A Wizard's Debt

Narcissa



Half-past-two had Lucius and I sitting in an empty waiting room at a private healers. The walls were a warm yellow; the furniture was all white pine; the cream leather couch we sat on was comfortable, but didn’t suggest that hundreds of people had sat there previously.



“Lady Malfoy, healer Jacobs will see you now.” Said the receptionist, Healer Jacob’s daughter. She handed me a pale pink clinical gown. “You can change in the little room over there – there’s a robe to put over the top of it.” She pointed in the direction of the changing room.



“Why must you change?” Lucius asked, looking puzzled.



“Easier access for the healer.” I said, moving to change. I will never understand why surgical gowns must be backless! And why they are nigh impossible to tie without help! I ended up putting the robe on backwards, tying the ribbons, pulling my arms back through the sleeves and swivelling it around before putting my arms into the right place.



“Madam Malfoy? Are you ready?” asked a gentle voice after knocking firmly on the changing room door.



“I will be out in just a moment; I was struggling into the gown.” I said, grabbing the light pink cotton robe around myself before walking to the door.



“Ah! They are a pest, aren’t they – but much easier for an examination.” He said, opening the door to his room and allowing Lucius and I to enter first.



“Now, it is most unusual for anyone to request an appointment on a sunny Saturday afternoon, especially with the quidditch quarter final match; so I presume this is urgent and potentially dangerous.” He said, sitting behind his desk and steepling his fingers.



“Yes, I took a pregnancy test this morning, it was positive.” I said, rubbing my forehead.



“Ah.” He glanced at the two-inch thick file containing my medical parchments, most of them from my pregnancy with Draco and the years afterward. “Well, I think a full physical examination is in order before I take a look at the baby, can you lay on the bed for me please.”



For half an hour I was poked and prodded, listened to, looked at; and all the while Lucius paced like a hungry tiger in a cage… if he was irritated now, then he was going to be furious at the last examination I knew was coming…



“Can you put your legs into the holders for me, please?” the healer said gently sterilising his hands.



“Why? What are you doing to my wife?” Lucius asked, his eyes wide at the embarrassing position I was in.



“Welcome to being female at the healers, Lucius.” I said, gritting my teeth through the uncomfortable situation.



“The reason I have my own office is that I am a healer specialised in reproduction, and even as uncomfortable as this is, it is necessary.”



“And I do not find that speech remotely reassuring, especially as it is spoken from beneath a pink gown between my wife’s thighs, and his wand pushed into places it shouldn’t be!” Lucius growled.



“Custard. Behave please, this is bad enough at it is without you making me more uncomfortable.” I closed my eyes and Imagined I was anywhere but here.



“Don’t worry, sir! I see this sort of thing day-in-day-out, there isn’t anything I haven’t seen before…”



“WHAAAAAAAT!?” he yelled.



“Lucius Abraxas Malfoy! Shut up. Sit down. And stop shouting.” I snapped as Healer Jacobs eased my legs back to a more ladylike position. “I know you’re nervous, please calm down.”



“Well, now that I’ve had a good look at you, Lady Malfoy, now lets have a look at the baby.” He said covering my legs and lower abdomen with a towel before pushing the pink gown up to below my breasts. He muttered a spell and slowly the skin and muscle of my tummy vanished to reveal intestines squeezing away, these vanished to reveal my womb.



“Welcome to where your baby will be calling home for the next nine months.” The healer whispered, peering over me and pointing out the ‘essentials’ (the healer’s word, not mine) to Lucius. “The left and right ovary, the fallopian tubes, the womb, and cervix.”



“Lovely.” Lucius looked far from impressed; actually, he looked a little green.



“And… there is where the baby has chosen to make camp.” He said, pointing at a point on the upper left wall.



“It looks just the same as the rest of the triangle bit.” Lucius said, one eyebrow raised.



“Well, allow me to enlarge the image.” Healer Jacobs said, a larger view floating over me at the wave of his wand, “That… that little ball that’s burrowing into you is your seven day old son or daughter.”



“Oh.” Lucius sounded rather disappointed.



“What were you expecting to see?” I asked him, grinning.



“Erm, something more baby-like?” he muttered, his nose practically pressed to the floating image.



“Oh, you’ve a long wait for that, it will be approximately forty-four days until you see arms – but not hands; about fifty days until you’ll see legs and a few days later you’ll be able to see something that looks like a face.” The healer said, waving his wand once to dispel the image floating; and a second time to remove whatever charm had revealed my internal organs.



“Interesting.” Lucius said, looking at a poster of a moving photograph of a baby in the later stages.



“That’s a photograph of my daughter at eighteen weeks, and she’s asleep in that photo…” the healer began.



“Asleep? They can be asleep and awake while so small?” Lucius asked, mesmerised. He’d never attended the checks for Draco, he always waited outside. It is a view among the pureblood husbands that once the deed is done, they aren’t needed until after the child is born. He didn’t hesitate coming with me into this examination; I think our little chat earlier may have sunk in.



“Oh yes, it just generally doesn’t coincide with the Mother, much to my wife’s upset at the time; I took that photograph at a-quarter-to-four in the morning.” The healer laughed for a moment; “If you’d like to get dressed, Lady Malfoy, I think I can offer my advice.” Healer Jacobs said, escorting me to the changing room.



***



“Well, Lady Malfoy, Lord Malfoy, you’ll be pleased to know that I can find nothing wrong with either Mother or baby. As far as I can tell, you are both perfectly healthy and developing nicely.” He smiled.



“But what about all these?” Lucius asked, flicking the huge file to the healer’s right.



“I have been assisting in fertility for thirty years, and I’ve seen most things in that time… I have an opinion that psychology has a major factor.”



“Pardon? Are you suggesting my wife is mad?” Lucius grumbled dangerously.



“Obviously, I married you. Shush while he talks.” I said, putting my hand over his mouth.



“I have seen people who would be perfect parents who could not conceive, they had no problem with either of their reproductive systems… however, their financial situation was a little unstable; the husband was promoted and suddenly they were having twins!”



“Finance is no issue…” Lucius began to rant, my hand was back over his mouth in a flash.



“No, but seventeen years ago the political situation was rather stressful; you were both being pushed to produce an heir by both families; the expectations of high society on a young prestigious couple… it is not an ideal mental state.” The healer said gently.



“We hadn’t thought about that.” Lucius said, taking my hand in his and squeezing, probably to stop me shutting him up.



“However, now the political situation is stable, you have your heir, there is nobody from either family pressurising you, and all eyes are on others in society. There weren’t any charts or calendars involved in this conception, no fertility potions, no laying still for half an hour with your legs in the air, no previous disappointments.” The healer looked happy, “This little one was conceived in a relaxed time, a product of two loving parents without intense stress.”



“But what about Narcissa’s health?” Lucius asked, looking at me with deep ocean-grey eyes.



“Lady Malfoy’s health is perfectly fine! I can see no reason why this pregnancy cannot continue as one normally would… however, I want to see you on a weekly basis to ensure your health, and that of the baby remains normal.”



“But, why the weekly appointments? If Narcissa and the baby are healthy, then why see them so often?” Lucius asked.



“Because, Lord Malfoy, there is a two inch high file to my right – and I am not ignoring it. I am taking no chances.” He smiled at us both reassuringly, “Here is a collection of leaflets on pregnancy for you to look through, a prescription for pregnancy vitamin potions – and I do apologise, but in seventeen years the taste has not improved. Keep up with your normal routine, but don’t push your body.” He reached behind him to pull a large book from the shelf, “This, Lord Malfoy, is one of my university text books, you may find the pictures spanning the development useful – they were all taken from the same woman from one week onward, you’ll be able to follow the progress of the pregnancy if you cannot attend the examinations…”



“I missed one pregnancy being proud like other pureblood husbands, you can keep your book, Healer Jacobs, for I shall be attending every single one of my wife’s appointments!”



I could have cried at Lucius’s words, and his unconditional support at that moment.