"Just a little further Rose." said James.
Rose was having difficulty walking, as her stomach kept heaving. "Oof!" she groaned. "I was wrong. It's not amazing. I wish they would stop kicking – oof!"
"It's not usually such a problem." explained Hannah. "But with twice as many babies, there's twice as much kicking. And if one kicks the other the other one often kicks too, when they're readjusting. Ah, here we are."
"Victoire!" exclaimed James as they entered the room. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm the junior healer they assigned you." said Victoire cheerfully as she hugged Lily. "For some reason they felt I could be trusted."
"Wonderful." said Hannah. "Alright Rose, are you ready?"
"Sure." said Rose, hopping up on the bed.
A while into the procedure Hannah sent a Patronus. "I think it's time to bring in the experts and find out about some of these health problems."
"Okay." said Rose nervously. She reached for James hand.
They did a lot of tests, and finally Victoire escorted Rose, James, and Lily to another room while Hannah waited for the verdict.
"What has everyone been saying?" Rose asked Victoire. George's birthday party had been on the weekend, so Victoire had the latest news.
"Shock mostly. No one seems more upset then your parents. But I think Grandma supports you. She's not happy, but she supports you. And if you've got her, the rest of the family won't be far behind if they know what's good for them." answered Victoire.
"Grandma's not mad?" asked James.
"Well, she's older. There used to be a lot of intermarrying among the Wizarding population. And Dad was born when she was only 21, so she's not too upset about that either." explained Victoire.
"Family is important to Grandma." said Lily seriously.
"Well, it used to be important to my parents too." said Rose, shutting everyone up.
Hannah came in and sat across from Rose. "Okay Rose. How do you want to do this?"
"Just tell me what's wrong, and tell me what the options are." said Rose.
"Well, both babies have Neural Tube Defects." Victoire breathed in sharply. "The boy has Spina Bifida, which means his Spinal Column isn't completely formed. There are different variations of this, which we will be able to distinguish between at birth. He may require surgery, but it's not fatal." Hannah paused. "He also has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. The left side of his heart is smaller than it should be. Most babies survive. The treatment is a series of three surgeries, the first one at birth. He has this combined with Aortic Atresia, meaning he has no Aortic Valve. Also mostly non-fatal. We'll simply create one at birth, and then he'll need medication to help his heart work properly."
"So he's okay." said Rose. It felt odd to say, when there were so many things wrong with him.
"Yes. It would be a difficult situation for a Muggle baby, but once the treatments are done he's going to be fine." said Hannah.
"How many surgeries was that again?" asked James.
"At birth we'll fix his lip and aortic valve, and complete the first of his treatments for HLHS. He may also need his spinal column repaired and/or surgery for a cleft palate. After birth, the heart surgeries continue, as well as part two if there's a cleft palate. As I said, quite overwhelming for a Muggle, but not a problem for Healers. He'll come through fine." repeated Hannah.
"And the girl?" asked Rose. "Just tell me."
"The girl has a different version of NTD, Anencephaly, which means an incompletely formed brain. I'm sorry Rose," said Hannah gently "but the prognosis... is bad."
Rose tightened her grip on James, and Lily took Rose's other hand.
"Many babies with Anencephaly die in the womb." continued Hannah. "In that case, we would try to find a balance between how soon we can get her out and how long we can keep the boy in. Some babies die shortly after birth. And some survive."
"For how long?" asked Rose fiercely.
"The record is four and a half years. With magic, they might have kept the child alive longer, but ...it wasn't alive anymore. It couldn't understand anything, or do anything, so they felt it best." said Hannah. "We'll just wait and see."
Rose nodded, and her tears brimmed over. Her cousins hugged her, and she saw that James was crying too. Victoire and Hannah had to leave eventually, but the other three stayed like that for a long time.
Finally, they made it back to James' flat. No one spoke. Lily left shortly after dinner. In light of Harry's heart attack, they had decided that she should spend some of the holidays with her parents. James, who wasn't invited, had managed to take off work, so Lily didn't have to stay and help Rose. Once Lily was gone James and Rose went straight to bed.
James felt horrible. He was sad about the baby of course, but he could tell that Rose was absolutely devastated. The only thing that had stopped her from falling into utter despair was the knowledge that she had to be strong for her healthy baby. And James, who wanted cry too, had to be strong for her, because she didn't have anyone else.
Most of all, he wanted to talk to his parents, to find out how they could be so strong for each other and their children when their own lives were overwhelming.
A while later, nearing midnight, James heard the distant sound of crying. He got up off the couch and went into the bedroom. Rose was curled up on the bed. He climbed in and put his arms around her, rocking her.
"Shhhh." he whispered "It's okay Rosie. It's okay."
Her sobs grew quieter. "It just... feels like... I'm losing my whole family."
"I know." said James "But I'm here. I'm here, Rose. And I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise?"
He didn't know what else to do, so he kissed her.
And while the world pushed them away, they tightened their holds on each other.
Author's Note: Okay, so I've never studied medical care. I did my best to research all of the health problems that arise in this story (and then incorporate them into the Wizarding World), but it's possible some of the complications in this story aren't even plausible. Sorry if I got anything wrong, and thanks for reading it anyway.