A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I haven't been giving lanamarymack or Angela 007 much time to alpha/beta read these, but it's now been updated with their notes and I appreciate their help so much! You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter thirty-seven and be on the lookout for chapter thirty-eight soon!
When she could wait not a second longer, Caroline Rose Riddle joined her parents in the early morning hours in the first week of July.
Hermione had been so nervous when her labour pains started, insisting to Tom that it was far too early to welcome their child. The midwife they had engaged had told them to expect a due date closer towards the end of the month. But, their daughter had other plans.
Tom floo called their midwife as soon as he had figured out what was actually happening, so that she could come through and help Hermione through the event. Hermione was glad to have the support of an experienced witch, despite her initial desires to give birth at St. Mungo's. To her surprise, this was not the regular practice, but the midwife insisted that she could get Hermione to the magical hospital if the conditions called for it.
Seeing as it was her first pregnancy, the midwife suggested that Hermione was in for a long night of pain, which did not actually materialize. It seemed that once their daughter decided it was time to be born, she was ready to get the event over with. What was promised to be an hours (or perhaps even days) long ordeal, ended up being accomplished in just under half a day.
Tom sat with her the whole while, letting her squeeze his hand tightly, despite the midwife's insistence that he did not need to be in the birthing room if he did not want to. Hermione was glad to have him by her side. It felt like he was giving her his energy and power to work through the contractions; then, his touch and quiet praise gave her the strength to push when the time came.
The pain had been unimaginable, but when she held her little girl's body against her chest, heard her loud cries and saw her black hair, she knew that it was all worth it.
They had gone back and forth on a name for a long while, but only one had stood the test of time - Caroline. Hermione had asked Tom if he'd like to use a family name for her middle name, but he did not feel much connection to his mother and had no one else to suggest. Ultimately, he left it up to her.
Though their house was well appointed for a child, neither one of them was quite prepared for the realities of having a baby with them at all times. Hermione knew it would be hard work, but she hadn't been able to imagine just how tired she would be until she was in the thick of it. Caroline woke frequently to eat and now that she was three weeks old was becoming more difficult to soothe.
She hated to admit it, but the nanny elf that the Lestranges had gifted them had been more help than Hermione could have imagined. She was called Honeysuckle, but she preferred to be called Honey. She'd been instrumental in showing Hermione how to hold the baby and sway from side to side to get her to go to sleep or the proper way to pat her on the back so she could burp. And while she was still the primary parent by far, it had been nice to have someone to watch over sleeping Caroline so she could get a bit of rest herself, knowing that her baby was well looked after.
Especially when Abraxas finally reared his ugly head again, reminding Tom about his campaign and dragging him away from their family time together.
But, it was not as though they could be holed up alone forever. Soon, Hermione was itching to be amongst people again and practically jumped at Tom's suggestion to invite his Knights over to meet Caroline. It was their first opportunity to host anyone at their home, but Hermione was well up for the task if it meant getting to talk to other adults again.
The day of she dressed in a dusty pink set of robes and put Caroline in a little cream-coloured romper, though she was sure to be bundled up for most of the afternoon. Her favorite activity was still sleeping, after all. Hermione even hovered the bassinet down the three flights of stairs into their parlour where they would be receiving everyone.
Tom, proud father that he was, eagerly took Caroline while Hermione made herself comfortable on the settee and showed her around the room, pointing out this detail and that. "You know she doesn't care about window treatments," she teased, when he was describing the drapes. "Just let her look out the window a bit."
They did not have to wait long for their first guests to arrive. To Hermione's disappointment, it was the Malfoys. Standing, she greeted them both.
"Well, you don't even look like you had a baby," Aurelia said with a pinched sort of look on her face. Hermione decided that it was not a compliment and rather thought that Aurelia hoped she would remain round and bloated forever, perpetually wishing that she would be the best looking witch around.
"It was such a breeze, it hardly feels like I have!" Hermione responded, cheerfully, knowing that it would only serve to irritate the socialite more than she already was. There was a small part of her that wished that Aurelia wasn't so much of an elitist and that they might actually be real friends, but then the blonde opened her pretty mouth and said something passive aggressive.
Luckily, she did not have to tolerate the Malfoys for very long as the rest of the Knights trickled in over time. She stole Caroline back from Tom and took her over to meet with Rafe and his new wife, Mina. Apparently they had been engaged for a long while, but finally tied the knot and were still very much in love with one another. Mina, with her perfectly curled black hair, was actually much more pleasing to speak with than Aurelia could ever hope to be, so she hoped that Avery would continue to bring her around.
Next, she chatted with Antonin for a few minutes. To her surprise, the large man wanted to hold Caroline and was actually surprisingly gentle with her. She looked at him with her wide, blue eyes, as though she were in a trance, completely comfortable as he rocked her back and forth in his arms.
"Remind me again why you don't want to have a family?" Hermione asked him, knowing that he was extremely committed to his bachelor lifestyle.
"Because he can't convince a witch to marry him," quipped Edmond Lestrange, hiding a smirk behind his auburn-coloured mustache.
Hermione laughed despite herself. "Oh, Antonin, I am sure that you will find the right one," she said, hating how patronizing it really was.
"Why tie myself down to one witch when I can have as many as I want?" he asked, obviously displeased with being teased. "If you are going to try and convince me to get married, then I will just go freshen my drink." He handed Caroline back to her, before stalking off in the direction of the champagne.
"So this is little Caro?" Edmond said, smiling broadly. He was joined by his wife, Claudia, who was carrying their son - Rodolphus, if Hermione was not mistaken. "May I?"
Hermione happily handed the baby over to the wizard. "And this must be Rodolphus?" she asked. "My, you are getting big. How old is he?"
"He'll be two in October," Claudia answered, obviously proud of her son.
"He looks just like you, Edmond," Hermione remarked. "But, I think he has your eyes, Claudia."
Tom joined them then, pressing his hand to the small of her back and a kiss to her temple. Hermione was grateful for his presence as she didn't really fancy making small talk when Claudia was clearly not receptive. Clearly she had studied at the Aurelia Malfoy school of passive aggression.
"Baby!" Rodolphus said, before pointing one chubby finger in Caroline's general direction.
"Yes, Dolph," Edmond said, a new, supportive tone of voice reserved for talking to his son. "This is Caroline. She is Tom's baby."
Hermione didn't like the sound of that. Caroline was just as much her baby as Tom's. But, she could forgive it - Rodolphus didn't know her after all, and presumably he did know Tom. She watched with interest as the boy reached out his hand and gave her baby an awkward pet on her downy soft hair, before giving his father a massive, toothy grin.
"I'll say, he likes her!" Edmond said with a grin of his own, his eyes darting to Tom. "Maybe we give it twenty years and we see them married to one another."
Tom was generally very possessive of his daughter, even though she was only three weeks, so Hermione could not believe it when he returned the smile, seemingly pleased! How could he possibly be thinking about giving her away to someone? "We could always make it official now," he suggested, with a tone that was only half joking. "So they don't get any ideas about seeing anyone else before then."
Claudia was just as uncomfortable with the idea as Hermione was. "Eddy," she hissed, before giving her husband a pinch on the arm.
Hermione pressed her lips together to stop from saying something rude. She knew that the only reason Claudia would have any objection would be because of her blood status. Instead, she surged forward with her arms open so that she could collect Caroline from Edmond.
"I'm sorry, if you don't mind," she said, feigning disappointment. "It's just, I see that Alfie has arrived and I wanted to speak with him."
Edmond handed her back and Hermione excused herself from the group, leaving Tom to presumably iron out a marriage contract with the Lestranges. She made a beeline for Alfie, greeting him warmly. "Thank Merlin you are here," she said. "Tom and Edmond are already trying to arrange a marriage. You can talk some sense into him."
"I don't think anyone has been able to talk Tom into anything, except for you," Alfie quipped.
Without offering, Hermione handed her baby over to her friend, eager to show her off.
"Caroline Rose," he said, looking the baby over like she was a rare specimen. Unlike Antonin, Alfie was completely uncomfortable with the idea of holding a baby, but he reluctantly held Caroline. He stood stiff and still like a statue, as though he was afraid that if he breathed wrong he might drop her. But, Hermione still recognized that he was being extremely careful with her.
Hermione chuckled. "I am starting to rethink my decision, seeing how awkward you are with her," she said, biting her lower lip to disguise her grin. "But, I've talked it over with Tom and we would like you to be Caroline's godfather."
Alfie's eyes widened in surprise. "Truly? Me?" he asked, surprised. "Surely there is someone better suited than me. Maybe someone with a wife."
"That's just it, there is no one that I would rather have to look after her if anything happened to me. Well, to us," Hermione explained. "I know the things that you value and I just know...well, I trust you. I just know that you'd take very good care of her. Say you will?"
"It would be an absolute honor," Alfie said, standing a bit straighter as he grew more comfortable with the sleeping baby. "But, you better not let anything happen to you! I can barely hold her without feeling like I might accidentally crush her. How do you take care of such a teeny thing with confidence?"
Taking pity on him, Hermione took Caroline back in her arms, looking at her little baby in awe. "Well, I didn't at first. I've never even held a baby before her," she explained. Her gaze softened looking at Caro's perfect little face. "But, you figure it out. You have to, after all. You would figure it out, too."
Alfie took one of the glasses of champagne off of the tray Honey was carrying around. "And here is to me never having to find out," he said, taking a full swallow.
Hermione laughed, before taking her own sip. "I can drink to that!"
