Taming

Five Years Later

Scorpius woke with a start when the floo chime in their bedroom sounded. Albus rolled over next to him, groaning. Scorpius squinted at the clock and saw that it was just after three in the morning.

A young man with dark hair stepped out of the floo, fairly shaking with excitement. “It’s time!”

“Albus, wake up! Christopher’s here! It’s time!” Scorpius shook Albus’s hip. Albus instantly shot to a sitting position.

“Merlin!”

“I know!” Scorpius exclaimed, hopping on one foot, tugging his pants on.

Albus jumped out of bed and began flinging clothes out of the closet. “What should I wear?” he asked nervously.

“Who cares? Just get something on and let’s get going! Christopher, you’d better go back home. We’ll meet you in five minutes, okay?” He hugged the younger man. “Get her there safely, right?”

“You know it!” He disappeared back into the floo.

Albus and Scorpius grinned at each other. “It’s time!” Albus squealed.

“Yes, I’ve been told. Put your pants on and lets go!” Scorpius chided gently, grabbing a pinch of floo powder from the pot.
“Ready?” he asked, as Albus fastened his belt.

“Yes.”

Scorpius threw his powder into the flames. “St. Mungo’s” he called, and disappeared.

He stepped out of the swirling flames, and Albus came right on his heels. They ran to the appointed area, skidding comically to a stop in front Christopher, who was pacing and wringing his hands.

“How is she?” Albus asked nervously.

From the room behind them, they heard a voice say, “Just let me know when they get here so that I can strangle both of them!”

Albus and Scorpius grinned at each other and went into the room, Christopher trailing nervously behind them.

“Hey Mum,” Scorpius greeted Ginny Potter. “Hey Sissy,” he said teasingly to Lily, who was lying on the hospital bed, propped up on pillows, looking mutinous. “How are you feeling?”

“How the bloody hell do you think I’m feeling?” she screeched. “And don’t ‘Sissy’ me! I’m going to kill you for talking me into this!”

Scorpius put his hand on her distended belly. “Talking you into this? We tried to talk you out of it! We tried hard!”

“You should have tried harder!” she yelled.

Ginny smoothed her daughter’s hair back. “I know you’re scared, Darling, but everything is going to be fine.”

“Yeah, Lil. We’re all here now,” Albus told her, coming to hold her hand. “And we did try to talk you out of this. You wouldn’t hear of it!”

“Well, I didn’t know any better,” Lily complained in a small voice.

“That’s absolute rubbish,” Scorpius scolded her. “It was your ego, plain and simple. ‘I’m so healthy,’ you said. ‘Not to mention smart and pretty with excellent genes,’ you said.”

Lily flushed. “How dare you!”

“Don’t make her mad!” Albus cried.

Scorpius elbowed him. “Would you rather have her mad or scared?” he whispered.

“Good point,” Albus whispered back. And it seemed to be working. Lily went back to cursing them.

“You have a lot of nerve talking to me about ego, Scorpius Malfoy!” she seethed. “Yours is bigger than anyone’s!”

“So I’ve been told,” he rejoined mildly, but she ignored the entendre.

“Oh, Merlin! It’s happening again!” she panted.

Scorpius jumped into action. “It’s okay, Gorgeous. Just breathe. Remember our classes, okay? Shallow breaths. I’m right here.” He began to rub her back the way he’d been taught, and she panted, clutching Albus’s hand.

“OW!” Albus shouted, his knees nearly buckling as she squeezed him.

Scorpius ignored him. “Just breathe, Lily-love, you’re doing great,” he soothed, brushing back her long hair.

“Oh, that was the worst one yet!” Lily moaned.

“Ow…” Albus complained, rubbing his hand and wincing. Christopher manfully relieved him of hand-holding duties, looking at his girlfriend with obvious distress.

Ginny clucked sympathetically over Albus’s hand, but told him in no uncertain terms that Lily was progressing just fine. “I nearly broke your Uncle Ron’s hand at one point when James was coming. Ron was suspiciously absent when you and your sister were born,” she laughed.

A woman in Healers’ Assistant robes bustled into the room. “I’m told that we’re getting close,” she said bossily. “This is far too many people in the delivery room. Who’s staying with her?”

“I’m her mother,” Ginny offered.

“Well, I’m the biological father,” Scorpius said.

“I’m her boyfriend,” Christopher put in.

“I’m his husband,” Albus said, pointing to Scorpius, “Thus the other father. And she’s also my sister.”

The woman looked as if she wanted to run out of the room and never look back.

“So everybody ready to have a baby?” asked a teasing voice from the doorway.

“Oh, Healer Weasley! I was just trying to sort out…”

“It’s fine, Esme. I’ll take it from here.”

“Hey Rosie,” Scorpius said with a smile. “Glad you could finally join us.”

“I do have other patients, you know.”

“I know,” he said, moving to hug Rose. She kissed him hard, trying to give him courage, he could tell.

“Are you doing all right, Sweetheart?” she asked quietly. “Scared?”

“Yes.”

She smiled. “I’ve done this hundreds of times. There’s nothing to it. And you’ve been an excellent coach for Lily. Everything is going to be fine.”

“I know. I trust you, remember?”

She smiled. “All right, everyone!” she said loudly. “Scorpius is staying. Who else?” No one moved. “No offense, boys, but I’d suggest Aunt Ginny stay. She’s done this before, and you other two might faint.”

“I wouldn’t faint!” Albus protested.

Scorpius smirked at him. “You nearly fainted at our house when I gave you a recap of one of our childbirth classes and I used the term ‘mucus plug.’”

Albus and Christopher looked at each other. “Okay, Mum can stay,” Albus said quickly. He kissed Lily’s cheek, and patted her belly gently. Christopher kissed her on the lips and said softly, “I love you. You’re so brave.”

“Thank you,” she whispered back.

“Okay,” Rose said, all business. “Let’s do this.”

*****************

Nearly six hours later, Scorpius stepped into the waiting room, exhausted but beaming. Albus ran at him and Scorpius caught him in a tight hug. He smiled at the little crowd waiting to hear the news. Harry and Ginny were there, along with his own parents, and Christopher. They all stood up, expectantly. “We have a daughter!” Scorpius announced. Everyone began to cheer.
Albus let go of Scorpius to hug Astoria, and Scorpius hugged his father, while Harry and Ginny hugged each other. Christopher looked a little dazed, although to be fair, he’d started dating Lily when she was already four months pregnant, so he’d known what he was in for.

Then Ginny was there, hugging Scorpius, and Scorpius felt somehow closer to her than he ever had before. He supposed that impregnating her daughter gave them a double bond. He smiled over her shoulder at his father and Harry, hugging. Both men had tears streaming down their cheeks.

Ginny kissed Scorpius’s cheek and went to hug Albus and Astoria. Scorpius watched his father and Harry.

“Well, old man,” Harry teased. “We have a granddaughter.”

“That we do. Did you ever think back in the day that we’d be sharing grandchildren?”

“No. I thought you might turn out to be evil and I’d have to kill you, though.”

Draco laughed. “Well, it was close there for a while.”

“Nah,” Harry said, waving his hand. “Even sixth year, if someone had offered me a bet between grandchildren and evil, I’d have taken grandchildren.”

Draco beamed, and the two men embraced again, sniffling.

Then his mother was hugging him. “When do we get to see her?” she asked eagerly.

“Let me go check with Rosie. She’s examining her now.”

Scorpius hurried back into the delivery room. Rose had yet to return with the baby, and Lily was sleeping. He stepped over to the bed and smoothed back her long hair, bending to kiss her forehead.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t all the way asleep. Just resting.”

“How do you feel?”

“Fine. Just tired. Will you sit with me until Rose gets back?”

“Of course, love.” He laid down on the bed beside her, cradling her head on his shoulder, and resting his cheek on her hair. “You were so brave.”

“No I wasn’t! I was scared to death!”

“Could’ve fooled me. You were like a warrior. I’ve never been so proud before.”

She grinned at him. “Thanks, Daddy.”

“You’re welcome, Mum.”

“We have a baby,” she said wonderingly. “That just hit me. I mean, I know you and Albus have a baby, not me, but…”

“No. We all have a baby. She’s yours and mine as much as she’s mine and Albus’s, love. You can be as involved as you want. We agreed, remember?”

She smiled. “I have a baby.”

“Yes. I seem to remember that happening.”

“Have you gotten a good look at her? She’s so beautiful!”

“Well, look at her parents, love. Would you doubt it?”

She poked him. “How’s Christopher?”

“A little dazed, I think.”

She laughed. “He knew what he was getting into.”

“I bet that was an awkward conversation, wasn’t it?”

“Nope. You know me. Not exactly shy. When he asked me out, I said, ‘Just so you know, I’m currently four months pregnant with my brother-in-law’s baby.’”

Scorpius laughed. “You didn’t! And he still wanted to go out with you? He’s a keeper, that’s for sure.”

“Well, I went on to explain a bit more than that,” she clarified, giggling. “He thought that I was all noble. It made him even more interested.”

“You are noble. And brave. A true Gryffindor.”

“You do know that when I was trying to convince you and Albus to let me do this, it was mostly because I thought we’d have to make her the old fashioned way, right?” she teased.

He roared with laughter, and kissed her on the head. “You are too much.”

“Hey parents,” came Rose’s gentle voice from the doorway. She was carrying a small pink bundle. “I need to check Lily, Sweetie. Do you want to take your daughter to meet her other daddy?”

Scorpius nodded. He turned to Lily and smiled at her. “Thank you,” he said simply, kissing her sweetly.

“Thank you,” she said back. Scorpius took the bundle from Rose and started to go out the door. “Keep in mind, though,” Lily called to him. “For the next one, you’re going to have to shag me.”

He laughed as he heard Rose exclaim, “Next one???”