~
May, 2000
Bill watched in mild entertainment as Eleanora made her way down the stairs and waddled into the kitchen. "Are you sure you're alright to go?" he asked, getting up to help his nine-months-pregnant wife into a chair.
"Of course I am." Eleanora pushed him away moodily, but immediately felt bad and pulled him back for a kiss. "We're not missing your brother's wedding because I'm-"
"Having a baby!" Bill said excitedly, bounding to the cabinet to pull out to specific type of cereal Eleanora had been craving for the last few days. "Having our baby," he repeated, dancing around as he poured the cereal and slid it across the counter at Eleanora, who couldn't help but laugh. "I'm so excited."
"Easy for you to say when you're not twice your usual size." She scowled down at her stomach. "I'm just excited for this thing to be out so I can fit into my old dresses again."
Bill's face softened and he came around the counter to kiss Eleanora's on the cheek. "You look absolutely lovely, El. And I think your dress for the wedding is beautiful." He stepped back and sipped his coffee, then a smile grew on his face. "And don't call my baby an it."
Eleanora laughed at reached a foot out to kick Bill in the leg. "It's not in your stomach. And anyways, I don't think little Molly would mind," she said, rubbing her stomach.
"Molly?" Bill wrinkled his nose. "You want to name our baby after my mum? I thought we agreed on Eveline for a girl and-"
"I changed it," Eleanora murmured. "Your mum did more for me than mine ever did. And besides, I think I like the name Molly more."
"Have we ruled out ... I dunno, not naming it?" Bill jumped onto the counter and shrugged at Eleanora. "What if we named it Eleanora-?"
"Nope," Eleanora cut him off. "Absolutely not. I don't want our child named after either of us, I think that's tacky."
Bill didn't argue. Arguing with Eleanora had become more impossible than usual in the last few months, so he merely shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. "What about Ginny?" he asked, "Or Daisy. Both good names."
"I could work with that..." Eleanora said, slipping into thought. "We'll add them to the list. What about boys names- and don't say Cillian."
"That's exactly what I was about to say," Bill chuckled. "It's a good name."
"Too pureblood. What about Fred?"
Bill winced at the mention of the name. Even years later, coping with the loss of his little brother was difficult. Neither of them had stopped having nightmares, although they were fewer and further between now. "Let's save that for a middle name," he said, and Eleanora nodded. "We'll think about it. We've got time."
"Not that much time," said Eleanora, and they exchanged a knowing smile. "Come on." She struggled out of her chair and started back towards the stairs. "We've got to get ready."
~
Bill and Eleanora were greeted at the door of the Burrow by a very excited looking Daisy and Mrs. Weasley, who was looking extremely flustered. "Ahhh, come in, come in," she said, ushering them into the kitchen. "Eleanora, go sit down, you're looking bigger than ever." Eleanora raised her eyebrows at Bill, who shook his head dismissively and gave her a half smile. They both knew Mrs. Weasley said things she didn't mean when she was overwhelmed.
"Did you think of a name yet?" Daisy asked, following Eleanora to a chair and settling herself on the arm of it. "George says he wants you to name it after him whether it's a boy or girl."
"That's a very George thing to say, but I'll add it to the list," Eleanora said with a small smile, but then she winced. "Actually-" she managed, setting a hand on the small of her back and talking through the pain, "-we were thinking of naming it Daisy if it's a girl. And Bill thinks we should name it Eveline, after Mum."
"Huh." Daisy sat back to think about this and Eleanora winced again.
"Are you alright?" George asked, he and Angelina appearing in the doorway hand-in-hand. "Wait-" George froze, eyeing her carefully. "You're not-"
"Shhh, keep your voice down." Eleanora beckoned her two friends closer. "Don't tell anyone," she said in a low voice, "but I've been having contractions for the last three hours."
George, Daisy, and Angelina's eyes all widened at the same time, making Eleanora laugh. "So you're having the baby?" Angelina said in a hushed voice. "Like, today?"
Eleanora shrugged. "Contractions can last for- up to twenty hours-" she winced again and took a deep breath, rubbing her stomach as though to comfort the kicking baby inside. "Doesn't help that it keeps moving around," she muttered.
Bill appeared in the doorway holding a mug of tea and seemed to realize on instinct that Eleanora had told the others. "Is it getting worse?" he asked, handing Eleanora the mug and rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "We should probably get to St. Mungo's, you know."
"What? Why?" a voice came from the door Bill had just walked through. Harry and Ginny had followed him, joining the little group around Eleanora's chair. "You alright?" Harry asked, looking at Eleanora in concern.
Ginny narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Eleanora's face carefully. "Has someone poisoned you?"
"No," Eleanora groaned, "Just having a child."
Ginny's expression was identical to George's when she'd told him. Her eyes grew wide and her lips parted slightly in surprise. "Right now?" she hissed, glancing back towards the door. "Shouldn't we tell someone?"
"No, no," Eleanora said quickly. "Only when it's- when it's really time." Bill bit down on his lip nervously, but he didn't argue. He'd been trying to convince Eleanora to go to the hospital since early that morning when she'd started having the contractions, but it was no use. She refused to miss Ron and Hermione's wedding. "Now go on," she said to Harry and Ginny. "You're best man and maid of honor, I'm sure Ron and Hermione need you." Then, noticing the hesitation on their faces, "Don't worry about me, really. I'll let you know when it gets really bad- oh-" She'd just had the worst one yet, and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. Bill's hand on her shoulder tightened slightly. He hated seeing Eleanora in any kind of pain, even if it wasn't the inherently bad kind.
"Come on, El," he said. "We should really go to the hospital."
"No," she insisted. "We're staying for the wedding."
Eleanora lasted through the entire service without letting on that anything was out of the ordinary. Only Bill on her left side and George at her right could tell by the way she kept clenching her fist when the particularly painful contractions came. Bill took her hand at the beginning and told her to squeeze it when it hurt, but halfway through she let it go, noticing that it was starting to lose color.
The wedding itself was beautiful. Hermione was wearing an elegant and romantic looking dress, her hair trailing in ringlets over her shoulders and down her back and her face absolutely luminous. Ron couldn't keep his eyes off of her. The entire garden was adorned in white and pink flowers that went perfectly with Hermione's makeup and veil, which was decorated in little flowers. Bill didn't seem to notice any of this. He kept glancing at Eleanora, his expression an increasingly growing mixture of love and concern. Every time her fist clenched and he could see pain etched across her face, he winced internally. When the service was over, he and George helped her to a chair at the edge of the festivities of the reception and Bill sat down across from her. "No," she protested immediately. "Go dance and have fun. I'm alright here."
"Absolutely not," Bill said, giving her a charming smile that she couldn't help but return. "I have the most fun when I'm with you anyways." He winked at her and reached out to take her hand. "How're you feeling?"
Eleanora laughed and shook her head, her hair falling to frame her face. Bill knew she didn't like the way she looked pregnant, but he fell more in love with her every time he looked at her. Her face was lit up by the candles lining the edges of the tent and her eyes were sparkling in a way that made his heart flutter every time she looked at him. "I-" she started, but then jumped and looked down at her stomach. "I think my water just broke."
The next half hour was a blur. Bill leapt out of his seat and somehow managed to find George and Angelina immediately. George had been dancing with Daisy, and he sent her to tell Mrs. Weasley they were taking Eleanora to St. Mungo's. Bill, Eleanora, George, and Angelina were just getting ready to apparate when they turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Daisy, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Percy, and Ginny all running towards them. "Well, we've got the whole group now, haven't we?" George said, shifting nervously. He was anxious to get Eleanora to the hospital.
"We just wanted to see you before you left," Hermione breathed, her hair tumbling from its style after a night of dancing.
"How are you?" Harry asked apprehensively.
Eleanora didn't answer. She was focusing on taking slow breaths, just like her doctor had told her to do. Mrs. Weasley understood immediately. After going through the same thing seven times, she knew exactly what to do. "Bill, get her to the hospital. The rest of you, go back to the wedding. Give El some space."
"I'm not leaving her," George said resolutely. Angelina nodded her head and slipped her hand into his. He looked over at her gratefully and planted a kiss on the top of her head. Normally, Eleanora would find this absolutely adorable, but at the moment she just wanted to have her baby and get it over with.
Bill hadn't taken his eyes off of Eleanora's face. "Come on," he said softly, then turned to the rest of the group. "I'm taking her now. We'll meet the rest of you there whenever you want to go." And at that, he took Eleanora's hand, turned on the spot, and apparated her to the doorstep of St. Mungo's hospital.
~
Eleanora had endured a lot of pain in her life, but by the time her daughter was born, she thought childbirth might be one of the worst. It took longer than anyone had expected, and when the rest of the Weasleys, Daisy, and Angelina all showed up an hour after the wedding was over, they were surprised to find that Eleanora was still in labor. An hour after that, Bill came out to tell them they were in the final stages.
When he went back into the hospital room to find Eleanora, shouting at the top of her lungs through the pain, he went immediately to her bedside to take her hand and look nervously to one of the healers. "Are you sure it's supposed to take this long?" he asked softly, running the fingers of his other hand gently through Eleanora's hair.
"I promise you this is perfectly normal," the healer said, but Bill was still so used to expecting the people he loved to be in constant danger from the war that he wasn't fully convinced of his wife's safety until her shouts were replaced with the wailing of the tiny figure in the healer's hands. "And... it's a girl," the healer said with a smile.
Eleanora let out a breath and laid back on the pillows, closing her eyes. Bill laughed out of joy and relief and brought Eleanora's hand to his lips. "It's a girl," he breathed, and then he saw her. The healer placed their daughter on Eleanora's chest, and her arms instinctively went around her with care and ease. Bill leaned forward to get a better look at his daughter's face and his eyes filled with tears.
"She's beautiful," Eleanora whispered, glancing up at Bill with a watery smile.
He reached out a gentle hand to move the blanket ever so slightly. "She's absolutely perfect," he said, looking at both his wife and his daughter as his heart filled with pure joy.
Bill and Eleanora could've sat there and stared at their child forever if they had the chance, but minutes later, the healers said they could allow two visitors at a time. "Send Daisy and George in," Eleanora said, then glanced at Bill, "Right?"
"Right."
George followed Daisy through the door and they both crept closer to the bed with awed and tentative expressions. "So... it's a girl?" Daisy whispered, crawling onto the bed next to Eleanora and peeking over her arm at her new niece.
Eleanora grinned over at her sister. "Georgia Daisy Weasley," she said softly. "Want to hold her?"
Daisy's mouth opened in surprise at the middle name, but she recovered quickly and held out her arms to hold her new niece. "She has the Marks family nose," she said, her lips twitching upwards slightly.
"Georgia?" George said with a smile. "I s'ppose that's close enough." He sat down next to Daisy and held out his arms. "She looks just like you, El- oh!" George's eyes widened and he leaned over so Eleanora, Bill, and Daisy could see what he was seeing. Georgia's eyes had fluttered open to reveal that they were big and clear blue. "Never mind," George murmured, "I'm seeing Bill now."
Eleanora's eyes teared up again and she leaned into Bill's side. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder softly. "We want you two to be the god-parents," he said, looking back up at Daisy and George. Both of their expressions grew into surprise, and then determined pride at the same time. "Of course we will," Daisy said, leaning over George's shoulder to graze Georgia's cheek with the most gentle touch Eleanora had ever seen in her sister.
"Yeah, 'course we will," George said with a smile. Watching Daisy and George, Eleanora knew she and Bill had made the right decision. She reached out her arms and George carefully set the baby back in them. She leaned back on the pillows with Bill on one side and Daisy on the other and felt as though she'd never felt as much love in her entire life.
the next chapter is the LAST ONE before the epilogue chapters !!!