"No, Hermione this is insane." Ron whispered beside her, frantically rolling some shortbread dough he prepared in the ten minutes it took for Hermione to brew the tea.
"Ron, we need to hear them out."
"No, there is no them. There can't be a them. Without Harry, there wouldn't even be a him." Ron cut the rolled-out dough into strips and threw the baking tray into the oven. Harry was used to Ron's stress cooking as a post-war coping mechanism so it wasn't the first time Ron was frantically whipping up something in Harry's kitchen.
"Ron... Hary wants a family." Hermione whispered.
"Not with him!" He hissed.
"I mean, Draco's not even calling him by his first name, maybe there isn't a them after all." She shrugged and Ron looked about to burst.
"Then how are they going to have a baby together?" Ron insisted. "Merlin, just as soon as Ginny comes to her senses."
oOoOoOo
Draco sighed hearing whispers but not exactly what they could be saying. "I'm not sure this is going to go well..." He said softly.
"It'll be fine. We're in this together." Potter said cheerfully and Draco smirked shoving him softly.
"Stop it." Draco said frustrated with Potter's fake cheerfulness. "I can tell you're on edge." Potter dropped the smile and bounced his knee.
Soon Weasley came out carrying the tray and Granger came with a plate of fresh shortbread. Draco felt his mouth watering and couldn't help the look of excitement at the biscuits.
Draco watched as the plates were put down and Potter reached out to serve him. They all stopped to stare at Weasley though, as he poured a cup of tea, picked some biscuits and handed them to Draco.
"What... what am I doing?" Weasley muttered looking at Draco confused.
"Hmm... how interesting." Granger said.
Draco held the plate looking at Weasley confused, who stared at his own hands with a frown.
"Now Harry, please explain what you meant by becoming the child's father?" Granger said. "You mean... you want to put your name down in the birth scroll? Or something else?" She asked.
"Both." Draco replied and Potter nodded.
"I offered my energy to sustain Draco and help the child grow. The mediwitch explained this meant overriding Davis'... intervention and legally I would have full responsibility as any father would." Potter said.
"Uh-huh... why?" Weaseley asked and Draco figured if his friends were here, they'd probably be also wondering the same thing about why Potter. Unfortunately, Blaise's family have strong business connections with the Davis. The Davis use the Zabini's textile mills in Italyto create even more premium cloth from the magical cotton. Elaborate bolts were made in Biella and sold at a premium price. If he remembered correctly, Lockharts' elaborate shimmering prints and even some of Dumbledore's colourful getups from back in the day were clearly woven from the cotton-nymph's harvest and stamped with the most elaborate of designs.
To summarize Blaise's family are closely linked to the Davis and Draco couldn't risk them telling Davis anything about him. Pansy was an unmarried witch and if she was even found to be close to him during any scandal then he could be hurting her marriage potential. And he was scared she would try to do something to Davis and end up getting herself killed or thrown in Azkaban. He sighed. He missed his friends.
"Potter convinced me to see the mediwitch, which I did after he got her to swear to secrecy." Draco said. "She explained how I could have become pregnant, and it appears that Davis somehow got me to drink the potions required for me to conceive. And somehow got a mediwitch to monitor my changes without me knowing." Draco wanted to rip him to shreds next time he saw him. "He convinced me to be intimate. I figured after the boring months I'd spent dating him maybe this would give me some kind of sign that married life wouldn't be as insipid as dating him had been. So... I said yes." Draco couldn't believe he was telling these two this but he... he didn't have to like it but he trusted them. "I was with him once." Draco hissed. "I kept avoiding him after that because of how terrible the experience was and then one week later the article comes out with him on the front cover with that other person. Then he started doing interviews saying the foulest things I've ever even read."
He saw Granger rub her hand in disgust, thinking about his words. "Draco... what he wrote was foul. To be honest I never believed it, if that is of any comfort." Draco looked at her for a long time.
"It is... thank you." He said slowly and paused for a moment to calm down. "Anyway." He blinked through the tears, stopping himself from crying. "I was very humiliated and hid in my room and the manor. My father was so angry." Draco whispered. "I started feeling so tired all the time so I managed to sneak to St. Mungos to get some tests done. The day I ran away father called me to his study to inform me that he would pick a bride for me, that I would not get a say in and be married within the year. He also mentioned that they'd found out my mother was also expecting, and that if I didn't prove myself and the baby was born a boy, I would be disowned." He chuckled bitterly. "As soon as I got to my room, I got the letter and I had no choice but to run away."
"The doctor said that to sustain the pregnancy as a wizard, he needed the father's energy, or terminate the baby to allow Draco to survive. But I could also provide him with the energy required." Potter said.
"It means that his energy will sustain the child and me until the child is born. But by then, his energy would have taken over any biological or magical influence from Davis." Draco said. "For all intents and purposes, Potter will be the child's father in every sense of the word. Even if he and I were never... together." He said.
Granger stared at him in silence, a cold rage burned in her eyes.
"Wow... so this is really happening, huh?" Weasley said, from his point of view he couldn't see the dark look in Granger's face. "I guess... congratulations?" He said.
"Granger?" Draco asked, hoping that the dark look was not because of him.
"He fed you potions for months and monitored your changes and then humiliated you weeks before the wedding? After knowing you were very likely pregnant?" Granger went straight to the point and Draco nodded. "Well, Malfoy, I am so sorry. We're going to get him for this, right? Because if you won't, I know Harry is, and I know I certainly am. So, Ron?" She turned to him and Weasley scoffed.
"Are you kidding me? Of course, if not Malfoy who else will he go after next? And, I also can't have Harry or you doing anything illegal so I definitely have to get in on this." He added.
"There, all agreed." She said.
Draco felt relief wash over him.
"In fact, I was researching the Davis, since I was getting annoyed at the mountain of requests for cotton nymphs they kept bombarding us with. And since I'm the apprentice, I end up tasked with going through all of them." She said. "They probably thought some exhausted low-ranking witch or wizard was just going to sign it without looking properly." Draco frowned at what she was saying.
"They're asking for cotton nymphs?" Draco asked confused. Cotton nymphs were a breed of nymphs that the Davis family had practical monopoly over for hundreds of years. They grew in the wild here, but they were barely a percentage of what the Davis enterprise required.
"Apparently, they were banned in America from breeding them. They never specify why in detail, so I investigated. Turns out that they were force breeding them and making them reproduce with two litters a year, which is illegal." Hermione said. Draco shuddered feeling a chill down his spine at the recurring theme. "I heard rumours from my contact in America that they were also using such tactics on their wives. One had three miscarriages in one year, but they can't prove anything."
"Are you telling me that Davis tried to breed me like an animal." Draco said.A heavy silence fell over them at the statement. He reached for Potter's hand because whatever energy from Weasley was in those biscuits was not enough to calm him any longer. Potter held his hand tightly.
"Considering the similarities, it seems they're very comfortable with fertility magic... or getting people that are." She said gently and her soft tone made him feel all the more pathetic.
"Your parents said the only evidence they had was you, and they didn't want to have you humiliated further." Weasley said, seriousness in his tone. "Did you have a look at those letters? Do you think they had anything to do with the Davis family? Maybe something we find could lead us to more wrongdoing that we could use against him without dragging you into it."
Draco blinked surprise, not expecting Weasley to say something sensible. He looked at Potter and looked away ashamed, taking his hand back. "I couldn't..." He said. Anytime he thought about investigating the overpowering sensation of being small, pathetic and powerless crept up his chest and stopped him. After all what good would it have done to find anything in old letters that might not apply anymore. Or worse they might confirm something vile about his own family, or reveal something worse than the truth he already knew. "It's very unnatural for me to have to talk about this to strangers."
"Well, we're not really strangers, are we." Potter said and Draco thought about it. "We all practically grew up together." Potter argued and Draco took in that logic, pondering on it. He could see how he was just trying to cheer him up but he just took comfort from the words all the same.
"Alright then Malfoy, if you're ready to be in Harry's life, then you'll have to be ready to put up with us." Weasley said and Draco stared at them. "You don't want his shadow looming over you or the baby's life for as long as he lives. We have to do something." Weasley said and Draco took a deep breath and nodded.
"And I want to do something. Perhaps, you would be willing to help me to read these letters? I couldn't bring myself to do it." Draco said and summoned the box of letters with his wand. He put the letter from his mother in his pocket, where it stayed unopened.
"Of course. Okay, let's get started with this."
oOoOoOo
Dinner would have been forgotten had Draco not started swooning. Harry felt the chill in his skin as if he himself had low blood sugar, and both he and Ron looked up at Draco at the same time, and they stopped to eat.
By the time ten rang on the clock, they finished the letters and Harry was beside himself with disgust. He thought Voldemort was a crazy maniac, turns out he was just a crazy maniac that wanted to take over the wizarding world. He wondered if his goal had only been to become immortal and not gain power, if he would have still been alive committing atrocities in secret.
Harry saw Draco reach for one of the important letters in the bundle, though the rest shed details they all could have lived without hearing.
"My friend Abraxas,
It is customary in our family for our sons to be kept and raised. No daughters are kept."
Sons are trained in the family business as heirs equally. Once they reach the marrying age, a suitable pure-blooded witch is found and bought for producing an heir. It is tradition for us to marry after the witch sires a son. I myself had three potential brides birthing within two weeks of each other. I married the first to birth a son. The second birthed a son as well and she was disposed of and my son was assigned to my wife to raise. The third actually birthed first, but she birthed a girl and so I fed them both to the cotton nymphs as well.
I wasn't first either, but before my brother could be marked as the next heir, his newborn babe was found in the feeding pen as well."
Hermione reached for one she started to also read.
"My dear Abraxas,
My son is seeking a bride, please advise if there are any witches that are undergoing any scandal. Or if you could wip one up for an old friend.
As you're familiar with our customs, you know we only can accept pure-blooded witches of the best stock. Of course, we can't have their family coming to look for her after she disappears and my son marries someone else, a good scandal would allow us the prime situation to spirit the bride away without a well-respected family coming to look for her later."
Draco took it to read once over and returned the letter to the pile, grabbing one dated much later.
"My friend Abraxas,
I hear your plight old friend.
Give this potion to your daughter-in-law over the next six months.
As a woman this should work without anyone knowing. Around that time, she should conceive successfully with little issue. Just ensure that your son is extra 'attentive' to her any time her energy begins to decline. You should expect an heir for your family within the year." Draco laughed softly, a weak but crazy kind of laugh.
"I'm going to kill him." He laughed, hoping the tears would dry up. "I was conceived in the same way." He whispered. "And my mother got pregnant around the same time I did." Draco looked up at Harry and Harry wished he could hold him. "He would always send sweets to me, delicacies from all over the world. Just for me, he said. Obviously, I shared them with my mother..." He said shaking his head. He looked up at Ron with seriousness. "You should probably check on that wizard he was caught cheating with. Make sure he hasn't mysteriously disappeared, if they have a habit of keeping multiple broodmares to birth sons." He hissed disgusted.
Ron too reached for another and read it out loud.
"Dear Abraxas,
I understand you have a defiant member of your daughter-in-law's family causing problems.
Please don't be alarmed, the potions sometimes play around with family members' energies and create a guardian bond. The doting, protective display you described, and her appearing to protect her sister as you were about to discipline her, can often happen. Yet another reason why we make sure to take our brides away from their families as soon as possible.
That way, no bond appears unintentionally. Be mindful that if a guardian has presented for your daughter-in-law, your son might also present with a guardian himself, though the son doesn't usually require any relation to the family to do so. Bear with it, it is all the babe's process to protect itself. Consider it an extra insurance that your grandson will be born healthy and strong.
After that, my third son is looking for a second bride, if you would consider creating a scandal for that Andromeda Black, we'd gladly take her off your country."
Draco glared at the letter as Ron put it back down. "I guess he didn't know Andromeda was already disowned and happily married by the time Draco even came into the picture." Hermione said.
"Ok, so we can assume that Ron somehow became guardian to Draco... but didn't he mention it's usually family?" Harry asked. Draco sighed rubbing his temple.
"Well, my family tree is closely linked to the Black family." Draco said.
"My grandmother Cedrella's maiden name was Black, Harry." Ron said and Harry stared at the two of them, going back and forth.
"Are you kidding me? You two are family?" Harry asked. They both shrugged, Ron more obviously and Draco more subtly. "Oh no, wait, I see it now, two peas in a pod." Harry said sarcastically.
"Every family has a Black sheep." Draco said.
"Was that a pun?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, it was."
"Kudos."
"Thank you."
"Heh... Malfoy is funnier than I remember." Ron said, taking a long drink of the tea. "Now, what exactly are we going to do now? I definitely have to report something, to get Jenkins to assign aurors to investigate that lover of your ex. Because you are right, I am very concerned to find them, for all we know just getting caught with the Malfoy's fiancée was enough for his family to ship him off with the Davis."
"If he's anything like his grandfather, he wouldn't trust his siblings near a pregnant 'bride' of his. Maybe we could find them here." Hermione said. Harry took a deep breath.
"If we find him and it turns out he's in the same situation,the press will definitely make the connection to Draco." Harry said and Draco looked pensive.
"I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Weasley, just find them. Just do what you can as an auror. In the meantime, I have my own plan to take down Alfred Davis... and his entire family." Draco said coldly.
"Murder?" Ron asked concerned.
"Don't be middle-class, Weasley. Money." Draco answered.
"You don't have much of that, remember?" Harry said. "And even if you got your parents involved, aren't the Davis richer than the Malfoys?"
"This isn't a comparison game." Draco said annoyed and Harry let the topic drop, allowing him to continue. "I have learned a lot from being in the muggle world, and from you, and from that box with the 'Google' wizard in it."
"You got him a computer and internet?" Hermione asked Harry concerned. Harry didn't know what to say since he too didn't know how worried he needed to be right now.