A/N This chapter is meant to give an idea of how The Family deals with this tragedy. It actually doesn't have much HHr interactions in it at all.
Ch. 36
Sunday 22 November 1998
Sunday evening, the family came back to the Marauder's Playhouse (the Head's flat) to just Luna and Nev in the game room. As everyone came in, Nev got up. "Family meeting in 10?" he asked.
"Sure, let us put our stuff away and we'll be back. I assume this has to do with Mione?" Sirius asked.
Nev nodded.
When everyone gathered a few minutes later, Neville sat up straighter. "Mione's okay. Harry and her lost one of the babies today."
"Oh Merlin." Gasped Jaime and Dora.
"Fuck." Was Mark
"Fucking hell!" was Sirius' response as he got up and began leaving the room.
"Sirius! Wait!" Nev yelled.
Sirius turned around slowly. "What is it? Harry needs me!"
"Not right now Pads." Luna came up to him gently. "He's asleep. Sit down please." She urged as she pulled him over to Jaime who in turn pulled him down to her.
"As I was saying," Nev emphasised. "They lost one of the babies but two survived."
"They made room for the two to grow in utero." Luna added. "Hermione's been asleep off and on since the surgery. Someone has been with her since it happened. I stayed with her, Nev did too but Harry wouldn't leave to eat so Nev and I got him food this evening."
"Poppy put a sleeping draught in his pumpkin juice about an hour ago." Nev grinned. "Apparently, she's used to that. Anyway, she said we could bring them both breakfast tomorrow. She said to bring Mione's chair and she could come back here tomorrow."
"What'd Poppy say about when she could go back to classes?" Dora asked.
"Physically she'll be fine by Wednesday but she doesn't want Mione to teach until we get back from Yule." Luna repeated Poppy's instructions.
Dora took hold of that and began planning. "Jaime, can you take her class load for her?"
"Mark, can you use a working holiday?" Jaime asked.
"What're you thinking, sis?" He looked skeptically at his little sister.
Sirius stood up suddenly. "While you are going through Hermione's life changing everything, I need a bloody break." He went swiftly to the door and slammed it on his way out.
"Will he be alright?" Jaime asked.
"Yeah." Dora answered. "He just needs to let off some steam. He's a Black, our tempers are bad but he'll calm down and come back soon."
HP
As Sirius left the game room, he began walking outside the castle. All he could think about was that this was another loss for his godson that he couldn't protect him from.
He left Pettigrew to be Secretkeeper thereby leaving Harry parentless. He went to Azkaban instead of raising Harry himself, thus leaving him to the tender mercies of the Dursleys. He wasn't there to protect him from Quirrell, Lockhart, or Voldemort. And now this. It seemed like every time his boy had something good in his life it was taken from him.
When he finally came out of this train of thought, he realised he was at the castle gates. He took a deep breath as he understood that he had subconsciously come out here because Dan and Emma needed to know.
He apparated to their front door.
HP
As Sirius was out contemplating why his godson had to have such a rough life, the rest of the family was trying to figure out how to give the young couple time to heal.
"Mark, could you call Sarah and ask her to take a working vacation?" Jaime asked. When she got a bunch of strange looks from the Family, she added. "Sarah is a historian. She hasn't taught since she married Mark but I'm positive she could take Hermione's classes."
"Oh, okay." Dora replied as she held her son. "I love you little monster." She muttered to Teddy.
"Sure." Mark went to make the call.
"I'm thinking that Mark could take over Harry's classes. He teaches Transfiguration normally but can teach Defence too." Jaime supplied.
"I don't know if Harry will want to stop teaching but we might want to at least give him this week off." Nev said. "I'm worried because he has a tendency to brood and we need to keep him from doing that at all costs."
"What do you mean by 'brood'?"
"He refuses to talk. He blames himself. That sort of rubbish." Nev snorted. Then, almost viciously, he growled. "There's no way he's just sitting in a window seat staring and brooding. Not when I'm bloody around!"
"Angry much?" Dora smirked.
"Mione and Weasley let him brood too much the last few years. I always wanted to talk him out of it but left that up to Weasley, who never did it. That is not happening on my watch." He took a deep breath as Luna put her arms around him from behind.
"Calm down, my love." She whispered.
Jaime turned to Dobby. "If Sarah is able to come, she'll bring Jordan too." She got a big grin on her face. "Could you take care of her as well as Teddy?"
"Of course Jaime. How old is she?" Dobby grinned excitedly.
"Four months. July 16th is her birthday." As everyone began giggling, she asked. "What?"
"That day we were having Teddy's month 3 birthday party." Luna supplied. Mark strode into the room then and sat with his sister.
"Sarah will be here Tuesday. She's calling about a portkey for her and Jordan." Then he turned to Dobby.
"Don't worry sir. I'll gladly take care of Master Dogfather's Jaime's niece." Dobby interrupted.
"Dora, you and I should fill the Headmistress in now."
"Sure. Let me get the carrier." She put Teddy on the floor and went to her flat.
HP
After telling the Grangers about the miscarriage, Dan and Emma let their emotions out a bit, Emma went upstairs. Dan looked at Sirius and said "You know there was nothing you could do, yeah?"
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.
"Don't give me that Sirius. I know you better than that. You're blaming yourself for Harry having to deal with this." Dan snorted. "This. Is. Not. Your. Fault."
"So why does it feel like it is?" Sirius asked. His grey eyes pleading with his friend.
"Because for all intents and purposes, that boy is your son. You would do anything to stop the pain he's going through and you're thinking that maybe if you'd raised him, he wouldn't be going through this now. Your guilt is taking over." Dan replied.
"How do you know this?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Because that's my inclination too." Dan sighed. "I'm not sure even if Hermione knows this but Emma went through two miscarriages before her birth. Why do you think Emma reacted so much when you told us? She doesn't want her little girl to face this."
"Oh. That makes more sense."
Dan nodded. He then said, a little choked up. "Hell, I don't want my baby to go through this."
Just then Emma came downstairs with a carryall. "We're ready. Dan, I packed enough clothes for two weeks."
Dan got up to meet his wife. He could see the stress in her eyes. He also knew that his strong, beautiful wife needed to be with her daughter, so he didn't object.
He looked over at Sirius. "Guess we're staying with you for a while."
Sirius let out the first laugh since he'd been given the news. "Guess you are. The kids have an extra bedroom you can sleep in."
HP
When Dora and Jaime had told Minerva what happened and the plans they'd made in the interim, Minerva was surprised.
"Wow. You guys made all these plans without me. Maybe the school doesn't need a Headmistress after all." She joked as Dora sat there looking like Minerva had grown two heads. "Dora, close your mouth."
"From what I've learned, Minnie" Jaime laughed at the severe look on her face. "Sorry, Sirius calls you that all the time, Minerva." She emphasised the name as Minerva hissed.
"I'm well aware. He's been doing it since he was 11." She muttered.
"Anyway, from what I've learned, Dora's shock is because she's not used to you joking, at least here at school." Jaime laughed at Dora's simple nod.
After smothering a smile, Minerva said in her teacher voice. "Well, it looks as though you have everything set." She took a deep breath. "I normally don't get into my teachers' personal lives as a rule. However, there is an issue I'd like to talk to you about concerning 'that blasted family of Professors, do they tell each other everything?' as the students call you." At this all three laughed. "Anyway, I know that Sirius' quarters are a little far from the rest of yours. Would you like the elves to rearrange your rooms so you all live in one space. They could make it however large you want. I'm thinking he may want to be closer to Harry than he is."
"Why would you do this?" Dora asked.
"Simple." Minera smiled. "This school has had a hard time keeping good professors, especially in that blasted Defence class. If I want to keep Harry and Hermione next year, I want to make sure everyone likes it. I don't want one of you deciding to go back to Winchester and take half my staff with you." She looked directly at Jaime with a raised eyebrow.
Jaime laughed "Point taken, Minerva."
"Sounds great. I'll talk to Dobby and he can work with the elves here to make it work." Dora grinned down at her sleeping son. "I'd better take this one to bed. I didn't want to do nighttime routine tonight because that usually includes Harry and he'd be upset if Harry weren't there. Better to just let him fall asleep on his own tonight."
"Yeah. We may have to take over some things for Harry." Jaime said as they walked to the door. "See you later Minerva." They both waved at the Headmistress as they left. Once on their way back to the flat, Jaime suggested "I'll be there to cook breakfast tomorrow."
HP
When they got back to the Heads' Flat, Dora went to put Teddy to bed and Jaime filled Sirius, Dan and Emma in on what Minerva had said, especially about the residential arrangements.
"Sounds like Minnie's afraid we'll move to the States." Sirius laughed. "I know for a fact Jaime will never move back."
"Yeah. I like the field trips too much." She laughed. Then she became more serious. "Besides this is your home and I love you." She leant over and kissed him softly.
"As I love you." He put his forehead to hers.
Monday 23 November 1998
Nev and Luna woke up earlier than usual Monday morning. Nev quickly got dressed and put the stuff he'd need for the morning in his pack. He then went to Dora's flat and just stood there listening.
A few minutes later, he heard Teddy making noise, so he went into Teddy's room and picked him up. "Sorry bud. Harry's not here today. He's taking care of Aunt Mione but I'm here, yeah?"
Teddy just giggled and kicked his feet as Nev changed him. "Merlin you are wiggly today. I remember when you would stay still for nappy changes." At that, Teddy tried to turn over. "Uh-uh. No. You stay right there." Nev ordered playfully as he got the clean nappy on him. He then took the boy to the kitchen booster seat and began feeding him cereal.
Just as he was getting started, Dora came in. Neville looked up with such gratitude that Dora started laughing. "My boy a little too much for you?"
Nev grinned sardonically. "Just a little." He replied as he let Dora feed the little man.
Jaime came in and started breakfast. Soon everyone was up and eating. "I put together 2 plates that need to go to Harry and Mione."
"I think Dan, Emma and I should go get them this morning." Sirius said. "I don't want Mione overwhelmed. You guys do what you need to. We'll take care of the kids."
"We'll make sure Mione has all the notes she could want. In fact, I'll bring my new recorder and record the lesson for her." Luna rushed off to get the micro-recorder she'd runed.
"If you can give Mitzy and me about two hours, we can have the new flat arranged." Dobby put in.
"Do you ever sleep?" Mark asked.
Dobby shook his head. "We elveses do not need much sleep. That's why we do the students' laundry at night."
Mark just shook his head with a smile.
"Don't try to understand Dobby." Sirius said as he finished eating. "We just trust he'll get it done and he does. He hasn't let us down yet." Dobby grinned at that.
HP
A little while later, Sirius, Dan and Emma opened the door to the room Mione and Harry were in. They were laying in a widened bed with Hermione's head on Harry's chest, both fast asleep.
Sirius nudged Harry with his hand to try waking him but he didn't budge. Sirius did it again and Harry turned toward Sirius, batting his hand away. "C'mon son. You need to wake up." Sirius whispered as Harry opened his eyes groggily.
"G'way."
Sirius smiled at Dan. "James used to do the same thing. Of course, back then I'd shoot water at him." Sirius sighed as he nudged Harry more. "Wake up Harry." He whispered. "I really don't want to wake Mione, so get up before the water flows."
Harry opened his eyes again and rubbed them. "Fine." He scooted away from Hermione and got to his feet. "Can I at least get dressed first?" He asked grumpily.
"Sure. We'll wait outside." Sirius grinned as the three left the room. Sirius transfigured a bedside table into a kitchen table and set Harry's food out. Soon Harry came out dressed in the clothes they'd left for him.
"Good!" He half-heartedly smiled as he sat down and started to eat.
"Jaime made that this morning." Sirius smiled.
"We should have her cook more. She's good." Harry mumbled through his inhalation.
"How are you doing, kiddo?" Sirius asked.
"Not quite sure yet, to be honest. I swear, I should never eat anything here. Who knows what it's laced with?" He scowled. "I spent most of yesterday at Mione's side but Poppy put me to sleep around seven, so I really haven't had time to 'process' it as they say." He sighed. "The only thing I'm sure of is that I couldn't live if anything had happened to Mione." He looked through the open door to see she was still asleep.
"How is Hermione handling it?" Her dad asked.
"They kept her pretty doped up, so I don't think she's had time to process either. Where is everyone?" He asked.
"They're all in classes." Poppy came by then.
"It's time to wake Ms. Granger. You should be with her when she does." Poppy looked at Harry. He had finished breakfast and got up with a nod to follow Poppy. HP
When Poppy turned around after closing the door, she saw Harry on the bed holding Hermione in his arms. As she spelled the potion in Hermione's system, she said, "Healer Axel should be here shortly and he'll want to talk to you both about what to expect in the next few weeks. For now, just wait until she wakes up. I'll be back." She smiled warmly at Harry.
Harry looked at his fiancée and saw her begin to open her eyes. What he saw was her beautiful chocolate brown eyes go from having their usual sparkle for life to a lifeless brown.
"Did we lose them all?" She asked meekly.
"No. Just one, my love." He began petting her hair.
"Good." She whispered. "I couldn't have handled losing them all." She took a deep breath and winced. "Merlin, I hurt."
"I bet. They had to go in and clean out the baby so the other two had more room. Poppy said limited activity until Wednesday."
There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Harry said loudly.
Emma came in. "Healer Axel is here, loves. Can he come in?"
"Yeah. If you're here that means Dad's here too, yeah?" Emma laughed and nodded. "Have him and Sirius come in too. Cause where Dad is, Sirius'll be there two. I don't want to repeat things."
"Okay dear." She let everyone in.
Healer Axel came in and sat on the stool as everyone found a seat. "How're you doing Hermione?" Axel asked.
"Fine."
"I can't help if you don't tell me the truth." He scolded gently.
"Fine. I hurt like hell. My insides feel like they've been stretched and contorted like no tomorrow." Her voice began rising. "I can't help thinking that I should've done something to save my baby. I can't believe that with all we've been through, this is making me feel so guilty. Is that what you want to hear?" By this time, she was screaming into Harry's chest as she cried.
"If that's how you feel, that's what I want to hear." Axel smiled softly as she looked up at him. "It's okay, even natural, to feel this way. Don't let it fester-either of you." He looked at Harry. "You need to be a team now more than ever. Along with your family." All four nodded.
"I'm taking two weeks off at least." Emma said. "I will be here no matter what. Daddy will be too."
"So will the rest of us." Sirius took Hermione's hand. "You are a part of us. We will be here no matter if you push us away or not. We love you both."
"What about your practice?" Ever the logical Hermione asked.
"We have taken care of that. No need to worry, little sweetheart." Dan grabbed her other hand.
"As for taking care of yourself, you are not to leave that seat or bed unless you need the loo. At least until week twelve." Axel said.
"That's 12 December." Hermione muttered as the family laughed at her immediate recitation.
"Then we'll see how you're doing. I'll be here every other day at half seven in the morning. I'll come to your rooms." Then his countenance became quite serious. "You cannot teach until after Yule. You ARE NOT allowed in a classroom until next Monday. You are to rest this week. Absolutely no stress, yeah? Your babies need to get used to the new space they have. You are to take this potion every day. It will help speed up the developmental process." He handed her a bottle. When he saw the shocked look on her face, he softened his tone a bit. "Twelve weeks is not too long. It's to make sure the twins are safe." She nodded. "Okay, I'll see you Wednesday." He smiled at both of them. "Take care of her Harry."
"We will." Everyone responded as one as he laughed and walked out of the room.
"Let me help you into your chair." Harry said as he did so. "Jaime made some great breakfast and Sirius didn't eat it before it got here, so it's waiting for you, love."
"Sure." She half-smiled as she moved her chair to the table where she sat eating. "He said no classes at all this week yeah?"
"Yep." Sirius smiled. "But Luna's recording all your classes."
"What about my teaching?" She asked.
"Jaime's sister-in-law is coming tomorrow. She's a history teacher, or was, I understand." Sirius explained to them all the changes that were happening as Hermione ate slowly.
"Well, it looks like we'll be living as one happy family again, at least minus one." She closed her eyes as she fought the pain back.
"Honey, let's get you dressed." Emma suggested softly as she got up from the table.
"Fine." Hermione moved her chair towards the room where she lost the baby.
HP
About an hour later, the five of them decided to go back to their rooms. They opened the door and found a replica of the downstairs at the Madhouse, except that the sitting room off the left of the entry hall was now the game room and there was no drawing room next to it. The study was still behind the game room with the kitchen to the right of the entryway which opened up to a sun room with a small barbeque and table. There were much more ornate stairs going to the first floor.
They went up and found replicas of all the bedrooms, including Dora and Teddy's suite. When they went back into the kitchen, the five of them sat at the table and had hot cocoa served by Dobby and Mitzy.
Sirius looked at the elves. "How did you do this in two hours? It's nearly an exact duplicate of home."
"Lots of hands make fast work." Dobby smiled. "Miss Mione, I brought that teddy bear that was in the Grangy's house that you like so much. The black and red one."
At that Hermione perked up. "You did?"
"I thoughts you might want it."
"Thank you, Dobby. You always know what I need." She smiled a genuine smile at the elf. As she moved to get more comfortable in her chair, she winced.
"Do you need some pain potion?" Harry asked as he got up to get it. Hermione put her hand on his.
"No. I need to rest like Healer Axel said." She looked at Sirius, Dan, Emma and Harry in turn. "Thank you for being there for me but I'd really like to go up to bed by myself." Harry got up to help her upstairs as she waved him away. "I'm not an invalid, Harry. I can take care of myself." She said harshly as she sped away. He moved their cups to the sink and set them washing.
"Emma, what'd she say while she was changing?" Harry asked as he sat down again.
"Not much. She just cried. How are you Harry?"
"Fine. I'm sad of course but I'm more worried about Mione's welfare than anything else now." He sighed looking at his watch. "10.00. We lost the baby about 24 hours ago."
"Harry, why don't you and I go for a ride?" Sirius suggested.
"Don't you have classes?"
"Not till after lunch. And Minerva says if she sees any of you at lunch today, she'll send you here."
"Okay, let me get my broom." Then he looked at Emma. "Call me if she wakes up, yeah." Emma nodded.
HP
A few minutes later, Sirius and Harry were on their way out of the castle. "So, I guess everyone knows we lost a baby, yeah." Harry grumbled.
"The only ones that have been told are The Family and Minnie. According to Jaime, she's the one that suggested the changes to the flat."
"Why?" He looked genuinely curious, which Sirius took as a good sign.
"Because she said that she wanted to make us want to stay." Sirius grinned.
"Why would we leave?" He was now a little confused.
"She doesn't want Jaime to take us all back to the States." They both laughed.
"She loves the history here too much. She'll never leave." Harry shook his head as he got on his broom. "I better make sure I'm ready to teach this afternoon."
He said as he thought about what lessons he had to do this week. The problem was that for the first time since beginning to teach, he really didn't want to. No matter how much he tried to look past losing the baby, he couldn't stop thinking of it.
"You're not teaching until after Yule." Sirius replied. "Mark is taking over your classes and his wife Sarah is taking up Mione's. She'll be here Tuesday. Your job is to heal and help Mione heal. Now. Race you to the other side." He yelled as he took off with Harry yelling and laughing as he followed his godfather.
HP
When Harry and Sirius ended up back in the castle, it was already half 11. Both men were in a much better mood.
"It amazes me how riding a broom can make the two of them feel better." Emma said to Dromeda as they came through the entryway. "We're in here boys." She raised her voice a bit because they were in the game room, after all.
"Hey Drom." Sirius grinned as he poked his head in. "We gotta shower. We'll be down in a few."
"My name is not Drom." Andromeda said as Sirius laughed as he walked away. "I have a perfectly good nickname, why does he insist on being difficult?" She looked at Emma.
"Because he's Sirius?" They both laughed as Teddy grinned at his Grandmum from the floor. He was sitting on all fours and rocking. "He's gonna crawl any minute now." Emma and Dromeda grinned at each other.
"Back to work, not playing with my grandson. I think we've got first years covered." Dromeda sighed. "Only question I have is how much of this can you help me teach?"
Emma got more serious. "Dan and I've been talking and we're thinking of closing the practice one day a week. We've got a really good nest egg, paid off our student loans and we've paid off the house. So, we're fairly comfortable now. We were thinking that we might take that one day a week and help up here."
"That would be wonderful." Dromeda smiled. "Maybe we could take the kids on a field trip of some kind. Like the cinema."
"Sounds like fun." Emma grinned.
"Hey Mum, Dromeda." Hermione greeted as she motored into the game room.
Emma noticed that she was still in her flannel pajamas. Oh no! She hasn't even gotten out of her pajamas yet? She never does that unless she's really depressed. Emma thought dismally.