Aunt Rose

34.

"Oh Merlin. One day apart?" Rose said in surprise. She jogged over to her potions cabinet and pulled open the drawer labelled "Lily".

Rose pulled out all of the potions she would need and put them in her bag. She especially made sure to grab the draught of peace.

"I'll let you know how everything turns out, my love. I'll be home tonight hopefully," Rose informed Marlene, giving her a kiss before running out of the apartment building and apparating to Godric's Hollow.

She appeared and was already moving, ripping open the front gate and pushing open the door to the house. Rose heard sounds of struggle from upstairs and quickened her pace, running to the bedroom.

James was standing in the hallway pacing. "Oh thank Merlin. Took you long enough!" He exclaimed.

"Prongs, it took me 5 minutes. Why aren't you in there?" Rose questioned. Was Lily doing it alone?

"That bloody woman won't let me in," James said with a touch of anger.

Rose looked at him in confusion before opening the door. She first saw Lily in pain on the bed. And then Shaw Bathilda Bagshot. She was a neighbour of Lily and James.

"Ah, good. Are you the doctor?" The old woman asked as she was preparing warm towels and dabbing Lily's face.

"And sister. Why is James out there?" Rose asked, putting her bag down on the bed and pulling potions out of it.

"Birth is a woman's practice. He'd make things worse. But now that you're here, I can let you get to work and take care of him," Bathilda said, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"Oh! This is for him. Draught of peace to calm him down," Rose said, handing Bathilda a blue potion.

"Smart girl," she said, smiling as she walked out of the bedroom to join James.

"How are we doing, Lil?" Rose asked, replacing Bathilda at her sisters side. She used the towels to wipe away the sweat pooling on her forehead.

"I'm okay. Just really want him—" Lily paused as her face screwed up in pain. "Out of me!" She squeezed out through deep breaths.

"Okay. Take these two, they'll help with the pain. We aren't quite ready to push yet but let me know when you need to," Rose said as she set up towels and her wand on the side of the bed.

It was another three hours of labour before Lily grabbed Rose's hand to crush during another painful contraction. "Do you need to push?" Rose questioned, prepared to get this baby out.

Lily nodded through another contraction. "Then give me what you got. Your body will tell you what you need to do," Rose assured, smiling at her sister.

With a deep breath Lily began pushing. She strained for a couple of seconds before letting her breath out and breathing rapidly. Her face was red but determined.

Once again, Lily pushed. At the end of this try she yelled, to try and get more momentum. She stopped and breathed again. "You're doing great, Lil. Just a little bit more," Rose said, being able to physically see the baby.

Lily was crying and exhausted but hearing that her son was close gave her the strength she needed. One last time, she yelled and pushed with all of her strength.