p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ron you look fine, stop fussing." Hermione heard herself moan at her husband. He was trying to sort his tie which hung around his neck in a limp knot./p
p class="MsoNormal""They don't care what you look like," she continued to fuss, going back over to Ron and fixing his tie for him all the while hiding a slight smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron nodded curtly to himself before stepping forward in time with Hermione and heading for the door of the small fertility clinic./p
p class="MsoNormal"It had been after doing some research that Hermione had picked this clinic. There were very lenient and open minded and so she thought they might manage to cope with a pure-blood wizard./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron may have been in the muggle-heavy part of London many times now but he still felt out of place and flustered whenever he had to cope with muggle interactions. Especially money./p
p class="MsoNormal"This clinic however- and much to the relief of Ron- was run by the NHS. The clinic tested for a multitude of fertility problems and having had more than three miscarriages Hermione's own doctor had referred her and Ron for further tests./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron, despite having been given information about the process, was very nervous. He had never been in a muggle doctor's- off course he couldn't have because most medical ailments could be solved by magic in the wizarding world. But magic wasn't hermione's first language, she wanted science to explain things that magic could treat./p
p class="MsoNormal"The clinic- a family planning clinic- as they liked to call them, was in a very old building, a building so old and low to the ground it seemed to be ashamed at its use. In the days when this building was new sex was certainly never talked about./p
p class="MsoNormal"As they walked in through the typical sliding automatic doors the inside of the clinic was modern and pristine white./p
p class="MsoNormal"The whole room appeared to be based on a pastel palette and reminded Hermione of old medical dramas on tv. There were two distinct colours, white for the ceiling, walls and floors and each piece of furniture, a dark pastel green which could only be described as 'scrub coloured'./p
p class="MsoNormal"Of course Hermione had tried her best to prepare her husband for the general visit she had never thought about explaining common British behaviour. Ron had headed straight to the chairs before being steered in the proper direction of the front desk. He frowned, confused but thankfully knew better than to say anything./p
p class="MsoNormal"As they turned to the seats she pulled him a little closer and hissed in his ear,/p
p class="MsoNormal""They don't know if you've arrived unless they see your letter, then your computer file pops up and they send it through to the doctor."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron nodded, going straight for a leaflet on contraception before Hermione slapped his hand away./p
p class="MsoNormal""That stuff prevents pregnancy," she blushed slightly and her husband looked sheepish./p
p class="MsoNormal"There were so many things he didn't know in this world, which was why Hermione tended to stay away but this was one thing, one thing she felt a muggle doctor could help better./p
p class="MsoNormal"It seemed like only second passed while Hermione passed a paper tissue between her hands and Ron fiddled with the keys in his pocket./p
p class="MsoNormal""Her, ugh, Hermonee Weasley?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione rolled her eyes, smiling to herself as she stood up. Sometimes she felt like her parents had subconsciously known their daughter was a witch- her name was more pronounceable to magic folk than muggles./p
p class="MsoNormal"The doctor that walked out to greet them however was a shockingly familiar face./p
p class="MsoNormal"Lisa Cooks had been a family friend of the Granger family for many, many years. In fact her father and Lisa had stayed in the same student accommodation building during university. Lisa- now a specialist in family planning- had actually overseen the conception of Hermione herself./p
p class="MsoNormal"Although Hermione had been conceived naturally it had taken her parents over two years to fall pregnant. She feared that the problems would come down her mother's side and have passed on to herself. There was only one way to find out./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron had stood to attention the moment hermione's name was called, he looked somewhat surprised to see the doctor was not wearing a white lab coat but in fact a pale shirt and cropped trousers./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hermione," Dr Cooks smiled, offering her hand to be shaken. Which Hermione did happily./p
p class="MsoNormal""And you must be Ron?" She continued offering her hand to Ron. He paused for a moment before shaking it, still feeling a little uncomfortable in this odd place./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well then, I'm going to have to examine you Hermione, so would you like your husband with you, or not?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""He's better here," Hermione replied instantly- Ron didn't need any further confusion added to the day and she was sure the doctor's room would be a lot for him to take in./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron nodded, before reaching into his pocket and handing Hermione a battered envelope containing a small tube. "Ugh, you'll be needing this then," he mumbled, while his face grew slowly pink./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione offered him a slight smile before handing the sample bottle over to Dr Cooks./p
p class="MsoNormal"The doctor took a step closer to Ron, asking him softly if the correct measures had been used- had his hands been clean, that he hadn't used any lubricants. All the while Ron got pinker and pinker./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'll have this looked over by one of our lab techs while I speak to your wife Mr Weasley, and once we are ready we will have a chat all together."/p
p class="MsoNormal"With that Hermione was led down the white hallway and through a door into Dr Cooks office. She was quickly asked the usual questions, were her Periods regular, were they having sex regularly. Her blood pressure was normal and her blood was taken in order to send to the lab also. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione's breath had caught when Lisa went searching for a vein, she prayed that her left arm could remain hidden. Hermione's parents knew nothing of her torture and she'd prefer not to try and explain the malformed layers of skin on her right arm. Magic had covered a large amount of the scarring however she had kept that word. Mudblood. As a reminder of the oppression those like her- and including her- had faced under the years of terror./p
p class="MsoNormal"Finally, 'Just to be thorough' Dr Cooks asked for Hermione to pull back her top and let her feel her stomach./p
p class="MsoNormal""How was Australia?" She asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"It took Hermione a minute to remember she had supposedly been abroad for three years, rather than fighting Lord Voldemort./p
p class="MsoNormal""Very, different." She said eventually but the expression on Dr Cook's face had changed./p
p class="MsoNormal"She moved her hands down on Hermione's stomach, pressing lightly between the bones of her hips./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ready?" Hermione asked her nervous husband as she walked back into the waiting room./p
p class="MsoNormal""Bloody hell, that took longer than expected- what have you got in your hand?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione quickly stuffed the leaflet back into her handbag. This wasn't the time to say it. But Ron had other ideas./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hermione, what's up?" He went to stroke the side of her face as he often did but she pulled away, desperate to get out of the surgery. She could feel tears starting to well up in her eyes. She felt sick, slightly dizzy too./p
p class="MsoNormal"She quickly took Ron by the hand and dragged him against his will from the building. She kept pulling her startled husband, getting him half way across the car park before his sense got the better of him. He pulled back against her grip and Hermione burst into tears./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm so scared," she sniffed, allowing Ron to pull her against his soft chest./p
p class="MsoNormal""What's wrong? Is it bad news?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione shook her head, looked up at her husband and gave a false smile./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ronald, I'm pregnant," before she lost control of her legs and slumped against him, unconscious./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ron you look fine, stop fussing." Hermione heard herself moan at her husband. He was trying to sort his tie which hung around his neck in a limp knot./p
p class="MsoNormal""They don't care what you look like," she continued to fuss, going back over to Ron and fixing his tie for him all the while hiding a slight smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron nodded curtly to himself before stepping forward in time with Hermione and heading for the door of the small fertility clinic./p
p class="MsoNormal"It had been after doing some research that Hermione had picked this clinic. There were very lenient and open minded and so she thought they might manage to cope with a pure-blood wizard./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron may have been in the muggle-heavy part of London many times now but he still felt out of place and flustered whenever he had to cope with muggle interactions. Especially money./p
p class="MsoNormal"This clinic however- and much to the relief of Ron- was run by the NHS. The clinic tested for a multitude of fertility problems and having had more than three miscarriages Hermione's own doctor had referred her and Ron for further tests./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron, despite having been given information about the process, was very nervous. He had never been in a muggle doctor's- off course he couldn't have because most medical ailments could be solved by magic in the wizarding world. But magic wasn't hermione's first language, she wanted science to explain things that magic could treat./p
p class="MsoNormal"The clinic- a family planning clinic- as they liked to call them, was in a very old building, a building so old and low to the ground it seemed to be ashamed at its use. In the days when this building was new sex was certainly never talked about./p
p class="MsoNormal"As they walked in through the typical sliding automatic doors the inside of the clinic was modern and pristine white./p
p class="MsoNormal"The whole room appeared to be based on a pastel palette and reminded Hermione of old medical dramas on tv. There were two distinct colours, white for the ceiling, walls and floors and each piece of furniture, a dark pastel green which could only be described as 'scrub coloured'./p
p class="MsoNormal"Of course Hermione had tried her best to prepare her husband for the general visit she had never thought about explaining common British behaviour. Ron had headed straight to the chairs before being steered in the proper direction of the front desk. He frowned, confused but thankfully knew better than to say anything./p
p class="MsoNormal"As they turned to the seats she pulled him a little closer and hissed in his ear,/p
p class="MsoNormal""They don't know if you've arrived unless they see your letter, then your computer file pops up and they send it through to the doctor."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron nodded, going straight for a leaflet on contraception before Hermione slapped his hand away./p
p class="MsoNormal""That stuff prevents pregnancy," she blushed slightly and her husband looked sheepish./p
p class="MsoNormal"There were so many things he didn't know in this world, which was why Hermione tended to stay away but this was one thing, one thing she felt a muggle doctor could help better./p
p class="MsoNormal"It seemed like only second passed while Hermione passed a paper tissue between her hands and Ron fiddled with the keys in his pocket./p
p class="MsoNormal""Her, ugh, Hermonee Weasley?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione rolled her eyes, smiling to herself as she stood up. Sometimes she felt like her parents had subconsciously known their daughter was a witch- her name was more pronounceable to magic folk than muggles./p
p class="MsoNormal"The doctor that walked out to greet them however was a shockingly familiar face./p
p class="MsoNormal"Lisa Cooks had been a family friend of the Granger family for many, many years. In fact her father and Lisa had stayed in the same student accommodation building during university. Lisa- now a specialist in family planning- had actually overseen the conception of Hermione herself./p
p class="MsoNormal"Although Hermione had been conceived naturally it had taken her parents over two years to fall pregnant. She feared that the problems would come down her mother's side and have passed on to herself. There was only one way to find out./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron had stood to attention the moment hermione's name was called, he looked somewhat surprised to see the doctor was not wearing a white lab coat but in fact a pale shirt and cropped trousers./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hermione," Dr Cooks smiled, offering her hand to be shaken. Which Hermione did happily./p
p class="MsoNormal""And you must be Ron?" She continued offering her hand to Ron. He paused for a moment before shaking it, still feeling a little uncomfortable in this odd place./p
p class="MsoNormal""Well then, I'm going to have to examine you Hermione, so would you like your husband with you, or not?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""He's better here," Hermione replied instantly- Ron didn't need any further confusion added to the day and she was sure the doctor's room would be a lot for him to take in./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron nodded, before reaching into his pocket and handing Hermione a battered envelope containing a small tube. "Ugh, you'll be needing this then," he mumbled, while his face grew slowly pink./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione offered him a slight smile before handing the sample bottle over to Dr Cooks./p
p class="MsoNormal"The doctor took a step closer to Ron, asking him softly if the correct measures had been used- had his hands been clean, that he hadn't used any lubricants. All the while Ron got pinker and pinker./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'll have this looked over by one of our lab techs while I speak to your wife Mr Weasley, and once we are ready we will have a chat all together."/p
p class="MsoNormal"With that Hermione was led down the white hallway and through a door into Dr Cooks office. She was quickly asked the usual questions, were her Periods regular, were they having sex regularly. Her blood pressure was normal and her blood was taken in order to send to the lab also. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione's breath had caught when Lisa went searching for a vein, she prayed that her left arm could remain hidden. Hermione's parents knew nothing of her torture and she'd prefer not to try and explain the malformed layers of skin on her right arm. Magic had covered a large amount of the scarring however she had kept that word. Mudblood. As a reminder of the oppression those like her- and including her- had faced under the years of terror./p
p class="MsoNormal"Finally, 'Just to be thorough' Dr Cooks asked for Hermione to pull back her top and let her feel her stomach./p
p class="MsoNormal""How was Australia?" She asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"It took Hermione a minute to remember she had supposedly been abroad for three years, rather than fighting Lord Voldemort./p
p class="MsoNormal""Very, different." She said eventually but the expression on Dr Cook's face had changed./p
p class="MsoNormal"She moved her hands down on Hermione's stomach, pressing lightly between the bones of her hips./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ready?" Hermione asked her nervous husband as she walked back into the waiting room./p
p class="MsoNormal""Bloody hell, that took longer than expected- what have you got in your hand?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione quickly stuffed the leaflet back into her handbag. This wasn't the time to say it. But Ron had other ideas./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hermione, what's up?" He went to stroke the side of her face as he often did but she pulled away, desperate to get out of the surgery. She could feel tears starting to well up in her eyes. She felt sick, slightly dizzy too./p
p class="MsoNormal"She quickly took Ron by the hand and dragged him against his will from the building. She kept pulling her startled husband, getting him half way across the car park before his sense got the better of him. He pulled back against her grip and Hermione burst into tears./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm so scared," she sniffed, allowing Ron to pull her against his soft chest./p
p class="MsoNormal""What's wrong? Is it bad news?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione shook her head, looked up at her husband and gave a false smile./p
p class="MsoNormal""Ronald, I'm pregnant," before she lost control of her legs and slumped against him, unconscious./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
