Chapter Text
Harry could barely contain his excitement as he sat waiting at the Three Broomsticks. He wasn’t the only person obviously waiting for students to appear, but he had gotten here earlier than all the rest.
Part of that was his need — somewhat thanks to Auror training but mostly due to the war — to keep an eye on the door. But the other part was just that he couldn’t sit around alone at Grimmauld Place for another moment.
He was not, thank Merlin, home very often for the loneliness to consume him, but Harry didn’t like it when it did. It made him think of Sirius, trapped there, and long for those nights during winter holidays with Hermione.
Wanting to see her again this badly might be a bad sign, especially when he was sure she wasn’t spending her time thinking like this, but he justified it with the knowledge that she was, first and foremost, his best friend. He and Ron were close too, of course, but Ron had left them. It had changed the way Harry saw his two best friends, the way he related to each of them.
Ron dumping Hermione had been another wedge between them. And then Ginny dumping him. Honestly, Harry doubted he would be seeing much of Ron these days if it weren’t for Auror training. And he wouldn’t be upset about it. Ron was a fun mate when he was in a good mood, but Harry knew too much about his darker side.
Every time the door opened, Harry’s heart started pounding. He watched as a few students began to trickle in, hoping she would be among the first — as eager to see him as he was to see her. He tried not to be sad or irritable when she wasn’t.
When their official meeting time came and went with still no sign of her, Harry started to worry that something might have happened to her. All her letters said it was a quiet year — nothing like the seven preceding it — but it was hard to imagine Hogwarts as a simple, quiet school.
Just as he was about to get up and search for her, the door opened, and Hermione came in. She looked both gorgeous and nervous. Some kind of news then, something she wasn’t sure he would like. Behind her, Draco Malfoy and someone Harry vaguely recognized as the Head Boy, Theodore Nott, walked in. Something that involved the two Slytherins Hermione had befriended then.
Harry took a deep breath. Hermione had told him repeatedly at Christmas and in her letters that those two were now some of her best friends. He could try to set aside past feelings for Hermione’s sake.
The three spotted him immediately, Hermione knowing exactly which booth he would choose. To his immense relief, after a few whispered words — of encouragement perhaps? Harry was trying to get better at reading people — the two boys, men really, headed to a booth of their own. Harry did notice that it gave them an open view of where he was sitting. He didn’t love that, but again he would let it go for Hermione’s sake.
He stood as she approached the table, breathing easier the second she was enveloped in his arms. Harry was shocked to feel that she was trembling in his embrace. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.
She confirmed his assumptions by starting nervously, “I have some news, Harry. And I don’t know how you’re going to take it. But… I have a plan for how we can handle it. If you even… well. I don’t know. A plan for how I will handle things.”
Harry brought his hand up to gently tug her lip from between her teeth. He wished they were somewhere more private so he could use his own lips instead. However, that wasn’t the proper thought to be having, not when Hermione was so distressed.
“Just tell me, Hermione. I defeated the oh-so-evil ‘Dark Lord’. I can handle whatever this is,” he joked lightly, hoping it would make her smile. It worked a little bit. At least she didn’t seem as scared.
“Let’s sit down,” she said, moving to her side of the booth. He knew she didn’t like to face away from the door either since the war, so Harry knew this was a concession she made for him. “You might… might need to be sitting down,” she faltered, gesturing toward the bench.
Truly worried now, Harry sat, observing her carefully. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that the two Slytherins were watching as well, not even pretending to enjoy their Butterbeer.
Before he could decide what else to say, Hermione blurted it out in a hurried whisper. “Harry, I’m pregnant.”
“You’re what?” he asked, too stunned to process her words.
“Pregnant, Harry. We’re having a baby.”
“We?” he managed, latching on to that. He tried to breathe as he began to realize what she was saying.
“Yes. It… it happened over the holidays,” Hermione explained, biting her lip hard enough he was afraid she would draw blood. Harry was too overwhelmed by what she was telling him to know how to respond, but he was all too aware of her.
Reaching across the table, he gently worked the lip out again. “You don’t need to do that,” he said.
“Don’t I?” she answered, sounding almost hysterical. He needed to give her a response that wasn’t just shock, something to let her know how he felt. If only he knew.
“Of course not,” Harry replied. Then, matching her whispers, “Pregnant.” Repeating the word felt like it should help, like it should make it make more sense, but it didn’t. “But you said you couldn’t…” he remembered, trailing off as he realized it was obviously a moot point.
“I didn’t think that I could. St. Mungo’s told me I couldn’t, and Madam Pomfrey says I may never be able to again, so I’m keeping the baby, Harry. But,” she paused, clearly holding back tears, “but you don’t have to be involved if you don’t want—”
“Not be involved?” Harry repeated, feeling a swooping sense of jealous protectiveness. There was no way he wasn’t going to be involved in his child’s life. “Merlin, that’s my kid! And you’re my…” He trailed off, unsure exactly what she was to him. “Hermione, I want this. I want the baby and I would never abandon you.”
“But Harry! The timing is terrible! You’re in training for another year and a half, and I’m… I don’t even know what I want to do yet and—”
“Why would any of that matter?” he asked, truly befuddled. “We’re going to have a baby!” Harry’s voice was no longer a whisper, but thankfully not yet a shout.
He cringed as he looked around to see if anyone had heard. That was the last thing they needed while trying to figure this out. The only ones looking at them were the two Slytherins, who seemed if anything, more nervous than Hermione now.
For the first time since walking through the door, Hermione smiled. “We are. You… you aren’t angry?”
“Why in Merlin’s name would I be angry?” Harry asked, starting to feel, if anything, absolutely elated. They were having a baby, a family. He was going to have a family with his best friend in the world. What could be better?
“I was just so afraid. I want you to be a part of this, but I wasn’t sure if you would want—”
“A baby? A family? Hermione, there is nothing I have ever wanted more than a family,” Harry said sincerely. His heart was starting to pound with excitement.
“But Harry, there’s the shoddy timing. And it’s my fault, really, since I said we didn’t need contraceptives. And there’s Ginny.”
Harry’s elation stepped down a notch. This was going to be a nightmare with the Weasleys. “It will be okay,” he assured her, reaching for her hands. “It’s all going to be fine. We’ll be a proper family.”
Hermione bit her lower lip again. “That’s another thing, though. I have a plan, you see.”
He grinned. “Of course you do.”
“Don’t joke about it yet, Harry. You may not like this at all,” she admonished.
“I may not always love your ideas, but I have to admit they usually work out for the best. I’m sure this one will, too,” Harry told her confidently. He couldn’t say he liked the way her eyes darted over to the two men she had come in with, but he supposed she still needed courage for whatever this was.
“There are going to be more than just you and I and the baby,” she said quietly.
Brows knitting together, Harry asked, “What do you mean?”
Speaking so quickly it almost ran together, Hermione laid out her plan. “You and I are going to be very busy, and Mrs. Weasley isn’t going to want to help us. And neither of us has parents to help out, so… I want Theo and Draco to help us raise the baby.”
Harry jerked back from where he had been leaning in to hear her better. Surely she hadn’t just suggested what he thought she had. “Pardon?” he said, unable to voice anything else.
“Theo and Draco aren’t going to have regular careers. They don’t need them with their wealth, so if they lived with us, they would be able to stay home with the baby. And they both desperately want children, but they’re together, you see, and—”
“You want Malfoy to raise our child?” Harry hissed, barely managing to keep his voice down. Rage pulsed through his veins. Did she honestly not think he could handle being a father on his own? Nerves roiled in his stomach that she might be right, but Harry shook his head. “I know I’ve never had a decent father figure, but they’re both the sons of Death Eaters. I can’t be worse off than them.”
“You’ll be an amazing father, Harry! That’s not what this is about,” Hermione said, her lip trembling and eyes glassy with tears she was barely holding back. Harry felt instantly guilty, but he still couldn’t believe what she was proposing.
“Why them?” he asked, trying to keep the growling tone out of his voice.
“They’ve been there for me, Harry, in all the ways you can’t be while you’re in training and I’m in school. They helped me get through Ron’s break-up. They’ve held me at night when I wake up screaming from the nightmares. They aren’t our enemies anymore.” Hermione’s voice shook, but he could hear the passionate strength beneath it. She really meant this.
Some of that speech stirred feelings of inadequacy and maybe even jealousy in Harry, bringing his rage to a halt. He hated that he hadn’t been there for her through those things. He hadn’t even known about the nightmares, though he certainly had them, too, so he should have guessed. “I’m sorry, Hermione,” he offered, clutching her hand.
“You don’t need to be,” she reassured him, squeezing back. “You’ve listened when you could. But that’s part of what I mean. We can’t be together right now, and I need support. They’re with me already.”
Now he definitely felt jealous, but Harry did his best to curb it. This is what was best for Hermione, for their child. “Do we have to be with them?” he asked, unable to contain his shudder at the idea.
“In a relationship? Merlin, no. They wouldn’t want that. And truly, Harry, they’re wonderful once you get to know them,” Hermione pleaded.
“So I should probably start that if they’re going to be part of our family,” Harry said, gritting his teeth to hold back his emotions on the matter.
Hermione went still in what Harry assumed was shock. He couldn't blame her. He was a little shocked he was handling this so well himself. Perhaps the lessons in calming mindfulness they were taking as part of training weren’t as rubbish as he had thought. “Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.
“I can’t guarantee we’ll get along, and if we don’t, then it won’t be a healthy environment for our baby and another plan will be necessary. But I am open to the idea and I want to try, since it’s important to you,” he answered her honestly.
Hermione beamed at him, then turned and waved to the other two. As Draco and Theodore walked over in a careful, dignified way, she moved to sit on the bench next to Harry. He was nervous suddenly, but the feel of her pressed to his side helped calm him. Wondering if she also needed reassurance, he reached for her hand again, smiling at her when she warmly accepted it.