#instead of just kind of shuffling them over and pasting some brittle humour on it?

[catt-nuevenor]

I don't know if you're okay with this kinds of asks (please ignore this if you're uncomfortable with it) but... If the ro and mc are having 'fun' In bed when suddenly their kid comes in/almost comes in, how do they react? What kinds of excuse would they say?🤣

As previously stated, I'm trying to steer clear of cringe humour with this react, and instead going more into healthy responses to such an awkward encounter.

Hope you all enjoy!

I HIGHLY recommend you head over to the reacts page to read this. There you can enter your own names and pronouns for the characters.

Reacts Page

P

P swept the blanket up and over MC in a single motion, the fabric falling with an uncanny perfection across their otherwise naked body. Searching through the folds of bedding and discarded clothing, P found their hand and held it comfortingly as they propped herself up and smiled at their partner's child.

"Hi CH." They smiled, doing their best to keep the queasy shame out of their voice. It wasn't anything to feel ashamed of really, but instinct drove a heated blush up from the base of their neck.

The little child was quiet, looking between their ren and P in a stilted silence.

MC turned about in the bed, facing their child. "Are you alright CH?" They asked gently.

CH frowned. Not in an angry way, they didn't seem sad or hurt either, just puzzled. "What are you doing?"

P felt their lover's entire body tense in the span of a heartbeat.

"We..." MC looked up at their with the devotion of utter desperation.

"We were making love CH."

CH's frown got deeper, whilst their ren paled.

"What's does-" The child began, only to be interrupted by a voice from the corridor behind them.

"CH? Could you come and help us with breakfast please?"

P let out a subtle sigh, the expression, along with their relief, shared equally by their lover. After reassurances from them both, CH turned and scampered out of the room, almost forgetting to close the door behind them.

"I could just about kiss that woman right now." P chuckled, deflating bodily, resting their forehead against the warm sanctuary of MC's shoulder.

"Do you think A realised?" They mused, playing with a curly lock of their partner's hair, while their other hand was still entwined with P's.

The woman huffed. "Probably. Even more reason to sing their praises later."

MC laughed, and P lightly pressed the tip of their nose to the sound. "I'm not sure they'd really appreciate a serenade, or a kiss for that matter."

Propping herself back up on their elbows P smirked. "Really? I have it on good authority that I'm a pretty good kisser. Or are you just trying to keep me all to yourself?"

They'd find CH later, sit them down, and no matter how much it might make them both squirm, they'd answer all their questions as honestly, and sensitively as they could. P would also go find A and let their off of washing duty for the next two months.

But that was all for later. In that moment P and MC had far more present matters on their minds.

L

L felt a little bit sick. What the hell had they done?!

Why hadn't they remembered to lock the damn door? It was automatic most nights. Tuck CH in, retreat back to their private room, get utterly engrossed in MC, and before anything else, lock the door.

They hadn't noticed at first. They was too busy with 'other matters' to notice the slow creak of the door's hinge, or the small voice that asked for their ren. MC had. They'd noticed right away.

With a mortified groan, L pulled their knees up to their chest, tucking their head into the cradle of their crossed arms. Great, just great. One stupid mistake and not only had they likely traumatised a small child, but they'd more than likely ruined their relationship with MC.

Their soon to be ex-lover was with their child, trying to find a way to explain what it was they saw, and settle them back to sleep. How the hell they planned to do that L didn't have the foggiest. And what was L doing? Hiding like a coward.

This time, when the door's hinges gave their low creak L heard them, but they didn't look up. They couldn't bear to see MC's disappointment.

The bed dipped slightly as they sat down, and L automatically shuffled aside to make a bit more room. Then, a thick silence descended, burying their shame beneath renewed guilt.

"Are you alright L?" MC asked gently, startling the young fisher.

They looked up, eyes wide, jaw slack, thinking they must have misheard. "What?"

With a compassionate smile, MC reached out and took L's hand. "I said, are you alright?"

"I- You-" They spluttered, treading between confusion and annoyance as their eyes flickered between their partner and the door. "But, CH-"

"Is fine L." MC said, stroking their thumb across L's knuckles. "A little confused, but mostly worried that they upset you."

"What!?"

MC leant in close and kissed the gaping woman's cheek. "Remember it is still the middle of the night love. You don't want to wake the others do you?"

"No. But-" L dropped their indignation to a whisper. "What about CH? How can they just be fine with it?"

MC shifted further onto the bed, tucking their bare feet back under the rumpled blankets, gesturing for L to lay down beside them once they'd settled.

"Children understand more than you think." They explained, pulling the blankets up over them once L had joined them. "I told them the truth, that we were showing each other how much we loved each other in the way adults in a relationship do. That it was a natural part of some but not all grownup relationships, and that it wasn't anything to be ashamed of or worried about."

"And they just accepted all that?"

MC nodded. "They'll probably have a lot of questions in the morning, but I'll take some time to sit with them and go through anything that worries them."

"I-" L struggled to find their way back from the crippling embarrassment of moments ago, and back to some sense of logic. They should be a part of this somehow. The realisation almost threw their straight back into full scale panic, but they did their best to keep calm.

CH thought they'd upset their, while they still feared they'd upset them. The most straightforward way to reassure them both was to talk it through. Maybe...

At least they'd both have MC's support, no matter how awkward the conversation went.

When L asked to help, MC kissed their so sweetly they felt some of the anxiety melt away at once. The rest would likely sit there till the talk tomorrow. For now though there was comfort, warmth, and the familiar tangle of limbs to enjoy as they let their dreams sweep them away into sleep.

A

"Ready for this?" A asked, squeezing MC's hand tightly for a few moments when they saw the panic in their eyes.

With a dry gulp MC shook their head. "Not really." They glanced at the open door, no doubt wondering whether there was still time to make a run for it before their child arrived.

A patted their knee, smiling warmly when they turned their nervous gaze to their.

"I guess I just wasn't expecting to have to have... this conversation, not yet anyway."

The Cunningwoman gave a sympathetic nod. "No, I imagine not."

It wasn't really anyone's fault. Just a poor sense of timing, and forgetfulness. It was lucky CH didn't come in a minute or two earlier, who knew what they would have thought upon seeing that particular part of their love making. It was all unfortunate but none of them could go back and change the past. It simply was what it was.

A took in a calming breath, letting the morning air flow in and fill their lungs, before letting it go once more. It had to be done. If they simply let the matter lie CH would more than likely build up their own theories on what they had seen. Would they think they were fighting? That A was in someway hurting MC? Or worse would they think that sex was something expected of them at their age?

The idea made A's skin squirm, and their insides writhe. No. They would tell CH what they were doing plainly, without oversimplification, or gratuitous detail. They'd explain that it should be an action of sincere and mutual trust, that no one should ever take what was not freely given, and that it was a complexity of grown up relationships, and that when the time was right, and they met someone they cared for and trusted, and that both they and their partner wanted to take their relationship to that level of physical intimacy, only then would they need to consider sex.

MC chuckled quietly beside their, attempting to muffle the sound behind their palm.

"What is it?" A asked with an amused smile of their own.

"You have that look about you." MC explained, placing a fingertip on the fold of a slight frown that sat between their dark brows. "The same one you get when Erda gives you a difficult customer to manage."

A laughed. "I'm sure CH will be much better behaved than that."

Their lover shrugged. "I don't know. How many seven year olds have you dealt with?" The soul smirked as a lick of confusion danced across their partners expression. "Any question you hope they don't ask, you can guarantee they will."

A flutter of nerves tickled at the base of A's throat, though they did their best to remain outwardly calm. "Well, it's a good thing I have a practiced hand with me, isn't it?" They said, laying a soft kiss against MC's jaw, revelling in the sigh it drew from them.

There was a light tap of a tiny hand upon the door. A drew herself back, settling as naturally as they could beside MC, still holding their hand as they called out to their child.

K

"I don't understand why you hid it from them this long." K said, resting their weight back upon one hip, pivoting slightly to keep MC in sight as they fussed around their room.

"Because a little child shouldn't have to worry about things like that." They snapped, frustration and shame making their temper brittle.

K watched quietly as they slumped onto the bed, their head resting in their hands. They didn't understand the burden their efenhlytta struggled beneath. Making love was natural, every creature upon the earth or in the waters procreated in some form, yet it was only people that put such pressures on the act. Made guilt when there was no logical reason to be any.

Cautiously they sat beside their lover, and despite the ease with which they might do so, they made no move to touch them. "What will you tell them?" K asked, keeping their words, and their voice, calm and gentle.

Of course they expected them to bristle, or snap out a response born of frustration once more, and they was shocked when instead MC slumped further into the bed.

"I don't know." They said on a fragile whisper. "I don't know what I'm going to tell them."

"I didn't realise this would upset you to this degree." K said, after a brief but pointed silence had settled between them unbroken for many minutes. "Would you like me to talk to CH."

The child's ren looked up from the cradle formed of their fingers, considering their with something close to curiosity, though the finer detail of what it was that curiosity was focused upon seemed lost to them both.

"You'd do that?" MC asked, clearly not ready to believe K's answer before they'd even had chance to reply.

The strange woman nodded. "Of course, if you want me to."

They let their mind linger a while on the offer, the ease at which they might pass on the burden of the conversation they had no desire to have. But deep down they knew they could never accept.

It wouldn't do CH any good. They needed to be comfortable when they discussed what had to be discussed, and while they both got along far better than they used to, K's presence still unsettled their child.

"No." MC sighed, though they made effort to smile through the exhale. "Thank you though. If-"

They hesitated.

"If you would... be there with me? When I talk to CH."

With lithe fingers, K caught MC's chin and delicately tilted their head about so that their eyes might meet. "For you my efenhlytta, I would stand before the greatest of challenges, no matter how dire."

K kiss demanded all the attention MC's worries might steal away for themselves. When they pushed them back into the sheets, they could not help the muffled gasp.

"Shall we finish our own conversation?" K murmured into the delightful warmth of their efenhlytta's neck, kissing where their quickened pulse fluttered visibly beneath their skin.

"What- what conversation is that?" MC breathed, their breath hitching as K nipped ever so lightly at their prize.

The strange one smiled. "The conversation your child interrupted earlier, of course."

[gold-from-straw]

Everything That Happens - Ch6

I'm back! I'm sorry I missed last week with this story, but it was definitely for a good cause because the WONDERFUL, INEFFABLE, AMAZING @nerdherderette was going through the whole story and giving me a lot of things to think about - I'm going to be going back and making some edits over the last few chapters to make them a bit more smooth thanks to her amazing beta skillage! Thank you for your patience ^_^

Read on AO3 from the beginning if you prefer!

“Hi, Harry!” said Colin at breakfast the following day, a big cheerful grin on his face.

Harry couldn’t help but smile back. “Hi, Colin. Sorry I woke you up last night.”

“Oh, that’s fine - I was having a weird dream anyway.” He shuddered, but the darkness that passed over his face was gone in an instant. “Have a good day!”

Harry waved him off and shook his head in amusement, digging into his porridge. Hermione gave him a sly little smile that made him instantly suspicious. “What?”

“Oh… nothing.”

Harry glanced at Ron, who shrugged. He shrugged back. If Hermione wanted to keep a secret, he wasn’t going to get it out of her.

He let his gaze wander over the tables, taking in the dynamics, brittle and fragile under the no-longer enchanted ceiling. The students were making a valiant effort to get back to normal, although there were places that were empty and people notable by their absence. Students whom Harry had never even spoken to had died on May the second, and many more had decided not to return, moving overseas or finishing their studies with private tutors instead.

The Slytherin’s table was now the smallest by far, the students huddling together in little clusters. Harry glanced over to the end of the eighth year table, where their own two Slytherins were sitting, a good foot or two of space between them and the nearest students.

“I don’t know what they were thinking of, coming back here,” Ron muttered, following Harry’s gaze. “Both their dads are in Azkaban, Malfoy’s mum’s under house arrest. What did they think was going to happen, that everyone was going to welcome them back with open arms?”

“Have you considered, Ronald, that they don’t have anywhere else to go? Theo’s effectively an orphan; his mum died when he was in fourth year, and Malfoy… well, would you want to be back there? Where Voldemort was living?”

Ron looked abashed. “How do you even know all that stuff about Nott’s mum?” he asked.

Harry wasn’t listening. He was watching Draco Malfoy rise from the table and slip out of the Great Hall. His white blond hair was somehow darker and lay flat on his head, his eyes were sunken and underlined with dark shadows. He looked like he had in sixth year.

Harry poked at his porridge and felt his heart rate speed up. He wondered what Malfoy had been doing in the third floor corridor last night. Not that there was any reason why he would be… doing anything, just… well, the last time Harry had noticed him sneaking around, it had ended in a war.

But Harry had a new weapon now - he didn’t have to wonder what Malfoy had been getting up to. He could go and find out.

His heart pounding, Harry excused himself from the table and slipped into an empty classroom. He took a deep breath and remembered where he’d been last night, lying in bed, unable to fall asleep. He could picture it in his mind’s eye, he could see the dorm--

-- and suddenly he was there. He sat up in bed, blinking in the darkness, and grinned.

He shoved his glasses on and fumbled for the map. There was Colin Creevey in Gryffindor, already (or still) alive, because in this timeline, Harry had saved him. The timeline in which Colin had died was gone forever; Harry could feel it in that developing sense deep in his mind, a strand cut loose and drifting free, existing only in Harry’s memory. He felt the fierce triumph pound in his blood as he scanned down the map. To his surprise, even though it was hours before Harry would have bumped into Malfoy the last time, his name was already bobbing around on the third floor.

Slinging his invisibility cloak around himself, he slipped out of the makeshift dorms and up the stairs. The corridor was as unused as Harry remembered from his first year, and for the first time, he wondered why there were so many rooms in the castle that never got used.

Strangely, Malfoy’s name wasn’t anywhere near the trapdoor Fluffy had been guarding seven years ago, but sat in the corner of one of the far rooms. Harry crept closer, his hand pressing flat against the half-open door.

“Who’s there?” Malfoy snapped, leaping to his feet and swinging his wand in an arc across the room. Harry froze, his eyes screwed up tight, berating himself for his carelessness.

“I know you’re there,” Malfoy said. He sounded like he was imitating his past self, like he’d forgotten how to be intimidating. The tip of his wand was shaking, and as Harry looked closer, he thought his lip might have been trembling too.

Malfoy slumped back in the corner, his hands coming up to clutch at his hair, his whole body folding in on itself. All of a sudden, Harry was reminded of the girls’ bathroom in sixth year, Malfoy’s despair, and the last time he went sneaking up on him.

Shame flooded through him. He’d wanted to use this gift to make things better, to change things, and here he was, making the same mistakes all over again.

Before he could think, he’d slipped the cloak off. “Malfoy?” he called softly, stepping into the room.

Malfoy leaped to his feet again, his eyes hard. “Potter,” he spat. “What do you want? Come to slice me up again?”

“Hey, you tried to-” Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “No.”

“Well… what do you want, then?”

Harry tugged at his hair. “Uh… well, I couldn’t sleep. So I was wandering around.” He shuffled his feet a bit more. “Um, are you OK?”

Malfoy laughed, high-pitched and absolutely without humour. “I’m peachy, Potter,” he said, spreading his arms.

“What are you doing here?” asked Harry, wandering further into the room. “I don’t think we’ve ever had lessons in here.”

Malfoy snorted. “Why do you think I chose it?”

Harry looked at him, his head to one side. He wasn’t sure Malfoy was going to clarify, but after a moment he spoke, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “You weren’t here last year, Potter,” he said. “Every room… they tortured people in every classroom. They made us--” He cut himself off and cleared his throat sharply. “If you’ll excuse me…” and he marched past, his shoulder thumping Harry’s on the way out.

Harry took one more look around the classroom, at the corner Malfoy had been huddled in, and felt shame prickle once more at the back of his mind as he released the thread of the past and opened his eyes to another empty classroom hours away.

***

The first time Harry went back in time to try and save Tonks, to try and argue with her, convince her to go back to her baby, she just smiled and patted him on the cheek before running off. When he went back again, fighting through the spiders and veering around the grounds to search for her and Lupin, he wasted so much time that he nearly forgot to get to the Shrieking Shack.

He lay in the darkness of his room, heart beating fast, the grief and terror and panic of that night no less intense than it had been the first time.

He rolled out of bed and wandered the castle again, his head aching dully with the pain leftover from his scar. The moon shone through the windows on the south wing, and Harry leaned out, watching his breath condense in the chilly autumn air.

Soft footsteps had him glancing up to see Draco Malfoy walking along the corridor, his head bowed. Harry watched him, wondering at the difference in his demeanour these days, the way he crept quietly from room to room and sat in silence next to Theo to complete his work. No sarcastic comments, no mockery nor cruel laughter. It was like he’d been hollowed out.

It felt familiar.

“Hey,” he said softly, and Malfoy startled to a stop, looking up cautiously like he hadn’t seen Harry there, or he’d been hoping Harry wouldn’t see him. Harry grasped for conversation, half-wondering what the hell he was doing. “Um. How’s your mum? Is she OK?”

“Why do you want to know?” Malfoy asked, his tone a mix of defiant and curious.

Harry shrugged. “I heard she was stuck there. In your house. I thought… you know she saved me, right?”

Malfoy frowned.

“She lied to Voldemort. Said I was dead when she knew I wasn’t. I mean… I guess it’s possible he actually wouldn’t have been able to kill me then, but she didn’t know.”

Malfoy walked slowly, cautiously, until he stood at the window beside Harry. Harry watched him out of the corner of his eye, saw how his thin wrists rested delicately on the windowsill, the bumps of his collarbone sticking out of his shirt. How his face looked less sunken, less bruised in the moonlight.

“She’s strong,” Malfoy said at last. “Much stronger than me. Or Father, for that matter. She’s always done what was needed for the good of the family.”

Harry nodded. For a moment they stood side-by-side and watched the thestrals wheel over the forest.

“Goodnight, Potter,” said Malfoy, his hand trailing along the windowsill as he stepped back, and he left Harry to the peace that had taken up temporary camp in his mind.

OK from now on, the next few chapters are ROUGH. I'm not kidding, it starts to get happy around chapter 11. I am not a kind person to Harry or Draco. Or... anyone... There will be MCD BUT I swear it’s only temporary - I have chosen not to use archive warnings on AO3 because this is a time travel fic and it WILL end up a fix-it. But there's A LOT of bad stuff between now and then. If you need more detail I'll be more than happy to provide <3