It had been hours since the healers of The Magical Hospital of Paris had told Gawain to leave his wife's side. She'd started hemorrhaging after the birth of their beautiful twin girls, and no one had told him anything since. He wasn't quite sure what he'd do if he became a widower a second time—he didn't want to know.
A man with dark hair, who, for some reason reminded Gawain forcefully of James, sat next to him in the tiny waiting room. Perhaps a bit of conversation would take his mind off the impending situation. "Hello, I'm Paul Sullivan. Is this your first child?"
"I have a seventeen year old at home. I wasn't there for his birth. Life was a bit more complicated then, in the middle of the war."
"I knew you looked like you were English. Did you go to Hogwarts?" Paul Sullivan was a bit enthusiastic for Gawain's mood, but he did his best to be polite.
"I did. I graduated from there in 1977." He sighed. "There aren't many of us left, you know."
"I know. I graduated in '78. You must have known the Marauders, then, unless you were in Slytherin."
Gawain looked at the man with disdain. "I happen to have been a Slytherin, and I am well acquainted with all of the Marauders, especially since I happen to be one."He rolled his eyes. "If you'll remember, there were two Slytherins in the group, Severus Snape and I."
"Oh…you're the one who went with the red haired girl, Lila or something, right?" Paul scratched his head. "Is she the mother of your seventeen year old?"
"Her name was Liliana, and yes, she is the mother of my son." He was thankful that the man didn't ask any further questions about that particular topic; the man probably knew how she'd died, anyway.
"I have a daughter at Hogwarts; she'll be starting her second year in Ravenclaw. I suppose your son is in Slytherin?"
"He's in Gryffindor, like his mother. He's going to be Head Boy and Quidditch Captain this year. My nephew is the Quidditch Captain and 7th year prefect for Slytherin. We don't pay any mind to petty house rivalries in my home." Gawain shook his head. "It doesn't do much good anyway, other than to cause more people to die."
"I'd wager that you've seen enough death to last several lifetimes."
"Most people think that Aurors get used to seeing death all of the time, especially since we've just finished taking care of the last of Voldemort's unmarked followers, but we don't." Thoughts of Lily were never far from his mind when he mentioned Voldemort.
A green-garbed healer came into the small room. "Head Auror Malfoy? If I may have a word with you in the corridor…"
"I hope everything goes well with you, sir."
"The same to you…"Gawain followed the healer into the corridor.
"Your wife will live, sir. That is always the best news. She will not be able to head home for a few days because we have to make sure everything is completely healed first. Since she is sleeping, I recommend that you go home for a bit, get some sleep, and then come back later. Visiting hours are until 10 p.m."The healer, a middle-aged man with sandy brown hair, smiled at him. "I would think that your other children will be happy to hear some news."
"I'm sure they will. I would have sent them news earlier, but my younger son was married last night, and…I'm sure you know how that is." Gawain grinned.
"I do. I'll keep watch over your family until you return."
"Thanks." Gawain headed for the floo, far too tired to apparate or drive home, even though it was only a few minutes away.
Harry and Draco sat in the kitchen, munching on some sandwiches that they'd made. Hermione was in the Potions lab, working on improvements to the Wolfsbane Potion with Severus and Ariana (who'd stayed the night), and Sirius was napping. "It's been a long time. I wonder if something went wrong."
"I hope not." Harry took another bit of his sandwich and nervously watched the floo. The last thing their family needed was for something to go wrong with Narcissa. Suddenly the floo flared green and a very tired Gawain stumbled out of the fireplace. Draco and Harry jumped up to help him to the table, and immediately set some food and tea in front of him.
"Thank you, boys…there were a few problems with your mum after the birth, but she'll be alright soon. I'm going to take you later to see your sisters later, after I get a nice long nap."Gawain sat back and waited to see which one would notice that "sister" had been plural.
"That's…did he say 'sisters', Draco?" Harry's eyes went wide.
"I think he did, dear brother." Draco looked at Gawain. "You did, didn't you?"
Gawain nodded. "One for each of you…They're beautiful. Then, they would be, considering their parents."
Draco and Harry rolled their eyes. "We can't say no to that, can we Harry? We did get the right genetics, didn't we?"
"Yes, but I'm better looking."Harry grinned.
"Are not!" Draco glared at his brother.
"Not this again!" Gawain put his hand to his head to stop the headache he felt coming. "You both got the best of the Black side and the best of the Malfoy side…Don't you want to know your sisters names?" The bantering seventeen year olds turned to their father and sweetly looked at him, as if they were angels. "I'll take that as a yes. The one with your grandmother's hair is named Calista Ariana Noreen, and blondish one's name is Honoria Athena Elizabeth. Traditional, yet unique."
"We'll need to come up with nicknames for them." Harry grinned at Draco.
"…Especially since we don't like being called by our own names." Draco shuddered. "Could you imagine if we had to go around being called by our full names all the time, Harrison Orion Abraxas Malfoy?"
"I do believe that would be horrible, Draco Cygnus Abraxas Malfoy."
Gawain rolled his eyes. "You two don't get teased about your names half as much as I got teased about mine."
"You had Lucius for a brother though, Dad. It's not as if you could have avoided it. Thankfully, Draco did not get those genetics."
"Oh, for Merlin's sake dear, it's not as if your name is that terrible." Ariana came up the stairs from the lab.
Harry and Draco smiled at each other. It wasn't often they got to see Gawain talked to as if he was a child. "It is that terrible, Mum. You have a normal name from normal parents."
Ariana raised an eyebrow at her son. "Are you saying that I'm not normal? I should take that as an insult."
"You're perfectly normal, Nana. Dad's just overly tired."
"At least I can count on my grandchildren to love me…and your brothers-in-law. Severus and Sirius were always very nice. Well, except for that one time they turned poor Lily's hair green and her skin orange…that wasn't very nice."She smiled. "Do get some sleep dear. You won't get any sleep in a few days."