Chapter 42- First Words
When Ruby walked down into the basement she was a bag of nerves. Her father was sat at his desk staring at the wall, the wall was completely plastered with family pictures.
"Dad?" He didn't answer her. Ruby walked behind him and then conjured a chair so she could sit next to him. She followed his eye line and saw that he was staring at a picture of Ruby taken moments after she was born.
"It doesn't seem like twenty one years ago, Rubes." He said softly.
"How soon did you find out Mom was pregnant?" She asked, pleased that he was at least talking to her.
"Not until…twenty weeks I think it was."
"That long?"
"Yeah, after the werewolf project she was so exhausted she had to take six months off work, she was sick a lot and she wasn't sleeping properly…I think you saved her."
"Saved her?"
"Yeah. She decided that she wanted to find a cure in her sixth year, she worked on it so hard after the war it was like nothing else mattered. She pushed everything away sometimes. I went for two weeks without seeing her sleep once, you know what she gets like."
"Yeah."
"When she discovered the cure she was delighted, obviously, then there was so much happening, trials, conferences, meetings, legal stuff. That took up a month but when it all went away, she was lost."
"She didn't have something to work to anymore?"
"Exactly, she started to get foggy again, it was a bad time. One Sunday I managed to get her dressed and to the Burrow. Harry was sitting next to her, talking in her head, trying to bring her out of herself, she got annoyed with him badgering him about eating so she grabbed a cinnamon bun and almost choked on it just to shut him up." Her father laughed slightly.
"That's when you figured it out?"
"It took about half an hour until she started throwing up. At first we thought it was just because she ate it so quickly but then Mom sent Dad to get Poppy and I took her up to the bathroom. She started doing some spells and stuff, Eliza was telling her not to worry and that she was fine…"
"I bet she was."
"Yeah, then all of a sudden Poppy burst out laughing and pulled Eliza into a hug, then she stood up and hugged me. I thought she'd gone mad! She darted out of the room and came back in with one of Mom's pregnancy books and passed it to Eliza."
"What did Mom do?" Her father smiled and Ruby knew what was coming.
"She smiled, Rubes, she smiled. And she barely stopped for days. You saved her Ruby, you saved her." Her father pulled her into a hug and Ruby held him tightly, tears stinging the back of her eyes.
"Be happy for me Dad, please." Her father pulled back and kissed her on the forehead.
"Oh, I am Ruby, I promise. You'll always be my little girl though, always."
"I know, please don't kill Scorpius, he's a good man."
"I know he is. I'm happy for you, sorry for walking off, sometimes I need to brood."
"Will you come back up now?" Her father nodded and they walked back up into the kitchen.
Scorpius was sat at the kitchen table talking quietly with Ruby's mother, his smile slipped off his face when he saw Ruby return. She tried to smile reassuringly at him.
"Congratulations Scorpius." Her father said, holding out his hand for Scorpius to shake.
"What? Oh, thanks…Mr Weasley, sir." Scorpius shook his hand and Ruby's father laughed.
"Fred, please. Where are the terror twins?"
"Upstairs, tea Fred?"
"Yes thanks, how are we keeping them quiet?"
"No Skybeams for the whole summer if they tell anyone." Her mother said simply.
"Eliza! The whole summer!" Her father exclaimed.
"Yes, and that goes for you too."
"You'd take away my Skybeam?" He mocked.
"No, but I'd make it very uncomfortable for you to ride it, or do a number of other things as well."
"Mom!"
"Privacy is important Ruby. Now, Scorpius was telling me about your plans for the flat." Ruby laughed and sat next to Scorpius, his hand slipping into hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Come on in, Ruby. Where's Scorpius?" Penny said, looking around and whispering.
"Just popped to the loo, oh, there he is."
"Quick, Amber's coming!" He said, almost pushing Ruby into the exam room. Penny laughed and shut the door.
"Right, up you get Ruby. How are you feeling?" She said, pulling out a clipboard and pointing Ruby to the bed. Ruby jumped on and Scorpius sat next to her.
"Like crap."
"Excellent, sounds about right. Let's see how we're getting on." Ruby nodded and pulled up her top. It was the second time she had seen Penny and things seemed to be progressing well.
"How's Vic getting on?" Penny asked, connecting Ruby to wires.
"Bit teary." Ruby said, causing Scorpius to snort. "Alright, very teary. I think she was hoping that Teddy would be popping back for Dad's-pretend and Uncle Ron's-actual birthday, he didn't say he was going to. Uncle Harry said he's fine."
"How about Ginny?"
"I'm trying to avoid her, she's too perceptive, and Aunt Hermione and Grandma. They're like bloody pregnancy-bloodhounds! I don't like the twins being back at Hogwarts, Mom could threaten them easier when they were at home."
"She's sent Fred though." Scorpius said, smiling.
"Has she?" Penny asked, laughing.
"Yeah, just to keep the fear alive." Ruby said, failing to stifle a yawn.
"Well, you're telling everyone this week aren't you?"
"Yep, at the bonfire. Are you coming?" Scorpius asked, holding Ruby's hand and looking up at Penny.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Is it true your Dad's asked Fred for help with the fireworks?"
"Yes, he wants a different colour for each person so that when the Manor burns it will be like everyone burning it, he's really got into it!"
"So your parents don't suspect?" She asked, looking at Scorpius.
"Your mother does."
"Yeah, I think she knows but Dad's too busy organising Friday night."
"Well, let's check everything is alright then." Penny waved her wand over Ruby's stomach and she felt a small volt as the spell hit.
"How does it look?" Scorpius asked, looking at Penny with desperate eyes.
"Give it a minute. Have you done this module yet?"
"Briefly, sorry, I'm impatient." Ruby smiled and stroked his hand with her thumb.
"Questions time. Are you sleeping?"
"Like a log."
"Excellent. Eating normally?"
"No, because anything that smells nice makes me throw up." Ruby replied, she hadn't realised how much she would miss cinnamon.
"I'll see what I can do about that. How's your concentration?"
"Fine, when I'm awake."
"Good. Any pain or bleeding?"
"No, nothing."
"Cramps?"
"No."
"Headaches?"
"No."
"Marvellous, well the heartbeat is…here you go. Tell me what you think?" Penny waved her wand and the room was filled with the gentle sound of a baby's heartbeat. Ruby listened for a few seconds before smiling.
"It sounds good."
"It sounds perfect to me." Penny agreed. Scorpius nodded and kissed Ruby's hand.
"Do you want to see me again for the fifteen week?"
"Can we?"
"Of course, I can see you the whole way through if you want. We'll play it by ear. Now I need a blood and pee sample and then you can go."
"Thanks Penny."
"Yes, thank you Penny."
"You're welcome, what time do you finish?"
"Six, have you got time for the project?" Ruby asked.
"I think so, come and see me after lunch if you're free."
Ruby and Scorpius said their goodbye's and walked towards Ruby's office trying not to look too happy.
When they entered the office Kyle stood up and almost ran over to them.
"How did it go?" He asked.
"Fine, everything looks normal." Scorpius said, as Ruby went to turn on the kettle.
"Marvellous, Ruby I've left a ladder fall in five for you."
"Thanks sir." Kyle left the Ruby and Scorpius moved over to Ruby and kissed her softly.
"Friday night." He said, putting his hands on her stomach.
"Friday night." She agreed, that left two days before the world would know, she was both looking forward to it and dreading it.
Scorpius left a few minutes later to return to class and Ruby treated a grumpy old man with a slipped disc and then returned to her office to find her mother sat at her desk, Kyle was passing her a cup of tea.
"There you are Ruby, I'll be in five if you need me. Linton is dealing with admissions so get up to the project and I'll send for you if I need you." Ruby nodded and Kyle left.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming in?"
"I wanted to surprise you, how did you…"
"Everything's fine, I promise." Ruby said, bending down and kissing her mother on the cheek.
"Oh, I'm so happy!" Her mother said, beaming.
"Me too, come on, Penny is expecting me, or us I suppose."
To say that Penny was surprised to see Eliza was clearly an understatement.
"You better be here to see a Healer or…" Penny looked around to check they wouldn't be overheard, "…check in with Ruby about this morning."
"Well, I've checked in with Ruby and I'm talking to you so…yes."
"Eliza, you shouldn't be back at work!" Penny said, with an almost whining voice.
"I'm not, I'm back at research." Her mother said firmly.
"What does that mean?" Ruby asked.
"It means that the Ministry doesn't know she's here, Merlin Eliza, if Minerva finds out then…"
"I'll take the blame, now come on before Fred thinks I'm gone too long."
"Dad doesn't know you're working?"
"Come on!" Her mother said, ushering them into the project room.
It took another five minutes for Ruby's mother to convince them to proceed but when Mrs Longbottom arrived they started the experiment with the new enhanced Potion that had only finished brewing the day before.
"Memory?"
"Hogwarts graduation, from Minerva again." Ruby wrote it down and then looked up at the patient.
It took about a minute for the Potion to take effect but when it did the effect was startling. Mrs Longbottom looked around the room before resting on Ruby's mother.
"Lily?" She asked, her voice so quiet it was barely audible. Ruby looked at her mother and Penny, both looked surprised.
"Mrs Longbottom, can you hear me?" Asked Penny, Mrs Longbottom nodded but didn't take her eyes off Eliza.
"Lily, is that…?"
"My name is Eliza." Her mother said, it clearly took a lot of courage for her to say the words and Ruby felt pride for her mother gush up inside of her.
"Eliza Potter? I…Where's Neville…and Frank? I feel very…strange."
"Are you in pain?" Penny asked, Mrs Longbottom looked over at her.
"No…it's been like a nightmare…a very long nightmare."
"We've been trying to help you." Penny said.
"Yes, I heard you…like through a tunnel."
"Do you know who you are?"
"Alice…Alice Longbottom. Where's Frank? Can you help him?"
"We will, we just need to monitor you for a little bit, we've given you a new Potion."
"The memories, who's were they?"
"Today's was Minerva McGonagall's, we also used Mrs Augusta Longbottom's."
"Yes…I remember. This is…overwhelming. Are you really Eliza Potter? Lily's daughter?"
"Yes I am."
"You were a twin…what was his name? Henry?"
"Harry."
"Is he okay?" Her mother nodded and then Mrs Longbottom looked around at Ruby.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Ruby Weasley, a trainee Healer."
"Weasley? You look like Eliza and Lily."
"Ruby's my daughter, I married Fred Weasley."
"He was a twin, they once levitated each other around the room when I was babysitting them, they were still in the crib."
"Sounds like Dad." Said Ruby smiling. This progress was remarkable.
"Where's my Neville? Did she get him?"
"He's fine, he's…" A buzzing from Ruby's wand made her jump and her mother stopped talking.
"Sorry, Kyle needs me. I'll be back as soon as I can." Ruby passed the notes to her mother, kissed her on the head and smiled at Mrs Longbottom before leaving the room and running back to her office.
Kyle met her outside, his wand in his hand.
"There you are!" He said, looking distressed.
"Sorry I was doing the project, what's happened?"
"Auror's coming in, that's all I know."
"Aurors?"
"Yes, two of them."
"Do you…"
"I don't know who, you'll find out soon. Can you focus, Ruby?"
"Yes, of course." Said Ruby, confidence making her nod.
The admission portal swirled and her Uncle Harry came through looking pale but unharmed, he was pulling a bed behind him, the patient had bright turquoise hair.
A/N Don't be mad! Don't be mad! Reviews would be appreciated, as long as they are not angry reviews!
**Hidden Truth will be updated soon, I promise**
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- Don't forget there are 4 Weasley women pregnant at the moment (one is about to pop), so I'm sure they'll get a George in there somewhere!
LUG-14- Thanks, you'll hear from the Malfoy's soon!