Harry Potter and the Womb of Requirement NOW CODED

11

Later that evening, Harry and Draco had eaten, then tidied the flat for the invasion. Harry had decided to tell the DA. Draco was scared, his arms folding around Cariad in his womb. As the members arrived, they goggled at Draco looking so vulnerable curled up on their settee. Harry was brusque and to the point as he told them, “And I must resign, for reasons beyond my control”.

He heard Draco inside his mind, {Hey, babe, give them some time to adjust}. A sceptical voice, Ginny Weasley’s spoke forth, “How do we know all this is true?”. Harry tried to explain, but Draco sent, {Hush, love}, as he unfolded his long limbs and stood up, pulling his t-shirt taut over his belly, the small bump plain to see. One or two of the lads tried to put it down to too many pies, but the girls knew.

The DA accepted Harry’s resignation, albeit reluctantly. But after Harry told them why, most of them could not help but agree. One or two of the girls ventured towards Draco, “It’s supposed to be the best luck, to touch a pregnant Telempath’s stomach. May we?”. The ice was broken, mainly by the girls. Draco bore their ministrations stoically, until an invisible clock inside his head registered food time and he slumped, and several people rushed to his side as Harry caught him, “We need supper. Please excuse us”.

As they left, Ginny rounded on the group, “If what Harry and Mal-I mean Draco says is true. Then they are going to need our protection”, her eyes blazed, as if daring anyone to defy her. The group broke up, muttering and gossiping their way back to their dorms.

Draco munched down copious amounts of protein under Harry’s watchful eye, relaxing back against the arm of the sofa, releasing his zip a bit more, stuffed. Harry leaning in, kissing that sliver of exposed belly between t-shirt and jeans, murmuring “Sorry, Cariad, but I need your dad for a while”. Draco laughed as he opened his mouth beneath Harry’s breathless kiss, {Whaddya mean, Dad?, bugger that. I’m her mum. I’m carrying her} laughing into that talented amazing mouth.. And Draco revelled in it, surrendering, then let his own tongue loose on his lover’s incredible body. Each drowning in the other, the day so special to them. Draco tucked the scan picture under his pillow as they slept, sending a silent, {G’night, Cariad}, as his eyes closed.

Harry folded himself around his sleeping Dragon, his mouth buried in his hair, a hand over Draco’s belly, a murmured, “Goodnight my daughter”, that even Draco could not catch. He slept.

Over the next few days, the story emerged throughout the school, at various levels. Below third year, they were simply informed that the school had two resident Telempaths. Up to and including fifth year, knew of the bonding, but, so far, only upper and lower sixth knew of Draco’s condition. Professor McGonagall had prepared a lecture on Telempaths which she delivered to the two sixth forms, inviting the boys to add their own insights and observations. She smiled at them, “Perhaps, you could answer a few questions now, boys, to avoid having to answer the same things over again”. Harry nodded, “Fire away, so long as it’s nothing too personal”.

A babble broke out all over the room. Harry held up a hand, “Whoa, one at a time, please. Lavender, you first”. They spent a hectic hour answering as much as they could, deflecting the inevitable questions on their sex life, saying nothing of the fears they had, making it seem like a happy accident, since Harry didn’t know of his status having never been dowsed twice. The Patel sisters giggled, “We were dowsed twice as possible Telepaths, but the Auror had forgotten the tendency of twins to telepathise anyway”.

The boys avoided completely the area of why Draco had no Telempath training already, since his parents should have known, and the session wound down after Draco yawned, turning pale. Professor McGonagall clapped her hands calling the room to order. She dismissed the students, asking Draco and Harry to remain behind.

“Just a couple of things boys, before you go for dinner. Your training will begin on Monday, and proceed for two hours a day for two weeks. This is intense, I know. But there is a lot you need to be prepared for. There is only so much that we can prepare you for, in so short a time, but I believe you are to learn wandless Shielding spells, that will allow you to go out and about again. That brings me to the second issue”. She raised her eyebrows and regarded them sternly over the tops of her spectacles.

“I know you were not in school a few days ago. Would you mind telling me where you went, only there’s very little point in us all protecting you, if you throw it in our faces in this manner. I cannot stress seriously enough the gravity of the situation you are currently in, and for you to just disappear off the face of the Earth like that....”, her serious tone was threaded with concern.

{Help!. What do we tell her?}, Harry’s mind was spinning. Draco laid his hand on Harry’s arm, his calm send cutting through Harry’s chaos, {Harry, you’ve always trusted McGonagall, haven’t you?}. Harry turned and nodded, {Then let’s just tell the truth}. Draco withdrew the print-out from his shirt pocket, and pushed it across the desk towards her with a shy smile, “I was having trouble with the idea of a baby, Professor, instead of something that just seems to be making me ill all the time”.

Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses and peered at the paper, She lifted it carefully from the desk and examined it under a strong light, her brow furrowed. “Gentlemen, I’m not entirely sure I know what I’m looking at, here”. Harry scooted around the desk, and stood by her shoulder, “Ah, it’s upside down”, she rotated the picture. Then read the name neatly inscribed below it.

She turned from one to the other, her face wore a look of amazement. “Draco, is this some sort of picture of your baby?”. Draco beamed, his eyes alight, “Yes, Professor”. She looked back as Harry pointed out the head, the little raised fists, one foot. She asked, “How?...erm...Where?”. Draco came and stood beside Harry. “Every Muggle lady gets one of these at three months, professor”. “Muggles?”, her eyebrows shot up. “Yes. St Mungo’s doesn’t have on of these scanner things, but most Muggle Hospitals do. It’s done by sound waves and harmless to the baby”. Minerva thought a moment, “This Muggle hospital. Was it in a town called Basingstoke, by any chance?”. Harry winced, “Yes”. She smiled, “Then you had assistance from Miss Granger, am I right?”. They both looked down. Neither wanted to rat her out. Minerva sighed, “No doubt it was her idea as well?”. The boys remained silent.

Draco blurted, “Please don’t tell her off, Professor, she meant well, and it did help, really it did. It’s incredible. I saw the baby moving inside me, although I can’t feel it yet, watched her wave her arms about on this computer screen, heard her heart beating. It was so beautiful, you can’t imagine”. She looked at him, the pure joy plain on his face. She glanced at Harry. Saw tears in his eyes, even while he smiled, “Draco named her, right then and there”. Minerva glanced down at the name again, “Love”, she murmured under her breath. She sighed and swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

She looked up to see Harry slide an arm around Draco, as his lover’s head sank to his shoulder. “Professor, I’m sorry, but Draco needs to eat”. Minerva snapped out of her reverie, handing back the print-out, “Yes, yes of course. Gentlemen, I have decided not to do anything about the other day. Not because I agree with you breaking several rules, nor yet because you could have placed yourselves in inestimable peril”, she paused, her tone softening, “But because, if I was in your situation, I would have done exactly the same thing. Now go and eat. I need to get to the Hall. Goodnight, gentlemen”. They were dismissed. They turned and walked away. Harry’s arm about Draco’s waist, their heads touching. She whispered, “Take care of each other”, and dabbed at her eyes.

xxxxxxx

Monday morning saw them both ensconced in armchairs in Dumbledore’s study awaiting the Auror. The Headmaster was absent, but their new tutor was expected in Dumbledore’s Floo fire. Draco reached a lazy arm over the arm of his chair, Harry took his hand and was entertaining himself by licking the webs of skin between Draco’s fingers, watching his lover’s eyes darken, when a noise in the Floo chimney made them pull apart.

In a flurry of curses, a woman bowled out of the fireplace, “Damn you, Dumbledore, don’t you ever get the ruddy chimney cleaned? Send up a five year old. Perfect for the job”. She stood up, dusting soot and cobwebs from her clothes. Which were rather odd. She wore a tweed jacket over jodhpurs and tall riding boots with a monocle clamped firmly over one eye, carrying a large carpetbag. She took stock of the room immediately, spinning around in a full circle, fixing her gaze on the two boys. She advanced upon them. Draco backed into his chair as far as he could. “What ho”, she bellowed, “Which one o’ you young whelps is up the duff?”.

Draco raised a tentative hand, “Up you get, then, m’boy”, she fished into her bag, pulling out a length of fabric. She wrapped it around his stomach and hips, murmuring charms as she did, “Protects the gravida, what!”. She tied it off. “Makes a shield, don’t you know, while you learn to make your own”. {I feel flippin’ ridiculous trussed up like this}, Draco sent. She stood back to inspect her handiwork, then withdrew her wand, “Tell me if this makes you nauseous, m’boy”. She cast a spell that neither of them had heard before. Draco shrugged, feeling no change. “Cloaks on chaps, we have a room of requirement set aside. Come along, chop chop”. They donned their cloaks and were ushered from the study.

{She’s a bit scary, isn’t she?. We don’t even know her name yet}, Harry sent. In reply, Draco brushed his hand against Harry’s as they sped down corridor after corridor, {I thought so too, at first, but I’ve met loads like her, loud horsey country types. I read her, and there’s no harm in her, although she’s a bit bemused. I wonder how much she really knows about us}. Draco felt Harry’s tension ease in his mind. Draco sent Harry a smile. What he got in return made him gasp and reach for a wall to steady himself. Harry asked the Auror to slow down, she turned, seeing Draco swoon, and pulled up short, “Sorry, forgot that you’re preggers old chap. Seems like a bally odd show, if you ask me. Nearly there, now”.

Draco sent a mean look Harry’s way, to be answered by an angelic shrug, his eyes raised innocently to the ceiling. {You are so going to get it later, Potter}, Draco’s internal voice purred, {Payback for that will be so sweet}. He composed a snapshot in his mind of Harry tied to their bedposts, Draco buried in him to the hilt, then pressed a mental ‘send’, and watched Harry trip over his own feet and heard his vehemently sent, {Twat. You die for this, Malfoy}. Draco kept his face straight, but inside, he howled laughing, {Never forget I’m a Slytherin, lover mine}.

The Auror stopped so abruptly, that the boys in their distraction, cannoned into her. “We’re here”. She laid her hand flat against the wall, murmuring a spell, and a door created itself. She opened it, holding it wide, letting the boys go before her, following them, then the door vanished as she closed it. They were in a tall, long, white rectangular room, devoid of decor, a hard black floor beneath their feet, no windows, no distractions.

She held her hand out. “M’name’s Bertha Bassenthwaite. I believe I have the pleasure of teachin’ Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Am I right, chaps?”. Draco reached forward, as usual, his manners impeccable, and shook her hand. “Yes, I’m Draco, this is Harry”. She crushed his hand then Harry’s. They both winced slightly and flexed their fingers, {Ow}, one of them sent. She rummaged in her bag producing a strangely carved oblong box. She opened it and held it towards the boys. “Boys, your wands if you please. All the spells you learn here will be wandless, and this box is made from adamant. No magic can enter or leave it’s confines”.

As Draco dropped his wand into the box Bertha closed it, tucking it back into her bag, “Quite safe there, what!”.
She withdrew two shorter lengths of the same cloth, and proceeded to wrap it around their heads fashioning it into turbans. Harry could sense Draco sending him something, but couldn’t read him, feeling suddenly bereft. “I can’t read you, what’s happening, Bertha?”, his hands flew to his head in a panic. Bertha calmed him. “Harry, I need to dowse you both before we start, and I need to divine you individually. Draco’s second dowse gives me lots of information to go on, but you, boy, are an unknown quantity”.

Harry shrugged, “I was dowsed once though, at birth, wasn’t I?”. Bertha glanced down, then up, looking concerned, “Harry, we looked everywhere, but your file isn’t at the Ministry. We have no record of the first dowse”. At this, both were stunned. Draco tried to send his shock and comfort, then remembered. Instead, he threw his arms around Harry, squeezing him gently, before letting him go. Harry smiled weakly at him, his distress plain. Draco furrowed his brow, then slid his turban off, pushing Harry’s off too. {Oh, shit, babe. Buggeration. Looks like we were right. He knows. Well let her dowse you anyway, lover, at least then we’ll have some idea of where to start to defend ourselves. I want this training, Harry, so we can protect each other, cos I love you so much. Come on, baby, for us}.

By now Draco had his arms around Harry again, cradling Harry’s head on his shoulder, stroking his back. Harry was too distressed to either send or speak. Draco murmured endearments into his mind, placing gentle kisses in his hair, eventually feeling Harry relax against him. He moved them apart slightly, cupping Harry’s face in his hand, leaning in and kissing him gently on the lips, {Better now?}. Harry smiled a smile of love at his bond-mate, {I love you so much. Let’s do this}. Draco smiled back and separated them. They replaced their turbans and turned to Bertha, who waited patiently. She had watched their interaction with great interest. In the past, Telempaths had been put together out of expediency, the pull happening later, or indeed, never, after all one could never guarantee love and attraction, and sometimes there was only one detected Telempath per several generations.

These two were special. Their relationship had formed before they realised what they were, and they had fallen naturally into the bonding process. She read fear and doubt pouring off them, being an Empath herself, but such love also, love that could conquer all if trained correctly. She sighed, “Gentlemen, if we could proceed, please”, all the brusqueness had gone out of her tone. “Harry, if you could sit over there, please, I would like to dowse Draco first”. Harry nodded and went over to the far wall, sitting against it.

She positioned them so Harry could see them both in profile facing each other. Bertha drew her wand. Harry gasped, making to rise. Bertha noted the movement, and held a hand out towards him, palm outward. “No, Harry, I just need to charge my hands”. Harry subsided against the wall again. Draco flashed him a grin and a wink. Harry took a deep breath, trying to relax.

Bertha rolled her wand-tip across her palms one at a time, then placed her hands in a Namaste pose around her wand, breathing deeply through her nose. She opened her eyes, bending down and placing her wand in the box with the boys’. She held her hands about two inches above Draco’s head, her palms facing the top of his head, started to describe a circle around his head, when she winced and withdrew slightly, shaking out her hands and flexing her fingers, “Ouch, too close”, she sank back into concentration, adjusting the distance of her hands, settling on about six inches. She proceeded to pass her hands over, down and around Draco, pausing when her hands passed over his belly, “Would you like to know the sex of your baby, Draco?”, she murmured. Draco grinned, “We already know. As a matter of fact, we’ve named her, but if you don’t mind, I’d rather not say”. Bertha nodded and carried on.

Harry could see the exchange, but couldn’t hear it or read it. This frustrated him a bit. Since they had started sending, it seemed as natural as breathing. He sighed and idly watched the rest of Draco’s dowse. Eventually, Bertha drew away, bowing slightly, thanking him for his trust and co-operation. Draco came over and slumped down next to Harry, leaning his head against the wall, feeling suddenly tired.

Bertha called Harry to her, after she had made notes and slipped the parchment back into her bag. She took out her wand again, recharging her hands. She didn’t want to spook Harry, but she knew that she needed to operate at the height of her power, and held her wand for longer, before replacing it in the box.

Once more, she started at the top of his head, but this time starting at six inches. Before her hands had passed over his face, she started back, wincing, “Ouch, that burned”. Saw the instantly sympathetic look in Harry’s eyes as he haltingly apologised and waved it away. “Just means I’ll have to be further away. Could you kneel down, please, Harry?”. Harry knelt. Draco looked on, his eyes narrowing until he saw Bertha position her hands once again over Harry’s head. Eighteen inches. Nothing. She cautiously moved her hands closer, until they felt the crackle of Harry’s aura at about twelve inches.

This in itself caused her eyebrows to raise. But when she started to read, she was astounded. Reading Draco, she had realised that his looking outwards powers were diminished, because for now he had to remain focussed inwards. There was more in Draco yet. But Harry had no such constraints upon his power, and the purity of it surging into her palms almost overwhelmed her. She finished the reading, exhausted. Draco’s had taken about half an hour. When she felt composed enough to consult the half-hunter in her jacket pocket, she realised dowsing Harry had taken an hour and a quarter.

She stepped, no, slightly staggered backwards from Harry, stunned and deeply tired. Harry helped her sit on the ground until she had collected herself. He glanced at Draco, who was lolling against the wall, fast asleep or in a swoon. Harry ripped off his turban, and in seconds was by Draco’s side, his arms about him, pushing the cloth from Draco’s head, {Are you all right, my love?}. Draco shifted sleepily against him, opening his eyes, gazing blearily into Harry’s worried frown, {Fine, love. Just resting my eyes}. Harry chuckled, and rocked his Dragon in his arms.

Bertha recovered herself, rose, and stood before them. “That’s enough for today, chaps, need to get back to the Ministry, what, and turn in a report, don’t you know?. Might be a day or two, but I’ll send word. Believe me, gentlemen, between you, you are a wizarding phenomenon unknown before”. She smiled, “I think it’s all to do with the fact that you, erm, bonded, before you bonded. All will be explained later, if we can find an explanation, that is”. She smiled at them, “Good afternoon boys, now perhaps you need to find sustenance, what?. See you in a few days”, she returned their wands to them and strode from the room, leaving the door visible to them.