Marriage Law Madness

Molly was bored. She’d been stuck in St. Mungo’s for six weeks now, and there were only so many crosswords a person could do. No matter how much she rested, the baby didn’t seem to be getting any stronger. And the healers told her unless something happened, she’d have to stay there until she delivered, or that they might have to take the baby to keep it from permanently damaging her. The kids visited when they could, and Severus was still living at the Leaky Cauldron, flooing to Hogwarts to teach and then spending the evenings with her.

Severus had made an arrangement with the college, so she was taking her potions theory classes by magic link three times a week. He was at the European Potions conference without her, adding to her frustration. He’d taken Hermione with him to use Molly’s booking, and she had promised to go to every single apprentice’s workshop and tell her all about it. Molly had already gotten one postcard from Paris, which was propped up on her nightstand.

‘Knock, Knock!’ Lucius popped his head through the door. “Hey, Molly, we came to relieve your boredom.” Molly had never seen him so relaxed, he was wearing Muggle jeans and the sweater she had knitted him (which, according to Draco’s letters, he only took off to wash), and his hair was tied back with a black velvet ribbon. A minute later he and several girls had invaded her room. Lavender, Parvati, Millicent, Pansy, Ginny, Hannah and Florian had obviously just had their three-month prenatal scans, since they were accompanied by Madam Pomfrey plus her new assistant who specialized in neonatal and pediatric care, and carrying hospital bags stuffed with information.

They presented her with a basket, containing some crosswords, a new pack of Solitaire cards, some stationery and reading material, plus some nuts, candy and fruit. “The other half of the girls have their appointments tomorrow. I know you have your class, so I’ll feed them and bring them back for a visit after lunch. Now, Severus asked me to take your homework. I’ll run it over and then come back for this lot.” He took the Potions paper she handed him and headed out the door to Oxford.

~~~~
Several more weeks passed, and Molly continued to deteriorate. Easter had come and gone, Molly having to content herself with ordering basket items by owl order for Severus to put together into baskets. He had also decreed that was not up to even doing lesson plans, leaving her with nothing to do but sleep and stare at the ceiling. Draco’s April Fools day present had made her laugh, he had sent her an envelope full of stationery for her to write letters back to her students and children – except each envelope made her tongue turn a different color. She had only gotten to lick one, as the nurses begged her to let them do it so they could pull pranks on some of the healers. It was a rare moment in the middle of dark days.

~~~

“Hi, Mom!” Hermione poked her head around the door to Molly’s room, and then stopped dead. Severus had tried to prepare her for the deterioration in Molly’s condition, but nothing prepared her to see this vibrant woman lying in the bed, her skin a pale gray.

“Hi, Sweetie,” Molly answered weakly. “How did you get here?”

“Dad needed to make an unplanned visit to the apothecary since his N.E.W.T. class managed to explode seven cauldrons full of potion and shatter a bunch of his glass jars. He was able to Reparo the jars, but has to replace the ingredients. Cheap ones, thank Merlin, but of course he needs one of those ingredients to teach his first years tomorrow. Plus he’s working with the home arts class on basic home potions, like dish potion, toilet bowl cleaning potion and stuff next week. He dropped me off, he’ll come by later.”

Hermione sat down in the uncomfortable chair next to the bed, laying her hand on the small protrusion of Molly’s abdomen. She was rewarded with a soft flutter, then a weak kick. “She’s active tonight.”

“Yes, but for how long? The healer said that we needed to make a decision soon on what we are going to do. I want her so much, but I have ten other children who need me - and Gabrielle\'s on the way. Draco has decided he is keeping theirs even if he has to become a single parent. This is a decision I can\'t make. It could come down to the baby depleting my body so much that I die before she could live, or we have to take her to keep me alive. She’d never make it, she’s too small yet.” Hermione’s only answer was a soft sob. When Severus arrived later that evening, he found his wife sleeping, with Hermione’s head in her lap, communing with the baby sister she might never get to know.