The Seaside Retreat

Chapter 21... With a Baby?

Madame Pomfrey rushed through the floo to care for Severus, she assumed he had fainted because of side affects of potion fumes, or some other careless reason. Hermione kept her mouth shut on that front, and let her keep on believing that, no need to tell her she was looking at her child’s daddy. Her child? Whoa, she thought, that sounds awfully odd.

When Severus awoke and had been gingerly ushered to the large padded chair in his office, he looked around to ensure they were alone once more, and looked at Hermione.

“Love, I just had the weirdest dream, you came into the lab, invented a cure for Lycanthropy, then told me you were pregnant.” Hermione laughed nervously and nibbled on her lower lip.

“Severus darling, please don’t faint again, but all that actually happened.”

“So you’re really pregnant?”

“Yes Severus, I really am.”

“With a baby?”

“Well, no actually that’s the weird part, I’m not sure how it happened, but I am actually pregnant with the giant squid’s offspring.” And when Severus continued to look confused, Hermione shouted at him in an exasperated voice.

“YES SEVERUS! WITH A BLOODY BABY!”

She immediately calmed down, and was extremely surprised when she was lifted and swung in a circle. She looked into his eyes, feeling a bit confused by his enthusiasm, but was calmed when he pressed his lips against her passionately and murmured the words “I’m going to be a daddy” in her ear. This was the last thing she expected, and was quick to bring him down to earth once again.

“Honey, I am so glad your happy about this, but what do we do now? You can get fired, I can get expelled, and most of all, Minerva will be so disappointed in us. I don’t know how this happened, I have been on muggle birth control pills and when I came to Hogwarts this year I switched to the potion.”

“It doesn’t matter how it happened Hermione” Severus replied softly “It just matters that it did happen. I was going to leave school at the end of this year anyway, and NEWTS are only about two weeks away for you. You won’t be showing for while now, we don’t have to tell anyone until you leave school. Sure it will be a little harder to support ourselves and the baby, but I still have plenty of money. I was going to sell Spinners end and buy us a new place, but since it has a nursery, we will keep it for now. It will all be okay Hermione. How far along are you anyway?”

Hermione’s breathing was coming out more evenly by this point, glad after his little fainting spell, Severus was able to keep a clear head and come up with a plan. She counted on her finger to herself to try and come up with a response to his question.

“I am due for my period next week, and I had it last month, so I can’t be more then two or three weeks along. I will go see Madame Pomfrey in the morning and find out the details. I am glad you want this baby Severus. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Hermione, I would never deny you or our child. I am not a perfect man and I never will be, but I have never lied to you. I love you, and I will love our child just as much. Can I go to the appointment with you tomorrow?”

Hermione had tears in her eyes, and was once again surprised by the softer side of her beloved. She desperately wanted him to be with her for the appointment in the morning, but wasn’t sure how well it would go over with Madame Pomfrey. However, before she could give him an answer, the flames in the fireplace flared green, and Professor McGonagall stepped through.

“Well, you two had better explain. Poppy is terribly confused at to why Miss Granger’s pregnancy could cause Severus to faint.”

“Oh no! I thought she believed it was fumes from the potion that knocked him out.” Hermione said, beginning to get upset again, but Severus was quick to pull her into a comforting embrace and rub soothing circle in her back.

“Hermione, it isn’t good for the child if you get yourself upset all the time, you need to try and keep calm. We love each other and haven’t done anything wrong. It will all work out.” He soothed her expertly.

“He’s right Hermione. This isn’t so bad, we will keep it quiet until after you graduate, and by that time it will be too late for anyone to take any action against anyone. I have told Poppy of the situation, and she has agreed to keep it quiet, so Severus you are welcome to accompany your fiancée to her appointment in the morning. Now should you be around these fumes?”

Hermione immediately backed away from the cauldrons, not sure at all if she should be near them. Again, Severus was ready with the answer.

“It’s okay to be around them for now. There are certain ones you will be restricted from until after you have delivered the child, but in the first trimester you will be alright. Most of these will be very advanced, so you will be okay taking your potions NEWT, but to be on the safe side I will list the volatile ones so you know.”

Everyone seemed pacified by this answer, and there was a moment of awkward silence while they tried to decide what else needed to be discussed. Just then a lumos seemed to go off over Hermione’s head and it wasn’t long before she was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. When the two professors looked at her in question she raised her eyebrows towards Severus and pointed towards the cauldron.

In all the excitement they had completely forgotten about what they believed to be their successful potion.

“Minerva” Severus started urgently “will you please send an owl to Remus and ask him to arrive here the morning of the next full moon cycle.” She nodded but made no move to do as he asked, she just raised her eyebrows waiting for an explanation.

Hermione picked up on the question and was the first to answer her. “We think we may have found a cure for Lycanthropy. The catch is that it had to be administered during the full moon cycle, but while the werewolf is in human form. We want to test it on Remus this month.”

Severus picked up quickly where she trailed off and finished the explanation. “We will provide a room for him on the chance that the potion doesn’t work. Actually, I have high hopes for the success of this. Hermione’s own blood went into it. The blood willingly given from a pregnant woman can be powerful. It was an accident that it was added to the potion, but her heart was still in the right place when she cut herself. The full moon is during the NEWTs, so Hermione will be stretched a bit thin, but I am sure that the examiners will show her a bit of leniency for something like this.”

Minerva nodded her head in agreement and threw her arms around the couple with tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe this! I knew you two would be wonderful together, but you have proved to be unstoppable. I am so excited about this and I will send Remus an owl right away.”

After Minerva left, Severus and Hermione carefully noted the processes of the potion and bottled it with reverence. They cleaned the lab and both feeling exhausted from the emotional roller coaster they had been on that day, decided to spend the night in Severus’ quarters.

They awoke in the morning with about an hour to spare before the appointment with Madame Pomfrey and shared a leisurely breakfast before dressing and heading off the infirmary. They walked slowly and though they wanted nothing more then to hold each other the entire way up there, they were forced to keep up the appearance of Professor and Student.

When they arrived, they were relieved to find that no students were there, and they were quickly ushered to a private room to begin the examination. They listened respectfully while they were given a lecture about being responsible and now children were having children and when she showed no signs of stopping anytime soon Hermione finally got annoyed and put up a hand to stop her rant.

“Madame Pomfrey, I appreciate your concern and you have never been anything but a caring and wonderful role model for me. First of all though, I am not a child and I will give my baby everything it needs to grow up in a healthy and loving environment. Second of all, I have been using contraceptive potions since I became sexually active, I can’t help it if I decided to sleep with someone who has super sperm.”

Madame Pomfrey looked surprised at being chastised at first, but this quickly turned into a battle to stifle her laugh while Severus tried to figure out whether having “super sperm” was an insult or a compliment. Hermione quickly stepped into calm him down with a quick assurance that she was proud to have such a virile male as a future husband, and once again Pomfrey found herself impressed at how she handled him.

“Okay then, on with the exam. Hermione Please lie down, there is no need to undress as you will need to see a specialist in St. Mungo’s for your actual prenatal care. I am just running a few diagnostics, confirming the pregnancy, the sex of the child, and the overall health of it and you.” With gentle hands she pushed Hermione back on the exam bed and murmured a few spells while running her wand over her.

She looked up and smiled widely, her earlier irritation at the couple’s irresponsibility completely gone in the face of having a little one running around.

“It seems as though you are completely healthy Hermione, though I know how hard you work yourself and I will be giving you a standard vitamin potion before you leave here today. Your child is perfectly healthy, though you are only about three weeks along and I can’t confirm it for about another month, but I believe you are having twin girls.”

“Quick!” Hermione shouted, looking at Severus “Get him a chair Madame Pomfrey I think he is going to faint again!”

Her reflexes were lightning fast, and with a flick of her wrist Severus had floated gracefully into the chair she had slid underneath him. At this point, Hermione just smiled and lightly slapped Severus on the cheek to wake him. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off quickly by Hermione who was becoming a pro at his fainting spells.

“No Severus it wasn’t a dream. Yes Severus we may be having twins, and finally yes you are going to be the dad to at least one baby girl who I hope more than anything doesn’t inherit my hair or your nose.”

The color was quickly returning to his cheeks, and like last time he was quick to shower her with kisses and begin making plans. He was ready to run out and begin buying baby supplies, before Hermione and Madame Pomfrey managed to calm him down long enough to convince him to wait until they had confirmation about the twins. He agreed, though he looked a little sheepish at his reaction, but was quick to jot a note to St. Mungo’s to make an appointment for Hermione.

They left the infirmary and went to tell Minerva of the news then were going to let her friends in on the couple’s latest development. It was turning out to be another long day, but the hopes of it letting up anytime soon was slim with NEWTs and testing the cure all coming up in the next week or so. The couple ran their errands, and then separated to give them each a chance to get started on everything that needed to be done.

A/N: I got another chapter out! YAY! Lol, I love all of my reviewers and you all make me smile and laugh, which still hurts a bit right now because of the whole teeth pulling thing, but that’s okay! So I know twins seem a little cliché, but I just can’t help it, I have always wanted twins. Therefore as usual I will live vicariously through my story. I hope to hear from all of you soo