The first weeks proceeded normally. Ginny had the first indications that this time it would work when she kicked Draco out of bed that first morning as she rushed for the toilet. She faced several weeks of nausea and then the bloating, mood swings and cravings. Draco had sufficient experience from their own children to know her mood swings during pregnancy meant he was in for a rough time, only this time there were two others there to help.
Harry and Hermione left their home in Godric Hollow to stay at Malfoy Manor, to be there with Ginny. Draco argued that having them stay in Malfoy Manor was unnecessary, since they could arrive in a moment's notice should any problems arise. Ginny too, argued that this was her second time and was quite used to the coming events. Harry had agreed on a private level, but in support of Hermione's needs, he convinced Draco they wouldn't be a burden, but would be available to help. On an unspoken level, Draco's reluctance was more to have peace and tranquillity for Ginny and their two children, but he also posted little protest at the house guests, to atone for his father's role that caused this problem in the first place.
Draco never admitted to any one, including Ginny that he felt some degree of guilt for Hermione loosing their first child. If only he had reached them sooner, if only he hadn't stopped to keep Ginny from rushing to her parents. If only.
Ginny's mounting condition worsened daily, when she carried her two, her bouts of morning sickness didn't seem as harsh as this time. She pondered if the fact it was Harry and Hermione's child, the fact that together they formed an alliance of power no other wizard could match. Maybe that's why this round of morning sickness began almost from the morning following conception and seemed to be amplified. The force of her daily nausea kept Hermione busy; making sure Ginny had ample nourishment and fluids. The surprise of their lifetimes came when the first check-up revealed that this was not going to be a normal pregnancy, that she carried two.
It was a beautiful spring day in late May when a young blond woman entered the telephone booth, and dialed the number she had dialed dozens of times before, 6-2-4-4-2, and waited.
"Name." the receiver demanded.
"Luna Weasley, Healer."
"Purpose?"
"Medical escort for Ginerva Malfoy."
A badge dropped into the slot identifying her and her purpose for entering the Ministry of Magic. She placed the badge on her jacket, excited that Ginny was passed the six-month mark. She passed through the entranceway to find her sister-in-law, knowing she would be finishing last minute details in her office. Harry and Ron both had been detained elsewhere and Hermione was already at St. Mungo's, unable to leave her own patients. Luna had on more then one occasion escorted Ginny for them.
She met Ginny in her office in the Department of Mysteries, she had recently advanced to a deputy position in this office; her duties were to catalog and safeguard the prophecies from the past 100 years in the storage chamber. She had finished her daily inventories of the new orbs recently delivered, and was waiting calmly at her desk.
Luna's clinical façade vanished when she entered the office and saw the fiery red-head witch, barely able to sit in her own chair. She looked ready to burst at six months, the children she carried just as eager to meet their parents.
"You ready, Gin?" she asked as she retrieved Ginny's cover from the peg on the door.
Ginny reluctantly accepted Luna's assistance, when she held both hands out to her to help her to her feet. As strong willed and as independent as Ginny was, she also knew from her own children's births there are times help was needed.
"Why did it have to be twins again? And they're not even mine this time." Ginny complained laughingly , but despite the obvious discomfort, she was more then happy to fill this role for Harry and Hermione.
Luna helped Ginny to her feet, and put an arm around her back for support. She was just six months along, but unlike her own twins, these two were big. She had been told that her last three months may require bed rest and, despite her immediate superior's complaints, she had chosen to take maternity leave from this day. She left her desk clear of parchment and quills, assured by the highest of levels her position would be there when she returned.
"Come on then, let's get this over with," she wheezed as she lumbered to her feet. This had been a more difficult pregnancy, neither child cared to remain docile; she swore she had more bruises inside from the kicking than she ever received in her three years on the house Quidditch team.
Together the two young women left the office and the building, to a waiting car provided by the Minister himself. The car was a typical sedan, parked just around the corner on Henrietta Street, in accordance with local muggle law. The narrow phone booth elevator would have normally allowed the two women to fit, but with Ginny's condition, Luna made the trip first and waited for her sister-in-law to join her.
Several blocks away, two men were evading the local authorities, they were wanted in connection to the growing world threats of terrorism; both were foreign nationals illegally smuggled into the country. Their task was to attempt to rebuild the ranks and structure new groups in the city, but undercover agents had discovered them during their recruitments.
The chase raced through downtown London during the peak of the day, two marked and one unidentified car in deadly pursuit. The parade of cars ran down Maiden Lane, passing others as if they had stopped, turning left to avoid a head-on collision with oncoming traffic from Covent Garden.
As the second for the two women left the phone booth exit, the lead car in the chase again swerved away from traffic. Leaving the safety of the street, it ran up on the pavement, hoping to cause confusion and aide their escape, but instead hit the telephone booth as a young woman began walking away.
The shell of the phone booth exploded on impact, striking the woman as she turned to the sound of the commotion. Shards of glass and steel struck her, the force of the impact pushed her out of the direct path of the car, but it still struck her as it passed. Her broken form was tossed to the side of the building she had just left. Images of her youth swam past as the intense pain forced her body to shut down and slip into unconsciousness.
Luna watched in horror as Ginny lay in the debris, covered in blood. She rushed to her side, hoping it was a dream, but once she felt Ginny's warm thick blood in her hands, time seemed to stop. A shard of metal pierced her enlarged stomach, and was the primary flow of blood. Smaller cuts on her face and arms made the vision more disturbing and reminiscent of the explosion they both lived through as children. Ginny was still breathing, but each breath was shallow, telling Luna there wasn't much time.
People gathered around the scene, some helped the two from the car, and they pushed through the crowd into obscurity. A local constable rushed to Luna's side, offering help for Ginny. He radioed for an ambulance while Luna did what she could without using her wand. 'If I could just use it for one minute, she would be safe, and maybe the children would have a chance,' she thought. She cautiously pulled her wand from a pocket in her cloak, only to feel a hand push it back. She glanced to the owner and it was the guard from the Ministry, he had strict orders to prevent any public display, even at the cost of life.
"What are you doing? I'm a Healer." She commanded as she tried to draw her wand again.
"You can't, not here. There are too many of them," he whispered hoarsely to her, again pushing her wand hand back out of sight as a crowd began to gather. "I've called for a pickup from St Mungos', they should be here in a moment."
Luna managed to control the bleeding, hoping Ginny could hold on, but she slipped in and out of consciousness from the pain and shock. In those brief moments of consciousness she couldn't feet her legs, as if they were gone. She was aware of Luna's presence, but that's all. The look of pain on her face was not for herself, but as a mother, it was for the two she carried. It was an unspoken concern between two women, two sisters, and two mothers. All Luna could do in those moments was give Ginny what comfort she could.
In those longer moments of unconsciousness, Ginny imagined being in a calm park, as she sat on a bench watching two young children play with a much older couple; the man had extremely messy black hair with distinguished grey streaks along the sides. The woman had graying red hair and a familiar feel to her that made Ginny wonder who she was. The boy and girl ran to the woman, and jumped into her arms. Ginny could distinctly hear them call the woman 'Gram' as they continued their play.
The peacefulness of the moment was jarred when the man called his wife by name, "Lily."
'James and Lily Potter?' she thought in a daze. 'But... they are long dead!' And suddenly, the realization of exactly where she was and why she was looking at that scene came to her. 'No, it couldn't be,' she screamed, but there was no one to hear her. Not even the four playing in the park heard her scream. She instinctively reached for her stomach, to see for herself, and there were no wounds, and no babies inside.
"Ginny, hold on, stay, please stay with me." Luna pleaded with her. She tried everything she could while still in view of the public to keep her alive. Thankfully an ambulance finally arrived on the scene.
"We'll take her from here, miss." The paramedic instructed as they tried to pull her away.
"I'm her private physician. Her condition is grave and she won't last to the public hospital, we must take her to my hospital now, it's a few blocks away." Luna demanded.
"I'm afraid we can't just drop her anywhere without proper identification, we have orders to take her to The Royal London Hospital."
"Bloody hell, that's clear over in Whitechapel, she'll be dead by then; the babies will be dead. No. I insist you take us were I can help her." She followed the paramedics as they placed Ginny on the stretcher and began administering aid. The paramedics began to wheel the stretcher to their ambulance, with Luna close behind.
"I'm sorry, but you can't ride with us, you're not allowed." He held up a hand to block her entrance to the vehicle, and received more then a verbal protest.
"DAMN IT, you're wasting time, I can help her if you'd only let me. She's family." The paramedic considered this last comment, and having briefly watched her care for the woman, nodded and waved her follow to the vehicle. She stayed at Ginny's side, still holding a bandage over the worst of the wounds, slowing the bleeding as best she could until they were safely out of public view.
Safely inside and with only one medic in the rear with her, she waited until he was preoccupied contacting the hospital for further instructions. She whipped out her wand and pointed it to the wound she tended; a yellow haze covered Ginny's abdomen stopping the flow of blood then she hid the wand back in its hiding place before the medic noticed. Luna placed a knowing hand over an uninjured area, and searched for any movement or any activity. One faint thump was enough to bark her orders to rush them as fast as the vehicle could manage.
"Hold on, Ginny, please." She almost pleaded hoping her sister-in-law could hear her. She knew there was something wrong, but refused to believe her fears. "Please… Ginny." She was on the verge of giving in to her emotions as the vehicle arrived at its destination. The driver turned a corner, to where the rear of the hospital. The driver scarcely slowed as he drove the vehicle directly to the emergency room doors.
The ambulance screeched to a halt, and the rear door burst open. The flow of people, all strangers and all muggles exploded from the doors, waiting to rush Ginny into the emergency surgery. The remote hope was to save her and the babies.
Luna remained sitting on the bench of the ambulance, and only after Ginny was taken did she allow her hands to shake. She sat there, staring at her hands, still covered with Ginny's warm thick blood. In near shock herself, having gone in a matter of only a few minutes from chatting pleasantly with Ginny looking forward to a checkup, to watching all hopes for one couple disappear and a young mother of two near death. She hardly felt each streak form down her cheek, and she didn't notice a man approach her and lift her from the bench.
The news of the accident was quickly relayed to everyone that had been waiting, and a group of four had arrived at the hospital nearly at the same instant as the ambulance, they appeared in the alley just around the corner from the ambulance bay where the now empty vehicle remained. Harry and Hermione never stopped, and with Draco close behind, they rushed to find Ginny. Ron had helped Luna out of the ambulance, to support her to a waiting row of seats. As the passed a laundry trolley Ron grabbed a couple clean white towels and covered his wife's hands, to hide the stains; Luna had been unable to tear her eyes from the crimson still dripping from her hands.
"Where is she?" Harry demanded.
"Where's my wife?" Draco screamed at the reception nurse.
"Please, you will have to just wait. She's with the doctors and they're doing everything they can to help her."
"Her? The babies? How are the babies?" Hermione choked out. She knew that Ginny's gift was possibly the last hope they had for a family. She resigned to never being able to have them herself and for the last six months she felt every sensation Ginny experienced.
"Miss, I'm sorry but I can't give you that information, since he's the father," the nurse pointed to Draco, "I can only allow him back with her. Please follow me, sir."
"But…" Hermione tried to explain these where her babies, these were her hopes and dreams. Her single obsession for the past five years now lay in an unknown state.
"Please they need to come in too." Draco began but was cut off quickly.
"If you want to see her before the end, you must follow me now." The nurse commanded as she grabbed his arm, pulling him down the corridor following a fresh trail of red drops and occasional splatter.
Harry pulled Hermione close to him and guided her to a row of seats along the wall, a mere fifteen meters away from where the trail turned into a side room. Ron sat with Luna, on a similar row of chairs, closer to the outside doors; he had his hands full with Luna, who wouldn't stop rubbing the red from her hands and clothes.
The emotional rollercoaster Harry and Hermione rode for most of their time together paled compared to this one event. All their shared struggles and shared triumphs with Ron and without him had no bearing; this was a moment in time neither could forget, a moment in both their lives that only added painful memories. Harry's thoughts drifted to those moments that helped him become the man he is today, the moment he held Hermione's lifeless body in his arms, and wished to join her. He held her close to his body again, one hand gently running through her hair, the other around her waist holding her upright.
Hermione gently pulled back to look at him. She knew his feelings from the sharp cold pain in her palm. Their connection from that one moment they shared before they realized they were destined to be together still raged when his emotions ran strong. He was angry and scared, he was there for her, and put his feelings for this additional wound aside.
"Mione, they'll do everything they can. I'm certain they will all be fine." She laid her face into him and he felt a familiar moistness through his shirt.
"If you only had your father's cloak, I would go in there and I know I could save them all. But we can't interfere, not here; if they only brought her to St Mungo's." She whimpered into his shoulder. She knew she had a power to heal, she had done once what had never been witnessed and returned from death. She knew she held that power, but never before considered searching within herself to use that power since then, until this moment.
He pulled her to face him. "We still have each other. I still have you here. But Draco may lose Ginny. I know how he feels right now; I know what it feels like to lose the one you love. We still have each, I'm grateful for that. Maybe there's something they can do, we have to wait."
The hitching from her chest told him her feelings, and as much as he said, it was said to try and convince himself that this would work out, that something good would happen.
She managed to pull away but sat with her head leaned into his chest. They sat there in silence; the noise of life around them disappeared as they waited for any movement from that room. Time froze as all movement in that corridor slowed to match. Life seemed to want this moment to remain forever. Simple actions around them took on new meaning and a life of their own, mocking the witch and her selfish desires. An orderly wielding a mop began to erase the trails and evidence of the morning, each stroke of the mop lasted an eternity. Hermione watched and recorded every action that day, sensing this was all she would have, memories.
A nurse pushed a roughly kept gurney from the adjacent room, apparently to prepare the room for another patient needing urgent care. The gurney was left against the wall opposite them. The rumpled sheets and blanket seemed out of place for a hospital that took care to quickly clean or reorganize used or soiled property, the towels Luna used had been taken by another orderly, and she was given clean ones, which she used to continue to wipe her clothes. The soiled marks that trailed the injured that arrived since Ginny had been taken had been cleaned as quickly.
Hermione stared at the gurney, the only new object in this small world they entered a half hour before. She knew each passing moment without word meant the news was grim, and she found herself praying not for the unborn, but for the other innocent life that hung in the balance. She cursed herself for putting Ginny in this danger. She wished for a sign or news. She knew as bad as losing the babies would be, losing Ginny would cut deeper into more lives. Ron and his brothers would lose a sister, two young babies would lose a mother, and a former adversary would lose his life's mate. She would lose a friend as close to her as a sister.
A similar gurney, down the hall also sat with a pile of soiled bed linens. An orderly stood there, quietly stripped the coverings and pulled them into a tight bundle. Hermione watched as he casually tossed the bundle into a small opening in the wall, to disappear from view. The attendant then wheeled the gurney down to the other end of the corridor, leaving one gurney left on the wall.
She returned her stare to the disheveled pile on the gurney in front of them, the activity of life that passed went unnoticed; Nurses escorting other patients from one examination room to another, Doctors discussing the intricacies of their new cases, and elderly gentleman limping away from the row of benches, an orderly pushing a man in a wheelchair as he bumped the gurney ever so slightly. That collision sent a wave through the covered table that seemed to alter reality as the sheets fluttered lightly on the two piles. That minor insignificant alteration to her new world split her soul in half.
A tiny blood stained arm fell from under the sheet.
Hermione screamed. Her outburst drew the attention of all around, Harry had also seen the arm, and he also knew what it meant. She threw her arms around his neck, now her emotions ran unchecked. She asked for a sign and it was there. It was the worst possible thing for her to see, she knew what lay under the now obvious matching piles on the gurney. He held her close to his chest, he felt the same pain, but swallowed it deep in his heart, she needed him to be the strong one; he will grieve later.
"Shh… they're gone. It's going to be ok." He held his mask firmly in place; the deep emotions he felt were buried safely out of view.
"Harry," she swallowed hard, "this couldn't be happening, not now. Harry, please… don't..." the image of the attendant casually discarding the soiled sheets raped her thoughts. "Harry, don't let them throw my babies away."
"That's nonsense. They can't, they won't. I promise" He tried to reassure her, her self confidence; her inner strength that defined her was gone. All that remained was this empty shell of the woman he loved. She needed him to bring her back. "We'll give them their birthright. We'll take them home." His reassurance of who these two were and their importance to not only her but to them as a family helped boost her back to the woman that faced the greatest evil of the age, back to the woman known in their world as The Lost Witch, back to his Hermione.
She pushed away from his supportive embrace and stood. He could feel her quiver without touching her, as she turned to the gurney where their unborn children lay. She hesitated as she reached to touch the tiny exposed arm, equally afraid of what she would find under the sheet. Dark red blotches outlined the two infants; she lifted a corner to see a leg with a name tag. Without moving touching them or moving the sheet, she could see the hospital's error. 'Baby Jane Malfoy'.
"Harry," she cried out. "They think they're Ginny's." She pulled the sheet back to see her daughter. The blood was from Ginny, the only trauma the baby's mother could see was bruising on her tiny chest, the point of impact from the car.
Harry stood by her side, one hand on her shoulder as she looked at the tiny form. She picked up a small towel and gently cleaned her daughter, wiping all trace of Ginny from the body. She then gently pulled the sheet from her son's body to give him the same attention but he had not been killed by the car's impact. The sight she saw forced Harry to pull the sheet back over his son, covering the gaping wound that ran through the tiny form.
Hermione pulled away, turning her back. She held a hand over her mouth from the shock of the sight. Although she had seen worse, although she had experienced wounds herself, the sight she has seen was worse, to see an innocent baby, her baby, with a mortal wound before he could draw a breath.
She doubled over and heaved once, emptying her stomach into a nearby trash bin. Harry held her; one hand supported her head over the bin, his other on her back. When she heaved a second time, the sounds from her were mixed with deep sobs of grief and gagging from the bile. She dropped to her knees, unable to stand the moment anymore. Ron and Luna both equally experiencing the gravity of the day, finally managed to come to their side, Ron pulled Harry into a hug; he knew his friend was hurting as well and needed what their friendship could provide, while Luna took over Harry's spot helping Hermione with her nausea.
Luna handed Hermione a fresh towel so she could wipe her face free of the bile and she rose, shakily, to her feet, supported by both Harry and Ron. Hermione turned to her daughter, and lifted the tiny body in her arms, and cradled her. She now had a bittersweet sensation of holding her daughter in her arms. The tiny body barely fit in the crock of her arm; she held the tiny head in her palm.
The two men supported her, as she was led back to the chairs on the other side of the corridor. Together they all managed to sit, with Hermione holding her daughter. Luna watched the look of tenderness on her face and the awe on Harry's face at his wife's complete attachment to the baby, at Hermione's undeniable love for this child. But Luna also noticed one thing was missing, she returned to the gurney, wrapped the tiny body tightly in a towel, to mask his wound and handed Harry his son. Harry held his son, and kept the towel in place as he held the tiny hands in his, he noticed certain details, the tiny feet and hands, perfect, with all five fingers, and even the nails looked as if they had just been trimmed. He felt the incredible miracle of life there in his hands and felt how fragile that life was. Harry bent his head down to rest on the form in his folded arms and began to weep openly showing his grief for the first time that day.
This was the time they desperately needed to bond and say goodbye all in the same moment. Every other attempt they made for a family failed with no visible evidence. Now they had that evidence, and they also had to say goodbye.
A lone physician watched the event unfold; Draco told them of the error in the name tag, that Ginny was only a vessel to carry the babies. The physician stood silently and watched the true parents grieve, giving all the time he could, but life must progress, the hospital had its rules. Those rules didn't allow for the human factor.
"Please, excuse me, but we need them for a final examination before we can release them. A councilor will be with you shortly, to help with the arrangements."
Harry looked to the voice, shook his head once and held his son. Ron standing by their side needed more.
"How's Ginny? How is my sister?" He inquired, trying not to add to the emotional stress that flowed in this corridor.
"Mrs. Malfoy's condition is grave, but she is stable for now. We'll know more shortly. If she survives, we won't know the full extent of the damage for several days. What is truly amazing is she would have bled to death in the ambulance, but the major arteries seemed to close themselves."
The doctor stood in front of Harry, and placed a hand to his shoulder. "Mr. Potter, please. We'll see to them for you." And he lifted the tiny boy from his hands and gently placed him back on the gurney. He looked at Hermione and approached her, but the look she gave made him pause.
"Please, Mrs. Potter, it's time."
She leaned in and gave her daughter the first and last kiss she would ever receive.
A small group had assembled in a small well kept plot near the edge of a small clearing overlooking a stream and fields past the stand of trees. There were two sets of graves bordered an empty spot that appeared to be waiting for its occupants, to the side of the newest sets of graves a pair of tiny, freshly excavated holes in the Earth remained ready for their intended occupants. The mood of the planet that day matched the mood of these friends and family members. A covering over the group shielded them from a light drizzle that fell over the landscape, but not the biting cold of the day, an unusual chill cut through the air this late May morning.
One couple dressed entirely in black sat in two chairs at the head of the two openings, with the others on either side of the matching graves. One couple stood while on the other side, the young woman remained sitting in a wheel chair, she still needed time to recover her strength from the shared ordeal. Two matching tiny caskets hovered above the wounds in the Earth, waiting to be laid to rest, and in honor of the paternal Grandmother, a snow white lily rested on each. The parents of the two sat quietly, as the others remained stone silent.
"Thank you all for being here." Harry finally broke the wall of silence. "These two innocent lives that we lost because of a freak unfortunate accident can never be returned to us, we will never know who they would have been, but we do know who they were. Jason and Janet never lived outside of the womb that carried them but they did know the love that wanted them. I…"
Hermione reached to his hand, and held it close, ignoring her blurred vision. "Its ok love, we all know."
"I… wanted to…" he stopped and caught the tightness in his chest. He swallowed hard to move past the grief. "I wanted to have my children grow up, as Hermione had, not the way I did. I wanted them to know they were wanted. I wanted them to live in the love we both need to share. I love this woman by my side. I always have, but I also know she needs something we can't have. For that…" he reached to her chin and looked into her eyes, the sorrow and grief they shared was for more then the occupants of the two tiny coffins. "For that, I know we will never stop trying. Hermione, I love you too much to see you in this much pain. If I only…" He looked away, he wished he could erase all this, wipe out all they had to go through only to end burying two babies that never drew a breath.
"Harry, please, it's happened. He did this to us, not you and not me. They were cursed to suffer because of him. It's not your fault. Please, let us bury our children." Her tone was cold and level; she didn't blame Harry, or herself anymore, but Lucius who now bore the full brunt of her anger. Pity he was already dead.
She stood, still holding his hand and gently pulled him to his feet.
"Please, Harry it's time to let them go."
"Good bye my loves, I hope you know how much we will miss you." He waved his hand and the two caskets slowly lowered into the ground, forever. Hermione walked to the foot of each and picked up a hand full of Earth, tossing the soil into the graves. Harry reached into a pocked in his cloak and retrieved a small pouch. He tossed small bits of dry soil over each grave, and replaced the pouch in his pocket.
"Sleep safely forever." He whispered, waved his hand as if scooping the dirt on the neat piles along side and filled the graves. A single stone grew from the head of the site, next to the one marking their grandparents' last home.