As I'm sitting in one of the many parlors of the manor I feel yet another sharp pain shoot down my back. I groan, mostly out of annoyance, as I shift positions. The baby has been doing these types of things the entire week just to make me mad. It is definitely working. I'm mad.

I owled the healer yesterday and he told me it could be early signs of labour. He gave me a list of things I can do to control it or speed it up. I am supposed to go on long walks. The problem with that is I don't like walking long distances. Another thing on the list was sex. That, I like.

There is this intense tightening in my lower abdomen and I stifle a scream. Draco looks up from the book that he is reading and raises an eyebrow. I shake my head, telling him that I'm fine. For some reason he doesn't believe me and he gets up to see if I'm alright.

"Yes. I'm alright!" I laugh as he asks again, kissing my neck. But then I accidentally pee. It's super embarrassing until I realized I hadn't peed, but in fact, my water had broke.

"Merlin! Look what you've done!" He laughs, thinking I urinated. "What?" He says when he notices the look of terror on my face.

"I think my water just broke."

...

"I wasn't supposed to be scheduled as your mid witch," Anna gripes to herself, "but nooo, Corrine's grandmother had to die." Anna is probably in her 50s. She is short and plump. Her gray hair is pulled back in a tight bun.

"Did Corrine tell you about my medical history?" I ask her.

"No," she scoffs like it's my fault.

"I think she wrote down another one for us to keep," Draco says, "I just have to find it."

"Go get it then..."

Draco leaves and comes back in about twenty minutes with a stack of books and a folder on top. He drops the books by the window, hands Anna the folder and sits next to me on the bed with a book in his hand.

"I'll read to you since we are going to be in this room for a while."

And he starts to read to me.

...

Anna had Draco leave the room because his voice was distracting her from work. Her work is mahjongg. When I question her about it she tells me to shut up.

As I enter the fifth hour of labour, Anna, decides to check how dilated I am. My body also decides that now would be a good time to have another contraction. A really bad one. So bad that I accidentally kick Anna in the face, bloodying up her nose. She storms out of the door and Draco walks in laughing. I think she hates us. She hates our home too. She's always commenting on how ugly everything is. Personally, I think she's just looking in the mirrors.

...

It's been nearly twelve agonizing long hours since my water broke. And I was told that this is the easy part. The midwitch, is sleeping in a chair right next to my bed. I'm sitting up on the bed with Draco behind me massaging my lower back and hips. A nauseous feeling arises in my stomach. I tell Draco that I think I'm going to vomit and he helps me up so I can get to a toilet. But now it's too late because I've just lost my lunch and it's all over Anna. She looks like she's about to blow a gasket or something as she cleans up the mess with her wand. She says she's going to get something and leaves, which is an excuse to break something. probably. Once she's gone Draco bursts out laughing again.

"You've really done it this time babe!" He's bent over from laughing so hard.

...

Thirty-six or so hours since my water broke. I lost count. The contractions are coming in twice as bad, lasting a minute to a minute and a half. They are so painful, I am unable to speak, even between them. I I'm crying so hard that I'm shaking. Draco holds on to me, telling me that I'll be fine and that I'm doing a good job. All the midwitch- or should I say midbitch- is doing is yelling at me to toughen up.

The pain in my lower back and pelvis become so frequent and so unbearable it's time for me to push. It's hell. I don't like people touching me down there. It is disgusting. Especially when Anna has her whole arm up jammed there. I start to get cold sweats and the shakes. Anne tells me that I need to push again. I hate her. I pretty much hate everyone right now. Except for Draco. He's so nervous as he stands by, holding my hand, not taking his eyes off of mine. He looks like a little puppy. Anna asks him if he wants to come down and get a better view of the birth.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" He says, "I'd like to stay up here and comfort my wife, thank you."

I start to get really dizzy and everyone's voices are becoming blurry. I don't know how voices become blurry, but if you've experienced it, you'll know what I'm talking about. My chest is tightening while my lower body being ripped apart. A searing pain bursts through my body and I let out a glass-shattering shriek.

...

I remember waking up and feeling Draco's hand firmly pressed up against me downstairs region.

Their voices are muffled and I cannot see anything. I can only make out a few words. Among them were words like death, and bleeding. My baby is dying and I haven't even got a chance to see him. My head is aching. I can barley think any more. It hurts terribly bad. I pass out once more.

...

This time I awake to a burning feeling down their instead of the warm touch of my husband. I scream. Somebody poured a potion between my legs.

I hear a door open and then the crying of my baby. My eyes dart around the room as I try to locate the source of the crying. I discover that Anne gave him to another healer in the adjoining wash room to clean him off and give him a quick one over. Why couldn't this healer have gotten here earlier?

I start having more contractions. I ask to make sure I'm not having another baby. Anne assures me I'm not and that it's just post-birth contractions. Nobody told me about those. She tells me that she has to massage my stomach every fifteen minutes to deliver something that I don't care about. I don't ask anymore questions because I hate to hear her stupid voice. This is not a massage. All she does is push her fat hands on my lower stomach. It hurts. A lot. And I suppose I'll be bruised.

"C-can I have a potion to less the pain?" I ask. My voice is hoarse from screaming. Anna says no. Something about my body having to 'fix itself'. Finally the other healer, who I had no idea was here, brings back my baby, swaddled in a soft blanket. Draco and I have decided to call him Scorpius.

"That's our baby..." Draco says in amazement, he starts to tear up.

"Yeah," I say laughing, "he is." Draco just stands behind me staring at our son in awe. "Come here, he's your son too." Draco lays down next to me and I gently hand him Scorpius.

Draco is so gentle with him; it's like he is holding the most priceless item in the world. And that is the moment I realize that he is. "Hi," his voice cracks, "I'm your daddy. Whatever you do will make me proud. I might forget to tell you sometimes but always know that I am so very proud of you."