SIMple Reflections of Life

Draco made some careful notes upon his parchment, one finger carefully marking his place in the crabbed, tiny writing in the four-inch thick tome on the desk. This new book he\'d gotten from the book dealer was quite old; easily as old as any within the castle library. He\'d learned quickly not to trust the author\'s description of the functions of his potions; one that had been marked as to \'Guarantee You Never Grow Old\' was actually quite a fatal poison. Well, that would have ensured you never grew old, all right… but not by living.



The author of this book was definitely a Dark witch or wizard, but some of the potions were quite good. He\'d found one that actually could reverse the effects of the venom of the Runespoor snake; until now he had only found remedies that would halt the effects and leave the victim forever partially crippled by the venom of that three-headed snake.

He glanced up as Harry moved into the room, his computer bag under his arm. "Hey Dray…"



"Going to play again?" Draco asked offhandedly, focused on what he was doing.



"For a little while; you don\'t mind, do you?" he asked, taking his favorite chair beside the window.



"As long as you turn that blasted thing off when you get in bed from now on, I don\'t…" He retorted, checking his notes over.



Harry grinned softly. "All right, all right; no more computer games in bed."



"Deal." Draco agreed. He heard the game start up and then tuned it out as he finished with the notations; this potion would be expensive and actually quite dangerous to make, but the results and the help it could be to at least one wizard he knew of would be invaluable and worth the effort.



It was over an hour later when he was satisfied with his notes; he was sure he would need to alter this potion somewhat… he looked up at hearing Harry laugh. He watched his fiancée\'s face as he played that silly muggle game. Harry\'s eyes were sparkling, a tender loving smile on his lips; it was clear he was very involved in what was going on. Draco found he was more than a little jealous of the involvement and the clear pleasure Harry was getting simply from playing the game.



"What are you doing now?" he asked to see what had him so happy.



"Teaching the twins to walk." He answered. "I just got them talking a few

minutes ago… come on, baby, come on…" he said encouragingly, never taking his eyes off the screen for a moment.



"You have to teach them to do things?"



"They\'re babies, Dray. You have to teach them everything."



"Even potty training?" he asked with distaste.



Harry chuckled. "Even that." He agreed.



"But surely there\'s a cheat for that!"



"Yes, there\'s a cheat for that, but I don\'t like to use that one. I like to teach them myself; it\'s fun to see them hit all their milestones…"



"Changing nappies isn\'t fun." Draco commented.



"How would you know? You\'ve never done it." Harry answered, glancing at him.



"Oh come off it Harry. How in the bloody hell could changing nappies full of poo be fun?" he asked pointedly.



Harry had to chuckle, turning back to his computer. "Of course THAT isn\'t fun, but babies in general are fun."



"How would you know? You haven\'t changed any diapers or taken care of any

babies…"



"Sure I have; Ron and Hermione have kids, remember?"



"Oh. I never see the babies…"



"That\'s because you treat Hermione like she\'s contagious."



"I do not, I…"



"You do." Harry interrupted. "She\'s not sure how you\'ll treat her daughter so she doesn\'t bring her over. She\'s a gorgeous little thing…" Harry said with a wistful smile.



"I wouldn\'t be snarky to a baby!" Draco said, moving over to lean on the back of Harry\'s chair, gazing at the screen. SimHarry was kneeling on the floor across from the baby girl; the boy was throwing a fit over to the side.



SimHarry was encouraging the baby girl to walk to him. She\'d get up on her feet, toddle a step or two then fall over and whimper. SimHarry would move to her, pick her up and coddle her, then put her back where she started to encourage her all over again. Harry was murmuring right along with the Sim character. Draco watched him, again feeling that bit of jealousy welling up.



"So is the Weasel\'s baby walking yet?"



"Her name is Rosie, Dray. She\'s eighteen months old and she started walking about six months ago." Harry answered.



"Were you there?"



"Yes; she took her first steps at her birthday party. She calls me \'UncaRee\' and she took her first steps from Ron\'s arms to mine that same day." Harry smiled softly as he recalled the afternoon. It had been loads of fun, and Harry had spent the day and night there as Draco had been out on another potions expedition.



"Oh…" he said softly.



"She did it!" Harry crowed as the girl, gurgling and giggling with delight, made the first full trip to her father\'s arms. SimHarry hugged her and danced about with her. Draco felt strangely left out. "Oh what a smart little girl!" Harry crooned to the screen, beaming.



"Well where am I? Why aren\'t I there?" Draco demanded, pouting.



"I\'m not sure; let me see." He clicked on the SimDraco icon and the screen switched to upstairs, where SimDraco was… dancing…?



"What is that? What am I doing? Make me stop that!" Draco insisted as SimDraco did the same movements over and over. Whatever he was doing looked like it was some sort of a fit, but it was to the rhythm of the music.



"It\'s the Smustle; hang on." Harry clicked to make him stop dancing.



"The what?"



"A Sims dance. They like to do it, it makes them happy."



"Well… I think it\'s creepy."



"You should see it when a whole room full of Sims are doing it at the same time…"



"Ugh! I\'ll pass. So… hey. You\'re not pregnant anymore. What was it?"



"A boy." Harry smiled.



"A boy WHAT?" Draco added.



"Oh… he\'s a little special." Harry answered, clicking on a little icon and the camera zoomed to a child sitting in front of the toilet. To Draco\'s horror, the child was splashing in the toilet, squealing happily. Water was all over the bathroom in huge puddles. "Harry, get that baby out of the loo!" He demanded.



"I\'ll send you to get him…" Harry said, clicking on SimDraco and sending him to correct the younger baby.



"Oh how disgusting! Look at the mess he\'s made… oh Merlin! He\'s sick! The baby\'s turned green!" Draco murmured.



Harry laughed. "Playing in the loo won\'t turn a baby green."



"But he IS green, look at him!"



"He\'s an alien baby. I told you, the aliens got my Sim pregnant…"



"Damn aliens better keep their hands off my boyfriend!" Draco growled irritably.



Harry smirked. "They\'re married, Dray." He reminded.



"Well why aren\'t we?" Draco demanded. "I will NOT be outdone by a simulated creature!"



That pulled his attention away from the screen. Harry looked up at him, rather startled. "What…?"



"Marry me, you idiot." Draco said. "We\'ll elope tonight."



"Elope? Your mother will have an absolute fit!"



"And if we DON\'T elope, mother will be planning the wedding for nearly a year!"



"But we have classes the day after tomorrow…"



"So you\'re telling me no?"



"No! I mean, no I\'m not telling you no but, elope? Are you sure…?"



"Harry James Potter, I am asking you to marry me. Is that a Yes or a No?" Draco asked impatiently.



"Not very romantic, Malfoy, but yes, of course I will…" Harry couldn\'t help but chuckle at the whole situation.