WARNING: Same as first chapter.
SUMMARY: Same as first chapter.
Speechlessness
"Hello, Papa," the voice of the little child said as he was being held by the speechless blonde. Soon, tiny arms wrapped around his neck and a small pair of lips connected with his cheek. "Daddy, I think you bwoke him," James said with concern as he looked at the shell-shocked man still carrying him.
"Well it was bound to happen sooner or later," Harry said nonchalantly.
"How…" Draco finally spoke, though barely.
"You know how you used to say that I was just full of surprises. Just think of James as one of those surprises," Harry smiled.
"Supwise," James gleefully chimed before clapping his hands together happily.
"Alright James," Harry said as he lifted the child out of Draco's arms. "I think it's time for you to clean up your mess," he said as he put James on the ground.
"But Daddy-"
"And when you're done, you can have your nap."
"But I na tired," James said as he scratched his head.
"James Sirius Potter," Harry said in a no-nonsense tone.
"Yes, Daddy," the boy said dejectedly.
"We'll be in my room if you need me."
"Okay."
With that said, Harry pulled Draco out of the child's room and then entered another room at the end of the hall. The moment Harry closed the door, Draco seemed to find his voice again.
"This isn't possible. How is this even possible?" Draco asked, more to himself than Harry, as he paced the room. "I mean, I know it's possible but male pregnancies are very rare, and you would have to be an extremely powerful wizard to even carry it to term."
"Hello, I'm not the saviour of the wizarding world for nothing, you know," Harry said more factually than boastingly as he leaned on one of the bedposts.
"Why did you never tell me about him? What is he, two, two and a half years old?"
"He just turned two a few months ago. He actually shares the same birthday as his namesake."
"Why did it take you so long to tell me about him?" Draco repeated himself, his anger flaring as he rushed at Harry.
"When exactly was I going to tell you? You are a hard man to get a hold of Draco Malfoy. If it wasn't for the papers following your every move, I wouldn't have found you today."
"Are you telling me that you never knew you were pregnant before we broke up?"
"I knew. When I went on that trip to France for one of my Auror assignments, I got into a little bit of an accident and was sent to the hospital. They told me that I was fine after telling me that I was a few months pregnant. That's why I was gone for those extra days."
"Extra days. I seem to recall you coming back right on schedule to promptly leave me?"
"Leave you? You make it sound like I had a choice. Don't forget that you were the one who had my bags already packed by the time I came back."
"You must have selective memory-"
"I don't want to argue with you about this, especially not with James so close by. I brought you here so you can meet your son and you have. Do with the information what you will. I don't need your help to raise him. I've done just fine by myself so far. You can be a part of his life if you wish to or not, I don't really care except for James. He's seen you now. He knows who you are. He won't forget you anytime soon. I know you have a new life with your fiancée, so I won't keep you from it any longer. Goodbye."
"Goodbye? You expect me to just leave after telling me something like this?"
"You don't have much of a choice," Harry said as he glanced over Draco's shoulder.
Just as Draco was about to retort, the chime from the clock behind him sounded. Before he knew what was happening, he felt the familiar jerk behind his navel and he was suddenly being whisked away, out of the cottage in the middle of nowhere.
Landing back on the steps of Gringotts bank, Draco was promptly met with the last person he wanted to see to right now.
"Draco darling, where have you been?" The brunette asked him as she exited the bank. "I've been waiting for you for over an hour."
"Astoria, I don't have time for this right now. I need to get in contact with someone."
"Yeah, the goblin from the bank. Maybe if we go in there together, we can finally get our vaults joined," Astoria said as she wrapped her arms around his.
"Not now, I have more important things to do," Draco said, pulling his arm out of her grip as he started down the steps.
"More important than finally merging our families. If we don't do this today than my father will have an aneurism and that wouldn't be a pleasant sight during our wedding."
"Then I guess there won't be a wedding," Draco said nonchalantly as he continued walking.
"Wait! Hold on a second," Astoria said in a panic as she rushed in front of him. "What do you mean there won't be a wedding. Draco, darling, we've been planning this thing for years now-"
"Almost three," Draco corrected.
"-and all of a sudden, you want to call it off. I thought we had an arrangement."
"No, you and my mother had an arrangement. I couldn't care less if I was marrying you as long as I got an heir out of it. But it looks like I don't need you for that anymore," Draco said before walking around her.
"What is that supposed to mean," Astoria called out desperately as the blonde walked away.
Leaving Astoria behind to stew in his parting words, Draco started searching his pocket for his wand, only to have his fingers brush up against a fuzzy object instead. When Draco pulled it out, it was to find the same stuffed animal Harry had placed in his hand at the steps of Gringotts. Looking at it more closely, Draco could see that it was a long black and white animal, a ferret if he were to guess correctly.
Draco got the hint loud and clear. James won't be needing the toy anymore if it wasn't going to be attached to the life-sized version.
As he walked out of The Leaky Cauldron, Draco knew he couldn't just apparate to Harry's cottage again. For starters, Harry had already said that he blocked the ability to apparate onto his property. Besides, Draco didn't know where the cottage was to apparate to it. That only left him with one option, and he was not looking forward to that conversation.
The moment Draco landed, he could spot the lopsided house that only managed to be standing due to the dozens of spells cast on it to keep it from crumbling to the ground. The Burrow hadn't changed a bit since the last time he was here over three years ago. As he walked up to the makeshift house, the anxiety Draco felt after first landing on the property turned into determination.
He would be getting what was his, no matter what anyone said.
Draco could hear chaos on the other side of the door, even before he knocked. He was about to knock again, unsure if anyone heard him through the ruckus taking place on the other side, when the door was suddenly thrown open and a familiar head of red hair greeted him. Only, this head of hair belonged to a different Weasley than he was used to dealing with.
"Well if it isn't Mr. Malfoy. Come to wreak havoc on more of our family's lives?"
"Only if I'm lucky," Draco smiled sarcastically. "Is Ronald here?"
"Percy, whoever it is, let them in before the gnomes find their way into the house again," the voice of Molly called out before she added. "The last thing I need is for those things to wreck the house the day before Ron's big day," she mumbled as Percy let the smirking blonde into the house. "Ron, make sure you take your father's blue cufflinks, not the white one!" The redheaded woman called out towards the stairs."
"Mom, the whole 'something borrowed and something blue' applies to the bride, not the groom," Ron's voice sounded into the living room. His body dashed down the stairs two seconds later, only to freeze in his tracks the moment he saw the blonde. "What is he doing here?" Ron all but growled.
"Draco, what a surprise. I thought you'd be with Harry by now."
Draco, silent for only a second, knew he shouldn't be surprised that the matriarch of the Weasley clan knew about Harry's plans. She was practically Harry's surrogate mother by the time Voldemort was defeated. Of course she would have known about James and who his other father was. She also would have been privy to Harry's plan to surprise Draco with the news of his not-so-much impending fatherhood.
"No, Mrs. Weasley," Draco said as he walked up to the kind woman. "The Portkey took me back the way I came before that could happen. Unfortunately, I don't know where Harry lives to continue our conversation. You wouldn't happen to know how to get there, would you?"
"There is no way I'm going to let you anywhere near him after what you did the last time you two were together," Ron growled as he rushed up between his mother and Draco.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley," Molly reprimanded. "It was Harry's choice to go to Draco and tell him the truth. It has been since the beginning. I'm only surprised Harry put a return-to-sender spell on the Portkey. He had seemed so determined," she said as she turned from her son and walked into the kitchen with Draco and Ron following. "There is a spell Ronald uses to get to Harry's cottage. Hermione created it when Harry moved in, she's so clever," she gushed as she started searching through cupboards. "Harry didn't want anyone knowing that he was a Carrier, you see. He didn't want all of the attention, the poor boy. We offered to let him stay with us, but he refused. He wanted to be away from the wizarding world."
"After what Malfoy did to him, can you blame him?" Ron scowled.
"Ronald!" Molly snapped as she turned to her irate son.
"Mrs. Weasley, if you don't mind. I'd like to borrow your son for a moment. There seems to be some misconceptions that need to be cleared up before I head over to Harry's place."
"Of course, dear," she said calmly before watching Draco and her youngest son walk out of the kitchen.
"Just so you know, spells don't work inside the house, so if you're planning on jinking me, you're out of luck."
"I have no intention of jinking you, but I need you and Hermione to know something. Is she here as well?"
"Upstairs, in Ginny's room trying on her dress," Ron said hesitantly, though knowing that if Draco tried anything, Hermione would be able to defend herself.
Walking up the stairs with Draco behind him, Ron wondered if he was doing the right thing. When Harry and Draco had started seeing each other after the wizarding war, Ron had been hesitant to trust the blonde. Over some time, with Harry and Hermione's reassurance, the red head had finally started getting used to the little ferret to the point of defending him to his little sister. But after it turned out that Ginny had been right all along, that Draco had just been using Harry to get his reputation back for his family, Ron vowed never to trust the ferret again. Now he was here, in his house, and Ron was begrudgingly helping him get back into Harry's life.
Was he going insane?
"I must warn you that if you hurt Harry again, I will have no qualms about killing you," Ron said before knocking on the door he stopped in front of. "Are you decent in there Hermione? I need to come inside. There's someone out here who needs to talk to us."
"Yes, I'm decent. The dress looks gorgeous by the way. It fits beautifully. Now I don't know whether to wear my mother's dress or the one I bought."
"Just do eeny, meeny, miny, moe to figure it out. I know you'll look beautiful in either one," Ron said as he walked up to Hermione.
"You're so helpful," Hermione said with a small smile before they greeted each other with a brief kissed her on the lips. "Draco. I didn't expect you to be here so soon. Is Harry downstairs?"
"No he's not. He put a return-to-sender spell on the Portkey before we could resolve things," the blonde said as he lifted the stuffed ferret out of his pocket, "and I need to get back."
"He expects us to help him walk back into Harry's life after what he did," Ron explained.
"I didn't do anything to Harry. He left me," Draco defended.
"You actually expect us to believe that, Malfoy. We saw the memory," Ron said as he got up in the blonde's face. "We saw how you had his bags already packed outside your apartment when he came back a few days late. We heard you, every disgusting thing you said to him. We saw how you broke his heart and enjoyed it while you were doing it," he finished with a disgusted look on his face as he pinned a shocked Draco to the wall.
"I don't know what memory you saw, but that's not what happened. I want to set things straight. Harry said the same thing as you did, that he came back home a few days late. But that's not what happened, at least that's not what I remember happening."
"And you expect us to believe you over Harry?"
"No, not me. My memory. You said that you saw Harry's memory of that day?"
"Yes," Hermione chimed in before Ron could say anything. "He was too distraught to say anything so we used a Pensieve to see what happened. I still have the memory."
"You still have it?" Ron asked, shocked.
"Yes. I have it with me somewhere in my bag," she said as she started searching through the little bag Draco remembered she carried everywhere with her. "Here it is."
Pulling out her hand, Hermione held a small vial with the tell-tale cloud-like liquid before walking over to the closet. When she opened the doors, Ron and Draco spotted a small table with the Pensieve on it. She uncorked the vial and poured the liquid inside before turning to her companions.
"Shall we?" Hermione said as she pulled out her wand.
Without another word, both Ron and Draco pulled out their wands and walked over to the basin. Then one by one, they touched the tip of their wands against the surface of the liquid and were transported to Harry's memories of three years ago.
End of Chapter: Speechlessness