Chapter Twenty-Four

Contractions and Mothers

Scorpius slept soundly on my chest and I heaved and struggled to breathe. I was up all night, peering at the clock that didn't seem to go any faster. I do wonder why I haven't slapped the blonde git until he woke up, ask him why he insisted sleeping on my chest then ask him why his head weighed so much, made a comment about how his ego lived in his head hence the weight, and then made him stay up with me all night.

It is his child.

It is his son.

It is his son kicking me and threatening to come out two weeks early by kicking itself out of me, so maybe Al was right about that.

My eyes are sore, and I am tired, but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it, as it's three-forty-two in the morning, and I can't exactly go for a stroll around the grounds.

Which by the way are fucking beautiful.

I'd only ever been here twice before, both times at night. Once when I escaped the madness of the Burrow and said I was at Harley's, and the other time—the last time—when I'd got piss drunk and had unprotected sex, which has now lead me to this time when I'm visiting again, because of said last time with the unprotected sex.

Fuck me, it's one giant circle.

My throat calls for a glass of icy cold water and I know if I stay lying here for another minute I'll probably die.

Instead of pushing Scorpius off me like a mad woman, I gently remove myself from underneath him and replace my chest with an overly stuffed, overly soft, and most definitely overly priced pillow.

It's amazing what this guy can sleep through because he didn't do shit as I was moving him.

I crash around the drawer to find my wand, and I do, so I shove it in my robe just in case. I find my bag and yank out the old robe that's inside it.

I pull it on and yes, I cringe at the fact that you can still see my stomach because I can't pull the stupid thing around me, but I guess it's doing the trick.

As I get down the hall I try my best to be light-footed. I know, it's a bit farfetched for the daughter of Ron Weasley to be light footed, but I have to be. Being in a strange house with all these strange people, I can't afford to look like I'm trying to get a drink.

They might think I'm stealing.

And before I make it to the kitchen, I think about how there might be a house elf in there, ready to attack me with knives because of said stealing.

My throat tells me to hurry the hell up and get a drink, so I hurry and I get into the kitchen, and there it is; a shiny tap, a cupboard full of glasses and me, sweet victory.

I waddle over to the sink and gently turn on the tap, being stealthy I like to call it, and I place a glass—

"Astoria?" says an old croaky voice. The voice was stern and accusing. I blink repeatedly as light shines in my eyes; Lucius Malfoy flicked the light switches and was now glaring at me from his wheelchair.

How the hell did he get in here in a wheelchair?

I take a sip of my water; I had to calm myself. I look at him while I stand there awkwardly with my robe half on, my stomach poking out, and my hair dreadfully frizzy, "Umm, no, I'm Rose," I say.

Maybe I should have used a different name.

He hunches over more than usual, and it's as though he's trying to see me. "Oh, you're not Astoria," he mutters to himself.

I nod. "No, I'm not"

His wheelchair is blocking the only way out, and I definitely feel trapped in more than one way. "Who are you?" he asks.

I roll my eyes. "I'm Rose Weasley."

And his squinty eyes grow wider. "Weasley? You're a Weasley? What are you doing in my house?" he croaks, trying to raise his voice, but he can't; he's just a feeble old man!

I nod. "Yes, I'm a Weasley," I tell him.

"Blood traitors! Muggle loving disgrace!" he snaps at me and his hands start shaking.

I shake my head and watch him as his face contorts and he slumps back. "What are you doing here? Who are you? You're not here visiting Draco are you? His children are sleeping; the little ones are asleep."

And for a moment I feel sad, this man doesn't know anything anymore, and he's not sure of what's going on around him.

He's a weak old man.

"You've got red hair, you leave my son alone you Weasel! We've changed now; my wife helped your lot! You can all leave us alone!" And my heart keeps dropping.

"Oh shush will you, leave the poor girl alone." says an old woman.

Narcissa walks in with her wand and spins him around with it. I feel a little embarrassed since I'm standing here like an idiot gaping at these two people with my glass of water still in my hand, and I've taken only one sip of it.

"Narcissa, you saved us… you saved us…" Lucius whispers as he starts rolling in the opposite direction with the help of his wife's wand.

She laughs, "Yes, yes, so you keep telling me."

Lucius is out of sight, but not out of mind, and instead of marveling over what I used to believe was a very scary and powerful wizard, I realize that I'm now stuck in the presence of his wife.

Now I know I usually have no problems with being rude, and I'd usually storm out of the kitchen and not have a second thought about how I just rudely walked out on my boyfriend's Grandmother, but today I do, so I stay put—awkwardly sipping my water—and I stare out to nothing.

Narcissa flicks her wand at the kettle and grabs a tea cup out of the cupboard before putting a teaspoon of tea leaves into a tea strainer and also putting it in the cup. "I hope he didn't scare you too much."

I just shake my head with my lips shut and she smiles at me.

"His memory is getting worse and worse by the day; one day he'll forget me. He often mistakes me for my mother, and he doesn't seem to know that we've aged." she tells me.

I struggle to think of what to say. "Oh that's too bad," I say stupidly.

She nods. "You're a nice girl Miss Weasley." And I cringe at the formality of the name.

"Call me Rose," I mumble against my glass. I struggle to see how I'm a nice girl, because if I was a nice girl I might have felt a little more sorry for her husband, I would have said something comforting, and wouldn't be here struggling with small talk.

She goes over to the stove and grabs the kettle, bringing it back to the bench to pour into her cup. "Rose," I am truly horrible at awkward situations. She takes a sip of her tea while scalding hot, I don't know how she does it. "I look at Lesath and Scorpius and every day I'm grateful that my son managed to get a good and stable—also healthy—life. Something that Lucius and I never had, with him linked to the Death Eaters from such an early age, it was a struggle for me to live through that and know there was nothing I could do," she tells me.

I nod. "It's funny, my mum was just saying the same thing about her."

Narcissa gives a weak smile. "Different ends of the wand though."

Well wasn't that fucking true. "My Uncle thinks highly of you," I mumble.

She shakes her head. "And I think highly of your family. I know that if Lucius wasn't the way he was, he'd think highly of them too."

And she takes another sip. I stand there again, watching nothing in particular, waiting for conversation to pick up or die all together, it doesn't faze me.

I lie; I'd like it to die down.

"When Lesath got older, it was so obvious that she was just like Lucius, things weren't good enough for her, if she'd seen something once, she'd seen it a million times and it would never hold the same—how do I put it?—beauty as it did the first time. She was so picky and iffy about things it was like looking at Lucius all over again. I guess the good thing about her is that she had enough of her mother in her to counteract it, so if she likes you, she loves you, and if she doesn't like you, be careful. You've probably seen a bit of that at school, that she's just got a very strange way of showing likes and loves, it's almost like she doesn't like you, but she would do anything for you."

Wasn't that an understatement. I thought the girl hated me, I'm still not sure if she doesn't, but I guess she wouldn't have helped me out so much if she did.

Right?

Narcissa turns to me fully now, I can see every line on her face, and I see just how pretty she actually is. "But Scorpius? He's too much like his father, not wanting to grow up. But instead being forced into it, he will never believe anything he's done is worth anything. He's always striving for the top, but when he gets there, he'll think it's the bottom. The poor boy will never think he's pleased anyone. He's got a tough front but it's just as soft as anything… remember this Rose: I've seen my family fall apart once; I won't always be there to put it back together."

And with that she exits the kitchen. Once again, I'm lost and confused about what to believe when it comes to the Malfoy's.

Half the week came and went and before I knew it, my stay was nearly over.

I had gotten to know Draco and Astoria fairly well; I knew that he enjoyed swearing, telling me it was the only way you could truly put a point across; I knew that he liked helping people out at St Mungo's and that majority of his patients, when they finally get their respective minds back after Draco fixes their altered minds, tend to believe that he's there to kill them. Yet when they first arrive, mind jumbled and messed, they're more than willing to let him work on them.

Astoria had taught me how to cook pasties, they weren't as good as the ones Nanna makes or the ones that Mum makes—with Nanna's recipe—but I gave up on those ones years ago when mum went through her teaching-me-how-to-cook phase. At least these ones were simple.

We sat in the kitchen, Scorpius and Draco watching something on the TV, one of the only Muggle items in the house alongside the common pen, and I helped her roll out some pastry. "Your cousin Albus loves these cream puffs," she explained while flicking her wand towards a bowl of something white and creamy, and it started to spill over the bench.

Astoria had flour and sugar and other baking products all over the front of her yellow sundress but she smiled and looked content.

"You do a lot of your cooking the Muggle way," I say.

She nods. "Yes, because I get a sense of fulfillment when I do it like this, it's the way my mother taught me, and it's the way I do it," she says with a smile.

I nod, fair enough. There had been a question I wanted to know the answer to for a long time and before I lose the courage to ask, I just blurt it out, "How did you and Draco meet?" I asked in what was supposed to be a whisper. However, I was nervous about asking and it didn't come out as I had planned.

Astoria jerks her head back and looks surprised. "Well," she starts, "I met him twenty years ago," she says.

I nod. "Tell me—please—I'd like to know," I say.

She smiles down at the pastry. "My sister was friends with the then-wife of Blaise Zabini. They were having a party at their house and my sister invited me to go. She had Liam and Tori and they were both young, so it had been a while since Daphne had been out to a dinner party. Of course, because I was young, twenty-two at the time, and I had seen Blaise Zabini and remembered him from school, and I wasn't going to pass the opportunity by.

"Daphne and I had arrived at the party, and she was having a good time, but I wasn't. The people were too arrogant and not down-to-earth enough for me so I went for a walk around the grounds by myself, managing to fall into a puddle and get dirt on my dress.

"Lucky for me, I didn't mind ruining dresses or anything like that, but I knew I'd have to face everyone inside with a dirty dress, knowing my sister wouldn't be happy, but I was young, I didn't care, and I sat on a park bench outside. Next thing I know there is a very drunk man stumbling towards me and I remembered it was Zabini's friend from inside. I didn't know his name but they were obviously close from the way this guy didn't leave Zabini's side. "Hello Miss," he said and he kept waving his arms around at me, and that's why I hated drinkers, they were horribly unclassy like that. I ignored him but he kept waving around and before I knew it he was sitting next to me spilling his drink all over the place. "Fucking prissy party," he said to me, "I'd rather be at home watching the TV and eating pasties," he told me, and the first thing that shocked me was the fact that he had a TV, the second was that he loved pasties, and I knew a very good recipe. So I went with him to his house—much to the shock of my parents when they found out—and made him pasties. It wasn't until the next day that I knew which Draco he was, and I wasn't the brightest at school, after all, how many people are named Draco? But I was glad that I didn't put two-and-two together when he told me his name was Draco, or I would have run like a bat out of hell if I had found out he was Draco Malfoy."

Her story was annoyingly cute and made me see a totally different side of them both: I didn't think she was the type to think a party was too extravagant and I didn't think Draco would rather sit at home watching TV with a plate of pasties. It was just too extreme.

I feel hands travel along behind me and reach the front of my stomach, and Scorpius' long fingers start drumming on my skin, and before I know it I jerk my head forward to stop him from nipping my skin. "Son, you really have to learn what is and isn't appropriate, and those kisses aren't," Astoria says.

He snorts. "I've seen you and dad do worse. My brain is forever scared."

I hold in a snort and Astoria goes red. "Guests Scorpius, guests!"

The Malfoy's are alright.

Lesath wears her hair in a fountain ponytail in the middle of her head. Her hair is long and silvery and beautiful and all those other words. Her long legs are covered in tight leather pants, yes, that's right, leather pants, the type of pants that skinny bitches wear, and I swear, there's no one skinnier than her—ever, and she wears a chiffon singlet with a denim jacket. This is all to complement her smoky eye makeup she has going, and I know, if I was to be her manager, we could take over the modeling world and be rich!

I feel awfully mediocre as I stand with her in front of the mirror in their hallway. "How do I look? Hot? Yes!" And I realize she wasn't asking for my opinion.

I knit my eyebrows together. "You're going out?" I ask. Well it would be weird if she dressed like that for a cosy night in, wouldn't it?

She nods. "And Tori." and she smacks her lips together after putting on bright red lipstick.

Lesath looked smug and happy, as though she was hiding something and I admit, I was suspicious. "Where are you going?" I ask. Trying not to sound too interested yet still interested enough to find out.

She shrugs. "Where ever the road takes us, I'm over eighteen, I can do what I like and drink what I want without getting in trouble. Don't tell my grandfather though, I don't want him to die because he's found out I've gone to Muggle London." And now I feel disturbed. She talks about her grandfather like that?

I nod. "Ok," I say, as if I would want to talk to him in the first place.

"You know," she starts as she grabs a bit of her hair and plays with it, twirling it around her wand, "James seems really down," she says. I notice her face almost turns into a semi smile.

Not good.

I remember that Draco had said that Lesath was with James, visiting Kaya and Quentin, but I'm not sure how to take that.

I guess at the end of the day, they are both grown ups. They can go and damage as many relationships and people as they want and it shouldn't affect me.

It's just that you can't put two unstable people together and turn it into a right.

But in saying that, Rora didn't seem that stable either.

Oh Merlin.

I frown. "You were with him?" I ask.

She snorts. "Maybe because Rora didn't want to go and visit Kaya, and then she went missing and poof." She throws her hands up. "She's too hard to get hold of." and I can't help but think Lesath enjoyed that.

"Hmm," is all I say while I rub my stomach.

She tucks her wand back into her pocket and sighs. "And I mean, she must be fucking scum if she's the one selling pixie weed to Liam's girlfriend." She puts her hands into her jean pockets and lifts her shoulders. "But I'm sure she's better than me," she snaps and I no longer think she's talking to me.

My image of Rora got worse and worse with every passing moment, there was nothing about her that I knew, and she sure as hell wasn't the person we all thought she was, but why was this all coming up now? I mean, I shouldn't judge her without knowing the full story. Shit, I hadn't seen her in a long time, I shouldn't be siding against her, not when she helped me out so much.

Oh shit, I've just gone a full circle in a battle in my mind.

Lesath turns to me and stares at my stomach, and if I wasn't crazy, I'd say she wanted to smile at it or touch it or something nice like that, but instead she looks like she's battling some type of demon in her mind.

She turns her lips into a straight line instead and puts her hand out in front of it, not touching. "To think there's an actual baby in there, living in that disgusting environment."

"You lived in there too," Tori says while walking down the hallway.

Lesath scowls. "Well, I'm clean now," she says. "I saw Rora the other day, in Diagon Alley, selling something, wasn't sure what, but Grant Hughes was with her," she says with an evil smile and before I can say anything, she grabs hold of Tori and they apparate out of the place.

I walk past Draco's office on my way to Scorpius' room and I'm stopped by the sound of his whistle. "Rose?" Draco calls.

My heart starts beating faster, what if this was it? That all this was a hoax and now it's the end? I move backwards towards his door as I realize I'm being rude by making him wait.

I stand in the door way of his office and I see that everything is a dark green. "I've umm, got something you should give to your dad," he mumbles.

He lifts his hand to usher me further into the room and I do so slowly and carefully, staring at him out of the corner of my eye. He shoves some tickets onto the table and slowly pushes them towards me with his index finger. He coughs and then starts again, "They're tickets to the Chudley Cannons games, I only have one spare so I thought he might want it," he says.

My eyes widen and I don't know what to say. "Umm, sure I'll give it to him."

"I understand if he doesn't want to go, it's just that I don't know of many other people who like the Cannons, and Scorp told me he did and…" He trails off, his ears red, and he looks back down at his parchment.

I smile and carry on to the bedroom, pretty sure I heard something being muttered along the lines of, "What have I got myself in to?"

I woke up to a sharp pain in my stomach, and it wasn't the same as the ones I had experienced when I had the bleeding, but this was much worse and similar to period pains.

And I know these are no period pains.

I tossed and turned and even smacked Scorpius in the face but he didn't wake, and I was sure—almost positive—that this kid had a knife and was trying to hack to me with it. My back and lower stomach were not going to last.

Whenever I'd lie rigid, that was when the pains were at their weakest, but otherwise, every other position was bloody sore. "Fuck!" I hissed, I couldn't lie rigid all night, I couldn't keep fucking doing it so I got up and out of the bed—which Scorpius was still lounging around in without a fuss—and stood up.

Instantly the pains dulled, but by no means did that mean they were gone, oh no, no fucking way, they were still there, about ninety-eight-per-cent rather than one-hundred.

I walked down the hallway and made my way to the kitchen. I was going to get a glass of water and see what type of pain killers they had, since Draco worked at St Mungo's, surely he'd have something.

I got to the sink and held the glass under the tap.

And that's when the pains decided to triple in intensity.

Shooting pains radiated from my lower stomach, to my back, and then up to my head. "SCORP!" I yelled but I knew he wouldn't be able to hear me from here.

I slumped down the sink and on to the floor, fuck, this wasn't good, my eye sight was blurring and I didn't know what was happening. "SCORPIUS!" I tried again.

I hear some feet rushing in this direction and I instantly feel a bit better, someone was coming to save me. "Rose?" I heard Draco ask.

I hold up my arm and wave it around, earning more pain. "Over here," I say in a hiss.

Draco rounds the corner and sees me on the ground. "Rose, are you alright?" he asks and he prods my head with his wand a bit roughly.

I nod. "Yeah, stomach cramps or something," I tell him.

He rubs the back of his neck. "OUCH!" I snap at my stomach and Draco's eyes dart shiftily just as Scorpius' would.

"Rose, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to lift your singlet up and show me your stomach."

I jerk my head back and look at him as though I'm disturbed, which I am. "Why?" I ask.

"I'm going to have to see if you're in labour, and don't worry, I'm a healer."

I put my hand up. "Wait, Scorp says you're in the Altered Minds Unit, not maternity!" I argue back, he should just send me to St Mungo's instead of trying to check me out here.

Draco looks pissed off and for a moment I thought he was going to up and leave me here. "Look, Rose, every healer has to do two years on the front line and another two years as a general practitioner, so I know a thing or two about people in labour."

Labour? I couldn't be in labour, no fucking way, I still had a week left. I wasn't due until the end of May! May twenty-ninth to be exact. "No, I've still got two weeks!" I tell him.

And he laughs. "Merlin, it's more than common to be a few weeks early or a few late, don't worry."

Don't worry? I wasn't ready to have my baby today! What about my mum and dad? What about everyone who thought I was going back to school in three days' time? What about me? I hadn't thought over pushing the kid out tonight! No!

I shake my head and then clutch my stomach and right then I knew it was all too close for comfort, it was all a damn reality and I was having more than a hard time trying to come to terms with that. "Tonight?" I whisper.

Draco shrugs. "Maybe, maybe not." And I know where Scorpius gets his blasé approach to life from.

I reluctantly lift my singlet up to show him my stomach and he looks at me before folding the band of my shorts over to get to my lower stomach. I was too busy being horrified and scared at the fact that I could seriously be having my baby tonight to care about Draco touching too close to where the baby is going to be coming out of.

He mutters to himself as he pokes his wand at my bellybutton and I watch a golden streaming ribbon stick to me and then travel down, following his wand, to just above my pelvis. Draco starts nodding and then yells. "ASTORIA! WAKE UP!"

He looks up at me. "I think we're going to have to owl your parents and meet them at St Mungo's."

Oh fuck no.

Scorpius barges into the room I was using and his hair is all over the place. He nervously cracks his knuckles and he twitches over and over. "What's wrong?" I ask him.

He coughs. "Your mum and dad are on their way, I had to floo to your house, and other than that, I'm fine. Fucking fine," he mumbles.

I nod and keep myself from laughing at him. "You're not fine," I tell him.

He ties his hair up and rummages around in my overnight bag and pulls out a bag of lollies, he shoves a couple in his mouth, and I'm not totally convinced that he even chewed them. "Shush," he says and he walks over and kisses me lightly on the lips before trailing them along my jaw and down my neck. I push him off and I'm more than happy now.

Maybe it was because of the drugs?

He sits on the side of my death bed and sighs. "Fuck Rose, you've never looked this shit before," he says.

I roll my eyes. "Thanks."

"No, like you've been bad, and I know this is supposed to be rough, but I didn't think it would be like this, what did they call them? Contraptions?"

And I laugh; I pat my stomach, now calmed down, and correct him. "Con-trac-tions."

He nods. "Erm, right."

We had been in this room for the past six hours, it was now four in the morning, and I was tired. I was sure I would be able to sleep now, with the drugs helping me out a lot. "I think I want to sleep," I tell him.

"But what if they say you're ready to have the baby?" he says, his voice getting higher and higher.

I shrug and slump back into the pillows. "I don't fucking know, wake me up?"

He sighs and pats my hand. "Fine."

Just as I was about to go to sleep he starts talking again. Just because he can sleep at normal hours of the night doesn't mean he should deprive others of the same gift. "Wait, if you have the baby can I be in here?"

I tense, I didn't want him to be, but he should, but I wanted my mum, but I needed him, I was confused. "I don't know," I mutter.

"Fine then. I'm going to get my apparation license tomorrow," he tells me.

This makes me wake up. "But I thought they did those tests at school at the same time as OWL's," I say.

He shakes his head. "They stopped doing that three years ago, now you have to go to the office at the ministry and do it there, and I'm doing it since we're in town. I'm going tomorrow." And I pout, but I shouldn't because I'm not even seventeen yet, not until thirty-first of July. Yes, the exact same day as Uncle Harry.

I was glad for him, the sooner he did that the sooner we could apparate together, as it would be easier, especially with the baby around. "I'm glad," I tell him and I pucker my lips for him to kiss.

He kisses me softly and then leans into my ear, "I love you so much Rose Weasley."

And he stands up and leaves before I can tell him I love him too.

It was a mixture of the cramps and the fact that my father was crying all over me that woke me up the next day. "Thank you Malfoy, thank Merlin you were bloody there, or who knows what would have happened," Dad says to Draco while his tears fall in my mouth and even a couple in my eye.

"Well, she would have ended up having the baby in the kitchen!" Draco said with a nervous laugh.

I open my eyes fully and see mum hugging dad and kissing his forehead as he sobs on her shoulder. "Oh come on Ron; she's fine; look at her. They're not even sure if she's going to have the baby today, it was just very strong contractions," mum soothes.

Dad looks at me and wipes his eyes, then straightens up and kisses my forehead. "Don't you bloody scare me like that again!" he says.

I roll my eyes. "What should I do when the baby actually comes then?" I say.

And I hear a laugh from Scorpius, who's sitting behind mum and dad with Lesath sitting on the arm of the chair.

No fucking way was I having all these people in here when I did the deed. I wasn't one for publicly showing my bits and I wasn't about to start now. Madam Pomfrey had seen downstairs enough times to last her a lifetime, and I didn't want more people to know about it.

I see Hugo sitting next to me and I turn my head to look at him. "I bet you were lapping it up, thought you could move into my room aye?" I say.

He laughs and winks at me. "You know it."

I look around. "Nobody told Al, did they?"

But before anyone answers, and a whole lot of shifty looks, a messy black head barges in with a very ratty, very tatty toy lion.

"I BROUGHT RYAN! Oh Merlin, oh shit, she's already had the baby? Where is he? Oh shit, I can't believe I missed it!" Al word vomits all over us.

I stare in shock as Hugo laughs and Scorpius smirks, and Lesath watches Al like he's the most craziest person on the planet, and dad looks like he's about to explode. "I'm fine, Al."

He frowns. "Ok, well that's great but where's my nephew?" And he starts lifting up the bottom of my blanket as if the kid would be half way lodged between my legs.

"Put the fucking blanket down you git!" I snap at him.

Dad shakes his head. "The kids not out yet Al"

Mum smiles and puts her arm around Al's shoulders. "And where did you come from? Oh my goodness, I thought I got rid of that old thing years, look Bud, it's Ryan!" mum says and she places the lion on my bed.

Dad starts laughing. "Oh Merlin, I'll never forget Ginny's face when Harry brought this in for you Bud, he was supposed to go and pick up nappies for Al, and the next minute he's five hours late because he went up to see you and he'd bought you that. He loved you because you were born on the same day as him."

Draco coughs and everyone looks at him. "Scorp, can you get those tickets out of the bag?"

Scorpius' eyes form slits. "Why?" he asks.

Draco chucks his hand at him. "Just do it, will you?"

Scorpius does what he's told and goes to hand his father the tickets before snatching them back. "I wanted to go."

Draco glares at his son. "It's during school, son."

Scorpius hands his father the tickets and folds his arms. "Just wanted to go," he mumbles. And I shake my head; he was just like a little kid.

A sharp pain radiates through but I ignore it. A cough comes from Draco. "I umm, have a ticket for the Cannons game and thought, um, maybe you'd like it," Draco says and he shoves the ticket in dad's direction.

Hugo grabs my hand and I look at his face contort with fear. "What. The. Fuck," He says.

Mum shoots a glare at him. "Hugo Fred Weasley!" she hisses.

But he just shakes his head. "Woah."

Dad also coughs and it seems to me that the cannons cause some kind of allergic reaction. Dad stares at the ticket and I know the look he gives Draco was supposed to be subtle, but the fact that dad loves the Cannons so much that he would not deny a chance to go to their games is going to be the decider, and he will decide yes.

Dad's jaw drops and he blinks nervously. "How did you get these tickets? These are corporate tickets to the special tournament! Cannons versus Quiberon Quafflepunchers! In France! Not even Ginny would get me these!"

Draco holds back a smile and tries to shrug it off. "Might have helped a Cannons player who was hexed," he says.

Lesath snorts and shakes her pretty little head. "Ok, this is all great, you know with the whole bonding and new found union thing that you have going on right now Dad, but honestly, if I don't have to be here, I don't want to be, so where's the Healer who's deciding what's the bloody what here? Because if she's not going to have this kid until tomorrow or some other day, then let's come back then!"

Scorp shoves her sister and Astoria sighs. "Lee, don't be like that, please."

Lesath lifts her hands to shrug. "What? It'll save us all a bit of time." And as she says this a healer walks in.

It was healer Zeeno, the second, yes, the one I had first. "Why hello there again Miss Weasley, how are you?"

Draco frowns. "I thought I asked for Healer Dreifuss, not you."

Mum smiles and nods. "No, it's fine, no problem. So? What's the information?"

Healer Zeeno flicks through her parchment until she finds what she was looking for. "It looks like Rose is having her first signs of contractions, pretty late down the line, but I guess we can assume that when she was in the Hospital Wing at school, that also might have been contractions. Other than that, she doesn't seem dilated enough for her to start pushing so she'll have to wait," she explained.

And now I don't know whether be happy or sad, relieved or more wound up, because if I had had the baby now, I would have gotten it over and done with, yet if I was to have him now, I'd definitely be in shock and have a heart attack and all those good things.

Not to mention I have all these people in here, and I still didn't know who I wanted in here. I was only set on one person so far and that was my mum. I wanted Harley as well, but I didn't know if she was back from Tahiti yet or not, and oh Merlin there was just too many things to think about.

Mum looks concerned. "But Rose starts exams in a week's time, and she'll have to do those, so what can we do?"

The healer shrugs. "What can you do? Nothing, there's nothing really you can do. Unless you want to stay at home until you actually fall into labour, you can go back to school and wait. Unless you get permission from your Headmistress, you'll still have to sit OWL's because it's compulsory—"

But I cut her off. "No, it's fine, I want to do OWL's."

Everyone nods, as it was always common knowledge that I'd still be sitting my OWL's.

The healer claps her hands together. "Well then it's set, you're not ready now, but you will be soon, so you can go back to school and sit your OWL's, and they last just over a week don't they? I'm sure you won't go into labour until after then."

Draco snorts. "Well if she's having contractions now don't you think labour may be coming sooner rather than later?"

The healer looks a bit taken aback but shakes her head. "No, I know she's due beginning of next week, I know that, but judging the rate of the contractions, I doubt she'll have the baby during OWL's."

Everyone looks confused and a little scared, worrying that my water will break half way through my Arithmancy test, causing the great hall to flood with my baby juice.

Eww, that's gross.

The Malfoy's go outside while I get ready to leave, and Dad goes outside so he can finalize the trip with Draco Malfoy, and mum follows for moral support, so it's just Hugo and I in the room.

"I wasn't expecting to see you again until school, you and the baby ruined a mean game of poker I was having with Lily and the Scamander's."

I glare at him. "You're the best brother, have I ever told you that?"

He smiles as he starts folding the clothes I had arrived here in, yes, my pyjamas. "Can you promise me something Rose?" he asks me.

And now I'm really suspicious. Never in the fifteen years that I've known this kid has never acted nervous or anything like that. I look at him out of the corner of my eye, "What is it?"

He sighs. "Don't change, be the same all the time, because that's how I like you. Please don't change for the baby… and don't take this the wrong way, but don't change for Scorpius either, always be the Bud I like, cause you're the best sister."

He looks down at his feet and starts kicking around, shuffling his feet from side to side. I didn't want to change, I didn't want to have to evolve from this to a mother, I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but what if it just happened, it just came naturally?

I had been relying on that to happen so I had a way to know how to be a mother and what to do when the baby came, but at the same time, I wasn't prepared for such a drastic change.

Merlin help me.

"Don't worry Hue, as long as you're my baby brother, I'll always be your big sister." And I could tell it wasn't the answer he wanted, but it would have to do.

"Thanks Bud," he says. "I'm going to get mum and dad now, this room smells funny." And he wrinkles his nose and leaves out the door.

Mum and dad file in now and dad picks up my bag. "I was so worried," he says gruffly.

Mum kisses dad on the cheek, obviously still feeling sorry for him. Something about him and Al just irks me, as if they both seem to think that maybe they're the ones with a womb full of baby. "I'm starting to get worried now, we hadn't planned this at all, we hadn't thought this far ahead, what about everything that could go wrong? The dangers? What about the dangers?"

I put my hand up to shush her. "Mum, this is not the Wizarding war, there are no dangers, I don't have people throwing killing curses at me left right and centre, you don't have to plan anything as I'm not living life day to day, don't worry about me," and she frowns.

"Well," she says snappily, "What about when you actually go into labour? Who's going to help you?"

"Madam Pomfrey will floo me to St Mungo's, there's nothing to worry about, it's all sorted!" I tell her and she nods.

She grabs dad's other hand and they walk out the door, I'll be going home with them.

I arrive home and in a way I'm relieved to have my stay at Malfoy Manor cut short, to be standing in my own house, and knowing I'm comfortable helped ease the cramps, and I know it seems a bit crazy but it's true.

I just dump my stuff on the ground when I hear the crack of somebody apparating into my house. "Scorpius? I take it you did get your license then?" mum says.

He laughs. "Yeah, I got it this morning, was easy," he said.

"Congratulations mate," dad says, "She's in her room."

And I hear his footsteps making it up our stairs.

Scorpius leans against the frame of my door and folds his arms. "It's been what? Half an hour since I've seen you?" he asks.

I stop piling everything into my school trunk and turn to look at him. "Yes," I say a bit irritably.

I was sick of this pregnancy thing, the sooner it was over, the better I'd be, because so far it's been one big pain in my arse, staying in the hospital, finding out I don't have to stay in the hospital, coming home for one night before going back to school for OWL's, then still having to think about how my baby hasn't arrived yet, it's one huge hassle. All I want to do is stay put in one place, have nothing to worry about, and just have the damn baby.

Scorp can tell I'm feeling the strain now and he comes over to circle my waist, he hugs me from behind, and rests his chin on my shoulder. "I'm fucking sorry Rose," he says.

I snort. "It's not entirely your fault," I say.

"But I hate seeing you like this, in physical pain. You know, if I was clever enough, I'd sit your OWL's for you."

And I can't help but laugh at this. "Says the guy who makes me do all his homework."

He shrugs against my body. "That's why I said if."

He lets go of me and lets me continue with the packing. He goes over to the corner of the room and touches the basinet that is set up. "Whenever I see things like this it just becomes more and more of a reality."

Whenever I feel a movement or contraction it becomes more and more of a reality. "Are you scared now?" I ask.

He nods. "Yeah, the whole fucking time you were in the hospital I was thinking about whether or not it would be today, and if it was, that means the baby would be there and we'd have him for the rest of fucking forever." And I knew exactly what he meant. "Does that mean I'm a bad person?"

I shake my head. "No, but I assume it means you're waking up to reality."

He laughs without humour. "I'd always thought of me and you Rose, all my thoughts and fantasies included you, what we'd be like in five years' time, if we'd have a crappy apartment in Muggle London or if we were so poor from fucking around together that we'd resort to bunking with Al, would you wear your hair up or down at our wedding or if you'd let me have a quickie with you before you walked down the aisle, but never, ever did I think we'd end up doing this," he told me brutally and honestly.

Scorpius was right, he'd always been honest with me.

I feel my eyes prickle and I don't know if I take this as good news or bad news. "What are you trying to say?" I ask out right.

He takes me in his arms. "We may have skipped a few dreams and fantasies ahead Rose, but fuck, I know, that this right here would have made it into my thoughts and it would have been something I wanted to do with you."

(A/N)

Muahahaha, I couldn't let have Rose have the baby yet! y'all silly!

James and Lesath one-shot? Yay or nay?

Dom and Tori one-shot? yay or nay?

I updated early everyone (Thanks to A.A Lis by the way) I hope you remember that! I had to slave over my computer at four in the morning because my son was up and irritating me. Here's something to remember before you go out making babies, they WILL have ear aches! And you WILL end up staying up all night so you can tend to them. So as my son was grovelling around on his bed even after taking about 20 million doses of paracetemol, I was here typing.

Ok, enough.

Preview!

"BUD AND BABY LEAKING ON THE GROUND!" I shout over the hall.

And they know in an instant what I mean.

And I know you all know what it means too!

Update will be on Sunday the fifth of July 2011. After church :)

Manage to get me to 220 reviews and I may do it on Saturday...

Loves!