Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic/Raincoast; the title is from "Kiss Me Slowly" by Parachute. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warning(s): Nothing graphic is shown "on screen," so I didn't use the archive warnings, but it could be triggery for rape and assault.

Additional warnings for gender-bending and for Harry being stupid.

Additional notes: This was written and posted as part of the 2012 HD Holidays fic/art exchange on livejournal. My giftee was Amythystluna, who gave me such a fantastic set of prompts. I'm sorry I wasn't able to use them as plentifully nor in as much detail as I wanted.

Thanks also to my beta readers and to the fest mods for their patience and general awesomeness.

Originally posted for the 2012 hd-holidays fest on livejournal; posted on FF 26 Feb. '13

When the Time Comes

Chapter Seven

It had taken nearly a week for Harry to decide Ron was right and to work up the courage to contact Draco, but he had. Harry raised a hand to ring the bell to Draco's flat, trying to project more confidence than he felt.

Even before he pressed it, the door opened and Draco appeared wearing a coat and scarf, obviously on his way out.

"Holly." Draco sounded as though he'd discovered the temperature outside to be off from the forecast by exactly one degree.

"Hi. May I come in?" He braced himself for a sarcastic retort.

Draco looked as though he were considering it, but he simply nodded and held open the door. This time, when they entered the flat, he didn't take off his jacket, so Harry got straight to the point. "You were right."

"Yes, I was."

He didn't say anything else, and Harry knew that he wouldn't. Draco had given Harry his conditions, and it was up to Harry to meet them if he wanted this chance. "I'm not a woman. That's what the potion does, transforms you into the opposite sex. So, it wasn't trauma; it was mostly guilt."

Draco nodded, then gestured toward the door. "Let's go."

It was better than 'get out,' but Harry was disappointed. Draco stopped him before he reached the door, however. "Do you have gloves?"

Harry checked his pockets then shook his head. "No. Why?"

Draco rummaged through a bin in the cupboard and emerged with a pair of sturdy gloves. "You'll want these. It's uncomfortable carrying branches without them."

Harry stared at Draco, very confused, and Draco laughed.

"I said I was willing to wait to hear your name, and I am. I'm also willing to wait for the rest of the details of your life. I just need you to be willing to share those details as they become relevant." He gave Harry the sort of light, quick kiss he usually reserved for greetings but came back quickly for a second, and this one was long and deep.

"Come on," Draco said, trying for the breezy tone he'd been using earlier but too breathless to pull it off. "If we don't leave soon, all the best trees will be gone."

Draco put Harry in charge of setting out the branches they'd brought to lay out on the mantle and tables in the sitting room, while he started organizing the ornaments for the tree. Harry didn't think anything of it, until Draco asked, in a very odd tone, what his colour was.

He turned to find Draco pouting with a yellow glass ball in one hand and a green one in the other. The red and the blue were still in the box beside him. Harry laughed. "You think I was in Hufflepuff?"

"You mean you weren't?"

"Draco!" The Floo flared, and Greg's head appeared. "Thank Merlin you're there!"

Draco had put the ornaments down and had his head in the fireplace before he'd finished speaking. "What's wrong?"

"It's Padma. She's in pain – we think it's labour, and no one can find Potter."

Harry instinctively reached for his message mirror and realized with horror that he'd left it at his flat.

"I convinced her to let me bring her to St. Mungo's, but she's got it into her head that if Potter's not here they won't make it." Greg wiped a hand over his face. "It's too early, Draco."

"Go to your wife. I'll be there in a minute." Greg closed the connection without saying another word, and Draco turned to Harry.

"I have to go. You can stay, if you want, or I can–"

"I'm going with you."

"Holly –"

"Draco." Harry caught Draco's gaze and held it, speaking deliberately. "I'm going with you." He caught the watch strap and released his wand, touching the tip to his throat. "Vera forma." He felt Holly melt away and stood, for the first time, facing his boyfriend as Harry Potter.

Draco's face was expressionless and told Harry even less than his perfectly even words. "After you," he said, and made a sweeping gesture towards the fireplace.

Grateful that the jeans and jumper he'd been wearing were sufficiently unisex that he wouldn't cause a stir at the hospital, Harry stepped into the fireplace.

The babies were small, but not dangerously so, with all the requisite parts functioning as they should.

Paperwork completed but for their names, Harry checked which room Padma had been assigned.

Draco, seated next to the bed, one of the babies asleep in his arms, Padma on the bed, cradling the other. Greg stood next to her, looking a bit overwhelmed.

"Thank you, Harry."

"You did all the work. I'm just grateful I was able to be there to help."

"We have a favour to ask."

"Of course."

"We'd like you to be godfather to this little one." Padma indicated the baby she held.

"God, Padma, that's not a favour, that's… an honour. I'd be honoured. Thank you." Harry reached out to touch the cap on her head. "Does she have a name?"

Padma looked up at Greg, and they both smiled. "It's a tradition in my family," Greg said, "that children are named for their godparents." Harry tried to contain his grimace, but Padma, Greg, and even Draco laughed. "Exactly," Padma continued, "Not only will there be a record number of Harrys and Harriets at Hogwarts in ten years, I know you hate it. So we'd like you to name her."

Harry tried to think of something meaningful and appropriate.

"Helena."

Padma gave him a watery smile, and Greg nodded.

Harry pulled out a quill to enter the names on the birth certificates.

Helena Parvati and Holly Zaria.

He started slightly when Greg spoke the second and directed a sidelong glance at Draco. If Draco had named his goddaughter – and his small smile and the name itself suggested he had – then maybe things weren't so bleak after all.

"I have to cancel; I'm sorry." It would have been the first time seeing each other since the hospital. Draco had called him a couple of days after their goddaughters were born; it had been a brief, awkward conversation, but when it ended, they'd agreed to meet. It wasn't supposed to be more than coffee, but 'sorry' didn't begin to cover the regret he felt. "Andromeda needs me to babysit Teddy. I would have refused, but he's ill, and she had him through the Floo before I could say anything."

There was a long silence, and Harry grew very nervous. He was surprised, however, by Draco's response. "Perhaps I could meet you there?"

Teddy was buried under blankets on the sofa reading quietly when the knock sounded. Harry took a deep breath before drying his hands on a towel and another before opening the door to admit Draco.

His mouth was neither curved in the warm smile he would have received as Holly nor tight with the slight sneer he usually directed at Harry, and his eyes were serious but not cold.

"Hello." Harry said, somewhat belatedly. "Please come in."

The corner of Draco's lip twitched, and he stepped in, but before Harry could offer to take his coat, his arms were pulling Harry close, his lips were on Harry's, and Harry was trying desperately not to cry. It wasn't anything but a gentle, quick kiss of greeting, but it was more than Harry had hoped for and more than he deserved.

"Hello," he said again, smiling warmly.

"Hello," Draco replied, and if his smile hinted at a smirk, well, he was Draco Malfoy.

"Are you Harry's boyfriend?"

Teddy had left his cocoon and was staring at them from the door to the sitting room.

Before Harry could think of an answer, Draco spoke. "Yes, I am." He turned back to Harry to see his reaction – a bright grin – before addressing Teddy again. "My name is Draco."

"I have a cousin named Draco."

Draco looked to Harry again as though he were looking for permission to tell the truth before replying. "Well, that's a coincidence; I have a cousin named Teddy."

Teddy pulled a face at Draco's teasing. "Are you my cousin Draco?"

"Yes, I am. It's very nice to meet you." Teddy extended a small, slightly sticky hand, and Draco shook it.

The ritual of good manners that his grandmother insisted upon completed, Teddy had more questions. "How come I haven't met you before?"

"There were a number of reasons – grown-up reasons," he added when Teddy was going to interrupt and press for more detail, "why I wasn't here." He smiled at Harry turning back to Teddy. "But I think we're going to try to change that."