Chapter 12: Labor
Hogwarts had changed considerably since I'd been there in the summer of 1997. For instance, a sense of fear and foreboding had reared its ugly head and grasped the school firmly in its clutches. And not only could students be found bustling down the halls with trunks at hand, but frantic parents were present as well, panicking as they tried to locate their frightened children. Little girls were screaming for their mommies and there was even a blocked off patch of hallway here and there, occupied by families comforting a few early casualties. My presence did not go unnoticed; very pregnant, sleepy and supported by two equally exhausted looking women, Tonks and Fleur, I received many blank stares, dropped jaws, and pity hugs. The chaos was still evident despite a few warm welcomes. There was a long, crowded line of people gathered at the front doors of the great school. Many were banging and screaming, begging to be let out and protect their families, but if they were heard, their cries fell on deaf ears. I turned and saw a very familiar looking girl in the group, comforting a crying toddler on her shoulder. She turned and saw me as well and knew who she was.
"BRI!!!! Oh my God!!! Tonks! Fleur! Hold on! Bri, how did you get here?! I thought you left to go back home."
They had pulled me over to where she stood and I questioned her with my eyes. Bri looked tired and the crying baby clearly wasn't helping her nerves. She looked better, happier, and healthier than on the day we were both selected; but there was still something missing. There was no fight left in her.
"I came here to find out if anyone truly knew the whereabouts of my little sisters and yes, they are in Cardiff. My father is still alive and out there somewhere; I just have to find him. I can't stay here and fight 'Mione. What I have to fight for isn't here. It's out at Bellatrix's little slave manor on the western coast and I will find them. My family will be free."
I knew that there was no stopping her; she'd made up her mind. I smiled weakly and gave her one last strong hug. The doors gave suddenly and terrified people raced out of the castle. I let go of Brilette slowly and reluctantly. I might never see one of my best friends again, but at least she would be reunited with her family. With the bawling child still wrapped firmly in her arms, she joined the tidal wave of people flooding out of the school's giant oak doors. A single tear rolled down my cheek, but I brushed it off harshly once I lost sight of Brilette. I nodded sadly at my two helpers and we continued our journey to the hospital wing. Walking was becoming a painful feat and I knew I was close to going into labor. Madam Pomfrey had a fit when she saw my state; she lectured me about the shenanigans teenagers get into as she prepared me in a larger bed. Tonks and Fleur giggled weakly at her remarks in the background.
"Miss Granger, as you know, a battle is about to take place and I am the only nurse on this campus. I may be off tending to casualties if and when you give birth. Understand? If one of these ladies stays and tends to you, you should be alright." Her tone is serious and I dare not disagree.
Fleur strides quickly over to my bed and crouches beside it, smoothing the white robe that Madam Pomfrey quickly changed me into.
" I vill stay; I 'ave 'ad to 'elp birth many re-leetives and I kno' zat Tonks vouldn't miss a bat-ttal like zees for de vorld."
Tonks nods curtly, but a faint smile outlines her mouth as she turns and marches out the door. Madam Pomfrey sets several pain, sleep, and antiseptic potions on my bedside table before she too leaves us in the infirmary. There is nothing for Fleur and I to do but wait and listen. We faintly hear Voldemort's demands to surrender Harry from the Great Hall. Fleur shivers slightly at the sound of his voice and I squeeze her hand to calm her down. There is deathly, chilling silence echoing throughout the castle for a while after that, and we know the bloodshed will begin shortly. Sure enough, in the distance, a cannon can be heard firing off; no doubt it's the Death Eater's doing. The light fixtures shake slightly, but all still remains fairly calm. The explosions get louder and screaming people and thrown into the mix of steadily growing din. The lights shake more violently, to a point where they have begun to dim. The screaming intensifies and it sounds like we are being ambushed and fast. A glass vibrates right off the table and shatters on the tile floor below us. Fleur shrieks and I shush her quickly; no one can have a reason to believe that we're here. Glass explodes, dishes slide off tables and the increasing sound of our side's panic is almost too much to bear and it's all barreling in our direction. The noise soon becomes deafening and stays that way for nearly twenty minutes, according to the clock on the wall, before suddenly becoming much more subdued and bearable. I sigh in relief.
Intense, burning suddenly flares up in my uterus; I'm beginning the contractions. I begin to hyperventilate without any warning, gasping and squeezing onto Fleur's hand with the death grip of a giant squid. She quickly releases what is happening and leaps up, wrenching her now purple hand from my grasp. She sprints frantically to the nearby supply closet and ransacks it, emerging with a bedpan. When Fleur places it between my elevated legs, I sigh in relief and wince from the pain of starting labor. Then, I nearly swallow my tongue; someone is stomping down the hall towards the infirmary, and they're definitely not on our side. The swearing gives it away. It's none other than Bellatrix Lestrange. Fleur stares at me with a look of pure panic etched onto her face; she trembles at the thought of what Bellatrix will do to her if she is seen.
"Hide." I whisper hoarsely.
She can't and won't try to hide me as well; I'm huge, coping with labor pains, and let's face it, I'm just not going anywhere. Fleur dives under one of the nearby bunks as Bellatrix bangs the door open, cussing under her breath and clutching her ears. They are bleeding; now it all makes since. She has shell-shock and that's why she is bumbling around completely unaware of the trembling teen not twenty feet from where she stands. She stumbles forward a few bunks before collapsing onto the one next mine; the one Fleur is currently cowering under. Bellatrix sighs heavily before opening her bloodshot eyes and noticing me for the first time. She doesn't lunge or laugh like a deranged squirrel; no, she just tilts her head to one side and examines me. Fleur glances up at me from the floor.
"What are you in for?"
The shell-shock must have her severely confused; she doesn't even recognize me. My only hope is to play along.
"Giving birth, you?"
"One bitch of a headache. I feel like I've seen you before, what's your name?"
I can't think straight; these damn contractions will kill me if I don't get some painkiller. I screw up my face and gasp the first name that comes to mind.
"Pina Colada!"
Fleur rolls her eyes; Bellatrix just smiles and laughs and very un-Bellatrix giggle.
"Oh! Such a pretty name! Different, but definitely pretty! Is this a family tradition? Who started it?"
I'm grabbing at straws and once again say the first names that come to my head.
"My great-great grandmother, Phoebe Buffay of the house of….. Winona Ryder. Every one of the Buffay daughters has been named that since the 1700s!"
I'm gasping in utter pain now, trying to focus on the breathing exercises for going into labor. In, in, out. In, in, out. I concentrated on breathing with that exact rhythm. When I opened my eyes again, Bellatrix continues to study me with a puzzled expression, like she can't figure me out. Anger bubbles within me and more sweat slides down my forehead.
"You seem tense; is something wrong? A bad break up or something? Expired sushi?"
You dumb bimbo, I'M GOING INTO LABOR!! EVERYTHING HURTS LIKE HELL!!
"YES!!! ROTTEN SEAFOOD HAS CAUSED CONTRACTIONS TO START UP!! You have no idea as to how pain I'm in right n- OH JESUS!!"
They've gotten closer together and more painful. I double over and whimper from the agony of it. Bellatrix raises her hands up as if in surrender and stands up.
"Honestly, don't take your attitude out on me. You obviously need to be alone for a while."
She marches to the door, shaking her head at my negative "attitude" and I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I can have my baby without the fear of having it forcibly from me. She stops suddenly as I utter my sigh and turns to face me again. She's clutching her throbbing head and her eyes are wide with realization.
"Granger?! Damn you get around!! Does the bouncing baby have anything to do with it?"
Yea, old Bellatrix is back.
Fleur nearly gasps as Bellatrix makes her way back to me and puts a hand on my stomach; I glare her into silence. Bellatrix continues her little routine; checking my heart rate and breathing as if she cared. Fleur stealthily pulls her wand from out of her jeans pocket and points it at Bellatrix. I shudder; what if she can't fight this evil woman off? Wordlessly, I immobilize her under the bed. That shocked look remains frozen on her face. The quick stunning of my only protector goes unnoticed by Bellatrix and she finally looks up at my face.
"Well, Granger, I'd say that you're less than thirty minutes away from giving birth."
I scream suddenly as something bubble like bursts inside of me and water spills from between my legs. She jerks back her sleeve and points the tip of her wand to the Dark Mark on her arm. Mere seconds later, two more Death Eaters have rushed through the door to aid Bellatrix's call.
"Bella, what could possibly be so important?!" Lucius Malfoy snarls at her and gripping her arm tightly.
"I've found little Miss MudBlood, but she's going into labor and I can't carry her on my own. You know of course that the Dark Lord will want to be present when his heir is born, correct?"
Lucius grits his teeth angrily.
"Yes, Bellatrix, I am well aware of my Lord's wishes."
"Good then you and Nott will be more than willing to carry her beyond the apparition point, yes?"
It's not a question; it's an ultimatum. I am nearly blinded from the pain, so I don't see who grabbed me first. I just know that I am being carried gingerly in-between two men as they move stealthily down the destroyed hallways. My head is lolling onto Nott's shoulder but he doesn't brush me off; just shifts slightly to accommodate my head. Too soon, night air whips my face and I shiver; I wish that I had a blanket or longer robes. Screaming is coming from all directions but we are not in immediate danger, as no spells come in contact with any of us. I gasp in pain as I am finally set down. My legs are numb because the baby is cutting off the circulation, so standing is out of the question. I lean on Malfoy from sheer exhaustion and again I am not pushed off.
"Hold on to me." He whispers into my ear, wrapping an arm around my shaking waist.
I look briefly at the castle before it's gone from my sight. Smoke is billowing from more than one of the towers and there are giant holes in the walls; it broke my heart to know that someone could do this to a school. It's gone in an instant and replaced by a large ring of Death Eaters around a bonfire. I can't take the pain anymore and nearly pass out. Malfoy catches me and holds me up; he then stumbles to someone I can't make out. My vision is so blurry it's making me nauseous.
"Nars!! We need your help!! I don't know what to do with her!!"
"Lucius, give her to me!! Bella, I'm going to need your help with this!! There's a steam nearby, help me with her!!"
Two pairs of hands, both feminine, pull me gently from Malfoy senior and help me hobble over to this stream that they're talking about. I'm whimpering. I'm sobbing. Every sound a human being can make is escaping from my lips. We are in the Forbidden Forest; I can tell by the twigs and bugs crunching under my feet. I stumble blindly until my feet splash into the cool water of the stream. The two women lower me down into the rocky gravel on the stream's shore and shift me into the correct birthing position. The contractions are excruciatingly painful and I scream every time another one kicks in. I can see clearly now; the pain must be sharpening my senses. The once blurry, fire-lit sky is in the sharpest quality and I can count the stars. Well, the stars that aren't obscured by Bellatrix's head. She rests may head in her lap, pulls my sweaty hair from my face, and allows me to squeeze her free hand. It must be near now; the pain has reached an unbearable height.
"Cissy, what's the prognosis?!" Bella wheezes; I am almost literally crushing her hand.
Narcissa ducks her head under my robe swiftly, then pulls out and conjures up a white blanket spreading it out on the ground between my legs.
"I can almost see the head! Bella, I need you to elevate her head slightly."
She crawls up to face me as Bellatrix does this; worry sparkles in the older woman's eyes.
"Hermione, I can guarantee you that this is going to hurt more than anything you've ever experienced, seeing as we don't have any pain killers. I need you to be strong and listen to everything I tell you; when I tell you to push, you must do it immediately. Do you understand?"
I'M SO TIRED OF EVERYONE TALKING ME LIKE I'M FOUR-YEARS-OLD!!!! JUST STOP THE PAIN!!!
For once, I let the little voice in my head be heard.
"YES, YES I GET IT!!! JUST MAKE IT STOP!!! GET HIM OUT!!!"
I screamed even louder as it happened again; the pain was trying to rip me in two. Narcissa flew back to her position at my crotch. I knew that this was it; the baby was coming NOW. The hyperventilating begins again as I try to prepare for the agony to come.
"Push now!!"
"OH MY GOD!! SHIT!! SHIT, IT FUCKING HURTS!!"
"Hermione, do the breathing exercises and push ag-"
"Oh God, NOOO!!! I can't do it!! Just kill me now!!"
"HERMIONE, YOU DID NOT COME ALL THIS WAY TO JUST GIVE UP NOW!!"
"I'M GOING TO PUKE ALL OVER YOU IF THE PAIN DOESN'T STOP!!!"
"HERMIONE!! You've got to calm down and just listen to me, alright; I know what to do."
I gather all my will-power in that instant.
I can do this. I will do this. It will all be worth once my baby is born.
At the thought of my bouncing, beautiful, baby boy I open my eyes and nod at Narcissa.
"Now push."
Words cannot describe my fear and pain, but I continue to push on Narcissa's cue and not so much as a grunt leaves my lips. I focus on the stars above my head and begin to count them to distract myself. The sky dims considerably before I feel it; a little infant head in my birth canal. I stop the breathing and my routine of pushes stops. It's nearly there, my son is about to be born.
"Come on Hon'; I can see his head! One more good push and he's out!!"
I focus on the brightest star in the sky and quickly wish upon it before sucking in as much air as possible and delivering the last, painful push. I actually scream this time. The final push is defiantly the most agonizing. When I'm out of breath, I cease my screaming and hear something truly beautiful; a weak little cry.
MY BABY!!! THAT'S MY BABY!! Corey, sweetie, where are you?! Your mommy is here!!!
Sure enough, Narcissa utters the only words that I wanted to hear at this moment.
"It's definitely a boy!! Born on….. June 7, 1998. Hermione, do you want to see your son?"
"Do I ever!!" I mutter gleefully before passing out in Bellatrix's lap.
Wow. That took a lot of effort to write in 3 hours!! Yea, 'Mione's a mom!!!! Oh, by the way, Corey Ronald will not be crazy evil like Voldie, okay? Glad we cleared that up!
