Hurt

ZOMG! I've been in a perpetual state of sleeplessness that caused me to lose .. well.. sleep.. Sorry for the "radio silence", life REALLY got in the way. I haven't even gotten the chance to finish the seventh book. (liek, oh em gee! Total sacrilege!) I did, however, manage to enrage my sister's boyfriend's mommy because actually let my nephew crawl around on the freshly vacuumed, shampooed, "dirty" (*gasp*) floor. She's very psychotic about germs when it comes to him. My sister had another baby, this one a girl, so I've been making trips to St. Louis every other day. Enough of this, onto the story!

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Poppy frowns and looks at Hermione from her place at the end of the bed. “Miss Granger has someone hurt you recently?” she asks. Hermione shakes her head so Poppy’s frown deepens. She stands and walks around the privacy curtain.

“Is something wrong?” Remus inquires.

“There is evidence of recent and prolonged sexual activity. Has she been alone with any of the boys?” Remus sighs and steps around the curtain to Hermione. He settles on the chair beside the bed. Poppy raises an eyebrow when Hermione takes his hand. “Remus, you didn’t!”

Hermione blushes as Remus nods. “It was her idea. Besides, she’s an adult,” he murmurs. Poppy shakes her head.

“She’s a student!”

“Poppy, let them alone. What they do in the privacy of their chambers is none of our business,” Albus’ voice states from the other side of the curtain. Remus helps Hermione with her panties as Poppy glares at the pair.

Albus smiles when Poppy moves the privacy curtains after Hermione gets her skirt settled. “It would appear that you need new robes, Miss Granger,” he says. His eyes sweep from her face, down over her belly, and to her toes then back up. “I will have the boys accompany the two of you to Hogsmeade the next weekend in town. Is that agreeable?” he inquires. Remus nods in response.

Hermione moves over to the next bed and picks Eamon up from his nest of pillows. He grins at her so she snuggles him to her chest. The others watch as she rocks him gently. “You’ll be a great mother, dear,” Poppy says softly. She strokes her finger down Eamon’s back so the baby shivers and lifts his head. He squeaks then coos at her so she chuckles. “You’re so handsome and smart,” she murmurs and kisses his forehead.

~~~~~~~~~~

Harry looks at Remus. “Do they even have maternity student robes?” he asks. Remus shakes his head.

“No. They will have to be made special for Hermione,” he replies. Hermione grips his hand as they walk with Harry and Ron to Hogsmeade. “Poppy has never had to deliver a child at Hogwarts. And I’m assuming that Hermione will have to have a Muggle doctor do a cesarean section when the time comes. It is difficult to birth one babe, let alone two,” he murmurs.

Hermione looks at him in terror so he pats her hand. Ron opens the door to the robe maker’s shop and holds it for them. “Remus? What can I get you?” the woman at the counter asks. Remus guides Hermione from her hiding spot behind him.

“We need maternity robes, madam,” he says and removes Hermione’s cloak. The woman gasps then nods and motions the four of them into the back rooms. “Something that will last her until the end of May if need be. Nothing that will make her too warm, nor too cold,” he states. The woman raises an eyebrow at him.

“And how long have I been doing this Remus? When did you get your degree in being a seamstress?” she teases. Remus turns a light shade of red then helps Hermione remove her outer shirt. “So you’re due in May? Do you know what you’re having?” she asks Hermione. Hermione remains silent so the woman frowns and looks at Remus.

Remus folds the shirt and lays it on the back of a chair. “She’s having twins. It will be a few weeks until we can find out their sex,” he murmurs. The woman nods in response then smiles kindly at Hermione. She studies her swollen belly for a moment.

“Come now child, I need to see your belly to measure it for the robes,” the woman says when Hermione wraps her arms around her belly. Remus rests his hand on her shoulder so she drops her arms. “Let’s see now. Is there a certain material you want the robes made out of?”

Harry and Ron watch from the chairs as the woman moves around Hermione taking measurements. “Hey Remus, does mum know about the twins?” Ron asks. Remus shakes his head and moves over to them.

“No, she doesn’t. I suppose we’ll have to enlist her help once Hermione goes into labor though. You should owl her when we get back to Hogwarts. Ask her to meet us for dinner tonight,” Remus says. He sighs as he leans against the wall. “We’ll have to eat in my chambers, unless the Headmaster allows us the use of his office.”

“Maybe we could go to the Burrow instead?” Ron inquires hopefully. Remus raises an eyebrow at him. Harry snorts.

“It’s not safe for Hermione to use Apparation in her condition,” he says. Ron frowns at him. “Besides, the ministry might drop in for a visit and there’s nowhere to hide there.”

The woman steps away from Hermione and smiles at her. “All done dear. I will have these robes to you by dinner,” she says. Hermione nods and accepts her outer shirt from Remus.

~~~~~~~~~~

Remus opens the door to his chambers when someone knocks on it. “Molly, Arthur, come on in,” he says and moves to let the two pass. Harry and Ron look up from their chess game so Molly starts fussing over Harry’s torn pant leg. Ginny stands from her perch on the couch and steps over the chess board.

“Hello dear. Where’s Hermione?” Molly asks and looks around. Remus nods to the bedroom doorway.

“She’ll be out in a bit. Said something about changing into something more comfortable,” he says. Molly nods and settles on the couch with Arthur. “Sirius is a last minute addition. He should be down from speaking with Albus soon.” The bedroom door opens and Hermione slips out.

Molly looks at her over her shoulder and smiles. “There you are dear!” she says and turns to get a better look at the girl. The older woman’s eyes grow wide and she shoots up from the couch and over to Hermione. “How on Earth?” she starts then falls silent when Ginny giggles.

“Oh ‘Mione, you’re so cute!” the other girl gushes. She bounces over to her friend and hugs her gently. “Who’s the daddy?” she asks. Hermione glances at Remus so the man clears his throat.

“Sit, everyone, please,” he says. They do his bidding as Hermione moves over to him. He helps her into the armchair so she leans her head against his arm. “Hermione was attacked over the summer. She is pregnant with her assailant’s children. I say children because she is bearing twins. We do not know what the sex is but we will know in the next few weeks.”

“Severus,” Molly hisses. Arthur and Ginny blink at her then look at Remus when he sighs.

“Lucius as well.”

An uproar breaks out from the Weasleys at the tired confession. Hermione clamps her hands over her ears so Harry jumps up to quell the near-riot and knocks the chess board over. Ron begins yelling at Harry and Remus raises his voice to get everyone’s attention so the noise level increases. An ear-splitting scream echoes around the room, affectively killing the din so everyone looks at Hermione.

“Hermione? Hermione, what’s wrong?” Remus demands and moves toward her. The scream calms into sobs as she cries. He slips on a chess piece and stumbles over the table only to fall at her feet. Remus looks up at her when she clutches her belly and starts rocking.

“What is it? Remus, what’s wrong with her?” Harry asks frantically as the man clambers to his feet.

Molly moves over to Hermione and carefully lays her hand on the girl’s belly. She looks at Arthur then Ron. “Ron, get Madam Pomfrey. We need her here now,” she says. “Remus, Harry, help her to the bedroom. She’s having contractions and we need to get them stopped before her water breaks.”

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A/N: Okay... I'm sorry if this is a bit confusing but I'm jumping time in this chapter. I completely skipped Halloween because I couldn't get that chapter to work with the flow of the story. We are now in early to middle December. As for the end of the chapter, it happened to me. I started having contractions in the middle of my pregnancy. I'm lucky I didn't lose my son. I'm going to cut it short tonight because I'm tired. I'll try to get a new chapter up ASAP.