The Fortress Within

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“Out, Severus, now,” Poppy
issued the command and he felt himself drug across the room and shoved out the
door.  Behind him, Hermione was screaming in pain. 
Harry stood by the fireplace, fear etched across his face. 
Even Albus, ever the optimist, had seemed to go a shade whiter in the
face. 
 


Severus felt a gentle touch on his
arm and turned with a dazed look to see Minerva steering him toward a chair. 
No one spoke.  What could
they say?  Hermione’s cries were
echoing through the dungeon.  Gradually,
they diminished slightly, became less desperate. 
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ginny cracked the door and
slipped through.  She came to kneel
in front of the Potions Master, her small hand finding his. When she spoke it
was with a soft confidence.  “The
baby is turned the wrong way, Professor.  Its
face is pointed forwards, instead of towards her back. 
The back of his head is putting great pressure on her spine. 
We’ve gotten her into a position that seems to be helping.”


 


Severus’ was searching through the
corners of his mind, trying to find something that could help. 
“Can’t you give her anything, do anything?”


 


“No, Professor. 
If she was at St. Mungo’s the doctors there could help. 
We can’t move her now.  Any
spells would be too dangerous to the baby, and you know there are no potions.”


 


Severus looked defeated as he nodded
his head.  “You can go back in
now.  Just keep doing what you were
doing.  You were great. 
Keep her focused.  She only has a couple more centimeters to go and she’s
almost completely effaced.  It
won’t be long.” 


 


Severus rose on unsteady legs. 
In the bedroom, Hermione was on her knees next to the bed.   
She had her head and arms on the mattress and Poppy knelt beside her,
trying to help support her.  Severus
took position on her other side and gestured Poppy away. 
Hermione felt his strong arm come around her and with a groan leaned
against him, allowing him to support her.  “I
can’t do this anymore, Severus.  I’m
so tired.  I want to quit now.”


 


Severus smiled against her curls. 
“You can’t quit.  It
won’t be long, just hang in there…” His voice was cut off by a low,
guttural moan.&nbss shs she struggled
through the wave, breathing in time with Severus, her hands found their way to
his shoulders.  Soon, Severus
supported her entirely.  Exhausted,
she lay draped across him, her breathing heavy and hot on his neck. 
Again, his hands worked their way along her back, trying to relax her and
ease some of her pain.  Time and
time again she struggled with the pains, hardly having any time between them.


 


The hot air on his neck changed,
suddenly.  It beat a fast furious po, po, inoutinoutinoutinout.  “Poppy,”
they both cried at once. Inoutinoutinoutinoutinout. 
The Medi-witch was on her knees again. 
“What do you feel, Hermione?”  Inoutinoutinoutin….out….in….out. 

 


“Its there, ohhhh….  
I need to push.  Have to, now.  Ohhhh….”

 


“Pant, just like you were doing. 
Severus, as soon as this oneoverover, we have to get her back on the
bed.”


 


Severus nodded, tuning into her
breath for the cues he needed. Inoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutin…out…in…….out.


 


“OK, up you go.”&;
H;
He lifted her entire weight, her legs barely able to support her. 
He could feel the tremors in them as he turned her and sat her on the
bed.  Ginny was right there, now.


 


“Listen to me Hermione.” 
A soft hand turned Hermione’s head forcing her to look at Ginny. 
He saw her panting begin again.  “Listen,
like this.  Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee.”


 


Hermione followed suit, as did
Severus. “Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee.”


 


Her brown eyes were locked with his. 
Together, they panted their way through the wave. 
As soon as it had, once again, moved on, Hermione struggled to slide back
up onto the bed.  As soon as she was
reclined, he felt Poppy pull him away.  A
last look saw Ginny bent down between her legs. 
“Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee.”


 


Poppy spoke quietly, “As soon as
this one passes, Ginny will check her.”  The
Medi-witch was looking at a small board set on the top of the bureau. 
Curious, Severus walked over and pointed to it silently. 
Obviously magical in nature, red lines painted themselves across it like
a mountain range.  “This is the
baby’s heartbeat,” Poppy explained. “See here, it’s lower now. 
Watch what happens when the contraction ends.”  Heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee…hee…..hee. The line peaked
again and held steady.   Poppy
smiled at the amazement on Severus’ face. 
“It’s completely normal,” she explained.


 


Nodding once, he turned his attention
back to the bed.  “She’s ready
to push,” Ginny announced.  Severus
returned quickly, but found he had absolutely no idea what to do. 
Ginny Weasley was in control of the birth, now. 
“Professor, get in behind her, help raise her up a bit.” 
Severus obeyed, sliding to sit behind Hermione, her tired body cradled
between his legs.


 


“Hermione, at the next contraction,
reach down and grab both of your legs.  Professor, help her with it. Take a deep breath, hold it,
bear down and push while I count to ten.  When
we hit ten blow out and take another breath and bear down for another ten.”


 


He felt her nod and took the liberty
of placing a small kiss on her head.  “This
is it now, love.  You can do this. 
We’re almost there.”


 


“Here it is… oh Gods.”


 


Severus held her up and placed his
hands over hers on her knees.  With
a deep breath, she bore down.  “Count
for her, Professor.  One..two..three..”


 


His low voice joined Ginny’s, “Four..five..six..seven..eight..nine..ten!” 
Hermione blew once and sucked in more air.  Again the count. 


 


Ginny wmilimiling as the count ground
to a stop.  “Rest, now. 
That was great.  The baby’s still high up, though.  Every contraction, push. 
Don’t miss one.” 


 


Hermione was collapsed against him
and they were soon both covered in her sweat. 
Severus reached a long arm to the basin and with the wet cloth, cooled
her face down.  Severus felt her
struggling to sit up and they began the count again.  He could feel her body straining, shaking with the effort to
reach ten.  “Curl your body over
the baby, Hermione.”  Severus
raised her up even further.  “I
can see hair, now, lots of hair.” 


 


Hermione nodded as she continued to
push.  After the second set of ten,
“Relax again,” Ginny ordered.  “It’s
like taking two steps forward and one step back.  The baby moves down and when you relax, moves back up.  You
have to try and push as hard as you possibly can so that when the child moves
back, it’s further down than when you started.”


 


Three more contractions came and
went, Hermione still struggled on silently. Ginny was keeping a close watch on
the goings on down below and seemed to be worried about something. 
As Hermione lay against him, oblivious to anything but her own body,
Severus saw the two Medi-witch’s conversing by the monitor. 
They both returned to the bed.  “Hermione,”
Poppy picked up the cloth and held it to Hermione’s face. 
“The baby is still facing the wrong direction and is having trouble
making it around the bend.  As you
have your next contraction, Ginny will try to turn the baby. 
It’s going to hurt, but it’s necessary.”


 


Before Hermione could respond, she
was dragging herself up again.  “One..two..” 
Hermione’s scream was torn out from her. 
Poppy ordered her, “Hermione.  Stop
screaming and push, girl.  Don’t
waste the energy, don’t waste the contraction.”


 


“Three..four…” 
Severus could see Ginny, one hand high up between Hermione’s legs. 
Her eyes were close in concentration as she attempted to free up the
baby.  The contraction ebbed and
Ginny removed her hand.  “Good
job, Hermione.  I got it turned a
bit.  We’ll try again at the next
one.  I know it hurts.  I’m so sorry.  Don’t
scream, though.  Just push. 
Focus on the pushing.”


 


Two more contractions had come and
gone before Ginny announced the baby was in the proper position. 
Hermione had been pushing for an hour and a half now. 
Severus was tired just from the effort of holding her up and watching her
struggle.  He couldn’t fathom
where she was getting the strength to continue. 
She did, though, with each and every contraction she pushed, not uttering
a sound of complaint.


 


Poppy was bringing out a
cloth-covered tray of instruments.  Soft
blankets lay near the foot of the bed, as well as across Hermione’s stomach. 
“This is it now, Hermione.  Almost
done.  Right here you go then, PUSH.”


 


“One...two...three…four...”
Severus heard a whimper escape her involuntarily only to be cut off as she
redoubled her efforts. 


 


“The head is almost out. 
Good girl.  Ok, with the next
contraction, only push a little bit.  Not
hard.  I want to try and get the
head out without you tearing.”  Poppy
handed Ginny a flask.  “This is a
special oil, it will help you stretch a bit. 
You’re going to feel my fingers while I rub it in. 
Relax now.”  Severus could
see the movement of Ginny’s hand as she worked Hermione, making her flesh more
elastic.


 


He felt her tensing up and sat her up
again.  “One…two… three…”


 


“OK, Hermione. The head is out. 
One more good push.”


 


A feral screech rumbled from Hermione
as she put all she had into this one last push. 
Severus watched over her shoulder, any thought of counting gone, as he
saw first a head covered in dark hair, then a slippery wet body emerge. 
“It’s a .”&n.”  Up the
child came to lie on her mother’s stomach. 
Poppy quickly covered it with a towel and began rubbing the little girl
viciously. 


 


Severus held his breath, waiting. 
What started at as a small mewling sound gave way quickly to the healthy
wail of new life.  With a happy
sigh, Severus found his way clear to breathe again. 
Poppy looked at Hermione, “You can touch her, dear. 
Rub her, like this.”  There
was no response.


 


Severus eased himself from behind
her.  Ginny handed him a scissors,
and with a snip, Severus severed the last direct physical link of child to
mother.  Hermione just stared at the
baby with a vacant expression on her face. 
“Hermione, she’s OK,” Severus said softly.  “Can you hear me?”  She
looked to him and back at the little, wiggling bundle; but made no move to take
her daughter in her arms.  Severus
carefully picked up the angry little girl and cradled her to his chest.


 


Ginny continued her attentions below
and soon had delivered the placenta.  “Not
a single tear,” she announced triumphantly. 
She looked at Hermione whose eyes had followed Severus as he sat on the
edge of the bed and cooed at the newborn.  “Hermione?” 
Still, Hermione gave no indication that she heard anything.


 


Severus was enchanted with the little
girl he cradled in his arms.  A
small hand had grasped his finger and was waving in halting, uncoordinated
movements.  He counted, out loud, 10
fingers.  Then opened the blanket a
bit to count 10 toes.  When the
child was again wrapped snugly, he heard a tiny voice. 
“The spell, Severus.” Hemione was looking at him with desperation.


 


No further explanation was needed. 
Poppy moved toward Severus and pulled out her wand. 
With a slight touch on the baby’s head she spoke the word,
“Genetoris”** From the end of her wand a steady stream of light grew. 
It started out white and moved slowly through the colors of the spec.&nb. 
At last, it settled on a soft green hue and the beam moved to lay
directly over Severus’ heart. 


 


A smile lit up Hermione’s face. 
Briefly, only, but it was something. 
Carefully, she reached out with one tentative finger and brushed her
daughter’s cheek.  “Severus, no
matter what happens next, just remember to tell her that I loved you both.”


 


“You don’t have to leave,
Hermione.  You can stay. 
To hell with her; stay with us.”


 


“To hell, that’s just what I’m
hoping for.”


 


Hermione’s eyes closed slowly then
were opened with a flash.  Furious
eyes flew to the child.  A long,
agonizing moment later they settled on Severus. 
“Bastard.” Then she was gone.  Hermione
lay slack in the bed, not moving, eyes closed. 
Poppy rushed to her side and lifted one eyelid. 
“Severus, take the baby out, now.”


 


“Poppy, what’s going on?”


 


“Just get out. 
Have Minerva bathe the child and dress her properly. 
Leave us room to work.”


 


Ginny and Poppy were speaking now
to each other; but Severus didn’t hear them, didn’t register their words. 
Confused and alone, despite his child, he left the room. 
Following behind him, Ginny thrust an assortment of blankets, diapers,
and such at Harry.  With a whispered
word to Minerva, both witches entered the bedroom. 
Minerva returned a few minutes later carrying a basin. 
Severus sat on the sofa, staring at his sleeping daughter with a strange
mixture of love and desolation. 
 


Minerva came to sit next to him and
smiled down at the baby.  “Does
she have a name?”


 


Severus swallowed hard and shook his
head, a tear falling onto his child.  Several
more followed and before he could soak her, Minerva took the baby ever-so-gently
from his arms.  How was he supposed
to react when he had no idea what was going on? 
This baby was now his life, yes.  But
his soul was lying in his bed, fighting against Gods only knew what. 
His soul.  “Even if just
the knowledge that somewhere there is someone to whom you belong entirely to,
mind, body, soul.  It’s the greatest gift one can get. A treasure.”


 


“Treasure.” 
All eyes in the room turned to him. 
“Her name is Treasure.”
 


 


 


**genitor -oris m. [a begetter , father,
producer]