The next day was a rather busy one for Harry. Not only was there everything that was going on with Lucius, but also the Harmon case he'd been working the day before needed his attention. It was nearly quitting time before he had a chance to pop over to the Secure Treatment Facility and see how things were going with Lucius. Judging by the large number of Ministry officials crammed into the room and the loud voices that could be heard from down the hall, he got there just in time.

The bodies gave way and made room for Harry to enter. Cissy and two Malfoy house elves were standing defensively around Lucius' bed, as if they were worried the officials would attack. Harry went to join his mother-in-law, who greeted him with a curt nod.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"They want to force Lucius to give up the names of the children responsible," Cissy replied.

"Where's Mr. Rosier? Why isn't his attorney here?" Harry asked Narcissa another.

"I sent Rosier away. I do not need him, because I am not going to talk to these men," Lucius supplied.

"The house elves alerted Draco. He's alone with the children; he's been by himself all day," Cissy added.

"It is part of Lucius Malfoy's Unbreakable Vow that he is not to be involved in criminal activity. Growing controlled and illegal plants is criminal activity. Not turning over the names of the guilty is aiding and abetting," a Ministry prosecutor said. "If he doesn't reveal the names, he won't be able to leave this facility without violating his Unbreakable Vow. That will result in death."

"I would rather live the rest of my life in this facility than sacrifice naïve children. Children who saw no other option to support their families in the absence of their fathers, than to grow black-market substances. What are they to do when they have barely finished school themselves and are suddenly tasked with supporting their families? Their fathers are all either dead or in Azkaban, but their homes have been damaged by the fighting, and meanwhile their mothers and younger siblings are hungry. On top of that, as children of Death Eaters, they cannot obtain jobs in this post-war economy. What do you suppose they do? What does Minister Fawley propose they do? Starve? Watch their families starve?" Lucius asked.

"The Minister wouldn't want that. He wants to welcome all magical people back into our society. He would prefer these children to have proper, legal, jobs. But we cannot let anyone get away with growing such dangerous plants, no matter their circumstances. There have to repercussions. And if their families need help, we need to know about it, before we can help them," another Ministry official said grandly.

"Find the widows and children of Death Eaters jobs and then this sort of thing will not happen in the first place," Lucius retorted.

"We will make Minister Fawley aware of your suggestion. But first, we need to deal with this matter. You are supposed to be our example of the success of the release program. We cannot take back the Unbreakable Vow at this point. You have been given the final one, which will last the rest of your life. Either you tell us what you know, you stay here forever, or you will die. We want you to be able to go home. Don't you want to go home?" the first Ministry official again.

"No, I am just fine here. I will not, under any circumstances turn over children. I have done enough wrong to these people. I recruited their fathers. I am responsible for their current circumstances. Blame me for the plants. Lock me up. Let the children be free. Let them have a chance to start over again. Salazar knows that I am an old wizard; I need the freedom far less than they," Lucius insisted.

"Lucius is right. These children need a chance. They have never had a first chance. You cannot blame them for doing what they had to do to survive," Cissy added.

"This is going to ruin the Death Eater parole program! Once it gets into the Daily Prophet, the backlash will destroy all the positive momentum we've gained so far. Do you want that on your shoulders? All of the fathers will remain locked up, because of you," the second Ministry official again.

"Better the fathers, who are guilty of real atrocities, than the children," Lucius replied.

"You all don't seem to be getting anywhere like this. What does Minister Fawley say about the situation?" Harry asked. "Where are Kyffin and Senior Auror Dragonrider?"

"Kyffin and Dragonrider have both been in and out of here all day. Dragonrider is trying to track down the kids. Merlin Harry, what if he finds a lead to them? We can't let him lock up children no older than you," Cissy answered.

"Kyffin put me in charge of this end of things," Colburn, the parole officer answered. He was the one responsible for Lucius' involvement in this mess in the first place, because he had given Lucius the final Unbreakable Vow before the properties were clear. "He is trying to handle the press. Fawley wants it over with minimum impact. He wants Lucius Malfoy released and he wants deals made with the children. They will receive the lightest sentence possible by law, which is a week in jail and a fine."

"And a criminal record," Lucius added. "How do you expect them to be able to pay a fine, when they cannot even afford to eat? How can they pay your fine when they do not have jobs? How to expect them to be able to obtain employment with a criminal record, when already the taint of their fathers' records are preventing them from doing so? Why cannot these children merely be let off the hook for a mistake made out of desperation? I propose dropping the case entirely."

"Minister Fawley will deal with that latter. But the longer you stay in here, the bigger this mess becomes in the papers," the second Ministry official said.

"Then announce that I am in here, due to illness. I have had a setback in the treatment of my Motor Neurone disease," Lucius supplied.

Cissy turned to Harry and said, "Harry, it doesn't look like we are getting anywhere with these people. Lucius won't budge and neither will they. Meanwhile Draco is home alone with three children."

"Right." Harry spoke in a soft voice to Cissy, giving her a nod, before raising his voice so that everyone could hear. "Listen up! It's after hours. There is nothing that grabs the Daily Prophet's attention more than a dozen plus Ministry employees going at it after hours. Go file your paperwork, consult your superiors, release a benign statement to the press about Lucius taking ill, and come back tomorrow. Lucius needs his rest or he really will have a relapse; just think about what that press release will do."

As the Savior of the Wizarding World, Harry's word held a lot of weight. That combined with the sense he made, had all of the officials gathering up their things, murmuring final messages to their colleagues, and agreeing to depart.

Lucius was soon left to rest in peace and Harry was free to go home.

Harry apparated home and found Draco in the children's playroom. Draco was sitting on the settee, deep in a hushed conversation with Hermione, the three children surrounding them seemingly ignored.

Judging by the fact that Teddy was tearing the pages out of a new book and tossing them in the air, Hermione had come bearing her usual gift of books. Eiona was on the other side of the room, hidden behind the end table with her gift. She was alternating between peaking down at the drawing of various insects, and clutching the precious book to her chest as she looked up and peered around to check to make sure Teddy wasn't coming after her. Judging by the chaotic state of her frazzled hair and the fact that her cowlick was sticking straight up, she had probably already had a scuffle with Teddy over the books. Her hair being in a disarrayed state was one of Draco's pet peeves, so the fact that he hadn't done anything about it spoke volumes as to the importance of what was going on between him and Hermione.

Orion was the only child without a book, but he was far too little for one on his own and on his own he was. He was strapped into his modified jumper, levitating as far as the contraption would allow, before dropping back down. He never jumped, always levitating instead. That was why the five point harness was added to the contraption, so that he couldn't float too high. That was also why he'd been allowed in the thing since before he could sit up: to keep him from floating away.

From the time he could hold his head up, Orion was a levitator. They found him levitating in his basinet in the middle of the night when he was three weeks old. By the time he was a month old, they had installed a five-point harness in his crib, so that he wouldn't float away in the night. Soon after they had brought out the modified jumper/levitator. Ever since then his levitation had been limited to that contraption, with sturdy five-point harnesses anchoring him down everywhere else they set him down. The baby bouncer seat was tossed out, because it was too lite, and even with the five-point harness, Orion had managed to float himself and the bouncer a foot into the air. The one thing that seemed clear was that they had another natural flyer in the family. Given Teddy's love of brooms and the fact that Eiona wasn't that bad with one either, they would probably have half a Quidditch team.

"No Teddy! That is not how we treat books!" Harry exclaimed, going immediately to Teddy. He took the book away from the toddler, grabbing at the loose pages in an attempt to salvage them before Teddy could destroy them further. It was close, because Teddy raced to snatch up the pages too and even got one first, squealing loudly as he did so. "Hand it over Teddy. Harry has to fix it so that we can read it."

"Mine. Mione gave Eddy," Teddy said, clutching the page tightly to his chest with one hand and pointing to Hermione with the other.

"I know it's yours Teddy, but you are ruining it. I want to fix it and then I'll give it back," Harry pleaded, before turning his head to his husband and his best friend, neither of whom had budged to help. "Oi, what's going on? Why weren't either of you watching him?"

"Um, Harry, Hermione is going through something a little more serious than a torn book," Draco said, resting his hand supportingly on Hermione's shoulder.

That threw Harry. He'd thought it was the other way around, with Hermione comforting Draco, since Draco's father with in the Secure Treatment Facility being hounded by Ministry officials.

"Er, what have I missed?" As Harry spoke, he stood up and placed the remains of the book he had in his possession, not including the page Teddy still held, on the top of the bookshelf, out of Teddy's reach.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione exclaimed emotionally, burying her head in her hands.

Draco wrapped his arms around the witch and pulled her close. He spoke softly, "There now, it's not all that bad. I told: everything will be alright. Harry, tell her your friend Ronald is not the most horrible stupidest moron to ever walk the Earth. He'll be decent about this, you'll see, Hermione."

"Ah, I'm a bit left out of the loop here. Why is Draco defending Ron, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Rion, help Eddy get book," Teddy said. He was now standing next to Orion's levitator, clutching the crumpled page in a ball to his side.

Fortunately for the adults, and unfortunately for Teddy, Orion was far too little to understand what Teddy wanted. Even if Orion did understand, the levitator had a gravity charm on it, firmly sticking the base to the floor of the playroom, so he couldn't fly over to the bookcase if he wanted to. Instead Orion said, "Dee de de!" and clapped his hands in excitement, levitating as high as possible and dropping back down for emphasis.

Harry only gave a momentary glance towards his boys, before he turned back to Hermione. His eyes bore into her, imploring her to tell him what was going on. "Come on Hermione, you can tell me."

"Oh Harry! I've messed up something awful this time!" Hermione replied.

"It is not only your mistake. It is Ronald's too. And come this time next year, I doubt you will be thinking it a mistake. It will work out wonderfully, you will see," Draco said.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense. What happened?" Harry asked.

"I'm pregnant," Hermione said.

Harry's eyes went immediately to Hermione's flat stomach. Her hand followed his eyes and she instinctively covered herself protectively. "That's great!" Harry exclaimed, happy for his friends. Now Ron and Hermione would have a child close in age to his kids. They could do playdates together. Both Hermione and Ron were good with kids, so he didn't see the slightest problem with this development.

"It is?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, it is. You love each other. You're planning on getting married. Ron has gone ring shopping, but he hasn't quite gotten the money together. The engagement is pending; just around the corner really. Now you will have a baby together. This is what you wanted," Harry answered.

"But I'm not ready! This isn't how we planned it! Ron is so busy at work, trying to save up the money for the wedding and the house. My career is just starting to take off! What about the werewolf legislation I'm working on?" Hermione asked, getting about as worked up as she used to do about end of the year exams.

Hermione and Ron were both still living at the Burrow with his parents, because they were saving up for their first place. Ron had never moved out of his attic room. Hermione was now in Percy's old room, although she did spend the night at her parents' on weekends. Ron went with her more often than not. They were together in one place or the other far more often than they were apart.

But that arrangement couldn't continue once they had a baby. They had been saving up for a house for a year now, but they weren't nearly there. They didn't even have enough for the wedding they wanted. Ron had gone into a jewelry shop with the intention of buying a ring and come out disappointed that he couldn't afford the one he thought Hermione deserved. Babies were expensive and didn't wait for their parents to get their acts together. They just came. Unless…

"You will get the werewolf legislation passed before the baby is born. You're brilliant, Hermione, you can do it. And Fawley has good people working for him; they will pick up where you leave off when you have the baby. Then you will be back in the office, making sure things go your way before you even know it," Harry said encouragingly, squeezing himself unto the settee next to Hermione, on the other side from Draco. He wrapped his arm, on top of Draco's, around Hermione, so that they were both holding her.

"I can't do it! This isn't how we planned it. Ron won't want it this way," Hermione replied.

"Ronald will want it however it is. He wants you," Draco retorted. "Trust me, even I can see how much he loves you."

"But he doesn't even know about this yet! I just went to the healer today and found out myself. He has so much going on at work. It isn't fair for me to put this on him too," Hermione said.

"It isn't fair not to tell him. It's his baby too," Harry said kindly. "That case we've been working on is wrapping up. Come this weekend, it'll be the perfect time to tell him."

"But I don't even know if I should keep it. I'm not married yet. These things have to come in order. First we get engaged. Then married. Then we buy a house. Only after that do we have children," Hermione said.

"It doesn't have to happen in that order anymore Hermione. You sound so old fashioned. Let love and children come when they do, otherwise you may never find happiness. It's not something that can always be planned. Just look at me and Draco. We have the perfect family and none of it was planned. I couldn't be happier if I had planned it, because I would've never thought of something this wonderful," Harry said.

"And you do not seriously want to get rid of your baby. I know you, Hermione, and I know you are not like that. I know how scary it is when you first find out and all of the fears that are running through your head. It's such an emotional time and so overwhelming. You think you can't do it, but you can. And this isn't something you can change your mind on. Once you kill your baby, you can never have this baby back again. You can have another, that is true, but it will not be this one, the first one you and Ronald made with your love. Just look how different my two are: if I had aborted Eiona like Harry wanted me to do and just had Rion, then I would be out one beautiful, wonderful, intelligent princess. And who knows; I probably would not even have had Rion if I didn't have Eiona first. I didn't fall in love with Harry until I was pregnant with her. At least with you and Ron you have been dating forever and are already madly in love. You are already halfway there," Draco argued fiercely.

Draco wasn't vehemently opposed to abortion full stop. He had tried several times to brew an abortion potion when he first found himself pregnant with Eiona, because he thought that she was the Dark Lord's child. That decision had been hard for him, but he absolutely could not let the child of that monster come into this world, so he had convinced himself there was no other possible choice. Once he had the slightest hope that the baby wasn't the spawn of the most evil wizard to walk the planet, the idea of an abortion became anathema to him. It didn't matter that the baby was Harry's—it could have been Peter Pettigrew's for all he cared—just as long as she was not Lord Voldemort's. After going through that tumultuous period in his life, he knew he would never be able to have an abortion himself and he didn't think Hermione was in a position that warranted having one.

"We did make this baby with our love, didn't we?" Hermione asked, cupping her belly.

"Yes, you did. You should go home and talk to Ron about this, Hermione. He'll be supportive, you'll see," Harry said.

"Or we could invite Ron over and help you tell him," Draco suggested.

"I just need to think. Oh gosh, Harry, Draco, I'm taking up all of your time when you have your own problems. You have the children and there is the mess with Lucius and here I am blubbering away…" Hermione said.

"It's fine Hermione. That's what friends are for. I'm glad you came to me," Harry said.

"She didn't though; she came to me," Draco boasted. "And Hermione, because you came to me, knowing that I would tell you to keep this baby and not someone else who might tell you otherwise, I know you want it. If deep down you weren't sure or you didn't want it, you would have gone to someone else."

"Yes, I think you are right," Hermione said with a hint of a smile forming at the corner of her mouth as she squeezed Draco's hand on her shoulder.

"Hermione, you can use my room if you need some time to yourself. Just push Teddy's things out of your way," Harry said.

Hermione nodded and excused herself to lie down and think. Before the door was even closed behind her, Harry scooted over and took her place in Draco's arms.

"Thank you for taking care of her. I know you must be worried about your dad and I really appreciate that you saw she needed you and were there for her," Harry said, before initiating a tender, but short kiss.

"Rion! Fly higher!" Teddy shouted, pushing up on the frame of the levitator, trying unsuccessfully to help the baby break free of the gravity charm.

"Teddy, don't encourage the baby to fly any higher than he already is. You are not getting that book back until it is properly repaired and you have learned how to treat it with respect," Harry said sternly.

Teddy's hair turned an angry red and his face scrunched up in an expression reminiscent of Uncle Vernon. "Mine. Mione gave Eddy," he insisted petulantly.

"And what will Grandma Dromeda say when I tell her that you destroyed your new book, before we could even read it?" Harry asked.

"Gran say Eddy good boy," Teddy replied.

"Somehow I do not think so. I think she will say Teddy needs a timeout," Harry retorted.

"Harry, he's having a hard time without his grandmother; perhaps you should cut him some slack. I was going to take him to see her today, but then with everything else that has been happening, I didn't have a chance," Draco said.

"I will take him this weekend. Still, he's been getting away with too much. He's at that age where he needs boundaries," Harry insisted.

"Fine, but you can be the mean one," Draco replied.

And so Harry grabbed Teddy up and deposited the toddler on the timeout chair, setting the timer for three minutes. Then he checked on Eiona, who was still happily hiding with her book. She had turned the page and was now staring mesmerized at the image of a butterfly, magnified so that all of the creepy insect parts, like the mouth, body, and legs, could be seen in detail.

"Harry, there is something we need to talk about," Draco said, patting the seat Harry had just vacated, in an effort to get his husband to sit back down next to him.

"Yeah?" Harry asked, quickly checking the integrity of Orion's harness. Once Eiona had managed to work the straps loose and free her brother, but that wasn't the case this time. Orion was firmly ensconced in his contraption and seemed happy, so Harry went back to sit next to his husband.

"I want to offer Grimmauld Place to Ron and Hermione. It will be a good starter home for them. It's too small for us, but perfect for them. With a baby coming, they will need a home. And this way they can concentrate on the wedding and buying the things they will need for the baby, instead of worrying about where they are going to live," Draco said.

It was such a touching suggestion that Harry wanted to agree, but he'd just had all that work done on the old townhome, so that it would be the perfect place for their family. He hadn't even had the right moment to do the big reveal yet, since they had Teddy with them. "Draco, it makes me so happy that you would be willing to do that for my friends…" he trailed off, not sure how to say this, without giving the surprise away.

"Look, I know we haven't talked about this, but I think you have always planned that we would move back there. Am I right?" Draco asked and Harry nodded. "And you think by offering it to Ron and Hermione that we never will?"

"Well, yeah. We can't just kick them out in a year."

"Grimmauld Place isn't the sort of place they will want to stay, trust me on that," Draco said, still clueless to how much better the place looked these days "They will buy their own house and move out just as soon as they get the money together. Plus, Grimmauld Place just isn't big enough for us. I have been thinking about that too. Teddy needs stability and Dromeda has not been giving it to him. She has been letting him get away with murder, because she hasn't been feeling well. We can't just send him back to her once she is released from hospital. A recovering elderly witch and a toddler do not make a good match. Someone needs to care of both of them."

"You want to keep Teddy a little while longer?" Harry asked.

"Yes and I want to keep my Aunt Dromeda too. There isn't room on this floor, but there is a guest bedroom on the first floor she can have. That way she will be close to Teddy, so he won't have to miss her so much. Plus our elves will be able to take care of her and watch after her. They will alert one of us if she needs help or take her back to hospital, if it's an emergency. If she recovers fully and wants to take her grandson home, then fine. But for now, I think they are both better off here. I would like to make the offer next time we see her; she is supposed to be getting out soon," Draco answered.

"Alright, that makes since. And I guess we should let Ron and Hermione borrow Grimmauld Place…it's just that I sort of had a surprise for you."

"What sort of surprise?" Draco asked excitedly. He liked receiving presents.

"I had it remodeled, so that you would like it more. There was no point in owning a home when my husband hated it."

Draco engulfed Harry in a hug and initiated a passionate snog, which was interrupted by the timer buzzing, indicating that it was time to let Teddy off of time out. Teddy jumped off of the chair by himself and went immediately to play with one of his muggle toy airplanes, which was in the corner of the room.

"I would like to see it. It makes me very happy that you were thinking of me like that, but I still think we should give it to your friends. They need it more," Draco said.

"Alright. I just really didn't want to live with your parents forever," Harry admitted.

"We don't have to. Once everything settles down, we can move to our summer house by the south shore. Were you not just asking why we didn't live there?" Draco asked.

Harry recalled the beautiful vacant property. It wasn't huge, but it was just enough bigger for their family. There each of their three children could have their own room, with plenty of room for him and Draco. "We will have to wait until Dromeda moves out, won't we?"

"Not necessarily. Soon Rion will be old enough to share with Teddy," Draco answered.

"Yes and can you imagine it? Teddy figuring out how to free our son in the middle of the night. Then all he has to do is summon a broom and the two of them will be zooming about while we are fast asleep."

"If that happens, the elves will alert us," Draco said, pressing another kiss to Harry's lips.

"Alright. Do you want to tell Hermione, or should I?" Harry asked.

"You tell her. It's your house and she's your friend," Draco replied.

"She's your friend too. She made that pretty clear when she came to you first over this."

"I think she wanted to go to Molly or one of the other Weasleys, but thought they were too close to Ron. She wasn't ready to tell her parents yet, so I was the safest neutral person who she could count on to tell her to keep the baby." Draco shrugged, brushing it off.

"Still, it means a lot to me that you are getting on. You have experience with this parenting thing and you're pretty brilliant at it, so I'm sure she'll want to come to you for advice all of the time now."

"Well go on and talk to her. Find my old books on pregnancy for her; I think I left them at Grimmauld."

"Yeah, she will like that." Harry smiled, imagining how his friend would soon throw herself into pregnancy research.

"Now that that is settled, I need to get these children fed and then bathed. Hermione is welcome to join us for dinner. Did my mother mention if she would be home tonight?"

"No, I don't think she will be. I don't know how much the elves told you, but your dad knows who attacked him and he isn't telling. The Ministry officials are pretty riled up about it. They were swarming him, trying to get him to give up who did it, but I sent them all off. I think your mum will want to sleep there to protect him," Harry answered.

"Yes, I know. He will not testify against children, Harry. That is a lost cause right there. You best tell whoever is in charge of the investigation to give up on that one. My father is about as stubborn and pigheaded as they get."

"Tell me about it." Harry sighed.

They shared another quick kiss, before Draco freed Orion from the levitation contraption and called the pair of toddlers to follow him down to the dining room for supper. Harry made a quick detour to Grimmauld Place to retrieve the books, before going to talk to Hermione. He convinced her to go home to Ron and tell her almost-fiancé what was going on.

Lucius never did give up the names of his attackers. Instead Minister Fawley was forced to pardon the crime, in order to keep his parole program going. Once Lucius was free again, he went to work getting the greenhouse and farm going again, both of which he hired children of Death Eaters to work. He took anyone who was willing to do the physical labor, even those young greenhouse workers who had attacked him. He used the proceeds to start a charity to help the pureblood witches left without their Death Eater husbands and their children.

Ron was ecstatic to hear Hermione's news. He rushed out and purchased the ring he could afford, abandoning his dreams of the ring Hermione deserved. This one had a much more modest stone. She loved it, not caring that it wasn't particularly grand; she was just relieved to finally be engaged, now that their first child was coming. They had a rushed and small wedding ceremony at the Burrow, before officially moving into Grimmauld Place. They loved Harry's renovations. Their little family lived and grew in that house. Rose was born there and Hugo followed a year and half later. But by the time Hugo was three, they had finally managed to scrape together the money for a down payment on their own home. Not that they hadn't been happy in Grimmauld, but it wasn't theirs and they wanted to give it back.

Dromeda accepted Draco's offer and moved into the guest bedroom on the first floor of Malfoy Manor. Teddy was more grounded with his gran around and his manners soon returned. Harry and Draco continued to live at Malfoy Manor until the following summer, when they moved into the Malfoy cottage in Maidstone. It needed a bit of toddler proofing, since it was right on the shore, but a few barriers charms did the trick. But it was close to Leeds Castle, where they had gotten married, and Harry soon fell in love with it. They raised their children there and only returned to Grimmauld Place when they were older and wanted to give the cottage to Eiona to raise her children. Malfoy Manor went to Rion and Teddy inherited his grandmother's house when she passed from old age.

And this time they really did live happily ever after.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, but I didn't plan on taking ill. On the plus side though, I think I still got this story finished sooner than the average author does. I have a lot of work to catch up on this month and I have another story that I'm writing, so I will not be starting a new story just yet. The next thing I post will be my entry for the HD Cliché fest. It's a veela mpreg story called The Reluctant Veela. It starts off after the war when Harry is assigned guard duty at Malfoy Manor. And although Draco doesn't want to, the veela part of him choses Harry for a mate.

If you have read and enjoyed this story, please favorite and leave a review! Thank you to everyone who helped me form this story; it wouldn't have been possible without the response from you readers!