Harry Potter and the Destiny of Prophecies - 8. Chapter 8

Things were as they should be when Harry Potter walked through the entrance of Hogwarts with Draco at his side. It was late Sunday evening, and he was not in the least surprised to see the Headmistress waiting for them. She held out her hand, and instinctively Harry understood, and took his wand out and handed it to her. She looked at it for a long time, running a hand along all twenty inches of it before handing it back to him.

“A wand much more suited to dealing with the Dark Lord.” She said with a nod. Then she looked deeply into Harry’s eyes. “I am sorry to hear about Mr. Wood’s attempt on you and your family. Very tragic.”

“I just wish he didn’t have to die.” Harry said in complete honesty, meeting her gaze unflinchingly.

“As do we all, Mr. Potter.” She said sadly. “You have some guests waiting for you in your common room. I do hope you don’t mind their presence.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Draco said with a nod as Harry and he moved off down the hallway. They reached their apartment and the portrait expressed her delight to have them back before opening. When they entered, Harry found himself completely unsurprised to see Arthur and Molly Weasley sitting on a couch. Both of them stood as Draco and Harry entered, and Molly’s face looked especially anxious. Harry knew why they were here, and he put aside any anger at Ron immediately. The Weasleys were important members of the Order, and he could still use their support.

“Molly.” Harry said, a note of happiness audible in the sadness of his voice. He rushed to her and hugged her. Both Molly and Arthur immediately seemed to relax, and Mr. Weasley shook Harry’s hand when Molly let him out of the bone crushing hug. Draco took his cue from Harry and also hugged Mrs. Weasley before shaking Mr. Weasley’s hand.

“What are you both doing here?” Harry asked after everyone had sat down. “I hope you didn’t come all this way just to see me?”

“Well, we wanted to see you and make sure that Ron’s…” Arthur began, but Harry cut him off.

“What Ron has or has not done has no bearing on my relationship to the rest of the family.” Harry said firmly. “I love all of you and whatever my relationship with your son, whether we are friends or not, does not make me love the rest of you one bit less.”

“Oh, Harry.” Molly gushed. “You are such a good boy! I was hoping you’d understand.”

“WE do.” Draco said with a soft smile, emphasizing the first word.

“Thank you, both of you.” Arthur said with a wide grin. “We were here all weekend and when the Headmistress told us you were returning tonight we just wanted to stay and hoped that you would talk with us.”

“Anytime.” Harry said with a grin. “I hope the rest of you are still coming to the wedding? Molly, Narcissa has shared how much you have put into it and it would be a shame if you weren’t there.”

“Yes, yes, of course I’ll be there.” Molly said with a pleased grin. “So will Arthur. Bill said he and Fleur should have no trouble being there and Charlie is talking to the Ministry to make sure that he can get the time off from guarding Azkaban. George and Fred are also going to be there, although they weren’t too happy about my warnings about no jokes or pranks, and of course Ginny is so looking forward to going!”

“Good, that’s comforting to hear.” Harry said with a genuine smile. “And if Fred and George do get one or two canary crèmes, and put them somewhere where Severus Snape would try one, I wouldn’t mind too much.”

“Only as long as they get McGonagall as well!” Draco said with a laugh and a nudge at Harry. Even Molly laughed at that.

“Okay, okay.” She said. “The grooms want two practical jokes, they’ll get two practical jokes, but no more!”

“Hey, Potter.” Draco asked with a smirk, and Harry just raised an eyebrow. “You’ve heard about the cat who ate the canary, right? How about the cat who turned into a canary?”

“Arggghhhh!” Harry groaned, while the older Weasley couple chuckled. They spent probably a half-hour while Harry and Draco tried to outdo each other with bad jokes and even worse puns. The Weasleys seemed to enjoy it, and that made Harry feel a little better about his relationship with them. They finally stood, claiming a need to work (him) and clean the Burrow (her) in the morning. As Harry was showing them out of the room, Mrs. Weasley turned to give him a hug and a sad look.

“Harry, we’re sorry.” She whispered to him, tears filling her eyes. “We have no idea what we did wrong with Percy or Ron, but they’re both so filled with jealousy and rage that we just don’t know what to do. We decided after talking to Ron all weekend that we’re formally disowning them, the full ritual, and you know how much I hate ritual magic.”

“I’m sorry, Molly.” Harry said with true sympathy. “I honestly think you didn’t do anything wrong. They just made wrong choices in their lives. You’re probably doing the right thing. Look at Bill and Charley and Ginny, and even the twins. They’ve all done good things with their lives. It’s just that Ron and Percy didn’t make the right choices like they did. We all have to stand or fall based on our choices in life and no one else is responsible for those choices. If you think disowning them is the right punishment, then you do that.”

“Thank you Harry.” She said gratefully. She seemed to walk a little straighter as she left. Draco was already in their bedroom, and as soon as Harry followed him in, he found the blond in his arms.

“So, what was that whispering in the end?” Draco asked.

“The Weasleys are going to disown their Weasel.” Harry said with a smirk.

“Oh, really?” Draco said, his eyes gleaming with mirth at the idea. “How long before I can tease him about that?”

“Wait till she sends the Howler.” Harry advised.

“Got it love.” Draco smiled. Then he started purring. “So, how long has it been since we’ve used this bed really well?”

That was all Harry needed to pick Draco up and throw him on the bed. Draco’s laughter filled their room, quickly turning into moans as Harry jumped on top of him and started using his mouth on Draco’s tender neck. It was a good thing they had no plans to rejoin the school routine until the next morning because they were far too busy to deal with anyone or anything.

Hermione stood outside their room, unable to enter because of a changed password, and decided that with all of the noise coming from inside they’d be a while. After she left, a crowd of third and fourth year students stood at the portrait listening to what they could hear, greatly improving their sex education.

The lady in the portrait had long since fled to calmer abodes.

Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, on the way to the library from the dungeons, saw the group of younger students and scattered them before stopping to listen themselves. They both let out sighs of relief before they resumed their trek to the library.

Crabbe and Goyle wondered by after having raided the kitchen and chased another group of younger kids away. They decided to eat their honeycakes there and stop any other eavesdroppers. Of course they didn’t last much past curfew, rushing back to their dorm room to try a few things they’d heard shouted out.

Inside the Headmistress’s office, Minerva McGonagall listened to a shrieking portrait that normally hung outside of a certain set of private quarters and let a most decidedly un-prudish smile form on her face. She relaxed into her chair for the first time in two weeks and tuned out the shrill portrait, mentally cataloguing the portraits in storage and deciding that maybe the picture of a Menora Slytherin and her pet snake would be the best choice for a replacement.

Yes, that would do nicely.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The morning came far too quickly for them, but they managed to find the bathroom and get cleaned up, followed by getting dressed, and walked into the great hall in time for breakfast. Harry took one look at the Gryffindor table, where an anxious Hermione was talking to a pale, almost shaking Ron, and decided that he wanted nothing to do with them for now. So, he followed Draco and sat at the Slytherin table.

“It’s over.” Draco said as his house mates looked between the two. “Harry didn’t cheat, I made the mistake of trusting a Weasley, and Wood paid the price.”

“You going to eat that?” Crabbe’s question was the only response and Harry possessively struck Vincent’s hand away from his sausage. The big Slytherin grunted, grinned and turned back to his already full plate. Harry just relaxed in the quiet acceptance of the Slytherins. They didn’t need all the gory details like Hermione would have demanded, and it was relaxing.

“Harry, can I talk to you?” Ron’s voice drifted towards him very weakly.

“Speak.” Harry said shortly without looking up. The seventh year Slytherins were all extremely taut, as if waiting for an order to pummel the red head.

“Not here, outside.” Ron pleaded

“Speak here, now, or go away.” Draco fumed, his hand seeking Harry’s and finding it on the table.

“Uh, I just wanted to talk to Harry.” Ron continued

“You talk to me, you talk to Draco.” Harry said, finally raising his head and spearing his one-time friend with the anger in his eyes. “We’re a couple, if you haven’t noticed and what you say or do to one of us, you do to both of us.”

“Uh…um.” Ron began, looking extremely nervous. He raised a hand and tugged at his collar. “Harry, I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I didn’t stop Oliver and…”

“Shut up, Weasel.” Harry spat at him angrily. “If you’re going to apologize, apologize for what you did, not what someone who is now a rotting corpse did!”

Ron seemed shocked at Harry’s use of Draco’s old nickname for him. He opened and closed his mouth several times. His face turned several different shades of red and his entire body started shaking. Harry just stared at him, his insides burning with a desire to hit him, but he controlled that desire.

“You killed him!” Ron finally gasped out in a hall that had been quiet ever since Ron had approached their table.

“Of course he did, Weasel.” Draco said, so softly that no one further away than Ron could hear a word he said. “Wood tried to break us up, as you know so well. He paid the price and the MLE decided it was self-defense. Everyone knows Harry was just defending his family!”

The last was said so loudly that the entire hall heard, and a quick glance by Harry showed that many of the students, and most of the staff, were nodding their heads in agreement. He also knew that every Slytherin around them that had heard the other comments would testify that Draco hadn’t said anything the least bit incriminating, and from the look on Ron’s face he knew that as well. Besides that, who would believe anything Ron had to say against them at this point?

“You, you murderer!” Ron spat loudly at Harry. Harry just shrugged.

“So much for your apology, Weasel.” Draco said, and for some reason that calmed Ron down.

“I really am sorry about that.” Ron said much more calmly, looking at the floor. It was Draco who responded for them.

“Words, Ronald Weasley, mere words. We’ve heard them from you before and your actions proved how false they were. You had your second chance and you squandered it. You’ve been asked again to prove you were under a curse, but you refuse. If you want to ever try to earn forgiveness from us, you will have to prove yourself.” Draco said, and Harry raised Draco’s hand in his and kissed it in a show of support for what he had said.

“Fine, Ferret!” Ron screamed, his face red. If it’s war you want, its war you’ll get.”

With those final words, Ronald Weasley turned and left the hall, never to be seen within Hogwarts again.

“My what an eventful breakfast.” Draco said with a slight shrug, and the Slytherins all sat down with grins on their faces. The staff table was silent, but the rest of the hall was filled with whispers as people talked about what they had just seen. Hermione looked sick where she sat, but was soon talking to Lavender Brown, and Harry relaxed a little.

After breakfast, Harry had a training session with Remus, and instead of working on a set of defensive spells that Harry had been having trouble with, they talked about his relationship with Draco and the events of the last week. When their time was over, Harry mentally kicked himself in the butt for not talking to the werewolf or to Severus before this. Remus’ final words still echoed in his mind.

“Harry, you’ve been functioning as an adult for over a year now, and that’s caused you to forget that you still don’t know everything yet, especially when it comes to relationships. Don’t let your freedom, your independence make you forget that there are older people around who’ve been through similar problems before. Just yesterday I was talking to Professor Flitwick about an argument I had with Sev. We all need advice and help on occasion, and you have many people who are willing to help you out, if you will let them.”

Remus was right, and the only reason he wasn’t going to keep kicking himself over it was that he had a class of second year students waiting for him to teach them the effects of various curses and hexes on vampires. His mind focused on the lesson as he entered the already full classroom, and he was shocked to see a few of the students actually wince. It reminded him of reactions that Professor Snape got when entering a classroom.

“Who can tell me the effects of the jelly legs jinx on a vampire?” He asked in a friendly voice, giving the shaking Ravenclaw who correctly answered five points. By the end of the class, his students had all left happy, apparently, that they had their old teacher back.

The rest of the day passed much better for Harry, and he soon felt himself getting back into the soothing rhythm of life at Hogwarts. There was no sign of Ron throughout the day, and at dinner, McGonagall announced without explanation that Ernie McMillan of Hufflepuff would be completing the year as Head Boy. After dinner, Harry chose to attend the DA sessions, pairing off with Draco and dueling fiercely.

Neither noticed that by their third spell exchange, the entire group of fifty students had stopped and were now watching. Remus had set a shield around them so that their bounced spells wouldn’t hit the other students. As they progressed into the duel, they went from basic spells to an extensive repertoire of spells taught in seventh year, to spells only taught for Auror training. They summoned creatures, dispelled them, caught each other in binds that were quickly broken. Draco even used the thorned vine spell Neville had captured Cho with, but Harry broke it before the vines passed his knees. Harry’s new wand was fitting perfectly into his hand and he found himself very grateful for having wielded the Sword of Gryffindor since the wand was longer and heavier than his old wand. Finally, he managed to get Draco with an unexpected stunning charm, and as Draco f ell, Remus lifted the shield. Everyone applauded after Harry revived Draco and the two bowed as if they had intended to put on a display.

With that, they left the room in a hurry; they had some sudden, urgent business with the bed in their room.

Unfortunately for their intended business, they found Hermione and Ginny waiting outside their rooms. With a sigh, Harry welcomed them warmly and opened the portrait before inviting them inside. Both seemed very nervous as they sat on couches around the fireplace, but it was Ginny who finally spoke up.

“It’s about Ron.” Ginny said quickly, almost wincing when she said the name.

“If he’s convinced you to come here and plead on his behalf, forget it.” Draco said

“No!” Ginny said, her face flushing. “I wouldn’t defend that slimy git! I’m glad Mum and Dad have decided to disown him and Percy. Mum’s already taken their arms off the clock and replaced them with arms for you two!”

“Then, what is it?” Harry asked with a little smile.

“He’s left Hogwarts for good.” Ginny said. “McGonagall found a note in his room saying he was leaving and wouldn’t be back.”

“We figured that, since Ernie’s now Head Boy.” Draco said.

“It’s not all, though.” Ginny said, squirming a little now. “He showed up at the Burrow and told Mum that Harry had killed Wood on purpose and that Draco had said so. Mum got so mad when he said that she blasted him out of the house without any of his things. He kept on banging on the door trying to get in, but the wards refused to recognize him. Mum gathered all his stuff and threw it out on lawn. Supposedly he gathered it all up and no one has seen or heard from him. Mum wanted you to know.”

“Thank you Ginny.” Harry said with a smile. “We changed the wards on Black Manor on Sunday so I doubt he’ll be a problem there. Is there anything else?”

“No, just that I still consider you a friend.” Ginny said softly.

“Thank you, Ginny.” Harry said with a soft smile. “We consider you a friend too, and hope you will still be a part of our wedding ceremony.”

“Oh thank you!” Ginny cried, leaping off the couch and landing on Harry in a hug. She quickly transferred it to Draco before leaving the room to seek out whoever it was she was dating this week. (Harry had long since given up hope of keeping track.)

“So, what can we do for you?” Draco asked Hermione, his voice almost teasing.

“Oh, let me watch the next time you and Harry go at it?” Hermione said crossly, causing Harry and Draco to both blush and all three to burst out laughing. Her words though, said that as far as she was concerned there was nothing wrong between them.

“Request denied.” Draco said haughtily when he’d stopped laughing.

“Thank Merlin!” Hermione said with a laugh. “No, a little more seriously, I came to ask if you still wanted me in your wedding party? I mean I’m due to have the baby shortly before the wedding date, but Madame Pomfrey said I should be back on my feet by then, but I didn’t know if you wanted someone who…”

“Hermione, take a deep breath.” Harry said calmly. She’d been having these panic attacks for the last month now. “We aren’t going to change our minds about the wedding ceremony, or about the governess and apartment in Hogsmeade. We aren’t going to drop you because Ron finally showed his true nature and we aren’t going to turn our backs on you. If you don’t remember, you are now officially my oldest friend and I can think of no one better to stand for me at my wedding!”

“Oh, Harry.” Hermione sighed with tears in her eyes. “I’ve been meaning to ask this, but would you two be the godfathers of my baby?”

“We’d be delighted to.” Draco said immediately, answering for both of them. Of course this called for a group hug, and Harry jumped when he felt the baby kick.

“He likes his godparents!” Hermione laughed while rubbing her sore belly. “I swear I’ll be glad to give birth just so I don’t have to feel the kicking anymore!”

“Hermione, have you figured out what you’re going to do after school?” Harry asked her after they sat back down.

“You mean what I really want to do, or the dream world that Ron was trying to create where we lived happily ever after? Hermione said with bitterness in her voice. That was when Harry realized she did still care about Ron, and that his departure must have hurt her greatly.

“I mean the future where you can do, or be, anything that you want.” Harry told her firmly.

“I’d love to be a researcher.” Hermione said wistfully. “You know, research new spells, charms, and things like that. I really love it, but it requires so much money. You have to have a good library, a good lab, and have to have the money to spend years on research before any spell can be copyrighted.”

“Twenty percent of your earnings on those copyrights and we’ll front you everything you need.” Draco said before Harry could open his mouth. He shut his mouth and realized Draco was right. She wouldn’t accept charity at this point. Her pride was developing very, very strongly.”

“I’d love to Draco.” She said with a wistful smile. “I love Black Manor now that you’ve fixed it up and your library is one of the best besides Hogwarts but I don’t know if I feel comfortable there or raising my child there. Every time I’ve been there over the past year it feels like I don’t belong and I haven’t even been comfortable enough in the library to read there! It’s so unusual and I don’t know if I could live there. I spent a lot of time with Millie and Pansy over the summer there and I even have gotten to like them a lot. They’ve been very helpful even here at school. They keep visiting me in my rooms and we talk all the time now, but whenever we’re at Black Manor it seems like they belong and I don’t!”

“You’ve become friends with Pansy and Millie?” Draco asked in shock.

“Yes.” Hermione said, a look Harry knew very well appearing on her face. She was arguing with herself over something. When she spoke next, her voice held that thoughtful tone he knew meant she was speaking a hypothesis she’d been deliberating for some while.

“I know that Pansy was a Death Eater.” She admitted. “I also know all the Slytherins that were there over the summer are somehow connected to you two and are doing things that you tell them to do. I overhead Pansy and Millie talking about how you’d gotten Michael Corner a job at the Ministry and how he’d reported something that you didn’t like before they saw me and shut up. I kind of figured that you two were running something to give those that were Death Eaters an option besides Voldemort or Dumbledore, but I haven’t been able to figure out exactly what. I know you Harry, and although you’ve changed you still haven’t changed enough to use Dark Magic and you haven’t acted like someone who has done that stuff.”

Harry shared a very long look with Draco. He knew how smart his friend was, and they had discussed so many scenarios like this that they had several plans on how to handle things. Draco nodded, mouthing a word that told Harry his opinion clearly. Harry took his wand out and cast a silencing charm on the only portrait in the room, a landscape above the fireplace.

“Hermione, what do you know about Blood Oaths?” Harry asked her in a calm voice. Her face scrunched up a bit as she thought through his question.

“Of course! It makes sense now!” She exclaimed excitedly. “You’ve performed a Blood Oath with the Slytherins! Probably with both of you as the lords and the Oath Stone is in the library which is why I feel like I don’t belong there because I’m not part of the Oath! What were the conditions of the Oath?”

“That we seek to preserve the wizarding community, and prevent the dilution of wizarding power through unnecessary mixed marriages.” Draco told her.

“What about mudbloods like me?” She asked him with a sharp frown. “Keep us out of important positions? Keep us from schooling?”

“Actually, no.” Draco replied calmly. “It is quite the consensus in Slytherin House that people like you deserve the best education they can receive. We’ve grown up and moved past silly prejudices that don’t really do the wizarding world any good. You obviously are smart, and strong in magic and will probably do the Longbottom line good for having your blood mixed with theirs. Sure, your child won’t be as pure as it would be if both of you had been purebloods, but it will not be a mudblood because the parents were a wizard and a witch. There’s no shame or problems with that. In fact, I know for a fact that three pureblood families are interested in having their sons court you as a future wife.”

“What?” She asked, her eyes wide. “Who?”

“Nott, O’Mally, and Zabini.” Draco told her. “Not the Zabini in school, but the one who graduated two years ago. Their lines, like the Longbottoms, often suffer too much from inbreeding and mixing fresh blood like yours helps to preserve and strengthen them.”

“So I’m nothing but a breeding cow?” Hermione said angrily.

“Just like I am, and like Harry here.” Draco replied smoothly. “But that is only part of it. You see, you’ve already earned a name for yourself as the best friend of Harry Potter, the smartest witch currently in Hogwarts, as well as a strong and brave witch who sticks to her wand when the going gets rough. There’s not a pureblood family out there who doesn’t wish you were pureblood so they could offer your parents large sums of money in order for you to marry their sons.”

“Are you serious?” Hermione gasped, her hand going to her belly.

“Yes,” Draco replied simply. “I know the idea must seem revolting to you because you grew up in the muggle world, but genetics and breeding are the key to survival for the magical world, a world you now belong to. Tell me, do you want your child growing up being told what to do by muggles or do you want to your child to grow up and be who they want, and can be in the magical world? Believe me, coming from the Longbottom line and from you, your child will be well respected in this world.”

“But I don’t understand why…” Hermione began, but Harry cut them off.

“Hermione, think about it this way.” Harry told her softly. “The only reason the wizarding world exists as it does today is because it is strong enough to stay hidden and to regulate itself. In order to keep its strength, each generation of wizards and witches must be strong enough to use their magic to keep us hidden. Voldemort took the fact that strength mostly comes from those born to parents who are both magical and twisted that into a hatred matching his own hatred for his muggle father. The fact that good, strong, witches and wizards can come from muggle or squib families is something that he managed to obscure in his twisting of wizarding history. Dumbledore realized this but he went a little overboard in opposing Voldemort. Instead of opposing the man and the way he used pureblood history and beliefs, he attacked the ideals of Voldemort and that divided the wizarding world. What we’re doing is healing that breach so that both sides win. Emphasis on pureblood marriages and strong children will remain a part of the wizarding world, but we won’t discriminate against half-blood and muggle-born either. It is possible to do both, but during the hatred and violence in Voldemort’s rise to power, that little fact got lost.”

“What about Hogwarts?” Hermione asked calmly, her eyes reflecting the fact that her powerful brain was working hard on what he’d said. “Will it be closed to those not of pureblood status? I know you two have seats on the Board of Governors so you obviously intend to do something.”

“Have you noticed how overcrowded the school is getting?” Harry asked her. “How the classes are getting so big that next year McGonagall is considering stopping joint House classes? The staff are talking about how to enlarge the dorms so they can fit more students?”

“Yes.” Hermione said shortly, waiting for him to continue.

“Britain needs a new school.” Draco said. “We need a new school to take in the growing amount of kids in our community. Oh, right now Hogwarts can handle it, but in twenty or thirty years it will be extremely difficult. Harry and I plan to study how Hogwarts was made and then found a new school when we’re much older. A smaller school, a little more specialized, with the finest teachers around. It will be governed by the same Board of Hogwarts and will be run in conjunction with this school, not in competition.”

“Let me guess, only purebloods?” Hermione said with a snort.

“No.” Harry told her. “Only the best, the brightest, the strongest. It will start educating at third-year level instead of first. Students at Hogwarts, no matter their background, who have proven themselves to be among the strongest, most cunning, and most intelligent in their years will receive an invitation to attend for the rest of their schooling. They’ll receive the best education because they have the ability. If that school existed today, you’d be attending there.”

“So, this is what your Blood Oath is about? She asked him, looking deep into Harry’s eyes. “Not discriminating, but keeping the wizarding world strong?”

“Yes.” Harry replied with the utmost of honesty.

“I want in.” She told him, shocking him tremendously. He expected her to accept the fact that the Oath existed, but he never though she’d want to take it!

“What?” Draco asked, obviously in equal shock.

“Those who take this Oath are in your inner circle, right?” She demanded. “They are the ones you listen to the most, who you trust the most?”

“Hermione, you don’t need to take the Oath for me to listen to you.” Harry told her.

“But I do if I want them to listen to me as well.” She told him, and her words made sense. “If I’m going to be a part of your household then I will need to be bound to your Oath just like everyone else is, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

“You win.” Draco said, holding his hands up in defeat and smiling at her. “After your baby is born, though. The Oath would bind the baby you are carrying and no child should be subjected to that.”

“Thank you, Draco.” She said with a very kind smile. “The fact that you said that settles any doubt I may still have had about the Oath. You really have changed.”

“You’re welcome.” Draco replied, his own face bearing a smile that Harry knew he only revealed to those he considered family.

“Oh, before I go.” Hermione said as she stood up, this time she bore a quite wicked smile. “You don’t have to worry about Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. Weasley searching for mothers to bear your children any more. She’s found them and they’ll be sending their acceptance of the contract very soon.”

“What?” Harry gasped, this news taking him by total surprise and making his stomach feel like it was filled with lead.

“When Ginny and I told Molly about our relationship last night, she thought we’d make the perfect couple to bear your children and she called Narcissa by floo immediately. Ginny and I talked to her and she decided even though I’m muggle-born that she couldn’t think of a better combination. They’ll be owling the contracts to us tomorrow and then they’ll present the contracts to you at Christmas.”

“You and Ginny!” Harry exclaimed in complete shock.

“Yes, I knew I loved Weasleys.” Hermione said with a gleam in her eye as she moved towards the portrait. “I just never thought of Ginny until a few weeks ago. She’s ever so much better in bed than Ron could have dreamed of being! Good night!”

Harry turned to Draco as she walked out, speechless. His blond lover had a look of shock on his face that matched his own. Draco’s mouth moved for several minutes before he actually uttered a sound.

“Our children…” Draco muttered, his voice drifting off.

“Mothered by a Weasley?” Harry finished for him.

“My mother…” Draco muttered.

“Accepted a muggle-born as one of the mothers?” Harry finished for him, the same thoughts running through his own head.

“I can’t think about this right now…” Draco muttered.

“So I’ll kiss you.” Harry said with a grin, fitting actions to his words and placing a gentle, loving kiss on those pale lips. Draco leaned hungrily into the kiss and all thoughts of children, and their mothers, fled from both of their minds.

A/N – Before anyone gets into a long essay on the children aspect of things here, let me clarify how things work in my version of JK Rowling’s world. Basically, the wizard population has a higher rate of gay/lesbian relationships and developed spells to allow such couples to have children. Similar to cloning in the muggle world, the cell strips the egg in the female of any DNA from the host mother and combines the DNA of the males in the egg causing fertilization. Side effect of this process is that the only possible gender of such combining will be male children. For two mothers, the DNA of one egg is combined with that of an egg from the other mother and only girl children will result.

How it will work for this situation is that one ‘mother’ will have a boy child that is Harry & Draco’s. The other will bear a daughter that is Hermione’s and Ginny’s. Next time around, they’ll have another set of kids until the mother’s decide they don’t want to bear any other children. This way both couples get children that are theirs, and all of it is paid for by Harry and Draco (very expensive, very complex magic).

As for why Narcissa might allow a non-pureblood to be a mother for the children, who says that Hermione will actually bear the male child? Ginny might be bearing all the boys and Hermione all the girls. Presented with an option where the woman bearing her grandchildren will be born by a pureblood, and where she finds two girls that have been close friends with Harry for many years, she might just grab onto the opportunity with both hands.