Updated: 5/26/2018
After the poisoning incident, February passed with little fuss for Bailey, though it was hard not to notice how many of his classes that Draco was skipping. Blaise escorted Bailey to all of the Slug Club events, as well as all the various social events always taking place within Slytherin House. Whenever they would do this, whispers would begin behind them and people would pass off money to each other. Bailey didn't have much time to worry about that, however, as it seemed that Professor Snape and Voldemort were competing for who could demand from her the most experimental potions.
At the same time, whatever task Draco had been given, he was continuing to fail at. She shuddered at the thought of finding her proud cousin shaking and injured in the Common Room, sobbing over having not been able to protect his mother from the Dark Lord's wrath. Bailey hated to think of Narcissa Malfoy—the ever graceful aristocrat—being tortured in her own home.
With the image of Bailey's mentor being tortured burned into her mind, the fact of her mother's looming due date made her nervous with each passing moment. She knew from reading that grief, age, and childbirth was not a good combination. Nearly every night, she had nightmares of her mother and the baby dying, leaving her all alone in the world. She hated having to go to sleep every night, though she knew too much about the effects of Dreamless Sleep to risk taking it all but on the worst nights—the nights where it was Tilly, not Narcissa, being tortured for Bailey's failure—which of course lead to her falling asleep at the most inopportune moments.
"…furthermore, the human-to-creature transformation can become permanent if one does not pay attention to their teachers in class, Miss Black," McGonagall was saying. Amelia poked her in the side and Bailey jerked awake to find Professor McGonagall glaring down at her and the rest of the class giggling at her.
"I—I'm sorry, Professor, wha' was the question?" she asked. McGonagall frowned.
"Detention, I think, and five points from Slytherin," she said. "Really, Miss Black, I would expect more from a Prefect and Professor Snape's Apprentice."
Bailey slumped in her seat as the woman walked away. Amelia was muttering under her breath.
"She has to realize this is not like you, I have half a mind to skin that old pussy cat—" her redheaded friend was saying. Bailey raised an eyebrow.
"Calm down, 'Melia, we don't need anymore points lost," she muttered lowly.
"Who cares about points?" Blaise said from her other side, giving Bailey a worried look. "This is the fifth class you've fallen asleep in this week! Do you need to go to Pomfrey's?"
"No, I'—" she cut herself off as McGonagall walked back towards the Slytherins. She mouthed once the teacher's back was turned. "I'm fine."
At the end of class, of course, McGonagall had her stay behind to discuss the terms of her detention. She gestured for Blaise and Amelia to leave ahead of her as she went up to the teacher's desk.
"When would yeh like me to serve yer detention, Professor?" she asked demurely. The Scotswoman fixed her with a hard look.
"Sit down, Miss Black."
"But, ma'am, I've got class in—"
"I'll write you a note," McGonagall said. "I know that you likely don't care for me much, but you are my namesake, so I'd say that gives me the right to take a vested interest in your welfare. Now, is there anything you'd like to tell me? Any way I can help? Falling asleep in class is most unlike you, Miss Black."
"I—" Bailey choked, unsure of what to say. "I—I just had a late night. Tha's all."
McGonagall looked her up and down again. "Indeed. If that is all, I will see you in the trophy case room at seven o'clock sharp to serve your detention. You may go to your next class."
"Yes, professor," Bailey said, quickly picking up her books and racing out the door only to bump into several figures waiting for her.
"….acting really strange, even I know that," her godbrother was saying, as Amelia nodded along intently. At her appearance, Blaise cleared his throat rather obnoxiously. Amelia and Harry turned to give her almost identical "you caught me!" looks.
"There you are, Bailey!" Amelia said a little too upbeat. "Was the old tabby cat really harsh on you?"
"Probably not as bad as she could have been," Bailey said slowly, glancing between two of her oldest friends and her godbrother. She didn't think there had ever been a stranger combination of people in her life. "What are you three doin' out 'ere? Together?"
Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, you know, talking about human to animal transfiguration and—"
"Potter, do us all favour and learn how to lie properly," Blaise said in his most pompous voice. "Don't you have quidditch practice or the like?"
Harry was rather red. "Yes, I do. See you around, Minnie," he said and took off quickly. She rolled her eyes and stared down her friends.
"We're worried about you, that's all," Amelia said, being the first one to break.
"Even the Boy-Who-Was-Oblivious can see how much you're suffering," Blaise added.
"Well, there's no sense in tha'. I'm fine," Bailey said as the three began to make their way to the Slytherin Common Room. Blaise snorted.
"No offense, Bails, but you're beginning to lie as well as your godbrother," he said. That time, Bailey did not answer.
By the next week, she was serving detentions with Flitwick, Sprout, and Sinistra in addition to the one she had with McGonagall for falling asleep in class. She had heard Professor Snape railing against her professors several times for giving her so many detentions when it was brutally obvious that she just needed sleep. Bailey could not help but resent the man for it, as that had only caused the other professors to question if Bailey should continue her Potions mastery while still at Hogwarts.
Luckily, Blaise was her partner in Arithmancy class, and was much better at poking her awake than Amelia. The more times he had to do so, the more worried the looks were that he gave her.
After dozing off for the fifth time, it was not Blaise who woke her up. Instead, it was the door of the classroom slamming open. She startled awake to see her godbrother standing at the door looking ready to wet himself.
"Sorry to interrupt, Professor," he said worriedly, "but I need Bai—Black. Now."
All of a sudden, Bailey was extremely awake. Before Professor Vector was able to so much as nod his acceptance, Bailey had shot out of her desk and to her godbrother's side. Blaise was looking even more worried than before as the two left the classroom together. As soon as they closed the door, Harry pulled her into a hug.
"What's going on?" she demanded, in no mood to have some sort of sweet family moment.
"Tilly's in labor," he said, going pale. "From what Remus told me, I don't think it's going very well, but the Order had determined it's too dangerous to take her to Mungo's, or even to a muggle hospital."
Bailey swore viciously. "But there's still several weeks to go!"
"I'd say it's more like several hours," Harry said dryly. Bailey glared at him, clearly saying that this was no time for joking matters. "C'mon, Professor McGonagall is letting us use her fireplace to get to Grimmauld Place. Mrs. Weasley and Remus are already there."
Bailey nodded. "Alright, let's go, but I first want to stop by me lab."
Within moments, Baily was gathering up whatever potions she thought might be of use to her mother—Pepper-Up, Pain Relief, Blood Replenisher.
"You really don't think that the Healer they called doesn't have this stuff already?" Harry asked, antsy to be off.
"No, I would likely have her sent away if she doesn't have at least these basics," Bailey said as she rustled through her stores, adding another bottle to her bag. "I just don't trust anyone else's potions."
Harry rolled his eyes even as he scrunched his nose against the smell. "Merlin, it reeks in here. You'd think something had died."
"Where do you think potions ingredients come from?" she retorted sarcastically.
"I know, but it really smells. It feels… evil, almost," he said. Bailey tensed.
"Just because you hate Professor Snape does not make him or his subject evil, Harry," she said evenly. "Now, come on, I have everything I need."
"Skele-gro? You need skele-gro?"
"Da' used to say she broke all the fingers in his hand when I was born, so…" she shrugged. "Just in case."
Harry blanched as Bailey laughed and pulled him toward McGonagall's office and to Grimmauld Place. Though Bailey was able to give Mrs. Weasley the potions to give to the Healer when they arrived, neither were allowed in the room. Harry, of course, was relieved, though Bailey was livid.
"Why not?" she half-shouted. "I'm 'er daughter! Tha's me little brother! I'm the closest family either o' them has got!"
"That room is no place for children!" Mrs. Weasley admonished.
"No place for—There is a child bein' born in there! Besides, I'm no child—I'll be seventeen in a month!" Bailey yelled, even as Harry placed a hand on her arm to try to lead her away and calm her down. Not that it would have helped; Bailey had inherited her father's temper.
"Then it's no place for teenagers!" Mrs. Weasley retorted. A scream of pain came from upstairs, nearly causing Bailey to bolt up there to her mother, Mrs. Weasley be damned. Harry looked rather pale. "I need to get back up there. You—" she pointed at Harry "—keep her down here. And you—"she turned toward Bailey and grimaced "—don't let him pass out. He looks rather peaky."
With that, Mrs. Weasley turned and went back upstairs while Bailey turned towards Harry, hands on hips.
"You've been tortured by the Dark Lord himself and you can't handle a woman in childbirth?" she scoffed.
"It sounds—" another scream came from upstairs and Harry winced "—painful."
Bailey laughed at her godbrother and shook her head as she dragged him into the parlour. They would likely be waiting for awhile.
Somehow, Harry and Bailey ended up asleep in a tangle of limbs and drool (both would always accuse the other of being the drooler) on one of the couches, which was how Remus found them when he came downstairs.
"Bailey," he said gently, shaking her shoulder while trying not to wake Harry. The girls needed to have their own moment. "Bailey!"
"Uncle Rem?" she asked sleepily. "You were allowed up there?"
He chuckled. "I do have Healer training."
"So do I," she grumbled moodily, still only half-awake. Then, seemingly having realized what it must mean that her godfather was waking her up, her eyes shot open, "Mum? The baby?"
"Both perfectly fine," Remus said with a smile. "They're both resting upstairs if you want to meet your baby brother."
Bailey's eyes went wide as Remus helped her to gently extricate herself from Harry. Remus frowned as he noticed some black lines on her wrist.
"Have'nt you grown out of drawing on yourself yet?" he teased. Bailey looked confused, then blushed, pulling her sleeve down.
"Not quite, Uncle Rem," she said with a small smile. He laughed, and pulled her towards him, kissing the top of her head.
"You've been through so much this past year, yet every day you amaze me with how strong you are," he said softly against her hair. She was still for a moment before pulling away from him, looking pale and somewhat guilty, as though she were a little girl caught in the cookie jar again. Or a thirteen year old being caught aiding and abetting a convict breaking into the castle. Remus frowned.
"Is there something you needed to talk about, Bailey?"
"Talk?" she repeated, before a broad grin overtook the guilty look on her face. "At a time like this? No, Uncle Rem, I've just got to meet that baby!"
Remus laughed before leading her upstairs to her father's old room, where Tilly had taken up residence and refused to go anywhere else, insisting that in that room it felt like her husband was still alive. Bailey was bouncing in front of the door like she used to before being allowed into the living room on Christmas to see what St Nick had left her. Deciding not to torture the impatient girl further, Remus swung the door open to reveal and tired and pale looking Tilly with a small blue bundle in her arms.
For a moment, it looked as though Bailey was going to hop into the bed with Tilly and the baby, but she stopped just shy of the bed's edge.
"Wow," she breathed. Remus smiled at the girls before backing out of the room and shutting the door, allowing the remaining Blacks to have their moment as a family. "He's…. red. And tiny."
Tilly laughed weakly. "Fer such a tiny mite, 'e sure did cause a fuss."
"That he did," Bailey replied, still in awe. "Did they use my potions? I wanted to come up here, but—"
"But there was no need fer yeh to be up 'ere," Tilly said firmly. Then, more gently, she added, "an', yes, they did use yer potions. Thank yeh, sweetheart."
Bailey nodded, throat tight for some reason as she stared at her mother and baby brother. Her mother was still paler than she had ever seen.
"Would yeh like to 'old yer baby brother?" her mother said with a smile. Bailey paused. Could she? Could she really hold such a small, pure being with a Mark on her arm that stood for war and death? Could she not without arousing suspicion?
"What's his name?" she asked, stalling for time.
"Augustus Rigel Black," Tilly replied with a smile. "Your father, for whatever reason, always liked the name Augustus. Rigel, however, was always me favourite. Here," she said, shoving the child out to Bailey's arms, ignoring her daughter's indecision. "I really need to pee on my own before Molly comes back."
"But Mu—"
Bailey was not able to get out any more than that before her mum had already taken of, waddling towards the bathroom. Bailey sighed as the small boy gurgled. She looked down at his large, dark blue eyes. Bailey was sure that they would darken to their father's warm grey before long.
"Hey, Gussy," she said softly, carrying him over to the window. "I'm your big sister. I know that I've made some mistakes, but I swear, I will protect you. Hopefully, the war will be over soon—for good—and you'll grow up hearing stories of Daddy, safe and sound. He would have loved you so much, Gussy."
"Gussy. Yer father would 'ave hated tha'," her mother said, leaning against the door. Bailey jumped, causing the baby to whimper in her arms. She bounced him softly, causing her mum to smile. "Yeh're good wit 'im."
"He would have hated Gussy but he loved Minnie?" Bailey said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow as she helped her mother to the bed.
"Normally, 'e hated 'cutesy' names," she said. "'owever, I think 'e though' 'e was gettin' away wit somethin' callin' yeh Minnie…. I know o' at least three detentions 'e an' James got from callin' their professor Minnie."
Bailey snorted, gently laying Gussy back into Tilly's arms after her mum was safely back in bed. Tilly patted the other side of her for Bailey to join, as she had when she was little. Soon, Tilly had both of her children safely ensconced in each arm.
"We're gonna be alrigh', Bails," she whispered into her daughter's ear. "You, me, Harry, and now little Augustus—we make a family. We'll be okay. We just 'ave to keep believin' tha', alrigh'?"
"Alright, Mum," Bailey whispered in reply, refusing to think of anything complicated, instead focusing on her family beside her.