1 Chapter 9
Estacia
The seasons had passed in a whirlwind for Mia and Severus. It seemed that between January and May all they had been doing was preparing for the integration of a new life into theirs. They had been given a flat in the south tower by Dumbledoor, insisting that a baby would need more than a bedchamber and loo to grow up in. Mia had thought that this would cause hard feelings between themselves and the rest of the faculty, but this proved to be untrue. Quite on the contrary, the whole of the teachers had been excited for the pair, and had gone so far as to throw a sort of housewarming party for Mia and Severus. Thanks to them, the pair now possessed nearly everything necessary to hold down a stable flat. What was more, Minerva had planned a baby shower for Mia which would be taking place on the twelfth of May. The due date had been set at the twentieth of that month.
Funnier, even than the new flat and the new household items that had been bestowed upon lucky Mia, was a kitten given to her in April by Severus. She had come back to the flat one afternoon feeling rather flustered from trying to subdue the Weasley twins long enough to teach them about common vampire dwellings. She had confided to Severus earlier in the month that she felt wholly unprepared to be a mother. She had woken him up with her weeping by the fire one evening.
"What's the matter," he had asked her as he strode to her perch by the fire. He had become quite used violent and abrupt mood swings in the past few months. Mia had been sitting with her head down and her hands encompassing her belly, tears falling on the pumpkin sized mound under her hands.
"I don't know if I'm ready for this, Severus," she had moaned between sobs. "What if I completely ruin this child? What if I give her some sort of hang up or fixation or…gods know what!"
He had consoled her back to sleep and placed his arm around her, protectively holding her bulging belly once again as he slept that night, as he had become accustomed to doing. The next day he had made a secret trip down to Hogsmeade to the sister shop of the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. There he had picked the neediest, most babyish kitten he could find. It had been a female black long haired kitten with bright blue eyes and a smudge of white on her nose. He had been waiting for Mia to return from classes with the kitten on his lap. When she entered, her heart melted, as he knew it would. He had known about her affinity for cats since their fourth year.
"Why don't you test out your mothering skills on this little girl before we have our little girl," he had asked her matter of factly as she had picked up the kitten and proclaimed it's name to be Smudge. This had quelled her fears for the time being, and the kitten meanwhile had taken to sleeping in their bed.
May the twelfth came and went in a flash, and Mia found herself on the fifteenth of that month in the nursery, recently bedecked with the gifts from the baby shower, correcting tests before her next Defense class. She had taken to marking papers, as well as doing almost everything else, in this room. For some reason it calmed her. It made her feel as though she was prepared for the life altering event that was looming ever nearer. As she marked the last of the test parchments (C- for Neville Longbottom once again), she began to gather up her things and head to her classroom. She found that now she was in the south tower it took a decent ten minute walk to get to class, and she was always sure to allow plenty of time to get there.
She had been implored by Dumbledoor to take a maternity leave weeks ago, but to no avail. She simply proclaimed that she would stop teaching only when the baby decided she was ready to come, and had marched off to class as defiant as ever. Severus had taken to attempting to persuade her to stay in the flat as well, and she was glad that he was already in a class when he went to work so that she could avoid his disapproving stare.
Mia entered the classroom to see the heads of her class turn in unison, watching her walk as if she were either a martyr of a Cyclops. She swung her sack onto her desk and drew out the tests, waving them for the look of anticipation that came from Hermione's eyes. "I shall return them at the end of class. Who would like to do the duty today," she asked as she held up a piece of chalk.
Mia had recently taken to allowing a different student each day write down her dictation on the chalkboard, as her monument of a belly had taken to erasing the thing she had written on it as she walked. Neville, sensing that his test had been less than satisfactory, eagerly raised his hand, knowing that he would receive ten extra credit points for this favor. Mia began her dictation as usual, watching to make sure that each student was at least pretending to take notes. They were beginning their unit on ancient hieroglyphs and their hidden meanings, and she was explaining what each symbol meant as Neville drew it on the board.
"Does anyone know what this stands for," she asked, pointing to Neville's rendering of what appeared to be a man with a jackals head underneath a waning moon. Hermione's hand, of course, shot up and Mia looked around the room for someone else to participate. Left once again with no other options Mia called on Hermione and listened as she began a long winded explanation. Mia had truthfully been listening until about two minutes into Hermione's speech, when she felt a sudden wrenching pain in her abdomen. She had been used to feeling the baby kick, but this felt like the baby was doing sommersaults down there. Her hand instinctively flew to her belly and she sat immediatlely on her desk. The class hushed as she looked around, realizing that every eye was on her.
"Miss Granger," she began, trying her hardest to keep her composure, all the time knowing what was happening. The baby was coming early. "I am sorry to have to interrupt you, but I must ask Dean," at this her eyes shot to Dean himself, "to go up to the faculty lounge and bring back professor Flitwick, who should be having his free period now. Could you do that, Dean?" Dean nodded his head silently and gathered his things before leaving the dungeon classroom at a half sprint. She looked back to Hermione who seemed to know what was going on as well. "Hermione, when Dean gets back would you please accompany me to Professor Snape's office?"
"Of course," Hermione answered, her voice frightened. Presently Dean and Flitwick entered the room, looking rather concerned. "Thank you Professor," Mia said in passing with Hermione at her side. I'm afraid it's a bit of an emergency." With that she waddled across the hall to Severus' classroom where he could be heard from the hall bellowing about some poor soul adding too much flobberworm skin to his concotion. Mia, now breathing so hard that she was unable to talk, got across to Hermione that she needed to knock, which she did immediately.
"What is it," Snape bellowed, sounding put out.
"It's Hermione Granger, sir," she called through the door, "and Professor…" she was still not used to saying this, "Professor Snape." The room went as silent as Mia's had before Snape threw open the door with a worried look on his face. "What's gone wrong," he asked Mia, ignoring Hermione.
Hermione answered for Mia. "The baby is on her way, sir," she said in a meek voice. Snape looked from Mia to Hermione and back again before taking Mia by the arm and beginning to lead her up to the hospital wing. "Sir, what about your class," Hermione had called out from behind him.
"It's a group of first years working on a simple potion," he called back. "The lesson plans are on my desk. I'm sure you can handle it. Dismiss them when they're finished." Hermione looked astonished, and rather pleased at Snape's courage in her ability to handle teaching a potions class. She smiled as she entered the classroom importantly.
"Oh, gods," Mia was screaming from behind her curtain in the hospital wing. "Gods, Poppy, isn't there anything you can do at all about this pain?" She sounded about as hysterical as Snape looked. He was pacing back and forth in front of Mia's curtained room with his hand running constantly through his hair and forever biting at his nails. Dumbledoor sat apparently calm in a chair just outside of the partition. Minerva had taken a leaf out of Severus' book and begun pacing.
All of them listened hopefully for her reply and their faces fell as they heard Poppy answer, "well I've tried the numbing charm twice, but it doesn't seem to be working." She sounded rather flustered. "I'd give you a potion now but it's too late. It wouldn't take effect until well after you'd had the baby, dear. Just hang in there, it's almost time."
"Oh, just hang in there eh? Just hang in there Poppy? Have you ever had an eight pound carcass trying to squeeze its way out of your lower abdomen? No! How can you tell me to just hang in there?" Mia was howling in pain and exasperation at this point, and Dumbledoor and Flitwick passed amused glances. Poppy came out of the partition looking thoroughly harassed.
"Well, really," she said, flustered, "this must be what muggle childbirth is like. In any case I'm going to need you to come in Severus, to hold her hand through this." She added in a whisper, "this is going to hurt a lot," to Severus. He winced as he followed her through the partition, casting a glance back like a dog being led in to be beaten. Dumbledoor chuckled outright at this.
"Oh, there he is," was the next scream from the partition. "Hey, look what you did to me! Look at this shit! I'm gonna squeeze something the size of a watermelon out of an orifice the size of an orange because you had to get some booty that night! Gods damn it! Poppy, are you sure there's nothing you can do about this bloody pain?"
Severus looked from Poppy to Mia and back again, a look of pure terror on his face. "It's ok," Poppy assured him. "She's just in a lot of pain. She doesn't know what she's saying." She was trying to reassure him but she looked doubtful herself.
"Oh, no I won't! I mean it. He better bloody love this kid like he's never loved anything before. Do you hear me? Gods!!!"
This last scream was the one to silence her, because it was the first indication that the baby was on the move. For the rest of the delivery all she could manage was a lot of labored breathing and some serious cries of extreme discomfort. Severus had held her diligently through all the screaming and swearing, never letting a single word offend. When it was all over, he was handed a bloody, screaming, naked baby girl who looked up into his eyes as if she knew that he was her father. He looked from the baby to Mia, who had sprawled herself out in exertion on the hospital bed. A tear fell from his cheek onto his daughters bare chest, and he walked the little bundle of flesh and blood over to her mother. The partition was removed so that the entire assemblage could see the new baby, and a chorus of approving oohs and aahs met the happy couple who were now sobbing with joy over their new daughter.
"What is her name to be," Dumbledoor asked softly.
"Estacia," Mia answered without looking up from the bundle in her arms.
Estacia
The seasons had passed in a whirlwind for Mia and Severus. It seemed that between January and May all they had been doing was preparing for the integration of a new life into theirs. They had been given a flat in the south tower by Dumbledoor, insisting that a baby would need more than a bedchamber and loo to grow up in. Mia had thought that this would cause hard feelings between themselves and the rest of the faculty, but this proved to be untrue. Quite on the contrary, the whole of the teachers had been excited for the pair, and had gone so far as to throw a sort of housewarming party for Mia and Severus. Thanks to them, the pair now possessed nearly everything necessary to hold down a stable flat. What was more, Minerva had planned a baby shower for Mia which would be taking place on the twelfth of May. The due date had been set at the twentieth of that month.
Funnier, even than the new flat and the new household items that had been bestowed upon lucky Mia, was a kitten given to her in April by Severus. She had come back to the flat one afternoon feeling rather flustered from trying to subdue the Weasley twins long enough to teach them about common vampire dwellings. She had confided to Severus earlier in the month that she felt wholly unprepared to be a mother. She had woken him up with her weeping by the fire one evening.
"What's the matter," he had asked her as he strode to her perch by the fire. He had become quite used violent and abrupt mood swings in the past few months. Mia had been sitting with her head down and her hands encompassing her belly, tears falling on the pumpkin sized mound under her hands.
"I don't know if I'm ready for this, Severus," she had moaned between sobs. "What if I completely ruin this child? What if I give her some sort of hang up or fixation or…gods know what!"
He had consoled her back to sleep and placed his arm around her, protectively holding her bulging belly once again as he slept that night, as he had become accustomed to doing. The next day he had made a secret trip down to Hogsmeade to the sister shop of the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. There he had picked the neediest, most babyish kitten he could find. It had been a female black long haired kitten with bright blue eyes and a smudge of white on her nose. He had been waiting for Mia to return from classes with the kitten on his lap. When she entered, her heart melted, as he knew it would. He had known about her affinity for cats since their fourth year.
"Why don't you test out your mothering skills on this little girl before we have our little girl," he had asked her matter of factly as she had picked up the kitten and proclaimed it's name to be Smudge. This had quelled her fears for the time being, and the kitten meanwhile had taken to sleeping in their bed.
May the twelfth came and went in a flash, and Mia found herself on the fifteenth of that month in the nursery, recently bedecked with the gifts from the baby shower, correcting tests before her next Defense class. She had taken to marking papers, as well as doing almost everything else, in this room. For some reason it calmed her. It made her feel as though she was prepared for the life altering event that was looming ever nearer. As she marked the last of the test parchments (C- for Neville Longbottom once again), she began to gather up her things and head to her classroom. She found that now she was in the south tower it took a decent ten minute walk to get to class, and she was always sure to allow plenty of time to get there.
She had been implored by Dumbledoor to take a maternity leave weeks ago, but to no avail. She simply proclaimed that she would stop teaching only when the baby decided she was ready to come, and had marched off to class as defiant as ever. Severus had taken to attempting to persuade her to stay in the flat as well, and she was glad that he was already in a class when he went to work so that she could avoid his disapproving stare.
Mia entered the classroom to see the heads of her class turn in unison, watching her walk as if she were either a martyr of a Cyclops. She swung her sack onto her desk and drew out the tests, waving them for the look of anticipation that came from Hermione's eyes. "I shall return them at the end of class. Who would like to do the duty today," she asked as she held up a piece of chalk.
Mia had recently taken to allowing a different student each day write down her dictation on the chalkboard, as her monument of a belly had taken to erasing the thing she had written on it as she walked. Neville, sensing that his test had been less than satisfactory, eagerly raised his hand, knowing that he would receive ten extra credit points for this favor. Mia began her dictation as usual, watching to make sure that each student was at least pretending to take notes. They were beginning their unit on ancient hieroglyphs and their hidden meanings, and she was explaining what each symbol meant as Neville drew it on the board.
"Does anyone know what this stands for," she asked, pointing to Neville's rendering of what appeared to be a man with a jackals head underneath a waning moon. Hermione's hand, of course, shot up and Mia looked around the room for someone else to participate. Left once again with no other options Mia called on Hermione and listened as she began a long winded explanation. Mia had truthfully been listening until about two minutes into Hermione's speech, when she felt a sudden wrenching pain in her abdomen. She had been used to feeling the baby kick, but this felt like the baby was doing sommersaults down there. Her hand instinctively flew to her belly and she sat immediatlely on her desk. The class hushed as she looked around, realizing that every eye was on her.
"Miss Granger," she began, trying her hardest to keep her composure, all the time knowing what was happening. The baby was coming early. "I am sorry to have to interrupt you, but I must ask Dean," at this her eyes shot to Dean himself, "to go up to the faculty lounge and bring back professor Flitwick, who should be having his free period now. Could you do that, Dean?" Dean nodded his head silently and gathered his things before leaving the dungeon classroom at a half sprint. She looked back to Hermione who seemed to know what was going on as well. "Hermione, when Dean gets back would you please accompany me to Professor Snape's office?"
"Of course," Hermione answered, her voice frightened. Presently Dean and Flitwick entered the room, looking rather concerned. "Thank you Professor," Mia said in passing with Hermione at her side. I'm afraid it's a bit of an emergency." With that she waddled across the hall to Severus' classroom where he could be heard from the hall bellowing about some poor soul adding too much flobberworm skin to his concotion. Mia, now breathing so hard that she was unable to talk, got across to Hermione that she needed to knock, which she did immediately.
"What is it," Snape bellowed, sounding put out.
"It's Hermione Granger, sir," she called through the door, "and Professor…" she was still not used to saying this, "Professor Snape." The room went as silent as Mia's had before Snape threw open the door with a worried look on his face. "What's gone wrong," he asked Mia, ignoring Hermione.
Hermione answered for Mia. "The baby is on her way, sir," she said in a meek voice. Snape looked from Mia to Hermione and back again before taking Mia by the arm and beginning to lead her up to the hospital wing. "Sir, what about your class," Hermione had called out from behind him.
"It's a group of first years working on a simple potion," he called back. "The lesson plans are on my desk. I'm sure you can handle it. Dismiss them when they're finished." Hermione looked astonished, and rather pleased at Snape's courage in her ability to handle teaching a potions class. She smiled as she entered the classroom importantly.
"Oh, gods," Mia was screaming from behind her curtain in the hospital wing. "Gods, Poppy, isn't there anything you can do at all about this pain?" She sounded about as hysterical as Snape looked. He was pacing back and forth in front of Mia's curtained room with his hand running constantly through his hair and forever biting at his nails. Dumbledoor sat apparently calm in a chair just outside of the partition. Minerva had taken a leaf out of Severus' book and begun pacing.
All of them listened hopefully for her reply and their faces fell as they heard Poppy answer, "well I've tried the numbing charm twice, but it doesn't seem to be working." She sounded rather flustered. "I'd give you a potion now but it's too late. It wouldn't take effect until well after you'd had the baby, dear. Just hang in there, it's almost time."
"Oh, just hang in there eh? Just hang in there Poppy? Have you ever had an eight pound carcass trying to squeeze its way out of your lower abdomen? No! How can you tell me to just hang in there?" Mia was howling in pain and exasperation at this point, and Dumbledoor and Flitwick passed amused glances. Poppy came out of the partition looking thoroughly harassed.
"Well, really," she said, flustered, "this must be what muggle childbirth is like. In any case I'm going to need you to come in Severus, to hold her hand through this." She added in a whisper, "this is going to hurt a lot," to Severus. He winced as he followed her through the partition, casting a glance back like a dog being led in to be beaten. Dumbledoor chuckled outright at this.
"Oh, there he is," was the next scream from the partition. "Hey, look what you did to me! Look at this shit! I'm gonna squeeze something the size of a watermelon out of an orifice the size of an orange because you had to get some booty that night! Gods damn it! Poppy, are you sure there's nothing you can do about this bloody pain?"
Severus looked from Poppy to Mia and back again, a look of pure terror on his face. "It's ok," Poppy assured him. "She's just in a lot of pain. She doesn't know what she's saying." She was trying to reassure him but she looked doubtful herself.
"Oh, no I won't! I mean it. He better bloody love this kid like he's never loved anything before. Do you hear me? Gods!!!"
This last scream was the one to silence her, because it was the first indication that the baby was on the move. For the rest of the delivery all she could manage was a lot of labored breathing and some serious cries of extreme discomfort. Severus had held her diligently through all the screaming and swearing, never letting a single word offend. When it was all over, he was handed a bloody, screaming, naked baby girl who looked up into his eyes as if she knew that he was her father. He looked from the baby to Mia, who had sprawled herself out in exertion on the hospital bed. A tear fell from his cheek onto his daughters bare chest, and he walked the little bundle of flesh and blood over to her mother. The partition was removed so that the entire assemblage could see the new baby, and a chorus of approving oohs and aahs met the happy couple who were now sobbing with joy over their new daughter.
"What is her name to be," Dumbledoor asked softly.
"Estacia," Mia answered without looking up from the bundle in her arms.