Fatherhood | drarry teen adoptive parents au

nineteen | an astronomy tower reconciliation

Harry had never been very good at hiding his emotions, and Hermione's pregnancy hormones appeared to sharpen her senses, so it wasn't long before she found out about the argument between the boys.

Once she got over the initial surprise, Hermione found that she actually didn't blame Draco at all, and understood where he was coming from.

"I know what it's like to not want a baby," she joked, but Harry wasn't amused.

"But he does want this baby," he muttered, "That's the whole point! He's always wanted it. He's just being weird."

"He's got some serious problems with his family though, Harry," Hermione pointed out gently. "It's bound to mess him up a bit. And I'm sure he'll come round."

It was comforting for Hermione to know that Harry stood by the Oath he had made to her - not that he had much choice, it was Unbreakable after all, but still it was good of him to show such loyalty. She knew he would make an excellent father.

And she knew Draco would, too, when he came around, and told him this herself when she found him alone in the Slytherin dorms that evening.

"What if I'm like my dad?" Draco asked, almost breathless with fear. "What if I can't protect the baby?"

"The very fact that you care enough to worry about this means you are nothing like your father," Hermione replied. "You have many traits that set you aside from him, I promise it's obvious to everyone else that you aren't the same any more."

"Like what?" Draco asked.

"Well, for one thing, you aren't prejudiced. You've taken deliberate steps to unlearn the awful opinions on Blood Purity which were drilled into you as a child - to the point where you're dating a Half-Blood, and had agreed to adopt the child of a Muggle-born!" Hermione said reassuringly.

Draco's gaze was fixed on her, as if he was trying to soak up every single word. It was clearly helping him.

"You have patience, you have the ability to recognise and react to inequality, and you have good morals," Hermione continued, seeing this. "You have bravery, and intense loyalty, and I feel very lucky to be your friend."

"Really?" Draco breathed.

"Really. And maybe the time isn't right for you now, but one day you are going to make such a considerate and wonderful parent, because you are striving so hard to be everything your parents couldn't be for you. You've got a beautiful soul, Draco Malfoy."

And just like that, he was sobbing.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" he asked, when he could draw breath.

"Because I'm on your side," Hermione replied simply. "I don't know exactly what's going on with your parents but I don't need to know. I will support you however you need, so you can make the right decision, whatever that is. And so will the other Gryffindors. If you could just let people in, Draco, there's a whole world of help out there. You don't have to do everything alone."

"I've never been good at letting people in," Draco agreed quietly. "Maybe I should. God, I've been a fucking idiot."

"You haven't!" Hermione assured him. "You've been human, Draco. You're allowed to be human. And you're allowed to ask for help."

"I'm going to ask for Harry's help," Draco decided, brushing the tears off his wet lashes. He turned to Hermione.

"I an sorry for being so dramatic and impulsive," he said. "And if you'll still have me, it would be my greatest honour to raise your baby with Harry."

"Draco!" Now it was Hermione's turn to be tearful. "Do you really mean that?"

He nodded, reaching for his wand. "I'm more invested in this than anything I've ever known. Let's make it Unbreakable," he said.

"Think you have something else to do now," Hermione smiled once the Oath had been sworn. "Harry told me to tell you to meet him in the Astronomy tower tonight. Maybe you should go and give him the good news?"

"When's he expecting me?" Draco asked, giddy with excitement.

Hermine checked her watch, and smiled. "In 10 minutes. Go get your loverboy, Malfoy."

And so off he went, rehearsing what he'd say to Harry when he got up to the top. He wished he had time to draft a pretty letter, but a speech would do. He hoped Harry wasn't mad at him.

He needn't have worried; Harry's face broke into a shy smile the second he caught sight of Draco at the tower, and there wasn't even a hint of animosity.

"Sweetheart," he sighed happily as Draco fell into his arms.

"I have some things to tell you," Draco said as he pulled away. "It's really important."

Harry smiled again. "Go ahead, I'm all yours."

Draco took a deep breath to steady his nerves. God, it was a lot scarier to say emotional things out loud than it was to write them down.

"Harry James Potter," he started. "I am, and have always been, overwhelmingly, unendurably, in love with you. You are what gets me up in the morning, what helps me to sleep at night, and what keeps my heart beating through it all."

"Oh, Draco..." Harry's heart melted.

"I'm not finished," Draco informed him. "I have lots more to say about how wonderful you are."

"In that case, by all means carry on!" Harry grinned.

"You are - without a doubt - the only truly perfect thing in my life. Even when I tried against hope to just not love you, begged God or Fate or whoever's in charge of my heart just to flip it over and turn my feelings into real hatred for you, it never happened. Because I'm obsessed with you and everything you are, and I always have been. I suppose I always will be."

Both boys were crying now, face to face at the top of the Astronomy Tower in the dark, while the planets swirled around them. The scene was dizzyingly beautiful; it felt like the end of the world was coming to gently engulf them and take them somewhere beautiful and safe.

"You and I have both been taught," Draco continued through his tears, "That we only deserve love in a certain way, and always at a limit and a price. So to meet you, with your constantly open heart, no matter what I did, was the closest to Heaven that Earth really gets. Harry, I will never feel like I've earned the love you give to me, but I'd like to give you all of mine for the rest of my days."

"I'd like that," Harry choked out, burying his head in his boyfriend's neck and feeling his warm, strong arms fold around him to anchor him onto the flagstones.

"And I have a little surprise for you," Draco added softly, his voice muffled by Harry's hair. "I decided to be brave, like you. And I've sworn an Oath to Hermione that I'll parent with you. We're going to be fathers now, I promise. And I'll do my best to make sure nothing bad ever happens to you and our child as long as we live."

"Draco, that's the best news you could've given me," Harry sobbed, clinging onto his boyfriend like he was about to lose him. "I love you forever. We can do this."

"We can," Draco whispered. "And I love you more."

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a/n: thanks again for reading this one! couldn't leave the angst going for too long haha i'm weak

lots of love, vote and comment if you liked this one!

~ paradisedraco