la persistencia de la memoria

A/N: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. Had some family drama. This chapter is not that exciting, but it is meant to explain some of the back story.

I've used some artistic license with some of the process I've described in this chapter, so please go with the flow of it. You'll see what I mean once you read it.

Thank you for all the reviews.

Chapter 3

Draco gasped as the powerful wave of magic shot through his body and sent both Harry and Granger through the wards and to places unknown. He didn’t have time to worry about it though, because a frisson of pain exploded in his abdomen and he keeled over, reaching blindly out for the first thing he could grasp. Unfortunately, it was nothing but air, and Draco toppled over as smartly as a collapsing building. He managed to twist at the last moment, which prevented him from falling directly on his stomach, but the pain that erupted through his shoulder as he connected with the carpet, joined the pain already growing in his stomach.

There was a pop of Apparation, and Narcissa appeared in the bedroom, her wand out and a panicked expression, which only increased when she saw Draco on the floor, curling into a fetal position.

“Draco!! What’s wrong, what happened??”

Narcissa rushed to her fallen son, knelt down beside him and tried to smooth his hair back from his face. She winced at his grimace of pain. “Were you attacked? What hurts?”

Draco turned anguished eyes towards her. “It hurts…” He moved to cradle his stomach.

“Tippy!!”

A loud crack sounded and a house elf appeared in their midst.

“Help me get him to the bed, get his tea and then get Healer Donnelly here immediately.”

The elf nodded quickly and sent a wave of magic to Draco’s tense body. Narcissa rose from her place and cast a steadying lifting charm to assist the elf. She trusted Tippy to have a steadier stream of magic then her own, mainly because she was terrified that she would injure Draco further then he already was.

It had been a fight from the beginning to allow her to have instant access to him during his pregnancy. Draco’s pride had been at full maximum annoyance since the pregnancy had occurred and had wanted very little attention in regards to it. She had insisted that she be able to come to him at a moment’s notice, as well as any house elf, should any trouble arise.

He had finally relented, motivated by a bout of morning sickness that had lasted well into the evening. By the time Harry had arrived home from the Ministry, Draco had almost passed out from sheer dehydration. Harry had been so angry that Draco had not called him or Narcissa for help, that he immediately set the wards for Narcissa’s arrival and tuned them both to any sign of problem from the blond. From then on, if Draco even coughed, they both knew about it.

Tippy slowly levitated Draco to the bed, putting him down gently. Draco immediately curled back into his position, his hands holding his rotund stomach, as he whimpered softly. Narcissa peered anxiously at him.

“Draco, what happened? I felt your magic surge and then your pain. Please…tell me!”

Draco wheezed out. “Harry was here and…I was so angry at him. He’s going back to Weasley!” Draco shuddered and shut his eyes.

Narcissa cursed. What her son ever saw in that half-blood…but she curbed those thoughts, knowing that it wasn’t going to help anything and also knowing that Harry had been very good for Draco. Harry had been so completely in love with her son that it had made her envious of their relationship, one that she hadn’t necessarily shared with Lucius during their own marriage.

And Draco…the change in him after his involvement with Harry had been unbelievable. She had never seen her son so happy. For a long time she had believed that Harry had placed Draco under some sort of love potion, but her own maternal instinct finally took hold and rebelled against such thoughts.

Tippy distracted her by appearing with a tray with cups and a teapot. Narcissa sprung into action by taking the tray from the elf and putting it on the bedside table. She quickly poured a cup and sat down on the bed.

“Draco…sweetie, turn towards me. Let’s get you some tea.” She heard the pop of the Tippy vanishing, but stayed focused on her task.

The tea was a specially blended one designed for pregnant women, to help calm nerves and an ever restless baby. The healers had simply decided that the tea would also benefit Draco, seeing as he had un-calmed nerves and the ever restless baby. But a special pain draught had been created specifically for Draco, to help ease some of his pain. Draco’s new uterus had simply moved in with all his other male organs and everything was quite cramped. Draco had had a horrible time of it.

Draco tried to turn towards his mother but was stopped when another pain racked his body. He had suffered through various pains and cramps each week of the pregnancy, but this was a new pain he hadn’t experienced before.

His head fell back and he groaned. Narcissa reached over and pushed his hair away again, revealing a sweat soaked brow and rings forming under his eyes. Her heart went out to him and she felt rather helpless for the moment. Narcissa didn’t have a daughter, so conversations regarding womanly things and duties had never spilled from her lips. She obviously had never expected to be watching her son on the verge of giving birth to a baby, but somehow she still felt as though she had failed him as a mother.

“Take a small sip, sweetheart. It’ll help the pain. Donnelly will be here soon.”

She reached around his back and helped to pull him upright as much as he could and Draco struggled to assist her. She pressed the cup to his lips and he swallowed the golden liquid gratefully. After the cup was almost drained, another crack pierced the air. Draco fell back heavily on the pillows and whimpered again while he rubbed his lower belly. He refused to believe that he was having the baby now. It wasn’t time. He had another three weeks!

“Draco, you’ve gone and upset the little one, have you?” Healer Donnelly’s smooth voice floated over to him. Draco glared at her and would have protested if not another searing pain roared through him. He cried out.

Donnelly frowned and hastened towards the bed. Narcissa moved out of her way when she bent over to peer at him more closely. Donnelly was tall, over six feet, with wild black hair and bright blue eyes. She gave a small huff, pulled her wand and waved it, causing parchment to appear and unfurl next to her. A quill zoomed from her bag that she had placed by the end of the bed and furiously began to scratch across the paper. She cast several diagnostic spells over Draco, all of them whirling and changing colors. The quill wrote even faster, to match the swirls.

“Draco, tell me what happened. Describe the pain, if you can.”

“I…was really angry. And then…a huge surge of magic that sent Harry and Granger through the wards and outside. Then the pain started and I fell, but not on the baby. I landed on my side.”

Narcissa’s eyes widened. “You shoved them through the wards?”

Draco nodded and Donnelly raised her eyebrows. “Wandless, I take it?”

Draco nodded again. “I didn’t mean to. I told them to get out and then it just happened.”

“What does the pain feel like? Sharp, piercing? Dull, an ache? Cramps, waves..?”

“Sharp and it comes and goes. It feels like…like I’m being ripped apart or something.”

Donnelly smiled wearily and looked at Narcissa. “Well, sounds like you will be a grandmother soon.” She peered at her charts again. “A little sooner than expected, but nothing to worry about.”

“But it’s not time yet! It’s too early! Can’t you stop it or something?!” Draco cried out, his face completely drained of color now. He turned panic stricken eyes to his mother.

Narcissa reached to touch Draco’s hand and Donnelly said,

“The baby is distressed, Draco. But it’s an emotional distress, not physical,” she said hastily as Narcissa turned sharply towards her, “magical babies can create their own agenda, and there is nothing that we can necessarily do about it. And that’s with regular pregnancies, we can’t do much. But with this pregnancy, between two extremely powerful wizards, cast with a curse that no one has seen in almost a thousand years, well, we have to go along with what they want.”

She reached down to touch his shoulder kindly. “You are in the early stages of labor, Draco. We need to get you to St. Mungo’s immediately. I will contact Healer Olabisi so that she will be ready for you. We’ve had her international portkey ready for some time.”

Donnelly turned to Narcissa. “Please get him ready for St. Mungo’s. I will return to St. Mungo’s and alert the team that we are going to bring him in. I’ll send some of the team back to escort you. Draco is to take the Floo, no apparition.”

Narcissa nodded and Donnelly apparated. Draco looked at her with fearful eyes. Narcissa smiled at him encouragingly.

“It’ll be all right, Draco. I’m here.” She sat down on the bed again and took his hand. “You’ve handled this all beautifully. Once the little one is here, none of this will even matter.” She rubbed her fingers gently over his hand. “Do you wish for me to call Harry now?”

“No!”

Narcissa frowned at him. “Are you sure? He’ll want to be-“

“I don’t give a bloody fuck what he wants!”

“Draco!”

“No and that’s fin…aaaarrrhhhhhh!!!”

“Breathe, Draco…like Healer Wentworth showed you,” Narcissa said anxiously, as the pain had caught Draco unawares. He panted heavily, gripping the comforter tightly. She shouted for Tippy.

Draco closed his eyes again while his mother called for Tippy and more house elves to prepare his things. It wasn’t like he didn’t already have suitcases full of stuff already prepared, due to his own comfort level and Harry’s insistence. But Draco didn’t even want to think about any of this. His anxiety level was reaching critical mass and he was almost in a full blown panic. Not only was the other father not here with him, Draco had dreaded this day since he had found out about what the curse had done. Not because of his fear of giving birth, but because he hadn’t wanted the baby.


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Draco could honestly say he was never so happy to see St. Mungo’s then he was at that moment. The last forty-five minutes had been pure hell. From the moment the medical team had arrived to escort him, it seemed nothing had gone right.

It started with a back spasm that had left him completely paralyzed in pain for at least five minutes. He had practically bitten through his tongue to keep from weeping like a child. He hadn’t even moved from the bed yet. And the healers had told him that he couldn’t take anything more for pain. They finally managed to get him out of the bed and helped him to the floo. Only for him to be hit with another contraction. His knees had buckled and he gritted his teeth, while the healers had struggled to hold him upright.

Upon arrival to St. Mungo’s emergency entrance room, another healer team was waiting with a levitating chair. Before he could sit down, he felt the front of his robes growing wet. He stared down in amazement at the widening wet spot on his robes and the puddle pooling at his feet.

Donnelly suddenly appeared in their midst. She looked down at the mess on the floor. “It’s okay, Draco. Your water just broke.”

Draco took in a deep breath and pain shot through him again.

“Bloody hell!”

The floo whooshed again and Narcissa stepped from the blaze. She took one look at Draco’s face and the wet spot on him and the floor. She knew how proud her son was and he had to be absolutely mortified. She took her wand and quickly cleaned the mess up.

Donnelly signaled the team to help Draco into the chair. Once he was settled, the team dashed off with him. Draco laid his head back against the chair and fought against the tears that threatened. All of this was happening too fast, too painfully. He’d never been so scared in his life, not even when the Dark Lord was still alive. He really wanted Harry by his side, but he didn’t know if he could face the man right now. For Harry to see him like this, scared, sweaty and on the verge of tears, and not even care about him. It was too much.

His escorts finally delivered him to a bright private room with a large comfortable looking bed. There were several pieces of parchment hovering with quills at the ready, which immediately began writing the instant he entered the room. There were several trays of multi-colored vials of various potions on nearby tables. Soft soothing music filled the room and Draco felt marginally better.

The good feeling ended when he was abruptly divested of his robes and put into an ugly sterile cheap gown. He was about to protest at the wardrobe change, when Donnelley appeared with his mother in tow.

“Good, good,” Donnelly said briskly, as she hurried towards him, practically shoving him onto the bed. “We need to get a look at things.” Draco squawked at the blast of cold sheet that hit his naked backside and he glared at her menacingly. She smiled apologetically. “That should have been warmed for you.”

She cast several spells over him and several animated pictures appeared in the air in front of them. Draco squinted at the pictures. They had always told him that these were pictures of the baby, but to him it always looked like a big massive blob.

“Ah, right on schedule,” she said cheerfully as she examined the pictures. She pulled her hands away. “How are you feeling?”

“Like something is about to explode out of my stomach,” Draco responded tersely and two of the healers chuckled.

“And aren’t we all excited for that!” Donnelly said and Draco sneered. “Draco, you are about to make modern history! Now where is Harry?”

“I don’t want him here,” Draco said, crossing his arms over his chest as best he could.

Donnelly looked up sharply and narrowed her eyes. “Pardon?”

“I said…I don’t want him here,” Draco repeated.

A murmur went through the maternity team and Donnelly blinked. “And why not?”

Draco turned icy eyes towards her. “It’s your job to deliver the baby, so do it. It’s not your job to worry about that.”

“Is this to do with his memory being gone?”

“I just don’t want him here, all right!” Draco snapped, and he turned his head away from her, and stared at the wall.

Donnelly turned to look at Narcissa, who looked as if she was trying to keep from shouting at her son.

Donnelly said quietly, “I have delivered a lot of babies. There is nothing more rewarding for a parent then being there for the birth of their child. I have seen countless husbands, boyfriends and the like miss their babies being born. It’s heartbreaking for them.” She touched Draco lightly on his arm, but the blond didn’t turn around. “This is Harry’s baby too. You’ll deeply regret it when he gets his memory back and he was denied this. If you have any hope for things to work between the two of you, do not do this.”

Draco whipped around to stare at Donnelly. She had been there from the beginning, from the start of this whole sordid mess. Draco and Harry had been hounded almost non-stop by the press and had dealt with numerous healers from the international wizarding world at large. Most of them had treated Draco like he was a tricky potions project, but Donnelly had never done that. Had simply treated him like any other pregnant patient. Draco had grown to like the woman and more importantly, had earned his and Harry’s respect.

“I know how much you love him, Draco,” she said, “and I know that something must have happened for you to not want him here for this, but don’t let that keep him from one of the most important events of his life…and yours too.”

Donnelly’s words struck straight into his tender heart and the ache from it pounded fresh and new and he knew how desperately he wanted to see Harry. And how much Harry had wanted to be there for the birth. But…Harry had hurt him. He wouldn’t even appreciate this. Harry didn’t care about the baby anymore. And Draco had done all of this for him…

“Your father was there for your birth, Draco. It was one of the happiest moments for him.” Narcissa said, and Draco looked up at her. “One of the few for him,” she whispered, “you were his best achievement.”

Draco lowered his head. Lucius had died in Azkaban, broken and raving. He hadn’t even recognized them in the end.

He gave a quick jerk of his head to his mother, who nodded and turned to leave the room. Donnelly’s brow ceased its furrowing and she smiled again.

“Very good!” Donnelly exclaimed as Narcissa left the room. The maternity team began assembling instruments and towels. Draco winced as he observed the towels. This was going to be meeessyyyy.

A healer apprentice hurried into the room and announced, “Healer Olabisi has arrived, she is on her way up.”

“Excellent!” She turned to smile at Draco. “The premiere expert in this type of delivery has arrived. You will be in excellent hands, Draco.”

Draco tried to smile as another contraction ripped through him.


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“Something’s wrong,” Harry said, as he paced the floor of the kitchen in Grimmauld Place, “I can feel it.”

They had returned there after their forced expulsion from Harry’s house. Harry hadn’t wanted to face Malfoy again and Hermione had agreed that perhaps it was best until Draco calmed down. She knew that Narcissa would be alerted if Draco needed her.

“You tuned yourself to Draco if he is having trouble or pain.” Hermione said as she watched her best friend wear a hole in their floor. “Missus Malfoy too. I’m sure she’d call us if something was really wrong, Harry.”

Harry snorted. “I highly doubt that, Hermione. I’m sure she hates me.”

Hermione shook her head. “No, Harry. She’s actually been very supportive of your relationship. Even more than I thought she would be capable of. She’s a mother, Harry. She just wanted Draco to be happy.”

Harry stared at Hermione for a moment, and then resumed his pacing. There was a tickling, jittery feeling running all through his body and the nagging suspicion that something was wrong. Very wrong. He just couldn’t shake it.

Harry heard the whoosh of the floo and then Ron’s voice calling out to Hermione. He entered the kitchen when Hermione called to him. Ron entered the kitchen and stopped short when he saw Harry and Hermione’s worried faces.

“What’s wrong?” Ron asked, walking over to Hermione. “I thought you were at Malfoy’s.” He drawled out Malfoy’s name, imitating the blond’s well-used dialect.

Hermione glanced at Harry. “We were and then Draco got upset and threw us out.” Hermione said sadly, “he really was upset.” Harry ran his hand through his hair and Hermione sighed.

Ron gave a snort. “Typical temper tantrum from him. Won’t he ever grow up?”

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. “He’s a bit emotional, Ron. Look at what’s happened! And then Harry goes and drops a little bit of news that has totally devastated him. I’d be emotional too and that’s even without being pregnant.”

Ron looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. “Guess you’re right about that. I supposed I’d be a little mental too. Having a baby and all that rot. Just….yeah.”

Harry turned and looked at Ron angrily. “And all that rot just happens to be my baby too. Regardless of how it happened.” He suddenly whipped around to look at Hermione. “Ummmm….how did it happen anyway?”

Hermione smiled uneasily. “Are you sure you want to know? You seemed pretty upset when you realized you had…uhhh…sex.”

Harry pursed his lips and waved his hand impatiently. “Okay, I get that part, but what about this curse?”

“The French Ministry had been having problems with poisonings. It had gone into some potions and some food at a local café there. Anyway, two pregnant witches had been affected by the poison and both of their babies came out as Squibs. They demanded their Ministry do something and find who had done it, but they didn’t have any leads.”

Ron cleared his throat and Harry looked at him. “It came to us here because there was a report of a poisoning in Hogsmeade and several Hogwarts students got sick,” Ron added, shaking his head. “It went on for about six months, just these random poisonings. So Robards had us work with the French Ministry to try to find out what had happened. We got a lead and it lead back to France. Malfoy came along because he wanted to go shopping.” Ron rolled his eyes dramatically, but Hermione pursed her lips.

“He didn’t go because of the shopping, he went as a consultant because of all the legal wrangling regarding the extradition of international criminals should they be caught and were British wizards. He is a solicitor, after all,” Hermione chastised.

Ron shrugged indifferently. “Well, yeah. He did do that too.” He glanced at Harry, who looked as if he was repressing a snort. Harry grinned at him and Ron relaxed.

“So anyway,” Hermione continued, frowning at both of them, “the families of the new Squib babies were demanding justice. They were from very old French pureblood lines. Ironically, one of the families was an old branch of one of the Malfoy lines. The Malfoy name has a French derivative.”

Ron picked up the story again. “The French Malfoys were going mental over having a Squib in their line. Maire Pascale, couldn’t have any more children because of the poisoning. So of course they went the route best known to Malfoys.”

“Dark Magic?” Harry guessed.

Ron nodded and Hermione took advantage of the break to pick the story back up.

“I researched it and found out that several centuries ago, a curse was created and cast on a male Malfoy to make his seed more potent and then to produce only daughters and no sons. All pureblood families want male heirs, so this was a terrible embarrassment to the Malfoys. Apparently, it worked. He ended up with fifty-six daughters. And that was because of the interesting side effect the curse rendered. Anyone who had sex with him, ended up pregnant, even if the woman was barren or too old to have children. The oldest was a 100 year old witch.”

Harry gaped incredulously and Ron broke out in laughter. “Mate, you should see your face. That was exactly how you looked when Hermione first told you this. And Malfoy’s face was priceless.”

“Go on, Hermione,” Harry prompted, even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the rest. He already had an idea of what had happened.

“Well, Pascale was desperate. So she looked up the curse. She had tried it on her husband, but it didn’t work and apparently she had tried it on other men and nothing happened. They realized the spell was specific to a male Malfoy, who actually is a blood Malfoy. She was a descendant of that first Malfoy. Another part of the curse was that everyone going down that line all had girls. No one used the name “Malfoy” once they were married. She was a blood Malfoy, which meant her husband wasn’t. So then she hears through a French Ministry source that Harry Potter was coming to France to investigate the poisonings. And that accompanying him would be his “partner”, Draco Malfoy, who happens to be one of the last surviving male Malfoys.”

Ron nudged Harry in the shoulder. “This is the part that you told us. We weren’t there when it…happened.” Ron’s face was turning slightly red and Harry immediately began to suspect that the next part was going to be especially mortifying.

Hermione gave Harry an encouraging smile. “It’s okay, Harry. I won’t give all the details of everything. But you had told us that Pascale had approached Draco with her application for him to impregnate her, but instead of asking him formally, she came bearing an ancient law that would have forced Draco to do it. He was really angry that she tried that with him. So he refused on that principle alone and wouldn’t talk to her anymore.”

Harry nodded. He could see that about Malfoy. Malfoy was extremely sensitive when people tried to force him to do something, because of the whole thing with Voldemort-

Harry’s thoughts broke off. Wait! What? How did he know that? That was not something that he should know about Malfoy. They had never talked about anything personal after the war. They had seen each other around, but had never had any real conversation, let alone about sensitivity about Voldemort’s legacy.

“Harry? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Hermione was staring at him, worry evident in her face.

“Yeah….sorry. Just…go on.” He hoped that would be enough to placate her.

She looked skeptical for a moment, but continued on anyway. “Pascale said she found out where you were staying through her Ministry contact. You had opted to stay in a Muggle location, just so you could be a bit more low key, but that also made it easier for her to bypass Muggle hotel security. She got a maid to let her in your room and she waited for Draco to come back. She knew you were in a long meeting that day and that Draco wouldn’t be.”

She peeked at Ron and smiled with amusement. “He had gone shopping that day, but what Pascale hadn’t counted on was you skipping a briefing. You came back early to surprise Draco. She had already cast the spell on him and was going to stun him and…take advantage of him. You beat her to it. But Draco wasn’t…” Hermione blushed a smooth shade of pink and Ron coughed.

“You got Draco up the duff,” Ron said, rather obviously. “The spell recognized a Malfoy and sex. But…well…he was on the wrong end of the sex…”

“The spell’s job was to create a baby. It had the necessary components, which was Malfoy and semen. Only it was your semen and not his. It knew that the semen was near where it was supposed to be, so it simply took care of the rest, by creating the womb and the egg to complete its function. The spell didn’t begin to work until…after it had the components. Meaning…you had…finished. Draco said almost immediately that something was wrong and then he started screaming in pain. That was the uterus growing.” Hermione said, as she fought back the embarrassment of talking about her best friend’s semen and where it had been deposited. She cringed inwardly as she took in the horrified look on Harry’s face.

Harry’s face had replaced the bright red of his blush to one of a pale white.

“God…that sounds…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence as his nether regions shrunk in fear.

“Tell me about it!” Ron agreed readily. “I tell you…if I had never felt sorry for that prat it began when that happened to him. You rushed him to the hospital and he screamed all night. It was horrible. I’d never seen you look so scared, Harry. Not even during the war.”

Harry wrapped his arms around himself. The feeling that something was wrong with Malfoy was increasing and the re-telling of this story made him feel sympathy and a compassion for the blond that made him even more uneasy.

“The healers didn’t know what was wrong with him, of course. Draco finally stopped screaming the next day. He was exhausted and you were just beside yourself, Harry. You screamed at those healers louder than he had. Ron had to call me to come to France. He was so upset.” She gave a small sweet smile to her husband and Ron blushed slightly.

“I didn’t know what to do, Harry. I couldn’t calm you down and I was afraid that they were going to have you arrested. Their Ministry didn’t fawn over you like ours did. Kingsley actually had to send some apologies for you, even though in the end, they apologized to us. You stubbornly took Malfoy home and didn’t want to deal with those French bastards anymore. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Malfoy started sicking up all the time. And he was eating a lot, which the picky git never did before. He was always complaining about something, even worse than usual.”

Hermione chuckled softly, “Yes, Draco was quite a handful in the beginning. It was Mum Weasley who figured it out. She took one look at Draco and said if she didn’t know better she’d say he was pregnant. And she cast a pregnancy test spell on him as a joke and it was positive. She couldn’t believe it and cast it ten more times. She said the test is never wrong.”

“Mum dragged him off to St. Mungo’s that very day. He went kicking and screaming the whole way, but she wouldn’t hear none of it. St. Mungo’s thought she had gone mental, but she insisted that they do an official test. Every test came back positive.” Ron added.

Harry sat down heavily on a chair. His whole world had been turned upside down. All of this information that involved him and he couldn’t remember any part of it. He admittedly was somewhat glad that he didn’t remember Malfoy’s screaming, even though something tugged at him upon hearing the words of the blond being in agonizing pain like that.

Harry was about to comment when the roar of the fireplace shook the pots hanging over the stove. Harry jumped to his feet and pulled his wand while Ron pushed Hermione away from the kitchen door.

“What in the world-“ Hermione began, but Ron had already bolted from the kitchen, Harry right behind him. Whoever was using the Floo had tuned it to the highest possible level. The parlor sounded like it was on fire.

Ron and Harry pushed into the parlor and stopped, half blinded by the green blaze that filled half the room. Narcissa Malfoy’s head floated in the fire, but she looked far too agitated for Harry’s liking. She swiveled when she saw Harry and Ron.

“Mister Potter, your presence is requested at St. Mungo’s.” She had resumed her normally haughty look.

Harry stared and Ron griped, “Did you have to almost burn down my house?”

Narcissa glanced at Ron. “First of all, Mister Weasley, that is my family’s house. You by virtue of your friendship with Mister Potter, who turned my cousin’s head and took it out from under our noses, have the chance to dwell there. Secondly, I wanted to make sure that you heard my summons. Now,” she said, looking back at Harry again, “come to St. Mungo’s. Draco is in labor.” She vanished in a blaze of green flash.

“Is she always like that with me?” Harry asked, still shocked that Narcissa Malfoy had been in the fireplace, not even registering what she had said about Draco. “Mister Potter?”

“Harry!” Hermione shouted, “Did you hear what she said? Draco’s having the baby!”

“What??” Harry blinked.

Ron shoved Harry towards the fireplace. “The git’s having your baby! Move it, mate!”


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Hermione and Ron had accompanied him to the hospital, and he had been rushed by a harassed looking apprentice to Draco’s room. Upon entering the room, he was immediately confronted by Donnelly, chastising him for upsetting her patient and invariably causing the early delivery. Harry had burned with shame and Donnelly had chuckled, patting him on the shoulder lightly.

“Harry, I’m sorry to hear about your accident. I know you don’t remember me or the things that have happened since Draco’s pregnancy began. But please trust me when I say that the two of you love each other very much and that Draco really needs you in there, whether he is being difficult right now or not. Even if that baby wouldn’t have been there naturally, you and he created that child out of love. You will have something that no gay couple can say they have, and that is a biological baby from both of you.” She gave Harry a kind smile and her eyes twinkled, which reminded Harry of Dumbledore. So Harry found a bit of comfort in that. She had greeted Ron and Hermione amiably, which told him that they knew this woman also.

And then he met Healer Olabisi.

Healer Olabisi was the color of tanned leather with skin that matched the leathery surface. She was also Professor Flitwick’s size with a long set of ears that looked like they could be elven. Harry found himself staring again.

She hobbled into the room, slow as molasses, carrying a huge walking stick that was taller than she was. Levitating behind her was a leather case that looked older than Merlin. Her face was so covered with wrinkles that Harry found it hard to believe the woman even had eyes, they were so hidden under that leathery skin. Harry caught Ron’s gaping look and Hermione’s awed one, so he knew he wasn’t alone in his shock at her appearance.

“She can’t even see,” Ron whispered softly, “how is she going to-“

“I can see you just fine, my ginger friend and my hearing is even better.” Olabisi said, as she stopped to cock her head at him. “I have been delivering babies for almost two hundred years, I can actually do it with my eyes closed.” Her voice was husky and drawling and she had an accent that Harry found quite relaxing.

“Now,” she said, as she slowly made her way into the room, “where is he? This is most exciting. I did not think that I would ever have the chance to deliver a baby from a wizard. My grandmother delivered the last one, five hundred years ago. She passed it on to my mother, who passed it on to me. And when the time is right, I will pass it on to my daughter, when I find the time to have one.”

Ron opened his mouth, but Hermione put her hand over it, effectively shutting him up. She shook her head and Ron grumbled good-naturedly.

The group followed Donnelly through another door into Draco’s private room. Harry was immediately accosted with the smell of antiseptic and soft music. His eyes were drawn to Draco lying on the bed, covered with a thin sheet. He looked terrible.

Draco fixed his gaze upon him and Harry saw a moment of softness, before his eyes hardened to granite.

“Surprised you came,” Draco said, not hiding the bitterness at all.

Harry looked awkward as everyone turned to look at him. “I…of course I would come, Malfoy. It’s my baby too.”

“Too bad,” Draco said.

Harry flushed and ran his hands through his hair again. He turned to look for Ron and Hermione, but Olabisi had finally shuffled into the room. She stopped and peered around the room.

“Turn off that horrendous sound,” she barked, and the music stopped instantly.

Draco stared at the woman with open hostility.

“And who is that?” he demanded of Donnelly, “you can’t be serious. She can’t even reach the table.”

Olabisi cocked her head again. “Says the boy who got pregnant. You would show outrage at my height, but not show the same outrage that everyone in this room knows that you lay down like a common street girl and got in this way with no marriage to your handsome friend over there.”

Harry’s face flamed red again as Draco let out a huff of indignation. Ron let out a donkey bray of laughter and even Hermione looked to be struggling to contain a snort. Olabisi turned to them.

“You two…get out. Too many people in here.” She pointed at Narcissa. “You are his mother, yes? You may stay and wipe his brow. If you cannot do that without wailing, get out.” She pointed at Harry. “You…get up there and hold his hand. Even if you do wail, you will stay.”

Narcissa looked as though she had been slapped and Donnelly bit her lip, obviously trying not to laugh. But the haughty blond woman moved to Draco’s side, while Harry shuffled nervously to Draco’s other side.

Olabisi looked at the maternity team. “All of you, except for him,” she pointed at a young man who looked barely out of Hogwarts, “get out too.”

The healers all looked affronted and began to protest, but Olabisi silenced them with a wave of her hand.

“I knows what I am doing. All of you in here is messing with the magic in the room. I want to feel the baby’s magic. And the fathers’. Not all of you. Now unless one of you is having a baby right now, go away.”

The maternity team members all looked at Donnelly, as if expecting her to defend their honor. But she gave a frown and a jerk of her head. There was a massive grumbling as seven healers and various apprentices left the room, except for the one young man.

Olabisi shuffled up to the table, which she wasn’t even high enough to see over, and waved her hand again. She slowly drifted upwards until she was level with the end of the table. She looked at Draco through her leathery face and said in a strong voice,

“Draco Malfoy, you are only the tenth man in the history of wizarding kind to bring forth life in this manner. It is not an easy birth, but you are an exceptional strong wizard, from a long unbroken line of both Malfoy and Black.” She looked at Narcissa. “You are worthy of such an honor.”

Draco felt surprisingly touched by the woman’s words, despite the fact she had basically called him a whore a few moments ago. He was very aware of Harry’s presence next to him, his hand close to his and Draco could feel the warmth radiating from it. Unconsciously, he reached out to grab his hand and Harry jumped. The brunette looked at him and then down to his hand. He didn’t pull away.

Olabisi was still talking, but Draco had lost track of what she was saying because he could another contraction beginning to start. But this one was even more powerful than the ones previously. He let out a bellow as the pain bore down on him.

“-ah…the little one is ready.” Draco hadn’t even noticed that Olabisi had practically climbed underneath the sheet and was feeling his stomach. He let out a yelp when he felt her hands fondle his cock.

“Hey!”

Olabisi’s head appeared from under the sheet and she gazed sternly at him. “Your penis is not all that spectacular. Hush.” And she disappeared again. Draco’s face burned in embarrassment. Where the hell did they find this woman??

Draco snuck a look at Harry, who was watching the sheet move about with Olabisi under it. Even in Draco’s beleaguered state, he could tell that Harry was rather upset as well. Draco felt slightly relieved.

Harry felt Draco’s eyes on him and he looked down at the blond. “Look, Malfoy…I’m sorry about earlier…the healer said this was my fault…I…never meant for this to happen. I’ll be right here for you.” He tried to squeeze Draco’s hand in encouragement, but faltered as Draco continued to stare at him with an intense look.

“How honorable of you,” Draco said nastily, unable to find sympathy for Harry. Draco was hurt and angry and scared to death of having a baby.

Olabisi’s head re-appeared and she pushed up the sheet. “Now Draco. The baby has moved down too low for an attempt to remove it by Caesarian. And due to the nature of the curse, it did not create a passage for the baby to come out. I will create one by cutting through your manhood. This is very old and very dark magic. Not many know the incantation and the proper way to do this. It is also very painful, but as all new mothers say, it was worth it.”

Draco’s eyebrows rose in disagreement with this sentiment, but didn’t have to time to think much on it. Olabisi was not one for dawdling or preparing her patients all that much.

“My manhood??” Draco shrieked, not at all caring how un-manly he sounded. “That’s it! I’m done with this!” He tried to kick Olabisi out of the way, as he attempted to swing his legs out of the bed. Olabisi chuckled and clamped her hands on Draco’s kicking legs. Draco slumped back into the bed as if she had hit him with a Stupefy without knocking him unconscious.

“Now…we won’t have any of that,” Olabisi said. “New mothers are always nervous.” Draco lolled helplessly in the bed as Harry reached to take Draco’s hand. His face was as pale as Draco’s own and he bit his lip nervously. He looked down at Draco and smiled, which came out more as a grimace. Draco glared at him, and Harry snapped his gaze back to Olabisi.

“Help him, now.” Olabisi said sternly, looking at Harry and Narcissa. “He’ll be fine.” She closed her eyes and began to recite a long incantation in a language Draco had never heard before. He could feel the pressure of the baby in his abdomen and the sickening feeling of another contraction getting ready to come. He tightened his grip on Harry’s hand and his mother rubbed his arm in encouragement.

Olabisi’s eyes snapped open as she reached forward and placed both hands just below the huge bulge of Draco’s stomach. She shouted, “Da mahaifa!”

Draco cried out as a hot searing pain spread from Olabisi’s hands and into the very core of his being. He twisted and writhed against the bedding, as what felt like knives were cutting into his flesh and burrowing towards his inner organs. Olabisi didn’t even seem to notice as she moved her hands around Draco’s lower parts and then gripped his penis, as if she was craving the passage into Draco using her bare hands. Which in reality, she was.

Harry was hanging onto Draco for dear life. The blond was thrashing in the bed and Harry had thrown his arm over Draco’s chest, trying to keep him as still as possible. Sweat had soaked the blond’s clothes and Harry’s own face was dripping wet. Narcissa was wiping his forehead as best she could, but Draco was flopping like a caught fish on deck. Donnelly had moved down the bed and was standing near Olabisi, her wand at the ready.

“Almost finished,” Olabisi cackled in delight, “yes…hold him…the passage is complete!”

Olabisi pulled away from Draco and nodded at Donnelly and Harry winced at the blood that was on her hands.

“Harry…” Draco whimpered and Harry looked down into Malfoy’s frightened eyes. Harry felt his heart going out to the terrified man and Harry brushed a strand of hair from Malfoy’s eyes. Malfoy trembled under his fingers and Harry had the strangest desire to hug him. Anything…to make him feel better.

“Now,” Olabisi murmured, “get him in position.”

Donnelly raised her wand and flicked it towards the bed, which immediately pushed Draco forward into a sitting postion. Stirrups appeared at the end of the bed and Donnelly flicked her wand again, which slowly pulled Draco forward and moved his legs into the stirrups.

Draco felt the pressure building again and the oddest feeling of wanting to push came over him.

“Only push on the contraction, Draco,” Donnelly said, “and remember to breathe.”

Draco nodded, remembering the lessons he had been taught on maintaining his breathing. Harry had come to all his appointments.

A pain struck him and Draco cursed.

“Push now!” Donnelly called and Draco pushed hard, groaning with the effort.

“That’s it, great!” Donnelly said, her eyes focused between Draco’s legs, while Olabisi levitated next to her, with her eyes closed, humming.

For the next twenty minutes, Draco pushed, Donnelly shouted, Narcissa wiped and Harry alternated between coaching Draco and staring in amazement at the activities.

Draco gritted his teeth against the wave of pain that rolled through is abdomen again. He closed his eyes and clutched the bedsheets with whitened knuckles. Labor pain was not so much different than the Cruciatus. When it passed, he fell back against the pillows, gasping for air. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

“You’re doing beautifully, Draco,” Narcissa said, as she pressed another cloth to his head. “It’s almost finished.”

Draco saw red and black spots as he bore down one final time. It felt like a red hot poker was being shoved inside all of his holes down there. Sweat poured from his face and he felt the bones in Harry’s hand crack in his grip. Through the red haze of pain, he heard Harry howl in pain, but Draco couldn’t be arsed to care. He was surely dying.

And then he felt a slippery movement and the massive pain stopped. Donnelly was holding something in a blanket and both Olabisi and the apprentice were attending to it. Olabisi turned to him and hastily pulled something out of him and Draco frowned at the wet feeling.

Harry was staring anxiously at Donnelly, who finally looked up at them and smiled.

“Congratulations, gentleman. It’s a girl.”

Harry watched as Donnelly carried the covered baby over to him and Draco. She gently placed the baby on Draco’s lap, and pulled the cover away from the baby’s head. Harry’s face broke into a smile as he saw the head of dark hair, slicked close to her face. She gave a small snort, shook her tiny fists and opened her eyes.

Draco gasped in surprise as Harry reached forward to touch her. One eye was green, the other was gray.

“Ohhh…Malfoy…” Harry whispered in awe, and Draco turned to look at him in wonder. “Look at what we did. She’s…she’s beautiful.”

Harry couldn’t even pretend that he was upset anymore. There was no question that this beautiful baby was theirs. Something they had created together. His heart swelled with love and he reached for her.

“Can I…can I pick her up?” Harry asked anxiously, torn between fear if he hurt her and desperately wanting to hold his new daughter.

Donnelly let her go, as Harry picked her up and held her close. He could feel his throat closing and tears welling in his eyes, but he didn’t care.

Narcissa cleared her throat. “Cassiopeia it is then.”

Harry looked at her. “Cassiopeia?”

“Yes, that is what Draco had decided if it was girl. To be called Cassi for short,” she added, with a disapproving look. “I believe that was the only reason you went along with it.”

Harry gave a smirk. That sounded like something he would have agreed too. Cassiopeia was entirely too “pureblood” for his taste, but Cassi was perfect.

Cassi cooed then and Harry immediately returned his attention to her. She struggled to focus on him and Harry kissed the top of her head. She gurgled and then started to cry. Harry shoved her towards Donnelly, who smiled at Harry’s panicked expression.

“It’s okay, Harry. She’s probably just hungry. A lot of action today. We’ll take her away for a feeding, okay?” She looked at Harry for confirmation and he nodded.

“Sure, of course.” He looked down at Draco, who looked exhausted.

“Are you all right? That was amazing! You did…ummm…great…Draco,” Harry quipped.

Draco looked dazed and simply nodded.

Donnelly frowned slightly at Draco’s disoriented state, but reckoned he needed some time to adjust to the events that had just taken place. But it seemed that something else was off, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Ummm…I’m going to go and tell Ron and Hermione about the baby,” Harry said, cheerfully. “I’ll be right back, if you want.”

Draco blinked and then said, “Yeah, okay.”

Harry hurried from the room and both Donnelly and Narcissa smiled gently at his excited face.

And then Donnelly realized what it was.

Draco had never touched the baby.