Yay so my midterms are completed, now the dreaded wait for the grades to be handed out... Oh well I was in a good mood after the last one and you guys are rewarded with a chapter. If you know the Brad Paisley song "Anything Like Me" then you can guess what this one's about, if not, you shall find out soon! Either way, enjoy!
Chapter 9 – Anything Like Me
Oh and make the front page it did. There was an entire story about the apparent feud that was going on between the Weasley matriarch and the new Lady Potter. A timeline dealing with how it started, an account of what had happened at the Ball the previous spring and it all ended with the fight in Diagon Alley, a fight that Harry was proud to say that his wife had won.
Both Harry and Narcissa had ended up giving interviews that day. The reporters wanted to talk about the argument, about what had caused it and if Cissa really did hate Molly, or if it was all a show. They wanted to know if Harry had considered intervening and then they wanted to know why not. But mostly they wanted to talk to the two of them as a couple. Their personal life was an even better story than the argument.
Harry was by no means surprised when he opened the paper the next morning and found the two of them looking back up at him. He was glad that even in the poor quality photos of the paper they looked happy, and Cissa seemed to glow. Nobody would doubt them after that.
The living, breathing version of his wife swept into the kitchen just as he was unfolding the paper. "So," she smiled at him as he read, "What does it say?"
"It says I have the most beautiful, and yet terrifying wife in the world, and that I better hope that that baby is a boy because if it's a girl and she turns out anything like her mother I'm going to be in serious trouble." He peaked over the top of the paper at her and she could see the grin in his eyes.
"That is not what it says and you know it." She snatched the paper away from him and chuckled as she read the article.
"Maybe not, but you have to admit that if it is a girl, and she's anything like you we are going to have our hands full when she turns two."
She finished reading the article and set the paper aside with a smile. For once the Prophet had actually gotten the majority of the story right, and they had accurately cast Molly as the perpetrator of all of Cissa's actions yesterday. In the eyes of the readers she was just as innocent as can be and Molly would be humiliated for weeks.
There had been talk of the Potters pressing charges for Molly attempting to draw her wand on Cissa, but Cissa had drawn hers first. There would be no charges filed, the humiliation was doing its job nicely.
"I'll have you know," her blue eyes sharp as ice, "that I was a very dignified and proper two year old. I had perfect manners and was never a terror like you are implying."
"That may be, but you were also raised as a Black, not a Potter. You have to remember that your strong-willed, and fiery personality is getting mixed with the Potter brand of mischief in this kid. We are going to have our hands full no matter what."
"Well," she looked up at the clock on the wall, "give it a few hours and we will know for sure whether or not we are going to have a mini-me or a mini-you running around here."
He stood up from the table and moved around to her seat to kiss her once before he disappeared upstairs. "I can't wait." He called back over his shoulder as he left the room.
They arrived at the hospital hand in hand having apparated in instead of loosing the Floo. Cissa seemed to have enough time keeping herself upright coming out of the fireplaces when her center of gravity wasn't being effected by a baby, let alone now.
When they got to the fourth and a half floor Susan was waiting at the elevator for them. She greeted them with a smile. "I saw you in the paper this morning. It seems you may have caused quite the scene yesterday?"
Cissa blushed a tiny amount, but it slipped away just as quickly as it had appeared. "It seems I did, but I don't think that we are going to have to deal with that particular," she paused trying to decide on the right word.
"Person?" Harry threw in helpfully.
"Person anymore. I think that I took care of that." She finished with a small smile.
"So it would seem. I recall a howler that Mrs. Weasley sent Ron back when we were children. If you were able to out do that then more power to you. She always seemed a bit of a bully to me." She held open the door to the exam room for them and they passed in front of her. She glanced quickly at Harry, "I'm sorry, I forget that you are close,"
"Not anymore." He interrupted her. "We are still close with her children, Ron, Ginny and Bill in particular, but not Molly and Arthur. Not after everything that she has had to say against the woman I love." He turned his gaze from Susan to Cissa, and he lifted her easily onto the exam table.
"You do realize that I am perfectly capable of getting up here on my own right?" She raised an eyebrow at him as she shrugged off her coat, having opted for a simple muggle pantsuit instead of robes. It just made these things easier.
"I know, but I'm just as capable of lifting you up there." He shot back as he moved to stand beside her.
Susan shook her head at the couple that had become her favorite patients. They were always this way with each other; there was no denying the feelings that they held for one another as she watched them interact. "Okay so we are going to do a normal check up and then if the two of you would like you are far enough along to determine gender today as well."
Cissa and Harry exchanged a look and she laughed while he answered. "Oh yeah. We need to know."
Susan smiled at their reaction, "May I ask why that question sent you two giggling like little kids yourselves?"
Cissa got control over her self and then answered the poor girl. "We are trying to decide which one would be more difficult to handle, a mini-Harry, or a mini-me."
Susan seemed to consider this for a minute and then she smiled, "Well I grew up with Harry, for all his talk he was a pretty good student most of the time. I'm going to have to say having two strong women in the house might be more difficult."
"Thank you!" Cissa rolled her eyes at Harry's outburst. "So how do we find out?"
"With this." She went out into the hall and pulled a muggle ultrasound machine into the room. When Harry looked confused she explained. "Some of the doctors our age are starting to introduce muggle technology in the medical quarter, and for the most part it seems to be working."
"For the most part?" He wasn't sure he wanted that thing near Cissa if it wasn't one hundred percent safe.
"Well we had a few bugs to work out with the x-ray machine, but it makes healing bones so much easier. Now we can see what we need to fix. This thing," she laid a hand on the machine, "has been right every time so far though. Are you ready to see your baby?"
"Yes." Cissa nodded and laid back on the table, lifting her shirt when told to. She sucked in a breath when the gel hit her stomach.
"Are you okay?"
She chuckled at him, "Yes, it was just colder than I was expecting. No big deal," she smiled, "let's meet our baby."
They both turned to look at the screen as Susan pressed the handheld monitor on Cissa's bump. Tears sprang to the blonde's eyes as she got the first glimpse of her baby. "Harry…" She turned to look at him and saw that he was crying too. "That's our baby."
"That's your son." Susan corrected her.
"Our son?" Harry looked across at the healer, "Really?"
She pointed to the screen, "Really." With a smile she froze the screen and handed Cissa a towel to clean up. "I'll give the two of you a minute." She ducked out of the room as Harry turned to his wife.
"It's a boy."
She nodded, "So it seems. Are you happy?" She didn't really need an answer there was no denying the look on his face.
"Are you kidding?" He kissed her and then with a hand still resting on her cheek he pulled back to talk to her. "Of course I'm happy. You are giving me this amazing gift, I wouldn't have cared either way as long as the two of you are healthy."
"Well your son and I are just fine." She smiled at him and he couldn't help but grin even wider when he heard her say your son. It was the best feeling in the world.
All of a sudden his good mood came crashing down around him. "Oh Merlin."
"What?" She was standing up off of the table and using his arm for balance she swung around to face him. "What's the matter?"
"What if he really is like me?"
She tried not to laugh, but the look on his face was making that rather difficult. He seemed genuinely upset at the thought. "Harry, what could possibly be wrong with him being like you? You are a wonderful man."
He focused on her then, "That's all because of you. You are what made me into the man that I am today. I was a boy the night I walked up to you in that bar. The war may have made me grow up too fast, but you made me become a man. Don't you remember the stories of me growing up? How are we going to be able to handle it if he fights trolls at eleven, or centaurs at fifteen? I was reckless and pretty stupid sometimes, what if he's like me?"
She put a hand on his cheek and felt him relax into it. "Harry, if he's anything like you then he is going to turn out just fine. Look at you, you made it through all of those things and more and you came out better for each one of them. Sure if he ends up flying a car to the school we are going to have some problems," she chuckled at his groan, "but Harry we are going to do this together. I promise, I'll be there right next to you every time McGonagall sends a letter home saying he's done something just as stupid as his father once did." She kissed his cheek. "Come on. We have to thank Susan on our way out."