Chapter 47 Change in the air
"…like delivered them? Like actually, you know?" Immy asked, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
"She wants to know if you saw Aunt Ginny's…"
"Yes, I think we know what she wants to know, Annabel." Ruby's mother interrupted.
"I've blocked it out, I literally can't remember any of the…logistics." Ruby replied, with a yawn.
"Have the picked godparents yet?" Pansy asked, turning back from looking at Professor Longbottom's bookcase.
Ruby and her mother were at Hogwarts, delivering the good news to the kids, except Lily, who had been allowed home for the weekend to meet her new siblings.
"Neville here is Sam's godfather." Ruby's mother said, smiling at her friend.
"Still can't quite wrap my head around everything." Neville said quietly. "Everything seems to have…it's a whirlwind!" Ruby smiled at him.
"I don't see why they didn't name him George?" Louie asked, as bluntly as ever.
"They wanted some new names, apparently." Ruby replied, glancing at her mother.
"So we can't call Lizzie, Elizabeth?" Hugo asked.
"No, she's Lizzie." Ruby's mother replied.
"Is Teddy going to be out of hospital by the summer holidays?" Immy asked.
"Definitely, he'll probably be home in a week." Ruby replied with absolute certainty.
"What about the other Auror? Alice's boyfriend?"
"Hamish, he'll be in for a while."
"Will he be able to walk and everything?"
"We don't know." Ruby said quietly, she hated not knowing how the recovery was going to progress, she hated seeing Scorpius so worried.
"When's your baby due?" Pansy asked suddenly, looking at Ruby's stomach as if it would suddenly display the due date.
"Around Christmas."
"Cool, are you going to find out if it's a girl or a boy?"
"I'm not sure, we've got a lot on at the moment, in fact, I'm due in at half two, I better go." Ruby said, standing up.
"I'll come with you." Her mother said, reaching out to hug the kids.
"Go back through Filius' office, he wants to talk to you." Neville said, standing up and kissing Ruby's mother on the cheek.
"Why?" Eliza asked.
"Not you, he wants to talk to Ruby."
"Why?" Ruby asked.
"No idea. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, can you look in on Alice for me? I don't think she's eating enough."
"Sure, I'll go to the Burrow and get some of Grandma's cookies." Ruby said, she hugged her sisters and cousins and then left the office with her mother.
They walked silently to the office and when Eliza knocked on the door the Headmaster invited them in.
"Ah, excellent, come on in ladies, take a seat." He said, conjuring two chairs and a tea tray.
"Hello Professor Flitwick, Professor Longbottom said you wanted to see me." Ruby said, feeling nervous.
"Yes, I do, but first, congratulations on your pregnancy, it is wonderful news!"
"Thank you." Ruby replied with a smile. It was strange having everyone know. Even now she could see the Daily Prophet on the corner of the desk with the Headline-'Malfoy Manor destroyed! Boy-Who-Lived Father Again! Girl-Who-Jumped cures the Longbottoms and soon to be Grandmother! Is this the Greatest Day since the end of the War? '
The headline covered the whole of the front page and was without pictures.
"And the Project, Eliza! What an astounding accomplishment!" Flitwick continued, looking at his former student. The portraits around the office all broke into applause and Ruby saw her mother blush deeply.
"It was a team effort." She mumbled.
"I wouldn't mind seeing the equations, Eliza." Dumbledore said, Eliza looked up at him and nodded.
"I think Minerva is going to bring them in, she just wants to go through them first."
"Excellent."
They started to drink their tea and Flitwick and Ruby's mother chatted about the new twins. Ruby started thinking about her final project write up when her mother nudged her gently.
"Sorry, what?" She said, blinking and trying to concentrate.
"I see your concentration hasn't improved much from your school days, Miss Weasley." Flitwick chuckled.
"Not really, Professor."
"I was just asking if you have started applying for jobs yet."
"Oh, no, I'll probably move over to clinics until the baby's here." Ruby replied, her face failing to hide her disappointment over how boring she would find the work.
"Well, perhaps you could consider this." Flitwick waved his wand and a file of parchment fell into Ruby's lap. She looked at the title.
Application for Matron at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
"Hogwarts? Oh, that's an interesting idea Ruby." Her mother said, the tone of voice made it quite clear that she already knew about the idea. She looked up at her mother who carefully avoided her gaze.
"You want me to work here?" She asked, looking at Flitwick.
"I think you would be an excellent candidate, we will obviously have to interview you with the other applicants."
"But…I don't have much experience and…don't you need Paediatric experience at least."
"I have it on good authority that you excelled in your Paediatric exams, experience can come with the job."
"But…"
"Just give it a thought, Miss Weasley, the application closes in two weeks."
"Okay."
"Two weeks, Ruby, did you hear that two weeks!" Her mother emphasized.
"Yes, I heard Mom, don't bug me." Ruby replied, looking at the application with trepidation.
When Ruby arrived at work for her two afternoon shift she was still thinking about the application. She walked into her office and noticed that they had a new intern. Kyle jumped up and walked through to the main office.
"Congratulations Ruby, Penny told me all about the delivery, well done!"
"Thanks sir, I'm just glad they were all okay." She replied, putting her bag on her desk.
"Yes, you did very well, twins can be tricky! Anyway, this is Jessica Evans, she'll be with us for two weeks, last intern." He muttered the last part under his breath and Ruby smiled as she looked at the new girl. She looked terrified.
"Hi, I'm Ruby, nice to meet you." She held out her hand and Jessica shook it, her hands were shaking.
"Hello, I mean Hi. It's lovely to meet you."
Ruby sat down and pulled out her project plan.
"Don't start on your write up, I've got a patient in room two, broom verses tree." Kyle said, glancing at Ruby's parchment and then wondering back to the office. "Take Evans." Ruby stood up and pulled out her wand.
"Ready?" She asked. Jessica nodded and picked up her own wand, her hands were shaking so much she dropped it.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, fine, just nervous."
"Why? Haven't you had enough placements?"
"I'm a transfer from a hospital in France, it's my first placement."
"Oh, well, come on then." Ruby and Jessica found a sobbing teenager in room two.
"He shouldn't have been on the broom! I told him!" A middle-aged woman wailed.
"Hello, Joshua, how are you feeling?" Ruby asked, picking up the clipboard and glancing at the observations.
"I hurted my shoulder." He said, his voice clearly displaying that he had some kind of learning disability, it explained why he was not at Hogwarts, and why his mother had told him not to fly.
"My name is Ruby, can I have a look at your shoulder?" Ruby asked, putting down the clipboard and perching on the bed.
"Ruby is like a gem!" Joshua said, halting his tears for a moment.
"I know, do you know any other gems?" Ruby asked, casually waving her wand over the injured joint.
"Emeralds are my favourite, aren't they Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie." His mother said, trying to smile through the worry.
"What's your name? Is you a gem as well?" Joshua asked, Jessica had a look like a rabbit caught in headlights.
"This is Jessica, she's going to get you some Potions to make your arm feel better. What's your mommy's favourite gem, do you know?" Joshua looked thoughtful for a moment and Ruby muttered Potion requirements to a clearly still scared Jessica.
"Is it diamonds, Mommy? Like what Daddy put in your ring?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Can you show Ruby the diamonds?"
"Of course." Mrs Green reached over a shaking left hand to show Ruby her wedding ring.
"That's beautiful."
"Have you got's any diamonds?"
"No."
"Hasn't your husband given you any?" Joshua asked, looking annoyed.
"No, I'm not married."
"But you're going to have a baby, you have to be married to have a baby, right Mommy?" Ruby exchanged a startled look with Mrs Green who glanced at Ruby's stomach flushing with embarrassment.
"Joshua, I've told you it's rude to tell when women are pregnant."
"How do you know?" Ruby asked, amazed.
"He always knows, we're not sure how." Mrs Green said, almost fondly.
Jessica returned with the Potions and Ruby checked them carefully before convincing Joshua to take them. When he had the pain disappeared from his face and he became drowsy. His mother lowered him back onto the pillows.
"You should tell the Daddy he has to be marrying you." Joshua mumbled before falling asleep.
"I'm sorry, he has no filter!"
"It's fine, we'll keep him under observation for a few hours but I don't think they'll be any lasting damage." Mrs Green thanked Ruby profusely and the two trainee Healers left the room and returned to the office.
By the end of Ruby's shift she couldn't fail to notice that Kyle kept asking her to treat under-eighteens, she might as well have been on Penny's ward.
As she pulled off her work robes and packed up her bag Kyle came out of his office with his briefcase.
"Excellent work today, Ruby. What do you make of Evans?"
"Thanks, not sure, she seems too scared."
"We'll see how she gets on, she may have to graduate late if she can't even bring herself to talk to patients. Goodnight." Kyle was nearly out of the office when Ruby called him back.
"So you think I should apply for Hogwarts then?"
"I think it would be a good career decision but it is yours to make." Kyle replied with a small smile. He gave her a wave and left her to her thoughts.
When Ruby arrived at Teddy's room she found Vic in there showing Teddy wallpaper samples for the nursery.
"Look! Ruby's here, she doesn't want to see wallpaper samples, she wants to talk!" Teddy said, somewhat desperately.
"Have you chosen things for the nursery yet?" Vic asked, standing up and giving her cousin a kiss on the cheek.
"No, have you got some nice ones?"
"Crap." Teddy muttered.
Vic and Ruby spent the next fifteen minutes talking about wallpaper, after five minutes Teddy drifted off the sleep.
"I think we're going to go for red." Vic concluded with a yawn.
"I like the pale green, Scorpius will probably…"
"Ruby?" Ruby looked up and saw Alice loitering in the doorway looking distraught.
"Alice! What is it?" She asked, springing up and rushing to her friend.
"He's never going to walk again…never…Spanswick just told us!"
Vic gasped from behind Ruby and stood up so they could both hug Alice.
"He'll adapt Alice, people do." Ruby said gently.
"He said he wants to break up with me!"
"He's not thinking clearly, he's on lots of Potions." Ruby replied, fear stabbing at her heart.
"I…I…don't know what to do! What am I supposed to do?" Ruby and Vic moved Alice into the hallway and shut the door so they wouldn't wake Teddy.
"You're staying with us tonight, no arguments." Vic said firmly, Ruby nodded and Alice agreed with a strangled sob.
A/N Sorry for the delay, life keeps getting in the way!
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- Thanks, I just thought it would be nice for them to have some more traditional names.
girlwholived- Haley Potter- Thanks.
Karlien- Thanks!
Reading Dorkk- Thanks. No, Sam is just Sam.
Squinttern- Thanks, I loved watching your progress through the stories, you must be a fast reader!