Harry Potter and The Charming Prince (BP7)

Valen and April were handfuls. It wasn't news to anyone; they simply were. Harry wasn't sure if Valen ever actually sat still, and it seemed that April never went without screaming for longer than an hour. But little Chris Weasley, with his large, pale, innocent-looking eyes, was quite a handful as well, and Harry was not to be fooled.

The minute Bill and Fleur had dropped him off at the Manor, as they were taking a dinner date with one another, Chris was into all sorts of things. He was nearly as fast as Valen on hands and knees and, apparently, dearly loved to rip paper. Some of the library's books had suffered his wrath.

As Harry stood for just a single moment, watching the little boy rip the Daily Prophet into shreds on the floor, April squirming in his arms, and Valen attempting to climb onto the coffee table, he wondered why exactly he and Draco had agreed to watch Chris. Bill and Fleur's original plan had been to leave Chris with his grandparents, but no - “It would be lovely for the children to play with one another. They always behaved so well” – when there were other adults to keep eyes on them.

Harry had thought that Ron and Hermione were going to be home as well, but Ron had gotten a Floo call from some high up official in Broom Regulations and had had to dash off. Hermione had gone with him. So Harry and Draco were left with their own children – who were both quite enough to be getting on with – and Christophe, who was just as wild as the other two.

"Draco, Valen!" Harry called, even though it probably wasn't necessary to let Draco know that Valen was in danger of falling on his head.

Draco's hair was a mess, having been pulled by three sets of small hands and he made a dash to grab his son before the boy took a jump off the coffee table. "You just think you bounce," he told him.

"Sometimes I think he believes he can fly," said Harry, handing Chris another section of paper when he reached his small hand up.

Draco frowned at the mess Chris was making. "Sometimes I think he can fly," he said in exasperation.

Harry chuckled darkly. "Does your mummy let you do this?" he asked Chris. He supposed she did though, because the boy seemed to know what he was doing. "If April could crawl we'd be going mad," he said to Draco.

"If?" Draco huffed, blowing a stand of hair out of his eyes. "Ok, maybe having a third next year wouldn't be a good idea, after all," he mused.

"Merlin, is that what you've been thinking of?" said Harry, dropping into the nearest chair. He looked over at Draco with astonishment on his face.

Draco blushed, not having told Harry that was exactly what he had been thinking.

"I think I'd like a little time for my nipples to recover properly this time," Harry said with a bit of a wry smile. They had been pretty much continually abused since Valen, and now April had teeth.

Draco waggled his eyebrows. "Don't know if I can ever guarantee someone won't be chewing on them," he said.

Harry snorted. "I don't mind you so much," he said, and then looking down at their daughter. "April's brutal though. Worse than Valen even. I've had to heal blisters!"

Draco thought he should feel guilty, but he didn't. He loved their little family and the fact that Harry could feed the babies like that. Valen yanked on his hair, apparently unhappy with the lack of attention and Draco frowned at the boy. "Someday someone is going to do that to your hair," he warned him.

Harry laughed. "April's already got him a few times," he said.

Draco laughed, shaking his head. "That girl is going to drive us all mad," he said.

"Eh, she's all right," said Harry, smiling as he kissed her little forehead.

Chris abandoned his paper then and crawled over to play with one of the toys that had been laid out in the room. It was, of course, the loudest one out of the bunch.

Draco winced, getting up and taking Valen back to the centre of the room to start his rampage over again.

April began her squirming once more, reaching a little hand out towards her brother. Harry sighed, pushing himself back out of the chair and setting April on the floor with the toys.

Draco walked up behind his husband and put his hands on Harry’s hips, kissing the side of his face.

Harry smiled, feeling the tingle of the dragon under his shirt move automatically towards Draco.

Draco felt the ripple of Harry's magic responding to him and rubbed his cheek against his lover's. Valen shrieked and Chris cried, startling Draco.

Harry looked down at the two small boys. Tears were gathering in Chris's eyes, and in Valen's hands was the noisy toy that Chris had been playing with.

Draco huffed, releasing Harry and walking to crouch beside the boys. He took the toy from Valen who squawked unhappily at him. "A good host shares with his guests," he told the baby.

Harry raised an eyebrow, moving next to Draco. "Yes, they do," he agreed.

Valen began crying and Chris seemed to join him but whether it was from the toy being taken away or in sympathy was unclear.

April whimpered, watching the two crying little boys and obviously thinking about joining them.

"Merlin," Harry muttered. "Look at all these toys," he said, grabbing some of them. "There are so many for you to both play with."

Draco caught on and began piling toys between the children.

Harry pulled the tail of a stuffed monkey and it began to do some sort of weird dance. It was one of the toys from the twins – the monkey's name was Percy. It seemed to take Chris's attention, and he ceased his crying, reaching for the animal. Harry gladly handed it over.

"I think the twins are actually evil in disguise," Draco said, rolling his eyes at the obnoxious toy.

"They don't really try to disguise it too well," said Harry with a small laugh. "And Chris likes it all right." He ruffled the little boy's golden-red hair.

Draco scooted closer to Harry, watching the small children and putting an arm around his husband. Valen and Chris seemed intent on just throwing everything and then chasing the toys.

Harry leant into Draco's touch, content with him as he always was. Now it had been nearly two years since they'd been married, even though Harry still found himself wondering sometimes over the fact that he was married at all. They were only nineteen. But he was sure he was so much happier than a 'normal' nineteen-year-old, whatever that meant. As long as he had Draco. As long as Draco Malfoy was by his side, and loved him, and raised their children with him, Harry couldn't imagine he could want much else.

He remembered what else October had brought them the previous year, but mostly, he always tried to put that out of his mind. It had been a little harder lately, for obvious reasons, but having a beautiful blond man in his bed every morning and night helped Harry to forget.

Draco sighed contentedly. His hair and clothes were a mess and he was sure there was dribble stains. And he was very happy. So happy he was worried about bringing up the mail he had received the previous morning. "So Chris and Valen are so close in age, I wonder if they will be close when they get to Hogwarts?"

"I suppose probably," said Harry. "Valen will be there a year by himself though. Houses could play a part as well, though I think it's quite possible to stay close to someone in a different house." He smiled and kissed the space under Draco's ear.

"I know, I was always close to my year mates in Slytherin," Draco said. "We used to pull all kinds of pranks on each other and on other people."

"Yeah, you've said so before," Harry replied. "I guess I was too busy fighting evil to really do much of anything but stick with Hermione and Ron most of the time. We had fun though."

"Theo and I once managed to fill McGonagall’s office with mice," Draco said.

The name Theo, not Nott, obviously made Harry think about what had happened between the man and Draco. It also made him think of when the two had been together in school. While it certainly wasn't as disconcerting as it was before, it still brought Harry slight discomfort. He doubted if the jealousy would ever completely go away. "That was you?" he said, giving none of his thoughts of Theo away. "The twins would be proud."

"Yes, got away with it too," Draco laughed. "The two of us couldn't stop laughing all the way back to the dungeon, I was shocked we didn't get caught."

Harry smiled. "I remember the wonderful amount of homework we all got that week."

"I always wondered if she turned into a cat and ate them," Draco said.

Harry chuckled. "She probably would've liked to Transfigure the student responsible and then eat them," he said.

Draco laughed. "That was back in third year, when things still seemed so much simpler," he sighed. "I had my friends and I didn't know the monster was back."

"He wasn't yet," said Harry, thinking back to his own third year and remembering that things had never been simple. "Not really anyway." He was silent for a few moments. "That changed everything," he said quietly. "Him coming back, I mean. I suppose that's obvious but it really did." He went silent again. "Do you think you'd still be happy?" he asked. "If things had turned out different?"

"You mean if he never came back?" Draco said, tilting his head so he could see Harry's face.

Harry met Draco's eyes. "Would you have kissed me if you hadn't thought you were going to die?"

"Wanted to," Draco said, smiling as he reached a finger out to touch those lips. "Dreamed of you," he whispered.

"I know," Harry whispered back, wondering if it was strange to be thinking of how Voldemort had, in a way, brought Harry and Draco together. There were so many different outcomes that might have occurred if Draco hadn't been afraid and desperate. It scared Harry to think that some of those outcomes didn't include the pair of them together.

Draco gently kissed Harry, feather light, and pulled back. "Theo didn't create the problem last year," he whispered.

"No, he didn't," Harry said with a sigh. He still couldn't help thinking that Nott certainly hadn't helped the situation any but Harry did understand the feelings behind that. "I know that."

"I love you; I love our life together," Draco said cautiously. "But sometimes I miss my friends too."

Harry smiled without much humour. "First off, I'm not going to hit you or something," he said to Draco's tone. "And second, I can understand that. I would miss Ron and Hermione."

Draco blushed at the comment about hitting, but nodded. "He wrote me," he said.

"Nott did?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "When?"

"Yesterday," Draco answered, watching Harry carefully.

"What did he want?" Harry asked casually. "To see you?"

Valen managed to throw the ball against Draco's back and he winced but then continued. "He didn't ask for anything," he said. "He told me where he is and how he is doing. He wished us both well and congratulated us on April."

Harry nodded, not entirely sure of the words to say. Nott had always been the quiet Slytherin that Harry hadn't ever paid any attention. He hadn't really had an opinion of him at all until that night in The Three Broomsticks. He hadn't even truly had an opinion of him even after that. Harry hadn't given the man any more thought. Not until Hogwarts. Not until the stuff with Draco. "Do you miss him?" he asked quietly.

Draco glanced away, closing his eyes.

Harry let out a quiet sigh, reaching to adjust April into a sitting position when she fussed. "You do," he said.

Draco nodded. "I do," he admitted in a whisper.

Now Harry wasn't sure what they were talking about. He knew they were talking about Nott of course, but he didn't know if Draco missed Nott's friendship or if he missed other things as well. It hurt to even think of that and Harry didn't know why he did, though from some of the things Draco had said before it seemed he might not have as big a problem as Harry did with being romantically involved with more than one person. Harry looked to his knees, concentrating on them as if they were interesting. "I'm not going to stop you if you want to see him," he said finally with a slight shrug.

Draco looked back down at Harry and sighed. He reached his right hand then to cup his lover's chin and tip his face up, looking into his eyes. "I am not going to do anything that risks us," he said firmly but quietly.

Harry looked back up into Draco's eyes. The truth of Draco's words was so very evident and Harry knew that anyway. He wondered if he was completely mad to think some of the things he thought. But sometimes the things that Draco had told him last year in October, whether he'd said them on purpose or not, rang in his head. That time was still confusing. He still didn't really know if Draco had meant what he'd said, even though things had been going brilliantly since then. Harry knew that he wasn't really scared of what Draco might do; he was scared of what Draco might feel.

"I know," Harry said.

"I would just go out for a drink or something," Draco said. "Just to talk to him. See how he is. You could come if you want."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure he'd love that," Harry said. "I would probably make it awkward." As much as Harry would have liked to jump on the offer he knew what he'd said was more than likely true.

"I know he would accept you being there," Draco said carefully. Then he shrugged, "And yes, maybe it would be awkward."

"Maybe?" said Harry doubtfully. "You'd be sitting with two men who both technically tried to kill each other."

"Technically the person who came closest to killing me is sitting with me right now," Draco said, rolling his eyes.

"I never tried to kill you," Harry said, frowning.

"And neither did Theo," Draco said.

"I didn't say that," Harry replied. "You can't deny that Nott tried to kill me. And ... I don't know what I would've done if I'd ... got hold of him in the dungeons. I'm saying my presence would probably make for an unhappy meeting."

"So how do you want to handle this?" Draco asked, dodging another thrown toy, this one from Chris.

"Well, what do you want?" said Harry. "If you want me, I'm there, but I can stay home as well."

"First time, let me go meet him somewhere public," Draco said. "If I think it will work, being friends again, then we will talk about it and see what happens next."

"Whatever you want, love," Harry agreed, pulling Draco down to kiss his hair and then his lips.

Draco kissed him gently but thoroughly, only pulling back when Valen landed on his back and pulled his hair. "Dada!" the boy yelled.

Harry smiled and pulled away from Draco, looking at their son. "And just what do you want?" he asked him.

"Dada Daco!" the toddler yelled, yanking so hard on Draco's hair that it pulled his head back.

"Hey!" the blond complained.

"Be nice," Harry told their son, pulling Valen into his arms and away from Draco's head.