CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"I understand that Narcissa has now gone?" Arthur asked as they ate dinner. He looked quite overdressed in his suit, but Hermione knew it was because he'd just returned from Molly's wedding, having opted to stay at the reception only briefly. She wanted to ask about the event, but she had held back, knowing how difficult it all was for Arthur. Ginny had wedded only the week before, and of his sons only Charlie remained unbound, and his wedding was scheduled for the following evening.
"Indeed," Lucius confirmed. He'd informed her of Narcissa's departure a few weeks prior, on the day immediately after her outburst. She'd merely nodded and thanked him quickly, too wrapped up in Kingsley's inadvertent revelation to speak with him further. They hadn't slept together since their tryst in the library, and she knew he'd chalked it up to her anger at him. In truth, she was confused - deeply confused - about him, and she felt too uncomfortable to put on a facade of ignorance in front of him.
"-Hermione?" her thoughts were interrupted by Harry's question, and she looked up at where he sat across the table.
"Hmm?" she replied, having been entirely distracted by her thoughts. More than a few of husbands were looking at her, their expressions ranging from concern to curiosity.
"He asked if you've been feeling alright lately, what with the birth coming up and all," Neville said, rubbing her thigh with concern.
"I'm-" she started, pausing when she felt a slight tense pain in her abdomen, followed by a trickle of fluid coating her thighs and leaking onto the cushioned dining chair she sat on. "-fine," she gritted out, trying to keep her face impassive.
"Are you sure, love?" Sirius said from where he sat beside Harry.
"Yes," she plastered on a fake smile and dug enthusiastically into a chunk of the potatoes on her plate, even as her mind began running through the possibilities.
It was possible, of course, that she'd simply urinated on herself, as was common for many pregnant women. She'd been spared from that particular embarrassment so far, but that didn't mean that it couldn't have just happened. She sniffed for the pungent smell of urine, and when she was uncertain if there was no scent or if her pregnancy had thrown off her senses yet again, peeked over at Snape who sat beside her. He'd barely spared her a glance since her display in his lab a few weeks prior, but she had no doubt that he would have at least turned up his nose at the scent of her urinating herself at the dinner table.
But no, the man continued to eat his dinner quietly, sparing her none of his attention. She would have sighed in relief at this, but the fact remained that the incident had not been her urinating herself after all.
This, of course, meant that her water had most definitely just broken and she was in very likely labor. She knew from her training that women typically gave birth within 24 hours of their water breaking, although it could be more. Or less. Considering how her magically sped up pregnancy had been going so far, she highly suspected it was the latter.
Her hand shook as she reached for her glass of water, and she clamped her other hand over it to steady it.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed in concern as he watched her hands clamped strangely over her glass. "Are you sure you're-"
"M'fine, Harry," she said, gulping down her water in an attempt to quell her mounting anxiety. Healer Browne hadn't known much about what to expect from her labor process, and had advised her to follow her healer instincts. And so, when the next contraction came - yes, there was no doubting it now - she peeked at Neville's wristwatch to see that it had likely been less than ten minutes since the last one, or more.
Hermione began to panic again as she realized that she was definitely out of time to get to St. Mungo's. It was considered inadvisable for a witch to travel by floo, and Apparition was completely out of the question.
"Please excuse me," she said politely, cringing at the obvious strain in her voice.
Most of the men nodded politely at her, although Harry and Draco continued to look at her with concern.
All she had to do was get an owl out to Healer Browne before her husbands noticed anything was amiss. She wanted to bask in the calmness before they all started crowding around her, no doubt bickering while simultaneously flitting around her in frenzied excitement at the idea of her being in labor.
"Do you need help getting upstairs?" Draco asked, and she saw that Harry was already out of his chair, crossing over to her.
"I'm fine," she said, and raised an arms to wave him off. An intense contraction hit her then, and she stumbled slightly, muffling a cry of pain. At once, she was swarmed by concerned men who held her upright while asking her a multitude of frenzied questions.
"I need- to sit," she managed to wheeze out, and she immediately found herself being whisked into the Manor's new drawing room and placed gently on a plush lounge chair.
"Hermione," Kingsley said urgently. He was sitting behind her, propping her up lightly. One of his large hands was cupping her face, and she leaned into his cool touch, relishing in the feeling of it against her burning skin.
"Are you hurt?" Draco asked urgently, taking one of her limp hands in both of his and kissing it.
"I'm alright," she said before gasping as another contraction descended upon her.
"You call this fine?" Harry was pacing in front of her, running his hands through his messy hair.
"I am fine," she gritted out after the contraction passed. "It's just labor, nothing else," she added. At her words, the men in the room all paused and stared at her, many of their mouths open in shock.
"Just labor?" Neville broke the momentary silence, looking equally flustered, excited, and as though he was about to be very ill.
"Let's get you to St. Mungos," Arthur said calmly from where he stood in the entrance to the room, flanked by the two elder Slytherins.
"Can't," she said. "My contractions are too close together, we need to call Healer Browne-"
"Nonsense," Lucius said. "Our personal healer shall attend to you."
"Call them both, I don't care!"
"Testy, today, are we?" Sirius quipped, smiling at her responding glare. "You'll do great, love, just calm down a bit," he assured her, walking over to rub her shoulder until she became pliant under his expert fingers.
"I'm going to be a mother," she said with wonder in her voice, unknowing of whether to laugh or cry.
Neville laughed before she could decide. "Yes, I rather think so, don't you?" he said, and she couldn't help smiling back at him even as another contraction came upon her.
She screwed her eyes shut and recited everything she knew about childbirth in her head. She only opened them when she felt a gentle hand touch her thigh through the material of her dress. She looked up to see Arthur smiling down at her, his expression relatively calm. "Your contractions seem to be rather close together," he said, taking the hand Draco wasn't holding and squeezing it gently. "Do you mind if I take a look?" She remembered him mentioning that he'd personally delivered four of his children in the privacy of his home, and felt immensely grateful for his presence.
She flushed slightly then nodded. She told him the proper incantation, and he listened intently to her instructions. She watched him mutter an incantation to clean his hands before she let him slip his hands under her dress and gently draw off her knickers. He then ducked his head under her dress, touching her inner thighs gently to signal the presence of his hands before he touched her more intimately. She was grateful for the knee-length of her dress, which gave her some semblance of privacy.
The room was quiet as Arthur worked for a minute before coming back up. "You're about six centimetres dilated," he announced.
"Alright," she whispered, closing her eyes to take a deep breath as another contraction hit. "Do you know the diagnostic spells?" she asked Arthur.
"Most, yes," he smiled at her reassuringly. "Would you feel better if you guided me through them?"
She nodded, and she did. For the next ten minutes they worked together quietly, and were on one of the final spells from the first set they were to administer when Draco spoke.
"Where the hell is Healer Johnson?" he snapped, glaring at the floo.
Although it had been little more than ten minutes since the Healers had been owled, Hermione couldn't help feeling some of Draco's concern. Her concern intensified as another, more intense contraction hit her, leaving her breathless by the time it passed.
She hadn't noticed when Snape had left, but he returned with a vial of familiar pain potion she'd seen administered to many a witch in labor. She cursed her lack of experience in the maternity ward, wishing she'd begun her apprenticeship before the birth rate had dropped to nearly nothing.
"It may be too late-" she started, but Snape silenced her with a look and forced it into her hands.
She gulped down the green liquid, cringing it its bitter taste. She felt a trickle of relief enveloping her body, but she knew that it was not nearly enough when another contraction hit her.
"Are you comfortable?" Kingsley asked from behind her where he continued to cradle her head, and she nodded, grateful for the cool, wet cloth that he had materialized to pat her head with.
"Arthur, can you-" she stopped short as she saw that the man was already ducking beneath her dress again, looking concerned at the increased pace of her contractions.
"I need the spell as well," she said, looking up at no one in particular. "I needed more time for the potion to work fully."
She was surprised when Lucius crossed over to her. "I believe I may be able to administer it myself," he said, looking at her as he waited for her approval. She nodded gratefully, then flushed as Kingsley shifted so that he could lift her dress to expose her back, leaving Arthur's head between her legs as her only cover. Lucius muttered the spell and performed its accompanying wand movements expertly, and her pain was soon reduced to a dull throbbing as the next contraction came upon her.
Lucius righted her dress just as Arthur withdrew his head from between her legs. "9 centimetres," he said, eyes wide.
"What does that mean?" Draco asked, eyes flying between Hermione and Arthur's panicked expressions.
"It means that the child is coming now, you dunderhead." Surprisingly, the words hadn't come from Snape, but Sirius, who had started pacing in front of the floo. "Where the hell are the blasted healers?"
"Bugger the healers," Harry snapped, stepping closer to her to pull her thigh nearest him wide, albeit gently.
"Harry!" she shouted, snatching her hand from Draco's grip so that she could cover herself before Harry pulled up her dress.
Draco scoffed from beside her. "It's nothing we haven't all seen before. Spread 'em - this child waits for no one."
She gave him a light smack for his blunt language, but resignedly allowed them to move her hands and pull up her dress until it was bunched under her bosom.
When the next contraction hit, she forgot about propriety altogether. "Unnghh!" she grunted, determined not to scream. This resolution went out the window, too, when the next contraction hit not a minute later and she screamed until her lungs burned.
Kingsley began whispering soothing words into her ear, running the cloth over her face and chest as she shuddered through the aftershocks of pain.
"I can't do this!" she cried after the third contraction in a row only increased in intensity. It was as if she'd never taken the potion or had the spell administered - the second a contraction hit, her world dissolved into a single pinprick of pain, allowing her only a moment's reprieve before dragging her under again.
"You'll have to start pushing soon," Arthur said, looking up at her. "It's alright, we're almost there." He squeezed her thigh reassuringly.
She managed a weak nod, reaching out to squeeze the hand nearest her when another contraction hit and she pushed along with it. She hadn't realized Lucius hadn't yet left her side, and was surprised when she looked up to see him looking down at her once she let go. His fingers were twisted unnaturally, and she wondered briefly if she'd broken them before another contraction hit and he was taking her hand again, letting her squeeze the life out of it once more.
"Oh gods what is that?!" Neville squeaked.
"He's crowning!" Arthur said excitedly, and Sirius immediately ducked down to get a closer look.
"Jesus, 'Mione, there's a head sticking out of your-"
"Shut up, Harry!" she screamed out as another contraction hit.
Neville was swaying unsteadily beside Harry. "I think I'm going to be sick," he wheezed, taking deep breaths.
"Don't you dare, Longbottom!" Draco seethed from beside her, yelping when she squeezed his hand as another contraction hit.
"Push, Hermione!" Arthur urged, and she did. The strength of her scream took her breath away, and she felt Kingsley wiping away tears she hadn't realized had fallen.
"You can do this, love," Kingsley whispered, kissing her softly on her forehead.
She nodded mutely before breathing deeply.
"Again," Sirius urged. Just beyond him, Neville fainted dead away, only for Snape to reenervate him with an angry flick of his wand.
She pushed again, screaming until it felt like her lugs would burst.
"Come on, love," Sirius urged, kissing her foot gently from where he kneeled. "You can do this!"
At that moment, the Floo roared to life and a small, portly older man waddled into the room. Hermione recognized him as the Malfoys' personal healer. "M-Mister Malfoy," the man stuttered. "I a-a-apologize for the de-delay, I-"
"MY WIFE IS ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH ON A DAMNED SOFA!" Draco thundered from beside her. "Stop your sputtering and get over here, now!"
"Shh," she tried to calm him. "He's here now, that's all that matters," she whispered, wondering how much time had passed. It felt like it had been an eternity, but she knew that it had likely been less than a half hour since they'd been sitting quietly at dinner.
Lucius had taken up her hand again, and she felt the tension in his stance, knowing he yearned to ream the man out as his son had right then and there. He was more composed than his son, but she didn't doubt that he was giving the healer a murderous look considering the way the man cowered as he looked in Lucius' direction.
She was exhausted, so exhausted, and she felt her eyes slipping closed for a moment before Healer Johnson muttered an incantation that sent a sudden burst of energy pulsing through her veins.
"Please push when I tell you, Mrs. Malfoy," he encouraged gently, a beacon of calamity in the frenzy of energy her husbands emitted.
"Push," he said, and she bore down with all her strength. "Again!" he encouraged. After this push, the room was suddenly filled with a noise that was not her own, and she realized with a shock that it was the baby's cries. Her baby's cries.
"One more push!" Healer Johnson begged, and she did.
She watched in awe as he raised the baby up so she could see him muttering a series of spells to clean it off and sever the umbilical cord. It wailed all the while, almost in sync with Hermione's sobs of joy. She didn't care about the noise it made - to her, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
"My baby," she sobbed, reaching out as the Healer summoned a blanket and swaddled it expertly.
Healer Johnson smiled down at her as he handed her the bundle. "Congratulations, Mrs. Malfoy," he said. "You have a daughter."
She blinked, then burst into tears again. A daughter!
She held her baby girl for a few minutes while Healer Johnson moved about her, casting various diagnostics and post-birth healing spells. "Let's get you to St. Mungo's now, shall we?"
X
Their arrival at St. Mungo's was rather uneventful, and she was whisked to large suite similar to the one she had been in on her last visit while they tended to her baby in a bassinet near her bed. She couldn't take her eyes off the child, and snapped at whoever stepped in the way to block her view until they gave up and rolled the bassinet right up beside her, where she could easily reach out and touch her daughter.
"So, who's the daddy?" Sirius asked casually once the second round of healers had left them.
The baby had a full head of soft blonde hair that Hermione couldn't help stroking, entranced by the infant's soft coos.
Draco scoffed. "She's obviously a Malfoy, isn't she?" he looked smug and awestruck at once, and she watched as he let the infant clutch delicately at one of his fingers.
"So tiny…" Harry whispered, poking at one of the baby's exposed feet.
"She might not be," Hermione mused quietly. "I was born blonde, you know."
Harry and Neville's eyes lit up at this, and Neville leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. Her eyes strayed over to Snape, who sat in an ornate armchair near Lucius, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
"Who do you reckon she looks like?" Neville asked, peering down at her.
"She barely even looks like a person now, let alone-" Hermione cut Harry's words with a glare, and he snapped his mouth shut.
"She is my daughter and she looks perfect," she cooed, brushing her fingertip across the baby's cheek. She turned into her mother's touch, and yawned slightly before blinking open her eyes.
One thing that Hermione had read in the book on pregnancy for muggle-born witches was that when muggle babies are born, their eye color usually appears blue or grey, and changes to its proper color over time. For magical babies, however, the effect is quite different. A fully magical baby's eyes would be an intensely vibrant shade of a parent's eyes, that would dull to a normal vibrancy after a few weeks.
Thus, when Hermione's newborn daughter opened her eyes and they shone a brilliant black, there was no mistaking exactly who her father was.
There were several sharp intakes of breath from around the bassinet as the men gathered around it came to the same conclusion she had, and their eyes flew from the baby, to her, and then finally, to Snape, who stared back at them, looking quite affronted.
"What?" he snapped.
"You…" Draco started. "You defiled a portrait...with him?" His mouth hung open as he continued to look between her and his godfather.
She flushed deeply at the reminder of her wedding night tryst with her ex-professor.
"Congratulations," Lucius drawled, watching as Snape stood slowly and crossed the room.
The throng around the bassinet parted to let him step up to where his daughter lay, fussing slightly as she continued to adjust to life outside of the womb. He peered down at her, and Hermione peered up at him, trying and failing to read his expression.
"I'd like to name her Emma, if you don't mind," she whispered, stroking their daughter's cheek. "Emma Rose Snape."
He looked up at her, then back at their daughter briefly before he turned and exited the room with a flourish, letting the door click shut behind him.
She's finally here! What do you all think? Anyone else excited that it's Snape's? This was a short one, I know, but 15 will be up soon I hope!