Title: Still
Pairings: Harry/Draco
Rating: PG
Word Count:
Warnings: Mpreg
Disclaimer: Author's notes: Thanks to singlemomsummer for the beta. Written for wizsprogs Winter fest.
Summary: Draco demands some answers from Harry and finds more than he bargained for.

Harry had known, if he was honest with himself, that this day was inevitable. He had just preferred to think positively and hope that he'd been wrong.

It seemed his luck had run out because there, right in front of him in the middle of Diagon Alley, was Draco Malfoy. He hadn't seen Harry yet so there was still time for Harry to Apparate away; except Apparition was one thing he couldn't do anymore, not with his belly feeling full to bursting. He was due in two months though he was told to expect to go into labour sooner; apparently twins were always early.

Thank Merlin he'd perfected the glamour, because Draco mustn't see that he was pregnant. "Oh no," he whispered and Oliver turned to him, his face an expression of fond concern.

"What is it?" Oliver placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Is it the babies? Do you want to go home and put your feet up?"

"No," Harry said. "It's Malfoy."

"Oh," Oliver said, following the direction of Harry's gaze. "Okay, well, if he sees us, just follow my lead." He chewed on his lip as if deep in thought.

"I'd rather we just left before he notices us," Harry pleaded. It had been over four months since he'd last seen Malfoy, and their last encounter hadn't been pleasant at all; in fact, just thinking about it made Harry want to vomit.

He still missed him, which was ridiculous considering their relationship, if you could call it that had been over for longer than they had been together and Malfoy had only been in it for the sex anyway.

To Harry though, those first few weeks had been like coming home. He'd thought he'd found him, the one, that he'd been right under his nose this whole time and Harry hadn't realised. Only Malfoy wasn't anybody's 'one', he was simply just anybody's.

"Brace yourself, he's seen us," Oliver hissed through clenched lips.

Harry watched, frozen to the spot, as Draco first noticed him there, the smile falling from his face instantly, his grey eyes flicking from Harry, to Oliver, to the hand on Harry's arm, and back to Harry again. The sneer followed.

Draco whispered something in Pansy's ear, his eyes never leaving Harry, and the two of them approached. Harry's desire to flee intensified. If his glamour slipped, as it was wont to do when he was tired or stressed, the game would be up.

"Potter," Malfoy greeted coldly. "What an unexpected pleasure." The tone of his voice indicated that this was anything but pleasurable. He flicked his gaze to Oliver. "Wood."

"Malfoy," Oliver replied, and wrapped a possessive arm around Harry. Harry tried not to gasp; thiswas obviously what Oliver had meant by following his lead. Malfoy's expression tightened. He turned away from Oliver and fixed Harry in his intense gaze again.

"Potter, how is business? I haven't seen you in 'Lily's' for some time." The implication was clear; Malfoy had been to look for Harry in his café in the time since two of them had gone their separate ways and by the sound of it, more than once.

"Business is good," Harry told him. "I decided to put a manager in for a while and spend some time writing."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "Writing?"

Harry affected nonchalance and shrugged. "With all the unofficial biographies about me out there – well, I decided to write my own – the money raised will go to the War Orphan Fund." He stifled a cry of surprise as the one of the babies chose that moment to kick. Draco had eyes like a hawk though, and he didn't miss the grimace flash across Harry's face before he could hide it.

Draco knew very well that Harry wanted to write that book as much as he wanted to be in the public eye at all. It had been the first excuse to pop into his head.

"Harry, we really need to get going," Oliver said, squeezing Harry's shoulder affectionately. "We'll be late." Harry was impressed at how easily Oliver was lying. They didn't have anywhere to be at any specific time, just back to Grimmauld Place when they'd picked up what Harry needed. Of course, that shopping would have to wait now; he couldn't risk being around Malfoy for much longer. The twins were going crazy inside of him, like they sensed that their other father was present.

As the children of two of the most powerful Wizards alive, it was highly likely that that theory was true.

"Yes, of course, Oliver," Harry answered, fighting his reaction now, his discomfort increasing. "Nice to see you, Malfoy… Parkinson." He nodded at Pansy who had stood in uncharacteristic silence at Malfoy's side during this uncomfortable encounter.

Both of the ex-Slytherins nodded and Harry let Oliver guide him away, hoping it wasn't obvious that he was waddling rather than walking.

"We'll go back to mine for a cup of tea," Oliver decided.

"Thanks, Oliver," he said, willing his heart rate to slow down. That had been close. Draco couldn't find out Harry was having his babies, Harry couldn't have him in his life, he just couldn't. Still, seeing Draco again after all those months had told Harry one thing, that no matter how many times he told himself that it had just been a fling, that it didn't matter that Draco hadn't felt the same way about him, that he wasover it– the one person he couldn't lie to was himself.

He still loved Draco.

:o:

"Well, that was weird," Pansy said as she and Draco watched Potter walk away with Wood.

Draco didn't reply, couldn't find the words now that the adrenaline that he had felt at first seeing Harry again had expired and the anger had given way to pain. Jealousy at Wood's casual intimacy with Harry nearly bent him in two. Salazar, he'd missed Harry.

When he'd bumped into Harry that time when he'd stopped into 'Lily's' for a coffee, he hadn't realised that it was actually Potter's café. It had been near closing time, and for some reason, he'd lingered, waiting for Potter to shut up shop, and Potter hadn't said a word about Draco waiting for him in some kind of unspoken agreement even though the only words they had exchanged other than stilted pleasantries and Draco's order for a cappuccino and a walnut muffin.

For three months after that they had spent almost every spare minute together.

Before then he hadn't seen Potter since the trials, but it was hardly as though they moved in the same circles. He'd thought about him often, more than he would have cared to admit, remembering how it had felt during seventh year when Potter was Merlin knew where and Draco was trapped at the manor, and despite it all, the hope Potter had given him- and then Potter had saved him from the Fiendfyre, and, well, even with the grief and the fear that brought, he'd still remembered what it had felt like to have his arms wrapped around Potter.

Everything had changed between them after Blaise's twenty-first birthday party at The Horseshoe. No, Draco amended in his head, it was before that. Harry had been acting oddly for a week or so prior, but when Draco had asked him if something was wrong he'd smiled and promised everything was fine.

After the party Harry had been quiet and introspective. When Draco had tried to cheer him up by tickling him, Harry loved to be tickled, but this time he'd pushed Draco away, snapping, "Draco – stop it!" and Draco had, staring up at Harry who had leapt to his feet and started pacing the room. A sudden fear clamped his heart and a sense of foreboding drew down upon him.

"Harry-" he'd began, but Harry held up a hand.

"Don't, Draco," Harry said. "Just – don't."

Draco blinked, his heart pounding furiously. He felt sick.

"I- I can't do this anymore, Draco," Harry said and Draco's worst fears were confirmed. "I don't want to. I'm sorry, but, I think we need to end this…whatever thisis. Was." He threw out a hand to encompass the two of them.

"Harry, please-"

"No, Draco. Nothing you can say will change my mind." He picked up his pea coat and shrugged it back on. "I think a clean break is best. Goodbye, Draco."

Draco watched in horror as Harry turned on his heel and left Draco's house with an ominous click of the front door. When he forced his legs to move to go after him, Harry was nowhere to be seen, the street was dark and empty. Harry must've Disapparated.

That had been the last time he'd seen Harry until now. All of his owls had been returned unopened. He'd tried to Floo to Grimmauld Place but the wards were keyed to keep him out. When he'd stopped by 'Lily's' Harry wasn't there.

And now after all this time he finally just bumped into him and Harry was with someone else, with Oliver Wood. It hurt.

"Oh, Draco, I thought you were over this?" Pansy said softly when she saw his face. "It's been months since you mentioned him, I assumed-"

"Pans, what the hell did I do?" Draco managed. "He hatesme."

Pansy wrapped her arms around him and Draco fell into the embrace, fighting back the tears that Harry's sudden appearance had brought to the fore. He just needed to know why. If he knew what he'd done wrong he could fix it. Or at least try.

"He's not wriggling out of this again," he said quietly. "He can't avoid me forever."

:o:

Harry lay on the sofa at Oliver's with his eyes closed, one hand on his bump as he talked softly to his baby boys. He was going to name them Sirius and Remus. "What will you look like, little ones?" he asked. "Will you be like me, or like your other daddy?"

"What are you going to name them?" Oliver appeared in the doorway, a soft smile on his face holding a tray of tea in front of him.

Harry shook his head. "I'm not saying until they're born." He went to swing his legs to the floor so Oliver could sit down but a loud knocking on the door stalled him. Oliver frowned. "I wonder who that can be." He placed the tray on the coffee table and Harry flopped back down, exhausted. Being pregnant with twins was draining. The healer told him that he was likely to feel this tired until the birth because he was sustaining two life forces. He'd had enough; he just wanted to meet them now.

When the raised voices registered, it was too late, and the door had burst open to frame Draco. Harry managed to prop himself up on his elbows but did not have time to cast the glamour. "This time you're going to talk to me- What the hell?" Draco's eyes dropped to Harry's belly and his jaw dropped. "You're pregnant?"

Harry closed his eyes.

"Harry, I'm sorry he just barged in." Oliver appeared in the door behind Draco.

"Well," Draco managed, seeming to recover his shock rather quickly. "Harry has Grimmauld Place warded against me, so I figured I'd try here; lucky punt."

Harry placed a protective hand on his stomach and managed to, very ungracefully, swung his legs to the floor. "Congratulations, Malfoy, but I'm afraid you've had a wasted journey. Nothing has changed."

"Oh really?" Draco stepped in through the door, wand in hand, and muttered, "Paternitas."

Harry gasped as a tiny ball off light floated out of his stomach towards Draco.

"That's my baby," Draco said with certainty. "You bastard."

"No," Harry countered. "Mine."

Draco took a step towards Harry and instantly Harry had his wand pointing at him. "Don't come near me," he hissed.

"I've got every right when you're carrying my child!"

"Now look here," Oliver interjected, holding out a calming hand towards Harry, but and addressing Draco. "You can't just-"

"It's okay, Oliver," Harry said. He didn't want this – fighting, arguing, whatever it was that was about to happen. It wasn't good for any of them. "It's fine. He is right after all."

Harry managed to push himself to his feet. "Draco, come back to Grimmauld with me if you would?" The conversation was obviously inevitable and what was the point in putting it off? Draco was here now; he knew the truth and Harry had to deal with it. If Draco wanted to be a part of the twin's lives then Harry had no choice.

"Just you try and stop me," Draco said and Harry finally allowed himself to look at his face and found that he was paler than usual, his eyes fixed on Harry's distended belly in awe. Harry's heart jumped into his throat. Draco looked so vulnerable in that moment that he could almost hope that this could end well.

Almost.

He was tied forever to Draco now and there was no getting away from it, but with that came the knowing that Draco didn't love him, and he didn't know if he could cope with that for the next seventeen years. He turned to Oliver who was hovering with a concerned expression in the doorway. "I'll owl you later."

He waddled to the Floo and said to Draco, "I'll have to go first so I can open the Floo to you at the other end."

"If this is some kind of trick, Potter, I will find you-"

"No, it's not a trick, I promise." Harry swiped some powder off the mantle and threw it into the flames. "Grimmauld Place."

:o:

Draco stepped out of the Floo at Grimmauld Place to find Harry was nowhere to be seen and for a moment he felt that awful gut wrenching pain again that he'd felt when Harry had first broken up with him, but this time it wasn't just about the two of them.

He was going to be a father, and Harry hadn't had the decency to tell him, and if Draco hadn't found out today, would Harry ever have told him? What had he done that was bad enough to make Harry hate him so much that he would withhold news like that?

Just like that his anger faded and was replaced by grief. Harry had broken his heart and now this. Why?

"Harry?" he called out and was rewarded by a reply from the kitchen. He stepped out of the room and found Harry stood at the kitchen counter waiting for the kettle to boil, his back to Draco.

Draco kept his distance, moving to observe Harry with the barrier of the table between them. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

Harry shook his head and Draco's heart cracked open a little wider.

"You really hate me that much?" Draco cringed as his voice caught in his throat. So much for not letting Harry see how much this was affecting him.

The kettle boiled and Harry poured watering into the tea pot, slowly, and Draco wanted to scream at him to turn around, talk to me, but he didn't. Harry looked so lost, huge with Draco's child. He was going to be a father, and by the look of Harry, any day now.

"At least have the decency to answer me," he said when Harry still didn't turn- Then he saw, Harry's shoulders were shaking. "Harry?" He crossed the room and turned him around and found Harry's lowered eyes were wet with tears.

"I don't hate you, Draco."

Draco gave a surprised laugh. "Of course you don't," he said, trying to gain eye contact and failing as Harry refused to look at him. "That's why you rushed to tell me about the baby."

"I didn't think you would care," Harry said. "We were never anything serious after all."

Draco heard his own gasp echo through the room. "What the hell gave you that idea?" Draco had never been more serious about anything or anyone in his life. When they'd hooked up that time, he'd known that Harry was who he had been searching for all along. There was a reason all of his boyfriends were slight with dark hair, only he hadn't realised what he was trying to do until Harry entered his life. It had always been Harry, of course it had, and even when he'd hated him he'd been obsessed with him. He'd been searching for the missing piece since the end of the war. He should have known it would be Harry; didn't everything always come back to him in the end?

Harry looked up then, his eyes flashing. "I don't know, how about the fact that I look just like every other bloke you've been with? Or that you never date anyone for longer than three months? My time was coming to an end and we both know it, Draco, so don't pretend like you care now – I was only ever a shag to you."

Draco saw red, and it wasn't just from the hot air Harry was spouting. "That's it? That's your reasoning behind all of this?" He couldn't believe it. "Where the hell did you get your information from?"

Harry looked ashamed. "Blaise said-"

"Blaise Zabini is a jealous wanker! Bloody hell, Harry – how could you listen to him?" So there was some truth to what Blaise had told Harry, but Blaise didn't know the truth about how Draco felt about Harry, unless he had guessed; Blaise had never made any secret of his own crush on Harry. That fucking Slytherin bastard! Again the anger dissipated as he bowed under the crushing realisation that he loved Harry and- Had it only ever been shagging to Harry as well then, after all? "Was that what it was to you then, Harry? Just sex?"

"I-" he swallowed nervously. "No."

"Then why would you listen to him? Why didn't you just talk to me?"

"Because I'd just found out that men could have babies and it was happening to me and I was scared!" Harry's hands came up to cover his bump protectively. "Because I was afraid he was right! We'd only been together for a couple of months and I didn't know if you would want me and the baby and Blaise had me convinced you were about to break up with me."

Draco tried to put himself in Harry's shoes but it wasn't easy. He'd grown up knowing that men, on occasion, could get pregnant –it had never occurred to him that Harry wouldn't know. He'd always been careful with the safety charms… Except that first time on Harry's birthday when they'd been rather drunk and it was all new and wonderful and they had to have each other right the fuck now.

"If you believed that why didn't you just tell me about the baby anyway, because if you were right and I didn't want to know, I would have left you anyway and the result would be the same in the end," Draco took a deep breath and added, "For the record, I want you, I want the baby, I want us."

"Babies," Harry corrected. "It's twins: two boys."

"Bloody hell," Draco couldn't help himself, he reached out and put a hand on top of Harry's where it lay on top of his stomach, "Twins."

"I want this, Harry. It was never 'just sex' to me," he said. "I still love you."

:::

Harry looked into Draco's clear grey eyes and then down at his hand where it covered his own, and said, "I didn't know that you ever did." At that moment one of the twins woke up and aimed a hefty kick. Harry laughed fondly, "They know you, Draco. They knew you the moment you were nearby in Diagon Alley earlier, didn't you, boys?"

He lifted his gaze back up to Draco's and Draco threaded his fingers through his.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. He'd been an utter prick these last few months. Why had he listened to Zabini? He should have, as Draco said, talkedto him. "So, what happens now?"

"You move into my house with me and we start decorating a nursery. No child of mine is living in that gloomy hovel you call a home and I don't care if it's the Black ancestral home!"

Harry laughed, this was the snarky Draco he loved, the one who didn't mind saying what he thought and damn the consequences.

"I suppose we could," he replied.

"You suppose?" Draco raised an eyebrow. His eyes clouded over. "Is it Wood?"

Harry smirked, suddenly confident in Draco. "Oliver's engaged to Luna – he's just a friend – and - I happen to like my hovel."

Draco's eyes lit up at the challenge, his dejected demeanour at the thought of Oliver gone. Harry shuffled forwards, the best he could do with his current girth, his stomach pressing against Draco's and took his other hand. "I do love you, you know, very much and I promise never to listen to someone else's diagnosis about our relationship when I should be listening to you."

Draco was silent for a moment before he said, "Twins! Merlin help us." Their eyes met and they both burst out laughing.