A/N: It's been quite some time since I've uploaded anything new. I'm so sorry to those who've been waiting, and I'm so grateful for the reviews and PMs I still get regarding something that I wrote so long ago. I hope that this makes it up to you in some way. It's a very slow moving Bill/Hermione story that won't get smutty for awhile. It will be rated M however due to the graphic nature of some of the scenes. If you have a weak stomach, best stay away. Well, enough of the warnings, enjoy!
Hermione Granger jolted awake with a gasp, patting down her sheets, her pillow, and herself before releasing a deep sigh of relief. She had had that dream again. The same one that had relentlessly been haunting her every night for the past two months. It starts out in a beautiful garden during a full moon, obviously well loved by whomever it's caretaker may be. She's laying across a stone bench, twirling a daisy between her fingers, humming an old lilting tune that she had only ever heard played on the bagpipes, when all of a sudden fear, the likes of which she's never felt, even during the war, descends upon her. She jumps to her feet and starts running. She runs, and she runs, and she runs. Before she even realizes it, she's at a dead end. She only has two options, face whatever creature is coming after her, or jump down the deep ravine that she's only a meter away from. She always wakes up before she has to make a decision, but that's not the point! The point is that she is sick and tired of waking up every night because of the same dream. It gets old pretty fast.
With another sigh, Hermione decides that there is no way that she's going to able to go back to sleep given it's already four-thirty and she has to get up at six anyways. She opts for a cup of tea before she starts her day, and makes her way down the stairs of her small cottage towards her kitchen. She flips on the light, as she lives with all the muggle conveniences, and proceeds to putter around at the sink with her teakettle, turning on the stove, and depositing the aforementioned teakettle onto the rapidly heating burner. She tosses some black tea leaves in the bottom of a teacup and waits for the whistle to sound.
The hot water didn't take long to heat, and not five minutes later Hermione was sitting at her small kitchen table with a cup of strong tea gripped loosely in her hands. She inhaled a deep whiff of the tea and a smile gently graced her features. The fog left over from her dream lifted and she began thinking about everything that she had to do that day.
It was a Wednesday, her busiest day of the week. She worked at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Milords and Maladies as a Specialist Healer. She worked in the Obstetrics and Gynecology ward that had been added on recently as the hospital now finally had an actual specialist in the field instead of just relying on regular healers all the time. There was a brand new nursery near the main nurses station for the floor so that the babies were always watched, and there were eight new birthing rooms, and twelve new recovery rooms, four of which were private rooms. She was very proud of her own slice of the hospital.
What's so busy about Wednesday? Wednesday was the day that she scheduled all of her office appointments for expecting witches. She met with a lot her patients at some time on Wednesday, even though that meant staying until nine'o'clock, and still bringing home folders to work on throughout the day on Thursday. Her first appointment of the day was scheduled for seven-thirty and they were in half hour increments for the rest of the day, except her hour for lunch. She never saw the same people every Wednesday, having the patients only come once a month unless they were in their last month, in which she would see them weekly.
She truly loved her job, but absolutely hated Wednesday. She had scheduled surgeries throughout the rest of the week, besides Thursdays, and of course she was always on call for the other departments just in case a pregnant woman came through for any other ailment. Thursdays were the day that she caught up on paper work for the week, and had the few gynecology appointments with the older muggle-born witches that were worried about their feminine health. The pure blood and half blood witches knew they had nothing to really fear, as there was always a spell or a potion that could be used to cure any ailment.
Finishing her tea, Hermione glanced at the clock on the microwave and noticed that it was already five after five. She rinsed out her cup and the teapot before walking back upstairs to get ready for her day. She knew that she was getting started super early, but she figured she could go in early and get all of her paperwork ready for the day. It always paid to read up on new patients before she saw them, as she never made her own appointments. She had a personal assistant to do that for her, and Cheryl was very good at her job.
Hermione turned on the shower in her en suite bathroom and slipped off her pajama pants and an old quidditch jersey that used to belong to Harry. She couldn't remember for the life of her when she had acquired the garment, but it was her favorite night shirt. Harry probably didn't even realize that it was gone. He and Pansy had recently moved out of 12 Grimmauld Place, where they had lived together before they got married two months ago, and into a house in Godric's Hollow.
Stepping under the spray of hot water was Hermione's most welcome morning ritual; next to her first cup of tea, that is. She stood under the hot waterfall for ten minutes before she finally went about washing herself. When she was done, she quickly jumped out of the shower, pulled a clean towel from the cupboard nearest the tub, and wrapped herself in it before she walked into her room to get dressed.
She decided on a scarlet blouse with a plunging neckline and a short black skirt; she would have to wear her lab coat over top of her outfit anyways. She used her wand to dry her hair, causing it to fall into beautiful, soft curls as opposed to the frizzy, tight mop of curls that she used to have. She slipped on a pair of red heels that perfectly matched her top, applied a light coat of eyeshadow and some lip gloss before walking back downstairs.
A quick glance at the clock on her microwave showed that it was now five-forty five. Fantastic. She grabbed her white lab coat, double checked her doors were all locked, and stepped into the ever-nauseating floo network. She stepped out into her office and used her wand to remove the soot she had picked up on her way through the many fireplaces of Britain.
When she glanced up she noticed a rather daunting stack of manilla folders in the middle of her desk. That stack seemed a lot shorter yesterday... Taking a seat, she began reading the contents of each folder meticulously. The first few women were all in various stages of their second trimester, meaning that she had to run various tests on them each time they came in. She noticed things like that as she made her way through the now dwindling stack of patient files.
It wasn't until she got to her three'o'clock appointment that she finally saw a new patient's name. Her eyes widened in shock before she managed to reign herself in enough to put her professional mask on. She made quick work of the remaining files, making mental notes here and there to herself about each patient. When she had finished, she cast a quick charm to tell her what time it was. It was now seven-o-two. She set all of the folders in a slot on the wall near her door so she could grab each one as the day ticked by. Just as she opened her door to let Cheryl know that she was in, so that she knew for whenever her first patient arrived, the woman in question bustled through the open door.
"Good morning, Healer Granger." The woman always sounded chipper, no matter the time.
"Good morning, Cheryl, and how many times have I asked you to call me Hermione?" Hermione had an amused smile on her face for the taller, plumper witch that she had been working with for the past year.
"Every day, Healer Granger." Both women shared a small chuckle before Cheryl got down to business. "Your one'o'clock canceled, so I moved the meeting you were supposed to have tomorrow morning to noon today. You can just eat at your desk during the meeting and that should free your entire morning up tomorrow so that you can make it to your parents' before your dad's chemo treatment." The larger witch was very efficient in her planning.
"Thank-you so much, Cheryl. You really do way more than I ever expected you to." Hermione made a mental note to get Cheryl a thank-you gift. No matter how many times she did things like that for Hermione, no matter how many times she was told thank-you, it never seemed like enough for all the extra hard work she put in around the department.
"It's no problem at all, Healer Granger. I also took the liberty of calling your parents to inform them that you'll be able to make it. Your mum sounded relieved." Hermione nodded her head to acknowledge that she was listening.
"That's great! Thanks again, Cheryl. Do you happen to know if my seven-thirty is here yet? I can get them in a few minutes early if they're here." Hermione quickly slipped into Healer-mode and grabbed the outer most folder from the slot on the wall.
"I believe I saw them walk in, I'll send them back if they are." With that, Cheryl left. Hermione followed, but went into her small examination room across the hall from her office. She reread the file in her hands once more before the door opened. A young couple walked in, both with brown hair and brown eyes. The woman was obviously pregnant and Hermione gestured for her to take a seat on the examination table in the center of the room.
"Good morning, Joann. How have you been?" The young woman smiled and replied with a generic answer that could have meant she was actually fine, or that she didn't wish to divulge the problems she's been having. "Let's get started then." Hermione smiled and got along with her tests on both the woman lying in front of her, and the fetus in her womb. After about ten minutes she picked up the folder that she had laid on the counter in the corner. She made some scribbles on one of the papers in the folder, closed the folder, stopped for a second, opened the folder again, read what she had written, nodded to herself, added to what she had written, then turned back to the couple. There must have been an odd look on her face, because the man spoke up.
"What is it, Healer Granger?" He reached out to hold his wife's hand like he expected bad news.
"Your baby's heartbeat is really slow. It's not cause for alarm just yet, but you should try to do as little as possible for the next month. If nothing has changed before then, we'll talk about some options you have. If you feel any heavy cramping, or start vaginally bleeding before your next appointment, come in through emergency. I'm always on call and I'll be there. Until then, stay off your feet and try not to consume too much sugar." Hermione smiled reassuringly at the couple before signing off on a small piece of parchment. She handed them the parchment and told them to give it to Cheryl on their way out. She would schedule their next appointment for them; then told them to have a nice day. The couple left, the man with his hand at the small of his wife's back.
Hermione sighed and returned to her office. One appointment down. She put the folder face down on her desk, she would forget which folders needed worked on if she didn't. She took a seat, checked the time, and stood right back up. Her next appointment was for eight and it was now three minutes til. She stepped out into the hall, grabbing the next folder on the way. She didn't bother looking up, it was only a few steps across the hall to her destination. Scanning the information in front of her, she slammed right into her eight'o'clock patient.
"Watch it, Granger." That voice could only belong to the illustrious Draco Malfoy. Raising her gaze, Hermione confirmed her own suspicions. She flashed a smile and held her hand up for him to help her off the floor where she was currently sitting. He smirked before pulling her to her feet.
"Hello, Draco, Astoria. How are you both this morning?" She nodded at both in turn, leading them into the examination room.
"Quite well, thank-you. The baby's been very active the past few days." Hermione pointed Astoria to the table as she closed the door behind Draco. She made small talk with the perfectly Aryan couple as she ran the standard tests on the petite witch in front of her. She waved her wand in a quick flourish, emitting a small piece of parchment seemingly from thin air. She grinned as she caught and handed the picture to Astoria. It was a moving picture of their son. He was currently sucking on his thumb and attempting to elbow his way out of his prison. Tears welled up in Astoria's eyes, they finally knew that they were having a little boy. Draco even looked misty-eyed for a minute when he leaned over to see the picture.
"He's perfectly healthy. Whatever you're doing, keep it up, Astoria. You're in perfect health for where you're at in your pregnancy. As of today you have three months left. You are now entering your third trimester and I recommend that you don't do any heavy lifting. If you want to exercise, mild yoga or walking. Do you have any questions?" Hermione was scribbling a quick note that she wanted to see the couple every two weeks from now on.
"Umm... Actually I do, Granger." Malfoy had a blush spreading across his features when Hermione looked up to acknowledge him.
"Go ahead, Draco." She waited expectantly.
"How long until we have to stop- you know?" Even Astoria was blushing at this point. It usually took a lot to phase the couple in front of her. She grinned when she realized what Draco was asking.
"You don't have to stop until she goes into labor. Some women find that it can even help stimulate labor closer to their due dates. You should abstain for the first six weeks after the baby's born, though. That should give Astoria plenty of time to heal." Hermione looked back and forth between the two, silently asking if their was any other questions. When they both shook their heads, she handed Draco the slip of paper as he helped his wife down and out the door.
"Thanks, Granger." Draco called over his shoulder as they headed back down the hall to make their next appointment. Hermione and Draco had become friends in the five years since they've been out of school, even went on a few dates before he married Astoria. Those two were perfect for each other, and neither said anything about her being muggleborn anymore.
Hermione checked the time: eight-twenty. She quickly wrote a few notes on the Malfoy file before slipping it into it's file cabinet. The day was shaping up to be even busier then anticipated... Stupid Wednesdays...
A/N: Thanks for reading. This will be a rather long story, not sure how long just yet. Please let me know what you thought and if you think it's worth continuing. Have a good day!
