It had been a week since Hermione had spoken with Molly and as hard as it was to hear, she knew she was right. That's how she now found herself sitting in her Doctor's office with Charlie by her side, completing her admittance forms, today was the day they were going to have their little baby and it felt like one of the hardest things both of them have ever had to do knowing that at the end they would have to say goodbye. It felt even harder now, since being at the Burrow, they had one last ultrasound to find out their baby's gender and for a moment they were delighted to find out they were having a baby girl before the realisation of what was happening hit them again.

"So what exactly happens after this? How do we get started" Hermione asked, holding Charlie's hand tightly in her own

Dr Robbins put two pens down on front of them before sliding the forms over. "After we're done here, I'll take you both to your room and will begin the medication that starts dilation, this is called Pitocin. And once that is administered, your body will start to know what to do"

Hermione nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to calm her racing heart.

"This form is the birth certificate. Have you decided on a name?"

"We've thought of two" Charlie smiled sadly, "But I think we want to wait until we see her before we choose"

"Of course" Dr Robbins smiled, "You can just sign and we'll fill in the rest at a later time"

Hermione and Charlie grabbed their pens and filled out the form in the required places, Dr Robbins took them from the couple and slid them into the folder, before pulling out another form. "This is a consent form, as we're doing an induction-termination. You're at 25 weeks which means we could intervene to keep the baby alive after the delivery"

Hermione shook her head, feeling a rush of cold wash over her as the realisation that she had to say goodbye to her baby was happening today. She didn't know how she was going to cope later if she could barely keep it together for the forms.

"These forms are just to make it official"

Hermione watched as Charlie quickly signed his side of the form before sliding it across to herself, she held the pen in her hand and stared at the blank signature section, feeling sick to her stomach. She couldn't do this. She wasn't strong enough. She glanced at Dr Robbins to find another form in her hand. "What are the other forms?"

Dr Robbins frowned, this was the one form she was not looking forward to asking them to sign, this whole process was difficult already. "This...Well, this is the death certificate" She placed it gently on front of the couple, awaiting their reaction

Charlie reacted first, a rush of anger flowing through him. "Really? Could this not wait? You're already asking us to sign a death certificate when our baby hasn't even been born yet?!"

"I am so sorry, to both of you" Dr Robbins assured, "But this is the better way, to get all the paper work out of the way now and then you'll not have to worry about it again" She glanced at the couple and could see the hesitation and fear in their eyes, they needed to be alone. "Would you like a minute?"

"Yes please" Charlie grunted, trying to stop himself from tearing the room apart.

Dr Robbins nodded and quickly left the room, allowing the couple time to be together and grieve. Once the door closed completely, Charlie and Hermione remained in silence, neither sure of what to say or what to do.

"All I wanted was to start a family with you, and now this is happening" Hermione sniffed

Charlie moved his chair closer to hers and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. "I know love, I know"

"This isn't fair. This whole situation isn't fair" Hermione cried, throwing her pen and watched it hit the wall with a slightly satisfying smack.

"It's not, I know it's not fair, but we'll get through this Mione. We'll get through this together, okay?" Charlie pressed a kiss to her hair and held her gently for a few moments. They stayed like that together until the door opened and Dr Robbins entered the room.

"I know this is silly to ask, but are you okay? I know this can be overwhelming"

Hermione fought the urge to laugh bitterly, "Overwhelming is an understatement" She whispered before grabbing Charlie's pen and signing both forms.

--

"There we go" Charlie whispered, finishing the tie on the back of Hermione's gown

Hermione shivered at as her legs and some of her back were exposed to the chill of the room in her gown, she turned slowly and held her arms out to the side as she smiled at Charlie. "How do I look?"

"As beautiful as ever" Charlie smiled and kissed her lips softly.

The door to the room opened and for a moment, Dr Robbins hovered awkwardly in the doorway, she could clearly see she was interrupting a private moment between the two and had no idea where to look. Hermione and Charlie jumped apart, blushing slightly at the intrusion and to anyone else they would see an in-love couple ready to have their first baby.

"Sorry" Dr Robbins laughed slightly, "I should have knocked before coming in. I was just coming to see if you were ready to get started Hermione?"

Hermione shrugged, "As ready as I'll ever be"

Dr Robbins nodded and moved to the bed as Charlie helped Hermione into the bed and got her as comfortable as possible. "Okay, so the medicine is going to be administered through your IV, okay? It will help kick start contractions, so you'll start to feel some pain over the next few hours. I'll come in and check on you often to see how we're getting along. Is that okay?"

Hermione nodded and watched as Dr Robbins set up her IV, wincing slightly as she felt the sting of the IV going in and then again at the slight burn as the medicine began to be administered.

"There we go, all set up" Dr Robbins smiled. "I forgot to say, you have some guests Hermione, would you like me to send them up or would you prefer you and Charlie to be left alone for now?"

Hermione glanced at Charlie, "What do you think? Do you want anyone up?"

"I think it might be good for a while, might distract us for a bit having some more company" Charlie admitted

Hermione nodded, even though she really didn't feel like visitors at the moment, a distraction would be good for a while.

"I'll send them in now for you" Dr Robbins gave them one last smile before leaving the room.

They didn't have much longer to wait until the door reopened and Molly, Arthur, Harry and Ron came through the door. Molly immediately rushing over to hug her tightly while Arthur patted Charlie on the back comfortingly. Harry and Ron stood, awkwardly at the side for a moment, unsure what to do or say.

"Thanks for coming everyone" Hermione smiled, trying her best to put a brave face on

"Don't be silly dear, of course we were coming! The rest of the family are in the waiting room as well. I don't think I've ever seen a muggle Doctor look so confused before when we all stood up once they asked for your family" Molly gave a small laugh.

"I can imagine" Charlie chuckled, remembering the sight of the Healers face when they were all in the waiting room for Ginny and Seamus.

"Are you okay Hermione?" Harry asked gently, standing close by her bed.

"Not really" Hermione sighed, "I never thought I would be going through something like this"

Harry nodded and reached out to give his best friend's hand a squeeze, "No one ever does. But you know you have us all around you for anything you need. We'll be outside the whole time, okay?"

Hermione felt the tears prick at her eyes; she knew her voice was going to give her away, so she just nodded before pulling Harry into a hug. Harry chuckled at the sudden contact but hugged her back tightly before moving out of the way for Ron to do the same. The four of them stayed for a few minutes, talking about various topics to try help Hermione and Charlie forget for a while. Hermione even had to scold Ron on falling behind in his work, reminding him several times that she wasn't going to be there to pick up his work for him.

"We should go back to the waiting room, everyone else is waiting to see you" Molly smiled sadly at Hermione, pressing a gentle hand to her cheek. "I'll come back in once the others come out, is that okay?"

"I'd like that" Hermione smiled, what made this experience worse for her was the fact she couldn't have her own Mother here. Going through a loss like this, she needed her Mother, but she still hadn't been able to get the courage to go and bring them back, not after seeing how happy they were in Australia. So, the fact that Molly was here and wanted to be in the room with her, meant everything to Hermione. It was another reason why she thought of Molly as her second Mother.

After one last hug from everyone, Arthur included, they left the room. Allowing Fred, George, Katie and Angelina to come in. Fred and George provided some much needed laughter, telling tales of the different pranks they had in store for the shop and giving them a few sneak previews of some of their new products they had in development, Hermione had certainly been impressed with the Adult Witches products they were making and agreed that once she was feeling better, that she would try her best to help out.

It was hard seeing Angelina, who had happened to go into labour not long after Ginny, she thankfully didn't have the baby with her, but the thought of her getting to go home to her baby made Hermione's heart hurt even more. Charlie thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories of Katie's Quidditch career, hanging on to every word as she gave him a play by play from their most recent victory. Soon though, they also had to leave but reassured them that they were just outside if the needed anything.

It was then Bill, Fleur, Luna and Lavender's turn to visit. Bill had kindly brought her numerous runes to solve, varying in difficulty. "I'll make a Curse Breaker out of you yet Hermione" he had said, which Hermione had genuinely laughed at. Fleur fussed around her, almost mimicking Molly if that was even possible, she even French braided her way, telling her it was a lot easier to have her hair out of the way for this experience.

Luna had been delightful as ever, when she had came into the room Hermione felt as everything had gotten a lot calmer, she felt more at peace for those few minutes and she began to cry again when Luna presented her with a hand knitted blanket to keep her warm during her stay, Hermione had hugged her so tight she thought she had broken some ribs but Luna reassured her that she was fine. Lavender had given her a tight hug, which had surprised Hermione since they had never really gotten along before especially back in Hogwarts, but Lavender seemed to be trying a lot harder now which Hermione appreciated.

--

Hermione relaxed against her pillows as the last of their visitors had left the room, seeing everyone had exhausted her and on top of that, she was beginning to feel the effects of her medicine. The cramping in her stomach had started off dull, it reminded her of period cramps, but she could feel them steadily getting worse, so she was grateful when everyone had finally left the room.

"Do you need anything?" Charlie asked, watching as Hermione winced in pain again.

"Just some water please"

Charlie poured some water into the jug and handed it to her just as the door opened again, this time Molly and Dr Robbins coming in.

Dr Robbins monitored her again and tracked her contractions silently as Molly made sure Hermione was comfortable and checked to see how Charlie was holding up too.

"Okay, so things are starting to move along Hermione" Dr Robbins noted down in her chart, "It might still be a while before it really starts to hit, so just try keep as comfortable as possible"

"Thanks Dr Robbins" Hermione shuffled slightly in the sheets to get herself comfortable as the Doctor left the room, she glanced between Charlie and Molly who were now situated on either side of her. "How are you two holding up?"

"I'm fine dear" Molly smiled, patting her hand sweetly before going back to her knitting

"I'm okay too" Charlie kissed the back of her hand, "I just hate seeing you in pain"

Hermione nodded, "I hate being in pain too. At least at the end of this we'll have..." She trailed off, realizing what she had been about to say.

Charlie sucked in a deep breath, realizing what she had been about to say. "We'll still have her, love"

"I know, but...not forever" Hermione sniffed, and for the first time in hours she began to cry again. "We'll not get to take her home, to dress her, feed her, change her! We'll not get to see her first steps, or first words Charlie" Her hand went to her stomach as another contraction hit, she groaned and let her head fall against the pillow as she tried to breath through it.

--

It seemed like Hermione had been pushing for days on end, all she could think about was the pain coursing through her stomach as she tried to birth their baby. She clung onto Charlie and Molly's hands tightly as she continued to listen to the Doctor and tried her best to push.

"Almost there Hermione! You can do it" Dr Robbins called

Charlie kissed Hermione's head, "You can do it love, just keep thinking we'll be getting to meet our baby shortly"

Hermione cried out in pain as her body pushed one more time, all of a sudden there was a lot of pressure and after a moment she felt empty. She collapsed against the pillow, breathing heavily as she tried to wrap her head around what happened. She could barely make out Dr Robbins calling for the Nurse who then appeared and took their baby away to be cleaned and swaddled.

"Where is she going? I want our baby, I want to hold our baby" Hermione whimpered

Dr Robbins stood from her chair at the end of the bed, "It's okay Hermione, the Nurse is just giving your little girl a clean and will bring her right back to you"

Hermione nodded and soon enough their baby was in her arms. She glanced up at Charlie who was staring down at their daughter with awe and sadness in his eyes, Hermione could see the tears already falling down his cheeks. She turned her attention to back to the baby in her arms, even though she was incredibly tiny, she was still beautiful to Hermione and Charlie.

Charlie reached down to stroke his daughter's hand, his lip quivering as he saw her taking short breaths, she must have still been in pain. "She's beautiful Mione. Well done love" He whispered, giving his wife a sweet kiss to the lips before resting his head on hers as he continued to gaze at his daughter.

"Do we have a name for her?" Dr Robbins asked gently

Hermione took a breath and gazed at her daughter's small face, taking a finger and gently caressing her cheek for a moment before she looked up at Charlie. "What do you think?"

Charlie smiled, "You know I love both of them, why don't you pick? You just went through hell to bring her into this world"

Hermione laughed, "Yeah I did but she's worth it" She smiled. "Everyone, we would like you to meet Amelia"

Dr Robbins smiled sadly and put the name on the forms. "What a lovely name, it suits her perfectly. I'll give you both some time" With that she took her leave, taking a moment out of the room to lean against the wall and breathe. This was always a tough part of her job, she hated having to watch anyone grieving over a lost one, but there was something that hit harder when it was new parents saying goodbye to their child. With a last look into the room, she decided it was time for a well earned break before having to come back.

While Dr Robbins left, Molly teared up at the sight of her second eldest son and her daughter-in-law savouring every moment they had with their baby girl, it was a cruel world they lived in for them to have their first born taken away from them, it was something that no parents should ever have to bear. But she knew that with time, the pair would get through it. They had so many people around them to care for them and be with them through everything. Although losing a child was something she had never experienced herself, she would be there through everything with them. With one last look at the family, she softly excused herself so they could say goodbye to their daughter.