The marriage law

Carrying on the name of Weasley

By the time June rolled around, and England's weather had attempted summer, the birth announcement section of 'The Prophet' had grown at an exponential rate. The sudden increase in birth rate did not include those who were pregnant and yet to give birth. Along with Fred and Hermione announcing their imminent offspring, Ginny had confirmed her pregnancy, as had Angelina and Luna.

Gossip that had originated in the very depths of the Wizarding community also indicated that Lavender Finnegan and Hannah Longbottom were also due to receive a special arrival when the cold weather came.

Hermione, on the other hand, could not help but focus on her impending first doctor appointment. The morning dawned bright and was surprisingly clear, given the torrential rain that had blanketed the country for the entire previous week. Both Hermione and Fred had taken the morning off from their respective jobs, in order to mentally prepare themselves, more than anything else.

"Fred! For goodness sake, can you please calm down?"

The pair walked briskly down the draughty corridor with Hermione slightly behind owing to Fred's ability to take much longer strides. Her own trepidation was making her more easily annoyed at the smallest, most irrelevant details, for example, the fact that Fred kept drumming his left hand on the side of his thigh as he walked.

"We've got plenty of time. I don't know what you are so worried about."

Hermione finally caught up to her husband, however, despite her protests, she could not help but feel still a little jittery at the fact that they were going to be seeing their baby for the first time today.

The pair made it to the third floor of the hospital – a place they had been visiting with increasing frequency in recent times. Not knowing where to go, they approached the witch that was sitting behind the reception desk.

"If you could just fill in these forms while you are waiting," said the curly-haired witch. "Healer Appleby will be with you shortly."

Fred and Hermione thanked the receptionist and went to take their seats, wading their way through the enormous amount of paperwork.

"Does it matter whether or not I drunk Nettle tea on the day of conception?" Hermione whispered to Fred. "I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday!"

"Just put no," replied Fred shaking his head as his eyes ran down the list of obscure questions. "I don't think you've ever had Nettle tea anyway..."

"Not the point," mumbled Hermione as she continued to scribble her way down the parchment with the self-inking quill that had been provided for their use.

"Mr and Mrs Weasley?" called out the receptionist after what seemed to be a ridiculously long time. "Healer Appleby is ready to see you now."

Hermione and Fred quickly packed up their belongings, and handed over the completed questionnaires to the receptionist before following her instructions to walk down the corridor and knock on the third door on the right.

"Come in," a deep voice sounded from within.

Taking the lead, Hermione opened the door and let Fred and herself into the room, and into the presence of the healer who apparently specialised in obstetrics. When entering the room, Hermione was surprised to see a tiny man that was shorter than even Hermione's own five feet five inches, despite the wizard's deep voice which had implied otherwise.

"You must be Mr and Mrs Weasley," he greeted them with an excited tone, holding out his hand for Fred and Hermione to shake. "Well, I can see that you have filled out all the required paperwork, so I don't see a reason why we can't get started!"

He handedHermione a paper robe and showed her to a room where she could change into it. Not wasting any time, Hermione changed into the robe, already feeling self-conscious of the tiny beads of perspiration that were being absorbed by the robe in her nervousness. She exited the small, cramped dressing room to find that Healer Appleby had already set up for his examination. The fact that it resembled a muggle doctor's office calmed Hermione slightly, although she did keep one slightly wary eye on where this Healer was pointing his wand as she lay down on the examination bed.

The healer moved her wand in a series of intricate movements over Hermione's exposed belly. A swirl of colour issued forth from the end of the wand, and formed a moving mass of a deep, royal purple streaked with varying shades of pink and blue. First there was more pink visible in the mass. Then there was more of a pale blue, getting darker until finally the mixture settled into shades of deep blue.

Hermione and Fred watched with bated breath as the lines of colour formed themselves into a head and torso, arms and legs. At long last, a tiny bump was visible just above the abdomen. There it was, pulsing away. A tiny, human heart beat.

"Fred..." Hermione's voiced trailed away in awe.

Fred responded by finding Hermione's hand and gripping it tightly within his own, not trusting his voice to make any kind of reassuring sound.

"Everything seems to be coming along nicely, from what I am able to see. The baby seems very healthy," said the Healer, seemingly oblivious to the moment that Hermione and Fred seemed to be having within their own minds. "Now, Mrs Weasley, would you and your husband like to know the gender of your baby?"

Hermione's head immediately snapped to face Fred, seeking his opinion on the matter. Fred simply shrugged.

"It's up to you," he replied. "It would be more of a surprise to me if it was something other than a girl or a boy."

The Healer looked from Fred to Hermione, trying to gauge a reaction from them as to whether he would proceed any further or not. Considering the option for a moment, Hermione turned to face Healer Appleby, and swallowing the anticipation that she felt, she slowly nodded her head.

"Yes, we would like to know the gender," she replied, smiling to reassure not only the Healer, but herself as well.

Another quick swish of the Healer's wand turned the swirling blue image around so that he was able to better see the necessary parts of the baby.

"Well, I am about ninety-nine percent certain that this baby is..." He turned the image around one final time. "Yes, that is most definitely a boy. Congratulations!"

Hermione felt such a wave of emotions overcome her that she was struggling to process all of the new information. However, she was almost certain that Fred was feeling reasonably similar to her given the only response he had given her was a firm squeeze of her hand where he was still holding it.

"Now, judging by the way that all the organs are forming, and the size of the foetus, this handsome boy should be coming out to meet you sometime around...hmmm, I'd say sometime around the end of December. A lovely Christmas present for you both, I think."

"Thank you," Hermione replied in a soft voice, as she watched on in awe. The baby was reacting to the adrenalin in her body as a result of her apprehension, and was moving all over the place, although he was much too small for Hermione to feel it yet.

Looking over at Fred, she could not help but grin.

"Merlin help us," Hermione could not help saying aloud once she had seen that Fred had managed to tear his eyes away from the image of his son. "This means that we have to start thinking of baby names."