Harry woke extra early, showered and dressed and was on his way to Hogwarts by six a.m. After the escape of Barty Crouch Jr. from Azkaban in Harry's fourth year, the Ministry had instituted a routine prisoner check twice a month. The checks were intended to screen all prisoners and make sure that they were, in fact, who they were supposed to be. After Voldemort's defeat, the Ministry was taking ever precaution to prevent such a disastrous time from ever happening again. Harry had done the check twice before and absolutely hated it. Azkaban was no summer vacation home, and every time he went, he thought about how Sirius had been imprisoned for twelve years in the horrid place.
As Harry arrived at the castle, he was greeted by Remus Lupin. Lupin had been reinstated as a teacher after the fall of Voldemort. Most people were willing to look past him being a werewolf, considering that he'd helped bring down the Darkest Wizard in history. Harry and Lupin were scheduled to do checks together so after they arranged everything they needed, the two set off for what would undoubtedly be a grueling task.
***
Hermione woke up at about eight a.m. feeling incredibly nauseas. She sat up in bed, her feet dangling over the edge, willing her stomach to settle down. After a few moments of deep breathing she stood up and ran to the bathroom. She befriended the toilet for what seemed like a good ten minutes before she was finally able to stand up without blowing chunks. Looking around the bathroom, she suddenly froze. It was April 10, her "hell week" as Harry so affectionately put it. Yet she had not started the day before like she should have. Overcome by nausea once more, Hermione vomited a few more times and slowly made her way back to the bed. She sat, thinking for a long time. Finally she reached over to the telephone on the bedside table and picked up the receiver. She dialed a number and waited for someone to answer on the other end. A chipper female voice took the call.
"Dr. Rose's office, this is Linda, how may I help you?"
"Uh, yes. This is Hermione Gran-uh, Potter. I need to make an appointment with Dr. Rose as soon as possible please. Today if he has room." Hermione held her breath, hoping for an appointment soon.
"Alright Mrs. Potter, Dr. Rose has an opening at eleven a.m. Can you make it?" The chipperness in Linda's voice was making Hermione nauseous again.
"Yes, that is quite fine. Thank you." She hung up the receiver and lay back gently onto the soft pillows.
My, my, Hermione. It seems like it will be quite an eventful day. You probably only have a little stomach bug. I am sure it's nothing to worry about. She paused her thoughts for a moment. Silly git. If it is nothing more than a stomach virus, why did you call your gynecologist?
Hermione always hated going to doctors of any sort. The offices always smelled so sterile and the white washed walls were so boring and dull she could hardly stand it. The waiting room of Dr. Rose's office was small but not too crowded. She sat in a chair reading a disguised copy of Witch Weekly. To muggles it would appear that she was reading an issue of Better Homes and Garden. A door to her left opened and a short lady wearing bright pink scrubs walked out with a chart in her hands. She smiled brightly in Hermione's direction.
"Mrs. Potter? Dr. Rose is ready to see you now."
Hermione put the magazine into her purse and followed the woman down a white hall and into an examination room on the right side. She sat her purse in one of the chairs and walked over to the patient chair. The woman handed her an examination gown and some paper booties for her feet.
"You can change into the gown here; I'll lock the door on my way out so just crack it when you are done dressing. Dr. Rose will be with you momentarily!" She smiled at Hermione and left the room, locking the door as she said she would. Hermione sat the dressing gown onto the chair and slipped off her tee shirt, skirt, bra and panties. She put on the paper gown as well as the booties, and opened the door just a crack. No sooner than when she sat down onto the patient chair, did Dr. Rose come in. He was a tall man of about forty. His hair was black with specks of grey in it which added character to his handsome face and muscular build. He flashed a toothy smile and looked at Hermione over his frameless glasses. Hermione had known Dr. Rose for a few years as her doctor, but before that she had a brief stint with him before she realized that she and Harry were destined for each other.
"Hello Hermione, it's nice to see you again. I see that on your charts your last name has changed." He smiled slightly as he looked at her.
"Yes, I actually got married about six months ago. You remember Harry?" She returned his smile
"Oh of course, such a delightful man! Well, I certainly am glad that you two finally got married, I was wondering how long it would take! So, shall we get this over with? Tell me what's wrong and I shall do my best to fix it." He flipped through his charts, finding a place to make notes.
"Well, I woke up this morning feeling extremely nauseous. I was sick several times. Also, I was supposed to start my period yesterday but it hasn't come yet." She looked at him nervously waiting for his diagnosis. He stared at the chart for a moment then looked up at her.
"Ok, well lets go down to the ultrasound room and see what we can make of it." He left the room, Hermione trailing on his heels to a room further down the hall. They went in and Dr. Rose motioned for her to lie down on the chair in the middle of the room. He went to a closet and removed a large white blanket and handed it to Hermione.
"Put this over your lower legs and abdomen, and adjust your gown to the top of your abdomen, just below your breasts." She took the blanket and did as he said, leaving her midsection free to be poked and prodded. Dr. Rose turned his back to her and turned on a rather large machine with a screen. It whirred and whistled and soon the screen was filled with a blank grey screen. He reached over into a drawer and removed a tube of some sort and turned back to Hermione.
"Ok, Hermione, this is a special type of petroleum jelly. I am going to put some of it onto your stomach to better help the ultrasound reading. It is going to be cold at first, so don't be alarmed." He squeezed a quarter size amount of the gel onto her stomach and the chill of it tingled her insides. He removed a thick plastic wand shaped object and pressed a button on its side. He looked at her over his glasses.
"Ready? This won't hurt at all. At least it shouldn't" He giggled gently and Hermione omitted a nervous laugh. He put the object onto her stomach and began moving it around slowly. As he did so, the image on the screen changed from blank to something small, pulsing and moving ever so slowly. Hermione stared at the screen, eyes wide in amazement. Stomach viruses did not look like that. Dr. Rose stopped the monitor in a spot where the pulsation was most regular and looked at Hermione, a wide smile on his face.
"Hermione, as an expert who gives expert opinions based on expert fact, I would say that you have here, a baby."
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