Harrow had been feeding some of the horses at Salem when a grown man practically tackled him to the ground to get his attention. He recognized the man as a regular at the Laughing Gnome Inn, and he was screaming at Harrow about Felix. Harrow felt his heart twist in his chest and wasn’t sure if he ever ran so quickly in his life. When he was a young boy in muggle elementary school, he hated gym class. He hated having to run around for credit and was usually the kid who tried to get out of it as often as possible. He would come up with excuses about stomach aches, about needing to see the principal or anything like that. If Miss Flynn, the gym teacher who hated him could see him now, she would be floored with his fast he ran to the man he loved more than anything.

Felix was the man of his dreams, and the only one for him. Harrow thought that he could be with someone else, and was horribly wrong. They found their way back to each other on Valentine’s Day and Harrow couldn’t stop smiling. He stumbled through the door of the Laughing Gnome and saw his boyfriend leaning against a wall looking paler than usual.
“Felix!” He didn’t care how many of their students or coworkers were in bar, how many of them would know what was going on between them, he couldn’t possibly care any less. He needed to make sure that Felix was alright.
“Baby are you okay?” He asked, kneeling next to the Swede, checking over him to see what was wrong with him. Harrow was sure that the men who got him said something about what was wrong, but it looked like a murder scene in the bar and Harrow needed to make sure that his boyfriend was safe.

There were a pair of women’s leggings next to them, something that looked like an organ next to it all, and Clover Wynne holding a baby nearby. Did… there was no way. Harrow laced his fingers with Felix’s, waiting to hear an explanation. There had been times when he wondered if Felix would ever leave him for the comforts of a woman. He knew that his boyfriend usually preferred women over men, and knew that it was irrational, but that didn’t stop him from feeling jealous. If Harrow was right and Felix just witnessed a land clam exploding with a new life, there would never be a fear about it again.

The entire school board could have been sitting there having a meeting regarding blowing up the entire school and Harrow couldn’t have cared less. All that mattered was him getting as close to his lover and making sure that he’s alright. There was nothing else that could matter as much to him as Felix. He crouched down next to his boyfriend and heard the mmm noise, hopefully that was a sign that Felix wasn’t completely gone. Some snuggles and Harrow might be able to bring him back.

Harrow held Felix close and tried to sooth his lover as best as he could, while trying to figure out if he was really looking at after birth right now, or if he was just making things up.
“You delivered a baby… oh you can’t unsee that.” He tried to keep his tone light, but he knew that his lover was probably traumatized from the horrible sight.

He snuggled into the bloody and feminine gunk covered mess that was his boyfriend but didn’t care. He had his love in his arms and he was alright.
“As long as the child and mother are alright, and you’re alright. That’s all that matters… I liked those jeans on you.” He wasn’t even sure what made him say it, but it seemed appropriate with the Healers trotting around and drunken idiots buying rounds to celebrate the birth they all witnessed. He could see some of their colleagues standing around, whispering behind their hands about them. As if Harrow could care less about any of them knowing that they were a couple. Harrow wanted to scream it at all of them. Wanted to pledge his life to Felix and knew that it was just on that borderline between overly romantic and overly psychotic.

When Felix pulled away a bit, Harrow let him go and ran his fingertips over Felix’s cheek.
“I thought that this big mess was from you.” He held Felix’s hand, not too keen on allowing the other man to go a single second without feeling Harrow’s hand when he clearly needed it.
“I’m just happy you’re alright.” He knew that there was no way he would ever be able to lose Felix, they tried that once and it didn’t work for either of them.
“Do you think you can walk, or do you want to sit for a little bit more?”

From Felix’s reaction, he couldn’t imagine being able to watch a child being born. Felix was the calm and relaxed one of the two. With all of that Viking blood in him, if he couldn’t handle watching the miracle of birth, Harrow knew that his pansy ass would never be able to handle it.

Sure he was able to handle large creatures, he was able to stare down a hippogriff and coax calmness out of a dragon, but when a student got a paper cut? He couldn’t do it. Blood was not something that he would ever be comfortable with and he was going to have to depend on Felix to handle the cuts and booboos involved with children.

Harrow smiled at his boyfriend when he explained what he knew about the child.
“Hell help any child who tries to mess with him.” He knew that Clover would be a wonderful mother, and one of the most protective mother bears of all time. Harrow held his boyfriend as close to himself as he could, not even caring what came out of Clover’s land clam and was now plastered all over himself as well.

They stood up, allowing Harrow to fully take in the scene around them. There was so much mess, he knew that one of the bartenders would take care of the mess before the owner Sparrow got there. It was well known that something happened to her pregnancy, so Harrow doubted that she would want to come back to see the evidence of someone else having their child all over her floor.

Harrow carefully took off his jacket, unwilling to let go of Felix’s hand for too long. He wanted to make sure his boyfriend was safe, and wrapping his jacket around the books and papers was a small price to pay to see that smile all over his features. They would strip those clothes, probably throw most of it away, and melt in their large bathtub for a few hours. Harrow had just stocked up on all sorts of wonderful smelling salts and things that fizzed and bubbles. They were bought with the hope of a relaxing night together, but should work to erase those images from his skull.

He reclaimed Felix’s hand, while being careful that his jacket concealed the books completely. He didn’t want anything else to upset his boyfriend and any time they could spend together might be able to help. The two of them walked to their home near the bookstore, Harrow opening the door for him and smiling at the man who he loved so much.
“Want to start the bath water and I’ll put these in the office?” He locked the door behind them, knowing they wouldn’t want to be interrupted while Felix was coping with the Escape from Clover private movie that must have been playing in his head.

While he knew that Clover would be a wonderful mother, he also knew that there would be no parent more protective over their children than Felix and Harrow would be. They would take care of their children, make sure that no harm ever came from them and Harrow couldn’t wait for it. To be able to hold a child in his arms for the first time, or just look into their eyes and coax a smile from them. It would be perfection.

He would protect his boyfriend’s books for now, since they were already on thin ice between romantic and too fast idiots. He already was the one who suggested them moving in together, he knew that if he suggested having a child already, then Felix would try to get him committed.
“Anything for you, my love.” He returned the kiss and carefully protected the books and papers from any wayward placenta that tried to ruin it.

Harrow saw some of the looks, he just held Felix’s hand with all of the pride in his body. When they broke up before, it was because even after being intimate, Felix wouldn’t hold his hand in public. It made Harrow felt sick and empty, but now that he had a taste of what it would be like to be with someone else, and Felix had tried to go back to his life of literature. Neither option suited them very well. Harrow loved that Felix was able to give him more affectionate time, and Harrow knew to be patient when he couldn’t.

Setting the papers and books on the desk, his heart swelled hearing Felix call for him in the bathroom. As if he could deny Felix anything when he called for him like that. Harrow stripped off layers of his clothes while he walked to their bathroom. He would clean it up later, once his boyfriend was thoroughly cleaned from the memories from his lover’s head.

Harrow passed by their bedroom, happy when he saw his dogs piled on the floor in front of their empty fireplace and stay asleep. He loved them, but he needed some time with just his boyfriend. Harrow dropped his underwear and stepped out of them and just took in the sight of Felix in the bath.

“Feeling any better, my love?”

There was absolutely nothing sexier than Felix in the bathtub. The little bit of bubbles that got caught in his beard, the way that the water made his hair stick up in all sorts of crazy ways. He loved it all. His time with Felix made him the happiest possible. Nothing else could ever compare to that. Being in his arms, laying beside him, it was bliss. When they settled down a little bit, he knew that he would want to ask Felix to be his husband. His romantic brain was already spinning with ideas for how he would ask him. Each idea more and more ornate than the one before it. Whatever he did, however he did it, he knew that it had to be worthy of Felix Hedlund.

Harrow stepped into the hot and bubbly water, feeling his muscles instantly melt in thanks from the heat. He had been working with some of the creatures in the stables, he didn’t even realize how sore he was until this second. Being worried about Felix must have numbed his own needs to anything else. As long as his lover was safe and sound, nothing else mattered to him.

He moved in the bath tub, being careful not to slosh too much water out of it until he was on Felix’s lap with his arms around the man of his dreams.
“Better?” He asked with a smirk as his upturned lips got to work on Felix’s neck. Anything to wipe the memories of their student’s vagina out of his mind for good. There had been times when Harrow worried about losing Felix to some woman. Felix always seemed to find the beauty in everything. It wouldn’t be too hard to find some long haired, fair skinned, woman more appealing than Harrow’s tiny self.

Pushing those thoughts away, he grabbed the wash cloth and loaded it up with some of the body wash that he loved to smell on Felix. Harrow placed a soft kiss on his lover’s perfect lips and started to run the soapy cloth over his chest. There had been so much gunk everywhere that Felix needed something to be able to relax, and Harrow was more than happy to give it to him.
“Other than all of that, how was your day, my love?”

There was no part of Felix that he couldn't love. There was no part of him that he wasn't obsessed with. All of silly little things that Felix probably didn't even know that he noticed. The way that his face twitched while he was sleeping, how his hair stuck up in all different directions. Felix was probably the most important person in Harrow's life and the best part of it all was, that he knew he would spend the rest of his life making sure that Felix knew that.

Harrow wanted to make sure that Felix was alright. He knew that if he had been the one who tried to deliver a baby, he never would have been able to manage it. He would have done something wrong. Something that would have led to a complication with the baby, but Felix was the calm one under pressure. He had to be in the moment and Harrow was impossibly proud of him.
"I'm glad, my handsome man."

While he might have tried to be with someone else, he never would be able to. He hated himself for even attempting to be with Ian, it made him sick to think about the older man and headmaster in that intimate way anymore. Ian wasn't Felix and Harrow would never want another man in all of his days. He wanted to have a family with Felix, tuck their daughter in at night and kiss the top of her head to keep the bad dreams away. They would go on trips to Sweden and Washington or whereever. He wanted to go to places with impossible to pronounce names, or places that he had never heard of before. It would be amazing and all theirs.

Harrow's heart fluttered in his chest when Felix admitted that he saw the note. Harrow couldn't help himself.
"I hoped you would find that. You seemed so stressed when you left the house today." He trailed his kisses along the freshly washed skin, making sure that he was rebaptising his boyfriend with his proper kisses instead of the horrible memories of Clover.

"Time in the stables. I got some new arrivals coming from a farm in Alabama. Had to make room for them." He had often done business with the Richardson family on behalf of the school. They bred all sorts of magical horses and they were a good family. They cut him a good deal, because they knew that Harrow was a good man and would take care of them. Also helped his case that he contacted them every breeding season if they needed some variety in the herds.
"But this?" He ran his hands tenderly over Felix's back, "Is what I had been looking forward to all day."

Just like that. Harrow was absolute putty in Felix's perfect hands and they were together and nothing in the world could hurt either of them. Nothing could tear them apart and nothing could be better in this moment than them just together. They didn't need to have some marathon fuck session, they just needed to exist together and Harrow was happier than ever.

They complimented each other so perfectly, that Harrow still couldn't understand what he had expected to find in someone else. If he honestly thought that he would be able to find someone else who brought out such bliss, such wild love and unhinged passion in one other person in the world. Not that way that Felix could. When Felix looked at him with those warm eyes that told him that everything would be okay in the world as long as they stood together. Hand in hand. They could deal with exs, with births, with whatever else the world wanted to try to make them break apart with. Harrow's need for touch wasn't even a problem anymore. He didn't have to pout for snuggles, it just seemed like Felix was as addicted to them as he was.

"It was a good day, but this is far better." The water was warm against his naked form, and Harrow had to thank himself again for thinking of checking the bathtub while they were looking at the house. While it was already perfect for them because it was located next to Sanddust Books, but the bath tub was big rnough for the two of them. When he would be sore from dealing with a stubborn hippogriff or even a kelpie, he would just want this and Felix's strong arms around him. It worked out better than any mediciation or massage.

As much as this night was supposed to be about saving his love's mind from the horrible images of exploding land clams, he had to think about how utterly sexy it was that they were in a bathtub together. Their hands all over each other, their lips claiming new parts of skin and Harrow couldn't help but allow his hands to get a little more daring with the touches. When he felt Felix on his center, he couldn't help but moan softly against Felix's neck. There was so much that the Swede was able to do with Harrow probably without a single thought to how damn sexy it was.

"Care to show me how much you've missed me?" Harrow teased while trying to just focus on the manual pleasure that his lover was giving him. He gently bit on Felix's earlobe, hoping that he would understand the universal signal of please do not stop whatever you do.

"Or would our bed be a better place for this?" He loved being able to say that it was their bed. Their house. Their love. Their future.