I Don't Want to be a Hero - Second Year
Chapter Forty-Three
The Arrival of Baby Malfoy
The Waiting Room for Family at St. Mungos was not too terribly crowded. Severus was there, pacing. Harry was watching his father, and Draco was seated by the window watching as nurses, Healers, and Carers passed back and forth.
Minutes passed like hours… hours passed like days… errr... not quite...
Twenty minutes after Narcissa had been taken to her room with Poppy in her lovely travelling suit, and chapeau, a rather cowed Lucius slunk into the waiting room, and flopped into a chair in the far corner. Severus, immediately concerned, strode over to his friend, towered a moment, then sat beside him.
"Lucius?" Severus asked quietly so Draco, who was watching but had not moved, could not hear. "Is Narcissa all right? The baby?"
Lucius glanced up at Severus, then let out a shaky huff of breath. "Narcissa and the baby are both well, as much as I was able to tell."
"Then, why are you here? With us?"
"Narcissa threw me out, Severus," he said with all the worry an expectant father would have. "But, not before she threatened to strangle me with my… my manhood."
Severus tightened his lips together. He would not laugh. Never. In a million years he would not laugh right now, and in this moment. No.
And, then Severus did laugh to the point that his usually glittering, black eyes managed a slight twinkle. He then instantly sobered. Unfortunately, two worried boys were alerted that something was up.
"Dad?!" asked Harry with sudden worry.
"Da?" asked Draco rushing over to Lucius. "Is mum all right? Why did Uncle Severus laugh at you?" Draco gave his godfather a hard, disapproving glare.
Lucius reached out for his son, and Draco, who had not sat upon his father's lap in years, found himself there with one of his father's arms around his waist, and the wizard's nose in his hair.
"Da?" whispered Draco even more worried.
"It is all right, Dragon," whispered Lucius. "Your mother and the baby are well. She has just decided that it would not do to have me in the birthing room."
"Why was Uncle Severus laughing then?" asked Draco. He lifted his father's empty hand and wove his small fingers into the larger ones.
"A joke," Lucius smiled wryly. "A poor one that only fathers understand. Someday, you might laugh just as well."
"Oh," sighed Draco with relief. He leaned back against his father who made no move to relinquish the presence of his son.
Lucius needed the comfort, the solidity, of his son. His heart felt like it was strangling on the worry he held within for Narcissa.
The men waited, and waited a bit more until that wait stretched into two hours. Draco and Harry, having grown bored, had found a wizard's chessboard, and instead of playing the game they were fighting each other's pieces. Severus had been reading but that had sent him into a light slumber. Lucius had paced, sat in every chair in the waiting room, and then paced some more. Finally he turned, paced back to Severus, and kicked the sole of his shoe to wake the man.
"What?" Severus demanded as he woke with an affronted start. "Are you a father?"
"No, Severus. It is nearing three hours into Narcissa's labour. It is too long," Lucius complained.
Severus glowered. "We are wizards in a magical hospital. Labour does not take three hours."
"State the obvious much?" sneered Lucius towards his friend.
Severus' gaze narrowed as he emitted a deadly purr, "Shall I go with you, Lucius, in order to find out what is happening?"
"No. Thank. You." Lucius muttered in reply, and then strode out of the waiting room.
He did not come back.
Severus waited fifteen minutes beyond the half hour that Lucius was gone before he rose to leave. "You two, stay put." With that ominous order Harry and Draco watched as the wizard left the waiting room to find out what had happened to his friend.
Severus' sure foot stopped the moment he heard a strangled, forlorn wailing from beyond the closed door. Such noises were never heard at St. Mungos since the Healers always used a Silencing Charm. It worried him that he could hear Narcissa and by her cries the birth was proving to be a hard one.
Many images assaulted him as he recalled the story of his own birth, and how it had been a terrible one that left his mother forever weakened. Narcissa was a Pureblood, though, and she had insisted upon proper care the wizarding way from the moment she knew she was pregnant.
Then, Severus realised he was thinking of Poppy giving birth to his own child. He felt dread blossom around his heart, and he felt frozen. He had no idea how or even when he knocked upon the door to Narcissa's birthing room.
A harried Poppy Pomfrey pushed through the door, and closed it behind her. Her hair was in a chaos of a bun with tendrils falling here and there. She had long since removed the jacket and now wore a blowsey white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. What truly stabbed Severus in the heart were a few tell tale smears of blood.
"Poppy?" he asked.
Poppy hugged Severus quickly. "It isn't mine, Severus," she assured him.
"Lucius came here and never came back," he commented. "What has happened? Is everything well?"
Poppy nodded, picked up the hem of her dress, and wiped it across her cheeks and forehead. "We did have a bit of trouble…" the Healer was interrupted by a howl from within the room. "Oh Circe! The Silencing Charm is gone!" She waved her wand, and started to go back into the room but Severus caught her by the upper arm to stop her. "Severus, the babies are coming. Go to the waiting room."
The door slammed in his face. Severus headed back to the waiting room, and then stopped dead. "Babies?"
"Lucius, sit behind Narcissa, and support her!" snapped Poppy as the door slammed shut behind her. She pushed aside the nurse, and sat down on a stool between Narcissa's upraised knees.
Lucius did not question. He kicked off his shoes, and moved to sit behind Narcissa. She was weeping softly. He kissed her warm temple, then conjured a cool cloth that he dabbed across her forehead, and then the back of her neck.
"...too hard…" Narcissa breathed wearily. "I'm sorry… Lucius…"
"Shhh, Cissy. You know that you are doing beautifully… I am so proud… shhh… my love…" Lucius gave Poppy a worried look that she caught. She smiled briefly, and went back to work.
Severus was assaulted by two worried boys the moment he walked into the waiting room.
"Is mum ok?"
"Where did Lucius go?"
"Why do you look weird, Uncle?"
"Dad!"
Severus escorted the boys to two chairs, and sat them down. He began to explain, "Lucius is with Narcissa and chose to stay with her. Your mother is doing fine, Draco, and you will be a big brother shortly. Now, a little more patience would be appreciated so sit, stay put, and behave."
Harry and Draco were marginally agreeable to the stipulations Severus noted but only after they both hugged him. Knocking Severus right onto his arse he submitted to the relieved affection of the two boys in his arms.
"Babies?" he muttered questioningly. He hoped neither boy heard him.
Narcissa breathed heavily, wearily. One hand gripped one of her husband's hands with all the strength left in her body; which Lucius, feeling the limpness, worried it was not enough.
"Poppy," he began uneasily.
Poppy paid no attention to him as she murmured just for Narcissa, "I can see the baby's head, Narcissa, dear." She glanced at her nurse who was monitoring vitals on both babe and mother; two pulsing lines of magic that hovered above the mother. "Time for this little one to say hello. Push, Narcissa," she encouraged.
Lucius kissed his wife's cheek and echoed, "Push, love. You can do this."
Narcissa, tired of crying out any longer, drew in a deep breath, gripped her husband's hand savagely, and then her entire face grimaced as she pushed.
Within minutes Poppy was waving her wand to clean the baby, to cut the umbilical cord, and to clear the child's airways. One final wave had the child bundled in a blue blanket. She stood, leaned indelicately over Narcissa from between her legs, and placed the boy in his mother's arms.
Lucius smiled with pride, with love, as Narcissa giggled lightly, and stroked the child's cheek with her finger.
"Give him to Lucius, dear," ordered Poppy as she sat down upon her stool in between the new mother's knees. "One last push, and then you are finished."
Narcissa handed the child to his father, and Lucius took the babe but he gave Poppy a puzzled look she sensed but did not see. "What do you…?"
"Push!" ordered Poppy.
Narcissa's fingers bit into Lucius' folded legs behind her, and he yelped as his wife grimaced with the last of her will. He did very well in not jarring his newborn, and watched with absolute astonishment as his wife delivered a second, and last child; another boy. Poppy handed the swaddled and cleaned boy who was weeping softly to his mother, then finished up her duties.
Lucius, still gobsmacked but now with less surprise, and more joy, looked upon his children, and leaned over to kiss his wife. "Twins! You remarkable, darling, lovely woman," he babbled.
"They're beautiful, Lucius," Narcissa breathed ever so softly. "So tiny… I thought there was only one…"
Both parents looked to Poppy who was just cleaning, and vanishing soiled sheets right out from under Narcissa. She turned to them, and explained, "It does not happen often but sometimes with twins they are so close together in the womb that their hearts beat as one. As good as our Diagnostic Spells were they failed to see two hearts, and showed us only one."
"Why did the delivery take so long, Poppy?" asked Lucius as he stroked each cheek of his sons.
"For the same reason we learned at the last minute there were two babes instead of one," Poppy walked over to examine visually the two boys. "The first one turned his head towards your heart. A breech. I had to convince the stubborn boy to turn back, and to keep you from prematurely pushing." On one of the twins she spotted a pale, white curl of hair against his forehead. She touched the curl. "You've both done so very well. Have you thought of names, yet?"
"For a boy we had thought of Alaric, the name of a king," replied Lucius. "Neither of us thought of names for twins."
"Alexander," whispered Narcissa with a yawn. "They will be Alaric the Noble and Alexander the Defender." She touched the pretty little curl of the baby in her arms, naming him Alexander. Her head then drooped, and Lucius gently snatched up Alexander from his mother's arms as his wife drifted off to sleep.
"Come along, my boys, you have a brother to meet," smiled Lucius as Poppy helped him to move out from under his sleeping beauty.
Lucius walked proudly down the corridor to the waiting room with his sons - his sons Alaric and Alexander. He could not wipe the smile from his face. Not that he wanted to. He was full of so many positive emotions, some that had not been something to indulge in when Draco was born. His first-born had been brought into a world of madness on the brink of war, and into a family that was being strained by unwanted family ties, Death Eaters, and Voldemort. It had been a time when Lucius could only work towards Draco someday having a life of freedom to live. A life in which there were times that Lucius despaired of ever accomplishing.
With Alaric and Alexander he could dream of what their futures held knowing they would not lose their young lives to a war that had begun almost in the lap of his family. He would be able to watch his sons (all 3) grow into lives they chose, falling in love, marriage, children, families of their own.
"Dragon, I have brought your brothers to meet you," announced Lucius.
Draco was stunned, and almost afraid to approach his father as he stared at his brothers. Harry was delighted to see the small babies, and grasped Draco by the hand so he could drag him closer to Lucius.
"Twins!" exclaimed Severus. "Congratulations, Lucius. May all the gods bestow their blessings upon them." So that is what Poppy meant by 'babies', his thoughts muttered at the solved puzzle.
"Indeed, Lucius," added Regulus who had arrived only minutes ago. "How fortunate your family is."
"Regulus!" grinned Lucius. "I did not know you were here. Did Severus Floo call you?"
Regulus chuckled. "Hogwarts gossip. Hephaestus heard many of the students talking, and he related the information to me. I came as soon as I could. So, tell us, Lucius. Have you named your sons?"
"This is Alaric, and this one with the curl on his forehead is Alexander." Lucius sat down in one of the waiting room chairs so he was eye to eye with Draco. "Dragon, these are your brothers."
"They're so tiny, da'," Draco whispered in awe. Very cautiously he touched a fingertip to Alaric's cheek, and then to Alexander's. "Is mum all right?"
"Your mother is fine, Dragon," replied Lucius. "She is very tired so she is sleeping now. In a few hours you shall be able to visit her."
Draco turned to Harry who was studying the twins, and was very quiet. "What do you think of my brothers, Harry?"
"I like them," he nodded. He then turned to his father just at the moment Madame Pomfrey walked into the waiting room, and went to stand with Severus. "Dad? When can we get some?"
Severus stared in shock at his son. It was a very fortunate thing that Poppy conjured a chair behind the wizard because that was just when his knees decided they were no longer going to support him.
Prince Lighthouse Island - Just after midnight 28 Mar 1993
Severus bade Poppy a reluctant, but lingering kiss farewell outside of the gates to Hogwarts. He had wanted to take her to dinner since they had all missed lunch but Poppy was understandably tired.
Severus then caught up his son into his arms, surprising Harry, and they portkeyed home to the lighthouse. They were a few feet from the cottage so Severus nudged his son ahead of him as they walked to the front door.
Harry trotted along since he was not entirely sure as to whether or not he was in trouble. His father had not spoken to him since his utterance about siblings at St. Mungos. Of course, he really had not meant to say anything - certainly not about having his own brothers! - but he had learned that sometimes you just could not control what came out of your mouth. It was an unfortunate happenstance that had gotten him into trouble when he lived with the Dursleys.
Once inside their home, and divested of their cold weather clothing from when they were at Hogwarts and St. Mungos Harry went directly to the kitchen. He began to cook dinner since that was one of those skills that Aunt Petunia had thought to punish him with but he actually was good at it. Cooking, like gardening, tended to calm him down.
Severus had gone upstairs to his room with the intent of changing his clothing but instead he had begun to pace. He knew his son was worried about having offended him but in truth he had merely been caught off guard by his son's utterance of desire for siblings.
He and Poppy had moved their relationship quickly ahead, and there had been a few weekends when she had stayed with him at the cottage; weekends that made him feel the youth of a younger man. He did not regret those nights, those days of bliss between the sheets, and in truth he only wanted more; every day he wanted her. He could not get the thought, the taste, the sight of Poppy from his mind.
Severus thought he knew Poppy after all the years they had been colleagues but there had been so much he had not. Small things such as her favourite colour: blue, she had always liked serpents, and knew much more about them than Severus had expected. Finally, not so long ago in a letter that she had written to him (they corresponded daily when she worked during the week) she had asked Severus what he thought about in having his own children. It was not a reply he felt he could express in a letter, and his reply was to never be heard from his lips. Then came the Malfoy twins.
Regulus held out his arms to Lucius, "Might I hold one of your sons, Lucius?"
Severus watched with a touch of yearning that he could not find voice for as Lucius carefully handed Alaric to Regulus. The once lost wizard who seemed not to have aged, although he had, was at ease with the babe in his arms. He cooed at Alaric, and smiled at the boy who yawned sleepily at him.
"Severus," spoke Lucius drawing the Potions Master from his intense study of Regulus with Alaric. "Would you like to hold Alexander?"
Severus drew his attention away from Regulus, and stared at Lucius. Had not Poppy come to be with them despite obvious sign of her own fatigue, he doubted he could have answered his friend's offer. As it was Poppy gently nudged him from his frozen stance, and like Regulus before him, he held out his arms.
"I have never held…" he began warily.
Lucius brought Alexander to Severus, and gently positioned his son in the man's arms, "As you can see, Severus, it does not take a great deal of skill."
Severus attributed affection he had bestowed upon Harry in making it pleasant to hold the small bundle. He mused that Alexander's weight felt delicate, yet solid in his arms. It caused a sense of warmth and protection… and, dare he admit it? He felt a yearning desire to be holding his own child in his arms. Something he had never entertained in his mind - a mind that had been too preoccupied with surviving, and accepting a too-soon death.
In that moment as he held little Alexander in his arms he was reminded of when Lucius had tried to put equally tiny Draco into his arms, and he had categorically, and forcefully, refused. He had been afraid of what such an action might awaken in him. He now regretted never having had the simple touch of his godson. As a result Draco was reserved around both him, and his own father; something you could easily tell he wanted.
Poppy had taken that moment to encircle his waist to add her support of Alexander. It had brought her cheek to his shoulder-blade, and her words had whispered tantalisingly to him, "Someday, Severus?"
A shiver of irrational fear had skirted unwelcomingly down his spine. Again he heard Narcissa's screams, and he saw that smear of blood on Poppy's skirt. In that moment he had handed Alexander back to his father, and announced that it was time to go.
His farewell to Poppy had been… nice, but hardly satisfying. He expected he had been brusque with her. And, now his son was in the kitchen banging pots and pans for dinner most likely anxious about what his father was going to say to him. What was Severus going to say?
Taking off his long coat that had a night's worth of wrinkles in it, he hung it up, rolled up his sleeves, and went downstairs.
Harry knew it was too late for dinner. It was just after midnight. Still, as much as he was worried about what his father was going to say or do to him Harry was hungry. He had missed both lunch and dinner. All that wait, that time, no one had thought of food. Now, though, Harry did. He dug out salad, and meat, and eggs, selected pans, dug out a few more things from the larder, and he began to cook.
"Are you making anything in particular, Harry?" asked Severus as he reviewed the multitude of vegetables, and meats on the counter.
Harry stopped in the dicing of the green pepper to look at everything he had taken from the larder and the pantry. "Uhm… it's sort of salami, bacon, eggs, green peppers, tomatoes… and…" his voice faded.
"I should like some fruit with that. Allow me," replied Severus going to the pantry where some pears and apples hung in a mesh basket.
Silently father and son chopped and diced, and soon Harry was breaking eggs into a skillet. He then threw in the chopped meats and vegetables, and made two large omelettes with nearly everything.
Severus had cubed the pears and apples, and together they sat down to their soul-comforting meal.