One too strong to fight
Chapter eighteen
----- Graduation-----
Harry now eight months pregnant was sitting next to Draco at the Slytherin table as Dumbledore prepared for his speech. Since that day in the hospital wing he had not been able to stop thinking about marrying Severus and the engagement ring was shown to any one willing to see it for the thousandth time. The seventh years were the only students left now
Dumbledore cleared his throat and stood up, "I think it is safe to say that you are the students that we may call the children of war, many of you were born during the time of Voldemorts downfall and now as you leave this school he is preparing to fight us once more. One student amongst us has never been afraid to stand up and defend what is right, at the age of one he allowed you all to grow up safely in an environment untainted by fear and then again at the age of eleven he resumed his role when he did not have to. I am of course talking about Harry Potter who has saved all of our lives during his time here."
Slytherin's, Gryffindor's, Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's all started applauding interrupting Dumbledore's speech, Harry blushed at all the attention he was getting but was made to stand up by Draco.
"Come up here please Harry." Dumbledore asked, Harry waddled as best he could up to where Dumbledore was standing, Severus immediately got up to stand beside him, Harry was on strict orders of bed rest and had to take it easy, any strenuous exercise of any sort could bring on premature labour and they wanted to keep the baby inside of Harry for as long as possible.
"This here is a man of great courage and strength but he will not lead us in the battle to victory, he will stand on the sidelines with his young child and he will be protected. For to long now he has been apart of this war because of a prophecy that should never have been fulfilled …"
"I'm sorry Sir" Harry interrupted, "However grateful I am to you for offering me a way out Sir, I can't accept it, I was born to fight in this war and that's what I plan on doing."
Nobody spoke, nobody even breathed loudly, you would have heard a pin drop. It was Severus to break this silence, "Harry, you have to at least consider …"
"No Severus, there is nothing to consider, I cannot just stand aside and let Voldermort kill the people that I care about, too many people are dead already, I won't allow any more to die."
Before Severus could say any more Harry clutched his stomach as a wave of pain hit him, "Harry, what is it?"
"Nothing, I'm fine, just continue with graduation."
"No, what happened?"
"It's nothing, I'm going to go and sit down, continue Dumbledore." Severus however did not return to his seat he followed Harry back to the Slytherin table, along with every other pair of eyes in the great hall. "Severus, please stop fussing I'm fine."
"How many pains have you had?" He asked in little more than a whisper as Dumbledore resumed his speech.
"I don't know, I've been having them all morning." Harry said trying to sit down however Snape made him keep walking, "Sev, please, I want to stay for graduation."
"You have been having contractions all morning, I'm surprised your waters haven't broken, you are going up to the hospital wing right now."
Ron, Hermione, Draco and Blaise all got to their feet and left the great hall after Harry and Severus, Dumbledore let them go, there was no way he would be able to stop them if Harry had gone into labour. In fact, he wanted to be there.
"Minerva, will you take over, I would like to attend the birth of Harry's child." She nodded although it was a little reluctantly as she also had wanted to go and watch.
As it ended up, the entire seventh year was gathered outside the hospital wing that afternoon, graduation forgotten. Only Severus, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Draco and Blaise were inside with Harry and Poppy, everyone else waited outside in silence, waiting for the first cry of the baby.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, only one more after this I think. Don't forget to leave a review. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
