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The Rise of the Drackens	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 769456 -:- Recommendations : 71 -:- Currently Reading : 219
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights for the creation of the Harry Potter novels go to J. K. Rowling. I make no money from this piece of fictional writing

Chapter List
- 121
- 122
- 123
A/N: Chapter Warning: Graphic depictions of self-harm due to self-caesarean.

Last Time

Harry was able to breathe. Able to sit and relax. He’d done it. He’d managed to see in his twin girls’ first birthday, and now he could go and nest without feeling any guilt or discomfort. His Dracken was calm and he felt himself dozing into a nap himself. He could go and nest, but he didn’t really feel like it, and right now he just really wanted to rest and bask in the success of a perfectly planned day. They’d done well, really well and he was happy.

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Two – Birthday Birth

Draco was the first person to wake up on the nineteenth of January, the day after Eva and Ave’s birthday. He laid in bed for several minutes, just coming around and waking up slowly, before looking at the pocket watch he kept on the bedside table. It was already gone eight in the morning and their kids would be frantic for their breakfast. Draco could manage baby cereal, porridge, or yoghurt and fruit, he was certainly not on the level of Max, but he wasn’t as bad as Nasta either, who tried and tried, and just could not grasp the skill of cooking, it was one of his only faults.
He forced himself up and he blamed his bleary eyes and that he still felt half asleep for the fact that he didn’t notice right away that Harry was missing from the bed. He went into the bathroom and he took an extra minute to splash some water on his face to wake himself up a little more.
It was the sort of day where he wanted to stay in his pyjamas, at least for another few hours, and he considered that it might be better to get breakfast out of the way before changing anyway, the kids were always messy, and though they taught manners at the table, they also didn’t shout or rage over the kids making some mess. Draco had learnt to accept it, especially after the books that Harry had shown him that said that the messier the kids were at mealtimes the better they developed their fine motor skills and that the worse they, the parents, reacted to certain behaviour, the more likely the kids were to repeat it. So he’d learnt to laugh off certain things, like Calix dipping chicken strips in his drink, or Eva up ending her bowl of Bolognese sauce over her head.
He noticed when he re-entered the bedroom that there was a space between Max’s back and the body pillow, Harry’s usual spot in the bed, and he realised that Harry was no longer in the bed. He frowned, but considered that perhaps Harry had woken up just after him and had gone to use the bathroom down the hall, or gone downstairs. If he wanted a nibble sometimes he went to get it himself. It was more likely these days that he woke up Nasta, but with it being morning he could have easily gone down by himself.
Draco went to collect up the kids, who were all awake and playing in their nurseries. Even Leolin was awake, and he was staring up at his baby mobile in rapt fascination, or he had been until Draco picked him up.

“Da.” He complained.

“Your light-up ball is downstairs, how about we fill your belly with warm milk and then you can have your ball, yes?” He asked the Faerie, even knowing that Leolin couldn’t possibly understand, as he carried him back out onto the landing.

“Bo da, Daddy!”

Of course that was Braiden and Draco searched for him in the gaggle of kids.

“Bore da, Braiden. Good morning.”

“Bo jor!”

“Bonjour, Braiden.”

“Ciao!”

“You should be saying buongiorno.” Draco muttered under his breath. “If Blaise is going to teach you Italian, he should at least do it right.”

“Bon jor no!” Braiden repeated dutifully and Draco blinked and looked at him. “Good morning!”

“Yes, that’s right.” Draco said, astonished.

“Ciao!” Tegan piped up.

“Hello, Tegan.”

“Morning!” She replied.

“Buongiorno. Good Morning.” Draco replied.

“Bon…bon geo no.” Tegan frowned, as if knowing she hadn’t said it right, but Draco didn’t care.

“Well done, Tegan.” He said proudly.

They reached the stairs and Draco made sure he had everyone with him, but of course they didn’t make that easy, as they wouldn’t stay still.
He picked up the twin girls and juggled them carefully with Leolin to open the gate.

“Now remember, one at a time and hold onto the bannister at all times!” He reminded them, his heart in his throat as all five of their older children navigated the stairs. All it took was for one of them to slip, for one of them to fall.

He walked beside them, against the wall, and he got the gate at the bottom of the stairs and let them down onto the wooden floor of the hallway with a sigh of relief.

“Harry?” He called out.

Of course he knew that there was a chance that Harry was nesting, he just wanted to be sure. He hated the time when Harry was nesting, he hated not being near his lover, and this would be the first time without Harry since he’d been forced to stay away, by Nasta and then by the Dracken Counsel. It was going to be difficult, he knew, but he knew why Harry was away, and he knew that it wouldn’t last forever, just until their baby thunderer arrived, hopefully on time, in two weeks’ time.

There was no answer and Draco sighed, getting the kids into the kitchen and into their booster seats. He laid Leolin in his kitchen bassinet and put the twin girls on the floor. He set up the two high chairs and picked the girls up one at a time, chasing them down as they crawled under the table and all over the place, and strapping them in securely.
He filled the kettle and set it to boil as he dug the plastic bowls from a cupboard and went to find the natural yoghurt that Max kept on hand. There was a bowl of defrosted berries in a large bowl next to the yoghurt and Draco thanked Max for always keeping fresh berries on hand, even in the winter when they were out of season, he no longer cared that they were frozen and not fresh, he’d long since stopped caring about such little things.
He put six tablespoons of yoghurt into each little bowl and a handful of mixed berries and served his babies, before making a cup of tea and a bottle up for Leolin, who was still rejecting all forms of solid food, or any weaning food. He wouldn’t even take milk from a spoon, which was a clear indication that he wasn’t ready to be weaned yet.
He kept a very close eye on the kids while they ate, some with spoons, some with their hands, but he affected to ignore that for now. But he remained on hand, even as he fed Leolin his bottle, just in case one of them choked on a blueberry.
Almost forty minutes later he was wiping down faces and hands before herding the kids into the larger family room and unleashing them to make a mess in that room, as he looked at the disgusting kitchen in despair.
He made sure all the kids were safely in the other room before taking out his wand. Max liked to clean by hand, but he certainly didn’t, and a quick wave of his wand had all the bowls going into the sink to be scrubbed by the enchanted dish brush, before a second wave of the wand removed the yoghurt and squished up berries from the floor, the table and the chairs.
He made another cup of tea for himself and while it was brewing he took out the eight food diaries from the kitchen drawer and wrote down that the kids had had yoghurt and berries for breakfast, and that he had given them a rusk each, which he was planning on doing now. All except for Leolin, who had had his usual bottle of milk and would be dropping off for a nap very soon.
He put the books away, picked up his tea and took the aforementioned rusks into the living room for the kids to chew on, or gum up and then squash into the carpet, which is what half of them did with the hard biscuits anyway.
Once the rusks were all eaten, as much as they were going to be at least, Draco left the kids where they were playing and headed back up the stairs to collect their clothes, fresh nappies, and a pair of green briefs for Braiden, who was doing so well with his potty training.
He had to drag the kids to him one by one to change them and get them dressed, though Calix helped immensely by stripping himself off the moment he saw what Draco was doing. Of course he took his own nappy off too and Draco grumbled to himself about using a sticking charm to keep the damn thing on his son.
He did allow Calix to run around naked for a while, leaving him until last as he dressed all of the others first, encouraging Braiden to pull up his own briefs, just to keep him interested in them, and potty training in general, but Draco did all of the rest. He caught Calix, dressed him too, brushed all of their hair and then happily set them free back onto their toys as he went to get another cup of tea, sitting on the settee happily, letting out a grunt and just resting back to enjoy his tea.
Max was the next one to get up and he stumbled into the family room with half closed eyes and he fell onto the settee and grappled for Draco so that he could rest on him.

“Still tired?” Draco snickered.

Max nodded against Draco’s shoulder, yawning. “The kids eaten?”

“Yeah, yoghurt and berries, and a rusk each.”

“Have you and Harry eaten?”

“I haven’t yet, and Harry is nesting.”

“Okay, I’ll sort out our breakfast…”

Max trailed off as Draco’s words sunk in, and then his head picked up and he scanned the room for Harry.

“He’s…he’s nesting?!”

“Yes. He wasn’t in bed when I got up. He must have gone in the night when we were sleeping, or early this morning.”

“Have you called for him?”

“No, I didn’t want to wake anyone else up, and you shouldn’t either. He would have called us if there was a problem, Max.”

“Yeah, I know. I just, I’ve been very…”

“Possessive? Overprotective? A complete arse?” Draco supplied, one eyebrow raised.

Max snorted. “I’ve been feeling a bit worse than normal concerning Harry during this pregnancy. My Dracken is incredibly unsettled and possessive of him. I don’t know if it’s because our thunderer is the longest he’s ever carried before, or because he was obviously so uncomfortable carrying him. I don’t even know if it’s linked to the fight, having the Elders take him away from us, I just know I couldn’t let him go and I needed him with me.”

“You have been very overbearing.”

Max wrapped an arm around Draco’s neck and pulled him into a kiss.

“You’re lucky I love you, but Nasta and Blaise would want to know that Harry is nesting now. Go and wake them up and I’ll start breakfast. It’s getting quite late into the morning.”

Draco sighed, but recognised that it probably was the right thing to do to tell Nasta, their top dominant, that Harry was nesting, he got up and went traipsing up the stairs to wake Nasta and Blaise.
It was Blaise who woke up first to the light shaking that Draco employed to get them both up.

“Was it?” Blaise murmured softly, blinking owlishly at him and stretching with a grunt.

“You need to wake up, Max has breakfast on and you know he hates us not eating on time.”

Blaise groaned and rolled over into Nasta.

“He’s still here.” Blaise pointed out sullenly.

“I’m trying to wake him up too.” Draco insisted.

“Why?” Nasta asked sleepily, cracking open eyes that looked dark brown in the dim bedroom. “Has something happened?”

“Harry’s nesting.” Draco told them both.

“You sure?”

“Well he’s not in the house, so unless he woke up in the early hours and decided to go for a short waddle around the block, yes, I’m sure.”

Nasta groaned and stretched, sitting up, his hair tousled all over his head and looking distinctly rumpled.

“The kids all up and fed?” Nasta asked.

“Yes, they’re all dressed and playing happily too. Leolin’s even into his first nap of the day. It’s almost quarter past ten.”

“Damn, we slept late.” Blaise chuckled sleepily.

“You must have needed it, but Max really will kill all three of us if we don’t go and eat the food he’s made us, so arse out of bed.” Draco ordered.

“You’re getting bossier in your old age.” Blaise complained.

“Hmm. I didn’t think that was possible, but it’s always good to improve one’s self.” Draco imparted, waltzing out of the bedroom door. He heard both Nasta and Blaise laugh at him, and it made him smile.

Harry was now nesting, and it wouldn’t be long before they had a newborn baby back in the house. They needed the lie ins and the laughter now, because as soon as that baby was here, both the lie ins and the laughter would be in short supply. They’d all be grouchy and tired and functioning mostly on autopilot.
That wouldn’t last long though, with nine babies, they more than knew that by now, but still, it would be a shit waiting for the baby to start sleeping through the night and until he did, it would be several feeds and nappy changes throughout the night, every night. Draco reminded himself that it would all be worth it in the end, after all, it just meant one more baby to love.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Nasta had gone outside to call for Harry, and finally Harry had called back sleepily. Nasta almost felt bad for apparently waking him up, but he found the entrance to the nest that had been dug deep down, it was a simple ridge in the ground, and he could just barely see Harry through the blanket he’d hung up to keep out the wind and the weather. Because of this impromptu door they would have to be careful when throwing Harry fresh food, just in case they knocked it down and exposed him, which he obviously didn’t want.

“Where is he?” Max asked the moment he walked in through the back door.

“About a hundred feet into the woods to the right.” Nasta replied. “Away from the neighbourhood, not towards it. We’re going to have to be careful giving him food, he’s somehow managed to put a blanket over the entrance to block wind and stop rain from getting in. I’m not sure how secure it is and I don’t want to knock it down.”

“We’d never hear the end of it if we started pulling down his nest around him.” Blaise agreed. “Is he okay?”

“He was actually sleeping when I called to him, so I feel bad about waking him up, but he seems fine.”

“Two weeks until the thunderer’s due date.” Max said, staring at the clock before shaking his head and standing up. “Anyone want tea? Blaise, you want coffee? Harry’s out of the house now, coffee is back on the menu.”

“Thank Merlin, I was having withdrawals.” Blaise joked, before he sighed. “No, not really, Nasta, it was a joke.” He laughed at the look on Nasta’s face.

“Caffeine withdrawal is a real…”

“Yes, yes, we all know that caffeine is a stimulant and it can cause withdrawal syndrome. I was on a forced abstinence though, and I would never have abstained from it if Harry hadn’t been pregnant, so if I had gotten withdrawal it would have been because of that, and not likely to be repeated…until Harry is pregnant again, of course.” Blaise said. “But to answer your question, Max. I would love a cup of coffee, grazie.”

Draco snorted and came to sit by Blaise, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him to lay on his chest as the kids all played on the floor.
Harry had been sleeping with a blanket in the bed with him, stuffed into the body pillow that he always cuddled up to, and that blanket was now draped over a fussy Leolin, tucked under his chin so that he could smell it, and they knew that that blanket was the only thing keeping him from a meltdown. They were all glad that they’d found the blanket trick before Harry started nesting, and that the smell of Harry could calm Leolin down, along with his Ma doll, which was clutched in his hands, under the blanket.
They’d also had a problem with Tegan already that morning, who had wanted to read a story to her penguin and to her Mummy, and had not been happy when told that her Mummy couldn’t be there for the story. She had instead read the story to Regan, who was feeling much better today, after a good night of sleep.
Braiden was making a mess in the corner with wooden building blocks and Calix was…missing.

“Code red, guys. Calix is missing.” Draco called out as soon as he turned to look in all four corners of the room without seeing his son.

“Damn that little explorer!” Max’s voice cursed from the kitchen. “Check under furniture and behind the curtains.”

“Got him.” Nasta called out from the hallway.

Nasta carried in the laughing toddler over his shoulder. A very naked toddler.

“Grab me a nappy one of you.”

“No. No, Daddy. No nappy.”

They all blinked. “You don’t want a nappy?” Nasta asked him.

“No. Want to use potty like Bay!”

“Do you need to go now?” Nasta asked, thinking that perhaps Calix had stripped off in the corridor to go to the bathroom. He’d been sat right outside the bathroom door.

Calix nodded and Nasta automatically looked around the room for a potty.

“Max! Calix is using the potty!” Draco called out, even as Blaise handed over the blue potty to Nasta.

Max came barrelling into the room to watch, as Nasta sat Calix on the bit of blue plastic and they all watched him expectantly.

“Don’t watch me!” Calix demanded.

That made them all pause and they shared a look before turning around by mutual agreement. A moment later they heard the soft tinkle of liquid hitting the plastic and they all grinned proudly and shared a look at those mates they could see easily, without making Calix think they were peeking.

“Good boy, Cali!” They heard Braiden praise, and they just knew Harry would have hated to miss this.

“Done!” Calix declared and when they turned back around, he was stood up, looking at his handy work.

“Well done, Calix, you’re such a big boy!” Max praised easily.

“Hands now?” Calix asked, looking at his hands and then at his parents.

“That’s right, well done for remembering.” Nasta said. “Come to the bathroom.”

Nasta picked up the potty and followed Calix, who had run out, still completely bare, to the bathroom down the hall.

“Damn he’s adorable.” Blaise chuckled.

“He needs to put some clothes on before he freezes.” Draco grumbled.

“Go and find where he took them off then.” Max encouraged, trying to bite back the automatic response of pointing out how warm the house was and that Calix would hardly freeze. He managed it when he remembered that this was exactly how the big fight had started, and Harry wasn’t here to protect the room full of babies this time. Though Nasta would probably kill him and Draco to stop the fight this time.

Blaise came and touched him, wrapping him in a hug. Max held him back and bent to drop a kiss to his head. Blaise’s hair was almost back to the length it had been before it had all been charmed off.

“I saw you biting your tongue. I was going to distress call for Nasta.” Blaise told him.

“The therapy worked wonders.” Max said, snuggling Blaise tighter in his arms. “We’ve all learnt to accommodate more, and the house is warm enough that all of us can run around naked if we wanted, but I don’t want to fight over it. Draco will learn, he’ll get more comfortable with nakedness, we just have to give him time.”

Blaise nodded and Max bent to give him a proper kiss before separating off. He went into the kitchen and brought in a tray of mugs and set it on the table before he sat on the settee and reached for his cup of tea. Blaise sat beside him and grabbed his coffee mug, cradling it and sipping on it happily.

“All clean.” Nasta declared with a smirk, coming back in with the rinsed and dried potty in one hand and Calix holding the other. He was no longer naked, but he was wearing a tiny pair of green briefs.

“He looks adorable!” Max gushed. “Who looks so grown up in his little pants?!”

Calix giggled and turned away bashfully as he was fussed over, but Max grabbed him up and sat him on his lap.

“Daddy, no!” Calix giggled, squirming.

“You’re getting such a big boy!” Max praised. “You’re going to be in a big boy bed soon as well!”

“Like Bay!” Calix said excitedly.

“Yes, just like Braiden.” Max said.

“You’re feeding from one another.” Blaise pointed out with a grin.

“But Blaise, my little boy is in pants, look!”

Max thrust Calix at Blaise, who moved the coffee cup out of the way and reached forward with his other arm to hug Calix tight.

“He didn’t want a fresh nappy on.” Nasta told them, sitting down himself and drinking his own cup of green tea.

“I found his clothes and his nappy.” Draco said, coming back into the room.

“Throw the nappy, Draco.” Max said. “Look!”

He held Calix up, putting his feet on the back on the settee and Calix screeched in laughter, clapping his hands.

“He’s wearing pants?” Draco said excitedly.

“Yes, he asked for them himself.” Nasta explained.

“He saw me dressing Braiden this morning and asked me why Braiden wasn’t wearing a nappy.” Draco told them. “I explained that Braiden was a big boy, and because he used the potty he wore pants, not a nappy.”

“Is Braiden wearing green briefs too, by any chance?” Nasta asked. “He wanted to choose his own pants and he picked the green ones.”

Draco just nodded.

“I love that they all look up to Braiden as a role model.” Blaise said.

“It helps that he’s our most well behaved child.” Max chuckled.

“Most of the time.” Nasta laughed.

Draco plucked Calix from Max and laid him on the floor and went through the struggle of trying to dress him. Even when he wanted to be dressed their Calix was not very cooperative, and he did not make it an easy task as he giggled and squirmed, kicked his feet and rolled.
Max, Nasta and Blaise just watched on with amusement, offering no help at all, as Draco struggled to redress Calix. This was a typical event during their day, and one of them would always have to get Calix, and occasional one or more of the other kids, dressed again because they’d chosen to strip off, and it had become a habit now, that while one of them did this horrendous task, the others would just sit or stand around, watching, laughing and not helping…at least not until they were practically begged to help at any rate.
At midday they contacted the extended family to tell them that Harry had started nesting, and then it was just a countdown until Harry went into labour and the baby joined them in the world. They were excited and they obsessively made sure that everything was ready for their thunderer’s arrival. His bassinet had already been set up, the freshly laundered sheets were folded back and waiting and they had brand new sleepsuits and onesies for him, along with the newborn nappies they would need.
They had everything ready for Harry too, and Max took some time between lunch and dinner to make the usual potions that he believed that Harry would need, including bath salts, scar salve and muscle relaxants. He also made a laxative, just in case, as after Harry had had the girls, he’d complained of not being able to have a shit properly, because his stomach muscles protested heavily when he pushed. The damage done to those muscles would only increase now as they had more and more children, but they would do anything and everything they could to help keep Harry healthy and comfortable and they would help him to recover post-pregnancy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Harry was snuggled under so many blankets, lying in a comfortable cradle of pillows that smelt of his mates. He was naked and his wings were folded under his body, cushioning him as he basked in his nest.
His mates were feeding him and were keeping well back, most of the time at least. He’d had to warn them away several times as they got too close or lingered too long.
He was cuddling with the flask of blood that he would need to close up his caesarean wound to keep it from freezing, and thus becoming useless to him.
His baby was still moving within him, and he had everything he needed to give birth, ready and waiting. He was happy, contented, to stay here, resting and waiting for his labour to begin. Days passed unnoticed, with only the sunlight or moonlight filtering into his nest to tell him if it was day or night. He didn’t care, he was preening and waiting, enjoying his hard work.
His human mind kept trying to tell him that something important was coming up, but he squashed it down, this was his time to take control, and he needed to remain in control for their baby. It would be soon, he knew. He could almost feel the differences in his body as it prepared to birth. But until then, he was happy to rest and sleep, to eat when his mates threw him food, but most of his time was spent preening, rubbing his hands over his baby, unable to wait until he could do so in the flesh.
It was to moonlight that he awoke next, to a strong ripple passing through his body. He grunted in discomfort, but knowing what it meant, he was also happy and excited. His next child was ready to come into the world.
He sat up, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders to keep away the chill, and he spread his knees, letting his bump fall between them. He’d been in labour for a while already, if the strength of the ripples was an indication, and he marvelled at how he’d slept through his own labour for so long.
It wasn’t quite time, and he made sure that everything was on hand and within reach. He used his magic to light up his nest, which was very dark, everything silhouetted by the faint moonlight, because it was underground and once that was done he checked the bottle of blood and gave it a swirl, making sure that it was still liquid. It thankfully was and he settled it within reach as he grabbed a clean blanket and made a soft cradle out of it on his other side. He made sure a stack of towels were ready to clean his baby off and that the powder and bottles of water he’d brought in with him were still safe. He made a bottle up ready, knowing he’d be in too much pain to do so afterwards and he settled that in the blanket cradle ready.
The ripples of pain were now making his back spasm and he had to grunt with every one of them. He made a sharp squealing sound with the next ripple, as it bowed his back so hard that he lost his breath. It was almost time and he rubbed the pad of his thumbs over his sharpened claws, they were wet with venom already.
His breath hitched and his back spasmed and the pain moved from his back to the front of his bump and he knew that it was time. He carefully marked out where to cut and with just a single claw on his right index finger he cut into himself with a screech loud enough to echo.
A moment later his four mates called back to him, soothingly, and sleepily. He’d woken them up, and he didn’t care. As soon as he’d screamed once, he couldn’t stop. He screamed continuously, even as his hand remained steady, and his cut smooth.
His mates’ called back, sometimes together, sometimes in stages, but they passed along their comfort, their pride, their love, and it kept him going, kept him strong and steady.
As soon as his body was open he took a moment to breathe. He used a different claw, the middle one on his right hand, to carefully cut open the sac holding his baby and out came a small dribble of amniotic fluid.
He sheathed his claws and reached into his body, searching out a delicate neck before pulling his baby into the world and he wanted to cry at how perfect his new child was.
He placed the baby into a towel in front of him, clamped the cord and then checked his sac, just in case, but after finding nothing amiss he gripped the cord attaching him to his child still and with one claw, he severed it. He wrapped the remainder of it around his wrist and yanked on it with an ear-splitting shriek, pulling it from his body. It was dumped into a towel, tied up, and thrown straight from his nest, even as he turned back to his crying child. The baby was turning blue skinned, and alarmed he picked up another two towels and placed them over the baby, before grabbing the bottle of blood, puncturing it with one claw and sucking it through the hole. It was cold and he hated his blood cold, but he needed it, so he drank it down in large, painful gulps until it was gone, trying not to taste it, trying not to breathe too much.
As soon as the bottle was empty he threw that from his nest and turned immediately to the baby. He picked the baby up and snuggled him, breathing in deeply and ingraining the scent of his baby deeply, so that he would always be able to find his child, no matter where he was in the world.
He rubbed the baby to clean him of blood, making sure that he was going pink now, and not remaining blue. Thankfully he was, and it calmed him down a little more and reassured him that everything was normal and as it should be, and he got the baby into a nappy and dressed, before putting him into the blanket cradle. He started on removing anything that had the slightest blood spot on it, throwing blankets and towels out, ready for his mates to collect and remove. He curled up around his newborn baby and for an undetermined amount of time he just stared at his new baby, waiting for him to get hungry and wake for a feed. In that time he played with the damp, dark hair, the tiny curled ears and brushed over the tiny nose and little lips. He was besotted with the baby and he fell asleep without meaning to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Max was tense as he strained his ears to hear any sort of sound coming from outside. He was stood in the kitchen with the others, hip cocked against the counter, his arms folded across his chest as he dug his fingers into his own sides to try to control himself. All four of them were only in the boxers they’d gone to sleep in.
He was nervous, excited too, but mostly he was terrified that something would go wrong. It was hard not to think about such awful things with Nasta stood right there. Nasta whose own Mother had died in her nest giving birth to him.

“I think it’s over.” Blaise said, breaking the silence that had descended upon the room for the last fifteen or twenty minutes.

They all let out a collective breath and started moving from their mannequin like state, Blaise’s words breaking the ice.

“It’s just a waiting game now, to see when he comes out of his nest with the new baby.” Max said, stating the obvious, but needing to do so. “Are we going to go back to sleep, or do we all need an espresso or eight to function through the day?”

“We should try and sleep a little longer.” Nasta said. “It’s only two in the morning.”

Max looked at the clock and then he grinned. Then he laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Draco asked.

“Harry gave birth on your birthday, Nas!” Max pointed out. “It’s the third!”

They all looked at the clock and seemed to realise what he had at the same time. It was gone midnight, their new son had been born at one thirty in the morning on the third of February…Nasta’s birthday.

“Happy birthday, lover.” Max said, kissing Nasta’s cheek.

“Damn it! How are we going to upstage that now?” Draco demanded. “He’s gone and given you a new child for your birthday!”

All four of them snorted in laughter.

“There’s no beating that.” Max insisted. “We’ll just have to keep Nasta’s presents for ourselves and plan our next child better! Of course Harry would give birth on Nasta’s birthday.”

“You can still give me presents.” Nasta insisted. “Harry needs time to recover, we won’t be seeing him or the baby for a couple of days.”

Max, Blaise and Draco all laughed.

“Of course we will.” Draco insisted, kissing Nasta himself. “But none of our gifts will compare to Harry’s, though now you will be upstaged every single year by our own child who shares your birthday.”

“That’s fine, it’s likely that over our fertile years we’ll have more double birthdays, I’ll just have to have my fill of you all in the night. When our children are all tucked up in bed.” Nasta purred.

“Oh, now I like that idea, come on.” Max insisted, taking Nasta’s hand and pulling him back up towards their bedroom.

“I didn’t mean right now.” Nasta laughed.

“It’s your birthday, isn’t it?” Max teased as they reached the stairs. He stopped suddenly, spun around and picked Nasta up and slung him over his shoulder.

“Max!” Nasta complained, laughing despite himself.

“What? I’m saving your legs for later.” Max said innocently.

Blaise was surprised into laughing, hard.

“Shhh! You’ll wake the kids.” Draco hissed. “We don’t want them awake for this.”

Blaise stifled himself, and they made it to their master suite with no further noise or issues. Max dumped Nasta onto the bed and immediately flopped onto him, pinning him on his back.

“Tonight, we celebrate a birthday, and a birth.” He said softly. “We have a newborn son, and a lover turning forty.”

“You’re going melancholic, lover. Smile, this is a happy occasion.” Nasta prodded.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about Harry.”

“He’s going to be fine. He hasn’t distress called us, he’s gone silent, as all submissives do just after birth. He’ll be sleeping, recovering from the ordeal. He’ll bond with the baby and then he’ll come and introduce him to us.” Nasta soothed.

“I know, but until I see him again, I’ll worry.”

Nasta reached up and pulled Max to his chest and into a kiss.

“Let us distract you then.” He told Max softly, pushing a hand through Max’s short hair. He’d only recently cut it, and it regrettably wasn’t long enough for him to grab a hold of, his fingers were too large.

Draco slipped onto the bed, already naked and he laid himself against Max’s back.

“We can distract you easily enough.” He whispered into Max’s ear.

Max moved himself and let Draco fall onto Nasta.

“So much glorious skin on show distracts me.” Max grinned. “But it’s Nasta’s birthday, it’s him we’re spoiling.”

“I’m spoilt every day.” Nasta insisted.

“We can spoil you more.” Blaise insisted as he moved to crouch by Nasta’s head. He was also naked.

“I think these youngsters are moving ahead of us, Nas.” Max grinned. “Look at them all naked and ready.”

The two of them shared a look, and at the same time Max grabbed Draco, pulled him to his body and turned to the side to pin him to the bed, and Nasta reached up and tugged Blaise down onto him, rolled them both over, before throwing his leg over the side to turn to face his pinned lover.

“You know I love you doing that, amante.” Blaise said, his voice lowered and very sultry.

“Ti amo, mio amore.” Nasta purred back.

“Don’t go multi-cultural on us. I can’t understand the sexy things you’re saying!” Max complained with a laugh.

Nasta shot Max a grin, and moved over, stretching to kiss Max. They got a little distracted, and more than a little heated, as their kiss grew very passionate.
He should have known better than to trust his crafty mates, and he very suddenly found himself on his back and Blaise was down between his legs, kissing and teasing his thighs with soft kisses and firm touches, just how Nasta liked it.

“I think I prefer you like this.” Max mused, grinning down at him. “Pinned on your back, being teased out of that steel control you hold over yourself. Blaise, go down on him.”

Blaise gave a naughty grin to Max, slipping off the boxers that Nasta had worn to bed, before bending to his task. He didn’t go straight for Nasta’s cock, however, he started at his thighs again, kissing his way up before sliding his mouth just over the tip of Nasta, teasing him.
Draco moved over to sit opposite Max, not disturbing Blaise, but he laid on his belly and propped his chin in his hand. He gave a smile as he surveyed Nasta’s beautiful body.

“You look good, Nas.” Draco told him.

“Feel free to touch.” Nasta invited.

Draco laughed and he braced himself on his forearms and bent to flick the lightest of teasing licks over Nasta’s nipple.

“You taste delicious too.” Blaise told him, but his eyes were all for the hard cock he was holding in one hand.

“He can still speak, Blaise, you’re not doing it well enough.” Max chastised, giving Blaise’s bum a swat.

Blaise laughed, playing and stroking the cock in his hand teasingly. “I suppose I have to try a little harder then, but he looks pretty happy to me.”

Blaise dipped his head back down to lick at Nasta, sucking on him, and Max looked at Nasta, who did indeed look very happy with all the attention he was receiving. It wasn’t often that he got the chance to let go like this, to have all of them focused on him, and Max regretted that. Nasta deserved some spoiling for everything he did for them.
Max reached over to the bedside table and fished out a bottle of lube, he checked that it wasn’t one of the flavoured ones they used on occasion for oral sex, before popping the cap and putting a blob on his fingers.
Max watched as Draco snogged Nasta, as Blaise bobbed on him, and all Nasta could do in response was moan and squirm, those powerful legs tensing and quivering. That made Max smirk, and he reached under Blaise to press his lubed fingers to Nasta’s hole.
He watched Nasta’s reaction, as he had to break the kiss with Draco to gasp and groan, his head falling back as Max eased a single finger into his body, Draco moving simultaneously to kiss down that stubbled throat.
Max really enjoyed teasing his mates, he loved it, and even more so in the bedroom, where he could rile them up and make them explode in the most beautiful, purest of ways. That’s exactly what he wanted to do to Nasta tonight. Make him explode and then melt.
He added a second finger, testing and probing, watching Nasta’s face to see how the added finger had been received. There was a small pinch of discomfort, but it was eased away by a kiss from Draco and a slurp from Blaise. Max snorted softly in amusement, but because of that bit of discomfort, he eased his fingers out, before pressing back in slowly. He repeated this for a moment, just sliding his fingers in and out of Nasta’s body. He groped for the bottle of lube and eased that under Blaise too, and when his fingers were mostly out of Nasta’s body, he added just a bit more lube to make everything more comfortable and smooth. He pressed his fingers back in and listened to Nasta moaning, watched as the muscles in his legs tensed and shuddered.

“I’m ready.” Nasta declared, his voice gruff, as Max spread his fingers inside Nasta’s body, stretching him and preparing him.

“Oh, my dearest sweetie, I don’t care if you’re ready. I’m not.” Max teased, his voice low and sultry.

Nasta groaned throatily, his back arching and the muscles of his stomach rippling as he clenched, hard.

“Oh, ow, lover, that’s not nice.” Max chuckled. “Stop trying to break my fingers to get your own way.”

“I want…want my own way!” Nasta all but babbled.

Max shared a grin with Draco, then with Blaise.

“I think he’s going to cum if you carry on.” Draco pointed out.

“Isn’t that the point?” Blaise questioned. “He can cum more than once in one session, it’s not as if he needs to remain hard for any reason.”

That made Max laugh, as Nasta moaned helplessly.

“Well then, in that case, move over.”

Draco moved down by Nasta’s legs and he and Blaise started duelling over Nasta’s cock…with their tongues.
Max watched, transfixed for while, at the beautiful, if rather amusing sight, that the two of them made before he snapped out of it and went back to stretching and preparing Nasta. He touched the prostate, and he started teasing it, trying to get the little bundle of nerves as sensitive as he could, building up Nasta’s pleasure ready for the main event.

“Please.” Nasta begged breathily. “Please. Os gwelwch yn dda.” He pleaded, losing his language barrier as he was ignored.

“Oh, dearest, we can’t understand Welsh, I suppose we’ll just have to carry on.” Max teased.

“Plis! Plis!” Nasta begged. Still in Welsh.

“Oh, he’s definitely had enough.” Blaise chuckled darkly, watching as Draco licked at Nasta.

“Who wants him first?” Max asked with a wicked grin.

“I do.” Draco said, shifting up and laying himself over Nasta.

“Hmmm, I guess you’re stuck with me, Blaise. Do you want to top or bottom?”

“As if you need to ask.” Blaise laughed, reaching out to wrap an arm around Max’s neck and letting himself fall backwards on the bed, pulling Max on top of him. “Just let me lie where I can see Draco fucking Nasta.”

“I want to see that beautiful sight too, so we’ll make sure of it, lover.” Max said, doing just that and shifting Blaise’s body so that they both had a better view of Draco teasing Nasta some more with his own fingers, but Max had been very thorough, and after just the merest probe of his fingers Draco was grabbing the bottle of lube to slick himself up.

“Pass that lube here.” Blaise demanded, holding his hand out to Draco, who passed it over with his free hand, while the other stroked over himself.

“Oh, are you going to do that yourself?” Max purred.

“I saw what you did to Nasta, you’re damn right I’m doing it myself.” Blaise laughed, covering his fingers and pressing them to himself to stretch himself quickly and efficiently.

“But I like teasing you all.” Max said, exaggerating a pout.

The two of them were distracted by a breathy moan, and another beg of ‘please’ from Nasta, in Welsh of course.
They watched as Draco flexed his hips forward and seated himself fully in Nasta, who had wrapped those long, powerful legs around Draco’s back and was squeezing him tight to keep him in place.

“Do that to me.” Blaise insisted.

Max looked back to Blaise, to find him with two fingers already buried inside himself.

“You’ve been busy, love.” He growled, incredibly turned on from the sight.

“I want you, now.” Blaise commanded.

“Move your hand out of the way, then.” Max coaxed, taking the lube for himself.

He did what Draco had done, and he tested Blaise himself, with his fingers, just to check that he was truly ready, and wasn’t thinking ahead of himself.

“Max!” Blaise moaned.

“I know, I’m just testing, lover.” Max soothed.

A few strokes of his fingers, and watching Draco drive Nasta into wild abandon, and Max could barely hold onto his self-control.
He pulled his fingers free and quickly replaced them with his cock, sliding into Blaise and holding still for a moment, resting his head on the mattress beside Blaise’s head.
Blaise of course was not happy with this, and he bucked his hips and wrapped his legs around Max’s lower back, arms wrapped around his neck, nails biting into his shoulders and he tried to move himself on Max.
Max growled and took charge, pulling back and breaking Blaise’s hold around his neck, sitting up and leaving Blaise flat on his back on the bed.

“Now, now, lover. Let me.” He said with a smile, his voice deep and gruff with arousal.

Blaise let out a part moan, part whimper, as Max gripped his hips and simultaneously used his hold to pin Blaise down and pull him harder onto his cock.
The room felt too hot, filled with the moans of all four of them, but it was Nasta who could be heard the most, as he moaned and growled for Draco. Despite starting first, it was Blaise who reached orgasm first and Max eased out of him, still hard, and petted his lover, calming him down as they both watched Draco bring Nasta to a screaming orgasm.

“Damn, if we had filmed that then we’d be millionaires by this time next year.”

Max snorted and gave Blaise a kiss.

“Don’t cut things short, Blaise. It’s not over yet.”

Max moved Draco out of the way and nudged him over to Blaise before placing his hands on either side of Nasta’s head.

“Hello there, lover.” He purred, looking down at Nasta, watching as his chest heaved and he fought for breath. He’d cummed all over his own belly and Max’s dick gave a twitch of interest to see it.

“Max.” Nasta murmured, reaching up for him.

Max bent to kiss him, pressing their bodies together and slipping his arm under Nasta’s neck to get a deeper kiss.

“I love you.” Max declared. “Happy birthday.”

Nasta blinked confusedly, as if he’d forgotten what all of this was for.

“I love you too.” Nasta said, giving him a smile. “But for the love of Merlin, come here, right now, because I’m far too wound up and those two are about to drop off to sleep.”

“Am not, I’m watching.” Blaise insisted.

Max gave a look to Blaise and Draco. They were both watching, but Nasta was right in a way, they both looked sleepily content now that they’d both had an orgasm.

“I’ll make this quick then, lover, but I’ll also make it worth your while.”

Truthfully though, Max doubted that he could last very long, as he was the only one who hadn’t had an orgasm, but he wanted to make sure that Nasta was especially spoiled tonight.
He kissed up Nasta’s chest, up his throat to his chin, he nuzzled a little at the stubble there, smiling to himself at the scratch of it. Nasta arched up to connect their lips together and Max kissed him, passionate and deep.
Max stroked his hand over Nasta’s face and into his hair, cupping the back of his head.

“Max, don’t tease any more, you’re as bad as Harry sometimes.” Nasta told him, his voice breathless as he panted hard.

Max grinned. “Nothing is as much as a tease as Harry wearing a skirt.”

“You’re getting close.” Nasta deadpanned, shifting his legs and wrapping them around Max’s hips. “Now for the love of Merlin, fuck me.”

“I love it when you get all demanding on me.” Max growled, bending to kiss Nasta again while shifting his hips and pressing himself into Nasta.

Nasta was very demanding, and very silent, only the slightest groans were audible, as he took control and tried to fuck himself on Max.

“You’re killing me, Nas, stay still a moment.” Max panted, trying to hold Nasta still, but their top dominant was big, muscled and fucking strong.

“Max, I swear if you don’t move I’m turning the tables and I’ll fuck you into the mattress…or maybe that’s what you truly want?” Nasta told him.

“No, I want to spoil you.” Max declared.

“You’re doing a poor job, Caru.”

“Oh, ow. Insulting my male prowess too? Damn you’ve gotten so bitchy lately, lover.”

“Only when you have your cock in my arse and refuse to do anything with it!” Nasta complained.

Max said nothing, but he pulled out and slammed back into Nasta…hard. He got to see Nasta’s eyes roll up into his head and his body go boneless in pleasure, a grunt ripped from his throat.
He refused to stop, or let up. He’d wanted to go a little slower, to savour this moment, to spoil Nasta, but if that wasn’t what Nasta wanted then he would happily indulge him in some hard, rough, dirty sex. That seemed to be more to Nasta’s tastes tonight, as he clung to Max’s shoulders and actually trembled.
Max tried to think of when they’d last indulged Nasta like this, when they’d last let him put down the mantel of top dominant and just took care of him for once. He couldn’t remember and he felt terrible. Nasta liked bottoming during sex, perhaps not as much as Blaise did, but it was something that he enjoyed, giving up all control to others and just experiencing the feelings and sensations. It had been too long since they’d last done something like this for him and Max staved off his own throbbing need, his own desire for an orgasm and he did what Nasta wanted him to do. He fucked him, hard.
His fists were clenched beside Nasta’s head, his legs were trembling, his muscles screaming, but Max grit his teeth and pushed himself harder, faster, Nasta clinging to him like a limpet.

“Max!” Nasta yelled out, his back bowing and his nails digging in deep. They had already bitten into his skin, he could feel the pinch of pain, and he repaid Nasta in kind by biting through his shoulder when his own orgasm hit him and knocked him sideways.

Max couldn’t control his own body, and he was shivering and trembling, laying on Nasta and listening to the thundering heartbeat under his ear. Nasta was trembling too, his chest heaving as he tried to remember how to breathe.

“Why didn’t I get any of that treatment?” Blaise whined.

“It wasn’t your birthday.” Max said tiredly. All of a sudden he felt like he could sleep for a week.

“You better treat me like that on my birthday!” Blaise declared. “I think I broke my dick with how hard I was rubbing it.”

Max picked up his head then, looking at Blaise and Draco. They’d both cummed recently.

“You both got off on that?”

“Are you seriously asking that? Of course we did!” Draco told him. “That was something else. You’ll have to repeat that performance, Harry will never believe us.”

Nasta laughed tiredly and shifted a little, easing out from under Max. Max gave him credit for being able to move, because he certainly couldn’t.
A moment later Nasta hissed and pressed a hand to his lower back. Max laughed softly, it seemed that Nasta couldn’t move as well as he had believed.

“Oh, shut up, Max.” Nasta scolded, but he was smiling. “If I have to waddle tomorrow, I swear I’ll give back twice as good.”

“Promises, promises.” Max said, but he was almost completely cut off by a massive, jaw-breaking yawn. “So tired now.”

“Hold on.” Draco rolled and got his wand from the bedside table, and a moment later there was a slight sweep of magic and they were all clean.

“Urgh, you know my Dracken hates sleeping in magic residue.” Blaise complained.

“Tell him to suck it up for tonight, none of us want to move.” Draco replied, shoving Blaise over, up against Max’s back, before settling down behind him.

Nasta snuggled in against Max’s front and he smiled at his lover, reaching out to stroke away a piece of hair that was stuck to Nasta’s forehead and halfway over his eye.

“Happy birthday, Nasta. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Nasta replied. “I love all of you, but we really need the sleep now, we have to be up in four hours for the kids.”

They all groaned at that and Nasta chuckled tiredly.

“We’ll have to have some stern words with Harry about giving birth in the middle of the night.” Max joked.

Nasta yawned widely, and it set the rest of them off in a chain reaction. They settled down, finding comfortable positions, and arms were wrapped around warm bodies. They drifted on the edge of sleep, each thinking of the day to come, of the birthday to be celebrated, and now the birth that had to be celebrated too. They had a brand new son in the world, nothing seemed to be amiss, so they had even more reason to celebrate and be happy. The New Year had gotten off to a very good start for all of them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Nasta was enjoying his birthday thus far. He’d gotten everything that he’d wanted, and much more than he’d been expecting from his family. Even the extended family had given him gifts, the Maddisons, the Malfoys, and Marianna too. He felt very spoilt, but his mind kept wandering back to Harry, and their newborn son.
He had done his duty, not that it felt like a duty to him, and he’d gone down to Harry’s nest, as quietly and as non-invasively as he could to remove everything that Harry had thrown out, including blankets, towels, the empty flask of blood (which was now ruined as Harry had seemingly pushed a claw through it to drink the contents instead of opening the top as usual), and the placenta.
He’d gotten rid of everything except the placenta, which he took back to the house to check over, making sure it was intact and checking how much it weighed for Healer Almus.
Harry had been silent during this time, but he’d heard the baby making soft suckling noises, clearly feeding, and he’d heard a small burp before he’d left. All very, very good signs and he’d made sure to tell Draco, Blaise and Max what he’d heard too once he’d gotten back to the house. Though the urge to tell Harry that he loved him in that moment had been incredibly strong, but he’d resisted. Harry wouldn’t understand him and it would likely only rile him up, or distress him, in his feral state and Nasta didn’t want that, so he’d bitten his tongue and left quickly.
His own birthday party was a very mellow affair, as the last thing he wanted was to rile the kids back up when they were already missing Harry so much, but having their favourite aunts, uncles and grandparents around was helping to distract them…all of them except Leolin that was, who was clutching his Ma doll, and the blanket that had long since stopped smelling like Harry, in tightly clenched fists, refusing to allow anyone to touch him or pick him up.
He was lying in his bouncer, reclining back, glaring at everyone around him, clutching his comfort toys and he screamed when anyone approached him. It was a new development for Leolin, just not one that they particularly liked.

“Have you had a good birthday?” His Father asked him.

Nasta smiled. “I’ve been very spoilt.”

“You get to share your birthday now too.” Aneirin teased.

“I don’t mind so much. I’m forty today, I don’t need everyone’s attention on me, all the time, to feel like I’ve had a good birthday. You know me, I much prefer to let others take the spotlight.”

He nodded to Max, who was on his hands and knees, four kids hanging off of him while he pretended to be some wild animal that they were apparently trying to bring down. It involved a lot of noise and screeching.

“Max is certainly one of a kind.” Aneirin chuckled.

“That’s why the kids all love him.”

They were all interrupted by a thud and a slam.

“That was the back door.” Nasta said with a frown. “Is everyone here?”

He and his mates automatically counted their children, even as the submissives pulled back and the dominants all stepped forward.
A small, questioning call came from the kitchen and Nasta felt his heart stop.

“Harry?” He called out, stepping forward, hardly daring to breathe, or believe it. Harry had only given birth that morning, unless something was very wrong with him, or the baby, then he shouldn’t have left his nest for a few more days, at the very least. But that had definitely been Harry’s call, it hadn’t been distressed, just questioning, asking them where they were.

Harry padded into the family room, in full Dracken form, completely naked and uncaring, covered in dried blood, cradling a blanket wrapped bundle in his arms. He was very pale, very tired and sickly looking, and the caesarean scar was thick, puckered and an angry shade of red. Harry had not been ready, or recovered enough to come out of his nest. Which just begged the question of why had he come out so very early?
Harry cocked his head, rather bird-like, as he stared at the people in the room. He inhaled deep enough for it to be visible and audible. His top lip lifted away from his top teeth in a snarl, as he growled deeply in his chest and flashed his fangs.
Everyone who wasn’t a mate immediately stepped back and sat down, making themselves more non-threatening. Typically the humans of the family were moved further back than the Drackens, but that was just common sense.
Nasta stepped forward and those narrowed, green eyes pinned back to him. Harry inhaled again and then stepped forward. He held out the baby to him and Nasta took him, wondering if anything was wrong, if the baby was sick.

“Ha…happy…happy day.” Harry croaked out, trying to force himself to speak when his Dracken side was fully in control. That would have taken some serious control on Harry’s part too, forcing his feral Dracken to speak.

“He’s come out of his nest just to give you your present, Nas.” Max grinned, then laughed.

Harry turned to him. “Ma…Ma-ax.”

“Hey, lover. What are you doing up and about?” He asked, knowing that Harry wouldn’t understand.

His mate just blinked at him, looking adorably befuddled.

“Mummy!”

Harry blinked again, but something in him automatically recognised his babies and he fell to his knees and gathered them all up, as many as he could fit in his arms, and he snuggled them. He inhaled all of their scents, rubbed his face all over them, before pulling back to visibly assess them, his hands, still dangerously clawed, touched little heads, faces and bodies.

“Come here, you can’t parade around like this.” Draco said, tugging off his own jumper and putting it on Harry. It was overlarge, hitting Harry at just above the knee and it covered him perfectly.

Harry however had other ideas and he stared at the jumper covering his body as if it were made of shit, rolling his shoulders and moving in a way that announced just how very uncomfortable he was with wearing it. He shucked it off over his head quickly and tucked his elbows into his chest, curling up his fingers as if he’d touched the most horrendous of things.

“Try a blanket instead of clothes, which will make him feel trapped.” Myron suggested lightly from across the room, sat in front of his human daughters like a living shield.

Blaise went to get the throw from the other room, even as Harry hunched back down to snuggle his children. He would have been extremely embarrassed to be striding around naked in front of their extended family if he’d been in his right mind, but he wasn’t in his right mind, or rather he wasn’t in his human mind, because he’d come out of his nest far too early and he was still most definitely entrenched in his Dracken instincts.
Harry accepted the throw around him, paying more attention to his babies, but he wasn’t concerned with holding it closed, so it did little to give him any more modesty. It seemed to be stressing Draco out, but unless he wanted the tables turned on him, and to feel a claw in his gut, he would have to suck it up, because Harry was still almost fully feral.

“Ma! Ma! Ma!” Leolin screamed from his bouncer, trying to sit up, squirming, thrashing his limbs, trying to gain his Mother’s attention, but Harry didn’t understand words and he did not turn towards Leolin, who was now crying and flailing as much as he could manage.

A small, shrill wail made all of them still, and look in shock to Leolin, who had just let out a Dracken distress call.
Harry’s head snapped up and he lurched towards Leolin so fast that his arms went from under him. He fell flat on the floor, and having only given birth that morning it had to have been absolute agony for him, but Harry used his feet to keep moving forward, even as he got his hands back under him and he crawled to Leolin in an instinctual need to protect his distressed child.
He couldn’t figure out how to work the straps holding Leolin secure to the bouncer, so as any Dracken would do Harry severed them with a swipe of a claw and picked Leolin up, cradling him tightly to his chest and Leolin, who had settled the moment he’d been picked up, snuffled his face into Harry’s dirty, bloody, neck.

“Have any of them ever distress called before?” Aneirin asked them, breaking the shocked silence.

“No, none of them.” Max said, touching the other kids to reassure them that everything was alright after hearing the distress call of a sibling.

Regan lifted his arms, wanting more than a touch to comfort him and Max picked him up and cuddled him tightly.

“Harry!” Nasta called out, trying to get his attention through noise. It worked and Harry turned, looking at him.

Nasta indicated the baby in his arms. “Is he okay?”

“Bay…baby.” Harry said carefully, slowly.

Harry carried Leolin over and lifted the corner of the blanket to look at the baby sleeping peacefully inside.

“Baby.” He repeated, looking at Nasta.

“Is the baby alright?” Nasta tried.

Harry blinked at him, and the foreign look of incomprehension on his face unnerved Nasta a little.

“Does he need to feed?” Nasta tried.

“He doesn’t understand, Nassa.” Sanex pointed out. “Surely he’d be more concerned if anything was wrong though.”

“He would be.” Myron agreed. “Perhaps we should leave and give them their privacy. Harry will not be coming out of his feral state for a few more hours, and all of us being here will delay his human side coming back.”

“I’ve got him.” Max said. “You go when I have him in the bathroom.”

“He won’t like it.” Draco fretted.

“I’m not going to headlock him there, lover. Being feral, he’s running on animal brain cells, not human. It’s easy to trick a feral Dracken.”

Max stood up and he went to Harry, who looked at him expectantly. Max held out his hand and Harry took it immediately and allowed Max to pull him from the room easily, Leolin still up on his shoulder.

“Well, that really was easy!” Caesar laughed. “I need to try that.”

“Don’t waste time, go.” Nasta insisted. “We’ll settle him down, and the new baby, and you can come back for a proper visit.”

“Can we at least see his face?” Amelle asked. “Or do you think Harry wouldn’t like it?”

“I’m sure he’d be fine with it.” Nasta insisted, cradling the baby more securely and pulling the blanket from the baby’s face.

Everyone got a quick peek at the baby before hurrying to the floo in the next room. Nasta thanked them all for coming, as they had been here for his birthday after all, and very soon they were alone again in their home.

“So that was incredibly unexpected.” Blaise said, shaking his head. “Only Harry would have crashed your birthday party, hours after giving birth, to give you your present in person.”

“He literally forced himself to come here in full feral mode just to make it for your birthday.” Draco agreed.

“That’s why I love him.” Nasta said softly, looking down at the baby in his arms, clocking the tiny features and the damp, dark hair. “Our little boy is finally here.”

“Is he actually a boy?” Blaise chuckled.

That made Nasta blink and he laughed. “We should check, just to make it official.” He said.

He sat on the settee and laid the baby on his lap, worming the little limbs free of the blanket Harry had had him in. He eased the nappy away from a little leg and peeked up to check.

“No, he’s definitely a boy.” Nasta said with a smile, covering the baby back over.

“He’s a big boy.” Draco said, sitting next to Nasta and looking at the new baby.

“He’s at least eight pounds, maybe more.” Nasta said, considering the weight in his arms. “Double what any of our others have been.”

Max came back in, pulling Harry’s hand. Harry who looked a bit rumpled and put out, but he was a little cleaner. The blood and dirt had gone from his neck at least.
Harry immediately scanned the room, then inhaled as deeply as he could. They could see his chest expanding as he searched for the people who had been here.

“Harry, they’re gone, my love.” Nasta said gently.

“Love.” Harry immediately repeated, smiling. “My mate.”

Harry came to him and kissed him, before hunching down, still very naked, and he nuzzled the baby.

“Baby.”

“Let me have a hold, Nas!” Max complained.

“Here.” Nasta said, moving to hand the baby over.

“No!” Harry screeched, blocking the transfer and giving the baby a not so gentle shove back at Nasta. “No. Baby here. Happy day!”

“I guess Harry doesn’t like that idea just yet.” Draco said. “Let me get us tea.”

Harry was sat on the floor, scowling at him, and Nasta gave him a reassuring smile. Harry gave a tentative smile back, and rested his head on Nasta’s thigh. He gave a jaw breaking yawn and Nasta wanted to rush him to bed and tuck him up, he’d come out of his nest much too early.
He held the baby safely in his one arm and used the other hand to stroke over Harry’s head. His hair was greasy and knotty, plastered all over his head and matted with smears of dried blood, but Nasta didn’t care, he carried on touching his submissive, and Harry started purring. Nasta loved it when Harry purred, feral or human, because it was actual proof that Harry was happy and contented.
Draco came back into the room with four cups of tea, two being held in each hand, and he put them on the coffee table.

“Is he going to be okay?” He asked Nasta.

“Harry will be fine. He’s come out too soon and he needs to rest and he needs time to come back into himself. It could take another hour, or it could be another few days, like if he was still in his nest, I don’t know, but he’ll be just fine.”

“I know he won’t eat or drink just yet, but is there anything we can get for him?” Draco fretted, even as he cradled his cup of tea in his hands.

“No, once he goes into labour, all function stops.” Max agreed. “That’ll come back a few days after his human self comes back.”

“Mummy, play with me.” Braiden insisted.

“Braiden, Mummy needs to rest.” Nasta tried, but Harry turned immediately to his clamouring child and despite the pain it must have caused, he picked up their two year old and sat him on his lap.

“Mummy, play!” Braiden encouraged, handing Harry a toy car.

Braiden didn’t seem to care that Harry was half asleep and not playing with him, as Harry rolled the car between his fingers, but then the kids were just happy to have him home, as their two girls came to lay on him and Leolin seemed to be asleep, his little fists clenched in the hair at the back of Harry’s head to stop anyone from moving him from his beloved Ma.
Harry nudged Nasta’s hand with his head and he realised that he’d stopped stroking his hair. He smiled down at Harry and resumed his stroking, and Harry started purring again, very deeply.
The kids were hell to put to bed, and as Harry sat purring next to Nasta, who was feeding the baby because Harry wouldn’t let him pass the newborn off to anyone else, it was up to Max, Draco and Blaise to sort out the screaming, unhappy horde upstairs. Leolin had refused to be passed to anyone else, and he’d fallen asleep on Harry, and only then could he be removed from Harry to his own cot.
Harry was drifting in and out of sleep, and he had been all afternoon, but that couldn’t be held against him. Nasta threw an arm around Harry and pulled him in close, taking this quiet moment to feel thankful that Harry and the baby were both completely fine.

“Mate.” Harry murmured, his green eyes looking up at him.

“My mate.” Nasta murmured back, nuzzling Harry’s face.

“Baby. Happy day.”

“Thank you, my love, for the best present in the world.”

“Baby, for happy day.” Harry repeated seriously.

Nasta blinked, as he realised that Harry wasn’t repeating the same thing because it was all that he could say. He was trying, very hard at that, to communicate with him, trying to tell him something else, and Nasta tried to decipher it.

“What are you trying to tell me, love?” He asked, staring at Harry.

Harry’s eyes dropped to the baby. “Baby, for happy day.” He said, lifting his eyes back to Nasta and Nasta frowned, looking at the baby, and his eyes caught Harry’s hand, rubbing over the black hair of the baby, before Harry reached up to touch Nasta’s hair, smiling.

Nasta’s heart thudded, as he realised what Harry was trying to convey. He reached up to his own hair and caught Harry’s hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss.

“He’s my baby, isn’t he?”

Harry grinned, showing off all four fangs. “Baby for happy day!” He said excitedly.

“You gave birth to my baby, on my birthday.” Nasta chuckled, finally understanding the semi-legible gibberish that Harry had been sprouting all afternoon.

“Mate. Baby. Happy day.” Harry smiled.

“I love you.”

“Love mate.” Harry replied, tucking back into his side and laying his head over Nasta’s heart.

“Get some rest, you need to rest.”

Harry fell asleep on him while they were waiting for the others to come back down and Nasta savoured this moment of rare peace.

“How are they doing?” Max whispered.

“Both sleeping. Our little boy took his bottle and drifted off, and Harry was only forcing himself to stay awake because we weren’t understanding what he was trying to tell us. Or rather what he was trying to tell me.”

“All he was saying was that he’d had the baby for your birthday.” Max said, his eyebrows lowering in confusion.

“That’s what we thought he was saying. Our little thunderer is mine biologically.”

Max blinked, then grinned, and then he stifled a laugh. “He gave birth, to your son, on your birthday. That’s so extra it’s adorable. But I told you I was fucking right all along, all that fruit he was eating, it had to be your baby!”

“Eating fruit isn’t an indication of paternity.” Nasta repeated, for what felt like the millionth time in the last few months.

“Only it was.” Max giggled.

Nasta rolled his eyes in exasperation, but he smiled too. Max reached down to gently touch the newborn and Nasta watched him as he smiled and went all gooey eyed over the baby. It made his own heart throb with love.

“We’ve never gotten to see a baby on their first day of life before.” Max said quietly. “Even the quintuplets were the next morning, and only then because of Leolin.”

“He wanted to come and give me my present in person.” Nasta chuckled.

Max chuckled with him and dropped a kiss to his head. “Happy birthday, Nas. Do you think that now we’ve finally understood what he was trying to say, and he’s fast asleep, that I can hold our new son for a bit?”

Nasta smiled at Max, then at the baby in his arms.

“Here, Max.” He said, gently passing the baby over.

Max cradled him happily. “Hey, I finally get to hold you little thunderer. Time to see if you’re as much of a squirmy worm as you were in your poor Mummy!”

Nasta snorted, but tried to stifle himself for Harry’s sake.

“He’s barely moved at all.”

“Oh, you’re so naughty already!” Max teased, nuzzling the baby gently, just barely brushing his nose along the little face.

“I’m going to carry Harry up to bed, will you be alright for a minute?”

“Sure. Our thunderer is going to need a nappy change soon, then I’ll make us some tea and floo call the anxious family. They’ll want some more news, even if there isn’t much we can tell them, only that our little bolt of joy is yours.”

“I can’t wait to see him in his thunderbolt bassinet.” Nasta chuckled, even as he carefully stood, with a soothing rumble to Harry to keep him asleep. The furrow in Harry’s brow eased immediately as he heard his top dominant’s rumble and when he was picked up he merely snuggled in happily.

Max sat in Nasta’s vacated seat and he got a good look at the new baby boy they had welcomed into the family. He was very sweet looking, with a top lip that was curled upwards into the tiniest pout Max had ever seen and long, jet black lashes that looked much too long were fluttering.
Max held his breath as cornflower blue eyes blinked open to stare up at him. He had a moment of staring into those bottomless blue eyes before they closed again and that perfect face screwed up in discomfort. The little wail built up to a full out scream and the baby in his arms came to life, squirming and stretching out all four limbs, toes pointed, fingers clenching.

“Here’s the squirmy little bug that Mummy complained about, if you were stretching like this inside him then it’s no wonder he was always so uncomfortable!” Max said, even as he got onto his knees and pulled out a changing mat from under the settee. “Let’s get you changed, thunderer.”

“How is he?” Blaise asked, hurrying to him and falling to his knees to watch as Max changed the new baby.

“Look at him!” Max laughed, watching the baby wriggle and squirm as much as his newborn body allowed him. “Poor Harry.”

Max finished changing the baby and handed him to Blaise.

“Do you think we could bathe him now that he’s awake?” Blaise asked Max.

“Sure, just a quick rub down with cotton balls though, Blaise, he needs his rest. He was only born today.”

Blaise followed him into the kitchen and as Max set the kettle to boil, Blaise carefully run a bit of warm water in the sink and stripped the baby off, right after Max had just changed him. Max rolled his eyes, but said nothing. He didn’t care that much, he just placed a clean, fluffy towel over the counter next to the sink for the baby to lie on.
He made four cups of tea and stood, hip cocked against the counter, watching Blaise wash the baby with a bag of cotton wool balls.

“The cord looks good.” Blaise told him.

Max nodded. He’d already checked it when he’d changed the baby. He watched as Blaise dipped another cotton ball and dabbed gently around the base of the cord, cleaning carefully.

“Oh, you’re bathing him.” Draco announced as he came into the kitchen. He went to immediately hang over Blaise’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around Blaise’s waist and looking at the squirming baby. “He doesn’t like that.” He chuckled.

“Told you he wouldn’t like anything that wasn’t being nice and snug in Harry’s body.” Max couldn’t help but joke.

“Harry’s out like a light.” Draco said. “Nasta has bundled him up in the bed, making him a little nest to keep him comfortable, as he should really still be in his nest.”

“Harry wanted to surprise our lover. Thunderer is his.”

“How do you know?” Blaise asked distractedly.

“That’s what Harry was trying to tell us and why he wouldn’t let anyone else touch the baby until we understood. He gave birth to Nasta’s baby on Nasta’s birthday.” Max chuckled again.

“Harry always did like going the extra mile.” Draco laughed.

“There, all clean.” Blaise declared, finishing up with their baby’s genital area and throwing the cotton ball. “Now to cuddle him dry. Draco, do you want to do that part?”

“Of course.”

Draco moved to wrap the fluffy towel around the discomforted baby and picked him up, holding him, all wrapped up in the warm towel, in his big arms.

“Go and sit down, lover. I’ll get your tea for you.” Max smiled.

“Thank you.” Draco said, but he came to him for a kiss first, which Max took from a simple, chaste affair to something more passionate, before swatting Draco’s arse and sending him to the living room.

“Where’s mine?” Blaise demanded, standing in front of Max.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Max teased.

“Max!” Blaise complained.

“What’s happened?” Nasta asked, coming into the kitchen. “Where is the baby?”

“Draco has him in the living room.” Max explained.

“So what’s going on out here?”

“Max refuses to give me a kiss, Nas!”

“Oh, well we can’t be having that.” Nasta said, coming forward and winding his arms around Blaise. “Will I do as a replacement, Cariad?”

“Yes.” Blaise said breathlessly.

Nasta dipped his head, hovering his lips over Blaise’s teasingly, making his mate stretch up to him to connect their mouths together.
Huge arms banded around them both and Max squeezed them tight.

“I was only joking, I would have kissed him!” Max whined.

“Too late now.” Blaise insisted.

“No.” Max complained, kissing all over Blaise’s neck and shoulder.

Blaise laughed and turned to get a proper kiss, reaching up to hold Max’s head in place.

“Nasta, me too.” Max whined at him, and Nasta laughed, reaching forward and pulling Max into a kiss.

“Get the tea, Caru.” Nasta said softly. “Harry is asleep, and will hopefully remain that way, so we have an evening together, with the new baby, so that we can each bond with him.”

“You’ve done enough bonding with him!” Blaise teased. “It’s our turn now.”

“By all means, take all night.” Nasta teased right back.

Max laughed happily at the banter, even as he picked up the cups of tea and moved to the living room. Draco was sitting quietly, murmuring softly to the baby, who had been dressed once again, but in a different outfit, as the one that Harry had put him in had been a bit grubby from being underground in his nest.

“How is he?” Max asked, placing Draco’s tea on the table.

“Sleeping again, now that he’s clean, dry and warm.”

“Make sure you put him in scratch mitts before bed, we don’t need another baby to try and gouge out his own eyes, Calix was enough.” Max warned.

“I will, I left them by here.” Draco said, turning and picking up the scratch mitts from the seat next to him and putting them on the table, next to his tea.

“I just can’t believe he’s finally here.” Blaise said, sitting right next to Draco and looking at their baby.

“We’ll get an early night, tonight. Harry and the baby will need us, and we didn’t get much sleep last night, we weren’t expecting them to come out so soon.” Nasta said.

“We were busy sexing you up.” Max laughed.

Nasta hummed, giving Max a smug look. “Hence why we need the early night, seeing as Harry decided to come celebrate my birthday with a newborn.”

“We don’t even know the baby’s schedule.” Draco despaired.

“Oh, we’ll figure that out soon enough, I’m sure.” Max chuckled.

“He’s new born, so he should be feeding roughly every two hours, but no later than every three hours. He took two ounces in his last feed, so we’ll see now what time he wakes up for his next feed.” Nasta said, before taking a sip of tea.

“Oh, I need to sort him out a food diary.” Max said. “He’s already had a feed here.”

Max was up and gone before anyone could say to leave it until the morning, and he came back with a plain blue exercise book that they’d bought in bulk for cheap. He sat down with a pencil, a quill and a pot of black ink and he set the book up to be the baby’s food diary.

“He took two ounces of milk for his first feed here at quarter past six in the evening.” Max spoke aloud as he wrote. “He was here at four in the afternoon, so either he’s on a longer schedule than two hours, or Harry had just fed him before coming to show him to us.”

“So if he wakes for a feed at around eight, then he’s two hourly, but if it’s closer to nine, then he’s three hourly?” Blaise questioned.

“That’s right.” Max said, inputting information. “Now, do we all remember how to handle the newborn diaries?”

“No matter how tired we are, always document feeds.” Blaise intoned dutifully, as he suspected that it was for his benefit anyway, considering he was the only one who had had memory altering head injury.

“Yep. We never found out where those missing rusks went, but it hasn’t happened again, not in the last few weeks.”

Blaise blinked, and then frowned. “Did anyone ask Harry if he was the one eating them?”

“Why would Harry eat them?” Draco asked.

“He’s been nibbling a lot, and you said yourself that it was the work of a nibbler, only a few of them were going missing at a time. He might not have fancied a full meal, or anything as rich as the biscuits we have, so he’s been eating the low sugar baby biscuits and that’s why they haven’t been documented in the baby diaries.” Blaise pointed out.

Max groaned and threw himself back into his seat. “Of course that’s what’s happened! I can’t believe I blamed poor Farren!”

“We’ll ask him in the morning, if he’s back to himself, just to confirm that he was the one eating them.” Nasta said, smirking at Max’s theatrics. “Until then, we have a newborn baby to watch over, and about two hours to kill before we go up to bed for an early night.”

“I think that new film is about two hours long.” Max said thoughtfully.

“The Matrix?” Blaise questioned.

Max hummed, and went to the TV to pick up the film they’d been meaning to watch, but hadn’t gotten around to yet. “Yeah, it’s two hours and sixteen minutes long. You fancy it, lovers?”

“Yeah, put it on, Max, I’ll get us some drinks and snacks.” Nasta said. “Keep it low, though.”

“Of course, none of us want to disturb our little thunderer.” Max chuckled, finding the right remote to control the TV.

It was nice, to snuggle on the same settee with one another, watching a film they’d wanted to see for a while now, with their newborn baby in their midst who was sleeping peacefully.
The film ended without incident and still the baby hadn’t woken up for his next feed, so they stood, and stretched, and Nasta, who had his son back in his arms, checked on him to make sure he was alright.

“Does he need anything? A nappy change maybe? Calix always slept through a wet nappy too.” Draco pointed out.

Nasta checked, but he shook his head. “No, he’s fine.”

“I’ll make him up a bottle, if he doesn’t wake for it himself in the next twenty minutes or so, then we could wake him up and see if he’ll be tempted. I don’t want to leave him more than four hours without a feed.” Max said worriedly.

In the end they didn’t need to wake the baby, as just five minutes from the deadline they had set, he started squirming, a wail building in his throat as he screwed up his little face.

“Oh, there we go.” Max said, sighing in relief, as he tested the bottle which had been cooling naturally, and then handed it over to Nasta.

“So he’s three and a half hourly. That’s actually really good for a newborn.” Draco pointed out, as the four of them all watched as the baby latched immediately onto the bottle teat and started feeding.

“He’s a big baby, he’s feeding very well, so he will stay down for longer, but three and a half hours is really good. We’ve ended up lucky with this baby.” Blaise laughed.

“We’ll get him fed now, he should need a fresh nappy soon, and then we can get ourselves up to bed. Harry hasn’t called, so I assume that he’s still asleep, which is also a good sign. We’ll see then what happens tomorrow, but I do hope that the extended interaction that Harry had this afternoon, and the fact that he forced himself to actually speak, will have fast forwarded his human mind-set.” Nasta said, watching his son feed with his eyes closed.

“He actually looks a little bit like a chubbier Leolin like that.” Blaise pointed out.

“He does.” Max agreed. “I was just about to say that he reminds me of Leolin. Minus those gold and white wings, of course.”

“It’s unlikely that we’ll get another Faerie child.” Nasta said distractedly. “Harry and I are both Drackens. It was a miracle that we even got Leolin in the first place.”

“Never say never, lover.” Max warned. “You never thought you’d have Leolin in the first place, and now that you’ve got one, a second one might not be as much of a stretch as you first thought.”

“We’ll cross that bridge if we ever get to it again. Our thunderer is not a Faerie.” Nasta said.

No one said anything after that, and they lapsed into silence, watching as the baby fed. Once the bottle was finished, Nasta winded him over his shoulder and then the living room was cleaned up, the doors and windows were checked, and the four of them headed up to bed.
As they were getting changed and washed, quietly of course, out of respect for their softly snoring submissive mate, the baby wet his nappy and was changed quickly and easily, before he was settled in his fresh bassinet for the first time. He looked impossibly tiny in the large space, with his feet to the bottom and a thunderbolt emblazoned blanket folded over his waist.

“I need to get a snap of that.” Blaise chuckled quietly, going back downstairs to find a camera.

They were enamoured of the baby, and they couldn’t stop staring at him, but all too soon he would be awake again for another feed, the timer had already started counting down for the next three and a half hour feed, and they needed to be ready.

“I’ll take the first night.” Nasta said.

“Just because he’s yours biologically.” Max teased.

Nasta snorted. “No, Cariad, because I’m top dominant.” He said. “But if you want to volunteer so badly then you can have tomorrow night.”

Max laughed and padded over to hug him. “I knew you loved me.”

“Go to sleep.” Nasta smiled, giving Max a kiss. “We’re going to need it.”

Which was a bit of an understatement, their newborn son woke all of them up at midnight, then again at one in the morning, then at half past three, then at quarter past four and at seven O’clock in the morning, when Nasta, who had been the one to force himself out of bed for every bout of crying to sort out the baby, decided to just take him downstairs and keep himself awake for the day. He made himself a very, very strong cup of coffee and tried to focus himself and make himself a bit more alert.
When the baby drifted back off to sleep, Nasta left him in his downstairs bassinet and went to douse himself in cold water, in a very bad imitation of a shower as all he did was soak his body for less than a minute, he didn’t even use shower gel or shampoo before he was getting out again, and using a quick spell to dry himself. He got dressed for the day and went upstairs to collect the other kids, who were all mostly awake, all of them except Farren and Leolin, who he carried downstairs anyway.
He knew that it would be a while before he was joined by any of his mates, so he gave the kids porridge for breakfast, about the only thing he trusted himself to make, and he added some sliced banana to it.
It was going to be a very long day for him, he would definitely be passing the baby over to one of his mates and going for a nap in the afternoon because there was no way that he could last the whole day without some form of sleep. He was tired now, and as he herded the fed, cleaned kids into the family room to play, Farren having of course woken up due to the noisy shouts of his siblings and being able to have his own breakfast, and Nasta collapsed onto the settee, the newborn in the bassinet beside him, and a still sleeping Leolin tucked up against his neck. He couldn’t bloody wait to go for that nap.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Harry was groggy and unsure of where he was when he woke up, and he peered around himself dazedly, trying to force his brain to wake up. It took him a moment, and several blinks, before he recognised his bedroom. That made him even more confused, as the last he remembered, he had been nesting. Had he dreamt that he’d nested?
He placed a hand on his belly, and found it half the size he had last remembered it. He immediately threw the duvet from himself and stood up, using the mattress as support. He tried to poke his brain into wakefulness. What had happened, and why couldn’t he remember it?
He stumbled to the bassinet, and found it empty of the baby he had apparently birthed, but what reassured him was that it was slept in, there was even a milk stain on the thunderbolt sheets. He breathed easier. His baby had been born and was apparently well, he just couldn’t really remember it for some reason. His mates would know why.
He left the bedroom and padded carefully down the stairs, gripping the bannister tight and taking each step one at a time. It was still uncomfortable, and slightly painful, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Look, Draco, the Falmouth Falcons were slaughtered, five hundred and fifty points to thirty in their last match, their worst defeat in two hundred years.”

“I swear if you tell me this one more time, Max!”

“The Falmouth Falcons were humiliated in their record breaking loss to the Holyhead Harpies, as star Seeker, Vixie the Vixen, made a spectacular mid-air leap for the snitch before rolling safely across the grass, holding the snitch aloft. The Harpies, who only introduced Vixie to the squad this season, have not lost a single match since her debut and are clear favourites to win the League Cup this year.”

“I swear to Merlin, Max, if you don’t stop reading that article over and over I’m going to stuff it down your throat!”

Harry heard a loud, boisterous laugh and it made him smile. He was home, his mates were fine and well, nothing bad had happened if they were laughing and joking with one another, and presumably teasing Draco over his favourite Quidditch team apparently losing badly in their last match.
Harry inched slowly into the kitchen. Draco was sterilising bottles at the counter, and Max was sat with the Daily Prophet open on the table, their newborn baby held securely in one huge arm.

“Max.” Harry croaked out. “Draco.”

His mates both looked up, and what they were doing before was abandoned as they both hurried to him. It was Draco who picked him up and held him securely. Harry could only blink stupidly at the rapid shift in perspective.
He was carried into the family room, and Nasta and Blaise were sat there, with their eight other children playing on the floor happily, cartoons playing in the other room.

“Harry, are you okay?” Nasta asked, standing and taking him from Draco, turning and laying him down on the settee. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t…don’t remember much, or how I got here. The baby, is he okay?”

“He’s absolutely fine, love.” Max said, crouching down and showing him the baby.

Harry sat up, ignoring his flapping mates, to look more closely at the baby, assessing him.

“We aren’t that bad at looking after the kids.” Max teased.

“It’s not that.” Harry said softly. “I don’t remember having him.”

“Sometimes it takes a while for your memory to come back.” Nasta soothed, laying a hand on Harry’s back to support him.

“How is your stomach?” Blaise asked.

“Sore.” Harry said simply.

“Here, one of you take the thunderer, I’ll sort Harry out with his needed potions.” Max said.

It was Blaise who took the baby and Harry smiled to see them all helping out. It pleased his Dracken greatly.
He was picked up again and taken back upstairs and to their large en suite.

“I put everything you’d need up here. I was expecting you to wake up and call for one of us, not struggle down those stairs all by yourself.” Max explained, sitting Harry on the counter and with a wave of his wand, the plug dropped and the taps came on. “Now, how sore are you, is it any sort of pain, or just an ache?”

Harry shook his head. “Just sore, like I’ve pulled a few muscles.”

“So no pain reliever just yet, but let me know immediately if you need one, okay?” Max told him, as he scooped out a handful of bath salts from a jar and sprinkled it from one end of the bath to the other before he picked up a vial of a muscle relaxant and tipped that into the running water.

Harry inhaled and he smelt lemons, and it made him smile. He liked the citrusy scents.

“Who dressed me?” He asked, plucking at the pyjamas he was wearing.

“Nasta took great care of you.” Max explained, shooting Harry a smile.

“How is the baby? Is he feeding well, has he had his first poo?”

“He’s wonderful, love. He is feeding well, and sleeping well too. He’s taking two ounces of milk every three to three and a half hours. He’s wetting nappies, but he hasn’t pooed yet. We’re still waiting for that.”

Harry nodded, taking in the information and committing it to memory.

“He was feeding well in the nest.” He said, as the words knocked loose a memory. “I wanted to come out early for some reason.” He frowned. “I don’t remember why, but I don’t think it was urgent, there was nothing wrong with me or the baby.”

“Nasta’s birthday.” Max reminded gently. “You wanted to give him his present in person.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “Yes! I remember that. I…I kept telling my Dracken that it was our mate’s birthday, and we went to see him with the baby. We were going to go back into our nest afterwards though.”

Max shook his head. “You fell asleep on Nasta and he carried you up to bed. He did make you a little nest in the bed though, to keep you comfortable. It must have worked because you’ve slept for two days.”

“Two days?!” Harry cried. “I haven’t bonded with my baby!”

“He’s fine, dearest. I swear. I promise you that he’s fine. I’m going to clean you up now, get you into fresh pyjamas, and then you can lay on the settee with the baby all day if you want to. You can bond with him and he will know your voice, your heartbeat. Everything is going to be just fine.”

Harry nodded, and he allowed Max to help him remove his pyjamas and then settle him in the bath. He still felt a little lethargic and lackadaisical, so he allowed Max to sponge him off, holding him safe and steady as he tipped him backwards to wash his greasy, knotty mop of hair. He felt himself drifting again and he felt more than he heard Max giggling silently at him.

“Tired, leave me alone.” Harry murmured.

“You’re in the bath, love. I’m not going to leave you alone in here. Just give me a few more minutes, let me rinse you off and then you can be in your nice, warm pyjamas and downstairs with the baby.”

“Still our thunderer?”

“Until you name him, yes, but I’m afraid he’s always going to be our little bolt of thunder now.”

“Nasta’s baby.”

Max hummed, and Harry could almost see him grinning at him. “We know. Your Dracken self refused to allow anyone other than Nasta to hold the baby until we got it through our thick heads what you were trying to say. We know that he’s Nasta’s.”

Harry nodded and opened his eyes to see the grin aimed at him. It made him smile.

“We’re happy to have you back with us, you don’t appreciate how hard it is to communicate with a feral Dracken until you actually have to do it. I had to pull you from the room and wash you off in the sink to give the family time to leave safely, you really didn’t like them being here.”

“Oh, did I embarrass myself again?”

“No, dearest. They’re Drackens too, well the Malfoys aren’t, but I’m sure Draco has filled them in by now. But everyone knows what it’s like to have Drackens in the family, they know all about the instincts and everything. It’s all fine, but I did find it funny, especially trying to wash you. You really didn’t appreciate my affectionate cleaning, not like you are now.”

Harry laughed. “I don’t know why my Dracken doesn’t like it, probably because it feels too unnatural, but I definitely appreciate it right now.”

Max slowed his hand movements down, stroking just for the pleasure of touching his mate, though he was still cleaning as well. Harry did stink, or he had before he’d bathed, and he really needed to be clean.

“Are we done?” Harry asked ten minutes later, cracking his eyes open.

Max nodded. “Yeah, hair and body is nice and clean, I’ve paid good attention to your pits so Draco doesn’t keel over and…”

He was interrupted by Harry’s laughter, and hearing that bright, happy laugh made Max smile.

“Come on, love, let’s get you out and dried and I can get that scar salve on you.”

Max helped Harry out, got him dried and laying on their bed in just his boxers. He took the scar salve and gently applied it to the thick, puckered red line that showed where Harry had sliced himself open. He watched Harry carefully, to see if he flinched or winced or showed any sign of pain or discomfort. He didn’t and he laid happily on the bed, arms up by his head, and he looked beautiful. So beautiful that Max had to bend down to kiss him. Those hands came up to hold his head in place and Harry kissed him back.

“I love you.” Max said gently.

“I love you too. So much, my mate.”

“Hmm, I thought all of your feralness had gone.” Max teased.

Harry grinned at him. “It has. I’m just feeling a bit possessive of my mates.”

“Come on.” Max picked Harry up and helped him to dress in fresh pyjamas, before picking him up again and carrying him down the stairs, the salve held securely over his scar by a large gauze plaster.

“I want my baby.” Harry said.

“We’ll get the thunderer to you now.” Max assured him, carrying him around through the kitchen and then into the family room.

“How are you feeling, love?” Draco asked him.

“Fine. I’m all clean, I am getting a bit tired again, but I want my baby. I need to bond with him, I came out of the nest early.”

“You did, and you shouldn’t have.” Nasta said firmly. “Though it’s always nice to see you.”

Harry grinned. “I love you too.”

Nasta, who was holding his son, came to crouch next to him. He gave Harry a long, lingering kiss and then gently passed the baby over, laying him on Harry’s chest, being careful of Harry’s abdomen.

“Hi, baby.” Harry said, wrapping his arms around the squirming newborn. His son stilled the moment he heard Harry’s voice, and then two hands reached up to grip tight at Harry’s collar. “Put his ear over my heart, please.”

Nasta adjusted the tiny, delicate head and placed the baby’s ear over Harry’s beating heart. The newborn settled immediately and Harry smiled.

“Are you back to yourself now?” Blaise asked him.

“I think so. I feel good actually. Tired and a bit sore, but not too bad. I think I should have singletons now all the time.” He joked.

“We’ll try and accommodate that for you.” Max told him.

“Mummy.”

Max turned to look at Tegan, and he pulled her up and stood her on his thighs. She looked at the penguin in her hands, then held it out to Harry.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Harry said, taking the offered toy and tucking it into his neck.

Tegan smiled at him, reached forward and gave Harry a kiss, gave her new baby brother a kiss, patted the penguin and then she was slipping from Max’s lap and she was gone.

“I love that little girl so much.” Max declared, grinning after Tegan as she went to her doll’s house to play.

“She’s definitely the most feisty of our kids, but I love it when she does things like that.” Draco agreed.

“That feistiness will come in handy when she’s an adult.” Blaise nodded.

“Can I have some tea, please?” Harry asked. “My throat is really dry and really sore.” He explained.

Max shot up like he’d been electrocuted. “Of course you can, do you want anything to eat, any water?”

Harry shook his head. “Just tea, and only because my throat hurts.”

Max rushed out and Harry closed his eyes for a moment, savouring the newborn in his arms. His mates had been right, he had bonded with the baby already, but to his Dracken, it wasn’t enough. So he would stay here and cuddle his new son, Nasta’s son, and bond properly with him.

“Here you are.”

Harry peeled open his eyes, and his thoughtful mate had stuck a straw in his teacup, so that Harry could drink it without sitting up.

“You’re the best.” Harry said gratefully, as Max manipulated the straw into Harry’s mouth so that he could drink in small sips while flat on his back.

“Of course I am.” Max preened.

Harry yawned widely after a few sips of his honey tea, made exactly how he liked it, and he hummed gently. He took a few more sips, just because the tea tasted so good after a couple of weeks of just water and blood, cold blood at that, and it tasted so sweet, so amazing, that he wanted more. He was too tired, though, and like their newborn son, he fell asleep mid-sip, with the straw still in his mouth.

“He’s so tired still.” Max sighed, carefully popping the straw from Harry’s mouth and putting the half empty cup on the coffee table.

“He will be.” Nasta said, reaching out to cup Max’s chin. “But he’s also going to be fine. A few more days and normal function will resume, he’ll start eating and drinking as normal. In a few weeks he won’t be so sore and he’ll be healed up properly. We’ll look after him.”

Max nodded and smiled, tipping his head to kiss Nasta’s palm.

“I’m glad that they’re both alright and that nothing untoward happened to either of them.”

“Oh, we’re all glad of that.” Draco agreed. “But our ninth child is here, and we’re almost outnumbered two to one.”

Max snorted. “It’s only going to get worse from here on out, lover. Best get used to it.”

“I know that, I’m just trying to envision us going on holiday, or out for the day, with so many kids.”

“It was always going to be difficult.” Nasta said. “But we’ll manage. We’re Drackens, and there are five of us, mateships have done more than us with less mates.”

“My Granddad among them.” Max grinned. “Can you imagine him and Nana Kim taking all their kids out for a day trip? Especially when Nico and Ceph were little.”

“They’re terrors now.” Blaise laughed.

“It gets easier when the oldest are old enough to help out. Xerxes, Alexus, Benedict and Maribeth were always helping with the little ones, though Cassander, despite being the second oldest after Xerxes, well, he caused more problems than he helped with.” Max laughed. “He was usually a part of the problem in the first place.”

“Did they go on a lot of trips then?” Draco asked.

“Oh, tons. They’ve got pictures and souvenirs from all over the place. I think they were out every week or so.”

“We’re going to have to ask for advice and tips.” Blaise laughed. “We haven’t even taken all the kids out together yet.”

“As I said, there are five of us, and Leolin and our thunderer aren’t going to be going anywhere by themselves for a while yet, we’re not quite as outnumbered as it seems.”

“So…maybe we could take a day trip in the summer, perhaps to a beach or even just to the park for a picnic.” Draco mused. “It would do us some good to get out of the house for a full day.”

“I think Harry would like that.” Max said, giving his sleeping mate a soft smile.

“We’ll plan it properly.” Nasta said. “We’ll all have the same week off of work, we take everything we need, and we do it properly.”

“Of course.” Max nodded. “I’m sure Granddad said that he would plan an outing properly too, that’s why they always had so many and nothing usually went wrong.”

“Usually?” Draco asked nervously.

“Well, that many kids, Draco, you can’t plan for everything. Accidents happen and we will have more than a few scares over the years, but that’s life and we’ll deal with it.”

The four of them looked at each other and nodded. They would plan a day trip somewhere, and they would let their children experience normal situations, it wasn’t good for them to keep them secluded in the house all day, only taking them out occasionally for a trip to the supermarket down the road. They needed to get more confident in their own parenting abilities and start teaching their kids about the world around them, that was their duty as parents. They would have that day trip, they could only hope that Harry agreed with them about it.

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A/N: This chapter has come so late because it was giving me some trouble, the entire first scene was deleted and then redone in Draco’s POV, which I think works better, but I have finally managed to get it done and I hope that you all enjoy it.

StarLight Massacre. X
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The Rise of the Drackens