A week had passed since The Incident, and Harry could already tell that Hermione was getting impatient. Oh, she would hold to the agreement to give him two weeks, but he could tell that she was attempting to figure it out on her own. He didn't like that, as she was extremely observant and quite brilliant at putting even the most difficult puzzles together.

Ginny was also worrying him, as she was writing in her little notebook more and more, all while giving him a bizarre look that was parts smug, appreciative, and manically happy. He especially didn't like the appreciative bit, as it made him feel dirty. Here she was, knowing how his body looked and felt, enjoying it, and all because of the most shameful moments of his life. If not for Draco helping to give him new, positive memories of what sharing his body could be, he didn't know what he'd do.

And Draco, now he was both Harry's one beacon of happiness at the same time that he was quickly becoming Harry's biggest worry. Not that it was anything Draco was doing, because he was being quite wonderful actually, but the more time that Harry spent with him, the more Harry worried about what would happen to Draco if his condition were found out. He looked forward to every moment spent with the blond-haired boy, and if Draco were expelled, that would end.

He knew he was being selfish, because Draco would stand to lose everything should his condition be found out. But with all of the tumult in the rest of his life, getting to escape it all with Draco in their special hideout meant so much to him. And from the instant release of tension from Draco's shoulders upon walking through the door, and the easy smile he would direct Harry's way, he felt at least somewhat similarly. Or so Harry hoped.

Harry was also getting concerned because to him, it was obvious that something was amiss with Draco and while yes, he was watching Draco like a hawk during classes and in the halls, someone else was bound to notice. Draco had the anti-nausea potion, yes. But its effects only lasted a few hours and he could only take two doses a day safely. Draco's queasiness wasn't just the "morning sickness" that muggles talked about either. From morning until just after supper, it plagued him. His only reprieve was evening, and at that time he and Harry were already holed up in what they now called their rooms. So Draco would take a potion in the morning and at lunch, leaving their last class before lunch and the last two classes of the day to suffer through silently.

Luckily, it was Friday, and that meant the weekend was upon them. Except for a brief trip to Hogsmeade to try and uncover Ginny's contact there, which Harry had prepared for by dragging Draco to McGonagall to get authorization for him to accompany the Sytherin as his guardian, he planned on relaxing in their rooms the entire time. He hadn't gotten to try the bathing chambers yet, and there was a bathing pool that made the prefect's tub pale in comparison that he was itching to relax in and possibly seduce Draco in.

It was just after their last class that Harry worried his plans for the weekend might be shot. He was heading past the corridor that ran parallel to the one that held the fateful Arithmancy corridor, which he avoided at all costs now, when he saw Ginny had backed Draco against the wall and was motioning furiously at him. Fearful, he pulled his wand out of his robe and ran towards them.

"...don't know what kind of perverted spell you've placed on Harry or how you did it, but I'm going to expose you!" Ginny was shouting at the pale-faced Draco.

Harry skidded to a stop and dropped his rucksack on the ground with a thud. Ginny whipped her head around, and when she saw him, her face broke into a smile. "Hi Harry!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Leave Draco alone."

Anger flashed through her amber eyes. "I don't know what spell he used, but this is ridiculous, Harry! You can't be defending him from ME! I'm your soulmate!"

Soulmate?! Disgust roiled through him, and he felt as though he might gag. Then he saw Draco make the little cough that Harry was already coming to know meant he was trying and failing to not throw up. Shit.

"Ginny, if I have a soulmate, it's definitely not you! And Draco didn't place any spells on me. He's too smart to risk Azkaban for something as stupid as that!" Harry said, glaring at the crazy witch who used to be his girlfriend.

He saw Draco tilt his head in amusement, before covering his mouth with his hand and coughing again. Harry grimaced. He had to get Draco out of there.

Ginny crossed her arms and shook her head. "It wouldn't be stupid to make the Boy Who Lived your slave! It's actually brilliant!"

Harry felt a tremor jolt through him and his breathing immediately became shallow. Slave? She thought it was brilliant to make him a slave? No matter that she believed Draco had done that to him, but if she thought it was such a good idea, what was to stop her from doing that to him? He was impervious to the Imperious Curse, but what if there were other ways to bend someone to your will? Just like the potion she'd used on him? He felt stark terror at a lifetime of being forced to be with Ginny, repeating the events from the attack over and over and over again? He swallowed hard.

"Weasel-bint, you're more stupid than I thought. Potter is the Boy Who Lived for the sheer fact that he bends to no one's will. He would be worthless as a slave," Draco drawled, coming to Harry's rescue. Some of Harry's terror abated at the reassuring words.

Ginny scoffed. "You can't mean to say that you wouldn't want to use him to get your freedom from all the restrictions the Ministry put on you? The hero to protect you from all harm? His body in your bed for the rest of your life?"

Harry stumbled at her last sentence, images of being forced to bed Ginny, her hands touching him over and over again. Draco instantly moved to stand next to him, putting a reassuring hand on his back. "I would rather he came to my bed of his own free will, than to be forced and hating it. I can protect -"

Draco suddenly gagged, whirling around. He propped one hand against the wall, the other holding his robes back as he retched. Harry leapt into action, rubbing one hand on Draco's back gently while using his wand to Vanish the vomit as soon as it hit the floor.

"What the fuck?!" Ginny cursed, jumping back.

Harry glanced over at her, worried that she would be able to connect the dots. He felt relief when all he saw was puzzled disgust. "Food poisoning. I'm taking him to the Infirmary."

She took a look at the continued retching going on and grimly said, "This isn't over. I WILL figure out what he's done to you!" Then she rushed off down the hall.

He shook his head at her words. Damnit, why couldn't she just leave it alone? If she dug too deep, she would figure out the truth and that Draco didn't have food poisoning. She would figure out that her plot with the potion had backfired and rather than making him turn to her, had been the instrument to turn him to the one person that could save him from her. Because Draco, with his words and actions so far, was already saving him from her machinations. But how could he save him if she discovered the full truth and the means to expel Draco and send him to Azkaban?

"Food poisoning? You know that's not going to work every time," Draco mumbled, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

Harry shrugged. "But it worked this time. We'll figure something out."

Draco snorted, standing up straighter and fixing his robes. "How? It's only getting worse. It's been just a week, and already I'm getting strange looks!"

"You already get strange looks, Malfoy," Harry teased as he picked up his rucksack.

He got a shove to the shoulder that nearly sent him tumbling. "Prat!"

Harry laughed. "You wouldn't like me if I wasn't."

The other boy raised an eyebrow and looked at him, considering. "That is true. But don't go thinking you're suddenly a great wit because you're not."

They started walking down the hall as Harry laughed again. He really enjoyed their bantering, he really did.

After a delicious dinner in their rooms, they were relaxing on the long couch in the sitting room, when Draco made an excited exclamation. Harry sat up from where he was resting and putting off his Charms homework and looked at the other boy. Draco had a grin on his face and was already moving closer to Harry, a heavy tome on his lap. "Look!"

Harry just saw what appeared to be an old medical book of some kind. "What?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at him and pushed the book onto Harry's lap. "This is a really old text I had my mum send over on Carriers. We had it in the old section of the library."

"Wouldn't she be suspicious about you asking for it?" Harry asked, frowning. It had to be unusual for a witch's teenage son to be asking about a book about Carriers, especially considering said teenage son was from one of the rare Carrier lines.

The blond lifted a shoulder and replied, "I've asked for some strange books over the years. She may be curious, but I can't imagine her thinking it's because I've got a bun in the oven. She knows I never take off my amulet."

Harry just pointedly looked at the bare spot around Draco's neck where his contraceptive amulet used to hang. Draco wrinkled his nose, rubbing the place where it used to sit. "Doesn't do me any good if I'm already knocked up, Potter."

That was true. Yet. "Shouldn't you still wear it in case anyone else gets suspicious about you forgoing it?" Since he'd found out about the amulet, Harry had noticed a few other male students from the old pureblood lines wearing them, including Neville Longbottom.

Draco shrugged lightly. "They'll just think I've accepted that with my lowered status, I'm not a desirable bedmate."

Harry let his gaze travel from Draco's silvery locks down to his expensive shoes, very slowly and deliberately. He let his appreciation show in his eyes. "Oh, well someone thinks you're very desirable, Malfoy."

A blush lightly colored the other boy's fair cheeks. "They don't know that."

"Ginny suspects, and if she does, others might." Harry hated mentioning her name, but it was a valid point he had to bring up.

"She's nutters, and I really don't think anyone is going to believe that the Savior of the Wizarding World is sleeping with the disgraced Death Eater who is responsible for the death of Albus Dumbledore."

There was a shamed shadow lurking in Draco's silver eyes. Harry didn't like seeing it. "You know it was Snape who actually cast the spell, and you know from my testimony this summer that it was Dumbledore who'd ordered it of him. Besides, it has to be obvious that I don't dislike you and I'm sure someone is going to figure out that I actually like you very much."

At those words, Draco blushed again and coughed. "Yes well, I'll start wearing it again. Just to shut you up."

Harry grinned and rubbed his foot against Draco's. "Good."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Back to business. This book is actually really informative. I'd known the basics of how being a Carrier works, but beyond that, as most of the families have turned away from the practice with more than enough suitable witches in recent generations, I never learned much beyond that. But this explains everything!"

The excitement in the other boy's voice made Harry smile. He sounded almost like Hermione when she learned something new. Of course, he wouldn't like to hear that comparison so Harry just quipped, "Everyting? That's a lot!"

A hard shoulder bumped his. "Shut it. It really does. I was wrong about saying that a Carrier's term is seven months. It's calculated in weeks, in this case thirty, so that means the due date is May 11th. According to the book, any day within the seven day window preceding or following the due date is normal for the birth to happen."

Harry let out a breath. He didn't like the word birth. It made it sound so much more real. "Ok, so May 4th to 18th. That's still before Newts."

Draco nodded. "Yes. But we've got Salazar's glamour spell, and this book has the way to lessen my sickness."

"It does?! Why didn't you start with that? That's great!"

Second eye roll of the evening. "Because almost everything in this book is necessary for you to learn but I know how difficult it is for your brain to read for long."

Harry rolled his eyes back at the blond. Ok, so he may dislike reading. But that didn't mean it was hard for his brain!

Draco smirked. Harry sighed. Draco cleared his throat and began talking again. "Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. The book says that Carriers differ from witches in more ways than how their reproductive systems work and the term of the pregnancy. Because of the accelerated growth of the baby, more nutrients and magic are taken from the Carrier. This causes increased effects on the Carrier, most noticeably as far as nausea and fatigue are concerned. But because magic is what causes the ability for the Carrier to, well carry, there are magical benefits that witches don't have."

He paused, his eyes glittering with mischief. Harry frowned at the look, but was busy absorbing what he had said so far. So the pregnancy would be harder on Draco than it would be for a witch. He didn't like the sound of that. But what possible magical benefits could there be?

"Ok, I know that look of yours means you'll get some sick pleasure out of what you're going to say next, so just say it."

Draco grinned, looking pleased with himself. "You're right about that. One of the magical benefits is that the other parent can feed their magic directly to the baby, thus lessening the load on the Carrier. Side effects of that can include nausea and fatigue."

Of course. Draco would get to feel less of his own side effects, while also getting to watch Harry suffer as well. Sick bastard.

Harry laughed. "Fine, I can handle that."

The tome was immediately set on the table and Draco grabbed Harry's hands, placing them on his abdomen. Harry laughed again at the obvious eagerness being shown by the Slytherin. While he didn't like that the eagerness was caused by how rough his sickness had been, he did

appreciate the fact that he'd never seen the Malfoy heir show such eagerness before.

"What do I do?" He asked, enjoying the feel of Draco's hard abs.

Draco unbuttoned his shirt and moved Harry's hands to touch his bare skin. Harry let out an appreciative chuckle and Draco flushed. "No games. Not til after."

Oh so there was going to be an after? Harry liked the sound of that. He nodded and pressed his hands a little more firmly against Draco's front. "Ok, so how do I give it magic?"

"Them, since we don't know if it's a boy or girl. Not it," Draco said, somewhat sternly.

Them. Ok. That did sound better than it, since this wasn't a thing. It was their baby, as terrifyng as admitting that was.

"Got it. Them. How do I give them magic?"

"Close your eyes and reach for your magic inside. Think of it flowing just under your skin and direct it towards your hands. Then let it flow from your hands to where they're touching, but inside. Direct it toward them."

Harry nodded, feeling the heat of his magic rising from where it lay deep inside him. He had never done magic without his wand, but he imagined this was how he directed his magic out his wand when he used a spell. He felt his fingers tingle as the magic filled them and flowed towards Draco's abdomen, inside it. Having seen biology texts before that showed what babies looked like at this stage, he pictured that and directed his magic towards it.

Almost instantly, he heard Draco gasp. At the same time, he felt a faint shudder along his magic and from where he was guiding his magic, there was a flutter. It was the baby.

"H-how?" He stuttered, his eyes popping open. He looked at Draco, who appeared just as stunned as he felt.

Draco pressed his own hands above Harry's, where they still lay guiding magic inside of him. "I have no idea...but I feel them. I feel the baby!"

Harry gulped, dropping his gaze to where their hands lay. "It's only been a week though! I mean, I know the term is shorter, but I thought this happened later."

There was a strange happiness filling him as he felt the little flutters. He couldn't physically feel the movement of course, but through his magic, he felt it. He felt their baby. It was amazing. No matter that a week ago a baby wasn't anywhere in his thoughts. No matter that a week ago, he was a virgin with a hopeless crush on a boy who he didn't even know could carry a baby. No matter that to create this baby, he had to go through one of the worst encounters of his life beforehand.

"It has to be the magic. I'm feeling your magic, and I feel the baby responding. This is incredible," Draco breathed, rubbing his hands over Harry's and staring at the spot where the baby lay inside of him.

Harry nodded. Incredible. Yes, that perfectly described it. And the look on Draco's face, the awe, was incredible too. Harry had loved looking at Draco's face before, but now? Now, he felt like he never wanted to look at anything else again. He didn't care if it sounded crazy or sappy either.

Draco looked up and his gaze met Harry's. He flushed, and chuckled nervously. In response, the blond lifted Harry's hands from his abdomen and slid them around to encircle his waist. The magical connection broke and the flutters stopped, but Harry continued to feel the same incredible happiness. He leaned over to press his lips to Draco's. Draco moaned lightly, opening his lips to run his tongue along Harry's.

Instantly, Harry felt the happiness grow exponentially. Arousal joined it as well. He broke the kiss, panting slightly. "Before we get to the after, and Merlin do I want the after, I have to tell you."

Draco leaned back and cocked his head. "It better be important. I didn't tell you, and I don't want to make you feel like you have to, but since you've admitted you want the after... but a side effect of sharing magic is that I'm…" He trailed off, but his eyes flicked down to his lap.

Harry saw the bulge in Draco's trousers and groaned. "It is, but why didn't you tell me that before? What if I couldn't?" So far they'd had no real issues with him having bad flashbacks while they explored each other's bodies, but there had been a few times they'd had to slow down and they hadn't actually gone all the way.

"Because I never want to make you feel like you have to, not after what you've been through. And I was prepared to, you know, have some private time if it came to it."

The embarrassed flush that spread across Draco's cheeks and down his neck was adorable. Harry maneuvered them so he was laying over top of the blond, careful to keep his weight away from his abdomen even though it was still flat. He nipped at Draco's lips lightly, before pulling back and saying, "It won't come to it. You're so patient, I could never feel like you're forcing me. I just wanted to tell you I don't think I've ever been happier than right now. Laugh if you want, I know it's silly. But it's true."

Draco smirked evilly and Harry was sure he was going to laugh, when the smirk dissolved into a genuine smile. "The worst Hufflepuff drivel ever, and don't mention this to anyone, but same here."

Well, that proved his words a lie as suddenly his happiness climbed a notch. He lowered his head to Draco's and proceeded to kiss the life out of him. He didn't think Draco minded, as nimble fingers quickly began loosening his Gryffindor tie, unbuttoning his dress shirt, and working their way into his trousers.

Harry wasn't quite as nimble, and in fact he felt terribly clumsy in comparison, but he helped divest Draco of his own clothes nearly as fast. He didn't know if it was the pure happiness he was feeling, or a residual effect of sharing his magic, but not a single shadow of a thought of Ginny's attack bothered him.

He ran a hand through Draco's silvery hair, his other running along his side down to the hollow next to his hipbone. He tangled his tongue with Draco's and groaned, "All the way. I want to."

Draco gasped, sliding his leg along Harry's. "You're sure?"

"I have to." To prove it, his moved his hips so that his erection rubbed Draco's from base to tip and back.

A strangled moan issued from Draco's mouth and he nodded. "Yes. Merlin, yes!"

Harry grinned. "Harry, not Merlin."

Draco's response was to lift his one leg so that it draped along the back of the couch and lower his other leg so that his foot rested on the floor. It gave Harry a view that instantly had all thoughts fleeing from his head except for one, "Oh fuck!"

And that's what they did.