"Potter?" Draco repeated as he stood in front of Harriet with his brow furrowed in concern.
Harriet bravely wiped away her tears and looked at him with red, watery eyes.
"Why are you crying?" Draco asked softly.
"Because we're not together." Harriet sniffed, "That's what you said."
"I thought that's what you wanted!" Draco exclaimed, "That's what you said!"
"I know it is!" Harriet snapped.
Harriet quickly put her hand back up to her face to wipe away the fresh batch of tears that sprung to her eyes against her will.
Draco frowned at his weeping mate as she turned her head away from home once again.
His mate.
His.
Draco understood what Harriet wanted better than she did.
After a very tense pause, Harriet glanced back over towards Draco and wordlessly, he opened his arms for her. They were still standing so near to each other that it only took one step for Harriet to cuddle against Draco's chest while he wrapped her in his embrace. Gently, he lifted her off of her feet and slipped their shoes off before he tucked himself and Harriet into the nest she'd made on his bed.
Draco lay back against the pillows and Harriet put her head down on his chest. She continued to weep softly while he tenderly stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.
Harriet thought it felt lovely after so many years of loneliness and sadness, to lie there with her alpha, no matter who he was, to be held close by someone who loved her, someone she loved. It felt so lovely in fact, that Harriet could scarcely believe it was real as she listened to Draco's steady heartbeat.
But it was real.
He was real.
Their love was real.
Harriet felt a flutter against her ribs and her breath hitched in her throat.
Their baby was real.
"I wish you'd stop fighting me, Potter." Draco whispered, "You know I'm going to win one day, why don't you just give up?"
Harriet lifted her head and blinked her green eyes as she stared into her mate's grey orbs.
Draco expected Harriet to say something sarcastic but instead, she stretched to press her lips against his in a sweet, loving kiss. Draco wanted to pull back and force his omega to talk, to draw words out of her, to get her to express her emotions and feelings verbally, but Harriet's kisses were dangerously addictive to Draco.
He cupped one side of Harriet's face and closed his eyes as she deepened their kiss. Over and over, their lips met while they snuggled together under the warm blankets on the bed.
Draco didn't know what was better, the all-consuming enrapturement that Harriet's kisses brought him, the feeling of her full breasts pressed firmly against his chest, or the warmth of her heavy belly in his hands.
The only thing in the world at that moment that saddened Draco was the gut-wrenching knowledge that they couldn't stay in that second, in that room, in that bed, forever.
—————————————————————
"What are you doing, 'Cissa?" Lucius asked with narrowed eyes as he watched his wife order the house elves about as they brought in the newly selected food items for the evening and began to place them on the table.
"I'm saving our relationship with our son, what's left of it anyway, after that ludicrous display you put on earlier." Narcissa remarked to her husband as she continued to ensure that the dining room and the contents of the table were being arranged perfectly.
Lucius scoffed, "I'll have you know that was for the betterment of our family's business! I see no reason to sit back and-"
"He's our son, Lucius!" Narcissa snapped, looking at her husband with her own eyes narrowed, "That's my baby boy! I don't care about the betterment of the family business if it means hurting Draco! I only want to see him happy and this makes him happy! Are you that blind that you can't see it?!"
"Biscuits and quail make him that happy?" Lucius asked sarcastically as his eyes scanned over the food on the table.
Narcissa threw Lucius a dangerous glare, "No, Lucius! The Potter girl! The child that she carries! Draco's elated, and I refuse to see my only son's light extinguished at the hands of his own father."
"Clearly, my only son has forgotten about the war." Lucius said as he bitterly reminded his wife that the Potter family were not traditional friends of the Malfoy household.
"The war is over, Lucius." Narcissa said flatly, "We lost and the Potters' won."
Narcissa looked over at her husband and said very seriously, "You'll do well to remember that now, my love. I don't care about the war. I don't care about rival families. I care about my family, my husband, my son, and the grandchild that my son's omega is soon to give birth to. You've gone around the bend if you think I won't be there waiting to hold that baby the moment they come into this world."
Lucius stood and gazed at his wife for a moment, watching the fire of determination that burned in her icy blue eyes. Over two decades had gone by since their marriage but Narcissa hadn't dulled a bit over the years, not her beauty, not her flame.
Lucius's grey gaze softened as he scanned over his mate.
That was something he had always admired about his omega, her complete and utter determination to protect Draco. It had been an unignorable instinct for Narcissa from the moment the Malfoy heir had been conceived.
Lucius smirked to himself, amused by his own foolishness.
Did he really think his wife would abandon her deep affection for her only child?
"We're going to do as Draco asked." Narcissa informed her husband.
"Oh?" Lucius replied as he raised an eyebrow.
"We're going to give Harriet Potter a proper welcome to the Malfoy family." Narcissa replied.
Lucius began "But she isn't-"
Narcissa held up a hand and her spouse fell silent, "She is now, Lucius, and she will be forever, whether she likes it or not. Sit down. I'm going to go and collect the children."
Lucius eyed Narcissa as he sat down at the table. He carefully watched her walk away as a thought lingered in his mind.
To an outsider, Narcissa's statement would have sounded ominous, but it wasn't, it was just a pure and simple truth.
When Draco's child was born, Harriet's name would go on the Malfoy family tree.
Birth and death.
Once completed, those were immutable events, even in the wizarding world.
For the most part, anyway.
—————————————————————
Draco would have gladly let his languid kisses with Harriet flourish into a lovemaking session but he was too attentive to his mate's needs to push her any further when he sensed her enthusiasm lessening.
Harriet's closed eyelids fluttered and her kiss eventually slowed until Draco pulled away and gently pecked her forehead as he whispered, "Rest, love."
A wide smile formed on Draco's face and it wasn't clear if it was from the way that Harriet settled against him again as if it were the most natural thing in life or from the way that she didn't say anything in protest when he called her "love", though it was obvious that she had heard him.
Draco himself wasn't tired, especially after their previous nap a few hours earlier, but he smirked in amusement at Harriet's apparent exhaustion.
Draco imagined that it must be very tiring to carry a Malfoy baby.
His smirk faded when he thought back to their gelato outing. Unconsciously, he tightened his grip on Harriet when he thought about the fear in her eyes and the way Weasley and Granger had cornered his poor mate. Draco knew that Harriet had been in no danger of physical harm from her friends, but that didn't quiet his instincts or the urge to protect his pregnant lover. He struggled to suppress a low growl at the thought, frightened it would wake Harriet, when a knock sounded on his door.
Harriet instantly startled awake but Draco held her close reassuringly.
Harriet looked up at Draco questioningly as he nodded to her and slipped out of the nest, "It's alright, it's probably just the house elves asking what we want to eat."
Harriet pulled the covers up over herself and Draco stood to answer his door with a frown on his face.
Those stupid elves!
Those-
Those-
Draco walked over and wrenched opened his door with a scowl.
His grey eyes widened at who he saw in front of him.
Those-
"Mother....." Draco said flatly.
Draco hadn't expected that either of his parents would heed his words and actually attempt to welcome Harriet properly. Before Narcissa uttered a word, though, Draco knew by the smile on her red lips that he had been wrong.
As she lay in bed, Harriet's heart clenched when she overheard Draco and realized who was at the door.
"I hope I'm not interrupting, sweetheart." Narcissa said to her son, glancing behind him suspiciously at the rumpled covers on his bed.
"No, of course not." Draco said seriously. He cleared his throat as a slight blush covered his pale cheeks.
"Dinner is prepared whenever you and......whenever you both are hungry. Your father and I will be waiting." Narcissa ended with a nod.
"Oh....." Draco said.
Harriet could hear the tension in his voice and the only thing that matched that anxiety was her own.
The Malfoys....the Malfoys wanted to have dinner with her?
And Draco?
Together?
"It's nothing too formal. Your father and I just thought we could share a family meal." Narcissa said with a shrug.
Draco scowled at his mother incredulously, "Thank you........we'll, um, we'll be along very shortly. She's napping, just now."
"Of course." Narcissa nodded to her son, "We're in no rush, darling, let her have her rest. I spent a lot of time napping when I carried you."
Draco's stomach was a sloshing pit of mortal dread.
He wasn't sure how he had imagined it would all go, if Harriet did decide to be with him and raise their child together. Of course his overbearing parents would be involved and that meant that they would have to interact with Harriet during several different points in time.
But a family meal just sounded so......bizarre to Draco, not to mention, a great opportunity for drama and disaster based on his earlier confrontation with his parents.
"Of course, Mother. We'll be there as soon as she's ready." Draco nodded.
Narcissa nodded back in silent response before she turned and walked away.
Draco closed the door and glanced over to Harriet. When he saw the covers over her head, he assumed she had fallen back asleep and he walked into the bathroom.
Harriet hadn't fallen back asleep at all.
Her heart was light and full and she was nearly on the brink of tears again as she pondered over Narcissa Malfoy's words.
Family meal.
When I carried you....
The only motherly affection that Harriet had ever received had been from Molly Weasley. That in itself had been wonderful, but that was before her current circumstances began. Harriet had wished so badly that she had a mother to talk to during the previous six months, a mother she could ask questions to, a mother she could seek advice from.
Harriet had no one like that and since she had hidden her pregnancy, she couldn't even turn to Molly Weasley.
Narcissa had lied during the war to protect Harriet, ultimately to protect Draco, but regardless of her true reasoning, if Narcissa hadn't told her lie, Harriet would have never lived through the battle.
Harriet hadn't forgotten that.
While Draco was in the bathroom, Harriet pulled herself out of her nest and walked over to open the door. She peered into the hallway and called out when she saw Narcissa's figure walking away.
"Mrs. Malfoy!" Harriet called out.
Narcissa stopped in her tracks, turned around, and blinked at Harriet in surprise.
Both women were a little uneasy as Narcissa slowly walked back to Harriet, but the softness in the older woman's eyes as she gazed down at Harriet's mounded tummy made the expecting omega much more comfortable.
"Harriet Potter, hello." Narcissa said with a polite nod, "I haven't seen you in-......in quite some time." Narcissa finished with an awkward smile, not wanting to bring up the war.
"Yeah, it's been.......quite some time." Harriet agreed with a nod.
"Please don't feel obligated to call me 'Mrs. Malfoy'." Narcissa said with a nervous laugh before she continued, "I apologize for our absence, but Lucius and I are very glad that you're here." Narcissa said with a look that was surprisingly genuine and warm as she gazed at the omega who was carrying her grandson or granddaughter.
Harriet looked a little unsure about that statement, but her hand flew to her side when a sharp kick landed on the outer edge of her belly.
The excitement in Narcissa's eyes at the motion surprised Harriet.
"Draco used to kick all the time too." Narcissa said with another smile, this one though was bittersweet. As Harriet watched Narcissa Malfoy reminisce about her pregnancy, she saw not a death eater or an enemy, but a mother who was willing to share her memories and her experiences.
And perhaps even make some new ones.....
Fueled by hormones, Harriet generously allowed one of her walls to come crumbling down.
"Would you like to.....would you like to feel?" Harriet asked Narcissa slowly.
Narcissa seemed taken aback as she stared at Harriet hesitantly, not wanting to overstep her boundaries.
Harriet reached out and grabbed Narcissa's hand. As the baby inside her womb moved again, Harriet let out a breath and guided Narcissa's hand to her abdomen, where she laid it to rest gently.
Narcissa looked up at Harriet anxiously as if she were silently asking for consent, but Harriet smiled proudly down at her belly as Draco's little one continued to move and stretch.
"Lucius and I are very glad that you're here." Narcissa told Harriet as she stared down at her belly with a happy smile.
"I think the little one is too." Harriet added with a laugh.
The bathroom door opened and Draco stepped out, staring incredulously at the scene in front of him.
A serene smile broke out across his thin lips.
It wasn't something that Draco was used to seeing, female bonding, but as he watched his mother slide her hands over Harriet's swollen belly, it was something that he was very glad was happening.