Authors Note: This Chapter is quite heavy, with a sensitive topic mentioned throughout.

"Dr Hamilton"

Dr Hamilton turned to find her student for the day chasing her down, with a scan in her hand. She had a feeling she knew what this was going to be about, she just hoped she was wrong. "Yes?"

"Can I just ask you about these scans again? Please?

Dr Hamilton took them from her hands and glanced over them, her heart heavy as it was confirmed she was looking at Hermione Weasley's scan pictures. "Oh yes" she sighed. "It's so hard, isn't it? I wish I didn't have to give the parents this news"

Her student, Rebecca nodded in agreement. "Is there really nothing that we can do to help their baby? I mean, you're the top fetal surgeon in England, if there's anyone that can help them, it's you"

Dr Hamilton smiled sadly, "Thank you Rebecca, that's very kind. But I wish I could tell you there was, but it wouldn't serve you or them, cases like this are usually hopeless. This baby would have a very painful, short life. I'm sorry"

Rebecca sighed and nodded, she knew it was a long shot but she just wanted to hope for the best, for once in her medical career, she had hoped the prognosis was wrong so they wouldn't have to tell the parents the bad news. But today was not that day.

Hermione and Charlie sat in the Doctor's room patiently, confused and slightly worried as to why they had been called back so soon. They had thought the last appointment had went well, their little baby seemed to be doing so well, and Hermione, who was ever the worries, couldn't stop going through every single scenario about what could happen today. Charlie could practically feel the stress and anxiety radiating from her, he squeezed her hand gently and gave her a comforting smile. "Everything will be okay"

"Are you sure?" Hermione whispered, tear pricking at her eyes. "I...I don't understand why we're here. We shouldn't be back here so soon"

Charlie pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, "Hermione, love, you need to stop stressing. We don't know if anything bad has happened, it could be something simple or it might be something worse. We don't know yet. And that's the point, we don't know. So stop driving yourself insane with worry until we get told what we need to worry about"

Hermione sighed but nodded, he was right, she had been worrying herself sick since she had received the phone call from Dr Hamilton asking them to come back in, all of the worst case scenarios kept playing in her mind repeatedly when she knew there might not be a worst case scenario at all.

The door to the room opened and in walked Dr Hamilton with her student Doctor, she gave a small smile to Charlie and Hermione as she sat down at her desk. "Thank you both for coming back in today. I know this must have been a shock"

Hermione laughed a little, "Just a bit"

Charlie squeezed her hand again, "Hermione has been driving herself mad with worry over the last few days"

Dr Hamilton nodded solemnly, she clasped her hands together and took in the still happy couple for a moment, knowing that in a few seconds their world would be shattered with what she had to tell them, she wanted to memorise their happiness about their first child before it had to be ruined. With a sigh, she looked them in the eye. "I called you both back in today because I found some...abnormalities at your last appointment, during the scan"

Hermione nodded her head vigorously, "Okay, so what kind of abnormalites are we talking about?"

"Well" Dr Hamilton began, pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing. "I was concerned with a number of things, from your first scan to the one you attended with myself, the baby's size was one thing. And you had also mentioned that the baby was sitting like a little buddha"

Hermione smiled fondly at the memory, "Yeah the baby seems to really like that position"

Dr Hamilton smiled sadly, "Hermione, between your first and second scan, the baby hasn't moved position"

Hermione frowned, the baby hadn't moved? How was that even possible? Her hand flew down to caress her stomach. "N-No, that can't be right"

"I'm so sorry Hermione, usually at this stage of your pregnancy you should be beginning to feel movement from the baby as they grow and adapt to the womb. But your baby hasn't moved"

Charlie felt gulped, he squeezed Hermione's hand even tighter if that was possible as he stared at the Doctor. "What does this mean?"

"I consulted with a colleague of mine, an excellent fetal surgeon, I wanted to confirm if my suspicions were correct and she unfortunately did agree with me. We think your baby has a condition called Osteogenesis imperfecta. There are four types of this condition, and we think your baby has Type 2"

"Okay" Hermione began. "Type 2 doesn't sound so bad, please tell type 2 isn't bad" She pleaded

Dr Hamilton frowned, she really hated having to give bad news to parents. "I'm sorry Hermione, Charlie. But Type 2 is a lethal type of osteogenesis imperfecta, it's a genetic disorder characterised by increased bone fragility, low bone mass and susceptibility to bone fractures"

Hermione let out a gasp, her hand that had been caressing her stomach flew to her mouth as the tears began to fall. "You...You don't mean..."

"Mean what? What does she mean?" Charlie questioned

"If we're correct, and it is Type 2 and if you continue with the pregnancy, if the baby survives the labour, we don't think the baby will survive longer than a few days...or weeks at the most"

Silence fell in the room as Hermione and Charlie tried to drink in the news, Hermione felt sick to her stomach at the thought of losing their baby. Their first baby and this had to happen. "You said it was genetic right? Does that mean..." She trailed off

Dr Hamilton jumped straight in, immediately knowing where her train of thoughts were taking her. "No! Absolutely not Hermione, this is not yours or Charlie's fault. So please, do not be blaming yourself"

Charlie shook his head, unwilling to accept this news. "Isn't there anything that you can do? Tests, treatment? Anything?" He pleaded

"I am so so sorry, I really am" Dr Hamilton apologised, moving herself from behind her desk, to now be on front of them. "There's nothing that we can do. There are of course options you can think about, but for right now I don't think we should mention them until you both are ready. I understand this is hard to process"

Charlie nodded grimly, his heart shattering into pieces at the thought of losing their little one, it felt like everything had just fallen into place for them, they were back on track after the Draco fiasco and now this had to happen! He had been so looking forward to becoming a Dad, and now it was being taken away from him. He felt the tears welling up in his eyes and he done nothing to stop them, he held Hermione's hand tightly and allowed the tears to fall. They cried together, Dr Hamilton and Rebecca allowed them some private time to hug one another and cry.

They sat in each other's arms for what felt like eternity, just holding one another and whispering to each other. They were each other's gravity, holding onto each other helped them feel safe, it was their own little bubble and right now they were wishing to go back to being oblivious for a bit longer, just so they could enjoy their happiness for a while.

After what felt like a lifetime, Dr Hamilton knocked on the door and re-entered, proving a box of tissues for them. "Hermione, I know right now you're going through a pretty big shock, and hurting terribly. But I would just like to ask, would you be okay if we done a test on you? This test will confirm if the baby has Type 2 or not"

Hermione gulped, she looked at Charlie for some help, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do, on one hand her mind was screaming 'yes' to go for the test and to find out, but the other side of her was just wanting to go home and lay in bed with Charlie to try wrap their head around things. Charlie remained silent, not trusting his voice to speak, but he nodded slowly, letting her know it would be okay if she wanted to do it, or if she didn't want to do it.

After her inner turmoil, Hermione nodded, "Yes, I'll do it today". More so to get it over and done with now, rather than having to wait in fear and worrying about all the different scenarios again.

"Okay" Dr Hamilton nodded, "I'll have Rebecca here take you to a room, you can get changed into your gown and I'll be there momentarily, okay?"

Hermione nodded, with a comforting and sad smile from Rebecca, they both rose from their chairs and followed her out

"Okay, so you're going to feel a little bit of pressure" Dr Hamilton murmured softly as she injected the needle into Hermione's swollen stomach.

Charlie watched on half in fear and half in fasciation at the needle being pressed into Hermione, he winced ever so slightly, it looked painful but whatever stuff they had on her stomach seemed to be doing the trick, Hermione didn't seem in pain. "So, this test, will it definitely tell us what type it is?"

"Yes, it will" Dr Hamilton confirmed

Hermione sighed and turned her head to look at the screen, she stared at their little baby, still safe and warm inside of her right now. She wished she could just keep her inside of her, let her grow like she normally would and reap the reward of having her baby at the end of it, but now she knew that it wasn't a possibility. Their baby might die being born, or she might not live long enough, they would have to hold the baby in their arms and watch as they took their last breath. She bit back a sob, turning her head away from the screen and instead to look at Charlie. He was gazing at her with love and sadness in his eyes, at least she knew that no matter what she would always have him by her side.

Charlie began to fidget in his seat as he impatiently stared at the door, it felt like they had been waiting forever for Dr Hamilton to return with their results. He wanted to get up and pace the room, but ever since the scan Hermione had been so silent, it was starting to scare him. "Hermione?"

Hermione remained silent, her own eyes fixed upon the door and her heart hammering in her chest.

"Hermione, love. Please look at me" Charlie whispered, pleading with her

Hermione took a shaky breath and turned to face him.

"No matter what they tell us, we have each other okay? It's you and me, we can get through anything together" Charlie pressed a kiss to her hand that he was still holding

Hermione nodded, "I'm so scared Char" She whispered, sniffing slightly as she scooted closer to him. "I just wish this was a bad dream and we'd wake up and everything would be okay. The baby would be safe and we wouldn't be worrying or crying. We'd be us"

"I know, I wish for that too. I just want these last few hours to not have happened and for us to be going about our day as normal" Charlie sighed, it was just a fantasy that they would always be wanting know, they would never truly get to know their first born, never get to see them say their first word, or take their first step. They would just become a memory, one that Charlie does never want to forget.

Before they could respond, the door to Dr Hamilton's office opened once more, but instead of Rebecca following, it was another Doctor.

"Hermione, Charlie" Dr Hamilton greeted, taking a seat across from the pair as Dr Robbins copied her movements. "This is Dr Robbins, she is the colleague I was telling you about earlier"

"I'm so sorry to have to meet you under these circumstances" Dr Robbins smiled sadly

"Thanks" Hermione murmured

"We have your test results" Dr Robbins spoke, holding a folder in her hand as she stared at the young couple.

"It's Type 2 isn't it?" Hermione whispered, closing her eyes momentarily to try stop the raging tears from spilling

Dr Hamilton glanced at Dr Robbins, a sad look shared between them as they answered. "Yes, it is"

Dr Robbins took the lead, "With type 2 we're dealing with low birth weight, under developed lungs, swelling problems, respiratory problems. If carried to term, Type 2 infants typically pass away within a few hours of delivery, sometimes days. Your baby can also be at high risk for intrauterine fractures..."

"I'm sorry, but.." Hermione's free hand rested on her stomach as she stared the Doctor's in the eyes. "My babies bones are breaking inside of me? The place where they're meant to be safe, their bones are breaking" Her voice caught at the end as the tears finally spilled, Charlie wrapped his arm around her shoulder's, squeezing them tightly as he tried not to cry himself.

Dr Hamilton glanced down, her own heart breaking, she couldn't imagine being told herself that her babies bones were fracturing in the one place that was meant to be safe, it was like your body was betraying you

"Can...Can they feel it? Hermione asked

Dr Robbins gave a slight nod, not wanting to further upset her but not wanting to withhold the truth.

"Pain. The baby is in pain?"

"Again, I am so sorry to you both" Dr Robbins frowned, reaching her own hand forward and placing it gently on their intertwined ones.

They spent the next hour talking to the Doctor's, listening to their options and being given a lot of information that even Hermione felt over loaded with. In the end, they chose to think about their options, they day had been long enough and they were emotionally and mentally exhausted. Hermione also wanted to speak with Molly, which Charlie agreed with. The two Doctors had left them alone for privacy, and as they were getting ready to leave, a silver patronus materialised before them, with a message that neither of them wanted to hear at the minute.

"Ginny's in labour"