Chapter 9: Harry's dating history

Chapter Text

Two weeks had passed with the Light holding their breath, either to be slaughtered by the celebrating Death Eaters with their barely breathing leader for finding Harry's baby mother and killing her immediately; or to finally realize that Harry's gone, their family and friend, and there's no way of reviving him anymore.

With no Severus Snape to update them if it was Cho who was secretly bearing Harry's baby, all they had to do was wait for any change from the other side.

But so far, silence has welcomed them. But they couldn't bear the thought of celebrating because silence meant two things. Either because a far greater tragedy was slowly brooding on the dark side or because they too failed to find the baby. They got the wrong person.

"It's the latter, somewhere out there, Harry's girlfriend is sick in her stomach, anxious with no help from anyone," Hermione said with as much conviction as someone whose best friend was barely hanging on a thread of life and death and whose life depended on his baby in the middle of nowhere.

"Well, you don't know that, seeing as we don't have that Chang with us, here!" Moody accused Hermione for the umpteenth time, his expression still sullen that their group was able to be beaten by Malfoy and his cronies.

Ron glared at the retired auror. Auror or not, no one dared underestimate or blame Hermione for anything after what his girlfriend had gone through. Ron didn't care if Moody's experience and power got against him, but Merlin if he's going to stand on the sidelines without defending his girlfriend, who'd already done enough for everyone around her.

With a newfound confidence, Ron stepped in front of a teary Hermione, whose confidence had been greatly reduced when reminded of her current failure. "We already told you, we were tipped late. Malfoy and his friends were there the moment we got there, they were just playing with Cho. We did everything we could, especially Hermione, but we're already lost, even before we started."

"But you saw her!" Moody was also not done. "She was just there, but those blasted death eaters still got to her, but if you were any good–"

"Then you should've come with us if you thought you were anything good to beat Malfoy and his cronies."

Moody grumbled something about doing a very important task on his own, but otherwise had fallen into silence. Ron nodded to himself, confident Moody would not start another row for today, and hopefully, Snape could come deliver the good news that Cho wasn't Harry's girlfriend. Even Ron was sure of this, remembering how distraught and awkward Harry looked while describing their wet kiss and their date at Madame Puddifoot's, and to Ron's knowledge, Harry had never stepped foot in that place again. If Harry's date with Cho was that traumatic, Ron didn't think his best friend would fall back to another awkward date with her.

"We can go check if you want, just so you can stop pointing fingers."

Ron looked at her as if she had two heads. He knew Hermione, despite her much coveted intelligence, still possessed recklesness and was a self-sacrificing idiot, a trait of Gryffindors, but she's supposed to be very smart. "Are you out of your mind, 'Mione?! You barely got out of it, why do you think I'll let you go there just to check? And no, before you can tell me off, I'm not saying this because I'm underestimating you. Bloody hell, you're the most capable among us, and yes, even against Moody," Ron ignored the auror's scoff. "But to do something as trivial as checking? We check it there, and with those wards he placed, we'll get caught, and we're dead."

Hermione looked like she was convinced as well, but one look at Moody's still sullen face had her contemplating. "But-"

"Hermione," Remus' soft yet authoritative voice, which Sirius called his professor's voice, reverberated. "Ron's right. We can't go there to check, it's useless. Besides, nothing is happening-"

"You can't just assume that that's good."

Remus narrowed his eyes at Moody, but to Moody's credit, he didn't back down. He merely raised his chin. "We know, Moody. You're not the only one thinking about and helping out here to finish this war, but it's not good that we're being divided because of this. We'll wait for Snape. But until then, we will not stop looking for the real mother."

"Fine!" Moody shouted, but he looked confident that there was another plan in place, and left their group.

Remus smiled at Hermione. "Now, as for you, don't blame yourself, alright? You did good. You've already done more than enough, Hermione. Stop beating yourself up."

Ron nodded at Remus' words, smiling at the man in gratitude. He was happy that Remus got Hermione to finally relax, even if it was only a little, even if it wasn't him. He knew how much Hermione idolized the man, being the first professor in DADA who was good at teaching. And if Hermione is relaxed and happy, Ron is content.

-

Later on, while Moody was elsewhere with his very important task, helped by Elphias, Sirius, Remus, Ron, and Hermione gathered to make a possible list for Harry's secret girlfriend, four of the people who knew him the closest. Ron had invited Ginny as well, but it's still a sore subject for her, so they let her talk to Neville and Luna instead, to ask them what's been happening at Hogwarts.

"Okay, so what was Harry's type?" Sirius started.

"Well," Ron answered almost immediately. "He dated Cho and Ginny, I say dated, but I'm only being nice."

"Ron," Hermione chided, rolling her eyes, but she too had a small smile on her face. "Is there really a time for that?"

Before it could turn into a full blown quip and turn the topic elsewhere, Remus cut them off, "What do they have in common?"

"They didn't have anything," Hermione answered this time. "Cho and Ginny are two completely different women, both at opposite ends of the spectrum. I can't think of anything they have in common."

Ron nodded. Cho, from what he barely knew of the girl, tended to fall on the shyness, and softer side of Hermione's spectrum. Ginny, on the other hand, was intense and had a strong personality.

"Well, they're both Quidditch players," Ron reminded her.

Sirius' eyebrow raised. He didn't look particularly pleased that they're following a lead with that hint, but beggars can't be choosers, and he was also at his wit's end. He couldn't remember a time when Harry mentioned a girl other than Cho, but then Ron told him of Harry's disastrous date with the girl.

"So, Harry loves Quidditch players. That's good, yeah. Let's start with that. Did he talk about Quidditch players?"

"Well, he talked about Chudley Cannons with me, but I think Harry's a fan of Harpies or Arrows, he just didn't want to break my heart."

"Ron, please, stay on topic. Which Quidditch player could he possibly be close with?" Sirius.

Hermione's eyebrows scrunched, her brain quickly organizing files after files and sifting through them, trying to remember of any name that Harry accidentally dropped that might hint Or anyone who caught Harry's attention but came up with no one.

"Well, there's Malfoy."

Sirius gave him a deadpan look. "Let me change my question. To whom could he be talking, and whom could Harry possibly have knocked up?"

Ron shrugs. "Aside from the Gryffindor's team, it's only Malfoy whom I've seen talking with Harry. And again, I'm being nice with talking. They're always fighting because Malfoy's an annoying ferret, and-"

Hermione cut him off. "Anyway, so it's not a quidditch player," Hermione began tapping her fingers on the arm chair, a sign that she was getting stressed that they couldn't figure this out. And if there's one thing Hermione hated the most, was something she didn't know.

Ron slung his arms around her, rubbing her shoulders. Hermione smiled at him and intertwined her hand with Ron's. She's thankful for Ron, so much, she didn't think she could survive the past year if not for Ron. What with all the stress and her parents having their memories wiped at her own hands.

Then, Ron perked up. "What does his dad want? Maybe we can trace it back to his parents."

"Well, Lily was a redhead, so one would think he would end up with Ginny," Sirius' lips pursed as he tried to think of another thing James loved about Lily aside from her gorgeous red hair. Then, he snapped his fingers. "Lily's smart. Smartest witch in our grade."

"And it's not me, obviously," Hermione shrugged.

"No, you're not because you are the smartest among the students. Lily was the second, and of course my Remus was the first," Sirius proudly smiled at his partner, getting a nudge back on his shoulder. When Ron faked a cough to break the tension between Sirius and Remus, Sirius sheepishly returned to look at them. "So that. Who's the second highest in your batch? Maybe we can start with that."

Ron sighed. "Malfoy is."

"What? Malfoy is smart?" Sirius asked, dumbfounded.

"When he's not being annoying and bigoted, he's really smart. Especially in Potions," Hermione grumbled. She hadn't told anyone, but despite her natural intelligence and thirst to learn anything, she had to study extra since she found Malfoy a great threat.

Sirius frowned. "Lily's good at making potions. She's the highest in potions next to Snape and Remus." Sirius hadn't looked proud anymore, too consumed by the fact that the Malfoy brat was smart. How could someone like Lucius produce a smart boy like that?

"Malfoy too, but only because Snape is his godfather. You know, if it were to me, it would only be Hermione."

Hermione gave Ron a tight-lipped smile. Somehow, that didn't make her feel happy. Despite her top marks in her Potions, she secretly envied the blonde git's oozing smoothness and gracefulness when making potions, and his profound understanding of the subject. He looked natural. While Hermione was doing it because it was one of the requisites and it did fancy her interests, she was nothing compared to Malfoy who looked like he was born for it.

"I'm starting to see a pattern here," Sirius huffed, not liking where his mind was going.

Ron shook his hands to eradicate the silence that came with the knowledge that a blonde git like Malfoy could be fucking smart. He smiled. "What else does a Potter like?"

"Well, if we're going to trace it further to his grandparents, Euphemia was neither a redhead nor academically smart. She and Fleamont hated each other in school. Like James and Lily, but it was more like Lily and Euphemia hating those Potter boys."

This time, it was Remus who answered Ron's question since Sirius was still lost in his own world. But at the mention of Lily and Euphemia, he perked up.

"Oh, yeah. Rem and I had a working theory that Potters are masochists by nature, they loved challenges, chasing after people who wouldn't give them their time. But," Sirius' lips pursed. "From what little I know of Harry, he's more Lily than James, so I don't think he would be chasing after someone who hated him, but it's worth a shot. It might be a Potter bone."

"Well, everybody loves Harry when they don't hate him," Hermione explained, and when Sirius and Remus looked at her with twins of confusion, she further explained, "I mean, they loved him because he's the Boy Who Lived and adored him when he saved them from Professor Quirrell in 1st year and hated him when they thought he was Slytherin's heir, then hated him more when he stole the thunder from Cedric, and hated him the most when he came back and told everyone of You-Know-Who's return, but then they realized he wasn't lying and that he was the Chosen One so they began worshipping him again."

"Really, it's a love-hate relationship between Hogwarts students and Harry."

"Except for Malfoy," Ron once again reminded her. "The ferret git always hated Harry for no reason at all. It's not like Harry was the one with the foul attitude, though. If anything, it should be Harry hating on him."

The more the conversation went into the relationship between Harry and Malfoy, the more Sirius became confused. "But Harry hates him, right? Please tell me he does because I don't think I can live with the knowledge that Harry's chasing after someone like the Malfoy brat like James did with Lily," Sirius visibly shuddered. "Rem did tell me the Malfoy's brat was a real challenge, a real Lucius Malfoy Jr."

Remus nodded to confirm.

Ron and Hermione shared a look.

"He did hate him until sixth year, and Harry became obsessed with him." Ron.

"What?! Are you fucking kidding me? Harry? My godson? Would give Malfoy a time of his day? Obsessed, what? Was Harry chasing after Malfoy like James?"

Hermione laughed. "Oh, it's nothing like that, Harry was obsessed, following Malfoy around and stalking him using the Map but only because he knew Malfoy was up to something, we didn't believe him, but it came out to be the truth," Hermione sighed. "Malfoy is a Death Eater."

When silence overtook them for a few minutes. "Well, I guess that's just it, we still don't have a lead on who might be Harry's girlfriend. Everything came back to Malfoy. If I didn't know anything better, I would say it's Malfoy."

Ron laughed, shaking his head. "That's impossible."

Sirius immediately agreed. "Not only wizards can't be pregnant. Harry is the last person to fall in love with a dark wizard, especially someone who could hurt his best friends."

-

"I love you, Draco Malfoy, so much. More than life itself. You and our baby."

Draco grinned at Harry and placed a careful, deep kiss on his boyfriend's soft lips. "Very good. That's my boy."

Harry huffed, but he pulled Draco closer until the blonde straddled his hips. "I should be offended that you almost made me waggle my tail and bark at you like a good dog."

Draco laughed and gave Harry a smirk. "Well, aren't you very sweet to a little death eater like moi," he turned serious and traced the lines on Harry's face caused by stress. "I don't deserve you, Harry James Potter, but Merlin knows how happy I am that you love me. And I apologize in advance, but I'm not going to let you leave me anymore, especially with our baby on the way."

"And you think I'll ever leave you as well? Draco, you're not the only one possessive here. I will never let anyone have you, Draco." Draco's nose scrunched. Harry smirked. "Too much?"

"Yep, let's bring the notch down, darling. Talk to me like a doting boyfriend, not a psychopath stalker."

Harry smiled. "I will never leave you Draco, hopefully soon to be Malfoy-Potter," Draco's eyes glistened. "I'll do everything to protect and give all my love to our family. Honestly, I'm embarassed."

Harry could see a quip on the tip of his tongue, but Draco must have seen the earnest look he had because he asked, "Why?"

"Because you're being all brave, facing the noseless git, and doing all those tasks as a leader while protecting our baby inside you while I'm here, stuck in your dreams, not that I'm complaining mind you, but," Harry gave a sad smile. "How I wish I could just wake up and fight him off. How I wish I could help you and not be an invisible spirit waiting for you to go to sleep. I feel so useless, Draco."

Harry sighed. "You're out here sacrificing everything, your life, for me, and for what? I couldn't even fucking wake up. I don't know how to. I don't even know where the fuck my body is. Draco," Draco saw Harry's tears on the rim of his eyes before they rolled down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I don't deserve you, but I'm deeply grateful that you always fought for me, for us, and for our family's future."

"Oh Harry- it's okay."

Draco embraced a weeping Harry in his arms and placed soft kisses on his face and head while trying his best to wipe Harry's tears away.

"No, no, it's not okay, Draco," Harry bawled. "I should be fighting with you. Now you, and surely my friends and family are fighting and sacrificing for me while I fucking take a nap like a fucking useless fuck-"

Draco silenced him with a kiss.

Draco should've known Harry was feeling like this, blaming himself on something he couldn't control, it's just the way he was, always giving but shy on receiving anything. But Harry wasn't saying anything, so he must have been saving up all his frustrations and guilt until he couldn't anymore.

Draco should've known better.

"You couldn't help it, Harry," Draco shook his head when Harry tried to continue his self-deprecating nonsense. "You're not taking a rest because you wanted to, Merlin knows if you could, you wouldn't be taking any rest at all. But you're only a human, Harry, despite having that raw power. And all humans require rest to recuperate their health, and now you're resting after protecting us since you were a baby,"

"Let us protect and help you this time, Harry," Draco placed his forehead's on Harry's. "Harry James Potter, you've done more than enough."

"But what if I didn't wake up anymore, Draco? What if our baby grew up with just me still stuck in your dreams? How could he ever know his own dad? Draco-"

Draco silenced Harry. "You're overthinking, darling. That will never happen, I will never let that happen. I don't know how to wake you up, not yet, but as soon as I escaped from this wretched place, I will come looking for your body and I'll do anything to save you, I'll brew a potion to make sure you wake up, no matter how long it took. I'll wait for you, Harry. We will never give up on this."

"Fuck! I love you so much, Draco."

"Maybe I could give you a show during the day," Draco said when Harry had calmed down, and just as he expected, his boyfriend perked up. "Maybe I'll finger myself while you're sitting there on my bed."

"And risk the chance of any death eater seeing you like that?"

"It's worth taking the risk."

Hatry frowned. "It's not for me. Don't do that. This body is only for mine to see."

Draco shrugged. "If you say so."

-

When Ron, Remus, and Sirius, finally left her alone, Hermione briskly walked towards the library, accio-ing all books related to pregnancy, specifically male pregnancy.

At the end of the day, despite having fresh knowledge stored in her brain, she slumped on the chair in which she'd sat.

Just as she expected, all books negated her assumption that it could be Malfoy they're looking for.

Blast her, but Remus' joke that it could be Malfoy just stayed in her and earlier, it made sense to her, all points lead to Malfoy and Hermione wouldn't put it past Harry to take Malfoy in his arms, seeing him as another charity case. There could be something there, but all the books told her that it's just illogical—plain impossible, merely a myth, even citing the sham potion.

But Harry always made the impossible, right? He survived the killing curse. Who's to say he couldn't knock up a wizard, much less Malfoy?

But, would Malfoy even accept Harry, much less let her friend knock him up? Without doing further research, Hermione was sure it would be a resounding no. From what little he knew of the blonde, he was very prideful, Hermione knew he wouldn't kneel for Harry—or bend over. Hermione flushed at the thought and quickly vanished the image of Malfoy and Harry.

And if it was indeed Malfoy, shouldn't the blonde be asking for help by now? Surely the blonde was smart enough to know that he shouldn't be galloping around attacking Harry's friends with a baby inside him, especially Harry's baby, knowing it was the key to waking him up.

Maybe the idea was indeed bogus, and Hermione was desperate to point at anyone. Besides, she couldn't ask for anyone's help to confirm. The idea was silly in her head, how much more if, Merlin forbade, she told Moody about it. Even Ron found the idea laughable.

Returning all the books she took, Hermione went down to the kitchen, all the while thinking of who could be shacking up with Harry, her idea of Malfoy locking in the very depths of her head.