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Most of Harry’s classmates were returning for an eighth year since most of them hadn’t returned for their seventh year and those that did didn’t learn the correct information during that year. All the students that had started or continued school last year were basically doing a repeat year and would have an eighth year to make up for the incorrect school year. Which also meant that Hogwarts temporarily had extra dorms for each of the houses for the eighth years.
There were quite a few Slytherins that were coming back for an eighth year as well. Contrary to popular belief, Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini had not followed Voldemort and were either trying to stay neutral to slip under his radar or were quietly undermining him and actively chose to fight against him during the Battle of Hogwarts. Narcissa Malfoy had also been a spy along with her son during the war.
It didn’t take long to rebuild Hogwarts with how many wizards and witches were working on it. Since the battle took place at what would have been the end of the school year, that meant that the entire summer holidays were spent repairing the school and the wards since there were no students there and it wouldn’t interfere with classes. Which meant that by the start of the next term, the school was ready and reopened.
Harry had spent the summer between the Weasleys and Grimmauld with Sirius, Remus, and Tonks who were all staying there. Harry was helping completely renovate Grimmauld and Remus and Sirius had been helping Harry (along with Bill) go through his account at Gringotts since he apparently had more than one vault and multiple properties that he wasn’t to receive until he came of age. He was just a tad overwhelmed with everything.
It had also taken a bit for everybody to heal from the final battle, even with Madam Pomfrey’s expert care. Fred had nearly died along with Remus and Sirius. Tonks had also barely escaped a curse from her aunt. And the mental toll that Harry’s supposed death had on everybody (particularly Molly, Remus, and Sirius) caused them to constantly want eyes on him just to make sure he was really there and unharmed for the most part. While he loved them, it was making him go a little mental.
He’d also met up with other friends while they all helped rebuild Hogwarts and see Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade get restored to the lively places they were before. Some of them helped with Weasleys Wizard Wheezes while the twins both healed from their injuries. George had already made jokes that Harry was no longer the only scarred member of the family since nearly every single one of them had some sort of scar now. While he laughed, he was more touched that they all considered him part of the family even if he wasn’t dating Ginny anymore.
Once the war ended, he and Ginny had had a discussion and realized that they were better as friends. Besides, she’d started to get a crush on someone else, no matter how much she denied it. Hermione and Ron finally got together, and later on Ginny ended up with two girlfriends: Luna Lovegood and Pansy Parkinson. And then she quipped that she had more charm than most of her brothers, to which Fred and George promptly argued the point. Both for themselves, and Harry despite Harry not really wanting all the people that had tried to go out with him in school.
During everything, they’d all gotten a bit closer to Pansy, Blaise, and Draco. Once it was revealed that they were never supporters - or true supporters - of Voldemort, they’d all been tentatively invited to join their friend group if they wanted. Especially with some of the other Slytherins being rather awful about their supposed betrayal.
And that’s how he and Blaise started getting close. Which then led to Harry getting a huge crush on him.
And his friends would not leave him alone about it once they found out (Ginny was a snitch, and not in the Quidditch way).
The platform was packed when they got there to get on the train. Harry made his way on the train as soon as he said goodbye to everyone he needed to, wanting to get out of being forced to talk to people he didn’t want to. He also knew it’d be best to grab a compartment for him and his friends earlier rather than later. Especially since other people may try to make it hard for their friend group to get their own compartments just so they could try and either befriend them for fame reasons or get noticed a bit more because they were near them. Harry had had enough of that to last him a lifetime and he knew others would keep trying it. At least for a while.
Blaise and Hermione were the next of his friends on the train. Luna, Ginny, and Pansy all got another compartment since their friend group was simply too big to fit into one compartment comfortably. Blaise sat next to him and Hermione across from him. Harry was next to the window, preferring to not sit next to the door to the compartment so other students couldn’t just poke their head in and see or talk to him. He learned this on the train ride from Hogwarts to King’s Cross after the end of his first year.
He saw some people look in the compartment as they made their way to get their own (though some seemed to be considering trying to join Harry’s until Hermione glared at them), and it seemed as though Blaise moved a bit closer to Harry and moved to try and shield him from as many of those looks as possible. Of course, Harry could’ve been imagining it but the look he saw Hermione give him meant that he wasn’t imagining things. The thought that Blaise was trying to shield him from things made his cheeks flush and butterflies start fluttering in his stomach.
After a little more time, the rest of their friend group made their way into the two compartments. Ron, Draco, and Neville made their way into Harry’s, with Draco sitting next to Blaise and Ron sitting next to Hermione with Neville next to him. Once they were all in their compartment, they drew the curtains to it and closed the door so they wouldn’t have others continuously looking inside to see them as they passed to their own compartments. It wasn’t much longer before the train left the station and they started talking about the upcoming year. From what they’d heard of the year prior at Hogwarts, a lot of the Dark Arts were taught, which made DADA a more important class to try and undo some of that. It was being jointly taught by Remus and Sirius this year, which most everybody was excited about. After he’d been cleared after Harry’s fifth year, Sirius had become an Auror and taken up the seat for the House of Black in the Wizengamot to help vote on laws. He took a leave from being an Auror (namely until a more permanent DADA professor was chosen) for a bit but was still on the Wizengamot, which was going to be meeting for the first time since the war ended fairly soon. With Kinglsey in charge at the Ministry, it was being fixed and rebuilt slowly but steadily. Harry and his friends had even been asked for their input on certain things. Harry was also going to take up his seat in the Wizengamot (apparently there was one for the Potter family just like the Black family and other long-standing families) once he finished this year at Hogwarts.
He might be able to have a mostly normal year. Sure, he’d have people staring at him, but there was a good chance he wouldn’t almost die this year or need to save the school. At least not with Voldemort gone. He was also looking forward to another Quidditch season (he was Captain again) and possibly winning the Cup this year without him being unable to play due to detentions from certain professors.
Hermione also asked what everyone was planning to do after Hogwarts in terms of careers. Some of them hadn’t thought that far ahead when Voldemort was still around and they weren’t sure if he was going to be defeated or how long it would take or who would be killed in the process. Harry mentioned that while he’d originally thought about being an Auror, he wasn’t sure anymore since most of the Death Eaters had been killed or captured and Moody thought the rest should be rounded up by the end of the year. Hermione then suggested he could always teach DADA since he’d done so well with the DA. Draco and Blaise looked confused and asked about what that was. Harry had forgotten that the DA wasn’t busted until later in the year and due to Kingsley placing a memory charm on Marietta and her refusing to say anything after Hermione’s hex took effect, most others didn’t know about it.
“Well, Harry taught a lot of us proper Defense Against the Dark Arts during fifth year since Umbridge wasn’t going to do it,” Hermione mentioned. “He was a rather good teacher, too.”
“‘Rather good’? ‘Mione, he taught most of us how to conjure the Patronus charm. You said it was difficult to even make a shield, let alone the corporeal ones many of us accomplished,” Ron added. Draco and Blaise just looked over at Harry. While they knew that he’d been able to cast a Patronus since at least fifth year (third if anybody remembered when he cast a Patronus at some Slytherins trying to make him think Dementors were under him), nobody except the DA knew that he’d been able to teach others in his year and other years to cast them.
“If you were able to do that, you'd definitely be able to handle teaching DADA at Hogwarts. Especially since it means there’ll be a competent professor each year instead of the chaos we had to deal with,” Draco stated. Blaise was still looking at Harry, and he felt his cheeks warming a bit.
“I think you’d make a great professor,” Blaise said, before lowering his voice more so that only Harry would hear what he said next, “and it’d be damn hot too.”
Harry spluttered for a moment, but before he had a chance to respond, the train had arrived. They all got out of the train and saw Hagrid, as usual, calling for all the first years after saying hi to the group, causing a bunch of the first years to whip their heads towards them when Hagrid mentioned Harry’s name.
He ignored the looks of other students as they made their way to the carriages. Everybody who’d been involved in the war at some point and/or was at the Battle of Hogwarts could now see the Thestrals that Harry’s been able to see for a few years. Most of the younger students still seemed to think the carriages were horseless as they clambered into theirs. Harry ended up sitting next to Blaise again, feeling the heat of his body pressed against his side through their uniforms. He thought he did a pretty good job fighting the blush creeping into his face and neck, but he wasn’t sure how successful he actually was.
They walked in together and the group only split once they got to the Great Hall and split to go to their respective house tables. As they split, Harry felt Blaise slip a piece of parchment into his hand, turning to wink at Harry before continuing on his way to Slytherin table. Harry pocketed the parchment to read without his friends’ prying eyes.
Harry looked up at the staff table and waved to Sirius, Remus, and McGonagall before he sat down between Neville and Ginny with Ron and Hermione sitting across from them. The chatter in the Great Hall briefly quieted as the new students were sorted (anyone who was put in Gryffindor immediately tired to covertly look at Harry) and McGonagall gave a start of term speech. It picked back up once the tables filled with food and everybody started eating.
Like usual they went up to their common room after the feast and eventually made their way to their dorms. The layout of the dorm was still the same and Harry greeted Seamus and Dean when they came in. The five of them talked a bit about what they did between the Battle and the start of the new school year. Some of them Harry’d seen helping with the cleanup and repairs of the castle, but he wasn’t sure what else they’d been up to since they hadn’t been as involved as himself, Hermione, and the Weasleys had. After they talked for a bit, they all got changed and went to bed. Once he was in bed with the curtains drawn, he lit his wand and took out the parchment from Blaise.
Harry,
Meet me tomorrow before dinner in the abandoned classroom near the Great Hall. See you soon.
Blaise
Smiling to himself, Harry put the parchment away again. Maybe Hermione was right about Blaise liking him back. He sure hoped so, he thinks he might cry if this was about anything other than Blaise maybe having feelings for him. Harry’s dreams were filled with dark skin and kind eyes.
~~Blaise~~
Blaise sat down next to Draco with Pansy across from them. They both smirked at each other when they noticed her turn to blow a kiss to each of her girlfriends before she sat down and turned to face them. She saw their faces and swatted at them.
“So, I saw you slip something into Potter’s hand,” Draco started, looking at Blaise with curiosity. “Are you finally going to ask him out?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Blaise said cryptically, but he saw both Draco and Pansy smile and laugh.
“That’s a yes,” Pansy remarked, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her clasped hands. “Is it something rom-com inspired where you ask him to meet you during a free period in a secluded area?”
Blaise just blushed a bit. Her grin widened to the point it was almost a little scary.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she remarked. “I think that’ll be enough to finally convince Harry that you have feelings for him. For a smart guy, he’s so oblivious to people flirting with him and is terrible at hiding when he likes somebody.”
“To be fair, a lot of the people that would flirt with him before were after his status and fame and everything rather than because they knew and liked him as a person,” Draco remarked. They all still remembered the students interested in him during their fourth year and again during their sixth. It must’ve been a nightmare.
The rest of their evening was spent talking about various subjects, with teasing of Blaise’s crush interspersed into the conversation. He was glad to go to bed that night and be rid of them for a few hours. And it meant he was a few hours closer to telling Harry about his feelings and maybe getting a date.
~~Harry~~
Harry was buzzing with anticipation all day. Not only were they getting their schedules, but he was meeting Blaise after all their lessons. Class schedules were handed out to the eighth years first, and he noticed that they were the first to have DADA, which he was pretty happy about, especially since Snape wasn’t teaching that class anymore. He was also excited for Potions since, again, Snape wasn’t teaching it anymore. He’d even enjoyed it somewhat during his sixth year. He also had Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology along with Ron. Hermione, of course, had a similar schedule to her sixth year just as the two of them did. The workload was going to be the main thing that changed.
He was briefly distracted from his meeting with Blaise during his first Defense lesson of the year. Siri and Remy (his nicknames for them along with Padfoot and Moony since they started having a bigger role in his life after third year) were both at the first class to introduce themselves and how they’d be jointly teaching the course. Harry knew it was so Siri could teach when the full moon was close and Remy could teach when Siri had business with the Wizengamot and Ministry that would take him out of commission for a day or two. He didn’t mind - he had his godfathers at Hogwarts with him making it easier to see them and spend time with them. They’d already agreed to have weekly meetings to talk and Remy wanted to be able to help Harry with his workload a bit if he needed it.
Potions was pretty good too, with Slughorn still talking about how Harry had his mother’s talent for potions much as he had a couple years prior. Harry enjoyed having him as a professor, though when the prior one he’d had was Snape, it didn’t take much to have a better professor.
Soon enough, it was getting closer to dinner and Harry decided he’d better head to that abandoned classroom. He wasn’t sure how early Blaise was going to be there, but he didn’t mind being there first if Blaise wasn’t already there.
After opening the door, he saw that Blaise was there already. He took a brief moment to look him up and down. He’d taken off his cloak, which was currently draped over one of the chairs, and Harry was able to see how sculpted he was, even through the rest of his uniform. Blaise looked up after the door closed, a smirk spreading across his lips once he saw it was Harry. Harry walked over to him, heart pounding his chest and a blush on his cheeks.
“So… what’d you want to see me about?” Harry asked, still feeling nervous about why Blaise wanted to meet like this.
“Well, I wanted to tell you something and ask you something too, if that’s alright with you,” Blaise responded, the smirk turning into more of a simple smile.
“Alright.”
“I have feelings for you,” Blaise said, looking into Harry’s eyes. He felt his heart skip a beat. “I have since fourth year but didn’t do anything before the war because it felt too dangerous. That, and I wasn’t sure if you liked blokes at all since you hadn’t come out yet.” Harry knew his cheeks must be bright red at this point, though he could also feel his lips quirk up into a smile. “So, I wanted to ask if you’d like to go on a date? Maybe next time we go to Hogsmeade?”
Harry laughed with a mixture of relief and elation. “Just as long as it’s not at Madam Puddifoot’s.”
“Merlin, I’d never want to have a date there! It seems like a nightmare.”
“I had one date there once. Would not recommend.”
Blaise laughed and moved closer to Harry, looking down from the slight height advantage he had on Harry. “Harry, do you think I could-”
“Blaise, just kiss me.”
Blaise smiled before leaning in and sealing his lips to Harry in a hesitant kiss. Once Harry kissed back it turned more passionate and any hesitancy Blaise had before melted away. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed in that room learning one another’s lips, but it both felt like hours and not nearly enough time. Harry found himself sucking in air greedily with his face covered in a blush and saw that Blaise was in a similar state.
“We should probably get to dinner,” Harry said once he collected himself.
“You’re probably right. Mind if I sit with you?”
“Sure. Don’t want to face Draco and Pansy yet? I’m guessing they know.”
Blaise rolled his eyes. “Next time I see them, they’re both going to harp on how they were right and try asking too many questions. I don’t feel like dealing with that during dinner. I’ll deal with it in the common room later.”
“Ron and Hermione may ask a question or two or give us a look, but they’ll wait to bombard me with questions until later.” Blaise laughed at that. Harry then thought of something as they walked towards the door once Blaise put his cloak back on. “Does this mean I can call you my boyfriend now?”
Blaise just smiled at him. “Only if I can call you my boyfriend back.”
He felt Blaise grab his hand as they made their way out of the classroom and into the Great Hall. He saw a few stares (Draco and Pansy were practically radiating “I told you so” energy) as they made their way to Gryffindor table where they sat across from Hermione and Ron. The two looked at them with matching smirks before they started talking about how the classes had gone that day.
~~~~
Harry gathered the parchment he’d collected from the class as the students left to go to their next lesson. There were only a few more days until Christmas holidays started and Harry couldn’t wait. He wasn’t one of the professors required to stay over the break this year and he was excited to go home and spend the time with his boyfriend.
After graduation (and once all the news stories about who Harry was dating had died down), Blaise and Harry decided to move in together once Harry had decided which of his properties he wanted to live in full-time. Siri and Remy had helped him go through each property and clean them up. Potter Manor was the one he felt most connected to and there were so many family heirlooms and connections within the manor that he hadn’t known existed until then. He also told Remy and Siri that they were welcome to visit or stay anytime. Especially since Siri lived here with his dad and grandparents when he ran away from home.
He’d had a housewarming party that all his friends came to, and he gave them a tour of the manor. They’d joked about the size and he just stated that it could be the designated location for their annual Christmas gathering. They all agreed. Molly had already found and commandeered the kitchen on more than one occasion. Blaise moved in shortly after that and he and Harry started placing their own items around the manor, including all the newer photos Harry had of his parents, friends, and new family. He also placed a few heirlooms he’d gotten around the house as well. They were replacing any of the stale air and atmosphere with a fresh homier one. Hedwig seemed to like the new house as well, it gave her plenty of hunting grounds.
Blaise, Draco, Ron, and Hermione all got jobs in the reformed Ministry of Magic. Ron became an Auror like he’d planned and Hermione was planning on moving up the ladder, starting with her taking a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Blaise got a job in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes as an Obliviator and Draco got a job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which made sense. Draco had been raised to be diplomatic.
Ginny, to nobody’s surprise, became a professional Quidditch player while Luna, Neville, and Harry all took jobs at Hogwarts to replace some of the retiring professors. Harry took over as the permanent DADA professor while Neville did Herbology and Luna took on Divination. He rather wished she’d been his professor instead of Trelawney when he’d taken the class. She wouldn’t have predicted his death in their first lesson. Probably.
He sighed as he deposited the scrolls of parchment on his desk once he was in his office. Just a few more days and he could relax at home in Blaise’s arms and host their annual Christmas party and see the rest of his family. He enjoyed teaching, but sometimes it could be so taxing.
A few days later, Harry flooed back to Potter Manor from his office shortly after the students going home left on the train. He arrived in the parlor and went to the entrance hall to take off his shoes and hand up his cloak. He also made a stop to his personal office to drop off the homework he’d have to grade over the break for his classes. That could wait until later. Blaise would be home soon and they could fully decorate. He saw that Blaise had put up some of the decorations and had gotten the tree, but they always decorated the tree and put up most of the other decorations once Harry got home. They’d been doing this for a couple years at this point and had it down to an art.
It wasn’t much longer before Blaise flooed home, having been able to leave early, and he and Harry greeted each other with a hug and a passionate kiss. They’d been apart too long, in Harry’s humble opinion, though Blaise seemed to share the sentiment if the way he was pulling at Harry’s clothing was any indication. He smiled into the kiss and pulled at his boyfriend’s clothing in turn as they stumbled their way to the bedroom.
A while later, they had the house fully decorated and had placed all the presents they’d already wrapped under the tree. He knew that he and Blaise likely still had a few more to wrap, but he’d been able to wrap most of his (both for Blaise and his friends and family) during free time at Hogwarts. He couldn’t wait to spend a few relaxing days with Blaise before Christmas arrived and they’d have the whole family come over. Blaise’s mother (“Please call me Alexandra”) would also be coming. She and Mrs. Weasley got along really well, to Harry and Blaise’s immense relief. Along with Narcissa and Andromeda, they tended to create their own group at each gathering. And Harry knew that they were making bets on which couple would get engaged first. He also knew Fred and George were most likely doing something similar, though not including their own relationships like the moms were.
“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Blaise said suddenly as he looked at Harry as they lay together on the sofa with cups of hot chocolate as they admired all the decorating they did. Harry just chuckled.
“You’re only saying that because I’m wearing your jumper like I usually do after we shag.”
“I said it because it’s true, just like always.”
“Oh hush,” Harry said, his neck and cheeks turning red with his blush. He just took another sip of his drink as he felt Blaise chuckled behind him and leaned into the warmth of his boyfriend. This was nice.
~~Blaise~~
Christmas morning came and he and Harry both woke up and stumbled down to the kitchen, both grabbing a cup of coffee. They sat in the silence of their kitchen for a bit as they slowly drank their coffee before heading into the living room where the tree was and went about opening gifts from each other. They always opened gifts between the two of them earlier in the day before the party started, just as their family and friends did.
Later in the day, both Harry and Blaise changed out of their pajamas. Blaise got the rest of the house ready while Harry started on things in the kitchen. Harry would start on some dishes, but Molly would always come and help finish the food and would actually be a bit mad if Harry’d done all the cooking without her. He learned that lesson once. Blaise made sure the decorations were all ready, the main rooms to be used tonight were clean and set up, and that all the guest rooms (many reserved for specific family and friends whenever they visited) would be ready should anybody stay over. They usually had multiple people stay over the night of their party. Especially those that drank a little too much Firewhiskey.
Like Draco.
As he was walking to check on a few more rooms, Blaise stopped into his and Harry’s room and headed for his dresser. He opened one of the drawers and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for and stowed it in his pocket before continuing on with his check of the manor.
Shortly after Blaise finished checking things over, the first guests started to arrive. And like every year, it was the Weasleys. Molly greeted him before heading off to the kitchen to help Harry finish the dishes he was working on. Arthur, Ron, Hermione, and Charlie had joined her. The rest of the Weasleys would be arriving later on.
As the evening went on, the rest of their guests arrived. Percy, Bill and a pregnant Fleur with Victoire, Fred with Angelina and George with Lee, Ginny with Luna and Pansy, Draco and his mother, Andy and Tonks, Remus and Sirius, Neville, and finally his own mother as well as Luna’s father. Blaise greeted them all and it didn’t take long after the last person arrived for Harry to come greet everybody and announce that the food was ready. They all moved into the large dining room they had, specifically for large family meals like this. When Harry had seen the size of the formal dining room at the manor, he decided he wanted to have large family meals there whenever possible. Especially after not having a family like the one he had now for so many years. That comment alone made Blaise want to kill the Dursleys that much more.
Everybody had a great time eating, with many compliments getting tossed to Harry and Molly in regards to the food. Everybody always enjoyed the food. Afterwards, they moved back into the main rooms and opened each other’s gifts before they all split into smaller groups within the party like they normally did. Christmas music was playing throughout all the rooms that the party was in, and people were having a fun time. Blaise even thought he saw a few new couples possibly forming during the course of the night.
Eventually, Blaise felt it was the right time.
He saw Harry, beautiful wonderful Harry, talking with a few of their friends. The lights from the decorations were reflecting in his eyes and bathing him in such a beautiful glow that Blaise felt his knees go weak. Like he’d said a few days ago (and many other times before and since), Harry was beautiful. Breathtaking, really.
Once Harry’s conversation ended, Blaise walked over to him as his friends moved back a little. Blaise figured a few possibly knew about his plans. Those sneaky little shits. He also pretended not to notice his mom excitedly whispering to Molly, Narcissa, and Andy.
He grabbed one of Harry's hands and held it before leaning in to talk to him in a low voice.
“I want to marry you.”
He saw Harry’s eyes go wide.
“W-What?” Harry managed to stutter out as he looked at Blaise. Blaise just smiled at him before slowly getting down on one knee and reaching a hand into his pocket to grab the box he’d placed there earlier while Harry looked on in apparent shock.
~~Harry~~
Harry stared at Blaise in shock as he kneeled on one knee before him. If he was more aware of the room, he would’ve noticed the excited gasps and wide eyes trained on them, but he was only aware of himself and Blaise at the moment.
Blaise was only looking at Harry, and a moment passed before he started talking again.
“Harry, I’ve had a crush on you since fourth year when you faced off against that dragon and managed to win so quickly and efficiently. And watching you fly has always been wonderful, if not a little worrisome at times. You allowed me to take you on a date four years later and agreed to be my boyfriend despite all the other people you could’ve chosen to date since you had no shortage of options. We’ve both gotten our dream jobs and have moved in together. I don’t want to be without you in my life, and I would love to be your husband, if you’d let me. Will you marry me?”
At the end of his speech, he pulled out a small box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a beautiful black band with an emerald set in it with intricate swirling patterns engraved into the band that sparkled in the light. Harry felt his eyes water a bit, and struggled to find his voice to respond like he needed to.
Finally finding some semblance of his voice, Harry finally opened his mouth to respond.
“Y-Yes! Yes!”
Blaise’s smile lit up the room more than the lights decorating it, and Harry was vaguely aware of cheers from their friends and family as Blaise slipped the ring on Harry’s finger before standing up and grabbing Harry in a tight embrace before sealing their lips together in a sweet kiss. They parted and rested their foreheads against each other’s while everything crashed into Harry. He was engaged, they were engaged . He didn’t know or care about any of the details right now, he was just going to bask in the glow he felt right now. Once they fully parted, everybody started congratulating them and Mrs. Weasley and Alexandra started mentioning things about the upcoming wedding along with Sirius. It made Harry laugh and he beamed knowing that so many people wanted to help and make it their dream wedding. He looked at the band as some of his friends asked to see it.
This was definitely the best gift he’d ever gotten.
~~Optional Bonus Scene (WarriorDragonRider, this especially is for you)~~
Harry sighed as he and Blaise relaxed in the garden of the manor in a hammock they’d put up shortly after moving in together. There was a slight breeze that ruffled Harry’s hair as it blew through, and the sun felt nice against his face. It was summer holidays and he and Blaise had taken some time off together.
They’d been married for about a year. Their wedding was absolutely magical, and Sirius, Mrs. Weasley, and Alexandra were a big reason why. Since then, there’d been a few more engagements (Ron and Hermione as well as Fred and Angelina and George and Lee), Bill and Fleur had their second daughter (Dominique), a couple new relationships (Draco and Charlie and Xenophilius and Alexandra were talking a bit), and Sirius and Remus had had a baby as well. Harry hadn’t even known that magic could aid two wizards or witches in having a biological child. Magic never ceased to amaze him, and now he had a godbrother!
That reminded him…
“Hey, Blaise?” Harry asked as he rested against his husband’s chest.
“Hm, what babe?” Blaise lazily responded, pressing a kiss to the top of Harry’s head that made him melt every time.
“I… I want a baby. ”
He felt Blaise stiffen momentarily before relaxing and huffing a little laugh.
“I’m not surprised. I’m honestly surprised it took so long after Sirius and Remus had their son for you to bring this up.”
“You expected this?”
“Harry, you’ve always wanted a large family. We talked about having kids, but then you found out men could carry their own, and I saw that sparkle in your eye. The one that means you’ve made a decision about something and I knew what it was in regards to. I was just waiting for you to be ready and bring it up.”
“So.. are you ready to start trying?”
“Of course. You’re going to be even more breathtaking growing our child, and you’ll be the best dad,” Blaise said, tilting Harry’s head up to his and pressing his lips after whispering his words. Harry melted into the kiss. A kiss that very quickly turned heated and passionate and led to them fighting their clothing in an effort to get them off as soon as possible.
~~~~
Harry rubbed his back a bit as he walked into the living room. He was home for holidays and since he was pregnant, he wasn’t required to be at Hogwarts during them. He should be good for the rest of the year in terms of teaching since his due date was after the school year ended, but his back had started hurting. Madam Pomfrey had been able to help with that when it ached while he was at Hogwarts. She practically forced him to accept her being his medi-witch throughout his pregnancy and was beside herself with the distant thought that he’d want or allow someone else to fill that role. He just laughed and said he wouldn’t accept anyone else. That seemed to calm her and she was elated to start with his prenatal care and explain a lot of the logistics of male pregnancy that Harry still hadn’t known. It didn’t sound overly pleasant, but he knew it’d be worth it in the end.
He’d seen Sirius’ pregnancy after all.
Blaise noticed Harry’s hand against his back as he walked in and motioned for Harry to come and sit with him. Once he had, Blaise started massaging knots out of his back, making Harry moan in relief at the feeling. Blaise was being so attentive to him throughout everything, which was amazing as his back had started hurting earlier because of some of his prior injuries that hadn’t healed right (you can thank Uncle Vernon and Dudley for that) and whenever it started up again, Blaise would use some magic as he massaged Harry’s muscles to heal away the pain for a while. It felt so nice and it was intimate and loving in a way that made Harry tear up.
The two of them had also started planning the nursery and ordering things for it. They decided they were going to find out the sex of the baby if they could so they could plan everything a bit more, though no matter what the nursery was going to have little snitches painted on the walls.
“How’s that feel now?” Blaise asked Harry as he finished working all the knots out in Harry’s back. Harry just sighed as he leaned against his husband's chest.
“Amazing. Thank you babe,” he said, lifting his head enough to press kiss to Blaise’s lips briefly before pulling back and leaning fully against Blaise’s chest again. It was one of a few positions that he found comfortable without needing to move around much to get to that point. Which meant that Blaise would allow him to rest against him like that as much as he wanted and Harry was taking full advantage of that.
As Blaise gently rubbed his hands over Harry’s stomach, he sighed again and relaxed even more into his arms.
~~~~
They both looked at their first child: a son. He was perfect. He had a blend of their skin tones, with Harry’s unruly black hair and Blaise’s eyes. A perfect combination of them. Looking at the miracle that was staring back up at them with wide eyes, Harry already knew he wanted more kids. It was worth the pain and all the side effects if this was the end result of all that.
“He’s perfect,” Blaise said reverently as he held the baby with Harry, one arm wrapped around Harry and the other helping to hold their new baby close to them. Harry felt close to bursting with love. He knew most of the family was here, waiting to see their newest addition. Mrs. Weasley, Alexandra, Remus, and Sirius had been absolutely beside themselves when they found out about the baby and they were the most excited to meet their newest grandchild to spoil. He already knew Alexandra was expecting them to have more kids and she was ready to spoil each and every single one. They would be her only grandchildren after all.
“He is,” Harry replied, leaning forward to kiss his son’s forehead as his little eyes closed into a gentle slumber. “Our little James Sirius Zabini-Potter.”