The Birth

As January turned to February, Sally grew larger and larger. It became a comical site to see her waddling down the corridors with Alfie trotting beside her. Sally had used the Room of Requirement to conjure a set of maternity dresses and today she wore a voluminous dress, white with spots to match her face. And how beautiful she looked these days! Her pregnancy caused her face to glow, her cheeks to flush rosy pink and her luxuriant hair to grow glossy.

The castles was extremely cold in winter. Freezing cold in fact and Alfie found himself longing for the milder winters he had enjoyed in London. Many students wrapped up warmly in the corridors and wore gloves, not like in fanfictions where they tend to use warming charms, unlike in the series.

The flickering torches in the corridors did not warm them. The cold did not bother Sally anymore though. When he had asked her about this, she had beamed and patted her belly: "my child is powerfully magical and has changed me so that I can be the mother. I will survive more than the cold, dear."

They moved down the corridor amid a crowd of Hufflepuffs who followed Cedric Diggory. How they all admired their champion! Harry Potter came down the corridor in the opposite direction with his two friends. Sally waved at him merrily. He gave her a vacant smile in return.

"Now you must remember to support both Hogwarts Champions," admonished Cedric. "Harry Potter is full of good intentions."

The day of the Second Task dawned and the Hufflepuffs all took their places in the stands. Cedric stood alongside the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions. Harry was conspicuous by his absence. "I hope Harry hasn't forgotten about the Task," murmured Sally. "Remember the supposed 'binding magical contract' which means he has to compete?"

But then Harry came running up, just as the Task was about to begin. He rushed into the shallows of the lake - it must have been truly freezing. Fleur and Cedric conjured bubble headed charms and Krum began to transfigure his head into that of a shark. Sally looked on with interest. "He looks like a true hybrid creature. Our baby won't be the only one then."

Suddenly Harry dived into the lake and swam out of sight. "Ah, that was a good idea," said Sally, "he used gillyweed. That way he won't feel the cold. Cedric and Fleur unfortunately will." Once all the champions had vanished into the lake, the spectators could only wait until the hour time limit was up.

"This Task is not really meant for spectators, is it?" said Alfie. "Staring at the surface of a lake for an hour is not exactly riveting."

Sally sighed. "No and it's a shame. The lake does hold many secrets. In fact, we must descend soon, to the caverns beneath. That is the habitat in which I must give birth. In the watery lower levels of Hogwarts."

After the underwhelming conclusion of the Second Task, Sally led Alfie down the stone steps from the Entrance Hall into the labyrinthine passages of the Slytherin realm. The passageways sloped ever downwards, to where the sun never shone and a damp chill hung in the air. The passages became increasingly sodden. Soon Alfie was splashing through water ankledeep, but Sally seemed to glide above the surface, her blue silken maternity dress rustling, her slender hand in his.

"Intruders! Intruders!" A group of Slytherins were splashing through the water, wands raised.

"Leave us be!" Sally's eyes suddenly glowed green and the Slytherins gasped and scattered. Sally turned to Alfie, her eyes back to their normal soft brown and gave him a reassuring smile. The corridor led further and further downwards and then joined another which plunged more sharply towards the heart of the Earth far below the Slytherins' realm, down and down and down until they heard the rushing of water and came to the banks of a deep underground river. Alfie wondered what they were going to do, but Sally squeezed his hand. "We can cross here, dearest. Don't be afraid." And she seemed to glow with a soft green radiance and Alfie felt a strange lightness in his body... They were floating across the deep, dark water!

With a surge of horror, Alfie saw the huge, blunt head of a hideous monster break the surface of the water. It was the head of a huge eel, bone white and blind with a huge gaping maw filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. It lunged and Alfie cried out in terror... but at the very last moment it recoiled and dived back under water again.

"My love, Alfie... I am here, don't be afraid. You cannot suppose I would let anything happen to you?" They were now on the other side of the river. Some freak property of the rocks caused them to glow with a livid yellow-green radiance. "This is our realm now." The passageway opened out into a vast cavern. Stalactites hung from the rocky ceiling and Alfie could see little blobs of what appeared to be greenish translucent jelly clinging to the rocky walls and ceiling, pulsating gently. The cavern really was vast. The Great Hall in Hogwarts above could have fitted into it ten times over.

"There is somewhere more homely over here, sweetie," said Sally and led him to a tunnel in the rocky wall which led to a small cavern... and strangely this cavern was quite different. Not what Alfie would have expected. This room was richly carpeted in bright orange and there was a fire crackling merrily in the carved stone fireplace. An elegant fourposter carved from oak stood in the middle of the room and there was a bubbling pool in the corner. Alfie supposed it was like another Room of Requirement.

Sally sat down on the bed and drew a wad of shiny green material from the folds of her dress. Alfie recognised it as the mask she had worn when they were married. She stretched it out over her face and once again it pinged tight, clining to her face like a second skin. Once again her face was bright green, smooth and shiny and her lips were a darker green, almost black. "The time is coming, I can feel it," she breathed.

She lay back in the bed, Alfie snuggling down beside her. As the time of delivery drew closer, Sally began to moan softly and cast aside her maternity dress. As she lay there, the creamy mounds of her breasts heaved as she gasped. There was squirming in her swollen belly...

She began to strain and cry and Alfie touched her smooth green cheek. Her green face felt very cool and smooth. "I love you," she moaned and he kissed the smooth tip of her shiny green nose. She gave another cry and then to Alfie's horror, a slimy green mass of tentacles burst forth, drenching them both and the bed in lurid yellow-green slime.

Sally grasped at it and clasped it to her breast as Alfie shrank back. The tentacles coiled around her.

"Alfie - don't be afraid, this is our child," said Sally, holding it out to him. As he watched, the silhouette of an infant's face. He gingerly touched it and gritted his teeth so that he did not recoil at the clammy feel of it.

A fragile voice sounded in his mind: "father..."