(Note from Meru-chan: I'm sorry but I couldn't post last week because the place whose comps I use to update was closed ergo you all had to wait until this week, and for that I apologize. Approximately two weeks until we start the new stuff. I'm hoping we'll be able to keep up.)

Part 4:

"Percy!" shouted Neville, hurrying through the halls to catch up with the tall redhead. He dodged between people, accidentally hitting a few of them and causing them to cry out. He muttered apologies, but didn't stop running. Curfew was in less than an hour and he really had to hurry.

Laughing, Percy asked, "What is it, Neville?" when the small boy had caught up with him.

"I. finished that book you lent me," he replied while breathing heavily, handing Percy the book.

"Wow, that was fast," commented Percy, "You must have really liked it."

'Only because it was from you,' thought Neville, but he would never say anything like that out loud. He blushed and looked down at his feet as Percy tucked the book in with the other things he was carrying. A few days ago they had been talking and Percy mentioned that he was getting into muggle novels and really liked a memoir called Angela's Ashes. Neville had never even heard of a memoir so he asked Percy if he could read it and the redhead had happily lent it to him. He hadn't been able to put it down since.

"So, what was your favorite part?" asked Percy.

"In the beginning," Neville said, "When the baby was getting baptized and she dropped him in the baptismal fount and the Priest said he was a proper Baptist and the father attacked him."

Percy laughed, "I loved that part!"

Neville smiled, "I was just wondering, what is a speakeasy?"

"Oh!" replied Percy, "During the 1920's in America alcohol was illegal so they had secret places you could go to drink and they were called speakeasies."

"That makes a lot of sense now," Neville said, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind his ear. "Do you have any other books with you like that? I really liked it a lot."

Percy shook his head, "Not like that one. I do have other books with me though if you'd be willing to read something different. I don't really know for sure if you would like them or not."

"I'll like them," Neville said, cutting Percy off before he could say anything else, "I'll read whatever you have and I promise I'll like it."

Percy laughed again and Neville was quickly becoming addicted to the sound, "Neville, you don't have to like anything I pick out for you. I'd be perfectly fine if you read one of my books and totally hated it." Neville was at a loss for what to say. "Come up to my room," said Percy, "I'll see what I have for you."

There it was. It was a thin layer of fat, just beneath his skin that hadn't been there before. He could feel it under his fingers and it made him want to cry. He was going to be fat. Not just fat, but huge; he was going to be freakishly gargantuan. He didn't want to be freakishly gargantuan.

He pulled the skin away and let it go. It jiggled just a little bit. Ew. Fat was gross. He really, really didn't want to be fat. Dudley was fat. Dudley was gross, really gross and he couldn't stand being gross. Dudley used to skip showers and would be nasty and greasy and Harry had told himself then that he didn't want to be anything like Dudley and didn't want Dudley to be anything like him.

Dudley was different now, though. He showered. He ate less. He didn't sit on Harry and tickle him until he wet his pants just to laugh at him. No one knew about that. No one was allowed to. He had told Dudley that the first day he had shown up. He also told Dudley he wasn't allowed to leak information about several extremely embarrassing events that took place during their childhood. It took quite some time to explain all of this to him.

Now he was fat. Well, not fat quite yet. The layer of fat wasn't even that thick. It was a barely noticeable in fact, but Harry noticed it. He knew it was there. And he knew it was going to get thicker and thicker and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Harry felt exceedingly small and helpless at that moment.

"Well," said Snape, "This is an interesting development."

"What do you mean 'interesting'?" grumbled Draco, "All I see is a bunch of rotting corpses of rodents in my bed." He had just come back from breakfast to find them there and was none too happy about it.

"You know, felines often give freshly killed animals to their owners as gifts. They want to show them their skill as hunters."

Draco just looked as him with a disgusted looked, "That raccoon has no head. I doubt a cat did that as a way of displaying its hunting abilities. It was from my housemates as a way of displaying what they want to do to me for fucking Potter."

"Language, Draco," said Snape, "And there is no reason to call him 'Potter' in my presence. I know of your affections toward him."

Draco's face dropped, "You know?" he asked, "How do you know? You're not supposed to know! No one is supposed to know!"

"Draco," Snape said drolly, "I think just about everyone except him knows by now. It's obvious in the way you stare at him and follow him around."

"He doesn't notice," said Draco, suddenly sounding very withdrawn and depressed, "He hates me. He said he wouldn't have minded being pregnant if the father were someone else. Someone that isn't me."

Snape sighed heavily, "Draco, the boy is a complete idiot and probably very emotional right now. Stop worrying about all of this, ok? I'm going to talk to the headmaster about getting you a different room assignment. For now, take whatever you need from here and don't return without me. Alright?"

Draco just nodded, grabbed a few things from his trunk, and followed Snape out of the Slytherin dormitory.

"Have you noticed the way Malfoy looks at Harry?" said Seamus suddenly. They were all staring at the ceiling, lying on the floor of their dorm. They meaning Seamus, Dean, Ron, and Dudley of course.

"How does Malfoy look at Harry?" asked Dean.

"Like he wants to knock him up all over again," Dudley replied. They all made a grumbling noise of acknowledgement and were silent again.

The room was still. None of them were doing anything because there was nothing to do. Homework was done. Quidditch was overdone. Everything just seemed very boring for no apparent reason.

"Have you noticed the way Hermione and Harry have been hanging out together a lot?" Seamus attempted to start yet another conversation.

"Yep," said Dudley.

"Sure," said Dean.

Ron remained silent.

"Have you noticed the way Malfoy is always hanging out in the potions lab really late at night?"

"Not really," said Dudley.

"Don't care that much," said Dean.

Ron remained silent once more.

"Have you noticed the way Neville watches Percy?"

"What!" asked Ron and sat up to stare at Seamus.

"Yeah, I have," mumbled Dudley.

Dean nodded as best as he could with the back of his head pressed against the floor, "He wants him pretty bad. He always has. Don't remember how he would always follow Percy around when he was still at school?"

"What's up with that?" muttered Seamus, "I mean, he's Percy. What on earth does Neville see in him?"

"He's smart, I guess," said Dean, "But I think that's his only good point that I can think of."

"Hey," Ron said suddenly, "Have you noticed the way shut the fuck up?"

They were silent for a moment, realizing how their conversation might have been affecting Ron.

"Ron," said Seamus softly, "That sentence made absolutely no sense whatsoever."

They all burst into laughter and giggles. It was sad what became amusing when you were completely bored beyond all sense of reason.

Madam Pomfrey's hands were cold as they pressed against his stomach. He really hated this, the way she poked and prodded in all of these different places. Did this really have a purpose? Was there any way for her to not do this to him and still achieve whatever objective she had in doing this?

"Are you almost finished?" he whined. She sighed heavily and stepped away from him, removing her cold hands from his skin.

"The baby seems to be growing fine, but I'll tell you now that I don't think you're ready for it."

Harry looked up at her with a worried expression as he pulled his shirt back down over his stomach.

Madam Pomfrey sighed once more, "You're too young to have this baby, Harry. You're not mature enough to take care of a child, let alone your own all by yourself."

"It doesn't matter," said Harry, "It's here and it's not going away. I'll probably go stay at the Weasley's. I know they'll help me take care of it, but I hate to be a burden on them. I have enough money, though. I could just buy a house somewhere and I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

"Babies are a lot of work, Harry. I can't help but worry about you."

"Don't," he said shortly and jumped off of the table. He walked over to the door where Hermione was waiting for him outside. And he left.

Lunch had just ended and Harry was off to study in the library, Hermione had gone to see a teacher about extra-credit work, and Neville was sitting on his bed in the dormitory reading the book Percy had lent to him as the other four occupants of the room entered.

"This sucks!" shouted Seamus, "We have nothing to do! What a waste man! A whole weekend was spent sitting on the floor staring at the ceiling. And we have classes tomorrow. I don't want to go to classes tomorrow!"

"Seamus," yelled Neville, "Will you shut up? I'm trying to read."

With that, Seamus ran over and threw himself onto Neville's bed. He snatched the book away from Neville and began reading the book aloud, "Never had I felt this, never had I experienced it, this yielding of a conscious mortal. But before I could push him away for his own sake, I saw the bluish bruise on his tender neck. He was offering it to me. He was pressing the length of his body against me now, and I felt the hard strength of his sex beneath his clothes pressing against my leg. A wretched gasp escaped my cold lips, but he bent close, his lips on what must have been so cold, so lifeless for him; and I sank my teeth into his skin, my body rigid, that hard sex driving against me, and I lifted him in passion off the floor," Seamus stopped reading and gave Neville an odd look, "What the hell is this?"

"It's Interview with the Vampire, isn't it?" asked Dudley, "By Anne Rice?"

"Yeah," said Neville, "Percy lent it to me."

Seamus burst into laughter, "Percy reads stuff like this? Ron, you never told us your brother was a closet pervert."

Dudley sat down on the bed with Neville, "You've gotten pretty far. How long have you been reading it?"

"Percy gave it to me last night," Neville replied.

"Wow. It took me like two weeks to get that far, but I read really slowly. Harry read it so I decided to a while back over the summer. He really just wanted to read it before he saw the movie. He had a thing for Brad Pitt. Have you gotten to the part where Claudia dies yet?"

"Claudia dies!" Neville shouted with wide eyes.

Dudley looked sheepish, "Sorry. Guess I kind of gave it away, didn't I? Well, you'll get over it soon. You get sick of her pretty fast. You should read The Vampire Lestat. He's like all over his mom. It's funny. There's also The Vampire Armand and The Queen of the Damned. I'm pretty sure there are a few others, too. Harry really liked Anne Rice for a while.

"Wait, wait," said Neville, "How does Claudia die? She's a vampire!"

"The other vampires know she killed Lestat, even though Lestat isn't actually dead, and the only crime you can commit as a vampire is to kill another vampire so they lock her and the other chick in this thing and force them to be exposed to the sun. You should see the movie. It's really good."

"Lestat isn't dead!"

"Wait, show me that part again," said Harry. He'd been so out of it recently that Hermione had to help him catch up. He was totally lost on everything.

Hermione said, "Harry, this is the third time I've repeated this." She repeated the movement of her hand that they had learned in transfiguration two days ago while Harry had been pleasantly napping.

Trying it out, the charm to summon a carpenter dwarf once more, Harry received his third bowl of ramen noodles. He sighed heavily, "It isn't working, 'Mione. Whatever I try comes out as a bowl of ramen noodles. I think I'll just give it up for today."

"What's bothering you, Harry?"

He stared at her for a moment.

"I mean other than the obvious!" she exclaimed. Sighing heavily, she transformed a piece of paper into a spoon and handed it to Harry.

"I just feel so. trapped," said Harry as he spun the spoon to catch some noodles and shoveled them into his waiting mouth. He quickly chewed and swallowed, "There are so many things that I love to do that I won't get to do anymore because I'll be busy with the baby. Pretty soon I won't even be able to leave the school because I'll be showing."

"Harry." Hermione said sympathetically, but Harry cut her off before she could say any more.

"It doesn't matter, though. It was my own fault. I have to deal with the consequences of my actions, right?"

Hermione didn't want to take that answer, "Harry, maybe if-"

"I'd like to be alone right now, if you don't mind, Hermione," his voice was calm, but melancholy as he spoke. She knew he probably shouldn't be left alone; however, she also knew that if she stayed Harry would leave. It was better to know where he was than have him running off to who knows where. He was on a strange emotional roller coaster, worse than Hermione had ever seen with anyone, and knew to keep an eye on him.

"See you at dinner then," she said and gathered her books. Harry didn't even look up from his bowl as she left.

He didn't want to eat, but he knew he had to. Anorexia was not an option. That would not only hurt the baby, it might kill it. He felt so lost. He didn't know what to do. Would he stay with the Dursleys? No, they would never take him in. Sirius was still a wanted criminal since Peter hadn't been found yet. Burying his face in his palms with the spoon still in his mouth, Harry fought back tears. All of this was so. frustrating. He'd give almost anything for all of this to just work out by itself.

"Mind if I sit?"

Harry looked up when he heard Draco's voice and saw the blonde standing by the chair Hermione had previously occupied. He frowned.

"Yes, I mind very much in fact," he replied, "Please leave. Feel free to let the door hit your ass on your way out."

Draco just sat down, "You act as though you believe I actually expected an answer."

"What the hell do you want, Malfoy?" Harry groaned, his speech garbled by the spoon in his mouth.

Draco simply shrugged, "Saw you sitting here looking all broody and depressed so I decided to come over and piss you off."

"Why?"

"It's better to be pissed off than broody and depressed."

Harry didn't understand that logic at all, but knew that if he told Draco that they'd end up getting into a huge argument and Harry would just end up more emotionally drained than before, if that were even humanly possible that is.

"Don't you have some little Slytherin friends to go do evil things with or something?" asked Harry, not expecting the sad expression that warped Draco's face as he looked down at the table top. "What's with that look?"

Draco looked up in surprise, any trace of sadness hidden by a sheet of ice, "What look?"

Harry frowned and took the spoon out of his mouth, sticking it into the half-empty bowl of noodles, "That look you got on your face when I asked if you had any little Slytherin friends to go do evil things with. It was all sad. It was the most emotion I've ever seen on your face. Well, other than. yeah."

"Not that it is any of your business," spat Draco. His voice was haughty and arrogant, "But my housemates have put me into a state of exile. None of them speak to me and they seem to find enjoyment in putting mutilated animals in my personal belongings. I'm somewhat depressed because Professor Snape said that I was not to retaliate."

"Bullshit," said Harry, "You're lonely. Nobody will talk to you other than the teachers and it's hurting you. Admit it!"

Draco grunted, "Sod off, Potter."

"You sod off," Harry replied, "I was here first."

Snorting, Draco laughed, "That was the most childish thing I've ever heard you say!"

This caused Harry to pout, "I can't be mature all of the time, can I? Well, I'll have to in a few weeks."

Both were silent. It was so depressing for both of them that it seemed like their days of carefree studies and joking with friends and lacking in any real responsibilities were going to be over soon.

"Harry?" Draco said softly. Harry looked at him, slightly surprised to hear Draco use his first name, "Do you think we could have. joint custody of the baby? I mean, like, raise it together?"

They both just stared into each other's eyes for a few moments. The room was next to silent, filled only with the soft sounds of a few other students reading, studying, and doing other things that people generally did in libraries. It was soft at first, the tiny bit of laughter that exited Harry's lips. It grew into a small giggle that escalated into all- out laughter. It was bombastic and bubbly and Draco wasn't sure whether to feel offended of join Harry in his outrageous display of amusement.

Madam Pince came over and forced them out of the library with Harry nearly falling over with laughter the whole time. They stood outside the door, Harry holding his sides and Draco holding Harry's things.

"Please tell me you weren't serious," guffawed Harry, who then fell over and narrowly avoided cracking him head open on the stone floors.

Draco watched as he laughed then dropped Harry's things and turned to leave. Harry quickly stood up and grabbed his sleeve.

"You were serious?" Harry asked with evident confusion.

"I know it's your kid and all," Draco said angrily, staring down at the ground and refusing to look up at Harry, "I understand that you're all psycho-protective because you've never had a real family or anything. I get all of that. It's just that." Draco paused and swallowed, slowly raising his vision to meet Harry's eyes, "I've never had that great of a family either and. it's kind of my kid too, you know?"

Harry was startled, having no idea that Draco had ever even thought of the child as his, let alone considered it part of his family. He looked down at his things in disarray on the floor and blinked a few times, "Can we discuss this later?" He asked calmly, "After dinner? I'm starving."

"You ate three bowls of the noodle-things!" Draco exclaimed, "How on earth are you still hungry!"

"Harry's been really depressed," murmured Dean. They were once again sitting on the floor, in the common room this time, and Neville and Hermione had joined their ranks.

"Yeah." sighed the other five in unison.

"We could try to cheer him up," suggested Seamus.

Ron looked at him questioningly, "How?"

"A Chippendale would be nice," muttered Hermione. They all gave her strange looks, to which she responded with, "What?"

They all looked back to their respective places of pointless staring: the floor, the ceiling, a spot on the wall, and hole in the couch, etc.

Then Dudley spoke up, "Maybe we could do something. kind of like that."

Seamus grinned, "We're going to get Harry a male stripper?"

Dudley shook his head, "Think about this. One of the reasons Harry is so depressed is because he won't be able to do a lot of things he likes to do for a really long time, if he ever gets to do them again."

". So?" asked Dean.

Neville looked at Dudley, "So we could see if we could do some of the things he won't be able to do for a long time right now."

"Yes!" Dudley replied.

"We'll make a list," said Hermione, "Of things Harry likes to do. Dudley, you probably know the most on this one since you are with him over the summer. We'd better get started now or we never will."

They all got in closer around the circle as Neville pulled out a scroll and Seamus handed him a pen and they started the beginnings of what would later be called "Operation: Cheer Up Harry." Why they called it this, only Dudley knew, but he insisted they all did it so they just went with it.

Dinner had been a somewhat lonely affair for Harry seeing as none of his friends made an appearance. He sat with Ginny and Collin, but they weren't the same as his friends. They were far too. sane. He almost welcomed Percy's presence when he showed up near the end of the meal and grabbed some of the leftovers- not that there was a lot what with Harry devouring half of the table and all. They had a discussion over why Snape needed to change whatever hygiene products he used on his hair because they obviously weren't doing him any good.

The meal ended and Percy happily walked with Harry up to the Gryffindor common room where they found Harry's friends huddled together on the floor. Neville was the first to notice them walking over and squeaked. All looked up and pushed something toward Hermione who grabbed it and sprinted to the girls' dormitory.

Harry frowned, "What's going on?"

"You're not allowed to know," said Seamus.

"Why?"

"Only club members are allowed to know," Dean put in quickly before Seamus could say anything else.

Harry's frown deepened and a slight pout was added in, "What club?"

All were silent until Neville said, "The Lonely Virgins Club. Sorry Harry. Virgins only."

Again, all were silent. Their eyes shifted between each other and they fidgeted uncomfortably until Seamus, "Guys, I'm afraid I'm going to have to quit the club. C'mon Harry. Let's leave these pathetic virgins to their geeky little club."

"Seamus," Harry said as the Irish boy dragged him off, "They're my friends. I don't think they're pathetic. They're your friends, too."

Anything Harry said after that was muffled by the large distance between the group and the boys' dormitory. None spoke until Hermione came back down with a satisfied grin. Percy looked curious and sat down.

"I'm technically a virgin so tell me what's going on."

"Technically?" asked Ron.

Percy glared at him, "The technicality is none of your business. Shut up and tell me what the hell is going on."

"Please," begged Harry, "I wanna know! C'mon! Tell me!"

"Bloody Hell, give it up!" shouted Seamus, spraying toothpaste all over the mirror. Dean snickered.

Harry was once more staring at his reflection in the mirror. He had been doing that way too much recently and his roommates were beginning to get very sick of it. He had just taken a shower and he skin was covered in glistening droplets and his hair looked as black and charcoal and was plastered to his head. His eyes looked brighter than usual because his skin was slightly flushed from the heat of the water. A thick red towel was the only thing covering his nude body.

"Would you stop looking at yourself?" Seamus yelled after spitting the toothpaste into the sink, "You're still the sexiest thing on two legs in this school so get over it!"

Harry just poked at the thin layer of fat.

Neville poked his head into the bathroom, "Guys, Dumbledore is here. He says he has something really important to tell us."

The three exited the bathroom and found Dumbledore waiting for them with a strained smile on his aged face.

"I understand that all of you are having a rough time due to recent occurrences," he started, which could only mean bad news, "And unfortunately you are not the only ones having trouble adjusting. Due to a few incidents in the Slytherin house, one of them will need to room with you. This will be a temporary arrangement until something more satisfactory comes along," Harry already knew what was going to happen and held his breath.

"He will be your personal assistant, Harry," continued Dumbledore, "To aid you during your pregnancy." He snapped his fingers and the room warped so it was slightly bigger and held seven beds instead of the previous six.

He stepped aside and there with Severus Snape at his side stood Draco Malfoy. Any protests from the other boys were drowned out by Ron's echoing cry of "Oh, FUCK NO!"

TO BE CONTINUED