Harry Potter and the Womb of Requirement NOW CODED

A/N - Thank you so much to Noel Linder for your thoughtful, constructive and kind comments, much appreciated.

46

Sometime after lunch the Ten emerged. As one. Making their way to the Hall. To be confronted by the News. Harry was carrying his daughter. His lover slumped against him at the news. His Father was missing, presumed dead.

They all saw Draco fold in on himself in grief. The man he hated. The Father he had once loved and revered.

Then he and Harry vanished. Into mid air. Amongst shrieks and cries. The baby with them. “Harry, Draco!!”, {We’re still here. Dunno what happened. What can you see, ‘Mione?}. {Er...just empty space, Harry}. She leaned forward with a shy hand and touched one of them, {Who’s that?}. {Me}, Draco’s choked voice. {You simply disappeared before our eyes. Can you come back?}.

It took a moment or two. Draco, in his extreme shock had seemingly caused this. Both boys and their daughter reappeared, to everyone’s evident relief. {Whoo, another Mage thingy we know bugger all about. How did we do that one, Dragon?}, Harry used a light tone, but he could read his bond-mate’s anguish and distress and held Draco to him. {Harry, I need to get out of here, can you order breakfast?. Right now I need to run away and hide}.

In a heartbeat, Harry rose and pulled Draco up with him, {We need to get back. This has all been a bit of a shock. Please excuse us. We’ll see you all later}. Hermione sent a shy, {Do you need us, Harry?}. Harry smiled, {Have your lunches first. But then I would feel happier with you all close by, if you don’t mind}. Ron grinned at him, {Harry, that’s what we’re here for, mate. We’ll be up presently. All of us}. Harry squeezed Ron’s shoulder, {Hermione and Ginny have done enough, Ron. They need to rest. Look how knackered Hermione is. This is your job now. The girls have done their bit. Like Champions. But now it’s time for them to retire to the sidelines. I need our fighting force now. I also need to get Draco to somewhere where he can fall apart for a while. He just lost his Father here}.

Ron laid his large hand over Harry’s squeezing gently then let go, looking up into Harry’s frightened face, {We’ll be there, Harry. Now go. Make him feel safe. He needs it. See you in a short while. We all need calories here}. Harry bent and kissed the top of Ron’s head, {Thanks, mate} and supported his sagging Dragon as they left.

Sitting on their sofa, Draco ripped his top off hurling it across the room, then tried to still the maelstrom of emotion coursing through him as he rocked gently feeding his child at his breast. {It helps, Harry. I’m connected to the next generation. The thing that makes me sad the most?. My Father will never meet his Granddaughter}. He shook with repressed sobs, trying desperately to remain calm for his daughter’s sake.

As he finished, Harry took her from him. He laid a towel over his shoulder and winded her, then took her off for her change. She fell asleep before he was done, making the task easy. He laid her on her on her back in her cradle, kissing her. Then rushed back to his despairing Dragon, in pieces on the sofa, howling in rage and sorrow beating his fists into the cushions. In moments, Harry took him in his arms even as Draco beat futile fists into his shoulder. Harry just held him tighter until the torrent released itself and Draco finally wept. Hurt, bitter tears, accompanied by shaking that made his teeth chatter.

Harry held him tight as he wept the storm out, clutching in desperation at his beloved, raining kisses into his hair, rocking him, he sent, {I can’t believe he’s dead. I just can’t}, the sobbing started afresh. Harry stroked his lover’s platinum hair, {I don’t think he is}, dropped into the stormy sea that Draco rode, barely keeping his head above the waves, drowning imminent. He started in Harry’s arms.

{What did you mean by that?}. Wet-faced, he pulled away from Harry, red-rimmed eyes boring into his bond-mate’s. Harry took a deep breath, {He’s coming. And he has his most faithful Death-Eaters with him, that’s what. He sprung them, Dragon. The get-out-of-jail-free card. I don’t think that your Father is dead, babe. I think they’re all on their way here}. He gripped Draco’s shoulders, {This fire was a feint. I dowsed the picture. No death. Lots of mad Dementors flying around but no death. This was a stunt, Dragon. Pulled to get His most faithful out of there. He’s coming for us. One of us at least. The one he feels is his due. Payment for services rendered}.

Draco quailed at this, {It’s me, isn’t it?. We’ve already seen him fantasize about me, haven’t we?}. Harry grinned, {But it’s him that stole my file, isn’t it?. Face it, it could be either of us. But he’s too late. We’ve done the full Bond. We have Cariad. I have you and you have me. Bonded for life, forever my love. It’s my strongest weapon Dragon, according to Dumbledore. Love. That’s what fried Quirrell, defeated the Basilisk. He read it that night in the Forest in first year, the night when you ran away on me. He was already a Mage, older, even though he has never bonded much less realised}.

{I was forced to give blood to that bastard, in a Mage-like blood bond, except he opened a vein in my arm instead of a harmless thumb bond. Oh and I was forced to witness the death of the ‘spare’}, he sent a flash of the memory to his lover along with his cold send. Draco crumpled. Harry caught him. {Sorry, babe, but you need to see this}, he sent all the times of agony. The times when he had Seen into his enemy’s thoughts, everything he could recall from his six previous years, everything lodged in his brain. All of these memories had Lucius Malfoy at the wrong end of them.

Draco was begging, {Please, Harry, please. I can’t take any more}, his hands flying up to protect his head from further sends, his face crumbling into tears, {A bit at a time, please my love}. Harry’s cool reply, {I know you’re not a coward my Dragon}, then sent him the fight at the Ministry. Watching Sirius pass beyond the Arch. He could take no more and Harry caught the distraught Slytherin in his arms, {I just needed you to see. What we’re up against}. Draco buried his face in his hands as Harry held him. Both of them shook and rocked, {I am, Harry. I’m a complete coward. I’m vapid, shallow and right now, I don’t feel worthy of you in the least}.

Harry lifted Draco’s face and kissed him. {You have your own courage, my Dragon. You refused the Dark Mark, even where folk you revere have succumbed. You bore a child even though you were scared to death originally. You took me on. I’m sorry that I’m not the normal relationship you should be having...}.

Draco was stunned, {Harry!. Falling in love with you was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me}. Harry lightened the mood by sticking his lower lip out, {Only one of the best things, Dragon?}. This caused Draco to smile, {Yes, the third best, as a matter of fact. The second was having our baby}, he leaned in and nibbled that pouting lip, {But the best was you falling in love with me. Flawed, scared, damaged me}.

Then lips were opening, tongues finding each other, bodies fitting together, two halves of the same whole. Skin meeting warm willing skin. A dragon and a lion roaring their ecstasy into each other’s minds.

As they drowsed in a sated heap, they felt the Magic levels around them increase and knew their army was in place nearby. Harry’s send was a mere whisper, {Can you feel it all around us, love?}. Draco nodded, holding his Harry tight as they both drifted off to sleep. {I still feel like a coward, Harry}. Harry kissed him, {No you’re not!. You gave birth less than three weeks ago. I read the book, Dragon. It takes time to re-adjust. Several weeks, months even. I’m only sorry that we do not have the luxury of time on our side, but this is the way it’s going to play}, he shrugged.

As his eyes began to flutter shut, Harry sent to Ginny, {Look after our Elemental. Take care of her. She needs to step back now}, to silence in return. Ginny was doing her job properly. Their channels were completely closed. Harry grinned into his bond-mates hair and allowed his eyes to close.