Christmas morning started at a leisurely pace, something both Draco and Harry were grateful for. Draco had written back to the hospital staff about Andromeda and their custody while Harry helped Kreacher cook a full breakfast for the two of them. It was curious, after all, that they should be granted legal custody over Teddy with no documented proof. Another thing that hadn't been discussed was the fact that the Ministry rarely allowed non-married couples to have shared custody over a single child, as well as the fact that same-sex marriage was not legal in Britain, magical communities or otherwise. That fact inevitably led Draco to ponderings of marriage in general. He and Harry had only been together for a short time━ certainly not long enough to consider marriage━ and Draco wasn't sure marriage even sounded appealing to him at this point. It was something his parents had pressed on him from a very young age, from time to time even talking about arranging a marriage. Thankfully, that never came to fruition, but the past had definitely pushed Draco away from thinking of the concept of marriage in a pleasant light.

But did Harry want to get married? Was that something he would want of Draco? Would they ever be legally allowed to marry? Draco thought on these questions, among others, as he ate the scrumptious Christmas breakfast before him. Harry was busy eating and spoon feeding scoops of pureed squash to Teddy in his new bamboo highchair, and thus was too distracted to wonder about Draco's lengthy silence.

"Bsssshhhh!" Harry did his best attempt at an airplane noise, something Teddy loved and encouraged him to eat more foods he didn't particularly like. "Here it comes, Teddy! Swallow the airplane, it's good for you!"

"Have you any idea how ridiculous you sound right now?" Draco teased with a smirk.

"Have you any idea how well this works?"

"Oh, I know. I just think you sound silly."

"Yeah, well I've heard you do this exact thing, so I reckon that makes two of us." As soon as the spoon entered Teddy's mouth, it was spit back out with a spray that reached Draco's face down the table.

"No!" Teddy shouted and slammed his fists on the plastic highchair tray.

"Was that his first word?" Harry gasped as he swished his wand and vanished the mess Teddy made. Draco frowned in disgust as he did the same for himself.

"Apparently so," he replied.

"How did he learn that word, I wonder?" Harry asked in an accusatory tone. "Do you tell him 'no' often?"

"Not really… Just when he's about to try and eat something off the floor, or tugging on curtains, or trying to rip books, or biting a chunk out of my bar soap."

"So yes, then," Harry said disapprovingly.

"Well what do you expect me to tell him? 'Listen, Teddy, I know that soap looks like something delicious, but you're about to poison yourself?'" He scoffed. "I don't think he'll catch my meaning. 'No' works a lot faster."

"I figured his first word would be something… I don't know, less negative." Draco shook his head and looked over to Teddy.

"I'm proud of you! Good job saying a real word, Teddy!"

"Er, right," Harry said, turning to look back at Teddy as well. "Good job, I suppose. I assume that means you're finished eating?"

"No!" Teddy retorted with gusto.

"I don't think he knows what it means, Draco."

"Still, I read that parroting at his age is a great sign of higher intelligence. I think I'm rubbing off on him. He's still really young to be talking, so he probably won't truly understand what he does say when he parrots."

"How many baby books have you read since we took him in?"

"Several."

"I'll trust your judgement, then," Harry said with slight awe to his tone. "Who wants to open presents?"

"No!" Teddy shouted. Draco offered him another smile and clapped his hands enthusiastically.

"Great job speaking, Teddy, but I think you mean to say yes." Draco spoke in an exaggerated voice with Teddy, enunciating each word carefully and putting emphasis on important words. He had absolute faith in his ability to ensure that Teddy had an excellent vernacular as he grew older. Turning to Harry, he said, "I'm ready if you are."

It took a team effort to clean Teddy up and take care of the breakfast leftovers, but soon enough the three were in the drawing room sitting amidst a considerably large pile of parcels. Before they began helping Teddy open his presents Draco pulled a wrapped box from the pile and handed it to Harry.

"You'll want to open this before we really start, I think."

"Alright." Harry grinned at Draco before tearing the paper off with a swift motion. He opened the box beneath and pulled out a brand new camera, fully loaded with film and ready to be used. "Is this what I think it is?"

"That depends," Draco snarked back. "If you think it's a deck of cards, you'd be mistaken. If you think it's the newest edition Hopsin camera, you'd be correct." Harry shot him a flat, unamused look before smiling again and testing out the camera. He aimed the lense at Draco and Teddy, sitting side by side. Draco smiled his winning smile and Teddy shoved a piece of wrapping paper in his mouth just as Harry captured the moment. A puff of pink smoke seeped from the edges of the camera, causing Harry to sputter and wave his hand in front of his face.

"Is that supposed to happen with the new edition?" he asked with a cough.

"Yes, actually," Draco chuckled. "It's not toxic, though, so it's perfectly safe to use around Teddy."

"If you say so," Harry's face transitioned from curious to grateful in a matter of seconds. "Thank you, Draco. This means a lot to me. I've been meaning to buy one, but I keep forgetting."

"I haven't forgotten, and it's a good thing you didn't buy one because then you'd have wasted double your money on the same gift." Draco quelled his desire to frown at the memory of Harry handing him a handful of galleons to put towards Christmas gifts. He hadn't any money of his own, so he had secretly been dreading the Christmas holiday, knowing he wouldn't be able to afford to buy anything for his boyfriend, Teddy, or the Weasleys. When Harry offered the money to him, Draco had originally declined the offer, stating that there was no way he could take it. The following morning, however, he had opened the top drawer of his dresser to find the money in a satin coin purse with a note attached stating that it was payment for 'watching Teddy while I'm at work.' It told Draco plainly that no wasn't a proper answer, and privately Draco appreciated the gesture; it meant he would be able to provide gifts for everyone, not be left out of the holiday giving.

Harry began helping Teddy unwrap his first present, something Draco knew had to be captured, and took another picture. Things went on in quite the same way for several moments, with the camera sometimes in Draco's hands and other times in Harry's hands. Teddy didn't care much about his gifts, which was to be expected. Mostly he just wanted to put them in his mouth. Because Harry and Draco had known this would be the outcome of Teddy's Christmas morning— Molly had warned them in advance— they only bought a few toys. The rest of Teddy's presents were practical things that would be useful to have handy. Larger clothes and plastic dishes and eating utensils, for example.

Soon enough, Teddy's presents were out of the way and Draco suggested Harry take the next turn opening gifts. Harry took the smallest gift from the pile and tore into it with as much regard for the delicate wrapping process as Teddy had for his wrapping paper, which is to say none.

"A necklace?" Harry asked, holding the silver chain and garnet laden pendant. "It's beautiful, Draco, but I don't normally wear jewelry."

"You'll want to wear this," Draco ensured. "It's covered in protective charms, from hex and curse blockers to poison detectors. It won't keep you out of harm's way completely, but it should do the job in most cases." Draco paused at the look of wonder and confusion on Harry's face and decided further explanation was warranted. "You're an Auror, Harry. You won't be in training forever, and once you're on the field battling Dark wizards and such, it would make me feel a lot better knowing that you've got a bit of extra protection." Harry's face took on an expression of understanding, his eyes twinkled as brightly as the garnets in his necklace.

"I see the pendant is shaped like a serpent," he said with a knowing smile. Draco blushed, even though he knew what he'd bought.

"Yes, well… I figured it wouldn't hurt to inspire a bit of Slytherin behaviour in you when you're risking your life on a regular basis. A bit of self-preservation would do you some good, if our years at Hogwarts tell me anything."

"It's a really thoughtful gift, Draco," Harry said softly. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome." He took a moment to admire the look of respect Harry was sending his way before he motioned to Harry's pile and said, "On to the next one."

Draco took several photos of Harry opening the five other presents Draco had bought for him, at the same time ensuring Teddy didn't eat any of the shreds of paper surrounding him. After three near successful attempts on Teddy's part, Draco decided to simply vanish it all, earning him a disgruntled shout from the infant.

"Really, Draco?" Harry asked flatly as he held up the shirt in his hands. "Is this payback for the dragon shirt?"

"Why ever would you think such a thing?" Draco feigned innocence as he batted his blond eyelashes and smiled widely.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because this shirt has a bloody rainbow unicorn on it?"

"Look at the back. It gets better." Harry turned the shirt around only to shove the garment into his lap a moment later, a look of humoured shock on his red face.

"Really, Draco?" he repeated.

"What?! I thought it suited you."

"Right, because I'm 'majestic as fuck,' aren't I?" Draco pinched his lips together to refrain from laughing.

"I certainly think so." He snapped a picture of Harry's hilarious face at that moment, earning a disgruntled shout that mimicked the one Teddy had let out only a few moments earlier.

"I'm going to burn that picture when we develop those," Harry complained.

"No, you won't. This is valuable material, here." With a roll of his eyes, Harry picked up the first of Draco's presents and handed it over, trading him for the camera.

Draco carefully unwrapped the rectangular present, glancing up at Harry every so often and wordlessly explaining that this was the proper way to open Christmas gifts. When he looked back down at the unwrapped gift his eyes squinted in confusion. A thick book sat in his hands, full of cello music and trivia on the composers of the songs within. None of it was classical music; from the table of contents Draco could see that the composers were those he'd never heard of before.

"Who's Led Zeppelin?" Draco asked curiously. "The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who… These are muggles aren't they?"

"It's primarily a muggle book, yes," Harry said with a chuckle. "It was really hard to find, though. Those are rock and roll bands who were or are heavily influential in muggle society, and apparently they aren't commonly transposed into cello sheet music. They're all bands I used to listen to on the radio I snuck into my room at the Dursley's."

"Wait, I've heard of David Bowie," Draco said with certainty. "I've never listened to his music, but he's actually a wizard… Or a witch, actually; I've never really been sure with that one."

"He was huge for muggles. Still is, sort of. I don't know if you'll like any of it, but I thought you'd want to learn a bit more about muggle music, or at least the music I used to listen to."

"That's kind of you, Harry." Surprisingly, there was no thought in his head having to do with blood purity or muggle-made music. He was genuinely interested in what he would hear when he learned the songs held within the covers of this book.

"Next present," Harry ordered with a huge smile in place.

Draco opened the next one, shocked at what he saw, so much that he hardly noticed Harry's camera go off. Inside the small casing of paper was a black velvet box. A ring box. The thoughts he'd had at breakfast intruded on his mind once more, only this time there was a significant sense of dread accompanying them.

"What is this?" Draco asked. His voice sounded unfamiliar, too shaky and meek.

"Open it up," was all Harry said.

"Harry, this… I━ this is━ Harry!"

"Oh, just open it already."

With a concern and fear present on his pale face, his heart racing, Draco slowly lifted the hinged lid of the box. Inside was a ring, as he'd figured it would be, though it wasn't the typical gold band with elven writing etched into it that a wizard usually wore as an engagement ring. Instead, it was made entirely of what looked like elven crystal.

"It's not an engagement ring," Harry explained gently as he scooped Teddy off of the floor and set him in the fold of his crossed legs.

"What is it for, then?" Draco whispered. It looked pricey, and if it was truly elven crystal, which it looked to be, then it must have cost at least as much as the cello had. Harry must have had a larger fortune than Draco was aware of, to be able to afford something like this.

"To show that I love you and want to be with you. We can't get married, and I wouldn't ask that of you so soon even if we could, but I do want you to know that I'm here for you. You've given up so much just to be with me. You've given up your manor home, your financial security, your parents… just to be by my side." Harry paused to remove a piece of wrapping paper from Teddy's fist. When he looked back up at Draco there was a small, shy lift at the corners of his lips. "The ring isn't a request, or a proposal, it's a promise. It's my promise to you, to support you when you can't support yourself, to care for you when no one else will, to push you towards whatever passions you have and build you up when you can't believe in your own capability. I can't promise we won't fight or disagree, but I can promise that I'll accept you for you and do whatever I can to help you enjoy life."

As Harry's words registered with Draco he felt something swelling in his chest. It was nearly painful, the way this intense emotion filled the space between his ribs and his spine, but as Draco understood what he was feeling he wanted it to stay, regardless of the pain that went along with it. That feeling was a concoction of pride, devotion, astonishment, and mostly love.

"You're the most schmaltzy man I've ever met, Harry James Potter," Draco muttered, staring down at the sparkling ring. "And I love you."

He slipped the ring onto his left hand ring finger, uncaring of whether or not it was proper to place it there. In Draco's mind, it belonged there. The ring magically shrunk down to the size of his finger, leaving no room for it to slip off, but enough that it wouldn't cut off blood flow. With how pale his skin was, the crystal ring did nothing but accentuate the elegance of his long, slender digits. It was perfect, even more so because it wasn't Harry's way of asking for marriage. As romantic as Christmas proposals were, Draco really wasn't sure marriage was something in his cards for the future and his respect for Harry grew tenfold with the gesture he'd just performed.

"Open the rest," Harry whispered. Draco wondered why he was so quiet, but understood as he looked up from the ring he'd been gazing at shamelessly. Teddy had fallen asleep in Harry's lap with his head resting against the crease between Harry's arm and chest.

Draco admired the scene before him and wished he could keep it forever, until he remembered the camera he'd got for Harry. With the precious picture taken and the pink smoke cleared, he began unwrapping the rest of the presents in his pile. Harry had got him a pack of alpaca socks, a cheesy coffee mug with 'Not A Morning Person' in thick black letters on one side, and a pair of thick, cotton sweatpants. Draco had received nothing like these things in all his years at Malfoy Manor, something he thought was a positive aspect of this Christmas day.

"Thank you so much, Harry," Draco said as he watched his lover lay Teddy down in his crib and cover him with a soft blanket.

"Thank you," Harry replied.

The two of them left Teddy's nursery and stood in the hall of the second floor, staring at each other with goofy smiles on each of their mouths. Draco looked down at the ring still twinkling in the light of the hallway and then back up at Harry.

"I should've gotten you something more special than the necklace," he muttered. Part of him felt guilty that he hadn't thought of a gift as important as the one Harry had given him.

"I love the necklace and I think it's very special." Harry stepped closer to him and placed his hands on Draco's hips. "I don't need a ring," he said firmly. "I didn't get you one to make you feel like you needed to do more for me, Draco. I gave you that ring for all the reasons I told you earlier, and only those. I don't want you to feel any pressure because of it. Just keep being you. That's all I ask."

Before Draco could think of a response half as corny and sentimental as what Harry said, he was pushed into the wall behind him. Harry's fingers dug into his hips as he stretched his neck up to capture Draco's lips, and any half-formulated retort was lost to the nonexistent breeze. A tickle went up Draco's spine as Harry's hands squeezed and groped his hips and he automatically responded by grinding into Harry and wrapping his arms more firmly around him.

From there things only escalated, though Draco had enough wits about him to interrupt their heated snogging and move to their bedroom. He wasn't sure how far Harry was willing to take this, but it didn't truly matter. It was satisfying enough to know that Harry really wanted him. At least, it certainly seemed that way, with the way Harry was expeditiously trying to get him out of his shirt. When Draco's chest was bare his lover proceeded to kiss and suck the prominent collarbone presented to him, to which Draco responded with a low groan. Although he was comprehensively delighted with Harry's attentions, he wanted to give as good as he got, as the saying goes.

Trying to keep his head from fogging completely with the sensation of Harry's mouth on such a sensitive area as it migrated lower, Draco began unbuttoning Harry's shirt. His fingers were swift and unhesitating, easily removing the obstacle. Taking a chance, and hoping that Harry's quiet moans were some form of consent, Draco reached between their hips to undo Harry's trousers.

"Yes…" Harry spoke against Draco's throat, his warm breath causing the fine, invisible hairs there to stand on end.

Repeating the actions towards him earlier, he pressed his fingers into Harry's hips, then hooked his fingers into the trousers hugging them. Slowly, hoping to get another reaction from Harry, he brought them towards the front and centre of Harry's pelvis, stopping at the button of his trousers. Harry sighed as Draco's fingertips traced the inside of his waistline, giving Draco the go-ahead to unbutton them and slide them to the floor.

Harry didn't waste time with slow, tantalising motions and instead cut to the chase, taking Draco's trousers off in half the time. He hadn't noticed how tight they'd been against his erection until they were pooled around his ankles, offering him more freedom to grow. Reaching a hand out, he cupped Harry's, shivering in response to the proof of his interests. A sharp breath shot from his boyfriend's mouth, blowing the scent of raspberry jam over his face. He needed to taste that again. With no hesitation he pressed his lips to Harry's once more and was greeted by the soft warm tongue behind them as it trailed over his lower lip.

Harry was leaving everything up to instincts at this point. He wasn't sure exactly how intimate he wanted to get with Draco, but he felt rather confident in his wish to take things as far as they could go. So, without really thinking, he shoved Draco onto the bed behind him and immediately covered the man's body with his own. The two of them ground against each other, their breath coming faster, hearts pounding in their ears. Their pants were getting in the way. At least, Harry seemed to feel that way, and decided to take his off. Draco took his own off as well, tossing them over Harry's shoulder to an unknown destination.

Fully nude, bodies pressed together, hips colliding, and hands roaming the two men brought each other to new levels of desire. Harry knew he'd never felt this turned on in the past, though he'd wanked and gone as far as second base with Ginny. Neither was as good as this, not by half. Draco's mouth knew exactly where to land on his flesh, his hands knew exactly where to stroke and grab, his rhythm matched up perfectly with Harry's. He wouldn't go as far as saying they were 'made for each other,' but he felt that this was as close to that cliche as he would get in life.

"Is this okay?" Draco asked as one of his fingers began massaging Harry's entrance.

"Yes," Harry moaned, sounding much raspier than he'd intended. He'd never really explored that area of his body, but was taken aback at how pleasant it felt to him, even with Draco's lack of experience.

Draco's hips rose again to gyrate against Harry's and were met halfway. Yes, he was ready for this, no matter how terrifying it seemed if he thought too hard about it. Not that he could think about much at all as Draco tenderly, cautiously, inserted a single finger, causing Harry to stiffen and suppress yet another groan. There was a bit of pain, and it couldn't be ignored.

"Don't people… er… use something? To make it feel better?" If there was a more awkward question to ask at that moment, Harry couldn't think of what it was.

"Oh! Fuck, I'm so sorry, hang on…" Draco's finger left him feeling a tad raw, but he lifted himself off of him and watched as he got up and rummaged around the bedroom in search of something. "Here we are," he declared, pulling a jar of something out of his dresser.

"What is it?" Harry can't help but ask.

"It's bath oil, but it'll work. It's forest scented, whatever that means, so at least it'll smell good," Draco explained as he walked back to the bed and sat beside Harry.

"Will it hurt? To use, I mean."

"It shouldn't, it's just essential oils and avocado oil. It'll leave you feeling moisturised and smelling… like a forest, I suppose." That didn't sound too awful. At least Draco hadn't thought it a good idea to use something like chest rub for colds. From personal experience Harry had learned the hard way just how badly that turned out.

Watching with curiosity, Harry allows himself to relax as Draco poured a generous amount of the oil onto his hand, rubbing it around on his fingers. The nervousness was attempting to return, but Harry took a deep breath and willed it away as Draco leaned over him and tried again.

"Oh! Oh…" Shut up, shut up, you're making it weird, Harry silently admonished himself for reacting so vocally to Draco's second attempt to prepare him. By the small, amused grin on Draco's face, Harry didn't think he minded too much and decided that, if he could let Draco know him in the most intimate way, he could be his gawky self, even in the bedroom.

In the aftermath of the two mens' lost virginities, they lay tangled in a heap in the king sized bed, panting, sweaty, oil-slicked, and knackered. Harry's arse felt a bit sore, and there were more than a few clumsy moments, but overall it had been an extremely pleasurable experience. Draco had been gentle, had spoken to him and made sure he was in as little pain as possible through the entire ordeal. Several times, Draco had even asked if he was still okay with what was transpiring between them, something that comforted Harry immensely. As far as first times went, he couldn't have asked for a better one than that, though he didn't have any basis for comparison whatsoever. He wasn't sure if one was supposed to laugh during sex, but it didn't seem to matter much. When Draco had accidentally pinched the back of Harry's forearm in a sensitive area and caused him to yelp in pain, it was all either of them could do to laugh it off and continue on— after Draco had completely frozen in place and asked if he was alright, that is. It was definitely worth all the awkward moments, in Harry's opinion, now that he lay in bed buzzing with the relief that came as soon as he'd gotten off. Something about being filled that way caused his orgasm to be the most intense he'd ever felt. Thank Merlin for prostates.

"We…" Draco's voice hitched and he gulped before trying again. "We should do that again some time." Harry laughed, sounding breathy and exhausted, and trailed a lazy finger down the centre of Draco's damp chest.

"Yeah, I think we should, too. Although, next time maybe we should move the bed away from the wall," he suggested, remembering the startling loudness of the headboard slamming against it.

"Agreed. And maybe the two of us should stretch beforehand," Draco muttered, sounding embarrassed. "I can't believe my hip cramped up like that. Probably ruined the moment, didn't I?"

Harry nuzzled his face into Draco's shoulder. "No, it didn't. It lightened up the moment, probably." In response to his reassurance, he felt Draco's lips against his forehead, causing a strange vibrating sensation to spread out from the contact. For a split second Harry's stomach clenched in fear, thinking that this was the start of his scar burning again, but the feeling never built to anything more than just that, a gentle vibration that was mild and sweet.

"I'm not sure that oil manufacturer has ever been inside a forest," Draco commented after a moment's silence. "It didn't smell like dirt or moss, or even trees for that matter." Laughing, Harry shook his head against Draco's shoulder.

"No, but it did smell nice either way. I think I prefer that to smelling like an actual forest."

"If you say so," Draco chuckled in return. "Though I think I'd like to buy something actually meant for this sort of thing before we have another go."

"It might… help." Harry's sentence was interrupted with a large yawn, which then spread to Draco.

"How cliche is it that we've decided to lose our virginities on Christmas day?"

Harry snorted. "Very, but there's no taking it back now, is there? Now please shut up, I'm tired."

"That's my line, you thief," Draco retorted with no bite at all, planting another kiss on Harry's forehead.

For quite a while, the two of them simply lay there, enjoying the afterglow of a good, albeit clumsy shag. Harry wondered what it would be like if he were to be inside of Draco instead of vice versa, and decided that next time they had sex he would request the change. If Draco wasn't interested it wouldn't be much of a loss; Harry rather liked the setup of things just the way it was. Still, he was curious. He imagined the scene that had just played out over and again as his eyelids grew heavier and his breathing deepened.

The two of them didn't get a very long nap, however, and awoke less than an hour later to the sound of Teddy crying in his crib. Harry shook Draco awake and began dressing, casting a few strong cleansing charms on himself, Draco, and the bed, before collecting Teddy and the presents for the Weasleys and Hermione.

"We'd better be on our way to The Burrow," Harry said when he'd changed Teddy's nappy and clothes, grabbed their gifts, and met Draco in the kitchen. "They'll be expecting us by now."

"Shouldn't we feed Teddy before we go?" Draco asked as he opened up the pantry. Harry scoffed, but then remembered that Draco had never been to a Weasley Christmas before, so he wouldn't know just how much food would soon be forced down their throats.

"Er, definitely not."

"He just woke up, he's got to be hungry," Draco argued.

"In a moment he won't be. Just wait." Though Draco sent a skeptical frown his way, he dropped the matter. Harry did notice that, as he was grabbing a handful of Floo powder, he had an expression of trepidation on his face. Harry planted a small kiss on his cheek and said in a low voice, "Just you wait, Draco. You'll love it, I promise."