Birth

London, England 1979

Joyce pushed as hard as she could, clenching John's hand, sweat pouring down her face.

"C'mon, sweetheart. You can do this. Just one more push."

"That's…what…you said…ten…pushes ago…you're never touching…me again," Joyce panted.

John looked down at his wife, her brown curly hair as bushy as it had been when they had first met at dentistry school. Her brown eyes were wild as well, though they were usually serene and lost in thought. He squeezed her hand assuredly, "This time I mean, it." Joyce nodded her agreement. She wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Good, Mrs. Granger. You can do this. Mr. Granger, would you like to see the baby as it comes out? Or would you rather stay up there with your wife?" asked Dr. Wolfshire.

John Granger looked into his wife's eyes; he knew it was really up to her. She smirked, "Go ahead sweetie. You want to be able to hold the baby today, so," and she released his hand from her vice-like grip.

"All right, Mrs. Granger," said Dr. Wolfshire as John stepped to the end of the bed and peered between his wife's legs.

"Doctor…," John started, but he was interrupted by his wife's scream as she pushed once more. He was about to ask the doctor if all that blood was normal, but his answer came when his wife's heart monitor started beeping rapidly and his wife fell limply back into the bed.

"Doctor! What! What's wrong? My wife…my baby…what's happening?" John begged as a nurse moved him out of the room without him noticing as other nurses rushed into the room. The last thing John saw before the door closed was a path of bloody footprints that led from the base of the bed to the door where he now stood, helpless.

Arnold Peasegood was very excited. This was not a drill; he was actually going to obliviate some Muggles after a magical occurrence at a Muggle hospital. It was his first night on duty and this was not a drill. He didn't know all the details yet, except that a magical child had just been born and had made sure to let everyone know it had arrived. He would not know exactly what happened until he spoke to Articus Wimbimble, a healer who disguised himself as a Muggle doctor for just such an occasion.

Arnold buffed the tips of his boots one more time before walking briskly to the Disapparition room. The veteran Oblivators stood there casually, some rather bored. They were nearing the ends of their careers, so they got simple assignments like this. Other Oblivators worked on wiping memories of the tragedy, or at least the magical element of it, that had become common in England since You-Know-Who had gained so much support, voluntary or otherwise. Since Arnold was new, they were starting him out slow. The memories that had the emotion behind them as a result of death were much more difficult to obliviate than the accidental underage magic of a newborn baby.

Arnold wasn't thinking about how relatively boring his assignment was. He was too eager.

"All right, gentlemen," someone cleared their throat, "…and lady…this is a fairly simple task and you all know the drill. Peasegood!" Arnold stood up straighter, ignoring the chuckles that resulted from his over eagerness. "What is the first rule to remember when dealing with accidental underage magic of a Muggle-born?"

Arnold shouted, quite unnecessarily, "Never Oblivate the parents, Sir!" The woman who had cleared her throat earlier rolled her eyes and prayed to Merlin that she would not get stuck with the rookie as a partner. She always got stuck with them and, even though she was only 27 years old, stuck on these simple assignments in a time of war because she was a woman. She was tempted to take a page out of Muggle women's books and burn her bras.

"And why is that, Peasegood?" asked the squad leader, Frank Gusto.

"So when they learn their child is a witch or wizard, they will have memories of strange occurrences to help them believe that revelation," he replied in one breath.

"Exactly! Now, Healer Wimbimble should have rounded up all the witnesses for us in a fake impromptu meeting on patient/doctor hygiene. But, as you know, sometimes there are a few strays. Peasegood! O'Riley!" The young witch rolled her eyes and smoothed back her bangs, her tell-tale sign of annoyance.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Yeah?" they replied at the same time.

"You two will be responsible for finding any stray witnesses. What are the tell-tale signs of a Muggle who has seen something magical? O'Riley!" Peasegood looked disappointed that he wasn't asked to answer this one and shifted his weight on his feet impatiently.

"Well, they tend to look extremely confused and I would take a guess that, in this case, if they are a nurse or doctor, they will not be doing their duties and perhaps wandering aimlessly through the halls as they try to decide if they are insane or not. I say we check the nurse's station for the names of personnel who were in the room at the time, cross check those names with those in the fake meeting, and only search if there is anyone missing."

Arnold was glad she had answered because he was prepared to check the entire hospital for possible witnesses. Her way sounded much more practical.

"Good! Brown, you're with me. We'll handle the witnesses in the conference room and feed the father a story."

"What about the mother?" asked O'Riley.

"Well, as far as I understand, she was bleeding out and was unconscious at the time, so it is pertinent that we find the father."

"What do you mean, 'find the father?'" asked Peasegood. This was one question he had asked in the past three months that didn't annoy his squad-mates. They had been thinking the same thing.

John hypnotically put on the scrubs the nurse had provided for him after he had vomited all over his own clothes after seeing the path of his bloody footprints. He heard a commotion down the hall in the direction of his wife's room. He threw open the supply closet door and sprinted in her direction. Nurses were running from the room, panic in their eyes. He pushed past them and stopped in the doorway. There was no blood; not a drop anywhere. Even his footprints were gone.

His hazel eyes flashed when he saw the doctor, huddled in a corner.

"What the-? Why are you-?" John turned toward his wife. Her pulse was steady and though she was still passed out, John knew she would be okay. Suddenly he realized something was missing.

"Where is our baby?" The doctor motioned toward the other side of the room and he saw it: a tiny, little being. "Why isn't it crying?" The doctor shook his head. "Goddamn it! Will you just speak? What the bloody hell happened?" John normally never swore, but he figured decorum could be ignored for such an abnormal situation. "Why were people running away? What the fu-?" His next tirade of swearing was cut off as another doctor entered the room.

"Mr. Granger, my deepest apologies for the commotion. I'm Doctor Wimbimble. I have been told by a few nurses that, well…I'm not sure you should know the details, but let it suffice to say that your wife's blood supply was replenished."

"No, I want details and I want them now! I leave here and my wife is practically hemorrhaging, I'm pushed out, and I come back to find her doctor mute and all the blood gone? I don't see any transfusion bags, so just how the hell was my wife's blood replenished? How?!"

"There will be time for answers to those questions, sir, but I think now it will best if you lower your voice. Your wife needs her sleep and your baby has been through quite a lot as well. It's quite jarring being removed from the womb."

Suddenly John felt incredibly stupid. Here he was, yelling and cursing, because no one would tell him why his wife was better and his baby fine. He could hear it cooing now.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked as his mind calmed and he remembered the entire reason for being in the hospital in the first place.

"It's a girl," warbled the doctor in the corner as he rose shakily to his feet. "And she already has a little hair. It looks like she may take after her mother quite a bit."

John saw what he meant as he approached the receiving carrier where his little girl lay. It was love at first sight. She had Joyce's brown hair in the form of a mass of curls at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were blue, as all newborns' were, but he was sure they would turn brown. She looked up at him with the same serenity and thoughtfulness that his wife's eyes always conveyed. In fact, had it not been for his nose on her face, he would've thought Joyce had created the little miracle herself.

"It was horrible…" he heard Dr. Wolfshire whisper. They obviously thought he couldn't hear them, so he stayed still. "One second her pulse was racing and there was blood everywhere, the next the baby was out and there was a flash and then red. Just red…red everywhere…but it wasn't coming out…it was going back in. How is that possible? It doesn't make any sense."

"Miracles never make sense," said John as he turned to them. "They are only wonderful."

Then he disappeared with a pop.

Arthur and Cordelia O'Riley left the conference room, him eager to find Dr. Wolfshire, the lead doctor, and her annoyed that the doctor hadn't shown up to the meeting.

"So, where should we search first? Should we start from the bottom up or the top down?" asked Arthur excitedly.

"Neither. We start searching on the floor where the baby was born, which happens to be this one. If we split up, it should go a lot faster."

"But, we're not supposed to split up! You're supposed to guide me!"

"Look, if you expect me to hold your hand, you can forget it. I'm not a babysitter."

Apparently this offended Arnold enough to change his mind. "Fine. But, let's meet back here in say, fifteen minutes?"

"Fine."

Arnold didn't know what he had done to anger his partner, but he pushed those thoughts aside as he thought about if he had just seen blood pour back into someone and then the father disapparate where he would go. He decided he'd probably be sick to his stomach and run to the bathroom, so he checked there first. The only person in there when he arrived, however, was a gruff looking bloke who eyed him suspiciously as he hovered too closely at the urinal. He had just hastily left when Dr. Wolfshire exited one of the stalls, clad in his street clothes.

As Arnold peeked into the staff locker room, realizing too late that it was the woman's ("Get out of here, you pervert!"), he heard a pop behind him. He turned around, wand at the ready. You could never be too careful nowadays. He saw that it was just a man in scrubs holding a baby. He lowered his wand and discreetly waved it to do a magic revealing spell. Only the baby was magical it seemed, as a bright golden glow surrounded her which only he could see. This must be the doctor! He had to meet up with O'Riley in five minutes, so he didn't have time to thoroughly question and debrief the doctor. He thought quickly.

"Oblivate! You were just about to take this child to the nursery and then go check on the mother who almost bled out, but was given transfusions in time. The room has been thoroughly scrubbed for sanitary reasons," Arthur said quickly and then walked away.

John Granger blinked once and headed towards the nursery and then to his wife, oblivious to the miracle that had occurred and to the fact he had just been transported several dozen meters away from the room by his new baby.

Cordelia walked briskly back to their meeting place. She had just finished Obliviating the doctor. She had caught him by the lift on his way out. She almost didn't realize it was him until she saw how paranoid his body language was. She spotted Arnold before he spotted her and she noticed he seemed smug about something. She wasn't sure what he could possibly be smug about. Unless…

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed as she pulled him into a stairwell. "You didn't Oblivate the doctor, did you?"

He was confused; he thought that was the entire point. "Um…yes? Was I not supposed to?"

"No, but you didn't Oblivate the doctor! I did!"

"But, my guy Apparated behind me with the baby or rather the baby Apparated with him," he said uncertainly, "and he was wearing scrubs!"

"Did you not hear that nurse say she had given the father scrubs to change into after he lost his lunch all over his own clothes? Do you not pay attention? We may not be Aurors, but we have to be just as observant as they are!"

"I can fix it! I'll just go back…"

"No, you can't! You can't give him his memory back after taking it! Removing it in the first place changes it completely and if you put it back, it may be worse than what actually happened! No, I'll just have to write you up for stupidity and carelessness. Where is he now?"

"Who?"

"The father!"

"Oh, I sent him to take the child to the nursery and then to see the mother."

"Good. At least you did one thing right and…wait, did you say earlier that the baby Apparated?"

"Well, yes."

"That's not possible. I've never heard of a baby that young doing magic that advanced, even on accident. The only reason it did anything today was because its mother was in danger of dying and it was still connected to her through the umbilical cord. We have to report this immediately!"

"Why?" Arnold asked, no longer confident in his abilities, and quite afraid of being fired on his very first day of duty.

"Because whoever that child is, they are going to be very powerful some day."