Albus Potter, Friends and Foes

Ch 41 Venus Lupin

All the Potter and Granger-Weasley children, and their guests, headed over to the New Burrow right after breakfast the Monday after the ICWW.

Victoire watched as the youngsters came into the kitchen, as another contraction started. The midwitch had told her that they were not real contractions yet, but they sure felt real to her. Her body was really doing something to get her ready for labor and delivery, and it was real work, even if they were only practice contractions.

"Are you in labor?" Cleo wondered, looking at the expression on Victoire's face and noticing how she was holding her body.

"The midwitch tells me that it is not real labor yet, but it sure feels real to me," Victoire complained. "The baby is more or less in position, but she hasn't dropped yet."

Victoire was carrying the baby high.

"A little hard to breathe?" Ginny wondered.

Victoire nodded.

"Don't worry," Ginny scoffed. "The baby will drop, and you will be able to breath. You just will have a hard time walking. At least you are not quite as short as I am. My last month I told Harry if I got any bigger my boobs would bump up against my chin."

Victoire looked down at where the baby bump was pressing up against her breasts and laughed. She then frowned. "Loo," she remarked as she headed to the loo.

"Victoire is just in that 'I'll do anything to get this baby out' stage," Molly remarked. "I was so big with the twins I thought it was going to take a lorry to move me from place to place." Molly looked at Cleo. I know of a witch about as big as you, Cleo. She had eight and a half pound twins, seventeen pounds of baby. (3.85 kg each, 7.7 kg)"

"Was she huge?" Cleo wondered.

"Amazingly enough, no," Molly replied, shaking her head. "I'm just glad it wasn't me, though. The twins were big enough!

"Venus is a good size baby, and this is Victoire's first, so she has some real hard work ahead."

Just then James Potter came into the kitchen. "Albus," he exclaimed, "We need another seeker. Scorpius, you too. We are a little short on players."

"Who do you have?" Albus wondered.

"The Lionhearts, of course, just the two oldest. The younger ones are not interested in Quidditch, for some strange reason. Hamilton Jordan, his brother Hudson, and Gideon Prewett. Olivia Wood's parents let her come over today, but I'm not sure how long she can stay. We may just run drills. Too many of the cousins are working, and I haven't been able to get any other players."

Albus and Scorpius left to fly with James, just as Victoire returned.

Rose folded her arms and rolled her eyes at Scorpius's departure. "He's not that good a flyer," she remarked.

"Do they ever ask you to fly, Rose?" Victoire wondered.

Rose frowned, and shook her head 'no.' "Dad and Uncle Harry made sure I know how to fly, in case I have to, but I don't like to."

Victoire looked at Cleo. "Do you fly?"

"I know how, but I get distracted," Cleo admitted. "Albus says I'm kind of dangerous on a broom. So, I mostly don't fly, except with Albus. We ride on his broom sometimes, but he steers, and I just look."

Teddy came into the kitchen, holding Maria. He put the toddler down, and she rapidly crawled over to great-grandmother Molly. Molly summoned a large wooden spoon and handed it to Maria. The toddler put it in her mouth, banged it on the floor, then crawled over to the kitchen table, where she proceeded to stand and bang the spoon first against a chair and then against a table leg.