The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 14 February 2010

Chapter 72 St. Mungo’s and More Babies

It was July thirtieth, close to midnight, and some one was screaming from one of the delivery rooms. “James Potter, if you ever come near me again I am going to kill you!”

“That’s alright, Lily” the object of the woman’s curse said, “When you get through this, I promise you can do anything you want.” James Potter was no fool. He had heard about the pain of childbirth and he was going to tell Lily anything he needed to, so she would calm down. He had already been on the wrong side of her temper more times than he could count, since her pregnancy started, and he just wanted his wife back to normal.

At the stroke of midnight, Lily was pushing for all she was worth as her son tried to make his entrance into the world. At one minute after midnight, the nurse finally said that her healthy bouncing baby boy was finally born. At five minutes after midnight, the nurse laid the baby in his mother’s arms. He was all cleaned up and the doctor was finishing up with the afterbirth and the mother was cleaned up also.

Lily took one look at her sleeping infant and smiled. Now this was more like it. She was still stiff and sore from the delivery, but the beautiful and precious gift in her arms was well worth the effort. It was love at first sight and as James was looking at their little bundle of joy, she forgave him for whatever he had done wrong. She couldn’t even remember his multitude of sins she had been listing in the back of her head.

When the baby started to fuss, she brought him up to her chest for his first feeding. The wonderful feeling of being able to do this was phenomenal and she wanted to keep her baby safe forever.

When the nurse came in a few hours later with papers to sign, Lily and James had Sirius sign as Godfather and Alice Longbottom was listed as Godmother. Alice was actually just making her way to the hospital, but it wasn’t to go and see Lily. It was straight to the delivery room for her, and her own little bundle of joy. When Lily found out she had gone into labor, she was so excited. Their children would grow up together and would have the same birthday.

She fell asleep and woke a few hours later. Calling for James who was in the waiting room with Padfoot and Moony, she tried to get her husband’s attention. James, who was still excited about his new heir and the wonderful feeling of being a Dad, didn’t hear her at first but came running when the nurse flew into the room to find out what the problem was with Mrs. Potter.

“I want my husband to go check on the Longbottoms, they are around here having their baby too. I want to know how my friends are doing.” Lily said pleadingly to the nurse.

A minute later James came rushing into the room asking, “What’s wrong? Did something happen to my wife or my son?”

“No, Mr. Potter. Your wife wants you to go find out about the Longbottom family. They came in a while ago.” The nurse then left the room, after checking on the baby and mother.

“I checked on them while you were asleep. Alice is still in labor and they said it would most likely be another few hours before the baby was born. Don’t worry, I saw Frank for a few minutes and she is doing fine.” He assured his wife.

“Did you tell him about Harry? We need to have Alice sign the birth certificate as Godmother.” Lily felt compelled to remind her husband who was known to forget things when he was with his friends.

“We have time for that and she can sign them after little Neville is born.” James saw that his wife was tired and starting to fall asleep again so he sat with her for a few minutes and then left the room when she slipped into slumber.

Padfoot and Moony were still in the waiting room. They had to be just as tired as James felt after not having any sleep the night before. He knew that his friends had come to support him and then stayed to support Frank as well. They at least had gotten some sleep on the chairs in the waiting room, instead of listening to Lily shout curses at her husband. He wondered how Frank was doing right now with Alice.

As they were sitting there waiting for word on the new delivery, Albus Dumbledore came into the room to see James.

“So, my boy, I hear congratulations are in order. How are Lily and little Harry doing?” the old Headmaster asked. “Has anyone heard about the Longbottom family yet?”

“Hello, Headmaster. Lily and baby are doing just fine and Alice hasn’t delivered yet. Frank’s mother was here a little bit ago, but went to go get something to eat in the hospital cafeteria.” James informed the old man.

Albus Dumbledore then turned to one of the other men in the group. “Mr. Black, I thought you would be here with James. How is your brother doing? I saw him a few months ago in a meeting with Severs Prince of Prince Conglomerate, but haven’t seen him since.”

“What was my brother doing in your office with the head of that company?” Sirius spat out. “I didn’t know he was still working for them.”

“You would have to ask Mr. Lupin, who was also there at the meeting. I was ascertaining if they would be a likely ally and to see where their loyalties lay. It was a most interesting gathering.” The old man said.

Moony, who hadn’t said anything at this point, wondered what the old man was doing. It seemed to him that he could have just not said anything instead of instigating what he knew would be a disagreement between the friends. He decided to do some damage control.

“We were there at the request of our boss. Although Regulus works in a different sector of the company and we rarely see each other. To be honest, I didn’t even know he was coming until we all met at Hogsmead. I can’t even remember the last time I saw him before that.” Well, Remus, thought to himself, that was not exactly true. He had seen him the day before, but he wasn’t going to get into it with Sirius about whom he worked for and what his brother was doing.

They visited for a little longer and then the Headmaster took his leave to go find Frank Longbottom. Sirius turned around to his friend and said, “You didn’t tell me you had seen my brother. What is he doing?”

Moony wasn’t sure how much to tell him. He was the brother of Regulus, but Sirius seemed to be still harping on his ‘once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater’ mind set. He didn’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt.

“He finished his NEWT’s early and he is now helping to write some text books for a few schools, while incorporating the revised pureblood philosophy.” Moony informed him cautiously.

“More of the pureblood crap. I should have known. Is that what that company of yours believes? That the purebloods are better than everyone else?” Sirius asked in a sourly tone.

Moony just knew this was going to happen as soon as Dumbledore’s words left his mouth. He told Sirius, “They believe that all magical creatures contribute something to the world. They believe that squibs should not be sent to the muggle world and instead treasured as rare and special people. Many purebloods are calling the Revised Pureblood Ways. Did you ever read that book I gave you?”

“Yeah I read it, but I think it is still a way to get people on Voldemort’s side with the pureblood supremacy bit. It just lulls people into a false sense of security. That is exactly what he did too, talking about pureblood ways and then started killing muggles and what they considered to be blood traitors.”

“Sirius, I know you don’t understand and I don’t want to fight about this. If you have questions, you can meet with the people of Prince Conglomerate or even owl your brother. Or even talk to your mother, although I know that is a sore subject. Read the book with an open mind and see what you think after.”

“I know what…” Sirius started to retort, but they were interrupted when Frank Longbottom came crashing into the waiting room, literally as he knocked over a chair in his excitement, to let them know that Alice had given birth to a bouncing baby boy only minutes before.

“Alice had the baby! I am a Daddy! She is doing fine! The baby is nice and healthy too!” Poor Frank was so excited he was having trouble forming his sentences. But they got the point, Alice and baby were fine and Frank was excited to be a father.

James, who had stayed silent during the conversation between Padfoot and Moony, smiled at Frank and said, “Congratulations Frank! Lily and our son are doing well also. When Alice up to visitors let us know so we can see her. I know that Lily wants to visit her and make sure that she signs the birth certificate as Godmother.”

“Alice is sleeping right now, but I will be sure to tell her later.” Frank said. “I have to go back now, my mother is with Alice and the baby and I would prefer to be there when they wake up. Be sure to come and visit before you leave.”

When James finally arrived home to get some sleep, he started thinking about the interactions between the Headmaster and his two best friends. He couldn’t help but get the feeling that the old man was trying to instigate the argument between Padfoot and Moony. He just couldn’t understand why.

Back at Prince Manor…

Remus Sr. and Tonks with little Teddy had come to visit the new parents and the little baby now nestled in a cradle in Becca’s room. Since Harry was not producing milk yet, Becca was going to breast feed the baby, at least for now. Although the little one was technically the offspring of Severus and Harry, it would naturally bond with the carrier as well. As it was, with two infants soon and then little Harry coming next year, it would take everyone helping to make sure they had the best of care. They wanted the little ones to know they had lots of family to count on.

“Awe, Sev, he has Harry’s eyes and your chin.” Tonks said as she cooed over the baby. She let Teddy see the child and told him the baby’s name was Evan.

Teddy, who had never seen anyone smaller than him, looked at the child and said “Ewin”. Tonks tried again to get him to pronounce it right but he repeated Ewin again and all the adults laughed. Teddy looked at the baby again and then sat down on the floor and called “Sisth” and the snake came and curled around the little boy.

“Sisth, look, Ewin” said the little boy as he showed the snake the newest member of the family.

That seemed to give the rest of The Seven permission to come into the room and see the new infant. After a brief conversation with the snakes, it was affirmed that they would also protect the little one as all the others in the family. It was Third Born that went over to the babe and then told Harry and Severus that he was to be the little one’s familiar. That meant that only Second Born and Fourth Born were still without masters. It had not been official, but Harry had a feeling that Sixth Born was Teddy’s familiar, even though the child did not have the ability of Parsletongue. It didn’t seem to matter to Teddy or Sixth Born though, as the snake always came when the little boy called.

Harry thought that the other two were going to be for the child he was carrying and for little Harry when he arrived. He wasn’t really sure. When Salazar and he went into the Chamber they didn’t ask about the possibility of another group of snakes. In fact, from the information they had from the other time lines. His time line was the only one in which The Seven had been discovered, but that had been by accident. When they take another trip to the chamber, they would have to find that out.

Early one morning about a month later…

“Sev” the young man said “wake up. Please Sev, I need you to rub my back. It hurts.”

“Mmmm?” came the sleepy reply. “What do you want?” The older man checked the time and mumbled, “Harry, it’s four in the morning, go back to sleep.” Then he slid his arms around his husband and went back to sleep.

“Sev, please” came the plea from Harry. “Please Sev.” This was accompanied with an elbow into the sternum.

“Umph” Severus woke up again with a grunt. “Harry, it’s four in the morning. What could you possibly need at this hour? Go back to sleep.” Said the grumpy voice next to him.

“Sev, please. My back hurts and I need you to rub it.” Harry was the one getting irritated now. Why couldn’t he listen?

“I’ll do it later Harry, go back to sleep.”

Harry slowly made his way out of the bed and put on his slippers. He had gotten into the habit of wearing a night shirt to bed because his sleep pants didn’t fit and the shirt was easier to get on. He decided to go see if he could get Becca to rub his back or perhaps get Kreacher to do a heating charm to help relax it. His magic had gone all ‘wonky’ in the last few weeks. At least that was how Doc described the strange power fluctuations of late.

He knocked on Becca’s door. She must have been awake, because she answered right away.

“What’s wrong Harry? Where is Severus?”

“He won’t wake up. Can you rub my back? I must have slept wrong and it really hurts.”

“Harry, how long has your back been hurting?”

“I don’t know, I woke up like that. The baby is kicking a lot too. My body feels like a Quidditch field.”

“Harry, I think we need to call Doc to come and check on you. You may be going into labor.”

“But I’ve only been pregnant about five months, it’s too soon.”

“Remember, your pregnancy is going to be shorter. It’s alright to call Doc. If it is nothing then he will just go home and go back to bed. No harm done.” She said cheerfully as she rubbed circles on his lower back to ease some of the pain.

“You were awake when I knocked. Were you having problems sleeping?”

“No Evan wakes about two or three every morning. I had just gotten him to sleep after feeding and changing him. Don’t worry about anything. I will take a nap later.”

She escorted Harry into the sitting room, getting him comfortable on the sofa with a pillow to support his back. She called for Kreacher and told him to go get Doc immediately as Harry was in pain.

Three seconds later, Doc popped in with Kreacher still in his sleep clothes and without a robed on. He was barefoot and it looked like the elf had pulled him out of bed without any warning. His hair was a mess and there were sleep lines on his cheek when he must have been pressed against the pillow.

“Darn it Becca!” the healer shouted. “Tell your elves they can’t just come and pop me here when ever they want without warning. Getting me here in the middle of a patients visit is bad enough, but popping me out of my…”

He heard a cry of pain coming from the sofa that was blocked from his view. “What’s the matter? Is that Harry?”

“He said he woke up with a lot of back pain. He said the baby is kicking excessively also.”

Doc walked over to where Harry was resting and laid his hand on the younger man’s back. “Harry, tell me what’s going on.”

“My back hurts and Severus wouldn’t wake up to rub it. My stomach feels like the baby is kicking all over the place.” Harry stopped talking and shifted again to get more comfortable.

Doc put his hands on Harry’s back and stomach. After a few minutes, he turned to Becca and said, “Go get Severus out of bed, now. He‘s going into labor and I have a feeling it’s going to be quick. We need to move him.”

Then Doc called out, “Kreacher”.

“Kreacher, here. Mistress Becca said get Doc immediately, Kreacher obeyed and got Doc…” the elf said, defending his actions of earlier.

“Never mind about that, I need my medical bag and wand. Can you retrieve those items for me?”

“Kreacher already took both when he got Doc. They are right here.” The little elf handed the items to the healer and waited further instructions.

“Please go to the clinic and get the night nurse on duty. Tell her to send me at least one nurse to help with Harry’s delivery. Tell her Mister Prince is giving birth now. Tell her to send two if she can spare them.”

Kreacher bowed to the healer and popped out of the room to do as he was bid.

Becca in the meantime had told Seventh Born to go to Salazar’s quarters and tell him what was happening. She also told the snake to tell Sal to let the others know. Then she proceeded to go get Severus out of the bed. Usually he would wake up in an instant, but on the one morning they needed him, he decided to sleep. ‘Men’ she thought as she walked to the bedroom door and started pounding.

“Come on Severus Prince, get out of that bed, Harry needs you.” The woman shouted from the other side of the door.

She heard some mumbling but then silence. She cautiously opened the door and there was Severus with his arms around a pillow fast asleep.

“Assistant Millie” she called and her elf popped into the room. Before the elf could even bow, Becca whispered to her. “Master Prince will not wakeup and Harry is going into labor. Can you wake him for me?” she then crouched down very low and whispered into the elf’s ear on what she wanted her to do.

The next thing they knew a bucket of ice water appeared over the man’s body and was unceremoniously dumped onto the bed.

“Urgh! What the hell! What was that for?” the man sputtered when the water hit its target.

“Severus, what is wrong with you? We have been trying to wake you up and you keep going back to sleep.” Becca didn’t shout at him, but she wasn’t speaking softly either.

“What, it’s bloody four in the morning. What is so important that you had to try to give me pneumonia by freezing me to death?” the man snarled.

“Harry’s in labor” was all she said before she left out of the room in a swirl of her robes that would have made Severus proud if he weren’t in shock.

When he left the bedroom suite five minutes later, Harry was already in a guest room with medical equipment and the nurse installed at the ready. Doc and Becca were already in the room and Sal was waiting in the sitting room with Tonks. She said Remus Sr. was in their quarters with Teddy and would check on them later.

Severus made his way to his husband’s side with an apology on his lips. “I am so sorry I didn’t wake up, my love. I was having problems sleeping and took some dreamless sleep. If I had known you would go into labor I would never have done that.”

“It hurts, Sev. I wanted a back rub and you wouldn’t wake so I got Becca. She called Doc and the others.”

“I know sweetheart, but it will get better. Just try to relax and breathe through the pain like we practiced. You will be alright.” Severus held onto Harry’s hand and tried to get him to calm down. He knew the more Harry tensed up, the more it would hurt.

Doc came back into the room after having been to wash his hands. Severus noticed he was in sleep clothes and not his regular day clothes. They must have gotten him out of bed too.

“Are you gentlemen ready?” Doc asked as he looked at the two men on the bed. “Harry, your birth canal is fully developed and the baby is in position. I believe this will be a fast delivery, just stay with me.”

“Sure Doc, I’m as ready as I can be.” Harry replied as he tensed up with another cramp of labor.

Two hours later, on September first in the year Nineteen Hundred and Eighty, Lillian Elizabeth Prince came into the world. She had dark hair and very light blue eyes and she was the perfect mixture of both of the men that created her. The delivery had been quite easy as far as birthing goes. The child glowed with the magic surrounding her for a brief minute before the bright grayish aura about her seemed to sink back into her skin. The perfect mixture of light and dark magic, the in-between magic that had never been seen before.

When Doc tried to take his medical readings, they didn’t work. Just as he had tried when she was in the womb, the spells would give no reading. So he had to do things the muggle way and measure her and listen to her lungs with a stethoscope. He declared her healthy and had the nurse clean her up, put her in a nappy and pink blanket and hand her to the proud fathers.

By six thirty in the morning, they had several visitors including the medical staff from the clinic, some of their friends from Gringotts and Shashi. They also had a few visitors they were not expecting. The fairies somehow knew and came to see the infant, sprinkling some fairy dust on her as well as Evan.

It was a very exhausting day.


A/N It is Mardi Gras here in New Orleans, Louisiana and I have some extra time off of work. Since I was sick it is not advisable for me to go to the parades and join in the festivities in the damp cold, so you get the benefit of my extra time. The whole city spends two weeks going to parades and celebrating until Mardi Gras day when the city shuts down for an all day festival. Thank you to those who reviewed forsaken_dream, kaasan, nari-chan, mithrilandtj, and Severus_is_Mine. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY.

akayuri - thank you for letting me know that I was not clear on the time jump between the visitors for Evan and the morning Harry woke up with pain. Harry needed time to properly grow the fetus, but I wanted her born just early enough to attend Hogwarts with the others. I hope this explains everything.