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“Do you ever imagine what your life would have been like if we hadn’t ended up together?” Draco asked as he ran his fingers through his husband’s untamed hair.
“Sometimes. I used to do it a lot more. But I love my life the way it is. I love you, I love our home, I love my job, I love our friends.”
“If things had been different, for example, if you had ended up with Ginny—” Harry made a face at this and Draco smacked him lightly. “If you had ended up with Ginny, what do you think your life would have been like?”
“Besides spending the rest of my life hidden in the closet?” Draco rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. It certainly would be easier than living with you.”
“Harry, I’m being serious right now,” but there was already a smile on his face.
“Well, let’s see. I would be around the Weasleys a lot more often. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all, but sometimes they can be a bit…much. I would probably have become an Auror just to prove my heterosexual, masculinity. The Daily Prophet would have a lot less to write about me. And I guess I always thought—never mind, it’s not important.”
“Tell me. It’s important to me.”
“I guess I always thought I’d have children. I never had a family of my own and I liked the idea of having a whole bunch of kids running around.”
“I know we talked about it when we first got married and we agreed it wasn’t the right time, but it’s been a few years now,” he said after a moment of contemplative silence. “Do you want to have children, Harry?”
“You’ve just become a Master. You haven’t even decided which position you’re going to take.”
Draco moved so he could look his obnoxiously considerate husband in the eyes. “Hypothetically, if there were no obstacles or issues, and we were both happily employed and lived in a big house, would you want to have children?”
“Hypothetically?” Draco nodded. “Of course, I’d like to have children. But—”
Draco cut him off. “But nothing. We have more galleons than we can spend in a lifetime. And even if we didn’t, you’re done with your residency at St. Mungo’s and can work in any department you want. I’ve just become the only living Potions master in England and have my pick of a dozen prestigious positions. We have a spare bedroom in the apartment and Mother is rebuilding Malfoy Manner where we could easily house a whole quidditch team of kids.”
Harry was looking up at him now with that expression that said “Draco, I love you so fucking much.”
“Harry, if you want to have children, can we please just have children already?”
“You mean you want—”
“Of course, I want children! I always wanted a huge family with lots of siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles. The only thing I got was Bellatrix.” He cringed at the mere thought of his psychotic aunt.
“How would we even do it? Would we adopt? I know there are certain spells but I’m not exactly sure how they work.”
“First of all, I will not carry a child. And neither will you. It’s too terrifying, not to mention bizarre. There is a way, if I’m not mistaken, to create a baby from two same-sex parents. We’d just need a surrogate. I’m sure Hermione would know more.”
“I think that would be best. But who could we ask to carry the baby? Hermione would offer but she has so much going on already, what with Rose and Ron and her campaign. Ginny would be too weird.”
“Pansy?” Draco suggested.
“Pansy is already pregnant moron.”
They fell quiet as they realized how few female acquaintances they had.
Harry looked up suddenly. “How about Luna?” Harry’s cell phone rang loudly in the silence of their bedroom. He kept one at the insistence of Hermione that it was a much more convenient mean of communication that owls. He rarely received calls though, and never in the middle of the night, so he sat bolt upright at the sound. To his left Draco did the same.
“Hello?”
“Hullo Harry. This is Luna.”
“Luna—hi—is everything okay?”
“Everything’s wonderful Harry. The Nargle population has returned to what it was prior to the war.”
“Er, that’s great. Is there a reason you were calling me at three in the morning though?”
“Oh, right! They’re on their way. Blaise is driving me to St. Mungo’s right now.”
“Brilliant! We’ll see you there!”
Draco grabbed his arm tightly asking for confirmation even though he knew exactly what was happening.
Harry mouthed “it’s happening” because he couldn’t seem to find his voice. Five minutes into the delivery Draco had fainted. So now they were sitting in the waiting area while Harry tried to coax his stubborn husband into eating something. It was almost ten now and they’d been awake for seven hours. Neither of them had been able to feed their anxious stomachs anything.
A commotion from the Labour and Delivery doors forced him to stop shoving the bagel in Draco’s face. It was the full force of the Weasley clan. Draco turned towards him and his eyes reflected Harry’s own panic. It was an intimidated sight.
Hermione and Ron reached them first, one-year old Rose in tow. To say Hermione looked excited was an understatement. She had almost been disappointed when they hadn’t asked her to be their surrogate, but with the elections in only a few weeks it would have been a near impossible feat. Not that that had ever stopped her before.
“Harry! Draco! I’m so excited! Are you excited?” She hugged them both enthusiastically and nearly knocked the sleep-deprived blonde over.
Ron just came up next to them and clapped Harry on the back. “Hope you’ve had enough sleep, won’t be getting any for a while now.” He gave them a knowing look. “Good luck. You’ll need it.” Hermione glared at him.
George was up next with large package. The wrapping paper kept flashing between “It’s a boy!” and “It’s a girl!”, they had opted not to find out the gender. “It’s the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes new line of baby products! They’re all tested and completely safe for your happy arrival! Well, for the most part any way.”
Draco cautiously put the box down on one of the chairs.
“HARRY! DRACO!” Molly’s voice could be heard from the other side of the room. Her hugs, while at times incredibly comforting, were amplified today and nearly suffocated both of them. “They grow up so quick, boys, remember that. It feels like just yesterday I was telling Harry how to get to Platform 9 ¾.”
“Harry, you’ll have to tell me how Muggle’s celebrate births later, alright?”
He nodded but it wasn’t all that different really. A baby is a baby, wizard or not.
Ginny was walking towards them as well, dragging Dean along with her. He was new to the Weasley family and as so had yet to obtain the Weasley family boldness. He was also still a bit awkward around Harry even though he and Ginny had broken up years ago. He’d even asked for his blessing before he proposed. That had been a bit of an uncomfortable situation.
“I’m so happy for you, Harry. And so happy we didn’t end up together. No offense.” Harry shook his head. He’d been disappointed at first, but now he couldn’t imagine a better life than he had.
Dean stood next to Draco while Harry and Ginny hugged and sort of nodded at him in an understated, yet adequate, attempt at conveying his congratulations.
A pre-celebration broke out in the waiting room, much to the dismay of the nurses. Bill and Fleur showed up as well. Draco latched on to her as the only other “civilized” person in the room and they began conversing in French. Draco had tried to give Harry lessons years ago, but he really had no ear for it, but he thought he heard something about “cloth diapers” and “babbity rabbit”. He rolled his eyes. Neville arrived with Hannah and a lovely plant for the nursery. Pansy and Theo came with their own bundle of joy, who didn’t seem so joyous at the moment.
This was their family. This would be their children’s family. The stuffed sitting area, complete with balloons, decorations, and presents made Harry’s heart swell. They would be spoiled rotten, but they would never doubt how loved they were.
“Any moment now. Would the parent’s like to come back?” Due to the sheer volume of visitors, they had to send a nurse out first to remind them to remain calm and quiet. So, when they finally emerged with two identically swaddled new-borns, there was a real effort not to be too loud. It was a good attempt, but the number of people of cooing still woke them up.
“Um, mate, there are two of them.” Ron said, voicing everyone else’s confusion as well.
“Draco, did we forget to tell them we were having twins?”
Draco rolled his eyes. It had been Harry’s idea. His version of pranking their friends. Which was stupid because it had taken him hours to duplicate all the clothing and supplies they’d gotten at the baby shower.
“Have you named them?” Hermione asked from next to Ron.
“Everyone, meet Eleanor Lily and Leo Severus.”