Disclaimer: Only the second generation characters are from my own imagination.
A/N: So, isn't that what everybody was waiting for? I hope so… Well, it was hard to decide the gender, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, hope you'll like it, and I hope to update soon. Let me know what you think!
To Halo of Darkness: Thanks for helping me and for all the nice comments.
Boy or Girl?
Rachel felt her heart slowing down. Emeric's hand in her own seemed so tight that she was sure he was hurting her, but she couldn't tell him to let go; she wasn't even sure she could remember how to speak.
She looked at the Healer. Where the hell were her parents? She remembered that they had to go home that very day, both of them called by the Ministry of Magic as they hadn't been to work in almost two days. At the Ministry, everybody knew about their daughter's situation, but there were some important problems that needed their presence there.
Luckily, Emeric had obtained permission to stay with her until they would know something about the baby, so now there they were facing the Healer, who looked at them intently with his serious eyes.
"As I was saying, we have the results of the tests," repeated the Healer, patting some sheets that lay on his knees.
Rachel and Emeric nodded, their eyes fixed on him. "And?" asked Rachel in a bare whisper.
"Well, I have to say that firstly I thought that there were very few possibilities for your child to survive. I was sure that we should have induced you into an unnatural birth, and maybe we could have tried to keep the baby alive for some months before there was nothing else to do," said the Healer, sighing.
Rachel's eyes were so wide that they were the biggest thing on her face, and Emeric was so pale that seemed almost transparent. He cleared his throat and said, "What were you planning to do with our child?"
The Healer sighed another time. "We would have asked your permission, of course, but that seemed the most natural thing to do, not only to me but to all the people that I've consulted."
"That's barbaric," sentenced Rachel indignantly. "I would have never permitted something like that."
"If we came to something like that there would not have been other possibilities. Your child would have died in any case," said the Healer firmly.
Rachel burst into tears.
The Healer smiled unexpectedly. "Miss Weasley, if we are talking about the worst-case scenario, there must be good news," he said calmly.
Rachel looked at the Healer with teary eyes. "Really?" she asked softly, and as the Healer nodded, she wiped away some of her tears with the palm of her hand.
"The baby will survive," said the Healer.
"I-is the baby fine?" asked Emeric.
"We can say that," answered the Healer.
Rachel brought her hand to her stomach and stood still. "B-but I can't feel him moving," she whispered.
The Healer's smile grew wider. He stood up, walked towards Rachel and waved his wand over her stomach. The first thing that she felt was a soft kick on her right part of the stomach.
"Ouch," she groaned, touching that spot.
"What?" asked Emeric, alarmed.
Rachel looked at him and, without a word, she threw her arms around his neck, and started to sob quietly on his shoulder.
Emeric looked at the Healer, worried, but he had already gotten up and placed the results of the tests on a white table right next to Rachel's bed.
As the door closed behind the Healer, Emeric started to stroke Rachel's hair. "Hey, what's wrong?" he whispered into her ear.
Rachel let him go and kissed him on his lips. "Nothing is wrong," she whispered between small kisses.
Emeric seized her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Did the baby – move?" he asked, excited.
Rachel nodded, and now it was Emeric's turn to hug her. When he let her go, he placed a hand on her belly and started to rub it delicately, while Rachel leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I wanted to thank you," said Rachel suddenly.
"Really?" he asked with a bit of confusion.
He felt her nodding on his shoulder.
"Why?"
"Because when you visited me the first time you didn't say 'I told you so,'" she said.
Emeric smiled. "Well, you know, I was really tempted to tell you, 'I told you not to attend that stupid lesson,'" said Emeric.
"And what restrained you from saying so?" she asked, enlacing her fingers with his on her stomach.
"You."
"Me?"
"Your face, your eyes, your pallor," he said sweetly. "It really looked like that the last thing you needed was someone who screamed at you that you had been a fool."
"You know that I'm really sorry, don't you?" she said.
"After two days that you kept on screaming that it's all your fault and that you are the most terrible mother, yes, I know," he whispered. "But you are not the worst mother in the world."
"No," she said firmly. "Because I'm not yet a mother."
"No, because you are not. That's all," he murmured.
It seemed like hours passed until she answered with a muffled, "Thank you," against his neck.
"You are welcome," he murmured, stroking her fingers between his.
---
When Hermione entered Rachel's room, she saw the sweetest scene that she has ever seen right in front of her: Rachel slept peacefully in Emeric's arms. She tried to step back as quietly as she could, but unluckily she crashed against one of the many armchairs that stood in the room. She cursed under her breath against Draco Malfoy, who had decided personally to re-furnish that bedroom with many and many green and silver armchairs and couches.
Both Rachel and Emeric opened their eyes as they heard the loud sound caused by someone bumping against the armchair near the door. Everybody banged against it.
"Mum?" called Rachel as she saw her mother rubbing her knee. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes, Rachel," she said through gritted teeth, then she turned towards Emeric. "Did your father really have to bring all these armchairs from the Manor?"
Emeric shrugged. "Sorry, but he wants this place to be as comfortable as possible when he comes here to visit."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That means that he likes to find himself in a maze?"
Emeric shrugged again and smiled. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley," he answered.
Hermione snorted, but smiled too. "It's okay," she said as calmly as she could. "So," she continued, "any news from the Healer?"
Rachel and Emeric looked at each and started to laugh, which caused Hermione to come to two possible causes: first, the Healer could have actually passed by and given them some good news; second, they have gone insane. Hermione felt a little bit guilty to think that the second option was almost more plausible than the first one.
When their laughter faded away, Rachel looked at her mother and smiled widely. "Yes, some good news actually," she said.
"Really?" asked Hermione, walking towards Rachel's bed and paying lots of attention not to trip over the numerous coffee tables that were placed between the armchairs. "And what did he say?"
Rachel looked Emeric before screaming out, "I'm gonna have the baby!"
Hermione looked at her for a while, dazed by her words. When she recovered from the shock, she threw her arms around her daughter's neck and started to kiss her head.
"Oh, mum," said Rachel, hugging her. "I'm so happy."
"I'm happy too, Rachel," answered Hermione, her voice broken. "I want to know everything."
Rachel nodded and while Hermione sat next to her daughter and started to listen to her story, Emeric slid down from the bed and picked up the sheets with the results of the tests that Rachel had done.
Emeric just heard Hermione saying that very likely the Healer had stopped the baby's movements to limit the damage, before diving into a lecture which, he was sure, he was going to understand very little of, since he didn't have any medical preparation, but nonetheless he wanted to give the two women a little bit of privacy, so he tried to close his mind to their chats and concentrated on the untidy writing of the Healer. He read lines and lines about the position of the foetus, Rachel's weight and the percentage of white blood cells in their blood, without understanding much except that he had to pull Rachel's leg about gaining some weight. But when he finally reached the bottom of the document he let out a surprised shriek.
"What?" asked Rachel, turning her head instinctively towards him while Hermione looked at him curiously.
Emeric raised his eyes from the piece of sheet that he was reading and looked at her bemused. "There's the gender," he muttered.
"Really?" asked Rachel, smiling widely. "What is it?"
Emeric shook his head.
"What?" Rachel looked at him with her eyebrows raised.
"I don't know," he answered, disconsolate.
"What do you mean you don't know?" asked Rachel impatiently. "Does it say 'male' or 'female'?" she added as if she was talking to a five-year-old boy.
Emeric stuck out his tongue at her, in a way that made him really look like a five-year-old boy. Rachel couldn't help smiling a little, despite her curiosity.
"I'm not stupid," said Emeric. "There's no 'male' or 'female' here. There's only written 'gender' and then there's a small circle."
"A circle?" asked Rachel. "What does it mean?" She looked at her mother, hoping that she could have helped her, but her mother didn't seem to know more than her.
"I don't know," answered Hermione. "Maybe there's a little legend at the bottom of the document, isn't there?"
Emeric shook his head. "No, there isn't."
"Well, then you better wait for the Healer to tell you what it means," said Hermione calmly.
Rachel looked at her as if she was from another planet. "Wait for the Healer?" she exclaimed. "You must be crazy, mum, I'm not gonna wait for him, I'll look for somebody," she added, pulling away the sheets.
"You are not going anywhere, Rachel," said Hermione firmly, pushing her daughter down on the bed.
"I want to know what gender my baby is," protested Rachel.
"It's not important if your baby is a male or a female, the important thing is that he's fine. And now he is," said Hermione seriously.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I know, and I'm the happiest girl on Earth, but, mum, I'm really curious." She turned towards Emeric and said, "Go and find the Healer."
Emeric looked at her and grimaced. "I didn't hear the magic word," he said playfully.
Rachel smirked. "Imperio?" she asked maliciously.
Emeric snorted, trying to sound indignant, but couldn't help smiling. "No, try again."
"Crucio?"
"Nope."
"Avada Kedavra?"
"No, but this review of the Dark spells is quite useful," he said, grinning.
"Thanks, well, are you going?" asked Rachel.
"I still didn't hear the-"
"Oh, my gosh! Emeric, aren't you curious to know the gender of your child?" asked Rachel.
"Yes, I am, but your mother is right, the most important thing is that the baby is fine and that-"
"Oh, of course!" exclaimed Rachel, patting her forehead with her palm. "You are afraid to go looking for the Healer!"
"What? Why should I be afraid?" asked Emeric ,bemused.
"Because you are afraid of Healers," she said nonchalantly. "Your mother told me."
"What?" he asked indignantly. "That's not true!"
"Prove it," she said calmly.
Emeric stood up and gave Rachel the sheets. "I'll prove you!" he said forcefully. "See me, Miss Weasley? I'm going to find the Healer," he said, exiting and slamming the door behind him.
Hermione looked at Rachel, who smiled sweetly. "He's not afraid of Healers, is he?" asked Hermione.
"Not that I know of," answered Rachel, giggling. "I learned from you. Aren't I intelligent?"
Hermione smiled softly. "That was wicked, but yeah, rather intelligent."
"I've got him now," said Rachel and pretended to laugh maniacally. When her fake laughs faded away, she sighed and looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "When is he gonna come back?"
Hermione looked at her with a frown. "Rachel, he just left," she answered.
"I know, but he's so slow," Rachel said, frustrated.
"Oh, Rachel, come on. It's just the gender; it's not as if the baby will or won't survive," sighed Hermione.
"I know, but I'm terribly curious. Weren't you curious when you expected me?"
"Your father was," answered Hermione. "He brought me every week to St. Mungo's, just to ask if you were big enough to determine the gender."
"What did he want?"
"A boy, naturally," said Hermione.
"And was he disappointed when you find out that I wasn't a boy?" asked Rachel, afraid.
"Actually, no," answered Hermione. "He thought he would have been, but he wasn't. He was too excited to become a father for the first time to be worried about your gender."
"What about with Malcolm and Daniel?"
"He wanted to know what Malcolm was, but he didn't care about Daniel; he already had a girl and a boy. He was fine," answered Hermione, smiling.
"I really hope that it will be a-"
"Shhh!" Hermione placed a finger on her mouth. "Don't say it, because you know that whatever it will be you'll be happy anyway."
Rachel looked at her and nodded, then she hugged her tightly whispering, "I love you, mum."
They heard some footsteps coming closer to the door and when it burst open, Emeric stood there with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, looking like he had ran the whole way.
"So?" asked Rachel, letting go of her mother.
Emeric took a deep breath. "I know what it is," he said finally.
"And?" asked Rachel with urgency in her voice.
Emeric smiled wickedly. "The magic word?"
"What about: 'you-are-gonna-sleep-on-the-couch-for-the-rest-of-your-life-if-you-don't-tell-me-quickly-the-gender-of-my-child'?"
"It's not exactly like you have asked me to go live with you in the future," said Emeric, smiling.
"If you don't tell me the gender of my baby you won't have any future," she said.
Emeric looked Rachel and smiled. "If you really insist, my darling, we are gonna have a boy."
"Really?" she asked softly.
Emeric nodded, and his smile faded away when he spotted some tears running down Rachel's cheek. "Oh no, not again. What's wrong now, Rachel?" he asked, coming closer to her and stretching his arms to give her a hug, but Rachel pushed him away.
"Shut up," she said, sobbing and smiling at the same time. "Can't I cry from happiness?"
