TWELVE
When Harry woke up, he was still in the same position he had fallen asleep in. Hermione, however, was now facing him. She had moved back and forth a few times, not being able to spend all night in one position.
She was still sleeping when he opened his eyes. He admired her soft features, her curly hair. "Why did I waste so much time? Why didn't I realize sooner how I felt about her?" he thought.
She looked so peaceful like that. Slowly his eyes traveled down to her belly. A big happy and proud smile was drawn on his face. He then looked at her lips. A sudden urge to kiss them started to creep inside him. Without thinking about it, he started leaning towards her.
When their faces were a few inches apart, he looked lovingly at her face once more. Wanting to close the distance between their lips, he began to lean in farther. Just as he was about to cover her lips with his, a gentle moan escaped from her mouth.
Harry quickly pulled back. Lazily, Hermione opened her eyes. She raised a hand and rubbed the sleep off them. Then, she smiled at him.
"Good morning," she said still a little sleepy.
Harry smiled at her, not quite meeting her eyes. Hermione, ignoring Harry's agony, started greeting her baby good morning, rubbing her belly and talking to it. Harry smiled at that sight.
"What?" she asked, catching Harry, trying to stifle his giggles. "You're laughing at me?" asked Hermione trying to sound offended but fighting back a smile, too.
"No," said Harry quickly, motioning his hands in defeat. Then sitting up on the bed, he resumed talking. "I love seeing you do that," he said honestly. He locked eyes in her for a while. He then stood up and straightened his clothes - he had slept fully clothed.
"I reckon I should go and make us some breakfast," he said stretching out to wake his body up, reminding Hermione terribly of Crookshanks.
"Wait," said Hermione before he left the room. "Could you pass me some clothes?"
Harry looked questioningly at her. "Why?"
"Please…" said Hermione, thinking that Harry was trying to remind her about good manners.
"I mean, what do you want clothes for?"
"I can't wear my pajamas all day, " she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "And I want to go to the living room."
"No, you're not." He got closer to the bed and looked down at her, hands on his hips. "Remember what the doctor said. Bed for a couple of days."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course I remember. I'm not going for a run, you know. I'm just tired of being here all day," she said looking at him. "I just want to go and settle down on the couch instead. That way at least I'll be able to look out the window."
Harry let out a sigh of resignation. "Alright, but you're not going to move from the couch, you hear me?"
"Yes sir!" said Hermione mocking a salute with her right hand.
Harry smiled at her, shaking his head in disapproval. He then headed to her wardrobe and pulled the doors open. A soft scent came out as he did it. For a moment Harry remained there, eyes closed, enjoying that smell. Luckily for him, he was giving his back to Hermione - hiding his dreamy expression from her.
"Just hand me some shorts and a tee," said Hermione, thinking that Harry was trying to figure out what to give her. "Oh and… a bra, too."
Harry swallowed hard. He grabbed the first shorts and tee he saw and turned to place them on the bed, avoiding her eyes. Hermione pointed the to wooden dresser on the side of the room.
"On the top drawer," she said simply.
Dragging his feet, he got closer to the dresser. He took hold the golden handles and, very slowly as if expecting it to explode, opened the drawer. Inside there were several pieces of Hermione's socks, knickers, bras - and other things Harry had no idea what they were - neatly folded.
For a few seconds, Harry remained frozen holding the drawer handles for dear life, afraid that if he touched something, he might ruin its perfect balance. Then, Hermione's fake cough took him out of his thoughts.
"Just give me a white one."
He let one of his hands off the handles and steered it to the insides of this wonderful universe. He gently rubbed his hand on the soft fabric of one of her knickers to then linger toward the bras. A black lacy bra caught his sight. He froze for a second. Finally, trying to get away from this torture, he grabbed the bra right next to the black one.
Feeling he had survived an agonizing predicament, he placed the garment in her hands. Hermione looked curiously at him, realizing his hands were shaking. Harry stepped back, regaining the ability to breath. He started heading towards the door. Just before leaving, he turned back and asked playfully.
"You need help getting dressed?" a mischievous smile on his face.
Hermione looked at his green eyes for a while, smiling back at him. "Why thank you Harry," she responded in the same playful tone. "But I can do it myself."
He looked at her intently for a while. Finally, he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
--- * --- * --- * ---
Harry and Hermione spent all morning in the living room playing exploding snap. They hadn't played that since they were at Hogwarts and enjoyed it a lot. Memories of the times they spent together in the Gryffindor Tower, along with all of their friends, kept them laughing all morning.
Finally, Harry started gathering the cards. His cheeks were hurting. He hadn't laughed that much in quite a while.
"Harry…"
Harry placed the cards on top of the coffee table and turned to face her. She was lying on the big brown couch. Harry was sitting on a chair next to her.
"What do you want to do this Saturday?" she asked while rubbing her belly, a thing she'd do very often lately.
Harry looked at her curiously not sure why she was asking that, or what she had in mind. "Why do you ask?" he said trying hard not to show hope in his voice. "I'd do anything you want!" he thought.
"Cause it's your birthday silly!"
She realized he had forgotten. His mind had been so busy lately, he didn't have time to pay attention to such things. He shook his head.
"Dunno. I forgot about that," he finally said.
"So I see." Hermione didn't plan on letting the day go by unnoticed. She had indeed given it some thought. "Well, I was thinking that perhaps we could make a special dinner and invite everybody over. That way those who may not know about the baby… will have a chance to find out."
Harry smiled at her. "Dinner sounds nice, as long as you don't do anything…" She was about to protest, but he placed a finger over her mouth. "We can get the girls to help out, hey even I can help."
Once again, Hermione was about to complain, but he didn't give her a chance to speak. "And as far as for the letting-know-about-the-baby-to-those-who-don't-know… I just hope you're not planning to invite The Daily Prophet."
Hermione laughed. He just loved to seer her like that, laughing like a child, her eyes alight with happiness.
"Of course not," she said between fits of laughter. "I mean the rest of the Weasleys."
"Oh," he said in relief. "Let's do it then."
Nothing sounded better to him than to spend his birthday surrounded by his friends, his soon-to-be-born baby, and of course, Hermione.
"Just forget that nonsense about you helping out," she said pointing a finger at him. "It's your birthday and you're supposed to be spoiled. I'll have Ginny and Luna help me."
"Okay, okay. Just promise me one thing," he said getting closer to her. "You won't tire yourself too much." He placed a hand over her belly and caressed it gently. "I don't want anything to happen to our baby."
Each time Harry said "our baby" Hermione's heart skipped a beat. She smiled sweetly at him. For a moment, they looked into each other's eyes. Harry was beginning to lean closer to her. Just then, Hermione squinted her eyes and looked intently at him. Harry started wondering if he had something on his face.
"How can you see through these?" she asked taking Harry's glasses off his face. "They're so dusty!"
She pulled up her tee to wipe his glasses clean, revealing part of her tummy. Harry gasped at the sight of it. He quickly kneeled down next to her and took his glasses of her hands. Gently, he pulled her top up just enough to uncover her pregnant belly. For a second, Hermione thought about pulling her tee back down, but after seeing Harry's expression she decided to set her self-consciousness aside.
Still, she couldn't help herself from asking. "What? I'm too big, right?"
Harry smiled at her. "No, you're not," he responded looking into her brown eyes. "I'm just amazed to see how perfect the woman's body is. To be able to carry a baby and take care of it like this is just… a miracle." He was softly caressing her belly. The baby responded to his touch. When Harry felt the movement under his hands, he started talking to the baby.
"Hey baby, daddy's here." His mouth was touching Hermione's stomach, tickling her as he spoke. Hermione tried hard not to laugh, but she couldn't take the tickling anymore. Harry looked up at her. "You know something Hermione, there's no other person in the world I would have chosen to be the mother of my child but you."
Hermione's face turned radish-red. She sure was flattered by his comment, but was not willing to let her hopes rise.
"You're just saying that…" she finally managed to say. "Because I'm already expecting your child."
"No." His voice sounded firm. "I've always thought that."
She smiled shyly looking away.
--- * --- * --- * ---
That Friday Harry and Hermione went to see Mrs. Granger's doctor. In Athens, Hermione had had regular check-ups at the Academy's hospital. As the doctor examined her, Hermione couldn't keep herself from making mental notes on the differences between muggle and magic prenatal care.
Harry was with her all the time. For the first time, Harry got the chance to listen to the baby's heartbeat (Hermione had already heard it, though the technique healers used was different). At that moment, it completely dawn on him that it was all real.
He was going to be the father of a little baby, a tiny human being that was going to depend on him, and of course on Hermione. With that realization also came a sense of resolution that told him he was ready for that. He'd do anything and everything in his power to make sure this baby would be well taken care of.
Even an hour later, when they were already back home, his goofy expression was still glued on his face. Hermione, having a fair idea of what was going through his mind, remained silent giving him the opportunity to process his thoughts.
Finally, he seemed to come out of his trance. He sat down on the living room's couch smiling at her.
"You know," he said to her. "I'm ready for this. You have no idea how glad I am about us having this baby."
Hermione smiled looking down at her stomach. She was glad too, but she would have felt even better if her pregnancy had happened under different circumstances. Without realizing it, she voiced this out.
"I just wished this baby had been conceived with love."
As soon as those words came out, Hermione wished she wouldn't have said anything. Trying to avoid Harry's eyes, she quickly turned on her heels to go into her room. Harry, however, ran to her and grabbed her arm.
He pulled Hermione gently and turned her to face him. They were standing very close to each other.
"I'm sorry," she said in a whisper still trying to avoid his eyes. "I shouldn't have said that." Hermione tried to free herself from his grip, but couldn't.
"Wait!"
"Let me go, Harry," she pleaded, determined to avoid his gaze as much as possible.
To keep her from going anywhere, Harry grabbed hold of both her arms. "We need to talk about this." His voice sounded urgent.
Hermione swallowed with difficulty before finding her voice. "There's nothing to say."
"Maybe there is…" he said in a whisper getting closer to her. She tried once more to unhook his hands off her arms, but she couldn't even move. Finally, she looked up at his eyes. His gaze was so intense, her heart began pounding uncontrollably, echoing in her ears.
Harry pulled her closer to his body, his green eyes still locked in hers. "Don't you see it, Hermione?" he whispered. Their faces were so close, their noses were almost touching. Hermione started breathing in short gasps.
Harry loosened the hold of one of his hands in order to caress her bare arm gently. His touch was burning her skin. "Don't you feel it?" His voice was dripping with desire just as it had several months before.
"Can't you feel how my hands are dying to touch you?" His voice was barely audible. Breathing against her mouth, he said, "Can't you see I'm dying to kiss you?"
Hermione closed her eyes as Harry finally covered her mouth with his. Her senses went into shock for a few seconds, but she quickly responded him with the same intensity; their lips and tongues exploring, devouring.
Harry nibbled at her bottom lip for a while before kissing his way down to her neck and the delicate skin right under her ear. A wave of sensations ran through her body making her throat emit a soft moan.
He went back to her lips and kissed them once more before pulling back just enough to see her eyes.
"Do you still think it was conceived without love?"
Hermione couldn't respond. She was having a hard time processing her thoughts. Her heart was still pounding at top speed and her breath hadn't normalized. For all response, she pulled his face back, wanting to resume the kissing.
He didn't complain and gave her what she wanted. After a while, they both pulled back gasping for breath. Harry rested his forehead on hers and smiled warmly.
"Is this real?" she said once she regained control of her speech. "Am I dreaming?"
Harry placed one more kiss on her lips before saying, "Does it feel real?"
"It sure does."
Harry enclosed her with his arms and enjoyed the wonderful feeling of knowing she felt exactly the same way he did.