Title: What Did You Expect?
Author:
sophia_clarkWord Count: 2,852
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Draco
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): Mpreg, fluffiness.
Summary: When your name is Harry Potter, 'normal' isn't even in the dictionary. But there's nothing wrong with that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Beta: Anonymous
Author's Notes: Written for prompt #7.1. I'm pregnant and I'm gay. How is that possible? as part of
hd_cockbook's H/D Cock Fest!
Harry Potter's life had always been full of the unexpected and the slightly (or in many cases not so slightly) dangerous. There was everything from mad mass murderers bent on his destruction to snarky boyfriends who held the reins on his sex life. Harry had long ago realized that nothing was ever going to be simple or "normal" for him, and by and large he had accepted that fact. However, the letter lying, seemingly innocently, on the table in front of him was pushing even his already stretched levels of understanding to their breaking point.
What in Merlin's name does she mean by it? Is she trying to be funny? Harry couldn't fathom why Healer Robinson would be making jokes instead of giving him his prognosis, but attempted humor was the only thing his muddled brain was allowing him to contemplate at the moment.
He had only gone in to see a Healer in the first place because Draco was concerned about him. Harry had woken up vomiting each morning this week, he was running a low-grade fever, and to top it all off, he hadn't felt up to shagging for the past two days. He just wasn't in the mood. It was this last problem that seemed to have Draco the most worked up (and truth be told, Harry was a bit worried about that one himself). He and Draco usually had sex at least once a day, an arrangement with which both young men were extremely satisfied. Harry's sudden "lack of appetite" was therefore a distressing mystery that needed to be solved, and quickly.
When the owl had arrived twenty minutes previously with the Healer's message, Harry had been pleasantly surprised by her promptness; he'd only gone to see her that morning, after all. After reading her letter however, he was feeling slightly miffed by the quick reply. She had clearly rushed through analyzing his test results. Or maybe she'd mixed his up with those of another patient. Yes, that must be what had happened. There was certainly no conceivable way that what he had just read (and reread about ten times in disbelief) could be accurate!
Harry was still seated at the kitchen table, staring dumbly at the official-looking piece of parchment and rubbing his head, when Draco swept in five minutes later. Normally the sight of his favorite Slytherin brought an automatic and unconscious smile to Harry’s face, but he was too wrapped up in his thoughts to even notice the blond’s entrance. This did not sit well with Draco, whose life's mission was to cause that smile as often as possible. Also, as he himself so often enjoyed reminding people, he was a “self-centered son-of-a-bitch.” He quite liked being the center of Harry’s world, and had never exactly taken kindly to being ignored, especially by his rival-turned-lover. He paused in the doorway with his hands on his hips and a scowl firmly in place. A full minute passed in this way before Draco realized that his boyfriend was clearly not aware of his presence.
“What do you have there, Harry? It must be extremely important if you’re more interested in it than me." Just then an idea struck him. He smirked and moved closer, trying to see what held Harry's attention. "Say, did you take more nude photos of me while I slept? Let me see, you naughty boy.” Harry’s shaggy head snapped up at once, his eyes huge and bright, and the playful smirk slid off Draco's face instantly. Something was wrong.
"Harry? What is it? What's the matter?" He dropped to his knees at Harry's side, his right hand coming up to rub soothing circles on his distraught lover's back. Harry was very quiet and tense, and Draco was worried. It took quite a lot to get Harry this upset; the impassioned Gryffindor wasn't usually one to hold back his thoughts or feelings.
Harry could not bring himself to say the words. He gestured vaguely to the dratted parchment in front of him, muttering disjointedly,
"Letter...Healer...can't be...nonsense..."
Draco gasped and grabbed for the letter. By now he was far passed worried and on to full-on panic mode. What ailment could Harry have that caused him to look so pale? He had hoped his lover was merely suffering from some virus that would work its way out of his system in a few days. Based on Harry's reaction, however, this was no simple bug.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steady himself. It didn't work, so it was with shaking hands that he scanned the letter from Harry's Healer. The farther down the page he read, the wider his eyes grew, until they were nearly bulging out of his skull. Shaking his head once to clear it, he reread the message three times over just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Reading the same impossible words once more, he was forced to conclude that no, somehow this was not his mind playing tricks on him.
Draco moved to sit in the chair across from his boyfriend, placing the letter on the table between them. He cleared his throat and waited until Harry looked up at him.
"So, you're..." he trailed off, swallowing back the word he still could not believe he had read. Harry looked at him with a mix of fear, confusion and awe in his wide eyes.
"Pregnant, Draco. I'm pregnant."
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Harry was back at St. Mungo's for the second time in as many days. This time however, he was not sweating in Healer Robinson's stuffy little examination room having tests done. Today he was in the much cheerier Dorcas Lowsley Ward. The maternity ward. There were Healers and mediwitches bustling about all around him, and calming music came floating down from somewhere unseen. On the walls were paintings of all manner of cute animals frolicking through fields. It all made Harry's head spin. Luckily, he had Draco beside him, holding his hand as they approached a door at the end of the ward. Draco had been adamant that they take Healer Robinson's advice and see a specialist as soon as possible, so here they were.
With her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun and glasses perched at the end of her nose, Healer Martin struck a strong resemblance to Professor McGonagall upon first sight. As soon as she smiled broadly and bid them both warmly into her office, however, the resemblance seemed less pronounced.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, do come in! I was ever so excited to hear from you yesterday. This is such a wonderful time in any couple's life, and I'm so very glad you've come to me! I'll be happy to answer all your questions after I run some tests. Sit tight." With that, she left the room, closing the door behind her. Harry and Draco stared bemusedly at one another.
The number of thoughts and emotions warring in Harry's mind was dizzying. He was still in shock that he, a man, was pregnant. He had had no earthly idea that something like this could happen. Why had no one told him? He knew he wanted a family; that was definitely true. He had always hoped to one day have a partner and children to share his life with. He had assumed however that those children would be adopted, due to his fondness for other males. Well, specifically one other male. And therein lay another big issue.
Draco.
Harry was worried about how his boyfriend of eight months was taking the news that he was to be a father. Draco hadn't said much since reading the letter yesterday afternoon, other than insisting they go to a specialist. He had made a few Floo calls, scheduled the meeting with Healer Martin, the only expert on male pregnancies in Britain , and then disappeared into his study. He only did this when he needed to be alone to think through something important. Harry wished that they had had time to talk. He loved Draco, and he hoped like hell that this baby would bring them closer, rather than break them apart.
Just as he opened his mouth to ask how Draco felt, the office door reopened. Healer Martin came walking backwards through the door, wheeling a cart with a number of oddly shaped instruments and a few bottled potions after her. Harry closed his mouth. He would have to wait until they got home to see where Draco's head was.
"Alright, lads. Let's get to it! First thing's first, let's see if you need to be talking with me at all. I trust Healer Robinson's assessment, of course, but male pregnancy is so rare that I'd just like to see for myself. I mean, the last recorded male-birth in Britain was a decade ago! That's why I have so few fellow experts in the field. There just isn't a high demand."
As she spoke, Healer Martin was busily checking and preparing her tools for the examination. Harry couldn't keep his eyes off the things on the cart, wondering what each was used for. He glanced over at Draco, who was watching the Healer intently, clearly hanging on her every word. Harry shook his head slightly, and refocused on the woman advancing toward him.
"Now, Mr. Potter--"
"Harry, call me Harry please."
"Harry, then. Well, Harry, if you could drink this potion for me? If you aren't pregnant, it will simply be like drinking a glass of pumpkin juice. But if you are, then--"
Healer Martin stopped speaking and clapped her hands, seemingly in response to Harry's shudder of revulsion and exclamation of disgust. The potion had rather unpleasantly reminded Harry of drinking Skele-Gro.
"Oh, how wonderful! Congratulations, Harry! To both of you! You're going to be fathers!" She was beaming and nearly vibrating with excitement. Harry jumped slightly in his seat when Draco's hand gripped his suddenly and squeezed. He looked over at his boyfriend to find that Draco was still staring at the Healer.
"Thank you, Healer. Can you tell how far along Harry is? If the baby is healthy?" Harry once again tore his eyes away from Draco and wondered why he had not thought to ask these questions first. Must still be the shock.
"Of course, Draco, - may I call you Draco? - I have just what I need right here." She took something that looked like a doctor's stethoscope from the table and asked Harry to lift up his shirt. From what he could remember of the few doctor's visits the Dursleys had taken him to, Harry was expecting it to be cold. He was pleasantly surprised therefore that warmth spread outward across his abdomen as soon as the instrument touched him.
Healer Martin had her eyes closed as she listened. For what exactly Harry was not sure, but he kept still and quiet so as not to disrupt her. After about fifteen seconds of silence, she straitened, her eyes opening wide and the beaming smile that looked so natural on her face creeping up again.
"The baby feels perfectly healthy, dears. Her magical signature is incredibly strong! Though looking at who her fathers are, that's not surprising in the least!"
"She's a...a she?" Draco spoke softly, his eyes huge and round. Harry hoped he was not imagining the wonder he heard in Draco's voice.
"Oh yes, you've most definitely got a little girl here. It shows in her magic. Would you like to see her? There may not be much to see yet, but the image will help determine how far into your pregnancy we are."
Harry nodded mutely, amazed that not only was he having a baby, but he was about to look at his baby, his daughter for the first time. Merlin. He was going to have a daughter!
Healer Martin smiled at him reassuringly as she picked up another bottle. Seeing the grimace on Harry's face at the thought of more revolting potions, she chuckled.
"Not to worry, dear. You don't drink this one."
She flipped the bottle over, pouring the apparently viscous contents into the palm of her hand. Harry lifted his shirt back up, and she rubbed some of the blue goo onto his lower abdomen. Then she picked up her wand and must have performed a non-verbal spell, because all of a sudden, Harry was looking through the goo into his body. It was sort of like watching a little black and white telly with bad reception. It didn't even matter that he was seeing things upside down; it all looked rather similarly squishy and blob-like to him.
"Let's see here..." Healer Martin was peering intently at the 'window into Harry,' her nose scrunched up in concentration. After a moment, she relaxed and smiled once more. She pointed at one of the smaller blobs of blackish area. "Here you are, boys. This is your daughter."
Harry stared down at the blob. His daughter. This was his daughter. He had another person growing inside of him. He would be a dad. His eyes started to water, and he moved to wipe the moisture away. A pale hand caught his and he looked up into grey eyes so filled with amazement and adoration that all his worries flew right out the window. He and Draco would be just fine.
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The rest of the day was a blur. Healer Martin had said Harry was about three months along, and that everything looked very good; both he and the baby were extremely healthy. She told them a few things to expect, like cravings and mood swings, and they had set up another appointment to see her next month. Then Harry had said what had been running through his mind ever since he read the letter from Healer Robinson the day before: I never knew men could have babies.
He had hoped to get some sort of an explanation of how this was possible, but Healer Martin had simply told them that the experts, herself included, were still unsure how and why it was possible. The fact was that male pregnancies were very few and far between. One thing they accepted as true was that only two wizards together could produce a child. She said strong magic from both fathers was necessary to 'overcome nature.'
Harry and Draco had left St. Mungo's in a sort of daze, trying to wrap their minds around the unexpected, exciting and slightly terrifying news. It wasn't until that night, after dinner and some stilted conversation in which they both awkwardly avoided any mention of babies, that Draco broached the subject. They were at opposite ends of the couch in the sitting room, Harry leafing through a Quidditch magazine while Draco pretended to get some work done. He glanced at Harry through his fringe and sighed.
"Harry, can we talk about this please?" Harry immediately dropped the magazine and scooted closer to Draco. It seemed he was only pretending to read as well. He looked at him with those big, earnest eyes, and Draco knew he had been dying to talk all along.
"Tell me honestly, Draco, how are you feeling? I know this wasn't planned, -hell, I didn't even know this was something we could plan- but I have always wanted kids. To have a family. It's just happening sooner and not in the way that I expected. But I love you and I don't want anything to mess us up. We're so good, and-"
Draco cut his adorable, freaked-out boyfriend off with a kiss. Harry was never cuter than when he was all worked up about something. His cheeks would turn a lovely shade of pink and he could talk himself into oblivion if not stopped. Draco's favorite way of stopping the blabber was with his tongue, as he was currently doing. He pulled back after a few minutes. Harry had straddled his lap and threaded his fingers into Draco's hair just the way he liked, but Draco had to tell him something important before things got too hot and heavy.
"Harry," he gasped out, his breathing already shallow from Harry's kisses, "I've never been happier in my whole life. I can't think of anything I'd rather do than raise a baby with you. Raise our baby." He brushed Harry's wild hair out of his eyes and cupped one reddened cheek in his palm. "I love you."
Harry smiled. One of his blinding, soul-shattering smiles that seemed to hit Draco in the chest and radiate right down to his very core. A "self-centered son-of-a-bitch" he may be, but there was something that Draco cared about even more than himself.
Well, he supposed that now there were two somethings.
As Harry leaned back in to pick up where they had left off, he felt an unbridled joy spread through him to his every last nerve ending. Life never did turn out the way he expected it to, but at that moment, wrapped in his lover's arms, he saw no reason to be upset about that.
Fin.