Guinevere

                                    

                                          
It was late August and Rose was in St Mungo's waiting room. Scorpius came around the corner wearing scrubs and carrying a clipboard. Rose ushered him over.
                          
"Can't you wait with me?" she asked.
                          
"Sorry, Rosie, I've already taken my break but my shift is over in about forty minutes so I'll come and sit with you then, okay?" he replied, briefly kissing her before walking off.
                          
How on earth was she going to kill forty minutes by herself? She couldn't leave in case someone came for her. She decided to pass the time re-reading a book that she found in her bag.
                          
After a few pages, she soon got tired of it and chose to people watch instead. People watching was one of Rose's favourite hobbies, and no, it wasn't creepy. Sat opposite her was an elderly woman trying to control her squirming grandson who seemed desperate to escape the hospital. Rose thought for a while as to why they might be in there. Maybe he was having a check-up? Perhaps it was something more serious? Or maybe he had just jammed something up his nose like every other toddler on the planet.
                          
A few seats away from her was a middle aged man who was dressed head to toe in thick robes and gloves despite the mild weather and time of year. The only part of him that wasn't covered was his face but he kept it well concealed behind a curtain of dirty hair.
                          
*          *         *
                          
Scorpius had now joined Rose as they both waited in the hospital. 
                          
"I'm nervous," she said.
                          
"Why are you nervous? This is exciting, isn't it?" he asked.
                          
"Well, yeah, but I'm still nervous,"
                          
A few minutes passed before Albus walked through the doors into the waiting room, looking exhausted.
                          
"I have a daughter," he announced. Rose squealed and jumped up to hug her cousin. Scorpius patted him on the back and offered his congratulations.
                          
"If you're looking for names, Rose is an excellent choice," Rose said after releasing him.
                          
Albus smiled. "Um, sorry, we've kind of already decided,"
                          
"Ugh, just tell me," Rose urged.
                          
"Well, pretty much everyone in my family, and Alice's for that matter, have been named after someone else, right? I'm named after Dumbledore; Lily and James after Dad's parents; Alice after her Grandmother...and we're kind of sick of it, if I'm honest. So we've gone out of family tradition and named her something no one in our families has ever been called. Guinevere."
                          
"Oh that's so perfect! Can we see her?"
                          
"Of course, you are godparents after all. Hence the reason it's only you here."
                          
"Yeah that and the fact if the whole family was, there wouldn't be enough room," Scorpius added as he and Rose followed Albus to the Maternity ward.
                          
Albus opened the door to a quiet room with a single bed and cot against one wall and a few chairs against the opposite wall. Alice was sitting upright in the bed holding Guinevere who was wrapped in a soft yellow blanket.
                          
"Hey godparents! Gwen's asleep so be quiet," Alice whispered. Rose nodded and crossed the room to her bedside.
                          
"Aw, Alice, she's beautiful," she said.
                          
"Do you want to hold her?" Alice asked. Rose smiled and nodded. She took her in her arms.
                          
"She's so tiny! Have you told everyone the news yet?" she asked.
                          
"I sent my patronus out with the strict instructions that everyone should come two at a time so as not to cause a fuss," Albus said, laughing as he did so.
                          
Rose handed the baby to Scorpius. "Make sure you support her head," she reminded him.
                          
"Rose, I'm a Healer. I know how to hold a baby," he replied, smiling.
                          
"Sorry! But in my defence, you don't work in paediatrics,"
                          
Scorpius rolled his eyes at her.
                          
"You two still want to be godparents?" Albus asked.
                          
"Are you kidding? Being a godparent is easy. We get all the fun bits and get to give her back to you afterwards," Scorpius joked.
                          
"He meant to say we'd love to as long as you're sure you want us to be," Rose chipped in.
                          
"Of course we do! You two are the most responsible people we know and your fiance is a Healer, so Gwen will be in safe hands, I'm sure," Alice told Rose.
                          
*          *          *
                          
Alice stayed at St Mungo's overnight with Guinevere. First thing the next morning, her parents came to visit her. 
                          
Neville was extremely happy to have a granddaughter. There was a time when it looked like he wouldn't even have a daughter, or wouldn't even survive to eighteen years old. He sat in the chair in the corner holding the baby in his arms.
                          
"Dad, do you want to take Gwen to see Grandma?" Alice asked. Neville nodded and stood up from the chair.  Alice took Gwen from him. They went upstairs to the Janus Thickey Ward. There weren't that many people in there and, at the end of the ward, Alice Snr was lying in her bed.
                          
"Hi Mum," Neville said, taking her hand in his. She still couldn't fully recognise her son but, as always, her face lit up with a smile. "Mum, I want you to meet someone. You remember how I came in here twenty two years ago with a baby? That baby was Alice. You know Alice, don't you Mum?" 
                          
He pointed to his daughter who smiled warmly at her Grandmother. She returned the smile. Whether it was out of courtesy or recognition, it wasn't clear.
                          
"Alice has had her own baby. Guinevere,"
                          
"Grandma, do you want to hold her?" Alice asked, approaching the bed. Her Grandmother nodded. She had always loved to hold children.
                          
Her face lit up even more when she held Guinevere. It was probably due to a memory stirring deep inside her of holding Neville when he was just a baby.
                          
*          *         *
                          
"Okay, we should go now, darling," Neville said to his daughter as he stood up to leave. Alice took Gwen and left her Dad alone with his mother for a minute. 
                          
Neville kissed his mum on her forehead and just as he was beginning to leave, she gave him a bubblegum wrapper.
                          
"Thanks, Mum," he said, like always. As soon as he got home, he would put that wrapper inside a box on top of his wardrobe, along with all of the others. Just like always. Maybe one day he'd actually paper a room with them all.