A/N: TRIGGER WANRING: Depictions of childbirth! Birth is kind of my jam, so don't mind me when I write about it. Yup, you should have seen this coming.
Okay, so after this there will only be one more chapter *puppy dog eyes*
So, what do I have up my sleeve? Well, I'm working on a few different things and we'll see if anyone finds interest in them. It's a Dramione infidelity piece and I'm enjoying it thus far, but I want to make sure it's something that I keep enjoying writing before I start to publish any of it.
Any Fremione fans? I have a good story swirling in my head that deserves a story board written out on it because it's quickly taking over my shower thoughts. Actually just finished a story board brain storming session for another Dramione that has haunted my dreams, but that one isn't light and fun (hence the haunting my dreams).
I always tell my husband, if he would just give me like a full day to sit down and jam on my computer writing I could get some of these fanfics out of my head and then I'd be a more attentive wife. As is, while I sit here simply typing a note, I'm watching my children run around my back yard and running off to push them in a swing or run around playing tag.
Okay, you enjoy this chapter while I convince a couple boys that playing in the hose is a bad idea when it's fall weather. Sigh.
The First of June
The thirty-eight week mark of Hermione's pregnancy had come the past Friday and now here she sat on Monday, still pregnant and still stuck in bed working. The healers at St. Mungo's had discussed with her that they believed it would be in Hermione and the babies best interests if they were to be born at thirty-nine weeks, so in just a few more days.
The problem with this plan, was that it meant Hermione was losing a full week of work. Casey was settling into her interim position taking on Hermione's responsibilities, but Hermione still wasn't sure Casey was totally ready to take the full control.
Amos had made a full recovery from his Dragon Pox, but was still on light duty at work. This meant that while Rolf was able to take back some of his workload, he was still handling a lot of Amos's responsibilities.
Charlie had begun refusing to leave the sanctuary, and would floo home for every break he took. That number was increasing to the point that Hermione was questioning how much work he was actually getting done during the day.
Also, to make sure that Hermione was not over working herself, her mother and Molly had been coming to stay with her during the day. Occasionally Ginny would bring James and join Molly when she would come to sit with Hermione.
It was driving Hermione absolutely mad. She hadn't left her flat aside for her St. Mungo's appointments in a month now. She was itching to get back to the sanctuary and see all the dragons and Casey. Casey had come by to visit Hermione, but it wasn't the same as being outside and with their dragons.
"Ms. Granger, there's a transfer request from China. They'd like Forrest and Jenny to come back to China once their egg has hatched. They believe that they will be able to release the family into the wild." Ben came walking into Hermione's bedroom with the request form.
Oh yes, Ben was also spending the majority of the work day at Hermione's flat. Hermione, Nadine Granger, Molly Weasley, and Ben. She wasn't just itching to get out of this flat, it was driving her bloody mad.
"Have we had a recent assessment done on Forrest and Jenny? I don't see why we won't be able to get them back to China now that they have bonded. A transfer of Forrest wouldn't be too terribly dangerous." Hermione was reviewing the case file that Ben had brought to her.
"Very right you are Ms. Granger. I'll take that and deliver it to Casey and see to it that she gets that assessment done today." Ben took the scroll that Hermione had just finished writing out and quickly walked out of the room.
"Hermione, dear, don't you think that you've done enough work for today?" Hermione's mother came sweeping into the room carrying a load of folded laundry that she was now putting away.
"It's only nine in the morning mother, I've hardly done any work today. Also, just writing out scrolls and putting in orders is not very much work at all. I hardly have to get out of this bed. Though, if the healers are wanting me to deliver by Friday, I don't see why I need to continue to stay put." Hermione had begun writing out another scroll, but as her statement had gotten longer, she'd begun stabbing at the parchment sitting in her lap.
"Furthermore, if I'm going to be giving birth soon that means that I'm not going to be going out and about anytime soon. I don't see why I need to continue to keep myself locked indoors." Hermione threw the quill that she had been writing with across the room.
For her part, Nadine Granger didn't even flinch to her daughter's outbursts. She just put her hands on her hips and was staring down her daughter.
"Hermione Jean, I know you did not just throw a quill. Now, I realize you are frustrated at the situation at hand, but that's just how life is sometimes. I expect you to have that mess cleaned up when I get back in here and that attitude readjusted."
As soon as Nadine had left the room, Hermione grabbed her wand and silenced the room, letting out a scream that by the time she was finished, had left her throat sore. That's when Hermione decided that she'd had enough and just needed to get out and clear her head.
Snatching up her quill and a spare bit of parchment, Hermione jotted down a note for whoever came into her room looking for her that she would be back when she was good and ready and not to look for her. If anything happened, she was perfectly capable of sending a patronus.
Holding her wand, Hermione spun on the spot and disapparated away from her bedroom. Hermione landed at the Kyoto Garden in Holland Park. She hadn't visited this spot since she'd graduated from Hogwarts.
It held a special place in Hermione's heart though. Every year, after her parents would pick her up from the Hogwarts Express, they would come here and just walk around to catch up on all that had happened since she'd seen them after the Easter Holidays. The sound of the rushing water was calming and made it easier to relay some of the more difficult things to her parents, even though it wasn't until years later that would tell them the whole truth about her time at Hogwarts.
Being in this place, brought Hermione a sense of peace and ease that she had desperately been searching for in the last few weeks. Did she feel bad that Charlie was probably at their flat worried out of his mind that she'd taken off? Yeah. Did she feel bad enough that she was going to go back and subject herself to her mother? No.
Hermione settled herself on the grass and laid her head back, closing her eyes. Just breathing in the soothing sounds in the garden and allowing it to lull herself into such a relaxed state that she dozed off.
When Hermione finally did open her eyes, it took her a moment to gather her surroundings and try to figure out what it was that had awoken her. Hermione looked around, and there weren't any people or animals around that were being loud. The sun was hanging in the sky, keeping her warm, but with enough of a breeze to keep her cool.
Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Hermione tried looking down at her feet, but she hadn't seen them in months.
"Well shit, I'm going to have to figure out how to stand up." Hermione said out loud to herself as she rolled to her side and then onto her hands and knees. When she stood up, she felt the rush of liquid running down her leg.
"Oh, that's what woke me up. Um, well, shit, again." Hermione said looking down her side so that she could see her slipper clad feet and wiggled her toes in the now squishing material. It occurred to Hermione, just for a moment that she probably shouldn't have apparated this far along and that's probably what had caused her water to break.
Hermione stood in the park filled with muggles and realized that she wouldn't be able to send a patronus to anyone to let them know where she was. She also wouldn't be able to just call the knight bus, so using any magic was not going to be an option right.
As soon as Hermione decided that she should just start walking to get a safe distance away, she was hit with a contraction and doubled her over. "FUUUUUUUCK MEEE" Hermione moaned and shouted out as it rippled through her body.
Of course, any muggles that had been happily walking around ignoring her before were not intently watching her. Well, that took away plan B to find a secluded area.
"Miss, do you need help?" A kind faced older woman had left her husband on the stone path to come check on her.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm just fine." Hermione grunted out, doubling over again as another contraction ripped through her body.
"Do you need me to call someone for you?" The woman asked again.
Hermione had left her mom at her flat, that was in wizarding London, thus causing electronics to not work. Her father, the only other person who would have a phone, was out riding his motorcycle with his brother today, thus would not have his cell available to him.
"Nope, I'll be fine. Thanks though. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK" Hermione groaned again as another contraction hit.
"What hospital are you delivering at? I can call you an ambulance. I've been a midwife for forty-years, if you don't have someone to contact, I'll stay with you." The woman offered. Hermione hadn't even noticed when the woman had started pressing on her back and was now holding her hand.
"My fiancé doesn't have a cell phone; I don't know how to get ahold of him." Hermione explained as another contraction began to overtake her.
"Who does he work for? We can always contact him through his employer." The woman offered again. Great solution, for someone who isn't magical.
"He's self-employed." Hermione offered, as she worked through another contraction.
"Okay, love I've helped a lot of women birth a lot of babies and I can tell you from experience that from the sounds you are making that we are very close to having a baby come Earth side. Now I've had my husband call 999 and they are going to be here soon, but I can't promise you that they will be here soon enough to get you to a hospital."
"Oh gods, please noooooooooooooooo." Hermione moaned as another contraction hit. She understood what the woman was talking about though, there was a massive pressure between her legs and squatting down was the only thing that was relieving her.
"What's your name, love?" The woman asked her as she helped Hermione remove the underwear that she was wearing under her sundress.
"Hermione." She cried out as another wave hit her and Hermione felt the need to squat again.
"Well Hermione, my name is Frances, my friends call me Franny. I'm going to help catch your baby today, okay?" The woman reached under Hermione's skirt and lifted to see what was happening.
"I'm having twins, oh gods I'm having twins and I wasn't supposed to leave my house, I got mad at my mother and stormed off." Hermione was crying as more pressure hit her.
"Well Hermione, luckily for the two of us, this isn't the first set of twins I've seen come into the world. Now, I can see the top of baby's head. I'm going to need you to dig deep and listen to your body, when your body says push, don't fight it, just go with it. It's okay, I'm right here, I'm not going to let your baby fall." Franny told Hermione. Hermione let out a nod and pushed.
The burning pain was something she never wanted to feel again, Hermione was standing screaming while she squatted against Franny's husband's back. When did he join? Who knows, Hermione just knew that right now she had a sturdy back to grip for support.
"Alright Hermione, we've got a head and a cute little face down here. I'm going to need you to do that again, alright?" Nodding her head, Hermione waited until her body started pushing down on the baby inside her. With one last grunt, Hermione felt a massive release as the baby came out of her body.
Shaking Hermione looked down to see a smiling Franny holding up a tiny form in front of her. "Congratulation's momma, a beautiful baby girl." Hermione let out a sob and held out her hands to take her daughter and cuddle her to her chest. Curly red hair and a pudgy little body, her daughter was perfect.
"Charlie dear, can you see if those sirens I hear are for us?" Franny asked her husband as he nodded and walked away, giving Hermione a little privacy as she laid down on the ground.
"My fiancé's name is Charlie. He's probably out of his mind looking for me." Hermione cried looking at the woman's kind face.
"Yes, well, we'll find him. Don't worry dear." Franny said patting Hermione's arm.
"Can you excuse us for just a moment?" Hermione asked as she looked around and realized that somehow, she had moved from the main walkway to shielded behind some bushes.
"Yes, of course dear." Franny said as she stood up and moved away from Hermione.
Pulling out her wand as soon as the woman had cleared the bushes, Hermione cast her patronus. "Charlie Weasley. Hey babe, so I'm at Holland Park at the Kyoto Gardens. My mom knows where it is, so I just gave birth to one of the babies and I'm going to need you to come get me since I can't use anymore magic. Thanks, love you, bye."
The otter quickly swam away from Hermione and was off to find Charlie. It wasn't more than two minutes after Hermione had sent her otter, when Franny, her husband, and the EMS workers had come walking around the bushes again.
"Hi Hermione, my name is Ben." Of course, it is, "and this is my partner, Jack." Seriously?
"HERMIONE?! HERMIONE!?" And here comes her knight in shining armor. Charlie came charging around the side of the bushes quickly following behind him was her mother and Molly.
"Hi Charlie, how are you?" Hermione asked giving him a soft smile cuddling their new daughter in her arms.
"Hermione, why would you take off by yourself! You silly girl! Oh, my, is that, is that my grandbaby?" Her mother had come up to the side of the stretcher that Hermione was now sitting on.
"Dad, would you like to cut the cord?" Jack, the EMS asked Charlie as he keep looking back and forth between Hermione and their daughter.
"Uh, I don't know, doesn't it hurt the baby?" Charlie stuttered straightening back up.
"Oh no, won't hurt her at all." The EMS stated. Hermione watched as the realization came over Charlie at the EMS's words.
"Her? We, we have a daughter?" Charlie asked, as soon as the words had passed his lips, both he and Hermione had begun to cry holding each other.
It took a few more moments before Charlie was able to stand up, with shaking hands Charlie cut the umbilical cord that connected their daughter and the placenta that was still inside Hermione.
Their celebration was short lived, because another round of contractions began to wave over Hermione, causing her to throw her head back in pain.
"Franny, I think the other baby is coming now." Hermione grunted between clenched teeth.
Franny, who had been standing to the side speaking to Ben the EMS, walked over and rubbed Hermione's back. "Hermione, how to do you want to push. I need you to listen to your body again, okay? We're going to meet your second baby now, does that sound good to you?"
Shaking her head, Hermione threw her head back and cried through another wave of contraction. Hermione thought she head Charlie asking if she was going to be okay, but honestly didn't pay too much attention.
As the pressure between her legs began to build again, Hermione arched her back and rolled so that she was on the stretcher on her hands and knees. Hermione continued to moan and rock through each contraction as they rolled through her body.
The same burning sensation came as it had before, ripping a scream from Hermione's throat.
"Hermione, I want you to reach down and feel your baby's head. I can see so much red hair, I want you to feel your baby."
With a shaking hand, Hermione reached down and felt the soft hair and the top of her baby's head. With a sob, Hermione removed her hand and set it back on the stretcher. Gripping the pillow that was on the stretcher, Hermione gave a low moan and pushed with her body.
"You're doing so good Hermione. Your baby is almost out of you and we're going to let you birth your baby, okay? With your next contraction I want you to push and bring your baby into this world. After this you'll be all done, okay?"
Without saying a word, Hermione nodded her head and closed her eyes. Once the contraction started, she put her chin to her chest and pushed with everything she had left.
"Another girl, Hermione you have two daughters." Hermione couldn't hold back her tears this time. She laid back on the stretcher and reached for her daughter that was still connected to her.
Franny laid the little girl in her arm. Curly red hair and pudgy, just like her sister.
Hermione looked up at Charlie, who was holding their eldest. "We have twins." She whispered to him.
"We have twins" he chimed back to her.