From then on Draco was taken by side along apparition to the muggle-hospital each day to spend a few precious moments with Scorpius. The visits were never long, just fifteen to thirty minutes when his parents were changing shifts; his mother would take him there and his father would bring him back or the other way around.
Draco's visits with Scorpius weren't outwardly special or magical, but to him they were. Sure he was just going there to hold a baby, but he was holding his baby. His Scorpius wasn't like any other baby; Scorpius looked like a miniature version of himself and the baby was just so incredibly tiny. His heart ached for that baby when he wasn't there holding Scorpius and his heart soared when he was. He began to live for those few minutes each day that he would spend with his second son.
Draco was convinced that his feelings were not one sided, because it seemed little Scorpius lived for him too. The baby spent most of the day asleep, sleeping far more hours than Hyperion, but Scorpius always woke up when Draco was there. Scorpius only ever opened his eyes a few times a day, but Scorpius always opened those grey eyes when Draco was there talking to his baby. Scorpius would by all indications be sound asleep and then Draco would arrive and speak a few words and the baby would be awake, opening eyes and moving little limbs.
By Thursday Scorpius' muggle-nurse could even see it and was saying that Scorpius knew his father's voice. Of course Narcissa and Lucius had to translate for her, because she spoke French and Draco still didn't, but the effect was not lost; it made Draco feel special to know that everyone could see that such a precious being was as much enthralled with him as he was with his baby.
Draco was enthralled with Hyperion too, not just Scorpius. When he wasn't in the hospital with Scorpius, he was at home with Hyperion, taking care of Hyperion and talking to his baby. But then he had all day with his first born, while he only had minutes with his second, so his love for his second born was made all the more intense for the fact that it was crammed into such a short period of time.
At home Druella and Severus continued to help with Hyperion. Severus more so than Druella, but when everyone else was napping, Druella would take her turn with her great grandson. She was old, but definitely not feeble and she certainly took a liking to the small baby; Severus just took an even greater liking. Severus was absolutely enraptured by the small features that were so distinctly Lily's and so absolutely not James Potter's. He could just imagine Potter looking down on them, seeing Lily's grandson in Severus' arms and looking up at Severus with those big eyes; oh how enraged Potter would be.
Draco, being the father and the one breast feeding Hyperion, obviously came first, but Severus got in a lot of quality time with the baby. After all, Draco couldn't do a hundred percent of the childcare, because he had other things to do; Draco had to visit Scorpius in the hospital, take naps to catch up on sleep missed during the night and to regain his strength, and pump breast milk. The breast pump was portable and handless, but it still got in the way of Draco holding his baby and it made other chores, like changing nappies, more difficult. And well, Severus was all too eager to step up and fill in when needed, getting his share of Hyperion's time.
Hyperion, like his younger brother, obviously preferred Draco to everyone else. He would spend several hours during the day awake, spread out with lots of naps in between, so both Severus and Druella got to spend time with Hyperion while he was awake. But even then, he seemed to make a special effort to seek Draco out, to wake up when Draco was holding him or when Draco was talking to him. The baby couldn't hold eye contact yet or even focus, but he seemed to seek out Draco's face and stare at his father with those wide dark grey eyes of his. Well his eyes weren't super dark, but they were several shades darker than Draco's and Scorpius' eyes and already turning blue.
To Draco, the most amazing thing Hyperion would do was when the baby's tiny head would turn to look in the direction Draco's voice was coming from. Severus or Druella would be holding the baby while Draco pumped, Draco would say something, and Hyperion's head would turn. Often Hyperion's eyes would open too, like he was trying to spot his father. It was the kind of heartwarming moment Draco lived for these days; the type of moment that made him glad he had kids.
Hyperion and Scorpius both put on a bit of weight; an ounce for Scorpius and three ounces for Hyperion. Scorpius was still getting all of his nutrition through the feeding tube, but his allotment of milk had gone up and they were now feeding the little guy three quarters of an ounce every two hours. Hyperion, on the other hand, was being solely breastfed, so they didn't know exactly how much he was eating. Draco started to measure the milk pumped from the other side while Hyperion was eating, as the best comparison he had available. By that measure, Hyperion was drinking a lot; two or more ounces every two hours; it was no wonder he was gaining weight so quickly.
Draco was still producing enough milk for both babies, and then some. They had a shelf of full bottles under stasis charms. In fact, they'd run out of bottles, needed more, and so were using a storage vat. A house elf who worked on the dairy processing side of the villa had retrieved the large dairy barrel, which was cleaned, thoroughly sanitized, and repurposed. The barrel already had an extremely strong stasis charm on it that could hold milk for years without spoilage or degradation, so it was perfect. Once a day, a house elf would take all of the filled bottles and dump the milk into the barrel. Then the bottles would be cleaned, sterilized, and sent back for reuse.
Draco was starting to feel like a dairy cow the way he was being used for milk. He was being forced to eat and drink, even when he didn't really feel like it, because the adults kept saying he was too thin. In his mind, it all started when that muggle-healer had told him he was too thin and dehydrated; he thought the muggle must've blabbed to his parents, because now everyone was on him to eat and drink more.
The muggle-healer had been good for a couple of things though. Not only had he gotten the muggle-Aurors off Draco's back, but there were also vitamins. Draco had given the vitamins to Severus, who examined them and determined that the multivitamin was nothing more than a collection of standard doses of most of the trace nutrients the body needs each day; the stuff that wasn't sugars, fats, or proteins. The iron supplement was an edible form of elemental iron, which Severus did not know to be important in blood production, but Draco had tried it and suddenly felt great. After a few days of the muggle-iron, he was no longer sleepy all the time. Sure he still needed naps, but when he was awake, he no longer felt sleepy, tired, or run-down. He started taking his iron-supplement every day and even asked Severus to pick some more up for him from the muggle store.
And that was pretty much how the next three days passed in a whirl of juggling babies, breast pumping, muggle-vitamins, and muggle-hospitals. But then something truly amazing happened Saturday morning when Draco was visiting Scorpius at the muggle-hospital. The muggle-healers said that they were ready to try taking Scorpius off of the breathing machine and they waited for Draco's visit to do so. They had plenty of muggle-doctors and nurses on stand-by to hook Scorpius right back up to the breathing machine and shove the tube back down his tiny throat should this attempt fail, but Draco wasn't thinking about that; he was thinking about what would happen if the attempt succeeded.
Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco all waited with baited breath for the muggles to remove the tube. Draco was wearing the sterile muggle-gown, because if little Scorpius breathed on his own, they were going to hand him over to Draco.
While they were waiting for the healers and nurses to get everything set up, Dr. Leroy, the one muggle-healer who spoke English, came up to them and said, "Hello Malcolm family. I am Dr. Leroy, Drake remembers me from Wednesday, yes? I normally make my work over in the maternity ward, but I make the best English, yes?"
"Yes," Draco agreed.
"They want Drake to stand near the baby's head and talk to him, yes? Babies always listen to the parents, yes? Scorpius is a good boy and if Father tells him to breathe, the baby will breathe, yes?"
"Will that really work?" Draco asked.
"Sometimes it does; other times the baby is not ready yet. Every baby is different, yes?"
"Yes."
"Good, then you do want to try talking to him for the doctors, yes?"
"Yes."
"Great. The two things they ask is that you not touch him, only speak to him, yes? And if it doesn't work and he doesn't breathe, that you step back, yes?"
"Yes, alright, I can do that: don't touch him and step back if he doesn't breathe. Er, how will I know when it's time to step back if he hasn't breathed?"
"I will stand with you and I will tell you to step back and then pull you back with me, yes?"
"Yes."
"Your baby wakes up and opens his eyes for you, yes?"
"Yes."
One of the muggle-healers said something to Dr. Leroy in French and Dr. Leroy said something back in French, followed by a reply in French from the other muggle-healer.
"Good. The physicians think that when the tubes are out and you speak to him, he might try to look for you. If you sit down on a chair in front of the table where they are working on him and he opens his eyes, he'll be at eye level with you, yes?"
"Yes."
"You will try it then, yes?"
"Yes, sure, I'll sit down in front of him if you want."
"Good, then I'll get the wheelchair," Dr. Leroy said, retrieving a wheelchair from the corner of the room and coming back. "You sit in the chair now, yes?"
Draco was slightly annoyed that he had agreed to sit in a wheelchair without knowing it would be a wheelchair; it reminded him of his brief stint in a wheelchair after being punched in the gut by Weasley, which was the reason behind Scorpius' hospital stay in the first place. But this was for his son and if it worked, he would get to hold his baby without any tubes in the way for the first time. Draco sat and let Dr. Leroy push him into position at the end of the muggle-hospital table next to the muggle-box containing Scorpius.
Draco watched and waited while the muggle-healer took Scorpius out and examined him one last time. Dr. Leroy was by his side the entire time, telling him that the other doctors were saying that the baby looked good and they were ready. The muggles pulled the feeding tube out and then slowly removed the respirator tube. Dr. Leroy urged Drake to talk to the baby as Scorpius' little face distorted while they pulled. It looked like the baby would scream if the tube weren't in the way.
"Scorpius, hang in there my little man; they're taking that awful tube out of your throat and then you'll be able to breathe on your own," Draco said and Scorpius' eyes flashed open for a second, before they clenched closed again. "You're gonna be good and breathe for your father, yeah? I'd really like to see you breathing; it'd mean you'll come home with me sooner. Your brother, Hyperion, is waiting for you at home. And if you breathe and don't have that tube stuck in your throat, you'll be able to cry and make noises."
Then the tube was out and Draco fell silent as he waited to see what would happen. Dr. Leroy said, "Don't stop, keep talking, yes?" at the same time that Scorpius took in a breath and let out a piercing wail, to let everyone know what he thought of that tube in his throat.
"Scorpius, Father's right here baby. I'm so proud of you; the healers are gonna let me hold you any second now," Draco said as the muggles finished removing the device and checked the baby's airways. Then the muggles finally set Scorpius in Draco's arms. He looked down into his son's wailing face and smiled. "I'm gonna be seeing this a lot then, eh? Are you gonna keep screaming at your father? I didn't even do it; it was the muggles. All I did was give birth to you, carry you in my body for nine months, and send you breast milk. You know, it's Daddy Harry you really ought to be crying at, not me."
Scorpius' cries turned into wails as Draco spoke and his little face relaxed. His little grey eyes opened as he finally looked up into his father's face.
"Hi there, that's what Father likes to see. Yes, it's Daddy you should cry at, not Father, isn't it, my little man? I bet you're sick of this place and ready to go home with me, aren't you? Just let Hyperion tell you, he's got it good at home: all the adults around to cater to his every whim, change his nappy whenever he soils himself, and me to feed him at all hours of the night. That can be your life too, if you just keep breathing on your own like you're doing now. Did I tell you how proud of you I am?"
While Draco talked, the muggles removed the table and the breathing machine. All but one healer and one nurse cleared away and Lucius and Narcissa were allowed to come forward. The happy grandparents joined in, telling their grandson how good life was at home, but leaving out all mentions of magic or Severus.
After about ten minutes Scorpius began to cry again and the muggle-healer told Draco, through Lucius acting as a translator, to go ahead and breastfeed the baby. Draco felt weird about doing it with muggles watching, but he also wanted to bond with his baby and as always, his breasts were achingly full. Thus he pulled his sweater and muggle shirt off and helped Scorpius latch on. While Scorpius drank, the baby's eyes opened and stayed opened. Draco could swear they made eye contact. Scorpius would blink, but then those light grey eyes would open back up and stare up at Draco's face again.
Draco didn't want to leave Scorpius when he was done breast feeding; he didn't want to go home while Scorpius was stuck with the muggles, but he had to, because he had Hyperion at home and his chest was beginning to ache with the pressure of built up fluid. He comforted himself by saying that Scorpius wouldn't be alone; Father had been with him all night and now Mother was staying with him until tonight.
And so Draco left and went back to the villa, where he comforted himself by hugging Hyperion closely.
Scorpius continued to breathe on his own and when Saturday evening came with no further setbacks, the muggles moved the baby over to the SCBU, where Scorpius was assigned a new nurse. This was the last level of care before Scorpius could be released; if nothing went wrong in the next forty-eight hours, the baby would be back home at the villa with his family.
So Saturday was a very happy day, but the following day turned out to be very stressful, mostly because Severus went back to Hogwarts. Severus had been helping Draco out quite a lot with taking care of Hyperion; maybe too much in fact, since it seemed like the staunch headmaster never put the baby down. Severus was up in the middle of the night helping with nappy changes and he did most of the childcare while Draco was pumping breast milk. Druella help too, mostly covering a shift each afternoon while Draco and Severus slept, but Draco's parents never had time to help at home, because they were always sleeping or at the hospital.
When Severus left, Narcissa was at the hospital and Lucius was asleep, leaving Draco and Druella to manage Hyperion on their own. Draco quickly learned that his grandmother was not the help Severus had been, as he was thrust into the deep-end. He was pumping, as expected for the human-dairy cow he felt like, and then Hyperion started fussing. He had just fed the baby, so he knew it wasn't that and a peak at the nappy quickly identified the problem. He called for his grandmother, but she was off, probably lecturing the doxies on how to properly infest pureblood estates again, and didn't respond. He was left to try to manage a breast pump and a nappy change at the same time.
It took a bit of maneuvering, but eventually Draco figured out how to pick Hyperion up and settle him in one arm on the side of his body, with the strap of the pumping machine on his other side, and the pumps in front. He took his newborn son over to the changing table and held his arms out stiffly, so as not to bump the pumps on his chest, and switched out the wet nappy for a clean one, levitating the dirty one into the nappy hamper for the house elves to deal with. Then he scooped the baby back up and carried Hyperion back over to the crib to finish his nap.
By the time Severus came by for a quick afternoon visit, Draco was fairly proficient at doing the necessary chores while having the breast pumps connected. Severus didn't stay long, having to get back to his duties, but he did promise to stop by for an hour every afternoon, if possible. And Druella, back from wherever she'd been all morning, did take over after Severus left, so that Draco could get a nap in. That nap was very much appreciated and Draco woke feeling refreshed; so much so that he didn't even mind when he caught his grandmother warning Hyperion never to trust evil muggles. It was the same speech he recognized from his own childhood and tended to follow a fairy tale his grandmother liked to tell about muggles luring wizard children into a candy house and eating them.
Draco took his baby back from his grandmother and reassured Hyperion that muggles weren't in fact going to eat anyone, while he helped Hyperion latch on for a feeding. Once Hyperion was sucking greedily, he summoned the baby brush and ran it through the straight blond tuffs of hair. This baby's hair was shorter than Scorpius' hair, but it was thicker, like there were a much greater number of strands. And although the hair was straight, there was a definite cowlick in the back that didn't want to lie flat, not to mention two sections of hair growing in opposite directions that met in the front, to produce a region where the hair seemed to naturally rise up.
"Don't you go thinking about getting your daddy's hair, now; you're supposed to have my blond hair. If you insist on letting it come in all over the place then I'm gonna have to take you to a hair stylist witch and have your hair follicles spelled to all lean in the same direction. Those appointments take hours, so you're best not going down that road at all," Draco told Hyperion as his baby suckled.
Hyperion's hair never did lie down flat, but short of casting a grooming charm on a newborn, which he wasn't going to do, there was nothing more Draco could do for it. He cast the brush aside and summoned a nail file to smooth down the baby's paper thin nails. Hyperion's breathing deepened and milk begin to leak out the sides of his little mouth, dribbling down his chin and onto Draco's robes. Draco grabbed a burp-cloth and wiped away the excess milk, noticing that once again Hyperion seemed to have fallen asleep while eating.
"Oi, Hyperion, you need to finish eating before you go to sleep," Draco said, stroking the baby's cheek to encourage him to finish. "This has to be the third time today you've fallen asleep on me."
The baby pulled in a few more good sucks and then went back to the sleepy sucking without actually swallowing. Milk once again dribbled down the baby's neck and Draco's chest and robes. Hyperion let go of Draco's nipple, but only to cough at the mouth full of milk he had but didn't want. Draco moved the baby so that he was facing down and patted his back to help the milk clear the little airways, before burping Hyperion properly. Draco wiped them both up and went to lay Hyperion down in the basinet, but Hyperion woke up and started crying.
Draco picked Hyperion back up and cuddled the baby in hopes of Hyperion going back to sleep, but Hyperion just kept fussing and started rooting for a nipple, like he was hungry again. Draco put Hyperion back on, and the baby sucked greedily again for a minute, before falling back to sleep. "No more of this falling asleep on me, little man. You need to sleep in the basinet and not on my nipple," Draco complained.
"Give him here," Druella requested, seeing Draco's problem.
Draco handed the baby over to his grandmother and she laid the baby in the basinet, before moving two of the baby's fingers into his wailing mouth to suck on. "He just wants something to suck on while he sleeps," Druella said.
"Alright. Perhaps he needs a soother," Draco said, remembering the muggle toys Hermione had shown him in the room of requirement. He had told his mother to buy a bunch of them; he'd have to go look for them in the storeroom.
"Those muggle things your mother bought?" Druella asked.
"Yes. Do you know where she put them?"
"In the storeroom somewhere, but they're not for newborns. I was telling her you shouldn't be giving a muggle thing to a baby at all; you know it might turn them into squibs!"
"Nonsense, Grandmother; they're just harmless toys."
"Let me tell you boy, toys aren't always harmless; Bellatrix nearly choked on a muggle toy my sister-in-law gave her. It was a hard plastic doll and little Bella, she was only two at the time, put the thing in her mouth. The head popped off and got lodged in her windpipe! Luckily my Cygnus was there and got it out and set Bella back to right, but after that we never gave the girls muggle toys again. You got to check the labels on those thing you know; I had your mother check the label on those muggle toys when they arrived and they say they're for babies two weeks old and older."
"Thank you grandmother. I guess I'll wait another week or so before trying them," Draco agreed disappointed. He didn't think he could take another day of Hyperion falling asleep on him at every feeding, but at least he had his grandmother's finger trick.
Monday morning Draco discovered that he could wear his paternity robes while pumping breast milk. Not only were the robes roomy enough to accommodate the pumps and bottles, but they contained a wizard-space charm on them that extended to the chest region and allowed the robes to lie flat over his chest. He had worn these robes during his pregnancy to accommodate the protrusion from his distended belly and now it seemed as though these robes were perfect to wear while pumping. Plus, the cloth panels covering his chest could be spelled away, for easy feedings and changing the collection bottles on the breast pump.
With his paternity robes on and the strap to the breast pump slung over his shoulder, Draco felt free to move around again, even when he was pumping. He could pick Hyperion up and lay the baby on his chest, even with the pump in place. Changing nappies and burping babies was no longer a difficult juggling act, but as easy as if he wasn't pumping at all. Between the paternity robes and the finger trick, Monday went much more smoothly than Sunday had gone.
The best part about Monday was the evening, when Narcissa came home and told Draco that the muggles were ready to release Scorpius. Draco hugged her and wasted no time in changing into muggle clothes, so that he could pick up his son. While Draco was changing, Narcissa went into the storeroom with all the baby things and opened up the second carseat, spelling the straps to the smallest setting.
The muggles had informed Narcissa that they did not release babies from their hospital without an infant carseat, because they wanted to see proof that the parents owned one and that the baby would not be riding home in a muggle-vehicle without one; the baby wouldn't be riding in a muggle vehicle at all, but the muggles didn't know that. Narcissa thanked Merlin that Draco had liked the carseats and had asked for a set. She took the carseat to the nursery and snapped it into the stroller with the other carseat. She found the instruction booklet for the carriage and spelled it to appear as if it had wheels, like a muggle baby carriage. It would still go down stairs like a floating carriage and be just as light to push, but while on flat ground it would appear to have wheels. Though, they'd still have to make sure not to take in on stairs in front of the muggles.
Draco, freshly changed into muggle-appropriate clothing, came into the nursery and saw Narcissa strapping Hyperion into the carrier on top of the stroller. Draco grabbed a nappy bag, just in case, and made sure it had enough nappies, wipes, blankets, and spare clothes to last for the short trip. Then it occurred to him that he didn't know why they were taking Hyperion with them, when they had always left the baby at home with his grandmother before. There was no point taking this baby out of the protection of the fidelius and into the risky muggle world when he could be left at home just as easily.
"Mother, why are we taking Hyperion?"
"The muggle-healers keep insisting they need to do another check-up on him. They don't want to let Scorpius go without seeing Hyperion again," Narcissa answered.
"Oh. What do they want to do to him?" Draco asked, remembering how the muggles had insisted on sticking his baby with a pin last time.
"Check his weight and fill out paperwork. You have to sign birth certificates for both babies. Hospital policy or some other such nonsense," Narcissa explained.
They were ready and then they were off, Narcissa apparating Draco into the muggle world before going back for the stroller with Hyperion. Narcissa stayed with Hyperion while the muggles measured and weighed him. Dr. Leroy came for Draco, taking Draco into an exam room to check his vitals and make sure that Draco was no longer dehydrated.
"I make a hematocrit test on your blood sample. You are anemic, yes, so it is very important that you make your iron supplements every day, yes?" Dr. Leroy asked.
"Yes, alright. I've been taking them; they make me feel less tired all the time. But what's a heem-mat-o-crit test?" Draco asked.
"A test of anemia. We didn't need to make the paternity test with your blood sample, so I make the hematocrit test instead. It showed that you don't make enough red blood cells, yes. That's why the iron makes you feel better, yes?"
"Yes," Draco agreed.
"You're no longer suffering from dehydration, yes, but you need to make drinking lots of fluids every day so that it doesn't happen again. Yes?"
Draco agreed and then was taken by Dr. Leroy into an office of a muggle who was in charge of paperwork; the second muggle had a heavier accent than Dr. Leroy, so Dr. Leroy did a lot of translating. Draco answered a few questions with phony information and refused to give information about the other father. Then there was an argument regarding which field on the certificate Draco's fake name should go into. Draco wanted to be entered as the father and the muggle in charge of paperwork kept insisting that she had to enter him as the mother.
"Dr. Leroy, you said this would be confidential. How do you possibly think this will be confidential, if it's on the birth certificate?" Draco asked, getting exasperated with the muggles. He couldn't have it written in the muggle public records that a male had given birth to twins, because then the French Ministry for Magic would get involved.
"I will see what I can do, yes?" Dr. Leroy asked before arguing with the other muggle in French.
Finally the muggles settled their dispute and Draco was allowed to sign in the father box and leave the slot for the mother's signature blank, while the spot for the mother's name was listed as, "Mère porteuse", which meant surrogate mother.
The muggles were done with Scorpius and Hyperion and ready to release them before Draco finished with the paperwork. Draco was given a copy of the documents and they were finally allowed to leave. They strapped Scorpius into the carseat next to his brother and the Malfoy family left hospital for the last time. Narcissa side-along apparated the twins in their stroller, while Lucius took Draco and then the entire Malfoy family was back under the protection of the fidelius charm for the duration of the war.
The first thing Draco did when he got his sons home was to lay down with them, one in each arm, in the spare bed in the nursery. He just lay there holding his babies and talking to them, telling them how much he loved them. Then he fed them and looked down at the two tiny heads suckling. Scorpius' head was a bit smaller and was covered in two-inch-long straight black stands of hair that lay perfectly flat. Hyperion's head had the thicker, shaggier, but shorter blond hairs. Hyperion kept his now dark blue eyes opened and looking up at him the entire time he fed; Hyperion's eyes were already darker than Narcissa's and were flecked with green, hinting at the color they were meant to be.
Scorpius copied his brother and looked up at Draco with a pair of light grey eyes. Looking back and forth between those two pairs of eyes as he fed his sons, he knew that it was all worth it; the hiding, the lying, the switching sides of the war; he would do it all again for these two perfect beings.
Scorpius let go first, so Draco burped him and then laid him down in the crib, before he burped Hyperion. Then he put Hyperion down in the same crib as Scorpius, laying him right next to his brother, so that they could reconnect. Scorpius flailed his little hands and poked Hyperion in the face, but Hyperion just opened his mouth and latched onto Scorpius' little fingers and sucked. Draco summoned the camera and took a picture of his two boys.
Then Draco remembered Harry and went to his bedroom to get the charmed parchment. His sons were in the nursery waiting for him, so he kept it short, writing only, "I just brought our son home from the hospital. He's healthy, except for the leg, and we're all safe."
Author's Note: Scorpius is home and breathing on his own! Yay! Draco won't let his babies out of the protection of the fidelius charm anytime soon.
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