Chapter Twenty Eight

A/N: Thank you to EriksAngeldeMusica for reviewing the last chapter.

Narcissa sat bolt upright in her bed, clutching at her stomach in agony. She did not understand it; the baby was not due for another five weeks at least. Desperately, she reached out to her side... and found nothing but cold, empty sheets. Lucius had still not returned home. She was alone.

Pulling back the sheets, the woman gasped at what she found. There was a water-like liquid staining the sheets a faint yellow; she had known that this was supposed to happen. But mixed into it was the deep pink stain of diluted blood. 'Why am I bleeding?' she asked herself, feeling her breaths come faster. 'I'm not supposed to bleed.'

It was at times like these that Narcissa longed for help of the women who had surrounded her since childhood, comforting her over every minor ailment and injury. But her mother was dead, Andromeda was gone and Bellatrix was far away on a raid. 'With Lucius.' she remembered bitterly and cursed her husband's name. 'He has been with me throughout all these months. How could he leave me now?'

Desperately, ignoring the searing pain igniting her abdomen, Narcissa reached out to the bedside table to retrieve her wand. Muttering the charm with gritted teeth, the woman saw a silver peacock fly from the tip of her wand and go to fetch help. She had not given the bird a message, but her Patronus was unmistakable and the doctors at St. Mungo's knew her condition. 'That's where it'll go.' she thought sadly. 'Because even I can see that Lucius is not coming.'

Once the task was completed, the pains died down a little, becoming only a dull ache in her stomach, but it was not long before they flared up again, and worse this time. Narcissa knew of charms to help ease the pain, but did not dare to perform them, not while she was shaking in this way. All she could do now was wait, in the hope that someone would come to her aid.

The wait was one of the longest she had ever known, fraught with tension and fear. Narcissa spent as much time as possible pacing her bedroom, knowing that movement was an effective way of calming her mind. She had spent many a sleepless night pacing these floors, waiting for Lucius to come home from a raid; the route was a familiar one to her. However, on this occasion, she could not help but recall that while she had spent so long waiting for Lucius to return to her, he would not do so this time, however much she may long for him to.

Eventually, the pains intensified to such a point that even standing was impossible. And still she was alone. 'I cannot do this on my own.' the young woman fretted, clutching tightly at her abdomen, as if by doing so she could keep the baby inside of her. Then another terrifying thought. 'I won't survive it on my own.'

Narcissa no longer bit her lip, instead crying out loudly as the pain overwhelmed her. Even the sound of her own agonised cries was preferable to the choking silence that filled the manor.

But once her cries had subsided again, Narcissa heard the clatter of hurried footsteps on the staircase. 'Lucius.' she allowed herself to think for just a moment, before the door flew open to reveal Dobby, the young house-elf she had inherited from her mother after she passed away.

"Apologies, M-Mistress." Dobby stuttered, bowing in reverence. Lucius was partial to beating the elves if they were disobedient, rather more partial than his wife would have liked, but she could not deny that it was an effective strategy. "There was a midwife at the door, she said you sent a message. Dobby let him in. Dobby hopes he did right, Mistress."

"Yes, Dobby, you did." Narcissa responded, in a clipped voice. Usually, she would have tried to be a little kinder to the poor little creature, but as her pains flared up again she found that she did not have the patience. "Show her in."

The midwife bustled past at such a speed she almost knocked Dobby off his feet. Of course, it was the elf who blathered his apologies, whilst she barely noticed he was speaking. Narcissa could not help but smile at the sight of a familiar face, something she had longed for ever since she had awoken. The woman was a member of a lesser Pureblood house, a portly woman with a seemingly eternal optimism, but currently, Narcissa could not be happier to see her if she were Merlin himself.

"A little early, Narcissa," the woman pointed out, pulling numerous potions from the Extendable bag she carried. She seemed so very calm; Narcissa could not imagine how, when her own panic was almost blinding her. "But not to worry. You're in safe hands now."

Though she felt safer now that her midwife was with her, Narcissa could still not help but feel disappointment. Her Patronus went to the hospital because it knew her husband was nowhere to be found; that meant that, deep down, she knew she could not rely on him, at this, the most important time of their lives. 'If I cannot rely on him now, then when can I?' she asked herself. She did not want to know the answer.

After the midwife had completed her examination, she let out a heaving sigh. "Alright, Narcissa, it's time. This little one is ready to come into the world. All he needs is a bit of help from his mother."

Suddenly, the enormity of the situation swept over Narcissa like a wave at high tide over a beach. In just a few minutes, she would no longer be pregnant; she would be a mother. There would be a child reliant on her, depending on the fact that she would never let them down. 'I'll always be there for you.' she told her baby, thinking that if they shared the same blood, they could share the same thoughts as well. 'Your father might not always be, but your mother will never leave you. I love you so much.'

A/N: Sorry for leaving you guys, I'll update soon! Please review!