Fatherhood | drarry teen adoptive parents au

twenty | the last evening

With Operation Fatherhood now officially underway again, and only four weeks to go till Hermione's due date, Harry and Draco found themselves suddenly very busy.

Hermione was faking a migraine more often than not to avoid classes, as at this point in her pregnancy there was little she could to to conceal her bump. She was about to pop, there was no two ways about it.

She'd considered using a sort of shrinking Charm under her jumper, but Draco had read up on it and informed her that it could be dangerous for the baby to even do it for an hour.

He'd been reading a lot recently on the subject of birth and pregnancy. Hermione was insistent still that she didn't want to go to the Hogsmeade clinic, or to the Hogwarts Hospital Wing when the time came, so Draco was resigned to the potential situation of having to help her himself, and he wanted to know what to do.

It was scary but in fairness he did want to become a Healer, and had no moral issues with running straight for Madam Pomfrey against Hermione's will if something went wrong. It would certainly be interesting.

He just hoped she made it to her due date, which conveniently was the first weekend of the Easter holidays. He dreaded to think what would happen if she went into labour between now and then.

So with Hermione missing classes and Hall, it became the job of Harry, Ron and Draco to fetch her food from the kitchens and take extra notes for her in class. She usually chose Draco's notes - they were always beautifully written, and the most intelligent - but it was becoming quite hard work for all involved.

Spare time had sort of become a thing of the past for Harry and Draco with all the preparation that needed to happen alongside their regular class work, which was also stepping up ready for their O.W.L.s the following term.

God, O.W.L.s with a newborn. That would be fucking fun.

They'd done all the shopping they needed to do now, at least. The baby would have a crib when it arrived, and blankets and clothes and nappies and everything a newborn needs.

They'd even bought special baby milk formula, after an incredibly awkward conversation Draco had suffered through with Hermione.

"So should we buy formula, or...?" he'd tried to ask her before the final trip to Hogsmeade, but the question had tailed off, embarrassed.

"I won't breast feed, if that's what you mean," Hermione had replied. "I thought we agreed that for all intents and purposes, this is not my baby."

"Won't there still be milk?" Draco asked, cheeks flushing darker. He didn't know why he was so awkward, just that it was Hermione and he never thought he'd be having this conversation with her.

"There's charms for that," she said, her cheeks tinging a little pink too.

"Ok, cool, formula it is then," said Draco, forcing his tone to sound overly cool. He never spoke like this. "No problem whatsoever."

As the weeks went by, Harry decided to let in a couple of close friends for extra moral support: Luna and Neville. But he was amazed to find that the pair already knew!

"Luna told me," Neville said bashfully. "And the Wrackspurts told her. Besides, Hermione was drinking Gurdyroot tea every day at breakfast. Could there be a more obvious morning sickness cure?"

"Of course," nodded Ron sarcastically when Harry told him what Neville said. "Wrackspurts and Gurdyroot. Why didn't I think of that?"

It wasn't a surprise to Hermione, however. "I received an odd package of herbs from Neville at Christmas, do you remember me hiding it?" she said.

Harry nodded. It was all coming back to him now.

"The note attached to them said they were to ease labour pains. I'm sure they'll come in very handy, but to be completely honest with you, Harry, I've still got no idea what he actually gave me."

All in all, it was helpful to have Luna and Neville onside, not least because it meant extra notes on hand for Hermione to revise from, as she was clearly panicking about her exams.

Harry and Draco knew that once the baby arrived they would find it even harder to spend quality time together, so they took to sneaking out of their dorms late at night to fly around the grounds in secret, and just talk and enjoy each other's presence.

"I've been thinking about surnames," Draco announced one night, the last day of term, as the boys were heading towards the pitch with their brooms.

"What about them?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure whose we'll choose for the baby!" Draco replied. "Ours are two of the most recognisable surnames in the Wizarding World, and not always for the right reasons, in my case. I know you said you want 'Malfoy' in there but it might not be a good idea."

"There is also the fact that your father is more likely to be able to find out about the baby if it's registered as a Malfoy," Harry said reluctantly. "But they're not exactly going to slip under the radar being a 'Potter', are they?"

"We could just go with Potter for now, and change it when we legally can adopt?" Draco suggested, and Harry nodded.

They were quite high up on their brooms now, and the castle below looked ominous, lit up with glowing amber lights in parts but largely dark.

"Potter it is then," Draco murmured. "Baby Potter."

Both boys were momentarily lost in a wave of excitement, but this quickly turned to panic as they realised someone was shooting up from the ground towards them.

"They're going bloody fast!" Draco noticed worriedly. "Hang on, isn't that Weasley?"

It was. His face was white, totally drained of colour, and his eyes were wide.

"Harry, Draco, come quick," he called the second he was within hearing distance, his voice shaking. "It's Hermione! Oh God, I don't know what to do!!"

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a/n: nice cliffhanger for you there then😇😇

because twenty chapters in, it is TIME !!!

buckle your seatbelts everybody, it's about to get wild

~ paradisedraco