A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews that you all left. I have gotten a new computer in the time since I updated, which has taken a chuck of my time to change everything over to a new and hopefully much more reliable computer! It has an astronomical amount of storage which is awesome. I can have games, and Music! At the same time! Imagine! Ok, well I have the next chapter up for you all, another warm and fuzzy one before I dive into something more serious. Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 25
Bonding Anew
Both Severus and Hermione were woken from their Phoenix induced slumber by a piercing wail, joined quickly by a matching sound coming from a similar source. Severus was a bit groggy and rather confused about the whole ordeal for a brief moment as his brain tried to figure out what was making that atrocious sound. Hermione on the other hand seemed to be a bit faster on the uptake. This could possibly have been precipitated by the fact she had just birthed out a pair of babies, something distinctively hard to forget, both the process as well as the relief that she no longer was lugging that extra weight and 'personage' about. She still did not react very quickly though. Despite the fact that she had been given healing and strengthening Potions and had been under the Phoenix rest, she was still very depleted after the whole ordeal. For the most part though she was also trying to get used to the fact that her balance had changed yet again and now she had to learn to walk as she had before her center of gravity had moved in about the middle of her pregnancy.
Slipping carefully out of bed she went to the crib and picked up a wailing Sebastian and then took him over to Severus who looked apprehensively at the squalling and squirming bundle. After a pointed look from Hermione, Severus rather reluctantly took him into his arms and rather instinctively began to rock back and forth in an attempt to quite him. In the mean time Hermione had gotten out Serenity and had brought her also back to the bed. Hermione then proceeded to unbutton the upper half of her night gown, catching Severus' attention perhaps more than she intended. She then offered a breast out to Serenity who after a few tries managed to latch on and began to consume her first meal with gusto. Then after a moment Hermione reached out and Severus handed over Sebastian as well. Then with a little help Sebastian also managed to latch on and begin his first feeding.
Severus was enthralled and moved in a way he could not describe watching his wife and children together like that. It was something that he had never thought he would ever see or experience for himself and he could feel that every single hard portion of his heart at that point had melted and been replaced with this wonderful downy mass of love for Hermione and now the children that he had helped create. Hermione looked up from where she was feeding the babies and looked at Severus with a tired yet shinning smile.
"Aren't they beautiful?" She smiled. "We're parents. It's just too much to believe." She had tears shinning in her eyes, but they were from overwhelmingly happiness and perhaps just a bit of a hormonal rush as well, rather than something sad.
"Yes, we are." Severus said quietly with a smile looking at her sounding almost whimsical. He leaned over and gave her a light peck on the lips before he sat back and observed his family.
"And to think." Hermione said a bit laughingly after a moment. "They both all fit inside me! I am so glad they are out! Though I will not profess to enjoy childbirth by any means!"
"You are not the only one." Severus agreed. "I did not enjoy watching you in pain. I would have gladly suffered the pain if it meant you did not have to go through it. But at least this was one of those times where I could step back, watch and have a happy outcome. Unlike the many other times that I was forced to endure a similar occurance that had a far less positive outcome." He said this with a bit of a dark edge to his tone, remembering the revels and torture sessions he had to witness and participate in.
"I will agree." Hermione told him, catching the sad sharpness in his voice. She leaned towards him and gave him a less than chaste kiss due to the fact she could not give him a hug as both arms were currently occupied. Severus understood and wrapped one arm around her in a half hug as not to squash the babies. He cuddled her close as he could as she shifted to be more comfortable against his chest and he reached down to run his hand along the top of Serenity's head, feeling her tiny baby fine hair beneath his fingers, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Although," Hermione said with a slightly devilish grin. "You do know that there are suppose to be places and tribes in the world that when the women are in labor they tie a rope around things down there on the father and every time that she has a contraction she pulls the rope. It is so that the guy can feel the pain of what he has done too."
"No, and I can't say I needed to particularly know such a fact." Severus said going slightly pale and shifting a bit uncomfortably at the thought, unconsciously bringing his legs closer together. Hermione could not hold back a laugh and chuckled at his discomfort and Severus gifted her with the best 'you must die' look he could, though it was highly ineffective due to the fact he was very much without his billowing black robes of doom (or anything else for that matter). This only managed to make Hermione laugh more. After a moment she had mercy on him and diverted her attention back to her babies as they were beginning to get fussy.
"Here you can have Serenity." Hermione said leaning towards Severus so he could take Serenity from her arms. "She seems to have finished. You will want of burp her." Hermione told him. "And you will definitely want this." She said, reaching over and retrieving her wand and conjuring a towel for his shoulder. Severus looked at her questioningly.
"What?" He asked looking distinctively confused.
"Trust me, you will defiantly want to use it." She assured him.
"But what am I suppose to do?" Severus asked. He had brought the now rather cranky Serenity in the beginning stages of working her way up to a good wail close to his chest and was rocking her slightly.
"Put her over your shoulder and pat her back. She probably just has some air in her stomach and needs to get it out. She will be ok once you do that. Just make sure that it is on the side with the towel!"
Severus understood in theory what he was supposed to do, but the execution of it was a bit of a problem. Finally after a bit of negotiation with a very unhappy little one, he was able to put her over his shoulder and began to pat and rub her back. After a moment of his attentions there was a gurglie burp from what seemed like the depths of her toes. Along with the great baby belch came a feeling of wet warmness on his shoulder that Severus was not quite sure how to place.
"Ah…?" He said uncertainly after a moment of attempting to place what the feeling was.
"Oh dear." Hermione said looking at him. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at his shoulder. She then cleaned off his shoulder before Severus could really figure out what was going on and had banished the towel. Severus held Serenity out so that he could look at her. She just looked back sleepily and moved her mouth around like she might be chewing something. Then she began to squirm again and he cradled her to his chest in the crook of his arm.
"What was that?" He asked Hermione. She was just putting Sebastian over her shoulder. She did not immediately answer although Sebastian seemed to answer for her as he also gave a great big baby belch and spewed what he had just eaten all over Hermione's shoulder. Realization dawned on Severus and he looked sharply down and the now sleeping Serenity. "Is that what she did?" He asked as he waved his hand over her shoulder and vanished his son's first meal. "Did any of it stay down?"
"Yes some must have stayed down." Hermione said. "She looks content enough. But yeah, that happens sometimes. They just eat too fast and get too much air in their stomachs. It hurts, so they cry and you have to get it out." She was cuddling Sebastian who was also falling asleep as well.
"How do you know so much about this?" He asked her in amazement. "Is all of this information just something found in your genetics? Is it something that just surfaces when you become a mother? I certainly don't know any of this information you just seem to spout out without any thought!"
Hermione chuckled at that. "I thought you already knew back in my First year that I know it all. But in all seriousness, some of it is just natural. But a good deal of it I had to learn, just as you will over time. Some of it I was taught, I would take baby sitting jobs during the summer so that I could have pocket money for the school year. Some of the little, little baby stuff I learned from reading books and I spent some time with the other little bitty babies in the castle figuring out how the whole deal works. It really does help to be one of the last to give birth in a group. Then you can watch and ask questions about how to deal with your own when you finally have them. Molly is a wonderful resource as well. She did have a whole troop of kids herself.
Don't worry I am sure that you will have no problem with these guys. It seems that you are already a natural at some of this. You have succeeded in putting Serenity to sleep every time you hold her. She feels safe and loved in your arms, just like me. You will get along very well with your children I suspect. You are already a wonderful husband; you will certainly be a wonderful father."
"Well it doesn't seem like I have a choice. I don't suspect that I could return them if I wanted to." He said both with apprehension and with a light joke.
"You got that right; I am certainly not taking any returns on this delivery!" Hermione agreed heartily. "Besides this was a special order and they can't be returned, they come as is."
"That sounds like a good thing." Severus said.
"Hope you still say that when they are teens, or even when they are toddlers. It is hard enough to raise non magical kids; I have no idea how to deal with the terrible twos and magic all at once. When is magic supposed to manifest in most magical children?"
"It varies a lot in our world. But pure bloods like to see their children showing signs of magic by the time they are three or so. Any later and it is feared that they are a squib and a black mark on the family's name. Many are forced to show that they have magical abilities at a very young age.
As for me, I believe it is a miracle that I ever had children and I will love them no matter. Though because you are not of a magical stock in a strictly blood reference, it is very unlikely that we will produce squibs. The magical community, especially of the higher class Pureblood families are actually quite interbreed and just like when breeding stock or even a specific breed of dog, when the breeding population is that closely related through marriages within close relatives, problems tend to pop up. While my family tree had a few black marks in the traditional sense, both in issues of 'purity' and squibs, yours brings in new blood. Though I must say, as you well know, my father would be or is spinning in his grave for sure by our union. But I say too bad for him, I am the happiest man alive and the luckiest. I have you as my wife and I have two beautiful children that I helped bring into the world. What more could a man ask for?"
"I love you too." Hermione said with a smile and gave him a half hug and a kiss. "As for any wants or desires, all I want is to snuggle with you." She shifted so that she was leaning against his chest as he sat back against the headboard.
"I am surprised that you will even let me touch you after all that." He marveled aloud, stroking her hair with his free hand and kissing the crown of her head.
"How could I not want you to touch me?" She asked. "You make me feel alive. Although I will warn you off on the whole sex thing for a while. I can assure you that I still desire you and want very much to accommodate you in that fashion, but whoa man, I need some time to heal! Even with the Potions I need time to recover and get used to these guys before we strive to make any more! Although, I am certainly not opposed to cuddling. I suspect though that we will not be forced to do anything by that stupid law, we will most certainly be under compliance before the deadline. I certainly have missed that connection. Though, as it has been only about eight hours since these guys have entered the world, I am not overly anxious for anything or anyone to make a visit down there just yet."
"I am just glad you still want anything to do with me." He said.
"Isn't it supposed to the woman who is all worried about how her husband will react to her changed shape?" Hermione chuckled lightly and tiredly, as she had slumped against Severus' chest as it seemed she was slowly loosing the battle to stay awake.
"Let me assure you that I will always desire you." Severus assured her. "It is what makes you, you that I want, and a nice body is a bonus. Besides you carried my children, whatever changes may or may not have occurred in your shape, I am most eager to have you what ever your shape. You have loved me despite the physical flaws that I see in myself, you have accepted and loved all that shames me most, how could I do anything else. Fear not my beautiful Hermione I will always love you."
Severus' only response was a sighing breath from Hermione. She had fallen asleep propped up against his chest. Sebastian was also asleep in his mother's arms and Serenity was resting, nesting in the crook of his arm against his chest. He had his arm around Hermione and it rested atop her now much flatter belly. Severus could not help but smile as he held his entire family in his arms. This was something he had never believed would be his, something that was for everyone else. But now he had a family and children of his own. This is what he had fought so long and so hard for, now he was reaping the benefits of his work as a spy. This is what contentment was, this was his reward. With that happy thought Severus put his head back against the big tall headboard of the bed and he also found himself drifting off to sleep to the chorus of three sets of soft breathing.
The sleeping family was to be disturbed about an hour later by a wafting and pungent odor and the wail of its originator; time for the Master of Potions to learn to become a Master of Diapers as well!
A/N: hehe, Severus is now going to learn to change a diaper! He has been initiated with puke and now he gets to survive the thrill of the first diaper change! I know I am not being very nice! And I enjoy it too much! Yes I know the house elves could do it, and I think I will let them later on, but I am going off the pretense that Hermione has told them off for the first couple days so that she and Severus can bond with the babies. It just seemed like the best and easiest thing to do.
I don't know when I will get the next chapter up, I would like to do so as soon as I can, but I have a packed schedule the next couple weeks. I am the baker for most of the stuff that is at my parent's 25th wedding anniversary party at the end of the week, and we will also have company. It is going to be hugely busy so I hope that I have time to write even a little. But never fear, I will be posting again as soon as I can get something good written.
As always I must thank my wonderful friend and beta Skydancinghobbit. She has some awesome stuff up on her page that you should all go check out on your way out. Or if you are so inclined, check out some of the other stuff that I have written.
Please drop me a review to let me know what you think of what I have written so far. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my stuff so far!! Live, Laugh, Love!~ Dragons Quill
