Hybrid Legacy

Chapter 14

"Daddy, I wanna put the star on top," said Michaela, holding her arms out to Draco. The ornaments were already on the tree and Harry had charmed the tree to light up. All that was left was the star.

"No, daddy, it's my turn. Kayla got to put it on last year," whined Liam, pushing Michaela out of the way.

"Why don't you let daddy put the star on this year?" asked Harry, trying to avoid an argument. He was in his fifth month of pregnancy and moving was a chore. He was constantly tired and the baby kicked all the time. Harry grunted as a little foot kicked his rib again. 'I don't think this little brat ever sleeps,' thought Harry tiredly.

"But-" they protested. At Harry's weary glare, they quickly cut off their protests and nodded resignedly. Draco took pity on them and picked them both up, letting them put the star on together. "Thank you, daddy," they said happily.

As the twins ran to the cupboard where all the wrapped gifts were stored, Draco sat beside Harry and rubbed the elf's back soothingly, easing tensed muscles. "What did Poppy say at your check-up?" he asked quietly. He hadn't been able to attend with Harry because the twins had been sick.

"She said that Iain's heart rate was a little fast, but no problems showed up on the diagnostic scan. The fetal picture was a little weird, blurry in places, but nothing major. She did say that I've gotten bigger than what she was expecting, but I'm healthy," said Harry wearily. He made Draco help him into a reclining position on the sofa with his feet in Draco's lap. Draco automatically massaged the feet in his lap, making Harry purr happily as the soreness was rubbed away. "She is a little worried that I won't make it to term because of Iain's heart rate, but she doesn't know for sure. She just said to tell you not to leave me alone until after the baby is born, just in case."

"When do you have to go back?" asked Draco, pausing with his massage.

"January 15th," said Harry, wiggling his toes demandingly to get Draco to rub his feet again. "She's hoping I'll at least make it until then before going into labour, and yes, you have to come with me."

"Any other instructions I should know about?" asked Draco seriously. For Harry's sake, he dearly hoped that he didn't go into labour until his due date, but he wasn't counting on it. Not if Poppy was worried. He should at least make it through the holidays with no problems. Christmas was only a week away.

The twins ran back into the room carrying an armful of wrapped gifts to set under the tree. Once they'd set their current load down, they immediately set off to grab another armful. Within ten minutes, the cupboard had been emptied of gifts and placed under the tree for Christmas.

"I can't wait for Christmas," said Michaela excitedly. "My grandpa's better get me lots of good presents."

"Me neither," said Liam, staring at the gifts longingly, just itching to tear the wrapping off the brightly coloured boxes. "Our grandpa's always get us lots of presents."

"Christmas is just six days away, and it's your bedtime," said Harry, carefully maneuvering to a sitting position. He waited until Draco stood, then held out his arms for Draco to pull him off the sofa.

Just then the fireplace flared to life and Severus and Remus stepped through. Remus immediately went and hugged the twins, offering to read them a bedtime story, and followed them to their room. Severus saw Draco pulling Harry off the sofa and smirked.

"Harry, you know that you are getting fat when you can't even get off the sofa on your own," said Severus teasingly. He really should have known better.

Harry didn't say anything at all. He just waved his wand and Severus disappeared. Where he had been standing sat a little white mouse. Before the mouse could move, Harry stupefied it and accioed the mouse into his hands. He calmly walked over to Ryoku's nest, ignoring Draco's frantic protests, and placed the mouse with the snake.

"Ryoku, thisss isss Ssseverusss, ssso don't eat him. Jussst ssscare him a bit," he hissed to his familiar.

"Yesss, Massster. I will not eat the moussse," hissed Ryoku, staring hungrily at the mouse as Harry lifted the stupefy hex.

"Don't let Sssamya eat him either," hissed Harry quietly, staring sternly at the snake until he nodded before leaving Severus to his fate. It was really too bad that Draco didn't speak Parseltongue because he was desperately trying to grab Severus out, jerking his hand back quickly when Ryoku hissed warningly at him.

"Harry, you can't leave Severus in there. He'll get eaten," he shouted, hurrying after the irate elf.

Harry sighed softly and turned to face his frantic husband. "Calm down, Draco. Ryoku knows that the mouse is Severus and promised not to eat him. And no, I will not change him back at the moment because he deserves the torment for picking on me like that."

"He was just teasing you, Harry," said Draco, trying to placate his pregnant spouse. He flinched away from the furious glare Harry turned on him.

"Draco dearest, let me enlighten you on something. No one wants to be told they are so fat they have to be helped off the sofa especially when they are in that position because they are pregnant. I already feel fat and ugly right now. I do not need anyone to throw it in my face, thank you very much," he ended with a shout. He took a deep breath and let the air out slowly, forcibly calming down. "If you are so worried about him, you go rescue him."

"I tried," muttered Draco. "That damn snake wouldn't let me near him."

"That's my Ryoku," said Harry fondly.

"What's going on out here?" asked Remus, opening the door to the twins' bedroom.

"Harry turned Severus into a mouse," said Draco quickly, tattling on Harry. "But that's not all, Remus. Then he put him in Ryoku's nest."

"Harry, you turned Severus into a mouse and gave him to your snake?" asked Remus incredulously. At the stubborn look on Harry's face, Remus took off towards the living room to rescue his mate.

Draco grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him back to the living room. They were just in time to see Remus growl threateningly at Ryoku and snatch Severus from the nest. Remus quickly reverted Severus back to his human form, revealing an ashen Potion's Master.

"Severus, what did you say to Harry?" asked Remus calmly, now that the crisis had been averted. Severus stubbornly kept his mouth shut, refusing to answer the question.

"He called Harry fat. Again," said Draco helpfully, hiding a smile as Severus glared at him for his betrayal.

"Really, Severus, you should have known better," said Remus with a long-suffering sigh. "You do remember your time as a toad from the last time you said that Harry was fat while he was pregnant. You're just lucky his familiar is well behaved."

Severus stubbornly remained silent. Remus rolled his eyes at his mate's obduracy and quickly hugged Harry and Draco before ushering Severus to the fireplace. "We'll be back on Christmas Day, Harry. Don't turn anyone else into a mouse," said Remus cheerfully before disappearing with a whoosh of green flames.

DHDH

The twins woke up bright and early on Christmas Day and ran to wake up their parents. They were eager to open their gifts and the sooner the better. "Mummy! Daddy! Wake up!" they yelled, startling Harry and Draco from their sleep.

"What time is it?" mumbled Harry sleepily.

"It's 6:00 so get up," said Michaela imperiously. "We're hungry and we want to open gifts."

"Go 'way. I'm still tired," muttered Harry, pulling the blanket over his head.

Draco climbed out of the bed and walked over to Harry's side. Pulling the blanket off of Harry, he lifted Harry out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. "Go eat breakfast while we take a bath. Just tell Dobby what you want," said Draco.

"Alright, daddy, but hurry," said Michaela, pouting slightly at the delay. The twins ran to the kitchen, leaving Draco and Harry to their bath.

"I can walk, you know," said Harry quietly as Draco continued to carry him.

"I like carrying you, even when you're pregnant," said Draco, sitting him carefully on the edge of the bathtub while he adjusted the water. As soon as the bath was full, he helped Harry into the bath and climbed in behind him.

"Hmmm," purred Harry as he relaxed against Draco's chest and let the warm water soak into his skin. He purred even more when Draco rubbed his belly with firm, circular strokes, squirming slightly to get more contact. He absolutely loved this part of pregnancy.

DHDH

"It's about time you two showed up," said Lucius with a knowing smirk.

"Shut up," said Harry, rolling his eyes at the blonde. He saw the twins staring at the presents again and smiled. "Are we ready to open gifts?"

"Yess!" cried the twins, bouncing excitedly.

"Draco, you get to hand out gifts," said Harry, settling onto the sofa.

Draco obediently went to the pile of gifts and picked up a silver and gold wrapped gift. He read the tag handed the gift to Michaela. "That's from your Grandpa Lucius." He handed the next gift to Liam. "That's from your Aunt Hermione." Before long, he'd handed out all the gifts and settled beside Harry to open his own. Before he could tear the wrapping off even the first gift, Harry cupped his face and pulled him down into a deep, loving kiss. "What was that for?" he asked when he finally broke free to breathe.

"Thank you, Draco," said Harry, stroking the silver phoenix chick resting on his belly. "I know you had to have searched hard for an air phoenix."

"Well, actually, I was asking Albus if he knew where to look and Fawkes landed on my shoulder and teleported us to this mountain covered in snow. He then led me to a nest of silver phoenixes with six eggs. I don't know what exactly happened, but one of the phoenixes pushed an egg towards me and let me pick it up. Then Fawkes perched on my shoulder again, teleporting us back to Hogwarts. That phoenix really likes you, elf," said Draco fondly.

"Ooh, mummy, how pretty," cooed Michaela, staring at the baby phoenix with awe. This little phoenix looked nothing like Dublydore's red and gold phoenix. This phoenix was silver and blue and so tiny. "Whatcha gonna name 'em?"

Before Harry could respond to his daughter's question, the little phoenix perked up and a cold wind blew through the room, carrying frost in the air. "Harry, you should really name that bird Kaikias," said Lucius calmly, pulling his robes closer around his body. "That was the god of northeast wind, and he was the bearer of coldness and blizzards."

"Kaikias it is then," said Harry, petting the phoenix on the head. He waited impatiently for Draco to open the gift he'd bought.

Draco jumped when the box that Harry had given him moved on it's own. He hesitantly opened the box and peered inside. He slowly reached into the box and pulled out a bird-sized dragon with no arms. "Uh, elf, isn't it illegal to own dragons?" asked Draco, nervously watching the barbed tail swing about lazily.

"That's not a dragon, Draco," said Harry softly.

Severus suddenly gasped in realization. "Where in the world did you get a wyvern, Harry?"

"It was totally by accident," said Harry quickly. "I was thinking about what I should get Draco for Christmas and a portal opened in front of me. I guess I was thinking about it a little too hard, yeah? Anyway, I went through the portal and ended up in a forest high up on a mountain. I looked around and came across a nest of what I thought was dragons, but they were way too small. One of the eggs in the nest fell out of the tree and I managed to catch it before it hit the ground. When I tried to put it back in the nest, the other wyverns wouldn't let me so I brought it home and did a little research. That's when I discovered that it was a wyvern, and no, they aren't illegal to own. Of course, that's probably because they are very rare and most people don't know how to find them."

"Can we name him, daddy?" chorused the twins.

"Well, actually, the wyvern is female. You can tell by the shape of the tail. Females always have sharper barbs than males because they protect their young," said Harry quickly.

"Oh, name him Kaida," said Lucius. "That means little dragon in Japanese."

"I like it, daddy," said Liam excitedly. "Now we have mummy's snakes, Ryoku and Samya, my snake Nyoka, Kayla's crup Cheyenne, mummy's phoenix Kaikias, and daddy's wyvern Kaida."

"Yes, you have your own little zoo, and the stars of the show are Michaela and Liam," said Severus teasingly.

"Hey!" cried the twins. "We're not animals."

"Just imps," said Draco fondly.

"Well, now that the gifts have been opened, I think it's time for lunch. I, for one, am starving," said Harry, rubbing his swollen tummy. Draco helped him off the sofa, and Severus, for once in his life, managed to keep his snide comments to himself.

They were all quickly seated in the dining room, filling their plates with Christmas favourites. All in all, this had been a very memorable Christmas with three new additions to the family: Keegan, Kaikias, and Kaida.