Obliviate ; Fred Weasley

Eighty-two

My birthday passed, and I turned twenty-nine.

It was celebrated with Theodore, Gideon and Kwan.

Felix wasn't there for my birthday. He was spending the day with Lee, comforting him over the fact that I had been missing for months.

Because Lee was one of my best friends and he was grieving me, and Felix, his boyfriend comforted him while knowing where I was.

Months passed slowly. The days were the same.

Breakfast with Theodore, lunch with all three brothers, though Felix wasn't always there. Then dinner with them and Kwan.

Kwan still made sure my baby was alright, and now it was September and I was full term, waiting for labour to start.

I didn't really care about anything anymore. Only my baby. My baby whose sex I didn't know, because I had decided against it. I wanted to wait.

I had been hoping I would be home by the time I'd be in labour, so Fred and I could figure out the sex together.

But Fred doesn't even know that I'm pregnant, and Fred has no idea that my water just broke while I'm standing in the shower.

It's September fourth.

Three days past my due date, and here I am, in labour.

"Fuck." I hissed, slamming my hand against the tile wall. "This isn't happening..."

I turned off the water, sighing.

I wasn't having any contractions, but that was definitely my water that broke, and I was going to have a baby in this shit hole without Fred by my side.

I got out of the shower, wrapping a towel around myself.

I didn't know what to do.

I had never gotten this far in pregnancy before. I hadn't gone to any pregnancy class, or gotten any kind of lessons on what to do.

Fluids kept dripping down my legs. Both the water from the shower, but also the water from inside of me.

"Theo!" I shouted, reaching over to unlock the door.

Getting Theodore to help was my only option.

I heard the footsteps and the door to the bathroom swung open. He took one look at me, and knew what was happening.

"Ahhh shit." He sighed, running a hand down the length of his face. "What do you need?"

"What do I need?!" I exclaimed. "I need someone who knows how to deliver a baby!"

Theodore sighed, leaning against the doorway.

"Yeah, well that won't be an option." He said, rubbing his jaw. "We can't have anyone else come in and see you. I'll call Kwan and see what to do."

He shut the door, and I stood there, completely taken back by that.

What— I was supposed to do this on my own? Birth a fucking baby on my own?

I got dried up and pulled on some clothes, grabbing a pad because of the liquid that kept leaking.

I started pacing the room, panicking, because this was not at all what I wanted. I didn't want to give birth here, and it terrified me.

I wouldn't be able to have a proper midwife, or a healer. I had no idea how to do this shit.

Hours later, I was in the filled bathtub, wearing nothing but a bra. I was having contractions and they were more than just painful.

Theodore was by my side. He had called Kwan who wouldn't be over until the baby was here, and suddenly I was scared that he was going to take my baby from me.

Because why would he only be here once the baby was born?

It terrified me, but I couldn't do anything to stop the contractions.

When I felt the need to push, I did. I didn't know if I was ten centimetres dilated, but I pushed because I felt like I needed to.

I was crying and the pain was unbearable. Theodore was brushing a hand over my hair, shushing me and whispering things, but I didn't hear him.

I screamed into the air, my sobs directed at everything I had been through since December.

I had been gone for nine months. Nine months of owing pregnant. Nine months of going through this without Fred. Nine months of having to live without him.

I felt some kind of relief, and I gasped for air as the contraction stopped.

"What... what's happening— what—"

I reached down between my legs and I started panicking when I felt the head. The head was out but it's neck was wrapped in the umbilical cord.

"No!" I cried out, growing desperate.

I needed to save my baby.

"Shit. That's my phone." Theodore said as his ringtone came from the living room.

And then he left me, lying in the bathtub while giving birth to my baby.

I was desperate, trying to pull at the umbilical cord. I needed to unwrap it from around the neck. I needed to save my baby. I needed to save me and Fred's baby.

I cried out into the air as I pulled and pulled and pulled, but the cord wasn't budging.

Another contraction came quickly, and I was forced to push. I placed one bloody hand flat against the tile wall, pushing until I felt an even major relief, and then I pulled my baby up from under the water.

I unwrapped the umbilical cord from the neck, and then I put my baby on my chest, crying as I tried to examine the tiny body.

"Please be okay." I whispered, running my fingers over the tiny face.

I knew enough to know I needed to try and clear the airways.

I forced one finger into the mouth, trying to clear any of the fluid in the throat.

The baby coughed and cried immediately after, and I started crying of happiness, so happy my baby was okay.

It was a boy.

A little boy, with red hair and pale skin. I hugged him close, resting my forehead against his head while his cries filled the bathroom.

Theodore walked back through the door, phone in hand, shock written all over his face.

"Shit." He cursed. "What's— boy or a girl?"

I didn't answer, because I really didn't want to tell him. He was never going to be the father of my son.

Never.

And I wasn't going to tell him the sex.

Fred was the one who was supposed to be here and ask if it was a boy or a girl, but Fred has no idea that he just became a dad.

Fred had no idea, that I actually managed to carry this baby boy to term. I didn't have a miscarriage.

I just gave birth, and I did it on my own.

Theodore walked over and crouched by the tub, lifting my son up a little to see the genitals.

"A boy..." he said, smiling faintly, and I reached out to take my boy back, and he let me.

"Don't touch him." I said when Theodore reached out to brush a hand over his head.

Then he looked at me instead and scoffed, reaching for the pair of scissors he had put out for the umbilical cord, along with a clamp.

He cut the umbilical cord and clamped the small piece still attached to my son.

"Something's wrong." I whispered as I felt myself growing more and more faint by the second.

Theodore glanced at my face, and then suddenly he stood up quickly, staring down at the water.

I followed his gaze, noticing the water slowly turning red.

Way too red.