Farraway Mist ?A Wattpad featured story?

Chapter 35: Everything Goes Wrong

Hermione whined and put her paws on Scout's knees, looking imploringly up at her.

"Good luck, little one," George said sympathetically, scratching her fluffy head. The puppy wanted desperately to get into her mistress' lap. The thunder of the approaching storm was clearly scaring her; unfortunately, lap space on Scout's body was a scarce commodity at the moment. Her tummy, and baby Alis, took up nearly all available room.

"Aww, poor baby," Scout commiserated, scooping the darling baby up into her arms and burying her face into her floppy ears. Of course, this only made Harry want his fair share of Scout's attention. He clambered over George, who was trying to recline with his head near Alis, giving his master a face full of puppy feet.

"Oi! Harry! Get off me, you!" George laughed, sitting up. "Jesus, this place has turned into a raving zoo, honestly." But he didn't mind, really. Having Bess and her puppies around was lovely, and had taken the raw sorrow off the memories of Jess and her horrible death. And Bandit had bounced back as well, had stopped sleeping on top of her grave and moping around Farraway Mist. Housebreaking and training two puppies had turned out to be very easy with two adult dogs to model for them. And whatever horrible experiences Bess had in her past, she was a very smart and well-trained girl.

It was mid-April, and spring had arrived in Cornwall at last. Bluebells and rhododendrons blanketed the landscape, and Scout and George spent many pleasant afternoons bundled up and wandering their property with the dogs. Nothing untoward had happened in months, and they'd both finally begun to relax at last.

Maybe the past was over.

"What strange weather," Scout remarked, when she'd finally gotten the puppies calmed down. Every rumble of thunder made Hermione tremble in her arms, and the sky was darkening every minute, even though it was still morning. She shivered.

"You okay?" George asked, turning so he could look up at her face. "You've done that a couple of times this morning already, you know?" He sat up, holding Harry in his lap. "And last night in bed, too, you kind of kept tensing up?"

Scout shrugged. "I don't know. I've been feeling kind of weird."

"Weird? What does that mean?" George sounded accusing.

"Whoa, why do you sound so cross?" Scout asked, hurt.

"Scout, you're about to have a baby, I think I'm well within my rights to ask how long you've been feeling 'weird' and haven't told me, don't you?" George demanded.

Scout blinked back tears, which were ridiculously close all the time these days. It made her angry. She didn't cry, dammit.

"Oh no, oh no, don't do that." George was immediately contrite, setting the puppy aside to put his arms around her. "Sh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Don't be ridiculous," she sniffed. "I'm so fucking sensitive these days."

"So?" he asked softly. "You've been feeling, um, weird?"

Scout nodded, putting her head on his shoulder. "Like crampy. And lower back pain. It sort of comes and goes."

George's brows knit together. "When did it start?"

Scout shrugged again. "It started yesterday afternoon, I think. Last night?"

"So all night long?" George asked carefully, rubbing her shoulder.

Scout nodded. "It kept waking me up," she said. "Irritating as hell, actually."

"And how frequently, darling?" he asked.

"More frequently this morning, I guess," she admitted, rolling her eyes. "It kind of hurts, too, but I didn't want to tell you, because I didn't want to worry you," she finished. She shivered again, and George, who was sitting very close to her, could feel the muscles in her abdomen get very tense and hard.