Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 20 Liars

Something wasn't right. Draco opened his eyes to see Katherine sleeping next to him. Without thinking, he lifted the blanket, only to see blood everywhere. "KATHERINE!"

She woke up with a start, equally horrified by the blood. "Oh my God…"

"We need to get you to the hospital," Draco tried, but she leaned away, clearly blaming him.

"Why didn't you wake me?" she screamed, suddenly angry with him. "You should have felt something! Our baby is dead, and it's all your fault! You're supposed to keep us safe!"

Draco sat up with a start and looked around frantically for his wife. As his heart rate slowed, he remembered that he had kicked her out and sent her to the guest room next door. He wiped his sweaty bangs out of his eyes before jumping out of bed to find her.

A split second later, he ripped open the door to find her sitting in bed, eating peanut butter out of the jar again. Slowly, she lowered the spoon that she was about to put in her mouth. "Er… This exactly what it looks like."

"I'm sorry." He must look as bad as he felt because she put her hand on his forehead when he sat next to her on the bed. "About before."

He expected her to be as angry with him as she was when they went to bed, but for once, it seemed that the pregnancy hormones were working in his favor. Katherine shrugged and started eating again. "No big deal. I only cried myself to sleep, that's all."

Draco sighed. He shouldn't be frustrated with her. She couldn't take a situation seriously if she didn't know what was going on with him. "Yes, you look so distraught."

"I've been so hungry lately!" Katherine complained. She must have sensed something was up because she patted the pillow next to hers. "Don't worry about it, Draco. Just sleep on my sweaty pillow, and we'll call it even."

"I had a dream you had a miscarriage," Draco said before he could stop himself. "And that you blamed me."

"Why would I do that?" Katherine frowned when Draco didn't reply. She placed the peanut butter on the nightstand and grabbed a glass of milk that was sitting by the lamp. "It was a dream, Draco. Last night, I dreamed Minnie was born with vampire teeth."

"Aster," he corrected softly. He still felt uneasy but climbed into bed anyway. "You blamed me because I didn't feel it, that you were bleeding and hurt, so I couldn't have stopped it."

"Hmm…" Sleepily, Katherine ran her fingers through his hair with half open eyes. "How could you have stopped it? Minnie says we should forget about this and go to a convenience store. They're bound to have peanut butter cups."

"At two in the morning?" No store would be open this late. Draco closed his eyes when she nodded. Obviously Muggles were so gluttonous that they needed to be able to buy things at all hours. "And I don't know how. It was a dream."

"Exactly." She paused, and for a second, Draco thought she was going to ask what else was wrong. Then he remembered that she had the emotional intelligence of her Weasel friend. "So we aren't going to the store?"

"No Katherine," he drawled without opening his eyes. He rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped an arm around her middle, which was a bit thicker than it was last week. "You'll have plenty of time to stuff your face tomorrow."

"You're lucky I'm a nice person," Katherine grumbled, ignoring his small laugh. "Here I am, trying to make you forget about your bad dream, and you call me, your pregnant wife, a pig."

Draco opened his eyes and sighed. If he pretended to fall asleep, he had a feeling that she would forcefully try to wake him up. "There's been something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Go for it, Drakey-Poo," she said with a yawn.

One day I'll get Pansy back for that, Draco thought tiredly. Already worried about her answer, he sat up and drew his knees to his chest. "Would you have still gone out with me if the Veela bond didn't connect us? As in, you wouldn't have eventually died if we didn't spend time together."

Gryffindors were good at being sickeningly sappy, almost as much as Hufflepuffs. She was going to comfort him by saying that she would have and then explain how much she loved him. Then, he could tell her the truth, and she would understand, so everything would go back to normal.

"Fuck no!"

"Katherine!"

Like it was funny, Katherine smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "I mean, I would have visited you at the hospital, but after I knew you were going to survive… Well, I'd probably still be hiding from you."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically. Did she think this was some sort of joke?

Apparently so… "I really didn't like you." She laughed. "So it's a good thing our lives depended on it."

Sometimes, Draco wished his wife was a bit more clever. "So would you care if it just went away? If I could snap my fingers, and that part of the bond would be gone. What would you do?"

Katherine frowned like she was confused. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

Finally. He took a deep breath. "If it was gone, and I attacked you… Like that time at St. Mungo's… Would you leave me?"

"No." But she curled into herself like he was about to transform, and it was all she could do to protect the baby. So she would, if it meant protecting the baby. It made sense, but it still hurt that she would leave. "Is this what your dream was about? You hurt the baby, and I left you?"

Draco tensed. This was the perfect opportunity to come clean. He could even leave the part out about being more likely to lose control. Unfortunately, he was too much of a coward. "Yes," he said quietly, feeling as small as a mouse. "Because you know reporters will be swarming around you in a couple weeks."

"I had a dream about Minnie biting my nipple off with her vampire teeth!" Katherine laughed quietly, and Draco turned to the window so she wouldn't see that he was lying. "Don't take it too seriously, Draco. You're just dreaming what you're worried about. I won't leave you, and the most you'll do to Minnie is deny her a cookie before dinner."

"Yeah. Sorry," Draco said, sounding robotic. He kept his back to her and closed his eyes. Katherine didn't say anything, but it took a while for him to hear her snoring next to him so he could stop pretending to be asleep.

A few days later, Kat walked out of the kitchen to see the Malfoys sitting around piles of parchment and old books. She narrowed her eyes and strode over to snatch a piece off the dining room table before they could hide any.

"Pyxis? And Corona is a beer by the way… Hydra sounds like a hose. Mensa? Mensa?!" Kat could already hear her poor baby being called Menses. "This better be the reject pile!"

"Oh yes, Katherine." Lucius barely looked at her as he wrote down the name Ara. "We discarded them hours ago. We were looking for you, but you were nowhere to be found."

Kat was willing to be her Firebolt that they checked the kitchen a few hours ago and that was it. Sure, she wasn't home, but that was beside the point! "Minnie doesn't appreciate—"

"Do you have any other names in mind, Katherine?" Narcissa asked lightly before taking a sip of her tea. "Because no one else is too fond of it."

It didn't matter what they thought! She could at least try to cover it up by saying, Your husband isn't too fond of it. Kat stuck her nose in the air and tried to act like it didn't bother her. "As a matter of fact, I do. Sage and Candy."

They stared like she grew another head in front of them. Sage and Candy were perfectly good names! Way better than Mensa. Draco broke the awkward silence by saying, "You are not naming our daughter after your cravings, Katherine."

"Short for Candace!" Kat hissed. She would do anything to slap the smirk off Lucius's face. All she had to do was think of a name that would blow them away… And then put Minnie on her birth certificate when they weren't looking. "I'll think of more after I see her in three weeks."

Lucius snorted. "You mean in six months?"

Kingsley probably wouldn't throw her in jail for killing him. Probably. Kat plastered a fake smile on her face. "I scheduled an ultrasound for the end of the month. So I'll see her in three weeks."

"Is that really necessary, Katherine?" Narcissa asked as she crossed off the name Lynx on the list she was holding. "She's perfectly healthy. Anyway, what do you think of Lyra? Or Cassiopeia? You could call her Cassi."

"Yes, I want to see my baby!" Kat snapped before she could stop herself. She was not going to let Lucius and Narcissa pick her name. "You don't even know what it is! Her picture comes up through the machine after they put the wand-er part of the machine over her! Teddy's going come—"

"A machine?" Draco repeated. She shouldn't have used that word... When Draco called something a "machine" that meant that he thought it would ultimately kill the person using it. That's what he called her car and the telly, because once he heard Remus tell Teddy that cartoons will rot his brain, and he thought Remus was being serious. "I don't want the Muggle healers poking you and exposing her to Merlin knows what."

She just had to open her big mouth. Kat ran a hand threw her messy hair. "It's perfectly safe. They won't poke me! They press—"

"Just like you said the car was safe?" Draco said loudly, causing his parents to stare. Narcissa glared at Lucius who held up his hands as if to say, What do you want me to do? "You're not going."

"My appointment is the 28th." Kat had to bite her tongue to keep from childishly adding, You can't tell me what to do! This was supposed to be fun, damn it! "It uses soundwaves—"

"What the hell are you talking about, Katherine?" Draco snapped. "There's no reason to expose our baby to something dangerous—"

"It's not dangerous! You just don't understand it!" She definitely should have brought Hermione to explain everything. At the very least, he would be lulled to sleep with the boring textbook explanation. "People use them all the time—"

"That doesn't mean anything! You just want to see her! There is no benefit to her!" Furious, Draco clenched his fists and opened and closed his mouth several times. Malfoy manners must be stopping him from cursing at her. "It's selfish, and you aren't going!"

Kat felt her face to bright red. So she was selfish? He was the one trying to bully her by talking loudly over her and bossing her around. "I'm going whether you like it or not."

To her complete shock, Draco shot out of his seat, and his skin started changing like it usually did when he was trying not to transform. Before she could think of anything to say, Narcissa hissed at him and her hair turned a shade lighter. Draco immediately backed off while Lucius covered his face with a hand.

"I—" Draco paled when Narcissa hissed at him again, looking scarier than he ever managed to. "I have to go. I'm suddenly not feeling well."

He darted off before Kat could think to stop him. For hours, he hid himself in one of the many rooms in the Manor. Narcissa tried to distract her with offers to go shopping and even an offer to go to the clinic Disillusioned so she could see exactly what an ultrasound was. Kat ignored her and searched half the Manor before getting too tired and falling asleep. When she woke up the next morning, she was in their room and Draco was forcing himself to go about his business as usual. He barely spoke, so Kat figured she'd wait for him to calm down before talking about it. The only problem was that he didn't.

This week, Draco's birthday came and went. He didn't want to do anything. She offered to go to his favorite restaurant, have his friends over, hell, she even offered to let him pick out her maternity wardrobe. When he declined, she left and returned with a maternity t-shirt that had an ultrasound image of an unborn baby flipping them off. He barely even looked at it!

As a result, Kat was forced to visit Hell on earth. She took a deep breath with her hand on the door handle before entering Snape's shop. As usual, he didn't hesitate to embarrass her.

"Sorry Katherine," he boomed for all to hear. "I do not currently have anything in stock for uncontrollable flatulence."

Kat felt so embarrassed that she started to sweat a little. The two costumers wouldn't look at her, but she was sure this would be in Witch Weekly tomorrow. "Sometimes I wonder why I didn't let Kingsley arrest you."

"Because you're a softhearted Gryffindor fool," Snape said matter-of-factly. He gestured to the door behind his register. "Come on, Katherine. The sooner you tell me of your family's latest affliction, the sooner I don't have to see your face for the rest of the day."

"I think Draco's depressed," Kat confessed once he shut the door of his office. "If you give me something for him, will you not tell him? Because I think it's more a chemical thing—"

"You want to drug your husband," Snape said flatly before shaking his head. "No. I will not give Draco something against his will because you are having communication problems a month into your marriage."

"He won't tell me what's bothering him!" Kat cried. They were supposed to tell Remus and Sirius tonight, and Draco had yet to get out of bed. "Whenever I ask, he just changes the subject and acts normal for a few hours! I thought it was about a fight we had, but that was a week ago! It can't be that. It wasn't that big of a deal. So I think it set things off with him, and now he's stuck."

"Potter…" Snape sighed. He glanced at his cauldron, and for a second, Kat thought he was going to give in. "Draco does get depressed. In incidents like his sixth year, after the War, and when he attacked you. When he does get depressed, there is usually an event that caused it, Potter, not a chemical imbalance. So I don't think secretly drugging him is going to help if he doesn't deal with whatever the reason that he became depressed is."

"But—I…" The greasy git leaned away in disgust when her eyes filled with tears. "I don't get it! We just got married. We're having a baby! And he's so miserable and I don't know why and—"

"Stop crying!" Snape spat. "He'll tell you when he's ready, Potter. Talk to his parents about it."

Kat sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, causing Snape to scowl. "I don't like them! More than I don't like you! They'll blame me!"

"Believe it or not, Potter, disliking you is not equal to stupidity. I'm sure they've noticed." Snape handed her a large vial. "Here is your prenatal potion for the month. Now leave before you get your mucus all over the place."

Since the visit with Snape was a bust, Kat tried to put a smile on her face as she started getting ready to go to Grimmauld. She didn't even complain when her favorite jeans barely buttoned. "Did you know that the first time I tricked Sirius into thinking that I was pregnant that I told him it was your baby?"

She didn't know if it was forced, but Draco actually seemed interested. He even smiled. "So told him that we were together?"

Oh… Kat turned away from the mirror and smiled awkwardly. "Well… Not exactly."

August 1995

Ginny was a genius. Hermione was refusing to be part of the prank. For some reason, she thought it was cruel. Kat almost told Sirius that she was having some random Muggle's baby, but Ginny thought it would be so much funnier if it was someone Sirius knew, someone he hated. Because she didn't want the Ministry to be contacted, Kat settled for Malfoy instead of Snape. Ginny couldn't stop giggling, so she had to listen from the living room as she slipped into the kitchen to see Sirius having a late breakfast while talking quietly with Remus.

"Padfoot?" Kat forced herself not to blink so her eyes watered. Remus raised an eyebrow suspiciously but didn't say anything. "I think…"

"What's the matter Kitty Kat?" Sirius asked worriedly. Remus narrowed his eyes when they heard a distant laugh from Ginny.

Kat rubbed at her eyes and sat on the one of the stools at the counter. She sighed and looked at the countertop instead of meeting Sirius's eye. "I messed up, Padfoot. I-I was feeling so awful, and I was stuck going to the Dursleys. He-he said he cared about me. That he loved me all this time! I should have pushed him away when he kissed me."

"Who?" Sirius shouted. Kat bit her cheek hard to keep from smiling. If Sirius was this upset over a kiss, she couldn't wait to see how he reacted when she told him about the "baby."

"We were on the train home," Kat continued before pretending to sniffle. "He said that he would make sure nothing happened to me. But he hasn't written back all summer! And now-and now…"

"Who?" Sirius repeated loudly while Remus sighed in exasperation and tried to act like he was reading the paper. "What happened on the train? If he hurt you, Katherine so help me—"

"I'm pregnant!" Kat wailed before she would lose control and burst out laughing. "And Malfoy hasn't written back to me all summer!"

"For Merlin's sake," Remus muttered before draining his coffee and placing the mug in the sink.

"MALFOY?" Sirius screamed over Ginny's background laughter. "YOU'RE WHAT?!"

"I knew you would hate me!" Kat was laughing so hard that she was crying, but Sirius thought she was sobbing, so he forced himself to soften. "I sh-sh-should have made-made a p-p-potion to get rid of it, but-but I don't want to!"

"I'm sorry, Kitty Kat," Sirius mumbled. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Then, shockingly, he perked up. "You can just stay here with me, and I'll raise the baby next year when you go back to school!"

Kat abruptly stopped sob laughing. She planned to tell Sirius after he yelled for a while. She didn't expect him to put a positive spin on things two minutes after she told him. "Actually…"

"You don't need, Malfoy, Kitty Kat." Oh no… Sirius was starting to sound excited. "I'll clean out the room right next to mine for the sprog."

Remus glared at Kat, who was starting to feel a tiny bit guilty. "I'm sorry, Padfoot. But there isn't going to be a baby."

"Moony!" Sirius pounded his fist on the table to get his attention. He looked genuinely angry with Remus. "Kat said she wanted to keep it. I have nothing else to do in this dump. I'm happy to watch him."

"Uh…" She was the worst! She should've taken to account how lonely Sirius was going to be once school started.

Sirius looked at her worriedly. "But you can always stay home too, Kitty Kat. You'll have to figure out how to graduate though if you want to be an auror."

"It was a prank," Kat said in a quiet voice that was barely above a whisper. "I'm not pregnant."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked dumbly, sounding like he didn't want to believe it.

"I didn't sleep with Malfoy." Kat squirmed in her seat. Remus gave her a look that said, That's what you get. "I was joking."

"You don't have to lie." Was Sirius really going to be in denial about this? Apparently… "I know Malfoy is a snake. Just like Lucius. He's disgusting, and I'll gut him the next time I see him for taking advantage of you!"

"He didn't!" Although she still felt bad, Kat smiled and tried to turn this back into a joke. She couldn't believe Sirius changed his mind about the fake baby so fast. "Do you think I'd let that ferret touch me? I'd rather braid Snape's greasy hair!"

Sirius blinked. "But…"

"Sirius, I'm a virgin." Kat grinned when he frowned like it was a bad thing. A few minutes ago he was flipping out because someone kissed her on the train. "You're so dumb, Padfoot."

"Oi! Excuse me for caring about my goddaughter!" He sounded offended, but poor Sirius's face was still blank with shock.

"I bet I could make you fall for it again!" Kat taunted while Remus abandoned all hope for them and headed upstairs for the library.

"I will not!" Sirius shot back.

At Christmas, Sirius nearly had a breakdown when she told him she was pregnant with Voldemort's baby.

Unsurprisingly, Draco wasn't too happy with how he was portrayed. "You are an animal."

"I'm not the one who can turn into a giant monster bird!" she teased. At her words, Draco's face fell, and he turned away. "What?"

"Nothing…" It was a joke! Maybe she shouldn't have used the word monster... Draco grabbed his jacket and started to head out. "Let's go."

Although she was worried about Draco, Kat was not about to waste an opportunity to torture Sirius. She didn't really look pregnant yet, but it was clear if she wore a tight tank top, which is exactly what she did. Instantly suspicious, Sirius stared but didn't say anything until halfway through dinner.

"So," he asked, already annoyed with Kat for "tricking" him. "It's really getting old, Kat. You're going to be twenty three this year. Did you take some sort of potion just to trick me?"

Draco frowned, but thank Merlin he didn't say anything. Kat pretended to have no idea what her godfather was talking about. "Huh?"

Sirius gestured to her. He ignored the warning glance from Remus and barreled on. "Did Snape give you something to make you look bloated? Because it wasn't worth the money. I'm not believing that you're pregnant this time."

"I-I'm not pregnant." Kat covered her mouth with her hand to make it look like she couldn't believe what he was saying. Sirius's face fell and his eyes widened. "I didn't put on that much weight, did I?"

"No-no-no-no!" Sirius back tracked immediately. "I-I didn't mean it, Kitty Kat. I—"

"Yes you did!" Kat put her face in her hands and her shoulders shook with silent laughter. "I've just been stressed out lately and—How could you say that?!"

Sirius gulped and turned a shade lighter. "I'm sorry, Kitty Kat. Remus thought—"

To make Sirius think that he had gotten Remus in trouble, Kat rounded on him. "Is this why Teddy asked why my stomach isn't as big as Fleur's?"

Unlike Sirius, Remus didn't fall for it for a second and asked dryly, "When are you due, Kat?"

Sirius went rigid. "Remus!" he hissed. "She's not—"

"December 23rd," she said happily. Kat put an arm around Draco, who gave her a ghost of a smile. "It's a girl."

"But-but…" Sirius looked at Remus, who patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I… You're a terrible person, Kat."

"Is it my fault you're so gullible, Padfoot?" Kat asked lightly as she poured herself some more water. "I'm not even that good of an actor."

Sirius stammered several times before he could get anything coherent out. "Are pregnant or not? Because—You've been saying it for years!"

"Well I'm going to lay the egg next week." Kat grinned when Remus groaned and Sirius's eyes bulged out of his head. "She'll hatch in December."

"Katherine Lily," Remus chided as he started cutting up his chicken. After all these years, he was tired of hearing of Sirius falling for his goddaughter's pranks. Just once, he wanted to see Sirius figure it out. "How are we supposed to celebrate with you torturing Sirius?"

"That's how I celebrate!" Kat snickered when Sirius started pouting. "Can you believe Draco wants to name her Aster?"

"Asters are beautiful flowers," Draco mumbled, speaking for the first time since they had arrived. Remus frowned but said nothing.

"You'd think pretty flowers would have prettier names." Kat laughed when he rolled his eyes. "She doesn't feel like a Lily… Maybe next time."

Draco snorted. "You thought she felt like a James."

"Hey!" Sirius must be willing to get over being tricked again if it meant joining the argument. "What's wrong with naming a girl Jamie? Her full name can be Jasmine."

"Here we go," Remus said with a sigh.

"Her name is Minerva Hermione!"

"Katherine! We are not naming her after that terrifying woman!" Draco yelled, finally getting some life into him.

"You want to name her after a flower that sounds like ass! They'll call her Ass Flower!"

"Now you're just making things up!"

"And don't get me started on Mensa!" She was never going to let that go. The Malfoys were simply writing a list of constellations when they were first thinking of names, but she didn't care. They shouldn't have even written it down.

"For the last time, we discarded that one as soon as Father wrote it down!"

"The fact that you considered it speaks volumes!" Kat wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You wanted to name our baby after the menstrual cycle."

"Kat!" Sirius pushed his plate away. "We're eating."

While Draco was mumbling to himself about how much he hated them, Kat turned to Remus. "What do you think?"

For a second, Kat thought Remus was going to refuse or say something ridiculous to tease her. He definitely considered it before saying, "Phoenix."

Draco liked it while Kat thought it was a horrible idea. And he thought the name Minerva Hermione was too much pressure! But now it's perfectly okay to name Minnie after the Order of the Phoenix! At this rate, they'd be still arguing while she was being wheeled into the delivery room.

Today was the big day. Draco tried to smile as he helped Katherine onto the hospital bed. In just a few short hours, they would finally get to meet her.

"Can you get the healer?" Suddenly, Katherine was pasty white. Her eyes were sunken in, and her breathing was shallow. How… Two seconds ago she was perfectly fine. Out of nowhere, the healer appeared.

"You just need a potion," she chirped as dozens of flashes blinded him. Before he knew it, reporters were swarming in like bees. They weren't supposed to be in here.

Draco blinked, and he was in another hospital room, lying in bed and alone with Father. "Draco—"

No… It couldn't have happened again. Draco shot out of bed and ran down the halls. An occasional flash blinded him, but he couldn't see any more reporters. He felt like he was running for hours before he finally found Katherine's room.

He kicked the door open to see Katherine lying in the bed with a vacant, disturbing look in her eyes. Mother was clutching a faceless baby and sobbing. "Can-can't you do something?!"

"I'm sorry." Embers glanced at Draco but quickly looked away. Something bad clearly happened, but she still had that permanent, giddy smile on her face. "I couldn't give Kat the potion in time. Please be quiet. The baby only has a couple minutes. Make them peaceful."

Wait. Katherine wasn't blinking. Draco started to run over to the baby, but somehow, the baby turned to dust in Mother's arms. She was dead too.

Draco sat up and felt his heart pounding. He transformed and attacked the healer, so Katherine couldn't get the medical attention that she needed.

"What's the matter?" Katherine turned a nearby light on and rubbed at her eyes. So he didn't… She jumped out of the bed and grabbed the trashcan when he started retching. He didn't actually get sick, but the dream was so real to him that he honestly thought she was dead. "Do you want me to firecall a healer?"

Draco shook his head and set the trashcan down. "I'm sorry. Bad dream."

Katherine waited, but he didn't want to talk about it. He could still see her dead eyes staring straight through him. After a while, she whispered, "You can tell me anything."

"I know." He smiled sadly as she climbed back into bed and put a hand over her stomach. The other day, they woke up to see that she had grown significantly almost over night. Katherine was a little annoyed because most of her clothes didn't fit, but he knew she secretly loved it. "I'm worried about attacking the healer when she's born."

"That's it?" Katherine winced at her own words. "I'm sorry. I…"

"Father says…" Draco bit his lip. She would understand. He just had to find the courage to tell her. "You'll be in a lot of pain, and I'm sure reporters will be swarming the maternity ward. And, remember I told you Father almost lost control when I was born and…"

"Barely." Fear clouded Katherine's eyes, and she seemed to be forcing herself to say, "I could have her here."

"I'll be fine." Draco bit his lip. They could buy things through catalogs or in Muggle London. "And if I start, you know. I'll leave. Lupin can be there with you."

"I'm sure he'll love that." Katherine kissed him slowly, and he thought that she was going to drop it. No such luck. "Is there anything else? Because Tonks had Teddy at home. I'm sure we can find a midwife."

"No." He was being ridiculous. He knew it but continued lying anyway. "And I want you to be where you'll be comfortable."

"I don't think I'll be comfortable anywhere," she joked. "And if we donate enough money, I'm sure Saint Mungo's will lend us a couple of healers for a day or two."

"You'll have her where you want to have her," Draco said firmly. There was no way he was going to allow himself to be a burden on his family. If he had to, he'd simply stay home until he knew he could control himself. "We'll talk about it later."

Before Katherine could say anything, he turned all the lights off with his wand, laid down, and turned his back to her. She sighed, sounding tired and not at all surprised. Hopefully she understood.

A few weeks later, Narcissa was the one to finally tell Kat what was wrong with Draco. She was tending to her flowers in the garden outside the ballroom, speaking causally while Kat sat on the grass. It seemed that Draco partially told her the other night.

"Draco is a ruminator," Narcissa said after explaining the partial collapse of the bond and how it would affect Draco. She leaned over to smell a rose. "When he gets something in his head, he can't let it go. But you know that, after what happened at St. Mungo's last year."

There was a big difference between not letting something go and barely functioning! Kat couldn't believe Narcissa was talking about this so flippantly, like Draco had a cold or the flu. "He won't talk to me! He flipped out because of the ultra—"

"Are you still going?" Narcissa asked lightly. There was a disapproving look in her eyes, however. The appointment was in a few hours. "Of course you are," she said when Kat didn't say anything. "We can't let someone else's struggles get in our way, now can we?"

"I spent most of my life afraid of a man." Kat looked away and picked at the dark green grass. Uncle Vernon, Sirius third year, Voldemort, Lou. "I'm not going let him freak out on me like he did a few weeks ago, and I'm not going to put my daughter through it just because he's afraid."

She could feel Narcissa's eyes on her, but she was too cowardly to look up and meet them. "Draco will gain more control with age," her voice was emotionless, so Kat couldn't tell what she was feeling. "But don't give up on him, Katherine. Part of being married is being considerate of your husband's feelings."

"I never said I was going to give up on him!" Kat shouted, finally looking up to see Narcissa's unreadable face. "Maybe he isn't being considerate of my feelings! He didn't care to ask how I felt about it! He shut me out but still expected me to understand! What do you expect me to do? Shut myself in the Manor and wait for him to "gain more control with age?" Everyone in this house knew what the fuck was going on but me! And then you finally decide you can tell me in between pruning the fucking roses and call me inconsiderate for not giving into the Veela side of him that you say he needs to learn how to control!"

Narcissa frowned, and Kat wondered if she would ever like her. She set her hedge clippers down and sat across from her on the grass. "He's my son. I want everything to be perfect for him. I don't like to see him upset."

"I'm not leaving him," Kat said quietly. "But I'm going to the appointment, and I'm not going to hide from the reporters. I'm going to go about things like I normally would and try to get him to do the same."

To her utter disbelief, Narcissa actually smiled at her. "I'll talk to Draco. Make sure to bring home the pictures."

Kat spent the rest of the day with Teddy, who thankfully managed to cheer her up with finger painting and a game of hide and seek in the backyard. They were playing with blocks in his room when she finally told him.

"I'm going to have a baby," she announced with a smile. "Just like Aunt Fleur."

Teddy's hair turned an assortment of colors. Patches of pink, green, purple, and orange told Kat that he was confused. "Why?"

"Er…" She expected him to ask how and was prepared to give him some bullshit magic lie to buy Sirius and Remus some more time. She was prepared to tell him that she'd still have time for him after the baby came too, but not why. It was hard to put into words why they were having Minnie, especially since the baby wasn't exactly planned so she and Draco didn't really talk about it. "What do you mean?"

Teddy wrinkled his nose and paused to put a green triangular block on the top of the house they were making. "Fred cries a lot, and he pooped on Daddy when he comed over. Daddy said babies can't use the toilet. They gross."

"They can be pretty gross." Kat wasn't sure if she should tell Teddy how many times he pooped on her when he was Fred's age. And when she changed him, he had such good aim that she had to wear a smock if she didn't want her clothes to be covered in pee. "But Fred will grow up to be cool like you one day, Teddy Bear."

"He smells," Teddy grumbled, making Kat wonder how bad this poop explosion was. He seemed genuinely disappointed that she was having a baby, but it at least it was only because of poop.

"We are going to look at the baby in my belly. Just me and you," Kat added. Hopefully this will prevent Teddy from thinking she and Draco wouldn't have time for him when the baby came along. "Then we'll go get ice cream."

Teddy seemed more excited about the ice cream than seeing Minnie, but at least he happy to go.

Kat figured Draco was going to be waiting for her when he came home and that they would have a big fight. That was why she didn't come home until Teddy was asleep. After that, Remus made her go. To her surprise, he was the one who got Narcissa to talk to her.

After stepping through the floo, she noticed that the house was too quiet. Not its usual Malfoys have no fun quiet, but a something bad happened quiet. "Lumos."

The entire sitting room was a mess! The couches were ripped open, and the stuffing was leaking out. Their new wedding portrait was slashed and barely recognizable. Pieces of broken glass and vases were sprinkled across the floor.

Silently, Kat headed up the stairs to the room she shared with Draco. She shouldn't have waited so long to come back. He was going to be ten times more miserable now.

Draco was wide awake with his back turned to her when she slipped into the room. Kat kicked off her shoes and crawled into bed. "I love you."

"It's not as bad as it looks," he muttered. He still wouldn't face her. "That's what Mother says anyway."

"That's what people who have slaves say," she teased lightly. "Because they don't have to clean up the mess."

Finally, Draco turned so they were face to face. He looked exhausted but not angry or sad. "Hermione took me to the Muggle library after Mother… calmed me down. She said to tell you that I thought it was like something called radiation. She also says congratulations."

Kat shifted closer to him and brushed some hair out of his eyes. "You could've told me. I wouldn't leave you. You've put up with plenty of my shit. I'll put up with yours for a while."

"If I was endangering our daughter, you would." Draco grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers. "And you should. But I don't want that. I didn't want you to know because if you knew you could leave without me eventually dying, you'd be less hesitant to."

"I wouldn't just give up," Kat yell whispered. "St. Mungo's was an accident. If I thought you were going to lose it again, I'd stun you. And I don't think your parents are going to let you go feral. Especially while I'm gestating the next heir."

It was too dark, but she was sure that Draco rolled his eyes. "I feel… Like nothing. I don't want to eat or sleep or doing anything. But at the same time, I know I'm missing it. She's going to be kicking soon. I've been avoiding telling my friends. I've been avoiding work. Astoria has been trying to get ahold of me, but I can't even bring myself to open her letters."

"You aren't nothing." Kat hugged him tightly, and he hesitated before hugging her back. "You're everything."

"I'll keep that in mind," Draco drawled, sounding like an exhausted version of his old self. "I'm sorry I lied to you."

"It's alright. Like I said, I think I owe it to you to put up with your shit for a while." He didn't say anything, and Kat smiled to herself when she realized he was sleeping deeply for the first time in weeks. She'd tell him about the appointment after he had time to get better.

"So can I see it?" Draco asked quietly the next morning. Kat was tempted to pretend to be asleep. After all that happened, she wasn't ready to talk about her appointment yet, but if she was hesitant, she was afraid of freaking him out again. Slowly, she sat up and glanced at her purse, causing him to look suspicious. "What?"

"Nothing!" Kat jumped out of bed before he could start looking for the pictures himself. After rummaging through her bag, she grabbed a few and then zipped it shut. She handed the pictures to him a little too quickly. "Here!"

Draco smiled softly and ran a thumb over Minnie's tiny head. "Why is Baby A written on the bottom?"

"Uh…" Okay, no big deal. She would just have to tell him, but she had no idea how he would react. Because of the past few weeks, she didn't want to risk a bad reaction. "Because… Because… I had a name in mind and told the doctor to write it on the bottom, but I figured you wouldn't like it, so I told him to stop."

"What was it?" he asked while looking at the other pictures that showed Minnie's arms and legs instead of only her head. Well, she pretty much walked right into that one.

"A…" No, he'd look at her like she was nuts if she said a Muggle name like Ashley, which she loved. He wouldn't believe Amanda either. "Artemis."

"Artemis," Draco repeated, sounding awed. Great. She hated that name and had hoped he would too. She wanted a name that the baby would be able to pronounce herself when she learned to talk. "It's beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as Minerva," Kat said quickly to try to show him that she changed her mind. She just had to pick the first non-Muggle name that popped into her head!

And of course Draco was absolutely in love with the name she pretty much pulled out of her arse. He looked happier than she had seen him in a while. "We can call her Arty."

No, they won't! She had to do it. She was going to admit to being a big fat liar two seconds after telling the worse lie she ever told. "Actually—"

"There you are, you fucking idiots!" Daphne ripped open their door before Kat could confess. "Your stupid Weasel upset Astoria, and now she's missing!"

Ever have stupid dreams like Draco did that you think are real but you wake up and feel stupid for thinking they really happened? :P I hate those…

Thank you for the reviews SO-LONG-LOVE, Guest, crazypagen, gr8rockstarrox, beserkerbeast, and waterflygirl!

Waterflygirl: Bits and pieces of what you pictured are actually what I have planned. But not all of it! :)

I was going to go with Minnie when she was born, but now I've changed my mind! Feel free to join in the name war, but I think I know what her first name will be. That being said, there's plenty of time for me to change my mind! :)