Family Secrets
By Keara
Part Eleven
Draco was at that blissful point when one is still asleep, but the edges of
consciousness are tickling at the brain. He’d been sleeping better and eating
a little better in the few days since arriving at Professor Snape’s home. With
his mother and half-sister helping him, his nausea had died down somewhat. For
that, he was extremely grateful.
He was just about to stretch his arms when the door opened and the sounds of two
little pairs of feet ran into his bedroom. The bed shook and he opened his eyes,
smiling at his niece and nephew as they bounced just once upon his bed.
“Uncle Draco! Uncle Draco!” They chimed, erupting into giggles, Dove eagerly
hugging her uncle tightly.
“Good morning, you two.” Draco smirked, easing himself out of Dove’s arms
and sitting up in bed.
“Mother told us to come get you.” Joseph said. “Everyone’s waiting
downstairs for us.”
Draco nodded. It was Christmas morning...time for family. Naturally, Draco
would be wanted downstairs with the rest of them. He got out of bed, putting on
his slippers as he shrugged a robe on over his pajamas. Dove and Joseph were
impatient though and didn’t seem to want to wait any longer. They grabbed his
hands, all but dragging him out of the bedroom in their eagerness to get to the
presents that awaited them.
At the bottom of the stairs, Draco had to pause. Sure he was feeling better than
he had in months, but he did get queasy now and again...his morning sickness
still a problem that plagued him in the mornings and at various points
throughout the course of his days. The children ran on ahead of him, entering
the family room that all of them had decorated the day Raven and her family had
arrived.
“Are you feeling well, Draco dear?” The kind voice of Narcissa Malfoy asked,
her warm hand brushing through Draco’s disheveled hair in a loving manner.
Draco smiled. “Yes, Mother. I was simply a little...nauseous. It’ll pass
in a moment.” He replied, taking her hand when it was offered to him.
Narcissa nodded, accepting his answer. “Come on then. Everyone’s waiting.”
With a warm smile kept on her face, she led her son into the family room.
Draco’s eyes wandered along the decorations in the room that simply made Draco
feel as if he were truly home, settling on the tree that dominated one of the
corners of the room. Presents were piled up underneath it, most of them for
Raven and her family, but a few for Draco as well. Draco knew that his mother
had made most of those purchases, but the effort was greatly appreciated. Even
with little to open himself, he was happy to be here.
They sat together as family. Draco, Dove, and Joseph sat on the floor, engrossed
in opening gifts. Raven, Jonathan, Snape, and Narcissa smiled pleasantly, also
opening whatever gifts were passed their way from under the tree. It was easily
the happiest moment that Draco could ever remember having. He’d always wanted
a larger family, yet it had always seemed to be denied to him. Now he had it, if
only for now...he doubted that every Christmas would be like this.
Draco’s eyes widened as he opened one gift, his hands faltering in their
tearing of the gift-wrapping. He passed trembling fingers over the soft cloth
contained by the box, not feeling as his mother knelt down beside him. However,
he did look up as he felt her arm encircle his body and hold him close.
“Mother? But this...” He whispered, not caring if anyone else heard him.
He had to know if his mother was really giving this to him. It was too precious
to believe that she ever would.
Narcissa Malfoy smiled, gliding her slender fingers along his cheek. “Yes, I
am giving it to you, my son.” She said quietly, dropping her hand to the box
and carefully lifting the soft blanket from within. “I used to wrap you in
this when you were little. Just as my mother did with me, and her mother, and so
on...it is a treasured family heirloom. And I gladly pass it on to you.”
She unfolded the blanket with a shake. Pushing the empty box off of Draco’s
lap, she let the blanket pool on the floor around them, taking Draco’s hand
and laying it on top of the fabric. It was the softest thing that he had ever
felt...he vaguely remembered it from when he was little, remembered his
mother showing it to him and lamenting that she had no one to give it to, as the
tradition said it was to be passed only from mother to an expecting daughter.
Draco guessed that he now fit in with the tradition...he was about to bear
an offspring.
“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyes fixated on the delicate embroidery. It
had been handmade generations ago...a spell cast upon it by the maker so
that it would last as long as the bloodline did.
“Of course. You are going to have a child...and I want my first grandchild
to have the very best.” She stroked his cheek again. “Besides, it will save
you some aggravation. There is a very useful calming spell on it. Whoever you
wrap it in, will have sweet dreams while they sleep.”
Draco nodded. He could feel that spell right now, even though the blanket was
merely draped across his lap. He felt at ease, calm. Quietly, he folded the
blanket once again. “Thank you, Mother.” He whispered, giving his mother a
quick kiss to the cheek.
Raven set the back of her hand over her mouth as she yawned. The morning had
gone by rather quickly. Here it was, nearing afternoon, and they had yet to do
anything more than open their gifts.
Looking to the tree, where her children and younger half-brother had been
opening their gifts, a smile quickly spread across her face. The scene she found
there was simply adorable, almost enough to make her laugh. There, the three of
them...Dove, Joseph, and Draco...had fallen asleep amass a pile of
shredded wrapping paper and scattered presents. Draco was in the middle, Dove
snuggling close to his chest, while Joseph napped quietly behind him.
Raven nudged her father, who had been engrossed in a book that Raven had given
to him. She pointed to the slumbering trio. “Look.” She whispered. “I
think it’s nap time.”
Serverus nodded. “I agree...stress is not a good thing for your brother
right now. He needs all the rest he can get. Let’s put them to bed...we’ll wake them later.”
He rose to his feet, striding over to the three that slept. Silently, he
gestured to Jonathan, who quickly obliged and lifted Joseph from the floor.
Narcissa helped as well, picking up Dove and holding her gently. Then Serverus
bent and scooped Draco into his arms.
Draco stirred, but didn’t wake as he was carried up the stairs and to his
room. Raven quickly followed, eager to spend time with her brother, even if he
was asleep. She appreciated the time she had with him, knowing that it would not
last. Soon he would have to go back to school and she would have to return to
work...she only hoped that she would be able to visit with him again.
Hopefully, before next Christmas. She wanted to get to know her brother better.
Narcissa and Jonathan took Dove and Joseph off to bed, while Raven followed
behind her father into Draco’s room. She stood by and watched as her father
settled Draco in bed, as he was removing Draco’s robe and slippers and covered
him with the blankets.
“I think I’ll stay in here for a little while.” Raven said, giving her
father a warm hug.
“Come down if you want something to eat.” Father said, placing a quick kiss
to her forehead before he left the bedroom.
Raven smiled, walking around to the other side of the bed and climbing in. She
laid down beside Draco, slipping one arm around him. She yawned, nearly giggling
as he turned to her and snuggled close, murmuring incoherently as he slipped
back into slumber. Raven smiled, curling her fingers through Draco’s silky
hair as she closed her eyes. She hoped that things would work out well for him...things would only be difficult for him once he returned to school, she knew
that, especially with the pregnancy.
Ron blinked as Hermione burst into the Common Room with a nervous smile on her
face. She ran over and flopped down on the sofa between Harry and Ron,
interrupting a conversation they had been having about Quidditch. She looked as
if she wanted to say something, but she could only open and close her mouth
soundlessly, a thick book clutched tightly in her arms.
“Uh...Hermione?” Harry asked, a nervous twinge to his tone. To see
Hermione so hesitant to talk while she was holding a rather large book in her
hands...it was disturbing.
Hermione looked at Ron, with an expression that made him shiver. “Ron...I
found something in a book on Veelas...I don’t know if it happened with
Malfoy...there’s a chance though, but I don’t know.”
“You’re babbling.” Ron stated. “Whatever it is, just tell me.”
With a nod, Hermione flipped open the book that she held, turning to a specific
page. She held it open on her lap, pointing to the passage that she was speaking
of. “I read here... that there’s something special about Veela males.
They go through a physical change when they are in heat, which only occurs once
a year. When in heat they can...well, they can...they can be
impregnated.”
“What?!” Ron asked, aghast. No, oh no...he hadn’t...had he?
His mind quickly spiraled, going over and over the facts that he was certain of.
One, he had slept with Draco...twice. Two...Draco had developed an
apparent illness after about a month. The paleness, the vomiting, the running
from class to be sick...it WAS similar to morning sickness.
He didn’t want to believe it, but the signs were all there. There was the time
that Ron had caught Draco staring at seemingly nothing, the blonde’s hand
softly stroking his own stomach...the signs all fit. But Ron didn’t want
to believe it. He could be a father? No, this was too much information to
process. Draco would have told him, wouldn’t he?
It was too much. Ron jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth as he continued
to think. When he couldn’t deny it, not without having doubt anyway, he
stopped. He turned and looked to his friends, seeing their concerned faces
directed his way.
“I’m a father?” He asked in a meek voice, barely registering that it was
his own voice that had spoken before the world around him went dark and he
collapsed to the floor.