Coral

To really love a woman

Let her hold you -

til ya know how she needs to be touched

You've gotta breathe her - really taste her

Til you can feel her in your blood

N' when you can see your unborn children in her eyes

Ya know ya really love a woman











Amanda had not been invited to Agnes' wedding, which occurred in late August. Stella told her later that it had been a very large affair; Agnes being the sort that wanted the best of everything. In large quantities. It even earned a two page article in Witch Weekly.



Amanda had been a slightly disappointed to discover that the groom was no one she had heard of. What with the manner in which Agnes had been flaunting his secret identity, she had almost believed it was a celebrity of sorts.



Well, in a sense he was known...just not well known. And certainly not well received, she learned.



His name was Adelfried Umbridge, and according to Arthur Weasley, he had been arrested twice for endangering the lives of Muggles,



( once with poisoned candles, and a second time with cursed letterboxes.)



He was a very prolific underground writer, having penned many anti-Muggle poems, magazine articles, pamphlets, and speeches. He was a second cousin to the Minister of Magic, and third cousin to many other respected or well known Wizards, including one or two that worked for the Ministry, and he was very adamant about trying to get certain 'laws' pushed into effect.



Amanda had been confused at first as to why Agnes would want such a union. Winter tried to explain that, like many who weren't pure-blooded, Agnes resented her status, and took great pains to promote herself as a humble follower of everything pureblood.



Apparently, there was no shame in toadying.



After the wedding, Agnes and her new husband had departed on what she termed a 'retreat'. This meant they would be gone for three months, researching Muggles for a new book they were 'destined' to co-author.



As soon as possible after their departure, Stella had procured some of Umbridge's pamphlets and they had all been equally appalled. Not so much with his views, but with his blunt, aggressive words, and his violent solutions. He addressed the marriage law specifically in one , saying that he, at first, had been opposed. What pureblood witch or wizard wouldn't be?



Just when he had been on the brink of despair, and considering suicide as the only means with which to preserve his purity, he had witnessed a vision, and that vision had changed his point of view. ( how fortunate, Stella commented drily.)



He went on to describe how useful the half-bloods could be if kept under control. Many of them were ashamed of their parentage, and therefore willing to actively participate in the Side of Good. Only by submitting themselves to Pureblood spouses, could half-bloods be cleansed, and purified. He also recommended mind-control spells, truth serums, beatings; and mourned the fact that Unforgivable curses weren't allowed.



His other, equally grisly pamphlets addressed a variety of subjects; such as his visions, how children should be raised, the necessity ( and grisly technique) of eradicating certain magical creatures, and why common people shouldn't be allowed to eat any foods that might be considered aphrodisiacal.



In the opinion of the Rookwood women, he was nothing more or less than a dangerous fanatic, and they openly discussed their displeasure that the Ministry was coming to rely more and more on persons of his ilk.



Amanda knew she should be concerned as well, but by the middle of September, she had something more important to occupy her mind. She at last confirmed a suspicion that had been harboring for some weeks...



She was pregnant.



At first she procrastinated in telling anyone, needing some time to convince herself of the truth. After all, she didn't particularly feel any different, except for that tiny excited glow of satisfaction that had been beneath her breast since that day in the parlor.



Once she had thought over it, and could at last perceive herself in the role of mother, she allowed herself to rejoice. It felt right, and it felt good. Her only concern then, was with how Edward would react. Certainly he had expected this eventually, but that was no indication of how he might feel personally..



After all, he already had a son. Suddenly, the fact that he seemed to dislike Elias was very important. Would he view all children in the same light? Would that mean the end of the hesitant intimacy they had been developing? She didn't think she could bear such a cold chaste life, but she was much too shy to mention this concern when she did at last manage, with a good deal of stammering, to inform Edward of her condition. His reaction was pleasant enough. He showed no less surprise than she, but instead of disbelief, his second emotion was more a masculine pride in his own potency. He became protective and suddenly aware of all the dangerous items and activities that a home could provide, and began listing them all as problems that Polly should handle alone.



Amanda was flattered and allowed him to create the rules,even though she knew that it would be impossible to never endanger herself somewhat. Even climbing the stairs to the bedroom was dangerous to an extent, but she didn't dare breathe a suggestion of this, for fear that he might insist on altering the house to have the bedroom safely in the place of the parlor or library.



He and Polly had already began setting charms that made what he considered to be heavy objects, ( such as water pitchers, pots, chairs, and books) practically float, and weigh no more than feathers.



At first, she was content to fall back into the eider comfort of being pampered. An idle mind, though, is fertile soil for growing doubts and concerns, and it wasn't too long before even Amanda began to harvest a few of her own.



Suddenly, she considered Edward's treatment from another angle. He was being almost too good. This combined with the way in which he delicately kept her at arm's length, led her to wonder if he might only be relieved that his obligations would be fulfilled once the child was born.



She eventually voiced this concern to Amele, who told her she worried to much, and that if she worried too much she would give her child a birthmark.



" A very large red on in the center of it's forehead. Then how would you feel, eh? " Amele teased her.



Amele did not offer advice. One had to learn by observing her actions. She was a devoted mother, and the slightest bit unusual in her practice. She believed that a child could not live without chocolate, rough play, ghost stories, pickles, kisses, dirt, frogs, and good natured threats along the line of;



" Jules! If you don't stop standing on Renee, I am going to cover you with warts!"



or,



" Arden! Don't think I won't sell you to the goblins. Do I need another naughty little boy?"



and he favorite:



" I am going to trade you all in for one girl!"



For all of their energy and inventiveness, Amele's children were not bad children.They laughed constantly. Amanda liked to hold the baby, Renee, even though he was sometimes very sticky, and wanted to play with her hair. He was very soft and had the most wonderfully tiny feet. When he smiled, he had three sets of dimples.



Amele insisted that Amanda stay that evening until Jean-Paul arrived.She wanted her younger friend to see how men loved their children in different ways.



To counter-balance Amele's playfulness, Jean-Paul was a very stern person, outwardly. He arrived home, in his professor's tweeds, ( he taught Muggle mathematics.) and regarded the children sternly. They formed a half-hazard line in front of him, and bounced lightly, and rolled their lips inwards to hide their smiles.



He asked if they had been good children, and two answered yes, while the other two answered no.



" No!" he exclaimed in surprise. " You weren't good, not for your Momma?"



They shook their heads without shame.



" What is that you have done, Arden, that makes you so bad?"



Arden told his father his list of crimes, but mostly how he had tried to climb on a chair to take down the painting of Amele's grandfather.



" Why did you want to do that?" Jean-Paul asked.



He confessed that he was going to use his ancestor as part of a fort-building project, in which 'grandpapa' would play the role of the window, and could tell him when Jules and Renee were attacking from the 'hills'. The hills being, of course, the attic stairs.



Jean-Paul confessed that this was a very grave offense, and he would have to think on whether or not it should be punished. Then he asked Renee what his crime was, but Renee could only burble and dimple. Franchot, who was still nearly a baby himself, interpreted.



" He fell under Jules and got Jules in trouble." Franchot announced.



Jean-Paul seemed to have a bit of difficulty not smiling, and glowered sternly at Renee, who only shrieked with laughter, and hid his face.



" Well, and let that be a lesson to you." Jean-Paul said with a nod. " Well, I suppose I must give all the candy to Momma. I cannot give it to bad little boys...and it just too delicious to give to only two good little boys...what is Poppa to do?"



He held his arms up in supplication,and this was the children's cue to run to him and begin rummaging in his pockets for candy. Renee was too short, though, and so he lifted him and let him 'find' his treats in his breast pocket.



The encounter cheered Amanda greatly, and she accepted a bite of chocolate from Franchot, who was still too shy to speak to her.



Afterwards, she intentionally forced herself to lay aside all of her doubt, and to spend her time in more useful pursuits.



***



Amanda soon settled into her new lifestyle, which involved being allowed to sleep in, being required to eat whatever she wanted for breakfast, begin told not to lift this, or do that, and taking a rest at noon.



Her doctor, Healer Thoroughgood was a thin gaunt man with a high reedy voice. He wore a monocle, and had to squint his left eye maniacally to keep it in place. As if it would help, he also had a habit of turning up the left side of his mouth, in a half smile. He was a terrifically nice person however, who loved Muggles, and hated the marriage law.



The wall to his office was covered in photographs of his numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His wife, Pernicia, who was also tall and reedy, served as his assistant, and wore at all times a tight cap with blue-bird feather at the crown. Amanda liked them very much, though they were a bit unusual, even for the Wizarding world.



After every visit, Pernicia gave her candy, like a small child, and Thoroughgood made predictions about the what the baby would look like, or what it's favorite color would be.



He also encouraged her to take long walks after her noontime rest.



Edward, not liking the idea of her wandering about the village alone, had altered the management of his shops, so that he spent the mornings in Diagon Alley, and the afternoons in the smaller shop. That way, he could spend spend the time form one o'clock to one thirty watching anxiously out the window and being impatient with his customers until he espied her red hair approaching over the hill.



She would spend the rest of the afternoon, helping about the shop, if it were busy enough, then they would close the shop, and walk about the village for a while, before he would Apparate them to Gringott's for the evening deposit.



Then they would return home.



He had soon discovered that she would not break if he touched her, but he wore at all times a look of extreme apprehension. Especially if he saw her climbing stairs, stepping onto curbs, sitting down, standing up, or sleeping in an odd position.



Amele assured her that this was natural, and that she should enjoy it this time, because after three or four, they learn that you can still do the laundry and cook full meals without exploding.



Amanda didn't mind at all.



***



When Amanda first made the announcement to her family, she had chosen a day when Demogene would be out, wanting to tell her Mother, Grandmother and Aunt first.



Rather than creating the chaos she had suspected, she was certain the proverbial pin could have been heard, even if it had been dropped in the carpeting. The three of them regarded her first with something akin to fascination, and shifted a bit uncomfortably on their chairs.



After some rapid blinking, and a few unreadable glances amongst themselves, they began to stir, and the spark of excitement took flame and began to burn.



She could only wonder what they said about her when she wasn't present.



" Well...are you certain?" was Eloise's first question, and this was met with wry smiles from the other three.



After her assurances to the positive, she was suddenly inundated with embraces, advice, superstitions, and questions.At last they asked how she felt, when it was due, whether she wanted anything to eat, and what names she had considered.



She had to blush at that last question. She had completely overlooked the fact that it would indeed need a name, if it were to in anyway resemble a normal child.



Winter then teased Stella about being old enough to be a grandmother, and Eloise in turn teased Winter about her age as a great-grandmother. Eloise and Winter promised to discover the very best healer for her, and Stella began to discuss patterns for knitted baby blankets.



Satisfied that there would be no hysterics, or sentimental tears, Amanda sat back and enjoyed listening to the bickering and planning that passed between Stella and Winter. Rather than being treated for once as an adult, she found herself even more coddled than ever, as they brought her tea, and made her eat crackers and biscuits, and told her to keep her feet warm, and her arms down.



Then, while she was helplessly wrapped in a knitted afghan, her feet to the fire, lap full of cookies, and tea in her hand; she was submitted to the age old tradition that humans had been sharing since the invention of cave-drawings. Family albums.



Stella and Winter summoned over fifty albums of photographs, and portraits--some were the familiar ones that Amanda had been seeing all of her life, while others were strictly Wizarding; it was slightly un-nerving to see images of her ancestors waving and smiling from their little windows. She had to suffer he embarrassment of seeing all of her childhood photographs. The fact that these did not move was a relief to her, as her mother and father had both held a certain knack for catching her at the most un-flattering of moments.



For instance, the photograph in which she was wearing a pea-green jumper and hopping madly up and down in a very thick mud puddle, swinging a jump-rope. It wasn't the mud so much as the fact that she had been caught in mid jump with her face scrunched up in an almost perfect representation of Quasimodo.



Seeing it...she suddenly wondered if it was right at all that she should intentionally pass those genes onto another innocent member of the human race. It was especially disturbing, since a Wizarding photograph of Stella at the same age showed her to be primly dressed in white, playing beneath a shady oak--an entire tableful of china dolls as her companions. In the picture, Stella fed a tea cake to a auburn haired doll, then reached out a hand to rock an elaborate, whipped-wicker doll carriage as she smiled at the photographer.



" Nina!' Stella exclaimed, pointing at the doll. " That was Nina. And this was Fabrette, and Georgine, and Persephone! " she sighed. " I gave them to Demogene and Agnes when I left. Whatever happened to them?"



" I believe a few are in the attic. I know the pram is. I think Nina was broken..."



" That's a shame! But I'll have to go up later and find them. Are you going to have a girl, Amanda? You simply must, so that we can give her the pram. "



" A girl!" scoffed Eloise. " I say we have enough girls around here. I for one would like to see a boy or two."



" My dear Eloise, that was always your problem." Winter retorted.



" Well, what would you rather, Winter?"



" Triplets."



" Triplets!"



" Don't even say such things!" Stella said, laughing.



" Girls or boys?"



" Two girls and one boy. Then she can keep one of each and give me a little girl."



' I thought I was your little girl?" Stella pouted.



" Not since you quit letting my put ribbons in your hair."



They returned to the pictures, where they spent the rest of the afternoon, until Edward came looking for Amanda, and was subsequently forced to look at the cute picture of her jumping rope in the puddle. Much to her mortification, and his bemusement.



---



The next afternoon, Stella appeared wearing a pair of Muggle jeans and a white top, which meant that she had either decided to prove that women about to be grandmothers could still have fantastic legs, or that she was going exploring in the attic.



It was to be the attic. Stella had spent the night thinking about her dolls, and how she would like to give one to her grandchild.



" Of course if it is a boy...we can always make a few alterations." she said, before they Apparated to Rookwood.



Stella took Amanda up into the storage side of the attic, where they spent the better part of the evening searching through crates of family heirlooms. It rather said something about the inhabitants of the house, that all of the boxes were stacked in rigidly neat rows, in order of the dates they had been packed and stored. No dust, no cobwebs, no eight legged hermits residing in any crevices. It was immaculate, unlike the end of the attic that Amanda and Eloise had used as a dueling ground.



It was no trouble then to find, in a crate marked as containing Demogene's things, the collection of Stella's surviving dolls. Fabrette, though her lovely auburn hair had been chopped away was still perfect. When Amanda turned her over, a large pair of sapphire blue eyes opened to gaze at her. More rummaging on Stella's behalf and Georgine was uncovered. She was wrapped in a length of black silk, and had a chip on her nose. Amanda felt very sad looking at her, and turned her away.



At the very bottom, the last doll, Persephone, lay sleeping. They both paused before lifting her out. She was wrapped in a stained baby blanket, and had dried food and what look like crusted milk on her painted china face. It looked as though a young child had last played with her, but the date on the box revealed that she had only been packed away a year before Amanda came to England. With a shrug, they took her out. She was just as lovely as the other two, but instead of gold or auburn hair, she had straight black hair that fell down to her waist. Hazel green eyes opened to regard them.



" Oh...she looks like...like you!" Amanda exclaimed.



" Like Winter." Stella corrected. " I did that to he, with my father's help. Mother was always so beautiful...and Eloise too. They looked almost alike." she stroked the dolls hair for a moment, smiling. " This one, don't you think?" she asked.



" Yes! And we can make her a new dress.I don't know if I have any more white material, but maybe--"



Stella rolled her eyes slightly, and handed the doll to her daughter.



" Watch closely." she said, taking out her wand. " Scourgify."



The stains on the dress and face disappeared. A few touches and the lace was repaired, the hair shining once more, and the shoes tied.



" Magic." Stella informed her. It was Amanda's turn to look heavenward in exasperation.



" Sometimes magic takes all the fun out of things." she said.



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Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman-Lyrics, Bryan Adams