three little words ; 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞

8. St. Mungo's

Hermione

"Hermione, wake up," an urgent voice said, shaking her shoulders on the border of violently.

She wasn't exactly in a deep sleep, so whoever was waking her didn't have to keep it up for long. She opened her eyes almost instantly, moaned sleepily, and stretched her arms out of their curled up state. "What?" she mumbled.

"Ginny's having the baby." She could tell that it was Harry, as he had the same worried tone, same as when James and Albus were born. She thought that he'd settle down after two kids, but she was proven wrong as he adjusted his glasses and wiped a bead of sweat off of his brow.

"Must be a father thing," she mumbled again.

"What?" Harry asked, knitting his eyebrows in confusion, but fidgeting nervously.

She shook her head. "Never mind, I'll be out in just a second."

Nodding her lifelong friend turned and left, allowing her to get up out of bed--no matter how slow her pregnancy made it--and get dressed with bleary eyes, making her way to the living room where Ginny was sitting down, breathing heavily.

"I may be heavily pregnant, but I still have my hormonal temper," she grunted. "How slow could you possibly be, Herms?"

She laughed half-heartedly. "Yeah, sorry. Let's just go, okay? Are the kids coming?"

Harry nodded, and Hermione took Rose's hand, watching as her daughter grabbed her grabbed Albus' hand, and he held his brother's. They'd be gaining a younger sister today, and Hermione couldn't be happier for them.

With a rough apparating experience, they finally arrived at St. Mungo's. When they walked in, Harry called out, "My wife's having the baby!" and several healers ran forward, taking her away on a rolling bed, wheeling her into a delivery room. Hermione, exhausted, fell back into a chair, planning to wait it out.

"How are you doing?"

She jumped and put her hand to her plump stomach. Turning, she saw Draco staring down at her. "Bloody hell, Malfoy! At least give a pregnant woman a warning!"

He took the seat next to her, folding his hands uncomfortably. "Can we talk about that later? I came to see you, I heard from...someone that Potter's wife is having her baby."

She looked at him suspiciously. "Who told you that?"

He ducked his head, looking more and more like his younger self. "I've been listening...around."

Hermione was unconvinced. "Yeah, okay, Malfoy." She smirked. "Stalking me now?"

He laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously. "No, of course not. I just...had to see you. Without upsetting your husband, of course."

Hermione flashed him her ringless left hand. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore."

He stared at it, disbelieving. "What happened?"

Hermione looked over at the three kids who were talking amongst themselves and then over to Harry. She wasn't quite ready for Rose to know the real reason they were taking a 'vacation' from her dad.

"Hey, you three," she said in an attempt at cheerfulness, "how about you go settle down Harry?"

James and Albus stood up immediately, laughing at the seemingly ridiculous behavior he'd seemed to adopt since they took Ginny in. Rose, however, looked at her mother, then at Draco and back again, and smiled a toothy grin. "I'm not that thick, you know, Mum. Have a good talk," she said cheekily and waved goodbye.