The Whole Nine Yards

Chapter Twenty-Seven - A Child Is Born

~ The Great Hall ~

Draco sighed melodramatically as he played with his eggs. "It's been two weeks since Isabella was born. Why hasn't our son been born yet?"

"Sometimes babies are late," Hermione said soothingly as she burped her daughter.

Ron beamed proudly as she burped loudly. "That's my girl!"

Harry laughed at Ron before turning to his husband. "He'll come when he's ready. Have faith. The doctors at the clinic know what they are doing."

Draco smiled at him and reached out to slip his hand into Harry's. Over the past two weeks they had talked often and were repairing their relationship, which had suffered over the past few months. Harry still couldn't talk about what was bothering him, but Draco was confident that he would soon.

Harry had taken up Draco's suggestion and had written down what he'd been feeling. He hadn't yet shown Draco yet, but Draco understood this as he himself had been hesitant to show anyone his journal before he was ready. He was confident that one day Harry would share it with him.

A lot of flapping was heard as the owls made their morning deliveries. Draco's eyes scanned the owls hopefully and was excited as he saw the clinic's owl fly towards them. His grip on Harry's hand tightened as the owl landed gracefully in front of them. He let go of Harry's hand and opened the letter.

"She's in labour. The woman having our child is in labour. Oh my god," Draco said anxiously. "We have to go there."

"Go," Albus said, smiling down the table at them. "I'll let the students know your classes are cancelled for today."

"Thank you, Albus," Harry said as he and Draco ran out of the room.

~ The Clinic ~

The clinic was very similar to Hogwarts hospital wing, but on a much larger scale. Harry and Draco weren't the only ones in the waiting room. There were two other couples, all male, anxiously waiting for the birth of their children.

Draco and Harry were sitting side by side. They'd been there for four hours now and they'd been told that the woman had been in labour for nine hours before they'd arrived. Draco hoped it wouldn't be much longer.

"What are we going to call him?" Draco asked, turning to glance curiously at his husband. Draco had discussed names with Hermione, but there had never been a good moment to talk about it with Harry.

"I think Sirius is expecting me to name him James, but I don't want to," Harry confessed, looking like he expected to get in trouble for this.

"It's none of Sirius' business, not really," Draco said gently. "We can name him anything we want."

"I just don't want a daily reminder of my father," Harry explained. "I get enough of that from Sirius himself. I'm trying to put my tragic past behind me, not relive it constantly."

"It's okay," Draco said, "What names do you like?"

"I haven't really thought about it," Harry said apologetically.

"What do you think of Daniel?" Draco suggested.

"Daniel Potter," Harry mused. "I quite like that."

"But let's wait until we see him. He might not look like a Daniel," Draco said.

"Mr Potter?" a nurse standing in the doorway asked.

Harry and Draco stood up. "Yes?" Draco said.

"Your son has been born. Come this way please," she said as she turned to walk down the corridor.

Both men followed her quickly. She led them to a room with two armchairs and a cradle.

"I'll leave you three alone," she said and discretely left, closing the door behind her.

Draco crept over to the cradle. He caught his breath as he gazed down at his son. His son. He reached down to gently pick up the child. He held him close and his eyes filled with tears.

"My boy," he whispered as he counted the baby's fingers. All present and correct. Draco pressed his lips gently to his son's forehead and was rewarded with his son opening his eyes and gazing solemnly up at him.

Draco stared down into his son's silvery grey eyes. He has my eyes, Draco thought in amazement. He softly touched his fingers to the child's head, noting the fine dark hair beginning to grow. Harry's hair.

Suddenly the baby started to wail. His little face was screwed up and fat tears were seeping out from under his eyelids.

"Shhh," Draco said, rocking the baby gently in his arms. He glanced over at Harry in desperation.

"He's probably hungry," Harry said, shrugging.

Draco glanced around the room and saw a sink with cupboard underneath it and a small fridge next to it.

"Here, you hold him for a moment," Draco said, pushing the child into Harry's arms.

Draco turned his back on Harry as he investigated the fridge and the cupboard. Just as he had suspected, the fridge held cold bottles of milk for the baby. He pulled one of them out and cast a spell to heat it. He dribbled a few drops on his wrist to make sure it wouldn't burn his son's throat. When he was satisfied, he turned around.

Harry had sat down on one of the chairs and he was gazing down at their son with an expression of wonder on his face. Even the child screaming didn't seem to dispel Harry's awe.

Draco handed him the bottle and watched his husband feed their child. The boy sucked greedily on the bottle. Draco reached over and gently stroked the baby's cheek. His tiny silvery eyes followed Draco's every move, even as he drank from the bottle.

"Daniel Potter," Draco said softly.

"Daniel Potter," Harry agreed.