Well, I said after the holidays, and here I am posting 1 day after Christmas. I HONOR MY PROMISES! :)

This was tough to write. Partially because I am not a pregnant woman, or a doctor, and I lack the knowledge medically and physically of what it is like to be pregnant or what is possible when one is pregnant. Also because it was generally a sad thing for me to compose.

You can expect the next installment in a month or so. The story is about 3/4 done.

~justaclassicgirl


Hermione was 5 months pregnant at this point. She had gotten over her Witch's Pox about 1 month ago, with the help of the medication she'd been put on. It was such a relief to the both of them when she got better. Finally, she was able to enjoy her time as a pregnant woman, or as much as anyone could with the hormones and mood swings that came naturally. Harry enjoyed Hermione much better when she was healthy. Although, she did go on many a shopping spree to get maternity clothes and items for the nursery.

Harry's old nursery was to be redone completely, as the two wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise, and the nursery was currently leaning towards that of a baby boy. So it was painted a soft yellow on two walls, and a creamy white on the other two. Hermione badgered Harry into letting her paint a little, since he wasn't allowing her to do any of the grunt work. She had to use a long roller, since her stomach often got in the way of painting with a brush.

She did, however, take a small detail brush and paint little blades of grass sprouting up from the baseboard all around the room, and some cute animals prowling around in it. Hermione was a surprisingly good painter, even though she couldn't draw for her life. (A/N: A Very Potter Sequel reference! :D )

One day, Hermione set off on another shopping excursion, this time for parenting books. Harry took this opportunity to prepare a surprise for her. Knowing nothing about carpentry or home renovation, he called in some muggle professionals he'd found online to come and build it for him. 2 hours later, the deed was done, and the workers were gone.

Harry was shelving some books Hermione had bought for the nursery in the bookshelf she'd recently bought when he heard the front door open. "Harry?"

He ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and took her by the arm. "Close your eyes."

"Harry, what on EARTH is going on? I have to put these bags down…"

Harry took them from her and dropped them to the side. "Come ON!"

She sighed in defeat and allowed him to lead her to the nursery. She heard the door open, and then he said, "Open your eyes!"

Hermione's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped, "Oh my god, HARRY!"

There, right in front of her, was a fabulous window seat. It was jutting out from the side of the house, and was in the shape of about half a hexagon. The cushions were white and striped with pale yellow, and there was a matching curtain that could separate it from the room itself, although right now it was pulled to the side. Drawers were built in underneath it, to store toys, books, clothes, or anything else.

She threw herself upon him, hugging him tightly. "I love it!"

Harry smiled. "I knew you would."


Later that night, Hermione was relaxing in bed, reading one of her parenting books. Harry was in the bathroom, looking for some Pepto-Bismol for Hermione's upset stomach. He'd always been fascinated by the color of this muggle medicine.

"I got it!" he called triumphantly.

He was met with silence.

"Hermione?"

He poked his head out of the bathroom. "Hermione?"

Her book was off to the side, and she was staring in horror down at the sheets.

She looked up, her eyes showing pure agony. "Harry, I'm bleeding. "

"What?!" he cried, rushing over to her. "Are you alright?"

She placed a hand on her stomach, grimacing. "The baby…"


The rest of the evening seemed to go in slow motion.

They left the house, Harry supporting Hermione on his shoulder. They got into the car, again because they didn't want to risk apparation and splinching. Harry heard the small sniffles and conjured a box of tissues for her as well as a blanket and draped it over her in the passenger seat. The bleeding could only mean one thing, but how they hoped it wasn't.

Healer Lori was changing out of her scrubs in her office. She had, ironically, just delivered a baby. She jumped as a piece of paper suddenly popped up in front of her, with a vial of blood next to it. "Merlin's beard! They know better than to apparate forms over here!"

"Unless," she said slowly, "it's an emergency…"

She scanned the paper and ran the blood through a machine for the results.

In less than a minute she was dressed, and apparated over to the room Hermione had been placed in.


Hermione was terrified.

Why was she bleeding?

What had gone wrong?

Healer Lori gulped. No jokes this time. She opened the door.

Harry and Hermione looked up.

"I have god news and bad news," she said.

"Bad news first," Hermione whispered.

"I'm very sorry, Hermione, but you've lost the baby."


"NO!" she screeched. "OH, PLEASE NO!"

"I'm sorry," Healer Lori said sadly.

"No…no, not my baby…" Hermione sobbed. Harry gripped her hand tightly. A tear slid down his cheek.

Healer Lori felt like she was going to start crying too.

"Don't you want to hear the good news?"

"Nothing is good anymore!" Hermione wailed. But Harry gave Healer Lori a small nod, continuing to stroke Hermione's back.

"Well, um…it was found that you were having twins." (A/N: And here is where the medical details start to get fuzzy.)

"I lost TWO?!" Hermione howled, on the point of complete hysteria.

"That's the point. From what we've seen, it looks like you only lost one."

"So…that means…" Harry murmured, hardly able to believe his ears.

Healer Lori nodded. "Hermione is still pregnant."


Hermione looked up, her face red and tear-streaked. "But I still killed one."

A strange passion overwhelmed Healer Lori. She marched forward and kneeled by Hermione's bedside.

"Look at me," she said harshly.

Hermione met the beautiful healer's stormy grey eyes.

"Listen to me. It wasn't your fault. It was never your fault. Do NOT blame yourself for this." Her voice got louder and sterner. "You still have a baby. You didn't do anything wrong. It was your illness. It weakened you, and the baby as well. That's all it was. Not you. Never you."

"It was MY fault, Hermione. I didn't give you strong enough medicine. I didn't cure you in time. Don't be angry with yourself, Hermione. If anyone, BE ANGRY AT ME!"

Healer Lori's voice broke. She grabbed her wand and apparated quickly out of the room.


A nurse entered suddenly, allowing little to no time for Harry and Hermione to process what had just happened.

"Do you want to see the baby?" she asked, smiling and brandishing her wand.

"Of course," Harry said. He let go of Hermione and allowed her to lie back on the bed.

With a wave of her wand, the nurse had projected an image of the baby above Hermione's stomach that looked similar to a muggle ultrasound.

"Would you like to know the gender of the baby?" she asked?"

Hermione looked up at Harry, trying to judge what he was thinking. He gave just the slightest nod. She smiled with relief, as she didn't know if he wanted to know at this point as much as she did.

"Yes, yes, we would like to know. Please tell us."

The nurse scrutinized the projection. "Well, you know you were expecting twins."

Hermione nodded.

"You had a boy and a girl."

"Which one…which one is..." Hermione stammered.

"Alive?" Harry finished for her.

The nurse smiled. "The girl."

Hermione began to cry. Harry held her tightly, barely managing to keep himself together as the nurse restated her previous words.

"You're having a little girl."


Sweet ending for you there.

I am not entirely sure that the whole "1 twin dies, the other survives" is possible, but we are going to assume for the sake of the story that it is. I know that it is possible if there is an operation to remove the surviving twin early, as there's a kid I know who was born that way, but as far as having it stay in the mom's stomach, I don't know. But people, it's FANFICTION! Harry/Hermione doesn't actually happen ANYWAY, so it's not like this is exactly realistic either.

Oh, also, I'm thinking of having this be 1 of 3 stories in a trilogy.

And will SOMEONE, ANYONE get back to me on the whole songfic thing I asked on the previous chapter?

~justaclassicgirl