"Harry! The baby's coming now!" Ginny screamed through the house.
The Defense Master slid on the carpet down the hall, skidding right past the stairs with his arms full of the bags they had put together weeks ago. He braced himself as he crashed violently into his bedroom door.
"I'm coming, Gin!" He shouted to the very pregnant woman standing at the bottom of the stairs.
He came stumbling down the stairs, and almost crashed into Hermione, who was coaxing Ginny into the breathing exercises. He handed the bags off to his friend and wrapped an arm around the mother of his children, continuing the breathing exercises she'd already been doing. Hermione followed them into the sitting room and set the bags down long enough to throw the floo powder into the fire.
"Don't worry, Harry, Daphne and I can watch the boys," The bushy-haired witch assured him. She passed the bags back into his arms.
Harry thanked her before leading Ginny into the glowing green flames. They landed in the waiting room at St. Mungo's and Harry immediately grabbed the nearest nurse, who flagged down a mediwitch in turn. They were then quickly led to the delivery room, where Ginny immediately situated herself onto the bed as another contraction wrenched her body.
"Can't you give her something for the pain?" Harry shouted over Ginny's scream.
The Mediwitch pushed past him. "We're working on it, Sir. Just give us a moment. For now, why don't you set your stuff down and try to be supportive?"
Harry realized he was still holding the bags, and he set them down in an armchair in the corner before going to the pregnant witch's bedside. He grabbed her hand as she resumed her irregular breathing, and she gripped it back, hard.
"How do you feel?" He asked stupidly.
"Trying not to laugh," Ginny told him, relaxing when the contraction ended. "We've done this twice already, and you still have a heart attack every time. I think it's hilarious."
Harry huffed indignantly. "I'm pretty sure it's my prerogative to panic a little. No matter how many times we do this, something can always go wrong."
Ginny groaned as another contraction ripped through her, gratefully taking the potion she was handed by the nurse. "Heh, a little? I told you not to read those damned pregnancy books."
"I had to stay informed," Harry argued.
Ginny sagged again as the contraction ended. She grinned at him. "You forgot something, Harry."
The Wizarding Savior looked immediately to the corner with the bags, mentally running through the list she'd made him memorize of what they'd need. He came up empty on what he'd missed. "But, I didn't-" He turned back to see her lift a perilous eyebrow, and suddenly realized what he'd forgotten…perhaps the most important thing that, by chance, hadn't been on the list. He stood from his kneeling position and tried to dislodge his hand from hers. "I am so dead." She finally relaxed her fingers enough for him to pull his hand free and he leaned over the bed to place a tender kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Gin. Really, I do. I'll be right back, swear."
"You better, Harry!" The red-head cried after him as he raced out of the room and down the corridor.
Much as he had at home, he skidded into the waiting room and leapt ahead of the line waiting to use the floo. "Sorry, it's important!" He shouted as he threw the floo powder into the fireplace and gave his destination.
As he whirled above the fireplaces of London, he mentally smacked himself several times for forgetting…again. He landed in his office at Hogwarts and threw himself out of the room to race through the corridors as if he had a herd of Dementors on his tail. When he reached the Entrance Hall, he came to a skidding halt inches from the Headmistress, who was standing at the base of the stairs.
"I know, Minerva, professors aren't supposed to run through the corridors, but I swear to you, it's absolutely vital that I get to your Potions Master right now," Harry told her in a single breath.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "You forgot your husband again, didn't you?"
Harry could feel a blush suffusing his face. "Not so much forgot, as failed to recall…" He said lightly.
"Three times, Harry! Three pregnancies, and you have yet to remember to tell your husband when the baby is coming!"
"I know but- Do we have to talk about this now, Headmistress? I'm kind of in a hurry."
The matronly witch narrowed her eyes before stepping out of his way. "Go on, run like the wind, Harry. But you and I are going to have a talk about your priorities, young man!"
Harry grinned as he ran down the stairs to the dungeons. "That's if there's anything of me left once Severus is through with me!" He shouted back, only half-joking.
Every time Ginny had come due, he had gotten to the hospital and had to be reminded that his husband didn't yet know that their baby was coming. After the first time, he'd tried to convince Hermione to inform the surly Potions Master on his behalf, since she made it her duty to tell everyone else, but Snape had poo-poohed that idea. Apparently, it was a symbol of their love that Harry be the one to tell him. Harry felt that it would be a better symbol of their love if the man took the bleeding week off like Harry did whenever it came close to the due date, so he didn't have to remember to tell him.
Harry slammed into the door of the Potions Classroom, having forgotten to turn the knob in his hurry. When he opened the door, two boys who were obviously in detention were staring at him, but his husband had failed to look up from the papers on his desk. Harry moved towards the man, silently mouthing to the boys to go.
"Stay where you are, Higgs and Boson, Professor Potter is not in charge of your detention, I am," Snape said, still without looking up.
The Gryffindor came to a stop in front of the desk and leaned on his hands. "Severus-"
"Harry, I am overseeing a detention. I swear, if you've come to get me because James managed to use the facilities by himself again, I will not be happy," The man said quietly, still grading the essay before him.
Harry slammed his hand down on the essay, grabbing the Head of Slytherin's attention. "Severus, it's time." He said meaningfully. He watched as realization slowly crested over the stern features, softening them immensely. With quick, agile movements, the Potions Master was out of his chair and grabbing his cloak from the hook near his desk.
"You boys are dismissed. Don't disrupt my class again!" Severus growled at the two Second Years. Both boys nodded animatedly and left the classroom as fast as their little feet would carry them.
At an only slightly more sedate pace, Harry and Severus followed them out of the classroom, turning the other way down the corridor towards the Potions Master's office. When they reached the office, they made their way immediately to the fireplace on the far side of the long room. Harry threw in a handful of the tiny green granules of floo powder from the pot on the mantle, but before he could step into the green flames, he was swung around into strong arms.
"I love you, Harry Potter. I don't tell you that nearly often enough," Severus murmured against Harry's lips.
The Gryffindor smiled, relaxing slightly. "You tell me every day, Severus. It's implied."
He melted into the gentle, earnest kiss that his husband placed on his lips. Even after nearly ten years, the man could still make him go weak at the knees with the smallest of gestures. Once they had pulled apart, they stepped as one into the fireplace and called for St. Mungo's.
SSHP
Harry had gotten his baby girl. It had taken nine years and three tries, but he had finally gotten the daughter he'd always wanted. It made him love magic. Through potions and magic, he and Severus had managed to have three perfect, healthy children that were a balance between only their genes. Their oldest, Brian Tobias, at 7, had Severus' nose and cheekbones, and his incurable desire to learn, with Harry's unmanageable hair and eyes; their second youngest, James Severus, at 4, was constantly going on adventures and getting into trouble, though never more than he could get himself out of. He had Severus' blue-black hair and eyes, and mostly Harry's features, though he wasn't an exact copy- Severus said it was Lily's softer cheekbones and chin. And now they had their own Lily Eileen, who Severus had immediately said looked like a cross between his mother and Harry's. Even newly born, you could tell that her hair was a dark red, as Lily the First's had been (not so bright as the Weasley red, almost auburn in Harry's opinion).
"I hope you two are done," Dean said quietly, standing beside Harry in the doorway to the hospital nursery. "I think I'm done watching my wife give birth to your kids."
Harry chuckled. "We are definitely done…I think three is just perfect." He looked at his schoolyard chum. "Thinking of having a few of your own, finally?"
Dean blushed. "We've been talking about it. We agreed early on to wait until I got a promotion within the Auror Corps, but…well, I look at you and Snape, and you're both so freaking happy all the time. And I know Gin only agreed to wait because she didn't want to push me into it. I want what you and Snape have, and if I don't get the promotion I want, then I'll fly a desk instead. It's not the end of the world."
"It's worth it," Harry murmured, looking on as Severus tried and failed to keep the smile off his face as he held their newborn daughter, their boys leaping around his long legs, trying to get a look at their baby sister. "Sometimes I miss the days when you and Ron would invite me out on assignment with you, but…being home every night, knowing I'm going to be home every night, to tuck in my little ones and read them bedtime stories? Being there to force Severus into 'scaring' away any lurking boogeymen hiding in the shadows, it all makes settling down worth it. That may change when they get older, but for now they want nothing more than to be held by me after they have a nightmare, and I want nothing more than to be there to hold them."
Harry saw Dean smile out of the corner of his eye when Severus began cooing at the little girl in his arms. Black eyes swept up to meet Harry's, and they shared a heartwarming moment across the hospital room. Harry closed the distance and gently took their daughter from his husband, placing a tender kiss on his husband's thin lips. Pretty soon, the room would be a revolving door of Weasley's, friends, and coworkers with well-wishes for the five of them, but for now Harry could pretend that nothing else existed outside of his and Severus' little family.