Three For A Girl
Cygnus' wife is wailing, and she has been for the past hour. The bed's rattling as she shifts and writhes, despite the Healer's soothing words. Cygnus is meant to be out of the way downstairs with Bellatrix, Andromeda and their governess. He shouldn't be listening to this women's business. But Druella's pregnancy has been a difficult one; there has been sickness and bleeding, and Cygnus wants to make sure that his wife is safe. This Healer birthed their older girls and Cygnus trusts her, but love and concern outweigh trust. He's pacing up and down the corridor listening to Druella's wails, glancing at his watch every few moments. It's been a long labour. She woke up this morning clawing at his chest and gasping that the contractions had started. Now it's past five the evening and the minutes are creeping by. How much longer will it go on for? Is a difficult birth the sign of an ill baby? Does a long labour damage the child? It is a world of feminine mysteries which Cygnus has no desire to be included him, but he now wishes that he knew these crucial facts. Surely the Black library has a book on this, but this is no time to run up there to check. What if something happens while he's gone? He needs to be here for his wife and child.
Minutes crawl by, with a few more grunts and murmurs from the bedroom. Cygnus paces to the end of the corridor, then spins on his heal and walks back to the staircase, then back and forth three more times. Four. Five. He reminds himself that he is lucky Druella's labour started on a Saturday and he's been able to spend all day here. For Bellatrix's birth he was allowed a day off work, but the birth of a second daughter did not warrant such generosity from the department, and by the time he got home Andromeda was three hours old. They had named her after the Aethiopian princess sacrificed to a sea monster- a more placid woman than the Amazonian warrior whom their oldest is named for, though little has it proved to be true. Both Cygnus' daughters are headstrong little girls, with a fieriness that Cygnus has not yet been able to dampen. The birth of a sibling should do them good- they'll see that Druella's pride in her newborn is something to aspire to. A home-maker, a mother, and a woman with a strong pureblood marriage and loyalty to her House and husband. If Cygnus' daughters achieve that, he will have done his job as their father well.
"Mr Black?" asks a tentative voice. Cygnus wheels around. The Healer is at the bedroom door, looking out at him.
"What? What is it?" he demands, bolting down the corridor towards her.
"The baby is born,"
He didn't hear it cry. Cygnus panics, elbows the Healer out of the way and rushes through the door. His wife is sitting up in bed holding a bundle of swaddling to her chest.
"Druella?" he breathes, striding over to her.
"My darling". Her voice is weak. Cygnus drops to his knees beside her to see the baby wrapped in the blanket, suckling on her breast. It is small and pink, with a fluff of light hair on its head. His third child. Cygnus kisses the infant's soft forehead, then Druella's clammy one.
"Is it healthy? I didn't hear it cry," he demands.
"Yes. Yes, she's perfect,"
"She?" he repeats, looking into his wife's eyes. There's a flicker of worry in hers.
"It's a girl, Cygnus," she murmurs.
"Oh,"
"That's… that's alright, isn't it?"
She is exhausted and sweaty, and he hastily answers, "Yes, of course it's alright. It's wonderful,"
Druella starts to tell him that the baby did cry, just quietly, but Cygnus cuts her off with a kiss. He wraps an arm around her and strokes the baby's fuzzy hair. Bellatrix and Andy have dark hair like Druella, but the wisps on this baby's crown are blondish, like Cygnus' mother. This child's face looks less squashed and scarlet and goblin than he remembers Bella and Andromeda's looking when they were first born. She is beautiful, and Cygnus can tell that she is strong by the way she is feeding hungrily. She is a perfect healthy baby. But she is a girl. Cygnus had tried not to get his hopes up for a boy but it had been difficult not to. After two daughters, wasn't it only reasonable that a man should want a son? Alphard is wrong in the head and Walburga and Orion have no children. It is Cygnus' duty, therefore, to pass on the Black name. How can he do that if his marriage produces only daughters? He wants a boy, his boy, to teach and lead and help to grow into a man, like his father did for him. A son to follow in his footsteps. There is more to worry about with girls, too. Cygnus is not angry at Druella, it is not her fault, but…if only, if only the placid infant in her arms had been a son.
"She's exquisite, isn't she?" breathes Druella.
"Yes," he mumbles, then remembers where he is and what's just happened. "What about you? Are you alright?"
"I will be. It was…a long day,"
"Do you want to rest? I can go downstairs if you'd prefer," he offers, and tells himself that it is not to get away from facing the disappointment of his child's sex.
Druella shakes her head. "Would you like to hold her?"
The baby, Cygnus notices, has stopped feeding and is staring up at its- her- mother with huge eyes, eyes which are neither Rosier nor Black. What a strange ethereal creature she is.
"Yes," Cygnus mumbles again, and Druella hands the bundle over, reminding him to be careful with the child's head. Cygnus rests the baby's neck and head in the crook of his elbow, using his other arm to steady her body, getting used to the weight in his arms. She feels fragile and warm. Comfortable. Her little pink mouth is closed and her saucer eyes gaze upwards, past Cygnus and up to the bedroom ceiling. And suddenly, watching her, Cygnus is overcome with breathlessness, delight, devotion, pride, awe. His child. A new human made from his and Druella's love. Darling Druella, who is now smiling at him as she wipes her tired eyes. Cygnus beams back. What a gift she's given him; a third beautiful Black baby. More of the frustration and satisfaction his daughters already bring him. Perhaps this child will settle the older two; she'll be their baby, they'll be her heroines. It won't be the same as Cygnus himself being a hero to his son, but he will be able to watch with pride as his children become a trio of friends. Three healthy girls. Cygnus has nothing to be disappointed about that. The infant squirms in his arms and Cygnus turns his smile towards her. Tiny and strong. She is a girl- but that, Cygnus decides as he gazes at her, is enough.