Breath of Life
by ChatterChick
Summary: They were happy. They were healthy. Their lives were coming beautifully together. Follow Neville and Hannah Longbottom on their journey to start their family.
***updated version as of 04/05/15***
A/N: Huge thank you to everyone who read and/or reviewed! I'm glad you've been sticking with me through this. Please review though, I really love hearing your thoughts.
Chapter 4: Extra Surprises
Mid April 2007
They didn't meet in Michael's office this time, but were sent to a different room on the first floor. Everything was very white and very sterile looking. There was a bed with white sheets over it, a white counter-top with silver instruments and a large set of silver scales in the corner. This was the third check-up Michael had done since Hannah had discovered she was pregnant, although the other two were fairly basic with only some blood work and some questions in Michael's office.
Michael came in soon after they arrived, with Hannah's files in hand.
"How have you been, Hannah?" He asked after getting her to sit on the bed.
"Honestly, I've had the worst time with morning sickness," she confessed.
The morning sickness had set in the past few weeks, with Hannah violently throwing up each morning for a good hour. It had eased somewhat with a potion Neville picked up from the apothecary, but she still spent the better part of the morning feeling nauseous. Michael seemed sympathetic, but couldn't do more than tell her to keep taking the No-Nausea Potion each morning and tell her that it should hopefully pass by week fourteen.
There were a few more questions, and then Michael took some more blood to see how she was doing.
"Your stats are good," Michael commented. "Curious though."
"What's curious?" Neville immediately worried.
"Nothing's wrong, we're going to do the ultra-charm, but I suspect I already know. Hannah, could I get you to lie down on the bed?"
She nodded, unsure what Michael found so curious and a little miffed at the commentary on her weight. True, she had put on more pounds than she thought she would so early on, but did he really have to say that?
With a flick of his wand, the bed began to levitate a few inches so that Michael could stand as he inspected her stomach. Hannah had worn muggle pants and a muggle blouse for the visit, so that she only had to lift her shirt up past her stomach.
"I hope neither of you are too squeamish. We're going to take a look at the baby," Michael told them. He conjured up a couple of pillows and gave them to her. "Hannah, I'm going to get you to prop yourself up, otherwise you won't see anything. Try not to fall out of the bed though. There, now just relax for a moment."
"Intrutero revelio," Michael raised his wand above her stomach. A bluish-white light shone out from his wand. Under the radius of light her skin had a translucent appearance and in some places, she could see straight down to the bed below her. Michael moved his wand, positioning the light so they could see inside her womb.
"Is that – " Neville's voice trailed off in wonder.
"That's your baby," Michael confirmed, "Or one of them at least. Just as I thought, there are twins. See here? Here's the second one."
"We're having twins?!" She suddenly shot up. She tried to look down at her stomach, inspecting the area for her babies. She managed to find them once Michael pointed them out.
Neville picked up her hand and kissed it. "We're having twins. Can you see them Hannah? They're beautiful." He hesitated before asking a question. "I don't suppose I could touch them?"
"You can put your hand on her stomach," encouraged Michael. "The skin's still there, it's just invisible."
Neville gently put his hand over top the area where each of the babies were. The light of the charm turned Neville's hand invisible too, although Hannah could still feel it.
"Hello there," he tearfully greeted them. "I-I'm your Daddy."
Michael let them have a moment before updating them on the twins' progress.
"Can you tell the sex yet?" Hannah asked, wondering when they could give their babies names.
"It's still too early to tell," Michael told them. "Although, you could visit a Seer, they're quite popular with couples in the early stages who'd like to know."
xXxXx
"And how is the baby doing?" Augusta asked over brunch. Her beady eyes surveyed both of them. "You would have had your twelve-week visit on Wednesday?"
Augusta had taken a keen interest in her unborn great-grandchild. They had told her over brunch the week before, and Augusta's eyes had even glistened for a moment. Hannah suspected Augusta was secretly excited, but just too proud to act like it.
"Hannah and the baby are doing wonderful," Neville shared a smile with Hannah. He then added, "Actually, we just learned we're expecting twins."
Augusta nearly dropped her teacup in surprise. "Well that is something to be happy about," Augusta said as she regained her composure. "Have you decided what you'll be doing with the Leaky? Two newborns are a lot to handle."
"Luke and his girlfriend are going to take over the Leaky for a year so I can take care of them." Hannah picked at her second scone. Suddenly her appetite vanished as she could guess where Augusta was headed with this line of questioning.
Augusta sipped her tea, her eyebrows raised. She then primly put it back down on the table. "Only a year? Surely they'll need you longer than that. Alice left her career with the aurors for good when she learned she was pregnant."
"Running the Leaky isn't as dangerous as being an auror, Gran," Neville pointed out. "Even being an auror now isn't as dangerous as it was then."
The ministry went through aurors very quickly during the Wizarding Wars. Hannah wasn't too surprised that the Longbottoms made a decision that at least one of them should change careers so their son wouldn't be orphaned.
Unfortunately, fate had a sick sense of humour.
"Diagon Alley is no place to raise a family, Neville." Augusta lectured. "There's no backyard to play in, your children will be street urchins and you know very well that they'll be sneaking off into Knockturn the moment you have your back turned."
Hannah nervously fiddled with her teacup. Knockturn Alley was a very rough street and she avoided it at all costs. It was the type of place you went to buy black market magical items, illegal potions and prostitutes. The aurors were constantly called in for raids or to break up duels. The people who worked there and frequented there were an unsavoury lot. Most of them kept their hoods up and you could rarely see their faces. It was the last place she'd want to let her children wander, although she could see the appeal for a naive child with a rebellious streak.
Neville and Hannah didn't have a chance to talk about the visit with Augusta until later. Hannah had been pulled away once they returned to the Leaky to deal with an issue about over-booking two of the rooms and Neville left for Hogwarts to check over a rare and fussy flutterby bush he had planted during the week.
When Neville finally caught up to her, she was in the kitchen of the Leaky, helping prepare supper for the large Sunday crowd. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and gave her a kiss on her cheek before greeting her stomach with a rub. "Anything I can help with?" He asked.
Neville's skills at growing things in the garden didn't transfer to cooking them in the kitchen. The most she trusted him with was washing and chopping vegetables. "If you could clean and chop those carrots and potatoes, I need them for the stew. Thanks."
Neville set to work peeling the potatoes and carrots with his wand. Quietly, he said, "I'm sorry Gran went after you like that, I went back to talk to her about respecting our decisions."
Hannah nodded, although she was still conflicted over Augusta's words. Every so often she had to admit the older witch may have a point.
"Do you think your Gran's right? About raising the children here, I mean?" Hannah asked. She had been thinking about it all day. She kept checking the spare bedroom that they were planning on using, wondering if it was too small now that they were expecting twins. She took a walk down Diagon Alley in her space time, wondering where her children would play when she shooed them out to get fresh air. She had walked by the side-street that lead to Knockturn, imagining her twins daring each other to go down that way.
"I think Gran will find fault wherever we live, what matters is if we think it's the right thing to do."
She supposed that was true. They could live in a beautiful old manor and Augusta still wouldn't think it fit for her great-grandchildren. It would probably be too big or too drafty or too something. She could see how the next few years would go, with Hannah butting heads with Augusta over every decision for her children. Augusta constantly dropping hints that she didn't approve of Hannah's decisions and comparing her to her beloved daughter-in-law, Alice, at every opportunity.
Oh, Hannah thought they could live in their London flat after the twins were born? Well, Alice maintained such a lovely cottage in the country.
Oh, Hannah planned on being a working witch while raising a family? Well, Alice had left her career as a respected auror to raise Neville.
Oh, Hannah wanted to send their children to a wizarding primary school? Well, Alice had planned on tutoring Neville at home.
Hannah knew she would never live up to Alice Longbottom in Augusta's mind.
As if sensing Hannah's melancholy, Neville squeezed Hannah's hand.
"Uncle Algie said Gran took forever to warm up to Mum too, she didn't care for her that much until, well –" Neville trailed off sheepishly, so Hannah tried to fill in the blanks for him.
"Until you were born?" Hannah prompted.
Neville lowered his wand, the carrots pausing mid-air. "Until she was attacked."
The subject of Neville's parents still remained very strained. It was rare that Neville spoke about his parents and even rarer that he made reference to their current state.
"Oh dear!"
"She tends to exaggerate or make Mum out to be perfect. The way she talks about Dad – " Neville trailed off, shaking his head."When I as a kid, it was like he was some sort of giant and I'd never fill his shoes to her."
"Nev – "
"She does like you," Neville reminded her.
"She likes that I'm carrying your children," Hannah corrected him.
"That certainly helps your case." Neville chuckled as pulled her in and kissed her. "Well, I like you."
Sometimes she wondered how her sweet husband could be related to Augusta. She pushed him away after a few minutes, not wanting any of her staff to walk in on them snogging like a pair of teenagers.
"I'm at work," she protested. She had plans to continue this later, when the Leaky was in the hands of her brother. Her hormones were running amok now that she was nearing her second semester.
"Right, right. We're supposed to be professional," Neville grinned as he pulled back.
xXxXx
Lady Pythia's Oracle was a tiny shop tucked away in one of the side streets of Diagon Alley.
The little shop bell jingled as they opened the door. The shop was even tinier inside, with purple curtains all around, even in the windows, to give it a dark and mysterious atmosphere. The room had a rather smoky appearance and there were a few candles burning on the tables. Hannah would have been worried, if it weren't for the owl correspondence that reassured her that the smoke was an optical illusion and would not harm her or the babies.
Most of this was all smoke and mirrors anyway for the benefit of customers. The pretence was quickly dropped when Hannah and Neville walked into the shop.
"Oh Neville, this is so exciting!" Lavender Brown squealed with delight. "I'm so happy for you both! You're going to have a baby!"
She grabbed both of Hannah's hands and beamed at her, before pulling her in for an enthusiastic hug.
Lavender had numerous, colourful shawls wrapped around herself and dozens of layered necklaces. Her hair was tucked under a purple scarf wrapped around her head. She had had extensive healing done, and you could barely make out the thin scars across her pretty face. She had heavy eye makeup and purplish swirls with silver dots decorated the bottom corners of her eyes. Lavender certainly did put on a good show as 'Lady Pythia'.
Lavender was one of the few people Hannah encountered who truly did have 'sight'. She had trained in Greece after Hogwarts and then returned home to open her own business. She had only grown in popularity after she had accurately predicted the final scores of the Quidditch league championship games for three years in a row. Now everyone came to see her.
"Have a seat," she said. She beaconed them over to the pair of silver chairs at a little round table with a crystal ball on top of it. "Are there any ground rules for me? Anything you don't want to hear?"
"I don't want any prophecy hanging over our children's heads," Neville firmly told her.
"Okay, no prophecies," Lavender agreed.
"And I don't want to know when we die," Hannah requested. "Just happy news?"
"Of course," Lavender brightly agreed. "Only happy news, I like that. I'll keep it simple then, in my experience the less you know of the future the happier you are."
She sat down across from them and reached out for her crystal ball, her hands moving majestically around it. Milky white clouds formed in the ball as she worked. Lavender's eyes looked just as foggy as the crystal ball in front of her. Hannah didn't take diviniation as an elective so she had no idea if it was all for show or not.
"You are carrying a boy and a girl," she said, her voice distant.
"A boy and a girl," Neville marvelled.
"Oh this is perfect, we'll have one of each," Hannah gushed as she grabbed his hand. This was much more exciting than finding out at the healer's office.
Lavender's purplish eyes had cleared, and she smiled softly at them. She held her hand out over the table, and then asked, "May I see your palm?"
Hannah placed it upright on top of Lavender's. The other witch started inspecting her hands, twisting and turning it around to get a better look.
"Your marriage is a strong one, no signs of divorce," Lavender approved. "There's indication you'll go through a major career change at some point in the future. Ohh, and our paths will cross twice more."
"Twice?" Neville leaned back in his chair, slightly dumb-founded. "So we'll have at least four children."
"I can't say," Lavender mysteriously replied. "Only that Hannah will want her future read twice more."
Lavender then inspected Neville's hands, more or less telling him the same things she told Hannah. "You're doing well in your second career and will be recognized for it. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"I think you told us everything we wanted to know," Neville said. "Except who will win this year's Quidditch championship. I keep placing the wrong bets."
Lavender smiled wickedly.
"Oh Neville, you know I can't tell you that."