Indago:3

Chapter Eight

Harry was sitting in bed when Draco stumbled in late from a meeting that had turned into after-work drinks.

“Ah, don’t get het up. I didn’t drink that much, yeah? We had a couple of American ambassadors and they wanted us to help them celebrate their Thanksgiving away from home. And I kept the flirting to a minimum.” Draco shuffled over to his bureau and began removing his cufflinks and tie….wait. Where had he taken off his tie?

“Draco, are you drunk or just tipsy?” Harry asked, his eyes narrowed.

“I resent the very idea that you think I can’t hold my liquor.” Draco raised an eyebrow at his husband and then grinned stupidly. “You’re wearing those green pyjamas I got you.”

“Yeah.” Harry seemed to blush. “Um, they’re really soft.”

“Mmm hmmm.” Throwing his shirt on the floor, Draco began working on his trousers.

“Draco, did you hear what I said?”

“Yeah, yeah, soft.” The trousers fell with a clank. He hadn’t removed the belt. Ah well. Draco pulled at his socks, though he had to lean against the bureau to do so.

“Draco… Um, I have to tell you something. I, uh, I think I made a mistake somewhere.”

“Oh? Well, it’ll get sorted, yeah? No worries.” Draco gave his husband a smile he hoped was reassuring and not just silly, which he thought it might be.

“No. I really don’t think so. You see, I was in one of the shops in Marjin Alley. A toy shop. Maia and I were looking at toys. There were a lot of stuffed animals. I took some.”

“I’m sure Maia loved them,” Draco murmured as he tossed his socks down and wandered to his closet.

“No, no. You see, Maia didn’t know I had them and I just took them. Without paying for them.”

Draco opened the closet and pulled out his robe. He was a bit peckish and considered wandering down to the kitchen. “You want anything to eat, love? I’m thinking I’ll get a sandwich.”

“Draco, did you hear me? I stole the animals!”

His husband’s raised voice finally had Draco turning around to look at him. “What?”

“I… I stole them. I slipped them into my pockets and walked out with them. I didn’t even realize it until we got home and… and I put them in the front closet, the big one. I put those animals on a small pile of jackets and …and these pyjamas.” Harry’s hands were clenched tight on the bedcovers. Draco focused on them and tried to get a handle on what Harry was saying.

“So… you stole some toys and hid them in a closet.”

“Draco! Would you listen to what I am trying to tell you?!” Harry took a deep breath and his voice softened until Draco could just make out what he was saying. “I think… I think I might be… in the family way.”

Draco was grateful for how fast he sobered up in the next few moments. Just to be sure, he cast a detoxification charm on himself. The world became crisp all around him. No more happy fuzziness. He looked at Harry, who was staring at him with huge eyes behind his spectacles. He cleared his throat and felt like he was moving through a curse field. “You think you might be…”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded and then waited for Draco’s next move.

“I thought you had taken the contraceptive potion?” Draco asked carefully.

“I did. Sev handed it to me himself!”

“All right, then perhaps you’re mistaken and instead have just developed kleptomania. Not so bad…”

“Draco, I am fairly sure that what my body is telling me is true,” Harry replied in a panicky and yet, somehow, dry voice.

Draco thought for a moment and then moved to sit next to his husband on the bed. He was careful not to touch him and instead watched him warily. “Alright. Then… what do you want to do?” he asked quietly.

“What the hell do you mean?” Harry shot back, his eyes wide. “There’s nothing to do.”

“Harry, you know that isn’t true.”

Harry swallowed at the softly spoken words and looked away from the direct gaze. Draco put his hand out and placed it right next to Harry’s covered legs. “Love, if you don’t want this, then we won’t.”

“I… I can’t just make that decision!”

“Okay, then who can?”

“Stop it! I am not one of your clients! Stop talking in that creepy voice!” Harry burst out.

Draco sighed and then stood up. “Fine. This is a fucking surprise, Harry. I hadn’t been thinking of any other children. But, I’m not saying that I don’t want any more. Or that I can’t wait for another time, either.”

“So, what does that mean?”

“It means that it’s up to you. You are happy back at the Herpetological Institute. Maia is nearly six and mature enough to be very self-sufficient and does not require as much attention, therefore freeing you to do other things you have been wanting to do.”

“How utterly selfish!” Harry sneered. “You want me to kill a baby just for free time!”

“I didn’t say that. I want you to do what you want to do. Fuck, Potter, I am trying to tell you that I will not have an argument either way you decide!”

“So, then, what? You just don’t care?”

Draco opened his mouth and then ran his hands over his face. When he pulled them away, he had a frustrated smile on his face. “Well, this certainly clears it up. You’re definitely pregnant.” He quickly held up his hand as Harry began to argue. Sitting back down, he put his hand on his husband’s thigh. “Harry, if you want to have this child, all I ask is that you try to give me a boy. I’d like a boy. If you feel that you don’t want to have this child, then we will go to the best healer we can find and I’ll be there with you and we will not feel guilty or horrible for it.”

Harry stared down at Draco’s hand and then slid closer until he was in his husband’s arms. “Alright, I’ll try to give you a boy. Chauvinistic prat.”

***

“That bloody well hurt, Potter!”

There was a loud bang and the sound of an angry kitty. Maia walked into the hall from the dining room, where she had been enjoying her afternoon snack, to see what was going on. Things had been strange lately and the air didn’t smell right. She wished her Sev were there because he would just tell her what was what while her Dad and Father always wanted to ‘protect’ her. Maia snorted at that thought and peered around the doorway.

“Father? What are you doing in the closet?”

Her father pulled his head out of the large front hall closet, where he was currently kneeling, and looked at her. His hair was loose from its band and was tossed haphazardly all over his face and shoulders. There was a red mark forming on the side of his neck where his collar looked as if it had been ripped open. Maia blinked at her normally perfect father in such a disastrous mess.

“I, Maia dear, am trying to extract your other parent from this closet,” her father huffed out, his arm seemingly being tugged from inside the murky depths of cloaks and winter boots.

“But why is Dad in the closet?” Maia asked, taking a few steps closer. Yes, something was definitely fighting with her father from the interior of that closet.

“Because he thinks it’s safe. But we are not having it here, are we, Harry?” Draco asked the empty air and his head went back inside. There was another sound like a cat having its tail stepped on followed by another bang. Her father’s body jerked violently before he heaved her dad’s struggling form into the light. Her dad was very obviously not happy and was clutching a blanket with a white-knuckled grip.

“Maia, gather up as much as you can of that pile there on the floor and bring it up to the guest bedroom,” her father instructed as he hoisted her dad into his arms and climbed the stairs, the blanket trailing behind them.

When she made it up to the second floor with her armful of old clothes and stuffed animals, she saw her father still holding her dad, but her dad had now pulled the blanket over his head.

“Put it on the bed,” her father ordered quietly. When she had done as she was told, she stepped back and watched as her dad was laid on top of the small pile. He immediately began shuffling around and making it as he wanted it, all while still being under the blanket. Finally he went still.

“Is Dad okay?” Maia whispered. “Is he sick?”

Her father smiled and lifted her into his arms. “No, poppet. He’s just getting ready.” His silver eyes looked into her black ones. “You’re going to have a baby brother or sister soon.”

“You shouldn’t have told her!” The muffled voice came from under the blanket. “She’ll be confused.”

“Are you confused, Maia?” Draco asked with an eyebrow raised.

Maia thought about it, her gaze moving back and forth from the bed to her father. “No,” she said slowly. “Dad’s going to have a baby. And my dad can have a baby because we are special and can do special things,” she answered.

“Excellent, my daughter,” her father praised and Maia smiled brightly. “Now, come help me move the rest of your dad’s nest up here. It will make him nice and comfortable.”

“I was nice and comfortable!” her dad growled out from under the blanket.

“Yes, but not at all appropriate. I will not have my child born in a closet,” Draco replied haughtily as he set his daughter down. “Come, Maia.”

Maia smiled at her dad, even if he couldn’t see it, and ran after her father. She couldn’t wait to see what kinds of excitement would happen now.

***

Maia watched all of the goings on in her house. Her dad had disappeared into the spare bedroom that everyone had started calling ’the den’. She had liked being in the den playing with the stuffed animals and rag dolls that her dad had collected for his ‘nest’ while he had lain on the bed partially hidden away and watching her. Her dad had said that this was what he had done when he had been waiting for Maia to come.

When her dad had disappeared into the den a few hours previous, her father had started walking around a lot while her Sev stood silently. Then her grandparents had shown up. Maia liked her grandfather. He was pretty and gave her things. But he didn’t give her things this time. He stood in a corner and watched her father walk around.

“Sev, where’s dad gone?” she asked as her Sev finally sat down next to where she was standing in their living room. No, ‘sitting room’, Father called it. Living room was not good, he had explained, because it implied that everything else was dead.

“I do hope, Draco, that you are correcting her on that atrocious accent she is acquiring,” her grandfather commented from his corner. “It’s unfortunate that the Canadian Ministry of Magic was not in one of those French speaking territories.”

“I’m learning French,” Maia piped in, eager for her grandfather’s praise.

“Then I am glad to know you will not be a complete savage when you return to civilization.”

Maia frowned and turned back to her Sev. “Sev, where’s dad?”

“That will be nice when you are fluent, Maia dear.” Maia looked at her grandmother who sat daintily in a chair. “Then you will be able to join me on a tour of France. All the truly best clothing is made there, of course. Not in that vulgar Italy.”

“Of course,” Maia agreed with a nod. Her grandmother went back to her embroidery. Embroidery, her grandmother had explained, was what all ‘fashionable women of an age and station’ did. Maia wasn’t sure what ‘of an age’ meant, but she did want to be fashionable. She decided she’d ask her dad to get her some embroidery. When she found him, that is. She once again turned to her Sev. “Sev? Dad?”

Black eyes just like hers turned to her. “Where do you think he is?”

“He’s in the den, but I don’t know why. It’s making everyone walk around all tight.”

“Think about it and tell me what you come up with,” Severus told her quietly. Maia bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling. Then, while making sure no one saw her, she delicately sniffed at the air. Everyone was fidgety, kind of like when Maia had to see the healer and she didn’t want to drink one of the potions and she’d sit there and sit there, hoping that she wouldn’t have to drink it. Yes, that’s what it smelled like to her. At least her father and Sev smelled that way. She could never smell her grandparents or anyone at school. She cast a glance at her Sev and saw that he was watching her. She sniffed again. Frowning, she walked a bit away toward the stairs and sniffed again. Her eyes widened in alarm.

“Daddy!” she called out to her father. “Daddy! Dad’s hurt!” Her father grabbed hold of the banister as he spun around it and ran up the stairs. Sev had stood up and was next to her as they looked upstairs.

“What did you smell?”

Maia’s wide eyes looked up at Severus. She bit her lip, worrying it with her little teeth. “I don’t know. I… I just thought that Dad was hurt.”

Maia was allowed to stay up late and join in the celebrating when her father came down and announced that Harry wasn’t hurt, but wasn’t exactly comfortable either. Draco went to his daughter and lifted her up, a huge smile on his face. A ‘real smile’, her dad called it. “Maia, darling, you are a big sister now. You have two new baby brothers.”

“Two?” Maia asked in shock. “But Dad only had one baby in his belly. Where’d the other one come from?”

All the grown ups chuckled, but Maia never did get her question answered.