Hermione's pregnancy had been difficult from the beginning. She and Draco had not planned to have a baby so soon after marrying. They had planned to give everyone time to come to terms with their surprise marriage first. After all, they did marry while on vacation without ever having been engaged. They had not planned for a honeymoon baby.
It came as a great surprise, when five weeks after they announced the marriage, Hermione discovered she was pregnant, and not simply run down from the stress of dealing with their friends and Draco's parents and the endless articles in the Daily Prophet. Draco was thrilled. Hermione not so much. She wanted a baby, she wanted Draco's baby, but now just was not a good time.
They had married on impulse while vacationing in Brazil. While touring the wizarding section of Rio, their guide had taken them to visit a very old Muggle chapel. It was a very beautiful, stone building on the edge of the forest that marked the border between the Muggle and wizarding worlds in Rio. The guide told them it was still used as a wedding chapel for Muggle tourists. He said Muggles could feel the tingles of magic that surrounded the area and considered it a lucky place to be wed.
Later that week, after a very romantic dinner and two bottles of wine, Draco decided they should return to the pretty little chapel and get married before returning to London the next day. They had discussed marriage in passing, but as his family and their friends just barely tolerated their relationship, it was not something they had seriously considered. But on that particular night, it seemed like the best idea in the world.
"My parents and our friends will not completely accept us being a couple until we force them to accept it. And what better way to force the issue. We love each other, are committed to living our lives together forever, right? Is that not the most basic definition of marriage? So let's just do it. If we go back and try to plan a wedding it's going to be a fight. If we just show up already married, they will not have a choice but to accept it. This way we can have a peaceful ceremony that we will remember with love. Not the circus my mother will plan. What do you say?" And with that little speech from Draco, she was convinced.
So they married quietly that night, in the lovely little Brazilian chapel, in a Muggle ceremony. Just the two of them and the Muggle minister and his wife as witnesses. It was simple and beautiful, exactly the memory they wanted to share with their children and grandchildren.
After returning to London, they first went to Malfoy Manor to break the news of their marriage to Lucius and Narcissa. It went about as well as could be expected. At least there was no bloodshed. Anger, disappointment, and a threat or two, but not a drop of magical blood spilled. Draco took that as a win.
Next, they gathered all of their friends together at a restaurant in Diagon Alley to make the announcement. This time, however, there was a few drops of blood spilled. Ronald Weasley's blood to be exact. After making the announcement, Ron had exploded. Accusations were made that Hermione was coerced into marriage at best, imperioed into it, at worst. Next thing anyone knew, Ron was on the floor clutching his nose, and Draco was shaking out his bruised knuckles. Ginny and Luna were the bright spots in the evening, when they hugged not only Hermione, but Draco too. And offered their congratulations and best wishes. Luna was even heard to say, "They make a lovely couple. Their personalities really compliment one another. And they are going to make stunning babies!"
And five weeks later, they found out they had created the first Malfoy grandchild. Lucius and Narcissa initially thought Hermione had trapped their son into marriage by claiming to be pregnant. But as the weeks progressed they came to see that their son was actually in love with the little Muggleborn witch. And she was carrying their grandson. So a truce was called, and Draco hoped this would be the end of the battle he had waged to get his parents to accept his wife into the family. Giving them a grandchild could be the answer to his prayers.
But then his prayers changed. Suddenly, he found himself praying for the health of his wife and unborn son. Hermione had been plagued with horrible morning sickness since the beginning of her pregnancy, but it did not go away after the first trimester, as usual. It got worse. Hermione could keep barely anything on her stomach. Even water disagreed with her sensitive stomach some days. This went on for weeks. The healers tried potions, but Hermione was allergic to the main ingredient in anti-nausea potions. By the end of her second trimester, she was losing so much weight the healers wanted to keep her hospitalized until her delivery. But Hermione refused to stay. After much argument, Narcissa convinced her son to bring his wife to the Manor where she could be looked after all the time.
Narcissa had experienced severe morning sickness with Draco, and her old house elf, Linny, had a secret elixir that helped with the nausea. By this time, Hermione was so weak and afraid of losing her son, she would try anything. Even if it meant going to Malfoy Manor to stay with her less than loving in laws.
Linny delighted in having a pregnant witch to care for again. Missy Narcissa had only had young master Draco, and Linny had always wanted her nursery filled with Malfoy babies to watch over. Maybe Missy Hermione would fill the nursery with little ones for Linny to dote on. Linny fed Missy Hermione her special elixir, along with hearty broths and soups to help get her strength back. Once she was strong enough for visitors, Narcissa came to ask if Hermione would object to her company. Narcissa was greatly concerned about both her grandson and her daughter in law.
Narcissa sat with Hermione and told her about her confinement with Draco. Gradually, Hermione and Narcissa bonded over their similar traumatic pregnancies. Narcissa came to appreciate the quiet strength her new daughter in law exuded. And Hermione learned there was much more to her Pureblood mother-in-law than she had been exposed to over the years.
Lucius, however, was not so easily won over. While he had come to accept that Hermione was not going anywhere, he still struggled with the thought of his grandson and the heir to the House of Malfoy being a halfblood. He had dreamed of Draco marrying a perfect Pureblood princess and having perfect, blonde children since the healer had announced that Narcissa was carrying a son. It was a dream he found difficult to let go. Until the day his grandson arrived.
Hermione had finally reached a point where she could keep down simple foods. She was thrilled to be able to get out and shop for baby Scorpius, like every other expectant mother. Although, at not quite eight months pregnant, it was a strain on her body to walk for extended periods of time. But she would push through the discomfort, because there was just so much she needed to do before her son was born.
On this particular day, Hermione had ventured into Diagon Alley to look for the perfect outfit to bring her baby home from St. Mungo's. She was feeling a little tired, so she stopped in the Leaky Cauldron to sit and rest for a few minutes. Tom greeted her and offered to make her a cup of tea. While waiting, she noticed a tightening in her abdomen. It only lasted for a few moments, so she ignored it, assuming it to be false labor. It happened again as she was finishing her second cup of tea. She decided perhaps she should go home and lay down for a while.
After thanking Tom for the tea, she stepped into the floo, calling out Malfoy Manor. As she arrived at the Manor grate in the sitting room, she felt a much stronger cramp in her stomach. She stumbled out of the fireplace and grabbed the back of an armchair to balance herself. She called out for Draco, only to be met with silence. She tried calling for Narcissa , but again only silence. Next she yelled for Linny. The little elf arrived with a pop.
"What can Linny do for Missy Hermione?" Linny asked, while bowing so low her pointed nose almost brushed the rug.
"Linny, where is my husband? And Mistress Narcissa?" Hermione tried to speak calmly. The cramping seemed to be intensifying with each passing minute.
"Master Draco is be going into the office. He says tell Missy Hermione he not be home for dinner. He is taking business associates from Japan to his club for dinner. And Mistress took a port key to Milan with Lady Parkinson and Lady Greengrass to shop for dresses for Missy Parkinson's wedding next month. Can Linny help Missy with something?"
"Linny, I need you to get Draco at his club for me, I think there is something wrong. My stomach is cramping and it is getting worse. " Hermione said while tightly gripping the chair back.
Linny disapperated and popped back a few minutes later. "Linny is very sorry, Missy . Master Draco is not at his club. And he is not being at his office either."
By this point, the cramps had become almost unbearable. "Linny, I need to get to St. Mungo's. But I do not think I can stand on my own to floo there. Can you help me?" Hermione was now leaning over the back of the chair, moaning in obvious distress.
Before Linny could answer, Hermione heard the deep voice of her father-in-law call for Linny. And away the little elf went. Hermione tried to catch her breath.
"What seems to be the problem, Miss Granger?" Lucius had always refused to acknowledge she was a Malfoy. "You appear to be distressed."
"Mr. Malfoy, I need to get to St. Mungo's. It feels like I am in labor. And I still have six and a half weeks until my due date. Something didn't feel right."
And for the first time in all the years she had known the unflappable Lucius Malfoy, she saw his perfectly calm exterior crumble. He rushed to her side, grabbing one arm and putting the other arm around her back. He guided her around the side of the chair, and over to the sofa, where he proceeded to try to force her to lay down.
"Mr. Malfoy, St. Mungo's. I need to get to the hospital to see my healer." Hermione managed to get out between moans.
"Oh, my, well...um, can you stand? No? Well, let's see?" Lucius turned about, looking around the sitting room as though hoping an answer would pop out of the woodwork. Suddenly, he seemed to come to a decision. He stepped up to the the side of the sofa and bent over, scooping his daughter-in-law up in his arms. He marched to fireplace and stepped in.
"Linny, throw a handful of Floo powder in, if you please. Then keep trying to find Draco. And have Pip bring my wife to St. Mungo's."
The flames rose up around them, and Lucius called "St. Mungo's!" The trip through the floo was a blur, then they were stepping out of the grate and into the lobby.
"Someone get Healer Smythewick, immediately!" Lucius yelled to the receptionist. "My daughter-in-law is in labor." Hermione seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness. He could hear her soft voice pleading with him.
"It's too soon. It's too soon, Lucius. Please, I can't lose him. I can't fail Draco. He wants this baby so much. I can't lose his son. It will break his heart. Please, Lucius, make them save my baby!" And then the light seemed to go out in her eyes.
"Someone help her NOW." The receptionist jumped to her feet, just as a mediwitch with a floating hospital bed came around the corner.
"Please, sir, place her on the bed, and follow me. What is the lady's name, sir? How far along is she? When is her due date? Who is her healer?" The mediwitch asked in rapid succession, while walking swiftly through the halls.
Lucius answered. "This is my daughter-in-law, Hermione Malfoy. She said she had six and a half weeks until she is due. I do not know who her healer is, but Healer Smythewick delivered my son. My wife still sees him."
They reached a set of double doors with a sign stating Labor and Delivery. "You can wait in that room." The mediwitch gestured toward a door across the hallway. "Someone will be with you as soon as we have her stabilized. Has the father been contacted?"
"My house elf is trying to reach him. He should be here any moment. "
"Excellent. We will take good care of them both." The mediwitch tried to reassure him. Then she and Hermione disappeared through the doors.
Lucius went into the waiting room and glanced around. What a depressing little room, he thought to himself. He stepped back into the hallway and started to pace.
"Lucius! What happened? Where is Hermione?" He turned at the sound of his wife's voice. She was practically running down the hallway.
She grabbed his arm, and looked up into his eyes. "Is Draco with her?"
Lucius wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "I do not know what happened, my dear. I found her in the sitting room, clinging to a chair. She said she was having cramps and asked me to help her get to St. Mungo's. She seemed to be in a great deal of pain. She lost consciousness after we arrived here. The mediwitch was asking questions I could not answer." His voice trailed off.
"And Draco? Is he with her?" Narcissa pulled away to look up into her husband's face.
Lucius appeared to be lost in thought. Narcissa nudged his shoulder, "Lucius? Where is our son?"
Giving his head a slight shake, he said, "Linny is looking for him. I believe he went to the office."
They continued to lean on each other while waiting for the mediwitch to return. After a quarter hour of waiting, a healer pushed through the doors, and asked, "Are you with Mrs. Malfoy?"
"Yes, we are her in-laws. How is she? And our grandson?" Narcissa was quick to speak up.
"I am Healer Andrews. Let's step into the waiting room."
After closing the door behind them, he turned and spoke. "She is stable, but still unconscious. Has the father not arrived yet? There are some things that need to be decided quickly, and he should be the one to do it."
"Decisions? Decisions about what?" Lucius asked.
"Mr. Malfoy, your daughter-in-law is hemorrhaging. We believe the placenta is partially detached. While we have stopped the bleeding with a spell, we can not magically reattach the placenta. It isn't healthy for the baby. Is Mr. Malfoy on his way?"
"Linny." Lucius called the elf.
POP! Linny apparated into the waiting area with her hand clasped around a disheveled Draco's wrist.
"Draco, where have you been?" Narcissa reached for his hand.
"Where is Hermione? What happened?" Draco immediately turned to the healer, ignoring his mother's question.
"Mr. Malfoy, I am Healer Andrews. Your wife was brought in unconscious by your father approximately 45 minutes ago. She is stable, but still unconscious. We have determined she is hemorrhaging. We believe this is caused by a partial detachment of the placenta. As I was telling your parents, we have stopped the bleeding with a spell and given her a blood replenishing potion, but we can not reattach the placenta magically. The spellwork required is too strong for a pre-term infant."
"Will he survive? Will Hermione? What can be done?" Draco spoke very softly, his face pale and drawn.
"We will do everything we can to insure the survival of both mother and child. But we need to discuss the options."
"What options?" Lucius asked.
"Well, we can continue what we are doing now. Which is keep her on the blood replenishment potion and monitor her and the baby. Or we can deliver your son now. Your wife is six weeks from her due date, and while we would prefer to postpone delivery if possible, babies born six weeks premature have a high survival rate. Speaking long term, there is every reason to believe he will thrive just as any full term baby. He will most likely spend some time in our neonatal intensive care ward. To monitor his vital organs continuing development." Healer Andrews stopped to let them digest the information they had been given.
"What...what are the complications if he is delivered now?" Draco reached for his father's hand, still gripping his mother's.
"We need to do some testing first, but normally the greatest problem is that at six weeks premature, a baby's lungs are not sufficiently developed to breathe on his own. We will test his heart, lungs and other organs to determine exactly what care he will need upon delivery. If we choose to deliver now, we will have the best medical team available to care for your son the moment he enters the world."
"What about my wife? Is there any danger to her if you deliver my son now? Or if you don't deliver him now?"
"There is minimal danger to your wife if we deliver now. I will perform a C-section, and she will wake up within an hour."
"And if you don't take him now?" Draco pressed.
"That is a little more difficult to answer. We are monitoring both of them closely. At the present, they are both stable. Meaning her heart, lungs, and other organs are functioning normally. However, there is the possibility that with the placenta partially detached your baby could move in a way that pulls at the placenta and detachs it even more. He could become entangled in it. If it becomes completely detached, it will cause severe bleeding that will be more difficult to control. Detachment of the placenta can also cause permanent damage to the uterine wall. Such damage can make it difficult if not impossible to get pregnant again. But further detachment is only a possibility. We could keep her sedated for a couple of weeks, monitor both of them, and deliver the baby with more fully developed lungs and the placenta stays the same. There is no way to determine if it will continue to detach. Do you have any questions?"
Narcissa put her arms around her son and held him tight to her chest. Lucius moved closer, and put his arms around both his wife and son. The three Malfoys stayed that way for awhile, contemplating all the information they had been given. Finally, Draco pulled out of his parents embrace and turned to the healer. "You mentioned testing. Is there any danger to either of them? And when will you start the testing on my son?"
"I can start immediately if I have your permission. There is no danger to your son, but he will feel the magic in the testing. And he will most likely move around as a result. And of course, I have already told you of the dangers involving his moving around too much. If his movements become too much I may have to stop the testing. I will send a mediwitch with the paperwork for your signature. The tests will take about half an hour. Then you will need to decide how you want me to proceed. Discuss it with your parents. Are Mrs. Malfoy's parents available? Or a sibling? Perhaps they should be contacted?"
"No, my wife lost her parents during the war. And she is an only child, like me. That's why we were planning on several children. We both hated growing up alone." Draco spoke quietly, almost to himself.
The healer waited for a few moments but when it appeared Draco had no more to say he left the waiting room. Within a few minutes, an older, grey-haired woman came in with a clipboard.
"Mr. Malfoy, I need your signature on these forms."
Draco signed his name, and he felt as though his fate were sealed. Now to wait.
At the half hour mark, both Draco and Lucius stood up and started paceing. After another fifteen minutes, they moved out of the waiting room and into the hallway. Another half hour passed with no word. Draco grew more worried each minute that went by. When two hours since the healer had left them had passed, Draco decided to see if the receptionist could find out what was taking so long. But before he got ten feet down the hallway, the double doors opened and out walked Healer Andrews. Draco rushed back to the healer.
"Mr. Malfoy. First, let me congratulate you on the birth of your son." He had a big smile on his face.
"My son? He's here. But you were only testing. You said I had to decide what to do." Draco was confused. He had not made up his mind yet. But it seemed it was no longer his decision.
"Mr. Malfoy. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Let's go sit in the waiting room, so I can properly explain."
Once they were seated, Narcissa asked bluntly. "What's happened?"
" Well, as I told you, the testing can cause the baby to move around. Normally, when he starts to move, we pause the test to let him settle down. However, your son refused to settle. Once he felt the magic in the test, he...he got excited is the only way I can describe it. We stopped the test. But he just kept wriggling. His movements continued until we could see on the diagnostic that the umbilical cord was pulling. Your wife's heart rate and respiration rate increased to the point I became concerned for their welfare. So I made the decision to deliver your son immediately. A specialty pediatric team was called in and your son was born at 2:24 pm. He is actually very healthy. As I explained earlier, our main concern was the development of his lungs, but the neonatal specialists have examined him thoroughly and determined that his lungs were more developed than we anticipated. He is in NICU, but he is breathing on his own. Normally, a baby six and a half weeks premature would require some assistance, if not be completely reliant on artificial means to breathe."
Draco interrupted, "And Hermione? How is my wife?"
"She is doing very well. As soon as your son was delivered, her heart and respiration rates started returning to normal. She should be waking up in the next hour or so. You may sit with her if you like. That way you can be the one to introduce her to her son. Someone will be along in a few minutes to take the three of you to see your son. Once your wife is fully awake, the two of you can go to the NICU together and you will be allowed to hold him."
"Healer Andrews, about my wife? What about other children?"
"If you both want another baby or two, I see no reason you shouldn't be able to have them. There did not appear to be any lasting damage done. Mrs. Malfoy will heal from this delivery and I will check her in a few weeks. But this is all completely normal. Again, Mr. Malfoy, congratulations. This is really the best outcome we could have hoped for. You are a very lucky man."
And for the first time in his life Draco felt like a lucky man.
Within minutes of the healer leaving them, the mediwitch who brought the paperwork knocked on the door. "Ready to meet the newest little Malfoy?"
They followed her down the hallway to another set of doors. This time they were allowed in. Directly across from the doors was a glass wall. Behind the glass wall were a few rows of incubators. They stepped closer to the glass. Each scanning the room for their first glimpse of Scorpius Draco Malfoy. All the incubators were empty. The mediwitch went to a door a little way down the hall and knocked. After only a couple of minutes someone opened the door.
"The Malfoy's would like to see their baby."
No sooner did the door close than an incubator was pushed into the room on the other side of the glass wall and wheeled right to the front.
And the Malfoy's got their first look at little Scorpius. Most definitely Draco Malfoy's son. He had soft white down upon his tiny little head. And his father's pointed chin and high cheekbones. Pale skin. And upon closer inspection, you could see silver grey eyes peeking out. There did not appear to be any of Hermione in this baby.
Draco glanced over at his parents to see their reaction to their first grandchild. His mother had tears in her eyes and the most beautiful smile on her face. But it was his father's reaction that took his breath away. Lucius Malfoy, once the Dark Lord's faithful servant, the man who detested muggles and mudbloods, had tears running down his cheeks at the sight of his halfblood grandson. He wasn't even attempting to wipe them away.
Lucius looked over at Draco and said. "I am very proud of you, son. You are going to be a wonderful father to that little boy. Much better than I was to you."
Draco was stunned. He couldn't remember his father ever saying he was proud of him. He didn't know what to say, so he simply nodded and murmured "Thank you, Father."
After a few more minutes of watching Scorpius, Draco turned away from the glass. "I am going check on my wife." But before he could walk away, he felt a large hand on his arm. He turned back just in time to see his father wipe away his tears, then he felt his arms wrap around him. It was the first time Draco could remember being hugged by Lucius Malfoy since his first trip on the Hogwarts Express.
