The spring came with all the energy of a niffler in a bank vault and Draco was sure his classes were tired of having class inside. He was tired of being inside. The girls were one and spent most of their time with his parents or the Weasleys while he and Harry were at work and sitting inside was giving him too much time to think about wanting to be around his family. During breakfast one morning, he and Harry threw together a mixed lesson on defensive potions that the students could piece together in the courtyard and when it was time, led them there. Courtyard lessons worked out great until both Draco and Harry were about ready to pop. Just being around that much residual magic was sending them into episodes of false labor. Then one afternoon, it wasn't false.
--:--
"Draco, you have to breathe. We haven't even gotten to the worse part, you need to relax through your contractions or we're going to have to give you a calming draught," Healer Jones said as she did basic diagnostic and ultrasound spells. She wasn't his usual Medi-witch. She had only been assigned to him only because there had been another emergency elsewhere.
"I will relax when you tell me where the bloody fucking hell my husband is!" Draco snapped through clenched teeth, his grip tight around the handle on the side of the bed.
"I assure you, your husband is fine, but you need to relax!"
"If he's fine, why isn't he here?" Draco said annoyed.
"The expulsion of magic from your water breaking sent your husband into labor as well. He's in the next room over."
"Oh fuck," he says quietly with his head in his hands.
"Now, Draco, can you please relax. We can't get your little boy out unless you relax. I need you to breathe."
"Oh fuck," Draco said again, this time with feeling. "I can't do this without him. Seven hells, how could this- does this happen a lot?"
"With double pregnancies? Yes. It shows how close you are, how intertwined your magic is to each other that something like this pulls a reaction from both of you. It's beautiful to watch."
"I'm glad we're such the pretty sodding picture!"
Healer Jones didn't look particularly bothered by his tone and continued checking his and the baby's vitals. She waved a hand at him when he looked too tense.
"And we're breathing," she said leading him into a breathing exercise. "It's almost go-time as the muggles say. Do you know what kind of birth you're leaning towards?"
"When...uh- When Harry had our girls, he did a- I believe it was called a captive birth?" Once she nodded he continued. "And I've done research into the different kinds of male pregnancy births, but I don't see any real pros or cons to any of them. You're the medi-witch, what do you think? I just want my son to be healthy."
Healer Jones opened her mouth to give her opinion when there was a tentative knock and the door blew open softly.
"We came as soon as we could," said a somewhat nervous Narcissa Malfoy. "Are you okay, dear?"
"Yes, mother."
"And where is your husband?" Lucius said with a raised eyebrow.
"Giving birth in the next room over, if Healer Jones is to be believed. Where are the boys?"
"They're in the lobby with the Weasleys," his father says, still teaching himself to say the name without any venom behind it.
Narcissa walks over, gently placing one hand to his forehead and the other on his belly.
"When can we be expecting him?" she asked no one in particular.
"Within the next few hours once we decide the method of birth," answered Healer Jones. It wasn't long after that they finally made a decision.
Draco took a deep breath and his mother let him grip her hand as tightly as he needed to. They were going to make it through this. He prayed to Merlin that Harry was doing good too.
--:--
"'Mione, I'm fine, I promise. Stop hovering," Harry insisted, waving away his friend's hand as she tried to check his temperature again. "The contra-" He stopped to grind his teeth as the pain throbbed through him.
"You were saying?" Hermione teased just as Healer Harper entered the room followed by Healer Godwin.
"Good to see you again Harry," Harper says with a small smile, "I am sorry it's so unexpected again. Are we following the same procedure as last time?"
"Yes, please. We've been a bit more careful this time, but with the girls just turning one and Scorpius' potions needing updating more frequently, we've been kinda stressed, so I'd be more comfortable with you doing a few checks while their still protected."
"Godwin, put Mr. Malfoy-Potter down for an encapsulated calling," she ordered before turning back to Harry. She tilted his bed back and lifted his legs into stirrups with a wave of her and before performing a stretching and measurement charm. Harper leaned in close and began running spells over him that tickled and Harry had to stop blushing more than once at both the sensation and proximity of his medi-witch to his personal bits, as if she had never seen them before. Unaware of his inner comfort levels, Healer Harper nodded to herself before standing tall again. "We'll be back in about an hour once you're a little further on to begin the calling. Continue to do your breathing exercises."
Harry let out a breath as she led Healer Godwin from the room and walked out. Hermione ran a hand through his hair, watching as the bed readjusted itself from its openly displayed position. He had done this before. He could do this again.
--:--
Mr. and Mr. Malfoy-Potter are put on bed rest for the next week. Only one of them adheres to that rule.
"Potter! Come back to bed you stubborn oaf!" Draco calls from his spot on their shared bed, propped on pillows with his wand aimed at the door where he is (petulantly) reinforcing the lock whenever Harry makes any attempt to open it.
"I'm going to check on the boys," be argued, tugging at the door which is making no moves in his favor.
"Both of their grandmothers are down there!"
"But what if Narcissa needs help or what if Molly needs someone to watch them while she takes something out of the oven..." Harry knows he is grasping at straws.
"Harry, look at me."
Harry looks up at his husband with such a pitiful expression that draco forces himself out of bed and makes his way over to him in his silk nightie, wrapping his arms around him.
"What if-"
"Three days," Draco said softly, cutting him off. "Harper says a week, but we know that'd be asking a bit much for you. So you only have to rest in bed for three days. Mother will bring the boys up later so they can have a bottle and we can cuddle them before bed. We need this rest okay? You need this. Let yourself have it."
Harry's body went somewhat slack in his husband's arms and he nodded into his shoulder.
"You're right," he agreed.
"Aren't I always?" Draco says sounding honestly confused and Harry nudges him as they help each other back towards the bed, bodies sore and loose and tired in a way only giving birth can do. "I don't think I ever got the chance to thank you."
"For what?" Harry asked through a yawn.
"For naming one of the twins after my father."
"James?" Harry said with furrowed eyebrows but a quirk of his lips.
"James Lucius," said the blond, shoving him. "Don't act thick."
"If I was acting I would have guessed Albus Sirius," the ravenette said through a chuckle.
"Albus, James and Cepheus," Draco says softly, while lifting his husband's hands to his lips and kissing the knuckles. "Our baby boys."
Their eyes meet in silent elation and when they move together for a kiss it is both soft and passionate all at once.
-&-
what goes on my futher muckers
i told you i was skipping through the pregnancy and birth. lol
bet yall ain't think it was gonna move that fast tho
literally the rest of this fic is life in fast forward soooooo *finger guns*
thanks for reading. it means the world to me that you like what i do enough to make it through 3 fics
7 more chappies & an epilogue left
hope you guys enjoyed this chappie
lemme know if you did or didn't lol
love y'all
-- angel janeé xoxo 💋