Say Hello, Say Goodbye

Chapter 8

The last week of school flew by for Harry and it was also filled with some surprises in the form of baby gifts from the professors. Flitwick gave him charmed baby bottles so that they would always stay at the right temperature. Sprout gave him some plants that when used in the right way could calm a baby's cries.

One gift neither Harry nor Draco expected was the one from Snape. He had come up to him in the halls and wordlessly handed him a box and then turned around and left. Ron, who had been with him at the time, stared at Harry and then at the box shocked. He opened the box gingerly and wasn't a bit surprised to see several neat rows of potion bottles.

"He's probably trying to poison you," Ron said. "Here let me throw them out for you." Ron reached for the box but Harry moved it out of his friend's reach.

"No, Ron. I doubt Snape would try something like that right under Dumbledore's nose. Besides, these potions here," he said as he pointed to a row of blue potions, "look like sleeping potions."

Ron still looked skeptical. "I don't know Harry. I still think he's trying to poison you."

Harry sighed. "How about we take these to Draco. He can tell me what they do." With that the pair went back to Harry's room and found Draco there reading a book. "Draco?" He questioned as he tried to get his boyfriend's attention. "Draco, professor Snape gave me a box of potions just now."

Draco stood up and walked over to Harry and took the box from him and placed it on the desk. "Did he say anything? I didn't think he would be nice enough to give us anything for the baby."

Both Harry and Ron shook there heads. "No, he just gave them to me and then left," Harry said. "Ron, thinks he may be trying to poison me but I didn't think so because it looks like a few of them are sleeping potions."

Draco nodded his head, he pointed to the same row Harry had referred to earlier. "These ones are all mild sleeping potions. One tablespoon of this is enough to put you to sleep for eight hours." Inspecting the others he pointed out that they were all neatly labeled in the potion master's neat handwriting. "It looks like he gave us potions and salves that are generally needed when you have a baby. There is an ointment for diaper rash, potions to help with colic and a gum numbing ointment for when the baby is teething and a bunch of others. This is incredible. They look home made, Professor Snape must have worked for hours on these."

Harry was shocked and so was Ron. They were all silent until Harry snorted. "How much do you want to bet that Dumbledore put him up to it?" This caused the other two to snort in laughter as well.

Finally Draco composed himself long enough to answer. "I wouldn't doubt it Harry. Professor Snape would do anything for the Headmaster if he asked him to. He might complain but he always ends up giving in." This statement caused another round of laughing to ensue.

The following day (Thursday) came the gift from Hagrid which not surprisingly was a stuffed animal of a Hungarian Horntail dragon. This gift caused Draco to smile since his name was the latin word for dragon.

On that same day, Professor McGonagall sought them out after dinner carrying what looked like a large portrait frame. "Ah, Mr. Potter. Mr. Malfoy. I'm glad to see that you are alone. I have something for the two of you."

Harry looked up at his professor and then at the material covering the gift. "What is it professor?"

McGonagall pulled off the material revealing a portrait of a middle-aged witch. "It is what one typically calls a 'Nanny Portrait', Mr. Potter," she said when she saw Harry's blank look.

"A nanny portrait. What does it do?" Harry gasped when the witch in the portrait suddenly woke up and began talking to him. "Hello," the witch said. "My name is Catherine and I watch out for the little ones in the house. You place me in the child's room or play room and I can keep an eye on them when you can not and I can move from portrait to portrait within the house to let you know should the child get in to something it shouldn't."

"Yes, Mr. Potter. As Catherine has told you it will watch your child like a human nanny would do. There are other portraits in Black's home are there not?"

Harry shook his head as to clear it and moved his eyes away from the portrait to answer his professor. "Yes, there are a lot of other portraits in the house."

Draco, who had been quiet so far, said, "I remember there used to be such a portrait in my main play room at the manor until I was six. I used to try and bribe it not to tell my mother when I did something I shouldn't. She never listened though. This is a great gift, thank you, Professor," Draco said sincerely.

"Yes, thank you, Professor. This will be very useful once the baby gets to be a toddler but until then it will be easier to leave him in his own room knowing someone is watching him."

Both young men got the thrill of seeing their normally strict professor blushing slightly. "I'm glad you like it, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy. Now, I'll leave this here so you can get to know her. I need to be going, there is still a lot to do before the leaving feast tomorrow." She turned and left the room before either young man could say anything.

The next day went quickly and both the feast and the train ride to the station were filled with tears of the seventh years as they had their final leaving feast and final ride on the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Draco were met at the platform by Sirius and Remus. The Weasley children were met by their parents but neither were expecting what happened. As Harry and Draco walked hand in hand over to Sirius and Remus, Mr. Weasley saw them and anger filled his eyes. "Ron! Ginny! I thought I made it clear I didn't want you to associate yourselves with those two ever again. They are a disgrace. Completely abnormal!" he said loudly enough to turn a few heads.

The non-Weasleys present were astounded that calm and always happy Mr. Weasley was reacting this way. From the looks on the other Weasleys' faces neither could they. "Dad! Don't say such a thing!" Ron said hotly. "There is nothing wrong with Harry and Draco being together! If you could see them together you would catch on that it's completely right!"

Ron's words completely stunned those present, never had the redhead spoke so passionately before.

"Ron, I thought you shared the same views as I did?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"I used to but when it's your best friend you have to rethink things," Ron said matter of factly.

Mr. Weasley's face reddened. "Well, I don't care who it is! It's not right! Men are meant to be with women and no one else!"

"Arthur! How can you say those things about a boy who is practically like another son?" Mrs. Weasley screeched.

"No son of mine, by blood or not, will be that way!" Mr. Weasley spat out.

At this Mrs. Weasley finally lost it. "What about Percy, Arthur? What about him? He's your son!"

Mr. Weasley shook his head stubbornly. "Like I said, no son of mine is going to be that way!"

The Weasley children were shocked by what their mother said next. "That's it Arthur! First you did it to Percy but I allowed him to leave since I could still stay in contact with him but I will not allow you to do the same thing to Harry! He doesn't deserve this! I want you to go back to the Burrow and pack your things and when I get back there with the children I want you to be gone. And don't you dare come back until you can accept both Percy and Harry into the family along with their respective boyfriends!"

Mr. Weasley stared at his wife stunned for a moment before apparating away angrily. After he left no one said anything but everyone from Mrs. Weasley to Hermione (who had been standing close by with her own parents) to Sirius and Remus had silent tears streaking down their cheeks. Finally Harry couldn't take it anymore and spoke up. "Mrs. Weasley, you didn't have to do that," he whispered shyly. "I don't want to break up your family."

"Nonsense, Harry dear. You are apart of this family whether Arthur likes it or not. Besides, this has been a long time coming. How he behaved today was the last straw for me." Quickly shrinking Ron and Ginny's school things, Mrs. Weasley led a still crying Ron and Ginny toward the family car that Mr. Weasley had got the year before.

Hermione and Harry stared at each other in shock. That was definitely not something they had been expecting! After shaking off her shock Hermione hugged Harry tightly and made him promise to call her from time to time to let her know how him and the baby were doing. She gave quick hugs to Draco, Sirius and Remus before leaving with her parents.

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence Sirius clapped his hands together. "Ok, we need to get you two back to the house. Harry, you must be practically dead on your feet."

Harry nodded dumbly, still in shock. The Weasley's were a family he never thought would have problems like this. It wasn't setting well with him at all.

Draco seeing Harry's inner struggle to understand shrunk his trunk and Hedwig's cage before wrapping an arm around his shoulders and guiding him through the gateway into the Muggle train station with Sirius and Remus following. Once on the other side Sirius led them to where he had parked the car. The drive to the house was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts.

Two hours later, the little family sat down for dinner though Harry wasn't in the mood to eat and his stomach protested violently when he tried. "I think I'm going to head up to bed," he said as he stood up.

Sirius's eyebrow's raised in concern. "Are you ok, Harry? You really should eat something. It's been a while since you last ate isn't?"

"I'm ok Sirius. I'm just really tired and I ate a bit on the train. It's just that with everything that's happened my stomach can't take food right now. I promise I'll eat something in the morning ok?"

Sighing softly Sirius nodded. "Ok, Harry, but if you decide you're hungry before that just come down and help yourself alright?"

Harry nodded. "Thanks, Siri." With that Harry turned around and made his way slowly up the stairs to his room.

The next few weeks went by relatively fast for Harry compared to most summer holidays. That could very well be because for once he wasn't at the Dursleys. He kept in close contact with both the Weasleys and Hermione throughout the weeks but so far little had been mentioned regarding what transpired that day at Kings Cross. All Ron or Ginny would say about the matter was that they hadn't seen their father since he had disapparated and that their mother had contacted Percy the next day and he and Oliver had come by for visits every few days. He was happy for Percy but he still couldn't help feeling guilty about the fight that ended with Mr. Weasley leaving. Other news from his friends was that Ron was due to leave for Romania on August 2nd and that Hermione started her job at the Ministry the week after that, on the tenth and from August first through the ninth she was going to go to France with her parents.

For the last month Harry and Draco had been faithfully going to see Madam Pomfrey every two weeks by floo. Their last appointment had been just the day before in which they were told that both Harry and the baby were doing fine. Harry had gained another five pounds in the last month which Madam Pomfrey said that he was right on track with where he should be. She also said in their next visit they would also be discussing what would happen when it came time for Harry to give birth since it could technically happen at any time between the end of August and the end of September but the closer to the due date it was the healthier it was for the baby. This fact worried Draco endlessly but both Harry and Madam Pomfrey tried their best to reassure him that all was going well at this point and that she didn't see any reason why there shouldn't be an easy birth for both Harry and the baby.

The two parents-to-be were also trying to find the perfect name for their baby and were getting advice from anyone and everyone they knew. The only thing the two were definite on was that the middle name was going to be 'Albus'. Harry had two names he was debating on, Edward and Zachary, but he wasn't sure which one he liked more. The only problem was that Draco, Sirius and Remus were all saying that the pureblood families gave their children more sophisticated names or names from Greek myths and that Harry should too. Harry had argued that his parents had named him 'Harry' and that his own father, who was a pureblood, was named 'James' which were both traditional names. The small family had had many fights over this and they finally decided that they would wait until they saw the baby and hoped a name would just come to them.

Soon the end of July came along with Harry's birthday and the arrival of their NEWT scores. Harry awoke on his birthday feeling really good and was happy to note that he didn't have any morning sickness. Resting on his elbow, Harry gazed down at Draco, who was still sleeping peacefully. Smiling softly he brushed his fingers over the blond's cheek. The other boy stirred a bit but didn't wake.

Harry sat up and proceeded to get out of bed as quietly as he could as not to wake Draco up. Slipping his feet into his slippers Harry padded his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. When he walked in he had the misfortune to see his godfather and his godfather's mate kissing passionately. Harry smirked before clearing his throat. "You know, I'd have to say Ron is right in that it's very disturbing seeing your parents making out."

Sirius and Remus broke apart, blushing madly. "Harry!" Sirius said in surprise. "You're not supposed to be up yet!"

Harry's face fell a bit and his eyes began to water. "Sorry I didn't know I had to..."

Remus rushed over to Harry and steered him over to the table before he could head back up the stairs. "No, Harry it's ok. What Sirius meant was we didn't expect you up yet. We thought you would be sleeping in today," Remus finished saying and threw Sirius a dirty look.

Harry stared up at the two men and nodded his head. "Oh, well I woke up and Draco was still sleeping so I thought I'd come down so I didn't wake him up."

Sirius walked over to Harry's side and wrapped an arm around his godson's shoulders. "I'm sorry about what I said, Harry. I was just surprised to see you up already. We were hoping to make you breakfast and have it ready for you when you got down. Oh and Happy Birthday!" Sirius finished with a large smile.

"Thanks, Sirius," Harry replied shyly. This was to be his first birthday he was able to spend in the company of family and friends who actually cared about him. "And as for breakfast you could still make it for me," he said with an impish grin.

Both Remus and Sirius chuckled at that. "Alright Harry," Remus said. "One breakfast coming up. Anything particular you want?"

Harry thought for a moment before answering. "Eggs, bacon and toast would be fine."

Remus nodded and began to fix the meal. Sirius walked over and sat next to his godson at the table. "So, we've invited a few of your friends over for your birthday. It won't be anything big just Hermione, the Weasleys, and Dumbledore and McGonagall."

Harry nodded at this a small smile gracing his face. "That sounds great Sirius."

The three wizards sat down and ate their meals while they waited for Draco to wake up. After 15 minutes Draco finally came down the stairs. "Harry? You're up already? I was supposed to give you breakfast in bed today," he said as his mouth formed into to cute pout.

"Sorry, Draco but I woke up and I didn't want to wake you."

Draco humphed quietly. "You should have. I wanted to be the one to wake you up with a kiss for your birthday," he said with a smirk as he drew nearer to Harry.

"Well, you can still do that...kiss me that is," Harry said quietly.

Not needing any more prompting Draco leaned down and kissed Harry full on the lips which lasted until they were interrupted by Sirius clearing his throat. Harry broke the kiss blushing slightly. "Ok, you two," Sirius said with a chuckle. "You can do that more later, you need to get ready. Everyone will be here in two hours."

They nodded and Draco led Harry back up the stairs and they soaked in the bath for an hour before they both got dressed. Two hours later Draco and Harry came back down the stairs just in time to greet the first guests, the Weasleys, minus Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley came up to Harry and pulled him into a big hug. "Harry, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling ok, Mrs. Weasley. Though I'll feel even better once the baby's born."

Mrs. Weasley chuckled at this. "All expecting parents feel that way. And, I think you've known me long enough to be able to call me Molly."

"Alright Mrs...I mean Molly." Harry said as he stepped away from the older woman. He turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder and smiled when he saw Percy and Oliver. "Percy, Oliver. I didn't expect to see the two of you."

Percy's ears went red but he smiled at Harry. "I...we wanted to come and congratulate you and Draco on the baby and to thank you for helping mum to stand up to father."

"I didn't really do anything, Percy. It just happened to be my pregnancy that set your father off and that set your mother off. It could have been anything that did that," Harry said softly, obviously still feeling guilty for what happened.

"Well, it still happened and you helped," Oliver said, wrapping an arm around Percy's waist. "Hey, Percy why don't you go and talk to Draco or Mr. Black? I need to talk to Harry about something."

Percy nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to you later Harry." Kissing Oliver quickly on the cheek before walking away.

Once Percy was far enough away Oliver cleared his throat. "Harry, I didn't want Percy to hear this because it embarrasses him but I wanted to thank you again for helping to give Percy his family back. He hasn't been the same since his father kicked him out. And before you say anything I know you only had a small part in the whole thing but you know as well as I do that if you hadn't been as close as you are to his family Mrs. Weasley may not have got as mad as she did when Mr. Weasley said what he did about you."

"I'm happy I was able to help Percy out and that he's back with his family," Harry said sincerely. "Now, if you excuse me I'm going to say hi to Ron and Ginny." He moved to walk over to them but stopped when Oliver grabbed his arm gently.

"Wait, I also wanted to ask you about that potion you took for the pregnancy. Percy and I have talked about adopting kids later on but it would mean a lot to both of us if we could have kids of our own."

Harry smiled. "It's the Gravis potion."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Really? I thought just girls used that potion."

Harry nodded. "So did I but wizards in the past have used it, only it's gone out of standard use in recent decades."

"Well, that makes it much more simpler to get. I was afraid it was some obscure potion that would take a lot of money to get," Oliver said with a smile. "Thanks again Harry."

Harry smiled back. "No problem Oliver." He turned again to find his way to his friends, this time without any interruptions.

Harry spent the next hour circulating amongst his friends as they trickled in. After an hour, Sirius got their attention and directed them to the main sitting room where the presents had been placed. Harry was shocked at how many presents there were for him.

Sirius came over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Go ahead, Harry."

The birthday boy sat down in front of the table that held the presents and reached for the top one. Looking at the tag, he smiled when he saw that it was from Ginny. He sent her a grin before he ripped the paper off revealing a large bottle of Mrs. Snow's Magical Bubble bath Relaxer. He looked at Ginny was a questioning look. She smiled and answered his unasked question. "It's a bubble bath that's meant to help you relax. Mum said it was a godsend during her pregnancy with the twins and even afterwards."

"Thanks Ginny," Harry said. "I'm sure it will be very useful." The next present in the stack was from Ron. Opening it he saw a box of different kinds of wizarding chocolate. Harry smiled at this. "Thanks, Ron."

"No problem, Mate. I figured this would come in handy when you're having your chocolate fits," Ron said with a chuckle.

Harry laughed in agreement. "Yeah, I have been having a lot of those lately." He reached for the next one, which was from Hermione. Opening it he saw a variety of Muggle products that helped Muggle women relax during and after pregnancy and labor. "Thanks, Hermione," he said with a smile.

He continued to open the many presents that were on the table, many from well wishers in the general wizarding community who some how found out his birthday and insisted on sending him something both for his birthday and also for killing the dark lord the year before. All those from the people he didn't know were put into a pile to be giving away. He noticed that he still had two presents left and reached for the smaller one but Remus' hand on his arm stopped him. "Leave mine and Sirius' for last, Harry," he said in his gentle voice.

Harry nodded and reached for the other one. Reading the tag he saw it was a combined gift from Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. He looked confused over at Remus since neither one of them were there.

Remus nodded at the wrapped gift. "They asked me to give that to you. They wanted to be here but Albus isn't feeling well and Minerva didn't want to leave him alone." Harry noted the worry in Remus' eyes and felt a twinge of panic in his chest. Was the headmaster getting worse?

Harry opened it and found a leather book. Curiously he opened it and saw pages and pages of pictures of his years at Hogwarts starting with a picture of him trying on the sorting hat. How had they got this? No one was taking pictures that night were they? He flipped through the pages and was shocked to see many pictures taken while he had been in classes and in the hall. There were even some of the tasks during the Triwizard Tournament. When he got to the end of the book he noticed a note written in McGonagall's handwriting.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I am certain you are trying to figure out where these photographs came from. Well, I'll say that most students are correct in that the castle does have eyes and ears.

Now I want to apologize for the headmaster and myself for not being able to be at your birthday party but he has become quite ill as I am sure you have noticed and I didn't wish to leave him at the moment.

I wish you a happy birthday and hope the future brings you much happiness. I hope you will come back to Hogwarts at some point to visit.

Professor Minerva McGonagall

"Well, even if they aren't dating, I still say she has a crush on him," came a whispered voice from over his shoulder.

Harry turned his head to the side and saw that Draco had been reading the note over his shoulder. "I wouldn't be surprised," Harry said with a chuckle. He reached once more for the photo album and handed it to Draco. "This is a really cool gift, take a look."

Draco took the book and thumbed through it while Harry looked over at Sirius and Remus. "Can I open yours now?"

Remus chuckled. "Yes, Harry, you can open it now."

Harry picked up the small package with giddy excitement. Ripping the paper off and opening the box his eyebrows merged with confusion at finding a key on a small keying.

"Go look out front," Sirius said before Harry could ask anything.

Harry nodded and walked outside the front door while everyone followed him. Once outside on the front steps he was very surprised to see a gleaming motorcycle. Harry was stunned silent for a few minutes. After a few moments he whipped around and stared at his godfather. "Is this...?"

Sirius beamed at his godson. "Yes, Harry. This is my motorcycle. I have been planning on giving it to you for your 18th birthday for a few years now. Even though you can't ride it yet I still wanted to give it to you."

Harry was speechless for a moment before he wrapped his his godfather in a tight hug. "Thanks so much Sirius. This is amazing. Does it still...?"

Sirius' smile widened. "You're welcome Harry and yes it does."

Harry's eyes lit up. Draco, who was standing in front of the bike with the other boys, looked back at them. "What does it still do?"

"I'll tell you later, Draco." The other boy nodded and went back to staring at the bike. Harry chuckled at this but stayed where he was, not wanting to get jostled around.

After a few hours the party started to wind down as the guests began to depart for their own homes. Soon the only ones left were Harry, Sirius, Remus, Hermione and the Weasleys. They were seated in the dining room eating dinner when Hedwig flew in from an open window. She landed next to Harry's plate and nipped at his fingers.

Harry smiled at the snowy owl and rubbed her beak before taking the letters and the package from her legs. Once unrolled he noticed that one letter and the package were from Hagrid and the other letter was from the Ministry. His NEWT results. Gulping he placed that aside while he concentrated on the one from his friend. So concentrated on not concentrating on his scores he didn't hear nor notice that several more owls came flying in after Hedwig nor did he hear Hermione's squeal of, "Our scores!"

Harry opened the letter first, reading Hagrid's messy scrawl.

Dear Harry,

I am sorry that I couldn't make it to your party but I am visiting France with Olympe. Hope you enjoy your present, made it meself.

Hagrid

Curiously Harry opened the package and discovered a carved wooden figurine of a stag. "What...?" He started to ask softly when he was startled by Hermione grabbing his shoulder to get his attention.

"Harry? Are you listening to me? Have you opened your NEWT scores yet? What is that?" she asked in quick succession.

Harry shook his head for a moment to clear it before answering. "No I haven't opened them yet, and it's my gift from Hagrid, and how did you know I got my scores?"

Hermione just waved a piece of parchment in front of his face. "Because we got ours as well. Just after you got yours. That's really nice of Hagrid."

Harry nodded his head. "It's really nice." He placed the figurine on the table so the others could see it.

The two remaining Marauders stared at the figurine, seeing immediately the likeness to their friend in animal form. Harry, not being able to take the silence right then, looked over at Hermione and smiled. "Did you open your scores yet?"

Hermione shook her head. " We were waiting for you."

Harry nodded and picked up his letter. "Why don't we open them together. On the count of three." The others nodded and picked theirs up as well. "One....two....three." The four teens ripped open their letters and read them quickly. There were many exclamations of both happiness and disbelieve as the scores were revealed.

"So, what did you get Harry?" Sirius asked.

Harry stared at his letter before looking up at his godfather and beamed. "Here see for yourself," he said grinning.

Sirius took the offered piece of parchment and began to read the results out loud.

"Transfiguration: E

Charms: O

Defense Against The Dark Arts: O

Potions: E

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Harry these scores are fantastic!" Sirius said as he beamed with pride.

Harry blushed and stammered a thank you before asking Draco how he had done. The other boy smiled. "I did well. Getting an O in Potions and Es in everything else."

The raven-haired young man smiled and kissed Draco briefly on the lips. "That's great Draco!" He turned toward his other friends. "How about you two?"

Hermione smiled at him, "I got all Os! I did even better on these than I did on the OWLs."

"That's because this time we weren't interrupted by attacks on the professors during our exams," Ron snorted.

The others nodded as well as they all remembered the attack two years prior on both Hagrid and McGonagall. "How about you Ron?" Harry asked.

Ron pulled away from his mother's hug to answer. "I actually did better than I thought I would. I got Os in Defense and Care of Magical Creatures and Es in Transfiguration, Charms."

Harry smiled at his friend. "That's great Ron. You two should have no problem keeping your jobs that you had lined up. I still have no idea what I'm going to do," he added glumly.

Hermione gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sure you'll think of something, Harry. With your scores you could get a job almost anywhere."

"Yes, Harry," Remus said. "You'll find a job that's right for you. It just might not be right away."

Harry nodded but wasn't quite sure. Who would want to hire an ex-dark lord killer who had a baby?