A Heart So Ravenous (Sequel to A Love So Belated)
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
36,875
Reviews:
326
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
36,875
Reviews:
326
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 32: Nursery Stories
Chapter Number/Total: 32/44
Chapter Title: Nursery Stories
Words: 2301 Words
Harry and Draco had picked out a room for the boys – the spare bedroom right next to their own room. Harry had spent a while taking everything out of the room and had then needed to find a place to put all of it. He'd ended up stuffing the other spare bedrooms in the house. Then he had taken out the rug and painted the walls. It was easier with magic ... sort of. He'd been able to get the light blue paint on large sections of the walls all at once, but had to do the corners and around the windows manually. That had all been the previous weekend. This weekend, he and Draco were decorating the nursery – well, he was decorating the nursery. He'd sat Draco down in one of the rocking chairs that Narcissa had given them, and was taking direction from him.
"So, do you want it here?" he asked, standing at the head of one of the cots and prepared to push it – again – wherever Draco told him.
Draco frowned and shook his head. "I want them to be able to enjoy the light but we shouldn't have them right near the window either," he said.
Harry sighed – well, it was more of a huff really, and shook his head. "Then where do you want it, my love?"
"I wish I could tell where the morning light shines," Draco complained, since it was afternoon now.
"What does it matter?" Harry asked, his tone both incredulous and amused. "They're babies."
Draco rolled his eyes but smiled down at his own belly, caressing it with one hand as he rocked in the chair. "Maybe we should get someone in who can enlarge the window," he said. "It's too dark in this place. They should have sunshine."
"I will contact someone who can enlarge a window," Harry said, snorting. "As for now, we have one cot in the middle of the room, and one shoved into the corner, where I'm sure you don't want it."
"They will want to be near one another, so they can see each other," Draco said. "Maybe put them side by side against that wall."
Harry still smiled in amusement at Draco, moving to do as he was told. "You talk like they're already here," he said fondly.
"I can feel them," Draco said, voice full of pride as he did, petting the swell again. "So, next to each other but room on each side so we can reach them."
Harry nodded pushing one cot against the wall, and then taking the second out of the corner. He stood back with hands on his hips and turned his head to raise a questioning eyebrow at Draco.
"No, no, I mean with the heads of each bed against the wall, in the centre," Draco snapped, waving a hand to indicate where he was talking about.
Harry huffed again. "Merlin, you're pushy," he grumbled, spinning one cot around to push it up against the wall correctly. He pushed the other one as well and then stood back again.
"Pushy?" Draco asked, almost sounding offended, but he smirked. Then he considered the arrangement. "Then we put the chests of drawers against the wall by the door."
"Yes, sir," Harry said sarcastically, but smirked as well. He Lightened these pieces of furniture, so that he wouldn't scrape the floor up, and then pushed them over by the door.
Draco huffed at being called sir, thinking Harry should be on his knees – naked and calling him that, then blushed at his own thoughts. He was hardly in the position to act them out.
Harry smirked again at the huff and finished with the chests. "I think it'll look nice in here," he said. "Now we should get some broomsticks and hang them on the wall. I know the twins'll be Quidditch players."
Draco laughed, shaking his head. "Seekers?"
"Hmm," Harry hummed. "Well, I assume they'll be built like us, which means they would make good Seekers, although I suppose we would've made good Chasers as well."
Draco smirked again. "Well, you were certainly good at chasing me," he teased. "So you want brooms on the ceiling? Not real brooms, I hope."
Harry smiled and looked up. "Sure, brooms on the ceiling," he said. "And I suppose real ones wouldn't be too practical." He grinned at Draco.
"And dangerous if somehow they managed to get a hold of them," Draco huffed. "So, toy brooms and little toy Snitches?" He thought of those weird shorts that Harry had with little Snitches on them.
Harry smiled again. "Yeah, that would look really good," he said. "I would've loved a room like that – well, if I'd known what Quidditch was as a kid."
"What were you like?" Draco asked softly, smiling at him.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "As a kid?" he asked.
"Well, I remember you at eleven, but you never talk about what you were like when you were small," Draco said.
Harry scratched the back of his neck as he looked at Draco. He realised then that he hadn't even thought of the Dursleys in ages. He knew they had gone back to their boring, 'normal' lives after Voldemort had died, but he hadn't spoken to or seen them since. "Well ... I guess I was, er, just a kid," he shrugged, not completely sure how to answer Draco's question.
Draco arched an eyebrow. He knew an evasion when he heard one. He was better at them than Harry was. "Harry," he said softly, holding out his hand and beckoning him over with his fingers.
Harry flushed as he walked over to Draco. Merlin, now it seemed like he was ashamed or afraid to talk about his childhood, and he wasn't. He just didn't know what to say. Ron didn't ask him about it, and Hermione didn't really ask about it, and, well, no one really asked about it.
Draco took Harry's hand and tugged him downward, tilting his head up to kiss him.
Harry sighed quietly as he kissed Draco, and smiled a little as he pulled back.
Draco didn't let go, holding onto Harry's hand and looking up at him expectantly.
Harry sighed again. "My relatives were complete arses to me," he said flatly. "My uncle hated me because I'm a wizard, my aunt hated me because she was ... jealous of my mother being a witch or ... something like that, and then my cousin hated me because his parents hated me."
"Baby, come here," Draco said, wishing he could stand up and hug him.
Harry lowered himself down to his knees next to Draco. "It's really all right," he said, not knowing exactly why he was trying to assure Draco.
Draco reached a hand out, stroking Harry's hair. "No, it's not," he said softly.
Harry frowned, huffing. "I – I don't mean it's all right, what they, er, did to me. I mean I'm all right."
Draco smiled again, carding his fingers through Harry's hair. "Yes, you are, but if you want to tell me about it, you can," he said.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about it," Harry told him. "It's just ... I don't know. I haven't even really thought of the Dursleys in forever. I haven't even thought about talking about them."
"Want to finish in here and then go to our room, or stop in here for now?" Draco asked.
Harry smiled ... not sadly, but not happily either. "I guess we can finish in here later," he said, pushing himself to his feet.
Draco nodded and held his arms out so that Harry could pick him up.
Harry Lightened Draco before he lifted him into his arms and kissed him gently. He didn't tell Draco, but he loved picking him up. It made him feel like he was taking good care of him. He put out the candles on the walls with his wand before leaving the room and heading next door, lying Draco on their bed.
Draco loved how gentle Harry was with him. It made him feel precious and loved. He hid the pain he felt at being moved, and shifted onto his side to lessen the pressure when he was put in the bed. Then he patted the mattress in front of him, looking up at Harry.
Harry slid into bed as well, facing Draco as he reached to lay a hand on his stomach.
Draco smiled at what had become one of his favourite gestures, lying together with their hands entwined on his belly, their babies resting or moving under them.
Harry lay silent for a few moments, staring at their hands. "I want them to feel like the most loved kids in the entire world," he said quietly.
"Yes, I think they already are," Draco whispered, grey eyes studying his lover's face as he waited for what he wanted to share.
Harry went silent again for another few moments. "Well," he said, "I'll tell you this, because I suppose I don't really have a reason not to, and if you're curious ... I just want you to really know that – well, that I really am fine. I don't think about this anymore; I don't think about them anymore – I don't even think my cousin hates me anymore. So ... there's no need to take pity, or fuss about it, or any of that."
Draco arched an eyebrow at that but didn't interrupt. He simply squeezed his lover's hand.
Harry took a bit of a deep breath and let it out in a small whoosh. "First of all," he began, "this probably sounds a whole lot worse than it really was. I mean, you know, really." He paused again and tried to think of where he should begin. "I can't remember anything as a baby, so I don't know what went on then, but as far back as I can remember, the Dursleys always did hate me. I ... didn't have a bedroom, I didn't have my own clothes, or toys, or ... anything really. And anything I did have had once belonged to Dudley – my cousin, so he could take it back whenever he wanted, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would let him."
Draco frowned but tried to control his reaction so as not to upset Harry. It was odd. When he had thought about the kind of life Harry'd had before Hogwarts, the only thing he had known was that it was with Muggles. He didn't know much about life as a Muggle, so he didn't have much to go on as to what that would be like.
"I slept under the stairs," Harry continued, wincing at what Draco might think of that one. "In a cupboard there, until I was twelve. I wore Dudley's old clothes – which was ... quite something. I was pretty little as a kid, I guess, and Dudley was huge. He used to get all his friends together and beat me up. He would beat anyone up in school who tried to be my friend too, so Ron really was my very first friend."
Draco tensed, anger flaring at the people who would dare do such things to Harry. He knew he was a hypocrite, given his own behaviour, but it still upset him. "That explains the clothing," he said softly.
Harry let a breath out through his nose and shrugged. "Yeah," he agreed. "They hated magic so much that I didn't know it even existed until I got my Hogwarts letter. They even tried to hide that from me. And, you know how kids can't control their magic when they're real young? Like how stuff just happens when the magic is first starting to show through?"
Draco smiled, remembering some of his first magical experiences. He had flown by accident and had even set his room on fire once.
"Well, they didn't like that," said Harry. "I used to get ... hit for it. Even if I didn't know what had happened. I got blamed for a lot of stuff I didn't do, or even if I had done it I didn't know how I'd done it. Hell, they even hated my bloody hair and complained about that. It was just ... everything about me they didn't like."
Draco reached his other hand up to caress those dark locks. He adored his lover's hair. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. "You deserved better," he said softly, also thinking that Harry deserved better than him.
"I've got the best now," Harry whispered, kissing Draco gently again.
Draco blushed, returning the kiss. "These people, your relatives, they can't hurt you now can they?"
Harry almost snorted at that. "No," he said. "I actually think they're pretty afraid of me."
"Good," Draco said firmly, thinking that he'd have to hurt them if he ever saw them. His fingers trailed softly down his lover's cheek. "I love everything about you," he insisted.
Harry smiled in that same not-sad, not-happy way again. "But you're mad, remember?" he teased.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Am I?" he asked. "Mad about you, certainly."
Harry's smile grew then. "And I'm mad about you," he said quietly. "And already mad about these babies."
Draco grinned at that. "And they will love you completely. You have a family."
"Yes," Harry agreed. "My little family right here." He slid down to pull Draco's shirt up and kiss his belly right above their hands.
Draco managed to feel both intense joy and a deep sadness at that. He was loved and he was giving his husband the children they both wanted. He just doubted he would be there to share the life they were planning.
Chapter Title: Nursery Stories
Words: 2301 Words
Harry and Draco had picked out a room for the boys – the spare bedroom right next to their own room. Harry had spent a while taking everything out of the room and had then needed to find a place to put all of it. He'd ended up stuffing the other spare bedrooms in the house. Then he had taken out the rug and painted the walls. It was easier with magic ... sort of. He'd been able to get the light blue paint on large sections of the walls all at once, but had to do the corners and around the windows manually. That had all been the previous weekend. This weekend, he and Draco were decorating the nursery – well, he was decorating the nursery. He'd sat Draco down in one of the rocking chairs that Narcissa had given them, and was taking direction from him.
"So, do you want it here?" he asked, standing at the head of one of the cots and prepared to push it – again – wherever Draco told him.
Draco frowned and shook his head. "I want them to be able to enjoy the light but we shouldn't have them right near the window either," he said.
Harry sighed – well, it was more of a huff really, and shook his head. "Then where do you want it, my love?"
"I wish I could tell where the morning light shines," Draco complained, since it was afternoon now.
"What does it matter?" Harry asked, his tone both incredulous and amused. "They're babies."
Draco rolled his eyes but smiled down at his own belly, caressing it with one hand as he rocked in the chair. "Maybe we should get someone in who can enlarge the window," he said. "It's too dark in this place. They should have sunshine."
"I will contact someone who can enlarge a window," Harry said, snorting. "As for now, we have one cot in the middle of the room, and one shoved into the corner, where I'm sure you don't want it."
"They will want to be near one another, so they can see each other," Draco said. "Maybe put them side by side against that wall."
Harry still smiled in amusement at Draco, moving to do as he was told. "You talk like they're already here," he said fondly.
"I can feel them," Draco said, voice full of pride as he did, petting the swell again. "So, next to each other but room on each side so we can reach them."
Harry nodded pushing one cot against the wall, and then taking the second out of the corner. He stood back with hands on his hips and turned his head to raise a questioning eyebrow at Draco.
"No, no, I mean with the heads of each bed against the wall, in the centre," Draco snapped, waving a hand to indicate where he was talking about.
Harry huffed again. "Merlin, you're pushy," he grumbled, spinning one cot around to push it up against the wall correctly. He pushed the other one as well and then stood back again.
"Pushy?" Draco asked, almost sounding offended, but he smirked. Then he considered the arrangement. "Then we put the chests of drawers against the wall by the door."
"Yes, sir," Harry said sarcastically, but smirked as well. He Lightened these pieces of furniture, so that he wouldn't scrape the floor up, and then pushed them over by the door.
Draco huffed at being called sir, thinking Harry should be on his knees – naked and calling him that, then blushed at his own thoughts. He was hardly in the position to act them out.
Harry smirked again at the huff and finished with the chests. "I think it'll look nice in here," he said. "Now we should get some broomsticks and hang them on the wall. I know the twins'll be Quidditch players."
Draco laughed, shaking his head. "Seekers?"
"Hmm," Harry hummed. "Well, I assume they'll be built like us, which means they would make good Seekers, although I suppose we would've made good Chasers as well."
Draco smirked again. "Well, you were certainly good at chasing me," he teased. "So you want brooms on the ceiling? Not real brooms, I hope."
Harry smiled and looked up. "Sure, brooms on the ceiling," he said. "And I suppose real ones wouldn't be too practical." He grinned at Draco.
"And dangerous if somehow they managed to get a hold of them," Draco huffed. "So, toy brooms and little toy Snitches?" He thought of those weird shorts that Harry had with little Snitches on them.
Harry smiled again. "Yeah, that would look really good," he said. "I would've loved a room like that – well, if I'd known what Quidditch was as a kid."
"What were you like?" Draco asked softly, smiling at him.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "As a kid?" he asked.
"Well, I remember you at eleven, but you never talk about what you were like when you were small," Draco said.
Harry scratched the back of his neck as he looked at Draco. He realised then that he hadn't even thought of the Dursleys in ages. He knew they had gone back to their boring, 'normal' lives after Voldemort had died, but he hadn't spoken to or seen them since. "Well ... I guess I was, er, just a kid," he shrugged, not completely sure how to answer Draco's question.
Draco arched an eyebrow. He knew an evasion when he heard one. He was better at them than Harry was. "Harry," he said softly, holding out his hand and beckoning him over with his fingers.
Harry flushed as he walked over to Draco. Merlin, now it seemed like he was ashamed or afraid to talk about his childhood, and he wasn't. He just didn't know what to say. Ron didn't ask him about it, and Hermione didn't really ask about it, and, well, no one really asked about it.
Draco took Harry's hand and tugged him downward, tilting his head up to kiss him.
Harry sighed quietly as he kissed Draco, and smiled a little as he pulled back.
Draco didn't let go, holding onto Harry's hand and looking up at him expectantly.
Harry sighed again. "My relatives were complete arses to me," he said flatly. "My uncle hated me because I'm a wizard, my aunt hated me because she was ... jealous of my mother being a witch or ... something like that, and then my cousin hated me because his parents hated me."
"Baby, come here," Draco said, wishing he could stand up and hug him.
Harry lowered himself down to his knees next to Draco. "It's really all right," he said, not knowing exactly why he was trying to assure Draco.
Draco reached a hand out, stroking Harry's hair. "No, it's not," he said softly.
Harry frowned, huffing. "I – I don't mean it's all right, what they, er, did to me. I mean I'm all right."
Draco smiled again, carding his fingers through Harry's hair. "Yes, you are, but if you want to tell me about it, you can," he said.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about it," Harry told him. "It's just ... I don't know. I haven't even really thought of the Dursleys in forever. I haven't even thought about talking about them."
"Want to finish in here and then go to our room, or stop in here for now?" Draco asked.
Harry smiled ... not sadly, but not happily either. "I guess we can finish in here later," he said, pushing himself to his feet.
Draco nodded and held his arms out so that Harry could pick him up.
Harry Lightened Draco before he lifted him into his arms and kissed him gently. He didn't tell Draco, but he loved picking him up. It made him feel like he was taking good care of him. He put out the candles on the walls with his wand before leaving the room and heading next door, lying Draco on their bed.
Draco loved how gentle Harry was with him. It made him feel precious and loved. He hid the pain he felt at being moved, and shifted onto his side to lessen the pressure when he was put in the bed. Then he patted the mattress in front of him, looking up at Harry.
Harry slid into bed as well, facing Draco as he reached to lay a hand on his stomach.
Draco smiled at what had become one of his favourite gestures, lying together with their hands entwined on his belly, their babies resting or moving under them.
Harry lay silent for a few moments, staring at their hands. "I want them to feel like the most loved kids in the entire world," he said quietly.
"Yes, I think they already are," Draco whispered, grey eyes studying his lover's face as he waited for what he wanted to share.
Harry went silent again for another few moments. "Well," he said, "I'll tell you this, because I suppose I don't really have a reason not to, and if you're curious ... I just want you to really know that – well, that I really am fine. I don't think about this anymore; I don't think about them anymore – I don't even think my cousin hates me anymore. So ... there's no need to take pity, or fuss about it, or any of that."
Draco arched an eyebrow at that but didn't interrupt. He simply squeezed his lover's hand.
Harry took a bit of a deep breath and let it out in a small whoosh. "First of all," he began, "this probably sounds a whole lot worse than it really was. I mean, you know, really." He paused again and tried to think of where he should begin. "I can't remember anything as a baby, so I don't know what went on then, but as far back as I can remember, the Dursleys always did hate me. I ... didn't have a bedroom, I didn't have my own clothes, or toys, or ... anything really. And anything I did have had once belonged to Dudley – my cousin, so he could take it back whenever he wanted, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would let him."
Draco frowned but tried to control his reaction so as not to upset Harry. It was odd. When he had thought about the kind of life Harry'd had before Hogwarts, the only thing he had known was that it was with Muggles. He didn't know much about life as a Muggle, so he didn't have much to go on as to what that would be like.
"I slept under the stairs," Harry continued, wincing at what Draco might think of that one. "In a cupboard there, until I was twelve. I wore Dudley's old clothes – which was ... quite something. I was pretty little as a kid, I guess, and Dudley was huge. He used to get all his friends together and beat me up. He would beat anyone up in school who tried to be my friend too, so Ron really was my very first friend."
Draco tensed, anger flaring at the people who would dare do such things to Harry. He knew he was a hypocrite, given his own behaviour, but it still upset him. "That explains the clothing," he said softly.
Harry let a breath out through his nose and shrugged. "Yeah," he agreed. "They hated magic so much that I didn't know it even existed until I got my Hogwarts letter. They even tried to hide that from me. And, you know how kids can't control their magic when they're real young? Like how stuff just happens when the magic is first starting to show through?"
Draco smiled, remembering some of his first magical experiences. He had flown by accident and had even set his room on fire once.
"Well, they didn't like that," said Harry. "I used to get ... hit for it. Even if I didn't know what had happened. I got blamed for a lot of stuff I didn't do, or even if I had done it I didn't know how I'd done it. Hell, they even hated my bloody hair and complained about that. It was just ... everything about me they didn't like."
Draco reached his other hand up to caress those dark locks. He adored his lover's hair. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. "You deserved better," he said softly, also thinking that Harry deserved better than him.
"I've got the best now," Harry whispered, kissing Draco gently again.
Draco blushed, returning the kiss. "These people, your relatives, they can't hurt you now can they?"
Harry almost snorted at that. "No," he said. "I actually think they're pretty afraid of me."
"Good," Draco said firmly, thinking that he'd have to hurt them if he ever saw them. His fingers trailed softly down his lover's cheek. "I love everything about you," he insisted.
Harry smiled in that same not-sad, not-happy way again. "But you're mad, remember?" he teased.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Am I?" he asked. "Mad about you, certainly."
Harry's smile grew then. "And I'm mad about you," he said quietly. "And already mad about these babies."
Draco grinned at that. "And they will love you completely. You have a family."
"Yes," Harry agreed. "My little family right here." He slid down to pull Draco's shirt up and kiss his belly right above their hands.
Draco managed to feel both intense joy and a deep sadness at that. He was loved and he was giving his husband the children they both wanted. He just doubted he would be there to share the life they were planning.