Art work!
ile-o offered to do a piece of art work for the help_japan auction. Since I was the winner and a shameless whore about it, I asked if she would do a picture of a story I wrote a couple of years back called Dia De Los Muertos. It's probably not my best H/D story, but it is the one closest to my heart.
Anyway, here's the picture and its scene under the LJ-cut. If you want to see it directly on her page, here's the link here.
Draco walked back into their home and, as expected, found Harry in the baby’s room, sitting on the rocking chair they had bought. It was their first real purchase for the baby. In his lap were two books opened, one on top of the other. The bottom book, Draco recognized, was one of their many books about the care and feeding of infants and the book on top was the photo album that Hagrid had given Harry all those years ago after his first year at Hogwarts. As Harry sat there, his hands gently stroked what must have been one of the many photographs that showed his parents. He was lost in his own thoughts, his face awash with a terrible sadness.
Draco was standing in the doorway to the room. He was silently watching Harry while leaning on the doorframe. He was willing to wait until Harry noticed him before he spoke. He could only imagine what Harry was thinking, but he thought it would be best to let the man have his moment, lost in thought.
After a few minutes, or maybe it was closer to an hour, Harry mildly shook his head and raised it to notice that his husband had been leaning in the doorway watching him. He didn’t trust his voice enough to speak and so he simply nodded up to see what was going on with Draco.
“Hey, I was just walking by the baby’s room, and I noticed that you had one of those “Everything You Wanted To Know About Babies, But Were Afraid to Ask” books. Did you find anything interesting in there?” Draco said. He didn’t want to give any impressions that he had been an observer on a private, unguarded moment of Harry’s nor did he want to let him know that he had been waiting.
Harry looked at him confused for a minute, before he lifted the photo album to see the baby book that was nestled between the picture book and his thighs. “I was looking at the section about when to introduce solid foods to babies and when to wean them off of formula when I got to thinking about my mother. So, I Accio’d the photo album to look at her.”
Draco made his mouth form a silent “Oh” as he walked into the room and squatted in front of his husband, placing one hand on Harry’s knee. He looked up into forest green eyes and gently asked, “So, what were you thinking about, Harry?”
Harry turned the photo album and showed Draco a picture of her right after she had given birth to Harry. Her hair was matted to her face, and part of her looked exhausted. Her eyes though, were shining in radiance as she held her newborn son, for the first time, in her arms.
“I was wondering about her,” Harry began. “Do you think she had completely finished breast feeding me when she died?” he asked. His voice was small and almost afraid to hear the answer or know the truth, regardless of what Draco knew.
Before he answered, Draco paused for a moment. He didn’t want to answer hurriedly or even seem off-handed in his response. He knew this was a field of emotional mines he was walking through, and he wanted each step to be as delicate as a rose petal and just as fragile. So, he reached his hands out, gently closed the books and placed them on the floor next to the rocking chair. Then, he very softly touched and brought together each of Harry’s hands and embraced them, warm and securely within his grasp. Then, he waited again. When he knew that he had Harry’s complete attention, he spoke very quietly.
“I think, Harry, that no matter what your mother was doing then to care for you, that without any doubt, she did it with the utmost in parental love. I think that is more important than whether she fed from her breast or a bowl full of mush.
“We don’t know about the past, but we can determine the future. In a couple of years from now, we’ll have a child of our own who’ll be close to a year and a half. Then we’ll be so busy with diapers, feedings, and chasing him or her that we’ll be thankful for a little bit of quiet time. Maybe then we’ll be able to answer this question.”
Anyway, here's the picture and its scene under the LJ-cut. If you want to see it directly on her page, here's the link here.
Draco walked back into their home and, as expected, found Harry in the baby’s room, sitting on the rocking chair they had bought. It was their first real purchase for the baby. In his lap were two books opened, one on top of the other. The bottom book, Draco recognized, was one of their many books about the care and feeding of infants and the book on top was the photo album that Hagrid had given Harry all those years ago after his first year at Hogwarts. As Harry sat there, his hands gently stroked what must have been one of the many photographs that showed his parents. He was lost in his own thoughts, his face awash with a terrible sadness.
Draco was standing in the doorway to the room. He was silently watching Harry while leaning on the doorframe. He was willing to wait until Harry noticed him before he spoke. He could only imagine what Harry was thinking, but he thought it would be best to let the man have his moment, lost in thought.
After a few minutes, or maybe it was closer to an hour, Harry mildly shook his head and raised it to notice that his husband had been leaning in the doorway watching him. He didn’t trust his voice enough to speak and so he simply nodded up to see what was going on with Draco.
“Hey, I was just walking by the baby’s room, and I noticed that you had one of those “Everything You Wanted To Know About Babies, But Were Afraid to Ask” books. Did you find anything interesting in there?” Draco said. He didn’t want to give any impressions that he had been an observer on a private, unguarded moment of Harry’s nor did he want to let him know that he had been waiting.
Harry looked at him confused for a minute, before he lifted the photo album to see the baby book that was nestled between the picture book and his thighs. “I was looking at the section about when to introduce solid foods to babies and when to wean them off of formula when I got to thinking about my mother. So, I Accio’d the photo album to look at her.”
Draco made his mouth form a silent “Oh” as he walked into the room and squatted in front of his husband, placing one hand on Harry’s knee. He looked up into forest green eyes and gently asked, “So, what were you thinking about, Harry?”
Harry turned the photo album and showed Draco a picture of her right after she had given birth to Harry. Her hair was matted to her face, and part of her looked exhausted. Her eyes though, were shining in radiance as she held her newborn son, for the first time, in her arms.
“I was wondering about her,” Harry began. “Do you think she had completely finished breast feeding me when she died?” he asked. His voice was small and almost afraid to hear the answer or know the truth, regardless of what Draco knew.
Before he answered, Draco paused for a moment. He didn’t want to answer hurriedly or even seem off-handed in his response. He knew this was a field of emotional mines he was walking through, and he wanted each step to be as delicate as a rose petal and just as fragile. So, he reached his hands out, gently closed the books and placed them on the floor next to the rocking chair. Then, he very softly touched and brought together each of Harry’s hands and embraced them, warm and securely within his grasp. Then, he waited again. When he knew that he had Harry’s complete attention, he spoke very quietly.
“I think, Harry, that no matter what your mother was doing then to care for you, that without any doubt, she did it with the utmost in parental love. I think that is more important than whether she fed from her breast or a bowl full of mush.
“We don’t know about the past, but we can determine the future. In a couple of years from now, we’ll have a child of our own who’ll be close to a year and a half. Then we’ll be so busy with diapers, feedings, and chasing him or her that we’ll be thankful for a little bit of quiet time. Maybe then we’ll be able to answer this question.”