Chapter XIII:

With less than two months until Ginny's due date, Madam Pomfrey decided to shift the focus of BAM from parenting techniques back to the threat at hand for most of them- labour. She started with a lesson on the female biology that had Ron's face clashing with his hair while Harry and Blaise both went the colour of Peeves. Draco managed to maintain his composure, although he was pulling at his collar a little uncomfortably. The next lesson Padma asked how much pain labour would entail, she had a notepad and was making scrupulous notes. "Well, Miss Patel," the mediwitch said. "I won't lie to you. It will be agonising." Hermione raised her hand. "Yes Miss Granger?"

"What about epidural?" At the blank look on the matron's face she tried, "or any other type of pain medication?" Maybe wizards didn't have epidural yet. It was fairly new to muggle hospitals in the grand scheme of things.

"I'm afraid wizards don't use muggle medication during labour," Madam Pomfrey did genuinely sound apologetic, but Hermione wasn't having it.

"Oh no. I am having an epidural."

"No you're not," ordered Draco. "I'm not having some muggle medication killing my child!"

"It's my damn body!" She snapped. "If you want to swap places you can go medication free."

Everyone was glancing between them, the reality show back on after a period of relative peace in public. "We'll discuss this later," Draco said certainly.

She scoffed. "Keep telling yourself that."

"To return attention to the class," said Madam Pomfrey a little frostily. "The Ministry has provided a video of labour to prepare you." The sights seen in that caused Ron to pass out, and this time Draco was even more clearly flustered.

"Fine," he whispered, barely audible over the screams of 'I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU YOU!' On the video. "Take the medication."


Next up were breathing techniques, which the witches not getting any epidural would be needing a lot more than her. The boys had to sit behind them with their legs around them and hold onto them to give them support. It should have induced awkward laughter, and for a couple of people it did, but most of them were comfortable with each other by now. For Hermione, however, it was the first time Draco had touched her in such a way since January and it sent distressing shivers down her. He asked her if it was alright first but she still automatically shifted away as soon as his legs touched her, which seemed to hurt him only a little, the greater emotion was regret, paired with acceptance. She managed to accept his hands and legs on her, although that didn't stop her rapid heartbeat, then she felt a fluttering in her stomach. "Draco," she put her hands on his shocked ones and moved them onto her bump.

"Hermione, what are you-" he stopped as he felt it.

"Is that a kick?" The couples around them noticed what was going on and started cheering and clapping in a celebratory fashion. Her nerves banished in that moment, Hermione just grinned back at them, at him. "Our little Scorpius."

"Or Seraphina!" She reminded him.

He rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that."


Things weren't all sunshine and rainbows. Draco had been receiving endless howlers from his father that were never explicit in why he was angry, probably to avoid shaming Lucius' personal or the Malfoy name amongst the others at the school or by telling their parents. She saw the letters land regularly at breakfast. Her husband tried to open them in the privacy of the common room to avoid the very same consequence, but sometimes he left them too long and they exploded in the Great Hall.

"Looks like Daddy's little angel's on thin ice for something," chuckled Ron.

"What do you think he did?" Joined in Harry. "Scratched off his Junior Death Eater mark? Spent his inheritance on a-"

"Stop it!" Hermione shouted. The Gryffindors around them, and a couple of others from nearby tables, looked over.

The boys both held up their hands. Exchanging a look like 'pregnant women, am I right?' She huffed, pulled Ginny up, linking arms and turning away.

They couldn't make a swift exit of course. Ginny was waddling even slower than her, clutching at her back. She said she was exhausted this trimester, with abdominal achiness and sometimes heartburn, but she was ecstatic that she wouldn't have to do her exams in this state. They were allowed to ask for special consideration and do them after they'd given birth but Hermione thought it might be even more difficult when there was a crying child demanding her attention so she'd prefer to get them done sooner rather than later.


Her first N.E.W.T was Transfiguration. It was a little unnerving to be sat in such a different alphabetical position in the hall than usual, surrounded by different people because of her new last name, but Hermione tried to block out her surroundings and focus on the paper. McGonagall stood at the head of the hall. "You may begin."

Immediately, Hermione flipped open to the front page and scanned question one. Okay... 'Which of the following spells is a human transfiguration? Cr-'

A stabbing in her groin tightened and she clutched at it, dropping her quill. What in Godric's name? She was over three months off her due date! Breathing, right, breathing. In, and out. Okay. 'Which of the following spells i-'

"Ow!" She shrieked as another one hit.

"Hermione?" Draco swivelled around in the chair in front of her and reached out to her.

"Mr and Mrs Malfoy!" McGonagall cried out, but when she saw Hermione's expression she helped her up, pushing Draco back down despite his protests and handing her off to Madam Pomfrey, here to watch in case something like this happened.


"Is it too early?" Asked Hermione anxiously once Madam Pomfrey had done some tests. "Am I losing the baby?"

"No," said the mediwitch shortly. "You're experiencing something that feels similar to what muggles call braxton hicks contractions in the sense that they feel real but are not. Your baby is going to be quite powerful, it's magic is already developing."

She glanced down at her stomach. So it was just magic? "Will this happen a lot?"

"It's usually intermittent," Madam Pomfrey said. "For a few weeks. It shouldn't really hurt." She was right. It didn't hurt too much, it had mainly just been the shock and panic.

"What's going on? Let me through!" Draco's voice ordered as he pushed past students and the matron herself.

"We're good," Hermione said with a smile. "Seraphina's just practising some wandless magic."

"Wandless magic?" He grinned. "Our kid's a super genius!" Then his face morphed into a frown. It was quite amusing to watch. "Seraphina? It's Scorpius, you demon woman!" As this pregnancy progressed she was getting a mother's intuition the child she would give birth to would become a confident, independent woman. Not that she'd love it any less if it was a mama's boy instead, but she wasn't so sure Draco should latch onto Scorpius just yet.