Hermione Gives Birth
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
Filch had hear Malfoy.
"My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?" he shrieked.
His eyes fell on Harry and strangely, he jumped to the conclusion that Harry had done it. "You! You've killed her! I'll kill you, I'll…"
"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of the teachers. He lifted Mrs Norris from the torch bracket and led them all to Lockhart's office. As they entered the office, there was a flurry of movement as the Lockharts in the photos dodges out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back.
Dumbledore and McGonagall examined the cat, while Lockhart rambled one. "It was definitely a curse that killed her – probably the Transmogrifian Torture. I know the very counter-curse that would have saved her."
Filch was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at the cat.
"She has been petrified," said Dumbledore finally. "But how, I cannot say."
"Ask him!" shrieked Filch pointing at Harry.
"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore. "It takes Dark Magic of the most advanced…"
"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat. "He knows I'm a Squib!"
That was ridiculous. Harry was so incurious about everything that he didn't even know what a Squib was!
"If I might speak headmaster," said Snape, "Potter and his friends may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But why weren't they at the Halloween Feast? Why were they in the upstairs corridor at all?"
The same could have been asked of Malfoy and any Slytherins and Hufflepuffs in the crowd who showed up immediately after the trio at the scene, but no one seemed to think of that.
They told Snape about the Deathday party.
"So why go up to that corridor?" asked Snape.
Again, why did a whole crowd of students?
Harry clearly didn't know what to say. To Hermione's relief, he didn't admit to hearing voices. If he had, then that meant a great many students had been hearing voices as well. Dumbledore knew they couldn't have petrified the dreadful cat, so they got out of there without much further trouble.
00O00
Hermione's pregnancy was advancing. One morning, before History of Magic, she looked to see her pale face in the mirror and sighed. Then she had to vomit profusely. She really hoped she wasn't going to have to vomit all through the pregnancy.
In History of Magic, Hermione asked the ghost of Professor Binns about the legend of the Chamber of Secrets. He told them the Legend, but did not believe it. It was weird how insular wizards could be when they lived in a magic world.
They investigated Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, but didn't find anything. In the Common Room, Ron gave voice the suspicion that Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. Hermione thought of using Polyjuice Potion. She could not take it herself, as she was pregnant, but her boys could…
00O00
To get the recipe book Most Potente Potions from the Restricted Section, they needed a signed note from a teacher. They agreed that it would be best to approach Lockhart and that Hermione should say she was interested in the theory behind slow acting venoms.
Hermione threw up a lot that morning. She was aware of a slight bulge around her midriff, so she wore a thick jumper to conceal it.
Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their next Defence lesson to act a werewolf. Lockhart claimed that he had actually invented a never before heard of cure for lycanthropy, but this claim was never investigated in any way.
"Ready?" Harry muttered.
"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione. "Alright…" she nervously approached Lockhart's desk with a piece of paper clutched in her hand.
"Er – Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to – to get this book out of the library. I think it would have me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms…"
"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart. "Possibly my very favourite book. You enjoyed it?"
"Oh yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever they way you trapped that last one with the tea strainer…"
"Well I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student in the year a little extra help," said Lockhart, taking out an enormous peacock feather quill.
He scrawled an enormous, loopy signature and gave it to Hermione who folded it with fumbling signatures.
"So, Harry," said Lockhart, "tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season? Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you're a useful player. I was a Seeker too. I could have played for England, but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the Dark Forces. Still, if you ever feel the need for a little private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players…"
To Hermione's chagrin, Madame Pince kept the signed note. She had wanted to keep it as a souvenir of Lockhart. They checked out the book Most Potente Potions in the privacy of a cubicle in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Hermione had to throw up in the toilet there. It was just as well she did that right away, because some of the illustrations in Most Potente Potions made her queasy.
"It'll take a month," said Hermione, scanning the page.
"A month? Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-Borns in the school by then!" protested Ron.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, so he hastily added – "but it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead I say."
00O00
After having to watch the dreadful Quidditch match the next day where the cursed Bludger attacked Harry all game, Lockhart accidentally removed the bones from Harry's arm, so Hermione and Ron took Harry to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey insisted that the Gryffindors all leave – why wasn't she that strict about Malfoy visiting Ron the previous term? – but she didn't bother to check up on him later, so Hermione sneaked back into the ward.
She gave a start at the sight of an ugly creature with bat like ears and a pencil like nose sponging Harry's forehead.
"Dobby asks you to butt out, Miss," said the strange creature. "Dobby had to injure Harry Potter so that he would go home, like Dobby ordered. It hurt Dobby more. Dobby had to iron his own fingers to punish himself!"
The creature was unmistakably a house-elf. He held up ten bandaged fingers. A house-elf was acting like an abusive and controlling boyfriend to Harry.
"Get away from my boy!" snapped Hermione, her maternal instincts flaring up. She raised her wand, but the elf disappeared with a crack. After that, Dumbledore and McGonagall brought in Colin Creevey. He had been petrified as well! Hermione felt quite ill at the thought. He was clutching a Muggle camera full of melted film.
00O00
Next came the business of stealing the rest of the Polyjuice ingredients from Snape's office. As much as Hermione didn't want to, it was necessary for them to cause mayhem in the Potion's class and then for her to rob the office. She didn't seem aware that Harry couldn't possibly be expelled – he was meant to be groomed to be a passive martyr figure at Hogwarts by Dumbledore and his robbing Snape's office would not change that, whereas she herself was a Muggle-born, who could be kicked out of the magical community, put in Azkaban or obliviated with no repercussions. However, they decided that Harry should chuck a firework into Goyle's swelling solution instead.
Hermione winced as half the class (the Slytherins?) got splashed with the potion and suffered injuries like swelling hands, lips and eyes. Some of these could have caused suffocation if Snape hadn't had the presence of mind to have a deflating draught on hand. If he had been as dumb as Lockhart, the consequences would have been really bad.
She gritted her teeth, and although she was already regretting her plan, went into Snape's stores and stuffed her robes with the ingredients.
00O00
It was announced that there would be a Duelling Club one evening in the Great Hall.
"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Hermione, breathlessly.
"As long as it's not," began Harry, but ended with a groan as Lockhart and Snape entered.
Lockhart made a fool of himself, letting Snape hit him with the disarming charm, but in doing so he demonstrated a defensive spell that would prove invaluable to Harry in the end.
To Hermione's dismay, Snape partnered her with Millicent Bulstrode, a girl who had suffered a lasting effect of dragonpox which meant her skin had turned green, like a hag's. She made to grab Hermione in a headlock, but Hermione quickly pulled up the thick jumper she was wearing to show the bulge around her midriff. "Look, I'm pregnant," she said quickly. Millicent desisted.
To Hermione's further dismay, Snape picked on Harry and Malfoy to demonstrate duelling in front of everyone. Snape told Malfoy a spell to conjure a snake, and Lockhart tried to intervene, but caused the snake to fly into the air and land heavily on the floor. Harry ran up to it and hissed. The snake slumped, docile as a garden hose. Her best friend was a Parselmouth and had never told her!
Back in the common room, she and Ron confronted him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" said Hermione tearfully. "Didn't you think you could trust me?"
"Everyone's going to think you're a descendant of Slytherin," said Ron gravely. "For all we know, you could be."
00O00
At the end of term there was a double attack. Both Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick were petrified. What terrible power could hurt someone who was already dead? There was a stampede to get away on the Hogwarts Express for the holidays.
Hermione could not take part in the Polyjuice escapade as she was pregnant, so she had to wait anxiously for Harry and Ron to return and tell her that they had found out nothing – or rather, they only knew that Malfoy was not the Heir of Slytherin.
00O00
On Valentines Day, Hermione sent a Valentines Card to Professor Lockhart. She wondered whether there was ever a chance that Lockhart would be interested in a single mother? This was going to affect her whole future.
Something else happened that term. Harry found a strange enchanted diary which showed him the memories of a boy who had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago. This boy had discovered that Hagrid had had a monster in the castle at some point and been blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets.
In the Easter holidays she had more to think about. She had to choose the subjects she would take next year. She signed up for everything, but would she be able to attend the classes? What sort of creche facilities did Hogwarts have?
Next term, it was nearly time for the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor Quidditch match. Harry heard the mysterious voice again and Hermione understood something. She rushed off to the library to check and took a page from a book. It was about the fabled basilisk. It all fitted. The basilisk was the monster in the pipes. She rushed down the Quidditch Pitch, barely stopping to warn another girl to check around corners with a mirror. She put her mirror cautiously around the corner and then – she saw a searing yellow reptilian eye reflected in the glass. Her whole body seized up and she knew no more.
00O00
Hermione awoke in May, revived from her petrification by Mandrake root. But the birth of her foal was imminent. She huffed and hissed like a birthing housecat as her belly rippled and pulsed. Eventually the foal came out in a hot, slippery rush, it's legs all askew. A tiny, yellow foal. The body was horse shaped, but the legs did not have hooves. They just had blunt ends. The head was different, almost human shaped, with a wide mouth.
"It's a filly," said Madame Pomfrey.
Hermione gathered her foal up in her arms. It opened its eyes. It had big, brown eyes. So like her own! It began to cry in a little, whinnying voice. Hermione felt her heart melt and a warm glow of love for this strange, hybrid thing.
"Aw," said Hermione. "I'll call her Ash." Then she yelled and screamed as she had to expel the afterbirth.
00O00
Hermione could not go home that summer. She had to stay in one of Hogwarts many unused classrooms which had been enchanted to have grass, hay and a bit of greenery. Looking after her foal was a full time job. Ash needed feeding regularly at Hermione's breast and Hermione also had to clear up her poop. Hermione was somewhat dismayed by how her belly looked now. So much sagging, loose skin! She cold hold limp folds of her skin in her fingers and scrunch it into a big ball... Still, Ash needed looking after, so she couldn't dwell on it. She had a pile of books and was teaching Ash to read. The little foal was able to speak very quickly. She was only two months old, but she could now hold a conversation and read from a page when Hermione pointed at the words.
One morning in July, Hermione woke up on her bed of hay to find that her little yellow foal now had a brown, spotted pattern all over her pelt, starting with smaller spots on her face, progressing to larger spots on her body. Hermione always found spotted animals the prettiest, like leopards and giraffes at the zoo. She gave a cry of delight and scooped Ash up in her arms and couldn't stop kissing her.
"Hugs! Hugs!" Whinnied Ash.
One of the school owls flew in through the window at that point. It had a copy of the Daily Prophet in its talons. Hermione glanced at the paper and gave a sharp intake of breath at what she read…