Work Text:
Draco groaned as he stretched out. Every single one of his muscles ached and he knew that a bath would help to sort him out in next to no time, but the problem with that was that there wasn’t actually time for a bath - there wasn’t even time for him to take a shower. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, his eyes flickering to the toddler who was finally fast asleep in the bed next to him. It felt like years since he’d managed to get his son to do anything other than sob uncontrollably, which he knew was an exaggeration but it had been a long couple of days.
Cero had only just got back from the Burrow where Mrs Weasley had been looking after him. The plan had been to introduce him to his baby sister as soon as he’d gotten back to the Granger House but the child had been inconsolable and so Draco had thought it best to spend time alone with him and to put him down for a sleep in a familiar place. The bedroom was out of bounds so he’d had to opt for the sofa in the living room but at least with all the blankets and pillows, it was comfortable and Cero felt safe there, which was the most important part.
Draco ran his fingers through Cero’s blond curls before he made his way up from the sofa and out of the living room. He grabbed himself a glass of water, downing it in one before he headed up the stairs to find his wife and husband. He pulled in a sharp breath before he pushed the bedroom door open. He expected the occupants of the room to be fast asleep but when he stepped inside he saw that was not the case. Hermione was fast asleep but Harry was sitting up with the baby bundled up in his arms. Draco was pretty sure that Harry hadn’t been able to look away from the little girl since she had entered the world and he honestly couldn’t blame him for that.
“You should be sleeping, Maxima.” Draco whispered as he sat on the bed next to Harry, his fingers brushing both Harry’s cheek and then the baby’s.
Harry’s eyes flickered up to Draco but his arms tightened around the bundle. “I don’t think I’m ready for sleep.” He said quietly.
Draco tried and failed to keep the frown from his face. If there was one person that needed sleep, it was Harry. He had the one who had endured the labour and birthed their daughter, but he supposed that he was probably still riding high on the adrenaline.
“How’s Cero?” Harry asked when Draco didn’t say anything more on the subject. “I… I heard him crying.”
“He’s overwhelmed.” Draco admitted. “He doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
“I can’t blame him. I’m overwhelmed and I do understand what’s happening.” Harry whispered before he swallowed thickly. “But she’s here.”
“She’s here.” Draco repeated, allowing a smile to wriggle its way onto his lips. “You did great.”
“I did, huh?” Harry mused. “I made one of the most perfect human beings.”
“She does have some of my genes in there.” Draco pointed out with a soft laugh. “So I’d like to think I had some part in the making of the perfection.”
“A small part.” Harry agreed before his eyes glazed over and Draco was immediately concerned all over again.
“Give me her.” Draco said softly. He knew that Harry would be reluctant to pass over the child but Draco really needed him to get some rest or he was going to end up hurting himself or hurting her.
“I…” Harry began to protest but trailed off, which Draco decided to call a small victory.
“I’ll be right here the whole time.” Draco promised, his arms outstretched towards the baby. “I won’t take her too far away from you.”
Harry swallowed thickly. “She needs a name before she leaves my arms. I need to tell you her name before she leaves me.” He sounded almost hysterical and yet he somehow managed to school his tone, to keep it from upsetting the dozing baby.
“Do you have a name in mind?” Draco asked slowly. They hadn’t discussed names. Harry had shut both him and Hermione down each time they had tried to broach the subject and Draco had never really understood why.
“I want to honour my mother but I also want to honour… I want the names of our children to match. I want them both to be Malfoys, and I want them to be Monoceros and… Michaelmas Daisy. Massey for short, at least for now. Maybe one day she’ll want to go by Michael or Daisy or maybe she’ll choose a completely different name but that’s in the future.”
“Massey.” Draco said softly and Harry finally relinquished the little girl. Draco drew in a sharp breath as he realised that he was never going to have this moment again. This was it, the first time that he was going to hold his daughter. He understood why Harry hadn’t wanted to let her go. He glanced at his husband out of the corner of his eye and he was glad to see that Harry had relaxed against the headboard and allowed his eyes to close.
**
Life was chaotic. Ginny had tried to tell Hermione that it would be less so because there were three parents and only two children in their family but so far Hermione had not found that to be the case. She was pretty sure that having three parents in the equation had made things more chaotic and she had wanted to tell Ginny to keep her nose out of her business but she knew that her friend was just trying to help, was just trying to put things in perspective for her.
Harry wasn’t doing okay either, as much as he tried to make out that he was fine. The labour had taken its toll on him, in fact the entire pregnancy had taken its toll on him. She had carried Cero so she understood some of what he was going through but she couldn’t relate entirely - she wasn’t a transman who had all but been forced to come out. Cero had been planned as well, whereas Massey had been a complete surprise to all three of them. Hermione wouldn’t confess it out loud but she had sort of forgotten that it was possible for Harry to fall pregnant in the first place.
“Maia?” Draco called softly from where he was currently nap trapped by both children on the sofa.
“Hm?” Hermione closed her book over her thumb. She had been taking the chance while Cero, Massey, and Harry were sleeping to catch up on her reading. Chances to read were few and far between lately, which she knew that she should have expected but at the same time, it had bummed her out.
“Can you grab my water?” Draco gestured helplessly at the glass on the table. “It’s just out of reach.”
Hermione laughed gently but did as she was asked, even going as far as to hold it up to his lips because he didn’t have use of his arms. “You don’t look particularly comfortable.”
“I’m not comfortable at all.” Draco admitted with a small shrug. “But they are so that’s neither here nor there.”
Hermione shook her head but she kept a small smile on her lips. She knew that if she were in his position then she wouldn’t complain either. Though she did rather enjoy seeing the children so settled on top of their father.
“Have you seen Harry today?” Draco asked once she’d set the glass back down on the table.
“No.” Hermione chewed on her lip slightly. “He was awake all night with Massey.” She didn’t like to make excuses for Harry but she also didn’t want Draco to worry about their husband as much as she was worrying about him. There was something going on with him but she was pretty sure that that something was mostly exhaustion.
“He’ll be up for dinner then.” Draco commented. Harry had gotten up to eat dinner with them every evening so far so Hermione supposed that he had no reason to doubt that he would change that habit.
“I am so grateful that we have elves to make that dinner.” Hermione said quietly. She still felt awkward having house elves in her employ, but at least the house elves in her service earned a fair wage and they got to go home at the end of the day, to houses that they owned.
“One of these days I’ll get back in the kitchen.” Draco said in a sort of dreamy way. Hermione wanted to agree with him but she knew that he was due to go back to work next week - his parental leave was pretty much over before it had begun because he’d taken so much time off to be with Harry when he had gone on paternity leave himself. Once he was back at work, he wouldn’t have a lot of time. He never seemed to have time.
“I’ll eagerly await that day.” Hermione said softly. She enjoyed his cooking - in fact it was his meals that had made her stop hating him after so many years of being angry at him. She had somehow managed to forgive him for everything he had done during their youth. He had been dating Harry at the time - as had she - and she had been about to give Harry an ultimatum, her or Draco, when Draco had invited them both to his flat for dinner. Harry had begged her to accept the invitation and she was glad that he had, she couldn’t imagine what her life would have turned out like if she had refused that invite. She wouldn’t have Cero, that’s for sure, and she definitely wouldn’t be in Massey’s life even if she had still been conceived.
“And I’ll eagerly await the meal suggestions pinned to the noticeboard.” Draco smiled, a genuine smile that lit up his entire face. She wondered if he was thinking about the first time that he had cooked for her as well or if he was simply thinking about any time that he had been in the kitchen. Food was his passion, something that she was glad of even if that was for entirely selfish reasons. She wouldn’t describe herself as a foodie but that wasn’t to say that she didn’t enjoy good food when it was given to her.
She opened her mouth to point out that he knew exactly what she was going to ask for first but she was interrupted by the gurgle of the baby waking up, and the gurgle quickly turned into a cry so she got to her feet again and swept Massey up into her arms, hoping that she wouldn’t wake her big brother up. “Let’s get you a bottle.” She said softly to the baby, bouncing her daughter gently as she moved into the kitchen.
**
Harry blinked slowly. He ached in places he didn’t think that he could ache and all he wanted to do was to go back to bed but he knew that he had to get up. He was starving, for one thing. He hadn't eaten since… well he didn't exactly know. He didn't even know what time it was now, except that the sun wasn't out so it was either early morning or late at night. He let out a sigh before he sat himself up. The bed was empty other than himself which annoyed him. He didn't know why it felt as if Hermione and Draco were avoiding him. He wanted to believe that was all in his head but he had never been particularly good at shutting those sorts of thoughts out.
He managed to stumble his way to the shower, stripping off the clothes he was wearing before he slipped under the steady stream of water. He felt raw, and not just because he had given birth a week ago. He was pretty sure that his body was on its way to recovery from that ordeal now. No, his emotional state was linked almost entirely to the way he'd had to shift the way that he looked at himself over the last nine months. It had been different when Massey had still been inside of him, he'd managed to remind himself far more easily why he was putting himself through all of the dysphoria and trauma. Now that he was earthside, it wasn't so easy, at least not when she wasn't in his arms anyway.
He showered, letting the hot water practically burn his skin off before he eventually managed to force himself to leave the shower, find some clean pyjamas and make his way down to the kitchen where he found Hermione, Draco, and both kids at the table.
“Maxi!” Cero cried out when he saw Harry, reaching out for him with his chubby fists and Harry would have considered himself to be a villain if he didn't scoop the toddler into his arms.
“Hey there, my beautiful boy.” Harry said softly, pressing kisses to both Cero's temples and centre of his forehead. He could feel the eyes of his husband and his wife on him but he couldn't and wouldn’t make eye contact with them. They wouldn’t understand what was going on with him and he didn't think that he could explain it to them either. His experiences were very different to theirs, after all.
“You're just in time for dinner.” Hermione said softly. Harry glanced sideways at her, smiling a little when he saw that she was cradling Massey in her arms. Despite how crappy he felt, he has to admit that things were falling into place now that the five of them were together. He didn't exactly know how that made things shift, just that it did.
“Macaroni cheese?” He asked as he sat down, Cero relaxing back in his arms which made him feel more than a little special.
“Macaroni cheese.” Hermione confirmed. Cero was going through a phase where there was very little else that he ate. Chicken nuggets always went down well but they'd had the day before. Or at least he thought that was yesterday, all the days felt as if they were merging into one. He desperately needed to get back into some sort of routine and to stop feeling so damn sorry for himself.
“Maccy cheese!” Cero exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Massy too?”
“No, not mac and cheese for Massy. Not until she's quite a bit bigger. She's not got any teeth yet.” Draco said softly.
“Only milkies.” Cero then said, a tinge of sadness to his voice which made Harry want to chuckle but he managed to hold it back because he knew that it was important for Cero to understand his little sister. He had been so good with the baby so far.
“That's right.” Draco nodded as he shifted Massey’s position ever so slightly. “But that just means there's more for you to grow into the biggest, strongest big brother.
Harry hummed at that. None of the three of them had been older sibling or had an older sibling, though Harry did often count the Weasleys as his siblings. He'd had a taste of it in that respect at least, but Cero was going to be a big brother from childhood. They hadn't planned for Cero to have siblings but now that he was one, Harry did wonder if they were meant to have more children. He knew that he wouldn't carry anymore himself but that didn't mean that Hermione wouldn’t consider it.
For now though, Harry was content with their little family. It would take some time for him to feel okay within himself but that was okay as long as the five of them were there together, he decided. And he reckoned that if he kept telling himself that then he would eventually start to believe that and get over this slump that he was going through.
He looked up to see both Hermione and Draco watching him and made sure to give them a reassuring smile and wrapped his arms around Cero just that little more tightly.