Title: Doing Things Together (I am seriously having trouble with naming)

Scene: Takes place in Draco's London flat; mostly in this living room, but in a few other rooms as well.

Summary: After a visit to their healer (Part One), Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter try to cope with their interesting situation.

This is PART TWO in my "Togetherness" series...if you want background, go read part one.

Pairings: DM/HP. (just assume that most characters are as they were in the books (RW/HG, and so on), but some may be different (Pansy/OC), because we may or may not know with whom JKR put him/her) ~ Note: The "other character" with Pansy is someone from the books that she'll meet in another story of mine (Class of Ninety-nine), which I haven't touched since August...sorry.

Rating: I rated this M for no other reason than the few f-words. Oh wait! The M rating is for the actual fucking too (see "warning").

Warning: Slash is implied early on by our boys' delicate conditions (M-PG...don't read this if you don't like that sort of thing), with some man/man kissing (in chapter three), and some man sex at the end (chapter four).

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! At least, nothing that's Harry Potter...all of that, of course, belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.

Note: I've decided to post this series of scenes between Harry and Draco as separate "complete" stories, because I'm afraid that I'm going to lose interest and just stop updating...and I know how much people hate that, because I do too. Each "scene" should be complete in and of itself. I will try not to leave you hanging, though I may imply that there'll be more to follow. I hope you can forgive my strange way of getting around using the "in progress" function...and for not continuing the series, should I so choose to just be done with it.

Posted: Monday, 14 November 2011

Word Count: 7,970 (this ONLY includes actual story (all four chapters), please disregard the "word count" provided by this site…it is WRONG)

Doing Things Together

Monday, November 29, 2021

Chapter One

After a quick visit to the appropriate healer—and a minor disagreement with Potter over whether or not the dark-haired man would immediately quit his job as Head Auror (which Draco won)—the two men went their separate ways. Draco knew he needed to get home, so that he could relieve his two sitters, but made a few stops on the way anyway—because he was stalling. And he was stalling, because he had no idea what to tell his two closest friends.

So, my healer says I'm healthy...that we're healthy, he imagined himself telling them while splaying his hands over his still flat, though no longer empty middle.

Neither, of course, would judge him—Daphne and Pansy weren't like that—but they would definitely be shocked. Shocked beyond belief, actually—as shocked as he was himself. And Pansy was going to laugh like a lunatic—after yelling at him for being so irresponsible.

And so...the stall.

For about an hour, Draco wandered around Diagon Alley, going into at least half a dozen shops—where he purchased nothing—and later wouldn't be able to say where he'd gone (if anyone cared enough to ask), because he'd moved through each establishment mostly in a daze.

Pregnant. What the fuck!

Finally, after glancing at his watch, he decided it was time to get home—after a quick stop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour; he seemed to suddenly be starving. After which he Apparated home.

"Draco, darling, is that you?" came Pansy's—sometimes shrill—voice from his second level living room.

Rolling his eyes (because, obviously it was him), Draco glanced up to see the brunette woman standing at the railing looking down at him. "Nope, it's the Dark Lord, Pans," he said sarcastically as he headed for the stairs.

"NOT funny, Draco!" she hollered after him (after cringing at the man's words), then turned to meet him at the top of the steps. But, when he didn't immediately appear upstairs, she started down, assuming he went into his kitchen, which was half a level down. She was correct. The man was standing in front of his open Muggle refrigerator, an apple (with a bite already taken out of it) in one hand and pulling out what looked like everything he had in there.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Draco?" she asked after watching him make a massive pile on the countertop.

"Hungry," was all he said—though the word didn't sound much like that coming out of his apple-filled mouth.

Frowning, Pansy watched him make himself a sandwich—noting to herself that it was big enough to feed several extremely large people—her eyes becoming huge when he finally took a bite of it.

"What's the matter with you, Draco?"

She'd closed the distance between them and, reaching up, laid a hand on his forehead. "Are you sick?"

Draco shook his head. "No. I feel great!" he said as he stepped around her, heading out and up to his living room.

For a second, Pansy just stood there—then she followed. "What do you mean, 'I feel great'? When you left here...four hours ago," she hissed through gritted teeth, "you were nearly ready to retch up your innards. And now you're wolfing down that enormous sandwich. What's changed?" she asked, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Healer Slashkilter gave me a potion," he said with a shrug as he sat down on one of his oversized sofas. "How're the girls?" he asked, ignoring his friend's piercing gaze.

"They're fine. Daphne took them upstairs. What kind of potion? What did you have? Are you all right?"

Rolling his eyes again, Draco took another bite of his sandwich (to stall), then chewed slowly (more stalling). "You're sure a nosey bint, aren't ya?"

"Pfft! Draco, we've been sitting here for four hours worrying about you. Four hours! Since when does it take that long to visit a healer? And...did you really just call me a bint?" she asked with a frown.

With a smirk, the blond man nodded, then bit into his sandwich.

"And, did I mention that you've been gone four hours?"

Nodding again, Draco swallowed, then said, "You might've mentioned it a few times."

"They're finally down," Daphne said with obvious relief as she came into the room. "Oh. You're home. I didn't hear you come in." Leaning down, she kissed Draco's cheek, then moved to the place she'd been sitting before she'd gone upstairs to put Draco's twins down. "You're clearly feeling better," she noted, her blue eyes going to his almost finished sandwich as she got comfortable on the sofa across from the man. "What did the healer say?"

"I'd like to know that too, but Draco seems to be preoccupied with eating," Pansy complained in frustration. "A potion's apparently fixed him all up."

"No entirely," Draco mumbled through his last bite.

"What was that?" Pansy asked.

Pointing at his full mouth, Draco avoided the question.

"Your mother sent you an owl," Daphne informed him. "A Howler."

Draco groaned. "Another one?"

Pansy nodded. "Yes, and she's likely to keep sending them too...if you continue to ignore her," she snapped. "What's gotten into you, Draco? It's not like you to ignore your mother." Or avoid my questions, she added to herself.

"I'm tired of her mollycoddling," he said with a shrug. "I mean...fuck! I'm forty-one years old and Mother's still trying to tell me what to do."

"She's your mother, Draco," Daphne put in. "That's what mothers do."

"Yours doesn't," Draco pointed out.

"Well, my mother's too busy traveling the world," the blonde woman said with a certain amount of irritation—irritation which Draco knew stemmed from the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass were never available and that it hurt his friend deeply. It had been an issue with Astoria as well.

"Where are they now?" he asked, knowing that he was still stalling—and hoping he could keep Daphne and Pansy's attention on something besides himself.

"Who knows," said Daphne with a roll of her pretty blue eyes. "Somewhere in the Americas this time, I think."

Draco smiled, but he could feel her pain. On many an occasion he'd considered sending the Greengrasses an owl to inform them of their daughters' wish to see more of them, but Astoria had always begged him not to interfere—and so he hadn't, but the neglect infuriated him. In all the years he'd been married to her, he'd only seen her parents a handful of times—and thought it was quite sad.

"Narcissa's Howler said that she hasn't seen you in nearly three months, Draco. Do you blame her?" Pansy said, changing the subject back to him.

"You read my post?" Draco burst, affronted.

"Could hardly help that, now could I? It was, after all, a Howler, you arse!" Pansy snapped.

"Hmm. Point taken," he said.

"And she's not too happy about the wards you've put on your flat...said she tried to pop over, but that she couldn't get in."

At this Draco smiled. "I told her I'd appreciate notice before she stops by and she ignored me, so..."

Pansy shook her head. "That's just rude, Draco!"

"She just wants to see her only son and grandchildren, dear," Daphne pointed out. "If you'd just give her the time of day, I'm sure she'd stop harassing you."

"Sure of that, are you?" Draco scoffed, "because I'm not. When Mother stops by, all she does is harp about all the things I'm not doing the way she did...as if I have any intention of raising my children the way I was raised," he said with a roll of his eyes. "If I did things Mother's way, I would still be living at Malfoy Manor and she would still be mothering me. No, thank you! She should have had more children of her own, so that maybe she wouldn't be overly fixated on me and mine."

Daphne frowned. "She may have wanted to have more children, Draco, but...maybe she wasn't able to. Maybe that's why she's so upset about you leaving the manor."

"That could be, but it's been three years since I moved," he said. "It's time for her to get over it."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Draco! Mothers never get over anything...get over it!" Pansy snapped. "Now, you've had your monstrosity of a sandwich," she said as she reached out and snatched his plate away. Setting it on the coffee table, she moved to sit on the sofa. "What's going on, Draco Malfoy? Spill!"

Taking a deep breath, Draco glanced between his two friends. "All right. Fine. It appears that...there's going to be another child in the house."

Both women just stared at him for several seconds—then Daphne's hand raised to cover her mouth and Draco knew she'd understood him perfectly. "Care to explain?" she asked.

But Pansy spoke before Draco could. "I don't understand, Draco," she said. "What does a child have to do with your illness and sudden recovery?"

"Draco's going to have a baby, Pansy," Daphne informed the dark-hair woman, then moved to sit next to Draco. "Are you all right? This is fairly serious, dear."

Draco nodded. "I'm fine. We're fine," he amended, then smiled. "Just needed a potion, which Healer Slashkilter was able to provide."

Daphne smiled as well and nodded. "Did he give you a referral to see the proper healer for your case then?"

Nodding again, Draco said, "Already went. That's part of what took so long, but there's—"

"Wait!" Pansy interrupted. "Are you telling us that...you're pregnant?"

Draco laughed. "Yes, Pansy, that's exactly what I'm telling you. Aren't you happy for me?" he asked cheerfully—too cheerfully.

Her face still quite confused, the dark-haired woman frowned—and then she exploded. "Are you saying that you brought some random bloke home...into the house of your three-year-old twin daughters, whom I can only hope were sound fucking asleep...and had sex with him, the random bloke, and that you were either dumb or too drunk to remember to perform the proper spells to prevent something like...like this?" she bellowed as she waved a frantic hand at him. "How could you be so...so careless and...stupid, Draco?"

Sighing, Draco shrugged. "Trust me, Pans, I know I fucked up, but...I actually think it's going to be okay."

She stared at him. "Okay? You think this is going to be okay? Can I be there when you tell Lucius?" she asked with a hopeful sneer, "because I cannot imagine anything being more not okay than this! What in Merlin's name were you thinking?" Slumping back onto the sofa, Pansy pouted.

"I think the point here, Pansy, is that our Draco wasn't thinking," said Daphne, a smile touching the corners of her lips.

"You can say that again," Pansy quipped. "Your father is going to obliterate you."

Draco chuckled. "Father is already quite aware of my...proclivities. Seems he's fine with it these days. I married a fine pure-blood witch of his choosing," he said with a glance at his sister-in-law, "gave him the male heir he wanted, and now I'm moving on. Father should have not complaints."

"Humph!" Pansy snorted. "Yeah, until he finds out you're knocked up. How is this even possible? I thought male pregnancies were fairly rare...extremely rare even."

Daphne nodded. "They are. I read about them once in a book at Hogwarts...when that seventh-year Hufflepuff boy turned up pregnant in our fourth year."

"I don't remember that," Draco said with a frown. "Who was this?"

Daphne shrugged. "I don't remember his name. Something Jones...his sister was in our year, I believe."

"Hmm. Interesting."

"Yeah, all this is very interesting, but...let's get back on track, shall we?" Pansy cut in. "What the hell, Draco? How could you let this happen?"

At Pansy's words, Draco frowned again. "You know, Pansy, I thought at least you would be a little more supportive."

Heaving a big sigh, Pansy flung herself into his arms. "Of course I'll be supportive...after I'm finished berating you for being such a bloody idiot. You don't seem to understand the full scope of the situation, darling, and that scares me. What are people going to say?"

Sighing, Draco returned his friend's hug. "Believe me, Pans, I understand completely! And, who gives a bloody fuck what people think."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "As I recall, you do, darling."

"Well, not anymore," the blond man burst. "I'm past that now."

At this Pansy snorted.

"So, ahh...who's the other father?" Daphne asked when it seemed as if her friends weren't going to say anything more.

"Well, that's somewhat interesting as well. Ran into him at the healer's office...seems he was feeling rather poorly himself."

Pushing away from him, Pansy narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying that he's...pregnant as well?" she asked, connecting the dots rather quickly.

Biting his lip, Draco nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Daphne blinked, too surprised to speak—but Pansy didn't seem to be having that problem at the moment. "Oh. Let me guess. It's Potter, isn't it? You've been obsessing over the man for thirty years. Who else could it be?"

Draco didn't say anything, but his silence told them everything they needed to know—causing Pansy to burst into a fit of undignified giggles.

"Now I really want to be there when you tell Lucius and Narcissa," she said when she could finally draw breath again. "Your father's going to have a coronary and your mother's going to be planning the wedding before you can say Salazar Slytherin. You are so fucked, Draco!"

Draco rolled his eyes and gave her a friendly shove. "Thanks a lot, Pans...you are so helpful!"

She patted his knee. "You are so very welcome, dear. That's what I'm here for, you know," she said as she got up. "Well, best be going home to the hubby. If I don't get home in time to feed him supper, then he makes a disaster of the kitchen." She grimaced. "And it's rather disgusting...the way Muggles actually cook for themselves." She shuddered, as if she were truly dismayed by her Muggle husband's behavior, but Draco knew that she wasn't—because his friend adored her strange Muggle husband. "Can't allow that," she continued—then seemed to focus again. "He'll find all this rather hysterical, he will."

"Hey!" Draco said, on his feet. "You keep your mouth shut about this...until we're ready, yeah?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. "I promise," she said with a nod, then she mimed zipping her mouth closed.

"I'm serious. Not a word, Pans, I mean it. Not even to that husband of yours, you hear?"

Pansy rolled her eyes. "I said I promise...what more do you want? My next child, perhaps? As if you need more of those," she said, then started giggling again. "Oh my, between you and Potter you'll have eight children. Wow! But don't worry, darling," she said as she leaned in and kissed him on each cheek, "mums the word. I promise. Besides, I'd much rather let you and Potter tell my husband all about it," she said with a grin. "That should be...entertaining. See you next week. Lunch? Same time, same place?"

Draco nodded numbly, his mind paused on the number eight...as in eight children.

"All right. Ta!" Pansy said cheerfully as she headed for the downstairs entry—the only place that the wards on Draco's flat would allow one other than himself to Disapparate.

And with that Pansy was gone—but Draco still had Daphne to deal with and she'd not really said much yet. Turning toward the blonde woman, Draco frowned. "So?"