It was nearly midnight before Lucius returned home to the penthouse. As he slipped into the bedroom, he found Hermione snoring, sprawled in the easy chair by the window, an open book on the floor by her feet. She was dressed in her nightclothes and he smiled down at her sleeping form, knowing she'd tried to wait up for him.

After picking the book up and setting it on the small lamp table next to her chair, Lucius gently scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He murmured a wandless spell that pulled down the duvet and the top sheet.

The blond wizard moved slowly and carefully to avoiding waking Hermione, as he set her gently on the bed. It was of no use, however, as her eyelids fluttered open and she looked up at him with a sleepy smile.

"You're home," she burbled in a sleep-thick voice. "I tried to wait up for you."

"I'm sorry I'm so late," Lucius said quietly. He was now sitting on the side of the bed beside her as he began removing his clothing. "But we had a bit of a debate before Draco was finally confirmed as the new Potions professor."

"So Draco did get hired," she observed. "That's wonderful. I'm sure he and Luna are thrilled."

"Ecstatic," Lucius assured her. He'd slipped into a pair of silk pajama bottoms and had now crawled into bed beside her. "Snape's old quarters will also be expanded into a family suite for them to live in."

"Luna will enjoy living at Hogwarts, I'm guessing," Hermione predicted. "She'll find plenty to keep herself busy with there."

"Draco plans to build a new home in Hogsmeade," Lucius told her. "So, I would imagine they'll only live on the grounds for the first year. Once the baby is born, they'll want their privacy."

"I don't blame them," Hermione said. "I don't think I'd care to live down in the dungeons."

"Draco isn't wild about the idea himself, but as well as being hired at Potions professor, he will also be Head of Slytherin, as Professor Sinistra turned down that position," he told her. "For that reason, it will be essential for him to live on the grounds for at least the first year in order to establish his authority with the Slytherin student body."

"That makes sense," Hermione siad. After a pause, she stretched and grimaced slightly.

"What's wrong?" Lucius asked, frowning. "Is it your back again?"

"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's almost as if the baby is pressing on my spine; it's like she weighs 20 pounds already."

"Lie down," Lucius commanded. "I'll give you a back rub."

After assuming the proper position, Hermione moaned as Lucius began to massage her spine. "Ohhh, that hits the spot," she murmured. "You have magic hands."

For the next few minutes, neither spoke, as Hermione concentrated on the soothing sensations created by Lucius' hands, feeling the tension slowly slipping away.

"I wonder if I'm ever going to give birth," Hermione said a little while later. "I'm already a couple of days overdue."

"Don't worry, love," Lucius told her. "A Malfoy always knows the right time to make an entrance."

"I suppose you're right," she said with a little grin. "But I'm dearly sick of being pregnant."

"I can understand that," Lucius allowed, feeling quite glad that he wasn't a woman.

A moment later, Hermione hesitantly said, "I've been thinking that I'd rather name our baby Lucia, rather than Lucinda. I think it's a closer match to Lucius, plus it sounds nicer."

"You're right," he said. "It does sound better. And she can use Lucy as a nickname, if she likes. Let's do it."

"I don't know why I didn't think of it first of all," she said. "But I happened to glance through a baby naming book some time ago and Lucia jumped right out at me."

"Mmm," Lucius said, yawning. "I'm getting sleepy."

"Me, too," Hermione agreed. "You keep rubbing my back like that and I'll be asleep in no time."

"Exactly what I intended, my dear," he murmured.
---

On the other side of London, Ginny Potter stood in the shower, hoping that the cascading waves of hot water would ease the increased back pain she'd been feeling that day. The pains had stepped up in intensity and were now accompanied by intermittent stomach pain as well. She gripped the shower walls as another wave of stomach pain began, trying not to moan and wake up Harry.

A moment later, she heard a tap on the shower glass. "Ginny?" Harry called out. "Are you all right? This is the third time tonight you've taken a shower."

"Go back to bed, Harry," she called out, her voice sharp from the pain. "I'll be out shortly."

She waited as heard Harry reluctantly shuffle out of the bathroom, then turned off the water and performed a wandless drying charm on herself. After donning her night clothes again, she gingerly made her way back to bed, as the pain in her stomach subsided.

As she eased into bed, Harry looked at her with concern. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked. "Don't you think that it might be the baby coming?"

"It's a little early; I'm not due for another week or two," Ginny replied. "But I suppose you could be right."

"I'm going to go get your Mum," Harry said firmly. "She'll certainly know if you're in labor."

"I hate to wake her," Ginny said. "She needs her sleep."

"She won't mind," Harry assured her. "In fact, she'll be angry if you are in labor and didn't bother to tell her about it."

"You're right," Ginny admitted reluctantly, now sitting up on the side of the bed. She'd not yet had another stomach pain, but she still felt queasy and unsettled.

"I'll be right back," Harry said as he opened the door to leave the room. After padding barefoot across the hall, he knocked softly on Molly's door. "Mrs Weasley," he called out.

Molly opened the door almost at once. "What is it, Harry?" she asked wearily. "It must be three in the morning!"

"It's Ginny," he said, with a hint of impatience in his voice. "I think she might be in labor."

"All right," Molly said, "Let me go and talk to Ginny and have a look, then."

Harry followed his mother-in-law back into his bedroom where they found Ginny in the adjacent bathroom sicking up into the toilet.

"Oh, dear," Molly said. Turning to Harry, she asked, "Do you have any anti-nausea potions around?"

Harry rummaged in a drawer in the small table beside the bed until he found the proper potion, then brought the bottle to Molly.

"Here, Ginny, drink this," Molly told her daughter after she'd finished vomiting and was washing her face at the sink. "It will help."

As the younger witch obeyed. Molly said, "Harry told me you think that you might be in labor." After Ginny nodded, the older witch said, "I think you may be right, but tell me your symptoms."

"Well, the back pain has gotten much worse," Ginny began. "And I've been having pretty severe stomach pains that come and go." She paused briefly, then added, "And the nausea. This is the second time I've sicked up."

"How frequently are the stomach pains coming," Molly asked.

"Oh, let's see, maybe every ten minutes or so," the younger witch replied vaguely. "I've not been timing them, but that seems about right."

"Well, I think it's safe to say that you are indeed in the early stages of labor," the Weasley matiarch determined. "Though you would probably be all right if you waited until morning, I'd feel better if you went to St. Mungo's now, just to be on the safe side."

Turning to Harry, Molly instructed "Why don't you get Ginny's hospital bag ready, then get her to the hospital right away. I'm going to floo home and tell Arthur, then alert the rest of the family. We'll have an early breakfast then meet you at St. Mungo's in a little while. I'll bring you some breakfast to the hospital, so you won't get too hungry, as the labor will likely go on for several hours."

Giving Ginny a hug, she said, "I won't be too long, dear. I'd better get dressed now and get ready to go."

After the older woman had bustled from the room, Harry asked Ginny, "Where did you put the bag with the stuff you wanted to take to the hospital?"

"I reduced it and put it in the right dresser drawer," Ginny told him. "Everything I need is in there. All we have to do is get dressed and go."

Harry wasted no time dressing. He'd pulled on a t-shirt and jeans and was tying the laces of his trainers by the time Ginny was ready to go. She'd just thrown a robe on over her night clothes and slipped on a pair of sandals, so she'd be more comfortable.

As the expectant couple made their way to the floo, Harry turned to Ginny and squeezed her hand. "Just imagine. When we both come back home, we'll be parents!"

--
A/N Nearly 900 reviews! Thanks, everyone.
A/N Hermione telling Lucius that he had "magic hands", is, of course, a reference to the 1976 Heart song, "Magic Man".
A/N Next chapter yet to be named.