InsaneJournal

Unexpected - Chapter 7: Winter Wonder
Title: Unexpected
Authors: slashpervert and aveeno_baby.

Betas: brknhalo241, asm614, Mini Mouse, and Indie.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: ADULT!
Genre: Fluff, Smut, Hurt/Comfort
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Length: 94,000 words (40 Chapters)
Warnings (Mark to Read): Language, Explicit, M/M Sex, Masturbation, Oral, Rimming, Anal, Mpreg, and mental health issues such as anxiety attacks. (Characters in this fiction are over 18.)

Summary: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have lived together for four years in their country house surrounded by a magical menagerie of unwanted animals Harry rescues. Yet, Harry wants more. He dreams of a family that includes children.

Notes: Post-war, AU after HBP, not DH compliant. Sequel to Undesirable, though can be read separately. Whereas, Undesirable was very dark, this one is very fluffy with some angst. Thanks to corvusdea for help with Latin for spells. Icon adapted by slashpervert from Passion by dirty_darella.
Disclaimer: This is a non-commercial work of fan fiction intended for adult audiences only. No copyright infringement intended. (Full Disclaimer!)

Chapter Number/Total: 7/40
Chapter Title: Winter Wonder
Words: 2092 Words



Harry woke up quite suddenly in the middle of the night, his eyes blinking open. It felt a little chilly in the room, but not too bad. He yawned and slowly pulled himself out of Draco's arms, reaching for his robe and pulling it on as he got out of bed. The room looked a little lighter, not the usual darkness. It made him wander over to the window, his eyes widening when he took in the scenery. The moon shone down on a landscape changed. Everything was covered in snow, and it was still snowing.

Draco made a soft murmur of protest from the bed.

"Snow," Harry said, opening the curtains a little more. "Draco, snow!"

"Mmm?" came the sleepy reply.

"Snow," Harry repeated, turning and jumping on the bed.

"Snow?" Draco echoed, flopping onto his back and blinking up at Harry and seeing the other man silhouetted against the window.

"Snow," Harry said, smiling brightly as he jumped on top of him. "Draco, it's snowing."

Seeing a real smile on Harry's face brought one to Draco's, as well. "Oh, really?"

"Yep," Harry said, reaching to take Draco's hands in his own. "Can we go outside?"

Draco had been warm and snug in bed, of course. "What time is it?" he asked, but nodded too. To see Harry happy, he would do almost anything.

"I dunno," Harry replied, shrugging.

Draco dragged himself out of bed, shivering a bit as he fumbled, pulling on trousers and shirt.

"We have to wear warm clothes," Harry said, hurrying over to their wardrobe.

Draco grinned, pulling on his socks and boots, and then looking in the drawer for his hat and gloves. "So what will we be doing out there?"

"Snowball fight," Harry said matter of factly as he pushed his feet into his boots hurriedly.

Draco arched an eyebrow. "In the middle of the night?" He found his hat and turned back to Harry.

"Can you put my hair up?" Harry asked, grinning up at him and purposely not answering Draco’s question.

Draco nodded, and moved to braid Harry's hair. "I am pretty good at throwing snowballs," he warned.

"I'm better," Harry replied, waiting for Draco to tie it up.

"Is that a challenge, Potter?" Draco teased, wrapping up the hair and using a charm to hold it in place.

"Yes, Malfoy," Harry said, pulling his hat on and then grinning at Draco. He turned to run down the stairs in front of him.

Draco laughed, giving chase, their running startling the dogs who bounded after them as well.

It was bright for the middle of the night, the moon shining off the snow. Harry ran outside first and grinned, pulling on his gloves. "It's so pretty," he said, and then stomped through it, falling on his back to make a snow angel.

Draco worried at first that Harry had actually fallen, but then stood laughing as the man began moving his arms and legs.

Harry pushed himself up and climbed out to look down at his design. "You do one, Draco!"

"You want me to lie down in the snow?" Draco asked, dubious. "I don't think so."

"Do it!" Harry insisted, raising his eyebrows and pushing him gently.

"Am I going to be ambushed with snowballs if I do?"

"Yes," Harry replied, bending over to pick up some snow, balling it up in his hands.

"Oh, no you don't," Draco laughed, running out into the yard and scooping up his own handful. Wags and Snuffles were barking and jumping up and down around Harry, apparently excited by the night-time romp in the snow.

Harry jumped around them, running towards his lover. In defence, Draco hurriedly packed his snowball together and threw it at Harry, who dodged it and threw the one he had in his hand, aiming for Draco's head.

It exploded on top of Draco's head and he was never more grateful for wearing a woollen hat. He snatched up another and threw back. That one hit Harry's arm as he bent over to get more snow.

“No fair," Harry yelled, turning to run after him.

Draco laughed scooping up more snow as he dodged behind the barn.

Harry stopped and hid behind a tree, peeking out. "You can't hide forever!"

"Come and get me, Gryffindor!" Draco yelled back, hurriedly making a small pile of snowballs in preparation.

Harry growled and started to make his own bunch of snowballs. "You come first!"

Draco peeked around the barn. "I thought a Gryffindor would charge right in," he said, and threw another snowball.

Harry ducked as the frozen missile hit the tree. "Aren't you going to try and sneak around me?" he asked, moving around as he spoke.

"A Slytherin never gives away his strategy!" Then Draco began moving around the barn.

Harry went quiet and started to move around the other side of the barn, hoping to sneak up on Draco.

But Draco caught sight of his lover and ducked behind a storage bin on the side of the barn, waiting to ambush him.

Harry didn't see him, but he stopped, looking around a few times. "Draco ...."

Draco popped out of hiding behind him and hit Harry in the back with the first snowball, the other raised to throw when he turned around.

Harry gasped and whirled to face him, throwing the snowball as quickly as he could. They both threw at the same time – and both hit. Draco's snowball hit Harry in the chest. Harry's hit Draco's in the forehead, exploding snow all over his face. Harry stared at Draco for a long moment before he started to laugh, pointing at him.

Draco wiped snow out of his eyes and then closed in on Harry, grabbing the laughing man with a grin of his own. Harry yelped, but continued to laugh as Draco grabbed him up. Draco's face was wet and cold now, nose probably red. He rubbed it against Harry's, kissing his cheeks.

Harry's laughs turned into giggles, and he lifted his head more so that he could rub their noses together. Wet and cold, but with warm breath and an even warmer mouth, Draco nuzzled and then kissed Harry again, holding him while snow fell around them. Harry kissed him back, his eyes closed as he focused on the man he loved.

They stood kissing for several minutes, breath rising like steam from between them. Draco pulled back to look into Harry's face. "You got me," he declared, grinning.

"Like I said I would in the beginning," Harry said with a grin.

"You going to keep me?" Draco asked, smirking.

"Forever and ever," Harry promised, nodding quickly.

"Can we go back in and get warm ... together?" Draco waggled his eyebrows in suggestion.

Harry grinned more widely and reached to take Draco's hand. "I want hot cocoa too."

"As you wish, love," Draco agreed, leading them back inside.

***

The snow crunched under foot as Harry made his way up the stairs of St Hedwig’s Orphanage. He had managed to convince Draco to let him go out to the orphanage after he had realised what he was doing to Elijah. By not seeing him for weeks, the boy probably thought Harry was abandoning him and he wasn't; he just needed the time to himself. And he kind of didn't want to see Sister Margaret, the nun that stopped him from adopting Elijah. He sighed a little as he pulled his hat further down as he trudged through the snow. When he reached the front door, he paused, biting his lip before he pulled open the door and stepped inside.

Harry could hear the sounds of the children in the Day Room. He smiled and pulled off his hat. He really missed all of them, not just Elijah. The moment he stepped through the door of the room, several of the children jumped up and came running to him, Elijah among them. Harry was soon surrounded by kids clamoring for his attention.

Harry said hello to all of them, kneeling down to give them each a little hug. "I've missed you," he said.

"Harry, you said you would play a game next time you came," one of the older boys declared.

"You set it up," Harry said to them, and then stood up, walking with Elijah over to a more quiet area. The others went back to the table, arguing over who would use which playing pieces.

Elijah wrapped his arms around Harry's neck and he looked like he was going to cry. "I thought you weren't coming back," Elijah admitted.

"Eli," Harry whispered, rubbing the child’s back as he hugged him. "I'm so sorry. I just ... I needed some time," Harry pulled back enough to look at him.

"I thought you were angry at me," Elijah told him, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.

"No, of course I wasn't," Harry said softly, shaking his head. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know," Elijah said, looking down.

"Don't be sad," Harry whispered, pulling Elijah into a hug again. "I'm back now."

Elijah hugged him again. "Okay, can we play with them?"

"Yes, come on," Harry said with a grin, letting Elijah lead the way back to the big table.

They played games for a while, and while Elijah still wasn't well liked, Harry was glad to see that he seemed to be getting along better with the other kids. They had just finished another game when Sister Margaret came into the room.

"Harry, can I speak with you?” she asked.

Harry looked up and hesitantly nodded, telling the children he'd be right back. He hoped he would be, at least.

Sister Margaret led him into her office again and Harry nervously followed. He realised that now that the woman knew his sexual orientation, she just might ban him from ever coming back. He couldn't do that right after telling Elijah that he was back for good.

"The children have missed you," Sister Margaret said, as she sat down. "Especially Elijah."

"I'm sorry I left for such a long time," Harry murmured, sitting down in the seat in front of her desk.

"Harry, I won't lie and say that I approve of your ... lifestyle. But, I do know that you are good for these children and that you mean well. Maybe I should have been gentler in the way I told you the rules. It just ... surprised me," Sister Margaret explained.

"I know. Maybe I should've said so from the beginning, but to me, it's not so much about being, well, gay," Harry explained. He thought he wasn’t really gay, but just that he didn't find himself attracted to anyone but Draco. He thought that if Draco had been a woman, Harry would have loved that woman. "I just happened to fall in love with a man. It could've been anyone, really ... but yes. Thank you for letting me stay. I don't know what I'd do without those kids."

"We can't change our rules, Harry, but I am glad you came back. Everyone here appreciates how good you are with the children. I'd rather you didn't talk about your ... relationship with the children though. Can you understand that?" she explained.

"Yes. I wasn't going to, really," Harry replied, if only because it was too complicated.

"Thank you, Harry," Sister Margaret said smiling.

"You're welcome, Sister," Harry said, smiling back.

***

"Hey, you've got something behind your ear," Harry said to Draco for the third time that day. He reached behind Draco's ear and pulled the coin out, showing it to him with a grin. "Getting better, aren't I?"

They were cuddled on the sofa in front of the telly, the animals lounging around the room with them. Draco arched an eyebrow and smiled. "Yes, better," he smirked. Hermione had given Harry a book on Muggle magic tricks and, of course, Harry practised it on Draco. Draco figured he was fine as long as the man didn’t try the vanishing cabinet on him. Not too many good memories associated with that for Draco.

Harry grinned and put the Galleon away, thinking that he'd need to use Muggle money when he did it with the kids at the orphanage. He was still disappointed that he couldn’t adopt Elijah or any of the other children, but he wasn’t about to let Elijah down on any of the promises he had made. Now, more than ever, he intended to keep going to the orphanage.

[Living with loss but not giving up.]

Chapter 8

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