Chapter Nine
"So…" James said slowly after a sudden, yet brief, moment of silence had settled over them. "What do we do now that we're done going through names?"
"Be normal people," Lucy suggested under her breath.
"That's hardly agreeable," Molly informed her sister. "Anyone else have any more reasonable suggestions?"
As it turned out, however, the Weasley and Potter cousins truly had impeccable timing when it came to being bored. Because, at that precise moment, the door to the waiting room opened once more and a distraction in the form of Astoria Malfoy entered.
"You made it, Astoria," Ginny was the first to speak, as everyone had looked to the door when it opened, hoping it would be a Healer coming to announce that the baby had finally been born.
"Finally," Astoria stated, walking the short distance to the empty chair beside Ginny and Hermione and practically collapsing into it. "That bloody Editor needs to retire already. I'm a senior editor, not some intern who doesn't know one side of a quill from the other! And to think, I could have missed the birth of my first grandchild because he absolutely needed to see a copy of the Prophet from this day fifty years ago!"
"Cuffe lost his marbles ages ago," Ginny agreed easily. "And he probably should have retired even before that."
"Enough talk about work, though," Astoria insisted, "I've escaped the office for now. Tell me what's been going on here. What have I missed? Or, better yet," She continued without pause, taking in the room's occupants as she spoke, "Where is my husband? Don't tell me I actually beat him here when he's the one who works here."
"He might be dealing with the situation upstairs," Hermione offered.
"The situation?" Astoria repeated and, at her words, Victoire shot James another glare, causing him to cower slightly in his seat.
"Apparently," Ginny narrowed her eyes pointedly at James as well, "My oldest son felt the need to destroy the top floor of this hospital."
"I…see," Astoria said slowly.
"But other than that things have been pretty slow; nothing much has happened around here," Ginny continued, suddenly cheerful once more. "And I'm sure Draco will make it in time before the baby is born."
Ron couldn't help but disagree with his sister's assessment of the situation. Clearly she hadn't been privy to the same conversation between their nieces and nephews as he had. Unless she had been listening and was, for whatever reason, in agreement with them that Rose and Scorpius would decide to name their baby after a constellation. Either way, 'slow' was definitely not how Ron would describe his afternoon. 'Agonizing' was pretty spot on, though, as were 'disturbing' and 'mortifying.'
"You know," Hugo began thoughtfully, distracting Ron and drawing his attention back to his nieces and nephews. "I never realized before how incredibly boring it is to wait for a baby to be born."
Unfortunately for Hugo, he had chosen the precise moment when everyone else in the waiting room had fallen silent. So naturally, this was an announcement he made to the entire room, rather than just his cousins, as he had intended.
"I'm sure your sister would love to know that you feel this way," Hermione informed her son from across the room, where she was seated next to Ron.
"I thought you were excited about being an uncle, Hugo," Ginny chastised her youngest nephew.
"There's no need to gang up on me," Hugo said immediately, holding his hands up in surrender. "But we really have been here for ages. What's taking so long?"
"Life takes a long time, Hugo," Hermione said shortly. She smiled pleasantly at her son, then, though there was a bit of a glint in her eyes as she spoke, "Unless you'd like me to go into more detail about what, exactly, your dear sister is going through right now?"
"Mum! My ears!" Hugo protested, quickly pressing his hands to each side of his head.
"In all fairness, you did ask," Lily informed him. "Clearly you have no one to blame but yourself."
"And Scorpius," James threw in helpfully, "It's Scorpius' fault, too."
"While I'm sure Rosie agrees with you wholeheartedly at the moment," Albus said with a slight grimace, "We really don't need to talk about my two best friends like that, especially when their mothers are both sitting right there."
Ginny smiled pleasantly at him at this, "I always knew at least one of my sons was bound to possess some common sense."
James was about to protest that statement when he was cut off by the waiting room door opening once more and someone entering.
"Excuse me?" A young man in Healer robes spoke up, causing everyone to fall silent, "The family of Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy?"
"That's us," Hermione said immediately and Ron couldn't help but grimace slightly; he would never be able to get over the fact that he really was related to the Malfoy family. Ever.
"Mrs. Malfoy has had her baby," The Healer stated, focusing his attention on Hermione now, "I can show you to her room."
"That would be lovely," Hermione replied, immediately stowing her paperwork in her bag and standing up. She was followed shortly by every other occupant of the waiting room.
"Only family can see her right now," The Healer said immediately.
"But we are family," Fred told him with a grin.
"A-All of you?" The Healer demanded, his eyes widening in alarm.
"Of course," Louis replied this time.
"That's enough, you lot," Ginny informed the pair. She turned to Hermione, "You, Ron, Astoria, and Hugo should go. We'll be fine waiting a bit longer."
And without another word, she immediately resumed her seat, pulling Harry back down beside her. Hermione and Astoria immediately followed the Healer as he exited the room, Ron nervously trudging after them, with Hugo trailing behind. After rounding a few corners, they finally came to a halt at a closed door, which Draco Malfoy was standing outside of.
"There you are," Astoria declared, pecking her husband lightly on the cheek as the Healer walked away. "I was worried when you didn't show up."
Draco merely rolled his eyes. "I had to deal with some things upstairs; disaster is always bound to strike when there are Weasleys around."
"Don't forget your grandchild is technically a Weasley, too," Hermione informed him with a slight smirk.
"I try not to remind myself of the greatest tragedy of my life very often," Draco replied, though there was smile playing at the corners of his mouth as well. "But speaking of our grandchild, I do believe it's about time we were all introduced."
This was it. Rosie had finally had her baby and Ron was finally going to meet his grandchild. He just knew this wasn't going to end well; not after what his nieces and nephews had just spent hours discussing. But Ron Weasley would always be a Gryffindor at heart. He could do this.
Ron steeled himself as he followed his wife into their daughter's hospital room. He had faced some of the greatest horrors known to man—Professor Snape's classes, the first and second coming of Lord Voldemort, Hermione's cooking, etc.—without any lasting damage. There was no reason to suggest that he could not also survive meeting his first grandchild and finally discovering what unfortunate name the poor kid had been given.
As he entered the room, Ron immediately took in the scene before him. Rose sat on the single hospital bed, looking tired but proud and holding a bundle of white blankets in her arms. Scorpius was seated on the edge of the bed next to her with one arm around his wife, with his free hand he gently stroked the cheek of the baby sleeping in Rose's embrace. Rose looked up as they all filed in, a jubilant smile on her face.
"Would you like to meet your grandson?" She asked softly.
Astoria and Hermione gave twin gasps of delight and went to stand on either side of the bed.
"I think he's going to have the Malfoy hair," Astoria stated, reaching a hand out to touch the light wisp of hair that stuck out of the blanket. "He looks just like you when you were born, Scorpius."
"He's beautiful, dear," Hermione told her daughter, smiling happily as she took in the new family before her.
"Women…" Draco muttered under his breath. Ron merely grunted in reply; he was not at all capable of forming any other kind of response. He knew what came next…
"What have you named him?" Hermione asked.
Rose looked back up from staring at her baby once more and smiled in the direction of the two new grandfathers hovering by the wall.
"Ronald Draco Malfoy."