Warning: There is talk of past stillbirth in this chapter. It's a very sad one, but I think it really brings Kat and Draco together in their grief. Since this warning explains the major part of the chapter, it's totally skippable if you don't feel comfortable reading it. The last two chapters are much happier, I promise.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 3 Not her Baby

"You cheated on her!" Daphne roared, tears already pouring out of her eyes. "You cheated on her as she lay dying."

"Actually," Potter tried. Daphne rounded on her as Draco shakily stood up.

Her lips curled into a hateful snarl. "That-that bastard you're carrying is a result of pathetic weakness! Did you know she was dying? You fucking whore! Because he's wearing his wedding ring! So obviously you knew that much! How are you going to explain to that little bastard that—"

Potter dealt with Daphne with a Hogtie Hex. Unfortunately, it did not include an apple as Daphne hurled hateful swear after swear at them. With a hurtful look that he couldn't quite decipher, Potter apparated.

"But… she didn't tell me," Daphne said softly. Mother was the only one she would listen to. What a birthday this turned out to be. Draco sent a house elf to buy the damned garnet earrings. Mother could be petty like that.

Draco rubbed at his ever-burning eyes. The Manor was silent, as usual lately. But this silence made him feel uneasy. "She didn't tell me either. She left me a letter, for after…"

"But it was a wonderful gift she left you." Mother paused to glare at Daphne. Draco had yet to bother to treat the bruise forming on his jaw. Physical pain was almost a nice change, compared to the usual pain. "Both of you."

Daphne wiped her eyes. She was about as much of a mess as Draco was. "I need to apologize to Potter."

"Really?" Draco drawled. "What about my jaw?"

But Daphne was already hooked on the last piece of Astoria. Her eyes glazed a bit as they pictured the fantasy. "Think he'll look like her?"

"Let's go." Draco just wanted to go to bed. A good twelve hour nap would do him some good. Maybe Potter could latch on to Daphne, and then, she would stop trying to mother him.

The only problem was that Potter blocked off her floo.

Draco apparated over the next day, but Potter didn't answer the door. He had no idea where anyone else in her life lived. Black had Grimmauld torn down. Two walls remained, actually. The one with his mother's portrait, and the one with the family tapestry. The magic within them would not allow them to be destroyed. He got in trouble with the Ministry for that one. Draco remembered reading about it in the paper.

Potter,

Daphne didn't know. Now she does. Stop being so melodramatic.

Draco

Draco,

I'm not mad. I guess you can come over.

Katherine

P.S. Tell your mum I'm sorry about her birthday.

"Like hell I will," Draco muttered. She had yet to take off those stupid earrings. With a deep breath, he grabbed a fist full of floo powder and headed over to Potter's.

"What are you eating?" he said in disgust. Potter paused with a fist full of orange balls about in inch away from her open mouth.

"Cheeseballs." Her cheeks turned a bit pink, and she threw them back into the giant, plastic tub. "I eat when I'm upset… Luna says I need to lay off the cheeseballs."

"Right… I thought you said you weren't mad." Draco suppressed a gag when she wiped her hands on her pants.

"Upset," Potter corrected.

"Why?" he asked coolly. He wasn't stupid. He knew why. Daphne was a bloody troll. Or it could be that he didn't tell Daphne, or anyone besides his parents for that matter, about the baby. It was probably the latter. Potter squirmed in discomfort. "I'm not a bloody mind reader, Potter."

Potter looked at the cheeseballs as if they could help her. "Because I wish Daphne was right."

"Excuse me?" he yelled before he could stop himself. She wished he cheated on Astoria?

"That it's my baby," Potter said quietly. "You said I'd be like his mum. Like his mum. So when he's a thirteen year old little snot, he's going to be like You're not my mum. And it already hurts, and he hasn't even said it yet!"

Draco frowned. He's his son, so he's definitely going to say it. But… "He's Astoria's son." Draco bit his lip. Biologically. "So he's not going to say it."

Potter snorted. "He's your son. He's going to say it." She opened the cheeseball container and popped one in her mouth. "The healers told Story that I was a bad candidate. I was in that grief group because I had a miscarriage when I was nineteen. I never got over it… Anyway, she was insistent that I be the one. I didn't mind not being the sprog's mum though."

"Until she died," Draco said flatly. Who knew Astoria was such a mastermind? Lately, Draco felt like he didn't know her at all.

Potter shrugged. "That's why Sirius is up my arse all the time. He was so mad, back then. I didn't even know who the dad was. Said I was throwing my life away. Then a few… a few weeks later…"

Although the sofa was covered in junk food crumbs, Draco forced himself to sit next to her. "I'll tell Daphne to stuff it and not bring it up again."

"Thanks, Malfoy." Potter looked at all the food surrounding her. "I can't believe I ate this much in two days." Then, she grinned. "Alright, yes I can."

Draco thinned his lips. After all these years of rivalry, this was painful. "Call me Draco."

Potter stared for a moment and then pumped her fist in the air. "Wohoo! You can call me Miss Potter."

"I prefer the Chosen One."

"Ugh!" But she was smiling, at least. "Thanks Draco."

Draco occasionally saw Potter after that, when he could bring himself to get out of bed. Most of the times, it was through a manipulation of Mother's or Potter… Katherine would lie and say that it was Edward's birthday, and he was invited to the party. In Potter's seventh month, she became a bit… erratic.

Her hands became raw from washing them so much. She refused to eat any dessert or fried food, a stark contrast to the cheeseball incident. She meticulously kept track of how often the baby kicked and even dragged him to the hospital a few times when she decided that the kick count was too low, or even too high. By the fourth time, Draco had had enough.

"I need to go." Now she was starting to cry. Great. "What if he's having a seizure?"

"You just had juice." Draco was nearly whining at this point. It was nine o'clock at night. "Which has a lot of sugar… fuck…"

"What if he has diabetes?" Katherine's tear filled eyes were bulging. "What if I have diabetes?"

"You are not going," Draco said firmly. Of course that only led Katherine to charge for the floo. The emergency staff always fell for her shit because of her celebrity. This must have to do with her telling him about her previous loss. The confession must have brought on a lot of bad memories. With a growl, he grabbed his coat and followed to make an appointment with Lovegood.

"You should have told me." Lovegood was somber, not her usual dreamy, high looking self. "Kat, you know you couldn't prevent that from happening."

Katherine wouldn't look at her. "It's going to be different this time."

"Yes," Lovegood pressed. "Because what happened to your baby was very rare. It was a freak accident."

"Don't use that word!" Katherine shrieked, causing Draco to take a step back. "And if I hadn't eaten so much junk food, he wouldn't have been so active and—"

"That's not true," Lovegood said gently. "You weren't eating too much junk food, and it didn't matter how much he moved. He just moved the wrong way."

Katherine started to shake but refused to let herself cry. "He would have been born alive if I had went to hospital sooner… As soon as he stopped moving…"

"The umbilical cord broke his neck. In a way that caused him to die instantly." Lovegood put a hand on Katherine's arm, which she ripped away. Meanwhile, Draco felt his heart sink . He would have been born alive. Katherine didn't have a miscarriage. She had a stillbirth. Perhaps she thought that calling it a miscarriage made it less devastating. Clearly it hadn't.

Katherine shook her head, but stared passed Lovegood, at the wall. Is that what he looked like? When he sat in his room for hours on end, staring at nothing.

"I'm going to write you a prescription," Lovegood said quietly. Then, she added quickly, "It's perfectly safe. Would you like a scan before you go?"

Katherine finally met Lovegood's eye and forced herself to nod. When she lifted up her shirt, Draco saw a light pink scar at the base of her abdomen, and everything clicked as he saw the image of his very much alive son. This started when she was at seven months. That must have been when she had lost her baby.

How could Astoria do this to her?

Draco,

I'm craving the roast we had at your mum's delayed birthday dinner. She said she'd have the house elves make it! Told you I'm the favorite.

Katherine

P.S. I saw a foot this morning!

Draco sighed but almost laughed. Mother adored Katherine. Father called her The Incubator.

It took a week on that potion Lovegood prescribed before Katherine went back to sending him the stupid notes. This would be the first time he saw her since the incident, and he still felt like an intruder. When he called Lovegood to make the appointment, he referred to the "miscarriage" as a loss. Lovegood must have assumed he knew the whole story. Katherine hadn't said anything since.

"Look at you!" Mother greeted her with a hug, which clearly made Katherine uncomfortable. Father looked incredibly board. "You have what? Ten weeks to go?"

"Nine," Katherine said uncomfortably as Mother put her hand over her belly. Draco found himself smirking, the closet thing he had to a genuine smile in a long time. He wondered if she regretted coming over.

"Time sure flies," Mother said quietly as she led Katherine to the dining room. "I really wish you would come over more often, darling."

"Yeah." Katherine forced herself to smile. "Draco says he doesn't like fat people."

Draco rolled his eyes, but Mother cast him a dark look, as if he was the one who made the joke. She tucked her arm in Katherine's making sure she couldn't escape. "Well I have a lot of questions for you, dearest. The baby will be here soon."

"Here we go," Father muttered. Draco had a feeling this was going to be a long dinner.

Sirius was up her ass. That was the real reason Kat wanted to come over. She was thirty one weeks along. Nine weeks from her due date. Nine! Sirius acted like she was due any minute and had a hospital bag for her house, his house, the Weasley's house, and Ron and Hermione's house. Hell, he even had one at WWW!

"I really think you should move in soon." Despite her intrusiveness, Mrs. Malfoy was less annoying that Sirius. That's how bad he was getting. "I don't think you should be alone."

"I'm not alone," Kat said dryly. "I've got the mice and the roaches to keep me company." Lucius started choking on his food.

"She's joking," Draco said when his mother's eyes widened in horror.

"I like it when Draco comes over my house. His impending arrival makes me clean the place." That time she wasn't joking. Okay. Maybe she was. About the cleaning part though. The company was nice, even though it was quiet and withdrawn. Plus, she didn't have to worry about him when he was around. She could con him into eating a meal or two then.

Mrs. Malfoy huffed. She didn't think any of her jokes were funny. "Well, you'll have to move in before the baby gets here."

Have to. Thanks for asking, Kat thought with a frown. Draco closed his eyes in embarrassment. He took his mother's meddling at lot worse than she did. "Er…"

"In a guest bedroom, of course." Lucius wrinkled his nose in disgust, but he hadn't asked either. Draco sunk in his seat.

Mrs. Malfoy pursed her lips but didn't disagree. "There are a few that are mere footsteps away from the nursery. Do you have a birth plan, Katherine? Draco was born here."

On the dining room table? That was the joke Kat wanted to make, but at the word birth, her heart start to pound, and her hands started to get clammy. She felt all the blood drain from her face as she immediately burst out, "I want a C-section."

Mrs. Malfoy's eyebrows shot up, and Draco gave the older woman a terrified look, silently begging her not to say anything. "W-why? It doesn't—Well it does hurt a lot, but a cesarean when unnecessary… I don't think it's a good idea."

"It's quick," Kat nearly whispered. She didn't think she could wait hours on end. She just wanted to hear that cry. Seven years later and she was still waiting for it.

Mrs. Malfoy opened and closed her mouth several times. "But-but…"

"It's her decision, Mother," Draco snapped with such malice that Kat flinched. "Drop it."

Kat wanted to go home after that but felt it would be incredibly rude, especially since Mrs. Malfoy didn't speak for the rest of dinner. At least the meal went by quickly. The last thing Kat expected was for Draco to jump into the floo with her like she did to him a few months ago.

"I'm sorry," he said once they were in the living room. "About everything. I've been a real prat."

"I think I still have one of those Potter Stinks badges somewhere." Kat didn't want to talk about what he was really apologizing for. She put a hand behind her aching back and started heading for the kitchen. Sirius always asked her if she was drinking enough water.

Draco followed. Because he was a prat. "And I suppose I need to apologize on behalf of all the women in my life too."

"Including me?" Kat filled her water glass with ice cubes. The hot flashes were the worst.

Draco took a deep, shaky breath. "I think… I think she thought she was giving you a baby too, but she crossed a line that she shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

Kat turned to face him but quickly looked away. She could have said no, but Astoria was right. She wanted a baby. At the time, she figured godmother was the next best thing. But that wasn't why she couldn't face Draco. He was too close. Close enough to make her think about kissing him. It was probably the hormones. She should buy a vibrator or something. "You don't have to apologize."

"May I…?" Draco flushed and gestured to her stomach. Of course he had to ask now. In general, he usually recoiled from her touch. Of course he wanted to touch her when she was horny as hell.

"Yeah, sure," Kat said awkwardly. What could she say? No because a moment ago I wanted to kiss you, but now I want you to fuck me senseless. It was just the hormones and because she spent so much time with him. Hell, she was having his baby. It was bound to happen sometime. Those potions Luna gave her probably didn't help. Never mind the potential low sex drive side effect…

He put his hand on her belly just as awkwardly, and Kat hoped her hand wasn't sweaty when she moved his hand to the baby's feet. She pressed his hand inwards, so the baby would kick back, causing him to gasp.

"See, it's not all cheeseballs," Kat joked.

"Y-yeah." Draco's eyes filled with tears as he pulled away. "Can I see those pictures? The ones that you have of her?"

Who? Kat thought for a moment. Oh. Astoria. One of her best friends. She shouldn't be thinking about her best friend's husband like this. "Of course. Let me go get them."

Kat rushed past him, feeling mortified. How could she think like that?

Draco,

I've been thinking about Astoria a lot since the other night. I didn't get to go to her funeral. Daphne says she's in your family's crypt. I was wondering if I could give something to her? It would mean a lot to me.

Katherine

No postscript. Draco had a feeling that she wasn't giving his wife flowers. Still, he wrote back telling her she could come over. He hadn't been to Astoria's coffin since the day she was placed in the crypt.

"Hey." She had a box in her hand that she was clinging to for dear life. Her eyes were already filled with tears. "C-can we go now?"

Draco nodded numbly as they took the long walk. The crypt was deep under the Manor under the dungeons, which he supposed couldn't really be called a dungeon. It was falsely made to look like the bottom floor. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Astoria's body was down here.

"If you're tired," he said, sounding like a coward, "I can get a house elf to do it."

"No." Katherine was clinging to the box so dearly that Draco had a feeling that she wasn't going to actually give it up. Hopefully she would change her mind soon and want to head back.

They stopped at Astoria's coffin. Draco wanted to get sick, thinking about how much she had decayed and if the cold had slowed the process. Potter put her box down and took out an urn and a framed photograph with two tiny inked footprints. James Potter.

"I figured…" Katherine swallowed back tears. "If I'm going to look after your baby, that maybe you could look after mine."

She put the urn and the photograph on the ground next to where Astoria's head probably was before bursting into loud, noisy tears. He pulled her into a hug, perhaps to hide his own. Astoria wouldn't mind, even though he wasn't her baby.

Thank you Ern Estine 13624, urbanmanatee, myafroatemydog, Nataly SkyPot, jujukill, and Padfootette for reviewing!