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Expecting the Unexpected	By : Phoenixstrike Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 21915 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its indicia are © JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. I own none of the copyright, and this fanfiction makes no money.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
This is the final chapter to the story, although there will be an epilogue to follow. Thank you all for reading.

Chapter Fourteen: ...and Baby Makes Three?

Draco caught Harry by the shoulders just in time, as his unconscious form began to fall deadweight to the ground.

“No- Harry, wake up!” he yelled.

“He needs St Mungo’s. Now!” Hermione shrieked. “That spell- I think it’s detached the placenta from the uterine wall. Harry’s got severe internal bleeding and the baby’s not getting any oxygen.”

“You mean he’s suffocating?” Draco gave a whimper of distress.

“Malfoy- where’s that Portkey? The one the Healer gave to Harry just before Christmas?” Ron bellowed, but Draco’s brain wasn’t working.

“I… I’m not sure,” he said numbly. Ron looked at him for the briefest of seconds before drawing his wand.

“Accio Harry’s emergency Portkey!” he yelled. Nothing happened. “Sod this, we don’t have time. We need to get Harry to hospital now. We’re Apparating.”

“Draco can’t Apparate,” Hermione said.

“Fuck the law! Harry and the baby need help!” Draco’s voice was full of panic. He was almost hysterical now.

“But what if it ends up Splinching the baby…” Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.

“Hermione, they’re both dying. It’s worth the risk, OK?”

“You’re right,” Hermione said, her voice trembling. “But we can’t get into the maternity ward via Apparition, can we? It’s warded for safety. It’ll have to be Spell Damage. They’ll be able to treat him there.”

“Granger, will you take Harry?” Draco said. “I know you’re the least likely of all of us to Splinch them during the Side-Along. I trust you.” Hermione acknowledged this for the compliment it was with a quick nod of the head, and without further hesitation took Harry from Draco’s arms, turned on the spot, and whisked him away.

“Malfoy, come on. I’ll take you on Side-Along. You’re in no condition to Apparate by yourself,” Ron said, in a gentle tone he’d never used with Draco before. It was testament to the severity of the situation that Draco offered no objection. Ron quickly conjured a Patronus, relayed a brief message explaining what had happened and where to find Lucius Malfoy, and sent it to McGonagall, before grabbing Draco’s right forearm and dragging them both into the smothering sensation of Apparition.

They arrived at St Mungo’s almost instantly, only a minute or two after Hermione and Harry, and Draco immediately spotted Hermione pacing along the corridor, looking extremely white and with tears pouring down her face. She hurried over when she saw them.

“We made the jump intact,” she said quickly, in response to Draco’s unanswered question, “but they’ve taken him straight in for an emergency caesarean section. Room six.” Draco nodded briefly to her, turned on the spot, and sprinted towards the door, flinging it wide open and running inside.

*

Harry stirred groggily. He tried to take a breath and felt a moment of panic when he realised there was something covering his nose and mouth, and scrambled to remove it.

“I’d leave that in place, if I were you, Mister Potter. It’s just an oxygen mask. It’s helping you to breathe,” said a voice he recognised vaguely. Healer Moore’s, he thought. So he was in St Mungo’s then. Suddenly, everything flooded back to him- Lucius Malfoy, the argument in the garden, then being cursed with- whatever that spell was. And the pain… fuck, the pain.

“Harry, you’ve suffered a placental abruption, and your baby is very unhappy in there. We need to deliver immediately,” the Healer continued. Harry screwed his eyes tight and nodded.

“Please save her,” he whispered.

“We’ll do our best,” the Healer replied, and it wasn’t lost on Harry that it was far from a guarantee.

Just then the door flew open, and Harry saw a panic-stricken Draco run into the theatre.

“Just in time, Mister Malfoy,” Healer Moore said. “We’re about to begin. Harry is spelled numb from the waist down, and as you can see, we’ve awoken him.”

Draco didn’t say anything. He just stood, frozen, near the table Harry was laid out on, wide- eyed and looking grey.

“Hey,” Harry said trying to sound reassuring when he felt anything but reassured himself. “Come here.” He held out a hand for Draco, which seemed to snap Draco back into action. Draco didn’t say anything, but stoically made his way to the chair next to Harry’s head and took Harry’s waiting hand. There was already a green screen erected across Harry’s abdomen. It was amazing how much quicker everything was with magic.

The Healer sprayed cold water on Harry’s stomach, he confirmed he couldn’t feel it, and then the caesarean began. Harry couldn’t feel any pain, but there was a lot of tugging and pulling. He noticed the salty coppery smell of his own blood, and felt slightly nauseated, aware that his stomach was currently sliced open in a worse way than even Sectumsempra could achieve. He heard the Healer talking to another and saying things like, “Grade two abruptio placentae,” “Borderline grade three, very severe,” and “Suspected Couvelaire uterus,” whilst looking extremely grave. Harry knew the definition of none of these terms, but knew that it was extremely serious.

After only a minute or so, he heard a watery suction noise as the amniotic sac was pieced and the fluid drained, followed by felt a very odd sensation, like someone was washing up inside his stomach, and then a tiny, purple thing covered in Harry’s blood was removed and whisked away to the other side of the room.

Their baby had been born.

And it was still, and silent.

*

Harry held his breath and willed himself not to cry, and he felt Draco’s hand clamp on his. He didn’t once take his eyes away from the small table, where one of the Healers was rubbing the baby vigorously with towels and casting airway clearing, monitoring and warming charms, whilst another was holding a tiny mask over the baby’s nose and mouth, administering oxygen.

“Come on, baby,” Harry pleaded desperately, “You can do this! You’re a Potter. We get ourselves out of these sorts of situations all the time!”

And finally, after what had felt like an eternity, there was a tiny whimper from the baby, which gradually built to a loud wailing which filled the entire room, and it was a sweeter sound than any music Harry had ever heard. A huge rush of relief spread to every single nerve Harry possessed, causing him to lose his fragile grip on his emotions and he broke down in a way he hadn’t since Sirius had died, not caring in the slightest that he was in a room with a bunch of strangers who were witnessing the Famous Harry Potter sobbing.

Draco wasn’t much better beside him, Harry noticed. He, too, hadn’t taken his eyes off the –now, thank Merlin- pink bundle that was letting everyone know there was a healthy set of lungs inside that tiny body, but he was clinging to Harry like his life depended upon it, and Harry could feel his entire body shaking next to him.

“I’ve never been so thankful for the Harry Potter good luck gene in my entire life,” Harry heard him rasp, his voice thick with emotion. The Healer was still tending to the caesarean, showing a trainee Healer where the blood had leaked into the peritoneal cavity due to Lucius’ spell and caused massive, life-threatening internal bleeding.

“We need to remove all traces of the pregnancy completely, Harry. The uterus included. It’s incredibly damaged. And you will require a course of Blood-Replenishing Potion for several days,” she said, but Harry barely heard her. Their baby was alive. Nothing else in the world mattered at the moment. He was aware of the Healer Vanishing various things from inside his stomach, which did make him somewhat nervous, and then Summoning a bottle of Dittany and applying it to the incision in his stomach, but then one of the Healers who was with the baby wrapped it up in a bundle of fleecy blankets and said, “Would you like to hold your baby, Harry?” and he forgot all about the surgery.

She placed the baby into Harry’s eager arm, and Draco’s instantly engulfed the bundle too. And for the first time, Harry and Draco gazed at the face of their child. The infant was unmistakably Draco’s, Harry thought. There was a shock of white-blond hair jutting out from the blankets, and the chin was angular, in exactly the same way Draco’s was. He bent down and kissed the sleeping infant, startled by the feel of super-soft skin on his lips. And then realisation hit him like a freight train. He was a father. The baby in his arms was his child, his flesh and blood. The sudden sense of responsibility was very nearly overwhelming. He tore his eyes away and gazed at Draco in pure astonishment, who just grinned at him and leant in for a kiss.

“You were brilliant,” Draco said. “Seriously amazing. Um, Harry, shall we find out who’s won our bet then?” And to Harry’s surprise, he realised he’d not considered the sex of their baby once since the rather dramatic birth. He nodded and tentatively pulled back the blankets. The baby hadn’t been dressed, nor had a nappy put on yet. And there, between the legs, was-

Harry laughed.

“Bloody told you to trust my instincts,” he said happily. “Looks like Malfoys can make females after all!”

They had a daughter. He was cradling his and Draco’s baby girl.

Draco looked shell-shocked for only a few seconds before he, too, began to laugh.

“After the stress of the last half an hour, I really couldn’t care less that I lost the bet,” he said. “I’m just delighted she’s here safely. I was terrified.”

“She wouldn’t be related to me if she’d made it easy on herself coming into the world, even if she did manage to scare everyone shitless,” Harry said. A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Oh god! Draco, can you let Ron and Hermione know? They’re outside still, aren’t they? They’ll be so worried,” Harry said. “Tell them we’re both fine, but don’t tell them the sex. I want to do that.”

Draco kissed him once more on the forehead and walked to the door. He deliberately left it open so Harry could hear as he walked through, and said, in a voice that sounded completely disbelieving, “They’re both fine. And, er, I’m a father, and that sounds incredibly surreal.”

Harry chuckled to himself as he heard Ron’s relieved expletives trying to turn the air in the corridor blue, and Hermione’s relieved sobs as she burst into tears and garbled ‘Oh Merlin, thank god”-s.

Draco returned to the room just as a Healer came to take the baby away to be weighed.

“Five pounds five ounces,” she announced a minute later. “Not a bad weight; a little on the low side, but considering she’s slightly premature, she’s doing well. But her colour is good, her heart rate is normal, and she’s nice and warm, plus she’s breathing well by herself, so there’s no reason she can’t stay with you on the ward, Harry. We’ll just keep a series of monitoring charms around her that will alert us if she needs help.” She dressed the baby then, and made to hand her back to Harry, but he shook his head.

“Draco’s turn for a cuddle,” he said. He watched Draco’s face soften and melt as his daughter was placed in his arms for the first time. Even when they were kissing, or making love, Harry had never seen the look Draco was giving their baby on his face before. A look of such pure delight combined with devoted astonishment, Harry thought. It was beautiful.

“So what’s the little princess’ name then, Mister I Won the Bet?” Draco said. He tried to sound petulant, but failed miserably. It was obvious that Draco was already totally besotted with his little girl, and that no man would ever be good enough for her in his eyes.

Harry whispered two words, knowing Draco would understand the significance of them both, and he wasn’t disappointed. His eyes welled up, and it was several seconds before he could speak. When he did, he managed to croak out, “Perfect.”

*

Whilst Harry would always maintain that the Muggle way of doing things was sometimes the best, he concluded very quickly that a caesarean section wasn’t one of those things. Healer Moore had used a combination of Muggle science and magic to perform the operation, but as the screen was removed from Harry’s abdomen some time later and he gazed down at his perfectly flat stomach that didn’t contain so much as a trace of a scar, let alone any of the other gruesome things he had been picturing, he had to laugh. He really fucking loved magic sometimes.

An hour after their daughter was born, she was placed in a cot with a Warming Charm applied to it, Harry was given a large dose of Blood-Replenishing Potion to counter his huge blood-loss, and he and his daughter were wheeled into a private room in the maternity unit, closely followed by Draco, and an extremely over-excited Hermione and Ron.

The Healer and Draco both helped Harry first into clean pyjamas and then into the bed whilst Ron and Hermione waited outside- the spell used to numb him hadn’t quite worn off yet. There was a large draught of Pain-Relieving Potion on the bedside cabinet, ready for when sensation did return to his lower body. He wasn’t looking forward to that part.

“She will need feeding when she wakes up,” Healer Moore said. She placed a glass bottle containing formula milk on the side. “There are no mammary glands in your chest, so you will have to feed artificially, rather than from the breast.”

“Not a problem,” Harry said, who thought breastfeeding might be pushing the whole ‘I’m a bloke who’s just had a baby’ thing a tad too far.

“You were both extremely lucky, Harry,” the Healer continued. “I won’t lie to you. The situation was extremely serious when you both came in, and there was a strong chance we could have lost either one of you today.” She smiled at him. “As it is, I’m delighted to have you both here, fit and well. Congratulations on your baby, Harry, Mister Malfoy. I shall give you some time with your friends.”

“Thank you. For everything,” Harry said sincerely, and was joined with Draco’s enthusiastic show of gratitude too.

No sooner had the door closed when Hermione and Ron entered, their eager talking filled the room.

“What is it, mate?”

“Harry, please tell us! We’re simply dying to know!”

He put up a hand to stop them, reached into the cot next to his bed, and lifted the still-sleeping baby into his arms. He turned her so she was facing his friends, and announced, “Ron, Hermione, I’d like you both to meet Lily Eltanin Potter-Malfoy. Our daughter.”

Hermione squealed and Ron cheered. Once the noise from his friends died down, Ron said, “OK, I get Lily, but, er, Eltanin? Bit out there, isn’t it?”

“Oh, Ron, Eltanin is the brightest star in the constellation Draco,” Hermione said, and Harry noticed tears on her cheeks again. “Harry’s named her after her father. It’s lovely.” Harry looked over at Draco, who looked unbelievably smug.

“Damn sight better than ‘Scorpius Hyperion’,” Harry teased, which wiped some of the smug expression from Draco’s face, much to Harry’s amusement. “And Lily is after my mum of course, but there are two other reasons I chose it. Lily of the Valley is the birth flower for the month of May. And apparently the flower was given as a gift in Victorian times and meant, ‘you have made my life complete’. It just seemed to fit.”

“Where in the name of Merlin’s hairy testicles did you learn that?” Ron asked, incredulous.

“Herbology textbook. Turns out it wasn’t just Astronomy books that were good for finding names. Having to study early for exams did have some benefits,” Harry said with a wink.

Lily was passed between his friends for a few minutes, until Hermione started cooing and making that noise women made whenever they held babies. As soon as she started on about that “wonderful baby smell”, however, Ron looked rather nervous, and took the baby off her, handing her to Draco, with a muttered, “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Wish Mum and Dad had a fellytone,” Ron said, a few minutes later, after a nurse had brought Harry a cup of tea and a plate of toast. “There are a few downstairs in reception for Muggle-born patients to ring their relatives if they can’t send them owls. It’s gonna take a while to let my parents know you’ve had the baby.”

“I expect McGonagall will have told them,” Draco said. “And Andromeda almost certainly told my mother. If the Aurors didn’t first.” His fists clenched, but otherwise he made no reference to Lucius Malfoy. It was a topic no-one was prepared to discuss at the moment, it seemed.

Just then, Lily began to fuss, which escalated quickly into full-blown screaming. Draco looked alarmed.

“She’s hungry, I think,” Harry said. “Healer Moore said she’d need feeding when she woke up. Give her here.” He took the baby from Draco’s arms, Hermione handed him the bottle and he placed it in Lily’s mouth. She instantly stopped bawling and began to suck, making soft cooing noises as she did so. And then, for the first time, she opened her eyes and stared straight at Harry. He heard his breath hitch.

“Look at her eyes,” he whispered.

They were bright green. Exactly like his.

“Well, little Lily,” he said, delighted, “you look just like your other father. Except your eyes. You have my mother’s eyes.”

“I thought all babies had blue eyes at birth?” Hermione said, not taking her eyes off Lily for a second.

“I guess it’s magic,” Harry said happily.

*

The next few hours were a bit of a blur. Exhausted, Harry had fallen asleep after he’d fed Lily, and when he awoke it was well after dark. The numbing charm had definitely worn off too; he had intense pins and needles in his legs, and a dull ache in his stomach, but he’d been expecting far worse. Still, he reached for his glasses (that Draco must have removed), dutifully downed his Pain-Relieving Potion, and pushed himself up in the bed. Ron and Hermione had left; Harry guessed they’d had to get back to the school.

Draco, who was cradling a sleeping Lily, saw he was awake and smiled. “My mother and Gawain Robards are here to see us,” he said.

“Gawain Robards? Who?” Harry replied groggily.

“Auror Head,” Draco said, and his words triggered something in Harry’s mind. A conversation with Scrimgeour a couple of years ago in the garden of The Burrow.

“What does he want?” Harry was thinking of earlier when Draco Apparated, and wondering if it was to do with that. But it was a Side-Along, an emergency, and surely the Head Auror wouldn’t personally attend to such a case?

“I’m not sure, but I guess it is to do with my- to do with Lucius,” Draco said, and his hesitation in saying ‘father’ pained Harry slightly. “They wouldn’t tell me. They wanted to wait until you were awake.” He handed Lily over to Harry, who nuzzled her with his cheek. He reckoned she’d not been placed in the crib once since Harry had lifted her out to show her off to his friends.

“You slept like the dead for a couple of hours. She woke for a bottle about eight, but I fed her,” Draco said, indicating the baby. “And then she did this absolutely revolting shit that I swear should have been impossible to come from something related to me, but the Healer said it was just meconium and is normal, apparently. I changed her nappy all by myself.” He sounded so proud of himself that Harry had to laugh.

“First of many, Draco,” he said. “Let your mother in. Has she seen Lily yet?” Draco shook his head.

“I was waiting for you,” he said, and stood, crossed the room and called his mother in, telling Auror Robards to wait for a few minutes.

Narcissa swept into the room with her usual cool grace, but her face betrayed her; it could not have been plainer that she was desperate to meet her granddaughter. She looked at Harry, as if unsure if she could ask for a cuddle, so Harry took the initiative and held Lily out for her to take.

“My beautiful baby girl,” Narcissa said. “Oh, my precious. ‘Amor meus amplior quam verba est’.” Harry stared blankly.

“It means, ‘My love is more than words,” Draco said. “It’s the traditional blessing a child’s grandmother gives to her grandchild the first time she holds them. Archaic pure-blood stuff.”

“Goodness, Draco! Look at her hair,” Narcissa said. “She is the image of you as a newborn.”

“She has Harry’s eyes,” Draco replied, and Harry realised in that moment how pleased Draco was about that. In fact, he sounded positively delighted.

“Mother, what does Auror Robards wish to discuss with Harry and me?” Draco said. Narcissa opened her mouth to answer, but Robards obviously had good timing as her words were rendered pointless as the man strode into the room as if he owned the place. Harry instantly disliked him.

“I can’t wait any longer,” Robards barked self-importantly. “I’m here in an official capacity, Potter. Not that, er, congratulations aren’t in order.” Harry noticed that none were forthcoming. He didn’t know whether to feel amused or annoyed.

“I’ll get to the point. The Aurors arrested a suspect from the garden of your cottage just after five this afternoon, and took them in for questioning. I sent Auror Proudfoot to Malfoy Manor to inform Mrs Malfoy of her husband’s arrest, and I received some startling news from him. Lucius Malfoy was inside the Manor, and appeared to have no idea why we’d called. ‘How can that be?’ I asked myself. So I checked the holding cell which we’d assigned to Mr Malfoy and made a shocking discovery. We didn’t, as I assumed, have Lucius Malfoy in custody at all. We had a young woman by the name of Pansy Parkinson.”

Harry felt as if he’d received a slap in the face.

“It wasn’t Lucius that cursed me?” he said, astonished.

“No, apparently not,” Robards growled. “We questioned Miss Parkinson under Veritaserum two hours ago and extracted a full confession. Apparently she’s quite the expert in the use of Polyjuice.” He paused and smoothed out his long moustache which he obviously thought made him look important, but made Harry think of walruses. “Her plan- if one could call such misguided foolishness that- was to cause you, Potter, to lose your baby, and then Apparate away, leaving Lucius Malfoy to be blamed, and therefore receive the Azkaban sentence she believes he should have been given for Death Eater activity, whilst leaving Draco Malfoy heartbroken. She called it, ‘killing two Jobberknolls with one spell’. Poetic girl, that one.”

“Father didn’t try to kill Lily,” Draco rasped. The relief was evident on his face.

“Your father is a lot of things, Draco, but he wouldn’t hurt his son that way. He fights with his status and uses politics and money as his weapon against his family,” Narcissa replied.

“So this was all a set-up by her? The claiming she arrived to talk to Draco alone thing?” Harry asked.

“According to her, someone by the name of Millicent Bulstrode- who we’ll be bringing in for questioning tomorrow- sent word to Miss Parkinson as soon as you left Hogwarts to return to Hogsmeade,” Robards informed them. “Parkinson quickly took the Potion and positioned herself to make it look as if she’d been waiting a while.”

“I should have known it wasn’t him,” Draco said. “He’s my father. What sort of a person cannot recognise it when their own parent is being impersonated?”

“We’ve known the Parkinsons since you and Pansy weren’t much older than Lily,” Narcissa said. “She knows Lucius’ mannerisms well enough to emulate them. It’s certainly not your fault, sweetheart.”

Lily began to fuss in Narcissa’s arms, and she handed her back to Harry, who began to rock her gently from side to side, and she fell back to sleep.

“That’s all I came to say,” Robards said. “I will owl you once a trial date has been set, although with a full confession already extracted, it’s likely Parkinson is heading straight for Azkaban. Evening, gentlemen, Mrs Malfoy.” He swept from the room. Draco put his head in his hands.

“Fucking Pansy- sorry, Mother,” he said. “That bitch said she was going to get me. I just thought she was upset because she’d been expelled. How can she hate me that much? We used to be friends.”

“It backfired and she’s going to prison,” Harry said soothingly, “and your father didn’t try and kill our baby after all. After everything, that has to be a relief.” Harry knew it would mean a huge amount to Draco to know that his own father didn’t try such a wicked spell on him, even if they were still firmly estranged.

Just then a Healer entered the room.

“it’s eleven at night,” she said kindly but firmly. “I must insist you all leave now- yes, you too, Mister Malfoy. Mother- er, father, the birth father, that is- and baby only overnight.”

“I’ve booked the Oliver Messel Suite at the Dorchester for us for a few nights, Draco,” Narcissa said. “It’s not far from here.” Harry snorted inwardly at Narcissa’s knowledge of luxury London hotels, but then figured if the wizarding equivalent was the Leaky Cauldron, it was no contest, if a witch like Narcissa needed to stay overnight in London. It was Muggle-style or slumming it.

“Get some sleep,” Harry told him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be back first thing in the morning,” Draco promised him. He leant over and kissed Harry soundly. “I love you.” He took Lily from Harry’s arms and kissed her too. “And I love you. Ab imo pectore.” Harry didn’t ask what it meant. He didn’t need to know. The gentleness of Draco’s tone gave it as much meaning as he needed.

Despite the fact that he only got about a further three hours’ broken sleep that night, in between feeds and nappy changes (and deciding all the practice he’d received with Teddy was worth its weight in Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans), and just comforting a baby who wouldn’t stop screaming, Harry couldn’t keep the smile at bay.

He’s had some surreal days before in his life. Breaking out of Gringotts on a dragon then defeating Voldemort less than twelve hours later was high up on that list. But, he thought sleepily, as he stared into the eyes of his newborn daughter (identical to his in every way), whilst she greedily gulped her milk at four in the morning, becoming a father unexpectedly after being cursed by Pansy Parkinson Polyjuiced as Lucius Malfoy, when this time yesterday his biggest worry was getting through the memorial service was the most surreal of them all.

*

Three things surprised Harry the following day. The first was that Draco confirmed there were no members of the press downstairs, or groups of people demanding to be let in to the maternity ward, meaning the birth of the baby and Pansy Parkinson’s arrest had somehow not yet become common knowledge. The second was that a clearly besotted Molly Weasley- tears streaming down her face and cradling Lily tenderly in her arms- had bestowed the same pure-blood blessing on the sleeping infant that Narcissa had the day before. And the third was how some of the nurses had no respect for his privacy whatsoever.

“Have you opened your bowels yet, Mister Potter?” Rude Brisk Nurse, who had arrived to do his and Lily’s observations, asked loudly whilst Draco and Narcissa were both in the room.

“Um,” Harry said, his face scarlet. “No.”

“Well, tell us as soon as you do. We like all new, er, parents, to do so before we discharge them from hospital,” she said.

“I went this morning and I’m a new parent. Can I be discharged?” Draco drawled, and Harry shot him an incredibly grateful look. He knew Draco had said that purely to make Harry feel less embarrassed, and it worked. Particularly when the nurse flushed slightly at his words, and Narcissa snorted in amusement.

The nurse did the rest of the observations- checking Harry’s blood pressure, feeling his stomach, taking Lily’s temperature and checking her respiratory rate, in silence. She handed Harry his phial of Blood-Replenishing Potion, which he drank quickly, collected the empty container, and, with a passing, “Healer Moore will be in to see you later,” left the room. Harry yawned heavily, which was not missed by Draco.

“Will you give in and sleep?” he said. “I will look after Lily.” Harry wanted to protest, but he’d had about six hours’ broken sleep in the last thirty-six, and he felt his body obey Draco’s words. “’Kay. Just for a while then,” he said, and closed his eyes, falling almost instantly into slumber.

This set a pattern for the next few days. Due to Lily Eltanin being born a few days shy of thirty-seven weeks’ gestation, the Healers insisted on keeping both her and Harry in hospital so she could be monitored. Molly and Arthur visited in the day, as did Narcissa, and occasionally Andromeda. Ron and Hermione visited most evenings, after dinner at Hogwarts. On the third day, they brought Ginny with them, who had not been allowed to leave but had snuck out of the castle anyway, desperate to see the baby. She cooed and fussed just as Hermione had, and Harry laughed, deciding there was obviously something about babies that turned strong, independent females into putty. Hermione had quelled Harry’s voiced worries about having nothing ready for the baby at the cottage yet with an enigmatic, “It’s all sorted, Harry.”

Draco didn’t leave his side from the time he arrived in the mornings until he was ordered from the ward at night. Harry spent a lot of daylight hours sleeping, for he was entirely on his own with Lily at night; he’d refused Kind Nurse with the Purple Hair’s offer to sit with her for a couple of hours whilst he slept, his fierce parental instinct decidedly not letting Lily out of his sight. Still, as he watched dawn arrive for the fourth consecutive morning with a crying Lily refusing to settle in his arms, he couldn’t help feel resentful of Draco’s full nights’ sleep, and vowed that as soon as he and Lily were discharged, Draco was on night duty for a few days.

Finally, on the ninth of May, when Lily was exactly a week old (and a week before she was scheduled to have been delivered), Healer Moore said the baby was back to her birth weight and was ready for home. Draco brought in an outfit that he’d picked up in a Muggle shop on Oxford Street, and Harry dressed her, wrapped her in a pure white shawl that Narcissa had given him and had been Draco’s as a newborn, and carried her out of his hospital room towards the Floo, Draco at his side with the bags. He wondered if Floo travel would still affect him as he thanked his Healers profusely, said his goodbyes and threw a handful of Floo powder into the flames. Lily yawned as he stepped into the fire, called out the address of his cottage, and disappeared.

The first thing he noticed on arrival was he didn’t need to throw up. Floo would never be his favourite way to travel, and he felt giddy, but there wasn’t the overwhelming nausea that had plagued his few Floo trips the past few months. The second thing he noticed was Lily was still sound asleep in his arms, having noticed nothing about her sudden change in location.

And the third thing he noticed, once he’d regained his balance and looked around, was that his home had been decorated in massive banners and streamers, and his friends and family were in the living room.

“Welcome home!” they cheered in unison, causing Lily to fuss but not awaken. A second later, Draco joined them through the Floo, looking smug, and Harry knew instantly that the git had known this was going to happen. Ron, Hermione and Ginny hurried forwards.

“It’s great to see you, Harry,” Hermione said

Those who hadn’t been to St Mungo’s to visit him and Lily fussed over the baby, and even McGonagall’s harsh expression softened dramatically.

“A week old already, my wee lass!” she said, and Harry bit back a smile at her totally uncharacteristic soppy tone and words. “Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go, Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living, but the Child who is born on the Sabbath day- and this be you, pretty girl- is bonnie, blythe, good and-”

“Gay?” Draco interrupted, with a wry smile. “Well, it’s possible, I suppose. Still, it will solve the, ‘Harry and I hexing any man who comes within twenty feet of her’ problem, wouldn’t it.” And this time, Harry couldn’t keep the laughter at bay. He’d noticed in the week since Lily had been born that most of the haunted sadness that had followed Draco for most of the year had been lifted, and some of Draco’s former cockiness was returning. She really was healing him. It was wonderful to see.

Teddy waddled over to him, arms stretched up.

“Baby?” he said.

“Yeah, Teddy, That’s Lily,” Harry said, lifting him. It was amazing how huge Teddy seemed in comparison now. “But don’t worry; you’re still my favourite little man.”

“Come and look at the rest of your surprise,” Ron said, and Harry handed Teddy over to Andromeda, whilst Draco reclaimed Lily from their former headmistress. Once they were joined by Hermione, they headed for the hallway, where Harry noticed a brand new buggy parked in the corner. He barely had time to say thank you, however, before he was being led up the stairs to his and Draco’s bedroom. He opened the door and his eyes widened. There was a tiny Moses basket next to their bed, all ready for Lily.

“That’s not the best part,” Ron said, grinning like a lunatic. He backed out of the room, and Hermione opened the door to the nursery. Harry stepped inside and gasped.

There was a beautiful cot in white wood, dressed with soft pink hangings, in the centre of a room which had been furnished with a pretty pink wardrobe, and had a mural of butterflies all over the wall in delicate pastel shades, charmed to flutter and fly.

“Dean painted that,” Ron said proudly. “Great, isn’t it?”

“It’s utterly wonderful,” Harry replied honestly. Hermione showed him Lily’s wardrobe, which was stacked with outfits and nappies, and various lotions and potions, both magical and Muggle. Harry was overwhelmed.

“You did all this? For me?” he rasped.

“If anybody deserves it, it’s you, Harry,” Hermione said. “We love you. And just wanted to show you how much.”

Harry couldn’t reply.

*

Harry was ready to collapse into bed and sleep for years by the time everyone travelled back up to the castle or went home, despite the fact it was only seven in the evening. It had been wonderful to see everyone and show Lily off, but he just wanted a hot bath and a long rest. The first he managed to achieve thanks to Draco. However by the time Lily had been fed and gone down it was after ten. He crawled into bed and fell against Draco’s chest. He’d missed Draco every night they’d spent apart and the feel of his warm, smooth skin, his warm scent and the gentle thumping of his heart underneath Harry’s ear were comforting and familiar. He was home.

Draco threaded his fingers through Harry’s hair.

“Do you think she’ll be good tonight?” he asked hopefully.

“Not a chance,” Harry said. “Love you, Draco.”

“Mmm. You too,” Draco murmured sleepily. It was so warm and quiet. Harry began to drift off…

…and was instantly re-awoken by a strange grunting noise that was unmistakably Lily filling her nappy.

He began to laugh. He laughed as Draco swore loudly and flicked his wand at the light that he’d so recently turned off , causing it to flick back on. He laughed as Draco gagged as he removed Lily’s dirty nappy and accidentally smeared shit all over his hand. And he laughed as Draco responded by flipping him the finger. And as Draco Vanished the offending nappy and Summoned a clean one from the nursery, Harry realised he had everything he’d ever wanted, right in front of him. None of it had been planned. He certainly didn’t expect to become a parent at eighteen, or fall in love with Draco Malfoy of all people, but life has a funny way of turning out for the best. And as he watched Draco cradling their daughter and singing some old wizarding song to her that Harry knew none of the words to, he thought his heart might burst from joy. When he’d decided to return to Hogwarts to complete his missed seventh year, he was carrying around a lot of sadness and anger. And now he felt light, free. And it was all down to the two people he shared his house with. His family.

It wasn’t going to be easy, Harry knew that. Babies were never easy, and Harry had a strong suspicion already that his daughter was going to be just as demanding and as her blond-headed father, and as stubborn as him. At times, the coming year or so was going to be nigh on impossible and incredibly stressful at times. But he could do it. And, Harry thought sleepily as Lily yawned and grabbed Draco’s finger with a tiny fist, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Expecting the Unexpected