Walk away and I stumble
Once again I'm moving the story along again.
Chapter eleven
Two weeks later and Harry was seventeen weeks into his pregnancy, he was suffering from a little itchy and flaking skin but apart from that he was peachy.
He had moved back into Hogwarts so that he could be close to Poppy, the cottage was purely for Harry and Kayla after she was born, it seemed silly for the three of them to live in such a large house as Snape Manor so Severus had agreed to sell it and move in to the cottage until it became too small for them to inhabit.
Poppy was now insisting upon weekly ultrasounds to make sure that Kayla was doing alright, Severus accompanied Harry to each and every single one without fail, happy to be apart of Harry and his daughters life.
Dumbledore had been spoken to about the terms and conditions of Harry fighting in the war and the headmaster had reluctantly agreed to them all.
Harry would under no circumstances fight until two weeks after Kayla was born, nor would he make any public appearances or do any radio, newspaper or television interviews so that the rest of the wizarding world could gawp at him. He was not to be harassed or bothered by anyone unless Harry himself had specifically asked to see them and that included Ron and Hermione.
The following week and Harry was officially halfway through his pregnancy, Kayla was moving about frequently now however she didn't seem to trust Severus and whenever his hand was placed upon Harry's belly she stopped moving.
"What if she really hates me, baby's know if they're wanted or not, they have this creepy sense that can tell if they were wanted or not."
"Kayla doesn't hate you Severus, you're her father you silly twat, it's normal for you not to have felt her, I'm sure."
"I'm positive that she hates me, who wouldn't?"
"I wouldn't, now will you stop saying such silly things." Harry said as he sat rubbing his stomach in a soothing fashion.
He had begun to get stretch marks on his belly; Severus had been rubbing olive oil on his expanding waistline and it seemed to be helping a little.
The following week and Harry was feeling slightly more stable and comfortable as his rounded stomach became slightly more familiar to him. The rapid growth had begun to slow down a little and Harry loved to listen to his daughter's heartbeat whenever he got the chance.
Severus was treating his fiancé to everything that he could ever have wanted, fancy dinners out, weekends away shopping and even luxurious wedding plans. However what troubled Severus about the wedding plans was that they were for a month and a half after Kayla was born. This meant that only if Harry returned to him alive would they wed, however Harry refused to walk down the isle 'as fat as a beached whale' or so Harry said.
In the twentieth week of the pregnancy and Harry was still rapidly gaining weight, the continuous weight gain had finally taken it's toll on his back, it was aching like crazy and there was nothing that he could do about it but to either sit or lie down. However he could not sit or stand for long and when he did sit down he had to sit with his knees above his hips.
Harry had planned the wedding details to a tee, in fact Severus had even helped and the two of them had compromised and discussed everything rational, they had even agreed on most things.
It was quite surprising that two characters with such opposite personalities could agree on anything, however it was mainly Severus agreeing with a hormonal Harry, who insisted upon white roses and lilies when Severus wasn't sure that he even wanted flowers.
However what Harry wanted Harry got, but on the other hand Severus had got his way when it came to the guest list, he had made Harry agree to a small private wedding and surprisingly it hadn't been that hard to make Harry agree to this.
They had narrowed the list down to Ron, Hermione and children, the teachers of Hogwarts, Dumbledore to conduct the ceremony if he were still alive. It was of course a morbid thought wondering who would be dead and who alive by the time it came to their wedding but it was realistic.
A week later and the kicks, jabs, flips and flops that Harry had been feeling became more frequent and he had become determined to have Severus feel these also. Harry had also been experiencing more and more mood swings, Severus was trying his best to cope with the moody wizard, he knew that he didn't have much of a choice.
It was one evening, quite late just before Harry and Severus were about to go to bed when the Gryffindor stood up and began to stretch, Severus noticing that Harry was presumably getting ready to go off to bed did the same.
First though he pulled Harry towards him so the younger wizards expanded waist line was touching his stomach and Severus captured Harry's lips in a sweet kiss.
"Oh Merlin!" Severus exclaimed.
"What is it?" Harry asked concerned.
"She kicked, I felt her kick" Severus said happily.
"Welcome to my world, she kicks me constantly."
"But I have never felt it before."
"I told you she didn't hate you, so, do you believe me now?"
"How could I not, now let us celebrate this?" Severus said in a suggestive tone before leading Harry into the bedroom and lying him down upon the bed.
He lay next to his young fiancé and began to ravish his mouth, then made his way down to his pregnant belly and kissed that too. Severus then moved even further down and removed the boxers that had been the only thing that had covered him.
Severus took Harry's waiting erection into his mouth causing Harry to moan in satisfaction at the sensation of Severus' talented tongue.
It had been so long since Harry and Severus had shared anything that could be considered remotely sexual apart of course from kissing so it wasn't long until Harry came in the potion master's mouth.
Harry's abdomen tingled with the sensation that the orgasm had triggered, Severus lay on his side next to Harry and stroked his ebony hair, a hand rested upon the large bump that was Kayla.
"You are the world to me Harry, have I told you that today?"
"Not today, but you just did."
Twenty two weeks into Harry's pregnancy and Severus had become obsessed with a muggle camera and didn't stop taking pictures with it and Harry absolutely hated it.
Although Severus insisted that he would be thankful later, however most of the pictures were off Harry with arms crossed and tongue stuck out. There were a couple of nice ones in the mix. Severus had already put a fair few into an album, at the very front of which was a picture of the two of them snuggled up on the sofa together. Under it was written, Papa and Daddy.
It was purely for Kayla of course, a baby album for her to look over when she was older, a perfect gift if Severus did say so himself. Harry of course loved the idea and wondered out loud whether Lily and James had kept one for him.
Severus didn't doubt that they had but he knew most of their processions had been burnt or sold off, the baby album no doubt would have been destroyed years ago, that or the cunning old man otherwise known as Albus Dumbledore had it stashed away somewhere.
He vowed that he would find out and if he could attain it then he would give it to Harry as a gift for reaching his third trimester of the pregnancy without any problems.
The young Gryffindor reached his twenty third week without hiccups and then his twenty fourth however when the twenty fifth week arrived Severus found himself being shaken awake by a frantic Harry at two in the morning.
"Harry, calm down, what is it, are you in labour?" Severus asked panicked sitting up straight in bed and trying to calm his lover down a little.
"I have to have cheese and onion crisps smothered in chocolate NOW!" Harry said almost shouting this demand at his husband to be.
"Huh?" Severus asked confused, apparently he had been woken at some ungodly hour of the morning so he could fetch his fiancé a snack, at first he thought that he was dreaming until Harry repeated this instruction.
"If you don't get me some now then you'll force me to get up and get it myself and you don't want me wandering around a freezing cold castle in bare feet and boxers."
"Then put your slippers on and a dressing gown."
"SEVERUS!" Harry whined, "I want you to get it for me."
"Harry, it's five past two in the morning, I have class to teach in seven hours, please just go back to sleep that or call a house elf."
"But it won't be the same if a house elf makes it, I want you to make it for me." Harry said in a baby voice before getting angry again and shaking Severus as the older man had gone back to sleep.
"Fine, I'll go and get your sodding snack." Severus grumbled rolling himself out of bed, he shoved his feet into his slippers and arms into his dressing gown before hurrying off to fetch Harry his rather peculiar snack.
Harry however being almost in his third trimester and of course being very tired he had fallen back asleep again by the time that Severus had returned. He stood in the doorway staring at the sleeping form of his love, at first he was annoyed but that soon melted away at the innocent expression etched upon the Gryffindor's face.
Harry sent the bowl back down to the kitchens with a wave of his wand, slid out of his slippers, shrugged off his dressing gown and crawled back into bed, his arms encircling the waist of his fiancé.
In the twenty sixth week Harry's cravings had become stranger still but Severus, after getting used to be woken up and strange food combinations demanded from him now saw the funny side to it all.
It was a Tuesday evening when Harry was sitting in front of the fire reading to Kayla when Severus came in, a nicely wrapped package in one hand. He kissed Harry on the cheek and placed the package on his lap atop of the book.
"What's this?" Harry asked smiling up at his lover.
"Open it and see, its congratulations for reaching your third trimester present."
Harry ripped opened the paper and marvelled at what was inside. "Where did you find this?" He asked opening the first page and smiling fondly at the picture that he saw.
"Albus had it stashed away, I thought that he might have done, do you like it?"
"I love it, I have the perfect idea, where is Kayla's baby book?" Severus fetched it and handed it to Harry who gave a nod of thanks. He moved the picture of Lilly and James from his own baby book and into Kayla's. Under it he wrote, grandma and granddad.
"That's a sweet idea; she must know her true family."
"She must know your family too."
"No Harry, she must not, they were dark, evil wizards, we must distance her from them, our daughter has the potential to be more powerful than Voldemort himself, if she were to turn dark then there would be nothing stopping her, she must be good, she must take after you."
"I don't understand why you think so badly of yourself, it isn't as if you are a bad person, fair enough she will not have the name of Snape but right there on her birth certificate, where you write the name of the father will be your name, Severus Alexander Snape, she is a part of you."
"Sometimes I wonder if us being together was for the best, sure we both want this but what are we truly going to gain, our daughter will take one look at our dysfunctional relationship and regret being born into this family."
"Our relationship is only dysfunctional because you make it so Severus, we are going to get married and I think from this moment onwards there should be a pact between the two of us."
"What sort of pact?"
"That whatever issues arise we will not go to bed with them unsolved, there will be no storming off, there will instead be cool off periods and then rational discussion, do you agree?"
"Why is it that even when hormonal and emotional you can still level out yourself out enough to keep our relationship in working order."
Harry shrugged, "I guess I'm just desperate for us to work, now do you agree, yes or no?"
"I think that it is a good suggest and yes, I agree to it."
"See I'm not just a pretty face."
Harry had now reached the twenty seventh week of his pregnancy and it had really begun to get to him, the itchy skin, leg cramps, shortness of breath, indigestion, heartburn and aching muscles were driving him close to insanity.
He felt as if he had been pregnant for years rather than months, however Harry had to remember that all of this was only temporary, Severus constantly reminded him to focus on the positive aspects of the pregnancy, like in a few short months the baby would be here, however all it did was annoy Harry even further.
Poppy had talked to Harry only last week about his birth plans for Kayla, Harry had decided against a water birth and even a natural birth, he wanted to go to the Hospital Wing and be given lots of potions and spells to make it easier for him.
Severus wasn't exactly sure that he wanted Harry pumped full of potions at the time of his daughters birth however it wasn't exactly his choice; it was purely Harry's and Harry's alone. So to avoid all arguments Severus said nothing, he tried to avoid all arguments, he hated it when they fought.
What Severus had agreed was that he would be the one to make the potions that Harry took, what with the Dark Lord back and everything they didn't want to risk the potions being switched or altered without them knowing.
The birth was going to go off without a hitch, Severus was determined that that would be the case, more fool any one that try to do otherwise and Severus would skin them alive. He had become overly protective of Harry now, he wouldn't let him leave the safety of their chambers for any reason but for meals and even then Severus would escort him.
Voldemort wasn't exactly in their faces at present moment but he wasn't exactly hiding away either, muggles were dying all over the place and yet Dumbledore was doing pretty much nothing to stop them, Harry was sure that this was some sort of guilt trip on the headmasters part but he really couldn't care.
By doing nothing and allowing these muggles to die he was sending a very clear message, that Voldemort was coming and it wasn't likely that he was going to be considerate enough to wait until Harry had given birth, not that he knew, no one outside of the castle did.
Of course Harry had wanted to shout to the world that he was pregnant however he knew that that was not the best course of action to take considering there was a group of men that would see this as weakness and try to kill both him and Kayla.
This could not be tolerated so only those inside the castle (not the students however, they were all under a spell to make them forget what they had seen) knew that Harry was with child and that was where it had to stay.
By the time that Harry had reached the twenty eight week of his pregnancy he had become slightly more used to it and had even discovered the most comfortable position to sleep in was in fact on his left side with of course Severus cuddling him from behind, any other way and he just wouldn't get any sleep at all.
However sometimes even then sleep became problematic, Severus saw this as just rewards for all those nights that he had had to drag himself out of bed and all the way down to the kitchen for all of Harry's weird cravings.
Usually Harry found solace in his new recliner chair that he had conjured, however Snape always seemed to become grumpy when he woke up in the morning to an empty bed so unless it got really bad then Harry would remain in bed and what made it really bad was the heartburn, if that erupted then there was no other option but the chair and a nice warm blanket.
Poppy had now warned Harry and Severus that since they had only ten weeks of the pregnancy remaining that there was a chance now of premature labour, that it was more common for wizards to only last seven or eight months rather than the full nine that it is for women.
Both parents to be had immediately began to worry until Poppy had reassured them that it was quite normal and that the baby would not be affected by premature labour. Secretly Severus prayed that Harry was pregnant a little longer as it meant they had more time, the younger wizard was determined that after two weeks he was to wage a war with Voldemort, and that terrified Severus even though he would never admit it.
I hope you liked this chapter, sorry for fast forwarding the story but it seemed necessary as I didn't want it to drag on so much that my faithful readers were bored but don't worry, the next chapter will be slower and I have to say I think you'll enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a review and HAPPY NEW YEAR when it comes.