Chapter 83

A Muggle hospital was not very different to St Mungo's. The only glaring differences were the machines doctors would use in place of magic and that they all wore plain white robes in comparison to the green ones at St Mungo's. There were alarms strung throughout every corridor and in every room, television screens perched on the walls and the people at the reception worked behind computers instead of large scrolls with patients' names magically etched into them.

Ron had seen all of this upon entering the hospital and veering off to a small waiting area with a large sign that said X-rays and Ultrasounds.

Weirdly, Hermione was more nervous than he was, despite this being the first time he'd ever set foot in a place like this. On top of her usual morning sickness woes, which had not let up despite her reaching the twelve week mark, she'd been additionally nervous that morning in anticipation of this appointment.

At first he couldn't understand why. Wasn't this supposed to be a good thing? They were here to see their baby — a concept that still baffled him slightly — and he was incredibly excited.

But the longer they waited, it became obvious. The last time she'd done this, he remembered, she had left alone and heartbroken.

No wonder she hadn't stopped shifting in her seat since they'd sat down in the waiting area.

Now, he watched her wringing her hands together, glancing every few seconds up to the reception, or someone who walked out calling other people's names. His heart constricted, knowing she was probably reliving the worst day of her life in her head. He placed an arm around her comfortingly, wishing he could do more.

"It'll be alright," he said. "We know it's alright this time."

"Just so many memories," Hermione said softly, relaxing against him. "I sat here late last year thinking it would all be okay, so excited about it, imagining your reaction when I told you… it's hard to think those things again."

"It's going to be fine this time," Ron assured her, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "I still don't think I fully understand this Muggle picture — I hope I don't look like an idiot in front of them — but I do know that we are going to get to see our baby soon, and that's exciting."

Hermione gave a weak smile. "I know."

"And then when we find out everything is fine — which it will be — we can tell everyone. They'll be so happy for us." He gave her shoulders another squeeze, not sure he fully believed his words, but he knew it was what she needed to hear. Just then, a young-looking man came out and called Hermione's name. She jumped to her feet nervously.

Ron was a little slower, eyeing the man suspiciously. He looked far too young to be experienced in doing this — most Healers didn't become qualified completely until they were in their late twenties or early thirties.

Hermione moved forward, but stopped when she saw Ron's hesitation. "Now who's nervous?" she asked with a small smile.

The man was waiting for them, smiling brightly as they approached slowly.

"Is he qualified to do this?" he whispered in her ear, wondering if he'd somehow obtained whatever qualification he needed to get to do this illegally. He looked younger than even Ron and Hermione.

"Yes," Hermione hissed back. "It takes about three years of study."

"Is that all? This is babies we're talking about!"

"Ron, this unit isn't used just for babies. There are other reasons to do this. And usually, they are trained in x-ray and other things similar, too."

"Right," Ron replied, the words floating over his head as they were led into a small room with many screens, a weird bed that almost looked like a chair. And, Ron shuddered as the door closed behind them, it was too dark and confined for his liking. St Mungo's had wide, open rooms and definitely didn't have all those cords sticking out everywhere for someone to trip over.

He considered himself quite adept at many Muggle things these days — he could work a television, a microwave, a telephone — but this made him feel like he was right back at square one again and completely clueless.

"You may call me Owen," the man said to them by way of greeting, still smiling. He scanned the files in his hand. "You're here for a twelve week pregnancy scan?"

"Yes," Hermione said, her voice higher than usual.

"Alright." Owen set the files down and indicated the bed. "If you could just hop up there, Hermione, and we will take a look. We'll start with some measurements."

Ron stood there, watching, as Hermione did as Owen instructed. She still looked extremely nervous and now that he was in here, Ron was starting to feel it, too.

Everything had been fine as of an hour ago. She'd performed the spell that traced the heartbeat. It had been beating strong, and what Ron could only assume, at a healthy speed. The dimmed room, the cords, the machines, though… it unsettled him. These were not Healing equipment; they were foreign and unfamiliar devices. For all he knew, the ticking boxes were programmed to show him one thing and do other things he couldn't see. He still had no real idea exactly how all this worked or what he was going to see. Or… what they were going to do to Hermione.

Owen busied himself with setting up a computer screen that was slightly in front of Hermione. Deciding he would be most useful with his wife, Ron came to stand beside her and patted her shoulder. She gave him a weak smile.

After a few minutes of them waiting in deafening silence, Owen turned back to them, grinning. "Alright, we are ready to go. Just one question — are you certain of the dates? Have you had a scan prior to this? Sometimes it can be a little out, and we don't want to cause alarm if the measurements are slightly off."

"Um… I'm not certain, no," Hermione confessed. "Prior to becoming pregnant, my cycle was all over the place after a… a miscarriage late last year. But I believe I am about twelve weeks and one day. And this will be the first scan… for this pregnancy."

Owen scribbled some notes down, nodding "And how many pregnancies, including this one and the miscarriage, have you had?"

"Two," Hermione answered softly. "Just two."

Ron felt his face heating up, as a subtle anger boiled in his chest. This Owen guy could have been a little more sympathetic given what Hermione had just told him, but all he was doing was setting his pen down and replacing it with one of those weird devices from the medical cart by Hermione's bed. Ron couldn't describe what it reminded him of. Maybe a telephone, but he knew it wasn't.

Owen then asked Hermione to lift up her shirt a little. With his free hand, he grabbed a bottle and squeezed clear gel onto her tummy. "Have a seat," he said to Ron, indicating a chair slightly behind him. Ron pulled it closer to the bed and sat down, moving his hand down to Hermione's, where she gripped it tightly.

"And now," Owen said, placing the device on Hermione's exposed tummy, "I'm just going to move this around, and in a moment, you should see —" he let his words fade as the screen beside Hermione came to life. Ron watched as a series of black and white squiggles took over. Owen moved the device slowly and then…

Ron didn't need an explanation for what he saw. It was clear as day on the small screen before them.

Well, not exactly clear, but it was undeniably a baby on there. A wriggling baby with tiny flailing arms and legs and…

Ron's breath caught in his throat.

"That little flicker there," Owen said, pointing to a pulsating section on the screen, "that's the heartbeat." He paused for a moment, pressing a button so that a loud thumping sound came through, and then nodded. "Wonderful. Very strong."

"Really?" Hermione breathed. "The baby… it's … okay?"

"The heartbeat is exactly where we want it to be," Owen said with a short nod. "Perfectly in range. And look here." He pointed to the baby on the screen. "the baby has the hiccups."

Ron was absorbed in the screen, completely mesmerised by what he was seeing. This wasn't just any baby like the images in the books he'd spent weeks reading through. This was his baby. His daughter. And as she wriggled on the screen, kicked her legs, moved her arms, he thought that maybe his own heart stopped for the briefest of moments as hers kept going. The rapid thump-thump was like music to his ears.

"Wow," he managed to say after a moment. He looked down at Hermione, who had tears in her eyes. Happy tears, he suspected. He squeezed her hand tightly.

Owen kept moving the device around, the room growing silent except for the pulsing sound from the machine. He was drawing lines on the screen with some controller now, and numbers would pop up and then he'd write them down. Ron had no clue what all that was, but he no longer cared. How could he when everything seemed to be perfectly normal and good for their daughter?

"All these measurements," Owen finally said, "are good. Perfectly in range. Measuring in the sixty-third percentile all round."

"What does that mean?" Ron asked, not liking the sound of those numbers. His anxiety started to creep back in. The numbers sounded low. Shouldn't everything be around one hundred?

"It just means that you may end up having a slightly larger than average baby, with fifty percent being the average. That's all. It can change over time, though we prefer it not to drop too much." Owen looked Ron over, as if taking in every part of him. Ron squirmed under the gaze, but Owen smiled. "Genetics can be a factor in size."

Ron didn't really know what he was implying, but he said nothing in response. He turned his attention back to the image of his daughter that had been frozen on the screen. It was her first picture and even though he couldn't get a full idea of what she might look like based on it, he knew she'd be nothing less than beautiful.

"I want that picture of her," he said to Hermione.

"Her?" Owen said, looking back at the screen and laughing. "It's a bit early to know —"

"She's a girl," Ron said. "We know that already."

Owen looked set to protest but seemed to think better of it. He shrugged and said, "So, you'd like a copy of the picture?"

"Yes please," Hermione said, speaking for the first time in a while. She seemed completely in awe, or maybe shocked, or a bit of everything. But most of all she seemed relieved because everything was okay.

Once Owen was finished and he had wiped off the gel, Hermione sat back up on the chair-bed thing and pulled her shirt down. She offered Ron a smile.

"If you return to the waiting area we will give you the picture in a few moments," Owen said.

They sat in the same seats they'd previously occupied, and the moment they did, Ron said, "That was amazing."

"It was so… wonderful," Hermione whispered, still seeming a little awed by it all. Ron had thought he would be the more bewildered one in this situation, but it was definitely Hermione whose emotions he couldn't quite read. He realized, then, that he would never truly know what this meant for her. It was different for her — not just because of what had happened last year, but because she was the one their daughter was growing inside. That was something he'd never be able to experience for himself, or fully understand.

"I can't wait to meet her now. More than before." Ron gripped her hands tightly, hoping to show Hermione just how much it meant to him, too. "I just want her to be here now."

Another man who was slightly older than Owen approached with a smile on his face. After confirming it was Hermione, he passed them an envelope and wished them a good day.

Ron and Hermione thanked him and when they left the hospital, Ron holding the envelope as if it were an actual baby and not just a picture, they walked to the bus stop. Riding a Muggle bus had been another whole new experience for Ron, a decidedly more pleasant experience than the Knight Bus.

"You know," he said as they waited for the bus, "maybe we should learn to actually drive a car."

Hermione smiled. "I was thinking about that. I already started learning when I graduated Hogwarts, but then work got so busy… but I have time I think now. I'll finish learning, that way I can at least drive myself to the city for an appointment rather than catch the bus."

"I was thinking me, but… yeah, if you want," Ron said. "And maybe then we can get a car!" He looked down at the unopened envelope in his hands still, impatience finally winning, and tore it open. There were two pictures inside, one of their daughter's whole figure, and a second of just her upper body.

Ron had never treasured something more in his life than he did these pictures. Even the few possessions that had been his growing up didn't compare to his own child. They still had six months to go before they got to meet her, but already she was the most important thing in the world to him.

Smiling, running fingers over her little face, he said, "I've never been able to explain why I really wanted us to have a baby, I just wanted us to. But I get it now."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"She's ours," he said. "Just… ours. No one else's. No one else can be her parents. She'll be the first thing I've ever had that's been… just mine."

In fact, he thought as a warm feeling settled over his chest, she was already the most precious, treasured thing that he'd ever had.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Also, this is a HUGE HUGE HUGE ask, and some of you may have seen this on Instagram, but if anyone wants to collaborate with me and create fanart based on this story, please reach out to me! I cannot draw no matter how much I've tried, but I so badly want to see art for it. So... like... if anyone is looking for something to do... PLEASE let me know!