Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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"Calm yourself." Severus whispered in his low, slow voice, his brow knitted in concern,"You're going to hurt your mother."
Severus crouched in front of Lily who sat on the sofa, his black eyes boring into her abdomen while his long, slender hands splayed over the ample swell.
"It doesn't bother me, Sev." Lily insisted with a wry smile.
Severus glanced up at Lily's face and grimaced at the way she flinched from the torrent of violent motion that Severus felt under his fingers.
Since the summer had begun, time seemed to accelerate.
The baby was expected to arrive by the twenty-fifth of July.
Severus and Lily were preparing for the birth as if it were one of the many group assignments they had completed during their days as Hogwarts students.
Several weeks before the due date, Severus already had Lily's hospital bag packed and an extra one with emergency supplies stored in the closet.
While they could apparate to St. Mungo's under the best conditions, Severus was not a person who liked to be caught ill-prepared.
In case of an emergency, Severus had spent hours studying the graphic sections in Lily's maternity books that no father-to-be wanted to read.
Lily was more relaxed than most first time mothers, but Severus silently took on the anxiety that Lily pushed away.
Since St. Mungo's didn't offer anything similar, Severus and Lily had taken Lamaze classes at the nearest muggle hospital.
At every session, the other parents whispered about that man with the horrible scowl on his face.
Severus wasn't trying to scowl.
Severus wasn't unhappy.
Severus was focused.
Lily found it more and more difficult to sneak a piece of chocolate here and there because Severus watched everything that went into her mouth with calculating eyes.
Sip of water………….
Two biscuits, exactly two and no more because biscuits were high in sodium and sodium could raise her blood pressure.
Another sip of water…...
"Sev, can I please just have another chocolate? Just one more?" Lily sighed longingly one afternoon as she walked up to Severus while he stood in the kitchen preparing their lunch.
"I believe four is enough for one day…. We have plenty of cucumbers, though." Severus replied.
"I don't want a cucumber." Lily frowned.
"We also have rice cakes." Severus offered.
"I don't want a rice cake, Sev. I want a chocolate." Lily huffed irritably.
"Well, I want a healthy mother and child. To achieve that goal, we've got rice cakes and cucumbers." Severus retorted.
Lily scowled at Severus but she gave up.
Walking over to the sofa, Lily lowered herself down with a hand on her abdomen.
Severus's black eyes watched Lily as she went, lighting on her bottom for just a moment.
Severus had fondly noticed that Lily's belly wasn't the only thing that had grown rounder……..
"Lily?" Severus called from the kitchen.
"What, Sev?" Lily asked, turning her head over to look at him.
"We've got celery too." Severus informed.
From the sofa, Lily sighed.
Severus smirked to himself while he finished preparing their meal.
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On the morning of Lily's last scheduled doctor's appointment, Severus rose first, waking Lily a bit later.
Letting her steady herself against him, Severus helped Lily out of bed and into the shower where he washed them both off gently.
"I can do it, Sev." Lily giggled while Severus's skilled hands massaged the hot water into her back, "You don't have to."
Severus didn't answer, he just bent his head and kissed Lily's shoulder.
Lily raised an arm up and cupped the side of his face, turning so her lips met his.
There with the hot water streaming over them, Severus and Lily kissed until they were nearly late.
Lily was hopeful that Severus would progress the kiss, but she tried not to take it as an insult when that didn't happen.
Severus maintained a brave face for Lily, but on the inside, he was quite nervous.
And Severus certainly wasn't trying to have his baby born in the shower…..
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Lily's appointment was with her doctor at St. Mungo's that morning and Severus squeezed her hand reassuringly while she laid on the table, bare except her paper gown, with her lower half covered in white sheets and her feet in stirrups.
The doctor that Lily usually saw had been called away, so she was attended by the physician on call.
Lily's regular doctor was female and Severus quite preferred that.
The temporary doctor, a stern, middle-aged man, squinted as he examined Lily's most intimate areas and Severus found himself squinting back at the man accusingly.
Lily looked over and saw Severus's face and she jerked his hand towards her in a little motion, causing him to glance over at her so she could flash a smile to help him relax.
After what seemed like years, the doctor finally withdrew from his examination of Lily and allowed her to sit up, though that was quite a task, and one not easily accomplished without Severus's help.
Putting his hand on her shoulder and allowing her to pull on his arm, Severus helped Lily out of the stirrups and into an upright position on the bed while the doctor busied himself by scribbling down notes on his pad of parchment.
"Well……." The doctor began, still staring down at the paper, "Everything looks decent, I suppose. I see you had some hypertension issues earlier……..that's still a bit elevated, but whatever you've done, I don't think you're in preeclampsia territory yet, so that's some improvement there…..."
Lily glanced over at Severus and Severus gave her a smug smirk, holding her hand in his.
Those rice cakes and cucumbers had paid off after all……
"You've read a fair bit and taken all those muggle classes, I assume?" The doctor asked Lily.
"Um….yes, sir. I have….er, we have." Lily nodded.
"Excellent." The doctor nodded, "Then you can go ahead and throw all of that out the window because you probably won't use it."
Severus scowled.
"...I beg your pardon, doctor?" Lily asked.
"Every young mother thinks they're a doctor after they do a little bit of self education." The doctor huffed sarcastically, "You're told to imagine how you want things to go and I'm here to tell you young lady, after doing this for thirty years, this never goes how you 'imagine' it will go. This is a dangerous life event, not a trip to Hogsmeade."
"Of course." Lily nodded politely, though she didn't appreciate the doctor's harsh words when she hadn't been rude or pushy about anything to begin with.
"Alright, then, as long as you understand that…...I suppose you two can be on your way." The doctor replied, "The due date remains the same, two weeks from now. But, you know….anytime at this point."
"...What?" Severus asked with wide eyes, his voice strained and hoarse.
The doctor looked over at Severus and replied mockingly, "I said anytime young man. Do you have a hearing problem?"
Lily felt Severus's grip on her hand suddenly turn iron tight, "The…..the child can come anytime?" Severus croaked.
The doctor looked at Lily and pretended to think for a moment before he replied very patronizingly, "No…...actually on second thought, it'll probably come some time in November or next year. What do you think?...Yes, anytime now."
The doctor stuffed another educational pamphlet in Lily's hands and then left the room.
Severus helped Lily into her clothes and Lily kept a smile on her face the entire time, but Severus scowled from anxiousness.
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When they sat on the sofa that evening after dinner, Lily felt the baby move suddenly and her hand flew to her side as they watched the muggle television in the living room.
"What's the matter?!" Severus asked quickly, seeing the sudden movement of Lily's hand out of the corner of his eye.
"The baby kicked." Lily said casually, blinking at Severus.
"Oh……" Severus replied, "Are you alright?"
"Yes, Sev, I'm fine." Lily smiled.
Severus nodded and turned back to the television but he stealthily kept one eye on Lily.
A short while later, Lily carefully stood from the sofa and Severus's black eyes widened as he watched her, "Where are you going?!?" Severus demanded.
"...To the washroom." Lily replied nonchalantly.
"Oh." Severus answered, a bit embarrassed.
"May I, please?" Lily asked with a laugh.
"Of course." Severus nodded.
Lily padded off down the hallway and Severus sat, watching the time closely until Lily returned.
After another hour, Lily went to bed and Severus followed behind her.
The next morning, Lily opened her eyes and she jumped, startled when she found herself staring into two black coal pits.
Lily gasped and tried to sit up.
Inches away from Lily's face, so close that she almost accidentally broke his nose with the swift movement from her shocked reaction, Severus gasped out, "Lily!...Are you having any pain?!?"
"No!" Lily cried in irritation, "I'm amazed I'm not having a heart attack, Sev! How long have you been there watching me?!"
"Let me look at the time." Severus replied, leaning over to see the hands on the muggle alarm clock.
Lily rolled over to stretch.
"Sev, I appreciate your concern, but you've got to relax." Lily sighed, placing a hand on her belly, "This is going to be a long two weeks."
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……..And it was a long two weeks.
Forget half-blood prince, potions master, Lily realized that she was really living with Severus Snape, the half-blood helicopter.
Though he tried to appear calm, it was apparent by his actions that he was a nervous wreck.
Morning, noon, and night, Severus practically lived on top of Lily, monitoring her.
Every breath that Lily drew, Severus wanted to know how the last one had gone, why she had taken that one, and how that particular breath made her feel.
Finally, the highly anticipated twenty-fifth of July arrived.
Lily felt fine, but Severus certainly didn't.
Severus had barely been sleeping, but the night before Lily's due date was awful.
Tossing and turning, bouncing from one nightmarish vision of death and doom to another, Severus woke up at least ten times to check on Lily.
But Lily slept peacefully…….
For once, that morning, Lily woke first and when Severus opened his eyes an hour later and found himself alone in bed, he leapt to his feet and swirled through the house like a frantic bat, searching for Lily.
Severus's quest ended when he found his pregnant love in the nursery.
"Lily!" Severus gasped in relief.
"Good morning, Sev." Lily smiled over at him.
Severus, despite his worry, couldn't help but notice how radiant Lily's cheeks looked that morning, how full her lips were…….
From the richness of her red hair, to the exaggerated new curves of her body, Severus always saw Lily as a standard of beauty, but that morning, she seemed to be particularly breath-taking.
"How are you feeling?" Severus asked quietly, watching as Lily unpacked and re-folded a drawer of onesies.
"Perfectly fine." Lily smiled, "If that changes, I'll let you know."
"Lily, the child's coming." Severus said urgently, his black eyes flickering over her actions while she worked.
Lily looked over at Severus and smiled at him in amusement, "Is it, now?" Lily asked with a laugh, laying a hand against her belly, "How do you figure that?"
"You're nesting." Severus replied observantly, "You need to lie down and rest to save your energy."
"Sev, I can't rest because I can't sit still." Lily replied with a chuckle.
Severus walked over and stood behind Lily, wrapping his arms around her to support the heavy weight of her belly as he kissed the top of her head.
"Love you." Lily whispered.
Severus's voice was so low it was barely audible as he whispered back, "...Love you too."
Severus was on pins and needles all day.
Lily was finally getting a bit anxious too, but she forced herself not to be nervous.
There was no need, apparently.
The twenty-fifth of July passed without consequence.
Then the twenty-sixth……
The twenty-seventh………
By July thirtieth, Lily had scheduled another appointment with her doctor to determine what her course of action should be.
Severus was beside himself, fearing that something had gone wrong.
Though he never voiced that concern to Lily………
That night, just like every other night, Severus cradled Lily close and kissed her lovingly until her eyelids grew heavy……..
Dreaming about what the doctor would say and do the following day, Severus slept soundly that night, but when Lily woke to go to the bathroom in the early hours of July thirty-first, she felt a dampness between her legs while she washed her hands.
The volume was so low, Lily didn't think much of it and cleaned herself up.
Wondering if she should wake Severus when the slight leak continued, Lily put on a sanitary pad, wrapped her robe around herself, and padded downstairs to watch television for a while.
Lily felt no pain, only finding the slight leak irritating.
Curiously, she glanced over at the time on the wall clock.
Severus would be up soon anyway, there was no need to disturb him.
Not yet…….