Mrs.Malfoy

AUTHOR NOTE: ACK TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY! Alas, the chapter you’ve all waited for. I had this written within twenty minutes of posting the last chapter, but did some re-editing and added a bit more. As for the last chapter, I’m so sorry. You guys hate my OC! *sniff* lmao!! LONGEST CHAPTER SO FAR!!!!! Grab the coffee and cigarettes and take a potty break now. EXTREMELY LONG CHAPTER!!! I could have broken it into two, but you guys would have never forgiven me for making you wait. YOU WILL LOVE THIS!!!

The birds began to sing at the window. The sun was peaking through the morning clouds. The rain had stopped just a few minutes earlier. And Severus was putting on his trousers.

“Going so soon?” Emilia asked rubbing her eyes.

Severus huffed a bit as he pulled on his boots. “Yes…well, no…the sun is shining down at dawn just as a rain begins to stop. Aconite is at its most potent if picked before the leaves dry. I must find some.”

Emilia rolled over and watched as he shrugged on his robes. “Have a werewolf friend?”

Severus stopped his ministrations and looked at her with a bit of confusion and shock.

“Oh, Severus, really. I don’t mind. I know all about your Wolfsbane. Remember, Ginny Weasley works in my office,” she said as she pulled a long cotton shirt over head. “She tells me almost everything so that I know who I am dealing with in my work. You have no reason to be protective of the potion.”

Severus sighed and continued to get dressed. He approached her and kissed her head lightly. “Thank you for last evening.” But before he turned and walked out of the room, he heard an incantation and saw that she was fully clothed to go out.

“What do you think you are doing?” he asked her speculatively.

“Going with you, of course. You will spend all morning collecting your samples and then forget about our tea. I will go with you and then you can be excused to deal with your ingredients, foregoing the tea. Deal?”

He narrowed his eyes at the word ‘excused’ but acquiesced all the same. They tracked to the nearest meadows and found nothing that would be acceptable. Every bloom Severus found had some flaw, and the ones Emilia found seemed to be wilted already. It had taken them three hours to find a worthy patch of the monkshood.

With their pouches full, they began to trek back to civilization when Emilia doubled over…in pain.

“Emilia!” he called as he swooped down beside her. She was awake but breathing heavily. He looked her over and found a small scratch on the back of her hand. “Did the oils of the plant touch this? Did you get it on the scratch?”

She shook her head no. “I used…gloves…my…stomach…”

Severus was completely confused. If the wolfsbane hadn’t been absorbed through the scratch then it would not hurt her like this. If it did, then it was deadly. But the gloves…Why was she in pain?

He ran his wand over her once more but all he could find was a tremendous surge in the contraction of her abdominal muscles. Cramps?

Then a whole new idea popped into his mind. Neither one of them performed the Contraceptive spell last night. But surely she would not have a miscarriage already? The egg would not have had time to be fertilized and positioned properly. No, there was some other reason for her pain. Flu, perhaps?

“Have you been ill lately?” he asked.

Again, she shook her head. “Just a few headaches…I’ve been….taking potions…” About that time, one hit her hard and fast. She blacked out from the combination of pain.

Severus was about to bring her back to the conscious world, but thought better of it, better for her to sleep through the pain then awake. The clouds above began to blanket the sky again, and the drops began to fall hard. He had to move her somewhere dry. She would only get sicker if he tried to treat her here. He looked around and noticed that this particular meadow was close to a rather large cave he had found himself inside not too long ago. With that said, he sent out his patronus to locate the cave and bring him word of its exact location. It was night when he found it before, and even though the meadow looked familiar, he was unsure he could find his way back without wasting valuable time.

Within a minute the raven was back. It was indeed not very far at all, just obscured by the trees along the edge of the grass. He cast Mobilicorpus on Emilia and floated her to the dry darkness of the fissure. He conjured a fire large enough to warm the rock faced room. He went back to Emilia to try to ascertain what was happening to her. He found the small capillary rupture on her brain, the cause of a massive headache, and repaired the damage. Soon after, Emilia awoke groaning.

“What happened?” she asked softly.

“You passed out from pain. I discovered another headache and healed it. However, I have yet to find anything wrong with your abdomen.” He noticed Emilia wince. “Do you know what is wrong?”

She nodded. Then, she pulled the hem of her skirt up over her knees and spread her legs. Severus sat back on his haunches and stared in bewilderment as Emilia’s water burst. Severus was wise enough to know what the fluid looked like; he just didn’t understand how she was pregnant.

“I charmed my stomach. If anyone knew…if anyone knew that I had…no father…for the baby…I would never be able…to be Minister…I would be an outcast…” she said through gritting her teeth.

Severus sat back fully on his rear and put his head in his hands. He had gotten attached to this woman. All this while, she kept this from him. He wasn’t sure he wanted children. He left when Hermione announced her pregnancy. He had been tormented about wondering if her child was his or her husband’s and he came to the conclusion that it was better off not knowing. Somewhere, he counted on Emilia to become Minister before Hermione gave birth. In that case, if the child did belong to him, Hermione would not have to suffer watching her child die by Lucius’ hand. And neither would he. It was best to think of it as Lucius’ child until that day arrived. It was still two months away. The Wizengamot was counting votes as they spoke. It was only a matter of days. And here Emilia was, desperately keeping such a huge secret so that she could finally help the whole of the wizarding world. Severus didn’t know to reprimand her for her foolish charade or admire her for trying to put others before her own health.

“Lie back,” he finally commanded after a long silence. She did as he asked and immediately felt another contraction. “I will examine you.”

She spread her legs as he made away with her undergarments with a flick of his wand. He placed two fingers inside her to only be stopped by a hard surface. He waved his wand over her stomach again and found out something quite surprising.

“You are only six and half months along. It is too soon to be giving birth.”

“I know. This is wrong. Can you stop the labour?” she asked with tears filling her eyes. “The baby may not be strong enough to make it. Can you help me?”

Severus looked up into her face. Her voice changed. It was no longer rich with Irish twang. There was also something strange about the way she looked. It was as if her face was contorted. Maybe through her perceived grief that the child would not survive, or maybe from the way she was lying back. But one thing was for sure, she didn’t look like herself. It wasn’t until Severus moved and peered into her eyes that he saw the truth. The emerald orbs that had fascinated him with their strong beauty had darkened. And not out of malice, either. No, they darkened…to a soft chocolate. Her red hair had also darkened…into soft satiny waves of brown. Severus jumped back and fell onto his arse, his hands flung out to the rock to keep him from hitting his head on the surface of the stone floor.

“Bloody hell. Hermione?” he asked softly.

She began to cry harder. “Please help me.”

Severus recovered himself long enough to go back to diagnosing their situation. “The labour is too far progressed to stop it now. However, you must not push. The child is presenting breach.”

Hermione let out of cry of despair. So many things could go wrong. The baby was too small to be born, and the umbilical cord could wrap around his neck if he turned wrong. Hermione was desperate for St. Mungo’s. But a part of her knew she was in good hands.

Severus placed his hand on her stomach and began to feel for the head. He remembered placing his hand on her charmed stomach last night. It had flittered. It was the baby he was feeling. He looked up into her eyes again but then shifted his gaze downward. He placed two fingers back inside her.

“I am going to try to move the child around. This will be painful. I cannot cast any numbing charms as it might affect the boy. Do you understand, Hermione?”

She nodded, clenched her fists, and gritted her teeth. The sensation of feeling most of his hand inside her moving the baby around was nauseating. The baby pushed against her stomach, and it was everything Hermione could do to keep from spilling the contents of it. Finally, the movement stopped.

“I believe I feel the head presenting itself. Do not push, yet. I will summon some cloths and water,” he said as he removed both his hands and did as he said. He washed his hands that were covered in amniotic fluid. He prepared several pieces of cloth; one for her head to keep her temperature controlled, three to absorb any more fluid that escaped, two with soft heating charms to wrap around the baby, and the others for cleansing. He looked back to Hermione who was pale and sweating. He placed the temperature controlling cloth on her forehead.

“Alright, Hermione,” he said as he positioned himself, “it’s time to push.”

With that Hermione lifted her torso up onto her elbows and clenched her abdominal walls. Severus kept rapt attention to the baby boy’s progress. He couldn’t see the head yet, but he could feel it against his fingertips.

“That’s good. Relax for a moment. This could take some time.”

And he was right. Two hours of pushing to get the child’s head pass her pelvis had been exhausting. Severus was taking turns to clean his hands and cool the cloth on her forehead. When he went back to her spread legs this time, the view was shocking.

“Hermione, I see his head. A couple more pushes and we will be done,” he said without looking at her, rather he stared at the child emerging.

She took a deep breath but instead of pushing she asked a simple question. “What colour is his hair?”

“What?”

She winced as she felt another contraction coming on. “HIS HAIR! WHAT COLOR?”

He didn’t answer. He placed a hand on her stomach and coached her to push again. The baby’s head emerged fully and Severus went to working furiously to clear the child’s airway. A moment later and a small piercing cry rang out into the cave.

Hermione laughed lightly. He would be okay, she realized. He was going to be okay if he can cry like that already. Her giggles brought forth another strong contraction with which Hermione pushed with all she had left. The only thing that mattered was the fact that she wanted to hold him, hold him close to her and never let go. She wanted to feel his warmth in her arms. She was desperate to feel it. So she pushed…hard.

“I see the shoulders. One more and he’s free,” Severus said with a bit of awe in his voice.

‘One more and he’s free’ was the sentence that stuck in Hermione’s mind. He won’t be free. He will live as a Malfoy and she will never see him again. “No, I can’t.”

Severus looked up at her stunned. “Hermione, you can do this. All women say they can’t. It’s natural. You have to do this. I know you can do this! Now push!”

“No, Lucius will take him from me. I can’t, Severus. I can’t lose him,” she cried.

“Miss Granger, you will stop this incessant whining and push your child into this world this instant. Is that clear?!” he roared.

Hermione’s head jerked up to look at the scowling professor. He knew she would never stand to be intimidated. She would do whatever it took to go against him. She wasn‘t a child to be scolded. And so, she pushed.

Severus severed the umbilical cord cleanly once baby was delivered and cast a series of cleansing charms on Hermione. He kept the baby firmly yet gently enveloped in one arm while he delivered the placenta and completed his task as midwife…er…midhusband, as the case may be?

He immediately began to clean the baby and wrap him in the warming cloths. He then went to kneel beside Hermione and handed the child over. His head was covered.

Hermione lifted the piece of fabric out the way. She gasped. His hair was blonde.

“Hermione,” Severus started, “we need to get the two of you to the hospital. Now that the boy is born, we can Apparate safely. Can you stand?”

Hermione nodded and did so. Severus wrapped his arms around her and the baby and they popped out of sight.

“MERCIFUL HEAVENS!” a woman screamed as Severus, Hermione, and the baby boy appeared in the middle of the waiting room at St. Mungo’s. She stepped back when she received a fierce glare from the tall dark man. He left Hermione sitting in a chair while he approached the desk.

“Mrs. Malfoy needs to be admitted immediately. She went into premature labour in my company; however, there was nothing I could do to stop it. The child appears to be fine for now, but needs immediate diagnostics,” he rambled off as fast as he could. The nurse looked from him to Hermione to the baby and back.

“Take her to the maternity ward, off the fifth floor. I’ll call ahead so they have a bed ready,” the nurse replied.

Severus helped Hermione to the elevator and then to the staff window. “Mrs. Malfoy for admittance, please,” he simply stated.

The Mediwitch came out of the room and led them to a room at the far end of the hall. It was an ornate room. It was obvious that Lucius had reserved this room for his child to be born in. Silver and a multitude of greens were draped over everything. Severus sighed as he helped Hermione into bed. The Mediwitch held the baby for a moment while she got situated.

“Shall I notify Mr. Malfoy?” the witch asked.

Hermione looked to Severus for the briefest of moments but her silent plea was answered quickly.

“I will inform him of the events. I was with Mrs. Malfoy when it occurred. He will want the entire scenario revealed to him. May I borrow your floo?”

The Mediwitch showed Severus the way to the floo in the staff office, leaving Hermione alone with the child.

His pink skin was soft and radiating. His little fingers were still wrinkled slightly but his grasp on her finger told her that he was indeed strong. Maybe he would fight for his mother one day. Hermione removed her wand from her robe that was hanging close enough for her to reach and summoned a nappy for him. She sat up and placed him between her bent knees on the bed. She worked the diaper around his little belly and fastened it with a sticking charm. She also made sure to cast a self-cleansing, self-drying charm on it that she had learned from one of the books she got from the store that day with Ginny. She again wrapped him in the warming cloths and held him close. He began to wriggle and nudge against her chest.

“Oh, yes,” Hermione said softly to him, “I suppose you’re hungry.” She unbuttoned her shirt and exposed her swollen breast. He latched on without trouble and began eating. As he did, Hermione ran her hand over his head feeling the soft downy fuzz that appeared there.

Blonde. Her eyes began to well up. He belonged to Lucius. Before long, she would barely be able to see him anymore. He was so small. What could Lucius possibly do with a child so…fragile? Her thoughts were interrupted by a resounding click coming down the hall. It was Lucius’ cane smacking the linoleum.

Within the next second, he was entering the room. “What put it into your head to go out picking that bloody plant in your condition? And where were you last night? What the bloody hell have you been up to?”

Severus walked in as Lucius began yelling. He cast a Silencio on the door so the staff wouldn’t come running.

Hermione looked up to Lucius. “I went to see Ginny and my friends like you said I could last night. I stayed a bit late and slept there. I knew you would be gone until morning, so I thought it would be alright. I wouldn’t be in your way when came home. Your morning would be much more desirable, right? So, I stayed. When I woke early this morning, I noticed the rain and the sun at dawn and left to get the Wolfsbane. I met Severus in the meadow. He had had the same idea to pick it while it was more potent. I only wanted to help Remus. I’m very sorry. I don’t know what caused me to go into labour. But if it weren’t Severus taking care of me for you, your child may have died. I owe him the child’s life.”

Lucius had narrowed his eyes at Hermione. Severus, however, was smirking like a madman.

“Good show, Hermione. So Slytherin,” he thought.

Lucius turned to glare at Severus just as his smirk dropped from his face. Severus’ eyebrow went up like it usually did in question to others’ attentions to him.

“You saved my child,” Lucius said, more like a comment than a question. “I do believe along with that and our history it would only be proper to offer you the title of Godfather to Rabastan.”

“Rabastan?” Severus asked blankly as if he hadn’t already known.

“Yes. Rabastan was also my friend, as you know, not only a star in the sky,” Lucius replied sourly.

Severus nodded. “Indeed, I know. I believe it to be a fitting name for the boy, as his star is in located within the cluster, Draco.”

Lucius seethed, as Hermione fought hard to keep a giggle from passing her lips. She ducked her head so her grin could not be seen by her husband. Lucius looked back to the babe almost asleep in his mother’s arms.

“I will address the Mediwitch and return soon after. I was interrupted by an important meeting with Emilia Klewcon when Severus summoned me. The woman was almost hysterical when she heard the news, for whatever reason,” Lucius announced and immediately left the room.

Severus narrowed his eyes at Hermione. She lifted her eyes only to see his expression to that bit of information. He secured the silencing charm and cast wards around the door and windows.

“And what is he talking about?”

Hermione readjusted Rabastan to lie beside her in the crook of her arm. The milk on his lips bubbled slightly as he breathed. She covered herself and addressed the man now sitting in a chair beside the bed.

“Ginny.”

“Weasley?”

She nodded. “I taught her the glamour charm for emergencies. I thought to give her the charm for me instead in case Lucius ever wanted to see me when I was out as Emilia, but if he ever hit her…I would have never forgiven myself. So, when I needed to be myself and Emilia was needed elsewhere, she would double for me. She used a pensieve to keep me up to date on all the conversations and meetings so I would be approached and not know what to say or do.”

“Has she ever…When in my company, has she ever been…” he stammered.

“NO! No, I wouldn’t let her. You see, I wanted to be with you. It was the only thing I could think of. We couldn’t be together as Severus Snape and Hermione Malfoy, but as Emilia, I could be with you.”

Severus looked to the floor. “And how were you going to keep this charade going? What if you went into labour in the middle of a pureblood meeting? What then? Did you think of the consequences?”

She shied away behind a lock of unruly hair. “I wasn’t planning on going into labour for another two months, at least. I had it planned that ‘Emilia’ was called to a family emergency for a few weeks. At which time I would have left the baby with Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, then charmed my own stomach to look as if I was still expecting.”

Severus looked up at her. She had thought it all out. “Mrs. Weasley knows of this?”

Hermione shook her head. “No, I would have had to explain it to her eventually, but I know she would have helped me. I’m just…”

“What?”

She sighed, “I’m just sorry I didn’t tell you. But I didn’t want you to turn away from me again. I needed to be with you, Severus. I know that you thought it was better for us to go our separate ways, but I wanted to be in your life. At least as ‘Emilia’, I could be in some way.”

“Why Emilia? Why that name?”

“I was named after a character in a muggle playwright’s work called “A Winter’s Tale”. The name, Emilia, is also a character from the play. To be honest, I thought you would have caught on to that eventually.”

Severus stood up and began to pace the room. A loud muffled shout came from the hall.

“WHY IS THIS ROOM BLOCKED?!”

Severus immediately lowered the wards and let Lucius back inside.

“Why was this room blocked?” he repeated with a softer roar.

Severus opened his mouth, but Hermione answered, “There was a woman brought in screaming in labour. I asked Severus to silence the door. I had him put wards up so the mediwitches wouldn’t come in here and wake the baby.”

“Your yelling is not helping with it either, Lucius. Perhaps you need to calm down and hold your heir,” Severus said as he took the infant from Hermione and handed him over to Lucius. Hermione froze in horror. He could leave right now with him and she would never see him again. He could take off and give him to some Death Eater family that will raise him Lucius’ way.

However, Lucius held up his hands. “No, his is still prone to vomiting and soiling himself. Hermione can hold him until he gets a bit older.”

For some reason, Hermione didn’t get angry at the innuendo that her son was nothing but a bag of filth waiting to explode from either end at any given moment. She was rather elated that somewhere in between Lucius’ words, she could count on at least a year with her son. Maybe two. By then, ‘Emilia’ will have the law overturned. Things were looking up.

Severus handed the baby back to Hermione, silently and stealthily refreshing the charm, and bid good evening to the new family.

AN: A bit of a cliffy, a lot of answers, and some good down home satisfaction, I hope. And you guys were hating on Emilia…for shame…tsk tsk. For the sleuths, there were clues!! How Emilia knew that Harry and Ginny liked each other before the law, the line here about pulling teeth to get Severus to admit he was interested. Of course, as one person pointed out, K L E W C O N = W E N L O C K..the fact that Hermione leaves and Emilia shows up somewhere…hehe…Oh btw, there is still one more mystery and there is one clue in one chapter alone that gives it away completely even though I didn’t intentionally put it there. I’ll leave you to it.