Earbuds

"I am flabbergasted," Helga stated loudly as she sat down heavily in an armchair in the staffroom.

"By what, Helga?"

"By you, Rowena," Helga said, wincing as she rubbed her growing belly. "5 months gone and I am the size of a whale, and already unimaginably tired. I don't believe I can manage another 4 months. How on earth did you continue teaching until the very end?"

"Sheer determination," Rowena replied, scoring out an offending sentence before looking up from the essay she was marking and considering her unhappy friend. "And early nights," she added more helpfully.

Helga folded her arms on top of her belly. "With Godric's snoring, I fear I will never get one good night's rest," she said grumpily.

Rowena bent down and rummaged in a small drawstring pouch. "Use these," she said, finally extracting what appeared to be two earbuds. "I enchanted them so that they block out any sounds."

Helga leaned forwards, as much as she was able, and took the buds to inspect them. "You just happen to have some on you?" she asked curiously.

Rowena shrugged and picked up her quill again. "I use them occasionally when I am working."


Godmother

"She is beautiful, Helga," Rowena said, coming to sit on the edge of Helga's bed and looking at the newborn in Helga's arms. "What will you call her?"

Helga looked at the small sleeping baby in her arms. "We seemed to have settled on Genevieve," she said. "But what do you think?"

"My opinion should be of no importance," Rowena replied, though she smiled. "But if you must ask, I do think Genevieve would suit this little one nicely."

Helga smiled too. "Do not underestimate the importance of a godmother's opinion," she murmured. Rowena's eyebrows shot up in surprise and Helga chuckled weakly. "You do make me laugh, Rowena," she told her friend. "Who else could I have asked?"

Rowena blushed.

"Would you like to hold her?"

"That would be wonderful," Rowena said, a smile appearing on her lips as Helga passed her her goddaughter.