The Seaside Retreat

Chapter 27...Barefoot and Pregnant

A couple months had flown by since their honeymoon, and it seemed as though time was flying by. Hermione was now around four and a half moths pregnant, and showing a bit more then someone having only one baby would at this point. They were traveling to St. Mungo’s almost twice a month at this point, and though everything looked very healthy, one couldn’t be too careful with twins.

During this time, Hermione and Severus had also moved into Spinners End, which Hermione actually fell in love with, and between redecorating the dark home and getting their shop ready, the couple was busy indeed. Finding their perfect shop had gone easier then expected, when walking through Hogsmeade to the realtors office, they came across a dusty little store right on the corner between the sweet shop and the book store. It was a bit small, but came with two stories, which was wonderful because it meant that they could keep the general potions and supplies on the bottom level, and the things that any visiting students should stay away from on the upper floor.

Hermione had set herself up in the middle of the lower level in a squishy armchair and was pointing her wand at things to make them clean themselves. The fireplace had been scrubbed to shining first thing, and then Hermione set her mind to charming the walls to a color that would brighten the place up, but keep it looking clean and professional. They had decided on a light khaki color and it looked marvelous with the crown molding. Currently, Severus was in the back brewing the potions that had the longest shelf life, and Hermione was perched in her chair magically securing shelves to the walls and setting display racks through the aisles.

Before long, Hermione had completed her tasks downstairs and pushed herself out of the chair to do check on Severus and order lunch. She found him in the back lab brewing potions like crazy, he had made great strides and already had boxes full of potions ready to be stocked on the shelves.

“Your really making some headway with these potions darling. I am going to order some lunch for us then I will start setting these out on the displays.”

“Order lunch, but I won’t have you lugging boxes all over the place. Take off your shoes and I will bring your chair in here so you can keep me company.” Severus stated all of this with the air of a man explaining something to an obstinate child. He obviously didn’t see the look on his young wife’s face that promised the discussion was not over.

Hermione walked over to the fireplace and flooed the café down the street with their order. About five minutes later a large tray of takeout was sent through the fireplace and landed neatly on the small lunch table they had set up.

“Severus, after lunch I will be taking those boxes and setting up displays. Before you open your mouth to fight with me, lets get one thing cleat. I AM A WITCH! Therefore I will be lugging nothing, but I shall continue to use my magic for anything strenuous. I would be brewing potions right now if you weren’t so stubborn about that as well. We are in this together, and I refuse to allow you to push me into the kitchen barefoot and pregnant!”

As usual when she began one of her tirades, Severus didn’t even try to interrupt her. This was probably the best piece of advice he had gotten from her friends on how to deal with her. He let her say her piece then evaluated whether or not it was worth an argument. It wasn’t this time.

“Your right Hermione, I’m sorry. Please do what you want, but I want you to rest for at least fifteen minutes out of every hour. You can also help me brew some of the easier potions tomorrow while I work on the upstairs, I don’t want you climbing the stairs. And for your information, I would love nothing more then to keep you barefoot and pregnant for the rest of our lives together.”

Hermione had to admit, she loved how he fawned over her, so she decided to at least meet him halfway with his demands. They sat down together and finished lunch before getting back to work, and it wasn’t long before Hermione had the boxes of potions empties and the front window decorated to advertise them as the makers of the Remus Potion and explaining details on ordering supplies from them.

The day passed quickly after that and by seven o’clock they were flooing to Spinners End where more work waited to be done. After a light dinner they climbed the stairs to the master suite and threw themselves into bed. As was usual after along days work, their dreams were non existent, or at least so insubstantial they couldn’t be remembered, and that was the reason Hermione was confused to wake up and feel the stickiness between her legs.

Before she could fully awake and analyze the situation she found herself gasping for breath and was surprised when he hand flew between her legs to find a silky haired head twirling its delicious tongue around her clit. Knowing that she was now fully awake, Severus took the opportunity to slide two fingers inside of her and thrust them in time with the licks he delivered to her sensitive folds. She soon found him licking up her thighs and stomach and though she felt the loss of him between her legs, she was anxious to kiss him.

The kiss was wet and their tongues dueled for dominance, while their bodies unconsciously gyrated and rubbed against each other desperate for more contact. Eventually Hermione lost patience with the light contact, wrapped her legs around him forcing him inside of her. Once he was inside of her there was nothing Severus could do but enjoy the sensations of her gripping him. A better man then he would have wept t with the sensation of being inside of her. Tight, wet, and hot velvety smoothness brought him close to the edge again and again, and finally in one last thrust, stars exploded behind his eyes as he felt her tighten and scream his name.

“That was one hell of a way to wake me up you know” He smirked in response and brushed the hair off her face before kissing her languidly one last time before they were forced to rise and face the day.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t like it love. I suppose though if that’s the case then I will never do it again. You get ready to go Hermione, and I will fetch us some breakfast.”

It wasn’t long after that conversation when the couple found themselves back at the store, this time with Severus concentrating on cleaning and decorating while Hermione brewed extra potions with practiced hands. The store was nearly finished and with another couple of weeks work, they would have everything stocked and ready to open with the new school year.

The weeks flew by and with the hard work and determination they both possessed the store opened. It was slow at the beginning, but every day brought a little more business to them as word spread that the inventors of the Remus Potion had opened up shop in Hogsmeade. It wasn’t long before they had enough money to hire a shop keeper to watch the front of the store and help customers while they worked in the back. The timing was perfect, as Hermione was now so round she had trouble getting anywhere without feeling as though she would fall and roll down a hill.

Severus had a great time poking fun at his wife who was now roughly and wide as she was tall, and once when he took the joke too far, he spent a good seven hours with a large pregnant belly affixed to the front of him. It only took about two of those seven hours before he was begging for forgiveness and promising diamonds and pet ponies for their children if she would just get the bloody thing off of him. It only took four hours before he began complaining of sensitivity in his breasts and begged her to conjure him some chocolate ice cream with a plate of pickles.

It was getting down to crunch time with the twins and Hermione was the worst patient he had ever seen. She hated being bed ridden and she demanded entertainment so often during the day that he finally broke down and asked Minerva if he could borrow Dobby until after she had the girls. Minerva of course agreed and between the little elf and her friends stopping by all the time, his wife and the mother of his children was finally happy and content enough to shut her trap and wait the final months.

The doctor was making house calls on an almost weekly basis at this point and had told Hermione that he preferred that she have a home birth, as moving her to St. Mungo’s would probably cause her undo stress. She was officially in what would be called the danger zone, meaning that though she wasn’t at a full nine months she could give birth any day now, and the only person more nervous then her was Severus. At every moan or gasp she made he would run to floo and grasp a handful of powder, ready to call upon the healer if she would just say the work. They had hired another clerk for the second shift at the store and all customers with custom orders were told it would take at least a week longer then normal so that Severus could put in shorter hours at the store.

Their home was finally finished being redecorated and the change was astounding, the most obvious being the door that now resided on the wall near the closet that led to a large nursery. It was bright and airy and filled with tons of toys that were sent from not only friends and family, but from well wishers and those who had been helped by their potions. This included the large bear in corner from the family of the little boy in Italy who was now a very popular and carefree young wizard.

Finally, the day had arrived, still two weeks before her due date, but Hermione felt her water break and called out for Dobby. She hissed instruction for him to fetch Severus from the shop and then tell Harry to let everyone know she was in labor. The little house elf was nothing if not efficient, and it wasn’t ten minutes before Severus had thrown the door to their bedroom open and rushed over to her.

“Severus, it’s time Darling, my water just broke and I am having contractions. I am okay for right now, but you need to floo the healer and let him know I am in labor. Tell him to hurry and for goodness sake tell him to bring a competent nurse.”

Severus wasted no time on replying to her, he just quickly ran forward and threw a handful of powder into the flames and hollered the message to the receptionist at the maternity ward. After this task was completed, he rushed back to his wife’s side, grabbed her hand, and asked her why in the world she would specify that he bring a “competent nurse”.

“Because Severus, you fainted when I told you I was pregnant, you fainted when I told you it was twins, and I don’t hold out high hopes that you will get through the delivery without you fainting again. I want a nurse here to watch over you so I don’t have to worry.”

“I resent that Hermione; I was surprised by the news before, now I have spent months preparing myself for this. I want to be there for you the entire time.” Hermione could see the sincerity in his eyes, and she allowed him to kiss her softly after she apologized for thinking so little of his manliness. She was about to apologize once again, when a contract wracked her body and she screamed. She turned to tell Severus to tell the healer to hurry and that was when she noticed him. On the ground. In a dead faint.

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