Randominity

Title: Hexed! Chapter 9/9
Author: randominity
Pairing: Harry/Draco, background Ron/Hermione
Rating: R overall, for sex and language
Feedback: OMG please. I beg!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to one J.K. Rowling, who would find me far too poor to sue over this.
Author's Notes: Well, this is the end-- sort of. Anyone who wants to stop reading here is welcome to, or y'all can hold out for the Epilogue that may or may not be coming (but I'm not promising anything). Infinite thanks and gratitude are past due to misskittye, cincodemaygirl and sydney_blue for putting up with my bitching, being encouraging, and making me grow to love Draco, 'cause I could never have done this thing without them. And lookit - I made it all the way to the end without a Harry/Draco icon! Ph33r me.
Oh yeah, and this is an MPREG. So, you know. Whatever.
Previous chapters: 1//2//3//4//5//6//7//8//9





News of Draco's labour had spread quickly through the halls, and there was a distinct buzz of curiosity and excitement in the air as the Transfiguration students gathered for their final exam. Harry rushed through his essay questions, only writing the minimum and hoping that would be enough, or that Professor McGonagall would be sympathetic about his situation.

He felt only marginally better when Neville accidentally Vanished the contents of his inkpot during the practical portion of the exam; at least someone else was having a rough go of it as well, Harry thought. He finished his own exam in record time, racing up between the desks to hand his parchments to an amused McGonagall. Without stopping, he spun on his heel and sprinted for the door, and the hospital wing beyond.

"I came as soon as I could," he panted, as he burst through the doors of the infirmary and headed down the aisle separating the rows of beds.

His first thought was that it was strange that the infirmary should be almost completely dim, except for the faint light from a corner bed. His second thought was that everyone must have been evacuated for a reason; that maybe he'd missed everything, maybe the baby had already arrived, and Draco would sneer and sarcastically thank Harry for showing up.

But Madame Pomfrey emerged from her office in the back, rubbing her hands together briskly. "There's no need to run, Harry, I assure you," she said, coming around to meet him. "This baby isn't ready to be born yet."

Harry slowed as she led him towards the far corner. "But," he said, "I thought Draco had... everyone was talking about it. It's been hours, and--"

"And it'll be hours still," Madame Pomfrey said, drawing back the curtain. "I'll have you know a certain someone has been asking for you all afternoon."

Draco lay on his side facing Harry, covered in blankets and propped up on one elbow. He looked bored and tired when he glanced up at Harry. "It's about bloody time you came," he murmured.

Harry grinned. "Well, you had to go and pick today of all days, didn't you," he said. "How far apart are the contractions?" he asked Madame Pomfrey.

She flicked her wand at Draco's bed and a white glowing ball of light flew from the nightstand table into her hand. Examining it, she turned it over and pronounced, "thirty minutes, last I checked."

"You can stop talking about me like I'm not here," Draco told them.

"Yes, of course, Draco," Madame Pomfrey said absently, then looked up at Harry. "You might want to make yourself comfortable, then," she told him. She gestured to the chair next to the bed. "I've got plenty of spare blankets and pillows; you'll be needing those, if you're spending the night-- and ah, look: here comes a contraction now."

"What? A contraction? Really?" Harry demanded, watching as the ball in Pomfrey's hands glowed, first a brighter shade of white, then turning increasingly yellow. As the ball pulsed the colour of the noonday sun, Harry reached out instinctively towards Draco, and Draco wrapped his fingers around Harry's wrist. "Ow-- wait," Harry protested, when Draco squeezed, grinding the bones together. "At least hang on to my fingers, you'll break-- ow!"

Madame Pomfrey smirked at him. "He's been waiting hours to do just that," she said. "I tried casting a Numbing spell on him earlier and it just rolled off him like water on a duck, poor thing."

"I'm still. here," Draco snapped from between clenched teeth, twisting Harry's wrist so that Harry had to writhe to keep his hand attached to his body. Draco closed his eyes, a line appearing between his eyebrows, then deepening. "Fuck," he muttered. "Sodding bloody fucking hell."

Harry got Draco to hold on to his fingers instead, and let Draco squeeze those until the joints were all crushed together and Harry couldn't feel them anymore. "Less talking, more breathing-- deeply, now," he said, trying to take charge like he imagined a good birthing coach would do.

"That doesn't make the pain go away, you idiot," Draco snarled, but he took a few deep breaths after that, still squeezing Harry's hand. In another moment the contraction was over, and Draco sighed and let go of Harry. He slumped back onto the pillows behind him, holding his stomach tenderly. "Bastard," he muttered, and squirmed a bit in discomfort. "Bloody Muggle medicine."

"Well," Madame Pomfrey was again examining the ball she held; as Harry shook the numbness from his hand, he noticed that the ball had gone white again. "That one was a bit stronger than what you'd been having, wasn't it, Draco? It could be sooner than we thought, after all."

"How wonderful," Draco said flatly, but Harry's breath caught in his throat.

"So," he ventured, "she may be born sometime tonight?"

Madame Pomfrey snorted and handed the ball to Harry. "Oh, I didn't mean that soon," she said.

~*~

Harry dozed off and on throughout the night, curled uncomfortably in the chair beside Draco's bed. Every so often the room would light up in increasing shades of orange in time with Draco's contractions, and Harry soon learned to sleep in ten-minute intervals with one hand extended onto Draco's bed for easy grasping.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping when Madame Pomfrey shook him lightly by the shoulder. "Harry, wake up," she whispered, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. "You have some visitors."

Harry struggled to sit upright, rolling his neck to work out some of the kinks. "What time is it?" he muttered.

"Just after seven in the morning."

Harry felt as though he hadn't slept a wink, let alone the whole night -- even if the sleep was in bits and pieces. He looked over at Draco as if he could monitor Draco's status just by looking. Harry hoped that the Slytherin was managing to sleep for a quick moment, because Draco's eyes were closed. The line between Draco's eyebrows refused to go away between contractions anymore.

"I don't know if I should leave him," Harry whispered to Madame Pomfrey, glancing up at her.

"Oh, don't be silly," Madame Pomfrey said, pulling Harry up by the hand. "They're right outside."

Hermione and Ron were waiting on the other side of the great doors to the infirmary, looking anxious, but considerably more well-rested than Harry felt. "Has anything happened yet?" Hermione asked Harry, when he'd closed the doors behind him.

"No," Harry shook his head. "Madame Pomfrey warned us that shouldn't expect anything until this morning, though."

Hermione winced at that. "How's Malfoy doing?" she asked.

Harry rubbed at his wrist dolefully. "He's... it's painful," he admitted. "He's cursed a lot, but he hasn't threatened to kill me yet," he added brightly, then frowned. "I'm a bit surprised by that, actually."

"Well, you look like you haven't slept at all, mate," said Ron, shaking his head. "How much longer do you think this'll take?"

"Dunno at this point," Harry said, shrugging. "I've been napping between the contractions, and they've started to come closer together. But it's not like I've got the worst of it, you know?"

"You should probably get back in there, then," Hermione pointed out. "Don't let us keep you."

"She's right, Harry," Ron agreed. "It's just-- everyone's been talking about it, you know. In the common room they're betting on the time of birth and everything." He smirked. "Ginny and Seamus have lost already."

Madame Pomfrey pushed open the infirmary doors, causing Harry to stumble forward from where he'd been leaning. "Harry," she said, "I think you'll want to be here for this."

Harry shot a nervous look at Ron, but Hermione let go of her boyfriend long enough to pet Harry's shoulder comfortingly. "We'll be waiting in the common room, Harry," she told him as she and Ron reluctantly started down the hall. Walking slowly backwards so that she could continue facing Harry, she added, "let us know as soon as you can when the baby gets here!"

"You'll be the first to know," Harry promised her.

~*~

Draco pushed for half an hour before deciding that he'd had quite enough of childbirth. "All right," he gasped, sweat making his hand slick within Harry's grip, "I quit. I've changed my mind. This is ridiculous."

"It's perfectly natural for you to want to give up at this stage," Pomfrey said smoothly, from her position between Draco's legs. "But I'm afraid you don't get a vote; no quitting until this is all over." She straightened up a bit. "Hold off with the pushing for a moment, will you, until the next contraction?"

"No," Draco insisted. "You don't understand-- I'm finished, here. There's absolutely nothing natural about feeling like I'm about to split open." He sat back against the pillows. "You'll just have to find another way, I'm afraid."

"Remarkable creatures, those Muggles," Madame Pomfrey said to Harry, ignoring Draco entirely. "Don't know how they do it, really. Well, I'm sure you'll survive, Draco - one more big push and that should be all we need from you." She nodded at Harry. "Would you care to come round here and watch?"

Harry took as large a step backward as his grasp on Draco's hand would allow. He'd seen enough from Remus's illustrated textbooks to know better. "No," he said hastily. "No, I'm fine where I am, thanks."

The room took on an increasingly red glow, and Madame Pomfrey examined the pulsing light from the ball in the corner of the room sternly. "Last one, Draco," she announced, as Draco groaned softly and turned his head away from Harry, his face tensing with pain. "Quitter or not, this'll be the one to do it."

"I can't, I won't," Draco moaned, but he slowly propped himself back up on his elbows nonetheless. "I'm so bloody tired--"

"Push!" Madame Pomfrey barked, and Draco pushed. He bore down and tightened his hold on Harry's hand using strength Harry didn't even realize Draco possessed. Harry let Draco squeeze, and very pointedly avoided looking anywhere below Draco's waist.

Focussing on Draco's white knuckles and the numb tingling up his own arm, Harry soon realized that Draco wasn't breathing as he pushed. "Stop holding your breath," Harry whispered to him. "Breathe out, Draco, breathe out."

"Fuck you-- you breathe out," Draco hissed back fiercely.

Harry sighed, knowing it was no use to argue. "Okay," he said. He placed his free hand on top of Draco's head, letting Draco's damp hair slip through his fingers. He rubbed his thumb over Draco's forehead in an attempt to smooth out the creases there.

After a moment, Madame Pomfrey began to make excited noises; Harry resisted the slight urge to get a glimpse of what she was looking at, and realized that he was holding his own breath, too. There was a heartbeat's more worth of silence before Madame Pomfrey burst into a wide grin and cooed, "well, here she is, then!" and another heartbeat later Harry heard Azura's first cries.

"Here-- here, Harry," Madame Pomfrey said brusquely, quickly casting a Scouring Charm on Azura and wrapping the baby in a blanket. After gently depositing Azura into Harry's arms, she thrust a cup at Draco. "And you - drink this," she ordered him, forcing the cup to his lips.

Draco sluggishly rubbed at the side of his face, which was still flushed with exertion. "What is this?" he asked, peering into the cup distastefully.

"You'll need to keep up your strength if you're to argue with me any longer," she shot back, casting a quick Scouring Charm on her hands. "Just drink it and ask questions later."

Harry looked down at the bundle in his arms. Azura, he thought, staring at her. She didn't look much like an Azura, but she didn't look much like anything at all, yet. Her hair was quite dark, but not black like his, and her eyes were very dark blue, though he supposed that was the case for all newborn babies. There was something to the set of her mouth that reminded him of Draco, and the point of her chin was Malfoy through and through.

Draco set down his now-emptied cup and peered over Harry's elbow at Azura. "Looks kind of like a monkey, doesn't she," he commented.

"Quiet, you," Harry murmured absently, still watching her. She was very pink in the face, and only slightly scrunched up in his arms. "She's possibly the prettiest thing I've ever seen."

Draco scoffed. "There's no need to lie. It's perfectly respectable to look like a monkey for the first few hours after birth." Still, he looked into Azura's face for a long moment, studying her, before yawning mightily.

Harry took his first real look at Draco since Azura had been born. The Slytherin looked both very relieved and very tired. "How do you feel? Any different?" Harry asked him, just as Azura let out a squawk that threatened to turn into a longer cry. Touching the side of her face with his index finger, Harry smiled when she turned her head toward his touch.

Draco shook his head. "Tired," he said, yawning again. "Sore, and... kind of-- empty." He paused and stretched experimentally. "Very sore," he added. "How long before this curse on me reverses itself, anyway, Madame Pomfrey?"

"Hmm?" Madame Pomfrey came out from her office holding a baby bottle full of formula. "Oh, that should be sometime in the next twelve hours," she said, setting the bottle down. "You should rest up for it," she told Draco, reaching for Azura as she spoke. "You've been awake for over a day, and I assure you, with a newborn, this could be the last sleep you get for some time."

When Harry gave their daughter over to Madame Pomfrey, she gestured to the other beds in the infirmary. "That means you, too, Harry -- you should get your sleep as well. Have a stretch out on one of the beds and I'll wake you in a few hours when--" she faltered. "What are you calling the child?"

"Azura Lily," Harry and Draco said, then exchanged glances. "We haven't decided on which last name to use, yet," Harry explained.

"Right," Pomfrey nodded. "Well, I'll wake you when she needs feeding, then - if she doesn't wake you first."

Harry recalled his promise to Hermione, and the journal she had given him. "Actually," he said, "I'll need to stop by my dorm for a bit first."

~*~

Harry arrived at the Gryffindor common room to find more students than he'd expected, quietly gathered and waiting patiently. He could make out Ginny, who stood next to Neville, Seamus and Dean; and there was Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, and the Creevy brothers, who looked as shell-shocked as Harry felt. Ron and Hermione stood up from their seats in the middle of it all, and rushed over to greet Harry. Everyone shouted out questions as Harry made his way through the crowd on his way to the stairs.

"Is she really here, Harry?"

"How big was she--"

"--must've been painful--"

"Who does she look like--"

"--Not Malfoy, I hope!"

"Does she have any hair?"

"I guess that means you win the pool, Dennis--"

"She's got all her toes and fingers, hasn't she?"

Harry looked around at them all and grinned. "She's fine," he said, "yes, she's here, and she looks like both of us, and she's got loads of hair, and she's about--" he held out his hands in a rough estimation of size-- "this big, and she's hardly even cried yet." He laughed suddenly, still a bit stunned that he was actually a father. It didn't seem real at all yet.

He made fast work of retrieving his journal -- Azura's journal, really, he reminded himself -- and making his way back through the common room on his way to the infirmary. When he returned, Madame Pomfrey had set up a bassinet in the corner by Draco's bed. Azura slept inside, while Draco lay with his eyes closed on the bed next to her. Harry sat down quietly on Draco's bed to avoid disturbing either of them.

As Harry copied down Azura's statistics, Draco stirred and opened his eyes.

"What is that?" he asked, his gaze on the book in Harry's hands.

Harry glanced down at it. "It's a journal," he explained, "for the baby, that Hermione gave me at Christmas. I'm sort of using it to-- document, I guess."

"Like: 'Born today' and that sort of thing?"

"Well, yeah," Harry nodded. "And--" he checked the page-- "that she's twenty inches long, for example. And that I think she looks more like me than you, at the moment."

Draco closed his eyes again. "So I was right about her looking like a monkey, then," he said.

"You're funnier when you're more awake," Harry told him. "I'm putting her full name on here," he went on, "so we need to agree on what we'll call her. I wrote 'Azura Lily Potter', but I don't want to argue anymore. I'll change it if you want me to."

"Why can't you just add 'Malfoy' to that?" asked Draco.

"So she'll have both our names?"

"Well, I reckon she's both of ours, isn't she?" Draco said.

Harry looked down at the book and poised his quill, before hesitating. It was suddenly very important to him that he get it just right. Combining their names seemed to signify a much larger step for the two of them. It sounded very much like a partnership, Harry realized. "Does the order matter to you?" he asked.

"Not at all," Draco said drowsily. "It's the 'Malfoy' bit everyone will remember, anyway."

"Whatever," Harry muttered, and carefully wrote Draco's name in.

Name: Azura Lily Potter Malfoy
Born on: 26 June
Weight: 7 lbs. 1 oz.
Length: 20 inches
Eyes: Blue (I think?)
Hair: Brown
Looks like: Potter hair, Malfoy chin (I feel sorry for her already!)

~*~

When Harry woke up in the bed next to Draco's, Draco was already awake and fully dressed. Harry groped for his glasses and put them on, then stared; it was a completely foreign sight to him, seeing Draco in an ordinary Hogwarts uniform again.

If he either noticed or cared about Harry's scrutiny, Draco didn't show it. Rocking Azura's bassinet with one hand, he nodded at Harry. "Good afternoon," he said. "We'll have missed lunch already today."

"How long have you been up?" Harry asked, stretching and rubbing his eyes. "Why didn't anyone wake me?" He felt remarkably well-rested.

Draco shrugged. "Madame Pomfrey's giving us some time, I think. She says I'm well enough to leave, but I've been up for a fair while," he said. "The curse reversed itself, so--"

Harry sat up immediately. Draco, returned to his natural state. It was just as strange a thought as the glimpse Harry caught of Draco's considerably flatter stomach. "Really?" Harry grinned. "That's fantastic!" He started to get out of bed, swinging his feet down onto the floor.

"--so I haven't felt much like sleeping," Draco finished, glancing down at himself briefly. He looked over at the wall in the far corner of the room. "Listen," he said abruptly, "you can go, all right? I was only supposed to be your ward until the birth, so... so go back and sleep in your own bed, or whatever. I can manage fine from here, and we can meet at the house in a week, when we have to."

"Are you mad?" Harry asked. "You stopped being my ward ages ago!" He rolled his eyes. "I mean, I certainly know when I sleep with someone for months, all I can think about is when I can get out of it! Honestly, have you lost your mind?"

Draco somehow managed to roll his eyes without physically doing so. "Sometimes I wonder if you even think," he said, letting go of Azura's bassinet and rising to his feet. "Look," he pointed to himself. "I like men, all right? I like that you have a dick, and I liked shagging you because of it. But," he added, scowling, "I'm not in the mood for you to become all pathetic and tell me that it's been fun, but you couldn't possibly, or whatever you have in mind. So I'm letting you off the hook." He pursed his lips and looked at the doors, jutting his chin in their direction. "It'll be easier for both of us."

"But--" Harry frowned. "I'm not going anywhere. That's the whole point of it." When Draco started to shake his head, Harry continued. "Draco, you idiot, if you haven't realized, I've sort of been looking forward to this-- to you being normal again. Finally." The moment he said it, he knew that it was the truth. "And besides," he added, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't use such vulgar words in front of our daughter." He smirked. "If you're trying to shock me, you'll have to try harder than that."

Draco stared at the doors for a long moment before the corner of his mouth curved up slightly. "Never would have figured you for a shirt-lifter, Potter," he said casually, meeting Harry's eyes at last. He closed the distance between them and sat down next to Harry, so that Harry was just within reach.

"Harry," Harry corrected him automatically.

Draco nodded, suddenly very serious. "I know," he said.


end.