A Different Alter

((((Present)))))

\"Ugh.\" Draco sat up slowly, mindful as always of the large bulk settled unevenly around his middle, rubbing his face with one hand, wincing at the sight of the thinning pink scar that ran down his arm. The sun was coming through the curtains, landing in stripes across the darkly furbished room. With great care, he finished propping himself up and called to the curtains to open. The rush of light warmed the room and nearly blinded him. Lovely.
Prodded by an urgent need to piss, he moved carefully off the bed and walked, slowly to the bathroom attached to the bedchamber. He closed the door behind him, wincing at the need for such silly modesty. The sole other occupant of the house had seen him naked countless times before, but in his current state the thought of being spotted without clothing, by anyone, let alone his on again, off again lover, was horrid.
After using the toilet, he stepped fullfully into the shower stall and set it hot as he could stand to rinse away the cold sweat from the night. He let it burn his flesh and he tried not to think. Unconsciously, he stroked his stomach gently. The baby would come soon, in a process best not thought about. And then what? Would he leave it with Harry and go out again in the world? Or would he give up at last? Would the child even live? Or could it be some deformed thing, despite Dr. Galyth\'s assurances otherwise?
There was something alive inside him, he knew. He could feel it kicking, moving, and settling all the time. It was strange and he\'d expected it to feel parasitic, but instead it felt symbiotic. In the long months that the baby had drawn his life from him, eating what he ate, demanding things from his body, Draco had been drawing strength from the unthinking thing within him.
Since he took up with Potter again, he had walked around like death warmed over coals, miming to everyone the man he once was, cowering in his shell. It was only in moments of great light that he thought maybe, he was all right, safe. In the great looming quiet of the night, alone again though...he felt that pull of death, the promise of every lasting oblivion.
And then.....then he\'d gotten pregnant, a ridiculous happening, but here it was....and now, whenever he felt like going out into the woods to end it all, he remembered that he was responsible for one one else, at least for a little while. Someone completely helpless, who couldn\'t even cry for attention.
For the thousandth time since Dr. Galyth had diagnosed him, Draco muttered a word of thanks to the little being inside him. He wasn\'t used to being grateful to anyone, he\'d lived to long in a life that didn\'t leave room for words of thanks. The being inside him was different, it was almost hnd tnd the other half....the other half was the only person in his life that Draco truly trusted.
The door creaked open. Shit! He must have forgotten to lock it! A tentative step and then the unmistakable sound of someone shedding their clothes. The shower curtain flickered open briefly and then warm arms were on his shoulders, tracing patterns up and down his back. With a sigh, he let Harry finish cleaning him, shivering when the water switched off. Supportive hands helped him out of the shower and steadied him on the slippery tile. Methodically, Harry dried him off with a soft towel and then draped a thick robe over him. A soft kiss caught him by surprise and left him blinking.
Shy green eyes stared back at him.
\"Beautiful. Always.\" Was all the dark haired man said, before leading him back to bed, tucking light covers around him and serving him a large breakfast.
Draco ate vociferously, watching Harry out of the corner of his eye as the brunette picked at his own tray. It had never been like this before between them.... always a terse, tense friendship with hot, hard bits of passion between, but since that strange evening on the obsidian alter it had begun to change. Their friendship hadome ome more comfortable, easy as they lived together falling into each other\'s moods and habits. Their fast dialogues interspersed witlk olk of everyday minutiae about what to listen to on the radio (music for Harry, news for Draco), who turned the cat purple while working on the Terra Spell for the Litchy case (Draco), who had made it worse by trying to scrub the poor thing with a magic brush (both of them) and who\'s turn it was to cook (somehow it was always Harry\'s).
In short, they\'d become lovers, truly and it scared Draco more then the idea of dying at the hands of Lord Voldemort because death was a gifthouthout strings, without ties, it was a timeless promise. Love could be turned on and off, could be tied in knots and bounced against walls. People that loved you, could be betrayed, could betray you. Better to keep soul and heart close, tucked away to die in sweet silence.
Draco didn\'t want this, all of a sudden. Didn\'t want the breakfast tray or the warm robe or the borrowed bed. He wanted nothing to do with anything from the Man Who Once was the Boy Who Lived. He ached for the freedom to leap from under the sheets and to walk out the door, have sex with someone beautiful, who didn\'t know his name as he used to whenever he got to feeling like this.
And that\'s when the first pain hit, starting from his center and rippling through his whole body spastically. The tray went flying with a resounding, vaguely satisfactory, crash against the wall.
\"Draco!\" Harry stared at him in surprise.
\"Don\'t just stand there like the stupid git you are, Potter, get the damn doctor and his team here. NOW!\"
Harry rushed off to summon the assembled party, who had agreed to participate in the strange delivery. Taking long deep breaths, Draco tried to calm his wildly beating heart. It would all be over soon. One way....or another.
The crowd rushes in, there\'s someone telling him to drink something that tastes very bitter, someone starting to chant in the distance and hands everywhere, lifting cutting, a sharp pain, he cries out and someone doses him again. Then there\'s nothing for a long time.....

((((Nine Months Ago))))

\"All right, Potter. I give up. What\'s the new exciting mission?\" Draco asked, watching his friend and sometimes lover, smile eagerly and mysteriously.
\"This really old wizard came in and told me that he was having trouble with his winter home in France. He claims there some type of spirit holed up in the caves underneath. He\'s pretty rich, says he\'ll pay us well if we get rid of it.\"
\"Intriguing.\" impaimpassive face didn\'t falter, but secretly Draco let\'s a feeling of relief wash over him. It is the time of year that he absolutely needs to get out of England. The wind and the rain areringring him down and not even the quickness of their lives, the edge of death they walk can keep the dull ache in his arms from bothering him. He has the feeling that somehow, Harry had sensed this. They\'d been pickier with cases lately as they had more to choose from.
\"I thought so as well. Coming?\"
And Draco had agreed. Anything to see a little sunshine.
Here they were then, standing on the precipice of a long winding series of caves, armed with maps, wands, flashlights and about a half gallon of water since the old wizard had warned them that it was exceptionally hot as one grew closer to the temple.
\"This place is filthy.\" Draco remarked succinctly, taking the first step into the dark opening, hearing something squish beneath his feet.
\"Yes, well, I doubt the house elves were eager to come in and clean. Now, come along and try to pretend for a little bit that you weren\'t born with a silver spoon clenched in your arse.\"
Draco raised one dark eyebrow and followed the retreating brunette into the squelching darkness. One of the things that he both admired and despised in Potter is his utter lack of tact about their past. The brunette never thought twice before shooting some comment off when provoked, not thinking that Draco might be sensitive about his upbringing what with everything that\'s happened. It made Potter different from the soft pitying looks that people like Hermione shoot at him when they thought he wasn't looking. Stupid gits.
\"Do you think there\'s actually something down here?\" He asked to pass the time. \"Or is the old bloke with the cash just getting a bit senile?\"
\"He didn\'t seem to be forgetful or anything. He only said that he\'s heard an angry voice coming from below and some furniture being moved about in the bedchambers. I suspect there was something more, but he wasn\'t very forthcoming. Embarrassed maybe.\"
\"And you didn\'t think it might be a ghost of some kind?\"
\"No. He\'d already had an expert on poltergeists in. They didn\'t find anything wrong at all.\"
\"Wonderful. It\'s already heating up, isn\'t it?\"
They were barely a few dozen feet down and they could both feel a breath of warmth coming from in front of them. Uncomfortable already, Draco shed his outer robe, folding it carefully over his arm, idly rubbing at the more jagged of his two scars. He shone his flashlight over Harry and saw the other man was also shedding his outer layer. This had potential.
They continued down in silence for some time, gradually becoming warmer and warmer. Without a word they both shed sweaters and over shirts, leaving everything in a bundle where they were sure to find it on the way back. Gel started to run into Draco\'s eyes, slicked back blonde hair falling into his eyes. He pushed it up with a low growl. It stuck up at odd angles.
\"Very flattering.\" Harry commented with a small smile, laughing when Draco snarled at him. \"Oh look, it\'s opening up.\"
Sure enough the tunnel they had come down was becoming big enough to call a room and the soft light the old man had described as coming from the cave started to glow around them. Eventually, it was intense enough that they flicked off their flashlights.
The tunnel finally emptied out into a huge open room that glowed with unmelting, unflickering, candles set in niches along the walls at even intervals. Between the niches, tall detailed statues were set. Each was of two people, man and woman, locked in acts of sex, both natural and impossible. There were about thirty of them, each different, but all the eyes were directed to the central piece of the temple, for there was no doubt that this what they sought, an alter. An alter more precisely made of the largest piece of solid obsidian that either Draco or Harry had ever seen. The black rock had been carved and polished into a perfect circle.
Draco rolled his eyes.
\"No wonder the old man\'s had trouble in the bedroom. Obviously, some poor lust spirit who was used to regular sacrifices started getting gypped from her regular orgies. If someone comes down her on her festival days for a few years, she\'ll quiet down.\"
\"How\'d you know that?\" Dark green eyes regarded him, thoughtfully. Draco smirked.
\"Because once upon a time, I had to quite a lot of research into lust potions. See there was this daft pricko foo for some reason I was really attracted to....\" He approached the alter, running hands over the silky stone that was surprisingly warm to the touch. \"It seems to have worked out the the best, in this case.\"
\"I suppose it did. So, we could go back right now and tell the old man what we found....\"Harry trailed off.
\"Or we could appease the spirit ourselves for a bit.\"
\"Here! Are you mad?\" Harry paused, staring at the lascivious movements of pale white flesh against jet-black stone. \"I\'m not going to win this argument am I?\" VeryVery good.\" Ice blue eyes winked at him. \"You should know by now that when it comes to things like this, Draco Malfoy always gets what he wants.\"
\"I still don\'t think....\"
And then Draco was on him, swirling his tongue into Harry\'s mouth, rendering the great hero speechless and quivering. He led him to the alter, leaving him to watch as the long limbed Slytherin arranged himself on black stone.
\"I\'m the sacrifice, Potter. Aren\'t you going to take me?\"
There was a long pause and then Harry began to laugh.
"That was bad, Malfoy. Really bad."
"Not as bad as it'll get if you don't get down here and start doing something interesting."
Harry licked his lips, desperate to find a decent argument, but his mind was fogged from the intense heat of the place and Draco\'s kiss. The blonde lay on the alter, his pale skin contrasting beautifully with the absolute darknof tof the stone beneath him. A small groan came from Harry\'s lips as he straddled his old enemy\'s hips, catching pale thin lips in his.
In heated ecstasy, they entwined themselves, the eyes of sixty frozen figures turned to them and an almost overwhelming need for contact searing their senses. In a raging passion far beyond their own fragile skins rode them, driving them further and further over the edge until they both climaxed, screams ripped from dry throats, bodies heaving and blinding light right before they both blacked out.
It was only later, when they\'d told the old man the edited versions that Draco remembered something from his research. Thirty statues and all of them one man, one woman. No lust spirit cared about gender or would even be pleased with a limiting of such a simple act as two partners. Disturbed, he mentioned nothing until he was sure. the the research was done, he called the old man and explained the error in their diagnosis and that the \'sacrifices\' to the spirit should be willing to carry a child. That\'s what fertility spirit\'s were good for and after so many years with no ground to fertilize, she would doubtless impregnate anyone. Anyone at all.
So after a few doctor\'s visits to be sure, Draco cornered Harry about to leave the office.
\"Hey, Potter, remember that night in the French caves?\"
\"How could I forget?\" Emerald eyes sparkled. Usually when Draco brought up previous experimentation, it meant that he was interested in a repeat.
\"Well....I made a mistake. It wasn\'t a lust spirit. It was a fertility spirit.\"
\"Oh? Well, you should just call the client for the adjustment....\"Harry caught the pained look that passed briefly over delicate features. \"What?\"
\"You\'re going to be a father.\"
He watched as Harry first stared at him dumbfounded, then turned ashen when he realized that Draco wasn\'t kidding, not in the least and finally, collapsed into a chair.
\"Oh my. I never thought I\'d....but you....and then.....oh my.\"
"Look. You don't have to have anything to do with it. I've found someone who's willing to take it, if it comes to that...."
"What?! No!"
"No?"
"I'm not letting you give away our child." It was a tone that Draco had never heard from Harry before.
"Then.....then I'll have it, I suppose. But Harry....I don't know if I can..."
A hug cut off his answer as Potter held him close and whispered into his ear as if saying it too loudly would take it all away....
\"I never thought I\'d have a family again.\"
The thing that had broken in Draco, stirred faintly, making it\'s own whispered plea. He was glad that he had told Potter, instead of running off as he had contemplated doing. At the very least, he could let this man have the child he had unconsciously desired for so long and then..... And the future would work itself out.