Expecting The Unexpected

Chapter Eight - The Burrow

"Good morning, Mother, Aunt Andromeda," Draco said as he sat down. Teddy handed him the spoon from his bowl, which was covered in Ready Brek. Draco grimaced, reached out for it, and placed it as quickly as he could onto the highchair, wiping his fingers on a nearby napkin, with a fixed smile aimed at Teddy, who rewarded Draco by turning his eyes the exact same colour as Draco's. Harry suddenly realised he was staring, and hastily averted his own eyes, concentrating on buttering his roll and pouring himself a cup of tea from the teapot.

"What time are you off to visit the Weasleys?" Andromeda asked.

"I said I'd Floo over around ten," Harry replied. "I'm not going to bother eating a lot this morning. It'll only come up again the other end." He really was dreading the journey.

They finished up with breakfast and Kreacher removed the plates and bowls from the table. Harry spent a few minutes playing with his godson before, very unenthusiastically, declaring it was time for him to leave. He grabbed a bag containing presents for Hermione and the Weasleys from the side, took a handful of Floo powder from the marble box on the mantelpiece, and threw it into the flames, which instantly turned emerald.

"Bye then," Harry said to Draco, who was the only one in the room. Draco cocked a crooked smile at him and grabbed his hand. He drew Harry back out of the flames and kissed him.

"So you don't forget me," he said with a smirk, probably in relation to the stupefied and glassy-eyed expression Harry knew was on his face. Harry grinned.

"I'm only going for a few hours, prat." But he leant over and kissed Draco back once more, touched by Draco's obvious sincerity and reluctance to let him go. "I... really... have... to... leave," he murmured as he peppered kisses along Draco's jawline. "I'll see you later."

Before he could change his mind and decide to stay after all (which part of him- the part below his belly button, if Harry was truthful- really wanted him to do), he called out, "The Burrow!" and disappeared.

He began to feel nauseous as soon as Draco's face vanished, and he screwed his eyes tightly shut. He finally landed in the fireplace in The Burrow's kitchen where, as arranged, Ron was waiting with a bowl; Harry had a second to dizzily realise it was there before he was desperately grabbing it and retching violently into it. Thankfully, Ron must have told the others about the Floo sickness (or Mrs Weasley remembered it well from her own pregnancies), as he and Hermione were the only ones in the kitchen to welcome him, which gave Harry a lot more dignity than he was expecting to arrive with at least- he'd imagined being sick in front of the entire Weasley clan.

"Jesus fucking bollocking arsing sodding Christ," he groaned, resting his hands on his knees and panting for breath, wishing the room would stop spinning so he could regain some degree of equilibrium. Hermione quickly whipped the bowl away from under his chin and Vanished its contents. Despite having hardly eaten any breakfast that morning, he'd still made an impressive mess of the bowl. "You have no idea how utterly hideous that was. I'm sorry you had to watch that. And, um, for my language. Sorry, Hermione."

"Shall I make you a Portkey with which to return to Andromeda's?" Hermione offered soothingly, clearly thinking that Harry was allowed one attack of the potty mouth given what he'd just gone through, and began rubbing his back gently before leading him over to one of the kitchen chairs, which Harry gratefully sank into, resting his face on the table. Harry shook his head.

"Thanks, Hermione, but no. The Healer has recommended I only use those for emergencies or when I can't Floo or use Muggle transport," he explained. "They're safe for use in pregnancy but the resulting Portkey-sickness is apparently fifty times worse than with Floo travel, and pregnant women often end up in St Mungo's with it. It's the reason we didn't take one from Hogwarts, remember?" He reached for the goblet of water Ron has just ran from the tap for him and took a huge swig, before pulling out his wand and casting a Cleaning Charm on his shirt where a stray fleck of vomit had landed, and performing handy little charm which freshened his breath.