Of Days and Ends

Chapter 36—Baby Shower



They had insisted. In fact, they had all but ordered, coerced, and shoved her down the stairs to attend her own shower. In the end, the only thing that was really necessary was the promise of chocolate chip cookies and a pregnancy craving game that would allow her to put together her oddest pairings and eat them without having to sneak away to avoid the horrified gawking. She had yet to tell anyone, but she had a constant, odd craving for parchment and would often carry a piece under her tongue or in her cheek, so that no one could see it.



The Tonks family living room had become a feminine lair, and Fleur had been responsible for the decoration. She had insisted upon it, if fact, and continued to insist that the colours be white, brown, and blue. When Hermione had first been presented with the idea, she had shugged dismissively. “Whatever makes you happy I told you I didn’t want a baby shower anyway. I won’t be going.”



“You’ll be going if I have to Imperius you!” Ginny insisted.



“Now, Ginny!” Mrs. Weasley began, “That would be wholly inappropriate for a student. I’ll do it.”



Having received no response, Fleur decorated in the chosen colors. Though Hermione had thought that the colors sounded atrocious together, the transfigured living room looked like a mother’s dream… if her dream was to have a boy.



The truth was, Hermione didn’t have any dreams, at least not any concerning children. The women’s stupid baby shower, however, forced her to contemplate the little bundle of cells blissfully multiplying in her belly. Fleur’s baby boy-themed décor made her nerves surge with an unfamiliar discomfort. She had never given it much thought before, but now she wanted a girl.



Then, upon second consideration, she found herself wondering if she wanted a girl just to avoid Fleur’s garish colour scheme. Not that the white furniture looked bad with brown trim and blue accents, but she couldn’t imagine a child as fair as her husband dressing in such an unflattering array.



She chastised herself inwardly with furrowed eyebrows. She had been thinking of him as her husband, but the separating potion had worked. He was now her ex-husband.



“You don’t like it?” Fleur asked, her voice laced with concern.



“What? No! I think it’s beautiful! I was just—I was just thinking.”



“So were we!” Ginny exclaimed, bouncing into the room boisterously, under her arms and a thick layer of dust was a thick tome.



Her attention refocused, Hermione quickly spoke up. “What’s that?”



“A book.” Responded Ginny.



“I know, but what—”



Ginny slammed the heavy book down on the table and used her wand to blast the dust off of the cover. Each woman immediately used a bubble-head charm while Mrs. Weasley used an air-freshening charm to clear the debris from the air, and the book title became visible.



Le Livre de bébé



“A Baby Book? In French?”



“Oh! You speak French?” Ginny exclaimed.



“I don’t, but it’s based in Latin, so…” she trailed off. Her father was right, her baby would have simply too much genetic brilliance to be allowed.



Seeming to read her mind, Ginny leaned forward. “Can you tell us something about him, Hermione?”



“I said I wouldn’t—”



“No, no, no… just tell us about him. Y’know, like how he treated you and stuff. I mean, are you even together anymore.”



In truth, Hermione didn’t have much of an answer for that, so she decided to answer as carefully as possible. “We are… amicable, but not really a couple anymore.”



“Does he just expect you to raise the baby alone?” Mrs. Weasley interrupted.



“I’m sure he’ll be involved when the war is over. I can’t just walk him in here.”



“Why not?” Fleur asked. “Ee’ll be safer under zee protection of zee Order.”



Hermione’s eyebrows furrowed. “I—look, that sounds great, but it would not be a smart choice on the part of the Order of the Phoenix.” She was desperately trying to come up with an excuse. “I trust him with my life and the life of my child, but none of you know him like I do. The Order would be foolish to ask me to bring him here.”



“She’s got that right.” Tonks supported her. “Is he tall?”



“Uh… yes. I mean—he’s no Hagrid, but he is tall.”



“Is he cute?” Ginny asked, leaning in.



“Uh…” No, would have been closer to the truth. After all, it wasn’t until the bond that she ever thought about Snape as anything other than her highly unpleasant teacher. She had never thought that he was particularly handsome, but she might not have called him ugly either. Scary was more accurately how she had felt about him. His demeanour has always been daunting.



Ginny gasped, interrupting her thoughts, “He’s ugly?”



“No! He’s just no Lockhart, that’s all.”



“Is he a muggle?” Lavender Brown asked from the doorway, having just arrived.



“Uh, no. No, he’s actually quite an accomplished wizard.” She had said too much. The women stopped asking questions and simply looked around at each other as though trying to decipher this new hint. Quickly trying to distract them again, Hermione gestured her wand at the cover of the heavy tome. “Okay, so what’s in this thing?”



Ginny looked entirely too happy with herself and Hermione said so. As the other women crowded in around the book, however, Hermione too drew closer.



They flipped the book open and found an inscription to Victoria Black, the wife of Reginald Black, from his mother, Belise Black of the Bugenbridge Estate. Her perfect looping script contained well-wishes and an explanation of the text.



Mrs. Black of Burgenbridge very firmly pointed out that the book was a very old family tome. Considering that her writing style and language appeared to be from the 1700’s, the book must have been very ancient. Due to Hermione’s experience with ancient books, she didn’t have much confidence that the spells contained would work properly and was sure to say so.



“First things first!” Professor McGonagall began. All of the women seemed to lean forward with interest. “The sex of the baby!”



“No.” Hermione answered simply.



“No?” Mrs. Weasley asked.



“No. I don’t want to know.” The women’s faces fell and Fleur, who had just raised baby Victoire to her swollen breast, forgot for a moment that she was exposed and Hermione’s eyes darted to the hand over her own belly.



“Eez dis a muggle ting?”



“No, this is a Hermione thing.” Hermoine answered for herself. “Besides, it’ll probably be too inaccurate anyway. It’s a really old book.”



The women refused to heed her scepticism and simply giggled together as they began to flip through the pages. Professor McGonagall’s hand slapped down about fifty pages in. “That looks promising.”



“Okay, Hermione,” Ginny clutched the book to her chest. “If you have a girl, what will you call her?”



“Eileen.” The name fell from her lips very quickly and she blushed nervously.



“Oh! That’s a pretty little name.” The Headmistress said.



“Yes, it is.” She responded quietly.



Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and waved it in a complicated manoeuvre over her gradually rounding belly, and a sudden and strong pulse emanated from her pregnant mound and seemed to infuse each of the women present with a pleasant vibe. “Wow…”



“I guess the baby likes that name?”



“Wow…” The Professor repeated.



“What about if it’s a boy?” Ginny asked.



“Hmm…” Hermione pondered. “How about Tobias?”



The same manoeuvre was performed a second time, and her baby sent out a pulse that seemed so strongly dismal that they all shuddered as they would when a dementor would attack.



“And dat eez a no.”



“Let’s try Sabyn.”



The women braced themselves for the worst as the wave burst from Hermione. The baby seemed to like it. Very much.



“That was fun.” Hermione said with a small smile. She couldn’t wait to present those names to Snape. She waved her wand at the book, causing the pages to flip by at a steady pace while she scanned the titles for something interesting.



As the pages flipped, Ginny returned her attention to the book. Suddenly, with a gasp, she slapped her hand down, stopping Hermione’s spell. She began to turn the pages back.



Mrs. Weasley leaned over the back of her daughter’s chair to read over her shoulder. “Well, that would be a wonderful game!”



Hermione leaned forward and read upside-down. The book held several illustrations that seemed to be a veritable Mr. Potato-Head of paternal facial features.



“We just cast the Probo Gravida spell.” Mrs. Weasley said as she waved her wand at Hermione, making her womb shine brightly. In fact, had she not seen the lights weeks ago, she would never have noticed how much brighter they were now than before.



Hermione neither objected, nor was she comfortable with their “game.” Her only comfort was that the book was so old. It would be highly unlikely that it could accurately convert the shades and rays of off-colours to physical features. She reassured herself with the lessons they had in History of Magic. Fertility, healing, divination, and astrology rituals were highly speculative and sometimes barbaric up until the latest century. This should be no different, she hoped.



“Who will draw it?”



“Someone must draw?” Hermione asked incredulously as she leaned over the book once again.



The women ignored her for a moment as Ginny distracted everyone with an erratic display of excitement as she bounced on the couch and waved her hands in the air. “NEVILLE! NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM! He has such a great skill for sketching! I’m sure his gran will lend him to us for this!”



“Well, go get him then!”



Ginny jumped up and ran to the floo, throwing a handful of powder in before shouting, “LONGBOTTOM RESIDENCE! NEVILLE! NEVILLE!”



Several seconds later Neville had tripped through the floo, knocking Ginny over in his over-excitement. He must have thought they were under attack, because he came barrelling through with his wand drawn. He calmed when Ginny began to explain their need for an artist, swiped at his eyes quickly, trying to avoid revealing the sleepily annoyed expression from his face, and failing miserably.



It would have been comical enough for a good laugh, but Hermione got no such pleasure out of the situation when she couldn’t help but worry about the ancient book’s efficacy. She continued to hold her tongue as Neville picked up a magazine and transfigured it into a large sketch pad and the coffee table it came from into a giant easel. Duly, Hermione noted how good Neville was becoming with his wand.



The women gathered around and begun to study and argue over the rays and beams of light that shone from Hermione’s belly. Several times the spell was switched between Probo Gravida and Substantia and back again. Whenever questions were posed directly to her, Hermione would give a noncommittal grunt that was almost always considered an affirmative.



Looking up at the easel with mounting unease, the carefully structured face of Severus Snape began to emerge and Hermione stiffened as the hair was added. The women seemed to be too focused to realize what was forming under their careful interpretations and Hermione’s stomach continued to feel as though it were trying to climb up her throat, and she quickly gulped hard. Eventually they came to the end of the book section and looked up.



“Kinda looks like Professor Snape.”



“Yes, it does look like Severus when he was a young man.”



None of the women turned to her. They simply continued to ponder the image.



“I wonder if we got the cheekbones right…”



“We followed ze book pearfectly!”



Professor McGonagall looked from the image to Hermione and back, “We could have gotten some of her traits confused with his.”



Hermione wondered what in the world the old witch could be talking about. She and Severus had nothing physically in common. Where his nose was long and beaky, her nose was a fairly commonly structured bulb. Where his hair was dark and bone-straight, hers were a massive tangle of riotous curls that were a fairly light shade of brown. While her cheekbones were high and broadly structured, adding a heart shape to her widow’s peek; Snape had high angular cheekbones that seemed to emphasize his narrowness. Also, his sallow skin often carried a bit of a yellow hue to it, while Hermione’s skin was often touched with a charming pink tinge. Her neck was not quite as long and graceful as his. His appendages were much slimmer and lengthier than hers.



Neville scratched his head, “It could have been my art too. I think I messed up the nose and made it too long or something. I’ve been having these crazy Snape dreams and I’ve been drawing him a lot lately.”



“Zat iz right! Neveele could have ruined eet somehow?”



“No…” Ginny said, tapping her chin. “I think not.”



“I think it was our mistake.” Mrs. Weasley said with a shrug.



“Yeah.” Ginny agreed with her mother. “Oh well, it was fun while we played, right?” There was a general murmur of assent and as Hermione scanned the room only one pair of eyes squinted suspiciously at her, but she quickly looked away as Hermione looked over her a second time. Tonks suddenly became very busy with adjusting the black undershirt over her vast belly. Brushing her worries aside as paranoia, Hermione returned her attention to the party as Ginny thrust a glass of milk and a cookie under her nose.



Hermione thanked her friend and set both aside, suddenly feeling ill with the stress that someone might put together the massive amount of clues that she had already leaked. Glancing across the room under the guise of looking over everyone present again, Hermione watched as Tonks sent her massive wolf patronus bounding out of the room before rising and muttering her goodbyes to everyone present.



Neville, who had been allowed to stay for cookies and milk, stood and offered her an arm for support to assist her stepping over Ginny’s prone form as she picked up a cookie that had rolled under the white sofa. Taking that opportunity to get an idea of how Tonks felt about her, Hermione stood, feeling the first awkward balance issues as her increasing 25th week bulge changed her center of balance and made her tip awkwardly backwards. “Thank you for coming, Tonks!”



The woman met her eyes with a careful stare, but did not smile and politely hesitated by the entry door. “Thank you, Hermione.”



“Why are you leaving so early? This party should be just as much for you as for me.”



“I’ve had mine weeks ago, Hermione, you just didn’t come.”



She frowned and apologized. “Did you get my gift, at least?”



“Gift? Oh yes. Yes, thank you. Uh… do you mind if I ask who made it?”



“I did.” She answered levelly.



“You did?”



“Yes.”



“Where? I don’t recall you ever using the Order lab for a major potion, and uh… this potion would have been obvious to all of us who passed through, what with its cold purple smoke.”



“I used the lab in my child’s father’s house.”



Tonks thought carefully before asking her next question, and Hermione suddenly got the feeling that she was no longer talking to Nymphadora Tonks the friend, Nymphadora Tonks the mother, or Nymphadore Tonks the young Order member. Instead, she was looking into the face of Nymphadora Tonks the Auror. It was no longer a bit of polite valediction. It was an interrogation and, more importantly, a test. “It’s a bit of a difficult potion, isn’t it?”



Hermione allowed her lips to curl upwards slightly, “I brewed Polyjuice Potion in my second year. The Potion Dolem Relevo Natus I gave you is not that much harder.”



“Hmm…” The woman responded, still not breaking a smile. “Remus is expecting me.” She turned to leave and as Hermione turned back toward the party, Tonk’s voice floated back to her. “Oh, Hermione.”



“Yes?” She answered politely if a little bit tersely.



“I suggest that you be very careful who you mix with. Even the father of your child is suspect. It is very easy to be blinded by love, so, trust me, there are people we can trust and those that we never can.”



“What are you saying, Nymphadora?” Hermione lowered her voice to barely more than a hiss.



“I’m saying not to play with Fiend Fyre, you silly girl!”



Hermione laughed darkly for a moment, “Oh yes, because Lycanthropy is a much safer game!”



“Hermione…” It was a growl, and Hermione didn’t have to be looking down at the hand under her belly to recognize the slight twitch her digits made towards the wand at her belt.



“Stop. You have nothing to worry about. Both the father of my child and myself are aligned against Voldemort, so, and I repeat, you have nothing to worry about.”



Tonks simply stared at Hermione for a long moment before turning on the spot and apparating away.



Hermione shivered against her fear. Tonks had put together the Severus-clues faster than anyone else. Tonks was suspect number one.



________________________________

A/N: Thank you everybody!



1-- catysmom

2-- Queen_Celestia

3-- meankitty69

4-- johanna3030

5-- slytherin-princess

5-- pstibbons

6-- sslover

6-- Lady_of_Clunn

7-- openthedoor

8-- Sureves Epans

8-- JunoMagic

8-- lilmisblack



Welcome, welcome all, but most especially thank you to Rosalia, V, and me. Not me, Phoenix Rhapsody me, but rather the reviewer “me”. Just to clarify. Lol... I just have to say that for those of you who have never reviewed before, but you chose to do so for me... wow! I truly, truly, truly appreciate it. Just to show you what that does for me? I just wrote two chapters on top of all my homework this week! I have been on the computer constantly!!!!!!! All for you! *MUAH*



Want hints of what is to come? Of course you do. Oh, and by the way, feel free to tell me if you like where the story is going and give me suggestions and all that stuff. If you see your suggestion in the story, consider it a personal nod from this author to you!



Hints:

1) News of Harry and Ron’s progress.

2) There will be some extremely vicious spells.

3) There will be a resurgence of a character I haven’t used in a while

4) Someone will die



These hints are intentionally vague. Have fun and get yourself ready for it! I hope you like it!