After Christmas break, time seemed to pass quickly for Harry and Hermione. Hermione spent most of her days in the library, searching for any information on the fire ability Harry and her unborn son possessed. Harry spent his days in his classes and his nights were divided between quidditch practice and fire magic training with Dumbledore. He was mastering his ability thanks to the tutoring Dumbledore was giving him now. He was mastering all the fire spells and because of that he was also mastering wandless magic. To Harry it felt like his entire magical potential was opened up to him the day he discovered his fire ability. He dueled with Dumbledore after every training session, without his wand, and had actually won a duel against the Headmaster once. Dumbledore seemed just as surprised as he was when he cast the spell that disarmed him. All Dumbledore could say was "well done, Harry, well done" with that twinkle in his eyes and a small smile gracing his face.
Harry and Hermione had promised to spend at least one hour alone together each day after their classes were done. Even if that meant they lay in bed together while Hermione read 'Hogwarts: A History' out loud to the baby. She had explained to Harry that the baby could hear their voices and that it was good for his mental development to read to him. Hermione's Mum, being a muggle, had sent her a bottle of cocoa butter to help prevent stretch marks. Even though she didn't have to use it, Hermione had started putting it on at night before going to bed, finding it soothing and relaxing. One night, Harry had volunteered to do it for her and found it quite enjoyable. So he continued to do it every night, finding that it relaxed him also. He also found that the further along she got in her pregnancy, the more the baby moved under his hands as he rubbed the lotion into her skin. One night, they decided that while Hermione read to him, Harry would put the lotion on at the same time. They had both had a rough day and they both needed to relax that night. Harry performed the usual ritual; he'd put the lotion in his hands to warm it up first and then using circular patterns, rubbed it into her skin. Right after he had started, he felt the baby push his head (or his butt, he wasn't sure) up almost into the palm of his hand. Harry laughed as he looked down and saw how uneven Hermione's stomach was. As he started the message again, he noticed a faint reddish glow once again surround Hermione's stomach.
"Hermione, look" said Harry, interrupting her reading.
"What?" she asked, lowering her book. When she saw the glow, her eyes grew wide. Harry kept rubbing her stomach to see what would happen. The baby moved, almost following his hand in its movements. The warmth spread from his palm up his arm again and the flame sparked to life. As he continued his ministrations, he watched as Hermione's cheeks became flushed again. "That is the strangest feeling I've ever had" said Hermione "it feels like he's swimming around in my stomach. I'm not as warm as I was the first time it happened either."
"It's not as intense as the first time it happened" said Harry, still rubbing the tight skin on her stomach. "I swear he knows what he's doing. Every time I move my hand, it feels like he moves so his head is directly under my hand." Hermione placed her hand on her stomach along with Harry's and suddenly the glow grew and surrounded both Harry and Hermione. It grew brighter for a little while as both he and Hermione messaged her belly until he felt the flame in him go out and the baby's movements became slower. The glow faded out completely as Harry felt him stop all together and they stopped rubbing. Hermione suddenly felt exhausted and had started to drift off to sleep when she felt a strange surge of heat travel through her body. She opened her eyes and said "Harry..." but never finished what she was going to say because she yelled out in pain. Harry looked at her, concerned by her yell. She grabbed her left hand with her right and gritted her teeth in pain. When she opened her hand, a small single flame stood dancing in her palm. "Harry, what's happening?"
"I don't know for sure, but it looks like your body is drawing magic from the baby. Maybe whatever we did overwhelmed your body with the magical energy again, but this time it created an outlet" said Harry. He took her hand in his and closed her hand around the flame, squelching it. After opening her hand back up again, Harry examined it and found that there was no evidence of the flame ever being there. "I'll tell Dumbledore what happened tomorrow during our training session. Have you found anything in the library yet that could help us?"
"No" said Hermione, sounding defeated which was very unusual for her "I swear I've looked through every book in there but it is beginning to seem futile."
"Don't give up Love" said Harry, noticing how tired she looked. "Let's get some sleep" he said, getting up and pulling the covers over her. By the time he had changed into his sleep pants, she was already sound asleep.
In Harry's training session the following day, he had told Dumbledore everything that had happened and Dumbledore didn't seem to have the same idea that Harry had; Hermione had channeled the baby's fire magic. Hermione continued to browse through all the books in the library without any luck. The days passed away into months and soon they found May upon them. Spring had blossomed and so had Hermione. Harry had to stop himself from commenting on how big she had gotten lately. It actually looked like she was carrying around a watermelon in her stomach. Of course by now the students realized she was pregnant. One day she had forgotten to put her robe on over her clothes when she went to dinner and had caused an uproar in the Great Hall. Harry was very proud of how she handled it; she held her head high and sat down next to him like nothing was out of the ordinary. Of course Malfoy had made some snide comments as Harry, Hermione and Ron walked out into the corridor after eating, but he was stupid enough to walk up to them without his cronies at his side. As soon as Ron and Harry had pulled their wands Malfoy had turned tail and ran.
Thankfully, everyone in Gryffindor Tower had already figured out Hermione's condition and had accepted it. Ginny had gotten all the girls together before a Hogsmeade weekend in April to plan a baby shower for her. They had all picked something up in town and on the second Saturday in May surprised Hermione in the common room. Every girl from first through seventh year was there, each baring a gift. They had decorated the common room with blue balloons decorated with white outlines of babies that crawled all around them as they floated around the room on their own, and a big banner over the fireplace that read 'Welcome Baby Boy Potter' since no one could find out what they were naming him. Their were blue streamers floating near the ceiling that weren't connected to anything and Ginny had a new product from Fred and George's shop-they looked like regular balloons that read 'Congratulations Harry and Hermione' but they would pop every ten seconds. Every time one would pop it would make a sound like a baby crying, cooing, gurgling or burping and also some of the more grotesque sounds a baby made.
There was a huge sheet cake on one of the tables that was decorated with little plastic storks walking all over the top of it holding babies in slings from their beaks and had the same saying as the banner did. They had also gotten Dobby to set up a huge lunch for them all so they wouldn't have to go to the Great Hall to eat. Hermione had followed Ginny downstairs, thinking they were going to lunch and saw how the common room was decorated. She looked at all the girls there, smiling at her and holding their prettily wrapped gifts. She couldn't help it, she started laughing and crying at the same time. Ginny wrapped her arm around her shoulders and guided her into the throng of girls. They spent the time eating, talking, playing games and opening presents. Hermione was touched at all the gifts the girls got for her; there were outfits, sleepers, blankets, booties and toys. There was a rattle that looked like the night sky and when you shook it all the stars bounced around while it made noise. There was also a little mobile that had quidditch players dressed in Gryffindor colors on brooms chasing a snitch around in circles while it played a lullaby. "Harry's going to love this" she said and laughed along with the rest of the girls.
She was so touched at everything they had done for her that day. "Thank you so much for all the lovely gifts and
for giving me this shower. I know that you all had noticed my, um, impending condition and I want to thank you for not
asking me questions about it. After all the snide comments I've heard from the other houses, you guys have proven
how truly classy the girls of Gryffindor are!" They all cheered after Hermione said this, and one by one each girl
walked up to her to give her a hug. Hermione usually wasn't much of a hugger, but after everything they'd done
for her she couldn't deny them one hug each. After many offers to baby-sit and many questions about the baby's
name, she had tried to help clean up only to be shooed out of the room. Laughing, she gathered all of the presents
together and took them into her and Harry's room.
After eating lunch that day, the guys had gotten Harry to play a pick up game of quidditch out on the pitch. Ron had
told him what Ginny had organized for Hermione and Harry agreed that he didn't want to be in the common room with
all those girls acting all sappy over his son. He was glad to spend some time with Ron and the other guys from
Gryffindor; truth be told, he'd been doing too many girly things lately. He didn't mind spending time with
Hermione and helping her when she needed it, but she had asked him to brush her hair for her the other night. Doing
that plus putting the lotion on her was just too...feminine for Harry. So of course he jumped at the chance to play in
a testosterone filled quidditch game. Besides, after the baby was born, who knew when he'd get time with the guys
again?
After playing quidditch and feeling like a man again, he went up to his quarters and saw Hermione with all the gifts she had gotten. He had had to sit on the bed and watch as Hermione took out every outfit and toy to show him. His favorite gift out of all of them was the quidditch mobile of course; he wanted his son to play quidditch like he did and planned to teach him how as soon as he was old enough no matter what Hermione said. She continued on, telling him who gave them what gift and it wouldn't have been so bad, but she used a cutesy voice when she talked that was very un-Hermione like. He was hoping it was just because she was pregnant that she had become like this and that she would go back to her normal, know-it-all self once the baby was born. She had been talking while these thoughts ran through his mind and his thinking was interrupted when she stomped her foot on the floor and said "Harry James Potter, are you even listening to me?"
"What? Oh, yeah I'm listening" he said sheepishly, not meeting her eyes. She gave him an evil glare and said "as I was saying, we'll need to go into Hogsmeade next weekend to find a bassinet for the baby and pick up a few extra things."
"We're not supposed to go to Hogsmeade, you know that" said Harry. "Dumbledore wants us to stay in the castle since Voldemort knows about the baby."
"I know that, but I'm sure he'd let us go with Remus and maybe Tonks can go too" she said thoughtfully. "I can't stand being cooped up here anymore Harry. We haven't been to Hogsmeade once this term, and there are things I need to get. I'm sure you can talk Dumbledore into it" she said, then added sweetly "for me?"
Harry sat looking at her, wondering where his Hermione had gone and when she would be back. "I guess it won't hurt to ask him" said Harry, giving up. Hermione smiled at him and waddled out the door to find Ginny and tell her the good news. 'Waddled? When did she start to walk like a duck?' he thought. Shaking his head while looking at all the blue baby stuff surrounding him, he went to take a shower. 'The things I do for her' he thought, heading into the bathroom.
Harry went up to Dumbledore's office the next day to speak to him about the Hogsmeade trip. He explained how Hermione needed to get some things for the baby and the fact that she was suffering from cabin fever. Dumbledore sat seriously while listening to Harry, nodding his head once in a while in understanding. When Harry finished talking, Dumbledore sat quietly for a couple of minutes, looking to be deep in thought. "Tell Hermione I'll see what I can do. Things are too dangerous right now to risk her well being, or yours. I will contact Remus and Tonks to see if they can go. If I decide to allow this I will also be sending two others from the Order as guards, but you will not be able to see them. I will let you know my answer in a couple of days." Thanking Dumbledore, Harry made his way out of his office and back to his quarters. Tuesday morning during breakfast, Hedwig flew down to Harry with a note attached to her leg. After giving her a piece of bacon and an affectionate pat, Harry read the note and looked up at Dumbledore at the head table, smiling. He gave the note to Hermione to read and saw a huge smile spread across her face. "Just promise me we'll go, get what we need and get right back as quickly as possible" said Harry, looking at Hermione with a very serious expression.
"I promise" said Hermione, wrapping her arms around him, giving him a hug. "Thank you for asking Dumbledore for me. I can't wait to get out of here for a while."
Saturday morning came and Harry waited for Hermione to finish getting ready. She was moving more slowly these days due to her growing stomach. Finally they were able to make their way down to the castle entrance and get marked off of the list by Filch. They met up with Remus and Tonks, who were both amazed at how big Hermione had gotten.
"Wotcher Hermione! Are you sure you're not having twins?" Tonks asked, eliciting an angry glare from Hermione.
"No Tonks, I'm not having twins. Thanks for reminding me just how big I am" said Hermione, sounding a little upset.
"I'm sure Tonks didn't mean anything by it" said Harry trying to pacify her and giving a meaningful look to Tonks.
"No, I didn't mean to upset you Hermione" said Tonks "you probably look big because of how short you are."
"Tonks!" said both Harry and Remus at the same time. Tonks gave them a look that said she had no idea what she had said wrong. Hermione just shot her a dirty look and turned to stare out of the window.
The carriage had finally gotten to their destination and Harry got out first so he could help Hermione out. They made their way from store to store picking up a bassinet and nappies along with some things Hermione needed. They met up with Ginny and she went into a shop with Hermione to look for a nightdress that Hermione could wear after she had the baby. Tonks went in with them while Remus and Harry sat outside on one of the benches. After sitting there talking for a few minutes, they heard Ginny yelling inside the store and as they stood up in alarm, she came flying out of the shop door.
"Harry, Hermione's water broke!" she said, out of breath. When Harry looked at her with a confused look on his face, she said "Harry, she's going to have the baby!"
Harry understood that, and went running into the shop. What he saw in front of him made his blood run cold. Tonks was laid out on the floor unconscious along with the shopkeeper and Hermione was nowhere to be found. "Ginny, where is she?" he asked frantically.
"She was on the floor in that dressing room there!" said Ginny, very upset also. Harry walked over to the room she indicated and felt his heart drop. There was a smear of blood on the dressing room wall down by the floor. Turning around, he looked at Remus with fear in his eyes and Remus came to see what Harry had found. When he saw the blood, Remus ran out the door to find the cloaked Order members. As Remus left Harry looked at the scene before him and felt fear in every part of his body. He could see Tonks chest rise and fall as she breathed, but her face was bruised pretty badly. Whoever did this worked fast and knocked her around pretty good.
"HARRY!" yelled Remus from the door, ripping his attention away from Tonks. "Come out here, quick!"
Harry ran for the door, slamming outside to where Remus was standing. Harry looked at him and noticed him looking up. Harry looked up to see what he was looking at and felt like he was going to vomit; there in the sky floated the Dark Mark.