35: A New Prince Is Born

                                    

                                          
Hermione
My eyes felt dry after finishing up the written portions of my NEWTS exams to be sent off via owl. I had wanted to complete my exams in person at Hogwarts, but Severus insisted that it was too unsafe in both my condition and the tenuous situation of Voldemort's iron grip on how the school was run in general. My body felt ungainly and I looked like a bloated whale half the time. Lucius Malfoy grieving his wife did not help matters much, because there were some close calls where Eileen and I had to keep him from resorting to alcohol or other drugs to cope with the loss. I kept Draco abreast as to what was happening with events at home, but even with his concerns for his father's mental state, we all knew there was little he could do.
I sat back from the desk in the study, and that was when I felt something in my lower half...shift and when I stood up I felt along my pants, and yep, I definitely felt my water broke. Ellara then spoke up in my mind: ("It is time, sister. Inform your mate that your child is about to be born. Or, do you wand users not have your men present for the births of children?")
"Well, we typically only have healers in the room for the actual labor," I replied aloud. "Most men kind of don't want to see the birth."
Ellara laughed, ("The things humans choose to make mountains out of mole hills I will never understand. It is important for men to truly see the process of birth, Hermione. Inform one of your dwarvish creatures to have Severus present. In the meantime, I will assist with the contractions as much as possible.")
I did as she requested, and the house elf on duty disapparated away to wherever my husband was. 
I moved gingerly out of the Malfoy study and by a small miracle I made it to my bedroom. There, I summoned my mother in law, and she quickly went into potions mistress mode, and kept checking to see how dilated I was between my legs with regularly cast tempus charms.
She frowned, "It is a bit of an early time for the child to come, but not entirely unexpected, Severus was an impatient birth as well."
I winced as I began to feel some of the contractions now, "Uhh...ouch, yeah that makes sense. This feels like a small series of period cramps."
She chuckled as she quickly worked over her cauldron with her makeshift workstation. "Yes, yes, that is to be expected." She finished up her latest potion as she filled up the glass vial, and handed it to her. "Here. It's just Calming Draught. The last thing you need to do is stress yourself more."
I drank it, and instantly felt more calm and less anxious. I tried to move from the bed, and she carefully helped me to walk about the bedroom, my steps slow as my small contractions grew slightly more intense. "There you go, nice and easy. I told you to take it easy on running that last marathon."
I laughed, and winced, "Oww. Oh man, how do women do this every day? This is just awful evolutionary design. Remind me to never do this again."
Eileen's smile was so like my husband's it made me miss him all the more. "Oh hush, you'll do it again. You two have too much passion for each other for you not to do this again."
I pouted, slowly lying down on the stripped four poster bed, save for the bed sheets. I pouted, "It's a shame all of those good times results in this nonsense."
Twenty minutes passed...half an hour before Severus arrived through the bedroom fireplace floo network, Madam Pomfrey in tow. The medi-witch seemed slightly annoyed to be summoned like this for a house call, but when she saw me she conferred with Eileen Prince about my condition, and Severus came to my side, smoothing back my sweaty hair from my forehead and pressing a kiss there. 
"You came," I greeted.
"Naturally. Kaelin urged me to attend."
I grinned. "I hope I didn't keep you from anything important."
"Besides little brats attempting to destroy the Potions classroom against all odds? Hardly. Ah, Kaelin wishes to speak with you."