The Contract

******AUTHOR'S NOTE************



I had not planned to write this. I was told -- rather adamently that there were several scenes that needed to be added... I can only hope, BELLA, that this makes you a happy woman... If not, I give up!



--RD











The Contract – A bit of explanation…







The babies were almost a month days old. Their magic already manifesting seemed to be happiest when together. Fifteen minutes or so staggered the naps, and naps were long and they slept through the night. The parents, however, were still tired, Draco more irritable than usual. Harry seemed to just ‘go with the flow’ of babies crying, irritable lover, adults, goblins, and house elves all over the house.



Help was nice, but it seemed to irritate Draco, so when the doorbell rang that morning, Harry was determined to not allow anyone else in the house. He had just found the bill of sale from the ‘Operation Buy Everything Ever Needed for Baby and Multiply It Times Four”. He knew that between that shopping spree and buying three houses around Grimmauld place as well as what he had spent in new clothes before returning to school that he was financially in trouble.



He remembered, with less than fondness, Uncle Vernon’s rants about ‘providing for the family’. Surprisingly enough, Harry was very concerned with their future. Four children were expensive and he had already gone through the bulk of his inheritance. So it was with a heavy heart, he answered the door to what he assumed would be another round of visitors. What he was not prepared for was to have four large wizards with crates of furniture standing on the front lawn. Losing his temper and keeping his resolve, he sent the furniture crates and men away. Slamming the door, he turned to see Draco standing there with his mouth wide open.



“Why did you send our new bedroom furniture away?” Draco asked irritably.



“Why did you order it without talking to me about it first?” Harry countered.



Draco crossed his arms. “I wanted it.” Was his only offer at an explanation.



“Look, we need to talk…” Harry’s statement was cut off by a loud thunk that sounded from the nursery. Panicked looks exchanged, followed by the crack of apparition.



The door to the Nursery was open. There were no goblins outside the door, which meant the four were inside. The adults in the home were running up the stairs. Without any further conversation, Harry flung the door open ready to fight anything hurting his babies, Draco hot on his tail expecting the worst.



What neither expected to find was four staunch, gruff, fully armored goblins hanging upside down in mid air. When one told the children to release them, that goblin would hit the ground with a thunk and return to the air. There were stuffed animals being flung at them as well, magically flying with eerie accuracy from Albus’ cradle.



Smiling when the men realized what had happened. Harry walked around the goblins to Albus’ cradle. The baby was smiling his hands raised to Harry for him to be picked up. Harry picked him up while Draco picked up Cadhia. Narcissa got Bevan and Arthur picked up David. The crash of the goblins hitting the floor would have been funny if any of them had been smiling.



Bevan however was not smiling, she was shaking. Draco exchanged children and held her close to him. Turning as the goblins began to stand, Draco asked, “What’s this all about?”



“The children were making noise. When we came in to be sure they were fine, we were caught up in the magic.”



Harry, not satisfied, looked to the little goblin, “I don’t believe you. What type of noise did you hear?”



Gruffly and offended, the goblin answered, “With most wizard babies at this age, there is no noise except crying. We heard people laughing and things hitting. When I opened the door there were four adult ghosts standing at each crib. There were a few others near them. But the four were the old ones.”



Harry looked to Draco for a moment as the Sirius, Remus, Molly, and Severus entered the room. “What is he talking about?” Draco asked.



The ghosts shimmered into view. It was two women and two men each standing near a crib. “Forgive us.” One said.



“We have not been summoned in so very long.” Another added.



“The Mistress told us of your children.”



“They are very strong. She was right to do so.” The forth added.



Harry handed Albus off to Sirius and stood between the children and the ghosts. “Who the bloody hell are you and why are you in my children’s room?”



The largest of the four, in flowing dress robes cut from what was the finest material of his day, concentrated for a moment. When he relaxed, his shimmering ghost-like image was no longer as transparent. “I am Godric Gryffindor. One of the Founders. Would you care to guess as to who my three companions are?” No one answered. “As you can imagine, this is Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff.” He said as he introduced each of the ghosts.



“We came at the Mistress’ insistence. She was rather taken with your mate, Draco, and the four children. Although my heir apparent, Albus, is different than last I saw him.”



Draco handed Bevan off to Molly and stepped next to Harry. “Why are you here?”



Rowena floated forward. “We are here to view your children. They have quite a strong bit of magic flowing through their veins. We came to see if it was true that the ones that will lead the Magical Community through the next age were truly born.”



“And if they are?” Harry asked.



“Then we will remain in this realm and teach them to harness their powers.”



Draco looked to Harry for confirmation. “What of our other children?” Harry’s mouth opened wide. Draco continued. “What of the ones who have not been born yet? Will they too be of worth for your attention?”



Helga giggled at his posturing. “Young man, forgive the laughter. Any children you and this one have together will be worthy of attention. The two of you could easily rule the Wizarding Community together. Your status deems that you do.”



“I don’t want to rule the world!” Harry yelled. “I want to be happy, safe, and rear our children with love! I have killed twice in my life, both of those megalomaniacs wanted to rule the world. No thank you!” He finished and crossed the floor to take Albus in his arms.



“This man’s life was taken from him by one of those men. He is my son now. I will rear him in love and prevent anyone from ever harming him again.” Albus squirmed in his arms. He handed the baby back to Sirius. Taking Bevan from Molly he turned, “My daughters will always be loved and cherished.” He handed the baby back.



“My son, David, will lead the world in love and encourage friendship. I will not have your help making them think they are the next rulers of the world!”



Harry crossed the room again, his magic palpable as it rolled off of him in waves. Looking Godric in the eye, he said, “I will not have the four of you near my children to teach them that they are better than anyone else. Draco and I will take care of these children and anymore we are blessed to have. If you want to spend time with these children, or any of the others, you will go through Draco or me. Or I will use my magic and banish you from this reality. Do we all understand each other?”



Draco watched in awe as the man he loved effectively told the four greatest Witches and Wizards who ever lived to ‘get bent’. Godric’s form dissipated for a moment as Harry’s fury was unleashed. “The Mistress told us of your love for your mate and your children. We did not mean to imply we wanted you to rear another Riddle or Grindelwald. We simply want to teach them all we can and allow them to know the world’s history.” Godric stammered.



Salazar, quiet to this point, looked Harry up and down. “I understand now why we were told that you should have been in my house, but ended up as a Gryffindor. I will abide by your rules and I believe that we all will. But I do want to be able to spend time with the children. Will you allow us to be near them if we are not seen or heard?”



Sirius cleared his throat. Harry turned to look at the man. With a slight shake of the head, Sirius voiced his disapproval of the plan. Turning back, Harry said, “No. That will not be permissible. I want to know what you will be discussing with the children, what you will be teaching them of their history and lineage. It is not up for discussion.”



“And if we choose to do it without your permission?” Rowena asked.



The air around the four Founders shimmered and they found themselves closely bound and unable to leave. “I will destroy your spirits. I will contain you and your feeble existence in a pendant. I will not allow ANYONE to come between my FOUR children and me. The choice is yours. Accept the terms or prepare to be locked away forever.” The binding became smaller.



Salazar agreed first, followed by each of the Founders. With a nod, Draco said, “Now that it is settled, please leave this house. Before you enter into this room again, you must go through Harry, me or one of these other adults.”



The four ghosts shimmered out of existence.



The little goblin waddled up to Harry. “I knew you would do fine when you needed to.” The gruff voice told him. “You were worried that you would make a mistake. I am no longer as concerned. You and the light haired one will do fine.” And with that, the four little goblins left the room.



Turning, Harry swept Draco into his arms. “I can’t believe I did that.”



Smiling, uncaring that there were adults in the room staring at them in awe; Draco kissed Harry, just before stepping back. Then, without any warning at all, Draco hit Harry, full force, in the face. “I want my furniture.”



“OUCH!” Harry said in shock holding his nose. “What the hell was that for?”



“I want my furniture.” Draco said again.



“No, you can’t have it.” Harry said as the blood dripped onto the carpet. “We can’t keep spending money Draco. Deal with it.”



The walking out of the room, Harry went to see about cleaning up his face.



They did not speak the rest of the day. Harry spent time with the children and alone. He was angry that Draco had hit him, that the other man was spending money that Harry didn’t have. Late that evening, he entered the Nursery to find Draco standing in the center in a storm of flying stuffed animals.



When a rattle left Albus’ crib and hit Draco, Harry laughed aloud. As usual, the other adults in or near the house arrived to see what Harry was so happy about. Sirius, Remus, Severus, and Arthur came to the house. With as much concern as he could muster, Arthur delicately suggested that the four men be allowed to stay with the children for the night and let Harry and Draco go away for a bit.



Harry readily agreed and packed with an alarming speed. Without knowing where to go, they decided to go to the Burrow, which was quite empty now that the Weasleys were happy in London at number fourteen Grimmauld Place.



Draco grabbed an overnight bag, toiletries, and followed Harry, still angry.





When Draco stopped spinning, Harry held out a hand to him. Standing erect, Draco allowed himself to be pulled out and into his lover's arms. Smiling, Harry kissed his forehead where the rattle had left a red mark. Pulling back, he looked into the gray eyes with love, just before he realized that Draco was simply not happy.



Sighing, Harry said, "Love? What is it? It was just a rattle. The children have hit me with all kinds of things in the past couple of weeks. What's really wrong?"



Draco pushed by him without answering for a moment. Rolling his eyes and praying for patience, he followed the blond into the kitchen where Draco was pulling a kettle for tea. Harry strained to hear Draco over the running water. "It has nothing to do with the rattle. I am actually rather proud that one of our children can be so precise with his magic. I am actually upset with you."



Sitting carefully at the table, Harry thought about what, other than laughing at Draco earlier, that he could have possibly done. "What have I done?"



"You sent back the new bedroom furniture I ordered."



"Oh, well... yes I did. I know you have plenty of money but I don't. I can't even figure out if I have enough in my vault to last the year after our nursery spending spree."



"What are you talking about?" Draco asked incredulously.



Harry looked at him with wonder. "Draco we spent at least a hundred thousand galleons between buying houses and the babies. I only had near a hundred twenty galleons in my vault that my parents left me. I can't afford anymore spending sprees."



Draco couched, well, choked more like. "Are you just an idiot?"



Harry, taking offense, looked at him. "I am trying to be responsible and take care of my family. I know you are loaded, but I need to be responsible too. I didn't finish my NEWTs, I don't have a job. I have a house full of children and a man in my bed that I can't afford. Forgive me if I don't want you to spend what I have left at Gringott's on a bloody new bed. Our bed is just fine!" He finished angrily.



It was at this point, that Draco realized several things in quick succession. One, he had not told Harry of his vast fortune which was his when he wanted it. Two, that they had not even exhausted Harry's school vault, let alone touched any of the others. And Three, he should have had this conversation earlier.





“Would you wait for me for a moment?” Draco asked. Harry nodded and rose to get them both tea. Harry looked up when he heard the Whoosh of the Floo.





Going back through to his home, Draco grabbed his satchel from his library and set about filling it to the brim with official documents, not say anything in the way of an explanation.



Upon his return, he was greeted by Harry sitting at his usual place in the Burrow’s kitchen waiting for his lover. “Alright, love,” he said putting the satchel on the table before sitting across from Harry. “We need to talk.”



Harry eyes Draco warily over his teacup. Draco took a long sip as well before he spoke again. “In this satchel, I have documentation that you should have seen the day you turned seventeen. Instead, it was withheld from you by a few laws that have been overturned in the interim.”



Rifling through for a moment, Draco finally cast an organizational charm on the miscellaneous papers setting them to order. Picking up the top most group, he scanned it before turning to Harry. “This is the original laws that prevented your inheritance. Grindelwald was responsible, as you can imagine. It prevents anyone owing a Life Debt from inheritance before the terms of the Life Debt are met.”



Harry looked up, “I have my inheritance. The vault.”



“No Harry, you don’t have your inheritance, it was withheld until this law was overturned. Because of the contract, you almost lost your actual inheritance. Think about this Harry.”





Harry nodded as he looked over it. “So, because my father was under a contract with your father, I could not receive my inheritance?”



“Close enough.” Draco said heavily. Picking up the next group of parchment, he continued, “This one is James and Lily’s Last Will and Testaments. This is where we found out that James never…” his voice cracked, “agreed to the contract.” Harry’s eyes shot up.



“Never?”



“According to this, he would rather be a poor Muggle than a rich man who gave his son away.” Harry looked at Draco in awe.



Reaching, Harry took the parchments from Draco. Scanning it, he looked up again. “He loved me?”



“Of course he loved you. You love our children, how could he not love you?” Draco asked with just a hint of bitterness.



Clearing his throat, Harry pressed on, “So what does that mean, exactly?” Harry asked. He wanted to tell Draco that Lucius loved him. He wanted to comfort the man, but could not find the words to do so.



“You know, you could read it all yourself, I had to.” Draco said.



“Look, Draco. I know you are mad at me. Whether James Potter loved me or not, he still had nothing to do with me. He was dead. I can’t help what Lu…Lucius did to you or me.” Harry retorted.



Standing, Draco turned away, his arms crossed. He mumbled something unintelligible. Sighing once again, Harry stood and walked to Draco. Wrapping his arms around Draco’s waist, he put his head on Draco’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything. I love you and we have a family now. Can’t that just be enough?”



Draco leaned into Harry’s cheek, his hands gently caressing the ones wrapped around him. “I’m sorry. I’m jealous that you had a father who did love you, rather than one who tried to hurt every person in the world.”



“It doesn’t matter now. We have each other, and all four of our children. The rest will work itself out. We aren’t our parents.” Harry said hopefully. “I think maybe because of our childhoods we will go out of our way to spoil our children. But I have to figure out how to pay for everything.”



Turning in Harry’s arms, Draco looked up into the green eyes that haunted him for so long. The ones that their daughters have. Perfect, green twin orbs full of love. “Harry, you don’t have to figure out anything. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”



Pulling away from Draco, Harry faced away from him. He was getting angry. Without looking at Draco, he walked a few paces away before he turned around. “I don’t want to use your inheritance. I want to support our family, Draco. I knew when we were shopping for the babies that if I over spent, that you would cover it. But this is… just different. I want to provide for you.”



“You sound like an American Muggle.” Draco said. “I want to provide for you?’ What the hell Potter? You can provide for our great great grand children and never touch the Malfoy fortune!”



Harry looked at him incredulously. “Are you insane? My vault is near empty.”



Taking a step toward the brunette, Draco smirked. “I love knowing something that you don’t know. Tell me Harry, if you had all the money in the world, what would you do with it?”



“Provide for the love of my life and our four children.” Harry said without hesitation.



Draco’s smirk turned into a broad smile. “All four?” He asked. Harry cocked his head to the side and smiled. “You want all four of them?”



“They are all FOUR our children. What kind of a question is that?” Harry asked.



“I kind of pushed Albus on you.” Draco said sheepishly.



“I fell in love with that baby before I knew any of the rest of it. I don’t care when he was technically born, he is OUR child. He will grow up a Potter Malfoy or a Malfoy Potter. If you don’t want him, tough shit.” Harry said determinedly.



Draco smiled, “I wasn’t sure you really wanted him too. I didn’t give you much choice. I had fallen for those blue eyes of his the minute I picked him up. I should have discussed it with you instead of telling you what we were going to do.”



“Nah, it’s good to be with someone who knows what they want.” Harry admitted. “Over the past few weeks, while we are getting everything settled, I have loved the life we started. I know it was rocky, and I don’t rightly expect that it will always be sunshine and roses, but we can do it together.” Draco nodded. “Now what is this about our great great grandchildren?”



Draco walked back to the table, shuffled a few more groups of parchment until he found the accounting of Harry’s wealth. Handing it to him, he said proudly. “I managed, not only to be one of the wealthiest wizards in the world, but I got the one that beat me out in riches to love me back.”



Harry scanned the document. Looking up, he saw that Draco seemed rather proud of himself. “Is this really… all…mine?”



“Yes, Harry.” Draco confirmed, “It is all yours. Garen has agreed to oversee everything until we understand it all. That’s one of the reasons that the babies are so well protected. They will inherit the, pardon the pun, lion’s share of Wizarding Wealth. Their magic because they are of you and me will rival the founders.”



“But you know what this means, don’t you?” Harry asked, still clutching the parchment in shaking hands.



“Tell me what it means, Harry.”



“It means that, according to this, that I have a seat on every committee, the Wizengamut, and Hogwarts Board…” Harry said, “Plus…you can have the furniture you want and we can… buy an island and a large American vehicle.”



Touching Harry’s arm, Draco said gently, “Anything we want love. We can have more babies some day. We can appoint people to take care of…”



Harry cut him off. “No, we will take care of our own babies, Draco!”



Growling just a bit, Draco looked into the face of the brunette, “our FINANCES, or to sit in our places on the committees or boards, or whatever will take time away from our children.” Standing close enough to feel Harry’s breath, he said, “We will love them and be okay, right?”



Harry dropped the parchment, wrapped his arms around Draco, and whooped as he swung the blonde around with a smile. “I love you! I love our family! I love that we are rich and can play. I love that you want more babies with me!” Setting him back on the floor, both a little flushed, Harry kissed him soundly.



When they broke apart, Draco said, “Harry, we have a lot of getting to know each other to do. We have a lot of healing to do. We have a lot of trauma to deal with and babies to rear safely and in a loving home. We will need some help. But if, in a year or so, we are both ready… do you think we could…”



Harry interrupted him, “…have more babies?” He asked excitedly.



Draco rolled his eyes, “Could we bond?”



Harry let him go, his face fell, the smile slid off his face. “You want me as a slave?”



Shocked, Draco stammered for a moment. “No! Not anything like that. More like a marriage, or a betrothal, or an engagement, I think the Muggles call it. After we are fully qualified and all.”



Harry looked at him again in wonder, “You want to marry me?”



“Well, yes. We do have four children.”



“One we need to adopt as soon as possible.”



“Anything. Even more if we want.” Draco said smiling. “But for now, can we just go home and be a family?”



Harry grinned and reached to his back pocket, pulling out a Muggle wallet, he opened it to reveal several condoms. “I don’t think we are needed at home just yet…” he said with a smile.



Returning the sly grin, Draco said… “No, I don’t suppose they need us just yet. What are you going to do with those?”



“Oh… I am sure we could use these, and with the money we have between us, we could… buy stock in the condom company… you know, planning for the future?”



With a grin, Draco took Harry’s hand and followed him up the stairs to Ron’s old room to spend a few hours enjoying being wealthy, young, and in love.