Snake Boy

18 - Tea Room

Draco decided he had never been happier in his life. He stood in the doorway watching his very pregnant wife and his also very pregnant friend drinking tea and quietly conversing in parseltongue. Oma and Harry were wild creatures at heart, he thought, who had deigned to allow humanity to share their lives. Both of them glowed with their pregnancies – Harry's belly even more distended than his sister's for all that she was a month further along.

Sev had been unable to get any readings on either of the babies with his diagnostic spells, nor had Poppy. The healer had resorted to physical checkups which Harry and Oma strenuously objected to. Even these methods, when they could get the pair to submit to them, were inconclusive which worried Tom and Draco both to no end. Poppy and, oddly, Celeste assured them all that the children were fine and healthy or else the 'mothers' wouldn't be so obviously thriving. Draco sometimes thought that Celeste knew more than she was letting on.

He pulled his eyes away from the pair to admire the new addition Tom had built for the Syrens. It was based on a Japanese tea room, but a bit more practical. Cushions served for chairs and the few tables were very low. There was a massive wooden daybed-sofa, an obvious antique, also low to the floor and covered with a multitude of pillows and fur throws. The floors themselves were a light hardwood, highly polished, with a fire pit cut into the center.

"Hello Draco," Oma greeted in heavily accented English.

The younger Malfoy smiled and sauntered across the room.

"Hello, My Love. Don't let me interrupt; I just wanted to check in on you."

He bent low and kissed Oma lightly on the lips. He still couldn't believe this beautiful creature was his. Turning, he greeted Harry as well.

"Hi D-Draco."

Harry, for some reason, was having a much harder time than Oma learning English.

"I'll see you at dinner Darling," Draco murmured to his wife before quietly slipping out of the room.

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Harry watched Draco with his sister and smiled. Oma had found herself a fine mate. To an outsider the younger Malfoy's visit may have seemed odd but it was a matter of course in Riddle Manor. Tom made sure that either himself or one of his most trusted followers laid eyes on Harry at least once an hour. Someone else may have found it stifling but to the young brunette, it was an affirmation of his safety.

"Where is Ginny this day," Oma hissed in parseltongue after Draco left.

"She and Dynah have gone to meet another family. They apparently have a very young son who was bitten by a werewolf and they want nothing to do with him. Our wolves will most likely come home with a new addition to our family.

The girl smiled.

"That should please you, Brother. The boy can play with our hatchlings later."

Harry returned the smile and took a sip of his tea, his thoughts turned somber.

"I am worried thought."

Oma waited for him to continue.

"Tom says that Dumbledore is too quiet. He has done nothing since Bizby five months ago and that is apparently rather unusual."

"Perhaps he is planning to do something about the Lovegoods?"

"Perhaps," the young Wizard murmured into his tea.

It was true that the Lovegoods had been causing quite a stir in the Magical Community. Mr. Lovegood was apparently a secret supporter of Tom and together they were using Dumbledore's own tricks against him. Mr. Lovegood ran a small newspaper called the Quibbler and while it was not a very prestigious piece of journalism, enough people read it to take notice of some very interesting articles that had started running after the destruction of the werewolf commune.