going to break the news to his friends about he and Draco. They needed to be told. Dumbledore, Lupin, Black, McGonagall and Snape already knew.

"Well, you'll be happy too when we tell you." Ron stated hugging his wife close to him. Arching an eyebrow at them, Harry waited as they cooed over each other. He hadn't seen them do that since they first got engaged.

"Tell me what?" The Auror inquired. His friends looked at each other with huge grins on their faces.

"Do you want to tell him?" Ron nudged his wife. "Or should I?" Natalie giggled. Harry refrained from rolling his eyes. He wasn't up to twenty questions right now.

"I will," she answered still laughing. Taking a deep breath she announced so the entire hallway knew. "I'm pregnant." Harry's eyes widened. "See, I knew you'd be shocked! You should've heard what Molly said when we told her yesterday."

"It was classic!" Ron exclaimed. "She was so thrilled that she started knitting tiny baby booties!" He looked so proud that Harry couldn't help but feel uneasy about what he had to tell them. Maybe it could wait until the euphoria of the new addition to the Weasley clan had died down.

"Of course she would. This is her first grandchild," his wife pointed out. "And we all know how she loves to knit things. Ginny's promised to throw me a baby shower and Fred and George are threatening to come up with something special for the baby. I told them nothing explosive." She paused, realizing that Harry still hadn't said anything. "Are you all right?"

Quickly composing himself, Harry nodded.

"I'm just surprised. There have been a couple, um, other surprises over the past few days. I need to talk to you about them, but not right now. We can discuss them later." He said, trying to be happy for his friends despite the knot that was forming in his stomach.

"You mean with..." Ron began, but was cut off by a wild scream followed by a booming roar.

"CASSIOPEIA LILY MALFOY! GET BACK HERE!"

Suddenly a wet and naked child came streaking down the hall with her father in hot pursuit. Cassie was laughing hysterically as she barreled towards them. Stepping out, Harry blocked her escape route as Draco boxed her in from behind. She looked right then left, but could see no way out.

"Caught ya! You little nudist!" Draco announced wrapping a large fluffy towel around her. She giggled shaking her head. Water and suds flew everywhere. Picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder, Draco headed back to his quarters.

"This is your fault Potter." He called after him as Cassie wiggled and laughed trying to break free.

"Daddy, put me down!"

"I don't think so."

"Papa Harry!" Cassie pleaded as the pair disappeared into the recesses of the school.

"You need a bath!" Harry yelled back.

"Who was that?" Natalie asked, her eyes wide with surprise. She'd never seen a child younger than eleven in the halls of Hogwarts.

"Papa Harry?" Ron turned his questioning gaze to Harry. Sighing, his friend folded his arms in front of him.

"Yes, she's started calling me Papa Harry." He muttered, glaring down the hallway at his boyfriend and child. Draco and Cassie's impromptu entrance now made it necessary to tell the Weasleys, less they find out for themselves without proper explanations.

"Better than that 'Bastard Potter' I suppose." Ron chuckled finding it amusing that the Malfoy child had started regarding Harry as a second father. It probably burned Draco, which gave Ron some small bit of satisfaction.

"I'm confused. Who is that child?" Natalie crossed her arms and glared at the two men. "Are you going to answer me or am I going to have to ask Dumbledore?"

"The little girl is Cassiopeia Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's daughter. Remember I mentioned Hogwarts had a new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor?" She nodded. "Well, Malfoy is it." He confessed. "Lucius abducted Cassie and now we're helping Malfoy protect her. I'll explain the rest later." He glanced at the suds that were still running down the walls and prayed his child would behave better.

"Somehow I didn't exactly picture him with children," Natalie murmured. She looked at Harry then down the hall. Thinking to herself, she left the men to stand in an uncomfortable silence. After a minute Ron couldn't bear it and gingerly asked Harry what Draco meant by 'it's your fault'.

His friend sighed heavily before beginning his tale. Within the first few words, Ron knew he wasn't going to like this. But he listened. He had to because Harry was his friend, and he owed him that consideration. Beside him, he felt Natalie tense as the conversation turned more private than Ron had ever imagined or wanted. He really didn't want to know what had happened in the Slytherin locker room after that last game. The image of Harry being forced to have sex with the blond because of a love potion was more than he could stand. Still he listened.

"After we graduated, I wanted to forget about the locker room and Draco, but I couldn't. It haunted my dreams. Slowly I began to realize that I enjoyed the company of men more than women and that frightened me. I didn't know what I was doing, how people would react if I told them, or why I felt this way. It all seemed wrong, yet right at the same time. That's why I've never said anything about it, I was afraid of what you might think, but worse, I was afraid of myself.

"Actually your mother is the one who first asked after my feelings. Not towards Draco, but towards men in general. I still have dinner with them once a week, you do know that?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded slowly, remembering Mrs. Weasley mentioning when they'd seen her it was a pity Harry had missed dinner Saturday night. He had no idea his friend was over every week though. It wasn't surprising since both his parents considered Harry as another son.

"She actually urged me to find someone, but I wouldn't. I suppose all along I knew that there was only one person I could love, and that person is Draco Malfoy."

They stood very still as Harry uttered the last few words. In the back of his mind Ron screamed this was wrong. They couldn't be in love; Draco had a child, which meant he preferred women. The potion must still be having an effect on Harry. It must!

He remained silent as he tried desperately to rationalize everything that he'd just heard. Across from him, Harry nervously waited for them to speak. Fearful, he kept his eyes roving around the hallway not looking at either directly.

"Wait, did you say that the potion you and Malfoy ingested was Hathor's Kiss?" Natalie inquired, her thought process suddenly grasping at something. Ron jerked. His wife was nearly as good in potions as Professor Snape. "That potion doesn't cause love, it works off of it." Harry nodded. "It's a fertility potion, which means that if you and he both took it there is a possibility that you..." She trailed off as she stared down the hallway.

Ron pulled away. His wife wasn't suggesting that Harry and Draco were actually in love with each other before the potion or that they could have children together. If that were the case, then it was possible for Cassie to be Harry's daughter. That was ridiculous! That would mean somehow Draco had become pregnant, which was insane to even think would happen.

"There have been documented cases of Hathor's Kiss allowing for men to have children together." Natalie continued having sorted her thoughts out to the point where she was confident she was going in the right direction. "She does have black hair." Ron twitched. This wasn't happening, he wasn't hearing this.

"You're right, it does." Harry said slowly, finally looking her in the eyes. "Cassiopeia is my daughter."

The world went deathly quiet. Ron could see Harry's mouth moving, but he couldn't hear a word. It wasn't true; how could this have happened? His best friend was telling him he was in love with his worst enemy. He swallowed once as cold dread circulated through his veins. Trying to stave off a complete failure of all mental processes, Ron grasped a hold of one fact and held on for dear life. Harry was in love with Draco. Betrayal, utter betrayal.

"You slept with Malfoy." The harsh words tore through the conversation Natalie had just started with Harry about Cassie. "You and he, a Griffyndor with a Slytherin."

Harry nodded. "We..."

"I don't want to hear it." Ron cut him off. "It's absurd. I can understand being under the influence of a love potion, but this...this. How could you be in love with him! He's been nothing but a thorn in our sides since day one!" He snapped letting fury overshadow his confused state.

"I'm not entirely sure myself how it happened, but..."

"But nothing!" Ron screeched. "How could you? Malfoy stands for everything we're against! He's arrogant, self-centered, and his father is a Death Eater! He's insulted us, thrown curses at us, harassed us to the breaking point and you love him for that? What were you thinking! It's wrong! Sick and wrong!" Harry visibly cringed. From the corner of his eyes Ron could see Natalie glare at him. He'd gone too far, he knew he had. Merlin, how could he have just said those things to his most trusted and loyal friend? Time, he needed time to think about this he realized, as the hurt expression on Harry's face bore into his mind. Turning without another word, Ron fled.

For a few moments it was quiet as the two remaining adults listened to his footfalls. Then very cautiously Natalie slipped her arms around the stunned Auror.

"I'm sorry, he didn't mean to say such awful things. He's just well...I'm sure he feels betrayed." She whispered, trying her hardest to console him. Harry sagged against her.

"Probably. I knew this would happen, this is why I didn't want to..."

"Shush. It'll be all right. Give him time. You know how he is." Harry did, which is why it hurt even more to think about it. He couldn't be mad, not right now. Later when he had time to think he probably would be, but currently all he wanted was someplace to sit down.

"I, on the other hand would like to congratulate you on finally figuring it out. It's about time. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if both of you were ever going to come to your senses." Harry went rigid in her arms. Eyes wide, he looked up at her with a startled expression. "You and Malfoy both talk in your sleep. When I was Nothing I used to spend much of my time watching people sleep. Everyone looks so innocent, plus you hear the best gossip." Natalie smiled sweetly, but Harry knew it meant mischief. Sweet and innocent Natalie may look, but looks were deceiving. She'd overheard them while they slept, which meant they'd been crushing on each other before fifth year.

"Don't look so glum. I used to eavesdrop on everyone, not just you and Malfoy. Trust me, I've heard things that I'm sure several of the professors never want repeated. Now, is there any chance I could meet that darling little daughter of yours formally or are you going to wait until she flashes us again?"

He bit his bottom lip to cover up the smile that was peaking through. This was why he loved Natalie. She always found a way to make a bad day good, if only for a short time. He hoped Draco had finished Cassie's bath and had her dressed because they were about to have company.