Back, after too long of an absence, is your story!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the month long delay between chapters, but it took me longer then I had thought it would to used to my new home. Things got so hectic moving from Canada to Norway (I am living in Tromsø now, cool fact, I am studying at the most Northern university in the WORLD! Neato, right? It's 350km [217.5 miles for everyone in the states]).

Still, sorry for the long wait. I found that living here with no sunlight for the first two weeks, and only a few hours of light time each day really killed my creativity. It was awful! I've never had such bad writer's block before. That being said, it is absolutely beautiful up here. I'm loving it so much. Though, anyone who wants to send me 'good luck' wishes will be greatly appreciated!

Now, without further ado, the story! (Hopefully it won't seem too strange, I was a bit rusty getting back into this.) As always, I hope you enjoy it and please leave comments!

-S

Hermione woke with a jolt. It took her a few moments to get her bearings, and then another wave of pain gave her a swift reminder as to why she had woken up in the first place.

"Harry." She leaned over and gave her husband a shake.

"Nnnggg."

She tried again. "Harry."

"S'notmorningyet." Came his sleepy reply as he pulled the blankets up higher around his head.

Hermione took a deep breath to stop herself from physically kicking her husband out of bed. "If you're not up and ready to take me to the hospital in three seconds," She warned in a soft voice. "I will literally kill you….and no, I am not confusing my adjectives."

Harry was out of bed and pulling on a pair of pants before Hermione even finished her sentence.

OoOoO

Avery nearly threw the immensely heavy, and frankly, completely irrelevant book, Spells for Witches 4, at the window as a sharp tapping drew her away from her studies.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Avery pushed herself away from the desk in her own secret corner of the library and headed towards the window. It had only taken her the better part of four years, but here, on the 5th floor of the library, she managed to find a private place to hide without being disturbed...mostly. It was snug in a nook between two bookcases, a small desk and chair remained almost completely hidden from anyone passing by. Avery reckoned that this was mainly due to the fact that the reference books surrounding it were dominantly on the topic of Muggle Studies.

Opening the window a crack, Avery invited the very wet owl into the sanctuary of the library. It graciously hopped from the windowsill and out of the rain onto her offered arm. She instantly recognized it as Felix, the Potter family messenger service. Avery pet his petal soft feathers as she untied the scroll attached to his foot.

When she had been eight, she had begged her mother to let her get an owl. Lizbeth had just started Hogwarts and Avery had wanted to send her letters. The only way Hermione finally relented was if Avery could prove to her that she was capable of carrying for it…that, and it couldn't be bigger than 30cm.

She practiced for weeks with a stuffed owl that had been charmed to snitch on her to Hermione if she neglected it at all. Three weeks later, Hermione gave the 'okay', and sent Avery and Harry off to instantly start the search for a new family pet. They scoured owlry after owlry, but couldn't find one that pleased either them, or Hermione's conditions. Apparently European owls didn't come in mini-sizes, with the exception of the pygmy owls, but she thought that they looked stupid.

Avery, in a pout, had stomped into the back yard and made her way for the small fort that she and Page had made in the forest over the summer. Once there, she made her way to the hallowed tree trunk that they had made into their wilderness locker. Digging out her copy of Identifying Nature for Beginners, her 8th birthday gift from her mother, Avery leaned back against one of the trees and started reading. Somehow, even when she was angry, reading something always calmed her down.

She sat there all afternoon reading about the type of wildlife living in their neck of the world. It was as she was sitting there, completely engrossed in the book, that she almost missed the faint 'hoo-ing' in the background. Eventually, the noise got through to her, and she tentatively lowered her book, and waited, listening for the sound. When she heard it again, she was up faster than a lightning strike searching for it.

Eventually her search led her to a baby owl. Avery carefully came to her knees, being careful not to disturb anything. It looked like it had just fallen out of its nest, Avery scanned the tall treetops, searching for its home. When she couldn't spot it, she took off her sweater and very gently lifted and placed the baby bird in the makeshift nest. She then ran like mad to get her dad.

Harry and Hermione had followed her into the trees. When they saw the owl, much to Avery's surprise, it was Hermione who recommended that they take it inside and feed it. And that was the story as to how the little Indian Scops owl came to live in their backyard.

It wouldn't be until much later that Avery would realize that it had all been a play by her father. The Indian Scops owl was not native to Europe, nor were there any other owl nests in their yard. Avery smiled as Felix ruffled his feathers, trying to dry off. But that's just the type of person her father was.

"If you go to my room, your perch is waiting for you with fresh water and food." Avery instructed the small owl. Felix looked up at her and twisted his head 90 degrees to the one side as if weighing his options before he snapped it back up and ruffled his feathers again. He hopped off of Avery's arm and stood waiting by the closed window.

Chuckling, Avery opened the window and shut it again against the spray of rain that was fighting to get in. Sitting back at her desk, Avery finally decided to open the scroll. She had been expecting one from William any day now. They had been writing back and forth quite a bit recently. William wanted her advice on a story he was trying to write, and despite Page's insurmountable amount of creativity, their little sister could not piece together a sentence of creative literature if it killed her. Plots, ploys, schemes, and other diabolical ruses however, were a completely different thing all together. Avery was happy to help. She was enjoying helping William write, really enjoying it in fact. More than she had ever thought she could enjoy something.

All it took was the first two words of the letter to realize that it wasn't William's handwriting. Standing up abruptly, Avery didn't even notice that she had knocked the chair over as she quickly started to gather her things. She cursed herself for not opening the letter immediately. As she raced out of the library, she could only think of one thing.

Find Page.

OoOoO

This, would not be too entirely difficult. There were only three probable placed that Page would be on a relatively early Sunday morning in February. Her little sister didn't care much for snow or for being cold; so outside, any of the towers or cellars, and balconied meeting places were out of the question. If it wasn't mandatory study time or class time then there was no chance that she would be in the library or classrooms.

Stealing a peak through the open doors to the Great Banquet Hall, Avery surmised that Page was not there. Two places let to check. As she ran up the many flights of stairs to the Gryffindor common room, Avery suddenly wished that she hadn't dragged along so many books to the library this morning.

Stopping in front of the Fat Lady portrait, Avery took a moment to regain her breath before she straightened up and stared at the Lady. "In the name of the Moon."

Avery couldn't help but snicker to herself as the portrait swung open revealing the tunnel to the common room. There were definite perks to being a Prefect, and getting to pick obscure obsessions of hers as passwords was definitely one of them.

A quick scan of the common room confirmed what Avery had already suspected…Page was not there. Sighing, Avery took a left and started up the winding passage to the girl's dormitories. One place left to check. And if her little sister wasn't there, well, then it would be time to storm the Ravenclaw common room, because if Page wasn't here, then chances were ten-to-one that she had been kidnapped by Chris in an never ending battle of wits.

Luckily for her, when Avery pushed open the Second Year's room door, there was Page, sitting on the floor, surrounded by people as she and Rebecca Tofelde, a third year Hufflepuff, battled it out in some sort of shiny card game.

"Page!" Avery shouted, her face filled with excitement. "It's time!"

Page stared at her for only a split moment before shoving her cards into her carry box and threw the whole lot on the bed. "What are you waiting for?" She asked as she pulled her cloak on. "Ladies…." She directed to the girls still sitting on the floor. "I'll just have to beat you all next time." She gave them a large wink before hurrying towards Avery.

"What's the plan?" Page asked as she got closer.

"I just need to put my bag upstairs." Avery answered as she leaned against the doorframe, purposely looking menacing at the group of girls behind Page. As Prefect, she knew that this was yet another one of the games Page had gotten banned from the school. Did it stop her little sister? Not even close. If anything, the ban had only helped her sales. "And in about half an hour Grandmum will meet us by the school gates."

"Oh!" Page suddenly exclaimed, causing Avery to jump. Before she could ask what was wrong, Page whirled back around. "Michelle, you're in charge of my messages this week, right?"

"That's right Page!" A chipper third year nodded vigorously with a huge smile on her face.

Page nodded. "Good. I need you to tell Rochcelle Gibbs, Ravenclaw, 4th year, that if she ever picks of Micha Hollawatty, Hufflepuff, 1st year, again, I'm cutting her off. This is her third warning."

"Will do, ma'am!" Michelle beamed up at Page from her spot on the floor. "I won't let you down."

Page smiled fondly at her. "I wouldn't even dream of it." And then, just as sharply as she had whirled around, Page snapped her attention back to Avery who was still smirking at her from the doorframe. "Well?" She asked. "What are you waiting for? We have siblings being born that we need to whiteness!"

Containing her laughter, Avery followed Page out of the room. She gave her small sister a pat on the head. "You know, this is why all the first year girls and girly-boys are all in love with you."

Page nodded her head from side to side as she shrugged her shoulders. "Meh…Whatcha going to do? I'm just that loveable of a character."

Avery burst out laughing as she pushed open the door to her room. "Page my dear, you are many things….but a loveable character you are not."

Page put a hand against her heart and looked up at Avery with a face full of shock. "What?" She asked, disbelief filling her voice. "How could you say such a hurtful thing?"

Avery quirked an eyebrow up at Page's act, a smirk came back to her lips. It took another few seconds before Page's hurt face dissolved into massive grin. "Eh…" She shrugged her shoulders as Avery threw her bag on the bed. "We both know I'm more suited for running a small time mafia then being the host of a children's television show."

"I couldn't agree with you more Pagey-girl." Avery laughed as she fastened her travel cloak. "Now, let's get the heck out of here!"

OoOoO

"I said that I wanted a natural birth!"

Harry crossed his arms and looked down sternly at his furious wife. "I heard what you said, and the answer is still no."

"This isn't your call!" Hermione argued. "It's my body, I can do whatever I like to it, and there isn't anything you can do about it!"

"But you are my wife, and you are carrying our family. I won't let you put either in danger."

Hermione glared at him. "Women have been giving birth since the beginning of time without magical help…Hell! Many women today even give birth without medical help. Are you telling me that I'm too weak to give birth to my children?" She fixed her eyes on him, almost daring him to argue.

Harry didn't rise to the bait. He knew that at this precise moment in her labour, Hermione was looking to kill something, and he was the most convenient target. "That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying, however, is that triplets is hard on even healthy young mothers. And you've had two very difficult births. I don't what you putting any unnecessary stress on you or our children."

Hermione looked down at her clenched hands. "Avery was born in a magical hospital. They had me so charmed up that I didn't even know when it was done. Page's delivery was a disaster and I was unconscious for the entire thing. William had a cesarean because I was on bed rest for two months and they didn't want to risk it." She looked up at met Harry's eyes again. "This will be my one and only chance to have normal birth. Please Harry," Her eyes begged him. "I'm in good shape for this. Trust me!"

If Harry was going to give in, his facial expressions didn't give it away. He stared at her for a few moments before he came forward and sat down in one of the chairs besides Hermione's bed. He laced his fingers together and stared very intently at them for a few minutes.

"The first sign of trouble," he started softly. "and you will be sent to surgery immediately. No arguing."

Hermione nodded her head vigorously. "I promise."

"And the doctor has to give it the okay. If she thinks it isn't safe, then I don't want to hear a peep from you, do you understand me?" Harry looked up at Hermione. "I can't lose you."

OoOoO

William looked up from his book at the doctors and nurses hurrying by. He knew that this was all normal, and his mother hadn't been in labour for long at all. And yet, he still couldn't shake this uneasiness. He hated being left alone in the waiting room. It didn't matter that Harry came to sit with him every fifteen minutes, or that Avery and Page would be coming soon with Grandmum. He understood that his Mum needed his Daddy more than he did, and yet still, all his eight, almost nine year old mind could process was that he didn't care much for this sterile white building.

From the moment Harry had gotten him dressed and hurried him towards the car William knew two things. One, that within a day or so, he would have some new baby siblings. And two, that he didn't particularly care for this idea.

He had always been the baby of the family. And being the baby had brought along several special benefits. He could play along with Page's ploys and when their Mum found out, he never got any blame. He could still crawl into his parent's bed after staying up too late to read a scary comic and not feel guilty or like he was too old.

But once his Mum had these new babies, all this special treatment would be gone. He'd no longer be as special. Especially if some of the babies were boys. He would also lose his position of the only Potter boy.

William looked back at his book again and cringed. He had unwittingly been gripping it perhaps a little too roughly. He desperately tried to smooth the cover out a bit. With a frown, he examined the front cover, reading the title And Now You're a Big Brother. His Mum had given it to him in the car as they were driving to the hospital. Already she was prepping him for the loss of specialness.

"Hey kiddo!" Harry called out to him happily as he crossed the empty space towards William. "How you holding up?"

"I'm fine." William answered softly, following with a well-practiced sentence. "How's Mummy doing?"

"Great!" Harry beamed as he sat down. "The doctor said that she's progressing at a normal rate."

"Oh." William answered, his voice displaying more of his feelings then he would have preferred. "That's great."

Harry looked down at his youngest. "Hey, Will…What's wrong?" When William started to stare very intently at the book in his hands, Harry reached over and picked William up. Lifting him out of the chair and putting him down on his lap, Harry looked his son right in the eyes. "What's bothering you?"

"I don't want any little siblings." He answered softly, unable to look his father in the eyes, fearing the rejection he planned to see. You could imagine his surprise when Harry started to laugh.

"Oh, Will-Baby…" Harry chuckled, using his sister's pet name for him. Wrapping his arms around William, Harry gave his son a massive hug. "I was wondering when this was going to happen."

William stared up at Harry in shock. "You mean this is normal?"

"Of course!" Harry answered with a smile. "You held out much longer then Page did." He started to laugh again. "I think Page lasted only a couple of months into your Mum's pregnancy with you before throwing a tantrum." He gave William another squeeze. "I'm proud that you handled it so well."

"So, it doesn't matter that I don't want a brother or sister?" William asked tentatively.

Harry shook his head. "Nope. Not at all. Page had come to the hospital and pouted the entire night." He grinned. "And just like with Page, I'm sure that the moment you see your new brothers or sisters, you'll be filled with the same amount of awe and amazement that she did."

"So both Pagey and Avery felt the same way?"

Harry paused for a moment, thinking back. "Well, Page definitely did, but Avery had been so looking forward to a playmate, I don't think she even considered that she would no longer be the baby." He gave William's shoulders a small squeeze. "But, I think you'd learn more if you asked them yourself."

William looked up at him quizzically, to which Harry nodded his head towards the entrance where Avery, Page, and Grandmum Weasley were walking in. Avery noticed their location first.

"Dad!" She shouted before dashing towards them. Molly and Page followed a short distance behind.

Harry lifted William off of his lap and stood up just in time to have Avery's arms thrown around his neck. "Hey Birdie!" He swung her around before placing her back on her feet and ruffled her still short hair. "How is school going?"

Avery shrugged her shoulders. "Same-old, same-old. Page is ruling the first through to forth year students with an iron fist. Bullying is at an all-time low." She grinned, looking over her shoulder to make sure that Page was still out of earshot. She leaned in towards Harry and spoke in a hushed tone. "There's already talk within the professor circles as to what they're going to do with her in three years when she can be a Prefect. They can't keep the position away from her because she will be the most qualified, but they're terrified that she'll abuse her power."

Harry laughed heartily while William snickered behind his hands. "As they rightfully should be."

"How's Mum doing?" She asked, bringing Molly and Page into the conversation. Harry bent down to receive his hug from Page, and leaned in to get a kiss on the cheek from Molly.

"Really good." He answered, motioning for them all to take a seat. "The doctor said that she should be going into the final stage of labour any time now. We're also trying for a natural birth."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Molly asked, worried. "I know how hard it is to have a multiple birth."

Harry nodded. "I know. I have my doubts too, but we have a great doctor, and at the first sign of trouble, Hermione will be put under anesthetic and will have a C-section. She-"

Harry was cut off when a nurse came towards them breathlessly. "Are you Mister Potter?"

"Yes." Harry answered. "How can I help you?"

"Oh thank God!" The nurse exclaimed with a large sign of relief. "I have a message from your wife. She said that it's time and if you're not at her side in two minutes, she will physically kill you."

Standing up, Harry grinned at his family. "Whelp, duty calls." He commented playfully. "I'll let you know the instant I know anything." He promised before following the nurse back to the hospital room, leaving the rest of his family to ask for all the juicy details.

OoOo

"So…" Harry started smugly as he leaned against the wall next to Hermione's bed. "Regret the choice to get charmed this time?"

Hermione had never given him a dirtier or more disgusted look. "I hate you so much right now." She snapped. When harry laughed and leaned into give her a kiss, she jerked her head away stubbornly.

"And yet, in spite of all that…you still call for me." He replied with a smile as he reached down and untangled her hand from the sheets. He gave it a small kiss and a squeeze. "I just left Will. Avery and Page just arrived with Molly." He brushed a strand off of her damp forehead. "Everyone's here now."

Hermione rested her head back with a sigh of relief. "Finally." Slowly lifting her head back up, she gave Harry a tired smile. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get these babies out of me!"

Chuckling, Harry hid his cringe as another contraction hit Hermione, and in turn caused her to clamp down on his hand with a vice like grip. "That's my girl."

There you have it! Last chance to get your vote in for what sex the triplets should be.

Also, one more chapter definitely planned to finish things up together with a 'Where are they now' chapter to follow. Please let me know if you want more then that :) Have a great day!