George woke up early this morning, as he did every morning. He yawned and wiped the remaining sleep out of his eyes as he sat up in his hotel bed. He felt exhausted but he couldn't go back to sleep. He looked over at the clock and his heart immediately sunk, it was already 8:00 a.m. and by this time every morning he was usually already sitting with Sarafina for the day. He tried to be there every moment he could with her, after all he was the most important person in her life, and she was now the most important person in his. His heart ached every night at 10:00 p.m. when he had to leave his little girl in the hands of Healers and couldn't stay with her all night, but he knew it was for the best. She needed to stay at the hospital until she could thrive without the help of machines; she was still relying on a machine to breathe and a tube to eat and George didn't feel qualified to care for her by himself when she still needed so much specialized care.

George dressed quickly and grabbed an apple for breakfast; he rushed out the door at about 8:45 a.m. and walked quickly down the hallway to where he knew his little girl was waiting for him to come keep her company. When he got to the NICU he signed in, repeating the ritual he has done every morning for the past three weeks. The nurse at the desk checked his I.D. bracelet and his temperature, and then he was led to a sink where he already knew how to scrub in, cleaning his hands thoroughly. After his hands finished drying he walked back to the little corner where his daughter lay and he immediately smiled as he approached her bed. Somebody had already beaten him to her bedside this morning and was talking to her sweetly, holding her little hand.

"'Morning Mum, you beat me here this morning, it seems," said George as he gave his mother a hug. "Yes, I knew today was a big day for my beautiful little granddaughter! I figured you had just overslept but I let you sleep because I know you are tired," said Molly as she moved to the other side of George, letting him set in the chair closest to Sarafina's bed. "Thanks mum… but I feel awful for oversleeping, I was afraid that she was alone all morning," said George as he stroked her little hand. "Thanks for coming Mum," said George his face falling a little. "I'm so nervous about today, what if something goes wrong?" Molly smiled reassuringly. "She will do just fine today George, this is just another barrier she has got to cross before she can come home and be with you all the time." George nodded as he lost himself in thought, looking at his little girl whose chest was rising and falling with even and synchronized breaths. She was wearing nothing but a diaper, and plastic tubes on her face and arms, but George looked at her with nothing but love. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Today, the muggle doctor and her healer would be in to do an important check-up on Sarafina. Not only was the muggle doctor going to make sure that her incisions from surgery were healing nicely, they were also going to try and take out her breathing tube. The doctor and healer wanted to observe her without the ventilator and determine whether or not her lungs were strong enough for her to be able to breathe on her own now. George hoped everything would go smoothly, she had been progressing slowly but surely and he didn't know if he could handle a setback with Sarafina this early on. He only wanted to be able to hold his little girl, which he still had not been able to do, yet. He continued to watch her, and was so lost in though that he didn't even realize his mother was tapping his arm until she said his name, "George, sweetheart, the healer and doctor are here." He looked up to see them walking over to where Sarafina was sleeping so peacefully.

George felt nervous but he was ready to get on with it, he didn't like the suspense of waiting. The healer and doctor began their evaluation right away with very few formalities; they obviously knew that George just wanted to know how his daughter was doing. "Well, after checking her incisions, I have determined that she is able to go without the dressing now, they have healed nicely and are now just mere scars," George smiled as the Muggle doctor removed the bandage from his daughters lower back revealing a nicely healed scar where there had once been a gaping hole. Molly held tightly onto George's hand and gave it a slight squeeze as the healer now looked up at George. "We are going to extubate her now," the healer spoke trying to explain everything so that George and Molly could understand. "She is still sedated but after we get the tube out we will give her a potion and she will wake up within five minutes after the potion is administered. We will observe her breathing for the first half hour personally, and if we determine that she is doing well, we will have the nurses continue to observe her for the rest of the day." George nodded and he kissed his little girl's hand before he moved out of the way of the healer so that he could do his job.

The doctor gently peeled off the tape holding the tube in place off of her delicate skin, and once they had the tape all off of her face, the healer began to gently but quickly pull the tube from the baby's mouth until it was completely out of her body. George watched with baited breath as tears ran down his face. To his delight, he watched as little Sarafina's chest was rising and falling as slowly and rhythmically as it had been when she was breathing with the ventilator. "This is very good," said the Healer as he spoke to George and Molly. The healer then injected a syringe filled with a bright pink potion into her little arm, and within five minutes little Sarafina Weasley began to open her eyes slowly. The doctors observed her closely and she continued to breathe without a problem. As she continued to become more aware as she awoke from her potion-induced slumber she began to cry. "Why is she crying?" asked George sounding slightly panicked. "Is she okay?" The healer looked up and smiled softly at George, "She is perfectly fine, actually the fact that she is crying is a good sign for her lungs. She is just not used to being awake yet and it can be a little scary at first." George took a sigh of relief as Molly squeezed his hand reassuringly again. "Now, we have determined that her breathing is better than we had expected. She might be a little fussy for a while as the potion continues to wear off but there is something that you can do to make her feel more comfortable and help her not feel so scared," said the healer smiling knowingly at George, and George perked up upon hearing that. "What is it that I can do?" he asked impatiently, desperate to do anything to help his little girl. "This may sound a little weird but I need you to take off your shirt and sit in the reclining chair over there," said the healer as she pointed to the other side of Sarafina's bed where the muggle doctor was standing and smiling. It did sound like a weird request to George but he did as he was told, he wanted to do whatever the healer told him to do if it would help his daughter.

As he sat in the chair, now bare-chested, the healer picked up little Sarafina, who was still crying and carried her over to George. The healer then laid her gingerly onto George's bare chest, and almost immediately she began to stop crying as she lay listening curiously to George's heat beat. The tears now fell freely from both George and Molly's eyes and George realized he was holding his little girl for the first time in her entire life. For George, he didn't even have to think about what to do, it was just instinct. He began patting her on the diaper softly and started talking to her. "Shhhh, Sarafina, it's ok," George cooed. "It's just your daddy who has got you now." She moved her head slightly, her little eyes opening and closing sweetly. "I love you, Sara-girl. I'll always love you." The type of love George was feeling now was magic far greater than any magic he had ever experienced in his entire life and he knew he would never be the same again.

The healer and the doctor eventually left the NICU allowing George, Molly, and Sarafina to have some privacy. George was still holding her on his chest; he never wanted to let her go. "George, George, look over here!" Molly had pulled a camera out of her handbag and was holding it up to her eye. George smiled and he leaned down his head to kiss Sarafina's little head, and as Molly snapped the photo, the most beautiful thing happened; Sarafina smiled for the first time in her entire life.

AN: I hope that this chapter is up to expectation. It was an extra piece of the story I decided to write just this morning. I am eager to post it to the story though, so I hope it doesn't appear sloppy, I've worked on it since about 8 am. Haha Thanks for reading, and please review!