Knotting is Fair in Love and War by Beyond (Part 2)

[bella526]

Here is the second part!


Chapter 3

While the new house-elf had been a success so far - granted, the house was now slightly Muggle in taste, but it was better than it had been - seeing his mother had not gone over as planned. He had not been able to tell her about the knotting, and had made sure that Sirius hadn't either. She didn't even know that he was expecting a litter instead of a baby, and when she saw what condition he was in immediately insisted he have an abortion. Draco had a hard time explaining to her why he didn't want that.

He couldn't well tell her that while he was shit-scared of everything still to come, especially giving birth, he was really quite comfortable with the idea of having been bred, of Sirius owning him. Of having the result of Padfoot knotting him and pumping him full of dog come growing inside him. He really couldn't tell her that, and blushed bright pink instead.

Narcissa had tried to hex Sirius, and when that hadn't worked, had told Draco she'd give him a day to think about it and would be back, when he'd see sense.

Draco had however, not seen sense a day later, and not the next either. The prospect of raising five Animagus pups was scary, but now that he'd already been envisioning doing just that for months, the prospect of doing away with them was unthinkable.

Undeterred by Draco's wishes, Narcissa had tried to poison Sirius, which had been prevented by Totty, and just when she was in the middle of aiming a curse at her weary cousin, who'd mentioned to Draco once or twice already that the only reason he hadn't killed her (yet) was because she was the grandmother of his pups, Kingsley Shacklebolt showed up and disarmed her.

"Let's try to keep our heads cool," he urged.

"You did it out of spite!" Narcissa accused Sirius.

He turned to her and said, "I didn't, but what if I had? What would it change?"

"See? He's only doing this to you because he hates us!" she told Draco.

Draco still didn't know what to say. That he didn't feel particularly hated by Sirius and Padfoot, least of all when there was sex, was not an adequate argument, certainly not in front of the Minister of Magic. When Narcissa tried to wrestle Shacklebolt for her wand, the only reason she
was not arrested on the spot was because Draco begged the Minister not to and Sirius nodded his agreement.

Shacklebolt escorted her out, telling Sirius they could talk about what he'd come to discuss the next day at the Ministry.

"You know she'll keep this up until she manages to kill me, don't you? Or until I end up killing her in self-defence?" Sirius told Draco.

Draco nodded, defeated. His mother wasn't going to support any of his choices.

Sirius put an arm around his shoulders and said, "Look, if you need someone to talk to, about this pregnancy stuff... Molly or--"

Draco shook his head.

"Tonks. Come on, she's had a baby with a werewolf, fairly recent. I know it's not the same, but it's better than sitting around moping and hoping your mum won't kill me or our pups next time we let her into the house."

Draco took a deep breath, thinking that at least Tonks was related. Molly too, but she didn't have the experience of giving birth to something sired by a canine.

"All right."
---
During the rest of the month, Draco spent most of his time giving Totty instructions on interior decorating. He was growing bigger and refused to go shopping for anything, and started wearing Sirius' robes when his belly outgrew his, tailored to his usually slender frame.

On the day that he'd decided he'd have one big crib and one big dogbed, so his pups could all sleep together in whatever shape, he found Sirius had come home early and was aiding Totty with the finishing touches of the drawing room.

He was holding a picture that looked like him when he was younger. When Draco took a closer look, he saw it wasn't Sirius, but his late brother, Regulus. Paler and with more delicate bone structure, he had been heartbreakingly beautiful. Sirius sighed deeply.

"Put it over the hearth," Draco urged.

"But..."

"He deserves it. A place of honour."

Sirius nodded. "He--you remind me of him. I mean--uhm, not that, you know. You're different, but still."

Draco shrugged, it didn't bother him, and it wouldn't have bothered him if there'd been something scandalous about how Sirius had felt for his younger brother. Nothing could surprise him anymore after finding out about Stubby Boardman's true identity (a Black and Sirius' twin,
presumed stillborn because of a genetic condition caused by inbreeding, but found and raised by Goblins), Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (also a Black and presumed dead until the war, because of the same condition) and her lurid relationship with Argus Filch (thank fuck, not a Black; Draco had knocked on wood repeatedly after making sure).

Sirius thought it was hilarious that the fact that Filch was a Squib was what disturbed Draco most about the affair with their wayward relative, spread out over the front page of the Daily Prophet for a week, and not that he was almost old enough to be her grandfather. Nymphadora had
thought it was just awesome, of course, she always acted as if the more scandals there were to ruin their family's image the better.

If Sirius had told Draco something outrageous about Regulus he wouldn't have flinched. But he didn't, and clearly hurt looking at him.

"I don't--I never knew him, but he wouldn't want you to blame yourself," Draco said.

"No, you're right, and he deserves a place of honour. And we'll call our firstborn after him."

"If it's a boy," Draco said.

"Yes, of course."

"We need four other names," Draco said.

That comment had led them into a week of arguing and rows, interspersed with passionate make-up sex, and at the end of the week, they finally had four names. Still all for boys, and Draco hoped they could agree on a few for girls soon. All of them could be boys of course, or all of them girls, and there was still one left in any case.

Calling a truce, they were now having dinner. Still feeling sad when he thought about his mother, Draco asked, "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

Draco looked at him, and said, "I know you didn't do it out of spite. But I don't know why you did do it."

Sirius reached out and ruffled his hair, smiling reassuringly. "I know it's been only, almost, four months? But it seems so far away. Why did I do it? Does there have to be one reason?"

"One that would explain it to me. I did it because... I was lonely and convinced I was going to die because--because my father was more interested in saving his own hide than mine. And I liked how you smelled, how soft and warm your fur was, and felt, and... and I got drunk. I don't even remember most of it. But you weren't. Drunk."

"No, I wasn't. I knew you were scared, without your wand, without anyone to contact. And I turned because Padfoot made you feel less anxious than I did. It also made me able to not have to think about whether I'd have to kill you at some point."

"You would have?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. If it had come down to a choice between you and Harry--"

"What about now? What if it was a choice between me and Harry?"

Sirius shook his head. "We're no longer at war. And we're digressing. I did it because--you got not just less anxious with Padfoot. You got extremely comfortable with him. I wasn't even thinking of it, but I remember being glad that I wasn't scaring the shit out of you anymore. And you liked it when he licked you. Asked for more. Took your shirt off and had him lick your chest. I thought it was funny, Padfoot enjoyed it, the salt on your skin, all the smells. And then you drank what was left of the firewhiskey, and kept stroking my--Padfoot's--fur, telling him how
good that felt, how warm he was. And at some point it got really sensual. It was weird for me too, you know. I'd never done that--James once made a joke about wanting to try something with Lily while he was a stag, and she didn't speak to him for a day and then showed us this line in an old book about how mating with an Animagus awakens dangerous old magic. But I'd forgotten all about that while you were scratching my ears. And then you sort of crawled under me, pulled me on top of you, and when you felt my cock come out of its sheath--because of the friction, you got hard too, and started rubbing off against me. That was when it first occurred to me--"

"What happened then?" Draco asked, mouth dry.

"You pushed me off, and I thought I'd scared you. But instead you took off your pants, turned over, on your knees, with your shoulders and head on the ground, and turned your arse to me. And you reached back to put your hands on your arse and said, 'here boy' while spreading your butt cheeks."

"I did that?"

Sirius nodded, laughing. "You did that. I have to say, it was the nicest arse, and the pinkest hole I have ever seen. But you have to remember that I haven't seen that many, not in recent years anyway. I spent long, miserable years in Azkaban, and after getting out I still hadn't gotten any, I couldn't make it a priority while Harry was in danger, and I often smelled of dead rats, no one would have wanted me. I was sex starved. Still, I thought I'd just lick you until you were satisfied. But then the way you tasted--a dog can smell and taste so much more--the way you
reacted, the way you swayed your hips, moaning, telling me what a good boy I was over and over again, saying 'more, more'... it was amazing. Before I knew it I was thinking with Padfoot's cock, mounting you, in you, and you loved it, you really loved it. That's when a part of me started getting worried that this dangerous magic we might be unleashing could make you pregnant, but since you're not a girl I figured it wouldn't. I told myself that in dog years you weren't a child and that therefore it was okay."

Draco interrupted, "I'm not a child, I'm eighteen."

"Young enough that it might have stopped me in another situation. And in the morning, you woke up and cried and told me you didn't want to be Death Eater anymore. And now we're here."

"I didn't cry."

"You did, and you were still very scared, but not of me."

Draco felt relieved that Sirius--Padfoot knotting and breeding him hadn't been planned. Having finally heard Sirius recount it he also felt hot, and horny. Anxious about the unattractiveness of his ever expanding belly, he asked Totty to serve dessert in the drawing room, where he also drew the curtains by wand and dimmed the lights.

After finishing his coffee and pumpkin pie, Draco wiped his mouth, and slowly slid off the sofa, onto the floor, and in between Sirius' legs.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him when he looked up, but continued to drink his coffee. He didn't put it down until Draco pushed his face into his crotch, breathing deeply.

He grinned and said, "You don't have to do this, you know."

Draco nodded, but he was so eager he caught himself panting, and opened the fly of those stupid Muggle jean pants Sirius insisted on swaggering around in half of the time. "I want to, I really want to taste you," he said.

Making Sirius raise his hips enough to pull the pants down lower, Draco closed his eyes and pushed his face against his belly, right over his cock. He nuzzled the pubes there and breathed in deeply.

Sirius' cock twitched, and he said, "I thought that, as soon as we found out about the pups, you'd not want to have sex again until they were born, and perhaps never again."

Draco shook his head. If anything, after the initial shock he'd only wanted it more. He opened his mouth, and slid it down over Sirius' cock, wetting it and feeling it grow fully hard within seconds.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, and Draco looked up, enjoying the feeling of being looked down on. He sucked, using his tongue to gently manipulate Sirius' foreskin, and felt like purring when Sirius started stroking his hair.

He tilted his hips to get deeper into Draco's mouth, and let his head fall back on the backrest, keeping a hand firmly on Draco's head, urging him on.

Draco enjoyed his first experience sucking cock even more than he had anticipated, and felt his arse starting to leak. He loved the taste and the feel of Sirius' cock in his mouth, reprimanding himself for never having done this before. He didn't worry about his technique, he'd read up,
seen enough Warlock porn, it was easier than hexing someone. Fully intent on letting Sirius come in his mouth, he tried to relax his throat to take him in deeper, all the way.

Sirius' hand tightened in his hair, and a moment later he said, "Stop."

Draco didn't want to and ignored the order.

His head got yanked back, not violently enough to hurt, but firmly enough to make him look up. "I said stop. I don't have as short a refractory period as you do, my wanton little bitch."

Draco licked his lips and smirked at him. As much as he enjoyed being dominated, he also enjoyed that being younger gave him a certain advantage, power.

"Take those robes off. Take everything off," Sirius said, and patted the cushion next to him.

Draco did, trying to hide his belly somewhat, and his breasts, that were now not just embarrassing but heavy, painful often when he moved, swollen. The nipples were tender and he actually felt better naked, exposing them to the cool air.

Sirius kissed him, deep and hard, and Draco felt more wetness welling up from his hole. His cock was fully erect and leaking precum, which didn't bother him. That he was slimed to the knees with the need to get fucked however, ruining the pillow he was on, was something he still
wasn't completely used to.

Sirius felt him up, laughing as he slid his hand through Draco's wetness. He brought a hand up over Draco's balls and belly and smeared his own moisture all the way up, over his breasts, massaging them and pulling his dark pink nipples. "If you don't stay this eager after you have them I swear I'll make Padfoot knot you again. Damn. Say it, how much do you want it, Draco?"

"A lot," Draco answered immediately, hand working up and down Sirius' cock, trying to coax him closer, between his spread legs.

Sirius nibbled his neck and put a hand under him, circling the rim of Draco's slippery hole. "Fuck. In here?" he whispered, and pushed in two fingers at once.

Draco gasped, feeling his arse grip those fingers. He nodded eagerly, put his arms around Sirius' back, and said, "Yes, please, fuck me, fuck me hard."

Sirius let him down on his side, removed his fingers, and slowly eased his cock in. "Draco..."

"Yes?"

"Good?" he asked, and started moving in and out slowly, mouth on Draco's shoulder.

Draco bit his lip, pulled his top leg up higher, and nodded, whispering, "Yes yes yes..."

"Like this, huh?" Sirius asked, picking up the pace.

"Yes, please. And--and--and--"

"And what?"

"Come on my face."

"What?"

"Fuck me... and come on my face when you're ready," Draco repeated.

"Why would I do that?"

"Out of spite?" Draco suggested. "Because my parents still hate you?"

Sirius nipped his skin, groaned, and fucked him faster. "Twisted little bitch, aren't you? Don't bring up your parents while we're doing this, I'll become impotent."

Draco nodded, holding on to Sirius' arm, trying to move with him, trying to keep up. It took just a few more deft strokes over his prostate before Draco came, whimpering into the hand Sirius had next to his face.

Sirius tried to pull out, but Draco tightened his grip, saying, "No."

Bending down for a kiss, Sirius pulled Draco's arm away, but stayed in him. He pulled out of the kiss and said, "This... you're too sensitive, it's got to be agony."

Draco shook his head and tightened his grip again. "No." It was agony, but the sweetest agony imaginable. He'd thought of asking this before several times, but he had never felt he needed it as much as today. His lower body felt half molten, on fire, and he wasn't sure he wasn't going to pass out. His muscles were trying to close down, expel Sirius' cock, still hard and heavy, deep inside him, stretching him, but Draco loved that feeling. He bit his knuckles, keened, and shifted his hips.

Sirius groaned, and waited.

"M--mo--move," Draco whispered.

With Draco still oozing wetness, Sirius could move, some, rocking slowly against him, and it got easier when Draco was able to relax and getting hard again. Sirius made him come again, and then he came dry three times, and when Draco said he couldn't take anymore, Sirius pulled out and came over his chest and the lower half of his face. Draco licked what was on his lips off, and then reached for Sirius' cock, intending to lick him clean.

Sirius stayed his wrist, got up and laughed, saying, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Huh?" Draco wondered.

"I find it--really charming, that you were a blushing virgin and all, but you never go arse to mouth."

"Why not?" Draco asked. He felt robbed.

Sirius scratched his hair and looked at him as if he thought he was a bit simple. "People, you know, shit from there? Don't get me wrong, I adore your arse, above all others, but I'm not going to put anything that's in there in your mouth. I'm going to have a shower, I'll tell Totty to run you
a bath."

Draco felt the blood rise to his face again. He knew where people shat from, what the hell? He did it every morning, like clockwork. But it was his own arse, and...

Slowly coming to his senses, he started wondering himself what had gotten into him. Even for his doing, today he was exceptionally horny.

It didn't get better. During the night, he couldn't sleep, felt itchy somewhere deep inside, where he couldn't scratch, and his hole was oozing so much it soaked his underwear and pajamas and his spot in the bed got too wet to sleep on.

He moved to the couch, and when he still couldn't sleep and he felt so horny his cock was straining, went to wake up Sirius by straddling him and rocking to and fro over his crotch, running his fingers through the hair on his chest and whining for more sex.

Sirius obliged, taking Draco like Draco wanted him to, with his face down and arse up. Not because he didn't want to see his face, but because it was so good and he came so easily like that. Sirius lasted longer this time, and by the end Draco had come dry so often he felt he was either going to cry or pass out.

He didn't do either, and that itch was still there. It was starting to get irritating, until he noticed the itch occasionally turned into a dull throbbing pain.

"You all right?" Sirius, fresh out of another shower, asked. "Shall I ask Totty to get you something?"

Draco shook his head. He was trying to get comfortable, and noticed the pain was coming in waves. It wasn't his belly as much as his lower back. It felt like being hit there by a curse every few minutes.

And then his water broke, with a pop. Feeling it gushing out, he turned to Sirius and whispered, "Give me that towel."

Sirius gave him the towel he had around his hips, looking at him quizzically. "Did... did you wet yourself?" he wondered.

Draco growled at him. Surprised himself, Draco said, "No, I--I-- Uhm. It's happening."

"But you're--not even four months along!" Sirius said, getting into his stupid Muggle jeans after drying himself off with a spell.

"Longer than a dog, right?" Draco said, groaning through another wave of pain gripping him.

"We have to leave for St. Mungo's, we--"

"No," Draco said categorically. He stripped off his underwear with difficulty, breathing through another intense wave of pain. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Draco... what if you need help?"

Draco groaned and bore down. It wasn't just pain now. He could feel something moving inside. "They said--ngh!--they've never--uh--seen a case like this before. Oh shit--and they told me to--mmh!--listen to my body and... unf--my body says it's not moving from this bed. We'd never make it there in time anyway. I'm not moving. Damn! Oh fuck. Nnnngh! I can't move. Can't get up. Not going anywhere."

"Okay, all right. Why not? I was born here too. Totty!"

"Yes, Master?" said the house-elf, who'd already appeared behind Sirius.

"Get--clean towels, hot water, the works!"

"Some tea?"

Draco nodded, so Sirius said, "Yes, tea too, and those Muggle biscuits."

Chapter 4

There was definitely something moving now, and while that was probably good, the contractions were so painful Draco felt as if he was going to throw up. He sobbed but didn't cry, and grabbed the headboard of their bed for leverage. He broke a sweat, and moaned when he felt Sirius' hands on his back, massaging him.

It didn't help much, he was being too gentle, so Draco said, "Harder. Firmer I mean."

Sirius pushed his fingers into his back firmly. That brought some relief, until the next wave of pain rolled over him and something inside him was definitely moving down. Draco wasn't sure, but it felt larger than Sirius' cock. "Shit," he said. He didn't feel prepared for this.

"What can I do?" Sirius asked.

"Just shut up!"

Draco regretted yelling immediately, but he was hurting so bad he was shivering. He couldn't remember being in this much pain, ever, although... He tried to remember Potter using Sectumsempra on him, and a Death Eater the Cruciatus, surely that had been more painful,
hadn't it?

While the pain subsided for a few seconds, he sobbed again and said, "Just... get ready. For when it comes out?"

Sirius nodded and sat next to him, and held him for the next wave of intense pain. Draco thought that it couldn't be long now, and started getting worried about getting torn. Nothing magic couldn't fix, he hoped. He moved one hand from the headboard to Sirius' shoulder, and tried to relax when the pain hit, so the puppy - and he hoped it was a puppy and not a baby because it was too early for a baby - could descend faster.

Wiping his sweaty hair from his brow, Sirius kissed him on the front and said, "Let me floo Tonks, okay? She had Teddy at home too, she'll know what to do."

Draco's first instinct was to shake his head, but then he relented and said, "Just... don't let anyone see me like this. Keep her out of the room."

"I'll do that, promise, be right back."

He left the room, and Draco was on his own, trying not to cry. He wondered what had possessed him, how had he ever been crazy enough to feel that going through with this was a great idea? It had to be the ancient Animagus sex magic, addling his brain while it altered his body. If only he'd listening to his mother.

When the next contraction hit, he cried out at the amount of pain and movement he felt inside himself. He was pretty sure the first puppy had left the womb. And was about to be born, closer with every wave of nauseating agony, squirming inside him. It was torture. It was more pressure than he'd ever felt, and he gasped in surprise when he realized that in spite of the pain, the pressure on his prostate was somewhat pleasurable.

This couldn't be happening.

What had Nymphadora told him, among the heaps of pregnancy related trivia he'd been horrified by? That some women have an orgasm during childbirth?

Since he wasn't a woman, he didn't think he'd have to worry about that, and he'd shut her down when she told him it was perfectly natural, that in fact, when Teddy was born...

Draco was glad he'd covered his ears before he found out how that story ended. But the pup worming past his prostate wasn't helping him not think of it. If it squirmed a little more, less hard somehow than when Sirius was in him, but bigger, he'd come from this? He felt another sickening twist inside him, and felt it coming, unstoppable.

Fuck.

He groaned, turned, and made sure Sirius wasn't back yet. He quickly pushed a pillow under where his cock could start spasming any moment now. He came just when Sirius came back in, but he was already red, sweating, and his groan was like any other groan so far of him biting his
lip in pain. He could act as if nothing of the kind had just happened.

Sirius sat down behind him on the bed and said, "Let me--"

"No!" Draco said, mortified. He didn't want Sirius to look, see a pup come out of his arse. He'd likely never want him, carnally, again after witnessing something like that.

"Let me just touch you then, to check how you're doing," Sirius offered.

Draco guessed he'd have to let him, there was no one else who could help him, and he was too scared to touch himself now, the pressure and the pain already turning him numb.

"O--okay."

Sirius gently put his hand on his lower back, and slid it down. He touched the rim of Draco's hole and said, "It's opening. Wait, there's something... " He bent over and put his head on the bed, looking in spite of Draco having asked him not to do that. "I can see a head! No, a snout!"

Draco cringed. He'd consulted some books, both on human birth and the breeding of puppies, and he guessed there was no 'normal' for his situation.

Another wave of pain rippled through him, and Sirius whispered, "It's coming out, you're doing good."

Draco closed his eyes, trying to breathe, bearing down. He could feel Sirius' hands on him, supporting the puppy as it came out.

"Halfway there! Just a little more," Sirius said.

Draco almost sighed in relief, he could feel that the worst pain was almost over. But then he felt a sudden sharp, wholly different kind of pain, and realized his firstborn had kicked him with one of its hind paws. Right in the prostate. "That hurt," he said, trying not to cry. How was he going to survive four more?

"Just a little more," Sirius said, oblivious.

Draco looked at him as if he were insane, he didn't want a little more tiny paw kicks in the prostate. But Sirius was able to pull the puppy from him without Draco suffering more pain and indignity.

He looked around. It was a black puppy, covered in a glossy, messy membrane, looking completely helpless, eyes closed, but moving, thankfully. Not as big as a human baby, but large enough that Draco couldn't believe it had come out of him. Sirius used a spell he got out of a
pregnancy book lying open next to him to remove the membrane around it, and to sever its umbilical cord. Draco watched it take it's first breath, and shuddered with relief.

"It's a--boy," Sirius said, smiling at Draco. He lifted the puppy up and said, "Regulus."

Regulus yawned, and Draco caught himself smiling a little. He said, "Wrap it--him in a blanket, we have to keep them warm."

He felt another wave of nauseating pain, and more movement and pressure, it almost felt as if he had to pee. Sirius walked off with the squirming puppy held to his chest, to fetch the basket with receiving blankets. Draco breathed. If he could just make it past the next two, then he could probably handle the last two too.

There was a knock on the door.

"I'm here if you need me! How are you doing?" Nymphadora yelled through it.

Draco groaned through another wave of pain, and looked at the clock. Half an hour had passed since he'd gone into active labour, and he hoped he wasn't stuck like this, suffering, for another two hours. He huffed, and could hear Sirius behind him, opening the door just a little to show their firstborn to their cousin. Draco didn't even feel like yelling at her to stay out anymore, but then heard the door close and Sirius come back to his side, alone with the pup.

He held Regulus, wrapped in a blanket with only his snout and wriggling front paws showing, and rubbed Draco's lower back slowly. "How are you doing?"

Draco wasn't sure. He felt quite numb, inside, and wasn't sure what was moving how when anymore, just that the contractions still hurt a lot.
"Another one, soon, I think."

"Don't worry, I'll get him. Or her." He put Regulus down near Draco, where he couldn't roll off the bed.

Draco nodded, and bore down when he was hit with another bout of intense pain. This one's fast, he thought, and looked behind him, where Sirius was reaching under him again.

"Good, coming out now... yes!" He smiled wide and turned their next squirming puppy over once he'd cleaned it. It was black too, and Draco had no idea how they were going to tell them apart. He looked at Regulus, who was yawning.

Sirius checked the second one, and said, "Another boy. What do you want to name it?"

Rubbing his already somewhat deflated belly, still afraid to check what birth had so far done to his ass, Draco said, "Aldebaran." It was one of the other three boy's names they'd picked, and they still didn't have a fifth, nor any girl's names.

Except for Regulus, Sirius had balked at recycling any other old family names. Too much bad blood he'd said, and he'd also not wanted to give any of them his own first name. Draco had refused to give his children a common, Muggle-like name, so they had had their work cut out for them.

"Aldebaran it is. I'll mark their blankets with their names, so we don't mix them up later," Sirius said. He wrapped this puppy too and put it down next to its brother. Then he pulled his wand out and created embroidery with their names on the blankets. Draco was overcome with nauseating pain again, closing his eyes and trying to breathe through the horrible contractions. One more and he would be fine.

The third was even faster, and Draco had to tell Sirius to catch it, quickly.

"And another boy!" Sirius said, and wrapped the black puppy up deftly. He put it next to its brothers and looked at Draco.

"Antares," Draco said, barely able to catch his breath before he was overwhelmed with pain again.

Sirius charmed the name on their third son's blanket, and turned to Draco. While Draco pushed, he kissed his front, whispering, "You're doing great. They are beautiful."

Draco didn't know how he felt about that. If they stayed dogs for who knew how long he wasn't sure he wanted to tell people that they were his children. On the other hand, they were the cutest things he'd ever seen and when he wasn't reeling from the pain, he was overwhelmed with something else, looking at them. It took him a while to identify that feeling as love, unconditional love.

By then, the fourth pup was squirming out of him, and was the first to give a small, plaintif yap as soon as it was out and in its father's hands.

"Barking already, takes after me," Sirius said, laughing. "It's another boy. Fomalhaut?"

Draco nodded, thinking that it couldn't be long now. Just one more, and he could start worrying about himself, try to clean up, see how bad the damage was. They didn't have a fifth name, but they could think about that in the days to come.

He waited for the pain to come, drank a glass of water, and busied himself making sure the first four weren't cold, that they were tucked in tight enough. They looked so helpless, and Draco wondered how he was going to feed them if they stayed dogs. All throughout his pregnancy he'd been glad that he hadn't grown three extra nipples, but now he realized how that could have been practical.

Sirius rubbed his back, and when he saw that Draco was fine for the time being, walked over to the door again, sticking his head out and talking to the people in the hall. From the sound of it, it wasn't just Nymphadora waiting there, but her husband and their toddler too.

Draco already regretted calling them. After all, he'd done fine by himself so far. He breathed, got a little more comfortable, and waited for the next contraction. Five minutes later, it still didn't happen, his labour had stalled. He looked at the clock again, at his four puppies that were squirming, napping, and occasionally yawning, looking comfortable all together and swaddled in blankets. There was supposed to be one more in there, so why didn't it come?

He turned and said, "Sirius?"

Sirius closed the door and walked back to the bed. "What is it?"

"It's not coming. Do you think--there's something wrong?"

"I don't know. Could be fine, I guess."

"I guess," Draco said, counting on his magic to protect his pup as much as it had protected himself during the pregnancy.

"Maybe you should drink something warm before you start worrying. Totty?"

Totty appeared by his side, and being the excellent worker that she was, had cup of milk tea, exactly how Draco liked it, and just the right temperature to drink.

"How do you feel?" Sirius asked, rubbing his back and taking the cup from Draco when he'd downed everything in it.

"Fine. Numb down there, but apart from that, fine."

"Let's wait a little longer, and if you feel as if something's wrong, I'll contact St. Mungo's."

Draco nodded and looked at his puppies. If the last one didn't make it… four wasn't bad. The idea of losing one now made him feel like crying, and he told himself not to be stupid, that for the time being, it was just a dog.

Then his contractions finally started up again, slowly at first, but half an hour later he could finally feel the last one coming down. Exhausted, he groaned and pulled Sirius closer to catch it.

"See?" Sirius said. "Must have liked it a little too much in there. I know the feeling."

Draco didn't respond. He was still a little worried. He groaned when his sphincter was stretched wide again during the last contraction, and relaxed, as much as he could, when the last one too kicked him square in the prostate. He didn't even feel bad about it, it meant it was alive, that all his pups - perhaps some day his children - had made it.

Behind him, Sirius laughed and said, "This one takes after you."

He shifted and showed Draco their last puppy. It was pale blond, almost white. Draco smiled, trying not to cry. At least one of them took after him, and he felt some pride, in spite of it being a dog.

"It's a girl," Sirius said, swaddling it. "Your choice what to name her, just remember that Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Walburga are not options."

Draco nodded, reaching for his last puppy. She squirmed in her blanket, and yawned. "Scipa." he said.

"Scipa? Scipa it is," Sirius said, charming the name on her blanket.

Just when he thought that he was done, Draco was hit with another contraction. He put Scipa with her brothers and looked down at himself.

"What's wrong?" Sirius wondered, putting an arm around him.

"I don't know. Think there could be one more?" Draco said, hugging his cramping abdomen. He was happy to see he looked a whole lot slimmer already, and that his skin wasn't stretched terribly.

"They said five at St. Mungo's," Sirius said. "I wouldn't mind one more though."

"There's definitely--something more," Draco said. He groaned through the pain, and felt it slip out. Not a puppy, something smoother. Several things. He guessed he should have read more than the first few pages in the books he'd consulted on childbirth.

"It's fine, those are the afterbirths," Sirius said.

"What--" Draco whispered, trying not to panic.

"The placentas, what they're attached to for nourishment and air. Haven't you read these books? Nothing to worry about. Just four of them. I guess that means two of them are identical twins." Sirius said. He wrapped a towel around them and put them aside, with the wet towel Draco had used when his water broke.

"You have to eat it!" Nymphadora yelled from behind the closed door.

Wonderful, they've been eavesdropping, Draco thought.

"What?" Sirius called back.

"You should eat the placentas. For the nutrients. Trust me, animals do it too. Muggles put them in skin creams and pills. Give them to Totty to prepare, should be in the cookbooks downstairs."

Draco wasn't sure that anything endorsed by Nymphadora was necessarily a good idea, but Sirius had already handed the afterbirths to Totty.

Sirius looked at his hands, and then licked them.

Draco cringed. "Don't do that."

Sirius shrugged. "I've had raw meat before. Never this fresh. Tastes fine. Let's get you comfortable."

Draco nodded, he wanted nothing more than to get even halfway comfortable. He turned over gingerly. He was both sore and numb, sorer and number than he'd ever been in his life. Not even Padfoot knotting him had made his arse feel this destroyed. He still felt like crying, but a look at his litter made him feel a little better.

Sirius wiped him off with a towel dipped in hot water, put clean towels under him, and tucked him in. "Try to sleep, I'll be right here. I'll wake you up later, okay?"

Draco nodded. He felt dog tired, but he couldn't keep his eyes off his newborn pups, dozing rather than sleeping, feeling somewhat content.

With Draco covered up and Totty busy in the kitchen, Sirius got up quietly to let Nymphadora, Remus, and Teddy in. They came over to the bed, tip-toeing in an effort to be quiet.

"Bubbies!" Teddy said, reaching out for Draco's pups excitedly, but he was on his mother's arm and couldn't reach.

His mother laughed and said, "You can't play with them yet. Oh, how cute!"

Remus looked at Sirius and said, "Congratulations, you old dog."

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Sirius said, the pride in his voice unmistakable.

Remus nodded, laughing and shaking Sirius' hand. Draco thought that perhaps he wasn't so bad, for a werewolf. Since he wasn't ready to admit that, he continued to pretend he was out of it.

Then, before their eyes, Regulus yawned and turned.

Draco's eyes were wide open. Regulus had turned into a baby, a regular newborn baby, with pitchblack hair. The blanket got loose around him, and a moment later he started to whimper and cry.

"Feeding time," Nymphadora said. She handed Teddy to Remus and shooed them out the door.

Then she rolled up her sleeves, and helped Draco sit up. Sirius swaddled the blanket around Regulus again, and picked him up, but in the meanwhile Fomalhaut had turned too. He was a little smaller than his oldest brother, but overall looked perfect, and Draco smiled when he picked him up, counting his fingers and toes, too relieved for words.

Nymphadora sat down next to him and said, "It's important to get a good start on this, especially for you, since there's five of them, and you don't want to give them powdered milk like a Muggle."

Draco nodded, he couldn't bear the thought. Nothing that went into his babies' mouths would be produced by a common Muggle in one of those horrid Muggle factories, the very idea, it was repugnant.

"You just hold them like this, perhaps one in each arm, and Sirius can hush the others if they're crying--let's see if you can get them to latch on." She motioned at his shirt.

Draco blanched. He had to show her his breasts? He gulped, swallowed his pride, and opened the buttons.

Sirius handed him Regulus and picked up Fomalhaut instead, rocking him until Draco had Regulus near his breast. The baby was rolling its head from side to side, and Draco was worried until it found his nipple by itself and sucked down, hard. He felt something, like a flow, from inside his breast into Regulus' mouth.

Nymphadora smiled. "See? They know how to do it, you just have to let them. When you're not nursing, or even while you're nursing, you have to make sure you get enough food and fluids yourself, it's incredibly exhausting, and you have five. I can't even imagine how exhausting it's
going to be." She turned to Sirius and said, "He'll need someone here to help him, around the clock."

Sirius nodded, watching his remaining three pups like a hawk. "I'll take a leave of absence, and Totty's here for food and drink, we'll manage I suppose."

"Good," Nymphadora said. She took Fomalhaut from him and put it into Draco's other arm. Like his brother, he latched on greedily almost immediately, and Draco felt like a cow. Seeing the satisfied look on his baby's faces made him feel a little less uncomfortable with the situation,
but not by much.

"It takes some getting used to," Nymphadora said. "But you'll manage."

Draco nodded. He wasn't at all sure he would, but whether he succeeded or failed, he preferred to do it in private.

She got up to leave, and Sirius walked her to the door, asking her not to tell anyone the good news yet, that he'd do that the day after.

He sat back down on the bed and watched Draco nurse. When the babies were done, he took Regulus, for which Draco was grateful because he was heaviest, and held him upright against his chest. "Hold him like this," he said, motioning for Draco to do the same with Fomalhaut. "They might need to burp."

"How do you know that?" Draco wondered.

"I used to watch Harry all the time. This--it's all coming back now."

Draco kept his expression stony. He didn't particularly want to hear about Potter, and especially not now. Fomalhaut burped. It should have been disgusting, but he only thought it was cute. Then Draco almost dropped him because he'd turned back into a puppy, and Regulus was
doing the same in his father's arms.

Sirius laughed. "Well that's easy. If they turn human, they're hungry. Speaking of which... "

Draco turned, and saw that both Aldebaran and Antares had turned too. Like their brothers, both had a thick shock of black hair. He picked them up, put them to his chest, and while he was nursing them, noticed they looked exactly the same. "I think these two are twins," he said.

Sirius nodded. "Runs in the family. I'm just glad they're healthy. Guess we're not that closely related. If they prefer to sleep as puppies, we won't have to worry about getting them into clothes for a while, and I'll make sure to keep them clean and safe. I can't feed them, so..."

Watching his two babies drinking from him contentedly, Draco guessed he didn't have much of a choice. He did worry for how long he was going to have to do this.

Sirius picked up Scipa, still a puppy, stroking her white head. "Since you haven't read those books, puppies typically wean when they're about seven weeks--"

"I'm stuck like this for seven weeks?" Draco asked, incredulously.

"Well yes, at least. The book on humans said that the world average is 4.7 years."

"You must have read that wrong," Draco said, not believing it for a moment.

"Possibly. Anyway, it's not forever."

Draco meant to say something sharp back, but reconsidered. If Sirius could survive twelve years in Azkaban surrounded by Dementors, he would bloody well survive seven weeks, and perhaps longer, surrounded by his own offspring. He just hoped he could teach them that they had to keep their human form when they were a little older and out in public. Not just to spare him embarrassment, but so Muggles wouldn't mistake them for strays and take them to the pound.

When the twins were done, he let Sirius take Antares, and burped Aldebaran himself. The second time around it was already easier. His nipples were tingling, but not sore. Since Spica was still asleep, he put the boys, all pups again too, around her and closed his shirt.

Totty popped up, and with her a full course brunch. It smelled amazing, until she informed them that the meat in it were the placentas Sirius had handed her earlier. She disappeared downstairs again, and Draco wrinkled his nose. Sirius laughed and looked the dishes over, not in the
least grossed out it seemed.

"It smells really good." Sirius took one bite. His eyes widened. "It is really good," he told Draco. He promptly took another bite, and then offered a bite stuck on a fork to Draco. Apprehensively, Draco opened his mouth. It was fine. He guessed he'd be more keen on it if he could forget that it
had grown in his bowel. His womb, technically, but still. It had come out of his ass. Like his pups, and he didn't think they were disgusting.

Once he was sure he could tolerate the taste, he ate all of it anyway, thinking he was going to need his strength. He balked at Sirius ordering up seconds, but shrugged it off when Sirius ate all of it himself. Just when Draco felt full, Spica turned, still in the middle of her pile of brothers.

Draco picked her up, smiling and checking how much she resembled old baby pictures of himself. He leant back, opened his shirt, and let her drink. She was greedy, snorting against his chest like a little piglet, and Draco felt far too relieved to be grossed out. She too turned back into a puppy when she was done, so Draco swaddled her and put her among her brothers. He sighed, drank as much as he could from the water pitcher, and then got up gingerly, surprised he could walk, and make it to the loo, and pee without experiencing any pain. His ass felt as if it had
been through hell though, and even his balls felt somewhat numb and swollen.

He returned to bed and saw Totty had already changed the towels he'd been on for fresh ones, and he hoped dearly that Sirius wasn't just pretending not to be grossed out by all of it.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like a cow," Draco said.

"Really?"

"Yes. And stop looking at me, I look dreadful."

Sirius laughed, shaking his head. "You've never been more beautiful to me."

Draco didn't believe it for a second, but felt warmth well up in his chest in spite of himself, and he let Sirius take his hand, and kiss him, and tell him to sleep.

Two hours later he was awoken by Regulus wanting more milk, soon after Fomalhaut, then the twins, and a little later than the rest of them, his little princess.

Sirius did everything that wasn't feeding and that they didn't want to ask Totty to do. The next day he got up after their first feeding, reminded Draco to eat and drink enough, and told them he had to go to the Ministry of Magic to register their birth, and to register them as Animagi. "I'll be back in half an hour, tops."

He stuck to his promise, but he'd also brought Kingsley Shacklebolt, who congratulated Draco and left the room as soon as Regulus turned human and demanded more milk.

"I've asked him to be godfather," Sirius said, after Kingsley had left.

"Why?"

"Because we need someone neither of us will object to, and I know you object to almost every single one of my friends."

Draco supposed he could agree with that. He still wanted his mother as a godmother for his children, but didn't think she'd agree to do that for five puppies, sired by a man - or dog actually - she still hated.

Draco tried to sleep when he wasn't feeding his puppies, had to be reminded to eat by Sirius or Totty, and tried to sneak in some exercise whenever he got up to use the bathroom. He hadn't gained any weight, but his abdomen wasn't as firm as it had been, and he wanted to do
something about that as soon as possible.

A day later, an owl arrived, with two congratulatory cards - one from Tonks and her werewolf, one from Shacklebolt - and the paper.

Sirius was so proud of his brood he'd taken a half page announcement out in the Daily Prophet. Paranoid about public embarrassment, Draco scanned the page, but there was no reference to their children being born as pups anywhere. He scanned it again, just to be sure. And then a
Howler arrived, addressed to Sirius.

"If you don't open it--"

"It will explode, I know," Sirius said, and took it out of the room while Draco followed. He closed the door and put a silencing charm over it, and Sirius tapped the Howler with his wand. It was from Narcissa, and Draco could honestly say he'd never heard such a stream of obscenities
out of her mouth, all aimed at Sirius, wishing all manner of painful deaths on him. Sirius waited for the ranting to be over, and then burned the envelope before it could slap him in the face.

Draco looked at him, feeling a little apologetic.

Sirius smiled at him and said, "Could have been a lot worse. Could have been another attempt on my life. I think that now she's got that out of her system, she'll come around soon enough."

Yeah right, Draco thought, in another year or fifty. He looked at the announcement again and said, "Aren't you worried this will - open us to ridicule?"

"No. You worry too much about what other people think. Besides, some of the most powerful Wizards in history were ten times as flamboyantly gay as we are, and they weren't ridiculed for it."

Draco thought that had probably something to do with those Wizards not giving birth to dogs. He wanted to tell Sirius he should have consulted with him about the ad, but Aldebaran and Antares - he'd already told Sirius twice to not refer to them as Al and Ant - were squirming, turning human, and about to wake up and want sustenance from him.

He picked them up, held one in each arm, and let them latch on. Now that he didn't feel anxious about having enough milk anymore, and didn't worry as much about being walked in on by people with good advice, it was rather relaxing. It also made him appreciate his mother more. No wonder she loved him as much as she did, if he had also looked at her like that as a baby, completely dependent, completely trusting.

For seven weeks, Draco stuck to a routine of feeding, washing, sleeping, feeding, eating, sleeping, feeding, trying to read, feeding, eating, feeding, eating, exercise, washing, feeding, sleeping, on repeat. It seemed endless and forever, but it was worth it to see his babies in human form, and since they were sleeping for longer stretches during the night, it became a little less exhausting every day. On the first morning of the eight week, he woke up without his litter next to him.

He panicked. As babies, they were still too young to move around much independently, but as puppies they were increasingly mobile. They could be anywhere, stuck under a chest, in the fireplace...

He looked under the bed, and got out hurriedly when he saw they weren't there either, throwing on a robe. He found all five of them in the kitchen, eating cereal mixed with milk from personalized bowls, on the spic-and-span floor of the kitchen, while Padfoot stood guard next to
them. They were enthusiast and messy eaters, but since they were bigpawed puppies with large, floppy ears, he guessed that couldn't be helped. He sat down and let Totty bring him a cup of tea, while Padfoot turned back into Sirius, grinning.

Draco debated protesting this sudden change of routine, but on the other hand, he wanted his body back. Their litter seemed overjoyed with the independence their fast growing puppy bodies allowed them, and took to turning human only to sleep or when they wanted Draco or Sirius to hold them and rock them.

Since they still slept a lot, Draco gave Sirius the green light for visitors other than Tonks and her family, and the Minister.

The first to show up, rather a bother since Sirius was at the Ministry and Draco wasn't sure what to talk about, was Potter. He stood in the door looking awkward, with five boxes, four blue and one pink. Draco told him to come in, and showed him the babies. They were all in one bed, and all mercifully human for the time being.

Potter smiled at them, and turned to Draco. "I--er, I don't really know anything about babies. But I'm happy for you." He reached his hand out, and said, "For Sirius?"

Draco nodded, and shook his hand. He didn't have to like Potter, but he could get along with him if he had to.

A few hours after Potter had left, Molly and Arthur Weasley arrived. Draco was nervous because he thought the babies might change for their afternoon snack any second now, and he was sure Molly would not approve of them eating from bowls on the floor, even as puppies. Or using the garden instead of the potty.

But they too left soon, and Draco found himself oddly touched by the hand-knitted cardigans she'd made for his offspring. They reminded him of the dodgy jumpers all the Weasley children had worn at Hogwarts, but it was better than what his own mother had got him so far.

Absolutely nothing. He looked down in the crib, saw his helpless babies change into the rowdy puppies they had become, ready for play time, and wondered what it would take for him to ever stop caring about them.

But then one day, when the puppies were almost three months and tearing through the house relentlessly during daytime, needing Totty to keep them out of danger and to make repairs on things they'd chewed on or torn, Narcissa did deign to show up. Together with the Minister of
Magic.

Worst possible moment, Draco thought, while his mother kissed his cheeks and acted as if she hadn't ignored him for months, and threatened to kill the father of his children, repeatedly.

If she wanted to see the babies, she was going to be disappointed. He wasn't even sure where exactly they all were, although the rowdy yapping from the second floor indicated that at least three of them were having fun in there abusing the library's contents. The one thing he could count on was that, when they were tired, they jumped into their bed and changed into babies there, instead of doing it just anywhere, which would have robbed him of his last nerve.

His mother had news, she told him, after giving him five commemorative silver spoons, with the names of all five babies engraved. Draco sat down. He supposed her news involved him getting disinherited and removed from the Malfoy family tree, and that Shacklebolt was there just as a precaution, in case she tried to kill Sirius again. Totty brought them all tea and biscuits, and discreetly kicked one of the puppies' toys under the couch.

Narcissa blushed, and Draco wondered what in the world. Menopause, perhaps? But he didn't dare suggest it.

"I'm divorcing your father," she announced.

Draco wished he had been shocked, but he was relieved instead. Now that he had his own children, his father's actions, and inaction at times, was even harder to fathom to him. He had periods in which he was sure he hated him, while at other times he just felt pity.

"And we are getting married next autumn," Narcissa added.

Draco wasn't sure what she meant by 'we'. Then he looked at her blush again, and the faint smile on the Minister's lips, and bit back a grin.

He was thinking, How very Slytherin of you, mother, but thought it would be bad form to say that. And besides, next to the werewolf and Potter, Shacklebolt was closer to Sirius than anyone else they knew. "I suppose this means I can stop worrying about you killing Sirius?" he wondered.

Narcissa nodded, smiling apologetically.

"Congratulations," Draco said, and wondered if Sirius had been aware of this development, and hadn't told him because he didn't want to upset him.

Totty discreetly informed him that the puppies had all returned to their bed and were fast asleep, as babies. And because of the visitors, Totty had put their best clothes on them, instead of merely swaddling them in a blanket.

Draco invited his mother and his soon to be stepfather to come and have a look. Narcissa looked relieved that at least one of the babies reminded her of Draco as a baby, taking a shine to little Spica immediately. Draco wondered if he could negotiate with Sirius to let her be godmother after all.

Considering his mother's blush again, he realized that she probably had a more active sex life than he had at the moment. Her impending second marriage didn't bother him in the least, it was being half her age, at least as attractive, and not feeling half as desired that did.

He resolved to seduce Sirius that very night, and started preparing after he'd shown his mother and Shacklebolt out.
---

TBC...