|
Birth of the Potter Children | ||||||
|
Category: Post-DH/AB Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Ron Weasley Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, General, Romance Warnings: Death, Intimate Sexual Situations, Violence Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 59 Summary: Third in the Almost Happily Ever After series, starting at the end of the hunt for the remaining supporters of Tom Riddle and the end of Ginny's Quidditch career. Hitcount: Story Total: 123089; Chapter Total: 4460 Author's Notes: I want to thank FriendofMolly again for being a fantastic Beta. She had key contributions to the last chapter and to everything having to do with pregnancy and giving birth. We would like to remind everyone again how much we appreciate reviews. |
Previous Next |
|
||||
|
The end of August and the beginning of September were good weeks for Harry and Ginny. Ginny’s articles for the Prophet were very well received. Many readers said Ginny’s articles were the best they had ever read about Quidditch. Ginny did say she was going to take at least a little break once James was born, but she didn’t see why she couldn’t start back writing after a couple of weeks. Harry was busy, both at the Ministry and with the International Auror’s. He was not as busy as when he was at school, and most days he and Ginny had breakfast and dinner together. Teddy was usually at dinner during the week. He was always curious about what Harry and Ginny were doing. He was fascinated by Ginny’s changing shape and thrilled when she let him feel the movement inside her. Victoire, with her rather strong personality, had somehow talked her mother into letting her be present when Louis was born, and at least according to Victoire this made her an expert in all things baby. Teddy passed on what Victoire said; mostly that it was a pretty messy process. Teddy said, “Victoire says she has to know all about babies, because she is going to have LOTS of them.” Harry was kidded, both at work and by his brother-in-laws, about having sex with a very pregnant wife. It was different, and got more and more different as the bump got bigger and bigger. Neither Harry nor Ginny was ready to give up being intimate, however. The middle of September, after Teddy had gone home, Dobedo said to Harry and Ginny, “Azalea is supposed to be having baby, but baby cannot be born.” “Why?” asked Ginny. “Problems,” said Dobedo. “Healers here now.” “Send them down to see me after they are through,” Harry said. “YES,” said Dobedo, and he disappeared upstairs. A short time later the witch healer, who specialized in house elves, Eliza, and her house elf healer partner Florence, came into the siting room where the Potters were. Ginny asked, “How are Azalea and her baby?” Eliza said, “Right now, fine. We have a very serious problem. The, what you would call a placenta, is in front of the birth canal. There is not any way to get the baby out.” Harry said, “Humans, when there is that kind of problem, they operate. Can they do that to a house elf?” Eliza said, “I want to take Azalea over to Mayo Magical Medical and try. The alternative is to have both mother and baby die. I just have to warn you that it is not easy. No one has ever done it, and house elves are a lot more different from humans inside than they are outside. There is stuff in the way, and we do not know if we can save either of them.” “We have to try!” Ginny exclaimed. “I think we do have to try,” Harry said. “Kreacher.” Kreacher stepped out from the doorway, where he had been listening. The old elf had tears in his eyes. “Has to tries, for good master Harry Potter,” he said. Harry accompanied Eliza, Florence, and the house elves to Mayo Magical Medical. There Harry got a quick lesson in house elf anatomy. The healers, including a couple of witches who were also Muggle surgeons, were frankly quite worried. “In many ways house elf medicine is a hundred years behind Muggle medicine,” one of the surgeons said. “We may lose them both,” the same surgeon said, “and if everything is hopeless we may need your permission to stop treatment.” About two hours into the operation a healer came out and told Harry, “We have a live baby, a boy. He was without oxygen, without a blood supply, for a while as the surgery was getting to him. He seems to be doing all right, but we do not know what damage the lack of oxygen did.” “How is Azalea?” Harry asked. “House elves are a lot different,” the healer said. “They have a job trying to put that little house elf back together. I cannot even guess what the prognosis is.” About three hours later one of the surgeons came in to talk to Kreacher and Harry. “She’s alive,” the surgeon said. “We did a CAT scan and an MRI scan before the surgery trying to see what was inside. We need to do some autopsies of healthy house elves that were killed in accidents to see how their bodies are made. I think we cut a major nerve, and have no idea what other damage we did. I think with some autopsies and a couple dozen operations we could get so we could do this and do a lot less damage, but I don’t know. “We will know a lot more about Azalea tomorrow morning.” Harry called Ginny, and relayed what the healers at Mayo Magical Medical had said. Ginny said, “My midwife said James is in no hurry to be born. The baby is still high, pressing against my lungs and my boobs. If I get any bigger I’m afraid my boobs are going to bump against my chin.” Harry couldn’t help but laugh at the picture Ginny was painting. Ginny started laughing too, saying, “Maybe it’s not QUITE that bad, but you are not the one whose body is being pushed out of shape. I don’t care how much work it is, I want this baby OUT.” “I’ll rush home as soon as I can,” Harry said. “Bring Azalea and the baby back with you, Harry,” Ginny said. “I will let you know if you need to come back.” Monday morning Kreacher was let in to see Azalea and his son. Mid-morning a different healer came out to see Harry. She said, “Kevin P/W is a fighter. He is nursing strongly. We have no idea if the lack of oxygen has hurt him. “Azalea is still pretty groggy, and we think it will probably take a long time for her to regain her strength. We cannot detect any feeling or any ability to move anything below where the surgery started, which is well up her trunk. She has use of her arms, and she can nurse and feel her body there, but there is not a lot of feeling or control below that. It’s not going to be easy keeping her bodily functions working.” “What do we do?” asked Harry. “We put her in a wheelchair, and use the best Muggle and magical help we can, and we do our best to keep her alive. We do our best to keep her alive and healthy, and occasionally take a chance on something that may make her a little better instead of just letting her get worse,” the healer said. Once Azalea and baby Kevin were home other problems began to surface. The easiest to solve was the question of help. Azalea needed another house elf to take care of her. Kreacher said, “Master Harry, if I assign a house elf to help Azalea, you have three house elves eating your food and living in your space and not serving you.” “I do not see what the problem is,” Harry said. “Just for all of your service to the Potter and Weasley families you deserve that. Besides I told you to do what was best for the house elves in the future. This is best.” “Azalea cannot apparate, cannot get anywhere without being pushed in the chair with wheels,” Kreacher said. “Can you get her upstairs and downstairs?” Harry asked. “Not so easy, but can,” the old house elf said. “Can she use the floo network?” Harry asked. “Really hard, and not so safe,” Kreacher said. “Closet network safe, but floo not so much.” Harry was not all that fond of traveling by floo. He knew that North America had a couple of floo networks, but almost everyone used the closet network now. Much of Europe and Asia had gone over to the closets. England was one of the few modern countries clinging to the old floo network. Harry explained the whole problem to Kingsley and Hermione. It turned out that the group running the floo network was eager to start installing a closet network. They just had to start somewhere, and have someone pay for it. The floo and closet networks were not compatible. Harry was explaining the problem to Ron and Hermione at dinner one night. About every other week Ron and Hermione had dinner with Harry, Ginny and Teddy, usually at 12 Grimmauld Place but occasionally next door at 13. “Where would you install the closet?” Hermione asked. “Probably downstairs in the kitchen, “Harry said. “It is easier for the house elves to guard one location.” “Could they install one at our house too?” asked Hermione. “I think they can install one closet with two doors in, one from each house, and one out to the other closets,” Harry said. “Then we can install a closet in the ministry and another one at St. Mungo’s.” Ron said, “Robrecht VanDer Raaltee wants Great Britain to start using the closet networks. He has stuff he has to transport when he does his magical/Muggle electronic stuff. It is easy for him to bring along a couple of rolling suitcases through the closet network, but very difficult by floo. The suitcases have stuff he cannot shrink. The smaller electronic circuits get the harder it is to shrink them.” Harry asked, “Is he still living at the Hogs Head? I know he moved in there when he started working on getting mobiles to work at Hogwarts.” Ron said, “He is still living at the Hogs Head. He is seriously considering settling in Hogsmeade.” “Why?” asked Ginny. “Tracy Davis,” said Ron. ‘TRACY DAVIS?” said Ginny. “What is going on between VanDer Raaltee and Tracy?” Ron said, “I was curious too. There is a lot of gossip around the shop in Hogsmeade. It seems that Robrecht never had a serious girlfriend. Witches didn’t think much of his fascination with Muggle electronics, and he felt he couldn’t get serious with a Muggle. He has a Muggle grandfather, and I guess it is a little awkward. “Tracy was fascinated by Robrecht, and apparently Tracy is the first female to pay attention to him. He likes her, and he likes her daughter. The gossip around the shop is that they will end up married.” Harry said, “So Robrecht wants a closet from the Ministry to Europe?” Ron said, “Yes. One from Hogsmeade, the Hogs Head would be all right. I guess they are even talking about having one at the Davis complex.” Harry asked, “Can you take a Muggle along when you are going through the closet network?” Hermione answered, “Yes, if you are touching them. A house elf or magical person can take a Muggle along, as long as there is skin to skin contact. I think they could also be in a magical box, like an ambulance, or magical vehicle of some sort. “There is no law keeping house elves from using the floo or closet network alone.” Harry and Bill had a discussion later in the week about Azalea using the closet network. Kreacher said, “House elves working so Azalea not need full time help. Eventually she take care of Kevin P/W all by herself.” Harry said, “That would be fantastic. Just by showing that a house elf who is hurt can still serve you are doing house elves a big favor.” Kreacher said, “Is hard to be the first one making medicine better.” Harry said, “I know, but it is necessary for someone to be first. Sometimes being first is risky, and sometimes it doesn’t work. I am very glad that Azalea and Kevin lived. Having them living a long and happy life is good service to the house elves and to our community.” Kreacher said, “Is good. Is also loves. Is loves house elves not allowed to show between selves. Is good but is very very hard. Not to serve but to be served is very very hard for a house elf.” Bill said, “Kreacher, sometimes giving is very satisfying, for humans and house elves. Receiving can sometimes be harder. We all need to learn to accept help, and not turn it down. Just say ‘thank you.’ House elves that are given better treatment need to learn to say ‘thank you,’ not ‘we do not deserve it.’” Kreacher looked at Harry, some confusion in his expression. Harry said, “Bill is right. We ought to be thanking house elves for all they have done, and when we do something good for you house elves should thank us, thank the good wizards. “When people thank me for something I have done I have had to be taught to just say ‘you are welcome.’ When people thank me for what the Harry and Ginny Potter foundation has done to help them I had to learn just to say ‘you are welcome.’ And when people have helped me I have had to learn how to be humble enough to say ‘thank you’ and not to turn down the help.” “Is very hard lesson for a house elf, Harry Potter,” said Kreacher. |
| Reviews 59 |
Previous Next
|
