Soul Bond

“Place an announcement in the Quibbler when each of your babies are born so that Lilly will be able to share the joy. I plan to stay in England until after you both have safely delivered your babies. If it appears to be safe, I will try to arrange another visit before we leave, but I can promise nothing. It is not safe to have to much contact with you at this point,” Arabella said as she was preparing for their departure.

“Why the Quibbler instead of the Profit?” Draco asked

“I love the humor of the Quibbler. They write about such crazy things. The Daily Profit I more political and I try very hard to stay out of politics. While we were in America, I became quite addicted to a paper called ‘The National Enquirer’. It so reminded me of a non-magical version of the Quibbler.”

Harry burst into laughter. He knew what the National Enquirer was. He and Hermione had had several discussions in the supermarket checkout lines regarding their headlines. “I used to see them while I was in America.”

“Aren’t they just fascinating?” she said breathlessly.

Draco looked at Harry who gave him the, ‘I’ll tell you later,’ look and nodded his head to Arabella. “Very,” he said deadpan.

“I am afraid we must leave. We have a long way to travel yet today. We always apparate several times before we arrive at our final destination. This way we are assured that a soul has not attached onto either of us.”

Draco still thought that Arabella was off her rocker, but he had finally decided that she was being cautious with his daughter. He nodded his head in thanks to her and then smiled at Lilly who was trying to hold back her tears. “It won’t be so long this time, love. Arabella has said she will try to work in a visit after the babies are born.”

Lilly sniffed. “I know. I shall miss you, Daddy. Don’t forget you promised that I could name the baby!”

“I won’t forget. Take care of yourself, baby. I love you so much!” he said squeezing her tight.

“I love you too, Daddy.” She went from Draco’s arms to Harry’s. “Keep taking care of daddy. He still needs you,” she whispered into Harry’s ear.

“I know,” he whispered back holding her tightly and kissing her. “I promise.”

Lilly grinned. “I know. I love you, Dad,” she giggled.

“I love you as well, Princess.”

“Goodbye, Siri. Don’t forget the names. Take good care of Daddy, Dad, and the babies.”

“I won’t forget the name,” he said with a grin as he looked at Draco. “I will miss you, Lilly.”

“You will always be my favorite brother, Siri.”

Siri grinned. “You shall always be my favorite sister.”

The briefly hugged and then Lilly ran to Arabella and the quickly apparated away.

“I don’t know if that time was easier or harder,” Draco said trying not to cry.

“It was quicker, at least.”

Draco pulled Siri close to him and said, “Let’s go home.”

The three gave one final sad look to the lakeshore and then apparated home.


“Harry, I was thinking.”

“Uh oh,” he said with a laugh.

“Behave yourself!” Draco said indignantly. “I think that we should have a baby shower.”

“Why?” He had always thought of those as a woman’s thing. Although, he had always thought that only women gave birth as well.

“I think that it would be fun!”

“Draco, I think that all of these hormones are really getting to you,” he said patting him absently on the head. He had been sitting at his desk for the past several hours researching his family history. After Draco had re-done his, Harry thought it would be nice to do his. He decided to do as much as he could from all of the family documents that he had found in his vault at Gringotts and then let the house elf fill in the rest.

“I am bored! I still have three weeks left until this baby will be born. I can barely move, so that leaves out shopping. You are always here with your head buried in all of these dusty old papers. Hermione and Neville are back at Hogwarts and Ron and Luna are in France until next week. Siri is tired of me and has begged me to allow him to spend the weekend at the Burrow. I need something to do!” he whined.

Harry put his paper down and looked at Draco. His hands and feet were swollen almost to the point of being beyond recognition. His face was red and flushed and his belly protruded further than Harry thought was possible. He knew that Draco had been having a hard time this pregnancy and he had tried to be supportive, but Draco’s constant complaints were driving him insane. His own hormones were out of control and trying to keep the peace was getting harder every day. Perhaps a baby shower would be a good thing. It would give him something to keep his mind occupied.

“Alright. What would you like me to do to help you?”

Draco grinned. “Nothing. I have it all planned out. I have a guest list ready. I have a caterer set up. I have decorations picked out and they shall be here in a couple of days. The invitations will go out in tomorrows post.”

Harry smiled and nodded his head while inside he secretly groaned. He wasn’t going to get the peace he so desperately looked forward to. “Can I see the invitation list?”

“Sure, here,” he said pulling it out of his pocket and handing it to Harry. “I have planned it for a week from Saturday.”

Harry took the piece of parchment and looked at the names on the list. “Wow!” he said looking at all of the names. “This is a lot of people,” he said.

“I thought that we could turn it into a fundraiser. Everyone who comes will bring baby items and we will then donate them to the orphanage. Its not like we need anything,” Draco said. They had had the nursery prepared for months. Decorating had helped keep their minds off of Lilly’s absence.

“You know, that’s not a half bad idea. I am sure that the orphanage could use the items. Perhaps we could tell people to bring items for all ages though, not just babies? I think that the need might be greater for the older kids.”

“Alright. I will amend that part of the invitation. This should be great fun!”

“Draco, what made you think of doing this?” It wasn’t like Draco usually spent anytime thinking of the poor.

“I thought about what our children would have felt like if they were alone. When the war ended think of how many orphans there were. With so many people killed, there were a lot of children left with no families. Not to mention, there were very few families available to adopt the children as well. I thought that I wouldn’t want my baby to be born that way.”

“Our babies have a loving family, Draco. They will never be put through what we were. The war is long over, and Voldemort is gone forever. Unless some other psychopath decides to take over our children will be safe. I do think that the idea of buying items for older children is a good idea though. All of those war babies are a little older than Lilly and Siri. I am sure that they could use some things.”

“Harry, how do those children afford to go to school?”

“I don’t know. I think that the school must offer some kind of scholarship for them. Tom Riddle came from an orphanage and he managed to go to Hogwarts. Someone had to pay for it for him.”

“Perhaps we should look into that. Maybe we can donate to it.”

“Are you turning soft, Draco Malfoy? Famous death eater’s son hates Muggles and poor people, and now you are wanting to donate to them? Are you feeling ill?” Harry asked sarcastically.

“Shut-up!” he said. “I am going to get the invitations ready.”

Harry smiled as he watched Draco leave. He was proud of how far he had come. In the years that they had known each other, Draco had drastically changed his attitude and his way of thinking. He had turned out to be a wonderful father and husband, and a great friend. He even thought of other people before himself once in a while.

“Daddy!” he heard Siri scream breaking him away from his thoughts. The shrill sound of his son’s voice scared him into motion. Harry jumped out of the chair as quickly as his overly large belly let him and he ran towards Siri’s screaming voice.

“What’s wrong?” Harry demanded as he flew into the room.

“Its my fault! It’s all my fault! He tripped over my dragon and slid across the floor and fell! He’s bleeding, Daddy!” Siri scream pointing at Draco lying on the floor unmoving.

“Draco!” Harry shouted racing to him. “Flunky!”

A second later a pop was heard. “Yes, Master Harry?”

“Quick, get Severus!” he yelled. “And then get Madame Pomfrey and Hermione!”

Flunky tore his horrified gaze from Draco’s still body and popped away.

“Is he dead, Daddy?” Siri screamed. “Did I kill him?”

“Draco?” Harry shouted as he quickly brushed his stray hair from his face. “Love, can you hear me?” he demanded.

“Daddy!” Siri screamed again throwing himself at Harry.

“Sirius, I need you to calm down. Let me check your father out. Please, just sit still for one moment,” Harry told his son calmly as he tried to calm his racing heart. He was terrified that something was wrong.

“Potter! What happened?” Severus Snape demanded a moment later, apparating to the front door and racing in.

“He slipped and fell. He hasn’t woken up,” Harry said trying to keep his voice calm for Siri.

“Step back and let me look.”

Harry immediately moved away from his husband’s prone body and pulled a distraught Siri onto his lap. “Its alright, everything will be fine,” he whispered to his son, hoping his was right.

“Harry!” Hermione yelled as she came through the fireplace. “What’s going on?”

“Draco,” he whispered. He couldn’t trust himself to say more. A second later Madame Pomfrey followed Hermione out of the floo.

“Quickly, Severus, get him onto the sofa!” she said automatically taking charge.

When Draco was moved she used her wand and scanned his body. “We need to take the baby now. The baby is in distress and won’t make it if we don’t do so now!” she said.

Siri screamed when he watched Harry pass out.