Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Rise of the Drackens: The Scaled Bits	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 169453 -:- Recommendations : 8 -:- Currently Reading : 21
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All rights of Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling. I am making absolutely no money from this piece of fictional writing.

Chapter List
- 50
- 51
- 52
July 2013

Braiden – 15
Quintuplets – 15
Eva and Ave – 14
Taren – 13
Lai – 12
Xabiere – 11
Mace and Evie – 10
Mollie – 10
Quadruplets – 9
Ser and Sen – 7
Lian – 5
Phoebe, Neave, Luce – 5
Loren – 3
Cyneric and Kallan – 2
Sully – 10 Months
Rosalia, Nia, Vanna – 1 Month
-
Eleonora – 16
Beatrice – 14
Imogen - 11
Oscar - 7
Everett - 7
Ivy – 5 Months

Days Out and About – Part One – The Zoo

Harry smiled as he picked up his little ten month old child and set him on his hip. He had all of his children gathered around him, pestering him and trying to hurry him along. He was taking them to the zoo today and all of them were so excited and despite it not even being seven O’clock yet, they were all very wound up. Naturally he wasn’t taking them on his own, he had to have his mates with him while doing so, they were everywhere too. Max was making sure that the bottomless, weightless cool bag was fully packed with all the drinks, snacks and sandwiches that he’d made and prepared the previous night; Nasta was making sure that all of the cars were ready and in full working order and Draco was sorting out the first aid kit, which was also bottomless, leaving the wrangling of the exceedingly excited kids to Harry and Blaise.

“Are we going now, Mum?!” An incredibly excited thirteen year old Taren asked him, almost bouncing in place.

Harry smiled. “Yes, just make sure that you have everything that you need for the car journey, it’s going to take us two hours to get to the zoo, even with magic, and we hope to only stop the once along the way.”

“I have my a’tivity book, Mummy.” His three year old Loren told him, showing him the large, thick hard plastic folder that they’d taken the kids to get specially the week before. It had facts, stories, stickers, colouring pages, pop up areas, games and all sorts inside it and it would be a life saver on the car journey. It had been hell trying to keep his kids from touching them since he’d bought them, but finally he could stop trying to hide them in his bedroom and hand them out to shut the little buggers up.

“Make sure you keep it with you, sweetheart.” Harry told him as he led them out into the front garden, where the four cars were ready and waiting.

All of them could drive now after it had become more of a necessity, but Harry was going to be in the same car as Nasta, with the youngest children, as Nasta wouldn’t be able to sort them out if they cried or needed something because he would be driving. Harry’s own custom red and gold car, that Draco and Blaise always scoffed over, was parked off to the one side, to be left at home while they went out.
There were six extra kids with them today as well, as they had Caesar and Amelle’s six children with them too as the two needed a much needed break and Harry had offered to take the six out for a trip to the zoo, including the six month old Ivy Willow, before his mates could shut him up. The six kids had slept over last night, to be ready for the very early start today. Harry had already floo called Amelle, to assure her that the night had gone perfectly well, that Ivy had been fed and well cared for and that the kids were dealing with the time zone difference really well too.

“Right, split up kids, eight of you to a car! I need ten of you with me, though.” Max called out as he went to his car.

Harry had made him replace his previous little blue car and get a more practical family car, but Max had been able to choose which one he wanted and he loved his new car as much as his previous, even if it was an eight seater people carrier, that with magic to expand its insides, could happily carry up to fourteen people if it was expanded to its maximum capacity. It was very nearly exactly the same shade of blue as his old car…magic had helped with that.

Of course the quintuplets all rushed to Max’s car, not wanting to be split up as it was one of only a handful of times that they’d allowed Leolin to come on a trip with them, even as they’d sent the two year old Faerie twins, Cyneric and Kallan, to spend the day with their Uncle’s Dain and Kailen. They were unaware of what was happening, being too young still and Harry would not risk them in such a public place needlessly; it was bad enough that they were taking their Leolin with them, he’d have collapsed from the stress if he’d had to bring all three of his Faerie babies with him.
Harry gathered up all the babies under five, of which there were ten, and he gently manoeuvred them into their secured car seats and checked them all obsessively, testing their seatbelts and straps and the comfort of their seats. His month old triplets, his ten month old Sully, his three year old Loren, his five year old triplets and his five year old Lian and of course Amelle and Caesar’s five month old Ivy. He made sure that they all had their activity books, naturally the month old triplets, Ivy and Sully didn’t have one as they were too young, before he went and checked on the other cars.
He was unsurprised to find his nine year old quadruplets all grouped into one car, his Saeth already nose deep in his activity book. Amelle and Caesar’s twin boys, Oscar and Everett, who were only a year younger than the quads, as well as Eva and Ave were with them…Draco was going to have a very noisy ride to the zoo, Harry grinned evilly.
Blaise’s large black car had Mace and Evie sat calmly inside, Mace naturally got the front seat because he was so big, even at ten years old he needed the extra leg room that the front seat offered, but Taren was sat behind him, chattering into Mace’s ear, even though Mace seemed to be asleep in his hand. It was quite early; they’d gotten the kids up at five to be ready for seven in the morning so that they could get to the zoo exactly when it opened at ten in the morning.
Caesar and Amelle’s third girl, the eleven year old Imogen, Xabiere and Serra and Senna were also in Blaise’s car. Harry looked between the car that was practically rocking in excitement back to Draco’s silver car with the quadruplets, Eva and Ave and their twin cousins…maybe Draco wouldn’t be the one to have the worst journey to the zoo after all.
Max’s blue car was almost filled to bursting with the quintuplets, Eleonora and Beatrice, Mollie and his tiny, little Lai, who despite being twelve, seemed to always be overshadowed by bigger, taller siblings, even if they were younger. Harry wondered if maybe he should be worried about that, but Lai always seemed happy, healthy and fine. He was sure that it would all work out fine, but he’d speak to his mates about his worries and concerns later, Lai could just be taking after him in height, just because most of his children were tall and slim, didn’t mean that all of them would be after all.

“Braiden, love, what car are you going in?” Nasta asked as Braiden was just wandering around the driveway still.

“I was going to go in Dad Max’s, but looking at that car, I think maybe I should squeeze in with them.” Their fifteen year old said seriously, looking at the rocking car where Senna was bouncing in anticipation.

“You don’t have to, love. You’re not an on call babysitter.” Harry told him. “If they’re too much for your Dad Blaise to handle, we’ll swap some of them over when we stop halfway there. Now get into that car and enjoy yourself.”

Braiden grinned and hopped into Max’s car, of which Farren had claimed the front seat, and Harry did his last rounds, making sure that the kids all had their shoes on, (it was surprising how many times they’d gone somewhere only to realise that a child was actually missing a shoe) that all the kids had their activity books, their backpacks, their pocket money for souvenirs and their cameras.
Harry and his mates had a short ‘meeting’ together, checking things off, making sure that they had everything that they thought they needed. They checked with one another that the big cool bag was in the car, that the smaller cool bags were in each car, just in case a child wanted a drink on the way, that the first aid kit was packed and in Draco’s car, that the big pram was in the boot of Nasta’s car, that they had put the nappy bag in the front of the car that Harry and Nasta would be in. They checked that they had their wands, their money, their cameras and everything else that they could possibly think of in which they had practically brought everything but the kitchen sink before they shared a last hug and kisses, got shouted at twice to hurry up, and they slipped into their respective cars to finally get their journey under way. They’d hopefully arrive at the zoo within half an hour of it opening at ten in the morning. Harry couldn’t wait to see his children’s faces and truthfully, he was excited as they were.
Braiden and his quintuplets had been really young the last time they’d gone to a zoo, he himself had been pregnant with Lai at that time and Taren had quite literally only just been born a few months before, Max had carried him around in a sling all day while Nasta had shadowed his every move to make sure that no one bumped him while he was pregnant.
Harry settled himself in the car and he breathed deeply, he’d only given birth a month ago and this trip was pushing things a little, but he wasn’t going to allow anything to stand in the way of his children’s excited happiness, not even himself. They had planned for this trip to be today, inviting their nieces and nephews to join them, and they’d been planning it before he’d even known that he was pregnant with the triplets, nothing was going to ruin today and he hadn’t allowed his mates to cancel their trip either.
Harry spent most of the drive to the service station, that they’d planned in advance to be the half way stop of their drive, looking into the back of the car watching his little ones and keeping them happy, handing out sippy cups and cartons of juice, stopping Lian from putting the stickers of his activity book all over his five year old sister, Neave, getting Nasta to pull over twice for the month old triplets to have a feed and a nappy change and as a result, they were naturally the last to arrive at the service station and half of his kids were swarming over the outdoor play area with Draco watching them closely.

“Only twelve minutes apart.” Max commented. “I was worried that it would be longer, did you need to stop often?”

“Only twice.” Nasta said as he unfolded the large pram from the boot of the car. Two of the month old triplets went straight in. Blaise had picked up the third and was cradling her in the crook of his arm as Harry unstrapped the other kids, keeping Sully and Ivy with him, one on each hip.

“Let’s get them something to eat and drink and get back on the road then.” Harry said. “It might be best to get a table next to the window if we can.” He said with a smile as he looked at the excited kids on the playground.

“Come on you lot! You can come back out and play after you’ve had a snack!” Max called out and Draco immediately started herding the little ones back towards them.

“Can I have orange juice, Mum?” Jason asked him.

Harry smiled at him. “You can have whatever you want…within reason.” He added.

“What do you want, Harry?”

“Just tea and some toast, please.” He said as he placed Ivy into the pram with his two month olds and took it from Nasta so that his oldest lover could go and get their orders. He herded his younger kids over to a group of free tables. His teenagers immediately filled two of them.

Harry sorted out his babies, thanked the kind young woman who jumped up to help him set up two highchairs for Loren and Sully and he made sure that Lian and his older triplets were sitting comfortably on the chairs.
As usual when they went out, they got odd looks, stares and the odd snide comment when one of his babies called him ‘Mum’. He ignored them all as he settled his children and took orders, jotting it all down in a notebook that he always carried with him when they were out.

“Braiden, take this to your Dad Nasta, please.” He said as he tore the page off and handed it to his oldest child.

“Will the zoo have bears, Mummy?” Ethan asked him excitedly.

A man at the table behind his older teenagers scoffed and muttered something to his own family. Harry watched Farren’s head snap around and it was obvious from the look on his face that he’d heard something derogatory.

“I’m sure they will have bears, love. Farren will get you a map when we get to the zoo, won’t you, Farren?”

His second child turned to look at him and Harry gave him a smile and a raised eyebrow, telling him without words that he didn’t care what anyone else was saying.

“Of course.” He said, forcing a smile for Ethan who had turned to look up at his older brother with wide, amazed eyes.

Draco came over with a large tray filled with drinks and he handed them out to each person depending on who had ordered what, acting more like a waiter than a Father, but then they were all used to this by now as there was no way that they could remember everything that their children had wanted. Harry was feeding one of the month old triplets her bottle and he had his hands full and he was a little distracted.

“Do you want me to put Sully’s juice into a sippy cup?” Draco asked.

Harry nodded. “Please, love.” He said with a smile.

Draco did as asked and then he went back to the counter to help the others as Max brought over another tray of drinks.

“Here you go my little beauties.” He said with a laugh as he gave out the glasses of juice, water and the odd cup of tea to the older teenagers, who fell on the drinks like the bottomless pits that they were.

Blaise came over then with snacks and Harry’s plate of toast. It was unbuttered and had a small pot of blackcurrant jam with it. Harry smiled, he wasn’t craving anymore, but he’d developed a fondness for dry toast with blackcurrant jam during his pregnancy with his younger three girls.

“I swear we need a better system of getting orders in.” He said, but he was smiling regardless.

“Daddy Blaise, can you cut my icy bun, please?” Lian asked as he looked at the small iced Belgian bun. He had a pot of grapes and apple slices beside the bun to appease Nasta, but they had a rule about holidays and day trips, it was all about the kids when they were out and Nasta wasn’t allowed to complain about what they ate or drank as long as they had some fruit or water with it. Nasta had gotten much better at compromising about such things over the years.

“Of course, baby.” Blaise said as he turned and used a knife and fork to cut the bun into small, bite sized pieces. The man on the table behind their teenagers grumbled again, loudly.

“What’s his problem?” Max asked him quietly.

“Us apparently.” Harry answered as he pointedly ignored the man who was craning his neck to see if he’d gotten a rise out of them. “Childish bastard.”

Nasta came over with Draco, both with loaded trays, and they handed out snacks, fruit pots and one large slice of watermelon for Mollie, who enjoyed eating it so much that any chance that she had to get some, she took with both hands. Nasta wholeheartedly encouraged and indulged her desire for watermelon.
Their corner was noisy, but only because there were so many of them talking and their children were naturally excited about their day trip. They were hardly shouting, screaming or throwing tantrums, but still they got filthy looks and mutters behind their heads from people walking past about them needing to ‘control their brats’ or Harry’s favourite about ‘people having more children than they could afford’ because they could afford all of their children, but not only that, they could afford to spoil them as well. They all worked hard to provide everything, and more, that their children wanted and needed.

“I’m not staying at this table!” The grumbling man had apparently grown tired of none of them reacting to his poor bait as he loudly stood up and made a scene.

“So move then.” Farren told him with an eye roll as he turned back to his brothers and sisters and started up their conversation that had been interrupted by the man’s outburst.

“Control your rude, anti-social bastards!”

Nasta nostrils flared with anger and he stood to his full, considerable and intimidating height of six foot six.

“You call our children anti-social, yet in the same breath you use such vile, disgusting language to describe them. They are children, some of them just babies, and you would sink so low as to call them such a derogatory name within their hearing? Who is really the rude, anti-social person here?”

“They don’t need controlling.” Harry said calmly. “They are behaving themselves impeccably. They are all sat down and eating happily and they aren’t screaming or shouting. What aspect of that needs controlling? It’s you who needs to learn some self-control and decorum.”

“Is there a problem here?” A woman in a uniform came hurrying over to ask them as she noticed the confrontation.

“Are you the manager here?” The man demanded.

“I am, yes.” The woman said.

“I want this riffraff moved so that I can enjoy my meal in peace.”

The woman looked to the table of five men and the surrounding tables of thirty-five children, all of whom were staring at her with wide, innocent eyes. Lian had an icing smeared mouth and Harry was feeding another tiny triplet her bottle.

“I still don’t seem to see the problem here.” She said after a small pause.

“They’re disturbing the peace. Look how many children they have! It’s not normal and they’re all men!”

“Oh grow up.” An elderly woman from the table behind their youngest children snapped. “What century are you living in?” She demanded. “These little angels have been perfectly well behaved and they’re all so polite. My Husband and I have had no less than five offers of grapes, chunks of muffin and iced bun and I’ve watched with my own eyes as they all help one another. If only more families were like this one, I wouldn’t fear to go out of my own front door when it gets dark.”

“So there is no problem?” The manager asked.

“Not from our end.” Max said as he stood up, to his much taller height as Sully held his arms up and whined.

He picked up their ten month old son and hefted him over a shoulder to rub his back. He looked very domestic like this and Harry all but saw the manager’s knees melt.
She turned to look at the argumentative man and what could only be his Wife and two children.

“I can’t see a problem here.” She told him.

“The problem is there! There are forty of them!”

“We don’t have a maximum limit on how many people we serve, Sir.” The manager stated flatly.

“Why is he angry with us, Mummy?” Senna asked, jam smeared over a soft cheek, halfway towards an ear from the half demolish jam doughnut that currently lay forgotten on a plate.

“You ignore him, peach.” The elderly woman said sternly. “Some people don’t have half the brains they were born with or the manners their Mothers taught them.”

Farren snorted into his glass of water.

“You see!” The man roared at the poor manager, jabbing a finger at Farren, as if he’d done anything at all wrong. “They’re rude, disgusting people and I won’t have my family exposed to their kind.”

“Our kind?” Draco asked softly with an arched eyebrow. “You mean because we happen to be gay and in a relationship with one another? Because we are all in love and because we dare to show that love in public? Well we are in love, we’ve been together for over sixteen years now, we live together, we share the same bed and we have thirty-one children and counting, all of them ranging from fifteen to just a month old and we love every single one of them. You’re an ignorant fool and you need to stop interfering in affairs that in no way concern you. You have no opinion or right to judge us so drop the offended attitude because absolutely no one here cares to hear it.”

The man gaped like a fish and some of their children giggled at him, but the manager had had enough.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” She said to the speechless man and his family.

“Me?” He shouted. “After what these fairies have just admitted to?”

“I’m the only Faerie here.” Leolin said before calmly taking a deep drink of his tea.

The manager herded away the still shouting, arguing man and his family and Harry thanked the elderly lady and her supportive Husband for standing up for them.

“Oh it was nothing, dear.” She insisted. “People like that make my stomach queasy. You young things enjoy yourselves and you have as many babies as you please, these little ones are all so polite and adorable. You must be doing something right.”

Harry went back to his tea and toast, unleashing Max and the kids on the poor play area once they were all finished with their snacks as he sorted out the month old triplets and the five month old Ivy, changing them all into fresh nappies two at a time in the baby changing room for the second half of the drive, doing the same for the ten month old Sully.
He’d only just got back to the table with Sully when Loren came rushing in from outside.

“Mummy, I need a wee.” He declared loudly.

“Come on then.” Harry said as he handed Sully to Draco and took Loren’s hand.

“Quickly, Mummy! I really need to go.” Loren told him urgently and Harry nodded, speeding up a little. He’d packed spare clothes and underwear for all of his children, but he didn’t really want to use Loren’s set just an hour into their trip when they hadn’t even arrived at the zoo yet.

They thankfully made it just in time and Harry was relieved as he held Loren up to the sink to wash his hands. He took him back to their table, after Loren had giggled over the hand dryer, and he nodded to Nasta.

“It’s about time we got back on the road or we won’t have enough time at the zoo.”

Nasta nodded back and he finished off his green tea before standing and stretching. “Max!” He called out. “Time to go.”

“If you need the bathroom, now is the time to do so.” Harry told his older children and his older nieces, who nodded and made their way to the bathrooms to sort themselves out.

Harry accepted the younger children who came bustling in from the playground and he cleaned off their hands and faces with baby wipes and then got Blaise and Draco to take them to the bathroom in small groups while he made sure that they had everything and weren’t leaving anything, or anyone, behind.
They made it back to the cars and Harry got them lined up against the cars they were travelling in and he counted all of them…twice.
He got the babies all strapped up in their car seats, counting them again as he went, and then he went to help get his younger kids all strapped in, again making sure they all had their shoes on still, as Max folded down the pram and put it back into the boot of the car.
The second part of the journey was the longest and most of their younger kids, in his and Nasta’s car, were sleeping, getting in their midmorning naps. It was quiet in their car because of it and Harry looked back now and then, smiling at his little ones and making sure they were all still sleeping and hadn’t woken up.

“Are they all alright?” Nasta asked him.

Harry nodded, “They’re fine, they’re all napping. Today’s going to be long and hectic though, so we might have a bit of trouble later, there will definitely be some tantrums to come, but hopefully they’ll all just be too excited. It is a hot day, though.”

“It’s only going to get hotter.” Nasta sighed. “You did pack their hats, didn’t you?” He asked worriedly.

Harry smiled at his overprotective lover. “All of them, even ours.” Harry insisted. “Sunglasses too.”

Nasta smiled, but he didn’t take his eyes from the road. “Thank you, Caru.”

“I wish you could put more sun cream on me later.” He sighed.

Nasta frowned, even as he continued looking ahead, always alert. “Of course I’ll put more sun cream on you. I don’t want anyone burning today, especially not the kids.”

“No, I meant like this morning.” Harry replied, alluding to when he’d been rubbed down after his morning shower and then smothered in sun cream while still completely naked, before he’d dressed for the day.

Nasta laughed then, trying to keep his voice down so that he didn’t wake the napping children.

“I didn’t think I needed an excuse to rub you down.”

“Oh you don’t, but it was such a nice start to what is going to be a long, arduous day.”

Nasta chuckled and shook his head. They had to pull over not five minutes later to air out the car as little Ivy dirtied a nappy and Nasta took the chance to drain an icy bottle of water while Harry changed his little niece over his lap in the passenger seat of the car.
He checked on the others, but they were all still asleep. He made sure the blinds of the car were still covering their faces before he strapped Ivy back into her car seat and they set back off for the zoo.
They had several other mishaps on the way, including their oldest month old triplet Rosalia, refluxing part of her bottle onto herself and needing a change of clothes. As a result of this they arrived later than they’d planned, over twenty minutes late, and the older kids were not happy with them, even as they were distracted with drinks, rolls and vegetable crisps.

“What took you so long?” An excited Taren whined.

“There are ten babies in this car, Taren.” Harry said patiently. “They all needed bottles, nappy changes and Rosa spit up on herself and needed to be changed. It couldn’t be helped and we’re here now.”

“Is she okay?” Taren asked then, worriedly, trying to look for the baby in question as Max and Nasta sorted them out and got them settled into the pram, making sure that none of them needed nappy changes or anything else.

“She’s okay now that she’s clean.” Harry insisted.

“Mummy, I can hear the animals!” Ethan cried out happily, even as he took another bite of sandwich.

Harry smiled at his son’s excitement.

“We’ll get inside now, once the babies are sorted.”

The big pram was being shared by the triplets and Ivy, who were topping and tailing. Two up the head of the pram and two at the foot, their little feet tangling in the middle. There were two umbrellas on either side of the pram, casting them in cool shade at all times no matter the angle of the sun.
Harry went to carry Sully, as he was still asleep, but Draco took him from him and hefted him up on his own shoulder instead, plopping his hat on his head, handed to him by Nasta, so that he didn’t burn as he napped.
Loren woke up as soon as he was lifted from his car seat and after a moment to adjust and to rub the sleep from his eyes, he got a juice carton from Nasta and he was down on his feet, walking, absorbing the excitement from his older brothers and sisters.
Harry slipped the packed nappy bag over the handlebar of the pram, so no one would have to carry it, and he put the big cool bag and the first aid kit under the pram in the basket.

“Is everyone here?” He asked.

Blaise, who had done a head count, nodded. “Yeah, all thirty-five of them have been accounted for.”

“Then let’s get inside and go exploring.” Harry said, ramping up their excitement as the kids all cheered happily at his words. He turned and pushed the pram towards the entrance, smiling as thirty excited kids followed after him, anxious to get inside.

His children cheered louder as the queues came into sight and they ran off to the entrance excitedly, getting into the line to pay. It was going to cost them a fortune to get in, but he didn’t care. Not even when the total for admission came to four hundred and eighty-seven pounds. That was with the under threes being admitted for free too and a fifteen percent discount for being in a group larger than fifteen. He didn’t begrudge paying though, today was for his babies, he didn’t care how much it had cost.

“Mum and Dad gave me money for us to come.” Eleonora said, trying to hand over a bunch of notes.

Harry held his hands away and he smiled. “No, Nora. Not for the tickets. That money is for you and your brothers and sisters to get gifts and things. Tickets and any food or drink you want is on us.”

“Are you sure?” The sixteen year old tried.

“Very sure, sweetheart.” Harry answered. “Put it away safe and buy some mementos later.”

Eleonora smiled and tucked her wallet away and hurried over to the group of older teens. She was going to spend the day with Braiden and the quintuplets, especially Tegan. The two of them were incredibly close being only six months apart in age.
The first thing they saw as soon as they entered the actual zoo were the penguins in their huge water tank and that was it. The kids made a beeline for them and started hanging over the walls to see them, the younger kids elbowing their way to the front of the glass panels so that they could see too and Harry slipped out his camera to start snapping the first of a thousand or so photos that he’d take today.
The kids had their own cameras and were snapping away too, but where he was taking photos of them, they were taking pictures of the animals. He heard one of his littler ones shriek in delight as a penguin swam past right where she was standing and it made Harry smile.
Blaise was very attentive as he stood over the group of younger children while Nasta supervised the older ones and Draco stood with the teenagers with Sully on his shoulder. Max was sat out of the way with the pram, his hand wrapped around the handlebar, but he was watching them and smiling happily.

“Daddy, can you throw me in?” Harry heard Loren ask Blaise.

“No, I’m not going to throw you in with the penguins, love.” Blaise laughed.

Harry chuckled and looked at all of his children happily. This was a good idea, a month after giving birth or not.

“Rest a bit, love.” Draco insisted.

Harry kissed him. “I’m okay.” He said. “I’ll sit down when I need to, but it was a long journey. I need to stretch my legs a bit first.”

They moved on from the penguins, the kids arguing over what they wanted to see next, but Braiden pulled rank on them and insisted that they went to see the lions. Harry grinned. If it was one love that had followed Braiden from childhood, it was his love for lions. Or for all big cats really. His, now rather worn, stuffed lion, Leonie, was still kept in his bedroom. It was hidden in the depths of his wardrobe, but still, he had kept it.
Sully woke up as they were heading up the wooden ramp towards the lions and after a moment or two to wake up and realise where he was, he let out an excited shriek as he saw the lion and three lionesses sleeping in a huddle. He reached out his arms for them, encountering the glass, and he laid his hands flat on the glass and burbled happily.

“These are lions, Sully.” Draco told him.

“Ion!” Sully yelled out, slapping the glass, giggling.

Harry took a photo of it before turning and snapping some pictures of his mates, Max with the pram, Nasta with a three year old Loren on his shoulders and Blaise keeping a tight rein on the four five year olds, Lian, Phoebe, Neave and Luce.
It was madness as Harry tried to keep the four seven year olds in view. The two sets of twins were entirely troublesome, his own Senna and Serra and Caesar and Amelle’s twins, Oscar and Everett. They were all stood together in a group with the nine year old quadruplets…definitely not a good idea. He’d have to keep an eye on them.
They went through the tigers and the cheetahs, then they went to see an exhibition on special animals, including a serval, who Braiden wanted to take home with him.

“You can’t take the serval with you.” Draco told him as he held the three year old Loren back from the fence.

“I want one.” Braiden said wistfully. “My birthday’s next month.”

“We’re not getting you a wild animal for your birthday.” Draco replied.

Harry chuckled with Max, who he was leaning against, sitting on the grass under the shade of a tree as his kids, and nieces and nephews, sat around him, chatting happily and watching the show and listening to the keeper.
From there they went to see the bears for Taren, who climbed up Farren’s back like a monkey so that he could see the enclosure better. Farren grumbled, but he slipped his arms behind him to bump Taren up higher.

“They have babies!” Taren cried out as the two cubs tumbled about with one another.

Harry took a subtle photo of Taren clinging to Farren’s back before he was distracted by a ten year old Mollie.

“Can I have a drink, Mum?” She asked.

“Of course you can, love. Max! A drink for Mollie, please.” Harry called out and Max, who’d looked around a little panicked at his shout, let out a visible breath before he bent down under the pram and zipped open the cool bag and he pulled out a bottle of very dilute orange squash.

Mollie walked over to get it and she suckled it down gratefully.

“Anyone else?” Max asked and he handed out a few bottles of water or squash, and a few cartons of juice before standing back up.

They managed to get to the reptile house before they planned to take a small break and Harry ensured that he took the time to pull his mates close so that they could hear him as he talked to the snakes, merely making sure that they were well cared for while also making his mates shiver in pleasure.

“I’m so having you tonight.” Max growled into his ear and Harry laughed happily.

“You’ll be so tired you won’t even be able to get it up.” He teased.

After the reptile house they took a break near a very large wooden play area that was swarming with kids. Their own younger ones joined them as they sat straight on the grass and Max dug out sandwiches, rolls and wraps for their lunches.
The four babies in the pram were taken out to roam the grass…or rather they were let out to lie on the grass as none of them were really mobile yet, Ivy had a go at rolling herself around, but that was easy enough to keep an eye on.

“How are you feeling, Leolin?” Nasta asked their Faerie son.

“Fine.” The fifteen year old answered. “I don’t feel tired, sick or headachy.”

Nasta nodded and handed him a polystyrene cup of tea that he’d just bought from a small shop. Their Leolin loved his tea. Harry accepted his own tea gratefully. Blaise got a coffee and he grinned like one of their kids upon receiving it.
Oscar came running over to them and he thrust his knee in their faces…his grazed, bleeding knee.

“Did you fall over, Oscar?” Harry asked as he reached over and dragged the first aid kit from under the pram and handed it to Nasta, who was inspecting Oscar’s knee.

“Yeah. I went down the slide and Ev was right behind me and he knocked me over.”

“Is Everett alright?”

Oscar nodded as Nasta pulled out a plaster and a bottle of antiseptic spray. He sprayed the graze and Oscar made a small ‘ah’ of pain before Nasta placed the plaster depicted with dragons on it over the small graze and sent Oscar on his way again.

“First blood to Caesar. He owes me ten galleons.” Max grinned.

“You bet on which of the kids would be injured first?” Draco growled.

“He started it.” Max insisted. “He told me that our kids would get hurt first because we have more of them. I told him that his kids were so clumsy that it would obviously be his to get first blood. He bet the ten galleons, I just agreed.”

“That doesn’t make it better.” Draco insisted.

“Let’s not fight here and now. We can argue later.” Harry said, even as he changed Nia’s nappy.

“Where are the toilets?” Regan asked, grasping the map from Farren’s hands.

He looked for the nearest toilets on the map and then he hefted himself up. He went to the playground first and Harry grinned as he took a gaggle of excited kids with him to the toilets without being asked.

“He’ll make a good Father.” Blaise smiled proudly.

Farren took a pencil to the map and he marked off where they’d been and planned the route to where they were going next.

“Where to next, Farren?” Beatrice asked him.

“Red pandas, lemurs and squirrel monkeys are next.” He said.

Bea squealed. “Oh I love those tiny monkeys! They’re so cute.”

“Have we missed out the spiders?” Calix asked with a frown.

“No, they’re with the bugs here, not the reptiles.” Farren told him and Calix perked back up.

Harry herded the younger kids back to the patch of grass when Regan got them back and Harry got them all drinks and something to eat. He spooned the jar of puree that Amelle had packed up for them into Ivy’s mouth while Nasta did the same to their Sully and Blaise tackled feeding the triplets, helped by Braiden who took Rosalia from him to feed her and Nora pitched in and grabbed Vanora to feed her too.
After that they were off again, they bought the kids ice creams and slush drinks, they made it around the red pandas, the free roaming lemurs and the free roaming squirrel monkeys, telling Beatrice that no, she could not take the baby one with her. From there they wandered through the giraffes, rhinos, elephants and hippos and then over to the meerkats and the petting zoo. The kids had a hell of a time with the goats, sheep, rabbits and chickens and Harry took so many photos of them as Max was on his haunches, encouraging Sully to touch the goats and not to hide in his shirt.

“Loren, don’t do that to the poor rabbit.” Harry chastised sternly.

Loren froze, before his eyes filled with tears and he started crying. Harry opened the gate and he went over to him and hefted him up, taking him back out of the petting zoo to where he’d left the pram. He held Loren as he cried.

“Mama, want go back.”

“No, Loren. You could have really hurt the poor rabbit. You can’t do that to animals or babies.”

“I’m sorry.” Loren cried.

“You won’t do it again?”

Loren shook his head, still sobbing, his nose running. Harry cleaned him up, gave him a kiss and popped him back over the fence, letting Loren run to a goat this time and pet it gently. Harry watched him a bit more closely this time, but he didn’t repeat his earlier actions of trying to pull off the rabbit’s ears.

“Mummy, I got a chicken, look!” His five year old Lian giggled, walking over with a chicken clutched in his arms. Lian looked so much like himself that it was almost like looking into a mirror…or at his younger self.

“I can see, you hold her gently.” Harry said carefully, even as he snapped a photo.

“I am, Mummy. She’s all soft.” Lian giggled as he petted the chicken, who was very content snuggled up in Lian’s arms.

Harry smiled as he looked out at all of the animals and his children. He took the pram and he sat on a bench in the shade. It was getting to be rather hot and he was sweating, even with sun cream, light clothes, a hat and sunglasses on he was feeling the heat.

“Are you okay, Bello?” Blaise asked him.

Harry nodded. “I’m fine, love. I just needed to get out of the sun.”

“It is rather hot today. Humid too.” Blaise agreed. “The drive home is going to be hell, but at least Max made us park in a shaded area.”

“We’ll thank him for that when the car isn’t too hot to touch.” Harry grinned.

“We should move them on if we want to do it all before the zoo closes.”

Harry nodded and he stood back up. “Kids!” He called out. “Come on, we’re going to the gorillas next.”

Imogen hurried over and she didn’t wait for the gate to open, she climbed right over the wooden fence with a grin and she giggled.

“I touched all the animals, uncle.” She told him.

“Did you take photos too?” Harry asked with a smile.

Imogen nodded, touching the unbreakable camera hanging around her neck.

Harry counted every single one of them twice, just to be sure. “All thirty-five.” He said happily. “Let’s go and see those gorillas.”

He had the pram this time as Max carried several kids on his massive shoulders. In fact Harry was almost leaning on the pram as support as he pushed it. He did notice people looking into the pram and cooing behind their hands at the four tiny girls sleeping inside, but he didn’t mind. It made his Dracken side puff up his chest in pride. No one stopped them however, though when they stopped outside the gorillas and the kids all pushed forward to the front, while he hung back, he did get those next to him who peered into the pram too, elbowing their neighbour and pointing into the pram while he pretended not to notice as his Dracken made him throw out his chest, all but preening under the praise of total strangers cooing over his children.
Nasta noticed and came to stand beside him, wrapping a strong, muscly arm around him and bending to kiss his heat flushed cheek. That sent a few of the people near them into louder coos and gasps of either delight, surprise or utter horror. Harry ignored them and turned to snuggle into Nasta.

“I can see you, you show-off.” Nasta teased him.

Harry chuckled. “I can’t help it. These four girls are gorgeous and it makes me happy to see others appreciating them.”

Nasta chuckled and kissed his head, but they were interrupted by a shy, barely teenaged girl nervously approaching them.

“I…uh…sorry, but we…we wanted to know if they were quadruplets or not, because the one is a little bigger than the other three and she looks a bit older.” She told her shoes, refusing to look at them and Harry smiled.

“The three smaller ones are our month old triplet daughters, the fourth bigger girl is their five month old cousin.”

The girl shot him a grateful smile for not shutting her down or telling her that it was none of her business and shooing her away. She peeked in the pram and her face all but melted.

“They’re all so adorable. All of these children are.” She said and she hurried back to her group of friends and they started whispering excitedly.

Harry chuckled and he breathed in deeply and threw his chest out. Nasta laughed at him again. “I love you.” He said.

Harry grinned wider. “Butterflies next?”

“Whatever you want.” Nasta told him.

“I think it’s whatever the kids want.” Harry laughed. “But the butterflies are right next door.”

“Butterflies it is then. Come on.”

Harry headed outside and left Nasta to wrangle up the kids. He checked on the four girls and he bent over the pram to kiss them all in turn. A hand touched his bum and properly groped him, fingers stroking over the bulge in the front of his trousers and he turned around like a flash, his hand up ready to break the nose of the person who had dared to touch him. He stopped himself short…just, when he saw Max’s sparkling sapphire blue eyes smiling back at him.

“You’re so horrible to me.” Harry frowned. “You knew I’d attack first! What if I’d hurt you?”

“I’d love you even more and I’d wear your marks proudly.” Max told him.

Harry went red and it had nothing to do with the scorching sun beating down on him.

“Mum! Dad! Come on!”

Harry looked behind him and he smiled as he saw that his three other lovers had gotten all the kids moving towards the butterfly free roaming exhibit. Harry pushed the pram towards it, but Max cradled his body and took the pram off of him, walking with Harry between himself and the pram, like they usually did with the shopping trolley when they went to the supermarket every four or five days.
Nasta was holding the flaps of the butterfly enclosure open for him and Max helped him get the pram through safely.
The first thing Harry saw were the amazed faces of his children as they were surrounded by flying butterflies. Harry grinned around himself, looking at the butterflies and he slipped out from under Max’s arm and he went to stroll around the butterflies, taking off his unneeded sunglasses and the hat too, it was too hot and too dark in here for either.

“Remember not to touch them.” Blaise was saying to the kids seriously. “They’re very fragile. I know they’re pretty, but you can’t touch them.”

“Okay, Daddy.” Several kids chorused.

Harry sat on a bench and it took just seconds for a butterfly to land on his head.

“Stay still! Stay still, Mummy!” The nine year old Jason coached him and he couldn’t stop the grin as he had a dozen cameras aimed at him, including Nasta’s and Blaise’s and he knew they were going to have a hundred photos of the same thing, but as a second butterfly, this one much bigger, joined the first, the kids got even more excited.

“I keep telling you it’s a nest!” Max chuckled. “They’re going to cocoon in your hair.”

“Shove off.” Harry said happily as he kept his head perfectly still.

“It’s because Mummy’s sweet and butterflies like sweet things.” Phoebe said innocently.

It was an innocent comment from a five year old girl, but it set all of his mates off laughing, Max even wiped away tears of mirth.

“What?! What’s so funny?” Neave demanded. “Mummy is sweet!”

“Oh he is, very sweet.” Max answered lecherously.

The two five year old girls shared a look and then another with their sister Luce and they tried to decide if they’d won or were being made fun of. They seemed to agree with the former and they nodded decisively.
Sully was exhausted by two in the afternoon as he’d missed his usual afternoon nap through excitement. Nasta had him up on his shoulder, cradling him as he threw a tantrum to end all tantrums because he was over tired. He was red faced, screaming, kicking and throwing himself backwards in Nasta’s arms as his mate tried to get him to calm down and go to sleep. Sully however, didn’t want to settle and he didn’t want to sleep because he didn’t want to miss anything.

“Let’s sit down for a bit.” Harry suggested, not waiting for an answer as he sat in a patch of shaded grass and opened the cool bag. He grabbed a bottle of water and handed a dozen notes to Braiden. “Ice creams and slushies, Braiden. We need a bit of a cool down.”

Braiden took a gaggle of excited kids with him to one of the small snack shops set up all over the zoo and Harry laid back and tried to ignore Sully screaming as Nasta tried to settle him down.
It took over fifteen minutes for Sully to slip into an exhausted sleep and the kids had started a game of tag on the lawn while they waited. They had to wipe up even more tears in this time when Xabiere fell and knocked his elbow and when Neave tried to join in the game and dropped her ice cream on the floor and had a complete meltdown.

“Right, we’ve got about three and a half hours left, where too next?” Harry said tiredly as finally, all the tears stopped.

“Bugs!” Calix cried out. “I’ve been waiting all day.”

“Come on then.” Harry said as he let Draco heft him to his feet. “To the creepy crawlies.”

He was getting tired himself and the heat didn’t help. He had no idea where his kids got their energy from as Taren took off like a jackrabbit and Eva and Ave hurried after him. Lai slipped back to walk with him.

“Are you okay, Mummy?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, love. It’s just a bit too hot today.”

His twelve year old sweetheart nodded, sending damp, blonde hair flying. “It is hot today.” Lai agreed.

“Keep to the shade as much as possible. I’ll put a cooling charm on the cars before we go and another on your sheets and bedroom.” Harry said as he pulled Lai into a kiss before readjusting the sun hat on all that beautiful blonde hair.

Lai smiled at him. “That will really help. Between the excitement of coming today and the heat last night, I could barely sleep at all.”

Harry smiled and he chuckled. “Not long now. You’ll get some decent sleep after today.”

They made it to the bugs’ enclosure. It was hard to miss a building that size with ‘BUGS’ written across the top of it in letters that were bigger than half of his own children.
Harry once again had the pram when Max was hounded to lift smaller children up so that they could see into various different tanks.

“Where is it in here, Daddy?” Phoebe asked, peering into a dark tank for the bug.

“Right here, sweetie. See?” Max pointed out the round fruit beetles and Phoebe squealed and watched it with her eyes, a headband holding her blonde hair out of the way.

Harry smiled as he watched the kids look at all of the beetles and crawlies in the tanks. There was no sun in the building, but neither was there any air and Harry quickly found himself sat on a bench just focusing on breathing. It took a mere moment before Draco sat next to him and pulled him in close.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“It’s just far too hot.” He complained. “There’s no breeze, no air.”

“Hold on.”

Harry felt Draco slide something out of his sleeve and as an icy blast of cold air sunk over his body, he could have danced for joy as he realised that Draco had cast a cooling charm on him, hiding his wand between their bodies so that no one else saw anything.

“Thank you.” He said gratefully, bending forward to kiss the blond. “I had no idea just how hot I was until you did that. I’m surprised that I didn’t melt before now.”

“Just because you eat your body weight in chocolate, doesn’t mean that you’re made of the stuff.” Draco teased.

Harry laughed happily and he had more energy now as he stood up with Draco and started pushing the pram towards the rest of his family several feet in front.

“Are you okay?” Nasta asked. “What was wrong?”

“He was too hot, Nas.” Draco told their top dominant. “I placed a cooling charm on him.”

“This place is like a furnace.” Harry agreed. “I really needed it, but I didn’t know that I needed it until Draco did it.”

Nasta sighed, but he smiled and bent to kiss him. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Oh, I can think of a few things off the top of my head.” Harry replied saucily, adding a wink for good measure.

Max, who had heard him, let out a loud belly laugh that made Harry grin. He left the pram to worm himself into Max’s arms for a kiss.

“This is a family attraction!” A furious man snapped. “No one wants to see that sort of behaviour here!”

Harry had the good grace to blush to the roots of his hair and he cringed away from Max. He should have remembered where he was, this was a family day out and the last thing anyone wanted to see was anyone snogging someone else in a bloody bug exhibit. There were kids everywhere, he should have had more thought for his surroundings and for other people.

“We’re sorry.” He said sincerely. “It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not or I’ll be reporting you!”

“He just said that it won’t happen again.” Blaise hissed furiously. Harry could sense that he was releasing his dominant pheromones. The man took a hasty step back from Blaise, who was reined in by Nasta.

Max took Harry away from the man and Nasta steered Blaise, leaving Draco to grab the pram with the four tiny girls and Harry knew that he would put that sharp, Malfoy tongue into action so that he had the last word. Draco absolutely loved getting in the last word.

“Are you okay?” Max asked him.

“Besides being utterly mortified to be told off like a lusty teenager for kissing at a zoo? I’m fine.” Harry said.

“I like it when you go all lusty teenager on me.” Max whispered to him. “It reminds me of when you were a lusty teenager, all nimble and bendy and insatiable with your big innocent eyes and shy smiles as we slowly corrupted you bit by bit.”

That made Harry laugh hard and he truly felt much better for laughing, it perked his mood right back up.

“I’ll show you what I mean when we get home.” Max added and Harry grinned.

“I told you, after today you’re going to be far too tired to manage anything.”

“We’ll see, my love. Don’t underestimate my ability to shove off my exhaustion in favour of sex.”

Harry laughed again, but they were interrupted by a seven year old Serra charging up to them.

“Daddy, we can’t find the bug, come and help us!” Serra grabbed Max’s hand and tugged him over to where Senna, Oscar and Everett were looking into a tank, trying to find whatever was supposed to be inside it.

Harry walked down further, keeping an eye on the middle group of kids. The teenagers had wandered off up front and Harry knew that Braiden would prevent any younger kids from passing him and he was keeping an eye on a thirteen year old Taren, who was still bouncing around excitedly.
Imogen and Mollie were both walking together, arm in arm with one another and Mace and Evie were walking together too. Mace didn’t like bugs, Harry knew, so it came as no surprise that when he caught sight of something he would grimace in disgust. He wasn’t afraid of them, he would insist firmly, he just didn’t like them and he thought that they were completely gross.
Xabiere was walking on his own and Harry didn’t like that, so he hurried his steps to walk beside him.

“What’s wrong, Xabe?” He asked.

“I wanted to walk with Calix, but he won’t let me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not old enough.”

“What?” Harry asked in confusion.

“He said only big kids can walk up front, he said that you said that.”

“No, I said that no one could walk past Braiden.” He said firmly. “Hold on a second.”

Harry hurried up to the lead group and he smiled as they excitedly showed him the things they’d found before he subtly pulled Calix out of the group and led him away.

“Why did you shoot down Xabiere, Calix? That’s not like you.”

“It’s just…he was just being too loud and it was annoying Leolin. So I was trying to control the situation. This is one of the only day trips that Leolin has been allowed to come on and we all want him to enjoy it.”

“If that was the case then you lead by example, Calix. You don’t send Xabiere away, you lower your own voice to speak to him so he has to quieten down to hear you. If he’s getting a bit boisterous, you calmly tell him to be still for a moment and to calm himself. You can’t tell me that he was being worse than Taren.”

Harry nodded to where Taren was bouncing on his toes, peering into a tank.

“Taren’s just bouncing around, Xabe was being loud too.”

“So if he stays quiet that’ll be fine? He really wants to walk with you. You know you’re his favourite big brother.”

Calix smiled at that before sighing and nodding. Harry turned and gestured for Xabiere to come over. He came running, but when he got there he ducked his head and wouldn’t look at Calix, instead he burrowed into Harry, hugging him.

“Come on, Xabe. The spiders are coming up soon.” Calix tried.

Xabiere just shuffled further into Harry. Harry combed his fingers through the jet black hair and he smiled.

“Xabie, Calix didn’t mean what he said, but you were being too loud for an indoor area and you know how those moody teenagers always get headaches. You can go with Calix now, but remember your indoor voice, okay? If Calix tells you to quieten down and use your indoor voice, you must listen to him.”

Xabiere nodded and Calix took his hand and pulled him away, back up to the group of older kids, who were all teenagers except for Xabiere.

“Everything okay?” Nasta asked him, wandering up with Sully still sleeping on his shoulder.

“Yeah. Leolin’s being grumpy and Xabiere was being too loud, so Calix sent him away before trying to calm Xabe down. So Xabiere was walking alone when all he really wanted to be doing was walking with Calix.”

“Is Leolin okay?”

“I’m sure he is. He doesn’t like too much going on at once and there is so much happening here that he’s likely having a bit of trouble keeping track of it all. The last thing he needs is an overexcited sibling in his ear, so he was getting a bit annoyed with it, so Calix thought that he was doing the right thing for Leolin, because they want him to enjoy himself today.”

Nasta sighed. “Then we went and had Faerie twins too.” He said with a headshake.

Harry chuckled. “I’m still blaming that one on you, but it’ll be easier for them, by the time they’re Leolin’s age, he’ll be a man and he’ll better understand them. He’ll be able to help them so much more.”

Nasta smiled at him. “I’d kiss you if I didn’t think it would get us arrested.” He said.

Harry laughed. “Later tonight. Max has promised me.”

“Oh, has he really? I might have to remind him exactly who the top dominant of our mateship is.”

Harry breathed out raggedly. “You know I love watching you two together. I love watching you dominate him.”

“After him, it’ll be your turn.” Nasta told him and Harry shivered, looking up at Nasta with eyes that had blown with lust. “I love that look on your face.”

Max clapped his hands right between them and Harry yelped and almost fell over himself.

“Remember where we are, lovers. Too many kiddies about.” Max grinned, even as he caught Harry and settled him on his feet.

“Do that again and you’ll be banished to the tree house.” Harry groaned as he rubbed his healing stomach.

“Are you okay?” Max asked seriously. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just a shock. No more of that, please.”

Max smiled sadly, and Harry could already see that he was feeling guilty.

“No more of that either.” Harry told him firmly. “We’re here for fun. I want to have fun, I just wish that those girls had been conceived a little sooner and had come out sooner without jeopardising their health.”

“I love you.” Max told him.

“I love you too, lummox. Now let’s get those spiders over and done with.”

“Not afraid of a little spider are you.” Max teased.

“No, but I’m not overly fond of the ones the size of elephants that wanted to eat me.”

“Mum! You can walk in with the spiders and they’re not in tanks!” Calix shouted at him excitedly.

“Oh dear god, no.” Harry moaned. “You make sure he doesn’t put one in his bloody pocket!” Harry told them. “And don’t take Sully in there either!”

Nasta laughed at him as Harry planted himself on a bench outside with the pram. His oldest mate carefully passed over Sully and Harry placed his baby boy on his own shoulder as Nasta went through the doors in with the free roaming spiders and Harry grimaced. He said nothing when Mace planted himself next to him. His son wasn’t afraid of spiders, no, he hated the way the spiders moved. Harry smiled and nodded, agreeing with Mace that the way spiders moved was unnatural and assuring him that he knew that Mace wasn’t afraid of them.
Harry, who had placed Sully down on the bench, took the time to sort out the triplets with fresh nappies and he changed Ivy too, using Mace to put the old nappies in the bin so that he had something to do and he could use the excuse of his sisters and his cousin if he needed to.

“It’s amazing, Mum!” Calix called out as he exited the spider exhibit. “Can I go in again?”

“If you’re quick.” Harry smiled.

Calix cheered and rushed around to the entrance again while Mace suppressed a shiver. Draco came out with the triplets and Lian and he herded them over to the pram while Blaise came out with the two sets of seven year old twins and the quadruplets.
It took a bit longer for Max to come out with a group of pale faced girls. They had not liked it as much as they’d thought they would have. Nasta herded out the older teenagers next, almost carrying a tearful Beatrice.

“What happened?” Harry asked.

“A spider dropped right down in front of her.” Nasta said with a small smile. “She was okay before that.”

Calix came hurrying out and he was red flushed and grinning widely. He looked so happy that Harry had to smile at him.

“Are you happy now?” Harry asked him.

He nodded. “Very.” He answered.

Harry chuckled. “Okay, time to leave the bugs behind, let’s get to see those tropical birds.”

“I like birds.” Mollie said with a smile.

After the tropical birds and sloths, armadillos, aardvarks and bats, Harry was getting much more tired and the sun was completely relentless, even though it was so late in the day.

“What’s left, Farrah?” Loren asked, hurrying up to the knees of his big brother.

“The only thing we haven’t seen yet, the giants and dragons.” Farren said with a secret chuckle as he checked his map.

“They have dragons like Mummy and our Daddies in cages?!” Loren exclaimed in shock, getting very upset.

“No, Lore.” Farren said. “Komodo dragons.” He explained.

Loren made an ‘O’ with his little mouth. “What’s a modo dragon?” He asked.

“Let’s go and see.” Farren said as he got down onto his knees and Loren gasped and then scrambled to crawl onto Farren’s back, wrapping skinny legs around Farren’s neck and lowering his hands into Farren’s hair to grip it tight.

Farren stood up and clamped his hands onto Loren’s skinny knees. It was half five when they entered the exhibit for the komodo dragons and the Galapagos tortoises. It was ten to six when they left and made their way to the gift shop.
Harry got his own bits and pieces and supervised his little babies as they got what they wanted and he grinned as Loren melted the shop workers as he put a collection of teddies on the counter that he could barely reach and followed it with a handful of notes.

“Do I have enough for these, please?” He asked sweetly.

“Let’s see, sweetheart.” The woman rung up his teddies and she grimaced. “Sorry, honey, you’re just a bit short.”

Harry, anticipating a tantrum, moved forward as quickly as he could to intervene.

Loren bit his lip and he looked down, before he looked up again and scrutinised the teddies. He took the monkey one away. “If this one goes back?” He asked softly.

“Put it down, Lore.” Harry said as he reached his son, putting a hand on his little head as he got out his own wallet. “That was a really mature thing you did, not having a tantrum and knowing to take away one teddy, you can have the monkey on me.”

“Mummy, really?” Loren asked.

“Yes, put it back up.” He said as he handed over his own notes to supplement Loren’s.

“Thank you. Thank you. I liked them all, but I couldn’t count all the way up for how much they’d cost.” Loren said.

“You can have them all.” Harry said as he handed the bag to Loren for him to carry. He had the biggest grin on his face and Harry smiled as his three year old walked off proudly with his bag that was almost too big and too tall for him to carry. He thanked the cashier and ducked back out of the line.

Harry checked on all of the others, buying fridge magnets, postcards, pyjamas, toys, mugs and all sorts.

“How are you feeling?” Nasta asked him.

“Tired now. I can’t wait to fall into bed.” He said honestly. “Cooling charms first though.”

“I can’t believe it’s still so hot.” Nasta nodded. “Cooling charms all around before bed. Though I’ll deal with that. You crawl right into bed.”

“I want tea first.” Harry insisted. “I might nap in the car, if these kids all stay asleep. You’d be okay with that and won’t think me a total bitch?”

Nasta laughed. “Of course not. You have just given me three new daughters only a month ago. I knew that today would take it out of you. You can sleep in the car if you need to.”

Harry smiled. “I knew that I loved you for a reason.”

Nasta laughed again and bent forward to peck his lips. “I can’t wait until we’re home and there are no more prying eyes so I can ravish this perfect mouth how it deserves.”

That made Harry laugh too. “Soon enough, I want tea when I get back, so you’ll all have time for at least a kiss before I fall asleep on you all.”

“Come on kids, wrap it up, this place wants to close and we need to get home.” Max called out.

It still look long minutes for everyone to get through the till with what they wanted and once they were outside Harry counted them all…several times. He did so again once they reached the cars and he checked each baby critically as he strapped them up in their car seats. He automatically made sure they were all wearing both shoes.

“I saw what you did with Loren.” Max told him as Harry checked in his car that everyone was alright. His biggest mate had already cast a cooling charm upon it. “I was just making my way over to do exactly the same thing.”

Harry chuckled. “I was expecting a tantrum at that moment, but he really surprised me, being so grown up about it. He deserved the little monkey teddy.”

“Yes he did, thank you for giving him to us.”

Harry laughed then in surprise. “I don’t think I had any sort of conscious choice, love.”

“Still. Thank you for all of them, even if a simple trip to the zoo is more like a military operation and takes months of preplanning and preparation.”

Harry laughed again, louder and slapped Max’s arm with no force or malice. “You’re terrible.”

“You knew that before you mated to me.” Max teased.

“And still I chose you.” Harry smiled happily.

“I’m thankful every day that you did.”

Harry grinned then, before he was pulled into a kiss by Blaise.

“I’m shooting off, these kids want to get home.” He said.

“We’ll see you soon.” Max said, pulling Blaise into a kiss. “If you’re home first, get the bloody kettle on!”

Harry watched Blaise wave to show that he understood as he jogged back to the black car. He slipped inside, started the engine before pulling away. Blaise should be the first one home now.

“Right, that’s the cue to leave, be safe.” Max told Harry as he kissed him one last time and then went to his big blue car.

“Draco, are you sorted?” Nasta asked the blond.

“Yeah, just checking everyone is present and accounted for.” Draco insisted as he came to kiss them. “I’ll see you both at home.”

Harry stood and he watched Draco pull off and he groaned. “We’re going to be the last home.” He whined.

“The kids will be winding down and going to their rooms and your tea will already be made, ready and waiting for you as you walk through the door. What’s wrong with that?” Nasta told him with a grin.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “There is that. Do you need anything to eat or drink before we leave now?”

“No, I’m alright. Let’s just get home. I can last out two hours, taking a drink when we inevitably stop for bottles and nappy changes.”

Harry nodded. He slipped himself into the passenger side of the car and he automatically counted the babies in the back yet again, visually checking them over as Nasta joined him up front. The babies were all sleeping and those who were just clinging on to wakefulness would soon be lulled to sleep by the car. That was the best thing about long car journeys after a long, tiring day. It put all the babies to sleep so all they had to do was pop them into their cots when they got home and they’d be down for the night, waking only for their night feeds in the case of the month old triplets.
He did in fact doze off a few times on the way back and he was either woken back up by the car, by the uncomfortable position that he found himself in, or by the babies in the back. They were the last ones home, the three other cars were waiting on the driveway when they got back. Draco and Blaise, who had been looking out for them, immediately came out to help them with the babies, Draco taking all three month old triplets, Blaise picking up Loren and Lian, leaving Harry to get Sully and Ivy while Nasta juggled their older triplet girls.
Harry got them into the house and Braiden met him at the stairs and he took Sully straight from him and went to put him into his cot, leaving Harry with just Ivy. Harry shook his head.

“That boy will be a brilliant parent one day.” He sighed. He was just sad that that day could be very soon, as Braiden’s sixteenth birthday was coming up in just a month’s time.

He took Ivy into the living room and Amelle was there, hovering over her excited, sleepy children. Harry handed Ivy straight over, aware that Amelle would be feeling all sorts at the moment because she hadn’t seen them since the afternoon of the day before, particularly a five month old Ivy.
Harry instead accepted a cup of tea from Max and he sat himself down. Only his older kids were up, the younger ones, the under eights, were all tucked up in bed already. Even his preteens were sluggish and sleepy as they drank down their cold drinks and yawned every other minute. They’d be up in bed soon, despite it being only half eight in the night.
As he yawned with them, he didn’t think it would be long before he was down for the count too.

“How were they?” Caesar asked.

“As good as gold, as you well know.” Harry smiled. “Oscar got a scraped knee, but nothing more serious than that. It was a good day.”

“We had so much fun, Daddy.” Everett insisted and Caesar picked up his youngest son. One of only two boys he had out of four girls.

“We did, Daddy, but I’m tired now.” Imogen said, holding her hands up to her Father. Caesar all but melted as he scooped up his daughter and held her too.

“We’d best get them home, Amelle.” He said. “Thanks again for taking them out.”

“It was no trouble, we loved having them along.” Harry insisted.

“Thank you.” Amelle said with a smile and she and Harry embraced.

Max tugged her into a hug too and he kissed her forehead before bending further to kiss Ivy and he caught all of his nieces, and his two nephews, into a hug and a kiss and then he got Caesar, who aimed a kick at his older brother’s shin, before he went through the floo, then Eleonora followed him through, then Beatrice, and then Amelle went through with Ivy and Everett.
Harry sat back down with a groan.

“More tea, my love?” Max asked him.

“That would be wonderful. Thanks for the cooling charms too, this house feels blissful.”

“All the bedrooms and beds have been done, the more powerful spell too, so it should last for at least eight hours. Those kids should be nice and cool all night. It’s going to be a hot summer though.”

“Thank Merlin I already gave birth.” Harry grinned. “I would have glowed like a homing beacon if I had my wings and scales out in this weather. Particularly those gold scales that you gave to me, mister Delericey.”

Nasta laughed happily and made good on his promise to kiss him properly and thoroughly when they were in their own home and their own privacy.

“Wow. Do that again.” Harry said dopily.

Nasta smiled at him so lovingly, but he did as asked and he pulled Harry up into a toe-curling kiss.

“Oi, where’s mine?” Max demanded.

Nasta settled Harry back on the settee. “Oh, you want some too?”

Nasta pulled Max’s taller frame down into another toe-curling kiss…Harry could see the white knuckled effort it took Max not to let go of the tea tray in his hands and send the cups smashing to the floor.

“That…now that was a fucking kiss!” Max declared happily as he set the tray down on the coffee table before launching at Nasta and kissing him again, happily allowing Nasta to take back over and give another of those spine tingling kisses.

Harry snatched his tea and sipped at it happily. Today had been a great day. They’d had nothing more serious than a few scraped knees or elbows, one banged head and one dropped ice cream. The kids were all happy and they had a million photos to go sorting through now, but he was happy and he’d enjoyed himself, a month post birth or not.
As his mates snuggled up on either side of him, Draco wrapping an arm around his chest, as his belly and hips were off limits, he smiled to himself and sipped some more tea. Blaise had drunk his coffee and he was dozing, his head on Max’s shoulder and Harry didn’t blame him. It had been a hot, humid, muggy and long day today and carting around thirty-five kids was exhausting. At least they’d dropped back down to their original twenty-nine, though that would go up to thirty-one tomorrow, when their Faerie twins Cyneric and Kallan came back from visiting their Uncle Dain and Uncle Kailen. He hoped that they were alright, but he also knew that if anything, anything at all had happened, from a slight cough to a sneeze, then Dain and Kailen would have contacted him immediately. None of them took any chances with their little Faerie babies, and until he was in his twenties, that would include Leolin too.
Harry drained his tea and placed the cup back on the table and he turned more fully into Draco’s arms, resting his body back against his mate. He smiled to himself, even as the quiet and calm of an exhausted house lulled him quickly into drowsiness. Today had been perfect and he hoped to have many more days out and about with his family like this in the future, as they’d always done.
He felt Nasta shifting closer and he smiled, reaching out blindly to pull his top dominant into his body, letting Nasta rest on him as he was resting on Draco. He really needed his bed now, he needed some decent sleep before his beautiful triplet girls woke him up at ten, midnight, three and six for bottles and nappy changes.

“I think we should get them to bed.” Nasta said softly over his head. “Max, have you got Blaise?”

“Yeah, I got him. He’s out like a light.”

“Harry is too.” Nasta smiled and Harry felt a tuft of his hair being brushed out of the way before Nasta kissed his lips.

Harry was picked up and he heard Draco stand and stretch.

“I’ll go and get rid of these mugs and make sure everything’s locked down.” Draco said as the clinking of mugs was heard.

“Thank you. Don’t be too long.”

“I won’t.”

Harry was carried up the stairs and he heard Blaise whine and murmur sleepily in French as he was lain on the bed. Nasta murmured softly back, also in French, before Harry was placed down and immediately the cooling charm made itself known as he wriggled and tried to get used to the coolness after the heat.

“Shh, Harry. It’s okay.” Max murmured to him, undressing him and Harry slitted open his eyes to peer up at Max. “Go back to sleep.” Max whispered. “Everything’s fine and well in hand.”

Harry hummed and he closed his eyes again. He woke up again, momentarily, when someone bumped his body when they climbed into the bed with him, wrapping around him securely, before he drifted back off. Today had been a small slice of bliss and he smiled to himself. He adored his family and there needed to be more days out like this one, where they could just enjoy themselves and spend time together as a family, very soon his children would literally be flying from his nest, which could start as early as next month. He needed to enjoy days like this while he could…while he still had all of his children in his nest with him.

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A/N: This is part one of about six, all centred on day trips and holidays and such and they’re all under the umbrella title of Days Out and About. They won’t all be subsequent, as they’ll be broken up by other Scaled Bits chapters, but they are sort of linked together as they’re all about the same sort of thing. I decided to do it this way as I thought if I posted them all one after another then they might get a bit repetitive. Too much sugar and not enough strife and all that, we need some spice thrown into the Scaled Bits mixture too, though the main fic is adding enough spice at the moment, though that won’t last.
Anyway, until the next update lovelies,

StarLight Mass. X
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The Rise of the Drackens: The Scaled Bits