Loopholes

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Silent Invictus: Thanks for giving it a chance!
DonnaNoir23: Thanks, always lovely to hear that! ;D
Anon: Me, too, if it concerns Draco...
paigeey07: Excellent!
Veracityrules: The story has three chapters and sequel, the latter will be longer.
Dezra: Yeah, he´s perfect for it!


When he came to, the first thing he noticed was the warm body next to him, a significant difference to his cold feet. He tried to scoot closer to it but found he couldn´t- his arms and legs were immobile, seemingly bound to the bed by strangely soft shackles.

His body ached terribly from even trying, and the immediately rising panic forced him to open his eyes. He blinked, recognizing Harry next to him: why would Harry allow for him to be bound? He wanted to ask him, but all that came out sounded like a hoarse, croaky whimper. Harry started, looking down on him worriedly: “Shhh, love, it´s all right, I´m here,” he soothed, stroking Draco´s face.

His fingers were pleasantly cool against Draco´s strangely heated skin. A moment later, Draco´s head was being lifted and a cup met his lips as Harry was helping him drink some water, which ran through his hurting throat, relieving the roughness a little.

Afterwards, Harry assumed his former position and cradled Draco as close as possible: “Don´t be scared, love,” he murmured into Draco´s hair, “they had to bind you so you wouldn´t thrash around from the pain and risk to hurt yourself. Healer McCarthy told us about it before, remember?”

Draco´s breath came in gasps; ever since he had woken up did the pain seem to have increased; his abdomen felt like it was on fire, and his hips shot waves of red-hot agony through him. He vaguely remembered something like that, yes, but it didn´t seem important now, all he wanted was for it to be over.

“How long... have I been out?” he ground out.
“Four hours,” Harry said, sounding anxious.
Through the haze in his mind Draco felt Harry´s hand on his forehead, cool and gentle; a little while later, it was replaced by a dampened cloth which felt wonderful.

Draco bit back a groan as a new wave of pain hit him, trying to concentrate on the soothing feeling on his forehead and Harry, who was talking to him quietly, telling him that he was strong and they would go through this together.

“Why... ´s my throat hurt?” Draco whispered with an effort. Harry stroked his cheek: “You... you screamed a lot,” he said, his voice pained at the memory.

Draco closed his eyes: this was bad, and he still had more than two days to go. He barely heard Harry´s reassuring voice as he tried to subdue the pain that ruled every inch of his being right now.

During the next few hours, Draco slipped in and out consciousness. Most of the time he lay still, breathing rapidly through the waves of agony, then again he screamed and fought to get loose. At times he only moaned pitifully, which seemed the worst.

Harry was beside himself with worry and distress, and by the time the evening had arrived, he was a nervous wreck, hating to be so helpless.

He stayed with Draco during the night, despite his own tiredness; he couldn´t possibly think of going to sleep when his lover was convulsing with pain like that.

The first light of dawn illuminated the room and made Draco´s delicate face look almost translucent. Harry buried his hands in his hair: if this was bad, how would the birth be then? How could he ever had agreed to this in the first place? Was a child really worth all this agony?

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Draco, who was whimpering exhaustedly. Harry quickly wrapped himself around him, seeking to soothe his beloved; he could still feel the heat of fever radiating from him, and that was what scared him most: Draco was burning up.

Healer McCarthy had so far managed to calm him by reassuring him that everything Draco had had to endure so far was what had to be expected, but when he came in early to assess his patient, he frowned after he had taken his temperature. Harry´s heart clenched painfully.

“I can´t give him any potion against the fever,” the mediwizard murmured, “we will have to resort to other means.”

He turned to give instructions to the nurse he had brought with him; she immediately set to work.

Ten minutes later, cold poultices had been wrapped around Draco´s chest and lower legs, and the damp cloth on his forehead had been renewed. “He will need to drink water in regular intervals,” she informed Harry as she conjured up a fresh jug and put it on the nightstand.

Harry nodded, dazed: “Is it normal that the patient develops such a high fever?” he asked.

McCarthy shook his head: “I am afraid no. When I examined him, Mr Malfoy also denied that he was prone to it. Otherwise I wouldn´t have taken the risk...”

Harry groaned. He should have stayed during the examination: “Of course he would deny it,” he said, “he doesn´t like the idea of being vulnerable, and he uses to make light of any illnesses he might have.”

“What do you mean?” the Healer asked sharply.

Harry´s head was reeling: “I mean that he is prone to fever,” he breathed while inwardly calling himself an idiot, “I should have thought to tell you...”

His mind wandered back to the winter before last: Draco had come down with a bout of Muggle flu which had been severely enough to keep him in bed for several days.

Most of the symptoms had vanished rather quickly, save for the fever. Harry remembered how relieved he had been when it had finally abated, for he had seldomly seen Draco so sluggish and ill.

McCarthy straightened up: “Well, there´s no way to reverse the spells now,” he said firmly. “Your partner is a healthy young man, Mr Potter, don´t you worry. We will get him through this.”

Harry´s thoughts went to the other two guys who had been through this. Draco and he had met them before finalizing their decision, as they had had so many questions. Both of them had admitted that the reforming had been extremely painful, yet they had seemed happy, and none of them seemed to regret their decision.

He looked down on his love´s tense, sweaty face fondly, and stroked over his hair, realizing just how brave he was, and how much he must love Harry if he was willing to take on all this pain to have his, Harry´s child.

Draco gave a pained sigh but subconsciously leaned into Harry´s touch; his lover hurried to reassure him: “It´s okay, baby,” he whispered, “I´m here with you... I love you so much... you´ll be all right...”

To everybody´s relief, the fever abated during the day; Draco´s eyes were still glazed over when he looked at Harry with obvious alleviation and exhaustion after Healer McCarthy had declared it safe to remove the bindings, and it didn´t take long for him to slip into a deep, restful sleep.

He slept through the night and most of the following day; Harry, reassured by the Healer that Draco was stable now, briefly went home for a shower and fresh clothes, but didn´t want to stay away longer than necessary. When he arrived back at the hospital his lover was indeed slumbering peacefully; Harry simply climbed onto the bed, snuggled up with him and fell asleep as well.

Draco woke up in the early evening, his whole body feeling very heavy and sore. There was an ominous dull dragging pain in his abdomen, if not so bad he couldn´t handle it; it felt like someone had punched him repeatedly.

Even before he opened his eyes did he register Harry´s warm body next to his, smelled the other´s scent that surrounded him, and was grateful for his lover to be there with him.

He had no idea what day it was and how much time had passed, it all blurred together into a hazy recollection of pain and of Harry trying to comfort him, Harry with all his love.

Draco suddenly longed for him even though he was right next to him, and put an effort into raising a shaking hand, the back of which he then dug into Harry´s shirt.

Harry began to stir when he felt the light touch; he quickly sat up after a moment´s disorientation, anxious that something might be wrong, but he found Draco smiling at him.

He still looked very peaky with his ashen face and the dark smudges underneath his eyes, but to Harry it was the most entrancing sight he could imagine right then.

“Hey you,” he said hoarsely, catching Draco´s hand in his own and squeezing it tightly, “feeling better?”

“Yes, “ Draco said or rather croaked, since his throat was very dry.

Harry helped him to drink some water, then put the glass away and gently smoothed the hair back from Draco´s face: “It´s been quite scary, hasn´t it?” he said.

“Don´t remember much,” Draco mumbled, “which day is it?”
“The last,” Harry replied. “We´re nearly through, I think.”
“Thank you for the we,” Draco whispered and nuzzled against Harry´s hand, pressing a kiss into the palm.

“Anytime,” Harry murmured affectionately. His gaze lingered on Draco´s shining eyes for a moment before slowly wandering down to his love´s belly. “Does it feel any differently?” he asked hesitantly.

Draco gave a feeble snort of laughter at the reverence in Harry´s voice: “Can´t say yet...”

Harry looked at him lovingly and closed the distance between them until their lips were touching: “Care for some snogging?”
“Doesn´t my breath smell like tiger?”
“Yes, it does... ow!”
Draco had bitten Harry.

Chuckling at first, they lost themselves in a long and passionate kiss.

On the following morning, Healer McCarthy thoroughly examined Draco; he had not been allowed to get up yet, much to his annoyance. He craved for a shower and getting up in order to stretch, despite his still aching body. It was more like a profound muscles soreness after another good night´s sleep, and he had yet to comprehend what had happened at all.

Harry, having learned from the fever-incident, insisted on being present all along this time. He still had a bone to pick with Draco about it, but he´d wait for the appropriate moment.
As of now, he was standing by Draco´s side, holding his love´s hand for support while the Healer was examining Draco´s abdomen, feeling and applying gentle pressure on certain spots.

The blond´s face was tense, but he didn´t complain. Next, McCarthy used his wand to scan Draco´s lower body. An almost translucent screen appeared, apparently showing Draco´s innards.

He and Harry couldn´t distinguish a thing, but the Healer assessed it attentively and nodded a few times, moving his wand here and there. After a few minutes, the screen vanished; the Healer then lifted up Draco´s legs and spread them, using a levitational charm to keep them in place, and began examining the newly formed orifice of the birth canal.

Draco squirmed a bit; not only due to the mortifying position he was in, but also because the newly formed parts of his body were still very sensitive to the touch. It was furthermore rather unsettling to feel the Healer´s fingers probing the temporary orifice.

When he was done, McCarthy cautiously lowered Draco´s legs back down and looked at him approvingly: “All seems well, Mr Malfoy,” he said. “Apart from the fever, you have done very well during the whole procedure; given that you will rest sufficiently for the next few days, you will be released today.”

Harry and Draco squeezed each other´s hand, but the Healer had yet to answer the most important question: “There will be a few instructions you will need to follow during the next two weeks; we will meet again in a fortnight. If all stays well, I will then declare you ready for insemination.”

Harry cringed at the word, as it sounded so clinical, and received another squeeze from Draco. He knew what his lover wanted to say with it: I know how horrible that sounds,but it still means making love to each other. Just imagine that we will create a new life, our baby...

The dark-haired wizard looked at his lover and wondered if it was possible to love him even more than he already did.

When he finally got up, Draco´s legs felt like jelly, if very stiff at the same time. Harry and a nurse supported him, which he found embarassing, but the young witch insisted that it was the hospital´s regulation, and Draco secretly was quite grateful for it.

They walked up and down the room a few times so that he could get the feeling back in his legs and accomodate himself to his altered body. It didn´t feel much different from before, and Draco still was entirely too exhausted to really care right then.

After ten minutes, he began to shake from the exertion, thus Harry quickly helped him to wash and dress; they had brought another pair of soft cotton pants and a comfortable sweater to wear under his robes, which Draco was glad about.

Flooing and Apparating were no suitable means to travel for Draco right then as the strain on the body would be too great, so he and Harry used a Portkey to get home, arriving directly in their bedroom.

Harry put Draco´s bag down: “I´ll go make tea,” he said and nuzzled Draco´s neck before leaving the room.

Draco looked after him smiling, glad to be at home, and slowly undid the fastening of his robes. He was quite worn out and felt the need to lie down again.
He didn´t bother to undress but crawled under the covers just as he was. Despite having been in bed for the past few days it was wonderful to get off his feet, and the hospital bed simply had been no match for this. He snuggled into the pillow, deeply inhaling Harry´s lingering scent, and felt content.


His lover came back in a while later, carrying a tray with two steaming mugs of tea and a plate with cookies. He placed it on the nightstand, quickly shed his clothes until he only wore his boxers and a t-shirt, and climbed into the bed as well, positioning himself behind Draco so that the blond could lean against him as they were wont to do.

Nestling closely against each other, Harry wrapped his arms his love: “I missed you,” he whispered and ghosted a kiss on Draco´s ear.
Draco smiled even though Harry couldn´t see it: “I missed you, too,” he answered very softly.


Later, when Draco looked back at those times, he usually lingered on the memory of that particular day. Even though he hadn´t been pregnant yet and hadn´t been able to do much either due to his body´s temporary restrictions, he felt like he had accomplished something.

The feeling of being home after what he had gone through combined with spending time together with Harry unhurriedly just added to the quiet happiness he had felt that day. Being safe with his love after the storm had calmed.

Harry cared for him most tenderly without hovering over him like a mother hen. Once he was assured that Draco was fine, he told himself not to be too overprotective; there was no point in treating his partner like a person who was ill, and he knew Draco wouldn´t want that.

Draco in fact was feeling so much better on the following day, and looking so much better as well, that he would have loved to get up and out of the house; if Healer McCarthy hadn´t told him that he´d seriously jeopardize his health and therefore the whole venture, he would hardly have tried to restrain himself.

He was allowed to get up if he didn´t overdo it, and certainly had to refrain from overtaxing himself.

After Harry had gone off to work, Draco went to take a shower. He had to admit that walking was still a tottery affair, his legs obviously not having caught up on feeling better yet.

He could also feel his hips; every step did not exactly ache but was perceivable. He luxuriated under the warm water, but then quickly crawled back into bed, using a charm to dry his hair.
While he had dried himself off with a towel, he had touched the strange and quite sensitive orifice of the birth canal for the first time, and to his own surprise had blushed furiously as if doing something forbidden.

It was hardly comprehensible that that was where the baby was supposed to come out.

He lay back in bed, snuggled into the blankets and lost himself in thoughts.


To Be Continued