- September 15th, 2004 -

Hermione cleaned up her papers from the kitchen island. Harry and she had agreed that they were allowed to take work home, but only worked on it when Teddy was asleep or otherwise occupied. She had taken to only bringing it home on the weekends since they usually spent their evenings together as a family.

She was going over her work project involving the Rem Room for the Experiment Chamber. Spratt had finally given her the 'okay' on the revisions she'd made after cutting the Death Room from her work and she was ready to move forward. Hermione was beyond excited. She had everything planned out for her assignment. They were prepping the Experimentation Chamber for Monday.

Everything at work was finally moving forward. She was still rather annoyed that she was pulled from the Death Room - but Spratt was just following orders. Everyone had to fall in line at some point, Hermione understood that need to a whole new degree now, thanks to the Marriage Law. She was trying to focus on the Garden of Life. That was her goal. She wanted to get into that room and uncover all its hidden secrets.

Her mind, as ever, slowly turned in the direction of the pesky little rat in her office. She still didn't know who'd gone snooping in there. Whoever it was and whatever they wanted, they had yet to come back. Hermione had her office on high-security wards at all times.

"We're home!" Harry called out as he opened the front door.

"In the kitchen!" she called back as she put her papers back into her work bag. "And not cooking," she added after a second.

"Thank Merlin for that," she heard Harry respond. She rolled her eyes.

"Auntie 'Mione! Auntie 'Mione! Come look!"

She smiled at Teddy's excited voice and went into the living room. She froze at the sight awaiting her. "What the hell is that?"

Harry looked down at the dog by his side. It was black with short hair and pointed ears. He had big brown eyes and massive paws. "It's a dog."

"It's a horse ." The dog's nose bumped into her belly in greeting. He sniffed her clothes. "Please tell me this is a joke."

"You told me to find a familiar."

"We don't have room for this!" She gestured to the dog wildly.

"You said-"

"- I thought you'd get another owl! Or a toad! Or a bleeding snake but not a dog." The dog barked loudly and Hermione jumped. The mutt raced off into the kitchen and Teddy laughed gleefully as he followed. "Harry …"

He smiled at her in the most adorable, hopeful manner. "His name is Padfoot."

She sighed in defeat. "You're the worst."

Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in close. "I love you," he whispered before kissing her. Her heart skipped a beat.

"How old is it?"

"He is one." Harry smiled brightly. "I've already signed him up for doggie school. Teddy and I are going to go if you'd like to join us."

Hermione made a face. "Doggie school is a thing?" He nodded happily. Hermione shook her head. "I won't be able to. Things are going to be a bit crazy for me once I start my project."

Harry nodded. "Right, I remember now." He squeezed her sides. "Good luck."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you."

Something crashed in the kitchen and Padfoot barked. Harry made a face. "I'll take care of it." Hermione groaned loudly. This dog was going to chew on her shoes, she already knew it.

He was big, he was still learning to walk, and he was extremely clumsy. Padfoot sort of reminded her of a younger Fang. He was an excitable puppy. He also hadn't yet grown into his body, a body she was fairly positive was still growing. He was cute but he was also a mess. So all in all, he was a fairly accurate representation of the actual Padfoot.

Just like her relationship with the dearly departed Marauder, Hermione tolerated the dog. She refused to admit she liked him. He was annoying. He jumped on the couch and he ate the food off the counters. If she so much as dropped a grape he'd be on it in a second. His first night in the flat, he'd tried to crawl into bed with them. Hermione had drawn a line. An actual, magical line that stopped Padfoot from entering the bedroom. Harry had sat on the bed and laughed at her antics.

She glared at him from her side of the bed. Padfoot whined and scratched at their bedroom door. "When will he go to bed?"

"I imagine after he's let back into the room."

"No."

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "How about we just open the door? Your ward will stop him from entering." He wasn't going to say he thought the ward was a bit excessive but he definitely thought that.

Hermione made a face. "Fine." She lied down and forced herself to get comfy. "I still can't believe you got a dog."

Harry laughed as he got up. "Choosing a familiar is like choosing a wand. You're a bit of a bystander while the magic does all the work." Hermione pursed her lips. She hated that he was right. When Harry opened the door, Padfoot barked excitedly. His tail hit the wall with the force of its wagging. "Alright, alright. Down boy." He pushed down on Padfoot's rear and got him to sit. Harry guided the dog into a lying down position. He gave the massive puppy a pillow. "Sleep tight, buddy."

Harry went back around to the bed. Padfoot jumped to his feet. Harry paused. He pointed to the pillow. "Sleep." When the puppy only wagged his tail, Hermione laughed. Harry shot her a glare. It took three more attempts for the message to finally get through. Harry turned off the lights and snuggled into bed behind Hermione. "He'll learn," he whispered. His arm wrapped around her waist as he pulled her back flush against his chest.

Hermione smiled. "As long as I'm not the one that has to teach him. He's your familiar."

"Just wait until he meets your familiar."

Hermione tensed. That meeting was going to be a nightmare.

Hermione frowned as she searched through the fridge that Sunday morning. "Where are the strawberries?" she called out in question. Harry stuck his head out of the bathroom with his toothbrush in his mouth and gestured to the fridge. "They're not there." He shrugged.

Hermione looked around. The flat was suspiciously quiet. "Teddy?" she called out. She went through the empty living room and into his small bedroom. "Teddy, what are you doing?"

The five-year-old looked up with a happy smile on his face. "Feeding Padfoot." He had the basket of strawberries in hand, which he was feeding to the puppy. A puppy that took up pretty much the entire space of Teddy's room.

She sighed. "He's a dog, Teddy. He eats dog food. Come on." She held out her hand for the strawberries.

"No!" Teddy protested. "Padfoot likes strawberries."

"He's a dog!"

"So?"

Hermione glared at the innocent little puppy. Those were her strawberries. She'd been thinking about them all morning. "Fine, can we share?"

"No."

"Teddy…"

"It's his breakfast, Auntie 'Mione! He's going to starve," he exclaimed dramatically.

She placed her hands on her hips. "I think he'll live." Hermione turned her attention to Padfoot. "Isn't that right?" He barked. "See?" Teddy pouted at her. Hermione let out a deep sigh. "Fine. Let him have my strawberries. But if he slobbers on a single one of my shoes…"

"He's out!" Teddy yelled the end of her threat for her, which was now fairly familiar to the little boy.

"Exactly." She picked the boy up from under his armpits and placed him on his feet. "Let's get you ready. Harry's bringing you to daycare the rest of the week."

"You've got your project," he informed her smartly.

"That's right. Auntie Hermione is going to be doing some very busy work this week." She snapped her fingers at Padfoot. The dog jumped to his feet and raced out of the bedroom. He smartly picked up the carton of strawberries in his mouth as he fled.

She helped Teddy pick out a shirt and trousers for the day. She already had his lunch packed away into his school bag along with his homework. "I'm heading out!" she called when Teddy was all set.

Harry came around the corner as he straightened his tie. "Good luck today."

"Thanks." They kissed and were quickly interrupted by Teddy's cry of "kisses!" Hermione ducked down and pressed a big kiss to his cheek. Padfoot nosed his way in next and Hermione reluctantly gave him one as well. She wrinkled her nose as she stood back up. "Please wash him tonight, he smells."

"I don't smell!" Teddy protested.

Hermione laughed and ran a hand through his curls. "Not you, sweetie." Butterflies danced in her stomach. She pressed a hand to her abdomen.

Harry caught the action and smiled. "Nervous?"

She nodded. "And excited. I'll see you after work." She pressed another quick kiss to his lips before she turned towards the floo. The butterflies fluttered in her stomach once more.

"Good luck!" Harry and Teddy chorused after her. Padfoot barked loudly.

Hermione moved through her office like a whirlwind of motion. She made sure she had all her files in order before she assembled the artifacts she needed for her experiment. She took a deep breath. She was so excited her fingers were shaking.

This was it. The excitement that was bubbling up inside of her was what made her love her job so much. It was the beginning of everything. One experiment could change the entire wizarding world.

She gathered her things and donned her robe before she headed through the halls of the Department of Mysteries. Unspeakable 42 glowered at her as she strode past. His project had been turned down in favour of her own. "Don't fuck it up," he mocked.

Hermione shot him a glare over her shoulder. If her experiment fell through, 42 would be bumped up to first place in the Experimentation Chamber right after her. He was at the top of her suspect list when it came to who had likely broken into her office. "Fat chance," she hissed back. She'd never messed up an experiment before and she wasn't about to start today.

In the end, she wouldn't even get the chance to begin her experiment. She set her paperwork and artifacts down in the preparation chamber before heading into the next room. The second she stepped through the massive door that led into the Experimentation Chamber, alarms sounded. A bright mauve light began to blink. Bells chimed loudly.

Hermione clapped her hands over her ears. She spun around to face the Unspeakables that raced into the chamber after her. They took her arms and guided her back out. The door sealed shut behind her, instantly dulling the sound of the alarms.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the Unspeakables. A number of them were always kept on hand when an experiment was about to go underway. "What happened?"

"We're not sure," Unspeakable 82 replied. "We'll look into it while you're checked over. It's probably a problem to do with the new protocols." The new protocols had required a number of new wardings to be placed on the Chamber. So many wardings in such a short span of time often led to complications. This was the main reason so many Unspeakables had objected to the new protocols.

Hermione sighed. "Yeah, alright. I'll head over to the med-bay." It was standard procedure for her to be looked at by one of the on-staff healers when the Chamber's alarms sounded. She ignored Unspeakable 42's dirty grin as she stormed past him again. She refused to be goaded by the git.

"Unspeakable 13," Healer West greeted with a smile when she entered the med-bay, "what brings you to our humble abode?"

"An alarm went off in the Experimental Chamber. Unspeakable 82 thinks it's due to the new wards."

Healer West sighed and nodded. If the wards were interfering with one chamber, they were bound to do the same with the others. This would undoubtedly be the first of many checkups. "Right, well hop on up, then." She gestured to the nearest hospital bed. "It could also be from your illness. Magical flu strains can cause magical imbalances."

Hermione groaned. "How long will that take to fix?"

The blonde healer shrugged. "Just a potion and a good night's sleep," she assured the workaholic. She waved her wand and ran the necessary scans. Healer West's eyes widened. She shot Hermione a look. The curly-haired witch blushed, the look the older woman sent her immediately had her feeling like she was being scolded. "Unspeakable 13," she admonished, "you know the protocols."

Hermione's cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "Of course, I do."

West raised an eyebrow. "Then just what do you think you're trying to pull? This isn't just about your own health and safety."

A flash of shame shot through Hermione the way it always did when she'd done something wrong. In this case, however, she had no clue what she'd done wrong. "I beg your pardon?"

Healer West paused. Her eyes widened and she suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable. "Unspeakable… Mrs. Potter, you're pregnant."

Silence met her pronouncement.

"You're wrong."

"I did the spell-"

"-Then do it again!"

Healer West did. She gave Hermione a look.

The young witch's face darkened with fury. Before Healer West could stop her, she'd jumped off the bed and stormed towards the emergency floo. A flash of green flames later, she appeared in the Emergency Ward at St. Mungo's.

Hermione stormed through the ward, forgoing the lift for the stairs to the Children's Ward. Three floors later and she'd worked off a healthy portion of her fury. Maybe she'd only permanently disfigure Harry.

He was in his office when she found him. Hermione slammed the door closed and threw up the heaviest privacy wards she could think of with a wave of her wand.

Harry jumped to his feet. "What's wrong?"

"I'm pregnant!" she exploded. A vase of flowers blasted apart.

Harry instinctively raised his hand to magically block the shattering of glass and water from hitting them. He turned wide eyes on his wife. "That's not possible."

Hermione glared at him. "Of course it's possible. You must have forgotten the spell." Harry paled dramatically. His response only served to enrage her further. "You did, didn't you? You forgot!" she accused.

"Hermione…" He came around the desk, his hands raised in surrender. "I wasn't using the spell. You said you would take the potion."

"No, you said you'd use the spell!" she protested. Her heart was racing in her chest. She cast her mind back to their conversation months ago. She couldn't remember exactly how it had gone, but they had agreed on him using the spell, she was sure.

"When would I have been using it? You would have seen me!"

Hermione's cheeks flushed as she floundered. "I thought you were doing it wandlessly."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "That'd be completely irresponsible - and hardly effective."

"Well, how am I supposed to know that? You do most spells wandlessly and it's not like I'm the bloody healer here!" She'd always gone with potions in the past. She'd never really seen the spell in practice before and the last time she'd read about it, she had been fifteen. Hermione dropped her face into her hands. "Oh my god, we've been having unprotected sex for months."

Harry eyed her nervously. His gaze got stuck on her belly. She'd been feeling bloated. It suddenly occurred to him that in her belly was a baby. She was gaining baby weight. "How far along are you?" The furthest she could possibly be was eleven weeks. They'd only been married that long. Maybe she was just bloated? "How do you know?"

"Healer West told me," she whispered. Her anger had fled as quickly as it'd come. All she could think about was her destroyed career. It wasn't fair.

Harry ran his hands through his hair. He grabbed a green paper off his desk and scrawled a note. He flicked it away and the paper shot through his private floo.

"What was that?"

"Memo. We can use them to contact healers in other wards for consultation. I contacted Healer Andolan. He's the head of the Maternity Ward."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "We can trust him?"

He nodded. "Without a doubt. He was trained by my grandmother and actually delivered both myself and my father. He mentored me through my residency." Hermione raised her eyebrows at that. She didn't know much about Euphemia Potter and she certainly hadn't thought there were many people left who'd known Harry's grandparents.

The floo flared to life again and a green note flew into Harry's hand. He read it over and nodded. "He's going to see us in his exam room." Harry took her hand and led her through the floo.

Healer Aias Andolan was an older wizard, though it barely showed in his body. He was well built and still muscled from his years as an army medic for the International Confederation of Wizards. He had a bald head and pale grey eyes. Healer Andolan smiled crookedly when he saw them and shook Harry's hand.

"Healer Potter, Mrs. Potter, please follow me." Aias led them through a side entrance to his office that let out into a brightly lit, sterile exam room. "I'll admit, I don't often see patients anymore."

"I know," Harry responded, the grateful tone of his voice did not go unnoticed. "We really appreciate you taking the time and… being discrete."

Aias smiled in amusement. "The last thing you want is to feed the press. I completely understand." He gestured to the exam table. "Hop on up, Mrs. Potter. I'll need you to undo your skirt a bit and pull up your top to just below your chest."

Hermione sighed before unzipping the back of her pencil skirt. Harry helped her up to the exam table and she lied back. Her skirt was folded down and her blouse pulled up, showing off the slight swell of her belly. Both Harry and Hermione eyed it far more warily than they had last night when they'd been joking about her eating too many sweets all week.

Healer Andolan waved his wand. He had a file in hand, which he was making notes in. He nodded to himself. "Well, you're definitely pregnant."

Harry let out a breath of wonder.

Hermione released a sigh of resignation.

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Aias waved his wand. The end glowed a warm pink colour. He kept his wand hovering over her stomach as a projection appeared over her body. The image glowed a light blue colour as it illustrated much the same image one would see at an ultrasound at that stage.

Harry sucked in a sharp breath. "Bloody hell." Harry's reaction, coupled with the sound of interest that Aias made, had Hermione instantly on edge.

"What? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No," Healer Andolan immediately assured. "Nothing's wrong. The babies are perfectly healthy."

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. Wait - babies ?"

"Congratulations, Mrs. Potter. You're having twins."

"... oh." Harry and Hermione shared a look. There was a weird fluttering sensation in her stomach again. She had no clue how to respond.

"You're about eleven weeks along."

"Eleven weeks?" Hermione raised herself up on her elbows. "I just had my monthly," she protested.

"Spotting is actually a very common early sign of pregnancy. Your body is making changes for the fetus'. You might have also experienced cramps or morning sickness at this stage?"

Hermione paled, her eyes wide. She thought back to when she and Teddy had been ill. She'd been sick far more often than he had. Her appetite had been completely off since then. She'd forgone coffee the past week, even when they hadn't had sex the previous night. The smell of it had completely put her off.

"Oh my god. We're idiots." She flopped back against the exam table.

Harry took her hand and squeezed it. "The pregnancy?" he asked Aias.

"She is perfectly healthy," he assured. He turned his attention to Hermione. "I don't see any complications. Although I must inform you that any pregnancy involving two or more babies is considered a high-risk pregnancy. You'll need to schedule more frequent visits with whomever you decide to choose as your healer.

"Until then, be sure to stay away from alcohol and limit your caffeine intake to one to two cups a day. No raw meat, but fish is great for you as long as it's well cooked. Alright?" Harry nodded, knowing he was the one in charge of Hermione's diet anyway. The witch in question looked stunned and slightly overwhelmed. Healer Andolan looked between the both of them.

"There are some other things you should stay away from, I have a pamphlet here." He handed over the paper. "I'll skip the normal monologue on pregnancy. I've seen Healer Potter at work and he's more than competent in this area." Aias raised his eyebrows at Harry. "I'd have never passed you otherwise. I'll leave you to lecture your wife." Harry nodded and Aias closed the file in his hand. "I'll update Mrs. Potter's files and then I can send them over to the new healer, when you choose one."

"You aren't available?" Harry asked.

Healer Andolan tipped his head. "If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to be your healer. But you, of course, have options and you can discuss what you'd like to do and who you'd like to go with, together."

Harry nodded. "We'll let you know. Thank you."

"My pleasure, Harry. Congratulations to both of you. I'll be awaiting an owl on what you'd like to do, but please, take your time."

"Thank you again, Aias."

"I'll let you have the room." He gave them a nod of farewell before heading back into his office.

Hermione looked down at her belly. Was it a baby bump? Eleven weeks felt too soon for that, but she was carrying twins. Twins.

Merlin's beard, she was pregnant. Hermione groaned and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe it. How had this happened? They'd been so prepared. They'd had everything figured out. One little misunderstanding and suddenly she was having not one, but two babies.

No. She was so not dealing with this right now. Hermione got up from the table and immediately began fixing her clothes. "I need to get back to work."

"You could go home." Hermione shot him a sharp look. "You've had a shock," he explained gently.

"I'm pregnant, not an invalid - no thanks to you. I am going to work."

"Hermione -"

-She was gone before she could hear the rest of what he was going to say.

This was a nightmare. What was she going to do? First, she was pulled from working in the Death Room and now she couldn't even complete a modified version of her experiment. All her planning, all her research - gone.

Hermione flooed to the ministry and took the lift to the Department of Mysteries. Her first stop was her own office. She slammed the door shut behind her and rested her hands on her hips as she caught her breath. She turned her head and saw her frazzled reflection in the mirror between two bookcases. Her hair was a wild mess and her cheeks flushed from her emotional state. Her eyes slowly panned down to her tummy. Suddenly, it looked massive.

Hermione pulled her blouse from her skirt and waved her hand to magic the wrinkles away. The blouse hung loosely around her figure. She pressed a hand to her stomach. Twins. She leaned back against the door to her office and closed her eyes as she released a short breath.

A mother, she thought to herself. She was going to be a mother. But wasn't she already? She opened her eyes as she thought of Teddy. He expected her to kiss his scrapes and read him to sleep. She bathed and clothed him. She held him when he had a nightmare. Hermione was already a mother… What were two more?

It was different, though. These babies would destroy the perfectly constructed work-life she had established. She would still have work, she knew. Harry would never ask nor expect her to just walk away from her career to stay at home and rear his children. It was a silly fear that stemmed from the expectations of the Wizarding World. That wouldn't be her, she tried to assure herself. She wouldn't be a bored housewife.

Despite her knowledge that this would never happen, Hermione couldn't quite quell the rising panic inside of her. Merlin, she could feel the walls closing in on her. It was like when Ron proposed to her. When Oliver proposed to her, she'd gone ballistic. She couldn't do this. She could not do this. Her hands shook with the desire to just run.

Deep breaths, she thought. Deep breaths and then figure this shit out.

"Okay," she told herself, once she was sure she wasn't going to have a panic attack, "so, it's not what you planned. It's fine. When do things ever go according to plan with Harry?" Her question helped to ease her anxiety. It was true. Things always got out of hand with him. Her falling in love with him instead of simply marrying him was a prime example of that fact. Hermione's breath hitched.

She was carrying the children of the man she loved. Hermione's heart fluttered in her chest and a responding flutter erupted in her lower stomach. The babies. Was that the babies? Hermione held her tummy and smiled down at it. It was the babies, she decided. Their babies.

"Okay," she said in a much calmer tone of voice, "new plan. Step one."

Hermione exited her office and headed down the hall to Spratt's. She entered without knocking and closed the door behind her.

Spratt looked up from his paperwork, unsurprised to see her there. "Have a seat, 13."

Hermione fell into the chair across from him. "I'm sorry I ran off."

Spratt waved a hand. "Healer West informed me." That didn't surprise Hermione. It was regulation for Healer West to report that information to Spratt. He finished writing whatever he was working on before he set down his quill. He gave Hermione his full attention. "So, how much maternity leave are you willing to take and how much will I have to force you to take?"

The question gave Hermione pause. "I - hadn't exactly thought about it. I wanted to talk to you about moving into a new room and what that might entail."

Spratt leaned back in his seat. "Which room were you hoping for?"

Hermione looked around and released a short puff of air. "Honestly? I really wanted to get into the Garden of Life. But I wanted to do it before I got pregnant. Then I'd have time to explore it before my magical levels started to go," she wriggled her fingers, "wonky." She made a face. "I guess I could go into the Love Chamber." It wasn't her first pick, but it was loads better than working in the Hall of Prophecies.

Spratt gave her a long look. "What if I told you that you did make the requirements for the Garden of Life?"

Hermione tensed. Her eyes widened. "Do I?"

The silence stretched out between them. Finally, Spratt said, "There are dozens of requirements to enter into the Garden of Life ranging from magical power to IQ. One of the hardest standards that need to be met is mastering the door to the Death Room." Hermione had done that two years ago. She released a shallow breath. "The other is that the witch must be pregnant or a mother."

"Wait-" Hermione leaned forward, "-what?"

He nodded. "The Garden of Life is about magical conception. Only a few wizards have been able to access the room - they have their own requirements to meet. But the men rarely gain much from it and no man has ever mastered the door to it - myself included." He arched a grey brow at her. "I can give you access to the Garden of Life when you return from maternity leave."

Hermione forced herself to breathe past her shock. It suddenly made a lot of sense to Hermione why no one had entered the Garden of Life in so long. Not only were there loads more requirements on it than the other rooms, but most witches retired from the DoM after they got pregnant. None of them would have been accepted into the Garden of Life if they were leaving.

"That's - I don't even know what to say." Spratt waited patiently while she collected herself. "I'd be honoured," she finally accepted. Spratt nodded once. He wasn't surprised. "What do you want me to do in the meantime?"

"You can do some liaison work with the Love Chamber, if you like. I'm not sure if you're up to trying to master that door."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. It took a lot of time and energy to try and master a door into a room in the DoM. She'd have to learn all aspects of magic the room had to offer. Some Unspeakables spent their whole lives in just one room. She had little desire to give up that much effort for a room she wasn't very inspired to work in. More importantly, she wasn't going to have the time to do it when she inevitably went on maternity leave.

"Liason work would be fine. I've also decided to accept the contract work you offered before, if that's still a possibility?"

"Certainly. It comes with a few working caveats."

"And those would be?"

"You'll be paid the same, but will receive a bonus upon the completion of each contract. When you're on maternity leave, you'd only be allowed to take on a contract or two - but you aren't contractually obligated to. You will receive your normal salary on mat-leave, the extra contracts are your choice and a nice bit of change in your pocket.

"It's considered part-time work. Contracts that are completed outside office hours need to be logged. It's to stop… individuals from overworking themselves." He raised an eyebrow at her for which Hermione simply raised one back in response.

"And I can still turn them down if I'm unhappy with what the contract involves?"

The corner of his mouth ticked up in what was the equivalent of a smile for Spratt. "Definitely. I'm always happy to give the shitty ones to 42. Someone needs to knock him off his high horse." Hermione snorted in agreement. "I'll send the papers at the end of the week. Now, mat-leave?" He picked up his quill to make a note of her decision.

"A year, at least."

Spratt stilled. He raised his eyebrows.

"I'm having twins," she explained meekly. "I think I'll need a break."

Spratt made a face. "Honestly 13, you can have as long as you want. If you're working at least one contract, even out of office, you're considered an employee. You just won't get the same pay." He rested his arms on his desk and leaned forward. "As long as I'm Department Head, you've got a job here."

Hermione's cheeks turned pink. "I - Spratt, that's…"

He scowled. "Don't blush at me, 13. You're incredible at what you do. You see magic in a way few else can. If I had to, I would create a new field in this department for you." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Anything else?"

She shook her head, face still bright red at the unexpected praise. Spratt never praised anyone. Hermione didn't know he was even capable of it.

"Good, now get out of my office and don't you dare come in again without knocking first."

"Yes, sir." Hermione quickly fled.

It was as if the knowledge of her pregnancy had brought on all her symptoms. Hermione sat in her office for only two hours before she had to call it quits. She was exhausted. She was starving and nauseous at the same time and her entire body was sore.

She eventually left work early, grabbing a box of donuts on her way home and eating half of them. Padfoot barked at her as she came home. Hermione tossed a treat into the air for him, which he caught and swallowed in one bite. She changed into pyjamas before crawling into bed and promptly falling asleep. She awoke when she heard Harry floo home with Teddy. She lay in bed, her eyes closed and far too comfortable to move. She fell asleep again while she waited for him to enter the bedroom.

Hermione roused not long later. Harry had a hand on her tummy. His thumb stroked across the exposed skin of her stomach. She felt him lean down and press a kiss to her stomach. Hermione couldn't help but smile. He stood and entered the bathroom.

Hermione stretched and forced herself to wake up a bit more. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Her nausea had passed while she slept, but her arms and legs still felt stiff and heavy. Just as she was considering persuading Harry into giving her a massage, he exited the bathroom.

Hermione's smile fell away when she saw his red eyes. He'd been crying. She knew it immediately. "Where's Teddy?"

"Playing in his room." He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her legs. "I think we should talk."

"About what?" she asked. Her anxiety slowly rose.

Harry fixed her with a serious look. "Healer Andolan told us to consider our options together and that's something we need to do." Hermione was warily silent. "It's still early," he explained, his voice was a tense whisper. She knew his voice got like that when he was trying not to cry. "We don't need to do this now."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat when she realized what he was suggesting. Why on earth - it was her fault, she realized. She'd cursed and swore at him about this and then stormed away the moment their appointment with Healer Andolan was over. He thought she didn't want the babies. Hermione raised her hand to his chest. "Harry… I want these babies."

He shook his head. "The last thing I want to do is take your career from you."

"No… I…" She couldn't deny it. She didn't like the way this would affect certain aspects of her life. But she couldn't say she wasn't also excited about expanding their family. "I asked for maternity leave," she told him. Harry's eyes widened. "A year, at least."

"Really?" His eyes watered as he released a shaky breath. Actions spoke louder than words. Hermione never asked for time off work. She'd been a bit annoyed to even take a long weekend for their wedding. Harry knew this. He knew what it meant if she had asked for time away from the office for the babies. She wanted them.

Hermione nodded. "I'm so sorry. Please don't think I don't want this. It's not well-timed, I'll admit, but that doesn't mean I don't want to have your children, Harry. I love you. I want to give you everything I can."

Harry shook his head. "This wasn't your plan. It wasn't my plan either."

She held his face in both her hands. "But you want it."

"Of course," he replied without hesitation.

Hermione smiled coyly. "Good, because I've already made a new plan. If you're lucky, maybe I'll include you in it."

Harry stared at her for a moment, eyes wide and mouth open. He blinked and shook his head before he smiled. "I love you." He pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her lips.

Updated: Jan 2021 - mass edit for Hermione's Unspeakable job