Drastic Actions
Their days after that seemed to flow by in a flurry. It was coming up on Christmas, Severus was spending more, and more time up in his office trying to finish grading all the papers he had so ruthlessly assigned. While Deidra spent most of her time in between her classroom where she worked with Lupin to teach her students all she could think of on how to defend themselves and the infirmary where she spent hours with Madame Pomfrey trying to concoct a way to remove the poisoning element of her pregnancy.
On one such night Deidra was bent over a table, where she was experimenting with some of Madame Pomfrey's bone re-growth cream, and some muscle re-shaper she had found in a distant cupboard. Madame Pomfrey was, for the moment occupied with a scrawny, blonde first year who had slid on the ice when landing her broom and now had a pretty bad burn along her forearm.
Deidra lifted her head to swipe the back of her hand along her forehead. She was very tired and as her pregnancy continued to advance, she found she was less and less able to concentrate and carry out simple tasks. At this moment all she wanted was to go to her room, curl up in a ball and never wake up.
Squinting to return her focus to the project before her, she watched the strange fleshy ball she had created twist and wrap as it struggled to form the shape her command had ordered. Drawing her wand from her sleeve, Deidra placed it over the quivering balling, thinking it was finally time to help the process along a bit. Focusing all the power she could draw together, she watched as the smoky stream that was her magic flowed from the wand tip to flesh colored mass below it.
Slowly, to her great consternation, her creation began to comply with her wishes, beginning to form the shape of the umbilical cord she sought. Not wanting to break the spell, she didn't dare stop to call Madame Pomfrey over. So she nearly lost her grip on her wand when she felt a slight hand covering her shoulder, looking up into the delighted face of Madame Pomfrey, Deidra couldn't help a small proud smile.
Together they looked back at Deidra's creation to find the exact shell of an umbilical cord lying on the table before them. Dropping her wand, Deidra threw her arms about Madame Pomfrey with an exuberant cry of joy and relief. Joining in her excitement, Madame Pomfrey let out a very unmatron like whoop of delight.
After both women had calmed down enough to address the next stage of the process, they turned their solemn attention back to Deidra's creation. "How do you suppose we should do this?" Deidra asked quietly, a hint of fear in her voice.
"Well," Madame Pomfrey murmured in a thoughtful voice, "our best course of action is probably to install this new cord, make sure it's fully operational at both ends, and then remove the old one."
"Yes," Deidra nodded, "that does seem to be the best course of action. But can you do it." She looked at Madame Pomfrey, eyes brimming with hope.
Madame Pomfrey could not bear to disappoint that face, suddenly eleven years old again and looking to her for a solution, all her trust and faith offered up to the woman that she had thought could do anything. So, pushing any doubts she might have had to the very back of her mind and deftly nodded her consent.
Relief washed over Deidra at Madame Pomfrey's nod, everything would be alright now, this was going to work, and it had to work. But then she was seized by a new thought, she was not unaware of how dangerous a procedure this could be, and she though she was committed to doing it, she could not speak for her father, her husband, or her friend. Could she trust them not to interfere, she was not sure. Quickly going over her options in her head, she found that there was only one that would ensure no outside obstruction. Turning to face Madame Pomfrey, her face resolute, she whispered, "we should do it now."
Madame Pomfrey turned to face Deidra, her face suddenly dropping, "oh my dear, I don't know that I could, I would need time to prepare and, and, and…"
"But we don't have time," Deidra cut in sharply, "I don't and neither does this baby, and it's better if we do it before Severus or my father find out. I'm not overly confident of their support, so I think we need to do it without them. Besides, I don't know how long this thing will keep," she said waving a hand toward the table, "no, it has to be now."
Poppy could not argue with that, the girl was right on all counts, and she could think of nothing to argue against them. Desperately trying to come up with a procedure on the spot, she gestured toward a bed mumbling something about Deidra had better sit down and let her take it from here if they were to get this done tonight.
Going back into her office, Madame Pomfrey found her best surgical wand, sterilizing gloves, and the x-ray mirror that she always kept in the back of her office, she glanced around nervously, trying to focus her mind and see if she needed anything else for what she was about to do, but after almost five minutes of silent contemplation, she could think of nothing else. Her bottom lip quivering, Poppy gathered all her chosen materials in hand and headed back to the main room.
Walking to Deidra, she set the things down on the table beside the girl's bed. Looking over she saw that Deidra was lying on her back, staring listlessly up at the ceiling, as if this were nothing more than a regular physical, but Madame Pomfrey knew from the way Deidra's fingers restlessly tapped at each other that the girl was terrified. Her brave face only made Poppy more resolved that she could, and would do this. Turning around she drew a curtain around them, her hands never faltering in her movements.
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When Albus took his seat for dinner that night he noticed that Deidra's, Severus's, and Madame Pomfrey's seats were empty. Though Severus slipped in a few moments after himself, mumbling his usual excuse of correcting homework, when he was finally forced to start dinner there was still no sign of either woman.
Severus noticed too, but tried to ignore it, telling himself that Deidra was probably just tired and had gone to bed early. Carefully he began to separate his food into to portions, spooning the second onto Deidra's empty plate, as if that settled the matter and continued to pretend to eat his food.
It wasn't until Remus made his way down the table, a very concerned look on his face, that both Albus and Severus were forced to accept that something was amiss. Crouching between the two men so as not to draw attention to himself, he whispered so only they three could hear, "Severus do you have any idea where you lady fair has gone to?" His voice just a little too edgy for Severus's comfort.
"No," he hissed back, "I haven't seen her since lunch."
It was Albus who finally confirmed the men's fears; "I feel something is happening, something important."
Only then was Severus able to identify the odd feeling that had been plaguing him since before he'd left his office, fear. A fear that was not his own, yet so deafening it had disrupted his thoughts. Rising as one, the three men left the table and headed out of the hall, stopping all conversation as they passed.
Out in the great hall they spoke in hurried whispers, deciding that Severus should search their rooms in the dungeons as well as the immediate grounds around the school, while Remus would check her classroom and her old room. Albus said he would check his own office and the upper floors. Nodding all three went their separate ways, a strange apprehension growing in each man's belly.
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Severus made quick work of their rooms and his office, rejecting them in favor of woods where he and Deidra so often walked these days, the fear he felt in the back of his mind growing all the while till he felt he might choke on it.
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Remus and Albus nearly collided as Albus was leaving his office by way of the gargoyle, both having found nothing, and they encountered Severus as they were preparing to descend the stairs.
After finding out that neither of them had been successful either, Severus began to feel truly helpless. Searching his father-in-law's face for some kind of hope, he was rewarded with nothing but an icy doubt. Suddenly Severus and Albus were both filled with a strange anger directed at the other, as if some how it was the other man's fault. Their dangerous stare down was broken as suddenly as it began when Remus bolted between them back up the stairs.
Unsure of what to do, Albus and Severus both abandoned their statuesque positions on the stairs to follow him. As they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, they found Remus waiting for them, his face filled with a new and different sort of dread than the one that had possessed him only a moment ago. "Poppy," he breathed, "we forgot about Poppy."
Then it dawned on the other men as well. They had only noted Deidra's absence, dismissing Madame Pomfrey's as nothing more than a formality, but now the remembrance of them women's shared project came back to them and without speaking they all turned, hurrying as fast as they could toward the infirmary.
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Though Poppy had been very worried about performing, this operation once she'd started it was the same as anything else she'd ever done. Implanting the cord in Deidra and connecting it at both ends as though she'd been doing it for years, she had nothing left but to finish removing the old cord.
She was just pulling it out as she heard the door to the infirmary crash open as though it had fallen under the weight of many men. Willing herself to focus on nothing but her task at hand, she finished removing it and placed it on the table she'd prepared. Sealing up the area over Deidra's abdomen where she'd transferred the cords back and forth, she bent down and gently tapped Deidra's forehead to wake her before turning to care for her instruments.
Deidra woke as though from a short nap, looking down she could already see the fading scare on her stomach. When she looked over at Madame Pomfrey she saw beside her a strange cord of braided muscle, it glowed a deep, bright red, and with that she knew that they had accomplished what they'd set up to do.
When Madame Pomfrey turned back around, she found Deidra smiling more brightly than she had in several months. Patting the girl's cheek, she whispered, "we did it, you and the baby are safe now, you don't have to worry any more."
Stepping away, she pulled back the curtain to reveal three overly excited men gazing wildly about them. Walking past them as though they were not there, she went to replace her instruments in her office, leaving them with a clear view of Deidra sitting up in bed, lazily stroking her bulging belly.
Severus was the first to reach her, taking her face in his hands, she could feel his gasping breaths on her cheeks. Though his head was pointed at her, she could see his eyes gazing wildly around. Finally, when he'd regained some breath he gasped, "what's wrong, what happened?"
Deidra found herself unable to do anything but smile brightly and whisper, "nothing Severus, for once nothing's wrong."
His gaze shifted quickly to her belly, and then finally he noticed the red beating cord that was lying on the table next to her. Letting out an elated sigh, he buried her face against her stomach, relief flooding through him. She absently stroked his hair, letting cry against whispering so only he could hear, "it's alright, we don't have to worry any more."
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Author's note:
Now make no mistake that's certainly not the end; there's still a whole lot to come, so don't stop reading. Sorry it took so long, I've just had a shit load of things to deal with, but I'll try and do better, I promise.
