And we've nearly reached the end of our journey , I hope you all liked it , thank you for sticking with me , the next chapter will be the last one
Hermione was tired.
Very tired.
Severus was worried.
It was the 5th of January , and Hermione was already about 4 days passed her due date , which had led to no small amounts of emotional outbursts from her, whilst he could only look on in sympathy and try to offer what little comfort he could.
Her tiredness wasn't helped by the fact that she'd insisted on redecorating the other rooms in the house.
Originally they'd just done their bedroom, bathroom and Cub's room and had then agreed to leave the rest until after cub was born.
But that had changed at New Years , when Severus woke up at 6am to Hermione moving furniture in the living room so she could rip up the old carpet.
He shrugged the behaviour off, as to be fair she wasn't sleeping very well now cub was carrying so low, even on her side with the special cushion he'd bought her propping up her stomach.
And in all fairness the carpet in the living room was terrible so it wasn't anything too out of the ordinary.
But when she began to forgo all other aspects of her life , reading , studying etc.. Even the amount of intimacy they shared. Oh she still jumped on him at least once a day, but he was no longer being dragged out of his lab in the middle of the day.
Now she would simply focus on stripping each room in turn , and tearfully insisting that they really must go and replace that furniture right now.
He called in the expert.
Flooing to Malfoy Manor he'd spoken to Narcissa to share his worries, and the woman had the audacity to laugh at him.
"Honestly Cissy, I'm worried! She's always been a very tidy person , but she's become a total harridan, I swear she'd put me in a bib if she could whilst I am eating my toast ! I could eat my dinner off the bathroom floor, and I'd bet my eye teeth that I could drag out any piece of furniture and it'd be spotless behind it , I don't know what's gotten into her"
"She's nesting Severus " The woman had said with a chuckle, as if that answered everything.
"She's not a bloody bird Cissy" He scowled at the woman
"No you great fool , when women are in their late stages of pregnancy they feel this urge to clean and tidy and organise , they get this instinct to have everything ready for the upcoming birth, preparing their nest so to speak"
"So...what does it mean ?" He asked cautiously.
"Severus... It means the baby's coming"
Suddenly he paled and dropped into his seat heavily , the wind gone from him.
Narcissa questioned him cautiously "Severus? She's over her due date already , surely you realised the baby would be here any time ?"
Swallowing a lump in his throat he turned to his friend.
"Yes. I mean logically yes, I knew but...the baby...a baby, everything needs to be clean and prepared and we're not even remotely ready...I have to go"
He practically ran to the floo.
Narcissa chuckled, knowing full well what the pair were going through.
And remembering her own obsession, she was pretty sure she redid every room in the manor which was a fairly impressive feat.
Lucius had put his foot down when she'd wanted to go do the summer houses as well though.
oOo
He'd burst out of the floo and found Hermione, making sure to vanish any traces of floo powder or ash when he stepped through.
She was reorganising the kitchen cupboards.
He ran into the kitchen and skidded to a halt on the newly polished floor, painfully banging his hip on the counter in the process.
"The baby's coming" He said urgently when he met her , hissing as he massaged his bruised hip.
"What?" She asked in shock, momentarily grabbing her stomach as though he'd sensed her labour even before she had.
"The baby. the baby is going to be here soon and we're not ready!"
"I know right!" She said tearfully "This is what I've been trying to make you understand!"
"But things need to be cleaned and organised! we have corners! and stairs!...what if our wards fail the baby could fall!"
"Exactly ! And we can't paint the rooms when the baby's born ,think of the paint fumes!"
"Oh gods."
Neither were able to think clearly enough to remember that the baby would not be mobile for a long time yet, so baby proofing wasn't urgent and that they were easily capable of casting air cleansing and filtration charms if they did paint a room after cub was born.
oOo
The next couple of days were a blur , as Hermione continued to make the house surgically clean whilst Severus became obsessed with baby proofing.
Every child safety ward he could think of was applied onto the house, along with muggle devices added to every plug socket and corner.
There was one almost disaster though when a screaming Hermione almost hexed him , for baby proofing the toilet seat and forgetting to tell her the counter spell to access it.
Luckily too exhausted to hex him , she'd thrown a bar of soap at him (the only thing within reach) , quickly followed by shampoo bottles and other small items.
"For Christ's sake Severus ! When you have a woman who has a fucking baby using her bladder as a goddamn squeeze toy YOU DO NOT CHARM THE FUCKING TOILET SEAT SHUT!"
He almost marvelled at the amount of creative profanity she used, she'd never been one to swear until the past week or so when her nerves were frayed.
Instead he ducked the flying loo roll and released the charm on the toilet seat.
oOo
She woke him up with her sobs on the 8th, she was so emotionally overwrought, tired and fed up now. Almost 10 days passed her due day.
Her stomach was large and heavy, looking even larger on her small frame, and the stretch marks were really upsetting her.
Hermione had never been a vain girl, but the boy had done a number on her self esteem and Severus wanted to hex him all over again whenever she'd get upset about her looks. Instead he'd just sooth her , reassure her that he still found her attractive no matter what , and massage the oils into her stomach for her as she could no longer reach all of it.
They'd spoken to Matthias and she'd been scheduled for a C-Section if she didn't start labour by the 11th , which was upsetting her even more.
"Cub's not even born yet Severus and I'm already failing as a mother. Humans have been giving birth for thousands of years, it's something so basic and natural and I can't even do that "
He did his best to convince her that it was nothing she could help, but there was little he could say to sooth her.
She was more distressed that night when she went to bed, it was his birthday tomorrow and she was too tired to travel to Malfoy Manor as they'd planned so Severus had to floo them that they were cancelling.
"I'm a horrible wife. a horrible wife and a horrible mother" She'd wept into his arms, and he'd pulled her into a hug.
"You are neither of those things"
"I ruined everything, and now I'm ruining your birthday, we should be celebrating with your friends and instead you're going to be cooped up at home running around after me as I'm too fat to do anything for myself"
She looked so done in.
She was wearing his old Slytherin jumper, her hair was a mess , she was tired and needed a shower which she'd been putting off as it was too hard for her to stand in the shower and too uncomfortable to get in the bath.
Her tears left tracks down on her face and her nose was running, which she had kept wiping on the sleeve of her jumper as she'd already gone through all the tissue in the house.
She looked miserable and pathetic.
There was nothing else he could do.
He laughed.
It started off as a small chuckle, but when she levelled a glare at him that would frighten off a hippogriff he couldn't hold back and began laughing properly.
She quirked her lip
"Don't"
He only laughed harder then and shook her head at herself as she finally joined him in laughter.
The two of them sat on the bed laughing hysterically until he pulled her into his arms.
"Oh my love, everything will be alright"
oOo
He was having the most arousing dream.
He was in the bath, dripping wet, Hermione was riding him he felt himself getting closer and closer to release.
Severus
Gods yes Hermione ride me
Severus
Fuck so good, you feel so good.
"SEVERUS!"
He shot awake as she turned the lights on in the room, he thought for a moment he'd had a wet dream but when he threw the covers off himself he took in the clock. 12:05, then the state of the bed with dismay.
Hermione was laid beside him in a large wet patch looking strained.
"Severus it's now" She panted .
"Now ?!"
"Now Severus, it's now!"
"Oh bollocks"
He jumped out of bed managing to smack his toe on the bed post and his knee on the drawers, with a growl he grabbed their overnight bag and grabbed Hermione into his arms.
"ugh Severus?" Hermione was looking at him with vague amusement despite the fact that her face was scrunched up in pain
"What's wrong ?" he was worried he'd forgotten something important.
Her eyes flicked to his, down his body and back up again.
Following her gaze he noticed the problem.
He was still wearing his nightclothes.
Which was a pair of black boxers and nothing else.
A pair of still tented black boxers.
Her strained face met his "As much as I appreciate the view love, I don't want to share it"
Blushing he quickly put her down as he struggled into some clothes.
He dropped his shirt though and promptly fell to his knees when she cried out and hunched over.
"Hermione!?" She had her hands on her belly and he put his there too.
Gods her stomach is rock hard
"Contractions" She managed to squeeze out through clenched teeth.
Faster than he could remember dressing, he'd shoved a black shirt on and was carrying her to the floo.
She'd wanted to have a muggle birth, like her mother had, so they were going to the hospital Matthias worked at but Draco had St. Mungo's on standby incase of complications.
"Severus" Her watery eyes met his as they reached the fireplace "It's happening"
"I love you...We're having a baby" He said softly , awe in his voice as he quickly kissed her.
She broke the kiss with a groan.
"Severus...we're having a baby right now let's not do it in the living room on the new carpet please"
"Right...we're going"
oOo
The Malfoys, Minerva, Longbottom and Lovegood met them at the hospital.
As they were being taken into the delivery suite Lovegood had wished him a happy birthday and once again assured him he would be a good father, and not to take any threats to his manhood to heart.
Just an hour after they arrived at the hospital Hermione had progressed to 10cm and was being instructed to push.
"My my looks like your baby is ready to get this show on the road ! They were just waiting for the right time it seems!"
She was laid in the hospital bed screaming and crying , and Severus was at a loss as to what to do , fluttering around like an imbecile not quite sure where to put himself.
"She's crowing Dad, do you want to come feel this ?" the midwife smiled at him , taking both his awkwardness and Hermione's insults in her stride.
In awe he allowed the midwife to guide his hand to feel the baby's head.
"I can feel cub Hermione , you're doing so well and the baby already has your mane of curls I can feel it!"
It wasn't tears in his eyes he was certain, it was just sweat from his forehead.
"God's Severus I don't think I can do this" She cried, body shaking and he pulled her into his arms as much as he could.
"Yes you can, you're so brave Hermione , so brave my lioness you can do this , it's high time we met our cub"
With a scream worthy of any mandrake she lurched forward , and he held her leg the way the midwife had instructed giving her something to push against.
Suddenly a cry rent the air that was not from his wife.
"Congratulations mum and dad it's a boy" The midwife passed the baby to the nurse to clean him up.
"A boy?" Hermione asked breathlessly as tears traced down her cheeks.
"Do you want to cut the cord dad?"
With shaking hands he cut the cord as instructed by the nurse, then kept a close eye on her as she went to clean the baby up and wrap him in a blanket.
Hermione fell back against the bed with a wince, as the midwife delivered the afterbirth.
Severus kissed her forehead , whispering awe filled praise.
"Here you go mum" The midwife said as she passed the fussing wrapped bundle on Hermione's chest. "He's going to be a tall one , 8.5 pounds and 24 inches long , he's the tallest we've had here , but that's no surprise I guess" She smiled at Severus, all 6ft 3 of him as she said that
"We'll leave you three to it"
Then it was just them
oOo
Hermione gasped as she took in her son's face and then began to sob.
"Oh gods Severus, look at him...look at your son"
carefully passing the bundle over to him , he took the baby in trembling arms.
He remembered being told that babies can't see when they are first born.
That they don't recognise facial expressions or anything like that.
So he was taken completely by surprise when the bundle in his arms looked at him... for the first time and the little boy smiled.
A cheeky little smile.
And Severus wept.
Wept harsh wracking sobs as he held the precious bundle closer to him.
Wept for the feel of his son in his arms.
His son, already tall like his father.
His son, with a mane of impossible honey curls just like his mother, that girls were no doubt going to swoon over as he got older.
His son.
His son...with a little pair of black eyes looking up in wonder as they met their match.