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These hallways, Ginny thought, go on for bloody ever. Just like these contractions. She leaned against the wall and hummed through the end of it. As the sensation faded, Ginny took a deep breath and continued walking. She wasn’t sure which part of St. Mungo’s she was in, but then she rounded a corner and found herself facing a familiar waiting room. Ah, yes. Pediatrics.
Ginny smiled to herself as she walked around the chairs arranged throughout the space. She was careful to stay close to the wall, though, since her contractions were getting more frequent. The pediatrics waiting room was very, very familiar to Ginny; at not-quite-three, James was attempting to break his uncles’ record for most emergency visits before Hogwarts. Unfortunately, most of these attempts came in the middle of the afternoon, which meant the waiting room was usually packed full of cranky children whose naps had been interrupted.
Now, though, at almost 8:00 in the morning, there was only one woman waiting. Ginny smiled at her, and the woman smiled back, but then another contraction started and Ginny had to shut her eyes and concentrate. She hummed and swayed, leaning her head against the wall, and when her body relaxed, she rubbed her belly. “Come on, baby,” Ginny murmured. “Come on out, please. Your dad and brother and I want to meet you.”
The baby kicked a bit in response, and Ginny chuckled. “You’re right, Daddy’s not here now. He is looking after your brother, but he’ll be back soon.” She patted where the baby had kicked her. “Don’t worry.”
“You must have done this before,” came a voice from behind Ginny. She turned and saw the woman who had smiled at her earlier. She was holding an infant, Ginny noticed now, and was walking towards her, slowly and carefully so as not to disturb the baby in her arms.
Ginny nodded. “This is my second,” she answered. “My husband is at home with our first.”
“Ah,” the woman nodded. She looked down as her baby stirred in sleep, then back at Ginny. “I’m Astoria, and this is Scorpius.”
Ginny smiled widely. “I’m Ginny,” she said. “Nice to meet- hang on,” and she turned back to wall and started humming and swaying again. Astoria waited patiently as Ginny had the contraction, and as Ginny looked up, Astoria said, “You are handling these really well! I’m impressed.”
Ginny laughed. “Thanks. We’ll see how long it lasts. My husband better get his arse back here soon, that’s all I can say.”
Astoria nodded knowingly. “It’s nice to have that support, isn’t it. I don’t think my husband left my side with this one.”
“How old?” Ginny asked, reaching behind her to rub her back. Thankfully this baby was facing the right direction, so no back labor, but her muscles were still sore.
“Almost three months, so we are here for his check-up. We’re traveling next week, so I wanted to fit it in early,” Astoria explained. “How old is your first?”
“Almost three,” Ginny answered. She shut her eyes, held up a finger, and turned back to the wall. “Mmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmm,” she hummed, swaying determinedly. Since entering the pediatrics waiting room, Ginny had noticed that the contractions seemed to intensify. Things were definitely picking up.
When the contraction finished, Ginny looked up at the ceiling. “Merlin,” she huffed. “Harry needs to come now, please.”
“Would you like me to send a patronus to him?” Astoria offered. “My wand is in my bag, which-” she glanced at Ginny a bit pointedly, but without judgment “-is probably a lot closer than yours is.”
Ginny managed a nod; another contraction was starting, and this time she stepped forward and bent over the back of the closest chair. “Ooooooh,” she exhaled. Distantly, she heard Astoria move to her bag and rustle things around, then there were some softly spoken words. “Mmmm,” Ginny tried to hum, but was interrupted by a pop and a gush.
She looked down. Her sweatpants - which were really Harry’s sweatpants - now had a large wet patch in front. Ginny cursed. “Bugger. Did you already send the patronus?”
“Just about to,” Astoria looked at her. “‘Bugger’ is right. Let me tell Harry.” She waved her wand again, and a silver swan soared away.
Ginny let out a long grunt, and Astoria looked back at her in alarm. “Ginny?” she asked, and Ginny looked back at her, eyes wide.
“I think… I think I’m starting to push.” Without meaning to, Ginny found herself squatting, gripping the back of the chair with both hands. Astoria hurried over to her, grabbing her bag on the way. With one hand, she whipped out a blanket, laid it on the floor a little bit away, and then she shifted Scorpius and set him gently on the blanket. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out two more blankets.
Astoria folded one and set it on the floor. “Here,” she said, reaching up to help Ginny. “Kneel on this.”
Gingerly, Ginny knelt on the blanket. Astoria leaned in with the other, then paused. “Erm, pardon me,” she said, and then she reached between Ginny’s legs with the other blanket.
Ginny managed a weak laugh. “I think we’re about to go beyond niceties, don’t you.”
Astoria smiled at her and patted Ginny’s shoulder. “This is definitely one way to make friends.”
Ginny grinned back. “Since we’re friends now, do you want to help me take off these sweatpants?”
Astoria immediately moved to help her, letting Ginny grip her shoulder with one hand and helping her maneuver the garment with the other. The sweatpants were almost to Ginny’s knees when another contraction started, and Ginny grabbed Astoria’s hand and gripped hard.
“You sent….the patronus….to Harry?” Ginny panted. Astoria nodded, holding Ginny’s hand and pushing Ginny’s hair off her face.
“He’ll be here soon. Just focus on your baby, okay?” Astoria said soothingly, and Ginny relaxed. Or tried to. It was remarkably challenging to relax when one had a baby in one’s birth canal. Despite the intensity of the moment, Ginny laughed at herself. Harry had told her, after James’ birth, that she got a bit posh in labor.
“Auuughhhhh,” Ginny growled loudly, working hard with her body. “Pushing is so much better than the contractions, but Merlin!” She wiped her brow with one hand, then realized how hard she was gripping Astoria’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, am I hurting you?”
Astoria grinned at her. “Honestly, I’m too excited to feel anything. You are having your baby!” and Ginny was surprised and warmed to see tears sparkling in Astoria’s eyes. Ginny reached for her hand, and Astoria gripped tightly. Still catching her breath and feeling another contraction build, Ginny tried to convey all her gratitude with a look and a hand squeeze. Astoria seemed to catch her meaning, squeezing back and nodding once.
The contraction reached its peak, and Ginny bore down with all her strength, letting out a roar. She dropped Astoria’s hand and reached down to feel her baby crowning. My baby, Ginny thought, tears springing to her eyes now. Harry! My baby.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Harry appeared around the corner of the waiting room, followed closely by a midwitch. “Gin!” he called, hurrying towards her. His hair was disheveled and he had Floo powder on his jumper.
“Harry!” Ginny cried as he fell to his knees next to her. She released Astoria and Harry caught her hand with his. Ginny barely noticed Astoria shuffling backwards, giving more room for Harry and the midwitch. All she cared about in this moment was her baby, who was slowly easing its way down, even in between the contractions.
Ginny looked at Harry, her eyes wild. “I can’t do this, Harry,” she burst out, feeling panic build in her chest. “Help me, I can’t do this!”
Harry put his hand on her cheek, his touch firm and gentle. “You can do this, Gin,” he said with such conviction than Ginny believed him. She looked into his eyes, his beautiful, kind green eyes.
“You are doing it,” came Astoria from behind Harry. Ginny looked at her and found Astoria holding Scorpius again, her eyes fixed on Ginny. “You are doing it, and you are going to meet your baby.”
Buoyed by their faith in her, and filled with the primal strength of birth-givers everywhere, Ginny took a deep breath and pushed with her contraction, one hand on her baby’s head, one hand clasped in Harry’s. The midwitch’s hands were covering Ginny’s, gently guiding her baby out, and with one last almighty push, her baby was born.
Ginny started laughing and Harry started crying. The midwitch helped Ginny sit down and lift her shirt, and Ginny pulled her baby up to her chest. “You’re here, you’re here, I love you!” Ginny gushed, and Harry kissed her forehead, her cheek, her lips, then bent over and kissed the slippery head of their baby.
Ginny could not stop laughing, could not stop looking at this beautiful person she had grown. She looked at Harry, bewildered. “We did it,” she said in awe, and Harry kissed her again.
“You did it,” he said, and he sounded so amazed and so proud and so overwhelmed that Ginny’s eyes filled with tears even through her laughter.
The baby began to wail, and Ginny looked down again. “That’s it, fill those lungs,” she encouraged. The midwitch placed a blanket over the baby and began to rub vigorously. Ginny shifted her hold so she could rub also, and the midwitch smiled at her.
“Congratulations, Ginny,” she said. “Harry, do you want to cut the cord?”
Harry looked at Ginny, who nodded. “Then you can say you helped at least a little,” she teased, laughing again, and Harry groaned despite the grin splitting his face.
“Well, if we’re going with who was the most helpful, I think Astoria should cut it,” Harry said, twisting around. Ginny looked at him - Merlin, she loved this thoughtful man - and then at Astoria.
“Harry’s right,” she said. “Would you, please?”
Cheeks wet, Astoria settled Scorpius back on his nest of blankets and came forward. The midwitch handed her the tool and showed her where to cut, and with a slightly embarrassed flush, Astoria cut the umbilical cord.
Ginny reached out a hand as Astoria stood up. “Thank you,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Yes, thank you,” Harry added, one arm sliding around Ginny and the other reaching out to Astoria. She took both their hands and nodded, apparently too overcome to speak. After a moment, she released them and went back to Scorpius.
Harry looked back at Ginny. Ginny looked at Harry, then at the baby, who was now making contented sounds and was rooting around her chest.
“Ready to find out who this is?” she whispered, and Harry nodded and kissed her cheek again. Ginny lifted the blanket and peered around. “Oh, Harry,” she breathed. “It’s Albus!”
At that moment, Albus let out a snort, and Scorpius sneezed. Ginny and Astoria laughed, looking at each other fondly. “These two better be friends,” Ginny said.
“Their relationship will be something special, that is for sure,” Astoria agreed, shifting closer and turning Scorpius to face them. “Look, Scor, this is Albus,” she said quietly. Scorpius regarded Albus solemnly, and Albus, as if sensing an audience, managed to turn his head to look at Scorpius.
“Aww,” murmured Ginny. “Isn’t that sweet?” She gazed down at her son proudly. “It’s like they know how special this is.”
Astoria nodded, bouncing Scorpius a bit. “Very, very special, indeed.”