Harry slept in again the next morning, if only for an hour. By the time he got up everyone else had already had breakfast. Draco and the twins were the only ones still in the dining room; Draco had the boys in their highchairs and was feeding them each a bowl of mashed green beans. Harry sat down and started on a piece of toast as he watched Draco alternate from feeding Scorpius a bite to prying the spoon away from Sev and giving Sev a bite, before letting Sev have the empty spoon to gnaw on once again.
"You're still going out today, correct?" Draco asked, feeding a bite to Scorpius again.
"Yeah," Harry answered.
"You know how to buy things with muggle money, yeah?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm running low on my muggle pills. Professor Snape used to get them for me, but now…"
"Yeah, I'll get them. What kind of pills? Like medicine?"
"The muggle-healer called them vitamins, calcium, and iron."
"Yeah, I know what those are; I can get you more, no problem. But when did you see a muggle-healer?"
"Before they let me take Scorpius home. They wanted proof that he really was mine and that my parents hadn't stolen him, so they made me come in."
"Merlin, do I need to get the Aurors out here to obliviate them?"
"No, I don't think so," Draco said, before telling Harry the story of his muggle-hospital visit and how he'd been about to obliviate Dr. Leroy, before everything had worked itself out. He had to admit to using a confundus charm on a muggle, but it was necessary, so Harry wasn't upset. Then Draco explained that the vitamins were supposed to be good for breast feeding, they made him feel better, and Professor Snape had confirmed that they weren't poisonous.
"Wow, I can't believe Draco Malfoy is taking muggle products regularly," Harry said when Draco finished his explanation.
"Don't go spreading it around. Anyway, I have the packaging it came in," Draco said before pulling out a plastic bag with a muggle drugstore logo on it.
Harry had been to this store before, so the errand shouldn't be a problem. He finished eating, dressed for the day, and came back downstairs to find Draco wiping green mush off of two little faces in the dining room. Harry kissed all three of his men goodbye and Draco handed Harry a packet of pictures to show Molly. Then Harry flooed over to the Burrow where Molly, Arthur, Ron, and Hermione were all waiting in the sitting room.
Harry hugged each of the Weasleys. They spoke first of their grief for Fred, Tonks, and Lupin, both their own and those of the people they care about, including Andy. Then Molly asked if Harry had eaten. He had, but agreed to some tea, so Molly headed into the kitchen to prepare it. Arthur followed her.
"How's it been staying with the Malfoys? Is Lucius treating you alright?" Hermione asked.
Harry proceeded to tell his friends about life with the Malfoys, including the fact that Lucius had been unusually nice to him, calling him son.
"You're really chumming it up with your father-in-law then?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. Well we haven't spent all that much time together, but he's been fine."
"Did you know Draco gave an interview to the Daily Prophet?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, yesterday. He said he'd handle the reporters for me."
"He did, did he? Did you read it?"
"No."
"Well, have a look," Ron said, passing the paper over to Harry.
The title was, "The Chosen One has Chosen," and the cover was a recent photo of Draco with a baby in each arm.
"That's a great picture," Harry said, only having eyes for his husband and sons.
"You might want to read it."
"Why? I trust Draco; I gave him the jist of the war and I'm sure he relayed it fine."
"What do you call claiming that Lucius gave that diary to Ginny in order to turn it over to the proper authorities for destruction? What about when he says that his family, including old Lucius, was never loyal to Voldemort? What about how he calls him the Dark Lord throughout the whole bloody thing? Merlin, he paints turning over their house to Voldemort as an act of planned sabotage!" Ron exclaimed.
"It really says all that?" Harry asked Hermione for confirmation.
"Well, yes Harry, it does. He paints Lucius as a misunderstood spy," Hermione answered.
"I guess I ought to read it then," Harry said and then actually read the article. When he finished, he had to conclude that it had a very Prophet-esque feel to it, only telling half of the story. While Harry was reading, Molly and Arthur came back into the room with a tea service and a platter of biscuits, which they set down and waited quietly for Harry to finish reading. "I'll talk to Draco."
"Good, see that you do," Ron said.
"Harry, dear, perhaps you can tell us about those boys of yours? What are their names again?" Molly asked, changing the subject.
"Scorpius and Severus Malfoy," Harry answered.
Ron gave a quick snort at the first name, but his jaw dropped at the second. "He named your kid after Snape?" Ron asked with evident horror.
"No, Draco named him Hyperion, but I suggested changing his name and Draco agreed."
"Blimey Harry," Ron said.
"Well I think it's wonderful. Congratulations Harry," Hermione said, giving Harry a hug, just to show Ron the proper way to be happy for a friend.
"Thanks Hermione."
"Maybe you could bring the boys over sometime? I understand how you feel about Ron being near them, but Ron can go out and then you, Draco, and your boys could come over," Molly suggested.
"I'll ask Draco. Oh that reminds me!" Harry exclaimed, pulling out the packet of pictures Draco had given him. "Draco sent pictures. I haven't seen them yet."
"Well open them, dear!" Molly exclaimed and Hermione and Arthur chimed in their agreement.
Harry opened the package and the first picture in the pile was of an absolutely tiny baby with black hair and a large tube disappearing inside his mouth. The tube was taped to his face, obscuring his features. Hermione gasped in surprise when she saw the photo and Arthur and Molly each took in deep breaths.
"Oh, this must be Scorpius in the muggle hospital after he was born. Draco told me that it was Professor Snape's idea to take him to muggles for help and that Lucius and Narcissa were the ones who took him; they guarded him the entire time he was there."
"Oh my," Molly said. "That was certainly good thinking on Severus' part. How long was your son in the hospital?"
"A week. Draco wrote me when he finally brought him home. I was so scared the Death Eaters might catch onto them, but no one ever thought to look in French muggle hospitals."
"Yes, being on the continent certainly helped and it was absolutely ingenious to hide amongst the muggles. I'd love to know how that tube thing works," Arthur said.
"What's the next picture of Harry?" Hermione asked.
Harry shuffled the pictures, revealing the next photo in the line. It was of a tiny baby in an incubator and all of the machines that were hooked up to him. "Must be Scorpius again, but I can't see the face," Harry said.
Molly murmured, "What a poor dear."
Arthur made some comments on how fascinating the machines looked and Harry turned to the next photo.
The next three photos were of Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco, each holding Scorpius in the hospital. Then there was one of a group of muggle nurses and doctors, one of whom was holding baby Scorpius, who finally had the tubes removed.
"That was probably taken just before he was released from the hospital," Hermione chimed in. "They like to take pictures showing everyone who helped to save someone with the patient they saved."
Arthur again thought that was fascinating.
Harry turned to the next picture, which was of Professor Snape holding a very tiny Severus. He wasn't nearly as tiny as Scorpius, but he was still small and his face was so wrinkled that Harry wouldn't have recognized him, if not for the blond hair.
"Draco said that Professor Snape was taking care of Sev, while he recovered," Harry told them.
There were some murmurs of disbelief, especially at the smile that seemed so out of place on Professor Snape's face and the adoring way the pictured Snape looked at the baby in his arms, before looking back up and smiling again.
"It's a very nice photo, dear. He clearly loves your son very much," Molly said.
"I think we all misjudged the man," Arthur said.
"He wasn't open and caring on the outside, but deep down he was a good person and he really cared. We all owe him a debt of gratitude," Hermione said.
"Yeah, we do," Harry agreed.
"Well the next one, dear? What's the next one of?" Molly prompted.
The next photo showed Scorpius lying in his crib, pulling his right leg to his face and sucking on his little toes. The left leg stayed still the entire time and it was rather obvious from the photo that there was something wrong with it. It looked abnormally thin and the foot was turned in and it didn't move. Every other part of the baby moved, except for that leg.
"This is Scorpius again."
"What's wrong with his leg, dear?" Molly asked.
"It's a birth defect. It's small and crooked and he can barely move it."
Hermione, Molly, and Arthur all expressed similar sentiments about how awful that was.
"Okay, I get it: I shouldn't've punched the ferret and it's my fault Harry's kid is crippled, but did he really have to send only photos that would point that out?" Ron complained, standing up.
"What did you want him to do? Hide Scorpius away in the closet and only take pictures of Sev?" Harry asked incredulously, standing up to face Ron.
"He could've put a blanket over that leg before taking the pictures!"
"We're not going to be ashamed of our son, just because he only has one functional leg, Ron! Don't take what you did out on Draco; he didn't ask for it. If it wasn't for Professor Snape, Lucius, and Narcissa, you'd be a murderer right now, Ron."
"Fine, I'll just go," Ron said, slamming the front door on his way out.
"Give him a chance to cool off and see if he realizes on his own that that was uncalled for," Arthur said.
"He's just mad that Draco didn't mention his name in the article," Hermione said.
"Didn't he? I hadn't noticed," Harry said, making a mental note to reread the article. "Are there any more pictures, dear?" Molly asked, changing the subject.
There were more pictures, so Harry revealed the next one, which must've been taken recently, judging by the size of the boys. They were both in contraptions that held the boys upright and displayed toys in front of them. Sev was bouncing his contraption up and down quite rapidly and Scorpius was barely moving his with his one leg.
"Harry, I think Draco might be trying to send you a message with these pictures," Hermione said.
"That he doesn't like Ron? Yeah, I kinda figured that one out," Harry replied.
"I don't blame him, dear; I'm not too fond of my son right now myself," Molly said. "I wish Ron was still small enough that I could drag him over my knee and spank him."
"If you did, could you take a picture of it for me? I think Draco might open up to you more if he saw that," Harry replied.
"He's a good lad; you're really lucky to have him, Harry. I can't imagine what would've happened if Draco hadn't the presence of mind to go into hiding," Molly said.
"And it was good thinking on Severus' part to get the little one to the muggles," Arthur added.
Harry thanked Mrs. Weasley and then remembered Draco's request, so he asked Hermione what gifts would be appropriate for the doctors who saved Scorpius' life. Hermione suggested flowers and coffee mugs, but Harry had the feeling Draco wanted a more substantial gift. Hermione was stumped, but promised to look into it for him. After that the elder Weasley went into the kitchen to check on lunch, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.
"Listen Hermione, I need your help with something, but this has to stay between us, alright?" Harry asked.
"Yes, of course," Hermione replied. "What is it?"
"I need your help finding birth control. Either a potion or a spell, but some form of contraceptive, and not the yearlong stuff they give out at the school."
"Why? Is Draco allergic to one of the ingredients?"
"No and it's for me: he wants me to get pregnant within the next year, so he wants me to find something that'll work short term."
"You don't sound too thrilled about that."
"I'm not. I was considering finding something short term to show Draco, but really taking something long term. It'd be pretty brilliant if I couldn't get pregnant and Draco had to do it again."
"Harry! That hardly sounds fair to Draco!"
"Yeah; please don't tell him I said that."
"Alright, but only if you agree to talk to him about this. Why does he want you to carry the next baby? Did he have some problem carrying the twins? What if something went wrong and he can't get pregnant again? You might be shooting yourself in the foot by taking a potion like that and then neither of you would be able to get pregnant."
"He didn't tell me anything went wrong on his end. And we agreed it would be me next ages ago."
"Harry! You agreed and you want to back out without telling him? Why would you do that?"
"I had to, in order to convince him to marry me. It's in our bloody marriage contract and I thought he only wanted that in there to appease his mum, because Narcissa expected Draco to be manlier or something."
"Harry, I won't help you with this until after you talk to Draco. Tell him how you feel."
"Hermione, we're guys, we don't talk about our feelings."
"Have you tried?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, we gave it a go last night." Then Harry went into a recount of the emotionally stunted talk about feelings Draco had initiated.
"Boys; you're hopeless. You need to at least try to talk to him about this. Maybe you can do something for him in exchange, like agree to change all of the dirty nappies. If he loves you, he'll understand."
"Alright, fine, I'll talk to him. But could you at least help me with a short term contraceptive?"
"Well…um, I sort of know a…um, a spell," Hermione admitted blushing.
"Brilliant."
And so Hermione taught Harry a one-time contraceptive charm that had to be cast each and every time the user had sex in order to be effective. The charm wasn't too complicated, so by the time Bill and Fleur came through the door, Harry thought he might just be proficient at it enough to get it right.
Bill called out to his brothers and Charlie and Percy came downstairs with a red-eyed George in between them. Then Ginny flooed in from wherever she'd been, completing the set, except for Ron. The group of young adults spent some time catching up before lunch. After lunch, Charlie suggested a game of quidditch to cheer George up, so Harry, Ginny, and the remaining four Weasley boys went outside for a game, leaving Hermione and Fleur to talk to Molly and Arthur. The match did end up cheering George up a bit and everyone went back inside in slightly higher spirits. Then Harry remembered that he had an errand to run before he could go home and he didn't want to be late for dinner.
"Listen guys, I've got to get going, but I wanted to thank you for letting me come over and to tell you again how truly sorry I am about Fred," Harry said.
"Where are you taking off too already? Can't you stay a bit longer?" Ginny asked.
"No, I've an errand to run for Draco and I've got to stop by Gringotts first."
"You just got home and already the ball and chain has you running errands?" George teased.
Harry explained the nature of his errand to general amazement by the Weasleys.
"A Malfoy taking muggle pills? I never would've believed it," Bill said.
"I 'oold. Draco 'oold do anything for hiz babeez," Fleur said.
Harry really did need to get going, so he started saying goodbye again. But then George said, "We can't have the Savior of the Wizarding World out alone in Diagon Alley: you'll get mobbed! I'll go with you."
Hermione too insisted on going, so the three of them flooed to the joke shop in Diagon Alley. Harry did get noticed and his invisibility cloak turned out to be necessary for him to get through Diagon Alley. He only took his cloak off when he was making the withdrawal from Gringotts. Afterwards it was decided that the muggle world should be much safer for Harry, so George went home and Harry and Hermione continued on by side-along to the drugstore.
For the first time in what felt like ages, Harry found himself in a muggle store. He and Hermione picked out the proper supplements and paid. Hermione apparated them back to the Weasleys and Harry flooed from there back to the villa.
When Harry got home, he found most of the family gathered in the drawing room. Andy was absent, as was Lucius, but everyone else was there. Teddy was in a basinet and the twins were in the bouncing contraptions that Harry had seen in the picture. Sev was bouncing away merrily and Harry did a double-take when he saw that so was Scorpius. He examined Scorpius a bit more closely and realized that the baby was indeed only using his right leg, but the toy was still bouncing away.
"Draco, here are your vitamins," Harry said, handing the shopping bag over.
"Thanks Harry," Draco replied, giving Harry a chaste kiss.
"Where are your aunt and your dad?"
"Aunt Andy is taking a nap. My father is still away on his errands."
"Okay." Harry settled down onto the sofa with Draco, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Scorpius bouncing away and he began to wonder if all of those pictures Draco had sent him emphasizing Scorpius' deformity were exaggerations picked to make Ron look bad. "Um, Draco, does Scorpius always bounce away like that?"
"No, not at first, but then Mother cast an antigravity charm on that one, so that it'd move easier. Just make sure you don't put Sev in his, or he'll bounce right up to the moon. Everything is color coded: Scorpius is green and Sev is blue," Draco answered.
"Oh, okay, that makes sense." Now Harry was starting to feel bad about thinking badly of Draco. "So what did you do all day?"
"I owled St. Mungos and set up an appointment for Scorpius and set interview appointments with Witch Weekly and the Quibbler as well. The Prophet owled me a couple of times asking for more details on Professor Snape and for pictures of him, so I sent back a rather lengthy reply and a few photos I had."
"Great. When's Scorpius' appointment?"
"Not for another two weeks. Apparently they're dealing with a high case load from the last battle."
"Two weeks will come soon enough. What about the interviews?"
"Later this week. Witch Weekly tomorrow and the Quibbler the day after."
"Um, can I talk to you about the interview you gave yesterday?"
Draco agreed, so they went out onto the patio to have some privacy.
"I didn't like the way you portrayed your dad. He wasn't completely innocent and he had malicious intentions when he gave Ginny Voldemort's diary. Ginny almost died!"
"I'm sorry about that. She's alright now, right?"
"Yeah, she's fine, but I don't want people thinking your father was some secret spy all along when it was only in the last year he switched sides."
"Alright, I'll try to paint a more realistic vision of him in the next interview. But Harry, he's my father and legally he could still be prosecuted for many of his actions when he was loyal to the Dark Lord. I need to paint him in a positive light, or he could end up back in Azkaban. Without my father running our business matters, I won't be able to stay home with our boys, not to mention what having a father in Azkaban will do for my future political career! And Father did a lot to help your side this past year. If it were me, I wouldn't have left Aunt Bella in the Manor thinking she owned the place! I would've kicked her and the Dark Lord out, but Father left them there as a trap. You have to admit it came in handy when you escaped from the Manor."
"Yeah, he has helped and I'll testify in his favor if it ever comes to that. I don't want him to get locked up, for your sake, but I also don't want to hear you praising him for what he did to Ginny."
"Duly noted. I know he's not perfect, but Father has always done what he felt was best for our family. It took him until I wrote that letter, but once I did, he jumped ships immediately and has been trying to help you whole heartedly ever since."
"Yeah, I'm actually starting to think that he's a decent guy; he must've been hiding it under all that blood purity rubbish."
"Speaking of blood purity, my father said that today he was going to instruct our lawyer to draft paperwork re-instating my aunt and my late cousin into the Black family. It should help start an appropriate tend for other pureblood families to follow. They'll just need you to sign it, since you are the Black heir."
"That's great. Yeah, I'll sign it, definitely."
"Good, then let's go back into the drawing room; I worry about Mother being left alone with three babies and an old lady," Draco said, leading Harry back into the house. Harry chuckled at that.
Harry spent some time with the babies then, playing with Sev and Scorp and then feeding Teddy. He was down on the floor showing Teddy to Scorp, when the younger baby started grunting and then produced the most awful smell.
"Um, I think Teddy needs a nappy change," Harry announced.
"I'll show you where the wipes and stuff are, but I'm not changing him," Draco said, standing up from the sofa.
They walked into the nursery and over to the changing table. They didn't want to wake Andy, who was sleeping on the spare bed, so they cast a muffling charm on themselves. Draco laid out the supplies for Harry, before stepping back and busying himself with picking the night's pajamas. Harry went to work wiping the poo off of Teddy's bum and a house elf appeared to take the soiled nappy and wipes, vanishing with the stink. Harry did a pretty good job cleaning Teddy up, but he wasn't comfortable sticking a pin so close to a newborn's skin.
"Draco, could you, um, show me how to put his nappy on?" Harry asked quietly, not sure if the muffling charm would extend across the room.
"It's the same process as with Sev," Draco whispered, coming over to Harry.
"I know, but Teddy is so small and all curled up and I'm worried that I'll hurt him. I cleaned him up, but could you please, just this once, show me how you do a newborn nappy?"
"Yeah, I guess." Draco stepped forward and positioned the nappy underneath the tiny bum and pulled down the legs to get the front into place. "Ah! What is that?" Draco asked, taken by surprise.
"What? Did I miss some?"
"No, but I thought this was a boy."
"He is a boy."
"Then where are the bits? All he has is a tiny misshapen lump."
"That is the penis and ballocks. That's what regular boys look like; the non-Peverell kind."
"Ew. You mean he's gonna continue to poop forever? We can't just make an appointment for him at St. Mungo's?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Yep."
"I can't believe I've got a non-Peverell wizard in my family. With all the pooping, it's no wonder the Dark Lord managed to convince so many people to abandon the halfbloods."
"What? Yesterday you said that Teddy's magical ability made his blood pure enough. Are you taking that back, just because he's not a Peverell?"
"No, I'm saying that you're gonna have to change all those poopy nappies, not me. Girls poop and we don't kick them out of the family."
"Wait, what's gonna happen if we have a daughter? Are you gonna refuse to change her nappies too?"
"Just the poopy ones."
That reminded Harry of what Hermione had said about offering to change nappies in exchange for Draco carrying the next baby. He was just trying to figure out how to bring it up, when Narcissa called them down for dinner.
"We can talk about this more later," Harry said, picking Teddy up.
They went downstairs and joined the rest of the family, including a newly returned Lucius, in the dining room. Narcissa informed Draco that Scorpius had refused the bottle again, so Draco nursed him while he ate.
The dinner table conversation was mostly filled with Lucius' retelling of how his various errands had gone and which errands still had to be done. Lucius promised to book Harry and Draco appointments for their apparition tests, because he had to stop by the Ministry tomorrow anyway; his lawyer had informed him that he had a meeting with the Aurors. It wouldn't end his legal problems, nor would he likely be sent off to Azkaban, but it was to be the start of a dialog in which he would have to account for his actions and prove that he'd turned over a new leaf in order to maintain his freedom.
When Lucius finished talking, Narcissa asked Harry about his day. Harry said his visit with the Weasleys went well, leaving out the disagreement he'd had with Ron, and instead focusing on how he practically got mobbed in Diagon Ally on his way to Gringotts. Draco laughed and Lucius insisted that Harry was going to have to travel with back up for the time being, in case he was mobbed again. Harry thought he could handle himself and mentioned his invisibility cloak, which Lucius didn't think was good enough. But when Lucius started talking of hiring a body guard, Harry put his foot down and refused.
After dinner, Narcissa watched the sleeping Teddy, while Draco and Harry took the twins upstairs to talk. They put the boys on the bed and sat on either side of the boys.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Draco asked, handing the boys each a toy he'd just summoned.
"I don't know what it is with girls and feelings, but Hermione made me promise I'd talk to you about mine."
"Oh? So my mother was right and you do have feelings."
"Yeah, but not about the war. Well sorta about the war, but mostly about getting pregnant. I'm still on war mode and it seems like I've still got dark wizards after me, horcruxes to find, and Voldemort to defeat. We've already got three babies and I just don't feel like having another one right now. I know you said you want to wait a few months first, but I don't know if I'll be ready that soon," Harry admitted in a quick rambling manner. This was a big confession for him and he let out a large breath of relief.
"Alright, if you feel that way, we can put it off. Just know that the longer you wait, the less I'll be helping and the more you'll be doing on your own. I can give you two years, but if our daughter isn't born by then, you'll have to take off time from work and if it takes you more than five years, you'll have to stay home with her for five years, because I need a chance to have a career too."
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. I think having a baby in two years sounds a lot more doable than having one next year."
"Good. Is that all of your feelings, or do you have more?" His mother always had more than one feeling when she felt the desire to force him to listen to them, but Draco was desperately hoping Harry wasn't that emotional.
"Well I do have one more…"
"Just spit it out; it can't be that bad and then we won't talk about feeling again until the next war."
"Okay, yeah, but I don't think you'll like it. You see, um, yeah, er, I um don't feel comfortable um when I think about it, you know, being me pregnant. When it was you, I could protect you, hide you away and stand guard, or lead them away from you." Harry paused for a minute while he figured out what to say next. "But if it's me and um, someone comes after me again, and given my history that tends to happen annually, then it'll be harder for me to protect myself when I'm pregnant. Maybe it's because I'm still in war mode, but until I feel safe and I'm sure no one is gonna come after me and attack me…well I'd just prefer it if you were pregnant and I could concentrate on protecting you, like I did last time."
"I hope no one comes after you ever again; I want you to feel safe, Harry. I don't want anything to happen to you while you're pregnant either, but even with me, sometimes things happen. Just look at Scorpius."
"Yeah, I know you got attacked too, but that won't happen next time. Everyone will know you're pregnant, we'll only let people we trust in the house, you won't have to go to school, and Ron definitely will not be invited over."
"We can do the same for you: you can stay in the house for the entire pregnancy, although I can't imagine you wanting that."
"I don't; I'd go stir crazy and wouldn't be able to stand it…. Hermione had a suggestion for a compromise. She said I should offer to do something for you, to make your life easier, in exchange for you having the baby in my place. Like, I could change all the dirty nappies or something. Would you be willing to compromise like that? It doesn't have to be nappies; it could be whatever you wanted."
"Harry," Draco said and waited until Harry was looking him in the eyes before continuing, "I already took a contraceptive potion; a long-term contraceptive potion. I won't be able to get pregnant again. I thought I was done having babies and that we'd agreed it would be you next time. So either it's you or it doesn't happen. I really would like a daughter though."
"Oh…I had no idea you'd done that," Harry said feeling sheepish. It seemed Hermione was right. He'd almost done the same and then they'd both be infertile. "Is there a potion you can take to reverse it?"
"No, it's permanent for the next thirty years."
"Then it'll really have to be me or no little girl at all?" Harry asked. Now that he faced the possibility of it not happening, he suddenly realized how much he did want a little girl. Draco had been talking about it like it was reality for so long that he felt like he was losing his little girl by not wanting to get pregnant.
"I'm afraid so. But you know, Harry, I never saw myself as pregnant either. I always thought it'd be my husband, but then once I was, it felt right. There's something about pregnancy hormones that make having a baby and being pregnant suddenly sound like a really good idea. Personally, I think the little parasites are slipping something into our blood that alters brain function, but it doesn't matter why it happens, just that it happens. So all this worry you're feeling, it'll probably go away the moment you actually get pregnant," Draco said.
In the months since having the babies, the pregnancy hormones had receded and Draco began to realize how much his thoughts and feeling had been influenced by them. What little reading he'd on the subject suggested that Peverell pregnancy hormones were more intense than the garden variety, being reinforced by magic and centaur pheromones, designed to keep the parents together so that the pregnant partner could draw magic from the other parent. He hadn't known it was happening at the time, but now that it wasn't happening, the difference was glaring him in the face. He seriously wondered if his entire relationship was based on overactive pregnancy hormones pushing him to be with the father of his children, or if their love was real.
"Really? Now that you're no longer pregnant, do you feel differently?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I do. Don't get me wrong, I love our boys and I'm happy with our marriage, but it definitely feels different. When you touch me, it's just a touch. Before, back when I was pregnant, you would touch me and it felt like magic; like just a bit of euphoria with every touch. Did you ever feel it?" Professor Snape had informed him that it was in fact a magic transfusion that was needed to maintain the healthy pregnancy, which was why Draco had been so exhausted when separated from Harry.
"No, I don't think so. When I touch you now, Draco, it feels just as good as it did when I touched you before."
"But you don't seem at all sensitive to magic, so maybe it was there and you couldn't feel it. I'm curious to see whether the feeling comes back when you're pregnant. That's, er, one of the reasons why I wanted you to get pregnant right away, so that I could feel it again."
"Oh. It would be nice to see if I can feel it."
"Are you still scared about being pregnant, even after we've talked about it?"
"Yeah."
"Well let's wait three months and then see how you feel. I don't want you to get pregnant before you're ready."
"Thank you," Harry said and leaned in, over the boys, and kissed Draco. Well really he was only over Scorpius, because Sev had scooted himself further down the bed.
Author's Note: For those of you who were wondering why Draco seems cold or distant, I hope this chapter helped explain it, as well as why Draco warmed up to Harry so fast. It wasn't responsible for all of Draco's feelings, but it is hard for him to fall back into his groove with Harry when that anchor is gone. I've had several reviewers state that the draw of mates seen in many creature fics is absent in this story and that has never been true. In my experience, it is very difficult to realize you're being manipulated while it's happening, so I didn't have Draco consciously notice it until now; it's only hindsight that is 20/20.