Chapter Nine "Teething"

"Coming!" called Gibbs as he walked passed Harry towards the door. The babified boy-who-lived glanced up, soother in mouth and hands happily squishing a stuffed toy, as he answered the door. It had been roughly four days since Harry had essentially settled down, enjoying Gibbs's taking care of him –even when he did invariable things to the man, he half expected to be dumped somewhere, but was always gently chided and comforted afterwards. Sure there were plenty of downsides –like nappy changes, mashed food and even being looked down upon—but he found quite a lot of advantages. How many people could say all they had to do was cry to get their way?

"Who are you?"

"I'm a Ministry official here to confirm the identity of the little boy in your custody."

Grinning to himself, he glanced up and nearly dropped the soother from his mouth. W-what! How'd Draco Malfoy get here?

"So this is P—Harry's little boy?" Draco questioned his guardian. At Gibbs's nod, Draco peered down into the playpen and Harry had the uncontrollable urge to tug on his platinum blond hair. He narrowed his emerald eyes at the man and Draco finally pulled away from the pen just as Gibbs reached in, wrapping his strong arms around his tiny torso, and lifted Harry out, setting him on his hip.

'Act like a baby, act like a baby,' he mentally told himself. He didn't know why, but he was starting to prefer that no one knew he was Harry Potter. Somewhere within the week and a half that he'd been with Gibbs, he developed a little something called fondness, and –dare he say it—attachment. Now that he saw someone from his world, he found himself worried they would take him back. That and having Malfoy find out was just plain wrong. Harry rested his head against Gibbs's shoulder and gripped the man's shirt with a free hand.

"Certainly looks like him," Draco observed, "though I'll have to contact a few people who know him. If he is Harry's son, we'll have no choice but to take him back to his home, even with P- Harry being MIA."

"Right, well I'm thinking, this Harry-person is irresponsible," defended Gibbs and Harry nearly laughed at Draco's surprised look, "I certainly know he shouldn't have responsibility for a child, especially if he's only 18."

"Many people in our wo—country are considered of age by then," Draco quipped, "and he is Harry's son by blood."

"Like that should matter," snipped Gibbs back as he carried Harry to the high chair and gently tied the bib around his neck. Harry blushed, not wanting Malfoy to see him like this, but as Gibbs turned his back, he noticed Draco smirking at him. Shit. He knew.

"Right, I think I can help you keep… custody of the baby," Draco said with a glance at Potter. He didn't like Potter very much over the years, but he'd helped save his mum and his life after the war had ended. He owed the bloke a life debt and had been naturally curious after being in the Ministry and overhearing Lavender squealing over a possible Potter child. He'd used legilimency on the baby and discovered the thoughts of Harry Potter.

"Why would you do that?" asked the wary muggle as he turned around with a small bowl of what looked like potatoes. Ouch. He didn't envy eating only that as lunch. Draco had gotten over his severe dislike of muggles after the war, though he still found himself annoyed with them. This bloke seemed decent, if a bit paranoid.

"I knew Harry before he went missing, and I agree with you on the responsibility part. He was always going into things headfirst, no worries for his family," Draco said with a straight face. Take that Potter. He snickered mentally when he saw the baby's outraged look even with the soother in his mouth.

Draco found himself exchanging pleasantries with the man before answering why the baby's prints never revealed a name; it was because who Harry Potter was in their world, meaning he hadn't shown up on any records that required a blood or fingerprint test. He didn't say this, but instead told the man that no one had even known Harry had a child, so it was likely the baby was born in secrecy.

Satisfied, he was about to leave when Jethro –as he introduced himself—stopped him, asking what Harry would have named his son. Turning to Harry and looking him dead in the eye, he pondered this.

'I would have named my firstborn James,' came the thought from the baby's head. Draco shouldn't be too surprised over the common predictability, but did turn to Jethro.

"He would have named him James, after his birth father. If that is all, I will send you a letter when I can." Draco left the muggle abode with a satisfied look on his face. He felt the magic around him and knew, without a doubt, that his life debt would be paid in full if he helped Potter get adopted by the muggle.

Now all he had to do was tell the Ministry that the baby under Jethro's care was not, in fact, Harry's son. Maybe he should say the baby only had a strong resemblance. Draco smirked; this would be quite amusing.

Harry couldn't believe that Malfoy had done that for him. He knew he wanted his friends to have found him, but he didn't want to go back to constant pressure from the media and work. He quite liked being so small, though he hated having lost his independence. If he grew up again, he'd gain it back at least.

"Alright baby boy, let's get some food in your belly before we head out to the park like I promised," Gibbs said with a smile and Harry grinned, having forgotten about the deal. As of late, urges such as this would violently demand to take over and occasionally, like now, he'd let them.

Opening his mouth to accept the mashed potatoes, he munched on it and swallowed thoughtfully. Malfoy was going to in fact help Gibbs gain custody of him. Was it because of the life debt he owed? Harry felt that it was probably.

"So… James," Gibbs said after a second and Harry debated. If he responded, he would be giving up his name. He'd be giving up being Harry Potter and a possible chance at getting back to normalcy. As James, he'd be nothing but Gibbs would adopt an infant who he knew would be adopted by Gibbs –the constant talks the adults had was proof of that. Harry blinked and then feigned perking up to the name, looking at Gibbs in childlike confusion.

"Guess you're name is going to be James Gibbs soon, huh little guy?" Gibbs chortled as he lightly tapped a finger on Harry's nose. Harry smiled at him, not saying anything –not that he'd be able to—and letting the man beam in obvious happiness. Who was he to stop this man from being happy anyways?

James Gibbs, he rather liked the sound of that anyways.

I know it wasn't in the usual joking tone of Harry, but it was a timeskip and Harry's growing accustomed to it. Now there's a few options from here. One, an epilogue next chapter which is an added sequel to this portion of the story. Two, continue more of baby Harry up until the adoption moment and then epilogue sequel. Three, End it next chapter with no sequel? Four, get me a beta. Lol I like my last option personally.

Draco with muggles, couldn't help it. This is my AU version anyways. Lavender can be a muggleborn and Draco can appreciate muggles after the battle. So haaa. And I felt that since any muggleborn could have found Harry's identity when he was growing up, that there was a spell that prevented them from finding who he was with his blood or fingerprints. His name and relationship to Petunia was the only way for McGee to have found him and even then it was because he was a hacker.

Hope I answered everyone. Review so I can make my next move!