Smith looked Draco over up and down and felt his stomach, pressing around the rounding abdomen and making Draco uncomfortable as he really needed to empty his bladder for the fourth time this morning. "Well... it all looks to be progressing nicely." She said.
"I wouldn't say that." Draco said, grimacing at the higher decibel voice that crept out of his lips.
"Come now, how else did you think you were going to give birth when the time comes." She said, feeling his abdomen, which had poked out faster in the last two weeks than in the previous trimester. "How lovely. Everything seems to be in the right place."
Draco saw Harry enter the room with tea. Draco glared at him. "Don't you dare say a word, Potter."
"I wasn't going to say anything." He said in his defence. Even though that was probably true, Draco still had to lash out at someone. It was news to him that he would have to transform into a female daily for the remainder of the pregnancy.
"You have to admit this'll probably keep you safer. Harder to find?" Smith suggested. Draco sighed.
"Are you sure it has to happen now? Can't it wait until the baby is ready to come out?" He asked.
"This is better." She assured him. "A female body will produce everything the child needs without spending even more energy from you and obviously mister Potter." She said packing her things. "You can turn back for sleep, but the more you're in this body the less you and mister Potter need to share energy." She said.
"Can it hurt him?" Draco asked, feeling worry in his chest. She paused looking between the two of them, surprised by either the question or his tone.
"No, but it leaves you both vulnerable, weakening your powers. Hopefully it won't come to it but if Davis ever finds the two of you and becomes aggressive, you're better off running. When the bond is without intimacy, who knows how your powers might behave." She said.
Draco glanced at Potter, who met his gaze. Draco felt his heart skip and looked away. "I don't like this body. I feel uncomfortable." He repeated.
"I understand mister Malfoy, but unless your relationship changes, this is the safest way to preserve energy between you both. You don't want to end up prisoner in this house the whole time the babe grows, you need fresh air and exercise too." Smith said, standing straight. "Now if that is all..."
"Actually, Mrs. Smith, can I ask you something?" Potter asked and Draco looked at him confused as he tidied up his clothes trying to get used to this strange body.
oOoOoOo
Smith turned towards him and Harry looked behind to make sure Draco was out of hearing range. "Would it really be safer for him if we... were intimate?" He asked.
"As a mediwitch my answer is yes. But as a witch, no."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Well, unless you're genuinely interested in mister Malfoy, you shouldn't give him wrong messages, not while he's vulnerable. And not after that man did what he did. He'd never trust a living soul again." She said and walked ahead.
"What if... what if I want to be with him?" Harry asked and she turned around.
"You're Harry Potter." She said. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Why is that important?"
"Meaning... if you are interested in wizards then go ahead, but general knowledge is that your interests are witches. You were going to be married to one."
Harry took a deep breath, trying not to be annoyed with her because she wasn't wrong to make that assumption.
"I can't be interested in both?" He said. She seemed surprised, as if she'd never considered the possibility.
"Well... it really would be better for both of you." She leaned closer to whisper. "I don't want to alarm him as he is still delicate, but if that man gets to him before the child is born and forces himself on him, all the work you and mister Malfoy did will come undone."
"Meaning he'll have a claim over my child?" She nodded.
"It's possible for his energy to overpower yours."
"But I can't take advantage of Draco by tricking him into being with me when his emotions are all over the place. He's fragile right now, what if he doesn't want me after the child is born and I did that to him?" Harry said, disgusted with himself at the very thought.
"Come now, mister Potter, if you both are keen on each other, and talk it through clearly, as you both already do, it's not taking advantage. Or are all pregnant witches also taken advantage of when they are with their husbands?" She asked.
"But... we're not married. Heck the baby's probably the only reason we haven't thrown the kitchen sink at each other."
"Oh, I doubt that. My advice? This is something you and mister Malfoy need to decide for yourselves." She said. "But don't let fear stop you. I repeat, you're Harry Potter. You don't seem like the type to let fear stop you."
Harry watched her go and looked back to where he heard Draco grumbling to himself about the heaviness of his chest. He came back to see him shifting his chest around looking disgusted. Harry cleared his throat.
"What?" The blonde snapped at him, his voice cutting through him and Harry only smiled.
"I could get Hermione to take you shopping for bras." He offered and caught the apple thrown at him an inch from his face.
"Say anything about female underwear near me again and I will send your way the same spell you sent me on sixth year." Draco hissed, as Harry clearly pressed the wrong button.
"Sorry." He said genuinely, looking at the scars that crept up his neck with shame. He reached out to touch him and the energy flowed between them.
Draco stayed still, his anger fading from his face. "I'm sorry too. I'm fine." He said reaching up to take off Harry's hand. There was a knock at the door and Harry went to open it. When he saw the number of packages outside, he became excited.
"All these are for you, sir." said the delivery man, with a colleague ready to take the packages moved the packages into the living room one by one.
"What's this?" Draco asked, coming over to his side. But a picture of the crib they purchased was stamped on the side of one of the boxes and Draco grabbed his arm excited. The man handed Draco the paper asking for his signature, and without blinking Draco signed away, looking at the items that arrived.
"That's all ma'am. Have a nice day." The delivery men said and they left. Harry cringed looking back at Draco who looked like he might combust from anger.
"He doesn't know, deep breaths, Draco." Harry said patting him on the back and guiding him to the room.
Draco took a deep breath as instructed and calmed down. "Ok, let's put this all together." He said turning back with excitement. Harry smiled watching him opening the crib first and foremost.
oOoOoOo
Draco smiled warmly waving his wand over a blanket to sanitize it and proceeding to tuck it into the crib. He stepped back, subconsciously grabbing onto Harry's arm squeezing it with excitement. Draco had insisted on following the muggle instructions so now it was dark outside and they'd spent the whole day just building the crib.
"It looks so beautiful now in the house." He said with a sigh, leaning against his shoulder.
"You were right that it looked better made out of wood." Potter said and Draco smiled but caught their reflection on the window. The darkness outside making the glass look like a mirror against the light inside. He saw how he stood, next to Harry, head on his shoulder holding his arm in excitement. Well, it wasn't Draco, it was a beautiful blonde woman dressed in men's clothes and smiling brightly in a way Draco had never seen himself smile. He dropped the smile and pulled away from Harry.
"I think I'll change back." He said, changing his shape back into the one he was comfortable with and sighed with relief. Looking at the mirror he saw himself, now standing apart as Harry reached down to put down a teddy bear into the crib. He smiled at that but felt a pang to his heart. It hurt as now in the mirror he could not picture them ever standing together the way his female form had done. And that wasn't, nor would it ever be, him.
He stepped back and cleared his throat, distancing himself from him.
"So, what did you speak with Smith about this morning, before she left?" He asked.
oOoOoOo
Harry felt the absence of Draco's warmth when the blonde let go of him to turn back into himself. He didn't get a chance to reach out for him to pull him back because the question reminded him of what Smith said.
"I asked her about how I can help you further." He said. "Draco... I was wondering if we should talk."
"We're talking right now." Draco said confused.
"Yes-no, I mean." Harry felt stupid right now, and tried to get his words to come out properly. He chuckled. "Sorry I'm a bit awkward."
"Well, that was always true." He drawled and walked past him to grab a sandwich. Harry couldn't help but smile, amused at the jab.
"After the child is born, I don't want us to live separately." Harry said. Draco turned to him and stared.
"I was planning to go back to the manor, if my mother allowed it." He said. "Or the muggle world like we said I would."
"I want to be with you." Harry said. He could see Draco look at him as if he was seeking the answer to a question but, yet again, didn't ask it. "I want my son or daughter near me." Draco looked away laughing nervously.
"Of course we'll raise the baby together, he'll be yours as much as mine." He said. "It just probably wouldn't be right that we do it under the same roof."
"Why not?" Harry asked with a frown. "You don't think we could make this work between us?" He asked.
"Because we're not married." Draco said bluntly. Harry felt winded by the statement but before he could recover Draco turned away, angry. "I promise you Potter that I won't keep the baby away from you." He said. Harry wondered if this was his answer. Clearly Draco wanted to get away from him once the Davis were dealt with. In the meantime, Draco was trapped here with him, he couldn't make him feel even more uncomfortable.
"That's not what I meant. It just..."
"Repeat after me, dear boy." He frowned, hearing Narcissa's voice in his head for some reason. He decided to listen to her and tried a technique from the Malfoy's repertoire.
"How will it look on me if it seems like I kicked out the mother of my child as soon as they give birth?" He asked. Draco's eyes filled with understanding.
"Of course, you're right. Let's talk about this some other time though, I'm getting a headache right now." He said.
"Ok... I'm just going out for a bit, there was something I had to buy." Harry said and turned to walk out of the door.
"Get me that chocolate with nuts, please. The ones that have the muggle shoe name." Draco called after him and Harry smiled, chuckling softly.
"They're called snickers, not sneakers but I will."
"Thank you!" He called and Harry closed the door, pausing for a second before a chuckle escaped his lips and he shook his head in disbelief.
"Amazing, never thought he could say please and thank you that often." He said to himself. He wondered if that was something new, or if it was something he always did with his friends and now he was allowed to witness it.
He paused as the wind rustled the branches of the barren trees. A feeling of being watched hit him and he looked up to catch a glimpse of a cloaked figure, who vanished as he blinked.
The unnerving feeling was gone and he continued on his way to the shops.
oOoOoOo
Draco looked at himself in the mirror as time to sleep arrived and looked at himself as a woman one more time. He didn't dare take off his own clothes, of course. He touched his face and felt his long hair, putting it to one side, trying to stand tall like his mother and chuckled, remembering when he was about five and he'd try to do the same.
He had to admit, he was a very attractive young woman. If only this was his true form maybe he might have been able to catchHarry's attention.
He looked at the clock ticking in the corner, noticing that Potter wasn't back yet. He remembered that Ginevra said they should meet to talk. Perhaps Potter wouldn't be back tonight at all.
He let his body release the charm and sighed with relief as his body returned to what it was meant to be. He felt his belly, rubbing it gently, and tried to ignore the tears he could see forming on his reflection, until they blurred his own vision too.
"Stop this." Draco whispered to himself.
It hurt. It hurt when Potter used those words about doing this together. He knew Potter liked women, so hearing those words when they didn't hold the meaning that Draco wanted them to, hurt.
He wondered if it was the bond, but then he had been attracted to him since he saw him at their trial. He never paid it much attention though, as it was an impossible route their lives could never take.
Then he bumped into him in the muggle world and he's always so warm and happy and yes, he's got bad manners but he takes on Draco's corrections when it mattered. He was too good for Draco before he even met Davis.
Draco tried to stop the tears, feeling stupid that they were even flowing. He had a vengeance to execute for Merlin's sake.
There was a knock at the main door and Draco looked up surprised. Why was Potter knocking? He went down the stairs and reached for the door.
"Draco." Draco felt a current of fear go down his spine as he heard Alfred's voice. "I know you're in there. Come on, we need to talk, I'm sure you know that." Alfred didn't sound like a lunatic from a psychotic family. He sounded pleasant and calm and Draco shuddered feeling an opposite energy to the one he felt from Potter. Draco stepped back, feeling his breathing speed up.
The door rattled as he tried to open it. It rattled loudly and banging started to happen.
"You open this door! Draco!" Draco reached for his wand but didn't feel it on him.
"You're mine! How dare you run away from me! You're worth nothing! You are mine!" He yelled louder and louder, sounding almost like a monster hungrily scratching to break in and rip him to shreds.
Suddenly the door opened and Draco stepped back with horror. The door opened to show no one, and nothing. It was a dark void with nothing beyond.
"You're mine." He heard the whisper in his ear and felt the heat from his breath. Draco turned afraid, stepping back and hitting a bed that shouldn't be there, falling back into it.
Alfred looked at him with a vicious look, climbing on top of him.
"No! No! HARRY!" He screamed.
Everything changed and the cry of a child echoed in his ears. A burning pain hit his stomach as if his child had been ripped out of him with bare hands and a blunt knife. He opened his eyes to see himself standing on top of a high wall, looking down at a hoard of hissing cotton nymphs, eyes gleaming red with rage and the monstrous sound of their beating wings thundered around them. He turned around to see Alfred holding a tiny baby in his arms with Harry's black wavy hair.
"Don't worry, we'll make another one." Alfred tossed his child into the hungry monsters below as if it was nothing and Draco screamed in grief trying to throw himself in after his baby. Alfred grabbed him by his hair before he could. Draco cried as he was forced to see his baby get torn to pieces and wanted nothing more than to throw himself in with the cotton nymphs.
oOoOoOo
Harry heard a scream cut through his sleep and panic pierced through his heart. "Draco!" He called out, running to his room, not knowing what to expect but when he got to him, he was in bed, screaming in his dreams and begging for Davis to stop whatever was happening in his nightmare prison.
He came to his side reaching down to cup his cheek but he was thrashing too much to take in his energy.
"Draco, come on!" He frowned wondering if Ron was coming. But if he didn't that meant Draco wasn't in danger right? "Wake up!" Harry exclaimed, shaking Draco awake for what felt like the hundredth time but he was trapped in what seemed like a terrifying dream.
"If I may, master." Harry looked startled at Kreacher who stood on the bed next to Draco's thrashing head.
"Yes... can you help?"
Kreacher reached out and touched Draco's forehead and snapped his fingers. The snap rang loudly in even Harry's ears, as if it echoed through him. Draco began to decrease his thrashing and Kreacher did it again and Harry felt it almost in his throat and heart and didn't know what he was doing but it helped Draco calm down enough that he just whimpered in his sleep.
"Use the bond, master." He croaked and vanished with a pop.
Harry reached to grab both his hands, the energy starting to flow between them, slowly calming him down. He leaned down and pressed their foreheads together and could feel his anguish, he began to breathe rapidly as tears came to his own eyes.
"Wake up." He whispered and soon the soothing beat of the baby's heart echoed in their ears, the world around them disappeared as the child brought them back to earth and they separated.
When Harry opened his eyes, Draco was looking up at him, his silver eyes filled with tears and it hurt Harry physically to see the fear in his eyes. He never wanted to see him with that expression again.
"Harry?" He whispered looking around.
"Shh... I'm here." Draco sighed dropping back into his pillow, covering his eyes with his arm, trying to calm his breathing further.