Initial Consequences
The room sat in silence for a while. Harry took that moment to feel some sympathy for Malfoy. He could empathize with him. He had expressed some of the same thoughts Harry had about the Triwizard Tournament when he'd been forced to compete. They didn't get a choice. Someone just showed up and told them it was happening. For Harry his fright was because of the obvious danger involved in the tournament and the social rejection from the school. For Malfoy it was total outcast status and being left poor on the streets. Harry still thought of Malfoy as being fed from a silver spoon but he now recognized he'd always had more to lose too.
However real the boy's problems are, they were still clouded in Harry's mind by his resentment of Malfoy and him being a stuck-up prick. Harry returned his eyes to the adults in the room. Their eyes seemed to be on a shelf or a wall or anything but the two worried boys. Neither seemed to want to address the concerns Malfoy had raised. Harry knew why too. They were all more or less true and there was damn near nothing they could do about them.
Snape finally turned his eyes back to the hospital bed and sneered at the boy residing in it. "Now Mr Potter that is not all. The potion was crafted to demonstrate the properties of ferken moss. The part you drank contained nearly twice the approved amount. This is an alteration that many couples homebrew after failing to conceive with the approved variety. It is not approved for a reason. No complete studies have been done on the subject and the side effects of it are unknown. What is known -at least anecdotally and theoretically- is that it improves the chances of conception."
Though it wasn't technically a lecture, coming from Snape, it absolutely felt like one. The more Harry heard the more things got worse. He could not believe he didn't think for even one second before picking up the potion bottle and shoving it into his mouth and down his gullet. It very well may have only taken 2 seconds to ruin his life. Reality had a cruelty that it seldom showed but was always hiding beneath the surface. He couldn't comprehend how most of life was normal when anytime, anyday, something like this could happen.
He had just gotten a reminder that like knives to his gut. He had also ruined Malfoy's life. No matter how much they fought he was just a 15 year old boy. He had done something akin to murdering him. Every part of his life would be ripped away. He would be devoid of any of the advantages Harry hated him for. Not only that, he could be without family. Just like Harry himself. He saw Malfoy in a way he'd never done before. As vulnerable, not evil. And his actions were going to cause a barrage in just the way Draco had just shown he was susceptible to.
The two adults continued to go over what the physical consequences of the potion were to be and for once, Harry wished he could take notes like Hermione. He hadn't ever felt before that he was being passed knowledge that he couldn't relook-up in a book or ask Hermione for before. The closest he had ever come to that was when someone was telling him about his parents, but those conversations had always been more about the emotional weight of them rather than the actual factual knowledge being given.
Here he wanted to remember every possible symptom and complications that could come from this. As he tried he realized he absolutely could not do that. He settled for picking out a few pieces of information and saying them over and over again in his head to make sure they stuck. Madam Pomfrey noted that regardless of whether or not there was conception the potion often caused hormonal shifts.
At the end of the spiel Pomfrey mentioned that she did not know a lot about fertility potions having worked in a school for the past 25 years. As well as only having a working knowledge of elven specific potions. When she mentioned bringing in a specialist Malfoy interrupted her. "My family has a medical practice we have trusted for generations to provide outstanding Elven specific care in all areas. As I am heavily involved in this I insist that Potter go to my healers and get the best care available for this specific situation." The two adults and Harry all looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. If they were who the Malfoys used then they were probably fine healers. They let Malfoy's decision stand. Pomfrey instructed him on how to share their contact information so they could be brought in to consult on Harry's case. This included going back into her office to get a copy of a form to be filled out.
Once she was done with that she turned back to the group at large "Alright that is all the information we can give you for now. I think it is time to try an initial pregnancy detection spell." She focused in on Harry for the next bit of information. "Mr Potter until it can be confirmed that you are not pregnant the only person who we can allow to cast spells on or in close proximity to you besides yourself is Mr Malfoy. I have instructed him on how to cast a pregnancy detection spell. You will have to be patient as he only learned this today and may need multiple attempts to get it right." Malfoy stepped up to right in front of Harry's bed and took his wand out. He was about to make an attempt when Madam Pomfrey reached her arm across his chest to stop him.
She explained without preamble, "I want to be clear on what this means. If the result is positive it indicates that the potion took effect and you are pregnant. If the result is negative, nothing has changed, you very much could still be pregnant. It is hard to tell at this point. Professor Snape and I will look but there is very likely no counter to this potion. Most people who ingest it want the full effects of it.
"If you do become pregnant you will most likely be forced to carry to term and give birth. The magic of this potion is such to prevent miscarriages. Attempting an abortion would be quite dangerous to you. No upstanding medical professional would be willing to, except in such a case where your life is put in danger by something else. If you feel strongly about not carrying the child a transfer of surrogacy may be attempted after the fetus is stronger. For any more information about this you will have to talk to the specialist." When she finished she gestured for Malfoy to attempt the spell.
After his first attempt they waited and watched but nothing happened. Madam Pomfrey took out her wand and had Mr Malfoy step away from the bed. She then began to talk as she did the motions for the spell, her wand pointed at malfoy. She then redid the motions, this time saying the incantation that went along with it, 'too nay esmat uur'. With that a green smoke appeared in front of Malfoy. It remained there for a minute before dissipating into the surrounding air. She guided Malfoy to have a more precise wand movement as he said his 'too nay'. This was a spell she was very familiar with and knew inside and out.
Malfoy did so on Madam Pomfrey and the same green smoke appeared, although his was not nearly as dense as the one Madam Pomfrey had created and it took a bit of looking to see it. He then turned back to Harry. "Too nay-" he fumbled with his wand a bit and then restarted. "Toooo nay esmat uur."
Harry was now seeing the room through green smoke. As soon as the smoke appeared Madam Pomfrey started to talk again. "No confirmation now then. Mr Potter you may leave now but you are not to physically touch anyone besides Mr Malfoy here until you are given express permission from a healer. You are to have no one outside of Mr Malfoy perform spells on you and you are to ingest absolutely no potions without being instructed to by myself, Professor Snape, or any other licensed healer, potioneer or pharmacist that knows all of the details of your condition. I will inform your professors of exactly what they need to know and no more. You are free to inform who you like of your state although I caution you that Mr Malfoy will probably not be appreciative of you informing others about his involvement in all of this.
"You two are to come back here before dinner every Monday to do another test. Mr Potter you are to take a prenatal vitamin potion every morning with your breakfast. This will not impact your chance of conception but if you do conceive it is important that you are on a prenatal vitamin potion regimen. The house elves will send one up for you every morning at breakfast. If you fail to attend breakfast you will need to call for a house elf to bring one to you. If you experience any symptoms you are to write them down and bring them up on your Monday appointments. If you experience severe symptoms you may come to see me at your earliest convenience."
She gave her instructions very fast and Harry tried really hard to follow what she was saying. Though he didn't feel like he needed to be told not to take anymore potions without advisement. He had begun to develop a fear of unknown potions. He looked around and realised his book bag would still be in Snape's classroom. He stuffed the notes for the teachers from Madam Pomfrey into his robe pocket and made his way down into the dungeons to retrieve his things.
As Malfoy exited he saw he had been given a book. Harry tried to peak over his shoulders and caught that it was a wizarding medical textbook. He then returned to the dungeons and grabbed his bag. He looked at his watch, if he hurried he could still eat some lunch. Though eat lunch, he did not. As soon as he came close to the Gryffindor table half of his house's attention was focused on him. Neville asked what the potion was and George asked if it was a prank or if he really drank a random potion.
Harry answered George but kept silent on what the potion was. He wanted to wait for a more private time before he talked to Hermione and Ron about it. Though he was thinking of a reason to tell them separately as he wanted some support from Hermione before he delved into the details with Ron.
He was able to make it through the rest of classes brushing off any specific questions. He only said that he didn't want to talk about it and that drinking a potion without reading the label is a bad idea. Harry heard at dinner that there was no potions class for anyone else today even after Snape and everyone had left the hospital wing. He hadn't seen him when he'd gone to retrieve his books though he left much earlier than Harry.
On the way back to the common room Hermione slowed down and dragged the both of them into the empty ancient runes classroom. Once there she sat down and took a quill, ink, and parchment from her bag. She smoothed the parchment down several times before turning towards the boys who had sat in a couple of free chairs. "Harry. What was the potion?" She asked with gentle words having learned that her quests for knowledge were often done in a way that could be harsh and hurt people's feelings.
Harry took a little while to respond, he looked to Hermione and then to Ron and then to his hands. He looked back to his best friends after sighing. "Please don't react, but one of the ingredients was a biological one that came from Draco Malfoy." He took a second as the others waited, this piece of information useless on it's own. "It was a fertility potion." Harry kept looking down.
Ron shook his head and looked around. He wasn't all that booksmart but he grew up embedded in magical culture to such a degree that he could be a wealth of knowledge compared to Harry and Hermione. He didn't have to work to understand a lot of the concepts Hermione spent hours studying to grasp. "Mate, what type of fertility potion?"
Harry didn't want to tell him. However, he was given confidence by how well Ron was handling it so far. "It was an experimental activated elven fertility potion." The words came out downtrodden as he looked to the ground.
They drew back from Harry with shock. Hermione wrote down what Harry had said as Ron asked another question. "What do you mean experimental?"
Harry started to backpedal as they had gotten the wrong impression. "Experimental is probably the wrong word. It's a marginally common variant that is unapproved for use and used by couples when the medically authorized one has failed them. It only varies in the amount of ferken moss in the brew."
When he said that last line it was only Hermione who seemed to freak out. "It has ferken moss in it?" Her voice was desperate for an answer. She was still not great at controlling her curiosity to be considerate of others.
Harry nodded in response to her question and she cooled a little bit before giving an explanation. "Harry, ferken moss is a highly potent ingredient, when it's used in potion it's normally only a very little amount; an alteration in the amount of ferken moss in a potion can have drastic consequences. Do you know any more about why it was used for that potion?"
"Professor Snape said that couples who had problems conceiving and still had problems conceiving on the regular fertility potion would homebrew it. It supposedly improves the chances of conception but it is untested." When Harry restated what he'd been told, he better understood exactly why his friends were worrying. He even purposely left out the part about unknown side effects.
They then somewhat calmly went over the rest of what he was told in the hospital wing that morning. When they were done they went to the common room and their dorms. Harry had them promise not to tell others about the potion until he could get everything figured out himself. Hermione even added that she would make sure to keep her notes hidden and not be too obvious when researching. She really was learning, but the whole world had been so new to her that she felt like she had to spend all her time catching up to her magically raised peers.
The next week went by somewhat normally. People bugged Harry about what potion he drank but after a couple days of him not answering they gave up on getting the information out of him. This left a vacancy of information that the rumor mill was doing its best to fill. Ron informed him that the leading one was that he accidentally drank a slow transformation potion and that within a month he would be half-falcon. Hermione added that it was a good thing that wasn't true because a slow transformation potion is a good deal harder to brew than the potion he actually drank and at least with this one there was a good chance it had been made properly. "Even if it was experimental." she whispered.
It took two days before there was another potions class. Anyone who had been happy not to have class was now absolutely furious with Harry. No one was allowed to so much as look at an ingredient. Instead every class was going over potions safety in excruciating detail to a degrading degree. Pretty much everyone was under the impression that, so long as you weren't Harry Potter, you didn't need to be told not to drink any random potion. The day following the restart of potions classes had Harry subject to 3 separate pranks, one of which had him running to the hospital wing after puking his guts out all over the lunch table. Madam Pomfrey said there was pretty much nothing she could do for him without risking an interaction with the fertility potion. She allowed him to spend a class period on a bed and gave him some breath mints. After that she shoved his nausea ridden body out of the wing.
In every class with student spellwork Harry was instructed to be at least 5 paces away from any magic going on. In practice that meant he spent a lot of time just outside the doorway watching others as he fell behind on his practical work. McGonagall held him after the first class and told him that when the specialist came they could come up with a better and more permanent solution. Harry wouldn't have worried much after that but Hermione stressed him out about it.
Eventually Monday came and it was time to do another test. He saw Malfoy coming up and joined him for the last hallway before the hospital wing. He wanted to say something about the last time they were here together. "Malfoy I," He wasn't exactly sure what to say. He just needed to say something about it. "I didn't consider your situation or really anything else last Monday. Drinking that potion is the stupidest thing I've ever done. I'm sorry for what it'll do to you. I just wanted to pummel your face in and I was careless." Harry didn't feel like those words were very good. But they'd do and he'd done it now, he could stop feeling guilty about it.
Malfoy didn't respond. He just kept walking. The two of them approached Madam Pomfrey. She led them to a corner of the wing separated by a partition. In it there were half a dozen chairs and a desk. She directed them to sit down. "Alright boys, the healer Mr Malfoy put me in contact with will be here in a few minutes. When he gets here we will do the pregnancy detection spell again and he'll take it from there."
The two of them sat in silence. Harry refused to speak. He'd said what he wanted to Malfoy and the rest was up to him. After a period of time that passed by slowly in the quiet, a man was led out of Madam Pomfrey's office by her. He was dressed smartly in somewhat formal robes.