The Rise of the Drackens: The Scaled Bits

In at the Deep End – Draco and Braiden

Draco swallowed lightly as he was handed the baby as Nasta rushed Harry out of the kitchen and into the fireplace. The younger boy had wanted to go and visit the Weasleys and Nasta was escorting him as he wouldn’t let Harry go anywhere on his own now that he was pregnant for the second time and definitely not through the floo network alone.

Blaise had gone to see his Mother and Max had been called in urgently to work. It was just him on his own, with the baby.

Draco looked down as he awkwardly held Braiden in his arms. He sat down quickly in case he dropped him and looked wide eyed around the room. The house was silent and empty save for him and the baby and he let out a shuddering breath. If anything at all happened to Braiden he’d be killed. It wasn’t a debate, if anything happened to Braiden the only question would be who killed him first, Harry or Blaise.

He didn’t know what he was doing or how to look after the baby he had been left with. Oh why couldn’t Harry or Blaise have taken the baby with them?

Those baby blue eyes blinked open and a little wail came from that pink mouth. Draco’s heart about stopped.

“No, please no! Don’t cry, please! I’ll give you anything you want, anything!” Draco begged as he rocked the baby clumsily and shushed him to no effect.

Braiden started full out crying and Draco’s mind went blank. What did he do? He bounced and rocked and stood up and paced as he had seen Max do on occasion. Max had so many relatives, so many baby cousins, surely he had babysat once or twice, surely he had known what he was doing? But it wasn’t working for him as Braiden started crying at an ear splitting pitch.

“Please Braiden!” Draco begged as he held the baby tighter and stroked a flushed, tear stained cheek. “You can’t be hungry; you’ve only just been fed!”

Surprisingly, Draco felt tears burn at the corners of his eyes as Braiden continued crying. He had never felt so useless before as the baby he had come to love as his own screamed and thrashed in his arms for a reason he couldn’t understand.

Tears fell smoothly down his cheeks as Braiden continued crying in his arms.

“You can’t hate me that much.” Draco begged. “I know I’ve never fed you or held you for very long or even changed you, but I do love you, I swear I’ll do more for you, just please stop crying love.”

Braiden made a strange noise and started crying so hard he made no noise at all and Draco was so worried he contemplated flooing over to his Mother for help when Braiden suddenly threw up. Draco quickly turned him onto his stomach and patted his back to get the vomit out of Braiden’s mouth. Draco used his finger to get any lingering vomit out and grimaced, but he was far too worried to complain or whine about it as he patted Braiden’s back before waving his wand to vanish the vomit.

He carried the baby carefully up the stairs and stripped him of his vomit stained clothing and shoved them into the baby basket that Harry used for Braiden’s dirty clothes. It was then that Draco realised that Braiden’s nappy was swollen.

He peeled the sticky ties on the nappy and almost fearfully opened it. Thankfully Braiden was only wet and he felt such a fool for not realising that if the baby was crying and didn’t need food then he likely needed a change of nappy.

Braiden hiccupped and Draco looked at him quickly to see if anything else was going to come out of his mouth, but when it didn’t and Braiden was calming down, little fist stuck in a toothless, sucking mouth, Draco felt such relief. He awkwardly used a wipe to cleanse his son’s bum, legs, groin, back and stomach, just in case. He used the nappy rash cream, again just in case and used the talcum powder before putting his, now happy, baby back into a nappy and putting him into a clean bodysuit and a new outfit.

Draco plucked him up and carried him to the bed, where he laid against it and held Braiden on his chest.

“I love you so much and you’re not even mine.” Draco murmured. “But I love you just as much as if you were mine. I love your Mother, I love your Father and the other two as well I suppose.”

Draco smiled to himself. “I love them and I love you and I’m never going to leave you, I swear it. No matter how hard life gets, I will always be here for you and for Harry and the others. I'm through being a little boy, I want to be a man now and you’re going to help me.”

Braiden looked at him through sleepy bluish-purple eyes and Draco smiled.

“Your Grandmother loves you Braiden, she sent me a very long letter about how cute and sweet you are and told me all of the toys and clothes she was going to buy you and that she was going to work on your Grandfather. He’ll come around love. I know he will, you’re too adorable to hate and your Grandfather isn’t as hard as he likes to portray, he’s had a culture shock and once it sinks in that everything has evened out and isn’t going to be changing again soon, he’ll come around. He loves me and I love him, but I also love you and your Mother and Fathers, if your Grandfather loves me as much as he says he does then he will come around. I swear it.”

Draco kissed Braiden’s cheek and wrapped arms around the baby as he felt a yawn take over.

“I suppose a little nap won’t hurt, I don’t want to let you go just yet, besides you’d wake up the dead if you cried right next to their ear.”

Draco made himself comfortable against the pillows and rested his chin gently on Braiden’s head, his fingers lightly combing through the soft strands of downy hair. He sent up a silent prayer, as he had done every night since even before Braiden had been born, that he never got Harry’s hair.

Harry and Nasta found him an hour later and they both smiled and shared a light kiss, before Harry covered both Draco and Braiden lightly with a cotton blanket and headed back downstairs with Nasta, leaving Draco and Braiden to their bonding.

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A/N: Still on a break, though can it still be called a break when you’re still working? Ah well.

I love this little piece, showing Draco’s final acceptance of himself, his life and his family. His final decision to accept the life he now has and his understanding that he needs to give a helping hand with the baby even if it seems like the others don’t need it, that he can do it and that he isn’t going to hurt the baby by picking him up. I just love Draco’s character and I love playing with him, but it’s goodbye childish, petulant Draco and hello grown, more patient and understanding Draco…mostly anyway.

Come and join me on Facebook! I say it in every chapter, but I can never have too many people to talk to and to run ideas past! Plus all the fan art, notes and family trees are posted on my Facebook page, any questions you have can be answered instantly and you can join the other 500 or so people that pester me for updates, hah!

StarLight Massacre. xXx