Harry has a bit of an emotional crisis, and they find a way to protect Miranda and their child.

June 1st-

Harry stood in the middle of the living room at Grimmauld place, the house around him muffled as his mind replayed the events of the day of the memorial. It had been such a bevy of ups and downs. The service itself- horrific. Miranda holding Teddy-incredible. Not finding Lupin- confusing- and it had been nearly a week since he'd been seen. Being back in the Burrow- joyous. And then there had been Kingsley's visit.

Why hadn't he reacted sooner? He kept replaying he moment over and over. The way Kingsley had grabbed Miranda's arm, the fear in her eyes, and the sickening realization that for a split second, he had done nothing.

Miranda had been so brave, face pale, keeping the creature inside of her from wreaking havoc and killing everyone nearby. He should have protected her just as fiercely as he knew he was capable of. Logically, he knew a fight would have resulted in dead nearby muggles and the death of all the participants. Miranda was pregnant with his child. He was supposed to protect her. Shouldn't that have spurred him to action?

He glanced over at her, sitting with Draco, badgering each other while they looked through potion books for some kind of solution. Her hand rested on her belly. She did it all the time now, stroking in a way as if she was reassuring herself that their child was safe. There'd been a change in her since that day. Her protective instincts were automatic, and it made his heart ache.

"Miranda, I should have…done something." He muttered, voice rough with guilt he couldn't shake.

Miranda and Draco's heads both snapped towards him. They made a pair, light and dark, but Draco nearly tumbled over himself to leave the room.

"What?" Miranda asked, approaching him slowly.

Harry clenched his hand into a fist at his side as he struggled to hold back the frustration bubbling up. "I should have reacted faster. I should have protected you."

Miranda's eyes softened, and she stepped closer, her hands resting lightly on his chest. "Harry." She said, her voice steady, "You stopped it before they hauled me off to Azkaban. He didn't hurt me. We're both fine." She paused, her gaze locking with his, "I know you're scared, but you can't blame yourself. You're here, and you are doing the best you can. I am the one who committed the murder that caused all this."

It wasn't enough for him. Not when she was carrying their baby, not when his every instinct was screaming to protect her, to shield her from any harm, no matter the cost. He should've reacted faster. He should have made sure that wizard had never laid a hand on her.

"I should've…"

"Stop." Miranda interrupted, her voice firm but gentle. "You're being too hard on yourself. You didn't let it get worse. You kept your cool, and you made sure I was safe. That's what matters."

"But I'm supposed to protect you," he said, the words laced with so much guilt. "Especially now. You're carrying our child. My father died protecting my mother and I. I couldn't protect you. What if next time it's worse?"

Miranda sighed, "Harry, your father gave his life fighting and your mother died anyway. You were protecting us. I know you think you should have fought, I know you're used to being the Boy Who Lived and all, but… I've learned that keeping your cool is the hardest, bravest thing you can do. I have to, for the baby, I have to keep my cool."

His breath caught in h is throat as he looked down at her, seeing the gentle curve of her belly, the way she carried their child with such quiet strength. She was right, in a way. He didn't have to fight every battle, but it didn't make the guild any easier to swallow.

"I'm scared too," Miranda admitted quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm scared every day, Harry. For myself, for our baby, our friends. But I trust you. I know, if I had really been in danger, you'd do anything to protect us."

The knot in his chest loosened, just a little. He knew she was right. He couldn't prevent every danger, and he couldn't always solve everything by shooting spells out of his wand. He couldn't always shield her from the world, but he could love her with everything he had, and he could be there for her. "I want to keep you both safe." He whispered.

"I know," she said softly, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "And you will. You're already doing it. We'll figure something out."

He closed his eyes, tucking her against his chest and wrapping his arms around her, allowing the warmth of her words to settle in. He would do better next time. She was right, they'd figure something out. They had twenty days though, her trial had been set to begin on the twenty-first, and it was almost evening. The sun had already started setting, they'd break for supper soon.

A sound of scuffling shoes caught his attention, and Harry looked up. Hermione was loitering in the hallway, fiddling nervously with the book in her arms. "Mione? He questioned, pulling away from Miranda a little.

"I think…I think I may have a way to keep Miranda from being arrested again. I mean, at least till the baby comes." Hermione told them, but she didn't look happy about it.

Harry and Miranda shared a look, and he asked his friend, "What's the catch? Your face says there's a catch."

"Well, probably. Not really. I mean…" Her face was the brightest red Harry had ever seen, and the witch folded, shoving the book into Miranda's hands and literally running from the room. The sound of the Floo activating and her shouting "The Burrow" moments later filled the silence.

Miranda blinked a few times in confusion before opening the book to the page Hermione had shoved a bookmark in. Harry watched her read, feeling a knot in the pit of his stomach when Miranda snapped the book closed and clutched it to her own chest. Her hazel eyes were wide, and she muttered a soft, "Oh my."

"What?" Harry demanded, heart hammering.

Miranda tipped her head down ever so slightly and fixed him with what could only be described as an evil grin, "Well, Hermione was being a prude, but I do believe we will enjoy this. Quite a lot, actually."

She handed him the book without another word and bounded out of the room.

A minute later, Harry snapped the book closed himself and muttered, "Merlin's beard," before running after her.

He found her down in her basement, and was never so glad to not see Snape. Yes, it was her basement. How could it not be? Surrounded by her potion ingredients and far from the outside world, she seemed to glow, "Let me guess, we have everything?"

Miranda hummed a short note he took as instruction to wait, and squatted down. She had to shuffle a bit to accommodate the swell of her belly. The ritual was ancient, strange, much of it lost on him, but he knew as well as she did that there was no doubt they'd be completing it. As soon as possible. Hermione was right, it would keep Miranda safe, and he would protect his growing family. This he could do.

She stood with a satisfied smirk on her face, a jar of neon green liquid in her hands, "Almost everything!"

Harry grimaced, "Oh, yeah, the blood."

She scoffed good-naturedly, "You and your Gryffindor sentiments."

He smirked at her, stepping so their faces were inches apart, "You and your Slytherin obsession with blood."

Miranda shrugged, acting as if his nearness didn't drive her wild, "If it works, who cares?"

"The end justifies the means?" Harry asked her, eyebrows raised.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Harry, we are lucky. Judging from Hermione's face I was afraid we might need a sacrificial virgin. Obviously neither of us fit that bill." She took one of his hands in hers and rested it on her stomach, "Besides, mixing our blood is kind of exhilarating, true?"

He was instantly hard, "Absolutely."

Miranda pushed herself away from him as Claudius arrived in the basement, "Harry, please go tell Severus, Draco, and the other elves that we'll be indisposed for the rest of the evening. They're not to disturb us. Maybe grab some food though?"

"Absolutely" .Harry scrambled up the stairs as fast as he could.

Miranda smiled fondly, looking down at Claudius, "I have an errand I need you to run, and Harry does not need to know. At least not until after. He'd be put off."

Claudius took one look at the item on her list, and nodded shortly, "Of course, Mistress. It will be upstairs in your room when you and Mr. Potter arrive."

By the time he popped away, Miranda was grinding mallowsweet and a piece of bedrock from the house. Then she was mixing moonstone powder with pearl dust and adding them an emulsion of wiggentree bark. The resulting mixture was a silvery grey, and smelled decent enough.

She got herself up the stairs just in time to meet Harry outside their door. He was breathless. She just smiled at him. Claudius appeared next to her and handed her a bag with one of the last ingredients. She added it to the bowl in her hands while Harry went into the room, tossing the bag back to Claudius, "Any issues?" She asked, lingering in the doorway.

He shook his head, "The crypt is well kept. No problems."

"Thank you, Claudius."

"Of course, Mistress."

She shut the door behind her with a click.

Harry stood in the middle of the room, looking nervously at her. "This isn't really going to hurt, Harry. No reason to look so nervous."

"They tell us at Hogwarts that this kind of magic is expressly forbidden. Dark magic." Harry admitted, brushing some of his hair out of his face. He needed to get it cut. There had just been so much going on. Hermione had done a good job, but that had been months ago. At least Miranda didn't seem to care.

Miranda shrugged, "To this house, it's another Tuesday." She looked embarrassed for a second, "Besides, I've actually done real dark magic before, this is grey at most."

He looked at the bowl in her hands, "What's in it? I didn't recognize a few of the words."

Miranda sighed at him, she really should have known he was going to ask, "Mallowsweet, bedrock of the house, moonstone powder, pearl dust, wiggentree bark, and…"

"And…?" He prompted, sitting on the edge of their bed.

She looked up at the ceiling. She'd really hoped he wouldn't ask, but of course he would. He was smart enough to know magic like what they were about to attempt wouldn't just use common ingredients that anyone could find. The piece of bedrock hadn't been the only thing they needed to connect to the ancient house, "A relic from a former heir."

"Relic?" He echoed.

She tried to look unconcerned, "Claudius visited the Black family crypt." He stayed silent, eyebrows raised nearly to his forehead, and she groaned, "Harry, you really don't want to think about it."

"Miranda. We are going to be smearing this on our bodies. I don't want it to hurt you or the baby." Harry explained.

She stared at Harry.

Harry stared at her.

"Bone marrow, Harry. It's bone marrow." She told him bluntly. "Not going to hurt anyone."

He wrinkled his nose in distaste, "That's nasty."

Miranda pulled out an athame she'd brought up from the basement, "You knew we were putting blood in it."

"Whose?"

"The blood? Ours." She answered, though she knew he knew that.

"Miranda." Harry said, glaring half-heartedly at her.

She caught his eyes, scowling because she couldn't resist telling him what he wanted to know, "No one you'd know. Apollonia. She's been dead for centuries. Basically, already dust." The last part was a lie. Apollonia had been young, beloved by her father, and when she had passed, the man had spelled his daughter so she wouldn't decay. Claudius wouldn't have completely broken the spell, but he'd disrupted the Black family's "Sleeping Beauty". Miranda would make an offering later, once she and the baby were safe.

"Okay." Harry said shortly after she stopped talking, and held out his arm, "Let's get this started."

Miranda struggled to keep a smile off her face. He was so brave, even if he had his doubts, and she loved him even more for it. "We need to do this together." She placed the bowl on a small table between them and pulled another athame out of her bag and handed it to him, placing her free hand in his. They moved in unison, dragging the blades shallowly across the skin of their forearms. They locked eyes as their blood dripped into the bowl.

After about half a minute, Miranda put her blade down and dabbed dittany on first Harry's wound and then her own. Time seemed to be moving more slowly, and Harry watched her stir their blood into the mixture with rapt attention. The mix let off a puff of white smoke, and ended up looking like a shimmering dark paint. Which, if Harry had understood the basics of the spell well enough, it was.

He really had understood most of it, but certain aspects had certainly held his attention more closely, "Now, we get naked, right?"

Miranda laughed, grinning at him, "Of course you read that part correctly." He shrugged and started peeling his clothes off as quickly as he could. Miranda rolled her eyes and followed suit. "You first." She whispered. Dipping her fingers into the mixture, Miranda started to draw runes on Harry's skin.

He wasn't sure what they were, Ancient Runes had not been one of his best classes, but they tingled warmly as they settled into his skin. "You okay?" Miranda asked, drawing a rune across his collarbone.

She'd started on the back of his hands, gone up his arms, and had already covered his back with one. He nodded, "It feels weird, warm, but I'm fine." He suddenly felt inadequate. "Not sure I'm going to be able to do all this on you."

"You won't." Miranda explained, "The runes for me are much simpler. These bind you to the house, truly make you Master of the Most Ancient Noble House of Black." She kissed him softly, "It was designed to settle issues of inheritance, for if the heir was infertile or wasn't the best fit."

Harry laughed shortly, "Best fit?"

Miranda nodded, "Mad, dead, muggle-loving, or homosexual, all reasons to be skipped in the line according to the book."

"And Sirius is dead. With no children." Harry surmised.

Miranda nodded, "Exactly. A cousin would need a way to realign the magic of the house." She looked down at her uncovered belly, "The house protects the future. But only one it's loyal to."

They stayed quiet for a few more minutes, Miranda focusing on finishing the runes that he dimly realized followed the main arteries in his body. He had barely managed to keep himself in control when she'd gone down on her knees in front of him to draw runes on his legs and the floor.

He was just about to give in and bury his hand in her hair when she grasped her wand and whispered the short spell. Pain flashed across every centimeter of skin she'd covered. Before he could even cry out, however, the pain was gone. The runes were too. They were in him now, he realized slowly, even as he helped Miranda to her feet. "I'm not married to the house now, am I?"

"You absolutely just married a house." Miranda said with an emotionless expression she could only maintain for a moment before laughing, "Of course not." She crinkled her nose, "Those are different runes…" Her gaze drifted down to his groin, ", in different places." And didn't Harry know that. It really had been an abject disappointment when she hadn't gone anywhere near his erect penis with her fingers.

Miranda handed him the bowl, but moved herself to lay on their bed instead of the center of the circle. Harry could have stood at the foot of the bed staring at her forever. Soft pale skin against maroon sheets, her dark hair a halo around her head, her belly protruding from a body that no longer looked ill or malnourished. She was stunning, and his. No one else would ever see her that way. Ever.

Harry grabbed the spell book she'd been referencing and joined her on the bed, settling himself between her open thighs. "Sure about this?"

She nodded, "For all the dark, the Black ancestors wouldn't hurt a future heir."

He got to work, reading through the spell one more time before he dipped his fingers into the ink and started drawing the indicated runes on her bare stomach. While he worked, Miranda played with his hair, brushed her fingertips over his cheekbones. He stopped at one point, gazing up at her. "Do you think they meant for this to be kinky?"

Miranda giggled, throwing her head back into the pillows, "Oh, most certainly."

He finished the last rune and prepared himself for her to be in pain once he spoke the words of her portion of the spell, his hand placed on where the swell of her belly was greatest. Instead of pain, Harry felt a warmth spread down his arm, and it spread into her like a steady flame. He watched Miranda's face for any signs of discomfort and saw nothing, just pure love. Power surged from them into the room, the runes glowed on her skin, and an instant later the magic settled around them in a gentle but unwavering shield.

Their eyes met, and he moved over her swiftly until they were face to face. His moves were slow and deliberate, full of purpose. His fingers brushed against her cheek, sending a rush of warmth through her body. "Safe." He whispered, his lips just inches from hers.

Miranda smiled, her heart racing, not just from the ritual, but from the connection between them. "Safe." She echoed, the words slipping from her lips with a softness that made her heart skip a beat.

Harry leaned in, capturing her lips in a slow, tender kiss. It wasn't a kiss of urgency or desperation, but one of quiet, steadfast love. A love that had survived too much already, a love that had created new life. Their kiss deepened, soft and slow, as though the very world outside could wait, and in the moment it was just them.

When they finally broke apart, their foreheads touched, both of them breathing heavily, not from the ritual or the magic, but from the intensity of the moment.

"I love you," Harry murmured, his voice thick with emotion.

Miranda smiled, her hands cupping his face, "I love you too. And our little one is safe now."

"You are safe." Harry reminded her, reaching between them to find her core wet and ready. She spread her thighs even wider and lifted her head to kiss him again. They hadn't been together, really together, in months. Even their first night back at Grimmauld, once they'd started talking they'd just ended up laying in bed together. Once the adrenaline of the Final Battle had fully faded, it hadn't seemed right. The grief, fear, the constant pressure. All a little less now.

Her body was different now, rounded as it was, but Harry's touch was gentle as he took his time, trying to remember her body in it's new shape. He traced the curves with reverence, and she moaned softly, the sound a mixture of longing as she shifted her hips.

"You sure?" Harry whispered, his forehead resting against hers, his breath ragged. His eyes flickers to her face, watching her closely. "We don't have to."

She hummed a little, "I'm ready. I've missed you."

The grief and fear were still there, but in the moment, it didn't matter. Harry lined them up and pressed inside of her. As they moved together, Miranda realized that they'd never been together when she was truly aware of it being real. Somehow, it felt even better. It was slower, more deliberate, as if each touch, each kiss, was a reminder of the fragility of what they had. There was no rush, no urgency. Just a quiet affirmation that, despite everything, they were still them.

When it was over, after Harry had insisted they both eat the food he'd brought before they'd started, they lay together in their bed. Their limbs were entangled, their breaths slow and synchronized. Miranda rested her head on Harry's chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear.

Harry kissed the top of her head, his hand finding the curve of her belly, "We'll get through this, Miranda."

"I know. I know we will." She replied, and then gave a little laugh, "Is it bad that I'm almost looking forward to Kingsley coming back and trying to take me?"

Harry shook his head, but smiled in spite of himself, "We've got the solicitor working, should be able to avoid anything, but…I am interested in that too. We should test it on Draco."

Miranda swatted him lightly, "We are not testing this very grey magic out on my friend."

Harry kissed her again, "I'm not serious, promise. I've tortured him enough throughout the years."

"He gave as good as he got. He's admitted as much." Miranda assured him, "You two might be friends, you know?"

Harry rolled his eyes at her, "Miranda, I really don't want to be talking about Malfoy while we are naked in our bed."

She batted her eyelashes at him, "We could do something else."

"Yes, I think we can." Harry said, kissing her again and letting his hands start to wander again.

Thank you for reading! Comments and Kudos are appreciated!
-Jenn