Thank You for your reviews! :

Sarahamanda, DoctorMarthaJones, Mika the Dark princess, InuyashaxSesshomaru4ever, Hikory,

mylife9 (I absolutly LOVED your review! The length, the contents, all of it! You ROCK! And, as to your questions, I promise they'll be answered soon. Some of them in the very next chapter! :) )

stupidamericanidioms91, Yana5, Silvermane1, HeidiFox,

Kab-OldEnoughToDie (Um, whoa... I'm so sorry. I don't see why you're apologizing. I should feel bad for you, and I do... That's terrible... I'm so so so sorry... :( )

~Sweet-Hearted SilverEars~

Chapter 27 A Very Merry Christmas Morning

"Merry Christmas, Ron," Harry said, handing him his present with a smile.

"Wow," Ron said, looking at the small package that he handed him. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"Sure I did. You're my best friend. Well, except for Draco."

Draco smiled at Harry from his place beside him, slipping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in close to kiss his cheek gently.

"You look pale, Harry," Ron said, setting his present down unopened beside his own knee. "Are you okay?"

Harry's green eyes softened, and he leaned his head against Draco's shoulder, their linked hands moving up together to touch his light blue silk covered stomach affectionately. "I'm alright, Ron. More then alright, I promise. I'm pregnant."

"Really? Wow. Congratulations."

"You don't seem surprised," Draco commented.

"Should I be? True, you could have waited a little longer for the sake of propriety, but it was your choice not to. And really, who cares what people think? Life's too short to waste time thinking about other people's far too delicate sensibilities. As long as you're both happy, that's what truly matters."

"We are. She's going to be the best-loved baby in the world," Harry said with a smile, glancing down at his stomach briefly. "I wonder if there's ever been a child born at Hogwarts to a couple that was still in school like us?"

"That's probably a question best answered by research," Draco stated, placing a quick kiss to his lips with a gentle-eyed smile. "I'm sure that father wouldn't mind if you used his library to find out."

"Maybe I will..."

Draco nodded, smiling again briefly before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small emerald green velvet box, opening it before Harry's wide eyes. Nestled inside within emerald green silk was a wide, silver ring that contained a large, gray tinted diamond like the smaller one's in the dragon's eyes on his necklace embedded deep in the band. A group of smaller emerald stones surrounded it in a perfect circle. Draco grinned again at Harry's stunned reaction as he shifted up onto one knee before him, holding out the ring box in his cupped hands.

"I know that we haven't been together long, Harry, but I love you, and I love our baby. And, somehow, I know that this is right, so. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?" Harry gasped softly, his green eyes widening further and filling with moisture at his words and actions as he looked up at his face, then down at the offered ring. He wanted desperately to reach out and take it, so he nodded, reaching for it eagerly.

"Yes, I will. I want to marry you," he murmured quietly, cradling the box to his chest with a soft smile, reaching out to twine his fingers with Draco's affectionately. "I love you, too. I always have, and I always will..."

The large diamond ring on Harry's finger sparkled brightly in the lights from the huge Christmas tree as the Gryffindor and Draco danced around the living room together slowly, while Ron, Lucius and Narcissa watched them with smiling faces.

The soft music of the flutes came to an easy, winding stop, and Harry raised his head from Draco's shoulder reluctantly. His strawberry red lips parted on a gasp of surprised pleasure when the Slytherin kissed him lovingly, his beautiful gray eyes soft with emotion as he pulled back to look down at him.

"I love you, my Harry."

"I love you, my Draco."

"Mmmm... Come on. Let's get those presents open, shall we?"

Harry nodded, purring softly in answer and linking his fingers with Draco's affectionately as they went to sit down next to the others near the sparkling Christmas tree.

"The Official Ministry Bonder will be here a while later to marry us. I made sure to give us plenty of time to just relax and enjoy our first Christmas together. We can even marry in our nightclothes if you want to. No real point in changing now. We're not expecting anyone else to come by. Blaise took his mother and Theo to Paris for the holidays; Vince and Greg went to Japan to buy a bunch of those Amy things that they like so much, and Pansy's in Egypt. She wanted to visit the Pyramids."

Draco was surprised, his gray eyes widening as Harry started to laugh hysterically, shaking with it as he clutched at his heaving sides.

"What's so amusing, my precious Harry?"

"I-It's 'anime'," Harry managed to gasp out, tears of mirth slipping down his slightly red cheeks. "N-Not 'Amy'..."

"Well, pardon me," Draco teased, tilting his chin up dramatically as he spoke. "Their voices are so low and deep, and added to that their habit of finishing each other's sentences, can you blame me for misunderstanding them? 'Anime' and 'Amy' are not really that different when it comes to the sounds your tongue makes when you say them."

"I guess that you're right," Harry agreed between slowly winding down giggles. "I'm sorry that I laughed at you, darling."

"I love your laugh, Harry baby. It's sexy. Besides, laughter is good for our daughter. It's a proven fact."

"Really? I didn't know that. Do you think that we'll ever know each other so well that we'll finish each other's sentences?"

"I'm sure we will, yes. It's a certainty. Just a matter of time."

Ron finally opened his present, thrilled and grinning widely at the pair of tickets to a Chudley Cannons game.

"We figured that Victor might like to go with you," Harry explained with a smile where he was curled up in Draco's arms contentedly. "And if he's not available because of his job, you could always take one of your brothers. I'm sure that they could get off work for one day."

"Thank you, Harry," Ron said happily, moving to hug his best friend tightly. "Thank you, Draco."

Draco was surprised when Ron released Harry to hug him as well. The embrace was slightly awkward and very short, but it was a good start toward them getting along better, if only for Harry's sake. Harry gasped softly when he opened one of their gifts from Lucius and Narcissa, pulling onesie after onesie out of the large bag in bright, gorgeous colors, dark and light pink, dark and light purple, peach, salmon, yellow, red, orange, dark, light and sea foam green, dark, light and robin egg blue and indigo, followed by matching pants, short skirts, and tiny booties.

"Oh, Mrs. Malfoy-"

"Please, call me Narcissa, dear. We are family now, after all."

"Narcissa," he corrected himself, nodding with a smile. "This is far too much, but thank you."

"You're very welcome, dear."

"Harry."

"Harry," she said, smiling widely. "I've also started making plans for a nursery here at the Manor. I know that you haven't decided yet where you'll be living after you both finish your education, but I'm sure that you'll be visiting here often enough to need one. We can talk later about what you'd like if you want to, Harry."

"I'd like that, thank you."

There were several more gifts from the Malfoy's for Draco and Harry, consisting of a play pen, changing table, and a small, light and dark purple swirled bathing tub for the baby.

Harry was looking overwhelmed at all the stuff, relieved when Draco seemed to understand, using his wand to shrink it all down and place it in the large bag of baby clothing before sending it to their room by magic.

"Are you alright, Har?" Ron asked him in concern. "You look kinda pale."

"I'm just a little tired. I'll be fine, Ro."

"There's only one more present, love," Draco reassured him, placing a brief, affectionate kiss to his temple. "This one's from me for the baby. Then you can take a quick nap before the Bonding."

"Okay."

Draco handed him a large package wrapped in light purple tissue paper, smiling as he opened it with a soft gasp of surprise. Inside was a large, soft and fuzzy blanket. One side was dark gray, while the other was a deep plum color. "This looks familiar. I know, it looks like that pillow on your bed at Hogwarts that you seem so attached to."

"That's because it is my pillow," Draco explained, slipping an arm around Harry's shoulders, watching the Gryffindor hold the blanket against his chest, stroking it's softness with one hand absentmindedly as he listened to him. "It was my blanket when I was a baby. I transfigured it into a pillow because I didn't want to deal with the other Slytherins making fun of me for sleeping with a blanket."

"It's two different colors because we didn't know what we were getting with Draco," Lucius interjected. "My lovely Cissy wanted it to be a surprise."

"And he was," Narcissa said with a fond smile. "We got a perfect little angel."

Draco's face colored with embarrassment, and Harry and Ron snickered, Harry pecking Draco's red cheek with a loving, affectionate kiss.

"I agree, Narcissa," the only brunette in the room stated firmly. "He's the most beautiful person that I've ever known. Inside and out. I could never find another that would even come close, let alone surpass him. He'll be the perfect husband to me, just as he's your perfect son."

"And the perfect father for the baby," Ron added with a wide grin, flushing as they all looked at him. "What? He will be."

"None of us doubt that, mister Weasley," Lucius said slowly, his gray eyes sparkling with surprising mischief as he looked at him with a small smile. "It is merely... strange to hear a Weasley championing a Malfoy."

"Technically I'm only half Weasley, and soon I'll most likely be a Krum."

"True. What do your parents think of that, if I may ask?"

"I haven't told them yet," Ron admitted, shifting uncomfortably. "They've already got enough to worry about with Harry, even though it's none of their business. Charlie, Bill, Percy, Fred and George know, but not the others. Ginny is delusional. She insists that Harry's just going through 'a phase' and that he'll come round once she talks to him after Christmas, leave Draco for her and that they'll have a baby within a year after they marry. Mum thinks the same. It gets tiring to listen to."