Chapter 4: September 2000
At first, she was hesitant, she would be a very young mother at nearly twenty-one. But after making a list of pros and cons, she decided to go for it. She went to a muggle doctor, not knowing if the Wizarding world had a sperm bank, as well as to control the spread of rumours about the female third of the Golden Trio. But she soon gave up on artificial insemination, the process having creeped her out a bit. Instead she decided to go back to Wizarding London to an orphanage.
She picked out a promising orphanage and went a week before her birthday. At the price the adoption process was, the child might as well be her birthday present. Hermione walked up to the reception, the woman behind the desk obviously recognized her and was visibly stunned, even more so when Hermione informed her she wished to adopt. But the receptionist quickly snapped out of it and her professionalism returned.
"Of course. Do you have any criteria that the children have to meet?"
Now it was Hermione's turn to be stunned. "Criteria?"
"Yes." The receptionist clarified; "Age, sex, colour, blood lineage…" She trailed off, noticing Hermione's disapproving look.
While Hermione was not happy to learn that orphanages still divided their children by blood lineage, even after the war, she still considered her 'criteria' seriously. Of course she couldn't care less about blood lineage, nor colour for that matter. She found herself leaning towards getting a boy since if she ever found the woman of her dreams, a son would balance out the household. Yet, she decided to leave that option open as well, Hermione was adamant on finding the child that was meant for her. The only thing that came to mind as important was the child's age. Her young age severely limited the age of her potential child.
"Show me the children under three years of age."
Hermione, having never been to an adoption centre, did not expect to be led to a table and shown pictures and documents on the children. In fact, it annoyed her to no end, she certainly could not feel for pictures and documents, at this rate, she would never find a child.
"Enough!" Hermione's voice pierced through the woman's incessant prattling. "I wish to see the actual children, to meet them, not their papers."
The woman looked at Hermione. Stunned, she flushed and opened and closed her mouth a few times. She stuttered out; "We really can't do that." But seeing Hermione's glare made her think twice. "Wait here."
She left the room, presumably to talk to her superior. After a little while, she came back. "Well… Follow me, I'll lead you through the nursery."
The nursery made Hermione stomach churn, there were about forty children, it saddened her. Ten house elves were tending to all forty children. Hermione frowned, it wasn't that the house elves weren't taking care of the children, in fact they seemed to be doing a great job, but the fact that they are no adult humans around. Hermione knew that contact between little ones and adults were very important. She hoped the elder children had more people around them. Hermione kept her mouth shut, she didn't want to be thrown out.
Walking through the large nursery, Hermione looked at all the children. One by one, she picked them all up, all of them wanting attention. But none of them screamed, 'I am yours.' Hermione sighed as she put the last child down. Before setting out to adopt, she spoke to a muggle woman who had adopted all of her children. She confirmed to Hermione that every time she went to adopt one or two of the children felt like they were hers, like she had given birth to them. So Hermione decided to keep looking at different orphanages instead of choosing one of these children randomly.
Suddenly a middle-aged man ran into the room telling Hermione's 'guide' that there was trouble with some of the older children. Hermione assured the woman she could see herself out before she went to check on the older children. After one last look, Hermione headed towards the exit. On her way out, Hermione spotted something. A narrow door, painted the same colour as the wall, without a doorknob but a small hole to pull on. Curious, Hermione headed towards the mysterious doorway. She pulled on the door and saw something which could be compared to muggle documentaries that show the most torrid orphanages around the world.