Ravenclaw's Shadow

Chapter 72

"Here, you sit down, I'll go find someone," George says. I sit down and lean back, closing my eyes.

"Aurelia?"

George appears with a healer and a wheelchair.

We go down to the maternity ward and are installed in a room.

"If you want to get changed, someone will be with you shortly," the healer says.

"George, I'm dying," I groan, "my body is falling apart."

"You're okay," he says, stroking my hair, "you're doing great."

He helps me change into the hospital gown and I lie down on the bed. A female healer comes in and I notice immediately she's a vampire. She has with her a large amount of blood.

"I'm Healer Grace," she says, "you must be Aurelia."

"Yep, he's George," I say. She leans over and shakes George's hand.

"Okay, if it's alright, I'll do a quick exam to see where we're at," she says.

"Sure," I nod.

"How far apart are the contractions?" she asks.

"A minute and a half," George says, "we got caught in traffic..."

"That's fine," she says, "you're at ten centimeters, so we'll start pushing, okay? Once the baby comes out, you'll need to drink a whole lot of blood, which I have here. George can help you with that while I see to the baby, okay?"

"Yep."

"Alright, when you're ready, give me a nice big push."

Mrs Weasley told me when you start to push the pain lessens slightly. Mrs Weasley lied to me.

"George, I'm scared," I say.

"Shh, it's okay," he says, squeezing my hand, "I'm right here."

"What if it's not human?" I gasp, fighting the urge to push.

"Aurelia, I need you to focus," Grace says, "come on, now. Big breathe and nice big push."

"You can do this," George says, "just focus. You can do this."

I grit my teeth until they hurt, squeezing on George's hand like a lifeline.

"Good! Another one!"

My head is starting to feel tight and the gaps between contractions are getting shorter and shorter.

"I can see the head, a couple more big ones and the head will be out."

"I can't," I gasp, "I can't."

"Yes, you can," George says, "come on, you're nearly there. I can see the top of the head!"

"Is it ginger?"

"No, it has lovely black hair, like you."

"Dammit," I sob.

"Come on, another big one," Grace says, "that's it, keep going, keep going, stop! There, the head is out. Okay, another really big one and he'll be here!"

"One more," George says, "come on, just one more."

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"It's out!" Grace says.

George is holding blood to my lips and I'm drinking thirstily.

"It's a girl," Grace announces, bringing her over to me.

"Is it... Is she..."

"She's perfect," George sobs. Grace lays her in my arms and I know immediately what she is.

She's mine.

A tiny, perfect little baby. She yawns, baring her fangs, but I don't even mind. She's so beautifully perfect I wouldn't care if she had a third leg.

"Oh my God, she's so beautiful," George gasps, wiping tears off his face, "can I?"

Reluctantly, I hand her over. George takes her and looks down at her and I burst into tears.

Grace takes her for a few minutes to weigh and measure her and while I get cleaned up, then gives her back to me.

"Right, why don't we give feeding a try?" Grace says, "who'll be doing the feeding?"

"We're co-feeding," I say, "we figured it would be easier to share the load."

"And the blood," George says.

"Okay, who's doing the first feed?"

"Me," George says immediately, then glances at me, "I mean..."

"No, it's fine," I say, "you do it."

Grace shows George how to bite his wrist, then hold it to her mouth so she can drink the blood. After she's fed, Grace leaves us alone. George perches on the bed next to me and holds me while I hold her.

"I can't believe I worried so much," I say, looking down at her, "she's so perfect."

"She is," George says, "Little Aurora."