Penultimate chapter! Thank you, all of you for your support and reviews - I really appreciate them :D Argo, if you want my email, you have to allow your account to receive messages. I can't actually reply to you.

Harry couldn't help but glance at the door every minute or so, waiting for the knock that would allow him to get out of this room. Sebastian lay quietly in a crib next to him, and after looking nervously towards the door, Harry would reach a hand out towards him, only to retract it again as his son moved. Harry needed to get out of here. Even if the place he was going was the last place on earth he wanted to be, anywhere was better than here… His hands fiddled with the hair that had been carefully styled that morning and the brand new dress robes that he hadn't paid for.

The knock startled him when it came, and he jumped up, wincing when Sebastian began to snuffle. He didn't know what he'd do if his son started crying. He opened the door and blushed, seeing Draco there. The other bent down to kiss him, and Harry moved his face so it caught him on the cheek. There was a pause, then,

"Harry… you're not wearing your ring." Harry closed his eyes. Trust Draco to notice.

"Uh, well, I was just having a shower and I was worried that – "

"Harry."

"Yes?"

"That ring is waterproof. And while we're at it, it's fireproof and anything else you can think of proof. Stop trying to lose it, Harry. Go put it on." Harry nodded quietly, moving past Sebastian with only a slight pause. He went into his room and opened the first drawer of his dressing table to bring out the black box he knew was sitting among his vests. He sighed and opened it, slipping the cool metal over his finger again. He knew he shouldn't take it off, because not wearing it didn't change the fact they were going to get married when they left Hogwarts. But… he just didn't want to.

When he came out, Draco was holding Sebastian. Harry resisted the urge to dart forwards and grab his son out of the Slytherin's arms. Seb was safe with him. Safer than he was with Harry, at any rate. And plus, Draco was Seb's future stepfather. He would need to rely on him sometimes. Not to mention that Draco was good with children, or at least Harry's. Sebastian was cooing as Draco tickled his tiny feet, and it made Harry's eyes prickle. Sebastian's hands flailed around wildly and Harry felt a lump form in his throat. He coughed to dislodge it, and this made Draco look up.

"Who's looking after him while we're gone?"

"Madame Pomfrey. She doesn't trust anyone else with him for extended amounts of time, yet." Including me, he added silently. Every few hours, he'd get a Floo call from the woman, and he was forbidden to bathe Seb in case he tried to drown him. Draco placed Seb back into the crib and put an arm around Harry's waist, which Harry bore stiffly.

They left through the front door of the small cottage when Pomfrey arrived and Harry locked the door behind him. While the holidays were in progress, he'd not been allowed to go home with the Weasleys, as Sebastian wasn't strong enough to travel great distances yet. So a small place had been rented in Hogsmeade, and Harry was staying there. He was miserable. This was the first Christmas since the Dursleys that he'd been on his own. Well, not actually on his own, but Seb didn't exactly count as company yet. And to top it all off, the holiday was being finished with attending the Woods' marriage ceremony.

He hadn't wanted to go. He'd tried to pretend being sick, but one look at Colette's face through the Floo, looking so excited the day before her wedding, and he'd had to change his mind. Well, at least Draco was coming with him. He didn't think he could do it on his own. Any company was better than none, especially at a time like this. He was about to watch the father of his child get married. To a person that wasn't him.

Sometimes, Harry would find himself staring at pictures of Oliver in Quidditch magazines, his arm slung casually around someone or other. All he would be able to think was that the person wasn't him. That it should have been him. The spread in Witch Weekly of Oliver and his 'wife to be' was almost too much to bear. He tensed, and the arm around him tightened slightly. Harry turned towards Draco, surprised to see a small smile, which he returned feebly.

Draco had been wonderful. Yet, Harry could not accept him. He didn't know why, but this all felt wrong. This sham of a marriage, this business arrangement. The ring on his finger was a lie, the things they'd said to their friends to accept it were lies, the smile on his face as he'd told the Weasleys was a lie. Everything was fake. Harry knew that the affection Draco gave was not real, and he didn't want that. Was it too much to ask that if Draco could not love him, that he shouldn't pretend to, just to make Harry feel better? He knew it wasn't possible for someone to want the baggage that came with someone like him, so he wished that Draco would just stop acting as if it were.

"Harry…" He looked up with an eyebrow cocked. Draco didn't usually sound so… "What do you think of more children?" Harry frowned.

"No thanks. One was hassle enough. Plus, we'd have to adopt, wouldn't we, and I think it'd be weird, bringing up a child that bore no relationship to either of us." Draco looked at him with an expression bordering astonishment, which soon mellowed into amusement.

"I guess Granger doesn't know you that well after all, then. She said that you wanted a whole brood of them."

"I did, once upon a time. But you saw how fat I got with Seb. Like I'd let that happen again." He chuckled, but stopped abruptly when he saw the serious expression on Draco's face.

"We're going to have words about that sometime soon, Harry. No husband of mine is going to run around starving himself to death when I'm supposed to be taking care of him. Those friends of yours may have failed to combat this problem of yours, but I will not." Harry turned his head away. He wouldn't have it. He'd thought that Draco at least would know when to stay out of it, but it seemed he was just as bad as the others.

"But we're not to think of that now. Instead, I'd like to remind you that you promised not to cause a scene at the wedding. Is that going to stand, or shall we just turn around right now?"

"No Draco. I shan't make a fuss. It wouldn't be fair to Collette." At least, that's what he'd been telling himself, like a mantra in his head, for the past week. And plus, he had no connection to Oliver anymore. The other man hadn't done anything to take Seb away from him, and Harry was quite confident that he wouldn't be able to. He had no claim over their son. And he couldn't claim Seb on the grounds of having a steady job and being out of school, because Harry was…

"Have you signed all the papers?" Going nowhere. The papers Draco was talking about were the ones that allowed Draco to put his name down legally as Sebastian's father, and the ones that ended Harry's time at Hogwarts. There was no point, was there? He wasn't going to become an Auror, there was nothing else he wanted to do, and the Malfoys were incredibly rich. He didn't have to worry about money, did he?

"Yeah. Dumbledore was a bit reluctant to give the school's ones to me, but he backed down eventually." He hadn't believed Harry in the beginning, his eyes sparkling as if it were one big joke. But it wasn't, and Dumbledore had realised this, albeit slowly.

The pair reached the end of the path, and Draco wrapped his arms around Harry, hugging him slightly while drawing him into a kiss. Even though he knew it was for show, so the people at the party would realise their relationship quickly (also the reason they were arriving slightly late), Harry couldn't help but draw comfort from Draco's warmth. He was always cold. They Portkeyed, still locked in an embrace.