Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 1- Suffered Gains
"Just one more push!"
Suddenly, the infirmary echoed with the first wail of a newborn baby, and Hermione fell back onto the pillow in exhaustion.
"It's a girl," Madam Pomfrey announced as she rested the bundle in Hermione's weak arms. A faint smile appeared on her lips, which was a rare sight in light of current events.
As she was taken by sleep, her last conscious thought was one that had occupied her mind many times before; who was her baby girls father?
Madam Pomfrey removed the baby from Hermione's arms after she was sure she was asleep. She sympathized with Hermione a great deal, as she did with many these days.
The war had been over for about two months now, and everyone suffered great loses, or in Hermione's case, suffered gains. Perhaps that's why Hermione had decided to keep the child, because so many other lives had been lost.
In any other case, not knowing who your baby's father is would be a disgrace; pinpointing you as a girl who slept around, but this was not Hermione's situation. That didn't mean she was saved from the public humiliation in any way.
The true story was that she had been abducted by death eaters and taken to Voldemort personally for questioning. When she refused to tell him anything, he attempted to read her mind. Luckily, all order members had decided it necessary to learn to deflect such attacks on the psyche.
The last thing she recalled about that fateful evening was Voldemort ordering them not to kill her, and to make sure that she made it back to her friends. That didn't include any guidelines as to what they could do to her though. After that she lost all consciousness; an inevitable side effect of being brutally tortured.
She was found, still unconscious, bound to the Hogwarts gates naked, covered in dried blood and bruises. A week later she awoke in the Hogwarts infirmary. The task of telling her what current state she was in was passed to Ginny Weasley, a close friend. No authority figures could get away from the war long enough to address the situation, and Madam Pomfrey openly expressed that she 'just couldn't' tell Hermione.
So it was from Ginny that Hermione found out she was pregnant. From Madam Pomfrey's examinations, it was obvious that she had been raped multiple times, by different men. It was impossible to determine who the baby belonged to.
Hermione was visited by Professor Severus Snape several days later. He laid her choices before her. She could abort or have the baby. If she chose to abort, it would be somewhat simpler than muggle abortion; she would simply drink a potion that would cause her to miscarry. It would definitely not be painless by any means. In the event that she chose to keep the child, then she would have another choice; placing the child up for adoption or keeping it.
The potion was brewed and Hermione placed the vial to her lips, but couldn't bring herself to drink it. She told the perturbed potions master that she had changed her mind. She couldn't say whether she would keep the child or not, but she definitely was going to HAVE the baby.
Because of the war, the Trios sixth year had been put on hold, because all the teachers, and any seventh year student volunteers, were away fighting. Everyone had naturally assumed that the warfare would take place near Hogwarts, but it hadn't. The dark Lord had strategically targeted wizarding communities in America. Ten different locations were ravaged on the same day, and it became obvious that America was the dark lords play ground of choice.
While everyone who was of any use was over seas fighting, attacks ran rampant. The total number of deaths was uncertain, but between both countries the count was pressing thousands.
And by the time the war was over, one problem was obvious; the children. Children from both sides of the war were left parentless. Appalling as it seemed, children of death eaters were kept together in lower quality establishments. Not much real news of their situation was leaked, but stories of torture spread like wildfire.
Any form of wizarding government in America had been destroyed, so all magical orphans were being portkeyed over. There was really no other course of action to take; there was no one else to take charge of them.
Orphanages were overflowing with two children to a bed and such. Any place that could house children had been filled to the maximum, including Hogwarts. Children had had to be moved out of the infirmary before Hermione could give birth; they had waited in a corridor outside. That's how bad it really was.
And no one really knew what was going to happen. Not many people put much faith in the Ministry anymore, not after the way they had handled Voldemort's return. One thing was for sure, and that was that something was going to have to be done, and soon. Hermione's seventh year would start in less than two weeks, and these children weren't going anywhere that fast.
3 weeks later- The Great Hall
Harry bounced a screaming baby Gwen on his knee while Hermione dug around in the baby bag for a pacifier. In the end Hermione had named her new baby girl Gwendolyn Love Granger. Love came on a whim, because she saw her as somewhat of a love child, though she hadn't exactly been conceived in love.
Gwen was the epitome of crybabies. It seamed that she had never shut her mouth ever since the minute she had popped out. You could see prominent dark bags under Hermione's eyes. At first everyone had been enchanted by the presence of a baby, but now people seamed to find somewhere else to be, and Hermione couldn't blame them.
"Hurry up Hermione!" Ron yelled, covering his ears.
"I can't find it," Hermione wailed, starting to cry herself. She grabbed the baby up from Harry and began to walk back and forth bouncing her up and down. It did nothing to stop the crying.
The teachers all watched this spectacle from the head table with varying degrees of sympathy. Severus Snape was the only one who took action though. Displaying the usual graceful intimidating stance, he marched meaningfully towards Hermione.
"Give me THAT baby, NOW," He barked. The baby stopped crying for a few seconds, startled by Snape, but immediately took up the howling again. Hermione handed the baby over, somewhat more quickly than most would expect a mother handing over a child to Snape.
He took the screaming heap to the closest table and laid it down. Then he pointed his wand, whispered a spell, and silence followed. Gwen's mouth kept moving, arms and legs flying, but no sound came.
"Have you dunderheads learned nothing? Silencing charms are third year level spells," Snape said bitingly.
"I... I never thought of that..." Hermione stuttered.
"You seem to have lost all capacity to think Ms. Granger. If you had thought this through, you might not be in this position now," He hissed.
What he said had some truth to it. She hadn't had the heart to abort, and now she was stuck with Gwen. The Ministry had passed a law stating that new parents would no longer have the option to put children up for adoption, because there were already too many kids for them to handle.
As Snape stalked back up to the Head Table, Hermione muttered a curt thank you.
"Mails here," Ron said glumly, as owls began to fly in to the hall. Mai laws a sad affair, because each issue of the Daily Prophet was thick with names of newly identified bodies. It was especially heartbreaking for some because their parents, brothers, or sisters were missing in action, and the fear that their names might turn up in the paper haunted them.
An edition of the Daily Prophet tipped Harry's glass of Pumpkin Juice as it made its landing in front of them. All over the room people were already whispering and muttering about today's headline:
The Adoption Act
Due to the alarming number of parentless children as a result of the
war, the Adoption Act was proposed by our very own Minister Fudge.
Ministry Officials voted yesterday, and the act was passed. The
guidelines are as follows:
Everyone above 20 years of age that is not attending University must
take in at least one child (anyone below 17 years of age), unless they
already have at least two children in their care. Married couples are
only required to take in one child. Those who are over the age of 80
may choose to not adopt if they so choose.
All Wizards and Witches to which this new law applies will be sent a
notice by mail telling when and where their interviews will be held.
Further details will be listed in the notices, or you can mail the
Information Department at the Ministry of Magic requesting more
information.
"Well at least we're all exempt," Harry said.
"Not all of us," Hermione whispered. Harry and Ron followed her gaze towards the head table where the staff sat; some looking stunned, and others mad as hell, namely Professor Snape.
---------------------------------- A/N- I'm not dumb... I know a baby is followed by afterbirth, but I figured that was one unpleasant thing I could leave out and no one would really make a fuss.
This was a short chapter; expect upcoming chapters to be longer. My introductory chapters always turn out pretty short.
Chapter 1- Suffered Gains
"Just one more push!"
Suddenly, the infirmary echoed with the first wail of a newborn baby, and Hermione fell back onto the pillow in exhaustion.
"It's a girl," Madam Pomfrey announced as she rested the bundle in Hermione's weak arms. A faint smile appeared on her lips, which was a rare sight in light of current events.
As she was taken by sleep, her last conscious thought was one that had occupied her mind many times before; who was her baby girls father?
Madam Pomfrey removed the baby from Hermione's arms after she was sure she was asleep. She sympathized with Hermione a great deal, as she did with many these days.
The war had been over for about two months now, and everyone suffered great loses, or in Hermione's case, suffered gains. Perhaps that's why Hermione had decided to keep the child, because so many other lives had been lost.
In any other case, not knowing who your baby's father is would be a disgrace; pinpointing you as a girl who slept around, but this was not Hermione's situation. That didn't mean she was saved from the public humiliation in any way.
The true story was that she had been abducted by death eaters and taken to Voldemort personally for questioning. When she refused to tell him anything, he attempted to read her mind. Luckily, all order members had decided it necessary to learn to deflect such attacks on the psyche.
The last thing she recalled about that fateful evening was Voldemort ordering them not to kill her, and to make sure that she made it back to her friends. That didn't include any guidelines as to what they could do to her though. After that she lost all consciousness; an inevitable side effect of being brutally tortured.
She was found, still unconscious, bound to the Hogwarts gates naked, covered in dried blood and bruises. A week later she awoke in the Hogwarts infirmary. The task of telling her what current state she was in was passed to Ginny Weasley, a close friend. No authority figures could get away from the war long enough to address the situation, and Madam Pomfrey openly expressed that she 'just couldn't' tell Hermione.
So it was from Ginny that Hermione found out she was pregnant. From Madam Pomfrey's examinations, it was obvious that she had been raped multiple times, by different men. It was impossible to determine who the baby belonged to.
Hermione was visited by Professor Severus Snape several days later. He laid her choices before her. She could abort or have the baby. If she chose to abort, it would be somewhat simpler than muggle abortion; she would simply drink a potion that would cause her to miscarry. It would definitely not be painless by any means. In the event that she chose to keep the child, then she would have another choice; placing the child up for adoption or keeping it.
The potion was brewed and Hermione placed the vial to her lips, but couldn't bring herself to drink it. She told the perturbed potions master that she had changed her mind. She couldn't say whether she would keep the child or not, but she definitely was going to HAVE the baby.
Because of the war, the Trios sixth year had been put on hold, because all the teachers, and any seventh year student volunteers, were away fighting. Everyone had naturally assumed that the warfare would take place near Hogwarts, but it hadn't. The dark Lord had strategically targeted wizarding communities in America. Ten different locations were ravaged on the same day, and it became obvious that America was the dark lords play ground of choice.
While everyone who was of any use was over seas fighting, attacks ran rampant. The total number of deaths was uncertain, but between both countries the count was pressing thousands.
And by the time the war was over, one problem was obvious; the children. Children from both sides of the war were left parentless. Appalling as it seemed, children of death eaters were kept together in lower quality establishments. Not much real news of their situation was leaked, but stories of torture spread like wildfire.
Any form of wizarding government in America had been destroyed, so all magical orphans were being portkeyed over. There was really no other course of action to take; there was no one else to take charge of them.
Orphanages were overflowing with two children to a bed and such. Any place that could house children had been filled to the maximum, including Hogwarts. Children had had to be moved out of the infirmary before Hermione could give birth; they had waited in a corridor outside. That's how bad it really was.
And no one really knew what was going to happen. Not many people put much faith in the Ministry anymore, not after the way they had handled Voldemort's return. One thing was for sure, and that was that something was going to have to be done, and soon. Hermione's seventh year would start in less than two weeks, and these children weren't going anywhere that fast.
3 weeks later- The Great Hall
Harry bounced a screaming baby Gwen on his knee while Hermione dug around in the baby bag for a pacifier. In the end Hermione had named her new baby girl Gwendolyn Love Granger. Love came on a whim, because she saw her as somewhat of a love child, though she hadn't exactly been conceived in love.
Gwen was the epitome of crybabies. It seamed that she had never shut her mouth ever since the minute she had popped out. You could see prominent dark bags under Hermione's eyes. At first everyone had been enchanted by the presence of a baby, but now people seamed to find somewhere else to be, and Hermione couldn't blame them.
"Hurry up Hermione!" Ron yelled, covering his ears.
"I can't find it," Hermione wailed, starting to cry herself. She grabbed the baby up from Harry and began to walk back and forth bouncing her up and down. It did nothing to stop the crying.
The teachers all watched this spectacle from the head table with varying degrees of sympathy. Severus Snape was the only one who took action though. Displaying the usual graceful intimidating stance, he marched meaningfully towards Hermione.
"Give me THAT baby, NOW," He barked. The baby stopped crying for a few seconds, startled by Snape, but immediately took up the howling again. Hermione handed the baby over, somewhat more quickly than most would expect a mother handing over a child to Snape.
He took the screaming heap to the closest table and laid it down. Then he pointed his wand, whispered a spell, and silence followed. Gwen's mouth kept moving, arms and legs flying, but no sound came.
"Have you dunderheads learned nothing? Silencing charms are third year level spells," Snape said bitingly.
"I... I never thought of that..." Hermione stuttered.
"You seem to have lost all capacity to think Ms. Granger. If you had thought this through, you might not be in this position now," He hissed.
What he said had some truth to it. She hadn't had the heart to abort, and now she was stuck with Gwen. The Ministry had passed a law stating that new parents would no longer have the option to put children up for adoption, because there were already too many kids for them to handle.
As Snape stalked back up to the Head Table, Hermione muttered a curt thank you.
"Mails here," Ron said glumly, as owls began to fly in to the hall. Mai laws a sad affair, because each issue of the Daily Prophet was thick with names of newly identified bodies. It was especially heartbreaking for some because their parents, brothers, or sisters were missing in action, and the fear that their names might turn up in the paper haunted them.
An edition of the Daily Prophet tipped Harry's glass of Pumpkin Juice as it made its landing in front of them. All over the room people were already whispering and muttering about today's headline:
The Adoption Act
Due to the alarming number of parentless children as a result of the
war, the Adoption Act was proposed by our very own Minister Fudge.
Ministry Officials voted yesterday, and the act was passed. The
guidelines are as follows:
Everyone above 20 years of age that is not attending University must
take in at least one child (anyone below 17 years of age), unless they
already have at least two children in their care. Married couples are
only required to take in one child. Those who are over the age of 80
may choose to not adopt if they so choose.
All Wizards and Witches to which this new law applies will be sent a
notice by mail telling when and where their interviews will be held.
Further details will be listed in the notices, or you can mail the
Information Department at the Ministry of Magic requesting more
information.
"Well at least we're all exempt," Harry said.
"Not all of us," Hermione whispered. Harry and Ron followed her gaze towards the head table where the staff sat; some looking stunned, and others mad as hell, namely Professor Snape.
---------------------------------- A/N- I'm not dumb... I know a baby is followed by afterbirth, but I figured that was one unpleasant thing I could leave out and no one would really make a fuss.
This was a short chapter; expect upcoming chapters to be longer. My introductory chapters always turn out pretty short.
