Title: Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

Author: SweetMercy (my first fic under this name! yay!)

Rating: M

Warnings: mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

Pairings: RL/HP BUT has references to DM/HP, SB/HP, and DT/HP.

Summery: One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music

A/N: This chapter was orginally going to be posted in two chapters, but since it seemed way too short I put them togther (because I'm clever like that) lol. And yep, Sirius IS alive in this. And I have the flu...

Chapter 3: That's What Friends are for

Harry pulled his legs up next to him and rested his arm protectively on his stomach as Hermione lit a fire in the empty grate across from them. The small blaze jumped into life, lighting and warming the room instantly as if it had been burning for hours, crackling away merrily. The flickering light sent shadows dancing over the walls of the room and Harry watched them somewhat interestedly.

"So," said Hermione, sitting back down next to Harry. "You're gay?"

Eyes still fixed on the dancing shadows, Harry nodded.

"When did you first realise?" she asked.

"I knew for sure in sixth year," he told them quietly, "but I guess I always had it in me."

"How so?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm encouragingly. Harry sighed.

"I dunno…like in fifth year when I was with Cho…I mean, I liked her you know? But I couldn't be bothered most of the time…I lost interest in her…but then I seemed to lose interest in girls altogether." He was finding it awkward to talk about this with them. After all, he had never talked to anyone about being gay apart from Sirius…but that was something he couldn't let himself think about either…

"Go on," said Ron.

"I used to…subconsciously…look at guys in the corridors and stuff, but I didn't realise I was doing it until I actually sat down and thought about it last year, and when the others in the dormitory were talking about girls and stuff, I was never that enthusiastic about it…"

Surprisingly, this was actually getting easier to talk about. Tearing his eyes away from the shadows, he looked at them.

"I found myself starting to think about guys," he continued. "I was more interested in them and I knew I was but I wouldn't admit it to myself, if that makes sense? Anyway, after about a month or so after I realised what I was doing and what it meant, I started to accept it."

He daren't tell them he used to check the boys out in the showers. That was going a little bit too far and was defiantly more than they needed to know.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Ron. "You could have talked to us about it, we'd understand."

"Ron's right Harry," said Hermione. "We're here for you."

"I know," said Harry, looking away. "I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure what you would think."

"Well now you know," said Ron. "It's you choice mate, we want you to be happy. We'll accept you no matter what. Even if you had a sex change."

Harry laughed quietly.

"See? A smile. That's more like it," smiled Hermione.

"Thanks guys," said Harry. "Really."

"Don't mention it," smiled Ron. Harry hated himself. All this time he had kept it all from his best friends, the people who had been through hell and back with him. He couldn't believe he had ever doubted them. But Ron was talking again. "But, moving on to the next thing…"

Harry's heart sank.

"The baby," said Hermione. "I can understand you didn't tell us because we didn't know you were gay, but Harry! A baby! 6 months you went without telling us!"

"I know, it was stupid of me," he said, "but I was scared Hermione. It's like the papers said, I'm just some slut and…"

"Harry James Potter! How can you say that about yourself?"

"But it's true!"

"Don't put yourself down Harry!"

Harry was going to open his mouth to argue back, but changed his mind. He couldn't argue with them, not now. He needed them. Besides, they didn't even know…

"If you don't mind me asking," said Ron, "but who's the other father?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered, looking away.

"But you must know, you slept…"

"I don't know, alright?"

"You've slept with more than one guy?" asked Hermione timidly.

Harry nodded.

"Who are they?"

"I can't say," he told them.

"But…"

"I don't want to think about it, so just leave it," he said, trying to keep from shouting.

"Well, how many did you sleep with?" she pressed. "Just the two?"

"Please, Hermione, can we just leave this?" He was loosing heart for this conversation fast. If she didn't stop trying to poke around in his private life…

"No Harry, you're one of my best friends and I'm going to help you. Now tell me!"

"Four, ok? I've slept with four different guys in the passed half year and any one of them could be the father! Satisfied? And no, I don't know how far gone I am! Yeah, I could be 6 months like the papers say, but I don't know! I slept with them all in the space of just two months so it could be any of theirs! Until I know exactly how far gone I am, I haven't got the faintest clue whose it is, and even then I still can't be sure!"

They sat there silent again, just staring at him with utter surprise. Harry was sure for a moment that he had seen something like disgust in their eyes, but it was quickly drown out by concerned. Harry felt the tears coming back again due to his emotional outburst but he held them back. Finally, Ron spoke.

"We're here for you Harry," he said slowly.

"Every step of the way," said Hermione. "That's what friends are for."

That set the tears off again, and Hermione pulled him into another tight hug.

Before Harry went back downstairs to talk to his Headmaster, he got showered and dressed properly. Hermione did a spell on his trousers so they would fit comfortably around his stomach and started fussing, almost Molly like, about the foods he had been eating and so on. Despite the feeling of dread that was filling him up, he couldn't help but smile.

Harry made his way down the stairs quietly and crossed the hall over to the front room. He stopped outside of the door, trying to catch something of the conversation that was going on. They didn't seem to be talking about him which was a blessing. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door, thankful that Hermione had done such a good job on his clothes that the fact that he was pregnant wasn't so obvious anymore; she had refused to do a glamour charm saying that too many of them weren't good for the baby.

He stepped into the room. Dumbledore was sat on the far side, next to the fire which was crackling merrily. Next to him was his Transfiguration teacher, Professor Mcgonagall. Molly and Arthur Weasley were also there. Nearest to Harry, were Sirius and Remus. Both looked uneasy but were doing their best to hide it. Harry didn't blame them; they had reason to look worried. But he couldn't think about that now…

Trying not to look at both Sirius and Remus, Harry turned to Dumbledore. "You wanted to see me Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled and turned to the rest of the group. "Would you kindly let Harry and I…"

"Of course Headmaster," said Molly getting up. The rest of the group followed her out of the room. Remus walked straight passed him without a look. Sirius however, stopped.

"I think we need to talk Harry," he said quietly and Harry nodded, although he knew he wasn't going to talk with him. He couldn't talk about that.

When Sirius shut the door behind him, Harry sat down and worried his bottom lip again. He knew Dumbledore wouldn't shout at him for this – he would help him more than anything – but he would want to know just what Harry had been thinking, keeping it all to himself, just like Ron and Hermione had. He would also ask about the father.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore to find that the old man was looking straight at him, right in the eye, and Harry looked away quickly. He couldn't let Dumbledore read his mind and Harry felt that he himself wasn't up to using his own Occlumency skills right now.

Dumbledore sighed and sat down opposite Harry.

"Now, Harry, I want you to know that I am not angry with you," he said, and Harry nodded. "I am, however, concerned. You didn't even tell you're closest friends about the situation. Now I know you had reason not to," he added on seeing Harry about to protest, "but I wish you had at least told somebody. This is quite serious Harry."

Harry continued to sit quietly without looking at his Headmaster. What was he supposed to say?

"Do you know how far gone you are exactly, Harry?"

"No Sir," he answered. "I'm guessing I'm around 6 months though, like the papers say, since that was round about when I…" Harry faltered.

"Slept with the Father of your child," Dumbledore finished for him. Harry nodded, choosing not to reveal that he didn't actually know who the father was.

"Sir, why did the papers write about that?" he asked. "I don't mean to sound egotistic here or anything, but wouldn't this affect the war – everybody knowing I'm…pregnant?"

Dumbledore smiled sadly and sighed again before answering.

"You are quite right Harry," he said. "But over the passed couple of weeks The Daily Prophet has been publishing some rather personal stuff, quite a number of which are jeopardising our chances in the war. It seems the Ministry has lost control over the paper and doesn't have a say in what is published anymore. Oh, no, it hasn't got anything to do with Deatheaters," he added again on seeing Harry once more about to say something about it, "at least, I don't think it does anyway. No, they simply decided that the public had the right to know anything and everything what was going on, no matter what the consequences."

"Well that's just great," Harry muttered sarcastically.

"We have to be careful who we speak to at the Ministry now. There's a good chance information will end up being divulged to someone at the Prophet or even a Deatheater."

"There still at the Ministry?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said. "There are quite a number of them actually. The problem is, we don't know who is a Voldemort supporter or not…But we're getting off track here; this isn't what I needed to talk to you about."

"But I'm almost 17! Aren't I old enough to join the Order yet? I'm gonna find out everything anyway. And don't you think it's better to tell me what's going on before I end up doing something stupid again? It makes sense!"

"Yes, it does Harry. But I'm afraid that until you are of age and out of school, then you can not join. We wouldn't want you to be hurt or…"

"I'm going to get hurt anyway! I'm Harry bloody Potter! You know what the prophecy says; I have to kill him or the other way around!"

"We are getting off track again…"

"But this is important!" he shouted.

"Harry, you know the rules. I can not allow you or Ron or Hermione to join."

Harry opened his mouth to argue his case further, but before he could say anything a sharp pain shot across his stomach and he lurched forward in a cry of pain. He screwed his eyes tight shut and that feeling of shame came back to him. He opened his eyes to find that Dumbledore was now sitting next to him, a comforting arm around him, looking so worried and sympathetic it was hard to stay mad at him. The pain passed slowly, but the tears continued to fall down his cheeks. He was so tempted to just rest his head on the old mans shoulder, just to let himself be comforted and looked after.

"Harry, what's wrong?" he asked kindly, when he saw that Harry was still crying. Harry shook his head.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong," he said.

"It's just…"

"Yes?"

"I'm really worried. And not just about the war. I'm 6 months pregnant but I haven't been giving it much thought. I haven't been looking after myself and the baby. I haven't been resting or eating right or finding out how this birth is supposed to happen. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with the baby after it's born. I mean, I haven't got the slightest clue at all!"

"Sshh, it's ok Harry, we're here," he said soothingly, and Harry put his head on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"But I don't know how to dress the baby, or what to feed it, or how to bath it. I don't know how to look after my baby. I keep getting these pains in my stomach but I don't know what to do. I'm a terrible father! I can't even look after my baby when it's still inside me!"

Harry was well aware that he sounded like a hysterical mother but he didn't care. He allowed the tears to carry on flowing.

"Harry, you are not a terrible father, nor will you ever be," said Dumbledore kindly. "You're just new to this; new and alone. But we're here for you. All your friends are with you through this. We'll make sure you're ok. We'll all help out with the pregnancy and the baby once it's here."

Harry was quiet for a moment as the tears rolled down his cheeks. He looked up.

"Promise?" he sniffed.

"Promise," said Dumbledore with a smile, and he pulled Harry into a hug.

"Thank you," said Harry quietly, brushing his tears away.

"It's no problem at all my dear boy," he answered. "Now, first thing's first. We need to get you booked in for an appointment at the Hospital."

After Harry had calmed down, he made his way up the stairs and to his bedroom. He pulled off his clothes and snuggled into bed, thankful that the day was finally over.

He didn't feel embarrassed for breaking down in front of his Headmaster like that. If anything, he actually felt relived, refreshed, and a lot easier than he had been before. He had told Dumbledore about his fears and he had offered to help Harry in all ways possible. Harry was very grateful indeed.

He still had his doubts about all of this though, but he figured it must only be natural. Every expectant parent was going to get 'cold feet' right? And besides, he had help now.

He snuggled deeper into his bed covers, glad for the warmth and comfort they offered. He was exhausted from all the crying he had done today. He didn't think he had ever felt so emotionally drained before.

Thank you so much to all those who reviwed the last chapter! I love you all!

To that person who flamed: Can't you read? It DOES say mpreg and slash which kind of gives it away that a male is going to be having a baby. If you don't like it, don't read. Simple as. But thank you for reviewing and boosting the number of reviews all the same!