Courting Miss Granger-Chapter 22- Welcome to the World
By Marmalade Fever
Draco's arm moved faster than it ever had, including during his days as seeker. Words were spilling onto the page faster than he could blink. He'd spent the last few weeks doing very little but write. He'd gone through a full two-hundred feet of parchment already. His record was blasting away as he wrote line after line after line. He was only vaguely aware that it was now March and his wedding day was coming ever closer. In the few moments of thought that he allowed himself during breaks from his writing he only fringed the subject of Hermione. Truth be told, he was terrified. There were only two things in life that scared him. One was his father, the other was the possibility of rejection, and he was petrified to realize that he would have to face both if he were to ever be happy again. Rejection... rejection was a cryptic word that held everything in the balance. If he were to... to go back to Hermione and beg for her hand... and if she were to refuse... There would be no further solution. His father would be angrier than he had ever seen him. He would surely be excommunicated from the family. His fortune would be taken away. Rejection meant death by Malfoy Marriage Contract. And so Draco did not allow his mind to dwell on the mortifying subject. Instead he kept on writing, writing, and writing...
...
It was only two in the morning when Hermione's phone rang. She stumbled, half-aware of her surroundings, to her only telephone in her kitchen. "Hello?" she asked groggily, thinking murderous thoughts about telephone solicitors. She froze as she listened to the voice on the other end.
"Hermione! I can't find my car keys, and I've got to get Pen to the hospital!" It was Harry, and, by the sound of it, a very nerve-wracked Harry at that.
"Calm down! Is the baby coming?" she asked, searching for the light switch.
"Uh huh," confirmed the already jittery voice.
"I'll be right there; everything will be fine," Hermione said, doing her best to calm her poor friend. "These things can take hours." She heard the sound of retching on the other end. "Is she alright?" she asked, somewhat worriedly.
"That was me," Harry replied, sounding still nervous but also rather embarrassed.
"I'll be right there, just stay calm and make sure you have everything!" She clumsily hung up the phone and grabbed her own car keys. It wasn't often that she used her car, but she found it came in useful, especially when it came to her muggle neighbors and their suspicions. She drove for about twenty minutes before she reached Harry and Penelope's small house. She hastily got out of her car and knocked on the door. She was greeted by a chalk-white Harry.
"Come on, help me get her to the car!" he said, pulling her by the arm and leading her to the chair he had left his wife in. Penelope was breathing slowly and smiled at Hermione, looking ten times calmer than her husband.
"Okay," she said, lowering her voice so it was directed at her abdomen, "time to go to the hospital so that we can finally meet you!" Harry and Hermione both offered her an arm and helped her to her feet. They led her to the car and then Harry ran back for her suitcase and, for no apparent reason, his wand. The hospital was about fifteen minutes away.
"Remember to breath!" Harry coached from the backseat, making odd hand gestures that Hermione couldn't understand from her rear-view mirror.
"Calm down, Harry!" Penelope said, laughing in a bemused sort of voice. "It's no where near time, yet!" Hermione slowed at a stop light and sped up again as it turned green. Another block later and she slowed again, only to have the light turn green.
"That's odd," she muttered, as a third light turned from amber to green, completely bypassing red. "Wait a second... Harry! Stop that!"
"I'm sorry!" Harry said, nervously setting down his wand and writhing his seat belt with his hands.
"We're almost there anyway, and you don't want to cause a collision!" she scolded, turning, at last, into the hospital parking lot. She allowed Harry and Penelope to get out before parking and rushing in to join them.
"...One moment please," the receptionist said and she gestured for them to sit down. "You'll be escorted to your room, shortly." She said, smiling at them all.
"Well," Hermione said, feeling a sudden wave of sleepiness hit her, "is there anyone you want me to contact?"
"If you could let my parents and the Weasleys know," Penelope said, with a soft smile, "that would be great."
"Alright," Hermione said with a nod. What she really felt like doing was having a nice cup of coffee. First things first, though. Penelope's parents proved much easier to contact. This was because they had a phone and so did the hospital. The Weasleys on the other hand... Hermione ended up having to sneak into a janitor's closet in order to Disapparate, making her feel not unlike a super hero.
The Burrow was uncharacteristically quiet that night. Of the many children and grandchildren of Molly and Arthur Weasley, only Percy and his wife, the other Penelope, were visiting. The war had taken its toll on Percy's pride, but he had managed to thoroughly redeem himself with his parents by offering to visit often. Hermione knocked and was only slightly surprised when a bed-headed Percy answered the door.
"Penelope's having the baby," Hermione informed him.
"Wha-oh! That Penelope," he mumbled, and went off to wake his parents. Molly and Arthur came down the stairs wearing night robes and looking both exhausted and excited.
"Can I use your floo to contact Ron?" she asked.
"Certainly, dear, certainly!" Mrs. Weasley said, starting a batch of coffee brewing.
"Ron!" Hermione called, as she knelt her head through the flames.
"Mione?" asked a very groggy Ron.
"Harry and Penelope are in the hospital. She's having the baby."
Instantly her friend was alert. "Where? Mungo's?"
"Nope, a muggle hospital. Come over here. I'll get my car and we can all go together." Moments later Hermione was back in the janitor's closet and in the parking lot, leaving to fetch the Weasleys in the preferred mode of entering a muggle hospital. Luckily, the Burrow wasn't far. It was not just a little difficult to navigate herself to all of these places that she was so used to getting to by magic. Half an hour later she had somehow managed to fit Molly, Arthur, Percy, Penelope Weasley, and Ron, (his wife preferred to sleep,) into her car. Ginny and Dean had their own car and showed up as well.
"Any news?" they asked of Harry.
"Dunno. They just told me to stay here and leave them alone," he replied, looking ashen-faced.
"Is there anything we can do?" Hermione asked.
"Well... I was sort of thinking about calling the Dursleys..."
Ron blinked at Harry. "Seriously, mate?" he asked.
"Only family I have. Plus, Pen sort of made me promise..." He made a slight attempt to smile.
"I'll get right on it, Harry," Hermione said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Any excuse to wake them up at three AM!" Ron said, with a laugh. Hermione walked over to the payphones and began searching the phone books. She had Vernon and Petunia Dursley's number, from Harry, but didn't have a clue about Dudley. At last she found his number and decided to dial him first.
A disgruntled amount of swearing came to Hermione's ear so that she had to move the receiver away. The voice on the other end finally, exasperated, asked, "What?"
"Hi, you may not remember me. My name is Hermione Granger, and I'm a friend of your cousin, Harry." Hermione paused for a moment, wondering if Dudley had hung up the phone.
"What about him?"
"Well, his wife is in the Midtown Hospital. She's having a baby. He asked me to let you know." She waited for a moment and was about to hang up the phone when he spoke.
"I didn't know he was married."
"Well, he is. He has been for a few years now."
"You aren't the wife, are you?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, no I'm not."
"Well, make sure he sends me a birth announcement." There was a click and a dial tone.
Hermione dialed the next number and listened to a very sharp "Hello"?
"Hello, Mr. Dursley. This is Hermione Granger, I'm a friend of your nephew."
"What do you want? I told him never to contact me again!"
"Well," Hermione paused, "he wanted to let you know that his wife, Penelope, is having a baby." There was a silence for a moment and then the voice of Petunia Dursley followed.
"What hospital?"
"Midtown, do you know it?"
"Yes, I'll be there in a little while."
"Really?" Hermione asked, unable to contain herself.
"Good-bye." Hermione hung up the phone and returned to the Weasleys and Harry.
"How'd it go?" Ron asked, looking curious.
"Surprisingly well. Dudley wants a birth announcement and your Aunt Petunia," she looked to Harry, "is coming."
Harry was shocked out of the stupor he had been in. "You're kidding!"
"That's what she said," Hermione replied, shrugging her shoulders. A few hours later and everyone had started nodding off.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking to her friend after a long session of staring into space.
"Mmhmm?"
"Are you worried?"
"No, she'll be fine."
"I wasn't talking about Pen. I meant about your situation." She emphasized the word situation carefully.
"You mean Draco?" Ginny nodded. "A little, I guess."
"You're taking it extremely well. Aren't you frightened that... that he won't come back to you?"
"I try not to think about it. I've been imagining it in my mind the last few months. He's going to show up on my stoop with a handful of flowers... Or something like that. I know he isn't going to marry Antoine. She assured me of that. Although, I guess his father is perfectly capable of drugging them, and forcing them together. But can you honestly imagine even a father like Lucius Malfoy doing something like that?"
"I suppose not." Ginny glanced over her shoulder at the sound of footsteps. A graying woman with a long neck was approaching. "Wake up, Harry. Your aunt is here."
The woman paused a few steps away from the group, giving them all an extremely apprehensive glance. Quite suddenly she whipped around and started walking in the opposite direction. Harry had to jog to stop her. Ginny and Hermione watched from a distance as Harry actually gave his aunt a hug.
"Where's Mr. Potter?" a nurse asked, causing the two women to turn around in their seats.
"Over there," Ginny replied, pointing. The nurse walked briskly over to Harry and said something to him, and they could tell that he was smiling as he dragged his aunt along behind him.
"The baby's here!" he sang, approaching the group. His in-laws gave a start and jumped to their feet, leading the way after Harry and Petunia. They found Penelope Potter lying in bed looking exhausted. In her arms was a very tiny baby with a pink hat on.
"Everyone," she said, as they gathered around. "This is Lily Ithaca Potter."
Hermione felt as if she were melting. Harry had a daughter! At the back of her mind she imagined the day when she might be in this same position, a strong, pale hand on her shoulder. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming urge to cry.
"Ithaca?" Penelope Weasley said, smiling. "I was planning to name our first-born Telemachus!" Those who knew about the Odyssey laughed. Lily was then passed to her father, who beamed. Very slowly the baby made her way around the room, and Hermione held her for a moment, lost in thought.
End Notes:
I had to stop and giggle at my original author's note for this chapter, in which I said I had just gone on my first date. Considering my boyfriend and I have been together for over three years now, I find that really funny.
