That night, after the family had exchanged gifts, Minerva and Albus retired to their room. Minerva had given Albus tickets to a Saturday evening performance of the London Symphony. Albus had found Minerva a rare, early history of Transfiguration. Her parents had given them matching silk dressing gowns. But the best gift of all was still the two little wonderful surprises that had yet to be delivered.
Minerva's mother had grown very excited when she realized she would have grandchildren to buy gifts for next Christmas. While Minerva warned her against spoiling the children too badly, Albus could see she was secretly comforted by her mother's excitement. He knew things like this helped her feel more secure about this pregnancy.
Minerva was began to undress, starting to take off her shoes as Albus slipped into the ensuite bathroom. When he stepped out, Minerva was down to her knickers. Albus couldn't resist coming behind her to help unhook her bra and kiss her neck. Minerva sighed, happily, leaning into his touch. Suddenly, she stiffened and gasped, a hand flying to her stomach. Albus jumped around in front of her, prepared for action.
"Minerva, what's wrong?" He was already calculating the fastest way to get her to St. Mungo's.
But Minerva was smiling! "They kicked!" She chuckled . "One of the babies kicked!"
Albus's hand joined his wife's on her stomach. He carefully knelt down in front of her, but otherwise neither of them moved. They were almost holding their breath, waiting for their children to move again.
After five minutes of this tension, Albus felt a tiny poke pressing from Minerva's belly. He looked up, and Minerva's smile told him she had felt it too. Albus swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bed, laughing.
"Ha! Our children are moving around in there! My darling, they're growing and getting stronger every day!" He gently laid her down, and covered her stomach and face with kisses. Minerva was laughing along with him. After a minute or two of this, she grabbed the front of Albus' robe and pulled his lips up to hers. Her kiss was full of energy, but also, Albus felt tears on her cheeks. Concerned, he pulled back. He sat on the edge of the bed, and brushed a thumb over her cheekbone to wipe away the still-falling tears.
"My love, why the tears?" He leaned down to kiss her forehead again.
Minerva didn't answer, but pulled him down to lay next to her. Once she was safely in his arms, his wife spoke, her voice still rough with tears, "It's really happening, Albus." She whispered, smiling as she rubbed her belly, "I will actually have these babies, and they will live and breathe!"
"Of course, my darling." Dumbledore murmured, pulling her closer, "Our little ones are going to be just fine! This time next year, they will be bringing havoc to McGonagall Manor."
Minerva chuckled at that, "Sweet Merlin, I believe mother will buy out every toy store in Edinburough for these little ones." She sighed happily, "I still can hardly believe it!" She whispered.
Albus helped her through the rest of her evening routine, tenderly brushing out her hair and gently rubbing a special cream onto her stomach to prevent stretch marks. He would move heaven and earth to make the mother of his children, his beloved, happy.
As Minerva drifted off to sleep in his arms, she murmured, "We're going to have to start thinking about names for these little ones." She tilted her face up to kiss him goodnight. "My darling, you are going to be a wonderful father." At that moment, there was no happier soul, Muggle, Wizard, or otherwise, on the entire planet.
/*\/*\/*\
The next morning, Albus returned to Hogwarts very early. Cryda made Minerva promise to take a trip to the east wing of the mansion to look over the family baby furniture. The nursery was currently occupied by, Cryda's sister, Iona's grandchildren. Minerva loved her cousins, and their children, and had spent a considerable amount of time with them at holidays and family parties. Honestly, she agreed with her aunt Iona when she complained about the babes being an unruly lot. The children's room felt like a war-zone, with bits of broken toys and the remnants if Christmas presents scattered across the rug, with a few haphazardly close to the fire. Thankfully, as in all magical nurseries, the fire was wall off by a careful charm to prevent the little buggers setting anything on fire.
As soon as Minerva and Cryda entered the room, seven sets of little feet scampered over to them. Three boys, four girls; two blondes, four raven heads, and one little red-head bobbed beneath them and shouted all at once.
"Aunt 'Nerva!"
"Hello, Aunt Minerva!"
"How you?!"
"Will you fix my dolly?"
Cryda smiled and bent to fix the blond girl's toy. The oldest child, a raven haired boy of seven, stood sullenly at the back of the pack, his green eyes filled with guilt.
"Ianto was practicing MAGIC." His four year old sister tattled. Her eyes were big as saucers, trying to impress the gravity of the situation on them.
"Isadore, it's not nice to tell stories!" He growled.
"Where on earth is yer nanny?" Cryda sighed, eyeing the boy suspiciously.
"SHHHHH! SHE'S ASLEEPING." Just barely three, Isla had not yet found her indoor voice. Suddenly a charmed drum sprang to life, and the wail of a baby issued from the crib.
"That'll be Ian..." Minerva sighed, gingerly picking her way around the broken toys to pull the red-headed six month old into her arms.
"Careful, Minerva!" Her mother yelled a bit too loudly. "Ye shouldn't be lifting heavy things."
Minerva rolled her eyes as she quieted the infant and carried him to the play pen. "I'm quite fine, thank you mother." She found the baby a mostly whole toy, and watched as he rejected it in favor of lopsidedly crawling around the pen. Suddenly a house elf popped up in the corner, bleary-eyed and yawning.
"Misses, Lisly bez so very sorry for falling asleep! Little master Ian had just dozed off, and..." She seemed truly exhausted.
"Not to worry, Lisly, no harm done." Cryda sighed. "I can get another house elf in here for a bit if you need a rest." She carefully surveyed the state of the furniture in the room. Minerva decided to do the same.
"I bez fine, Misses, thank you for offering!" She began to zip around the room, almost faster than Minerva could follow, repairing toys, removing stains, and wiping the nose of one of the raven haired girls.
After a minute or two, Minerva nodded her head toward the door, and Cryda silently assented. As they walked, Minerva tried to run through the names of the children, and found that she couldn't remember the name of oldest girl. She never understood how her cousins could handle having three or four children marauding around their much smaller houses. But she put that thought away as they entered the library. Cryda started up a roaring fire. "We shall have to get ye another bassinet, another crib, another playpen "
"Mother, I think they can share SOME things..." Minerva interrupted. But Cryda was unstoppable.
"Obviously, we need to get two completely new sets of nappies, and Iona tells me they have new, much safer bathtubs for infants nowadays. Also, another high chair..."
"Och, mother, you've got another five months!" Minerva groaned. "I'm sure we have plenty of time to think of these things." She was starting to feel uncomfortable.
"Lass, that time will fly by so fast it will feel like a dream." The grandmother-to-be clucked. But she ceased her list-making and leaned back in her arm chair. "Do ye know the sex of the babes?" She asked, trying hard to reign in her excitement.
"I... We..." Minerva couldn't find a way to explain her fears to her mother. She stumbled for a way to say what she wanted to, and also a way to avoid it.
"What's troubling you, my darlin'," Madam McGonagall leaned forward and laid a hand on Minerva's knee. "You know ye can tell me anything." Her soft smile, combined with her gently soothing eyes were all Minerva needed.
"I'm worried, mother!" Minerva sighed, heavily, turning to study the fire. "When I lost that first baby, I had just gotten past the initial panic, and was starting to plan my life with my new bairn. But then, things ended so quickly, and I had so much to cope with..." Minerva paused to gather her breath. Her mother's face was the picture of quiet, supportive sympathy. "I still worry about letting myself get attached to these little ones. I know things are risky this time, and it would break my heart, and my mind, to lose both of them." She began to worriedly rub the tiny bump that was home to her two children.
"My darling girl," Cryda grasped both of Minerva's hands between hers, and looked her daughter square in the face. "I am here for you. No matter what comes of this, we will make it through. And what's better, ye have a strong, caring husband who has already been at yer side through some very dark times. And just so ye know, worrying is part of being a parent. It doesn't stop just cause they've figured out how to breathe on their own. I worry about you and yet brother every day. And I could lose either one of you at any moment. But that doesn't prevent me from spending as much time as possible with you, gettin to know everything I can about you and yer life." Cryda smiled as she released Minerva's hands and leaned back. "That's doesn't mean you have to know the sex of your children... Sometimes it's nice to leave that as a surprise, though I wager having twins will not leaving ye wanting for surprises. But never let fear rule yer thinking, my dear."
"Gods, I missed your wisdom, mother!" Minerva smiled gratefully.
"Ha! Not just my wisdom. I know that boy of yours, and I'm thinking he told you much the same as me!" Cryda raised her eyebrow as she waited for a response.
"Of course, mother, but it helps to hear it from you." Cryda seemed pleased by her daughter's answer. Minerva's face brightened as she leaned forward, "You know, last night, I felt the babies kick for the first time!"
"What?!" Cryda jumped from her chair, and in an instant, was kneeling next to Minerva with both hands on her stomach, "Why are ye just telling me now?"
/*\/*\/*\
It was getting rather late. Poppy was just getting back from her holiday with Helena, and had convinced herself to start to unpacking her small carpet bag, when she heard a knock on the door to her quarters. She grinned to herself, hoping that Helena had finally come by to return the slippers she had intentionally left at the Nott's house. Poppy opened the door, and was surprised and worried all at once.
"Is everything all right?" She demanded as she showed the nervous-looking future parents into her sitting room.
"Fine, everything is wonderful, Poppy!" Albus grinned, still rocking back and forth on his feet.
"I see... Well, Happy Christmas!" Poppy tried to put a genuine smile on her face to cover the disappointment. She needed to finish unpacking and get some sleep. She wanted to be in the arms of the woman she loved. Neither of those things involved chatting with Albus and Minerva. But the next words out of Minerva's mouth completely changed her mind.
"We... We want to know the sex of the babies!"
