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Chapter 2: What? What?
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"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry replied.
"You mean to say that you never thought to tell your… husband… about our… relationship?" Harry laughed.
"Our relationship? What relationship? You're fucking mad Malfoy, you belong on the same ward as Gilderoy Lockhart."
"Clearly Harry didn't feel he could trust you with the truth" Draco said to Severus, who was wearing a completely bemused expression on his face, as he listened to what Draco had to say.
"Daddy I've finished my dinner" Matthew said, coming to stand by Harry. He looked over to the door where Draco and Severus were and pointed a finger. "Who's that?"
"Is that him?" Draco asked, looking at Matthew. He began to walk towards him but was stopped by Severus pushing him back. "You are not stepping foot into my house Malfoy" he said dangerously.
Draco didn't attempt to move again. Harry took Matthew's hand and pulled him behind his back away from view, before throwing an angry stare in Draco's direction.
"Get the fuck out" he said quietly, but deadly. "I don't know what game you're trying to play, but it won't work."
"I'll go. But you will be hearing from my legal representation about visiting rights to my son" Draco smirked at Harry and then turned to look at Severus, telling him "Harry and I were a couple. I dumped him when he got himself knocked up. But I've grown up a lot since then. I've decided to be a more responsible adult."
Severus closed the door in Draco's face with a bang and then looked at Harry, who was looking just as shocked and stunned as he was. Severus didn't have a clue what had just happened, his mind was completely fucked up. What on earth was going on? Was Draco telling the truth? Was he really Matthew's father? Had Harry lied to him about the muggle that got him pregnant during a short fling? Matthew was the first one to break the awkward silence in the room.
"Daddy what does fuck mean?"
"Don't say that word sweetie. I shouldn't have said it" Harry told him, bending down and kissing Matthew's head.
"Daddy who was that man?"
"Nobody for you to worry about. Could you go and play with Joe and Lil for a bit?"
"Ok" Matthew replied and he ran off.
"Harry, do you have any idea what that was about?" Severus asked as soon as Matthew was out of ear shot.
"Of course I don't. He's talking fucking rubbish."
"So he's not Matthew's real father then?"
"Severus, give me some credit. Do you really think I would sleep with Malfoy? Let alone have a relationship with him?"
"I don't know, maybe. You would have said the same thing about me before we got together. Maybe you've got a thing for Slytherins."
"Get a grip Severus" Harry shouted. "Matthew's father is a muggle. You don't… believe Malfoy do you?"
"I don't know what to believe at the moment. Why would Malfoy come here claiming to be Matthew's father when there is a very simple way of finding out whether it's true or not?"
"Don't ask me, ask him! He's twisted, he's just trying to cause trouble between us… don't… don't you trust me?"
"Are you prepared to have a paternity test carried out on Matthew?" Severus asked sternly.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"Do you really want to play into Malfoy's hands?"
"Answer the question Harry" Severus demanded. Harry shook his head, he couldn't believe his husband was taking the word of someone as evil as Malfoy over his. But if a paternity test would be the only thing to convince him, then of course he'd have Matthew do it.
"Yes" he finally replied and Severus walked off upstairs, slamming their bedroom door behind him. Harry noted that he never answered his question about trusting him.
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"You're not pregnant Mr Potter" the Healer told a stunned looking Harry.
"I'm not? Are you sure?"
"Quite sure. You've got a touch of food poisoning though. The sickness should wear off over the next few days; it's not anything that should worry you."
"Ok, thanks" Harry replied, feeling relived but also disappointed at the same time, although he didn't know why. He didn't want another baby at the moment; in fact it was the last thing he wanted. But why didn't he feel happier about the test being negative? Why wasn't he jumping for joy?
"Anything else?" the Healer asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Er, yes there is actually. Could you perform a paternity test on my son please?"
"Of course. Is he here?"
"Yes, he's sitting outside with my husband."
"Bring him in."
Harry got up from his seat and went outside the door. Severus immediately stood up from the chair he had been sitting on. He looked nervous and agitated.
"Well?" he demanded.
"No. It's just food poisoning."
"Oh… well that's… good… then."
"Yeah, it is. Um, we can bring Matthew in now."
Harry returned to the room, with Severus and Matthew in tow. The Healer asked Matthew to sit on the bed and began the paternity test. Harry and Severus sat watching, nervously. When she had finished, Matthew got down and Severus lifted him up onto his lap, kissing the top of his head. The Healer consulted a piece of parchment which had appeared from a machine on his desk. He then used his wand to extinguish it and looked at Harry and Severus.
"Do you want me to say the results out loud?" he asked, glancing at Matthew.
"Yes" Harry replied smiling, he knew what the outcome was going to be, it would be no surprise to him. Severus placed his hands over Matthew's ears, ho giggled in return, thinking they were playing a game.
"Parents are Mr Harry Potter and Mr Draco Malfoy."
The silence was deafening. Harry stared at the Healer in utter shock; Severus stared at Harry, anger boiling up inside him. He took his hands away from Matthew's ears and stood up, carrying him with him.
"No… no, please… you've… you've got it wrong" Harry pleaded, finally finding some way of talking.
"I'm sorry Mr Potter, but there is no mistake." Harry started to cry and put his head in his hands.
"I'm taking Matthew home" Severus said coldly. Harry looked back up and saw his husband looking at him with utter hatred.
"Severus, I… I didn't-"
"We can discuss this at home" he interrupted and he swept from the room.
"Mr Potter are you ok?" the Healer asked, once Severus had left. "Did you think your husband was the father of your child?"
"No… we weren't together till after he was born… um, I've got to go." Harry stood and without another word, hurried from the room after Severus and Matthew.
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As soon as they got home following a silent journey back from St Mungos, Severus asked Matthew to go to his room and he then poured himself a very generous glass of wine, drinking most of it and topping it up again. He sat himself on the sofa and looked up at Harry, who was standing in the middle of the room, watching him and looking pale and drawn.
"So is there something you want to tell me?" Severus asked.
"What do you want to hear?" Harry asked his voice cracking as he started to cry again.
"The truth would be sufficient Harry."
"Ok, Malfoy and I had a fling, we had loads of sex and he got my pregnant."
"Is that so?"
"NO! For fucks sake Severus! I don't how… I… he… he must have been using polyjuice potion or something. I swear to you, I never had sex with him."
"Are you telling me the truth?" Severus asked quietly, looking down at the floor.
Harry knelt down in front of Severus. Removing his wine glass to the coffee table, he took both of Severus' hands in his and told him to look at him, which he did.
"Severus, I am telling you the truth. I'm prepared to take veretiserum if that will put your mind at rest. Do you have any idea how I'm feeling right now? I've just found out that my son's father is a completely different person to who I thought it was. I feel physically sick just thinking about having… Malfoy…"
Harry was suddenly overcome with the need to vomit. He ran upstairs to the bathroom without excusing himself and emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He was washing out his mouth in the sink when Severus appeared at the door.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Harry, I'm so sorry I doubted you. I was just so… I don't know, it's… this is really hard."
"I know it is. But don't you see what Malfoy's trying to do? He wants to split us up, to make us miserable. Are we going to let him win?"
"Of course not" Severus replied, taking Harry into his arms and stroking his hair. "We'll get through this. We've had our fair share of heartache, and we know we're strong."
"What do you think Malfoy will do?"
"Not sure, but one things for certain, he's not the parental type. We'll fight him all the way, he won't get his hands on our son, and I promise you that."
Harry smiled up at Severus. He'd never heard him refer to Matthew as their son before. It made him feel all warm inside.
"What?" Severus asked, as Harry continued to look at him.
"Nothing, it's just… I love you."
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"Hermione's sent us a letter" Harry said, walking into the kitchen with three envelopes, Hermione's being the top one. Severus was between two high chairs, feeding Joseph and Lily their breakfast, although most of it had ended up on their face, clothes, hands and high chairs. Matthew was sat eating cereal, laughing at his little brother and sister. Harry smiled at the sight of them all, they looked so cute. The feeling quickly vanished though, as a wave of dread entered his stomach as Malfoy entered his thoughts. He still couldn't believe Malfoy had used polyjuice potion in order to have sex with him. The thought still made him feel physically ill, but he was coming to terms with it, he had to. It worried him though, what Malfoy would do next. What if he did get rights to Matthew? Shaking the worry out of his mind, he sat beside Matthew and ripped open Hermione's letter. He read it aloud:
Harry and Severus,
Arthur's funeral will be taking place this Friday. Everyone's meeting at our house at 11:30.
Molly is still very shaken up as you can imagine, but feels the funeral needs to be done asap. She's going to be staying with Ron and I for a while, The Burrow holds too many memories for her to feel comfortable with at the moment.
See you on Saturday.
Love,
Hermione x
"Are you ok?" Severus asked, as Harry fell silent and stared at the letter.
"Yeah, I still can't believe he's gone. He'd done a lot for me since I became Ron's friend. All of the Weasley's actually. I've got such a lot to be thankful for. Do you… think they'll let me say something, at the funeral?"
"I think Molly would love that Harry… so, who are the other letter from?"
"Don't know, can't recognise the handwriting" Harry said, passing them over for Severus to look at.
"Well this one is from Dumbledore" he said. "And I don't know this one."
Severus opened the unrecognisable letter and read the contents, his face becoming angrier as he did so.
"What is it?" Harry asked, as Severus ripped up the letter into tiny pieces. Severus didn't speak for a few moments.
"Malfoy… his "legal team." They say we have to go to a hearing at the Ministry this Friday… at 12."
"But… what about the funeral? We can't."
"And we're not going to. I told you Harry, Malfoy is not getting his hands on Matthew. If he thinks we're going to roll over and do as he says he's got another thing coming. I'll go and see someone later today, see what we can do to get him off our backs."
"Do you think we'll be able to?"
"I hope so. We should definitely be able to stall things for a while. If worse came to the worse we'd just have to go into hiding. Get an unplottable property like Grimmauld Place."
"You'd… do that for me?"
"For us Harry. I wouldn't trust Malfoy as far as I could throw him. If he took Matthew off somewhere for a "visit"… well, we'd probably never see him again."
Harry swallowed nervously and felt like crying. Why was Malfoy doing this to them? Would he keep pushing and pushing until they were forced to hide away from the world? A sharp pain in his side made him jump and cry out.
"What's up?" Severus asked, concerned.
"Just a stomach pain… I've been getting it since yesterday. I think it's the stress."
"You need to take it easy Harry. I'll take a few days off work."
"That would be nice… so what does Dumbledore want?"
Severus opened the letter and his face fell. He looked over to Harry who said nervously "What?"
"It's Tonks. She's been killed."
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Coming up in the next chapter: Harry and Severus attend Arthur's funeral. Will they be able to get Draco off their backs? And Harry ends up in hospital.
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(This chapter was posted on June 4th)
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